Declaration of Independence - 1776
Articles of Confederation - 1777
The Constitution for the United States, Its Sources and Its Application
Undermining The Constitution by Thom. J. Norton
A History of Lawless Government
Our Enemy, The State by A. J. Nock
The Classic Critique Distinguishing 'Government' from 'STATE'
Trial By Jury by Lysander Spooner
The Law by Frederick Bastiat
Survive! -- The Prime Commandment!
(All other Commandments are but Instructions to Survive Better)
Presented By
Barefoot Bob
18446 W. Holland Road, Post Falls, Idaho
THERE ARE NO POLITICAL OR RELIGIOUS SOLUTIONS TO WHAT IS PRIMARILY A SPIRITUAL PROBLEM.
AS A CONSEQUENCE, MANY OF YOU WILL NOT SURVIVE.
Ky' Hoo' Ya'
An ancient indian phrase of greeting meaning
"Walk in the Sunlight of the Spirit"
and a very appropriate acronym for
Keep Your Head Out Of Your Ass
I want to be around when you find that your religious leaders and your political leaders have ALL been lying to you to control your mind and your pocket book for their benefit. I intend to survive, so that when YOU have been hurt bad enough, I will be around to hear the sound of your head popping out of your ass. It will be a grand and glorious sound.POP!!!
And you will cry out, "POP, HELP ME",
But Will Your POP Hear You?
GOD is not religion!
Sorry about that!
GOD is GOD,
the CREATOR of ALL
and it is about time we let GOD be GOD
and know that we ALL are THE ONLY BEGOTTEN SON OF GOD!!!
EACH AND EVERY ONE OF US!!!
If religion worked, the people of religion would not be constantly fighting amongst themselves over who is right or wrong, and there would be no need for you to be here.
As long as you maintain a religious point of view you will continue to fight amongst yourselves!
Have Fun, I hope that you learn something!
The answer to all your problems of SURVIVAL is not religion but SPIRITUALITY
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY IS QUITE SIMPLE.
Religions are POLITICAL ENTITYS of MIND CONTROL for those folks who want an easier softer way, who are afraid of going to hell because of their lack of Spiritual Honesty, who are afraid to confront themselves and their ego, who insist that they have a Satan as a scapegoat for their refusal to submit to God's will and who refuse to accept responsibility for their own actions and the condition in which they find themselves, who want someone or something else to do it for them.
That is the HELL of it. SPIRITUALITY is for those of us who have been to hell and back, who are willing to SURRENDER our ego, our will and our lives to the WILL of OUR CREATOR, and pick up Our Own Responsibilities to ourselves and to all of humanity, because we know we will not survive if we don't SURRENDER!
I have absolutely no intent to tell you how or what you must or must not believe, because I don't know how the Creator will reveal himself to you! I just know that he will if you seek him, and in that is your salvation and your survival.
Now, I hope I have pissed you off enough to get your attention!
I will tell you the truth as I perceive it, as I believe it, as I know it. If anything I say upsets you, be mad at me, not at anything or anyone else. It is just me and my opinion. God knows that each of us has enough problems in this business of survival without anything I say inhibiting your ability to survive.
There are only 12 simple spiritual principles and steps which will insure your survival in the face of all events which will occur in your life. You have heard about all of them before. They are something you already know, even though you haven't practiced them very well, as yet. If you want to SURVIVE and SURVIVE WELL, put them into practice!
Honesty
Step 1. We admitted that we were powerless - that our lives had become unmanageable.
Hope
Step 2. Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
Faith
Step 3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we each understood him.
Courage
Step 4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
Integrity
Step 5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
Willingness
Step 6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
Humility
Step 7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
Brotherly Love
Step 8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
Justice
Step 9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
Perserverance
Step 10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
Spirituality
Step 11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we each understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
Service
Step 12. Having had our spirit awaken as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to other human beings and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
Now, there are only two thought systems in this world, one based on LOVE, of giving and sharing, and the other based on HATE, of pride, greed, lust, anger, gluttony, envy and SLOTH. Positive and Negative thought systems. And each of us demonstrates that we believe one or the other is true all the time.
For those of you who are engaged full time in the HATE BUSINESS, I am going to give you a little hint. If you are going to HATE, hate them all, because if you don't you are going to be in a world of hurt. HA!
It isn't hardly worth the effort and it is so damnably confusing to hate this little group or that little religion or this little race or that little government or this little god or, that little person. If you are going to hate, HATE THEM ALL. That way you know that the only one on your side is standing in your shoes, and if you are going to Hate it is very convenient to be faced with nothing but a world full of marks and enemies.
The only problem with the Hate Business is that it is damnably lonely out there.
So, when you get tired of HATING, when you can't stand the loneliness any longer, GIVE UP, SURRENDER, because it is the only way you are going to win. A stange paradox, SURRENDER TO WIN. It goes against the teaching of the world, one hundred and eighty degrees out, in direct opposition to what we think we know.
And when you SURRENDER, something miraculous happens, like the blossoming of a beautiful flower, slowly at first but in ever widening and glorius array.
Underneath all that Hate is that much LOVE and more which has never been tapped and it is truly a marvel to watch it come alive.
If we are to Survive, the first requirement will be to know the truths, the actualities, the absolute realities of these Spiritual statements.
Thinking is Creating
As a man thinks so it is for him
Judge Not, Lest You be judged
Never compare your insides with what
you see on the outside of others.
They do not compare.Resist not evil
Love your enemies
Make Peace. Going to war to enforce peace is absurd. The only fruit of war is war. Any seeming peace is but a Truce of Fear between Wars.
Nothing Real can be Threatened,
Nothing Unreal Exists,
Therein lies the peace of God.In Our Unity as the Son of God is our Survival, Now and Forever.
"When you are awake the dream is gone...
When you are Enlightened the 'world of illusion' is gone...
...and the TRUTH will make you FREE."We are THE BELOVED . . .
. . WE Are The ONE We Have Been Waiting For . .
Commitment
Commitment is what transforms a promise into reality.
It is the words that speak boldly of your intentions, and the actions which speak louder than the words.
It is making the time when there is none, coming through time after time after time, year after year after year.
Commitment is the stuff that character is made of; the power to change the face of things.
It is the daily triumph of integrity over skepticism.
Today I can truly say that I love you all, and by that I don't mean to place you under any obligation whatsoever. I don't do that for you, I do that for me. I have found out for myself that it FEELS BETTER to LOVE than it does to HATE.
I would like to share my great dream with you, that someday, for a minute, for an hour, for a day, someday I will be able to LOVE as completely as I once hated, when I hated everyone alive. If I could LOVE everyone alive, that would really be getting connected up, huh? I feel that dream coming true right now with you, where I can feel me loving you, and sometimes you loving me. IT FEELS BETTER TO LOVE!! Try it, You might like it!
Survival Lecture Text
Presented by "Barefoot" Bob Hardison, a free manHello Folks,
I am very pleased to see you here today. You have committed the very first act of survival by turning off your TV, getting out of your warm comfortable cocoon and coming here to learn more, to gather information, and discover a new attitude in this business of survival. Survival is absolutely dependent on a positive attitude of discovery and the dispelling of illusions. The alert attentiveness to those things which haven't changed, to those which have, to those things which are useful now or may be in the future, and an attitude which recognizes that all things necessary for survival have been placed at our hand by the Creator. There is a price to be paid for everything, nothing is for free. The price of freedom and survival is this faith in the Creator, and being spiritually, mentally, emotionally and physically present in reality, in the NOW.
The following thoughts on survival are not original with me but are a synthesis of my own learning experiences and those of others who have gone before and shared them with me.
The Creator has placed us in every situation that we will ever encounter in life for one or the other of two purposes, either to learn or to have fun. Sometimes my learning has not been much fun, and sometimes what I thought to be fun has been the cause of Great Learning. However it may happen, we all must learn by doing the thing, for, though we may think we know it, we have no certainty until we have tried it.
