This is a topic that I think is very important and today I wanted to weigh in on it. The blog, Urban Survival, has addressed it the last two days fielding lots of backlash over all sides discussed. What I would like to add is my two cents, well not really mine, but the idea of "pretend" images and what role they play in our "real" world.
Albert Einstein once said that imagination was more important than knowledge. But why it is important is the real issue. Reality is built in the imagination. It is easy to throw around ideas like "everything is an illusion" or "thought creates our reality," but what is at the basis of all of this is that the idea comes before the effect. I've yet to see proof that effect can come before cause.
But what is the "cause" that creates the effect of this world? It is thought which is both observation and imagination. The science of it all can be understood when you look at how our brainwaves operate as well as the chemicals in our bodies to create images and memories. The image does not come before the idea of it first - it just all happens faster than you knew you could think!
So why is the idea of movies or video games having an impact in the real world so important? Each image imprints upon our minds unless we have the ability to view them without allowing their associated idea to imprint upon us. That takes skill and practice. Studies have shown those who watch repeated images of a violent scene are more likely to experience PTSD than those who don't - this include both those who experienced the event live or just saw it on TV. Images affect us by creating effects within us.
So why do people get SO angry when you suggest that maybe watching and playing hours and hours of violent games might be a problem? Because to acknowledge that that decision creates an effect means one has to take responsibility for the outcome or consequence. Most humans still operate under the assumption that their thoughts are private and have no effect in our world - much less the Universe.
We all want what we want without the consequences that come from every choice and decision we make. We like the idea we can do what ever we want in the privacy of our homes and minds without owning the reality that everything is connected. We seek to control the behavior of others as the solution and not examine how we may be the real problem.
If we owned the power of our imagination to take an image or idea and see it made manifest or "real" as we understand the physical world around us, how would we respond if the hours and hours spent killing in our minds was creating the effect of killing in our world?
Humans don't like this idea of personal responsibility. Because it not only means we can't be victims, it also means we are perpetrators and no one really wants own that part of their power. And to make matter worse, it puts us in the position of there no longer being a "they" we can fight against - which ironically is at the basis of every movie and video game...we have been trained to see victim and perpetrator as separate. We want to be the hero, but the truth is, there are no hero's - just us playing all three parts in our minds.
If each us really, really knew the bigger picture I wonder what choices we would then make with our time, money and energy? After all, what we invest in we make more of - be it real or imaginary. That IS the LAW of the Universe we live by, whether we choose to believe it or not.
If you knew that the Powers that Be put forth these games to desensitize your mind to the idea that inflicting pain, death, and suffering to numb your ability to be empathic, would you still play? If yes, then are you okay with the idea that if you call 911 and the police and fire department respond to your call but have no empathy for your plight and walk away? Silly or real?
We get what we give and we give by our attention to that subject. When we train our minds to enjoy the idea of killing and fighting than we are just making more of that real in this world and eventually it will be real in yours. You may not recognize it, but remember this when you are being treated without care in a prison, war, hospital or by a family member.
If you knew that there were forces in this Universe that created the ideas of war - both real and imaginary - to stir up in you and so many others feelings of rage, anger, fighting injustice by hating the enemy, of sacrifice through blood, pain and suffering - as their form of FOOD, will you still play? Would you still fight? Would you still send your children off to war? The Romans did. Will you?
This is the part - if you are still reading - where the exceptions and excuses all come pouring forth. Or the angry letters or comments about how these ideas are stupid and the rage about don't tell me what I can and can't do - but the question is not if I am right or wrong....
The question is: why do these ideas make you so angry? If they do, that is the real issue to be examined. That is the great distraction that the powers that be, that the forces beyond this world, and the ego in our own minds don't want us to answer - because if we did, what power would they hold over us?
We cry for Freedom, but you cannot have Freedom without Responsibility - they are twins sisters, two sides of one coin. They are both the answer and the solution. They hold all power together, but separate they form a prison.
Am I right or am I wrong? It doesn't matter. My point is this - we are all responsible for what we live both in our minds and in our world. Until we own ALL of it, we are bound as victims. To decide what you do with you mind is your Free Will, how will you use it?
My wish is for you to be free, happy, peaceful, and safe - that is the reality I want to invest in so that I can make more for me, you, and the world. The joy and fun part comes in how I can create these ideas in ways that make my imagination fly - not die.
Jill
jillelizabeth.net
Daily Dose of Love & Freedom
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
Evolution, not Revolution
It is growing in its power, this idea of revolution. And why should it not? Is not the desire for change spreading like wildfire? But the idea of revolution is one in which the desire is to destroy the old and then to bring in the new. But let's be honest, how long does it ever take for the "new" to look a lot like the old?
