Jehovah Witness {They leave on their own}

Intro:
After all of the stories you have heard of how people try to avoid other people involved in the Jehovah Witnesses – {notice Im not attaching a story/label to the person, even if they identify with it – identification with a story is what keeps a person in prison.} – it appears that there is an easier, more friendly, & permanent way to get rid of them.

Ironically, once you understand the concept of how this works, you truly will not seek to get rid of them – though they will likely still go their own way.

Love = Acceptance:
Yes, I know, this blows even Christians away.
But acceptance is love, and love is acceptance.
Go read 1 Corinthians chapter 13 and have a look yourself at the beautiful description of love given by Paul.
{i.e. Love does not remember wrong}

While I have not the time to theologically & philosophically debate, or more accurately, properly educate about the true meaning behind this most misunderstood word – I will say that once you get it…a whole new world opens for you on a level you never knew possible.

What would Jesus do?
I have told this story before, so I wont go much more into it then to say that in my prime as a zealot I took an elder of the Jehovah Witness and nailed him Theologically, with his own Bible, to the point he could not respond but to renounce his ways and see I was right. {Yeah, sound pretty arrogant doesnt it. Fact is, from a debate standpoint, he was nailed.}

note: no he did not change…

But from a human standpoint, I realized a lesson – no one will change their whole belief system, no matter how fallible, even if an ‘ark of truth’ was set before them. {see one of the last Star Gate Movies to reference what Im referring to.}

Identity:
Their whole identity, sense of self, is wrapped up in an illusion called form. {thought form.} If you strip away what they so desperately identify with…the ego fears death, annihilation. {Funny irony there with the last word and J.W. belief system.}

Yes, ego death will come, but it is life and freedom for who you truly are. I stood on the same cliff, but mine was that of an Evangelical, Zionist, Christian, Missionary, die-hard.

Once you let go, you float…not sink, and ‘all you cares are cast upon Him’, as it were. If you can accept not knowing, you will be fine…if you cant, yeah, you may feel a bit crazy – but dont let your ’stableness’ in your current belief system fool you…it doesnt fool others who see the insanity in the inconsistency in the beliefs you espouse and in the fruit, {lack of, or rotten} that you exhibit.

Jesus chooses Acceptance:
Ever read the story of Jesus with the sinners?
No, not just read it and say how nice it is, etc.
Did you ever really get it?

I have said it before, but it bares repeating…Jesus was successful because he saw a person and did not identify them with the label other identified with them. This is so basic and simple once you get it, but before then, we can run in circles around this topic.

i.e.,
Many see “love the sinner” and not the “sin”.
How nice and righteous of you. hehe.
Well, sin means miss the mark, and we all miss it – even after saved – so lets drop the identity with the label sinner.

Its like why a drunk in A.A. will always be a drunk.
They are taught that they will always be a drunk, even if sober, so they walk away with an identity that pulls them back into that which they try to escape. – No wonder A.A. doesnt work…and I mean on a soul level, dont count me your dry days.

People with Jesus Changed:
This is why people with Jesus changed…because they were free to not associate with a label that society and they themselves had adopted for themselves. Jesus didnt say, “ah, I love you sinner and not your sin, so now go change.” He loved them…{remember the passage in 1 Cor. 13. – ‘remembers no wrong’…didnt give a time limit, if it did this would imply putting a label or identity around the ’sin’ and the person.}

So in short, people could then make conscious choices in the only moment they have, now, of what they would and would not do – and not based on some thought form of past and present…{which past and present only happen in the now, as well as the memory of them.}

Darkness cannot handle light:
Darkness cannot handle light? Why not?
Light stands for truth, and darkness for what is not truth.
If the truth shines, then how can darkness keep its illusion of identity around that which is not real? It cant, the person would be set free from the ego/false self and that would be that.

Since being in Hungary, my wife and I have done what many people will not do – unless they want to argue and debate – and that is open our homes to a Jehovah Witness couple.

