Suffering

Some say, "If there is a God, why does the child in the wheel chair suffer?"  This is an argument against the existence of a creator or god, or whatever you want to call your higher being.  The suffering argument is compelling because, I believe, suffering is inherent with life.  Life and suffering go hand in hand.  How can I say that? Well in the areas of learning, jealousy, and situation, suffering plays huge rolls.  These three areas are experienced by everybody to some degree or another.

Teachers will tell you, that it is common to get academic problems wrong before you learn the right way.  What happens when you get a math problem wrong in class?  You suffer embarrassment and sometimes humiliation.  Your suffering becomes a motivator to learn.  Some martial arts teachers and gym trainers say where there is no pain, there is no gain.  Well, what does the child in the wheel chair do?  How does this motivation to learn help him/her?  Children are marvelous learning beings.  They will learn almost anything you teach them.  The child in the wheel chair can learn how to live in the wheel chair or learn to make a better wheelchair.  Oh but that may not what you were thinking.  You may want the child to live a normal life and able to walk without the wheelchair.   Well, let's look at the next point, jealousy.

What do you want?  How do you get to the point of wanting it?  Jealousy is wanting what others have.  It's often accompanied with the idea that you cannot get it.  Therefore, you suffer anguish and/or rage.  The question often comes up: should you have it?  A man may covet another man's wife.  That is a classic notion.  It's often the case that men lust after many men's wives.  Shhh!  That's a man's secret.  How about being jealous of the rich?  That is extremely common.  The poor suffer and don't think the rich suffer so they figure money will relieve all suffering.  This is not the case.  Rich people suffer just like poor people.  They pay bills and taxes.  They lose money.  They have relationship problems.  They have problems with their children.  They suffer disease.  They suffer anguish.  They also suffer jealousy.  It is very human to want what we cannot have.  So the child in the wheel chair also wants to walk like everybody else but cannot.  He/She can wallow in jealousy or rise above it.  Accepting your situation is important and healthy.

Everybody is in a situation.  You cannot escape.  You will always be in a situation.  The good news is that situations can be changed.  Pain is electronic stimuli to your brain indicating that there is something seriously wrong.  If we go back to the saying, "no pain, no gain," then were inclined to bear the pain.  There are many cultural influences and traditions that may make you bear the pain.  Yet, pain is due to a situation.  Many times you can change the situation to lesser the pain or get rid of it entirely.  Comfort is the opposite of pain.  Comfort is also the opposite of suffering.  Can the child in the wheelchair change that he/she is in the wheelchair.  No, he/she cannot.  Can the child in the wheelchair get more comfortable?  Yes, he/she can.  Change your situation for the better.  Even a little change helps a lot.  Of course, when there is not change to be had, and you run out of options, you would be enticed to seek the ultimate situation changer: death.  Society does not allow this, yet still there are, on average, 30,000 suicides a year in the United States.  I believe they represent 30,000 problems we have not been able to resolve yet.  These people have not found a solution to their suffering.  This is extreme suffering.  It's not their fault that they suffered.  It's our's, society's, fault that their suffering was not relieved.

Why do people suffer?  People suffer whether in great ways or small way.  All people suffer.  The big lie is that you're the only person suffering.  It's not true.  More often than not, there is a solution to your suffering if only your willing to accept it.  You can learn something new, you can accept your situation, or you can change your situation in one way or another.  I believe it is inevitable for physical life to suffer.  I believe that life is scarce in this universe.  I believe that life is a rebellion against the status quo in this realm.  Life is, and therefore life suffers.  Life fights against the entropy of thermal dynamics.  That's because life is not static.  Life wants to propagate life in every aspect of meaning.  Helping the poor, healing the sick, fighting injustice, and making babies propagates life.  Life is always fighting, therefore life is always suffering in some way.  So, going back to the notion that suffering denotes the absence of deity, I say the presence of suffering denotes life fighting something, and the presence of life denotes deity.

What Is Bullying?

The recent Taft School shooting in California highlights that victims of bullying not only suicide but can kill others as well.  Bullying is a term that's thrown around a lot these days.  Everyone knows what it is, or do we?  We have all been called names, criticized, mocked, laughed at, and so on.  So we think we know what it is.  Most of us have gone through it as children, some go through it all their lives.  There are peoples who have a history of being victims of bullying.  There has been institutionalized bullying.  There are some laws against bullying for some groups of people.  This may sound surprising, but in essence bullying is a message.  That message says, "You are not important."  Let me explain in the following paragraphs.

In childhood, bullying is prevalent.  It usually goes something like this.  One person has a desire to become important among his friends and succeeds.  Someone challenges that person, and consequently they fear not being important.  So, they call the challenger names and ostracize him from the group.  then they proceed to ostracize anyone who looks or acts like the challenger.  They never stop ostracizing.  The ostracized person will develop deep anger and resentment.  At a later time they may act on that anger.  That's a generalized understanding of bullying.

Bullying is not restricted to children.  Adults bully other adults and children.  Employers bully employees.  Those with authority bully those under their charge.  Parents bully children.  Bullying is prevalent throughout society.  It is unfortunately also tolerated.

Institutionalized bullying is bullying in the extreme.  Slavery allows for all kinds of abuse from theft, to torture, to rape, to murder.  The Third Reich ostracized the Jews in the mid 1930's and 1940's.  They ostracized them to the point of genocide.  The Jim Crow laws led to legal ostracization as they promoted segregation.  In these examples people lost their property, dignity, and their lives.  The victims were considered no good for society.

There has been legal consequences to bullying.  One example is when the United States declared its independence from Great Britain.  The Declaration of Independence lists a number of bullying acts committed by Britain on the people of the U.S.  The Civil Rights Act of 1964 abolished the Jim Crow laws in the U.S.  This was the beginning of freedom for the African Americans.  Racism is still a problem, but it is diminishing over time.  We also have American Disabilities Act that established civil right to the physically impaired.  They were ostracized in the workplace and in movement since many buildings didn't accommodate for wheelchairs.  There are other laws as well.  These came about because people were being bullied for being different.  There are now laws against cyberbullying since 2007 in some areas in the U.S.  So far as I know, its the first type of anti-bullying law that applies to everybody.

 What is to be done?  I think stopping bullying starts with yourself.  You must recognize that you are important, regardless of what others say.  You are important to your friends and family.  You are important to people you say 'hi' to every day.  You are important to the shopkeeper when you buy something.  You are important to society at large.  Without you, society is lessened.  Next you need to recognize that other people are important to you.  Those you love and those you don't know are important to you.  Society is important to you.  Your children are important to you.  Next you need to talk to people like they are important to you.  Use respectful words, listen to others, refrain from judging or criticizing, and learn to disagree in an agreeable way.  Guess what?  Its hard.  Its hard to change.  Its also brave.  You will be a better person when you do.  You will get respect once you give it.  There will always be critics.  Count on it.  Teach your children to do the same.  Tell your children how important they are to you.  Victims of bullies and bullies themselves need psychological help.

