Why does our survival as a species depend upon honesty? Because without honesty we can never come to grips with the truth, or in other words, they way things REALLY ARE. Without the truth, we are hopelessly lost in our collective fashion magazine illusions about what life is all about. An honest look at our world reveals that modern society is literally FULL of false and misleading ideas, which contribute absolutely NOTHING to the real quality of life. Yet for some reason, it’s still a common misconception that, “there is a higher standard of living” inherent with owning “more things”. If so, why do statistics show that more and more people are unhappy with their lives?

In this age of fast talk and sales slogans, where does one begin to talk about the importance of Truth and Honesty? I have often wondered what the word “honesty” really means to most people today. Apparently it doesn’t mean very much. It seems that most don’t even consider it important enough to clearly define. Television programming and social norms suggest that honesty, (truth) certainly isn’t considered an important part of daily life. If fact, almost every show on television portrays characters who habitually lie about almost everything, nearly all the time! The media is no better since it rarely gives a clear view of the real causes behind world events or domestic policies. Equally rare is honesty on the personal level, where we find that, “looking good”, “being politcally correct” and “saving face” are all placed well ahead of truth as social values.

If the true intentions behind corporate and government endeavors were commonly known, the average person would be truly shocked to realize that these institutions are not at all what they seem. They are in fact routinely behind everyday events such as wars, plagues, medical malpractice, criminal economics, the swindling of public funds and environmental disasters of all kinds, where companies like Enron are just the tip of a MUCH larger iceberg. Any honest analysis of modern values reveals that real morality, (good will amongst the global human community, for the benefit of all life) is in a free-fall decline, spiraling more out of control with each week that passes. An honest look at world events reveals the insincerity of selfish corporate interests, transparent government propaganda and a shallow, basically uncaring complacency on the part of the public the world over. After observing all this in our human society, it‘s easy to see where the world is rapidly heading. There are famines, man-made diseases and wars without end.

There are genetically engineered foods, birth defects caused by depleted uranium and industrial chemicals and a total lack of respect for life in industry and the sciences. There is corruption in world leaders and governments, monumental national deficits, and last but certainly not least, a bottomless greed which causes the most grave social problems all over the world, (to name just a few). When are these critical issues of our day ever seriously and deeply discussed by concerned citizens? Very rarely. It doesn’t take a genius or a person with vastly keen observational powers to realize the truth of these conclusions. One might be prompted to ask; “Could it be that only a small minority of us see these things, knowing that the world does NOT need to function this way?” The answer that is forthcoming can only be, that although people can’t help but notice these world problems, they CHOOSE to “look the other way” because dealing with such issues, “just isn’t convenient right now”. Perhaps a better question would be, “Among those in the world who see the human race clearly going in the direction of mass death and misery, who among you is willing to change your everyday life? Who will DEMONSTRATE THROUGH LIFESTYLE that they value truth over sales slogans, and the FACTS over brand name egotism and political promises?

Many reading this article will contend that there ARE people of good intent everywhere, who dedicate much time and energy to right some of the wrongs around the globe. These highly altruistic doers of good-deeds have some merit, and render some short term benefits to people everywhere. But it’s fairly easy to target any specific region of the world, for example, in order to feed the hungry, clothe the homeless and send medical help to those in need. Growing the food isn’t a problem, nor is the manufacture of clothing and medical supplies. But where in all this apparent altruism is there any legitmate concern for addressing the actual source of these world problems? Where are those advocates for real human progress, who are courageously pointing out that the focus of society itself is all wrong, rather than just smoothing over the symptoms of our social disease? Although relief measures may give immediate benefits to those who are suffering in certain areas of the world, they clearly are not sufficient to actually change the course of modern humanity. For every fire we put out using such short term measures, three more pop up elsewhere.

Why is it then that social programs and government “aid” alike, address only the SYMPTOMS of worldly ills, when it is clearly known that in the long run they are no solution at all? For if such band-aid measures were truly all that was required to solve world problems, then distressed regions of the globe would have been transformed from places of misery and mass-death long ago. If you doubt this, then reflect for just a moment on the fact that if less than one tenth of current military expenditures were spent on peace and human benefit, that misery and death would be transformed into joy and real human progress for decades to come. Insteads of fighter jets and cruise missiles whose annual budget is in the billions of dollars, we could as a society improve the human condition forever, through better environmental practices, cooperative organic agriculture, enlightened education and the conscientious use of technology. But this is not to be for one simple reason. The values of those who run the world are not oriented toward the benefit of life or the improvement of the human condition in any way, they are based upon sheer selfishness, madness and monumental egotism.

