I meant to save the world, but I got distracted: A Common Perspective

I've just read "Common Sense," by Thomas Paine for the first time. I realized by his efforts what I believe I am meant to do if my goals are correct. Paine joined the conversation others were having about either rejoining the British Empire or fighting for independence... That was his context. His perspective however was forward-focussed (progressive) which is what I believe we all need to understand better.

It is fascinating to note that the last line of the essay's appendix is a warning against religion in the role of politics or government. If he could see the danger 233 years ago, how can we not today just because we use the term "value issue" instead of religion? After all, we are still having the same problems (and in some cases worse). "Value-issue" politics implies that legislation can somehow reach people inside their heads in the place where they make decisions, and that certain individuals among us can know the best way for all of us to think. As there is no one "God's" laws on the books, who among us wants our thoughts controlled by anyone else?! It seems sad to me that the question was addressed so long ago, but the debate shows that it is still not even understood today; and that power still corrupts us and war is made to seem logical. Power sends soldiers to war for the security of itself. Defense has been important in the past just as it is today for the security of this very debate, but the powerful have been hard-pressed to make the majority of the population of the world believe that the Iraq war measures up to defense, or even the ideals of the American Revolution. That statement is meant with all due respect to the soldiers and complete contempt for the orchestrators. It is abhorrent when one considers the scope in which presumably "powerful people" impose their will on the rest of us... and I didn't even consider that was what was going on at the time, or that it may still be happening.

I also believe that Paine's casual mention of Hemp on page 46 as it referred to cordage (making ropes and sails for ships) is a clear indication that all the properties for which the plant is renowned by those who know it intimately today, were evident properties to those who knew it in 1776. Perhaps its time to ask ourselves some real questions about what we "know", and show appreciation for the respect Paine seems to have had for such a helpful and versatile plant... you could pay your taxes with Hemp up until a few generations ago (says the drug free non-hippie).

That said, I believe we should exclude that which other people think we ought to do or not from the realm of what we are all made to do by the laws we create. The freedom from personal persecution will come at the expense of traditions it seems, though this need not be a bloody transition or revolution. If we consider what we learn from every endeavor (positive and negative) as a tool for making a better future, we may better understand the range or humanity. It is not for one person to say what another may wish to do after all, only what they are allowed to do. When we think about our place as founders of the future, the relationship with which we consider everything we know must be ever-changing, as we continue to learn.

Personal liberties are not the concern of the state because we don't use the law to tell people what they can do, only the scope of what they can not. Ideal situations for individuals continue to evolve with the changing world. It is not so that the world will not change because of adherence to the traditions of one or a few perspectives. It is a mistake to deny that the world is continually changing, or that it is going to continually change as we face new endeavors, as well as learn from our mistakes. In fact, to say it is unnatural and unrealistic that we will progress is ignorant and dangerous for the very survival of the species.

The decision that a person may or may not make for themselves is not in the control of anyone else... it is free will. In other words, freedom is: not searching approval from anyone that does not have useful information about a certain subject before one makes their decision to act. One example of this is the issue of abortion. Regardless of popular opinion, for some people, it is just going to happen. No one hopes to make that kind of decision, and it need not be an issue for general public debate. I agree that education on such subjects is the manner by which humanity is served best, but if people weren't allowed to know it was happening, there would be no ill will.

In that vein, before I insist on asking "what gives you the right to do anything," I would say "you have the right to do anything as long as you realize your personal reality is not the reason everyone and everything else exists. The world will go on just fine without you. In fact, humanity is not the singularity of existence. This is a significant change in perspective I feel we need as a species.

I read "Common Sense" in about six hours, using a dictionary and two highlighters... one to applaud with, and one with which to question. I consider it good fortune that one ran out of ink because it made me realize that I should study (or question) even the things I applaud. I highlighted nearly the whole pamphlet. I had to read each paragraph 3 or 4 times, and I still plan to re-read it. I'm not embarrassed to say that I have a learning disability that requires I do this in order to understand what Paine is trying to say... I'd rather focus on understanding. People are often held down by their embarrassment, but I say fuck all that. I have the ability to gain more knowledge, and now that I realize that fact, I may become more knowledgeable. When I stopped thinking that everything useful has already been thought or done, I gained a healthy sense of wonder. That's what it is to grow I suppose.

