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Happiness is a discipline, and it requires the engraining of new patterns.
The whole structure of consciousness is meant to protect us, from the need of clarity, confidence and affection, to the safety we create in accomplishing what we know we must do, to the pride we feel by doing it right. No one consciously desires dysfunction. Even when being irrational, we want our views to work!
Happiness is so elusive and fleeting that most feel as if they are staring into a void, just saying the word. We all know what it feels like but few can describe it, and fewer can repeat the steps necessary to conjure it. But once the steps are known, it can be had as a constant medium of our existence. The incredible meaning most come upon only once or twice throughout their span of years, you can come to feel a few times every day, and it will keep getting more and more frequent and more and more powerful.
Whatâs really entertaining is watching those who emerge from the depths and struggle with their new happiness. They donât believe itâs real. They struggled against pain for so long with the tools of evasion, denial and false justifications that theyâre not prepared for an intense and consistent joy. They are so used to pushing feelings away that they are unpracticed in dealing with something they want to keep. They fear that it will elude them as in the past, and in panic, try to hoard it; but they have to break down and laugh, because it just keeps bubbling out of them. By practicing the correct causal factors, theyâve become a bunch of little happiness generators, and the rest of their lives are going to be like this. Instead of dealing with pain, they have the wealth of a new resource to contend with, and all the years ahead to discover the immense pleasures it will bring them.
Ingraining New Patterns. Preserving a high-spirited outlook is crucial to everyone, yet under societyâs mess of moral contradictions, there is nothing more difficult than spiritual maintenance. Cultural roots have us so off track, Iâm surprised anyone wants to get out of bed in the morning. To most, a sense of invigorating pride and opportunity is inconsistent, uncontrollable and elusive, as if the stability of a human consciousness had a fragile nature. It doesnât, but under the ancient inversion, it becomes unstable. The whole structure of consciousness is meant to protect us, from the need of clarity, confidence and affection, to the safety we create in accomplishing what we know we must do, to the pride we feel by doing it right. Cause and effect can be identified from one end of it to the other, but we are vulnerable if we agree to pretend that the rules of the physical world do not apply to the soul. They do. There is no meaningful, lasting emotional intensity without acceptance of the concept of identityâaccepting that existence exists. There is no long-term safety in relationships, business or law, without an organized and rational value-hierarchy, or in other words, without standards.
Our disconnection from rational standards is obvious in that weâd all like to live with great depth, passion and meaning, yet the trouble for everyone is…How? All men desire the same sense of ease in life; a sense of inner peace on a fundamental level. No one consciously desires dysfunction. Even when being irrational, we want our views to work! We all say we âjust want to be happy,â and then the fog rolls in and the epistemological chain ends. Happiness is so elusive and fleeting that most feel as if they are staring into a void, just saying the word. We all know what it feels like but few can describe it, and fewer can repeat the steps necessary to conjure it. But once the steps are known, it can be had as a constant medium of our existence. The path to an indestructible spirit is the reintegration of mind and body, of Manâs proper relation to existence and of Manâs proper relation to other men. The solution is had by looking to those untarnished by the problem.
There are people out there that are bulletproof spiritually, and they do certain things that make them that way. By conforming to the right code, they exist outside the Spirit Murdererâs power. However, so few have reached an intransigent mindsetâthe soul of a heroâthat it cannot be studied readily. If there were more such men in existence, its nature could more rightly be determined, but for now, we are left at the mercy of the sheer number who seek it. Such heroes embody a strength beyond strength; an impenetrable barrier for pain; a reservoir which holds a purity so potent that no foreign matter can survive past a certain point. By following their lead, it is possible to grow just as strong, to achieve all of our goals in a framework of our own design, to meet and surround ourselves with people we can respect and admire and to live a life largely absent of pain, contempt, boredom and senselessness.
The incredible meaning most come upon only once or twice throughout their span of years, you can come to feel a few times every day, and it will keep getting more and more frequent and more and more powerful. The full integration of mind and body is so potent a combination that no such individual can remain a follower; therein lies its danger to precedent. Your physical senses and their integratorâyour consciousnessâare the metaphysical inlets that open into a virtual ocean of knowledge and fulfillment. Sensory perception is the foundation of all exertion-generated human values including happiness, whose enjoyment is the bane and impossibility of those otherwise denied. Honest spirituality follows the clean rationality in the volitional nature of our being. Pride is a barometer, measuring the success of our choices.
As the human brain has a specific physical makeup, so too does the structure of its content. The function of a mind is identical for every man and cannot be altered, as the function of a heart or any other organ cannot. It has evolved into its most efficient design and can only be nourished by a proper diet, or starved and mangled by an improper diet. To flourish, we need certain nutrients in mind and body, and they go much deeper than you might imagine. So many things that you perceive as okay to leave approximate or optional, are not. The mechanics of the medium must be understood to fully exercise its power to achieve pure happiness, supreme confidence and a radiant self-worth. As in all of the other realms we have mastered, our control will remain precarious until with experience and introspection, we gain a firm grasp on its proper use.
The spirit must be worked and fed throughout life like any muscle, to maintain its strength. Like an athlete, it has a game to playâthe game of lifeâand it must be kept in practice; otherwise, it will suffer in atrophy. All living things deteriorate from neglect. Still, its use must be healthful. An old martial arts instructor once said to me, âAny form is good, but some are better for you.â I learned what he meant after training with Aikido students, most of whom wore joint supports for hyper-extension injuries, which often led to severe arthritis and the eventual quitting of the sport out of physical necessity. Such practice misuses the entity that actsâthe human body. Likewise, evasion, repression, hysterics, emotional deadness and the desire for any causeless reward are all a reflection of the misuse and malnourishment of the human mind. A light, healthy spirit can never be conjured with a false smile and an affirmation. It is a state of mind that is earnedâachievedâby a direct, focused, conscious effort. Such vitality is the natural result of enacting the correct life-furthering premisesâa moral choice. The correct premises are identified by honestly experimenting with rational new ideas and by weeding out contradictions in the old ones. The pinnacle of emotional states has its own constant gauge, evidenced by a pure, vibrant emotional health. The closer we get to practicing the structures nature intended, the healthier we are.
There are ups and downs for us all, but someone with an indestructible spirit makes the right moves when things go wrong. They remain bright, awake and aliveâready and willing to defend themselves, actively seeking new clarity, willing to earn their own sense of significance and ready to enjoy their own existence. To come to this requires that we get good at being human. We have to learn how to demand human status; accepting and supporting that we do see, we do hear, we do feel, think, love and live. We have to learn not to buckle under centuries of ill conditioning by our opposition. It can be done. We must split, not our minds from our bodies, but from the irrational weight of that cross we all bear. The central civil issue in life is that we have the opportunity to experience our highest possibilities, in body and spirit.
Imagine a solid yellow line within your mind, which is the straightest path to your own ideals. It leads to that beautiful stranger, it conveys your truest style and your freest, most desirable way of being. If identified at all, most of us spend our time jockeying back and forth, fearfully and humbly crisscrossing the directness of this path. Learning to walk down the center of your life is a brave step forward. Bringing the heroic into your destiny will be a chaos of challenges as the defaults wither and the spirit blooms, with incredible new highs and frightening but clairvoyant lows; a roller coaster of emotional triumph that will make life worth living again.
Whatâs really entertaining is watching those who emerge from the depths and struggle with their new happiness. They donât believe itâs real. I get a kick out of it. They struggled against pain for so long with the tools of evasion, denial and false justifications that theyâre not prepared for an intense and consistent joy. They are so used to pushing feelings away that they are unpracticed in dealing with something they want to keep. They fear that it will elude them as in the past, and in panic, try to hoard it; but they have to break down and laugh, because it just keeps bubbling out of them. By practicing the correct causal factors, theyâve become a bunch of little happiness generators, and the rest of their lives are going to be like this. Instead of dealing with pain, they have the wealth of a new resource to contend with, and all the years ahead to discover the immense pleasures it will bring them. They gracefully learn to channel it, and every few months they step up to a new level. So used to being pushed around on moral issues, their new determination becomes a cherished facet of their lives.
