I have to admit, I do admire France's style.  They harnessed the revolution.  By making July 14th into their national holiday they are themselves one with the forces that once opposed them, stating how "avant-garde" they are and thus innoculating themselves against any further revolutionary actions.  It was a brilliant move.  They adopted all the ideals of the revolution officially even making "La Marseillaise" (Check out the bloodthirsty lyrics here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laWIjgWDesE ) the national anthem. 

The French Revolution, which set all the monarchies in Europe quaking with fear, was the natural consequence of the despotic absolute rulership by the French Monarchy, who were largely starving their own people to fund the war effort and allowing them only rotten food, if they could get any food at all.  The complete lock down of the classes was too frustrating for the upwardly mobile merchant and scholarly classes - 1 % living on the backs of the other 99% - so they riled up the masses and stormed the Bastille prison.  They were hoping to find weapons with which to fight and were disappointed. Nevertheless, they took the prison apart and eventually succeeded in their complete dismantling of the monarchy.  The name of the prison stayed and became the name of the national holiday, although only a plaque now marks its existence. 

That the monarchy was re-established for a time, is a sign of the lack of ability of the populace to envision something better but the revolution left its mark in many ways.  One great thinker has remarked that the French Revolution is not yet over.  I would agree.

Nor would I expect it to end.  A revolution by definition can only follow a circular (or elliptical) track, it will always return to point "go".  A revolution will never lead to freedom, only to a cathartic discharge of anger and resentment, which in time will build up again.  It was a good "wake up" call for the Monarchy, to let them know that they could not forever operate with impunity.  Since then they have become more shrewd.  Yet I would still assert that we do not need another revolution.

What we do need however is change. In fact, we need a sweeping systemic change.  But it must be change with a better vision of what can be, not simply change in anger, change for change's sake, as too often occurs.  We need a better version of the future than out media seems to be able to come up with. 

Too many of us are suffering from the ills of our civilization:  the rents are too high, the pay too low and the quality of life for many too insufficient. We have forgotten what is important.  Meaningful work, love and kindness, time spent with family and friends, time in nature and pursuing our own interests, all takes a backseat to earning a living.  We are slaves who maintain our illusion of freedom, while actually experiencing very little freedom.  And we wonder when we fall ill, often terminally so.  We have created (or allowed to be created) a system which does us no favours and now many are at a loss as to how to extricate themselves or feel powerless to do so. 

Yet freedom beckons.  It is part of the human spirit to yearn to be free.  There are some, increasingly, stepping up to the plate one way or another.  New sustainable buildings, off-grid technology or new ways of growing our food are being invented daily.  Technology is in place, or shortly coming into place , with 3D printers to allow food and other items to be replicated.  If we can replicate food, we eliminate hunger.  If we can ever learn to work together rather than work in competition, we could eliminate the need to work so hard.  Life could become much more pleasant and less stressful  A revolution will not do that but an inner evolution will coupled with our evolving technology.  As Margaret Mead said, " A small group of like-minded individuals could change the world.  Indeed it is the only thing that ever has."

So happy "Jour de la Bastille" to France!  Let's look to our future - may it be bright and peaceful!

