lies vs the truth by Jack Crompton 11/07/06 "The human mind, once expanded, can never return to it's previous proportions." –Albert Einstein What is real? What is false? What is true? You decide. I must begin this essay with a mild disclaimer: If you hold fast to a particular religious dogma, you may have a reaction to what I wish to express here. So with that said, read at your own risk, and please accept this in the spirit of which it is written... I am not a know-it-all, nor do I purport to hold absolute anwers to the deep questions of life. But I do have my conclusions which feel right to me in this moment, and that is what I intend to express here. I also feel it is healthy to question thoughts and beliefs and why we either accept or reject them. Please know that I'm not out to change anyone's mind here. But only wish to express my own insights, based on my own experiences in life. Perhaps in doing so, another may also benefit from them. I've come to see over the last several years that our culture is permeated with falsehoods. These lies are all presented to us as the truth. They have been preached through religion, education, the cultural media, and virtually all facets of human life, since we were born. Because these falsehoods are so prevalent, to us it just seems to be 'the way things are'. Conditioned from infancy, our minds are thoroughly programmed with this stuff by the time we reach 2nd grade. What's more, I believe they are deliberate lies, crafted to keep us ignorant of our true potential, for the simple reason that a few benefit greatly with power and wealth through keeping the masses subjugated in ignorance. This game (duality) has been going on for as long as there has been intelligent life on the planet. In many ways, we are born into a prison... a consciousness prison... one that has been carefully constructed by bricks of fear and into which one has been carefully led without their being aware that they have been entrapped. I have empathy and compassion for those locked up, as I was once there, and I know and remember it well. So that the reader may appreciate where I'm coming from in this essay, I'd like to share a very brief overview of my own evolution in consciousness. Since as early as I can remember, I have always interested in and in search for that which is true. At the impressionable and rather innocent age of 18, I was introduced to the belief system of Christianity and I spent my subsequent younger years thoroughly immersed in the experiences of that religion. Grass roots fundamental Christian religion to be exact, although I was loathe to call it such. That is because I believed I had found 'the truth'. To me, religions were all dead, the my newfound faith in Christ was alive and something very vital and real. I felt what I believed was 'the real thing'. Indeed, for me at that particular time, it was. Although my perceptions of things have radically changed from then to now, I do not look at these experiences in a negative light at all. At that point in my spiritual awareness, it was my truth. Fully experiencing that viewpoint was essential to my learning and growing, and all of it was necessary for me to learn what I came here to learn and accomplish in regards to my primary intention of life, which is simply to evolve in my consciousness and spiritual growth. Somewhere along my path through this life, at least a decade after my years as a zealous evangelical, it occurred to me that this notion of 'truth' was an elusive thing, and seemed to change from church to church and group to group. Indeed, it changed from person to person. Jesus is often quoted as saying 'I am the way the truth and the life...", yet everyone's interpretation of him, his words and his life were different. Churches were fairly unanimous in espousing the party line of black and white thinking. Truth is absolute, they would say. But after spending several years observing people, monitoring my own gut feelings and trying to resolve the discrepancies, I finally had to accept that the whole concept of truth was subjective. After all, most everything I observed in religion was an ego show. Bottom line I was faced with was: As everyone's experience of truth was vastly different, the only thing relevant was 'what is true for me?'. That is my responsibility to find out and be congruent with. Of course, organized religion hates this thought. And that is because all religions exist, not for the purpose of setting men and women free, as was Christ's mission, but for erecting prisons for their consciousness... confines of the parameters that box them into a particular mold and boundaries of thinking. Throughout thousands of years, religion has been very successful in doing just that. I am not saying the world 'should' be any different. This is all as it should be, as this is a natural path of the evolution of consciousness. The thinking of people must be controlled if their bodies and their possessions are going to be controlled. As I learned much later in my adventures in life, this is what all religion is really about: the desire for the few to control the many, and keep them in line. And nothing keeps people 'in line' like fear. What I believe the progression is, is this: These control mechanisms of culture, religion, education, and entertainment are there as boundaries, harnessing a persons consciousness and keeping it under control until a spirit reaches a certain level of maturity. At this point, they begin to question authority and develop sufficient faith in their internal spiritual connection with Source to break those boundaries when they do not feel correct. This is the beginning of the emancipation and transformation of the caterpillar into the butterfly. But it takes a certain amount of courage and willingness to follow your own path, even in the face of