USU Makes a Deal

If you live in Logan, UT or Cache Valley...or anywhere near there, I am hosting a fund-raising event for a non-profit organization, Wasatch Social Ventures,  which is the organization responsible for raising funds for the Huntsman SEED program. The fund-raising event is called USU Makes a Deal, and is patterned after the TV show "Let's Make a Deal." We are going to charge $5 for admission (or $8 at the door).

Here is the event page for USU Makes a Deal
https://www.facebook.com/events/117270405089323/

And here is some more information about the SEED program, which sends students to 3rd world countries on a mission to educate people about starting businesses and to extend those people micro-loans to start up their dreams:
http://huntsman.usu.edu/seed/


Tell all your friends for me!

Circle of Life

It's been a while since I posted--I have 5 min before my boss responds back to me, let's see how this turns out...

(I don't know what this means but it looks cool)

I've had this thought on my mind the past few days: What about the afterlife?--I mean that in relation to the previously mentioned articles .

We will all die someday.
No one living knows what lies on the other side, death. We are all left to speculate based on our life experiences.
What we do know is that it does come--that no one, as yet, has been able to avoid death.

We also know that our physical bodies remain here, inanimate, and that the only way for them to move is for someone to move them. The living are therefore left in charge of moving the dead, and although it may serve a selfish purpose (if the body is in the way) the act of interacting with the dead is primarily a selfless act.

What we do not know is whether the physical body will be used by it's accompanying spirit at some future date. Many have speculated that the spirit is still connected to the body, or that the body and spirit will return together, or that the body does not matter. Honestly, I side with those who believe the body does not matter--not because I don't believe in the other two possibilities, but because our bodies decay. All of the chemicals and energy that went into our bodies will be dispersed elsewhere and what we borrowed to live in this life will erode away over time.

What matters most is not your physical body, but what you do with your body while living and what others will say about you when you are dead. This is your heritage and cannot be destroyed. Only spiritual things are capable of this because they are capable of changing and impacting the world around them.

The rich and powerful have found a way to preserve their heritage and legacy--but only so far as some other human being is willing to accept the selfless act of moving their body. Tombs and Graves are only maintained by the reigning power and if the latest king or sovereign leader opposes the dead, he or she will destroy the tomb, destroy the symbols, and eliminate the place of the dead.
Great minds have found a way to preserve their heritage and legacy by "discovering" the useful application of knowledge. --but only so far as that knowledge is still useful. Many philosophers have developed ideas that we still rely on today, that are still useful. Many inventors have created useful tools for our lives that we still use today as well--but how many inventors and philosophers were wrong or their inventions were replaced by more useful ones and we no longer know their name?

The point I am leading to is that although there are many ways to make a legacy or a heritage, even those things may end. The key is that they have to be done for the benefit of others otherwise others will refuse to "move your body" when you die.

Even with heritage and legacy in mind, there is a more important aspect of life and death that I will present now, and that is the present.We do not know what lies tomorrow. Though we may benefit people of the future, there are many people in the present who need our help now.
 Death is not a scary thing, nor is it a sorry thing. We do not need to mourn those who have passed on, because life is hard and they no longer have to deal with these troubles--if they died happy, you can take comfort in knowing they ended on a positive note. If they died sad, you can take comfort in knowing that they no longer have to deal with their trials. Celebrate their lives, celebrate the things that they did for you and the way they changed your life, but remember: they are not among the living anymore. There are those among you right now who need you more than the dead.

The dead really don't need us.

You are an ever-present, spiritual being. What happens to you today and how it affects you tomorrow is what matters--I think many people lose sight of their priorities when someone dies around them. They get caught up in the feeling of loss--that that person is no longer going to have an influence on their life--that they abandon all hope, they cry because they are confused. They cry because they don't know how to take the news, they don't know how to react to it, they don't know what they should be thinking about. They fear the unknown--but they don't need to! There are plenty of 'knowns' all around them, plenty of people, plenty of things.

When we fear the unknowns, when we feel the loss of someone, what is really happening to us is that we briefly lose sight of what is important to us. We lose our grounding in life. We get so focused on the one person who is no longer with us that we momentarily withdraw from the people who ARE with us.



Anymore, whenever I hear about deaths, my thoughts instantly go to the urgency to take up more responsibility. I commit to taking up the slack where that person left off (if applicable). Because to me, the living matter more than the dead.

