For several decades, ever since I was a small child, I have been what may be considered an "environmentalist." As a child, I had an innate and immediate love for nature, which was further inculcated by the responsible practices - not "tree hugging" - of my truly "caring conservative" parents. In the 1960s, my family was recycling as much as we could at the time, including newspapers, bottles and cans, and I honestly believed that was the way most people lived on planet Earth. When I moved to the Big Apple following college, I was stunned to discover that the largest city on Earth had no recycling programs, not even for newspaper!That unconcerned development was appalling enough, but I subsequently discovered upon
moving to Los Angeles that one of the sunniest places on Earth had almost no involvement in solar energy! Frankly, in consideration of the fact that even in some of the poorest parts of Greece decades ago one could find solar panels on homes for heating water, I view this omission in one of the richest areas of the world to be disgraceful. Moreover, all attempts at becoming "greener" have largely been met with open hostility, including "killing the electric car" and other atrocities committed by Big Business along the way.Shockingly, the destruction continues, not only unabated but actually exacerbated, no matter how much effort many generous, world-loving individuals have put into rectifying the situation, with countless man- and woman-hours spent worldwide on rallying for a better global attitude and policy towards the only home we all possess and share.
Heaven Above Earth?
My own natural activism has always been first and foremost that of preserving our planetary home. Along the way in this process, I kept butting heads with the utterly obstructive and unbalanced mentality towards our Earth expressed by organized religion. Because of my own interest and aptitude to religion, I decided to combine my efforts towards improving attitudes about life on planet Earth. An entire study could be made, of course, of the effects of religious psychosis on the environment, a derangement that made itself abundantly clear in the statements of the U.S.
Secretary of the Interior under President Ronald Reagan, James G. Watt. Based on his remarks, Watt was a fervent Christian whose apparent mission in life was to destroy the environment as much as he could because such global destruction would supposedly bring about the "Second Coming" of Jesus Christ. When I encountered this depraved mentality that would sacrifice hundreds of millions of people in order to "prove" the reality of a religious delusion, I was naturally struck by the notion that the First Coming had not even been proved to have happened, so it would be completely foolish to bet the house on the Second Coming.Despite various improvements made - because of the great personal cost and sacrifice by many individuals, including Christians who bucked the trend and were widely ridiculed,
castigated and abused for it - the attitude of many devoutly religious people today remains: "World be damned, my personal faith must reign." This selfish attitude is particularly obvious within the religions of Christianity and Islam. While Christians have made tremendous inroads from the dark days of Watts, because of their conditioning many Muslims continue to believe that they can and must outpopulate everyone else on the planet and that their "superior" religion must rule by hook or crook, regardless of the terrible cost to the environment and to human and non-human life.The facts are that we all must continue to address environmental degradation on every front, including and especially religious delusion that has no concern for our planetary home. Such delusion - such dementia - needs to be thoroughly addressed and
aggressively removed from the mass human psyche, or else we will see the deaths of hundreds of millions of people, not only because of a pending World War III or "Armageddon" based on religious psychosis, but also because the rampant overpopulation by the religiously inclined who have absolutely no concern for the environment or any particular life form on Earth but who are obsessively focussed on the "afterlife" and protecting the "good name" of God will undoubtedly lead to an environmental holocaust of global proportions, with the result of not only tremendous human suffering but the massive loss of life within the natural, non-human world as well. Frankly, it is quite apparent that at this point many if not most Muslim nations have very little interest in the environment. Again, religious psychosis evidently demands the destruction of the environment.In the end, no god possessing any decency at all would be interested in the massive destruction of "his" creation, including loss of life in numbers that stagger the mind - and that is precisely where we are headed. This fact of pending decimation means, of course, that when hundreds of millions are dead, all of this mindless religious bickering will have been for naught, proving itself not only useless but also highly dangerous, as many people believe it to be.
If we are going to save this earth for future generations, we simply must contain the rabid religious delusion ruining life, with absolutely no concern for "offending" religious sensibilities of any sort that stand in the way of preserving our global home. Such "religious sensibilities," in fact, are utterly offensive to those of us who actually care for being alive on planet Earth, who love this world, and who want to see our children and grandchildren live in health and happiness. Religious fundamentalism is one of the greatest threats to realizing this dream, and it needs to be checked now, or we will see the deaths of hundreds of millions within the coming decades.See also:
This Stinkin' Earth
Rain forests fall at 'alarming' rate
"Tipping point" on horizon for Greenland ice
Al Qaeda use two Down's syndrome women to blow up 99 people in Baghdad markets
Sustainable World
36 comments:
Remember, the 'electric car' runs on coal fired or nuclear produced electricty. and hopefully, wind produced energy........Electricity isn't 'free' it has to be manufactured.......
