8 posts tagged “culture”

Many Persons, such as Paine & Voltaire, with some of the Ancient Greeks, say: "we will not converse concerning Good & Evil; we will live in Paradise & Liberty." You may do so in Spirit, but not in the Mortal Body as you pretend, till after the Last Judgment; for in Paradise they have no Corporeal & Mortal Body -- that originated with the Fall & was call'd Death & cannot be removed but by a Last Judgment; while we are in the world of Mortality we Must Suffer. The Whole Creation Groans to be deliver'd; there will always be as many Hypocrites born as Honest Men, & they will always have superior Power in Mortal Things. You cannot have Liberty in this World without what you call Moral Virtue, & you cannot have Moral Virtue without the Slavery of that half of the Human Race who hate what you call Moral Virtue. A Vision of the Last Judgment, p. 93.

The Last Judgment is an Overwhelming of Bad Art & Science. Mental Things are alone Real, what is Calld Corporeal Nobody Knows of its Dwelling Place, it is in Fallacy & its Existence an Imposture. Where is the Existence Out of Mind or Thought, Where is it but in the Mind of a Fool. Some People flatter themselves that there will be No Last Judgment & that Bad Art will be adopted & mixed with Good Art, That Error or Experiment will make a Part of Truth & they Boast that it is its Foundation. These People flatter themselves I will not Flatter them.

Error is created. Truth is eternal. Error, or Creation, will be Burned up, & then, & not till Then, Truth or Eternity will appear. It is Burnt up the Moment Men cease to behold it. I assert for My Self that I do not behold the outward Creation & that to me it is hindrance & not Action; it is as the dirt upon my feet, No part of Me. "What," it will be Question'd, "When the Sun rises, do you not see a round disk of fire somewhat like a Guinea?" O no, no, I see an Innumerable company of the Heavenly host crying, `Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty.' I question not my Corporeal or Vegetative eye any more than I would Question a window concerning a Sight. I look thro' it & not with it. A Vision of the Last Judgment, p. 95.

Written over 200 years ago in England by William Blake.  I believe it was somebody on either VOX or StumbleUpon who recommended this site to me and it is so very appreciated but I don't remember who it was.  I bookmarked the page and occasionally go back only to discover again how very much like me he observed the world's cultures self destructing, but much more eloquently expresses those observations than I ever will.

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Rouze up O Young Men of the New Age! set your foreheads against the ignorant Hirelings! For we have Hirelings in the Camp, the Court, & the University: who would if they could, for ever depress Mental & prolong Corporeal War. Painters! on you I call! Sculptors! Architects! Suffer not the fashionable Fools to depress your powers by the prices they pretend to give for contemptible works or the expensive advertizing boasts that they make of such works; believe Christ & his Apostles that there is a Class of Men whose whole delight is in Destroying. We do not want either Greek or Roman Models if we are but just & true to our own Imaginations, those Worlds of Eternity in which we shall live for ever; in Jesus our Lord.

And did those feet in ancient time,
Walk upon Englands mountains green:
And was the holy Lamb of God,
On Englands pleasant pastures seen!

And did the Countenance Divine,
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here,
Among these dark Satanic Mills?

Bring me my Bow of burning gold:
Bring me my Arrows of desire:
Bring me my Spear: O clouds unfold!
Bring me my Chariot of fire!

I will not cease from Mental Fight,
Nor shall my Sword sleep in my hand:
Till we have built Jerusalem,
In Englands green & pleasant Land.

Would to God that all the Lords people were Prophets.

Numbers XI. ch 29 v.


http://www.betatesters.com/penn/blake2.htm

http://www.betatesters.com/penn/

Introspection:  a reflective looking inward : an examination of one's own thoughts and feelings

Part of the necessity of life is to examine one's own behavior.  We all recognize the personal benefit in this exercise.  Jesus required us to go a step further and examine our thought-life.  Judging one's own behavior and thought-life help us improve our lot in life.  What I wanted to consider is the benefit to society.  In the interest of solidarity, I'm sticking to behavioral concerns.  Let God judge the heart, we have to judge behavior.  Behavior is a result to a great extent, of our introspection.  We must constantly evaluate and modify our behavior according to our set of personal standards.  This introspection is motivated most often by those around us.  We feel the judgment of others and in many cases that judgment comes with consequences.  We might be rejected as a friend, we might be fired from our jobs, we might even be forced to deal with divorce proceedings.  In every relationship, we are required to examine our behavior and the standards which drives it. 