Bullying is a hideous aspect of humanity.  It does not build character.  It tears down and breaks people.  It was the cause of some of the most hateful times in history.  Violence cause violence.  Bullying is violent even when its just verbal.  Its personal, and its very personal.  Its little wonder that Jesus said to love your enemies (Matthew 5:43).  Bullying was a problem back in the first century too.  I'm a highly sensitive person, why am I concerned with this?  I am concerned with all humanity.  The better everyone feels the better it is for me.  Is that selfish? Yes it is, and I don't apologize for it.  Guess what?  Unless you look after yourself, you cannot look after others.  Looking after others is in effect looking after yourself.

Migraines On The Radio

I heard on the Diane Rehm's radio show a segment on Living with Migraines (please listen to the podcast).  I really liked it because of all the good new news on the subject.  I'm also a migraineur diagnosed with migraine with aura (or migraine with complex).  It seems that the medical field is still learning about migraines and that they took some significant leaps in the past twelve years.   I would like to share my experience with doctors and migraines.

Though I had migraines from childhood, I only went to the Veterans Administration Hospital for it in 2001.   Then, my doctor did not admittedly know much about migraines and she promised to get some more information and confer with other doctors.  She ended up giving me codeine and caffeine.  Hold on, there are many several type of migraines and it seems that some migraines get worse with caffeine and some get better.  This combination seemed to work for me.  I did substitute the codeine with ibuprofen and this also worked, and it would allow me to drive.

I moved from California to St Louis, Missouri and sought additional help in 2009 from VA doctors there because I was experiencing some numbness in my body, mainly on my right side.  I ended up seeing neurologists there and they took me off off the ibuprofen which I was taking every 4 hours.  This apparently could lead to some bad things with my internal organs.  They gave me Diltiazem to take every day and Sumatriptan as a rescue medicine.  They also identified the little 'fireflies' I see in my eyes from time to time are part of my aura.  I consider these doctors to be very professional and seriously interested in my case.  I was lucky.  The did not say anything about my body numbness and pain, but I believe them also to be part of my aura because of what I read and hear about migraine with aura.

If I think about it, I can see other aspects of my aura.  Growing up I would sometimes get up and my sight and my hearing would stop for a couple of seconds.  I wouldn't see anything but darkness and heard nothing in that period of time.  I would also get dizzy and see my 'fireflies'.  During a migraine headache, I couldn't stand light or loud noises.  I would also feel weak and would have to rest often.  My headaches usually lasted 4 days.  The Sumatriptan took away the pain, but not my auras, and not my weakness.  Being a migraineur is something I have to live with.

I can see that from 2001 to today, migraine information has indeed increased and there seems to be more help for migraineurs.  If you suffer from migraines, I suggest you find a doctor that is actively helping you and that you are managing it better.  It may still be hard to find the right doctor, but it seems more and more doctors and getting educated on this disease.  Good luck.

What Normal Person?

I don't see normal people on this planet.  I really can't tell that I have met one.  What I have met were unique individuals with various traits.  People are more diverse than you have ever imagined.  Let's explore together what people are like, what a normal person really is, and where can we go from here.

I've traveled through many countries to include Europe, United States, and Asia.  I've talked to many people; more than the average person would.  I have yet to talk to two that are the same.  Even fraternal twins seem to be unique in some way.  More often than not, you may find that people have traits in their character that make them stand out.  I've seen people: try to get away with as much as possible, yield to others consistently, talk to everyone they meet in depth, ignore anyone who approaches them, struggle with basic math or writing, have impressive understanding about construction/engineering, wonder at nature, think only of their goals, excel at fitness or sports, do nothing but sit at a computer or TV, appreciate the arts, thinks only of the bottom line, acts to impress as many people as possible, care little about what people think, have attractive looks or voice, have unattractive features, knows how to make a buck, knows how to spend money, forget to take stuff with them, always remembers what someone said to them, be that annoying and vocal neighbor, show kindness to their neighbors in need with coffee and blankets, and more.  People are unique wherever you go.

What do we mean by a normal person?  Normal means conforming to a standard.  A standard could be a law, a policy, a socially acceptable behavior, or even an unwritten rule.  Betty Crocker is a well known name among bakers and baker aficionados, and yet this person never existed in a single person.  Check out Who Was Betty Crocker? by Roy Rosenzweig.  Betty was a composite personality.  She was born out of popular responses to General Mills.  This is what a normal person is also.  A normal person is not a real person but an ideal of what society or a community thinks a person should be like.  The ideal also changes throughout history.  Imagine if you took a normal person today and put him/her in the 1800's.  Would they be considered a normal person? Absolutely not!  They would be considered liberal, radical, and strange.  That's because the ideals of today are not the same ideals as in the 1800's.  The idea of prejudice was different.  There was black and white prejudice like today, but worse, and there was German vs Danish vs Italian vs English.  Economy back then was more agrarian than industrial.  News was on printed newspapers not on TV or the internet.  You telegraphed someone instead of texting.  There were no phones, so you wore watches to tell time.  You actually had to be face to face with someone to carry on a conversation.  They wore more clothes and didn't have motorized washing machines.  You see that a normal person of today is not the same as a normal person of yesterday.

What does this all mean to you and me?  Most people see themselves as a normal person.  They pay taxes and obey the laws.  Some may not even do that and still consider themselves as normal.  The truth is; none of us are normal.  We all fall short of normal.  Not that it's a competition.  Normal is what we think we ought to be and perhaps strive for.  The reason is because we're afraid to stand out.  We're afraid to be ridiculed.  We want to hide those things that makes us look different.  Unfortunately, we often hide those thing form ourselves as well and disregard them entirely.  I say we should embrace those things that does not make us normal for ourselves.  If you think about it, those contestants on American Idol, or the other Idol shows around the world, that win are not normal.  The do stand out.  In the music industry standing out is important.  So not being normal can lead to good things.  I say embrace them regardless of what anyone else thinks.  I will caution you about being overt about them liberally.  You should gauge how much you show people and when to show them.  It helps to be more accepting by others.  As an extrovert, it's always been hard for me, if not impossible, to hide all the things that make me stand out.  I'm sensitive and quirky.  I'm opinionated and loud.  Different souls are attracted to me and different ones are repelled by me.  There are things that I do hide from people though.  I've never been fired from a job, but often I'm required to justify my employment.  I've learned to listen more to people and that helps a lot.  I give other people the stage to have their say.  That makes me look better overall.

People are too diverse to be normal, and normal is just an ideal.  We can claim our true nature and still work in society.  Fear is the only thing form keeping us form ourselves.  We are unique, and we are good.  We don't have to succumb to fear.  We can be unconventional and still operate in this world.

