today i took the time to think about life. now im not a religious guy. to be sure, im an atheist but i have an open mind about religion to an extent. i do believe in the soul, some would suggest that that in itself is religion, i beg to differ.
but im a believer in peace. especially inner peace. im a believer in good.
and im also a believer that money is evil, the very concept goes against every single one of my beliefs of what peace, good and being alive are all about. money bring greed. and greed is the fertile field for all the horrors that aflict humanity. few people have ever stepped above this cesspool and looked at themselves and the world around them in an effort to achieve this state of wholeness.

my suggestion is that you just have a peek. so leave fear behind, leave your worries behind, forget its cold or hot or that itch or smell, dont be distracted by anything, forget anger and injustice. you are untouchable here. clean all your thoughts while you are in that special place.

now i would like you all to dwell on a few things in that special time that is trully our own. those last few minutes before we fall asleep. its one of those moments when we are trully one with the universe, lying there in the dark, so alone, just us and our thoughts.

i would like you to dwell on the word humanity and on the word happiness. i would like you to think about what really makes humanity happy, what brings you true inner peace. now that we have removed all material distractions from our thoughts what is left behind?

Take it from George Carlin that the best thing to worship is the sun. His reasons being that it's something you can actually see and depend on. You know every morning the sun will rise and be there just as it was the day before.

Money is the root of all evil in a sense. But in reality our system of living is dependent on generating money in order to live the lifestyles we all are selfishly used to living. It seems that happiness for most people is at the price of a dollar or something you smoke, snort, pop, or shoot. Not many people are able to believe that happiness must be earned and is not given to you for no reason. Which is why most people take the easy way out and supply fake happiness for them to live off of until they no longer even know what truly makes them happy anymore.

As far as inner strength goes I find that ignorance is definitely bliss. As time goes on and I learn more about the world and how it actually works as it stabs away at what's left of my childhood dream. The more I know the less I wish I did. I was so much happier when I was focused on my little bubble that I created and lived in for so long. Once I was thrown into the abyss I found myself wishing I was one of the naive people that I looked down upon in the past. Just wishing I could just pretend nothing is wrong and live within that bubble of ignorance and just enjoy my life for the ride it's been rather then worrying about the rest of the world.

Sometimes we feel TOO much and become desensitized to any sort of tranquility in life. I think that the best course of action for happiness is an ultimate sacrifice. I believe that happiness comes when you focus your energy on making other people happy. Doing something good for someone else usually will benefit the person helping as well as the person being helped. I believe truly in karma and that all of us will get what we truly deserve. I hold no place for any certain religion nor would I say I'm even an atheist. My belief system is based on mostly fact and what I see with my own two eyes. Some people will look at that as having no faith but I see it as promoting unity. I rather not "choose" a god and be sentenced to hell because some other jesus freak tells me I chose the wrong one and if I'm not saved I will go to hell. I've had the experience before and it disgusts me.

Without material items I would probably be more appreciative of myself and others around me. I think of myself as someone who is entertained by his own actions. I find interest in myself and the things I do and try to figure out why exactly I do the things I do. You'd be surprised at how interesting it can be to stop paying attention to the rest of the world and see how unique you are. The key to happiness is finding out who you are and loving that person. In order for there to be change you must be right with yourself first.

We are all worth something and we all have a purpose. Finding that purpose is the entire point to life in my opinion.

Happy Toking.

hmmm, actually most religions today are spinoff of sun worship, its not that im an ATHEIST its just that i think that by now we should have shed our stoneage concepts of god, but i believe in the spirit, and i believe in humanity. like you i believe in what i see what i feel.

actually if you really think about it, and once you delve into the subject you will come to a conclusion that you dont need money, i meen not really. we are born with everything we need to survive our world. two arms, two legs, a heart and a head full of brains. the notion that we need money enslaves us from the start. its not something we need, its something we were told we need. what is debt? isnt there more to life than accumulation of wealth? arent we smarter than that? money isnt an objective, at least it shouldnt be. but rather a means to an end. somewhere along the line this notion got a bit messed up.

its not that money in itself is evil, but the concept of what is money and its use has gone astray, and THAT has turned it evil. we have gone astray...

i didnt want to touch the subject here, but when we loose the notion that money is an objective we much reach or die trying, we become alot more happier and we take away THEIR power. and we become free. really really free. this may sound naif, but is it really? shouldnt there be more to life than money? there are people that are really good at generating money and hoarding the stuff, but in reality, what are they contributing to humanity? doesnt that sound just sad that someones life should be that empty? some people have nothing to give or dont believe they have anything worthwile to give, so they cover up by having lots of money. i know what i have to offer, i know what im worth, obviously you do too, so really, why do we need it? ok, its useful. but then so is a fork or a pen. i dont hoard forks though and equate my personal worth based on how many forks i have. having a truckload of pens isnt even closely comparable to writing a book... hving money doesnt mean you have achieved or produced anything in life.

we should be a little more humble, and apreciate and value our lifes

and yes, J Lennon, you are spot on, all you do need is LOVE.

may you live a long and fruitfull life

If you meant that if money never existed then maybe we would be better off but now that we've grown our society around it there's pretty much no hope to remove it. One thing is that the notion of currency has been around before money even existed. One thing you might not consider is that currency is part of human nature as well. You might be saying I'm crazy but if you really look at the facts you will see that since the beginning of time there has always been some sort of resource or form of currency that humans strive for.

