every year i say, why can't we take all the money from one year's worth of fireworks and have health care? thank you for what you said.

A good example of this personal choice in action is the tax breaks system in the UK (and tons of other places too) where you can choose to, instead of paying tax to the governent, put your tax liability into certain charities or film projects. Its a little complicated accounting wise far as I know - but not impossible. Something deffo worth looking at at least for folks with big tax bills...sure beats nuclear warheads.

And in reference to the Bill Hicks quote (f*cking love that guy) - how tragic is it that they're winding down space shuttle missions? In so many ways we're getting more backward not more progressive.

bill hicks pretty much put everything best

i may have been overly passionate about the herd metaphor.

bill hicks put it best on taxes, war & freedom in the early nineties. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkZQ2Fx1j9E&feature=related


in case youtube should not be compliant i transcribed the most important message:

"here is what we can do to change the world right now to a better ride:

take all that money we spend on weapons and defense each year and instead spend it feeding, clothing, educating the poor of the world. which it would many times over not one human being excluded and we can explore space. together. both inner and outer. forever. in peace."

"you are free to do as we tell you"


so let me go ahead and tickle you all individually.

hmmm...i agree the herd mentality can be dangerous, but i also have experienced (as we do here on hR at times) the "third mind" that is created when brains start humming in unison. john lilly even proposed that 6 people working together was optimal, b/c the largest brain on the planet , the blue whale's, is equivalent in mass to 6 human brains.

seems to me, phenomenon can be defined as either bad or good, depending on who perceives it.

also venns, the idea that all herds have "a leader" is incorrect. i live on a sheep ranch, sheep are herd animals, but there is no leader. they react as a group when there is danger, but no individual is in the lead. and geese trade the leadership spot, alternating when the front flyer gets tired.

so yeah, people can be dominated by group mind, or liberated by group mind. like most things, there's more than one way to see it/experience it/define it. and (i notice) paradox tends to contain the most truth in the fewest words. :-)

very eloquently said. i will have a think on that and get back to you.

ps: i am my own president. and sometimes i hold
reellections just to prove my point: i am not the
boss of me!

venns the world needs great examples... not leaders. We self govern everyday with our individual actions. My point is... the apathetic choose to give away their personal freedoms in the form of tax dollars to fund alternate agendas for the sake of what they consider to be safety and security under a government rule. "He who sacrifices freedom for security deserves neither" Benjamin Franklin

Society sterilizes personal accountability for where their individual tax dollars are used. Out of sight out of mind. They create a system which allows for no separation of how your funds are allocated -then- they threaten you with "pay your taxes or face chaos and anarchy" The weak need a government.

If we are to create a utopia here on earth - we must prevent empowering the leaders which seek to create organized chaos with their politics and ideals. This takes personal material sacrifices and removal from the status quo capitalist way of life. Do you personally visualize capitalism in heaven? Does somebody micromanage your actions up in the city of the clouds... NO It's a place of sanctuary from agendas and pogroms. The only thing preventing us from bridging the two dimensions is our actions as human beings.

You may say I'm a dreamer... but I'm not the only one. :)

<3 Shadow

Who's president are you?