Precious Human Value

Value is a common word.  It's a word we use to describe something in a quantitative way.  I want to talk about the innate human value of everyone.  I use value instead of worth because worth has some negativity associated with it, such as "What's your worth?" or "How worthy are you?" or "Your worthless".  I feel value is impartial.  I'm taking you to the core definition of human value, then the past and present that shows our disregard for life, and then talk about championing human value.

Vietnam War Boat People

In this age of information,  we understand how computers work and often make comparisons between computers and the brain.  Sci-fi stories like the Matrix raise the question if we are in a simulation or not, and if we were, we would never know going about our own lives.  Therefore, our best understanding of our basic existence is 'Cognito ergo sum,' which translates into, 'I think therefore I am.'  It's a definition of ourselves that highlights the greatness of our reasoning and our sheer ineptness to affirm our own existence.  It does something else though; it shows our value as individuals to understand, change, build, destroy, and have emotional responses to the world we live in.  Now it's a statement that we more often than not apply personally.  Now consider that every human on the planet thinks.  If they think, they are.  They all have value.  They all have the same value as I do or as you do.  This is the beginning of compassion.  Their fate should be the same as mine.  The better the fate, the better for all.

If we think about how many people have died in wars, in accidents, in suicides; we can understand how lives have been extinguished before their time.  37,000,000 died in World War I, 60,000,000 died in World War II,  1,035,585 died in Vietnam War, around 2,000,000 died in the Soviet Afghanistan war, and around 14,700 and counting have died in the U.S. Afghanistan war.  There are countless wars; each with their own death count.  These wars are fought over ideologies.  We seem to adopt the notion 'Cognito ergo occidere,' which means 'I think therefore I kill.'  If we all really thought, we'd wouldn't be doing this.  If we considered that all have the same value, we would find other ways to solve issues.  What is the value of these people who died?  Well, instead of reaping the fruits of a free life and giving back to society, their value is to teach us to change.  Let it not be for nothing.

I like to talk about championing human value.  Yet, I find myself at a loss to understand how.  I suppose it starts small.  Kindness is a common word.  It's a word we take for granted.  When your kind to someone you show them that they are valuable to you.  We like to think of ourselves as kind.  We should evaluate ourselves though.  How kind are you to that shop person who is not giving you what you want?  How kind are you to the teammate on your team who is opposing you?  How kind to that person who just made fun of you and you don't like it?  As a highly sensitive person, I see a lot of frustration.  It's at work, it's in the stores, and it's at home.  Frustration can lead to anger, and anger can lead to violence.  Kindness can temper frustration.  Showing someone their value to them.

Examining what human value is shines bright in the darkness of our devastation of it.  Taking ownership of it anew and starting to show kindness to later take bigger steps is important.  We are in an era of post world wars.  Europe does not make war among its nations anymore.  Dialog has taken over.  The middle east seeks freedom.  The world is changing.  The change will be permanent.  Weapons will lessen.  We can help usher the change by being kind.

Listening To Intuition

Highly Sensitive People (empaths) are nothing if they're not listeners.  We listen to everything and sometimes wish we didn't.  People in general have intuition.  People in general don't seem to listen to their intuition enough.  Dr. Judith Orloff has an article with a test on how much we listen to our intuition (see Dr. Orloff's article).  Do you listen to your intuition?  We get really busy and focused in our daily lives.  It's common for everyone to get tunnel vision and we loose sight of what is going on around us.  When we do that, things may happen that can affect us without us realizing it.  So it's helpful to stop look and listen to intuition.  What I want to do is highlight some things that may prevent us from listening to our intuition.  Through experience, I found out that trusting intuition does not come easy,  interpreting intuition can be hard, and wishful thinking is a hindrance.

In our society we are told not to listen to feelings, hunches, and imaginations.  Well, not in so many words, but over time and the fact that hard cold facts is what gets listened to rather than preference.  So, it's not surprising that we don't trust when thoughts come to us out of the blue and give us information that seemingly has no evidence.   Our overgrown analytical minds want proof.  The reasoning goes nuts without logical steps.  So we blow the information off.  That information is our intuition telling us something.  We must learn to trust it.  It took me some time to understand that my intuition was giving me good information.  Sometimes even now, my mind wants to say that it's just all my imagination.  That's how strong my analytical brain is.  I have strong reasoning abilities and it often clashes with my intuition.  Telling yourself that there could be something to this information and testing the information is one way to start trusting it.

Interpreting the information gleaned from intuition can be hard to do.  Interpretation is a function of the analytical brain.  To interpret intuition, we need to have a "common frame of reference".  Yeah sure, I took that one from Spock in Star Trek IV The Voyage Home (see quote).  You do have to have a common frame of reference to have practical information.  I see most of the common reference is learned in life as we associate feelings with situations.  Intuition comes in the form of emotion, and emotion is a language in and of itself.  Some things don't translate.  Some things are hard to put in words.  Some things you can only describe.  Some things are a driving force for action.  I went to a balloon race last weekend, and there was a large crowd with a festival.  There were lots of vendors of food and drink.  There were even some student dancers.  I picked up on the overall intuitive emotion int the area and my mouth relaxed and the ends of my mouth were edging upward.  That told me people were relaxed and were enjoying themselves overall.  Sometimes intuition comes like that.  I interpreted that one based on how I reacted to the emotion.  It's quite an art to interpret intuition. 

Wishful thinking is an enemy to intuition.  It will try to override the intuition information.  What I mean is that if you want something bad enough you may try to wish it into existence.  It's important to distinguish between what you want and what your observing.  I use this word observing in the sense of picking up information from intuition.  I have a hard head, as my wife would say.  That means my will is a strong one.  I blame genetics for that (thank you parents).  So, what I have to do is to get into a meditative state and listen for the intuition.  Sometimes, this takes a while.  I don't think it's because the intuition doesn't come to me.  I think it's there all the time.  It just takes a while to quiet down my analytical hard head.  By the way what I call analytical mind Dr. Orloff calls linear mind.  I use that word because I understand that the brain is very very complex, more than science understands.  So I don't think the work linear quite describes it.  Wishful thinking is a function of the analytical mind and it's made when we establish an intent (wish, desire, manifestation, prayer) we made earlier.

So, trusting intuition, interpreting it, and handling wishful thinking can help you listen to intuition.  As you listen, you come to realize that everything changes.  Then the more they change, the more they stay the same.  Sure, it's a paradox.  I think life itself is a paradox as well, but don't ask me to explain it.  The more you listen, the more you will change, and the more you become yourself  and you shed the facades you have in life.

Patience

 Patience is said to be a virtue.  Highly Sensitive People and Empaths are patient listeners.  It's one of the very special gifts that make interpersonal communication so enjoyable.  You can ask yourself how does patience help me in my interpersonal communication and how does it make me feel?  I'm going to explore how patience in interpersonal communication is a power for uplifting emotion.