In America I think all of 10 minutes passed before the New Regime put in taxes to fund itself - wasn't that at the basis of why those revolutionaries fought for their freedom? Oh, wait, the difference was now the people paid them through taxes and they were no longer part of "the people."
What do they say, absolute power corrupts absolutely? Maybe we need a different model so we can arrive at a different solution?
What about the idea of Evolution instead or Revolution? While technically the word evolution can be just as emotionally charged, a closer look at it does reveal some subtleties. For instance, isn't the evolution in nature really about taking what does work, keeping it, and then adapting new ideas to replace the old ones that didn't work very well?
This world has much more good than bad. But the idea of evolution puts the responsibility back in each of our own hands - not at the effect of a few who like the idea of war and radical upheaval. Anyone who has witnessed war first hand knows, death and desperation are never welcome - no matter what the "cause" fighting for is. There is ALWAYS a better way.
The problem though is just that - the better way means you and me and not the "they" that is so easy to place responsibility on.
In every war movie, as thousands of mostly men give their lives to serve some leader they've never met, I've always asked - why do they follow blindly? It makes sense in the movies, but why in real life? What is it about the majority that are afraid to say no to the minority?
I know no parent who wants a child to die for any reason. I know no child that wants to lose their parent for any reason. Why do we believe change can only come through acts of violence and great upheaval?
Nature offers us both examples. Big disasters that equal big changes. But it also demonstrates to us the subtle and often more effective model of small changes that equal big results. One of my favorite examples is when the wild wolf was put back into its natural habitat. Beyond a few ranchers fears and wails, the reality is that the positive effects to the larger ecosystem bounced back in ways that could not have been predicted - from trees to insects to the larger mammals.
Nature will naturally correct itself when there is an imbalance. Too many wolves? Their food supply diminishes and they die off and reproduction is reduced. Too many deer? The wolves increase to balance the overabundance of deers.
Human though just kills everything it perceives as a problem. Rarely does the human look at how it fits into the bigger picture. But that doesn't work in nature and it doesn't work for us.
Revolution doesn't solve any of the real problems. It won't make anyone more responsible for their own life. And here is the great truth so many don't want to face - freedom requires responsibility. No one gives or takes your freedom to you or from you. Revolution makes us believe we are denied liberty and freedom - but that is never the case, only the belief we hold on any given day.
Evolution allows us to look at what works and what doesn't and then requires us to be responsible for our own choices and their consequences. So, if I kill off my food supply or weaken it through GMO's, poison, and poor management - who is responsible for that? I bought it. I ate it. I didn't vote against it.
We don't have to dump the tea in the ocean - we just need to stop buying it. Then, if we really want more tea, let's just grow our own. Evolution - choosing what we want - is something we can all do today and no blood is spilled. Small steps then equal big change. Not nearly as glamourous as a Hollywood movie - but it is more effective.
The earth is evolving and she is going with or without us. We each have to choose what kind of world we want to live on - the old one of destruction or the new one of life? You can't blame her, after all, how much can one girl take? Like any good mother, she has been more than patient - but let's be honest - the air stinks, the waters is dirty, the land is depleted, and the weight of the cities is tiresome.
Evolution and not revolution is the way out - which one will you choose?
Jill
jillelizabeth.net
What do they say, absolute power corrupts absolutely? Maybe we need a different model so we can arrive at a different solution?
What about the idea of Evolution instead or Revolution? While technically the word evolution can be just as emotionally charged, a closer look at it does reveal some subtleties. For instance, isn't the evolution in nature really about taking what does work, keeping it, and then adapting new ideas to replace the old ones that didn't work very well?
This world has much more good than bad. But the idea of evolution puts the responsibility back in each of our own hands - not at the effect of a few who like the idea of war and radical upheaval. Anyone who has witnessed war first hand knows, death and desperation are never welcome - no matter what the "cause" fighting for is. There is ALWAYS a better way.
The problem though is just that - the better way means you and me and not the "they" that is so easy to place responsibility on.
In every war movie, as thousands of mostly men give their lives to serve some leader they've never met, I've always asked - why do they follow blindly? It makes sense in the movies, but why in real life? What is it about the majority that are afraid to say no to the minority?
I know no parent who wants a child to die for any reason. I know no child that wants to lose their parent for any reason. Why do we believe change can only come through acts of violence and great upheaval?
Nature will naturally correct itself when there is an imbalance. Too many wolves? Their food supply diminishes and they die off and reproduction is reduced. Too many deer? The wolves increase to balance the overabundance of deers.
Human though just kills everything it perceives as a problem. Rarely does the human look at how it fits into the bigger picture. But that doesn't work in nature and it doesn't work for us.