Settling into this new code, those outside start to treat you with more deference, the exact deference you have come to associate with a trait you have worshipped and sought. Astonished, youâll think, âItâs as if they believe I have that stature,â and then youâll realize that your uncertainty with this level is rapidly diminishing or gone; that youâre comfortable associating with peers on this plane, and suddenly realize that you are one of them. Youâve made it with one up; youâre still moving. It is quietly exciting to watch yourself grow, and such deliverance always happens this way. You will see the day when you have the courage to do what was so recently impossible, and youâll do it as an afterthought. When you finish this book, youâre going to feel a spectacular moral power. It will accent every thing you do, and your life will never be the same.
Iâm tired of watching a whole society struggling to bloom while their killing code holds them from it. Neurotic action is the offspring of missing, evaded or corrupt moral standards. Most of us experience their effects the hard wayâlistening to people twist morality in order to use us, to stop us, or to penalize us, only to realize later that we were conned.
Sidestepping your consciousness allows them endless opportunities to hide their motivations. Clean motives have nothing to worry about; they enjoy an audience. Deadly motives loath awareness, and in self-defense, therefore demand it. My intention is to spawn a race of steady eyes; eyes that see; eyes that know what is being done and wonât be stopped by it.
This segment paces the psychological processes going on in the background for most of us, driven by a corrupt and incomplete moral code. Washing them away is required to prepare a new foundation; a spiritual cleanse for healing and new growth.
The Worst Danger Might Be Right Next to You⊠Iâm tired of watching a whole society struggling to bloom while their killing code holds them from it. Iâm sick of seeing those who endure and rise to great heights only to have their accomplishments physically and spiritually confiscated by irrational laws or a plotting spouse, unable to fight back. Iâve watched my own kind get pushed around and led like poodles by family, clergy and the fools theyâve married, led to their own spiritual deathsâand to contempt for me, the absolute; the unremitting. There is a reason why people fight to preserve what harms them while sacrificing their highest values throughout life. Have you ever wondered what it is? Neurotic action is the offspring of missing, evaded or corrupt moral standards. Most of us experience their effects the hard wayâlistening to people twist morality in order to use us, to stop us or to penalize us, only to realize later that we were conned, while suffering the desperate loneliness we feel while striving for and reaching pinnacles of our own. It will continue to happen, but it would be worse to live a whole life never having known the true intentions of those around us; never having identified and accepted in full understanding, their psychological health as well as our own.
Who has scheduled your spirit for execution? Who demands your acceptance, but not your understanding or agreement? Permitting the negation of awareness will bring irrationality to power, while your aspirations are left to wander down uncharted roads. Either you pick up and use the tools given you, or you become a tool of others. Of whom in particular? Of those who told you it was moral to drop your tools. Whether they host black-tie benefits, pose alongside productive spouses or inhabit slums, the fear-based used their perversions to claw their way on top of us, using their victims as life-preservers. Sidestepping your consciousness allows them endless opportunities to hide their motivations. Clean motives have nothing to worry about; they enjoy an audience. Deadly motives loath awareness, and in self-defense, therefore demand it. My intention is to spawn a race of steady eyes; eyes that see; eyes that know what is being done.
âŠOr Even Closer. The first and most crucial battle is to be fought in an unexpected place: within us. As we have been inundated with corruption from the beginning of our lives, the first wave of enemies is now internal. They are anti-epistemologicalâanti-awareness processesâharmful patterns we have been cycling without question. We have all been victims of this system of cannibal ethics; there has been no way to escape it. It has infected every thought, inverted every image and mental projection and defined every self-hampering physical response. It has placed our living energy in the service of death, corrupted our rational long-term understandings, perverted our ultimate goals and destroyed our capacity to enjoy truly wholesome moments. Even when we have identified and solved our own conscious errors, it has often not been deep enough to counter the subconscious drivers which promote an unstudied reactionary defense. We stomp out what we see, yet like a weed its underground network of irrational connections regenerates it. The alternatives it offers all lead to the same brick walls: fear, malice, powerlessness and subservience. It saps our will, as cognitive hampering kills the capacity to look for answers. We come to fear the darkness they conjured within us, and to fear others.
What spiritual path are you on at present? Ask yourself how the inversion has drawn you in. What makes you murderously angry, people smarter than you? People with greater courage, independence and tenacity? People with greater integrity? People with more money? Or is it stupidity, pointless activities, lethargy, denial, the unwillingness of others to see, to learn and to grow, and all the resulting consequences? Does what you hate in others, reflect what you hate in yourself? If you hate anotherâs ability, you have damned ability itself. On the other hand, if you hate anotherâs incompetence and any incompetence you may have yet to overcome, that is a tribute to life. Can you achieve your own highest vision of yourself in the world of today? Do you believe it has a chance? Who has determined your view of Man? Those around you, an ideal potentiality, or the worst in your experience? What do you really wish for Man? Are they benevolent thoughts or angry thoughts? Are you afraid of human beings? Be honest. I was afraid for a long time. I had inherited the fears of those who came before me, and though perceptive enough to understand that my fears had no foundation, I had no ammunition to challenge them with; only strength of resolve, but no aim for that strength. The pain was mine to bear; the problem was mine to decipher, and upon solving it, the benefits were mine to enjoy.
We must come to recognize and eradicate the errors as they are encountered, or in other words, learn to get out of our own way in life. This is the journey now before you. Those seeking reform have to walk what appears at first to be a tightrope, but it gets wider and more stable once the elements are set into a psycho-epistemological routine (donât worry, Iâll provide it). Enjoyment becomes more constant as causal factors become clearer. The right actions become automatic and the outcomes become easy to see, given either fork in the road.
It is important not to damn yourself along the way for identifying traits of character that are destructive. Being forthright is an opportunity for growth. This is the process of refinement, not a spotlight for shame. As they may bring detriment now, their resolution will bring a new strength, your experience of life will become more intensely passionate and true forgivenessâif necessaryâwill be deserved; from others and from yourself. The road of healing, of safety, of empowerment and ultimately of intransigence is a different length for everyone. You must start from where you are. You must be honest about where you are, in order to start. Hanging on to your illusions will only leave you further and further behind. Let go and youâll find firm ground just inches below. If you can understand that honesty is the greatest âleap of faithâ in reason, that it will not toss you into an abyss, that it will not take your self-esteem but will bring you more than you could ever imagine, then you will be free. You will be well on your way to discover every answer you seek and every pleasure of living. And then your view of Man will change.
Life itself should never be the object of an unrequited love. We need moral acknowledgement, but itâs rare to come by. Most of us havenât been paid for our virtues, and have lost the expectation of getting paid. What happiness and brotherhood can we expect under the daunting sneers of those who tell Man his desires are selfish, his senses invalid, his body feeble, his actions harmful and his destiny Hell? In this environment, the last thing healthy people want to confront is the subject of morality. The physical violations prohibited even in war are given no such protection on a spiritual level. Your spirit can live being shunned by the outside; it cannot live being shunned by the inside. If we hope for our spirits to survive, we need to look after ourselves.
The Lonely Road Inside Us All. The motive of spiritual undercutting is bad enough, but worse is what it is responsible for: senseless guilt, irrational fears, anxiety, depression, physical incapacitation, emotional deadening and dependencies on others or the heavens which go unfulfilled, as lives go unlived. The pretense of brother-love is abound, but we know full well that none of it is true and that we are very much alone. The rejection of reality denies us the process of identification and leaves us in an unrealistic limbo. Some take drugs to mimic the emotional states that rational premises would have generated naturally, while others take drugs to counter the pain and emotional conflict caused by our irrational code. I can sense the heartbreak in those trapped whom I pass dailyâin hallways, in streets, in trafficâsouls and bodies stiffened and aged by pain. Life promised so much once, a glory that never came. But underneath that is a cry for help, a weakness that screams, âIâm capable of so much more than you see, help me to find what I missed and Iâll show you what I really am.â There is so much untapped potential out there it is astonishing. The freedom in their souls has been stifled in so many ways and from so many directions that they have lost the capacity to recognize it. But one thing is clear: theyâre not enjoying life, and the problem is inside now. Missing the gratification of living is a tragedy played out by most of mankind. Drudgery becomes their medium which doesnât stimulate creative thought, but lethargy, leading to more drudgery. No matter what they try, all roads seem to lead there. They remain down on themselves and down on life.
