This is yet another horrible and avoidable tragedy. Please do all in your power to help those in need.
Shifting gears a bit – Here’s the thing: when I was in college, I learned from my professors, and from my own research in the campus library and online, all about anthropogenic climate change/global warming or whatever you choose to call it. I learned why it is happening, I looked at all the evidence, and all these data, evidence, and facts, they needed no support – they stood alone. It was so obviously real that it made it past my logic and reason filters – and guess what, I understood and accepted it all as peer-reviewed reality.
Here’s the other thing: everything all those scientists (NASA, NOAA, NWS, etc, and all the independent scientists all over the planet studying the issue said would happen – is now coming to pass- heck it has been happening for decades.
I have watched as the climate has noticeably warmed – we didn’t need fans in our home until the mid 1990’s, or air conditioning until 2010 – and now, when the HVAC fails (due to the storms, power outages, etc.), all the floor and ceiling fans and our bodies own built-in cooling systems (sweat glands) can barely keep us from dangerously overheating.
The sea level has visibly risen on the beaches I have been visiting over the last 50+ years of my life.
The once frequent snows of “winter” have turned into cool and sometimes even warm rains…or super-concentrated cold spells – aka Polar Vortexes…vortices? – that have been colder than any cold I can remember.
I have watched springs and creeks dry up and trees die due to the unusually long periods of heat-induced drought.
Almost every year, I have witnessed more frequent and intense wildfires, as well as the unbelievable air pollution the fires bring.
Then there are the hurricanes – (Andrew, Katrina, Harvey, Helene!!!) – more and more powerful every season, more and more rain, wind, destruction.
We then have the wildlife species that never lived in my region, migrating into the wilds near my home – some examples include but are not limited to: the Coyote (the earliest to arrive), the Nine-banded armadillo, Fire ants, Bedbugs, mosquitoes, ticks, and, needless to say, many different nasty diseases – two of these are tick-vectored diseases that I have contracted and still suffer symptoms from – Rocky Mountain Spotted fever and Ehrlichia.
Anthropogenic climate change is an evidence-supported, peer-reviewed fact.
If you choose to not believe me or the thousands of climate scientists and researchers, then just watch and/or read the horrific headlines from the climate change-induced/exacerbated storms, floods, heatwaves, droughts, polar vertices, wildfires, toxic air and water pollution, sea level rise, etc, etc.
Or just walk yourself outside and wait a while.
This climate change thing is not a political plot or ploy to make the Democrats, “leftists” and “greenies” rich, that is ridiculous and you know it. Nor is this some sort of scam cooked up by “the Chinese” – this shit is real so please just keep your political (and religious) BS out of the important business of discovering the impacts of our species on the the evidence-supported peer-reviewed findings and facts of the natural world and its systems that support us all.
But even if still choose to ignore the evidence, the science, and the new reality of the dangerous situation we have made for ourselves by burning copious amounts of fossil fuels over the last few hundred years – say what you will and believe what and who you choose…but your belief in something or someone does not make your choice a fact – unless it has the evidence to back it up.
Like Evolution by Natural Selection, Climate Change has mountains of supportive peer-reviewed evidence. If you choose to not believe all these mountains of evidence, from all over the planet and even satellites orbiting in space…then all I can say to you is buckle up buttercup, and “enjoy” the ride because we are all riding on this crazy train of life together. There is nowhere to run, nowhere to hide and the cold beauty that some call mother nature is as mad as hell at the dumbass “thinking” ape clan for fukin up the planet – and I fear this is only the beginning and there is going to be some serious hell to pay.
Please remember – nature does not give one single hot puckered rodent arse about any of us, so you better learn how to take care of yourself. Be ready. Stay vigilant. Be prepared. And above all, do good things to help others in need around you, because we are all riders on the same 4.5 billion-year-old planetary boat afloat in the vast ocean of space and time.
The more I learn about archeology and anthropology, the more I discover that primates and violence seem to go hand in hand.
Sadly, this fact, encoded in our DNA, and in the DNA of every human walking the earth today going all the way back to our humble beginnings on the African savanna – is a deepset part our our own evolutionary history.
It may be that our unique primate opposable thumb+big “thinking” brain combination – while an incredible engineering and survival tool kit – has a great and fatal flaw. That great flaw often leads us to believe things and then do things, not because they are true and supported by evidence, but because we want them to be true, we need them to be true, possibly to satisfy some ancient need, or qwell a fear that exists only in the past. Sadly, it seems that for many Modern humans, believing something is true is easier than working to find out if it really is true.
This great and fatal flaw may in fact be the undoing of our species, leaving us as just another fossilized animal deposit in the rock strata of deep time.
Honestly, I hope I am wrong on this, but the evidence from the last few hundred decades suggests otherwise. Looking at the fossil record of our family tree we see that every single one, every one – every early human save for us, only exists, no longer in the flesh, but as ancient fossil remains recorded in the rocks. May it be that these ancestors of ours are extinct by their own hand? Maybe the fatal flaw was their downfall? Maybe the fatal flaw will render us extinct as it may have done for them? I hope not. We have so much potential.
Or maybe it was their strong, evolutionary survival instinct that lead to a hyper-selfish focus on surviving which, over time, selected for early humans with a lack of empathy – with only a drive and focus to acquire that which it needed to survive while pushing its own kind out of the way. Millions of years ago it was competition for food and brute strength that kept the bullies alive.
Today, it’s not food, it’s money and power thry need. The vestigial fatal flaw is directing the uncaring bullies to compete. In their minds, they are still fighting to survive – it is all their DNA will allow them to do. Instead of adapting to adopt an empathetic sharing nature that would benefit all members of their family, and species – they chose self over society.
Empathy, is one of the most important aspects of what it means to be human. Without empathy for others of your kind, you are just another smart, strong, competitive predator. Maybe it is empathy that is the answer, maybe it is the genetic key that unlocks the next level in our own evolution.
Will we level up…or will we damn dirty apes choose to fearfully continue to bar our teeth and bash each other’s skulls in just as so many countless human primates stretching back millions of years into the past have done before?
A personal history lesson that may inspire others to get some much-needed mental and spiritual health help.
Please keep in mind if you choose to read this: I did not write it as an attack on anyone’s personal beliefs/politics etc., your beliefs and political choices are yours and yours alone.
What follows are only my own personal experiences, observations, and opinions on these establishments, as well as a deep self-analysis and critique of myself and of the system we humans are born into and are often told we must just accept as “This is just the way things are.” – without ever questioning any part of it…or else!
It would have been far easier on me if I did not choose to question any of it, but thats just not me. I have always asked the questions many fear to ask.
Therefore…
I have chosen to share this with you in the hopes that my story, my observations, my informed choices based on the answers (and lack thereof) that I have uncovered and discovered, may serve to offer you some insight into your own decision making process.
If my choices, thoughts, and words, upset, offend, or anger, you, I apologize, that was not my intent.
However, your offense or anger at my thoughts, observations, and personal opinions may in fact suggest that there could be some truths in what I have observed, truths that only you must confront in order to grow as a concious, thinking, human being.
Let us begin.
When I was growing up, my developing, impressionable young mind, and later my young adult mind, was frequently subjected to what I now see as intentionally targeted religious and political trauma. To use some of the now common derogatory catchphrases being passed around by those seeking to mold and control the minds and actions of others;
I was conditioned, brainwashed, force-fed, and even indoctrinated into all of it by many well-meaning, yet unknowingly (or maybe knowingly) previously “indoctrinated” people all around me.
So many adults, often calmly, and nicely – but in all likelihood unknowingly – threatened me with, what, to me at the time, were deeply and intentionally terrifying words and imagery, from bizarre ancient stories and fables often used as scare tactics to try to persuade me to act a certain way, behave, and maybe even actually believe their unusual old stories as actual fact-supported reality – even though they could provide absolutely zero fact-based evidence to any of the characters and happenings in these old fables.
Yes, many of the ancient fables had good lessons, lessons that are important for all of us to live by today. However, some of the stories were bizarre, twisted, and even bloody.
When I would ask my elders if the stories and the people in them were real (and later, why there was no evidence) they would almost always say “you just have to have faith my son, and just believe.” I would reply – “do you mean like believing in the Easter bunny, Santa Claus, bigfoot, or the Loch Ness monster?” They would always reply, no – this is different. When I asked how it was different they would answer with; “it just is.” or “Just trust me on this.” So no…no real answers, only many failed attempts to deflect and delete my genuine curiosity in the why and how of these wierd stories, and this thing we call life.
Don’t even get me started on the absolute physical/biological/hydrologic/meteorological/geographic and temporal impossibilities of the Noah, Jonah, and the parting of the Red sea stories…and so much more. Case in point – the Sloth and Noah’s ark – how did sloths get from what is now central and south America…to the middle east? What about penguins…and Tasmanian devils, Banana slugs, the flightless Kiwi birds of New Zealand…enough said.
None of it made any sense to my curious, logic-seeking young mind.
I did not understand the purpose of any of it.
I eventually concluded the following; due to the huge lack of evidence – most of the adults must be living in a make believe collective fantasy world that exists only inside their own heads…and if this was not terrifying enough, the simple yet utterly terrifying fact is this; they were attempting to assimilate me and countless others into their imaginary, elite world of gods, devils, ghost* people with bird wings (if you are the ghost of a dead person then why do you need wings, don’t ghosts have the enchanted ability to defy gravity?), talking snakes, heaven and hell, bible, cross…and now, gun and flag-waving creepy racist and hateful religiopolitical, book banning, clubs and cults. *yet another bizarre evidence-lacking construct the adults share with their children…why?
