A new Human.

 

A new Human.

Some time ago I was listening to a past American president's campaign speech. He was threatening harm to people who didn’t support him for the next elections. To me, that is the end of democracy. I wonder what we are planning to do next.

Years ago, I came to Canada to build a new life. There were no refugee hotel rooms or any financial help or direction, as provided by the government today. Now we have the potential of a government next door that insists that we should pay higher taxes and increase military spending or the neighbors will ask the enemies to harm us. Things are changing but not to benefit me. My situation is not improving relative to my efforts. Am I taking things personally or am I crazy to see it this way?

I am a firm believer in the potential of mental health science to help people. We can go a long way with the right kind of help. Keep the physical body well, understand the mental part and work with the spiritual aspect. Being short on any of those will not provide for a pleasant existence. I accept mental health help for me and for those I am with. I take help when provided.

Combining the above, I come up with a crazy conclusion. Humans are mentally sick. Not just some of us, but all or most of us. We are born with a self-preserve mechanism that protects us from destroying ourselves and perhaps the world we live in. It’s like a reflex. If my hand gets close to a fire, the hand jumps away from the fire faster than I can think. Am I in a reality that I understand, or is my mind building a new existence? Is “now” the end of the way we were? If so, which way do I want it to go? All options are open.

Where I grew up in Israel, we had Jackals and Hyenas. The Hyenas are a female-dominated species. At twilight, they produce a blood-curdling cry that freezes the heart and paralyzes the prey. Their principal weapon is fear. At night I used to lie in my bed and hear the hyenas, thinking that Satan is out and we are doomed. Now I am old and again I have the feeling that some evil force is dominating humans and we have no escape plan. Satan, Trump, Putin, Netanyahu, and other power-seeking selfish entities compete to dominate and shape us. Here, evolution is just starting on a new trajectory. If we humans can survive a major change in how we are made, the species will emerge differently than it went in. It will be changed mentally, drawing upon something old but new that we named “spiritual”. Now I am visualizing five billion people going in the same direction, with no force or coercion to dominate others. Can it be done? I remember we are over five billion, but we are all one. My imagination is building a new, better human being, but there is very little time to properly plan what it should be

Imagining a new form of human being is difficult, since I am looking for a new and improved version. Repeating old mistakes will not do. We shouldn’t be aiming at simply increasing the population as we always were. It’s done and now quality takes over from quantity. A new human should include something immaterial we call beauty. We are done with efficiency.

People have been digging the natural resources up for thousands of years, finding new ways to dig better and more. Name a natural resource and you find us extracting it very efficiently and refining it even faster. We don’t need all that we produce and can use recycling for the rest of our lives. The new humans will do exactly that. Life will be tied to our ability to adapt to new ways. For generations, we have been learning the wrong things, causing overproduction and death to our planet. By cheating and making useless things, our so-called business drowned us in garbage and built useless projects. Now our noses are against the wall.

It is time for the cheaters to face reality and come back to where we need them. We don’t need all their extra oil and gas or other things they make just to be rich. No need for more roads to China either. What we need is a change of heart.

The new people I am imagining will keep busy by helping and educating others.

In the new (imaginary) world, all the effort will be aimed towards what we know is good. Weapons will not be needed and nature will be allowed to punish those who go against it. People will see a reality in which there is a hell on earth for those harming our planet and the good people on it.

Nature, or God, as I call it, is a harsh judge. It does what is needed and can’t play human games considering humans’s forever-changing feelings. Throwing people to the mercy of that court is a harsh step, but sometimes is necessary if we don’t learn what will save us the easy way.

Here is a link to my blog: https://thesimpleravenspost.blogspot.ca/  Feel free to check other articles and comment.

How can humans survive?

 

How can humans survive?

I had a son a long time ago, and he survived only one day. (Now I have another). The doctors could not help him and prayers did not prolong his life here on earth. It was a case of “let God’s will be done.” Is a one-day-long life less than many years of life? I think when God prolongs life here on earth, it is for those left behind, not for the person who will not live another day. I try to stay alive and let God decide for how long. He probably planned the life ahead before it began, for reasons I didn’t know. A God who planned and created universes doesn’t need my computing power to reach His goals.

