Not Just a Candle in the Wind

Holding the torch of inconvenient truths

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“The truth is like a lion. You don’t have to defend it. Let it loose; it will defend itself.”
- Saint Augustine of Hippo

Even in the strongest of winds, the flame of truth burns steadfast...it cannot be blown out. Truth is unshakable, and will always eventually become overwhelmingly self-evident. It is also real that truth is both simple and complex. I am an idealist at heart, and I love the ultimate power of the most simple of natural truths. I believe that collectively honoring these truths, these most basic of natural laws, would help us reach critical awareness of the ROOT CAUSES of the massive tragedies wrought in the unnatural, unsustainable modern world.

For example, there is abundant scientific evidence to show that cooking harms the life force of nature’s already perfect foods, activating anti-life and degenerative forces. And that through the practice of ingesting this denatured food every day, human life force (and therefore human consciousness) becomes polluted with stagnant energies. This could be called cooked-food poisoning, and it plays a role in steadily creating the toxicity at the root of virtually all degenerative disease, including mental imbalances. Yet, despite the available evidence to the contrary, daily cooking is viewed as a natural and necessary way of life in modern society.

“An interesting fact to note is that the most idealistic emotional feelings tend to lead people to feel that a diet of raw fruits, nuts and vegetables is ‘lightest, purest and most beautiful,’ while unprejudiced reasoning leads us to the conclusion that these things must be our natural diet because they are the foods we are attracted to and enjoy in their raw, natural state. The most pure-hearted intuition and the most thoroughly rational science always lead to the same point.

The greatest value of the raw food diet is its transformative value. To a great extent, when you take up [a balanced] raw food diet, you become a new and different and better person….You become more of your essence, your true and natural self. You become a person who is more a part of the one great life of Nature and less of the confused human world. You become less ‘of the World’ and more ‘of the Earth.’” - Joe Alexander, from Blatant Raw Foodist Propaganda

I would add that there are more than 8 million species who eat their food raw, and one who cooks. And we are the only species decaying from rampant degenerative disease (along with the pets we subject to our unnatural lifestyles). Of course, it’s not only food that we have denatured; we have denatured our world with toxins of many kinds. Toxic chemicals and pharmaceuticals, toxic household and body-care products, toxic stress, toxic thoughts, toxic lifestyles. All of this is evidence of how dangerously far we have strayed from the wisdom of Nature. We act as though we can get away with dishonoring her like this, but the results are in, and they are not good. A mentor of mine likes to say, “Nature’s laws can’t be broken – only proven.”

My earliest memory of when I started to question societal structures and paradigms in earnest is from around age 12 or 13. I got straight ‘A’s’ on my middle-school report card, and my mother took me, with my report card, to the department store that was offering discounts on sheets and towels, in exchange for ‘A’s’ on your child’s report card. Something tripped in my brain that day. An idea that was germinating in the recesses of my young mind came suddenly to the forefront, articulated as a question: “Who am I hustling with this school-work FOR?” Of course I knew it wasn’t for discounts on sheets for my mom, but something about the incident triggered a growing disillusionment. With the exception of my English literature, gym and art classes (I liked to write, move, and make things – and I still do!), I struggled to relate to much of the material that was taught in school, as it didn’t have much application in my real life.

I noticed that my parents’ well-intentioned idea of success seemed to me to be focused primarily on external achievements and appearances, while I knew deep down inside of myself that what I wanted most of all in life was simply to feel happy and connected. I am sure this early feeling of disconnect informed my later decision to give my children ownership of their learning experiences. After many years of the happy freedom of child-led learning (or ‘unschooling’), each of my 3 children gradually began to sometimes choose more formal teaching situations (starting at around 12 years of age), as they developed a personal desire for that learning structure, for some of their deepening areas of natural interest. It was always in their hands, and I believe they remained passionate learners for this reason.

Even at the college and graduate-school levels, where I had a bit more personal choice in my studies, I was unable to participate wholeheartedly in the institutional setting. This disenfranchisement followed me into professional jobs in hospital and business settings. It even affected my ability to find a home in spiritual communities, though I sincerely wanted to. Everywhere I turned, there were rules and rituals that felt uncomfortably artificial or arbitrary, to me. Awakening to my need to let go of trying to fit into the types of human-invented structures which felt dissociative to me, was a slow and painful process.

