Something in the "air"?

[Art]

Greetings bums. I have some simple observations to make and wanted to know your thoughts.

 

I live in a rural community in Western North Carolina. Life is a bit slower than in the city and space has never been an issue. Having lived in Houston for some time, I do know what city life is like. With that said, it seems EVERYONE and I mean EVERYONE has been affected by something lately that has spawned a change in behavior; rural folk acting out like city folk. No offense to anyone who lives in a city, but to me, the crowding in cities makes people unfriendly and downright rude to strangers.

 

Mind you, this is not a major change, but it seems everyone is on edge, defensive, ready for "fight or flight". I even see it here, on TTB forum. People I consider very wise, acting out in ways that I would never have thought. Or maybe I'm just overly sensitive and making connections that aren't really there. Again, no offense intended.

 

I believe in the "group consciousness" model. So, perhaps with all of the fear mongering and uncertainty out there, people are just reacting and acting out. I also subscribe to the possibility that consciousness can be affected by the earth, sun, galaxy, etc. As an example, during a full moon some people act out. However, this isn't your normal full moon "reaction"....

 

At any rate, is it just me, or is anyone else noticing this? Any comments greatly appreciated.

 

Regards,

 

Art

[Maddie]

Greetings bums. I have some simple observations to make and wanted to know your thoughts.

 

I live in a rural community in Western North Carolina. Life is a bit slower than in the city and space has never been an issue. Having lived in Houston for some time, I do know what city life is like. With that said, it seems EVERYONE and I mean EVERYONE has been affected by something lately that has spawned a change in behavior; rural folk acting out like city folk. No offense to anyone who lives in a city, but to me, the crowding in cities makes people unfriendly and downright rude to strangers.

 

Mind you, this is not a major change, but it seems everyone is on edge, defensive, ready for "fight or flight". I even see it here, on TTB forum. People I consider very wise, acting out in ways that I would never have thought. Or maybe I'm just overly sensitive and making connections that aren't really there. Again, no offense intended.

 

I believe in the "group consciousness" model. So, perhaps with all of the fear mongering and uncertainty out there, people are just reacting and acting out. I also subscribe to the possibility that consciousness can be affected by the earth, sun, galaxy, etc. As an example, during a full moon some people act out. However, this isn't your normal full moon "reaction"....

 

At any rate, is it just me, or is anyone else noticing this? Any comments greatly appreciated.

 

Regards,

 

Art

 

I just moved to Washington state from Fairbanks Alaska. Now of course everyone in Washington is impatient, grumpy, ect.. cause the greater Seattle area is a huge metropolitan area. But what suprised me was right before I left Fairbanks I noticed the EXACT SAME THING you just mentioned and was like wtf??? Previously Fairbanks had been much more laid back, and small town-sih. But the last several months I was there people seemed so angry, and impatient just like in a big city, except it wasn't one, and I have no idea why.

[Marblehead]

Well, Fairbanks can be written off as having been influenced by Palin.

 

Peace & Love!

[metal dog]

I think all Americans should go on a two year media fast.

No movies, no television, no radio, no newspapers, no magazines no exposure to pop culture.

 

Then stop smoking, drinking and taking drugs (illegal, over the counter and prescriptive)

 

They should then change what they eat...particularly no refined sugars, carbs and foods that have a corporate logo on them.

 

Do a little exercise at least three times a week.

 

Then after this two year period we re-evaluate the situation.

 

Don't be surprised if things go a lot worse before they got better...like pus seeping from an infected wound.

Probably so infected, even gangrenous, to the point where healing was not possible, but to cut off or scrape out the disease even more necessary.

 

This type of a process is perfect for these times. Some may not survive the transformation.

[metal dog]

Deconstruction...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconstruction

Edited August 27, 2010 by metal dog

[Aetherous]

What I feel is that negative "energies" are becoming pretty strong, and many people have lost their center. Not knowing who they are, not being able to maintain their inner peace, they're pushed this way and that by these negative changes, acting in ways that aren't typical of who they are supposed to be.

 

I'm included in this, too!

 

It's subtle, and may just be my own projection.

[metal dog]

Some say this is the actual 2012 phenomenon...not some typical form of cataclysm or doomsday...but an internal one and a collective one concerning the psyche. A natural cycle.

