wakingtimes--2020-06-29--America’s Revolutionary Founders Would Be Anti-Government Extremists Today

Had the Declaration of Independence been written today , it would have rendered its signers extremists or terrorists , resulting in them being placed on a government watch list , targeted for surveillance of their activities and correspondence , and potentially arrested , held indefinitely , stripped of their rights and labeled enemy combatants .
This is no longer the stuff of speculation and warning .
In fact , Attorney General William Barr recently announced plans to target , track and surveil “ anti-government extremists ” and preemptively nip in the bud any “ threats ” to public safety and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t matter that the stated purpose of Barr ’ s anti-government extremist task force is to investigate dissidents on the far right ( the “ boogaloo ” movement ) and far left ( antifa , a loosely organized anti-fascist group ) who have been accused of instigating violence and disrupting peaceful protests .
Boogaloo and Antifa have given the government the perfect excuse for declaring war ( with all that entails : surveillance , threat assessments , pre-crime , etc . )
against so-called anti-government extremists .
Without a doubt , America @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at the top of Barr ’ s list .
After all , the people who fomented the American Revolution spoke out at rallies , distributed critical pamphlets , wrote scathing editorials and took to the streets in protest .
They were rebelling against a government they saw as being excessive in its taxation and spending .
For their efforts , they were demonized and painted as an angry mob , extremists akin to terrorists , by the ruler of the day , King George III .
Of course , it doesn ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ extremist ( a.k.a .
domestic terrorist ) today .
If you believe in and exercise your rights under the Constitution ( namely , your right to speak freely , worship freely , associate with like-minded individuals who share your political views , criticize the government , own a weapon , demand a warrant before being questioned or searched by the police , or any other activity viewed as potentially anti-government , racist , bigoted , anarchic or sovereign ) , you ’ re at the top of the government ’ s terrorism watch @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s new task force , I and every other individual today who dares to speak truth to power could also be targeted for surveillance , because what we ’ re really dealing with is a government that wants to suppress dangerous words—words about its warring empire , words about its land grabs , words about its militarized police , words about its killing , its poisoning and its corruption—in order to keep its lies going .
This is how the government plans to snuff out any attempts by “ we the people ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ under the pretext of rooting out violent extremists , the government ’ s anti-extremism program will , in many cases , be utilized to render otherwise lawful , nonviolent activities as potentially extremist .
Keep in mind that the government agencies involved in ferreting out American “ extremists ” will carry out their objectives—to identify and deter potential extremists—in concert with fusion centers , data collection agencies , behavioral scientists , corporations , social media , and community organizers and by relying on cutting-edge technology for surveillance , facial recognition , predictive policing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in which life experiences alter one ’ s genetic makeup ) .
This is pre-crime on an ideological scale and it ’ s been a long time coming .
For example , in 2009 , the Department of Homeland Security ( DHS ) released two reports , one on “ Rightwing Extremism , ” which broadly defines rightwing extremists as individuals and groups “ that are mainly antigovernment , rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority , or rejecting government authority entirely , ” and one on “ Leftwing Extremism @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rights activist groups as extremists Incredibly , both reports use the words terrorist and extremist interchangeably That same year , the DHS launched Operation Vigilant Eagle , which calls for surveillance of military veterans returning from Iraq , Afghanistan and other far-flung places , characterizing them as extremists and potential domestic terrorist threats because they may be “ disgruntled , disillusioned or suffering from the psychological effects of war .
These reports indicate that for the government , anyone seen as opposing the government—whether they ’ re Left , Right or somewhere in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ forward a few years , and you have the National Defense Authorization Act ( NDAA ) , which Congress has continually re-upped , that allows the military to take you out of your home , lock you up with no access to friends , family or the courts if you ’ re seen as an extremist .
Now connect the dots , from the 2009 Extremism reports to the NDAA , the National Security Agency ’ s far-reaching surveillance networks , and fusion centers that collect and share surveillance data between local , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tens of thousands of armed , surveillance drones that are beginning to blanket American skies , facial recognition technology that will identify and track you wherever you go and whatever you do .
And then to complete the circle , toss in the real-time crime centers being deployed in cities across the country , which will be attempting to “ predict ” crimes and identify criminals before they happen based on widespread surveillance , complex mathematical algorithms and prognostication programs .
Hopefully you ’ re getting the picture , which is how easy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , label and target individuals as “ extremist.
” And just like that , we ’ ve come full circle .
Imagine living in a country where armed soldiers crash through doors to arrest and imprison citizens merely for criticizing government officials .
Imagine that in this very same country , you ’ re watched all the time , and if you look even a little bit suspicious , the police stop and frisk you or pull you over to search you on the off chance you ’ re doing something illegal .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ a firearm of any kind ( or anything that resembled a firearm ) while in this country , it may get you arrested and , in some circumstances , shot by police .
If you ’ re thinking this sounds like America today , you wouldn ’ t be far wrong .
However , the scenario described above took place more than 200 years ago , when American colonists suffered under Great Britain ’ s version of an early police state .
It was only when the colonists finally got fed up with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ frisked , threatened , and arrested that they finally revolted against the tyrant ’ s fetters No document better states their grievances than the Declaration of Independence , drafted by Thomas Jefferson .
A document seething with outrage over a government which had betrayed its citizens , the Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4 , 1776 , by 56 men who laid everything on the line , pledged it all— “ our Lives , our Fortunes , and our sacred Honor ” —because they believed in a radical idea : that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Labeled traitors , these men were charged with treason , a crime punishable by death .
For some , their acts of rebellion would cost them their homes and their fortunes .
For others , it would be the ultimate price—their lives .
Yet even knowing the heavy price they might have to pay , these men dared to speak up when silence could not be tolerated .
Read the Declaration of Independence again , and ask yourself if the list of complaints tallied by Jefferson don ’ t bear a startling @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people ” are suffering at the hands of the American police state .
If you find the purple prose used by the Founders hard to decipher , here ’ s my translation of what the Declaration of Independence would look and sound like if it were written in the modern vernacular : There comes a time when a populace must stand united and say “ enough is enough ” to the government ’ s abuses , even if it means getting rid of the political parties in power .
Believing that “ we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ divine right to direct our own lives , here are truths about the power of the people and how we arrived at the decision to sever our ties to the government : All people are created equal .
All people possess certain innate rights that no government or agency or individual can take away from them .
Among these are the right to Life , Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness .
The government ’ s job is to protect the people ’ s innate rights to Life , Liberty and the pursuit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ power comes from the will of the people .
Whenever any government abuses its power , it is the right of the people to alter or abolish that government and replace it with a new government that will respect and protect the rights of the people .
It is not wise to get rid of a government for minor transgressions .
In fact , as history has shown , people resist change and are inclined to suffer all manner of abuses to which they have become accustomed .
However , when the people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ power grabs , carried out with the purpose of establishing a tyrannical government , people have a right and duty to do away with that tyrannical Government and to replace it with a new government that will protect and preserve their innate rights for their future wellbeing .
This is exactly the state of affairs we are suffering under right now , which is why it is necessary that we change this imperial system of government .
The history of the present Imperial Government is a history of repeated abuses and power grabs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ establishing absolute Tyranny over the country .
To prove this , consider the following : The government has , through its own negligence and arrogance , refused to adopt urgent and necessary laws for the good of the people .
The government has threatened to hold up critical laws unless the people agree to relinquish their right to be fully represented in the Legislature .
In order to expand its power and bring about compliance with its dictates , the government has made it nearly impossible for the people to make their views @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The government has repeatedly suppressed protests arising in response to its actions .
The government has obstructed justice by refusing to appoint judges who respect the Constitution and has instead made the Courts march in lockstep with the government ’ s dictates .
The government has allowed its agents to harass the people , steal from them , jail them and even execute them .
The government has directed militarized government agents—a.k.a.
, a standing army—to police domestic affairs in peacetime .
The government has turned the country into a militarized police state @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the rule of law and the Constitution in order to expand its own powers .
The government has allowed its militarized police to invade our homes and inflict violence on homeowners .
The government has failed to hold its agents accountable for wrongdoing and murder under the guise of “ qualified immunity.
” The government has jeopardized our international trade agreements .
The government has overtaxed us without our permission .
The government has denied us due process and the right to a fair trial .
The government has engaged in extraordinary rendition @ @ @ @ @ @ @ its military empire in collusion with its corporate partners-in-crime and occupy foreign nations .
The government has eroded fundamental legal protections and destabilized the structure of government .
The government has not only declared its federal powers superior to those of the states but has also asserted its sovereign power over the rights of “ we the people.
” The government has ceased to protect the people and instead waged domestic war against the people .
The government has plundered our seas , ravaged our Coasts , and destroyed the lives of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ contractors and mercenaries to carry out acts of death , desolation and tyranny against other nations , totally unworthy of a civilized nation .
The government through its political propaganda has pitted its citizens against each other .
The government has stirred up civil unrest and laid the groundwork for martial law .
Repeatedly , we have asked the government to cease its abuses .
Each time , the government has responded with more abuse .
An Imperial Ruler who acts like a tyrant is not fit to govern a free people .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ our fellow citizens about the government ’ s abuses .
We have warned them about the government ’ s power grabs .
We have appealed to their sense of justice .
We have reminded them of our common bonds .
They have rejected our plea for justice and brotherhood .
