Death

All of my life I have been obsessed with death. Isn't that weird? But it's not a morbid obsession with death, it's a sort of measuring where I stand as the sand from the hourglass slowly runs out. 
You see, I have done this before, this thing called life, so I treasure it, oh do I ever. I know how tenuous it is, how fleeting, how tragic and sad and gruesome the end of it might be. Death is that part of life that we never want to look at and when we do, it usually ain't pretty. 
So we hide death from view as much as we possibly can, in order for life to shine that much brighter. We try and bury death under distractions and busyness and purpose and goals and future and we can be quite successful with that but death always has the final say. 
Were death to be not so, we would have perpetual life and if that were so, what a dysfunctional one that would be, looking around and seeing how we approach life. We’re not exactly aces at that, are we?

Angels are cool

Sandy Millar- Unsplash.com

 
One of the absolutely amazing things about death- Death! Finis! The End! - is that although everybody knows it's coming, they treat it as if it's nothing to be overly concerned about! You’d think- any animal would think- that if I only have X number of years and that's it I'm gonna be one wild crazy bad ass mo'fo and get what I can while I can get it. Anarchy would rule the day because with no future beyond life, and no God to answer to, there would be zero consequence. 
But the very absence of anarchy is telling. It indicates that there is consequence, which is ruled by conscience. No matter what people might say outwardly, they inwardly- even the atheists- believe in God, or something that just might be best left un-pissed off when they transition. 

You can hold up a yardstick to any accomplishment in the earthly realm and death only laughs at it. You can rise to the highest position, lord over minions, store gold and art in Swiss vaults deep under the mountains there, and none of that matters at the end. 
"Ain't never seen no U-Haul behind no hearse!" I heard some African American lady say once and I thought "Ain't that right!"
'Cuz it is. Death is. So spin out on whatever tangent you want, you ain't gonna spin out on death. Death ain't no fake news.
You can though, as so many do, treat death as something to never, ever think about and be quite sucessful in that approach. So successful that in the end you haven't paid it hardly any mind at all. You almost cheated death in that way. Wow. Good for you. For these people it's like death comes sneakin' around the corner and right at the last second goes "Hello" and it's over. 
    Is that wrong? Is that right? I don't have an answer for that. All I know is that for me, death is a curiosity, a thread, that once pulled upon, drawn closer, and fully examined, has shown me more about life and what it means than I ever could have imagined. My obsession with death has brought to me books about the afterlife, research on NDE's (Near Death Experiences), and so much more. I don't know exactly what happens after we die but I feel a lot better about it now so when somebody mentions death, or I see that somebody famous has died in the news, I think that they've chosen to transition so that they can go to some heavenly place and reboot their soul, change things around some, so that when they can come back, in all likelihood, to this earthly realm they can try life out again under a different set of conditions and build upon what they already know. It's a beautiful system. 

I've heard it said in the future that we'll have this life thing figured out well enough and we'll feel like sticking around longer. We won't need to transiton and be reborn so often. We won't need to pack in a lot of intense experiences. 
Sounds good to me. I'm ready for that. Sign me up! 

'Cuz an only four score and ten years or so lifespan hasn't even gotten me out of adolescence. I mean, really. 

The Interview

A local station, Wha's Sup Radio, called and asked if I wanted to be interviewed and I said "No, I can't. My travel schedule is too full".
(Yeah, right)
Of course I agreed. Any exposure right now is a good thing. So I made my way down to the station but came bringing my own Joe with me for the morning interview 'cuz I ain't the trustin' kind when it comes to Joe.
The woman doing the interview was named Tina. I like that name. Haven't heard it for awhile. You know, baby names change with the generations and Tina, an old one, is making a comeback. Anyway, the interview:

Tina: "How did you pick the name for your website- 'NowChangeable.com'?"
Me:  "I just came up with it, and liked the way it sounded right away. It represents a whole slew of things"
Tina:  "Does that 'just coming up with it' approach apply to everything you write?"
Me:  "Pretty much. I pull from everywhere and everywhen. What ends up on the page is an amalgam, a mixture, a soup"

That’s not me. I don’t ever wear camo pants.

