When we set our eyes upon the Great Seal of the United States, with the bald eagle 
as a part of historic American symbology, there are several things about it that most people never notice or ascribe any real meaning to. For this piece, I will discuss the unknown significance of a few of those things. Have you ever noticed or wondered why the eagle’s head faces to one side, as opposed to facing straight ahead or to the opposite side? Did you think it was just a preference of its creators, or has no significance whatsoever? Maybe you noticed and gave it some thought, or perhaps you didn’t. But you probably never wondered at any depth why this was so, or if there was any reason for it at all.
You should know that governmental bodies, and much of our society in general, is covered in symbolism taken from ancient times, sometimes re-done, and used in plain sight with the masses never thinking twice about the intention behind them. Unless one is an initiate into one of the various secret cabals that hoard this knowledge, they would never notice it, or think anything of it. In one of the bald eagle’s claws it is clinching onto an olive branch, which since ancient times has been seen as a symbol of peace. In the other claw it is clinching thirteen arrows – this number represents the thirteen original colonies of what would eventually become The United States <em>for</em> America. (Yes, you read and I typed correctly – I wrote <em>for</em> America. This is how it was in the beginning when America was established as a true and rare Republic. This union would eventually convert into a private corporation (just like the Federal Reserve Bank is a private bank), and the name of the country/company would change to what we know it as today – The United States <em>of</em> America. (If you want to learn more about this, it can be easily researched). The bald eagle is symbolic of great strength, longevity, keen eyesight at great distances, regeneration, prosperity, and prowess, among other things. Its wingspan averages anywhere from 5.9 to 7.5 feet across. Let that sink in for a minute. Its wingspan is equivalent to the height of an average American male! So its massive reach is also intended to be symbolised in its choosing.
The eagle’s head faces to the right, in the direction toward the olive branch found in its right claw, symbolizing America’s preference toward peace. It looks away from the arrows – a symbol of war – indicating its desire to avert war, but prefers peace instead. Any person with a brain knows that this is not true; and it has certainly NOT been the operandi modus of the United States to date. In fact, it is written in the original constitution that the United States cannot initiate or declare war without being attacked first. So in more cases than not, it has staged attacks against itself in order to give reason to enter into wars.
Here’s the truth: Though along our shores it remains relatively peaceful, America is a warring country by nature, not a peaceful one. Again, this is no secret to any breathing, thinking human being. Some already know this, and many are still in denial of this fact; continuing to romanticize the ideals of American ‘greatness’.
War seems to be the way of the conquerers; it is an ancient tactic, and is also how Imperialistic and oppressive forces maintain their group. War is an engrained part of the fabric and culture of America. We are responsible for tens, if not hundreds of millions of human deaths upon this planet! America is one of the biggest terrorists on Earth. But we deflect and shift the blame into Islamic jihadists as opposed to looking at ourselves in the mirror, applying judgment, and then our so-called leaders (dead or alive) taking responsibility for their own actions in creating such devastation in the Middle East and around the world. We are currently in negotiations to restore relations with two countries – Cuba and Argentina – in which American CIA and military operatives were openly involved with coups d’tats in these countries in attempts to overthrow democratically elected officials by the people of those nations, and seek to install its own puppet government that would protect its own interests on these nations’ soil.
We can rant, kick, and scream all we want to about gun control, and roll around in fear of our neighbors’ ownership of guns, but the truth of the matter is that guns don’t kill people, people kill people. There are so many people who have been affected by this war mentality and reality we’ve been infected with. The idea of war has existed for millennia, and is seemingly the chosen strategy for Empires to project power across vast distances. The original settlers in America have fostered a war mentality since the inception and colonization of the first 13 union states. This very land was stolen in an eventual act of war against the indigenous and Aboriginal Americans already living on the land. For God’s sake, The Civil War was a war between those who now shared this land after it was stolen, and had different views about its future direction. So they fought about it! WW I, WW II, The Vietnam War, Philippines-American War, The Korean War, The Persian Gulf War, Desert Storm, which thrust the middle east regions of Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and other surrounding nations into utter chaos and ruin. The ‘Drug War’ against America’s poor and negro; The KKK’s war in America against African defendants and American Aboriginals…I could go on and on.
