When Complex Questions are Given Understandable Answers

“The whole purpose of religion is to facilitate love and compassion, patience, tolerance, humility, forgiveness.” ~ Dalai Lama

The Dalai Lama, referred to as “His Holiness” was leader of the Tibetan government until his exile in India in 1959.

I posted the above quote publicly on a predominantly Atheist group's message board. A woman who I am somewhat friendly with responded with, "Instead, religion facilitates hate, intolerance, and on oh so very rare occasions some forgiveness."

My response was as follows:


I fault our increasingly arrogant, impulsive, and childish species. 

Just like kids on a playground, as soon as anything is initiated that we don't like, we run out and start our own new game. The first requirement for membership is to hate the group we just left. It repeats and snowballs from there. Before we know it, we are fighting each other over who's playing the game right, or whose game is the best... Of course by now, we've long since forgotten that the game was meant to be enjoyed, indeed through our infinite, egotistical wisdom, we've lost sight of the primary purpose altogether. 

The most "religious" people I know, couldn't possibly believe in ANY God, based on the way they treat others. Funny ain't it? 

Taoism, for example, dates back to 4th century BC (just a couple minutes before Christianity came to be in the middle of the FIRST CENTURY...) Although its popularity is just now beginning to rise here in American culture. I hope that it will never fall prey to the mainstream American society, at the moment, all of the core principles remain in tact.

I respect the philosophies and the teachings, as they are not about worshiping anyone or anything, per se, however emphasizing the value of respect and gratitude, allowing a deep appreciation for all which exist in nature and recognizing that there is a cycle or a flow to life, not overlooking even the most raw and primitive examples we often take for granted every day.

I feel good about what I wrote.

Take the POWER Back, BREAK FREE, THINK FREELY

You and I couldn't possibly have anything in common today because: __________.
I'm black and you're white, I'm short and you're tall, I'm fat and you're thin, you went to Yale and I was in jail, I'm a Democrat and you're a Republican, you're Jewish and I'm Buddhist, you like cats and I like dogs, you prefer the city and I love the countryside.

As children, we are taught from a very young age to recognize and identify that which is "different" from ourselves. In some cases, this is where the hate seed is planted.


We all have a very human tendency to comprehend things in any number of different ways. Each one of us can hear the same story and interpret it differently, so consider the variety of factors, such as how the information is introduced or is explained to us, our level of understanding, how it is interpreted by us, and how we use the information, what if any will be incorporated into our lives.

What is the most powerful tool they have against us? 
The answer is us. 

With so many layers of fundamental differences, how could we actually ever see the root of our trouble is so simple?

This is precisely why there is such emphasis on our differences. Separation feeds ignorance and that will feed fear. This has gone on for generations and generations, and governments use it to cloud the fact that they are not the voice of the majority.

Unity builds strength to overcome and conquer.

Walk with me down the hallway of a very well known children's hospital, in one of these rooms to the right or left you may find your child desperately clinging to life while waiting for an organ transplant. For your entire life, you've been programmed to believe any combination of hateful things about a specific group of people living among us. Are you going to stop the very surgery which could save your child's life just to make sure that the organ she was matched with didn't come from one of your sworn "enemies"? Of course, you wouldn't. 

Can you now see that whether you see things biologically, fundamentally, emotionally, socially, or psychologically...  At our very core, we are all the same. We all have the instinct to bond with and be nursed by our mothers. We all long for companionship, learning, fun, love, sex, excitement, etc. We all require food, water, sunlight, sleep, and shelter to survive. We all have the same internal organs.

Perhaps before we take on marketing for "everyone on earth", we are best to start at the rudimentary. Shut off the TV and try to keep it simple by looking in the mirror with an honest focus. See ways we can break the cycle of negativity starting with things that we actually can control, ourselves. Maybe come up with a list of positives in our lives... 

What are we grateful for? What makes us smile?

Then take those answers and share them with another person that we may not appear to have anything in common with. Look at a stranger and find a positive about them, and pay them a compliment. Not to receive one back, but to know we dropped a hit of positive energy in their day whether they asked for it or not. Make a game of it, but be genuine in our words toward each other, even if we do this just once a day, it will change our whole world for the better. Providing our world with the counterbalance is imperative. It won't be long before we find out just how much the little things DO matter! 

