Hark! The Psychiatrists Sing, Hoping Glory for that Revised DSM Thing!

The DSM-5 is full of labels and misconceptions. Avoid it, if you can. If you can’t, at least know how it manipulates medical information to turn various mind-states into “disorders” and “diseases” which must be “cured.” The truth is, psychiatry can be a wonderful and holistic discipline, when not in the clutches of Pharma and the often useless drugs that industry peddles.

Inciting Violence in This Culture of Violence

The massacre of the Sandy Hook schoolchildren last month offered yet another painful proof that the creation of violent minds is big business and that, in its many aspects, the business of violence has become a far too accepted part of the fabric of contemporary life in the United States.

The Prerequisite for Real Change: Amending the Constitution and Getting Money Out of Politics

Prelude 

It has been clear for decades that there is an ongoing erosion of the ability and power of our citizenry to govern itself.  I am an old and proud sixties warrior and have a vista that begins with McCarthyism in the 1950s and remember well its grey and oppressive political and cultural oppression. For a time there was relief and new life and an increase in the quality of the welfare state. However, since the 70s, a reactionary and selfish oligarchy composed of corporate and individual wealth and their paid bureaucratic servants has tightened its grip on our country’s governance. The means to this has been increasingly vast sums of money funneled into the electoral process and their accelerating and pervasive lobbyists’ influence on elected officials. The Citizens United decision of the Supreme Court opened the floodgates wide, but the truth is that the electoral and governance processes long have been reducing themselves to the rule of money, influence, and privilege by the few over the many.

Healing the World Through Consciousness Exploration

An exploration of consciousness confirms that no matter how different the trappings of culture, language, costume, or beliefs, we are the same sort of beings, we want the same things, and we are subject to the same disappointments and joys. In short, an exploration of consciousness has great power to illuminate and inform efforts at tikkun olam.

Cuba Sí

It’s 2010 and I’m visiting Cuba again. I am tired, old, discouraged, trampled by excuses and broken promises, and ground down by human failure and our incessant will for domination.