Natural Balance Dog Food Coupons

hi there. heading to work, huh? gotta’ hurry! ever feel like you’re a little too rushed? huh?

Natural Balance Dog Food Coupons, or that your skills aren’t being fully utilized? well… we all have to make sacrifices! sacrifices? yes!.. to… the system.

to… our leaders. sir, do you know what a cult is? it’s a small group of people… not necessarily, cults can be huge, there’sno upper limit on their size. um…i guess… you might even be in cult yourself. me? no….no no

but if you were, would you know it? of course! at least, i think so… what about people who are born into a cult,do they know? well, that’s just sad. someone should educate them! just imagine, being born into a cult and nobodyto tell you. it’s terrible! and would they even want to know?

oh dear. just think of it. when people are born into a cult, their identityand worldview are hijacked by sophisticated symbols and rituals. they are raised and trained to see the worldas the cult wants them to see it. their understanding of themselves and theirvalue in society is shaped continuously and exclusively by cult programming, which isimplemented using basic psychological techniques: they don’t make a full disclosure aboutwhat they are and how they operate. they want you to think that they’re on yourside, and working for the forces of good.

the truth of the cult must remain hidden,because if you discovered it, you would leave them any attempt to question the teachings of thecult will result in punishment and being labeled as an enemy. anyone thinking for themselves will be threatenedwith deprivation of privileges, and loss of support from the group. relentless indoctrination drills beliefs intothe members. lies are repeated until they’re acceptedwithout question, and members become willing to kill, or die, for the group.

cults isolate their members to prevent themfrom forming a balanced worldview. this begins by persuading members to ignoreany views that conflict with theirs, and then becomes the outright banning of such information. cults need outside demons and boogiemen tocreate group cohesion. this shifts focus away from rational decision-making. members are kept frightened and focused onexternal threats, preventing them from clearly thinking things through. all of this is done for the benefit of theleaders. cults rely on the narrative that “what’sgood for the leaders is good for the group.”

all cult members are expected to work, suffer,sacrifice, and even die - for the leaders. marge, when i join an underground cult i expect a little support from my family! dad, do you think you might have been brainwashed? i have not been brainwashed. kill the girl. this film makes the argument that the modernwestern dream is built on, and maintained by, the fraudulent concept of materialism;a philosophy that has not only been discredited by science, but that also leads to a degradationof the human experience - by eroding our relationships

to each other, and to our environment. the argument is not that people who aspireto the western dream are inherently bad, it is that they have been systematically deceived,seduced and brainwashed into believing the lies of materialism, and coerced into complyingwith its demands. getting to this point has been a long, slowprocess, taking thousands of years, resulting in an unsustainable system of self-imposedslavery in which individual identities are shaped by illusory notions of ownership andcontrol - stripping people of the happiness that comes from meaningful and cooperativerelationships with fellow humans, other living creatures, and the larger systems that makelife itself possible.

so just how did we become snared into thecult of materialism? how did we transform from a group built oncooperation and partnership with nature, into a gang of violent, money-hungry individuals? how did running with the pack become dog-eatdog? "say hello to my little friend!" (screams) from the beginning, people’s primary problemhas been scarcity. the experience of lack drives a desire toharness and master natural systems, to make them work for us, to overcome scarcity, andlive in abundance.

the urge to acquire necessary things beyondour basic needs began as a natural survival instinct - we were planning for the futureand playing it safe. with the development of irrigation and therise of cities, the average person’s life got easier. extended roads and trading networks made materialgoods more available - but only in abundance for a privileged few - the leaders. from the beginning of human history, therewere only a handful of conspicuous consumers. luxury always had a secondary purpose - todistinguish the leaders from the followers. social classes begin to take shape, and dividethe haves from the have-nots.

the idea of “poverty” was born. the poor were kept in line, forcibly at firstby the local authorities. "come and see the violence inherent in the system!" "help help! i'm being repressed!" later, they were controlled psychologicallyby emerging religions - which allowed for the maintenance of social order in an unjustsocial system. all of the major faiths have historicallyplaced community above the individual, and emphasized spiritual virtue over materialpossessions, which were seen as a temporary vanity of earthly life, as opposed to thehereafter, believed to be superior and everlasting.

