Ironies of Hell

Irony. 

Legion

"Legion" was a word often used by demonic beings from Hell to try and frighten a person into believing there were more of them and the singular person was therefore outnumbered. "We are legion". "We are many". 

It's ironic. GOD is UNION and seeks Unity between and with ALL living beings. The concept of Unity is based around the notion of a group of beings coming together for a common purpose. Inspite of existing to spite God, dark entities still cling to the ideology of some form of Unity. And if they didn't and each genuinely separated and acted independently, Hell COULDN'T exist. It would be disbanded and would not be "run" by anyone.

Glory

If you were to talk to a random demon of Hell, and you asked it, "Do you want glory?", what would it say? Because GLORY is associated with God. It's associated with GREATNESS. So the second you say you don't want Glory, you're essentially saying you're a piece of Crap that's worth nothing and you aspire to be less than nothing. Most demons struggle with EGO issues of dominance. The second you say you're a piece of crap, you give POWER to the other person and demean yourself. ALL beings of Hell would then have to say they wanted Glory in some form or another. 

Pain 

If you were to throw Holy Water at a demon it would get VERY pissed off and say that it "burned" with pain. Demons inflict pain, but they can also be subjected to it. This means they are STILL spiritually sentient. They are not "numb" to self pains. They still have instincts for SELF PRESERVATION. This leads to an irony. They say PAIN is GOOD when they're causing it. But they then themselves HATE pain when it's inflicted. They also say that God and Good and EVIL. But technically by logical standards that's a fallacy and shows a lack of understanding of the concepts being spoken of. 

Blasphemy by Hypocrisy

Why would demons try to corrupt religion? To insult GOD. It makes sense. But in order for you to insult God, you have to acknowledge what is a BAD act to use against God. In order to perpetuate blasphemy you first have to QUALIFY it by knowing what the insult would be. They would have to feel the insult as grave before they could say it was a grave insult. Thereby acknowledging what was sacred and trying to uphold it. You can only demean something knowingly if you first understand the VALUE of what your trying to take value away from. 

Nothingness 

If you REALLY wanted to deviate ENTIRELY from God -who is EVERYTHING, you would have to strive for an ultimate state of NOTHINGNESS. 

Dark entities have sort of tried to achieve this in 2 ways:

1. Numbing themselves and people to Significant things

2. Killing off people to erase humanity into "nothing"

But they fear their SELF becoming “deleted” and turned into nothing. A demon version of atheistic death where you are destroyed as a spiritual being and NOTHING comes after. Which wouldn’t or CAN’T occur because at their source a spiritual being is still a LIGHT LIFE FORCE that CANNOT DIE. At the core of their being lies the irony. In order to create spiritual demonic beings they had to breathe “life into them” by using the only source spiritual life comes from –The LIGHT God ensouled them with.  

And erase the demons from the equation and leave only the Satans, THEY still have that light in them. If they didn’t then they wouldn’t exist. They would spiritually “not be”. Like an empty body lies in the grave. But they have no body, they just have their spiritual BEING. So no escaping the light within except by distracting yourself form it and trying to bury it. 

Main Point

Even at the greatest extreme of deviation from God, HELL and all the beings from it CANNOT diverge entirely from God. 

Irony. 

Mental Justification for Spirituality

My sister has a book on her desk at work. 300 pages long. It is a deep, indepth examination and justification for Metaphysical (spiritual) Phenomenon. 

And I was thumbing through it, waiting for her to come back so I could talk to her, and thought the entire premiss of the book was sad. It examines Theology, Philosophy, Research, History, Biology... ALL to justify and explain things like how a person can be psychic and how meditation helps a person get more in touch with their own spiritual energy. 

The fact is, if you can't explain Metaphysics in 3 pages -you're trying too hard. It's simple. You FEEL your soul and/or the souls and spiritual matter of those around you. You can feel like like people feel electrostatic charges rubbing a full balloon on their head making their hair stand on end. It does NEED scientific explanation -even though it can be scientifically explained. Even LESS helpful is philosophical reasons why the phenomenon would occur.

Basically what happened was a bright, intuitive individual had some spiritual experiences and FELT mentaphysical energy in some capacity. Then because he didn't want to look like an idiot when trying to explain this to friends, he wrote 300 pages explaining why something like that might occur -thereby justifying in his mind that he wasn't crazy. The book went on to gain next to NO popularity and ran into issues revolving around the fact the General Population is not going to waste their time reading 300 pages on in depth research on something they can borderline PHYSICALLY experience in person.

It's like blindfolding a person from birth and only TELLING him about a substance called fire without allowing him to see it. Writing a book about it and describing it would be USELESS unless you made him feel heat and warmth -or he experienced the pain from its flame. You can't justify 300 pages trying to justify an experience you can have in person OFF the PAGE.

It's a mental insecurity to think that 300 pages are needed to justify something you know in your mind and your soul to be true. Especially if other people are capable of experiencing these things themselves. Sometimes people let their heads get in the way of their souls. It's an instinct and an insecurity that then severs people further from their soul. In an attempt to justify your own nature and the nature of humanity from God -you instead sever yourself further from it.

