Much to be learned from Internet trolls, Psychopaths, and Haters

Social networks on the Internet give a perfect possibility to see all kinds of human behavior simultaneously at one glance without the need for immediate interaction. You always have the time to read a comment, reflect on it, and give an answer – or not – appropriate to the discussion. You don’t have to answer right away, and exactly this gives you the opportunity to learn and to grow as a person.

I think that when meeting people in person, we usually get overwhelmed just by someone’s appearance or facial expressions, which sometimes suffice to provoke an inappropriate reaction. I don’t want to say: Exchange your life for an online reality, I just say here is a great opportunity to learn how to distinguish a person’s motivation while engaging in carefree conversation.
Since the motivation is key in every dialogue, you should definitely figure out the agenda behind the argument. It is, in fact, much more important than the discussion itself.

Be it in a physical reality or on the Internet, there are always people who like to suck up all the energy in a conversation; their idea is not to bring in any plausible arguments, but to destroy everything which smells like harmony. Because in a real argument, you get to laugh every once in a while, and on occasions, we also admit to our own conflict of ideas – don’t we?

Trolling for fun and recreation

Well not everyone, there are many people who don’t really care about the subject of the conversation; they care about the object – which is you. They always attack you personally, telling you that you are stupid, uneducated, unqualified, inexperienced, naive or easily deceivable, unscientific, immature, superstitious.

As you can see the words are always personal, they never contain any real argumentation, and if they do, they are combined with words which have a negative connotation towards you or the subject you are ‘talking’ about.

Losing all of your energy

The problem with all sane people is that they completely overlook the initial motivation; they start justifying their stance, and even try to explain their argumentation in a million different ways in the hope to gain some sort of understanding of someone whose only ‘understanding’ is to empty your well of energy to the point of complete exhaustion. I’ve seen those people having entirely opposed opinions while arguing with different people. So what does this tell you?

Of course I believe that we grow and change throughout our lives, and that we learn to understand new perspectives – but not inside 20 minutes while having an angry conversation.

You might say; it’s subconsciously intentional. They are mostly not really aware of what they are doing, to say it mildly: they just are extremely opportunistic. They go after it, and try to make the best mess out of it they possibly can. And the higher the tensions the better. They always look satisfied when things get out of control.

I’ve seen them putting this sarcastic little smile on their face when they feel they got to the point where the argument is brought down to a senseless war of personal accusations. The funny thing is – or not – that they seem quite satisfied after such a ‘debate’ – but you are not.

Close the treasury and observe

I wouldn’t be able to write about this if I hadn’t experienced it myself many times, falling into this trap persistently. But at one point, I decided to consciously change my role in these discussions. Instead of doing the same mistake all over again, I now try to stay as an observer, because this is what I can choose to be. I finally understand that they are not after me, but after my energy, and that “I” as a person am completely irrelevant to them.

In fact, you can test this for yourself. The next time when you sense that there might be such a conversation ‘coming up’. Try not to take any leading role, nor to explain any of your opinions. Just state them and let them speak for themselves. If somebody attacks you, let them, as if it had nothing to do with ‘yourself’ – because it doesn’t. What you will see is that they drop off quickly due to the lack of resistance.

Usually, they try to provoke with one or two more personal remarks directed against you, and if that doesn’t work, they choose another victim, or they abandon the whole situation all together.

However, the most important thing is: they leave in their own anger and frustration, with no energy harvested – and this is how it should be. You do much more for these people by doing nothing – than to prolong their suffering and inability to face their dysfunction by letting them feed on your energy.

The typical troll

Most easily they are recognized on the Internet; usually writing hateful, disconnected comments below personal posts of people who have certain interests in, be it alternative medicine, healthy living, spirituality, or any other kind of progressive areas which largely deviate from standard viewpoints.

They especially like to attack these topics, because they give them a perfect ground for ridicule and sarcasm (although some trolls are paid by various industries to promote their agendas intentionally – but this is another story).

A post on social media is a personal thing, because you share something you like or don’t like with your ‘friends’ or ‘circles’. So if your post reflects just that, I can choose to like it or not by sharing or disregarding it. But why should I write hateful and disrespectful comments below something that you like? It makes no sense. Perhaps there are inappropriate posts sometimes, but they don’t get commented by those people.

Internet trolling to me is nothing else but being a jerk on the local market square. It is the same personality, the same profile – watch out for them.

They test you

Different sources show that around 5% of a population fall under the category sociopath/psychopath – never underestimate the impact of those people, especially not when they occupy leading positions in our society. I look at them as some sort of human indicators for people who want to test the sincerity of their own personal growth.

As long as they freak you out, you know that you still got to work on your perception. I think they exist to show us all of our weaknesses which we usually don’t see when we around like-minded people. When you stop taking their remarks personally, then you can focus on the inside and see what it is that upsets you. Perhaps there is something within you which needs to be recognized, something, which needs your attention.

Why they don’t like you

They don’t hate you; they hate what you stand for: tolerance, softness, kindness, progressiveness, open-mindedness, and many other qualities they don’t have. On a subconscious level, they try to get this from you, because they know that it’s right, but they don’t know how to assimilate it. You can grow and become even kinder and stronger, or you can fall down on their level where they will eventually beat you. Their goal is to show you that you are not better than they are.

