400

You are  reading my official 400th post on this blog.  Along with the 100 or so in the incomplete folder, this represents about six weeks of 24/7 writing over the past two years.  At an average of 1,000 words each, the 400 posts add up to 400,000 words, minus illustrations, which would be a respectable novel on the order of "War and Peace".

The primary criticism I've received is that my blog doesn't seem to have a hard focus.  Of that, I am guilty as charged.  I didn't start this effort to have a single focus.  I started it as an exercise that would be a legacy to my children...an effort to expose the mind of their father in a way that few children are privy.

As a writer, I've pumped out millions of words for money.  I've written hundreds of scripts, thousands of press releases, manuals, reports, and all manner of printed communications.  As a sideline, I've contributed hundreds of updates to urbansurvival.com, first as Oilman1/Houston Bureau, and later as the Indonesia Bureau.  I've written dozens of articles and ghost written books.  The vast majority of my work is uncredited, which is fine.  I got paid well for it, so who's complaining?

I wanted an outlet, though, that was just me.  No committees.  No editors.  No deadlines.  Only my own inner drive to write.  I don't get paid for this, though I have gotten a couple of jobs because of it.  In the end, it is a practice ground where I develop my thoughts and ideas for later polishing.  Most of what you read here is first draft with only minor edits for spelling and grammar after the fact.  In the parlance, it's 'spew'.

What's particularly gratifying is that, in two years, I've watched the hits go from zero to 8,000 per month.  Of those, about 1,000 per week are unique, meaning about that many individuals read this site on a regular basis.  In all, I've served up 100,000 pages in the time I've been at it.  I've also had Rense and Icke, and a dozen smaller sites, pick up posts for redistribution.  It's exciting, really.

But what is really gratifying are the folks who've written in to say that this or that post made them think, or gave them a new perspective, or taught them something they didn't know before.  The teacher side of me beams with pride when someone 'gets it' and takes the time to say so.

I titled this blog "Life on the Far Side" because it gave me latitude.  The original idea was from a friend who encouraged me to write a blog about my experiences living in Indonesia.  But I didn't want to get trapped into a travelogue.  I wanted to be able to write about all the topics that swim in the ocean of my mind, and about which I spend hours of my life reading and studying.  I wanted to be able to switch from Jakarta traffic to the gods of Olympus seamlessly.  This was to be my 'signature' work.

It's been a real education, too.  For instance, the most popular themes here are the articles on semiotics and acupuncture.  They run neck-and-neck.  The all-time hit leader is "GlobalRev and the Pig's Lipstick."  Close on its tail is "Adventures in Acupuncture II."  What my hit-counter tells me is that people are thirsting for any information on how symbols and hidden communications work, and information of alternative medicine.  We can extrapolate ad nauseum on what that means, but suffice it to say that the audience here is hungry for good, solid information on how the world works.

Interestingly, it matches my own thirst to understand how the Universe works, and why.

I'm taking this moment to thank you, the reader, for your support and encouragement.  It is like a shot of espresso to read an email from readers who got something from my work.  Gratefully, my readers are not ditto-heads, but thinkers who appreciate (as do I) a catalyst that gels their own thinking, or offers additional lines of research.

The lamentable thing about the modern world is that most folks don't consider research and learning to be life-long pursuits.  They have been trained to think of these things as work of 'experts' and 'authorities'.  It doesn't occur to them that we can all become such with a little volition of our own.  If anything, I want this blog to be a celebration of on-going adult education that is self-motivated and doesn't require the confirmation of outside 'authority' for verification.

Cogito ergo sum.  I think therefore I am.

One criticism that I should address is why I don't publish more links.  Well, if I link everything I refer to, then I limit your personal research to what I have found.  Your job is to take the names and references and find your own sources.  I don't have any pretense to tell you WHAT to think.  When I do link something, it's because that particular article or site offers something that must be communally experienced to understand what I am saying.

At any rate, enough of the reflexive analysis.  I just wanted to pause and mark the 400th post, and to address a few things that newer readers may not have picked up yet.  With that many articles online, folks are bound to find something they like.  Click around in the archive in the right-hand column.  See it you can't find something that challenges and entertains you.

One thing I hope I never do here, though, is amuse.  If you don't want to take the time to figure out why, it's because the word comes from French via Latin: a muser.  It means, 'without thought.'

Hidupan, Alam Semesta dan Semuanya

One reason I write a blog is to exchange ideas with other minds out there, whether they see things the same as I do, or not. The mail I get is often inspirational and thanks to my blog, I have made new contacts in various parts of the world. A big note of tanks goes to George Ure, at UrbanSurvival, for giving me a wider audience!

Because of my eyesight (or lack thereof), I am a bit slow on reading and responding to email, but this morning I received an email that really inspired me, to whit:

"My daughter has enrolled her son and daughter in cyberschool. What a difference it makes. It gives them a lot of room for self expression. You are right about doing the same old thing over and over again.My daughter is an artist in mosaics, but when she was in school, if she dared to step out of the teachers way, she got into hot water, never allowed for self expression. It is a different mode now and if more parents did it, there would be more free thinkers. If the USA goes the way it looks like it is going, the schools won't be able to affort to run busses anyway.And I despise the fact that every school has a cop in it. What is wrong with these people. I always say it was created by the "puckerbutt Mamas" who had nothing better to do than go to PTA meetings and harp about a teacher touching their children. Lets face it "we have been had by the PTB and it is up to the free thinkers to change things."

