Industrial Society Destroys Mind and Environment

[Theressa]

I agree we are part of nature and even that we still need to learn about balancing and using the resources and respecting mother earth. I think we could even end up with the whole earth ending up a pile of ashes. But, then the earth is part of the wider universe and goes through cycles. Now if does that and then the earth has taught us a valuable lesson. The earth is intelligent and will re-balance itself before we are allowed to destroy her. She will fight back and show us the consequences of our actions. Just as any good mother does. We will learn to respect mother earth eventually however maybe this is part of the plan to have people learn from their actions?

I don't have all the answers, in fact just like you only theories.

Theressa

[rishi]

Thank you for your direct responses. I’d really like to continue the detailed dialog on this subject, if for no other reason that my own clarification on this subject. You see, unlike almost everyone else, I find this whole consumer thinking to be quite mysterious. Absolutely none of it makes sense to me. So maybe you can help me out here, and shed some light on the subject.

The first mystery that comes to mind here is what you mentioned, Truth, about the so-called “comfort” that is supposedly a benefit of belonging to consumerism. As you pointed out, the official line is that all these “things” we are encouraged to own adds to “our comfort level”. I guess this is supposed to mean that working a 9-5, five days a week, 28+ weeks a year for 20-30 years, is made “worthwhile” by having a fancy couch to sit on instead of a thrift store chair.

As I understand it, almost everybody is a credit card slave whose only release from debt is often death itself, and whose interest payments are ever spiraling upward, and yet, all this is “worth it” in order to ‘buy all those things we so desperately can’t live without’, (or at least this is what the Oracular and Holy Television says, so it must be true). And I guess this is supposed to mean that getting hypertension, indigestion, overweight, and chronic depression at the corporate workplace, is all made “wonderful” by, “a life of luxury” where you’ve got $5000 curtains, socially correct hand-painted oil-on-canvas art on your walls and fashionable clothing in the closets?

And supposedly, when we “pursue our careers” in order to “achieve our financial goals” which means nothing more than living to work, (for money is God almighty) is made worthwhile, because when we get Alzheimer’s at the nearest rest home, we’ll have all the cash we need for a room with a window. And I conjecture that a totally stressed life lived unhappily, (50% of couples now divorce at least once) is made “well lived” by owning an oh-so-admirable mansion on the hill, because, as everybody knows, there’s nothing more important in life than “impressing” other people?

And it must be excellent indeed to live so out of balance with nature that our livers are rotting away, and our blood made toxic in the eating of ‘convenient foods’ (because, “who has the time to eat right or work out”) in exchange for a politically correct lifestyle, made palatable by the ability to waste $30-$100-a-plate luncheons and dinners at the local “posh” restaurant. And I must further conclude that killing yourself earning those 6-7 digit figures every year, resulting in astronomical rates of cancer (chemotherapy) and mental illness, (“mood stabilizing” drugs) is the very essence of success, because although you may be diseased and suicidal, you’ve got a nice new car everybody can “admire” as you drive down the street?

And furthermore, never mind 3-7 species going extinct an hour, or the toxicity of our produce, (cancer from herbicides and pesticides) the air we breathe, (asthma) or the polluted streams, lakes, rivers we drink from, (chlorine, fluoride, estrogen from animal husbandry, PCBs’, industrial bi-products, mercury, prescription medication ingredients and literally hundreds of other unnatural chemicals) because somebody, somewhere, is “making a handsome profit” from all this, and everybody knows it’s our patriotic duty to, “stimulate the economy”. And never mind that most wars are really, behind the scenes, fought over resources and corporate contracts, (money once again) killing millions and destroying whole regions of the earth, because what’s important is, “maintaining our way of life” that is supposedly the envy of the rest of the world. And never mind that whole regions of rainforest are being stripped bare, and that we have huge “dead zones” along the coasts of our oceans, and that we’re changing the climate of the earth so much that polar ice is melting, all this is “just wonderful” because all that matters is human possessions, human feelings and human “economies”.

