Ideas To Consider

Several Concepts to Consider, Accept or Reject on Your Road Down Your Life of Autonomy

Americans have become very accustomed to a life of monitoring, licensing, obedience to mandates, and obligations to fulfill in order to be a respected and useful member of the citizenry. The experts have told us they know what is best, and we believed them. The cracks in the foundation of life in the USA expose glimpses of a different reality.

The fallibility of the experts is quite apparent. Going along to get along hasn’t worked so well for many everyday people.

The U. S. Constitution is in place to allow for the self-determination of the average person. This document that sets out the guidelines for the governance of the U. S. A. is still in place and is a great source from which to draw.

The Spirit of the Constitution seems to imply the thoughtful and autonomous action of the responsible individual citizen. The new modal of life in the U. S., of a few experts developing the rules for the culture, and the majority sheepishly acquiescing, is not drawn from our historical sources..

We would like to offer a few topics that impact modern life. We would respectfully like to offer a counter-thought to each topic for you to consider, accept, or reject; or to modify using your own viewpoint.

*Health Care -- Huge sums of money must be channeled into the health care system in order to keep Americans healthy.

--We may better put more effort into staying healthy rather than regaining health after disease has set in. Disease can occur intrinsically, but more often than not disease is due to life-style choices and environmental degradation. If the experts were truly more interested in vibrant health of individuals, the emphasis would be on toxins in the environment, pollution, stressful lifestyles, and poor life-choices.

*Hormone Replacement Therapy -- Women have been told, since the 1960’s, that upon approaching menopause, hormone replacement therapy would keep them young. For whom were the women to be kept young? How fast did the women want to keep dancing? Why did women allow M. D.’s to dictate their personal lives?

--Hormone Replacement Therapy fell out of favor by M. D.’s. The reason seemed to be a link between breast cancer, and the hormones. After M. D.’s stopped prescribing the hormone replacement therapy, the rate of breast cancer among women dropped precipitately. Where are the other areas of health, that can be improved, by living more naturally and less dependently on artificial drugs? Why haven’t the experts called for a simple clean-up of the environment, that will most certainly result in fewer diseases and better health?

*Education -- Again, our cost of education is increasing at a rate that far outpaces inflation. Individuals meekly buy into the suggestions that huge sums of money must be transferred to the educational system in order that the individual will have the opportunity to compete in the workforce.

--The transfer of huge sums of money to the educational system enriches the entrenched members of that society. If the same money could be used to set up in a business, or to follow a course of education outside of the entrenched educational system, the same result of respectable self-support may result for the self-determined individual.

*Competition -- Competition is used as a weapon among employees, for the benefit of the employer. The competition begins within the educational system, where a limited number of slots are doled out to an unlimited number of students-preparing-to-be-employees. One may consider the education to be less as a Hall for Learning, as a preparatory laboratory for the manufacture of obedient employees.

--Competition can be the self-motivating. manifestation of autonomous pride and enthusiasm generated from living the life of self-determination and interest of a self-employed individual.

*401(k) Plan -- The employees, trained by the institutionalized educational system and chosen by the corporation to fill their slot, are encouraged to participate in the company’s valuable retirement plan so the employee, at the end of his/her life, worn out and dazed, can stop working and “start living”, using the funds accumulated.

--The 401(k) Plan is a method by which employees, earning a pay allotment from the corporate world, channels a large portion of that pay back into the corporate system. If the system doesn’t hold, and we have a stock market crash, the corporate world has used the pay of the employee, the CEO has skimmed off the larger portion of this 401(k) money to retain within the world of the corporation, and the employee, playing by the rules, is left in poverty. The self-employed person, more responsible for his/her own future, and with few “benefits” to hope for, reinvests the money that, if working in the corporate world would go into the 401(k) plan, into his/her own business. The business may fail, the business may thrive--it is up to the autonomous self-employed person. The chances appear to be no better or worse than taking a chance on a corporation.

These are questions that haven’t been seriously discussed among the large portion of the U. S. citizenry. The result has been a transfer of wealth and power to the few.

This can be easily changed when the individual U. S. Citizen takes his/her life into his/her own hands.

The U. S. Constitution provides for the right for the individual to do so. This beleaguered document has been ignored too long. The individual U. S. Citizen has allowed the powerful to run their lives for too long.

Photosynthesis in Humans and Who Needs Food?