When I die, I don't want a traditional funeral. I want to be cremated and my ashes to be scattered in a place few will go to. I want a monument built at some other religion's monastery that lists 3 of my greatest deeds, my name, and where I lived. And I don't want anyone to attend a ceremony in recognition of my death. That way, if they wish to know me (the dead me) they must learn about someone else's life, beliefs, and religion and therefore open their minds; they will never find my body and wonder whether I am not with them always; and rather than spend their time in celebration of my life, they will be with their family and friends, strengthening their relationships with them. Lastly, they will know that I lived in a town, city, nation, or world and will wonder what impact I made on it.

Trends in Terrorist Attacks- Global Public Enemies

The trend over the last couple decades in warfare is focused on guerilla warfare. Here are some quick observations we know from September 11th 2001 and 2012 (The attack on US Embassy's in Northern Africa):

• Terrorists use religious language and rhetoric to incite the lower classes of people who are economically and educationally deprived 
• They target nations, groups, and organizations that have economic wealth and freedom
• Their attacks are focused to maximize the terror factor and reduce costs
• As such they are very well organized grass-roots organizations
• Their overarching vision and mission is often vague (such as Jihad in the holy lands) and are designed to last forever (there is no way to measure overall progress)
• Even still, their vision is global not local
• Essentially, Terrorists can only win battles and not wars
• They are only permitted to thrive in locations of the world where individuals do not have sufficient freedom (either they are economically constrained or they are oppressed by their government) 

To me it seems as though "Terrorists" (if that's the correct term) are just bullies...they don't have the things they want and their life circumstances are so poor that they take their economic or govermental oppression out on targets that are not directly involved in their oppression. 

This is precisely what Hitler did to gain power over the Germans

What the Bolsheviks did to control the Russians

What Geronimo did to the Native Americans/Mexicans

What we are facing isn't new, and is likely the byproduct of a shrinking world. Although America may play a strong part in our shrinking world, Americans and American Ideology and Organizations are merely players in a constantly changing environment. The changing dynamics affect everyone and these "terrorists" are global citizens who are causing problems to our global society. They are no different than the village trouble maker in primitive societies or the town drunk. 

It is an unfortunate thing that our nations by themselves are unable to handle all of these problems on their own. This situation is comparable to the individual states in the U.S. being unable to contain Jesse James the train robber or Johnny Dillinger the bank robber. 

The solution, for the U.S., was to create a national criminal justice force out of the executive department of the government. This was known as the FBI.

But as the world expands, there becomes a need for an International Task force charged with criminal justice  . We need to recognize that Terrorist acts, Rebellion, Sedition, and otherwise are criminal acts. Such actors become public enemies to the global public. Unrest in one remote part of the world affects the rest of the world--this is 2012. 

In the past we have seen a village pride, town pride, county pride, state pride, national pride, and now it is imperative that we develop a global pride. We need to be proud to be citizens of the Earth and we need to be as involved in global affairs as we are in our local and national affairs. Without such pride we are doomed to repeat history over and over again. Public enemies will surface over and over again and we will be unable to prevent them, unable to stop them until it is too late. 

No man is an island and although modern terrorists tend to focus their efforts on America and its direct allies, all nations of the earth will be affected by these global public enemies. 

Mankind's Greatest Problem

A fellow traveler throughout life once asked me what I thought "the biggest problem was with people." I sat for a moment and then said that the biggest problem with people (individuals and society) is that they don't forgive often enough. Everybody wants Justice. They want what's fair and they want at least an equal share of it. If someone does something to offend them, they want that person to suffer and they themselves to be blessed.
Eventually, the universe will balance itself out. Karma will turn right around and bite everyone who takes more of their share and it might even give more than a fair share to those who are offended. Those who get the worst out of life initially get the best out of life later, and those who have life easy struggle when they are older. But none of that matters really when it comes to people...

People are the catalyst of life. How you treat people is what matters most--the relationships you have and maintain are what is important, not what is just and fair. In the real world, justice and equality don't exist in the same breath as friendship, love and happiness. With people, there is no right and wrong, everything is just different. Some people do things one way, others do things another way, yet both are still living, still surviving. If doing things their way helps them accomplish their goals and find purpose in life, then let them do it. So long as they aren't knocking you down, it's alright that they step on your toes. This world is too big to take offence whenever someone rubs against you the wrong way.

There is something beautiful about being able to withstand other people's negative energy and transforming it into something neutral--or even something positive!

