What is the Goal of Human Evolution?

If we are able to enhance and/or engineer ourselves and/or our progeny what is the goal? To be stronger, bigger, smaller, smarter, faster? Do we want to live forever? Or is it to be happier, universally compassionate, more intuitive or insightful? Can these attributes be engineered? Will we find them on another planet?

We need to find remedies for our weaknesses. People who are sick or injured need to be cured or at least comforted. But I can't see that the end all and be all of human existence has anything to do with our physical existence beyond our physical comforts.

Broadly, the ultimate goal of human existence is happiness and that can't be genetically engineered or manufactured through implanted enhancements. I would like to have TiVo eyes as much as the next person. It would be a great toy but it is not the answer for my need to be happy.

http://www.businessinsider.com/humans-in-1000-years-2015-10

Unsolvable

Moral Problem; we are saving the weak and in so weakening the entire human race.  

Human evolution depends upon the weak dying before they reproduce and the reproduction of only the most evolved.  So what do we do with the lesser among us?

Capitalists' Adgenda

If it were possible to fill every job vacancy available there would still be people without a job.  How will those people support themselves?  Social Democrats suggest that the wealth of the working and just clearly rich, be spread around to feed and clothe those without a visible source of income.  Capitalists see no reason why the poor shouldn’t just starve or freeze to death.  Puritans see riches that one controls as sign of divine grace and starving and freezing to death proof of moral error.  Protestant ethic declares that riches are a matter of predestination.  But none of this addresses the problem of more people than jobs.  If there were more jobs than people the discussion would be different.  Until someone comes up with a way to create jobs out of thin air the only solution to the ‘more people than jobs’ conundrum is to reduce the population.  Limiting the number of children a couple can have didn’t turn out well in China.  And now they have upped it to two but I still don’t think they have it rite.  Until it becomes the socially responsible thing to do to have no children I don’t see the Earth’s population decreasing.

Capitalists see no reason to shrink the pool of working poor who take their underpaid jobs and put pressure on all of us to work for less.  The problems of the poor are not capitalists’ problems and hunger induces workers to withstand otherwise intolerable conditions for unconscionably low compensation. 

You are not God

If it is possible that there is a God, which is knowable to humans and that knowledge is based upon faith not merely knowledge learned as language is learned, from example and observation, then there is no reason to believe that the knowing of God could happen to anyone at any place without any prior knowledge of said God’s existence.  And that does not happen.

Could you, through faith and the sure knowledge of your everlasting spirit, know unerringly, that there is a God?  And in the absolute knowing of God wouldn’t you have to have some, possibly infinitely small, piece of God as part of yourself so as to know, rather than to believe or have faith in the fact that God exists?  Wouldn’t there have to be something within you that was God that was real for you, to unerringly know this ‘truth’?

Can and/or should we assume that God is rational?  And if we do assume that God is rational can we further assume that we would/can understand God’s rationale?

As finite beings, living in the infinitely small slice of time we call now, we are limited as to what we can comprehend concerning the infinite.

Anything that you are aware of is finite and therefore not God.

Vice and Virtue

Vice

immoral or wicked behavior.

synonyms:

immorality, wrongdoing, wickedness, badness, evil, iniquity, villainy, corruption, misconduct, misdeeds;

criminal activities involving prostitution, pornography, or drugs.

synonyms:

immorality, wrongdoing, wickedness, badness, evil, iniquity, villainy, corruption, misconduct, misdeeds;

an immoral or wicked personal characteristic.

Virtue

Behavior showing high moral standards.  "paragons of virtue"

synonyms:

goodness, virtuousness, righteousness, morality, integrity, dignity,rectitude, honor, decency, respectability, nobility, worthiness, purity;

 (In traditional Christian angelology) the seventh highest order of the nine-fold celestial hierarchy.

Why did some behaviors become labeled Virtuous and others Vices?  Vice, in general, is illegal but not everything that is against the law is considered a vice.  A vice, even when detrimental to no one but them self, is considered immoral.   Why are vice and virtue morality issues and not just legal issues?