Pay Outs

There is a formula used in the Forum that CAN be useful if used in the right way. 

#1 What is the perpetual COMPLAINT/Issue you keep on having -either about yourself, someone else, or life in general

#2 HOW to you ACT when this complaint/issue Arises?

If your Reaction is one of the Following:

1) YOU Being Right or Someone/Thing ELSE Wrong
2) Being Dominant or Avoiding Domination 
3) Justifying Yourself or Invalidating Others
4) You Winning/ Someone Else Losing 

You are then depriving yourself of: 

1) LOVE/ Affinity/ Connection
2) Genuine Self Empowerment
3) Self -Expression 
4) Self -Fulfillment/ PEACE

For example, with ME: 

-I complain/struggle with NOT Feeling Like I'm Good Enough
-I react by closing myself off and avoiding "taking risks" 
-I do this by Justifying myself, by saying things like, "Well YOU can't do that amazing thing..."
-It then costs me Self-Expression and Sharing myself with other people

So stop giving into everything you're not. Take back what you deserve. Love, Power, Peace, Fulfillment.

Who is God?

I've been running into issues with religion lately. Mostly because of who I know God to be and who other people occasionally mistaken God to be. Here is God: 

-LOVE
-ACCEPTANCE
-PEACE
-GRACE/FORGIVENESS
-UNITY/UNION 
-INFINITE/ALL KNOWING
-SPIRITUALLY SENTIENT/ UNDERSTANDING

This is the nature of God. Anything that deviates from these 5 simple principles is a walking AWAY from who God is. Let's keep it simple. 

Past a certain point religion becomes more of a doctrine than a reality. More like a bunch of Rules rather than Reality.Especially when people use it to spread hatred. We ALL want to know the secrets of the universe and the bigger picture of things. But to lose GOD in the pursuit of that knowing by then HATING people for not agreeing with our views is to walk away from God in pursuit of theories about HIM.

Blame

I went to a Landmark Forum this weekend and got 2 very important revelations.

First was a reminder: You are NOT your Self Doubts. You keep saying you want to be At Peace and Empowered and Sale Assured. What makes you think you're NOT all those things Right Now? DOUBT. You KNOW you are all those things. You are NOT your doubts. Sever them from yourself. Let them go. Do not act on them. This is how you follow the assurity in your soul.

I was then having trouble with: How do I make peace with PAIN. Not just that, but specifically Men who murder children. I'm supposed to have the capacity to Forgive anyone anything like God can, why can't I? And a revelation followed:

I've always been blaming my lack of PEACE on things. When I was younger it was my past and my mom issues. Then I realized it wasn't my mom's fault and my past is just my past. So then I blamed myself for my lack of peace, but realized that just deprived me of peace. Then I blamed the world for my problems by saying it was the world's fault for not understanding me. Then I realized you can't blame the world's problems for the world's problems and expect anything to change. So then I blamed HELL. I blamed Demons and Satan and said THEY were the reason humanity was suffering in the first place. Blame is ALL on them. Then I realized, Demons can't be blamed because they're just "tools" of Hell meant to carry out Satan's wishes. And SATAN can't be blamed because you don't know WHY he did what he did. You don't know what the underlying reason is. Hate for hates sake DOESN'T Exist. There's always a reason. 

So then I blamed PAIN itself in all its forms. People belong to Grace, Peace, and Empowerment and PAIN takes these away regardless of how it comes about. Pain is to blame.

Then I came to this Revelation: BLAME is a form of HATE. You cannot have Hate and Peace at the same time. Saying, "It's his fault or it's his fault" is pushing Hatred onto people and things. God doesn't do that. God doesn't keep score and say, "Well he did this and he did that so he doesn't deserve peace or forgiveness..." He let's GO of Blame. He let's go of keeping score. He just embraces everything. He still FEELS pain, but He then Forgives it and Looks Past it and then OVERCOMES it the way Christ did.

When you perpetuate blame for pain, you perpetuate and carry around the pain itself. Blame detracts and distracts from Peace. Blame is a game for someone else to play -not you. It is LIBERATING not to have to keep score and figure who you hate and for how long you have the right to hate them. It's liberating not to have to place blame.

Testimonial 1

Last week I learned about the Angel Azrael. I found out Azrael was one of the main 12 angels in Heaven readily available to help people on Earth in their own individual ways. I was made to understand that Azrael does 3 things:

1) "Forgives" and gives grace to physical pains in people, including blindness, disease, and disability.

2) Helps the dying cross over without Pain and in Peace to make the transition easier. 

3) Helps people who are grieving, dealing with deep emotional pain, or are contemplating suicide.

From what I've come to experience so far you don't just randomly get handed information about a particular angel and then call it a day. Stuff then happens in which the angel you just learned about NEEDS to be called on. Like hearing about a chapter in science class and then being given the test. 

