Day 1: Mind-Centered Living & Disability

10 Days Of Upheaval & Fulfillment

“I”m scared!”
“Of what?”
“I don't know, that's what's so scary!”*

A lot that has to do with scariness in life comes from the mind that tries to know it all, do it all and be in charge of everything. This is impossible for the mind to accomplish on its own. As a result, when a person is mind-centered, what the mind can't know, can't do and can't control, the mind fears because the mind has more faith in itself than anything else. Existence is limited to what the mind can handle.

If living was supposed to be a mind dominated experience, we would be one big mind of intelligence, reason and logic. The body would adapt to be smaller and less significant than it is today. It would become an appendage merely to carry around the mind/brain/head. All of the capabilities of the body would be diminished. Only those that help supply information and physical nutrients to the brain would be needed. Sensory input would be solely for the mind's benefit. Even now, the brain consumes more than its share. The brain is only 2% of body mass but uses 20% of the body's oxygen and energy. If the mind was supposed to function as a control freak dictator, it would definitely use a whole lot more.

On its own, the mind is a circular lock of logic. Despite its recent rise to dominance in our lives, logic that supersedes all else, is an inhibitor that locks down the mind and thus shuts down growth. Superficial is the mind without its spirit being lead counsel. Mind-centered living is superficial living.

The mind-centered have a self-concept we are mostly logical, thinking intellectual beings. We believe we are the sum of our human-taught information. Thinking is rigid. In order for a new idea to get in, it must cut through frozen locks of logic. To mind-centered people, this feels like our entire being is under attack from an idea. It feels like our safe cognitive shell is being cracked. This is why we defend our thinking to the death because we believe we must in order to save our lives. We live in fear. Today and the here now are the only things that matter. There is no learning from the past, thus only feigned concern for the future. We have no concept of our far greater spiritual aspect. All that exists is ill logic. This is mental illness masquerading as the superiority of a species. This is scary.

To keep from coming to this realization and scaring ourselves, we mind-centered folks have a preventive measure - a trump card that's sorta like a shield and a weapon. Research and experts are used bravado-style to shout down the sensibilities of the intuitive self. This is confirmation bias.

Unknown to the mind, winning these battles increases susceptibility to gullibility. This makes thinking for oneself a major illusion of mind-centered living. We trick ourselves. Since this mindset makes us think we are already in control and thinking for ourselves, then investigation, analysis, examination and critical thinking regarding “what is what” seems redundant, without benefit and unnecessary. When we take a mind-centered approach, we disable ability.

---

Related: Meet the Spirit of Goodwill band — a unique assembly of singers and musicians who live with varying degrees of physical and mental disability and a fierce drive to improve.

(Note: Just in America alone, there are 54 million (17%) people with disabilities and 1 billion in the world 14% or 1 in 7 and many more unaccounted for).

*Opening conversation is between Me, Myself and I.

Reliability Of Political/Opinion Polls

Before I place faith in a political or opinion poll, here are some of the things I should verify:

1. The administrator has used objective standards.
2. A small sample group can be used to make inferences for everyone.
3. The sample is representative of the population it is attempting to estimate.
4. The sample reflects all significant factors that affect responses.
5. Subjective answers from a small group can be extended to the large group.

At a minimum, these five conditions must be met before relying on poll results. I must also ask additional questions.

How accurate would it be to sample half the students in a school and then say this is what everyone wants to eat? Not even with sampling 50% of the population would I be right. Percentage-wise, political and opinion polls take an extremely small sample and then claim to be accurate. Samples might work when estimating fish in a pond, but not when estimating personal choices and preferences which depend on a different set of factors for each person. It is more scientific when the population is likely to behave the same as the sample. This same behavior will only occur when the sample and the population reliably use the same set of criteria to guide behavior.

Undoubtedly, nature is guided by instincts; therefore, all members of a population will exhibit a similar set of behaviors. This makes sampling reliable. Humans use individual choices based on many variables. This makes sampling/polls unreliable when asking humans subjective questions.

Why haven't I been polled on anything in 50 years? Does this mean there are others who have been able to accurately speak for me?

If I am polled, will my answer be an indicator of how hundreds of thousands of people will respond? Even two people who call themselves soulmates respond differently to the same question. Trust a poll on matters of personal preference? Come on now! The game show, Family Feud, is a good example of how often an individual response doesn't match a sample group.

If I had been polled, I'd probably respond off the top of my head instead of first making sure I arrived at my answer independently. I wouldn't be thinking how important my answer might be to others. I would respond quickly which rarely involves careful consideration. I would say what I could quickly recall. I would likely recall what I had heard and read frequently, accurate or not.

If I had been polled, I would probably change my response at least half the time after further consideration.

Political and Opinion polls are also problematic in that they are never an indication of which direction people will head when the time comes or where they will finally take root. To be swayed by a poll is to navigate by dandelion seed.

Truth is, many polls are not taken to help the public but to help spinmeisters gauge the effect of their spinning. They are checking “whether signs,” to see if the hype has us sufficiently off balance. Going along with polls is thinking by substitute thought. It's like using an unreliable replacement head.

