Foreign Travel as Best Education

Do you want to hack the process of education?  Do you want to pile in 4 years of college into 6 months or fewer?  

It is very easy to do.  It is much cheaper than college, too.  

International travel will gain you an education about 8 times faster than formal schooling.  Why is this?  It forces you to learn, and you cannot fake this type of learning.

You are thrown into a strange land.  You must learn elements of the language.  You must become an expert at reading body language and reading faces, since you cannot communicate very well with words.  You learn shortcuts to getting your point across.  You learn how to listen to others’ tone of voice and hidden meaning.  You learn to read subtle body language shifts that you never would have noticed had you been speaking your native language.  

You will be bolder, because to get what you want, you will have to take chances in approaching people you would never have to do on your native soil.  You will have less fear too, because nobody will ridicule you that knows you very well, because you will leave these foreigners in a few months or weeks anyway.  

Foreigners will often open up to you in ways they cannot with their fellows, because they know you will be gone, and there is a confidence with them that you will not understand fully the context of the local culture in revealing some things they will fear revealing to their compatriots.  

You will find things strange about your culture simply by the lack of seeing it in the strange land.  Foreigners will have a different view of taboo or political correctness.  This will shock you at first.  Also, when you breach their political correctness taboos, it will strike you as quaint and strange, but then you will become more sympathetic as you notice your own blind ways of thinking you thought were “true” but we just cultural figments of the imagination from home you never thought about.  

So, if you want to hack education and skip college, and spend less money learning something more valuable, pick a country that speaks little or none of your native language, and stay there for 6 months.  You will return a different, better person, with an education that cannot be bought on native soil.    

What Exactly is Coffee?

Coffee.  What is this?  Why do we see this drink everywhere?  Why are we addicted to it?  What separates coffee from any other drink?  We know it is special.  But why?

This is the answer: coffee is a semi-sacramental drink.  Before the modern era, we all stood before the church altar and partook of the sacramental bread, and some the sacramental wine.  The sacramental wine was in the chalice.

It was a Holy Meal where everyone who partook of it was in Holy Communion - part of the same community in body and in spirit.

However, hardly any of us are of the same beliefs nowadays and we for the most part no longer have any serious communities with the exception of the vanishing German farming towns in the Midwestern part of the United States.  

Thus, the instinct of Man is that he must have a sacred meal, and a symbol of this communion of brotherhood.  Our instincts push us toward coffee.  In the modern age, we must conquer nature in the quest for economic dominance, and thus, this caffeinated drink powers our modern age.  Our eastern brothers drink tea.  

We gather around the coffee table and commune.  We talk.  We participate in community.  One famous brand of coffee is called Community Coffee.  A friend of mine once owned a coffee shop named Gathering Grounds.  

We people of the secular age long for the Age of Community when we all gathered together around the altar for the Sacred Meal and the Sacred Drink.  We sniff the scent of the brew as we once did incense in the old churches.  

Coffee reminds us of a bygone age of community.  We relive this in each cup we drink at the table with another human being.

Christianity is an Open Revolt

Resurrection Sunday (Easter) Sermon

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We Christians are conveniently deluded. 

We Christians take a stand against the Order of the Universe and have declared an Open Revolt.  I do not exaggerate one bit in this declaration.

Modern “New Atheists” think they discovered some of the absurdities of Christianity, but - no! - they are way behind the times, because what we believe was absurd way back in the First Century!  One Christian convert leader openly said, “It is absurd, yet, I believe!”  We have been absurd for 2000 years!

We look at death and the grave.  We stare at this ugliness and this Fate of return to Mother Earth of the Pagans.  We see all this, and declare thus in our Revolt, “We refuse to accept this!”  We do not accept death as the Fate of our End.  We curse the darkness, shine a Light, and declare the Hope of Eternal Life beyond the grave.  This, my friends, is the Declaration of Revolt!  Our Creed is an open revolt against the Pagan world - the natural order of things.

We do not believe in the distant god of the Moslems or Jews.  We believe in the Son of God, who in a Holy Trinity, is in a loving family relationship with the Father, and this love is brought from Heaven to us by the Holy Spirit acting through us in Love for our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.  We do not believe in Mother Earth, this dark place that seeks to pull us down into the caverns and darkness of the soil, Hades, Sheol, and the Earth - no!  We believe in the bright shining light of the Father symbolized as the Sun bringing us into the Light of Truth up from Mother Earth into the heavens where we shall remain forever!  We believe instead of the Holy Mother of God, Mary, who bore the pain and suffering of being the Mother of the Son of God from birth, to death and then and on to the Resurrection!