This I know. No one ever completes a social reality or enterprise all by oneself. We are constantly building and rebuilding from our own perceived mistakes and from those of others. Successful creation of ones' own universe and reality, of survival, is nothing more (nor less) than putting a lot of mistakes together in a way that works. This is the key to survival.
Insofar as we humans have an inate need as social animals to interact with each other and to be inter-dependent, I think it necessary to define the terms by which we can survive together.
One of the first truisms that I can express is that each of us lives in a different 'universe'. As a matter of fact, the universe that I perceive is different from that which you perceive. I do not possess either the lexicon or semantics to fully define my universe and reality in terms of your universe and reality. I possess only enough to explain my universe to myself and sometimes it is inadequate even for that purpose. I must accordingly invent new terms which are of use and understandable only within my own reality. They may consequently appear totally insane from the viewpoint of your reality.
It is only to the degree of commonality of the terms which we use, that my universe and reality merge with yours, and make our separate universes socially acceptable to each other. It is only through communication of these commonalities that we can establish reality and agreement and therefore affinity and love, love being defined in my lexicon as "an honest interest in and care for" another being, without any sticky emotional strings attached. However, I will not be made slave to a "socially acceptable image" of my universe. I can only be true to my own reality and my own true nature as a child of the Creator as He has created me and I would ask you to do the same.
This I have found to be true for me. A wise man's education toward understanding his own universe and reality (and to some extent the universes of others) will embrace as much folly as he can afford. It is only to the degree that he can afford it, that he will be able to laugh at himself. If he embraces more folly than he can afford, he will cry. Society has now embraced more folly than it can afford and it is crying.
My entire purpose in being here today is to help fully conscious individuals think about and see everything in a different way -- different from the losing way in which everyone on this planet has been chained for the past 3000 years. It is my hope that these fully conscious individuals can achieve fully integrated honesty, since it is only fully integrated honesty which will increasingly banish false biases, prejudices and authorities from government, business, science, education, politics, philosophy, religion, communication, the arts, where every conscious individual can become an individual self-leader living in a virtuous value-producing mode.
I am now going to try to reach you where you live. If you will pay close attention, you may feel a deep down hurt, right down in your gut. That is because you will find that you have been living a lie, and you may cry out with that gut-wrenching moan of the almost dead.
After years of careful observing, I am well satisfied that I want nothing to do with society as we have been living it. Everything has been so sterilized, safe, secure, and fake. Every day is a game, and there are games within games, all illusions. I remember what society had taught me when I was younger, and what my friends had been taught, how children were placed on well-worn paths to chase elusive goals, directed by external shoulds. I watch how people become slaves to those goals, and how they have destroyed their inner yearnings in order to become what society wants them to become. I see people doing jobs that they hate, chaining themselves to money, power, fame, and external treasures. I see people living lives that they have hated, rushing to work frowning, working, rushing home, watching TV, then doing it all over again. Play becomes parties, bars and nightclubs, watching sports, and a little outdoor recreation, and they always return to the same old rut, and the play also becomes ruts. A rut by definition is nothing more than a grave with both ends kicked out.
I feel the general desperation of society, as they accept their prison in silence, afraid to slow down and question, afraid to face the reality of themselves, and what they truly want in life. I feel that if people would slow down long enough, they might be forced to confront themselves, to realize that there might be more outside the fleshly, material and boring repetition of life. Wherever I go, I see drug abuse, alcoholics, people running from each other and themselves. I can see through some of the games that people play, the masks of happiness that they wear over pain. I see children and adults living in security and comfort, longing, lusting after adventure, excitement, and rapture, yet not knowing where to find it. I see many drifting in and out of religions, following gurus, and engaging in intense searching, desperately trying to quench their thirst for the spiritual realities, yet never being satisfied. These are perhaps the most desperate, for they know that there must be more to life than just the physical existence and are willing to try anything to find that more, their hopeless desperation growing with each failed attempt with the various spiritual fads.
The American Dream is failing the masses and the world, failing even those who have perpetuated the lies. Yet society still teaches its children to find purpose and happiness in externals, the false gods of materialism. Society teaches its children to seek fame, fortune, and power in such things as bigger houses, flashier cars, grander titles, and larger bank accounts.
I have learned through the wisdom of Creation that man works for only four things in life: Peace, Love, Joy, And Purpose and these things cannot be found in external things and possessions. They can only be found within. Modern society tries to force its beliefs on the world, blindly assuming that societies with few possessions are primitive, yet never stopping to ask itself if these people they call primitive are happy. Instead our society tries to force its beliefs on them and so the lie continues to be perpetuated. Modern man seems never to slow down long enough to search his soul. He cannot stop chasing the goal, and the tyranny of both the chase and its elusive end thwart his quest for fulfillment. He cannot see the value of a Spiritual Life.
Those who have made it to the "top," who have achieved their ultimate goal, seem the most unhappy. In their eyes is an emptiness, a frustration, and a mediocrity of spirit. Upon reaching their goal, they find no happiness, and so they must press on to higher goals. Thus begins a cycle of desperate searching. That is why most seek the thrill of drugs, drink, and wild existence, for they can not handle the emptiness or face the fact that they have never lived at all. They realize that they have wasted their lives. They do not know their families, their friends, or the intensity, excitement, adventure, and rapture of life. They know that there is no love, joy, peace, or real purpose in what they are doing, and they do not know how to find that love, joy, peace, or purpose. Yet they still rush on, and they still drive their children toward the false gods of the material world, until there is emptiness in everyone's eyes.
Mankind, society, needs to face itself. People need to slow down and take stock of the goals they are chasing, of the rushing, and of what they are really working for in life. They must find out what the real treasures of life are, and find them within themselves, instead of rushing toward death, never really living at all. Society needs a new Vision Quest, to search out the other, greater part of life, that of the Spirit. Mankind must reach inside and find the ultimate peace, the boundless joy, the rapture of perfect love, and the grand purpose. For the longer man denies the reality of these things and perpetuates the false gods of the material world, the surer he can be that the earth will seek its own purification, to re-establish the balance of the natural order. Then man will witness the fire in the skies and an earth that will no longer support his gluttonous life-styles. That is when all the True Children Of The Earth will have to start over, out of the rubble of man-made hell. We must then seek and build a world of Vision. It is not too late.
Now about me. I am known amongst my friends as "Barefoot" Bob Hardison. I am a survivor for 66 years.(2000) I was raised on a ranch in western Montana, until at the age of sixteen, the winter of 1948-1949 wiped out our herd and Dad's hopes. We moved to Casper, Wyoming where I graduated from Casper Jr. College, working in the oilfield as a roughneck and rigbuilder when not in school.
I entered the military during the Korean War, volunteering for the Airborne Infantry, winning my wings in August 1952. I was trained for special duties in what later became the precursor to the Special Forces. It was a learning time and process both for me and for my branch of the military in military effectiveness and survival. I made 36 jumps, one of them into a rescue operation. I was separated from the service in 1955. While in the service I earned a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering.
I worked for Douglas Aircraft as a Senior Electro-Mechanical Designer in Aircraft and Missiles, as Junior Engineer with Ramo-Wooldridge in the design of ICBM trajectory computers, progressing to Senior Project Engineer with Raytheon Company in Missile Electronics and with John Fluke Company in Commercial Precision Electronics. I was Chief Engineer for Dana Laboratories, for Infomag,Inc. and for Radiant Technology Corporation. I founded and was President of Kinetic Interface Corporation, Co-founder and Vice President of Applied Environmental Technologies, founder and President of Cogenesys Inc., and founder and President of Hydromat Corporation. For the last 15 years I have been primarily engaged in the solution of environmental issues and as an independent engineering consultant, since I could no longer equate my ethics with those of the military and government.
I was a member of the Birch Society in 1959 to 1969. Primarily because I could not equate my ethics and sense of "rightness" with the hate-mongering, rumor-mongering, suppositions, half-truths and out-and-out lies that were being used as fuel among the groups, I then became a loner in opposition to the un-Constitutional infringements by government on the Freedoms of We The People, and to a very large extent I am still operating in the same mode for the very same reasons, the hate-mongering, rumor-mongering, suppositions, half-truths and out-and-out lies that are still being used as fuel to excite dissension among peoples.