I have made it clear my beliefs – which basically is leaving the other person to be where they are to ‘work out their own salvation with fear and trembling – and that Im not up for adopting any new form of identification with some system meant to help me out in a future that only arrives as the present moment. – i.e., live now – God is “I am” he/she/it is here in the now.

Conclusion:
“So what is the secret? Thats it? Nah, it cant be?”
Well, it depends on what you understood from what is said.
If you truly love and are not threatened or feel you have to defend the truth…of which truth needs no defense…then yeah, that is it.

They almost never come around, and infact it looks they have stopped altogether. I just read an article about JWs beliefs, which essentially states they are forbidden to have associations or friendships outside of the J.W.s, or they are ‘marked’.

I never really realized how much fear was in their religion until reading that article…which is sad in light of 1 Cor. 13. {which they share in their own Bible.} I never knew how controlling the J.W. as a collective is over the individual. Suppose it never crossed my mind that they would ever get that far with people to begin with, and this is probably why the ‘JW collective’ like getting the door slammed on them. {Pain feeds on more pain, and better than hearing the truth and being loved.}

So, if they are not open to friendship, and only evangelism, they will get tired after they realize that you find truth from Buddha, Jesus, etc. – and even in their own religion. {I have pulled out topics that they had and talked about the aspects of that which I could agree to, but in a fresher light.}

Do this, and you wont have to be an ass who slams the door on them, or a zealot trying to win someone over to make them ‘twice the son of hell’. Its unfortunate, but it is as it is – and its their choice…thats the beauty of it – freedom of choice, well as far as one can have that in a predestined universe.
{Ooops there goes my presbyterian influence.}

I bet I scare most traditional Christians with what I write, but thats o.k., Im sure they could never imagine that, like Paul, I was once the zealot of zealots…no, people tend to think that “he was never truly part of the fold” – or some other religious jargon like that.

Peace and love to you all.

dAlen

The Pirate Bay

Intro:
I originally posted this on Wired to an article concerning the pirate bay trial. They seemed to have had balanced content concerning this, but the latest article I read seemed a bit interesting, to say the least. Who knows, it may change later, as these things can be updated.

I left a comment, the one below, (this article needed a registration to post a comment), but it did not go up. Its lengthy, but I did not see a character count this time so thought it would be fine…anyway – the article/comment below:

Main Intro:
Kind of strange to me – I was taken back by the title of this piece as well as to much of the content that followed.

Was this written by the people who just took pirate bay to court? Sounded like it for the most part.
Not sure what the exact problem is, but the mind is more accustomed to that which is tamed and controlled – vs. that which appears to be wild and chaotic.

I do admit, I may have well missed the point – perhaps it is that the write thought they were bringing on a revolution. But the model of non-hierarchical organization is new for many that are used to going through the food chain. (referring to the music industry vs. the universe…two guesses who is who.) lol

Polarities – {peace is when both sides meet:}
As usual there is a middle ground that meets between the two polarities.
Consider this, you watch t.v. for free. Naturally you would assume you could record it, especially after the VCR years.

T.v. is free – so whats the biggy…oh, the adverts.
Honestly, I may be the only one it seems, but I do not watch adverts, nor do I buy products from something I have seen. So in a way, the advertisers are wasting their money if everyone else is like me…but I guess its not the case. Must be everyone rushes down to the local shop for that latest deal.

Music & Film
Musicians are hurt by the industry – not from sharing. (Same as Video & film.)
As a video/film producer, lets consider this. If I were to produce a television series and get it accepted on a certain network, the fact is I would take almost no money home for the licensing fees given.

I clearly remember when all this stuff went down with Napster, etc. – and Madonna was like, “go get em and share my songs”. It was in the news…would not be surprised if it is no longer on the net. Not long after she was one of the staunch ones against sharing music. Fact is she probably got a good slap on the wrist – and people dont consider stars like her being under someone more influential…its ‘her music’ after all. (or is it?)

No, lets be honest. Greed and foolishness is what drives the music/film industry.
Ill give an example for each.

