Monthly Archives: March 2014

Happiness

Why I feel sorry for Fred Phelps.

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Why I feel sorry for Fred Phelps.

Westbro Baptists Church Image

Phelps’  barbaric and sociopathic deity reflected his inner self.

 

Fred Phelps is dead. The founder of Westbro Baptist Church and perhaps one of the most hateful people in Christianity has shuffled his mortal coil, leaving us to ponder what this means and what his legacy will be. I’m guessing that few people will mourn his passing, but hoping that the triumphal jubilation that I expect to see never materialises.

I do want to talk about Phelps, who he is and what he represents.

Yesterday, I wrote about the “Happy Ones”, saying that the Happy Ones are those who have not only chosen to be happy, but have made a concrete decision to bring happiness into the lives of everyone. In contrast, Phelps is one of the “Hateful Ones”. It is clear that he made a conscious choice to embrace hate as a way of life and in doing so, wished to bring hate into the lives of everyone. His famous saying, “God Hates Fags” (and Jews, and America and fairly much everyone) makes this abundantly clear.

Phelps obviously chose many other things, including intolerance, arrogance and pride. Some might say that he also chose “Jesus”, but I don’t think that his true. Phelps would have been the person he was, whether he was a Christian, Jew, Muslim, or Pagan. The god that he worshiped was a reflection of who he was, rather than the other way around.

In all honestly, I feel sorry for people like Phelps and am filled with the urge to reach out to them and to show them another path. Although, given how deeply committed he was to the path of hate, it is doubtful that anything that I could have said would have impacted him in the slightest. If nothing else, the fact that I freely admit to knowing nothing is repellent to those who insist that they know everything.

Another reason that I feel sorry for people like him is that I firmly believe that who we are and the choices that we make are fundamental to our destination through eternity. In one of my trances, I experienced my entire existence stretching out in time behind me, while my future stretched out in front (visually it was left to right, but the element of time was vital to the experience).

I saw that where I am today is not just the result of decisions that I have made in this lifetime, but because of decisions I have made over the course of my eternal existence. This is nothing like Karma in the traditional sense, but rather a reflection of the choices that I have made and the person that I decided to become as far back in time as I can comprehend.

The reason that I can say that I am one of the Happy Ones is because I have built up a foundation and done the work required to get to this point. This doesn’t mean that I can rest on my laurels. The reality is that unless I consciously choose my path and determine my destination, I could very well slip back into a Phelps like existence.

Because, in my visions, I have also come to realise that there is another “me” out there. In fact, there are an Infinity of “me”s out there and not all of them have taken the same path as I. In fact, many have taken the exact opposite path. Where I have chosen happiness, they have chosen misery. Where I have chosen love, they have chosen hate. Where I have chosen tolerance, they have chosen persecution. Where I have chosen hope, they have despair.

I feel incredibly saddened by these other “me”s. They live in a place that to me seems like “Hell”, but to them makes perfect sense. Our explorations of the Infiniverse will take us to diametrically opposite places and I fear greatly for what terrors they will discover on their journey.

Reflecting on why I feel sorrow for my other selves who have chosen a different path is why I feel sorry for Phelps. The man was consumed by his own hate and self-righteousness, but failed to understand that he already stood on the steps of the Hell that he thought all others would be sent to.

Imagine living the life of someone like Phelps. It isn’t just the hate. It is the fear and insecurity that drives it and the worldview that sustains it. Imagine what it must be like to honestly believe that almost everyone you meet is destined to burn in the fires of eternal damnation. It must be terrifying.

If you honestly believe that everyone else is going to burn in Hell, then you believe in a sociopathic and barbaric god. If god is prepared to eternally torture billions of people for their perceived transgressions, how can anyone be safe? How can you know that you aren’t somehow going to make a mistake that is going to condemn you. Obviously you can’t and irrespective of how pure you think you might be, the doubt and the nightmare of other people’s torture must surely haunt your life.

Despite spending his entire life trying to get others to share his demonic vision, it is estimated that at most his disruptive flock never amounted to any more than about 100 people and that most of these were family members. In the end, he died after having been excommunicated by his own church.

Of course, it could be argued that like his god, Phelps was himself a completely delusional sociopath. Perhaps his seeming megalomania would make it highly unlikely that he ever doubted his true path, or final residence in Heaven. Ultimately, that may be so. We’ll never know. What I think that we can say is that Phelps’ “heaven” would be a barren, angry and intolerant place.

His path throughout eternity is one that is unlikely to lead to a world filled with happiness. Ultimately, he died rejected by the world. He died rejected by his flock. And most likely died filled with terror about being rejected by his own evil god.

 

Happiness

Have you chosen Happiness?

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Have you chosen Happiness?