Because of false value systems such as consumerism and materialism, even becoming a billionaire isn’t enough any more, when you play the game called “success”. As if in tribute to the twin gods of egotism and ignorance, the billionaire must then work to possess TENS OF BILLIONS, and then HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS. Bank accounts have come to mean more to human beings than life itself. Those who belong to the “hundreds of billions club” must then in their madness, jockey and compete on the world stage, using governments and whole populations as their pawns, to see who can be TOP BILLIONAIRE. Whole continents suffer in sweat shops, deforestation and disease while needless wars wage, just so that Joe Milionaire can become Joe Billionaire, at the cost of all life on this planet, if necessary. Unfortunately the average person employs these very same value systems of consumerism and materialism, with the mistaken idea that having more money and things makes you a better person. Thus we have the extreme shallowness and wasteful egotism that dominates our entire Western culture, which in the end benfits no one. In the final analysis consumerism is nothing more than mass insanity glorified as “success” by every television commercial and magazine stand. In the modern age it is mistakenly thought that “might makes right” and “it is the victors who right history” even if they gained “victory” through ripping off investors and taxpayers. Needless wars are waged in the name of “justice” just so that certain corporate conglomerates are kept in business through their Defense Department contracts. If this is “success” then what is failure?

So let’s take an honest look at the what the words, “REAL HUMAN PROGRESS” really mean. They certainly don’t mean employing band-aid measures, which accomplish about as much as giving morphine for the pain of cancer. Throwing food, equipment or money at world problems are temporary and cosmetic measures at best. We can feed and clothe the poor, but the fact is that millions will continue to suffer so long as greed and egotism rule the day. Why is this? Because, while the average Joe Millionaire , (or wanna-be Joe Millionaire) is out there competing with his or her greedy peers for the same finite world in which we must all live. It’s a fool’s game that the rich and poor alike play, in order to conform to some bizarre idea about “success”, but which by another name is the paraniod, egotistical acquisition of everything within sight, while hoping the “other guy” doesn’t get there first. THIS is exactly the philosophy ruling the Earth today, and it is the very definition of primitiveness, stupidity, ignorance, and mutually assured self destrcution. Sweat shop labor and minimum wage-slaves are exactly what keeps the ultra rich in their positions of power. With this power of destruction and misery the “successful” work to create ever more slaves the world over, so as to indulge their deranged fantasies about being at the top of the heap.

Morphine, like “foreign aid”, will alleviate pain and suffering for a while, but until the cause of the pain, (the values of materialism and consumerism) has been addressed there will be no cure. Until these causes of hunger, plague, birth defects and all other wordly injustices are honestly looked at, nothing will change in the long run. This is where truth and honesty shine the brightest, for within these spiritual modes of being is found our only true hope as a species. Without them our extinction is not long in the making, and it doesn’t matter in the least, who does or doesn’t like to hear it. The honest fact is that the cause of these worldly ills is a widespread public apathy toward, and wilfull participation in, what is going on in the global human community.

No one is willing to take responsiblity for it, not even in identifying society for what it is...completely insane. This apathy is based on selfishness and a basic dishonesty about the truth, as reflected in the whole philosophy of “me first” consumerism. It is commonly believed by many that the whole world and everything in it, (including our fellow human beings) exists only for us to exploit, and that what really matters in the end, is not the destruction of the environment, (our own children included) or the suffering of millions, but OUR IMMEDIATE GRATIFICATION. This insanity is the hysterical belief system the cult of consumerism commands its Dollar worshippers to follow. To BUY WITHOUT THOUGHT, to blindly consume and produce, and to live for the sake of making money alone, is the mode of our day. It is even considered by some to be their social and “patriotic” duty toward society, in order to, “stimulate the economy”, “create more jobs” and to destroy everything within sight for the sake of “fame and fortune”.

Where do we start to take responsibility for such a bizarre mess? Someone has to, or else we are all just standing around with a confounded stare, waiting for somebody else to take the initiative. The answer lies within each and every one of us....it must start with every individual taking responsiblity for their daily lifestyle. It has to start by QUESTIONING the nonsense we see on television, and realizing that this is NOT reality, but a very twisted maze of false propositions. It must start with each and every one of us genuinely valuing and honoring truth, not according to what the newspapers or magazines say, but according to the laws which run the universe, (natural laws).

How can truth be finally recognized world-wide, if it doesn’t start within ourselves? Just as the health of the body is based upon healthy cells, so too is the sanity of the world based upon sane individuals, who are NOT in denial about the world condition. It is they and ONLY they, who have the sanity and courage of conviction to say what is true, regardless of an apathetic majority who really couldn’t care less where the world is headed, so long as they, “get their piece of the pie”. Well guess what people, there isn’t going to be any pie left, when everybody wants to take much more than their share. In the United States alone, (which is commonly known as the consumerism capital of the world) we contain only 5% of the world’s population, yet “consume” over 30% of its’ resources. That’s at least 6 times “our share” which we refer to as a “higher standard of living”, but which is in fact just unmasked greed given a fancy name. While the rich add another 1000 square feet to their mansions, the poor die of starvation or untreated disease by the tens of thousands on every continent. Those who think there is no relationship between their lifestyle and the lives led by others around the world, are just kidding themselves with a brand of grossly insensitive, criminal cynicism.