In law enforcement there's the idea of letting people talk things out.  This requires patience.  Police are usually involved in talking to people who are emotionally charged.  Letting people talk it out helps them sort out the situation mentally.  Sometimes as an empath, I talk to people in regular situations that are passionate about a subject.  Their voice gets louder, they may talk faster, and/or they may have a more active body language.  I let them talk it out until they seem calmer.  Often they appreciate just the listening.  I don't choose these times as a time to argue so I avoid contradicting them.  That includes holding my opinion about the subject.  You might think that this somehow invalidates or ignores my opinion.  On the contrary, I feel it opens the person up to listen to my point of view since I was kind enough to listen to theirs.  As a result, a feeling of friendship and respect develops.  If you have trouble making your point of view known, or your view is not well received, try some patience with your audience.

I love how patience can change your life around.  Judith Orloff's article on patience emphasizes how patience is a powerful tool, though some people may look at it as weakness.  I know a type of person who will try and try to manipulate a highly sensitive person like me into doing whatever they say.  This person does not practice patience but the opposite, they practice urgency.  That is, they make you feel like you have to act now without thinking through the situation.   This is a mean trap.  Listening and being patient without reacting can help you avoid this trap.  I also use other techniques in such situations, like emotionally detaching from the individual.  It's really quite dangerous falling in such traps, because these people will make you their slaves if you let them.  In extreme cases, physical distance can be a good defense.  Using patience can protect you and can help the other person change if they are willing.  You don't have to point out that they need to change it will be evident to them naturally because of the feelings that patience on your part creates in them.

Patiently hearing out someone creates a bond of friendship.  This bond of friendship is spurred by respect you've shown by being patient in listening.  People have very few opportunities to be heard, and it's an innate need for all humans.  The right of free speech is an example of the need to be heard, to be listened to.  Parliament is derived from talking.  That's what legislatures are all about, talk or to be heard.  This is how we get our laws for our societies.  Likewise, being heard is how we derive at rules for ourselves and form ideas about personal situations.  Patience is essential for interpersonal communication to be uplifting.  Have you ever heard people arguing before?  They tend to interrupt one another.  This interruption just perpetuates frustration for both sides.  When one side is patient to listen without judgment, then the other usually reciprocates the courtesy and they both get heard.  Even if they disagree, they can walk away from the conversation feeling uplifted.

I looked at patience in interpersonal communication.  Being patient to let people talk and counter unreasonable urgency meets the need of people to be heard.  Patience is quite a power.

Independence

As the United States is celebrating its independence this week, the thought came to mind how do empaths establish their independence from the world.  The following is from a empath friend of mine, Laura Ryder.

How we define ourselves is crucial to establishing the boundaries we need to understand our role in the world. The alternative is to just meld in to the background until there is no distinction between us and the world.  I give you three steps to take to achieve independence: grounding, knowing your abilities and disabilities, and establishing your role in the world.

When it comes to getting to know ourselves, grounding or centering is a place to start.  What grounding does is let us get to know our own feelings rather than other people's feelings.  At certain times in life it's good to get reacquainted with your feelings especially when you are trying to deal with issues your struggling with.  In this way we grow to become our own person, rather than being dictated what to be by the world.  Thus we can start to establish our independence.

Knowing your abilities and disabilities are essential to being independent.  Some people may equate these to strengths and weaknesses.  For the empath it's more specific.  Every empath have disabilities.  That is those things that make us hurt, or act crazy.  Usually these are due to external sources like other people, animals, plants,...etc.  The key is to learn about these weaknesses to understand how to use them in a way that they become abilities.  This is a long term proposition, and every empath is different.  Gathering a repertoire of abilities is important for the empath to be empowered and gain independence.

After knowing ourselves and gaining abilities, empaths need to figure out their role in the local world they live in.  Careful thinking and reading people will come in handy for this task.  Some questions to consider are: How do I help my co-workers; Where do my family need help; How can I assist my community.  Empaths are in unique position to be able to read people more readily than others.  As such we can realize problems and concerns of others.  Though sometimes its enough to vocalize the concerns, a better way is to help alleviate concerns by purposeful acts of kindness.  Doing such may keep you from the spotlight and still effect help.  When empaths are spotlighted, other people tend to put demands on them which is not good.  Remember, you want to keep your independence so you want to avoid the spotlight as much as possible.  Encouraging, coaching, listening are some examples of acts of kindness.  Again, every empath is different and every situation is different.

As an empath, forging your own independence takes courage, diligence, and creativity.  Using grounding, knowing your abilities and disabilities, and establishing your role can set any empath on the road to independence from the world.  I did not mention here what to do when you have relationships your uncomfortable with.  That is another essay.

Insensitivity

Insensitivity is rampant in our society.  We tolerate narcissists and bullies.  We develop some bad learned behaviors as a result.  Pushing, screaming, shouting and other behavior stem from anger.  The anger is because we feel we're not listened to.  These learned behaviors we pass on to our children as they grow, and they in turn pass them on to their children.  We tend to be inconsiderate of peoples' feelings, desires, and needs.  We are led to believe that we have free reign over anyone who says yes to our smallest request.  There are three ways you can counter the insensitivity in yourself once you realize you need to.  The three ways are meditation, listen to people, and considering their situation.

Daily meditation helps stop the bad behavior.  Simple basic meditation is all that is needed to calm and quieten your mind.  Once the mind is quiet, then teaching it new things can begin. You can tell yourself what is OK and what is not OK.  For instance, you can tell yourself that it's OK to feel anger, but it's not OK to take anger out on someone.  In this way you can calm your nerves as well, and refocus.  If you have too much energy, push it out of yourself as you meditate.  Let the world at large absorb it.

Listening to people is key for healing.  When your talking to someone, do not only listen with your ears, but with your eyes, and feelings as well.  Take in the verbal and the non-verbal communication.  What is his/her face like, what are his/her hands doing, and what story is his/her body motion telling?  If your a sensitive or empath, read what their feelings are.  Take the whole person in.  It's important to not respond with anger.  You can have strong energy, but be mindful of how the other person reacts to it.  Above all, learn to acknowledge what they are saying with nods and saying the occasional 'yes'.  You might want to repeat what they are saying to you so you both know you have the message clear.

Consider the situation of the person your talking to.  I mean, see it from their point of view.  Then tell them what your seeing.  They may brighten up and appreciate that you indeed understand them.  Once you do this then usually something magical happens.  They start to listen to you.  You get to share your point of view, whether you agree or disagree with theirs.

Using meditation, listening, and empathy can help turn around those bad behaviors.  You can become a great communicator.  If someones verbal, non-verbal, and emotional communication do not agree, do not trust what they are saying.  When people are honest all their communication ways agree.  This is about retraining yourself after being affected by the narcissists and bullies.  You can only make yourself better.

