So Many People Want to See Change in the World, But so Few Are Willing to Change Themselves

Work. Buy. Consume. Die.
This is the mantra which guides the average American's life, but as the character playing William Wallace in Braveheart so aptly stated, "Everyone dies. Not everyone really lives." And this my friends - this 'American dream', this life most of us live often coined the rat race, this American lifestyle - this ain't livin'.

You see, something is terribly wrong in this country today; but you probably know that already, as most of us can feel it deep down, and see the symptoms of it all around us everywhere we go - a society filled with hatred, greed, fear, and life unfulfilled - and what people need is a real solution because what we've been trying, well I don't know if you've noticed or not, but is sure hasn't been working. Most of us are like Neo in The Matrix at the beginning of the movie, knowing deep down that the life we are living is an illusion, but not able to put our finger on the problem itself - because the problem is being trapped in the matrix, but we're blinded by the matrix and can't see it for what it is and really don't even know it exists; as most of us are still too busy living our lives in the matrix to be able to see that it is the matrix itself that holds us in bondage rather than all the visible signs of the chains which bind us. We can't recognize the matrix for the illusion it is because most of us still think the matrix is reality.

And just like Neo, most of us are waiting for a savior to come along and show us the way out. But what if the reality of it is that just like Neo in The Matrix, each one of us actually has the potential to be the savior we've been waiting for all this time, and all we need is someone or something to wake us up to who we really are, to make us realize our true human potential, and to help us re-kindle that inner spark that has the potential to light the whole world on fire? If it was you who were the solution to all the problems you see and feel, would you really want to know? Or would you rather take the easy road and continue blaming the world - the 'wrong' religions, the 'wrong' political party, the 'evil' nations and groups and people - for all the pain and suffering within and around you, rather than admitting that you are in fact a part of the very problems you so despise in the world?

If you were in reality one of the angels you wish would come down from the heavens to save us from this fallen world, would you be willing to put in the hard work to transform yourself into such a mighty angel of light, or would you still prefer to trust that someone or something else (whether divine or another person or man-made institution) will figure it out eventually and make everything better? What if it is you who are the solution to everything that is wrong with this world, but the only way to become that solution is to first recognize it is only because you are part of the problem that you can also become the solution?

Would you want to know? Would you be willing look yourself in the mirror and face the parts of yourself which you will not like and which will surely make you cringe, and admit you are a part of the problem; in order that you could then get up and change yourself for the better, heal yourself, and walk the narrow path that leads to escaping the matrix? Or would you rather go back to sleepwalking your way through life just like most everyone else around you? You see, from my perspective the underlying problem with humanity is that so many people want to see more change in the world, but so few are willing to change themselves...

Red pill or blue pill; the choice is yours, and mine, and that of everyone else who walks this planet: Find out just how deep the rabbit hole goes or go back to sleep, back to our life in the illusionary matrix. Every minute of every day we all have a choice, and our answer to this question, along with the choices we are making in the present moment are constantly creating our reality, as well as determining the future and whether it will be the better world we all wish to see, or just the same old broken world we have now become so accustomed to experiencing. Familiar slavery, or radical change towards freedom and by extension also a leap of faith into the unknown - this is our choice, and which path we choose just may determine the fate of this planet and humanity.

Most people, and I would argue all people at their core, want the same basic things: peace, happiness, love and freedom. Most everyone says they want peace on earth and to end suffering in the world; and yet despite this universal desire for a better world, humanity throughout history to this very present moment is perpetually plagued with endless war, oppression, violence, and most every type of suffering imaginable. Deep down, most people know that this world is very broken and needs fixing; it is sick and needs healing; and though most people probably can't point out the root cause(s), we all know deep down within ourselves that something is terribly wrong in our world and in desperate need of being fixed.

