Thank you for this post, I have shared it with friends. Something truly helpful for tending to my well-being in these times has been to memorize this verse from Rudolf Steiner. I offer it as as a resource for anyone who may resonate with it: "We must eradicate from the soul all fear and terror of what comes toward Man, out of the future. We must acquire serenity in all feelings and sensations about the future.
We must look forward with absolute equanimity to everything that may come. And we must think only that whatever comes is given to us by a world-directive full of wisdom.
It is part of what we must learn in this age, namely, to live out of pure trust, without any security in existence - trust in the ever-present help of the spiritual world. Truly, nothing else will do if our courage is not to fail us.
And let us seek the awakening from within ourselves, every morning and every evening."
"to live out of pure trust, without any security in existence - trust in the ever-present help of the spiritual world. Truly, nothing else will do if our courage is not to fail us."
That leads to a reduction of resistance. That is exactly what the bad decision makers want us to do - reduce our resistance and just trust.
Chris, I can see how one could interpret that way, "just trust," it's a great point. I agree that it is vital to resist the bad decision-makers. I believe that there is a path of simultaneous resistance and trust. Trusting not in the outer authorities nor that it will all work out if we stand by passively, but trust in one's inner authority and the spiritual world. I believe that right action (including resolute, courageous resistance) arises out of deep spiritual trust. I find truth in that paradox. In my life, this pure trust gives me the courage to write and speak what I believe to be right and true, (without seeking my security in existence) while I watch medical licensing boards attack and vilify my peers for doing the same thing. As RFK Jr said in a recent speech, "I'd rather die with my boots on." The last line of the verse resonates the most with me. With so much incomprehensible crap going on in the world, so much bad decision-making and followers of bad decisions, I come back to seeking the awakening from within myself, and acting from that place. Some days I do better with that than others. Thoughts?
Not trust the bad decision makers! Trust oneself, trust in the power of love and life...and damned well carry on resisting...and also finding solutions and better paths...there is much to do.
Whilst I agree with much of what you say, especially with regards to acknowledging other people's choices; I also struggle with the fact that the UK Govt and NHS response to convid left me with oral cancer and now a speech impediment which impacts on my ability to work (have been an online lecturer for 12 years), impacted on my income for 12 months and at times my confidence especially on days when I know my speech is not clear or going out for a meal or having a takeaway even with friends at times as I can struggle with eating. That part varies and I never know how I am going to be.
Part of my personal response to this is positive. I tell my GP on a regular basis where to get off when he tries to send me for all sorts of cancer checks because I have had cancer. No, it was not genetic, it was trauma induced and caused by your colleagues and peers. I refuse as so many seem to do, to claim to be a 'cancer survivor'. It was a lump, it was removed, no big deal in that regard.
However, I struggle with the concept of everything happens for a reason relative to this. I also lost my dear mum a few months earlier than we probably would have done because she felt compelled to wear a face nappy although I am forever grateful that she did not live to see me undergo my surgery. Only to be assured that the day she died she knew I had a private hospital appt (although obviously, given it was only 3 hours after she passed, I could not attend).
Yes, I struggle remaining positive. I go out, spend time amongst nature, walking, enjoying my dogs. I have never been that materialistic and in later life that social even. But when you realise that something you have said to someone whilst out and about, despite their being ever so polite and making out that they have understood you but knowing that you have not been able to speak with clarity, encourages you towards silence. In many respects, I don't feel comfortable with everyday life never mind the worries I have about the potential evil plans those who have caused this have for us all and its further impact on myself and my family. I cannot fathom a reason and nor do I think I want to for what has happened and what is happening. I try not to wallow in the 'its not fair' but it isn't fair. My consultant may be great and also a non-believer but I should not have needed him, surgery or anything else.
Max, thank you for your clarity and beautiful sharing of your experiences and reflections.
To me you are showing transcendent healing, at a highly inspirational level.
The deepest growths are by nature deeply challenging.
For what it might be worth to you, I became aware of my own growth (to peace and fearlessness) after time enough (many years of traumas - I'm 65 now) to move from being immersed (and mostly overwhelmed by grief and self-destructive urges and habits) to becoming an observer of who and what I thought I was.
I choose to sleep, on many days, for much longer than is considered 'healthy'. Sometimes 12 hours or more.
Each of us is different, and on our own unique path.
I'm very privileged and humbled to have seen your comments above, and to benefit from your energies, which to me are powerful beyond words.
Each of us is a work in progress. To bare one's soul when still in turmoil, is a uniquely brave and powerful teaching and inspiration.
Please forgive me if any of my words are unhelpful. I'm simply wanting to express my admiration for you.
I would like to send you love and kindness, you are bruised. Why wouldn’t you be? Please accept my condolences for the hardships you have had and are enduring.
Hi Max. So sorry for your struggles. Sending you warm thoughts and healing from the western US. Your story touched me and I can relate. Keep spending time in nature and give your dogs lots of love. As I write this, I am enjoying the sound of my purring cat and snoring dog. We are here for each other. 💜
There are protocols that Dr. Mercola has suggested for ridding oneself of some of the side effects of the jab. Sadly because he is one of the 'Disinformation Dozen' much of his output isn't as easily available as it was previously, but maybe if you go to his website and he's also on Telegram, you might get some helpful info. There is also something called nano-ised zeolite which removes heavy metals from the body from which most of us suffer anyway not to mention from jabs, metals such as Aluminium, which has no place in the body. Best wishes to you and may you soon recuperate.
Thank you. But I need hope. I need to see evidence that we can win this, that those barstools cannot go on harming and killing people. It is like two separate fights, and I can only deal with one, so it has to be the one which protects us all. That is the only one where a difference can be made, where hopefully we can prevent harm and enable a life for the young. Hope that makes sense
Maxine I know a dear lady who had part of her tongue removed due to cancer. Initially I could scarcely understand her and felt so frustrated for her but as time progressed, she was suddenly speaking perfectly well. I was quite amazed! She didn't do anything different but kept talking to people anyway, and somehow everything adjusted. Xx
What I've learned is to feel my feelings but to act on my intellect. Feelings are whimsical and subject to change whereas facts are immutable. And for some reason that lets me stay positive for the most part. That and staying in the moment.