neonbrand- Unsplash.com

Tina: "What caused you to want to do a blog?"
Me: "It was time. That's all I can tell you"
Tina: "Mmm. Mysterious. Tell me, what do your readers think of the stuff you write about?"
Me: "It's up to them. My job is to just put the words out with the overall intent that whatever I post is helpful"
Tina: "Is it?"
Me: "That's not for me to decide or know. I'd rather not know"
Tina: "Why?"
Me:  "Because then I might become famous or something. Worse thing that could happen! Recognition is okay, but fame.... ...ooh. Don't want that"
Tina: (looking at my readership stats) "Looks like you could use a little fame"
Me: "They'll find out about me organically. The web might be a big place but type in the right words...."
Tina: "I see your point. You're a low key guy"
Me: "Not at all! I like to think big. Very big. Fame though, in my view, is a burden. There have been many cases of You Tube stars burning out lately. Their audiences demanded new stuff from them regularly and these You Tubers feared that their ratings would drop and their viewership would disappear if they didn't produce. Even though they tried desperately to keep up, they became exhausted physically and mentally from being literally besieged to put out content. They're drained, anxiety ridden, stressed-out shells of their former bright happy selves, who like me, initially only wanted to help people"
Tina: "They needed a break!"
Me: "Hell yes they did. But they were afraid to take one. Not putting out content was like death to them"
Tina: "I notice in your blog that you put out something nearly every day. Are you driven by that same fear? That if you don't produce you'll become irrelevant, a has-been, an afterthought?"
Me: "Oh yeah. Defintitely. But it's an itsy bitsy fear. My greatest fear is that the well of meaningful, inspirational stuff will dry up and I'll end up writing about how I saw Bic pens are made on How It's Made or other such drivel but so far, thank God, that hasn't happened very often"
Tina: "Do you think this 'well of inspiration', as you call it, will ever fail to provide?"
Me: "I don't think I'll ever run out of things to write about. And I'll tell you why... (a pause here, followed by a scratching of the head and staring blankly into space, as if searching for an answer, which seems to produce a glimmer of an idea) ...I don’t know why! Wait- wrong answer. Just kidding. I do know why. The well will never fail to provide because my intention is to help people and I'm interested in fulfilling that intention. My intent will bring subjects to me to write about, because Lord knows, this world needs help"
Tina: "Isn't that a little presumptious? That the world needs help from you, specifically?"
Me: "Of course it's presumptious. But- I'm doing it. I'm getting up in the morning, or late at night or whatever, and putting words on the page. There are those who would like to help, but don't. I actually walk my talk"
Tina: "Yes, you do. But for how long? Do you see yourself doing this say, five years from now?"
Me: "I can't say I've actually made any long term plans like that but I will say this: If I feel into the future, I sense that NowChangeable.com is going to be around for a long, long time"
Tina: "As a blog, or will it morph into something else?"
Me: "I envision a platform of sorts. Maybe with some contributors. Products. Endorsements. Classes. Who knows? Im building a brand here. There's no telling where I can go with this but the key thing is I keep the name. People like stability when it comes to spiritual content and philosophical dissertations. I act as the rock, the foundation, for all that is to come. Everything that forms later can be built upon this solid base"
Tina: "I see. You talk about God a lot. Do you have a direct line or something like that to him?"
Me: "That sounds like I'm acting as his spokesperson or something. No, I wouldn't put it that way. I'd say I have, over a long period of time, got to know how the spiritual realm works but- there's a whole lot of learning left. My concept of God has changed and continues to do so. At this point I wouldn't say that God is in another area like the 'throne room', or that he exists in a different dimension or level, or that he can even be called a separate, singular entity- he's referenced that way for convenience's sake. Let's just say that God and I exist in the same space. We collaborate. Or as the rappers would say, I represent ‘him’ (in a respectful way, of course)"
Tina: "I've never heard it put that way before, but I like it. I feel this interview could go on for a long time, and that we could cover many subjects in depth, but I'm running out of time. Any final words for our listeners?"
Me: "Just that NowChangeable.com is going to be around for awhile. So look it up if you're interested. See if there's anything in there for you, for your friends, or for other people you know that would be interested in such content. In the future I'd like to do some collaboration with other like-minded bloggers or websites, sort of an ongoing cross fertilization thing, while retaining the distinct flavor of my personal site. I think that different viewpoints on the same subject can be refreshing and inspiring. That's all I have to say- for now."
Tina: "Well, thank you for your time. And good luck in the future."
Me: "You're very welcome. Invite me back to do a follow-up in a few years. That should prove interesting".

Tina (after the interview). I hope his site does well. I, as they say in spiritual circles, 'liked his energy'. Coming up next week, we'll take a look at another site, Big Changes Afoot, which is an offshoot of Robert Dashford's site, 'Reboot Nation'. Hope to have you listening then and have a stellar day- 'cuz now you know Wha’s Sup!”.

Shakespeare Was Right

All the world's a stage and we are merely players upon it. We are rogues and fools, kings and paupers, the noble and the disdained, villains and villainous, exalted and sinister; we’re bumbling, egregious, appropriate, brash, unsullied, outspoken, comical, ignoble, cursed, wretched, supportive, distasteful, heinous, vibrant, wicked, pure, cruel, innocent, chaste, philosophical, ardent, ill tempered, tender, and lots, lots more. 
We don't know what we're doing, half of us or more, while the rest know very well what's going on and are pulling strings that we don't see. 
Through all of our many passion plays though, we at least learn something by the end. Maybe it's getting the joke in Act I or figuring out why Malvolio was so pissed at Sir Toby and Sir Andrew.
  And then another production starts with new players in a new setting, or it's a mix of new players and old in a familiar one. 
  Whatever we learn through these plays never seems to be enough, there are so many things to learn, about life, relationships, about what constitutes good and bad. There are questions posed like "What is wisdom?" and "What is good rulership?". The handling of these many issues of course determines whether the players conclude the play with a happy ending or whether they leave the stage in tragic circumstance. We know the happy ones will be fine. The tragic will pick up the pieces of their shattered lives and somehow carry on. 
  William wrote about all this four hundred years ago and still this is going on. A lot of it coulda stopped right there, all the dysfunctional nonsense, but maybe William Shakespeare was way ahead of his time. So far ahead that his plays weren't even understood by many in the audience, who laughed at the funny physical parts but were saddened and in some way puzzled by the tragic ones. Certainly they could relate to those- their lives were for the most part short and brutish.
But that was then. In these now times people are exposed to a passion play oh, about every time they look at their phones. The amount of material that they are absorbing has to be accelerating their consciousnesses exponentially! Unlike the audience members in William's time, they don't have to wait in line for tickets and then, once inside, pay rapt attention to catch every word that is spoken or physical gesture that may indicate meaning. If they miss a critical part of whatever play they're absorbed in they can replay it, and if they get distracted by a text or something on Instagram they can restart the show. They can get back into it, pick it up where they left off, get a grip on what is going down and why. This intense daily focus by millions has to be making a dent, right?

