Predictions and Markets

Investing deals with prediction and some people are far better predictors than are others. They are able to see patterns and trends before others do. These people are very valuable to any culture; and in fact, they are the most valuable people in the culture, as the culture depends upon them for its survival. The problem is that they are very rarely listened to at the time that they make the prediction. Why is that? Because predictions are opinions and everyone values his or her opinion above the opinions of all others and if an opinion is contradictory to a belief, especially if that belief is so ingrained that it has never been challenged before, the prediction, no matter how perceptive, will be ridiculed. In practical matters, it is fairly easy, for instance, to predict trends in stocks and securities in financial markets; but because the predictions won't be listened to, it's best to keep the prediction to oneself and to act upon it immediately by oneself; rather than in trying to make the prediction public where it would not be listened to anyway.

Evolution and Devolution

Evolution isn't moral in the sense that it's negative or positive. Human evolution does reflect cultural values as the more attractive mates are those which more closely align themselves with a culture's ideal, but the culture itself may be one another culture deems immoral. However, all cultures idealize intelligence, psychic abilities and longevity. The reason that they do is because these three are absolutely necessary for the survival of the culture, any culture. Some cultures might prize one aspect more than the others, but all three are prized. In contrast to this is devolution, where other values might be prized...values regarding reproductive abilities and aggressiveness. Sexually aggressive and physically aggressive persons do have a distinct selective advantage in some societies because their rate of reproduction is much higher; they'll have more offspring. So these are two tendencies that travel in opposite directions---one where aggressiveness is more prized and one where intelligence is more prized. And, of course, one could be both aggressive and intelligent, and that's a third direction evolution could take and now does.

Sacred Texts and Interpretation

One of the problems with the Abrahamic faiths is who has been given the right of interpretation of the sacred texts of those religions. Most religious systems have such texts (the Old Belief doesn't). Usually, the interpretation of texts is left to clerics, those who have accreditation by their faith's educational system in interpreting the faith's texts. The texts themselves were defined as being sacred because they are considered divinely inspired and dictated by divine emmissaries, angels and prophets and deities. When one reads the texts, they seem nonsensical and contradictory; and that's because they actually are. However, if the texts are read instead in an allegorical manner and are interpreted as allegories, some parts of the texts do make some sense. We know there are no such entities as gods or angels; but there were men who wrote the texts and men who are interpreting them, and sometimes those men actually know what they're speaking of; not often, true, but sometimes. Interpretation is reflective of the person who does the interpretation. A good person interprets wisely in a life affirming manner, and a bad person shall interpret the texts as mandating violence and conflict. Texts themselves can't change, as they are fixed; but interpretations could change radically, depending upon who is interpreting.

Science and Religion

Science is about obtaining a more accurate description of reality, while religion is about actually living in reality; so the two can't contradict each other. Science isn't a religion, as description is not existence. One should help the other. A religious person would make for a better scientist and the more science one knows, the more religious one should be. Any religion that rejects the findings of science is simply a bad religion and any scientist that rejects religion is a bad scientist. Of course, the findings of science can be wrong---anything that can't be subjected to empirical review is not science; it's simply opinion, and a scientist's opinion is only that: an opinion and not anything more. Religions can be judged by their veracity: a religion that mandates and demands unquestioned obedience from its adherents is obviously false, as it means the religion is afraid of the truth, and being afraid of the truth means only one thing: that it, itself, has to be untruthful.

Physical Immortality

Psychic immortality is proven by our experience: we've all met ghosts whether we wanted to or not and most of them have proven to be our other selves; but what about physical immortality?
Well, it's possible; but not probable. IPS are induced pluripotent stem cells taken from the skin of a patient, treated with genes and proteins to reprogram them into other kinds of cells (this makes them pluripotent), and injected back into the patient. At most, humans live to 115, but any at that age are both decrepit and incoherent---both. It is possible, with IPS treatments, for people to regenerate dying organs and tissues, as this has already been done successfully. The problem is the expense. IPS injections are prohibitively expensive and only for the very rich. However, the cost of the injections will decrease. For instance, in New York State, $600 million is being spent by New York State Stem Cell Foundation mainly through SUNY for IPS research. What this research means is that, eventually, immortality may be possible, if not probable; but longevity will be for the rich at the beginning and not for everyone. As IPS research grows, and its advantage is that injections are not rejected by the patient's immune system, availability of IPS will grow and people will be living much longer lives and perhaps, even lives of immortality.

Diplomacy and Reality

One of the problems with a country like North Korea is that it has been engaged in a civil war with South Korea for fifty years (an armistace was signed in 1953), and technically both these nations are still at war. South Korea is clearly capable of defeating North Korea anytime that it so wants and to end the war. But it does not wish to do so; because, by so doing, it would end a potential threat to Japan and South Korea regards Japan as an enemy because of its occupation. Much as the problems in the Middle East should stay solely amongst the nations in the Middle East, problems on the Korean Peninsula are problems for the nations situated on that peninsula.