Yes, that's a good point - and one of the reasons I put the phrase "killing the electric car" in quotations, as a "so to speak" symbol representing the struggle, rather than serving as an example of eco-friendly perfection.
There are some problems with most environmentally oriented protocols, including recycling, which also produces a significant amount of pollution. As does the manufacture of solar panels, of course. Using the internet as we are doing right now is not exactly eco-friendly!
We can, however, continue to improve, so long as we are given the opportunity and means.
Please be sure to see Sustainable World for more information.
the international banking complex controls the money and with fractional banking, money is produced with debt - this debt produces slavery and increases the control of governments, the masses, and of course policy - this is an unsustainable direction with the only goal being increased growth and profits - these conglomerates indoctrinate societies into believing that producing and consuming is endless - the human species is mindlessly wandering down this path of destruction and will hopefully wake up before the planet is past the point of no return - reprogramming and educating the masses into actively doing everything they can to save this fragile global environment is a giant task that everyone must be involved in
It will probably please Acharya that Chevrolet has announced it will put the Volt car into production in 2010, producing several thousands of them in the first year.
The Volt will be a "plug-in" hybrid, which will allow the user to get roughly 40 miles on the electric battery before any fuel is used.
Here is the Volt:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgTcdfkihE4
Its a good looking little hot-rod too in my opinion.
We have allowed "big money" and "big oil" to dissuade us from pursuing the obvious, easy, non-polluting ways of producing electricity. Solar panels should be on all roofs and fences, small wind turbines should be atop every telephone poll, turbines could be placed in places in the ocean with large amounts of current, geo-thermal energy (the biggest and most untatpped source in my opinion) would be easiest of all, as at a mere two miles depth in the earths surface, the rock tempreture is 130'degrees F. One of the earth's deep gold mines has to have in 7 pounds of cool air pumped in for every one pound of gold they extract because of the profound heat a mere two miles down in South Africa. The earths core is hotter than the sun.
Alot of people dont know or are not aware of the underhanded methods oil companies use to defend the status quo. They actually fund some environmental groups that will fight any common sense approach to changing how we get our energy. British Petroleum was a huge funder of the Sierra Club during the debate on whether or not to drill in the Arctic Wildlife Natrual Reserve. This is the same BP that has oil wells all over the coastal waters of England. I promise you its not that they care for Alaska, it was money pure and simple to avoid drilling on any land that they didn't own. Alot of the anti-nuclear activist in the seventies were on the payrolls of big oil also. Nuclear energy doesn't produce carbon. It could be another stop-gap measure on the way to clean, cheap energy that is currently being researched.
I think the big money is afraid of "zero point" energy personally. It would be the "ultimate" solution, but it would give plentiful cheap energy to everyone who tapped into it, and I guarantee you we dont want that. I even dont want potential terrorists to have that myself.
Ive seen "Rapture" reverends who promote an escalation of war in the Middle East because they explicity want a world war there to force Jesus to come back. The biblical books of Revelation and Daniel and the writings of Ezekiel describe a war nearing the end of time in which Israel is surrounded by enemies and large forces from the north (Russia) and east (China--a 200 million man army) descend on her, but God miraculously steps in at the battle of "Armageddon" that takes place in the Megiddo Valley in Israel.
You see.................we are beginning to run out of time for these prophecies. Christ said all these things were to pass within a generation of a "fig tree" reblooming, which biblical interpreters for years took as the refounding of Israel in 1948 (which many have now moved back to 1967 when Jerusalem was taken by Israel). If nothing happens in the next thirty years or so, alot of these millenial "rapture" reverends are going to have alot of egg on their faces and alot of crow to eat.
According to their interpretation of some of these prophetic verses, the world simply cannot be here 50 years from now with no second coming having taken place, it would discount all that they have taught and believed in the last 60+plus years.
Thats why you see so many unconcereed about taking from the environment without replinishing it. They simply dont think we are going to be here much longer. The same people will cut down four trees but not even replant one, instead of replanting four for the four they have cut down. They are unconcerned.