Dig- you can get audio of the entire Bible, or whatever your Good Book is, and listen to it on your drive to work. Won't take long to get through the whole thing, which is exhausting to actually read from end to end (I tried to once, didn't get far). You can similarly download all the classic literature ever written, search out formulae for everything imaginable on the internet, and likewise do research on everything you could possibly have an interest in. None of this was available to the people at the Globe Theatre in the 1600's. We should be much, much smarter. 
But are we? Ah- there's the rub- along with the smart stuff has come a flood of I won't say dumb stuff, because everything is educational in some way, let's just say it's distracting stuff. The wisdom of William is there on the internet, like it has been on the shelves of libraries for centuries. The question is: Is anybody reading it, and if they are, do they understand it?

Hamlet 2018

Mads Schmidt Rasmussen- Unsplash.com

Hamlet's 'nunnery' soliloquy, reimagined:

"To be or not to be (intelligent) is the question. Whether 'tis nobler to suffer the slings and arrows of fate (distractions) or to take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them (educate oneself). To end the heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to: 'tis a consummation devoutly to be wish'd. 
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, th' oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely (insults), the pangs of dispriz'd love, the law's (justice's) delay, the insolence (disrespect) of office, and the spurns that patient merit of th' unworthy takes (general abuse of good people by bad), when he himself might his quietus make with some books or a series of videos?
    Who would fardels (burdens) bear, to grunt and sweat under a weary life, but that the dread of something after ignorance, the undiscovere'd country, from whose bourn no traveller returns, puzzles the will, and makes us rather bear those ills we have than fly to others that we know not of?
    Thus ignorance does make cowards of us all, and thus the native hue of resolution (the natural willingness to act) is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of dull'd thought, and enterprises of great pitch and moment with this regard their currents turn awry and lose the name of action".

Don't Be Dissuaded II

     It all can be done, and will be done, but when it finally gets done, which is not so far off in universal terms, it might seem like a it took one day short of forever in human comprehension.

  If you look out the window, wherever you are, what you are seeing didn't arise accidentally. There was purpose there. Overlapping purposes, but intertwined. The purpose of Gaia, nature, the whole, and then the overlay upon that, which is humankind. 
Humans are allowed to live here, they didn't come here to run rampant. They were given, of all other creatures, self awareness. Why? Was that so they could find the weaknesses, the blind spots, in the other less crafty creatures and use those against them? Suffice it to say that that's been done. Man has achieved dominion over the earth. But why? 
Again, look out the window wherever you are. Chances are it's not entirely a nature scene. Whatever has not been constructed by nature is of man. 
Does whatever you're looking at look amazing? Or does it look ordinary, perhaps in need of some paint, some repair? Rust might be evident, weeds, there might be wreckage or refuse of some kind around the edges, perhaps. Whatever it is it ain't a perfect scene. Am I right?
Yeah, I've been around. Even the best neighborhoods show their flaws. 
So- is this the view that a dominant species wants to have, or is there room for a better one? If there's room, this species better get to work and not just talk about fixing things. After all, you've got dominion. You should be able to get it done. No other species is stopping you, and the earth cooperates fully, offering the dominant species resources aplenty. Nothing says dominant species more than surveying everything you can see and thinking "It's all there for the taking! A buffet meal bigger than Vegas! How 'bout we call it 'The Garden of Eden'?
(just don't eat the apples)
(Oops. Too late....) 

King Of The Beasts

Najib Kalil- Unsplash.com

It's true that the dominant species has come a long way, there's no doubt about that. History, what the dominant species is allowed to know about it, shows a steady progression, though one with quite a few bumps and rough patches. "Best they could do at the time" say the historians, "given the difficulties inherent in people trying to get along". Soooo difficult, that part. 
Problem is, and always has been, that within the dominant species have been those ones who wished to themselves dominate, which hasn't worked out too well, has it? Oh, there have been brief experiences by individuals who stood at the helm of empires but those empires haven't lasted long because it never was too popular, for the people on the other side of their borders, to sit there waiting for the inevitable invasion to arrive. 
You'd think the dominant species would've learned that and more by now because over time comes the common sense realization that with a little cooperation and some stable trust things could get built that last and actually make the populace happy but..... 
.....too much work, those at the top say. 
  Can't figure it out.
     Can ya give us another two thousand or so years?

Throwing Their Weight Around

Power has been in the news lately. Lotta people out there are doing a lot of big things. 

Farmers in North Dakota are sitting on huge piles of soybeans because their number one buyer, China, won't purchase them due to a tariff on that commodity issued by you know who. Wow. 
Elon Musk is busy boring a tunnel under Los Angeles (you can get permission to do that?) and, oh, building a mega factory in the Nevada desert and um, launching rockets into space. Triple wow. 
A cryptocurrency multi-millionaire wants to build a utopian community in the desert pretty close to Elon's mega factory, the kind of a place where drone delivery will be commonplace and all sorts of other innovative technologies will be incorporated into the city at it's inception, the list of those innovations being very long. A lotta stuff to think about, plan, and do- and a huge budget to do it with. 
China's leader is placing images of himself all over the country, and kind of being in people's faces about it, but you can do that sort of thing when you're the absolute ruler. 
Strongmen here and there are having their way and it ain't too pretty, what they're up to, but who's gonna stop 'em? Anybody around them cowers even thinking that.

Get it? I’m the boss.