 

 

 Find your rudder.

 

 

Today, March 20 2014, is the United Nations International Happiness Day. I’d like to talk about what it means to be “One of the Happy Ones”.

Happiness, for many people is ephemeral. It is something that happens to them, rather than something that they believe that they have control over. This can be seen in the various statistics about happiness. For example, Professor Bob Cummins, of Deakin University has been conducting a quarterly survey into happiness for many years now. Among other factors, se has discovered that wealth is a significant contributing factor to happiness, as are social resources and employment. Without each of these people’s happiness drops significantly.

 

But this really doesn’t tell us what you need in order to be happy. Rather, I’d suggest that these are merely metrics that indicate what the ordinary person needs in order to lift them to a particular level of happiness. It says nothing about your ability to choose happiness and to direct the course of your life.

 

Simple question: Have you chosen Happiness?

 

This is a question that I have asked many people and the results are startling. The vast majority of people who I’ve spoken to report that they haven’t made such a decision. Not only this, but on further questioning, many report that it wouldn’t even have occurred to them to make such a choice and that they wouldn’t regard it as meaningful if they did. They honestly don’t know how to make themselves happy.

 

But the great news is that Happiness is a choice that you can make and it is something that you can commit to in doing so, it is something that can change your life immeasurably.

 

Here’s why.

 

Imagine a boat without a rudder. Where is it going to go? Obviously nowhere under its own volition. It may end up somewhere, but where ever it does end up will be almost entirely random and mostly dependent on external circumstances, such as wind, or tide.

 

What happens when we put a rudder on the boat? Suddenly we go from a situation where there is no control to one where there is. Whomever is in control of the rudder can set a course to wherever they wish. Certainly there are going to be external circumstances that impact on the direction the boat can travel. Tides might carry it off its path, or if it is a sailboat, it might not be able to sail directly towards its goal and may have to tack for a while before it gets there. It might take a while, but with a rudder we can be sure that in time, the boat will get to its destination.

 

This is the change that we can experience when we make the conscious choice to be happy. Suddenly, instead of bobbing about in the water with no direction and at the mercy of our environment, we are suddenly in control. Most importantly, we know what our ultimate destination is going to be: Happiness!

 

This act of choosing who you wish to be is enormously empowering. Committing to happiness and knowing your destination, immediately removes a whole range of negative outcomes and allows you to face life with a positive outlook. Sure, it doesn’t suddenly make your situation any better, but it does change the one thing that you have control over: Your attitude.

 

Choosing happiness doesn’t mean that you are going to be happy from that moment onward. Indeed, if your experience making the choice is anything like mine, you’ll soon get the impression that the rudder keeps on falling off and needs regular repair, in terms of a re-commitment to the path of happiness.

But once you have decided to change your life and begun to implement the behaviours that will take you towards happiness your eventual arrival is ensured. Depending on your starting point, this may take many years, but the very act of making the decision can be life changing and it won’t be long before you are able to reap the real rewards that a commitment to genuine happiness can bring.

 

So, who are “The Happy Ones”? They aren’t people who are accidentally happy, because their circumstances happen to have turned out OK. Rather, they are those who have not only committed themselves to happiness, but also to spreading it throughout the universe and throughout the lives of others.

They aren’t always happy, but they view those times when happiness is hard to find as opportunities to practice the skills of happiness, rather than as a sign of failure. Even when they are poor, isolated and seemingly without prospects, they still carry a spark of optimism that gets them through, because they know that their current difficulties don’t reflect who they truly are. They understand where their final destination truly lies.

How do I know?

Because I am one of the Happy Ones. And we’d love for you to join us!

Careers and employment

Skype, Interviews and the New Frontier.

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Skype, Interviews and the New Frontier.

 

In your dreams!

 

Like many technologies, Skype is rapidly changing the way that many businesses do things, and one of the ways in which is making a difference is in the job market, where telephone interviews are out and Skype interviews are in.

 One of my Facebook friends just posted to say that she is having her first interview in living memory and that it is a Skype interview. Her key comment: “Yay! No need for pants!”.

So I thought I’d put in my own advice about how to manage Skype interviews, whether it is for a new job, new client, or fairly much anyone you may want to talk to over the internet:

 

Wear pants!

 

It might be a Skype interview, but you still need to go into it with a professional mindset and with all the seriousness of a face to face interview, or meeting. Seriously, the last thing you need is to be struck with the irony of speaking with your new boss in your underwear. News presenters might get away with it, but they are trained professionals.

Dress exactly as you would for a normal interview, including hair, makeup and whatever else. Make sure that your work space and room are clean and uncluttered and be mindful of what is behind you, in your backdrop.