Thus , our fellow citizens are equally at fault for the injustices being carried out by the government .
Thus , for the reasons mentioned above , we the people of the united States of America declare ourselves free from the chains of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Creator ’ s protection , we pledge to stand by this Declaration of Independence with our lives , our fortunes and our honor .
See what I mean ?
The abuses meted out by an imperial government and endured by the American people have not ended .
They have merely evolved .
Two hundred and forty-four years after a group of anti-government extremists declared their independence from tyranny , the American people have once again managed to work their way back under the tyrant ’ s thumb .
“ We the people ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ government of thieves .
We are still being taken advantage of by a government of scoundrels , idiots and monsters .
We are still being locked up by a government of greedy jailers .
We are still being spied on by a government of Peeping Toms .
We are still being ravaged by a government of ruffians , rapists and killers .
We are still being forced to surrender our freedoms—and those of our children—to a government of extortionists , money launderers and corporate pirates .
And we are still being held at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a standing army in the form of a militarized police .
The bipartisan coup that laid siege to our nation did not happen overnight .
It snuck in under our radar , hiding behind the guise of national security , the war on drugs , the war on terror , the war on immigration , political correctness , hate crimes and a host of other official-sounding programs aimed at expanding the government ’ s power at the expense of individual freedoms .
As I make clear in my book Battlefield America : The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ building blocks for the bleak future we ’ re just now getting a foretaste of—police shootings of unarmed citizens , profit-driven prisons , weapons of compliance , a wall-to-wall surveillance state , pre-crime programs , a suspect society , school-to-prison pipelines , militarized police , overcriminalization , SWAT team raids , endless wars , etc.—were put in place by government officials we trusted to look out for our best interests and by American citizens who failed to heed James Madison ’ s warning to “ take alarm at the first experiment on our @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we have suffered the injustices of a government that has no regard for our rights or our humanity .
We ’ ve suffered in silence for too long .
Frankly , what this country desperately needs is more anti-government extremists willing to take the government to task for its excesses , abuses and power grabs that fly in the face of every principle for which America ’ s founders risked their lives .
Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute , where this article ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Anti-Government Extremists Today ) was originally published .
He is the author of A Government of Wolves : The Emerging American Police State and The Change Manifesto .

America’s Revolutionary Founders Would Be Anti-Government Extremists Today
John W. Whitehead, Rutherford
Waking Times
“It is the duty of the patriot to protect his country from its government.”—Thomas Paine “When the government violates the people’s rights, insurrection is, for the people and for each portion of the people, the most sacred of the rights and the most indispensable of duties.”—Marquis De Lafayette
Had the Declaration of Independence been written today, it would have rendered its signers extremists or terrorists, resulting in them being placed on a government watch list, targeted for surveillance of their activities and correspondence, and potentially arrested, held indefinitely, stripped of their rights and labeled enemy combatants.
This is no longer the stuff of speculation and warning.
In fact, Attorney General William Barr recently announced plans to target, track and surveil “anti-government extremists” and preemptively nip in the bud any “threats” to public safety and the rule of law.
It doesn’t matter that the stated purpose of Barr’s anti-government extremist task force is to investigate dissidents on the far right (the “boogaloo” movement) and far left (antifa, a loosely organized anti-fascist group) who have been accused of instigating violence and disrupting peaceful protests.
Boogaloo and Antifa have given the government the perfect excuse for declaring war (with all that entails: surveillance, threat assessments, pre-crime, etc.) against so-called anti-government extremists.
Without a doubt, America’s revolutionary founders would have been at the top of Barr’s list.
After all, the people who fomented the American Revolution spoke out at rallies, distributed critical pamphlets, wrote scathing editorials and took to the streets in protest. They were rebelling against a government they saw as being excessive in its taxation and spending. For their efforts, they were demonized and painted as an angry mob, extremists akin to terrorists, by the ruler of the day, King George III.
Of course, it doesn’t take much to be considered an anti-government extremist (a.k.a. domestic terrorist) today.
If you believe in and exercise your rights under the Constitution (namely, your right to speak freely, worship freely, associate with like-minded individuals who share your political views, criticize the government, own a weapon, demand a warrant before being questioned or searched by the police, or any other activity viewed as potentially anti-government, racist, bigoted, anarchic or sovereign), you’re at the top of the government’s terrorism watch list.
Indeed, under Barr’s new task force, I and every other individual today who dares to speak truth to power could also be targeted for surveillance, because what we’re really dealing with is a government that wants to suppress dangerous words—words about its warring empire, words about its land grabs, words about its militarized police, words about its killing, its poisoning and its corruption—in order to keep its lies going.
This is how the government plans to snuff out any attempts by “we the people” to stand up to its tyranny: under the pretext of rooting out violent extremists, the government’s anti-extremism program will, in many cases, be utilized to render otherwise lawful, nonviolent activities as potentially extremist.
The danger is real.
Keep in mind that the government agencies involved in ferreting out American “extremists” will carry out their objectives—to identify and deter potential extremists—in concert with fusion centers, data collection agencies, behavioral scientists, corporations, social media, and community organizers and by relying on cutting-edge technology for surveillance, facial recognition, predictive policing, biometrics, and behavioral epigenetics (in which life experiences alter one’s genetic makeup).
This is pre-crime on an ideological scale and it’s been a long time coming.
For example, in 2009, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released two reports, one on “Rightwing Extremism,” which broadly defines rightwing extremists as individuals and groups “that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely,” and one on “Leftwing Extremism,” which labeled environmental and animal rights activist groups as extremists
Incredibly, both reports use the words terrorist and extremist interchangeably
That same year, the DHS launched Operation Vigilant Eagle, which calls for surveillance of military veterans returning from Iraq, Afghanistan and other far-flung places, characterizing them as extremists and potential domestic terrorist threats because they may be “disgruntled, disillusioned or suffering from the psychological effects of war.
These reports indicate that for the government, anyone seen as opposing the government—whether they’re Left, Right or somewhere in between—can be labeled an extremist.
Fast forward a few years, and you have the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which Congress has continually re-upped, that allows the military to take you out of your home, lock you up with no access to friends, family or the courts if you’re seen as an extremist.
Now connect the dots, from the 2009 Extremism reports to the NDAA, the National Security Agency’s far-reaching surveillance networks, and fusion centers that collect and share surveillance data between local, state and federal police agencies
Add in tens of thousands of armed, surveillance drones that are beginning to blanket American skies, facial recognition technology that will identify and track you wherever you go and whatever you do. And then to complete the circle, toss in the real-time crime centers being deployed in cities across the country, which will be attempting to “predict” crimes and identify criminals before they happen based on widespread surveillance, complex mathematical algorithms and prognostication programs.
Hopefully you’re getting the picture, which is how easy it is for the government to identify, label and target individuals as “extremist.”
And just like that, we’ve come full circle.
Imagine living in a country where armed soldiers crash through doors to arrest and imprison citizens merely for criticizing government officials. Imagine that in this very same country, you’re watched all the time, and if you look even a little bit suspicious, the police stop and frisk you or pull you over to search you on the off chance you’re doing something illegal.
Keep in mind that if you have a firearm of any kind (or anything that resembled a firearm) while in this country, it may get you arrested and, in some circumstances, shot by police.
If you’re thinking this sounds like America today, you wouldn’t be far wrong.
However, the scenario described above took place more than 200 years ago, when American colonists suffered under Great Britain’s version of an early police state. It was only when the colonists finally got fed up with being silenced, censored, searched, frisked, threatened, and arrested that they finally revolted against the tyrant’s fetters
No document better states their grievances than the Declaration of Independence, drafted by Thomas Jefferson.
A document seething with outrage over a government which had betrayed its citizens, the Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776, by 56 men who laid everything on the line, pledged it all—“our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor”—because they believed in a radical idea: that all people are created to be free.
Labeled traitors, these men were charged with treason, a crime punishable by death. For some, their acts of rebellion would cost them their homes and their fortunes. For others, it would be the ultimate price—their lives.
Yet even knowing the heavy price they might have to pay, these men dared to speak up when silence could not be tolerated.
Read the Declaration of Independence again, and ask yourself if the list of complaints tallied by Jefferson don’t bear a startling resemblance to the abuses “we the people” are suffering at the hands of the American police state.
If you find the purple prose used by the Founders hard to decipher, here’s my translation of what the Declaration of Independence would look and sound like if it were written in the modern vernacular:
There comes a time when a populace must stand united and say “enough is enough” to the government’s abuses, even if it means getting rid of the political parties in power. Believing that “we the people” have a natural and divine right to direct our own lives, here are truths about the power of the people and how we arrived at the decision to sever our ties to the government: All people are created equal. All people possess certain innate rights that no government or agency or individual can take away from them. Among these are the right to Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. The government’s job is to protect the people’s innate rights to Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. The government’s power comes from the will of the people. Whenever any government abuses its power, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish that government and replace it with a new government that will respect and protect the rights of the people. It is not wise to get rid of a government for minor transgressions. In fact, as history has shown, people resist change and are inclined to suffer all manner of abuses to which they have become accustomed. However, when the people have been subjected to repeated abuses and power grabs, carried out with the purpose of establishing a tyrannical government, people have a right and duty to do away with that tyrannical Government and to replace it with a new government that will protect and preserve their innate rights for their future wellbeing. This is exactly the state of affairs we are suffering under right now, which is why it is necessary that we change this imperial system of government. The history of the present Imperial Government is a history of repeated abuses and power grabs, carried out with the intention of establishing absolute Tyranny over the country. To prove this, consider the following: The government has, through its own negligence and arrogance, refused to adopt urgent and necessary laws for the good of the people. The government has threatened to hold up critical laws unless the people agree to relinquish their right to be fully represented in the Legislature. In order to expand its power and bring about compliance with its dictates, the government has made it nearly impossible for the people to make their views and needs heard by their representatives. The government has repeatedly suppressed protests arising in response to its actions. The government has obstructed justice by refusing to appoint judges who respect the Constitution and has instead made the Courts march in lockstep with the government’s dictates.
