There Ain’t No Sanity Clause

The above title is taken from a scene in the 1935 Marx Brothers film A Night At The Opera, where Groucho is trying to explain the details of a contract to Chico, which gets him absolutely no where because Chico misunderstands everything that Groucho is telling him.  The high point in the conversation is when Groucho tells him that there is a “Sanity Clause” in the contract which would make it null and void if either of them were deemed to be insane.  Chico laughs out loud and tells Groucho, “You can’t fool me!  There ain’t no Sanity Clause!” (Santa Claus).  What a good way to get out of a life lesson or a karmic debt in this life if we could just be judged as too crazy to manage it.  And how wonderful it would be if there was a Santa Claus and all we had to do to receive a reward in life was just be good.

I know of no sign in the zodiac that can claim immunity to the stresses of current culture and world events that plague us now.  There are certainly divisions in astrology that tend to make some of us better at thinking and contemplating the problems.  Some of us are better at physically doing rather than just pondering things.  There are some that excel at organizing and some that can show us by example how to toss aside our cares for a time, but none of us are immune to the effects of a breakdown in society and most all of us are experiencing a time of mourning at the loss of what friendships used to be like and how it was much less complicated to have a loving relationship with another person before social media, virtual dating, and a delusion that we deserve to be special and adored.

Each individual sign has its own strengths and weaknesses which, if recognized, can make these problems less of a burden when we acknowledge what we are and are not capable of, but the tests of a true human are being challenged in ways that are pushing us to the brink of sanity in some cases.  Many people are failing the tests and causing an acceleration of trouble by refusing to own up to their personal contributions to the problems.  When this happens we cannot expect a well lit path to order out of chaos. Many of the problems that we have now are truly necessary ones because it is only through trauma, pain, and severe stress that humans will get up off their backsides and rethink their position on how the world works or should work.  A lot of our pain is a mandatory lesson to be learned, but the burden of such pain is not necessarily distributed equally among us.  Some have many more lessons to learn than others do because of a long history of refusing to see past their own noses, or anger and resentment toward some for not being equipped to keep up and live by a standard that has been dictated to us by those who need that standard to maintain a level of superiority.  Some people are quite capable of needed change and some are not.  It is those who are not managing this time of tribulation well that we need to shift our focus upon as in the ones who may be alone and have no real support in their lives, and those who are just too overwhelmed by the struggle to survive that they cannot devote the necessary time to acknowledging what their place is in all of the madness. Too many people have gotten to that place where it is impossible to come back, and they are pleading for help in ways that will most likely not bring about any change for the better.

The peace and joy that many of us are still seeking, especially at this time of year can only come about and make a difference if we are clear about what peace truly is. It is not a world where our every need is met automatically at the touch of a smartphone.  It is in taking stock of how many of us are lost in a world of such abundance for some and precious little for others.  What we are given in this world comes from what is taken from some part of it.  Nothing is forever and nothing is inexhaustible.   We look at others and see their misfortune and fear it happening to us so much that we take more than we need so the cycle of poverty cannot possibly end. There is much to be afraid of in the world right now but it really all comes down to recognizing that we are sharing a home and sharing a planet.  We are a family of earth beings who need to realize that our contract with life does not contain a “sanity clause” that gives us an opt out on our part in sustaining life.  What you take from life has to balance with what you give back.  America is suffering from extreme gluttony and a false façade of benevolence. You may give to charities and donate some spare change to the bell ringers in front of Walmart for the less fortunate but what would you give as an individual to make it possible for there to be no more hunger and homelessness and want in the world?  Your donation to a better role model for the world is needed.  Check your ego at the door for the next two weeks as we end 2015 and begin 2016.  The soul contract that you have with the other inhabitants of earth is binding until the day you leave it for the other dimension.  Unless we fulfill our part to correct the imbalance that we are experiencing it will be impossible to reach those who have a true misunderstanding of what they hear, as Chico does in that scene in A Night At The Opera.  And their continued misunderstanding will be the death of a civilization that was capable of so much better.