Is THIS what you’re talking about, Truth, when you refer to the “comfort level” of modern consumer society? Now to me, such a life doesn’t sound very comfortable, but then, everybody here knows that I just like to be “negative”, so maybe you can explain to me how this really works? Explain to me the facts of modern life, if you will, which I obviously don’t well understand, and then I can finally come to grips with this consumerism issue. Tell me how all the ills and injustices of consumer society are made worthwhile by these ‘comforts” we supposedly have, so that I can put my conscience to rest.
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The Intent of the Master is the mastery of intent



Founder of the World Mind Society http://www.eoni.com/~visionquest

[littlebird]

Hi ya all,

Isn't is possible that we all have different talents for a reason? Me, the Jesus freak; Truth, the sweet intellect; Theressa, the passionate one; Rishi, the eccentric..........We obviously have been brought together to learn from eachother and none is backing down. Bravo to all and lets give eachother the encouragement to be in this world what we do best! I for one, love having friends of many colors!

Love and light,
littlebird
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God is Love

[truth]

Hi Rishi,

Love the new style of writing - did you hear my 'Hallelujah!'?

As to comfort, you describe it perfectly - madness isn't it? And that madness is formed of the gap between the life we really want to live and the life we are living, filled as best we can with consumerism, power struggles, legal drugs, illegal drugs, criminality (individual, corporate, familial, societal and governmental), habits and addictions, and is perpetuated by the human ability to rationalise the irrational - whenever we feel the need to justify our actions, it's a good sign that we've acted irrationally.

The thing is that when the lives we are living are restricted to what we think is possible, based on limited life experience, our restricted perception of our own potential and the often uncomfortable circumstances in which we find ourselves, that gap becomes more of a fixture - the more our spirit struggles to come to life, the wider the gap, the greater the need for comfort... unless, of course, we start to take heed of the spirit.

The only solution I can see is borne of a want to realise life's possibilities - no matter how impossible they might seem.

We have to want to live our dreams.

Pat

[truth]

Hi Lisa,

We must have been posting at the exact same time - don't you just love these meant to be connections? You were the first to call me to this forum and your support and encouragement have always been there for me whenever I've needed a boost - thank you.

BTW, although I'm not usually one for labels, I loved being called a 'sweet intellect' - certainly a good one for me to want to achieve - thank you

Pat
x

[truth]

Hi Shamana,

I agree wholeheartedly that the Earth is our judge. However, I've had to wait before posting a direct response to you, because I really did want to give your posting justice. I now realise that I have been a little slack on that front to you, Rishi and Sushil throughout this thread... I'm learning... the thing is, I wouldn't have learnt this without having gone through that process of wanting to learn and knowing of a possibility of learning.

I guess the point I want to make is that no matter what we think we know unless we put into practice that which we preach, life will throw out contradictions. For example, I 'know' that humans have the capacity to heal themselves. The other day I noticed a splinter in my finger. It was resting there quite comfortably under my skin - no irritation or redness, in fact I only noticed it because of it being where it was. Now, I know that the human body will work to remove anything that shouldn't be there. I know this for a fact, and my head was telling me that it would work its own way out, but could I leave it alone? No. Out came the tweezers and, even though I had a good stab about, still the bulk of the splinter remained in place, however, now my finger was cut and sore. I apologised to my self and my finger, rubbed it better and left it alone. This morning whilst in the midst of chores, the splinter disappeared.

We know that the Earth is bigger than us, we agree it will be our judge. However, whenever we fear that human action will somehow override that power, we contradict that knowledge. Our fear reflects that we are not putting into practice what we preach. Instead of doing what we can to help the Earth heal itself, we pick up the tweezers and start prodding and poking about making matters worse.

I hope that analogy helps you get a better picture of where I'm coming from. It's funny, but it was as though I had to wait until this morning for the splinter to disappear before I could even attempt to reply to your post in the way that I really wanted to.

We are all on the same side... all learning to live as best we can for the betterment of everyone and everything else on this amazing planet of ours.

