The Teenage Years of Mankind

The Teenage Years of Mankind

Index

1)

Forward

2)

The Universal Law of Change

The Easy Way or the Hard Way?

4)

The Rules of Opposites and Societies Failure to Observe them.

Three Types of Intelligence?

6)

Money: and is it Truly the Root to all evil?

Men, Women and Equality

8)

Bringing Up Children,

9)

Death and Our Fear of Death

Lifes’ Illusion

11)

Why I Think Mankind is Heading for a Fall!

Religion

i)

Is There a Basis for Religion in Reality?

ii) Different Churches, Same Ideas, Same God!

iii)Science-v-Religion

iv)

How About This for a Theory

v) Reincarnation

vi) Fundamentalism in Religion and the Damaged Caused

vii)Why Does God Let Suffering Happen in the World?

viii)The Culmination of the Evidence

ix) The Importance of Humbleness and Prayer

13)How to Get Closer to God

i)

Fasting – What’s the Point?

ii)

The Riding Horse Stance

14) The Power of Forgiveness

15) The Importance of Being Selfless

16) A Way Forward

17) Appendix

i)

About the Author and Justification for Writing This Book

ii)

My Personal Reasons for Believing in a Life After Death

iii) Your Way (A tribute to my dad)

Forward

In 21st _{century Britain, I could hardly be described as a contemporarythinker. Ever since I can}

prefer to read books on philosophy or theology rather than studying the subjects I was actually taking exams in. This natural love of these subjects has, in retrospect, caused me a great deal of anguish over the years, though it has given me the excuse of producing only mediocre results in my school exams. Academically I could be described as, ‘Average’, or at best, ‘Slightly better than average’. Though, I would always like to think that I could have done better in my exams if my mind was actually within the walls of the school building at the time.

Thinking, ‘Outside the box’, as far back as I can remember, I have never accepting anything philosophical or theological as accurate until considering it with a level-headed detachment from all the different perspectives I could think of. I was also never happy with accepting anything as being factual unless I felt it to be true in the root of my being. I have always trusted my

intuition, and my intuition has dictated that I should never accept anything based merely on general consensus.

My understanding of the human situation does not conform to what could be described as; ‘contemporary 21st _{Century opinion’, and consequently you may disagree with some of the}

things that I have written even though I have been careful to follow sensible lines of reasoning. The purpose of this book however is not to tell you what to believe or not to believe, but merely to open your mind to other points of view that you may not have considered in the past and to argue points that may force you to re-evaluate your opinions about yourself and the world in which you live.

The first eight chapters are focused on the world as it exists today, though I urge you not to skip these chapters as you will very soon discover; I view the world in a slightly different perspective to most. I only emphasise this because you may have difficulty following my line of reasoning in the subsequent chapters without reading these first.

These subsequent chapters focus on suggestions for mankind to improve his situation and to move toward a more Utopian way of life that works in harmony with the world in which he lives and with the laws of nature.

I have always asked myself philosophical questions and then spent days or even weeks trying to solve each question. All the while, to the outside world, I was walking around in a daze and soon had the reputation in primary school as being a bit of a daydreamer and later to be considered to have my head in the clouds. My mind has always worked hard, though rarely on the subjects in hand; Peoples opinion of me from their perspective was therefore, probably well justified.

This book, -being the culmination of those thoughts-; has taken me most of my life to write. It is not, however meant to be autobiographical in any way. I do however understand that some may consider my opinions to be based on the sum of my experiences. With this in mind, I have includeda brief overview of my life in the appendix. Whist in no way complete, -as I have lived a very full and interesting life-, it may help you understand why I think the way I do, or you may be simply inquisitive, whatever your reason, if you wish to read it;then it is there. The chapter also includes my justification for writing this book. I do not wish you to think that I have written this book on some kind of a self fulfillingwhim. It has troubled me for many years that writing such an opinionated book would be egotistical to say the least. After much contemplation however, I have concluded that the messages that I have to reveal to you are so unusual and have

such devastating implications; that to fail to write it would be by far the greater sin.

Finally, I am fully aware that this book is seriously heavy reading and may give you several headaches. With this in mind I have endeavoured to keep the language simple and the text as light hearted as I can, even to the point of adding some of the jokes I have picked up over the years. So, all you have to do now is, take a couple of aspirin, sit down, and read on...

The Universal Law of

Change

‘This universe we live in is a universe of relentless motion and flux‘. Although this may or may not be an obvious statement of fact to you, it is one that we often turn a blind eye to. The very idea that we live a groundless existence can instinctively send a chill of terror right through us. We dislike the idea of change; we feel that dwelling on the subject of impermanence can make us morbid and depressed. Though to ignore the fact that everything around us is changing is to, ‘bury ones head in the sand’, and far from making us, ‘morbid and depressed’, the understanding of why and how things change can in fact offer a release from the fear and anxiety that we attach

to it. Therefore, paradoxically our confrontation and study of change can lead to an understanding that can enrich our lives, rather than undermine it.

This chapter is written to try and open your eyes to the extensiveness of the change that is going on around you and to express the idea that change in itself is not as negative as it may first appear.

It was Heraclitus that said that, ‘everything changes’, though Cratylus took it further so that there was no point discussing anything because the speaker, listener, meaning and language had

already changed.

Parmenides - looked for something permanent and came up with, ‘Being is, non-being is not’. Aristotle - introduced the idea of ‘matter and form’, - e.g. the form of an acorn is the, ‘actuality’ at that moment in time. The process of growing, altering or moving is one form to another. I would like to start by looking at the, ’Big Picture’. The universe is still expanding as a result of, ‘The Big Bang’; and, as it expands, stars such as our own sun burn out and new suns are born. Whole planets are destroyed and new ones are being constantly created as a result of smaller objects being drawn to larger objects and the collisions of these objects in the vastness of space. As a result of gravitational pull, dust is attracted by passing meteors, these meteors are drawn to planets and planets are drawn to suns etc. and start revolving around them, thankfully!

Although all these events happen in accordance with physical laws, the vastness of the universe however makes the whole universe chaotic in its very nature. The universe came into being and will inevitably end just as sure as that once we are born it is inevitable that we will die. The only difference being that of time.

There is a constant process of change occurring in the universe, and Earth is not the exception to the rule. In our atmosphere, atoms and molecules are constantly colliding around you. Cosmic and solar rays entering the earth’satmosphere constantly bombard themselves and other

molecules around them. Although all following physical laws, the vast amount of interactions in the atmosphere and on the surface of the earth, which have a, ‘knock on effect’, on the atoms and molecules around them, are countless. All this culminating in theories such as the, ‘Chaos theory’, and ‘The Butterfly effect’.