Hope!  We light candles.  We curse the darkness of Fate in open rebellion.  We refuse to accept death and decay and have Faith that we shall overcome death as Jesus did, and we shall have eternal life after physical death.  This is absurd!  Yet, we Hope and believe.  It is what we are.  We believe in Delusion, in the strongest sense of the world, because we refuse to accept Fate, and live by Faith.  We fundamentally reject a core aspect of “reality”!

We Christians believe in brotherhood of the Faithful.  We believe in Caritas - Charity.  This means all those who believe in the Creeds are our Brothers in Christ.  The Holy Spirit softens our hearts and extends this brotherly love among us.  When we Western Protestants and Catholics look in to the eyes of our Eastern Orthodox brothers, we know, for sure, that we see the Holy Spirit uniting us all in one Faith and Love that transcends all reason and explanation.  We are United in the Communion of Saints and Sinners!

So, my brothers and sisters, we openly have declared Revolt.  For the last 2000 years, we are looked upon as dangerous from the outside, because we have declared such an absurd revolt against the Order of the Universe.  But, still, we are in Revolt!  This instills a sweetness to Christian life and society unknown elsewhere.  

Against the forces of Death!  

We say, “No!”

Against the forces of Despair and Fate!  

We say, “No!”

Against decline and decay!  

We say, “No!”

Against Mother Earth and her pull towards Hades and the grave!  

We say, “No!”

We say yes to Salvation by Grace through Faith, and hold high the Cross as a symbol of our Revolt and Conquest against the Dark Forces of the Universe!

On the Precipice of a Breakthrough

Life can be strange.  Success will play tricks on you to make sure that you are the real deal.  How will it do this?  This is called Life’s Shit Test.

Just before you arrive at a breakthrough, life has a way of placing a roadblock in front of you just before success, bliss and happiness.  This is also called the Terror of the Threshold.

What do we do?  Go into the terror and fear, and keep an eye on what is beyond the stumbling block.  This is life’s way of determining if you have the stuff to deserve the sweetness that is on the other side.

Just before you land a major account, or get a raise, or get the big money, someone or something will present itself in front of you and piss you off.  

Another way of seeing this is that if you see a spike in things that piss you off, you are probably on the right path!

A lot of people take the opposite view that if bad things are happening to them in the pursuit of their dream, then they must be doing something wrong.  No!

When you are in pursuit of your mission, you are in the right path and you are doing the right thing.  Before the breakthrough you will get pissed - usually immediately before the breakthrough.  So, turn common thinking upside down and tell yourself that this spike in Life’s Shit Test means that you are First and Goal (or on other words, three feet away from the Mother Lode!)!

Into the Fear

Go into the Fear.  I was watching the documentary for Metallica a few years back called “Some Kind of Monster.”  Their coach, Phil, made it a point to go into the fear.  He said when you come up against a Fear response, it is the time to into the Fear.  On the other side of this Fear there will be some sort of Genius there.  

From a physiological perspective, our Amygdala, or the Lizard Brain, hijacks the neocortex during the Fear response, and takes over our actions until the Fear is gone.  Thus, the higher level thinking brain, the neocortex, cannot function correctly until the Lizard is in a relaxed state.  Thus, now you have the entire physiological reason for meditation!   

What is the Fear response?  It is very simple.  The Lizard chooses from three responses: (1) Fight, (2) Flight, (3) Freeze.  If you are to take full advantage of the higher level thinking neocortex in all of its fullness, you must be able to calm down and relax the Lizard Brain.  

As Phil, the coach, says above, one way is to go into the Fear, and on the other side of Fear is the Genius.  Another method is to feed the Lizard what it needs.  What does the Lizard need to feel calm?  A calm image.  Think of what relaxes you when you are free from Fear.  It could be a beach, a flowing stream, a river, a blue sky with bright clouds, a meadow with a gentle breeze blowing across a fruited plain.  Whatever it is, create the image within your mind until you are there - until the Lizard thinks that it is there in this scene. 

This will lower the frequency of your brain waves to the point where the neocortex can think on a higher level.  It is the same effect as meditation or hypnosis, or related mindful practices.

So, when you Fear, understand it is the animalistic Lizard brain acting as though you are still in the jungle.  You are not!  Thus, go into the Fear!  Find the genius on the other side!

Climbing out of Despair

When we enter into a state of Despair, we tell ourselves that there is nothing we can do.  We think that we looked at all the options.  We considered all things.  This is just the way things are.  

What is the problem here?  Our model of reality is the problem.  When we create a model of reality, we necessarily delete some of the aspects to make the model work.  When you create a drawing of a book shelf, you necessarily delete some of the concrete aspects of the bookshelf to create the drawing.  You may delete color or texture on the drawing.  The drawing is flat and 2D - so we eliminated the three dimensional reality to get a simplified drawing.

