The youth of today.

The youth of today.

Do you hear people moaning all the time about the youth of today? Saying things like it was different in my day, there is no respect, they only want want want, take take take all the time and the like. Well I suspect that this may have been going on for some time, many centuries even. But has anyone come up with any idea why? Or how it can be altered or resolved to every ones satisfaction? It would appear that throughout history, things have changed greatly in certain areas. Technological advancements and explorations of our world amongst the most obvious, but what about development of our minds, our spiritual being and our ability to look deep within for clues as to our dissatisfactions.

You know by now my point in this blog is to raise further questions through my rants and debates. Not to pull down, but simply to assist in building up new ways of looking at the world that is before our eyes.

So when I say, “do you realise what we see is what we have created,” you shouldn't be so surprised that I am aiming my pointed finger of accusation at each and every one of us......

The simple truth is, we made the mess we live with. And we are also responsible for all the many, many wonderful things we have created too. Humans are capable of incredible works of ingenuity and love and even altruistic kindness. In a world that is murdering thousands of people daily, over the ground upon which we walk (or the supposed rights over it) and for more material things than is reasonable, we can also show some incredible humanitarian altruism. Thank you....

However as we are here to discern what part our youth have to play in this, and what responsibility they have to change things as they see fit, I need to bring us back to the relevant facts or rather the relevant information that we have regarding the way that youths have added to or taken away from the world we have created. I am going to quote directly from the work of a man who has had a dream and revelation of the reasons for this and many other topics. Below the quote I shall reveal him and the works that I would strongly advise everyone to obtain and read. It will change lives, and offer us all a new way to re-evaluate the, TRUTH we have been told for so long it is nearly impossible for us to see it any other way.

The quotation takes the form of a dialogue between this man and someone he understands to be the divine creator of everything. (Please try to have an open mind here, for the purpose of giving the words a fair opportunity to be absorbed into your reason and intellect.)

                 Neale.

With regards to history, anyone can look over their shoulder and say with the benefit of hindsight, “I would have done it differently.”

                       God.

Then why don't you?

I beg your pardon?

I said, then why don't you? Why have you not looked over your shoulder, learned from your past, and done it differently? I'll tell you why. Because to allow your children to look at your past and analyse it critically – indeed, to require them to do so as a part of their education – would run the risk of them disagreeing with how you did things.

They will disagree anyway, of course. You just won't allow too much of it in your classrooms. So they have to take to the streets. Wave signs. Tear up draft cards. Burn bras and flags. Do whatever they can do to get your attention, to get you to see. Your young people have been screaming at you, “there must be a better way!” Yet you do not hear them. You do not want to hear them. And you certainly don't want to encourage them in the classroom to start critically thinking about the facts that you are giving them.

“Just get it,” you say to them. “Don't come in here and tell us we've been doing it wrong. Just get that we've been doing it right...!”

That my friend is how you educate your children. That is what you have been calling education.

But there are those that would say it's the young people and their crazy, wacko, liberal ideas, who have been taking this country and the world down the tubes. Sent it to hell. Pushed it to the edge of oblivion. Destroyed our values-oriented culture, and replaced it with a do-whatever-you-want-to-do, whatever “feels good,” morality which threatens to end our very way of life.

The young people are destroying your way of life. The young people have always done that. Your job is to encourage it, not to discourage it.

It is not your young people who are destroying the rain forests. They are asking you to stop it. It is not your young people who are depleting your ozone layer. They are asking you to stop it. It is not your young people who are exploiting the poor in sweat shops all over the world. They are asking you to stop it. It is not your young people who are taxing you to death, then using the money for war and machines of war. They are asking you to stop it. It is not your young people who are ignoring the problems of the weak and the downtrodden, letting hundreds of people die of starvation on a planet with more than enough to feed everybody. They are asking you to stop it.

It is not your young people who are engaging in the politics of deception and manipulation. They are asking you to stop it. It is not your young people who are sexually repressed, ashamed and embarrassed about their own bodies and passing on this shame and embarrassment to their offspring. They are asking you to stop it. It is not your young people who have set up a value system which says that “might is right,” and a world that solves problems with violence. They are asking you to stop it.

