Solutions

The previous two entries of this journal focused on my politics, my beliefs, and the reasons why I have them. They had a great deal to do with the  reasons for many of the choices I have made in my life...which brought me to this point in time...and shaped who I am today.  Much of what I stated in those entries, I believe, isn't speculation...as much as it is pure observation...but I have learned that things I have seen as "the truth" in one phase of my life...have changed and evolved with my perceptions in another phase...so before I get back to writing about my personal journey, and my music...I want to devote this entry to a principle that has always been an important part of my life...although where I put the focus of that principle today has changed...since I have recognized certain truths. That principle is simply...to not only identify a problem, in whatever area of life I may be focusing on...but more importantly...to identify, and have the courage to live in the solution. I used to believe that I was here on this Earth to try to help change the state of the world, and to try to make it a better place. I actually believed that I was single-handedly capable of making that kind of a difference, and so I tried to impose my beliefs on others...to try to get them to change...to come around to my way of thinking. Because I have always paid attention...I tried to force them to see what I saw...because I thought I was right, and they were wrong...or apathetic. But it never worked...it only succeeded in making me more frustrated, and more angry. What I failed to recognize then, was...even if I was seeing things clearly...each of needs to find our way through this life on our own terms, in our own way, and in our own time... I have no power to make anyone do anything...that belief was a dangerous illusion. That is the same illusion that keeps this world in the state it is in. But I have come to realize that I can still do my part to make this world a better place...simply by changing myself, and my personal world...because by doing that, I touch more people in a positive way than I will ever be aware of. Just as a pebble creates a ripple in a still pond which continues to extend outward...and touches places far from where the pebble entered the water...every positive and healing action I take in my life extends outward...and touches places I do not see. Ever since I came to that awareness, and changed where I focus my energy...I have had more of an ability to effect positive changes in others, and to the world I live in then I ever thought possible. 

I believe that the social and spiritual awakening that occurred in the late sixties and early seventies would have never happened if not for the steady march toward knowledge and learning that had been at the heart of the American Dream when I was growing up. "Baby Boomers" grew up expecting to go to college. It was constantly stressed to our generation that to succeed in life...education was the key. Information was knowledge. Knowledge was power. They were inseperable. And by the time the decade of the seventies began, the Boomers were the most educated and enlightened generation in history. One of the things we were all taught back then, as a neccesity to higher learning was...to question everything. To do less would be the same as abdicating resposibility for knowledge and truth to someone else...and  throughout history...that has always been a recipe for disaster. We were taught to always ask WHY things were so...not just to blindly believe what we were told. I believe that had a great deal to do with why the college campuses of this country were the fertile ground from which the Counterculture, and the social revolution that it fueled...emerged.

Everything has changed in this country since that time. Our Educational and Information systems have changed the most. Today, our government seems threatened by the people of this country having access to knowledge of the true nature of its policies and motives...even though the government is supposed to be working for us. We pay their salaries. Today, questioning everything...is perceived as a threat. Asking probing political questions...is perceived as a threat. Knowledge of the truth...is perceived as a threat. Controlling information and misinformation...has become the ultimate power. But information can never be true knowledge if the information we are given is inaccurate, false, or incomplete. It is true that today, we have the fastest and most efficient means of exchanging information than has ever existed on this planet...but most of the time, we are only exchanging information that we hear on the television  or that is told to us...it is third-hand information at best...and very rarely is it information that is based on true knowledge or first hand experience. We have surrendered all of our power...and our desire for knowledge and truth...to the control of forces we desperately want to trust...but that we can't identify...and don't see. We are told what is true...and we question nothing we are told...because we have gotten comfortable with allowing the television commentators who are friendly, familiar faces...and who have become people we believe we can trust to tell us the truth...to be responsible for determining for us what is true and correct...and what we are supposed to believe is right. We trust them to honestly keep us informed. However, the reality is that most of those faces belong to strangers we only think we know...and no matter how trustworthy or well-meaning they may be...or may seem to be...they are really just actors...paid to essentially read the "scripts" that are handed to them. By forfeiting our responsibility for thinking for ourselves and deciding our own destiny...we allow others to tell us WHAT we should think, and HOW we should think...and what we SHOULD believe in, or what action we NEED to take...we trust someone else to make the important choices for us...and therein lies the problem. Either we all create our own future...or we blindly allow others to create one for us. The  problem with that second option is...if we find out that we don't like the world or the future that is given to us after we have surrendered our resposibility for creating it...there will be nothing we will be able to do about it. We will have to live in that future...and we will have nobody to blame for it but ourselves. 

