Occupy Life.
I had a pretty interesting conversation two nights ago at the club about School vs. Education & Anarchy, and in like most conversations (thanks to a completely blank/open/undefined Throat Chakra) I found myself understanding but not being understood.
The whole thing started on a very interesting note.
I was standing next to two gentlemen who were talking about going back to school. In the moment, I had thoughts about how I disagreed with "school" and thought that it has damaged (though may very well be a part of) evolution. But without saying a word, I just walked away - heading upstairs to the smoking room.
After spending a few minutes in the smoking room, one of the guys (we'll call him "Metal Pig") came upstairs, and before long he looked at me and began talking to me on a level like he could read my thoughts while I was downstairs.
"I kind of don't really like the idea of school either."
I was shocked, but fully understand the developing nature of the human race's evolving intuition levels so I just went with it. And before long, Barry Greenstein (not PokerStars' Barry Greenstein, we're just using his name as a pudendum) would join us and become engaged in the debate.
On a person level, I hate school. As a natural born anarchist, I would. And perhaps it was because of my anarchist tendencies that my time in the public school systems was difficult. I was cute, athletic, and academically gifted. Lucky mean, right?
Apparently you can't have all three when you're in high school. You'll have an easy time being cute, a super fun time being athletic, and a not-so-much easy time being academically gifted, but at least there's a focus. But at all levels of school, for me, was a nightmare. It was difficult to participate on some of the sports teams because some guys didn't appreciate some things about me. It was difficult to pursue academics because of my attraction to the girls, and I never did my homework because all I wanted to do was play basketball or football or whatever.
My own negative experience definitely shouldn't be the only reason needed to pull the plug on the whole system, I agree. I do, however, believe school and the currently established education system is actually holding us back on an evolutionary scale, which I'll explain.
It'll be important, to you the reader, to keep an open mind.
Almost since the dawn of early man each of us has been subjected to an unfriendly amount of conditioning. Meaning, we often act in a manner that is "Not Self". And typically this occurs through being exposed to ideas or beliefs about the world and ourselves by way of the power of suggestion, often on a repetitive program.
The most extreme example of this is religion.
Now before I continue, let me make it clear that I am an extremely spiritual person. Not "more" or "less" spiritual than anyone in particular, but spiritual enough to realize that I am a small part of something much bigger than my tiny, stupid little brain can imagine.
What I'm "not", however, is "religious".
In my perspective, "religion" is a set of ideals as the foundation for expression.
So any person subscribing to any particular religion has a foundation for how they conduct or express themselves.
You could argue that it's "the word of God" and therefore correct, but I've heard people say things like "OH MY GOD!" enough times to realize that we all have our own God. (Which, ironically, is the same God.)
To illustrate my point; you can have a man (or woman) who is a leader of any religious group stand in front of a room full fresh, religious and God-free minds and preach for hours about what he or she thinks God is, where God came from, and what God's purpose or mission is. At the end of the speech, every person in that room, INCLUDING the preacher, are all going to walk away with a brand new version of who "God" is.
Some will hold the image that "God" is a human-like figure, others a ball of energy, some might even believe that God is a woman.
So, for me, religion is just a way of life and has little to do with what "God" is or what it means to be a "spiritual" being.
Moving forward.
As a spiritual being who has just arrived on this physical plane, I'll look to "likeness" for guidance and support. The first of which is typically a parent.
Because my mother and father are the closest to me physically, emotionally, and genetically, I'm programmed by nature to follow them until I can survive on my own. And in that, I'm likely to do much of what they think is best or "safe" for me.
I'm a point in my life now where I'm more concerned about following my own inner authority than the word of any other human being, regardless of my relationship with them. But back in the day, as a baby and a slowly maturing human being, I followed with blind faith.
As I'm sure most of us did.
I went to church because I didn't have an option. I made it clear that I wasn't interested, or I was sleepy or I wanted to do other things, but I still ended up at Sunday School every Sunday.
I went to school because I supposed to.
Or at least that's what I believed.
