Philosophy of Liberty

The 4th of July - the celebration of American Independence from the taxes, government and overall tyranny of England. Or at least that’s what the American history books would like us to believe. Two hundred years later however, and we seem to have taken that initial tyranny to whole new levels of abuse and scale, affecting not only our own populace in ways the Founding Fathers hoped would not occur or recur, but also affecting the peoples of countries world-wide. And most Americans -most people- do nothing. In fact, most don’t even realize that their rights, safety, independence and self-responsibility have been hijacked by governmental and industrial force. After all, it’s easier to just mindlessly follow the directions given us by others, isn’t it? But the thing about that situation is that although it may appear to be an easier path to follow (at least initially), it is very often not the right thing to do, and is very often a much more difficult path to tread in the long-run.


“Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear.”

-Harry S Truman

Perhaps it’s time we take a moment to reflect what Independence actually is and how -or if- it is alive in the world today… and how we can embody it, enliven it, and live it.

“No matter that patriotism is too often the refuge of scoundrels. Dissent, rebellion, and all-around hell-raising remain the true duty of patriots.”
-Barbara Ehrenreich

Happy Independence Day, America.
In Light, Love and Liberty…
Namaste.
-OMM

Despising…

It’s not very Buddhist, not very New-Age, Metaphysical or anything of the sort… and it’s certainly not a very detached perspective on the world, but I despise politics. I utterly despise them. I always have. There is a reason why I’ve been registered a “non-party / independent” voter since reaching legal voting age. Sorting through the political jargon, knowing full well everyone in the political ring is lying and exaggerating and touting the standard “party line” just to advance their own accomplishments… knowing that they are there for self-gratification of their ego and wallet more than for a sense of responsibility or calling. Who? - WHO of these career politicians actually have the well-being of the citizens of the country (and world!) in mind with all their rhetoric and deceit? Are they all arrogant, self-serving puppets? Is there such a thing as democracy any more? It’s hard to believe when there are more lobbyists than Senators and the goals of industry are pushed through the legislative process by being tacked on to the end of a long and tedious bill of manufactured “findings” on a given topic, or when whole communities or countries are infiltrated by a corporation looking to gain a foot-hold before building a monopoly.

But no matter my personal distaste for the politics of politics, it is not something that can or should be pushed under the rug. It is something that needs to be addressed, thought about, fully examined and digested… independently, without media bias, using our Brains and our Hearts to determine the truth of what is said and unsaid, digging through the jargon to find the nugget of truth buried beneath the various layers of deception.

It’s all too easy to get caught up in our own world, get wrapped up in our own responsibilities, to believe that “I’m too busy with life” to take on something else… but that’s all part of the ruse, all part of the artificial distraction! Do we abandon our families to sit on the Congressional building steps? - Probably not, but we can -and dare I say ‘should‘?!- make ourselves aware of the true agendas in place behind the political curtain. We can actually read the proposals being placed before us, thoroughly investigate the candidates hoping to be elected, ask whether or not there’s really any difference between the top two presidential hopefuls when they are both funded by the same people (and what does that mean?!), sort through the media hype to discover some semblance of “truth”. We can evaluate for ourselves and think things through, we can ask questions about “Who is this going to benefit?” and “Why is this a good idea - Or is it?”, “Where’s the money for this proposal going to come from and what are the implications of that?”.

… and yes, back to the Mat I go because obviously this is a topic I can not view with much detachment… but before I go, have you ever wondered why so many of us on the Path -those of us who have shunned politics all our lives- seem to be taking an active interest in it now? Perhaps it is because we can look at the whole political world with eyes unbiased from either political extreme to see the reality of what is actually going on, and with that knowledge and insight, help to make the changes that need to be made -before all our rights are stripped from us, the world is destroyed by mankind’s greed, by political ego or by any other means… before… before it’s too late.