Real Religion

Religions are created by men for men. The purpose of religion is mainly a conservative one: to preserve the professed values of a particular culture through the mechanism of both a belief and practice system. Sometimes those values are actually worth preserving: compassion, charity and civility, for instance. The world certainly needs more of those three. But some values don't deserve preservation, like submission and subservience to authority. Real religion, as opposed to the fake faux kind, deals with transcendent transformation, going from one state of existence to a far better state, through the daily practicing of an intense spiritual discipline. The disciplines differ in different religions, but this same goal is desired to be attained: transformation. If the religion is a real religion, one ought not to be at all that same dull dumb person as one was before one entered upon practice of the religion's spiritual discipline. One changes. If there's no change, seek out another discipline, as the test of religion's virtue is in its ability to transform adherents.

Origin of Religion

Religions originate through the actions of inspired schizophrenics. Some person, always acting as an outsider to his or her tribe because of some difference, physical and psychological, conceives himself or herself as a transmitter of some transcending truth and tries to convey that truth to the tribe. Because the tribe knows the person and that the person is peculiar, the tribe rejects the person and his or her truth. In most cases, because the person is truly insane, that's the end of the story. However, some persons, because they are so charismatic, are able to convince some other tribe, not as familiar with the strange peculiarity of the person, to buy into his or her truth. All religions start this same way with one inspired person. The question then is: what makes for inspiration? The answer is: that person's peculiarity. Not being accepted by the tribe causes the person to seek for approbation from within their own psyche, rather than from approval by the tribe (which wasn't forthcoming anyway).

Myths and Origins: The Red and the White

In my latest work, I included a short poem: The Dream of Crom, which is a Druid cosmology. I thought it might be of interest for all those who may be unfamiliar with our traditions. I'm now working on a rather long poem: The Red and the White, which describes the origins of man from the Druid perspective. Of course, this is only our mythology and it's not at all intended as a scientific treatise; any more, for instance, than the cosmology is, but I think it is instructive of a certain way of thinking. It's how we've long perceived how origins came about, and it includes a famous love story from my family's history. Luckily, I'm a good poet; so its verse isn't as insipid as most contemporary poetry. All Druids think and dream in poetry. It's just how we're made.

Psychic Power and the Trap of Time

If we look at time, not as a sequence of events, but as separate distinct moments, all of which are existing simultaneously, like pixels in a picture on a smart-phone that could be rotated this way and that with swipes of a finger; we can approximate how time is maneuvered and manipulated. The mind is that finger. The thing is this: the mind can be moved. The mind is not imprisoned within the skull, but centered in it. The mind can extend outside the skull. There are methods of meditation to allow for this extension to take place. Every culture has such methods, and has developed formal training disciplines to accomplish extension of the mind outside the head. Just as you can access blogs on a web, provided you know their respective addresses, these isolated moments in time can be accessed if you can locate their respective locations. Even further, just as you can rotate the picture on the smart-phone, all those isolated moments in time can also be rotated, changed and modified from their separated locations. They can be moved, just as your mind can be moved. This does not mean they can be deleted. They cannot be extinguished, but they could be edited so each moment is placed into a different sequence. They can be positioned differently so that the sequence of events is no longer linear. They'll become part of a hologram.

Pragmatic Idealism

It's common to preface any observation of strange behavior or hearing of a statement of belief with a brief comment: whatever works, works, and I usually do so myself to avoid controversy. One does so for several reasons, the chief of which is this: Never argue with ignorance. The fact is that many people, when discussing some topic that doesn't directly affect how they make their living, hold completely inane opinions about almost everything. But if one were to attempt to try to correct their arguments with facts, they will be offended and would become even more adamant in their absurd opinions---one has accomplished absolutely nothing by arguing. So, don't. Consider their complete statements and arguments in silence and nod your head and give some non-committal reply to their arguments. After all, it just might be that one's own facts and assumptions were incorrect. And it never is worth the losing of a friend over some little foolish disagreement. When dealing with strangers, it's quite different. Although all have the absolute right to express opinions in public; none have an absolute right to be heard, nor do they possess a right in any fashion to a response to what they say. So those fools then can simply be ignored.

Thinking with the Third Eye

One thing that all Druids have is a lot of ideas, answers and solutions; not all of which make much sense but we do have a lot. It sort of sets us apart from others (that and our psychic ability---we actually see, feel, smell, taste and hear the lines of energy in the universe). So, how do we do it? Easy! It has to deal with triple vision. The eyes are binocular and are designed to focus at some point in the distance, probably a tree limb, from which we swung when we were hominids. The way to get lots of ideas (the quality of any idea is dependent upon the character of its creator), is to focus the sight of the two eyes in such a way that vision is no longer binocular---one eye looks at the inside of the head while the other looks at the outside of the head, and to vary which eye is doing the inward focus and which does the outward focus. This process of looking inwards, and of also looking outwards, simultaneously, is what makes the "third eye" in the center of a forehead. From a purely neurological perspective, what the brain does is shift from alpha wave production which accompanies binocular focused vision to a gamma wave production, of out-of-focus vision. It's an old trick known to every meditative man. Once gamma wave production begins, that will accompany an inner vision, ideas flow very easily. Whether ideas are good ones depends on who has them. This has to deal with character. Character comes from heredity: Have good parents!