If weâre not having fun, whatâs the point? Life is only worth the effort if your spirit remains intact, meaning how you see the world, others and your possibilities. This is the most crucial human dilemma because life itself should never be the object of an unrequited love. I can see the dividing line which separates people from what they profess to seek in the statement, âYeah, but.â I see the tail-chasing mistakes, the pointless stress, the efforts that lead nowhere and the minds slammed shut to any path that would provide relief. They know there is a problem, yet can take no steps in the direction of their fulfillment. Stuck in a loop provided by popular guidance, they are left with so delicate an esteem theyâre easily shattered by a strong hand from either side. What happiness did they expect under the daunting sneers of those who tell Man his desires are selfish, his senses invalid, his body feeble, his actions harmful and his destiny Hell? With nowhere to turn, their feelings for life become conflicted. Any attempt to rise is blocked, stopped and thwarted, while they are encouraged by the plethora of mediocrity to coast downhill into degeneration. It is the nature of existence they end up damning as intended, while the code of the killers goes unquestioned. They learn not to expect justice, understanding or fulfillment; they learn to stand down, to know their place and to let go of their dreams. They come to believe that the only alternative in life is to feel torture, or to feel nothing. They expect pain as a result of any thought, so they shut off and disengage life, often never to be reached again.
Most of us havenât been paid for our virtues, and have lost the expectation of getting paid. You know what you should be recognized for; you inherently know what virtue is, and what is vice. You know what pride you have earned, and what contempt. But what you meet with in this introspective moment is more disturbing: nothing. You hear silence, see not a lasting glance of concern, approval or disapproval in your direction; not from Man, not from nature. The only response is the quiet, impersonal, unstoppable ticking of the secondhand on the clock facing you. You know how clearly the good youâve done outweighs the bad, making it insignificantâand yet the world remains silent about both. You wouldnât mind paying the price for errors; you donât seek to hide. What you need is to pour out the beauty of your soul, but no one is there to see. They keep walking, paying no attention, and all that is left is loneliness, pain, heart break, rejection and hate. Often you conclude, âWhatâs the point of being moral? Nobody notices either way.â The truth is everyone notices, but they suffer the same barriers. In this environment, the last thing healthy people want to confront is the subject of morality; yet one of the most sacred forms of elation denied us is seeing our fellow men look upon our lives with the same pride we feel about it; to enjoy the common bond of our solemn dedication to progress, and to know in quiet serenity that their tribute is deserved. Instead when attention does come as in childhood, it is often in the form of torture. The pressure to conform to pretenses in society, schools and families is ridiculous. Ostracism for practicing virtue is a truly debilitating punishment, and few can survive it alone. The physical violations prohibited even in war are given no such protection on a spiritual level. We are slow tortured, and I can see why most donât make it emotionally.
The endurance of going on for years with nothingâno rewards outside of your own appreciationâwith your reservoir of passion empty and only the stale residue of a memoryâthe awareness of how they loved you so much more when you were lessâis tragically heartbreaking. Moral Armor grew out of that emotional delicacy, a precious respect for justice and a moral sanction I expected from the world and never received, to confirm my life-furthering attributes and actions. Even without respect for the judgment of others, itâs very painful to feel the world doesnât want you, knowing that your virtues are what they reject. But in this moral environment, you have to be prepared to go it aloneâto go without rewards from the outside. Until the beast is broken, we are all condemned to some level of desolation as we advance, and no, moral clarity doesnât make up for it. What is most important in the interim is that you know the true sum. Your spirit can live being shunned by the outside; it cannot live being shunned by the inside. You can bring into this world the highest image of Man now, or you can hold off for the social atmosphere that rewards strivers. But that could be decades. Why wait? Cry for an hour, but live for twenty-three. Do it for you.
Similar to the physical, we often live in a state of depleted spiritual health. We sustain while being unnecessarily drained by our environment; an environment that can be tailored to our preferences if we take conscious control.
The very best in us was meant to thrive and fulfill for the betterment of all. More often than not, our tools of living have been turned against us and used to achieve destruction instead. It’s time to take control back.
The self-help revolutionâs only clear flaw is that it doesnât define itself as moral. This absolutely crucial flaw can and always has acted as the wedge under the lid of hell. We have been humming along, blissfully unaware that a cliff lines one whole edge of our journey. Without explicit understanding of the moral justifications for our actions, we risk the loss of our most precious values or worseâthe horror of seeing our efforts accomplish the will of evil. We have to face the issue of right and wrong and we have to face it head on. The next abstract step for us to take is to gain a fully integrated view of Man, of consciousness and of existenceâgiving sense, order and meaning to Manâs life, to social actions and to all the tools we have been taught to use. With this knowledge, we can be sure that we are exercising our power responsibly and we can protect our right to exercise it. We can bring an end to what has been hurting us and secure human beings in their proper stature.
Intellectual freedom is a delicate and recent advance for Man, so the undercutting of our confidence has been easily perpetuated. The source of our spiritual fragility comes from a technology held back since Egyptian/Phoenician/Mesopotamian times, or about 3200 BC. The pharaohâs brute physical domination which worked so effectively for eons was given a spiritual equivalent as men moved into the realm of abstraction. When men invented language, the Spirit Murderers invented abstract distortion. The fear-ridden at all levels of society twisted every concept to mean its opposite in moral implication to keep men from comprehending their own value. Every attribute of Man was construed as a liability. Every desire of Man was considered a destructive impulse. Every sense of pride was turned into shame. Every advance was regarded as a moral affront by those who had to adjust their views or actions. Any means to rational fulfillment was trounced, and Man was cut off from achieving and enjoying his proper stature.
As all knowledge was claimed as coming from above, the creative faculty which brought mankind wonders it had never seen was considered a transgressor, and was often greeted with violence. In legend, Prometheus was torn by vultures for stealing the fire of the gods. Copernicus was forced to renounced his revolutionary scientific theories, while in the same dilemma, Socrates chose death. Even Einstein lamented that the true key to success was keeping your mouth shut. Most considered the realm of spirituality to be the unknowable and therefore the uncontrollable. The intellect was not given the same respect as the uncharted territories of the physical world, where the unknown was simply the undiscovered as yet. We were knocking down one barrier after another in the sciences, yet the structure of the mind itself was relegated to the undiscoverable. As mankind progressed, the scientistsâthe men who learned that nature to be commanded must be obeyedâbegan to encroach upon the domain of spirituality preached by the moral scholarâs who sat beside kings. The scientific method was accountable and that clashed with the high priestâs incantations, so free thinkers were forced to abandon the subject, leaving the field wide open to those who never intended to see mankind achieve a pure spiritual independence.
They proceeded to claim that Man was an unnatural being borne of conflict: partially of Earth, partially of spirit, irreconcilably at odds while alive, damned with a mind capable of nothing but misinterpretation and a body capable of nothing but pain. The irrational division of a man was coupled with an irrational division between men. Fraudulently viewing all of mankind as either totally untrustworthy if strong, and honorable but helpless if not, they demanded in haughty righteousness that the latter be taken care of, and service to the self-actualized mass indigence became the highest moral order. Somehow, we were the only species on the planet not designed to fulfill our own requirements for living. Still, our weak limbs and useless minds were good enough to fulfill the needs of others, while anotherâs limbs and mind were good enough to satisfy ours. The Spirit Murderers claimed to have solved natureâs error, and like Frankensteinâs monster, we were hacked apart and then reassembled with parts of each other.