Related: Financial Information Sources, Gaming The Economy & Our Education

G-8/G-20, Groupthink, Morality Crisis

The G-8 and G-20 consider themselves the preeminent group of thinkers for the world when in fact they preempt thought for groupthink. Despite years of low interest rates, monetary easings, Quantitative Easings, Operation Twists, Stimulus Packages, too big bailouts and laws containing more handouts of taxpayer money, banks have not relented on foreclosures, businesses have not hired and banks have not extended credit. The G-8/G-20 believe doing more of the same will cause things to change. Who are these people?

The Group of 8 (G-8) is France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, United States, Canada and Russia. The European Union is represented which makes nine.

The Group of Twenty (G-20) is the G-8 and Australia, Saudi Arabia, China, Brazil, India, Indonesia, South Africa, Turkey, Argentina, Mexico and South Korea. (Alkebu-lan "Africa," the most resource rich continent, from which many countries steal is largely unincluded.)

Most of G-8 have been meeting for almost 40 years and there are a growing number of crises facing the majority of both group's populations. In no particular order, here are a few:

1. Financial
2. White collar crime
3. Governmental crime
4. Wars against certain citizens (loosely, discriminations/injustices)
5. Knowledge
6. Pollution
7. Food, including water
8. Weapons to defend corruption
9. Loss of biodiversity/extinction
10. Loss of biodiversity of human contribution
11. Over-consumption, including natural resources
12. Basic physical needs unmet
13. Damage to natural systems, (79,000 damns in America)
14. Disease increase
15. Over taxation
16. Legal larceny
17. Social program failure, medical care, social security, pensions, education
18. Societies dependent upon citizens behaving as servants of public servants

Though, the G-8 has been working on several of these issues for years, the average citizen is still subject to the upheaval of broken systems held together by notions that can't withstand scrutiny. Our great planners of common era national and global prosperity have flawed strategies. We are way behind in the fourth quarter. There are no more timeouts for further research, study and discussion. Citizens must stop misbehaving as choreographed spectators doing the patriotic wave while the GT-8/GT-20 govern glibly by enabling exceptions rather than enacting and enforcing rules that stabilize and ensure balance.

Most of these countries have never been fiscally responsible and will never put all the people's interest first. 99% of us in these countries have been left to fend for ourselves during the recent incarnation of financial turmoil and deservedly so because we continue to make decisions using the same flawed processes.

Unless we want more of the same, we'd better stop avoiding thinking. Only then will we be able to rediscover the common ground of higher ground. This will never be found at summits where less than a hundred people set policy for 7 billion, of which at least 2 billion have no representation and 4.9 billion are underrepresented.

All the crises we face are crises of morality/spirituality. If we sensed better, we'd long for civilizations 10,000 years old upon whose broad advances Kemet/Nubia/Egypt owe their greatness. It's time to demand all levels of government put away the erector sets, play dough and make-believe schemes and return to simpler holistic models where spirituality (church), governance (state), health, science, education and daily practices are symbiotic. Societies where the best of everyone is put to betterment's use. This will only happen by learning and voting for those people whose thinking is to help as many people as possible.

To stimulate the economy, money must be placed in the hands of small businesses and in the hands of individuals via reduced taxes and fees. Do not give money to banks and large corporations. Government must get out of the way of the little guys and in the way of the big guys.

The G-8/G-20 solve what they want to solve and help who they want to help. Whether it's the Group of Eight or Group of Twenty they don't hesitate to ensure groupthink aplenty!

BTW: Don't forget other groupthink tanks such as the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, World Trade Organization, World Health Organization NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) and The Bilderberg Group.

G-20/G-20 Summit Motto

We, the groupthink tank
Raise our dranks
To central banks with checks blank
Close ranks against being frank
Preserve power before solution's rank

Unemployment & Inflation

The ugliest American scandal of all is that the have-nots do not have a handle on what's really going on.

Part of personal growth is improving our understanding of things that affect us. With a better understanding we can reshape these beliefs and finally escape the associated fears. We've already fallen for shenanigans such as “weapons of mass destruction” and “too big to fail.” This time around we don't have to be fooled or frightened by how high the unemployment rate is or by the mention of inflation. Let's explore what those two things really mean.

Inflation starts occurring when the cost of things rise over time. What causes prices to increase? More money in our pockets does. The more money individuals/consumers have, the more things they demand. When demand exceeds supply, prices increase.

Unemployment reduces the disposable income of a population of individuals which reduces demand which in turn reduces inflation. In high unemployment economies, those who are employed, since they are now grateful to have a job, settle for less disposable income by agreeing to wage and benefit concessions and by not asking for raises while the costs of things around them continue to rise. More people spend less.

Not only does high consumer spending add to inflation but also high spending by the government. The government is already spending money on at least two wars and has been for years, now add to that stimulus spending upon stimulus spending upon stimulus spending.

Where did this stimulus money come from? They simply printed it as always. This adds to inflation. But inflation hasn't gotten worse as the government continues to spend more and more money for several reasons. Less spending by consumers due to unemployment, less spending by those who are employed due to uncertainty of how long their job will last and less spending by individuals and business because banks are not lending money.

