Book of Redemption: Chapter 12 Self-Knowledge...
Now that The Coronavirus Economic Crisis is here and countless Americans are literally struggling to take their next breath or they will die... AND... countless Americans are literally struggling to keep their family's heads above water or they will drown in financial ruin... IT IS CRYSTAL CLEAR TO ME... OUR ONLY CHOICE NOW... IS TO UNITE... and demand that America's political class... RISE TO THIS MOMENT OF GRAVE PERIL.
"What's The Apocalypse?" That's what a good friend asked me the other day. He kept hearing about it over and over again on television... but he didn't have any idea what it really was.
So I told him... THE APOCALYPSE... has a lot to do with religious prophecy, but a lot of people who aren't religious also use the term to describe a period of tribulation with a lot of wars... a lot of terrible storms... a lot of famine, plagues and man-made corruption.
And I told him... BIBLE PROPHECY... claimed a dark world leader would emerge, pretending to be a 'savior' but in the end he would prove himself to be... 'The Great Deceiver'. Forcing a response from a humble servant of God that The Book of Revelation called... THE LAMB.
The Book of Revelation also claimed...
THE LAMB would prove himself worthy of The Word of God and that it was The Word of God and not the man who became... THE LAMB... that would destroy The Great Deceiver in The Real End Times.
Why share this story with you today? Because the dark times that we live look enough like The Bible's End Times... to make this story of mine...
ONE HELL OF AN END TIMES METAPHOR!
If it's true that... 'How You See Your Self'... is the magic code in the back of your mind and deep in your soul, then it's only fair that I share how I see my self... with you.
Well, I'm Prince Caspian of course... without ANY desire to rule. Meaning I see myself a great deal more like- someone like Thomas Paine than someone like George Washington. But it's also true that I believe Donald Trump is Lord Voldemort with hair... so I won't try to hide the 'Harry Potter' in me.
TODAY...
Now that this Odyssey of mine is finally over, it's Crystal Clear to me that Frodo Baggins... 'The Ring Bearer'... is more like me- than any other metaphor that I can think of.
My fellow Americans... I have absolutely NO political aspirations... and NO, I have no wish to become King. And I certainly have NO desire to plaster my name all over everything.
And... I guess that makes me the EXACT opposite of Donald Trump.
Still... when it's all said and done- it helps to remember that I'm just another 'little guy' who is willing to sacrifice everything for... The Idea of America.
That's what you should consider as you try to decipher the hidden codes behind this new venture... called Freice.
Knowing what to do has never been the problem... Time after time failure always comes from not doing what we know to be right.
In much the same W.A.Y. we look back and wonder why our ancestors didn't fully embrace Equality in 1776 or after The Civil War or even after The Civil Rights movement... still now for US... deep inside we know in order for Our Better American Self to dominate our consciousness it is just as important to stop doing what we know to be wrong... as it is to begin doing what we know to be right.
The Better Self lives only in a state of Personal Liberty... free from indebtedness to man, institutions and unhealthy ideas... so be prepared to clean up any "filth" no matter the form or the nature of its hiding place.
Because of modern education and technology, it is crystal clear... "Our American Time" is filled with more danger and opportunity than any other period in human history... And that it is for US... you and me to find in our collective imagination an American future worth pursuing.
Irrespective of your decision to believe that our Nation is divinely inspired or not, no one can argue the collective power of any nation's citizenship believing that they are indeed equal... and thus fostering a culture where some percentage of the population engages the thoughts and actions which over time will prove that they are.
Outrageous as it seems today, prior to The Declaration of Independence the assumption was that men weren't created equal and that ancestry, social order or gender determined one's place in this world.
Such flawed beliefs naturally manifested the downfall of every Empire as a horrific state of dependency upon a "Ruling Class" fostered the rigidity of the status quo.
With this tragic orientation, common men and women once wrongfully assumed "destiny" had denied their role, as they did they lost the promise of their imagination and any sense of rightful responsibility.
History is sadly repeating itself... as the majority of this country's citizens once again behave as though destiny continues to deny their role.