I want a wonderful, knowledgeable world, and nothing anyone could give me would make that not so. I believe it is ok to want and hope for the best for the world, and I'm sending that ideal out considering 233 years from now. My concern for my love of humanity may not be oppressed from me, though I must admit I may be made out to be a liar to those that don't know me. Suffice it to say, I want nothing from you except perhaps compassion and good will.

Once we learn to live with an unselfish future perspective, perhaps we will make better decisions. Perhaps we can at last find a way to accept peace and appreciation for each other today. It is absolutely necessary to point out that humanity may be 100000-300000 years old in its current form. Considering that to be so, and Paine's argument a primary example, the ideal of non-traditionally biased reason has existed in our conversation in a relative blink of an eye (or less). For thousands of years we've had culture and tradition all over the Earth. One tradition devaluing the nature and ideals of another has led to much of our history being erased. How can we learn from our mistakes if we are afraid to admit we make them?

There was a unifying principle for a small group of humans 233 years ago, just as there is a unifying principle for all humans today and beyond. The difference maker is that we need not be the individual tribes of Earth when it comes to common sense. We are the one tribe of humans we know of, and Earth is home to all of us. We may have differences in traditional practice, but our commonality is undeniable regardless of what ignorance insists. Each and every one of our perspectives is important to posterity for the statement of who we are and have been, as well as who we will be.

When we secure a home (or guaranteed sanctuary), we can learn a better way to interact without fear. We all need to be secure, or fear will continue to drive us to conquer and subdue each other.

If certain people are comfortable spending their time in the employ of others, or by the rewards if affords, then so be it unto them. Personally, I would rather spend my time as I see fit, not be constrained by the deadlines of other people's importance, but finding my own. Thereby, I must create a personal system that affords me the knowledge of the fruit of my efforts. I want to know the goal before I begin to work, and I want to know that the work will cease once my requirement is fulfilled. In my "free time" I may then decide how I wish to contribute to humanity and the survival of the species... which is the only thing I can think of that has always been important outside individual desires. It is only under a pure and unadulterated law that I may produce independent of government or tradition. This is a must for freedom for all.

The thought of who I am and what I feel good or bad about is exclusive to me. No government or tradition will make me believe what I don't believe (spoken like a true agnostic preacher's son who has been both a registered Democrat and Republican). My thoughts can not be regulated, only persuaded. I reserve the right to say whatever I wish, and I alone am the judge of my time. This idea of freedom need not be supplied by a God or King. We keep learning.

I am moved by all my senses, and no one may presume to tell me anything more than their perspective on sensing, which can never be my own. However, I believe we can come together under one way of relating, though our traditions be different. I don't need to have any one's experience to be able to understand their perspective if I am allowed the context with which they feel. Countries, likewise, need not regulate each other's traditions so long as humanity is served into the future safely and on the founding principle of knowledge.

By the logic of learning from the past, I never again want to use credit, though I may have to. From both a personal and national perspective, that is a lesson that is valuable for posterity. Credit is the means by which others control my time. Controlling my time is exerting power over me. Time, after all, is the only lasting commodity. Money is not power... nor is religion or government... controlling other people's time is power (which money, religion and government do quite well). If I can take back the control of my time, I take back the power of my life. I may direct the future as I see fit, and worry not about the wants of others in my actions. This is freedom! I haven't been able to accomplish it yet, and no one who can help me seems to want to do so. Powerful people, obviously, don't want to lose their power. For some, the process of maintaining other people's power is how they choose to spend their time, as they are attracted by the prospect... though they need not necessarily be concerned with the well being of those they control. This is immoral power.