One thing is clear – if you want to be able to handle these challenges you need to grow stronger. The Internet is a great possibility for that; I’d call it a flight simulator. You can experiment without needing to fear any serious repercussions – although you shouldn’t overdo it! The aim should be a spontaneous recognition of what it is – a test – an instant awareness that this is happening – again – for just one reason: to make you grow STRONGER.

The real haters

However, this article would be incomplete if I didn’t mention those who really hate what you are posting on the Internet. Especially if your posts are related to uncovering any kind of industry or government fallacies and failures. They see it as a personal offense when you speak out against stat-ism, military interventions, foreign policies, economic structures, food production, and food labeling, dogmatism, or big business’ ‘science’ research.

For them it is impossible to deal with the fact that their government or any other structure they trust in, could exploit them for their profits. It’s just unimaginable to them, and so they discard it all together. An indicator is, that they never allow any of this to be true, simply because it would open up the possibility for a complete breakdown of their belief system.

I think they sense that, and this is the reason why they believe absolutely everything which comes from top to bottom – this is what they were taught to understand: information cannot travel from bottom to top, because it would destroy their whole world view instantaneously. To me, it feels as if they had a filter system in their minds, which blocks everything which might attack the system as a whole.

I don’t think that these people are psychopaths like the ones I mentioned earlier. This is why I would like to distinguish between those two situations. The people in this case don’t necessarily detest you personally; they just dislike the content you are posting.

What they don’t understand – doesn’t exist

I think their aggressiveness comes from their inability and stubbornness to understand that ‘up there’ are not only individuals who selflessly work for the common good of people – although many of course are – but deceit and deception like in the worst superstitions.

Their main anchor is science and all its derivatives; it is the holy grail of all knowledge and anyone who questions it is a heretic and should burn in hell. Why? Because you are asking stupid, unnecessary questions for which you have no authority to speak about.

I don’t know why they continuously neglect the fact, that there are uncountable instances of ‘unscientific’ approaches who have let to great discoveries. Who knows what Tesla would have to go through if he lived today?! I’ve read that he said that the induction motor ‘appeared’ – vision like – in front of him while he was reading Goethe’s ‘Faust’. Well…I don’t know what he was smoking that day, but ‘appeared’….hmm.

Thought criminals vs. status quo

But this is how it goes: if I give one example that proves that things aren’t always ‘sterile scientific’, then they must be the opposite – or mumbo-jumbo as Richard Dawkins says it. Of course things should be tested in our reality – since after all – the induction motor is a real thing – but the way to get there should have no ‘thought criminal-like’ restrictions.

Why shouldn’t people test alternative ways of governance, of healing, of food production, of thinking and experiencing, of socializing, of education, of co-existence – why is this so dangerous, crazy, superstitious, new age-y? And why should it be dangerous?

It’s an age-long fight; current systems don’t like to open up to new findings; they discredit them to keep the status quo. Why is it that people always feel so cutting edge themselves when they look at new technology?

All of this that we see today will be old junk in a decade or two from now. I mean everything: your clothes, your car with its latest equipment, your phone, and all the other stuff. It will be outdated, and you will look at it like on some ancient technology or trend – and you’ll probably laugh at it (if you are not a collector of antiquities).

Or look at all the belief systems people have had throughout the centuries: political systems, economic systems, and educational systems – it’s just a system which will eventually change and rest in some history book as a ‘nice try’, an evolutionary step. Why is it so hard to see that all of this that you believe in will be gone one day – I mean all of it?

We cling to our beliefs as if they were permanent, although history shows – even the very recent one (look at your mobile phone from the 90's) – that things continuously change without us being aware of it at all. I mean – why all this fear after all – because something might change? It will – regardless.

The fear of loss that creates the hate

As I understand it, there is an underlying fear of not being loved by anyone. And now it seems that even your government doesn’t love you, that your church doesn’t love you, that ….they lie to you? Is that possible? Yes, it is. There are actual people behind these institutions – and people make mistakes because some of them have very bad qualities like greed and narcissism, and tons of other human frustrations just like you do.

So the idea of any perfect structure is illusionary because they are run by people with millions of different individual interests. And combining different interests means compromising the interests of other people – so it can’t be perfect by definition. Consensus is possible in a society where no one wants anything, in particular, for oneself but wants something which includes everyone – like nature does.

However, nature is not a concept but a living thing which changes its appearance but never its functioning.

So to understand that we are part of this is key to anything we do, because we cannot change our inherent natural system, we can only change our appearance. When we understand this then appearances lose their seriousness, and we are finally able to enjoy this play of an ever-changing game of forms that come and go without mistaking them for being something permanent. They are not.

Who would have thought we’ll end up down here speaking about all this stuff – I didn’t. And this spontaneous surprise factor is what creation is all about. It is a play which reinvents itself continuously – just for the sake of playing.

There was one post recently which I liked very much; there was an image of a smiling child and below it said: Be happy like a child – for no reason.

Top 10 Spiritual Truths We Weren’t Taught in School

  What would our world be like today of these top 10 spiritual truths were taught in our schools, in the mainstream media, and in our history books? How can we change the system to introduce these topics to our future generations? What will the world be like after successfully recognizing these spiritual truths?

1. We are spiritual beings on a human journey. Before we came down into this physical body, we planned out the point in time that we would begin to awaken to who and what we are. The womb of our mother was the tunnel of forgetting, and we knew the challenge of remembering would be tough. The biggest risk we took was never remembering. We were never disconnected from our source of light, however the connection was stretched very long and thin to reach this part of the universe in density. Our challenge is to strengthen this connection and to grow our pillar of light in remembrance and recognition of who we truly are.