Acharya has probably noted privately, if not expressed publically, that fundamentalist interpretation of the bible will probably only desist after the "rapture" does NOT happen in the time frame that it supposedly has to happen. By 2047, it will have been 70 years (the length of time god supposedly gave man in the "three-score-and-ten" speaking on life by one of the bibles verses) since 1967, and after this is when alot of the die-hards will begin en masse to "give up" on the rapture occuring, and that no half-a-billion people will be dissapearing and no heaven on earth is going to be created by a supreme being and no battle of Armageddon is going to be fought in Megiddo. Until then, unfortunately, there will be many who cling to the hope that a catastrophic war will take place and attempt to force the creator's hand (like Judas in the Garden in a way).
I have family that is dead set on the rapture and speak of it as if it will definitely take place within my life time. In the late eighties they predicted that it would have taken place by now, but they have (of course) moved their prognositications back. Some of these people never consider the damage that telling a child that he is going to be dissapearing before reaching middle adulthood does to the child. Why plan financially for a retirement? Why even bother to have a kid? We are all gonna dissapear in ten years, right? The religous sure are going to be let down. The most religious are literally hoping the middle east conflict does nothing but escalate. They'd rather have a world war instead of admitting they were wrong.
Don't worry about it... the rapture is due to start any day now and we will all be swept up into heaven to be with Jesus and his father God.
Bingo, Jeff!
One of the worst things about religion is that it distracts people from real problems. People think that "I believe in Jesus and Jesus loves me and I am going to heaven so all is right with the world." They are so blinded with this ideology that they don't see the very real problems in the world that are bringing misery, poverty and death needlessly to hundreds of millions of people right now and the looming environmental disasters that are on the horizon in the near future.
Unfortunately, since the environmental problems are mainly caused by corporate entities, individualist solutions will not work. Only national and worldwide political solutions will work and unfortunately the corporations that are the biggest polluters are in control throughout much of the world.
Precisely right, Jay. The problem is so massive at this point, we will need concerted efforts from entire nations and their corporate entities. Of course, individuals do have the ability to rally support for these changes that these governments must make - and we must do it.
Obviously, we should have done it back in the 70s during the so-called oil crisis. We would be much better off today had we made the move to alternative energy and stopped pouring hundreds of billions of dollars in oil money into nations that so little value life and that are now using this money to impose their alien cult and culture upon us.
The problem as I see it Acharya is that the 'powers that be' desire "the deaths of hundreds of millions within the coming decades". Take this quote from Prince Phillip Winsor, the Duke of Edinburgh, as an example.
“If I were reincarnated I would wish to be returned to earth as a killer virus to lower human population levels.”
They view over population as THE major problem facing humanity. Which is funny. I see THEM as the major problem facing humanity. And, by the way, electricity IS free. Tesla did it first but Tom Bearden, John Bedini, Peter Lindemann and Stanley Myer have all done it since. Just one more example of why THEY are the greatest threat to huanity.
Yes, but if "they" are interested "merely" in bringing down the population, there are many easier ways, such as weapons of mass destruction that "they" could utilize right now. So, why don't they?
And why do they keep pushing these stupid cults like Christianity and Islam that encourage people to multiply like rats?
Is it just for one grotesque orgy of death and destruction?
Perhaps David Icke is right about bloodthirsty reptilians behind the scenes?
Certainly makes you wonder. But, even if that's the case, then we must have SOME modicum of power to have managed to maintain goodness to whatever extent for even this long.
We need a mode of action that could easily bring about significant reduction in the amount of pollution we generate while also improving other aspects of our quality of life. One possibility is to advocate free urban public transit. initially it would be argued that taxes would have to go up but with better use of existing infrastructure there would be less need to keep expanding it. Most European counties use more public transit than we do and it is fast and efficient. If we had free transit more people would use it, there would be fewer cars on the road. Less gas would be consumed, The existing roads could have committed transit lanes, etc., making them faster. Maybe the added demand would lead to more frequent and expanded service. Maybe people would even start talking to each other while traveling ("Conversation Rediscovered" " Community Rediscovered"). The need for second cars, and maybe even first cars would be reduced. Car prices may go up because of reduced demand. People might start buying smaller cars instead of "trucking around" in two ton SUVs and similar tanks. Fewer parking lots would be needed - maybe we could even recreate green spaces. Fewer cars may result in fewer traffic accidents, fewer drunk drivers causing deaths, and the list could go on. At least we could start getting politicians and also real people talking about it. John, Canada
To me,the whole thing is really simple. You cannot control a populace if the are aware that they're being controlled. The only productive thing that can be done is to dedicate yourself to educate people, and wake them from there matrix. Once the majority of the people wake up, the problem takes care of itself. Control would no longer work. I applaud people like acharya s, and Alex Jones for doing such a fine job of doing this. For some reason, I've been aware that most things taught me as a child was a complete lie. I just didn't know why. Now I do.