So my friends mom was sick and I figured THAT's what Azrael is for. So I told my mom to pray over her friend and allow Azrael to heal her with Jesus. 

But my mom's friend has been sick for a while and as it turns out, that wasn't the primary reason. 

After I left my mom's house last week I got a call a day later form her. "Jessica I need your help. I just found out my friend tried to commit suicide. Her husband committed suicide 2 years ago and she's been depressed for a long time and hasn't been able to let go. She just let us know what she attempted to do and i'm going over to see her in an hour. WHO do I call on???" 

And I thought, I just learned about the Angel Azrael. Wow. So I told my mom to call on Azrael to (1) Help the soul of her HUSBAND cross over in peace if he hasn't already and (2) give peace to her friend who tried to commit suicide. Along with bringing Jesus in. I also told her that if the husband is still around it may take a couple of days for him to cross over -it's a transition.

Then I was in my room 2 days later listening to music. The music I was listening to was pretty uplifting and it was about connecting to God. Then I felt strangely drawn to the song "One Headlight" by The Wallflowers. As I was listening I tried relating to the song. The song is about a man who lost a friend to suicide and is saying he wishes she had held on to this life. He then contemplates suicide himself because of the pain of her loss, but reminds himself of the encouragement to live he had extended to her, and decides to keep living. 

I was having trouble figuring out why I was listening to the song, because no one I know had committed suicide. Then this sense of sadness came from somewhere within me, and I realized it WASN'T ME. I realized the HUSBAND had crossed over and this was his way of letting me know. I then felt strongly compelled to send his wife this song. So I texted it to my mom to send to her. 

A couple hours later my mom called me up. "Jessica you won't believe what happened! I called my friend and told her about you receiving the song and thinking her husband had crossed over. She said that since I left the house has gotten Lighter. She also feels like the depression has lifted. When I told her about the song she said, 'Oh my God. At my husband's funeral I, our 14 year old son, and our daughter each picked out one song to play for him. My SON chose that exact song. He's been having trouble coping with the loss. He's been in a dark place and isn't opening up to anyone about it. I've been really worried about him. I think this is my husbands way of letting him know he sees his pain and doesn't want him to hurt himself.' 

My mind kind of exploded at that point. Because I had doubted and questioned sending the song and letting her know. And instead it became the father's way of reaching out to his son through me and through the song. It was kind of an affirmation to me that THIS is what I'm meant to be doing. I'm on the right track.

Religion Today

There are a couple major issues with religion that keep coming up. 

The first is that ALL religions have either been corrupted or have been founded on misinformation.

Secondly, ALL religions act like they stop with their "creator". Like the story ends with its own time and then gets "lost" to time. They act like Spirituality and Truth and God's Relationship with Mankind aren't constantly ongoing. It has always been and continues to always be. 

The Saints are a good example of this. There have been people that have done amazing feats to help, sacrifice, and save people -but these individuals aren't exactly "added" to the Bible. And religions also seem to have difficulty adding certain people they might be prejudice against at the time. For instance if a God-Inspired person rose and freed thousands of slaves by performing miracles, but the people in charge of writing religious scriptures were in support of slavery -then that "Saint" might not get written about. For instance, few people would consider Martin Luther King Jr. to be a Saint. But he was spiritually led by God to lead people, he was imprisoned, "martryd", and helped progress the freedoms of black people in America. 

The other amusing thing I've noted is what religious/spiritual people will argue about and cause conflict over WITHIN a religion. 

In Jesus' time the debate was, which is greater: External Acts for God or Internal Connection to God? 

Today the debate is: Is it better to follow the Scripture/Doctrine/Law of a Religion or the Spiritual Connection/Intuition Towards God? 

To Trust the Soul or the Written Word? 
To Do Great Acts or Act Good? 

Why people think it's a 1 or the Other I don't know. Why not just choose TRUTH and GOD. 

Why not choose to ACT on Truth and God and BE with Truth and God?

7 Years from Now

It is October 14th 2014. In 7 years the Saints will be told of their duties. They will then go out and fulfill their purpose by liberating people.

The first Saint will be the Saint of WOMEN. She will be the Hub/Center of the group like Jesus was to His disciples. She will lead by example and do ALL that the other Saints will eventually do after 7 years from now -starting now. She will:

-Cast out Demons from Earth
-Help Ghosts cross over
-Communicate with Animals to Help Nature
-Sing songs of God and Grace
-Save Children from Rape and murder
-Save Women from Rape and murder
-Hold Rapists and Murderers Accountable
-End Sex Trafficking Country by Country
-Begin Physically Healing People through Spiritual Means
-STOP Wars and Confront Dictators who then STOP harming people and completely change their ways

At this point towards the end of her 7 years alone with no other assistance from Saints on Earth she will become well known -especially from the Healings.

She will then go out and start telling the Saints in person of their specific duties they been chosen for. She will assure them that it can be done since she will have already done it ALL. Then they will go out in large numbers in total and small groups individually and systematically End WARS, Heal people, Save the Oppressed, and Educate People on Truth and Spirituality.