In addition to giving me a wonderful new adjective, 'puckerbutt,' this letter also inspired me. I therefore replied in my usual brief and concise manner:

Please pardon my delay in replying, but WOW what a great letter to receive!

It's gratifying to hear that there are folks out there who are opting out of the system. Freedom of self begins with freedom of thought, and we can't think clearly nor freely if we are sent to cookie cutter schools.

I'm an artist, as well. I spent 40 years of my 50 total (so far) working in theater, film and TV. I had some brilliant, real teachers, beginning with my mother, who not only encouraged free-thinking, but demanded it.

Your letter reached me at an opportune time. I am currently developing a system for teaching English online so that it can reach students in Indonesia who are very remote and don't have access to the resourses available in Jakarta. You see, English is a way for people to move up here. They can use it to get good jobs and expand outside their villages and borders. They can access a much larger world of ideas by learning a single skill. However, when I teach English, I use ten different languages to do it. I show the students that language is simply a way to encode and decode information, just like math, computers and art. I come at the problem from a different angle than the standard rote memory curricula available on the market. Language is an organic, living thing and cannot be taught in a cold, rigid manner, just as plants cannot be raised without water and sunshine and exposure to the environment.

Anyway, I could wax philosophical for hours, as you can see from my blog. I am verygrateful to you for writing me. You inspired me with your ideas. Tha is one rreason I write, so that I can exchange ideas with a wider audience, and not only be inspired, but translate that into inspiration for the next generation.

I wish the best for you and yours. I am overjoyed that someone out there is seeking something different from the same ole same ole. We can win this Thing one mind at a time. It's daunting, but not impossible.

Thank you kindly for your letter, I know that to inspire someone to write back, there must be some ideas in my writings that move and motivate, and that is gratifying. Best of luck to you all, and blessings on you and yours.

Best regards,
Bernard

Education.

That's the key. That's how we defeat the PTB. One mind at a time. It took generations of indoctrination to get to where we are as a civilization, and it will take the same to get out. We just have to have the same resolve to be truly free that the bastards have to enslave.

Great books, such as Fahrenheit 451 and Brave New World, show us where we are heading now. But books such as, Shang-gri La and Stranger In A Strange Land and 2001: A Space Odyssea, show us where we could go.

People such as Richard Hoagland and David Icke, even if they are wrong, show us that thinking bigger can free us of so many constraints. People such as the reader who wrote me above show us that something as simple as art can elevate us above the mundane and propel us to new thoughts, new heights and New Frontiers of Humanity.

And it all begins with Education.

I was a threat to the United States. They castigated me and persecuted me because I did such radical things as forbid vaccinations for my children, filtered their water of things like flouride and chlorine, and homeschooled. I refused to follow the proscribed path and for that, my wife was killed and my children were used as weapons by the State.

the danger of free thought is very real. Trust me.

Ask Galileo. Ask anyone who presents to true and credible challenge to the status quo. If you push against the GAP (Generally Accepted Paradigm), you will be punished severely. People don't like their apple carts upset, especially those who profit from building the carts and growing the apples. They only profit when the apples are neatly stacked in a controlled area. If the apples are rolling down the street, then anybody can pick them up.

It comes down to this: who controls the mids of our children?

I've had some great teachers in my life. They were not famous nor did they want to be. They had one goal, to make me think.

There's Mrs. James and Mrs. Speck. There's Mr. Z and Stan. There's Swilley and my trig tutor, whose name I don't even remember, but who taught me that math can be understood.

But, at the core of it all, after years of education that has yet to stop, there's my mother. She taught me language and art and the most important thing of all: to read.

It's all there in a book somewhere. The collected knowledge of the ages is written down and waiting for discovery. To read is to be free. Because of reading, my teachers include: Newton, Kepler, Galileo, Plato, Aristotle, Ovid, Pythagoras, Nietzsche, Thomas Aquinas, Augustine, Benedict, Lao Tsu, Sun Tsu, Gengis Khan, and scores of others.

Because I learned art, I was trained by Monet, van Gogh, Michaelangelo, da Vinci, Rodan, Orson Welles, and so many more it would take an encyclopaedia.

There were my language teachers for Spanish, Latin and German. There were the incredible cast of characters I have met traveling. There were monks at Christ in the Desert.

All the great thinkers, artisits, writers, and philosophers of all time came to me through one simple skill: reading. Thanks Mom!

So, if you want to teach your children to think, not parrot, you have one job, and only one job...get them to read. Open the doors to the Universe by turning off the TV and the video games, and turn on the books, essays, manifestos, and papers. Give them inspiration, and the rest follows. Stop trying to be you kid's best friend and start thinking for the long term, far beyond your lifetime.

What can you do now that will affect generations?

I don't teach to get rich or even to make a living. I teach because I have a burning desire to open the mind of fresh, young thinkers who can change the world I will never live in. And in the end, that's the thing that must change: what is it that benefits us? Is it what car we drive or what house we live in or the luxuries in our lives? Or is it the world we can build through our children and their children, and the faces we will never know and the world we will never inhabit?

To paraphrase another great thinker, 'Ask not what the world can do for you, but what you can do for the world.'

And for God's sake, stop being a consumer. The real economy is not what we buy, but what we offer. Change your mind and change the world is the simplistic slogan that came out in the 80s. Though the intention was to sign folks up to comsume something, it is never-the-less true.

The difference between freedom and slavery, between wealth and poverty, is nothing more than a point of view.

It's that simple.