The chain

• 16 December, 2021
• consciousness
• karma
• reincarnation

Therefore as we experience fear just as much as we experience life, we cling to beliefs as a matter of habit. Beliefs are not truth and have no relationship to our immediate reality. They just give us a reference point and some degree of reassurance or hope. For this reason I refuse to condemn anyone for their beliefs just as much as I don't wish to be condemned for my beliefs. Condemnation doesn't liberate anyone, it oppresses.

This is what the fighting is really all about - energy.

Energy is of course physicality, but see energy is also power. Think of any conflict, dispute, fight, strike, war, or military occupation, and the bottom line will always bring you back to a fight or dispute over physical resources or some kind of power - political power, economic power, or social power. The United States is the classic example. War is how the US maintains political and economic stability. But it's not the only military player out there. This is a human thing.

But this is also true when it comes to fighting in couples between partners and marriages - husband and wife. My parents fought each other viciously over power and control in the marriage and also over money, and in turn I fought my father just as viciously over power - the central issue being his dogmatism and my complete unwillingness to conform. This also brought me into conflict with several teachers and the headmaster of my final school. Throughout my education I stood out in English and Art and struggled with mathematics, sciences and physical education. But I also struggled with assignment deadlines, rules, and requirements.

Buddhist samsara is based on a Wheel of Life and an endless cycle of birth, death and rebirth. Unlike Western religions there is no permanent state of heaven and hell, no Judgment Day, and I'm going by what is depicted on many religious paintings here - no being admitted to eternal Sunday School in the form of Heaven or being condemned to a permanent wild orgy of fucking, swinging, drugs, drinking, kinky role play, wild partying, a few blowjobs and even more fucking in the form of Hell. Not sure if you're relieved by this or seriously disappointed. But this sort of thing isn't happening in Buddhist samsara.

Buddhist samsara is based on six realms of existence. Starting from the top and going round clockwise, this gives us:

Deva

Deva is the realm of the gods. Note that in Buddhism some humans are considered to be holier than gods as they can become sramanas, arahats, boddhisatvas and buddhas. Similar to Native American lore, boddhisatvas can be non-binary in sex and gender (two spirit in Native American culture) so there is none of the patriarchy as you find in Western religions, you can be male, female or trans and be just as holy. But devas are gods and considered too blissful and happy to be concerned with achieving nirvana.

Asura

Asura is the realm of angry, wrathful demi-gods who are too passionate and forceful to be considering nirvana, so they too exist in samsara chained to the endless cycles of birth, death and rebirth.

Tiryag

Tiryag is the realm of animals which are considered too dumb to contemplate achieving nirvana. Personally I'm not sure about this. If you've ever watched a spider closely while they build a web, you'll find that most spiders are more Zen than most Zen Buddhists.

Narakha

Narakha, opposite to the deva realm, is the Buddhist version of hell and full of truly miserable souls.

Preta

Preta is the well known realm of 'hungry ghosts', souls with large bellies and small mouths who can never find satisfaction.

Manusya

Completing the wheel manusya is the human realm, considered to be the realm of complete equanimity where it is possible to achieve nirvana and get off the wheel of life and out of endless birth, death and rebirth.

So now we move straight on to Western astrology.

Sign	Quality	Element	Planet	Symbolism (planet)
Aries	cardinal	Fire	Mars	action
Taurus	fixed	Earth	Venus	desire
Gemini	mutable	Air	Mercury	communication
Cancer	cardinal	Water	Moon	conscious perspective
Leo	fixed	Fire	Sun	Ego (self-image)
Virgo	mutable	Earth	Mercury	service
Libra	cardinal	Air	Venus	love
Scorpio	fixed	Water	Pluto	mystical power
Sagittarius	mutable	Fire	Jupiter	individual truth
Capricorn	cardinal	Earth	Saturn	discipline
Aquarius	fixed	Air	Uranus	individuation
Pisces	mutable	Water	Neptune	unresolved karma

So what you have above is the entire zodiac across 12 signs of the zodiac with their qualities, elements and associated planets. This is no different from the Buddhist samsara and 'Wheel of Life'. There's various hypotheses and theories based on the notion that we all go round the zodiac, being born under each sign with each different incarnation or life.