In 1980 after going bankrupt as a result of Federal Reserve manipulation of the nation's money supply I became a free man.
In 1984 I tested the premise of survival that the Creator would meet all of our needs, embarking on the "Barefoot Expedition" with my son Casey who was then a month shy of 13 years of age and I was 50. This was a canoe expedition, the Last Furbearing Expedition from Post Falls, Idaho to New Orleans, Louisiana, 5800 river miles of surviving off the land, back tracking Lewis and Clark, doing it as they had done, equipped in buckskins, with black powder weapons and an Indian built cedar canoe. We completed the journey in 6 1/2 months, spending a total of $243 and we didn't have to spend that, but an occasional hamburger and butter-pecan malt seemed a necessity for a 13 year old boy.
At New Orleans to be a Steamboater and just for the Hell of it I took a job as ship's carpenter and cabinet maker on the Delta Queen for four trips up the Mississippi.
During our canoe trip Casey was allowed to take the helm and pilot steam boats on the St. Joe River, the Missouri and the Mississippi, and while I was on the Delta Queen, he worked on the Natchez tour boat as a box boy and gopher, taking the helm on many local trips on the Mississippi and out through the bayous near New Orleans. Casey is now 29, [2000] graduating from the University of Idaho this year, 2000, working toward a doctoral degree in Ethno-Pharmacology, the science of the ethnic cultural uses of plants for their medicinal and nutritional properties. He is just as much a freeman as his father, because he knows who is running the show -------- His Creator as he understands Him.
Since then, I have toured all of North America, Barefoot GoldWinging - 200,000 Miles - 1997-2002 Motorcycling in North America and Mexico from Fairbanks to Key West, from Ft. Kent, Me. to Ciudad Hidalgo, Mexico and a whole lot of the in-between, and The Spirit of Freedom Voyages of the Barefoot Windwalker Sailing the East Coast and across the North Atlantic Single-Handed.
With that as a bit of autobiographical history I will try to impart to you what I know of surviving or at least give you a place to start on your own journey to freedom.
Remember always that everybody, everybody in this world, always starts from where he is with whatever he has RIGHT NOW.
Survive!
The One Commandment Given to All Life Forms In The Universe!
All other Commandments are but Instructions to Survive Better.
The first area of survival that I would like to present to you is in the area of survival as a society, hopefully as a civil society. I am not talking here of civilization, but of a CIVIL society where each member cherishes, respects, and defends the rights of all other members, where courtesy, attentiveness, consideration, care, concern and respect for one another is the norm. This is not possible without spiritual enlightenment, and a commitment to achieving this goal through consensus. No One Has All The Answers, No One Has The Ultimate Truth, No One Is Absolutely Right And No One Is Absolutely Wrong. It Takes Everyone Of Us, Because Each Of Us Has Part Of The Puzzle.
THIS IS, OF COURSE, AN IDEAL SCENE, A GOAL THAT WE CAN STRIVE TOWARD, BEARING IN MIND ALWAYS THAT THE WATCHWORD IS PROGRESS, AS PERFECTION IS ONLY IN THE MIND AND EYE OF THE CREATOR.
We humans sometimes get so confused by the parasitic restrictive domination based 'social sciences' and 'social architects' of government that would attempt to control us, that we think our planet is in danger of destruction. In a world full of creature comfort, conveniences, and heads full of illusions about how things should or should not be, we think that we will be unable to survive if any of it should change or be taken from us.
In a world that is run in cyclic perfection by a Creator of Infinite Wisdom, such thinking doesn't really equate. The universe would have been a giant junkpile billions of years ago if one atom could stray outside of law.
The Creator is not about ready to let us blow our planet into oblivion as a result of our stupidity, but we are about to get a very useful lesson. It will be a lesson in humility in which we learn that this planet and the universe are not governed by the laws and rules that mankind has made up. It is governed by a power that is in us, but not of us.
It is governed, on the surface, by our power of Choice, deriving directly from the Creator, with instructions to SURVIVE as the PRIME COMMANDMENT.
Below the surface, it is governed by the one inviolate law of our Universe and our Creator, one with which we humans have struggled since the beginning of our existence, the LAW OF CAUSE AND EFFECT. We seem to have never been able to assimilate the understanding that CAUSE and EFFECT are NEVER SEPARATED. This Universal Law has been variously called the 'LAW OF KARMA', 'THE LAW OF RETRIBUTION and RETURN' or in more colloquial terms, 'WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND'.
The LAW OF CAUSE AND EFFECT is the definition of the responsibility of each individual or group of individuals for their actions as a result of their choices and for the condition in which they find themselves.
Since the time we lost our 'instinct' in the allegorical 'Garden of Eden' we have been cursed with an imperfect intelligence, a sense of self-doubt and guilt, and constant CHOICE. Through continual trial and error each individual learns the outcome of his or her choices. It is a process of rote learning, to learn to make right choices for ourselves and for humanity.
When, by our actions, we destroy and take the right of choice from others, we in turn suffer what is called 'bad karma'. We get a taste of what we dished out so that we can later inwardly know what is 'right' and 'wrong'. This 'LAW OF CAUSE AND EFFECT' is automatic, there is no escaping it. IT IS INVIOLABLE. When the higher level 'CHOICE' laws are broken, 'bad karma' happens. The direct opposite is also true. When the higher level 'CHOICE' laws are adhered to 'good karma' happens.
Regardless of the origins of the concept of 'karma', the condition is easily provable as a fact, and anyone with any degree of awareness and observation can prove that the Law Of Cause And Effect is a reality. For more than a decade now, it appears that this Law has been speeded up to the point that we can see the results very quickly. If someone we know dominates or cheats others with the knowledge that it is wrong, we see them get their similar 'retribution' in a matter of weeks, months, or years. By careful observation and understanding we can learn what will soon befall people, groups or nations. If we really wish to know what the end of our present human society and world will be like, we simply magnify these factors. All humans have an inner ability to weigh and put patterns in place that will lay a groundwork for the future. Our higher level components can foretell the probable future very accurately.
Having choice, we humans are allowed to wreck our own small 'universes' and civilizations, but hardly our home planet Earth. What we have is a world full of struggling souls who still think that they are their bodies and that the visible world around them is the whole of reality. Our egos most often run our thinking to the exclusion of our higher awareness and intelligence.
In the bible and in all other histories of people, the higher level choice laws have been enunciated over and over again, in the form of the Ten Commandments, in proverbs, in the codes of ethics of all civilizations and most religious dogma, and most particularly as we speak here today in that Great Spiritual Document by which our nation is to be governed, the Constitution of the United States, which We The People instituted and empowered of Our Own Free Choice for our secular governance, carefully restricting our spiritual governance to God as we each individually understand the Creator.
Now that we find ourselves again suffering chaos and loss of freedom as a result of Our collective bad choices which we have made since it was instituted, what is our next choice to be? How do we want to survive, as Slaves or as Free men? These questions have been asked since mankind has had any civilization at all, and have been answered differently at various times down through the ages. Do we have the moral, the intellectual and spiritual strength to make a stand to uphold the higher level choice laws and insist upon taking the actions necessary for all of mankind to survive better as free men?
Because the majority of souls continue in roughly the same patterns, the outcome of their combined directions can be closely approximated. Business people who are really successful do it all the time on a lesser scale. Do you think McDonalds will build a restaurant in an area on which they haven't done a future market study? Do you think that those who are grasping for power and control to institute a "New World Order" are not extremely aware of and adept at evaluating and manipulating the mass collective mindlessness and petty antagonisms? How do you suspect these parasites have placed themselves in the seat of power?
BECAUSE OF OUR MINDLESSNESS - WE HAVEN'T BEEN PAYING ATTENTION!!!