It was as if you could not even exist as a human being in this society…in this tangible world of reality, without being a member of one of their imaginary worlds of make believe – and be a part of their flock, fold, party, club, organization, congregation, or cult.
I aksed them why a person could not exist without being a member of their cultish, seperatist, religious and political clubs – yet no one could answer this question…it was as if they had never even considered it…or maybe they were conditioned to be afraid to even consider it.
They would often say those individuals following other types of religions/political systems were full of, and led by, nonbelievers – and all of them were lost souls – doomed to rot and burn in the festering fires of hell for eternity.
Even more unusual; periodically they would mass together and chant bizarrely worded and phrased sayings and songs and then symbolically ingest the “body” and “blood” of one of their long-dead – but not dead – savior beings…then say things like “those who do not choose to follow our loving, living (yet dead but not dead…WTAF) savior will burn in the fires of hell for eternity” and that if I did not join their specific fold, flock, team, or congregation – so would I. What wierd and sadistic ways to love your flock and your children.
It was all so freakin bizarre and such a horribly traumatizing thing to subject young children to – yet from my point of view, everyone I knew was, in one way or another, in one cult or another.
Later, while reading the dictionary and encyclopedia (yes, i read them often for fun), I discovered the word cult and concluded, based on the definition and my own observations, that this is what almost everyone I knew was a part of – these widely accepted, even called “normal” by the masses – these cults of religion and politics.
Websters definition of cult:
-A religion* regarded as unorthodox or spurious.
-Great devotion to a person, idea, object, movement, or work.
*Religion: -A personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices
-the service and worship of God or the supernatural
-commitment or devotion to religious faith or observance
-the state of being religious
-A cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith
Scrupulous conformity
I have chosen to share my story with you in the hopes that my observations and choices may offer you some insight and awareness that may serve to help you in some way.
Synonyms of religion: creedo, creed, faith, persuasion, cult.
As I input more knowledge into my young brain, I began to connect many dangerously toxic dots, dots that seemed so blatantly obvious to me, but for some odd reason we’re invisible to everyone else around me. None of any of it made any sense.
I also frequently overheard seemingly good people, and the smaller numbers of fanatical, cultish believers often gossiping and saying mean and nasty things behind the backs of others – some who were even their friends and family – such as; “they are going to forever burn in the fires of hades because they don’t live as we do, love as we do, and believe as we do and worship our god, the one true and only god,” and/or, “What a communist democrat” or “damn greedy republicans, all they care about is themselves.” and “they are all a clear and present danger to our way of life and if you don’t worship HIM , and/or vote for HIM or HER, then your soul and this country is done for.”
Yikes! Why can’t these people actually think for themselves?!?!?!
Why can they not see the obvious facts before them – that these religious and political systems we believe to be so solid, lasting, and permanent…they are yet more examples of experiments in small numbers of weathy, powerful people, controlling large numbers of less fortunate “common” people. That is all this is, nothing more – it is yet more examples of humans experimenting…and like the thousands of dead religions and failed societal governing systems – these to shall eventually pass into the history books alongside all the others. I know this to be reality now, but way back then…I believed in them, and believing did far more harm to me and absolutely no good came of it.
What about that thing that so many of them so often preached about – you know, not judging others…? I guess that one only applied to them on Sundays – and I watched as so many of them said one thing on Sunday, then did another all the other days of the week. This fact truly irritated me deeply because it was evidence that the believers didnt really believe and it was all an act, a stunt, a way to seem to be conforming to societal norms.
With all the confusion in my head, I would often ask my elders: why would a loving, all powerful, creator being toss its own creations – it’s children that it claimed to love and cherish – into a lake of boiling hot lava and fire – after they had already died, as if death was not bad enough – and then leave them there to suffer the fire, lava, scary, ill tempered red devils and such for eternity* (so strange right?) – if they said a “bad” word…or didn’t spend their entire short life showering them with love by paying homage to them all the time and give them their finite money and time on Sunday and Wendsday, and through the mail…why would an omnipotent god-being that could do anything it wanted – including make money, riches, things, and entire planets, stars, galaxies, etc…from nothing…why would it need ephemeral human money…why all the endless butt kissing and showering of its massive ego…why would it need to send one of its creations that it had a disagreement with to the magma-filled mantle of the planet (why THIS planet, why not one of the trillions of other planets out there in the Milky Way galaxy…or any of the countless other galaxies??) to endlessly torment thise who were on the naughty list? How did this “devil” not instantly incinerate?…oh right…it is super natural…riiiiight. *Oh and by the way, I was under the impression that once a creature is dead, it cannot feel anything – including pain – any longer. What gives here?
If my choices, thoughts, and words, offend, anger, or upset you, I apologize, that was not my intent. However, your offense at my thoughts and observations may suggest that there could be some truth in what I have observed, truth that only you must confront in order to grow as a human being.
I would also often ask;
What about the bizarre, yet bizarrely accepted practice in some religions of allowing newborn babies to have their genitals mutilated under the knife (or even the mouth!!) in the name of their parent’s chosen religion – myself included – what kind of loving god so brainwashes its believers that they freely choose to commit this barbaric act!!!??? What right did they and do they still have to commit such a heinous, destructive, and traumatic act in the first fragile moments of the life of a brand new human!!!??? It is a truly despicable and disgusting blood-soaked ritual that must be abolished. It was not yours to chop or bite off in the name of your imaginary god!!! I want my foreskin back!!! Yes, I went there.
Then, not that long ago, twisted lunatic fringe dwelling religious fanatics killed even more people by hijacking and flying passenger airplanes full of innocent people into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, thousands died, more blood flowed, believers offered thoughts and prayers as if that was going to bring back the dead.
Evidence supports that in the wrong hands, the cults of religion and politics destroy life, progress, and prosperity.
So many innocent human beings have been brutally murdered in cold blood in schools, in churches, on the streets – by religiopolitical flag, religious book, political parchment, and weapon waving fanatics. Where are all the god or gods during all this bloody madness? If the god refuses to stop the cold blooded murder of HIS innocent children in a school, or worshpers in one of HIS own churchs – then it is my opinion that the god simply does not in fact exist. o
Why would an all-powerful creator god father being create evil?
Again, my own findings, experiences, observations, and the evidence all around me suggest that this, this reali~-~ted, and my energy will move on into another life form or natural process and I am 100% OK with and ready for th ‘ x
In the meantime, I have so much to do and not enough time to do it. Ther
If it was in fact so all-knowing and all-powerful, and such a good god… couldn’t he/she/they/them/it just choose to just NOT create bad things such as evil, hate, devils, demons, disease, pain, war, death, childhood cancer, viral infections, brain and body eating parasites, ticks, chiggers, fleas, malaria, bot flies, botulism, brainworms, and such? Couldn’t it just snap its fingers (like Thanos or Q*) and delete all these horrible things from existence and create only peace, love, health, prosperity, puppies, and happiness instead?
*BTW, I fully understand that these are fictional characters created by humans to tell a story and teach a lesson to the viewer/reader…just like Santa Claus, the easter bunny, the tooth fairy, Zeus, and all the thousands of other gods and goddesses made up by humans…but what i fail to understand is how a person of today can still choose to believe in the non-existence of all those ancient gods and modern myths, yet believe in their “one true god”…whichever one it is they have been taught is “real”…even though it has zero evidence supporting its reality…
Why are innocent little children and good, hard working, caring adults dying of cancer, disease, starvation, massive storms, floods, fires, disasters, alcoholism, war, disgusting parasites and disease, automobile, aircraft, and other accidents, ALS, AIDS, Malaria… why were people suffering from learning and developmental disorders, born deformed, or with debilitating autoimmune disorders, heart disease, etc,…why were and are slavery, prejudice, hatred, bullies, meanness, and war, – all just allowed to happen to innocent people everywhere by this so-called loving good god? It either does not love us, does not care about us, made many mistakes in the recipe, is not all powerful, did not create us, or simply it just does not actually exist.
Why were we taught to fear those labeled by some god-cult believers as witches, but not those lopping off their heads, hanging them, eviscerating, or burning them to death in greusome public spectacles?!?!?!?!
If killing is evil, why then is it OK and accepted by some believers to kill in the name of gods and religion like was done to the “witches” (women) and those with brown skin, or of indigenous heritage – and is also done so often in the Bible and other dusty old religious books? WHY!
Tangent time: why do some organisms have to kill, eat, infect and infest* other animals – and people to exist? (to me, this is yet even more irefutable peer reviewed evidence that we human beings are also animals) – *predators, parasites, scavengers, bacteria, viruses, etc.
If I were all powerful and wanted to create a life form, I would not design it to brutally kill or scavenge and then ingest my other creations to gain the energy it needs to survive – that is just bad engineering, it is messy, and it creates a breeding ground for germs. I would also not intentionally design and release microscopic – worms, ticks, fleas, mosquitoes, lice – and microscopic viral and bacterial (covid, plague, malaria, ebola, lyme disease, rocky mountain spotted fever, tetanus, hookworm, leeches, ) and so many other parasites and pathogens that use the bodies of others of my creations as food sources and/or incubators for more of their own kind while making my creations sick, in pain, dead, and/or vectors of said diseases/parasites to my other creations that I supposedly love – all that would be highly illogical, most counterproductive, and just twisted, sadistic, and morbidly sick.