We do not choose to be here, but most of us accept the fact that we are and once the acceptance of life occurs we become content with the fact that we are alive and don’t like the idea of dying as it means going into the unknown. We fear the unknown just as we fear the dark because we do not know what is hidden in the shadows, which makes us afraid, (See chapter on death). We are acutely aware, -though we banish such thoughts into the back of our minds-, that once we are born, it is inevitable that, even if we do not suffer the tragedy of an accident caused by the chaotic nature of our existence, or suffer a terminal illness resulting in our premature death, will at some point, die. We are all mortal and the question is not so much whether or not we will die but rather, when. As each second ticks by we are all dying in that we are all one second closer to the time of our death. Inevitably our bodies will rot and decay and we will succumb to the grim reaper and perish no matter what we do. The proof of our existence only surviving in the fading

memories of those that once knew us. Depressing I know, but nevertheless a fact, and a fact that we should accept, no matter how painful the thought.

Death of course only affects living creatures, although the law of change is by no means restricted to the animate.

We know that our car will rust and that wood will rot because such changes are clearly visible within a fairly short period of timethat is well within our personal time perception.

We know that even the mountains are being constantly eroded and new mountains are being formed as the continental plates move across the magma deep underground; we do not see this happening because it happens so slowly, -often over millennia-, andwe do not therefore register such events as change. It is therefore not that there is no change to our environment, but rather that the rate of change is so slow, that it makes the change invisible to the naked eye.

Change not only goes on the cosmic and macrocosmic, but also in our microcosmic world. The cells in our body are continually being created and destroyed. The chaos being similar to that reflected inthe cosmos and macrocosm. Our cells age, our bodies adapt to changes in the environment and adjust to foreign bodies and diseases that attack our bodies. These changes, such as our hairs standing on end to protect us from the cold or the opening of pores and release of water to cool us down are of course not considered negative as they are perceived to occur in our best interests. The culmination of these adaption’s to our environment leading to mankind’s evolution over the generations.

But change is neither limited to our planet or the life formsthat inhabit it. Change also

affectsevents. There are many things that will occur in our lives that we will not want to happen. Our best friend will run off with someone we love. Our car will skid around in bad weather. People we love will die. We will losemoney, our children and our homes. Earthquakes, floods, tornados and the like can destroy in the blink of an eyethat we took years to create. Many other instances will occur in our lifetime which we will dislike and the bitterness we feel of not getting our own way will only increase our abhorrence of the concept of change.

At this point I wish to bring in the Buddhist point of view because it is one that focuses on the phenomenon of the suffering caused by change, its origins, its cessation and the path that leads to its cessation.

Legend has it that the religions namesake, Siddhartha Gautama who was later to become, ‘Buddha’ grew up in the protected environment of palaces where his attention was constantly diverted from the transience and unreliability of his existence and the world around him. One day he asked his father to see the world outside the palace walls, hisfather, wishing to continue protecting his son from the realities of the world outside refused. Upon the young princes insistence the king finally succumbed to his wishes but arranged that the people arranged themselves as not to spoil the young man’senjoyment of life. Despite the kings efforts

Siddhartha chanced upon a person crippled with age, another ridden with disease and a corpse. For the first time in his life he was struck by the impermanence of his life and the tragic nature of human existence.

The upbringing of Siddhartha can be likened to the privileged upbringing of Westerners in the 21st_{Century. Our dead are hidden in hospital morgues and homes. The death masks are hidden}

whereour every desire is catered for and our every pain relieved. We are ever more indulged in making our lives more and more comfortable and finding new and ingenious ways of making ourselves happy, forever looking towards the positive side of life and shielding ourselves from the negative.

Unlike us however, Siddhartha was not content with his protected princely life once he had seen the realities of life outside the palace walls and began to question the meaning of human

existence and suffering. The prince became obsessed with finding the answer to the question to such a degree that nothing else seemed to matter to him. One night he slipped away from his courtesans, slipped off his royal robes and became an ascetic. After six years of meditation and contemplation he still had not come up with the answer to his question and in a final act of desperation he vowed to sit under a tree and not stand up until he had resolved his question. A week later he experienced an awakening or, ‘enlightenment’, whichprovided an adequate response to his question on birth, sickness, ageing and death. This, ‘enlightenment’, led to Siddhartha being known from that point on as the, ‘Buddha’, or, ‘Awakened One’.

His vision was ultimately known as, ‘The Four Noble Truths’, by Buddhists around the world. “It was not until I grasped these four truths, that I could consider myself to be fully awake”, declared Siddhartha. These truths revealed not only the nature of the human dilemma but also offered a possibility of its resolution. The path leading to the resolution of suffering he declared as by beginning to looking at the essence of suffering itself. That is to say that rather than ignoring and turning a blind eye to the instability of our ever changing lives, that we should focus on this aspect of our existence and reflect and meditate on it. This has the effect of shifting our attention away from ourselves and our selfish desires and allows us to conceive the bigger picture of movement and flux where the concepts of me and mine continually emerge and then vanish into oblivion.

Buddha compares sickness, ageing and death to divine messengers that open our eyes to the truths that can liberate us from our suffering caused by anguish. He maintains that our suffering is born from our refusal to heed their message and remain stubbornly resolute to the illusion that we are permanent and necessary. By accepting our mortality and impermanence we will be exuberated by the sheer astonishment that we are alive at this moment. Therefore the

understanding and acceptance of the human condition is the first step towards the attachment we have to being a fixed, unchanging ego.

This understanding is not of course a cure for the human condition but is rather a therapeutic solution that helps lead the individual toward their own salvation by bringing them closer to the reality that is shrouded from us.

The golden rule is that, ‘The only thing that doesn’t change is change itself’. That is to say that everything changes and the fact that everything changes is therefore the only real constant. It is therefore in the fact that change is the only real constant in our universe that we can ever truly find some form of stability in our existence. It is the only thing that we can rely on and pin our trust, born from the interplay of opposite forces, change can be a friend once you understand its nature.

It is therefore crucial that we confront the existence of change in order that we are freed from the anguish that change inflicts on us both mentally and spiritually.

