Day 320: Solitary confinement – The Torture Must End

Solitary confinement does not work. Prison is supposed to be a place to rehabilitate people and get them ready for Life when they are released, but what happens when you confine somebody for decades   and then just release them into the world?

We should have a World based on constructive and supportive methods.

www.desteni.org  

• Mother Jones article- children in solitary:

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/01/juveniles-kids-solitary-confinement-ohio-new-york

• Friend’s Service Committee’s fact sheet : The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) is a Quaker organization that promotes lasting peace with justice

https://www.afsc.org/resource/solitary-confinement-facts

• AmnestyUSA

http://www.amnestyusa.org/research/reports/entombed-isolation-in-the-us-federal-prison-system

• American Civil Liberties report:

Growing Up Locked Down: Youth in Solitary Confinement in Jails and Prisons across the United States

https://www.aclu.org/report/growing-locked-down-youth-solitary-confinement-jails-and-prisons-across-united-states

• American Friends Service Committee: Stopmax Campaign

https://www.afsc.org/resource/solitary-confinement-facts

• http://solitarywatch.com/facts/faq/

Children in Solitary: A 2012 Human Rights Watch report notes: “Youth offenders often spend significant amounts of their time in US prisons isolated from the general prison population. Such segregation can be an attempt to protect vulnerable youth offenders from the general population, to punish infractions of prison rules, or to manage particular categories of prisoners, such as alleged gang members. Youth offenders frequently described their experience in segregation as a profoundly difficult ordeal.”

Day 312 - Disconnected from Nature Are Humans Unatural

I know, I know “ Not another environmental story “. There are so many already and you have probably heard it all before. BUT, If we do not find a solution for the increased disconnectedness we humans have towards Nature then Pretty soon there won’t be a Nature to talk about anymore.

Watch:

Day 298 - What Does your Label Say about Humanities Future?

 

What is it that defines who we are?

Name?

Clothing?

Beliefs?

Country?

When you look at someone what label do you define them as? Do you judge someone based on how they look or your perception of them? Or do see another as who they truly are? We label and judge ourselves and others.

We have created categories within ourselves where we can place the various labels of others and ourselves. The truth is that we cannot know who a person is until you actually take the time to know them. A simple example would be stereotypes – Many people look at Muslims and label them terrorist. Look at foreigners and label them Immigrants in a hateful way. And the problems that grow from identifying people based on our own misconceptions are creating so much suffering.

We label ourselves as superior, as more than others. We see ourselves as more important than other people. We look at nature and see ourselves the dominant species that has right to do with it as we please. Simply look at what this identity is doing to the earth.

So what is the Solution? How can we identify ourselves as equals? What will it take for us to stop labeling each other and other beings? It’s in the realization that firstly our labeling is born from misconception – how we judge others is not real. The person standing next to you IS you, there is nothing that makes that other person more than you or less than you. There is nothing that makes you better than that person or more deserving than another. It is recognizing that every person in this world – we are all equal.

Within realizing this it becomes common sense to give to another what you would like to receive. If you were that person how would you liked to be treated? To be labeled? To be judged? No.

It’s time we stop identifying ourselves as living in separate realities and to realize that we are all on the same boat.

Missing Life skills: Why do I have a fear of Insects?

 

I heard an interesting discussion on the radio today. The guy who talking is a Nature lover, but the problem he has is that he is absolutely terrified of spiders. He said that every time he sees a spider he actually freezes with fear and starts sweating.

He said that what he did to find the reason for this fear is go back to his childhood. When he was a kid he was playing around the lounge and fell asleep under a chair. He then had a nightmare of a spider coming down from the chair and sitting on his face. In the dream when this happened he went to fear and started sweating and since that day he was afraid of spiders.

This is the reason with most people. You will find that there is a memory from childhood where something happened with some sort of insect that was when the fear began. Allot of people don’t even know this and it could be a suppressed memory.

When I grew up I had a fear of moths. I knew it was a bit weird, but I had a big fear of moths. I could not be in the same room as a moth. I traced the fear back to a memory from childhood. I was in bed about to go to sleep and the room was dark, but I saw what looked like a massive moth flying around in my room. It only happened for a second – like seeing a shooting star – what seemed like a giant moth flying over the bed above my face. I totally freaked out and called my parents…well, more like screamed for them. They came in the room and turned on the light with worried and confused expressions asking me what. I told them what I saw, but I looked around the room and saw there was no giant moth.

I was so certain there was a giant moth, but clearly there wasn’t. Still, since that day I was very afraid of moths. I find this interesting, how a simple event in your early life no matter how small can affect your whole life. And the reason why it effected my life is because when the event happened I did not direct the situation, I was young and did not understand how these things work or how to direct myself.