If you ask people what they expect the government to do for them, joy probably gets many votes. Many will answer that they expect long and healthy lives. Nowadays, there will be a pleasure component attached. People expect pleasure of some sort, such as holidays, or perhaps things that money can buy. People in our world as we know it assume that there will be divine intervention offering prosperity or other pleasures as part of the deal. Life should include happiness, or is it a big enough gift?

Words and more words. Love and happiness can only exist if there are others to enjoy it or suffer it. Over the years, we learned that all of humankind is a part of one creature that is connected without an overall skin. We like them, hate them, force them, and learn from them. There is no life without them and “them” is interchangeable with “us.”

For humans, there is only one way to exist on earth. We try to be more successful by forcing each other to be the same as ourselves, but we always fail. We try to make others do our work and they instead make us do theirs. Our goals can only be achieved if we do them together, and that is by agreement, which is a lofty goal. The one way is working together if we wish to survive and it’s not always fair.

Again, to win, we must all work together, which we cannot do since we trip each other. I build and another kicks it over, so I will not have more than they do. We both lose, so I try to force. Forcing people to do things is very costly and often dangerous.

A big problem for us is that we only know how to play games to win or lose. We used to play for pride. Each of us wanted to be the best in something like a sport or a skill and show it off. We gave it up and changed the word. Now we find people saying something like I am proud to be gay. I have a hard time figuring out how being proud of a skill that takes a lot of effort to obtain relates to sexual attraction, but I don’t wish to offend, so I wait for the answer to come to me. I wonder if it ever will. For now, I work hard not to say things that may offend good people. I am just one human and there is surely enough that I don’t understand, but possibly will.

Why can’t I understand the world I am living in? That is a two thousand years secret. That which some of us call God created a conflict which forces us to go against our nature to have a nature at all. Male and female, He created them. The males can subjugate the females but in a short time will all die. Females are the only ones who reproduce.

The males and some aggressive females try to use physical force and fail. Females use their softness to soak up the male strength and equally take part in the art of creation. My wife can get her way even if I deploy the most modern weapons that exist. A shy smile that is stronger than an aircraft carrier group. If she says “I love you” I will be ready to disarm a three million dollars supersonic ballistic missile. I have no defense against the soft power.

Yet, I love this life the way it is. I think that she also does. We can’t win while we fight with equally lethal weapons, even if they are different. We play a game for the joy, not to win. It never ends.

In the beginning, we were more like animals and killed each other for gain. After thousands or even millions of years, we learned to work together and civilization grew. Our Lord said, “Whenever two or more of you gather in my name, I am in their midst.” We tested the theory, and it worked. The soft energy wins. It is the hard energy that must be on guard or it will lose its strength and throw the balance off.

I am glad to be a human. Let’s play together and nobody wins. I just want to enjoy the game.

Here is a link to my blog: https://thesimpleravenspost.blogspot.ca/  Feel free to check other articles and comment.

Note: Tuesdays with Morrie is an interesting book if you like.

 

 

 

 A rock speeds through The Milky Way, which is assumed to be empty, but it’s not. It is turning around its axel. Flying around a small burning star (Sun) that gives it heat energy providing “Life.” The formation is named by the humans upon it, the” world.” Some stardust captured material that is rotting slowly doing things on its own. A thing that has a mind. From tiny to huge particles and observable waves, a small veneer is what humans call “Life.” I am existing in “Life.” Life as I know it can only be in “Light” and “light” is something material. It is balanced against something “spiritual” which I can’t understand. The people of old understood that the emptiness we can sense is full of something that yet is not observable by my human senses. It is not material, but we would call it energy. Just like our human subconscious, it has a mind that stirs it towards goals. It can “act.”

At this point in my life, I am suffering and having a hard time wanting to stay alive while in pain. We don’t crave pain, but we want to be with others we care about. However, I have a job to do and I don’t want to give it up, pain or no pain. My task is to sow the seed of hope and happiness, starting here and spreading out. My mind is whispering, do something good. It will spread.

We talk a lot about saving lives and invest much in saving lives. Equipment, training, infrastructure, and insurance all go in. Also, at the same time, we make significant efforts to destroy life as we know it. The year 2024 just began and I see efforts expanded toward human action that will cost lives and many resources. Nations are getting ready to fight over water, air, living space, and other resources we dig up from the ground. There are millions and billions of dollars budgeted for weapons and gaining strategic or economic advantage. Over here in my peaceful valley, we are working hard to produce materials for weapons and industry. In other areas, efforts are geared towards the production of cheap energy. Meteorological coal and carbon for burning is what we produce and we try to do it without paying taxes. CEOs are getting rich while migrants and less skilled people are forced to work for less. The competition is the fiercest at the bottom.