judgment, scorn and total misunderstanding of those closest to you, even your own family. There are scores of people (the mass majority) who are content to be told what the truth is and embrace what they are told to be the parameters of their life. They live within these rules that someone else tells them they must obey and buy into a reality that is manufactured for them. In highly technological countries, like the USA, this disempowering cultural programming has become a highly sophisticated technology utilizing all aspects of the culture (religion, business, entertainment, education, government, banking, etc) and firmly maintained by electronic media, especially television and ELF waves emitting from the network of communication equipment that is almost everywhere on the planet now. But for the really genuine 'truth seeker', I believe a quiet awareness of 'something not quite right with this picture' begins to emerge beneath the layered years of heavy programming. A 'splinter in the mind' if you will, to use the Matrix analogy, which is an excellent one. This, I believe is a very healthy thing, and the beginning of one who is in the process of waking up out the hypnotic trance. So, I"m thinking about this whole polarity scenario: love, fear, truth, falsehood, absolute or perceptual for many years. I get bits and pieces over a ten year period. Eventually, dots connects in my mind and integrate in congruence with my spirit and one day I see things clearly. At least, for me, its clear. Suddenly, the illusion drops, and I can see. An entire fear-based paradigm gives way, and a new one of inner liberation emerges. In subsequent writings, I'll be exploring this new paradigm in depth, but before we go there, I think it helpful to understand what is 'really' happening in our culture and how we have been exploited and manipulated. Why? Because one cannot fully embrace the new without seeing the old in it's true light and letting it go. Like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, we need to pull the curtain back and see the scam, so we can operate in a reality that is based on truth, rather than a light show of smoke and mirrors. I do not wish to get into conspiracies 'theories' here, as many others have covered those aspects in volumes of other writings, and I certainly have nothing to add. Suffice it to say, I am convinced that many of those theories are not theories at all but factual connections to the events that have manipulated and shaped the course of human history. Of course, it continues today, in which the geopolitical control apparatus is at its all time most entrenched in all facets of human life. Once you are aware of the 'dots connecting', you can see through the spin of the smokescreens on the 'newspeak' and see exactly what is happening. But the irony is, once you do connect the dots, you no longer have the need to watch the puppet show. The purpose of this steady diet of fear-based lies and misinformation is control and disempowerment of the 'subject's' (ordinary people's) consciousness. For if one can harness human consciousness, one controls their thoughts, their beliefs, their lifestyle, their assets, their lives, their (illusion of) freedom and their destiny. Those few who pull the strings to this illusionary world, enjoy their power trip, for by meticulously constructing this matrix they have, to a large degree, successfully created a fear farm. Nothing is as effective at harnessing the unlimited potential of human consciousness and keeping it restricted to the status quo as fear. And for millennium, religion has been a prime vehicle in which the seeds of fear have been sown. Today, religion is joined by the powerful electronic media in accomplishing the same end goal: The enslavement of people, through control of their consciousness. Today's world is very much like the one depicted in the remarkable 1999 movie, The Matrix. The architects of the our matrix understand very well the nature of consciousness and how 'reality' is created. And for millennia, the human race has been manipulated into living in an illusionary world, having been drip fed a steady stream of lies from infancy to influence the manifestation of human life on this planet. Let's examine some of these base falsehoods we all have been programmed to believe by our culture: • You are a sinner and separated from God  • You are separate from other people • You are separate from the Earth and the cosmos • You are your body (what you look like) • You are what you have (stuff) • You are what others think of you (opinions) • Your eternal value & destiny is determined by what you beLIEve Lets take a closer look at each one of these lies: LIE #1) You are a sinner and separated from God. I think this is the biggest lie of them all, because it the root of just about every ill we have in the world: from hatred, to conflicts with our neighbors, to global war and suffering. It all stems from this perverse notion that we are separate.... from each other, and of course, the Almighty One. Just as destructive, it defines our self image as being fundamentally evil! This has been the main plank of dogma in the Christian church since it's inception, and it is absolute poison to the soul. I remember when I first got 'saved' when I was 18 years old, being handed a little tract called, 'The Four Spiritual Laws', published by an organization called 'Campus Crusade for Christ'. The first 'law' was this statement above that we are sinful and separated from God, our Source. The rest of the tract was a carefully crafted bait and hook scheme that exploited the very dark energies of guilt and fear and used them to get the recipient to buy into the belief system being sold. Presented in corporate efficiency as 1, 2, 3, 4, my guess is millions of people have been entrapped into the dark guilt and fear based thought