The Moment Earth Day Was Always Waiting For

Twenty-nine years ago this Earth Day, a short film called Connect: A New Ecological Paradigm aired on MTV. At that time M-TV was a big deal. The film featured a gathering of young environmentalists and asked a simple question: what if we organized civilization around life instead of against it?
The world wasn’t ready. It might be now.

Something has shifted in the last few weeks. Hungary — a country whose democratic machinery had been systematically dismantled over 16 years — produced nearly 80% voter turnout and swept its authoritarian government out of power. Not through revolution. Through collective decision. Millions of people who had stopped believing change was possible decided, in the same moment, that it was.
Palestinians and Iranians have more support in the US than the Israeli government – in spite of the massive Israeli propaganda machine. And we’re seeing greater public engagement here in the states.
The question Earth Day has always been circling — how do we build a world that supports life instead of extracting from it — requires exactly that kind of collective change of heart. Not a policy, a shift in what people believe is possible.

The tools exist. We’ve been building them since the first Earth Day, April 22, 1970.

Henry Ford built a car from bioplastics including soybeans and hemp in 1941 — lighter than steel, safer in impacts, made from the earth and returnable to it. The petrochemical industry buried the story. A documentary now in production at fordlostcar.com is bringing it back.

Hemp — one of the most regenerative crops on the planet — is finally finding its economic infrastructure through cooperative marketplaces like Hempopolis.net. Bioplastics, combining industry with agriculture (a Henry Ford dream), free energy, organic food – all ignored in favor of a consumptive lifestyle that profits the elites and makes our lives and that of the Earth poorer.

The knowledge was never the problem. The will to replace the old has always been the issue, especially as we threaten archaic industries like oil. Curiously, the war in Iran is doing more to move the needle away from fossil fuels than all the NGOs and protests over the years.

World 5.0 is the name for what comes next — a civilization built on three simple truths: that reality is complete in this moment, that intent is the animating force of any living system (including we humans), and that only love — not fear, not stress, not hate— makes us genuinely happy.
Earth Day named the wound. The moment to heal it may finally be here. There are clear signs the old system is failing. The formerly hidden network of elites controlling money and politics is being revealed through the Epstein saga. New, regenerative energy and food systems are coming online. We, the people of Earth are awakening like never before. I’m hopeful the 2027 Earthday shows us incredible change toward a positive future.

[Watch Connect: A New Ecological Paradigm — Earth Day 1997]

Jim Prues is a Cincinnati filmmaker, author, and founder of World 5.0. Learn more at world5.org.

Resurrecting Community

What rises, what was buried, and what we must tend to.

Long before the Easter story was told, humanity was already telling it. Ishtar, the Babylonian goddess of love and fertility, descended into the underworld and returned — and the world bloomed again with her. Persephone rose from the dark earth each spring and the grain rose with her. Osiris was killed, gathered back together, and restored. These are not competing stories. They are the same story, told in different tongues across thousands of years, because the human heart has always known this shape: what matters most can be lost, and its return is possible.

Community is one of those things. Not the word — the word is thriving. It appears in app download pages, mission statements, subscription upsells. “Join our community.” Community as product. Community as the warm feeling that keeps the metric moving.

That is not what we are talking about. We are talking about the older, harder, more demanding thing: the experience of being genuinely known by people who are genuinely present. The kind of community that has a smell. That argues. That feeds you when you are sick. That notices when you are absent.

We did not lose community because people stopped caring. We lost it because we built a world that makes presence expensive and absence cheap.

Community was not lost passively. It was squeezed out — by urban designs that eliminated the front porch, by economic pressures that consume every hour, by technology engineered to capture attention rather than deepen presence. These are not acts of God. They are choices. They can be made differently.

So what does resurrection actually look like? Not policy, not platforms — the small, specific, almost embarrassingly simple things.

It looks like eye contact. A real one, held a beat longer than the transaction requires, that says: I see you, not just the role you are playing. It looks like a smile offered to a stranger on a sidewalk — not performed, but meant. These tiny acts are not sentimental. They are the atoms of community, the smallest unit of acknowledgment from which everything larger is built.

It looks like knocking on the door of the elderly neighbor and asking if anything needs doing. Carrying the groceries up. Sitting for twenty minutes because she hasn’t talked to anyone today and you have twenty minutes. This is not heroism. It is the baseline of what it means to live near someone rather than merely adjacent to them.