Lopez Robin- Unsplash.com

Governorships changed hands in a bunch of states last night, people are going to be moving into 'the governor's mansion' in those states. Imagine that, moving into 'the governor's mansion'.

Or being on the news five nights a week, bringin' it home to millions of viewers just how things ought to be done around here. Or sitting on The Board of Directors, at the head of the conference table, deciding which corporate tasks are going to be delegated down to your lieutenants.

There's more. 

People are deciding who gets who's project funded, how the budgetary pie is going to be sliced, spending time in closed door sessions, trying to open closed lands for mining, passing rulings on contentious issues with nationwide implications, and then eating at some restaurant where the commoners go at the end of an impactful day. 
They're flying in private jets, or in chartered government ones, around the country or the world, to survey the damage from the latest storm, shake hands with foreign leader(s) who may or may not be hostile to their views, or to consult with the managers that are heading overseas operations.

Powerful people are heading delegations to third world countries that might be the recipients of massive infrastructure loans, those loans to be granted in order to receive some of the precious natural resources that those countries possess in return. 
They're at the helm of data giants, where global internet traffic is probably displayed in some sort of Hollywood-sized, gleaming, high-tech, multi-screened command center.
They're strolling onstage at mega churches, to packed houses, to deliver to the faithful the word that God gave them to give this day.
They're dangling the prospect of moving the headquarters or production or fulfillment centers of their companies in front of drooling city council members and county and state representatives. 
They're heading media and gaming companies, making high dollar decisions about funding a multitude of creative endeavors that are going to be seen by millions of consumers.

All this and more has been in the news lately, which I think is pretty amazing, because it's just happening and physically, I didn't lift a finger to assist.

But energetically,

well…..

….I might have had some involvement.

Used To Think

When I was younger, I was in wonder a lot, and still am. The world was this big crazy machine and the older folks had it all figured out. I, too, would one day be like them, and have things all figured out, or enough things figured out to fit in. 
Well.....
Some of that figuring out has occurred, it most certainly has, but whoa- there's a lot left that I haven't figured out and at this point I strongly suspect that nobody my age has figured it all out either. Some contemporaries of mine are building airplanes, at the helm of huge corporations with tens of thousands of people under their command, and running countries.
Hope that doesn't break any young 'uns' bubbles! 
Truth is, the more we learn the more we find out that there's a lot more to learn. Yeah, we got the surface level stuff down, most if not all of us. That's the easy part. But beneath that level we start to see complexity and wonder how we could have ever been so bold or so brash as to proclaim with conviction that "I (or we) know how it works!" because while at some level that may be true, at another level it may be totally false. 
Take any big, complicated system. A modern car engine, tourism, or even preparing enchiladas. If you break it down to its component parts, simplify it in the extreme, you can say with total conviction that A plus B equals C because there are cars, tourists, and enchiladas. However, variables tend to exist inside those components so the equation becomes more like A plus B is likely to equal C. This is why every car runs differently, planes get overbooked, and there are ten thousand Mexican restaurants serving different tasting enchiladas.

Betcha every one of those jeeps runs differently

Kukuh Napaki- Unsplash.com

A lot of factors in life are hidden, not like in basic math or life, which starts out as fairly understandable but rapidly turns into theory the further into complexity you go. I think the internet runs on theory more than it does on structure anymore because of all the security patches and work-arounds that have been introduced. You could definitely say the same thing for that vague concept called 'The Economy'.
In the business world you get your rose-colored glasses taken off very quickly because there's more intrigue ('variables') going on in that environment than in Game Of Thrones. Even though you might try and figure that continuously shifting arena out you just might end up back at the beginning sometimes because things get introduced that shift loyalties, priorities, and processes drastically.

Kind of scary, how little you find you actually know when you get to be the age where you're supposed to know and people are turning to you for answers. "Hey- I don't know!" is not the response they're wanting to hear. "I can offer you some advice” you may compassionately say, "that might help you to work out the rest of the situation yourself" because you at your age know that unless you're in their exact situation you cannot accurately appraise it, nor can you take into account the many variables that exist, variables which of course they may be only partially aware of.

Which leads me to present some sage advice right now. If anybody tells you that they know it all, turn and run! Figuratively, not literally. Get a second opinion. Maybe even a third. Because everybody's take is going to be different due to the unique ways they wrestled with the universally complicated situations of raising kids, investing, running a business, dealing with coworkers, buying property, etc.. What they know might have worked exceedingly well for them but things have probably changed since then, somehow, in some way, and the same solution applied might not take this time around. 
So a bit of advice and a “Good luck!” is all I can give most people. Play the poker hand or the chess game best you can.

But for those that are interested, I would urge you to read and practice everything you can about something that is touted as ‘new’ but is actually very, very old. Manifestation is the key word. Learn everything you can about that. It just might be a game changer for you.

Tension Model

Taut is the rope that the tightrope walker treads on. It bounces some, and sways a little, but the balance bar he carries counteracts those forces and stabilizes his slow gate from one end of the rope to the other. 
In my Tension Model, think of this taut rope as a sort of bridge that connects 'realities'. 
Uneasy standoffs between people are kind of like a taut rope bridge. In contentious matters, where belief systems are highly divergent, both sides hold onto their positions with a firm grip and the continuation of any matter between them is the tightrope walker moving back and forth between fixed poles. There is little give and take occurring. Neither position is surrendering or sacrificing much, and the tightrope walker can't carry much to either side anyway, so the bridge stays more or less the same. It's limited in capacity, narrow in scope.
But what if one end was loosened? Advantage may then seem to be gained for one of the parties as the bridge would disappear and a new way of reaching the other side could be be made, perhaps an easier way (or a more arduous and time consuming way). 