Value Addded Tax (VAT)

One proposed solution to America's fiscal deficit problems (they're many---there may be failure of imagination---but never of answers) is imposition of thirty-percent value added consumption tax (VAT), with a repeal of all other federal taxes---income, employment and estate. How VAT works (most countries already have VAT taxes) is: a flat excise tax is imposed at each stage of production, rather than at the final retail distribution, as is done with sales tax. Because VAT is consumption tax, rather than an income tax, it keeps inflation low and discourages credit debt accumulation. Some items, such as housing, medical care, education and groceries, are normally excluded from VAT taxation. It's also a simple tax to administer and to audit, because of its flat rates of taxation. VAT taxation encourages greater efficiencies in production of goods and from a conservative viewpoint, VAT is a far better tax structure, provided the income tax structure and employment tax structure are repealed: the worse things any state may wish to penalize within its economy are the production of income and greater employment, which the imposition of both income and employment taxes certainly does. If a state must tax, a VAT is the better way to go.

Relativity and Creativity

Creativity is misunderstood because the creative rarely speak about it as they are far too busy actually doing than conversing. The non-creative often speak about persistence and fortitude, but that has nothing whatsoever to do with creativity itself; rather these both have to do with success. The successful have persistence and fortitude; the creative have inspiration. Now, how does this inspiration come about---by an ability to see relationships in dichotomies. The merely talented expect reality to be logical and reasonable. It never is and it can never be so. Reality is reality. There are no laws, either natural or otherwise. They're descriptions only and the more accurate of these descriptions can be termed as science, because they're far more probable and possible; but there shall always be exceptions even to the most accurate of descriptions. Science is not science because it is true. What makes science something that can be relied upon in most instances is that it has descriptive consistency. The creative are able to perceive relationships in differences. Something contradicts something else. Rather than discarding one alternative for the other, a creative person accepts a contradiction and finds within contradiction: relationship.

Talent and Creativity

Almost everyone has talents (some don't because of brain damage and that some is increasing because of methamphetamine), but very few are actually creative. Most talented people are good critics but bad creators. Why this is so is because of evolutionary function. Criticism is the necessary adjunct to conservatism and conservatism is absolutely necessary for the continuance and preservation of culture. Creators don't build museums, but critics do so; because critics are concerned with preservation of past. No creative person is concerned with preserving anything; because creators, by their natures, rebel and they rebel against everything, particularly the past (including their personal pasts---that's why they constantly reinvent their own pasts). Critical and creative functions are both necessary, but they'll never congregate together. The creative despise critics, although they recognize their cultural function in society. Opportunities for the creative are thwarted often by critics and creative people know this, and this is why they'll try their best to avoid the critics. Judgments of others and ourselves only deters the production of new work. If one wishes to be creative, don't criticise; and in particular, don't criticize yourself. Find what you love to do and do it. Find your happiness in your own work and your own effort.

Martial and Mental Training

Martial Training has always been an integral part of mental training and encouraging psychic abilities. Although few have true psychic ability (most claimants to ability are either delusional and schizophrenic or simply outright frauds), everyone has a mind and it can be trained. Public educational systems are designed to benefit the state by inculcating its citizenship values, and so have very little to do with actually training the child's mind. This is why the affluent will pay for their children to go to private institutions and not to public ones. All private schools place a great deal of attention upon physical education as an an elite is superior to others not just because they may have social skills and intellectual skills others might not possess but because physically they are superior. The affluent live longer and are healthier than the poor. This is no accident. In all countries, the elites received martial training from a very early age in boxing, wrestling and the usage of the sword. Boxing, wrestling and sword-play require immense mental skills, as well as immense physical skill. Unfortunately, the common view of martial training has been corrupted from viewing films and mixed-martial-arts events. All of these have very little to do with actual martial training. There's no such thing as submission or tapping-out in real combat; there's just death and maiming. Martial training deals with the preservation of the warrior's life in combat.

Origins and Mythologies

Belief systems, faiths and religions, originate in the minds of men. They are not handed down by gods or angels. This does not make the belief systems less valid. Just because men are creators is no proof that creation originated with a Creator. One thing is sure though and that is the kind of deities created by men is a deep reflection upon the character of the men creating them. Men make gods and not the other way around but the gods that men make are true subtle mirrors of those men who made them. Jealous gods are made by jealous men and fearful gods are made by fearful men. God is made in image of Man and Man can be measured by the worth of this image.

Energy and Power

Energy and Power are synonymous in Druid terminology, and are not separate as in many other systems of mysticism. There are no there or here, no masculine and feminine, no white and black, no before-life and no after-life. There is only the IS, which could possibly be best defined as the state of existence, of being; although it's far better described as a potential for transience, of becoming, of evolving. To add a little clarity, we could then say that the state of existence is actually a state of change. If a thing cannot change, that thing is dead and that includes us. We change so that we might continue to be in existence. Once we can't change, that's it: we are no longer in existence. We are dead.