Lies and corruption will be revealed...secrets exposed.

The lies you tell yourself and the mask of the persona shattered.

If you have not done honest work upon yourself you will still experience transformation, but most unpleasantly as many will experience consequences usually discounted as fate in attempt to distance from facing the self and responsibility.

 

Death Cycle

Shiva

Age of Aquarius

Plutonic and Uranic energies

Deconstruction

 

Link...

http://michaeltsarion.com/mtsarforum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=35&sid=ced4cdb6af1007a3a45c71f34b7cb3b6

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhNpCh7o9Kw&feature=related

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kML5ARHckI

Edited August 28, 2010 by metal dog

[Encephalon]

Greetings bums. I have some simple observations to make and wanted to know your thoughts.

 

I live in a rural community in Western North Carolina. Life is a bit slower than in the city and space has never been an issue. Having lived in Houston for some time, I do know what city life is like. With that said, it seems EVERYONE and I mean EVERYONE has been affected by something lately that has spawned a change in behavior; rural folk acting out like city folk. No offense to anyone who lives in a city, but to me, the crowding in cities makes people unfriendly and downright rude to strangers.

 

Mind you, this is not a major change, but it seems everyone is on edge, defensive, ready for "fight or flight". I even see it here, on TTB forum. People I consider very wise, acting out in ways that I would never have thought. Or maybe I'm just overly sensitive and making connections that aren't really there. Again, no offense intended.

 

I believe in the "group consciousness" model. So, perhaps with all of the fear mongering and uncertainty out there, people are just reacting and acting out. I also subscribe to the possibility that consciousness can be affected by the earth, sun, galaxy, etc. As an example, during a full moon some people act out. However, this isn't your normal full moon "reaction"....

 

At any rate, is it just me, or is anyone else noticing this? Any comments greatly appreciated.

 

Regards,

 

Art

 

The question you're asking is huge, so the variety of answers you get will also be huge, perhaps too huge to even be useful. Since "A Seeker" is also haunting the woods of N. Carolina and seems to be generating a pulse AND a brain wave pattern, give him a shout. But for most issues, Occam's razor is still the most useful tool; all things being equal, the simplest explanation will most likely be the correct one.

My guess, for what it's worth: we're entering what could be the biggest social and economic contraction in the history of humankind. That's gonna have an effect on the rats in cages.

[LBDaoist]

My guess, for what it's worth: we're entering what could be the biggest social and economic contraction in the history of humankind. That's gonna have an effect on the rats in cages.

 

I share this inclination. The American dominance of world affairs has begun to unravel at an accelerated pace. We have been projecting our force out and dominating the rest of the world for far too long. As the I-Ching advises, change is inevitable. Even the strongest storm cannot maintain its fury forever.

 

As the rest of the world advances and develops their own technology and culture, they do not need to rely on us. The rest of the world now looks to America, and wonders what America offers to the world. A powerful military? A corrupt finacial system? Genetically modified plants and animals? "Medicine" and drugs? How many of those do the rest of the world really NEED? Look at what our economy has been built up around. As a whole, we do not offer much to other countries.

 

Change is in the air. The painful kind. As a society we are being forced to do some navel gazing. I think we are long over due for it.

[hagar]

I think it was professor Rick Jarrow who said that the root of America's problems right now is written in the constitution: ..the pursuit of happiness. His point was that this is interpreted in such a way as to pave way to unsound Adam Smithean "every man for himself" economy, with no regard to consequence for the community or common good.

 

Living in Scandinavia, there's obviously alot of things wrong here too, yet what I see is keeping things together here (for now) is an economic system that is still partially based on community; social democracy.

 

When I lived in Idaho for a year, I saw alot of bumper stickers or fridge magnets with stuff like "people who say money can't buy happiness don't know where to shop". I think the problem is buried in that mentality.

 

As for 2012. There's never NOT been a 2012 lurking. Only difference now is that all bad things tend to have global consequences. So in a way, we are forced to learn faster. I think that's probalby a good thing.

 

Old paradigms of competition, linear power and financial structures, forcing control on nature etc are not dying, but the global context to which this mindset is placed into will necessarily prove their unsound nature.

 

just my 2 kr.