Coming Saints

Biblically speaking, let's review what makes sense.

When God made man, mankind was pure and uncorrupted. Then The Devil took advantage of Mankind's good, trusting nature and poisoned it with the knowledge of evil.

After that man fell prey to the Devil and was manipulated into doing evil. The devil corrupted mankind.

At any point would it make sense for God to hate mankind during all of this? Knowing it was trust and a genuine misleading that mankind would not have involved his/herself with had it not been for underhanded coercion?

And does it make sense for God to be angry or blame in the first place? Blame and anger are usually associated with those down below.

So let it be understood then, that when the Final Coming happens, ALL beings on Earth will RISE to Heaven. It's assumed Heaven will lower itself to Earth and Descend. But in reality, Earth would release gravity, let go of "weight" and heaviness and RISE to Heaven as all souls do. They would then be less "physically" weighted and would become physically "lighter".

And there are rumors that NOW is that time. As it has always been whenever things get bad people assume it's the end. Like the Hollocaust. And the Black Plague. But why do people assume the Final Coming will be BAD?

Firstly they call the Final "Judgement". But God doesn't judge, He FORGIVES. It would be the Final Forgiveness. And if you had to choose between a Vision of a peaceful transition into Heaven that people would look forward to or a Dark Vision of Hellfire and Pain that would make people dread it -Which would you choose and who do you assume would have came up with the last one?

And why do people assume that people belong in Hell in the first place? The Devil did NOT make mankind and therefore has no right to God's children. Puragtory exists for this reason. When a serial killer goes to enter into Heaven, he receives Forgiveness, Empathy, and Peace. Empathy ensures he understands the pain he has caused and will not cause it again so Heaven's peace can be maintained. Given that, why would Hell ever be needed. The nature of Hell is torment -not Grace. It perpetuates pain -it doesn't end it.

This is how the Final Coming will occur:  

The past has been in Hell's hand since before Jesus came to Earth. Hell still has bled into Earth even AFTER Jesus came. But now 2000 years AFTER Christ has come, a shift has been made. Hell has been silenced. Earth will now fall into Heaven's hands. Before Earth can rise to Heaven it must have Heaven established on Earth.

Now that Hell is out of the way, Saints will rise is great number. We've formerly only seen a few come at a time. Martin Luther King Jr., Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln, Moses... Now many will rise in a specific order based on the Liberation of Those Most Oppressed.

Round 1 has begun.

Round 1 will cover the following:

-Children (Ending Pedophilia, Child Brides, Enslavement, Abuses...)

-Women (Ending Rape, Murder, Objectification, Enslavement, Abuses...)

-Ending ALL War  and Genocide (Because the "spoils of war" and its victims are always women and children)

-"Mother" Nature (Humane Treatment of Animals, Saving the Environment, Ending Natural Disasters...)

-Ending Demons, Ghosts, and other spirits time on Earth

-Alleviating Poverty/Homelessness (Most homeless people are women from domestic abuse and children)

-Ending Racism

-Ending Starvation

-Liberating Gays/LGBTQ from Oppression

-Ending Religious Corruption

-Curing People (Ending Disease, Mental Disorders, Illnesses...)

-Ending Land Control/Government Abuse of Power

-Ending Drug Abuse

-Fixing Over-population

-Ending Loneliness/ Overworking

After these NO human will be harmed for ANY of these reasons. FEW if any of the Saints will be killed mid-duty.

2000 years will follow of (98%) PEACE on Earth. THEN Earth will rise to Heaven.

Post-Death Experiences

As reposted form Tumblr: 

andrabillion:

sixpenceee:

A team of scientists at the University of Southampton in the UK has just finished a four-year study of 2,060 people who experienced cardiac arrests at 15 hospitals across the UK, the US, and Austria. The researchers found that 40 percent of them felt ‘aware’ for the period of time that they were declared clinically dead. The medical staff at the hospitals successfully restarted their hearts so they could live to tell the tale. 
One man participating in the study described the feeling that he was watching his treatment from the corner of the room, while a female participant was able to recount exactly the actions of the nursing staff that resurrected her over a three-minute period. She could even very accurately describe the sound of the machines that surrounded her ‘dead’ body.
 “We know the brain can’t function when the heart has stopped beating, but in this case conscious awareness appears to have continued for up to three minutes into the period when the heart wasn’t beating, even though the brain typically shuts down within 20 to 30 seconds after the heart has stopped,” Sam Parnia, the study leader said.
 “The man described everything that had happened in the room, but importantly, he heard two bleeps from a machine that makes a noise at three-minute intervals. So we could time how long the experienced lasted for. He seemed very credible and everything that he said had happened to him had actually happened,” said Parnia
Not all of the people who survived the ordeal recalled some sort of experience in clinical death, perhaps because the medication they were given was messing with their brain function. Certain trends emerged from the 40 percent that did. One in five reported feeling peaceful, and a third said they felt time either speed up or slow down. Some described bright lights, others described feeling detached from their bodies. Some felt scared that they were drowning.
Of course, any research into what actually goes on after death will always be controversial, due to the enormous difficulties in gathering enough evidence to support much of anything that’s scientifically sound, but studies like this are at least an intriguing starting point. 
The study was published in the journal Resuscitation. (News Article)

