Welcome, and namaste.
I presume you have been led here because you have a deep desire to raise your plow, although you may not know exactly what that means. Well, rest assured, you have come to the right place, and I am glad you are here. There are many layers of meaning in the expression "raise plow," from the profane to the esoteric. I will reveal only a portion of the wisdom contained within that mantra here, and it will be up to you to embark on your very own epic journey to discover for yourself what remains of the truth. Be warned, once you take the red pill, there is no turning back.
So why have I titled this blog, "Raising Plow?" Well, it all started in Dental School, when my roomates and I went to the mall and borrowed a sign. Here in Buffalo, it snows a fair amount in the winter, and there are signs around with instructions to plow operators. We were fond of making up euphemisms back then--still are--so as we pulled into an empty parking spot, and gazed upon the sign hanging boldly the concrete wall in front of us, we began to formulate an idea. What if we used the expression "raise plow" to indicate one's level of inibriation? How hilarious that would be!! Back then we were fond of drinking alcohol to dull the pain of the educational process. And so it went. We confiscated the sign, which was clearly ours to begin with, and went on about our business on that lovely, bitterly crisp, snow-filled Saturday, watching college football at Pizzeria Uno's, raising our plows.
Since that red-letter date in history almost 20 years ago, not much has changed, at least with respect to the expression, "raising plow." Even after 1992 release of the album "Raise the Plow" by Railroad Jerk, the expression remained cloaked in relative obscurity. When the Simpsons episode "Mr. Plow" aired, we laughed our asses off, but still nobody seemed to grasp the true meaning and profundity of this extraordinary phrase. Signs still abound in snowy parts of the country, and every time a vehicle passes by me with its plow raised, I tip my metaphorical hat to its driver.
But what is the actual meaning of raising plow? I've struggled with this question for many years, searching to the ends of the earth for an answer. Well, that may be a bit of hyperbole. I do still have the sign in my garage, so every once in a while I think about it, and it makes me smile. Which is what brought me to this blog. As I searched my mind for possible names, it seemed that there was a blog named practically everything. I tried nonsensical names, common names, and muddled up expressions or backwards speak. Everything seemed to be already taken. Then, in the bitter silence of my desperate solitude, the sign began to sing..."Mr Plow is a loser, and I think he is a boozer..." from my garage. I was pessimistic at first. Surely somebody had already thought of this name. As I typed the keys on my laptop, beads of sweat dripping from my brow to the tip of my nose as my anxiety intensified with each stroke of the keyboard. And then it happened. Success!! It was available!!
So that brings me to now. What does it all mean? Well, I've pondered this question deep, and good. What I have come up with is this: the purpose of a plow is to move snow off the path so that travelers can reach their destinations, despite bad weather (the storm). Without a reliable plow man, we are essentially "snowed in." If there is a shortage of plows, many people remain stranded. When people rely on others to plow the snow out of their way, they become dependent. When you decide to become a plow man, and call Komatsu Motors (or its equivalent on the etheral plane) to rent you very own plow, you become self-sufficient! However, there are dangers on the road for a plow man. There are bumps in the road which can wreak havoc with your plow, which is the only instrument you have for moving the snow out of the way. There are mailboxes, and animals, and most of the time the road is not clear. Sometimes you will plow into a field, and maybe even a ditch. You must keep your plow lowered in order to move the snow, but when you know the road ahead is treacherous, you must raise your plow.
It is now up to you to decide what the plow represents to you. Is it literally a device that moves snow off the road? Perhaps it is logic? Or maybe consciousness? Magic? Whatever you decide, I look forward to being a part of this journey with you. For I am a plow man, and I am eager to help you find your plow...and raise it.
Peace.
Saturday, July 20, 2013
The Controllers...
I'm reading a book by Paul Coelho called Manuscript Found in Accra, and the chapter on anxiety has me thinking about our situation as humans on this crazy planet, and as citizens of this psychopathic country of La Merika.
It seems to me, from my diminutive perspective, that most of the population is being led by a small group of individuals who have devised, or exploited, a method to control large numbers of individuals, and in this way they have controlled the collective human consciousness on this planet. With 7 billion humans roaming the Earth, most of whom are not aware of themselves as individual spiritual entities with direct access to the divine, control of the minds of most of these individuals gives the controllers extraordinary, some may say supernatural, influence over events on this planet, and over the environment in which we live.