What I would do is design an organism to be powered by endlessly renewable, clean, solar energy from the nearest star. This design would also eliminate the need to eat, bad teeth and cavities would not exist, we would not need to sloppily suck and slurp nutritional secretions from the breasts of our mothers, we would not need to eliminate (defacate and urinate)…the lack of all that would streamline the design even more by eliminating the entire digestive system…in other words, I would create plants. Maybe plants are the perfect organisms. Maybe, if there is a god being out there somewhere, maybe we meat munching, hairy, teat sucking, drooling, dripping, pooping, infected, mammals are a failed experiment that he/she/they/them/it couldn’t turn off due to our propensity to breed like…um, humans…hmmm.
Any engineer designing any machine would make it as simple and as low maintenance as possible, not the highly complex, chemically, physically, and spiritually needy, always breaking down, weak, mostly hairless, bipedal, apelike bodies our fragile meat-computer minds are stuck inside.
For more on this subject take a look at this from my friend Joe:
Enough said.
Plants.
Yes plants.
Yes, an omnipotent being would design plants, not people. It is common sense really.
There are over 300,000 species of plants…and only one species of human. Therefore, It seems clear to me that if there is an all powerful creator being somewhere out there, they are really happy with plants and kept churning out more and more species while ignoring the singular bipedal ape with the oversized brain that thinks it is so important.
End Tangent.
Continuing onward, what did the snake do to deserve all the hate? I have known many snakes and none of them ever talked to me or tried to get me to do “bad” things to others – they just tried to get away from the big scary mostly hairless cultish apes who are always killing and harming far more snakes, than snakes will ever kill or harm people…and sadly, they do so most often in the name of made up gods and fearful seperatist death worshiping cultish religions.
Why do so many people pray to an imaginary god/father figure to help/heal/save them when they are in danger, suffer natural disasters, are sick and/injured in the hospital – when it is the doctors, nurses, firefighters, EMT’s, police, military, SAR teams, engineering, and science teams who are the ones doing the saving, curing, protecting, healing? If their god was real and if he/she/it/them/they, truly existed and/or truly cared…wouldn’t it just choose to not put its creations in danger/pain/suffering in the first place? Why would it conjure up all these bad things to torment, harm, and even kill, its children? Wouldn’t it be like the shepherd/farmer who works very hard to keep his sheep and other livestock safe, healthy, happy, and away from the wolf (only to kill and ingest them later)? I guess not.
It also seems to me that this god fellow, and all the devils, heavens and hells, Tooth Fairy, Santa Claus, and Sasquatch are the same – we are told by our elders they actually exist…somewhere…somehow…yet we never see any real evidence of any of them.
Funny thing, none of my elders could ever answer any of my probing questions. They would often even act afraid of my questions and then say things like “Dont ask such questions!” or “Pray to (their) god and it would reveal the answers you seek.” So I did, I prayed, because at the time I believed, so I was afraid…no, I was terrified of the angry, vengeful god, the pitchfork wielding grinning devils, and all the eternal fire and damnation the adults had repeatedly downloaded into my head since I was an innocent little baby with a brand new brain.
The years of fearful conditioning was getting to me. Yes, this was the world of my youth.
This is the cold reality of religious trauma, and to me, it could possibly even be considered a form of child abuse – but that is just my humble opinion.
They would also often say that god knows your thoughts. Really, if this is so, then why did/do we need to pray, couldn’t the all knowing god being just read our minds and know what we were thinking before we thought it?? They had no answers for me.
But no…no voices, no answers or insight came, and nothing at all ever changed.
Kids and adults still died from horrible diseases (a friend died suddenly in middle school from encephalitis), accidents (another friend died in a terrible car accident), and so many innocent did not know died horrible deaths at the hands of deranged lunatics with guns, knives, sticks, rocks, fire, poison, and sometimes they even took their own lives (my mother’s best friend offed herself with a rope and a good friend’s brother used his service pistol…and the list goes on and on.
As i am fond of saying – We are our own most limiting factor.
Fires, storms, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunami, floods, still destroyed property, forests, nature, animals and people. People who worshiped a god, gods, or none at all – they all died equally. I suppose their gods did not care and I know for a fact that nature does not care one bit about any of us, so we must take care of ourselves and each other.
Huge oil, timber, and development companies and war machines destroyed and continue to rape vast tracts of pristine nature and indigenous civilization in the name of ephemeral profit, oil, coal, gas, gods, religion, and lame politics…and their gods just sit back and watch and let them destroy its creations…even innocent little children…why did the gods let them get away with it! I thought these gods were the ultimate shepherds presiding over their beloved flocks…where are the gods when their flocks needs them? What a terrible shepherd, obviously the gods that are stuck in so many people’s heads simply do not exist.
My childhood best friend had diabetes, I watched him suffer with it for decades. I also watched as the miracles of medical science saved him and keep him alive with insulin…not a god, not prayer – but medical science and engineering. Science works miracles every day – science is the god, and doctors, nurses, medicine and engineering are the angels and the miracles.
Yet, even with the medical marvels working miracles for many, the “demon” that is cancer still stalked and killed good people including three of my friends – two of them prayed to a god daily…but their god still killed them at a young age with horrible pain, suffering, and anguish.
AIDS killed countless humans until science slowed the killing. Science, not gods.
Another good friend of mine and her infant child were brutally killed by a drunk driver who fell asleep at the wheel – their car was torn in half – WHILE THEY WERE ON THE WAY TO CHURCH to pray to their almighty loving “good” god!! Their god is total bullshit. Their god is not real. If it was real it would have saved them!!! The drunk driver that killed them lived and is still out there driving around. WTF!
My wonderful adoptive dad suffered for years and died broken and alone from a prolonged, painful, toxic death from depression, alcohol and tobacco addiction. Where was his god when he needed him?
My beloved adoptive mother recently died at the hands of the mind eating “demon” that is dementia – it destroyed her beautiful mind and her body soon followed. She was a 2nd grade elementary school teacher and a devout Christian her entire life, she gave so much of her time and money to her students and to the church she co-founded with dad in the 1960’s, she helped so many people and was loved by so many, even though she never had much – yet her god chose to destroy her mind and kill her body slowly and painfully. What an ungrateful, hateful, sick and twistedly evil god it must be. Her death was the last straw that broke any remaining connections i had to that twisted cultish manufactured religious world. Her god killed my mother with torture, and I then killed her god with that evidence. Her god, the god of my youth is stone cold dead to me.
My biological father, a great protector of wildlife, nature, and the law, and a generous member of the community…lived for many months in great discomfort with kidney failure and horrible pain. The “miracles” of modern medical science and engineering kept him alive through dialysis and pain stopping surgery – but he suffered so much in his weak and failing body and in the last months of his life he was bedridden and unable to go home to be with those he loved. It tore my heart out to see him that way. It was a great releaf from the rigid wasteing darkness when he finally passed away. We all miss him greatly, but his pain and suffering is finally over.
What burns me deeply, like a white hot fire poker pushed slowly into my eye, is the knowledge that he spent his entire life protecting his god’s creation and its wonderful wild creatures from greedy, uncaring people, he preserved thousands of acres of wild lands (you know, that old creation thing), he protected good people from bad people…and yet, despite all the good he did for nature, his family, others, and for the world – where was his god when he needed it the most?!! Why WHY did he have to go through all that debilitating misery? His god did not help him, therefore, his god is dead to me.
A few years before his final fight, he and my siblings had to watch in heart ripping pain as their mother/his wonderful wife, an accomplished nurse who expertly cared for the sick and her family, was also attacked by the brain eating vampire that is dementia and swiftly succumbed to its voracious appetite for the minds of its victims. Where was their creator when all this was happening? Why didn’t it intervene? It is obvious to me that it either is powerless, does not care about its creations, or it simply does not exist. Her god is dead to me.
Two armed thugs broke into my cousin’s rural home in the middle of the night and brutally shot my elderly cousins. They wounded Danny and murdered Judy in cold blood – for what – money?!?! These were wonderful, helpful, well loved members of the small community in which they lived, they weren’t rich, they weren’t threatening, they were just good people… and yet they were brutally attacked and one died… why WHY!?!? Where was their god damn god?!?! Why didn’t it protect them from the demented greedy thugs?!?! WHY!!! BECAUSE IT DOES NOT EXIST – THATS WHY!!!
The damn predatory thugs escaped and are still out there, probably still thieving and killing. The uncaring god of my cousin is dead to me.
In early 2025, a favorite YouTube creator of mine – The Desert Drifter – was in a horrible automotive accident and he later passed away. Why! His videos were so well done, so educational, so beautiful in how they shared a love and respect for the land and for ancient cultures – and in his videos he and his wife spoke of how they were Christians and loved God. Yet, their god brutally killed him – so his god is dead to me.
Steve Irwin, aka The Crocodile Hunter – worked hard to educate people on the value of wildlife and nature. He protected vast tracts of land from development, he did so much good…but he was killed by one of the wild creatures he loved. Why!!! Why didnt his god protect him?!? His god is dead to me.