 

h

[Encephalon]

I think it was professor Rick Jarrow who said that the root of America's problems right now is written in the constitution: ..the pursuit of happiness. His point was that this is interpreted in such a way as to pave way to unsound Adam Smithean "every man for himself" economy, with no regard to consequence for the community or common good.

 

Living in Scandinavia, there's obviously alot of things wrong here too, yet what I see is keeping things together here (for now) is an economic system that is still partially based on community; social democracy.

 

When I lived in Idaho for a year, I saw alot of bumper stickers or fridge magnets with stuff like "people who say money can't buy happiness don't know where to shop". I think the problem is buried in that mentality.

 

As for 2012. There's never NOT been a 2012 lurking. Only difference now is that all bad things tend to have global consequences. So in a way, we are forced to learn faster. I think that's probalby a good thing.

 

Old paradigms of competition, linear power and financial structures, forcing control on nature etc are not dying, but the global context to which this mindset is placed into will necessarily prove their unsound nature.

 

just my 2 kr.

 

h

 

 

I would have to agree with you on all the major points. Adam Smith is being reevaluated from a lot of interesting corners these days, and he's not the champion of laissez-faire capitalism as many have come to believe. He was actually pre-capitalist and his writings are riddled with warnings about the corrosive influence of monied interests. "A Buddhist History of the West" by David Loy digs into this subject. I think he's the most original Buddhist scholar/philosopher writing today.

 

Most premodern societies make no clear distinction between economic activities and and social activities, subsuming economic roles into more general social relationships. Precapitalist man does not act so as to safeguard his individual interest in the possession of material goods; he acts so as to safeguard his social standing, his social claims, his social assets. He values material goods only in so far as they serve this end. But in capitalist society 'instead of economy being embedded in social relations, social relations are embedded in the economic system.'

Loy quoting Karl Polanyi

Edited August 28, 2010 by Blasto

[Brian]

Sorry for the delay in responding to this post, Art -- I've been busy! On Friday night, I went to a high school football game with my son. Local team blew a big lead at the end of the game but he hung out with some friends and I chatted with some of their dads. Then, on Saturday morning, I accompanied my wife on her yard sale ventures. She runs a small resale business, dealing mostly in primitives & Appalachian regional pottery, but it is mainly just for fun.

 

Usually I don't go with her but there was an estate sale in Montreat and those rich old Presbyterians often have lots of good stuff so I went to provide an extra set of arms. When we went back later to pick up a table she bought which still had too much stuff displayed on it during the sale, we spent some time visiting with the owners. The mother was in her nineties and told us about what it had been like when she and her late husband began summering there in the 40s. Her son, who was really conducting the sale, told us some of the history, took us to the basement to show us the live spring that had originally provided "indoor running water" and showed us a book on the history of Montreat which featured that house on the cover, circa 1930.

 

Saturday afternoon, our neighbors to the South had their annual "neighborhood get-together". It was mostly catered by a local place but they'd fixed a bunch of stuff, too. We stayed for a couple of hours and saw more than a dozen families stop by, including a few new faces. It was nice.

 

Saturday evening, my wife and I went to an antique auction in the neighboring town of Old Fort. Bought a carfull of junk (some of which has already been donated to the local Kiwanis thrift store) but had fun and ate a really excellent peach cake made with the last of the year's fresh peaches by the woman who runs the little concession stand. Then, after the auction, we went "bar hopping".

 

Really only a couple of "bars" in Black Mountain and we had walked from the house so we weren't going far anyhow. The White Horse had an $8 cover because of the band they had playing -- we'd seen them before and, while really good, we didn't want to stay in one spot (did I mention it was my wife's birthday? she wanted to move around) so we started at The Water Shed. The Water Shed used to be The Grey Eagle music hall before it relocated to Asheville (in fact, The Water Shed is celebrating its eighth anniversary next weekend and is asking regulars to bring their favorite dish -- every been to a bar that has a covered dish event on a Saturday night? Ought try it!) Anyhow, we played a couple of games of foosball one-on-one (I tried not to try too hard but I was just lucky, I guess, and kept winning all night) and then we played a few games with several other couples, while imbibing local organic beers.

 

After a while, we wandered out. The sushi place was still open so we grabbed a bite to eat. Neither of us are big on "bait" (although my son is) so we split an order of shrimp and a pot of tea. The we crossed the street to The Town Pump.