Yes. The fluctuation of feelings as cloud-like phenomena is a significant part of a 'true' yogic practice.
Although I will quibble slightly with 'facts.' They have an elusive quality to them, too. As our perceived truths change what we thought of as 'facts' often, perhaps even usually, change. This covid experience has been a total wake up call and demand to see beyond existing 'facts' to the truth and then the truth beyond that truth, an endless helical change.
David Byrnes plays with facts wonderfully in his song "Crosseyed and Painless":
More seriously, John Ralston Saul pointed out that 'facts' and 'experts' were the path to an imprisoning ideology in his excellent book "Voltaire's Bastards: The Dictatorship of Reason in the West."
Pardon the length of this, but I think it is helpful and I only recently learned/adopted it, but find it very useful.
We're exposed to a lot of negative news/ideas/narrative, especially the last couple of years. The propaganda machine repeats this 24/7/365, so much so it is hard to avoid it. Friends and loved ones around you repeat or want to discuss/debate it. All the while, this is living in your head, some say "rent free". What I heard that I find helpful is to think about the stuff like you think about the arc of a ball thrown a long way. You pay attention to the release of the ball, and then run to where you expect it to fall into your hands. In between time, you either don't look at it at all, or maybe glance at it enough to verify the arc of the ball and your progress to where it will land.
Negative narratives and other stuff bombard us and try to reverberate the narrative message. This isn't Truth. Most times, the narrative is "programming" intended to get you to believe what They want you to believe, e.g. "we (the bad guys) are winning". They want you to be demoralized and easier to defeat and control. If you disallow their messaging to affect you, except when you choose to check in on it (like looking at the arc of the ball in the air), they are not poisoning your mind and heart the rest of the time.
I used to "doom scroll" the internet in the early part of the Plandemic, and it definitely negatively affected my outlook. I burned out and backed off of this after about six months, naturally, but it was awful in the mean time. And I know I repeated a lot of that to my friends and family, making them suffer too (even though they were eager to hear "the latest").
There are some things you want to watch more carefully than others, of course, but for the big stuff, the Bad Guys are (constantly) telling you what they WANT to happen, and hoping things will go their way. If you are demoralized enough, they win. Better to hear them say what they WANT, and then spend your energy Living Life and doing what is really important to you. Don't let them live "rent free" in your head and your heart. Take note, but don't become consumed by it.
Dr. Tess, this may interest you....The real answer !! [understanding evil]
[Lisa Castro]
·
This is probably the best answer I've ever heard to the question, "Why did God create evil?"
Why did God create evil? The answer struck me to the core of my soul!
A professor at the university asked his students the following question:
- Everything that exists was created by God?
One student bravely answered:
- Yes, created by God.
- Did God create everything? - a professor asked.
“Yes, sir,” replied the student.
The professor asked :
- If God created everything, then God created evil, since it exists. And according to the principle that our deeds define ourselves, then God is evil.
The student became silent after hearing such an answer. The professor was very pleased with himself. He boasted to students for proving once again that faith in God is a myth.
Another student raised his hand and said:
- Can I ask you a question, professor?
"Of course," replied the professor.
A student got up and asked:
- Professor, is cold a thing?
- What kind of question? Of course it exists. Have you ever been cold?
Students laughed at the young man's question. The young man answered:
- Actually, sir, cold doesn't exist. According to the laws of physics, what we consider cold is actually the absence of heat. A person or object can be studied on whether it has or transmits energy.
Absolute zero (-460 degrees Fahrenheit) is a complete absence of heat. All matter becomes inert and unable to react at this temperature. Cold does not exist. We created this word to describe what we feel in the absence of heat.
A student continued:
- Professor, does darkness exist?
— Of course it exists.
- You're wrong again, sir. Darkness also does not exist. Darkness is actually the absence of light. We can study the light but not the darkness. We can use Newton's prism to spread white light across multiple colors and explore the different wavelengths of each color. You can't measure darkness. A simple ray of light can break into the world of darkness and illuminate it. How can you tell how dark a certain space is? You measure how much light is presented. Isn't it so? Darkness is a term man uses to describe what happens in the absence of light.
In the end, the young man asked the professor:
- Sir, does evil exist?
This time it was uncertain, the professor answered:
- Of course, as I said before. We see him every day. Cruelty, numerous crimes and violence throughout the world. These examples are nothing but a manifestation of evil.
To this, the student answered:
- Evil does not exist, sir, or at least it does not exist for itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is like darkness and cold—a man-made word to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is not faith or love, which exist as light and warmth. Evil is the result of the absence of Divine love in the human heart. It’s the kind of cold that comes when there is no heat, or the kind of darkness that comes when there’s no light.
I often think to myself ,that what the Astronomers claim may not be right ,namely that some fourteen billion years ago the cosmos / Universe was all compressed into something smaller than an atom ,a singularity . As we all know energy can be converted to matter ,and matter can be converted to energy .Is it not possible that fourteen billion years ago the Universe was all energy ,without matter ? Could it also be possible that part of that energy converted in an instant to matter ,in the form of stars ? Astronomers claim the creation of the Universe as it is today came about faster than the speed of light ,it was everywhere in the vastness of space at the same time . Not all energy was converted to matter we are told ,lots of dark energy still exists beside the matter ,the stars .Of course I may be wrong from top to bottom of this comment,and I would be happy if some of you point out why I''m wrong . Did the cosmic egg explode ,to form stars ,or did part of the energy convert to matter ?? what was it ??
I'm sure many who subscribe to this sort of thinking will find me to be ignorant. But I can't come around to this way of thinking. That quote that you cited means that all of the evil that was perpetrated for the last 3 years, was " meant " to happen.