Typically, people's problem (individual's and society's biggest problem of not forgiving) comes down to a common scenario: one friend gets into an argument with another friend or lover or other relation, and they vow not to forgive or forget. They build up a long list of grievances and don't ever let go of the situation and they distance themselves from their friend.
The trouble is that the times when you need friends the most is in that moment when your friend disappoints you, upsets you, turns on you, offends you, hurts you, or otherwise influences you negatively; and in that moment, you've distanced yourself from your friend. In the moment that you harbor animosity between you and your friend and you create that distance between them, you lose your friend and you no longer have your friend to be with you during that, the worst, time.

Forgive people, let the universe balance itself out, life is to precious to lose a good friend.

Accountability

The only way to find true happiness in this life--lasting happiness and peace. Is to be fully accountable and conscious of our decisions. And when we make mistakes, to accept those mistakes. 




Hmm...
I seem to have left off two of the most important things on my list of beliefs: Accountability and Balance.

Accountability is the most important thing I believe in. Since "we are the most powerful things in the universe" (4) we have the potential to obliterate others just like us, or limit them [or force them to chnage (6)] .--This presents a philosophical fallacy because if we are so powerful that we can destroy others who are just as powerful as we are, then there is the great potential that someone else has already come along and destroyed or limited our power. What that means is that the first person to destroy everyone would ruin my theory that we are all equally powerful--because one individual would clearly be more powerful than everyone else and so long as that person is living he or she limits the rest of the population.
Granted, this fallacy doesn't disprove what I believe in--in fact, I believe that it IS true.--That certain people (or organizations, or societies) have obtained the power to limit the rest of mankind.
You have no doubt seen this: the bully in school who pulls down those around him or her. The jerk at work who tries to make you look bad in front of the boss. The home owners' association that won't approve you to leave one car parked in the driveway. There ARE people out there who limit your ability to rise and obtain your potential. --That's what's holding you back; it's not that you aren't capable, it's that someone told you you couldn't.

I don't care who you are, what you believe in, what you want to do in life, and how "justified" you are by the "truth" or whatever you want you call it. If there is one thing I know for certain--better than anything else in this life, it's that "Every Action has an Equal and opposite Reaction" --Newton. This is the Universal Principle of Balance. Not only have you seen it in Physics, you have seen it in your relationships with other people and in your will to survive in this life. Everything you do will have a reaction. Every choice you make, every decision you follow through with, every plan you carry out--they all have reactions.

There are positive reactions and negative reactions. Positive reactions are in your favor. Negative reactions are not in your favor. There are also neutral reactions, which neither hurt you nor help you. In every Atom of the universe there is a positive proton, a negative electron, and a neutron. [[side note: scientists got to choose which one was positive and which one was negative because the real observation that they made was that there are two equal and opposite charges that pull and push towards each other.]] In every relationship you have with another person your decisions either draw you closer, pull you apart, or change things but balance out in the end.

I believe in complete Accountability for my actions and I believe others should be completely accountable as well. It is possible to dodge accountability (more on this later) the negative effects of our decisions can be deflected onto others or postponed while meanwhile we enjoy the positive effects from our decisions. But therein presents another interesting philosophical fallacy: it would be impossible for everyone to deflect all negative outcomes. Eventually, someone has to experience the negative outcomes. (think: stacking draw-4 cards in Uno) I like to refer to this as Karma, because it is an English word most people understand.

At this point in my argument I must admit to you that the best argument I can give you against being unaccountable is that it is unfair, but the wise philosopher will counter with something to the effect of that those who are skilled at dodging negative consequences are obviously only out to achieve the greatest individual gain for themselves and do so selfishly.--such people wouldn't care about the unfairness.

So I must settle on a weaker argument: not being accountable ruins others' lives. It ruins societies. It ruins the future. But most importantly (to those who don't care) you can't ever fully dodge Karma. It keeps coming back in different forms. To illustrate, bullies always get beat up by bigger bullies and so forth who one day end up in prison and get beat up by fellow bullies and cops and the government bans them from things and punishes them and those negative consequences come back in full force.

This leads right into my beliefs about Balance.
The universe is always going to balance itself out. People are born in a burst of energy and they die in a fizzle of energy. Life is full of opposites and extremes. When you die, someone else will replace you and life will carry on. In every way--physically, morally, spiritually, etc.--the universe will balance itself out. Bad people die; Good people die too. Every problem that mankind faces will be addressed until it is obliterated and the moment that it is no longer a problem, a new problem will surface. The changes that society makes now will impact the future and future generations will have to address the problems that are developing right now.

EVERYTHING balances out in the end. This isn't a nihilist point of view however--what we experience right now is what counts most (2). And in many ways right now we are out of balance: we are either experiencing a grand total of positive or negative value.--either most things are going our way or most things are going against us.