Where this great country is concerned, the solution was very clear thirty five years ago, and the solution is the same today. QUESTION EVERYTHING. I accept nothing I am told as the absolute truth...unless I know it to be the truth from first-hand personal experience, or from witnessing something myself. Even THAT can be subject to change, because as my perceptions change...so does my reality...and with it...the "truth" I thought I saw clearly. Political truths change like the wind. Today, I realize that the only absolute truths...are spiritual truths...everything else is fluid, and subject to change. Information that is a result of somebody telling me that something is true...is usually inaccurate...unless it is information that can be confirmed from large numbers of objective sources that have very high credibility for having been accurate in the past, as a matter of record. Even the most objective of sources often have some kind of an agenda of their own...so that automatically excludes the government and the media from being credible. I assume all responsibility for my own thinking and conclusions...based on careful examination of the facts I am given...and the things that I see...and the things I feel in my gut. I also assume responsibility for my choices and my  actions...I do not  give that power away to anyone. I try to PAY ATTENTION to what I see, to what I hear, and to what my heart tells me....and then I compare that information to what I am "told". If there is a discrepency...I always consider the source of the data. Personal experience and first-hand observations are very difficult sources of data to ignore. So is my conscience. It never lies. I trust my feelings...especially when there is no real ability to determine the validity of a questionable report or story. If, after I hear it...everything inside of me keeps saying "something doesn't seem right here"...I pay attention to that. It's the same feeling we have all had at one time or another...like when a used car salesman tries to get us to buy a car that has a hidden problem...or the deal just seems too good to be true...or when a friend wants to borrow some money, or needs our help with something, but when we hear the reason for the request...we can feel that we just aren't getting the whole story. A lie of omission is still a lie...and these days we almost never get the whole story about anything. There are always three sides to every story...the version I'm told by one side, and version I'm told by the opposing side...and the truth, which is often somewhere in the middle. And sometimes...the truth is entirely absent from ALL the versions. So I also try to utilize other means of acquiring information and knowledge that were, at one time, more prevalent in this country...before the media bombardment of misinformation became a way of life in America. In effect, I watch a whole lot less TV...and I pay very close attention when I do watch it...especially to the news...and to just how much of it is devoted to keeping all of us distracted for days, weeks, even months, with meaningless, pointless, and very often irrelevant stories...gossip, incivility, and superficial issues...while the really important questions are ALMOST NEVER ASKED...and if they are, they are NEVER answered in any meaningful or clear manner...and are often sidestepped...or are left unresolved. Instead of allowing the media to saturate my senses to the point of overload with faulty data...these days, I try to read more...talk more...think more...and trust my feelings more. I question more...and participate in my own destiny more. I still vote...even though I feel it really doesn't matter a great deal when I do...because I believe the entire political process has been totally corrupted...but to not participate in the process would be pure apathy...and apathy isn't a solution...it never creates change...and it is a huge part of what is wrong in this country...and the world. The 2004 Democratic National Convention was the first time in many years that I have seen that there are many, many Americans who feel like I do...and that gave me some hope. However, I also saw the media pundits immediately trying to convince me that I HAD NOT SEEN AND HEARD...what I had JUST seen and heard...and the "labels" and name-calling immediately started...to create the illusion that to embrace American principles that have always defined this country...is in some way unpatriotic or based on ignorance or blindness. Real action IS necessary. I believe that the media...because it is now controlled by powerful corporations and the FCC...TWISTS THE TRUTH that we see with our own eyes and hear with our own ears...and is the single biggest threat to truth and clarity we have ever known in America. We cannot even believe our own eyes anymore, because digital technology enables images that we see to be altered or fabricated with the click of a mouse...just pay attention to the end of the new movie "The Manchurian Candidate" if you have any doubts as to the truth of this statement. Just think...and realize how much any of us can completely alter our own pictures with a home computer. The very heart and soul of this country is at stake. And if the light of truth and freedom goes out in this country...it is extinguished all over the world. So I send emails to the elected officials who represent me when important legislation is being decided. I join  organizations like The Sierra Club, Defenders of Wildlife, Earth Justice, The Ocean Conservancy, Amnesty International, The Nation.com, TrueMajority.com, MoveOver.org  and many other human rights, animal rights, and environmental groups that are trying to be in the solution, and I contribute what I can to those organizations. I sign petitions on issues that I feel strongly about, and occasionally there are small victories...which is always better than complaining about how things are...and doing nothing. Privately, I make sure I make my views known to the people I know...and in reality, to anyone willing to listen...and openminded enough to consider what I might have to say. And when that opportunity presents itself...I let logic and common sense do most of my talking for me. However, the action that I take that makes me feel the most empowered of all is...I try to live as if I am an Ambassador for this country...as if the example I set by the values I live by...determines how we are perceived by the other members of the human family in this world. To me, THAT is the most powerful way of being in the solution...instead of being part of the problem. When I try to do the very best I can to live in a way that reflects that...then I believe I am doing all that I can do...to be truly patriotic.

