What is America, in answer to this question some would say that America is it’s people or even that America is the land mass that it is comprised of.

I prefer to think that America is an ideal and that that ideal is framed and formed by the constitution.

A different constitution would yield a completely different America, because of this, from the perspective of America the constitution is a hallowed document to be revered and cherished.

But on another level of consciousness the constitution that forms America as we know it is nothing but a framework or set of rules for society to play out its day to day existence within.

We each live out our lives in a multifaceted consciousness on different levels. Imagine a person playing monopoly in an American town.

This person on one level is governed by and subject to the rules of monopoly, on a higher level he/she is governed by and subject to the constitution and laws of the town where the monopoly is being played.

Then there is the reality that it is today “again” or now and that reality supersedes both the constitution and the rules of monopoly.

I’m sure that there are other deeper levels of existence but for the present argument we will rest with these three levels.

It is presumed that these levels are compartments of existence each affecting each other but this assumption only holds in as much as we allow each to affect the other.

If you win $100 million playing monopoly you cannot cash this check in the Constitutional world. If you win $100 million in real life society it will have no effect on your career in monopoly world. This is because there is no connection between these levels of existence other that the connection allowed by the person in their thinking patterns.

Today or now in this argument refers to the consciousness that appears to infect our mortal bodies, the presence, the I am ness.

No man or woman can influence the reality that is now with their winnings from either monopoly or society, it is untouchable by these levels of existence except by the thinking patterns of the person.

Regardless of what happens in your monopoly world or within your constitutional world, your now world is untouched.

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Years ago when I fought my inner war sometimes referred to as depression I recall my battle cry was “Whats the point”, looking back through the haze that covers those long ago days I find it hard to recall the person I thought I was or his motives and beliefs.

Whats the point, the point is that you have children to feed and a family to support. This statement will not help a person in the midst of a severe depression however it is the only and best answer.

The Bhagavad Gita is probably the most important book of  Hindu philosophy, it tells of an epic battle between two royal forces. It is played out as a series of conversations between Arjuna and Krishna the supreme ruler of the universe.

When asked by Arjuna who he is Krishna replies: “I am time the destroyer of all, I have come to consume the world”.

The battle that is played out in the Gita is an inner battle, the battle royal between the forces that vie for control of a person.

From my experience a mid life crisis or severe bout of depression is an episode in this royal battle often called the dark night of the soul.

What is actually occurring is that a persons identity built by years of conditioning by their environment is being challenged by their true nature. The battle is for undisputed ruler of the territory that is the consciousness.

While the stricken person might whine and ask whats the point, the proponents in the battle royal are untouched and/ or unaffected. This war must be waged and there can be only one victor, one’s true self.

The problems for the person trying to live in a constitutional world, playing monopoly while this battle rages within their consciousness are massive. So massive that their will to live or want to live might be up for discussion.

These problems present because we as people believe that we are a complete package and that all sections are interlinked. We think of our inner world as part of our outer world and there is no connection other than out thinking patterns.

Within the body all parts are connected and interdependent. This is not the case with consciousness. There is no interconnection.

If and when a person realizes this, life from a psyche perspective becomes a much easier road to travel.

True peace and happiness come from being what you are, not what you believe you are or want to be.

The world cannot forgive you, you can only forgive yourself, however I have come to believe that acceptance overrides all. If you can find it within yourself to accept yourself the battle is over.

I’m 3/4 ways through “Girl Interrupted” and a reality is starting to set in to my denseness that the real asylum is located outside the walls of  loony bin as Susanna Kaysen describes McLean Hospital in Belmont MA. 

I mean how can so many people behave like brain dead morons on life support and then describe themselves as normal. Is it normal to buy a 3G phone and expect it to work as described in AT&T’s ads, well no not if you listened to the last line “3G not available in all areas” 

Is it normal to expect a $55 dollar charge on a $4 overdraft for one week on a Citizen Bank checking account? It’s not like Citizen Bank is a bastion of morality and fiscal fortitude. Their parent company Bank of Scotland has left a footprint of destruction in their wake in every market they are/were involved in. Ah! but, don’t you just love the phrase ”ah! but”,  it means that the opposite to reality applies. 

So, ah! but, in the case of the venerable banking industry implies that in the minds of the idiots who administer our nations affairs that a little blimp here or there is no big deal because we have “Tarp” and we have “Nama” and God knows what in Iceland to calm the raging seas of the financial storm churned up by there financial wizards in their alchemic quest to make a financial killing. 

Don’t you just hate it when you listen to this great offer on sports radio and the last line is “some restrictions apply”. That means that if you have not been a good corporate clone then don’t bother asking. 

You do know that the credit reporting agencies are a threat. Mess up and your privileges will be shut down. It’s like in the mental hospital when you act out you lose your privileges. I wonder does Donald Trump or George Bush have a credit report, or are they only for the little people, to keep them in line like cattle walking nervously to the knife. 

In Ireland, mother Ireland soon to be renamed Nama Land they used to say terms and conditions apply which mean it’s a lie. 

Nama is Ireland’s version of Fannie Mae; it is a dump for so called toxic assets. Nama is threatening to destroy the fabric of society in cash poor Ireland, a country that as little as 25 years ago was described as a third world country. It might be that again. 

What exactly are toxic assets? Well when a bank is too big to fail it’s non performing assets (loans) are taken over by the state and paid for in cash for the total outstanding amount. The bank is fully compensated for its stupidity and for the mess it made of its business and the economy. The loss between the present value of the toxic asset and the outstanding loan amount is paid for by the plebs who work for a living. 

Recently a piece of land in Athlone which is a borderline nowhere in the center of nowhere which is what Ireland really is on the financial world stage was acquired by Nama for the outstanding mortgage balance. This land had a pre crash value of 31 million Euro and a present day value of 600,000 Euro. This represents a loss of over 30 million Euro for Nama which is code for the downtrodden people of Ireland. 

Makes you wonder though doesn’t it.  Is it possible that the term “terms and conditions apply” should apply to banks that where crazy enough to lend 31 million on a piece of land that was over 5,000% overvalued. We are not talking 10% or 20% over valued, no 5,000%, read my lips 5K% overvalued. 

The question that really needs to be asked when too big to fail is being bandied about like confetti is: Are the people of Ireland or America too big to fail or is it like Leona Hensley liked to believe, that the little people’s role in everyday life is as a resource to wealth. 

The everyday people are the system, they are the economy but the trouble is that the people who run the economy are not part of it. They are like a farmer administering a herd of cattle. If the herd gets foot and mouth and has to be put down the farmer isn’t also euthanized. In most cases the people who are the economy like the cattle suffer the brunt of their masters incompetence while the master is compensated for the losses he/she caused and the rich folk live happily ever after. Some fairy tale life turns out to be.

So the next time you feel like calling someone insane look at yourself politely lining up to pay homage at the gates of hell, like a steer staring down a knife and obediently doing you duty to ensure that your master has a full plate. 

Insanity my ass, society is the asylum.