Thank you! You would be amazed at the messages I've received on this subject that are a complete insult to my intelligence - as if I don't live on planet Earth and can't see for myself the harmful effects of human activity on the environment!
Acharya,
Environmentalism and just yet another religion, in fact it's Constantine and the Council of Nicea all over again, another religion this time not to consolidate an empire but to unify a planet.. into the controlled socially engineered slave plantation as envisioned by Aldous Huxley. Most of the science spouted by the environmentalists is weak.. and paid for.. or elbowed for too where necessary. Take man-made global warming and the supposed connection to CO2. The catechism says that CO2 causes global warming. Research shows... CO2 levels rise AFTER temperatures increased. During the medieval warm period there were vinyards.. in England a country not exactly known nowadays for wine.. and then man-made CO2 emissions were pretty much insignificant. The next thing in turn to consider is that warmer and cooler climatic ages are the rule, I wonder where man takes the
expectation that a climate will not change on its own? Nature sure
doesn't accomdate the climatic flat earther when he adjusted the
thermostat on the balmy temperatures of England during the Little Ice Age in the 17th-18th century CE.
But never mind the facts let's take a look at scripture here and those
compiling it. The IPCC ("Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) would probably be our modern-day Council of Nicea.though of course the true engineers of this next unifying
paradigm hide in even darker niches (The Fabian society and it's
opinion control outgrowth the Tavistock Institute). The IPCC has
a documented history of twisting scientists words to fit the agenda,
misciting and knowlingly listing dissenting scientist's as supporters of the theory of man-made global warming .. and it's published report is the basis governments world wide use to justify the need to reduce standard of living and prosperity. Bill Clinton during the current campaign of his wife said it clearly with :in order to protect the environment we have to slow the economy".
In fact not only comfort is at stake, the true goal reveals itself when environmentalists clamour for population reduction. An australian
scientist demands a carbon tax on excess children, another even
greater hater of man-kind, Eric Pianka (University of Texas) calls
for the deliberate release of biological warfare agents to reduce
world population.
And it's a religion, Acharya, complete with proselytizers, inquisitors and crusaders; It's taught in school, dissent will soon be punished (a flat earth and man-made global warming are both very hard to defend against a thinking, inquisitive mind unless you can burn the smart-aleck on a stake) and of course crusaders... Hope not to see you in that number for too long, Acharya. You're smart.
JG
Yes, I am well aware of this argument, as is anyone who is sentient. This perspective does not, however, account for the global environmental changes noticed by natives, such in Alaska, the Himalaya or the Andes. Nor is it common sensical or scientific to insist that human activity is not having a deleterious effect on the environment. In fact, such a stance represents the worst of human DENIAL - and such denial is more along the lines of RELIGION than is the recognition that human beings ARE destroying the ecology.
I maintain my position - it takes much more FAITH to believe that all of these individuals noticing their environment changing and being destroyed are hallucinating. Ditto with the ridiculous notion that billions of human beings are NOT polluting and destroying their world.
It seems to me that those who hold the perspective that environmentalism is a "big government con" have absolutely no clue as to the history of the environmental movement. I wonder if they are very young, therefore.
As I state, I've been on the planet for some decades now, and I can tell you that the environmental movement goes way back. Jokingly, I'd say it started when the first cavewoman told the first caveman to get his shit out of the cave!
Environmentalism began with individuals who noticed they were destroying life around them. We who care about the planet have had to fight tooth and nail for any acknowledgement from any governmental agency - it would seem those in denial are completely oblivious to these facts.
The reality is that the governments and powers that be have been forced to acknowledge there's a problem. Those who have seen the problems firsthand have had to jump up and down screaming at the top of their lungs to get any attention at all. I could name many such instances of this sort of development.