The Global Solution, I believe, is easy to see...but much more difficult to accomplish. It is my belief the imposing a political or idealogical "solution" on others will never be a solution...because throughout all of recorded history...that has only succeeded in perpetuating the cycle of violence, war, pain, and misery. It has never worked...because it is illogical...and fails to take into account the human need for people to be free to be the creators of their own destiny. The solution will have to be a spiritual one. It will require great faith, great courage, and great patience. But if the problem is looked at logically...it is the only real choice we have. We have tried for thousands of years to try to solve our problems through war, violence, and control...and the outcome is always the same. The only thing that ever changes is the names of the "players". History continues to repeat itself...because we refuse to learn from what clearly hasn't worked...and never will...because it makes no sense, and defies all logic.

One very logical and powerful truth is...all nightmares end as soon as we awaken. Darkness cannot exist when it is exposed to light. Truth and light are the same thing...and light is all we need to awaken from a bad dream. We can live in fear, judgment and attack mentality...and continue to destroy ourselves, ad infinitum...or we can choose to live in love and light..and heal that which keeps us seperate and wounded. There is great power in collective energy and unity of purpose..and all great spiritual teachings, from every era and time, and from every spiritual discipline...all come to the same conclusion. We Are All One. We are a Human Family. We are all parts of a greater whole. When any part of the body is injured...the entire body is at risk. We are all either part of the solution...or we are all part of the problem. We have everything to gain...or  we have everything to lose...as a result of the choices we collectively make...as people...as neighbors...as citizens...as nations...as a planet...and as the Family of Humankind. Either we can all help each other...or  we can all go on killing each other. That is our only choice. As a species, our overwhelming similarities far outweigh our minor differences. Almost all of our differences are merely cultural differences. In the final analysis, we are, after all, just a very large family living on a rock... hurtling through space. People everywhere just want to be able to live, to love, to be happy, to have their basic human needs met, and to be able to share in the Earth's abundance...which can more than provide for all of us...if we would only share it. The total planetary imbalance of those who have more than they could ever possibly need...and those who do not even have enough to survive...MUST CHANGE...if we are to survive as a planet. To share the abundance of this world...rather than to try to amass and control it...IS THE SOLUTION. One of the greatest  Universal Spiritual Truths is...WHATEVER WE CHOOSE TO EXTEND TO EACH OTHER...whether it is positive or negative...healing or destructive...compassionate or indifferent...COMES BACK TO US TEN-FOLD. Love is returned in the form of great healing. Generosity multiplies our blessings. Violence only begets even greater violence. It is a non-sequitur to believe that peace can be achieved through violence, or that safety can be achieved through the use of deadly force. That has never worked...because it is based on faulty logic. Our fear, insecurity, judgment and attack...only create more pain, hatred, despair, misery, fear, and war...no other outcome is possible...if that Universal Spiritual Truth...IS THE TRUTH. And all of human history has shown that it is. The solution of putting the bulk of our energy into healing the wounds, rather than salting the wounds of this world is the only course of action that has never been tried. And it has always been fear of our "enemies" that has kept us from trying it. The REAL truth is...our fear of each other...is our greatest enemy. No living thing will ever bite the hand that tries to feed and heal it...once it recognizes that love is the motive behind the action, and that there is no reason to fear the action or the expected reaction, if that motive is pure, and there is NO alterior motive. Fear keeps us blind, and in darkness. Love heals ALL wounds. Love is light...and darkness cannot exist when it is exposed to light...and only when we live in light, will we awaken from our nightmare.  ONLY  HOPELESS, FEARFUL, PEOPLE...WHO LIVE IN POVERTY, SQUALOR, DEPRIVATION, AND MISERY...OR PEOPLE WHO FEAR THAT BY SHARING THE BLESSINGS THEY HAVE...THOSE BLESSINGS WILL BE DIMINISHED IN SOME WAY...BECOME DESPERATE ENOUGH, OR FEARFUL ENOUGH, TO HATE. If that Universal Spiritual Truth applies...then the sharing of blessings can only multiply...not diminish...those blessings. It is only greed...the mindless hunger for more...and the endless thirst for absolute power by small groups of arrogant and maniacal people that creates the conditions of lack, desperation, darkness, suffering, and fear, that perpetuate this nightmare.