Strong or Loud Emotion Friends

Everyone is different.  Everyone has a unique emotional signature.  On top of that everyone emits more or less emotion.  It's hard for empaths to be around strong or loud emotion people.  I will define these people and give a couple of suggestions on how to handle the situation.

So, what do I mean by strong or loud emotion?  Well, empaths like me pick up on people's emotions unconsciously.  Some people have a very strong signature.  I liken it to sound.  If you stand next to a person who speaks really loud, that's what its like.  The loudness distracts you.  The person may be a very nice and considerate person, but they are loud.  The same is true with emotion signatures.  Empaths can get distracted if someone with a strong or loud emotion is next to them.  I remember one time I was correcting a test when one of my students came up and stood close to me without me seeing them.  I immediately lost my train of thought due the the strong emotion signature this person emitted.  I ended up taking a couple of deep breaths to get in the right mind to deal with the situation.

Say your an empath and have reason to befriend a strong emotion person.  What do you do?  The emotion will distract and tire you out.  What you do is that you learn to let the emotion flow through you without you taking action on it or owning it.  I call this emotion flow.  This takes considerable practice.  You have to tell yourself that it's OK, and that it's not yours.  This helps relieve the desire to jump back or pull away.

The other thing to do is to practice quick meditation.  This also takes practice.  It's when you take a couple of timed breaths and you fall into a meditative state on the fly.  This is really practical and helps alleviate the need to react.  To practice this I recommend getting into a meditative state often during the day.  Taking timed breaths is a quick way to get to it.  I usually breath in for 4 seconds, then hold for 4 seconds, and breath out for 4 seconds.  If your out of practice, it may take you 10 to 20 breaths to get into a meditative state.  With practice you can get there in just 2.

Knowing what to look for in a strong or loud emotion person will help you take action with meditation and emotion flow.  These are good tools for everyday activities to go along with your routine of grounding or centering.  If your an empath and find that you are not handling it well, take breaks from people several times a day.  Work on getting grounded.  Remember that everyone is different.  So you may find you have to modify techniques you hear from me or others to suit your own situation and person.  Life is more fun when you can enjoy your surroundings.

Letting Go

There are an innumerable amount of incidents that occur just because someone is unwilling to let go.  Spouses argue and fight, parents and children clash, even professionals fight with the bosses or piers when they have to give up control on something they've been working on for a while.  Empaths are not immune to this.  I had a recent episode and I learned a couple of things how to deal with it.  Though I still have to prove my techniques, I have uses two and things are going well so far.  I want to share with you what these techniques are and how they work together.

The first one is what I term returning intention.  In my case, I took responsibility for someone for the longest time and effectively mentored them.  Now they are doing well, but I still see mistakes and areas where they could do much better.  I became critical and it came out in the form of a spat.  So what's happening is that my intention (or manifestation) on this person has been there for so long, I was still acting on it when it was unnecessary.  So I returned the intention to myself, effectively recalling it so it has no more action.  After doing this I instantly felt better about the matter.

The second technique was emotion flowing.  After having a spat with someone, you may feel insecure about being around them.  Since being around a friend should be a safe environment, emotion flowing should be appropriate.  This is where your near the person and let their emotions or energies flow through you without you grabbing hold of them.  Instead you just let them flow in and out of you.  This is a 'hands off' approach.  At the same time you get used to their emotions and energies and over time become comfortable with them. 

Returning intention and emotion flowing allows you to let go.  One relieves you of the responsibility, and the other helps mend and transform the relationship to something more positive.  At the same time the other person will feel more free around you.  Being empowered and having freedom are great gifts in life.

Practicing returning intention and emotion flowing help you to let go of you matured proteges.  Richard Bach wrote "If you love someone, set them free.  If they come back they're yours;  if they don't they never were."  Letting go is one of the great lessons in life.  The more willing we are to let go, the less arguments and incidents we will have.

Instilled Behavior

For the longest time, about 40 years, I behaved in a certain way that promoted the slavery of myself.  The behavior was such that a narcissist could easily recognize and enlist me into their servitude.  I believe natural empaths are susceptible to being molded into involuntary personal servitude.

My past is full of narcissists who wanted to control me.  I had a boss that who found he could depend on me.  I ended up saying yes a lot to his manipulation of the work schedule.  Later I came to find out that he lost his job on some pretty serious charges.  I had a supervisor that wanted to stay in contact as a friend, but I did not feel the same way.  I refused and he was pretty upset which came out as anger.  I had a co-worker who wanted to know where I 'fit in' in the social structure of the workplace.  He had a group of workers who were 'his buddies'.  They would look after each other and despise the rest.  By then I recognized this as a control structure.  So I declined being part of his group.  Actually, looking back on it, that was pretty good for a narcissist to be upfront like that.

This behavior stifled my ambitions.  Though I had the ambition of being management, I could not realize it.  Things would go wrong immediately once I was put in 'charge' of something at work or otherwise.  So I thought of myself as a good supporter of a manager instead.  Now, I'm starting to change in my mind.  In the last 3 years I've taken hold of my empathic nature and shored it up with techniques.  I suppose my mind is becoming free.

Where did this behavior all start for me?  I remember feeling the oppression from men when I was a child in early '70s.  In the absence of their wives, they would enjoy themselves too much.  They would drink, smoke and be in really nice lounges.  I know now that that was the business world back then.  Back then wife beating was not thought of as a crime.  Wives were treated as servants rather than partners.  I abhorred that behavior and chose the servitude behavior instead of the oppressor.  I suppose that makes sense since I was just a child and did not see any different example.

Well, I hope that you, the empath reader, have not suffered the virtual bondage I have at the hands of narcissists.  Dealing with them is important, but more important is knowing yourself.  It's about strategy and how to navigate in this insensitive social and business world.  For non-empaths, I hope you can come to understand how behavior affects empaths and that their helpful nature is not an invitation to control them.

Emotion Literacy

In this analytically society based on reason and science, there are oasis of emotional communication.  Some are bars, sports events, clubs, religious get-togethers, game night, or a dinner party.  At these we let our hair down and say what's on our minds with little consideration of the consequences.  We communicate our fears, concerns, hopes, and dreams.  It seems we need an excuse to communicate emotionally.  What if society communicated emotionally on a daily basis?  What if our fears, concerns, hopes, and dreams could be related every day to our friends, co-workers, and love ones?  Sounds scary?  Well, it could be at first, but I believe it could revolutionize our society.  Opening up communications about our concerns can be very therapeutic.  It can also give new ideas to businesses, shore up risks, and foster synergic efforts.  In order to do this people need to be educated on Emotion Literacy.  Emotion Literacy is all about reading people and their emotional state, interacting withe them using empathy, and build solutions and conclusions out of the conversation.