The insistence that the fact of global environment destruction itself is a "government conspiracy," whereas covering up the environmental degradation is not a conspiracy constitutes a real insult to the intelligence, frankly.
In the meantime, an acre of rainforest was just felled...
Hey Acharya,
Check this site out :
http://www.alcoholcanbeagas.com/
This is the site of permaculturalist David Blume. I've just purchased his book and DVD and it is AMAZING. He gives the whole history of alcohol as a fuel, demonstrates that it can be done permaculturally, and that is will help clean up our environment in a win-win solution. He shows how the oil companies used Prohibition to put the alcohol distilleries out of business which once provided cars with clean burning fuel. He demonstrates how we can make alcohol for vehicles, airplanes, even stoves and refrigerators, without cutting into our food supply, in ways that benefit local economies, in polycultures that build the soil, and that get rid of the need for pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizer. It's really an amazing program.
Here's an interview with him :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jew3ah24Zj4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vq7km9TWL0
(I don't work for him by the way or anything! I like you care about the earth and therefore care about permaculture, about ways of building soil, building biodiversity, while finding ways to feed ourselves and our needs, by flowing with rather than against nature, and finding win-win solutions. I've followed Blume's permaculture ideas for some time now and when I found out he was doing this, I was fascinated. I've checked out the material, and it is very impressive.)
So that's one solution to some of the problems facing us. It would get rid of the oil companies (because it can be produced locally), it gets rid of Monsanto, it gets rid of air pollution (the only exhaust from an alcohol burning engine is CO2 and water, and the CO2 goes right back into the plants).
Anyway, I thought you might be interested. Let me know what you think!!
(un)leash
Acharya,
Thanks again for a beautifully worded essay! I note in particular your observation that most efforts to curb our acculturated rampant selfishness are met with "open hostility"... this is too sadly true.
How else should we behave after several hundred years of dominionist religion hammered into our brains? We are taught by xtianity to go forth & plunder, which we have perpetrated on this continent with a godly sense of entitlement. Our foreign policy reflects this as well.
After all, physical life is cheap & fleeting. How dare those unwashed tree huggers concentrate on earthly matters like disappearing polar bears when they should be concentrating on where their souls will be spending the Hereafter. Gawd created the universe at His whim, to be rent asunder! /sarcasm
I wish I knew the answer to this; I just hope against hope that we evolve away from this self-destruction.
Thanks again for your great work!
Yes, that's the next step and the real cosmic challenge of the day. Can the old mythologies offer us ways to articulate future-oriented solutions and mobilize the spirit of humanity towards it, or do we need a completely new 'faith'. For my part, an alliance of rigorous methodological naturalism/science to evaluate the situation and work out the practical solutions with the help of poetical/mythological/allegorical narratives to inspire and mobilise the spirit of the people. In my view, current religions/myths are little more than obsolete/empty/fossilised responses to past challenges which have no common measure with today's threat to the survival of our planet, and the life on it, not least human life.
Talented people like are better placed than most to contribute. You have the intellectual rigour with a truth/evidence based orientation as well as an extensive and deep knowledge and understanding of the role of myth/poetical narratives as inspirational means. So go for it! May each contribute according to their means and talents, in their own ways and in their own
community. Good luck!
Rene
Hi,
I agree. These are the same reasons I am so anti Christian. They have promoted a reckless population explosion and don't care about the environment. Why bother when Jesus is about to come back? I fear it's too late now. I worry about my grandchildren. Too bad the human race got so duped. Take a look at www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/
especially their breaking news if you want to get pessimistic.
Paul
>
Thanks. Of course, in the past Christianity was responsible for many ills, and I have spent much of my life attempting to show its follies.
Fortunately, the harsh criticisms of the past couple of decades have tamed Christianity to a large extent - and let's hope it stays that way.
Right now we need to keep in mind that Islam is currently the biggest problem we face as concerns oppressive ideologies that are destroying human civilization.
Dear Acharya,
In response to what you had written about the lack of responsibility to take care of our planet, I am writing to tell you what is going on in Calfornia.
I am currently getting petitions signed that, if passed, would force all California power companies that generate electricity to do so with 20% clean, renewable energy, such as solar panels or windmills by no later than 2010. And by 2020 it will be set at 40% and by 2025, 50%.
Many people shrug their shoulders and say it may raise our rates, but
about 80% or more of the people I ask sign this petition.
If we get 500,000 signatures, we will be voting on it in November.
