The Real Meaning of Spirituality

Spirituality is a topic around which there is much discussion and writing. Although the author agrees that there is a real need for spirituality, at the same time the author disagrees with almost all of that which parades as spirituality. When it comes to defining what constitutes real spirituality, it is not so much a condition of piety, obedience to supposed masters and personal morality as the correct answer to the age old question "Am I my brother's/sister's keeper?" There is much literature that leads one down blind alleys and fantasy, causing one to ignore the real conditions in which they find themselves and fellow beings. The real answer must be found in an objective/subjective analysis of current conditions in which one finds themselves. Anything else is by comparison, mere escapism and works against real spirituality and to our collective detriment. Therefore, the spirituality with which most of us are familiar can be best described, as opined by the spiritual mentor Wm.. F. Raymond; “spiritual fascism”. A good guide to start with is the caveat "Assume you are being lied to unless you see direct proof to the contrary."

We are born stone ignorant in a complex cosmos in which many answers are not obvious, or easy to find out. Further, those who were born before us and who seek domination, keep the rest of us and those just arriving into life, in a state of ignorance and confusion. It is easier to control an ignorant, alienated and confused person than someone who is knowledgeable. The knowledgeable person, even if just partly so, can be a source of trouble to those who wish to maintain ignorance based control. Therefore, one can expect censorship and control in all its guises to be the norm rather than the exception. The greatest form of censorship today is the dumbing down of the people within the education system. Instead of objective reality, our children are now taught to believe in fantasy. Education gears itself to specialized training and a dependency on the undependable. We are removed from nature and re-engineered to the dictates of those in control. When the need for that re-engineered education disappears, then the person is simply tossed on the scrap heap like so much refuse, unless another use is defined with suitable re-education. With the newly acquired skills to recycle body parts, many people are relegated to the position of being a cash crop. Thus, those who no longer serve any "useful" function by many definitions, are in danger of being "recycled" against their will or by force of economic pressure due to their own and family needs. Needless to say, much of this is covert. After all, one does not tell their pet pig or bull that they are destined to be thanksgiving or Christmas dinner.

Love, humility, hope, faith and other qualities notwithstanding, there must also be a real practice, however that may manifest, to give substance to spirituality. There are very many good and solid reasons why spirituality in its real state, is a necessary condition. Indeed, our survival as individuals and as a species is dependent upon this. It is easy to see that life is hard, brutal, painful, disappointing and all too short. It is easy to see that when the chips are down, many "friends" abandon us, leaving us alone to face the onslaught in isolation, however that may be defined. Then there is the deliberate demonetization of others for various seemingly justifiable reasons and throwing them off to the fringes of society and finally putting them to genocide. Noam Chomsky is on record for having stated that the agenda of the rulers is to atomize the population, so that everyone is in isolation and alienated from all others. On the face of it, this is by and large true. It is not so easy to see that we must also stand up in the face of a violent planet and cosmos. The current apparent environmental calm is deceptive. We are lulled into thinking that evolution is gradual instead of in sudden, sharp and in discrete jumps. Even the myths of old tell of catastrophe on a mighty scale, but we shrug this off as mere fantasy and substitute our own fantasies in their place. When we go down the path of mutual hatred, alienation and mistrust, we abandon ourselves to the ravages of the environment. Instead of working together, we tear each other apart and are torn apart. There is the inevitable pain that comes from living in the world and dealing with famine, disease, aging and accident. Then there is the pain we inflict on one another, such as in bullying in all its forms from schoolyard fights to world scale wars and unreasonable expectations we demand oppressively from one another. These are entirely preventable and the fact that that next to nothing is done about this speaks more volumes in a single act, than all the tomes recorded throughout history that sing platitudes in the face of real misery.

