The TRUMPet Call

Tags

bad people, beliefs, compassion, conflict, democracy, dialogue, freedom, opinion, president, tolerance, trump, understanding, USA, voltaire

Written on February 1, 2017 by 1 of the messengerS. All rights re-served.

 

“When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President. Now I’m beginning to believe it.” —Clarence Darrow (1857 – 1938).

Disclaimer-A: Please remember that irony/ satire by definition needs more freedom of speech & use of some for some offensive statements, often w/o author’s intention, but for a purpose of clearing the point.

1. Some people say that there’s no bad w/o good, i.e. when something bad happens, it probably also has something good in it. While it might not be in real life as comforting as it sounds on a paper, still it’s important to remember that eternal truth of “half/ quarter/ tenth glass full” & try to find it in the Real Life. Let’s take the new president for example…

Disclaimer-B: By no means ever I want to say that Mr.Trump is bad. As by no means ever I want to say that Mr.Trump is good. As BTW all other human or animal beings until it appears as 100% proven scientific fact. That is not for me to decide, as also I never met Mr. President personally. I try to separate between labeling good/ bad person as opposed to good/ bad actions. & even the actions themselves not always appear 100% as good or bad. So any sentence where I say something that appears good or bad about Mr. Trump (or about any other individual, including myself) is only due to the lack of my ability to express the intentional message at that point of text & time. & my intention is to understand psychology of everyone w/o my personal bias, which I must admit I had/ have? in abundance.

2. As most of us know by now we already can write books about USA’s 45th President, his life, his election, his social impact, etc. These days it’s hard not to have an opinion about this matter, even few opinions, even the opposite ones. Today I want to share 1 of such. Again, as usual, I’m not dealing with the person, but with the persona, which is for a matter of this article, the public perception of a certain individual. As we know some public thinks pretty badly about Mr. Trump, while others are quite excited. Again: it’s not my job to find out who is right; (at least I’m not getting paid to do so, so I’m not professional), but it IS my job (even I’m also still not getting paid to do so) to find the opportunity for Compassion. You might still call it tolerance, acceptance, respect or human rights; the words don’t matter, the principles are.

“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”  (Voltaire, 18th century).

Ironically, most of people say they adhere to this philosophy, they believe in freedom of speech, opinions, etc., but in Real Reality most of the same people find plenty of excuses to shut many people up. & it’s not only due to political/ religious/ racial/ gender correctness with excellent intentions to be tolerant & kind, except for those who seem to be intolerant & unkind. It’s everywhere: we tend to listen & to give stage/ voice to those opinions, which we think are right, while wise Voltaire talks about something else: We should give stage/ voice also to those who are completely wrong (to our point of view), (as BTW should do also those who express that “wrong” opinion). I think that 1 of the lessons of last elections is that if we become intolerant of the intolerant, then the intolerants will also not tolerate our intolerance towards the intolerant & we won’t have the full moral right to ask them to tolerate. (yes, it took me a while to write this one & still I’m not sure I understand, but the point is of course to be tolerant of everyone, even the intolerants…), & the only way to avoid those conflicts is through honest, sincere & compassionate Dialogue.

“Love truth, but pardon error” (Voltaire, 1738).  

Self-explanatory. Or not? Same thing: lots of talks about Forgiveness, millions of words & ceremonies, but in Reality we punish, punish, punish, condemn, mock, offend, fire, persecute, etc. those who we think are wrong. Maybe it’s not wrong sometimes, but it’s wrong to talk about Forgiveness after then. As usual: our sins seem much less sinful that the sins of people we disagree with. 

  “What is tolerance? It is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of frailty and error; let us pardon reciprocally each other’s folly — that is the first law of nature.”  (Voltaire, 1764)

(I have to note that he said it exactly 100 years before H. Spencer coined that awful term “survival of the fittest“, so we can forgive Voltaire for thinking that 1st law of Nature would be something positive & cooperative.)

3. Again: it’s all self-explanatory & most of us would agree w’ those statements; it’s the Hate & Anger that make it so difficult to follow our bright & good intentions. Each side says that they want to become better, to make better world/ country/ specific states- & it’s a very good start. What needed now is the Understanding that we Must listen to the other side, even if we think that that side is totally wrong.

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(Side comment:it’s very easy, but quite pointless to listen to the side which we think is right, it looks more like a campaign rally.)

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Why? Well, 1st of all those who declare their loyalty to Tolerance, Human Rights & Love (as opposed to those “bad guys & hombres”) should remember that Tolerance means Tolerance & not just tolerance of/ to “your kind or kind that you prefer”. When we have “zero- tolerance” towards anything (well, maybe except pure proven evil), then we are completely erasing any human dignity that has the person, which does something wrong to our opinion (& gay revolution & marijuana legalization are such a good examples), since obviously that person doesn’t understand yet how & why he/ she is wrong & by ignoring his/ her decisions/ opinions we are taking his/ her free will away, making him/ her a mental slave in that specific issue.

& now last quote for both wings/ sides:

“It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.” (Voltaire, Enlightenment).

I know it’s a confusing one. it’s very clever on a paper, but Voltaire forgot to tell us WHAT is Wrong or Right? (Or maybe he did it in a different quote). It brings us back to the question: How can we Know What’s Right?

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(Actually I must observe that according to millions comments I’ve seen, thousands interviews I’ve heard & hundreds of articles I’ve read that question is solved long time ago by many many many very smart individuals across our planet. The famous Socrates’ “I know that I know nothing” sounds our days very old-fashioned, dated & even pathetic, which brings us to the modern philosophy: How to co-exist in the world where everyone knows what’s right, yet What’s Right is quite different even within 1 country/ town/ family?