 How do you read people?  For Empaths it comes naturally to read and listen to people's emotions.  For non-Empaths it may take more of an effort, but it can be done.  The key to reading people is first to shut up and second to consider the other person.  To all my fellow talkers and extroverts, I say with all the love and humility in the world, "SHUT UP!"  When you have someone in front of you, you need to be quiet and listen before speaking.  Knowing when to speak, is a key skill to be heard effectively.  To the introverts I ask to withhold judgment until you get the full message.  Often times people need to vent about something that is causing them stress in their lives.  Listening to them eases that stress.  When you listen to someone remember to take in the whole person, that is not only their words but tone as well, their body language, and their facial expressions.  Empaths also take in the person's emotion since they can feel what the person feels as the conversation progresses.  You may ask yourself what is this person actually saying, and how do I summarize what their message is?  These are key questions to answer as your listening.

How does one interact with Empathy?  This Empathy is 'walking in their shoes'.  This means to imagine going through what they are saying they went through.  How did they feel?  What were the circumstances?  What was the outcome?  What could have been done better?  I think this is also as skill Empaths need to learn.  Empaths naturally will listen and not do much else.  They will feel emotion of the person and thus have a deeper experience in listening, but they tend not to think about how things could have been better.  Yes, this skill normal people call Empathy requires analysis.  You have to use the analytical brain to interpret what is going on and what could be done.  The outcome of using Empathy puts you side by side with the person as a friend, confidant, and guide.  That means there is an amount of responsibility on your part.  The other person most always appreciates any Empathy they can get even if they don't say so.

How do you build solutions and conclusions?  This skill is an active one.  You listen and you submit ideas and opinions.  You also acknowledge all the points of the other person.  You make known the points you agree with.  All the while you keep using both reading and empathy skills.  Where you end up in the conversation may surprise you and the other person as well.  What your doing is building.  You are building up the person and yourself at the same time.

The Emotion Literacy I'm defining here is made up of reading people, using empathy, and actively building.  I just looked up Emotion Literacy and got a wiki page. I believe that what I wrote here is in concert with the definition of that wiki page.  The difference is that I'm giving practical advice to use in an interpersonal communication setting, that is talking to someone one on one.  Like any interpersonal communication skill, using the advice here takes practice.  I believe you would see how effective this is.  I use this on a daily basis with people I meet, and the rewards are many.

Interpersonal For A Better World....

Remember the saying 'Can't we all just get along?'  It used to be a popular saying in the '80s.  Ok, why can't we?  I have one idea, that people are in their own worlds and are disconnected emotionally from everyone else, or at least from people around them everyday.  Social internet was supposed to connect people, and it does but mostly in a superficial way.  It's that way not because of the internet, but because of the habits people have developed in communicating.  The worst habit of all is not listening.  Listening is fundamental to empathy.  Listening requires being quiet and contemplating what the other person's position or argument is.  It requires some halt to self, and some pause on our impulse to comment.  Now, most people think that listening involves ears.  Well, it does, but not just ears, it also involves eyes, nose, touch, the brain, and even emotion.  Yes, emotion.  How does one listen to someone's emotion and what does it have to do with people getting along?

Let's tackle the first part of the question.  Have you ever had a nagging feeling that someone was watching you, and then you looked and someone was staring at you?  Well, you've picked up on their emotion.  People transmit brain waves all the time.  It's not a hard stretch to realize a brain can receive brain waves from another brain as well as transmit them.  So when your conversing with another person realize that the feelings you feel are not only yours but theirs as well.  This becomes clear when you pause your thinking brain and just listen.  The process of transmitting and receiving emotion is an on-going one.  People have emotions, and they transmit them, and it just takes a listening brain to start to interpret them.  The biggest hindrance to interpreting emotion is unbelief.  Unbelief stems from selfishness.  That is being concerned mainly about ourselves.  Putting that part of ourselves on hold is key.  Once that is done, we are ready to get those brain waves to help us experience what the other person is experiencing.  This is not mind-reading as depicted in movies.  These emotions are on the current emotions we all experience.

What would the world be like if we really listened to each other's emotions?  Listening involves all inputs including listening to emotion.  What we are talking about is interpersonal communication.  Listening to emotion is different than hearing what a person says, than a person's facial expressions, than picking up on subtle odors, or even than feeling them tremble.  Listening to their emotion lets us have a sense of experience to what their talking about.  It's like the difference from reading a good story to seeing the story as a movie, or seeing the story as a movie and playing the story as an immersed 3D computer game.  We're there.  This will innately help us understand the other person.  This is true empathy.  I believe that the act of listening to one another's emotions fosters reason rather than competition, intelligent argument rather than heightened emotions, and a spirit of working together rather than working against each other.  Being heard and understood is a basic human social need.  When that need is met we feel we are part of a community, and when that need is not met we feel we don't belong.  Listening has the power to create community.

By listening to one anther and listening to each other's emotions is key to fostering community.  So to answer the question 'Can't we just get along,' we can if we listen.

The Importance of Independence

When you think of independence, you may think of having a job, maybe a family, and having hobbies at your discretion.   Throughout history humans have had dominion over other humans.  This brings thoughts of the conqueror and the conquered.  Believe it or not many people still think in these terms where it comes to personal relationships.  These tend to be sociopaths, but it could also be a cultural attitude in some places in the world.  To the empath this is a killer.  The empath is likely to be the one who is conquered and owned by someone.  A slave to serve the master.  I am not talking specifically about race, though in modern times that is also a factor.  The enlightened individual understands that people are equal and adapt their behavior to reflect it.  The empath can easily get into a trap of ownership by the sociopath if they are not careful.  It doesn't matter if the empath is male or female.  It doesn't matter if the sociopath is male or female, the result is the same.  I would like what I mean when I refer to sociopaths.  There is a list of sociopath characteristics on answer.com.  For the purpose of this essay, anyone who displays sociopath like behavior is considered a sociopath.  Sometimes these are learned and not part of the person's real makeup.  In order to counter the sociopath's trap, the empath would do good securing his/her independence.  You can secure your independence by owning your time, avoid sociopaths, and/or using persuasion to control sociopaths.

Time is an important and necessary evil.  We are riding on this river of time down to the future.  Our personal time has to be just that, personal.  Keeping a schedule is important.  That is, having a time to sleep, to wake up, to go to work, to get off work, etc.  Sociopaths will try to veer you off your schedule.  Don't let them do it.  One of the ways to value yourself is to value the schedule you set up for yourself. You must take care of yourself before you can take care of others.

If you can avoid working directly for a sociopath.  Having at least one supervisor level between you and the sociopath boss is a good idea.  If there someone who is handling the sociopath, that is even better.  In extreme cases, you might want to find another job.  Working for people who appreciate your work is the best environment.  A sociopath will not appreciate anything that is outside his goals and ambitions.

