Be As The Yogi

In modern Western circles, the word "yoga" conjures up images of lithe, young babes stretching and bending in torturous positions.  And that type of yoga is the method by which training and strengthening of the body is accomplished.  That process is called Hatha Yoga.  But there are other yoga methods, and one in particular, seeks to strengthen the mind and enlighten the spirit, and that's Raja Yoga.  One who practices yoga may be called a yogi, 

Defining Yoga is tricky, as defining any spiritual discipline can be, but in short we can say it's a total discipline for seeking enlightenment. To reach a level of enlightenment, one must train body, mind and spirit.  There are no shortcuts to enlightenment; it's a lifelong commitment.  According to the Yoga Alliance website:

Yoga was developed up to 5,000 years ago in India as a comprehensive system for well being on all levels: physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. While Yoga is often equated with Hatha Yoga, the well-known system of postures and breathing techniques, Hatha Yoga is only a part of the overall discipline of Yoga. Today, many millions of people use various aspects of Yoga to help raise their quality of life in such diverse areas as fitness, stress relief, wellness, vitality, mental clarity, healing, peace of mind and spiritual growth.

Yoga is a system, not of beliefs, but of techniques and guidance for enriched living. Among Yoga’s many source texts, the two best known are the Yoga Sutras and the Bhagavad Gita. Both explain the nature of—and obstacles to—higher awareness and fulfillment, as well as a variety of methods for attaining those goals. 

Because of this, you could say that yogis don’t really belong to a certain “religion."  Rather, they are beyond it. Many people of various religions, or even those that have their own private nonsectarian spiritual practices, could be considered a yogi.

The takeaway here is that there exists an ancient and proven system that anyone may employ to help rise above the petty, nasty and destructive influences that are perpetually injected into our lives.  You don't have to become Hindu to take advantage of this system.  It's personal system that doesn't intrude on or contradict any other belief system; in fact it can, and probably will, enhance one's existing spirituality.

So when trying to deal with - and comprehend - the insanity that passes for current events in today's world, engage in a little spirit lifting.  As the great philosopher and sage Wei Li once said, "You can't change the world, but you can change your reaction to it."  Happiness begins there.  If for you that's the physical Hatha, fine, do that.  If it's the more meditative and spiritual Raja, do that.  Or do both. 

But do take some time to cleanse yourself of the negativity that you'll find in daily life.  You might find that things become easier for you.  Or that people are not as cumbersome for you. Or that you're somehow a little happier.  The concept of controlling oneself is not new, and many, if not most, religious teach some of these concepts.

So save your sanity; be as the yogi.  It works.

Namaste!

The War Between And Among The States

Back in the middle of the nineteenth century, a war broke out between the several states over what role, that is to say how much power, the federal government should have over the rights of individual states.  Four years and 600,000 lives later, it became clear that it would be a lot, as the Constitution took a sharp turn toward centralized federal power.  Folks in the north called it the Civil War.  Folks down south refer to it as the War Between the States, or the War of Northern Aggression.  The later is probably the most apt.

Fast forward one hundred fifty-eight years, and we're hearing the same kind of rumblings - discontent with how Washington DC is handling things. This time however, the issues are somewhat different, but the concern of how the far more controlling federal government is managing - or recognizing - states' rights is the same.  And this time, it's not so much North versus South as it is Left versus Right.  There is serious anger on both sides.  And both sides glare angrily at Washington.

In the last dozen years or so, primarily under the Kenyan's tyrannical reign, the left has become more emboldened, as well as radicalized farther and farther to the left; toward full blown Marxism.  The left wants to take the country all the way into tyrannical socialism.  The right wants limited government, and the preservation of the Constitution as it was written.  Racial tensions, again due to the Kenyan's prompting, have deteriorated to levels not seen in this country.  This time, though, it's the radical blacks who are spewing hate and divisiveness.  I've always acknowledged that human beings are essentially tribal in social settings, that is, folks like to be with other folks who are like them.  But that isn't racism.  That's familial bonding.  The hate and violence the left puts out comes in the form of groups like the Black Panthers, SPLC, BLM and Antifa, among others.  That's not tribalism; that's tyrannical racism.  It's hate, and it comes from the left.

