Unpeeling the Onion

It's holy, damnit. Don't touch it.

So, Life Is Like ....

Life is like an onion. I have enjoyed peeling away at the different layers and reporting my discoveries in my blog. Each time you peel away one layer, you never know what to expect next: secret societies, conspiracies, evolution ... it's all here, man.

The rise of the Internet has really made it easy to peel the onion. Now, all you have to do is sit at your home computer and you are exposed to millions of ideas from people around the world. Surely, this will make the world better, because I believe that the more ideas you are exposed to, the more open-minded you eventually become, well, at least for some people.

Sometimes when I peel the onion, the things that I find please me; other times they shock me. In addition to surfing the web, I read newspapers, books, watch educational TV, and listen to National Public Radio (NPR). Of course, NPR and Public TV are my brain food, and a great source of mental substance for our nation, so it's no surprise that some conservatives are wanting to cut funding. It is in the best interest of the Establishment to keep America dumb, and a great job they are doing.






Maybe I will get to the core of the onion and obtain the answers to life's mysteries in my lifetime. Maybe I won't. All I know is that it's been fun trying.

They Shall Smite You

It has come to my attention that there are various interest groups that do NOT WANT you to peel the onion. They don't WANT you to find the answers, because they know that what you find will challenge the religious-government-corporate establishment. Worse yet, they don't want you to discover their dark secrets, which may make you think differently about them. Hell, they don't even WANT YOU TO THINK!

To the five or six of you who might read this blog, I encourage you, I challenge you to PEEL. PEEL, baby, PEEL! Don't be afraid of what you might find. Just keep peeling until you get the answers.



THE YELLOW CANARY SPEAKETH: Gosh, I mean, who am I: just one homely, pathetic human trying to make it in this world. I just have to remind thee that the whole point of my posts and my blog is that we have to start THINKING DIFFERENTLY in order to survive. The path we is now heading on is "unsustainable." The problems I warn thee about may now seem far off and distant, but they is coming, and you ain't going to like it. But we have a chance to change our course now, but you just have to CHANGE, and, well, humans hate CHANGE. They like to think the same and behave the same, even if everything else changes, thus making their outdated thinking the means to their end.

Does any of this make sense? It don't make sense to me neither.

The Theory of Infinite Divisibility

The Galaxy

Okay, the picture above is our home—the Milky Way Galaxy. It is really big. But let's go in the other direction for a moment.

What happens when you get a piece of bread and keep cutting it in half hundreds of times? Eventually, you get to the atoms, the electrons, the quarks, and so on. The fact is, matter has no end because everything has to be made of something. Thus, matter is infinite.

Going in the other direction, the Universe appears to have no end, and even if it did, the walls would have to be made of something, and what would be on the other side of those walls?

See my point? We humans live in just one segment of an infinite continuum. Matter is infinitely small and the Universe is infinitely large.

Now, I believe in the Big Bang theory, but who created that little subatomic particle that exploded 20 billion years ago to create our Universe? Only a supernatural being could have created something from nothing, thus I believe in God. But I also believe that everything in the Universe is chained to the laws of physics. If we can't explain something, that doesn't necessarily mean it's supernatural, only that we haven't figured out the physical law yet.

We humans, who share much of our DNA with a common earthworm, have huge brains, and so we are trying to unravel the mysteries of the Universe.

Religion

It's easy to attribute supernatural stories to all the mysteries of the Universe. After all, humans have done that for thousands of years. But it appears that our religions have "evolved." Ancient Egypt was the great intellectual incubator of religion. Because the great Nile River automatically rose each year to water their crops, the life of the early Egyptian was comparatively easy and he or she had more time to ponder the mysteries of our existence. The creative Egyptians came up with ideas like an afterlife, one God, and things like that. Over the years, the neighboring Hebrews borrowed many of these ideas, and the Jewish splinter group known as Christians developed these ideas even further.

So, what are you saying?

I know, I have to keep everything in my blog related to the topic. So, how do I tie this in? I guess by saying that just like the domain we exist in is infinite in size and time, so must our thinking be. We have to start learning to think infinitely, without preconceived restrictions.

The Theory of Evolution

So, just like life has "evolved" on our Planet, so has our religion, government, and institutions. When things get to the point where they can comfortably survive, they just stop evolving, no matter how ridiculous or irrational they are. Look at some of the freaky creatures in the animal kingdom. They got to where they could survive, so they just stopped evolving. The same holds true for our government, which is based on ancient principles (not all bad), and the same is true for our religions, which grew intellectually and philosophically to the point where they took on a life of their own, yet they also froze in time. So, several billion people on this Planet are confined by ancient religions that are like self-perpetuating organisms that use fear of the unknown, guilt, habit, and various built-in tools to stay alive. Those who challenge these religious organisms are marginalized, ignored, and sometimes murdered. It is like an immune system that destroys harmful bacteria.