Here then is a brief synopsis of what we as a species are up against and can do little or nothing to prevent aside from that which we do to ourselves.
1. Sudden, unexpected and violent weather changes that can plunge humanity into famine and all the horrors attended thereto.
2. Super volcanic explosions that can severely alter the scenario described in point 1.
3. Impacts from comets and asteroids, which also alter conditions described in point 1, and also create earthquakes and volcanism of an extreme type.
4. Supernovae that can irradiate and sterilize the biosphere.
5. Mega-tsunamis that can wipe out much of life on land caused in part by conditions in points 2 and 3 and also due to massive land slides.
6. Newly evolved pathogens that can wipe out entire species. Even periodic old pathogens can have a dramatic impact. To this mix, we add our own bio-weapons of mass destruction. These could easily be released due to an earthquake or an accident.
7. The aperiodic penetration of the solar system by an interstellar compact massive object that can disrupt the order of the planets. That compact object can be an ice moon as described in some myth, a rogue planet, brown dwarf or a small black hole. Even nearby approaching stars can have a dramatic impact even if just by triggering a comet storm.

Given the foregoing, it should be an inspiration toward universal compassion. We should make every effort to avoid war, avoid causing others needless pain and like evils. We should even try to prevent the inevitable pains that came from environmental catastrophe. Instead, what do we see? We see a pretense to spirituality masquerading as the real thing. We see war in the name of, and defended by God. We see the torture and mass murder of those pointed out as being on the "wrong side" or inhabitants of an evil empire or an undesirable life-style and/or alien race. We see the deliberate destruction of life's needful resources because, "there is no market." The hallmark of this form of spirituality is "self-improvement" with little of no regard for others. This form of "spirituality" can be best described as vanity pseudo-spirituality. In fact, outsiders are often demonized and put to various persecutions. This is sold and resold in different packaging each time, but the contents remain unchanged. We are given a codex of behaviour that consists of maintaining a hierarchy of division between people. We are taught to be merciful to the merciless, trusting of the untrustworthy, respectful of the disrespectful, loving toward the hateful and so on ad-infinitum. It is a deceptive web of the double standard. When the powerful stumble, as human beings are wont to do, they are given another chance again and again. The ordinary person who stumbles is punished out of proportion to the sin, crime or slight. In business they are left without help or recourse and end up in poverty. The poor stealing a slice of bread to eat, have a limb hacked off or are imprisoned for life. The rich go to a country club for counseling to correct their embezzling kleptomania. This differential ignores the basic fact that we all have similar needs. We are told we are advancing more and more to a spiritual society as peoples basic rights and needs are being methodically and surreptitiously stripped away. We no longer have the right of free inquiry, a basic requirement for mental and spiritual development. Is it compassion when trillions of dollars are allocated for sophisticated warfare and our own children starve on the streets right before our eyes? We have more than enough funds to commit global terror on a scale that can be appreciated in comparison to a world shattering asteroid impact, but have no money to feed our own. In an era when the US verges on default, war is still conducted and the people are threatened with an end of support where needed. Where is there positive spirituality in this? Wm. F. Raymond was completely correct in identifying this spirituality as pseudo-intellectual, mere escapism and spiritual fascism; a mere chimera of the real thing and the mouthing sweet sounding platitudes that mean nothing in real life. Jesus would call such actions hypocrisy.

Real spirituality must have the involvement of every single person, behaving in a compassionate manner to all others on the planet. This must be extended to all creatures and the environment upon which we are all so completely dependent. Only then can we create a society that was and is dreamed of by prophets, revolutionaries and visionaries. Compassion must have tangible results. We must learn compassion or perish! Real spirituality must also be communist, where there is a planned economy, benefits and obligations are shared equally, where representatives are appointed to a government from the rank and file of the masses who toil and farm. The job of the government will to make everything else run smoothly and to apportion an adequate proportion of the people to build and maintain necessary infrastructure. This form of governance provides all necessary medical care, full housing, equitable distribution of employment and life's necessities, full and free education, equality between the sexes and all members of society. That society must also respond to the unique talents of all individuals to work best for the whole.

