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From the mind of critic: “If racism, sexism, homophobia and other ignorant and unconscious beliefs are learned not born, how come some of us learn it and immediately, or soon there after dissassociate, disavow, and extricate these lessons because we recognize them for the destructive force they are, and some of us never think to question these lessons because it’s the way things have always been, and there is a certain comfort in that? Do some of us pick up critical thinking skills sooner than others, so we’re able to utilize them sooner? Or do some of us never pick up critical thinking skills because nobody around us has them, and so not only have we never learned them, we’ve never even seen how they can be applied to better our lives? Media, social networking and all forms of communication can be great opputunities to test our critical thinking. Which they can also serve to keep our imbedded opinions imbedded, because they come across as all knowing, especially if we don’t pay attention to what’s going on, which is gonna make the media really sound like they know what they’re talking about, whether they actually do or not. There are a lot of messages that bombard us all the time, some are messages that we have heard for a long time about how a certain person or group thinks, acts, or looks different than us, and therefore we must be scared of them because they must be scheming against us, and screw them for doing that, which is where hate introduces itself. Once we realize that by simply asking why we feel a certain way or why somebody else feels the way they do, upending the old paradigm, we’ll see that 99% of ignorant and hateful beliefs, statements and thoughts are based on not asking why and blindly following. Hate is based on being blind to what’s real, and love is based on beong open to what’s real. And isn’t real and make believe a concept we should have learned watching cartoons as a kid?” 🙂

From the mind of critic: “If we can’t do what ten people tell us to do, do we end up remaining the same? Do we try to make a list of all that advice that comes in, delete the bad, keep the good, and move down the list, checking issues off as we go along? Or do we hear it all, try to take it all in, and instead of moving down the list doing things one at a time, we think of everything at once which causes our mind to spin out of control to the point where the only way to stop it, is to do nothing? Many of the people we come into contact with on a daily basis mean well, some don’t but most do. When they see our lives, thoughts, actions and plans they might have an idea of how to do it more effieciently, clearly and with less stress. Sometimes those methods are good, sometimes the people just think they’re good, or that they’re good for them. Sometimes the same methods are repeated by many people, which might make us take a closer look. We must always stay vigilant as to what we want, what we feel and what we would like to see. So when somebody gives us vague advice that doesn’t really help at all, we won’t lose ourselves amongst the fog of self doubt and sabotage. It can be very overwhelming when all these people are telling us to do all these things. Once we realize that it’s not so much about doing everything people say, but critically thinking about what they say, we’ll see that being honest with ourselves about who we are and what we want, allows us to keep what works for us, and stops us from spinning out of control. We can’t do what everybody says, and everybody can’t do everything we say, but if we listen, we’ll see where we hurt each other, and where we help. Because if we’re not here to help, what are we here for really?” 🙂

From the mind of critic: “If one man shoots another man and gets arrested, charged and tried, not to mention held without bail till that trial starts to ensure attendance, while another man shoots another man during extremely similar circumstances, but gets released soon after being arrested with no charges, do we still belive the justice system is fair? Do we belive a road rage incident involving one black man shooting another black man needs to be tried, investigated and stopped, because it’s the exact problem that’s causing the downfall of society? Do we believe a road rage incident involving a white man shooting a black man needs to be tried, investigated and stopped because it’s the exact problem causing the downfall of society? Or do we find ourselves in the middle, where we believe everything needs to be investigated, but realize that fear of the other, however unjustified, has been learned, inherited and inbedded for generations, and causes some of us to shoot people who may not neccesarily look like us? No matter what side of the political spectrum we find ourselves on, we could all agree we have a lot of issues that have been kicked down the road for others to deal with. Maybe we do this because it’s hard to look at ourselves, and ask what we as a society have done to prevent and/or cause this. Maybe we don’t do anything about racial issues, because then we would have to admit there is a problem. Maybe we shouldn’t believe everything that anybody says, and take everything from everybody with a grain of salt. Maybe we’ll realize that letting go of issues and attitudes that don’t serve us anymore entails recognizing the problem so we know we’re letting go of the right thing, we’ll see that recognition is done when bad events happen, and not later after the fact. Once we see that shooting people is bad, we’ll see that putting ourselves in the shoes of the victim, might make us not so lenient on the shooters. Peace on earth involves peace for all of us, and listening when people say they don’t have peace, even if we say they do” 🙂