A man was evil and unnatural to the extent of his self-sufficiency; he could not be permitted to act alone. The forfeit of oneâs own life to serve others became a moral code known as altruism, which in practice became a communal slave system often sanctioned by law, known as Socialism. Whether oneâs self was sacrificed unwillingly to domination or willingly to charity, the result was the same. No matter the benefactor, it was the sacrifice of life as a means of survival. What civil, rational men find necessary in only the most rare and tragic of circumstances was made a societal standard. Allowing no property, no personal ambitions and nothing precious to lay outside the right of seizure by our brethren, such a system pitted us all against each other. Our self-respect, our ability and our intelligenceâputting our best foot forwardâwas no longer socially beneficial, but a mutual threat. Achievement became a toll road, enabling the deceivers to confiscate the products of our lives and/or determine their distribution with our sanction, carrying away our most sacred spiritual rewards in the process.
Imagine walking down the street with no right to the contents of your pockets, with even your smallest day to day preparations and simplest conveniences thwarted. Hoarding they called it. Imagine restraining yourself from showing any sign of ability or giving an opinion for fear of being enslaved or martyred. The cause of Man divided, men divided had the desired result: Man neutralized, men neutralized. No one could build. No one could grow. By destroying privacy and mutual respect among men, they avoided mass unity which could spur an uprising against centralized control. Just as Hitler planted distrust between members of his own party to avoid alliances that could oust him, the same was done within a man and between all men from the beginning. But such barbarism is ancient history, right? Our escape from religious persecution and totalitarianism was successful. In present day we can seek our dreams, own property and are allowed private lives. We have established civil order in society, launched ourselves into outer space and have harnessed the atom. We have come so far; so why are we still stopped dead in our tracks with the snide question, âIs that moral?â
It seems that anything is permitted, except what we really want. Walking into a review with your boss or into court, and though your mind might be saying that you have a right to ask for a fair shake, the reaction your body still has is that you are a slave. Our moral culture has ingrained us to go on submissive autopilot, feeling ashamed of our existence, feeling subservient and temporaryâas if we exist on their graceâthat this Earth is theirs and they have first right to it. We do not stand on common ground. For many, we react as if there is no common ground. That our natural relation is slave to master and that we must show respect for the irrational, because at any moment they can turn on us and take our lives, as they hold the whip-hand. The corrupters effectively stunted our cognition, and like farm animals have kept us within an intellectually tractable range. Our political system may be free, but our cultural ethics are still fear-driven. The irrational fundamentals that have allowed them to destroy individual lives and nations, are still in place.
Friends,
The self-help revolution made it possible for us to learn so much on our own and outside the classroom. Cassettes, cd’s, dvd’s, and now mp3’s and videos have amplified the learning rate of the productive world. The realm of moral clarity is no different. Beyond acquisition of the working knowledge of a philosophy, there is the exposure of injustices and the restructuring of society made possible by these means. The result of functional competence in the realm of morality is the capacity to truly make a difference–for oneself, for one’s family, for one’s nation.
Wiping out stress is among the first steps along this road. To see clearly, to see easily, is to not be afraid to see, as you will have become confident in your ability to handle all that could follow. In time, this growing skill will make your spirit indestructible.
âWe are not sick men.â âBruce Lee
What if there were stresses that you were so used to, you didnât even notice the burden? In most communication with people, we hear insults to honor, to effort and to abilityâto our own and to integrity as suchâand in cutting to the chase, we let it go. What if this subtle repression of injustice is precisely what blocks you from enjoying sacred emotional rewards that you werenât even aware you deserved? What if it was thee barrier between you and the âreason for it all,â and what if you found that it was placed there on purpose? Herein lies some of the great mysteries of life, and itâs time to solve them.
What price would you put on being certain about the moral implications of your every action? Moral certainty is the most powerful human force, and there are astonishing planes of fulfillment that accompany its attainment. Unfortunately, dysfunctional premises drive illusory consequences in the minds of most, providing a sufficient barrier to these levels. The Spirit Murderers donât wish the masses to reach them. These values rest in latent form, which if remain suppressed, allow the Spirit Murderers to continue their game. What if solving this dilemma would allow you to reach the full maturity we all deserve an opportunity to feel? The Spirit Murderers stand frozen, hovering over their fragile control of this powerful force, in dread of what will happen if full mass moral validation is actualized. Men will be freed and they will be thrown off. âThrown off to dieâ in their minds, which rationally translates as, âresponsible to face nature in the manner their victims do.â As these rewards lay two levels of abstraction from the typical range of human consciousness, they have gone undetected. As long as there was no one to make axiomatically valid ideals explicit, their secret was safe; but in recent history they have suffered a major setback.
We are in the midst of the self-help revolution. This is the time where the productive middle class has matured, spread its wings and is soaring. It is a fantastic time to be alive. Many people no longer feel helpless and are now in control of their own destinies, which is a much more significant cultural shift than just a generation coming into its own. The esteem they have generated is wholesome and real. It is the perfect opportunity for a philosopher to come in and reinforce the foundations of this movement, and therefore have a profound impact on all of the years ahead.
The human race is not deaf, blind or helpless, and we are now proving that en masse. With the promotional genius of men like Anthony Robbins, it is becoming generally accepted to model excellence in all fields and in all aspects of living. The traits which our heroes appear to so naturally assume are coming within reach of anyone who puts forth the effort to attain them. Philosophically speaking, the potency of human ability is being restored. This is such a wonderful step for a culture to take towards a moral existence, that I am sure men will have the strength to move into the next dimension and comprehend a moral code designed to convey a clear purpose for that excellence. We have learned how to spend our time wisely, to manage our money and to set goals. We have learned to build profitable corporations, to build healthy bodies and healthy relationships. Self-improvement has socially and psychologically moved into the realm of abstraction, where we are now beginning to effectively harness our emotions. Step by step, field by field, we are taking conscious control of our destinies. Sure, television news shows us nothing but crime and devastation, but I see a better-educated world around me and most importantly, a greater ability to link cause to effect and act on it, which includes an aggregate lengthening of intellectual rangeâboth in capacity and time. On what many consider the brink of disaster, I feel an undercurrent of sound moral judgment in society todayâa self-responsibility practiced by a growing number and identified as âen vogue.â I see more leaders and fewer lemmings. At this point in history, it is time to make our moral countenance indestructible.
Along this road of progress, Iâm sure you can recall experiences that have been turning points. Ideas you draw from constantly, which you couldnât imagine functioning day to day without; ideas that seem to lie at the base of every decision. What if there were still more powerful ideas that once known and practiced, became an absolutely priceless frame of reference? For all of the splendor you have achieved in your life, what if there was an awareness you could gain that would tie everything together and give great conscious meaning to your every glance, to your every action and to your every day? What if this awareness were to give you the grand, paternal feeling of looking upon all of existence as you foster those you have risen above, sharing your calm, your clarity, your love and your sanction for all that is possible to us? That is what I intend to fulfill.
Have you ever felt so pure a sanction of existence that you just wanted to tickle something? All throughout life I have maintained the boundless energy, the playful excitement and the unlimited possibility that we all started out with. Little did I know then, how much more I would encounter in the adult world. The clean reasons for friendship and romance, the stunning interests Iâve had in sharks, astronomy, philosophy, jets, racing cars and bikes has all followed me into adulthood. Life is a playground for adrenaline, with day-to-day development, refinement and increased emotional intensity. I left nothing to cultural dictates, and stayed open to the most fulfilling returns in all contexts. With experience and the power of vision, all elements of life now flow harmoniously. I see the parallels between our intimacy and our productivity, our morality and our physiology, our political affiliations and our art, and Iâll bring that clarity to you.
