Peace… THE HARD WAY!

Photographer: Mark Blinch

There WILL be Peace on this planet!

It’s just a question of how.

The totality of rage and anger that pervade the world is NOT leading to the destruction of the world; merely to the destruction of mankind, which is an infinitesimal part of the Peaceful world that we have been invited to inhabit.

To the human, the annihilation of humanity may appear as the end of the World, however it is only the end of the world of chaos that he, himself has created.

Peace, like water, is a perfect level, always moving towards that which is best for the whole of creation. Not favoring one part over another. Not favoring the chaos of man of over the serenity of nature. Merely allowing man to hopefully find a peaceful path towards that which he seeks. However, the destruction of creation, by man, is not in the cards.

There is a higher intelligence, than man, that sees the folly of our ways. The pitfalls of a vastly complex mind. This higher intelligence IS the level of Peace. Like water, ALWAYS moving back towards its perfect resting position. No matter the gyrations of the human mind, always in control on a level rarely understood by man.

In order to see the truth one must remove his eyes from himself. Worried and toiling over what HE wants. What HE thinks. What HE believes would be better for him. The programming of ages is at work in mans chaotic thinking, and his need to be better is firmly rooted in his belief that he and those around him are not already perfect beings. Constantly judging and comparing himself to others, seeing only the differences. Living in the separation. Without the slightest clue that the separation has been created by his mind and can be removed immediately.

Not through the use of brawn and Bullets but through the use of awareness and understanding. The understanding that the destruction that he seeks is the destruction of pain. Of hurt left by the past and feared in the present. Of that which removes him from the natural state of peace that he was gifted with as an infant.

The terrorist, like most in society, are very unilateral in thought and action when attempting to achieve a goal. Not taking into account that, not only, even the smallest action ripples out through time affecting everything, but also, that the intentions of evil men are ALWAYS thwarted by truth.

That the devious and deadly plans born in the minds of men are nothing more than a cancer. And, that their act of violence only brings about a swift consciousness towards peace. That, although the conditioning to react towards violence with violence is strong, the bringing about of peace is NATURAL.

It is not the hitlers of the world that control the direction of the world.

It is the Martin Luther Kings that stand before them in Peace that shape the future for our children.

So, stand together today with those who seek peace as you do, so that the world may achieve PEACE, The easy way…

TOGETHER!

John Masters

A Letter to The Enlightened…

In general, the state of the world mirrors what is going on with a majority of individuals in the world. This is not to say that in a world of chaos and violence that those living in peace do not exist. It just means that the amount of peace being contributed to the world at that time is being outweighed by the amount of chaos and violence being contributed.

This should not detract from the choice of living in peace but it does reveal the difficulties of living a life of peace in a world proliferated by chaos.

The chaos that we experience in the world is not the product of the organic evolution of man. It is the product of the projected chaos of mans mind. ALL systems that wreak havoc on man have been created by man and then projected in to the world to give him something to struggle against when the true struggle lies within himself. In addition to the belief that these projections represent truth in some way, mankind has also deluded itself into thinking that its evolution is anything more than a movement of thought which is a product of the mind.

The notion that mankind has evolved, in a more enlightened way, than the animals is merely mans ego which can not accept the destruction that he, himself has created to a perfect world. And, through this non-acceptance, man continues his march to the complete annihilation of self.

The annihilation of self lies squarely in the protection of self. The need to protect self is the acceptance that self is somehow different than whole. That you lie outside of the problem which you, yourself have created. The reason that the answer CAN NOT lie outside of the question is that one must already possess the answer to realize that there is a question to be asked in the first place.

The sign that you already possess the answers that you seek, and need seek no further, is the simple fact that you are asking the question. This understanding leads to the end of confusion. The end of needing a projected authority figure to control your life. Because you are the authority figure and are perfectly capable of controlling your own life.

When one addresses the chaos in their own lives, the true opportunity to assist others is born. We can not truly assist our brother when our own lives are being blown back and forth by the winds of dysfunction. Therefor, It is only through the awareness of our own dysfunction that we can address the dysfunction in the world.

So, instead of pointing the finger of blame, lets reach out with hands of support to those who struggle as we once did.

John Masters

“CREATING WHAT AILS YOU!” – Live Audio from John Masters

A short discussion about how we have invented the very issues that we are now allowing to ruin our lives…

YOU ARE THE TERRORIST!… Why blaming others solves nothing.

You know those terrorist that like to throw bombs and kill children? The ones that the media cant stop talking about and that you think are evil?