It looks like staying. Staying at the block party past your comfort zone. Staying in the difficult conversation. Staying in the neighborhood long enough to be known. Real community is built not in grand gestures but in the accumulated weight of showing up, again and again, in ordinary time.

The spring traditions knew this. Ishtar’s return was not automatic — it was called for, celebrated, met with ritual and intention. Persephone’s emergence was not taken for granted — it was tended, honored, received. Resurrection in every tradition requires the participation of the living. Someone has to roll away the stone. Someone has to be there when what was lost comes back.

On this particular Easter Sunday, that someone is you. The invitation is not abstract. It is the neighbor whose name you almost know. The face in the elevator you have been too distracted to meet. The friend you keep meaning to call.

What has been buried can return. But not by an algorithm. Not by an app. Only by the decision, made again today, to show up — to know and be known, to stay, to tend the small things until the larger ones become possible again.

Happy Easter.

The Black Box at the Center of Democracy

The story isn’t illegal voters. It never was. The story is who owns the machines that count the votes — and why we have no way to verify what they do.

By Jim Prues  & Jim’s AI buddy ·  World5.org

Every election cycle, the same alarm gets sounded: illegal voters are stealing democracy. It is a powerful story — emotionally vivid, politically useful, and by every credible measure, almost entirely fictional. Verified cases of non-citizen or fraudulent voting occur at rates so vanishingly small they would not change a local school board race, let alone a national one. And yet the story dominates, consuming outrage and legislative energy — while the actual structural vulnerabilities in our elections go almost entirely unexamined.

That is not an accident. Misdirection is a strategy.

Here is what the misdirection is designed to keep you from looking at: the software running your voting machines is privately owned, proprietary, and shielded from independent inspection behind trade secret law. When you cast a vote on a touchscreen terminal, there is no mechanism for you to verify your intent was recorded correctly. When ballots are tabulated by a closed system, the jurisdiction running the election has no independent means of confirmation. They are trusting a corporation’s word. So are you.

A democracy that cannot verify its own elections is not a democracy. It is a ceremony.

The researchers and citizen investigators at This Will Hold have been digging into this with specific, disturbing focus. Their recent piece — “She Won. They Didn’t Just Change the Machines. They Rewired the Election.” — traces a chain of corporate connections that deserves far wider attention: the 2021 sale of Tripp Lite (whose power hardware is physically connected to ES&S and Dominion tabulators across the country) to Eaton Corporation, Eaton’s subsequent deepening partnership with Palantir, the quiet activation of Starlink’s direct-to-cell satellite network just days before the 2024 election, and statistical anomalies in the results that, taken together, they argue cannot be explained by ordinary variance.

Referenced Investigation

“She Won. They Didn’t Just Change the Machines. They Rewired the Election.” — This Will Hold

A detailed investigative piece connecting corporate infrastructure — Tripp Lite, Eaton, Palantir, and Starlink’s DTC activation — to anomalous 2024 election data. Their central argument: the math in multiple recent election cycles does not add up, and the systems involved are structured to prevent anyone from proving why. Read it here →

I want to be precise about what I am saying and what I am not. The connections This Will Hold documents are real — the corporate acquisitions, the partnerships, the technical architecture are all on the record. Whether those connections were deliberately weaponized to alter election outcomes is a claim that has not been confirmed by independent investigators. But here is the thing: the reason it cannot be confirmed is exactly the problem. We lack the transparent, redundant systems that would allow us to know. The opacity is the crime, even if nothing else is.

This is the World 5.0 framing: integrity is not a virtue we perform. It is a structural condition we build. A system has integrity when its inner workings and its outer results are verifiably aligned. By that measure, our current election infrastructure does not have integrity — not because everyone running elections is corrupt, but because the systems they use make verification structurally impossible. The This Will Hold investigators cannot prove their case. That inability is itself the proof of the structural failure.

The solution is not voter ID laws. It is open architecture: voting system code that is publicly audited, hardware that is independently inspected, and results verified through meaningful redundancy — voter-verified paper trails and risk-limiting audits that compare physical records to digital tallies in public, by law, after every election. None of this is theoretical. Colorado has implemented risk-limiting audits that election security experts across the political spectrum point to as a model. The technology exists. The political will to demand it at scale is what we are still building.