Why are so many innocent kids still dying, starving, suffering?
Why do so many of us endlessly suffer from physical and mental health issues when we could be productive members of society?
Why are innocent people still kidnapped, enslaved, trafficked, addicted to drugs?
Why are war and hate still rampant?
Why are despicable heartless people like adolph hitler and donald trump allowed to spread fear, incite hate, rape, rule, murder, and destroy?
Why did hundreds of thousands die in that big tsunami, earthquake, volcanic eruption, hurricane, flood, wildfire, war, plane crash, plague, pandemic?
What did all those human beings ever do to this so called loving, all powerful god that gave he/she/it/them/they the right to “punish”, harm, and brutally kill all those innocent people, all those mothers, fathers, sons and daughters, and little babies???
None of that is love, it is indifference, it is outright hate. It is as if he/she/they/them/it (god) is a cat tormenting, mauling, and then viciously killing all the mice (us) for its own sick and twisted enjoyment…or, as evidence suggests – it is far more likely that, like Santa, Zeus, Sasquatch, and Nessie – it simply does not actually exist and was invented by ancient people to explain the how and why of things happening around them.
Over all the years, all my genuinely thoughtful, probing questions never have been successfully answered. The believers would just say deflecting, reason, curiosity, and thought cancelling things such as “our father works in mysterious ways” or “its in gods hands” and the old “pray about it.” What a total and complete copout.
When I was in my teens, I began to notice all the rich politicians grinning through their teeth while kissing random babies and making empty promises on TV…and the bible thumping preaching pontiffs in church on Sunday (and on TV) asking for money from my mom and so many others – who didn’t have much money – it was then that I began to see through their cultish insanity. What would a rich politician, preacher, or omnipotent, supreme being need with my beloved mom’s very limited money? Oh right, they need it to pay homage to their god(s) by constructing mega churches, mansions, private jets, giant wooden non floating arks full of manufactured religiopolitical propaganda and outright lies (see the religious fanatic Ken Hamm and his Ark Encounter monstrosity)…their one true god is the almighty dollar. If you cannot see that, you need some professional help.
As the decades passed by I conducted extensive research by reading many books by many great thinkers, scholars, religious types, as well as many ancient religious texts, I studied ancient cultures, their myths, gods, etc., and came to realize the following:
While many religions started out with good intentions and their followers do in fact do good works, help people, and so on…many more are just corrupt businesses built upon the backs of all the ancient fearful books, myths, stories, and so on. So much blood, pain, suffering, hate, war, and so much needless death in the name of so many different gods – they are nothing more than cults of personality, control, and profit.
When I was in my 20s I began to realize I didn’t need any of them in my life. They were creating far more questions, anxiety, depression, and trouble in my mind, my world, and in the world as a whole, and I did not want any part in their malignant mythological madness.
Yet, at the same time I also noticed around me that some believers and religious types and their teachings and organizations were presenting good life lessons for anyone to learn and yes, many followers of today’s religiopolitical organizations are truly great people who do actually help those in need, and work very hard to make a better future for us all, and that is very good and very needed. While I fully applaud and support their selfless acts and humanitarian actions, I am not at all concerned about those that do good deeds in the name of a god, religion, or lack therof. What deeply concerns me are the cultish lunatic fringe dwelling extremist evangelical types that will not accept or even consider anything outside their chosen system of belief. Those who are quick to judge others, quick to twist, edit, modify, and even re-manufacture the words and teachings of their stone tablets, dusty old books, scrolls, and documents, to suit their fear and hate driven agendas and desire for profit, control, and belonging to their chosen cult…all while working behind the scenes to incite fear, hate, and to divide us from each other – some even go so far as to kill others and/or destroy property, and even go to war in the name of their god/religion/politics – the religiopolitical soup they are swimming within. That is so very wrong and it is not helping anything or anyone.
As a wise person once said:
“A very powerful and profound statement indeed. And expresses my thoughts why I have nothing for the American Brand of Christianity, nor Evangelical Christianity. It is a threat to humanity, the Earth, and Christianity overall. “To the church of my youth, What did you expect me to do? You taught me to love my neighbors, to model the life of Jesus. To be kind and considerate, and to stand up for the bullied. You taught me to love people, consider others as more important than myself. You taught me to sing “red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight.” We sang it together, pressing the volume pedal and leaning our hearts into the chorus. You said that “He loved all the children of the world”. You taught me to love my enemies, to even do good to those who wish for bad things. You taught me to never “hate” anyone and to always find ways to encourage people. You taught me it’s better to give than receive, to be last instead of first. To help the poor, the widow, the stranger at the gate. You taught me that Jesus looks at what I do for the least-of-these as the true depth of my faith. You taught me to focus on my own sin and not to judge. You taught me to be accepting and forgiving. So I paid attention. I took in every lesson. And I did what you taught me. But now, you call me a “libtard”. A queer-lover. You call me “woke.” A backslider. You call me a heretic. You make fun of my heart. You mock the people I’m trying to help. You say I’m a child of the devil. You call me soft. A snowflake. A socialist. You shun the very people you told me to help. What did you expect me to do? I thought you were serious, but apparently not. You hate nearly all the people I love. You stand against nearly all the things I stand for. I’m trying to see a way forward, but it’s hard when I survey all the hurt, harm, and darkness that comes in the wake of your beliefs and presence. What did you expect me to do? I believed it all the way. I’m still believing it all the way. Which leaves me wondering, what happened to you?”
—Chris Kratzer”
All that said, and after much soul searching, it is now my humble opinion, based upon my years of research, life experience, observation, anxiety, doubt, and oh so much religiopolitical trauma, that I feel compelled to suggest the following…and remember, the only evidence i have that allows me to make this suggestion, is a great and deep pit that is lacking any measurable repeatable evidence.
This experience and gigantic lack of evidence suggests to me the following;
All the gods, religions, etc. all of them – are based upon stories made up by countless tribes of ancient early agrarian peoples from all over the planet to help them understand the world around them, and to comfort them from the cold hard realities of nature and of death, teach lessons of living in a society, and/or control the masses in support of an elite, greed, power, and control driven ruling class of bigmen, kings, queens, chiefs, and politicians.
Over the thousands of years since they were written – not by a god or gods – but by early humans who’s consciousness was awakening to the realities around them and had them questioning what they were experiencing – these ancient stories were then passed down, edited, adapted, modified, and manipulated to fit the needs and desires of kings, queens, chiefs, politicians, and bigmen – and yet even more blood flowed, millions more died in flames, at the gallows, in horrible torturous dungeons, while masses of believers watched and jeered in fear and support of the senseless killing by the leaders of the believers. Still more countless innocents perished under the stones, spears, fire, guns, germs, and steel, in the name of crowns, thrones, and politics, invisible lines in the sand, imaginary gods, and many more blood-soaked religious cults.
Oh, and let us not forget the countless babies, young children, virgins, those labeled witches and/or different, and many others that have been brutally sacrificed, murdered, burned, had their beating hearts torn from their chest, been brutally molested and raped by bent priests and politicians, left bleeding or freezing on an altar stone on top of a mountain, tossed into volcanoes, and/or enslaved in the name of countless religions and countless gods over countless centuries…why did the god or gods allow his creations, his children, to destroy his other creations, his other children – it makes no sense at all. If I were the parent of a child who started acting like some people do today (and back into deep history as evidenced in the archeological record), I would surely not let them get away with the heinous and bloody acts and tantrums they have perpetrated upon other humans – some they even claim to love. I would punish them gently, and I would teach them how to treat each other. I would be a good father and I would lead by example.
Where is he. Where is this god(father) when his children harm, disrespect, enslave, bully, rape, kill, and massacre others in HIS name?
Where was he in the gas chambers of Auschwitz, in all the wars, in the aftermath of all the hurricanes, tsunami, fires, floods, plagues, and on and on. Where was he?! Where is he now?
What about the bizarre, yet bizarrely accepted practice in some religions of allowing newborn babies to have their tender young genitals mutilated under the knife (or even the mouth!! – yes, it is a thing.) in the name of their parent’s chosen religion – myself included – what kind of loving god so brainwashes its believers that they freely choose to commit this barbaric and sadistic act!!!??? What right did they and do they still have to commit such a heinous, destructive, and traumatic act in the first fragile moments of the life of a brand new human!!!??? It is a truly despicable and disgusting blood soaked ritual that must be abolished. It was not yours to chop or bite off in the name of your imaginary god!!! I want my foreskin back!!! Yes, I went there.
Then, not that long ago, twisted lunatic fringe dwelling religious fanatics killed even more people by hijacking and flying passenger airplanes full of innocent people into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, thousands died, more blood flowed, believers offered thoughts and prayers as if that was going to somehow magically bring back the dead. WTAF!
So many innocent human beings have been brutally murdered in cold blood in schools, in churches, on the streets – by religiopolitical flag, book, political parchment, and weapon waving fanatics. Where are all the god or gods during all this bloody madness? If a god refuses to stop the cold blooded murder of HIS innocent children in a school, or of devought worshpers in HIS own churches – then it is my opinion that the god simply does not in fact exist.
The reality is this: All these gods we humans have dreamed up – exist ONLY in the minds of their worshipers.
Evidence supports that, in the wrong hands, religion and politics destroys life, progress, and prosperity.
