WHAT WE CAN DO NOW: How to prepare for the Future, grow in the light direction, and teach each other how to survive with Integrity

Summary: A presentation of effective strategies and tactics for engaging in intellectual self-defense (to empower the integrity of your perspectives and decision making), coupled with methods of cogent and compassionate communication, all of which equate to pursuing, attaining, and preserving, a voluntary Life, total Liberty, and lifelong Happiness… a true brand of wealth which you can share endlessly with others.

Introduction:  Greetings, and thank you for taking a few moments of your precious time, to consider a few thoughts which Ernie and Donna felt would empower all readers of Freedom’s Phoenix. My name is Richard Grove, and yes, it’s likely we haven’t yet met; it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, and I’ll take the onus of responsibility to admit it’s likely my fault we did not meet earlier. In the July 2012 issue of Freedom’s Phoenix, Cody Hall authored an article in which my fiancée (Lisa) and I were mentioned with respect to “The Ultimate History Lesson” and the ongoing fundraising for John Taylor Gatto. The word “Introduction” is composed of 2 Latin words, meaning, to “lead into” (the unknown), and in investing several hours on air this past week with Ernie, his criticism of my research and publication is highly constructive and instructive, in so far as it pertains to the fact that I don’t do enough to ensure that honest folks of all ages are being exposed to the dots we’ve been connecting at Tragedy and Hope dot com; which is absolutely true and an astute observation on his part. To help rectify this matter, herein, my aim is to begin integrating his constructive criticism, and continue to demonstrate my ability to learn and outgrow the status-quo in a way that benefits anyone with enough curiosity to continue asking the right questions.

What I do: I work with my friends to create educational media, which enables individuals to identify the blind spots embedded in their perspective, by the non-elected international ruling class and proliferated through the purposeful subversion of public schooling and corporate mass media.  Since 2006, I have published a curriculum for students and adults, inclusive of both audio (The Peace Revolution Podcast) and video (an example would be “The Ultimate History Lesson: A Weekend with John Taylor Gatto”). Since 2009, we’ve hosted an online research community at Tragedy and Hope, populated by about 2,000 conscious individuals from all over the planet. In 2012, we launched several live streaming shows for our subscribers, including History… So It Doesn’t Repeat, the first episode of which is now publically available. My bio and resume can be found here, and an explanation of why we chose “Tragedy and Hope” is based on a famous history text, detailed here.  Last but not least, my recent interviews on Declare Your Independence can be found here (07-25-12), here (07-26-12), and here (07-31-12).

Freedom’s Phoenix has a fantastic news feed to which I’ve subscribed since 2008. FP also has a unique audience among internet news sites; that uniqueness is found in the sheer magnitude of exposure to a myriad of interconnected news and history filed diligently over the years, and organized such that it empowers you, the intended audience, with a potent form of data streams for all things involving a voluntary and self-reliant lifestyle.

That being read, what I’m going to provide you with is unlike what I would provide the general public with, given that they need a ramp up to the first step, and you’re already well on your way toward a serene perspective by understanding reality, as it is, not as we’ve been taught to see it.

I find that even the most-experienced individuals I’ve encountered can find the following to be a useful resource, to help explain what they may already realize, to others. In other words, even if at first you think you know what I’m saying, it might be interesting to follow the stream of consciousness anyway, just as a refresher; and if you can help me improve my understanding, I would be grateful.

I had intended this to be a 1-page article, short and sweet; but nature sometimes takes another course, independent of our plans, and I find that I enjoy the unfolding of each mystery just as much, if not more, than I do forcing my will on reality through strict planning. Knowing such things about yourself, will help you in maintaining your integrity, the essence of which is time management; because you can’t keep your word, if you don’t control your schedule and your ability to get things done.

Now, before you think I don’t have time to read all this, consider: Do I have time not to read this? Will not reading this cost me hours, days, or years of needless struggle through trial and error; when in fact investing a few moments now might certainly lead me to much more valuable perspectives, in a manner far more expedient than my own trial and error? If you can ask those questions, and you want answers, you’re in the right place. This IS after all, the resurrection of liberty that is Freedom’s Phoenix!