Whether we see world hunger, perpetual war, rampant drug addictions, crime and street violence, chronic illness, high rates of depression and suicide, obesity and many other unhealthy lifestyles on the rise, high percentages of the population on multiple prescriptions by the time they retire, a nation of debt slaves, unsolved widespread poverty, increasingly unaffordable price of food and housing, increased toxins all around us and in everything we consume, rampant materialism, in-your-face deception in the so-called news, hypocrisy and greed openly paraded before us in politics and the corporate world which is often even praised and pushed as 'normal', or the corporate poisoning of our precious earth and its resources; we can all recognize at least a few of the signs that there is something terribly wrong in this country and with western society, and we all know - as the Johnny cash lyrics go - that "things need changing everywhere you go." (Man in Black)

So the question remains: if we all want a better world, and many of us are actively working towards that goal, then why do we never seem to be able to make progress creating one, but instead things seem to only get worse, or at the best stay the same - maybe trading one problem for another, but never making serious progress towards the more perfect world we all dream of, where peace and love and happiness are the norm rather than the exception?

From all that I have seen and learned in my life and through my journey as a truth seeker and peace activist, I have come to one conclusion to this age-old question haunting humanity. And the answer is that which I will call 'The Big Lie' - that of all the lies and deceptions which plagues humanity, probably the biggest, most pervasive and dangerous lie is that the answer to our problems lies outside of us rather than within. That the answer to all of our problems, the solution to human suffering, the key to finding peace and healing, and the way to solve all of the age-old human dilemmas such as crime, depression, unhappiness, war, disease, etc. is to be found in the physical institutions and organizations outside and around us rather than the invisible yet very real power which can be found and realized within each and every one of us.

Some look to religion for the solution, others to government and politics, some to science, others to industrial inventions, and still others to educational institutions; but at the end of the day it matters not which institution or organization one looks to, because the person is still looking for the solution to the world's problems outside of himself instead of from within - looking to others for the change he wishes to see in the world instead of looking to himself.

Some think modern medicine and scientific medical advancements are the solution to disease, and yet despite the most advanced medical achievements currently taking place in the west, I'm pretty sure more people are now chronically sick in America per capita than ever before in the history of the world.

Some people look to space exploration as the solution to this broken world, and think the only solution to this world's problems will come when we finally colonize the moon, or another planet such as Mars I suppose. To this notion I would simply argue that since most human problems on this earth are caused by fellow humans, then it is absolutely absurd to think that when these same humans colonize the moon or another planet, that these problems will somehow magically disappear. This is but wishful thinking which distracts the mind from focusing on actual viable solutions.

Probably the majority of people look mainly to organized religion and/or to government and politics for solutions, but with a little research and an open mind one will quickly realize that government, politics and religion have throughout history actually been the major causes of a majority of the chronic problems which still plague humanity to this day; such as war, injustice and oppression. Nonetheless the masses are still hooked on religion, addicted to politics and pledge their blind allegiance to the State - worshipping corrupt man-made institutions instead of the truly pure and all-powerful God-essence found within themselves - for those who take the time to seek it out and come to know themselves.

Both organized religion in the west and every government which has, does or will ever exist operates on the same basic premise: That man without the organization is incapable of solving his own problems and therefore the institution is the solution. The premise is terribly flawed, because every institution in the world is made up of humans; therefore if humans are incapable of solving their problems on their own and of their own volition, then neither can any institution solve our problems by coercion and force, which is the manner in which all governments operate, and most religious institutions throughout history and still few to this day.

Both religion and government operate on the basis of instilling fear into their followers in order to maintain control, and both operate on the basis of needing to control the people 'for their own good'. Both necessarily diverts the people they control away from looking within themselves for the answers, as they both claim that they as a physical institution are the only real solution to humanity's many problems.

While institutionalized western Christianity operates off the premise that the people should fear an angry and wrathful god who will punish them if they don't do exactly what the institution demands (that is, obey their human masters who claim to speak on behalf of "God" and reveal the path to 'salvation'), government operates off the premise that the people must fear the punishment its institutions will deal out if they do not obey the established political laws; and at the same time constantly teaches the people to fear a common 'enemy' - the boogeyman - which the government will of course 'save' them from, in much the same way religion teaches that the church will 'save' man from the wrath of some invisible deity in the sky if they just have the 'correct' beliefs and practices.