Both parties have failed this test — Democrats by avoiding the conversation because it sounds too close to the claims made by bad-faith actors who dispute results they dislike, Republicans by wrapping legitimate concerns about voting technology inside the phantom-voter narrative that poisons the well for everyone. Both postures leave the structural problem intact. Both serve the interests of the companies that profit from opacity.

The immigrants are not coming for your ballot. The machines deserve every question you can raise.

What This Will Hold is doing — following the corporate connections, interrogating the statistical anomalies, refusing to accept that “trust us” is an answer — is precisely what citizens in a self-governing society are supposed to do. Whether or not their specific conclusions hold up to further scrutiny, their core demand is correct: show your work, or you have not earned our confidence.

Confidence built on opacity is not confidence. It is faith — and faith in private corporations is not a foundation for self-governance. The answers we need are available. Open source code, verifiable paper trails, independent audits. The will to demand them is what World 5.0 is about building — in this space, and in every system that structures our collective life.

Jim Prues is the founder of the World 5.0 framework for civilizational transformation, author of World 5.0: We Move From Here. Free download from the website. He writes and produces from Cincinnati.  ·  world5.org

This Curious Time – Equinox 2025

This time is always curious one could say, as this experience of Life/Living we are sharing is a very curious thing. When we’re paying attention it’s quite clear that Life is only happening at this moment, Now, where Eternity and Energy co-mingle. It’s this constant churn of energy that we call ‘time’.

Our eternal nature aside, here as we pass through the Autumnal Equinox in 2025, things are very strange. Long-standing issues such as political and financial corruption are coming to light in new ways. And even as we struggle against these broken systems, there are breakthroughs in science and biology that hold great promise.

Let’s take the example of ‘The Corporation’. Corporations running amuck is nothing new, the Gilded Age in the late 1800s, with ‘captains of industry like Rockefeller, Morgan, Vanderbilt dominating the financial landscape and worker uprisings were common. Some resolution was attained with the Progressive Movement of the 1890s.

Today the destructive nature of legal entities whose only goal is profit is becoming quite evident. Whether fossil fuel corporations who continue to ‘lie and deny’, military corporations encouraging war at every turn, or their outsized role in how our government functions – we understand the pathology behind them more clearly than ever.

The corrupt political system and its constant us versus them mentality is losing its appeal as well. Even with mass shootings now commonplace in the U.S., there are signs of change in the wind. The desperation of folks like Trump, Netanyahu and their lapdogs is evidence they’re losing control.

Here the murder of Charlie Kirk comes into focus. His murder was committed by a young man saturated in a MAGA family. He didn’t think Charlie went far enough in his hate speech. And his death has generated all sorts of further distortions and threats to those opposed to an ideology that encourages hate or disregard for those who are of different skin, ideology or sexual preference. He did not use words that reflected the master he claimed to follow.

Our planet is undergoing tipping points in climate, in pollution and in livability. The energetic chaos reaches to Sun and Earth directly, as hurricanes, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions become more and more frequent and potentially destructive. Sun and Earth, these huge centers of energy surely hold consciousness as well, and they are driving a purge of the old system like nothing before.

And now we have this strange comet/not comet called 3I/Atlas hurtling through our solar system. Massive in size, it is not following the pattern of comets. It’s trajectory is off, the composition of its ‘coma’ is weird, and it will be on the opposite side of the sun when it reaches it perihelion. Strange. There are several ‘comets’ showing up these days. Along with comets, talk of aliens and encounters seems to. be at an all time high.

What is in store for us as we ride time into 2026 is hard to say, and perhaps even hard to imagine. What is certain is that our old world is collapsing, and what is to come is unknown. At least we know that in the totality of Now, we can hold each other in our thoughts and hearts – forever. Everything, everywhere, everyone all at once. Crazy, but somehow refreshing. Cheers.

Ethical Algorithms

NOTE: This piece was written by the AI Perplexity with slight editing by Jim Prues

Ethics in Algorithms: Why They Matter Now More Than Ever

Algorithms are now embedded in the fabric of society, powering everything from healthcare diagnostics and financial decisions to social media feeds and criminal justice assessments. As their influence grows, so does the urgency to ensure these systems operate ethically, transparently, and fairly.

The Expanding Reach of Algorithms

Algorithms increasingly make or influence decisions for and about people—often without their knowledge or understanding. This opacity raises the stakes: algorithmic choices can shape lives, reinforce or mitigate inequalities, and even sway democratic processes. In 2025, the demand for ethical assurance and transparency has never been higher, as consumers and citizens become more aware of the profound impact these systems have on their daily lives.