The Vitamin D that we photosynthesize from absorption from exposure to sunlight is one of the best sources of this important vitamin that is available. Vitamin D is necessary for the health of people and in particular, can reinforce the strength of bones. Rickets is a symptom of Vitamin D deficiency.
Some researchers have held that cancer due to sun exposure is less of a risk than is Vitamin D deficiency due to lack of sun exposure.
The epiphany of my personal processing of energy from the sun, in the same manner as the geranium potted next to me, has reinforced my relationship with creation. This delicate operation of photosynthesis that is shared by humans and the plant world, is like Mother Nature opening her arms to include everything living.
If we embrace this reality, the food we eat takes on a new and interesting turn. Our integral inclusion in the galaxy-wide sustenance system must surely make us feel at home. When we consider how specifically and naturally everything comes together to sustain both plant and animal life, food can become the delicious and physical symbol of something much greater and all-inclusive from which we draw.
The amazing use of sunlight as food that is shared by plants and people, must make us take a closer look at the more prosaic form of food that we enjoy everyday. The choice of food we consume can be viewed as a reflection of our acknowledgement of the inclusiveness of everything.
If we see the body as the temple that houses our soul, why would we disrespect it? We could consider before ingesting chemicals that are prevalent in our food. We could be more concerned about pesticides that kill bad bugs and good bugs, and are harmful to humans. We could recognize the precious home-grown vegetable as the jewel it is.
We could see the wonderful activity as gardening as a way in which to get exercise, grow healthy food, enjoy the esthetics of the process, and honor our body. And, bye the way, this is a great way for both your vegetables and you to experience the photosynthesis that you can both share together.
Harvesting this precious result of your Summer’s energy in the Autumn, is a wonderful recognition of the balance of the Equinox. This time of balance of light and dark allows for reaping the result of the Sun’s effects and storing this wonderful gift for the dark Winter months we are to enter.
Remember, Winter is the time of rest, thoughtfulness, planning, and the celebration of the depth of night that suddenly stops, and turns slowly back into providing us, each day, with a little more sunlight.
The gift of the fruits and vegetables that you, or someone near you, have grown and harvested in the sunlight, will sustain through these sleepy, cozy, forward-looking Winter days.
What an amazing and awesome swirl of molecules are we a part!!!
Absorbing our food with reverence is the only truly human response.

HEALTH CARE CRISIS IN THE U. S.

HEALTH CARE CRISIS IN THE U. S.
If you are not one of the people who have no health insurance, you may be paying financially crippling premiums for your coverage. The people of the U. S. need to have an in-depth and vibrant conversation on the subject of health care. We need to discuss who will make the decisions about individual care, and the extent to which control can be taken out of the hands of the average citizen in deference to the wishes of the powerful.
Is it acceptable that the wealthy use the natural resources for their own benefit; polluting the atmosphere, water, and food supplies that are the birthright of each U. S. citizen, whether the citizen is rich or poor?
The defilement of the environment by the privileged few has occurred gradually, resulting in quiet acceptance by the masses. The story told to the masses is that the privileged few will use the resources for the good of everyone.
In truth, the average citizens are used for the benefit of the powerful as surely as our natural resources are used.
The lack of concern for the pollution of natural resources extends as callously to the populace. The populace is affected by pollution as completely as are the natural resources.
The result of pollution and toxicity on humans is disease. After the callous infliction of toxins on the populace has occurred, the medical profession is expected to make the individual well.
One could place more confidence in the health care system if said system were honest enough to point out the efficacy of keeping people healthy in the first place, rather than “fixing” them after they had succumbed to pollution and toxicity by way of disease.One would indeed be cynical to wonder if the income derived by said “fixing” could be described as conflict of interest.
A hospital in Upstate New York advertises their use of the Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT). Apparently this is a medical treatment that involves delivering high doses of oxygen to the body. This treatment ostensibly is used to reduce swelling, control infection and to stimulate the growth of new blood vessels allowing for many conditions to heal when they otherwise would not.
The first thought that pops into the mind is that if oxygen therapy is helpful to mitigate disease, perhaps we need to be more careful of our natural supply of oxygen.
Hyperbaric Oxyge Therapy (HBOT), is impressive technology and certainly useful to one with a disease. However, this same institution is silent on the subject of local pollution. Apparently it is acceptable to simmer the populace in a toxic stew, so long as the venerable health care institutions can provide the means to make them well again.
Case in point is the onslaught upon this innocent populace by the huge gas drilling conglomerates, who have decided they will move into the area and remove the natural resources that are held deep within the Marcellus Shale Deposits. Little concern is articulated about the toxins and poisons that will be forced into the ground beneath one’s feet.
The heavy-handed determination of the companies presupposed that this insult is to be forced upon a population. After the wealth has been extracted, the diseases will be borne by humans. The noble health care institutions will step in to heal the disease that has been caused in pursuit of profits by corporations. Of course, the health care institutions will also charge a goodly sum to accomplish this end.
One wonders why the health care system doesn’t research and speak out against the causes of disease as stridently as they do about curing the disease itself.
The profit-making activities by the privileged few, has turned the idea of the vision of the Founders in 1776, into a joke. The rights as set forth in the U. S. Constitution is a fond memory, to be nostalgically taught in a classroom.
The populace is run through the grinder of profit making right along with other natural resources. People are told this is for their own good. Taxes are kept so high that a fearful populace is kept on a treadmill of work/buying/paying taxes/following mandates.
While the average person is kept on this never-ending treadmill, the people in power can use our natural resources in any manner they choose.
Our first responsibility is to start a deep and serious conversation about how we are to proceed as human beings. The U. S. citizen still has the framework of the U. S. Constitution to draw from.
A discussion of whether the masses should be ground up in the profit-making machine along with the other natural resources for the personal gain of the few.
And why are the natural resources of the United States the property of only a few, rather than the whole?