From the mind of critic: “If the mind is a terrible thing to waste, how come we waste it on trivial matters more often than not? Do we even know the meaning of the things we say? Do we simply repeat what we’ve always heard, without giving a second thought to its context? Or do we know the meanings of our most used phrases, and see how they could apply to our lives and others, but believe we don’t have to take action because that kind of thing is below us, and only meant for the little people who run like little ants from job to job as we laugh, because they think phrases alone give them a chance? Language is one of those funny things that matters, and doesn’t matter at the same time. The way we express thoughts and ideas isn’t as important as the fact that we express them in the first place. Whether or not we know the meaning of what we say, it always has a meaning, context and after effect. None of us are above words, phrases or whatever context we or may not be trying to portray. Which is one of the exact reasons why our minds have to be used to build others up and not tear them down so we can persecute and control them, which is the ultimate waste because the gains would only be temporary, no matter how permanent they seem at the time. Critical thought is vital to our existence and continued survival. However, if this critical thought is spent tearing others down and taking advantage of them, we’re not only wasting our mind, but wasting yet one more oppurtunity to make the world just a little bit better than we found it. Critical thought will lead us to what’s important. It must be our choice to use that knowledge for the positive and collective good. That’s how we don’t waste our mind, but preserve it” 🙂

From the mind of critic: “If we demand respect, humanism, accountability and transparency of our elected officials, but then fail to live up to those ideals ourselves, how can we expect things to get any better? If we expect all the change to come from the outside instead of from the inside, are we like a dog chasing it’s tail? Are we lazy, and think that if change is made or enacted by somebody else, than we dont have to change ourselves because their change covers us all? Or are we simply looking for the right example to drive us down the correct path meant for us, and just need help getting a jump start? Most of us have heard the old quote from Ghandi, that we have to be the change we wanna see. If the world seems dark, where around every corner pops out something terible and despicable, it can seem like there is no positivity or humanity left, and ego and narcisism have taken control. This is when it’s most important for us to be a good person, filling ourselves with love, beauty and kindness, and spreading it to everybody we come into contact with. This can be difficult if we’ve never done it before. But the more we do it, it turns from something that’s abnormal and weird, into just something we do. At any time during this trial and error period we see some people who guide us, and some who try to steer us off track. We must surround ourselves with people who build us up, when we do, we see all the outcroppings of what it can create. As long as we demand respect, humanism, accountability and transparency of ourselves, the people we elect will reflect what and who we actually are, instead of a false picture of what we think we are” 🙂

From the mind of critic: ” If we go in through the out door or out through in the door, are we carving our own path that many of us have thought about, but very few have carried out? Is it fear that holds us back from going our own way, some unseen force that will squash us the moment we step out of line? Or do we not clear our own path because our critical thinking skills are working overtime, and because organizing these thoughts is as far as we’ve ever …gotten, when it actually comes time to design, chart and then walk our own path, we have no energy left? Taking to much time organizing and planning can prevent us from taking action, becasue we feel the planning is the action, whether we are choosing our own path or not. However, if we are delving into the dark and scary unknown, we must remember that when we have nothing to fear but fear itself, that fear comes from us, and whatever we percieve. This is the ultimate self roadblock, we can paralyze ourselves with a zillion variables, or no variabes at all depending on how we see the unknown. If people have told us to get over ourselves, it is simply an inarticulate way of somebody telling us to get out of our own way. Whatever door, window or path we choose, success will always find us if we allow it to. And we allow it by being open and honest about what’s in front of us, not what our self sabotage thinks. Doors will always open for us, when we pull the keys out of our pocket”

From the mind of critic: “If the answer to all our prayers is praying for all our answers, are we admnitting defeat before the game even starts? Are we letting go of any hope of getting where we wanna go, and think that if we’re to be successful in acheiving our dreams, goals and aspirations, we have to let somebody do it for us, instead of us doing it ourselves? Or are we letting go of the notion that we can do everything ourselves, and don’t need anybody’s help, specifically so others can help push us forward past where we would get alone, and in ways we didn’t expect? Admitting that we are not an island, and we need human contact to survive, is tough for some of us when we have always been told to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. How are we suppossed to ask for help, when we have always been told that if we want something done right we have to do it ourselves, and if we still can’t do it right, we’re a failure? On the same token, if we believe that asking for help is enough, because it opens us up to other possibilities and other perspectives, are we simply to lazy to do the action ourselves, and can just sit back and let others do the work.?The balance we must acheive in life to be an honest person can be hard, trial and error seems to be the only way to discover when we need help, and when we need to do things solo. To make it more difficul, there is no black and white, one size fits all template that fits all of us. We are all unique, and therefore have different defintions of what balance is in our lives. We simply need to remember, it’s never all one way or the other. If we never do anything, we are assured defeat. Answers to prayers can come from anywhere, we stay open to their possibilities by critically thinking about what’s in front of us, and it’s context” 🙂