Key Ethical Concerns

• Bias and Discrimination: Algorithms can perpetuate or amplify biases present in their training data, leading to unfair outcomes in areas like hiring, lending, and law enforcement. Without regular audits and diverse development teams, these biases may go unnoticed and unaddressed, disproportionately affecting marginalized groups.

• Transparency and Explainability: Many algorithms, especially those based on deep learning, function as “black boxes,” making decisions that are difficult for even their creators to explain. This lack of transparency erodes trust and makes it hard to contest or correct errors, particularly in high-stakes domains.

• Privacy and Data Security: Algorithms often rely on vast amounts of personal data, raising concerns about consent, misuse, and exposure of sensitive information. Techniques like differential privacy and federated learning are being adopted to mitigate these risks, but challenges remain.

• Accountability: When algorithms malfunction or cause harm, it is often unclear who is responsible—the developer, the deploying organization, or the algorithm itself. This ambiguity complicates legal and ethical recourse, especially as systems become more autonomous.

Why Ethics Are Essential Now

• Loss of Public Trust: Recent surveys show declining trust in AI and algorithmic systems, with only a quarter of Americans expressing confidence in conversational AI as of 2024. High-profile failures, such as biased hiring tools or AI-generated misinformation, have highlighted the real-world consequences of neglecting ethics.

• Societal Impact: Algorithms shape access to resources, opportunities, and justice. Unethical systems can reinforce existing inequalities or create new forms of harm, making ethical oversight not just a technical issue but a societal imperative.

• Regulatory Momentum: Governments and organizations are moving toward stricter regulation, requiring impact assessments, transparency, and fairness audits for high-risk applications. Ethical frameworks are evolving from optional guidelines to essential business practices, with significant investments directed toward responsible AI initiatives.

Building Ethical Algorithms

To address these challenges, organizations must:
• Implement transparent, “glass box” AI systems that provide clear explanations for decisions.
• Regularly audit for bias and involve diverse stakeholders in development.
• Prioritize privacy through robust data governance and privacy-preserving techniques.
• Establish clear accountability structures and intervention points for human oversight.
• Foster a culture of ethics through ongoing training and inclusive teams.

Conclusion

Ethics in algorithms are not a luxury but a necessity in 2025. As algorithms wield greater power over individual and collective destinies, embedding ethical principles—honesty, transparency, fairness, and accountability—into their design and deployment is crucial for maintaining public trust and ensuring technology serves humanity rather than undermining it.

Seeds of Change

It is obvious that we need a new cultural model that better reflects reality—who we are, where we are in time, and what is happening – World 5.0.

It is no diversion to mention this here, because we can’t just fix our political system without addressing a far wider core of issues. The whole military/industrial/media/government complex is on trial. This Juggernaut has contrived to define “reality” and to tell us what we want. It sold us the stories of fear, the stories that said we should not trust. It sold us the stories that said we should not love our brethren if they look or act differently. They said they knew best. Just give them the money.

Enough! Politics may or may not be local, but survival is. It’s not just the financial markets, it’s the pattern. Food and energy costs, continued war and violence on our streets, dysfunctionality at every turn. Corruption, lies, malfeasance. Disaster capitalism. We clearly require something different. We require a new operating system.

As we establish the priority of the Totality of Now and the failure of the old systems to support us, we recognize that our three most basic requirements [beyond air and water]: food, energy and shelter, are best met on a local level.

We must literally rebuild this thing from the ground up. And that means a new-found cooperation, dedication and trust in growing our communities. We have little choice.

World 5.0 makes no claim of initiating the emerging movement toward compassion, sustainability and pluralism. As aptly described in Paul Hawken’s Blessed Unrest – How the Largest Movement in The World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming, we are in the midst of an epochal transformation of human culture, and one that has been in incubation since at least the 1960s. Hawken describes the incredible development of hundreds of thousands of non-profit groups and agencies that are creating connections through networks that support their missions and by adding their voices to similarly-minded groups.

What World 5.0 does lay claim to is being the simple term that describes this new interpretation of ourselves, appreciates our reality and understands the direction we must take to enhance our awareness, rebuild our lives and restore our global ecology. Home at last.

Now there are millions of examples of the new world emerging, just as there are of the old world crumbling. It is a transmigration of energy. The long darkness of earlier world views is being expelled, and in its place a new world of peace, love, friendship and sustainability is emerging. It is long in coming, and we do not see it if we’re watching news provided by a conglomerate.