Rationale

noun

a set of reasons or a logical basis for a course of action or a particular belief.

"he explained the rationale behind the change"

synonyms:

reason(s), reasoning, thinking, logic, grounds, sense;  principle, theory, argument, case;  motive, motivation, explanation, justification, excuse; the whys and wherefores "the rationale for offering wireless access was simple"

Vice has no need for a rationale.  Virtue needs a rationale.

Vice is understood without explanation.  Virtue needs an explanation (rationale) to be understood and followed.

Vice is obvious.  Virtue is convoluted.

Because we indulge we can over indulge.  Because we can save we can horde.  Because we can use we can abuse.  Because we can discern the difference between feast and famine we can be gluttonous.

If we cannot attain what we need to live we die.  If we can obtain what we need to prosper and reproduce there may be the opportunity to accumulate more than we need.  If we do accumulate more than we need then we have the opportunity to overindulge (engage in conspicuous consumption – gluttony – excess – extravagance – luxuries – superfluous – hording – abuse – pride – arrogance – egotism – vanity – arrogance – self-absorption) at the expense of others.  Without surplus there cannot be vice.  Without surplus and the ability to think symbolically there cannot be virtue.

Capitalists

The capitalists’ objective is to buy land, buildings, materials, tools and labor, combine them to manufacture a product they can then sell for more than it cost them to make and end up with enough profit to buy more materials and more labor and sell more of their product for a profit ad infinitum or until they have a monopoly on their market so they can simply jack up the price, to add to their profit without using capital.

The capitalists’ number one credo is; use as little capital as possible to make as much profit as possible.  To this end they will buy the least expensive land, build minimal structures, which they then fill with the cheapest equipment available.  They divide the work into the smallest and simplest segments so they can higher the least costly labor (the young and untrained, preferably female workers) who they then provide the absolute minimum education (on the job training whenever possible) who they then equip with the absolute bare minimum of tools and support.  Then they ask their laborers to work at the highest intensity they can manage (even if it is to the detriment of their health, hoping they will die, quit or be forced to quit because they can no longer do the job, before they have to be paid (as highly trained labor) a higher wage) and whenever possible they ask them to work without compensation or benefits.  And all the time wages are maintained at an artificially and unnecessarily low rate to trap the wage earners in their lot so they do not become independent and stop making profit for the capitalist.  The laborers are of no interest to the capitalist after they leave their employ so there is no reason to provide them with a pension.  And it is in the capitalists’ best interest to have a surplus of workers to compete for their jobs which help to keep the wages/benefits as low as possible.  Although the capitalist benefits most from the labor it is the labor class that is then taxed to support those that cannot support themselves and wait in reserve to jump at the chance to be underpaid.

Workers who understand the capitalists’ process/philosophy/credo, work for the highest wage they can with the best benefits.  They work the absolute minimum hours they must to maintain themselves and their dependents for as long as they can and they contribute as much as possible to their retirement.  They do everything within their power to be and stay healthy and refuse to do work that is a detriment to their health or life away from work.  They continue to work for as many years as possible to take advantage of the higher wages and benefits that seniority and well-earned skills afford them.  They never work without adequate compensation.  They demand the best tools, support and education available and they make use of these resources rather than doing other departments tasks.

We Are Not Equal

Living your life by the ‘golden rule’ is problematic.  No matter how you define your terms, and I don’t care what combination of physical, economic, mental, emotional, social, cultural and/or moral scales you use, no two humans can be measured and found to be equal.  We don’t equally desire, we don’t equally appreciate.

In general, idealistic terms, your treating me as you wish to be treated or my treating you as I wish to be treated seems like a very good idea.  But, there is a vast horde of people out there who treat themselves in abusive and/or masochistic or culturally and/or socially specific ways that I don’t want to have anything to do with.  And there are many, who I assume, believe that how I want to be treated is dreadful!  So I think the rule to live by ‘should’ be; “Treat others as they wish to be treated and let others know how you want to be treated.  And if you can’t do this, walk away”.