Might go all twelve rounds

neonbrand- Unsplash.com

Tension between positions is a 'fact' of life that most of us are born into. There is a distance between what we desire and how that desire can be fulfilled and usually acts of sacrifice are called for on the less powerful one's part, the expenditure of a great deal of time and effort, in order to reach the other end of the rope, the place where goals are realized. There is the 'where we are', and there is 'the other end of the rope', where our desire awaits us. 
But what if achieving our desires was as simple as letting go of any rope completely and trusting that what we desire will come about? We make no physical or mental effort to reach the goal other than that which is necessary at the time. Initially, the goal must be visualized as clearly as possible, and any contrarian thoughts about achieving the goal must be vanquished to the best of one's ability. After that, the goal begins to make it way towards you as you hold it persistently in mind, though you may not see any 'movement'. 
Action steps may be called for from time to time to bring that which is desired ever closer, but this involvement by you occurs only when prompted, and by 'prompted' it means you have the undeniable urge to perform the next action step. This urge to do can't be mistaken if you pay attention to the difference between feeling the need to perform an action step and restlessness. They are two very different things. 
Lastly, you stand by, ready to receive. That which you desire eventually lands on your doorstep, or you step into it, only because you wanted it and did the necessary at-the-time steps to realize it. 

In a tension free existence, there is never any real battling involved. The only battle you ever have is with yourself.

Dimentia

This is a word that describes the absence of acknowledgement that other realities exist, it is commonplace in mainstream thought. 
If one reads the news, dimentia is apparent in that everything that is presented comes from the "We're the only ones here" perspective. There is no history beyond that which was written in the Good Book, and as far as science is concerned, where they postulate that humans have been here far longer than that, the blanket answer is always that those humans were more apelike than man and don't really matter. 
      Outside of the earth doesn't matter either, all that space filled with all those orbs, some hot, many cool, and with so many cool ones so far discovered, the odds that some of them could be or actually are supporting life is huge yet that too is easily downplayed. "So what? If God had wanted us to know that he would have given us craft to go there" or something like that. Doesn't matter.
Near death experiences, widely reported, are dismissed as last-gasp chemical reactions going off in the brain. Telepathy is simply coincidence. Clairvoyance is seeing hallucinations, Mediumship is being possessed, blah, blah, blah. Whatever the skill or ability, it is derided by the dimented ones, whose position regarding these subjects is "If I’m not seeing it, hearing it, or feeling it, then it doesn't exist. What others are reporting or experiencing doesn't matter (unless they can help me win the lottery, get back my lover, or land me that job, etc.)".

A messenger this way comes

Ryoji Iwata- Unsplash.com

  Were it the other way 'round, if the mainstream media were to regularly report that all of these mysterious things were real and worth looking into, there would be a mad rush to find out but- finding out about these things comes with a price. No longer could people ignore the fact that we're all intimately connected. Oops! That kind of understanding would be very bad for egocentric people, it would be bad for business, which likes to sell people goods that only they or their family use, it would call for some tweaks to organized religion's version of what life is all about, and it would mean the end for despots. 
People (and organizations) would have to expand their worldviews and exhibit some different behaviors, for with the understanding comes the abilities- most times. There are those individuals that might have sudden, unexpected glimpses of that which exists outside of the state of dimentia, that might become aware that there are dimensions other than 3D, where time and space don't matter, and because we use fixed points like time and space to position ourselves things might get a little bit confusing for them but you tend to flicker back and forth until you get used to it. The timeframe for this adjustment process is highly variable and dependent on any individual's willingness to go further. 
    Awareness- the state other than dimentia- tends to vary in intensity. There are times when energies are strong and comprehension is clear, and times when awareness is still there but is more diffuse, less focused. It’s like being led along a path to who knows where, but at the same time being utterly compelled to continue walking. The movement away from dimentia and towards awareness is the epitome of mystery. 
    This irresistible pull towards awareness leads us to cognize that no news source, government official, or religious leader has a firm grip on ultimate reality. The world we're on is traveling through fathomless space and entering regions we haven't been in before. Who knows where we're going, or why?

So what about the economy, or politics? Something far bigger is at play outside of the state of dimentia.

It's All Made Up

All of it is. The whole damn thing. There is no right way or wrong way there is just what was decided upon by whoever was calling the shots at the time, and then that guy or faction died, was overrun, was deposed, died out, was succeeded by _____ and then he/she built on what was already created or tore it all down or burned it or an earthquake took it or whatever and it was rebuilt and so on. 
Three hundred years ago, give or take, there was nothing here in the ol' U.S.of A. 'cept bands of Native Americans but they weren't called 'Americans', they had other names they called themselves and they had their thing own going. 
In Europe things were different. There were more permanent structures built by people who had lived and ruled there from before, but now were only ruins, as the shifting fortunes of various wannabe rulers had expanded and lost empires and such many times, so much so that the mapmakers of the time had been kept busy drawing the currently agreed-upon borders. This river, that range of mountains, that strategic valley or pass was 'ours', or maybe it was 'their's, but not for long- or for forever- by any means. 
In Asia it was the same way pretty much 'cept for Japan, protected by the sea from invaders and marauders. India had been protected too, with the Himalayas along their Northern border. 
Vast Africa had been hostile to invasion and empire building due to desert, disease, jungle, and no real network of transportation. It was hard to conquer, and even harder to rule, so why bother?    
Few did. 
Australia! So isolated that nobody went there for centuries, and when they got there, they had to build everything from scratch. 
And who knows if any civilizations preceded the ones historians have evidence of, those lost civilizations buried under sand, ice, and sea.
As of this writing, the only thing agreed upon worldwide that I can readily think of is time. What time is it? Other than that, nothing else is as universally accepted or kept exactly, precisely, the same. Cars are cars but each country has different makes and models. Food is food but each country, and region therein, cooks it or throws it together differently. Electrical voltages, systems of measuring volume, temperature, and speed vary from place to place. What the exact same item is even named.
Nothing is static, all is evolving (or de-volving, sad to say, in some areas) and the show goes on 24/7, 365.