Nay, they are not asking you.....They are begging you....

Yet it is young people who are violent! Young people who join gangs and kill each other! Young people who thumb their nose at law and order- at any kind of order. Young people who are driving us crazy!

When the cries and pleas of young people to change the world are not heard and never heeded; when they see that their cause is lost-that you will have it your way no matter what-young people, who are not stupid, will do the next best thing. If they can't beat you, they will join you.

Your young people have joined you in your behaviour. If they are violent, it is because you are violent. If they are materialistic, it is because you are materialistic. If they are acting crazy, it is because you are acting crazy. If they are using sex manipulatively, irresponsibly, shamefully, it is because they see you doing the same. The only difference between young people and older people is that young people do what they do out in the open.

Older people hide their behaviours. Older people think that younger people cannot see. (Take the Jimmy Saville debacle/coverup for an example) Nothing is hidden from them. They see the hypocrisy of their elders, and they try desperately to change it. Yet having tried and failed, they see no choice but to imitate it. In this they are wrong, yet they have never been taught differently. They have not been allowed to critically analyse what their elders have been doing. They have only been allowed to memorise it.

What you memorise, you memorialize.

How, then, should we educate our young?

(Please read the further dialogue for yourselves)

The author of the above quotations is Neale Donald Walsch. The quote is from pages 118-121 in book two of the series, Conversations with God, (an uncommon dialogue)

I have been very moved by this alternative explanation, a newer way to see certain things in our world in a completely unique way. My admiration for the writing of Neale should be evident, but he is just one of an army of people trying to wake the people here on earth up, to a better way to be and to see the reality of life. I realise that many people will find it hard to take, to stomach such candour, a blasphemous attempt to put words into the mouth of god. But please, I beg you, young and old, let the feelings within you help you to see the choices before you here and now. We can go on as we have, or we can choose again. Open your hearts to the emotions that are telling us all, that this treatment of one another that has gone on for millenia, has to stop. If it doesn't we will betray our higher selves the chance to live as we truly could, in peace and harmony. And we may even destroy both our entire race, and the planet upon which we live. The planet that is here for us to learn our greatest truth. Love is all you need. And sharing it is all we all need to be happy.

So let us please lighten up on our youth. They did not cause the problem, even if they are now caught up in the tragedy of abetting the problem.

Cannot we all, please take a moment to reflect. Couldn't we do more to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem.

Be the change you wish to see in the world.

I know that it is a long road, but it is one worth walking.....

Believe me. I am Peaceful Warrior......


 What I have been doing.

Are You a Christian?

Are You a Christian?

So Fucking what?

For the past few weeks I have been hearing this asked more and more. Are you a Christian?

As if it means a whole load of difference to anyone.

No, but I am a human being and would like to be treated as such I feel like replying. Irrelevant of the title I am still a good person who loves and does his best for everyone. I don't profess to be perfect but try to be a better man by living in accord with values from a higher source than those of mankind's supposed civilization. (As if he knows what that means anyway)

Many people are going around saying that they are Christian and what good has it done any one of us. I mean so they/you are so called Christians, fine, but does that make the rest of us worthless? They/you say, rather piously that they/you are saved in Christ and that everyone else is a sinner still to be redeemed. Seriously do they/you think that they/you are super human beings or something. I tell you something, I have read a lot of scripture in my time and so I know what I am talking about here. It doesn't matter what a person says they believe, it is all about what they/you do with that belief, and how they/you exercise that belief in their/your lives. It is no good saying that you are a Christian if you don't have the first idea what it means that you have to do to be one. Nor that the very idea behind the title is a task that they/you can't be bothered to actually implement in daily life let alone dealings with other human beings.

Listen up Christians, to your boss.

He never went about saying, “look at me how great am I with my nice title and freedom to harass everyone else,” did he?

