Hi All,

I live in what is one of the most wonderful places on the earth today surely. Exciting, vibrant, beautiful people, emerging nation, stunning weather, plenty of space, dangerous…it is all here, nothing boring about this life i assure you.

So i figure i will get a week to week, or month to month blog going to share the experience of living here, from my point of view, with anyone who may care to read it.

I started to write an Introduction, but then got to thinking that it really did not need one from me so i thought i would use a piece that was written recently by Mark Berger, Quite frankly i could not of said it better myself anyway.

I hope you don’t mind me using it Mark, you did leave a footnote saying it was ok to pass the message on.

MARK BERGER SAID IT

Howzit

I don’t know about you but jislaaik I’m now getting really gatvol of all the bad news. South Africa once again seems to be falling through its own poephol. I think I’m going to puke if I hear any more s#*t about Jacob Zuma, Zimbabwe, Crime, Eskom, the Oil Price, Inflation, Soaring Food Costs, Bafana Bafana or even friggin Paris Hilton. I’ve absolutely had it with all this negativity, doom and gloom! I’m really SAT of it all ek se!!! How about you?

I mean it’s not like I want to gooi the ostrich vibe and bury my head in the sand. This shit is real and it’s serious and it’s happening all over.but not to me..YET!!! Nevertheless I can’t help but read it, hear about it it, see the headlines, hear the rumours.EVERYWHERE. It’s like they are brainwashing me boet. And the worst part of it is that I feel totally and completely HELPLESS. Useless. Disempowered. Castrated (almost.) Frustrated (completely.) I keep getting this heavy ball of anxious dread filling my guts and it feels really KAK! And the worst part of it all is that I am a motivational speaker who needs to stay positive and optimistic.

To top it all off, winter is coming so I can’t even feel good about the lekker weather any more!

Peter de Villiers, our new Springbok Rugby Coach, was quoted in a Sunday Times interview published on 4th May as saying: “The local media thrive on negativity. They have nothing good to say about their country. If there is something bad about this country the local media will break a leg to be the first to write about it. They’re a bunch of negative people who live in a world of their own, and are merely there to earn a living and not make SA a better place.”

I agree completely with the ou. I’m think that most of our journalists, reporters and editors are uninspired, negative, disaster focused, sensation seeking, sad sorry scumbags. They find fault in everything and never propose any workable solutions. Many of the ordinary people of South Africa are busy doing wonderful little things every day, but none of it is newsworthy. Here’s the truth: There are roughly 6.6 billion people on planet earth. And according to the World Health Organization, some 56 million deaths occur per year, at the current global average. That works out to about 153 400 per day. That’s right – 153 400 deaths every 24 hours! So it’s not really hard work to find disasters, accidents, catastrophes, murders, muggings and general mayhem to fill the headlines. It’s actually pretty easy.

But during that same 24 hours, about 350 000 babies are born. That’s right, every 24 hours, around 350 000 beautiful, miraculous, perfect, pure, happy, untainted, precious little beings begin their journey on this planet. And what do journalists write about this? F%*k all that’s what! Unless of course a six month old baby is stabbed to death – then we never stop hearing about it!

Every day about 48 million of us get up, take a s*#t, clean our teeth (hopefully) and get on with our life. And many of us perform little acts of respect, compassion, kindness, service, giving, helping and creating. As Cath Jenkin wrote recently in her blog: “There is noise and joy and emotional honesty in the way we live. When we as a nation are happy, we celebrate. When we are sad, we are sad together. Does anything else really matter? At least we are together in the queue for petrol and/or torches.”

But for our media this is not newsworthy. It’s just life.

So I gave it all a lot of thought. Then I did some more real deep thinking. And guess what – buggerall happened! So I stopped thinking for a while, by learning to meditate. Then I stopped reading most of the newspapers. Then I stopped watching the news on TV and listening to the news in my car. And I stopped listening to people with negative chirps and bad energy. And I stopped focusing on what was going wrong in my life.