The government has allowed its agents to harass the people, steal from them, jail them and even execute them. The government has directed militarized government agents—a.k.a., a standing army—to police domestic affairs in peacetime. The government has turned the country into a militarized police state. The government has conspired to undermine the rule of law and the Constitution in order to expand its own powers. The government has allowed its militarized police to invade our homes and inflict violence on homeowners. The government has failed to hold its agents accountable for wrongdoing and murder under the guise of “qualified immunity.” The government has jeopardized our international trade agreements. The government has overtaxed us without our permission. The government has denied us due process and the right to a fair trial. The government has engaged in extraordinary rendition. The government has continued to expand its military empire in collusion with its corporate partners-in-crime and occupy foreign nations. The government has eroded fundamental legal protections and destabilized the structure of government. The government has not only declared its federal powers superior to those of the states but has also asserted its sovereign power over the rights of “we the people.” The government has ceased to protect the people and instead waged domestic war against the people. The government has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, and destroyed the lives of the people. The government has employed private contractors and mercenaries to carry out acts of death, desolation and tyranny against other nations, totally unworthy of a civilized nation. The government through its political propaganda has pitted its citizens against each other. The government has stirred up civil unrest and laid the groundwork for martial law. Repeatedly, we have asked the government to cease its abuses. Each time, the government has responded with more abuse. An Imperial Ruler who acts like a tyrant is not fit to govern a free people. We have repeatedly sounded the alarm to our fellow citizens about the government’s abuses. We have warned them about the government’s power grabs. We have appealed to their sense of justice. We have reminded them of our common bonds. They have rejected our plea for justice and brotherhood. Thus, our fellow citizens are equally at fault for the injustices being carried out by the government. Thus, for the reasons mentioned above, we the people of the united States of America declare ourselves free from the chains of an abusive government. Relying on the Creator’s protection, we pledge to stand by this Declaration of Independence with our lives, our fortunes and our honor.
See what I mean? The abuses meted out by an imperial government and endured by the American people have not ended. They have merely evolved.
Two hundred and forty-four years after a group of anti-government extremists declared their independence from tyranny, the American people have once again managed to work their way back under the tyrant’s thumb.
“We the people” are still being robbed blind by a government of thieves. We are still being taken advantage of by a government of scoundrels, idiots and monsters. We are still being locked up by a government of greedy jailers. We are still being spied on by a government of Peeping Toms. We are still being ravaged by a government of ruffians, rapists and killers.
We are still being forced to surrender our freedoms—and those of our children—to a government of extortionists, money launderers and corporate pirates. And we are still being held at gunpoint by a government of soldiers: a standing army in the form of a militarized police.
The bipartisan coup that laid siege to our nation did not happen overnight. It snuck in under our radar, hiding behind the guise of national security, the war on drugs, the war on terror, the war on immigration, political correctness, hate crimes and a host of other official-sounding programs aimed at expanding the government’s power at the expense of individual freedoms.
As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People, the building blocks for the bleak future we’re just now getting a foretaste of—police shootings of unarmed citizens, profit-driven prisons, weapons of compliance, a wall-to-wall surveillance state, pre-crime programs, a suspect society, school-to-prison pipelines, militarized police, overcriminalization, SWAT team raids, endless wars, etc.—were put in place by government officials we trusted to look out for our best interests and by American citizens who failed to heed James Madison’s warning to “take alarm at the first experiment on our liberties.”
For too long now, we have suffered the injustices of a government that has no regard for our rights or our humanity.
We’ve suffered in silence for too long.
Frankly, what this country desperately needs is more anti-government extremists willing to take the government to task for its excesses, abuses and power grabs that fly in the face of every principle for which America’s founders risked their lives.
About the Author
Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute, where this article (America’s Revolutionary Founders Would Be Anti-Government Extremists Today) was originally published. He is the author of A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State and The Change Manifesto.


wakingtimes--2020-07-02--The Science of Plant Intelligence Takes Root

For centuries , Western philosophy has viewed animals and plants as unthinking automatons .
The famous 17th scientist and philosopher , Rene Descartes , maintained that non-human organisms can not reason or feel pain ; they are robotic machines that purely act on impulse.1 While science has recently proven that animals are intelligent creatures , capable of logical thinking and emotional experience , the notion that plants possess a similar kind of intelligence is largely disregarded by the scientific community .
It is assumed that because plants do not possess a brain , they have no conscious experience .
Goethe @ @ @ @ @ @ @ plants constitute an intelligent life-form , develop symbiotic relationships with other organisms , and can respond to complex changes in the environment .
While the scientific community explains the intelligence of plant behaviour in terms of electrical and chemical responses to sensory stimuli , others believe that plants could provide a valuable insight into other forms of consciousness .
One of the most famous scientists to observe plant intelligence was the English naturalist , geologist and biologist , Charles Darwin.2 While Darwin is most prominently known for the theory of evolution , he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ plants and made a valuable contribution to the botanical sciences .
Unlike many of his contemporaries , Darwin maintained that plants are not unthinking automatons but highly complex and receptive organisms .
In one of his last works , The Power of Movement in Plants , published in 1880 , Darwin suggests that the root of the plant operates in a similar way to the neural networks found in lower animals , receiving information about the external environment and communicating it to other areas of its structure , writing : Unfortunately , Darwin @ @ @ @ @ @ @ scientists of the time , particularly the eminent plant physiologist Julius Sachs .
He labelled Darwin an amateur scientist who performed careless experiments and acquired misleading results .
However , in-depth analysis of plants is beginning to reveal they possess highly developed neural systems and even utilise the same neurotransmitters we do .
While it is easy to dismiss these findings as pseudoscience , more and more scientists are recognising that plants exhibit brain like-functions and make sentient decisions .
In 2009 , researchers Dieter Volkmann , Stefano Mancuso , Peter W Barlow @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the journal Plant Signal Behaviour entitled “ The ‘ root-brain ’ hypothesis of Charles and Francis Darwin ” in which they examined Darwin ’ s root hypothesis and whether current scientific literature supports his theory .
Based on complex analysis of scientific data , they concluded that “ recent advances in chemical ecology reveal the astonishing complexity of higher plants as exemplified by the battery of volatile substances which they produce and sense in order to share information with other organisms about their physiological state.
” 4 According to the paper , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ roots , even secrete signalling exudates that “ mediate kin recognition.
” Moreover , plants are “ capable of a type of plant-specific cognition , suggesting that communicative and identity re-cognition systems are used , as they are in animal and human societies , to improve the fitness of plants and so further their evolution.
” Darwin ’ s theories were ridiculed at the time he was writing , but now more open-minded scientists are discovering that plants may possess some form of conscious awareness , a discovery that would have pleased Darwin @ @ @ @ @ @ @ scientists to have undertaken research into plant intelligence is Monica Gagliano , associate professor at the University of Western Australia .
In 2014 , she conducted a series of experiments using Mimosa Pudicas plants to work out whether plants ‘ memorise ’ changes in their environment .
In order to test her hypothesis , she placed the plants in pots and then loaded each one onto a specially designed plant-dropping device .
Each plant was dropped from a height of six inches , sixty times in a row at five second intervals .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ foam to prevent them from bouncing , with the drop quick enough to cause the plants to curl up their leaves .
Since the plants were not harmed in any way , Gagliano wondered whether they would eventually realise the drop did not signify an external danger .
After a short amount of time , she found that “ some individuals did not close their leaves when fully dropped.
” The plants realised that falling from six inches would not cause them any harm and no longer curled their leaves .
Members of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s findings , suggesting the plants merely became exhausted .
Gagliano disproved this theory by taking a group of plants and placing them in a shaker in order to deplete them of energy .
She found that the plants still curled their leaves , indicating they only became unguarded when dropped from a height to which they had become accustomed.5 Gagliano ’ s research has significant implications in terms how we see plants .
The fact that they respond differently to situations that present no harm to those that do , implies @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ changes around them .
While there is much uncertainty as to how plants recall this information , Gagliano believes it could be representative of a distributed intelligence operating entirely different to the mammalian brain .
This corresponds with Rupert Sheldrake ’ s ‘ morphic resonance ’ hypothesis that memories are not stored in the brain but in a universal informational field .
We should imagine the brain to be like a television set which tunes into different programmes we watch , rather than a memory hard-drive .
From this perspective , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the information is stored somewhere else in some sort of ‘ quantum database ’ .
As Sheldrake points out , it has been proven that animals have memories that are engendered in other members of their species , and past experience is passed onto future generations .
For example , in the United States cows learned about cattle grids and now farmers simply paint lines on the road to trick them from crossing .