I would call myself a "sustainable living " proponent.  Like many of us, I am searching for a way back from the precipice overhanging ecological disaster that we are standing on.  I don't wnat to keep destroying the planet but as we all acknowledge, ingrained habits are difficult to change, especially when the current reality is pushing against change.
Words have power.  Any great orator knows that words and the way they are used is important because words have power - they can limit or they can set free.  The right word can determine the success of an outcome.  Don't believe it?  I give you the word "revolution".  Revolution is used for unsuccessful attempts to gain power.  Why?  The word itself was originally used to describe the course of planets in their orbits - no big change there, just a continuance after a perceived departure.  If the revolution were to succeed it would be referred to as a change of power.  Words make a difference.
|So what about the word "sustainable"? Lately I have been wondering if, by using this term we are not striving for the wrong thing.  Do we really only want to sustain what is? Or is the point to give ourselves a better future, to move humanity ahead? The modern term, from the 1980's supposedly, is "sustainable" living.  Researching the etymology of "sustainable" reveals that it actually comes from the 1610s and means "bearable," from sustain + -able. Attested from 1845 in the sense "defensible;" from 1965 with the meaning "capable of being continued at a certain level." (1) Not very hopeful, is it?
I certainly do not want to keep the current order of things nor do I want to throw the baby out with the bathwater and abandon all progress humanity has made to go back to basics.  There must be a more middle ground.  But what would we call that?
The word "thrive" comes to mind and it is in use among some groups.  Ever the literate soul, I checked the etymology of the word and it comes from Old Norse, meaning "to grasp to oneself".  Somehow that does not express what I wish for a future society.
We need a word that means that we get beyond our constraints, that we find a better way. We need a word that means a breakthrough, a breaking free and setting a new course of action, a better one.
Where do we find such a word? The word "evolve" is such a word yet it bears a context of eugenics.  It means to "unfold, open up, expand".  Perhaps a word such as the old Latin abundantia, meaning fullness, plenty, which gave us our word "abundance" after a short trip through Old French, would suit?  I am searcing for an abundant life not a sustainable one, after all.  Aren't you?

 Why be a parent?
Parenting can be looked at in two basic ways:

• as an occupation, something unavoidable but unpleasant OR
• a service to humanity. 

What is the difference?

• Parenting as an occupation is one you would avoid at all costs. 

Why?
Apart from the resentment of the loss of your personal freedom, there are several reasons for which any person looking at parenting solely as an occupation would refuse to embark on it.

Here are the three main ones:
1.  It pays nothing, in fact it costs you money (and lots of it). 
2.  It is a 24 hour/day, 7 day/week employment, which lasts for 20 years or more. 
3.  It is often thankless and difficult. 
To be fair, many of those who, consciously or unconsciously regard parenting as an occupation, were surprised by the event and look on it as an unwanted one.

Generally those that have anticipated/planned the event feel differently.  If one looks on parenting as a service to humanity it is bar none. 

Why?
1. You reap enormous rewards and if you do it right, so do others. 
2. You learn about yourself - children will always show you your weak spots.  Yet paradoxically it will also show you your strengths.  You will expand your horizons and yet delve deep inside yourself, if you are doing it right. 
3. Children are a gift, they bring us unexpected presents and challenges.  If you are up for the challenge it will make all the difference in your life. And they are there for you, later in life.

If you are going to be of service to yourself, your child and humanity at large in raising a child, you need to learn (not assume you know) how to be a good parent.  While there are many methods - Barbara Coloroso, Positive Discipline and others - out there that may help, the key to being a good parent is that you are willing to grow and learn and that you already know a bit about who you are.  Let's look at the opposite first, since it is easier to see.

How to be a bad parent
Since this is the simpler route and requires less effort and thought, let's examine this first.  If you want to raise a self-centred child, who has a stunted character and who is unlikely to be able to adapt to life's challenges or contribute to humanity, this is what you should do:

1.  Don't grow up yourself.  Continue to live as though you had no child - put your needs/wants first.  Show no emotional or character growth at all.
2.  Be emotionally unavailable:  When you have to spend time with your child, make sure you are always distracted (cell phone, tablet, work, friends) neve give your child any undivided attention.  .
3.  Make no personal investment in your child.  Follow the crowd and enroll them in various sports (which may or may not have any interest for the child) and other activities so that they are away from you , except when you are ferrying them here and there of course.
4.  Make it a point not to eat meals together.  Meals are a bonding time and they also help socialize your child. 
5.  Do not allow your child to help with any chores. 
6.  Expect nothing from them. but encourage them in acquisition of things.
7.  Defend their weaknesses to others but criticize them when you are alone with them.
8.  Allow them to disrespect you
9.  Let them see your faults and defend those faults to your children.  Do nothing to better yourself.
10. Give them unlimited and unsupervised screen time.

After reading the above, how to be a good parent may seem obvious.  What I am going to detail below is how to be a parent, whose child will be of service to humanity.  That is slightly different.