A series of small changes, a step at a time, have been cemented in place, and at each step, We The People have said, "Oh, Never Mind.", all the time sub-consciously knowing this process was dead wrong, knowing where it was leading. But in our mindlessness we have taken no action because of what I call the "GEORGE SYNDROME", the idea that "I can't do anything about it, so I think I will Let George Do It", and then buying into George's "PROMISES" of "Peace in Our Times", A Chicken in Every Pot", "A Balanced Budget in 19XX", "Lower Taxes", "Less Regulation", "Ad Infinitum", "Ad Nauseum"
Well, folks, George isn't about to do it now anymore than George was going to do anything in 1775 and 1776 except cover his own butt, try to grasp more control, and feather his own nest with a bigger chicken, higher taxes, more regulation and more control of the choices of mankind, to further the economic enslavement of the general populace.
"George" today, of course, is the parasitic bureaucracy and the control structure above it that we have allowed to grow as a result of what Madison so clearly stated, "As soon as the people find out that they can dip into the public coffer, our nation will degenerate into tyranny." We have addictively bought into the opiate of humanity, the false promises of a bureaucratic false god. We have hocked not only our future but that of our progeny for generations to come.
It is obvious now that we are experiencing the truth of Exodus 34:6 & 7 "The Lord, The Lord, The God, merciful and compassionate, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth. Keeping mercy for thousands of generations, forgiving sins and transgressions; who by no means justifies the guilty; visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children and upon the children's children, to the third and fourth generations."
But do we have the honesty, courage, integrity and humility to do as Moses did in verses 8 and 9? And Moses made haste and fell on the ground and worshipped. And He said, "If now I have found mercy in thy sight, O my Lord, let now my Lord go with us; for it is a stiff-necked people; and pardon our offenses and our sins and our guilty conscience."
The truth is that the systems of domination that have remained in place for thousands of years over the earth's peoples are the collective result of each individual refusing to accept responsibility for his actions, his deeds and his thoughts, blaming others when they fail to meet his expectations of them to assume his responsibilities, thereby perverting and corrupting the highest Spiritual ideals and intent into Tyranny, Despair, Demoralization and Chaos in that order. That is the karma of not accepting our responsibilities.
We are now entering into the period of Chaos, and those of us who have become aware are gathering together in our thinking and in our actions all over the world. We are beginning to prepare ourselves, in order that we can survive better individually and collectively In Freedom. We shall have to learn to make right choices, not only for ourselves but for all of humanity.
All people have experienced or are now experiencing chaos in their lives. It has ever been so. From this vast experience of all the generations past has come the solution to the problem of creating order out of chaos.
The solution is to Seek Spiritual Help First, so that the physical, mental and emotional aspects of the chaos will be placed in proper perspective and appropriate action taken. This is most often overlooked because the first thing that occurs when we would try to create order out of chaos is Confusion and Fear. We humans, and indeed all of animal life, have a tendency to panic in the face of confusion and fear. It is our base primal instinct of fight or flight kicking in. While a good shot of adrenaline can be helpful in giving us a jump start into doing something to survive, if we act in a state of panic, either we will make bad choices because we have not taken time to prepare ourselves or to evaluate the real nature of the problem, or we will become frozen into inaction.
Speaking of the Confusion and fear: How about this? Who? How? Why? What? When? Where? Which? by Who? How? Why? What? When? Where? Which? for Who? How? Why? What? When? Where? Which? with Who? How? Why? What? When? Where? Which? because Who? How? Why? What? When? Where? Which? what will it cost me, what will I lose, how will it hurt me, etc, etc, -- Ad Infinitum -- Whew! -- All trying to get answered in a split second. Do you see what I mean? It takes a bit of time to get this sorted out.
I first learned of the solution when I was but a child, perhaps 7 or 8 years old, but did not really begin to learn to apply it until I was past 40, by which time I had managed to create a considerable amount of chaos in my life. I am now past 66 and still manage to create a little bit of chaos, but not to the same extent that I did when I was younger. At least I experience a little peace and serenity now. Thank God!
To illustrate the learning, I can but relate the happening as it occurred as a child, try to draw a conclusion from it, and, of course, try to practice the learning in all my affairs. It does not appear that I have reached any great degree of perfection in my practice as yet, but I shall continue trying.
My younger sisters and I were having a grand time bouncing on my bed, an old brass bed with slat springs like a trampoline. We got into a pillow fight and were laughing and giggling and bashing each other real good! We were really having fun! I bashed Tinka and my pillow split. Goose feathers flew all over the bedroom! We hoorahed, went wild and fell down laughing. That goose down was floating around everywhere. In our hair, in our eyes, stuck to the end of our noses, just everywhere. Chaos reigned.
About this time the stairs creaked. It was an old log puncheon stairwell and they always skreaked and groaned no matter how quietly one tried to come up.
Confusion set in! And fear!
------- It's the Higher Power! --------- Pop!Pop entered the room and I quaked, frozen in fear, half expecting a thrashing or at least a tongue lashing. He kind of grinned through his scowl, said QUIETLY, "I told you not to bounce on the bed because you might break something. Get it cleaned up." (Were any of you spoken to by your father QUIETLY in capital letters?) Confusion and fear really set in. Nancy shivered in fright, half hiding behind the back side of the bed, Tinka reacted in her normal way by blaming me, and I just stood there blank, not knowing what to do and afraid to make a wrong move which might incur his wrath. Thank God he had not been drinking, for his wrath would have been evident when he had first appeared and things would have been anything but QUIET.
"Get down off the bed and start picking it up."
"I don't know where to start."
"Just pick up the first bunch and put them in the case and keep doing it until you have them all picked up." Oh, okay, now I knew. End of Confusion.
You see, all I had to do was listen to my higher power, Pop, and follow his instructions. It didn't matter which feather I picked up first, only that I should start with the first feather that I could pick up, put it in its place and continue on until all were picked up. Order Restored and the End of Chaos.
The same applies to any survival situation and certainly to the restoration of our Constitutional Freedoms. It indeed is CHAOS now. We are operating in a somewhat more than confused state at present, fear is running rampant and creating more chaos, but it is beginning to come clear what we shall have to do. We shall have to listen to instruction from a higher power, God as He may express Himself through our collective group conscience, put the first steps toward survival in place and continue on until all necessary actions are taken to end the chaos, the confusion, the fear, and to restore Constitutional Freedom to the life of our nation and hopefully to all of humanity. Just like picking up feathers.
Are you ready to start picking up the feathers?
From Thomas Paine, who wrote in his pamphlet "Common Sense" on December 19, 1776, (two hundred and twenty years to the day as I write this), about the ensuing "American Crisis", I quote the following opening statement:
"These are the times that try men's souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; 'Tis dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to set a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed, if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated. Britain ("The Bureaucracy" in our times"), with an army to enforce her tyranny, has declared, that she has a right (not only to tax but) "to bind us in all cases whatsoever," and if being bound in that manner is not slavery, then there is not such a thing as slavery upon earth. Even the expression is impious, for so unlimited a power can belong only to God."
Because of variables there may be many possible outcomes of the ending of the present chaos, of course, but any good predictors that know human behavior patterns can pretty well sum up the end of our current civilization and of our nation if we allow the present trend to run its course. Dozens of famous prophesiers have given us some pretty close scenarios already. At the moment we have several possibilities, for which I can give some help in this business of Survival. There are some scenarios in which I have no help at all except an implicit faith in a 'Higher Power' that presents ALL THINGS to us as an opportunity to grow Spiritually.
Enough is enough, however, and the word has been out that we are just about ready to get a taste of what we constantly try to get through our irresponsible actions. Mothers and fathers are still all too willing to let their children be led away to war with little resistance on their part. The mideast is such a hot spot that any prophet who has predicted a nuclear war there could probably be assured of a correct prognosis. Both WW1 and WW2 were in part initiated as a result of upheaval in the Balkan states, WW1 in particular started in Sarajevo, and now with the Bosnian situation it is ripe to trigger another conflagration.