The Mission

The mission for all of us humans is to challenge the old systems that have stopped evolving, hold us back, and even threaten to destroy us. This takes courage but it is necessary because a new model is needed to survive on our overpopulated, polluted, and compromised Planet. If we do not destroy the ancient beliefs that control and intimidate us, then those beliefs will ultimately destroy us.

As I've said before, I call this new thinking the Sustainability Movement. It's all about reinventing our culture, breaking out of our restrictive shells, and looking at our lives in a whole new way. The Old Way no longer works and really, as I've said many times before, we are floating down a river in a barrel, and the waterfall is very, very near.

From author David Pratt, excerpted from a 1996 edition of Sunrise magazine:

Physical particles can therefore be thought of as concentrations of an underlying, continuous ether. But the ether is only relatively continuous. Further analysis would show that it, too, is discontinuous, and these particle-like discontinuities would be concentrations of a deeper, subtler ether, which in turn is relatively continuous, but actually consists of even finer particles, which are in turn concentrations of an even subtler ether, and so on, ad infinitum. Thus as we move from our own distance scale beyond the Planck scale towards the infinitesimal, there is no reason to suppose that an absolutely bottom level of matter, consisting of absolutely homogeneous particles, will ever be reached. Between the two abstract limits of the infinite and the infinitesimal, there is a limitless number of concrete, finite systems -- atoms, planets, stars, galaxies, etc. -- each existing on a hierarchy of planes, from spiritual to material, and all their constituent grades of substance are composite, divisible, and inhomogeneous...

Tribute To Granny D

Not long ago I read from the Declaration of Independence in the Capitol Rotunda in Washington. I was arrested and jailed for doing so. As I thought that was a violation of my free speech rights under the Constitution, I went back and read from the Bill of Rights. That landed me in jail, too. I felt freer in that jail, because I had spoken out as a free person, than I have ever felt in the open air. And I am not finished being a free American, whatever happy costs await me. I do not know what is in store for you. But I know that courage is freedom, and freedom is joy.
— Granny "D" Doris Haddock, famous Canary and unsuccessful 2004 candidate for U.S. senate;
excerpt from a graduation speech given at Hampshire College


Granny D gives me hope.




One of the Greatest Canaries

I remember in 2000 when Sister Canary Granny D came through Atlanta as part of her cross-country walk. She was conducting the walk to raise awareness about the need for campaign finance reform. Unfortunately, I couldn't get off work that day, but several of my friends walked with her through the city. At the time, she was 89. More recently, she went on a 22,000 mile tour to encourage working women to register to vote. A lifelong activist, one of her early accomplishments was to help stop the planned use of hydrogen bombs in Alaska in 1960.

What Message is Granny Trying To Tell Us?

Granny ran for Senate last year, walked across the country for, and has given many speeches on a simple message: our nation’s leaders have been corrupted by special interests dollars and no longer represent the interests of their constituents.

What I admire most about this great woman is that she is this little old lady who is now 95 years old, and someone you would probably not notice at the grocery store. Yet, she has shown that even in the late years of your life, you can still do great work and send a powerful message to others. Her grace and determination are an incredible encouragement to me. When I get frustrated and annoyed with crazy humans, I think about Granny D, Julia Butterfly, and other great heros who continue to make this world better.

I know that I am not destined for greatness, and I have no interest in assuming that role. But what I do think I've been called to be is an Encourager. If I can encourage, support, and inspire some other individual to do something great, then I have completed my mission.

As for me, my goal is to be the greatest nobody that the world has ever seen. I do not care about fame, money, social status, or prestige. Besides, I have far more respect for the elderly black man who cleans my office every week than I do for some yuppie in a Lexus, with paints far too tight, and who's throwing a tantrum because his hair is messed up.

The greatest people in our society are those who are the least among us: The ones who have suffered, the ones who have acquired a beautiful humility. If we would take a moment to get to know them, to learn from them, and to befriend them, our lives would be deeply enriched.