Your Tools Set You Free

In primitive times, when people were self-sufficient, all they needed came from the land they inhabited.  They took from the land and as they used the resources they took they gave back to the land what they did not use and their waste.  No one will argue that it was a perfect system where all the resources taken were returned to their original spot but it was close.  Now resources are taken from the land, shipped to the factory then shipped again to where they are consumed miles or even continents away and then the wastes are shipped to a land fill.  What was once resources rich land becomes exhausted and what was once pristine becomes fouled by waste.  So is the plight of modern humanity.

Before the age of capitalism, sometime in the 14 or 1500s, humans were dependent on their skills and the skills of those around them for everything from their clothes, food and homes to their safety, companionship and entertainment.  Each person was of value to themselves and those around them.  Now we are only cogs on a wheel or resisters in a computer.  We don’t rely on our neighbors and we interact more with electronics than humans.  We are isolated and ultimately replaceable.  We can change this.  We must escape our isolation and wasted, useless sense of self.

Value comes not just from the time spent to produce.  It also comes from the quality of the materials, the expertise of the crafts man and the dearness to the heart of the product to the consumer.  Skill may be the utmost of worth.  If I can produce a product of superior quality, in half the time it takes you to produce a similar product them I will ask more for the fruit of my labor than you do for yours.  And over time what I can do may increase in value or become valueless.

Capitalists need a surplus of labor to suppress wages.  If contraception and abortion were; without stigma, freely available and affordable, the number of unwanted and unsupportable children would decrease.  And so would the number of surplus workers that the Capitalists need to suppress wages and benefits.  The only path the labor class has to gain the upper hand on the owner class is to reduce the number of workers until laborers become a valued commodity, worth education and keeping healthy.  When laborers are a valued commodity, educating and maintaining the health of the labor class will become a priority for the owner class.  So long as there are more people then jobs there will be no change.

Capitalists want jobs to be so easy that education and a living wage are unnecessary and they want workers so common that the loss of many, can easily be replaced in short order.  As a result of these sentiments capitalists will never support a living wage, education, healthcare and birth control.

If I can make a profit off of something that you destroy (use up) on a regular schedule then my income is made secure.

Your Goal

How you behave is dependent upon your goal.

And your goal may very well justify your means, at least in your mind.

But before you begin your argument supporting your means, I want you to justify your goal.

If your goal is to create wealth it doesn’t matter what path you take.  Your choices will be determined by that goal, not the path.

If your goal is to deliver a product of determined quality then your path is determined by the product and its quality as is your goal.

So what is your goal?

I need to know so I can assess your path.  So I can decide if I want to be on the path with you.

And if I choose to be on your path, how do I wish to act.

We Can

If, in the production of all things,

we are satisfied with a goal of usefulness rather than perfection,

we can do all things.

Me

I am an improbable mote of dust    

that is not noticed

and leaves no trace.

Life is death's Conceit.

It is impossible for life not to exist, 

because it does. 

The universe exists and with it infinite possibilities.

Act as if you will get what you want.

Suicide is a quest for power, 

an attempt to gain control.

I fear those who put ideals before the lives of others.

Life is death's Conceit.  

As light is to dark, 

And hot is to cold, 

Order is temporary.  

I accept disorder and value light.  

In dying I succeed.

You do not need to be more than you are.

A story where everyone who reads every word of a very long book attains an insight that can only be expressed by them to someone else who has read the book.  They can’t tell anyone what they know and they can’t compel anyone to read the book.  So the story is about the coming together of those that have read the book and their relationship at the exclusion of everyone else.

You will make fewer mistakes if you think about what you are doing, 

not about what you are going to do next or what you have done.

We must learn from the past.  

We must plan for the future.  

We must act in the present.  

If you are depressed, 

stop thinking about the past and concentrate on what needs to be done in the present. 

If you are feeling anxious, 

stop considering what you are going to do in the future and do what needs to be done now.