Whose stealing from who?
Some songs, no one will buy period. This is what happens when you see black and white and not the shades of grey that lead to each polarity. Instead of getting a basic fact that some songs, to some people, are only worth listening to for free, they saw $$$ signs that they interpreted into lost revenue. (No lost revenue, they just would not have listened to it.)

And, there is something to be said about Artist who are free from the industry and who do good with a loose model distribution. When its more real, energy flows. Your not expecting more than what you gave. Take the Beatles argument by the industry at this trial…how long does someone expect something in return from the energy they put out…when most of them are already dead? Thats the ego…its not from lack or necessity, they are well taken care of. But fear sets in and the belief that all will fall apart if we adapt this mentality…for as a wild forest, we cannot understand it…we cannot control it.

Warners stifling creativity:
As for the video Industry, look no further than Warner Bros.
I personally have a beef with them – well not really – but they seem to lack the creative spark needed to properly run a business and generate new potential revenue streams. Despite their sister company having shown some creativity with L.O.T.R. and its distribution packaging model, etc.

Harry Potter comes to mind when I think of Warner.
Not only did the idea of an extended movie not come to their minds – see above comment – but they decided to release a film that should have been out last Nov., until this June/July because…to paraphrase…”we are not creative and want to make sure we have a blockbuster”.

Oh god, are you serious? I just could not believe that. And then they blame it on the writers strike.
Here is the worlds smallest violin playing, and no I want even give you that honour. lol

And now they are going to split the movie into two parts, and over two years. (Yes, I know, I know, its too long…forget that your sister company New Line could figure out how to do a long feature.)

Now, see, all of this is not personal. There is no person I am pointing a finger at.
The organization shows a collective issue of the people who are in it. And I have no qualms with them either.
This is more of a pointer to a different way then what is now, because if they continue down that path – they will find it leads to a dead end. (But they are free to traverse that path.)

Conclusion:
So, we have a balance here…nothing wrong with structure, but no need for putting a tie on and choking the idea. Nothing wrong with natural chaos, the forest has an intelligence that our minds can never grasp…and in short, our limited understanding scares us, and we operate out of fear. As simple as this sounds, its fear that drives, typically both sides, until one side flips and the other side becomes what its rival was. – Interesting how this happens.

I would love to see some innovation into the new way of distribution that I have hinted at.
But for now, its one step at a time, and its all beginning right here in each of us. We are what make up the collective conscious that drives the world.

Peace

dAlen

P.s.
Sharing or stealing.
The last I understood it, people who steal do not share what they have – and actually take something from someone else.

The torrent sites, etc. are a community of people sharing files…that still exist from wherever they came from. And they are the same people who pay for independent artist work, etc.

Again, understand how contracts and license work out and see that no one is getting robbed…though if anyone is, its the artist by the distributor.
Those who point fingers and wave them vigorously, typically have something to hide. – you guys dont have me fooled.

“Fool me once, shame on you” – “Fool me…cant get fooled again” – G.W. Bush.

Time Flies – 111 years

Intro:
Great-great-great Grandmother {In relation to my children, so great-great to me.}
Yes, you read that right, that was 3 ‘greats’ in that grandmother title making 6 generations that were alive at once.

Time is Relevant:
E-ma, as we called her, made it to her 111th birthday as I recall.
She was born in the 1890’s and died sometime after the year 2000.

Not only was she in her late teens during WWI, and a young lady during WWII – she was born only 30+ something years after the end of the Civil war. (1865 if i remember right.)

This event which seems so far away in history, was very close to us in living memory – of hers -through her parents & grandparents.

Surviving cancers call:
I had the obituary, need to get a copy from those in my family that would still have it before they too pass…and in it, I learned something I never knew.

At around the age of 60, E-ma had colon cancer.
The doctor gave her 1 year to live. She was told to get treatment, and…she refused.
She rather had died then to be treated.

Well, the cancer went away and she kept ticking away… lived almost another lifes worth of years from that point.

