“Humanity has all but forgotten about the humanities on the way to Armageddon.” – Anthony T. Hincks
The modern world pays little attention to the skies. We are told our ancestors and their obsession with the heavens was just superstition and fear.
Perhaps we should share their fear. At any given moment, one storm on the Sun could end civilization. William Forstchen explores what would happen, in his novel, 48 Hours.
The average person now spends 93 percent of their life indoors…This is a catastrophe, the final nail in the coffin for the human soul. You live nearly all your life in a fake world: artificial lighting instead of the warmth of sunlight or the cool of moonlight or the darkness of night itself. Artificial climate rather than the wild beauty of real weather…All the surfaces you touch are things like plastic, nylon, and faux leather instead of meadow, wood, and stream. Fake fireplaces; wax fruit. The atmosphere you inhabit is now asphyxiating with artificial smells — mostly chemicals…instead of cut grass, wood smoke, and salt air…In place of the cry of the hawk, the thunder of a waterfall, and the comfort of crickets, your world spews out artificial sounds…Dear God, even the plants in your little bubble are fake. They give no oxygen; instead the plastic off-gases toxins…This is a life for people in a science fiction novel…Living in an artificial world is like spending your life wrapped in plastic wrap. – John Eldredge writing in Get Your Life Back.
We are easily distracted by the Next New Thing. That new, shiny gadget, device, or car – we must have it. Fear of Missing Out (FOMO), or is it Fear of Not Fitting In? Marketing exists to convince you that you need everything new or updated. Companies create “ecosystems” that you can’t live without, or is it they can’t live without you handing over your money? Sometimes “new things” come not in the form of products, but as social change. Policy makers and activists implore you to change your lifestyle to preserve the future of humankind.
We’ve been conditioned to not ask simple questions: Do I really need this? What does it really serve? Is its purpose really as advertised, or even the intent of the designer? What is the impact of this product or service on me and others? Sounds rather heavy to be asking such things, but to not do so is not without risk.
We repeatedly fail to ask the Right Questions because we are taught to act on emotion. Companies don’t want us to think before acting. There’s nothing wrong with making money, but let’s not pretend your well-being is always at the forefront of every new product. Nor are all companies concerned to look beyond dollar signs to the impact their plans or devices have on humanity. Here are some examples.
We are told electric vehicles (EVs) will save our world. They are more efficient over their lifetime in energy consumption and produce zero emissions. Neither of these claims are true. The other elephant in the room are the troublesome human and environmental costs of making batteries, including slave labor (see Cobalt Red). Someday EVs may make sense, but the current, best engineerable solution is hybrids.
Policy makers tell us we must move to renewable energy sources. Sounds like a commendable goal, right? It is, but unfortunately, sources like wind and solar are unreliable, intermittent, and low output. Solving these limitations isn’t simply a matter of scaling up: There are the limitations of physics, and environmental concerns with what are idealized as “green” energy sources.
To free up money and attract investors to these renewables, we are told fossil fuels are dirty. Truth is, as fossil fuel usage as increased, pollution has decreased. How? Through technology (see Fossil Future). High output energy sources have raised millions of people out of poverty. Excessively relying on solar or wind could reverse that progress. This is why more nations are revisiting nuclear. Unfairly vilified, nuclear is the only emission-free energy source capable of powering all of our world. It is a proven technology, and fears of it unfounded (see The Case For Nukes).
I recently read a post on the wonders of 3-d printed “meat.” It claimed this fabricated food can save the world, by feeding millions and protecting the environment. Problem is, processed foods are a primary reason for the worst health in human history. The industrial farming that produces these foods is the most environmental destructive process ever created. Why would we just double down and continue down that path? Just because it’s cool, new tech? Turns out, returning to farming the way nature taught us (see Dirt to Soil) fixes our problems. Nor is real meat dangerous to us or the planet (see Sacred Cow).
Ask the Right Questions. Does this wonder product or policy change provide a useful service? Does it solve a real problem or does it perpetuate existing issues, or create new ones?
We’ve been conditioned not to think, but thinking is not hard, nor time-consuming. Sometimes those who mislead do so intentionally, others are themselves misled. Sliding you into an ecosystem, a social cause, or a political cult, is a surefire way to replace reason with emotion in your decision making. And they know it. You ultimately must be responsible for your own health and wealth. Far too many others will never do it for you. They rather not and look only to their own.