when religion was the dominant social influence,it reinforced the masses’ willingness to be satisfied with the bare necessities. frugality, not self-indulgence, reflectedthe wisdom of the ages. because after all, what really mattered forthem was life after death - not opulence and decadence here on earth. but, after millennia of wealth and materialabundance being either unattainable or forbidden, everything was about to change. no!! god!! no!! god!! please no!! no!!

no!! noooooo!!!!! the creation of gunpowder revolutionized warfareand land conquest. the introduction of the printing press ineurope exposed people to ideas other than those presented in the bible. innovations like the magnetic compass allowedeuropean ships to explore the world. when new trade routes opened up, a new classof merchants and entrepreneurs discovered ways to exploit people’s desire for worldlygoods such as coffee, sugar, chocolate and silk.

this booming business fueled the rise of banksthat financed and profited from these global journeys to exploit the world’s riches. the bankers and merchants became so wealthythat they overtook the kings, now lending them the money they needed to fight theirwars and maintain power. the bankers and merchants made it sociallyacceptable to consume in excess, and began to flaunt their wealth. improvements in the manufacture of lensesfor reading glasses led to the development of the telescope. gravity was soon discovered by observing theorbits of the planets around the sun, and

this led to the formulation of scientifictheories describing the laws of motion. while discovery, invention, and economic growthwere generally welcomed, conservative thinkers didn’t trust the social changes that oftenaccompanied such advances. organizations like the church and the aristocracyclaimed that any change to the traditional way of living might lead to disaster. of course, they feared losing their privilegedpositions of wealth and control. "i did not make myself king..." "god did." "king by divine right."

but, church leaders and monarchs who claimedthat their authority was based on a divine right from god abused their power terribly. eventually, these abuses prompted philosophersto reject claims of religious authority as being based in myth, and fueled the rise ofthe physical sciences in what is known as the age of enlightenment. in this period, reason, observation and theexperiments of scientists such as copernicus, kepler, gallileo and isaac newton, mergedwith the philosophy of empiricism. thinkers such as john locke and david humebegan arguing against abstract notions of mind, and in favor of the primary propertiesof objects.

this all combined to usher in a purely mechanicalmodel of the universe. belief in this overall worldview, or hypothesisabout the nature of reality, as purely physical, with random operations giving rise to increasinglycomplex systems including life and consciousness, is called “materialism”. this view freed the individual from moralconstraints, and allowed for an unlimited accumulation of wealth under the guise of“legal ownership” - backed up by the authority of a court system, which itself favors thewealthy, since the best lawyers cost the most money. materialism promotes and justifies the pursuitof selfish pleasure, since the universe is conceived as being nothing but a collectionof physical objects anyway, devoid of any

higher ethical order - and this promotes anattitude of “the one who dies with the most toys wins.” by 1776, the year that the united states wasborn, one person would capture the spirit of self-interested individualism in his book“the wealth of nations”. adam smith argued that self-indulgence workedas an economic driver that would make everyone wealthy. the best way to encourage economic growth,smith argued, is to unleash individuals to pursue their own selfish economic interests. smith provided the model for an economic system,based on false materialist assumptions, that

would begin to take over the world. the fate of the modern era was then sealedwith the invention of the steam engine at the beginning of the industrial revolution. during the 19th century, it began to looklike scarcity may be overcome. personal wealth and the trade it promoteddrove an unparalleled economic boom. giant factories were built to provide thegoods that society now demanded. the industrial revolution powered a continuingemphasis on materialism, and the cult became our culture. mountains of manufactured goods began to appear.

cheap stuff that more and more people couldafford. it was all very seductive. everyone began to abandon sustainable relationshipswith the natural world and sent their kids to work in factories. young children were actually sold to millsand became their property. many died from malnutrition, fatigue, anddiseases such as brown lung. abundance of consumer goods meant scarcityof concern for each other. it wasn’t just the production of consumeritems that was revolutionized by factories and mechanization; the process of acquiringgoods was itself transformed.