How do they do this? How could they possibly do this? How can a small group of men CONTROL THE MINDS of billions of people? Well, it's quite simple, actually. They can't. The only person who has the authority to CONTROL your mind is YOU. Period. This is natural law, and it is unbreakable. It's not that if the law is broken, then the offender must be punished, it's that the LAW is UNBREAKABLE. It is true no matter what we do. However, there are loopholes in this law. A major loophole is that you, having complete and sovereign authority over your own mind, have the free will to give that authority to another if you wish. The mind is a great and powerful gift, but so is your free will. Remember how vampires can't enter your house without an invitation? This is the origin of that tale. No one can take control of your mind without your permission.
The controllers are very clever, though, and they have learned the way the mind works. They have worked very hard over the centuries to occult this information, and to demonize those of us who seek to understand it for ourselves. I invite you to think about the following hypothesis, and ask yourself honestly if it makes sense in your life.
From Coelho: "Anxiety was born in the very same moment as mankind. And since we will never be able to master it, we will have to learn to live with it--just as we have learned to live with storms."
Does any part of you feel a spark of rebellion when you read that? Something inside you that says, "to hell with that, I'll find a way to CONTROL the storms so my loved ones and I no longer have to fear them!" This is where the pathology begins. A controller-sponsored television PROGRAM might hone in on that spark, and speak directly to it. You WANT the control, because it means safety. You FEAR the storm. Since you don't realize that your thoughts influence your reality, as well as the reality of those around you, and to a lesser degree, everything else in the Universe, you SEEK a savior to protect you from the storm. You are presented with a savior figure, which can take many forms, and you BELIEVE that the savior will protect you. You freely GIVE UP your sovereignty and your own free will, and submit to the thoughts and will being conveyed to you by the makers of the PROGRAM. Finally, you ADOPT those thoughts, beliefs, and soundbytes as your own, and you become an ambassador for the controllers. You have invited the vampire into your house, and you have been bitten. God begins to fade.
The controllers have honed their craft and purified their bloodlines over many centuries, distilling, purifying, and amplifying the desire to control with each successive generation. You have within you all that you need, and indeed all that ever can exist, to protect you from the storm. You have within you direct access to the divine realm, if you will just slow down, breathe, be quiet, and listen for a moment. The world has become a very noisy place, and the voice of God is but a whisper.
For the time being, the controllers appear to have the upper hand. Most of humanity has not yet awakened, and many ask what can possibly be done. Change in the world begins inside each one of us, and the condition of the world is the result of our collective thoughts and beliefs, leading to our words and our rhetoric, which finally leads us to our actions. We are the ones who take action. Often we justify our actions with the phrase, "I was just trying to do my job." This is an unfortunate and dangerous side-effect of the adoption of the redeemer complex. When you give up the responsibility for protection to something outside yourself, you also give up accountability for your actions. God disappears.
But no matter what you decide, rest assured that the storm will indeed come, and in the end, you will have to face it alone.
It seems to me, from my diminutive perspective, that most of the population is being led by a small group of individuals who have devised, or exploited, a method to control large numbers of individuals, and in this way they have controlled the collective human consciousness on this planet. With 7 billion humans roaming the Earth, most of whom are not aware of themselves as individual spiritual entities with direct access to the divine, control of the minds of most of these individuals gives the controllers extraordinary, some may say supernatural, influence over events on this planet, and over the environment in which we live.
How do they do this? How could they possibly do this? How can a small group of men CONTROL THE MINDS of billions of people? Well, it's quite simple, actually. They can't. The only person who has the authority to CONTROL your mind is YOU. Period. This is natural law, and it is unbreakable. It's not that if the law is broken, then the offender must be punished, it's that the LAW is UNBREAKABLE. It is true no matter what we do. However, there are loopholes in this law. A major loophole is that you, having complete and sovereign authority over your own mind, have the free will to give that authority to another if you wish. The mind is a great and powerful gift, but so is your free will. Remember how vampires can't enter your house without an invitation? This is the origin of that tale. No one can take control of your mind without your permission.
The controllers are very clever, though, and they have learned the way the mind works. They have worked very hard over the centuries to occult this information, and to demonize those of us who seek to understand it for ourselves. I invite you to think about the following hypothesis, and ask yourself honestly if it makes sense in your life.
From Coelho: "Anxiety was born in the very same moment as mankind. And since we will never be able to master it, we will have to learn to live with it--just as we have learned to live with storms."