Where the State uses the threat of immediate physical punishment through its existence as a monopoly of force to control the masses, the church nowadays uses the threat of eternal torture in the afterlife by an omnipotent being called God (who therefore has a monopoly on power) to achieve such control over the minds of the people. The obvious parallels are impossible not to see.

But due to such an unfulfilling lifestyle and obviously corrupt society, many people continue to go to church on Sunday looking for spiritual fulfilment, where others turn to sex or drugs. It doesn't seem to make much of a difference in our society, however, whether a person spends their Sunday at church, fishing, or watching TV; the end result is that most people will still turn around and train for war on Monday, or return to their 'normal' 40 to 60 to 80 hour a week job where some 25% of their earnings are paid as tribute to the government to fund the war machine, this is done of course just to be able pay the bills - most of which are probably debts also incurring interest - car payments, mortgage payments, credit card debt, school loan payments and the like, not to mention all those other material objects most Americans spend their lives seeking after.

Religious or not, the average American may talk about peace on earth and compassion for the innocent, but then most turn around and eat meat for dinner - supporting the horrific Big Food meat and dairy industry, where livestock are first raised in the most cruel and inhuman conditions imaginable, then led to the slaughter by the million - an industry which is slaughtering just over 1 million innocent animals every hour in the U.S. alone; with that being a total of 17,000 chickens, cows and calves, sheep and lambs, turkeys, ducks and pigs slaughtered every single minute of every single day just to satiate the average American consumer's lust for flesh. (9.59 billion land animals/year.)

That is just what the meat and poultry industry in the US processed in 2018, and does not include wild game killed by hunters, both wild-caught and farm-raised fish, geese, buffalo, rabbits, imported meats and also animals killed for fur. Additionally, the US killed some 20 million fish per year in 2009, while a total of 51 billion sea animals were killed for consumption by Americans in the same year! At the same time over 40 million animals are killed annually worldwide for fur.

All this would be very different if we just followed the simple code known as the Golden Rule - "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." - for we don't tolerate animals attacking and killing us, and neither would we wish to be raised for the slaughter by a 'higher' species such as aliens, gods or even machines as depicted in The Matrix if they were to suddenly appear on our planet; so why then do we as the perceived higher species above animals use our power to raise them for the slaughter by the millions? These animals have never done anything to harm us, and this is how we repay them for their innocence; it is absurd, and to me it is just plain wrong.

People get all worked up over findings of horse meat in BK burgers, but have no problem eating beef, let alone the poison that is fast-food BK burgers to begin with. Some people would be angered to the point of being tempted to initiate violence against anyone who would kill their dog or cat, but they themselves indirectly kill dozens of fish and/or chickens every single year, probably a Turkey or two at Thanksgiving and maybe Christmas, and they contribute to the death of cattle, pigs, possibly wild game, and worse yet maybe even baby animals such as lambs and calves!

For those of us who wish to help alleviate suffering in the world and who truly want peace - both inner peace and peace in the world around us - I would argue that one of the simplest things anyone can do towards this end is to stop contributing to the senseless slaughter of innocent animals: Stop eating meat and become a vegetarian. Humans do not need to consume animal flesh to survive or be healthy, this choice costs nothing, and in fact it may even end up saving a person money along with increasing their bodily and spiritual health! I do believe that peace truly does begin at our tables, with conscious eating; by eating in a manner which doesn't contribute to the widespread suffering caused by the greed-driven industrial food industry.

And who knows, maybe both the great Greek mystic philosopher Pythagoras 2,500 years ago and the great Russian novelist of the 19th century Leo Tolstoy were right, and by ceasing to kill animals for our sensual pleasures and cravings, we are even contributing towards the peace of mankind: "For as long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other." (Pythagoras); "As long as there are slaughterhouses, there will always be battlefields." (Tolstoy).