The rewards just continue to gather more power and meaning, and among the pinnacles, I have found no greater interactive tribute to the incredible glory of Man than in visiting the Kennedy Space Center. Imagine being down in Cape Canaveral to witness an American space shuttle launch. Waiting for the countdown, your mind wanders, having time to appreciate the crisp, clean morning air and blue sky while you sit and enjoy the peaceful sounds of nature mixed with the motion of those gathered for the same purpose. With emotions fueled by spellbinding films and exhibits of their incredible struggle, you contemplate that sense of life that prompts men to endlessly explore; all driven to push the envelope, often at great risk to themselves. They carried mankind and technology along on their forward thrust into the unknown, to the crescendo of their final triumphâa man on the moon, which proved only the beginning. Here, you are a part of it, paying tribute to our present mastery in witnessing the launch of an orbiter, which is now building a space station. Suddenly the ground beneath you begins to vibrate, resonating with a deep, rich hum, which sweeps away your consciousness into a total focus on the craft. You look with wide unblinking eyes, barely allowing yourself to breathe, wishing to avoid the visual disruption of the rise and fall of your chest. The engines have been lit, and you can feel the pressure and heat of the air between you and the craft. As the countdown proceeds, your weight shifts, looking over the heads of others, astonished to realize you have been standing; not knowing when, or why. âFourâŠthreeâŠtwoâŠone,â and the roar of the solid fuel rockets slams your senses way beyond anything you have ever experienced. A cloud pours around the bottom of the craft, engulfing it completely, spreading towards you and you think, âIf the power and the heat were to engulf us all, oh,âŠjust to feel what I am feeling now as the emotional height Iâve always wanted to reach, to feel this as my final salute to life, would be a precious blessing.â The tip of the craft emerges above its cloud, and slowly lifts off with an incredible trail of fire, passion and thrust, as if it has joined forces with nature, harnessing and directing a storm to accomplish its will. Overwhelmed by the sensational rapture of your being, your eyes well with tears and you begin to pant in a pure, free, emotional release. With every sense filled so completely, you wonder if youâll even survive such unbearable pleasure. As it rises higher, the power of the sound diminishes; the shuttle lifts into the heavens peacefullyâa red tailed cometâits firm touch releases, returning control of your body, but for the shallow breath of exhilaration still coursing all through you. Trembling in the aftermath, immersed so deeply within your soul, you find it difficult to walk, and you notice the same in others. You have been stunned and then laid back to peace, rocked by the incredible power, complexity and glory of Man; contemplating, âMy god, men did this. Men erected a skyscraper and just shot it into space. If we can do this, we can do anything,â and that is true. For the glory of that emotional release of all you can feel, which is a response to our highest potential, with the nature of the universe as our guide, we can do anything.
The most priceless reward of life is the ability to wake up every day with just such a wonderful sense of expectation; an awareness that you will have remarkable experiences of your own design that will make you feel so deeply, and so connected. The incredible power of Man is something we should all link to our own potentiality. Shivers move down my spine when I contemplate what each day might bring; the excitement, the risk, the adventure of life itselfâof facing and conquering fearsâis truly exhilarating.
Because of the implicit moral worth of our actions and its resulting confidence, it is going to be much easier for us individually to look inward at our own motives, to purify our body of knowledge and move to a new level, intellectually and spiritually. For example, picture yourself looking in the mirror. You think back and see achievement in your past. You see excitement in the present, and feeling a tingling sensation, your stomach drops, anticipating the plans youâve laid for your future. This reflection is the life-force that makes it all possible, and which has made life worth living. Donât deny it, you like what you see! And you should. There stands a strong, progressive individual, on its way to its chosen and cherished goals. There is pride in that being, and there is beauty in that pride. For once in history you have to learn, not to take a hit, but the immense deliverance of taking a steady flow of self-compliments, because you know they are deserved. In todayâs world, the pursuit of our dreams seems limitless, and anything we want is just a âplan of attackâ away. Leading richer and fuller lives, we inherently know that our productivity is taking us in the right direction. As the industrious of Man, we now understand that our free expressions are the causes that reap mankindâs glory; itâs becoming obvious to all, but there are many crucial aspects of living which we still havenât learned.
When the space shuttle is prepped, every last detail is monitored to assure the health of the craft; its path, its platform, its fuel, its structure and its environment. Everything must flow perfectly or it doesnât take off. It is the same for a human spirit. This can be implied to mean that the craft is delicate, but that isnât true. Ballistic glass and a bullet-proof hull isnât delicate. The shuttle is designed to withstand the conditions it is expected to encounter in its traveled medium; so too properly, is the human mind. But how? Projecting what life should be and trying to live it, often feels like a soap bubble floating through the world. As light, as free and as easily punctured by experiencing the betrayal of values, by oneself or others. The difference is, as a bubble comes in contact with a thorn, its journey is over; not so for a damaged spirit. It goes on in a crippled state, kept in existence by the physical entity in which it is contained. One can wait for time to disassociate the pain, yet just when a benevolent medium returns, something else happens to smack it down in a self-defeating cycle. It isnât necessary for a spirit to be so fragile. The honest portion of this delicacy comes from a technology in its infancy; not in the nature of the medium. We can control our spiritual outcomes by assessing its nature, its environment and our direction, leaving nothing to chance. We can steer clear of thorns, making it safe for our innocence to return and flourish. We can plan for the world we live in, standing strong, tall and able, and move through it with a swift, preeminent elegance. Moral Armor will provide what is necessary to give your spirit a good solid feel. Instead of a soap bubble, it will be more like a run-flat, the high-performance tire that can still speed you along to your dreams with grace and style, even after a severe puncture.
Friends,
In cultural morality, the world isn’t black and white as we all know. But good and evil should be as clean and easily identifiable as possible. Defining these categories based on adherence or violation of a clear standard makes this process much less perplexing, and much more useful. The standard I speak of is the pattern of cognition–which is what Moral Armor is based on–or “the pattern of life” as I call it.
The capacity to counter evil is immensely empowering. Hang on, it’s about to get fun!
âIt was on the tip of everyoneâs tongue. Tyler and I just gave it a name.â âFight Club
Revealing Our Enemy. No one could guess by whom and in how many ways their passion is drained, but one term describes the enemy: Spirit Murderers. They come in many forms, all motivated by fear essentially and hate ultimately, with one common social goal: to design and skin the perfect victim. Spirit Murderers ride us, and hate us for our ability to carry them. So they try to rob us of our sense of living which holds adventure, endless possibility and personal significance, and replace it with the paranoia, insignificance and helplessness that they chronically feel. Now and then, we encounter ideals that do make sense and see creations that astonish us, revealing a human beingâs true dimensions to the world, only to discover the desolate tragedies these men suffered to bring such wonders into existence. Building a monument to Man is a delicate and heroic effort, be it a symphony, a skyscraper or the United States of America. The Spirit Murdererâs have always had it easier because no matter what heights we reach, itâs all downhill for them.
Victims can sacrifice an arm or a leg to survive, but not the nerve center; they cannot sacrifice their brains, which is why cognitive disintegration is the Spirit Murdererâs primary attack. I know that most people cannot face that there is something missing in their thinking; to doubt their own conscious adequacy feels like a mortal blow. They have been taught to believe that a wrong move is proof of damnation; that to be imperfect in action is to admit their own worthlessness. But the truth is their teachers have violated the natural pattern of human thoughtâthe logical accumulation of knowledgeâoften on purpose. They begin in ways you wouldnât suspect, gently undercutting with such questions as, âWhat came first? The chicken or the egg?â and because we falter in response to the unexpected, they claim the mind by its nature is unreliable. Wait a minute while I answer them: âOkay idiot, the chicken. Between the two it is the only one capable of sustaining itself in nature. The chicken came first, or more accurately, what evolved as a chicken. The existence of a living entity precedes its attributesâamong them its reproductive process.â Their intention becomes clear with what follows: other questions bearing no consequence in our lives such as, âSo where do we come from?â âThe scientific method has been disproved long agoâ they say, because some obscure estimate about the universe was in experience found to be inaccurate (disregarding the incredible advances required to establish that fact). âThat provesâ they claim with glee, âthat thinking is futile,â and (forgetting that they are men too), âthat mankind is a joke; everything heâs ever done has been proved wrong. He canât get anything right; so why does he think he is so great?â Let me get this straight: We were wrong about gravity and it goes the other way now? Wow, this inconsequential detail has uncovered the folly of our existence. I get up in the morning and the sky isnât blue. Fossil fuels cannot be burned in cars, homes or power plants, which due to our inability to build, have all collapsed anyway. Our skyscrapers, tunnels and bridges have all been reduced to rubble by their simple revelation. All the planes fall out of the sky, there is no use for electricity or running water, Earth no longer spins in a day and we donât actually breathe air. Morons. They want us to believe that our âillusion of controlâ can be shaken by any senseless proposition they forward.