Respectfully submitted,

The Yellow Canary

My 100th Posting

When I was about 10 years old I found the books about Tarzan ... and fell in love madly with this glorious lord of the jungle. ... That was when my dream crystallized. ... Everybody laughed at me ... but eventually I got to Africa. And over the 45 years of ... study, the most striking thing is we now know how like us chimpanzees are. We even share 99 percent of the composition of our DNA with them. Their brain is more like ours than that of any other living creature. ... They have intellectual capabilities that we used to think unique to us. Nonverbal communication, kissing, embracing, holding hands, patting on the back, swaggering, shaking the fist, throwing rocks. Family bonds that persist throughout life, and life can be over 60 years. ... We realize there is no sharp line dividing us from the rest of the animal kingdom, it's a very blurry line. And it leads to a new respect, not only for these chimpanzees, but the other amazing animals with whom we share this planet.
— Dr. Jane Goodall, primatologist and founder of the Jane Goodall Institute


The Battle Ahead ...


In my last post I talked about the great struggle we will soon face between the fundamentalists and the progressives. I mentioned that living sustainably on the Planet will require a new way of thinking. The quote above, by Canary Sister Jane Goodall, provides a perfect example. See, religious folks get offended when you call them a "Monkey's Uncle." But, the truth is that monkey's REALLY ARE our uncle. Now, this is a radical statement that really upsets people, because we Humans like to think we're superior, but really, we're not.

I know you are probably saying, "Well, God probably created us both with nearly identical DNA to save time." Now, I believe there is a supernatural element in the Universe that helps to create the magic of life. Yes, I believe in God. But the point is that we are by no means "chosen" or "superior" to the other animals — we are just one of millions of species that inhabit this Planet. Just by chance, we have larger brains. However, we are also the most destructive species the Planet has ever seen. For instance, we destroy 78 million acres of rainforest each year, which is about the same area as Poland.* So, PLEASE, don't go telling me how great humans are. We are not "GREAT," we are despicable creatures. But as soon as we start acknowledging that we ARE an animal, and as soon as we start respecting OTHER animals, I think things will begin to change.

Now, again, this is what I mean about a big battle, because people will scream "blasphemy," "heretic," "sacrilege," and every other Biblical control word that they can find. I am sorry. It would be nice if the Creation Story were true, but regretfully, it is not. DNA is the "smoking gun" that I waited 10 years for to decide how I was going to define my religion. Sure, you can ignore the dinosaur bones, you can ignore DNA, and you can continue on your blind path. But by doing this you are only insuring the destruction that your conservative religion predicts. Now, isn't that irony ... that your blind and stubborn faith may be the means to your end?

I am not anti-religion and, again, I strongly believe in God. But when a religion prompts people to act in a damaging or self-destructive fashion, then something is very wrong. Someone has to have the courage to challenge the system. Some denominations are reforming and adapting to the new millennium. Other faiths, regretfully, are stubbornly holding on to an ancient and illogical belief system. Many people feel that if they compromise any tenets of their faith, then their entire religion will be compromised. If you can't take the Creation Story in Genesis literally, then, yikes, how can you pick and choose what is literal in the Bible and what is not? This is a real and difficult problem for the faith community. Once again, some will just rationalize away the DNA similarities with other animals by turning on more faith. The more irrational the beliefs are, the more faith you must have to believe in them, and thus, you are trapped into a clever control system.

*** Happy 100th Posting! ***

Today marks my 100th post. I started my public journal (blog) around this time a year ago. Over the past year, I have spilled my heart. I have tried to put in writing the observations, revelations, and moments of epiphany that have come to me in the past 12 months. I have also written about and quoted from many Yellow Canaries around the world that I admire. Sometimes I have let new thoughts out that scare me, because I know there is no turning back from the religious conservative Republican that I once was. Something just snapped in me eight years ago and I still don't know exactly what happened. Some say I was brainwashed, but I am convinced it's the other way around. I do know that all of this was bottled up inside of me since age 15 when I first had my epiphanies. For 22 years, from 1975 to 1997, my realizations just sat there. The problem is that I didn't understand them, and I couldn't articulate them. All I knew is that after being alive for only 15 years, I already knew that something was very wrong. I started to sense that I lived in a world that was completely interwoven with dozens of lies — lies that created an artificial reality. By age 22, I REALLY began to suspect that something "wasn't right" in our world. I guess it took me another 15 years to unpeel all the layers of the Great Onion of Life.

Do I have peace? Heck no. Am I 100 percent certain of my new discoveries and realizations? No. But it has been a fun and fascinating journey. I do know that serious waterfalls are ahead, and I often wonder if I have the courage to stick with my new convictions. This new direction isn't easy and it is scary, but I'm not sure if I can turn back now. I'm not sure if I can capture my genie and force it back into a bottle.