I do not believe there is any higher power that intended for people to be abused and suffer this way.
Furthermore I feel that the implication of 'only worrying about things that you control', is that you should learn to control ever bigger things. For instance: if I'm currently not able to exert influence on the WHO or the government decisions on pandemics, then I should learn new skill sets so that I can influence those evil decisions. We get the government we deserve and all that.
I'm more in the camp/belief of "A higher power has given us all agency. And regardless of the choices that are made by each person, there are unavoidable consequences - some of which will affect others negatively." What we do with our agency, given what is before us (possibly as a consequence of someone's actions) is what defines us.
It's hard to accept empathy on behalf of others when through their conscious choices they have inflicted pain/suffering on us, because we don't see ourselves making those choices. What brought them to those choices is often not known by us, and can make the difference between whether (under the same circumstances/options/pressure) we would do the same.
I fully accept the fact that there is almost nobody who makes the decision that they think is "evil". They think they're doing what is right. And in that sense I have empathy for other people. They are likely just acting out of fear most of the time.
"evil" is probably a subjective term. I think there are some who make decisions solely for THEIR best interests, without regard to others.
I tried reading Klaus Schwab's book, and couldn't make it past a few pages. I realized he's fairly brilliant, but pathological, and his decisions are being made for what HE thinks is best for the rest of us, and when WE don't have a say in it, that's wrong. There's a degree of persuasion that is needed to get others on board with our ideas, and perhaps there is a better way, or the downsides don't merit the risks/consequences - period, and shouldn't be taken. And some don't accept "no", or "not right now" very well.
For some, the ends DOES justify the means, even when it negatively impacts others.
Where do you call it evil? I'd say it's at the line where you've taken away others' right to choose. (be it by force, deceit, etc).
I like your last sentence better than your first if I may make so bold. Taking away another's right to choose is evil indeed and there is nothing subjective about it. It means treating someone else as a being with lesser rights than yourself. Which is and has been all through history a source of great evil.
I believe these people had evil intentions from the outset - money, power, control and murder. As you said, they only had their best interests at heart with no care, compassion, feelings or thought for others.
Most terms are subjective. "Evil" is of course subjective. Whether the Nazis were evil or the Allied Forces were evil, is dictated by which side you were on. But in this context we could substitute the word "harmful".
The energies (esp yours) of fearless pioneering are infinite, because they are powered by love.
For me, Dabrowski's Theory of Positive Disintegration helped me reframe trauma as growth; switch dark to light; fear to love, especially to love of our 'self'.
Erik Erikson's Life Stage Theory is fabulous too; emergent design at the level of the soul.
Each of us is on our own path, from conception to whatever follows living in our human form.
Letting go of who/what we imagined ourselves to be and imagined we could/should become, is a grief of profound growth; to real maturity and the fearlessness we knew as little children.
It's in each of our hearts, waiting to be rediscovered.
Imagine the power of increasingly vast numbers of people realising this.
It's happening. Faster, bigger, deeper and more creatively powerfully every moment.
Evil lost to love and goodness long before all the nonsense was started.
Theory of Positive Disintegration falls like music on my ears. It seems that most of us acquire some degree of trauma while growing up. Psychologists and psychiatrists may have a point there especially as lay-man observations teach the same. Personally I have come to see the traumatized condition a childhood almost invariably bestows as an amount of capital to be invested in the life that follows. Suffering - if we do not reject it outright as being "undeserved" - deepens our understanding of ourselves, which is a good place to start life from. The present crisis has made this even clearer to me.
I am aware however that many people seem unwilling to take this point of view. They consider pain and suffering as mishaps that have no right to be. Some, much even, certainly should be eradicated but not all. Some is needful as it has something to teach. The very fact that this can be discussed here already seems a little change for the better.
How difficult or easy it is for each of us to cultivate optimism in times of adversity appears to me to be largely effected by what is commonly called our "personality types," initially analyzed in great detail by Carl Jung. There are several systems in common use today, and I don't believe any of them could be described as being based on "true science," but nonetheless they can provide a useful terminology for intelligently discussing these seemingly built-in (but not entirely immutable) patterns of reaction to what's going on in the world around us.
I happen to be a textbook example of what the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator system describes as "introverted, intuiting, thinking and perceiving," which is well described at http://www.personalitypage.com/html/INTP.html. Because of that I found it a piece of cake to be entirely immune to all of the deliberate fear-mongering behind the "plandemic" right from day one. Compare that to the diametrically opposed "extraverted, sensing, feeling and judging" type described at http://www.personalitypage.com/html/ESFJ.html and especially under the rubric of "Potential Problem Areas" discussed at http://www.personalitypage.com/html/ESFJ_per.html.
Because of such built-in differences, each of us has to find our own highly personalized path to what I like to describe as "psycho-social recovery." But most important to me personally throughout all of this COVID debacle has been simply to understand what the heck appears to be going on in the minds of those I interact with based on their innate personality types, without judging them for what appears to me as their natural, built-in "problem areas."
Loved reading this. In acceptance there is peace and that is true. Life is full of hard things. Seeking the LORD will also strengthen one’s resolve to be hopeful. Advise from my mother in law was simple: Find a promise in the Bible and pray it back to God. I soon found that for every need, there is a promise:
Is it peace? “Thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee because he trusts in thee.” Isaiah 26:3
Is it fear? “Fear not for I AM with you; be not dismayed, for I AM your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you.
Is it a need? “And my God shall supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19
There is a treasure trove full of hope found in the living word. Now is the time to dust off our Bibles and find Him who loves us and will see us through.