No. he spoke the truth and never used such hostile tactics against anyone. He simply was polite and courteous and treated everyone as an equal, despite their apparent differences of faith and worship styles. Only when he saw people professing to be gods people, but using their positions to deceive and defraud others did he react at all with any indignation. He threw the sellers out of the temple because they were cheating people and praying on the poor and the helpless.

His followers once told him to stop the harlot from showering him with expensive gifts, and all he said was, let the woman do a kindness if she feels it is what she can do for me. He ate with her and others like her, often in preference to those that thought their own righteousness was greater. He did not judge anyone unfairly, he gave each person the chance to be considered as an equal on his merits as a human being first, and his chosen actions/form of worship second.

So, no I am not one of you, because I do not want anyone to think me a pious prick who is up his own arse with pride. I make the most of the chance to meet others, whatever their faith and share the truth of love with them, and if they judge me because I am not a confirmed member of the club, then so be it, I figure it is their loss for being so narrow minded and shallow.

Remember the story of the good Samaritan?

Yeah I bet you do.... No Jew or Gentile to be seen for dust, it was the good old Samaritan man who went out of his way to not only help, but see to it that the man was clothed, fed, nursed and had money to get home again.

You may not appreciate the tone I have taken to say this to you all, but I assure you that I have thought long and hard about it. In my defence, I will say that if there were no truth then you can in no way be feeling indignant at all, because what I am saying is not directed at you. If you are feeling a little indignant, then please look closely at yourself and see if the truth doesn't hurt because it may be true of your attitude towards others.

Look at what Jesus supposedly did for us all. He gave his life, to give you and I the chance to be redeemed. He didn't quibble and say well only the not so bad ones, or the less than really good ones can be included, he said it was for us all. When he gave he gave the whole nine yards.

He taught us to follow two simple commands, whatever the previous 10 had said or the thousands brought in by the Jews to complicate and unnerve everyone who wanted finite details because they were too selfish to actually try the simple method.

He said Two.

1. Love god with all your soul mind and vital force.
2. Love your neighbour as yourself.

I think we can safely say no.1 nails it for that topic.

No.2, well this is what it doesn't say to me.

It doesn't say, love my neighbour only enough to convince him he is cared about.

Nor does it say, as much as he thinks I do for him when in secret I take it all back.

Or does it suggest that the neighbour should get less because he is not connected to me in any real personal way.

And finally it does not mean that you should love your neighbour only in public, and behind the scenes do nothing to care for or nurture the relationship.

What it certainly does mean is this.

Whatever you would do to yourself with regards to caring, loving, being responsible, giving affection, putting yourself first, listening to your needs and wants and addressing those, THEN DO THEM ALSO FOR YOUR NEIGHBOUR.

And are you sure who your neighbour is?

Well if as a Christian you should love him as yourself, then why the hell don't you know him well enough to know his name or his needs concerns and desires, because you damned well know your own needs. You talk about them all the time, so why don't you know his needs too???

Because you are not at all interested in your neighbour, and by virtue of that, not at all really a true follower of a man who's sandals you clearly are not fit to untie. A man you say that you worship adore and trust. Someone who you say you try to emulate in every way to be a true Christian. Well I say this, if the shoe fits.....

Don't pretend to be a Christian, be a Christian if you must..!!!!

Do what Jesus would do in all situations, and if you get it wrong, never mind, keep trying. But don't use the title as a shield behind which to deny the true nature of the actions that you have pledged to adhere to in all areas of your lives. Don't be the hypocrite that you are when you ignore the force of Jesus's words to love your neighbour (effectively everyone on the planet) as you would do to yourself. In fact be better to others than to yourself then it will always be in your favour when the day of judgement comes, won't it?

Being Christian means being more observant of the needs of others and doing whatever...yes whatever you can to help them. Try taking the time to do something kind to a complete stranger and feel good about the love you have to share, rather than selfishly only doing things for yourself and those directly related to you already. Step outside the box and be what Jesus was, a lover of everyone and doer of fine works to his neighbours.