If you possess four houses can you still live well if you give up two?  If you own more than one car can you give one away and still get to your destinations?  If you have five winter coats and a pair of jeans for every day of the week can you manage with less so someone else can be provided for? And will it cause you harm to give up $1,00 of your hourly salary so that if 15 people in a company could do the same and provide a modest salary for someone who doesn’t now have a job?  I read on Wikipedia today that they are in financial trouble but could stay afloat if everyone who reads it would contribute just $3.00 to help save a wonderful information service that so many of us look to everyday for needed information.

There are so many people in this world who are not as mentally and physically sound as you and I may be, but that does not mean that they are any less deserving of a good standard of life. It only means that their ability to acquire it is not the same.  Just as we help other life forms that are without the ability to participate in a capitalist ideal it is up to those of us who can to take care of all living things on the planet.  To not do so produces the sad state that we are experiencing now with our own needs at risk and our very lives at stake when any life is threatened with annihilation and we do nothing to stop it. Try to think on these things while the Christmas spirit is current on your mind, but know that these are issues that need to be addressed all the time.  We are suffering a breakdown in humanity unprecedented in modern history that is happening because of the unbalanced distribution of the things that are necessary to sustain life and a peaceful existence in the world. 

I wish you all the best for the holiday season.  Take the best that you receive and please pass it on. You are a needed and necessary element in this life.  You are not meant to stand alone and neither are those who are being forced to just because of a misinterpretation and misunderstanding of the rules set forth by hostility and greed. 

Money Solveth No Problems

Today is the birthday of someone that I used to be friends with.  He was a very wealthy man who inherited real estate and acquired many more parcels of land on his own after inheriting.  He was very actively involved in politics and seemed to be very highly thought of in the community, but he confided to me once that he had never been able to keep a personal relationship with women because they always took advantage of him.  He died two months ago and I am told that he left behind a legacy of slum properties that were condemned by the city and were scheduled for demolition because he refused to maintain them and keep them up to code.  His legacy of acquisition without being truly responsible for his assets has now fallen to a relative whom I’m sure is having a devil of a time trying to sort out his affairs.  He also owned and trained show horses which will most likely not be taken care of, and one can only guess what will happen to these magnificent animals.  It is not clear how much good his money did him when as far as I could tell his first loves in life were a good relationship, which always eluded him and the desire to be in politics, which he was only able to participate in on the sidelines, with his monetary contributions being the most likely reason that his political party had anything to do with him in the first place.  I was very sad to hear of his passing because he struck me as someone who would always be striving for the things that he truly wanted but he was only able to obtain the things that might have made him look like a success in the community, but were never the things that would have given him any true happiness.

A physician that I knew some years ago quoted  Ecclesiastes 10:19 in the bible to me once when the place I was employed was going through a bad patch.  The verse was “Money solveth all problems.”  He had taken it out of the context in which it was meant to convey, that people believe this but it is sorely not true. Interestingly enough, this man was convicted of the federal crime of loan lapping a couple of years later.  He spent several years in prison and lost his medical practice then died about 6 months later.  Clearly money did not solveth his problems, as we would see that it is solving none of the problems that we are facing right now if we would pay attention.

We find ourselves in a world that demands more and more money of us every single day now just to sustain life.  It is required of us to have a computer, internet service, a cell phone, and in most areas a car.  Lately, I have been seeing more people in the town where I live on foot.  One can only assume that they cannot afford the price of a car or the licensing or the insurance on one, not to mention the gasoline and maintenance.  We see that millions of dollars are poured into political campaigns all the time and precious few of those who get elected are doing anything to solve the multitude of problems here in America.  It is not surprising to me that this is so, because the things that are truly wrong here are the warped priorities of people.  In the past year I have seen hundreds of American and Confederate flags spring up on vehicles and in the yards of many citizens.  These are people who are angry about their world changing and their very lives being dictated to by a few who have decided that they are superior and should dictate to all.  The problem with those who want to rule and those who are angry at them is at it’s core an issue of jealousy. The angry are most angry at the fact that they aren’t the ones doing the dictating. Until we promote a way of life and existence that says we all deserve to live a decent standard and not a superior standard for a few, we will never have peace.