Then, even more recently, some truly misguided religiopolitical cultish types tossed into the mad mix – old dead flags, toxic hyper-nationalism, stories of “promised” lands, guns, hate, fear, money, oil, division, prejudice, control, and so on…and now we have a very dangerous situation that may just blow up in our faces – if we let it. We must not let it.
Again, my own findings, experiences, observations, and the evidence and lack thereof all around me suggest that this:
The visible, measurable, tangible reality of nature all around us, is the only reality – it is all there is, and there is nothing more.
I believe this is the great fact that so many believers fear. They fear the reality of our shared existence. They do not want to believe that they are just another animal at the mercy of the whims of nature. They fear their own mortality. The fear their kinship with nature.
I do not fear this reality. I cherish my connection to the animals and the natural world. In fact, my connection to nature is a soaring spiritual experience.
I do not fear my own eventual death. I did not exist for billions of years before I did, and when I’m gone, I will not know it. The remains of my body will be recycled back into nature from where it originated, and my energy will move on into another life form or natural process – and I am 100% ready for that factual eventuality.
While I do not fear my own eventual death, I will however miss being alive, I will greatly miss the ones I love….but i won’t because I will be dead.
In the meantime, I have so much to do and not enough time to do it. Therefore, I should live while I’m here, enjoy and experience what it means to be concious in and of this life I am living. I will love, do good things for others, make a positive difference for the future, leave things better than I found them – IMHO that is what this life is all about….it is not about unending blind devotion to an imaginary superhero-like friend or a bloated toxic mouth-breathing puppet politician.
Clearly you can see that I am unhappy with the way things work and I’m angry at the way our culture seems to be working very hard to vector its highly fermented, souring, infectious death cult religious culture to its youth.
I talk big and often spout certainty at uncertainty…and at all the thousands of gods created by us ephemeral bipedal multicolored mostly hairless primates…but honestly, is there a god or gods – I do not know and I do not care.
What I do know is that I will not speculate, claim, or believe anything just because someone tells me to do so unless that thing is supported by peer-reviewed evidence – not magical or fearful thinking.
I do not have any evidence at all to support that any gods do or do not exist, but if evidence is ever found to support a controlling creator being existing on a level outside of our reality as we understand it, and/or the existence of a non-corrupt, empathetic, caring, politician – I will adapt my understandings of these things, accept them if the evidence is sound, and go on with my life. Until that time, I will not blindly follow the ancient dogma, and malignant myths, madness, and magical mysticism promoted by the masses.
Yes, I suppose all this makes me an agnostic, a humanist, a free spirit, or some other label…and I’m 100% OK with that.
Nor will I treat any politician or pontiff like a king, hero, or savior and I will not give them any of what little money I have…they take enough as it is in the form of taxes.
Yes, I will vote – but only because as a citizen of this country and this planet, it is my duty and I must have a say in the future of things. However, I will never vote party or personality, I will always vote for evidence-supported logic, reason, and reality. I will always honor facts and evidence. I.E. If the facts and evidence support that a politician or pontiff committed crimes against our country, humanity, and nature – then that individual will never receive my vote.
Going a bit back in time again – for young me, the damage had already been done. The well-meaning adults of my childhood had unknowingly created a massive mental block, a thick wall of rutting mythological religious madness and strutting political nonsense blocking out reality, to form in my mind. A thick wall of religious and political mental trauma that followed me around for decades and held me down like a lead anchor intentionally designed by its ancient forgers to restrict and limit my movements in the one and only life that I was living. Despite the fact that none of it, none of the twisted greedy politics and bizarre fabricated religious antics of the human being has ever made any sense to me, and it still does not make any sense to me at all…but the mass of the heavy anchor was still there…anchoring me to the devious dictates of the past, weighing me down with imaginary imagery and deep seated fears of things that do not exist. But that is the nature of trauma is it not?
Despite my lack of understanding – then and now as to why people continue to blindly follow these ancient destructive, divisive, cultish, irrational dictates, – my own research, education, and experiences soon led me out of the dark, limiting shroud of religiopolitical trauma and allowed me to destroy the imaginary gods and demons that had been existing only within my mind and tormenting me for so many decades.
While I destroyed the demons and broke the chains – the ghosts of the decades of religiopolitical conditioning, the programming, and the brainwashing from all sides – they remain to this day, burned like a hot brand on my mind by the world I grew up in. Often, it takes considerable energy to overcome these ghosts and think my own thoughts without the ghost of a god or devil attempting to pop into the mix and stir things up. This is the sad reality of religiopolitical trauma.
The great irony of the entire thing was that the well-meaning people from my childhood, all their friends and followers, the media, movies, and tv shows, they had all unknowingly been corrupted by the teachings of their elders and their cultures. They then created and curated all the gods, devils, heavens and hells they feared so deeply within their own minds and within their own culture. They promoted the ideas and the twisted images of hell for them (and for me) to live in within their own minds, an imaginary mental hell full of the very fires, devils, demons, and a heaven with a vengeful, hateful, selfish, judgemental, god – surrounded by winged angels – sitting upon a huge golden throne glaring down on the world like a toxic old father, or a bullying boss who would harshly discipline you and/or terminate you on a whim. They created all the things they all feared so much and then passed their toxic fairy tale creations on to their children.
I remember most of them all as good, caring, loving, people – why couldn’t they break the cycle, why couldn’t they break down the walls of trauma as I have done… as I am still trying to do? I’m not special? What gives me the ability to see through the smoke, mirrors, and snake oil created by the fearful hunter-gatherers, farmers, and controlling greedy charlatans so long ago and so recently? Why couldn’t they do so as well??? Maybe they were/are addicted to the bizarre religiopolitical ideas they have worshipped for so long, maybe they are comfortable in their illusions and that is all they need.
After the thick walls of religiopolitical trauma finally came tumbling down and i broke free from the anchor, it was as if I bobbed to the surface of a sea of darkness and was thrust into the light and I awoke from my fitful, traumatized, terrorized sleep. I was finally free of most of the mental darkness and madness…but the ghosts of the past do still linger, lurking deep in the dark recesses of my subconscious like the Balrog of Morgoth.
Life does not have to be this way.
Yes, I know some of you may feel the need to judge and call me “woke” “damned” “lost” a “black sheep” or “free spirit” – whatever. Question: why are you so judgmental of MY lack of adoption of YOUR beliefs? They are your beliefs, not mine. My beliefs should not matter to you unless your cult leaders have given you a task to assimilate others into your flock, fold, or party…if that is the case then you really need to get some professional help before you are the cause of anothers demise.
Do you feel the need to dislike or even hate or attack me? What have I done to hurt you? Why do you feel the need to attack me for my lack of your beliefs? It is my choice to not believe as you choose to. Why do you feel the need to attack others for having beliefs different than yours…and I know, it seems like that is what I’m doing here. Maybe that is what it looks like, but that is not my intention. My intention was to share my story, my experience, my long road to trying to find my real self, to heal myself.
My goal also is to analyze the system, the matrix we are all stuck inside.
I know, I have probably made some of you uncomfortable*, I may have somehow unknowingly threatened your beliefs and hopefully, that made you think outside of them, to analyze them for what they really are.
I have been uncomfortable with all this religion and political madness as long as I can remember. But finally, I feel like I am putting it behind me. Finally I feel like I am my own person. Finally I feel truly free.
Hopefully my story has inspired you think outside the box you may have been trapped inside for so long.
But if you are afraid of thinking, knowledge, reality, then I am unable to help you.
Go ahead, call me names, feel free to say what you will, that is your choice and that is your problem. I am not concerned with what you think about my choices, they are MY choices, not yours – I care what I think. Last I looked this is a free country and freedom applies to everyone, not just your religiopolitically modified ideas of what it should be.
However, I do respect what you choose to think and believe, and you are free to think it, believe it, and fully free to choose it. However, if your choices bully, target, and harm others, and/or threaten their personal freedoms and my personal freedoms in the name of your chosen religion and/or your politics – then you are a danger to yourself and others and you may benefit from some serious professional help.
Throughout this longterm self analysis and observation, I have finally realized that I am the owner of my own mind, and my own thoughts such as they are and as imperfect as they are, and I can make my own decisions and live my own life. I will not let those with cultish, controlling, agendas control my mind and my decision making process.
I choose to think for myself.
The real question here is this: when will all of the believers and followers of all the bizarre and twisted myths and evidenceless prophets and profit driven charlatans ever wake up from their dreams and accept reality for what it is…I do not know. What I do know is that from my observational point of view – the reality of nature, consciousness, and existence is all there is.
If I am able to help even one person step out of the mists of myth and madness and find a way to accept the reality of reality by sharing my story, then I have made a difference.
If any of this sounds familiar and/or if you believe that you, or someone you love has been the recipient of religious, political, or other lunatic-fringe toxic dogma, elite clubs, cults, or secret societies, and the resulting traumatizing emotional state they seek to instill in your mind – maybe it is time you get some professional help and break down the thick walls of religiopolitical trauma that separate you from the reality of reality.
We all only have a finite amount of uptime, it is our choice what we do with the time we have.
Choose wisely. Knowledge Conquers Fear. Free your mind. Do good things. Leave things better than you found them. Coexist. One Love.