Something tells me that there is still more to be said, but it's not the right time for me to find those words just now - coffee's calling.

Pat

[Theressa]

Hi Rishi, Hi Pat, Hi little bird,

I feel that its something to do with illusions. The outer is set up by the soul as a tool and reflects the inner. I think that since we are all connected that the universe reshapes its self to reflect the consciousness of the majority. The ENERGY universe is a shape shifter. It is like a mirror. So, yes you are right that since we are LEARNERS and EXPERIENCERS that our awareness apears in front of our eyes. Some have woken up to their sixth sense and began to feel and know about how their current level of awareness that is being experienced is not all there is. For example, for a large part of my life I did not tap into the field of potentiality out of my free will. I thought I would just follow my conditioning, but, I am learning to use my sixth sense and feel the energy and follow my intuition (as are many now) I think that some are still not aware of their sixth sense and thus are not living as consciously as some others.

I think each relationship is about POWER and that is no different than our relationship with mother earth. I think in the class room of life we are flowing inlignment with our collective awareness. I think we each trigger and teach each other. As Grahame said on the Control drama thread its our responses and awareness that is triggered that matters if we are to develop and expand. I think that as we begin to become more aware of depleting mother earth then our behaviour will begin to change and become more conscious. In fact I think many are now.

I think we are all meant to contribute to the whole and sometimes we may contribute as an example of what happens when we are unconscious and the effects we cause.

Myself I have a tv set. I have a PC but I buy what I need that fits my purpose. (Usually one that I find easy to operate) I have a lifestyle that is much more comfortable than someone from Asia. I don't confess to feeling good that someone works 12 hours in blazing heat so I can eat canned tuna. At the same time I see they need to eat and thus rely on people to buy tuna. I am more aware of the sheer hardwork the tuna factory workers put into providing tuna. I am grateful for their energy. That is not to say I would prefer if the world distributed the resources more fairly. Having said that I feel unsure at this time or unaware of how I could change the profiteers profiting without stopping buying tuna and thus taking away the only means for a worker in Asia to survive and buy food.

I feel that each of us choose to inhabit certain bodies to learn certain lessons and thus maybe the tuna worker chose to live in Asia. I get the impression that with limited human awareness I cannot say the reason why a soul would want to incarnate in Asia where they are treated poorly. I guess the reason may seem irrational to a human. I can't imagine however myself choose some of the life experiences I had when still in spirit, but, they helped to shape me and helped me to become more aware, so however irrational I guess the universe knew they'd help my growth.

I can sit and get real angry at how things are, but i am unsure how i can really change the experience of people who are in a certain position due to capitalism. I have sat in sociology classes and felt angry at the unfairness. I've also looked at possible spiritual reasons why a soul may have chosen to inhabit such harsh conditions. I can only conclude that maybe these souls are benefitting from being in such harsh human conditions and that other souls have agreed to be the one who set up these harsh conditions for higher reasons.

My spiritual awareness is not expanded to such a level to know if this theory is correct at this time.

Love, light and blessings
Theressa xx

[littlebird]

I have a problem with the belief that we get to choose our life experience. If you think of evolution, and by the way, I believe in intelligent design, maybe it is our progression in one life that leads to the next level in another life. I do not believe in eternal torment, the hell the churches teach, or that heaven is a location in outer space, but is it possible, that we are divinely directed to a certain life according to what we did in the past life? And that we have soul families with similiar dna that travel alongside us thru lifetimes for the same reason. Thoughts to ponder.

Theressa, I agree with what you say about the tuna theory!

Truth, You're welcome. Your words always bring a warm feeling to me, a soft "sweet" glow.

One more thought! Those still carnel (living by the flesh alone) have not yet the desire to seek spiritual matters (sixth sense) beyond what they are taught in their upbringing or their churches.
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God is Love

[littlebird]

I have been pondering the idea that the earth is our judge. That may be somewhat true. When God is trying to make a point, there are at least two witnesses in the bible. This is what I came up with;

1 CH 16:14 He is the LORD our God; his judgments are in all the earth.

Psalm 105:7 He is the LORD our God; his judgements are in all the earth.