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The good news are that the solution might be quite simple: we don’t need to be concerned so much about what is Right or Wrong (although as we know from the Bible this is our Main purpose & Challenge on Earth, so we definitely should keep thinking about it), but we need to be more concerned about how good we treat the other person (“Treat other the way you want the other to treat you” cliche), regardless of their beliefs; to paraphrase “You can easily judge the character of others by how they treat those who can do nothing for them or to them.” : “…how we treat those who we disagree with…” Since we already know What is Right, then it shouldn’t be a problem to let the other side talk & say everything they have on mind, while we are trying to understand What they feel & think. In short: Freedom of Speech. But for Real! The other option is conversation of 2 people talking different languages or ∞ WAR. Thank you for your time!

Cristiano Ronaldo’s eternal argument

Tags

change, gay revolution, hypocricy, judging, satire, utopia

Written by 1 of the messengerS on November 21, 2016 with an irony as always.

[We apologize in advance if you find any offensive insinuations. Our purpose is to bring people together & not divide them by being this or that. Even Donald Trump said that “Now it’s time for America to bind the wounds of division; have to get together. To all Republicans and Democrats and independents across this nation, I say it is time for us to come together as one united people. It’s time. I pledge to every citizen of our land that I will be president for all Americans, and this is so important to me. For those who have chosen not to support me in the past, of which there were a few people. . .. . . I’m reaching out to you for your guidance and your help so that we can work together and unify our great country.”  We couldn’t say it better.

Well, obviously we couldn’t, it was just slip of the keyboard. & that “even” before Mr. Trump’s name was also inappropriate based on those wonderful words, which he spoke after he won the election. Just read it again, so spiritual & revolutionary: “get together”! “united people”! “It’s time”! “your guidance”! “unify”! I know there’s a freedom of speech in USA, but I’m not sure if there’s also a tradition that requires to mean what you say. Anyway we try to mean it, we discriminate no one, even if you are rich, you are welcome to our block…or blog… (Yes, i need to start to get rid of those “evens” before i say something to sound funnier; may be it does sound funnier, but not so even.)]

 

It’s kind of sad that plain altercation between famous people becomes world news & gets attention of millions, while much worse fights or even moral arguments between ordinary people for example in my town remain obscure for centuries. Seriously, if I’d got penny for every slur & insult which was verbalized just on my block for only few days, today I could say the same punchline, which said Cristiano Ronaldo yesterday to his attacker: “Yes, I’m a faggot, but faggot with a lot of money!” (http://www.sport-english.com/en/news/real-madrid/cristiano-ronaldo-yes-faggot-but-very-rich-one-5641409).

…       …       …     ….    ….    …..   ….

Sorry for a pause, it’s just that I’m not always thinking before I say something, which is why i’m such an ardent supporter of a 1st amendment. I meant of course the 2nd part of his sentence, after the “but” part. Not that something is wrong with the 1st part. Just not my thing. Well, the 2nd part is not my thing either. I’m not sure if there’s a correlation, but watching my street philosophy debates, I’ve learnt that if enough people think that there’s a correlation, then they don’t need any more scientific evidence to keep their opinion valid & applied.They even invented a word for it: “post-truth” & selected that word to represent this year. Again I could have not but think about my neighborhood, which since its foundation was living by its principles.

So, according to the rumors what happen is that 1 football player, which is going by the name of Koke accused Ronaldo of being homosexual. As I know from my little street, the angry, pre-fight verbal insults often have little to do with the reality; I could give plenty of examples, but i don’t want to rate my blog 18+ or even 21+, or in certain cases even much older restrictions must be applied. As long as I understand Koke’s point was (BTW his nickname adds another ironic aspect to the whole situation), that being gay is something (I don’t want to speculate too much, let’s say “not manly”, considering the context of a sport game), “bad, embarrassing”. But Ronaldo, unlike many of my street fighters took it literally & responded literally that despite being a gay, which is bad to Koke’s opinion; he (Ronaldo, although probably Koke too) has tons of money, which is good to Ronaldo’s opinion.

If I wasn’t clear till now, let me repeat again: I’m not interested in Ronaldo sexuality, neither I’m interested in the subject of sexual orientation. Also I’m not interested today in the issue of poor against the rich politics & obsession with possessions in general in recent trillion years. Today I’m interested only in the principle of this powerful argument: “Yes, I’m may be a X, but I have a lot of Y.” Honestly, it has nothing to do with the legendary & sexy Ronaldo…. I meant, the guy is very very good football player (Sorry Americans, not soccer, since your FOOTball players carry the ball with their HANDs). I’m just using this opportunity as a reminder of this powerful socio- logical reasoning: “Despite being an X, by being/ having Y, I improve my social status.”

Which reminds me of possible altercations in 1920s Soviet Union: “I’m may be gay, but at least I come from poor family of poor peasants”, “I’m may be short, but at least I work as a dishwasher & not some fu%ing businessman!” or in 1920s BC somewhere in South Europe: “I’m may be a bad gymnast, but at least I’m gay!” or probably somewhere in the Middle Ages: “I may be weak, but at least I have no money at all!” & I could go like this for the whole day if I knew history or had 48 hours in each day for my research. Yes, I’m may be a very bad historian, but my point is that who knows what’s bad (& gay revolution is such a good example of something that culturally went from something that so…”not manly” & “bad” to something that in certain places is so good…, I mean popular & common & even required) & what’s good (of course having tons of money very often was, is & will be considered as a very very good thing, & I’m not saying it’s not; I’m just saying that who knows, that may be in some future sport altercations, future “Ronaldo” will say: “May be I’m that, who you think I am, but at least I’m trying to be friendly & peaceful, kind & compassionate, in short, I’m trying to be a good person & hate no one, including the haters.”

Of course I’m talking about very distant future, because for now even my small street is full of people who know for sure what’s right & wrong, what’s bad & good, what a normal person should say, look & how that person should behave & think. I don’t know what happens on your street, but if I had the money for the ticket, I’d be very curious to find out. Anyway, sorry for too much brackets, what I mean is that I have a Dream! …

Due to the copyright issues I mean that my vision is simple: Let’s stop the Judgment Days, let’s not just fit in to what is cool & prestigious today on our street, considering everybody else as losers, outcasts, freaks, weirdos & crazy. Who knows may be in very short time those geeks, greens & gays will become a norm (I know it’s a norm already, but when I started to write this sentence it wasn’t). It just looks funny, kind of ridiculous, when you are deriding and making fun of those who “are not cool”. (Someone is saying that it’s exactly what I’m doing here, making fun of those who are making fun of other those, therefore I want to emphasize once again: Satire is not necessarily mean or disrespecting & self-irony is the proof of that, nobody is perfect; humor helps to improve that, satire sheds light on places, which we even didn’t know existed.)