In a chat-room, a young woman related to me that she'd had an abortion years earlier and knew that God had forgiven her but she couldn't forgive herself.  She asked for my advice on what she should do.  Guilt is a special topic all on it's own.  Suffice it to say that true guilt is hard to overcome.  God makes known his heart by giving us a conscience and conscience is a terrible punisher.  I know guilt similar to the guilt demonstrated in that young woman's story.  I worked through it by counsel from a Christian brother.  He said to me, "If you were the only sinner on earth, Jesus would have hung on that cross for you alone.  If God considers you valuable enough to send His Son to die on a cross to save you and He has decided to forgive you, who are you to overrule His decision?  Do not consider your judgment concerning your guilt or worth more valid than God's judgment of your guilt or worth."  I don't know how unbelievers deal with this kind of guilt.  It's too overwhelming to work through without God to overrule my self disgust and self loathing.

Not everybody has guilt this deep.  In some ways this is good, in others this is bad.  On the one hand, we all know that we are imperfect and screw up on a regular basis.  This means we can identify with one another in our brokenness, so we aren't inclined to go around condemning one another for our little mistakes.  We express grace and patience toward one another with this attitude.  That grace only goes so far.  That is to say, it only goes as far as we can identify with another's brokenness.  Anything 'worse' than we can identify with and we are quick to condemn another.  So, our experience with guilt is the depth to which we naturally express grace and patience.  On the other hand, with grace and patience there is another danger.  That is, we can embrace our brokenness and celebrate something our conscience screams against.  Within our culture are entire subcultures built on this celebration of brokenness, be it homosexuality, gang violence, recreational drug use, dominant/submissive sexual relationships, racism, or just about any wrong you can name.  

This is why, in our brokenness we need an external guiding standard of behavior.  Society provides these standards through our laws and traditions.  I submit to you that our country was founded on the laws and traditions of the church as articulated in the New Testament of the Bible.  Since 1963, our courts have been used to whittle away at our dependence on the Bible for our standards.  With those standards out of the way, our traditions are crumbling away as well.  The result is not that we are moving away from religion.  Instead, people are turning to other venues of worship including communism which worships government and humanism which worships the most intelligent of people.  People may be intelligent without being wise.

These trends are destroying the hope of our continued existence as a nation.  I call on you to judge right from wrong and good from evil.  The first step in social recovery is personal introspection and modification of personal behavior.  The next step is to get involved anywhere you can to make a difference for our future, and for the well being of our children.  Consider again what happens without those traditions.  Guilt is a motivator in one of two ways.  Either the guilty will excuse their behavior and make a point of making that behavior obnoxious, even violently defending it and insisting society accept it as right and normal, so somebody will correct and guide them to moral certainty, or they self condemn and set to work attempting to make up for their wrongs never feeling as though they've done enough.  Either of those venues are deeply motivated sometimes going into the origins of their thought patterns.  So deep, the guilty could not explain or often even recognize their behavior as self destructive. 

My own behavior was among the first description of the guilty.  I chose to be an appeaser and people pleaser thinking others could make me feel worthy if they would just accept me on my merits.  Remember that guilt is self destructive.  No matter which venue you choose to assuage your guilt, you undercut your own goals acting in ways you don't understand and can't explain for yourself.  If you choose to correct yourself (and few do) you couldn't though peace of mind is dependent on it.   I repeatedly undermined my own efforts to make myself acceptable to society.  Once I released that guilt (in my case by turning it over to God) those behavior patterns were defeatable.  Below is the link I sent that young woman to after telling her my story of being led through my own guilt.  If you are dealing with guilt you can't manage, seek a councilor. 

Generation after generation are now being taught through state run schools that we cannot judge people.  Worse, they are promoting some of the sub-cultures identified by their self destructive behavior created by this mass exodus from judgment.  The result is a generation that is growing amoral and raising the next generation which is taught less morality than were their parents.  As societies grow and change, the less standards and tradition they retain the more change and change in this sense means instability and violence.  Civility is dependent on communal trust and trust is dependent on civility.  Break either side of that scale and the society collapses or is defeated by an outside power. 

Looking at our national behavior, we can observe in the news, through polls, studies, and current events what percentage of us retain the ability to live by our society's standards and which are using our society's courts and legislature to reduce those standards.  Example after example demonstrate we are a declining nation.  From the attacks on our rights to speech and self defense, to the attacks on our institutions of moral anchoring, whether successful or not, the attempts are indicators in the condition of our trust, civility, and traditions.  At present, the signs indicate an even split and oddly enough, most of one frame of mind are in one party and most of the other frame of mind are in the other party.  The pundits call this political polarization.  I suggest you take a look at the history of the parties.  Consistently, one party has demonstrated a propensity to block what is right, good, and beneficial while promoting what is self destructive to the individual and to the nation.  You'll be amazed to learn which party was born on the premise of freeing the slaves, which initiated the parks system, which elected the first black, the first woman, the first... you'll be amazed.

