Price of a Weapon
To demonstrate my point, I went to google, typed in a search for gun purchase, and clicked on the first website that came up. The first auction piece on the site featured a rifle that started at a bidding price of $1,519.
I can walk into a store and purchase a weapon. The transaction is easy, as we generally don't question the value of hard, physical items, and accept that an object such as a gun can be quantified in a specific dollar amount.
What is Money?
What is money but an installation of perception to translate the exchange of energy between two or more entities who are engaged in a relationship. In other words, money is a symbol to denote that justice is linked to value, and when dealing with exchanges of energy, something we are all subject to, there has to be a way of ensuring that the exchanging parties feel equitable about the exchange.
If all of what I just said sounds like complicated jargon, I will say that money is not energy. Money is a symbol, indicating the exchange of energy in infinitely diverse ways. What nourishes us is energy, not money.
Money is as artificial as poker chips in a casino. Once money was based on tangible value. Today, it is so artificial, that it literally is made up. It's not backed by anything. Bankers know how to manipulate our system to make money out of thin air. Where there were once bank notes involved, now it all happens electronically.
Since humans make it up, there is no shortage of it, because when it runs out, we just make up more. Yet, there is a widespread belief that money is scarce.
Money is a symbol for energy, and energy is abundant and limitless.
The Soul of Money
When I say that money has a soul, I am prescribing to the belief that even a tool such as money is connected to an overarching intelligence that knows all things to be part of a sacred whole, and therefore wants to act in harmony with that whole.
Our reality is assembled through beliefs and agreements we make with ourselves and our environments. When we spend money on something, we are deciding to support and give energy to it. That's all that money is. When we don't spend money on something, we are deciding that it is not important enough to warrant existence.
The Farmer
I'd like to demonstrate my point by giving the example of a farmer who has to choose which crops to encourage, and which crops to weed out. The plants that have been chosen to grow are fed and nourished. The ones that are undesirable are starved out or rooted out until they stop growing all together.
That is what we are doing when we spend money. We are like a farmer, choosing what to strengthen in existence, and what to eradicate. That's how much power we have in creating our world.
The way we currently use money
If I told a friend that I was very hungry and hadn't eaten in two days, chances are they would be willing to feed me. If I told that same friend that I wanted to do something that was of great value to me, and that I wanted money from them, the same amount the friend would spend on feeding me, chances are they would say that they didn't have any money.
Experience has shown me that people are willing to provide food and shelter, but utterly unwilling to share money.
Why?
Money is looked at as something to hoard and hold onto. I believe the this stems from a false perception that our personal power is attached to money. In the way we exchange money, it usually is a process of coercion and force. What I mean by that, is that we create desires in people, and then dangle the fulfillment of that desire in front of them, provided they give us money. The more desirable the product, the more money a person has to give.
The energy behind this, is that of being forced against one's own will to give something away, which has a direct correlation with our value in society. Those who can force others to give them money are considered powerful and valuable, and those who can't are considered weak and powerless.
Everyone, regardless of financial status, seems to be looking for the best possible deal, denoting a situation where they can convince the seller to take the least amount of compensation, for the most amount of product. However, when we sell, we play on the desires of our customers to coerce them into giving the most amount of compensation, for the least amount of product. We consider that good business.
It seems that we only spend money, when we have to, which means we can only get it by forcing people to give it to us.
This use of money negates a very powerful principle. Namely, that we are interconnected, and that we live in a cosmos of love and limitless abundance. What we give our energy to, we feed.
When we give our energy to certain thoughts, we feed them. When we give our energy to certain actions, we feed them.
When we give our money to certain products, we feed the emotional frequency of what that product was intended for. If it was created to divide and instill fear, by giving money to it, we strengthen the frequency of fear and division. The same works the other way to. When we give money to those things which bring us joy, and happiness, we are feeding the frequency of love and abundance.