If you go into the significance and symbolism behind each sign of the zodiac, the symbolism of its associated planet, the qualities, elements and so forth you will find that everything corresponds to various cards in the Major Arcana of the Tarot, and also relates back to a specific number in numerology. In Western mysticism numerology is by far the most popular and widely used system of divination. Numerology is used throughout religion, throughout science, throughout the occult, magic and also banking. Yet it's not taught to you in school, is it? Now why do you think that could be?

Understanding karma

Understanding karma really isn't that difficult. Karma, the word, or kama in Pali, simply means 'action' as in action, reaction and interaction. Cause and effect if you prefer. Or put it another way trigger or stimulus and response. This is karma in a nutshell.

But what you also need to understand is that there is also process - the creativity and interaction - and it's that process which flows from you and the core of your being in the present moment outwards in all directions. Please understand that what I'm telling you here is that karma and dependent arising are one and the same thing, and that one thing is Natural Law.

You cannot have action without relationship, just as you cannot have relationship without action.

You are bound by your karma, which is the whole point of this blog post. Karma is the chain of interdependent origin. Everything you do, everything you say, everything you think, every emotion, every feeling, every thought, everything - it's all recorded into memory, and through memory is recorded into whatever consciousness you believe is the real you.

This goes on and on and on and on and on and on and on infinitely. What you are experiencing right now, right here, right at this present moment - life - this is all there is in reality.

God in the image of Man

This is where we come to the whole delusion of the Ego and everything that's connected with it. Understand that God, or whatever word you use, is a metaphor for the universe, or the sum total of consciousness in existence. Are you God? Think about it.

But that is what you're socially conditioned to believe - that you have complete freedom, that you are responsible for all your choices, decisions and actions. You're conditioned to believe in right and wrong, in morality, and that if you believe the right things, make the right choices, and do the right things, then you will be deemed as good, not evil, not bad, and you will go to Heaven.

But see, the minute you step out of line - BAM! - that's when you come into conflict with authority.

This is when everything changes and turns round on you so that no, you no longer have the freedom, but you're still held responsible. You've fallen short. You have sinned. You have strayed from the path. You have failed. You have broken the rules. You have broken the law. You need to be disciplined. You need to be punished. You need to be held accountable for your actions. You need to be judged.

Do you now see and understand how this all works?

"And here's to you, Mrs Robinson,
Jesus loves you more than you will know, whoa whoa whoa,
God bless you please, Mrs Robinson,
Heaven holds a place for those who pray,
Hey hey hey,
Hey hey hey,

We'd like to know a little bit about you for our files,
We'd like to help you learn to help yourself,
Look around you all you see are sympathetic eyes,
Stroll around the grounds until you feel at home..."
--Simon and Garfunkel, "Mrs Robinson"

Part of the system

There's however part of the Ego which is rooted in truth and this is why I never suggest to anyone that you should try or make any attempt to live without an Ego. You need an Ego in order to be able to live or function in society. Without an Ego you will very quickly become toast and you will remain toast until you're assigned a completely new Ego - completely wiping out and erasing any of your previous lived experience and individual truth and experience.

This is the part most people find confusing because the way the Ego has been designed to match up with the social system is very closely aligned with reality and how we all match up with the natural system and natural order.

This is why I keep telling people that politicians are not your friends. Politicians are not necessarily your enemies either. They're just people like you who have been elected to represent you and make policy decisions which best harmonize the system and maintain social order.

They're subject to tighter controls by their parties which are pretty much aligned with multinational corporations. This is to keep the money flowing. This is something you need to keep in mind when dealing with money. Money is essentially space, it's conceptual, it's not real, which is what I was driving at a couple of blog posts ago at the end of All beliefs are lies.

