issues, questions, and possibilities

Why is it that so many people believe organized religions?

People are scared. Whether they deny it or not, they are scared. They have been thrown into this life by the powers that be and look for some sort of foundation as security. That security is interpreted (subconsciously and consciously) as "whatever is popular is right." If there's a church on every corner then the church must have something good and true to say. Hell, if billions believe it then it must have some validity, right? Those chapels are mighty pretty, yes - there's something holy about them, something divine.

These people are not stupid or ignorant, they are simply human beings who have fallen to the games of their mind. Fear is an animal emotion, and whether one realizes it or not, it is the cause of false beliefs in fake gods. Just as the Greeks had their gods, we have GOD today. GOD who will bring you here only to judge you. GOD who will cut you down if you are too human or go against the commandments of antiquity.

The problem of organized religion is a problem with no immediate source. It is a problem fed my misinterpretations, ego-infused mindsets, animal emotions, and the passing down of falsehoods from one generation to the next. It is the pain of being an animal that has people rushing to believe something better must exist. This is also the reason poverty stricken people tend to have stronger religious convictions. They want to have faith that a time of prosperity is drawing closer with each passing day. It is also why the wealthy tend to feign true, devote religion. They are so satisfied with this life (for the wrong reasons) that they give up any efforts towards something else sustainable.

In truth, hope in the future, hope in another life, and hope in a heaven will only bring one temporary and false security (just as money does with the rich) and take he or she out of the true life that surrounds them. When they reach that future, they will wind up just as dead, with no heaven to comfort them. Why believe in those things unknowable and unprovable when life at its core has so much to offer?

And why the hostility towards those who question today's prominent religions?

Those who question Christianity, Islam, etc. pose a threat. Not a threat to the divine order of things as those followers would have you believe, but a threat to their own comfort and security. When you tell someone who has all but convinced themselves that there is a specific God, a Heaven, and a Hell - that what they believe is bollocks - they resist. Why? Because you're showing them reality. You're telling them that beauty, serenity, and peace are not something of tomorrow, they are something of today, if you reach for them. You're telling them that they can no longer find comfort in an untrue future written by men of the past. You're telling them that they are animal and that they will always be animal because they are an animal in the now. And now is all there is.

Witchcraft doesn't exist. Magic doesn't exist. Rituals do not work. Praying does not work. It's a fierce reality, but it is reality that must be accepted one way or another if people are to truly live. I will tell you that you're dead loved one is not in Heaven (or, for that matter, Hell). I will tell you that praying for someone who is ill is worth nothing, accept to comfort the griever. Throwing a penny in a wishing well and making a wish will most likely not bring you that wish. If that wish does come to you it is from your own doing. Do not thank the well. Thank yourself.

If you tell people there's no such thing as good luck and bad, right and wrong, they get defensive. Because they must question all they thought they knew. Nature does not know superstitions, it only knows balance. Just as you should give yourself credit for achieving your wishes and goals, you should give unknowable Nature credit for your being, not a fake God seeking only to judge, condemn, or save you.

Nature is a product of God, no?

No. God is Nature. All things, no matter how synthetic, come from it. We are it and we need it to survive. Nature is not something "God" created, Nature is God. One thing that is truly amazing is how far astray we have been led in regards to nature. It's almost as though we think ourselves above it. You are nature through and through. Your species, the human race, evolved in it and you now survive off it. No matter how far humanity gets in its evolutionary progress, it will never escape the fact that everything it does, everything it is, and everything it senses is Nature - a phenomenon, and nothing else. The Earth is not simply a disposable structure made for our endless use. It is a necessity. Men would not be able to walk if it weren't for their legs. Men would not be able to think if it weren't for the complexity of their brains. Apples would not taste good if it weren't for the intricate taste buds on men's tongues. These were not given to you by some other. They simply have evolved out of that thing undefinable, that thing called Nature.

Humanity has forgotten what it means for something to be natural. Something natural is something undefinable. And why define something you can't define? Let it be and realize that some of the most profound things in life - life itself, most notably - have no need for a definition. Life asks nothing of you but to live. Your body wants nothing more than to work... work so that you may experience this life in this body, and so on.

Faith gives people hope? What's wrong with that?

There's nothing wrong with hope. But someone who is truly fulfilled and grateful for their existence has no need for hope. No matter what arrives at their doorstep, they can see the beauty in it. Only those who are unfulfilled have to hope. Of course, being fulfilled is no easy step. After all, it would be hard to accept something like terminal cancer as just a fact of life, with no Heaven after for comfort. But one must see the overall picture, the idea of a truly vast universe with an unbelievable amount of life. Those consciousnesses must be filled. Filled with you.

And although reincarnation is not provable, life is regenerating all around us. It may not be hardcore evidence, but one could see it as a sign. The infinite amount of animals, bugs, and plants show that life is constantly going and returning. Nothing is permanent, yet nothing is truly impermanent. Energy - whatever it truly is - will always find a new place to lie, if even for the brief moment that is life.

Faith in itself isn't bad. We must have faith in things. Like ourselves, our friends... our faucets to pour or our cars to work. But false faith, that is faith in things which have no proof whatsoever, is wasted time... wasted faith.

There was an eclipse recently in Asia. In India, the superstitious were performing all sorts of rituals to ward off the evils they thought that eclipse would bring. Take the frame back a second and you'll see that such rituals are wasted energy, wasted faith. A bunch of people waving sticks in the air and shouting things while wearing bright, colorful paint will not ward off "evil energy" from an eclipse. Just as praying to a God will not save a loved one, and eating a piece of bread that's supposed to represent Jesus' flesh doesn't mean anything. In the end you are only dancing around and shouting, talking to yourself, and... eating a piece of bread. Or, in other words, experiencing life... So why not just experience life without all the strings attached, without all the incentives and wasted energy.

This is one major problem with the organized religious of today. They hear what they want and filter out whatever it is that disagrees with what they think. When someone prays for a loved one and they get better, they automatically thank God and assume that he must have had some part in it. When they pray for a loved one and that person dies, they say something like "it was his time" or "God wanted him." That is insane. It doesn't make any sense. And it is truly and clearly picking and choosing for the comfort of one's own mind. It is selfish. If a loved one survives something like say, an accident, it was not God who saved them. It was their own effort to live on and the chance of nature. It was random. It was spontaneous. It was not destined. It was not written. By the same token, if 35 people die in a tornado, God didn't "have better plans for them." They died because those things happen. Because the tornado had to hit someone's house. The tornado was not on any set path, it was simply going on a natural course in a natural world.