How did we ever expect that these barbaric and medieval practices of murder and devaluation of human life would not somehow bleed over into our society? We literally pump this mentality into the minds of our children through video games, virtual reality, movies, and documentaries. We continue to greedily choose to chase wealth over an evolved, intelligent, and high-thinking society. I don’t believe that all of these mass shootings of today are fully authentic, but for any that are, we can only peer into the mirror to clearly see the source from which much of the world’s turmoil flows.
20 Bradford Spoke 16
Dear friends – I don’t quite know how to put this, except to just say it like it is – If we do not awaken to the ‘game’ that these actors are putting on for our political entertainment and our brain entrainment, we are going to soon wake up only to find ourselves and our families in a much worse hell than we are already in today. I have never been more thoroughly convinced that there is a hidden agenda – one that has existed for centuries – to obliterate what freedoms we still have left in America and in all of the free world. My GOD, we need a people’s revolution before it’s too late!
The Politician/Puppet – It is evident to me that the job of the politician/puppet in our world today is one of pure trickery and deceit, darkness, and exploitation of human beings through a unique blend of corporate and government aligned interests. The political processes to which they ascribe, and their use of the mass media machine to shape public opinion, ‘campaign’/pander to the public, are not-so-obviously intended to brainwash us, confuse us, and to keep us distracted from digging for ourselves to see what is really going on behind the “wizard(s)'” curtain. The wizard(s)’ primary intent is disinformation! But how do you fight to expose and destroy this wizard if due to extreme secrecy you are unable to uncover who the Wiz really is? So you’re left chasing after a moving target, which is also the intent. This is all a part of the great chess strategy – ultimate secrecy. This is why we have seen an extremely significant increase in the number of documents deemed as classified by the U.S. government in the last decade or so, as well as an enormous drop in the number of declassified documents. Though we have been promised more transparency by White House administrations, what we’ve actually gotten is much more secrecy and lack of disclosure. The United States’ Central Intelligence Agency is a huge cog inside of the disinformation wheel. In fact, former CIA Director (1980-87), William Casey was quoted allegedly saying:
We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.
This specific intent did not leave the C.I.A. with Casey’s resignation – disinformation and counterintelligence are two of the primary reasons for its existence. If you’re willing to do just a little bit of digging, much if their dirty laundry is available for all the world to see. We all have to take some level of interest in our own freedom. They’re even arrogant about it, as if they dare anyone to challenge their crimes and their reasoning for them. The minute we place our trust/vote of confidence in these people within this two party system of (D) and (R) that we are invisibly forced to participate in, we have sadly already lost. Neither of these parties are loyal to the interests of the American people, nor to the protection of their constitutional rights; their only loyalty is to the Empire, and the succession of that Empirical concept to future propagandists that will replace them but continue their work of dismantling society. Every four years we get run over by the propaganda tractor, whisked again into thinking that ‘this candidate will be better’. Well they won’t, and I can guarantee it. They aren’t allowed to be.
Nazi Soulmates – It is widely known now that Adolf Hitler’s propaganda and war machine was heavily funded by wealthy, elite Americans and Europeans — just to provide a little greater perspective here. So let’s think about this for a minute – less than a century ago, the people of Germany never in a million years would have imagined that their beloved country would become the war machine and Nazi monster that it did under Hitler’s leadership. What human in their right state of mind would knowingly be a participate in such a travesty? This did not happen overnight; what preceded it was years of cultivating the soil of the minds of the German people to lead them toward accepting the sins he would commit in their name. This is not unlike the mental cultivation taking place in minds of Americans today! And if you’d open your eyes real wide, you will see that America has been slowly becoming an extension of those same Nazi ideals, which came into much clearer view for me after the carefully planned WTC attacks of 9/11/2001 and G.W. Bush’s blinding passage of The Patriot Act. When there is still no scientific explanation that can be given around how a 757 commercial jetliner could crash into the Pentagon building, only leaving a hole about 15′ in diameter, while the wingspan of such jet is 10x that, and you proceed to publish a report that substantiated such a scientific impossibility, you have completely lost all of my trust and belief in your ability to tell the truth! The Patriot Act alone took away many of our constitutional rights and civil liberties almost overnight, all under the deceptive guise of an American-created pseudo “war on terror”. These changes have happened so gradually that it’s easy to overlook – much like a marriage that has been deteriorating for many years, but both husband and wife have managed to turn a blind eye to the damage, hoping things will get better all by itself, or that perhaps some event will come along and cause all their problems to disappear without fighting and putting in the needed work. Something happening at such a gradual pace can be easily missed, and I understand that. Without conscious study, we all bear such a limited view of history. The majority of us suffer from short-term loss or are sickened with a case of total American amnesia. It can also be quite difficult to connect dots occurring over a string of two to three decades, particularly when none of the events within those lengthy timeframes are noticeably connected, or either have taken place outside of the periphery of our own lifetimes.