They seem to know what a cattle grid is even if they never seen one before .
Examples like @ @ @ @ @ @ @ entirely neurological phenomenon but exists in other forms ; this may explain why plants are able to memorise information without possessing a physical brain structure.6 The notion that plants operate within a wider intelligence network is supported by recent experiments in plant communication .
In a study conducted by Dr Velemir Ninkovic and his associate researchers at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences , a soft brush was applied to corn seedlings , a stimulus that could represent different external stresses , such as new plants encroaching on their territory or an animal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were then placed in the same soil as the recently touched plants to see whether it impacted their growth .
The scientists discovered that the fresh seedlings responded by growing more leaves and fewer roots than the plants that had grown under unmodified conditions .
This suggested that the corn seedlings were exposed to the chemical signals of the recently touched plants in the soil and therefore were preparing themselves against future stresses more effectively.7 In order to establish whether the plants were able to distinguish between the soil occupied by touched and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ seedlings the option of which medium they preferred growing in .
When placed near both types of soil , the roots had a preference towards the growing solution that contained the untouched plants .
These findings suggest that plants are able to communicate with each other even when they are not simultaneously present .
This challenges the view that plants can not exchange information in the way animals do and utilise complex communication networks to protect the interests of the group species .
While science has historically depicted plants as inanimate and mechanical @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ‘ social ’ intelligence that supports the continuation of their survival .
The belief that plants constitute an intelligent life form is commonplace in shamanic cultures , particularly those found in South America .
As Michael Winkelman , Associate Professor at Arizona State University states , “ the self-identifications with the broader universe , particularly personification of the sentient cosmos which is a hallmark of ecopsychology , is a fundamental aspect of shamanism.
” Religious ceremonies , practised for hundreds of years in these cultures , often involve the consumption of entheogenic plants @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of consciousness .
During these ceremonies , the shaman assumes the role of a spiritual guide to direct the experience through chanting , drumming , singing and other psycho-dramatic practices .
The plants are believed to hold sacred properties , with the potential to provide the participant with profound insights .
Many people who have ingested Ayahuasca , an entheogenic brew made from the Banisteriopsis caapi vine in South America , report telepathic communication with plants , animals and people during the experience ; the natural world becomes personified as an animated fractal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and evolving .
Many also say the experience had a long-lasting impact on their connection with animals , people and nature , helping them solve their existential issues more effectively.8 In this sense , recent experiments into plant intelligence prove what shamanistic cultures have known all along – that plants are intelligent , sensitive and sentient life-forms.9 By observing their behaviour , we can learn more about the natural world and the complexity of all living things .
Although modern science provided us with tremendous technological innovation and development , the reductionist belief @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ in their nature , rather than a dynamic expression of intelligence and consciousness , has disconnected us from our environment and thus ourselves .
As the independent scholar , author , teacher , and speaker on sacred plant medicine , Stephen Buhner , states : There are significant social , philosophical and religious implications for plant intelligence .
It challenges the anthropocentric and monotheistic view that humans are the only species with a mind and a soul – we are not the most important entity in the universe but part of an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ great value in recognising nature ’ s extraordinary intelligence as we find ourselves on the brink of social , economic and environmental collapse .
For decades , the capitalist economic model has depended on resources provided by non-human life forms in order to meet the needs of consumers .
Perceiving plants as sentient life forms , rather than a mere resource for our consumerist habits , may prompt us to formulate new ways of living in harmony with the natural world .
By expanding our view of how consciousness expresses , we can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ world and possibly halt the current path of environmental destruction .
Buhner notes : Plant intelligence also forces us to reconsider the nature of consciousness .
Mainstream science currently posits the idea that consciousness is an epiphenomenon of the brain ( it is generated by the brain ) .
When we die , the brain ceases to operate , and consciousness switches off .
In this reductionist perspective , plants and animals possess a very limited consciousness since their brains are not as neurologically complex .
But the fact of the matter stands @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mystery of consciousness and the process by which neural pathways , which are non-conscious , become self-aware as a complex web of connections in the brain .
If plants have the ability to recall sensory information , socially communicate with each other , and respond to complex changes in the environment , we are forced to rethink our current models of consciousness .
It may be the case that the human brain constitutes a very specific expression of consciousness , and intelligence manifests across a broad spectrum of life with plants possessing their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ science does not currently understand .
To conclude , there is increasing evidence suggesting plants are an intelligent life-form .
Recent scientific experiments indicate that plants are able to retain sensory information , respond to complex changes in their environment and even communicate with one another via complex biological networks .
While we have yet to fully understand how plant intelligence works , these experiments challenge the orthodox scientific view that plants are non-sentient , and intelligence only emerges via neural pathways in the brain .
More free-thinking scientists and researchers are beginning @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and can make intelligent decisions , an idea accepted by shamanic societies for millennia .
There are significant philosophical implications for plant intelligence .
Not only does it challenge reductionist explanations for consciousness but forces us to consider our treatment of the planet and agro-capitalism ’ s ongoing large-scale commodification of the plant kingdom .
As we teeter on the brink of environmental collapse , and traditional social , economic and political models become increasingly redundant and outmoded , it is critical we start perceiving nature and plants in a different light , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Jack Fox-Williams graduated with a BA Hons degree in Philosophy and History from Goldsmiths University , London , in 2014 .
Since then he has worked as a freelance writer in Cornwall , England , focusing on philosophy , hermeticism and alternative science .
He is currently working on a book about the relationship between the history of science and the occult .
He can be contacted via email at jfoxwilliams @ yahoo.co.uk .
2 .
See Plant Intelligence and the Imaginal Realm by Stephen Harrod Buhner ( Bear & Co , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The Power of Movements in Plants , John Murray , 1880 4 .
F. Bulska , S. Mancuso , et al.
, The ‘ root-brain ’ hypothesis of Charles and Francis Darwin , Plant Signal Behaviour , 2009 ; Dec ; 4 ( 12 ) : 1121-1127 5 .
M. Gagliano , et al.
, Experience teaches plants to learn faster and forget slower in environments where it matters , Oecologia , 5 January 2014 ; doi : 10.1007/s00442-013-2873-7 6 .
R. Nissen , Memory is not in your head , animalnav.org/memory-not-in-your-head/ 7 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ communication to learn when neighbours are stressed , The Independent , 2 May 2018 8 .
M. Winkelman , Shamanism and Psychedelics : A biogenetic structuralist paradigm of ecopsychology , European Journal of Ecopsychology 9 .
J. Kounen , Advice for Encounters with Scary Serpents and Talking Plants During Ayahuasca Visions , kahpi.net/scary-serpents-talking-plants-ayahuasca-visions/ If you appreciate this article , please consider a digital subscription to New Dawn .
The above article appeared in New Dawn 176 ( Sept-Oct 2019 ) **This article was originally featured at New Dawn and is reposted here with @ @ @

The Science of Plant Intelligence Takes Root
Jack Fox-Williams, New Dawn
Waking Times
For centuries, Western philosophy has viewed animals and plants as unthinking automatons. The famous 17th scientist and philosopher, Rene Descartes, maintained that non-human organisms cannot reason or feel pain; they are robotic machines that purely act on impulse.1
While science has recently proven that animals are intelligent creatures, capable of logical thinking and emotional experience, the notion that plants possess a similar kind of intelligence is largely disregarded by the scientific community. It is assumed that because plants do not possess a brain, they have no conscious experience.
Goethe and other thinkers through history observed that plants constitute an intelligent life-form, develop symbiotic relationships with other organisms, and can respond to complex changes in the environment. While the scientific community explains the intelligence of plant behaviour in terms of electrical and chemical responses to sensory stimuli, others believe that plants could provide a valuable insight into other forms of consciousness.
One of the most famous scientists to observe plant intelligence was the English naturalist, geologist and biologist, Charles Darwin.2 While Darwin is most prominently known for the theory of evolution, he was deeply fascinated by the behaviour of plants and made a valuable contribution to the botanical sciences. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Darwin maintained that plants are not unthinking automatons but highly complex and receptive organisms. In one of his last works, The Power of Movement in Plants, published in 1880, Darwin suggests that the root of the plant operates in a similar way to the neural networks found in lower animals, receiving information about the external environment and communicating it to other areas of its structure, writing:
“It is hardly an exaggeration to say that the tip of the radicle thus endowed (with sensitivity) and having the power of directing the movements of the adjoining parts, acts like the brain of one of the lower animals; the brain being seated within the anterior end of the body, receiving impressions from the sense-organs and directing the several movements.”3
Unfortunately, Darwin’s observations were rejected by leading scientists of the time, particularly the eminent plant physiologist Julius Sachs. He labelled Darwin an amateur scientist who performed careless experiments and acquired misleading results. However, in-depth analysis of plants is beginning to reveal they possess highly developed neural systems and even utilise the same neurotransmitters we do.
Modern Science & Plant Intelligence
While it is easy to dismiss these findings as pseudoscience, more and more scientists are recognising that plants exhibit brain like-functions and make sentient decisions. In 2009, researchers Dieter Volkmann, Stefano Mancuso, Peter W Barlow and Frantisek Baluska, published an article in the journal Plant Signal Behaviour entitled “The ‘root-brain’ hypothesis of Charles and Francis Darwin” in which they examined Darwin’s root hypothesis and whether current scientific literature supports his theory.