There will have been moments in your life when you will have confronted change, this could be the fear of your own death, or maybe the death of someone close to you, the near miss in a road accident or even the fear of losing your money or mental faculties. These times bring out the spontaneous realisation of change in your mind which normally lays dormant behind a curtain of

denial. Though it is never usually very long before they are sent back to whence they came because such thoughts are uncomfortable for us.

Whatever our experience of change, we seem to dislike the prospect of change instead of

embracing it and appreciating change for what it is. Even if the majority of change that occurs in our lives is mainly positive in our perception, we naturally focus on the negative incidents and relate to change as being wholly negative.

It is the process of change that allows people, and also the rest of the world to progress and evolve. Examples of which are limitless, but for simplicities sake examples would be our bodies’ production of a new antibody to fight off a completely new infection or its natural increase in temperature to kill off the infection when you have a fever. Change is

unquestionably necessary for the continued survival of mankind as well as when it occurs in the rest of nature.

Because change is both inevitable and also necessary, we have to learn how to accept change more readily as a society and as a species if we are toevolve to our full potential. This is because our resistance to change can affect the progress of our natural evolution, both as a species and as individuals.

In order to accept change we must first transform our perception of change being a totally negative phenomenon. Instead we must make an effort to realise and try tounderstand how the changes that we experience have had a positive impact on our lives. How change can make our lives richer and that change rarely has a totally negative effect. Although at the time a change occurs the experience may seem entirely negative, often with retrospect we will see that the change may seem to have almost been arranged for our advantage, even when those advantages may not have been very plain to see at the time.

In order for you to understand that change is not always as straight forward as we perceive I offer as example these

thoughts:-I would agree that the thought of nothingness after death, is a far more scary idea than that of an afterlife and of heaven. It has always occurred to me that the world was designed so that we cannot prove the existence of an afterlife and that the only way we can know of its existence is to use faith to cross the bridge between knowing and having reason to suspect.

I gasp at peoples inability to grasp that, when they have proof that, in Chemistry, ‘Matter is neither created nor destroyed but exists in a different form. That is Physics, “Energy is neither created nor destroyed but exists in a different form’. That in Biology the circle of life and the constant dying of life forms so that other, often newer life forms are sustained. We know that everything in the universe follows this pattern yet maintain that our life force is the only exception to this rule just because we can’t see our life force let alone know what happens to it after we die.

If for example you take a glass of water and drop it on the kitchen floor then of course the glass of water has changed and you no longer have the glass of water from which to drink, the illusion however lies in the idea that the water is lost. It may be lost to us, but some of the water will end up in the drain after we mopped it up, will continue into the rivers and join with larger bodies of water such as oceans. The rest of the water will evaporate off the floor and cloth into the

atmosphere. This water will eventually form into clouds and subsequently fall back to the earth in the form of rain and rejoin the earth’s water system.

So, no water is really lost, it may, like anything else appear to be lost forever to us in our limited perception whilst in effect it merely exists in a different form.

Another example is that, when I observe the different life forms that inhabit this planet, that their longevity is different to ours and therefore their rate of change is quicker. As previously

discussed, although change is consistent throughout the universe, the rate of change varies according to that in which change reacts against.

It is my understanding that although another species may live for a longer period of time from our point of view, all species have roughly the same amount of heartbeats within the average lifespan of that species. For example, the heartbeat of a short lived species sounds more like a hum to us because their heart is beating so fast. If you observe these short lived species you will also observe that they move at a very fast pace and being smaller, and although their brains are smaller, it stands to reason that the electrical impulses that occur in their brain have a smaller distance to travel and therefore think and experience life at a heightened form of perception. It is therefore not inconceivable that, although by our perception the common mouse lives for a shorter period of time, he may live, ‘faster’, than us. In the mouse’s perception;he may indeed be living for a similar length of time to us. If you have ever tried to swat a fly you will have noticed how quickly they react. Maybe the reason why he can react as quickly as he does is that to the fly, we are moving in slow motion. This last point is just a perception of mine and is by no means written in stone as fact. Although the basis to this theory is fine, it really needs a thesis written on the subject too substantiate the degree of truth it holds. The whole point of me suggesting this idea is simply to emphasize that change is not always as negative as it may first appear. The chapter on life’s illusion will back up this idea that so much of what we see and hear is illusory and although this chapter is focused on the concept of change it has to be understood in the concept of the aforementioned chapter.

The concept of continual movement and change is by no means solely mentioned in Buddhist teaching, the Hindu god Shiva relates to the universal cosmic dance of the universe, and many examples of this concept can be found in religious texts throughout the world, I merely used the Buddhist teachings as an example as they focus on change in such an in-depth way. Neither do I see the understanding of change to be the only route to spiritual enlightenment. However the acceptance and embracement of change is a very useful tool in anyone’s journey to spiritual enlightenment and is therefore of great significance to the wellbeing of anyone who is interested in reaching this level of development.

In conclusion to this chapter I hope that you can see the logic of coming to terms with change, accepting it and embracing it as a constant in your life. Only in this way, by realising that

change is almost never negative but happens for a reason; even though that reason may be hidden from our perceptions, is the only way of being released from the anxiety of its grip. Allowing you to be more content as an individual. Happier as an individual and one step closer toward the fulfilment which comes from true knowledge and wisdom.

The Easy Way or the Hard W

ay?

All through your life, you have and will have to face many dilemmas. On a daily basis you are presented with a choice of paths in front of you, and you must choose which of those paths you will take. This choice is known as our, “God given free will”.

These dilemmas can be minor choices such as; will I eat that last chocolate éclair? Or Shall I pretend to be ill so I don’t have to go to school/work? Shall I slash my boyfriends/girlfriend tyres because he/she dumped me? Or they could be more major decisions such as; should I take in the child who has been orphaned? Or should I offer my voluntary service to the local home for the elderly that are short staffed at the moment as I have some free time on my hands? More often than not we are torn, -which I’m sure you will agree-, between that which the little voice, (or soul) inside us is telling us, that we should be doing, and what is in our best self interest to do.

In the past I am sure that most of you have probably put the fact down to, ‘Sod’s law’, that the right path, - or the path that we know to be the most morally correct-, is almost always the most difficult.

This chapter contains a principle that the majority of you will find difficult to accept as I am maintaining that choices that bring us hardship and suffering are not negative, and that choices that bring us comfort and joy are not positive. After all it is the most comfortable path and one that will bring him the most happiness that we will all choose if left to our own selfish devices. Yet there is always that little voice inside us that tells us otherwise. How much we listen to that voice is up to us. We can all understand why anyone would choose not to listen to the voice as it is always asking us to be selfless, to take the more difficult and/or the less pleasurable path. But I am endeavouring in this chapter to offer good reason why you should listen to that voice, and how you can make taking the correct decisions a little easier.