What's the answer?  What do we do about our slide into immorality?  The good news is, truth wins out.  In every case, eventually truth wins.  Whoever and whatever organization is on the side of truth will eventually win and whoever or whatever organization which sides with the wrong will lose.  If you value traditions and civility and trust, you must get out there and make yourself heard.  The other side is certainly being heard.  You need to find organizations which support your values and volunteer to help them in their cause.  You have to do your part to make morality desirable.  If there aren't any organizations addressing your concerns, create one.  This is how we keep and grow the republic the founding fathers handed us.  You have to judge your neighbor and call them into the morality that anchors this society.  You have to judge yourself and ensure you are living up to the standards you promote.  You have to shed any unmanageable guilt in that endeavor.

http://www.victimsofchoice.org/Why_Am_I_Hurting_.html

Not only is pedophilia legal in many countries around the world, it is culturally acceptable.  I was sent another news article about an 8 year old girl seeking a divorce from her betrothed, a 47 year old man.  In this case the 'Judge' ruled that she was TOO YOUNG TO SEEK A DIVORCE!!!  This is the epitome of up side down thinking.  The judge further said that she could apply for a divorce WHEN SHE REACHED PUBERTY!!!  The truth is that this behavior is rampant in Islamic culture around the world because the 'perfect man' demonstrated it himself.  These stories only make the news because the big business news industry uses the shock value to turn a dime.  If it were not for this money motive, they would not come close to the politically incorrect job of criticizing Islam or its prophet.  Because they do have the profit motive, the politically correct attitude is beginning to turn, however they would not deign to criticize the bloodiest religion of our time and in my opinion, of all time for being bloody.  And since the PC attitude is changing the Islamic culture is changing, however slowly to stop the practice of selling children to be wed.  This barely scratches the surface of human rights abuses within the Islamic culture.  I've written about the official rejection of any other faith in their midst by violent means.  I've written about the capital punishment of rape victims and homosexuals.  I've written about the Palestinian lies against Israel.  I've written about the grade school indoctrination to hatred.  What I don't see is the media focus on the ills of Islam, ever.  There are a few exceptions, like John Stossel, Glen Beck, Michelle Malkin who are willing to put the facts together to get an over all view, but all you'll see in the MSM is 'isolated stories' of feudal gang rapes, child brides, and suicide bombings.

 The liberal elite and the complicit media have done tremendous damage to our reputation around the world claiming we are the greatest source of evil in the world.  I was angry at the liberals before 9/11/1 and I was angry at the discrimination against my faith long before they piled on the American presidency making him out to be the war monger instead of the agency charged with keeping this nation safe.  The more I learn the angrier I become.  I am currently working on a series called Big Lies as I study authors like Michael Medved, Victor Davis Hansen, and many other historians.  So I'll broach this topic again in the near future.  For now, I want to address how the liberals would defend Islam. 

I know there will be those who will try to defend Islamic nations by attacking America, since there is no logical reason to defend Islam in this issue.  Instead they would try to make Western cultures, especially American culture appear morally equivalent.  So let's just compare child marriages that occur in the U.S. to child marriages that occur in Islamic nations.  Here we have a 12 year old child who is seeking help and protection from her husband who has hurt her with a knife and threatens to do much worse.  According to Sharia Law, he would be within his rights.  Leaving aside the beatings on the street by the morality police, this is essentially slavery.  A woman is not her own.  In other words, her entire life is spent under the authority of a man.  If not her father, then her brother or uncle until she is married.  Then it is her husband and if not her husband then her son or her brother in law.

Here you have a woman who is still in her marriage at 35 after being married at 14 against her mother's will.  In the next case you have a similar case where the girl wanted to be married as a child and it was against her parent's wishes and the state imprisoned her husband for having sexual relations with a minor of 15 while he was 22 years of age.  The next case again was similar.  These are marriages by choice of the girl, frowned upon by all their authority figures.  The one case that was not the girl's desire was among the Hmong immigrant community at age 15.  The youngest among these cases was age 13 and again, against her parents' wishes.  In all these cases except the Hmong arranged marriage, the age disparity between the husband and wife was no more than 10 years.  In all these cases the wife has the option at any time to divorce her husband with the legal authorities' support.  While I abhor the sexual activation of anyone under the age of 17 and prefer that they wait until they are mature enough to make life long consequential decisions, I can certainly see a moral difference between a culture who works to discourage this behavior and one which embraces it.  There may be comments of criticism within the Muslim society, there is no internal incentive for correction among the authorities of the culture.

