Lies, Lies, Lies, Lies

I have been amazed at the number of people who have become enamored with a book and movie called The Secret. Although our beliefs do play a large part in our "reality", as the book and movie claim, positive thinking alone cannot determine outcome of our behavior nor can our will alone determine the future. Action is still able to "speak" more loudly than words. More importantly, when our beliefs override good sense or eternal truths, we set ourselves up for the proverbial fall from grace.

Books and videos may foist one belief or another upon us, but it is in our best interest to examine each bit of information that we receive, considering the source, exploring the motivations behind the message and trying to understand the goals that lay behind the "curtain" of secrecy that most of us allow to exist between production and consumption of ideas. As a stagehand, I am literally one of the people behind the curtain and I assure you that profit for the few and wage slavery for the rest of us is at the heart of most of what you see in music, film, television, sport, newspapers, books, the internet and the entertainment industry generally. We are in a difficult position when spirituality enters the realm of entertainment. The recent deaths of seekers who attended a mass sweat lodge, set up by one of the presenters featured in "The Secret" attests to the dangers of mixing spiritual questing with the profit motive.

I am only now beginning to realize that the end of Uncle Sam's war in Vietnam, that I worked so hard for as a child, would turn into an obsession for so many souls. Just yesterday I overheard a conversation that could have been forty years old about the lies upon which the war began, was executed and reported by journalists. The torment was thick in the voice of the veteran who was still educating people about that war and what it meant for him. The spiritual motivation behind our cause, and the love that we felt for those we did not know had little effect on the lives, or for that matter the deaths of people whose blood, sweat and tears stained the soil halfway around the world. Our rulers, and they are not elected, found that involvement in Indochina was no longer convenient and that the curtain was beginning to rise on the true nature of their motivation as well as their influence on our involvement there. Our government would like us to think that they suddenly developed a conscience, but that is truly not the case. The sense of victory that coursed through the peace movement was palpable, but the power dynamics remained unchanged.

War is always good for the power elites who own the means of production. It is good for those who stand to lose nothing. For all of the rest of us, nothing is gained, and for many all is lost. I believe that we have the power to change this dynamic, but there is little we can do about the unelected leaders who determine when and where our nation shall go to war, unless we understand that they are indeed there, and make changes that will allow us to see their influence as plainly as if the curtain were not there at all. The recent victory felt by many when Obama was elected is noteworthy because, like the end of the Vietnam War, it created a feeling of positivism that reverberated around the world. Even though the world economy was teetering on the brink of collapse, we felt as if change had truly come. We will have to look no further than the morning news to see that the more things change, the more they remain the same.

Those who seek to control us and keep us wage slaves have had an extremely long time to hone their skills, develop methods that work and create the structures that benefit them while fleecing others. The real secret, as far as I am concerned is that we are all held captive by our own chains. Those who seek to control us are deft in their use of rhetoric. They are magicians of the first order, getting us to look away at precisely the right moment, and believe what they need us to believe to get the responses that they desire. If the Thompson Twins song "Lies" is not reverberating in your head yet, it should be.

For years I have developed a costume for Halloween that was born of my sub-conscious, grew over time, and continues to blossom in meaning for me. It all started after I participated in the "restore" after my first event theater experience. As a stagehand, I was able to scavenge dozens of short lengths of chain from the dumpster. I remembered a great line from literature, and had to immediately run home and check the Gutenberg Project for a specific series of lines from "A Christmas Carol". After reading Charles Dickens and his description of Jacob Marley's Ghost, I endeavored to become, if just for one night each year, this personage who spoke to me through the ages. His greatest line, "I forged these chains in life." touched my soul so deeply that I wanted to repeat it again and again for others to hear and learn from. Hopefully, it has touched a few people over the years.

Each of us is shackled to a world view that we alone have forged. The power elites know how we do this and why. They also give us the tools we need to make our most basic decisions. Religion, money, education, national pride, etc. become the tools of our own oppression while we are distracted into thinking that they can save us. My pagan beliefs are often turned into a reason to judge, hate or distrust me. Those who feel that their God can be threatened by my beliefs actually have no concept of Gods or their powers. Lies need to be constantly propped up while truth stands alone, forever. Even the fact that their "god" is based on dozens of gods before him, which ultimately was passed down from sun worshipers, cannot assuage their loathing of my pagan way. Similarly, when I renounce affluence and the consumerism which most folks believe in, they have derogatory words that they call me. Telling the truth about the dollar really irks folks who otherwise seem to be mild mannered and astute. Even Christians who practice voluntary simplicity get upset when I share my understanding of our monetary system, and the exploitative and extractive nature of economic power elites. Teachers might just be the worst. They believe so thoroughly in their craft that they are nearly unreachable with logic. I have read textbooks that they have used to teach my children. I know that they are full of lies and omissions that make a huge difference in how children think, and occasionally, their ability to think at all! Regarding Nationalism, has anyone not seen the photos of the earth from space? Are we not able to see the fact that we are all one? Some of my ancestors come from an island culture. Although some of their cultural practices are not things I would encourage, at least they know about the finite nature of the land that supports them. The ruthlessness reflected in the way we seek out resources can only continue under an "us versus them" mind set. When we understand that everyone has equal right to having their needs met, the artificial boundaries that we create on the planet will fade and hopefully we will begin to treat one another with the respect we all deserve.

Speaking truth to power has led to many of the concessions that the power elites have yielded over the centuries. It is up to us to determine when they will fall. As long as we accept their lies, we can never be free of their power to affect the quality of our lives. Love truly does mean letting go of fear and the primacy of fear in the emotional rhetoric of the power elites should be self-evident to anyone who has studied the history of politics, religion, economics, agriculture, energy, transportation or education. Fear based behaviors are the whole kit and caboodle for those who would control us. Love truly has the power to conquer all. Not love of "god", not love of money, not love of country. Just good old fashioned love. The love that I have for mankind may not be as pure as it could be, but it is as pure as I can muster and I continue to refine it. I truly care about your health, your sanity, your sanctity, and your prosperity. I have a deep and abiding love for mankind as a species and that alone means the world to anyone who can fathom the depth of love that is reflected in that statement. I am not motivated by the profits of the next quarter. I have no agenda but to care for the well-being of those I share this planet with. I have seen the results of our current approach, and have understood the need for change since childhood. I invite everyone to refine their world view to include love and peace as the basis for change. It truly is a beautiful world and there is no need to exploit another to express our own wealth.