Does any part of you feel a spark of rebellion when you read that? Something inside you that says, "to hell with that, I'll find a way to CONTROL the storms so my loved ones and I no longer have to fear them!" This is where the pathology begins. A controller-sponsored television PROGRAM might hone in on that spark, and speak directly to it. You WANT the control, because it means safety. You FEAR the storm. Since you don't realize that your thoughts influence your reality, as well as the reality of those around you, and to a lesser degree, everything else in the Universe, you SEEK a savior to protect you from the storm. You are presented with a savior figure, which can take many forms, and you BELIEVE that the savior will protect you. You freely GIVE UP your sovereignty and your own free will, and submit to the thoughts and will being conveyed to you by the makers of the PROGRAM. Finally, you ADOPT those thoughts, beliefs, and soundbytes as your own, and you become an ambassador for the controllers. You have invited the vampire into your house, and you have been bitten. God begins to fade.
The controllers have honed their craft and purified their bloodlines over many centuries, distilling, purifying, and amplifying the desire to control with each successive generation. You have within you all that you need, and indeed all that ever can exist, to protect you from the storm. You have within you direct access to the divine realm, if you will just slow down, breathe, be quiet, and listen for a moment. The world has become a very noisy place, and the voice of God is but a whisper.
For the time being, the controllers appear to have the upper hand. Most of humanity has not yet awakened, and many ask what can possibly be done. Change in the world begins inside each one of us, and the condition of the world is the result of our collective thoughts and beliefs, leading to our words and our rhetoric, which finally leads us to our actions. We are the ones who take action. Often we justify our actions with the phrase, "I was just trying to do my job." This is an unfortunate and dangerous side-effect of the adoption of the redeemer complex. When you give up the responsibility for protection to something outside yourself, you also give up accountability for your actions. God disappears.
But no matter what you decide, rest assured that the storm will indeed come, and in the end, you will have to face it alone.
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Right Thought
Thinking about "right thinking" today. Someone recently asked me, during a group conversation about all the things that are wrong in the world, "well, what are YOU going to do about it?" The question was delivered in a bit of an angry tone, and I felt myself bristle immediately as I tried to muster up an answer. I thought about it, and I really didn't have a good answer. The truth is, I don't know enough about what is really happening in the world to even venture a guess about what can be done to change it. The answer I gave was that all I feel competent to do at this stage in my life is to learn more about the truth--the objective reality that exists beyond my twisted perception--and connect with others who are interested in doing the same. Of course this was not satisfactory, but as far as I was concerned, there was a bigger question here, one which I don't think my assailant was interested in considering. The question is "what can I do?"
So let's start there. What can I do? Well, I am reasonably certain and confident that I have the ability to change my own perceptions and behavior. I can begin to understand more deeply what I believe and why I believe it. I can begin to take an honest look at how I act toward others, and I can try to uncover what it is that causes me to act that way. I can begin to listen more closely to the words that come out of my mouth, trying to perceive the inflection with which these utterances are delivered, and perhaps decide whether or not I wish to continue speaking in this manner. Lastly, I can step back for a moment, and take a candid look at the things I do.
So the answer to the question, "what are YOU going to do about it??" ["it" being the world, an injustice, or anything external to the self] is nothing, but not in the way a pessimist would dismiss the value of right action on the basis of perceived futility. No, the truth, at least as I currently understand it, is that there is nothing I can do which will directly and effectively change some condition which is external to me, because there are billions upon billions of additional influential factors simultaneously acting upon that very same condition. That condition may change, but if the condition involves conscious volition, it will change only when IT decides to. My actions and my words may influence it, but they do not change it. Even in the most extreme case of coercion, a choice is made between resistance and avoidance of suffering and/or death. Such it is with consciousness and free will.
However, I can indeed change my own patterns; I can change my beliefs, my words, and my actions. I can "be the change." I can turn my gaze inward to discover what within me finds a particular condition offensive, deplorable, or otherwise unacceptable. Perhaps when I meet the shadow within myself who is responsible for this negative emotional response, I will realize it is this to which I object, and the external condition will no longer be unacceptable to me. Perhaps when I discover the truth, I will still dislike the situation, but I will realize that nothing can be done to change it. And maybe I'll find out that the situation is indeed deplorable, and needs to be changed. Only after I have cleaned my own house, however, am I prepared to start out on that path.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)