1.  Do your own inner work
2.  Spend time doing what you love and let your child see it
3.  Spend quality time with your child - (cultural transfer) do things together, teach them skills and also to have fun.
4.  Expect your child to do their best
5.  Teach your child - character, life
6.  Allow your child to make mistakes and fail
7.  Encourage learning and growth.
8.  Help them to get along with others and know themselves
9.  Spend time in nature with them.
10.  Teach them to respect people and themselves.

Being a good parent brings hard work at the beginning but dividends for your investment.  All of us are better off for you having made that investment.
Being a bad parent is easier at first but gets progressively more difficult and leaves your child ill equipped to be successful and leaves the rest of us with a problem.
Ultimately the choice is yours - be wise about making it - for all our sakes.

Health - we take if tor granted.  Yet we should not.  Lose your health and you lose everything else also.
I had time to reflect on this over the holidays as I had some health issues just before the holidays, due to overwork and stress.  I usually deal well with stress but it got past my defenses somewhat.  And when we are stressed, we often eat poorly.  I was guilty of that. It took its toll on me.
I was surprised.  My health suffered.  I have hit the caffeine and sugar hard before with minimal impact on my health.  This past December it was different.  I had shooting pain up the back of my head and an intestinal issue.  I know better.
I made the decision: I needed to get better at safeguarding my health - a preemptive strike.  Here's what I am undertaking.  I have worked with various parts of this program before but I need something more comprehensive that works all angles of health. 
It is a four piece program:
1. Nutrition
2.  Exercise
3.  Meditation
4.  Play
1.  Nutrition  Throw out your Canada Food Guide. That is about corporate sales not nutrition.*  Real nutrition involves understanding how the body actually works and working with providing those nutrients, which give your body the building blocks that it can use to replenish itself.  Your body is meant to heal itself and if you give it the proper conditions - it will.  I use phytonutrients, collagen, colostrum, moringa, esterC, a solid vitamin/mineral complex in my smoothies as well as fresh almonds, walnuts, raw pumpkin seeds, hemp or other seeds, as well as fresh or frozen berries and fresh juices. That is for mornings.
Lunches or evenings I will juice vegetables.  If you are avoiding cereals because of gluten/glyphosate intolerance, you need to be sure to get an assortment of root vegetables daily - carrots, parsnips, turnips, rhutabagas, beets, etc.
I try to eat as many fresh vegetables as possible and either raise my own meat and buy grass fed beef.

2. Exercise   Years ago I used to exercise an hour a day.  It was hardcore.  Now I find that my lifestyle is too busy and I am unwilling to give that much time to it. I have an active lifestyle so I aim for 15-20 minutes during the winter months, more when the weather is more hospitable.  I enjoy cross country skiing, so that is how I have begun the year.  But I also use rebounding (mini-trampoline), qi-gong and yoga.

3.  Meditation:  With the busyness of my life, it is so easy to get away from meditation but for me it is the key to keeping stress at bay.  I have instituted a morning OR evening meditation again to start off January and get myself back into a routine.  I had fallen off the wagon in December.  For me it is a simple matter but it makes a huge difference when I don't give the time to it.
 
4.  Play:  As adults, we sometimes forget that this is important but it is essential to our enjoyment of life.  We need to laugh.  We need to be silly.  If you have children, this is often easy.  I am involved with SCA which is a role playing group - an adult version of play.  But I will often play with my dogs outside.  We need to run and jump and enjoy ourselves with no purpose.  This is the part we often miss.

Just a few thoughts that I reflected on over the holidays.  Happy New Year!