I work hard to figure out if there is a way to achieve Christian love and peace in this world, considering what we have become. Is the Christian model the answer to our inequality, which brings wars, poverty, and a need or desire to fight and kill each other?

We have a complicated task to solve. About half of us learned through life to fight for advantage over the other half. I know I used the word “fight” and we hurt and kill to do so. My present provincial leader is openly advocating to fight my federal leader to gain more prosperity. We call it the “right” of the political divide, and I pay for lawyers on both sides left and right. Politicians and business experts are busy creating an environment that will help them gain more prosperity in many ways. The Casino must always win. Is that enough to keep someone interested in life?

However, I like to view what we do from another vantage point. First, look and see what is good for all of us. The group is most important. Be sure that some will cheat, and take advantage. Society trained us how to be humans and is often not the best example of such. Life must go on with small and great contributions each doing what they can. I look at the forest until I can start seeing trees. Now I look more to see what is good.

I follow a young Jewish Rabbi from thousands of years ago. He had no technology or modern tools. His teachings were about human behaviors and he lost his earthly life. Is it wise to use Christianity as guidance for this time in history?

I take examples from my faith and trust God to lead where I should go based on intuition.

 

I have to trust in God blindly. I am scared, but I do it. My Christian faith fills me up stronger than intellect and all material things. Life is all there is, and it leads to something eternal. If I have the faith that I need, I may move our kind forward. If I don’t, we go on searching where there is little hope of finding. Should we living humans invest our time on earth believing something immaterial? I am ready.

Here is a link to my blog: https://thesimpleravenspost.blogspot.ca/  Feel free to check other articles and comment.

 

We are living in the most interesting time in human history.

 Did we choose it? Did God make a mistake by allowing “Original Sin?” Can God make mistakes? Would perfect eternal life that never ends have been better for us humans, considering what we have now?

My favorite question about the entire problem is, did the woman cause our eternal problem by listening to the serpent instead of to God? When I read the bible in Hebrew, I feel women are blamed for things perhaps more than they should be, considering all the stories. We forget they are the mothers, mates, life-giving humans doing what God tells them to do. They take a tiny bit of material, light in this case, and convert it to a human who obeys or ignores the will of the creator. The most important person in my life is a woman and I remain alive because of her love. Yet I never have found a satisfactory explanation for the question of what is love. To understand “Love” we need a story. A human mind creates stories. The story becomes reality. Go ahead. Think about it. Thinking makes you and me human. A rock or a tree may think also, but at a different speed. We only deal with what we can compare to in our environment. Figure that out.

Why do I think we exist in the most interesting time ever?

I was comfortable in the time of the Cold War. The Soviet Empire and the Capitalist nations were close to equal on the world stage and no one had the upper hand. People started weaponizing money and hurting each other’s economies. War and military industries took over and resources went to killing instead of improving life. Russia lost Afghanistan, the Berlin Wall collapsed and Putin took over Crimea. Everywhere poor migrants attempted to find a better life, and many died. The Soviet block was starving and well-equipped armies faced off, like Iran against Iraq. The world became more dangerous. Even family units fought to get on sinking boats and human smuggling flourished. Many people realized that there was no safe place for them to go to. Can it get more interesting? It did. Human extinction loomed around.

A beautiful world that has all we need is being wasted while not just humans but also animals are suffering pains worse than death for so many, who mostly have done nothing to deserve it. Some are fighting often just to get on the top of the pile. Most of them don’t need to do so. They want to win or be ahead, enjoying their addictions and not even trying to break bad habits. They lost their moral compass. I am watching a world in danger of destroying itself. I call it “Interesting.”

I am a human and I fear living in such interesting times. We, the people that after the great wars wanted to give everything to our children. The children didn’t appreciate the gift and simply wanted more. We gave to other people, to people who selfishly took what they could without considering how or when to pay back. They lost the honor that we tried to instill in them. Some attempted to copy us and make sacrifices, while many considered cheating to be good business. The leaders gave a bad example. Not a world to envy. My fear for the world increased. Russian armies attacked Ukraine, while Israeli armies demolished terrorist camps mercilessly. The innocent, easily led by religious ferver, died in the thousands. They still do. They can’t defend themselves, so resort to lies and deception, which weakens their ability to hold the moral grounds.