Reality has never been altered by their neurosis. Their claims are not a reflection of mankindâs existential inconstancy, but of theirs. Look at their lives. What they actually want is to have us buy into what stopped them. What makes them think they can get away with such ludicrous nonsense? And worst of all, why do they? All that really happened in their scientific mishap is Man took another step forward. The human chain of knowledge got a little longer. Theories became fact, estimated measurements were made precise and our capacity for control expanded. Our means of acquiring and validating knowledge was implicitly furthered in parallel with our declared intentions, just as their declared intentions were to destroy that capacity. A manâs rational faculty is not invalidated because fact follows theory, which follows hypothesis. Discoveries are limitless. At no time is it rational to stomp oneâs feet because knowledge is not automatic, because thinking requires an excruciating effort at times and because the worldâs secrets are not provided on a silver platter. Our database is in a constant state of accumulation and refinement. The efficacy of human consciousness is not âquestionableâ because new technologies supersede and new discoveries hone older ones; that is the natural progression of Man. But what was our response? We were silent: bearing their hostility until we could escape back to the clean rationality of our passions. What undercut our confidence? Why didnât we fight back?
We didnât fight back because we didnât have a defense for simply being human, and could never have conceived of the need for one. But at this point in history it is necessary. The beast has found no resistance in the flinching eyes of its victims. Defense begins with a fundamental sanction of existence: accepting that reality is real. You must understand what life on Earth requires of Man and accept the correct basis of morality: the preservation of human life. Cleaning your own epistemological structure will allow a pure internal harmony; a united front from which to defend against the evils outside. Then you must identify if those you encounter seek to further life or to stop it; to work with you or to ride you; to respect your rights or to negate them. It is a war of good and evil, and of all âshades of grayâ in between. Anyone who doesnât want you to lead a rationally fulfilling life wants to kill you spiritually, as was done to them. Anyone who wants you to accept their shades of gray not only wants you to drink poison, but also wants to gain moral recognition for it.
Our productivity-generated spiritual wealth often leads us to assist and encourage those astray, back towards life, but you will learn that you canât. Progress is not what they are after. I for one am no longer willing to assume the exasperating burden of explaining the self-evident to those bent on misunderstanding. Iâm done trying to provide a sunrise for a mankind that rejects the evidence of their eyes. To hell with them. The shimmering beauty of our glorious life-giving power may never awaken the living dead among us. Their fate was never our responsibility anyway; it was and is theirs. After years of futile effort, I accept now that I cannot save them. Instead with regretful diligence, I must draw my sword and protect us against them because they are many, and capable of great devastation.
We have all felt from time to time that morality was a steamroller, one with a malevolent driver, endangering everything in its path. Well morality is a steamroller, that is true; but with the proper moral armor, we are behind the wheel. In times of warfare, weapons can be overtaken and used by our opposition. That is what has been done to us for centuries. Itâs time to turn the tables. No matter what torture I for one have endured or will endure, the damage they can do now is limited. I know what moves them. To gain their acceptance and deflect their animosity requires that we be victims. I refuse to exist as a victim any longer. I refuse to let go of my dreams. I refuse to see the world through the vision of their panic. I refuse to cower to their supernatural threats. I refuse to just live with whatever irrational situation they present to us and to consider reform futile. I refuse to feed the rat. The world is ours as is our lives; ours to design. No longer shall we suffer the pain of knowing that that which should have been sanctioned was penalized instead. We are the adults now. It is time to take back control: of how we feed our minds, of how we live our lives, of what we choose as right and wrong, of what induces guilt and of what represents an obligation. Breaking free of their reign requires that you stand and declare what I declared to end my sacrifice: âIf you continue to make me pay for my virtues, they will no longer serve you.â
Friends,
We live in shades of gray, when we deserve to understand the stark black and white reality of good and evil to honor accordingly. Our daily actions are much more sound than we are led to believe. And of course, who do we have to blame for being misled? Time to find out.
Lifeâs Ancient Opposition
âSheâll breed. Youâll die.â âAlien Resurrection
The True Sides. From the dawn of time, mankind has been in a class war; not between rich and poor, white and black or weak and strong, but between rational motive and irrational motive; between dependence and independence; between Fear-driven Man and Self-made Man. Civilization eliminated irresponsible savagery from social action, but not from thought. All men understand the ideal of living competence, but one kind desires to enjoy the benefits of competence while remaining incompetent; to enjoy the deliverance of a long chain of knowledge without expending the effort, bravery or discipline to obtain it. The productive men and women live by their own effort, but the parasites seek to live off ours. The producers obey their own nature, which the parasites attempt to defy. To remain alive, the parasites had to devise a means of extorting their sustenance from those who produce it, without being thrown off. What they had to secure was our acceptance of their supremacy; some non-debatable justification for enduring their ridicule and submitting to their guidance. Their arch-enemy became the perceptivity and self-esteem of their betters.
To gain control of a man, one must destroy his intellectual independence. To this end for millennia, the parasites have subverted every living premise, dividing cause from result, work from reward and pride from choice. Only the unproductive, the fear-ridden and the incompetent could psychologically benefit from keeping the productive, the self-confident and the competent in a state of moral uncertainty. So like any scheming dictator, they began stripping us of our defenses when we were just children. They took the radiant, shining standards of our love and made it unconditional. Original Sin and its modern descendent, environmentalism, damned the very nature of Man and robbed us of our innocence. They labeled us grafters if we worked hard, taking our honor and our pride. Money, a product of social stability and Manâs civil means of exchange, was damned as the root of all evil. Any self-motivated action was considered destructively selfish, the pinnacle of which is oneâs lifeâs purpose, while the pursuit of money was considered pure hedonistic greed. By denying us individual purpose, we became a society that could work for nothing but money. Their trap was complete and the circle closed.
Instead of encouraging the refinement of our competencies in preparation for life, they made their heaven a stagnant utopia of effortless treasures. Afraid of using their minds, they set up rules based on how they wished things to be versus factual reality, which only made life miserable for those who had to provide it all. Fed from birth ideas that were laced with cyanide, our pursuit of happiness was replaced with a battle against suffering. We were harnessed by an inverted morality brought to life through the eyes of panic. Like cancer, it grew into a system which destroys the rewards of life, limiting us and degenerating our living potency in mind and body. Lifeâs ancient opposition is a battle against the nature of Man, against the pleasure of living and against existence itself.
Their Vile Substitution. Take a look at what is universally considered the domain of moral action: doling out soup to the poor, emptying bed-pans with a smile and being proudly victimized by the wretched: hand-outs, volunteer work and martyrdom. Proponents of this view respond to normal life in emergency fashion: wishing to seize what products they see, bandaging what wounds they see and cowering to whatever is an immediate danger; reacting to the now, as their consciousness does not extend much further. Morality to them is to answer disasters. Such non-intellectual beliefs uphold as our idealâas our reason for living and as proof of our goodnessâservitude to the most indigent, inattentive and unstable entities. In our quest for nobility, we inherently seek a shrine on which to stand; a heroâs pedestal. They present to us instead, a hospital ward of living nightmares to attend to, which offend and retract every senseâwithout mind, without joy and without hope. Our typical exposure to their view is boxing up a few things for Good Will, canned food drives and at the extreme of dedication, a mission to some backward village to supply food and medicine. We have come to consider moral action to be the exception in life, but not the exceptional. No wonder a futile sense of drudgery accompanies all contemplation of morality!