Then I started to meditate every morning, after doing some simple yoga stretches and synchronized breathing exercises. And I replaced my morning cup of coffee and cigarette with some herbal tea and a dagga joint. (OK – joking about the joint!) And I re- read the Power of Now and Conversations with God and a Short History of Nearly Everything. And I began to visit an awesome positive website called sagoodnews.co.za. And MAN did I start to feel better. MUCH BETTER. Then I started to watch every sunset possible, ride my bicycle, watch funny video’s on Youtube, work in my garden, walk on the beach – I fu&%#ng started living again BRU! From the inside out! And it finally hit me between the eyes, an epiphany:

You can’t change your thinking in order to improve your behaviour. You need to change your behaviour in order to improve your thinking. It’s taken me many years of searching and many many books, self development courses and personal growth experiences to come to this simple truth.

So if you, like me, are feeling anxious, concerned, depressed or gatvol, why not try changing your behaviour and DOING something differently, from today.

For example:

Greet every SAP policeman you meet with a friendly smile or handshake and thank them for protecting you and your loved ones. Boy do they need some motivation!
Visit www.sagoodnews.co.za. Often.
Read an inspiring book.
Write a poem.
Get into nature (or walk barefoot on your lawn!)
Write down everything you have to be grateful for. Every morning.
Play inspirational music, especially when the news comes on your radio.
Find some way to exercise your body a little more. (Endorphins are lekker!)
Try out one of the 100 available techniques of mediation or relaxation.
Watch the sunrise and/or sunset.
Create a morning ritual to make your day beautiful.
Find out and speak about the good news.
Choose to be happy.

And don’t allow the media to f%&k with your mind.

Most importantly, seek out and speak your own truth and live a whole life.

You deserve it.

And in doing so, you will change your life and make a massive difference to this special place we call home.

PS: To all the media people out there – I’m all for a free press. Really. I’m just sick and tired of your continued obsessive focus with everything negative. When are you going to realize that you are not merely reporting on what is happening – you are CAUSING some of it by your actions. Yes – YOU! You are helping to perpetuate a dangerous cycle of violence and destruction. I accept that bad news sells, but soon there will be nobody left here to buy it! Please cheer up and get a life or piss off and go find another job. Serious. I’ve had it with your sensationalism and scandal. Enough already. Start doing your job and working a little bit harder to creatively seek out and give some headline space to the good stuff going down in SA. Trust me, it’s there!

(Pheeew it feels good to have got that off my chest!!!)

I wish you an awesome day. Choose to make it that way!

Mark Berger.

(Please feel free to forward this mail to anyone whom you feel may be in need of some good news.)

Who am I, who are we, why are we here and where are we going??….The eternal question, the seemingly everlasting riddle. It certainly occupies my mind a great deal, not to a point that I am constantly walking around trying to fathom it all, not at all, but on the other hand the question is always there.

People say it is a waste of time to think about it too much, that it is not worth dwelling on, just get on with the life and make the most of your time here on earth. Well I do try to make the most of my time but I could not disagree more with that attitude. I guess it’s a case of each to their own, but for me it is the ultimate question, and one that we should be striving to understand. It proves to be very frustrating for me, when I discuss it outright or try to squeeze it into a conversation it generally takes between about 0 seconds to about 15 seconds before the eyes of those that I am chatting with start ‘glazing’ over. At best the conversation will go for about five minutes by which time I start to get the look that says I must be bonkers and boring! It seems that to most people it simply does not matter.

Well, as I say, to me it is crucial. If we don’t know who we are or where we came from how on earth can we ever expect to get anywhere? For all we know we might just be going in round in circles with no real direction whatsoever, when I look back over recent history I am inclined to think that we are doing just that…going nowhere.