My world is unpredictable and interesting, but there is not much holding it together. We humans set some of it up against the rest and the peaceful valley that I hide in is in danger of breaking. People use Social Media to attack each other. Some level of evil filtered through my perch, causing my ability to use the power of God to diminish, but I desperately need it while the world is in turmoil.

My body is facing extinction from the inside. Doctors, technology, and God himself seem to fight for me, but something inside me is not lined up. I need perfect harmony with the universe which I can’t get.

The world is moving on its own, motivated by a force that I do not understand but fully trust to do the right thing. Will there be a world for me after this life is over? I believe so.

Others will bury or cremate me and say the right words. The “I am” with my name will not know what has changed. If you are dead, you don’t see yourself from the outside. At least that is what I think.

Here is a link to my blog: https://thesimpleravenspost.blogspot.ca/  Feel free to check other articles and comment.

 

Like water under a bridge, time can’t stop.

 

Like water under a bridge, time can’t stop.

Life is a constant change. Nothing ever stays the same for long, and it is filtered by the human mind. Only some events are remembered, while others must be forgotten. The most important event in my human memory is my birth into this world, and I remember none of it. Many thousands of years ago, humans appeared on earth. Later, writing happened, and a story emerged. Humans were created from nothing and were assigned names. The male human was told to name all the other creatures, and they recorded in writing. The humans were destined to suffer by working for a living and giving birth. That was written. Hundreds of thousands of years later, memory at last.

Memories aside, I wish to know about my humble beginnings. All that I can know is from the memories of those older than me and their stories are not the same. I remember some things on my own, but my mind is playing tricks on me. Is it trying to remember the good and forget the bad? Could it be remembering the most useful information? Useful for who or what? Confusing.

Does the mind try to remember things to lead me to behave or make choices other than I would make on my own? I wish I knew.

Would that be the wish or direction of God? Is He the boss or do I have free will?

I belong to a big church organization we call Roman Catholic. There are many others and we should honor them all for their good intentions. Many we should be careful with, especially where money is concerned. It’s easy to lose faith in God if we are cheated. Sex plays a part as well. Christ didn’t teach about pleasure, but people expect pleasure and benefit from religion.

A few years ago, my church elected a new leader. The Pope can assume a name other than his birth name and use it for inspiration. Our newly elected Pope chose the name Francis, based on the most popular saint in the world, St Francis of Assisi. St. Francis is popular with Catholics and other religions. He is the most Christ-like person we know of. The name inspired people all over. It does not remind people of prosperity or winning in competition. Francis in the 12th century tried to be a soldier but ended up paying a ransom for his freedom. He was a classic case of God directing a human towards a divine goal.

He became the living example of a perfect human being for those of us who care about what a human should be like. Most of us humans can only wish to have a role model of a human that is worth trying to be like. Our constant search for how to be better, stronger, more powerful, and so on, blocks us from becoming better persons. The best we can manage is increased production or other traits that don’t improve the kind of human we become.

Pope Francis, who was elected to be the spiritual leader of over a billion human beings, made a statement by choosing the name of the simple little Frier Francis, who changed the church a thousand years ago. If the Church is going to survive into future generations, it must change. Not change into a more attractive or popular form but into the vision of the founder, known to its followers as the son of God. A thousand years of making the institution more rich, elaborate, and beautiful, must go back to the original teachings. The greatest commandment of them all is “Love your neighbor as yourself.” How could it be done without destroying the fabric that held it together remains unknown.

The Pope wants change, so change will come. It will be a change in the hearts and minds of its people or it will fail. The vast organization is searching for how to change back to its origins. We are looking for a simpler way of life. No better artwork, more financial influence, or artistic expression. Humans are looking to improve the way we exist together.

The change is happening in the remote prairies of Canada. Where there are only a few churches and a sparse population, churches are burning down. The art is destroyed, becoming burnt black holes and the music almost stops. The church is changing whether we like it. Those who cause the change feel justified by an old vendetta. Unmarked graves. So sad that it came to this.