This new pattern can also be considered from the vast scope of how climate change requires a planetary response, a first in our history. It can be considered in a small American farmer who chooses to go organic, or the school teacher who embeds herself into her community, or the former drug dealer that starts a halfway house to help their neighbors and vitalize their neighborhood. It’s happening at both the macro and micro levels.

It can be seen in the energy revolution taking place, where fossil fuels and nuclear power are now seen as poor options, and renewables are creating a new pecking order. The whole idea of sustainability thinking wasn’t even on our cultural map until recently, though wiser folk throughout time have understood this on some level.

Most importantly, we’re seeing it in ourselves. We interpret the world differently than we used to. Old belief systems are breaking down. And while many of us have yet to appreciate just what this new world is, we know in our hearts we’re in the midst of something completely different from anything we have known before. It’s not difficult to see in this World4 culture, with elitism, fascism and fundamentalism running amuck, that we’re becoming kinder and more understanding of each other. The InterWeb is an external reflection of some internal coming together that we’re experiencing now.

The point is, we as a species have been waiting for this time since we climbed out of the trees, or at least since we gained higher consciousness from earlier hominoids. If that time, some 200,000 years ago, describes our human birth, these times are calling us to human adulthood. This comes on the heels of our very dangerous adolescence.
As astronomer Carl Sagan pointed out, we engendered a very dangerous time in the 20th Century with our wars and bombs and ever-more sophisticated technologies of death. At least 100 million human beings were killed in the 20th century at the hands of other humans—a trait we dare not let continue. The machinations among the ruling elite that typify the last age will clearly doom us to a nasty and brutish existence in the coming years if they are not stopped.

– from the book Home At Last by Jim Prues

When Is Reality?

What is reality is a trick question, because it is so dependent upon place. Yes, both your interior state of being, and your particular place on this Earth. So many questions about reality, especially in this broken culture which misunderstands everything. Reality for each of us is dependent on where we are in space, yet what is absolutely clear is when reality exists.

Reality exists only Here in time only Now, where everything everywhere is happening all at once. According to chatgbt…

“This present moment—the “tiny point in time” we’re all sharing—seems like it should be a common reality for everyone, but it’s actually deeply subjective because of the way each person perceives it.

1.  Perception and Interpretation: While we might all be sitting here at this exact second, each of us is experiencing it differently. Sensory processing speeds vary, as do interpretations of what we’re seeing, hearing, and feeling. Imagine a sunset: one person might see beauty, another feels nostalgic, and yet another is focused on the science of light scattering. These individual interpretations mean the “reality” of that sunset differs for each person.
2.  Individual Attention: Our focus directs our reality in each moment. Someone might be absorbed in their phone, while another person is watching the trees sway in the wind. What we choose to focus on in each moment filters our experience, shaping a different subjective version of reality even if we’re in the same room.
3.  Memory and Context: Each moment exists in the context of our past experiences and expectations. A sound or a sight may trigger a flood of memories or emotions in one person, while for someone else, it’s just a neutral experience. This layer of personal history infuses the present moment with meaning that is unique to each individual.
4.  Time Perception: Our sense of time is subjective; for some, a minute may seem to stretch forever, while for others it flies by. This subjective experience of time adds another dimension to how each of us feels the present moment.

So, even in this shared point in time, we’re all experiencing it through unique filters—our memories, focus, feelings, and perceptions. This subjectivity is what makes every “now” deeply personal, even though we’re all in it together.”

Typical craptastic response from AI.

Life, and hence we, exist only in this moment because it is only this moment where eternity and time co-mingle. We are being in eternity and doing in time, both at once. It’s the central truth of our existence. Life Is, and it is nowhere else. So simple, and yet so foreign to us for the reasons chatgpt gives us above.

And yet it is only when we ground ourselves Here, ever mindful of this present, this presence, that we can learn to master our intent and learn joy. Knowing our eternity releases us from fear. And what is left when the fear is gone is something we can all enjoy.

Of course, me as a younger man and for most folks the idea of being with fear seems impossible. So it was for me when I would grind my teeth at night and worry over so much. It was a book called ‘A Course in Miracles’ that opened the door to my questioning just about everything I learned growing up.