A vast dependency is growing on a new Ruling Class. This time Candidates keep us at war with each other and distracted from the precious missions which would once again unite this Nation and inspire our best and most valuable accomplishments.
Time after time history reveals the darkest side of "Ruling Class Empires" and why they are destined to fail... AND more importantly why peril is once again at the doorstep of this American Empire.
Inevitably the privileged and powerful "rulers" of the Empire will dedicate more thought and action to the preservation of the system and the spoils which they feel entitled... Ignoring or even worse, contributing to the problems which threaten peace, prosperity and progress.
In my late teens and early twenties I became fascinated with inspirational books and tapes written by men and women who felt that the lessons of their experiences were worth selling. And while I might have disagreed with some of them on the absolute value of their work, I did find that even insufferable, ego driven people had something of value for me.
As I listened to their stories I became more connected to my own. I looked at my life and actions with an eye for the relative value of their ideas and in doing so I became a student of my life. I began to evaluate my thoughts and actions and from that grew a strong sense of accountability and personal control. As my awareness grew so did the deliberate nature of my words and actions and soon I felt more in control than I ever had.
Through self analysis I began to notice changes in myself. I became more articulate, my energy level increased and I was mentally agile with a quick response in any situation.
As I filled my mind with practical knowledge from people who overcame personal adversity, demonstrated leadership or simply eliminated self-defeating behaviors, I began to recognize that my thoughts and behaviors were not unique to me.
Others before me have had the same strengths, weaknesses, motivation and fear and while no one individual has shared my identical experiences I instead found connections within the ideas of a multitude of speakers and writers. In their collective words were nuggets of knowledge that were easy to identify and easy to apply to my life.
I developed the habit of listening to certain tapes over and over. By doing so I found that my listening was flawed and my perspective limited. Each time I re-played a tape I heard something new.
Somehow I had missed a point or idea because my mind had wandered or my experiences had shifted in some way to make that idea more relevant. Never was I able to discern much value (even in the best ideas) the first time through.
My strong recommendation to you is that you find a handful of materials that hold special meaning to you (tapes, books, whatever) and revisit them frequently. By "frequently" I mean that I found it very useful to re-listen to some tapes several times a month for a year or two. And for me, besides writing the book, I have read parts of W.A.Y. more than 100 times.
It's simple, over the years, "the meaning" of the words changed as I did.
Everything about my life began to change in February of 2000 while traveling on a "red-eye" flight from San Francisco to Boston.
To say that I was dissatisfied with my then current job was an understatement. I was a classic "sell-out" in a job that didn't provide me with anything beyond a high income.
It was about the paycheck and nothing more.
With plenty of time to think on that flight, I asked myself a very simple question... "What would I do if I could do anything".
Almost immediately I had an answer. It wasn't anything close to what I should have come up with given my prior job experience and place in life... but thirteen years before I remember asking myself a similar question and getting the same answer.
So this time I paid attention.
I remember how strange it was, given my youth and inexperience. I saw no way to accomplish that thought back then, so I ignored it… until it returned to me on that flight.
What was my answer to 'the magic question'?
Create a solution to end loneliness.
Think for a moment about what was happening in February 2000. People were selling dog food over the web. Others with similarly unimpressive ideas were making millions.
It was the height of the dot-com bubble and I thought why not. I wrote "Create a solution to end loneliness" on my note pad and didn't stop writing for three hours. I was in a "zone"… ideas kept coming and I kept writing.
That thread of inspiration led to the pursuit of My American Dream and 23 years of blood, sweat and tears... trying to 'end loneliness' and countless other behavioral health issues that were directly related to success in school, work and interpersonal relationships.
Twenty three years of inspired work... looking very closely at the problems on college campuses and in the workplace... quite frankly, scared the hell out of me.
By chance, happenstance or by twist of fate, my eyes were opened to an idea that it appeared to me that no one else could see. It became clear to me... Pandora's Box had been opened in 1963 with President Kennedy's assassination... and out of that horrific day... came 'The Me Generation'.