The Secular and the Sacred

Becoming involved in any conflict between Allah and Jehovah is not a wise policy. There is much pressure being exerted for the western democracies to get involved in the domestic politics of Middle Eastern countries, in particular the conflict between Iran and Israel. Both nations have evolved from their secular origins into semi-theocratic states because the more orthodox portions of their populations have reproduced at much higher rates than the more liberal portions and have greater say in the politics of their respective countries. The religious systems of both states stem from a single common source in Zoroastrianism, which pits humanity as being in eternal enmity between those forces aligned with the light and the dark. This is nonsense of course, but it worked for thousands of years to bring unity to tribes within their respective cultures and it eventually evolved into Islam and Judaism. What one has in Middle East culture are class conflicts, that are essentially secular in nature, under the guise of sacred wars. A ridiculous situation to be sure, but it's one that involves the whole world because of its dependence on petrol sources. Best to simply stay out and avoid such conflicts, as there can never be a winner in a war over religion. Particularly important, is for the United States and Great Britain not to allow their armed forces to be used as mercenaries to serve the interests of nations in the Middle East; as they have already done in Iraq and Afghanistan, to the economic ruin of western democracies.

National Socialism

When any government owns major manufacturing and financial services industries, through its control of companies' common stock, national socialism is introduced into the economy. Whether or not socialism works depends upon the abilities of those in charge. If those in charge were the very same ones who previously failed at regulating and in ensuring accounting accuracy in those industries, it should not be beyond our predictive abilities to assume any failed regulator would also have to be a failed manager. It is unlikely that any company run by any government could prosper or would even survive. Simply because of known government ownership, the shares of stock in controlled companies would have to drop in value, as the public will no longer have any incentive to invest in the government controlled entities. In short, national socialism can't work.

Selling the USA

The United States has had to issue three and a quarter trillion in additional treasury obligations in the current fiscal year and will be issuing the same amount of new debt in the next fiscal year. Naturally, that debt pays interest, or no one would be buying it. Russia, Brazil and China have notified the Treasury that they are now diversifying, which is a polite way of stating they don't wish to purchase many more debt obligations of the United States. US domestic purchasers, the citizens of the United States, are unable to purchase debt as they are leveraged out. Americans already owe more than one third of what they can make: the ratio of personal debt to personal disposable income for an average American is one-hundred-and-thirty-three percent of income. The average American is broke; so he or she shall not be purchasing any US government bonds. A government has two ways to secure the income necessary to continue its day-to-day duties: it can sell its debt and it can collect taxes. Of course, in order to collect tax, there must exist some income from which collection can come and there isn't. If the main buyers of government debt decide not to buy any more (Russia, Brazil and China); that source of income is also lost. There is always a third way to secure income of course: Sale of public assets, like land and rights that can be readily disposed. This appears to be the only viable option remaining to the government.

Carbon Taxation and Rationing

Carbon taxation and lessening emissions through cap and trade rationing cannot work to reduce pollution, because taxation and rationing decrease economic activity, and a decrease in economic activity actually increases pollution---it has an adverse affect. The poorer the society, the more polluted it shall be. Although there is much talk of climate change (climates always change...it is why they're called climates), climate change is but a single symptom of an underlying problem of pollution: pollution of air, soil and water. Pollution has to be prohibited to be reduced and harsh penalties imposed upon polluters. If some global carbon tax were implemented and imposed; for each year the tax were to be in effect, global economic consumption would be reduced a percent.
There never was an energy shortage. There never will be an energy shortage. And in a hundred years, laser-fusion shall become practical and economically efficient. The real problem is one of distribution---the smart grid problem, and there's many entities working to solve the problem. If governments desire to reduce pollution and they do, the efficient economic way to do so is to fund those projects that employ the best and quickest methods, and to fine and to jail polluters.

Extremist Activity

There seems to be great concern today about a possible return of extremist activity by persons who commit unprovoked violence upon others solely due to their ethnic origins. Obviously there is nothing new about such activity. Ethnic cleansing is an ancient hominid activity which has long preceded the advent of human evolution. Chimpanzees practice it. But why does it exist? The short answer is: sex. By preventing other males from having access to females within a group's territory, the group ensures its survival as a group. War is good example of this group survival. So too is gang activity. In war, an army is the gang...better trained, better armed; but it's still a gang. When societies speak of extremist activities, they are usually referring to members of one group attacking other members of the same group; say Americans of one ethnic origin attacking other Americans of a different ethnic origin: a tribe within a tribe attacking another tribe within that same tribe. Since tribes were originally formed as extensions of families, family cohesion is broken when one member of a tribe attacks another member of the same tribe. So why do these events occur; if such events cause a lack of cohesion within the group? Extremist acts occur as a result of peer group pressure to conform to the sub-group's standards of worth. Cohesion, all by itself, causes extremism because humanity is programmed to be loyal only to an extended family of individuals: two hundred or less, that can be recognized (the original tribal clan family). When the group becomes larger than this recognizable two hundred, sub-groups shall form and loyalty is then shifted to a sub-group and away from the greater group, of which a sub-group forms just a small part. What happens in extremist cases; is this sub-group doesn't actually exist. It is an idealized sub-group, a fantasy, a phantom. The extremist strives to become a loyal member of a psychic sub-group that can't actually exist: the martyrs, the rebels, the true believers. And to secure membership in a non-existent sub-group, an extremist must prove worthiness: He kills.