All I know is that the Iraqi war is wrong, that our institutions are broken, and that humanity is heading in a direction that will lead to a horrible end. But I do have hope. Why? Because there are hundreds of Canaries like me who realize that we must make hard decisions now because we love our children. Eventually, I believe that the Canaries will begin to move the boulders of our failed religions, governments, and corporations. Once they are moved out of the way, we can continue on our path toward sustainability. Again, it won't be easy, and as soon as we clear one obstacle, we will hit another. But we've GOT TO KEEP MOVING FORWARD. By golly, we just got to!



A Thanks To My Friends And Fellow Bloggers

I want to thank my activist friends and fellow bloggers who have given me positive feedback and support this past year. I really haven't gotten much response to my blog, and sometimes I feel like I'm screaming in a big, empty room. But I have gotten a few great comments that have provided new insights and missing pieces of the puzzle. That is the beauty of keeping a public journal. Much to my surprise, I have not received any flames from angry right-wingers. I imagine they look at my blog and have the same reaction that I have to theirs — yuck! There is definitely a great divide between the free thinkers and the guardians of the past, and right now I have no idea how to bridge this great divide. However, my Canary door is always open to any opposing thinker who is courteous and civil. If anyone wants to have a discussion on the issues, I would enjoy and welcome this.

Sincerely,

The Yellow Canary


*Rainforest Action Network

The New Movement Begins!

.. We are entering the third era of the environmental movement, which is about finding sustainability. The first began with John Muir and was devoted to preserving wild places. The second was characterized by fighting pollution. Now we’re facing global problems like climate change and making the transition from fossil fuels to renewables...
— Lisa Renstrom, newly elected Sierra Club president

What Joy...

I was thrilled to see this message from the new president of my beloved Sierra Club. From what I've read, she has a similar vision to my own. The Yellow Canaries are rising to high positions around the world, and the Great Movement has begun!

I love the idea of the Third Era of the environmental movement. But it's more than that. The Sustainability Movement is also about peacemaking, reinventing culture, and creating new ways where we can all live comfortably, be happy, and not harm the Planet in the process. Sure, it may seem like we are light-years from this goal, but everyday I see little baby steps where humanity is moving forward.

Of course, there is a ferocious battle ahead between the sustainability activists and the fundamentalists and those who enjoy privilege and comfort under the current system. We are seeing this very battle take place in Iraq. The progressives are trying to build an new nation, and the religious fundamentalists as well as those who benefited under Saddam's regime, are resisting.

Big Battle Ahead - Sustainability Activists vs. Fundamentalist Religionists and Corporate Profiteers

This struggle will mostly be a political battle, and a struggle for people's minds. Mother Culture as we know it needs major changes, and this is going to make a lot of people unhappy. Since we Canaries do not support violence, we will mainly be martyrs.

In the end, we will have an exciting new world. How lucky we are to be alive during this time. The Industrial Revolution and the Cheap Energy Era are coming to an end and today I welcome the new Sustainability Era.

We will learn to live together in peace, and we will learn to respect nature, which is the most visible evidence of God's magnificence. We will use clean energy, we will work from home more, and we will tear down our borders and bureaucracy. Most importantly, we will learn to use the one attribute that makes humans special — love. Yes, we will even learn to love again, unconditionally, and sincerely.

The Final Backlash

What I've seen in America the last five years has been a total regression from the goals of sustainability. But I believe it's like a horror movie — the monster always comes back to life one more time and runs amok for a brief moment, and then it keels over dead. I think the post 9/11 years have really been dark years for our country. There is so much lying, twisting of morals, and hypocrisy, all aimed at protecting the so-called "American Way of Life" as well as protecting outdated and destructive ideals. The United States could have used 9/11 as an opportunity to reexamine ourselves, restore international goodwill, show humility, and try to make things better in a positive way. But, no, the very worst came out of our nation.

Join Me...

I ask you to join me on this new movement. As for me, I'm moving my office to my backyard to get one car off the road. I've greatly reduced meat intake, and I'm learning to be happy with the material possessions I have. These are all ways we can reduce our "footprint " and impact on the Earth. I've also tried to make a difference in a dozen other little ways. In addition, I believe that all of us have a duty to "give back" either through giving or volunteer work, and I try to do both.

In 2003 I started a sustainability website, yellowcanary.org . I know there are already sustainability websites out there, but I figured the more web sites in operation, the faster we can raise the world's consciousness.