The government helped reduce spending by individuals and businesses by allowing crucial economic areas such as banking and real estate to go unchecked, which caused the economy to become unstable and take several steps backwards. Adding to this was the continued behavior of Wall Street and insurers of financial products. Our government allowed enough unscrupulous behavior for businesses to fail in rapid, trickle down, domino succession then came to the rescue. This set the stage for rising unemployment and a nervous nation.

Let's jump to 2010. Government stimulus spending and war spending will remain in full force and effect which is why unemployment will remain high. Also, there will be fewer conflicting reports about the economic recovery. Once more individuals start believing what is already taking place, individual spending will increase and banks will lend more money. These two things will cause businesses to spend more. This is why unemployment must remain high. You can't have everyone doing better, at the same time everyone is believing, things are better. Why? Because they will spend more money which creates more demand for goods and services faster than they can be supplied which will increase prices and create inflation especially now since a lot of purchases have been delayed over the past two years.

The unemployed are the last ones to be reinvited to the party of consumption. In the meantime, the government appeases them with extension of benefits to keep them from becoming completely hopeless, desperate and dangerous which would create additional societal problems. At the same time, the government takes this opportunity to say we also need job creation measures and incentives so they can give businesses “too little to grow on their own” tax breaks, bailouts and handouts while most are left out. This is what happens to those “too asleep to suspect anything.” If we fail to understand what's really going we will always have to settle for a smidgen compared to the smörgåsbord others are invited to partake. On a related note, Congress has voted to not give seniors a cost of living increase in their social security but are considering giving them $250 next year. They must be “too old to need much.”

Finally, let's revisit the automatic, underlying thought we have when we hear the words, “high unemployment” or “rising unemployment.”

If we think those words mean there are no jobs, we are wrong. There are thousands upon thousands of advertised and open positions and more that are not. Jobs are not hard to find.

What's difficult is the lengthy hiring process that is antiquated, highly inefficient and filled with bottlenecks. Another reason unemployment remains high is many employers don't want to hire too quickly because they can temporarily get existing workers to pick up the slack while saving the cost of a new employee. The third part of the problem is employed people seeking jobs. It's their right but it slows down the timeframe for some unemployed people to become employed if the already employed person gets the job. This creates another open position and the process starts again. The last thing that makes the job outlook seem worse than it is, is that many job seekers are not willing to work anywhere doing anything for any pay which is their prerogative. It takes time for all these things to sort themselves out.

Now as the events in the economy continue to play out, we should be able to make better assessments since we know a little more about the script. We already knew who most of the players and actors were. It's up to us to decide if we want to continue to be used as extras or have a more significant role in the next episode of this delightful democratic drama.

Related Links:

Think Kuji! Think!

Quotes & Proverbs To Live By

Think Kuji! Think! | Kujichagulia & Kwanzaa

Kujichagulia is Kwanzaa's second principle. It means self-determination. In order to determine for self you have to think for self.

I think most of us were taught and teach our kids to not follow the crowd. “Even if you're the only one,” we tell them, yet this is exactly what we start doing the older we get. I guess thinking for yourself is only a temporary teenage thing to try out and take with a grain of salt. I guess not thinking for yourself is proper in the land of the free and home of the brave. Being self-determined in many respects is anti-everything.

This brings us to the dangerous notion of ”political correctness”-- an oxymoron, misnomer and dichotomy all in one. Political correctness keeps us from speaking plainly while masquerading as politeness. It effectively keeps us afraid to speak what we think and adhere to a code of conduct that appeases the majority and thus only benefits the majority.

Any publicly pervasive notion, we trust, instead of our intuition. It's time to stop believing our individual thoughts, ideas, opinions, actions, abilities, resources and power don't matter. If what we think doesn't matter then why is so much time spent trying to methodically control and program what we think? Why is so much effort given to blackening anything that sheds light on injustice or upholds basic truths and rights? It's time to hold these truths to be self-evident in our thoughts and prevalent in our lives.

Truth is, in order to get you to do anything, they must have your buy-in to keep you buying whatever the pusher man has. You must think there is greater benefit to you to give someone else's thinking priority over your thoughts. You must think there is greater safety and security in sitting down and shutting up rather than standing up and speaking out.

Everything you do takes place in your thoughts first. Your actions and behavior are just the automatic results of what you think. If you think like someone else, let it be because you came to the final decision independently, willingly and knowing the ramifications of your actions that will follow and not from feeling afraid, powerless or not knowing your impact in the Universe.

The sad part is this: We think we're thinking for ourselves when we're not living the way we want to. Once we learn to think for ourselves and give the status quo the heave-ho, 4 out of 5 dentists won't be able to tell us what gum to chew and no one will be able to keep us buying stuff instead of substance, equating quality with publicity or convince us not to vote or vote differently because our candidate can't win. Think Kuji! Think!

Be determined to be yourself because you are what you think whether they're your thoughts or not.

Technorati Tags:
Kujichagulia, Kwanzaa, politically correct, self-determined, think for yourself, thoughts and actions