No Escape for USA

Some people have asked for comments on the financial crisis. Well, I've audited and worked for most of the banks involved; so here goes: Simply put, the government doesn't know what it's doing. Neither do the banks, of course. Not that I know what I'm doing either: but no one is dependent upon me---luckily for them. Let's take a small example: the US Treasury set up the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) because banks were undercapitalized and illiquid. The idea behind TARP was for Treasury to acquire bank's bad assets: loans; hence the name TARP. Of course, it didn't do that; instead the Treasury purchased bank preferred stock, convertible to common with warrants to purchase more bank common stock. As soon as Treasury placed some restrictions on executive compensation, the more solvent banks (J.P. Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and others) decided to repay immediately monies received from Treasury, plus interest. The government, being the government, announced success---TARP succeeded! The other less solvent banks will convert the government's preferred stock to bank common stock, making the government the largest shareholder. Of course, if they couldn't repay the TARP funds taken, it would mean that any non-repayer was practically insolvent so their common stock is worthless. But let's look at the institutions who do repay because their executives want their bonuses. The reason that government got involved is clear; if government didn't get involved, and as USA is a credit economy lead by financial institutions, government must fall along with all its banks. The reason government got involved was and is: its own self-survival. Reasonable enough. But the early repayment of funds actually worsens the situation. Everyone now knows which banks are truly insolvent: those that could not repay the TARP funds. Those that did, did so; so that they wouldn't be subject to compensation restriction: multi-million dollar bonus will live on. Nothing has changed. Systemic failures shall still occur because all those bad assets have not gone away.

Democracy and Theocracy

All democracies are theocracies, although they'll fail to admit it. Let's take, as an example, one state from each supposedly adverse national system and then compare them: Iran and USA.
Iran has many political parties and all those political parties are Islamic and it has elections. The USA has only two political parties that have any clout at a national level and it has elections too, and any candidates for national election are expected to be excellent fund raisers, or else they will not be nominated by their respective parties; presidential elections in US cost over a billion.
Power in both countries resides in the hands of plutocratic oligopolies as it does in all countries. The big difference between Iran and USA is that one country, Iran, requires a specific religious affiliation (to Islam in its case and specifically Islam's Shia version) and the other country, USA, in its Constitution, specifically prohibits a religious affiliation or lack of affiliation as requirement for public office. Big difference one would say. But, not so. What is required for holding public office in the USA is a swearing by an allegiance to and defence of, its USA's Constitution. In Iran, a same swearing of an allegiance to and a defence of, is required; but in it's case it's to Ar Qur'an.
Differences in interpretations of both documents, Constitution and Koran, are decided by black- robed panels, judges and clerics, and judgments can be appealed to higher levels of black-robed. So where is the difference? After all, in Iran, you don't have to spend your billion to be elected! The difference is this: The Constitution can be amended and The Koran can't. USA can change.

The Quest for the True Self

The difficulty in determining one's real identity (in the sense of giving birth to one's True Self) is that identity is tied to one's relative position in time and, as we know, time is an illusion. At first, then, it seems impossible to ascertain what one truly is; since our image of ourselves has to be an illusion if it can only be ascertained through yet another illusion (in this case, our relative position in time). So, let's ponder our problem: we're trying to determine our real identity, what we truly are. We cannot determine real identity, because it can only be ascertained relative to a position in time; in present time, NOW; but time is an illusion, so we're unable to position our self. Step back and away from the problem. What are we trying to do? Find our True Self. And why are we trying to do that? Because the self we think we know seems somehow false to us. We don't think who we're now is who we really are. Why? Because we think our self to be somehow better than this self that we now know. We believe our True Self lost, as it has become hidden from us. But what if identity itself is an illusion? Identity deals with distinction from other identities. We are different, yes. But what is it we think we differ from? From others. People. Things. Ideas. Ideas? Yes, ideas: Beliefs. Concepts. But what if Self itself is an Idea? That's our true identity.

Digital Future

One of the problems any writer or any artist faces is in what format should his or her creations be composed? One feels compelled to create and actually feels physically sick when not creating (I do anyway), so what format is best for creation? Since creation is communication with other persons sharing similar interests, one needs to find the common medium where one's work could best be shared. Clearly, today, that medium is digital. People like myself are drawn to digital media and it's why my work is in electronic format; as, after all, I'm writing for people like me.

State Survivability

Depending upon the size of its annual GDP, states cannot survive once their annual fiscal deficits exceed its GDP.  The reason for this, is that the interest payable upon its treasury obligations becomes so high its tax revenues can no longer sustain interest payments that are due, and because the revenues are less, taxes are raised to pay for interest payments, and those taxes serve to further reduce the GDP of the state---those that are so taxed moved to states with lower tax rates, and since these are the persons and entities contributing to the state's GDP, state GDP falls upon the loss of their contribution.  So, at the same time that more state revenue is needed to pay for interest on debt, three simultaneous events all happen:  interest rates on the state's debt rise because the state's credit rating has to fall; state's GDP decreases because those entities producing state GDP have moved on to other states; state fisc decreases because the entities contributing revenues via taxes are no longer doing so.  In short the state becomes bankrupt and so must liquidate its state powers to those other states which were fiscally more prudent and farsighted. 