Let us now turn our attention to various writings, tracts and thesis that make the claim that humanity is advancing toward a more spiritual society. Keeping in mind the above, we must first identify what real spirituality must be. It is not difficult to find our guide from texts of the past and the examples of genuinely spiritual persons. Real spirituality is identified by;

1. Respect for others and nature and acting on that respect.
2. Love in the sense of full appreciation and heartfelt connection with and compassion for others.
3. Real understanding of others positions and why they act in a cause and effect manner.
4. Finding needs and fulfilling them to the best of our individual and collective ability.
5. A genuine concern for the welfare and well being of others that is acted upon in a positive manner.
6. Being there when the chips are down and when others are in hard/difficult times as a genuine friend.
7. Being absent when your company is not wanted, for whatever reason. Allowing others a private space.
8. Always telling the truth, being honest and trustworthy.
9. Being open and forthright.
10. Not lusting after anything like power over others, misuse of sex, after material aggrandizement, etc.
11. Maintaining a healthy scepticism, question and test everything, especially from self designated authorities.
12. Lending a hand/support when requested and staying that hand when requested.
13. Being a genuine teacher and/or a willing student; listening and clear communication.
14. Being strong where others are weak and having the grace to accept others strength covering your own weaknesses.
15. Acknowledging that the only constant in the cosmos is change and allowing others the right to change.
16. Being tolerant of others, completely non-judgmental. Except for the grace of God, there am I.
17. Self-acceptance regardless of what is expected/demanded to the contrary by anyone other than yourself. Coupled with this is to not script other peoples' lives, but accept completely what is there.
18. Live for the moment and as if this is the last moment you have and that you wish to leave in peace with all others,
19. Leaving everything in a better condition than when you found or used it. Taking only what you need and not greedily going after more and more beyond what you can use.
20. The foregoing must be universal and interdisciplinary/interconnected in action.

The writings that the author has encountered make fantastic claims about what we can expect when we "advance to a spiritual condition." Among these are things like being in two or more places at the same time, to levitate or fly, the seeing of subtle energies like auras, a super memory, extreme acuteness of senses, remote sensing, ecstatic states and so forth. Although some of these are possible to experience under special conditions, some clearly are in the realm of fantasy and fiction. They also tend to sensationalism and captivate an audience along selfish motivations, creating an "Oh gee, I wish I could do that" train of thought. So then, what would you do if you could do such things? If the advance in technological ability is any guide, it's likely to ever greater oppression of others. As a matter of fact, both the former USSR and the US were engaged in a decades long research and experimentation in psychic spying and warfare. This was used for remote intelligence gathering on the "enemy." Out of this has come a new field called psychotronics (especially tuned electromagnetic technology that can interact with the bio-electrical field and effect the central nervous system), were electronic equipment can be used to generate intense pain from a remote location to the target individual or group, or alter thoughts electronically. Some of the theory on this was known over a hundred years ago by Nikola Tesla. It has taken a century to catch up to some of this theory and actually put such things to practice.

These writers go on about improvements in education, business, politics and so forth. What has been clearly demonstrated, is the tendency of increasing the student to teacher ratio, decreasing the quality of lessons and reduction in what is taught (dumbing down). Then there is the insistence of turning against science in favor of superstitious style religion the so-called creationism versus evolution debate. Lab practice has been reduced to lab theory. The educative process has also deteriorated alarmingly. A student is expected to know the material on the same day they study it and take a test after a short cramming session. The passing bar has been set a lot higher too. We now live in a climate that tells us that in order to be merely perfect, we must be better than perfect. Although the work place demands ever greater learning credentials, access is denied except to the moneyed. Individuality and creativity is denied in favor of conformity, uniformity and limited specialization. There is no room for creativity except for the "lucky few" artists to do paste-up for printing processes, or airbrushing touch-up of advertisements. Similarly, the musician who has a few hits, is condemned to life singing them over and over ad-infinitum, not being allowed to grow and experiment in new ways. The uneducated are tossed on the human scrap heap to rot. In politics, we see the increasing tendency toward totalitarianism, oppression, state terror and the loss of freedoms and human rights. Torture is now the instrument favored to control any undesirable tendency. Politics has basically become a tool of the few to rule the many with an iron and unforgiving fist. The only promises kept are the anti-human and anti-nature ones. George Orwell best summed it up by saying in the novel 1984, "If you want a vision of the future (your name here), imagine a jack boot stamping on a human face forever." As for business, this is the source of control of all individuals. In fact, business has become "No man whether rich or poor, bond or free can buy sell or trade save he have the mark of the beast on his forehead or on his right hand." Profit interests dictate all the rest, spirituality notwithstanding. Spirituality under this condition, is hooked to profits and is sold for profit. In fact, business is so dominant, nothing can be approved unless allowed by profit. This includes all the necessities of life. If there is no market for something, then neither is there any compassion. Although there are ways to feed everyone with food production, food is destroyed because most people don't have the money to buy it. After all, if you give away something you normally charge money for, what's to stop everyone from pleading poverty and just taking it all, just like the business interests did originally in a round about way. The "commodity of spirituality" is just another form of control in this context, and it is this that makes it another tool of fascism; hence the term spiritual fascism.

