CAN LIFE BE SIMPLER? ______________________ Positively, I believe the answer is yes. Please note: In this essay, I will use the word 'Man' for the sake of convenience; it, of course refers equally to women.     Since the very beginning, when Man first appeared on the planet in whatever shape or form from which we are derived, living has always been difficult but that conception arises solely because we have invented the word 'difficult'. Without the word, life is life and you live it as you can or fall by the wayside and die.     When we began to acquire the ability of an awareness of being aware and began to use a language to communicate our thoughts and feelings, we also acquired the ability to use that language (along with our constantly-found new experiences) to look further than the physical world we lived in.     Language is the key to our survival; especially when we invented a means to write it down. The ability to see what we had spoken or thought, has been the key to our dominance (rightly or wrongly), since thoughts and ideas could be easily passed from generation to generation. Since certain races of Man seemed to be in more of a hurry than others to accumulate knowledge/data, they began to dominate other races who were not so inclined. What I mean here, is that instead of passing knowledge/data by word of mouth, deed, singing, dancing and so on, the notion of the written word became very important to what we choose to call 'civilisation'. "Civilisation', of course is only an idea.     The problem arises when we let language take over our natural other behaviours, namely, survival and rely on it to control our lives.     We have let our lives become complicated and less simple.     There is a notion that the strongest or fittest survive. Here we already have a mis-use of a word. The word is 'strongest'. Where fittest is appended to the phrase, strongest means stronger in the sense of survival, not, as is generally accepted, stronger in physical stature or what we choose to called intellectual ability. It is this notion of physical attributes that has caused the problem in our lives, i.e. controlling other people. The word for this is bullying.     There have always been bullies. The problem is that they have been allowed to take over the world, which is why it is in such a very sad state, no other reason. All so-called 'authority' is based on a Bully System. The very rise of any 'society' (for want of a better word), is based on a Bully System. "You do as I say because I am stronger, or I will beat you up/lock you away" and so on. This is the notion behind the society we live in because, for some reason, we have let the bullies take over. They will continue to do so, until we put a stop to it.     So entrenched is this Bully System, that many people believe it to be a truth! So entrenched is the Bully System, people actually vote for bullies who pretend to 'look after' them! Thus, the Nanny State. It ain't yours. It's theirs. These people don't give a hoot for your welfare, however much rhetoric they whine.    Some people do not even have a choice, which is why there are pathetic wars to try to change things. Unfortunately, we seem to have lost the ability for sense to prevail and other bullies take over and we are back to square one.     Remember, the bullies have become what some people choose to call 'leaders', that is, Kings, Queens, Popes, politicians and other types of dictators/controllers (even in so-called 'families'). These people are, if not actual bullies themselves, certainly derived from bullies. Remember, also, that there are no 'born leaders', only perhaps, 'born followers'. These people have managed to change things around so that they believe they have some sort of 'right' to inflict their bully behaviour on others and invent all sorts of nonsense to back up their behaviours (apart from their bullying).     I am not promoting anarchy (although that might not be a bad idea) but the world will remain complicated so long as we let bullies tell us what to do.     The 'average' person (I hate that expression but it is convenient) is okay. There are some who will not 'play by the rules' but they can be dealt with.     The world is complicated because we have allowed ourselves to be herded. One method of herding is to invent an institution called 'marriage'. The notion of a romantic marriage is a Victorian one. Before that, there were often sound reasons to get married (not necessarily in any good faith)      I have no objection to a romantic marriage, of course but that is relevant to a sound reason, not a reason deliberately chosen for the controlling of other people. Around this, we have built an whole range of activities which have nothing whatsoever to do with the 'joining' of two people.     Other methods of herding. include, the church, armies of all types, towns, cities, work-forces, unions, secret societies, various movements and so on. This is not to say that people shouldn't get together for common reasons (clubs, gatherings to share common interests, and so on; these do not generally lead to bullying/control tactics (unless they are part of a wider organisation, e.g. the church, with its vested interests)). I doubt if the local stamp-collecting society would bully you into buying stamps!     