"Untitled Portrait"
by Neil Adam Collins
12" x 16"
Oil on Masonite Panel.
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
Monday, June 15, 2015
The power of words
This reminds me of what happened in the book "1984". In that fictional book, the authoritarian government was in a process of narrowing down of the language, so that there were less and less words that could be used by the people. This process of using less words benefitted the power structure because if people do not possess certain words then it becomes almost impossible for them to hold certain concepts in their minds, to ask certain questions, to criticize certain things about society. Yes, it is true that many words have been subverted, but abandoning these words is to commit intellectual suicide and to diminish our ability to use critical thinking.
One interesting word is "radical" this word has come to be used to describe anyone who has crazy or extreme political views, and many times implies that they tend towards possible violence. I also doubt that many of the people who use the word in this way actually stop to wonder the meaning. The word Radical means simply 'to go to the root'. It has always meant this and has the same meaning when used in mathematics (when searching for the square root of a number). So, this is a very useful word because it points to the importance of looking to and addressing root causes when thinking about politics or social issues. This ''root-cause" thinking is very rare in out political discussions and instead the focus is alway on symptoms and a never ending stream of proposal for patch-work solutions.
These words should not be abandoned but should be retaken. If a person does not know the meaning of a word or is misusing it then this is a wonderful opportunity for conversation, for the spreading of information, which is usually more powerful for social change and progress than any party politics could dream of being.
One interesting word is "radical" this word has come to be used to describe anyone who has crazy or extreme political views, and many times implies that they tend towards possible violence. I also doubt that many of the people who use the word in this way actually stop to wonder the meaning. The word Radical means simply 'to go to the root'. It has always meant this and has the same meaning when used in mathematics (when searching for the square root of a number). So, this is a very useful word because it points to the importance of looking to and addressing root causes when thinking about politics or social issues. This ''root-cause" thinking is very rare in out political discussions and instead the focus is alway on symptoms and a never ending stream of proposal for patch-work solutions.
These words should not be abandoned but should be retaken. If a person does not know the meaning of a word or is misusing it then this is a wonderful opportunity for conversation, for the spreading of information, which is usually more powerful for social change and progress than any party politics could dream of being.
Saturday, June 13, 2015
Root Causes
Here are some thoughts about critiques of capitalism, Federal Reserve Banking, Fiat Currency, etc...
It is important information that you are sharing and it is definitely a start to get people thinking about. At a more root level, it is also important to realize that these things which are usually refered to as "corruption" or greed are actually symptoms of how money works. It is not just the kind of money that we use. Money in the first place oporates out of scarcity, competition and inequality. These things are inherent to the use of money. Money and these negative aspects of it may have been useful or even necessary at one time in the past but they are now obsolete and harmful to the social/psychological condition of humanity, not to mention the environment. Money creates the need for people to compete with eachother, to submit to eachother for labor in order to survive and to fall into classes in an unequal, hierarchical system. These things are usually looked at as inevitable things that we must put up with because they are part of human nature and will always be with us. Fortunately, this outdated scientific misunderstanding is being overturned by new research and information which is coming from modern science. These old ideas come from misinterpretations of evolutionary theory which was popularized by people like Thomas Malthus (Essays on the Theory of Populations), ad further spread by Adam Smith and the like. Human Nature is an incredibly important topic because the common understanding of it is extremely incorrect and outdated. And as I said, "human nature" is used as the basic justification for a competitive monetary system which leaves over a billion humans. In short, Money its self is obsolete and has become incredibly harmful, yet we seem incapable of updating our society because of these old ideas. We currently live in a world where because of scientific progress and technology, we have the ability to create and abundant society for every human on the planet without need for mindless toil or environmental damage. However, this level of personal freedom, prosperity, equality and sustainability is not compatible with the use of money, even though it is technically possible.
I realize it is not possible to go to far into the root in such a short video. I think your video is great and I am only saying the things it makes me think of. Great work
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$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
It is important information that you are sharing and it is definitely a start to get people thinking about. At a more root level, it is also important to realize that these things which are usually refered to as "corruption" or greed are actually symptoms of how money works. It is not just the kind of money that we use. Money in the first place oporates out of scarcity, competition and inequality. These things are inherent to the use of money. Money and these negative aspects of it may have been useful or even necessary at one time in the past but they are now obsolete and harmful to the social/psychological condition of humanity, not to mention the environment. Money creates the need for people to compete with eachother, to submit to eachother for labor in order to survive and to fall into classes in an unequal, hierarchical system. These things are usually looked at as inevitable things that we must put up with because they are part of human nature and will always be with us. Fortunately, this outdated scientific misunderstanding is being overturned by new research and information which is coming from modern science. These old ideas come from misinterpretations of evolutionary theory which was popularized by people like Thomas Malthus (Essays on the Theory of Populations), ad further spread by Adam Smith and the like. Human Nature is an incredibly important topic because the common understanding of it is extremely incorrect and outdated. And as I said, "human nature" is used as the basic justification for a competitive monetary system which leaves over a billion humans. In short, Money its self is obsolete and has become incredibly harmful, yet we seem incapable of updating our society because of these old ideas. We currently live in a world where because of scientific progress and technology, we have the ability to create and abundant society for every human on the planet without need for mindless toil or environmental damage. However, this level of personal freedom, prosperity, equality and sustainability is not compatible with the use of money, even though it is technically possible.