Based on complex analysis of scientific data, they concluded that “recent advances in chemical ecology reveal the astonishing complexity of higher plants as exemplified by the battery of volatile substances which they produce and sense in order to share information with other organisms about their physiological state.”4 According to the paper, plants can recognise self from non-self and roots, even secrete signalling exudates that “mediate kin recognition.” Moreover, plants are “capable of a type of plant-specific cognition, suggesting that communicative and identity re-cognition systems are used, as they are in animal and human societies, to improve the fitness of plants and so further their evolution.”
Darwin’s theories were ridiculed at the time he was writing, but now more open-minded scientists are discovering that plants may possess some form of conscious awareness, a discovery that would have pleased Darwin immensely.
One of the most interesting scientists to have undertaken research into plant intelligence is Monica Gagliano, associate professor at the University of Western Australia. In 2014, she conducted a series of experiments using Mimosa Pudicas plants to work out whether plants ‘memorise’ changes in their environment.
In order to test her hypothesis, she placed the plants in pots and then loaded each one onto a specially designed plant-dropping device. Each plant was dropped from a height of six inches, sixty times in a row at five second intervals. The plants would fall onto a soft foam to prevent them from bouncing, with the drop quick enough to cause the plants to curl up their leaves. Since the plants were not harmed in any way, Gagliano wondered whether they would eventually realise the drop did not signify an external danger. After a short amount of time, she found that “some individuals did not close their leaves when fully dropped.”The plants realised that falling from six inches would not cause them any harm and no longer curled their leaves.
Members of the scientific community were cynical of Gagliano’s findings, suggesting the plants merely became exhausted. Gagliano disproved this theory by taking a group of plants and placing them in a shaker in order to deplete them of energy. She found that the plants still curled their leaves, indicating they only became unguarded when dropped from a height to which they had become accustomed.5
Gagliano’s research has significant implications in terms how we see plants. The fact that they respond differently to situations that present no harm to those that do, implies plants recall sensory information and ‘memorise’ changes around them. While there is much uncertainty as to how plants recall this information, Gagliano believes it could be representative of a distributed intelligence operating entirely different to the mammalian brain.
This corresponds with Rupert Sheldrake’s ‘morphic resonance’ hypothesis that memories are not stored in the brain but in a universal informational field. We should imagine the brain to be like a television set which tunes into different programmes we watch, rather than a memory hard-drive. From this perspective, the brain has limited memory. Most of the information is stored somewhere else in some sort of ‘quantum database’. As Sheldrake points out, it has been proven that animals have memories that are engendered in other members of their species, and past experience is passed onto future generations. For example, in the United States cows learned about cattle grids and now farmers simply paint lines on the road to trick them from crossing. They seem to know what a cattle grid is even if they never seen one before. Examples like this suggest memory may not be an entirely neurological phenomenon but exists in other forms; this may explain why plants are able to memorise information without possessing a physical brain structure.6
The notion that plants operate within a wider intelligence network is supported by recent experiments in plant communication. In a study conducted by Dr Velemir Ninkovic and his associate researchers at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, a soft brush was applied to corn seedlings, a stimulus that could represent different external stresses, such as new plants encroaching on their territory or an animal trying to eat it. New seedlings were then placed in the same soil as the recently touched plants to see whether it impacted their growth. The scientists discovered that the fresh seedlings responded by growing more leaves and fewer roots than the plants that had grown under unmodified conditions. This suggested that the corn seedlings were exposed to the chemical signals of the recently touched plants in the soil and therefore were preparing themselves against future stresses more effectively.7
In order to establish whether the plants were able to distinguish between the soil occupied by touched and untouched plants, the scientists offered corn seedlings the option of which medium they preferred growing in. When placed near both types of soil, the roots had a preference towards the growing solution that contained the untouched plants. These findings suggest that plants are able to communicate with each other even when they are not simultaneously present. This challenges the view that plants cannot exchange information in the way animals do and utilise complex communication networks to protect the interests of the group species. While science has historically depicted plants as inanimate and mechanical, in reality plants possess a profound ‘social’ intelligence that supports the continuation of their survival.
Plant Sentience in Shamanic Cultures
The belief that plants constitute an intelligent life form is commonplace in shamanic cultures, particularly those found in South America. As Michael Winkelman, Associate Professor at Arizona State University states, “the self-identifications with the broader universe, particularly personification of the sentient cosmos which is a hallmark of ecopsychology, is a fundamental aspect of shamanism.”
Religious ceremonies, practised for hundreds of years in these cultures, often involve the consumption of entheogenic plants to access alternative realities and altered states of consciousness. During these ceremonies, the shaman assumes the role of a spiritual guide to direct the experience through chanting, drumming, singing and other psycho-dramatic practices. The plants are believed to hold sacred properties, with the potential to provide the participant with profound insights.
Many people who have ingested Ayahuasca, an entheogenic brew made from the Banisteriopsis caapi vine in South America, report telepathic communication with plants, animals and people during the experience; the natural world becomes personified as an animated fractal intelligence that is constantly adapting, changing and evolving. Many also say the experience had a long-lasting impact on their connection with animals, people and nature, helping them solve their existential issues more effectively.8
In this sense, recent experiments into plant intelligence prove what shamanistic cultures have known all along – that plants are intelligent, sensitive and sentient life-forms.9 By observing their behaviour, we can learn more about the natural world and the complexity of all living things. Although modern science provided us with tremendous technological innovation and development, the reductionist belief that animals and plants are ‘mechanical’ in their nature, rather than a dynamic expression of intelligence and consciousness, has disconnected us from our environment and thus ourselves. As the independent scholar, author, teacher, and speaker on sacred plant medicine, Stephen Buhner, states:
“All people, and I mean all, know that the earth and everything in it is alive. Four-year-old children naturally know this. They have to be forcefully taught that the world is dead. Ancient and indigenous cultures never killed that sensibility but rather developed it. They were interwoven into the life web of the planet, not separate from it. But it was not only indigenous cultures but all ancient cultures that knew this, no matter how they developed… The thing that we call science has taken the long way around. And, they are now getting back to where we started long ago, aware that all of nature is alive, intelligent and aware. That we are merely one part of a very large living scenario.”10 (See my interview with Stephen Buhner in this issue.)
A Challenge to Outmoded Paradigms & Thinking
There are significant social, philosophical and religious implications for plant intelligence. It challenges the anthropocentric and monotheistic view that humans are the only species with a mind and a soul – we are not the most important entity in the universe but part of an interconnected web of life. There is great value in recognising nature’s extraordinary intelligence as we find ourselves on the brink of social, economic and environmental collapse. For decades, the capitalist economic model has depended on resources provided by non-human life forms in order to meet the needs of consumers. Perceiving plants as sentient life forms, rather than a mere resource for our consumerist habits, may prompt us to formulate new ways of living in harmony with the natural world. By expanding our view of how consciousness expresses, we can better appreciate the complexity of the ecological world and possibly halt the current path of environmental destruction. Buhner notes:
“The older, reductive, mechanistic paradigm that looked at the earth as a ball of non-sentient resources, we do with as we please, has reached its limits. It is destroying the ability of most life forms to endure, and the eco-systems of the planet. Younger and less mentally restrictive scientists in every field are finding that the world around us is far different than the picture that reductionists have created and taught us to believe. All life is intelligent, none of it is mechanical, and you cannot use the ecosystems of the planet as resources for unlimited extraction.”11
Plant intelligence also forces us to reconsider the nature of consciousness. Mainstream science currently posits the idea that consciousness is an epiphenomenon of the brain (it is generated by the brain). When we die, the brain ceases to operate, and consciousness switches off. In this reductionist perspective, plants and animals possess a very limited consciousness since their brains are not as neurologically complex. But the fact of the matter stands that modern science does not understand the mystery of consciousness and the process by which neural pathways, which are non-conscious, become self-aware as a complex web of connections in the brain. If plants have the ability to recall sensory information, socially communicate with each other, and respond to complex changes in the environment, we are forced to rethink our current models of consciousness. It may be the case that the human brain constitutes a very specific expression of consciousness, and intelligence manifests across a broad spectrum of life with plants possessing their own unique form of awareness which modern science does not currently understand.
To conclude, there is increasing evidence suggesting plants are an intelligent life-form. Recent scientific experiments indicate that plants are able to retain sensory information, respond to complex changes in their environment and even communicate with one another via complex biological networks. While we have yet to fully understand how plant intelligence works, these experiments challenge the orthodox scientific view that plants are non-sentient, and intelligence only emerges via neural pathways in the brain.
More free-thinking scientists and researchers are beginning to prove that plants possess brain-like functions and can make intelligent decisions, an idea accepted by shamanic societies for millennia.
There are significant philosophical implications for plant intelligence. Not only does it challenge reductionist explanations for consciousness but forces us to consider our treatment of the planet and agro-capitalism’s ongoing large-scale commodification of the plant kingdom.
As we teeter on the brink of environmental collapse, and traditional social, economic and political models become increasingly redundant and outmoded, it is critical we start perceiving nature and plants in a different light, rather than a depletable, capitalist resource.
An interview with Stephen Harrod Buhner accompanies this article and can be read inside the same issue of New Dawn.