I think at this point it's too late. To a certain extent I find the concept of money to be a pretty good system. I will be the first to say that I think I put down this country more then I praise it. I think that without some sort of system to determine who gets what that everyone will feel they are entitled to something. If you look at it this way, if the system of money works correctly the people who work hard are the ones who deserve to earn things. Otherwise lazy ass people would have the same luxury as those who spend their entire day working hard. Unfortunately there are way too many loopholes with the currency system and greed is spawned but if you look at the system in it's "perfect state" it actually does quite well. The only thing that bothers me is that money is a useless piece of paper that's worth something only because the government says so. That paper is the result of work being pumped into the system and generating the cycle.

Maybe a better idea is thinking of a time when money still exists but doesn't have as much of a grasp on our meaning to life. Possibly one day we will live in a time when every person lives well and doesn't need to struggle for money. We can only hope...but I think the 'freedom' in this country comes at quite a high price....FIGURES.. lol

doesnt revolution involve starting anew? just because a system is in place and weve grown used to it doesnt mean its right. but yes the notion of currency is initself good and useful, i didnt say otherwise. (or did I? i sometimes get carried away).

im just saying money should never be a goal, but rather a means to a useful end. but there are flaws, big flaws in the concept of money. to be absolutely sincere, i dont think that 'money' should be controlled by anyone thats all. but yes its useful. but the fact is you dont need it to live well. i dont want us to go back to being hunter/gatherers. although i sometimes wish i was born in such simple yet hard times.

but just look at what it does to people. ive come to the conclusion that its worthless. the concept of money is that it can be cashed in, this means that money should have a solid base on which to stand, otherwise yes, we are better off without it. the fact is, its worthless paper at the moment. we live a lie.

the reason we struggle so much is because the value of our money fluctuates, ie: it looses value as time goes bye. this is contrary to the concept of what money should be. a cow is a cow, and always will be, yet a dollar/euro/pound doesnt stay that way forever. the value of money shouldnt just change. its almost like living in a fairy tale

and hey, its never too late to change. if it was we might as well give up now.

Ah, but if the value of our money increased you would be singing a different tune eh? It's a cruel world my friend....

Forget simple times like that, how about if the world was the way it was when President Clinton was in office and the biggest problem was him getting oral sex....I miss those days.

To be honest I think that post-911 has caused a wide case of post traumatic stress disorder throughout America. I think we all are in this mind state that creativity has been crushed and our way of life has been destroyed. We are STILL here!

I tend to live my life with my own government. Although I obey the laws of this country to some extent I still find myself removing the "government" role out of my life. It seems like another GOD to worship in which you cannot see it you just are told the law exists. Kind of like the 10 commandments or something. I just try to forget about the way the world is running because I know that I personally cannot change anything.

Weed tends to make you over think and even when you put the pieces together you have nobody to bring the answer to. Know what I mean? Also, there is always hope for change. We can change the system if we want and Robin hood (Obama) is working on stealing from the rich and giving to the poor (ie. middle class) while McCain is basically giving RICH mother ****ers tax cuts....he's just another George Bush. Look at them they even look the same!! Urgh....well I WILL be there on November 4 at my booth. That's the only change I can offer. Happy Toking.

actually no, i wouldnt sing a different tune... the value of currency shouldnt change thats all. not ever. if this was the case noone would worry so much about it. life would be soooo much simpler i reckon.

and yes, i also wish our leaders were more preocupied with oral sex, or anal sex, or any sex for that matter.

after all i began this thread in an effort to make everyone just think about love for a bit, and turn that love on themselves.

call me an imbicil, but i really believe love CAN change the world its that powerful.

Well I know that if I asked anyone if they would be upset if the value of their money increased they would think I'm crazy. Especially now with the economy cutting people's incomes in half. My mother is going through lots of money problems right now because of the way things are now.

If the value of money stayed the same it could be better. Just change the value of monetary objects and let the market flux instead of the value of the dollar. You are definitely on the right track here and I do agree that Love is one of the most powerful forces on the planet.

But you must remember my friend, so is hate.

In a world where there are so many cultural differences and belief systems there is always going to be conflict of interest. There will always be someone disliking someone else for living their life differently. There will always be fighting, war, greed, and poverty until the END of time. The only possibility is that the people stand together and unite largely enough to over stand the hate in this world and actually have the ability to make a change.