There are those, Hedonistic people that believe we should always do that which makes us most happy. However, this idea seems to be the opposite of my experience, and I wish to relay how I have translated and understood my own life experience.

If` I look back on my life, the times that seem the most inspirational of my life, the happiest, the most profound and most character building are those times that were the hardest times .

When I first experienced hard labour on building sites with my father I of course found it difficult, my body complained at the labour that I forced it to do and I was susceptible to the cold, my fingers would turn white and numb and I would shiver continuously. Though once I began to accept that, ‘it was something I had to do’, and began to take pride in my achievements, after a while, it all became a lot easier to bear.

Whether, when in my youth it was, so cold that we were burning all manner of things on the fire, the warmth of that fire, -which we so dearly needed-, gradually warmed our bones. The

companionship, as we huddled closely around the dancing flames, talked, laughed and joked with one another. Or when I used to spend all day shovelling rubble into skips, and then return home to a warm fire and food. That food, no matter what it was, tasted more succulent than normal, that warmth was more satisfying, and I could feel the relief that my body felt when I had finally allowed it to rest after a hard day’s work more intensely then if I had not worked.

When I had to, ’top and tail’, with my brother and sister in bed, when we had to eat by the light of the refrigerator as we had no lighting installed and neither for that matter had we floorboards

and had to traverse the floor joists to get to the dining table, were all memories that I now hold dear and are very, ’intense memories. There is a very old saying that, you get out of life what you put into it’, which I believe to be true. It has occurred to me that what you get out of life is not so much what you get out of the good things in life, but how you embrace the worst things in life.

It is the harder things in life that build our character, strengthen our resolve and contribute to our long lasting memory. It is the harder things that give us meaning to our lives and not the fun, happy moments.

The birth of a child is a very painful experience for a women, yet at the end of the day, all being well, they will have a healthy child that they will love and be loved by for the rest of their days. On the other side of the coin, if we choose to take the easier, more pleasant options, such as being greedy and always eating that last éclair, then we will get fat. This does not just apply to food of course, gluttony of any kind, including money; power etc. has its price to pay. If we choose the path of lethargy (sloth), then we will become unfit and get less out of life. If we choose the path of lust, then we will base our relationships on something that decays dies and probably end up with some sort of venereal disease. If we choose vengeance (Wrath), then we will end up regretting the decisions we make or end up being consumed by them. If we choose to be vain (Pride), then others will never see and care for us for what we really are, we will not allow ourselves to truly love others. If we choose the path of Envy then we will never be truly happy with what we have in life because we can never have everything that everyone else has or we think they have. Yes, you got it, the seven deadly sins, (Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy and Pride), deadly to our soul that is, and you will notice that every choice that we make in our own self interest has its price to pay.

The other thing that you must watch for is that our experience of pain and hardship can make us embittered and afraid to take the right decision. Most people will have experienced the bitter sweet pain when separated from someone they love, but this pain would never be there if they hadn’t had the experience of loving that person, animal or whatever, before they lost them. The saying, ‘It is better to have loved and lost, then never to have loved at all’, springs to mind. In other words we should not shy away from relationships and love because we have experienced the pain of losing someone close; to do so would be to deny ourselves the experience of loving another. It also means that those that have an inability to love or just haven’t met the right person, are missing out on something that is well worth suffering for.

I believe that hardship carries its own rewards, and whilst those rewards may not at the time be apparent; when the hardship is finally over you can look back and see that there was benefit to the experience in the vast majority of instances.

Most of the harder times in my life, when I look back on them, seem to have happened for a reason and have benefited either myself or others around me in the long term. Even the deaths of my parents seem to have happened when it could be considered to be opportune moments in time. Times that if things had unravelled differently, other desirable effects would not have occurred. Knowing this has helped me face hardship more easily, because the mountains that I have had to climb are far less steep when you know you are climbing for a good reason, even if I don’t actually know what that reason is at the time. These challenges seem to have been

purposely put in my way in order for my character and therefore my soul to mature, and I trust that those above know what they are doing and don’t let myself worry about it.

As I said, this idea that hardship is not entirely negative and that comfort and joy is not entirely positive may be a very difficult principle to live by. However I have found it to be a truism and recommend that you consider holding this idea in your heart as you face your own hardships that life throws at you.

I will end this chapter with a thought. We were all given a free will to choose which paths we go down in life. It is obviously not my place to judge the individual. But I offer this stark warning. ‘There are those around you that are and will judge you, both those that you can see, - and more importantly-, those which you cannot.’

Epicurus, an ancient philosopher preached that you should live life moderately but pleasurably and that if you follow pleasure too arduously, then pain would follow and therefore not to pursue pleasure as to avoid the pain that follows.

Hedonists believe that the correct way of living is the pursuit of personal pleasure. It is true that, ‘No man can be happy on the rack’. But I do not believe that a life led solely aimed at self fulfilment is in fact fulfilling. We need the opposition of experiences to appreciate any experience whether good or bad.

I’ll conclude this chapter with a passage of Mother Teresa which I find very inspirational when contemplating how the hard way is inevitably the right

way:-People are often unreasonable, illogical and self centred: Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives: Be kind anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you; Be honest and frank anyway.

What you may spend years building, someone may destroy overnight; Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous; Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people may forget tomorrow; Be good anyway.

You see in the final analysis, it is between you and God; It was never between you and them anyway.

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If you’re in a cold environment and shivering, it is better to make yourself relax by pushing down your shoulders and letting the tension drain out of you. In this way you will be far more comfortable. Another tip is to rub your ears between your thumb and forefinger.

If you find work etc. difficult, then try and focus your mind on something else in more laborious tasks. Much of the pain can be controlled by simply conditioning the mind. Think of the money, think of whom you are working for, think of the achievement when your task ends etc. But don’t think of the time as, ‘A watched kettle never boils’.

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The Rule

s of Opposites and

Societies Failure to Observe Them

The first rule of opposites is obvious to most. That is to say that, in nature, everything has its opposing equivalent. If you’re not quite sure what I mean by this then some examples to clarify this rule would

be:-Night Day Up Down Cold Hot Mountains Valleys Sun Moon Male Female Happy Sad Alive Dead Good Evil Work Rest

Etc... The list is endless...