This area has been a frontier between three or four of the great religions of the world for thousands of years and the problem is one of "religious" ego, each religious group dogmatically insisting that their faith is the only "right" one. The religious hatreds are fanned into flames by the prejudices and ignorance of the people and their leaders, all hypocrites to the teachings of each faith. And, folks, we have the same thing going on right here in the Good OL' US of A..
However, in viewing the situation from a higher perspective, we can see the souls caught in Russia today going through a lesson in gaining confidence and freedom after a long and degrading period of restriction of choice and the domination of a massive Communist bureaucracy. We Americans have applauded their Choice for Freedom, and now it is our turn to throw off the chains of the false promises of socialism.
We Americans, who have seemed on the surface to have no restriction on the power of choice, under a thinly disguised veil of "Creeping Bureaucratic Socialism", are about to get a lesson in humility. We are a reasonably well meaning people and this factor alone will probably ensure that we will survive as a nation. We just need a lesson in humility, just as we need to take action against the insidious tyranny of the micro-managing parasitic bureaucratic socialism at home, and THIS IS COMING.
We are about to learn that there are NO POLITICAL SOLUTIONS to what is primarily a SPIRITUAL MALADY.
We have been extremely arrogant in our dealings with other nations, proclaiming our self-righteousness, our self pity and our self bull-shit, hypocrites in everything. We keep butting into the business of other nations, taking away their power of choice and ours, impoverishing them and ourselves, as we continue to allow the bureaucracy of government to erode away our Constitutional freedoms at home. We tout our Constitution to other nations as the "One Great Truth" of how a People should govern themselves, which I believe it to be. With the passage of time and events we have failed to uphold its standards at every turn. This all adds up to having our prestige, power and freedoms stripped away as a lesson in humility as the karmic wheel turns.
If We The People don't begin again now to enforce the restrictions which the Constitution places on the establishment and functioning of government, we will suffer under much greater domination by the tyrannous bureaucracy by the turn of the century. Don't ever assume that the established bureaucracy will roll over and play dead. It also is a living entity, and will try to make choices and take actions which will ensure its survival, but because it is Godless, a god unto itself, it cannot survive if we bring the true power of survival to bear against it.
Which brings me again to my first tool for survival in the face of all difficulties. There is but one Ultimate Authority, a Loving God as he may express himself in our group conscience. Without a conscious contact with this power, I know that my chances of survival are nil. By oneself, we can do little or nothing except drown out the bleakness and frustration of life. A man without power, as I was at one time, is nothing. With power, however, anything is possible. That power is, of course, Spiritual Power....man needs power, lots of it, to survive. This means getting in touch with the source of power....so that every act becomes a Spiritual act, every day a Spiritual day. It is thus that we come to live a Completely Spiritual Life, Happy, Joyous and FREE.
That is why our founding fathers were so explicit in all their writings and documents that ours is to be a Nation Under GOD. It is also why those who would control us have continually subverted our many faiths in the Creator, no less so in America than was done under the yoke of Communism. About the only place in the functioning of our governmental intercourse that even the word GOD still appears, let alone an understanding of GOD, is on the backside of money in very small and faint letters, and this government and/or its money are damn poor substitutes for the real thing, GOD as you may understand the Creator.
I have absolutely no intention of telling you what you must or must not believe. From a Native American shaman during our canoe trip I learned a great truth. When I asked him about the native way of searching for spiritual awakening he replied "My son, there are many paths to the top of the mountain, but they all reach the same place. You must seek your own path."
So --- My own perspective on this Higher Power-God Thing is "WHATEVER TURNS YOUR CRANK, BLOWS YOUR SKIRT UP AND WORKS FOR YOU, USE IT. DON'T BE A HYPOCRITE TO THE TRUTHS OF YOUR OWN FAITH."
Today I know that anytime anyone tries to define the Creator or God or "Higher Power" to me, he is a damn fool, and whatever it is that he is trying to define, THAT ISN'T IT. This "Higher Power", My Boss that I work for today, handles things a whole lot bigger and more complex and more wonderful than any human being or group of human beings can even begin to define. I know that for a long time I failed in all my definitions and I was the damn fool. Today I know that all I really KNOW is, "IT LOVES ME and I LOVE IT".
FREEDOM!! - what a precious word. It is something that has taken my whole lifetime to even begin to understand. These are learnings that I have obtained from many sources, and from that still, small voice within. I found it best defined in the song Me and Bobby McGee. ""Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose."
Of course, there can be no true freedom until we know our limitations and the restrictions which God has placed upon us.
Most all of society, of the so-called civilized world, has defined freedom in terms of "We--They". WE being those in the RIGHT, and THEY being those in the WRONG, THEY who would deny us that which WE want. Both sides of this equation being in the wrong, we and they both being subject to the same disease, threefold in nature, which I characterize by the Great Three S's, Self-Pity, Self-Righteousness, And Self-Bullshit. Spiritual Dishonesty to the Max.
I see this same equation in action between minorities, majorities, nationalities, religions, non-religions, nations, indeed any group of people who gather together in common cause to redress grievance of any sort, seeing only that it is someone else at fault, never oneself.
I see it in many groups proclaiming to be "Christian", (or for that matter any other religious group you might care to name, i.e. any group having a dogmatic belief system that proclaims that their way is the ONLY WAY), proclaiming their righteousness before GOD, at the same time that their opponents are proclaiming the same. What is really happening is their EGOs have forgotten who and what it is that has created them and for whose purpose, and that they are trying to re-create themselves. This is a "devilish" situation and I do not say this with tongue in cheek. It is literally what creates the HELL of it, in a world that has become spiritually blind.
There is only one path to true Freedom, Freedom from SELF, peace with ones own self, with ones fellows and with ones own GOD. That path is through the Elimination of the Ego-Self and the acquisition of TRUE HUMILITY before the Spirit of the Universe, God as each may understand him. We use many different symbols for this Universal Spirit, Jesus Christ, Allah, Yahweh, Jehovah, Elohim, Great Father, Father/Mother/God, Great Spirit, The Creator, etc. etc etc., all being the same, all a call to our innermost higher selves to "Seek First the Kingdom of God Within".
Before I began to search for my path I was severely limited by my worldly view that I had to have this, I had to have that, gimme, gimme, gimme, in order to survive. Through the practice of faith that the Creator would give me the intuitive knowledge of what I needed to do or not to do, I have come to the full realization that the visible world is but a part of a greater spiritual world, and that the spiritual world and the visible world are one reality.
We must each come to realize within ourselves the Spiritual Truth, (not necessarily, I might add, the religious truth), the truth that WE ARE ALL THE SON OF GOD, both individually and collectively, Every Person On The Face Of This Earth, inheriting equally from the Father the same inherent rights and responsibilities to Him and to each other. THAT RIGHT AND RESPONSIBILITY IS TO LOVE GOD WITH ALL OUR HEART AND ALL OUR MIND AND ALL OUR SOUL AND ALL OUR ENERGY AND TO LOVE ONE ANOTHER AS WE LOVE OURSELVES. We must realize that we are created for his purpose that he has for himself in our lives, and us in his life.
We must realize that nothing, absolutely nothing, happens in God's Universe by chance, that everything is an opportunity for spiritual growth. These opportunities are given to all of us to do with as we choose, for without this loving gift of choice we would be unable to distinguish light from darkness, right from wrong, love from hate. This is, of course, an individual thing, the making of choices. Only the "I" of me can come to peace, only the "I" of me can search within to find Gods Domain, only the "I" of me can know God. And it is to the "I" of each of us that the "I" of me appeals, so that each will know the peace that surpasses all understanding, the Pearl of Great Price, Peace of Mind, for without this one thing we are as nothing and in total rebellion with our Creator.
THE CREDO OF THE TRUE PATRIOT
I AM RESPONSIBLE...,
When anyone, anywhere reaches out for help,
I want the loving hand of humanity always to be there.