Consider nature: members in the natural world neither buy or sell or hold things back for profiteering. They take only what they need at any moment and leave the rest. But we are told if humanity lived like this, it would be anarchy. Thus the difference between nature and man is civilization; and it is this that is ruining nature for wealth and power. Instead of health and welfare we get wealth and hellfare.

There are other suggestions about the approaching age/society of spirituality according to the same folks. They point to the growing environmental movement. They neglect to report that the movements no longer have the support and funding of governments and that as early as 1982, Gore Vidal reported that the rulers of the world dropped environmental concerns as a priority. Later, funding was removed and environmentalists were targeted as terrorists and even executed in places like Nigeria that has a profitable oil profit industry. The author personally knows the man responsible for starting the Australian Wildlife Preservation Society, who was then summarily deported from Australia as an undesirable alien. He wound up in Canada where the author met him and learned that he was slowly and methodically being put to death. Despite attempts by the author to interfere with the process, he died horribly anyway.

The movement for the poor in the world and in opposition to the World Trade Organization's and International Monetary Fund's agenda, has experienced violence at almost every quarter. This includes being shot dead in the streets by the police of various countries. They have not been allowed their say or even been allowed to approach any meeting place due to the "threat of terrorism." As for the antiwar movement; as laudable as their actions are and have been, this did not deter the attacks by the US ruling class on so called identified rogue nations and terrorist enclaves therein by one microsecond. In fact, due to a clue of the whereabouts of Saddam Hussien, the "Shock and Awe" attack on Iraq commenced two weeks ahead of the planned date. There must be thousands of leaders of various movements that protest for and against various issues and things. However, the organizing strategies by these leaders more often than not, select bad timing and wrong locations in which to direct a lot of well meaning energy to vent it in a “safe for business manner”. Spiritual concerns for the well being of people and the planet are all to often misdirected into useless dithering by misleaders of all stripes. The end result is frustration and move away from these activities and into something a little more "productive" for capitalism, such as consumerism via self centered or vanity spirituality.

The question of lack of money to buy food is now addressed in the euphemism "food insecurity" as opposed the more naked terms, starvation, malnutrition and engineered famine. Governments are now promising to deal with "food insecurity" while at the same time removing the means to prevent starvation and malnutrition. Perhaps the way that "food insecurity" may be dealt with is via "collateral damage" and "bag counts". In our bid to sound more pleasing to the ear, we have invented a lot of nice sounding, politically correct phrases for horrific realities. This is no more true than in the theater of war where such niceties abound, such as "collateral damage", "surgical removal" and "bag count." Each in turn mean, damage by bombing to the target infrastructure, killing the enemy leadership and number of our own dead troops. There are of course, thousands more of the euphemisms that cover every aspect of our lives. In fact, the art of turning a good phrase from bad situations has its own think tank in the form of what is known as spin doctors. By putting the right spin on something, almost anything can be made to sound and hence look good. This of course is a subtle form of censorship, insidious in its deceptive results. This is the power behind the politically correct dictate that most of us are forced to swallow and follow.