forms of religion through this little booklet, or variations thereof. Even taken in light of the teachings of Jesus, this idea that we are separate from God runs contrary to the main thrust of what Christ taught. If we are separate from our Creator, why would he say things like "The Kingdom of God is inside you?" or many other empowering, positive, teachings? Isn't that a blatant contradiction? In the bible, there are many such blatant contradictions, but once the hooks of guilt are deeply embedded into a person's psyche, the fear factor keeps most from questioning facts rationally. Such are the debilitating effects of fear. Why is this? Well, one reason I believe this is the case is because there really is some spiritual truths in the bible... it's just mixed in with the dogma of men. And people are born as primarily spiritual beings. That's who we are, spiritual beings having a temporary physical experience. So most of us have a built-in nostalgia for eternity... a drive to return to that knowing of spiritual wholeness. So, this lie capitalizes on that innate drive and uses the techniques of fear and guilt to do it. But where does this lie come from? It comes from the Bible, of course. Ok. And under what context was the bible assembled? Well, it was assembled by The Council of Nicea under Constantine, who just got back from a campaign of murdering and raping in his narcissistic desire for control, and he was looking for a political means of further his empire and solidifying his control over several divergent groups of people and geographic areas. A new religion, made official by the state, was a brilliant political ploy to both unite an empire and keep them in line with dogma. Thus, the official religion of Christianity was born, but it was primarily a political move and in no way was even remotely like the concepts that Jesus spoke of during his life. Indeed, there were many books and texts of the account of Jesus's life (do some research on the Gnostics and the Essenes, - interesting stuff!) that were omitted and trashed, because they didn't fall into the control paradigm that Constantine wanted as his religion. He sure didn't want to empower the common people. He wanted to CONTROL them and keep them his subjects, and this is the bible that we got... one that does exactly that. You see, when you can get out from all that fear and guilt crap, and you begin to question facts and history and investigate, you start to see that religion is all about creating God in man's image. Now, don't misunderstand me. I do not mock 'God', nor do I discount a spiritual life. On the contrary, I consider nurturing a deep heart-connection with our Source the most sacred and most important thing we can do in life. It's all just a matter of perception. I"ve come to know that truth that God is NOT SEPARATE from any of us! Lets be clear: I make a distinction between true spirituality and the dogma of men's religion. They are vastly different. One liberates and looks much like the life of Jesus. The other one enslaves through the low, 'heavy' energies of fear and guilt. One is about being connected to Divine Source. The other is about being separated. One is alive with the simple joyful presence of the present moment. The other is about complex mind stuff, rules, regulations, dogma. It's dead. So, when you really get right down to it, this thing about 'original sin' is simply a concept, it's 'mind stuff', a story. But it's one that has really gotten it's hooks into the human psyche. Back to this first cultural false belief: that we are SEPARATED from God. Think about that statement. Is that really true? How can anything that is created be separate from the Creator? Especially when we know that everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, every atom, every micro atomic particle is connected to everything else in the universe by a higher intelligence that makes it all hold together? The notion that the universe is full of separate entities that have no connection to each other is simply ignorant in my view. The same consciousness that creates Universe's animates our bodies and minds. We are part of one ocean of being. And as for us being sinners. Well, who among us is not aware of being less than perfect? The fact is, we live in a world that is based in duality. There are aspects of both polarities in everything in existence, down to the micro world. So does the fact that we exist in a dualist framework separate us for eternity and require a horrific, bloody sacrificial death of God incarnate for our 'atonement'? Think about it. Is that a reasonable belief? What kind of a god is that? This is the dogma of the Jews who established the blood sacrifice rituals of the passover for atonement of 'sin'. Their 'god', Yahweh, was curiously full of very 'human' characteristics, wasn't he? And rather base, nasty ones at that: violence, vengeance, arrogance. anger, wrath, jealousy, judgment, homophobia, an obsessive, narcisistic demand to be worshipped, etc, etc, etc. – doesn't sound like anybody that I want to get to know! If that is the kind of character that's running the Universe, then dare I say it: "God help us!". An unbiased reading of the 'god' of the old testament depicts a classic psychopath! Well, each to his own, and I can understand that some people have been so bound by fear that they are unable to let themselves think rationally or challenge 'sacred cows' such as this. But as for me, now that I've had some distance from this kind of perverse dogma, it seems so ridiculous, it's almost laughable. I say 'almost', only because religion is still the primary reason why people are killing each other today. And that's not funny. It's both sad and insane. Am I proud, puffed up with arrogance and lifting myself up over others? Hardly. I'll be the first to admit I understand very