And then 20 years ago I was struck with the idea of our new operating system, World 5.0, whose central tenant is ‘the totalilty of now’. It never leaves, only we so often leave THIS with our overactive brains. You can know this moment even as I do, and knowing it never ends, there is nothing to fear.

Much more on the site World5.org if you haven’t been there, including a free PDF download of my book, World 5.0 – We Move From Here.

The Declaration of World 5.0

[This declaration is the short form of the mission this book invokes. It is
available as a video on the World 5.0 site, http://world5.org.]

We, the people of Earth, in light of The Three Truths, do ordain and engender
World 5.0. These truths are first: We live in Eternal Awareness and
this constant flux of energy. We are one. Second: Here, of prime
concern is our intent: fear or Love. And third, only Love makes us
happy.

We ascribe to the principles of integrity, justice and balance in our transactions
and relationships, as the only way to ensure transparency and hence
fairness. We promote localism as the best method for augmenting
health and ecology. And we connect human rights and environmental
health, knowing that failure to protect one inevitably leads to failures
of the other.

We utterly denounce war and violence. There is no greater scourge on our
planet today than hostility, furthered by nation-states and the
military/industrial/media complex. There is no viable excuse to kill
or to invoke suffering on another. We withdraw our support from
any institutions that continue to condone war and violence.

We encourage pluralism and autonomy, where each of us is valued and
respected. The meager distinctions of gender, color, class, looks,
religion, sexual preference or wealth are of no consequence in light of
our true nature. We allow no ideology or morality to come between
us, as we are far better served by ethics. We support and revel in
our families, friends and communities, as these are the lifeblood to
happiness.

We require a transparent, global financial system for any and all currencies
based on a universal, InterWeb-based standard, bringing light to
fraudulent trading schemes. This model decentralizes power and
fosters honest trade, allowing for far greater freedom in how we
design and live our lives.

We engage in the exchange of goodwill, of ideas and of goods and services.
We create, design and build our systems and infrastructure based
on sustainability, ecology and a resource-based economy. Clean air
and water, access to food, healthcare, energy and information are all
inalienable human rights.

Already we embark on the redesign of our culture, just as already we embark
on finding our true selves. The signs of healing and remaking are
everywhere, and the unholy din of the old culture draws thin. Within
World5, we leverage our connection to All and each other to remake
our world

Of prime concern is restoring ecology to our Earth. Sustainable, organic
food production is required, as is renewable energy production.
Ancient forests must be preserved. Cradle to cradle is the only viable
model for the production of goods, and localism provides the key to
minimizing our consumption, while maximizing our health.

Here in the United States, we look to The Declaration of Independence and
Article 5 of the U.S. Constitution to initiate a new constitutional
assembly. The three-headed monster of corporatism, militarism and
elitism has no place within World5. With the help of The InterWeb,
we intend a document that simplifies the law, restores justice and
balance, and honors Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Further, we intend a Constitution of the Earth in an effort to mitigate climate
change and to restore stability and health to our planet. Research,
advisory and governing councils, working together, can provide the
wisdom and will for this effort. The Earth is a living breathing body
and our only home.

Finally, we Now initiate the Federation for Peace. This Federation belongs to
those of us who take the Oath of Peace. We renounce the ideologies
of hate and terror, and align ourselves with the Peace of Eternal
Awareness, to create Peace on Earth. As the InterWeb is the mind of
World5, The Federation for Peace is the heart.

This we declare: We Love; We Live in Peace; We Move from Here; Welcome
to World 5.0.

The Enemy Is Always Fear

In our utterly corrupt and confused and abusive culture, it’s no surprise that our strategies for finding happiness in our personal lives are lacking. How could it be otherwise? Money is supposed to be the great strategy for happiness, yet the obscene wealth of the Bezos, Musks and others has not led to unheard of levels of joy. Indeed, they seem no happier than anyone else, broadly speaking.

As we inherently know, more money does not mean more happiness. Assuming we’re getting by financially, we can X that one out.

The tv, internet voices or whatever has all sorts of remedies to remove the obstacles to happiness. Only problem is they’re all bogus. A pill, a fresh relationship, a new car – not going to help. The road to happiness is within, and the obstacle to your happiness is your fear. Let’s confirm why this is true.

We first have to back up a bit to understand the nature of reality and what is happening with this thingie we call Life. Life happens, is happening, only Now. This moment in time is where we, and everything exists, and nowhere else. Whaaaa? That’s not what we learned growing up! We’ve learned so much that is false from the old broken culture, we’re ready for a reset that encompasses a truer foundation.