People standing in the streets with signs saying "world peace" is not going to do a damn thing. I feel bad for those people actually because the dream of "world peace" is definitely a fairy tale. In the world today the closest thing to freedom is 'free trade'. An agreement that two countries will honor which states that there will be no conflict of interest and they will allow each other a free trade market.

The idea of world peace is basically what the United Nations stands for and I'm sure you know they obviously have no grasp on changing anything. I think bigger questions should be asked rather then just simply saying we should stop the war. It is inevitable. The cycle shows throughout the beginning of time that war is something that just seems to come around every certain years.

The questions I have are asking why the war happens the way it does. Why do they always send the poor? Why doesn't the president fight in the war?

Now you might think I sound far fetched but I think the Bush administration's plan for 'change' was basically to overpower an oil resource and to do so they will send the poorest and most "useless" people to die in order to gain control of that resource. It's a win win situation!!! Hooray! This has been consistent throughout history that those with money don't have to die for their country but people who are poor need to risk dying just to have their freedom? Why???

All I can say is that I truly attempt to love everybody around me and respect people even if I disagree with their lifestyle or opinions. Let us hope that maybe this idea of love overpowering hate will reign true and someday we will live in perfect harmony. That's what dreams are for, my friend.

some very heady thoughts here and very good one's in my opinion

I no christian...but I think Jesus got it right on the money thing

It is not money that is the root of evil

But the LOVE of money...at least I am pretty sure that's what it says...no bible in the house

yes thats right scott.

of course. is anyone cares to take notice the whole world is one huge melee. all the way down to the bacterial level, after all we ae human, regard, i never said we should stop the wars forever... its like waiting for an elephant to grow wings and fly. its in our nature, i mean mankind has written books on the ART of warfare!! its like the bible of bloodshed

one of the major problems is when you try to get peace throught he barrel of a gun. ie: the UN, and any other state that forces its will on someone else. should never happen like that in my opinion.

if people stand on the streets holdin signs for peace it just goes to show that this mess has gone way too far... dont you think?

the fact that i began a thread in a n effort to get people to stop for a few minuits and think about love, and here we are discussing, money, greed and warfare makes you wonder... im going to light one up and give this a thought

peace
ileso

I think everyone needs to go smoke one and think back to your childhood (the moments before you went to sleep too) and remember what life was before the paycheck chasing adult life that has brung us to this point in time. I know some want to forget. But for those who haven't, try it.

I remember having the time to think about life in a way that was much more constructive way. Learn, create, and play.

My Light Bulb: No wonder we have a problem with depression. We are so consumed by our mundain jobs...we never reach our full potentual.

I found my reason for life...to sacrific my life to create and train-up life. Priceless!

Very interesting thread...heavy stuff

Peace.

wasnt suposed to be heavy at all. just 5 min peace time in the quiet of our own minds doing just that.. thinking about the good things that make life worth it...

somehow it derailed..
i guess people are too hot headed up at the moment for that, even i got pulled into the vortex.
thanks OH for that

I apologize if I went too deep. I think it was somewhat a miscommunication in your first post.

Sparking the idea of love, happiness, and inner peace is a very broad idea and can't really be explained in 5 minutes. If anything, the fact that the idea sparked debate is quite ironic like you said. I think it's cool...human nature at work. Don't be disarrayed by the fact this thread turned into a discussion. If it makes people think then it's a good thing.

Also, OH mentioned how nice it was before the paper chase began. Life was so serene living in that childhood bubble with no responsibilities. But, life goes on and we grow up and I don't think it's helpful to dwell on the past.

Live in the present, plan for the future.

To live in the present, to plan for the future...you need to remember the past...

My childhood wasn't a bubble and I did have responsibilities...I know people that had a horrible childhood and carried a heavy load...they have moments of dwelling/remembering every moment. I know for a fact childhood choices lead me to who I am today and who I am tomorrow.

And I've never stop growing up and you can't make me

As a child, I can remember the thoughts in those moments just before I go to sleep...

Peace.

i didnt mind the dabate i just thought iwas an interesting outome...

I figured what I said would come across differently...

When I refer to a "bubble" I am talking about being ignorant about how the world truly works in which you slowly start to realize as you get older. Every single human has this moment in their life because it's obviously impossible to know everything as a child.

By responsibilities I meant having to survive on your own and not worry about bills or anything of that nature. I'm sure you weren't paying bills as a child...nor did you have any major responsibility other then doing chores and school work and eventually a job.

Also, I said it does not help to DWELL on the past which has a very different meaning then remembering the past. Of course it's good to think back on good times and reminisce but I find it not helpful to dwell on it. Dwelling on it is basically thinking back in the past to a time where you thought was "better" or "worse" then the current situation you're in. Which tends to take your focus off of what matters which is living for today and planning for tomorrow.

I rather dream of a better future then dream of a better past. Couldn't put that any better...Make sense?

Also, I'm figuring you mean "you won't grow up"....which either way I didn't attempt to make you do anything..lol Stay young at heart, nobody said that was bad.