It is particularly painful as we are wide open in that moment, expecting to experience a deserved elation. Do you think their timing is only a coincidence? Where does the pride we wish to express come from? What makes us wish to stand in the sight of the whole world to be admired? It comes from our life-sustaining productivity: a sum that grows every day; a source they refuse to name or honor. They hand to us as the climax of our triumphant productive effort, not a ceremony with the solemnity of Beethovenâs Piano Concerto No. 5, but a stupid grin under a chefâs hat, âgiving something backâ at the local soup kitchen, implying that our initial achievement was a form of robbery. Our most significant moral progress has been prompted and maintained by science and industry, and has gone completely unnoticed as such even by us, as we have been taught to believe that moral action means the distribution of goods and services required to sustain anonymous, immediate needs, without any consideration for their source. God weâve been fools. The business of mankindâthe production and exchange of productsâis not evil, it keeps us alive! It is the means of civil human living. We fight to justify the existence of our business world, lacking the one weapon that would assure victory: the knowledge that it is moral.
In our time, where free trade has put so much distance between ourselves and our crudest needs, they wish to reduce the worldâs focus back to worrying where our next meal will come from. Their intention is to reduce us to the same terror of their own limited range. The truth is that charities, civil service and other such volunteer work are very minor league moral actions, if at all. And have you ever tried turning the other cheek to a criminal? So how was the hospital food? They tell us to permit and forgive any evil, therefore placing the whole burden of responsible action upon the innocent. Does it make sense that our moral worthiness is tied to whether or not we can catch a speeding bullet and reform the shooter in the process? Is there a rational moral code to follow for the time when we are not starving to death or dangling from cliffs? Why have they set moral standards to make sure that we canât be moral? Does the productive ninety-eight percent of the population need focus on the ailing two percent and fall victim to the criminal .01% in order to be virtuous? With a ratio of more than fifty-to-one, you canât possibly spend your life serving those in need. Does that mean that you spend the other ninety-eight percent of your life doing things that are immoral? In their code, that is exactly what they mean, and culturally it is accepted as a forgone conclusion. Why is the majority of lifeâs activity not considered moral? Why is preserving the lives of the healthy and able, dismissed as hedonism? Does it make sense that morality is designed, not for our protection and fulfillment, but against it?
thanks,
Ronald E. Springer
Ethics Underground
The road to moral clarity is one we’ve been walking all along. So many aspects of individualism have been damned however, that it is difficult to recognize. Especially in today’s world, where Social Justice Warriors intend to have us feel guilt for every productive trait, we find ourselves under fire for our virtues directly.
Let’s break away from their condemnation and begin to understand a few key aspects about morality that have had our compass askew.
The Road to Moral Clarity. Moral courage has freed me, and now I want to make it possible for others to step out of their reach as well, and lose the fear of being judged. I want to wipe out the reasons that drive men and women to practice an insincerity that just leads to their own unhappiness. I want to see to it that they are no longer victims, and bring them to a level of confidence where they need no longer make victims of others in turn. It is time to set the moral standard for human action: to make explicit, the nature of the motivations by which we all live. It is time to identify and validate the true sides of good and evil; to see what we really are, and decide what we truly want to sustain and to become. Donât be afraid. Youâre not about to find out how evil you are, but to step out of the darkness to discover just the opposite.
Actually, there is so much right about our personal and social actions in this world, that we have very little to fear in the way of negative self-discovery. The guilt in our lives is mostly unjustified and many problems we feel looming up behind us arenât even there. Still, it takes an unusual bravery to look. As we saw above, an inquiring mind is open to more than learning; it is open to attack. Intellectually, physically and spiritually we are bombarded with studies, opinions and statistics that classify us by our supposed flaws. Much publicity is given to medical doctors and psychologists who propose anti-theories which violate the very nature of their own disciplines; yet they are often heeded. Like the church, such professionals provide few solutions and provoke a sense of dread in the public, fearing that whatever traits we display will be labeled as the next malady. What they donât seem to understand is that by identifying and classifying what is healthy and right, often the bad just drops off. If you concentrate on advancing critical areas, you never have a chance to address problems or stress. They are simply forgotten. We could kill thousands of man-hours analyzing every known sub-classification of evil, nervously contemplating how we fit in, and still not understand what we should be doing.
Iâm not going to waste your time. If you can read this, there is nothing essentially wrong with you! For most of the reading public (those who nurture and enjoy the process of abstraction), moral confusion is like walking out of the house with messed up hair. Nothing is essentially missing, itâs just humorously unkempt and needs to be straightened out.
The actual purpose of morality has always been awry. When it is adjusted to its proper intent, everything else in life falls right into place. Morality doesnât start with a kind smile, a shared seat or anything between men. It is not primarily social. Morality starts when you open your eyes, look at the magnificence of the world and say, âIt is.â And then get to work.
Morality is not something you give homage to for a few hours on Sunday, then forget about while youâre busy making a living. Morality is the means by which you pursue the goal of living, and to the extent that your activity has been constructive versus parasitical, what youâve done for your own prosperity is directly in line with the moral progress of mankind. People know implicitly what is moral and immoral. Nature tells them. Otherâs reactions tell them. It is not difficult to evaluate what furthers the life of an entity and what hinders it, as it is not difficult to ascertain that this is the main issue of morality.
There is a crystal clear, non-contradictory structure for morality, and it is based on the nature of Man. This standard is not subjective, small and malicious, but objective, mature and honorable. The proper standard flows with life instead of defying it, requires no allegiance to the unprovable and vents no fundamental contempt whatsoever for Mankind. The true structure follows our pattern of cognition, and as the purpose of cognition is life, it reveals the structure of evil as well, in any break with the moral pattern. This natural process is the basis for sound mental health, sound relationships and provides the structure for mankindâs proper organizations. It governs and can be seen in, all human action.
Moralityâs fundamental process is choice. Every choice you make serves one side or the other; either it is good, or it is evil. It either furthers your life or threatens it. Should the pride of choosing life be reserved only for when we help the needy, or should it be a constant medium of existence? The right choices and the right results, provide certainty. Do you ever wonder if youâre good enough? Morally certain people donât have to wonder. Think youâre a coward for being afraid of life sometimes? It is time to find out what cowardice really is. The correct standard returns morality to its proper function: that of a fascinating, constructive, life-shaping frame of reference; not a source of forbidding, dismal barriers. A morally clear mind is a stress-free mind, and we are going to clean house. We are going to check every premise that drives us as individuals, for that is what we act on, what we judge ourselves and others by and ultimately, what we create as a society. More important is learning to identify and correct if necessary, the premises driving the other aspects of your existence, so that all of your motives flow together in one common life-furthering direction.
We are on a road now that is going to make your every step planted more certain. Imagine the feeling each time your foot lands, of âYes, this is right.â And the rhythm of another step lands thinking, âThis is why Iâm alive: I know where Iâm going and why Iâm taking these actions.â You turn into the windâs warmth thinking, âNo rational doctrine would damn the motion of my body or the thoughts that drive them, for they are so clearly and effectively taken to further my life.â With such a standard, moral confidence would become apparent in your every thought and in your every action, as soothingly as you would gaze upon a sunset. When you look to nature, you will feel a special bond returning: a relationship you havenât felt since you were a child.
Friends,
There is a lot I could say on this topic. I’m planning a special video on it in addition to the text of the book. Given Moral Armor was released in 2004, the specific forms of evil have changed a bit, but the enemy is the same.
The great value of my work (if I do say so myself) is that it shows there is a pattern to evil, just as there is a pattern to good. Once again, as we watch those protesting American social order, I see the same patterns in action. Once this awareness goes mainstream (with responsible people), the result should be downright explosive, and very positive.