I mean there’s no judgment, feel free to be funny & ridiculous, but the problem with hypocrisy is that it’s basically a lie, just a hidden one, & lie is something that is not true & when we say that we try to be sincere, true to ourselves, honest, etc., while at the same time being judgmental & hypocritical, then we ourselves create our inner & outer conflicts & again that gay thing is such a wonderful example of all those men who are hiding their whole lives in their closets, while outwards mocking feminine or gay men. I understand that they felt pressure by society, therefore i see solution only when the whole society drops its categorizing to good or bad things: is it bad to be gay? is it good to be rich? I know, we are so used to typecasting, stereotyping & ranking that is seems not normal being neutral, accepting & inclusive.

Therefore i think it’s ok, keep judging for now; freedom of speech & thought is too important, even when it’s biased, but at least let’s Judge other people, but let’s not “put them in prison right away”, I mean let’s not hate them just because they are different, & I mean for real not hate them, not just say “I hate no one”, but your behavior proves you wrong. And again, gay’s fate is a very good example, since certain people in the past & even in the present literally kill certain people JUST because they are gay! (I mean those who were killed, but now when i think of the closet, may be it was also the other way around). Is it a JUST cause? Most of us agree that it’s not, but what about bullying? Probably also not a good one. But what about bullying in general? Of ANYone? What about humiliating, threatening, ridiculing, jeering, etc. those, who we just don’t like or those who are weak to defend themselves, even if they are “a Man”?

You think it’s an utopia? You think it’s impossible that most of people would choose to be just, fair, honest, kind, friendly & humane? Then ask gay men if they knew in 1970s that in 2015 (USA) they could marry one another? (& in Europe even earlier?)(& if they did know, then let’s find some another impossible thing, which became reality; as I said I don’t know history well enough, but I know that change is the only thing that doesn’t change.(Heraclitus, 5th century BC). The question is What kind of Change do we ALL want to see?

Genesis: the modern tale.

Tags

agnosticism, Bible, Buddha, Creation, Dukkha, Free Will, God, suffering

Written on July 21, 2016 by 1 of the messengerS. All rights re-served.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author only. & even those occur only occasionally.

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. & earth was formless and empty”; also was dark, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. & then God started to create the whole Universe & our Earth specifically. God separated light from darkness, water from water, day from night & man from woman. & everything was very very good & of course couldn’t be otherwise, because it was GOD who created all that. ^“God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.” & the 7th was the day of resting of course, & still everything was pretty good.

(But) On the 8th day God saw that (still) everything was so good & perfect because God is Good & perfect. & on the 9th day God saw that everything (still) was so good. & on the 10th & 11th. (But) Somewhere between 12th & 13th God probably said: “Wait a minute/year/millennia! Everything & everywhere is So good, SO Good, that it’s kind of too good & boring & since variety is good too, let’s create some oasis of suffering, among all that Goodness, We’ve created. & that’s how human civilizations are all started.

But since God was So Good, God couldn’t just leave people to suffer eternally & helplessly, having no Hope whatsoever, since if the Creator godself created “such is life“, then who will help them? No, God is So Good, that even in the place of Dukkha, beings shouldn’t suffer all the time desperately. They always have to have the option of asking God for help & hoping that 1 day God will actually help them for real & will end their suffering. Therefore God needed the local anti-god creature, which will be responsible for the so called creation of evil & bad things. Today we call it Devil or Satan or many other names.

& finally in order for a suffering to be Suffering & not just pain or torture, the Beings (at least some of them) were needed to have the Realization, Understanding, Awareness of that state of Affliction, making the experience of Suffering real, actual & complete. Today we call it Free Will or Mind or Ego or many other names. & that’s how the tale ends. Or begins if you are watching it from the human perspective. Since the meaning of our Life could easily be that, which is already happened; since God wouldn’t create something meaningless & even then that Meaninglessness would have the full meaning.

-“So Buddha was right, then?”

“I know, my child, it sounds bad & wrong, but that’s the only explanation i have, when i look upon our world & our history & don’t get me wrong: my sarcasm is not coming from pure cynicism or atheism; i truly & fully believe in God & recommend it to you too. My irony is coming from my suffering & sufferings of all those who know that they suffer. Also, despite the tale’s spirit, i don’t think that God was motivated by some sadistic plans; quite the opposite: Our sufferings probably have some even Bigger Purpose. May be as the president put it: “Scripture tells us that in our sufferings there is glory, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” (https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/07/12/remarks-president-memorial-service-fallen-dallas-police-officers).        

I don’t fully understand what Glory means in this context, & personally I need Happiness, more than i desire Perseverance or even Character, but this gives us some idea, that our Suffering is not in vain, definitely not if God godself made it. We might not see the Bigger Picture, we might only focus on our troubles, misery, depression & grief, but sure if the plan was for us to experience suffering, we are surely doing pretty well. & if U R still asking why such a painful plan was needed, then may be U R asking something like: Why we need ice & why we need fire? Why we need diseases & why we need injuries? We definitely don’t need any of that bad stuff, but if the equation is that w/o any bad, the Good somehow isn’t complete; then i’ve left only w’ admiration to those who suffer in order for the Whole Creation to complete its Making. In this sense we are heroes, being on the frontline of the struggle w’ Evil, which ironically is alive mostly in our hearts! & logically & paradoxically  those are the bad news & the good news at the same time. The bad news are of course that we must suffer, but the good news are that according to that, we may end our sufferings, once we start to eliminate the bad staff from our selves. & look: indeed, usually the way we live is by feeding our Ego, not by improving it; what we wish usually is to improve the condition of the Ego, & not the condition of the Soul. & Soul will never attack or harm, because Soul resides in another dimension of Joy & Fearlessness. Not Bravery (which is the overcoming of the Fear), but Fearlessness, which is a Lack of it.