THEY ARE YOU!… just under different circumstances and conditioning.

Why is that so difficult to hear? Because you are so attached to being different? Better? More civilized? YOUR NOT! You just have nicer clothes, a bigger house and governments that do the killing for you. Like somehow believing that buying a burger is different than killing a cow with your bare hands. Its not. The cow died because you were hungry and it doesn’t matter who pulled the trigger.

The terrorist is merely a mirror so that one can see the violence within themselves and rectify it. This is the only true path to lasting, fundamental change in the world. But the path to change leads through your acceptance of the violence within yourself which is a sticking point for many because, although we see the conflict, we have deluded ourselves into believing that we have not contributed to it.

Whether you are contributing now or not is somewhat irrelevant. The mess is here to be cleaned up one way or the other and the entire human race is in this boat together and the boat is a mess regardless of who made it that way. 

The beautiful thing about understanding that YOU REPRESENT HUMANITY is that your job has just begun and is not complete until the entire boat is clean, which it will never be. This is your new job for the rest of your natural life. Now its time to assist others in the understanding of how to clean their mess up. You can never clean up someone else’s mess for them but you can certainly support them while they do it for themselves.

And, I would prefer to assist someone else because I have my shit together rather than need support because I don’t. This is not a judgment. Just a statement that when you have your shit together everything is fun, including and especially helping others. And when you don’t, almost nothing is fun and that truly sucks.

Why is it important to understand that you are the terrorist? Which is just another way of saying that you are humanity? Because it is your belief that you are somehow different in a better way that causes you to go to war in the first place. The terrorist also believes himself to be different in a better way than you. This is what causes him to go to war with you.

The acceptance of the violence within yourself allows you the opportunity to make changes that are not possible when you believe the fault to lie outside of yourself.

You see, changing yourself today does change the world today.

It just takes a while.

John Masters

The World is Burning, Yet Peace Awaits!

It is difficult to go into this topic without being critical of the human race.

We in America and, I suppose, all around the world have made life so convenient for ourselves that it has become a hassle for us to wait for 30 seconds to receive a well balanced meal, while many people wait for an eternity that never comes. As we argue over market strategy and political policy, people die. They not only die physically but much, much worse they die psychologically.

As one looks at the world and realizes that the thought of mans mind has created all of the violence, destruction and conflict that seems to be the foundation of our existence, the cycle continues.

As we focus on the construction of our own identities THE WORLD BURNS.

The foundation of life has been built on thought; Primarily the thought that “things could be better.” It is in the attempted betterment of man and society that the world burns. As we focus on improvement we miss the true beauty of life which is happening now.

The now that we so wish to change is all that we have. It is all that we will ever have yet we run away from it as if from a thief in the night.

The continued looking into the future for a better society which will never come is what blinds us to the actuality that the society is not the problem. WE ARE; because we ARE the society. The man or woman in the mirror represents the whole of society and therefore changing yourself is synonymous with the change that you seek in the world.

The belief that a changed society will bring about a change in one-self is a fantasy. You are society, therefore the change need only occur within yourself and will then radiate outward.

When change occurs within yourself, society HAS, in fact, changed.

The idea that the world will literally change if we address the disorder in ourselves is merely an idea. Whether that idea is based in actuality or not remains to be seen, but there is a truth in that the proper care of oneself contributes to personal Peace. So, if you yourself have established a more solid foundation of peace in your life then how would it be possible that world hasn’t changed? You are the world and you have changed and therefore so has the world in which you live.

To not address the disorder within yourself is to allow the world to burn and since you are the world you are burning as well.

Every selfish act that takes only the part, and not the whole, into account is the striking of the match. I know, through observation, that lighting the world on fire and watching it burn is not our intention so we must look deeper into ourselves to see the true reason behind our masochistic behavior. Why do we want to see ourselves destroyed? Why has the mind set up this trap and why don’t we see it? The mind, however vast, is not very smart in its cunning when it is exposed to light. All psychological violence and conflict are based in the repetitive pattern of thought. For this discussion it is the repetitive nature of thought that we should look at because it repeats. And repeats, and repeats. This is a crazy making pattern ONLY before one takes sight of the pattern itself.

It is within this recognition that the escape from the pattern exists.

Notice that when you firstly witness a pattern that it does not appear as a pattern. It appears to be unique because you have never seen it before. And if you look away you will not see the truth of it and will believe it to be unique in nature. A pattern is not unique and neither is self destruction. Self destruction is a pattern that has been recurring for generation after generation after generation.