If we don’t know where we came from how can we ever understand ourselves, how can we ever learn to use our full potential? Learned people tell us that we only use between 3% and 20% of our full capabilities, lately scientists categorically state that only 3% of our DNA is active and they cast the other 97% off as ‘Junk DNA’, how preposterous a statement is that. That just tells us that they don’t know the answers. If DNA is the ‘perfect’ genome which it appears to be it is simply illogical, if nothing else, that 97% of it should be ‘junk’.

No, I can’t accept it. Personally I think the answers are within us, we just don’t know how to unlock the secrets properly yet. To be perfectly honest I am often led to think that there are those who do not want us to evolve and learn how to fulfil our true capabilities. Although I can now hear folk saying “there he goes…conspiracy theories”, if I were to turn my back on these thoughts I would be being dishonest with myself and I might just as well plod along and believe in Father Christmas and the like.
There are approximately 100 billion neurons in the brain, it is estimated that our brains can perform several billion connections and calculations, in seconds, within the communication network of our grey matter. Phew!!

Now I am no scientist or doctor and these ‘alleged facts’ are from the writings of people who are far better educated than I in those fields, probably every field in fact, but even if a small percentage of that is true, it is surely quite acceptable and logical to suppose that we really do not come anywhere close to fulfilling our potential.

For me, that thought is one of the most exciting things about this life we have and leads me to my one and only true and enduring personal ambition, self discovery and enlightenment. If the brain is the computer and DNA is the software then I really want to be able to programme my brain so that I can learn to unlock some of the secrets entombed within that software, surely the most exciting challenge that we have.

I have long believed that the power of the mind is all powerful in our lives’, we are what we think we are and can do whatever we think we can. If we think we are lost we will lose, and vice versa when it comes to winning, only those who think they will win, will in fact win or come out on top depending on what the circumstances of that particular situation is.

I adopted a motto in life during my 20’s which were the words of Benjamin Franklin (I think it was him), conceive it, believe it, dream it, then achieve it. I took these words on board, lived by them and applied them in many different ways, work and play. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that they work, having proved it to myself on countless occasions.

I look back over my life and think about all the things I was taught as I grew up and matured, and quite frankly I am left incredulous at how much of it was a load of nonsense, much of it proven beyond a shadow of a doubt. It makes me wonder how much else of our teachings in general are relative rubbish.

One day we are told that something is good for us and then the next we are told that it is bad for us. We were taught that there is the sun and nine planets and the stars, and that the earth was the centre of the universe and there was not any other life out there. Stories that suggested anything different were considered the ramblings of mad men.

Now today we are told there are plenty of other planets and other solar systems, the earth is decidedly not the centre of the universe and even the Pope has come out and said that there is in fact other life out there. How does he know by the way?…is it possible that the Vatican has known all along?

Not so long ago they would of burnt people at the stake for claiming there was other life out there!

To be frank, if one just lays back and looks up at the stars at night, it seems outrageously arrogant and naive to me that anyone can possibly conceive the notion that we are the only life around.

Something is clearly not right isn’t it, and the fact is that the vast majority of us are so busy trying to survive that we cannot afford the time or energy to try and work things out, we just keep going on in the faith that those who teach us and ‘lead’ us are correct and are doing right by us. We just keep on doing things in the same old way, how can we expect different results. Who has not heard the saying that history repeats itself…as the talker generally shakes their head in dismay.

Staying with the universe as an example, it was not so long ago that man thought the earth was flat and ancient mariners were scared of sailing right over the edge if they went too far.

How can that be? What happened to make us think and believe such a thing…and so recently!!

The fact is that writings unearthed in archaeological digs have proven beyond all doubt that many ancient civilisations from as far back as 5000 years ago at least, possessed intimate knowledge of the cosmos. Ancient Greeks, ancient Chinese, the Egyptians, Mesopotamians, they all were well versed in such knowledge. The writings from the Sumerian people describe the solar system in great detail as well as outlining some of their other achievements from their past in medicine, surgery, eye surgery, genetic engineering, space travel and much more. There is, apparently, physical evidence to suggest that humans from many thousands of years ago knew more about science, medicine and astronomy than we know today.