2. Our souls never die, we just change our focus. As a spark of light from Source, we are infinitely connected to the flow of experience. When it is time to disconnect the cord of life from our physical body, our spark rises up and out of the human physical body. We take the experience of our lifetime with us, but our focus is changed to a slightly different level of vibration. We still exist as the person we were in human form as well as the many people we have been before. Every lifetime builds experience and wisdom.

3. Everything is energy vibrating at a certain frequency. All living things on earth have consciousness, even rocks and trees. Every-thing and every-one is connected to a “tree of life” or an infinite energy source. We can connect to the consciousness of trees and rocks and can carry on conversations with them by tuning in to their particular vibrational frequency. Our bodies are 90% water and can be programmed and molded to a certain vibrational frequency via thoughts, sound, color, and love. When we understand vibration, we can understand how alternative and holistic treatments can cure any disease or ailment in the body by changing the water vibration.

4. Our thoughts create our reality. All thoughts are energy which manifest into what we see as reality. Always being aware of your thoughts is one of the first steps in responsible co-creation of your reality. It is a simple concept but takes awareness and work. If every person on earth changed their thoughts towards peace and freedom there would be no war or tyranny. Focusing on negative thoughts will create a lower vibrational frequency and focusing on positive thoughts can raise the vibrational frequency. Our reality is a manifestation of what we create through thought patterns.

5. We are the ones we have been waiting for. There are many races and dimensions of beings on the planet at this time. Cherubim angels, Seraphim angels, Archangels, Pleiadians, Orions, Sirians, Arcturans, Anunnaki...…just to name a few. We volunteered to be here at this time, answering the call from the consciousness of Planet Earth as she cried out for help. We came here from other galaxies, universes, and cosmoses. Many came here each time there was a chance to achieve a “golden age” after the “fall”. Although those times were not completely successful, they were all preparation for this time.

6. Most of us incarnated here before, many times, in order to prepare for this current lifetime. There are souls who are here to be way-showers and leaders and there are souls here who just wanted to be here to witness the raising of vibration of the human race in concert with the planet, which will affect the solar system, the universe, the cosmos, and beyond. For those who lead by example, our schooling never stops. We had many “classes” to take in order to prepare to master ourselves in this incarnation. The scope of the effect this event will have on all of creation is one of the biggest secrets of all. Some say that the incarnation cycle has ended and this lifetime is the opportunity to release ourselves from the wheel of karma, or the need to balance our actions.

7. We are never alone. We could not exist here without help from our spirit guides and angels, or high vibrational beings of light who made agreements with us to help steer us on the path toward the goal of ascension. They exist in another vibrational level or dimension higher than ours- thus most of us cannot see them. They are always with us and are waiting patiently for us to ask for help, as we live on a free will planet. They abide by laws of interference because of our free will, but if we ask with our highest and best interest they do have creative ways of manifesting what you ask for. Most guidance comes from within- through a process of telepathy where you get an idea in your head. Messages can also come from other people- those who can tap into that vibrational level in order to hear what they have to say.

8. Time is an illusion. We have a past and we have already been to the future. The majority of our energy particles (our souls) exist in a place of “no time”. Time is created in order to experience and is part of the controlled experiment. Meditation or “going within” is the key to returning to the place of “no time” where all the answers lie.

9. Ascension does not involve going anywhere. It is a state of being, a focus of awareness and consciousness into a higher vibrational frequency. It is what we were created for- to “go forth and experience”, and return the experiences back to Source in an infinite loop of co-creation and mastery. The main reward of incarnating in the depths of “hell” at this time is rising like the phoenix from the ashes into the bliss and light of love. This is achieved by being love itself.

10. Love is all there is. Finding and reconnecting to love again is the most important thing we can do as humans. Source is unconditional love, and we are sparks of source- which means we are also love. Therefore we are that we seek. Loving ourselves unconditionally is the key to returning to source.

Change starts with each individual person recognizing these truths. We are not responsible for trying to convince others of our own truth, but instead all we have to do is to “be” truth and the rest will follow. How do we do this? Be the example by speaking your truth, and watch the world change before your eyes. By becoming responsible for ourselves, our thoughts, and our actions, we will have made one great leap toward the future of our children and the future of humanity as spiritual beings on a human journey. We have the greatest opportunity ever in the history of the earth to be the best version of a human being we can be. It is simply up to us as to how glorious we create the future of humanity existing on the spaceship we call Earth.

The Danger of Becoming the Darkness When Fighting the Dark Side

    

The evil Sith Lord Sidious encourages Luke to fight his father using aggression and hatred. Sidious cunningly knows that even while Luke fights against evil, if he does so by using hatred, then Luke is already succumbing to the dark side because hatred and anger are of the very nature of darkness itself. The inter-dimensional entities behind the dark agenda taking over the world, like the Sith of Star Wars, tap into the power of the dark side of “the force”, which is light—the substance of the universe and creation—but inverted, using hatred instead of love (that’s why when you see symbols of the light inverted, you know black magicians are likely to be behind it).

Seeing dark global agendas stream rolling over goodness, truth, and freedom throughout the world is more than enough to make anyone feel angry, negative, and even enraged. We as a humanity, along with all our rights, are under siege and the most common response to being attacked is either through anger and aggression, or fear and retreat—which is based on a raw fight or flight reaction. While it sometimes seems there is no other way to respond, there is a danger of becoming the very thing we’ve set out to defeat if we act through aggression or hatred in any way.