I don’t have magical solution & i shouldn’t have it by definition of the created & all those who claimed to have it were failing to implement it till present day. We don’t know the Answer, but we always should look for the one. Or not. Since God created Free Will. But those who are tired of suffering, probably will constantly look for the solution. Can we & HOW we can End our Sufferings?

 

 

Very short Layman’s history of governmental Authority:

Tags

authority, compassion, domination, freedom, government, human nature, kindness, love

Written on February 10, 2016 by one of the messengerS. All rights re-served.

 

And that’s how it was: In the Beginning the Strongest ruled over the Weakest. May be not in the Real Beginning, but I’m sure there was a certain point when That Beginning have started. So at that Beginning everything was clear: the stronger your body & spirit, the more Power you had. If some will say that it looks similar to what happens today in many areas of our life or places on Earth, I’d say that it’s another Layman’s History.

But some people didn’t like it. Some others probably thought:” That’s how God created our Universe & Life, so that’s how it supposed to be, so you should comply with your conditions & birth restrictions; wait till Heaven, it’s not Big Deal, since “Life is SO Short”, etc., etc.”. If some would say that it looks very similar to how some people think & excuse their cultural & political Procrastination these days; I’d say wait till another post.

So those who weren’t so pleased with the situation thought: “If we will gather together (2,3,5,10 people) & attack that MF, then we will overpower him & will become powerful ourselves. & so they did. But so did some other MF, who understood the New ZeitGeist. & that’s how family & tribes were born & people thought that they became progressive & smart. & probably they did. But not from the point of Authority. Just now instead of many people protecting or/ & harming only for themselves, they started to protect &/ or harm for their community. And since/ & although human population increased (excuse my speculation for the sake of an argument), in Reality there was the same number of groups/ entities/ subjects, competing for the Power, as it was before (let’s say 50-100  strongest men). Later, of course, those tribes & families became nations & countries; but the principle remained.

But some people still didn’t like it. They said: ” Although it looks like a Change, we don’t feel that in our lives. Still same oppression & slavery just in a slightly different ways.” & so they invented the concept of Justice & reinvented God. As opposed to the religious obedience & acceptance of those others; these revolutionaries said that God actually created us all equal & unique; & if you have strong hands you should go & cut some wood & not bully your fellow citizens. But since they also couldn’t live w/o the concept of Authority, they said: “Since we are ALL equal, let’s divide the Authority & Power between us all in equal portions, & that would be fair enough.” Some others, of course, argued that “life is NOT fair by design”, & therefore it’s OK to be not fair Yourself, since “that’s Life” & “Such is World” & conscience is just a fairytale. But so many people were already SO excited about these New Trends of “God is One & for EveryOne” (remember that the actual number of positions of Power didn’t change, despite the population growth?), that that minority who was against “Fair Living” learnt to hide their thoughts under educated proclamations & sophisticated philosophy.

But how you divide the Power & Authority? You can divide cows or money, but the Power to force & tell other people how to live their lives cannot be divided equally, unless every other day the teacher will take the place of the student, boss will replace the slave , children will preach to their parents & so on. So they said: “Although we cannot share Authority equally; it’s an oxymoron, since by definition Authority means subordination, domination & other Power Differences; then let’s make it temporary.” & immediately started the fundraising for the first elections.

Now everything looked fine. Of course most of people still were grumbling about this or that, like losers always do, but the other part of “most of people” dreamt not to improve the system, but to find their warm place inside that system & to enjoy here & there the pleasures of the Power. “& even if assumedly we’d like to live in the better world, what world would it be? How to divide Authority in the Perfect World?”

& here is the catch: since in a perfect world, there is NO Authority whatsoever. It’s true I haven’t been there & it’s true I’d be a bad citizen in that world, yet the original sin is not the Political System we are trying to live in, but the very fact that from The Beginning we agreed to Authority, even more: we liked it! Even moreer: we’ve craved for it, we idolized it. Let’s ask the dictionary what is Authority: “the power or right to give orders or make decisions; the power/ right to control someone & to enforce obedience.” Nice…No one would agree to that BS unless it’s “for your own good, for a common good, for a noble cause..”, etc. blah-blah-blah…(I’m not saying our Good is blah- blah, i’m saying those who tell such things usually think (for Real) only about one Good Thing & Cause.

The Actual Reason we followed the Authority is because we like being the Authors (Owners) of property or people & till we start to change this ideology of Power, no system would be just, fair or even good for us. The rules might be different, but Game is the Same: To Become Powerful. Some do it through business, others through politics, some by writing, others by playing, but all of us play the Game of Ego: “who is the Best? (& forget the rest!).

& now, of course, the famous tricky & cunning argument: “It’s a Human Nature!”. Harder than that would be only the Best of The Best Argument: “It’s in the Bible!” End of discussion! Although I must admit our God is contradictory One: Gave us many specific Rules of Living & then at the End of this Perfect Political System added something so useless & problematic as FREE WILL. Just let’s imagine me few centuries ago, when society didn’t realize the importance of children’s rights, showing my children what’s in the Bible: “Respect your Parents” you little…..!” Actually I don’t have any problem with this one (except for the fact that i would add everybody else, including animals & trees, (actually I’d stop after the 1st word)). But if you give Moral Authority to the people who have little of that morals just because they happened to be In The Right Place & The Right Time for that Authority (parents, managers, leaders, teachers or preachers), obviously they will use it for abuse. The same applies to our Eternal Excuse.