The point to sound philosophy is to be of evergreen, universal value; to easily adapt as times change, steering a course that is true. Here is the second installment of Moral Armor:
The Present Conflict in Morality. Just about every premise preached to Man under the guise of morality is wrong; often the exact opposite is true. Discovering this has not made my life any easier. When morality is inverted, it is the honest, the clean, the just and the rational that is considered controversial. When you have corrected this inversion of principles, you are speaking another language; even your physiological responses invert. As the language of good and evil has only two sides, those in the confused majority will classify you improperly and they will make you pay. There are so many fragile egos in the world, youâll feel like a bull in a china shop. A radiant spiritual health can appear frightening at times, and will become the rift between friends who are not brave enough to break from their conditioning. In my life, I watched them peel off in layers of honesty, and I could tell who would fall next, but itâs just as well. They couldnât soar being chained to the ground.
I’m free of the Fear-driven psychologically, but societal interaction is unavoidable. And as they certainly havenât changed, the game goes on. Iâm tired of being used; Iâm tired of being considered the bad apple for being honest; Iâm tired of being called ruthless and mean when standing for justice; Iâm tired of being called arrogant for showing confidence; Iâm sick of being called lucky for expending effort. We work and we work, hoping to see our lives develop into a logical whole, and every time we reach a sense of mature significance about it all, there is something or someone out there to undercut it. Notice the hostile silence of others when you do well, and the mocking compassion when you donât. Notice their veiled fraud of a smile in false approval of any accomplishment. Do anything too spectacular and youâre treated like an outsider; but often, their companionship is worse. Iâm tired of watching people avoid purpose and self-responsibility. Stagnation is always their noble sacrifice to their kids or their spouse, where any alternate path would (of course) have led to an achievement to match or exceed ours. Such excuses allow them to abandon the subject of purpose, squidding out in relief, to return to the safety of their shallow domain. Iâm sick and tired of talking about little things. Iâm tired of the inspirationally lethargic ignoring everything that matters. Iâm sick of their attempts to delude us into giving up, slowing down and selling out.
What fun is there in playing it safe? The Fear-driven are moving towards an epitaph of âShouldâve, wouldâve, couldâve.â Ours will say âDid.â Iâm tired of seeing no one speak up to defend themselves or any of us against any injustice. Sometimes they vent about valid issues, but lose all backbone when facing their opposition; failing life and failing themselves. They damn the evils openly; they do understand. They can gage by rational standards when theyâre treated unfairly by a boss or a spouse, but nevertheless, they cave in and carry the burdens of moral default without protest. Then they actually reverse their moral response by condemning those who refuse to suffer the consequences of giving up along with them. Staring into the void of their basic cognitive unwillingness, you can explain until you are blue in the face, but they wonât get it. Theyâll make sure they wonât. Stand for anything and the first wave of fools will resent you; not on the issue, but for the capacity to stand. They turn against the fighters for truth, and in so doing, turn against themselves. They recognize the rat and nourish it anyway. At work, they cower under their bosses irrationality, and instead of wishing to correct the nonsense, they fantasize of taking over to impose their own irrationality on their subordinates. Powerless to fulfill this dream, they go home and impose it on their family. Iâm tired of life in the muck. Why should it be muck? Why is it so exasperating and so difficult to get out of? What keeps us stuck at this moral level? If our enemies were all fire and brimstone they would be easy to see; but theyâre not so obvious. The battle hasnât been a swift, clean, violent clash, but a lethargic, smothering goo-offensive.
Their Predation of Innocence. A child stares with wide-eyed wonder at the gigantic industries of Man: the huge vehicles, the rigs and trains that like a bloodstream, supply life to the nation. Watching his father in operation of this wonderfully complex machinery, he thinks, âWow, my father is a giant.â The man makes his living and is seen by innocent eyes as a hero. Then the child hears unsettling lessons that tell him that his fatherâs role is predatory, that his making of money is vicious and that his creations are destruction. Nothing the boy can witness in his fatherâs bearing suggests any malevolent intention. He sees only an active, able figure, intent on its task. Even if the work is dangerous, he feels an immense exhilaration, and strangely, safety. His actual response to evilâthat sense of arresting fearâmore appropriately describes the feelings he has for such teachers. Confused he remains silent, but inwardly he knows something is out of line.
Whether his father is a fisherman, a foreman or an executive, he isnât thinking of destroying the world, of cheating or harming anyone. Heâs thinking about the Visa bill that was due yesterday, or the overtime he needs in order to buy that bicycle for his sonâs birthday which he didnât budget for. He, like the rest of us, is keeping his family afloat and trying to make life comfortable in the process, and thatâs it. We are not evil. Often, life is too perplexing for us to consider having any motives at all, beyond earning a decent living and being able to enjoy it. We spend the majority of our days working, never having enough time to relax and reflect, and we get to find out every Sunday how black our hearts are; what evils lurk beneath our surface. Hearing this, a strange uneasiness washes over; we know we donât feel any real negativity, but we also know that we are supposed to just listen and accept. Too emotionally exhausted to consider making an issue of it and sensing no reward if victorious anyway, that is what we do. It is a big mistake: beyond that controversy lies the most critical values of living.
If weâre brave enough to make a query, weâll hear something like, âA question reveals a doubt. You donât doubt your Savior, do you?â Stammering, we respond, âWell, no.â Unarmed and uncertain, we feel safer to remain anonymous on the subject, fearing that a less than perfect understanding would reveal a moral flaw. But we would not fear condemnation for an honest question or error if its antithesis were not protectedâappreciation and reward for maintaining a pretense, such as irrational perfection. Mankind would come out of hiding from moral judgment if an unquestionable, unaccountable force was not held to rule morality; if objective values were considered moral, such as the furtherance of his life; if he had the right to defend himself and to see morality as an issue of defense; if he were free to love the things he loves, and free to investigate their cause; if righteousness was not preached as an impossibility to hopelessly strive for; if he felt safe in seeking answers for his confusion.
It would be a different world for all of us if actual virtues were rewarded as we grew up. The dynamic motion of youth, fearlessly speeding along to their dreams could be all around us, as would be the marvels of their creation. But until recent history, the professionals in any field have not been acknowledged as the good, but damned as exploiters, highway robbers and fools. Nothing breeds hesitation in us quicker than watching our idols fall, physically and morally. Witnessing their hardships does not encourage youth or anyone else to follow. The bright future of a pioneer has historically been a daunting road of sneers, ridicule, intimidation, torture and sometimes even murder. How long have we been kept from emulating or even identifying the best, and for what reasons? The struggle would be palatable if we had a clear choice of good or evil, but I look around and I see that the actual good has no explicit representation in the world. As a result, only the bravest strike out on this path, while the rest dread stepping away from the skirt.
Good and evil are so intertwined in our culture that neither is independently recognizable, which of course was premeditated. This made it impossible to define guilt rationally or to refute its abusive misapplication. Everyone dreads the horrible feeling of a moral failureâthe shame, the downcast eyes, the public knowledge that one has intentionally chosen the wrongâto rob, to deceive, to harm or to sponge. No one wants to be that kind of outsider. Guilt is a dreadful emotion to deserve, and very important to feel for the right reasons; but what if for the most part, we donât deserve to feel it? This inversion has us feeling guilty for making our living, for feeling good about ourselves and for upholding rational standards. Guilt is a correctional facility in itself for those who really want to live; but it is a brutal trauma to experience if undeserved, and is a sacrilege if imposed dishonestly. When you work hard and accomplish something great, then hear you are a greedy, selfish hater of those less endowed, you should be mad. When we reach our limit of tolerance and become offended, theyâll tell us not to take it personally. Iâm here to tell you, take it personally. Look at your accuser. Steady eyes will see the way.
thanks and best wishes,
Ronald E. Springer
EthicsUnderground.com