And in that natural world, humans reign supreme, yes?

Yes and no. Human beings are at the top of the food chain. There is no denying that. Our evolution has far surpassed that of other animals. We have created cities, made art, and proposed all sorts of scientific theories. That doesn't come easy. We do reign supreme, but it is was not set by anything divine.

The fact you are in a human body is most likely chance. I say most likely, because as one who is at the top of the food chain, one who has the unique ability to think and reason, it is impossible to say without a shadow of a doubt that any other animal exists by free will as we do. The fact remains that most of the world's creatures are on an entirely different plane than humans. That isn't to say a lower plane, but most definitely a different one. Animals live by instinct, a natural sort of urge to grow, survive, and eventually reproduce. Humans, as animals, do too. But the ability to think and reason and the presence of a powerful mind gives us an entirely different playing field. It makes us stronger in ways and weaker in others.

We have risen to great heights because of our minds, but we have also created a mind-world where superstitions, conspiracies, false beliefs and all out paranoid madness persist. Our mind has given us a lot as humans, but it has taken a lot of life away from us, too.

Babies have simpler minds and because of that they live more for the now. Animals have simpler minds, and they too, live for the now. Adults, however, get lost in the world our collective mind has created, and thus, a vicious cycle has started, where generation by generation we get more and more lost in an illusion of the right and wrong ways to live life.

Humans have the capability to be the best creature on earth, but also the potential to be the worst. Like we respect ourselves, we must respect others, human or not. Reincarnation most likely does exist. If you are living one life and are surrounded by an infinite amount of other life, it can be assumed (though it is not provable) that life does continue. After all, you're a part of it now and you know it continues after you leave this body. So why believe you won't tag along for the ride?

The form you take may be unknown, but that doesn't mean you won't be taking one. What exactly reincarnation means, or if it is influenced by say, karma, is too unknown. As of now there seems to be two options in relation to animal life: 1. animals are controlled by some sort of natural force and have no real, complete, controllable consciousness. And 2. they are just like you and I, but with less developed brains, more instinct, and more life. Either way, the chances are you have experienced and will experience a vast array of lives in a vast array of inconceivable or predictable bodies. Just think about how truly unique this life is. From polka music to calamari - this world is strange/great/unique.

And in this world live many plants and creatures. Whether or not plants can sense is a true mystery. I'm inclined to say no (although no one knows for sure). There most likely just a part of our vast, singular, Earth, which is living, breathing, and providing day and night continuously. But it is safe to say by most accounts that the animals that live on that Earth are just as aware as you and I, and that they are just as much alive. We must not forget that in the end we are part of the animal kingdom. We share more similarities with animals than differences. They live among us and experience the world, but from a different perspective. They are not here for us, but with us. Just as the Earth is not here to serve us, but to help us along on the journey of life.

More random issues, questions, and possibilities to come...

the currents of the universe

"It is the dim haze of mystery that adds enchantment to pursuit."

-Antoine Rivarol

"Miracles are not contrary to nature, but only contrary to what we know about nature."

-St. Augustine

It has long been known by shamans and seekers that the first step in giving up the illusion of life is forfeiting the ego. The ego, roughly defined, is who you believe yourself to be. From your name to your race, your ego is what society has built as the reflection of you. And you, being the impressionable human that you are, accepted that tried and true. The gravestones of millions display the names of egos now departed. But where have those egos gone? Are they in a "heaven" dancing gleefully with friends and relatives long passed also? A place of eternal joy and perpetual ecstasy? Where the best food waits atop gold tables and grapes grow from passing clouds? Where death is known no more and a bright light shines through and over everything? No. They are not. They are six feet in the Earth, most likely rotted to dust by now. Heaven is fiction (as is Hell). There is no debate, because there is no proof. And there is no point in having faith in that which is not. Heaven was created by men out of their own fear of death, that inevitable not being that we will all face sooner or later. A belief in Heaven is an escapist attitude and those days are over.

But do not fear, fellow travelers. Because at heart we are all on a journey. Our own individual journey. But it does not transcend lives, nor does it end in a Heaven or a Hell - or a nothing. The worst and the best, the brightest and the darkest, the most and the least all play out in the vast truth of equilibrium. And as any good traveler will tell you, one journey's end brings another's beginning. We are on the journey of a lifetime, an infinite one. You will not remember this life 100 human years from now, just as you don't remember the moment you were birthed into this world, or your first step onto it. You will not remember because there is no reason to remember. Those that live in the Present are given something more precious, more true, more abundant, than all the pillars of Heaven lined up until the end of that fictional kingdom. When you are aware of the moment and nothing else. When the past fades away as quickly as the future comes into your sight, sound, taste, smell, and touch, you are on a ride with no end and no beginning. Where the admission is free and the speed indeterminable. You are experiencing life in an IMAX theater of reality. And when you are aware of life you are alive, and you are aware of it now, so why fear? Something - some indistinguishable force - has brought you here. It does not judge you. It will not punish you. And it will never be entirely known. But it has brought you here, know that. And seek nothing else.

The animal fear of death has destroyed mankind. It has given rise to a society built on fake spectacles and trivial pursuits. Escapists minds have built an escapist world. Those that believe they live in reality are in for a rude awakening. Reality is something far different - far more real and overwhelming - than most are ready to accept. Reality is energy. Reality is infinity. Reality is complete and utter shifting, falling, unknown, impermanence. It is the fire of the sun. The depth of the universe unknowable. The beating heart that seems to beat for no real reason at all. It is the flesh rotting off the bones of those men dead long ago.

And so we come back to that fact: why believe in something that doesn't exist? Death is very real. We all join the Earth again someday and yet we live our lives forgetting we walk, sleep, and live on it every second of our lives. It yields to us and takes us back in to yield to those after us. The fossil fuels that run our cars today were the animals of yesterday. The plants grow out of former life that now manifests itself in rocks, dirt, and minerals. This planet is in a constant state of mass recycling. Lives are lived and lived again. But not by the same person, or the same thing. Each living thing is unique in that it is the only one of its kind to grace this Earth, at this time, in this stretch of an infinite universe. So we are unique, we are "special," but we are not infinitely us.