Consider that California residents will be voting in November on a referendum that could split California into three separate states: NorCal, SoCal and Cal. They have over 600,000 signatures to ensure the Cal3 initiative will be on the November ballot.  A deeper look into the genesis of this movement will reveal that the great divide in political outlooks within the state are irreconcilable, or so it would seem - at least to six hundred thousand Californians.  While a divorce is sometimes the first thing warring factions consider,the result of separation could be devastating, both fiscally and politically.

Even South Carolina, noted for secession, is feeling the pain of creeping Federal tyranny. Several representatives have introduced a bill that would allow an open debate about the pros and cons of seceding from the Union should gun confiscation become law.

Some on both sides of the issue have said that there can be no reconciliation between the two; that a divorce is not only necessary, but desirable.  The USA must be split into separate countries that embody local citizens' political stance.  They maintain that this is necessary because there is no way the two - left and right - can come to a compromise.  Individual freedom on the right is incompatible with centralized socialism of the left.

But that aside, I propose that the United States be preserved for several reasons.  First, the logistics involved in such a division are staggering:  we're dealing with political points of views, rather than geographical identity.  Second, in the history of man, this miraculous experiment in self government has demonstrated itself to be the best yet devised.  Why destroy that, especially in order to placate the insane ideas of the radical left? The left can't be reasoned with.  They want the complete destruction of the ideals of Judeo-Christian values, limited government, and individual freedom upon which the United States was founded.  Nothing else will do.  There's no point in giving them half the country; it wouldn't satisfy them at all, anyway.  Think of the ramifications of having a hostile nation on your border.  Ask Israel or Poland or Hungary how that feels.

The only solution to this ideological divide the country is facing is the elimination of one side or the other.  Period.  Total defeat or total victory.  The left and all of its manifestations is a clear and present danger to the American way; it's an enemy within the gates.  No civilization can withstand an internal enemy. The left must be defeated at the ballot box, in social media, in the schools, in the streets, and by any means necessary.  We can't be squeamish, because given the chance, annihilation is exactly what the left has planned for the rest of us.

So be prepared, a showdown is imminent.  The left won't stop, and sooner or later, planned civil disruptions will be occurring in your very own front yard.  The fate of the nation - and the last best hope for mankind - is literally at stake.  Freedom is often taken for granted by those who never have had to fight for it.  And it can disappear forever if that fact is ignored.  Maintaining the American way of life means defending it.  And that means by force of arms if necessary.  We need to be vigilant, informed, and strong. And we need to be ready.

Our confederation of individual states must be preserved as the beacon of freedom that it is.  And the enemy within must be vanquished.

"Did You Get My Check?"

That's the burning question Facebook's Dear Leader Marky-Mark Zuckerberg will be asking members of the House committee next week, as he testifies before congress about Facebook's questionable handling of member's privacy issues.  But that's little surprise to normal Americans who shake their collective heads at the corruption that occurs between the Deep State and the so-called Titans of Technology.

But as USA Today reports, it's true.  I quote from www.westernjournal.com:

The congressional panel that received the most contributions from the company is the House Energy and Commerce Committee, whose lawmakers are set to question Zuckerberg on Wednesday.  Of the 55 members on this committee, all but nine of them have received contributions by Facebook for the past decade, with the average Democrat receiving nearly $6,750 and the average Republican receiving $6,800.

Panel members announced their committee would question Zuckerberg to shed light on what they call “critical consumer data privacy issues and help all Americans better understand what happens to their personal information online.”

They also said they appreciate Zuckerberg’s “willingness to testify.” In regards to Facebook’s campaign gift, however, Republicans got a mere 33 percent and Democrats got 65 percent, adding to about $7 million worth of gifts.

As we've posted here previously, part of the issue is the selling of information mined from users' profiles and posts that is used in political campaigning.  There was little interest in Facebook's normal business model when that detailed information was sold to the Kenyan's reelection efforts in 2012, but all hell broke loose when the Donald Trump campaign did the same thing in 2016.  Now the Democrats in Congress are in high dudgeon that  - gasp! - the Republicans should be able to access that business model's data for their own purposes as well.  Fair only works one way in the democrat mind.