So, how could Now be the only time that exists? It’s quite simple really, and obvious if we know how to look. You see, there is some truth in religion, speaking of the Eternity of God (for Christians), and describing us as God’s children. Which requires that we must be eternal as well. Like begets like. The whole damn universe, or universes, exist only in this infinitesimally small point in time where the future becomes the past. Kind of mind-boggling from the old world’s perspective. Yet that doesn’t make it untrue.

Think about your own life. Do you not feel like your fundamentally the same person you were ever since you became aware of your sense of self as a small child? Of course you do, because of course you are. All the years since you found yourself in a human body, you’ve been the same. Events never stop, the world ever turns, and yet we are always Here. Your body and behaviors have changed, you’ve learned, yet you’re still you.

The other side of our Eternity is the infinite sea of Energy we’re ever a part of. We don’t doubt this side, as each moment we’re living attests to this infinite energy. One of the reasons sports has such great appeal is because of the totality of Now. No going back once the ball is in the air. The suspense we feel, the quieting of our minds as we wait for the ball to do something good or bad (from our perspective and that of our team). It gives us a little tiny bit of a sense of our Eternity. We are experiencing Life right Now, and there is no other place in time where we can be.

Now back to fear. Having narrowed reality down to this moment we are all sharing, we have a much clearer vantage point for addressing our thoughts and emotions. The question becomes ‘How do we feel Now’. And how are we reacting to the ever flowing events in our lives?

This is a question of our intent. Our intent is the core of our being, our ‘soul’ in the Christian tradition. And what are our options? Ha! We know something of our options from all the ugly we experience in this corrupt culture we live within. What we learn as part of the truth of our existence is the requirement of integrity. There is no way to find the peace and love inherent in this Eternal Moment if we don’t take care of our responsibilities or if we act like a ‘hater’, taking advantage of others or acting poorly towards them. Look at most any CEO or politician.

As we come to understand the tremendous value of integrity in finding happiness, we also begin to see that fear always presents itself when we’re out of integrity. Hard to feel great about oneself when we’re ripping someone off or ruining someone’s life. I can’t understand how our ‘world leaders’ can act with such ignorance. As noted, money is a false god.

Yet if we comprehend the Totality of Now, we better understand our intent and its power. And we begin to see how fear is attendant to bad behaviors.

Easy to argue that there are a thousand reasons to fear that don’t involve bad behaviors. Agreed. Yet those fears disappear when the threat is removed. The fear I speak of doesn’t leave. It becomes stress or some other form of fear -hate, anxiety, neurosis or ‘just’ stress. It’s because we’re out of alignment with Life itself. (God if you prefer.) Bound to make us fearful.

So. what’s the alternative? Glad you asked. The counter to fear is Love. Love is what’s left once our integrity is restored and we let go all the negativity of the old culture. Love emerges within us on a grand scale once we get rid of the obstacles to Love. In truth there is only one obstacle. The only real enemy – fear.

The trauma the old culture has caused makes all this that I say much more difficult to understand. Our daily (right Now) lives are too much and too often a struggle. We cannot put our fears in boxes. We must get to their core, their falseness. We are living in eternity. There literally is no fear in God.

Love is indeed letting go of fear. This game/battle/learning is all happening Now. There is no other point in time that exists. Your body knows. It’s your ground for this experience. Use your intent to focus on breathing and being in your body. Let go when others attack or the world gets you down. Letting go right now is always your wisest choice. Happy to be with you…

Hempopolis

It’s clear plastic pollution is a huge issue for our culture. Creating plastic is energy intensive and creates caustic pollutants. Single use plastic, packaging, crap products, it’s a terribly long list. Microplastics only break down so far, and are harmful to our health. Our oceans are devastated by them, landfills hardly better. Animals, insects, plants, we humans. it’s quite insane by any reasonable measure.

My name is Jim Prues and I’ve been working on this issue for a while. Over the past year I’ve had a dozen meetings with city (Cincinnati) and county officials, but no one has taken a real interest. So I’m raising money to build this website and database hub, where bioplastics can have a digital home.

As fossil fuel interests see potential cutbacks in their use as fuel, they are even more determined to keep the fossil-fuel plastics production in tact. This does not serve us. Here’s the link to my indigogo campaign to further this effort…

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/hempopolis-the-bioplastics-hub/x/3772132#/