My point is; instead of looking for a better system, let’s look for a ways to become better ourselves. If every person through History was saying “It’s a Human Nature” we still were having slaves, eating our fellow weakest citizens & doing all other cruelties you can find in History books. Instead of superiorly teaching & mean punishing; let’s educate (kindly explain/ show) & share (our experiences). People who don’t believe in Transformation, should not believe in Evolution either. & so not in God, since both imply Growth & Improvement. I know our world still looks very distant from that destination, & sometimes even seems that our world is not going to make it in general due to the use of nuclear weapon, but let’s ask ourselves: how many of us Really tried to become kind & spread the word of Real Love between everybody else? By this I mean, of course, not the talking or demagoguing, but Real & Genuine Will of the Heart. Not many, as I saw. Then how could we change? Everyone is expecting to change other people first. This way we can wait for ever. It’s true that “It’s a Human Nature”, but it’s not true, that “There’s Nothing we can do”, I mean: there is Not, if we don’t want it & don’t believe in it, but once someone wants to follow Christ or other Love Messengers, then it IS possible (since many people already did it). Some might call it “it’s just growing-up”, well…Growing Up sometimes takes Time, indeed, but not everyone who becomes older, also becomes kinder.

So this is The End. Definitely. We cannot live the same way we’ve lived before, craving for Authority & Power, while ignoring (in a best scenario) other people. The Dominance of Our Ego must end or it will end everything else on Earth (thanks to our scientific geniuses). But we shouldn’t worry: the slightly little egotistical world is not boring or dull (some think quite the contrary). Once you understand that in order to be happy you don’t need to oppress & dominant other people (some think that actually it’s the other way around), then you enter Whole New World of additional Possibilities & abilities to experience Joy & Love. I’d like to remind us all that our Desire for Love & Joy is/ was more “Dominant” than our Desire for Power. Some of us just not always are aware of it, some of us just gave up to achieve it & some of us just want to survive in this, indeed, cruel world; however once you get the glimpse of what we can feel being genuinely friendly or non- aggressive, then not many people want to come back to that Ambitious, Aggressive, Stressful, Violent, Hateful, etc. way of Living.

How I know? I don’t remember How, but i don’t think it’s important, I’m not here to convince you, since I respect your Free Will; I’m here to Remind you, to Call you. If you don’t feel like transforming yourself, that’s fine. May be not for your kids/ family or your employees/ coworkers, for your neighbors or your friends, but it’s Fine for YOU. & it’s also very important for the rest of us. There’s proverb: “By saving One Life, you are saving Whole World.” To paraphrase it “By respecting One Being, You are Respecting them All.” Of course both statements don’t work literally in the “Real World”, but they sound very true in certain contexts & situations. There are circumstances when how you treat only One Person, would be equal to How we are supposed to treat them All. Consider for example treating stinky homeless person as celebrity or some wealthy, respected Authority. If you’d say “don’t be ridiculous”, then say it to Jesus & other Love Messengers & to those regular people which treated bums with Full respect & Genuine Compassion. I saw it with My Own Eyes, since I was homeless myself.

Thank you for your Time!

Today is a Fool’s Day! :-) :-/ :-0

Tags

April Fool's Day, do not judge, foolish, funny, humor, ridiculous

“Posted by 1 of the Messengers on April 1, 2015. All rights re-served. 🙂

Thanks God, again i can show my ridiculous side w/o being judged as criminal, again i can be playful, foolish & even stupid, w/o people condemning me. Well, of course, they condemn anyway, but today i have an excuse. If i was a richman i would travel to distant countries to enjoy this day a little longer. i’m curious, where come from the invention that adults must “grow up”?, while by “growing up” i mean, of course, becoming less innocent, playful, joyful & silly. Why can’t we be “childish” our WHOLE lives?; since being “childish” means 1st of all being joyful & not only irresponsible & stupid. We could still have a job & pay our mortgage, we could still build planes & flight them, we could still be scientists & musicians, actors & teachers, farmers & even politicians. Of course it would be harder to compete, to hate, to wage wars or to finish a college, but on the other hand it would be easier to laugh, to happy, to merry, to have fun & to enjoy.

Again i can reasonously ask: “Why SO SeriOus?” (i know there R SO many problems & dramas…, i know because i have plenty of them, but can we let our Joy & Positive Foolishness pass by for our whole life, always focusing only on our challenges? Jews make Sabbath (resting day) every week & it’s a God’s Law! (It’s 1 of 10 commandments!). Let’s take an example & celebrate April 1 at least every month! Just imagine government officials smiling to U (Have U seen such a miracle?), imagine businessmen doing pranks; imagine your boss getting loose & treating U like U can be funny & smart too, imagine that the spirit from our comedies becomes our very daily life. [Did U see all those sitcom comedies, where people laugh every 5 seconds? Since i finished my HS i was looking for all those Very Funny people, or at least a little funny: i traveled a lot, but never saw a group of people behaving in a sitcomish way, (except may be after a few drinks…). & Too Bad…]

Again i can stop pretending being adult & mature. i just wish that other people will Really celebrate the Day of Fools by Really being in high spirits & not just say/do something  mean & then laugh because someone got hurt. & i wish that we all will feel free to express any funny/ humorous/ ridiculous, etc. side that we have, everywhere we go, even in the school & workplace, on the public commute & at home with your family. & even if U think that being funny is allowed only today (April 1st), then by all means, pliz be serious, but let other people be foolish & silly (as long as they don’t hurt any1 of course) & don’t judge them as idiots or crazy because: “Do not judge, so that U won’t be judged” (Matthew 7:1), & “Do not judge, & U will not be judged. Do not condemn & U won’t be condemned. Forgive & U”ll be forgiven.” (Luke 6:37). PLease listen to Matthew & Luke. I’m sure they have a point! Hopefully we will talk about the HUMOR next time, but for today we wish U a JOYFOOL Day!!!

 & Jesus said: ” Truly i tell U, unless U change & become like little children, U”ll never enter the kingdom of Heaven.” (Matthew 18:3). Back to Childhood– today is April Fool‘s Day!!!

& this is EDM for the Fool‘s Day: https://soundcloud.com/messengers_of_compassion/be-happy

Have FUN !!!   !!!   !!!   !!!