It is important to realise that this rule extends to separate organisms in that you can draw an invisible line down any organismand on that line there is one part and on each side of the line there are two parts. For example, if you draw a line straight down through your body you have one nose, mouth, liver, heart, belly button etc. Whilst on either side of that line you have two parts, such as two arms, two legs, two ears etc.

Although this first rule may be very obvious to you, what may not be quite so obvious is what I call the second rule of opposites which is the fact that each opposite gives meaning to the other. For example, if there was no night, then day would be meaningless; indeed there would not even be a word for day if there was no night.

There would be no males without females, and no females without males, each giving meaning and rise to the other.

Mountains would be meaningless without valleys, without the one; there would not be the other. There would not be such a thing as, ‘good’, if there was not, ‘evil’, the word, ‘good would rapidly become meaningless and soon obsolete.

Without your daily work, then holidays would become meaningless and rapidly boring as you would have nothing to rest from, and so on...

So, this principle of opposite extends to the one requiring the other to give it meaning.

The third rule of opposites is that, it is the interaction of the opposites that provides the beauty in the world and produces progression.

For example, it is the fact that there are mountains and valleys that produces the stunning mountainous view.

It is generally the interaction of the male and female that produces the beauty of, namely, relationships, love and sex.

Sunrise and sunset are often considered the most beautiful part of the day because of the contrasts in the sky and the effect the changing light has on our environment.

The contrasts of bitter and sweet, sitting by the fire when you are cold, the rest after a hard days word etc.

These rules are not difficult to understand, and because the beauty is caused by the interaction of the two, then you may disagree with me in part as these rules could be considered a

generalisation; these rules are generally sound in principle. It is the interaction of opposites that give, ‘spice to life’, and without them, life would be pretty dull as it, ‘just is’, and nothing happens.

You will notice to that these principles stretch right across the natural spectrum and do not stop at natural things but also stretch to feelings etc...

It is this very simple principle that gives rise to my disagreement with the direction of today society in the western world is heading. Many of the young will disagree with the rest of this chapter, mostly because the society formation in which they live is the only one they have ever known. Conversely, the older of us have had the benefit of experiencing, ‘another way of life’, and a society that was freer and more alive. We know that there is another way and are able to accurately compare societies by our own personal experience.

For some reason, societies answer to improving the human condition is to eradicate all that society in general considers to be negative and only leave that which society considers to be positive without a second thought of what this policy can do to us as human beings. Like everything else in nature, no two human beings, like no two rocks or no two trees are the same. It is this diversity that makes nature beautiful in its chaos. If this were not so, then once you saw one rock, then you would have seen them all. If you met one person, then you would have met them all.

It is our diversity that makes us human, makes us interesting to others and is the root to our humanity. It is the diversity in nature that makes all natural things in our environment beautiful and for want of a better word, ‘alive’.

To try and eradicate this diversity is to try and eradicate our humanity from the individual and from society.

Now you may say that we are all individuals and that we have the freedom to express our

humanity. Unfortunately, this is becoming less and less the case in Britain today. Our health and safety policies dictate how we should climb ladders, open doors and pick things up to name but a few. Our company policies make us fearful of saying what we mean to others in case we cause offence even if the comment is constructive. We are fast turning into a, ‘nanny state’. It is no longer acceptable to smoke in a public building, even in a smoking room. We are the nation with the most cameras watching us in the world. Our DNA is analyzedand filed, just in case we commit a crime. Detailed records are kept on each and every one of us. If two men fight, then they are liable to spend many years in prison for doing something that is quite natural to many men but unacceptable in society.

I am more politically democratic, (People decide what is right or wrong) then autocratic, (government decides what is right or wrong).

Hegel inferred that the state was a separate distinct entity and was more important than any individual citizen. Astate in itself is fictitious as it only unites citizens with a common denominator. (The democratic view is that the individual is more important than the state). Plato’s political philosophy is that he defends absolute rule to a special group for the purpose of ruling society, i.e. ruling is a skill, and because people differ in abilities, that whoever exhibit’s the necessary skills should be trained to rule. He leaves the question whether the leaders should be answerable to the people as power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Thomas Hobbes believed that society was an agreement among the people to abide by a certain set of rules or conventions in order to survive as it would be difficult if there were no laws. John Locke was the architect of democracy which is government by laws which are arrived at by long deliberation by properly chosen representatives of the people, and which are promulgated so that all men may be acquainted with them. Each citizen has the right to speak freely; worship as they wish etc. also has the right to own private property as the fruit of their labour. (It has been proved that no government can be a democracy without protecting the rights of the minority). John Stuart Mill, The problem with a democracy is that the will of the majority can affect an individual’s rights Such as witch hunts. - Public opinion is notoriously susceptible to error, therefore the legitimate extent must be found to which the majority can interfere with the affairs of minority groups.

After the entire minority can be correct, in the western world, majority tyranny is protected against with - in any legal issue between an individual and the state. The burden of proof to show the individuals behaviour as undesirable rests with the state.

What about classless society - socialism. Class structures lead to conflict which result in the overthrow of that class structure.

Like any teenager, we must learn to put away our toys and take up the responsibility of adulthood if we are to evolve and grow spiritually as a race of human beings.

This country currently contains 40% of the total close circuit T.V. cameras. Every time you go on the road or into any city, you are caught on camera several hundred times. Speed cameras ensure that you keep to the speed limit and road tax camera ensure you have paid your road tax, insurance and M.O.T. When you park your car and pay for your ticket you have to put in your car registration number into the machine to stop you passing on any remaining time onto someone else. Every time you use your credit card, the time and place you buy it, your details and the product details are logged so that they can ascertain exactly who buys what in any given part of the country right down to the postcode that covers just a few houses. Our every personal detail is logged onto computer since the day that we are borne, even to the point where the government are trying to identify specific, ‘criminal genes’, within our individual makeup to that they can identify potential criminals even in the womb, presumably with the notion of

completely eradicating all forms of crime in the future by eradicating all forms of criminal even before they can be born. Smoking is banned from all public places and unhealthy food is banned from our schools

There are those that say that the world which could quite justifiably be classed as a, ‘Nanny State’ holds no threat for those who are, ‘Descent law abiding citizens’. I would probably quite whole heartedly agree with these people providing they are prepared to change the word,

God given free will? Just how much, ‘Life’ must society loose in the name of capturing one hundred more criminal, for saving a few more lives on the roads? For making sure that one extra accident doesn’t occur at work? Will we ever again be able to pass onto our parking ticket that we have paid for onto someone else as a gesture of good will? Or will the greed of the car park owners forever cut this idea from society in the name of making an extra 5% on the day’s takings.

