Every once in awhile I run across someone who has the gift to write with such simplicity and grace, I cry. This is one such piece written by a fellow agent of Rumor Mill News...

How it looks from where I'm standing:

- "America" is a self-existing entity and ideal. It's defined, somewhat, by the very idea of "inalienable rights" and the responsibilities that naturally accompany them; by active respect for the 'sacred core' present within every human being; and by what's represented by and in the Constitution.

- "The U.S." is another critter altogether, a self-activated charade, a layer of illusion that has been broadcast with knowing help into and upon all the 50 States. Within this illusion, the appearance is that "law enforcement" is what rules - but "law enforcement" is different from what's provided by "peace officers". The illusion extends that far, so that today's "friendly policeman" is not actively involved in the same job as the same or a similar uniform may have denoted many decades ago.

- In the illusion of "the U.S." there are supposedly "U.S. citizens", members of a class of citizenship that was NEVER CONTEMPLATED BY THE CONSTITUTION OR PROVIDED FOR BY IT. This is the class of citizen that includes "taxpayers", "drivers of motor vehicles", "most bank account holders", and "those allowed to vote in Corporate national elections". "Citizens of one of the states united" are not accorded 'civil rights' - you have to agree to be a "U.S. citizen" in order to be granted civil rights. But "U.S. citizens" do not have inalienable rights. Those are treated as "optional" within the courtrooms of the "U.S. District Courts" system - whereas they are treated as mandatory within the "District Courts of the U.S." - if you can find such a court right now; they are largely 'vacant' within this deception and illusion.

Therefore: I make the personal, perceptual, and verbal distinction between the two quite different entities, knowing full well that either could be informally referred to by using the special and magical name 'America'.

For me, "America" denotes "the real deal". It does not appropriately name "that collection of folks who conducted a 'police action' in Korea, or 'the Vietnam war', or the current actions in Iraq and Afghanistan".

I do _not_ accept the idea that "all Americans are to blame" for "allowing" those things to happen, since extraordinary lengths were gone to, knowingly by some, to keep us as deceived as they possibly could about this distortion of the real thing's being overlaid upon the people of America and the world.

AND THAT'S IMPORTANT - because, it is the confusion about who and what "America" is and who and what "the U.S." is, that has served to "shield" the folks who knowingly have done this and who have knowingly, for whatever reasons, broadcast war into the world. WE MUST CONTINUE TO CLARIFY IN OUR OWN THOUGHTS AND IN OUR CONVERSATIONS WITH OTHERS THAT THE TWO THINGS ARE DIFFERENT THINGS, if ever the proper "chickens" are to come home to roost, where they rightly belong: with those individual human beings who have initiated and maintained the illusion and the actions made possible by it.

But it does go further than that - there's enough truth in the idea, "We're all responsible for it", that the idea persists even while not being at all helpful, even while continuing to 'shield' the ones who are actively and chiefly and deliberately responsible, even while working to sustain the illusion.

Think of it this way: There are "pools" of spirit in the world, and we individually participate in their filling. "Love and forgive" your neighbor, and that pool fills by just that much; by the amount of love and forgiveness you are expressing-forth into the world. "Accuse" your neighbor and the 'accusation pool' fills by that much, while the "love" pool does not. And so on.

Each of us is responsible, not for actions and events set in motion by others, but for whether, now, in this moment and in this one and in this one, the 'pools' of Love, Truth, and Light are being filled and shall be allowed to overflow into the world we share, because we live.

The "fear stick" being waved at us by Media, etc., distracts us from realizing this, and distracts us from realizing just how much power we have. :) Thus distracted, we tend to agree with the notion that "bin Laden is under your bed, and you need Biggest Brother to protect you".

We can see how that adds up, in the context of the illusion described above. It allows 'Them' to remain in positions of influence and power, and to continue doing whatever they have in mind to do.

What they're telling us is, "There's a big, collective threat. Obviously you are powerless to do anything about it. Therefore, pay us, and we'll do our best to see to it you are protected, using our mighty force." It's no wonder small-scale criminals engage in "the protection rackets"; the living example of one, and of how well it works, is staring us in the face for all to see. :)

The actual power, the true power, the really big power, rests with us. Not as a political movement, or at least not primarily as such. But as individual human beings, who each have absolute power of choice regarding the spirit, attitude, and motivation that shall be _lived_ in the world moment by moment, because we live in that world.

"In all things, give thanks." And, "Judge not." Why? Because one can't entertain both spirits at the same moment. The attitude of thankfulness says, "Here is the Reality in this moment. Now let us look and see what can be creatively done with it." Whereas the attitudes of accusation and of judgment and of condemnation say, "I reject that this is the Reality; I ordered something different - and if not for Charley over there, why, I'm sure what I ordered would have resulted in heaven on earth. Therefore, since I ordered something different, why, what we got can't be _my_ fault, and it must be Charley's - so, let's beat up Charley." :) That second approach - which really is an attempt to be "as God" - has been tried, over and over by countless generations of human beings, resulting in the mess we see in the world today. One more generation of doing the same thing will not somehow, finally, at last, -this- time, make it any better. It's time another approach is tried, in earnest.

The entity, the ideal rightly named "America" is about all that. It is the living symbol in the world of respect for the 'sacred core' of each and every human being.

--hobie
Rumor Mill News