So you think gay marriage won't affect your life?  You think gays and lesbians aren't a driving force for the pornification of our kids?  You don't think the gay lobby will push our culture into perversion few are willing to consider much less have our kids witness?  The following article demonstrates what has been taking place in Massachusetts long before May 14, 2004.  The first day a gay wedding took place in America. 

Similar pushes by the gay lobby here in California have resulted in textbooks being altered to prevent criticism and honor the works of homosexuals in history, diversity training and day of silence programs being instituted in our public schools, homosexuals having preferred access to 'inform' our kids of their persecution and 'normal' lifestyle,  introduction of study materials making sexual identity fluid as regular curricula.

Visit Marcia Segelstein's blog
Read the full article over at Perspectives

Gayrightsmap

In Massachusetts, GLSEN is famous (or infamous) for what's become known as "fistgate."  And here's where the distasteful part begins.  On March 25, 2000, GLSEN sponsored, along with the Massachusetts Department of Education, a taxpayer-funded conference.  Its goals included putting Gay/Straight Alliances into more Massachusetts schools, and expanding homosexual teaching into lower grades.
 
Many gay-friendly teachers (who received development credits for being there) and administrators attended, along with students who were bussed in from their home districts.
 
One particular workshop was listed as a "youth only, ages 14-21" session, run by three self-professed gay presenters.  Thanks to two members of a local Parents' Rights Coalition who secretly taped the session, we know exactly what happened.  One of the teachers asked the assembled students what "fisting" meant.  Following a descriptive definition, another of the adult presenters proceeded to demonstrate the proper formation of the hand for this sexual act.  After a student of about 16 said that it didn't sound very appealing, the third adult presenter calmed his concerns.  This technique, she explained, "often gets a really bad rap," and that it was "an experience of letting somebody into your body that you want to be that close and intimate with."  Other homosexual acts were discussed and described in detail.
 
In 2002, GLSEN sponsored another conference which included a seminar on "Gender in the Early Childhood Classroom" which explored ways of setting "the tone for nontraditional gender role play" for preschoolers.
 
Here's some of what Marjorie King wrote about GLSEN for City Journal back in 2003.  "GLSEN often presents itself as a civil rights organization, saying it is only after 'tolerance' and 'understanding' for a victim group...But it is, in fact, a radical organization that...seeks to transform the culture and instruction of every public school, so that children will learn to equate 'heterosexism' – the favoring of heterosexuality as normal – with other evils like racism and sexism and will grow up pondering their sexual orientation and the fluidity of their sexual identity...One of the major goals of GLSEN...is to reform public school curricula and teaching so that Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender – or LGBT – themes are always central and always presented in the approved light."
 
Jennings himself spoke about the importance of "framing" the debate in a speech he gave in March of 1995 to the Human Rights Campaign Fund Leadership Conference called "Winning the Culture War."  Here's a small portion of what he said:  "In Massachusetts the effective reframing of this issue was the key to the success of the Governor's Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth.  We immediately seized upon the opponent's calling card – safety – and explained how homophobia represents a threat to students' safety by creating a climate where violence, name-calling, health problems, and suicide are common.  Titling our report 'Making Schools Safe for Gay and Lesbian Youth,' we automatically threw our opponents onto the defensive and stole their best line of attack.  This framing short-circuited their arguments and left them back-pedaling from day one."
 
Kevin Jennings wrote the foreword to the book Queering Elementary Education, which offers essays on "Locating a Place for Gay and Lesbian Themes in Elementary Reading, Writing and Talking."  (Interestingly enough, Bill Ayers wrote a glowing blurb for the back of the book.)
 
Kevin Jennings now works for the Obama campaign, as fundraising co-chair for the LGBT community.

I woke up at 4:30 AM this morning and turned on the radio to hear that the so-called breaker switches had been flipped on Wall Street again preventing another Black Monday.  The market had been frozen because the stock had plunged another 6% in its opening hour.  I supported the bailout package at first.  I can now see that I was wrong to do so.  As I have since stated, I suspected as much when it failed to pass on the first vote.  It was firmed up when it did pass the second vote.  It was cemented as I began to see that Congress had no intentions of acting quickly.  In fact, the market has reacted in direct opposition to the threat of government intervention.  When it looked as if the government would not intervene the market soared, and when it looked like the government would intervene the market dropped like a rock.