If you have to be with a sociopath, you can persuade them with your ideas by stating how your  idea or thought will stroke their ego.  Sociopaths hate to look bad.  When they become groveling messes and seemingly vulnerable, don't believe it.  They only want to feed on your empathy.  Keeping emotional distance and disconnection is important.  Heed your intuition, it will tell you when your being manipulated.

Well, keeping your schedule, avoiding direct contact with sociopaths, and learning how to handle them are just a few ways you can keep your independence.  All too often in my life I've been subject to a sociopaths ownership of me.  Every time I had to break away after realizing what was happening.  I have even been direct at times with them saying I was not theirs.  Surprisingly that works.  There are sociopaths who truly mean you no harm, and there are the predators and dangerous ones.  If you suspect foul play, don't hesitate to bring out the big guns and get authorities involved.  The sooner you get away or deal with a sociopath the better for all.

Living with Migraine

I am a migraineur.  That is I live with migraines.  How is living with migraines different than with any other headaches or different from anyone else?  I will spell out what it means to live with migraines.

First of all what is a migraine?  A migraine is a headache, but no ordinary headache.  It is also a medical condition and a diagnosis.  They affect their hosts periodically and may be triggered by certain things or situations.  There are many types of migraines and they vary from person to person.  If you think you are suffering from migraines, go see your doctor.  The sooner a person is diagnose with a migraine the sooner an appropriate treatment can be formulated.

Medically speaking, migraines seem to act like a disease.  Many migraines have injury associated with them.  My doctor explained to me that the brain swells and hits the walls of the skull.  This causes some type of migraines.  By hitting the wall of the skull, my head becomes very sensitive and it feels pressure.  This causes a few things to happen to me.  The first big symptom is excruciating pain.  Other symptoms include, bodily weakness, slow thinking, not standing too much light, not standing loud sound, seeing an aura in my eyes, getting tired quickly.  My migraines come and go periodically, I often have a big one once a month.  One of the major triggers for them is stress in my case.  Other people can have different triggers.

Migraines are a disability in that they can cause disabling symptoms.  Without treatment I cannot function for four days when a migraine hits.  For other people, their migraines last different amount of time than mine.  Sometimes I take a sick day in order to rest the migraine out. 

Migraines have a lifestyle associate with them.  I cannot stand anyone touching my head, whether I'm having a migraine or not.  I cannot go to loud concerts, it's too much to bear.  I have to take pills every day.  The older I get the worse the migraines become.  I have to choose carefully what classes I take in college.  I cannot take too stressful of a class.  I have to guard myself from getting into arguments, because the stress from an argument triggers migraines.  Sometimes I have to wear sun glasses even indoors.  Many times I prefer to get away from people to calm down.  There seems to be no cure, just treatment to alleviate the symptoms.

I spoke of migraines as a disease/injury, as a disability, and as a lifestyle.  I also defined what a migraine is.  I am not a doctor, I'm a migraineur.  I wrote this so others can understand a little and be a little more supportive when they find someone who says they have a migraine.  Please don't be incredulous.  Migraines and migraineurs exist.

Fear Barrier

Have you ever get a thought or premonition and sometimes it proves to be true and other times it proves to be the exact opposite?  There is a conflict going on.  The analytical mind is putting up a fear barrier.  In order to get to a state of meditation, you have to go through the fear barrier.

The analytical mind doesn't want to loose control.  When it has had control for a while it will put up a fear barrier to prevent you from giving up its control in favor of a meditative state.  When you are in a meditative state you experience no fear of your own.  In a way you seem to become emotionless, but you remain in control.  To get to the meditative state you must push through the fear barrier with some intent.

When a thought or a premonition comes to me, I have to ask myself if this is fear or something I'm picking up.  If it's fear, I have to get into a meditative state and then check out what is really going on.  Often its the opposite of what fear says it is.  It takes a little more effort to break through the fear. I can see things clearly once I'm in a meditative state. I can also evaluate my surroundings and even my analytical mind.

What is the fear barrier and what does it cause?  It is made up of fears the analytical brain has in the present.  When the mind is stressed or preoccupied, the fear is created.  The fear barrier causes unnecessary conflicts.  It also causes uneasiness and more stress.

Breaking through the fear barrier is key to getting control of yourself and stop yourself fro spiraling out of control.  After you get into a meditative state then you can treat the fear by telling yourself that it's OK.  Fear is a flight or fight reaction.  Often our brains are stressed when we are not in physical danger.  So getting control over the stressed analytical brain is key to keeping your cool while operating in everyday society.

Why Look Forward to 2012

While some people are predicting doom and gloom for the new year, I rather look to the rarer traits, the good ones.  2011 is ending and will soon be a distant memory.  I hear sighs of relief from some.  What in the world could we look forward to in the upcoming year?

In my post "2011 and other years....." I predicted 'moderate' growth in the economy in the US.  Well I may have been over optimistic using that word.  I seemed to have been barely any growth.  2011 prove to be a year of contraries.  There was growth for some sectors and there was some downturns for others.  This resulted in barely any growth at all.  There was activity.  And it was the activity in the markets I sensed.  Activity will grow in this coming year.  Hopefully the activity will translate in some significant growth in the markets.  The potential is there.  New companies have emerged.  Older corporations have emerged from bankruptcy reorganizations.  So I'm looking forward to increased activity in the financial sector.

Fledgling democracies in North Africa and other parts have an uphill climb in 2012.  Factions will conflict.  Societies mettle will be tested.  I hope these countries will stand up to the challenge.  The challenge is to put down all weapons and pick up the pen and computers and start the democratic process.  They should stay in the democratic frey for years to come.  Strong emotions are at work here.  Unifying the different factions under issues will be the key to success.  I wish them good luck.

Geo-economics seem to have their work cut out for them.  Individual countries in Europe need to continue to stabilize themselves.  Africa has great potential to create new business in 2012.  Some African countries have been profitable in the last year.  Peace and the fight against violence should help increase the economy.  Russia seems murky.  They need to deal with their problems before they can have an increased influence on the world, economically speaking.  China on the other hand has said it will use its money to invest and create a positive force in the world.  I don't doubt the Chinese's sincerity.  Business people in China really want to succeed in a peaceful world.

On the geo-political side of things, I've been disturbed by reports of activity between China and the West.  I fear war mongering is in the air.  It would be a hard time to have another large war like World War II.  China is setup now with lots of money.  This can only mean that their military will be trying to get to that money and make new things, have a bigger army, and have a warlike attitude to the rest of the world.  This is of a great concern.  I hope we do not have a war.  I would argue that a war with China would hinder the economic advances China has made and will also jeopardize the economic future of the world.  Russia is still murky on the geo-politics.  They now have internal protesting to the election.  I predict hard times for Russia, and a hard struggle.  North Korea is something people are concerned with.  I have to say I don't see much concern.  I do see some reform from the new leader.  I also see pretty much that North Korea will go in the same direction as it has before, isolation.  The North Korean people are suffering, and I don't see a change in that.  Iran is also a concern.  I don't see anything new for them in 2012 though.  International dialogues with Iran will continue as they have been.  I think Iran will stall for time.