Christmas. 
I'm not the Grinch but I'm tired of the whole Christmas thing.  Maybe you are too.  Let me explain what I mean.
It's relentless and it makes us feel pressured.
Just after Hallowe'en, October 31st when you go into the stores, the items have made their way back onto the shelves.  As a good friend calls it, "the Christmas crap" is back.  Every time you go to get what you need in the store, there it is.  It is hard to ignore all the toys and giftable items.  And if you are a television watcher, the pressure is quite tremendous.  The children know which toys are the latest and the best and they want to go see them.  It is pressure to buy and buy and buy.  And the corporations are waiting in the wings to see how much money will fly out of our collective pockets and into their already bursting vaults.
Few of us are immune.
I must have antibodies against this kind of pressure because the effect it has on me is to keep me out of the stores.  For me the season always has begun after the end of November not after Halloween.  Anything more is overkill. 
For some it is a tradition which can not change.
But that is not accurate.  I understand the religious significance, at least the Christian religious significance of the holiday.  I have no particular quarrel with it but that is not an excuse for the commercial excesses of today.  Actually, it is an argument against it. 
Christmas tradition has in fact been changing
But just like a frog in a pot of water that has been slowly brought to a boil, we haven't noticed the changes.  For example it was only in the 19th century that we began to send Christmas cards.  And althought Saint Nickolas did exist and gave a gift or some coal to children he certainly did not give as many gifts as our children expect.  Santa Claus was brought in by Coca Cola in the early part of last century.  Since then the corporations have been picking our pockets and pressuring us to spend our money by raising everyone's expectations of how many gifts they should get.  It's another form of conformity and if you don't partake of the holiday, you are looked at askance.
It has become a source of stress and financial pressure
Every year there is a new this and a new that.  Pink and purple Christmas trees? Anything to entice you to not just drag out the old fake tree. You should buy a new one or go kill a new one, or buy one that someone else has killed for you and put the decorations on.  And of course, if you get the tree, you need some new decorations!
Then there are the lights, inside, outside, on the tree - you can just hear the people at the Hydro office rubbing their hands in glee at the the increase in revenue. 
Then you have to run around spending money on gifts, many of which are useless to the people you are giving them to and buy paper to wrap them with.  You need to live up to other people's expectations of what their gifts should be.  Never mind the payments in January. Then there are the parties and other fiorced appearances and family visits.
Is any of this really honest?
None of these things are wrong in themselves.  What I am done with is the lack of meaning and genuineness in it all.  If it is truly meaninful for you - carry on and more power to you!  But for myself (and I do not believe I am alone) I would rather spend some quality time with people who are meaningful to me and if we feel the need to exchange gifts, I would rather exchange home made gifts.  I guess I'd like to see a return to basics.  Just enjoying each other's company without such lofty expectations and traditions.  But most of all let's send a message to the corproations that we are tired of being exploited.
Stand up to being manipulated!
How is it that we have been pushed, pulled or dragged to this position?  It is really not to benefit anyone except the corporations.  It is not added value for us, the individuals.  So maybe it is time to stand up and say "No, thanks!" and take back your power.  I think it's time for people to decide for themselves when they celebrate, with whom, and how.  And if they exchange gifts to show that they value each other perhaps those gifts should reflect the person giving the gift rather than some corporation.  Will that affect the economy?  Yes.  But that is another blogpost.
Solstice - the darkness and the light
The date for the celebration of what we know as Christmas is the 25th.  The date was the same as the celebration of the Roman festival of Saturnalia, which was a Solstice festival.  The Solstice, December 21st, is the day with the least amount of daylight hours.  After the 21st daylight hours begin to increase, slowly but surely.  A cause for celebration indeed!  Celebrating the coming of the light - that's something I can see as important.  If you celebrate for another reason - I wish you a happy holiday and good celebrations.  Just know why  you are celebrating and why you have invested your time, energy and money into your celebrations.  That's all.

Tired of waiting?  Does it seem like you are striving but never arriving?  What is it with certain times in our lives that seem interminably on "hold".  It reminds me of that picture and the description so aptly given by Dr. Suess, - The Waiting Place.