"you are a true believer" "blessings of the state." "please forgive me." "blessings of the masses." modern stores began to open in the 1800’s,and shopping became both a necessity and a respectable leisure activity. department stores offered a wonder-world ofmaterial luxuries, and presented shopping as a replacement for relationships with nature. stores became the churches for a new religion,the cult of materialism.

and there was one country in which this cultwould become a complete way of life. by the early 20th century americans had thehighest personal wealth in the world, creating huge new markets. enterprising business people realized thatthey could make a fortune producing luxury items that even the average working personcould afford. new factories based on the assembly line processmade cheap cars available to the masses. in the 1920s, ordinary americans came to believethat affluence was their birthright, thus materialism became an integral part of thewestern dream. it began stimulating and manipulating people'sdesires through advertising, sowing the seeds

of greed and envy. creating temptation and seduction became justas important as providing the consumer with information. "let us be thankful we have an occupation to fill." "work hard, increase production, prevent accidents, and..." "be happy." the high priests of advertising turned to thescience of psychology. one of the pioneers was edward bernays, knownas the father of public relations. he was fascinated by the theories of his uncle,sigmund freud, who believed that if you understood

what motivated people at a subconscious level,you could influence their behavior without them knowing, enticing them to purchase moreand more. bernays said: “in almost every act of ourdaily lives we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons who understand themental process of the masses. it is they who control the public mind.” over time, advertisers perfected methods tohijack our subconscious emotional process. pretty soon it wasn't what the product didthat mattered - it was the kind of person that it promised to make you. "this is a man who smokes marlboro cigarettes, what kind of man is he?"

"i'm a guy who likes to work on my car." materialism was now deep inside our heads,exploiting our emotions and instincts, shaping our identities. "would you like to go shopping?" we were all being trained to desire manufacturedobjects, and reject a relationship with nature. hey, what’s for lunch? something quick! ever stop to wonder where that meat came from? well….

no. it used to be that a person working in thefield would use a plow being pulled by a horse or an ox. the person was having a cooperative relationshipwith the animal, and could smell the earth beneath their feet. they had an acquired knowledge of the seasonsthat came from a relationship to the sun, moon and stars. until recently, it was completely normal fora person to know the name of the animal they were eating, after all - they raised it.

they may even know the names of the animal’sparents. compare the experience of our ancestors, engagedin working relationships with animals and natural systems, to the modern western versionof working in the field - riding in the air-conditioned cab of a gasoline-powered industrial machine,guided by gps satellites, now cut off from contact with the soil and extended naturalsystems, no more cooperative relationships. you’re not even really involved in the processanymore - are you? of course, materialism hasn’t always gonecompletely unopposed. in the 1960s millions of people attemptedto drop out of the cult and return to a sustainable relationship with nature.

but most of these attempts were ill advised,and soon, trashing the environment was again being accepted as a reasonable requirementfor membership in the cult of materialism. then, in the late 70’s, messages from environmentalgroups like greenpeace and friends of the earth began to resonate with the public. this frightened the leaders, and in response,a new breed of politicians rose up - financed by the corporate machine, and dismissed environmentalwarnings, ushering in an age of runaway materialism. hippies were replaced by yuppies, and theirphilosophy was summed up in the movie “wall street". "the point is, ladies and gentlemen, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good."

