I read two things this morning. A newsletter from Oliver Burkeman and this article from Soul Boom. Both of them spoke of the value of naïveté. And I think they both imply that naïveté is sometimes a component of hope, or maybe a component of good faith, or a lens through which to see a positive possibility for the future. I’m simultaneously compelled and repulsed by the idea of a need to be naive. And yet - in my naive youth, I certainly pursued things in complete naïveté that ultimately led to some of the best parts of my life today.
The American Dream is a delicate one. Democracy requires a huge amount of attention. And the most massive bulwark in the way of keeping the dream alive is that Homo sapiens have a very hard time remembering what we set out to do. Watch Daniel Day Lewis as Lincoln again and REMEMBER just how difficult keeping the Dream alive actually is. AND, now, in 2024 Homo sapiens seriously entered the 6th Extinction with 1.5 Temperature globally. SO, no matter what sort of used-car-sales-types have won the political bruhaha, Mother Nature is boss. She brought us in and she’s gonna take us our FOR SURE. So, the first big question is: What will Prez47 do when the 2025 Hurricane season jump-starts next month.
A few decades ago, I learned from two Latter Day Saints missionaries that their church’s doctrine teaches that the biblical ‘lake of fire’ meant for the ‘wicked’ actually represents an eternal spiritual burning of guilt over one’s corporeal misdeeds. Bemused, I said: “That’s it? An afterlife guilty conscience?”
During the many years since then, however, I’ve discovered just how formidable ‘burning guilt’ can be. I’ve also considered and decided that our brain's structural/chemical flaws are what we basically are while our soul is confined within our physical, bodily form. The human soul may be inherently good, on its own; but trapped within the physical body, notably the corruptible brain, oftentimes the soul’s purity may not be able to shine through.
To be clear, the more dysfunctional or physiologically flawed the brain that the soul happens to be born thus confined with (call it the luck of the draw), the worse the corporeal behavior. Once again, the soul's purity remains the same. The soul is the same before and after the corporeal existence; its purity would not diminish, regardless of what the brain has us do.
Therefore, upon the physical death of a ‘wicked’ person (Hitler being a good example), not only would he be 100 percent liberated from the monstrous thoughts and emotions that blighted his physical life and essentially resulted in his atrocious actions — his soul or post-death consciousness would also exist with an unwanted awareness of the immense amount of needless suffering he had deliberately caused. He may then be left wondering, ‘Why was I so angry, so much of the time? Oh, the horrible things I did!'
Then again, maybe the human soul goes where it belongs or where it feels comfortable and right — be it ‘hell’, ‘heaven’, somewhere in between. This concept was suggested in a very interesting 1987 radio-broadcast sermon titled “A Bird’s Eye View of Hell”, given by a renowned preacher. I wrote a piece of fiction titled Not What It Was Supposed to Be [originally called That Other Place] that's largely themed on this premise.
“When we tap our collective wisdom—not to be confused with the passions of the mob—we gain access to a kind of superintelligence that far surpasses the insights of any one person.”
This so resonates. I think it’s kind of what we’re doing here—on this platform and published writing in general, the ongoing conversation that it is and the way writing to and creating for and learning from and engaging with each other helps us weave “disparate” ideas and evolve and open and tap into collective wisdom.
Love this... You may find it interesting that the world's largest study on happiness (eg flourishing) was published this year: the GFS. They found religious (spiritual) community participant one of the few clear indicators of improved wellbeing. Their lead researcher Tyler V has written about the cardinal virtues as well which may be a good start point for this framework! https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/human-flourishing/202108/character-and-human-flourishing
I agree with your premise that “we” (meaning Americans) have completely lost our way… and we have very little common ground these days. In my very humble opinion, it is no coincidence that this loss of shared vision for our country has occurred as churches everywhere are shutting their doors for lack of attendance. The only church that seems to be doing well is the Evangelical church - and what do they do?? Pretend that they have all the answers. People are seeking answers, they are seeking something they can get behind and believe in. Spirituality in all of its resplendent forms is what is lacking - a TRUE focus on the INTANGIBLES rather than on materialistic gain. People as a whole must WAKE UP (yes, I said it) and admit that the things that are most important in life are friends, family, beauty, love, faith, hope, and joy. It’s what is INSIDE that matters… and we all know it deep down.