Thanks Tess for your insights. Some speak of " Covid times" as if it
is in the past. As I see it THEY were just rattling our cage to see to what extent we would comply with idiocy . Throughout, the terrifying part for me has been the feeling of being up against ignorance on the part of people I aways imagined would be WITH me on the barricades. Every time I think of entering a shop I experience a frisson of anxiety thinking of the argument coming about not having a mask. Until I remember that for now we are not required to wear one. I feel intense anger at Gateshead , Fauci, et al for what they have done to the world. I hate the medical profession and would rather die than go into hospital. I am frustrated with doctors who are still looking at their shoes. So I think the trauma is deep. We all have a degree of PTSD
I find daily solace in Nature and in like minded sites like this. But I think the answer is going to be finding community and at last being able to talk openly about what's happening.
Thanks for this. I can really relate to it having felt as you did during the mad Covid time - and I still struggle even now it all had such a negative effect on me. Thanks for the reminder that things do seem to happen for reason, nothing is permanent and you must strive to change what you can and learn to live with what you can't.
Say a hundred good things happen and then a really bad thing happens to cancel out all those good things. Or, say the opposite occurs. Dividing events and occurrences into good and bad is the problem. Labeling everything is what causes pain. If it's called good, you are happy, if it's called bad, you are not. Give up the yo-yo life and see that things just are. Happiness and optimism are not dependent on events being called positive or negative.
Dear Tess, I also am from SA, not born there, but was there from '68 till 2010...had to keep my pecker up in the face of apartheid. I was anti-racist but needed to escape a violent husband in the UK and asked for help from my dad who'd moved to SA long before, it felt the safest place for me and my 3 year old child, so far away from England and nasty husband who would never dream I'd go there.
I think my living in SA with the almost constant feeling of guilt, and despair because I was ok, but the majority were not, was I think, part of what taught me to stay positive. I was scared of the police, I wanted to make friends with black people, I wanted justice to prevail, but had to stay safe for my daughters sake, so I couldn't stick my neck out too far. I wanted to talk politics, but nobody else wanted to, they were too scared or disinterested. I had to stay positive for my daughters sake, which wasn't that difficult, because for the first time in my young life I had Freedom, yes even though Apartheid stopped one crossing the colour barrier, being white was truly privileged and allowed one to do just about everything else except cross the colour boundary. I learned goldsmithing from a friend and opened up my own business, I hitch hiked between Cape Town and Johannesburg, had a coloured friend, learned to drive, went camping into the wilds as often as possible, all things that would have been , from my narrow perspective of life in Northern England, unobtainable...what a wonderful life, but always in the background and around me, be it the pokey servants rooms at the back of white properties, or the 'Whites Only' entrance notices, the reminders of injustice, the faces of dark skinned people who looked down when passing a white person, the violence of the police, constant reminders of cruelty which kept me talking whenever I felt I could, against the travesty of segregation. I think those years of personal empowerment from running my own business combined with a determination to do my little bit to help dismantle that disgusting regime, plus having to stay on the straight and narrow in order to keep my daughter safe, infused me with a determined stubbornness in the face of adversity, it also taught me love and empathy, of which I didn't have much when a teenager...I thought people were awful and preferred animals (to cut a long story short)
I never thought that I'd be faced once again with that awful 'us and them' scenario, albeit a rather different one, never thought I'd be faced with even greater travesties against people, than those already played out back then, which feels like a stone in my heart on some days, but whenever I get too low, something in me grabs a hold, and I remind myself to be grateful for what I have for the sun shining (when it does), for the lovely people with whom I have contact; actually thanks to this unfolding debacle...My stubbornness kicks in, my determination to do whatever it is I feel capable of doing to stop the continuation of all the cruel stupidities being perpetrated by the careless, greedy or sleepy. We shall overcome!
Thank you Tess for your wise words. I have turned the mirror on myself more recently. It would be foolish and arrogant not to learn lessons about oneself from this pandemic, even if I consider myself 'awake'. Being unvaccinated, I don't consider myself brave and a freedom fighter. Far from it. Luckily for me, I just happened to trust the right people. But I have felt very ashamed for my cowardice and negativity, and I'm not surprised my family and friends don't tend to want to listen to me, as I can get very dark. I've battled this aspect of myself for years, but it is very entrenched, and numerous therapies don't seem to have helped. True leadership is being able to offer hope and compassion, and only then, perhaps in time others may come over to our side. Unfortunately, endless 'truth bombs' just frighten people away, and I don't blame them. What I have been through, this 'awakening', has so far been disturbing, isolating and upsetting.The endless nights I've sat up alone in bed over the last 3 years, wondering what on earth is happening in the world, questing whether my family are in fact right, and I am just brainwashed by conspiracy I have read online. But I don't think so. I am alone and unhappy, but not crazy. I remember reading Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archilpelago and thinking, 'Are we teetering on the brink of this happening again in my life time?' My lovely family wonder why I chose to upset myself reading such things, and they probably have a point. They live more in the moment, and I consider that beautiful, not naive. The only conclusion I could draw for this isolation and suffering I have endured - and I desperately needed to find some sort of meaning - was that I was on this path for a reason, so I concluded, maybe it is to help others. I hope that is a sincere thought, and not arrogance on my part.
Thank you for this post, I have shared it with friends. Something truly helpful for tending to my well-being in these times has been to memorize this verse from Rudolf Steiner. I offer it as as a resource for anyone who may resonate with it: "We must eradicate from the soul all fear and terror of what comes toward Man, out of the future. We must acquire serenity in all feelings and sensations about the future.
We must look forward with absolute equanimity to everything that may come. And we must think only that whatever comes is given to us by a world-directive full of wisdom.
It is part of what we must learn in this age, namely, to live out of pure trust, without any security in existence - trust in the ever-present help of the spiritual world. Truly, nothing else will do if our courage is not to fail us.
And let us seek the awakening from within ourselves, every morning and every evening."
-Rudolf Steiner
"to live out of pure trust, without any security in existence - trust in the ever-present help of the spiritual world. Truly, nothing else will do if our courage is not to fail us."
That leads to a reduction of resistance. That is exactly what the bad decision makers want us to do - reduce our resistance and just trust.