The Plan – To imprison us all – mind and body, and the mind piece is nearly complete. Some believe that this is an off-planet agenda, which is how I generally tend to lean. We (the West) have become that German war and propaganda machine now, my friends, and American citizens, not only Jewish people, are the targets. Like Nazi Germany, this is a machine that will stop at nothing, except death, to succeed at imposing its power across the globe. This machine utilizes staged events and terroristic imagery of death and destruction as psychological warfare to evoke fear in the hearts of its own people, using their own land and resources against them in their thrust for world domination. Our freedom is in grave danger, more than ever before in recorded history, and the signs of it are everywhere. Can’t you see it?! Are we waiting for some sort of savoir??
What’s Next – I believe that a complete collapse of the global economy is the next phase of this cataclysmic agenda to bring us all to our knees, literally begging peace, and for our lives and our families to be saved from suffering. In fact, the global economy and the freedoms that many of us have historically enjoyed, have been greatly under siege since the Federal Reserve Bank, IMF, and most recently Corporations have hijacked America’s politicians and politics back in the early 1900s. The Nixon, Reagan, Clinton, Obama, and both Bush administrations have all plucked away at our constitutional rights one piece at a time – each had their part to play in bringing this final agenda to fruition. What freedom we (believe) have now is mostly perceived freedom.
Gun Control & Martial Law – Nationally, the end goal here is martial law, which starts with the confiscation of guns from Americans. One angle toward achieving this goal is to create a race war and a perception of uncontrollable mass shootings in America that only ‘Martial Law and increased gun control can bring into balance’. Turning Black Americans against White Americans, while turning our own law enforcement against us both! This can be achieved if there is a war successfully created between races, with Blacks and Whites fearful and untrusting of each other…fighting and killing each other, deepening the stereotypes that exist about each other, etc. Also, when law enforcement officials become so fearful of their own lives being in danger at the hands of citizens, this will make it that much easier for them to abuse us, our rights, kill us, and throw us into prison or concentration camps for the sake of their own safety. None of the raw and real facts support the need for more gun control on America, however, this agenda is atop the list for POTUS Obama right now. The things that are really in need of attention are, of course, at the bottom of the list of priorities. This also is intentional.
More on this later, but for now keep watching with great vigilance.
LOVE,
20 BradfordSpoke 15
First and foremost, my condolences go out to the families of the two men and NYC police officers who were killed in the line of duty a few months ago. I meant to post about this matter at the time it happened, but somehow got sidetracked. So here goes…ALL LIVES MATTER, and it is never pleasant to see anyone lose a brother, sister, son, daughter, niece, nephew, or any other loved one, no matter how it comes about. That said, the comments made about New York Mayor Bill De Blasio in that moment by NYPD union president were out of line, in my opinion, and a direct attempt to agitate an already blazing inferno between law enforcement and American citizens, both in New York and around the country. He should have been sharply reprimanded and disciplined from the highest levels for his tactlessness, reckless, and unprofessional commentary and action. A period of suspension at the least, to take a moment to reevaluate whether he is of the right psychological mindset to lead one of the largest, most well-armed and brutal police forces in the United States. The fact that this did not happen, again indicates to me the lack of accountability for law enforcement officials and their actions.