When I looked out my window I would sometimes see school buses drive by. I saw the school, as a building, standing in the same place year after year. I saw my brothers go through the system. I heard other family members and people outside of my family talking about going to school beyond school.
Kindergarten. Grade school. High school. College. Community college. University. Division I. Med School. Blah. Blah. Blah.
Having grown up believing the words outside of me WERE me, and then I started to believe that all external systems and other peoples opinions were me also, I got stuck in that path.
Go to school, get a job, get a car, get a house, get a wife, have kids, and then have them repeat what you did.
And then all throughout that whole process I would end up hearing about how I was this or that and how things should be a certain way, I tried to follow.
But then I got to the "get a job" part and my reality started to change.
At first it was just like tremors of a birthing earthquake, but then soon after all the walls started coming down, and then everybody's masks started coming off.
My mind would jump back to being in line at McDonald's and having my farther ask my brothers and I what we'd like to eat. Whatever my brothers got never seemed to be a problem, but anything I ever wanted to was "too much" or "too this" or "too that" according to my father.
I would hear my room mate say things like "you can't make a lot of money without a degree" whenever I would talk about lofty goals.
My boss at work would say things like "you just have to worry about things that are inside your circle of influence" whenever I would make a suggestion about things I thought needed changing.
If I were a kid, I would still hear the words my father was saying, but I would see a smile on his face so I could never believe there was a cold, competitive, malicious undertone to what he was saying.
As a kid, I would hear my room mate talk about needing a degree and I might think I had gone off track somewhere and would desperately try to get back on.
If I was still a kid while at work, I (if not confused about what a "circle of influence" was) might look around at the people in my immediate environment and think of them as my aforementioned circle.
But may this doesn't have anything to do with being "a kid" or an "adult". Even at 28, I still look around and hear and see people falling for ridiculous marketing tactics. I see parents supporting this idea of "Santa Claus" and still whine and complain about their shitty lives. About how they have to work so much and never have enough time or money.
And it's all because this school lie, like the Santa Claus lie, is still very deeply engraved on our collective subconscious mind.
Even when we get older and find out the truth about Santa Claus, we still painstakingly try to trick our own children into believing that Santa Claus is real.
Like this idea that if we go to school, get good grades, become well liked, and then go to work we'll eventually be able to live freely.
If you've ever heard "the Truth will set you free", meditate on that for a while.
The truth is that "Education" is what's important, not "school".
The truth is that there is a significant difference between "learning" and "being taught".
The truth is that there likely isn't a program being offered anywhere that will teach you to be what you were designed for.
And the saddest truth is, you might never know what you were designed for if you are always following external authorities and doing things because of what you see and hear instead of because of how you feel.
So while these other two gentlemen made their arguments about how "anarchism is this or that" and school is important because we need leaders, etc, I found it difficult to explain to them that all that is really true is your own truth.
No other person or book or authority knows what you're hear for. I would be lying if I told you that I knew exactly what I was here for.
But what I do know, from my own truth, is that no other person, by universal law, should be able to make my decisions for me.
Our elders, our community, and our leaders should only do what they can to keep me safe, demonstrating to their best of their abilities how to add value to their communities on a sustainable level, until I (we) have received my (our) calling.
And it begins by letting go.
We have to let go of the fear that comes with trying to conceptualize what life might be like without our current education system.
A fear that everything will fall into chaos. It won't.
Believe that if everything changes, all that will change is everything. We will still all be the amazing, versatile, adventurous, creative, clever, pioneering, supportive, loving organisms that we are.
And for anybody occupying Wall Street, believe that all of this garbage about the world's "elite" getting richer and the poor getting poorer can be changed by completely letting the situation go. The change, the fix, the solution is right there with you at home.
Start treating your friends, family, and neighbours like THEY ARE YOU. Erase all of the debts you think people owe you. Be ready to help, be ready to share, and be ready to enter a life where money doesn't exist. Because it can happen.
Anybody who has been let through a door for free that might otherwise require a cover knows it can happen.