I was Happy to see that there is an International Day of Happiness: March 20.

Tags

happiness, how to be happy, international day of happiness, joy

Posted by 1 of the messengers on March 13, 2015. All rights re-served.

i didn’t know about that Happy Day before. may be  that’s why i was depressed.  But now there’s a Hope. If UN for a whole day will talk about human international Happiness, then it means that may be we Internationally will realize that to be Happy is something that people Really want to do. (because American Dream for ex. doesn’t include Happiness or when i asked 1 of my friends what he wants to be when he will grow up (even though he’s already grown up, but not in the sense of the question) and he answered me: “to be Happy” & i thought he’s joking, because i meant something like engineer, doctor, lawyer or dishwasher; but Really, what is more important: our professional achievements or our Joy?). Everyone since their 1st day of bad mood, knows that we all want to be happy, but somehow & somewhy that’s not what our life is about. We all want to be happy, but in reality most of us doing homeworks, going to college, working, partying, arguing, watching TV or any other activities. We don’t REALLY stop and ask ourselves what actually MAKES us happy and what it ACTUALLY means to be happy.

Of course i’m not going to tell U either. Also i’m not saying don’t go to college or a job (although i wouldn’t mind to see our schools & workplaces more happier and nicer- at least on March 20, for a start). All i’m saying is that we spend most of our time doing something that we ourselves say it’s much less important than our emotional harmony, but we r doing it anyway. Of course we easily can blame our bosses, education system, government, stupid people or family (which supposed to be the happiest place for us) & we will have point. Modern urban life is hectic, stressful & time-demanding, but often even when we R alone, we remain hectic, stressful & always looking for something to do to “kill time”. This “chrono-suicide” (in some circles called “procrastination”) becomes 1 of the top 3 our life activities after job & sleep. Usually it has excellent disguise of reading news, playing games or cleaning the house, but in the end of the day we always find something better to do than for example meditation, “alone-time” or reading good book (which is when read too often could become bad, since everything in life is this or that due to its proportion). So why we prefer to “kill time”, instead of moving towards Happiness? From my personal experience the answer is: we don’t KNOW how to become Happy.

For ex. let’s see what honorable Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said last year in the message for the International Day of Happiness: (http://www.un.org/en/events/happinessday/2014/sgmessage.shtml)

“Happiness may have different meanings for different people. But we can all agree that it means working to end conflict, poverty and other unfortunate conditions in which so many of our fellow human beings live.”

(Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon message for the International Day of Happiness, 20 March 2014).

Unfortunately i cannot agree with this definition. As usual i’m not going to talk about Secretary-General, what he meant & if he is right or not; i don’t see how it will make me happier. What is more important is to talk about WHAT is Happiness. His message was chosen only because it’s an official UN day, he is an official UN S-G & what he said is an official misconception about Happiness, “that it means working to end” some “unfortunate conditions”. It looks like very obvious & common sensible, but it’s not. i don’t want to pick on words, rather i would like to use the opportunity of March 20 to remind that we need to BE Happy & not to BECOME or in other words we shouldn’t wait that something will happen by us, by certain people, by God or fate & we one bright day will be Happy for the rest of our lives. We have/had billions of examples around us, showing that this is not the way towards Happiness, but nevertheless we still think of Doing something, instead of Being Someone. As usual i could chose similar message from 1 of my neighbors, but as usual authoritative person is more reliable.

As a poor, unfortunate, war-escaping person, i don’t object to end poverty, wars or whatever bad we R having on our planet. Quite the contrary: Let’s finish all the hunger $ homeliness TODAY! i heard humanity has the means to do so, we just don’t care enough. & why we don’t care? Because even rich people R not happy, so obviously, they must first to take care of themselves. i wish all the millionaires Happiness on March 20 & even whole weekend, don’t forget to donate! What i’m saying is that what honorable S-G is talking about is not Happiness, but simple Survival. Of course U cannot be happy if U R dead (although i’ve heard other stories), but there R many International “Days of Survival”, for ex.: the day after “the Happy Day” is the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, on June 20 UN commemorate World Refugee Day, Sept. 21 is the Day of Peace, a week after UN tries totally to eliminate Nuclear Weapons, Oct. 2 is International Day of Non-Violence, Oct. 16 is a Food Day (is it about hunger or culinary?), day after it UN eradicates poverty, on Nov. 16 UN observes Tolerance, Nov. 19 is a Toilet Day, which is actually about sanitation & not what U (& i) were thinking; Dec. 10 is a Human Rights Day & i didn’t include many relevant days just because it’s already late & i want to sleep. There R enough (365) days in the year for every problem humanity has. That’s why on a Day of Happiness we should be concerned with Happiness & not with Peace, Poverty, Hunger & other “unfortunate conditions”, since all those conditions already have their own days.

Right now i remember only Jesus, but i’m sure every Spiritual Leader said similar thing: “People don’t live by bread alone” (Matthew 4:4), which obviously means that U cannot be happy just by eating, drinking, having fun, car & house. Then How We Can Be Happy? Since it’s late we R going to talk about it later (i hope by the morning i will have some ideas, meanwhile i would be happy to hear yours).

& btW: Be Happy! & U won’t worry. Happy International Day of Happiness Everybody!

 

Why people harm another?

Tags

Compassion (a.k.a. empathy, a.k.a. LOVE), evil, first no harm, good vs bad, humane, kindness, stand-up

(Posted by one of the messengerS, All rights re-served; March 7, 2015) Disclaimer: since i’m not a writer, but only a small messenger, the text that follows is boring and not clear, and even when it was funny, it happened in front of another messenger and on a virtual paper sounds pretty dull; so if U R looking for a literature or at least something reasonably readable than U have many other blogs. For us it’s enough to ask the questions and to wait for an answers. We would like every person who has want and time to suggest their own explanations. U can write anything except copy and paste from Wikipedia, because we already did it. U can write anonymously, about your own experience, as long as U answer the question: what’s the psychological, inner reasons and motives for people to harm another for a sake of harming? But of course U R always welcome to answer other questions or question other answers. Any comments, suggestions or solutions are very anticipated. Thank you very much!