"greed is right. greed works." through the 1980’s, success was definedby how much stuff we had. and today, the monster we've unleashed hasgrown and become so powerful, that even the authorities are simply slaves to it. elected officials and their appointees aremerely selected from the pool of brainwashed addicts that are dependent on the system. and the more they reinforce the system, thegreater their reward. we hear a continuous narrative from economists and politicians about the need for consumer spending and endless economic growth.

everyday we’re bombarded with messages suggestingthat the good life is only attainable by making lots of money and spending it on productsthat promise to make us happy and respected. 600 billion dollars a year is spent to embedmaterialist propaganda in every visible space: on television, the internet, billboards, onplanes trains and taxis, in public bathrooms, on neon signs and escalator handrails. but materialist culture also reaches deeper,burrowing its way into people's psyches, hijacking their identity, and influencing them to organizetheir entire lives around higher salaries, and owning more stuff. here in the united states, we have only 5%of the world’s population, but use 25% of

the planet’s resources. and, instead of using this incredible positionof privilege to solve problems, we’re worshiping things. while the world burns down around us, we’rewindow-shopping for another shiny item, another gadget. trying to buy nicer stuff, to make our alreadynice homes nicer and nicer. and in doing so, just making the problemsworse. unfortunately, all this cheap stuff comesat an enormous cost. we’re paying for all these trinkets withthe well-being of both the people and the

planet. and we’re not gaining happiness from allthis stuff; it’s actually making us miserable. "gotta make sure that the register totals match the cash and checks and the coupons... "then you've got the order forms to fill out for the next day... ... check the stock. i mean, it's... there's a lot to do there. researchers have discovered that as peopleprioritize materialist goals, they report less happiness and life satisfaction, experiencingfewer pleasant emotions in daily life. depression, anxiety, violence and substanceabuse also tend to be higher among people

who aspire to materialist goals. these goals influence our family and socialrelationships, thereby affecting other people's thinking and well-being. this is how the virus of materialism spreads. if you want to be popular, you need the latestitem, fashion or fad. first the ads convince one consumer, who thenconvinces someone else. research also indicates that materialist valuesand pro-social values are antagonistic. that is, as materialist values rise, pro-socialvalues decline. this helps explain why people act in lessempathic, generous and cooperative ways when

money is on their minds. when people are under the sway of materialism,they care less about the earth. numerous studies reveal that people who prioritizemoney, image and status are far less likely to engage in ecologically beneficial activitiessuch as recycling. as materialist values go up, concern for naturegoes down. so, if we want to live in a happier, morepeaceful, and ecologically sustainable world, we’ll need to reduce materialist valuesin our personal lives, in our families, and our communities. know what i mean?

"i know exactly what you mean." "you want to take it all for yourself and cut me out!" materialism has created extreme economic inequalitiesthat threaten to tear apart the very fabric of our society. we’ve been brainwashed into believing thatour role as a productive citizen is to consume more and more every year, even if we haveto go into debt to do it. we’ve structured our economy around thecult of materialism. we’re all dependent on it, it has becomeour master. if everyone doesn’t continue to feed themonster and keep shopping for stuff we don’t

need, then we’ll all start losing our jobs,companies will shut down, wall street will panic, and the economy will crash. so, we are no longer free individuals; weare slaves to the cult. materialism strips a person of their naturalvalues and attempts to fill the resulting hole in our lives with the simple idea ofconsumption. bored? go shopping. depressed? feeling good?

celebrate by shopping. the entire advertising industry is pushingyou to consume ever-more material goods, to splurge, to make irrational, wasteful purchases,to buy on impulse, to supersize it, to up-sell and upgrade yourself into a raging shopaholic. your primary duty is to shop, regardless ofother concerns, regardless of the environmental consequences, whether or not you really needany of the stuff you’re buying, or if you have any place to put these things - justkeep consuming, even if you have no money, just use credit! nothing can stop the mindless accumulationof more and more stuff.

"there was so much mayhem after she pepper sprayed - even children inside the store trying to get to this x-box 360, that they didn't know who did what and she was able to get to the register and check out." not even terrorist attacks can stop the shopping. "we cannot let the terrorists achieve the objective of frightening our nation to the point where we don't... we don't conduct business. where people don't shop." as the saying goes - “shop ‘till you drop”. the cult tells you that the more you consume,the better your life will be.