In space, India has been progressing by launching its own satellites increasingly.  NASA is in an internal battle over two factions, the cost-plus model and the new commercial services model to launch from Earth.  Congress also has a hard time to wrap their brains around the new model.  I do see the the commercial companies will make new strides in 2012 even with government stalls.  Other space programs will continue but with revenue fights.  Money seems to be sparse for space these days.

I will say that in 2012, the world will....continue as it always has.  I don't see the end of the world in 2012.  I choose to look at it as a renewed era of potential and advances.  We just came out of an era of stalls, and declines.  Rebuilding the world is the name of the game now.

Well, that's it.  I do look forward to the positive things in 2012.  Be careful out there, its still a jungle.  Have a good year.

Self Worth

The other day, I heard that there is a different type of success that is not monetary.  Apparently the internet has spawned many people's ambition in making videos, writing, commenting, networking, etc.  So the younger generations are growing up with this stuff and it may cause them to measure their self worth by what they contribute rather than how much money they make.  I would like to explore this self worth a bit.

Long ago in the 1800's  there was a man who had no money but claimed to be Emperor.  Emperor of what you may ask?  Why Emperor of the country where he lived, the United States.  His name was Joshua Abraham Norton.  Ok, you may be grinning at this absurd information, but hear me out.  Norton was a business man who lost it all and became mentally unbalanced, and called himself Emperor of the United States.  Now this man may have well be a bar fly or a colorful character in San Francisco if it wasn't for his decrees and his money.  He issued both.  Who knows why, but his monetary notes were honored in San Francisco.  One of his decrees was that there should be a bridge and a tunnel that would enable travelers to travel across the San Francisco bay.  Both exist today.  Norton found self worth.  He had to give up money to be his self worth, and instead made himself important to himself and to his community.  This is the type of self worth we are seeing growing in the internet today.  Hopefully nobody will declare themselves Emperor of anything.

What do we have in the internet to make people contribute?  There's youtube, twitter, facebook, google+, and many other sites that are social in nature.  I write, so I use Scribd.com to let people read my work.  I don't expect to make money off of it.  I just like people reading my work.  I also write this blog.  It's fun, and it helps me hone a skill that helps me professionally.  I also get a thrill that people read my blog.  Its the stats that I look at.  I find self worth in writing and contributing to people's lives.

If this alternate self worth perpetuates and continues to grow, what could the future look like?  Perhaps we will have a utopian society like that in Star Trek as envisioned by Gene Roddenberry.  I can see a society where your contribution to society is not compensated in money but in food, shelter, and transportation.  Where the average person does not need money to survive.  If everyone contributes to their employment, and that effort is coordinated, why would anyone need to rely on money to live?  It's hard to imagine.  It's hard to conceive of it, but John Lennon sang of it in Imagine.  Some say that this is communism, but I beg the differ.  Russian, Chinese, and Cuban communism were not like this.  Marx wrote of a utopia society, but he also wrote how that would come about in his mind.  That was the communist manifesto.  I think the utopian society is not inherently Marxist, even though Marx wort about it.  No, I think it's an innate idea in all of us.  I believe it to be also written of in the book of Revelation.  If what were seeing now as a change in self worth and were headed to a utopian society, then Marx was wrong in how we got there.  Today we see things that are small ecosystems of a utopian society.  These things include, insurance, food stamps, Social Security, Veterans Administration, Charity organizations,  employee benefits, etc.  You may not like the idea of a utopian society, but I think if employees were given their food, housing, and travel, then we wouldn't have a housing market collapse.

Self worth in the form of contribution is on the rise.  It may not be a bad thing and it may lead to a better future for all.  That is for all except the money grubbers.

Religious Freedom

There is a movement out there in the US that is trying to establish Christianity as the only religion of the Federal Government.  They cite publications of the founding fathers that indicate that they were Christian.  They therefore say that the principles the US is based on should be openly acknowledged as Christian and from the Bible.  I disagree.  The world of the founding fathers were replete with various of flavors of infighting Christianity, the principles that the US is founded on are not solely Christian, and the US uphold more principles than its founding.

The world of the founding fathers had various religions.  Any religion of significance at that time was Christian.  The pilgrims fled religious persecution from the Anglicans of England, which was and still is the state religion of England.  Many what we consider Christian factions were regarded then as different religions.  They did not agree in many ideas.  In such an environment was the letter drafted by Thomas Jefferson in 1802 that established the concept of the separation of church and state.  Today we have man more religions in the US.  We have Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Wicca, Paganism, and Atheism to name a few non-christian based religions.  We also have more christian based religions to include Mormonism, Rastafarianism, Jehova Witnessism, and Fundamentalism.  So in the continual growth of the US we have broadened the definition of religion to include all faiths.  As such the separation between state and all religions should be upheld.  Now you may say that the state is not to infringe on religion, but religion is to infringe on state.  I also disagree.  The separation between church and state must be both ways in order for it to be practical.  Only the religious influence on the elected officials are the only way religion is allowed to influence the state.  Thus the principle of "For the People and by the People" is upheld.

The principles that the US are founded on are found in the Bible, but not only in the Bible.  Among the basic principles are life, liberty and happiness.  All the major religions embrace life, if they didn't they wouldn't be major religions.  Who would follow such a religion?  Liberty is a basic human need and throughout history people have sought it.  Its often that freedom is the main drive to start a religion.  Judaism started with Moses taking the Jewish people away from slavery.  Happiness is also a basic human need.  Part of happiness is the need to prosper.  I can't think of any major religion that counters the need to prosper.  For the US to make a statement of some kind that they principles the US is founded on purely Christian religion would be fraudulent.  These principles are not exclusively Christian.  They are innate human principles.  You may say that they are Christian principles in the Bible.  While this may be true it doesn't make it appropriate for the US to make or assert religious based principles.  The US must keep the separation of church and state.

The US has founding principles but has many other principles that were adopted over time in the pursuit of freedom.  Woman's rights, making slavery illegal, racial integration, are examples of these principles not found in the Bible.  For the US to uphold only its founding principles would be denying the history and the precedence of our ancestors.  If the US were to make a statement of some kind that says that it's founding principles are only Christian, then it would be denying the principles it has taken on over time by implication.  You may disagree, but the US is more than just it's founding.

I have argued that founding fathers had a different religious landscape than today, that the founding principles of the US are not solely Christian, and that the founding principles are not the only principles that make up the US. The idea that the US needs to make a statement of any kind indicating favor to one religion over the rest is unnecessary and could spur infighting among the religions.  This is not good for the US in any way.  I thoroughly disagree with the idea that the US is based solely on Christian principles and needs to state so.  The principles of the US are constantly in flux as time goes on, this is the democratic way.