If I spend 100 hours making a ‘things-it’ which no one wants then my labor is of no value.  If I spend 100 hours making a work of art that someone may want then my labor is worth whatever the buyer is willing to pay.  

If I spend 100 hours making a rope belt that most anyone can make then my labor may or may or have value depending upon how lazy and rich and gullible a suitable buyer is.  

If I spend 100 hours working for someone my labor is worth whatever we agreed I will be paid.

In all other animals strength/size determines possession.  

The largest bear gets the best cave.  

Humans have devised a way to invest objects with value so they can be traded.  

The richest human has the best house.

To what extent can we live off materials spontaneously produced by nature?

in itself (An-sich)

out of itself (Anderssein)

in and for itself (An-und-für-sich).

Perfection is the cosmos in a single point that does not change, 

a single point that cannot be divided 

and the empty void.

It makes no sense to think that an alien species 

(sentient individuals from beyond our solar system) 

would use their resources to come here and kill all humans. 

If all the want are raw materials 

and they have the ability to get to what we call Earth, 

they can also get to an uninhabited planet 

that has the same or more appropriate resources than can be found on Earth.  

And they can get those resources without opposition.

If they want to trade with us they are not going to wipe us out.

And if they want us as slaves they will make sure we survive.

Because my life could be worse 

I have hope 

and when all that is left is misery and death 

and all hope is gone 

I have life.

When I am confronted with a goal too large for me to comprehend, 

I do what I feel needs to be done, 

and I do not question the steps.

I am an improbable mote of dust that is not noticed and leaves no trace.

You Are Welcome.

My One Wish

If I had but one wish.  And in that one wish I could have anything at all.  I would wish that all who believe in an afterlife would be taken to something resembling there imagined afterlife immediately.  I would wish that they would disappear from this earth for all time, never to return.  And that no one who believed in an afterlife would ever live here again.

And if the meant that I would stand alone, as the only human inhabitant of Earth for the rest of my days then I would be OK with that.  And if it meant that there would be just be others here on Earth who believe that this is the one and only life they will ever live, I would take my chance with them before I would live as we do now.  Because I believe that the world would be a better place without gods, without belief in gods, without belief in a life after death.

We ain't so smart

Much like the difference between the linear processing used by a computer and the, let’s say ‘holographic’ thought process of the human brain, which has kept computers from out ‘thinking’, read that as processing if you like, us and kept us from having to recognize robots and their computer brains as anything close to human.  The Aliens that have the ability to get to Earth have no reason to recognize us until we get our physics together.  We know a lot about our physical world but a unified theory of physics isn't even on the horizon.  In comparison to alien life forms that have the ability to travel between galaxies we are in physics infancy.  It seems obvious to me that there is a level of physics understanding that has so far alluded us.

The interstellar Aliens may be keeping an eye on us but they probably don’t have to.  Once we figure out physics, come up with the unified theory and start inter galactic travel, it will be obvious that we have ‘come of age’. 

And there is no reason for aliens to ‘take over the Earth’ when there are millions, if not billions of unpopulated, habitable planets out there, for adventurous Aliens that have mastered intergalactic travel, that don’t have the pollution problems they find here.

If we end up killing ourselves off they may wonder down to pick through the rubble, but I doubt it.  ‘There’s nothing to see here folks.  Now just move along.’

Advise

Do not invest in the installation of mega electronics projects, because by the time they are completed they will be obsolete.

Instead invest in small tools that accomplish big things because they are very rare.  In general it takes big tools to accomplish big things.

If you don't like the way something is done search for small tools.

Metaphor

I have been reading "A Kierkegaard Anthology" edited by Robert Bretall.  It's just bits and pieces of stuff SK wrote, put more or less in chronological order, but it is an easy way for me to get a feel for what SK thought.

One selection in the anthology is titled 'Purity of Heart' and in it SK writes: 

"When a man meets his death by drowning, as he sinks, without being quite dead he comes to the surface again.  At last a bubble comes out of his mouth.  When this has happened, then he sinks, dead.  That bubble was the last breath, the last supply of air that could make him lighter than the sea.  So with that remark.  In that remark the last hope of salvation expired.  In that last remark he gave himself up."  