Note: I will continue to update this post and it’s comments with new insight and unique observations of others who have inspired me to think outside of the highly restrictive box I recently escaped from. Feel free to add your own stories, insight, memes, etc.
I recently visited the local recycling station to drop off some items. While there, I noticed several vehicles just sitting, idling, air conditioning on, doors open – while their owners made several trips back and forth from their cars to the bins to drop off their recycling/garbage. I suppose I could understand it if your juvenile offspring, canine, feline, or elderly family member were in the car…but no, all your cars were empty.
About an hour later I find myself sitting in my silent, solar-charged, electric vehicle (a 2019 Chevrolet Bolt EV) in a bank drive-through teller line – again listening to the idling internal combustion engines all around me. I could not help but wonder if the drivers of all those legacy vehicles, at the recycle station and now at the bank, were aware of or even cared one little bit about how much fuel and money their highly inefficient vehicles were wasting while sitting there just idling…just burning up so much fuel and wasting their hard-earned money while blowing copious clouds of toxic life and climate harming exhaust effluent into our shared atmosphere…all while the fat fossil fuel pushers laugh all the way to the bank.
The biggest fact about idling that many are probably not aware of: When idling, your vehicle is getting ZERO miles per gallon. If that is not enough to make you rethink idling then check this out:
Now, please consider the following.
I have questions – lots of them:
Do the people who let their vehicles idle for extended periods care at all about the air they breathe? I’m sure most of them do, but maybe they are not in a place where they are able to upgrade to an electric vehicle. OK, I can understand that – I have been in that place.
Answer: Turn off your engine while you wait.
Do they want their children and grandchildren to breathe polluted air – the same air they are polluting by their inefficient transportation choices? I would say no, they do not want their kids to breathe toxic air.
Answer: See the previous answer.
Do they want to send their kids and grandkids off to fight wars over finite, polluting, resources? I sure hope not, what a waste of lives, resources, time, and money.
Answer: See the previous answer.
Are they at all concerned about all the money they are wasting by using such an inefficient fuel source? Many people are not aware of how much fuel/money is wasted by idling.
Answer: See the embedded video.
Are they hot so they need to run the air conditioning to be comfortable. In today’s ever-warming climate change-impacted world – yes, they may be hot. They may have children, pets, elderly/infirm people, and/or ice cream in the vehicle with them. Heat could harm these individuals/frozen confections.
Answer: Get an EV. They do not need to idle an engine to keep the AC/heat on. Their HVAC system runs off the traction battery and is far more efficient than idling an internal combustion engine just to run the HVAC system – and it does not pollute the air.
Have they ever thought about what they will do when the finite fuel source that powers their vehicle becomes harder to find* and eventually runs out? Will their legacy vehicle become a yard ornament, a monument to the energy sources of the past?..or will they sell it before its value bottoms out and it becomes a stranded asset. *When this happens these finite fuel sources will become far more expensive thereby creating even more environmental destruction and even more wars to acquire them.
Answer: They will either pridefully pay a premium to continue driving/idling their legacy vehicle – or they will upgrade to electric.
I do not fault most* of them because they are products of the culture we live in. Many are just living day to day, blissfully unaware that many things in their comfortable, predictable, comfort zone are not exactly what they seem.
They are complacent in their societal and self-imposed little boxes and they do not and will not step outside because their fear of change stops them. They are not bad people – just everyday good people who have not or can not try thinking about what their life would be like if they took the needed steps to make it better and made a change. Many of us find it very hard to change, and to think about tomorrow, even though change is the way of nature and tomorrow is all we have.
*The ones I fault for these problems are not the ones who created these technologies – they did what needed to be done with what they had, and without their ingenuity and resourcefulness, we would not be where we are today. The ones I find the most at fault are the ones who are intentionally trying to stop positive progress from happening, the ones who have loads of money and resources tied up in the toxic energy and transportation choices of the past, and those who promote the continued use of these toxic products that are harming all of us and all our shared futures.
Answer: Step up and step outside of your comfort zone. Change is the way of nature. Change is good.
All these things are most concerning to me.
These are only a few of the reasons why, a decade ago this month, my wife and I chose to make the switch to driving fully electric vehicles powered by locally sourced renewable energy whenever possible.
Electric vehicles use almost no energy when sitting still therefore: Driving electric = no idling = no wasted fuel, no wasted money, no polluted air, no degraded future.
Think about it.
Sadly, many still refuse to think about it or accept it so this is still many of us…
…but there is hope on the horizon.
Only you can prevent the next generation from becoming addicted to the finite and highly expensive* subscription to dependency that the big oil pushers keep pushing. *Expensive in out-of-pocket costs, environmental costs, health costs, energy security, and national security costs.
It is time to fight for our independence from fossil fuels. It is time to fight for a cleaner, healthier environment for our kids, and grandkids, for all our futures.
It is time to go electric and go distributed domestic renewable energy sources. It is time to kick the dirty old fossils to the curb and vote with your money by investing in companies and technologies that work to make a better future for us all.
These changes may take time, but as long as we are all moving in the right direction we are all doing good things.
The power of nature, of earth, air, fire, rock, and water, of the immensity of cosmic and geologic time…is beyond anything any of us tiny, insignificant humans can ever really contemplate or totally understand…but we can try.
When we climb a multi-million-year-old rock face such as Yosemite or Looking Glass, wade in an ancient living river like the New or Yangtze, fish a thriving estuary such as the Everglades, dive an ageless reef, explore the depths of a limestone cavern, hold a handful of beach sand from a New Zealand or Carolina beach, wander the sheltered rich coves of the ancient Appalachians or Amazon, or traverse the frozen expanses of the Columbia glacier….we see first hand the products of deep time and we must stand in awe and wonder at the power and beauty of nature and the incredible spans of time, evolutionary experimentation, gravitational and geologic forces that it has taken to arrive all of us–the luckiest survivors–at this moment.
You, the being science calls human, that is reading these words, you are alive, thinking, and understanding these words I am writing due to the millions of environmentally dictated successful mutations passed down in the DNA of millions of interconnected creatures stretching back through deep time to the first spark of life on this planet. You are connected through your DNA to me, to that fruit fly, to that houseplant, that snake, that cat, that bacterium clinging to your cat’s foot, the bird singing in the tree, the tree, the whale swimming in the ocean, and even the fossilized T-Rex buried in the depths of the earth…every creature, plant, bacteria, fungi…every living thing that is living and has ever lived on earth – you are connected to and are a part of them all–without all of them you, human, you would not exist. To know, to understand, and to accept this knowledge is just an amazing and incredible–and powerfully humbling yet upliftingly spiritual thing.
You are a way for life and the universe to know and contemplate its own existence.
This knowledge we possess is powerful, humbling, and could be very dangerous or extremely productive for all life on spaceship Earth. We must decide how we are going to use this knowledge – for “good” or for “evil.” The future of all life, all that is human, animal, and vegetable is in our hands.
Please, make good choices that benefit not just you and your “club” “group” “flock” “tribe” “clan” or “people” – but everyone and everything living.
Please learn and then teach your kids – or the “kids” of others if you are a teacher – about better ways to share, accept, relate, communicate, and coexist with each other and with nature.
Please share with them the workings of nature, art, music, and the sciences.
Please take them for long walks in the forest.
Please spend quality time with them and let them play, grow, read, create, make, do, experience, grow, and live for something greater than themselves.
I’m all about celebrating Independence Day, but I have never understood how blowing things up is anything more than intentional littering/sound/air pollution, a waste of resources, creates a huge fire hazard, and places unreasonable stresses on wildlife, pets, and people – especially those with sound sensitivity and PTSD. Here are a few ideas for a meaningful, lasting celebration of independence that can improve our communities, our country, and our connections with each other and with nature:
Plant some trees that will provide oxygen, shade, and sequester carbon. You could make it an annual tradition and call them “Freedom Trees” and over time you would have a “Freedom Forest.” If you and your kids planted fruit trees you could produce some of your own “Freedom Fruit” and before long you would have a “Freedom Orchard” – you get the idea.
Plant a vegetable garden to produce some of your own food. You could call it the “Freedom Garden” or as they did IN WW2 a “Victory Garden” – whatever you called it, it would be a great way to grow some of your own food and teach your kids where their food comes from and how to be more self-sufficient and therefore, truly free.
You could add some solar panels to your roof/property to lessen your reliance on coal and foreign oil and in doing so you would become more energy secure and self-sufficient by farming the sun and producing your own “Freedom Electrons” to power your personal energy needs – and if you installed more than you need – be an energy provider freeling giving other tthe benefit of locally-produced, clean, renewable electricity. .