Instead, there is another way of responding in which we are still able to stand and defend ourselves against darkness, but do so from a place of consciousness within. It has been taught since ancient times and even the Jedi knights of the Star Wars movie series used it. It requires an inner discipline and gives access to the intelligence and power of love, something crucial to defeating attacks from darkness.

Remember the famous scene from the movie Return of the Jedi in which Luke Skywalker faces his father Darth Vader in battle. Luke must struggle to contain his own rage and instead use the light side of “the force” which is love. Thus he becomes a true Jedi, as one who opposes evil but does so from a place of love, not hatred, and would rather die than go to the dark side.

A similar theme is used in the Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien where characters are put to the test by being tempted with the power of the ring, which would give them access to the vast powers of darkness, enabling them to at last liberate themselves and their people from the evil that seeks to enslave them all. As in Star Wars, the heroes and heroines of the story must resist wishing to fight “the dark side” by using the power of the darkness and instead use the powers of light, such as love, courage, and true friendship. Those who succumb to fighting darkness using dark powers become the very evil they originally set out to destroy.

The character of Boromir in the movie Lord of the Rings, who is tempted by the dark powers offered by a supernatural evil ring. Each character in the story is symbolically tested by being exposed to the ring, which brings out the desire hidden within humans for greed, selfishness, power and control through force and dominance.

Both Lucas and Tolkien studied ancient religions and spiritual teachings, and brought into popular culture the essence of the struggle between good and evil found in the messages of Jesus, Krishna, and Lao-tzu.

Hatred eventually turns us against one another

While it can feel totally justified to be insulting, hateful and resentful to those who attack and hurt us, feeding ill will and hatred, even towards the most treacherous criminal on earth, feeds the energy of hatred within nevertheless, and that rage grows the more it’s fed like a beast that starts getting out of control. There can even be a sense of satisfaction in denigrating and hurting those who harm us; many, having a sense of powerlessness at those whose actions decrease the freedom of humanity, resort to taking their anger and frustration out in various ways.

As harmless as this venting seems, feeding anger within is ultimately harmful to the one getting angry and taking enjoyment from hurting others is at its core something demonic. Those demonic entities behind the dark global agenda take pleasure from the suffering of others, and anyone who feeds this goes into the dark side no matter how altruistic their aim. This rage can easily turn people against one another, even within those who are active in the struggle for truth, as anger becomes more easily inflamed and starts attacking anyone who disagrees, creating infighting and disharmony amongst those who are supposedly meant to be instilling higher principles in the world. Wherever this kind of division exists, there can be no effective fight back against darkness.

In one scene taken from Lord of the Rings, Tolkien shows how the power of darkness seems to feed off the anger between those who would do good. J.R.R. Tolkien wove an incredible metaphorical story about all the races of earth needing to work together to battle a growing dark agenda.

So, can we really win this battle, or any for that matter, with anger? If we pit ourselves against the hatred of those who enslave us through using our own hateful energy, it could turn us into the very thing we are fighting against. And what is the battle for anyway if we end up spending our lives in angry embitterment?

Passive observers stay calm but without growing

Acting from a point of integrity within, whilst in the thick of a war between good and evil, is extremely difficult to say the least, as the urges of the animalistic drives instinctively and compulsively arise, eclipsing consciousness as they do. Opposing evil can bring out some of the most raw and vicious psychological responses within a human being, including the wish to wreak revenge, to see others suffer, and to brutally kill. Many retreat from the opposition to evil and the responses it brings up, and instead hold onto a sense of peace by simply avoiding all conflict and by not getting involved. Well-wishing and praying for a good outcome, safely from the sidelines, is easy; likewise it is easy for people like this to look and feel superior to those going through the psychological responses actively opposing evil brings.

But the wish for a better world has to translate into action, which means that we actually have to get out and do things. If we value light, truth, and goodness we also have a duty to defend it against darkness, as without that defense, goodness would simply be eradicated from the earth by the plans of evil. By doing so, those who oppose evil must confront their true self as it is only in facing opposition that the dark side of our own psychology emerges and can thus be seen and changed; much of the battle is overcoming the darkness within and this is what leads to real inner change and spiritual growth.

Ancient sacred texts reveal the philosophy of action without hatred

One of the most powerful teachings in the world on this subject is the famous text the Bhagavad Gita in which Krishna reveals a series of profound truths to prince Arjuna on the nature of reality before they set out to battle in the Kurukshetra war. It expounds an incredible philosophy, found echoed in the Jedi of Star Wars, on opposing darkness from a place of compassion and detachment. In it, neither running away and avoiding it, or fighting with hatred and rage, is the right course of action—instead Krishna teaches Arjuna what is called the Path of Right Action.

“Anger induces delusion; delusion, loss of memory; through loss of memory, reason is shattered; and loss of reason leads to destruction. But the self-controlled soul, who moves amongst sense objects, free from either attachment or repulsion, he wins eternal Peace. Having attained Peace, he becomes free from misery; for when the mind gains peace, right discrimination follows.”
~ Krishna, the Bhagavad Gita

A similar philosophy is found in the ancient Chinese text the Tao Te Ching:

“Unevolved people are eager to act out of strength, but a person of Tao values peace and quiet. He knows that every being is born of the womb of Tao. This means that his enemies are his enemies second, his own brothers and sisters first. Thus he resorts to weapons only in the direst necessity, and then uses them with utmost restraint. He takes no pleasure in victory, because to rejoice in victory is to delight in killing. Whoever delights in killing will not find success in this world.”
~ Lao-tzu, Tao Te Ching

Jesus was also depicted in the Gospels as someone who opposed darkness, yet at the same time did so from a place of love.

