“Changing the World, One Wall at a Time”

 There is an Endeavor that offers education to folks in Iran who are not permitted to attend college—they are Bahá’ís and it is their religion that the government hates, their religion which draws massive persecution to some of the most peaceful folks on our planet…

The Endeavor is Education is #NotACrime and it promotes the Bahá’í Institute for Higher Education, which offers Internet courses and college credit to folks who are kept out of their country’s schools…

#NotACrime has spawned a worldwide effort facilitating artists in their creation of murals expressing the importance of higher education.

I’m going to add a trailer for a movie that was produced to spread awareness of this Endeavor; and, if you wonder why I’m sharing this in a blog about Reading, Writing, and Publishing, all I can say is, those three activities of life are only possible with Education…

The full movie is available for Internet viewing; and, I urge everyone reading these words to go watch it —> Changing the World, One Wall at a Time (if the movie suddenly pauses, just click the play button quickly off and back on…)

And, here is the Trailer:

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Why Write A Novel To Try To Help Our World?

This is the 15th post in my Friday Special Behind The Scenes of Notes from An Alien.

While I discuss various aspects of the novel, you can ask Any questions about the book in any of these Friday posts.

Though available in print and e-book formats, the novel is free to download.

A previous Behind The Scenes post called What Made You Write That Book? began the tale of why I chose to write Notes from An Alien.

I’ll continue today…

About 57 years ago, this little boy spoke aloud as he walked down a city street, “There’s too much traffic!”

I never have had a long spell in my life when I was able to adjust to the prevailing cultural conditions.

The main reason I’ve identified for this malaise is the high level of materialism.

There’s nothing wrong, per se, with the material world—I happen to believe it’s a school house to ready us for an everlasting spiritual world…

What’s wrong, in my estimation, is that the balance of spiritual and material is lacking—way too much materialism.

I love my computer, I like comfortable clothes, living in a safe building suits me just fine.

However, dealing with rampant crime is unnerving, dealing with folks who have no hope and act in unstable ways is creepy, having companies care more about their bottom line than my satisfaction is disturbing.

Take a moment and jot down your three most powerful pet peeves…

Odds are they, in some way, arise due to an imbalance toward materialism in our culture.

My novel certainly isn’t the first to address what’s wrong in our world.

If you see it as science fiction (which my characters don’t) it’s not the first Sci-Fi novel addressing humanity’s ills.

Mine may be unique in the “solutions” offered…

People scream for Justice and justice is necessary.

However, it is my firm belief that we won’t have Universal Justice until we have a general sense of Oneness on the planet—Unity, even while maintaining ripe diversity.

Make it simple—you and another person have to get along.

If you can’t find something that unifies you, ties your motivations together, you won’t get along very well, or at all…

Finding what can Unify humans is the major task facing the world.

My novel explores that theme………
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How Do We Know Our Priorities Are Right?

 Do you have a set of priorities in your personal life? Oh, maybe something like: Family > Work > Play…

Do you set priorities in your mind for what the government needs to do? How about your priorities for what your customers need?

How do you decide you have the right priorities? Is it basically a hit-or-miss, experiential kind of thing? Do you consult with folks you consider experts? Or, maybe, you don’t set any priorities ’cause you think they’re a waste of time…

[ So, let’s see: One of my priorities for this post is to get my readers thinking about priorities. Hmmm… So far, I have a bunch of questions posed that could, if my readers wanted to comment, be the basis for some kind of survey on priorities. O.K. That’s a first step but I need something more… An example? ]

I have a short novel that’s still free. It expresses in action what I’ve had to learn through lots of study and personal experience. Basically, I’ve created a fictional world where the people solve the problem I’ve struggled with in my life, for most of the years of that life. What comes first? Peace or Justice?

Lots of people say we need, somehow, to have peace before we can ever hope to have justice, whether the arena is the World or the family.

So, in my own experience, before I had the right guidance given to me, I followed the common set of priorities—I tried to establish peace with other people so we could experience justice in our interactions. Since justice was a lesser priority than peace, I often acted in unkind ways to force a peace that could never last. I did things like threaten to take myself out of a relationship unless the other person acted the way I thought they should be acting so we could have peace.

Since threatening others to elicit behavior you want them to exhibit is an unjust method, I, slowly, learned my priorities were out of order. Justice had to come first, then peace might be possible—I had to act in ways that assured I was giving them justice by taking their needs into account.

What I discovered in this sadly lengthy process was that there was a third quality between Justice and Peace—Unity.

If I acted toward others with justice, we were able, more often than not, to reach a state of unity and peace flowed easily from that unified experience.

So, over far too many years, I learned that the formula, Peace > Justice, was wrong.

The right formula was: Justice > Unity > Peace.

Finally, I was ready to write the book……………..

[ O.K., that was another priority for this post—give an example of experimenting to find the right order for priorities and suggest folks look for any important missing priorities in their personal formula. ]

But, the priorities for this post won’t matter much if I mess with the priorities for this blog—Reading, Writing, and Publishing.

Then, there’s the blogging priority to keep posts short enough to hold the reader’s interest.

[ Slide gracefully into the main point of the post… ]

Setting priorities is important in reading—Focus > Relate > Apply

They’re important in writing—Create > Experiment > Finalize

And, publishing—Study > Apply > Keep Applying

Are those priorities right…?

I admit, I know a lot about reading, a bit about writing, and I’m still learning about publishing…

Some of those priorities might be wrong…

Your ideas???
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“Leave Me Alone!” ~ Is Unlimited Freedom Good For Us?

I happen to live in what’s called the United States of America but I consider myself a citizen of the World.

The U.S. has always put out the line that it’s a free country…

Most Americans now feel hampered by what the combination of party politics and corporate greed has done to limit true freedom.

But, what is true freedom?

Is it doing whatever the hell you feel like doing?

If that were the case, no one would ever get a ticket for running a red light…

Does true freedom have something to do with working within a structure that helps you release your potential?

As a writer, I need to impose some structure on my creativity. If I didn’t, words the meaning of which when or if then never would sense make exampling for :-)

I’ve even been known to create a scene-by-scene outline for a book and then, as I do the actual creative writing, lacerate the outline, sever its limbs, cut into its flesh, and mutilate its form.

Still, if I hadn’t outlined first, my finished book might have resembled the patch-worked body of Frankenstein.

So, I think the best expression of freedom–freedom to release your maximum potential–comes when you have some basic structure or form established within which to create.

Therefore, I like traffic lights. I even like taxes (the principle of them, not their current distribution). I also like the formal dance of dating instead of the animalistic breeding some folks crave.

What I absolutely do not like is unlimited freedom to do whatever the hell my body and emotions seem to always be demanding of me. Sure, when I was twenty-something, I thought that was what life was all about–get what you can before it’s all gone…

Now, in my sixties, I realize that the most valuable possessions in life come after long, hard work–work done in a way that abides by principles that structure the release of my creativity in ways that have endurance–work that lasts long enough to get me up that mountain of aspiration to the peak of satisfaction–satisfaction that also endures…

Another thing I do not like is political/corporate power structures that beguile with promises of unlimited freedom and deliver mass slavery to cycles of consumption that never quite satisfy, never give lasting peace or security or tranquility…

So, yes: “Leave me alone!” But…

Please do give me the social structures that protect my freedom to create…
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