All journeys must begin with a first step. And all journeys into unfamiliar territory require great courage...and great faith. In the end...we MUST make that inevitable change...and take that scary first step...it is the only thing that can break the cycle we have been trapped in for all of human history.The change will have to be gradual...because it will take time for our wounded human family to recognize that we are actually in the solution, and are no longer part of the problem...and we will need to protect ourselves from each other, and from our fear of each other long enough  for that awareness to come, and for attack as a solution to be seen for what it is...a lie. But when it does come...the changes will occur on a planetary scale, and people everywhere will embrace the solution. The change in focus to healing each other, rather than living in total fear of each other...which is where all hatred and violence comes from...is the only chance we have to break the cycle of violence we have always existed in. Since this great country was founded, we have always been the beacon of light, hope, and justice that has lit the way for the entire world. And now, we need to be that once again. We need to be the example...we need to be the pioneers, and we need to be the healers. We also need to be courageous. The word courage...comes from the French word "Coeure"..which means "heart"..and we CAN make this change..but it will require us to change our hearts. We need to recognize the spiritual truth..that we are all connected..regardless of how many imaginary lines we draw on maps..or regardless of when our fear or our arrogance..tries to convince us that we are not. When we see a person suffer...we all feel that pain. When we see a person laugh..we all feel that joy..no matter how much we want to pretend that we don't. The light inside all of us..is lit from the same flame. Maybe we are afraid, and in fear of each other because..to accept that we are all essentially the same means we might have to accept that we're just not as different or entitled as we would like to believe we are. The reality is...here, in America,  we are only more fortunate...nothing more..and that can change at any time...if we don't change ourselves first. Human nature can change...but it will require walking through our fear, and taking real risks. Human nature can change but the human heart must change first. That will only happen one person at a time, and one heart at a time...but the time we have left to really embrace this truth and to make this change within ourselves grows very, very, short. The greatest risk of all is TO RESIST THIS CHANGE...because with all the energy that is expended to keep us fearful, misinformed, and believing that our destinies as a human family aren't linked together..but are seperate..and with all the technology we have developed to destroy ourselves...and the blind rage that seem to give world events a life of their own today...the inevitable outcome of resisting this change is certain..and final. That change in us will happen if and when we realize it is in our own best interests to make it..and the obvious logic of it..and when we have the faith, courage, and clarity to act on the spiritual knowledge that whatever energy we extend outward..healing energy or  wounding energy..generosity and love or hatred and fear..will ALWAYS comes back to us ten-fold.  