It is only the honest who have the clarity and courage to speak what must be spoken. This they do regardless of what the television says is “politically incorrect”, fully aware that it takes far more courage to state the way things really are, than to just parrot what is accepted as “normal”. This is the stuff of true heroes, for without honesty or acting for the sake of CAUSE, (justice through truth) then our society increasingly looks like an episode out of a poorly written comic book strip or soap opera, filled from top to bottom with villians and poor victims, and never dealing with anything but mindless, self indulgent drama. DRAMA without meaning is the norm for much of our television “programming”, (an appropriate word for it) as well as the daily scene of urban America. It’s as though the two worlds of televised soap operas and “real life” are constantly striving to imitate one another, to the point where you can’t tell one from the other.

It is said that the average American watches at least 4 hours of TV a day, 28 hours a week, 112 hours a month and 1344 hours a year. In a 65 year lifespan, that’s about 130 months, or over 10 years! So for 56 days a year people wilfully subject themselves to the most absurd nonsense, (with rare exception) if only for the sake of indulging their real-world apathy by, “not having to think about it”. The television is truly the most horrific propaganda device ever created, and through it the corporate values of materialism and consumerism pour ceaselessly. They pour into the average mind without being challenged in the slightest, creating a kind of sustained hype-nosis which literally programs children and adults alike to do one thing...OBEY.

Television is certainly not the benign “entertainment” medium that most assume it to be...that’s an extremely naive notion. What it is actually designed to do is to condition the mind to NOT THINK anymore, literally disabling the frontal lobe of the brain, and directly depositing images and ideas into the mind that are akin to viruses entering a computer’s operating system. People so conditioned are then referred to as “consumers” who will do anything they are programmed to do when the right stimulus is introduced, not unlike herd animals coming to a feeding trough on cue when a signal is given. When you combine the effects of television programming with the brain-dead scheduling of modern education, the result that is gained is exactly in line with corporate agenda. The result is that people become “flesh-bots” (flesh robots) who never question anything, and in fact, aren’t even MOTIVATED to question anything, so deep is their conditioning.

Television, like the other forms of mass media today, exist for one primary purpose...to CONTROL people. Controlled people are profitable, they run off to war to die when they’re told to, and best of all, they obey orders when commanded to do so at the workplace. This is slavery by another name, but of an ingenious type....it is presented in such a way so as to make the slave actually believe they ENJOY their servitude, and that it is of benefit to them to be like a mindless cog in a great machine. This is the corporate agenda for you and me, with apathy and knee-jerk consumption being only two of its’ truly horrible effects. It is absolutely necessary to shake off this hype-nosis and think for ourselves, but to begin this process requires deep honesty!

The way to complete honesty starts through an in depth look within ourselves. It comes from meditation, looking within and noticing our feelings. Inner knowledge reveals the real source and merit of our beliefs, values, issues and traditions. This means taking an adult, objective look at our lives. It means having a sincere concern for what is far more important than impressing the neighbors with a new outfit or luxury sedan, just because the TV ad “said so”. It means dealing with reality AS IT IS, rather than how we imagine or want it to be. Contrary to popular belief, honesty and spirituality do not have to take several years or months to embody. When we gain the wisdom to realize that the truth is all that is REAL, and therefore all that ever has or ever will matter in life, then adopting truth as our personal standard is made easy. This requires only an objective and honest look at the origin of our personal beliefs, and their reality in the light of REAL FACTS. Most of the beliefs of the modern person are not of their own making...they originate in corporate ad-campain board rooms and politcal think tanks.

Facts after all, are the building blocks of truth, not fictions. We must trade our insulating fictions for the facts of reality, in order to really prosper. The scientist knows that to make a piece of technology work requires the right application of natural laws. You can’t short out an electrical circuit for instance, and expect that piece of equipment to work properly. The same may be said of daily life...until we start recognizing the supreme importance of truth, (natural laws) every day, we’re just shorting out our life energies on such nonsense as “re-establishing our good credit” and, “0 down, and 2.9% APR”.

Sandi Hunter spellscaster9@yahoo.com

Matthew Webb Visionquest@eoni.com

For further reading on an alternative lifestyle to consumerism and self destruction, See the Survivalist’s Guide For the New Millennium in the WMS Library at: http://www.eoni.com/~visionquest

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