Nothing in my lifetime, to date, has more boldly highlighted the aversion in much of our society to the idea of sovereignty and personal freedom than the landscape of the past 3 years of the ‘covid crisis.’ In many ways, I was well prepared for this global fear event, because I had already fought and won the battles to claim personal power over my health and my lifestyle. I felt no fear of the virus, as I trusted my body to clear it, and I could not be talked into following along with protocols that made no sense to me, and were not evidence-based. I’d had lots of life experience already in ‘going against the grain,’ and facing the judgments, concerns and fear-reactions of family, friends, and even strangers who felt compelled to weigh-in on my atypical personal choices. Yet I was still taken by surprise to realize the extent to which so many people felt very frightened, and even outraged, at the idea of people making their own assessments and decisions regarding the covid situation.

“An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propaganda, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it. Truth stands, even if there be no public support. It is self-sustained.” - Mahatma Gandhi

“A lie doesn’t become truth, wrong doesn’t become right, and evil doesn’t become good, just because it is accepted by a majority.” - Unknown

To my core, I believe that a happy, healthy society is made up of individuals who are encouraged and inspired to know their own unique expression of wholeness. Group-think leads to co-dependencies and enmeshments, in my observation, and dangerously discourages the true critical thinking which is necessary for a diverse and thriving society and world. Though we need to select special leaders to help organize and facilitate important large-scale systems, I believe the vast majority of us have the capacity, and a healthy desire, to claim leadership of our own lives. I don’t believe ‘Public Health’ is ever achieved by forcing or coercing a ‘one-size-fits-all’ strategy, decided by a few and pushed on the many.

I have witnessed that when people are openly encouraged to think for themselves, to question things honestly, to do their own research, to freely share their thought processes and ideas with each other, to trust their instincts and observations, and to take full personal responsibility for their own health and wellness, most people make sound decisions that benefit not only themselves and their children, but naturally also the people around them. Also, knowing our individual sufficiency and resourcefulness makes us much more available to experience our natural abundance of compassion and generosity, because we are no longer hijacked by fear of scarcity, helplessness and imagined danger. If each of us were truly encouraged to hone our individual potential, in other words, imagine how we would each shine, and with what brilliance our collective would then radiate!

We are born with a blueprint to grow and to thrive, and our core essence is the positive energy of love, compassion and joy. We naturally love, care for, and respect our fellow humans, and we don’t need to be told how to do the right thing. We innately know how to do the right thing. When we are tuned in, we have access to divine wisdom! I know I am over-simplifying what it takes to create an organized, functional society - but truly, I believe groups of healthy humans are self-organizing, and that if we weren’t sold on the idea of top-down authoritative government, we would form the necessary productive groups to create functional, empowering order. I think that one of our deepest immediate needs, to correct the gross imbalances we’ve allowed, is a massive dose of support and encouragement for reconnecting to our in-built intuition, our trust in ourselves and our amazing capacities, and our faith in the laws of nature and the unfathomable natural intelligence of our miraculous bodies.

“The highest form of ignorance is when you reject something you don’t know anything about.” - Wayne Dyer

For sure, it takes great courage to hold firm a torch lit with the flames of truths we know deep-down inside, even in the wild and sometimes stormy winds of the collective’s disapproval, fear and distrust. I think this courage was molded in me like how iron is forged in a fire. It wasn’t easy, or assumed – I really sweated for it. Quite literally - blood, sweat, and tears built the inner strength I own today, the strength which enables me to stand tall and hold the torch of inconvenient truths without wavering. The extremeness of the fear-based propaganda and corporate money-greed of the covid environment of the past few years has severely tested my patience, my generosity, and my tolerance (these tests have helped me grow new muscles!) - but none of it has tested, or even scratched the surface, of my knowing of the natural truths of what causes health, or why preserving basic personal freedoms is an imperative.

“‘Irresponsibility? My brothers!’ Jonathan cried.
‘Who is more responsible than a gull who finds and follows a meaning, a higher purpose for life? For a thousand years we have scrabbled after fish heads, but now we have a reason to live – to learn, to discover, to be free! Give me one chance, let me show you what I’ve found….’

The flock might as well have been stone…..His one sorrow was not solitude, it was that other gulls refused to believe the glory of flight that awaited them; they refused to open their eyes and see.” - from Jonathan Livingston Seagull, by Richard Bach

“Those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.” - Nietzsch