Alkebulan

A name that indigenous Africans used to refer to their land, their continent (or, at least, part of it), before the Greeks and Romans imposed their will on world history through their conquests and empires. This piece of information that I was just exposed to (whether truthful, accurate, or not) was just the nudge to provoke another wave of disgust at the unfortunate power and arrogance of xenocentricity. Since my first trip to Europe at the still-impressionable age of 20, I have found no little rise of ire whenever I encounter an indigenous name of a non-Anglo-American-occupied place that runs counter to that which I was instructed and conditioned with through the bias of my Anglo-American media and educational brainwashing. "Florence" in place of that which the locals have called "Firenze" far longer than Europeans have occupied the Americas. "Munich" in place of "München." "Brittany" in place of "Bretagne." "Ireland" in place of "Eire." "Danzing" in place of "Gdansk." "Constantinople" in place of "Istanbul." "Carthage" in place of "Qart-Ḥadašt." "Vienna" in place of "Wien." "Rhodesia" in place of "Zimbabwe." "Mexico City" in place of "Ciudad de Mexico" (which replaced "Tenochtitlan"). "Peking" in place of "Beijing." "Saigon" in place of "Gia Định" (which has now been replaced by "Ho Chi Minh City.") "Moscow" in place of "Moskva." "Indonesia" in place of "Dutch East Indies" which replaced a vast area of thousands of islands housing numerous fragmented kingdoms. "Indians," "Iroquois," "Creek," "Comanche," "Ottawa," "Chippewa," and thousands of other indigenous names in place of the numerous names of self-identification these peoples had for themselves. 

Why? What gives us the right? (Power? Conquest? "Might makes right"?) Who gave us permission? Why do autonomous nations, states, municipalities, and people not assert their identities? Why don't our individual consciences prompt or allow us to accept a local inhabitant's right to have his/her name for his/her home location to take place of the arrogantly (or "conveniently") re-named moniker we were brainwashed with? What is it in human nature (or human social psychology--or even human linguistics) that makes it so difficult for us to listen, hear, and respect others--to always occupy a position of dominance, control, and/or rightness? I mean, we can't even conjure up enough respect and gratitude to capitalize the names of the very places that give us life--like Earth, Sun, Galaxy, Universe, and Cosmos--can't even admit to our dependence upon external locations for our very existence--so how can we ever expect to learn to respect cultures, people, and ideas that are not our own?

Define your terms

My mother is fond of recounting the single most important lesson in her education as being learning to define one's terms when in the course of discussion, discourse, or argument. Here are some terms from the English language that I consider important to define when communicating in more than a cursory/superficial fashion with another human being. 

reality

life

energy

matter

power

force

science

numinous

sacrifice

objectivity

good

bad

original

consciousness

mind

brain

body

senses

Where is science's proof?

 . . . of the existence and makeup of matter?

 . . . of the existence and makeup of energy?

 . . . of the speed of light?

 . . . of the Earth and Sun being only 12,000 years old?

 . . . that "reality" exists?

 . . . that I exist? Because je pense?

 . . . that thoughts are real? Where is the empirical proof?

 . . . that thoughts aren't real? 

 . . . that matter is real?

 . . . that gravity and unconditional love aren't two names for the same thing?  

 . . . that thought, thoughts, and consciousness don't create matter? 

 . . . that reality would exist if there were no one there to view/experience it?

 . . . of "dark" energy?

 . . . of "dark" matter?

 . . . of infinity?

 . . . that there is no Universal (or Cosmic) Life Force?

 . . . that the universe has an end/limits/boundaries?

 . . . thoughts and consciousness don't create form?

 . . . that thoughts don't have form?

 . . . the soul doesn't exist?

 . . . of location and locality?

 . . . 

 . . . 

 . . . 

 . . . 

 . . . 

 . . . 

 . . . 

 . . . 

 . . . 

 . . . 

 . . . 

How does science explain . . .

 . . . the pre-existence of the universe?

 . . . human consciousness?

 . . . how light is both a particle and a "packet" of energy?