Ask the average meat-eating American why they needlessly contribute to suffering in the world by killing innocent animals for food and you might get somewhat of a confused look and an answer something like this: "What do you mean, humans need meat for protein to survive." There is certainly the myth circulating in some circles of society that without consumption of animal protein, people will get sick and possibly even die, but this is just a myth, a lie. The average Christian I've met answers thus: "Because God gave us animals to eat." Funny, because in the very first book of their very own Bible, it is written explicitly that God gave both man and animals all the plant life for food, but to this they will simply answer that God changed the rules in the time of Noah (despite the Bible also clearly stating on more than one occasion that God does NOT change - interesting ). I would respond that Jesus in the gospel of Matthew taught that we are to live life the way the Father set things up in the beginning, along with other scripture citations and moral arguments, but it seems even most religious folk are too set in their ways to see the world in any other way than the way they've been taught by their religious leaders to see it, and how they'v been programmed to believe.

In the end it all boils down to programming and ignorance: what society has programmed people to believe and how we have all been programmed to act since childhood; and most people simply prefer their habits and indulging their cravings more than they care about alleviating suffering in the world, while some are entirely ignorant having never even thought about how eating meat actually causes an innocent life to suffer. That is the sad truth for both religious and non-religious meat-eaters alike, as I learned along my own path to vegetarianism; for I, too, like many others was raised both in a Christian home and as a meat-eater. I never thought in a million years that I would become a vegetarian, but here I am, one of many living testimonies walking the earth today, a testament to the fact that people really can change, and radically so at that.

When it comes to the American epidemic of mass debt slavery, just ask the average American why he or she is in a state of perpetual debt, and you get pretty much the same answer whether you ask an atheist or a Christian: "Because that's the only way to make it in the world." "I couldn't get a good job without going to college, and I couldn't go to college without taking out a school loan." "Well I'm paying rent anyway; I may as well be spending a monthly housing payment on a mortgage so I can own a home rather than renting for the rest of my life." "Well I needed that thing," or "I had an emergency," so "I had to run up that credit card debt".

Funny thing is, I didn't go to college, I've never taken out any sort of bank loan, had any sizeable debt or ever used a credit card in my life, and I'm still alive and kicking :) So there goes the baseless claim that racking up a lifetime worth of debt is necessary to make it in this world...

The one loan I was given was for equipment for work, it was personal and interest-free, it was offered to me rather than me seeking it out, and it was paid off through labor rather than cash, and in a matter of under two years. Even that sinking feeling of owing someone else money was enough to make me promise myself: "never again unless I absolutely must" - as even that one relatively small debt really was unnecessary, and the only reason I even accepted the offer is because the loan was interest-free. (I also happen to believe lending money at interest is one of the greatest evils perpetrated against humanity, and banks are the largest culprits of this 'crime', but that's a topic for another post). From a young age I dedicated myself to a debt-free life, despite everyone around me telling me I just had to go to college, that I just needed to take out loans to get good credit, and to this day most people around me still look at this lifestyle choice of mine like it makes me some crazy lunatic: "Well how are you ever going to buy a house if you refuse to take out a mortgage?" I don't know, maybe I won't; but as for me, I choose to live free!

As for the debt-enslaved masses, regardless of ones religious affiliations or lack thereof, all the constant overworking just to pay off a lifetime worth of debt (which has now become the norm in this society) breeds stress and unhappiness; and stress breeds illness, depression and more unhappiness; which in turn leads to unhealthy habits and drug addictions and what not, drinking problems, reliance on expensive pharmaceuticals to dull the inner pain, more drugs to treat the side effects of the first drugs, and so the cycle is born, continues and intensifies.

Modern medicine is in the business of treating the symptoms of our problems such as depression, rather than treating the root causes, and so patients are given antidepressants rather than the doctors pinpointing the cause of the depression; and there are many such causes in society today, hence the high number of people on pharmaceutical antidepressants and the high rates of suicide.

Most Americans also distract themselves from this unfulfilling western lifestyle by overindulging in entertainment and so become TV and movie addicts, sports fanatics and the like - spending excessive amounts of time and money on various forms of entertainment, always plugged into their TVs and Smartphones. In fact, a 2014 report found that the average American watches over 5 hours of TV a day, and spends an additional 4 hours on other electronic devices and entertainment including the internet, Smart Phone use, and the radio. That's almost 10 hours per day plugged into electronic entertainment and unplugged from the real world around them!

