When last I left you I was relating the events of an altercation I had at Toys R’ Us prior to Halloween. Well although I managed to purchase the Batman mask I sought, I left not entirely satisfied with how events went down because I was far too adversarial. I didn’t realize how bad I felt however until…
I Went to a Meditation Class
Yes, one class. And I should have done my homework better beforehand because what I thought was going to be a two-hour guided meditation (fun, right?) turned out to be an hour long Buddhist wisdom class, followed by Q&A, followed by a comparatively brief meditation. Now, to clarify, I have nothing against Buddhism per se, but I am suspicious of any -isms in general.* However, I have learned that apprehensions and prejudices should not be allowed to detract from the passage of actual knowledge; you must scrutinize all information without reference to the messenger.
So I listened to the teacher talk and actually asked a question or two, and whether from Buddhist enlightenment or from his years lived on Earth, he showed me some small insight into a problem I face in my own life. It was actually kind of refreshing to talk with someone who thinks about things as much as I do, or at least the same kinds of things I do as much as I do.
Also, I found the guided meditation helpful; while I didn’t make very good account of myself on the astral plane due to my earthly, flesh vessel’s inability to get comfortable I did pick up a small breathing technique which I have employed since. And of course, I mentioned that the session made me ruminate over my encounter with the Toy R’ Us manager the week before. I actually got very upset about it (read: I cried) when I mulled it over in class. This guy was a brother of mine and I wilfully set myself in opposition to him because of my arrogance. In a very real way I had done violence to him and I don’t want to do violence to anyone.**
I called him up the next day (he remembered me, surprise surprise) and we talked. I made it clear that my feelings about rules in general notwithstanding, I had been too adversarial and put him in the lamentable position of having to flex nuts (prove his manhood). He appreciated my call and explained that he hadn’t been trying to profile me. I listened politely but I wasn’t really interested in talking about the profiling aspect because the real issue was the presumption of guilt implied in a “NO BAGS” rule. We made peace and said our good-byes but to be honest there was no resolution for next time I go to Toys R’ Us. I guess it will be up to me to achieve mutually desirable outcome.
So Why the Disdain for Rules?
Have you ever wondered why a rule applies to you? I think most have not? Certainly many have questioned the arbitrary natures of the rules, regulations, statutes, and codes, the creation of which seem to be the sole prerogative of so-called “authorities,” but I think most are of the mindset that such rules, at least from governmental sources, apply to them, justifiable or not. I have begun to question this mindset and actually study said rules and the flagrant violators of them. This may be old news to some but there is actually a group called Freemen on the Land in Canada (Sovereigns in the US) who reject the authority of the government and subscribe instead to a do-no-harm mindset.
While that brief description certainly colours the groups as out there or crazy, they actually speak a lot sanity: they propose actually reading the acts/codified law-books which we all subscribe to without knowing if they apply to us; a large part of the movement is knowledge of self and realizing that we a divine beings whose freedom can not be taken, but must be handed over willingly (we do this everyday if you think about it); and of course a large part of the movement is responsibility, because our criminal codes are meant for those not responsible enough to comport themselves like adults.
“No” you say? Our codified laws apply to all? Well think about it like this, if you don’t work for a corporation, say Pfizer for example, can you be expected to adhere to Pfizer’s employee rules & regulations? No, you can’t. If you are not the employee or agent of a corporation its rules do not apply to you.
So what if I told you that our government is a corporation?
“Sure” you might say cynically, “Government is just a business. Everyone knows that.” But there is a way in which people make these observations absently not actually seeing the truth of their words or the implications. Sure, government is a business but its still a legitimate institution dedicated to the management of the state entity. Well…
Entering “Stephen Harper” in the search field.
The list of businesses by that name. Notice the last one.
Should you ever wish to do business with the Government of Canada corporation, you can order its credit report from D&B to make sure they pay their on time.
But srsly though, I am not what you would call a superstitious person and I certainly don’t believe in the supernatural, but I do think we must expand our definition of natural to include things which we may not understand or which mainstream science has yet to deal with. After all, if it can happen, its natural. And certain metaphysical ideas which might be popularly viewed as psuedoscience actually have a solid empirical foundation. Of course, due diligence requires that a critical thinker not take solid foundations and make leaps of faith from them. But when a plausible causal chain is shown to exist that can be put to test, any critical thinker has a moral imperative to experiment for themselves. And that’s kind of what I’m doing. I find the science behind consciousness, meditation and dimensions very interesting and I think it is an aspect of our existence which has been lost in the daily grind.
I can’t really go into the depth I would like to here because RECAP implies brevity, but if you would like to know more check out Spirit Science, the Heart Math Institute and lectures by Dr. Nassim Haramein. For those who don;t know Dr. Haramein he is a bit of a polymath, but he is mostly known for his contributions to physics. His biggest contribution thus far seems to be solving the Grand Unification Equation…
**There is a certain amount of violence which we all must inflict to survive in this world. It is often abstracted through monetary exchange and the victims of your violence are often so removed from you that you are unaware you are hurting them. Furthermore, it is not one person’s vilence which hurts others or you but an accumulation of the others’ violence which hurts everyone else, so in a very real way everyone’s culpability is diffused among everyone else. “Don’t hate the player, hate the game” is a common defence for such violence and if you think about this defence it implicitly states that we are all chipping off each other in some way. I acknowledge that I am complicit in structural violence and that can not be helped completely because I also must survive, but to whatever extent possible I would like to reduce my participation in explicit physical and verbal violence.
Seriously though, heresy is a problematic word and I am wary of any group who uses it to ostracize others.
Write-Errantry 
hi