There has to be law and that law must be enforced within any society in the interests of the citizens of that society’s safety. This is obvious, and the law in this country is just about as fair and just as in any other country in the world. But please, ’lighten up’, ’get a life’, there has to be a negative element in any society in order for that society to have any sort of character

whatsoever. Yes there are criminals in this world, but if we abolish the importance of money in society, then thieves will be less prevalent. Yes, there is sexual molestation, there is inequality, there is greed, and there is laziness. But all these crimes have their own paybacks without us having to interfere with God’s, ’pre-installed justice system too much. Forgive, forget, guide…. but grow up. There will always be victims, you risk your life every time you cross the road; but does that mean that you do not cross the road, ’just in case’. Life is for living and carries with it inherent risks. But we will all die, and our current obsession with living that much longer in a risk free society is in fact destroying our humanity, bit by bit, from behind.

Activities such as smoking or drinking should not be banned as society must loosen up and allow, within reason, our children to learn about life, through experience, through living it. Life is for living and we must not be so over enthusiastic to judge others by our standards but rather to learn to forgive those that are weaker than us and pray that their path to understanding comes swiftly. (See Chapter on Forgiveness)

However, this does not mean protect our citizens from every eventuality as this would lead to us leading very sheltered and therefore boring lifestyles. Individuality displaying humanity can be encouraged, but individuality that is based on selfishness must be discouraged in society.

Evil exists in this world, and there are those that wish to eradicate all evil from the face of the planet. These people are idiots and extremely naive. Firstly, no-one could ever eradicate all evil off this planet, and secondly you should never want to.

Evil should be controlled rather that destroyed as evil has its uses. You need evil so that you can understand what is good. You need evil to give meaning to life as it is the interaction of the forces of good and evil, that adds spice to our lives. Of course nobody wants evil or wants it in their lives, but it is essential that it exists in the world or else we would not have a life in which to live; we all might as well die now as there would be no purpose to life.

Capital punishment cannot be reintroduced as we have no right to take another person’s life because he does not conform to our way of thought and we have not right to play God in this respect. We must trust that the individual will be judged after his death though incarceration and working for firstly, the individuals good, and secondly societies good is not out of the question. Now you may be much happier than I that these rules are in place, but that is neither here nor there. My point is that when two many rules and regulations are placed on humans, and thenthe result is the loss of their humanity. Their diversity is curbed, resulting in a nation of conforming robots.

This of course may be your idea of a perfect society, yours and many others idea of a future utopian society. You may believe that a society where all conform to the majorities’ wishes is a

more balanced society where all can feel safe and secure at home.

My argument in this chapter however is that this type of society will suppress our humanity, prevent us from maturing as a species as diversity is required in order to evolve and progress. Of course, you cannot let cold blooded murders run the streets or let paedophiles molest our children without imprisoning them and taking them off our streets. But a balance needs to be struck, we have reached a point when we have enough laws in this country, any more is superfluous to our needs and definitely not in the best interests of our humanity.

Unfortunately our politicians still have to justify their jobs. They have to come up with new ideas on how we should raise our children, get everyone working to make our society more affluentand generally work towards this idealistic society that most of us think we need. Our policies aim to make us live longer, behave better and pin us down to conform to the

majorities’ideals. Our children are pampered and spoilt, (See Bringing up Children), and we are becoming comfortable and over complacent. Egotistical in that we believe that our democratic way of life is the correct way to live and everyone else is wrong. To consider that everyone must live to these ideals seems to me, ridiculous.

Once again, the purpose of this chapter is not to tell you what to think. I am trying to point out that there is reason to believe that the direction in which our society is heading is far from perfect and that we need the anarchist to offer us different alternatives, to offer us ways forward. Our teenagers need to rebel in order to grow and learn from theirmistakes. Most of all, we need to maintain our humanity, even if it costs a few livesbecause we live in a world with a degree of risk. It is only in a world with risk that we become stronger as individuals, learn from our

mistakes, experience the contrasting sides of life and learn to adapt and grow as individuals. It is alright that we have an upper limit to the risks we take, but to set the bar too low will cost us our humanity.

Three Types of I

ntelligence

?

Being products of nature, no two people, like no two trees or no two rocks are exactly the same. This, ‘natural diversity’, is a fact of life and not one I would readily change as it makes our lives more interesting to both us and to others around us.

Natural diversity does not stop at the things around us, however, but is inherent in our very personalities and intellects. It is the intellects and personalities in people that this chapter is concerned with and the observation that I have always noticed three separate and distinct types of intelligence in the people I have encountered in my life.

The first is intellectual ability, the second commonsense and the third is what I like to call, ‘intuitive thought’.

It has also been my observation that most people have unequal amounts of these three types of intellect. A science professor for example, may be extremely good at academic work and be able to memorize vast amounts of information but lack the ability to use common sense when putting that information into practice. They may have a tendency to be less worldly and may have difficulty applying their knowledge in a practical and balance manner. They can also lack

more intuitively aware is compelled to conform to.

Intellectual ability is obviously the type of intelligence recognised by societiesin the West. Our children have their intellectual ability fed, measured and tested by our schools from an early age. In the U.K. our children start school at the age of around four, though in Europe they start at five or six. There is no evidence that our children fare any better in their grades by starting earlier than their European counterparts which indicates that they are losing valuable, childhood years in their early years. We have an insistence in our society to try and drill as much information as we can into our children and so start them learning at an earlier and earlier age. Western societies have a tendency to believe that the level of academic ability that a child achieves has a direct effect on the success of a child when they progress to adulthood. There is of course an element of truth in this belief in a materialistic world such as ours. The level of academic success that an individual achieves leads to a better career as qualifications are the single biggest factor that a person is judged by an employer. In essence, peoples’ academic achievements are a measure of their worth withinWestern societies. Academic ability however, is not the only type of

intelligence that someone can possess; many people have equally important abilities but are pigeonholed as underachievers and less valuable members of society from an early age because their abilities are not recognized by the society in which they live.