 . . . how the pyramids were built?

 . . . how Machu Picchu was built?

 . . . why the pyramids were built?

 . . . thoughts?

 . . . love?

 . . . energy?

 . . . miracles?

 . . . the dismantling of "irrefutable laws"?

 . . . need?

 . . . desire?

 . . . preference?

 . . . the origin of thoughts?

 . . . emotion?

 . . . intuition?

 . . . synchronicity?

 . . . imagination?

 . . . dreams?

 . . . language?

 . . . memory?

 . . . the Copernican solar system?

 . . . the speed of light?

 . . . how "physical" "reality" is possible when space is 99.99999% "empty" space and 0.000001% energy--when matter does not, in fact, "physically" exist? (What does "empty" mean?)

 . . . numinosity?

the stories from near-death experiences?

the reasons humans value oral tradition?

 . . . why homo sapiens sapiens and its genetic lineage are the only viable options for the creation of human history? 

 . . . why suicide is a less-condoned option to sacrificing/casting off/discarding one's commitment to one's own human life than soldiering or police corps, farming, commercial fishing, or working in a mine or in the forestry/logging industry? 

 . . . morals and morality?

 . . . objectivity versus subjectivity?

Debt is the ingenious means to the creation and perpetuation of a new form of slavery

Debt is the ingenious means to the creation and perpetuation of a new form of slavery. With capitalism's perpetual dependence on ever-increasing inflation (and with it, a continual slide in the devaluation of money) you are intended to always feel the pressure to earn more, work harder, have to spend more and, thus, use more and more credit (loans and credit cards), otherwise you can never "compete" with your neighbors and friends in the race to accumulate the most toys, take the more exotic trips, play hard with your debt-accruing vacations and parties and accumulation of tools of comfort and ease. Whereas the bondage of previous forms of slavery might include literal forms of chains, open oppression and torture, and prison-like conditions of depravity, in the new society each American has been allowed to share in the toys and comforts and games of modern convenience but only at the price of becoming indentured to the chains of the threat of penalty, legal action, and/or jail time for paying off the debts one accrues in order to live this high life. How many of you can honestly say that you can wake up and decide that you're not going to work today, just because you feel like it, without feeling the tremendous guilt and pressure of job security, income deficiency, and worry about one's inability to pay the bills awaiting your regular payment? If you can, then I count you as one of the lucky minority. The rest of us have to remain ever vigilant to each months bills, each year's taxes, each hunger pang and doctor or dentist visit, each whimsical "need" you want to satisfy according to the way you are conditioned as a good consumer-capitalist.

"Earth"

How can we ever hope to place our life-giving biosphere before our own greed, comforts, and addictions if/when we can't even honor our Mother with a designation connoting respect and honor. We capitalize all other names--even the names of storms and hurricanes as well as those of mountains and oceans--but we can't even humble ourselves for fear of feeling the shame of admitting to our place within the Circle of Life by capitalizing the name of the Mother of us all:  Earth. 

This or That with No In-Between: The Binary World of Absolutes We've Been Herded into

Ones and zeroes. This and that. Here and there. Mine and theirs. Us versus them. Nationalism. Religion. I have to admit to feeling a bit disappointed at the insidious sway of "black and white" thinking to which our American population is succumbing. Absolutes are very hard to come by as most everything is on a spectrum, yet the number of people who have been brainwashed into thinking in terms of "one or the other" with no in-between is truly alarming. But, then, the creation of this Game of Earth-based of Human Existence has set in motion some amazingly inventive means to ever-deepening the deprivations we can experience through the use of the Illusions of Cosmic Creation and the infinitely variable perceptions of "reality." I thought addictions were a great addition to the game's strategic bag of tricks but the expansion of consciousness and understanding of psychology of the Ego and its resultant refuge in the growing lists of "mental health" dis-eases and issues has been nothing short of remarkable. 

The success of depraved tactics like these have made me bored and disgusted with the Earth-based Human game--which is why I shall be leaving soon . . . and not returning.