Money only takes on 'substance' and physical reality when it's in contention. You can pay attention and see this for yourself. Whenever there's an issue with money, such as how much money is to be spent on something, or money is needed for something else, or there's a wages dispute, see how quickly money transforms into this thing of substance - a symbol of power - which becomes the whole point of the conflict. "Where is the money going to come from?" Indeed.

There's many more situations within the system which is completely wide open to individual interpretation. This is completely intentional.

This is to create as much confusion as possible between the symbolism and symbolic or cultural reality, belief, ideology, opinion, hypothesis, thesis, premise, assumption, and natural reality, actual reality, and truth.

"Sitting on a sofa on a Sunday afternoon,
Going to the candidates' debate,
Laugh about it, shout about it, when you've got to choose,
Every way you look at this you lose,

Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?
Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you, woo hoo hoo,
What's that you say Mrs Robinson?
Jumping Joe has left and gone away, hey hey hey, hey hey hey..."
--Simon and Garfunkel, "Mrs Robinson"

The control grid

This is where you've got to be extremely careful especially if you're online or on social media.

The societal order isn't really all that different from the natural order. As there is a process of creativity and interaction which exists throughout the universe binding you to the chain of interdependent origin through your biology and membership of the human species and role in biological evolution, there is a similar process of creativity and interaction going on in society which exists throughout the whole of society and that process - due to the existence of money - is capitalism.

Human society, whether we like it or not, is predicated entirely upon the flow of capital from one bank account to another.

This is where you really need to take a step back and think about how you're using technology, especially the technology that comes with the internet and social media. Technology can be a wonderful thing if it's something which is supporting your creativity, connecting you to people, and opening up new opportunities for you.

"Some folks are born, made to wave the flag,
Ooh they're red white and blue,
And when the band plays "Hail to the chief,
Ooh they point the cannon at you, Lord,

It ain't me, it ain't me,
I ain't no senator's son, son,
It ain't me, it ain't me,
I ain't no fortunate one, no...."
--Creedance Clearwater Revival, "Fortunate Son"

But there's also that other side to technology. Technology can also be used as a control grid, and there are many different ways you can be effectively shut out, or locked out of that control grid. Say for example you cannot access your accounts on social media. You cannot post to your feed. You cannot send messages to other people. Similarly you can be locked out of your email accounts and even your bank account. Then what? What are you going to do then? How are you going to live if you cannot easily access money or other people? Have you thought about this at all? Well have you?

The control grid isn't just about shutting you out and excluding you. It's also about monetization. You get given free access to a shiny new account on some social media. You get told that you can make money by getting your account or channel (as some social media accounts are now known as) by consenting to paid advertisements being featured on your channel. What type of advertisements? This doesn't matter because your opinion isn't going to be sought. Besides most advertisements today on social media are generated by algorithms - the same system as dependent arising and I-Ching, as is all digital technology - so it's whoever views your channel who determines what advertisements feature on your channel, not you.

Can you not see the opportunities here for those who have the 'power'? If mouse clicks and data can be monetized, as it is now and has been for some years, what else can be monetized about you and your life?

Let's not overlook the fact that the internet and being online is what connects you to society in many cases. Think about all the reasons you go online and what you can go online right now.

"I follow the Moskwa, down to Gorky Park,
Listening to the wind of change,
An August summer night, soldiers passing by,
Listening to the wind of change,

The world is closing in, and did you ever think,
That we could be so close, like brothers?
The future's in the air, I can feel it everywhere,
Blowing with the wind of change,

Take me to the magic of the moment on a glory night,
Where the children of tomorrow dream away,
In the wind of change....."
--The Scorpions, "Wind of Change"

Now think about all the things you do in your life which can actually be monetized. Let's not forget how intimate and personal our connections to the internet have become. If you're older you might be able to remember back to how life was back in the 1980's when there was no microchips or digital technology. If you're not you might like to ask an older relative or someone who's older. Above you see an image of an empty butcher's shop in Poland, characteristic of the 'PRL' (the People's Republic of Poland) and and the empty shops, long queues and martial law of Poland in the 1980's.