Nice to look at but no street parking

Aldric Rivat- Unsplash.com

It would be interesting to see the entirety of this in time lapse, which is what historians try and do for us, documentarians try and visually present to us, they try and distill this lengthy process into comprehensible bites that we can take in. They bring us the short version, the salient points, the synopsis of events. Not the 'How It's Made' but "How It Was Made' for enquiring minds want to know those kinds of things. 
Take the gentrification of a city. If we know how that occurs, we can prevent it from happening, nip it in the bud, stop the process, reverse it, and keep the city vibrant and alive. 
How did San Francisco, a favorite city of mine and a good example, become overrun with homeless? Why are rents spiraling out of control there? 
City planners didn't have the analytical tools to alert them to such potentially undesirable outcomes in real time before but they have them now. They can collect data and track trends. They don't have to let systems devolve in order to understand them later, which was sort of the old, slow way of doing things.
  Case studies of neighborhoods becoming overtaken by wealthier residents go back to Roman times. Crowded working class neighborhoods became neighborhoods containing only villas there, thus the term 'Gentry' as in 'having the dough to buy you bums out and renovate' which was turned into the term 'Landed Gentry' of Olde England and has become the 'tech giants/Airbnb passive investor phenomenon' going on in San Francisco today. 'Gentrification' is the catch-all term which covers this seemingly non-understandable, highly complex, and politically volatile issue, yet it, like everything else, is totally malleable. Causes and their resulting effects can be pinpointed more easily these days and solutions can be proposed, enacted, or at least tried out.
Delving into the fine details of the process of gentrification as it applies to each unique city ain't exacly my forte, I'm more of a theoretical kind of guy, but there are people of such bent who can show you on the internet the reasons they think San Francisco has devolved into the city it has become today. (New York too. And many others). 
If there was ever a maxim that applies to how society functions, that simplifies the seemingly complicated, it is this:
"Remember- It’s All Made Up!” 
(And in real estate's case, cause and effect is not shifting around like in three card monte, that game where you try and guess what's under one of the cups when the street hustler stops moving them around. Real estate is a stationary target) 

Road To Perdition

Saw a bizzare political ad on of all things Sportscenter last night, in which the left was near comically demonized. The ad screamed that voting for any democratic candidate was an act that would lead the country down the road to ruin. Really? There's no compromise anymore? 
Yeah, the left represents (in my opinion) to the right the one thing that they fear the most, dread the most, willl do anything to defend, will fight tooth and claw to their bitter end about, and that is relinquishing profits. 
  And to that end, they will try and foster support for their cause by saying that they represent anything other than that. 
It's easy for the right to rally the religious, just mention the A word and you got 'em, but as one astute person recently tweeted, "There are ten commandments, not one”.
And those 'crazed hordes' approaching the border might be cause for alarm in lesser minds but hey, I've been around immigrants- a lot- and they bring good food into this country. Couldn't they be allowed to come in and make tamales, falafel, spanakopita, Tom Yum soup, and open up Parrillas (Argentine barbeque joints)? That would keep 'em out of the profitmongers hair, they'd be self supporting. How about imagining that option? One of perhaps many?

Parrilla

Christian Koepke- Unsplash.com

Frankly, I'm a little disgusted by the lack of rational thought, the unwillingness to negotiate, to debate, to explore options because it's never gonna be a one way street. This here is a democracy, not a 'demon'cracy, if some people haven't noticed, read the constitution, or understand that in a two party system there's such a thing as actual deliberation needing to be employed in order for the thing to work. 
Were this built-in need to negotiate not so, we'd be living in something resembling an authoritarian regime, where somebody at the top would decree that something is so, and it would be so. Like God. Is your party, which claims to be so tight with God, trying to actually play God?
I hope not because I actually talked to God the other day and he's not happy about your party's considering pushing him aside. But, being God, he's also forgiving. In addition to that, he'd like to come by and visit, talk a little sense into those that think they're capable of doing his job, give a few pointers, because when God does his job, he takes input from everybody and then works out a soulution.  
Some would argue with that, they would say that when God calls the shots he does whatever he damn well pleases but if that was so we'd all be mindless robots but we aren't, we are allowed to think and act independently. After all, who would want to live in a world where they have to take orders all the time by people......
....that think they know best and/or want everything to be their way? Kings used to speak and whoever stood in front of them, their knees shook. Anybody want to go back to those loose bowel days? Not me! 
    So God's a' comin', he said he'll be here Thursday. No, wait, I heard that incorrectly. God isn't coming, he's sending some emissaries. He's way too busy. 
These emissaries have been around, they know how to curtail the wall building impulses that come when certain factions don't want to negotiate anymore and start to throw tantrums, adamant as hell that they won't budge an inch on their positions and wanting every vesitge of power simply turned over to them without ever presenting a rational argument to the governed as to why that should be allowed, who died and made you the boss, and all that other messy democratic hashing things out stuff. These emissaries are skilled with handling the kind of folks that act like they're the new, self-appointed schoolteachers and the citizenry is just a bunch of wide-eyed third graders taking it all in. The emissaries simply posit a few questions to the self-appointed know-it-alls:
"Why should adults grant you any authority?" "On what grounds do you base your assessments of any situation, much less upon reality itself?" Present We The People actual, authentic reasons for any of your proposed decisions that the citizenry may then choose to follow. Soundbites, pieces of audio/video taken out of context, flashing comical images, and baseless outright lies do nothing to sway the learned. 
Situations are complicated. Governing is hard. This is the internet age. People are way smarter than before. 