We look at a picture of a building.  The picture is flat and small compared to the real thing.  We look at a map.  We do not see the dirt or the concrete of the highways on the map.  

Thus, when we are in a State of Despair, we have exhausted our temporary model of reality - we have not exhausted reality.  And, this is our error - and out Hope!  Our Hope of Salvation lies in this concept.

How do we get out of a state of despair?  We start by looking at the edges of the model.  This is all I have!  Really - is that all you have?  Have you considered you have something you have not noticed?  I have seen it all and heard it all!  Really?  Perhaps you have seen many many maps, but perhaps you have not looked at the actual territory!  The map is not the territory and the territory is not the map!

Are there exceptions to the rule?  Of course!  Every rule has exceptions.  In fact, success relies on breaking and bending every rule you can find.  

So, when you think you are stuck in Despair, in Analysis Paralysis - when you are stuck - reconsider that you are looking at a limited map and not a limited territory! 

Hitting Rock Bottom

Hitting Rock Bottom reveals what is within you.  We all shall go through the Valley of the Shadow of Death.  Illness, death, impossible circumstances, getting lost in  the jungle, or getting lost in a foreign country.  

You will know when you get there.  How?  You will find out you no longer have any fear.  The worst has happened and nothing else can challenge you because you have passed the worst test life has thrown at you.  They can point an AK-47 at your chest and you will not give a damn.

Some people lose their faith.  Others become stronger  Still others combine both.  But, you are never the same.  What is this?  It is the Inflection Point.  You choose life or you choose death.  The inflection means that there is no Middle Ground coming out of Rock Bottom.  It is a barbell with weights at both ends: Life or Death.  Light or Darkness.  

It is the Fork in the Road.  You will reach inside and find the Inner Strength to rise above the depths of despair, or you choose the low path of despair and a living death where you fade into a wallflower.

If you have not reached the Moment of Choice in your life, just know that every moment NOW, you are preparing for the Great Trial to come.  Be strong, be courageous.  Reach for the Golden Ring.  Live!

Oxygen: Chemical Combustion for Life

So, you want to change how you are feeling when you wake in the morning.  You want energy.

Or, you are strutting around on Friday night and you want to become relaxed and enjoy the evening.  If you get a few shots of whiskey and a cigar, will that change your state of mind?  You bet it will.  Sometimes it will change it fast.

So, chemicals injected into the body can change state of mind - sometimes immediately.

Aside from food, what is the most powerful chemical you can put into your body?  Oxygen!  That is right, oxygen is one of the most powerful chemicals you can inject into your body, create combustion and explosion, and change the way you are feeling and moving - almost instantly.  

Shallow breathing inhibits intake of oxygen, which limits combustion, which, limits energy.  When we are fearful, we breathe shallowly.  Intimidated people do not breath fully.  It is the freeze response to not be noticed, so we do not move enough - the behavior of prey!  Will you be prey?  As for me, I will tell you, “Hell no, Sherlock!”

So, to increase injection of the chemical oxygen into our system, we need to have breathing exercises to both take in the chemical of combustion and to condition ourselves on how much access to this combustion is available at any movement in time by feeling how deep we can breathe and how powerful the response is when we breathe.

Do breath walking.  Do at least 10 sets.  If you can, do 20 or 30.  Walk outside and breathe in at least six times the fresh air.  Oil the lungs with this power of oxygenated combustion.  

Do it.  Every day!

Trump is Bonafide Leftist (it is not what you think, though)

Forget all the political labels you learned about.  They are bull crap.  Open your mind.  Be free for a moment.  Think different - very different for a moment.

American political labels are so meaningless.  When people describe Trump as “right wing” or New England Puritan movements like free love, sexual liberation, etc as “left wing” you know that American labels are inverted, freakish, and downright perverse.  

In every political system, the Right Wing is the Establishment.  In every political system, the Working Class is Left Wing.  These are the basics, from which, we cannot even have a conversation, unless agreed upon.  This all goes back to the French Revolution in the seating of representatives.  Very basic stuff.

In the United States, the Ivy League is the Establishment.  This includes graduates of Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Berkeley, Stanford, and Brown.  Any movement coming from graduates of these colleges is Establishment, and, thus, Right Wing.  I know this sounds strange to naive American ears, but this is the way politics works.  It also explains Donald Trump, and all the reactions to him.  It is VERY SIMPLE to understand, because American politics is very simple compared to British, German or French politics.  

Conversely, if you do not come from Ivy League, your political movement is outside the Establishment, and thus, you are fighting an uphill battle against Real Power - America’s Right Wing of Ivy League.  Unless you are Donald Trump, never attack the Right Wing, or you will be crushed.