And please don't keep asking others if they are a Christian as if that means you can then treat them as second class citizens, for that is not an act of Christianity at all, but an act of the wicked one.!!!!

No small animals or children were harmed during the course of this rant and all words have been vetted by health and safety, according to all the rules of sharpes and dangerous and hazardous chemicals.....

May the love of the Lord forgive us all, especially me if I have offended anyone. But for the love of Christ please take a good look at yourselves.....

Loads of love and hugs,

Peaceful Warrior.

Death of a dear friend

Sorry I have been away from here for a while. This post might explain a little.



Death of a dear friend

R.I.P. Richard Leslie Perry.

Last Saturday (9th June 2012) at around 5pm, a very dear and long term friend of mine, Richard Leslie Perry, sadly passed away. He was only 48 years old.

He will be missed in the world, he was a kind and generous man, and father, husband, brother, son and friend. His passing was due in part to a cancer, that took him very suddenly. His illness mercifully short. From being discovered with a tumor to the end was little under three months. He has left behind four great children, a newly wedded bride and many grandchildren.

I have known Richard for over 25 years and in that time we had shared many experiences and specially memorable times. I have watched his children grow into fine adults and worked with him and his wife in helping to raise and care for them over these years, whenever I was about. There were times when we may not see one another for many months, even years passed as we got on with living lives full and happy. But when we would get back together, it was as if hardly any time had elapsed at all.

I came to see Richard on an intuitive feeling that I had to see him. I was surprised to find he had been admitted to hospital a few days earlier, but happy to be able to visit and catch up. He was incredibly frail and was having trouble keeping any food down, the therapy serving to deny him an appetite. 

We spent about an hour and a half chatting, and I certainly felt that my friend, known for his strength, stamina and will power was on the road to recovery. Though in a very weak condition he joked and made a concerted effort to make me feel at ease. He never indicated to me nor any of his family the extent of his illness, and bravely soldiered on to the end, even though he had been given an expectancy threshold by the doctors. The cancer cut that time incredibly short.

His last words to me were humorous. I bent down to kiss him, and told him that I loved him, though I could not bring myself to believe that I would not again share a warm smile and his happy  company.

" It's ok to kiss he said."

" Yeah but I'm not kissing you on the lips, I don't want you getting frisky." I replied

" I just wanted your chewing gum." was his witty retort.

We held hands and said "see you later," maybe neither of us accepting this would not happen.

This was the man and friend I knew for all these years, smiling back at me, free from fear of what others would say. Richard was as close as any brother and I have several great brothers too.

On Tuesday morning, Graham (his youngest son) having great strength called to tell me that his father, my friend had passed on. I was devastated. 

I have written this poem as a memory to a great friend, one who I would gladly have swapped places with, if that were possible.

NUMB

His voice I failed to recognise,

I try desperately to conceive,

The many other reasons he'd call.

“You came to see Dad,

He's at peace now, glad to see,

One last time your happy face.”

I cannot breath,

Hands of ice gripping my heart.

Tears well swiftly to sting,

To accuse me again my lack.

He's gone as a candle snubbed,

Lost to our loving embraces.

Heart stopped, clock ticking, silence.

Then the tears of aching,

Stinging fury, flooding my face,

My friend has flown to grace.

Ages pass and I cry,

The echo along the line,

I pray his children time,

Wish my love could heal this crime.

Robbed of one who always cared,

Never lacked in what he shared.

Deafening the noiseless pain,

I'll never see him again,

Smile, receive his light,

Share a tender word unheard.

Oh friend I'll miss you now,

But we have to cope somehow.

To reveal the pact we shared,

I pray you'd knew I cared.

The love was in your eyes,

Laughter your final words.

You will never ever be forgotten,

Though I'll miss you something rotten.....

For Richard

With angels now.

As you you will probably know, I was planning to set off on my walk around the United Kingdom on Saturday 16th June. As there will be a funeral in West Sussex on Monday 18th June , I will respectfully be postponing the walk until the middle of this week. Wednesday 20th or Thursday 21st.