The U.S. Bill of Rights

As we fast approach the anniversary of our Independence, it occurs to me that despite the Founding Fathers best efforts, how much of Mother England’s influence and attitudes we have brought with us and resurrected within a scarce 200 years’ time. With yet another heated and controversial Presidential election looming in the near future, the world in a shambles, masses starving, millions sick with current health care, human and personal rights being violated across the globe, Mother Earth destroyed in favor of mankinds’ greed, bombs exploding, species dying, and so many more atrocities going on, it seems appropriate to take a step back a couple hundred years and review those things thought important enough to document in the Bill of Rights … or, as Richard Henry Lee put it, “those essential rights of mankind without which liberty cannot exist.”

The full text from the US Bill of Rights, from a web site on James Madison, is as follows… Continue Reading »

Where can OMM be?

LOL. Sing with me here… ready?
(To the tune of “Oh Where, Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone” by Lauterbach)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Where O’ Where has the Monkey gone
Oh Where oh where can OMM be?
Battling shades within her-self
striving to be ego-free.

Battered by the woes of the world,
Looking for balance there.
Finding changes in the air
Wonder’g when they’ll mature.

Seeing mankind’s ruthless acts
Creating sadness, not Love.
Heart a-breaking with dismay
at the maneuvers of man.

Ego and greed, they fill the Earth
Destroying all in their path.
The way of Spirit this is not.
A Return to Truth we must have.

Each one of us, we fill a spot
Guiding as we can
‘Tis up to us to make amends
Uniting us all once again.

Healer, Mother, Daughter and Friend
Many things can we be
but Light and Love surround us all
whether or not that we see.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
So where have I been hiding for the last month or so? Well, not hiding really (although there has been a bit of that too) - more like “processing”. I have been a bit overwhelmed by a new layer of events and circumstances and mankinds’ maneuverings recently laid bare to eyes that have always known and shunned the reality of the situation for the pain and limitations it puts upon our planet and species. My optimism has been revealed for the shallow perspective that it was and it’s taken a while to sort through those revelations and to ride through the cycle, eventually regaining a sense of equilibrium once more.

Specifically, I’ve been thinking of politics and banking and environmentalism, of Capitalism and Fascism, of marketing, independence, global illusion, manipulations and controls, and much more… and the real day-to-day effects on life “as we know it” or choose to believe it to be. I have not wanted to post rants and irrationalities here as those deeper, emotional, basic and instinctual levels felt the brunt of such processings, nor have I wanted to encourage the manifestation of these unsavory things by encouraging similar responses in others, charged off my energy, reading the blog posts on those topics. The timing was off. The right thing to do was to withdraw and process - and so, that is where OMM has been lately… processing.

Namaste, my friends…
In Lak’ech Ala K’in
-OMM

When…

rainbowscene1.jpg


“When the Earth is Ravaged & the Animals are Dying
There will come Onto the Earth a New Tribe of People
From all Colors Classes & Creeds
Who by their Actions & their Deeds they will make Again
the Earth Mother Bloom Green
they will be Known as the Warriors of the Rainbow”

- Old Native American Prophecy (Cree, Cherokee, Hopi, Sioux)

US Constitution

The United States Constitution is the supreme law of the United States of America. It was completed on September 17, 1787, with its adoption by the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was later ratified by special conventions in each state. It created a federal union of sovereign states, and a federal government to operate that union. It replaced the less defined union that had existed under the Articles of Confederation. It took effect on March 4, 1789 and has served as a model for the constitutions of numerous other nations. The Constitution of the United States of America is the oldest written national constitution in use.
— Excerpted from United States Constitution on Wikipedia.

This important document needs to be posted and made available and so, it is being posted and made available.
Peace, Love, Light, and Freedom
- OMM
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The full text is as follows… Continue Reading »

Future of Food?

Please, dear blog-readers, accept my apologies that I don’t have the time right now to sufficiently write my own thoughts on the matter of corporate control and manipulation of our food supply. However, this 10-minute video does a fair job of introducing the issues surrounding GMO (genetically modified) foods and the effects on the world wide food supply, as well as the implications for our future. Please take the time to watch.