Why we want to inflict pain on someone?

Today we r not going to talk about retaliation/revenge, mental abnormality, moral right or anything of this kind. We will try to contemplate about Real Evil, if it exists. We heard that some philosophers already found some answers, but since they keep their answers in their books (and usually we don’t see their connection to the “RealLife”); we think it’s important to talk about it, even if we have no idea what we are talking about. What’s important to us is not the Philosophy for a sake of the debate, but the Compassion, i.e. the actual feeling of feelings of other people. From our point of view, we can even repeat same mantra: “Compassion-Noissapmoc-Compassion”, etc., as long as it works. And even if it doesn’t, WordPress very compassionately gives us space to express our thoughts. Thank You!

Why some people like to see someone else suffering? There are many answers possible and they all might be right. Every answer describes its specific perspective & context. Yet, when Leibniz, for ex. “Theodicing” (since we all have Google, then we can google all, for ex.: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodicy) that evil of human beings doesn’t mean that God is not Good or Omnipotent; it’s different from discussing the psychology/nature of human evilness itself, w/o talking about God or devil. Because often it looks that all people are bad, and evil ones are those who just actually do it; others out of fear from God don’t harm another living beings, so they are considered pretty normal, OK or even good citizens. If i understand right, then w/o God/punishment/intimidation, etc. all people 24/7 will engage in pure evilness and all those books & blogs about compassion are simply losers’ whinings. While in my case it’s very close to the truth, i must remind that most of religious founders ( Jesus, Buddha, etc.) talked about Love, Compassion, Kindness and even Forgiveness, i.e. those very people who lead us to God, say that although people might be evil, they also might be …at least not so bad.

Since probability that evil people read blogs about compassion is very low i wouldn’t share my brilliant “selfish compassion” argument, that to be good is more useful and beneficial to the evil persons themselves, than to be bad, because when U r bad people won’t like U, and when u r good people will. i’m not sure if this argument just doesn’t work in practice or to be liked by people is by far less important in our hectic/ busy societies, than for ex. to be respected, valued, honored, feared or whatever is the case in a specific circumstances. While in theory this argument seems pretty solid, in reality we all know good people who are nice and nothing, and bad people who are successful and powerful. Which is not necessarily “bad” of course, but due to the inherent nature of the Power, powerful people like to abuse, disuse and misuse their powers. i personally “like” the explanation, that those people don’t know how to live. Somewhere in the past they tried to be happy, to love & to be loved, but their surroundings or karma, or both or whatever didn’t let them to live positively, in joy, so they have died. Psychologically. They became harsh, rough; they lost their hope in humanity. They r dead in the sense that they don’t know how to live in order to be happy, which we still believe is 1 of the main meanings and reasons of life. So in order to feel alive they poking death or its replica (pain, suffering)- sometimes their own, sometimes of other people. Danger, emotion of extreme fear somewhy gives them the feeling of being alive.

The question is why we choose this perversed  option, instead of trying to be happy regardless/despite the evil around us? We ask U pliz to share ur ideas. i, personally think, that by the time U become aware of that option, U already lived for many years in the mode/ condition/ environment of despair and pain, since all the bad things that happen to U, happen immediately after U born or in ur early childhood, when U cannot resist it in a mature and positive way. Somewhy we respond to the life out of fear. (disclaimer: we r talking, of course, about those who r, if U always responded from love, then this article is not about U). Why? Collective consciousness or rather sub/unconsciousness? Probably. But all this is important only because we need to find solution to how to become happy. Me, personally, for ex. Luckily i never (i hope) wanted to inflict on someone pain in order to feel alive, i wrote music instead, but i am far from being happy. i read many books, & they help, but only till certain point (usually it’s the threshold of my apartment), so i’d like to hear from those who found joy, who REALLY transformed themselves from misery to at least 50% of JoyfulLife and kept if for at least few years. (of course anyone is welcome to write about anything except rocket science). Thank U for ur help! (To be continued of course, i have to go write music now). Read U later! And:

S. Hawking warns that “human aggression threatens to destroy us all”

Tags

a/k/a LOVE), aggression, Compassion (a/k/a empathy, end of the world, humor, science, spirituality, stand-up, violence

(posted by one of the messengers, All rights re-served, 2015)

S. Hawking warns that “human aggression threatens to destroy us all”:

My wimpy friend would say U the same thing, but it’s good to have more authoritative figure to say something that we all can see every day of our lives. If U don’t see it, while not being Buddha-like person, pliz tell me where do U live, i promise we will live quietly near by and will be very nice to all 5 people of your village. I don’t want to retell the news, U can read it here for ex.:    http://news.discovery.com/space/hawking-our-aggression-will-destroy-humanity-150223.htm

As my boss likes to say (aggressively, may i say): “It’s not a rocket science” (about the job i’m a little getting paid for once in a while). (It’s funny how people use the same trivial cliches for decades w/o getting tired of it and even saying it each time with a “smarty smile”, as if saying: “Obviously your job is not a rocket science, but to say it to U by me was pretty clever”. He does it every week (at least to different employees). But it’s not as bad as it can sound, because he’s a living example for me of a famous and profound Heraclitus’ sentence: “You cannot step into the same river twice, for other waters are continually flowing on.” Therefore according to Heraclitus my boss is never repeating himself and it’s me who cannot understand the ever-changing nature of things. Nevertheless if i will ever meet S. Hawking or at least average physicist, after polite “How R U?” i will politely ask to demystify that scary “science of the rockets”, because i’m tired of my boss…i mean feeling stupid that i feel headache only from hearing “aerospace engineering”.), so although it’s not a rocket science (it’s a human psychology) not many prominent figures talk about our real problems. May be they assume that this is inherent human nature and only God could help us, but we talk about wars, weapons, violence, murders, etc., but we are rarely talking about their roots. At least in the mass media. But Aggression even worst than Recession, or may be i’m wrong…

But being a wimpy…   However from my friend’s experience i do understand in human aggression from my personal experience and under the protection of the great mind and cosmologist Mister S. Hawking i feel more safe to talk about something that also obviously is not a “rocket science”. & if my boss will make a fuss, i will be more confident this time: “i’m not alone.  U probably heard of Mr. S.Hawking or saw the movie, since U R so fond of the rocket science, so….And before i forget…U remember me working on a Martin Luther King Jr. Day? U respect him so much, U probably know he said “Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.” Do U remember how U treated us on that day? Yes, exact the same way U treat us always. But at least out of respect for your respected MLK Jr. U could at least pretend.”

