By Joshua Eagle

Guest Writer for Wake Up World

Today, an epidemic of materialism and ego/identity illusion has spread like wildfire amongst all cultures in which capitalism has reached. It is interesting to note that when European imperialists first landed on the continent of North America and started taking “possession” of the Native lands, these native peoples looked at their fellow Earthly beings as having a mental illness of which was ever consuming to both the individual as well as the planet.

Yet what shocked the Natives most was not the notion that these new continental arrivals thought they could take possession of Earthly lands, rather it was that there clearly was no end to the satiation of the imperialists’ material conquests.

To say something is “clear as mud” isn’t complimentary. We prefers things to be logical, neat, and linear. The problem is, life doesn’t play according to our rules.

Light is the perfect example and metaphor for life; paradoxically behaving like a wave and particle—sometimes it passes through glass, sometimes it bounces off. Likewise, our rigid rules for life need to be traded in for a flexible approach; less like concrete, more like water.

Here are 7 paradoxical truths to embrace for a meaningful life:

1. To be and to do.

In the blue corner, Benjamin Franklin says “Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing;” in the red corner, Alan Watts says, “The meaning of life is just to be alive. And yet, everybody rushes around in a great panic as if it were necessary to achieve something beyond themselves.”

Both express important aspects of life. Watts is speaking against the rat-race that robs us of the joys of simply being present. Franklin highlights the potential we possess to leave an indelible mark—that great achievements are made by people no different to ourselves.

Source: www.themindunleashed.org | Original Post Date: September 3, 2014 –

Funding has just been secured to break ground on the world’s largest ocean current-driven power plant on the shores of Scotland. The plant is expected to supply the electrical needs of 175,000 homes once completed, with the initial delivery of electricity expected by 2016.

The first phase of the project will include 61 tidal turbines which will supply Scotland with enough power for 42,000 families...

Source: www.themindunleashed.org | Original Post Date: September 7, 2014 –

Do you really trust, or are you secretly expecting the worst?

Trust is act of choice to be brave, let go and move through fear and beyond to peace — to believe in the best outcome, without negative expectations based on the past.

Of course there are always opportunities in life for harmful situations and to get hurt, but that doesn’t mean you should spend it focusing on the fear of pain, waiting for it to happen or choosing to invite it into your life.

THE BRIGHT SIDE OF LIFE

Expecting the worst doesn’t protect us from pain, instead it projects a looming wall of FEAR  — of being hurt and disappointment, until it’s all we can see and all we receive.

Whereas looking on the bright side of life means you choose to focus your attention on joy, happiness, love and trusting in the beautiful way life always works out for the best when you let it!

Source: www.marcandangel.com | Original Post Date: March 8, 2013 –

You ultimately become what you repeatedly do.  If your habits aren’t helping you, they’re hurting you.  Here are a few examples of the latter that will steal your happiness if you let them:

1.  FOCUSING ON EVERYONE’S STORY EXCEPT YOUR OWN.

Don’t be so satisfied with the success stories of others and how things have gone for them that you forget to write your own.  Unfold your own tale and bring it to life.  You have everything you need to become what you are capable of becoming.  Incredible change happens when you decide to take control.  This means consuming less and creating more. It means refusing to let others do your thinking, talking, and deciding for you.  It means learning to respect and use your own ideas and instincts to write your passage.

“If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they don’t want to hear.” –George Orwell

Orwell’s 1984 is one of the most influential novels of all time. In it he predicted with uncanny accuracy our current state of affairs. Big Brother has become a metaphor for the surveillance state erected around us without our permission.

In a true democracy, one actually ruled by the people, such an entity would never exist. But since we live in an oligarchy, and more specifically a paranoid plutocracy, we the people have no say, except when we join together in solidarity. In this article we will break down the four main culprits of the mass surveillance state, using the four overreaching and insidious tentacles of Big Brother as a metaphor, and see if there’s anything we can do to overcome them.