Also I want to thank you for your web-site. It was refreshing to see your articles when I was in the aftermath of frustration.
I started out as a conservative, evangelical pastor. I was doing research for a book on 'Returning to the Roots of Christianity', when I discovered many pagan symbols from Mithraism, Babylonian doctrine, as well as the worship of Dionysus, etc. When I discovered these things from several books written in the mid-1800’s, I immediately gave up on Jesus. It was like BOOM! I saw it.
This happened to me when I was in Asia working as a missionary.
I returned to the USA to write about this and I discovered your web-site. Although I had already concluded most of what you say, and had put a lot of it in some books I had written but did not publish, still, you were the first one I came across that had the same basic views, so felt nice to know I wasn't the only one out here! That was in July of ‘07.
A few weeks ago I came to the same conclusions about YHWH, and this has left me feeling angry that I have spent my whole life teaching lies and misconceptions. I am getting over my anger, have moved through my grief, but still, I gave up a wonderful life as a successful businessman and ended up with just about nothing, because I wanted to do it the way the NT teaches (without purse or cloak). Just Faith.
Although in many ways I feel free since I have left The Lie, I still believe there has to be somebody that designed all of this. And, I know certain prayers were answered (positive it was not wishful thinking). This is not a die-hard's hope to hold on to something because he feels like he's drowning, actually, it was when I cried out, "Take me to the next level!"
In 24 hours everything fell into place inside my head. I know, I know, our brain is a computer that tries to make sense of things, and often when we are stressed and just walk away, our computer brain just finishes the processing on a sub-conscious level, but still I believe somebody is listening, just haven't figured out who that might be. Maybe light is intelligent?
I would appreciate any responses from all you out there that are thinkers. Does anyone have any ideas you care to share about intelligent design?
Thank you again Acharya for having taken the time to be a light on the road out of darkness!
Craig in San Diego
Well, Craig, thank you for a great story - I am thrilled to have been part of it!
Wow - how fantastic!
Craig in San Diego,
That's great! All the best on the petition/energy thingy in Caly.
I feel like I can relate to your post. As a 20 year Christian, I felt as If I'd been lied to after one by one evidence was turning up through research that made clear, Christianity was not what we've been lead to believe.
It's frustrating on many levels. It's difficult to talk to anyone about it when ones whole family is Christian. Though the internet is changing that.
But due to Acharya's work, I've been able to turn my anger and frustration into something positive. I can now hold great appreciation for the savior, son of god myths. Realizing that they are based on natural phenomena such as the sun, moon, stars, constellations etc. Natural phenomena that we can all see and appreciate regardless of our beliefs or lack thereof. I don't know anybody who doesn't enjoy a beautiful sunset.
It just makes so much more sense than an imaginary friend who might save us, if we worship him while everybody else is damned to hell.
Acharya's work is true enlightenment, so long as the sun continues to rise every morning and every year (at the winter solstice/ Christmas and again at Easter) there will always be life on planet earth.
There's no need to bring ethnicity or race i.e. a Jewish man named Jesus into it. Let us enjoy the beauty and wonder of nature - rather than detest it and the physical world like so many religions would have us do. Hate this physical world in hopes of some paradise that may not exist. I hope it does but I see no reason we can't make the best of this life here, now.
Craig, have you read "Who Was Jesus? Fingerprints of The Christ"
22,
I know what you mean about family and friends. Isolation could be a problem if it were not for sites like this.
I have not heard of that book. I will check it out, thanks. I started out with a book by Alexander Hislop, written I believe in the 1860's (It's still overseas) and another by Ledbeater on Secret Rites, also from the 1860's. Both contained invaluable information on the worship of Kings turning into Sun-gods. The problem with Hislop is he did not take his information far enough, and remained a Christian, but he brought together studies from more antiquated authors, over 450 of them, that we no longer have access to, all revealing 'the mysteries' and the similarities to Christianity.
One of the big problems with Christianity that I see, and several of you have already mentioned, is the escapist mentality of Christians. [Jesus is supposed to come back and the world will be recreated, so all the garbage dumps will be instantly gone. Paradise will be here again.] Don't I wish... for the paradise anyway. But, we have to roll up our sleeves and clean up this mess, and those who do not understand that there is no Jesus will continue to contribute to the landfills and pollution with a sly wink [cause they know Jesus is coming] and not worrying about it.
