On Jonathan Livingston Seagull: written by Jessica Pope

The traditional greetings of religious communities can offer some insight into the worldview of those communities. Greetings can illuminate the way in which human relationships are constituted within a specific religious framework. The Hindu’s traditional greeting, namaste, means “the Divine in me recognizes the Divine in you,” and suggests an imminent Creator that animates its creations. The Jews say shalom: offering “peace,” to those whom they greet, and the Islamic greeting of the same root, salaam – alaikum, translates into English as: “Peace be unto you”. These greetings suggest that it is right for one creation to wish the Creator’s good will and protection upon a fellow creation.
Likewise, the Protestant tradition gives the English goodbye, which is a contraction for “God be with you.”
Through greetings and other social customs, a religious tradition is able to regulate and govern the human relationships of its adherents. The tradition bestows meaning, value, and purpose to adherents’ social relationships. The role of human relationships in Christianity has been the subject of much discussion within both “believing” and “academic” circles, due to the seemingly contradictory nature of social relationships and a relationship with the Creator. Love of all humanity, for example, means love of no person in particular, for to love a particular means to favor a particular, to prefer one person above all other persons.

Transcendence from the bodily realm as a means of getting “closer to God” requires one to renounce earthly pleasures, and many saints have gone so far as to starve or torture themselves in the pursuit of transcendence. What, then, are we to make of human relationships in the context of divine purpose: is fellow man merely a distraction, or can we somehow find the divine through a specific enactment of our social relationships?

Richard Bach’s classic work Jonathan Livinsgton Seagull, the story of a seagull who learns to fly, sheds some light into the nature and purpose of social relationships for persons on the road to transcendence. I choose to read the story of Jonathan as an allegory for human transcendence through the religious experience, because it addresses the ideals of love, freedom, and the ultimate purpose of existence.

Gifts From Nature

Turmeric is what gives curry its beautiful golden color. Health benefits include:

1. Digestion & the liver (Ulcers, diverticulitis, flatulence, leaky gut)
2. Heart heath (High blood pressure, unhealthy cholesterol)
3. Immune support (Cancer, colds and flu, bronchitis)
4. Musculoskeletal strength & flexibility (Joint disorders, arthritis, pain)
5. Nervous system (Pain, Alzheimer's)
6. Wound healing and healthy skin (Eczema, psoriasis)
7. Diabetes and Menstruation difficulties

Thinking Truth III

In order for a person to truly experience and be cognizant of change, within one’s self, a great deal of study has to take place. The information that has to be studied is not going to be easy to find, and, if found, not easy to learn. How to know what information that is pertinent, to the quest for truth, is going to take time to learn. Strategies and methodologies must be learned before one can begin to recognize the how and the why. Now, at this time, in what is known as the Age of Aquarius or the age of intelligence, survival cannot be accomplished using old ways of thinking and or believing. The world, as it has been in the past, is no longer what it was, and also, the world is not the planet. Thinking of the world as the planet has caused serious thinking disorders and is going to cause even greater problems for the not yet born. And if, past thinking patterns are inserted into future generations then past problems are going to get worse. If the price of existence in the world has changed then the way a person thinks is also going to have to change. The older patterns of thinking that have been handed down by the public school systems, by closed minded parents, by misinformed clergy and so-called teachers of text book information is at this moment creating an atmosphere of all engulfing fear. Fear, especially when it is unrealized, is the emotion that begets worry, unhappiness, frustration, anxiousness, greed, envy, and will not allow the least bit of harmony. Harmony is a key factor in the equation if individuals are going to be able to create a future community. Only the coming together of intelligent individuals will provide them the power to create the secure environment that they will need in order to survive.

Thinking Truth II

Extraordinary Thinkers are in the superior category, average thinkers fall into what is called the inferior. Those people who are taught to be average are programmed about what to think and how to think. Extraordinary thinkers, in most cases, have been educated to learn how to learn so that they will understand concepts and how conception is used to create ideas. Public education trains average thinkers to know almost nothing outside of what someone teaches or tells them. The ability for an original thought is never developed.  Please do not argue the exception because that is an argument that is taught to the average so that the work to become an extra-ordinary thinking PERSON will not take place.

Most people are programmed to be normal or average as a condition of life. When the very young first engage in the process of public education, they usually sense that something is wrong and they attempt at some point to rebel. By the time students move to the third grade
they are being introduced to inferior thinking patterns.

 Graduating to grades four and five, those children who are in the situation where they are forced to attend average schools have become or are becoming angry but in fact are not aware of what is actually going on in their lives relative to sense and emotion. Everyone, at this point, is born into a world that has already been constructed. Finding the contractors and developers of the premise can be quite an investment of time and energy. The average will not spend time in an effort to attempt to unravel the false truth that has come to be believed as the true foundation or premise. It is not that average people do not want to think or that they will not do the arduous work that is required to find truth. The truth and fact of the matter is that they have never had the opportunity to learn how to do what needs to be done. In the beginning, since the beginning is based on words, it is imperative that average people start the process of learning the methodologies, techniques and strategies that can aid in mental development whereas the ordinary become the extraordinary, powerful persons, that future generations must become if We are to survive into the future.