but this is a dangerous, even deadly myth. each individual can be seduced and suckedinto extreme materialist behaviors, but imagine all these separate acts of irrational consumptionmultiplied by over seven billion people, then sit back and watch the global catastrophehappen. the viral mythology of materialism is so pervasivethat it has infected all areas of our culture. many religious leaders now preach what isknown as the “prosperity gospel”, assuring their congregations that coveting money, and the insatiable hoarding of wealth are blessed behaviors. it should come as no surprise that these so-calledreligious leaders live extravagant, lavish

lifestyles - complete with huge mansions andprivate jets. our education system has also been hijackedby materialism. "and who can tell me where thunder and lightning come from?" "yes bart?" "the leader ma'am." "very good bart. and who invented morse code?" "oh, i should know this one. ummm.. the leader?" "aaah, correct again." the primary purpose for learning is now seenas making money.

there’s no other reason to go to school- right? this attitude has led to the elimination ofarts and literature programs in american schools, resulting in citizens who lack an appreciationfor beauty, unable to express themselves in a positive, creative manner, and make contributionsto our culture. "absolute rubbish laddie!" we are sacrificing well-rounded members ofsociety for mindless worker bees that will submit to the dictates of the cult and aspireto shop ‘till they drop. it’s been almost 250 years since adam smithtold us that the selfish pursuit of wealth was good - not just for the individual, butgood for society too.

finally, we’re beginning to realize justhow expensive this experiment in greed and selfishness has been. we now find ourselves trapped in an unsustainablelifestyle, commuting to the city for work just to afford the car payments, gas, andrent in the suburbs - spraying our lawns with toxic chemicals, unable to avoid all the wastefulpackaging in supermarkets. with only 5% of the world’s population,the us generates 30% of the world’s garbage. and the amount we throw away just keeps growing- we now need thousands of landfill sites to deal with the billion tons of waste weproduce each year - and less than 2% of our waste is recycled.

every 12 months we throw away one and a halfmillion computers, 99% of them in perfect working order. 3 million working refrigerators are discardedannually. and we’re always buying more products - morethings we don’t really need, jamming more and more stuff into rented storage spacesuntil it finally winds up being discarded. we’re using more energy, creating more junk,and working longer hours for less money to buy all of it. going further into debt, feeling miserable,and taking ever more drugs to combat our depression and stress-related illnesses.

of course this system also creates poisonouswaste, which finds its way into our drinking water and food supply. this polluted process is now threatening thefuture of life on earth. across the world, more and more countriesare following, and even overtaking us, in pursuit of the western dream. china's economy swelled at a phenomenal rate,resulting in an explosion of consumption. the creation of a world-class consumer economytook centuries to develop in the west, but china’s transformation took only a few decades. they now have more cars on the road than theunited states,

and they’re adding 20 millionmore every year. but, they have 5 times more people than theu.s. - so, when china achieves the same percentage of car ownership as the u.s. - roughly onecar per person, they will need to import more oil every day than the entire world currentlyproduces in a day. let’s not forget about india, which is poisedto overtake china as the world’s most populous country by 2022. and like anyone else, they’ll want smartphones,cars, refrigerators and microwave ovens. it just isn't possible to provide the westernmaterialist dream to every country on earth, the math simply doesn’t work.

if all 7 billion people on earth consumedat the same level as in the us, we’d need two extra planets to supply our food, energy,water and raw materials. we have to stop traveling down this road. it's not just a problem of supply - the cultof materialism is destroying our very experience of life. the system demands that companies competeto keep their consumers happy with ever-lower prices, and workers in developing countriessuffer as a result. sweatshops, child labor, dangerous workingconditions, shamefully low wages. life has become a degrading experience forhundreds of millions of people.

this is the result of viewing living beingsas nothing more than cogs in an industrial machine. (gunfire) one of the worst effects of materialism isarmed conflict. competition for industrial resources suchas oil, gold, minerals - and the control of strategic waterways to transport these resources,leads to violence and combat. warfare pays handsomely for those who selltanks, fighter jets, helicopters, bombs and machine guns. bankers and merchants finance wars, and thenlay legal claim to the spoils taken by the

victors. as long as the leaders can get rich from war,they will find ways to create war. wasteful inefficiency, broken social systems,toxic pollution, drug addiction, perpetual violence, misery - all result from beliefin the false claims of materialism. the relentless struggle to acquire more moneyand buy more stuff is ultimately self-defeating. what most of us naturally crave is to feelloved, connected to others, and valued in our community. we want to feel good about our real selves,not just about our image - and materialism can’t satisfy those needs.