Yet for all the proof that is out there, these thoughts are cast into the rubbish bin and labelled fairy tales. Imagine if fifty years ago someone stood up and tried to convince everyone that sheep, and therefore humans could be cloned!!, imagine if they said that surgery could be carried out without having to use knives, or that through technology we would be able to speak to anyone anywhere at any time through little black boxes we carried in our pockets, that also took pictures and videos, sent faxes, texts, e mails, calculated difficult arithmetic and much more. Try telling someone fifty years ago about the internet…try telling some of the older folk who are still with us today!!..Bless em. The people of fifty years ago would be looking at us with sad knowing eyes saying “bless him, sit down and have a cup of tea love, have you banged your head lately?”

I cannot help but think that the vast majority of the world today and the recent past is brainwashed by religion, tradition, and politics with media and advertising completely in control. Anything untoward is immediately cast aside as evil, mythological, totally ridiculous or worse.

We seem to think that we supersede all before us merely because we live now and they lived then. We claim to live in civilised societies and that civilisations before us were really savages of one sort or another. Civilised my ass! There is nothing civil about it. The word has somehow been twisted so that people think that the most advanced economies in the world are therefore by default the most civilised in the world.

Something like 10% of the world’s population has everything and the other 90% live on or below the breadline. If you can pay your rent each month, have something to eat and maybe afford the movies or a drink occasionally you are one of the 10%. What on earth is civilised about that I ask? Without wishing to get stuck into any detail at this point, I have to say this; one of the relatively few things that we know for absolute sure today is that a chain is as strong as its weakest link. Well let me tell you that the human race is a chain.

I reckon that in hundreds of years to come people will look back on us in much the same way as we look back on the darkness of the Middle Ages.

Staying with ancient civilisations it has always baffled me how our modern day scholars, historians, anthropologists and archaeologists alike wax lyrical about the wonderful civilisations of the past and their magnificent monuments yet treat their writings as mythical fairy tales and legends. On the one hand these scholars set out to prove to us how they managed to build these monuments with basic ‘pre historic’ tools and engineering, yet on the other the hundreds of thousands of writings that have been found are treated with complete disrespect and scepticism.

They want us to believe that the Stonehenge for example, with some blocks weighing 45 tons was built by folk who live in wattle and daub huts!!….why would they do that in the first place?

They want us to believe that the pyramids were built by thousands of workers who man handled blocks so precisely that even engineers of today are awe struck by the feat of construction, not to mention the astrological features to the building.
Some of the stone blocks in the ancient constructions to be found in the Lebanon weigh up to 600 tons!…and we must believe that it was built by ancient ‘savages’. Do me a favour…not even our modern day cranes could of lifted them, let alone quarry them from kilometres away and then move them into position!

No …as I say, something is very definitely not gelling here, there is much more than meets the eye.

I come back to the original question, who am I, who are we and where are we going? Whoever I am, whoever we are and wherever we are going I really don’t think we have got it right and we are never going to get there until we have the basics in place first.

Without knowing who we are or the reason for being, we will forever be trying to build on an unstable foundation and the very structures of our societies will continue to be fabricated by hidden agendas, exploitation, greed, lies and deceit to such an extent that at some time it will imminently come crashing down around our ears.

So the question of who I am is absolutely crucial for me to achieve the level of enlightenment that I desire, and it is something I will be writing a great deal about here on this site, with much to come very shortly. It may not fall within the realms of the African bush and the wildlife within it per se, but to my mind it certainly falls within the realms of wild life from a human point of view.

I would truly appreciate any comments or discussion that anyone would like to engage in with me on these subjects, no matter which direction they may come from, good or bad. Essentially I am a ‘sitchinite’ but it is still work in progress within my mind and I am very keen to ‘dig’ further.

Ciao for now.