 I have been watching the news in Europe regarding the emigration of thousands of people per day from middle-eastern countries to France, Greece, Germany, and others in the Eurozone, and I can’t help wondering why the problems are being abandoned by the citizens of the middle east and no one seems to be trying to get their countries in hand.  There has been an abandonment of the extreme social problems that are plaguing America as well, and a focus mainly on the economy and politics.  It is the people who are creating all of the problems in the world.  It is not simply a lack or an abundance of money. People with money are corrupting the world and people without it are doing the same.  Their methods are different, but both produce corruption nonetheless.  There is not a political solution or an economic solution in the world that will solve this.  Only people who know themselves and know their own strengths and abilities can make any change in the world. We have to understand that we are not an island in the world where only our needs are important. 

Without making this essay a forum for my own misfortunes I will say that I have learned so much about the extent of how horrible our society has become just this year in trying to provide a safe and secure living arrangement for my elderly mother.  She is on a fixed income and has lived in subsidized housing for the past 7 years.  This worked well enough for her until this year when we realized that she had developed dementia.  She suffers from short term memory loss and does not remember to take needed medications or pay her bills on time.  I have been working with Human Services and organizations for the elderly most of this year and I’ve been trying to buy a home with enough space to bring her here to live with me.  I have found out just how little anybody cares for a person who is elderly and needy.  All of my efforts have been met with people who don’t give one damn what happens to anyone if they are not going to directly benefit from getting off their asses and providing assistance.  I have learned that the social programs that purport to exist for the benefit of the needy are only a venue for some people to have a job.  They set up the organizations and put 20 – 30 people to work and make it their job to deny the very care that they were set up to provide to anyone who dares to ask for it or assume that they  might have some entitlement to a decent quality or life. The unspoken attitude that I have encountered at every turn is; “Forget that!  You may rot in hell.  I don’t care what your problem is.  You probably created it yourself anyway!” So as the cracks in society become too large to be called cracks any more a large number of people who are guilty of nothing more than not being capable of “getting with the program” are set aside as unimportant and left to their own devices in a country that demands a superior Ferengi style attitude of acquisition as its standard and those who cannot live up to it deserve to be left behind. 

A breakdown of the 12 signs in the zodiac would reveal much in showing us how everyone and everything counts in a balanced world.  Starting with the sign of Aries as the standard of what people maybe should be, you would have a world full of go-getters who charge in to a problem head first. Without the balance of Taurus, who can sit and wait and bide their time until they feel things are right, you would have everyone butting heads to get something accomplished that might not require a gung-ho approach.  Gemini will seek their own needs without stepping on others to get it but they also may feel that they require no one else to make their way.  Cancer knows that they need others.  The two together can help and modify the outcomes for both.  Leo has strength and stamina but tends to be more egotistical than is necessary and Virgo can see the way past a selfish approach to organize the way with intelligence and logic that can be hard to muster in a Leo dominated world.  Libra seeks balance in all, but like so many people with a one track view, what they see as balance can upset the balance if carried to an extreme.  Scorpio can lie quietly and watch others make things happen but are ever in a position to sting the hell out of those who might upset their view of what should be, and Sagittarius is capable of showing us that a positive point of view in combination with zeroing in on the truth of what is unjust needs to be taught in the public forum to jar us out of our complacency and topple an indignity among us.  Capricorn sets the example of family closeness and values but Aquarius reminds us that we still need some independence in thought and living to keep our individuality.  Pisces, as the last sign, shows us that we should keep an open mind and heart and not be so rigid in point of view that we cannot see the magic in the world and cannot set aside the concerns of life sometimes to have a bit of fantasy and adventure. As in breaking down the individualities of the zodiac, one can also break down the strengths and weaknesses of every country on earth.  Many of them can blend well with each other, but as is the case in astrology, there will be many who should recognize it when there are too many divisions in thought and belief to to form a true alliance.   Polar opposites in cultures have to be recognized and only the truly arrogant would try to force a bond and a different way of life on others.  It has been done many times throughout history with disastrous results, and it is a lesson that sadly too many people in power are too blind to acknowledge.