“Ye have heard that it was said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy: but I say unto you, love your enemies, and pray for them that persecute you; that ye may be sons of your Father who is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust.”
~ Jesus, Matthew 5:43

Love is a state of being within; to feel love for those who hurt us, to harbor no resentments or ill will towards anyone, no matter what they have done, is difficult to achieve but something very worthwhile, as it then allows us to keep love as a permanent state of being rather than a feeling that arises only around selective people at selective times.

The power of love and consciousness

Sometimes it seems like there is no other way than to use anger, insults, and reactions in the struggle for truth, freedom, and justice. However, love and justice can’t just be the end goal to be accomplished by whatever means. If so, they will only ever stay as an ideal that cannot be reached—to be achieved they must also BE the means.

Being able to deal with those involved in harmful activities in a conscious, just and detached way allows the intelligence of love to emerge and for us to be more effective in our actions. Whilst anger and hatred makes us compulsive, reactive and violent, detachment and consciousness enables us to perceive a situation clear of the cloudiness of emotion and to act in the best way. It is possible to have a sense of love towards those who have hurt us, whilst still acting justly to defend ourselves against them. In this way love becomes a permanent state and way of being rather than just a fleeting feeling.

Love is often seen as something sappy and weak, whilst aggression gives someone the appearance of strength and courage. However, it can be surprising to find out that it is quite the opposite: true love comes from the consciousness within and gives real courage, strength and intelligence that does not depend on external things and gives the ability to endure even the greatest hardships, whilst aggression only puffs up someone who may ultimately be very weak within—controlled by the extremes of anger and fear that are completely dependent on outside circumstances.

To defend goodness against evil is so important and a wonderful thing, but ultimately, if we don’t free ourselves from our own anger, hatred and resentments, whoever they are held towards in our lives, then we will lose the war within. As found in many ancient sacred teachings, the battle in the truest sense, is the one against the darkness inside us, which is the purpose behind the timeless struggle between good and evil in the world anyway.

How to check for a Scammer

      This article came to my mind after a heated debate from another blog article. So I feel this is a subject that needs to be brought up. Many investigators of phenomena such as ghosts, UFOs, haunting s, paranormal creatures and many unusual events often find themselves in a situation where they need to know how to check out a hoax. This article will provide a set of guidelines you can use to determine whether or not a claim or a story you are examining is a hoax.

     As a paranormal investigator or researcher, it is your responsibility to discern between deception and truth. The word "hoax" refers to those stories, videos or pictures where there is intentional deception or fraud. For example, it's up to you, as the unbiased observer, to separate the story that a homeowner may tell you about a haunting from your own efforts to determine what's really causing the phenomenon. However, there are times when the storyteller is a con artist, an attention-seeker or a sociopath. As a paranormal investigator, you need to remain vigilant against these types of people.

Identifying a Hoax Before It Grows Legs

     The field of the paranormal is filled with tricksters. On YouTube, over half of the "ghost videos" are fabricated or spoofed videos meant to poke fun at people who believe in ghosts. Unfortunately these "hoaxes" are mixed in with a gold mine of video that homeowners have shot featuring authentic paranormal phenomena. There is no faster method to become disenchanted with a field of research than coming across one or two of these ridiculous hoaxes.

     Elements of a story, video or phenomenon that will help you to immediately flag it as a potential hoax include:

•Is the "evidence" in a format to be distributed to a large group of people, such as an email distribution or a website?

•Does it fail to provide legitimate and verifiable confirmation sources?

•Is the language used either very emotional or highly technical?

•Is the source anonymous, or is it impossible to verify the source's expertise?

Identifying a Hoaxer

     While identifying a fabricated story may be easy, identifying a hoaxer isn't. Hoaxers are essentially con artists who are attempting to sell a particular audience on a paranormal story. The following are common characteristics of such con artists.

•Chameleon: The con artist adapts quickly, using the same lingo and basic core beliefs as the crowd and incorporates those into the hoax.

•Charismatic: A clever con artist can come across as extremely professional, successful and charismatic.

•Techno-babble: They often use poorly understood science to peddle certain "technology" or research. They use meaningless phrases like "ectoplasm anomaly", or "micro-cosmic harmonic stabilization", which sound no different than highly technical phrases from a scientific journal to a layman.

•Nasty Skeptic: If you ask a hoaxer for evidence, the con artist will act slighted and attempt to make people feel that questioning the source of information will cause the information to stop.

•Too Good To Be True: If it sounds too good to be true, it is. Aliens do not offer secret free-energy technology. Ghosts do not shoot dishes across the room while flickering the lights and shooting ectoplasm from the walls. And, when Bigfoot is captured, he likely will not be stored in an ice cooler available to the highest bidder. Using common sense can go a long way when you research paranormal claims.

     The following are examples of paranormal hoaxes that took place over the past few years.