When we stop relying on big corporations to feed our families and cloth our backs, it will happen.
Don't believe me? Ask your self.
The whole thing started on a very interesting note.
I was standing next to two gentlemen who were talking about going back to school. In the moment, I had thoughts about how I disagreed with "school" and thought that it has damaged (though may very well be a part of) evolution. But without saying a word, I just walked away - heading upstairs to the smoking room.
After spending a few minutes in the smoking room, one of the guys (we'll call him "Metal Pig") came upstairs, and before long he looked at me and began talking to me on a level like he could read my thoughts while I was downstairs.
"I kind of don't really like the idea of school either."
I was shocked, but fully understand the developing nature of the human race's evolving intuition levels so I just went with it. And before long, Barry Greenstein (not PokerStars' Barry Greenstein, we're just using his name as a pudendum) would join us and become engaged in the debate.
On a person level, I hate school. As a natural born anarchist, I would. And perhaps it was because of my anarchist tendencies that my time in the public school systems was difficult. I was cute, athletic, and academically gifted. Lucky mean, right?
Apparently you can't have all three when you're in high school. You'll have an easy time being cute, a super fun time being athletic, and a not-so-much easy time being academically gifted, but at least there's a focus. But at all levels of school, for me, was a nightmare. It was difficult to participate on some of the sports teams because some guys didn't appreciate some things about me. It was difficult to pursue academics because of my attraction to the girls, and I never did my homework because all I wanted to do was play basketball or football or whatever.
My own negative experience definitely shouldn't be the only reason needed to pull the plug on the whole system, I agree. I do, however, believe school and the currently established education system is actually holding us back on an evolutionary scale, which I'll explain.
It'll be important, to you the reader, to keep an open mind.
Almost since the dawn of early man each of us has been subjected to an unfriendly amount of conditioning. Meaning, we often act in a manner that is "Not Self". And typically this occurs through being exposed to ideas or beliefs about the world and ourselves by way of the power of suggestion, often on a repetitive program.
The most extreme example of this is religion.
Now before I continue, let me make it clear that I am an extremely spiritual person. Not "more" or "less" spiritual than anyone in particular, but spiritual enough to realize that I am a small part of something much bigger than my tiny, stupid little brain can imagine.
What I'm "not", however, is "religious".
In my perspective, "religion" is a set of ideals as the foundation for expression.
So any person subscribing to any particular religion has a foundation for how they conduct or express themselves.
You could argue that it's "the word of God" and therefore correct, but I've heard people say things like "OH MY GOD!" enough times to realize that we all have our own God. (Which, ironically, is the same God.)
To illustrate my point; you can have a man (or woman) who is a leader of any religious group stand in front of a room full fresh, religious and God-free minds and preach for hours about what he or she thinks God is, where God came from, and what God's purpose or mission is. At the end of the speech, every person in that room, INCLUDING the preacher, are all going to walk away with a brand new version of who "God" is.
Some will hold the image that "God" is a human-like figure, others a ball of energy, some might even believe that God is a woman.
So, for me, religion is just a way of life and has little to do with what "God" is or what it means to be a "spiritual" being.
Moving forward.
As a spiritual being who has just arrived on this physical plane, I'll look to "likeness" for guidance and support. The first of which is typically a parent.
Because my mother and father are the closest to me physically, emotionally, and genetically, I'm programmed by nature to follow them until I can survive on my own. And in that, I'm likely to do much of what they think is best or "safe" for me.
I'm a point in my life now where I'm more concerned about following my own inner authority than the word of any other human being, regardless of my relationship with them. But back in the day, as a baby and a slowly maturing human being, I followed with blind faith.
As I'm sure most of us did.
I went to church because I didn't have an option. I made it clear that I wasn't interested, or I was sleepy or I wanted to do other things, but I still ended up at Sunday School every Sunday.
I went to school because I supposed to.
Or at least that's what I believed.
When I looked out my window I would sometimes see school buses drive by. I saw the school, as a building, standing in the same place year after year. I saw my brothers go through the system. I heard other family members and people outside of my family talking about going to school beyond school.