 

The Town Pump looks like a place David Allan Coe may have had in mind when he wrote about a bar where "bikers laugh at cowboys who are staring at the hippies who are praying they'll get out of here alive" but, in truth, it is a place where accountants and lawyers laugh with townies who are singing along with the jukebox in glorious disharmony with hillbillies and college students. Jukebox doesn't always work but it is always free (and loaded with a weird mix of CDs...) The jukebox was turned off, however, because a regional band named The Tater Family Traveling Circus was playing for tips. They were too loud (or maybe I'm just too old) but they were really pretty good! Everyone sang along with standards like:

 

On Sunday, we slept late, then did a little yard work, then drove out to Graveyard Fields to hike to the waterfalls and to pick wild blueberries. We met some friends out there and spent the whole afternoon. Wife, son and I probably picked three quarts but only one made it into the container we'd brought with us. Yesterday, we made a couple loaves of orange-blueberry bread and took one to the neighbors who'd had the get-together. I just ate some while I was typing, along with a cup of green tea, and it is awesome!

 

So, why am I going on about all this? Well, it is because the problem you are describing, Art, is one I have been observing for several decades now and the cause is easy to pinpoint -- it is disconnection from community. Until fairly recently, the Southern Appalachian Highlands were still almost totally community-oriented. Everyone knew all their neighbors, knew who was related to whom and how, knew who went to which church, who had a good crop of greasy beans & whose eggs tasted like onions. Everyone also knew who needed a little help, be it a little extra food or some warm clothes for the kids or a hand in repairing a leaky roof. "Assistance" didn't come from "the government", it came from your neighbors -- and would be returned in kind. When you went to the store, you expected to stop and visit with someone and were glad of it. When you passed a car on a back road, you both waved at each other. If you passed a car broken down on the side of the road, you stopped to see if you could help, regardless of whether you knew them. When you moved into a new community, establishing a relationship with your new neighbors was a top priority because the sense of community was important.

 

Increasingly, however, (and not just in the Southern Appalachian Highlands but very noticeably here of late) the sense of community is being lost. The trickle of "new blood" has turned into a torrent and the influx of new residents (whether permanent, part-time or one-time) are generally coming from locales that have already lost the sense of community that once permeated the nation. Compounding this increase in new arrivals is the deleterious impact of modern media and government education, both of which deliberately undermine, ridicule and destroy traditional values like family, community and morality.

 

The motivation for this destruction is NOT rooted in "capitalism", BTW. The whole "capitalism" argument, in fact, is a ruse. The term "capitalism" itself is an invention of a pair of mid-19th century neo-feudalists intent on stemming the then-fairly-modern tide self-governance and dragging the entire planet into a unified totalitarianism. Their logic was self-contradictory, however, and was implausible when examined beyond the superficiality of catch-phrases, so "capitalism" was created as a straw man, a windmill to tilt against in the effort to turn man against his neighbor. "Capitalism" used to be referred to as "trade", and has always been the cornerstone of man's coexistence with man. Whether it was exchanging a shaped rock for a pointed stick, a handful of berries for a chunk of meat, a toy truck for a bag of marbles or a carton of smokes for "protection" in the slammer, trade is the willful exchange of the product of one's energy for the product of someone else's energy, on a negotiated & mutually agreed-upon basis.

 

Doesn't sound "evil", does it? That's because it isn't! It is an outcome of man's recognition that cooperation with others permits an increase in standard of living and quality of life by allowing some level of specialization. Without trade, each individual must eke out an existence entirely on his or her own, providing food, water, shelter, clothing, etc., solely from his or her own energy, resourcefulness and "luck". Failure resulted in death. With trade, however, shortfalls and deficiencies could be played off of strengths and surpluses, talents could be cultivated as each individual was released from the necessity of personally providing every component needed for survival. Communities developed, civil societies developed, humans prospered & thrived. The veracity of not one detail of this has changed in essence in many tens of thousands of years anywhere on the planet except in short-term & failed experiments.