So this is an example of how an event and how you react to that event can affect your life. This is why it is so important to learn how to become self-directed, so that when these events occur you can make sure it has no effect on who you are, right now we are not taught how to do these things and its an important life skill to have. To found out more go here

Will there be an Ark to save us?

 

I watched the movie “Noah” the other day. The main story line is basically based on Noah in the bible where the creator tells Noah to build a giant ark in order to save the animal kingdom from a worldwide flood that will kill every human expect Noah and his family.

The reason for this flood is to wipe out all the “wickedness” and “evil” that is humanity in order to cleanse the earth. In the movie it portrays humans and human nature as having a complete disregard for the earth. The earth got to a state where most of the land was barren and finding sustenance was very difficult due to how humans have exploited the earth. Sound familiar?

What I did find interesting in this movie is that Noah realized that humanity is the problem. That before humans roamed the earth nature was in balance – no exploitation, no over fishing, no deforesting, etc. And ever since humans came along that is when things started to go wrong with the earth. He also saw that this “evil” is in all humans – in himself and his family included is the potential for greed, murder, exploitation etc., so he came to the conclusion that in order to save the planet humans must cease to exist.

Now, if we look at the world today and the state it’s in – if we do nothing to change our nature then the outcome is pretty clear: We are going destroy this planet. Unfortunately there will be no ark for the animals this time, no flood to kill us all and save the animals. The way things are going we will kill every living being on this planet (maybe not the cockroaches). There is no all mighty creator that will help us through this.

Another point the movie shows is that every human has the potential for “goodness”, kindness, compassion and to be caring. Sure we have the potential to change our ways and actually be considerate human beings, but that means actually changing our nature as who we are and accepted ourselves to be.

So what will we choose?

Day 214: Understanding Human Behavior: Awesome Series part 1

 

 

Understanding Human Behavior: Awesome Series is a series were I will write about some of the silly things we do as humans. Most of the time human behavior can be interesting and what makes it even more interesting is the fact that we ourselves do not even know or understand why we do certain things.

Ever became so angry and started yapping things at someone only to ask yourself “why did I say those things?”. Or how about simply things like why you act certain ways or like and dislike things? Most of us simply do not know ourselves – at all.

Today I observed a point in a particular person – Now, we humans are actually the same so when I see a point in someone I see it as myself doing it, putting myself in that persons shoes. It is the only way to really understand the reason for the anger and not to judge the person. So when I write these things instead of writing “they” I am writing “Me/I”.

Let me begin then with one of the silly things we do – Being unnecessarily mean.

Now there can be many reasons for being mean, but one of them has to do with the word inadequacy. Let’s say for example I feel inadequate or inferior – there are two possible outflows here in terms of behavior. One is being generally shy and the other is trying very hard to somehow make up for being inadequate. The second behavior can result in me being mean. Like for example trying to present myself as being better/superior to others by generally being mean whenever the opportunity arrives. This is basically silly human behavior.

It is silly, because I am trying to present myself as superior to others, because I feel inferior wihout ever looking at why I feel inferior. It like trying to correct a problem with a problem. The real issue here is that I feel inferior and so instead of asking myself WHY do I feel inferior I resort to being mean to others to get out of inferiority. The most effective method to get rid of feeling inferior would be in the understanding of How and WHY it was created in the first place. The feeling was created my ME. I alone am responsible for what I feel – I actually create it. And so I can change it. Next I will go into the HOW.

Being Humane is being Evil

 

Definition of the word Humane: 1. Characterized by kindness, mercy, or compassion.

First thing to notice about the word is that it is the word human. When people want you to be kind they will often ask " Where is your humanity!". The thing is that human nature is absolute evil.

We humans are the definition of evil. All you have to do is turn on the news and see the horrible things we do to each other. Look at how we treat other species and nature. Look at how we are are destroying the earth beyond repair. Look at history - the wars - the holy crusade even, it all shows us clearly what and who we are as humans - it is all we have ever done. So to be humane is to be human is to be evil.

The definition for the word Humane is wrong - it is inaccurate. Before we can define it as being kind or compassionate we must prove that we as humans can be compassionate and kind towards others and ourselves, but at the moment we are not there.

We should instead change our very nature by letting go of our humanity  - which means to stop being human, to stop being evil and and stop abusing others and the earth. Now, there are some freaks of nature - and by that i mean some people who actually care about others and the earth and do what they are able to make the world a better place - they let go of their humanity.

So the key here is to stop being humane and instead to develop into an effective living being that considers all actions taken to insure that it is what is best for all. When we start changing our ways and actually care about nature and each other where we in fact change who we are as humans - maybe then the word humane can be defined as being kind and compassionate or even better: to do what is best for all.