Let's look a little deeper. First of all, let's acknowledge that we are all of nature and are dependent on the simultaneous occurrence of special conditions to allow life in the first place. If you haven't read it by now, let's repeat; life is a condition that exists far from a state of equilibrium and is dependent on an energy gradient to function. For us that means the sun must exist to allow for photosynthesis in plants. These plants grow in a narrow bandwidth of temperatures. That bandwidth is usually defined as being between the freezing point and boiling points of water. However, the constraint of most living things is narrower than these "extremes." That brings us to water, which is essential for complex life. Since animals don't photosynthesize, they must obtain food by other means, either by eating plants or eating plant eaters. The list of the right conditions for complex life is a long one, the lack of any one is sufficient to stop complex life dead in its tracks. Life has an intrinsic wisdom, garnered from billions of years of evolutionary experience. Sex has become the evolutionary choice to overcome life negating periods like freezes, darkness, drought, radiation and so forth. Many species go through generational cycles of being large plants and animals to microscopic seeds and spores. Sexual reproduction has a long history too. Complex life in many of its forms, exists in part of its cycle in a microscopic form. Experiments have proven that microscopic life is much more resilient to the violence that the cosmos and the world can dish out. Complex beings are easily destroyed in far less adverse conditions. The cycle between complex mega-fauna and microscopic forms is well established and is the chosen way to pass through difficult times of cycles. All the information required to grow a tree, an elephant or human being is packed away in a very tiny space and that is very resilient to tremendous shock. That information is passed on, changed and evolved best though sex. Therefore, injunctions against sex by spiritual sycophants is misguided at best and cruelly manipulative at worst. Yet, this is one of the things we are told in order to "become more spiritual" i.e., to deny one's own sexuality. However, to deny this is like saying that gravity has no part in shaping the cosmos, which of course, it most certainly does. Sex to life is like gravity to planets and stars; a fundamental force, not to be casually dismissed. The consequence for disobeying the law of gravity is certain. The consequence of disobeying the law of sex has its own repercussions. Such a casual dismissal without questioning can lead to sexual dysfunction, which in itself is potentially life negating.

The bigger questions like justice and mercy go ignored, while we are taught to "strain at gnats" as Jesus reportedly stated in the gospels about the same topics. What is meant is that inordinate time and energy is dithered away in interminable meetings toward nonsensical goals, idle pursuits and worthless reforms while the big questions are left by the wayside ignored. The poor are still beaten into the ground violently, sometimes forced into slavery at gunpoint. Our children are thrown on the street to rot. The rich now view the poor as a cash crop for body parts. Justice and democracy are figments of the imagination. Some people are more equal than others by the size of their bank account. Censorship in the "public media" guarantees that only select information gets to the people on the bottom. Resources are squandered and the planet is ruined for the sake of enriching the few. Good ideas for correcting problems are either ignored, bought off and secreted away or banned by force. The result is that no real progress is made to an equitable and better world. This in itself is a great tragedy and sin. We are told that the world is progressing toward a more equitable, healthy and spiritual place when all the evidence is to the contrary, i.e., toward a more regimented, dictatorial and oppressive condition enforced by a violent prone police state.

Perhaps the greatest sin of all, is profiteering off the misery of others without alleviating that same suffering, or worse, engineering misery in order to profit therefrom. Huge sums are transferred from the poor to the rich by various means. Let's face it! In class divided societies, life is alienating painful, boring, frustrating and mean spirited through and through. In comes the various spiritual fixes, in groups, the self help sycophants, psychiatrists, priests, lawyers, gangsters, politicians, doctors, etc. Any one of these usually harbor nothing more than contempt for the source of their livelihoods, the working poor. Being in a more or less continual state of misery and seeking alleviation of that same misery, opens the working poor up as target clients for all the shysters, hucksters and profiteers. Almost nowhere is found the complete and real answer. This must more often than not, must be found on ones own, not only without support, but under constant opposition as well. Those who find the answers are ostracized to the fringes of society or put to death, as they represent a threat to the established order of profiting from misery. Imagine then, what will come when large numbers of the poor become enlightened about this reality in a real sense. All the profiteers of misery will face a raging juggernaut army that will be virtually impossible to stop.