And then in the 1990's The Me Generation had mutated and began transforming itself into the "Look at ME Generation".
As a result, too many Americans, no longer liked who they were... and then a wave of self-loathing emerged... creating the obesity "epidemic", over-crowded tattoo parlors and a whole host of unsavory symptoms that were all related to self-hatred.
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To make a long story short, by trying to create a new business minded, financially sustainable model to solve health and social problems... I got an up close and early look at a man-made catastrophe that was heading our way.
To put it another way... if you saw what I saw, you would understand just why 'Obamacare' is such bad medicine.
IT'S TRUE. America's Opioid Crisis... was years in the making and some very, very smart people are still too arrogant to see how their faulty "beliefs"... helped kill tens of thousands of Americans.
There was no way to put into words the totality of the danger that I found lurking in America's behavioral health trends... AND... even if I could have found some of the words back then, there would have been no reason for people to believe the words... until it was much too late.
Over time it became clear to me that the only 'real answer' I could find was to make the words... "Wisdom is Always Yours" come alive... and ask people to open their eyes, think for themselves and find their own truth in the sordid stories of our time.
To that end... Let's begin here:
Yesterday, a couple of teenage punks took offense to my request to turn down the volume on their MP3 player.
After ten minutes I thought enough is enough and spoke up. One of "them" wanted to know if I was prepared to back-up my words. So he tried to stare me down.
Well, it didn't take long to see that I mean what I say and that I can't be bullied. One of the other kids finally spoke up and told the instigator to 'knock it off'.
A few more minutes passed and the underage punks went outside for a smoke. It was a cold night so once back inside they needed to turn up the heat. So they turned their device to porn and marveled at how cool modern technology made them feel.
Tonight another 'punk' walked through the door of my local coffee shop and I took special notice. A few minutes came and went and another teen with an extra-long skateboard and extra-long hair made his way to the door.
Now it doesn't matter to me what a person looks like, what matters to me is what they do and say. So when the 8 year old girl and her mother walked through the door and the little girl embraced the two "punks" with a big, long hug... well, let's just say it was clear to me that these two boys weren't nearly as tough on the inside as they wanted the world on the outside to believe.
I continued to watch and I became astonished by what I saw. The mother of the girl didn't appear to be the mother of the boys. She seemed uninterested in the boys while she talked on her phone. Across the room the boys continued to hug and embrace the girl in a way that allowed me to see... she was indeed their sister.
Now off the phone, the mother turned her attention to the boy sitting closest to me and said 'How much do you have left on the card'. To which he replied... 'Just ran-out tonight'.
So she went over to the counter, got another card and then handed the card to the boy and said 'Merry Christmas'. Right before her 8 year-old daughter's eyes.
It was January 7th and the chill of the moment brought a tear to my eye.
Not long after... the negotiations began. The one boy who still had a degree of his mothers favor, thought he was doing his mother and brother a favor by acting as a go between... between two people who pretend to have nothing left to say to each other.
It didn't take long for me to see that I didn't want to see any more. My instinct is to speak-up. But even I didn't know what to say. So I bit my tongue as I walked out the door and took a deep breath as the icy air filled my lungs.
Looking back on that painful moment... it's easy to see that this fractured family is only a very small part of an increasingly ugly storyline.
Communication between parents and kids even in the best of times can be difficult... but these times aren't even close to being the best of times.
Tough talk and discipline are important... but they have their time and place. And unfortunately too many parents have come to find out they missed their time, because when the time called for them to speak-up... they chose the path of least resistance and stuck an electronic device in their child's hand or in their line of sight or even worse... instead of proving that discipline works, they put ADHD medication in their child's system. Making drugs... their child's go-to 'code' when things go wrong.
So overtime... talk, tough or not... has lost much of its meaning. Empty words don't matter. No matter how loud or how often you say them, empty words do very little good when someone has stopped listening or no longer believes what you have to say. But all hope is not lost... if you have the right code.
Try and think about our thoughts and emotions as 'code'. Not unlike DNA code or other digital code.