Life is life experiencing life. You are alive, you are experiencing that which is, that which makes up the collective thing called life. But you are not you. You belong to Nature. You have control of "you," but every ounce of your being is something else, something completely organic, something you had no part in creating, only manipulating with your mind. You are the body of a species that took millions of years to evolve. One that literally came from the primordial, fundamental core of this Earth. Society has been built out of a single seed. We are all connected, indefinitely, infinitely, indelibly. Solids, liquids, and gases make up our surroundings. But they are not separate. They are atoms, side by side, connected. Separation is a complete and utter illusion. The flame of a candle is connected to the air around it. It may appear to stand alone, but it is not. Just as a human being is not disconnected from his or her surroundings, or a bird from the sky around it. When you feel the wind on your face, you are not just feeling it, you are coming in contact with it, coming in contact with an energy that is always there, in gas form, surrounding you, feeding you oxygen and life.

Nature/reality/existence is literally feeding itself to you so that you can experience it through it. Life is the miracle of being for the sake of being. Because nonbeing simply isn't any fun. There is, however, such a thing as nonbeing. There has to be. The corpses underneath the headstones in a graveyard are experiencing something, and that something is nothing. But they'll never know it. Just as you'll never know it when you die, because you can never know it. You can only experience it, and when you are experiencing it you are alive and incapable of knowing it - only experiencing it. The truth (life in the Present) is unknowable because if you were to know it, it would take the fun away. What's the point in watching a movie if you can see the cameras, and the cords, and the director in the background all the time? Then you would know you were watching a movie - you would know the magic behind it and that would make it pointless. You cannot know the unknowable and even when in that vast nothing called death, one is incapable of knowing, because they can't know in that state. There is nothing to relate it to, no life to make contemplations and surmises, no senses to make sense of it all.

That is to say, there is no soul. The soul is an illusion. The "soul" is a rough term for the non-interconnected lives that we will live infinitely. The lives are connected by infinite energy that is always present, but not connected in any sort of subjective way. You are not all you'll know and you are not all there is, and yet you are, to you, NOW, but not always. You will be something/someone else, but always linked to it in spirit, or energy in a physical reality that goes on and on and on. There is no higher calling. There is no greater good. There is no infinite soul on a determined journey to achieve some sort of greatness. The greatness is already here and you are capable of seeing it. But first you must open your eyes. Open all of your senses. There is some sort of eternal, objective, good, a recognition of reality that manifests itself as "Heaven," but it is not reached by becoming something. It is reached by becoming nothing, becoming merely a reflection of life itself - the all seeing eye in the midst of things. Walk into the forest, but leave only your footsteps. The forest changes, but does not end, as you will change forms, but will never end.

There are no ends. And Heaven as we describe it today is described as an end. Now is the end and now is infinite. You are not infinite, but it is, and you are a part of it, so thus you are infinite. Each journey breeds another journey and thus no end is possible. One thing done entails another trial to overcome. And that means that the life you are living now is all there is - for now. You will live again, but that life will have absolutely no relation to this one. There is no need to even think about that now, because that hasn't happened yet. Energy hasn't taken up that form, you are here now. You emerged into these five senses and these five senses will end eventually. You are powered by your mind and you have the power to escape it, but you cannot escape your body without ending this life. There is no escape from reality. And physical reality is as much a reality as any. There is no soul that can transcend infinity. To live you must be in a form, and that form is body. There is mind. There is body. There is not soul.

Not to sound pessimistic. There is a "soul" to an extent, just not the one we're used to thinking of. The soul is the state you reach when you're in your mind and body, but have completely transcended out of them. When you have reached a state of nirvana, a state of true acceptance and true appreciation... true love of life and all its details and quirks. When you have come to love the unknown and unknowable and take it as it comes. That is what soul is and it is possible to achieve it. It is possible to live the life of a soul in the life of a body with a mind. But first one must accept that they are in a mortal body, that that mortal body will eventually die, and that another mortal body will follow it. That they are not going to Heaven when they die. That Heaven is NOW. There will be more nows, but why worry about them. They are unknowable, because they have not yet happened, so live in today. Don't live in the past. And don't live in the future. Live in the now and it is there you will find eternity. The dead are dead. The not-yet-born are not yet born. Don't live a life stuck in the past or one glued to the future. Only the moment will set you free. The moment/present/now/exact second is the truth. It is what all humans are looking for. It is why everything from roller coasters, to drugs, to this thrill or that exist. To get people in the Present so that they feel truly alive.

And you are truly alive. Your heart is beating and you don't control it. It beats for you and no one else. It beats so that you may experience and so that you may live. It beats for the moon and it beats for the sun and from just outside Earth you can hear the quiet sound of billions of heartbeats. In sync and infinite, recycling time and time again for the sake of the beat. The rhythm of life. Beyond Earth there are many other lives experiencing life, but for now you are you. Know that by you, I do not mean who you think you are, but the collective experiences the body that you currently inhabit calls its own. And you will live again. You will meet new people, see new places, know new things you could never even imagine existed. There is only one New York City in the universe. There is only one thing called pizza in the universe. There was only one President Lincoln and one Mahatma Gandhi in the universe. Earth is a very unique place, cherish it while you can. Experience as much as you can and love it all equally and unconditionally. You may only be here once and although you won't remember it, living in the Present will render that fact void, because living through all your senses in this precise moment ensures eternity, it is now and it is all you know.

One day you'll awake another person/thing/species in another place in space and time. As you awoke into this body so you'll awake into another. You are in a physical reality and that is all there is. You are your five senses as perceived by your brain and nothing else. You are a part of a physical universe that longs to persist. It is no wonder every species is so concerned with procreation. It is the continuation of life that gives us hope and promise, for we know that we are a part of it. Somewhere far off there are individuals within species just meeting that will one day ensure our life in another place, somewhere in this very universe we will be born again. And again and so on, forever. Forever does exist. Individual life has a beginning and an end, but life itself does not. It is energy, and energy changes forms but never disappears. But the goal of life is not procreation, just as it is not reaching Heaven, or scoring a perfect score on an exam, or winning a million dollars, etc. There is no goal to life except to live. To take it as it comes and love every minute of it for better and for worse. To realize that one is not entitled to anything nor should expect anything. Nothing is certain or expected in an unknowable universe. Your heart could stop a minute from now or decades from now. There is no telling.