Ask yourself “what are some things which I’ve learned during my life, and which I grew to enjoy, but which I was not successful on the first attempt?”, it could be learning a sport, learning to read, learning how to drive a car, or use a firearm, or any of a number of other talents you’ve developed thus far. The point is, you might not enjoy this or think reading this is as empowering as you will after you do a little practice and invest the time to fortify your perspectives, through observation. This sport, the sport of intellectual and physical self-defense (which is life here on earth), was a sport ongoing before you realized it, and one which will continue as you play through, in one form or another, for the rest of your life here on spaceship earth.

Keep in mind, that there are no enemies, only antagonists to help us identify our weaknesses, and to aid in discovering and developing our strengths.

Here’s an outline which you can use every day, all day, for the rest of your life; so don’t think of it so much as an “article” as my conveying some of the most valuable “life lessons” I’ve learned so far. I am, as of yet, still learning; so if you disagree with where I am right now in my learning curve, you’re in good company, because I often disagree with myself, and I find that it’s only through that line of constructive and purposeful argument that I can grow without including contradictions and illusions in my growth as a human being.

Preparing for Life:  If you want to see how many people are unprepared and unconscious in life, just see who laughs when you’re prepping. They think that we’re wasting our time, and we know they are wasting theirs, by not thinking in the first place. The reality of our human experience is that which unites us in the common bond that is nature:  we are all human beings, and what makes us different from animals of the earth is that we have the ability (the obligation?) to ask questions. By making non-declarative sentences, by thinking with diffidence, we are already learning our way to survival. We as human beings, all share common needs: clean air, fresh water, healthy natural food, shelter, and security of our rights as individuals, just to name a few. In order to be productive in preparing for the future (or any other area of life), one must focus on positive outcomes (i.e. survival without loss of individual freedom, liberty, health, or integrity), organize by priorities (i.e. food, water, shelter, individual and group security), and move forward with the next actions of most important items to be completed on your list. The QUESTION is: Once you’re prepared, once your family is prepared, how do we get our friends, colleagues, neighbors, and the hundreds of millions of other individuals in America to do likewise? How do we survive as the non-elected ruling class attempts to eliminate billions of people? At what point is survival under tyranny worse than death? Whew! So many questions, so little time.

Time Management: Remember those people who make fun of “preppers”? Yes, those are the people we’ll need to eventually learn how to communicate with, as their needs are identical to ours, yet their priorities continue to be in conflict with human needs for individual survival. How did they get this way? Why do they not see what we see? Why do their actions contradict their proclaimed love for their family, and perpetrate a sort of slavery by ignorance? There are many questions, the answers to several are in the following suggestions for consideration, but it remains that in order to bridge the existing gap in mindsets, we have to ask several questions, find the answers, and that takes time. Without a method to administer your will into time and space, you will find that you are not nearly as efficient, effective, or organized as you could be.

 In order to ask the questions and find valid answers, we first have to become increasingly involved in the simple steps of organizing and harnessing our own unique ability to get things done. The book I would recommend is “Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity” by David Allen. Yes, his method is used effectively by the World Bank, Oracle, and many other nefarious New World Order type international gangsters; but the method is a tool, and in this case, the tool is predominantly being used to organize human beings out of existence. Like all tools, its use is a function of the mindset of the users. I think we’re all in the market to learn how the non-elected rulers have enough time to rule us, and live their lives. I think that learning how the prison lock works, is the way to pick it.  I think we can do better, if we all take the time to get organized and become the majority users of our own time and resources. The fact is, the sociology of the elites is that they are few in number, but highly organized, and they communicate without entropy (or meaning being lost in translation). We, liberty minded individuals who seek to be self-reliant and equal in our voluntary relationships, have yet to grasp the meaning and use of these tools on a wide scale ourselves, and then to make them widely available and understood to all. If you pick up the book, Getting Things Done, read the last 3 chapters first, then start back at chapter 1 and read through to the end; that’s my personal assessment after much study, as the content in the first edition is somewhat yet-to-be refined, however in David Allen’s lectures he presents in the order I’ve just described (last chapters first). I’ve used this method successfully and effectively and I continue to find it to be one of the most useful integrations of learning, because it helps to improve my abilities in all other areas of life, as they are all functions of Getting Things Done.