This is of course for most of us on top of full-time jobs which occupy 6-10 hours per day for 4-7 days a week, depending on how much of a workaholic the person is and/or what job they manage to fine or choose to do. Shockingly, by the time most Americans reach the age of 65, their TV watch time has increased to seven hours a day, practically the same amount of time each day they would have been spending working a full time job before they retired! Just like with alcoholism, the longer one is addicted to TV, the more they need to watch to satisfy the addiction.

Many if not most of these same people also obsessively chase after material items in their quest for happiness - buying into the consumerist mentality shoved down our throats since the time we could talk and understand language - thinking that a new car or fancy clothes will somehow make them happy; but in the end it never does, so they always need a newer car or trendier clothes or a nicer toy or possibly the newest one to fulfil their desire, but this desire is never satisfied by these material items and so "the quest to chase possessions is like chasing depression." (K-Rino, The Fallen King)

It is an insatiable addiction, and the average American is hooked on rampant consumerism just like a crack or meth addict is hooked on the pipe, an alcoholic is hooked on the bottle, or a heroin addict is hooked on the needle.

It isn't really the individual's fault at first though, for society indoctrinates us into the mindset of materialistic consumerism from an extremely young age, teaching us the lie that such a lifestyle will satisfy us and bring us lasting peace and happiness. Advertisements and commercials are designed to make us all discontent with what we already have, in order to convince us to buy their product, and companies continually make new products and so must continually make us feel as if we need to indulge in the newest fad, or buy the newest toy or latest updated version of a product in order to be happy, or even just to fit in to and be accepted by society.

The advertisements which are a poison for our souls constantly bombard us and are practically unavoidable - programming this ideology of materialism into our hearts and minds everywhere we turn: On the radio (which the average American listens to for nearly 3 hours a day), on billboards on the side of the roads upon which we travel, on the search engines and most websites on the internet, on YouTube videos and other social media platforms and SmartPhone apps, on entertainment services such as Hulu and the like, and especially on all that TV programing (which as we've seen most are plugged into 5-7 hours a day).

And of course there are TVs everywhere: an average of 2-3 in your typical house, all over the bars and casinos, even in the bathrooms in many establishments, at the gas pump as you fill up your gas tank, at the restaurant where you go out to eat, and nowadays there are even TVs in some cars. In fact there is scarcely a place one can go within society these days here in America without running into a Television (Tell-Lie-Vision: Telling lies to your vision) which is constantly programming your mind; telling you what to think, how to think, what to believe, how to feel, what to buy, and what you 'need' to be normal, happy and content.

Not only can these be some seriously damaging mental addictions, but when you factor in the sheer amount of money spent on mindless entertainment - Cable TV subscriptions, Netflix/Hulu/Amazon Prime/etc. subscriptions, dvd rentals, sports game tickets and more; then add in the cost of all the unnecessary material goods - overpriced new toys all destined for the landfill as soon as the next 'better' toy comes out, overpriced designer clothing, and so on and so forth; the average American no doubt spends more than enough money on unnecessary goods and entertainment (which don't even bring lasting happiness or fulfilment) to feed dozens if not hundreds of starving children in impoverished third world countries.

After all, just the money spent on on a single cup of overpriced takeout coffee a day is enough to feed a starving child in Africa, or send them to school; in fact as little as the cost of one cup of coffee a week can get an African child out of child-labor; and when you add up all the money spent on takeout coffee from the coffee-shops in the west every year, it seems it would be enough to both feed and educate all the impoverished children in all of Africa. Not to mention the positive, purely environmental impact the ceasing of throwing away millions of plastic takeaway coffee cups each year would have!

And if that's just what diverting excess money from a small and seemingly harmless common indulgence such as going out for a daily or weekly takeout coffee can do to alleviate human suffering, then what could going out to eat one less time each week or month do if the money was instead donated towards alleviating suffering in the world? What would diverting even a small portion of all the money wasted on drug addictions, pharmaceutical prescriptions, senseless repeat material purchases, and mindless entertainment to charity do to change the world?