Acharya,
This is has been on my mind lately too. You have a refreshing perspective. I am so glad I am not alone on these things. I have been frustrated with some of these people that think the aliens are going to come and save them and trying to pretend they have magical powers to move things around. They are so wrapped up in their pharmacuticle delights that they miss the point of healing the Earth and thinking globally for the environment. And then there are the politians, and we both know where they stand. And the UN now has a new phrase "environmental War"
It should be "environmenta Healing"
Anyway I am ranting.
Have a good day
Thanks for your response Craig. I agree, thanks to Acharya we have a forum to openly discuss these issues and their ramifications. Have you joined her forum yet?
I'll have to agree with you and anon after you about the "escapist mentality." I don't know what people are thinking - why do they think they deserve to be saved after leaving the planet in such a mess? They ought to be treated like anyone else who makes such a mess.
I should start a new revival and tell them I had a vision from Jesus and he said that there will be no saving anyone until this mess is cleaned up. And that God is pretty P.O.'d too and he's ready to get all Old Testament on folks for trashing the planet! Especially big business and government!
And on Anons point - why would any aliens want to save us and bring us to their planet when we might just trash their place too. We seem to be the trailer park trash of the cosmos. Everybody else knows to stay away from us. How embarrassing.
My view is that there can be no greater disrespect toward any god (or ourselves) than to trash her creations i.e. the only planet we have to live on.
Big business and gov't are worried about the costs of change. Meanwhile, the costs of not changing toward a sustainable lifestyle means extreme climate change and mass destruction at best and possible extinction at worst. Why even gamble with that.
22,
I tend to think that our lifestyle is not effecting the climate, not global warming. The Earth has always had ups and downs in its temp and scientific data actually shows much of the opposite of what Mr. Gore tells us.
The icebergs have been breaking away in masses larger than today, way back in the late 1800's. It is the trend the Earth is going through. I think Mr. Gore has started his own religion. Scientists from around the world recognize that there are major holes in his theories, the problem is, scientists from unrelated fields agree with his claims, scientists such as say an astronomer, but not scientists that work with atmospheric conditions. So, we find on close scrutiny that we have another cyclical argument going on, just like Christianity.
Our planet may be in trouble but its not because your Ford uses air conditioning.
Well intentioned people have backed him for the same reason well intentioned Christians try to get you saved from Hell. But science does not always back up the theory.
What was it I used to say? Oh, the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. But I guess I can't say that anymore since I no longer believe in Hell. : )
Hunh - say what, Craig?!
Are you the same person? If we are not having any deleterious effect on our environment, why the heck are you doing this? Is this an example of the "escapist argument?"
"I am currently getting petitions signed that, if passed, would force all California power companies that generate electricity to do so with 20% clean, renewable energy, such as solar panels or windmills by no later than 2010. And by 2020 it will be set at 40% and by 2025, 50%."
I do not want coal and oil being burned which puts pollution in the atmosphere. This affects our soil and crops, our air quality.
I have read many studies that indicate that the co2 levels do not affect the ozone layer, or the rise in temperature, that in fact, most scientific studies report that the opposite is true. When the temperature goes up, then the co2 level is reactionary, not the other way round. According to the studies I have read, there is no way that the molecules from freon can even reach that high in the atmosphere, for one reason, they are constantly being broken down at much lower altitudes.
But, I do not think the pollution is good for our environment. It affects our health in many ways. I believe in cleaning up the planet, but not for the same reasons as Al Gore. He just has one more story that sells.
That was a weird comment after the others Craig. I made no mention of Al Gore, nor did I have him in mind in my last post. Environmentalists and climate change scientists do not need Gore to come to similar conclusions. As was demonstrated by Al Gore and the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change winning the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.
Craig "our lifestyle is not effecting the climate, not global warming."
"Our planet may be in trouble but its not because your Ford uses air conditioning"
- This is kind of thinking that perpetuates the problem ensuring that solutions never get implemented.
Craig have you seen Morgan Spurlocks "Super size me"? It's about the fast food industry but there's enough trash every single day to completely fill the world trade center with trash ONLY from McDonald's. That trash has to go somewhere. This is what I had in mind in my previous post. We can't blame that on anything but ourselves.
22,
I stand corrected, you did not mention the climate, but garbage. I just thought it was a good time to air out a pet peeve. : )
By the way 22, you have wonderful articulation and humor. You should consider being a writer...
