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Senses: The Nature and Quality of Pleasure

by Michael Corthell There are, of course, many kinds of pleasure and pleasures in life. From the way we experience walking hand in hand along the beach with our children, to the completion of a work project or hobby, as well as the pure physical pleasure of conjugal relations. Pleasure can be viewed as just thoughts, feelings or actions that make us 'feel good'. For the purpose of this writing I am going to speak to hedonism and utilitarianism .  Both are similar belief/practice systems. Seeking pleasure as one's highest aim is the common theme in both, however. ''Pleasure and freedom from pain, are the only things desirable as ends.'' —John Stuart Mill The simple definition of hedonism is self-serving pleasure for the sake of itself. Hedonists equate pleasure with utility . They believe that pleasure is the master of all humankind, and acts as the ultimate life goal. There is very little more to say about it except to say that people are fr

When You Wake Up You May Think You are GOD: Alan Watts on ''The Awakening''

by Alan Watts [on spiritual awaking] - So be careful of that. Jung calls it inflation; people who get the 'holy man syndrome.' That I’ve suddenly discovered that I’m the lord and that I am above good and evil and so on. And that therefore I start giving myself airs and graces.  But the point is that everybody else is too. If you discover that you’re there you ought to know that everyone else is. Well, for example, let’s see how in other ways you might realize this. Most people think when they open their eyes and look around, that what they are seeing is outside, it seems doesn’t it that you are behind your eyes. And that behind the eyes there is a blank that you can’t see at all; you turn around and you see something in front of you. But behind the eyes, there seems to be something that has no color, it isn’t dark, and it isn’t light. It’s there from a tactile standpoint; you can feel it with your fingers, although you don’t get inside it. Well than what is it that’s behind yo

Who Profits the Most from War...

The United States is home to five of the world’s 10 largest defense contractors, and American companies account for 57 percent of total arms sales by the world’s 100 largest defense contractors, based on SIPRI data. The global rise was driven partially by a $9.6 billion hike in U.S. arms expenditure – the United States is the world’s largest defense spender by a wide margin. Though it is yet unclear what the growing arms investments will mean for international relations, major defense contractors around the world stand to benefit.  MORE Now let’s look at the biggest defense contractors on the BGOV200 . It’s a lot of familiar faces, but there’s been notable movement year-over-year. Raytheon’s merger with United Technologies Inc. pushed the company to the number two slot, while Analytic Services Inc. jumped 8 spots from the previous year, thanks in part to the Army’s $7.1 billion Covid-19 expenditure. These are the top 10 largest defense contractors on the 2021 BGOV200 list: -Lockheed

Paradigm Shift

  ''Many of us are sensing that 'normal' just isn't coming back. The human race is being transformed by a new normal that is alive and awakened ― a new kind of global society, with a new relationship to the earth, a new experience of knowing what being human actually is and what humanity can become.''

Post Pandemic and War: Are We About to Enter Humankind's Spiritual Age?

by Michael Corthell Many have now just started to sense an important change in global thinking: a paradigm shift. That shift, a shift in global consciousness that many of us are feeling is the spiritual age of humankind. Contributing to the likelihood of this new age is the fact that the scientific community is loosening its long-standing grip on rigid materialism and reductionism in favor of an all-inclusive quantum reality in which everything is made of the same thing. These changes are moving human spiritual consciousness toward a 'we' oneness and universal state, and away from the 'I' and 'me' consciousness that has trapped humankind's spiritual growth. Looking back through history, one can clearly see that the world has undergone many epic events that have tipped civilizations upside down and replaced them with new ones, with new morals and new belief systems. Although it doesn't show up clearly in the mainstream media today, it appe

Plant Based Nutrition and Your Immune System

by Michael Corthell Being healthy takes more than just eating an apple a day to keep the doctor away. It has been shown that having a healthy immune system requires a balanced diet, good daily rest, exercise and just having a positive lifestyle. Knowing that we need to eat the right foods is common sense but the devil, as always, is in the details. What foods are best for us? Some of our nutritional needs are specific to the individual, because of a unique make-up and lifestyle, but there are commonalities. (RECOMMENDED You can eat right for a healthy life if you choose to. Take a look at the book that can set you on the right path: How Not to Die by Michael Greger, M.D.) The immune system protects us from illness and disease. We can do many things to keep our immune system at it's best. Drink plenty of water. Hydration is important to every system in the body, and the immune system relies heavily on water (as a vehicle) in both in the lymphatic system and blood vessel

The Universe in Balance: Compensation and Karma

 by Michael Corthell Like a spinning top or a twisting gyroscope the universe always seeks to  balance itself.  The Law of Compensation states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction — cause and effect. If the pendulum swings one way, it will always swing back the other way. There is a rhythmic balance to all life, and in all things. ''The whole of what we know is a system of compensation. Every defect in one manner is made up in another. Every suffering is rewarded; every sacrifice is made up; every debt is paid.'' —Ralph Waldo Emerson Emerson's essay Compensation inspires human beings to do good. When it is studied and taken to heart, even great things. I encourage you to read this summary of Compensation's key points. The universe is a living, breathing organism. All things have morality. This morality within us is a viewpoint. The morality outside us is the Law of God. Justice is not postponed.

WAR IS A RACKET By Major General Smedley Butler

  CHAPTER ONE War Is A Racket WAR is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small "inside" group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes. In the World War [I] a mere handful garnered the profits of the conflict. At least 21,000 new millionaires and billionaires were made in the United States during the World War. That many admitted their huge blood gains in their income tax returns. How many other war millionaires falsified their tax returns no one knows. How many of these war millionaires shouldered a rifle? How many of them dug a trench? How many of them