AND FOR THAT I AM RESPONSIBLE
Which brings me once again back to the topic of survival as I quote from the Judeo-Christian biblical scripture:
Matthew 24
15. When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)
16. Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
17. Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house:
18. Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.
19. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
20. But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:
21. For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.
I will ask of you. To whom is scripture speaking? To someone in a far off day two thousand years ago or to you right here and now? Are you one of the elect who will uphold the higher spiritual ground or are you one of those who would abandon their faith for the sake of comfort, even if it means being enslaved. Are you one, who like Patrick Henry, can say "Give me liberty, or give me death."
Again I ask. In what holy place are we to stand? Are we to take a courageous stand on the higher spiritual ground of Love Of Freedom for All of God's Children of all Nations, Colors and Creeds? Or just for ourselves? Or just for some of them? All of Them!!!
Again I ask. What is the one great truth that you know deep down within, as far down as you can reach, all the way into your heart and gut? I care not what your answer is, as it is your great truth.
It is this one great truth that you know from deep down within yourself, which will give you the unshakable faith which will enable you to withstand and survive the rigors of life as they are presented to you in the course of coming events. Which will give you the strength, the courage, and the wisdom to do what you must do, to make the loving choice for freedom for all of humanity. It is this great truth that you already know which will set you free. AND IF YOU DO NOT KNOW THIS GREAT TRUTH, INDEED YOU ARE ALREADY ENSLAVED.
From the annals of history of how our high handedness, lack of spiritual ethics, and the bureaucratic structures we have put in place have dealt with our people, I quote a man of the highest ethics.
"I was born a warrior; if warriors speak to me I will answer. Since none are present, I am honor bound to keep silent. I am to be executed. I like it well; for I shall die before my heart is soft, before I have spoken anything unworthy of myself." - Cannonchet, a Narragansett warrior at his execution by Captain Benjamin Church in 1675.
As early as the mid 1700's Native Americans suspected that the integration of their native cultures into the white man's world would be a rocky road. Much of the problems stem from a fundamental difference in values - practices and perceptions that make life worth living for each of us. The white culture is multi-faced, and based on subtle interactions between people where Intent is very seldom synonymous with the Word. Native American cultures, in contrast, believe the Word and the Deed to be one and the same. This has led to much misunderstanding, as was hotly expressed in 1876 by the Flathead chief, Charlot, in the Bitterroot Valley of Montana.
In 1876, the U.S. government was in the process of ousting the Flathead tribe from their ancestral home in the Bitterroot Valley of Montana. After unsuccessful negotiations with the U.S. Army, Charlot, the Flathead chief assembled his people and spoke about the white man:
"Since our forefathers first beheld him, more than seven times ten winters have snowed and melted. We were happy when he first came. We thought he came from the light; but he comes like the dusk of evening now, not like the dawn of morning. He comes like a day that has passed, and night enters our future with him. To take and to lie should be burned on his forehead, as he burns the sides of my stolen horses with his own name. Had Heaven's Chief burnt him with some mark to refuse him, we might have refused him. But we did not, and now he has filled countless graves with our bones."
Charlot died four years later. The Flathead tribe was virtually wiped out by disease and starvation after being moved to an piece of land nearly incapable of sustaining life.
Less hot, but equally pointed, was the outburst by Old Tassel, Chief of the Cherokee tribe in 1777, to the U.S. commissioners attempting to negotiate a treaty:
"Many proposals have been made to us to adopt your laws, your religion, your manners and your customs. We would be better pleased with beholding the good effects of these doctrines in your own practices, than with hearing you talk about them"
Time did not mellow the intercourse. After a seemingly endless series of broken treaties and promises White Bull, a Sioux chief, told the 1876 Presidential commission:
"Tell your people that since the Great Father in Washington promised that we should never be removed, we have been moved five times. I think you had better put the Indians on wheels and you can run them about wherever you wish."
As the clash of cultures intensified, the inevitable occurred. The Indian cultures were overrun. What was prophesied by Senachwine in 1830 finally came to pass. This passing went almost unnoticed by the white culture. George Catlin was perhaps the only white man at the time to perceive the impact, and he wrote eloquently, but without effect, against the demise.
Perhaps the most uncomfortable aspect of being submerged by the white way was not the loss of lands, but the systematic stamping out of Native American cultures. Native Americans have never seen the wisdom of the white man's ways and wished only to retain those aspects of Native American culture that gave meaning and value to native lives. Sitting Bull spoke after the Custer massacre:
"If the Great Spirit had desired me to be a white man he would have made me so in the first place. He put in your heart certain wishes and plans, and in my heart he put other and different desires. It is not necessary for eagles to be crows."
My intent for the above description of how the bureaucracy handled just a portion of our citizens, the Native Americans, is to be a blunt and direct expose of the tyranny of bureaucracy, which has never kept its promises through the ages. Bureaucracy has now submerged the freedoms of the remainder of the American people, breaking promise after promise.
Spiritual guidance and our efforts to make the right choices will ultimately realize the vision seen by Many Horses over a century ago that all men will become as brothers without any prejudice, living in freedom together under the wings of the Great Spirit.
Are You ready to become a Warrior,
or is your tongue still forked?
Back to the matter of physical survival, and practical steps which should be taken to be most effective in ensuring the safety and survival of not only yourself but of those which God may place in your charge if there is a collapse of society into anarchy.
1. It goes without saying that you must be spiritually fit and in conscious contact with your higher power. A positive attitude and a healthy mind are the way of the warrior and the best insurance for survival.
2. Prepare yourself spiritually, mentally and physically to withstand the rigors of the elements, for if by chance you find that you must survive outside your accustomed environment, it will take all the spiritual, mental and physical strength and endurance you can muster.
3. Establish a support network within your circle of like minded friends, upon whom each can trust their life, their property and their sacred honor. Do not be deluded that you can survive alone. No one ever completes a social reality or enterprise all by himself.
Even though you may be operating alone at times, you will have to make contact with your society of friends for support on occasion.
4. Acquire the necessary equipment and food stuffs for yourself and for your group to survive a minimum of five days. It will take that long for the chaos and confusion to die down enough for you to be able to acquire a re-supply for your immediate needs.
5. If within your means, supply a number of caches, known only to yourself and your group, within a 50 mile radius of your location, to give a 60 day supply. Beyond that all re-supply should be from "the land", however it is acquired.
6. Acquire the attitude, the knowledge and the skills of the warrior to survive entirely off the land, for God has placed everything you will need at your hand if you will but learn where to look for it. I suggest that you acquire from the display table, as a minimum, Tom Brown's "Field Guide to Wilderness Survival" and his "Guide to Wild Edible and Medicinal Plants". These are the books which I used as my guide during the "Barefoot Expedition". In addition, Tom also has a "Field Guide to City and Urban Survival", which will probably of more interest to most folks.. He has written a whole series of books on survival which will, if put into practice, deepen your insights into yourself, into God and all of God's nature, and you will truly know the compassionate love for all of life with its exquisite pains and joys.
If you want to survive on the highest possible plane, I suggest that you put into practice all of the exercises given in these books. Just reading about them is not enough. As Sophocles stated 2000 years ago, "You may think you know a thing, but you have no assuredness until you have done it." Or, as one of my mentors so bluntly stated, "I don't give a damn what you think you know, what you think you feel or what you think you believe, the only thing that counts is what you do, period."
7. Have packs at hand, fully supplied, for each individual in your group. These should even include packs for children above the age of six. Packs and equipment should never weigh more that 20 percent of the individuals body weight. You will need to travel light and fast. Forget all the superfluities and niceties of civilization when supplying these packs, because if you ever have to use them in the emergency of a survival situation, civilized society will have gone the way of the winds. Select items only for lightness, effectiveness, durability and utility. I have a list of my personal choices on the table, which you are free to take.
8. Each member of your group should be schooled and practiced in the effective and safe use of firearms. The supply of food and survival in the face of the enemy requires it. There will be no supply troops behind you. You must consider that you will be on your own, until constitutional order is restored. There may be some banding together to increase effectiveness, but don't count on it for survival. Each member of your group must have this as a basic understanding.