While I empathize deeply with these humans and their families for the losses they have incurred, it takes a blind fool to fail to – or refuse to, rather – associate their murders to the citizens vs police boiling point that has been reached through the violence and additional over-policing that has resulted from the splattering of so much American blood across American soil – disproportionately black and brown blood but is increasingly incorporating white blood – at the hands of local, state, and federal law enforcement. The argument can also be made that there is a direct connection to the spike we have witnessed in the prison populace in America since the 1980s. This recent heightened awareness swirls around the silent genocide that has been taking place right underneath all of our noses for several decades now, under the guises of a fabricated War on Drugs, failed policies of Law and Order that have, in fact, created more criminals, and a “get tough on crime” philosophy in America that insists on not taking note of the mental state of many of its citizens due to constant social trauma. American presidents of the past – Nixon, Reagan, both Bush’s, Clinton – have centered entire election campaign platforms around these myth-made-real in the minds of Americans, spoofs.
Connections are Everywhere: You may not be aware that statistics indicate that when the so-called War on Drugs of the 1970-1980s was launched, initially by POTUS Richard Nixon, crime in America was actually at an all-time low, with around 300,000 humans being warehoused in prisons at the time. So there was no real need for a “war” of this nature to ever be initiated. So what was that all about? This alleged “war” has not truly been one waged against illegal substances or drug dealers, but one waged against the poor, black and brown people desperate to survive. It would go on to cripple and devastate entire communities around the country, turning millions into criminals and/or addicts. This ‘war’ was waged within communities that already lacked employment opportunities, and were already the victims of poor education systems and shabby resources, which as a result worsened its inhabitants’ ability to actively prepare for participation in a world that was moving rapidly from one based around industrialization and manufacturing, to one much more global in scope – a world based around hi-technology, and would require a specific education and skill set in order to thrive. Millions were left behind by this! The aftereffects of these immoral and federally supported efforts against this group of people have been far-reaching, reverberating still to the tune of now more than 2.2 million of disenfranchised among us via incarceration. A staggering number of others remain under some level of law enforcement supervision. Of all of these lives harmed, a large portion of their offenses were non-violent and the punishment did not match the crime because within the ‘Get Tough on Crime’ philosophy were embedded longer and harsher sentences for crimes of that nature, such as simple possession of narcotics, etc. The majority of those incarcerated were drug users and addicts needing rehabilitation from the very drugs that were intentionally implanted into their communities; they were not dealers needing prison time as punishment. Opportunities for a quality education, employment and fair pay would have been much more plausible gestures than the heroine and crack cocaine they decided to “gift” our American ghettos.
The real criminals and thugs here are not necessarily wearing baggy jeans, hoodies, and Timberland boots as we have been led to believe; but many (not all) of them wear suits today; ties, camouflage gear, and uniforms bearing shiny badges pinned to their chests with patches bearing the American flag symbol attached to their shoulder. That is whose interest our law enforcement are truly sworn to protect and serve – whether they are aware of it or not. Let’s see if I can’t be a little more clear – The original purpose of policemen was to protect the State and the assets of its rich and wealthy from other citizens they felt might threaten it – poor and black citizens. Its purpose is to keep you and me out! Our benefit is an ancillary one, at best. And to you, the officers who watch your colleagues perform foul deeds and say nothing, you are accomplices to those deeds – Shame on you!
The fact that police union members and leaders – in unison and in public – decided to disrespectfully turn their backs on Mayor of New York, Bill de Blasio, simply because he chose to speak out against and question their policing ethics, tactics and practices, should speak volumes to all of us. I applaud him for speaking up – it’s about time somebody with some political juice grew a pair and did so! Kudos, Mayor de Blasio! Perhaps his empathy spills out because recent events hit a bit close to home for him. Maybe his concerns have a little something to do with the fact that his wife is Black/African American, as well as the two biracial children they share. You see, love sees no color, so his concern lies with the love for his son and his family, regardless of his skin color. Having a conversation with his teenage (mixed black and white, but considered Black by America’s one-drop rule) son, cautioning him to be careful when encountering law enforcement in any way, is an intelligent, wise, and necessary conversation to have with any young black man living in today’s America – for the sake of their very lives! This should not be held against him in any way, or against any parent with the interest of protecting their child. If he deems it necessary to have such a conversation with his own son – who one might think would be shielded from harm in some way – how much more should we all who are at a much lower level of sociopolitical status and influence? He obviously feels his son’s life is in potential danger daily, as well as the rest of ours.