And in the next paragraph he continues:

"But this coolness is still more horrible: that, in the anxiety of death, a man should not cry out for help, "I am going under, save me"; but that he should quietly choose to be a witness to his own destruction!"

I was struck both by how SK described death without salvation and his amazement that it happens.  It seems to haunt him.

I hope you enjoyed my selection.

What If

What if there were no humans, no belief in the infinite, no passion?   Would god exist?  Is belief in god, god’s existence?  Does god exist because someone believes, because someone prays?  Is god’s existence merely subjective faith?  What does the existence of humankind mean to god?

Or is there an objective god and if so what purpose does faith serve?  It seems to me that if there is an objective, all powerful god which created everything, such a god would have had to have been here before time began and surely it would also have to continue to be here once time ends.  An objective, all powerful god should know everything, all that has ever been and all that will ever be.  Or is the objective god limited, evolving, just a more advanced expression of humanity?  And in all that this objective god knows, are there multiple outcomes for my life?  If so, this could mean that there are more outcomes than can be imagined by my, or any other comparably puny human mind.  Or does the objective god only know the one outcome of each life.  Is the single fate of every tree, every dog, every grain of sand, known?  What if your prayers do not amend the outcome of your life?  And if there is an objective god why is faith even an issue?  Why wouldn’t an objective god make itself known and stop sectarian violence?

If there is only one outcome for each life, why pray?  If you pray, you believe in free will and the power of prayer to influence the future.  If there is only one outcome for each life, is prayer merely an avowal of faith to a subjective god?  And if prayer is merely an avowal of faith in a subjective god, doesn’t god already know whether or not you believe and nothing is gained by prayer?  I understand why it is written that praying to a false idle is condemned but I don’t understand why ‘not praying at all’ is also condemned.  Is it because if no one prays, believes, has faith, god ceases to exist?

What if humans, as the only fully rational and self-aware creatures on Earth, are a mistake, an aberration, a miscalculation, a screw up, a fluke, an evolutionary faux-pa, a squinch in a world created for some other purpose, a destructive byproduct, a side effect?  What if rational thought is just an implied space, a side effect of something useful that is in itself destructive and/or counterproductive, an experiment gone badly, if you will?  What if the real purpose of existence is the balance of all life on Earth?  And what if it can only be recovered once all humans are gone?

What if we cannot know if something is true?  How would we know that we do not know and even cannot know truth?  What if truth is more or maybe less than just congruence between what we think and what we experience?  If we can know truth, how would we know that we do know truth?  If facts are true, are there truths that are not facts, subjective truths?  What if it does not matter if we know truth?  What if it does not matter what we believe?  What if it does not matter what we have faith in?

It is one thing to believe in or have faith in something that you know to exist, like “I believe the sun will rise tomorrow”.  But having faith in the absurd; in that which you cannot know to be true, cannot experience, cannot prove, is quite another thing.

One of Ten

"There are perhaps ten people who have the patience to read what I have expounded above, and scarcely one man in the kingdom who would take the trouble to compose anything like it; which last, however, in one way consoles me, for if everybody can do it, if the work is mere routine, contract-writing by the sheet, then it becomes precisely my merit to have done what all can do (this is the humiliating feature of it for the weak human heart), but which no one else cares to do." Soren Kierkegaard CONCLUDING UNSCIENTIFIC POSTSCRIPT TO THE "PHILOSOPHICAL FRAGMENTS"

Faith in the Absurd is Comforting

Believing in an omniscient, ever present being makes life easier.  Belief; steadfast, ever-present belief in god, is a subjective and unchangeable focal point that calms.  This focal point does not vary.  It does not change. It is the constant that can always be counted on.  Without this focal point, life is precarious, unstable, out of control.  Without this subjective focal point there is much to fear.  All can be lost in an instant.  Everything of value, everyone you hold dear can be taken from you without recompense.  In an instant you can be abandoned, alone without subjective faith.