Self destruction is a learned behavior.

We have learned it and we are teaching it. And those that we teach will learn and teach it again and so it goes.

The understanding that the world is a blaze is the window to Peace. While the world burns we are told by the authorities of society that everything will be just fine as long as we do this or go there or support this or vote for that or rally for this or be disgusted by that or or or or or or or or or.

I AM SICK AND TIRED OF ORS.

Therefore, I will extinguish the fire by removing the Ors from myself. I am I. I believe in nothing that has been peddled to me by the world. I accept no authority but my own. I will not do this or that…

I WILL BE!

And, it is in this “BEING” that Peace will arise. Peace does not exist in the attempted change of something. Peace exists within the acceptance of something. THE ACCEPTANCE OF NOW. Of how things are and not how you wish them to be. This is psychological. This does not mean that you like the violence and death perpetrated by one man over another. It means that you accept it for what it is which is synonymous for accepting yourself for who you are. Not who you wish to be.

It is only through the acceptance of a violent self that peace and harmony can be born. It is the acceptance of violence which cultivates peace. Not the fighting against violence.

Fighting violence with violence is fighting thought with thought. It doesn’t work and the state of the world proves it.

So, lets back away from thought which divides us and see each other for the incredible beings that we are.

The human has been blessed in a way that is beyond the fathom of the mind so Lets think twice before we strike the next match and burn our blessings to the ground.

John Masters

 

Drowning in your “Beliefs” – A programmed state of being.

When you get upset because things are not how you believe they should be, you are struggling with your program and NOT with how things actually should be. You, yourself, have written the program that you are struggling against.

Acceptance of how things are, and not how they should be, is your only way out of this program. Rewriting or changing the program will only change your location within the program, so you will gain a new perspective and feel better yet you will inevitably return to misery because you are still living within the walls constructed by you and your mind.

You must realize that your beliefs are not built on a firm foundation. They are just human-minded, programmed belief systems built on top of human-minded, programmed belief systems over extremely long periods of time that have no actual foundation in truth.

This is why re-programming is not your goal. De-programming IS. Re-programming is the easier of the two because you are replacing one drug with another. You are changing your location within the program. De-programming is basically throwing everything out without the need to replace it. This will be a place of ultra clarity because you will see things for how they are and not how your program tells you they are.

Programming reveals the differences between people. De-programming reveals the oneness of creation which includes all humans. Programming tells black people and white people that they are different from one another which leads to conflict, while de-programming reveals that black people and white people are just people which leads to peace.

An Elder says to me, one day, in a sarcastic way because I was NOT doing something the way she liked… “Thanks for helping me continue to feel relevant around here!” My response was… “Your problem is that you believed that you were relevant in the first place.” Although this may sound like a smart ass response, this is exactly the change in belief that causes your negative feelings to vanish.

This person is not feeling irrelevant for any other reason than she has been programmed to believe that as long as you are working hard and being productive that “I am relevant” which obviously, eventually leads to the converse which is “I am no longer relevant”.

The hard and cold facts are that none of us are relevant. We never were and we never will be. This world doesn’t need you and it doesn’t need me. When we die this world will continue to function in the same way as when a flower dies.

But, man can’t seem to live and die like the flower.

Men must attain, aspire, hope, dream and struggle away from their true selves. The flower is born its true-self and remains such until its death. The man is born his true-self and spends his entire life running away from himself and many times dies unhappy.

Don’t let this happen to you! Stop running! Stop hoping and dreaming your life away!

Many religious people would seem to believe that the story of Jesus is a story about suffering. Religions would almost appear to endorse suffering as a path to spirituality.

Although worldly suffering may wake you up to your true self, it is the awakening that is crucial, not the suffering. I believe that the story of Jesus is about the end of suffering and the awakening to the fact that suffering is no longer necessary. That we are suffering, for no reason, at our own hands which means that it can stop whenever we decide.

The story of Jesus is not meant to inspire the following of a man to a destination, but rather, to be inspired by that man that we have already arrived.

So, next time things are not going your way and you are feeling negative, don’t attempt to change the world so that you may get what you want for a short time which takes endless, fruitless laboring. Just realize that you have built your happiness on the lies of men and therefore your unhappiness is also a product of those same lies.

There is endless cost in arriving at your true self while living in a dream but WAKING UP IS FREE.

John Masters

Peace through Conflict? I Think NOT!