People who have a high degree of commonsense could be described as the more world wise among us. Likely to have a high I.Q. level, and to others may be described as extremely, ‘sharp’, yet paradoxically may also be totally devoid of academic qualifications. These people may become very successful businessmen or women even though they have achieved little

academically. These world wise people are able to spot opportunities and be very successful in our materialistic societies despitetheir lack of academic ability. This is because they are worldly, practical and often high achievers that are driven by materialisticvalues. Often egotistical yet clever enough to hide their intellect from others as doing so may, ‘not be the best policy to achieve their aims’. Certainly ones that will lie cheat or steal to achieve worldly aspirations. Someone who is, intuitive may lack common sense and academic ability yet may have boundless ability to love, and be empathic towards others and the world around them.

People who are intuitive often have little or no need for money. They are often content with their lot in life and find happiness in whatever surroundings they are in. They are not dependant on money for their happiness and are not trapped in the endless circle of grabbing, which is the burden of the other intellects. For those that money is important, there is never enough money, whether it is to purchase material possessions or whether it is to gain the so called, ‘power’ that money brings. There is never enough, so that happiness is never truly obtainable. The lack of contentment with what they have means that they are often unable to obtain true happiness within themselves.

Whilst I have brought up my children, and watched them grow, I have always tried to strive and make the best of what they are and never tried to make them something that they are not. It is not for me to judge which is the most important of the three intelligences, but to build my children the best foundation that I can with whatever that Childs individual abilities are. My hopes for my children primarily lies in the hope that they find happiness, whether that is in material success or success in family life.

I am not trying to put down academic ability altogether but merely trying to point out that academic ability is a small part of our psyche and that other forms of intelligence are at least as important. I am sure that you wish your children to be successful in life, but their success may

dependent on your definition of the word, ‘success’. I truly believe that a person’ssuccess cannot be judged by career, social or monetary success. A happy family man that is content with his lot in life is just as an important member of society as any other. The priest may bring much

happiness in many other peoples’ lives along with his own, as can the waitress that has a pleasant smile and is willing to listen to others problems and offer helpful and loving advice to them. I am concerned with a society such as ours that only gives accolade to those with academic ability while those with other abilities may remain totally unacknowledged. Two thirds of our children may not be having their individual gifts recognised, encouraged and built upon. We may be failing our children by not allowing them to fulfil their full potential due to our blinkered outlook of life.

Americas’ N.A.S.A., on discovering the difficulty of using a pen in zero gravity, spent ten years and millions of dollars developing a pen that could be used in space...

Money

: And Is It Truly The Root To All Evil?

Money is very important to the people in the richer west countries and to most, money has replaced religion, they have faith in it, believing that it will bring them happiness and power. They believe it will prolong their life and bring them the love and respect of others. We in the west are often judged as individuals as to how rich we are and the quality and quantity of possessions we have around us.

Many beautiful young women marry older men in our society simply because they have money and as a direct result, can offer them a better lifestyle. Many have killed or have been killed because of money. The basis of our craving for money is of course greed, constantly craving for more and as a result of this; many peoples’ lives are centred onthe acquisition of money. The majority of people in the west already have what they require to live happy and fulfilled lives, but still they crave more as they believe that those that have larger amounts of money are more happy and contented as they possess something that they crave. Though I have always

considered that happiness lies in being content with what you have, no matter what that may be. Whilst money has the ability of making us more comfortable, it rarely brings happiness to those that have it in abundance. This can be confirmed by the study of those that have won the lottery for example, thoughthe results of such findings are not acknowledged by the common majority as they believe those that have turned out to be less happy as a result of their win to be foolish. Those who have acquired large amounts of money are usually never satisfied by the amount that they have. They often spend very little as they fear that, if they do it as it will diminish their resources and, as a result do not do or get anything much from the money they have acquired. My own father was a man that loved money. He loved it for the promise of happiness and power that he was convinced it would bring him. Although he was a loving man, his love of money would usually take precedence over his family unless we were in extreme need. Only then would money become of lesser importance to him. This however, was his saving grace in comparison to many in the west that love money likewise, but, even when it came down to the crunch, would not put their family before their money. My father’s ability of putting a limit to the importance of money allowed his humanity to shine through even though that limit was a little high in my personal opinion.

I would feel so sorry that he had become so tempted by the material things of this world. The temptations of which would often blind him to that which was really important. To me, he was a slave to his greed of money, and he would do many things that were dishonest in order to

forward his goal of acquiring even more money.

The personal advancement that money promises to provide, appeals to other human weaknesses, which are thoseof ego and pride. The idea of acquiring that which others desire is something that appeals to many and so encourages the materialistic outlook to life.

Money has also caused me great sorrow after my father died. Unfortunately, because he died leaving a little money, -not even a great deal of money-, the idea of acquiring this money blinded

both my brother and sister. They were prepared to not have a stone put on our parent’s grave, remove their half brother, -who was a minor-, from his private school and even to evict him and his mother from their home weeks after my fathers’ death in order to sell the house.

This of course I objected to and had to take the matter to court in order to acquire the majority share of the monies to ensure that I, my son, and little half-brother had their fair share.

So we fell out with each other over money. This fact has disappointed me ever since as I love them both dearly. They lied to me and changed ownership of a building into their name behind my back and tried to manipulate me into handing another over to them. (My father had the forethought in life to put all the buildings in my name as he knew of my disinterest in money and knew I could be trusted to, ’Do the right thing’. I would have willing handed over title to the buildings until I found out what they had done behind my back, as I loved and trusted them so much, even though, the love that I felt for them was clearly not been returned by past experience. If it was just me I would have told them to keep the money, but I had to consider my son, who my father and mother wished to have a share as they brought him up, and my half brother who was a minor and needed his interests protecting. As a result, I had little choice but to take a materialistic point of view to the matter.

It is a constant source of pain for me, for someone who was once so proud of how close a family he had come from, to have to admit that he has lost his brother and sister over money.

In contrast to this country, there are many countries in the world that are known to the West as, ‘Third World Countries’, whose people suffer even today in abject poverty.

My family and I visited India which is one of these, ‘Third World’, countries and saw firsthand the reality of the situation there.

We were of course aware that we would see a great deal of poverty whilst we were there and arrived in the country with at least three quarters of our luggage capacity containing soft toys, footballs, crayons, colouring books etc. that we would give to the poor children of India, knowing that they had little in the way of toys. Thetoys were merely toys that our children had grown out of and were just stored in the attic. Toys that we would never realistically use and we could never give out in our country because, quite simply, all the children here have everything they want and expect new.