 

Why, then, is capitalism painted as a "bad thing"? Why do we hear about the struggle between "haves" and "have-nots" and hear about the abuses of "evil businessmen?" Easy! This is an artificial division necessary to get people to turn against each other and to voluntarily surrender self-governance & trade in exchange for an all-powerful governance that will "take care of them." The "haves" and "have-nots" is a farce; the planet is populated with "have-some-want-mores", and a handful of "satisfied people". The power-hungry deliberately create wedges to divide the population, wedges of nationality, race, creed, color, gender, education, social status, income, etc., playing off of legitimate distinctions in order to create animosity which the power-hungry then claim to be able to satisfy.

 

Along the way, the power-hungry realized that they can strengthen their own position by developing huge sources of income, coffers for their war against humanity, by leveraging the very "capitalism" against which they rail and against which they claim to be the sole protection. By demonizing "capitalism" and "the rich", they are able to take tremendous sums of money from from the population by levying taxes, fines & penalties against "evil corporations", while being fully aware that corporations don't pay taxes, fines or penalties, their investors & customers do. The "evil corporations" generally play along, in part because they understand they can't draw against the stacked deck and in part because the "politician" protects the "capitalist" while at the same time beguiling the "little man" with promises of protection and "free stuff." This only works, however, if the "little man" is ignorant of his or her own abilities and liberties, is contemptuous of the sense of cooperation upon which the civil society is based, and is willing to accept the fallacy of the "free lunch." To this end, the power-hungry exploit both the government education system and the popular media outlets to strengthen the wedges and to tear down the value of community.

 

The defense against this attack on humanity is a conscious strengthening of the value of community. This includes personally educating our children about morality & humanity (weakened spirituality makes breaking the spirit much easier), personally reaching out to fellow man (and woman!) on a daily basis within our own communities (through social community-building activities as well as through the little actions of everyday life, like treating each other with grace, civility and compassion), and personally working to improve the lives of those around us through the willful application of our own energy & the products of our energy. If we "teach our children well" and live our own lives in spiritual, loving and simple fashion, the rewards are multiplicative. Be kind to each other, smile & say "hello" to the people you encounter each day, open doors for strangers, donate time & money to those less fortunate, etc., and you make your little corner of the world a more pleasant place. With a little luck, the influence spreads beyond "your little corner" but at the very least you are improving your own environment and your own karma (if you are into that sort of thing...)

 

Just food for thought!

[Maddie]

I liked your points about capitalism simply being a new word for trade. My professors would always talk about the development of capitalism, and I would be thinking "um what people didn't care about money and goods before lol?". I don't think the problem is the economic model, I think its GREED.

[Taomeow]

It's literally in the air -- very low oxygen, even here in CA I can feel it, while people in the states adjacent to the Gulf of Mexico are getting cyanosis -- a symptom of low oxygen in the blood (cyanide, one of the many poisons that interfere with uptake of oxygen by red blood cells, is named after the effect, literally "death by color blue." The residents of the Gulf are talking about the "blue flu." With promises of a "blue plague.")

 

Another weird thing... no chemtrails here in CA in the past two month, I've never seen them absent from the sky for more than a day or two ever before. Maybe a downer therein is not sprayed anymore and that's why people are having a harder time repressing their feelings? The air is heavily medicated, and the prescription may have changed? -- just a hypothesis...

[betwixter]

-

Edited September 12, 2010 by betwixter

[Maddie]

It's literally in the air -- very low oxygen, even here in CA I can feel it, while people in the states adjacent to the Gulf of Mexico are getting cyanosis -- a symptom of low oxygen in the blood (cyanide, one of the many poisons that interfere with uptake of oxygen by red blood cells, is named after the effect, literally "death by color blue." The residents of the Gulf are talking about the "blue flu." With promises of a "blue plague.")

 

Another weird thing... no chemtrails here in CA in the past two month, I've never seen them absent from the sky for more than a day or two ever before. Maybe a downer therein is not sprayed anymore and that's why people are having a harder time repressing their feelings? The air is heavily medicated, and the prescription may have changed? -- just a hypothesis...

 

Well not bad theory, but why did I observe this in Alaska as well? I mean the air up there is really clean, yet I noticed the same stuff going on.

[Taomeow]

Well not bad theory, but why did I observe this in Alaska as well? I mean the air up there is really clean, yet I noticed the same stuff going on.

Alaska the home of HAARP?..