Smart decisions are decisions that maximize the positive gains and minimize the negative effects. Being accountable means accepting those negative consequences because the positive gains outweigh the negative ones.

The only way to find true happiness in this life--lasting happiness and peace. Is to be fully accountable and conscious of our decisions. And when we make mistakes, to accept those negative consequences early before they morph into something worse.

Pushing Away

I went to the opening night showing of ParaNorman and was touched by the human theme. --As some of you may know, a lot of the same people who worked on the movie Coraline worked on ParaNorman. Coraline, too, has a very human theme and I expect this pattern to continue on any future movies these individuals work on.
Once you look passed the creepy, freaky, trippy scenes in Coraline you realize that at its core, the film is about a girl who ought to be happy with her needs being met rather than wanting more and better things.
ParaNorman, much less creepy, freaky, and trippy, is about how a society can harm the life of individuals who they don't understand.

[SPOILER ALERT]
In ParaNorman we realize that the witch who is haunting the town is just a little girl who was a little different and who was punished for being different. Although this is VERY true so far, the one scene that strikes me the most is the climax, where Norman states the blatantly obvious (obvious if you understand human nature, that is--which 99% of the film's child audience probably doesn't): The only reason why the witch is haunting the town is because they caused her so much pain. ParaNorman sends a very human message: even though it is human nature to seek revenge and to hurt the bullies who bullied you, it's better to let it go and move on with life (or death) in peace.

*People tend to push away those things that they are afraid of. They tend to be hurt a little too easily when they don't get everything they want and don't understand why. They become more afraid of the unknown because of the bad experiences they have had with the known and the cycle continues. [return to *]

Eventually they push so far to the opposite corner of their little boxes that they fall out of their boxes and land in unknown territory anyway.
Because people reflect so much on the bad, they easily forget about the good or fail to notice it entirely; so their decisions are rarely based on keeping the good things alive but on killing the bad--a bad that they don't understand and aren't sure on whether its good or bad anyway.

We've advanced far enough as a society that we don't need to hold grudges, we don't need to eradicate anything--good or bad--because there is always a way to live with it in harmony. We don't need to fear anything because we are fully capable of surviving through anything. If history and human nature says anything, its that we are all individuals looking for a safe harbor and the only way we can find that harbor is if we build it ourselves.

Feel Like I'm living an American Dream

I watched "The Pursuit of Happiness" today for the first time--I knew the general story, I always wanted to see it, but I never had the chance to do so until I realized my roommate had a copy of it lying in the living room.

--Throughout my college career I've had the opportunity to investigate what makes up the American Dream--over and over and over. From all sorts of angles...including Benjamin Franklin, Emerson, Thoreau, Jack London, Early Conquistadors, Christopher Columbus, The Founding Fathers, John Muir, Wallace Thurman, Fitzgerald, Lorraine Adams, Frank Herbert, Harper Lee, Bret Harte, Stowe, Twain, and so many more.

What most people gather about the American Dream is that Americans are Tough, Independent, and Determined to succeed. The image that comes to their mind is an individual setting out into the wide world, determined to succeed and make a name for themselves in a savage environment.
"The Pursuit of Happiness" affirms that motion. The main character, Chris, goes through a lot, is determined to succeed, and is independent throughout the film...

But if you look VERY closely at the stories of success--the true American Dream stories, you might question  the term "independence." 


In every rags to riches story; in every American historical account; in every success in America story, you will find that those who obtain the things they want from life got help. They all succeeded after someone lent them a hand, gave them a break, and helped them survive.
The pilgrims and John Smith--got help from the natives. The food necessary for colonists to survive was given to them by the locals who were already established and successful.
America became a nation only after Britain established a governing body and established order throughout the colonies. The colonies were not united until the British told them they were subjects of the king.
Benjamin Franklin would not have become a famous printer-jack-of-all-trades-philosopher if it weren't for his father, brother, Quakers, father-in-law and several others.

Chris Gardner, in "The Pursuit of Happiness," would not have survived if it weren't for the christian shelter that he was able to stay at until he sold his last bone density testing machine. He would not have survived if he wasn't taken up by the brokerage firm. Selling those machines on his own did not work after all.

I feel as though a case can be made that being an American isn't being independent and free.--Those are the stories that get told most but probably only make up 5% of Americans. To be an American is to establish yourself and then lend a hand to those who are struggling to survive. Find some level of stability and share it with others. Pulling yourself up from your bootstraps must imply that you're pulling yourself up on the arms of others who are lifting you up. Don't forget to take my survey!