'Talk is cheap' and it's also the weakest form of 'code' that impact our beliefs. The most binding code is beliefs that come with a degree of pain. The deeper the pain the more influential the belief.
You just can't overcome the most painful beliefs with talk... no matter how tough the talk becomes. The really good news is... it's finally time to put all the ugly talk behind US.
Sometimes good people get their heads filled with 'bad code' and all they and the people around them can see and think about is bad and it doesn't matter what is said, when the line of thinking has gone bad. So used your head... try a different line.
The most powerful 'good code' that I've come to find is when a person chooses for their Self... an opportunity to Save Nature in some way, shape or form. You can't help but see the good in your Self when you Save Nature.
So stop talking and Save Nature. Do this and overtime there will be lots and lots of good things to talk about.
Save Nature.
It's how we change the ugly storyline and Help Save The American Dream... one child's dream at a time.
The "Me Generation" began sometime around 1963 and hard as it might be to believe, given all that has gone wrong, maybe for a time the "Me Generation" had its time and place and was a critically important part of the development of mankind.
But just as "The Summer of Love" ended in filth and disease... maybe it's time for all of US to see that this idea of "me" above everything else ... just doesn't work for mankind, at least not in the 'way' some people had hoped.
The Next Generation "anything" typically brings change... and that's really Good News because that previous release was really something wasn't it?
You Baby Boomers spent our Social Security... left our schools crumbling... created a healthcare system that can't possibly continue the way it is... enabled inequality on almost every imaginable level... and left the check for the rest of US and our children, which by the way is now due. And to all of this I suggest We say... Thank You!
Never in history has any generation created so much good and at the same time so much bad. Boomers kept pressing on the limits of our shared humanity and we kept expanding in every direction.
"They" left for the next generation... tremendous advancements AND hopefully a better future because of the painful lessons of the Boomer experience. Boomers had their "Summer of Love" and took on the mantra of "Turn On, Tune In and Drop Out"... drugs became an unsustainable shortcut to heightened consciousness for some. But when the hangover wore off many found themselves on the path to self defeat and never got off.
Those who did find their way found a certain beauty in emotional freedom and used it to unlock their free imagination and the unparalleled progress of a generation.
Don't know what I mean?
Think Steve Jobs.
Our course to a heightened consciousness is different... it’s The War on Terror. Now it will be for you and me to choose a new Mantra to get US off the path of self-defeat.
Our hope comes from US choosing well. Our Hope is also in our free imagination and the purposes We find within it.
The Summer of Love ended in filth and disease, quite simply because there are no sustainable shortcuts to higher consciousness. When the formula for a life includes as part of the code an inclination to "Drop Out"... well I'm sure you can guess how it's likely to turn out.
How The War on Terror turns out will be for The Next Generation to decide. But make sure the new mantra includes the essence of the word "Engage" and the expectation of colossal good coming from our engagement and it will.
It strikes me; with the power at our fingertips We can raise hell or heaven on earth. No generation has ever been faced with such a choice... with all future generations of species counting on US to choose well!
The natural evolution of the "Me Generation" turned into the ugly "Look at ME Generation".
It wasn't the way things were meant to be by the creators of the 'free love' movement, but this thought experiment was an idea that has lasted far too long and has gone tragically wrong... and has now finally been proven to be VERY, VERY wrong for mankind. It is a man-made disaster of unintended consequences that must be brought to an end.
The Hippies of the 1960's talked about 'The Age of Aquarius' and the beginning of a new way for mankind... but this can't be what they intended when they unleashed the belief that the 'Self' was more important than the family and the whole of mankind.
These are special times to be sure. Incredible world need and incredible technology introduced to a world population that everyday is becoming more and more educated about both.
Today, what we need most are leaders, free thinkers and true believers in the power of love for our brothers and sisters... who have found a 'way' to check their ego and are willing to step forward and organize educated people and technology into lasting solutions that we all can share.
Maybe it has finally come time to unleash the power of...
"The... it's not about me generation".