I realize it is not possible to go to far into the root in such a short video. I think your video is great and I am only saying the things it makes me think of. Great work
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Tuesday, May 19, 2015
Human Nature
It is very possible that many people who commit horrible atrocities actually cannot be rehabilitated. Never the less, coming to a logical understanding of the causes of their disfunction can still help us to minimize the further creation of such people. "Human nature" is widely misunderstood but luckily, the behavioral sciences are making huge leaps in this area in recent years.
The basic understanding is coming out of the scientific community, that the human is highly adaptable and that behavior is almost completely created by the environment, in our case, the social environment or society. If we live in an abusive society which values competition, people having power over others (or as Terence would say, a "dominator culture), a society where compassion and cooperation are not useful for 'success', then I think it is no wonder that many humans show violent, sociopathic behavior.
Very little of behavior is programmed by the actual genes. The genes merely give options for traits that can be expressed. It is eventually the social environment that decides which traits do become expressed.
This is further clear when realizing that almost all severely violent offenders are people who they themselves experienced abuse and severe trauma or neglect in their own lives.
I really feel as if this issue of "human nature", or the misunderstandings of it is one of the key issues that has the power to radically improve our world if looked into.
NAC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-brqskIoBw
Here is what I'd call an INFODUMP on the topic.
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
They fought for your freedoms....?
A few thoughts on the military in the context of "Our troops fighting for your freedom is the reason why activists, liberals and peace-lovers even have the privilege to complain about the military in the first place."
Don't believe anyone who tells you that they fought for your freedoms by fighting in the military. They are lying, although they probably believe the lie. They actually fought for the rich ($), for the corporations ($), for the profit of weapons dealers ($), global construction contractors($), Oil tycoons ($), the debt-profiteers like the IMF ($), They fought for the interests of central banking cartels ($), on and on. This is what they fought for, make no mistake. This is true even back to George Washington and forever after, it is nothing new.
Any "freedoms" you enjoy in the USA were fought for by the people, and they usually had to fight hard against the US government and rich elites in order to get those freedoms. Worker's rights had to be fought for by workers. Several of the early US presidents are documented as deploying troops to gun down striking workers in the thousands at the whim of factory owners ($). Gunned down for demanding wages enough to eat with, shorter than 16 hour work days and safe working conditions.
Black people's rights were fought for mostly by black citizens, not 'given' by Lincoln, like they tell you in first grade. Women's right were fought for by women, not by soldiers. Child labor, freedom of speech, the list goes on and on.
The people have always had to fight against the interests of the rich and the government, the interests of power. At first they are called dissenters, terrorists, etc.... Then when they begin to finally win, the government passes a law of 'permission' and takes all the credit. Patriotism is a scam. It is incorrect to ever state that POWER can ever be "corrupt" because it is inherently INVALID directly from its root. -NAC
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"Stockholm syndrome = flag worship.
"Stockholm syndrome, or capture-bonding, is a psychological phenomenon in which hostages express empathy and sympathy and have positive feelings toward their captors, sometimes to the point of defending and identifying with the captors" -APM
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Here is the beauty of patriotism, war, nationalism and the men and women who defend "our freedoms". You be the judge if the flag is worthy of respect...
By the way, this isn't liberal propaganda. This is found on a right wing consevative news site. This is the kind of rhetoric that many gung-ho patriots use to defend their pride in "The best goddammned country in the goddammned world".
-NAC
Don't believe anyone who tells you that they fought for your freedoms by fighting in the military. They are lying, although they probably believe the lie. They actually fought for the rich ($), for the corporations ($), for the profit of weapons dealers ($), global construction contractors($), Oil tycoons ($), the debt-profiteers like the IMF ($), They fought for the interests of central banking cartels ($), on and on. This is what they fought for, make no mistake. This is true even back to George Washington and forever after, it is nothing new.