Belief Systems and Evolution

Does humanity have any future?  Shall it survive?  Well, yes, but not in its present form.  What shall cause it to change?  Belief systems shall.  How?
We know that any isolated human breeding group separated from others for a sufficient period of time (a few hundred years) must undergo profound change within the human accelerated region (HAR) of the human genome's DNA.  The HAR is responsible for most of the rapid evolutionary changes in humanity.  So, given this scenario of a necessary prolonged isolation; is it then possible for human evolution to continue?  We already know where and why evolution happens: an isolated breeding community and the HAR of the human genome.  But given the extremely rapid technological advances in communication and in transportation, is it possible to have isolated communities in today's world?  We know we need isolation for HAR changes to happen.  The answer is: yes, because isolation occurs in humanity for psychic as well as physical reasons.  For instance, some religions prohibit sexual relations outside of their faiths.  They prohibit inter-marriage (and inter-breeding) with anyone outside their faith or religious sect.  The also encourage early marriage among members of their faith communities, and some faiths even encourage multiple marriages.  Given sufficient isolation, adherents of these belief systems undergo genetic changes.  Some have already done so.  So, some people of some beliefs are indeed different from others not of their belief; not just because of difference in the customs of the belief, but because they are truly genetically different:  Real purpose behind religious belief is enhancement of evolutionary change!  

Future of Humanity

Contrary to the popular notion humanity is becoming similar, interchangeable ethnically and culturally; just the opposite has happened.  People are more different than they have ever been before and they are growing even more different.  People are not the same; not that they ever were.  So no single system can possibly work for everyone.  There could never be a universal anything.  All humanity could never subscribe to the same faith or to the same belief.  What does this imply?   It implies: conflict is the natural state of Man.

Dangerous Belief Systems

Dangerous belief systems treat their adherents like merchandise in order to sell and to market the belief system to others.  Their adherents are praised for not questioning the "mysteries" of the belief system and for their loyalty in following the practices and the customs of the belief system.  Beneficial belief systems encourage questioning of all the tenets and practices of the system.  Since all belief systems have to be man-made, there can't be any tenets that can't be questioned; nor could there be customs that cannot ever be changed.  Good systems change and evolve.  Bad systems are static and stuporic.  If the tenets of a belief system seem stupid and non-scientific, they truly are dumb. 

Belief Systems and their Dangers

Belief systems were invented to preserve vanished cultures and unless the belief system is capable of change and evolving, so it can become reflective of contemporary culture, the belief system itself will eventually vanish.  Some belief systems are inherently extremely dangerous as they refuse to recognize their human origins.  There is nothing wrong with having been invented---all art is.  There is something terribly wrong with denying that a system of belief was invented and in stating the system of belief may have had a non-human origin.  That frankly is insane and insanity is dangerous.  That's my belief. 

Memory

Any type of training requires a good memory, whether or not that training might be physical or psychic.  The best way to train the memory is simpy to memorize poetry.  Of course, always pick poetry to memorize that appeals.  Since so many aren't familiar with contemporary poetry, I decided to try to peruse poetry written by various living poets to ascertain whether any of it was worth the trouble of memorizing.  There is some very good poetry being written, but unfortunately nothing truly outstanding that could be termed "great."  All the really good poets today are also song-writers.  So, to fill the gap temporarily, I'll just include some of my own poems on this blog.  I'm primarily a poet and am probably as good a poet as any: Judge for yourself.

Mental Training with Castles

Martial arts training is clearly the very best methodology for physical longevity, as it's intention is the development of power. What about mental training? Well, any strategic board game shall help develop the mind. The best one that I know of is the game of "Castles" that I played as a child. It's kind of like chess and go only it's a lot more sophisticated in that it's three dimensional. I tried to find the game on the Internet, but there doesn't seem to be any reference to it as it's so obscure. Anyway, you'll find a brief description of the game, with simplified rules for children, in a book: Heart-Healing The Chariot Way on Kindle and on MobiPocket for download. The adult version of this game is yet far more complicated, but its children's version is complex enough for most people. Like all games, it is intended to train its players in the values of its culture: Celtic, in the game of Castles to be sure; but more than that---Druid. Castles is a very high level game.

Martial Arts Clubs

Bare-Knuckle-Boxing is one among many, many martial arts.  There are over a thousand systems of martial art in the world, and possibly a lot more.  They all have one thing in common and that's the development of power.  Because of YouTube, all these various systems of martial art are available for perusal.  If you live near any large metropolis, there are hundreds of martial arts clubs.  Before joining any club, one should remember that any martial art is a part of a larger culture and the martial art was invented (martial arts like religions are invented---that doesn't mean they aren't useful or not true) so to preserve the culture's membership by its elite group of warriors.  It then behooves one to examine the entire culture in order to determine whether or not one wishes to join any particular martial arts club, as each club shall expect its members to have a deep respect for that culture from which its martial art sprang.  So, if something about some culture does not appeal to you; look for another club.   