Responsibility: The ability to respond as a responsible adult is a function of self-reliance, and individual autonomy. To increase our ability to respond, we as individuals must use abstractions which I’ll refer to as methods; wherein we use our mind to increase our chances of survival. Simply stated, there are 6 questions I ask individuals to gage where they stand, on their path toward outgrowing the extended adolescence instilled through compulsory schooling and reinforced repeatedly by status-quo media.  Keep in mind, knowledge grows where the question mark goes; this is how I identify how balanced someone could be, juxtaposed to where they are now, and without these methods we are flipping coins instead of getting consistent and repeatable results, creating synergy across many individuals who can then work together voluntarily to get things done.

1.    By what method do you identify that which exists (i.e. reality)?

2.    By what method do you validate the contents of your mind and communications?

3.    By what method do you identify contradictions (i.e. fallacies)?

4.    By what method do you identify when someone is providing you with false information?

5.    By what method do you resolve disputes and conflicts?

6.    By what method do you manage your time?

(the answers to these questions are found at the end of this article, underneath the section titled “Would You Like To Know More?)

The Methods: There seems to be a single method, given many names, which leads to the same result. David Allen’s method in “Getting Things Done”, is not new, and it’s not rocket science. He simply has taken a method which has existed for thousands of years, and branded it in a specific area of time management and accomplishing your prioritized tasks to reach the serenity of a job well done, in all aspects of life. That’s admirable, but it could be made even more useful, and that’s what I’m here to explain. Put simply, in studying Allen’s book and lectures, I realized that the key to getting things done is simply learning the epistemology of your stuff. That sounds complex, because I used the word epistemology, so allow me to define it in context. It simply means asking the QUESTIONS which help you IDENTIFY your stuff. It works like this: the example is a messy office or work area, stuff is stacked all over the place.

You have lots of stuff to do. You feel anxious, and overburdened, and you want the day to end; unless you’re working for yourself, in which case, that never happens until you get ORGANIZED, once and for all… and that starts with a method of how to IDENTIFY your stuff, which no longer makes it stuff. Stuff is what we call things we haven’t yet DEFINED and ORGANIZED. (Note: I’m not yelling, I’m simply emphasizing in a way that’s easy for you to read. Think of it as me WHISPERING the wisdom of what’s in front of our noses.)

The process Allen teaches, asks questions, for example: What is this? Why do I need it? When do I use it? Where should I store it? When do I no longer need this? Now, clear an area to contain your “stuff”, and put it all there, Allen calls this your inbox. Process the inbox, by asking the questions, identifying the next action, and if the next action takes less than 2 minutes, do it then; if not, schedule it on a prioritized list, to be processed later, unless you can delegate it.  Repeat for each and every item, and I’ve found that following Allen’s advice of employing use of a few tools, those being some file folders, a label maker, and some file cabinets, which can do wonders for eliminating clutter, and turning your stuff into valuable assets. Now that you know it’s not a liability because you’ve observed the context, identified the object, organized it and removed the clutter, and thus you’re more effective… every day. As the founding of your ability to instill yourself with intellectual self-defense, you need time management, in order to have the time to learn (i.e. ask the questions, find the answers) all that needs to be realized in order to survive and thrive while living the solution.

Pause for a moment, and think about how many question marks you’ve read in this article, and ask yourself, “Am I asking enough questions during the day?”, and “Am I consistently asking questions, or do I sometimes make assumptions without doing the work of thinking?”. Considering that thinking is the process of asking questions to attain IDENTIFICATION through DEFINITION, it becomes apparent that if we’re not asking questions consistently and using a method, we’re not thinking as clearly or as constructively as we might be able to do, IF we had just a little more info. What do we need to understand to learn ANYTHING for ourselves? Where might we find such information? Well, I’m not an expert, I’m simply a human being, who has been inspired to ask my share of questions, and I’ve been fortunate enough to be surrounded by brilliant minds, together with whom I’ve identified many, many, answers which I’m sure will be likewise inspiring to you. First I’ll explain what I’ve learned about the method, and second, I’ll provide you with a myriad of useful resources through which you can unleash your own question and answer (i.e. thinking) potential.