Don’t be distracted by shiny new things. Sometimes the old way is better, other times the new. Be careful of jumping on any bandwagon that comes your way.
It may be driving off a cliff.
Tell your story. Tell that of others. We all have a story to tell, yet so many keep it to themselves.
Consider a tombstone — a monument to one’s life…the inscription typically focuses on the years when a person was born and subsequently passed away, a person’s life is actually represented by the ‘dash’ in between (i.e., 1964-2042).
This dash represents the essence of our lives — the succession of joys, sorrows, successes, failures…If you could write the story of your dash, how would it read? Would it be full of regrets for the things you did or didn’t do? Or would it be a tribute to all that you attempted to do, be, and accomplish while you were alive? – Anthony Paustian, writing in A Quarter Million Steps.
Find Your Purpose. Find Your Story.
Join the War. Watchers of the Light Book 2, Awakening, out now!
I have often wrote about our connections to history, what we can learn from our ancestors, and the ripples into the future our actions create. I wonder if people knew their impact on history, and shed their hubris about the past, what would our world be like? What if we reclaimed our responsibility to mentor the next generations and ensure they remember the legacy of our forebearers?
The cycles of history Neil Howe discusses in his book, The Fourth Turning is Here, in large part occur because of our selfishness and shortsightedness. And so, we come to a critical moment in time where must decide to wrestle control from those who control society with no regard to those within it. Or we can keep our eyes shut as crisis after crisis turns into such a disaster than civilization is sent into reverse. Some of those collapses have been obvious and catastrophic, some lesser so, but all send their changes and casualties deep into the future.
“Generations connect us to history because they remind us that ours is not the first or only peer group to encounter this season of history at this phase of life. We know that others have done so before us. Perhaps we can learn from them. We also know that others will do so after us. Perhaps we can help them prepare.
“Generations also connect us to our families because they remind us that we all have forebearers who encountered this season of history at some phase of their lives. We may wonder how their location in history affect what happened to them as children, what happened to the children they raised, or what happened to alter the direction of their lives at a critical moment.
“…we will finally recognize what Ibn Khaldun observed at the very dawn of modernity: ‘The past resembles the future more than one drop of water resembles another.'” – Neil Howe
So as 2024 begins, will you awaken or will you continue to sleep? The past is like a mirror on the future: We face disaster or prosperity. Every generation has a choice, and that choice includes breaking free of the powers who believe it’s up to them to decide your fate, your Story.
They always bring failure because they ignore the past. We don’t have to wait for more failures, more disasters. We can choose a different path.
“Fiat foods create fiat minds that enslave the human body to a revolving state of addiction, lethargy, and depression. Would the Wright Brothers have had the vision, skill, and initiative to expand their bicycle business to venture boldly and defy all established authority under the belief man could fly while on a steady diet of SnackWell cookies and Cheese Puffs?” – Matthew Lysiak
Think the nutritional advice you’ve been taught for decades is based on science? Well, take a good dose of corporate influence, government financial manipulation, fake or unscientific studies, and throw in some eugenics and a cult for good measure, and what do you get?
The worst health of humans in modern history.
Make Fiat Food number one on your to-read list for 2024. Matthew Lysiak takes you on a tour of the disturbing history of where our health “standards” came from, and why we have more chronic medical problems than ever in our history.
This new year can be the one where you take responsibility for your own health. Stop letting others make money off you by keeping you sick and miserable.
In my previous article, on planning for your best year ever in 2024, your health is a critical part of your future. Getting healthy, or adopting a healthy lifestyle, is always one of the top New Year’s “resolutions.”
Want some help in making that investment in your health in 2024? Check out Dr. Ovadia’s, Stay Off My Operating Table. This short book could be one of the most valuable reads in taking control of your own health. Check out an interview with Ovadia here and start your journey to a better life.
“We’ve normalized being unhealthy. Some of the statistics are just truly frightening…88%…of adults in the United States today are not healthy…60% of the adults over 50…are on multiple prescription medications. Poor health has actually become the normal…We don’t even expect to be healthy anymore. We spend all of our efforts, all of our energy, trying to manage our illness, instead of trying to remain healthy in the first place…Each individual, everyone has to realize they have the power…to keep themselves healthy…and not need the healthcare system.” – Dr. Phillip Ovadia
We are approaching the time when millions make resolutions and goals for the new year. That arbitrary turning of the calendar marks a time of new beginnings. What follows is often failure.