Further reading: Stephen Harrod Buhner’s books, Secret Teachings of Plants: The Intelligence of the Heart in the Direct Perception of Nature and Plant Intelligence and the Imaginal Realm.
About the Author
Jack Fox-Williams graduated with a BA Hons degree in Philosophy and History from Goldsmiths University, London, in 2014. Since then he has worked as a freelance writer in Cornwall, England, focusing on philosophy, hermeticism and alternative science. He is currently working on a book about the relationship between the history of science and the occult. He can be contacted via email at jfoxwilliams@yahoo.co.uk.
Footnotes
1. The Philosophical Works of Descartes, Cambridge University Press, 1969
2. See Plant Intelligence and the Imaginal Realm by Stephen Harrod Buhner (Bear & Co, 2014)
3. Charles Darwin, The Power of Movements in Plants, John Murray, 1880
4. F. Bulska, S. Mancuso, et al., The ‘root-brain’ hypothesis of Charles and Francis Darwin, Plant Signal Behaviour, 2009; Dec; 4(12): 1121-1127
5. M. Gagliano, et al., Experience teaches plants to learn faster and forget slower in environments where it matters, Oecologia, 5 January 2014; doi: 10.1007/s00442-013-2873-7
6. R. Nissen, Memory is not in your head, animalnav.org/memory-not-in-your-head/
7. J. Gabbatiss, Plants use underground communication to learn when neighbours are stressed, The Independent, 2 May 2018
8. M. Winkelman, Shamanism and Psychedelics: A biogenetic structuralist paradigm of ecopsychology, European Journal of Ecopsychology
9. J. Kounen, Advice for Encounters with Scary Serpents and Talking Plants During Ayahuasca Visions, kahpi.net/scary-serpents-talking-plants-ayahuasca-visions/
10. Interview conducted with Stephen Buhner, 16 July 2019
11. Ibid.
If you appreciate this article, please consider a digital subscription to New Dawn.
The above article appeared in New Dawn 176 (Sept-Oct 2019)
**This article was originally featured at New Dawn and is reposted here with permission.**


wakingtimes--2020-07-01--Questions of our Time – A Time for Personal Responsibility?

Questions of our Time – A Time for Personal Responsibility ?
In the gnostic Gospel of Thomas , it is written that Jesus pronounced : ‘ There is light within a man of light , and it lights up the whole world .
If he does not shine , there is darkness.
’ Furthermore – ‘ If you bring forth what is within you , what you bring forth will save you .
If you do not bring forth what is within you , what you do not bring forth will destroy you.
’ The inner resources each person has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ awareness , and experiential knowing onto contemporary issues and their distress .
It is essential to bring the inner world to bear onto the physical , material world .
Both realms must participate and be in congruence .
In order to achieve genuine solutions , each of us must be prepared to change and transform from within , and not just by changing our ideas .
Each person has a responsibility not only to the outer world but also to their individual inner life .
A person can not live by the conventions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ impacts and influences of everyday life .
We need sustenance from a source that is beyond all social institutions , and from beyond the distractions and attractions of physical life .
It is necessary to create a distance from the tirades that life brings us .
Ironically , the newly imposed rules of social distancing may help us indirectly by triggering an awareness of a form of distancing in terms of energetic attachment and attention .
In this , perhaps , a more acute state of self-awareness can develop as an antidote to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ One of the questions of our time should be about how to resist the conditioned conventions of the mass mind by cultivating new muscles of perception .
It is a question of personal freedom of thought and perspective .
Our choice is thus twofold : between recognizing the unconscious forces of the mass mind ; and aiming for the personal development of our awareness to act as individuals .
Freedom is a question of our responsibility .
And our responsibility is likewise a question of freedom .
Dag Hammerskjold [ i ] , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ diary : ‘ I don ’ t know Who – or What – put the question , I don ’ t know when it was put .
I don ’ t even remember answering .
But at some moment I did answer Yes to Someone – or Something – and from that hour I was certain that existence is meaningful and that , therefore , my life , in self-surrender , had a goal.
’ 1 The responsibility of freedom , for Hammerskjold , was about saying ‘ Yes ’ to the unknown @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Such meaning can not be taught or given but must be lived and experienced .
The living of such meaning is a mysterious process that is revealed through the poetic and lucid spontaneous connections in life .
This is also the power of myth , dreams , and the imagination .
The inner intuition can break down our cages of conditioning and allow us to see more clearly the situation we are in .
This understanding has the power to directly change lives .
Human freedom , with genuine conscious awareness , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ community , but not as an unconscious community .
The human community needs to come together with at least a minimum of psychological insight .
As the Indian sage Sri Aurobindo said – ‘ The individual has to live in humanity as well as humanity in the individual.
’ When communities and individuals lack psychological insight , they are open and vulnerable to the impulses of the unconscious from within as without .
That is , manifestations of the unconscious do not just occur within an individual ’ s mind but also within @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Unawareness of such forces can bring about emotional , mental , and physical instability .
It is a psychological trait that when our minds recognize a repressed force within ourselves , a corresponding expression manifests in our outer , physical world .
The source for so many ills resides within us .
This is because the psychic or soul reality is real .
We are conditioned into thinking that ‘ psychic ’ elements or things of the spirit are inferior to the physical things of life because they are non-material .
The images @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can be just as powerful as those without .
Modern society has neglected , or considered unimportant , the power of psychic phenomenon .
As a result , we are oppressed by forces that can dominate our own psychic lives .
What humanity is largely experiencing today is the moral uncertainty that precedes a new understanding as the old morality enters its death phase .
As we each gain awareness and trust our intuition – our personal gnosis – we gain a new orientation to the world .
We uncage ourselves and find @ @ @ @ @ @ @ question is in finding this freedom and to make steps towards it .
The first step , and responsibility , is to recognize and identify the shadows of our unconscious that then manifest as external dominant forces .
It will ultimately help us to know and accept the presence of the oppressive forces close to us .
Mental and emotional balance comes not only from an acceptance of the reality of malevolent forces but also from the recognition of false optimism .
The presence of false optimism is like the presence of false @ @ @ @ @ @ @ gold exists .
The commercialization and consumerism of false optimism has been part of what became known as the ‘ New Age ’ phenomenon .
Whilst it is important to have a clear focus , concentration , and a grounded mindset , there is danger in the gilded roses distracting us from the alertness of the inner vision .
Rose-colored spectacles are no compensation for our own intuitive penetrating gaze .
Finally , we may ask ourselves – in the face of all these challenges and the danger of a fool ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this ?
To this question the remarkable Carl Gustav Jung answered : ‘ To the constantly reiterated question “ What can I do ?
” I know no other answer except “ Become what you have always been , ” namely , the wholeness which we have lost in the midst of our civilized , conscious existence , a wholeness which we always were without knowing it.
’ 2 As long as the majority of people expect all problems to be solved outside of themselves our societies will continue to be dominated by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ freedom from these forces depends upon people willing to assume the responsibility of conscious awareness .
We each have a power for creating change that we carry around with us , literally , each moment of our lives – why do so many people fail to make use of it ?
The great perennial task of humanity has always been the same : to become what we have always been , and to show others the way by our own individual presence and behavior .
Through our deliberate and conscious presence , we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have always been also .
As it was written in the gnostic Gospel of Truth almost two thousand years ago – We are asked to be ‘ children of the understanding heart ’ – a call that has rung out over millennia .
It is a perennial call and it will always continue to ring out , for those with ears to hear .
We are called to transform from ‘ I am what I have , ’ to ‘ I am what I do , ’ to ‘ I am what I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ one of the questions of our times – and it is the human question .
Jung was right when he said that we should become what we have always been – I am what I am .
When we are finally able to heal ourselves from within then , and only then , can we heal others and the world without .
Everything begins from the source : I am .
The power for change begins and ends with us , the individual – not from the hand of a minority elite .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ heart of humanity , as will humanity ever exist within the heart of each person .
The question of responsibility is to resist the forces of dehumanization .
To defy the forces that place us as anonymous numbers within algorithms .
The responsibility is to grow into our humanhood – and to become the humanity that has always awaited us .
A humanity within each individual – an individual within our humanity .
I am because We are .
Kingsley L. Dennis is the author of Bardo Times : hyperreality , high-velocity , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hoax ?
, The Phoenix Generation : A New Era of Connection , Compassion , and Consciousness , and The Sacred Revival : Magic , Mind & Meaning in a Technological Age , available at Amazon .
Visit him on the web at http : //www.kingsleydennis.com/ .
2 Cited in Hoeller , Stephan A .
2014 .
The Gnostic Jung and the Seven Sermons to the Dead .
Wheaton , IL : Quest Books , p215 3 Cited in Hoeller , Stephan A .
2014 .
The Gnostic Jung and the Seven Sermons @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : Quest Books , p216-7 [ i ] Hammerskjold was also the second Secretary-General of the United Nations from April 1953 until his death in a plane crash in September 1961 .
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Questions of our Time – A Time for Personal Responsibility?
Kingsley L. Dennis, Contributor
Waking Times
A Time for Personal Responsibility? ‘The individual has to live in humanity as well as humanity in the individual’ Sri Aurobindo
In the gnostic Gospel of Thomas, it is written that Jesus pronounced: ‘There is light within a man of light, and it lights up the whole world. If he does not shine, there is darkness.’ Furthermore – ‘If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.’
