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January 4, 2012
Finding Our Balance Point
By Burl Hall
This article questions the basic assumption that human beings make: That we are the most intelligent creature in the world. Given our ecological behavior where we appear to be eating ourselves out of house and home, one must seriously question if we are indeed the sharpest tool in the shed. Indeed, it may be that we are operating like an out of control feeding frenzy seen by some species of bees. So, how do we wake up?
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James Lovelock's Gaia Hypothesis states that the Earth operates as a single organism. The Earth has different systems, such as atmospheric, plants, animals, soils, etc. These varieties of systems work together in a coordinated system we call Earth, or Gaia. Gaia, in turn, operates within a solar system of stars, planets, moons and space. While we may not see the planets and stars within space as having affects on our lives, many ancients did. Today we call this Astrology. While Astrology perhaps doesn't always produce accurate predictions, it does realize that the part operates in conjunction with the whole. Indeed, we could get that connection by simply realizing the moon's tug on our oceans, our lands, and even our bodies.
The planet specifically, and the universe in general, mirrors the human body in how it operates as a single organism. The body has its variety of systems, such as circulatory, digestive, respiration, neurological and so on. And, these varieties of systems function as a whole system, which, in turn, operates within the Earth's planetary system which operates in a solar system. For example, by the simple act of breathing our respiratory system takes part in a planetary dance in which the mixture of carbon dioxide and oxygen is kept in balance. This process helps to maintain the life systems on the planet.
This circularity of life's systems is no longer realized in the modern understanding of life (though it was well known in ancient times). Indeed, at this point, its teaching appears to be pretty minimal and is probably squashed by corporations who don't want people to make connections regarding their being cells in a living organism and not the top dog in a linear pyramid scheme.
I recall in elementary school being taught about a linear system in which single celled organisms exist at the bottom of a pyramid, with the various plants and animals moving up the hierarchy with the humans being at the top due to what we consider superior intelligence.
However, I never fully bought that. I had my doubts. Indeed, my question today entails how we can consider our destruction of the environment that sustains us as intelligent. We're eating ourselves out of house and home. To not question would be akin to not questioning why in the world a fetus would take a knife to his mother's heart. This makes me ask how we can consider ourselves the top dog of intelligence on this planet?
To reflect more deeply on this idea that we are not the sharpest tool in the shed, I see that we are often mesmerized, brainwashed, and held in check by the likes of Fox News, CNN, and talk shows that exhibit escapades of people fighting or engaging in sociopathic acts alongside the theatrics of the Judicial Systems through shows such as Judge Judy.
All of this drama is done for a purpose. It's to keep you drinking beer while you're being indoctrinated into the entertaining theatrics of corporate media. Our mainstream media is designed to keep you uninformed, misinformed, and misguided so they can drown you in the beer they entice you into buying through advertisements featuring half dressed bimbos seducing you into the stupidity of consumerism for the joyful exploits of the 1%.
Yes, the argumentative divisional drama shows of sociopathic corporate bought and sold politicians, movie stars, and so on are meant to keep you uninformed while getting you to line the top 1%'s pocketbooks.
Another way in which we are kept brainwashed by the 1% is by the divide and conquer ethos. If we keep ourselves at war with the Iranians, the Russians, the Chinese, and the Occupy Movement we can keep you mesmerized, dumb-fried and bedazzled in a never ending drama story. Drink that beer and swear at those dirty hippies protesting wars, pollution, and the psychopathology of the corporate world.
Meanwhile as Chaz Valenza states in OpEd, the middle class in America could now be declared officially dead ( http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Middle-Class-Vanishes-by-Chaz-Valenza-120101-954.html ). It was so easy! No gun fire, no anything. It was like the slow boiling of a frog in a pan of water. He thinks he's out for a nice little bath and "wa-la", soon he is stew. Didn't even know it was coming. Indeed, he thought those fellahs in the white coats were good guys. Yet, they really had declared war on him. Why? It is because they wanted to research how far they could turn the heat up before the frog would fuss. Likewise, the corporations wanted the results because they want you at poverty wages with little fuss so they can get richer and richer.
There simply is no end to growth for these guys.
Yet, even with this knowledge out there, we stay stuck in an ongoing drama show portrayed in the media as our just having to have a bad guy. Why? It's in order to keep our focus externally oriented so the frog doesn't realize he is being boiled alive.
Meanwhile, our religions get caught up right along with the rest of us and indeed stupidly align themselves with the mainstream corporate world. Many of these people don't follow the basic commandments of their faith. For example, Christ said several times with different wording, "do not remove the smote from your brother's eye unless you remove it from you own." This same teaching appears in the 10 commandments via the infamous "love thy neighbor as thyself" as well as the "love thy enemy." Then to add insult to the injury of our lack of insight, when we point the finger out there at somebody, we have 3 pointed back at ourselves. Go ahead, try it. Point at the screen and call me a jerk. See what I mean?
Then again there is the infamous "love thy enemy" commandment. Why is this said? Because, as the three fingers experiment alludes to, your enemy is a mirror image of you. Love thy neighbor as thyself. This also would be predicted by the holographic universe theory of physicist David Bohm where the part mirrors the whole. Bohm simply rediscovered the deeper message of ancient teachings via quantum physics.
So, what are we to do about all this? I've discussed in past articles several ways in which people are working to empower themselves via permaculture, alternative currencies, and so on. My concern as always is: are we willing and able to break a centuries long conditioning that keeps us stuck in a destructive pattern of behavior. Different people may utilize different metaphors for this behavior. I liken it to cancer, which literally defined is "growth gone wild" or "unlimited growth." Joseph Jenkins, author of a marvelous book called Balance Point: Searching for a Spiritual Missing Link relates this to what those that study bees call a feeding frenzy. Yes, these bees are literally eating themselves out of house and home.
Sound familiar?
This is a book I highly suggest reading. It is a self-published book, meaning that in supporting the author you will be supporting his work regarding localization and de-corporatization. To order the book, you can go to http://jenkinspublishing.com . This website is worth a visit, and the book is worth a read, if you wish to line your heart with true psychological and spiritual gold. For example, watching the video titled Lulu and the Loveable Loo is just plain sweet with its little girl potty song.
And then there is the depth of insight in Jenkin's book, Balance Point. I can promise that in reading that book, you will get a deeper insight into the behavior that is destroying our planet. Call it feeding frenzy, as he calls it (per his Aunt Lucy), or cancer, as I call it. Cancer is a feeding frenzy destroying the host's body.. The fact we are eating ourselves out of house and home is what matters This is also what the bees are doing. And, what happens once it's all gone? Let's not go there. Let's find our balance point and evolve.