Related information, from Dr. Mercola’s website:

The fact is that genetically modified foods are so prevalent in the United States that if you randomly pick an item off your grocery store’s shelves, you have a 75 percent chance of picking a food with GM ingredients. This is because at least seven out of every 10 items have been genetically modified.

Here are four simple steps to decrease your consumption of GM foods as much as possible:

* Reduce or eliminate processed foods in your diet. The fact that 75 percent of processed foods contain GM ingredients is only one of the many reasons to stick to a whole foods diet.
* Read produce and food labels. Conventionally raised soybeans and corn make up the largest portion of genetically modified crops. Ingredients made from these foods include high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), corn flour and meal, dextrin, starch, soy sauce, margarine, and tofu.
* Buy organic produce. By definition, food that is certified organic must be free from all GM organisms, produced without artificial pesticides and fertilizers and from an animal reared without the routine use of antibiotics, growth promoters or other drugs. Additionally, grass-fed beef will not have been fed GM corn feed.
* Look at produce stickers. The PLU code on stickers for conventionally grown fruit consists of four numbers, organically grown fruit has five numbers prefaced by the number nine, and GM fruit has five numbers prefaced by the number eight.

Some additional tidbits:

  • There are no labeling requirements for Genetically Modified food products.
  • There have been no studies done on the effects of GMO foodstuffs on humans.
  • Approximately (probably more) 7/10 of the food items on our grocery shelves have been genetically modified or contain genetically modified ingredients
  • Even the supporters of GMO foods are concerned with the long-term containment of these modified genes and are concerned about tainting the food supply.
  • Corn and Soybeans are the largest percent of genetically modified foods on the market today

Whatever your immediate reaction to this issue may be, remember to always evaluate everything critically and to do some research (preferably outside of the mainstream media bias). Dare to think outside of the prescribed box (ie: for yourself, analytically) and ask the questions about who the issue/topic is truly benefiting and toward what end… and don’t be afraid to make the connections that those others seeking power and control their own benefit (& generally at the expense of others) would prefer you simply not see.

Try researching Montsano, Morgellon’s Disease, GMO (genetically modified food), and other links for an assortment of additional information on this topic. Then consider buying local organic food and writing letters to the politicians objecting to the practice of genetically modifying our food, and not even giving us an informed choice about whether or not to consume it.

Peace, Love, Light… and Health.
Namaste.

A cup of …withdrawal?

Caffeine… it’s found in coffee, in soda, in chocolate, in tea, even in pharmaceuticals… For humans, it’s a nervous-system stimulant. In the plants where it’s found naturally, it serves as a natural pesticide. Caffeine has a long history, through various cultures and eras, and it’s one of the most addictive, culturally-acceptable substances we have on the planet.

And I’ve just kicked the caffeine habit. Can I say that getting over this habit -this attachment, this addiction- was easy? No, but because of the gradual decrease in consumption over the course of a week or so, a couple of days was spent in a semi-haze with a come-and-go headache and a bit of lethargy. Debilitating, yes. Pleasant, no. But I was (largely) functional, and found this option to be much better than prior experiences with an utterly paralyzing 3-day headache from “cold turkey” caffeine withdrawal.

So why do this? Medical findings on the effects of regular caffeine consumption vary; There are those studies that claim benefits whereas others note areas of concern for one’s health. But let’s face it - coffee is a huge industry on the world scale, and even if there was outstanding evidence of it doing more harm than good to those who consume such a substance, few people are going to be anxious -or able- to reveal such findings against such an established industry. There is simply too much money and too much control of various populations at stake to shake this industry.

So, again… why do this? Well, as part of my spiritual practice, having conscious control over my mind, body and emotions is important. Caffeine addiction was getting in the way of personal mindfulness on a physical level. So it was time for it to go… and time to reclaim another part of my being, my health, my personal choices. I am now a little freer from the mechanisms of the industrial world than I was a week ago … and it feels good.

Namaste.

glory in failure

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Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

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The Om

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