Chris, I can see how one could interpret that way, "just trust," it's a great point. I agree that it is vital to resist the bad decision-makers. I believe that there is a path of simultaneous resistance and trust. Trusting not in the outer authorities nor that it will all work out if we stand by passively, but trust in one's inner authority and the spiritual world. I believe that right action (including resolute, courageous resistance) arises out of deep spiritual trust. I find truth in that paradox. In my life, this pure trust gives me the courage to write and speak what I believe to be right and true, (without seeking my security in existence) while I watch medical licensing boards attack and vilify my peers for doing the same thing. As RFK Jr said in a recent speech, "I'd rather die with my boots on." The last line of the verse resonates the most with me. With so much incomprehensible crap going on in the world, so much bad decision-making and followers of bad decisions, I come back to seeking the awakening from within myself, and acting from that place. Some days I do better with that than others. Thoughts?
Having decided to be a lone ranger in this world has served me best .
so very well said. our essential natures are strong with a passionate desire to stand for and with Nature and what i call godNess.
Not trust the bad decision makers! Trust oneself, trust in the power of love and life...and damned well carry on resisting...and also finding solutions and better paths...there is much to do.
Whilst I agree with much of what you say, especially with regards to acknowledging other people's choices; I also struggle with the fact that the UK Govt and NHS response to convid left me with oral cancer and now a speech impediment which impacts on my ability to work (have been an online lecturer for 12 years), impacted on my income for 12 months and at times my confidence especially on days when I know my speech is not clear or going out for a meal or having a takeaway even with friends at times as I can struggle with eating. That part varies and I never know how I am going to be.
Part of my personal response to this is positive. I tell my GP on a regular basis where to get off when he tries to send me for all sorts of cancer checks because I have had cancer. No, it was not genetic, it was trauma induced and caused by your colleagues and peers. I refuse as so many seem to do, to claim to be a 'cancer survivor'. It was a lump, it was removed, no big deal in that regard.
However, I struggle with the concept of everything happens for a reason relative to this. I also lost my dear mum a few months earlier than we probably would have done because she felt compelled to wear a face nappy although I am forever grateful that she did not live to see me undergo my surgery. Only to be assured that the day she died she knew I had a private hospital appt (although obviously, given it was only 3 hours after she passed, I could not attend).
Yes, I struggle remaining positive. I go out, spend time amongst nature, walking, enjoying my dogs. I have never been that materialistic and in later life that social even. But when you realise that something you have said to someone whilst out and about, despite their being ever so polite and making out that they have understood you but knowing that you have not been able to speak with clarity, encourages you towards silence. In many respects, I don't feel comfortable with everyday life never mind the worries I have about the potential evil plans those who have caused this have for us all and its further impact on myself and my family. I cannot fathom a reason and nor do I think I want to for what has happened and what is happening. I try not to wallow in the 'its not fair' but it isn't fair. My consultant may be great and also a non-believer but I should not have needed him, surgery or anything else.
Max, thank you for your clarity and beautiful sharing of your experiences and reflections.
To me you are showing transcendent healing, at a highly inspirational level.
The deepest growths are by nature deeply challenging.
For what it might be worth to you, I became aware of my own growth (to peace and fearlessness) after time enough (many years of traumas - I'm 65 now) to move from being immersed (and mostly overwhelmed by grief and self-destructive urges and habits) to becoming an observer of who and what I thought I was.
I choose to sleep, on many days, for much longer than is considered 'healthy'. Sometimes 12 hours or more.
Each of us is different, and on our own unique path.
I'm very privileged and humbled to have seen your comments above, and to benefit from your energies, which to me are powerful beyond words.
Each of us is a work in progress. To bare one's soul when still in turmoil, is a uniquely brave and powerful teaching and inspiration.
Please forgive me if any of my words are unhelpful. I'm simply wanting to express my admiration for you.
Infinite love and thanks to you,
Alan x
I would like to send you love and kindness, you are bruised. Why wouldn’t you be? Please accept my condolences for the hardships you have had and are enduring.
Hi Max. So sorry for your struggles. Sending you warm thoughts and healing from the western US. Your story touched me and I can relate. Keep spending time in nature and give your dogs lots of love. As I write this, I am enjoying the sound of my purring cat and snoring dog. We are here for each other. 💜
There are protocols that Dr. Mercola has suggested for ridding oneself of some of the side effects of the jab. Sadly because he is one of the 'Disinformation Dozen' much of his output isn't as easily available as it was previously, but maybe if you go to his website and he's also on Telegram, you might get some helpful info. There is also something called nano-ised zeolite which removes heavy metals from the body from which most of us suffer anyway not to mention from jabs, metals such as Aluminium, which has no place in the body. Best wishes to you and may you soon recuperate.
Thank you. But I need hope. I need to see evidence that we can win this, that those barstools cannot go on harming and killing people. It is like two separate fights, and I can only deal with one, so it has to be the one which protects us all. That is the only one where a difference can be made, where hopefully we can prevent harm and enable a life for the young. Hope that makes sense
Maxine I know a dear lady who had part of her tongue removed due to cancer. Initially I could scarcely understand her and felt so frustrated for her but as time progressed, she was suddenly speaking perfectly well. I was quite amazed! She didn't do anything different but kept talking to people anyway, and somehow everything adjusted. Xx
What I've learned is to feel my feelings but to act on my intellect. Feelings are whimsical and subject to change whereas facts are immutable. And for some reason that lets me stay positive for the most part. That and staying in the moment.
Yes. The fluctuation of feelings as cloud-like phenomena is a significant part of a 'true' yogic practice.
Although I will quibble slightly with 'facts.' They have an elusive quality to them, too. As our perceived truths change what we thought of as 'facts' often, perhaps even usually, change. This covid experience has been a total wake up call and demand to see beyond existing 'facts' to the truth and then the truth beyond that truth, an endless helical change.