I guess the old hippie in me is alive and well. I don't think I've ever had the chance to put down all my thoughts on this subject in writing before. I've argued with many people, for many years about a lot of this stuff, but as I said before, as I have found my spiritual way..I have learned what I think is a much better way of living and effecting positive changes in the process. Now that I have actually stated my beliefs and solutions..."YOU MAY SAY I'M A DREAMER...BUT I'M NOT THE ONLY ONE...I HOPE SOMEDAY YOU'LL JOIN US...AND THE WORLD WILL LIVE AS ONE"...John Lennon.

"When there is light in the soul, there will be beauty in the person..when there is beauty in the person, there will be harmony in the house..when there is harmony in the house, there will be order in the nation..when there is order in the nation, there will be peace in the world"...Chinese Proverb.

Too Paranoid...Or Not Paranoid Enough?

It was never my intention for this journal...this story of my life...to become a vehicle for my political beliefs. But whether I like it or not, the story cannot be told completely or honestly without my touching on those beliefs, if only briefly...because they had a major role in shaping the choices I've made in my life...and in shaping who I was...and in many ways...who I am today. One thing that has always been true...I have always paid attention to what I see, and to what I hear. As a result of that, I have found that I recognized from an early age that often...what I was seeing...was very different than what I was being told. For me, I first became aware of that at age 11, when John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. With the exception of the very early Project Mercury space flights...the Kennedy assassination was the first real news story that I was able to witness and was able to recognize...that what I was seeing was history unfolding before my eyes. I had been a huge fan of Kennedy at the time of his death...I was very idealistic, very patriotic, and I was also very interested in the American Space Program at that time...like many kids my age. Kennedy was a president that was young enough and bold enough for me to actually be able to relate to...and his goals for a Lunar Landing, and for the country in general, were more idealistic, positive, and hopeful than I had ever heard any president articulate...before then or since then...and I'm sure that is because...before then...I was just too young to notice or care about such things...and since then...we have all been living in a different America. He had a way of stirring emotions and hope in me with his words that I had never felt before...and I think people everywhere felt many of those same feelings when they heard him speak...his Inaugural Address, and his address in Berlin are two speeches of his that always come to mind for me. I was very affected by his murder...and I was obsessed with the assassination investigation and the Warren Commission Report. I had read it in its entirety...as well as Mark Lane's book, "Rush to Judgment" by the time I was 13. Mark Lane was a prominent attorney, who had been retained by Marina Oswald to investigate the events surrounding her husband's murder, and to clear his name. It was completely obvious to me, after reading both of those books and exploring the countless discrepencies and inconsistencies in the Warren Report...that the government had no interest in revealing the truth about what happened that day in Dallas. As I studied the two very different accounts of what had occurred that day, I realized that there had been hundreds of leads that were never investigated, and scores of eyewitnesses that were never called to testify before the Commission, and even more witnesses, still, that had given statements to the Dallas Police and FBI that contradicted the conclusions and findings of the Commission...but, due to the nature of those testimonies, those statements were never included in any part of  the Report. It became very clear that a massive cover-up of the true facts surrounding the assassination was the only plausible explanation. The famous Zapruder film of the assassination clearly shows that the fatal shot had to come from in front of the Presidential limousine...unless all the laws of physics were suddenly suspended for that brief moment in time. Although Oswald was alleged to have killed Kennedy as his limousine pulled away from The Texas Book Depository...the place Oswald was alleged to have done the shooting from...THAT location was well to the rear of the limousine, so the film clearly proves that was an impossible scenario. And although there were many other facts about the assassination that were ominous and chilling...and pointed clearly to an obvious conspiracy...the final two most disturbing facts of all ended up being the "clinchers" for me. Well over 100 people who had been in Dealy Plaza that day in Dallas, that had either witnessed the assassination, or had come forward to offer testimony to the FBI, the Dallas Police, or the Warren Commission...had been murdered or had died under extremely suspicious circumstances within two years of the assassination...and not one of those deaths was ever seriously investigated by anyone. I won't even begin to discuss the silencing of Oswald himself...other than to say that it happened in the Dallas Police Garage...while he was under Dallas Police control. And the most suspicious fact of all was...that Lyndon Johnson, himself a Texan, and a man who totally despised Kennedy...and who ascended to the Presidency upon Kennedy's death...personally had any and all evidence relating to the assassination sealed in the National Archives for 75 years...presumably until everyone alive at the time of the assassination would be dead. That evidence, and the truth to be gleaned from it, still remains sealed there...to this day. The country...and the slain president who was a national hero to many...both deserved far better. Only people in very high places, in positions of absolute power and with incredible secrets to hide...could ever consider doing such a thing...or have the means to accomplish such a feat...since at that time, concealing the facts of a Presidential assassination, especially one as controversial as Kennedy's was completely unheard of. Lee Harvey Oswald was a pawn in a game he didn't even know he was in. He was a terrible shot, as his Army records clearly indicated...he couldn't even hit the large stationary targets used at the army shooting range during his basic training...let alone a moving target...and the rifle he allegedly used in Dallas was of such poor quality, and the sights on it were so misaligned, that none of the FBI's best sharpshooters could duplicate Oswald's "feat" in re-enactments of the crime. The cover stories had already been written in advance, and were quickly distributed to the worldwide media, and one of those, naming Oswald as having been arrested in Dallas as the suspected shooter, actually appeared in an Australian newspaper several hours before the actual assassination had even taken place. I guess someone in the Intelligence community goofed up...and miscalculated the time difference. And the most amazing thing of all is...with all this information being clearly documented...the Warren Commission was still able to sell to the American public "The Lone Gunman Theory," as it came to be known...the totally incredible conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald was the actual assassin...and had acted alone...which defied all the evidence, and reeked of illogic...and just feuled the suspicions that many people had of an on-going cover-up...and a government conspiracy.  And they got away with it. Even at 13 years old I knew a putrid odor when I smelled one. And by the time I was 15, I was totally convinced that there had been a Coup D'Etat in this country, because in only four short years immediately following the assassination...everything had begun to change. Once it  had become clear that the American public was buying this totally absurd explanation for one of the most savage and dark days in American History...the "new" power that was now ruling this country realized the incredible ability of the media to alter, distort, and control perception. They recognized that with the use of misinformation, they now had the power to explain, or deflect anything...given enough time. And they realized that with the right "spin doctors" they could convince the American public of anything they wanted...whether it was a result of the public's apathy, gullibility, or both. People believed what they wanted to...or what they were told or saw on television...not what they saw happening all around them...whether it was an immoral and exploitive foreign policy...camouflaged as liberation, or as the exportation of democracy...or the denial of crimes, events, or agendas that were supported by clear evidence to the contrary. Even film footage, written documentation,  testimony from very credible sources, or plain old common sense didn't seem to enter into the equation at all...and I believe it was at that pivotal moment in American history that the New World Order, which had survived in the shadows for nearly a decade...manipulating events and solidifying its power base...made its move...and openly assumed control of America. 