Thinking Truth

There are questions that come to mind when the words THINK or TRUTH are a topic for discussion.  At some point, in life, one wonders if the information that has been acquired is actually true.  In other words, have we ever learned how to true the data that is being presented to us by people and books that we are taught to believe?  In fact, can truth be acquired, or accomplished, if belief is a part of the equation that is being used to factor what is to be understood. You! That’s Right, You! The one who is reading this, look into a mirror, and then ask , have I ever known how to ask those questions that are critical if I desire to think for myself.  Is it important to ask, what is thinking?  Do you assume that you know?  If you are sure that you know how to think, then the question becomes, how did I learn to do what I am doing.  Maybe there was a class that you attended in school somewhere. Were you  told that thinking is a natural aspect of being alive?  Are there different dimensions of thinking? Have you ever looked up the word think or truth (true) in the dictionary?  If so, then,  in what way did you study the word? The average person,  when asked how to use a dictionary, finds the word then reads the definition.  Younger students, in most cases, have not been taught to distinguish context and in a great number of cases will utilize the wrong definition. In order to better comprehend words you may need to analyze the origin of the word or its original concept.

What is Freedom?

What is Freedom?

Recently, I had the opportunity to enter into a discussion about the subject of freedom.  After hearing what Norom (the person that I was speaking with), had to say about the condition that is known as being free, I quickly realized, that, this American, does not have a clue as to what freedom might possibly be.  While thinking about what Norom, was saying, it dawned on me that this may be a subject that needs investigating. 

For most of my life, I have heard people say things like: "I live in a free country" or, "this, (America)  is a free country", on and on.  I am thinking that maybe an interactive dialog about what some of us think freedom actually is, could be quite interesting.  In other words, questions like: where did we acquire our ideas about freedom .  Is the data that we have, true or false, is it (the data), based on belief or knowledge?  If you are interested in this discussion please leave a comment.

The Seed of Civil Rights

NOTHING stays the same. EVERYTHING “must change”. As seasons continue to come and go, FULL CIRCLE, it is incumbent upon all thinking individuals to learn from past experiences. In other words, while it is not certain that the weather will be the same this year as last, there is the possibility that if it happened before, it just might happen again. This thought is part of the fundamental constitution of all sensible farmers as they nurture the land they love. The farmer must be ever cognizant of the many complexities relative to the force of nature. Tenders of civil rights would do well to follow the example of the farmer. 

Because of past experiences with nature, and her power to give and take, farmer George is extremely careful about where and when he plants his seed. Hoping to receive the maximum reward for his effort, the farmer is ever vigilant of nature’s laws. Knowing exactly “WHEN” to plant the seed, he must also aim careful attention to the many factors that are determinants in the environment “WHERE”, the desired culture will germinate. In consequence, if George plants the seed at the wrong time, or wrong place, he will not receive the “RIGHT” benefit of a fruitful harvest. 

The seed of “Civil Rights” was naturally planted in the fertile ground of the U.S. Constitution. In the original document, known as the first draft, “Rights” were to be extended to “All” people in an equitable manner. The original “Constitution” was never to be ratified and therefore a second draft was cultivated (composed), as a compromise, which ultimately diluted the original intent of “natural rights” for all people. The predecessor of this “Civil Rights” seed was the “Treaty of Runnymeade” (1215 A.D.), where-in, King John of England GAVE the “Right of Privilege”, through the “Magna Charta”, to what is known as the English People. 

The story of the “Magna Charta” is absolutely fascinating. The King, who was loosing the war of rebellion, which would have resulted in the loss of his royal head, decided on the wise action of giving the people what “he” called freedom. The Right of Kings declares that the Supreme Monarch of the land represents “God” in person, and, therefore holds the Right of life and death over his subjects. Two hundred years after John, another English King rescinded the Magna Charta and the common villager was returned to total subjection and bondage. 

The framers of the American Constitution would later be reminded of this turn of events by Thomas Paine’s “Pamphlets on Common Sense”. Because of this reminder when, then, King George of England and Great Britain, who was losing the war against the rebellious colonies, offered to extend the Rights of The English Citizen to the colonial rebels, they refused. The colonist would tell George NO THANK YOU, they refused the offer saying: “What man gives to another, man can also take away.” 

According to the renowned philosopher Voltaire, and other writers from the period in European history known as the “Age of Enlightenment”, certain “PRINCIPALS OF LIFE” are not to be given, nor received, by one person to another. The principal of FREEDOM, according to the colonial insurrectionist and their Enlightened Constitution, is a God given (natural) right and cannot be ordained by the hand of a man. 