What the future holds for America as it pertains to the relationship shared between law enforcement and the Black community is largely unknown at this point, but historical and recent events would indicate that it is not a positive one, and a long fight lies ahead. Just as during the Civil Rights Period, the federal government is dragging its feet about aggressively getting involved, so the growing discomfort from this toxic virus swells in the belly of America. You would think they would have learned from the history that precedes us; its almost as if someone(s) want things to boil over.
Today we have an emerging police state that apparently feels it is above the law – whose actions should not be questioned; one that holds citizens highly accountable when one of their fellow officers loses a life, but does not want to be be held equally accountable when their carelessness, recklessness, and lack of compassion has claimed triple the amount of (black) American lives through brutality, murder, and incarceration, destroying entire families and whole communities, leaving innumerable children fatherless…and/or motherless in many cases. There’s this thing called cause and effect – every cause has an effect. You cannot enact a cause without there being some sort of effect that follows, i.e. The Gulf War and the long-range effects it has had on life in the Middle East. The effects of their mistreatment toward Black Americans, appears to be an open revolt against them. What a complete mess we have on our hands right now…and the origin of everything we are experiencing with regards to this dilemma we face, stems directly from imperialist ideals that date back centuries. This ideology begat America’s white supremacy and racism sicknesses, which begat racist laws and public policies aimed at continuously oppressing a certain group of people – African descendants. Some may choose not to see or to accept this reality, but it is a very sad and ugly truth that must be addressed.
There is undoubtedly a greater narrative to play out here. Only time will tell what exactly that narrative will be. Some of us already know it, though we still hope for the better.
LOVE,
20 BradfordSpoke 15
Bradford Speaks is a Life Architect, Coach & Youth Speaker, who desires to wake up humanity to see a world that could exist if only it could employ more love and less hate and war. He seeks to speak to and inspire our youth to live at a higher level of consciousness, and to see themselves truly as their brother’s keeper. He is also an author and self proclaimed philosopher. You may visit his company’s site, Bradford Speaks Life Management, LLC to learn more about his work, to schedule individual sessions, or book him to speak to your Youth organization.
I truly don’t understand how it can be any clearer that the statement: Black Lives Matter does NOT imply that: White Lives Don’t Matter…it does NOT imply that “Police Lives Don’t Matter”…nor does it imply that “All Lives Lives Don’t Matter” – because they all do! That is not what those who are involved in this movement believe. Where do people interpret that such a declaration, which apparently is a very powerful one or else it wouldn’t be receiving so much grief, means or implies in it anywhere that ONLY Black Lives Matter? How does the mention of this single statement serve to disqualify the importance of all other lives? I have not heard anyone in this movement make such a claim. And last I checked, life doesn’t have a color.
The words BLACK LIVES MATTER seem to be piercing the unconscious minds of Americans who lay asleep in their own little dream worlds. Is it because it is such a novel idea for White Americans to mentally peruse? Why does it bother so many of them to hear this particular declaration? Are Black Americans not supposed to value their lives, and the lives of their seed in such a way? That is to say, in such a way that White Americans value their lives, and the lives of their children and loved ones? A valuing that ultimately elicited the construction of a police force that would protect them from their perceived fears of Black people being a threat to them? In many people’s minds, the majority of which appear to be white Americans, this declaration does, in fact, mean that what those who declare it really intend to say (in secret, I guess) is that no one else’s lives matter, except for Black lives. And I just don’t get that – it simply isn’t true, and it isn’t at all the intention behind the slogan. Are we really that deep-seeded in our racist ideologies that we cannot see that it means nothing of the sort?? We are. And this bothers me even more than all of the other foolery that is clogging up the American media airways, as the lovely tunes of ISIS threats and the dangers of Latino immigration from Central and South America, play voluminously in the background. It is utterly absurd!
The Black Lives Matter movement seems to be fiercely dedicated to achieving the goal of equal treatment of a race of people who have historically, as well as in modern times, been mistreated by both police and the judicial and justice systems that support them and legally allows them to mishandle people of color, primarily Black people. This can be seen in the disproportionate number of Blacks occupying American prisons versus Whites, and overwhelmingly for non-violent offenses carrying unfairly extensive sentences. When statistics show that Whites are just as likely, and more likely in some cases, to commit a crime and when convicted, receive more favorable sentencing. We are learning daily that this is a product of criminalization and dehumanization, which serves to enable the system to devalue the life of the dehumanized. This same tactic has been used over and over in America, as well as in other countries such as Nazi Germany, to create a pretext that would justify an annihilation of the dehumanized in accordance to a preset agenda of the dominant and prevailing power structure.