And all the rules began to change. Government secrecy became the rule. Misinformation became the rule. Changes in Anti-Trust laws happened quickly and quietly, and corporate mergers that eliminated competition in the marketplace and created monopolies that had once been totally illegal...became the rule. Political lobbies creating policy...became the rule. Massive increases in the prices of goods and services...with insignificant increases in wages...became the rule. Elimination of the middle class in America...became the rule. The shift to two wage-earner households as a matter of necessity...and the generations of latch-key kids that were to become the direct result of that...became the rule. In effect, the end of the conventional nuclear family...and the erosion of the traditional family values that had made America strong...became the rule. Keeping people so distracted with their own survival...that they didn't have the time or energy to question what the government might be doing...became the rule. The loss of personal rights and personal privacy...became the rule. The sale and proliferation of weapons of all types...and the de-stabilization of governments outside of our country...in effect, war for profit's sake...instead of for self-defense...became the rule. Our government inserting itself into the internal affairs of other nations, all over the world...became the rule. Corporate greed and theft...pension raiding and white-collar crime...with no accountability...became the rule. The elimination of job security and an end to the tradition of loyalty and appreciation for lifelong employees of American companies...became the rule. The exportation of industrial and manufacturing jobs to foreign countries...became the rule. Mergers with foreign corporations that don't care about America or Americans...and the selling of our country's soul to those interests...became the rule. A complete lack of any real choices in our political candidates and our political  process...became the rule. Mindless greed and absolute power...regardless of the human cost...became the rule. And a  government that no longer felt we had the right or need to know what they were really up to...because what they were up to had nothing to do with real American values...or what was best for us...as a nation...or as a planet...became the rule that mattered most.