This is AMAZING

Can I just take a moment to rant. 
I’ve been following the Human Consciousness Project with Sam Parnia, ever since they first began. I’ve literally been checking their website for the longest time to see their results and if they had released it yet. It’s amazing that over 40% of people reported back perception after a clinically dead stage. That’s a number we can’t ignore. 
It’s also amazing that whenever someone/anyone goes through a near death experience they report back the same things. It doesn’t matter if you are a farmer in China or a wall street business person in New York. Ever since near death experiences have been recorded, people from around the world have reported back the same key characteristics (feelings of peace, bright white light.)

As far as I’ve read, the “oxygen depletion” and all other theories have failed miserable at explaining these near death experiences because they do not cover all the characteristics of NDE’s. You can read more about that here
It really makes you wonder huh? I’ve been researching these things for the longest time, so if anyone is interested please check out my everything on the afterlife post (from an academic perspective) and my post on what mediums have to say about death. I put my blood, sweat and tears into these things. 

Why Go to Church?

As previously mentioned, church attendance is down. Down compared to what I don't know. But those that go regularly always complain more people should be attending. 

This raises several issues for me:

1. Church then gets equated with OBLIGATION. You are NOT obligated to connect to God or fellow man. Anyone who HAS genuinely connected in this way wants to instinctually form the SOUL after to continue it. It is deep, profound, and prolific. 

2. IF going to church was creating a Deep, Profound, Meaningful connection to God and Others each time you went, why would people stop going? In other words, Maybe sitting for over an hour listening to someone talk about God is NOT the same as connecting to God as an individual or talking to the people around you to connect to God in THEM. 

3. The purpose of "churches" have become convoluted as time has gone on by ANYONE'S standards compared to its original intent.What was the "original nature" of the "church" supposed to be? 

Well a bunch of people putting themselves in leadership positions of power to lord over others and condemn them for a bunch of laws and rules has never really worked out so well. Maybe the original intent was to have a GROUP of PEOPLE (regardless of religious affiliation, age, gender, race... come TOGETHER in PEACE to share joys, support through pains, and give Faith and Love to GOD. Just throwing that theory out there... 

From personal experience, I got to church to get several things I am guaranteed to get form the church I attend when I do feel inspired to go: 

1. ENERGY from the people there that is positive and resounding
2. Inspiration from the Divinely-Inspired Words coming from whoever is speaking
3. Clarity about God's Message to Humanity 
4. UNITY and a feeling of BELONGING 

No 1 person really gives this though. Even the speaker might not be that great each time. But these INTANGIBLE, SPIRITUAL things are what I seek most when I do attend.

Non-Christian = BAD?

I was reading some words from a minister recently and noted some interesting points. The minister was basically arguing that people in this day and age rely too heavily on technology for social interaction and because of that are losing genuine connection in a spiritual way with other people. They are then cutting themselves off from God, because to fully understand God you need to see His design and nature in those who bring those unique qualities from within them out that is unique to them. We ALL have pieces of the greater puzzle and you miss it when you don't SEE people for who they are and then connect with them in unity.

I'm actually paraphrasing to an extent that's almost embellishment. His words weren't this Conceptual. Instead it felt more like nagging. And then it went down hill altogether: 

If you don't have people coming to church regularly then there's a risk they will "stray" and go to bars, join gangs, or get involved in "Non-Christian Self Help Groups". 

WHAT?... Since when is a Self-Help group a bad thing? Toastmasters seems to be helping people just fine. And there are other groups that do not directly call themselves "Christian" that are doing great works for people. I hate when people claiming to be "Christian" -aka Followers of Christ get too caught up in the Religion and lose sight of GOD and JESUS.

The general assumption is "Non-Christian" = BAD. But GOD is in EVERYTHING. There are some things that go AGAINST GOD -like Satanism for example. Or Murder. Or Domestic Abuse. But things that are for GOOD like I don't know... HELPING PEOPLE in a group with community support, tend to come from ABOVE -not HELL.

DEA Issue

A New York woman is suing the Drug Enforcement Agency after an agent used her name and racy photographs without her consent to create a fake Facebook page to catch criminals. http://foxnewsinsider.com/2014/10/08/dea-uses-womans-identity-photos-without-consent-catch-criminals

A Couple Points to the DEA: 

1. You can’t say it is justifiable to use photographs of a woman to catch criminals without her consent just because she was formerly arrested for drug possession.