Justice is so pronged. The murderer gets the death sentence. The people live in fear of murderers lurking about and have to live our lives carrying the proverbial stick. Did we get justice? What factors lead him to being a murderer? Trauma? Lack of resources? Did he get justice or punishment? What if executions could be pay per view and the money raised could pay victims’ restitution, pay for mental health care, and pay to house the homeless? Would the same people for more mental health care resources be opposed to this method of generating revenue? Eugenics, now thats a dirty word. God forbid we revisit that. Could there possibly be anything good about eugenics? Is it just to allow people who have no capacity to raise children or understand reproduction to procreate children and bring people into this world with no capacity for self reliance? In a time when the medical system wont allow people to die who have no capacity to naturally sustain life, is there justice in sterilization? After many years of teaching special education and maintaining years of relationships with parents of special needs kids, Im watching the parents age and wonder who could possibly raise their kids.
Thank you for naming something that deserves more honest reflection. These are uncomfortable, emotionally loaded questions—and just looking around we see how much so many of us are wrestling with them. It’s easy to feel the weight of the contradictions in our systems: the gaps in support, the heartbreak of caregiving, the fear of what’s to come when structures fail.
We don’t pretend to have all the answers. But we do believe this: enduring solutions won’t come from top-down fixes or reviving old ideologies that once caused harm. They’ll come from reimagining systems that center dignity—for everyone. That means caregivers deserve real support. People with special needs deserve to thrive. And every human soul, no matter their capacity, carries infinite worth.
Our hope is that we can name what’s broken (as you have done so eloquently), feel the grief of it, and still choose to build something better—together, and with compassion.
We can say the soul has infinite value. We cannot say the body has infinite value. In fact, if we can speak of a soul, we can speak of good evil. All souls are from the divine source. However, the body is corruptible. Some bodies are actually portals of evil. The miswired brain that causes psychopathy, pedophilia, and schizophrenia allows, death, murder, and destruction. A soul disconnected from its spiritual source controlled by a corrupt body, I would argue is not a soul with infinite value in this physical realm. In fact, evil perpetuates more evil, contaminating the soul. Do we all have an inherent worth? Sure. I would suggest the majority of human beings born could be loved into decency, granted availability of resources. However, anthropologists and sociologists have observed in a variety of populations that scarcity develops opportunism in the personality and brain. Opportunism is correlated with psychopathy. To suggest scarcity should never exist is to acknowledge Marxism as an economic structure. As we’ve seen in communist and marxist societies, equality is not self regulating. There are always those who work smarter, harder and find a possibilities to take advantage of others. There are an infinite number of ways that the body corrupts the soul. I argue that even if you attempted to create an egalitarian peaceful society predicated on the inherent worth of each individual and kindness that the body is corrupt. The brain is corrupt and evil exists. These corruptions of the body in the mind are portals for evil.
First, let me say that I carefully read your threats to humanity, and I believe that what underlies all of them is the lack of respect for each other, for all life forms that share this planet, and for the planet itself. Therefore, I believe that our Polaris, our North Star, is RESPECT for all of these entities. That said, the shared principles might be: first, listening to each other with the primary goal of understanding; second, allowing each other to be just who we and they are, without judgment, with the primary goal of acceptance; and third, developing a keen awareness of how our actions affect other living beings, without thinking of ourselves first, and with the primary goal of selflessness.