Martial law ended without announcement on New Year's Day 1984. At the time I was in London with Babu, my Bangladeshi master, learning about Therevada (Southern) Buddhism, Vipassana meditation, mysticism and magic. I'd started practising astrology a year before. I first started travelling in Eastern Europe in 1990. I was in Leningrad when it became St Petersburg. I first arrived in Poland at the start of 1993. I settled in the spring of 1993. I had missed the 'empty shops' phase by a matter of months, missing the first real Christmas when Poles could actually buy stuff in the shops.

I remember the time well. Lech Walesa was the Polish President. Very similar to Trump. Walesa's answer to everything was to push through economic reforms based on Thatcherism at every available opportunity. If you're in Britain or the States and you thought the COVID pandemic and lockdowns was chaos you don't know the half of it. Trust me. Walesa's presidency yielded 13 different Polish governments in just 5 years. This was the golden age of 'polski kapitalism' (Polish capitalism). Shopkeepers - and understand that Poland is a nation of small shops and kiosks which is why any major railway station is also a thriving shopping centre - embraced the reforms wholesale.

When I arrived in Poland the Polish zloty exchanged for around 23,000 PLZ for one pound sterling. Prices were lots of zeros. You had to be careful to watch you weren't giving someone a million for something which cost 100,000zl. The second thing you also had to walk around and figure out where to buy things. You bought food from a furniture shop. Bought shoes at the butcher's. If you needed to travel anywhere you needed a funeral director. You bought fruit, toiletries and women's tights at the post office, where you could also buy cigarettes (which at the time you could buy pretty much anywhere). The greengrocers sold DIY equipment. The only places where everything was where you expected it to be, specifically alcohol, were in the larger former state run supermarkets, and in shops known as 'Monopolowy'.

I wrote a simple stage comedy about this 'reality' and put it on in student theatre in two different language versions. Simple stage play, the central character being a dumb shop assistant in a small shop when the government introduces cabbages as currency. The play ended with all the characters getting involved in a five way argument over an exchange of products ("But cheese is the same as a banana! See? They're both yellow!") which developed into one big almighty food fight. Up to this point theatre in Poland was serious, classical, very much as we see opera in the West. I had completely parodied the shit out of Walesa's social and economic reforms and brought theatre of the absurd to the Polish stage. This was how I broke through, without warning, starting from a small theatre a stone's throw away from the Lenin shipyards in Gdansk, 15 years after Polish Solidarity, broke through into Polish theatre.

"The wind of change blows straight,
Into the face of time,
Like a storm wind that will ring,
The freedom bell for peace of mind,

Let your balalaika sing,
What my guitar wants to say,

Take me to the magic of the moment on a glory night,
Where the children of tomorrow share their dreams,
With you and me,
Take me to the magic of the moment on a glory night,
Where the children of tomorrow dream away,
In the wind of change..."
--The Scorpions, "Wind of Change"

Make no mistake, as I'm writing here from direct personal experience, as I have been that 'wind of change' and trust me, my cultural influence over Polish culture was a lot stronger than anything Lech Walesa could come up with. The image above is taken from a London production (via Qultura Fringe) of 'The Condemned', the last stage play I presented and opened in Warsaw theatre back in 2003. This opening was held back a year due to the 2002 opening and release of Roman Polanski's film 'The Pianist', which was on the exact same subject as 'The Condemned' a story about the Warsaw Ghetto. 'The Condemned' started out as a film commission in 1996 after the death of another well known Polish movie director, Krzysztof Kieslowski. This was a little over a year before I decided to quit Warsaw theatre, which prompted the 'A Final Curtain Falls' article in the Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza.

I was one of the ones who foretold of the coming changes to Poland, the way it is now. Too bad that nobody really listened.

None of this really matters, because this culture is no more. Nothing exists from this period of time.