The authors, of the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Constitution for the United States, however, did not take into account that some of the people who would have to ratify this magnificent document, were in fact, egomaniacal hypocrites. In order to appease certain factions of the Confederated Colonies, and gain immediate acceptance of the Constitution, it was agreed upon that the rights of this Great Document would only apply to, what would be defined as, free white men (who owned land and were 21 years of age). 

Consequently, a different seed from the one that had been intended by the great planter Jefferson was deviously impregnated into the American landscape. Old Tom (the Virginia planter), was never able to keep his word to those classes who were beneath his station. Subsequently, Thomas Jefferson died begging forgiveness from God for his spineless behavior and indiscretions against his fellow man. 

The socio-political and economic advantage of American citizenship, from day-one of the ratification of the Independent Constitution, was given exclusively to the so-called American white man. The great freedom experiment would start the process of degeneration almost before it had begun. What this amounts to is real evidence regarding, so-called Christian-Western Civilization and its, propensity for forked tongue behavior (hypocrisy). 

While declaring himself free and his liberty unencumbered, the so-called American white man would continue the practice of kidnapping, forced labor, incarceration and mind manipulation of Afrikan People. Furthermore, the tactics of Native American extermination as outlined by Nathaniel Beacon (1676), would continue under color of law. It should also be mentioned that the so-called white woman was also left out of the original “de Jure” contract, the first seven articles of the U.S. Constitution. 

One aspect that should be clearly understood by these three groups - African Americans, Native Americans and so-called American white women - is the long proven fact that if FREEDOM can be appointed, it can also be disappointed. It should also be noted that the freedoms which have been given to these groups falls under the heading of de facto articles of the U.S. Constitution and are not guaranteed by the laws of nature nor by nature’s God. 

There-in is found the roots of both modern civil rights and also what is now, being called, affirmative action. Civil rights were born out of the advantages that were given to the white male Christian settler, as he claimed someone else’s land, by right of manifest destiny. Because of unfounded beliefs, xenophobia and absolute greed the now independent ex-British subject/settlers (white-slave) would set into motion the dynamics that have lead to NUMEROUS civil rights acts that have been passed into law. The reason that there have been so many civil rights laws enacted, is that a piece of paper means absolutely nothing unless there is INTENT to ENFORCE the contract which has been agreed upon. 

Civil Rights as a political reality, almost exclusively directed towards the African American community, began after the Civil War between the States (1861-1865). The Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth amended articles to the constitution (defacto rule), were supposed to mandate (give) Rights of Citizenship to the Afrikan Population in the United States. It never happened. Skipping a few instant civil rights statues we come to Susan B. Anthony and the women’s suffrage movement. Again, Rights are given out to people who accept what is given without regard to the hypocrites who are doing the giving. 

In the 1960s an agreement was reached between a few American negroes, who wanted to be accepted by so-called white people, and the United States Govt. The agreement was to entail that the so-called black population would give up its separate facilities and merge into the dominant (majority) population and receive access to equality through programs such as affirmative action. We must remember that affirmative action had been the exclusive domain of the white settler since 1789. 

At present, after a short thirty years of sharing the advantage with others, the settler is upset and has now decided, like the English Kings, to renege on the agreement. In the meantime, what is now the Afrikan American population, having dismantled their separate but [un]equal infrastructures, are now at the complete mercy of govt poverty programs.

All things considered, it may be best for those who are now in charge of the U.S. Government to take back the Trojan Horse known as affirmative action. This GIFT, like that of defacto civil rights, is just an empty box. After each fiber of the elaborate wrapping is removed and the box opened, nothing of substance can be found inside. 

But maybe, if the whole scenario of CIVIL WAR is repeated one more time (practice makes perfect), those people who are truly suffering the bonds of oppression will stop permitting others to speak for them. Just maybe, in the future, Sons and Daughters of kidnapped People, will hold onto what they develop and allow it to grow. The season has changed. The storm is on the horizon and nothing will ever again be the same. 

Maybe the former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, had the right idea as it pertains to the Declaration of Independence. Whereas all men are free to make themselves into a nation of independent people who must be willing to produce and then protect, by any means necessary, that production. 

Newt declared that all people should enjoy, unencumbered, the pursuits of life, liberty and happiness with equal access to health, education, and welfare. The great protector of American culture and Constitutional Rights has advised that easy to follow instructions (for intelligent people) are to be found in the document known as the Declaration of Independence. 

Those individuals who are truly concerned about the matter of affirmative action and/or civil rights should make all haste as they acquire copies of this great American document. After a comprehensive reading of this declaration of FREEDOM, each PERSON should then “AFFIRM” HIS or HER own-SELF and BEING, and then, “TAKE ACTION”.