I read two things this morning. A newsletter from Oliver Burkeman and this article from Soul Boom. Both of them spoke of the value of naïveté. And I think they both imply that naïveté is sometimes a component of hope, or maybe a component of good faith, or a lens through which to see a positive possibility for the future. I’m simultaneously compelled and repulsed by the idea of a need to be naive. And yet - in my naive youth, I certainly pursued things in complete naïveté that ultimately led to some of the best parts of my life today.
HURRICANE SEASON 2025
The American Dream is a delicate one. Democracy requires a huge amount of attention. And the most massive bulwark in the way of keeping the dream alive is that Homo sapiens have a very hard time remembering what we set out to do. Watch Daniel Day Lewis as Lincoln again and REMEMBER just how difficult keeping the Dream alive actually is. AND, now, in 2024 Homo sapiens seriously entered the 6th Extinction with 1.5 Temperature globally. SO, no matter what sort of used-car-sales-types have won the political bruhaha, Mother Nature is boss. She brought us in and she’s gonna take us our FOR SURE. So, the first big question is: What will Prez47 do when the 2025 Hurricane season jump-starts next month.
A few decades ago, I learned from two Latter Day Saints missionaries that their church’s doctrine teaches that the biblical ‘lake of fire’ meant for the ‘wicked’ actually represents an eternal spiritual burning of guilt over one’s corporeal misdeeds. Bemused, I said: “That’s it? An afterlife guilty conscience?”
During the many years since then, however, I’ve discovered just how formidable ‘burning guilt’ can be. I’ve also considered and decided that our brain's structural/chemical flaws are what we basically are while our soul is confined within our physical, bodily form. The human soul may be inherently good, on its own; but trapped within the physical body, notably the corruptible brain, oftentimes the soul’s purity may not be able to shine through.
To be clear, the more dysfunctional or physiologically flawed the brain that the soul happens to be born thus confined with (call it the luck of the draw), the worse the corporeal behavior. Once again, the soul's purity remains the same. The soul is the same before and after the corporeal existence; its purity would not diminish, regardless of what the brain has us do.
Therefore, upon the physical death of a ‘wicked’ person (Hitler being a good example), not only would he be 100 percent liberated from the monstrous thoughts and emotions that blighted his physical life and essentially resulted in his atrocious actions — his soul or post-death consciousness would also exist with an unwanted awareness of the immense amount of needless suffering he had deliberately caused. He may then be left wondering, ‘Why was I so angry, so much of the time? Oh, the horrible things I did!'
Then again, maybe the human soul goes where it belongs or where it feels comfortable and right — be it ‘hell’, ‘heaven’, somewhere in between. This concept was suggested in a very interesting 1987 radio-broadcast sermon titled “A Bird’s Eye View of Hell”, given by a renowned preacher. I wrote a piece of fiction titled Not What It Was Supposed to Be [originally called That Other Place] that's largely themed on this premise.
Naivete is the new punk rock, thank God. And my favorite band is The Clash, so I'm in!
Perfect! 💥
“When we tap our collective wisdom—not to be confused with the passions of the mob—we gain access to a kind of superintelligence that far surpasses the insights of any one person.”
This so resonates. I think it’s kind of what we’re doing here—on this platform and published writing in general, the ongoing conversation that it is and the way writing to and creating for and learning from and engaging with each other helps us weave “disparate” ideas and evolve and open and tap into collective wisdom.
To giving voice to what we’re for. 🥂
Kindness. Compassion. Empathy. Respect. Not so hard, unless you disdain the above.