And Jesus, whoever dreamed up that ad, stop interrupting Sportscenter!

Up your game or leave the court!

This Just In

  Word has reached us here at The Daily Dose that people lie. Let's go to our correspondent on the street, Darren Philberts, for some insight into this phenomenon. 
"Darren! Is it true that people lie?"
"Apparently so, Janelle. And not only do they lie, but they do it all the time"
  "Give us an example"
"Easy" (Darren hails a passerby on the street) "Sir, can I ask you a question?"
  "Certainly" (first lie).
  "We're doing a story here about lying. Do people around you ever lie?"
  "Yeah! They do it a lot!"
    "Recently?"
    "Yeah, like five minutes ago. I got a text from my boss 'asking' (second lie) if I wanted to work on Saturday. He said somebody at work called in sick. But I know that person is not sick. I know that she is lying"
  "So this lying has an effect on you" 
    "Big time! I was going to spend an afternoon at Dodger stadium with my bros watching the NLCS!"
“Why don't you just tell your boss no?"
"Are you kidding? And threaten my future promotion chances? If I don't show up on Saturday I'll be viewed as Not A Team Player. Sayonara end of year bonus!"
"Uh, thank you" (Passerby walks off muttering. Another one is hailed)
"Ma'am? Can I ask you a question?"
"Uhm... Okay" (third lie. This suit better not be asking me for no personal information!)
"We're doing a story about lying....."
"I'm out of here!" Passerby walks hurriedly away.
Darren looks at the camera. "This seems to be a touchy subject for people!"
A man approaches, carrying a briefcase.
"Sir! Can I ask you a question?"
"Certainly" (fourth lie).
Darren goes into his story spiel and the guy listens. 
"Yeah, I lie. So what? I'm a lawyer. It's my business to s t r e t c h the truth. We don't consider it 'lying' though. We're simply offering a different perspective"
  "Interesting. Thank you, sir" 
"You're welcome" (fifth lie).
A local ruffian is hailed.
"Young man- can I ask you a question?"
"Wow! I'm gonna be on TV!"
"Do you ever lie?"
"Hell yeah! Think I'm stupid or something? How else am I gonna relate?"
"So you're saying that lying happens a lot, as a matter of course"
"Dude, where your brain at? You think I'd be survivin' out here streetwise tellin' the truth? Ain't nobody out here givin' you the facts straight up. It's all twisted. You gotta interpret everything"
"And you're good at that?"
"I'm okay. Some's better than me"
"Thank you for your input" 
"No problem, man" (sixth lie)
Elderly gentleman approaches.
  "Sir, can I have a minute of your time?"
“No!”
"Okay, sorry to bother you! How about you, miss?"
A young girl pauses. Darren gives his spiel, asks her if she ever lies. 
"Yeah. I tell guys I like them"
"Do you?"
"Not all of them. But if I do, they do things for me"
  "You don't see anything wrong with that?"
"Use it before you lose it, my sistahs tell me. We all do it"
"Uh, thank you, miss"
A couple approaches. Darren stops them. 
"No" they say, looking at each other intently. "We never lie about our relationship (seventh lie). We are totally honest with each other. It's what makes a relationship work!"
  "Thanks for your input"
Off they go, to get ice cream or something. Darren stops a policeman. 
"Good morning, officer. Do you or any of your fellow officers ever lie?"
"Never! (eighth lie). "We are sworn to uphold the law. It is our solemn duty. We might joke with each other, and with citizens, but we never lie"
"Sounds good to me. Have a nice day (ninth lie) officer"
"You too. Obey the law!"
  "I will, sir!" (tenth lie)

“No way!”

Mpumelelo Macu- Unsplash.com

"Whew" Darren turns back towards the camera. "It seems that lying is rather commonplace here in society. I just caught myself in a falsehood! After a few minutes on the street it must be clear to our viewers that lying is so prevalent that encountering the truth is rare. Perhaps our next story will be on that topic. 
    But what would be the point in presenting that? Employing white lies or blatant deception is relative to the scenarios people are presented with. Depending on the circumstances, some people gravitate towards one end of the spectrum, some to the other. Maybe the deeper question that should be asked is why do people feel that they have to lie at all? Would it be so harmful, or detrimental to their ambitions, to honestly articulate their needs to others? 
    Yes, it would, telling the truth being diametrically opposed to telling a lie. Truth stands alone, bright, shiny, naked, and unafraid. (Well, maybe not bright and shiny but definitely the other two). People are used to having to get what they want through roundabout ways, these being deception and/or manipulation. They veil their intentions, mislead their opponents in order to gain trust, then ferret their way towards their personal goals, or in business's case, shared goals.