And there is no need to tell. Or to know. Or to ask. It is the day man begins to ask who-what-when-where-why-how that he digs his own grave. Life is not a game. Life is not an obstacle. Life is not a puzzle. Life is a ride. Life is a free fall. Life is a journey. Life is your five senses and the body that supports them. Life is not a soul that aims for some higher good or understanding. Life is what you look at every time you open your eyes - and close them. Life is the interconnected energy that makes up your surroundings and manifests itself as an environment. These indefinite surroundings are nothing more than an apparent phenomenon. Think of yourself as the organic matter that you are. Walking across a vast solid sphere in the middle of an infinitely vast space. You are not grounded, you are floating. You are floating in an existence that knows no up or down. You are spinning on a planet that knows no end, in a reality that only knows today. You are part of something huge, but are undeniably small. But you are your world and your world is you. There is brilliance in the greatness of things, but also in the detailed genius of a room or a pile of clothes or a drop of water. The vast universe is made up of little lives, just as our gigantic sun is made of simple flames the size of a candle burst. And across the universe infinite heartbeats beat on and with them, life.

True Love

"Love in its ceaseless, endless changing makes life worthwhile."
- Aristotle

True Love is the opposite of what the human mind thinks it is, because true love is not of the mind. We are looking for love in all of the wrong places, in the past and the future, in emotional attachment, comfort and acceptance, in people or things. True Love is not something to be gained or lost, not something that will come as a result of finding someone or something, not something that will be lost as a result of letting go of someone or something. True Love is a love affair with life itself. Life is always in the Present, giving itself to you unconditionally. Life in the Present is all that is, everything real, completely fulfilling in and of itself, waiting for you to let it in. True Love is boundless and limitless, undying, and always new. True Love = Life, all that you sense in the Present. To love truly is to be Present.

There is really only one choice; to be with love/life, or to be with the mind. To be or not to be. This love in the Present can be shared and reflected between beings, or it can be blocked out by the mind and wasted. True love is to be shared, not gained or lost.

Love builds on love. As Kahlil Gibran says in The Prophet: (From Love) "Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself. Love possesses not nor would it be possessed; For love is sufficient unto love." (From Marriage) "Love one another, but make not a bond of love: let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls. Fill each others cup but drink not from one cup." True love is being in love with love itself, not with another person or thing.

As The Beatles said: "In the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make." The more life that you let in through your senses, the more love you have to reflect to others. It is that simple. You have to lay your burden down, lay your mind down, and just surrender to life. The more love you take in, the love more you make, or more accurately, reflect to other beings. You cannot "make" or create True Love, because True Love is not of the mind. You can only be a mirror of love, a mirror of life in the Present, which is your true-self. You cannot reflect love to others unless you open up to life in the present. When you are fulfilled with life, you can't help but reflect it back out to others.

You don't have to give life to your mind, because you are not your mind. You are a mirror of life. Your mind blocks, filters, and interprets life, which prevents you from experiencing life truly and completely. You must be a mirror of life, a surrendered receiver of life. Life in the Present is always new. To experience life fully, to experience True Love, you must let life in and reflect it back out without holding on to anything, without mental intrusions. You must leave no room for the mind to receive the new life that is always coming to you. "Being absent from the body (mind) is being present with the Lord (Life)."

Relationships between men and women, parents and children are the foundation of our society. Over 50% of marriages end in a a divorce these days. Most of the marriages and relationships that last are because of a false sense of security, such as financial security, or attachment, such as emotional dependence or a pleasurable sex life. Of course, some relationships last because of love for the children, and the carnal attraction between man and woman. Carnal love is love for just a part of life, such as love for a women, love for your children, etc. Very few relationships, if any, are founded on truth and love. It is staggering to see the divorce statistics. We must fix our relationships, or we will never be able to live as One and build a heaven on Earth. This starts with realizing what true love is. The foundation for a successful relationship is the truth and the life.

You may have noticed that I speak in generalizations from time to time. Do not let it bother you. It is when we get caught up in the endless details of life that we miss the mark, the truth in the present. We have to look at the big picture, and so sensible generalization is absolutely essential.

Let us look at man/woman relationships:

Men don't realize the true reason they are so attracted to women. It is because women are love/life personified; they are mysterious and beautiful, unpredictable and emotional. "There's something in the way she moves," as the Beatles said. Women balance men out, because they do not feel the need to hide their love away like men do. This is why women often show more emotion than men. Men have been conditioned to hide their love away and control their emotions, or else they will be labeled "soft" and "gay" by other minds. Women bring men into the present with their emotion and presence, while spiritual men set women free from their mind by being stable, not perpetuating the woman's emotions with aggressiveness and stubbornness.

Women give men life at birth, and they give men life after birth with just a smile, a laugh, an eruption of excitement. Women are naturally more in touch with their bodies and life in the Present, so they have an easier time reflecting it right back out. Women give men love that takes them out of their mind and in the present, and spiritual men give women truth which allows women to give love unconditionally. When both the man and the woman live in the truth and the life, they set each other free from the mind, and balance each other out. The unity of Truth and Love is the foundation of a fulfilling relationship, because both the man and the women can be completely present with each other, sharing the love in the present, without their minds blocking it out. The mind complicates relationships, and brings attachment, fear, lust, control, paranoia, and many other negative emotions into a relationship.

Women tend to "blow in the wind" more easily, because women are love, and their natural state is to flow with life. Women give love, and they want to be loved. The problem is, women don't know that they are life personified. When women realize the truth and get in touch with their natural state, they will be free to give love unconditionally, but only to a man who knows the truth. Women really need to be loved, not deceived, not lusted, not obsessed over, not even understood, just loved.

Men naturally live more in the mind. Because of this, men are mostly responsible for creating the world we live in today. Also, men are responsible for creating the minds of women. Women are deceived by men, fooled by the mind. Men built the world we live in today to please women and shape their minds to suit the desires of men. Men have embedded social roles into the minds of women, and this has distracted women from their natural state of giving love unconditionally. Women have been conditioned to believe that their purpose is to please their mate, sexually and mentally, by constantly worrying about their physical appearance and agreeing with whatever the man says. This in turn just strengthens the ego of the man. It is a vicious cycle. Men are under complete control of the mind, and are using it to deceive women instead of giving them truth and reflecting the love right back.

Some excerpts from "Making Love - Sexual Love The Divine Way" by Barry Long:

"Woman must be loved. The future of the human race depends on woman being loved, because only when woman is truly loved can man be truly himself and regain his lost authority. Only then can peace return to earth. Yet woman as she is now cannot be loved for long (or for good) by man as he is now. Together they are trapped in a vicious cycle, and if left to their own ideas of love, there is no way out for them.