Well apart from a massive shopping and commercial centre in the centre of Poznan, a Polish city where I first started out in Polish alternative theatre. I was the first to take alternative theatre in Poland and put it into a non-theatrical building, a pub.

I was the pioneer of the Fringe in Poland which started from the Czarna Owca pub in the Old Market in Poznan. That's what started the process back in 1997 and 1998 and it was from the owner of the pub that I got my idea to make 'The Condemned' about Polish philosopher and writer Wittkacy. But I had nothing to do with how that process developed into the 'Browar' because I left Poznan for Warsaw at the start of the century.

The final performances in the pub were the two performances of two short dramas, one in Polish and the other in English, at the MALTA International Festival of OFF Theatre (MALTA OFF), one of the performances which brought a record audience of over 600 people for the 90 seater pub venue. After the performance the student theatre I worked with throughout from the first opening performances in Gdansk in 1995, we got together for a final drink, celebrated the successful festival productions, and went our separate ways.

"Some folks are born, silver spoon in hand,
Lord don't they help themselves, oh,
But when the taxman comes to the door,
Lord the house looks like a rummage sale, yes,

It ain't me, it ain't me,
I ain't no millionaire's son, no,
It ain't me, it ain't me,
I ain't no fortunate one, no...."
--Creedance Clearwater Revival, "Fortunate Son"

Please don't think I've gone into all this to big myself up and try and get you to follow me. That's not my intention at all here. Apparently I'm told I do have some followers, but see, none of these followers at any point call me up and ask me how I'm doing. We don't hang out together. There's no connection whatsoever between me and anyone who claims to follow me or admire me. Please don't do the stupid thing and follow their example. This is your life you're living, nobody else's. No matter what you do after reading this blog post always remember that and never ever ever forget it.

But I just want you to think about the changes you're seeking in life, and what's going to come out of those changes.

Just as death is the natural outcome to life, capitalism is the social outcome to change and due to the social consensus and acceptance that money is something which needs to flow into people's hands and bank accounts. Let's be real and honest with each other here, if nothing else - if you don't have an annual income of seven solid figures coming through your bank account across twelve months of the year you have no real social or economic power to speak of.

What I'm suggesting here is that you take a step back and think about what you're doing and how you're interacting with other people and make sure that, somewhere further down the line, you're not actually hurting yourself in the process.

You think that those who have the power are going to turn down the opportunity to put technology into every accessible space in your home and monetize the shit out of your life? You wake up? KER-CHING! Go to the bathroom and pee? KER-CHING! Switch the kettle on for a coffee? KER-CHING! Check your emails and text messages? KER-CHING! Open your fridge for breakfast? KER-CHING! Just a few examples here. I'm sure you get the drift.

"Born down in a dead man's town,
The first kick I took was when I hit the ground,
End up like a dog that's been beat too much,
Till you spend half your life just to cover it up, now,

Born in the USA,
I was born in the USA,
I was born in the USA,
Born in the USA, now...."
--Bruce Springsteen, "Born in the USA"

Control icons

In life, you've always got to be careful and on the look out for control icons, and how you get involved in those control icons.

If you're an American this is the central part of this blog which is directly address a little more specifically to you, because your culture is made up almost completely of control icons. The United States is supposed to be, constitutionally, a republic, at least on paper (or parchment). However culturally - in terms of cultural reality - the United States is far more akin to an absolute monarchy, which explains the inferiority complex which lies somewhere deep down in the heart and soul of almost all Americans. You want to be Number One, the greatest, and the reason why you have this desire and need is because generally you get treated like shit by those who rule over you.

Am I somewhere close to the mark here?

Many of those control icons are extremely subtle. I could have chosen so many images from so many wars to back up the point I'm making with the song quotes and have been throughout this blog post. But I managed to find an image of a young boy somewhere in south-east Asia being trained in Therevada (Southern) Buddhism.

Now contrast this with the Buddhist monk above who is practising 'za-zen' or Zen meditation, also from somewhere in Asia. See any differences?