Sanity stays:
E-ma out lived two husbands, and 7 out of 9 children, that Im aware of.
{Who can keep track of relatives.}

E-ma’s oldest daughter – {affectionately called Ma Ma, and who has status of great great grandmother to my kids} – is still alive and now in her 90s, as well as her younger sister being the only children surviving her. {Ironically the oldest and youngest survived.}

From what I know, and what I saw, E-ma lived her life out to the end with a sound mind…is this not what we all ask for? Is not this the bare minimum we should expect from life? I have much to say about this in theory, but maybe for another blog post.

War:
One thing that Im learning as I get older is that mankind is always at war.
Has there ever been peace? Even when we were at peace we had times of ‘conflict’ in other countries – just not as much in the news as other conflicts.

Brother killing brother over ideologies and religion.
The latter is unforgivable, {pun off the irony of the ideologies and belief systems within}, and the former is just a level of growth in the chain of evolution of thought – if man survives this animal instinct. {The latter you will have to find your way out of by understanding what the words in it are pointing to…but that is covered in other blog post as well}

We humans, at this state, are much like cancer…cells attacking healthy cells and growing and multiplying, etc. – point is there.

Bunch of puppets…but by choice. We can all gain a soul if we dont want to loose it for the glamour of this war•ld.

Living forever:
After my trip in life, I would like to think that Im rather pragmatic with issues and not so tied down and dogmatic. I do believe in the possibility of eternal life, however realizing that for many they would be ‘bored to tears’ with such a prospect…and understandably so.

Each person is connected, and each has a part to play in this game.

Im paying attention to Aubrey deGrey and M. Kaku – lets see what life has to offer, and enjoy what we have now!
Life is a grand journey, so much beauty in it…people are beautiful. True, I would love to give certain people a knock upside the head from time to time – but Im sure more than a few have wished similar to me. HA!!!

Babysitting:
Suppose there may be something to that story of the watchers in the O.T.
I am guessing that we are here taking ourselves so serious, and they are watching ever so patiently to see how we evolve…thousands of years pass – prophets come and go, and only 1% get it in each generation…each time wondering when ‘we will get it’, not knowing we are not all meant to get it…its all personal, and we are all here to learn – its kindergarten!

The recycling bin many of us may go through a few times before we get it.
And for those who think they understand exactly what Im saying have missed the point already…but stop – dont try to think about it, thats missing it again! LOL!

There was Buddah, then Jesus, and some others before and in-between…now there is Eckhart Tolle, no not a god man – ha! – who is pointing to how life can solve itself.
Its not from without…no economic stimulus package…no new president, etc.

Have you seen the mirror recently? Thats where change starts. No false gods, no idols, no worship of form. (including thought form.) No, just the unbearable simplicity of life.

Thomas Merton got this, and he chose to stay in his milieu to talk to them in their lingo – Im out on the edge talking to those on what seems like opposite poles, so Im guaranteed everyone will think they know what Im saying, but will mis the point. (Could be wrong, and thats nice…Im no better than either one of you out there.)

Resurrection:
If you are to be resurrected, what good is it to you if you cant live now?
Whats going to happen to change your circumstances? Jesus going to jump in you and possess you? Thought that has already happened – but by the fruit of the humans on earth, with all the blood shed, Im not sure if the Jesus some people know is the one I know.

Ever lay in bed at night and contemplate how it feels just to lay there… no worries, etc.
The reality of what is! Isnt it beautiful and wonderful! How would it feel to take that into every moment…when in reality that is what is in every moment if we just watch it.

Consume, and more, yes we need, dont have, and have to get somewhere…so dissatisfied, not sure we will be happy with heaven for long. Its to perfect, no drama! Remember Agent Smith in the Matrix? He said something like, “You humans needed something less than perfect, you kept waking up.” Our egos would be bored stiff if there were not the illusion of ‘other’ out there…it doesnt understand, nor can it understand.

We are all possessed, as it were, by the ego – that is until we know this, but then knowing is not being possessed anymore is it? The need to identify with this and that. To have a cause.
Even if its ‘anti-war’ – which ironically turns into that which it is against. Ever saw violence in movements that spoke of peace? (No Im not picking on religion here, though that comes to mind…I was thinking of some of the ‘green movements’.)

Thats all I have to share now…

Peace

dAlen