Love this... You may find it interesting that the world's largest study on happiness (eg flourishing) was published this year: the GFS. They found religious (spiritual) community participant one of the few clear indicators of improved wellbeing. Their lead researcher Tyler V has written about the cardinal virtues as well which may be a good start point for this framework! https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/human-flourishing/202108/character-and-human-flourishing
I agree with your premise that “we” (meaning Americans) have completely lost our way… and we have very little common ground these days. In my very humble opinion, it is no coincidence that this loss of shared vision for our country has occurred as churches everywhere are shutting their doors for lack of attendance. The only church that seems to be doing well is the Evangelical church - and what do they do?? Pretend that they have all the answers. People are seeking answers, they are seeking something they can get behind and believe in. Spirituality in all of its resplendent forms is what is lacking - a TRUE focus on the INTANGIBLES rather than on materialistic gain. People as a whole must WAKE UP (yes, I said it) and admit that the things that are most important in life are friends, family, beauty, love, faith, hope, and joy. It’s what is INSIDE that matters… and we all know it deep down.
Justice is so pronged. The murderer gets the death sentence. The people live in fear of murderers lurking about and have to live our lives carrying the proverbial stick. Did we get justice? What factors lead him to being a murderer? Trauma? Lack of resources? Did he get justice or punishment? What if executions could be pay per view and the money raised could pay victims’ restitution, pay for mental health care, and pay to house the homeless? Would the same people for more mental health care resources be opposed to this method of generating revenue? Eugenics, now thats a dirty word. God forbid we revisit that. Could there possibly be anything good about eugenics? Is it just to allow people who have no capacity to raise children or understand reproduction to procreate children and bring people into this world with no capacity for self reliance? In a time when the medical system wont allow people to die who have no capacity to naturally sustain life, is there justice in sterilization? After many years of teaching special education and maintaining years of relationships with parents of special needs kids, Im watching the parents age and wonder who could possibly raise their kids.
Thank you for naming something that deserves more honest reflection. These are uncomfortable, emotionally loaded questions—and just looking around we see how much so many of us are wrestling with them. It’s easy to feel the weight of the contradictions in our systems: the gaps in support, the heartbreak of caregiving, the fear of what’s to come when structures fail.
We don’t pretend to have all the answers. But we do believe this: enduring solutions won’t come from top-down fixes or reviving old ideologies that once caused harm. They’ll come from reimagining systems that center dignity—for everyone. That means caregivers deserve real support. People with special needs deserve to thrive. And every human soul, no matter their capacity, carries infinite worth.
Our hope is that we can name what’s broken (as you have done so eloquently), feel the grief of it, and still choose to build something better—together, and with compassion.
We can say the soul has infinite value. We cannot say the body has infinite value. In fact, if we can speak of a soul, we can speak of good evil. All souls are from the divine source. However, the body is corruptible. Some bodies are actually portals of evil. The miswired brain that causes psychopathy, pedophilia, and schizophrenia allows, death, murder, and destruction. A soul disconnected from its spiritual source controlled by a corrupt body, I would argue is not a soul with infinite value in this physical realm. In fact, evil perpetuates more evil, contaminating the soul. Do we all have an inherent worth? Sure. I would suggest the majority of human beings born could be loved into decency, granted availability of resources. However, anthropologists and sociologists have observed in a variety of populations that scarcity develops opportunism in the personality and brain. Opportunism is correlated with psychopathy. To suggest scarcity should never exist is to acknowledge Marxism as an economic structure. As we’ve seen in communist and marxist societies, equality is not self regulating. There are always those who work smarter, harder and find a possibilities to take advantage of others. There are an infinite number of ways that the body corrupts the soul. I argue that even if you attempted to create an egalitarian peaceful society predicated on the inherent worth of each individual and kindness that the body is corrupt. The brain is corrupt and evil exists. These corruptions of the body in the mind are portals for evil.
First, let me say that I carefully read your threats to humanity, and I believe that what underlies all of them is the lack of respect for each other, for all life forms that share this planet, and for the planet itself. Therefore, I believe that our Polaris, our North Star, is RESPECT for all of these entities. That said, the shared principles might be: first, listening to each other with the primary goal of understanding; second, allowing each other to be just who we and they are, without judgment, with the primary goal of acceptance; and third, developing a keen awareness of how our actions affect other living beings, without thinking of ourselves first, and with the primary goal of selflessness.