I recommend a .22 caliber semi-automatic rifle equipped with a 3x-9x scope and sling as the most effective firearm which can be handled with accuracy by even the smallest and youngest of the working members of the group. All members of the group over the age of nine should be equipped if possible, and definitely all 14 and over. My own preference is a stainless steel Ruger model 10-22 because of the quality, durability and the ease of reloading with 10 round box magazines. I have taken game with a .22 from the size of gophers (yes, they are very edible) and game birds to mule deer, elk and black bear with a well placed shot. Do not even begin to take a shot at the larger game unless you are absolutely sure of your shot placement and never at a distance over 25 yards with a .22. An adequate supply of ammunition, a brick of 1000 rounds of long rifle hollow point, which will weigh about a pound and a half, and 4 extra box magazines should be acquired for each rifle in the group.
Another personal preference is a 12 gauge double barrel flint lock shotgun, as I can make all supplies needed for it, the powder, the projectiles and the ignition system, and I am totally independent of outside supply. It can be loaded for game of opportunity with #4 shot on one side for birds and small game and #00 buck or a "pumpkin" ball on the other, which is capable of taking the largest game with ease out to 50 yards. If all else fails it can be loaded with small gravel up to 1/2 inch in dimension.
If a more high powered firearm is desired, while I don't recommend any of the "AK pseudo-combat type" weapons, I do recommend a good sporting semi-automatic rifle equipped with a 3x-9x scope and sling, chambered in .223 Remington (5.56mm NATO), or .308 Winchester (7.62mm NATO), as re-supply can be "liberated" from supplies of the forces which might be opposing you.
Another choice for game is a cross bow with 150 lb pull. These are very effective out to 75 yds, have no recoil and are essentially silent. Replacement bolts can be made from material at hand if necessary. Bows and arrows can also be used. There are many styles of these, most very effective, but all take a lot of skill and practice.
Remember that in any contact with unfriendly forces, you are never to be engaged in a "fire fight". You will be no match in that situation against a military organization. Hit and run tactics, single shots placed with extreme accuracy and maximum effectivity and move on. To this end each rifleman should attain a consistent 5 shot pattern accuracy from rest of not more than a 1" pattern at 100 yards and should try to achieve 1/2" patterns.
God willing, we pray that the situation will never degenerate where this is necessary.
9. Each member of your group will have some specialized knowledge and expertise to enhance the survival of the group. Every member should be schooled and practiced to a working knowledge and ability in each other members field of expertise, to insure the survival of the individual members or of the group if members are lost.
10. Above all, do not ally yourself or your group with anyone addicted to drugs or alcohol. These people are not right with God by any stretch of the imagination, are unstable in all their ways, not to be depended upon. They are consumed with hatred and fear, not only of the circumstances of life, but of themselves, placing blame everywhere but on themselves. They are totally unable to accept responsibility for their actions. They are a hazard to themselves and to everyone with whom they come in contact. If this statement offends anyone here, then you have a problem which will inhibit your survival.
11. Learn to do EVERYTHING out of LOVE. Sometimes the most loving action is to say "NO, I can not tolerate this condition any longer". This is called "Tough Love" when it is actually put into effect. It takes courage and a real honest look at reality. Denial of a non-survival condition kills. Adopt this as a rule -- Reward only good behavior, punish bad behavior. --- If we reward bad behavior in any way, we get more bad behavior. It is again the Law of Cause and Effect.
12. We have all heard of the Golden Rule. I prefer to phrase it in this manner.
Be able to experience everything.
Cause only those things which others can experience easily.13. Do not be discouraged by your own imperfections. We are all imperfect. All we can do is the best we can with what we have. It can be our choice to improve ourselves in this business of survival and of living. Keep it simple, approach the problems of life one step at a time. Incidentally, there are no "Real Problems" in life, only situations. "Real Problems" do not have solutions, and everything we face in life has a solution, maybe not something we can do about it directly, but something can be done if we are willing to ask for help. We are not in Life's situations all ALONE. We are all interdependent.
14.Die Übung macht den Meister! Continued repetition makes the master, practice makes perfect.
15. Now, after all this, I know you want to learn how to solve all of the life situations that come your way, right? Well, I will tell you how. It is really quite simple, not complicated at all.
JUST KEEP BREATHING. SURVIVE.
My Personal Preferences for Survival Equipment
1. A sturdy pack and frame with two main sections and five or six side and back pockets. Strap pads should be wide and cushioned as should the back and hip support pads. Consider weight and durability. Do not be cheap, you get what you pay for. Acquire the best you can afford in all of your equipment. Top quality used equipment is usually available.
2. Clothing:
Shoes - one good pair of hiking boots, or "Corcoran Jump Boots" well used and broken in, well oiled.
Small can of Hubbards Shoe Grease. One pair of "Running Shoes".Shirts - Two wool or acrylic flannel with insulated lining, long sleeved, two tee shirts, one cotton insulated long sleeve undershirt.
Pants - Two jeans or camouflage dungarees, one cotton insulated underpants.
Socks - 2 pair wool boot socks, 2 pair cotton crew socks.
Skivvies - none or personal preference - 2 sets
Light Nylon windbreaker
Light insulated field jacket long enough to cover buttocks
In all of the above one set is being worn, the other is in the pack
3. Hygiene Equipment:
Toothbrush, comb, plastic mirror, throw away razor.
Small box of "Bag Balm" ointment.
Small First Aid Kit.
Small box of baking soda.
2 bars Kirks Coconut Castile Soap, which will lather even in the hardest water, is as good as shampoo, and does a excellent job on dishes and clothes.
Towel and wash cloth.4. Mylarized Nylon Poncho, 12' x 16' black 10 mil Visqueen plastic sheet. Both can be used for shelter, solar water still, IR shields, game bag, many uses.
5 heavy duty large garbage bags, handy to keep sleeping bag, clothes and pack dry, and as emergency raincoat.5. Cordage, 100' nylon 1/8 diameter in 10' sections with stopper knots at each end.
Small sewing kit. Sewing awl and waxed cord.6. Sleeping bag, mummy type, 4 lb Hollowfill insulated, in waterproof stuff bag.
Foam ground pad.7. Foodstuffs - 2 lbs of beans, 2 lbs of wheat, 2 lbs of raisins, 1 lb cracked corn, 1/4 lb Salt & Pepper, 1/2 lb Sugar, package of one quart ziplock baggies.
8. Utensils - 1 fork, 1 table spoon, one quart aluminum kettle with cover and one 8" aluminum skillet, or alternatively one "Boy Scout" mess kit.
One 6" cleaver or one 8" blade "Old Hickory" brand butcher knife, cheap but very effective.
A 4" 2 grit pocket stone for sharpening knives.
One folding camp saw.9. Ammunition - one brick 500 rounds of .22 cal long rifle in bottom back pocket, 4 extra loaded magazines in lower side pockets, 2 each side.
Rifle cleaning equipment and folding bipod in pocket with ammunition.10. Tom Brown's Field Guides, other inspirational or daily meditation book as desired, pencil and 3" x 5" spiral notepad, a daily journal, and any necessary papers or documents, sealed in ziplock bags,
11. 16" square of old denim, saturated with a mixture of 25% Vaseline and 75% paraffin
2 Zippo lighters with spare flints, and fluid. Wrap one Zippo in the denim to keep it absolutely dry. Keep the other Zippo in your pocket. It is a quick and handy as a light in the dark, and for starting fires.
2 candles 1" x 6".The above pack and equipment will total approximately 30-35 lbs, easily carried by the average adult male.
Belt equipment - 4" Folding Knife Buck Model 110 in sheath.
1 quart canteen with cup.Rifle - Ruger Model 10-22S Stainless Steel .22 cal semi-automatic rifle with 3X - 9X scope and sling, with loaded magazine, round in chamber , On Safe.
With just this equipment you can survive indefinitely!!
In fact, you can do the same with none of it!!
Order of precedence of things to do and not do, or how to get from there to here.