The inner resources each person has within them can bring insight, conscious awareness, and experiential knowing onto contemporary issues and their distress. It is essential to bring the inner world to bear onto the physical, material world. Both realms must participate and be in congruence. In order to achieve genuine solutions, each of us must be prepared to change and transform from within, and not just by changing our ideas. Each person has a responsibility not only to the outer world but also to their individual inner life.
A person cannot live by the conventions of society alone, or from the impacts and influences of everyday life. We need sustenance from a source that is beyond all social institutions, and from beyond the distractions and attractions of physical life. It is necessary to create a distance from the tirades that life brings us. Ironically, the newly imposed rules of social distancing may help us indirectly by triggering an awareness of a form of distancing in terms of energetic attachment and attention. In this, perhaps, a more acute state of self-awareness can develop as an antidote to the general state of social unconsciousness. One of the questions of our time should be about how to resist the conditioned conventions of the mass mind by cultivating new muscles of perception.
It is a question of personal freedom of thought and perspective. Our choice is thus twofold: between recognizing the unconscious forces of the mass mind; and aiming for the personal development of our awareness to act as individuals. Freedom is a question of our responsibility. And our responsibility is likewise a question of freedom.
Dag Hammerskjold[i], the Swedish diplomat, wrote in his diary: ‘I don’t know Who – or What – put the question, I don’t know when it was put. I don’t even remember answering. But at some moment I did answer Yes to Someone – or Something – and from that hour I was certain that existence is meaningful and that, therefore, my life, in self-surrender, had a goal.’ 1 The responsibility of freedom, for Hammerskjold, was about saying ‘Yes’ to the unknown and ineffable source of trust in oneself.
Such meaning cannot be taught or given but must be lived and experienced. The living of such meaning is a mysterious process that is revealed through the poetic and lucid spontaneous connections in life. This is also the power of myth, dreams, and the imagination. The inner intuition can break down our cages of conditioning and allow us to see more clearly the situation we are in. This understanding has the power to directly change lives. Human freedom, with genuine conscious awareness, recognizes also the need for the social community, but not as an unconscious community. The human community needs to come together with at least a minimum of psychological insight. As the Indian sage Sri Aurobindo said – ‘The individual has to live in humanity as well as humanity in the individual.’
When communities and individuals lack psychological insight, they are open and vulnerable to the impulses of the unconscious from within as without. That is, manifestations of the unconscious do not just occur within an individual’s mind but also within the mass psyche of the collective. Unawareness of such forces can bring about emotional, mental, and physical instability. It is a psychological trait that when our minds recognize a repressed force within ourselves, a corresponding expression manifests in our outer, physical world. The source for so many ills resides within us. This is because the psychic or soul reality is real. We are conditioned into thinking that ‘psychic’ elements or things of the spirit are inferior to the physical things of life because they are non-material. The images we have within us, however, can be just as powerful as those without. Modern society has neglected, or considered unimportant, the power of psychic phenomenon. As a result, we are oppressed by forces that can dominate our own psychic lives.
What humanity is largely experiencing today is the moral uncertainty that precedes a new understanding as the old morality enters its death phase. As we each gain awareness and trust our intuition – our personal gnosis – we gain a new orientation to the world. We uncage ourselves and find a new freedom. The ultimate human question is in finding this freedom and to make steps towards it.
The first step, and responsibility, is to recognize and identify the shadows of our unconscious that then manifest as external dominant forces. It will ultimately help us to know and accept the presence of the oppressive forces close to us. Mental and emotional balance comes not only from an acceptance of the reality of malevolent forces but also from the recognition of false optimism. The presence of false optimism is like the presence of false gold. It exists because the real gold exists. The commercialization and consumerism of false optimism has been part of what became known as the ‘New Age’ phenomenon. Whilst it is important to have a clear focus, concentration, and a grounded mindset, there is danger in the gilded roses distracting us from the alertness of the inner vision. Rose-colored spectacles are no compensation for our own intuitive penetrating gaze. Finally, we may ask ourselves – in the face of all these challenges and the danger of a fool’s paradise: what can I do about this?
To this question the remarkable Carl Gustav Jung answered: ‘To the constantly reiterated question “What can I do?” I know no other answer except “Become what you have always been,” namely, the wholeness which we have lost in the midst of our civilized, conscious existence, a wholeness which we always were without knowing it.’2 As long as the majority of people expect all problems to be solved outside of themselves our societies will continue to be dominated by unruly forces. The question of human freedom from these forces depends upon people willing to assume the responsibility of conscious awareness. We each have a power for creating change that we carry around with us, literally, each moment of our lives – why do so many people fail to make use of it? The great perennial task of humanity has always been the same: to become what we have always been, and to show others the way by our own individual presence and behavior. Through our deliberate and conscious presence, we can assist others to become what they have always been also. As it was written in the gnostic Gospel of Truth almost two thousand years ago –
‘That it is in you that this light, which does not fail, dwells…Speak of the truth with those who seek it…You who are the children of the understanding heart…Joy to the man who has discovered himself, and awakened and blessed is he who openeth the minds of the blind.’3
We are asked to be ‘children of the understanding heart’ – a call that has rung out over millennia. It is a perennial call and it will always continue to ring out, for those with ears to hear. We are called to transform from ‘I am what I have,’ to ‘I am what I do,’ to ‘I am what I am.’
This is the answer to one of the questions of our times – and it is the human question. Jung was right when he said that we should become what we have always been – I am what I am. When we are finally able to heal ourselves from within then, and only then, can we heal others and the world without.
Everything begins from the source: I am. The power for change begins and ends with us, the individual – not from the hand of a minority elite. The individual has to live within the heart of humanity, as will humanity ever exist within the heart of each person. The question of responsibility is to resist the forces of dehumanization. To defy the forces that place us as anonymous numbers within algorithms. The responsibility is to grow into our humanhood – and to become the humanity that has always awaited us. A humanity within each individual – an individual within our humanity. I am because We are.
About the Author
Kingsley L. Dennis is the author of Bardo Times: hyperreality, high-velocity, simulation, automation, mutation – a hoax?, The Phoenix Generation: A New Era of Connection, Compassion, and Consciousness, and The Sacred Revival: Magic, Mind & Meaning in a Technological Age, available at Amazon. Visit him on the web at http://www.kingsleydennis.com/.
Endnotes
1 Hammersjold, Dag. 1964. Markings. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, p169
2 Cited in Hoeller, Stephan A. 2014. The Gnostic Jung and the Seven Sermons to the Dead. Wheaton, IL: Quest Books, p215
3 Cited in Hoeller, Stephan A. 2014. The Gnostic Jung and the Seven Sermons to the Dead. Wheaton, IL: Quest Books, p216-7
[i] Hammerskjold was also the second Secretary-General of the United Nations from April 1953 until his death in a plane crash in September 1961.
Image Source: Unsplash


wakingtimes--2020-07-01--Restoring the Ways of Initiation, Transformation & Connection – The Shamanism Summit July 7-10

Restoring the Ways of Initiation , Transformation & Connection – The Shamanism Summit July 7-10 Editor ’ s note : I ’ m gratefu l for the programs that Shift Network offers , as they ’ ve been of tremendous value to our readers , while also helping to financially support our work .
Shamanism is about acknowledging the unseen , and in these challenging times , it ’ s easy to forget that throughout this entire journey of life we are accompanied and supported by the wisdom and love of our ancestors .
They made it through everything , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this upcoming presentation will be exceptionally grounding and help you to return your attention to the things that matter most .
~Dylan Charles , Editor The ancient knowledge of our ancestors and elders is needed now more than ever — as we navigate through times of illness , painful division , and societal disruption .
It ’ s time to call on the world ’ s spiritual midwives — those who can bridge us to a new paradigm .
Rooted in ageless wisdom and collective ancestral experience , with their feet planted squarely @ @ @ @ @ @ @ elders ( and youth ) can offer sound guidance through this pivotal global transition .
We can refer to these guides as mystics , some of them as shamans , and others as wisdom keepers .
A shaman can be defined as an earth-centered community guide and healer who travels between worlds to gather and transmit information that helps individuals and the community .
In slowing down to honor and learn from these sacred guides , we ’ re also engaging with some of the descendants of those who survived plagues and atrocities @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they carry forward precious cultural and spiritual knowledge from time immemorial .
Shamanic and mystical practices that help you remember your integral place in the world can now become part of your everyday experience .
In the midst of the upheaval of our current times , earth-based wisdom remains a lighthouse in the storm… shining the light of perennial wisdom and connecting you to the unbreakable spirit that unites us all .
That ’ s why I ’ m deeply honored to tell you about the Shamanism Summit — a free online event @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and timely convergence of 28 esteemed shamanic teachers and healers will include Grandmother Flordemayo , Fredy Quispe Singona , Thomas Huebl , Sandra Ingerman , Lyla June Johnston , Tanaya Winder , Mandaza Kandemwa , Alberto Villoldo , Yeye Luisah Teish , and many others .
The esteemed spiritual guides who are speaking in this gathering represent many diverse traditions that can help you locate the spirit allies and the resources you need to create healing and regeneration at all levels of your life , and in your community .
The simple techniques @ @ @ @ @ @ @ your nervous system integrate and digest the sheer enormity of the global change that ’ s happening — enabling you to face the future with more groundedness , calm , and readiness .