When I sat down at my computer and started going through my email I opened up my VOX neighborhood recent posts notifier and TedWest had posted a link to the last honest Democrat reporter.  You can find that story which is so popular that they posted it on a static link, meaning it has a permanent address at:
.Would the Last Honest Reporter Please Turn On the Lights?

.An open letter to the local daily paper -- almost every local daily paper in America:

I remember reading All the President's Men and thinking: That's journalism. You do what it takes to get the truth and you lay it before the public, because the public has a right to know.

This housing crisis didn't come out of nowhere. It was not a vague emanation of the evil Bush administration.

It was a direct result of the political decision, back in the late 1990s, to loosen the rules of lending so that home loans would be more accessible to poor people. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were authorized to approve risky loans.

What is a risky loan? It's a loan that the recipient is likely not to be able to repay.

The goal of this rule change was to help the poor -- which especially would help members of minority groups. But how does it help these people to give them a loan that they can't repay? They get into a house, yes, but when they can't make the payments, they lose the house -- along with their credit rating.

They end up worse off than before.

This was completely foreseeable and in fact many people did foresee it. One political party, in Congress and in the executive branch, tried repeatedly to tighten up the rules. The other party blocked every such attempt and tried to loosen them.

Furthermore, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were making political contributions to the very members of Congress who were allowing them to make irresponsible loans. (Though why quasi-federal agencies were allowed to do so baffles me. It's as if the Pentagon were allowed to contribute to the political campaigns of congressmen who support increasing their budget.)

Isn't there a story here? Doesn't journalism require that you who produce our daily paper tell the truth about who brought us to a position where the only way to keep confidence in our economy was a $700 billion bailout? Aren't you supposed to follow the money and see which politicians were benefiting personally from the deregulation of mortgage lending?

I have no doubt that if these facts had pointed to the Republican Party or to John McCain as the guilty parties, you would be treating it as a vast scandal. "Housing-gate," no doubt. Or "Fannie-gate."

Instead, it was Sen. Christopher Dodd and Congressman Barney Frank, both Democrats, who denied that there were any problems, who refused Bush administration requests to set up a regulatory agency to watch over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and who were still pushing for these agencies to go even further in promoting subprime mortgage loans almost up to the minute they failed.

Where has the integrity of America gone?  It isn't just the press that is dropping all its principals.   Its also the college professors and the teachers and general public behavior.  Even the individual behavior of the last bastion of integrity, the religious institution is dropping many of its ethical standards.  Just as this reporter is an example of a holdout for integrity to the profession, there are pockets of Christians and Jews who are still holding onto their traditions of integrity and merit, but when we have examples of CHURCHES teaching hatred and vice like Jeremiah Wright's church of the Black Christ and the Episcopalian Church literally splitting over the acceptance of the gay lifestyle there is an obvious ill running throughout our society.

One of my friends referenced the movie, Idiocrasy yesterday.  In that movie a man from today is trasported into the future where tv and advertising have transformed the entire world into numbnut idiots.  This average man is hailed as a genius because he knows that the most popular drink will not suffice for the purpose of irrigating crops.  He suggests they use water which is politically very difficult to accomplish because of the drink makers' lobbyists bribing the government to use their product.  In fact, peopel are stunned by the idea that water should be used.  "You mean, like in the toilet?"

I am not comparing myself to the two characters in that movie from the past, but at times I do feel that we are already there with regards to morality and integrity.  Its not that complicated.  If you think about long term benefit it isn't that difficult.  You recognize the profit and the sacrifice of the present success for the eventual payoff.  Its the law of consequences. 

The media are making themselves as irrelevant as the NOW organization after its support of Bill Clinton, one of the worst violators of women's personal rights.  Who considers NOW to be an authoritative voice for women's rights today?  Who will consider the press to be a trusted voice as the disseminator of information after the truth of Democrats' participation in the corruption of the banking industry and radical integration of communism and Islamization into our educational and governmental organizations?  If the Democrats do gain the super majority in both houses and gain the presidency, after the fairness doctrine and hate speech laws are inacted, will there be an American freedom to hold them accountable?

John McCain and many of the conservative talk show hosts simply do not understand the depth of the threat to our way of life.  McCain states, "If Obama wins, I don't think we have to be afraid."  Dennis Prager states, "If Obama wins, he will be my president."  Yes!  He will be the president, but his agenda to change America into a socialist state means we will not be the America the founding fathers envisioned.  We will no longer be free to inform, free to speak, free to choose with knowledge what direction we want to go, who we want to govern, what kind of governance we will abide by.