Wow, Acharya, this essay and your nonviolence essay are two of your best writings. In this piece you are dead on with everything you say. You nailed it, man.
To me, environmental destruction and violence are the TWO GREATEST THREATS facing our existence. Highly structured fairy tails are used daily to perpetuate and condone our self destruction.
When our ancestors first sat around and began inventing fairy tails to explain away the unknown, I'm sure they didn't realize that they were planting the seeds for our eventual self-destruction.
If there's a part of our brain that makes us religious and irrational, I say blast it out with a laser now!!!
I have a dear friend whose ex-husband is a religious church leader and speaks in tongues, yet he is sinister and evil. I'm telling you, these people are nuts, and make little effort to hide their hypocrisy.
I have to hold on to the hope that logic and reason will one day prevail, and that the evolutionary religions will soon collapse under the weight of their own lies.
I still hold a lot of anger against my own mother, who filled me with lies as a child. All these stories about getting zapped into the sky, about a god-man who sat on a throne and loved me, yet he was sending millions to hell. Even today if anyone dares to say anything that even mildly questions her "one right way" she gets vile and bitterly defensive.
It's all nuts, and I think the best response is not put up with it. I'm also embarrassed for all these people who engage in intellectual religious arguments because even debates between liberal and conservative Christians is simply a match between different levels of looneyism.
The Goose
Thanks, Goose!
It is precisely because religious fanaticism makes people so vile and unpleasant that I decided to risk my neck by criticizing it. The idea that we are born-in-sin pieces of shite (Christianity) or scummy creatures in the face of the glorious and merciful Allah, etc., ad nauseam, is at the root of practically every pathology on the planet today, including the destruction of our planet.
Until we understand a more enlightened perspective - such as in the Eastern mystical tradition instilling the notion that we are all "Buddhas" and "divine beings" - we will be a very sick species and will lead to our own demise.
The typical organized religion teaches self-hatred, that is, utter contempt for the human species. This self-hatred leads people to treat others in the same contemptible manner, as if they are the devil incarnate. The lack of respect for the individual human being is appalling. I shudder to consider that we dignified human beings are subjected to so much indignity, disrespect and dishonor by depraved human-hating religious fanatics.
It is time for humanity to wake up, cast off these cavemen "gods" and start treating each other and our planetary home with respect.
If "God" is omnipresent - i.e., everywhere present - it is the totality, which means all of us. Each time, therefore, some Muslim psychopath beheads a human being, he is murdering "God," so to speak.
Acharya;
I just want you to know that I am in FULL agreement with you, and I
am going to pass your message on far and wide!!! There are two websites that I want
to bring to your attention. The first one is:
http://www.focusthenation.org/.
The second website is part of my own, and I think you will find it
extremely interesting. The solution is there, but you NEVER hear of it. I have been promoting this solution for years now. Please go there and read it,
and also pass it on if you so desire, as I hope you will.
http://web.gccaz.edu/~dnettz/Area_51/Hydrogen.htm
Unfortunately, I did not find out about the first website until it
was too late to have it (A Solar-Hydrogen Economy) included for the voting that they were doing earlier regarding possible solutions to Global Warming. However, I contacted them about it, and they want to add it to their list for next year.
Apparently they plan to take votes and then pass these votes on to Congress and the President each year until we get legislation enacted to reverse the course that we are currently on. I found out about this first website from my College, which has embraced it whole-heartedly, and will do so
again next year.
For a week we had vendors come out to promote clean energy, and also we had panel discussions and movies shown to raise awareness of this impending disaster. So your concerns are not being ignored, others of a like mind are also trying to bring about change before it is too late.
Thank you for your Blog on this subject; it is something that has needed to be said for a LONG time now. Hopefully it is not too late to avert the coming Global Environmental Destruction, or at the very least, reduce its effects.
What you said about the religious psychosis is all too true. Also, it is a way to not be accountable for your own actions.
Somehow we need to wake up people, and thank goodness that you are doing what you are doing. Take care, and thank you for all that you do, Acharya, it is GREATLY appreciated!!!
Respectfully,
Dan B. Nettz - Glendale, AZ
Hi Acharya S: Have you read any of the writings of Vladamir Vernadsky? He has some interesting things to say regarding his friend and colleague Teilard de Chardin's concept of the Noosphere (mind sphere).I know you would appreciate his writings which are rarely available to the West.
With friendship-Larry Marshall
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