To aid in your discovery, here’s what I’ve learned, about how I learn; which is useful because it pertains to everyone enjoying the human experience. I know that we all think we know this, but when you break down what actually happens, there’s a finer perspective to be had, reality in higher definition, if you pardon the mixed metaphor. It begins with our 5-senses, our sole connection to that which exists, it existed before we got here, it will exist after we graduate from life; our only way to know it is to process our perceptions by formulating abstractions, or concepts, which we identify and label using words. The world is all one thing. When we learn our first word, usually pertaining to our parental guardians, that word exists, separate from the world. As we learn more words, we can take the world, and through abstraction break it down into the individual words of any language on earth. Here are 2 useful definitions, describing how to put it back together: 

Reality is every substance, action, relationship, and attribute which is, was, or ever will be. In other words, reality is every noun, verb, prepositional phrase, adjective, and adverb, used to describe that which is, was, or ever will be.

Existence is your perception of objective reality, combined with your subjective abstraction of reality, using words to form thoughts, to take action (in objective reality) to achieve happiness (in subjective reality).

Now, admit the fact that this is kind of deep thinking, and yet we all thought we knew all about it without first observing what was going on, and that’s my point; illustrated here in this quote by Daniel Boorstin (a Rhodes Scholar and Librarian of Congress, if you’re impressed by appeals to authority):

“The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance - it is the illusion of knowledge.”

That means, we need a method to identify that which exists, and accurate information about that which exists; this is the essence of knowledge, and it is a direct consequence of asking substantial questions and identifying valid answers. This is the key to the human experience, as I laid out in my class on the human experience “Peace Revolution episode 023: How to Free Your Mind / The Occulted Tools of Wisdom”, just as an example this is not a new idea, but the foundation of how the ruling class operates, by hiding useful information from us, and thereby creating a power/info/knowledge/money gap… it all has the same root cause and source of corruption, the philosophy of plunder, challenging those of us with a philosophy of production and private property, as functions of our living-and-breathing existence.

We as human beings are plagued by our own lack of discipline in our thinking, and this lack of intellectual self-defense on a wide scale, is a purposeful and strategic method to manage us, as human resources; living our lives at the will of the non-elected ruling class, having learned to love our servitude, which means: going through life without asking questions, consistently, each and every step of the way, through each day, week, and year. Subconsciously we know this, we know that we need reason and logic to survive. For anyone questioning this, you’re not alone- I challenge my own ideas all the time; when I challenged this idea, I asked myself the following questions:

1.    “What if I were alone in the wilderness, left to survive with nothing from the civilized world, how long could I survive without logic and reason?

2.    How long could I stave off panic and stupidity that arises when fear grips the brain, when the unknown is present and I have no way to deal with it?

3.    What happens to the human will to survive when facing obstacles which cannot be intellectually or physically surmounted?”

After asking those questions, and answering them for one’s self, it’s easy for an individual to realize the power of existence, as it is the function of our life, and eventual death… and to realize that our “job” is to use our minds, to elongate our time here, to surround ourselves with others who understand the cause-and-effect nature of life, and to share the wisdom of living a voluntary lifestyle and being of a self-reliant mindset, peacefully alongside others… as they are also looking for the same serenity enjoyed by those who organize their lives, identify positive outcomes, and prioritize the next actions to realize and define their life’s purpose, step-by-step.

Succinctly, given any unknown, or fear, or frustrating situation; relax, call upon your question mark-forming abilities, put your mind to work for you, not against you. Stop and observe the relevant data available to you, identify and define the individual parts, organize it by removing the contradictions (i.e. illusions, non-facts of reality, anti-concepts; things which do not exist, but others assert to exist, without objective evidence).