If you could take back your time, then what would you decide to do? I've only recently been able to consider it the question because I've learned to turn the TV off and think for myself. TV allows a few people to decide what a vast number of others 1) do with their time, and 2)what they think based on who watches what. A small group steals the conversation form the rest of us. For a long period of time, I spent more time watching television than any other venture required of my day. It is true from my perspective that the quality of information available was better in the past, but even then there was a barrage of advertising. Now, it seems, it is all advertising and self-admittedly so! Now they're allowing commercial-free shows on the internet and DVRs because the shows themselves are the advertising, and may have been all along. (I am aware that I am selling my idea as well, but remember I don't want anyone to pay me just for joining the conversation.) The salesmen we all are saw this transition coming. Information is packaged and sold just like every other commodity. Just look at the way in which Americans get there news... It is digested by biased regurgitaters then spewed forth with the label of "acceptable" truth.

It is obvious that social networking sites are a huge step for interaction. People can keep up with every intimate or personal thought people wish to share. Dissension to tradition has it's roots here for now, though the system has its corruption and limits. For now, it seems that truth has a bit of an outlet, and those of us who wish to continue the species by removing our hindrances on posterity are hopeful. I will use these sites with the understanding that representation must reflect what people are willing to say and believe both in reality and online.

The government of Iran was exposed by the sharing of truth. Change may rear itself in that country now, whereas in the past all those protesters would have been silenced by now, just like Tiananmen Square 25 years ago (look it up if you don't know... some rough shit happened). There is no doubt that bad shit is going down in Iran right now, and we can either let their representative to the world (a one voice government) tell us everything is fine, or we can remember the names of everyone involved on both sides in case freedom is about to find a voice, or corruption reaches those people believe in. The pain they are experiencing now has been the unfortunate cost of revolution everywhere and I feel strong and passionate hope for the well being of my brothers and sisters in humanity and their future generations. It seems important to note that their government can only give the impression that it can crush their movement by killing individuals. It is tragically possible for a while, but not forever. Truth can not be made to not exist, it may only be hidden for a while.

I'm sure in 1775 it seemed that one would be hard-pressed to find anyone who believed in a conviction so strong as someone like Thomas Paine, who in the very nature of writing his article, knew it meant certain and immediate death if people didn't believe in what he had to say. People under duress live towards their ideals, and that is what I intend to do.

I'm not telling anyone what they should intend to do, I'm telling you how I'm doing it. I don't presume to be a leader or an idiot any more than I presume to know the "right" way. As far as I know there is no one "right" way. I'm only interested in truth. There is no individual failure if a positive aspect of humanity emerges in our lifetime. We can literally decide to stand up and take responsibility for the future good of the planet now, and of this I believe any God imagined or imaginable would surely appreciate our efforts to not destroy their creation. We all are, after all, merely parts of that make up this planet. The planet, and life for that matter, will surely go on long after we've shuffled off, as it were.

We are a part of a system of life on this planet and we should respect that in a conscious and consistent manner. We are actually having an argument with ourselves that we might not be hurting the planet. How could we even suggest we might not be hurting the planet? We're still individual tribes at cold and hot war with each other, what makes us thing we're not carrying that thought over into killing the planet? We're killing everything... We silence our opposition... Its the thing we're best at... and it must stop immediately. We've got to put the brakes on regardless of what the salesmen say. The attitude that we know everything that needs to be known must end, and soon. Remember, whatever doesn't lead to life as a practice leads to extinction by default. We must desist before its too late and we're all dead and no one's family moves on...regardless of perceived power. (See Maya, Rome, Egypt, etc.)

On page 32 Paine writes, "I rejected the... Pharaoh of England for ever... with the pretended title of FATHER..." No where is this sentiment of a pretend father more evident that in politics... There system of power works with the distraction of advertising and tradition so much that the two are hardly distinguishable. I fully understand why many or most of us have been led out of the discussion only to be fed by the polar opposites of the same commercial magnet. We have too much distraction allowed at us to focus on what we really want or need. Its not that our parents are bad parents, and the world is a bad world... many of them don't understand it or agree with it either. People are good in the way they know how to be, but the network of political grease smooths for tradition and commerce and sludges for real life. This is just a road-block based on the power available to people who realize we're not looking, so why don't we look?