The Elevator Ghost Hoax

     In early 2008, a creepy video surfaced on YouTube and throughout the Internet, showing security camera footage of a ghostly, stooped figure of an old woman haunting an office building in Singapore. It quickly became well known as the "Raffles Place Ghost." Later in the year, the GMP Group admitted they fabricated the video, at a cost of $100,000, in order to "highlight the dangers of working late". Many thousands of people had fallen for the hoaxed video.

The Aleshenka Creature

     In August of 1996, a mentally ill elderly woman named Tamara Vasilievna Prosvirina claimed that she'd discovered a small creature in Kaolinovy, a small village in Chelyabinsk, Russia. Locals claimed that the creature was extraterrestrial in origin. For years, Ufologists and crypto zoologists believed that the creature was not of this world. However, in 2004, scientists from the Moscow Institute of General Genetics, used genetic testing to prove that the creature was nothing more than a prematurely born female baby with severe deformities.

Planet Serpo and the Human-Alien Exchange Program

     In 2005, a story about a human-alien exchange program surfaced on the Internet. An anonymous person, claiming to be a government insider, used free Internet email accounts to send poorly written military journal entries written by military officers who allegedly visited the alien planet. In 2006, investigators at Reality Uncovered, using email-tracing evidence, revealed that the anonymous hoaxer was former U.S. Air Force Sergeant Richard Doty, famous for his part in a number of past UFO hoaxes that he distributed to UFO researchers Bill Moore and Linda Moulton Howe during the 1980s.

Bigfoot Found

     During the summer of 2008, Matt Whitton and Rick Dyer claimed that they'd discovered the body of Bigfoot in the backwoods of northern Georgia. The hoax built up steam throughout the national and international media as the two men claimed they had the corpse frozen in a chest freezer. Self-proclaimed crypto zoologist Tom Biscardi picked up the story and pushed it into the national news by promoting several large media events. The two men sold the body to a research group called Searching for Bigfoot, Inc. for $50,000.00. After thawing the creature, the hoax was revealed when they discovered that it was nothing more than a rubber gorilla costume.

6 Ways Drumming Heals Body, Mind and Soul

From slowing the decline in fatal brain disease, to generating a sense of oneness with one another and the universe, drumming’s physical and spiritual health benefits may be as old as time itself.

Drumming is as fundamental a form of human expression as speaking, and likely emerged long before humans even developed the capability of using the lips, tongue and vocal organs as instruments of communication.

To understand the transformative power of drumming you really must experience it, which is something I have had the great pleasure of doing now for twenty years. Below is one of the circles I helped organize in Naples Florida back in 2008, which may give you a taste of how spontaneous and immensely creative a thing it is (I’m the long haired ‘hippie’ with the gray tank top drumming like a primate in the background).

Anyone who has participated in a drum circle, or who has borne witness to one with an open and curious mind, knows that the rhythmic entrainment of the senses and the anonymous though highly intimate sense of community generated that follows immersion in one, harkens back to a time long gone, where tribal consciousness preempted that of self-contained, ego-centric individuals, and where a direct and simultaneous experience of deep transcendence and immanence was not an extraordinarily rare occurrence as it is today.

This experience is so hard-wired into our biological, social and spiritual DNA that even preschool children as young as 2.5 years appear to be born with the ability to synchronize body movements to external acoustic beats when presented in a social context, revealing that drumming is an inborn capability and archetypal social activity.

Even Bugs Know How to Drum

But drumming is not a distinctively human technology. The use of percussion as a form of musicality, communication, and social organization, is believed to stretch as far back as 8 million years ago to the last common ancestor of gorillas, chimpanzees and humans living somewhere in the forests of Africa.

For instance, recent research on the drumming behavior of macaque monkeys indicates that the brain regions preferentially activated by drumming sounds or by vocalizations overlap in caudal auditory cortex and amygdala, which suggests “a common origin of primate vocal and non-vocal communication systems and support the notion of a gestural origin of speech and music.”

Interestingly, percussive sound-making (drumming) can be observed in certain species of birds, rodents and insects.  Of course you know about the woodpecker’s characteristic pecking, but did you know that mice often drum with their feet in particular locations within their burrow, both for territorial displays and to sound alarms against predators? Did you know that termites use vibrational drumming signals to communicate within the hive? For instance, soldiers threatened with attack drum their heads against tunnels to transmit signals along subterranean galleries, warning workers and other soldiers to respond accordingly. 

6 Evidence-Based Health Benefits of Drumming

Drumming has been proven in human clinical research to do the following six things:

1. Reduce Blood Pressure, Anxiety/Stress: A 2014 study published in the Journal of Cardiovascular Medicine enrolled both middle-aged experienced drummers and a younger novice group in a 40-minute djembe drumming sessions. Their blood pressure, blood lactate and stress and anxiety levels were taken before and after the sessions. Also, their heart rate was monitored at 5 second intervals throughout the sessions. As a result of the trial, all participants saw a drop in stress and anxiety. Systolic blood pressure dropped in the older population post drumming.
2. Increase Brain White Matter & Executive Cognitive Function: A 2014 study published in the Journal of Huntington’s Disease found that two months of drumming intervention in Huntington’s patients (considered an irreversible, lethal neurodegenerative disease) resulted in “improvements in executive function and changes in white matter microstructure, notably in the genu of the corpus callosum that connects prefrontal cortices of both hemispheres.” The study authors concluded that the pilot study provided novel preliminary evidence that drumming (or related targeted behavioral stimulation) may result in “cognitive enhancement and improvements in colossal white matter microstructure.”
3. Reduced Pain: A 2012 study published in Evolutionary Psychology found that active performance of music (singing, dancing and drumming) triggered endorphin release (measured by post-activity increases in pain tolerance) whereas merely listening to music did not. The researchers hypothesized that this may contribute to community bonding in activities involving dance and music-making.
4. Reduce Stress (Cortisol/DHEA ratio), Increase Immunity: A 2001 study published in Alternative Therapies and Health Medicine enrolled 111 age- and sex- matched subjects (55 men and 56 women; mean age 30.4 years) and found that drumming “increased dehydroepiandrosterone-to-cortisol ratios, increased natural killer cell activity, and increased lymphokine-activated killer cell activity without alteration in plasma interleukin 2 or interferon-gamma, or in the Beck Anxiety Inventory and the Beck Depression Inventory II.”
5. Transcendent (Re-Creational) Experiences: A 2004 study published in the journal Multiple Sclerosis revealed that drumming enables participants to go into deeper hypnotic states, and another 2014 study published in PLoS found that when combined with shamanistic instruction, drumming enables participants to experience decreased heartrate and dreamlike experiences consistent with transcendental experiences.
6. Socio-Emotional Disorders: A powerful 2001 study published in the journal Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine found that low-income children who enrolled in a 12-week group drumming intervention saw multiple domains of social-emotional behavior improve significantly, from anxiety to attention, from oppositional to post-traumatic disorders.

Taking into account the beneficial evolutionary role that drumming likely performed in human history and prehistory, as well as the new scientific research confirming its psychosocial and physiological health benefits, we hope that it will be increasingly looked at as a positive medical, social and psychospiritual intervention. Considering the term recreation in its root etymological sense: re-creation, drumming may enable us to both tap into the root sense of our identity in the drumming-mediated experience of being joyous, connected and connecting, creative beings, as well as find a way to engage the process of becoming, transformation and re-creation that is also a hallmark feature of being alive and well in this amazing, ever-changing universe of ours.

New to drumming and want to try it?

Fortunately, drum circles have sprouted up in thousands of locations around the country spontaneously, and almost all of them are free. You will find them attended by all ages, all walks of life and all experience levels. The best way to find one is google the name of your area and “drum circle” and see what comes up. Also, there is an online directory that lists drum circles around the country: http://www.drumcircles.net/circlelist.html  

Your Mind & Body Are Not Separate

How often do we go about our days feeling things within our body and trying to figure them out yet never really find the answers? We might go to a doctor and explain what’s going on. We might say we have tightness in our shoulders, pain in our knees, constant stomach or abdomen issues or maybe pains in our feet. There’s no doubt that sometimes these things can truly be the result of something we did physically or something we might have eaten etc., but there is also a lot to say about our state of mind and our emotions and how this translates in our physicality.

We are energy beings, this isn’t some new-age spiritual concept. Our body has electricity that runs through it and it flows based on the cleanliness of the paths in which it travels. This is the premise behind meridian points or acupuncture points made popular in Chinese medicine. So if we are energy and we need our energy to be flowing well throughout our body to stay healthy, is it possible for us to have blockages? Can experiences we have create dormant or ‘stuck’ energy within the body?

The illustration below is a general depiction of how energy, experiences, emotions or beliefs we have can get energetically stored within the body. As “out there” as this may seem to some of us, it’s really a simple concept when you begin to understand the fact that our thoughts, body, emotions and feelings are all energy related. And yes, allow me to be the first to say that not every single disease or ailment is going to be directly related to some emotional distress, however it’s always a chance or experience for us to take a look at what might be playing out. After all, what’s the harm in exploring your emotions and getting to the bottom of how you might feel about something?

Next time you have a pain somewhere, notice tight shoulders etc. Take a moment and see if any of these can trigger some internal reflection. Of course, you can always go to a practitioner to find out what might be going on physically as well, but I believe the emotional and spiritual side of our health is just as important as the physical, it’s just been greatly avoided as we tend to set aside personal development for the quick fix.

Keep reflection simple, you can ask your self-questions about what you might be feeling in that area. The first step is to rid the doubt you might have about getting to the bottom of the feeling and the next important step is being open and honest with yourself. You can also have someone be a sounding board for you if it’s easier that way. Again, it is important to be open and honest with this. When you start to figure out what you might be feeling in those areas, question how it got there, why you might feel that way and ultimately accept it for what it is. After you accept the feeling, know that it’s all been an experience and now there’s a chance for you to move beyond it.

Once you are aware of how you are feeling, you’ve already taken a big step. The issue will not have the same power and you can now choose how you feel about whatever was creating the blockage. At the end of the day, the body can be a great tool in showing you what you might be holding onto emotionally, energetically and spiritually. With an open mind, personal honesty and reflection, you have the tools to get to the bottom of your issue and leave it behind for good.

How Did Humans Get So Out of Balance?

Lots of people say it, and it can’t be denied… this would be a wonderful, balanced natural world if humans weren’t a part of it. Knowing how accepted this sentiment is, I feel for us. We’re not meant to be a curse. We see what’s been done to the earth and to us, and we’re working so diligently to comprehend what has allowed it, and what we can do to change it. 

How did humans get so out of balance? By ignoring, fearing, demeaning, even hating and destroying a most vital part of ourselves. We were born into it, so let’s not go to guilt. 