little and I am but a child trying to see the light through the darkness. But I see no good thing about embracing a belief system that not only conflicts with common sense and the laws of cutting edge science, but also has such a terribly violent and exploitive historical legacy and has been the root cause of so much hatred, cruelty and suffering on the planet. . LIE #2) You are separated from other people; and LIE #3) You are separated from the earth and the cosmos. Two more very destructive lies here. They are similar, so we'll discuss them together. Like the first one, it is a result of a perceptual viewpoint that sees everything in terms of separation. And that's a lie. We are not separate at all, but intertwined and interconnected at the most fundamental level of life. Yet this backwards notion is responsible for wars and human misery unfathomable. It is all the byproduct of operating out of EGO, which is a fiction. For our ego is simply collection of ideas that we have about ourselves, that are most entirely conditioned into us from birth by family, schools, religion and society. None of it is real. It illusionary. This viewpoint is brutal because as we have been programmed to see other people as separate from ourselves, we therefore do not equate the fact that when we do harm to another, we actually do harm to ourselves. This understanding of karmic cause and effect is the beginning of real wisdom and a healthy society. The TRUTH is we are all interconnected. Not only people, but the earth, and all living things. We share the same energy and it is only ONE CONSCIOUSNESS that breathes through all of us. Someday, when the 'tipping point' of understanding this truth is reached, there can never be wars again. There can never be hunger and some who have so much and others who have nothing. And there can never be a poisoned earth, waters and sky. Who really wants to annihilate themselves? Who would want to exploit or disadvantage themselves. Who wants to poison a part of themselves? Yet, we are doing all these things right now. To ourselves, because we don't understand the true nature of who we are and that we are all interconnected. This is collective learning right now. I don't know how long it will take, or even if we will survive on this planet long enough to find out. But this is the global lesson for humanity. Human consciousness in presently in the state of passing from one paradigm to another.... from one that sees the world in terms of separation, to one that sees the world as ONE BEING. We will all act more responsible and kind to one another when this is understood by all. . LIE #4) You are your body (you are what you look like) Body identity. This is a lie that is firmly imbedded in all facets of our lives and is driven and fueled by our entertainment culture, which is obsessed with what things look like on the surface. Our value in present day culture is to a large degree determined by how attractive we look. (particularly for women) This is the lie that is constantly being pumped out into the entertainment world of TV, movies, music and advertising of consumer goods so there is is a lot of investment in it by the powers that be, which should clue us in to how its been used to distract us from the truth of who we really are. There's nothing wrong with desiring to look our best, feel attractive and make a good impression on others, but to the level this untruth affects most people, with its constant bombardment on the senses, it can easily become a debilitating obsession. It's mind programming BIG TIME, and a smokescreen, a distraction tactic from truly knowing ourselves. The truth is: We are not our bodies. We are eternal, magnificent beings co-creating with God through a wide variety of differnt bodies. Bodies are needed as vehicles for the soul's evolvement and collection of needed experiences in life to achieve a broadness and a wholeness of understanding, but it not who we are. . LIE #5) Your value is determined by what you have (your accumulation of money and things) This is one of the most thoroughly indoctrinated lies in our culture. Particularly in the USA. It is the gospel of consumerism. 'The one who dies with the most toys wins' mentality. We see it all around us. It is the drive that fuels our economy and builds and fills our shopping malls. It's what makes everyone want to go to college, and conform to predetermined 'careers' to make a little bit more than their neighbor so they can buy more stuff and drive around in more expensive automobiles and buy houses and enjoy luxuries, etc, etc, etc. If that is where your TREASURE lies, then it's an extremely vulnerable place to live in. Because the things can disappear in an instant. The toys can vanish much more quickly than they appeared, and if our sense of self worth is tied up into that, then if we loose our 'stuff' we are devastated with the loss because it's equal to loosing ourselves. So what happens next is one becomes fearful of the potential loss of his toys and obsesses about keeping them, insuring them, and installing expensive sercurity systems to protect them. I have personally lived through my own version of this lesson. I once was in a position when I was still fairly young when I had all kinds of 'stuff'. Yet, it didn't satisfy my soul. I had realized I had a case of misplaced identity, and it took me several years to find my real self and balance out and be at peace with myself. I am by no means an advocate of poverty being a virtue. No way. Money is a neutral energy field. We can allow it to flow and use it to our benefit and to finance the experiences we desire in life. But we need to be aware that letting it define our value and identity is a recipe for great unhappiness. The pursuit of things as a means of ego grandisement is a pure dead end street. Probably the worse thing about