Now, at least for me, there is a new way to feel good about myself, and I'm motivated by it so much that I hardly think of anything but expressing it. There is a new way for me to be a father and it is not stuck in the traditions of those who have been fathers. We need to keep useful information, of course, but not by using mixed messages that cloud the truth with intermittent bullshit. If we can clearly see that one way we act is leading us down the path to extinction as a species, we can turn our children's heads toward a way to make us last a bit longer into the future.

I have this to say to believer of every apocalyptical tradition... weren't we all supposed to die in 2000? Remember the serious discussion and fright leading to runs on batteries and canned goods, and other mass hysteria surrounding our obvious lust for the "end of days" because we left off 2 digits on our computer programs? People said that "the entire race of man is getting brought down by the folly of ignorance at last!" as though it were in the public consciousness that it was bound to happen some time. This really happened here. No amount of assurance was enough "cuz the nukes are all gonna launch off" and "your car ain't gonna work cuz the computer inside the engine is gonna shut down." This is the ultimate means by which we allow ourselves to be controlled.

Wouldn't it be nice if we started thinking that we might just make it somehow. We did go a few hundred-thousand years already. All generations die individually, but the species lives on. By thinking that we're going to be wiped out, aren't we allowing ourselves to wipe us all out? What if we put our feet back on the ground and do the work its going to take to ensure our species lasts as long as we possibly can? We are problem solvers after all. We just need to get over this self-loathing spiritual war with ourselves that seems centered on our inability to consider that we are just another species of animal on Planet Earth. Its an unrealistic expectation to try to lord over this planet any longer when we start to see that we are obviously not capable. We are not the deciders. There is nothing wrong with learning how to participate in life without feeling that we are the cause and effect. My passion for my lineage certainly drives me, and I want my opportunity to live forever if it exists within them, but that bit of selfishness is naturally excusable so long as I don't attempt to limit the possibility of others. Existence is no sprint after all. I only wish to improve humanity's chances out of kinship... and if you go back 50 generations we're all related.

I don't feel as though I am at a level to be lived up to at this point, and I may never be. I hoped to be surpassed by my child in every way I can imagine, save malice. I'm not hiding my ignorance any longer, only asking for a little patience for (and from) us all. I'm trying for better without forgetting my limits. This message is me saying "I'm trying it this way, what do you think?"

I am going at this life and ideal with the ultimate of hope and intent. I'm trying my absolute best to not get suckered or to sucker myself into a bad decision. I have life to consider now. I have lived only as though I was going to be dead because no one who is supposed to understand that subject could give me any peace. I don't want to be dead anymore, and I'm not curious about making it happen any sooner than it needs to. I not only want to live, but I want to keep my brain crisp and clear for as long as possible. I mean, I just got used to using this mind for more than recreation -- and dealing with the expense of it. Now that I know why I ought to live, I've got a lot of work to do. I've got a lot to learn.

Change, after all, isn't just a black man in the Whitehouse, and Barrack Obama is only a symptom of the change that is sweeping the world. People world wide are through with the bullshitting. People are standing up. This change is a real change of context that realizes that things change, but nature remains. Change has nothing to do with trivia... Please ignore trivia... The things that have mattered for life throughout all species, civilizations and human traditions are food, water and shelter. Once that becomes the perminant first step, our time will again be ours, and we may represent ourselves!

I've just looked down at the picture of Thomas Paine on the book cover and winked and said "I appreciate it, buddy," and I really do. My very next thought was, "if that's what it means to be revered, I'll take it." I understand how little I've done to be revered, but that's ok. There are very few good reasons for any of us to be known by the rest. Unfortunately money captures and corrupts good intentions because we've been set up to believe "it" is what is important (after religion). Well, I'm not doing it! Any of it! Time is the utmost property to understand, and the utmost commodity to appreciate.

I'm putting this thought out there for no other reason than I just want to join the conversation of humanity. I believe a rarely spoken understanding exists between us, and flairs up occaisionally so we may indicate to each other what we all feel is right and natural, but our voice falls under the hum of our constant commerce propped up by tradition. Forget my name if you must, but never forget that this idea lives in all of us, and has through millions of years of wanting to be alive! I may be wrong about a lot now, but my day aint over yet. I can learn. I can grow. And I choose to spend my "free time" learning to discuss life with you. What's your plan?