By teaching her to please him and satisfy him down through the ages, man has taught woman to desire him, to project herself sexually, to make herself attractive to him. He addicted her to an emotional and physical craving for his sexual attention, and he did this by neglecting to love her."

All relationship problems arise because those involved in the relationship do not know what true love is. Men and women simply do not know how to share the love that radiates from all directions in the present, and this is because men and women are blocking out the love in the present with their minds. As of now, relationships are founded on attachment, which perpetuates the fear of losing the other, losing love. Relationships need to be founded on truth, so that we can give our children truth and love instead of fear and deception. Always remember, love is not gained or lost; love is the opposite of what the mind thinks it is. Love is to be shared in the Present. If we do not base our relationships on a foundation of truth and love, we will continue to mislead our children into deception and fantasy.

Jesus said, "Raise your children in Love and Truth. Cover them with Love and show them the Way of Life through your godly example, so that they will not have cause to depart from it."

BE with LIFE, not the MIND. Let LIFE leave no room for the MIND.
Radiate DIVINE, UNDYING, LIMITLESS LOVE, always in the Present.

Men, seek and spread the truth to transform your mind so that you may receive and reflect the True Love in the Present. Stop using the mind to deceive, to lie. Tell the truth. Do not chase women who will only satisfy your mind and your sexual fantasies. Wait for a woman who truly satisfies your soul beyond physical beauty and mind games.

Women, wake up. Stop giving your attention to fools and phonies who will never be able to truly satisfy your soul. Give your attention to True Love, to life in the Present. Wait for a man who devotes his life to the truth, a spiritual man, one who reflects the love you radiate like a mirror. You will find all the romance and love you could have ever dreamed in your wildest dreams, but it will not be a fantasy, it will be real. Give your love to a man who truly satisfies your soul, your spirit, not a man who satisfies only your mind and your carnal desires.

True love is being in love with life itself.

"Pure Love is a flood which covers all things. Nothing can stand against it, for it flows from the Eternal Sea."

"Love is you,
You and me,
Love is knowing,
We can be."

Mirror Of Life

The wisest question we can ask ourselves is as follows:
Who am I?

We may answer the question by stating our name, but that is just a label, a composition of sounds put together to conveniently identify ourselves and others. We may look beyond this label and answer the question by saying "I am a human body, recycled bits of the universe that have come together to support a living being." But these bodies, these organs, these cells, are constantly dying, reproducing, and changing. Our bodies are in a constant state of change, and your body is not the same as it was one second ago, one minute ago, one year ago. You may think about the unique ego/identity that you use, and say "I am my thoughts." But what "hears" your thoughts, what receives them? Thoughts, conceptualizations, labels, emotions, they are all electrical activity in the brain. What receives all of your thoughts, feelings and emotions? You may look even deeper, and answer the question by saying "I am my mind." But how can you be your mind? Your mind has been shaped by other minds since the day you were born into this world out of your mothers womb. Your mind is the result of interacting with the collective mind throughout your whole life, learning, adapting, conceptualizing. Knowledge physically changes the structure of your brain, and thus your mind. You are not your mind, because your mind is a manifestation of the collective mind formed by all past actions, future aspirations, events, and thoughts. What is it that receives what the mind creates, that pays attention to it?

You keep peeling back the onion, so to speak, until you realize that you are not who you think you are. You realize that you cannot identify yourself with any of these aggregates, as they are in a state of constant change.

Has life stopped coming directly to you? The only thing that hasn’t changed is that you are here now, whoever “you” are.

So, who are you?

The "true self" is beyond labels, but can best be described as Nothingness. Behind your physical body, behind your labels, behind your thoughts, there is the Seer. Awareness. Oneness. You are that. An Infinite Void, filled with life, filled with energy, including the mind. You are a Mirror of Life, a Receiver, a Spirit.

Life is always coming to you from all directions in the Present. At the core of your being, you are a mirror of life. Your mind does not allow you to receive all that is coming to you, because it filters what is coming through your senses. Usually, this includes your sense of sight right in front of you and your thoughts. Evolution has programmed our minds to focus exclusively on these things for our survival, to adapt and to learn about an unfamiliar world. Now, we are familiar with our world. Our minds have shaped our world to suit our desires, to survive. Now, the mind is blocking out life, and we (mirrors of life) still spend most of our time giving life to our minds, getting caught up in our thoughts, and only focusing on what the mind thinks is important. Well, we don't have to miss out on the life that is coming to us anymore. We are not lost on an unfamiliar planet anymore.

The mind is the gatekeeper of life, because it focuses on what is perceived to be important. We know that life is coming from all directions, because we can sense it. We can feel it, smell it, and hear it. You feel the ground beneath your feet, the wind on your back. You hear sounds behind you, beside you, all around you. Life is not just coming to you from where your field of vision can perceive; it is coming to you from above, below, behind, and all around. Life is literally coming directly to you from all directions in the Present.

People don't realize they have two selves. You have a mind-self (false-self, ego/identity), and a spiritual-self (true-self, Mirror of life). Realize that you are the Mirror, a Spirit, Consciousness; this is your True Self. You give life to your mind; you pay attention to it. Your mind is like a valuable tool; when you don't need it, you can put it away, lay it down. Surrender to life. When you are thinking, you are your mind, because your mind is in between you and Life. We don't need to constantly think, worry, conceptualize, and label anymore, because we are missing most of the life that is coming to us right now. This is hard to realize, because evolution has programmed our minds to take control and drive our every action.

We can now see that we are not our minds, because as we receive life, we give life to the mind. We don't have to pay attention to the mind, give life to the mind. We can just let life in and reflect it back out, like a mirror.

When you get angry, it is because you give life to the anger created by the mind. When you worry, it is because you give life to the worry created by the mind. When you hate, it is because you give life to the hate created by the mind. When you are greedy, it is because you give life to the greed created by the mind. When you are sad, it is because you give life to the sadness created by the mind. When you envy, it is because you give life to the jealousy created by the mind. This is all going on between your mind-self and spiritual-self, true self. Life in the present is manipulated by the mind; the mind cannot create anything real. You don't have to pay attention to these negative thoughts, emotions, and feelings, these desires. If the mind creates something, it can stop creating it.

