Happiness Tree

How the Absence of Hope is Contributing to a New Culture of Hate.

The terrorist attacks we have just witnessed in Brussels are shocking and I wish I could tell you that the worst is over, but I cannot. I have listened carefully to two very different groups on the subject of jihadi terrorism, politicians and intellectuals and the intellectuals have it right. Politicians will have you believe that there is always a military solution. That through the use of boots, bullets and bombs, we will one day restore peace and of course, even as I write it, the entire concept flies in the face of logic. Violence begets violence and even if it were possible to kill every individual who claims membership in one particular terrorist organization or another, a new one is already forming or will form to take it’s place. 

This “Western” approach to conflict is akin to the Western medicine: rather than seeking to understand the root cause of illness,  it devises toxic interventions to defeat the invader. The problem is, this solution is often worse than the original malady. The patient may in fact die from complications that arise from the very strategies intended to restore health. 

A more holistic paradigm is however gaining favor among those who study the formation and evolution of human conflict and they are revealing how in the absence of hope and happiness, radical ideas can easily take hold. To illustrate the simple logic of this idea, let’s assume you have volunteered as a mentor to troubled youth. Your first assignment involves a young man who has recently joined a local gang. He was arrested and his mother, unable to reason with him sent him for special counseling. As luck would have it, you’re a particularly talented counselor and are able to gain the boy’s confidence. He begins to tell you the steps that led him to seek involvement in criminal activities. Here is what he tells you:

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“My father left home when I was 10. I have no siblings, so to keep me busy, Mom bought me a game console to play with after school, which she was at work. The gaming kit came preloaded with some boring stuff and I lost interest pretty quickly. But then a friend brought over this cool one that was like a realistic war scene. He and I would be on opposing sides and we were killing each others forces. Each time I hit one of his men, there was lots of blood and screaming. I loved the power. 

Then I ordered even more intense games over the internet. I was throwing grenades and setting off bombs. People were getting blown to bits and I couldn’t stop. But then Mom saw that I wasn’t doing my homework, that I would spend every possible moment on these games and she took them all away. Suddenly, I had nothing to do and I missed the action and excitement. Then i saw some guys at school, they looked tough and strong, everyone was afraid of them and they seemed to enjoy the way they effected people. Girls were always wanting to be around them and even though they looked mean, I imagined they were having more fun than anybody.

So one day, I got up the nerve to walk up to one of them during a lunch break. I was afraid, but then also excited, I didn’t know if he would hit me or think I was cool for being brave. To my surprise, he was really easy to talk to and his life story was similar to mine. His Dad was an alcoholic and his Mom was confined to a wheel chair. He had been pretty much on his own since he was 12. Like me, he never really had a family and then he found out about this gang and kind of started hanging around them.

One day, they told him he could join, but the would have to pass an initiation. He said it was really hard and painful, but afterward, he felt really strong and manly and his new family embraced him. They said “man, you’re one tough mother fucker. We really gave it to you and you kept getting up. You’ve really earned a place in our gang. From now on. we’ll always have your back. No one will ever fuck with you again. You’re one of us now”. He said, “It felt so amazing, finally someone liked and respected me”. 

“That’s what I wanted and so I joined as well. It solved so many problems. I was never bored anymore, because my homies were always doing something cool, stealing cars, planning attacks on rival gangs, having parties and orgies. I had my first of many sexual encounters at one of these parties. They even paid me out of the money they made selling car parts and drugs. For the first time, I had my own money. I wasn’t stuck at home anymore, thinking what a boring, fucked up life I had”. 

Several weeks ago, one of our homies was attacked by a rival gang and it was bad. They stabbed him in the neck, cut off his ear, burned his hair and kicked him in the balls and stomach, over and over. He was in the hospital for days. Our leader, Jack was totally pissed because not only was this guy one of ours, he was  also Jack’s brother. He was bent on revenge and we began planning how we were going to fuck them up.

That was the first time I saw a real gun. I held it in my hand and loved the cold heaviness of it. I loved the sound it made when you cocked it and loaded the bullets. We went to a firing range and practiced and it felt so natural, like I had been doing it all my life. And in a way I had, because of those video games. I knew how to aim and what the recoil felt like. Even the sound was familiar. But the smell of gunpowder was something new. It was so sweet to my nose, I couldn’t get enough. My homies were so surprised how well I handled the gun, they told me “you’re going to nail those fuckers, they haven’t got a chance against you dude!”. It made me feel so powerful and important. I went home that night and dreamt about killing all of them. I wanted to do it for Jack. I wanted him to like me. I wanted him to be like the big brother I never had”. 

But then Buzz, one of our guys got cold feet. He got scared and went to the police. He told them that the gang was plotting a revenge and they had guns. One day, they showed up at Jack’s house with a warrant. They found all his guns and the names of the guys he was going to hit. He got arrested and they forced him to tell them all the other people that were involved in the gang. That’s how I ended up here. I wasn’t charged with anything, but they forced me to enter youth counseling to keep me from getting in more trouble.  