If you set goals – getting healthy, finding a new career, learning your purpose – without a plan, your probability of failure is quite high. It’s not enough for most people to say, “I’m going to do it” and poof, your goal manifests amazing success. You need a plan.
Your plan should start with a Past Year Review. You can’t move forward without first looking back. Tim Ferriss describes one approach to accomplish this:
Next, use the findings of your Past Year Review of 2023 and set your Objectives for 2024. Most of this is a summary of of Ryan Michler’s plan in Sovereignty, which goes into much more detail.
Defining your Objectives with this level of Specificity is half the battle. This isn’t set it and forget it. You need Tactics that help you stay on the correct route to achieving your Objectives.
One of your most important Tactics is the After Action Review. This doesn’t just come at the end of the Objective period. Use this after a project, after difficult conversations, and especially at the end of every day. It only takes a few minutes to ask these questions:
Get yourself an old-fashioned notebook or journal, or a device if you must, and skip mindless New Year’s resolutions. Take control of your life. No more letting others push and pull you along. Don’t wait until December 31st. Use the whole month.
Make 2024 the year you Find Your Purpose, Find Your Story.
Everyone makes a choice:
Option one comes with the realization that learning doesn’t stop when you graduate for high school or college. You’ve only scratched the surface. Also, as an adult you realize learning is a whole different experience outside of the structure of schools. Exploration, discovery, enlightenment. The kind of things that brought you wonder as a child, then snuffed out by the system, return in full force.
Option two comes when you succumb to an industrial education system that often teaches you not to question. Or if they do, someday they will say they didn’t mean it. They also want you to figure out your path by graduation. Then, they tell you, you’re stuck there forever. Don’t keep searching for your purpose. Trust us.
Option three is when you allow yourself to be drawn into a cult-like mindset. Often this is an extension of option two where you were encouraged not to question and test what you are told. When one falls into this abyss, they are used by others for their own purposes. Politicians love people like this.
This is all a long way of stating the best way to learn is to read. Commit to learning, studying, exploring. This isn’t the dull learning you may have experienced in school. However, you will face many far more important tests in life. You must be prepared. You will also learn you have an innate, critical responsibility to mentoring the younger generations.
I feel sorry for people who say “I don’t read.” “I don’t have time” they say as they binge-tv watch. They think the carefully crafted and controlled headlines and news constitute learning. They know their life feels unfulfilled, but make no effort to change. Or they look at the world and its problems and just hope for the best.
Don’t be that person.
Here’s a selection of some of the books I read in 2023. A wide array of topics sure to challenge, inform, and inspire.
Will you commit in 2024 to leaving the Matrix? Will you choose to exit The Brave New World?
Start your own path to learning. It will be exciting and disturbing. One thing it won’t be is regrettable.
In an age lost to myth, all human life nearly vanished from the Earth. War erupted between men and demon. The Blood Rain fell from the skies, the land was scorched and torn. The waters came and completed the ruin of the world.
In time, people ceased believing in such tales. This is what the Darkness wanted. It waited until the stories were forgotten; a time when most thought it foolish to listen to the warnings of their ancestors. Among the shadows malice lurked, and signs from the Light were ignored. Centuries passed.
A shadowmancer arose to launch a new Scourge. Evils unseen since the ancient wars returned from the Abyss. The modern world would soon fall. No humans could stand against them. So the Followers thought.
Six Watchers, gifted by the Light, stood to meet the Darkness and destroyed the Dark One’s legions. The shadows receded, their terror extinguished. The Followers had been burnt by the Light.
Except one.
If a lost land could be raised, and the ageless weapon restored, she would have her revenge. New hordes would be brought through the veil. The final merging of both worlds completed. Ancient tales of the coming of the end of days made true.
An Awakening.
Will the Watchers, who had turned back what emerged from the shadows, be able to stand against a new onslaught? They will not fight alone. More of their kind, wielding gifts of great power, have also come forth. The Light surges in us all, but among the Watchers it is untamed and unbound. Only they can defeat what is coming.
In these last hours, they are our only hope.
What side are you on? Get your copy now!
Darrick Dean 