Can you relate?
I have a friend who is waiting to get a job.  Don't misunderstand.  She is not simply sitting around waiting.  She is actively searching and out there putting in resumes, knocking on doors, answering ads, yet she is still waiting.  To her, the wait is a long one.  She would like to be out there earning money and doing something useful.  She wonders why this is happening to her.
Some of us will be able to relate.  If you have ever been, even for a short period of time, without a job, or a desired relationship, car, living place, you will understand completely how my friend is feeling. Yet on the other hand, she is at present enjoying an abundance of free time, something most of us might be envious of. 
Perhaps in our waiting place, the universe is simply presenting us with a time to gain perspective on where we are and what we might do differently.  If we take the time away from the frustration of waiting to notice, that is.

A nuisance or an opportunity?
Just like waiting in the grocery store line can send some people into a rage, while others manage to get their banking done from their phone or spend some time talking to a friend, it is our reaction to the situation which makes all the difference.  If you can not change your situation, you need to adjust your attitude.  The situation will eventually change. That is inevitable.

The real issue is what will you do with your wait time?
Will you fuss and fume?  Will you muse and reflect?  Will you act and advance?  Will you take a close look at your situation and see if it is working for you?  The first one will get you nothing except difficulty, while the others may help you change in a useful way.

Take the time to use your wait time wisely.
The next time you have some un-planned for "wait time", try the following:
1.  Ask yourself some hard questions.  Questions like:  Is this really the right job, partner, lifestyle, pastime for me?  Am I making the best use of my talents?  Take a look at how well you really know yourself and if the answer is not much, change it.  Get to know what you like and don't like.  The truer you are to your own essence, the better things will get.
2.  Do something you enjoy.  There are plenty of things that cost relatively little money and yet will fill your time and even lead you to learn that you have a talent for something you never knew you had.
Go to a local gallery, the library, the pool or the arena. Perhaps you have forgotten how much you really like to skate, swim or hike.  You may end up healthier and happier for the investment.
3.  Take a risk.  "When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose." as Bob Dylan sang.  If you are in a postition where you can take a risk, even a calculated one, why not?  Not anything drastic, like jumping off a building.  But applying for a job in a different field, starting a Youtube channel, joining a new club or singing or reciting poetry at an Open Mike.  Why not?  You have the time.
4.  Spend time with people you care about and even make new friends.  We are all so busy these days that having a bit of time on your hands can be disorienting yet investing in people always brings dividends. Spend time with relatives and friends. Maybe you can help them during the time you have and they don't.  At some point in the future they may return the favour.
5.  Devote some time to a worthy cause.  All kinds of volunteers are needed and there are so many good causes to support.  Get out there and just do it!  Who knows?  You may find that your good work gets you a new job opportunity.
6.  Get out in nature.  Unless it is the dead of winter and too cold, go outside and spend some time soaking up the wonderful outdoors.  Not only will you get your vitamin D but studies have proven that nature has an incredibly healing effect on us humans.  Improve your health, while you are waiting.

What to avoid?
The big no-no's when you have too much time on your hands are:
1.  Too much Tube time  Don't spend all your time sitting in front of the television watching the melodrama.  You will likely snack too much to relieve your boredom and have nothing other than a larger waistline to show for your time.
2.  Too much Screen time  If you are applying for jobs, taking a course or otherwise educating yourself, screen time is a useful thing. But spending hours playing video games, will not give you much to show for at the end of your wait time.  The occasional video game session?  Sure but don't use all your time that way.
3.  Feeling sorry for yourself.  We can all go to this part of the "Waiting Place"  I call it the "Boo Hoo" room.  When life doesn't go our way, we can all get down.  But get up and get moving so you don't stagnate.  You may be feeling frustrated, angry or sad. That's normal for the situation.  Acknowledge your feelings and take time to sort them out (with help) if need be,.  Maybe you need to do some emotional healing and the universe is giving you some time.  Do your healing and then move on.

Lessons learned?
Life is all about learning.  So the next time the universe drops some wait time in your path, use it to consider how your life is going and if warranted, make some necessary changes.  Then you will  somehow be able to "escape all that waiting and staying.  You'll find the bright places where boom bands are playing." as per Dr. Suess. 