David Byrnes plays with facts wonderfully in his song "Crosseyed and Painless":
https://youtu.be/_Zrkf65GmwE (Live performance--so good!)
“Facts are simple and facts are straight.
Facts are lazy and facts are late.
Facts all come with points of view.
Facts don't do what I want them to.
Facts just twist the truth around.
Facts are living turned inside out.
Facts are getting the best of them
Facts are nothing on the face of things
Facts don't stain the furniture
Facts go out and slam the door
Facts are written all over your face
Facts continue to change their shape.
More seriously, John Ralston Saul pointed out that 'facts' and 'experts' were the path to an imprisoning ideology in his excellent book "Voltaire's Bastards: The Dictatorship of Reason in the West."
Came across this and thought of you, Tess. You're such an inspiration!
"You finally fall asleep.
And when you wake up, it's true.
You are part of a brand-new world."
Haruki Murakami
How beautiful, thank you for sharing, Keith.
Anne, in Anne of Green Gables said the exact same thing, paraphrased: Each day is new, without any mistakes.
Thank you for sharing that, Guy.
Here's to THIS new day! Cheers!
Pardon the length of this, but I think it is helpful and I only recently learned/adopted it, but find it very useful.
We're exposed to a lot of negative news/ideas/narrative, especially the last couple of years. The propaganda machine repeats this 24/7/365, so much so it is hard to avoid it. Friends and loved ones around you repeat or want to discuss/debate it. All the while, this is living in your head, some say "rent free". What I heard that I find helpful is to think about the stuff like you think about the arc of a ball thrown a long way. You pay attention to the release of the ball, and then run to where you expect it to fall into your hands. In between time, you either don't look at it at all, or maybe glance at it enough to verify the arc of the ball and your progress to where it will land.
Negative narratives and other stuff bombard us and try to reverberate the narrative message. This isn't Truth. Most times, the narrative is "programming" intended to get you to believe what They want you to believe, e.g. "we (the bad guys) are winning". They want you to be demoralized and easier to defeat and control. If you disallow their messaging to affect you, except when you choose to check in on it (like looking at the arc of the ball in the air), they are not poisoning your mind and heart the rest of the time.
I used to "doom scroll" the internet in the early part of the Plandemic, and it definitely negatively affected my outlook. I burned out and backed off of this after about six months, naturally, but it was awful in the mean time. And I know I repeated a lot of that to my friends and family, making them suffer too (even though they were eager to hear "the latest").
There are some things you want to watch more carefully than others, of course, but for the big stuff, the Bad Guys are (constantly) telling you what they WANT to happen, and hoping things will go their way. If you are demoralized enough, they win. Better to hear them say what they WANT, and then spend your energy Living Life and doing what is really important to you. Don't let them live "rent free" in your head and your heart. Take note, but don't become consumed by it.
Thanks for listening! :)
Dr. Tess, this may interest you....The real answer !! [understanding evil]
[Lisa Castro]
·
This is probably the best answer I've ever heard to the question, "Why did God create evil?"
Why did God create evil? The answer struck me to the core of my soul!
A professor at the university asked his students the following question:
- Everything that exists was created by God?
One student bravely answered:
- Yes, created by God.
- Did God create everything? - a professor asked.
“Yes, sir,” replied the student.
The professor asked :
- If God created everything, then God created evil, since it exists. And according to the principle that our deeds define ourselves, then God is evil.
The student became silent after hearing such an answer. The professor was very pleased with himself. He boasted to students for proving once again that faith in God is a myth.
Another student raised his hand and said:
- Can I ask you a question, professor?
"Of course," replied the professor.
A student got up and asked:
- Professor, is cold a thing?
- What kind of question? Of course it exists. Have you ever been cold?
Students laughed at the young man's question. The young man answered:
- Actually, sir, cold doesn't exist. According to the laws of physics, what we consider cold is actually the absence of heat. A person or object can be studied on whether it has or transmits energy.
Absolute zero (-460 degrees Fahrenheit) is a complete absence of heat. All matter becomes inert and unable to react at this temperature. Cold does not exist. We created this word to describe what we feel in the absence of heat.
A student continued:
- Professor, does darkness exist?
— Of course it exists.
- You're wrong again, sir. Darkness also does not exist. Darkness is actually the absence of light. We can study the light but not the darkness. We can use Newton's prism to spread white light across multiple colors and explore the different wavelengths of each color. You can't measure darkness. A simple ray of light can break into the world of darkness and illuminate it. How can you tell how dark a certain space is? You measure how much light is presented. Isn't it so? Darkness is a term man uses to describe what happens in the absence of light.
In the end, the young man asked the professor:
- Sir, does evil exist?
This time it was uncertain, the professor answered:
- Of course, as I said before. We see him every day. Cruelty, numerous crimes and violence throughout the world. These examples are nothing but a manifestation of evil.
To this, the student answered:
- Evil does not exist, sir, or at least it does not exist for itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is like darkness and cold—a man-made word to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is not faith or love, which exist as light and warmth. Evil is the result of the absence of Divine love in the human heart. It’s the kind of cold that comes when there is no heat, or the kind of darkness that comes when there’s no light.
The student's name was Albert Einstein.
4
I often think to myself ,that what the Astronomers claim may not be right ,namely that some fourteen billion years ago the cosmos / Universe was all compressed into something smaller than an atom ,a singularity . As we all know energy can be converted to matter ,and matter can be converted to energy .Is it not possible that fourteen billion years ago the Universe was all energy ,without matter ? Could it also be possible that part of that energy converted in an instant to matter ,in the form of stars ? Astronomers claim the creation of the Universe as it is today came about faster than the speed of light ,it was everywhere in the vastness of space at the same time . Not all energy was converted to matter we are told ,lots of dark energy still exists beside the matter ,the stars .Of course I may be wrong from top to bottom of this comment,and I would be happy if some of you point out why I''m wrong . Did the cosmic egg explode ,to form stars ,or did part of the energy convert to matter ?? what was it ??