Why Does Good Always Win?

Good people and the ‘good’ societies/cultures/communities, they make up, treat other good people as they wish to be treated.  This good relationship is the foundation for the community.  One outcome of giving others the respect they deserve is that it makes it more likely the respected people will do as asked without their compliance being dependent upon coercion.  An additional benefit to being good to others within your group is that it adds to the cohesiveness of the group.  Cohesive members of a good community are easily motivated, with honest facts, to the support of a good cause.

If you lead as though others are replaceable objects or non-rational animals; beasts, if you will, your followers will only do what you want so long as they believe doing so affords them an advantage.  Dehumanized subjects will not do as you ask for altruistic reasons.  They may carry out your orders for a bribe or maybe they will do what you want just for the payment of services rendered.  Once you run out of rewards, people who feel objectified and/or disrespected (you are not treating them as you expect to be treated) have no further reason to do as you demand.  The same goes for trading their work or goods for promises of power or valuable objects, they will only trade their services or goods for what you can deliver not just what you promise.

The advantage objectified people see, in doing what you want, may be their continued good health; you may be able to threaten them or their loved ones with social ridicule, unacceptable levels of anxiety, injury, or death, to get them to comply with your wishes.  But if they find a more powerful overlord they no longer have a reason to do as you ask and they may even exact retribution for the threatened or actual harm you have done them.

Oppressed people may find incentive to do as you demand in the form of a common threat you make them aware of.  The threat can be either real or something you have imagined, and if all you have to control them is this threat, once the threat no longer exists, either because a real threat has been overcome or because a fictitious threat has been revealed as existing only in your mind, your coerced underlings will move on.

A group motivated by coercion often takes the initial advantage because it is quicker to buy or bully followers into supporting a cause then it is to gather followers through the spread of true information and good will.  But coerced groups are unstable and fall apart as soon as the perceived benefit is gone or the leader is removed.

Coerced groups are very expensive to maintain, consuming far more resources than a group of altruistic, true believers.  A group built on truth and mutual respect is stable and can easily grow with little cost. A group built on lies and coercion, misrepresented facts or fantasy, is impossible to maintain for long without a huge outpouring of resources.

Bribes, threats, lies, punishments all can coerce people into action but they cannot buy ongoing, altruistic loyalty the way truth and respect does.  Negative treatment cannot induce the altruistic sacrifice of one’s life.  Against a coerced group that has a temporary advantage, the fight of the ‘good’ people for their ‘good’ cause, can prevail even if their numbers never reach the level of their foes because the good people will willingly fight to their death in support of the truth.

If the leader of a coerced group is removed the next in line will be difficult to select because the old leader’s ideology will become fragmented as the old ideology is reinterpreted by others and the new rules are made clear by the new leaders.  Once the old leader is gone the group will break off into small factions and those factions will go their own way.  On the other hand, who the leader of the true believers is, to a certain extent, is inconsequential.  The group is not fulfilling the leader’s goals; the leader is helping the group to fulfill their goals, regardless of what the leader may want.  True believers merely need an individual to organize the cause and in fact there may be no individual leader of the true believers.  There may just be a group of people chosen for their individual skills that guides the group to its goal.

There has never been and can never be a large, cohesive, and homogeneous group that is based upon class, gender, race, religious belief, economic standing or regional affiliation.  There will always be outliers, dissenters, egomaniacs and people who merely feel marginalized by the leaders.  There will always be people who do not fully support the ruling members of these artificially defined groups.  And if these outliers are forcibly removed, others, who were marginally aligned with the ruling class but now question that alignment, will also leave.  They saw value in the people who were removed and they will shy away from the powerful because of their act of violence against people who some believe have done nothing to deserve such harsh treatment.  As the ruling class becomes more cohesive this shedding of marginal members will continue until there is a full-fledged revolt or the ruling class may become the minority and then they can be removed or made irrelevant by the new power elite.