 

Again, it's just one theory out of many, way too many that are way, way more than mere "theories," alas. Meds in the water supply (that's mainstream news, not some "conspiracy theorist's" paranoya) and they officially want to add more (e.g. lithium, which is an open invitation to irreversible liver damage on top of being a heavier CNS tweaker than the currently popular fluoride, but supposedly people with bipolar disorder and suicide tendencies are expected to benefit, and everybody else... well... they forget to mention everybody else. And usually by the time they start mentioning an intent to do something on the mainstream news, it's already a done deal.) There's way more... but I get disheartened, to tell you the truth, when I see, right here on this forum, evidence that it's all working just the way it's supposed to work. Entries that ridicule anybody who makes a peep about ulterior motives behind our overlords' activities... yeah, we are governed by knights in shining armor, everybody who takes any contrarian information to heart merely lacks the power of observation, besides being an undermedicated paranoid conspiracy buff.

 

Ever so pissed. Must be something in the air...

[betwixter]

-

Edited September 12, 2010 by betwixter

[Maddie]

Alaska the home of HAARP?..

 

Again, it's just one theory out of many, way too many that are way, way more than mere "theories," alas. Meds in the water supply (that's mainstream news, not some "conspiracy theorist's" paranoya) and they officially want to add more (e.g. lithium, which is an open invitation to irreversible liver damage on top of being a heavier CNS tweaker than the currently popular fluoride, but supposedly people with bipolar disorder and suicide tendencies are expected to benefit, and everybody else... well... they forget to mention everybody else. And usually by the time they start mentioning an intent to do something on the mainstream news, it's already a done deal.) There's way more... but I get disheartened, to tell you the truth, when I see, right here on this forum, evidence that it's all working just the way it's supposed to work. Entries that ridicule anybody who makes a peep about ulterior motives behind our overlords' activities... yeah, we are governed by knights in shining armor, everybody who takes any contrarian information to heart merely lacks the power of observation, besides being an undermedicated paranoid conspiracy buff.

 

Ever so pissed. Must be something in the air...

 

 

Dealing with conspiracy theories is a stick tar baby indeed, but thats to be expected due to the very nature of a conspiracy. Obviously if a conspiracy is taking place great lengths are being gone through to keep it very secretive, and under the radar as much as possible. So thus there are few documents, and little tangeble proof. The evidence that does exist while it may look very fishy, is not usually enough to stand up in a court of law. I think maintianing balance is very difficult indeed. It seems about this subject extremes in both dirctions seem to be common. You have the people that think everything is a conspiracy, and others who trust everything that we are told. Truth be told in my opinion I think its somewhere in the middle.

For example in my opinion the offical facts about the whole September 11 story don't add up, yet just because I don't buy the offical party line, I do not know what really did happen, so to say definitevly "this is what happened" when I do not know for sure is only speculation. If something comes out in the open and there is tangible proof, then it is no longer a conspiracy. So just because I do not buy the offical story of 9/11 I can't say for sure what the truth is even though there are lots of theories, because I DON'T KNOW what the real facts are. So I try to balance a healthy skeptisism with realization that I am not all knowing either.

[Birch]

If I may suggest replacing "conspiracy theories" by a "thorough understanding" of government and "power" in general? I don't have one BTW. Beats me. TTC seems quite good at such.

 

Still, I suspect a nation (an ego like any t'other) that has fought for its own freedom from "everyone else" might be loathe to admit that similar "techniques" might be being used on such a nation as those used inside the ones one had previously prided itself on escaping from?

 

Yeah I know, sounds anti-utopian (which in itself is supposed to be an oxymoron )

I applaud the US for staging such a great empirical experiment. There's a lot of good in it. Ok, now we know what does and doesn't work, can we move on? I mean, it's one thing to carry out experiments on a bunch of people who agreed to it constitutionally, quite another to try the same experiment on people who didn't agree.

[de_paradise]

Well, if USA is a country of mass consumption, then consumer sentiment could be taken as a measure of general sentiment. When the stock market falls, people get bummed out because they feel poor, and with the Dow flirting with 10k, thats very low, and that corelates highly with consumer sentiment.

 

Simply put, the market falls, people feel like crap. The market falls for one month like in August and is threatening to plummet in September, people get nervous and depressed, fight with their spouses, delay vacations, blame the president, etc.