"Summertime and the livin' is easy..."  as the song goes.  But why is it easy?  Theoretically, except for the actual vacation time that one has, work is the ever constant force that may or may not add stress to your day.  Is it just the temperature or the amount of sunshine during a given day?  Or is it something about the attitude we carry for this time of year?
People do tend to be happier and carry less stress in the summer.  My vote would be that their outside time increases, thereby decreasing stress.  For me that always works.  Anyone else notice that?
One encouraging thing to note this summer is the amount of people going old school with one particular thing - gardens, specifically vegetable gardens. Whether the gardens are raised bed, vertical, hydro - or aquaponic or container gardens, it is a good sign to see more and more people trying to get a handle on where their food is coming from.  In light of the many chemical additives and genetic changes to our food, this is the best line of self defence for your health.  I say, "old school" because most people used to have a small garden, two generations ago.  Sure it was because of war rations or at least in part because of it, but it made good sense.
Supermarkets, as we know them, made their appearance in the late 1940's and as people got used to having food readily available at reasonable prices, it was easy to hang up the garden gloves.  
In the same way that cheap hydro power convinced the farmers to give up their independence due to their own wind generators, the supermarket weaned people away from the control of what goes on/into their food and how long it is kept.
Flash forward to 2016... we have GMO's which are not labelled and have no long term testing to know how they will affect this, never mind the next generation, we have wheat being sprayed with glyphosate (a chemical which passes the blood/brain barrier and can not be washed off), we have high fructose corn syrup (otherwise used as ethanol, which is a poison to your liver) being masked under a variety of names in many products, and so many pre-packaged foods with a variety of dangerous additives.  So, yes, I have a garden and yes, I purposely bought a small acreage with a view to making myself more sustainable.  I think that if you are blindly trusting the food companies and the government to do for you what you should be doing for yourself, namely putting at least some of your food on your own table, then you can expect some health problems.  Not that I wish it on anyone...
I would encourage anyone and everyone to at least do a container garden or a intertior bottle garden this fall/winter if you missed the summer.  I have plans along those lines also.  But beware! 
Eating fresh food from your own gardening and getting down and dirty raising that food is habit forming and give you a great feeling of contentment.  (Never mind how it helps your health!)
Enjoy your summer!

What a tremendous show!  The U.S. elections have it all - the good (ish) the bad and the ugly!  It is theatre of the absurd on steroids! And people still waste breath on it - like it matters. Let's clear up some misinformation, shall we?

One thing that we have been lead to believe is that government is  for the people.  We elect, that is choose between a couple of people who have been put there for us to select, and we do this based on our estimation of whether they will represent our interests once elected.  Sounds great doesn't it?  The only problem is...they never do represent our interests.  Why is that?  Well, in part, it is  because while you and I are busy attending to our own lives and working (to pay taxes for those government officials we elected to pay for what we want them to do), some other factions are talking to those elected officials (and maybe, just maybe making it worth their while to look the other way while those factions get away with something a lot less than legal).  We have neither the time nor the money to assure that the politicians will be honest and represent our needs.  We trust them.  I think that most of us have figured out that by and large they are no longer (if they ever were) worthy of our trust.  They do not serve us - they serve someone else.

If it were just government that were untruthful and untrustworthy (check out the residential schools fiasco in Canada if you think I'm exaggerating ) that might be one thing.  After all the root words for the word government (as Michael Tsarion, Jordan Maxwell and others rightfully point out) are gubernare (control) and mens, mentis(the mind) = control of the mind.  Let's face it folks, an organization with the title "control of the mind" is not interested in truth or in letting you have any meaningful freedom.

So no big surprise that other institutions might be lying also.  I came across this videoclip today from NASA (as they put it Never A Straight Answer).  We know that after the Second World War with Operation Paperclip most of the "useful" high ranking Nazis were imported to the U.S. to serve in the arms race and space projects.  Werner Von Braun is the face but there were many more.  So maybe it should have been called NAZI  but I guess it wouldn't have gone over too well.  After all the government (control of the mind) had just finished convincing a public weary from the First World War and the Depression that one more sacrifice was in order to stop the German threat.  They couldn't really just turn around a import them openly to head up the Space Race.  But NASA is pretty close, isn't it?  Anyway this video is food for thought.  I have watched and read much about the theories that we have never left Earth orbit.  This video is extraordinary as they just put it out there.