The only principles that will never disappear are those built on facts and the humane treatment of one person for another.  And to the extent that respect for each individual is extended to all of humanity the group following these principles will grow and prosper.  Think of it this way, if you belonged to a powerful group and the leader killed or at the very least, censured or banished someone that you felt close to.  Someone you knew was basically a good person, would you feel safe?  Wouldn’t you feel like you were also in danger of exclusion?  Would you follow or even want to belong to this group when you have every reason to believe that you could be next to be purged?  When one group of people or the leader of a group treats a good person as an object, it threatens everyone in the group, and no one can feel safe.

There are present-day examples of societies built on fear, like North Korea.  It is a totalitarian state where even the relatives of the leader are not safe.  And there are other examples of the abuse of good people, such as the LGBT community in Russia, India and Uganda, where they can be imprisoned or killed for their sexual orientation, or even their support of the LGBT community, it’s the law.  There are other examples of abuse in the Far East, Middle East and Africa, where women and female children are oppressed, abused, mutilated and murdered, legally, it’s the law.

My point isn’t that there are no, nor have never been any, abuses of human rights, or even that today, there are none in our country, I’m not so naïve as to believe that or that there will ever be a time when all individuals treat others inhumanly.  I am trying to build a case for the eventual demise of all inhumane leaders, groups and societies.  Slowly, very slowly, the oppression of minority beliefs, individuals and groups is withering under the global scrutiny of those who treat all humans with dignity, who treat all humans as they, themselves wish to be treated and then expect just treatment for others in return.  In this day of instantaneous, global, electronic media; local, abusive laws, rules and customs are coming under review by the free world and the oppressed are gaining recognition as people who are not being treated as equals.  The marginalized people within these communities are seeing that there is a path to freedom from oppression because they see others being respected and they are speaking out against their inhumane treatment and that of their fellow citizens.

When I treat you as I wish to be treated I give hope to every oppressed person who observes my actions.  And when the oppressed see my actions they begin to believe that they too deserve, and can someday get, respect and the opportunity to live in peace.  When our leaders speak out against inhumane treatment and support equal treatment for all, they give hope to all the oppressed who hear their voice.  And those oppressed people will fight for equal treatment for themselves and more importantly they will fight for equal treatment for their children and grandchildren.

The global expectation of equal treatment for all will come.  Not today or tomorrow, not this year or next year.  I do not expect it in my lifetime or my children’s lifetime or even during the lifetime of my grandchildren.  But humane treatment for all will come.  Before this happens many people will be imprisoned.  Many people will die.  Many people will be tortured.  Many, many people will be abused.  But this inhumane treatment does not go unnoticed and in the end, the good people who treat others with respect will win the ultimate battle as they always have won the lesser.  And in this new era where the humane treatment for all is expected and enforced, attempts to start new, abusive cultures, where one group treats another as objects, will not and cannot come into being, from the ashes of the old.

Everyone who reads this knows the qualities attributed to the angles from above.  And most have been asked to respond to the ‘angles of their better nature’ if not by Lincoln then by someone.  This means you become a calm, joyful person, who turns to the person next to you and then you treat them as you wish to be treated.  This is all it takes to be a good person.  It is simple, but it is not easy.

All life is not sacred.  Cows are not sacred.  Trees are not sacred.  But your life must be sacred, to you.  A person who respects their own life is powerful.  The relationships you make and maintain ARE sacred and stronger than any bonds that are coerced.

If you want to protect a tree from being removed climb it and live in it.  Your relationship to that tree demands it.  If you find a stray and you want to save its life.  Do so, and have a relationship with that stray that demands that you now honor your relationship.  If you go to war and you want to save the person next to you even though it puts your life in danger of paying the ultimate sacrifice, do so, how you feel about yourself demands it.  We must honor our own life and what we choose to do with it but we can’t impose our life’s needs on others.  Each of us must find the best use for our time on earth.

Good people always win, because they have mutually observed, sacred bonds with others.  Bonds built on trust and value.  Value your life.  Value the life of those around you and you will be on the side of the good.  And you will help good win.  If you break sacred bonds you will be alone.  No one will trust you.  And you will be lost.