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Now, imagine this same young man, four years later. He is now 19. He cannot find a job, he has no positive male role models, he has dropped out of high school and he spends his days playing video games or getting into trouble. One day, while surfing the internet, he finds a video about making money “fighting for justice in Syria”. They offer any man or woman who wants to join, free plane fare, adventure, glory, riches, brotherhood and advancement in the “new world order”. He’s not educated about the conflict in the Middle East. He doesn’t listen to the news or read the paper, he has no idea what is really going on there, hell, he barely knows what day it is. Why should he care? He has no future. Suddenly, this video offers everything that seems unattainable at home…. and he signs up. 

This is the typical profile of young men, who by the thousands, are leaving home and heading for conflicts in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. We are witnessing now that these radical conflicts act like a vortex, drawing in directionless young people through the use of social media and once there, they are brainwashed through a well orchestrated indoctrination process and if they live long enough, they begin to adopt the persona of a jihadi fighter. They are loathe to return home to the land that they now reject as the part of the world where “the infidels” reside. Even if they are able to leave and rejoin their community, they are forever changed. They see the world differently and are unrecognizable to their friends and family. It is a tragedy of incalculable proportions and it appears that our current strategy is only serving to intensify the magnetic effect this conflict is having on our youth. What can be done? 

As with all campaigns of deception, any brainwashing process involves sympathizing with a vulnerable individual's plight, by laying down certain truths One such truth is that the world economy has been severely damaged by greed and mismanagement and those at the bottom of the economic ladder, namely the poor, lower middle class and especially young men, see no prospect for a brighter future. Another truth is that men have become increasingly insignificant in Western society. Women are exceeding men in college enrollment and graduation rates, they are willing and able to take on and excel in the new global economy, which emphasizes communication and networking, where as the skills that men intrinsically bring to the table, those that involve strength and manual dexterity are becoming obsolete. The products upon which our civilization relies are now being manufactured cheaply in Asia. They are so cheap in fact that when they break, there is no point to pay a worker to fix them. It’s easier to just buy a new one. 

With no vision for a way to earn a living, dating, marrying and starting a family must seem like a rite of passage that is closed to them. To say nothing of the fact that they themselves may have been raised in a broken home. Then, along comes one of several terrorist organizations vying for their attention. They promise friendship, family ties, prestige, responsibility, meaning and purpose and most of all a way to take revenge against the status quo. And let’s be honest, when it comes to providing jobs, a living wage, opportunities for advancement, adequate access to food, shelter, health care and education, many countries get a failing grade. In response, a revolution is quickly building, but unlike revolutions of the 60’s and 70’s that attempted, unsuccessfully to address racial and income disparities, young people are no longer taking to the streets, looting, throwing rocks, blocking streets, fighting with police and getting thrown in jail. No, theirs is a quiet revolution, one that takes place in bedrooms and libraries throughout the world. One that is inspired by images of power, glory and opportunity via the very nexus of communication that was ironically intended to unite the world: the internet. 

How then can we rid the world of this pernicious threat? Politicians will tell you we can spend our way to safety, by going after the bad guys and killing them. But honestly, the “bad guys” are being recruited faster than they can be killed. And even if it were possible to kill everyone in a given organization, another one that already exists or that quickly forms will take it’s place. The threat does not come only from one group or another, but rather from a broad based and growing anger about the increasing disparity between the haves and the have-nots. 

Therefore the solution to this problem doesn’t lie in exporting military might to far-flung regions of the Middle East, but rather committing resources here at home to create real opportunities for each and every individual to succeed. Spend more money on our crumbling infrastructure, repairing roads, bridges, railways, tunnels, water mains and sewer systems and train young men and women to participate in that renovation, paying them a living wage as they learn. 

Improve mental health screening for children and young adults to identify those at risk of going on to either commit crimes or join gangs and terrorist organizations. Place a rating system on violent video games similar to those instituted in the past to protect children from explicit movies. Games with an X or XX would be unable to be sold to children under 18. 

And finally, reinstitute the draft. Yes, the draft, but not to serve overseas and perhaps be killed in a senseless war. Rather to join a new National Guard, whose mission will be to provide protection for schools, libraries, hospitals, parks, playgrounds, government buildings and cities. While our police do an admirable job of responding to crime, their mandate does not include prevention. If we were to embark on this ambitious campaign to remake our cities, provide equal access to food, medicine and education to all youth and families, it would still take many years to reverse the tide of discontent we are now seeing rise up against us. Even under the best of circumstances, these acts of terror will continue for several years and we need to have a plan in place to keep our children and all citizens safe. That will involve maintaining a military presence at all public venues and institutions. Accomplishing this will require a huge influx of manpower and the only way to provide that will be through conscription. But unlike sending Johnny or Janet to a Afghanistan, Iraq or Syria, from which they are likely to return in a box or wheel chair, service in the National Guard would provide discipline, camaraderie and real world problem solving skills in their own town or city, while paving their way for future success in any number of chosen fields of study provided by the Guard. 

Yes, I know we are all loathe to see officers with semi-automatic weapons guarding the entrances to our schools and institutions. But becoming a victim of a terrorist attack in our own neighborhood will be an even more difficult pill to swallow. And from what we have just witnessed in Paris, it is very likely that one or more terrorist groups are right this minute, planning to do just that somewhere in the United States. 