The Marketing of Love
So, from a business perspective, if I say that my product is love, experience has shown me that I will not be taken seriously. Even if I was, people would have a hard time accepting a quantifiable dollar amount for such a product.
When we spend money, we are not purchasing things, we are supporting them. Yet, we make it easy to purchase weapons, cigarettes, alcohol, and drugs, and difficult to support actions of love.
Yet, what we are really saying by that, is that we strengthen the engines that hold fear and division in place. It is no accident that those who seek to divide and conquer have immeasurable resources available to them, while those who seek to heal and make peace, battle on the fringes of the market, barely holding on. Each one of us has agreed to the world we live in. What we spend our money on, is what we strengthen in our world. That means, that no matter how trivial or astronomical the amount, when we give money to someone or something that brings us a feeling of joy, happiness, openness, healing, liberation, understanding, etc.., we are agreeing that life on earth can be beautiful and harmonious. We are taking responsibility, like that farmer, and choosing what plants we want to set in our gardens. From the vantage point, there is no need to fight fear. It simply becomes extinct and enters into the dream of abundance, love, and understanding.
It's our choice
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Invisible Borders
According to my premise, if peace and love are the releasing and alignment of free energy, understanding is the necessary application used to release free energy from perceptual molds which hold human beings socially captive and in an illusory state of segregation.
Since understanding is the key which unlocks peace and love, and understanding can be likened to building bridges across segregated units of identity or culture, crossing borders is an inevitable practice for anyone undertaking such a treacherous task.
There are many degradations of borders, from gross to very subtle. For instance, when I drove from the US to Canada there was a very concrete, hard to miss, border complete with barricades and border guards. When I traveled from Arizona to California, there was another border, but less obtuse, mostly signified by a welcome sign neatly tucked away at the side of the road.
There are also social borders, class borders, gender borders, generational borders, sexual borders, and many more, I'm sure, not mentioned here.
The more subtle a border, the more powerful its capacity to keep things separated, because it is hard to be cognizant of the fact that it exists.
Therefore, the invisible borders are the ones that are the most difficult to navigate.
I will say that my vision of peace-making is not the erasing of borders, but rather the building of bridges between borders that otherwise can't allow a person to cross smoothly from one unit of identity to the next. So it's more like making a quilt, or patching together a puzzle.
Each time one crosses a border, one's own horizon and perimeter of self expands, as the capacity to understand diverse units of identity expands.
Every time we cross a border, we have the power to build a bridge.
The invisible borders, are the borders we take for granted. They exist between us and the people we love.
To promote understanding, one has to constantly evaluate one's own invisible borders.
These are the questions the invisible borders evoke. Where is the segregation in a situation that doesn't overtly account for any segregation?
Since understanding is the key which unlocks peace and love, and understanding can be likened to building bridges across segregated units of identity or culture, crossing borders is an inevitable practice for anyone undertaking such a treacherous task.
There are many degradations of borders, from gross to very subtle. For instance, when I drove from the US to Canada there was a very concrete, hard to miss, border complete with barricades and border guards. When I traveled from Arizona to California, there was another border, but less obtuse, mostly signified by a welcome sign neatly tucked away at the side of the road.
There are also social borders, class borders, gender borders, generational borders, sexual borders, and many more, I'm sure, not mentioned here.
The more subtle a border, the more powerful its capacity to keep things separated, because it is hard to be cognizant of the fact that it exists.
Therefore, the invisible borders are the ones that are the most difficult to navigate.
I will say that my vision of peace-making is not the erasing of borders, but rather the building of bridges between borders that otherwise can't allow a person to cross smoothly from one unit of identity to the next. So it's more like making a quilt, or patching together a puzzle.
Each time one crosses a border, one's own horizon and perimeter of self expands, as the capacity to understand diverse units of identity expands.
Every time we cross a border, we have the power to build a bridge.
The invisible borders, are the borders we take for granted. They exist between us and the people we love.
To promote understanding, one has to constantly evaluate one's own invisible borders.