Cain slaying Able/Our current condition

Peace through conflict! That is obviously how the world believes that it will solve its problems. Just look at that and say it to yourself a few times and then ask… Does that make sense? Is that possible? I think the answer that any serious person will arrive at is NO!

There is no peace when conflict is present. PERIOD!

This is yet another flawed idea of the mind that never moves beyond concept because there is no truth to it. That is why you, yourself need to move beyond concept into truth. So that you understand for yourself that some of that which you currently believe is programmed bullshit. There are two categories… Truth and everything else. We have all heard of stretching the truth. This is just a way of justifying a lie. The reason that we justify is because we realize that truth has absolutely no relationship with un-truth.

Truth stands alone

Do the conflicts that we create in our relationships and in the world end in Peace? It wouldn’t appear so. It would actually appear that conflict leads to more conflict. As a matter of fact I think this would be clear to a child. Yet it is not even clear to the most brilliant thinkers of our time. The people that run things. The people with great ideas that are supposed to create great change yet bring about only further misery.

The mind believes that one of these repetitions will be the last and lead to salvation but it will not.

Repetition of thought may be a tool for the progress of the material world of man but it can never lead to physiological order. It can only lead to further disorder which will build upon itself until we die. We will die no matter what but my question is “Can we live a peaceful life until that time?”

The answer is yes but the majority of man does not seem to realize it. They are stuck in the repetitions which they believe will lead them to freedom. However repetition of thought leads no where because the information which thought is based on is always incomplete.

There is always new information to be added to the current information and the body of information grows through time which is endless.

Peace will not be brought about by conflict which is a result of thought and leads to action and reaction.

Peace will be brought about by the observation of thought and the awareness that thought has generated these problems and therefore can not fix them.

This insight is pivotal because it reveals that there was never a problem in the first place and thusly leads to an organic, conflict-free resolution.

Peace through Peace

John Masters

The Roots of Conflict – My Hypothesis

I believe that a time existed long ago when mans mind did not yet realize that it was a separate entity from the brain.

The brain and the mind peacefully co-existed as one.

During this time, whether it be before or after the cave man, the brain and the mind were kept in a state of physical security by the ingenious thinking of its owner, The man.

The man used thinking as a primitive tool in order to keep the body safe so that the brain could be secure and function properly.  Primitive: meaning that it was focused solely on the absolute necessities of the organism. Food. Water. and Shelter.

The brain needs complete physical security to operate at its highest level and the man understood this. He understood that the brain had difficulty devising ways to secure food, water and shelter while he himself was under attack by his environment. So, he must physically secure himself away from the possibility of attack.

At some point during the evolution of man, the mind realized that it was, in fact, a separate Entity. Separate yet maintaining a vital connection to the brain. That it could move away from the brain yet still possess the knowledge of the brain.

It is in this realization of separation that something profound happened.

The mind decided that, as a separate entity, it must also require physical security in order to be free to function at its highest level.

IT WAS WRONG!!

The mind did not understand that it, unlike the brain, was not bound by linear time and therefore did not require any form of security at all. So, it went about securing itself in the same way that the body and brain had been kept secure for so long…

Through thought, which leads to ACTION!

The mind did not understand that no “securing action” was necessary so it got to work securing itself “psychologically.”

And, the result is our precarious psychological lives which are balanced on the notion that we will be OK if only we could secure our minds. Therefore, we go about infecting society and our environment with the anxieties and projections of our endless search for truth which has led to the mess that we see the world in today.

Politics, Religion, Nationalism, Race and Status are all constructs set up by the mind so that it may feel secure. The feeling of security is unnecessary when security is already present. The mind did not realize that security was present because it had been conditioned, through time, to be part of the material world until its awakening that it was a separate entity. Therefore the mind continued to believe in the need for physical security when in fact there was nothing physical or material to protect.

And now, mans mind has conditioned itself for thousands or hundreds of thousands of years to be bound by time through thought.

This has led to where we find ourselves today. Living in a world which is defined by conflict, suffering and pain. Why? Because conflict in the material world gives the mind false security. It gives the mind a cause. Something to fight for and against when there is, in fact, no enemy.

And, unlike in the material world, a new conflict can begin again immediately. The mind doesn’t have to get physically prepared to start another war. And it does start a new war immediately because it has conditioned itself to this one and only task of self-psychological-preservation.

This is much like the computer in the movie “War Games”. The computer will re-start the game until an appropriate conclusion has been reached. WINNING! And, the only appropriate conclusion since winning is not possible as there is no enemy is total destruction so that the game and the repetitive thought pattern may finally come to an end.