Bare-Knuckle-Boxing

My original intent was to post the entire content of the 16 GB bare-knuckle-boxing videos onto YouTube, but some of the material in the videos might not be all that appropriate for the public. Some of the club members thought it would be better to post the content to the Blog, and I also agree. That way it's all in one place. However, just like YouTube, there is a time limitation of ten minutes, which means that I would have to chop the segments up to post them. So, for those who might be interested, we'll put the whole thing onto a DVD or on an SD card. That way you have it all. I'll still post those ten minute segments of video up onto the Blog, but it'll be a while until it's all edited. Hopefully, everyone will get there copy. It's been fun working with you all. Thanks everyone.

Immortaliy

The purpose of the major religious systems is the achievement of immortality, either by the total absorption of the self into a pure being or by the cessation of the striving for being. Naturally the cessation of striving for being results in the total absorption of the self into pure being. The goal is the same whether it be unification or absorption; one becomes the greater whole, rather than a separate distinct part, separated from the whole: one enters into the womb of existence again.

Psychic Survivability of the Spirit

Three Eastern methods of psychic survivability are well known: the Abrahamic, wherein the Spirit lives on after the body containing the Spirit dies and the Spirit is judged for any actions performed by the body; and based upon that judgment---the Spirit survives in altered states. The Buddhist, which was derived from Hinduism, whereby the Spirit is born again in repeated cycles after each death of the body into states higher or lower depending upon its actions in its prior state, and is eventually cleansed through the cycles of rebirth to be absorbed and released from all cycles of rebirth. The Taoist, whereby the Spirit lives as long as the body containing the Spirit survives, and the action during life is maintenance of the body's existence as long as might be possible in order to preserve the existence of the body's Spirit. Of course, all these scenarios have endless variations, as there are literally hundreds of sects and offshoots for these methods. The Old European belief tradition, the western tradition, is different in the sense that the Spirit exists to engage in a Quest and the purpose of that Quest is to give birth to the Spirit; so that the individual engaging in the Quest is looked upon as not being born as yet physically and spiritually until the goal of the Quest has been achieved. The Quest obviously is to achieve transformation.

Reliance upon Intuition

Since no one could possibly have a monopoly on truth, as no one can possibly obtain the sufficient knowledge and experience to be able to adequately differentiate facts from falsehoods in every field; it's then left up to one's core instincts to intuit what one feels about any statements made by others. If it feels right, it usually is right. If it feels wrong, it usually is wrong. Intuition is the stick blind reason taps before.

Blame and Responsibility

Societies will blame their ordinary members for the problems of the society. Obviously, this is complete nonsense, as any society's ordinary members have neither the power to either change or to direct the operations of the society. The powers and prerogatives rest with the elite of the society and those elite jealously guide their privileges. So let's take an obvious current example. America has problems and those problems are of a financial nature. Americans are stigmatized as being both foolish and extravagant; since their improvident actions have directly resulted in the present credit crisis, causing both massive unemployment and bankruptcy. That's the story that's been told, and it's absolute nonsense. What happened was this: financial institutions, the banks, the brokerages and insurance companies set up off-balance sheet investment investment vehicles in order to avoid capitalization requirements and to evade state domestic taxation. The financial institution personnel creating the investment vehicles amounted to, at most; just a few hundred individuals, less than a thousand. The vehicles were all situated in tax-haven countries. They're called qualifying special purpose entities and they're utilized to sell-off packages of bank bad loans. The vehicles amounted to over thirty trillion dollars, which is double the GDP of the USA, and they're worthless. The truth is: American public was blamed for the foolishness of few.

Solutions and Politics

Many of the most pressing problems have obvious solutions, but they'll lack political feasibility. For instance, in the United States, sixty percent of all personal bankruptcies are caused because patients are unable to pay for medical services contracted for, even though they have insurance. The reason for medical services' high costs is restricted supply of physicians to provide services. The smaller the number of physicians and other such medical specialists, the more limited those numbers are, the higher are charges for their services. If the charges exceed deductibles on the insurance policies of patients, those charges cause some patients to seek bankruptcy protection. The obvious solution would be simply to increase the number of physicians available to provide services so that the increased competition for patients would decrease amounts charged for the medical services rendered. But that would require government to found and to certify federal medical schools, in which the students paid no tuition; whose graduates (similar to graduates of federal military academies) would be mandated to provide services to the public at little cost, in public clinics, for a specific period of time, upon receipt of their federal medical degree licenses. But politics prevents such implementation. It would disturb the existing oligopoly in medicine.

Solutions and their Implementation

Solutions to problems are easy to propose, but much harder to get implemented. Everyone has solutions, but most of their proposed solutions could never be implemented. For instance, in the USA, there's severe problems in collecting sufficient revenues to keep government operational. Tax collections are no where near adequate. That problem could be solved by the imposition of a thirty percent VAT tax and by abolishing the existing income tax, employment tax, excise tax and estate tax structure---simply do away with it, and replace it with a thirty percent VAT tax. VAT tax has the advantage of easy audits (without audit no tax at all would be collected), as the VAT rate is flat and applied at each level of production; so a VAT forces production to decrease levels of complexity to be more efficient while controlling inflation, as VAT is a consumption tax. Seems a perfect solution until one realizes that America was founded upon obese consumption.