From the mind of critic: “If many of us don’t believe the beatles for a second when they said love is all we need, have we ever injected as much love into the system as would be needed to make an honest determination? Is it a matter of love having no monetary value, and we need money to pay our bills to survive? Or is it a failure on our part to see that when we start from a place of love and gratitude, all success sprouts from it’s foundation? Just like most old sayings and cliche’s, their true meanings get lost among cherry picking what sounds good, and simply repeating what we’ve always heard, which is usually void of context. To get the real meaning, we must ask what the whole line or phrase is, and what real world appklications it contains. Love is really all we need, it’s all we need to begin our journey, because it’s the place all smart, just and peaceful thoughts spring from. Once we have those thoughts, they create the actions that bring us all the joy and success we crave, and show us we don’t have to regret anything if we start with love. The whole concept of needing other things besides love, or that love is all we need misses the point. Love makes all those things possible, it opens our heart and mind so we can move forward in a way that’s for our highest good. Love is the only thing we need because it’s where everything comes from. They can also come from hate, but that usualy comes with terribly tragic results. Love is not the end of the journey, or something that is only collected along the way, it’s where the journey begins. And if we don’t start correctly, how can we expect to go in the right direction” 🙂

From the mind of critic: “If we wanna escape what’s right in front of us because we don’t like what we see, is it the same as using our imagination to imagine something better? Do we escape with our imagination because what we see is so terrible, that we have to get our mind off it for our own physical well being? Do we escape because what we see isn’t neccesarily bad and actually can be quite good, but we wana keep postively evolving? Or do we use our imaginations to usher in hope, caring, tolerance, acceptance, accountability, humanism and badly needed love into a community, a system, a world that needs all it can get if it wants to survive long into the future? Ignorance is bred by ignoring for years what’s right in front of our face, and feeling threatened because we don’t know something, specifically because we ignored it for so long. This can cause us to escape, and want to picture a better world, one in which we’re infinitely happier. However, if our imagination is spurred by dark thoughts about what we don’t like, chances are our imagination will drive us toward picturing and then espousing a world that only benefits us, our inner circle, and people that think, look and act like us. At the same time, if our imagination is spuirred by light thoughts about what we do like, we will be driven toward creating a world that is loving, caring, satisfying and fulfilling for us. And specifically because this imaginative version of a new world came from a positive place, we feel so good we wanna share it with others, so they can experience it as well. Whether escaping our imagination or imagining our escape, or simply imagining a world where we no longer have to escape, as long as we come from collective uplift and not simply from self preservation, the outcome will be better than we ever imagined” 🙂

From the mind of critic: “If the best things in life are free, does it mean that all good things in life are also free? Does the mere fact that money is exchanged for goods or services automatically make it bad because monetary gain is the main motivation, and not an actual want to do something positive? Or does it all come down to a persons’ intent, and if somebody wants to tear down or build up they will, whether money is involved or not? Are love, happiness, fulfillment, usefulness and gratitude free and don’t cost anything, because you can’t fully define something that is subjective, just like hate, darkness, persecution, denigration and weakness of will? Maybe the things we can define are what cost money. Maybe we strive throughout our day to define and appraise what we see, simply to make sense of the chaos, that attempts to blur the lines between what we know is good for our soul, and what we know will contionously and infintely drag us down. Maybe the determining factor between what’s good and great has nothing to do with money, and has everything to do with our physical, emotional and spiritual survival. Until we reach a point in our personal evolution where we see each other as human beings that have the same needs, and can barder with each other once again, money will be a factor. Until that time, we can quicken our time to get there, by seeing how we can help people for the sake of helping them. Good and great things will be drawn to us when we’re kind to others, which starts with us being kind to ourselves” 🙂