The other issue, and probably more sinister, is the more than seven thousand fake Facebook accounts that were run by Russian operatives - the infamous trolls.  They would upload provocative posts, and when users "liked" them, the trolls would collect that data, and recruit those members to rally or protest or otherwise engage in political discourse.  All propaganda aimed at the expense of American interests, of course.

One such piece of propaganda is seemingly all-American on its face.  See image (right).  Posted on Facebook's Instagram, it seeks to elicit anger against the Muslim invasion.  How could any red-blooded American not agree with that?  It got 6,000 "likes."  But, friends and neighbors, it was a Russian plant.  Untold in this story - yet, anyway - is what happened to all the information contained on all those 6,000 Facebook users who "liked" that post.  Are they targets for Russian/Marxist/Leftist retribution?  Or perhaps recruitment?  Or is their personal information just stored, ready to be accessed and used at some other time?  I don't know, either.

But I do know that whenever you cede power over yourself to others, it will invariably be used against you.  Keeping your own personal power is what freedom is really all about.   And within the whole of mankind's history, there always have been forces that seek to relieve you of that power.  And only the vigilant and wary can resist.

And that's some of the issues - hopefully - that Marky-Mark and his Facebook data monster will have to address.

Right after he verifies that those in congress got his check.

Because We Can, That's Why

God is dead. Privacy is dead. Freedom is dead.  Sigh.  That's a pretty depressing revelation, don't you think?  Maybe I'll post a picture of my breakfast, or my dog, or the last theme park I visited, on Facebook and wait for all my "friends" to "like" it.  You know, all those folks whom I've never met, but were polite enough to invite me as their friend.  Maybe that thin gruel of social acceptance will placate me, and make me feel better.

The enlightened have already killed God.  It seems - to them, anyway - that it is no longer necessary for man to seek a higher authority.  We've evolved beyond that silly paternal longing.  Yet our most respected scientists have told us we are really nothing more than self aware protoplasm, and on an evolutionary scale, just a small step up from bacterium.  Well.  That's encouraging.  And this insane notion of worship-man-as-God was short lived; except perhaps within the Democrat party.  Thankfully.  To replace God, the enlightened ones have told us, we first had to acknowledge that we - mankind - was all the God we needed.  Wow.  That's a lot of gods.  And in nearly the same breath, now they tell us that we must build better artificial intelligence - superior to us - so that we may worship AI instead of ourselves or some vague, unseen creator.  I wonder by what name would we call AI - "them" or "it"?  

The technical revolution has made us aware - in no small fashion - that privacy is dead.  And the courts have upheld time and again that citizens have no expectation of privacy.  There used to be a quaint notion of privacy granted by God and guaranteed by the 4th Amendment, that Americans have "the right . . . . to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."  But we gave that away willingly.  We put our lives and soul on Facebook, for no other reason that to seek fleeting approval by others.  We allow everyone to track our every movement, and record our every utterance, just because we cannot turn off our cell phones.  We put our own eavesdropping devices in every room of our homes. Google. Echo.  Alexa.  We are not the consumer of this technology - we're the product of it.  And it's only $99 on Amazon.  Oh, and free shipping, too.

OK, what about freedom?  Have we lost that yet?  I think we have.  For example, think of all the words that you cannot use without being charged with a hate crime.  Whatever the hell that is. Think of a religion that you may not question.  Or, conversely, think of a religion that you're free - and even encouraged - to denigrate.  Say something about the evolution of certain aspects of the human race.  Or someone's perceived sexual orientation.  Speak the truth about certain political dynasties, expose their corruption and crimes, and see where you end up.  You will be ruined and broke.  You may well ask who invented the term "politics of personal destruction".  Or worse, you may find yourself on the receiving end; perhaps having a dirt nap and becoming worm food.

So perhaps there's something to be learned from the Luddites' resistance to technological innovation.  Maybe we should take a deep breath and reconsider this headlong rush into the Brave New Artificial World.  Let's have time to adapt, psychologically and socially.  Technological innovation doubles every two years, according to Moore's Law, and even that is accelerating as applied to other related technological disciplines. Heads are spinning, algorithms know more about you than your mother, cars drive themselves, drones hit targets from miles away, and media manipulate your thoughts and beliefs.  Humans have little chance against the accelerating - and inevitable - takeover of technology.

But even more, why would we do any of  this to ourselves?  Because we can, that's why.