Donald Trump is solidly working class.  He walks, talks, and screws like the working class.  He goes on and on about hard work, working hard, working around the clock - work, work, work.  All this talk is solidly working class.  Working class believes that time is money, and that more time is more money.  Solid Middle Class, and upper classes never equate time with money, unless they have working class roots, or are pandering to working class people.  Solid upper class people never even talk about money - it is considered dirty to talk about it socially.

So, all goes well when we have Ivy League candidates from either political party.  Romney, Bush, Clinton, etc - nobody makes a fuss over these people.  When working class non-Ivy League grasp at power, you will see lots of weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth from the power brokers - Reagan, Nixon, Trump, and the likes.  The unspoken rule in American power is that if you are working class or not Ivy League, you are to keep your mouth shut.  

Why is Trump dangerous to the Establishment?  It is extremely simple.  What did Karl Marx say?  “Workers of the World Unite!”  Yes, it is that simple.  Trump has the ability to unite the working class from both parties and form a new power bloc that will directly threaten the American establishment.  

It is the Communist Revolution all over again.  There is a large block of Middle Class people scared and threatened to being moved back in to the working class or worse.  There is a large block of working class people throughout the Midwest, South, West, and…everywhere!  The proletariat are within Both Parties.  The proletariat at of All Races.  This in particular scares the hell out of the Establishment because if a new Proletariat establishes a power block, their power significantly attenuates.  Why?  The Democrat party has all the powerful minorities, controlled by Ivy League elites at the top.  If anyone seduces a significant portion of these working class minorities to a new political movement, the Establishment loses a lot of power - and can be potentially overthrown like the French Revolution or Communist Revolution.  

In conclusion, you must open your mind.  You must dispense with nonsensical American political labels.  Study the French labels in particular from the French Revolution.  Right Wing is established power, and Left Wing is always connected to the working class.  

If Donald Trump comes to power, it will be a reorganization of politics and the emergence of a New Establishment.  Expect the Establishment to fight this tooth and nail, including the use of violence.  

Grab the popcorn and beer and see how far this goes.  This could get interesting.  And scary.    

Shadow Boxing, Sex, Teetotalers, Enemies, Russians

It is hilarious that Militant Atheists are former Christian or Jewish fundamentalists. Just like teetotalers are Drunks on a Sober Binge. Extremists of all kinds are reflections of their enemies. When you engage an enemy, you Mirror Him - this is a Law of Nature. Your enemies will not be exterminated - your enemies will become YOU. We are hard-wired and programmed to mirror image and Shadow Box with our own inner demons projected and expressed externally.

Carl Jung wrote a lot on this subject of the Conscious Mind and the Shadow.  There is a similar phenomenon with Animus and Anima being the shadow of the opposite sex within our psyche. For a man, the shadow of the opposite sex is represented by the Anima; the woman, the Animus.  

How do you know you have met your Amina/Animus in real life?  When you meet someone of the opposite sex that feels at the same time extremely eerie and extremely familiar.  You will strangely mirror their behavior when face to face.  Your animal lizard brain will instantly activate and you will feel strange and good at the same time.  So, bottom line, when you meet a woman/man that looks like your mother/father, with a slight twist on the theme, you will have met your Anima!  Thus, Freud spoke about the Oedipus Complex.  We humans are indeed perverted creatures - screwing our mothers, etc.  Please do not vomit!

When fighting an enemy, you must know his weapons. Once you find out what he uses for weapons, if you want to defeat him, you must organized similar weapons with greater quantity to win in battle.  If you want to defeat a boxer, you have to train exactly as your opponent does, and hope you can figure out a strategy to overcome him only after you have completely mirror-imaged your training to his.

So, how did Russia become so cruel and aggressive after World War II?  Given what you have read above, think.  Who did they fight and exterminate during World War II?  Yep, you got it!  How did they defeat their enemy after the enemy almost totally conquered 40% of their land?  They were forced to mirror-image their enemy to defeat him.  They became just a cruel, ruthless and bloodthirsty as their enemy.  And, they crushed him.  What is the problem?  In the process of crushing the enemy, their had to Mirror the enemy, and thus become like him.  So, after the war, the Soviet Empire was a mirror image of the Nazi Empire.  The Western nations like the United States and Britain did not bear much of the fighting against Germany, contrary to popular belief.  After the Battle of Stalingrad, the war was determined, and all was left was to mop up the remains.  Still, in fighting along the edges of the Nazi Empire, the United States developed a national gestapo called the FBI, we developed our own Autobahn called the Eisenhower Interstate System, and our military looked exactly like the stormtroopers we fought (although not directly like the Russians).

Enough of history.  Everyone knows this stuff.

How do we protect ourselves against extreme behavior and actions?  This, yes, is La Piece de Resistance!  How the hell do you do it?

Don't play in the mud with pigs.  Or, you will get dirty!