Before he was famous for inflicting Watergate on the American public and condemning us to a world in which every scandal seems to have “gate” to the end of it Richard Nixon was famous for flubbing the very first US presidential debate (against JFK in 1960) because he failed to realise how he would come across on the new medium. Similarly, Skype presents a whole range of challenges that aren’t present in face to face interviews.

Make sure that you have good positioning and lighting for your camera and that the image is flattering. If you need to move your computer into a better environment, or steal someone else’s room for the interview then do so. Be careful of going out doors, because even a small gust of wind can sound like a gale on a computer mic.

Pay particular attention to your tone of voice, especially if the video connection is poor. Vibrancy is the key, rather than sounding monotonic, or too rehearsed.

Be prepared for interviewers to ask you to whip the camera around the room so that they can get an idea of how your work space looks. Some will do this, because they believe that a shoddy personal space is reflective of poor work qualities.

Make sure that other people around you know that you are having an important interview and make sure that they know to respect your space and time and to not play music, or engage in other activities that might provide a distraction, or break the impression that you are trying to create.

Finally make sure that you are familiar with the technology and that you are well-practiced on Skype before your interview. If you’ve never used it before, you’ll make a real mess of things, because you’ll be trying to do two unfamiliar, difficult things at once. The last think you want is to be hit with a zinger question and be  unable to respond to the question because you are simultaneously doing battle with your webcam.

Uncategorized

The thoughts of a truly ignorant person.

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Over the years, if I have learnt anything, it is that my ignorance is fundamental.

This may surprise many who speak with me, as people report that I often exude a confidence and certainty that they admire. They look at some of the things that I have done. such as a 28 day hunger strike and publicly Tripping with LSD on the Steps of Victoria’s Parliament House and think that I must be very certain of what I know.

Within one context, this is true. I am very certain of what I know. For example, when I write to members of the Victorian Parliament about my use of Transcendent Compounds, I use rigorous science and provide a sound assessment of the legal realities. I am a firm believer in science when it comes to figuring out the realities of this particular universe.

Anyone who knows me will know that I am frustrated by the ignorance that parades as knowledge. Whether it be conspiracy theorists trying to tell me that people I personally know (including friends in politics) are being controlled by the Illuminati, or Christian fundamentalists trying to tell me that their easily falsifiable “faith” in Christ means that I’ll be tortured in Hell for eternity.

It seems that wherever I turn people are in a desperate search for some sort of explanation an they’ll take the first shortcut that appeals to them and to the social networks they inhabit. They’d rather have an often horrific and depressing “certainty”, rather than go through life acknowledging that the fundamental state of all sentient is Ignorance.

What does it mean for something to be “True” and how can I ever know the “Truth”? Ultimately, we can never know anything for sure. While I believe certain things about the reality that I inhabit, I also know that I don’t have a clue about the fundamental reality of my experience. How much of what I experience is actually real? What does it even mean for something to be real?

I honestly don’t know if anything that I believe is actually “true” and when I see the grievous errors that other people make in their thinking and decision-making, I can’t help but wonder what errors I too am making. Lots according to others, but everything I write makes sense to me, and therein lies the rub.

How can anyone disprove the Matrix? We can’t. And if we can’t disprove the Matrix, how can we know anything for sure, beyond our own existence? Again, we can’t.

And I have long since given up worrying about it and have learnt to live with and enjoy the vast uncertainty that is every day of my life.

More evil in this world is created by those who think that they have “truth” than those who don’t. The fundamental motivation behind intolerance is that the bigot thinks that they know something and are better than those who they hate. It’s very hard to play nice with the other children, if you are convinced that they are inherently evil and are doing the work of Satan.

As hard as it is, I believe that the way forward for humanity lies not in us all believing the same thing and singing of the one song sheet, be it a Christian, Muslim, Communist, or Capitalist one. Instead, our collective way forward lies in acknowledging the fundamental uncertainty of all our opinions and being tolerant of the non-hurtful behaviors of others.

Civilization and communities are stronger than people think. Civilization has always been a move towards tolerance and the acceptance of others. If I can communicate anything in what I do, it is that we all need to simply accept that we haven’t got a clue and allow others to live their lives in whatever way they see fit, as long as they are not causing harm to others. Most of us have enough trouble keeping our own lives together, let alone worrying about living the lives of others.

The sooner people start leaving their self-imposed institutionalised, intellectual ghettos, the sooner that humanity will learn to truly cooperate and work together to solve our problems.

In this blog, I’ll be teasing out these and other issues. I have already written much on these topics, and these pages will be gradually added to the website over the next few days and weeks. But there is always more to be explored and much fun to be had in doing so.

If you want to listen to the thoughts of a truly ignorant person, tune in an enjoy the ride. 🙂