1. Situations are usually not as life threatening as our minds tell us they are. We humans have an absolute knack for "Pole Vaulting Over Mouse Turds". Get in contact with your higher power, calm down, set your fears in abeyance, slow down, analysis your situation, project a course of action, consider alternatives, do nothing until you are comfortable within that the course of action planned will achieve the desired results, and then put the plan into action. On this matter of fear, in the words of Sequichie Comingdeer, "The death of fear is in doing what you fear to do."
2. If it becomes clear that life and survival are in imminent danger in your immediate location, move to a location of less imminent danger and lay low until you can re-evaluate the situation. There is no assurance that "there is better than here", but the chances are that it will be different. The plan you have previously formulated will require change. You will have to re-evaluate to accommodate the changes and their effect on the plan. Do not go off half-cocked.
3. When you are satisfied that the plan is viable to provide a secure haven, immediately put the first step into practice. Stay alert. Be Present. Don't be future tripping or worrying about what might have been if only you had done something different. Stay in the Now. Now is all there is to all of God's eternity. Now is the Loving Spiritual Orgasmic Event Of The Universe in which all things are born anew. Your survival depends on your attention to the Now. Always be willing to accept change. There will be many variables, each to be evaluated as they occur. Then, if your spiritual condition and attitude are fit, do the next indicated thing that your Higher Power presents to you.
4. When you reach a secure position the first order of business is to provide shelter, if nothing else than a wind break, debris mound or debris hut to crawl under. Locate if possible on a flat area (or make one) on the lee side of a ridge, grove or escarpment in a dry well drained area, away from valleys, troughs and depressions, high enough that your position will not be washed out in a storm. Other primary considerations are field of view, avenues of entrance or escape, and access to water.
Don't forget that if you can locate an old fir or spruce with branches thickly drooping to the ground, this is a very satisfactory cover. I personally know one man who wintered for three months under an old spruce in weather which alternated between rain, snow and temperatures to -25F. Never once did he or his equipment get wet. He even had a small fire pit under the branches and neither fire nor smoke could be seen from outside. It was real cozy.
Given a choice, locate your shelter at the edge of a grove or outcrop in an area having southern exposure. Face your shelter east to south east if possible, so that the early morning sun can warm and dry the interior and where you will have the longest period of heat and light. Locations in heavily wooded areas are not preferred as they are cold and take a long time to dry out.
5. Set in a store of squaw wood to carry you though the night and early hours to provide for a cooking fire. Prepare a fire pit with reflector backscreen of available materials, 4 ft to 6 ft in front of your shelter. Build the side of the backscreen slightly higher on the side toward the prevailing breeze.
6. If the security of your location and situation warrants without endangerment of security, start a fire to prepare food, and for warmth. A fire also has a spiritually calming effect, which will help you to integrate your thoughts and actions, as does a full belly. Keep your fire small and smoke free.
7. Secure your perimeter, gathering your rifle, pack and all loose items of equipment together. If you have to move in the night, you won't have to stumble around in the dark gathering things together, and you will not loose equipment in a hasty withdrawal. Cover the fire before nightfall unless it is needed for warmth. Remember that you will be warm and secure if you get in the sack, or under your pile of debris if it is properly prepared.
8. Before you turn in for the night never forget to thank your "higher power" for the day that has been given you and for the things that have been provided.
9. On awakening, lay quietly, thank your "higher power" for the rest and for the day that is to be given you, asking for his guidance in your thoughts and actions. Listen and be alert for any signs of danger before exposing yourself.
10. When satisfied that no danger exists, get up and perform morning necessities as you scout your perimeter. Then gather small tinder and kindling. Uncover the fire pit, securing coals which can be blown into flame with the tinder, and set a small cooking fire.
11. Don't be in haste to change locations. As you scout your area for edibles, fire wood, and other items to increase security and comfort, secure enough for immediate needs.
12. When satisfied that the area is secure and will provide for necessities for the near future, rest, and while resting re-study your survival guides, or busy yourself with fabrication or manufacture of items which will increase security, effectiveness and comfort. Work at perfecting snares and traps on game runs, etc. These can include booby traps and alarms around your perimeter if this becomes a need.
!3. Don't go looking for trouble, and if possible, don't do anything to instigate it. There will be trouble enough to keep you occupied without looking for it. Survival is serious business.
On operating as a group and on leadership.
For the individual and for the group purpose there is but one ultimate authority, a Loving God as he may express himself in their group conscience, and it is from this that all other group understandings and decisions derive.
If you are operating as a group, choose a leader with the stablest mind and the most experience to be your trusted servant. This position of leadership carries the heaviest responsibility of service to the group and should be selected by consensus and unanimity. All individual egos must be set aside. Remember that there can be only one "general" in the field of battle, there must be only one "war chief". Without this very basic agreement the group will have no effectiveness and will self-destruct..
The leader should, if at all possible, endeavor to reach the consensus of the entire group on any courses of future action, if the situation is such that communication with all group members can be achieved. In all situations where consensus cannot be achieved and in situations where time does not warrant, the leader is obligated to make the decisions and the other members of the group are obligated to follow his direction. The leader is never to be tyrannical or despotic in any decision, being concerned only for the effectiveness and safety of the group. This must be the absolute understanding of each member of the group. If this is not the understanding of each member, then those which can't come to this understanding and decision for themselves must go down the road on their own horse, separate from the group. Their indecisiveness and fear can not be allowed to endanger the group.
The leader will at times have to make "snap" decisions based on prior experience, training and on the effect upon established planning. This is also true of each member of the group. These "snap" decisions and the courses of action to be taken can often be done in unanimity and total understanding, if prior communications of how each individual will react to a given situation are complete.
This understanding of group conscience is so important that I will discourse for a minute on the effect that is being seen throughout the entire world today. Everywhere we are witnessing the breakdown of "group conscience". It has always been the hope of democratic nations that their citizens would always be enlightened enough, moral enough, and responsible enough to manage their own affairs through their chosen representatives. But in all nations today we are seeing the effect of the inroads of ignorance, apathy, greed, sloth and power-seeking upon democratic systems. Their spiritual resources of right purpose and collective intelligence are waning. Consequently many lands have become so helpless that the only answer is dictatorship.
Happily for us, there seems little prospect of such a calamity if we adhere to the Creator's ordinances, where the life of each individual and group is built around His spiritual principles of Honesty, Hope, Faith, Courage, Integrity, Willingness, Humility, Brotherly Love, Justice, Perseverance, Spirituality and Service to one another. We very well know that the penalty of extensive disobedience to these principles is death for the individual and dissolution of the group. An even greater force for our unity is the compelling love we have for all of humanity and for the principles upon which our lives today are founded.
Therefore, I believe I see in our gathering together the beginnings of a Spiritual Society characterized by enough enlightenment, enough responsibility and enough love for mankind and of the Creator to insure that our service to restore faith and freedom to humanity will work under all conditions. I am confidant that we can rely upon the Ultimate Authority, The Creator, as he may express Himself in our group conscience, and it's trusted servants. Hence it is with a great sense of security that I look forward to the destiny that we trust the Creator in his Wisdom is holding in store for all of us.
And for those individuals which have not yet achieved this understanding, I suggest that they become involved in a 12 Step Program for spiritual growth and understanding. It is the very best tool for survival and I know that it works.
These also are things that I know -----
Peace and happiness are available in every moment. Peace is in every step.
We shall learn to walk hand in hand.
There are no political solutions to spiritual problems.
Remember, If the Creator put it there, it is in the right place. The soul would have no rainbow if the eyes had no tears.
I know that All must be brought into the Sacred Hoop for it to be mended. I often wonder how we will bring those who do not see even the simplest of Circles into the greatest Circle of all. Then I remember it is a thing that has been promised by Spirit.
That is how I know it will come to be.
Aha! Love and Peace!
Barefoot BobI am HERE
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On the Web Jan. 29, 1996Three mighty important things, Pardn'r, LOVE And PEACE and FREEDOM