 

Its a good time to be a muscian or juggler on the street.

[Gerard]

Greetings bums. I have some simple observations to make and wanted to know your thoughts.

 

I live in a rural community in Western North Carolina. Life is a bit slower than in the city and space has never been an issue. Having lived in Houston for some time, I do know what city life is like. With that said, it seems EVERYONE and I mean EVERYONE has been affected by something lately that has spawned a change in behavior; rural folk acting out like city folk. No offense to anyone who lives in a city, but to me, the crowding in cities makes people unfriendly and downright rude to strangers.

 

Mind you, this is not a major change, but it seems everyone is on edge, defensive, ready for "fight or flight". I even see it here, on TTB forum. People I consider very wise, acting out in ways that I would never have thought. Or maybe I'm just overly sensitive and making connections that aren't really there. Again, no offense intended.

 

I believe in the "group consciousness" model. So, perhaps with all of the fear mongering and uncertainty out there, people are just reacting and acting out. I also subscribe to the possibility that consciousness can be affected by the earth, sun, galaxy, etc. As an example, during a full moon some people act out. However, this isn't your normal full moon "reaction"....

 

At any rate, is it just me, or is anyone else noticing this? Any comments greatly appreciated.

 

Regards,

 

Art

 

 

+1. Why do you think serious spiritual practitioners detach themselves from that aggressive environment to further dwelve into their practices?

 

Cities are not places to attain buddhahood.

[Gauss]

Everyday people have a bad side(karmic part as opposed to the virtue part). That bad side knows there is a big event coming their way soon and that bad part knows it is going to be eradicated.

 

 

It does not take a great mind to figure out that the world can not continue in this way much longer and the earth will be reshaped completely, and mankind can do nothing about it whatysoever, only a God can do it. My son asked me when he was like 2-3 years old, "What am I supposed to do here before I die daddy?"...

 

At the time I had no good answer, which I certainly have now... The right way and the right man has arrived here and everyone will know about it soon enough.

 

If one welcomes the coming change one has a big chance to make it to the next stage, if one opposes it, well... It is said that if someone says "Truth-Compassion-Forbearance is good"; "Falun Dafa is good" and he means it, that person will make it to the next stage.

 

Virtue will come to be extremely precious in the future I believe. Suffering will gain in popularity too I expect.

[Taomeow]

I hope that wasn't directed at my little attempt to lighten the mood a bit. If it matters, I believe there is alot going on behind the 'scenes' culled from my own experiences and others close to me. The whole 'serpent' angle used to bother me to no end, but all my concern was effectively doing was burning me out...that happens to be one of the reasons I used the pic I did. I live in an area, undisclosed unless you just make a incredible intuitive leap, that is know nationwide for being the chem-trail capital. And I used to be the one on the soapbox screaming about the terrors of Fluoride, GMOs, vaccinations, the dentistry profession, the Rockefellers, the Bilderberg group, and beyond, so I do have much sympathy for these concerns. So if that wasn't a dig at my lighthearted post, then ignore...Humor has helped me out the throws of 'learned helplessness' and allowed me to be more effective in doing the little I can do to affect it. I like to laugh, and that pic made me laugh. And maybe I was interrupting your conversation, but no animosity intended.

Thanks for the elucidation.

 

I like to laugh too, it might just be that different people find different things funny. I don't even mind it when someone gets a laugh at my expense... but when it's, e.g., at the expense of poisoned, abused, murdered children, animals, plants, and planets, my sense of humor quits on me. I don't mean that was the gist of your joke. I mean it's a popular way to joke in general -- by defensively fragmenting one's consciousness to pieces so as not to see the whole picture. How else can anyone find humor, peace, contentment in genocide?..

 

And I don't despise anything more than a "sage" who works on not caring and thinks it's "detachment" as prescribed by party line. I don't despise anything more than someone "detached" from caring. Doesn't mean I let my heart bleed over everybody and everything, some of the most tragic things are indeed funny or at least farcical... but callousness as the goal of cultivation?.. Whoever sold this idea to the "spiritual" crowd better watch out when we meet spirit to spirit in the battle of evermore.

 

Just kidding... not.

[betwixter]

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Edited September 12, 2010 by betwixter