I started thinking about balance after watching a video documentary on the potter Lee Kang-hyo. This Korean artist makes the big pots called Onggi. The story followed him as he created his art, questioned his choice of Onggi, did some soul searching about his life, and came to realize that what he wanted was not far away… it was right there with him.

As I watched the story, I realized that the big pots looked like sculptures of the feminine… open, strong, inviting: containers that hold food for long periods of time while the food transforms itself through brewing and fermenting. Toward the end of the video we watch the artist put his spirit and energy into the pot, caressing and applying the color. The pot turns out to be quite a beautiful masterpiece, just standing there in readiness.

That’s a gorgeous image, isn’t it: picture the waiting, receptive, open invitation to transform? We all have her within, ready to contain our experiences and turn them into something life-giving… like the wisdom so desperately needed at this time.

We don’t get this wisdom by pursuing it or working our way to it logically; we get it in the ‘water into wine’ way – the right ingredients, the right pressure, the right temperature, the time fulfilled, in the perfect pot.

The inner worlds and the relationship with inner divinity are so vital to my life that it’s hard for me to imagine not being there. But it’s not so for everyone. The other day I talked with a young man who was having marriage issues. I asked him if he ever goes within, in order to relate to his inner life. “I don’t have time for that,” he said. “I have to work to take care of my family.” I understand, and I love him… but he’s not whole. He’s out of balance.

There is some resistance to wholeness, and it could come from conditioning or fear, or failure to understand the importance. We need to be honest, so I ask: since when is a man who looks inward to explore his wisdom and experience his divinity less of a man? Or, when is a woman who looks outward to see how she can relate to the world, and change things, less of a woman? There is no downside to balance, no loss of manhood or womanhood. There is wholeness. And we’d be wise to find time for that.

We find the masculine and feminine polarities within, and we find that the marriage of these aspects makes of every one of us able to create and relate to the world. The inner child, when acknowledged and loved, becomes the vital, enjoyable expression. This is inner balance.

What would happen if the inner perception and wisdom were diminished almost to extinction and the capacity for outer action were set free to ‘do as you will’? Well, that questions is answered. ‘Do as you will’ is the only law for the humans who rule – the top of the hierarchy.

For millions of others, the masses, ‘do as God wills’ is the law. They take, as the highest authority, an invisible male force outside of themselves; a moral force with rules and lessons, interpreted in every which way. Morals don’t apply to the rulers, but they are a gift to the masses, to keep them happy, because they naturally want to be good.

So, we’ve been living within the conditioning and under the authority of 1) do as you will, which places unbalanced humans in charge, and 2) do as God wills, which places moral rules, interpreted by unbalanced humans, in charge. Maybe this ‘no inner light’ experience was necessary to our evolution… that I don’t know. But if we needed to be in a spiritual dark age, brought near death, in order to align to what is within, it has been done and we’re ready for the changeover. Turn on the light.
There is something we all know: the ‘do as you will’ top humans destroy the feminine Mother Earth, distort the feminine human being, and denigrate the feminine wisdom within all. And the interpreters of the religion say it’s God’s will.

We have been on this destructive track for 6000 years. When thinking about this, I remembered the ‘thousand years being like one day to God’ message that we get from the Bible, and I also remembered that it says God created the world in six days and then he rested. Well, it’s the end of the six days, and as they must know, since they can read, their time is up. It’s time for them to rest and admire their creation.

And it is quite a creation… to be unbalanced enough to enslave and control and exploit humanity and attempt to kill the earth and all that’s in it including themselves. They did a bang-up job, and now we know what will happen if we ignore, fear, demean, even hate half of ourselves… our sacred heart, our inner trinity, our trans-formative inner sanctum.

When you want to ‘do as you will’, you have to sack the feminine. We see huge numbers of persons in power into pedophilia. Could a man horribly and viciously destroy human innocence if he was balanced… if the mother love was within him? Grotesque and hideous to think of, eh? This could be the ultimate example because it horrifies us so, but there are many other destruction's… so many.
There is an entire spectrum of humanity that would be frozen in their tracks if their own inner light were switched on. Envision the moment: there we find the end to violence, lust for power, slavery, rape and exploitation, theft and deceit, trashing of the earth and the peoples of the earth, and the grab for total control.

Unbalanced people in power do tend to keep the world out of balance, and an awful lot of people out of balance too. What do we want? Balanced people who can relate without harming anything: harmonic… that word must mean relationship without harm. We want harmony.

It’s not easy to find people in balance, but we can find many who are working on it and doing well. Bless us… we help each other. And if a harmonic world is possible, let the intention to create it originate in those who have ‘turned the water into wine’, integrated the most experience and gained the most wisdom. After all, we’re all in this for life’s sake: the love of life and of love, which is the only thing worth living for.

Love: that means the Sacred Heart must be the highest authority… Our sacred heart, within Us. The greatest love relationship that we can ever experience is with our own radiance, our own eternal spark of the God force. It is the divinity within, and within is ‘feminine’. Don’t be afraid of it.

Let’s go back to the master potter. He is making the container that holds the perfect ingredients from which something new is made. Remember when I said that’s a gorgeous image… the waiting, receptive, open invitation to transformation. I know you know: we’re the potter, and the pot, and the ingredients and the something new.

We are evolving, and we’re often at a new stage, drinking the new brew. There is so much to celebrate. Raise the glass… here’s to being human!