Anyway, whilst in India we were treated like kings simply because we had white skin and the people assumed we were rich, which indeed we were in comparison to them. No matter how we were dressed, we were given instant access to the most exclusive shops in Bombay (Mumbai). Though this difference, once or twice became uncomfortable as you could not pass a stall or shop without being hassled to come and see their wares. Beggars followed us down the street asking for money, and although we would have liked to help them all, we could not help everyone, and the number of desperate people seemed never ending. Once or twice we went into shops just to get away from people hassling us for money.

Even the hotel staffs werebeing paid by the week an amount that most in the West would refuse to work an hour for. The difference in wealth between our country and these countries I find inexcusable. Though, the rich in this country are rich often because they are constantly, ‘Watching the pennies’, and are constantly grabbing. The majority of the wealthy would not consider giving to those less fortunate than themselves.

There are charities of course set up to help these people, and there are many that give generously. Though the people that give generously are often those that can least afford to give much at all. Let me get back to our visit of India though. We set of with the toys and other gifts loaded into the rear of the car and headed for the poor areas that the tourists rarely reached in an effort to

reach those that were most in need. We didn’t have to go that far and initially stopped at a small village and started giving out to the children. This turned out to be a small error in judgement due mainly to our ignorance as the car quickly got swamped and countless hands started reaching into the car and the whole situation was quickly getting out of hand. So we moved on and started giving out to those children that were walking on the road... This strategy proved highly effective and we spent several hours just driving and giving to confused but grateful little faces. Indeed one of the fondest images I have of India was on the return journey after giving out the toys. I saw a young boy of around ten walking in bare feet towards us on the road. On his head he carried a heavy bowl and in his mouth he held the tail of a pink dinosaur. (The rest of the dinosaur was there too…we didn’t just give him the tail).

On the way down to Goa our driver had stopped at his home to pick up some clothes for the trip. We had yet to realise that the driver would spend the entire time living and sleeping in the car whilst waiting to drive us wherever and whenever we wanted. Anyway, we couldn’t help but notice that he lived in a very poor area in a very shabby looking block of flats.

On our return journey to Mumbai we asked him if we could arrange to meet some families that were in dire financial difficulty. Our plan was to take their details back to the U.K. in order that we might get some families to sponsor some families in India. This he did and we could not help but be taken aback by the poverty that we saw. Each family seemed to be poorer than the next. Out of the eighteen million people living in Bombay, only half the homes have toilet facilities. Our driver, who was considered to be on a good wage, had running water for only half an hour a day and his family lived in the one room. There was no glass in the windows in the entire block. We interview some families in the block, the majority of who were single mothers whose

husbands had either died or left them. The driver then took us to what he called the, ‘Slum areas’. We thought we were in the slum areas, but we were wrong. One family we saw had five children living in a single room with nothing in it save a shelf with some clothes on. And to get to the room you had to hop from one side to the other over an open sewer where people could be seen using in the open. Then you had to climb a broken steel staircase with several rungs

missing to reach the loft type room entrance.

Part of my purpose for visiting India was to see how my family reacted when confronted with these conditions. In the main, I am glad to say that they reacted with extreme generosity and compassion.

One thing I did notice about the poor that many in this country would find surprising, was the happiness of the children considering the conditions they were living in and the love that they showed between family members. It may be that this love was born in the roots of necessity. But it was impossible not to notice that the things that these children were prepared to do for their parents and the things the parents were prepared to go through for their children put the love families show to each other in this country to shame.

It occurred to me that our wealth was having a negative effect on our children and the love we showed to one another and humanity as a whole.

I myself was not free of blame in this respect prior to my visit to India. I was sceptical of giving to charity giving the reasons

of:-1) Many of the charities fleece money off that which I donate towards administration costs. 2) That many of these countries are ruled by militia who take the donations for themselves and those that really need it never get it.

3) I should look after my own family first because, “Charity begins at home”.

4) That we give when there are specific tragedies that are highlighted by the media, but six months down the line they are back to the original abject poverty they started with.

5) and many more.

However, I have since realised that these were just excuses that I used to cover up my selfishness and greed, and the scepticism was just the reasons I used not to give to others less fortunate than myself.

The truth of the matter is that we have the means at our disposal to totally eradicate world poverty, but our selfishness and greed prevents us from doing so.

One of my relatives is a millionaire and owns several properties in Wimbledon, which is an affluent and therefore expensive area of London. I clearly remember a time when I was staying at my Grandmothers;his accountant had come to talk to him about business. I remember that the account enquired of him what he planned to do with the money as he clearly had enough to retire on. But of course, to him this was a ridiculous statement as he could never have enough. Both he and my grandmother had designed their wills to give the majority share to the children that they thought showed the greatest allegiance to them in life. This of course is a tragedy waiting to happen which became apparent after my grandmother died as it caused splits within the family over money, yet still he did not change his will thinking that he was doing the right thing. Of course his family will split after he dies as they will all consider that they deserve the majority share. Also he is unable to know whether they visit him now in order to secure a, ‘Larger share in his estate’, or whether they visit him to see him.

Most will know the old saying that, “If you have a daughter you have one for life, if you have a son you have him ‘til he takes a wife”, or words to that effect.

This does not mean that sons do not love their parents as much as daughters, but they tend to focus on their new family more and visit the wife’s parents to try and maintain a peaceful life. Hence when he dies, as what had happened after my grandmother died. This inequality of division in money leads to further division and animosity in the family. Unfortunately, this happens at a time when relationships are already strained following the passing of a family member.

As often is the case in this day and age, as soon as anyone dies, the surviving family members all grab what they can from that which is left behind. It is sad that we are such that we as a society seem more interested in what is left than the person that we have lost. Like vultures we pick at the material carcass and our greed overtakes any sense of compassion for other members of the family.

It is written that people who are spiritual by nature are often surrounded by those that are

materialistic in order to test their resolve. In my case this has sadly turned out to be very true. I have lost so many family members due to their love of money that I grieve almost constantly when I dare to consider just how much I have lost to money. To me the adageof, “Money is the root to all evil”, is a definite truism. As far as I am concerned, once you have enough money to make you comfortable, then you have more than enough, anymore and you and those around you will inevitably begin to suffer the consequences of your greed.

Those in this country that are rich get fixated on the acquisition of money and forget about the original goal of using it for pleasure, though it could be said that they are getting pleasure from just collecting it. I suppose what gets me annoyed more than anything, is that in the towns around the country, perfectly good shopping areas are knocked down and other more modern shopping areas are put in their place. The money spent on this and many other things in this country that we don’t really need would solve the poverty in third world countries overnight if only you could get the money to them.