Perception is the Problem

No problem can possibly be solved if it's not recognized as being a problem. Articulation through correct stating of problems is difficult, especially if those problems are personal. It's easy to see problems others might have, but almost impossible to see one's own. Even friends with the best intentions might identify your problems, but not the sources or the solutions for those problems. The source of problems is false perception. Human perception is false because it is so limited. So, what's the solution? To make perception not limited. How to do this? It sure isn't easy!

Verification of the Future

If what our senses detect is not what truly is; then how can we possibly ever know what truly is? Well, there are methodologies already in existence to verify our perceptions---science and mathematics, in particular. But these verification methods are limited, as they only deal with what was and what we are really interested in is what shall be. We can verify the past, but we cannot verify the future and it's the future that we're interested in. We think we know the past. But do we?

Bare-Knuckle Boxing

Originally I was going to post the bare-knuckle boxing videos to YouTube, but at looking at some of the content; it might be a bit too brutal and inappropriate for public exposure; so I'll just be posting the videos to this blog so that their content will be confined to those who already have expressed an interest in the entire culture, and not in just its warrior aspect.

Thanks to All

Just wanted to take this small opportunity to thank those who have shown some interest in my books and postings. Hope it's been helpful. Just experiment and find what works best for you. No one has a monopoly on knowledge, including me. Bill

Cultures and Conformity

Distinct and separate are the ways of all cultures, but they all have common properties in that all wish to prosper and thrive. This is all to the good, except when that prosperity is conditioned on the poverty of some other culture. And of course, this is exactly how cultures work because they are in competition with each other for survival. Given all this; should one adhere to any culture's values and standards? Obviously not, unless the culture's values and standards also agree with one's own. Mostly, they don't; especially if one has very high standards. Any culture's standards stem from the mean of its membership and not from the best. One is always in conflict with the culture one happens to be in---whatever that culture might happen to be: Conformity is suicide.

Investments and the Future

Druids, since there are so few of us, are constantly getting inquiries about investments. So, well, here goes: stay away from broad index-related investing or any sectored indexed investments. Sure, the technology sector will always do well in the long run; but to invest in any mutual funds or hedge funds, where someone else is deciding what to invest in, is foolish. They know less than I do and I know very little. Invest in specific stocks whose companies have global marketing. So we know that technology has to grow in the long run. Which technology firms have marketing in the entire world's market? Which technology firms are highly liquid, with cash-on-hand: so that they can weather a deep recession and come out of it in viable condition to continue operations? There are only six: Cisco Systems (CSCO); Hewlett-Packard (HPQ); Intel (INTC); IBM (IBM); Microsoft (MSFT); United Technologies (UTX) and all are part of Dow Jones Industrial Average.

The Nature of NOW

Life is so complex not because events follow upon each other in a linked chain sequence; so that when one event happens, another must follow upon it...cause and effect. No. Life is so complex because a cause and a seeming effect of a cause doesn't happen: what happens is what happens and happening has no cause outside of itself. It is not directed. It happens. The fact that things happen is not related to another thing that has happened. Realization of this lack of relationship between past and present is what allows us to live in the NOW, which is outside of an appearance of any time. It is transcendent of time. NOW isn't eternal because to be eternal requires time. NOW just IS. This is reason for our saying: the thing most lovely is the music of what happens.

Loyalty and Survivability

One of the real problems in deciding which to be loyal to is that the object of our loyalty may not survive. It might not even survive our loyalty. For instance, America, the USA, does not look like its very long for this world. Evenually, it won't be able to pay interest on its own Treasury obligations and shall have to default on those obligations. How soon? Well within the lifetime of most of those subscribing to this blog. Defaulting on debt obligations does not necessarily mean demise of a nation if those obligations are with its own citizenry. But in USA's case, they are not. It's a bit foolish to give loyalty to a state that can't outlast oneself especially since the sole reason for the state's demise was its own designed intenion to terminate; states can commit suicide too. When a state issues excessive debt that it knows can't ever be satisfied, it desires its own death.

Be Pulled. Don't Push!

Continuing with close combat strategy from bare-knuckle boxing: there's a saying " Long against Long & Short against Short" What this means is that, depending upon the opponent's attack, the response ought to be appropriate. This is why we practice the eight leaps in class---H-J Chang, because she has a tall light frame, performs them must better than I can so it is probably best to imitate her than myself, as I'm a bit too clumsy and heavy. The eight leaps deal with avoidance of an enemy and an enemy's weapon and they're essential to a study of classical bare-knuckle. There is also a psychic element to all of this, and I'll discuss that here. The body radiates energy and the body absorbs radiated energy. We've spoke about "gill-breathing" light in a prior post. This is all part of that. There is an analogy used about rope-bridge walking; that in order not to topple one must be pulled and not pushed. What it means is that if you concentrate on trying to overcome your fear and forcibly push your limbs to move forward to cross, you shall be bound to fail and to fall in the chasm. But if you were instead to let your mind go, and just allow the other end of that bridge to pull you towards it, you shall succeed in your crossing. This applies to life.