Revolution doesn't solve any of the real problems. It won't make anyone more responsible for their own life. And here is the great truth so many don't want to face - freedom requires responsibility. No one gives or takes your freedom to you or from you. Revolution makes us believe we are denied liberty and freedom - but that is never the case, only the belief we hold on any given day.
Evolution allows us to look at what works and what doesn't and then requires us to be responsible for our own choices and their consequences. So, if I kill off my food supply or weaken it through GMO's, poison, and poor management - who is responsible for that? I bought it. I ate it. I didn't vote against it.
We don't have to dump the tea in the ocean - we just need to stop buying it. Then, if we really want more tea, let's just grow our own. Evolution - choosing what we want - is something we can all do today and no blood is spilled. Small steps then equal big change. Not nearly as glamourous as a Hollywood movie - but it is more effective.
The earth is evolving and she is going with or without us. We each have to choose what kind of world we want to live on - the old one of destruction or the new one of life? You can't blame her, after all, how much can one girl take? Like any good mother, she has been more than patient - but let's be honest - the air stinks, the waters is dirty, the land is depleted, and the weight of the cities is tiresome.
Evolution and not revolution is the way out - which one will you choose?
Jill
jillelizabeth.net
Monday, January 10, 2011
The Fork in the Road
"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference." Robert Frost
There is a rumor that somewhere on my maternal grandmother's side we are related to Robert Frost. I do not know much about him, but I do know this quote from him has always stuck with me. Lately, it has meant even more.
It is a powerful image, standing at a fork in the road. We do it daily in small ways, occasionally in big ones, but it is essential to our lives. Will we go right or left? Will we be taking the high road or the low one? Will we be walking an easy path or a difficult one? How will we know which road is the right one?
It has taken time to trust that there is no right or wrong path, just a path. In the end we will get to the final destination, time being the only thing that separates us from being there. One path may take longer, one may bring more sorrow or joy, but in the end we will always find our way home. There is comfort with that thought.
And then there are times when we know we will be choosing the path that will have more hills in which we will climb, more challenges we will have to face, but ultimately more rewards when we look back to where we came from and what we accomplished along the way. Easier is not always better.
Faith is rarely built on a path with little resistance. Courage is rarely found on a path with no turns in the road. Self-worth is rarely achieved on a road with no challenges to overcome.
It can be hard to choose one path over another. Often it requires saying good-bye to one who has walked with us. At other times it asks us to lay down our belongings because their weight prevents us from the rocks in front of us we need to climb. And sometimes it it lonely walking a path no one can see in front of us, but ourselves.
The world in front of us as we know it is diverging into two paths. It will be up to each of us to choose which path we now want to walk on. The majority will choose the path that is familiar and well traveled. They will laugh at us who decline to go in that direction. They will warn us, try and convince us to come with them, and they will fear for our choice to walk into the unknown with little but that which we can carry in our hands.
They won't understand why we are choosing or that we came here for this moment and this choice. It is by our choosing to walk the path they cannot yet see, that we are making it well traveled so that someday they will be able to see it and choose it for themselves.
Saying good-bye is hard, but creating a new world where loss no longer lives is important. It is the greater gift to give. To all those who are choosing the path less traveled, I offer my appreciation and gratitude to you - for your courage, your faith, and the love it takes to own them.
jill
jillelizabeth.net
It is a powerful image, standing at a fork in the road. We do it daily in small ways, occasionally in big ones, but it is essential to our lives. Will we go right or left? Will we be taking the high road or the low one? Will we be walking an easy path or a difficult one? How will we know which road is the right one?
It has taken time to trust that there is no right or wrong path, just a path. In the end we will get to the final destination, time being the only thing that separates us from being there. One path may take longer, one may bring more sorrow or joy, but in the end we will always find our way home. There is comfort with that thought.
And then there are times when we know we will be choosing the path that will have more hills in which we will climb, more challenges we will have to face, but ultimately more rewards when we look back to where we came from and what we accomplished along the way. Easier is not always better.
Faith is rarely built on a path with little resistance. Courage is rarely found on a path with no turns in the road. Self-worth is rarely achieved on a road with no challenges to overcome.
It can be hard to choose one path over another. Often it requires saying good-bye to one who has walked with us. At other times it asks us to lay down our belongings because their weight prevents us from the rocks in front of us we need to climb. And sometimes it it lonely walking a path no one can see in front of us, but ourselves.
They won't understand why we are choosing or that we came here for this moment and this choice. It is by our choosing to walk the path they cannot yet see, that we are making it well traveled so that someday they will be able to see it and choose it for themselves.
Saying good-bye is hard, but creating a new world where loss no longer lives is important. It is the greater gift to give. To all those who are choosing the path less traveled, I offer my appreciation and gratitude to you - for your courage, your faith, and the love it takes to own them.
jill
jillelizabeth.net
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