Let's start with the older monk who's practising 'Zen', or 'za-zen' - hours and hours and hours of meditation, sitting perfectly still, trying not to think, and to cleanse the mind, so as to control the mind. This is the concept of 'no mind' which is promoted by all those gurus, spiritual leaders, maharishis, and on all those meditation and yoga courses.

But see Therevada is Buddhism. Zen is Buddhism. Mahayana Buddhism is Buddhism. Tibetan Buddhism is Buddhism. Theosophy is a derivative of Tibetan Buddhism. Qultura is a derivative of Therevada Buddhism. From the average British or American (read Western) perspective, it's all Buddhism.

It depends on your perspective. Therevada is the 'source' of all Buddhism. It's the oldest school of Buddhism in existence having been around for more than 2,000 years and probably from the times of the original Buddha. Note that the kid in the first image isn't meditating like the monk above. He's reading and is probably reading the Pali Canon. Unlike all other forms of Buddhism Therevada is strict and conservative about the Three Baskets (Tipitaka):

1. The Abidhamma: the 'way' or 'method' - The Void is the only reality.
2. Vinayana: discipline - you have to walk the Buddha's path yourself and go through the same experiences. This is known as 'sadana', which is Sanskrit for discipline.
3. Sutta: content - what makes you a Therevadin is your experience of life, your connection to others ('sangha' which is Sanskrit for community), your insight and your truth.

But which form of Buddhism is the control icon?

"Two, a one two three four,

Everybody's talking about,
Bagism, Shagism, Dragism, Madism, Ragism, Tagism,
This-ism, That-ism, is-m, is-m, is-m,

All we are saying is give peace a chance,
All we are saying is give peace a chance..."
--The Plastic Ono Band, "Give Peace A Chance"

Buddhism in the United States

The reason why I am writing about this here is that, during the Vietnam war in the 1960's Buddhism and Theosophy were popularized in the United States. Two forms of Buddhism were being promoted. The first was Zen Buddhism, which originated from Chan Buddhism in China to become Thien Buddhism in Vietnam, Seon Buddhism in Korea and Zen Buddhism in Japan where in each case it became the major religion. Then you have Tibetan Buddhism as practised in Tibet and Bhutan, where it is dominant in Central Asia and the Himalayas. It's also the dominant religion in Mongolia and the southern parts of Siberia.

This was to counter the psychedelic movement going on at the time which was originated by Tim Leary and Allen Ginsburg and motivated by Leary's sacking from Harvard in April 1963. This was several months before the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in November 1963 in Texas.

President Nixon described Timothy Leary as "the most dangerous man in America".

Leary's sacking was just one of a number of sackings from Harvard, which included also the sacking of Richard Alpert or Baba Ram Dass, who was a disciple of Hindu guru Neem Karoli Baba, hence the name Ram Dass, which means 'servant of the ram'. Ram Dass was a yogi and spiritual teacher who, like Alan Watts, the Anglican minister from England who promoted Zen Buddhism, Taoism and Advaita Vedanta (a branch of Hindu philosophy) on the West Coast, combined Buddhism and Hinduism in his teachings. One of the students of Ram Dass and Timothy Leary was Robert Thurmann, an American Buddhist author who wrote about Tibetan Buddhism and was a pioneer of Buddhism in the United States, and is also the father of actress Uma Thurmann.

Another figure of US psychedelic culture who's well worth a mention is Terence McKenna, who was a mystic and ethnobotanist (read alchemist) who graduated from Berkeley in the 1960's who developed a 'novelty theory' regarding the nature of time through fractal patterns and wrote about a lot of subjects such as shamanism, psychedelics, metaphysics, alchemy, language, culture, technology and environmentalism.

