We

We the people have allowed our planet to become our sewer. We the people have allowed corporations and corrupt politicians to tell us that evil is good. We the people have killed and plundered in the Middle East, in Viet Nam, in Cambodia, in El Salvador. We the people foster the misconception that killing under the pretext of war is honorable, when we bow our heads to the military. We the people allow gang violence to exist in impoverished slums by allowing the politicians whom we pay to not do their jobs. We the people allow vandals to deface and destroy public accommodations and private property by not holding the parents of these vandals and negligent police responsible. We the people encourage overpopulation, poverty and stupidity by supporting the folly of reproductive rights without reproductive responsibility. We the people are the cause. We the people are the only solution through practice and right action.

Dieting

This time of year in the Northern Hemisphere triggers dieting in many people. Gym memberships climb. Anticipation of light clothing and bathing suits motivates.

This is a sign of a gluttonous society.

Eating has become a hobby for many and a mindless stuffing of the gut for many others. One problem with overpopulation is the impossibility of providing fresh, healthy food at affordable prices for everyone. Price avocados and you will understand my point.

Whatever your taste, it is important to realize that diet and weight control is simply understood. Physics determine the basic equation:

Calories consumed minus calories expended equal calories used to make body weight, muscle, skin and fat.

Daily balancing of exercise and consumption of food is part of my practice. When eating in relation to activity becomes a habit, weight gain is no longer a problem. Weight loss entails increasing activity while not changing food consumption and gradually reducing it at each feeding.

NOTE: Photo courtesy Peter Petraitis.

Birthright

The evolution of human consciousness has brought a new view to the relationship between parent and child. For thousands of years, children were seen as beholding to their parents (especially fathers) for being brought into human life. Children were seen as and treated as free labor and pawns of their parents to carry on their blood line, surname, and so forth. Many societies condoned infanticide and other forms of murder/brutality by parents upon their offspring.

The new consciousness, which has been fostered by the secular segments of society, against angry protest from the religiously deluded, is based on the concept that parents are responsible for their children's wellbeing and development into independent, evolving adults. More educated parents take this responsibility more seriously. They strive to provide their children with a life which will surpass their own in positive growth and experience.

Practice for those raised in the old model, the model of child as slave, entails in part declaring a birthright to respect and independence. This practice is difficult, especially if one's parents live into old age.

Claiming one's birthright to own one's own life and to be responsible for it is a major and necessary step to personal evolution.