The world was created in a way that should teach us that we all have something to give and much to learn.  None of us are so important individually that we cannot benefit from others with a different point of view and different way of living life in our evolution .  What I am seeing from the human race right now is a terror of finding out that we might actually not know everything or be entitled to all of our desires.  We have become very quick to blame others for screwing up the world and deciding that they do not deserve to live if they disagree with us.  At the bottom of all conflict amongst humans is the fear of death and the fear of others forcing us to look at the mess we have made of our world and take responsibility for our own contribution to it’s many problems.  We are so haughty and superior that we will not tolerate any one else having the audacity to tell us that we may have been so very wrong about the way we have created the world as it is.  It took many, many individuals deciding that the fault is not in themselves but in others who are ushering in unwanted changes at an alarming rate to set in motion the desperate situations that we are dealing with right now.  Nothing I say here will change the mind of those who refuse to realize that we are all important and have no entitlement to anything that the overly stubborn Taurus types or the hoarders  of Cancer do not want to share, but a quick look at what we were given at birth and a realization that the Capricorn understanding of family, and the Libra understanding of balance and reason, and Virgo’s ability to dissect the problem down to it’s elements can redirect the abundance of negative energies that are running rampant in the world and show us what we can truly be as a species if we will just step out of hiding in our Cancer-like crab shells and realize that it will take all of us individually to stop the flow of hate and fear.  Look at yourself and look at how you can start a new way of thinking in you and in your environment. Someone has to take the initiative.  What you do today has the potential to influence so many others to take the same steps and reverse the tide of conflict and hate.

It would be worth your while to read chapter 10 of Ecclesiastes in it’s entirety.  It speaks of a world that parallels what we are experiencing now.  It is a world where people run away from the problems in their country and leave fools in charge.  There will be no answers found in taking the high road and leaving the very people in charge who have created the problems in the first place.  We can and should help each other but there is no help when the only good people who know that there has to be another way leave the scene.  No problem can be solved in this manner.  All of us have something to give in this world but we will have to stand back and stop taking in order to see what we could be giving.  Money will not “solveth” the current state of affairs in any country.  Only what we possess inside ourselves can accomplish that.  Without discovering the truth of why we exist on planet Earth we are not capable of living the life that we were meant to live.  We are doomed to pursue the ideals of others and promote a way of life that benefits only those who perceive themselves to be superior.  We will spend all of our lives acquiring and spending money on things that others tell us are necessary for happiness, but the truth is, we will just be supporting what those in power want us to do in order to maintain their own agendas and keep us willing slaves to their illusory power.

The Need for Halloween

I rented a house once that was owned by a Mortician.  At that time I was still getting my feet wet where other worldly things happen and I didn’t really wonder if there might be some unusual phenomenon in a house owned by someone connected with the dead, but as it turned out some events that took place during the few years I lived there got my attention more than enough to make it difficult to ignore the possibility of an afterlife.

I read that actor Nicholas Cage bought a home in New Orleans some years ago that was purported to be super haunted.  It is said that previous owners were a wealthy physician and his wife who were horribly abusive to their slaves.  The story that I read said that Nicholas bought the house hoping to be inspired to write horror novels.  I’m guessing that the inspiration was not readily felt by him because I know of no books that were written by him as a result.  (It is possible that I just don’t get around very much and haven’t seen any of them.  If that is the case and he did write some great tales of terror I would love to know the titles so I can read them. That is something that I should research, I guess.) What I wouldn’t give to have spent a night or two in that famous house!  My experience with haunting and spirit manifestation has always been in the course of just living my life.  None of the places where I have felt or seen spirits have had any special notoriety or publicity.  Nicholas was extremely lucky to have had the opportunity to actually buy a bona fide haunt and I would love to hear what he experienced during his stay there.

That we still celebrate Halloween in this country is a wonderful thing.  I know that there are many people who would like to see an end to the festivities.  I also know that there are some who use the cover of night and costumes to be just what they are in everyday life – evil.  It is a holiday that has to a large degree been taken away from children and usurped by adults.  I see no reason why everyone can’t celebrate but I do feel sad when I see children being pushed aside so the grownups can overtake it.  Sadly, I no longer feel safe opening my door to the costumed trick or treaters since my house was broken into and vandalized a few years ago, but I still celebrate the day and love the orange and black colors of the decorations.