Profiteering can only come if everything that is needed for living is rigorously controlled. Thus, injunctions against sex can be turned to profitable ends through the sale of concepts and things like marriage, pornography, prostitution, glamor items, accessories like "sexy" cars, enviable jobs and the like. Food becomes a controlled substance, available only to those who can pay. Some folks must be put to starvation so that the example is set for the rest to make food sales profitable. To ensure that this is rigorous, surpluses must be destroyed to prevent the free distribution of excesses. This is spurred on by the continuous crises of overproduction. The same is now true for water and shelter. Enough people are forced to be without to provide the "incentive" to the rest to be productive enough to warrant rewards like sex, food, water and shelter. So in essence, what we are told "in spiritual guidance" to strive to negate in austerity, is repackaged and sold to us for a handsome profit. Included in all this are the spiritual injunctions. Real spirituality does not negate life in order to gain life. It is not self contradictory for the profit of a few. Real spirituality exercise and practices compassion instead of regulating life in a police state fashion. It is not oppressive, but rather supportive.

Next in line to the above sin, must be the enforcement of conceptualized spirituality by peer pressure, threat or torture and like forms of subtle and not so subtle terror. The author does not care what any so called spiritual organization has to say, genuine spirituality does not arise from coercion. Almost every "spiritual" organization is blameworthy as far as enforcing conceptualized spirituality by terror or peer pressure. The writer is not personally aware of any organization that is blameless. Organized Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism and so forth all have despicable records as far as the use of brutality, torture and murder by example are concerned. In fact, many tortures used by Nazis were first invented by the Jesuits within the Catholic Church. Mounting evidence points to a long a bloody history of partnerships between popes and repressive dictators like Hitler. Islam is guilty of lopping off limbs of those who steal bread in order to eat and tossing women to their death from minarets or stoning them to death for suspected but non-proven adultery. The founding religion of both Christianity and Islam is no less guilty of atrocities. Their particular bent is to exploit "goyem" for selfish Jewish ruling interests. This includes prohibition form making a living, denial of water to the thirsty, destruction of homes and private property and so on. Today, the once persecuted people of the Nazis are behaving like Nazis themselves. But even this has ties to the Nazis and Catholic Church. This is stated even though it is completely politically incorrect to do so, because the evidence is there for the observing. In this case, there is no particular interest in making spiritual converts or enforcing spiritual concerns. Hindus and Muslims stand poised in mutual assured destruction by nuclear war at the Kyber pass between India and Pakistan. Buddhist monks have a reputation for beating their students. Of the lot, they appear to be the least blameworthy,but only quantitatively and not qualitatively.

Other spiritual belief systems of the past were even more horrific than modern counterparts. Consider the Aztec religion, where the gods had to be daily placated and satiated with hearts torn out of living victims. Non-traditional spiritual movements also use coercion, usually of a peer pressure type or brainwashing. This may be augmented through dietary changes, denial of food, water and sleep and other methods that are also used as forms of torture. The process is often subtle and persuasive to the point where professional deprogrammers are often called in by concerned parents of children caught up in such "spiritual pursuits." Other examples abound. The targets of such organizations are almost universal. They don't tolerate or accept gay people or anyone considered an outsider of the movement. All sex is invariably an anathema to them. Some go so far as to suggest that poverty is a punishment from God or gods and one should not interfere, allowing poverty to continue for karmic or other reasons. And then there is "Saint" Paul, who might as well have stated; "Slaves be obedient unto your master (Satan) even as you obey Christ." The author states it this way as much of the rest of the Bible condemns slavery as Satanic in origin and a first rank sin along with murder. This is the point behind the Moses story. The point is clear, that what is promulgated as spiritual is often enforced by brutality of an extreme sort. It is actually anti-spirituality!