If John McCain becomes president, we will have a centrist leading us.  Another someone who leads from behind.  Someone who tests the political winds and makes his decisions based on popularity.  Someone, though known for his personal integrity, does not know how to lead others to dedicate their own lives to integrity.  Oh how I ache for a fresh Ronald Reagan.  Someone who knows how to inspire us to live better than we desire.  Someone long established in his faith, with a vision for a better world than the one we occupy.  Someone opposite of the socialist vision that has always led to literal mass murder.

Bill Clinton used to say about Affirmative Action, "Mend it, don't end it."  I say the same thing about the original experiment of the Founders of the United States.  The experiment to give people the responsibility to govern themselves.  The 'change' Senator Obama keeps touting which has people in literal worship of him is increasingly being revealed by himself and others to be socialism.  Implementing the change toward socialism will end that grand experiment of self governance.  It will end America as it has existed from its inception.

Howard Stern sent a 'man on the street' reporter out to Harlem to ask people what they thought of Barack Obama's choice of Vice President, Sarah Palin and other like questions.  It was not funny.  Not even the staff on the Stern show, including Stern himself were laughing at the stupidity of serious Obama supporters.  People who were fully intent on voting in this election cycle.  To be fair, there was one example of a McCain supporter not concerned with McCain's choice of VP, Joe Biden.  The stupidity absolutely runs both ways.  My criticism is not against the Democrat party in this article.  This rant is against the flippant and irresponsible attitude people take on voting.

The article I cross posted from C. Bradley Thompson compares socialism and conservatism in history.  Socialism is the result of stupid people giving power to people who promise the moon and deliver addictive entitlements.  In order to qualify for those entitlements you must be a non-producer.  A person who does not own anything.  Entitlements disincentivate people to find work and be educated.

How did we get here?  I began to consider this question today when I heard a news story on the radio between talk shows about a 14 year old boy in Acton, CA who committed suicide at school with a gun.  Three key points in the story stood out in my mind.  1. This kid was 6'5" and 220 lbs.  2.  He was a varsity football player.  3.  He was bullied for years.  How does a 6'5" 220lb football player get bullied?  As this story relates, his friend said he stopped defending himself because he was getting into trouble for defending himself.  This is a direct result of the feminization of our culture.  Boys and men must be allowed to exercise their natures.  Males must vent their frustrations and generally they do it in milder forms of violence.  Having our natures bottled up or weighted down by societal condemnation means it will bubble up somewhere and usually in extremely violent ways.  This trend in denying the fundamental nature of being male is so systemic that no official, no parent, and no teacher made note of the fact that this kid was denied access to any means by which he could have dealt with his problem.  In my youth, no authority could have gotten away with what I'm about to advocate, but this is the tact my father took toward clearing the violence out of boys.  If they were very young, he'd put the two who were having troubles getting along in a room or a yard and tell them to get after it.  Yes, he encouraged them to throw fists at one another.  If they were older, he'd provide gloves.

We country boys understood what 'fight' means.  It is neither attractive nor fun.  Certainly not the way the video games and the movies make it look.  There is real pain involved.  There is exhaustion and frustration involved.  And no matter who wins, everybody walks away with great losses.  The only glory involved in a fight should be reserved for the guy who fights for right, good, and honor.  The glory that goes to the evil should only be celebrated by those thugs who believe their cause has been advanced.  But thugs don't know that there is no lasting profit in evil.  Thugs don't have a long view.

The progeny of the ME generation were split between those who were educated in those institutions of higher stupidity and those of us who had to go to work.  Now the leaders are those educated out of their common sense.  Now we have Bill Ayers clones and wannabe's all over America's colleges and they are educating our kids' educators.  Now we have novice social engineers educating our children and implementing ever further experiments into a belief system centered on equality of wealth, rather than equality of opportunity, non-judgmentalism, uni-sex, co-ed, and nobody is better than anybody at anything and the ulitmate anti-wisdom....  appeasement of violent agitators.  Now that's how we got here.

What follows is a web page transcribed to make a available for thoughtful study, the wisdom one man thought to ask old people reputed to have lived happy lives.  Each of these five points of wisdom for living a full and happy life I have found in my studies of the Bible and in my commitment to my God.  It is good to have them laid out in such a concise and relevant way, but how much easier it is to apply this wisdom when you know you are aligning your life with the will of the Author of your life, indeed of all creation.