You could trade in that old gas guzzler for a new or used electric car. If you only used it to go to work/town and back as a daily driver for even just a few times per week – it will save you loads of money on fuel, oil, and maintenance – especially with fuel prices as high as they are now – oh and you can charge it up with those solar panels I mentioned earlier and have zero fuel costs. True self-reliance comes when you are not tied to the grocery stores and fuel pumps – which are tied to corporate factory farms and oil fields in the Gulf of Mexico and the Middle East by several hundred to thousands of miles-long supply chains. Operating and protecting these supply chains – especially the petroleum “umbilical cord” without which all gas/diesel vehicles would be useless yard ornaments – costs all of us billions of our hard-earned tax dollars, the lives of our loved ones in the military who work hard and give their lives to protect it, and what about all the toxic, health, earth, life and future-destroying air, water, and future pollution that comes with every step of the process?For a moment just forget all your pre-conceived and/or religiopolitical notions about this idea and just imagine never, ever paying for gas and oil ever again. What would you do with all that money? Imagine quietly making your own clean fuel and energy at home and being able to unplug from your self-imposed subscription to dependency at the gas pump and the local monopolistic power plant and not needing to feed off of the ever-shriveling twisted teat of the greedy, toxic, destructive war-mongering, fossil fuel-based energy/economic system we have created over the last 200 years. There is a better way and it leads to true energy independence – I know how it feels because I have done it. I have been driving fully electric cars for almost 10 years and I charge them with “homegrown” sunshine so my fuel costs are around 1 cent per mile! I never stop at gas stations, and never worry about tune-ups, exhaust pipes, mufflers, catalytic converters being stolen, emissions inspections, etc…driving electric is an amazing feeling of freedom and it is a great feeling in every way. If I can do it, so can you.
Here is another good idea – what about eating less meat even if only for one day a week. Aside from the obvious health benefits, eating less meat means less land and resources will be used up for industrial animal farming – “Factory Farms” and all the horrible problems they create. If you just cannot fathom that move then maybe you can just raise or ethically hunt and fish for your own meat instead of supporting dirty, unhealthy, industrial animal farms. Like gardening, raising your own meat and hunting and fishing teaches the next generation where their food comes from, it teaches respect for other life forms, and it teaches self-reliance – aka freedom – and besides, getting outside in nature, be it for hunting, fishing, farming, gardening, planting trees, installing solar, driving your solar-charged EV, or taking a hike in the forest with your kids, family or dog or alone – is just so good for you and your loved ones and it is a great way to celebrate our country’s and maybe your own independence day.
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about why people believe in and follow ideas/”theories”/things/beliefs/systems/and people that:
Lack solid evidence to support that the idea/”theory”/thing/belief/system – actually exists.
Support people who promote ideas/”theories”/things/beliefs/systems that lack any supporting evidence.
Claim to be the only “way” and do not allow questioning or deviation from the ideas/ideals/idols of the “home team.”
Are harmful or potentially harmful to the believer, their loved ones, society, or the natural life-support system of the planet that supports them (often while making the leaders of their chosen belief system richer in the process).
Have these folks ever just sat back and asked themselves any of the following questions?
Is this idea/belief/thing/person/”theory” – actually helping me, or is it doing more harm than good?
Why do I believe in/support this idea/system/belief/thing/person?
When did I start believing in this idea/thing/way of thinking/person?
Who/what was it that brought me to believe in this thing/way of thinking/person and why?
Is it possible that I may have been/am being conned by a charlatan only out for propping up, profit, power, or prestige?
I have come to a few of my own off-the-cuff ideas as to why people follow these things – but I am sure there are many more.
Some people may just want to believe that they/their idea/belief system/their chosen path or person to follow is somehow special or mystically “chosen” above all other options.
Some may want to believe in things/ideas/persons/beings/”theories” because they feel small, inadequate, and/or insignificant – so they are looking for something bigger than they are, something or someone to give them advice or direction on which way to go in life, which path to take – someone that will take on the role of the father figure in their lives. On one hand, I can understand this because we are all just tiny, insignificant, ant-like beings when compared to the unimaginably vast grandeur of nature/the cosmos, and when we realize this humbling and mildling terrifying fact, it may help to have someone with more knowledge and experience to help us make sense of it all – as long as that someone is not a charlatan trying to take you for a ride and/or control/coerce you into doing something nefarious – or just give the troll all of your hard-earned money. On the other hand, not believing in yourself or your abilities to do your own research – your own ability to unearth the facts and the truth and just accept whatever pseudo-facts or absolute hogwash those you look up to are feeding you to make you feel better – well, that is just a recipe for absolute and total disaster.
They may want to feel special and/or in some way “chosen” and/or above all those outside of their “flock” that they have been tought to see as “outsiders,” “other,” or “lesser.” It is interesting to me that those within these bizarre groupings, congregations, and “clubs” are often taught that any individual/group/or ways of thinking that are “outside” of their “tribe” are conveniently labeled as wrong, bad, lost, lesser, infidels, unclean, or inferior and therefore not to be trusted or accepted…unless they pay to play – then, they are accepted and all is well within the “flock.” Bizarre.
Some people just seem to want to believe that there are all kinds of twisted conspiracies all around them.
Some people may want to feel like their chosen thing, person, or belief system has all the simple answers to all the complex questions – therefore, they have no need to actually try to think for themselves.
Some people may have deep tribal tendencies and whatever their chosen tribe does, whatever they believe, whomever or whatever they follow – no matter how twisted, bizarre, dangerous, destructive, or detrimental it is to themselves or their tribe or others on the “outside” – they will blindly accept it, believe it, and/or do it without question.
Some people seem to have been taught to fear the experts/authority and/or anyone with more knowledge than they have – especially if that knowledge involves them changing their way of thinking. This is an extremely dangerous way of thinking.
They may fear change and resist or refuse to adapt.
They may deeply fear the unknown and/or new things.
They may simply lack the needed knowledge to make the needed change and/or refuse to learn/accept the freely offered and/or easily available new knowledge – especially when that new evidence/knowledge is counter to what they have always held as the truth.
They may be comfortable with their position and do not want to step outside of their comfort zone and no amount of facts, evidence, or example presented by the experts or even others will ever convince them that stepping out of their bubble would be better for them….unless, the unthinkable/unbelievable reality suddenly happens to them or a loved one and finally wakes them up out of their toxic self-imposed mind fog…but by then it is often too little too late.
Examples of all of these misguided individuals are all around us.
Flat earthers
Moon landing deniers
Conspiracy “theorists”
Anti-maskers
Anti-vaxxers
Science deniers
Religious fanatics
Political fanatics
Racists
Homophobes
The twisted list goes on and on.
Don’t be a close-minded denier.
Open your mind to the realities and the endless possibilities.
Believe in and follow whatever you like if it offers you comfort, peace, guidance, advice, and/or genuinely helps you or your family/loved ones/others in need in some positive, measurable way.
But if your chosen way of thinking and believing requires you to hate/bully/harm/kill others, and/or serves only to cause harm to you, your loved ones, other innocent people outside of your chosen way of thinking/living, and/or your environmental life-support system – then maybe, for your own good and for the good of others, and of everything moving forward into the future – it is time you seriously rethink the ideas/”theories”/things/beliefs/and people you have chosen to follow and work very hard to purge, delete, and/or render extinct all those harmful ways of thinking and living from your existence.
Here is an idea: try letting peer-reviewed facts, evidence, and knowledge be your decision-making guide.
Choose wisely.
Do only good things.
Be the change.
Everything amazing is often found on the other side of fear.
This photo was taken on 11/16/2022 by a camera on the Artemis 1/Orion spacecraft on its way to the moon.
This is the first view of our pale blue dot of a water-soaked rock of a planet from this distance (~58,000 miles at this point) from a human-rated spacecraft since the Apollo 17 mission of 1972.
From this view, we see…
everything that gives us life and a future, everything we hold dear to us, everything that truly matters…
there are no countries, no dividing lines on maps, no walls, no human-created barriers, no labels, no division other than that imposed by nature.
All the things that divide us were created by us to divide us…all these divisions exist only within our minds.
These things we have fought over for so long, killed countless people over, claimed as ours – they just do not exist in reality.
In reality, what you see is what you get: a single, shining, incredibly fragile oasis of life in the ice-cold wastelands of space…a pale blue water-soaked marble giving all of us – the entire human family and all our animal, plant, and fungal friends – a place to share and call home.
Now is the time we stop fighting over what we should be sharing.
Now is the time for us to stop harming our only life support system.
Imagine.
Imagine what we could do if we all just worked together toward the common goal of a better future for us all.
It is a very sad fact that the toxic, tribalism-focused, divisive, narrow, me-first way of thinking that some humans practice is their prime limiting factor.
In the end, they will probably do themselves in (taking many of us along with them) as they cling to their ancient emotion and fear-driven ideas, ideals, idols, crystals, horoscopes, and divisive, evidence and reason-lacking ancient dusty tablets and texts – all while the real miracles come from the readily available peer-reviewed and often freely offered findings of science, application of engineering, and acceptance of reality.
Sad indeed but it seems this fact may be one of the ways natural selection is exhibited in the human species.
Another trip around the sun completed successfully.
Some perspective: On this day (July 15th) in 1968 I came into this reality – whatever this reality really is – and as of today, I have existed in this reality for 54 earth years.
Some perspective and observations.
I was premature so I had to cook in an incubator for a while until my body took over and I could support myself without the assistance of science and technology.
I was soon adopted by two amazing people Cathy and Clayton – who accepted me into their home as their own child. They later adopted another child in need and named her Lesly who then became my wonderful sister. She met Jonas and they raised two wonderful children – Cody and Ashlyn – who I just know will go above and beyond and do great things. I am lucky and proud to be a part of this family.
I was born in the middle of one of the times of the greatest scientific and engineering achievements humankind has ever experienced: the Apollo-era moon missions and landings…and, fitting the space exploration and cultural turbulence of the times, the first incarnation of Star Trek – my favorite TV series – was on TV…and it still is and all of its incarnations and I love them all for the messages they bring to all of us – if we have the capacity to understand and accept them and put them into practice.