Love that story. I have read it before, but it's been a while. Thanks for sharing!
Yes, great story. Unsure if true however, do you know?
Not sure whether the attribution is true or not. Regardless, it's still a great story.
I'm sure many who subscribe to this sort of thinking will find me to be ignorant. But I can't come around to this way of thinking. That quote that you cited means that all of the evil that was perpetrated for the last 3 years, was " meant " to happen.
I do not believe there is any higher power that intended for people to be abused and suffer this way.
Furthermore I feel that the implication of 'only worrying about things that you control', is that you should learn to control ever bigger things. For instance: if I'm currently not able to exert influence on the WHO or the government decisions on pandemics, then I should learn new skill sets so that I can influence those evil decisions. We get the government we deserve and all that.
I'm more in the camp/belief of "A higher power has given us all agency. And regardless of the choices that are made by each person, there are unavoidable consequences - some of which will affect others negatively." What we do with our agency, given what is before us (possibly as a consequence of someone's actions) is what defines us.
It's hard to accept empathy on behalf of others when through their conscious choices they have inflicted pain/suffering on us, because we don't see ourselves making those choices. What brought them to those choices is often not known by us, and can make the difference between whether (under the same circumstances/options/pressure) we would do the same.
I fully accept the fact that there is almost nobody who makes the decision that they think is "evil". They think they're doing what is right. And in that sense I have empathy for other people. They are likely just acting out of fear most of the time.
"evil" is probably a subjective term. I think there are some who make decisions solely for THEIR best interests, without regard to others.
I tried reading Klaus Schwab's book, and couldn't make it past a few pages. I realized he's fairly brilliant, but pathological, and his decisions are being made for what HE thinks is best for the rest of us, and when WE don't have a say in it, that's wrong. There's a degree of persuasion that is needed to get others on board with our ideas, and perhaps there is a better way, or the downsides don't merit the risks/consequences - period, and shouldn't be taken. And some don't accept "no", or "not right now" very well.
For some, the ends DOES justify the means, even when it negatively impacts others.
Where do you call it evil? I'd say it's at the line where you've taken away others' right to choose. (be it by force, deceit, etc).
I like your last sentence better than your first if I may make so bold. Taking away another's right to choose is evil indeed and there is nothing subjective about it. It means treating someone else as a being with lesser rights than yourself. Which is and has been all through history a source of great evil.
I believe these people had evil intentions from the outset - money, power, control and murder. As you said, they only had their best interests at heart with no care, compassion, feelings or thought for others.
Most terms are subjective. "Evil" is of course subjective. Whether the Nazis were evil or the Allied Forces were evil, is dictated by which side you were on. But in this context we could substitute the word "harmful".
Please don’t forget that almost 10% of us are psychopaths. Empathy and prayer do not fix them. They are evil.
Thanks Dr Tess for your beautiful work as ever.
IMHO:
The energies (esp yours) of fearless pioneering are infinite, because they are powered by love.
For me, Dabrowski's Theory of Positive Disintegration helped me reframe trauma as growth; switch dark to light; fear to love, especially to love of our 'self'.
Erik Erikson's Life Stage Theory is fabulous too; emergent design at the level of the soul.
Each of us is on our own path, from conception to whatever follows living in our human form.
Letting go of who/what we imagined ourselves to be and imagined we could/should become, is a grief of profound growth; to real maturity and the fearlessness we knew as little children.
It's in each of our hearts, waiting to be rediscovered.
Imagine the power of increasingly vast numbers of people realising this.
It's happening. Faster, bigger, deeper and more creatively powerfully every moment.
Evil lost to love and goodness long before all the nonsense was started.
Thanks and infinite love to all, Alan x
P.S. Here's a summary of Positive Disintegration for those anyone interested: https://www.businessballs.com/blog/personality-development-through-positive-disintegration/
Theory of Positive Disintegration falls like music on my ears. It seems that most of us acquire some degree of trauma while growing up. Psychologists and psychiatrists may have a point there especially as lay-man observations teach the same. Personally I have come to see the traumatized condition a childhood almost invariably bestows as an amount of capital to be invested in the life that follows. Suffering - if we do not reject it outright as being "undeserved" - deepens our understanding of ourselves, which is a good place to start life from. The present crisis has made this even clearer to me.
I am aware however that many people seem unwilling to take this point of view. They consider pain and suffering as mishaps that have no right to be. Some, much even, certainly should be eradicated but not all. Some is needful as it has something to teach. The very fact that this can be discussed here already seems a little change for the better.
Tsipora thanks for your beautiful words. We are the transcendent flow :)
How difficult or easy it is for each of us to cultivate optimism in times of adversity appears to me to be largely effected by what is commonly called our "personality types," initially analyzed in great detail by Carl Jung. There are several systems in common use today, and I don't believe any of them could be described as being based on "true science," but nonetheless they can provide a useful terminology for intelligently discussing these seemingly built-in (but not entirely immutable) patterns of reaction to what's going on in the world around us.
I happen to be a textbook example of what the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator system describes as "introverted, intuiting, thinking and perceiving," which is well described at http://www.personalitypage.com/html/INTP.html. Because of that I found it a piece of cake to be entirely immune to all of the deliberate fear-mongering behind the "plandemic" right from day one. Compare that to the diametrically opposed "extraverted, sensing, feeling and judging" type described at http://www.personalitypage.com/html/ESFJ.html and especially under the rubric of "Potential Problem Areas" discussed at http://www.personalitypage.com/html/ESFJ_per.html.
Because of such built-in differences, each of us has to find our own highly personalized path to what I like to describe as "psycho-social recovery." But most important to me personally throughout all of this COVID debacle has been simply to understand what the heck appears to be going on in the minds of those I interact with based on their innate personality types, without judging them for what appears to me as their natural, built-in "problem areas."