And the principles that had made America a beacon of hope for the whole world...and the principles that had attracted millions of people to this country from everywhere...and that hundreds of thousands of brave Americans had fought and died to protect for over two hundred years...real freedom, fairness, honor, justice, truth, and the promise that our children would inherit a better America...and a better world than we had...The American Dream...began to vanish.And those values slowly became...the old rules...that no longer applied.

I haven't been able to trust or believe the vast majority of the information that has been reported as news or as "facts" from this government ever since that fabricated conclusion was reached by the Warren Commission, almost forty years ago. In my experience, most "facts" I have heard reported as news...were clearly, and continue to be...cover stories or spin...designed to protect, confuse, or conceal an earlier deception, which in turn, had been  manufactured to create yet another illusion...and all of which were designed to obscure the real truth. Because when the American public didn't care enough to demand the truth about who killed their President in 1963...it proved beyond a shadow of a doubt to the powers that were then, and are now...firmly in control...that the American people don't have the will, or the attention span...to insist on the truth...and that any "reasonable explanation" would suffice. There is also the possibility that many people who might have actually suspected or realized the truth...either felt too powerless, or too afraid to do anything about it...after all, if powerful forces within our government could kill the President and get away with it...they could kill anyone. But whatever the real reason was...whether it was fear or apathy...we had become, and continue to be...like sheep...being led to slaughter...herded into an endless maze of lies and deception that is so deep, and so convoluted...that if evidence of these truths were actually revealed today...there is a strong possibility that evidence wouldn't even be believed... or would be met with incredulity or skepticism...because it is so completely contrary to what we now perceive to be "history." I keep thinking of how profound Jack Nicholson's line in the movie "A Few Good Men" was, when he said... "You can't handle the truth!" When anyone tries to uncover or expose a dark government secret or a government deception...they are attacked as unpatriotic, or as a radical, or as a left-wing liberal, or as a mental-defective or a troublemaker...by the media, or by a government official or spokesperson... and should they get too close to the real truth...and are in a highly respected position, or have enough celebrity or visibility that people might  actually listen to them...then the attacks in the media become relentless...even though questioning what our government is doing has always been a basic American  principle. Asking questions...and dissent...are supposed to be a part of the "checks and balances" system that prevents governmental abuses of power...and which our founding fathers wove into the fabric of our society...for that very purpose. Today, the American people are kept "in the dark" about most of what this government is really doing...and all of that secrecy is conveniently wrapped up in "the flag"...and that all-encompassing phrase "National Security". Today, anyone who tries to find out WHY something is a National Security issue, is very often told..."that information is classified." If that person continues to search for answers anyway...he or she risks being labeled a danger to our National Security just for asking the question...when the fact is...the answers to any of the questions that really matter today...are completely shrouded under that label of "classified information." The real threat to our national security is the current state of affairs...which is the government controlling the people...instead of the people controlling the government...and that obscure, dark shroud of secrecy that permeates so much of our government's activities. Once, not that long ago...a person on a quest for the truth used to be called a patriot. Today, should a person persist in that quest for answers...and if efforts to discredit, to silence, or to dissuade  that pursuit of the truth just haven't been effective...he or she also runs the risk of becoming one of the numerous examples of an even more drastic form of damage control...where many people have met with unfortunate "accidents," suffered untimely deaths, or have just vanished....the majority of which have either been  explained away or ignored...by the media.