Don't get me wrong; the mind is the most valuable tool we have, as it helps us stay alert, survive, and function. A Spirit/Consciousness (what we are) could not get anything done without a mind.

Friends, it is time to realize that we can control our minds if we realize our true self. We need to put the Spirit in front of the mind, become spiritual beings. The mind has created the world we live in today, but right now, the mind is out of control, and we have become too dangerous for this to continue. We now have the technology to destroy ourselves, and our emotions and impulses are running wild. The mind will continue to do great things if we get it under control. We must see past the mind and embrace Oneness. We each must get control of our own mind, so that it transforms from our boss to our technical consultant, from our controlling overlord to our companion, from The Great Deceiver to our Guardian Angel. A mind in front of the Spirit is deceiving, but a mind serving Spirit is the most productive, most useful tool we have.

It's time to LIVE my friends. Lay down your burden, lay down your mind when it does not need to be active. Stop giving life to the illusions of ego, of false security, of separation. You are a MIRROR OF LIFE. Just let life in from all directions, and reflect it back out, like a mirror. This mirror, this Spirit, is the Unmoving Core of your being.

Life is giving itself to you unconditionally, coming directly to you from all directions, always, in the Present. Your senses are a window to the physical universe through which you receive life. You must become your senses to be fulfilled by life in the present. You are the universe experiencing the universe, receiving life through your senses at your own awareness level, which is filtered and manipulated by your mind. Without the mind blocking life, you receive all of life, and reflect it all back out without any mental intrusions. Being a spotless mirror of life is the ultimate state of consciousness. You must be like Nothing to receive/reflect Everything (Life).

Be aware of your breathing, always happening in the Present, but blocked out by the mind. Taste all the subtle flavors in the foods you eat that are usually ignored by your mind. Smell the aromas that are always there, but filtered by your mind. Feel the ground beneath your feet, the wind on your skin and through your hair, the warmth of the sun. Hear the birds chirp, the leaves rustle, the voices and laughter of humans, the intoxicating sounds of the pick hitting the guitar strings. See all the shades of green from the leaves in the trees to the moss on the ground. See life, listen to life, feel life, smell life, taste life.

All that you sense is in the Present. It is all for you, yet it doesn't belong to you. Life flows through you and all around you, surrounds you, just waiting for you to let it in.

Open up your Present.

Cogito ergo sum: a product of humanity, as are we all

As a response to Eric "the Anonymous":

First and foremost we will always be a part of Nature. This is referring to Nature not simply as instinct, flora/fauna, etc., but the phenomenon of the physical world collectively. This means all things that can be perceived are nature, no matter how synthetic they appear.

By taking everything as phenomenon, one must accept that all in reality is of Nature and that nothing is inseparable from it. Even when a person is in the most manmade of settings they are still fully and completely in Nature, because Nature makes up all that is and known in real life. Being in a human body makes one an animal, as an animal we are of Nature inherently and always.

The day one grows up is the day they realize everything is an illusion. One created by the mind for our own good, for our survival as an animal, at least. This growing up requires a complete surrendering of security. A full letting go. One must give up all they hold dear, un-grasp their clenched hands and accept all things, good, bad, and neutral. That person must give up: Security through money. Security through language. Security through government. Security through self. Security from believing that anything they know is true. The continuous goal of humanity and all creatures is security. Security in a chaotic universe is a wonderful thing, but one is never truly secure, and this is where the problem begins.

So let’s go back… to birth.

When was it that we felt the most secure? It was when we were in our mother’s womb. We felt complete warmth, complete protection, complete contentment. The outside world was far away, all things were provided, and we had not a worry in the world. Then we were thrown out. Out we flew! In seconds we went from complete creature comfort into the world. And there it was in all its cruel glory. Doctors with cold metal objects, bright lights, talking in a language we’d never heard, in voices we couldn’t comprehend. All was new. The counters, the instruments, the ceiling, the floor, the door, the peering eyes. We had been born, a new member of the human race. It was the first day of the rest of our lives on planet Earth. Of course we were too caught up in the moment to realize this. What were these hands and these arms attached to us, once hidden in the darkness of the womb but finally visible by the medical lights above? And what happened to that warmth we’d cherished for an eternity (9 months in human reality)? It was gone and we were left bare and naked, small and ignorant, to live or to die on the drawing room floor.

And so we learned. From the moment we popped out we learned. We don’t know why we did it – it was simply instinct – but we learned, nevertheless. We learned gravity and then touch. Walking and then language. Like a seed blasting upward, we looked up and imitated, absorbed everything. And for what? For survival, in hopes that that said survival would bring the security we’d found in a time drifting further and further off, our former home that is no longer. Religion, money, government, the notions of good and bad, the notion of self and the ego are all born from one large goal: security. A desire to feel the security we did in our first nine months. Drugs, sex, rock and roll… it can all be traced back to that one simple thing.

Advertisers promise it, employers promise it, the government promises it, religion promises it, money promises it, technology promises it, the justice system promises it, knowledge promises it. Nearly every single incentive is born from this notion of finding contentment and control. But there’s one problem: security doesn’t exist and never will. In a universe where entire planets can be absorbed by a black hole in a second, on an Earth where militaries hold the power to obliterate everything we know, in a body that can go haywire at any second, we are never safe. Life is chance. An animal play by play.

Human beings are very much animals. Humans are animals to the core. We’ve simply disguised our motives so beautifully so as to forget our lack of security, that we’ve thought ourselves something better, something above, something… divine. Humans are the most intelligent species on Earth, there’s no disputing that, but we are no less animalistic than the most beastly of beasts. At heart we are our ancestors. As we sit around the T.V., we are cavemen sitting in caves around a fire.

Food: Humans eat like every other species. Sure we don’t graze in fields or chase down animals for food (usually), but in the end we must consume to survive. And in that consuming we find security, another day to live. We have disguised this primitive aspect of ourselves greatly, though. From fast food restaurants to supermarkets, from diners to 5-star brasseries, we have completely separated ourselves from what food truly is. Food has become a pleasure, something to do, an opportunity to socialize, etc., but it is simply one of the most primitive aspects of being an animal. Take lunch away from someone for one afternoon and they’ll complain about being hungry the rest of the day. They’ll demand and suggest food because of that aching phenomenon in their stomach. We’ve turned hunger into a word, food into a thing. In reality hunger is impossible to define and food is survival. We treat it as an art or a profession because admitting it was something far greater would remind us of the brutal fact we’re in a mortal body that must constantly feed like a parasite off a flourishing planet to survive.