Again, I am seeing evidence that the Movement is taking off. The new Sierra Club president's remarks above are evidence of this. Today, I feel really good about what I believe in and stand for. In 1997, I knew something was wrong but I couldn't put my finger on it. I left my church, where I was an ordained ministry leader. I knew in my heart that something was amiss in our world, and I began my journey. I have never once regretted this decision, never looked back, and I am at peace with myself (well, almost).

Since our American lifestyle cannot be sustained indefinitely, in effect we are borrowing resources from future generations. This is unfair to both our children and the natural world.
— The Yellow Canary

Well .... sorry

I Capitulate




This comes from Brother Canary Günther:

I tell you, there is no recognizable difference between a human and a chicken embryo. What makes an animal of the human species and an animal of the chicken species lies singly and uniquely in their genes. The human gene set, only slightly different from a worm gene set and 98.5 percent identical to a chimpanzee gene set, is peculiar only by its potential to express genes leading to this bulk growth of neural tissue on one end of the body called brain. That capacity to grow a brain has at least as much been a curse to the planet and its inhabitants as it has been a blessing (I may argue it was more a curse than a blessing; it surely was no blessing for any species except a small group within the human species). I warn you. Don't allow Christians to take over politics and the moral code of humanity...

Well, okay. DNA is another reason why this whole religion thing needs to be tossed out the window. The gig's over. We need to stop playing warm fuzzy games and, instead, we need to start smelling the coffee. While the religion thing was once handy for explaining the mysteries of the Universe, it ain't working well anymore. Rather, it has become a destructive force that may very well bring the end to humanity. Really, there ain't much difference between an Islamic fundamentalist and a Christian fundamentalist — both are trying to desperately hold on to the past, even if it means destroying civilization. I mean, really, there is not much difference between the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran. Both nations are willing to allow their fundamentalist elements to drive humanity into the ground, all for the sake of an ancient religion. In the next few decades, the fundamentalists will present the biggest challenge to the Big Brained Creatures (BBC). I mean, personally, I don't care if we religionize ourselves into extinction or not. I mean, what the hell, we certainly deserve anything that we've got coming.

And when we do become extinct I imagine, heck, maybe dogs will become the next dominate species. Maybe by an incredible freak of nature (well, that's exactly how evolution works) some big-brained dog will emerge. I mean, they've been domesticated for 30,000 years, so they really have the hang of things. So after the warmonger George W. Bush and the Iranians, and the North Koreans, and the terrorists nuke out and dirty bomb Mother Earth, well, a few dogs will survive and they will take over the planet.

Oh, what? That's not what the Bible says? Well, really, in a way, "yes it does." Sorry, folks. The end will not be pretty, and the end is soon, probably within this century.



I mean, really, I don't care if you continue to play your game, maintain your steeple social clubs, and believe that your myths are going to take care of everything. If you think you are going to be playing the harp, petting lions, and singing gospel hymns for trillions of years, okay, keep playing your game. I mean, I really, really don't care anymore.

I tried to warn ye, but no one listened. We have to do our little religion thing every Sunday morning while we drag ol' Mother Earth down. We have to play our game, even to the point where it doesn't make sense. Yeah, OF COURSE God planted all those dinosaur bones in the ground to test your faith. OF COURSE! Of FUCKING COURSE!!! Go ahead and keep playing your game. I really don't care. When I croak, just throw my carcass in a dipsy dumpster and be done with me. Because I don't care. You won. You got your right-wing corporate tit sucking president reelected. You got your war. You got your gay bashing laws passed. You got your stem cell research quashed. You got your abortion regulated. You got your right-wing fanatics appointed to the courts.

What more the hell do you want? What more do you need to assure our death and destruction? What more do you need to assure the misery of the disenfranchised? What more do you need to justify your tired and irrational religion?

YOU WON! I am used to being the minority now. I am used to being the loser. Honest, I really, really don't care anymore. The generation that disagreed with me is the generation that destroyed me. You, by your zealous, irrational religious convictions, stole the future from my two daughters, whom I love with all my heart. You took it, man. You spread the lies, distorted the truth, and made your little war, where poor Americans are promptly sent to die for an immoral, fat, and corrupt nation. You hold all the cards in your hand, and you played them.

So, go to your holy churches, sings your songs, and relish in your victories. For the hand that makes war will also be the hand that kills you. Play your little religious games while you can. Time is short.

Respectfully,

The Yellow Canary