After you’ve asked the questions and identified valid answers, you’re then, and only then, ready and responsible enough to communicate to others; of course, this isn’t a perfect world, and not a single one of us have had the privilege of being exposed only to truth during our lives. In living our lives prior to understanding this, we  have experienced  entropy (loss of effective communication), error, and worse… because we were and are at all times, playing in a game which demands our survival… whether we temporarily forget that, or choose to consciously live that reality on a daily basis. So the pattern is: Observe, Identify, Organize, and Communicate; that covers your input of data via the 5-senses, your definition and abstraction into words of your chosen language, as well as organizing by removing the contradictions (as those are the indicators of non-reality, i.e. illusions, lies, non-valid data), before you communicate your thoughts into actions.

How did all those people who are not thinking get that way? It’s a function of the system of schooling made compulsory not by our parents, teachers, and administrators; but by a group of internationally-minded individuals who organized themselves against everyone else. Their financial order held by monopoly may seem recent, but their intention to plunder the rights and thus lives of individuals, has been eternal in human history; it is high-time that we learned our way out of this ruse, back into reality, where we can take action with certainty, based on natural law and voluntary interactions… to demonstrate that peace IS the way, and the WAY is meant to be peaceful. The ruling elite have to go through great expense of their time and resources to pre-condition us all to be like crabs, pulling anyone who attempts to rise out of the system of confinement, back down into it. We are our own worst policemen, ONLY until we learn how to think clearly and consistently, and communicate compassionately.

Speaking of compassionate and constructive forms of communication, once our methods of observation and decision making are in place, we need a way to meet our needs; our language forms our thoughts, which then become our words, transmitted through the air and heard by others… these are all functions of logic, and reason, and what should be communication is in actuality nothing but noise when logic and reason are absent. The book “Non-Violent Communication” by Dr. Marshall Rosenberg contains a method, yes another useful method, to help individuals and groups meet their own needs even when it seems nothing can be done but to resort to conflict. His method is especially useful when we’re dealing with someone of the plunder mentality, but it is also useful in overcoming the obstacles of the majority of people just like you and me, who just need a little time, patience, and attention… we can all meet our needs, and live without violating the free will and inherent rights of other human beings.

Why do they not see what we see? In many cases, it is because we have done more work, asking the questions and finding valid answers; and they have yet to do that work for their own benefit. By “work”, I simply mean “taking the actions which lead to continuing your survival”.

Why do many people take actions which are in direct conflict with their needs to survive? In many cases it is due to the fact that many people have also outsourced their thinking, trading self-reliance for experts’ opinions, which the experts are happy to make up, on the spot, given a dollar value. This is the ancient art of sophism, the use of non-truth, to control human resources. It dissolves in the face of logic and reason, when we all know how to question away illusions, find the reality, and get things done; so that we can all pursue, attain, and maintain, our life, and liberty while experiencing the happiness that comes, with a hard day’s work (repeated) toward a worthwhile purpose.

My purpose: to get you to ask more questions.

My method: to demonstrate to you how I did it for myself, in less time than it took me to figure it out by trial and error.

My goal: to enlist your help, so that we, together, can reach the billions of people who are still amazed by the matrix, entranced by entertainment, and polarized by contrived politics. The word politics refers to the individual’s participation in their own community, and today, politicians have little-or-no participation or meaningful communication with those who they govern; no accountability means no rights, and that indicates a population without the intellectual self-defense to organize, and to make meaningful and constructive progress, one day, at a time. Ironically, that’s how we live life, one day at a time.

Live to Learn, Learn to Live.  And while we’re at it, we should also make a bumper sticker that reads “Your Lawn could be Your Farm”… because it’s the little reminders that when repeated, chip away at the prison of empire we’ve all been loving a bit too much; question why we have a lawn, learn the history of British slavery and how it empowers the ruling class for you to not be independent and self-reliant. The more each of us asks why we do each task during our day, the more we look into the history of the habits we all take as “American”, we should first come to know ourselves… and that is the process which I’ve described above. Integrate the information, by clicking the links, asking the questions, exploring the answers; and sharing what you’ve learned with everyone you know.