There R 2 reasons why i talk so elaborately about my boss. The 1st is obvious, & the 2nd one is that i believe in a personal aggression. Of course wars in Middle East, East Europe, Africa, etc. is a worldwide Tragedy. Murders, bullying, humiliation every minute, everywhere is a living hell. I was there, I saw it. But i also know that all the wars combined (unless they R in my city) don’t affect me even a tenth of what i feel after my boss dishonors my human dignity. I know he’s sure i don’t have one, but i disagree with him on that too. To me “it’s not a rocket science” to see that every living (yes, not only human) being feels pain when is being treated as someone unworthy and inferior. Not every human or animal shows it, but we all feel it. Losers are not different from winners in a sense that they need respect too. & if U say “it’s a tough competition, “survival of the fittest” and all that kind BS, then, fine…go and survive. But pretty soon U will need a rocket to go and look for another planet. It’s not me saying, it’s S. Hawking (aha!…) Luckily, U do understand in rocket science, so enjoy the incredible views of out-of-space!

If U think that my boss looks (from inside of course) something like this: 

… then no, He is one of the best i met and since i’m not a rocket scientist i met a lot. He kind of a nice guy, when he’s not in his role of the professional boss. If U”ll meet him on a train he might smile to U, if U”ll meet him in a store he might wish U good day, if U”ll meet him in a strip club he might even…Anyway, what i meant to say is that to my belief Mr. S. Hawking is not talking only about the real dangers to the Mother Earth like wars, nukes and such, U don’t need to be a rocket scientist  (did i just say it myself?) to understand how this is very bad. extremely bad. Super Bad! What we gonna do w/o Earth? Even in a movies it looks pretty bad. Yet, the root for that Super Danger is not there, the real origins of all wars and violence are here, in our daily lives. Aggression (explicit or implicit) that comes to us through our bosses, classmates, spouses, neighbors, coworkers, police officers, cashiers, government workers or just someone who is passing by is much much much more poisons us than Big Genocide 1000 miles from our home. & the reason is simple: emotions r contagious.

As S.Hawking remarked (since those scientists want so much to believe that everything which is natural must also be useful): “It (aggression) may have had survival advantage in caveman days, to get more food, territory or a partner with whom to reproduce, but now it threatens to destroy us all.” I personally think that life must be much more complex and diverse than just animal features and all that Darwinistic…what’s the right polite word?.. mistake? Yes, inside the perspective of 1 specific caveman it looks as if the purpose of aggression is to achieve something valuable/desirable (food/sex/respect) …wait a minute… i see many parallels around me, except the cage thing. Also it’s unclear to me if it means that he is optimistic about human species, that we can learn to get food/family/status by other means than simple (or sophisticated) violence. Unfortunately, in our days aggression still has “survival advantage”, although not always as blunt as in prehistoric times. Although again, depending on a place and time. Aggression is still very useful and beneficial (if U, of course much stronger than your opponent, that’s why usually we see so called “hierarchical aggression”, as in army: U can yell on someone as much as U want, as long as U R superior on them. Of course in modern times in some areas of life instead of physical fight or yelling there R tests, firings (out of job), gossips, judgings, music concerts or sport games.

My apologies for a long post (i only started), but i completely agree with S. Hawking (if i understood correctly what he meant): what kills us it’s not so called (abstract) wars, when it’s some leaders faults or greedy capitalists or whatever they say in newspaper. It’s only the outcome. The reason, cause, IMHO, is always one: our mental state is similar to that of the caveman, he spoke about: our collective psychological development (i think some people call it EQ) is more-or-less at the same level of primitive people.

(to be continued, until the end of the Aggression)

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grey color designates the parenthesis, kind of footnote, annotation.

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Disclaimer: I don’t really speak English, so i apologize for all the hard-to read passages. i’m not here to write, but to call. for Peace. Inner. Also due to a few injuries and traumas during long periods of my life, i always try to be funny, while talking about serious issues. Sorry) Don’t take me too serious in places where i am not. Thank U!

Introduction

Tags

awareness, Compassion (a.k.a. empathy, a.k.a. LOVE), conscience, meaning of life

1. Only recently we realized that to finish college is not the most important thing in our lives. That to achieve success is not our only dream. We always knew it, but realized only recently. Depending on the time, place and people around U, it might look as if sex, status, money, pleasures, etc. are THE Most Important things in the whole Universe. & if U think they R- then they R; at least for U, at that time and place.

But only recently we realized, that the old cliche of “All we need is LOVE”, or about friendship, kindness, honesty, happiness, etc., is cliche for a reason. Cliche is something not original, it’s not something that isn’t true. What REALLY matters stays in the backyard of our lives most of time. Partly because of us, partly because of people around us. We might sing about it, we can read about it, we may talk about it, we might even write about it, but usually we don’t “live about it”. Unless something drastic happened.

Something very drastic happened to us too. Now we realize how our life is fragile and short. And we need to focus on what’s REALLY important. Happiness, Joy,Love, Friendship. But all this is impossible if we will continue to live as rivals, instead of cooperators; if we won’t try to understand one another and every person around us. This blog is about COMPASSION. Pliz, help us to understand all of us, ur good and bad intentions, ur inner motives. Help us to move from realization to REAL-IS-ation or whatever the word: make the words of Compassion to a living manifestation of our daily, routine lives. Thank U very much!!!