If "spirituality" is not enforced at the point of a gun, then it is packaged and sold to the masses as the latest in healing and self-improvement activities. In the 80's and 90's of the last century, it was fundamental Christianity. Since that failed due to the misleadership and bad example of the leaders, the people turned to other answers. Since then there has been a growing interest in yoga which does not appear to have peaked at this point. The author wonders what this means in an overcrowded and alienated society. The author recalls experiments done in overcrowded rat population studies where it was learned that the members went through a stage of violence, insanity and then self absorption in grooming. This went on until the population died off from lack of procreation and vanished. This was despite the provision of ample living resources, except for living space. Is the current trend in yoga a symptom of our current path to demise? The fact that we live in a super exploited, super crowded and super alienated society drives people to seek ways of self improvement to be accepted by what few peers can be mustered to their side. So there is the selling of a package with little of the philosophical content to most of the adherents. It is sold because it is profitable. This is not to say that the philosophy is missing; it just is not given much impetus. With this approach, the fad that comprises much of the yoga boom will also fade when once more, the alienated masses find no substantial result. This is a tragic shame, as yoga is highly beneficial if approached correctly in all its aspects.

In some schools of thought, spirit and body are separate. This thinking then supports the idea of the negation of the physical in support of the spirit or visa-versa. This thinking has lead to a lot of woe. Spirit and body are not separate while the body has animating life and consciousness and a personality are present. There is even much debate as to what precisely goes on after the body dies. We already know from studies of the quantum that the cosmos exists in simultaneous states of entanglement and quantum uncertainty. There are plenty of experiments that support this at this time. Some of these experiments you can perform yourself. The first condition interconnects everything and the second condition allows for individualization within the matrix of entanglement. Spirit is no more removed from the real cosmos than virtual particles are separate from interacting with real ones in the manifest cosmos. In the entangled state, we are all instantaneously interconnected, though we do not fully appreciate it or are conscious of that condition. Change manifests through the interaction of the Planck false vacuum on the real vacuum and the particles and fields therein. Time is born of change on the complex level where energy gradient changes become apparent, setting up an arrow of time. Form this platform comes complex individualization and all that is associated with it. Note that there is no degradation or loss of interconnectedness within the complex cosmos, only the addition of individualization. So here at least, it is all interconnected and interrelated. So then it should be also true that that which we call spirit, which is the interconnected part of us to the rest of the cosmos, is not degraded due to our individuality. When the individual collapses for one reason or another, the spirit remains, just as it existed during personal existence within the complex cosmic matrix. Body and spirit are never separate during temporal existence. When the body collapses for a variety of reasons, the spirit remains in existence. As contrary as it may sound, the two are not separate. One can say that the body is an outgrowth of the spirit when conditions are right, just as the visible cosmos requires a set of extremely fine tuned conditions in order to exist as we know it. If then, the spirit and body are coexistent and one and we are all interconnected, then it makes direct sense that whatsoever we do to one another, we also are doing it to ourselves. Some would call this karma, but the described condition is instantaneous, not exiting in time like the concept of karma. The good or harm done to another has an immediate impact on the one performing the act. Sometimes the results of that act may take a while to blow back on ones self. This lag-time factor in reaping what we sow is equivalent to the idea of karma.