The predominant religions will all need to change. They strayed away from the original goals and must correct the destination. People are needed to build a new society and we can only get them from around us. We will harness our efforts towards working together. Humans have the power of God in them. It can only release and be usefully combined with others. Free will works only when humans want it to work, for a common good goal. It is happening here and now.

Here is a link to my blog: https://thesimpleravenspost.blogspot.ca/  Feel free to check other articles and comment.

It is 2024 and my little mountain community is quiet and pleasant.

 

It is 2024 and my little mountain community is quiet and pleasant.

 There is not much snow but it will change. The mountains will be white and people will get to wear their gift winter attires and new snow boots. In the evenings, the streetlights come on, and the picture changes. I love what I see. Some people come out for a walk, while others talk in the stores and everyone is greeted with a nod or a warm hello if they know others or even if they don’t. I close my eyes and think, am I alive or is this the world that the bible calls the Kingdom? How would I improve it? I have no idea.

We do not design some things for improvement. A human cannot imagine something better than what we have, so we leave it alone for a while. Otherwise, we make very small unneeded changes.

Since I finished a set of cancer treatments recently, I will not know about next Christmas for a while. I have tremendous help on the medical side and technology, plus experience bending over to keep me alive. I also have the benefit of people praying for me. It helps those of us who believe that it does. Some do and others don’t. I do.

I see on the news hospitals in Canada buckling down under pressure and staff shortages. Doctors walk between sick people on the floor in emergency rooms, unable to help. The politicians who failed to plan and use resources properly are working hard to shift blame from themselves. Some poor immigrants with mops are wiping dark spots off the floors. Some of them are not food-secured and are unhoused people. Nurses are all talking about changing professions. Gone are the days in which we all banged pots and pans cheering our most needed yet lowest-paid workers who saved us from a pandemic.

I used to see signs on businesses saying “under new management.” Now we should have banners stating “under poor management.” Our money is going to what we don’t care about while health care, education, and infrastructure are not attended to. According to the leaders, I show more concern for transgender issues than for the well-being of grandmothers in senior homes.  The leaders are wrong.

It’s not all bad, however. I arrived at our hospital at around 8:00 pm in severe pain. In less than ten minutes, a very professional nurse took all my information, not skipping a step. I was screaming in pain, so they isolated me and in a few more minutes, an intern checked me. She was followed by a doctor who had already talked with my physician and had a plan.

On the next day, the situation repeated and a new doctor was trying other medications and in two hours I was stabilized and could go home. The lab and x-ray departments were working, and the staff was not only professional but also had the best bedside manners we can imagine. On the way home, I noticed how beautiful our municipality was at night. How do I deserve that? I chose right when I was going to retire. Sadly, I couldn’t have more choice about provincial and Federal elections. The private media interfered, I think. I don’t know how they did it. Here we have private media but it is operating as media used to work in the good old days.

I review my situation on the way home. Many friends and family are getting ready for winter vacations while others are coming here to enjoy our winter. Bless them all. Life may be ours to enjoy, but many are suffering while we don’t need to suffer. There is more than enough for all of us if we just share. People will help even those who don’t work. We always do. Trust the divine spark in humanity. It’s there. My heart cries for all the young people fighting wars. We count civilians killed and maimed but rarely mention the soldiers on either side.

I try to pray for peace. People around me are making a show of praying and it makes me feel bad. We can’t ask God for peace while maximizing our pleasure by disregarding those who suffer. God knows who is sincere and who isn’t, and I am not even sure about myself.

I don’t know how long I will live, but I wish to live where there is peace and goodwill. The Crowsnest Pass is close to it. People offer me help and pray for me. Others use their skills and hard work to keep me and my family happy.

A dark cloud is forming in front of my home. Someone threw a dog a bone and the neighbors, including me, are snarling, baring their teeth. A person is threatening to steal a view that others purchased in good faith and the council is debating. Private interest collides with the use of the commons.

Will something irreparably ruin my dream of a wonderful place to retire?

The weather is cooling, and winter is here. What will 2024 bring us if we don’t ask for too much and care about each other? God bless us all. Keep on thinking. It’s our best gift in this life. Take what you need and share the rest. I will try to do the same.

Here is a link to my blog: https://thesimpleravenspost.blogspot.ca/  Feel free to check other articles and comment.