buying into this lie is how much real life it steals from you. The drive to make money and buy more things actually becomes your life, and you stop really 'living', in the sense of being fully aware of the wonders of life that do not have price tags attached to them. No, our value is not determined by our possessions. There is a sage old saying that says, 'The more possessions you have, the more those things possess you." So, is the answer then to become a street person and own nothing? Maybe, but I don't think that would be a practical goal for many. But for some who need that experience for a purpose, perhaps. One of today's greatest spiritual teachers, Echart Tolle once roamed the streets of the city for two years without an identity, money or a home. This is how he extricated himself from the consiousness prison and got free. That was an essential part of his learning path unique to him, to give him understanding of where true joy comes from and prepared him to be the powerful teacher his is today. As always, balance is the key to living healthy, and we get to choose what kind of life we desire to live and what we want to get out of it. There is no judgment on what we choose. Some routes just get us where we want to go quicker than other routes. . LIE #6) Your value is determined by what others think of you. We are dealing totally with the ego here again. The ego is terribly concerned with how it is perceived by others. It's entire sense of self rises or falls on the attention and respect others give it. or lack thereof. This falsehood is usually rooted in the home and is imprinted very early in life. But like most of these other indoctrinated lies, it is a phantom, just a collection of ideas that don't have any real substance. If we buy into this lie, then we are doomed for a life of unhappiness, because there is always someone that just doesn't like you. And if you fall out of favor with others and your sense of self value is based on what others think of you, then you're not going to like yourself very much! And it's not rocket science to understand that if an individual doesn't like himself, then they aren't going to experience a very happy or fufilling life, nor will they have much to contribute to the well being of others. The truth is the opposite, of course. You have great value in just existing! You don't have to do anything to earn your value... it's inherent in your being here, just being yourself. You have a purpose here that only you can fufill. You do not have to earn your right to be here and to step into that destiny, your value is given to you by life itself, to be exactly who you are. It is not dependent on anything or anyone else. . LIE #7) Your eternal value & destiny is determined by what you beLIEve. This is the mechanics of religion defined. According to this lie, if you believe the 'correct' things, in terms of that religion's dogma, and conform to their 'status quo', then you have value and are deemed worthy of salvation. (if you do A, B, and C then you get D). It really doesn't matter what the particular religion's belief system is: whether it be Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, or Mohammad, or Bozo the Clown.You see, its the technique of mind control that we are examining here. The employment of fear to get you 'in the fold', conform to the belief system and become one of the 'herd'. According to this lie, if you don't believe the correct dogma, then your are damned to eternal punishment. You are judged, if not overtly, then certainly subtlely with subconscious negative judgmental attitudes by those 'in the fold'. Then you are usually 'snubbed' and treated as an outsider. What's truly ironic is that is so contrary the teachings of Jesus. Ok, so what's the truth here? The truth is in understanding the nature of consciousness itself. You see, the consciousness that gives us life, breath and the very ability to think is the same force that creates Universes. And one dependable characteristic of consciousness is that whatever it believes becomes real. That really is the truth. What we deeply believe, down at a very subconscious level, becomes truth for us. That is why 'dark entities' have used religion and cultural conformity with such tenacity... because the human mind is at stake. The dark ones know very well how reality is created. By controlling our beliefs and thoughts to be channeled into the confines of religion, consumerism and body identity, they succeed in restricting our own power and keeping us consciously disconnected from the knowledge and expression of our true selves. Buy maintaining the 'fear farm' they also maintain their own power structure, which is their particular agenda (and part to play in the overall drama of polarity). Consciousness, functioning THROUGH OUR BELIEFS, creates. It creates in accordance with the filters that the belief system has. That's why Christians believe so fervently in their savour, and that is true for them! And why Moslems with fight to the death for Allah. For them, that is their truth. But the conclusion of studying all this is inescapable: Reality conforms to our beliefs and attitudes about it. Consciousness creates. Thought molds that creation into whatever is it's likeness. . CONCLUSION So here we have explored some of the primary lies that we've all been subjected to and continue to be bombarded with. At this point, I suppose one can do one of two things in a scenario like this: 1) Simply go with the status quo, don't rock the boat, fit in with everyone else, follow the crowd, try to enjoy 'the good life' if you can, and not think about what you believe or why you believe it, and don't ask too many questions, especially regarding what this whole game is about. That's the easier path. But, there's not a whole lot of soul growth or spiritual evolution to be gained by that