In a perfect world we all would understand that life goes on in a different form after death.  No one wants to think too deeply on a time when we will not be on this planet in a physical form.  There are few ways to leave the physical body that are pleasant.  It is hard to be born and hard to die, and the thought of leaving those that we love or them leaving us is most times too terrible to want to contemplate.  It is a fact of this life but it is not a pleasant one and the common rituals for dealing with the earthly shell that is left behind are terrible in themselves.  So what are we really celebrating on Halloween if we break it down?  The reality of death and ghosts and taking on a different personality with a costume (as in becoming a different person in our next incarnation) is something that I’m sure few people even think about, but the truth is that this is another fact of life that most people never learn.  As part of our celebration tonight I have decided to try to contact the spirit of Klaus Nomi.  Why do I even think that this is possible?  Why Klaus Nomi?  And why would he even choose to speak to me from the other side, if indeed he is even there?  He may be back in the flesh as someone else now, but I’m guessing that I am one of the few people on this planet who would even have the temerity to attempt a conversation with him since so many people don’t believe that such a thing would be possible.  I believe it is possible because I have had contact with the departed before.  I want to speak with Klaus because he was someone who loved dressing up and being an alter ego and entertaining others when he did.  I also would like to know if his experience in the afterlife has been better for him.  He lived a short, unique, and tragic life, and to hear what his truth is now, I think would be helpful and beneficial to those of us who are still here and struggling with who we are, what we are, and what it all means.  One can never be sure if someone on the other side will be willing to make contact with a person that they never knew in life, but I am hopeful that my intent and true caring about them is known and felt.

Halloween is a very good time to take stock of what and why we are celebrating the departed. So much of the meaning of death is feared and shrouded in horrifying rituals where we are put into costumes and make up is applied to our lifeless faces only to make the living feel less afraid of the inevitable.  A Halloween of sorts is practiced every day in this country and millions of dollars are spent on giving the physical shell a send off that doesn’t offend us.   It is a fact that many thousands of people are dying every day at the hand of others.  That this is happening at an alarming rate now and at the hands of people who are likely in terror of the event so much themselves that their warped psychology is spilling out in a desperate attempt to kill that part of them that is so screwed up by proxy.  It doesn’t have to be this way.  A trip back to the past and the reason for our existence can be ventured at virtually no cost.  The reason for our being is not so terrible as we might fear.  If we forget our reasons or never learned them in the first place we will be wearing a self made costume and make up in the world that is extremely difficult to take off.  And it is one that we must keep re-creating to please others and keep us from being afraid of our true selves.  When you put on your costume tonight to go out and play with your true reality keep in mind that Halloween is not the only day of the year that you can get away with this.  Most of us are doing it nearly every day of our lives.

Elephants or Escape from New York?

In elephant society the females and all offspring live together while male elephants are not allowed into the herd except during mating season.  The male elephants are so violent and aggressive that they are forced from the herds when they become adolescents as they are no longer capable of living in peace and harmony with the rest.  I don’t like to think about it very much, but I find myself reading news stories of murder and domestic violence every day now, with most of the violence being committed by men.  I have friends who are male that are as appalled as I am at the level of cruelty that is being visited upon the human race by a larger and larger proportion of men at a level that is staggering to comprehend now.  You can blame it on guns if you like, but guns are only a tool being used by a population that is terrified of not holding all of the cards in the game.  They are a convenient tool because it doesn’t require the user to do anything more than point and shoot like a camera. Physical contact with the chosen victim is not necessary and not wanted by someone who prefers to think of others as only here by some mistake of creation. The use of violence is an individual choice that is made by every man on earth to either live and work in harmony with all the other inhabitants of this planet or do his best to bully and punish anyone whom he disagrees with. This is not a culture that can sustain itself for very long with this type of mentality running rampant.

I do believe that the violence that men are using as a solution for all of their frustrations could be greatly influenced into another direction with the help of Hollywood and all of the media producers in film and television.  A steady diet of viewed violence and the depiction of men solving their problems and grievances with a gun or a fist has been a highly contributing factor to the situation that we now find ourselves in.  If they can push the mentality toward this, they are capable of pushing it the opposite direction.