I will also be dedicating my walk to the memory of Richard Leslie Perry.

And I will also be  adding a cancer charity to the list of beneficiaries on my just giving page,with the consultation with his family.

Please bear with me on the updates, as I am dealing with this very poorly.  

Anger

Anger

Anger

I have been thinking about this topic for a while now, and studying my reactions to it and the hatred normally present behind the anger. Of course we can get angry without hatred of things, but it always seems to be there lurking.

But why do we get angry at all ?

What does it require to be angry, and why does it affect us so badly ?

Like me you may have noticed that anger doesn't seem to breed any good feeling at all. If anything it actually seems to lower our spirit of general well being, vexing us and causing untold angst in the future. It robs us of a calm heart and good feeling towards the object of our anger. Often that object is a person, whom we claim to love deeply, or an object we say that we cherish. Yet for a moment, or longer depending on what we resolve at that time, the pain caused from anger keeps us hyping up the real event, or the occasion that we deem responsible. And that anger may lead us to do something out of character or worse, beyond reasonable response.

The trouble with anger, it can so easily turn to rage, especially if we are used to not stopping the anger in its tracks quickly. Then it becomes almost impossible to determine what we will do or how we will refrain from over cooking the response. Rationality can go out of the window, along with the frying pan (don't ask..) and then all manner of new problems will then present themselves, which can be as annoying as the original concern. So you see anger leads to more problems than you started with and can often perpetuate the downward spiral of emotions until all manner of new problems are created. And all for what? Your Husband left the top off the toothpaste tube, or your girlfriend got up late for work and put her underwear on back to front or inside out. (You jealous and suspicious men know what I am talking about here)

In the greater good of humanity and goodwill it behoves us to think far more rationally before we explode. Before we are quick to judge, and or over reactional in a response. And definitely before we lose the respect of our loved ones, our nearest and dearest, or our friends.

But more than this is a need, not to put the body and heart through unnecessary anxiety and stress, which is leading to a very high rate of deaths or coronary illness. Life is hard enough sometimes without adding to our lot with degenerative illnesses as well. And who knows if cancer is not triggered by a higher susceptibility to anger, just as there have been studies showing a link to heart disease.

Lets look at what the anger is about, and then why it should be stopped. What good it does when it arrives and how we could avoid it popping up at will. (Or without our active conscious participation)

What the dictionary says about anger.

anger (ˈæŋɡə) 

Definitions

noun

1. a feeling of great annoyance or antagonism as the result of some real or supposed grievance; rage; wrath

verb

2. (tr) to make angry; enrage

Word Origin

C12: from Old Norse angr  grief; related to Old English enge,  Old High German engi  narrow, Latin angere to strangle

Synonyms

View thesaurus entry

= rage, passion, outrage, temper, fury, resentment, irritation, wrath, indignation, annoyance, agitation, ire, antagonism, displeasure, exasperation, irritability, spleen, pique, ill temper, vehemence, vexation, high dudgeon ill humour, choler, be on your back

= enrage, provoke, outrage, annoy, offend, excite, irritate, infuriate, hassle, aggravate, incense, fret, gall, madden, exasperate, nettle, vex, affront, displease, rile, pique, get on someone's nerves antagonize, get someone's back up, piss someone off put someone's back up, nark, make someone's blood boil get in someone's hair, get someone's dander up,

Quotations

• "Usually when people are sad, they don't do anything. They just cry over their condition. But when they get angry, they bring about a change" Malcolm X
• "Anger is a short madness" Horace
• "Anger and jealousy can no more bear to lose sight of their objects than love" George Eliot
• "Never let the sun go down on your anger"

Anger, it would seem obvious, is our response, actively chosen or responsively chosen to something we believe that we don't like. We possible ascertain that we would never like it in a month of Sundays too, so totally exclude it from our reason to be tolerant.

A few examples here.

1. It is snowing whilst Christmas shopping and we haven't got a coat, so we have to run to the car, but it is still a few streets away. We fall over and break a leg and spend the entire holidays in hospital.
2. Someone steals our car, and we need to get to work.