You see, the mind actually wants this psychotic cycle to end but we won’t allow it.

Our minds are playing “War Games” and will continue to play at the cost of the complete psychological annihilation of its host.

So, who is the host?

And, would it be necessary for the game to continue once the program realized that there was never actually a threat?

And furthermore, can the thinking that brought about this mess be observed and brought to an end peacefully?

These are some of the simple yet complex questions that I would like to present to myself and the reader through careful attention, awareness and observation.

Thank You for your interest!

John Masters

Addiction -vs- Habit: You Decide!

Addiction is an attachment to a repetitive pattern of thought.

Habit IS the pattern.

Both are merely thinking.

Habit is used in the physical world in order to secure the basic needs of life. Habit is how the brain was intended to be used; to teach yourself through repetition how to survive. Addiction is taking this primary physical function into your psychology which, as we have discussed, needs no security.

Since there is no need for security, yet the organism is convinced of its need for security, it programs the need into itself as a feeling. This feeling of need is what causes you to be attached and therefore addicted.

Notice how the need for food water and shelter is not experienced as a psychological need or feeling therefore causes you no suffering yet is much more vital to life than the suffering that you experience through your projected need.

Your projected need will never be satisfied because it has been manufactured by the mind but the mind is unable to manufacture a cure because THE NEED is the cure. The only possible way out of this trap is to recognize that this is happening; that you are trapped in a psychotic loop created by the mind. This process is meant to protect you but has the opposite effect.

I suspect a disease works in a similar way. However, we shouldn’t single these things out and treat them as a disease.

We should realize that thinking, in the way that man has altered the evolution of thought, IS THE DISEASE, Not thinking itself; because thought has its place in physical and material security. The object of our thoughts and behavior is not the disease. It is thought, itself, in the way we have been taught to use it.

Don’t worry though! You’re not alone! The world is addicted to thought!

The difference is that you know it. And that my friend is the difference between life and death.

John Masters

Addiction – We’re ALL in this together!

Addiction is nothing more than an attachment to a repetitive thought pattern.

Addiction, as a psychological issue, can NOT be addressed by addressing the specific addiction. Addressing each specific addiction is ignoring the truth of addiction which is that it is a thought pattern and has nothing to do with the object of the patterned thinking.

Addressing each addiction individually is a form of white-knuckling. Of saying to yourself that if you could only quit this one thing that everything will be ok. But notice how everything isn’t magically ok when you do quit this or that. You may have a temporary sense of peace and happiness but it doesn’t last because your mind immediately wonders to the next pattern.

As a matter of fact, if you look at those who stop drinking using the most popular method, you will see the pattern of thought which led to drinking immediately leads to the counting of days that no drinking has occurred. This is a pattern of thought identical to that of drinking. Notice that with this method it is completely unacceptable to drink yet smoking as many cigarettes as possible is perfectly fine.

Your addiction will NOT end merely by setting up an authority over your addiction. It will change in nature and progress along the same line until you find another authority and on and on.

You are addicted to thinking! PERIOD!

Problems are solved by addressing the root cause of the problem and to do that one must observe the thinking that brought about their problem. One must also understand that you can not resolve a problem created by thought via more thought.

Of course, your particular addiction may have serious ramifications that must be dealt with in the material world, but that is a topic for a different discussion.

Knowledge and understanding about your particular addiction are not necessary in order to create balance in your life however Knowledge about yourself certainly is.

There are reasons in your life that cause you to want to escape through thought. However, your addiction goes much farther into the past than this. Man has been addicted to repetitive patterns of thought long before you and I came along so we have been subjected to this condition for ions.

So, this struggle is not just your own. It is that of humanity.

Yet we isolate those that we perceive to be addicts in our society and expect things to get better. Things will never get better as long as we are separate and isolated. And, who is it that determines who the addict IS and IS NOT in the first place?

The entirety of man is addicted so seeking and taking advice from a projected authority is attempting to resolve your addiction by seeking the advice of an addict.

An addict can tell you a lot about addiction but they can not tell you how to be free. 

That is your job.

So, stop judging and isolating yourself because you are addicted and you will stop persecuting others for the same. We are in this together and will never rise out of our addiction without the support of one another.

So seek understanding, not about addiction, but about yourself and you will see that thinking in any form of repetition for lengthy periods of time limits the mind and leads to the state of addiction that you find yourself in today.

John Masters