I realize that the bottom line with all film and television producers is money.  Violent film and television is a proven cash cow and it would seem that it never occurs to anyone that they might already have enough money to manage their lifestyles if they were to set aside profits for a time to contribute something to the improvement  of their world.

Anger and frustration about the problems in the world are not unique reactions to the male gender. It is how they, specifically, are choosing to react to social and economic issues that are creating a climate where there can be no solutions to the problems. People are not being taught how they might address the imbalance in our world without lashing out at others, trash talking on the internet, bullying and killing.  They are not being taught because it does not support the competitive entitlement and superiority ideal that society tells males they should have.  It is the outcome of a society that allows and encourages some to accumulate more than they could ever need in a lifetime at the expense of those whom they deem to be of lesser intelligence or importance, but first, they must set up the hierarchy to determine who has the lesser intelligence and who is less important.  In this society, it is anyone who has a differing opinion.

In the 1978 film Superman:The Movie, a problem of extreme violence on the part of just three criminals forces the planet of Krypton to exile them completely from society into the Phantom Zone.  If only we had the technology and capability to remove those of this Earth who refuse, for whatever their perceived reasons may be, to allow us to live in a harmonious way.  The story of Superman is one that I intend to write about in a future post as there are many parallels and lessons that are relevant to the human existence in it.

The 1980 John Carpenter film, Escape from New York, depicted a society so violent and bent on promoting a world so extremely hostile to peaceful existence that all those who would not live in balance with society had to be exiled to a walled, city-wide prison facility on Manhattan Island, and left to manage in the world that they created themselves. Without some sort of campaign to address and redirect a population overrun with anti-social and borderline personalities who have made it impossible for us to do our jobs, or go shopping or even go to a movie theatre safely, we are living in a situation that cannot possibly be sustained for long.  It is no longer a problem of a “bad neighborhood” or a few thugs on the fringes of society.  We are not safe ANYWHERE, and to those who make the violent films that have inspired a generation of violent males, it should be painfully obvious even to you that if your films are encouraging our current state of a murder every day by a disgruntled male, you will not be able to maintain your source of revenue much longer if no one can go to the movie theatre to see your films without fear of being assassinated.

The illusions of a society that can continue to sustain a false belief that some of us are superior and entitled to more than any other inhabitant because of our gender, color, geographical location, financial fortune, physical strength, or an ego the size of Chicago is becoming the death of us all when we cannot predict with any accuracy who will be the next person to see a perceived wrong or injustice and take it upon themselves to rid the planet of those whom they deem at fault, because of an inflated sense of self and entitlement.  We don’t have a Superman from another world who has the knowledge of a more advanced civilization to guide him through the true wrongs in the world and use his superior ability to make things right.  Because of this, we are at the mercy of our own ability to discover the trueness of what we were given on a soul level at birth, and gauge by the experiences that we were sent here to have, what we, as individuals can contribute to the world we were sent here to shepherd over.  I fear that precious few of us will set aside our egos and money making and schmoozing long enough to discover, as Jonathan Kent told his son Clark – “You are here for a reason”.  That reason is not to corrupt and create a planet that will soon be unfit to live on.  Look around you, and watch the news today.  Is this truly what you want your life to be like?  Do you want to spend the rest of the time that you are allotted as a human being in anger and fear?  Without a serious wake-up call here, we cannot expect things to ever change except to become even worse. Some species and societies have said “enough is enough!” and taken steps to create a better balance.  They may not be ideal steps but when something has to be done we don’t always have the luxury of a comfortable solution.  Will we take a lesson from elephants and exile all of the males away from everyone except other males?  Will we advance in technology to an ability where we can send the problem offenders to a prison from which they cannot escape?  This was actually done in centuries past in a round-about-way.  Britain sent habitual criminals and undesirables to the continent of Australia and left them to make what they could out of a virtual wilderness and their own ability to create something from it.  People were also sent here to America as indentured slaves to be rid of their criminal behavior.  Short of doing something like that, our only option is to promote a better way of thinking about our world and each other, or we have no future except one where we destroy ourselves.  We are dependent upon each other to make the decision that we no longer want to live like this.