Surely just the amount of money spent on alcohol purchases alone, where I live in the sparsely populated state of Montana (which definitely does have a bit of a drinking problem), could feed all the starving people in Yemen, reversing the US Coalition induced genocide currently taking place. I'm sure the same could be said for Alaska. I'm certain of this even without doing the math, because I've seen how many hundreds of dollars can be spent on alcohol in one single gas station, in one single town, in a matter of minutes on just one single Friday or Saturday evening! The amount of money squandered in bars each and every weekend is far greater, and absolutely absurd.

Then factor in all the money spent on gambling, sports betting, lottery tickets, and prostitution which could be spent to end human suffering rather than dull the pain caused by the suffering or distract us from our deep inner unhappiness; and now you're surely sitting on more than enough money to feed the whole world, to rebuild all the tattered infrastructure which our wars have desolated, to fund orphanages and homeless shelters, to build schools and libraries, to plant forests and gardens, to irrigate drought-stricken areas, to help get impoverished people out of the ghettos they are trapped in, and so much more!

But Americans don't think in such terms, and would apparently rather have their overpriced Latte while ignoring innocent children going hungry around the world; whether in Yemen, Gaza, Iran, Syria, Venezuela or any number of countries in Africa; while these people are often going hungry due to our own government's insane foreign policies of imperialism and starvation by sanction. And most people would rather turn a blind eye, because looking at reality would force them to look at their own contribution to this suffering.

Most Americans are living in a state of unconsciousness as the walking dead, and most of us do not know what we are doing. We don't realize that by overindulging in entertainment and pleasures, that we are actually depriving ourselves from doing that which our religious organizations and politicians promise to do to change the world, but never actually achieve. We think that as members of this or that political party, or this or that religious organization, or by casting this or that vote, that we are somehow contributing to the positive change we truly do want in the world, oblivious to the fact that we are not doing what we could actually be doing right now in this very moment to directly change the world with our very own hands.

I don't think most of us realize the immense power which the very smallest things we do, the tiniest acts we engage in, and the smallest personal changes in our thoughts, emotions and our way of life are capable of. Most of us are too busy numbing the pain caused by living this unfulfilling super busy western lifestyle of debt slavery and materialistic consumerism, too busy distracting ourselves from all the stress and fear and our inner lack of peace that we just don't realize all the money saved by unplugging ourselves from this matrix of entertainment, drugs and materialistic consumerism would actually allow us to work less, relax more and so rid ourselves of the stress and pain causing us to run to all these quick-fixes in the first place!

The solution to our problems can be so very simple, but to start becoming the solution to our problems we have to first admit that we are a part of the problem which needs fixing. We have to admit that we are in fact causing the pain from which we run to entertainment to hide from, or from which we run to drugs or alcohol to mask, in order to get to the root of the problem. We must do this if we are to stop the vicious cycle of constantly treating the symptoms while hiding from the cause. We alone can make the changes to live a more stress-free life. We alone can choose and learn to live a life without fear, guilt, shame and all other negative, destructive and disempowering thought patterns and emotions. We alone have the power to stop supporting that which causes the problems in the world which we abhor, and we alone have the power to start making the changes we wish to see - whether it is ending disease, war, poverty, injustice, oppression or any other cause or form of human suffering which pains us to look at or experience; and which we surely do not wish to be actively supporting in any way, shape or form.

For example, while every person I know claims they want peace on earth, whether religious or not, practically every single one of them still spends about 3 months of the year working solely for a government which habitually starves innocent people via economic sanctions, people residing half way around the world who've never threatened to harm a soul. That's right, the average American voluntarily contributes approximately 13 full work weeks each and every year to pay their government via taxes to fund wars that do not serve them, to starve people they've never met, and to topple foreign governments they know nothing about, in countries many of them can't even find on a map.

Yes, Americans have a clear choice and choose to voluntarily pay a tax they do not even owe, a tax of which not even "one nickel is spent on the services which taxpayers expect from their government", and in fact the IRS commissioners all state unequivocally that the income tax is indeed based entirely on "voluntary compliance" rather than by compulsion or force!