Have you ever wondered why some people find more happiness than others?  Why some people live well and die happy, while others die with regret?  I asked people to tell me the one person they knew who had found true happiness and had something to teach us.  Hundreds of people, with 18,000 years of experience, aged 60-106 shared their secrets.  I asked them to tell me in one sentence or less what brought you happiness, what they wished they'd learned sooner, what they regretted, for the secret to life.  They told me the five secrets we must discover before we die.

The first secret they told me "Be true to yourself."  Constantly ask, "Is this the life I want to be living?"  They said, "You have to follow your heart.  You have to know who you are.  You have to know what matters to you."  That there is an inner voice inside of us that tells us what we want, but we must have the discipline to listen and the courage to follow.  They told me to let go of what society and people think of you.  Look inside yourself, find out what matters most to you and pursue it.

The second secret "Leave no regrets"  When I asked them what they regretted, they did not regret their failures.  They wished they had risked more.  The greatest fear at the end of life is not death or failure but that our last words will be, "I wish I had..."  We can't guarantee success.  If we love, there is always the risk of rejection.  If we follow a dream, we may fall short.  But we can guarantee failure merely by choosing not to try at all.  They said, "Don't live your life on the side of the dance floor, step out and take a chance."

The third secret "Become Love"  Remember that love is the one thing that matters most.  Make friends, take time for those you love.  Don't get angry about things that in the end, don't matter.  If there is something you have to say, say it sooner, even if you don't feel ready.  They told me, "Love was the greatest source of meaning and the source of most regret."  One of them told me, "Your BMW won't visit you in the nursing home."  The secret, they said is not to get love, but to be a loving person.  If you love it will come back to you many times.

The fourth secret "Live the moment"  They told me it all goes by so fast.  Before you know it, you will be old.  See each day as a gift, choose not to waste it.  Wherever you are, really be there.  Life is not a contest so don't compare yourself to others.  Comparison is the thief of joy.  We can't change the past so forgive yourself, and make a different choice.  Don't live in the future, it may never come.  So live each day, as if it could be your last.  Be grateful, focus on what you have, not what you don't.  Remember, happiness is not out there anywhere, in anything.  It is inside of you.  And they told me, "Stop judging (condemning) and start living.  Live more and keep score less.

The final secret they said, "Give more than you take."  When I asked, "What has given your life meaning?"  They said that the things we take from the world have no meaning, but we remember what we left behind.  Find something that matters to you and give all your heart to it.  A cause, a child, a dream.  They said happiness cannot be sought, it is a byproduct of serving.  If you are unhappy, get busy doing something for someone else.

I asked them about dying.  They told me, "If you really live, if you discover the five secrets, you won't be afraid to die.  As you contemplate the five secrets, resist the temptation to "judge" (condemn) your life.  Instead, ask:  How can I embrace and live the five secrets more deeply?  The judging (condemning) mind paralyzes us.  Whatever mistakes you have made, no matter how many regrets you have, plant a new tree today.  This is what the wise elders wanted me to know.

Be true to yourself
Leave no regrets
Become love
Live the moment
and Give more than you take

They said we should discover these things long before we die.  Pass this on, share the secrets, and remember these words:  "I always used to tell my students, "Don't count on cramming."  The same is true in life, don't wait until the end to do what matters to you.  George Beer, 73
There are ten minute funeral lines and ten hour funeral lines.  "Live your life so that when you die people will want to come and tell stories about the kind of life you lived and how you touched them."  Ken Krambeer, town barber, 64

John Izzo Ph.D.  the five secrets you must discover before you die

I have to confess, I modified for clarity the topic of self condemnation.  Dr. Izzo used the improper and inaccurate term of judging.  I am highly sensitive to the topic so I hope he'll forgive my intrusion but entirely too many people are confused by the term today and I wanted to be sure the application was unmistakeable. 

I highly recommend any book or tape or movie or whatever resource to learn how to live a happy life.  My personal favorite is the Bible itself but I also recommend Dennis Prager's book, Happiness is a Serious Problem, subtitled, The Human Repair Manual, but if Dr. Izzo's work serves you better then by all means get that one.   Whatever you use, find something to help you understand the keys to happiness.  You will bless our entire country and quite possibly the entire world if you can contribute your own joy to our society.