Don’t be soothed into an unrealistic sense of security by believing that the right president or the right military approach will keep terror from our shores. It is coming folks and the road to a more peaceful world will not be paved through attack and revenge strategies, but by providing would-be jihadi’s a better future at home than they think they will get by fighting with ISIS.  

- Shane Mathias

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How You Can Vanquish Apathy Through Innovation

The Truth of Interconnectedness Provides Valuable Insight

There is emerging science that now is validating what teachers of ancient spiritual traditions have been trying to communicate for centuries: that we, our bodies, our actions, even our emotions and all creation inhabit one fluid dimension. A dimension which Max Planck called “The Matrix”.

No this is not the stuff of Tom Cruise movies or Hollywood special effects, but there is no doubt that many of the concepts for that script were inspired by Prof. Planck’s early work in the area of Quantum Physics: a term and field of study that he pioneered.

Our western religious teachings and even past scientific perspectives held that each of us is a self contained entity, separate and apart from everything around us, save God. From this mindset, we have built a civilization that operates on the concept that competition and conflict are a necessary part of human life.

Darwin taught us that survival depends on being the strongest and that ideology has permeated every aspect of human interaction. We have observed in society that a desire to control rather than cooperate breeds conflict, which begets violence. Eventually revenge becomes the only objective.

 

In the corporate and political world, the relentless drive for supremacy compels governments and companies to break laws and behave in an immoral fashion, putting peoples health, financial security, even their very lives at risk, to achieve greater profits or hegemonic control over their constituents. 

But this chaotic existence is in opposition to everything we are now learning about how the universe operates. The most desirable result of these discoveries would of course be humanity evolving to live more harmoniously-like the seamless field of energy that we now know is holding all existence together. 

As individuals though, we have little power to control global affairs directly. Competition over precious resources, economic prosperity, arable land, water, energy, religious ideals and even living space have made our planet smaller, causing disparate cultures to rub elbows and struggle for supremacy.

But that doesn't mean that in the absence of a collective epiphany, there is no hope.

How can we then, as individuals, begin to incorporate these exciting developments into our lives to achieve greater effectiveness and happiness? 

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By reorienting our relationship to world events 

from one of apathy to one of innovation. 

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For those of you who were born to the Millennial generation or are even younger, you may never have known a world without computers, the internet, phones and texting, etc. But rest assured, the world of global communication was once very different and it wasn’t that long ago.

 

 

In the 1970’s and 80’s, when I was collaborating with a friend across the country to write songs, I would record my guitar and voice on to a cassette tape and mail it to him.

Now of course, we can use Skype and send our performance “real-time”, from screen to screen. And while I can now save ideas and images to my computer, the songs and poems I was composing as a young man now live only in my library as aging reminders of a bygone age. An age when the only ways to document your thoughts were either through the use of pencil and paper or typewriter. But thanks to intrepid visionaries, like Steve Jobs, a completely new paradigm of recording and communicating thoughts has been woven into the fabric our lives. 

Other such (now-a-days, ubiquitous), technologies that were not so long ago only the stuff of science fiction movies are digital cameras, cell phones, all electric cars and solar-powered homes. Yes, we now all accept these as mundane realities, but they would not exist if not for the creative thoughts and actions of people no so different from you and me. 

My point is, it is possible for one person or several people working together, to change the world. Your life represents a microcosm of the creative power of the universe and when your ideas and passions are focused into one intense beam of effort, amazing things can result.

But you don’t have to be a Steve Jobs or Elon Musk to make a difference. You can use innovation to influence improvements to your home, your company or your community.

Conceive new ways live more sustainably with Nature. Drive less, use water and other resources more thoughtfully and most importantly, find a patch of terra firma where you can begin to cultivate life. Our incredible planet is endlessly productive and with a little help, every place on Earth is capable of supporting plant and animal life. 

My girlfriend and I have patch of land the our backyard that was once barren, with the exception of some opportunistic weeds. We decided to turn it into a garden, which was no easy task. First of all, the land is sloped, so any water applied to plants there, would result in wasted runoff. So we had to use a terracing technique, as old as the Gardens of Babylon. Every culture throughout history that has been faced with the challenge of sloping land has devised a similar solution.

It took about 6 months of intense labor and a fair amount of materials, but now we have 16 fruit trees, a vegetable garden, grapes, berries and a new vantage point from which we can enjoy the setting sun every evening. From the Earth’s bounty, we now create delicious meals, preserve fruits to enjoy later or give as gifts. And through the maintenance of our little farm, we attain all the exercise and sunshine we need, while strengthening our relationship though the enjoyment of a shared activity.

This too is innovation and though small in scale, it has the ripple effect of influencing all those who witness or benefit from the effort. 

The take home message here is: Pour your love and care into some sacred creation and watch your efforts bare the fruit of abundance and satisfaction. Regardless of how big or how small, it is through this change in your perceptual relationship to Nature, in all it’s magical and mysterious perfection, that you will begin to discover hope.

Where there is hope, apathy cannot survive. 

-Shane Eric Mathias