“The whole problem with the world is
that fools and fanatics are so certain of themselves and wiser people so full
of doubts.” –Bertrand Russell
Well, well, People from Europe came
to this country and decided they couldn’t or wouldn’t live with the natives, so
they ethic-cleansed them. Those who survived the cleansing were put on
reservations—reservations on their own land! And the worst land too.
Their buffalo, a great food supply,
were exterminated for sport, leaving great amounts of precious meat to rot. The
shooters became celebrities.
Slaves were brought in, stolen from
their country to do the dirty work, and when others of our own country objected,
a civil war broke out.
After a President proclaimed the
slaves free, someone shot him.
When Jewish people slipped past a
great statue that proclaimed “Send me you're tired, you're poor, your hungry
masses yearning to breath free,” those hungry masses faced ostracism, racial
slurs, were kept out of prep schools, clubs, and everyplace those white men
held dear.
The Chinese immigrants were used and
abused, the Irish, escaping religious prosecution and famine were “bought” as
indentured servants who were under a master’s control for 5-7 years, later
reduced to 2. German intellectuals, artists and scientists fled to the US and
being of higher economic status integrated into, the farm folk, especially the
Mennonites and Amish didn’t fare as well. Japanese citizens of the United
States were incarcerated for no other reason than their heritage, and FEAR that
they would join their countrymen in a war.
NOW, this great country whose battle
cry has been FREEDOM is now building a wall separating this great land from
another great land South of the border, all for the simple fact that their
people come to American seeking its dream. (Cut it out about illegals, drug
dealers, and rapists)
We have an accused rapist living in
the White House. (Shhh. It’s hushed up.)
Oh, he’s rich, well that excuses it.
Oh, he speaks his mind—we love that.
Yes, but do we like his mind?
The term Rednecks has become a slur,
although initially, the red bandana around the neck meant Union members were on
strike and became known as rednecks. Finally, they had found a way to lobby for
better working conditions and higher wages.
Immigrants
provided the labor that built America.
And they were looked down upon
because they were poor, and many were uneducated.
We have always shunned the new, the
different, the stranger, the out of place person, those of lower rank.
Is it nature or nurture?
In the wild, many prey animals of the same specie look alike,
Zebras, deer, antelope. If a Zebra looks different, the group knows he will
soon be long gone, for he will be eaten by the predators. He stood out, same
with the misshapen, the lame, the old, the sick.
Whatever it is, nature or nurture, advertisers,
the media, salespeople, and politicians use our psychology against us.
I know I’m not telling you anything
you don’t know; I just wonder why?
I do know that the Number one way
to control people is through FEAR.
Many say they will give up some of
their freedom to be safe.
From Mark Manson (Why You Can’t
Trust Yourself), I got the following two points:
1. We Are Biased and Selfish Without
Realizing It.
Have you ever done this? You see someone running a red
light and exclaim, “What an Idiot. Trying to cut 3 seconds off his commute. He’s
a menace on the road--putting everyone in danger. Where’s a policeman when you
need one.”
And then one day you accidentally slip past a red
light. “Well heck,” you say. “I didn’t see that. Well, nobody was hurt.”
We tend to diminish our own mistakes but make a big
deal out of others. I don’t know if wanting to excuse ourselves while laying
blame on others is caused by nature or nurture, but it is more often than not it
is unconscious. Fear of looking bad? Wanting to be better than others? I don’t
know. Fear of punishment? Maybe.
You know that in domestic violence, the abuser
justifies his behavior because the little woman made him mad. It’s her fault,
and she deserved it.
“When people talk about times when they
inflicted harm on someone else, as you might suspect, they can come up with all
sorts of reasons about how their actions were reasonable and
justified. The way they see it, they had no choice to do what they did. They
see the harm experienced by the other person as minor and they think that being
blamed for causing it is unjust and unreasonable.”—Mark Hansen
2. We Are Easily Manipulated Into
Making Bad Decisions
Someone hands us a piece of paper, a
pamphlet or at those home shows, or conventions, they offer candy. Once you are
given something you feel obligated to give back. A nice reaction right? Except
it’s manipulation. And it’s tough to resist.
Think of how our emotions impact us.
Remember in school, a teacher would
ask a question and those ten smart-ass students would throw their hand up?
Well, you were staring out the window—all this discussion about when the war of
1812 was fought was growing stale. So, you meditated.
So, who did she call on?
You.
You were flustered and embarrassed
and couldn’t even remember when the war of 1812 was fought, and you blurt out,
“1818.”
Fast forward 20 years. You walk into
your high school reunion. By now you are CEO of a large corporation, and you
are dressed to the nines. On top of that, you drove there in your new BMW.
What happens when you walk into the
room?
Someone yells: “Here’s Miss 1818.”
You are 10 years old again.
I guess I wrote through some anger,
for I turned to my come On Baby Light My Fire--steps to success, (that was The Wisdom Seekers, but is now
Come On Baby Light My Fire (https;//come-on-baby-light-my-fire.com) and began to write about the Golden Buddha.
Once upon a time, in Thailand, construction
were renovating an ancient temple and found a huge Clay Buddha.
Since it was large and heavy,
they left it outside, and to protect it from the elements they covered it with
a tarp.
One morning after a rain one of
the workers checked to see that the statue was well covered. It was, except
that a small portion where the tarp had blown eschew. Shinning his flashlight
under the tarp to see what damage had been done, he was met with his light
brilliantly shining back.
The rain had washed away part
of the clay and reveled what lie beneath.
Gold.
The clay had been applied to
cover and to protect a Golden Buddha. ( 5.5 tons of gold. Worth 250 million
dollars.)
We, like the Golden Buddha, awaiting
for the rain of wisdom to wash away the clay—all those snipping little arguments,
resentments, prejudices, superstitions, big arguments, wars, etc. that keep us
from our true selves.
Beneath the Clay is pure
Gold.
“Believe nothing. No matter
where you read it, or who said it, even if I have said it unless it agrees with
your own reason and your own common sense.”—THE BUDDHA
“The truth will set you free, but
first it will piss you off.”—Werner Erhard