Join us to change our Humanity - Desteni

Day 84 - Why Change is needed

 

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to believe that the world is ok as it is and does not need to be changed

I forgive myself that I have not accepted and allowed myself to see that the existence of war in this world and all the pain and suffering that goes with is enough reason for change to happen

I forgive myself that I have not accepted and allowed myself to realize that the continuation of poverty and strife is enough reason for change

I forgive myself that I have not accepted and allowed myself to realize that the existence of slavery in this world is enough reason to change this world

I forgive myself that I have not accepted and allowed myself to realize that the existence of prostitution - the need to sell ones self to survive in this world - is enough reason for us to find solutions to end it so that it doesn't exist anymore

I forgive myself that I have not accepted and allowed myself to realize that the existence of corruption and greed is enough reason to fins permanent solutions to end it

I forgive myself that I have not accepted and allowed myself to realize that the exploitation of earth and its resources is enough reason why we must change our ways

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to justify all this pain and suffering by saying that there is also good and happiness in this world - not realizing that having money gives me the chance to be happy and that most people do not have money

I forgive myself that I have not accepted and allowed myself to realize that the only reason why i would not want the world to change is because its working out for me - not realizing that billion others are struggling to live and that  millions starve in a world a plenty - there is enough food on the world to feed 13 billion people

I commit myself to realize that the world is not ok as it and that change is needed

I commit myself to realize war, poverty, slavery, prostitution, starvation etc. must end as it is causing great suffering and abuse and if I say that the world is ok as it is i am agreeing that suffering is ok

I commit myself to realize that if we keep on exploiting the earth and stripping it from resources it there will be none left - this is our only home and we must change our ways so that we can start to take care of earth and make sure it will be sustainable for all life in the future

I commit myself to realize that to change the world we need to change our ways - and to change our ways we must change ourselves - and that starts with me - by making the choice to not accept this world the way it is and to find permanent solutions to end all the abuse

I commit myself to realize that the current world system does not work for everybody and definitely not for nature and that we need a new world system where all beings are taken care of

Vote for change - www.equalmoney.org

Day 46 - We are all Earthlings

There are countless of horrific stories about animal abuse and its unacceptable

I forgive myself that i have accepted and allowed myself to see myself as superior to all other species because i believe im better

I forgive myself that i have accepted and allowed myself to in this superiority treat animals as not being life and equal to me but as inferior - and to then dominate the animals and treat them as less than life

I forgive myself that i have accepted and allowed myself to use the animals for my gain - to abuse them regardless and to use them for profit for me to survive

I forgive myself that i have accepted and allowed myself to believe that animals are worth nothing because the world system deems life as less than money and that money will always be more important than life

I forgive myself that i have accepted and allowed myself to believe that animals and nature are here for us humans and that we can do to them as we please all in the name of our god - money


I forgive myself that i have not accepted and allowed myself to see that all beings on earth are earthling - that what i am doing is abusing another earthling that shares this world with me

 I forgive myself that i have accepted and allowed myself to believe that animals are inferior based on their behavior and way of life being different to ours - not considering they are a big part of this world and without them there would be no earth

I forgive myself that i have accepted and allowed myself to treat animals as less than because they are my food - not seeing that the animals have to die - be sacrificed - just so that i can live and that i should be Eternally grateful for them.

I forgive myself that i have not accepted and allowed myself to realize that i have been causing enormous suffering and massive damage already to this world in the name of profit and that if i keep going this path then we will wipe out all life and all we will have left is money - and that we cant eat money or build houses with money or even drink money and that it is thanks to nature and the animals that i am still breathing - without nature and the animals we wont even be able to breath

I forgive myself that i have not accepted and allowed myself to realize that all my food and nourishment was only made possible by the animals and nature and that it is my responsibility to take care of them and the earth otherwise there will be no earth 

i commit myself to stop the believe that humans are superior to animals 

I commit myself to stop the abuse of animals by seeing that they are also earthlings living on this world with me

I commit myself to be grateful for the animals and nature for making my life possible 

I commit myself to show this gratefulness by taking care of nature and all its animals so that we dont destroy this earth in the name of profit

I commit myself to realize that we cannot eat money and that money is a man made believe - but nature is real as earth is real and we keep on destryoing this planet in the name of this believe we will not have a planet anymore were we can live

I commit myself to stop treating animals as just food but to see that they are also life

I commit myself to take self responsibility for my actions and to dedicate my life so that others can see what i see so that we can end all abuse in all its forms so that all earthlings can live a dignified life

I commit myself to realize that we are all equal and that i have no right to dominate a creature just because i can - but to see that just because they live life differently doesnt mean i am better than them