2. There were CHILDREN in the photographs you then knowingly put at risk.

3. “I think people are willing to give up some level of privacy in the name of national security” -WITH CONSENT. WILLING = CONSENTING = INFORMED

4. You’re not catching terrorists so don’t act like she’s a soldier who signed herself up for the front line to defend the honor of America -you’re the DEA. You’re using her photo to purposely allure those involved with drugs and possibly rapists and pedophiles (given the children’s photos being used as well). 

5. Some of the photos were called “racy” which in my book implies you purposely put SEXUAL photographs of a woman up to catch SEXUAL predators without her knowledge or her consent. So in essence: You are treating a woman as a sexual means-to-an-end without her consent... Think about that one.

Where do you guys come up with this sh*t?!!! Who was in that meeting and said, “Problem: We need to find drug dealers and other seedy characters. Solution: Find a picture of some attractive female and create a fake Facebook page to lure them in. Problem: What woman in her right mind would knowingly put herself in that kind of risk? Solution: One that doesn’t know…”

Prison System

I was watching a tv show and found out that in the 90s there was a Transgender Woman sentenced to a man’s prison for 30+ years for murder. The trial itself was weird because the case involved the transgender woman’s AUNT and her plotting to kill the AUNT’s husband for his insurance money. The transgender woman was going to use the money to finish her transformation into a complete woman. The aunt just wanted the money. The AUNT was found not guilty.

But the transgender woman was found guilty and sentenced to a male prison. Honestly in that moment I fathomed a WOMAN being in a MALE prison for 30 years. I was frightened for her. I did not support what she had done, but I also felt like her well-being still counted for something.

And then I thought further: Prisons are really just like giant boxes you shove people in you either don’t know what to do with or don’t WANT to deal with. It’s like the old asylums used to be for people with mental illness. In fact since a lot of people in prison probably ARE suffering from mental illness you can make the direct correlation between old asylums and current prisons.

At some point you have to find a way to change the system. Humanity is being lost in it. You can’t say you’re “pure” and in better stead than these people if you then subject then to harm in a rat cage you design for them. You can’t say the devil is down below your feet if you construct his system of inhumane degradation.

Mentality v. Culture v. Appropriation

First, 2 distinctions must be made. One is defining Culture as separate from Mentality. Which is hard. 

Culture in its IDEAL is an accumulation of foods, clothes, language, traditions, dances, artistry... often based on a geographic location.

Mentality is something outside of a Culture that can sometimes be confused for it when it is engrained or acted upon on a systematic level.

A Culture is: Indian Culture is known for having henna tattoos used to celebrate special occasions like wedding ceremonies, they have spicy foods, and is often associated with practices of yoga for spiritual enlightenment.

A Mentality is: Women should stay in the home because if they have jobs then they won't be able to take care of the kids which is their fundamental role as a being a member of this species.

Mentalities arise and are implemented based on Social Constructs and Behaviors. More like Attitudes. Culture is usually based more on Tangible things and traditional practices representing pride in ones ethnicity and nationality. Culture is kind of like Patriotism in that sense. 

"ALL people in America should own guns because our forefather's owned guns!"

What is actually being said is, it has been a cultural practice in America to own guns and my Mentality is that the practice should continue (despite of gun violence issues) because it is Tradition. They of course would only be half right since The SOUTH tends to have more of a gun culture than other parts of America as a whole country.

The next distinction that needs to be made has to do with Culture Itself. Culture has 2 external modifiers that often keep them from remaining consistent: TIME and OTHER CULTURES

1) Other Cultures

Scalping used to be a part of the Native American culture until it was outlawed by White Settler Culture. 

Many indigenous cultures have been nearly ended thanks to Imperialism and one culture dominating and wiping out/changing the other.

There is also "cross contamination" of cultures from time to time where 2 cultures will BLEND and ADOPT from each and become something "new" thanks to the influences of Trade and Cosmopolitan Centers. Many people have actually THRIVED in these kinds of prosperous environments where multiple cultures embrace one and other and people are the better for it.

2) Time 

As time goes on within a culture, people find that certain things are less successful as practices and new revelations of science and technology often change cultures to evolve in some ways.

Smoking a pipe was often something people did in British culture until it was found that smoking can lead to lung issues including cancer.

Saying "bless you" every time someone sneezes used to be because people believed your heart STOPS when you sneeze and they were Genuinely Praying for you especially with issues like the black plague going around. Now it's become a cultural norm to say "bless you" out of politeness.

This leads to our last series of distinctions about culture. This has to do more with One Culture's Influence On Another in a Negative Way. This is often called Cultural Appropriation. 

There are 3 kinds of Cultural Influences one culture can have on another: 

1) Cultural Appropriation

This occurs when one culture "wipes out" another. Usually through occupation, "white washing", or Imperialism. This is the practice of saying, "What your culture does is weird. Don't do that. Do what my culture does." 

In the worst cases one culture will actually make it ILLEGAL to practice non-harmful activities that fall under the heading of culture. For instance, in the Middle East wearing hijab's is ingrained in the culture because the Religion has such strong influences over the culture. Muslims in America wear hijabs. It harms no one. It's just a head scarf. But some people say that it is anti-American culture and therefore should be made illegal in America. Which is ironic considering it started out within the hands of Natives and Hispanics and was then taken over by European Colonialists and then became a melting pot for everyone from Europe AND then people from Africa. 