After all, that’s what Cody Hall was doing when he handed Ernie and Donna “The Ultimate History Lesson”, and my life hasn’t been the same since, and I’m appreciative, grateful, and humbled to be read by such a wide and heretofore educated audience; I hope that your time invested herein was as worthwhile for you, as it was for me to sit down, focus, and communicate a sample (hopefully a useful one), which you can use successfully to empower your subjective dreams and manifest them into objective reality… that’s what this place is all about, and my job is to make sure the tools aren’t being used exclusively by some, who like to deny the others their right to exist and be free.

Thank you for taking the time to read, to think, and to enrich your own life, to whatever extent you seek to integrate useful information; please share what you find valuable with others, and leave the arbitrary and un-substantial bits to the sands of time, and THANK YOU for TUNING-IN and not DROPPING OUT!

Would you like to know more?

1.    Resource:The Peace Revolution podcast is an ongoing curriculum for individuals of all ages, focused on a journey through which you can see all the sights, and avoid the pitfalls in life. Specifically: learn how to undo each and every tie that binds us to involuntary servitude, one “lesson” (i.e. episode) at a time. Note: some chains take longer to break, so if you jump into the later episodes, they are substantially more dense and thus longer, than the early episodes.

a.    Where to start? Try episode 023: How To Free Your Mind, which fits in with every other episode we’ve published; it’s the master key to understand by answering your questions. You can subscribe through iTunes, or on the host site Peace Revolution dot org RSS feed.

2.    Resource: The Tragedy and Hope online research and solution-creating community. By giving individuals access to the intellectual tools and resources of which self-reliance, and autonomy are made, we’ve noticed individuals growing in the light direction, integrating useful information and learning how to dismiss the arbitrary and non-substantial, to leverage reality as a means of surviving and thriving in this crazy and (purposely) mixed up world which we all call “home”.

a.    Where to start? Try this complimentary invitation link good for all Freedom’s Phoenix readers for August 2012 (the invitation link expires, you’re welcome to explore as long as you like).

3.    Resource:Richard’s Brain Models, which are internet representations of the topics we’ve studied in the Peace Revolution and our other productions; this allows the audience to jump into the search box and discover not only thousands of topics, but the myriad of interconnected topics revealing the origin, nature, and history of each topic, so that you can form an impeccable and ever-growing understanding of that which exists, which is, ALL that we have to deal with in life. These models are linked here, and if that link fails, the models are found on the top navigation menu at Tragedy and Hope dot com.

a.    Where to start? Try clicking up and down in this model, starting from “Critical Thinking Removed from Public Schooling”, or this link on the Smart Grid (which 2/3 of American households are already on).

4.    Book:Getting Things Done by David Allen

5.    Book:Non-Violent Communication by Marshall Rosenberg

6.    Book:Tragedy and Hope: A History of the World in Our Time by Carroll Quigley

7.    Book:Socratic Logic by Peter Kreeft

Answers to the 6 Method-Based Questions:

1.    By what method do you identify that which exists (i.e. reality)?

a.    Listen to Peace Revolution episodes 048, 058

2.    By what method do you validate the contents of your mind and communications?

a.    Listen to Peace Revolution episodes 002, 006, 023

3.    By what method do you identify contradictions (i.e. fallacies)?

a.    Listen to Peace Revolution episodes 028, 049

4.    By what method do you identify when someone is providing you with false information?

a.    Listen to Peace Revolution episodes 028, 049, 059, 060

5.    By what method do you resolve disputes and conflicts?

a.    Listen to Peace Revolution episodes 015, 017,

6.    By what method do you manage your time?

a.    Listen to Peace Revolution episode 65 (Sept 2012)

You might not be able to see where I’m going, but if you listen, you can hear where I’m coming from; and realize we’re all trying to get to the same place, safely, and with our volition (i.e. free will) intact.