3. Our best friend gets diagnosed with cancer.
4. The food you ordered is late coming then cold when it arrives.

So how are we going to deal with these examples ?

In reality thinking about it, all these examples are easily explained. That is to say, that we could deal with all of them, in the cold light of day with a rational response. They all have or would cause us to feel angry, cheated, sad, annoyed or disillusioned to some degree. Anger in itself will change none of these situations one iota. It will not solve anything or bring a quick recovery of any of them. It does come up in us though when we are faced with or presented with such adverse realities, as if we have no choice but to respond in this way.

So why then if this is what we would understand in a calm moment, do we allow ourselves to get angry and spoil the calmness of our heart for a moments lapse of this tranquillity? Letting ourselves get angry feels like the right thing to do, and can feel like a good venting of our frustrations, but can in fact be a continuation of the resentment if we don't let anger go.

Many wise people count to ten, breathe deeply for a while when they feel anger rise in them, knowing that it will only lead to more uneasiness later on. Anger feels like a valve but it does in fact not do that, as it causes the body to tense and the mind to race into a series of abnormal responses. Better to stop the anger in the moment it begins.

All of our examples are going to be able to be dealt with anyway, whatever our initial response. Cancer cannot be a piece of good news of course, but reacting adversely will not cure it or remove the tumorous material. Our anger will not get our food into our stomachs faster or heat it enough. Breaking a leg because you were getting a bit wet with snow is not a good outcome, nor is becoming enraged because our car is missing and we are going to be late for work. Dealing with the problem requires no anger at all. And anyone will tell you that it is clear headedness that resolves problems and issues, not frustration and anxiety.

We can actually work at anger, by management courses if we are not strong enough or resourceful enough to deal with it by ourselves, or by refraining from seeing occurrences as a problem in the first place.

It rains, get a coat on. It is cold get a coat on. It is hot take your coat off... get the idea. If there is something that you don't like, then change it, move elsewhere, or close your eyes for a minute and find a space where nothing is happening.

Anger will never change the thing we are angry at. And if we are really honest we will possibly realise that the thing 'making us angry' is not responsible at all. But the way we look at things is.

Here is something profound so take it with patience.

No-one and nothing can make us angry.

Here is an example of what I mean.

It is dark an you don't have a torch. If you were blind, it would always be like this......

Preparation and/or honing other senses would help you survive.

Another example.

The plumber hasn't arrived and you need a shower.

If you lived in Africa or other huge parts of the world there is no plumbing, so you have to fetch water from dirty water holes miles away.

You don't know you are born, stop whining and have strip wash with a flannel outside because it is raining.....!!

I hope that you see the essence of what I am saying here. I am not criticising anyone for having luxury or means. I am saying that anger over the things you get angry about is futile and does not help you, others or the rest of the world. It will lead to either more problems or a shorter life...

Seek ways to find peace within yourselves and live as if there are no problems at all. When things happen, look for a way to alter or accept, then your life will be a joy and not a constant state of worry or resentments.

Christianity is a way of finding someone else to blame for what is/has happened to us. And it would seem with Islam too. Buddhism for example is a way of life that shows us how to accept and deal with life and enjoy it as a gift without trying to apportion blame for the bad to anyone.

I am not a Buddhist myself, I am only observing what is clearly evident, but in some way I am a practising human, who resembles a follower of those truths. As a peaceful warrior I make no claims to have found the solution to be permanently at peace, but I can realise that getting angry is of neither use nor ornament... and peace/patience is my chosen path towards experiencing a calmer heart, better digestion and a life of happiness.

Have you ever seen the Dalai Lama with a sad expression on his face ?

Well, find out why if this statement makes you curious.

I sincerely hope that this post has helped to show a western approach to the kinds of solutions that are common in other cultures from the east, including both idealisms with a hope to make them palatable to everyone who suffers from anger.

And don't forget to breath before you speak.......

Loads of love and peace to you all.

Peaceful Warrior.