RSVP here for the During this heart-opening and expansive voyage , you ’ ll discover : • None An understanding of these times as fulfillment of prophecy • None Access to regenerative powers far beyond your own , and how to source those powers safely and ethically • None Effective ancestral practices and ways to embody steady , grounded service @ @ @ @ @ @ @ None How to craft direct , personal experiences of revelation — like home pilgrimages , ceremonies , and retreats — to bring healing and peace • None Timeless techniques for staying centered during times of intense change • None The deeper realities of your own strengths you didn ’ t know you had • None Three key principles of being a cultural mystic that will help you cultivate wholeness , self-compassion , and access to deepening relational intimacy • None The bridge to accept your own divine animal and release its great powers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ • None How to use this time as a period of sacred seclusion to create ceremonies of spiritual discipline • None Methods to connect with the faces of the Divine that call to our sacred hearts , guided by ancient goddess and gods • None The power of owning your impact on the earth as a sacred responsibility • None How to connect to the lineage of your ancestors , and how this will inform your future I hope you ’ ll join this special event to receive deep insights , rituals , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the world ’ s most revered shamans and teachers of this ancient path .
Register for the Shamanism Summit now — and discover practices from diverse shamanic wisdom streams that can direct you to the next step on your spiritual journey .
Shamanism Summit — at no charge : HERE RSVP here for the Here ’ s some more of what the esteemed speakers will be sharing during The Shamanism Summit… • None Grandmother Flordemayo will share about the daily spiritual practice of prayer , and how it enables continued and exponential @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you create internal and external harmony with all creation .
• None Thomas Huebl expounds on the healing alchemy of shamanism and the mystical traditions that can bring us into greater harmony , coherence and alignment with our soul ’ s purpose .
• None Fredy Quispe Singona ( Puma ) will explore the new era of the Teriti Pacha , which humanity is currently entering , and discuss love , leadership , and healing from the Andean perspective .
• None Yeye Luisah Teish will show you how to embrace and metabolize @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Orishas… so you can become more powerful and present .
• None Hear from dream warriors Lyla June Johnston and Tanaya Winder about how they developed a deeper connection to their own cultural roots and heritage .
• None With Sandra Ingerman , you ’ ll explore how shamanic cultures have been trying to prepare us for centuries for times just like this… and how to heal fearful or toxic thoughts that can arise while living through this time of uncertainty and change .
• None Alberto Villoldo will demonstrate how to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ medicine men and women who work from the invisible world — and become a part of their lineage of Earthkeepers .
• None Mandaza Kandemwa will elucidate the qualities of good leadership — as considered by God , spirits , and the ancestors — that can bring us into unity and help our natural resources flourish .
RSVP here for the Shamanism Summit — at no charge : HERE

Restoring the Ways of Initiation, Transformation & Connection – The Shamanism Summit July 7-10
Waking Times
Editor’s note: I’m gratefu l for the programs that Shift Network offers, as they’ve been of tremendous value to our readers, while also helping to financially support our work. Shamanism is about acknowledging the unseen, and in these challenging times, it’s easy to forget that throughout this entire journey of life we are accompanied and supported by the wisdom and love of our ancestors. They made it through everything, and we will too. I feel this upcoming presentation will be exceptionally grounding and help you to return your attention to the things that matter most. ~Dylan Charles, Editor
The ancient knowledge of our ancestors and elders is needed now more than ever — as we navigate through times of illness, painful division, and societal disruption.
It’s time to call on the world’s spiritual midwives — those who can bridge us to a new paradigm.
Rooted in ageless wisdom and collective ancestral experience, with their feet planted squarely on the earth, this circle of elders (and youth) can offer sound guidance through this pivotal global transition.
We can refer to these guides as mystics, some of them as shamans, and others as wisdom keepers.
A shaman can be defined as an earth-centered community guide and healer who travels between worlds to gather and transmit information that helps individuals and the community.
In slowing down to honor and learn from these sacred guides, we’re also engaging with some of the descendants of those who survived plagues and atrocities that nearly wiped out their ancestors… as they carry forward precious cultural and spiritual knowledge from time immemorial.
Shamanic and mystical practices that help you remember your integral place in the world can now become part of your everyday experience.
In the midst of the upheaval of our current times, earth-based wisdom remains a lighthouse in the storm… shining the light of perennial wisdom and connecting you to the unbreakable spirit that unites us all.
That’s why I’m deeply honored to tell you about the Shamanism Summit — a free online event taking place July 7-10.
Free Online Event
The Shamanism Summit
July 7-10, 2020
This powerful and timely convergence of 28 esteemed shamanic teachers and healers will include Grandmother Flordemayo, Fredy Quispe Singona, Thomas Huebl, Sandra Ingerman, Lyla June Johnston, Tanaya Winder, Mandaza Kandemwa, Alberto Villoldo, Yeye Luisah Teish, and many others.
The esteemed spiritual guides who are speaking in this gathering represent many diverse traditions that can help you locate the spirit allies and the resources you need to create healing and regeneration at all levels of your life, and in your community.
The simple techniques you’ll receive can also help your nervous system integrate and digest the sheer enormity of the global change that’s happening — enabling you to face the future with more groundedness, calm, and readiness.
RSVP here for the Shamanism Summit — at no charge: HERE
During this heart-opening and expansive voyage, you’ll discover:
An understanding of these times as fulfillment of prophecy
Access to regenerative powers far beyond your own, and how to source those powers safely and ethically
Effective ancestral practices and ways to embody steady, grounded service through the demands of the times
How to craft direct, personal experiences of revelation — like home pilgrimages, ceremonies, and retreats — to bring healing and peace
Timeless techniques for staying centered during times of intense change
The deeper realities of your own strengths you didn’t know you had
Three key principles of being a cultural mystic that will help you cultivate wholeness, self-compassion, and access to deepening relational intimacy
The bridge to accept your own divine animal and release its great powers of love, energy, and intuition
How to use this time as a period of sacred seclusion to create ceremonies of spiritual discipline
Methods to connect with the faces of the Divine that call to our sacred hearts, guided by ancient goddess and gods
The power of owning your impact on the earth as a sacred responsibility
How to connect to the lineage of your ancestors, and how this will inform your future
I hope you’ll join this special event to receive deep insights, rituals, and guidance for sacred living from some of the world’s most revered shamans and teachers of this ancient path.
Register for the Shamanism Summit now — and discover practices from diverse shamanic wisdom streams that can direct you to the next step on your spiritual journey.
Shamanism Summit — at no charge: HERE — at no charge: RSVP here for the
Here’s some more of what the esteemed speakers will be sharing during The Shamanism Summit…
Grandmother Flordemayo will share about the daily spiritual practice of prayer, and how it enables continued and exponential growth of both body and soul… helping you create internal and external harmony with all creation.
Thomas Huebl expounds on the healing alchemy of shamanism and the mystical traditions that can bring us into greater harmony, coherence and alignment with our soul’s purpose.
Fredy Quispe Singona (Puma) will explore the new era of the Teriti Pacha, which humanity is currently entering, and discuss love, leadership, and healing from the Andean perspective.
Yeye Luisah Teish will show you how to embrace and metabolize heartbreak by drawing on the power of the Orishas… so you can become more powerful and present.
Hear from dream warriors Lyla June Johnston and Tanaya Winder about how they developed a deeper connection to their own cultural roots and heritage.
With Sandra Ingerman, you’ll explore how shamanic cultures have been trying to prepare us for centuries for times just like this… and how to heal fearful or toxic thoughts that can arise while living through this time of uncertainty and change.
Alberto Villoldo will demonstrate how to summon luminous beings — a lineage of medicine men and women who work from the invisible world — and become a part of their lineage of Earthkeepers.
Mandaza Kandemwa will elucidate the qualities of good leadership — as considered by God, spirits, and the ancestors — that can bring us into unity and help our natural resources flourish.
And much more…
RSVP here for the Shamanism Summit — at no charge: HERE


wakingtimes--2020-07-03--The Fear Box and the Present Moment

The Fear Box and the Present Moment

The Fear Box and the Present Moment In the video below , Melissa Dykes of Truthstream Media explains her thoughts @ @ @ @ @ how the media is causing fear about a future that doesn ’ t even exist @ @ @ @ @ future looks very uncertain , but watching this video from the comfort of your home @ @ @ @ @ not in immediate danger worthy of constant fear .
Fear is keeping us in a @ @ @ @ @ Dykes are the founders of TruthstreamMedia.com , Subscribe to them on YouTube , like on @ @ @ @ @ , support on Patreon .
Watch their mini-documentary Obsolete here and their full-length documentary THE @ @ @ @ @

The Fear Box and the Present Moment
Truthstream Media, Guest
Waking Times
In the video below, Melissa Dykes of Truthstream Media explains her thoughts about the current crisis and how the media is causing fear about a future that doesn’t even exist yet. Yes, the future looks very uncertain, but watching this video from the comfort of your home indicates that you’re not in immediate danger worthy of constant fear. Fear is keeping us in a box.
About the Filmmakers
Aaron & Melissa Dykes are the founders of TruthstreamMedia.com, Subscribe to them on YouTube, like on Facebook, follow on Twitter, support on Patreon. Watch their mini-documentary Obsolete here and their full-length documentary THE MINDS OF MEN here.