As a society...we don't seem to really want to know the truth...because to do so would mean we would have to accept our blindness, our apathy, and our denial of everything that  has changed in this country, and within our government over the past forty years...and how this government is now out of control...and more importantly...no longer in OUR control. Our denial of the dark manipulative forces that still continue to shape our perception of what is true...and what is really happening...is simply...all of us just shutting our eyes to what we do not want to see...and our minds and our hearts to what we do not want to believe...and so we go through life with blinders on...even though sticking our heads in the sand...will do nothing to protect us from the approaching storm.

As a recovering addict, and as a person  who has made some poor choices in his past...and once participated in activities that are frowned on in today's America, and rightly so (unless, of course, you are Rush Limbaugh...who is just the most recent example of "selective law enforcement")...I know that writing about this has some risk attached to it. Because of the changes I have made in my life, and the spiritual path that I am on today...I have no interest or desire to participate in any of my old behaviors which today, I recognize as totally self-destructive and as harmful to others...but because of some of the things that I once did...I know how easy it would be for me to be discredited or silenced...or both. Simply by using misinformation...and my past against me, it would be easy to invalidate anything that I might have written here in this journal that may hit too close to a sensitive area...so that the words written here would carry no weight. They may not carry any weight with a lot of people anyway...and I'm totally aware of that. People can only see...if they want to see...and if they are paying attention...but that awareness doesn't make anything I've written here any less true or any less valid. I know what I plainly see going on all around me...and most of the time...it isn't what I'm told on the evening news. The fact is...I have always paid attention...and today that is more true than it has ever been. I am drug-free, and living clean today...and the one thing I've learned from having paid attention is...when something rings true within me...I feel it in my heart, and to my core...even when my head doesn't want to believe it. And so I believe there is something we can do. We can listen to our gut to recognize the truth...instead of listening to the news networks, the spin doctors, or the political pundits. If something feels wrong...it almost always is wrong. And when something sounds right...very often, it still doesn't feel right. Trust your gut to tell you the truth...even if your head, your neighbor, or the television is telling you something different. The gut never lies. It is where our conscience lives. It is how God speaks to us. And it will always be clear about what is right and what is true. We must really pay attention to what is happening around us...and inside of us. We need to communicate with each other. We need to ask questions and we need to demand answers...while there is still time, and ways available to us to do that. The old adage..."united we stand, divided we fall"...has never been more true than it is right now...but we should be united behind the principles this country was founded on. "United" should not mean blind allegience to the policies of a government that no longer has the people's best interests at heart.  

Endless debates on both sides of every issue keep us confused and unsure of what course we should be on...and so the country is divided on nearly every issue and every question. That makes all of us vulnerable. When I am unsure about what I am hearing or seeing..I can still trust what I know to be true and right..by my feelings..and the values that I was taught as a child, in a different America. And most of us grew up in THAT America. And there is still a great strength in numbers. A huge groundswell of resistance to what is silently but steadily happening inside our government is our only chance to restore this country to the values on which it was really founded..and to restore the power of this government to where it has always belonged..with the people. But that requires us to unite behind the simple principles of truth, justice, and fairness..and to ignore the divisive tactics of  fear, judgment, attack, and doubt..which saturate the media and our senses and keep us too overwhelmed and confused to really pay attention..to the things that really matter.

I often ask myself..am I seeing and hearing this news report clearly? Is the information I'm being given here really making sense? Is this merely a distraction...just another illusion...created to obscure a deeper truth? Is there something else, other than what I am being told..that is really going on here? Is this just another deception...in order to keep me from seeing things clearly...so that I no longer continue to pay attention? Usually I end up feeling that is exactly what is happening. I usually recognize that I am being force-fed a steady diet of misinformation. It has become Standard Operating Procedure for this government, and the media it controls. It is not a coincidence that in the last ten years, there has been an explosion of twenty-four-hour-a-day television news networks...all constantly debating issues until there is no possible way to discern what is real, what is right, or what the truth is. I have had to learn how to turn off my television, and the myriad of opinions that swirl around me in order to see what is real in my world..and in order to feel what is true in my heart. But occasionally, I also ask myself...Could I just be too paranoid? And I guess that's possible, maybe I am..but most of the time..what I really believe today is..I'm probably not paranoid enough.