route. Yet, for some, that may be exactly the reason they are here and that may well be exactly the kind of experiences their higher selves are out to gain in this incarnation. All is perfect. The other option, and the one I have chosen to fully embrace, is to: 2) Live life deliberately, and to consciously take part in the creation process. This requires a disconnect from the 'status quo', questioning any authority that purports to impose a belief system on me, and releasing all remnants of any religious dogma or assimulated belief systems that I have not thoroughly examined and chosen to embrace. This can take some time to unravel, but once it's done you start to really experience freedom... inner freedom and it feels absolutely liberating. This also does not mean one drops out of the daily responsibilities of life. A certain engagement with the mundane is necessary to live in the world. Nor does it advocate the tearing down of the existing external power structures, although there are some individuals whose life purpose may call for specific actions out in the world. But for the spiritual traveller, it is important to understand that all is perfect as it is. Even when it looks like hell. Even when there is suffering and exploitation happening in every corner of the world and in every avenue of human endeavor. All that is simply the 'polarity' stage upon which are lives are set. There is also great BEAUTY, LOVE and JOY in the world. Our work is primarily inside of ourselves. For everything 'out there' is a by-product of what's inside of each of us. So, it becomes a matter of questioning the things we've always believed before without question. It's about choosing our beliefs deliberately, because they serve us and our fellow man and they feel good to us, rather than just blindly following a prepared script handed to us by someone else. It's about readjusting priorities and focus. And it's about developing the awareness to really create our lives the way we desire them to be. We have the opportunity to live a life consciously, on purpose. From what I have learned through my own life experiences, this is the only game in town worth playing: the evolution of the soul. And its way more fun than anything on TV. I feel that for one to make much progress along this path it requires unplugging as much as possible from the main sources of mind manipulation and programming, such as the corporate controlled news media and television. These are all heavily censored and biased towards maintaining the status quo. (I unplugged from network television 12 years ago). It's amazing how much time one reclaims when they don't sit in front of the tube every night undergoing the ritual mind control sessions. All this is time that can be used to strengthen your inner self and awareness by first shutting off the noise and chatter of the 'world' and tuning into your own internal guidance. You won't be able to hear true guidance with the TV on. It requires a fair amount of silence. When you are moved to learn something or enjoy something out in the world, you can choose your input material (books, articles, audios, or videos) rather than passively receive what the heirarchy of the mainstream media would feed you. By doing this, you take a more interactive approach to how you assimulate information. The internet has accelerated this learning process, simply by being a database where one can have access to the free exchange of uncensored ideas, both expressing and receiving. This has allowed individuals to self direct information, which I think is a very good and healthy thing. Each day, I set my intentions firmly grounded in the steam of well-being, gravitate to those people and situations that feel good (which is language of my internal guidance system), and occasionally check-in with myself (a kind of self monitoring) as to exactly what kind of energy I am projecting, as I try to guide my reality into one that I would prefer to experience. I remind myself of things to appreciate, for I know that is a very powerful key to creating good things in my life. I also try to develop the habit of focusing my thoughts and attention on the things that I wish to have more of in my life. I call this 'self determined living', or conscious creating. To live according to option one is to remain in the programming and live life by default. Don't be fooled. If you are still plugged into the progamming, you are not living your own life. You are running the program. The programming of television and the mainstream media is very powerful in terms of making you part of the 'herd'. It happens on very subtle, subconscious levels, but its a very advanced technology and very effective. (That is, until you are AWARE of what it is and what's it doing.) The herd still evolves, of course. But it's a much slower pace and a group experience. Let me underscore that I also respect that everyone has their own timetable and agendas for learning different things in the incarnation they currently hold. There is no right or wrong way for any one of us. We are all guided to the experiences we need and what we are ready for. Each has their own unique path and it is never the prerogative of one to decide what another's path should or should not be. It's not a competition either, as we all get to the same destination anyway, eventually. The value in life is in the unique experiences that we collect along the way. THAT'S what I believe we are here for. So, why did I write this? I suppose, for the simple expression of my own thoughts... to define my own perception. But also, I delight in sharing awareness. Perhaps there is one person who is reading this, that now has that 'splinter in their mind'. Maybe my words may act as a conduit to allow light to shine in areas long permeated by the darkness of the deep sleep. Then again, maybe not.