Lying is rampant in our society and due to that, there is rampant distrust. Nothing and no one can be taken at face value. We have lost our innocence and become predators upon each other, predators that search to satisfy personal needs in a jungle environment. It doesn't have to be this way but man thinks he needs to be a wily and perpetually strategizing creature. He prides himself on skillfully playing the game of human life and studies the moves of other astute players with rapacious appetite. He seeks power over the outer above all else. 

Those that seek to control the without have not yet discovered the ability to create within. That which lies within the mind, the attention, is always perfectly reflected in the without. The without acts as a learning tool in that way. 
Attempting to control the without is a cumbersome, karma-intensive, awkward way of bulldozing the personal will through obstacles to achieve one's objectives. Why not harmonize with the outer- The World- to get what you want? It's a far more elegant way. It might call for great patience and trust but The Universe has a way of giving you more than you could have ever imagined”.   

Three Years In Paradise

         It's been a little over three years, to be exact, that I've been in 'paradise', and I don't say that in a facetious way, but there are some things aspiring paradise dwellers would be benefited in knowing. 
First of all, my experience in paradise won't be yours. You will have your own. Second, I haven't been around long enough to see the span of decades, so I don't fit that mold of paradise dweller, which some do, and neither am I connected in a generational way. I'm just a visitor that has happened to stay for a very long time. 
I've been lucky enough to live my dream of living in paradise and today, walking the beach, while looking back to where I was at mentally when I first landed to where I am now, a sort of wistfulness came over me for I have changed since then. I'm not in a hurry to get anywhere, and haven't been for a long time, but the tourists certainly are. They have sand draining from their hourglasses and so must pack in a multitude of experiences in a very short time whereas I have all the time in the world. The difference between me and them is Grand Canyon-ish in that regard. 
However, looking back, I definitely know what they are experiencing. They came here from some frosty place on The Mainland and were upon arrival met by a balmy breeze. Leaving the airport they marveled at and pointed out to their companions the numerous free range chickens running about, and were eager to make their way to the ocean, the beach, and the chair there awaiting them, a chair similar to the one I parked in for two straight weeks upon my arrival. 
Back then sunsets were worth sticking around for and many a nearly naked body did I eagerly observe, some amazing in their tightness and physical beauty, others best left covered. You just don't see that sort of thing anywhere else! 
I imagined that were I to while my days away in that way I would be perfectly content but found that you can only hang at the beach for so long. Sooner or later you have to pack up and leave.

His version of paradise

Jason Briscoe- Unsplash.com

Tourists have no problem doing that, it's expected, they run around, here, there, everywhere. Restaurant, guided tour, snorkel excursion, helicopter ride, luau. They drive every inch of the island in their rental cars, or slowly cruise the strip. Fine dining or local fare is daily sought out, and the next brings the same until their vacation time is exhausted. Once their time in paradise is up they fly 'back to reality' but my stay in paradise is indefinite so I go back to work. 
I'm glad to be working for without that I would be hard pressed to oh, fill up the preponderance of time each day brings. I would eat too much, watch too much TV, start hitting the beach at dawn or some crazy hour for the morning jog, read every book known to man, or take yoga classes. Paradise, you see, can only be taken in doses for it is very rich food. It needs to be balanced with leaner fare. 

Her version

Jakob Owens- Unsplash.com

Why? Because living in paradise you find you need contrast. For example, if it's the same temperature every day- which it is- you don't notice it anymore, do you? 
One thing about living where I do is that we're so far south that there really is no change in seasons. Is it The Fourth of July- or Christmas? Who can tell? There is little variation throughout the year between the hours of light and dark so there is no need for Daylight Savings Time. Think about it- no long summer evenings, no early winter darkness. Always the same. No contrast. 

I've got a notion to turn this line of thought into a series because a lot can be said about living in paradise, and a lot of people come here, so they might want to know what it's like to be a resident instead of the others- the 'ten days and gone' people, the 'three days on this island and four on another' people, and the 'people with kids in tow' who hit the island like a whirlwind of noise and constant tracking (and feeding) of kids and what they're up to and never really experience anything else but that. Believe me, I've seen it. 
So. More to come, when the muse beckons me to fill in these many blanks of:  (what It's like to live) Three Years In Paradise.

Irons In The Fire

      I like to keep a lot of things cooking. Sometimes things I don't like to keep cooking keep cooking. So I always have multiple scenarios playing out. Right now I have my job, which is a temporary one, slowly winding to its end, I'm dealing with getting rid of an old car, and for some reason I have taken up drawing pictures with pencil and have been learning about that. Plus, there are others, but that sheds light enough on the subject.

    You could call all of these scenarios dramas. Big ones, small ones, the soap opera of my life playing out.
    And then, like in all dramas, there is suspense and wonder at how things pressing will play out, when, and with who. The "Why?" question will be answered in some cases, when the drama comes to its conclusion, and in some cases, I'll never get that answer.
     It's muddy, it's incomplete a lot of times, it's life, and it's messy.
      But I love it.

     In the absence of drama there is restlessness within me. Things get too quiet, my mind is still, and I become aware of bigger questions left unanswered, questions that have always been there, hiding behind all the mundane, worldly issues that have been vying for my attention. I shall explore these deeper issues here and there in upcoming posts, that seems likely, because I like to go there a lot. But not today. I have foreshadowed the scene, in writer's terms, but as to what exactly I will be bringing up I don't yet know.

    There. That feels like what I wanted to put forth this day. Cryptic? Perhaps. The time is not yet ripe to talk about these subjects, I feel, but that could change by tomorrow. Until then, adieu!