The world is a place of diversity of species (flora and fauna), diversity of space and conditions. This is the very nature of life. On its own, the world shapes itself. What Man has tried to do (mostly unsuccessfully, is to make it a static, linear world, (which it is not and never will be). This is the notion of change. Change is the essence of life. We have rigged a society or societies in which change, is a dirty word. The world is crinkly, not linear. This should apply to ALL things, including codes of practice. However, this does not suit the controllers since by their very nature, they do not want change as it frightens them and forces them to think beyond their meagre capabilities.     By creating this (nearly) static world, the bullies have led themselves into a situation which they can only make more complicated. The invention of 'laws' has led us into a situation that is very hard to get away from. I deny the necessity for 'laws' because they do not work for the 'common man', they work for lawyers (at whatever level they choose to call themselves). Rules, yes; laws, no. This notion is carried further in my essay Rules and Laws.     Can life be simpler? As I said, I believe it can but only if we resist the bullies of this world by peaceful means. Maybe there are not enough people who want to think for themselves but I don't think so; they tend to give up against a tide of sad humans who deem it their 'right' to control others. Resistance to this notion can only be spread by the very words that others use against humanity. Refusal to 'vote' for people about whom we know nothing is a start (note: in most, if not all, Western societies, we are coerced into this, with threats of violence, i.e. fines, if we don't). The problem here is that those people who are capable of managing a system (if that is what the public actually want, without being coerced in some way) are wrapped up in the same world that gestates them; (in other words, they are making good money in a Company, somewhere). There must be a way out of this impasse, this paradox.     I am not in a position to provide an answer to this but I am positive that there are many people out there who can solve this for the BETTERMENT of the human race, not its degradation and desecration in the name of some spurious 'progress'. Progress only to our demise.     Those people who could provide answers, would be those conversant with:     Humanitarian principles     The Theory of Chaos     The understanding of Semantics     The means to communicate, i.e. proper 'people' skills     The ability to care for others     There is no 'omniscient' power. That is a belief offered by bullies/controllers. Any such power comes from within a person, acting as he must, through no other reason than he must. There will always be deviants but that is a fact of life. At present we are living in a society produced by deviants and extolling their virtues by the fact of everybody else having to conform to their deviancy and the mass of good-caring folk having to suffer because of the few. This is societal nonsense.     Most people, who do not have pretensions about their status (which are based on Fear) are 'good' people by any standards. The few deviants, seem to rule the world. It is time these deviants were put into place.     I have appended a list of Positive and Negative words which might be considered by the reader, any one of which could (and should, in my view) be the subject of discussion. They are not listed in any order (that would be virtually impossible), nor is one necessarily the opposite of the other. POSITIVE                                      Negative    Encouragement                                Duty/Obligation    Praise                                             Putting down    Abiding by 'rules' (self-regulating)     Abiding by the 'law' (non-self regulating)    Support                                          Bullying/Coercion    Criticism                                         Criticism    Helping others                                 Hinderance    Learning                                          Being 'told' what to do    Leading towards knowledge (teaching)    Complacent    Asking                                             Telling    Being as 'truthful' as one can             Telling lies to extort a behaviour from the recipient    Friendly                                           Controlling    Caring                                              Fault/blame            These are just a few ideas. There are many more. They each revolve around the other. Like life, they are not separate compartments. Naming something does not make it so. Naming something is a convenience to our ignorance (not our understanding).     Most people seem to be obsessed with letting others 'look after them'. This is lazy and these people only bemoan their lot. Time is to do something about this sad, negative world we live in. If others do not wish to try to better the world, then that is their lack of responsibility, they deserve what they get. But please don't inflict this on attitude on me and those like me. No person or persons, living, dead or otherwise, has the entitlement to control another life-form for whatever reason given. Like it or not, we are all born free people, whatever anyone may say to the contrary. If they don't think so, that's their problem; they must solve it without recourse to controlling others because they cannot control themselves.

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