For decades, we have been told to "seek our bliss." However, not many people are allowed to do this as this represents a substantial threat to the world order of profit making. Those who would be rich at all our expenses and the desecration of the planet cannot afford to have everyone going after their bliss. It is safe to say that bliss is not found in dangerous and dirty jobs like coal mining, migrant farm work, police work, fire fighting, janitorial work, steel making and many other jobs. Nor is it found in the host of other necessary jobs to keep civilization going for the enrichment of the few. As it is, bliss is a rare or non-existent event in the lives of most people. So when we are told to seek our bliss, this is all too often at cross purposes to the new world order agenda. Who among us can take the time off to star-gaze, paint something other than walls, take a year or more long sabbatical to meditate or do what we really want instead of drudging through existence day to day as we slip inexorably deeper into debt and toward illness and death trying to make ends meet? Almost no one! Instead we attempt to grab bliss piecemeal in quick sexual encounters (usually paid for somehow), booze, drugs, fast cars, extreme sports and clubbing. These are the substitute activities approved (covertly) as they make a few people rich. So even the true calling that most of feel that would be our real spiritual destiny, has to be ignored in order to work to get just enough to be forced to work some more. This then is just another cruel tease. Those seeking their bliss must do so as a warrior, fighting tooth and nail every millimeter of the way. Usually this will cause them to be ostracized to the outside of society and thus becomes alienating and self-defeating. This is especially true if the bliss of others is also sought in the quest for some kind of real fulfillment. Instead, we are directed to seek bliss in mass consumerism, something far more profitable. Bliss seeking becomes that new car, the new video game, the big fancy home, the prestige job, the trip to Disney Land or the Casino. The real meaning becomes entirely lost. This false bliss often ends up as a hellish experience.

This brings us to the contempt that many so-called spiritual types have for and practice on anyone else. This contempt is meted out to any outsider of a particular movement and can also be focused on a particular minority. Contempt is expressed in any manner from verbal abuse to total war. Virtually no movement is exempt on all levels. They are laced with internal and external controversy. From Christian groups that have inspired the likes of the Ku Klux Klan to the beating to death of gay people, to Muslim extremists who slaughter people in the thousands during terror campaigns. From the Hari Krisna movement to the Jim Jones mass suicide in Jonestown, internal problems are rife. All the high sounding ideals are lost in the conflagrations unleashed by these types. Let us not forget Waco when the Christian right attacked, burned, leveled and murdered a whole community that practiced the right of the freedom of religion guaranteed under the US Constitution; now defunct after 9-11. The total destruction was based on nothing more than fervent conjecture. In retrospect we see a community put to constant military fire and the torch with little or no resistance, pleas for help ignored. The author has explored a number of spiritual venues and found every one of them wanting. The fundamentalist Christians experienced ended up being a tattler of tales and ostracized the author after a "sin" was confessed in what was thought to be confidence. The Sufis attacked for similar reasons and the author left of his own accord before the ban had a chance to take effect. A friend in the movement left for the same reason. Zikher and the Sema were fun while they lasted. The author and another close friend found Ananda Marga to be run by a Stalinist overlord who alienated the group during a "spiritual kirtan". Thus, it became curtains for kirtan. The Theosophical Society was found to harbor rabid Nazis and was basically a front group for political ends. The various spiritual types who practised occult arts like astrology, tarot, palmistry, etc., ended up behaving like cut throat business people hell bent on a hostile take over. Any excuse was used to destroy the competition, whether political or otherwise. The score as directly experienced at the end, spiritual fascism 5, real spirituality 0. There are other groups the author brushed close to, like the Hari Krisna movement, but the experience never got beyond the point of hearsay as the author never penetrated the movement. This is a real indictment but does not reflect on genuine spirituality. It says that the real thing is rare indeed, almost to the vanishing point. For the most part, "spiritual" movements are run like most school-yards, where bullies run the show by intimidating people either to follow them or by brow beating people so intensely, some are driven to madness and/or suicide. Many job sites and government organizations are similarly run. Now it is asked; is there anything remotely spiritual about this at all? If you think so, you'd better explain it in as clear, rigorous and tight a way as possible!

When weighing what is truly spiritual and what is not, one must look to the actions and largely ignore the words, unless they follow on the heels of right action. What then is right action? It has already been detailed in the foregoing. You might find things to add to the list of right action. We all know what we don't like and would prefer. It is up to each and every one of us to put into practice, real spiritual values. If we do this, we will move toward a paradise conceived only in imagination up to this point. We need not imagine some extra dimensional world or afterlife for better circumstances, nor wait indefinitely for the emergent spiritual life. We must do the thing right here and now. To do this will give us greater strength against a violent world and cosmos.