Unless you're Native American or descended from Hispanics who lived along the South West/West Coast -you're technically an "immigrant". So a European-based mentality is imposing itself on what is clearly now a Cosmopolitanism Culture and perpetuating a Mentality of Colonialism.
 
2) Cultural Degradation

This is the one that's practiced most commonly because it is the most IGNORANT of other cultures. It is NOT attempting to wipe out a culture or make it disappear. It is turning a culture into a Stereotype. 

Dressing up like a Geisha for Halloween because you think the dresses they wear are pretty is a blatant display of cultural insensitivity. Geishas are prostitutes. And since no woman WANTS to be used sexually for someone else's gain in a system where women are then treated like cattle -it's a form of Sex Trafficking and suffering.  

Dressing up in traditional Indian Garb to make a music video because you think the dress is pretty or "cool" is not considered a compliment by most Indians from that culture.

This has less to do with culture, but just for the record, dressing up like a Black Person when you're white in order to resemble a black teen that was murdered because you thought that was funny is NOT ok by anyone's standards. 

 
3) Cultural Integration 

Cultural Integration is something I have also seen. There reaches a point where RACE becomes an issue with regard to culture. Can someone of a different race or culture "adopt" or "appreciate" or "respectfully display" something from a foreign culture. 

With this you have to consider:

-Food
-Clothing
-Language
-Dance
-Yoga/Exercises
-Spiritual Practices
-Artistry

With regard to ALL of these things is it wrong for a black person to prepare a dinner of Chinese-inspired food like chow mein for themselves? Is it wrong for a Chinese person to speak French because they find the language to be beautiful? Is it ok for a French person to dance the Merengue? Is it ok for a Spanish person to do Yoga so they can connect to the divine Source in a meaningful way because they read about Buddhism and have been a practicing Buddhist for the past 7 years. WHERE DO YOU DRAW THE LINE WHEN A CULTURE IS BEING RESPECTED?

Personally I don't think culture belongs to ANY of us. In Heaven there are at least 14 cultures -including some from ancient times long since past like the language Latin. These cultures in Heaven blend and yet maintain their differences. A Harmonious UNION.
No 1 person in Heaven says, "This is MY culture." Because ALL good things come from GOD. God purposely designed for Variety because He likes Variety. Why should any person say a culture is their own when they were just "born and raised into it". Culture is something that shouldn't be FORCED on people, it's something they adopt for themselves and associate Themselves with. Culture should never Trump HUMANITY. Or stick them in a confined BOX. 

So yes, the young black girl CAN dress like a Japanese character for Halloween because she LOVES the show and that PERSON being represented without someone yelling at her saying she should dress like Oprah instead because it would be "more appropriate". 

Cellphone Conversation

I got a text from a random number I didn't know. The text said, "Shelly?" So I thought I'd be polite and let the person know that I wasn't Shelly. The texting then turned into a strange conversation. I was sitting on my couch bored at the time so I didn't mind striking up a conversation with this person:

Random Number I Don't Know: Shelly?
Me: No, I'm Jessica
RNIDN: Oh ok! Sorry.
Me: It's ok.
RNIDN: Well that's polite of you. Do you mind if I ask you a question?
Me: Ok.
RNIDN: What race are you?
Me: I'm a triathalon.
RNIDN: Oh so you're mixed race.
Me: How do you get mixed race from Traithalon? 
RNIDN: I never heard of traithalon?
Me: What country are you from and do you live in?
RNIDN: In Modesto for now, & u?
Me: I live in Northern California. 
RNIDN: Oh ok then, how tall are you?
Me: Why? Are you bored or something?
RNIDN: I'm not bored? just wanted to know who you are since your a female? but I notice you keep saying why when I ask you a question?
Me: Well normally people don't follow up with a mistaken phone text, they just go back to texting the person they were trying to get a hold of, so this is unusual.
RNIDN: It's a free country I talk to whomever I want? LOL, but it's koo never mind then lol
RNIDN: So I guess I can't u question? Lol
Me: You can ask questions if you want.
RNIDN: Thank u for that I appreciate that, nice to meet u as well
Me: Nice to meet you too
RNIDN: So how tall are you? 
Me: 5'10
RNIDN: That's good, yes that always makes things easy I just turned 33 & u 
Me: Well it makes it easier to reach things on high shelves. I'm 26 years old.
RNIDN: Thank you for that, that's good nice age do u have a picture of u?
Me: Not on my phone. What do you do for a living?
RNIDN: I wanted to see what you look like? describe the rest of yourself I work with my dad in real estate.
Me: Brunette. Glasses. I work as a graphic designer in a small tech company.
RNIDN: Do you get a lot of attention because of your height? 
Me: I guess. Sometimes. How tall are you? 
RNIDN: Oh ok then, I'm 6'3 and black, brown eyes, short black hair.
Me: Cool.
RNIDN: Excellent, I'm more amazed by your height not a lot of woman are tall 
Me: My dad's side of the family are all really tall.
RNIDN: That's what is it? ok then what size shoe you wear?
Me: Size 9. What's your name?
RNIDN: David. U have dimples or freckles?
Me: I have freckles. what's your favorite kind of food? 
RNIDN: That's nice u have a lot of them? I like spaghetti & u? 
Me: My spots are pretty evenly distributed. I like Italian food like, especially pasta like Fettuccine Alfredo
RNIDN: Ok then good that's nice I'm a big fan of freckles, that nice u have kids? 
Me: No I'm waiting til I'm older, do you have kids?
RNIDN: No I don't but I would like a boy. How much older?
Me: Like 35 or at some point when I can afford to comfortably have kids and am in that place in my life I might want some.
RNIDN: Oh ok then I get it, i can afford it now just need a mate
RNIDN: So are you well proportioned? 
Me: Well I hope you find the right person to be with in your life.
RNIDN: I take it that won't be u?
Me: I'm pretty slender because of my height
RNIDN: Oh ok that's nice I like slender women 
Me: You don't seem very spiritual or interested in things other than physical so I don't think we'd be compatible 
RNIDN:  I don't know what that has to do with anything? I don't know what you look like so why can't I ask questions? u won't send a pic? I think it's too early for you to judge me.
Me: I think focusing on physical aspects in a person in a non-face-to-face setting instead of asking questions more about who the person is or what they might be interested in is less spiritual and more physical 
Me: Genereally spirituality cares more about what's on the inside than external appearances. Just making that observations. 
RNIDN: If u say so? Lol I just wanted to put a face to who I was talking with? but if u want to take it that way go right ahead. u don't know me, so what do you really know? but u can judge me or perceive me however you like 
Me: Again not judging. Unbiasedly noting observations. I don't care whether you're an atheist or a priest. Just noting my perceived differences of likely incompatibility in a relationship. 
RNIDN: So now your bringing religion up? Lol, ok then? Lol, but you can think what u want
Me: Spirituality and religion are often tied. Go figure. Why are you getting so defensive anyways? You keep saying I'm judging you. Which is kind of a way of judging me. 
RNIDN: I'm not defensive? your the one questioning my "spiritual" and "interest"  not one time since we been talking have I judged u in any that way. u started this and came at me first
Me:  You're funny. You keep asking for my physical appearance and then suggest we date or mate after knowing nothing of me. My instincts then tell me you may not necessarily have things like "your soul" in mind. 
RNIDN: Now my soul? u sure have a way of reading someone? my soul is intact just fine I just know what I want. but why am I explaining it to u? U don't know me
Me: Exactly. You don't know ME. But you ONLY ask about physical-oriented things and what I look like. Usually if you really want to know someone you ask them more tha just about physical concerns. 

I got no more texts after that. When he first asked for my picture this was what my mind told me: 

-A random 33 year old guy you don't know says he is talking to you specifically because you're a FEMALE and wants to know what you look like. Haven't enough women been stalked and killed by now for you to know do NOT send your picture or give a last name. This is an issue of safety and survival. 

Then he asked for my height and shoe size. I was already thrown off by his first question being, "What's your race" -which is a pretty racist question to ask right out of the bag. As if RACE defined or clarified WHO a person is internally. For instance: I could be white, Asian, black , or hispanic -NONE of those would tell you I am a vegetarian. Or I'm an artist. Or I like nature and watching movies.

Then he says he wants a son and is now just looking for a mate. Are we living in caveman times? You don't just decide you want a specific GENDER of child and then plug-and-play ANY woman because that's apparently what you think women are good for. Certainly not one you spend 30 minutes texting randomly on the phone. 

Then he suggests we date. Which is where I was hoping this conversation wouldn't go. I had a random text once in a similar way. The guy asked me 5 questions in a row: What is your birthday? Where are you from? What's your favorite color? What's your favorite animal? What are you doing now? 

THEN the guy asked, "Are you single" -which is the universal question for asking a person out. You would only ask that this early in a conversation if you wanted to date that person. 

I guess Texting is the new "hookup with someone at a bar". No wonder Tinder is so popular. 

I also don't think it's that big of a statement to say, "Hey I'm kind of a spiritual person. And by spiritual person I mean I think about God, my soul, my purpose in life, and the bigger picture at least 5 times a day because I am that weird. And you don't seem like the kind of person who does that. And I'm kind of hoping to find somebody who does. Maybe we aren't the most compatible 2 people on the planet." 

Especially when that guy then freaks out and gets offended for you bringing up spirituality, religion, and the word "soul". 

*Update 10/07/14: My sister Emily just got the same exact text from the same number. It started exactly the same, "Shelly?" 

Here's the guy's number in case anyone feels like calling him and asking him, "Harry?": 1-559-761-2210