We would probably benefit greatly by putting down the gadgets and "reality TV" and other tripe we've lowered our standards to be subjected to. This would provide us with a real-world ability to increase our awareness of real events happening in our world. People still do nice things, animals still save lives, kids can still be kind to each other, sunny days come after the storm which was needed as a way to cleanse the land, at times people recover from cancer and other diseases, accidents can often be prevented, tragedy narrowly averted, marriages can sometimes be saved, communities unite in times of disaster, even criminals are sometimes rehabilitated and choose to devote their lives to helping others. 

Test yourselves. Try to take a day, or even a week off... from TV and the so-called "news" that is being fed to us by the negatively biased media outlets. If we actually LIVE a little rather than EXIST allowing life to be force-fed to us from some man-made digital God, we might stop actively seeking the BAD in every culture, person, place, idea, opinion, or situation, and maybe even allow our minds to let in a few rays of GOOD again. 

If you ever wonder why small children are so full of love,

it's because they haven't been PROGRAMMED by news reports, in fact, when the news is on, they find something else to explore and enjoy... Perhaps it's an instinct or an allergy to bullshit!

We CAN all be happier, more content, and more motivated to make the NEXT positive change in our lives if we would just open our eyes a little wider, expand our focus, get off our ASSES, and use our brain the way it was designed... To think FREELY and to LEARN. 

WE STILL RESERVE THE RIGHT TO DECIDE HOW MUCH SHIT WE ARE WILLING TO TAKE!

Fanatics and Tyrants, Terrorists and Citizens

The conspiracy theorists and their internet talk radio shows are the real terrorist groups in this country, spouting off about a tyrannical government and selling their rhetoric and propaganda to weak minded people with less than ideal emotional stability. Telling them to buy assault rifles and prepare for government tyranny. Keeping them all on high alert after an election, giving them more reason to hate the current president, and telling them the media isn't reporting the truth about another school massacre, that the "killer" was merely a patsy and that the government is coming to your door next week, to take away your guns!"

Responsible gun owners, do not stockpile assault rifles in their homes, preparing for the "tyrannical government" to come try to take their guns. Responsible gun owners are the people who own a hunting rifle, even a pistol. Whether for sport or protection, they are not INVITING a firefight for any "government agency" who wishes to take their guns away. Fanatical crazy people are buying assault rifles and collecting them just LOOKING for a reason to use them. The government has every right to want to remove these automatic weapons from the hands of unstable individuals, however... for every legally obtained gun in this country, I am willing to bet there are several black market firearms. The real threat is not the people who allow the "government" to know they have guns in the house. Aside from the few idiots who are dumb enough to let them know they have multiple assault rifles... maybe THEY are the patsy's? How else would taking guns from responsible and sane people who register and apply for the necessary licenses help reduce the number of violent gun crimes in this country?

I think the government might have a better shot at trying to bring something to the table that might shut up the fools that are feeding the crazies, telling them to stop drinking the water and stop taking their meds... They are creating an army of domestic terrorists, fanatical and racist. Feeding their minds with thoughts of "race wars" and "FEMA camps" and "Lizard people" and so on. 

I do not like the direction that American society has turned in, however, I am a law abiding citizen. I'd feel far less comfortable around a racist, militant atheist, doomsday prepper than I would around a suspended cop with a drinking problem. 

I have come up with some great ideas in my life, every one of them someone else already beat me to... I am certain that if I can see a clear difference in the psychology of a lunatic with a gun and a responsible gun owner, that the government of the great country I live in can see it as well. My discomfort of fanatical behavior is based on healthy instinct, nothing short of miraculous given my history.

All it Takes is ONE Difference of Opinion

And I ponder....

How many people have to believe something for it to be considered, "public opinion"?

Is this based on TV News and propaganda, on people who believe without question, those who follow the herd...?

When the world was believed to be flat, WHO'S belief was that? Did "leaders" use that as a scare tactic to control the masses, and keep people under their power, or had we not evolved enough to wonder or dream or have the desire to look beyond the life that we were living, or the land mass that we were living on?

In a world of infinite choices, options, luxuries, colors, and flavors, and styles, and MORE... I can see that it all had to start with a non-conforming idea...
Yet we consider the visionary to be insane...

The mere definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different result...

STILL throughout civilization we shun those who see things differently until we jump on and ride the coattails of their success.