we are beginning to understand how negativeemotions make people susceptible to materialism. for instance, studies show that people focusmore on material possessions when they feel insecure. it’s natural for people to use possessionsas an extension of identity, sometimes to compensate for perceived personal shortcomings. but the desire to indulge in high qualityitems can also be used to support positive activity - like a creative hobby, or justexploring your environment. research has also found that the more peopleare exposed to the media, the more they prioritize materialist goals.

consider using strategies to diminish theonslaught of advertising by using an ad blocker while on the internet, or hitting the mutebutton when commercials play on tv. another idea would be to remove advertisingfrom public spaces and schools, so that people aren't continuously exposed to materialistpropaganda. raising your emotional awareness will helpmake you less susceptible to manipulative advertising - and more sensitive to the emotionalstates of those around you. we can’t allow the cult of materialism tostunt our emotional growth. understanding your emotions is the key toletting go of fear, and connecting to compassion. getting food from local farmers, and othergoods from local crafts-people strengthens

the community, and creates employment opportunitiesclose to home. there are practical solutions, if we havethe courage to act on them, and the time is now. a better life can be found if we turn awayfrom today's emphasis on object ownership, and reassess the role of money as our primarymeasure of success. the daily grind really wears you down, huh? mmm-hmmm. just remember - there are alternatives. whoo-hoo!

yeah! we should probably look for a new philosophyto guide us. a new way of understanding the world to replacethe dangerous and destructive myth of materialism. it must be rational, supported by logic, andpromote a healthy social order. is this even possible? maybe what we’re looking for isn’t newat all. maybe it’s been right here under our nosesthe whole time. idealism is the hypothesis that the worldwe experience is emerging from a deeper order, beyond our perception.

so, our world is something like an illusionthat’s being projected for us as an audience. the greek philosopher plato told a story called“the allegory of the cave” to express this idea. a group of prisoners have been confined ina cave since birth with their backs to the entrance, unable to turn their heads, andwith no knowledge of the outside world. occasionally however, people and other thingspass by the cave opening casting shadows and echoes onto the wall. the prisoners name and classify these illusions,believing that they are perceiving actual entities.

one prisoner gets free, and leaves the cavefor the first time. the light hurts his eyes, and he finds thenew environment disorienting. when told that the things around him are real,while the shadows are mere silhouettes, he can’t believe it. the shadows appear much clearer to him. but, gradually his eyes adjust until he canlook at reflections in the water, then at objects directly, and finally at the sun - whoselight is the ultimate source of everything he has seen. the prisoner returns to the cave to sharehis discoveries, but he is no longer used

to the darkness, and has a hard time seeingthe shadows on the wall. the other prisoners think his journey hasmade him crazy, and they violently resist his attempts to free them. you can expect members of the cult of materialismto respond in a similar way. when people are confronted with informationthat undermines their worldview, they’ll have a negative emotional response. once you’ve seen the light, you’ll knowthings that others can’t understand. the concept of idealism is also sometimesexpressed using the dream analogy. every time you dream, your mind is simultaneouslycreating a self, a space, a time, and the

illusion of matter, in order to provide youwith an experience. this subconscious aspect of mind is so incrediblypowerful that it actually creates an entire dream universe for you to stroll through andhave the experience of being an individual. in waking reality, you identify with the objectthat is your body, and the same is true when you’re dreaming, as it’s just an imagedesigned by your mind to allow the experience you’re having. if you should realize that your body and theobjects around you are an illusion that your higher mind is supplying - the creative powerof this higher mind becomes available to you, allowing you to change the experience.