These are the questions the invisible borders evoke. Where is the segregation in a situation that doesn't overtly account for any segregation?
Monday, July 13, 2009
The Culture and Tradition of Spontaneaity
There are many cultures in our human family, with amazingly diverse and innovative ways of using song, dance, drama, and art to give a voice to their shared and unique ethnological riverbeds, as they have been shaped and carved out by the currents of experience. These expressions of identity keep alive the connection to a creative force, giving us hope, strength, and fellowship, even in the most adverse conditions.
The proliferation of cultural songs, dances, myths, stories, and depictions can shower people with a sense of family, belonging, and harmony in a world that often appears chaotic and senseless, especially in societies which have dismantled their ancestral and communal heritage.
I have experienced the difference between a song that is a creative expression, and one that carries within itself the seed and knowledge of ancestral experience within the context of family and belonging.
Each tradition carries unique qualities and attunements toward life, celebration, and creation. The passing on of these traditions is wonderfully important, especially to the machine nations who traded in their masks and quilts for homogony, uniformity, and production.
So what do the traditional songs of cosmology and consciousness look like?
If we can say that our social fabric was once quilted together by distinct patches, with well defined borders, and no chance of crossing over, I would say that we are moving into the liquidation of our social fiber.
I don't think this means that tradition can't exist anymore. On the contrary, I think that we are giving birth to the possibility of allowing very specific forms and traditions to exist, while simultaneously allowing other means of expression that don't fall into specific weaving patterns of known traditions to exist as well.
Translated into practice it means the following. In order for people to participate in a traditional song, for instance, they must know the specific melody, words, and perhaps even language of the song. Those who don't, can't participate.
However, if people decide to sing together, tapping into the field that exists moment to moment, expressing themselves through each person spontaneously, with impulse and improvisation, it is possible for everyone to participate, regardless of vocabulary, skill, or background. The only requirement is that one is present. A cultural identity is formed based on that very specific, unrepeatable, and unique event. Yet, the identity is only as long lived as the event itself.
I want to stress though, that I don't see this as replacing tradition. I merely would like to say that to me, this represents a "Tradition of Consciousness", as it unfolds moment by moment. It is the underlying substance that holds all traditions together in a way.
The proliferation of cultural songs, dances, myths, stories, and depictions can shower people with a sense of family, belonging, and harmony in a world that often appears chaotic and senseless, especially in societies which have dismantled their ancestral and communal heritage.
I have experienced the difference between a song that is a creative expression, and one that carries within itself the seed and knowledge of ancestral experience within the context of family and belonging.
Each tradition carries unique qualities and attunements toward life, celebration, and creation. The passing on of these traditions is wonderfully important, especially to the machine nations who traded in their masks and quilts for homogony, uniformity, and production.
So what do the traditional songs of cosmology and consciousness look like?
If we can say that our social fabric was once quilted together by distinct patches, with well defined borders, and no chance of crossing over, I would say that we are moving into the liquidation of our social fiber.
I don't think this means that tradition can't exist anymore. On the contrary, I think that we are giving birth to the possibility of allowing very specific forms and traditions to exist, while simultaneously allowing other means of expression that don't fall into specific weaving patterns of known traditions to exist as well.
Translated into practice it means the following. In order for people to participate in a traditional song, for instance, they must know the specific melody, words, and perhaps even language of the song. Those who don't, can't participate.
However, if people decide to sing together, tapping into the field that exists moment to moment, expressing themselves through each person spontaneously, with impulse and improvisation, it is possible for everyone to participate, regardless of vocabulary, skill, or background. The only requirement is that one is present. A cultural identity is formed based on that very specific, unrepeatable, and unique event. Yet, the identity is only as long lived as the event itself.
I want to stress though, that I don't see this as replacing tradition. I merely would like to say that to me, this represents a "Tradition of Consciousness", as it unfolds moment by moment. It is the underlying substance that holds all traditions together in a way.
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