Any "freedoms" you enjoy in the USA were fought for by the people, and they usually had to fight hard against the US government and rich elites in order to get those freedoms. Worker's rights had to be fought for by workers. Several of the early US presidents are documented as deploying troops to gun down striking workers in the thousands at the whim of factory owners ($). Gunned down for demanding wages enough to eat with, shorter than 16 hour work days and safe working conditions.
Black people's rights were fought for mostly by black citizens, not 'given' by Lincoln, like they tell you in first grade. Women's right were fought for by women, not by soldiers. Child labor, freedom of speech, the list goes on and on.
The people have always had to fight against the interests of the rich and the government, the interests of power. At first they are called dissenters, terrorists, etc.... Then when they begin to finally win, the government passes a law of 'permission' and takes all the credit. Patriotism is a scam. It is incorrect to ever state that POWER can ever be "corrupt" because it is inherently INVALID directly from its root. -NAC
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Stockholm syndrome = flag worship.
"Stockholm syndrome, or capture-bonding, is a psychological phenomenon in which hostages express empathy and sympathy and have positive feelings toward their captors, sometimes to the point of defending and identifying with the captors" -APM
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here is the beauty of patriotism, war, nationalism and the men and women who defend "our freedoms". You be the judge if the flag is worthy of respect...
By the way, this isn't liberal propaganda. This is found on a right wing consevative news site. This is the kind of rhetoric that many gung-ho patriots use to defend their pride in "The best goddammned country in the goddammned world".
-NAC
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Mckenna Lectures and quotes
In 2011 and 2012 I listened to about 100 hours of lectures by Terence Mckenna.
Now I have decided to go through them again, like reading a book the second time, the idea is to get more out of it that was missed in the first go 'round.
I'd also like to save a few notes and things, even though this has been done extensively elsewhere, these will be things that matter personally to me.
----------------
Psychedellic Salon Podcast, episode 31, towards the end of the episode (48:00), while he is answering the last question asked by the audience. Terence goes on a rant about the forward escape into the future. He then give wonderful descriptions of the inhumanity of corporate capitalism and other dinosaur institutions, etc...
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Psychedellic Salon Podcast, episode 146.
About 1:03:00-
"The real issue is what kinds of mental worlds will people inhabit. What kinds of hope shall be permitted? What kinds of value systems shall be allowed? And the value systems that aggrandize the possession of things, the tearing up of the earth, competition, classism, racism, sexism, have led us to the brink of catastrophe. Now, I think we have to abandon western cultural values and return to the deeper wisdom of the body, in connection with the plants. That's the seamless web which leads us back into the heart of nature. And if we can do this, then this very narrow neck of cultural crisis can be navigated. Very little of the past can be saved. The architectonics, the machines, the systems of monetary exchange and propaganda, the silly religions, the assinine aesthetic canons... very little of that can be saved. But what can be saved is the sense of love and caring and mutuality that we all put into and take from the human enterprise."
1:04:32-
"You know, there's a Grateful Dead song that says:
'You can't go back
and you can't stand still,
if the thunder don't gethcha
then the lighning will'
and we now hold through the possession of these psycedelics, catalysts for the human imagination of sufficient power that if we use them, we can deconstruct the lethal vehicle that is carrying us toward apocalypse. We can deconstruct that vehicle and redesign it into a kind of starship that would carry us and our children out into the broad starry galaxy we know to be awaiting us. But, it's a cultural test. Nature is pitiless. Intelligence is a grand experiment upon which a great deal has been risked. But if it proves inadequate, nature will cover it over with the same kind of cool impunity which covered over the dinosaurs and the trilobites and the crossopterygian fishes and all those other folks who came before. So what we must do, I think, is see our future in the imagination, catalyze the imagination, form symbiotic relationships with the plants, affirm archaic values and spread the good news that what is out of control, what is infact dying is a world that had become too topheavy with it's own hubris... too bent by its own false value systems, and too dehumanized to care about what happened to its own children. So, I say good riddance to it. Bring on the archaic revival and lets create a new world."
QnA begins at 1:07:00
Go back to transcribe statement about "THEY ARENT HANDING OUT RIGHTS IN THIS SOCIETY...."
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Monday, February 9, 2015
Money out of thin air peer reviewed paper
Here is an article for later reading.
"This study establishes for the first time empirically that banks individually create money out of nothing. The money supply is created as ‘fairy dust’ produced by the banks individually, "out of thin air"."
"This study establishes for the first time empirically that banks individually create money out of nothing. The money supply is created as ‘fairy dust’ produced by the banks individually, "out of thin air"."
Can banks individually create money out of nothing? — The theories and the empirical evidence ☆
article, abstract and read online here:
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