ARE YOU LIVING YOUR DREAM?

ARE YOU LIVING YOUR DREAM?

Do you even remember your dream?
The subtle funneling of the American populace into their preordained role of employable workers starts early and is constant.
Schools are especially suited to categorize and train young and autonomous souls into appropriate roles to make them employable. Who can argue that this isn’t a noble societal function? After the graduation ceremony, the enthusiastic young throw their mortarboard caps into the air while shouting with glee and anticipation.

They are equipped for the freedom of a adult life and the ability to shape their lives as they choose. After all, isn’t the pursuit of happiness written into the U. S. Constitution? So this graduating class, having spent the last 12 years competing in the same courses of study with each other, will all investigate their possibilities for employment in their area of expertise, with the Fortune 500 Companies.
After 12 years of a curriculum of study that has been tailored to make the students employable by the Nation’s Corporations, the students now compete for the jobs with the highest pay and best benefits.

Once the happy student has secured the desired position with commensurate pay scale and benefits, the Corporation will take over where the education system left off, in indoctrinating the young employee into appropriate action, thought, and dedication.
Still under intense competition with their contemporaries, the employee’s energy is used into fitting the standards of the Corporation.

School systems, television programs and ads, friendships, and work life, cooperate in herding the individual down the road toward personality and lifestyle homogenization.
When the Corporate world doesn’t need the individual any longer, loyalty is not a value the Corporate Intellects use in determining who goes and who stays.
Often the best Corporate Employee, the person who has dedicated the most time and energy to the Company, is the same person who has neglected their own private interests and propensities. No one can serve two masters; and if you have made the Corporate World your primary master, to the exclusion of your personal interests, you may find that little of your true self remains.

Do you remember your dreams? Do you remember the enthusiasm of graduation day? When is the last time you planned out an original and exciting endeavor of your own--an endeavor that would move you closer to enjoying your own freedom, inclination, and gain.
The Pursuit of Happiness the Founders wrote into the U. S. Constitution seems to be intended for “We the People”. In reality “We the People” seem to have been subverted into “We the Employees” or “We the Corporations”.

How different would America be if the educational systems were in place with the intension of the development of each individual child who enters the system, into the best and most vibrantly ingenious person he/she can be?
Why are we settling for, and bye the way, paying for, anything less?
And what do we do about this now?
The place to start is with oneself. If you can disengage from the material desires that have been implanted in the American psyche by advertising, school systems, and piers, you may remember who you really are.
This is still America, and the U. S. Constitution is still in place. We have the ability of drawing from the Spirit of the legacy left to us by our Founders.
The Founders may have been as interested in securing individual liberty for all, as our system of today is interested in powerful Corporations’ interests.

If you are not in the vanguard of advocacy for yourself, you have no one else to blame.
Americans are the hardest working and most creative and innovative people in the world.If we choose to use this vibrant creativity for the benefit of the Corporate world, this is fine.
But if we have forgotten our birthright, not only of being an American, but also of being a Child of the Universe, it is sad.
The lessons that have been taught to us by our masters can be used to inform us as to our choices for a dynamic future.
We need only remember who we are, and create the life that is possible.
And, how fortunate are we that we have the U. S. Constitution for a protection and guide?