Kindergarten. Grade school. High school. College. Community college. University. Division I. Med School. Blah. Blah. Blah.
Having grown up believing the words outside of me WERE me, and then I started to believe that all external systems and other peoples opinions were me also, I got stuck in that path.
Go to school, get a job, get a car, get a house, get a wife, have kids, and then have them repeat what you did.
And then all throughout that whole process I would end up hearing about how I was this or that and how things should be a certain way, I tried to follow.
But then I got to the "get a job" part and my reality started to change.
At first it was just like tremors of a birthing earthquake, but then soon after all the walls started coming down, and then everybody's masks started coming off.
My mind would jump back to being in line at McDonald's and having my farther ask my brothers and I what we'd like to eat. Whatever my brothers got never seemed to be a problem, but anything I ever wanted to was "too much" or "too this" or "too that" according to my father.
I would hear my room mate say things like "you can't make a lot of money without a degree" whenever I would talk about lofty goals.
My boss at work would say things like "you just have to worry about things that are inside your circle of influence" whenever I would make a suggestion about things I thought needed changing.
If I were a kid, I would still hear the words my father was saying, but I would see a smile on his face so I could never believe there was a cold, competitive, malicious undertone to what he was saying.
As a kid, I would hear my room mate talk about needing a degree and I might think I had gone off track somewhere and would desperately try to get back on.
If I was still a kid while at work, I (if not confused about what a "circle of influence" was) might look around at the people in my immediate environment and think of them as my aforementioned circle.
But may this doesn't have anything to do with being "a kid" or an "adult". Even at 28, I still look around and hear and see people falling for ridiculous marketing tactics. I see parents supporting this idea of "Santa Claus" and still whine and complain about their shitty lives. About how they have to work so much and never have enough time or money.
And it's all because this school lie, like the Santa Claus lie, is still very deeply engraved on our collective subconscious mind.
Even when we get older and find out the truth about Santa Claus, we still painstakingly try to trick our own children into believing that Santa Claus is real.
Like this idea that if we go to school, get good grades, become well liked, and then go to work we'll eventually be able to live freely.
If you've ever heard "the Truth will set you free", meditate on that for a while.
The truth is that "Education" is what's important, not "school".
The truth is that there is a significant difference between "learning" and "being taught".
The truth is that there likely isn't a program being offered anywhere that will teach you to be what you were designed for.
And the saddest truth is, you might never know what you were designed for if you are always following external authorities and doing things because of what you see and hear instead of because of how you feel.
So while these other two gentlemen made their arguments about how "anarchism is this or that" and school is important because we need leaders, etc, I found it difficult to explain to them that all that is really true is your own truth.
No other person or book or authority knows what you're hear for. I would be lying if I told you that I knew exactly what I was here for.
But what I do know, from my own truth, is that no other person, by universal law, should be able to make my decisions for me.
Our elders, our community, and our leaders should only do what they can to keep me safe, demonstrating to their best of their abilities how to add value to their communities on a sustainable level, until I (we) have received my (our) calling.
And it begins by letting go.
We have to let go of the fear that comes with trying to conceptualize what life might be like without our current education system.
A fear that everything will fall into chaos. It won't.
Believe that if everything changes, all that will change is everything. We will still all be the amazing, versatile, adventurous, creative, clever, pioneering, supportive, loving organisms that we are.
And for anybody occupying Wall Street, believe that all of this garbage about the world's "elite" getting richer and the poor getting poorer can be changed by completely letting the situation go. The change, the fix, the solution is right there with you at home.
Start treating your friends, family, and neighbours like THEY ARE YOU. Erase all of the debts you think people owe you. Be ready to help, be ready to share, and be ready to enter a life where money doesn't exist. Because it can happen.
Anybody who has been let through a door for free that might otherwise require a cover knows it can happen.
When we stop relying on big corporations to feed our families and cloth our backs, it will happen.
Don't believe me? Ask your self.