Loved reading this. In acceptance there is peace and that is true. Life is full of hard things. Seeking the LORD will also strengthen one’s resolve to be hopeful. Advise from my mother in law was simple: Find a promise in the Bible and pray it back to God. I soon found that for every need, there is a promise:
Is it peace? “Thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee because he trusts in thee.” Isaiah 26:3
Is it fear? “Fear not for I AM with you; be not dismayed, for I AM your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you.
Is it a need? “And my God shall supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19
There is a treasure trove full of hope found in the living word. Now is the time to dust off our Bibles and find Him who loves us and will see us through.
Thanks Tess for your insights. Some speak of " Covid times" as if it
is in the past. As I see it THEY were just rattling our cage to see to what extent we would comply with idiocy . Throughout, the terrifying part for me has been the feeling of being up against ignorance on the part of people I aways imagined would be WITH me on the barricades. Every time I think of entering a shop I experience a frisson of anxiety thinking of the argument coming about not having a mask. Until I remember that for now we are not required to wear one. I feel intense anger at Gateshead , Fauci, et al for what they have done to the world. I hate the medical profession and would rather die than go into hospital. I am frustrated with doctors who are still looking at their shoes. So I think the trauma is deep. We all have a degree of PTSD
I find daily solace in Nature and in like minded sites like this. But I think the answer is going to be finding community and at last being able to talk openly about what's happening.
Thanks for this. I can really relate to it having felt as you did during the mad Covid time - and I still struggle even now it all had such a negative effect on me. Thanks for the reminder that things do seem to happen for reason, nothing is permanent and you must strive to change what you can and learn to live with what you can't.
Say a hundred good things happen and then a really bad thing happens to cancel out all those good things. Or, say the opposite occurs. Dividing events and occurrences into good and bad is the problem. Labeling everything is what causes pain. If it's called good, you are happy, if it's called bad, you are not. Give up the yo-yo life and see that things just are. Happiness and optimism are not dependent on events being called positive or negative.
Dear Tess, I also am from SA, not born there, but was there from '68 till 2010...had to keep my pecker up in the face of apartheid. I was anti-racist but needed to escape a violent husband in the UK and asked for help from my dad who'd moved to SA long before, it felt the safest place for me and my 3 year old child, so far away from England and nasty husband who would never dream I'd go there.
I think my living in SA with the almost constant feeling of guilt, and despair because I was ok, but the majority were not, was I think, part of what taught me to stay positive. I was scared of the police, I wanted to make friends with black people, I wanted justice to prevail, but had to stay safe for my daughters sake, so I couldn't stick my neck out too far. I wanted to talk politics, but nobody else wanted to, they were too scared or disinterested. I had to stay positive for my daughters sake, which wasn't that difficult, because for the first time in my young life I had Freedom, yes even though Apartheid stopped one crossing the colour barrier, being white was truly privileged and allowed one to do just about everything else except cross the colour boundary. I learned goldsmithing from a friend and opened up my own business, I hitch hiked between Cape Town and Johannesburg, had a coloured friend, learned to drive, went camping into the wilds as often as possible, all things that would have been , from my narrow perspective of life in Northern England, unobtainable...what a wonderful life, but always in the background and around me, be it the pokey servants rooms at the back of white properties, or the 'Whites Only' entrance notices, the reminders of injustice, the faces of dark skinned people who looked down when passing a white person, the violence of the police, constant reminders of cruelty which kept me talking whenever I felt I could, against the travesty of segregation. I think those years of personal empowerment from running my own business combined with a determination to do my little bit to help dismantle that disgusting regime, plus having to stay on the straight and narrow in order to keep my daughter safe, infused me with a determined stubbornness in the face of adversity, it also taught me love and empathy, of which I didn't have much when a teenager...I thought people were awful and preferred animals (to cut a long story short)
I never thought that I'd be faced once again with that awful 'us and them' scenario, albeit a rather different one, never thought I'd be faced with even greater travesties against people, than those already played out back then, which feels like a stone in my heart on some days, but whenever I get too low, something in me grabs a hold, and I remind myself to be grateful for what I have for the sun shining (when it does), for the lovely people with whom I have contact; actually thanks to this unfolding debacle...My stubbornness kicks in, my determination to do whatever it is I feel capable of doing to stop the continuation of all the cruel stupidities being perpetrated by the careless, greedy or sleepy. We shall overcome!
Thank you Tess for your wise words. I have turned the mirror on myself more recently. It would be foolish and arrogant not to learn lessons about oneself from this pandemic, even if I consider myself 'awake'. Being unvaccinated, I don't consider myself brave and a freedom fighter. Far from it. Luckily for me, I just happened to trust the right people. But I have felt very ashamed for my cowardice and negativity, and I'm not surprised my family and friends don't tend to want to listen to me, as I can get very dark. I've battled this aspect of myself for years, but it is very entrenched, and numerous therapies don't seem to have helped. True leadership is being able to offer hope and compassion, and only then, perhaps in time others may come over to our side. Unfortunately, endless 'truth bombs' just frighten people away, and I don't blame them. What I have been through, this 'awakening', has so far been disturbing, isolating and upsetting.The endless nights I've sat up alone in bed over the last 3 years, wondering what on earth is happening in the world, questing whether my family are in fact right, and I am just brainwashed by conspiracy I have read online. But I don't think so. I am alone and unhappy, but not crazy. I remember reading Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archilpelago and thinking, 'Are we teetering on the brink of this happening again in my life time?' My lovely family wonder why I chose to upset myself reading such things, and they probably have a point. They live more in the moment, and I consider that beautiful, not naive. The only conclusion I could draw for this isolation and suffering I have endured - and I desperately needed to find some sort of meaning - was that I was on this path for a reason, so I concluded, maybe it is to help others. I hope that is a sincere thought, and not arrogance on my part.
Fron the beginning I have appreciated your support and efforts for all. Glad to see that you are living in Truth. God Bless you.