"Ooh a storm is threatening, my very life today,
If I don't get some shelter, ooh yeah I'm gonna fade away,
War children, it's just a shot away,
It's just a shot away...."
--The Rolling Stones, "Gimme Shelter"

Jiddu Krishnamurti and UG Krishnamurti

Then you have the two Krishnamurti's - Jiddu Krishnamurti and UG Krishnamurti and the whole Theosophy thing. Buddhism isn't as widespread or popular in the UK as it is in the United States, but Theosophy is far more widespread, and this is more the case the further you go up the social spectrum and get into the upper echelons of society.

Jiddu Krishnamurti came from Madanapalle of Andhra Pradesh in southern India and as a young teenager he met with occultist and theosophist Charles Webster Leadbeater on the grounds of the Theosophical Society at Adyar in Madras around 1910 where he became raised by Leadbeater who was originally a Church of England minister but became an occultist and founder of the Liberal Catholic Church, and also Annie Besant who was a British socialist, theosophist, women's rights activist and a champion of human freedom. Jiddu Krishnamurti was raised to be the 20th century 'messiah' of Theosophy worldwide, which brought him into conflict with Austrian theosophist and philosopher Rudolf Steiner. Jiddu Krishnamurti later rejected theosophy and claimed no allegiance to anyone.

Then you have UG (Uppaluri Gopala) Krishnamurti who was younger than Jiddu Krishnamurti but no relation. UG Krishnamurti was an Indian philosopher from Gudivada on the coast of Andhra Pradesh in southern India. He questioned the state of spiritual enlightenment. He was introduced to Theosophy by his grandfather who raised him and it's through the Theosophical Society that he was connected, primarily in London, with Jiddu Krishnamurti.

UG Krishnamurti died in March 2007 in Vallecrosia, Italy. He had slipped and fallen and had become bedridden for several weeks before his death. He dictated his final speech 'My Swan Song' shortly before his death. He died with three friends at his bedside. When he died he did not want to be remembered after his death. In not just this respect but in others, UG Krishnamurti was very similar to Babu, the Bangladeshi Therevadin master who trained me in London between 1983 and 1986.

"Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery,
None but ourselves can free our minds,
Have no fear of atomic energy,
'Cause none of them can stop the time,
How long shall they kill our prophets,
While we stand aside and look?
Some say it's just a part of it,
We've got to fulfill the Book,

Won't you help to sing,
These songs of freedom,
Is all I ever have,
Redemption song, redemption song...."
--Bob Marley, "Redemption Song"

Breaking the chains

If you are still working out the answer, or have forgotten in this word stew, Buddhism in the popular sense is a control icon. So too is meditation. So too is yoga. So too is contemplation. Prayers and thoughts won't bring back a single dead body in any mass shooting, or any war. It also won't bring you peace. Trust me.

Understand that here I'm making the distinction between Therevada and Buddhism. Therevada as in the dominant belief in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand, and a minority belief in India, Bangladesh, China, Nepal and Vietnam. Similarly I'm also making the distinction here between Therevada and Qultura, and also between Theosophy and Qultura. Qultura is completely standalone.

That saying I am of that same culture which existed through Britain and the United States in the 20th century. Ravi Shankar, who worked with George Harrison of the Beatles, was a close personal friend of Babu's. I was introduced to Theosophy through working briefly in a Waldorf school in Warsaw in 2006. I knew of Rudolf Steiner and Madame Yelena Blavatsky from my studies in mysticism back when I was training. But many of my influences come from Polish culture, Krzysztof Kieslowski, Polish psychologist and charity worker Marek Kotanski, and Polish actor and theatre director Jan Machulski who mentored my artistic work in Poland. The Qultura community was developed out of Qultura Fringe and a reggae music project working with the Marley family, and I've also been connected to Eddy Grant and the other reggae family, the MacAnuff family.

You cannot achieve change through changing either who you are, or society, or working towards social change. If something is published, produced and bought and sold, or someone is making money off something, then it is a control icon.

You need to seek your change, whatever change you're seeking beyond all control icons and ideologies and belief systems.

There is no other way round this.

You can only seek truth, and it is finding your individual truth which liberates you.