When I first committed my life to Christ, I was 11.  I had very powerful experiences not affirmed by that church.  Dry, dry.   So when we moved to California again we didn't seek out a new church.  It was many years later before I allowed myself to be talked into church again at the age of 31.  Recently, I discovered a video of a comedian giving a serious speech. Its offensive to liberals because (in my view) its entirely true but the message is very critical of liberal ideology.    I used to be remotely liberal, meaning I wasn't interested in politics and international affairs. So when I did go to church I discovered I could not get enough of the Bible.  I bought reference books and learned how to use them.  I bought various versions of the Bible.  I spent hours on hours studying by topic and by chapter and by word.  I learned that everything I'd been sold by the liberals was a pile of horse hockey. My own lifestyle made me my own worse enemy.  As I applied the wisdom of the Bible to my life I began having the powerful experiences again.  I began to see prayer answered and unanswerable questions answered.  I learned by study and by experiential evidence the more I aligned my life with God's will as described in the Bible the better my life was.  The church I was attending believed very seriously in personal relationship with a living God and this was supported in what I was learning and in what I was experiencing.  Then the church seemed to just go as dry as the original church was.  I learned something new.  My experience with God is dependent on my relationship with other worshipers.  God still answered prayer, but where was that, that experience?  

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I am a collector of allegories.  One of my favorites is the story of the parishioner who began to stay home on Sunday's.  The preacher being a good shepherd went out to visit the man.  When he got there, the man was sitting on the porch.  Without saying a word, the man stood up and motioned the preacher an invitation to come inside.  Both men knew why he was there.  They sat down near the wood burning stove and both were staring into the fire through its little open door, yet neither had spoken a word.  Pretty soon the preacher reached over and took the fireplace tongs and pulled a single glowing coal out of the fire and set it on the ash keep just below the door.  It didn't take but a couple of minutes and the coal's fire had completely died.  The preacher reached back over with the tongs and put the now dead coal back into the fire and it soon was glowing with the rest.  He looked back over to the man and said, "We'll see you in church on Sunday."

Not My Church

He'd made his point.  Away from fellowship with the worshipers, the faith begins to dry up.  Relating that to my experience, I began to understand that even though the church was still meeting every Sunday, something had either separated me from them or else the presence of God was lifting from that congregation.  I have yet to figure that out.  I am beginning to think its me, because it doesn't seem to matter which church, I feel separate in a way I can't fathom much less describe.  I still hear the voice of God, I still have prayer answered, I still am able to minister the heart of God to others, and be ministered to by others.  But something has changed somewhere.  My church home cannot be duplicated.  I have long since moved from that area and still visit that church when I go visit family and friends.  Its still the same as when I left though there are new board members and support staff.  I'm thinking, I'm not the same person I was when I moved into the faith.  I  have been called to something else.  I have been led a different path than most church members, but I haven't been very faithful in that calling.  I need the encouragement that kind of fellowship brings to follow through with that calling, though the call itself is separate from that fellowship. 

Today, it hit me that I have been soundly blessed.  My job has afforded me ample time to solidify my purpose in blogging.  I have been able to formulate the rudimentary thesis I am now working on and develop in my articles.  Some days I work as little as 45 minutes and yet retain my salary which allows me to live comfortably.  A long day entails a physically and emotionally light 6 hours with relatively little pressure.  For 20 months I've been able to do this and new developments seem to be formulating for me to be able to work on my thesis as the inspiration strikes.  We'll have to see how that goes, but... well, wow!!  Who gets to work between 1 and 6 hours a day and still have a decent pay check?  So, I think I'm acting within God's will because I'm being blessed so which allows this kind of focus.  All these 20 months and I've both been worried that the boss is somehow displeased that he has to pay what he pays for the little that I do, but he isn't.  All this time I've wondered if I should be hunting for a real job.  No, I'm actually being promoted to a more responsible and LESS active job. 

Put Your Head Back On

This must be answer to prayers I'd prayed way back, way back when I asked God to bless my employers even though they don't believe in the God I do, bless them so that I could please Him with my compensation.  I think I am, now.  I think I'm on the right track because so much stuff is out here in the ethereal digitized land of information that is just plain wrong,  I'm not referring to the facts of science and finance.  I'm referring to understanding what we do that defeats what we want (both collectively and individually) and changing our hearts from this self defeating ignorance to think through what we want and evaluate the cost and to make rational decisions whether to pursue those wants or to shoot those wants in the head and get on with living the life we can.

Just as I was finishing up this article, Ruth sent me this Stumbled upon opinion piece.  It relates the epidemic of arrogant anti-rationalism and anti-intellectualism running through the American population for many decades now.  I do not suppose that I can single handedly turn the tide of this epidemic, but maybe I can entice a few people in my little corner of the information age to get interested in discovering the pertinent parts and applying them enough to make some good life choices.