Who will win the war?

 

Who will win the war?

In the event of a war, Israelis promptly go back to their reserve positions or wherever their presence is required. They grow up knowing that the Jewish state is much smaller than the Muslim states around it and that even those at peace wouldn’t cry if Israel was gone. Muslims don’t accept losing lands to non-Muslims. In Canada and the West, Muslims are the most peaceful people, but in the Middle East, many are not. Folks like the extremists in Iran or Afghanistan often educated them. Consequently, Israelis don’t dare lose a war regardless of how they feel about their internal politics.

When on October 7th Hamas tortured, kidnapped, and killed 1200 Israelis, the rest assumed that their faith would be the same if they didn’t all fight together for their lives. Most Israelis grew up hearing stories about what happened to Jews who didn’t fight. First the Jews of Europe and later the Jews in Israel who fought against the Palestinians and all the Arab countries at once.

Now, Israel boasts one of the best armies in the world, and its entire population undergoes training in the arts of war and functions as a well-disciplined unit. You don’t get to choose who you will fight, but follow your orders to the best of your ability. The faith of your family and friends is on your shoulders.

Stories come out of human minds.

Yosy is a reserve pilot. He is a newly married teacher and has a baby boy. He heard on the news that Hamas burned babies in ovens and then got the call. Report immediately to your unit. A jeep was all ready at the front of his home to take him and he barely hugged his wife Yafa and kissed the baby before running to war. The vehicle was equipped with a siren and flashing lights and in less than an hour; he was at the military base hearing and watching the planes taking off.

He knew where he was and the names of people around. A short while later, dressed in his flight suit, he was waiting to take the plane assigned to him. His briefing told him he would fly to a destination in Gaza and bomb a building next to a school. Yesterday he was teaching at a school. His emotions were fighting his training and sense of duty. The building's residents, targeted for bombing, should have been alerted by now. That wasn’t a part of his mission.

Seated in the familiar cockpit all strapped in, he felt at home. He was less than a year from active duty and years of training and practice. The distance of flying in Israel is minimal in a supersonic jet. What about the kids around the building he was going to bomb crossed his mind? Their people burnt babies in ovens, his mind replied. But they didn’t. Their parents shouldn’t have voted terrorists into government.

His eyes rested on the terrain below. He knew every area of Israel and Gaza from the air. The buildings were small in the distance and he couldn’t see the people, but knew they were there. In his mind’s eye, he pictured them dancing as they did at Nine Eleven. They always do when they hear about Americans or Israelis being hurt. They shout Allahu Akbar and shoot in the air. But we hurt them first, crossed his mind. They refused peace; he remembers his teacher in school saying. He remains vigilant just in case the enemy has some anti-air weapons, but they don’t. In the distance, he saw a salvo of missiles heading toward the Israeli side. He circled around and saw the Iron Dome going up to meet the offense. They are shooting at my family; he thought. But the children did nothing. Bombs away.

The smoke rose, and Yosy couldn’t see a thing. Only the pictures in his mind. Bodies buried, fires, and kids crying can’t find their parents. Choking dust and smoke. It’s a war that they started. They didn’t just kill they tortured and beheaded people.

Yosy’s grandmother used to tell him stories about the war. She said that there is a God and against him is the dark Lord. They fight in our minds, she repeated often. If we go for revenge and terror, the dark Lord wins. Everybody will kill everyone else. People can change, but it starts with us. God has to win in your minds.

They planned the attack on Israel for a long time. Equipment and training take long to obtain. Brainwashing of participants is not instantaneous. They predicted the effects and calculated the use of ordinary Gazan's sufferings to sway world opinion. It was all executed meticulously and we may ask, why now?

The answer is that Israel and Saudia Arabia were close to signing a peace agreement. The Iranian people wouldn’t oppose it, but the leadership couldn’t have it. Both the Israelis killed in the music festival and surrounding towns, as well as the poor everyday Palestinians, are paying with their blood for an old religious and political feud.

Yosy and his comrades will have to deal with their mental health problems for a long time. Their political leader may turn himself from a wanted man to a hero and the world may be at war. Some people don’t care. The dark Lord already possesses their souls.

Here is a link to my blog: https://thesimpleravenspost.blogspot.ca/  Feel free to check other articles and comment.