"The IRS's primary task is to collect taxes under a voluntary compliance system." - Jerome Kurtz, IRS Commissioner.
"Our tax system is based on individual self-assessment and voluntary compliance." - Morimer Caplin, IRS Commissioner.
"Each year American taxpayers voluntarily file their tax returns..." - Johnny Walters, IRS Commissioner.
(Cracking the Code - The Fascinating Truth About Taxation in America by Peter Eric Hendrickson, pg. 107)

Little do the ignorant masses know, but it isn't just that they have the free choice not to pay for war out of moral conviction, they also have the legal right not to do so according to the tax code itself, and this has been admitted in a roundabout way by the heads of the tax collection agency no less.

But despite all this, most Americans still opt to voluntarily fund the government war machine with their taxes, no matter how much they want peace and abhor the practices of their government or politicians, making excuses like "I have to or I'll be audited" (living in fear), or "I have to or I won't get the basic services the government provides" (living in ignorance).

But there is more than one way to skin a cat, as the saying goes; and so there are also other ways to not pay for war without any real risk of the IRS coming after you, and that is to live below the 'taxable income threshold', which I believe president Trump has raised, which is currently $12,000 usd. So if you make $12,000 or less in a year, you DO NOT HAVE TO FILE or pay income taxes, and this is officially according to the government. This may be an astounding revelation to some, as I believe this threshold used to be as low as $2,000 in recent years!

But even this quite viable option is laughed off as impossible by most, even those who speak out against war, for the common man will surely say: "I could never live on such a small yearly income!" But this is simply not true, because some people live on nothing, and the fact of the matter is rather that they are simply not willing to live on that much less than they are accustomed to. They are not willing to make such a personal sacrifice in order to stop actively funding the war machinations responsible for causing the suffering they themselves abhor and decry as evil, acts of war which they would never wish to be perpetrated against themselves.

These are the ones that will inevitably choose their comfortable lifestyle and love of money over their love of humanity; blaming a host of entities outside themselves for the suffering they themselves actively contribute to, while at the same time also placing their trust for an eventual solution in entities outside of themselves, often the very entities responsible for causing the suffering. Quite simply, they are not willing to love their neighbors as themselves, and so they live in violation of the Golden Rule, unnecessarily doing unto others just what they would not have others do unto them (participating in the waging of war against them).

Sadly this is the path most of us choose, and this is why the changes we all seek in the world never end up coming to fruition. Because while most of us desperately do want to see positive change in the world, so few of us are willing to make the radical yet often simple changes within ourselves necessary to make that change in the world become a reality.

"We gotta make a change! It's time for us as a people to start makin' some changes. Let's change the way we eat, let's change the way we live, and let's change the way we treat each other. You see the old way wasn't working, so it's on us to do what we gotta do, to survive. ...And still I see no changes!" - Tupac Shakur, Changes

But for those of us who are willing to look in the mirror and face ourselves; for those willing to look at ourselves long enough to see that it is we who are the cause of every problem in our life and our world, we will be able to begin to repair and change and heal ourselves, and find the infinite inner power which awaits; the power not only to change our lives, but the power to change the whole world that literally lies within us all.

When asked by the religious leaders of his day when the kingdom would come; that is when would the new age of peace and justice arrive and when would the more perfect physical world we all dream of be ushered in; this is the answer the spiritual master known as Jesus gave some 2,000 years ago:

The kingdom is not coming with outward signs to be observed; neither will they say 'look here!' or 'look there!'; for behold, the kingdom of God is within you. - Luke 17:20-21 (Christian Bible)

The highest human potential, higher levels of consciousness, that is the enlightenment and salvation of humanity is not obtained through outward institutions which can be seen, but is rather already here lying dormant within each and every one of us just waiting to be realized and then manifested in the world. We do not have to wait for more technological advancements for healing. We do not have to live lives of slavery; we have the power to live as free men and free women. We have the power to heal ourselves, this earth, and indeed the whole world. Now go and be free, if you so choose, for it is but humanity's destiny. It is our birthright, and it is high time we choose to claim it, and by doing so, bring heaven to earth.

If you would like a glimpse into the true potential power of humanity which lies dormant within us all, I highly recommend the following eye-opening 10 minute video featuring Dr. Bruce Lipton.