Sex: Is everywhere. On magazine covers, on T.V., on the internet, in movies, in books, in art… all forms of media. And once again we’ve de-animalized ourselves from it. By this I don’t mean that people don’t admit that it’s an animal instinct that they feel the need to act on, but that through colloquial language and culture we have turned it into something entirely different than what it actually is. Human beings don’t look at the big picture. We’ve created a sort of pseudo-synthetic culture out of sex. We’ve accepted it as inevitable, as innate, but we’ve never truly come to terms with the fact that the only reason it exists, the only reason there is desire, etc. is because we are mortal, because in our animal minds we must procreate ASAP for reasons we can’t know for sure. By phenomenon; By nature. All we know is we must. It is nature. We are animals. And animals are always at nature’s whim. Sex is there and we act on it, because we are animals, because we are not above it, but of it. Posters on walls of supermodels aren’t posters on walls of supermodels, they’re pieces of printed paper with an animal on it, worshiped by another animal that sees that other animal as the ultimate means of survival, of all that makes up what is, a necessary component to continuing life, consciously and subconsciously.

Shelter: We live in it and we give it names: “home sweet home,” apartment complex, projects, dorm room. In reality they are feebly built natural structures a few levels above the Neanderthal’s cave. They have a lifetime (if lucky) of about 75 or so odd years and then they fall down, or are demolished. We need them to survive yet once again we completely distort the reality of what they are. They become a place we frequent instead of a place necessary for our comfort and ultimate survival. We believe we’ve evolved and come somewhere over all these years, but we’ve come nowhere, we’re still using the Earth – Nature – and thus haven’t made it very far at all. In making them our places of fixation and comfort, we separate ourselves from Nature, but we don’t rise ourselves above it. It is true that living in the woods doesn’t make much sense when we live in a world where we’ve created such rich/comfortable artificial habitats, but I have a feeling we’d feel much closer to Earth, a lot less artificial and nearer to what we truly are if we did live there.

…The list goes on and on, but the simple message is: mankind, through its own creation (government, borders/countries, language, economies, etc., etc., etc.) has created a completely artificial world that is present in every single individual mind, as well as the collective mind-whole that makes up the entire human race. Even physically, the human world is visible all around us, we’ve made the blueprints for a world entirely different from how it was originally presented to us. However, we are still entirely of it, everything we can touch came from Earth, we are made of Earth, entirely and completely. We manipulate it, but if we manipulate it enough, it will destroy us.

And this is where security comes into play again. Our mind seeks survival and in doing so has created a human world that constantly seeks to depersonalize us from what we truly are. Many people claim to know that they are mortal, that they are completely of Earth, natural, organic… but do they truly realize it? I’d say less than one percent of the world truly is aware of their mortality, especially in the Western World. Our minds have created a society that constantly seeks to make us believe in forever, in security.

Promise after promise in the end will not fix the fact that we are all going to be dead in 100 years, that we are simply paving the way for a future generations that will also be dead in 100 years after that and so on and so on. Human beings are not above animals. We have evolved more, at least with regards to intellect, but we are not above. This is a truth. But ask most people and they’d disagree. Why? Because we’ve created a world where we’ve inflated our own importance, where we’ve made ourselves believe that there’s a heaven waiting for us and nothing else on the planet, that our art holds higher significance and is important, that sports games actually matter, that we are unique. That being able to manipulate the world, to destroy it, to kill off its animals and plunder its land means that we are above it. That somehow our intellect makes us superior. But who are we to judge that intellect is what makes a species tried-and-true? Who are we to claim or dominion? We are no more beautiful than a butterfly and its colors. We are no more unique than a dog with all its shades and markings. We are no more powerful than an ant that can carry 50 times its weight, no more mighty than a bird that can fly miles into the sky. We believe we are, because we seek purpose in our lives, because we like to think we’re here for something more. That we mean something. But we don’t. We are beautiful. We are unique. We are powerful. And we are mighty. But we are not above Nature. We are not above other animals. Our minds have told us so, but our minds have deceived us. We’re on an ego trip that’s going to send us crashing down eventually.

Human beings want to believe that the human race is something special, but it is not. We cannot truly understand the social compounds of other species, we can never truly understand what it all means, and yet we think ourselves above it. We think because we can send a plane from continent to continent we’re worth something. But were has it really gotten us? What have governments brought us except war, separation, and death? On top of that very few truly democratic governments exist, most are owned by the rich and by the powerful, not by the people (U.S. included). What has money brought us except luxury for some and complete poverty for others? And what is luxury but temporary security and satisfaction? Language is a great thing, it helps us to communicate and is essential, but it too has harmed us. It has separated us from what we truly are. Most animals live much shorter lives than us, but in those lives they live 10 times longer, because they’re not caught up in numbers and words, worries and superficialities. Humans will destroy themselves through their own institutions, through their own farfetched inventions and ideas that promise them everything but deliver them nothing… in the end, that is, when they’re six feet under. Ask a dead man what years of investing in this and that does for him now.

We are not above other species, but we do have a strong power to reason. And what does this mean? It means that even though such things as ownership and competition are natural, so are feelings of injustice and offense. I’m not simply asking us to shed these things as a country or a community, but as a world, because these things are unfair in the current human structure on our planet. The money system and the current economic set up of the Earth were not developed “naturally” or by some process of evolution. Some places/countries/people were simply at the right place at the right time and had manipulation and power on their side. And now others are paying for this while they soak up the benefits. Why is it that a factory worker puts out 10 times as much physical exertion as say, a CEO, yet gets paid 10 times less money, possibly even less? How is it that a sweatshop worker in Bangladesh makes 10 cents an hour and will never travel outside of her home country, and yet a T.V. show host wearing the clothing she made makes loads of cash traveling the world for a show where he gorges on food and bears a wave and a smile (no offense Andrew Zimmern)? That is not natural, or reflective of some sort of evolutionary imparity, it is the creation of the human mind, and it is wrong, it does not work in accordance with Nature.