this phenomenon is known as lucid dreaming. so, if you drop a glass in a dream, it willsmash on the floor. but, if you then realize that you’re dreaming,the pieces can come back together and be whole again - because the glass is simply an objectcreated by your mind. in this way you become the author of yourexperience. idealism asserts that the waking world isalso created by an organizing aspect of mind that is outside of our direct experience. like a dream, since the external objects ofour experience appear to be separate from us, it is assumed that these objects havean existence of their own, independent of

us as observers. but this belief may be explained by what germanidealist johann fichte described as the "self-positing" nature of identity. in order to understand ourselves as individuals,we must first posit a "self" as an object - our body, and this necessitates the positingof other objects that are "not self" - all the things that surround us that make up ourworld, just as in a dream. our higher mind creates a body and an environment because we need them to have an identity and experience. so, in this way, matter may be seen as a necessaryconsequence of the desire for experience.

but matter is not seen as the cause of reality. after all, no one would say that the objectsin a dream are the cause of the dream. matter and the body are understood as a secondaryeffect of the mind, as a framework that supports the possibility of experience. just as a video game needs a simulated physicalenvironment for the action to take place in, “matter” is seen as a stage on which theplay of life is performed. in other words, you are not your body; you are the consciousness that is represented your body. the mind simply associates the body with youridentity.

this is demonstrated by the “fake hand”experiment: a subject places both hands on a table, withone arm hidden behind a divider. a cloth helps create the illusion that thefake hand is theirs. when both hands are brushed simultaneously, the subject assigns sensation to the fake hand. when a hammer is brought down on it, the subjectfeels pain. this happens because the subject integratesan illusory body into their identity. when we reduce ourselves to mere matter, wereduce our fellow beings as well. and instead of developing relationships ofmutual trust and cooperation, we relate based

on ideas of ownership and control. this leads to animal abuse like the kind thatis seen in industrial meat supply. it leads to human slavery and bondage as seenin indentured servitude and prison for profit schemes. it diminishes others to sex objects, and ahost of other problems. our identities may have gotten out of balance;we seem to have forgotten our value as representatives of the mind. fortunately, it’s not too late, and we canstill incorporate idealistic values back into our thought process to regain our footing.

the way out of the cult is through a shiftin self-understanding: away from that of being just a body, and toward that of being a completeperson. making this shift can be difficult, becausethe system depends on you not knowing your whole self, and your true authority. the cult would have you believe that you arenothing but an object - stamped, cataloged, owned and controlled by their system. but human identity cannot be reduced to dna,fingerprints and birthdates. you’re much more than that. and they know that once you discover this,they can no longer control you.

it may seem difficult at times, like you’resurrounded on all sides by the forces of ownership and control. but don’t be discouraged, you can escape. it was abuses of power by churches and monarchsthat created a need for materialism to refute their claims of divinely granted absolutepower. this was justified, and necessary. but, we may have thrown out the baby withthe bathwater, and created an even bigger problem. luckily, people are survivors.

we’ve made it this far by being able torecognize a need to adapt under changing conditions. and we will successfully adapt to these newconditions as well. every year more people are escaping the ratrace by lowering their overhead, working fewer hours, spending more time with family andfriends, choosing to live in smaller homes and using the savings to travel more - enhancingtheir relationship with nature and the global village - sacrificing a higher income fora higher quality of life, transforming relationships of power and control into partnership andcooperation. ask yourself whether your desire for materialpossessions determines your ideas and values, or if your ideas and values determine howmuch you desire material possessions.

"luminous beings are we! not this crude matter." what you believe makes a big difference - inhow you feel, and how you treat others. once you see the light, you won’t be seducedinto buying things you don’t need. you’ll no longer be isolated, and won’tsubmit to coercion. you’ll remember that there is no “us againstthem”, because we’re all in this together. recognizing a deeper fundamental identitypromotes emotional awareness, and a turning away from shortsighted distractions. we can all embrace these new challenges, andimprove the experience of those around us. we can root for each other.

and share in each other’s joy. understanding that the mind is the sourceof all things, means that the future is ours to create. and together, we will succeed.