I have been alive (whatever that means) for ~473,040 hours and accruing. I have orbited our closest star Sol 54 times. I have now traveled around 31,536,000,000 miles (50,752,272,384 kilometers) through space in an ever-spiraling circle around a rather remote and average little yellow star while riding on a water-soaked living rock along with you and over 7.9 billion other naked, bi-pedal, mostly hairless, multi-colored, fire and tool-using, thinking apes, and countless other amazing life-forms – while spinning at an equatorial rate of around 1000 mph (1,609.3 kph) while at the same time passing through the icy blackness vacuum of space at around 67,000 mph (107,826 kph) in our orbital path around the sun while also orbiting around Sagittarius A* the supermassive black hole in the center of our home galaxy at a rate of around 514,000 mph. At this rate, it will take me, you, our wet rock, and our star – about 229 million years to make one trip around the galactic center thereby completing one Galactic Year. And all of this, all of us, everything, our entire Milky Way galaxy – is traveling through intergalactic space at around 1.2 million mph (1.9m kph) relative to the cosmic background radiation.
Ponder it.
So far, I have had an amazing existence full of tons of excitement, exploration, friendship, laughter love, and light as well as periods of loss, pain, hardship, and a little bit of darkness.
I was here the last time Haley’s Comet passed by our pale blue watery rock of a dot in 1986 (and I plan to be here to see it again when it comes back around again in 2062).
I rode along in spirit and in support of every space exploration mission humanity has launched since I can remember way back as a 4-year-old kid watching it happen live (well, almost live since round trip communication time between the earth and moon is 2.6 seconds) on TV and then running outside in the yard to look up at the moon where the last Apollo astronauts were bouncing about the lunar surface in the early ’70s. I have since watched in awe, great appreciation, and hope as the space programs of planet earth sent many amazing interplanetary probes to the Sun, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Titan, Neptune, Pluto, asteroids, comets, asteroids, and more. I watched as the incredible Space Shuttles flew on huge pillars of flame and 15 nations set aside their differences to build the International Space Station – a castle of science, discovery, and international cooperation 249 miles above all of us in the “sky.” Today I am elated at the rapid evolution of non-governmental space exploration and travel organizations and I hope to see us back on the moon soon – and then sometime before I kick off – great shiny Starships landing on Mars. Go SpaceX! Just a few days ago I witnessed the mind-blowingly beautiful and deeply data-rich images from almost the beginning of time and space come beaming down to all of us overly encephalized hairy tit-sucking mammals living upon this pale blue dot from the incredible James Webb Space Telescope – and I look forward to seeing more that will come to us over the next 20 – 30 years and am so excited for how much the JWST’s imagery will increase our knowledge of our own cosmic evolution.
I chased nature and wild animals, first as a child for personal interest sake, and later in the name of science, education, and conservation of species. My favorites being the misunderstood creatures of the world such as reptiles, amphibians, bats, Opossums, and vultures.
On a few occasions, my body was invaded by festering armies of microscopic “wildlife” that tried to use me as a replicator for more of their kind and/or end me, and yet, my own immune system as well as the findings of many, many great scientists that came before allowed me to boost, augment, and bio-hack my body through the use of antibiotics and vaccinations thereby giving me a “force field of science” inside and out so I could continue awkwardly onward into the future.
In 2014 I came closest to feeding the soil, worms, and trees when a rather archaic and not that useful part of my internal anatomy (my appendix) malfunctioned and suffered a massive R.U.D. (Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly) – so I had it removed by a robot that was designed by science and piloted by a scientist we all call a doctor so I could continue in my present state of gangly existence.
In 2016 I had an encounter with a wild venomous serpent (Timber rattlesnake) who was only defending himself due to my accidental stupidity and, while I was in no danger of meeting my end – it did really hurt a bit and slow me down for a few weeks (yes, the snake still lives in the wilds of the forest ) The only way I was able to overcome this one without losing a finger and possibly suffering lasting damage to my body was through the findings of science. Yep, there is that science thing again. Ain’t it wonderful
This past year the current plague impacting humanity (SARS CoV2) finally caught up with me. It was no fun at all and took me out for a week or so but I recovered – again thanks to science and my science-augmented immune system.
On all these close calls (and many I have not even been aware of due to my science augmented/trained to recognize and destroy the “bad guys” immune system via all the vaccinations I have gladly rolled up my sleeves to receive since I was a small child ) I was given another chance at existing in this reality through the findings of science, miracles of modern technology and engineering…and possibly a little bit of some as yet to be discovered by science mystical energy field or omnipotent ancient and possibly extraterrestrial/interdimensional intelligence that, for some really disturbingly strange reason, many individuals/cultures/factions on the planet have coined many different names/stories/belief systems for – yet cannot ever seem to agree upon…and often even choose to childishly take sides, argue, fight, and believe it or not even murder each other over…so bizarre and childlike is the proudest monkey.
IMHO – if this intelligence exists – it is as far “above” us as we are “above” our closest relatives the Chimpanzee and Bonobo…or maybe the bacterium…or the virus. Whatever the case, I’m pretty sure that if it does exist it might be studying us as we study the animals…or the virus…and it cares not one single bit about our posturings on its behalf, the myriad of books we write about it, our childish bickering on who/what it is, who or what is “right” and “wrong,” who uses which bathroom, who’s skin is what color, who is “left” and “right,” etc. – just like we do not care about the comings and goings of bacteria and viral organisms…until they invade our personal space and become overpopulated…hmmmm…something important to ponder if you are able to see deep enough or large enough to ponder it…
At an early age, I became tired of all the factions telling me what to do, how to believe, how to think, how to live my life, and how to be a human – so I chose to follow my own path. I chose to listen to nature, to the evidence and logic and teachings of the wilderness, and to the findings and ponderings of the great minds and philosophies of history. Some may call me a “free spirit” – nice! – thank you! Some have called me “lost” – really, how rude! But whatever the case may be this is my path, no one can choose it for me and likewise, I will never try to force it on you or anyone. You must all find your own path.
I learned to drone a didgeridoo – so very ancient and cool!
I fell in love with a wonderful, beautiful, and intelligent human female called Marian and we settled down a bit…but not too much
A few years later I fell into a wonderful career inspiring, leading, and sharing nature, science, and reality knowledge with amazing at-risk youth on the connections, beauty, and joy of nature, wildlife, science, and life the universe, and everything.
While working to inspire tomorrow’s youth to better themselves by connecting with nature, wilderness, wild things, and to trust science and let it be their guide in life – I have connected with so many amazing human beings in my students and my coworkers – my life has been so deeply enrichened from my time with all of you amazing people and I am so grateful for all of you and your lasting contributions to your classroom and to my personal journey.
My incredible students, interns, volunteers, amazing friends Jim and Bob, and I all worked together over many solar orbits with many more amazing project supporters to build a photovoltaic solar power plant that benefits not only our classroom and campus but the entire local community with clean, locally-produced renewable energy from our nearest fusion reactor in space – the sun! Update: During my most recent solar orbit we all – and some wonderful and most-generous new friends – worked to create a solar-powered mobile outreach classroom called the SS NaSA PoD (Science Steve’s Nature and Science Adventure Pod of Discovery) – that will allow us to bring our nature, wildlife, and science messages to our students and to the region – so cool!
About 10 orbits ago my wife and I started phasing out almost all our connections to nature, life, and future-harming dirty fossil fuels. We have been driving mostly electric since 2013 and intend to soon go fully electric with most of our transportation, energy, and fuel needs coming from EVs and local renewable energy sources.
Just a few solar orbits ago the amazing findings of the science of genetics and DNA sequencing allowed me to connect with my wonderful biological father, sister, brother, and other awesome family members and answer many of the questions about my genetic roots and my connections to nature that I have had since an early age.
And now I find myself near the end of a global viral pandemic that has sadly ended the lives of many and upset the lives and plans of most. As before, I will follow and trust the science as I ignore all the other randomly repeated, vociferous, evidence-lacking, overly emotional, opinions and options and roll up my sleeve and gladly accept the expertly recommended vaccinations against this microscopic attacker (but I did still get the virus – only not as bad as some I know who did not or could not roll up their sleeves). I will continue to trust in science, even with its changeable and incomplete nature, to give me guidelines and support during this global human emergency. I hope you will choose to join me and in doing so, together, you and I will get through this thing – and hopefully, I will still be here to rewrite this yet again next year on this day.
Whatever all the facts and reasons may be, I am very glad to still be here on this incredible and sometimes bumpy but always interesting wild ride through the cosmos with all of you other crazy wonderful, and beautifully mixed-up mosh pit of humans and always wonderful animals.
I’m not sure where we are going or when, where, and why we exist – but wherever, whatever, whenever, and whyever – at least we are making good time and it has been and will continue to be one heck of a wild ride through the cosmos on this one strange rock we all call home.
Thank you all for being here and for riding along on this roller coaster called life with me Now let’s all take another spin around the sun together on spaceship Earth!
Improvise, adapt, overcome, evolve, survive, and thrive.
) The only way I was able to overcome this one without losing a finger and possibly suffering lasting damage to my body was through the findings of science. Yep, there is that science thing again. Ain’t it wonderful 
Stevo's Personal Blog 