There is one thing that seems to think itself better than Nature, and that is the human mind. The human mind is wrong. Want to know the meaning of life? It is this: the human mind is wrong. Wrong. In Nature he who works the hardest gets the most. Everything is of nature, but if anything isn’t, it’s the human mind, the things man creates are of Nature, but those ideas are something flimsy and deceptive. They have the power to form something powerfully beautiful, but are often used to satisfy brutal, animalistic aims. Only Nature is perfect, man seeks to emulate Nature in this respect and by his own devices, but he has forgotten that he is of it, that he cannot create something apart from it that will work effectively. Only it works effectively. And nature knows not capitalism or communism, nation or border, law or currency, language or numbers. Nature knows only harmony and the current system is anything but harmonious. It will fail, and we could take the easy way out and accept this, or we could realize and embrace our potential and live by Nature, harmoniously with it and of it. There needs to be no creating of systems. Embrace Nature and learn from it and equality, justice, and harmony will follow. Guaranteed. There is a reason mankind suffers greatly today. It has always suffered, but there’s a new sense of isolation and angst today, and it is because we’ve fallen to our own devices. Wealthy and fortunate people have an artificial happiness that is deeply rooted in denial. Why is it that depression is so common in the developed world? Poor and less fortunate people are living miserable lives, especially physically. Everyone seems to be unhappy in one way or another.

Ownership and competition are natural, but because man has the power to reason, because he has been given that evolutionary gift (remind you, he is still not above other animals, simply a step ahead if you will, for some good, but mostly bad; the strongest example of good being reason, bad, the mind), he has the ability to acknowledge ownership and competition but to also acknowledge giving and surrender. This can be seen in Nature. A tree gives. One animal surrenders a mate to another. We can learn from Nature, but we must not be led astray by our minds, we must accept reason, because mankind is the struggle between mind and reason. Mind is not natural. Reason is. Things are created in the mind that are completely absurd and have no relation to Nature. Reason, like conscience, is natural. Good and evil are simply these two things brought down to their metaphorical core. The human race can use its gifts of mind and reason towards good – where reason dominates mind – or towards bad – where mind dominates reason. Saying simply that the ills of today can be brushed off by accepting that it’s simply the will of evolution is giving in to the mind, it is accepting that reason is irrational, and that must never be accepted. We have the power to change this world. Whether it is by divine order, evolution, whatever, we will probably never know. All we do know is that our mind and our reason give us power. Now comes the question: do we use the two for a higher good, or for animal injustice?

Life may seem good, especially in the Western World, but on a global scale something is wrong.

Something is wrong with money if the majority of the world lives in poverty. The life expectancy in Japan is 81 years, yet in Swaziland it is 32 years. There is something wrong here. One could brush this off as simply natural selection or evolution, but that would be irresponsible. Why? Because as humans we are intelligent – we aren’t above Nature – but we are intelligent. We are intelligent enough to know of injustice and to feel indignation. Yet we are also selfish animals that seek only our own survival in the end. So we may say we care about the people of Swaziland, but in reality we could care less. Yesterday world hunger hit 1 billion (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8109698.stm). There are people relaxing on beaches, sipping martinis, living in penthouses, ripping their teeth into juicy meat with all the gusto in the world and yet 1 billion people are starving to death. We are of Nature, and it is something of Nature, our conscience, that tells us this is wrong. Yet why does it persist? Because we’re living in a world that has been created entirely wrong. If you read that BBC article you'll find that they blame the rapid rise in hunger on the current global financial crisis, which is the result of a failing system of money, debt, and credit. Our mind has created a money system that is vastly abhorrent. It may work – for some – but for billions (the large majority) it doesn’t. The problem? The rich minority runs things and could care less? Why?

Because it THINKS it has found SECURITY.

Back to security, what it all comes down to. That awful desire to be back in that comfort of the womb.

The rich people of this world (you, I, the Western World) have forgotten one simple thing – we’re all going to die. The televisions, the warm homes, the fine dining, the good education, the cars, the technology – everything – is going to eventually disappear completely, entirely, and forever – at least with respect to this earth and this life. And yet the disastrous system that we’ve created constantly tries to distract us from this unpleasant fact. So what do we do? We shiver warmly like cowards in our false-security and pretend the rest of the world doesn’t exist, while acknowledging with all our might that it does. It is only when we are willing to give up everything, when we are willing to go back to Nature, and accept our place in it, when we do away with the systems we so proudly proclaim are working (because denying so would be denying everything we’ve come to live for) will we find peace. Mankind must face the reality that is death and other inevitabilities in Nature before it can make the next leap to true security, which is security in the acceptance that there is no security, not artificial security which has bred government, the money system, religion, etc.

The world is a deeply troubled place. People talk of respect for cultures. I say to hell with them. It is culture that has us so deeply rooted in a past that is dead. People talk of respect for religions. I say to hell with them. Religion based on false promise is better gone. People talk of respect for institutions. I say to hell with them. We must constantly change our way of thinking… institutions seek to ground us, life is always flowing. People talk of respect for the government. I say to hell with it. Government is an illusion of security, we must build mutual respect so that governments are not necessary. People say we must respect the military. I say to hell with it. The military’s sole purpose is to kill, and murder is wrong, whatever the reason.

Respect each other, nature, and everything that positively connects the two, and life will eventually get better for every person in the world. It will take time to destroy the system we have, but if we live in the Present, time is on our side.

Most of all we must shed the notion of security. Government is not security. Military is not security. Home is not security. Norton Antivirus is not security. Break-in alarms are not security. Car alarms are not security. Traffic lights are not security. Channel 3 Investigates is not security. Airbags are not security. Money is not security. Laws are not security. Price sales are not security. Banks are not security. Guns are not security. Heart transplants are not security. Vaccines are not security. Prescriptions are not security. Mind is not security.

Only love, Nature, and humility breed any true security. Man has the ability to shed all else and accept these three. He is already of Nature, is already endowed with a conscience (love), all he must learn now is humility. To accept the fact he is mortal, that money doesn’t matter, that government doesn’t matter, that separation isn’t real. He must shed the illusion of his own importance for the acceptance of the collective whole, his ego, and all that he thinks he knows. Accept these and gap between love and Nature will be filled and the three will live in harmony. Mankind will live harmoniously through humility with love in Nature.

Security is an illusion. And no human will ever feel as safe as he did before being born. Those days are over and until each and every person accepts this and is willing to shed their perceived life and accept this notion our currently held worldwide false sense of security will persist, the mind will control, Nature will be distant, and mankind will be doomed. Earth is too good for this. Mankind is too good for this. And the interaction of the two is too beautiful a thing for it to end so soon. Sure it could come crashing down at any second, but then again, that’s what makes it all so damn beautiful. “And so castles made of sand fall in the sea, eventually.”