 The big question as more and more revelations are coming about lies and coverup, about allegiances bought and sold, is, what are they still hiding?  What are they doing with all our tax money?
But Human Beings are incredibly gullible.  So many people will never look past the party line and will totally not want to believe that the government is not on the level, despite the mounting evidence.
We want to believe.  That is well known by those with power.  And because we want to believe that they have our best interests at heart, we will tend to overlook, ignore or outright deny anything that makes us reevaluate our beliefs.
The problem though with having your head in the sand is that you leave your valuables, shall we say, accessible?  Not a good position to be in, folks.
So what to do?  That's a good question!  Think, think, think....no point getting rid of something if there is nothing better to replace it.
So if our system does not work well, what would work better? 
I have my own thoughts and won't share them here.  If you are interested in contributing some thoughts, comment below.
Comments are always welcome - have your say below!

Do you know what you stand for?  Do you have certain principles 
you hold to, which guide your actions? Then you are a rare phenom-enon.
 
Most people don’t. Most people only do things that they must and 
they do those things out of fear of  punishment. Taking an action out of fear is a very low level of consciousness. It is a knee-jerk, con-
ditioned reflex reaction rather than an act borne of serious reflection and consideration of what you  truly believe based on your own exp-erience and understanding. It is a crowd mentality.
 
Individuals, who know their principles and live according to them, do not have a crowd mentality.. The individual stands in direct opposi-
tion to culture ( cult-ure = a cult designed to pressure you into confor-ming to a given way of life.).  The identity of each person needs to
 be expressed in order to enrich everyone.  The “normalization” pro-
cess in culture is designed to circumvent the individual realizing 
who they are and what they personally stand for. 
 
Why is knowing what you stand for, what your principles are, import-ant? If you don’t take the time to figure out what you are all about, 
you may be called to act and not make a decision you can really live with.  Life can put us in situations, where decisions must be made 
quickly.  If you are not clear what you stand for, you can end up with many regrets.  
 
Let me give you a case in point:  Many years ago, I was in a serious traffic accident.  I was hit and turned into the ditch by another car. I was not at fault in the accident but with the momentum of the other 
car and my own vehicle, I was hurtling through the ditch of the divid-ed highway and toward three lanes of stop and go traffic on the 
other side.  One of my principles is that I will do no harm to others if it is within my power to not do so.  I could not undo the accident.  
But it was within my power to not hit those people.  I put both feet 
on the brake and turned my steering wheel, flipping my own vehicle high into the air in the opposite direction.  It must have been the 
correct decision because I was totally unharmed and no one else 
was hurt either. 
So how do you know what principles you stand for?
Answer the following questions for a start.

1. Is truth important to you?  How important is it?  Will you stand up for truth, no matter what?
2. Is life important to you?  How important?  Should we preserve life at all costs?
3. Is non-violence important?  How important?  Will you stand 
   
4. for peace?
   
5. Is health important?   How important?  Will you dedicate yourself to your own health?
6. Is love//care important?  How important?  Will you choose to 
   
7. care for yourself and others even  when it is not easy?
   
8. Is spirituality important? How important?  Will you stand up for what you know in your heart to  be true?
   
9. Is learning/growth important?  How important?  Will you 
   
10. continue to learn and grow throughout  your life?
    
11. Are your connections to others important?  How important?  Will you show loyalty/solidarity?
12. Is your connection with Nature important?  How important?  Do you spend time furthering your  connection with Nature?
    
13. Is equality important?  How important?  Do you treat others as equally valuable?
    

 
Although these ten are not exhaustive, the answers will be a good 
start.  Principle driven life is much more fulfilling than simple confor-mation to what society tells you is important.  Conformity leads to 
the murder of self, which plunges one into depression. We are each here to live according to our inner compass, not to be outer directed for someone else to exploit us.  As the ancients said “Know thyself!”