Isaiah 54:16 With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

Notice the Lord judges in the earth. There it is. Also, pay attention to the words above; the soul desires in the night, maybe meaning darkness as physical, while the spirit seeks in the morning, maybe meaning light as spiritual. In the bible, first comes the physical and then the spiritual.

Love and light, littlebird
_________________
God is Love

[Shamana]

Dear Truth,

I want to add to your analogy using the splinter in your finger and the healing capacity of the earth.

If you were to add to the analogy the component of putting a new splinter into the same finger every 30 minutes or so, then your analogy may hold some logic and reason. This is a lot closer to what we do to the earth. We are constantly abusing and destroying. A finger being constantly bombarded with debri etc would eventually infect, and this would be despite it's capacity to heal itself with or without our prodding. We are constantly bombarding the earth with our wasteful abuse. It doesn't have a chance to heal itself!! Why does it need to heal itself in the first place? We are not acting as caretakers, we are acting as destroyers. PURE AND SIMPLE.

[truth]

Hi Shamana,

In the scenario you described:

What role do you see yourself currently playing?

What role do you really want to play?

Pat

[Shamana]

I'm sorry, I don't understand what you mean. I am here as consciousness in a body, I don't play roles. I live simply, I work to live, not live to work, I respect all of life. Anyway, you never answered my question about how the earth is supposed to heal itself when it is constantly bombarded with destruction. Or why the earth has to "heal" itself to begin with. I take it you didn't agree with my further analogy of the splinter.

[truth]

Hi Shamana,

Your response started with:

'I'm sorry I don't know what you mean', but you then went on to... what exactly? I'm afraid I can't work out from what you wrote what you didn't understand, so, let me know the questions my post raised for you, and we'll take it from there.

BTW the questions I'd raised were in respect of your scenario - and in doing so, had accepted it as valid.

Cheers,
Pat

[Theressa]

Shamana,

What actions are you taking to heal the earth mother? I love to hear of examples as they may help me to act also.

Love, light and blessings
Theressa xxx

[Shamana]

Thank you for asking Theressa. I don't know if I will remember all the ways I do my best to help because I'm limited for time at the library, however, for your fyi, I follow a book called "The Survivalists 'Guide to the New Millenium" which can be read for free in the library of the World Mind Society. If you google those words, it will take you to the website. This describes far better than I could the ways that I live and I follow it as closely as possible.

I live very simply. Right now I do live in a small town therefore I have a small apartment, however I never use heat or air conditioning. I admit the weather here tends to permit that, although all other people that I know, do use heat in the winter, but wearing sweaters and jackets indoors does help to cut down on such things. ALL my clothes are second hand, I don't own a TV, and I don't have a telephone. I only buy what is necessary....no trimmings. I don't drive, although I know how. I bike or walk everywhere unless I must go into another town and then I take a bus. I work only when I have to in order to live. What I mean by "in order to live" is to eat and have some kind of shelter (which was a vehicle for years), and clothing.

To keep this short, let me say that I don't go by the arbitrary standards of society, therefore I don't need a college degree, a big house, fancy car or fancy clothes. I am free to explore more important things such as the expansion of consciousness, soulic knowledge and wisdom, and truth. I don't burden the earth with demands of arbitrary and made up "things" and "needs" that have no higher benefit except feeding the ego or putting money in the bank.

I teach Reiki, so that people can heal themselves instead of putting chemicals in their bodies or cutting up their bodies in surgery. I offer this for free to any sincere student.

I have written articles to educate and/or inform people that there are other ways to live, and that the way in which we are living is hurting all life around us. We are destroying forests, soils, oceans, lakes, wildlife etc. We don't have to, it is the choice that most humans make every day.

I ask everyone to read "The Survivalists Guide for the New Millenium". That will explain everything in great detail.

Again, thanks for asking,
Shamana