Here’s what I don’t get. There has never been a question as to whether or not White life matters – it is obvious that it does. From the beginning, everything in American society was/is designed to safeguard and cater to a world of White privilege. Let’s be honest about this. However, conversely, it is not so obvious that Black life matters just the same. Being that so much in our society has been historically designed to do just the opposite for Blacks – not to uplift but to oppress. You would have to be blind and dumb not to notice and acknowledge this to be the case. I have been observing the Black Lives Matter movement closely for about a year now, following the controversial murder of unarmed black teenager, Michael Brown, by white police officer, Darren Wilson, in Ferguson, MO in August 2014. Let’s make note here of the fact that I felt the need to specify the “race” of these two individuals in this blog, as proof that even I am not immune to the disease of separatism that has polluted and plagued The United States of America since its very beginnings. A beginning which is known for its genocidal actions against this land’s native and indigenous people. I digress.
Community residents around a recent alleged shooting of a Texas deputy sheriff by a Black male (one of course fitting the same old description that has been used to demonize Black men in America for centuries), who had a long rap sheet of criminal activity trailing behind him – is attempting to link the murder to the activist activities of the Black Lives Matter organization – an organization that clearly seeks to end police brutality via augmented policing tactics and the implementation of modified public policies. This benevolent organization has been under fire since its inception, and is now being characterized as a hate group. Are you kidding me?! The commentary that people are making all over social media threads is mind-boggling to say the least.
The assailant in the aforementioned Texas sheriff incident had a history of several run-ins with police, and had resisted arrest on a few occasions during those run-ins, blah blah blah…Typical, right? Now I am not saying that none of this information is true or accurate, but it is certainly a song that I am sure so many Blacks in America, and quite a few Whites as well, are tired of hearing played like a broken record. Why can’t we just get our shit together once and for all in this country, so many of us are thinking! We are arguably the most educated, innovative, civilized (so we believe), prosperous, and wealthiest people on this planet, yet we are at the same time an utter shame to the rest of humanity. The Whites think the Blacks are the problem, and the Blacks think it’s the Whites who are the problem. When in fact, that is the problem – We have never understood each other’s plights, nor have most of us sincerely sought to. Yes, there is a certain plight that comes along with being birthed into White privilege, I do get that. But there is a serious struggle of life and death that comes along with being born with Black skin in America, and I have found that most White Americans cannot begin to wrap their heads around it; they’d rather avoid the conversation altogether. They don’t believe things are as bad as Blacks make them out to be. And on some level this is understandable. Why is all of this possible? Well…it is because collectively, we are fools. We are fools, who will buy just about anything and who continually allow ourselves to be ‘played’ by this recurring narrative that has been supplanted into our subconscious by the media, and with great frequency, I might add, in order to keep us from ever trusting each other. If we never learn to trust each other, we will remain divided. Without trust, we will never come together and move beyond skin color to finally see what is hiding behind the curtain of hate that is constantly being draped over our eyes. We are fools, I repeat. The police (not individuals but the collective psychological makeup of the police force and the profession as a whole), and their mentality toward the way they feel they can handle citizens, is a HUGE part of the problems we are facing in our society today. Their egos and arrogance too often blind them to this fact. Their loved ones are also oblivious to the severe damage these heroically hailed officers have and continue to cause between poor and Black community members and themselves. Their vast ignorance is the real culprit here. I’ll save the rest of my thoughts around that topic for another day.
So yes, White Lives Matter! Yes, Police Lives Matter! And yes, All Lives Matter! But what we are proclaiming here is that the lives that are not being treated and/or seen as though they matter just the same, do. Yes, Black Lives Matter! Say it loud and long together with me – BLACK…LIVES…MATTER! Yes, they do.
LOVE,
20 BradfordSpoke 15
Bradford Speaks is a Life Architect, Coach & Youth Speaker, who desires to wake up humanity to see a world that could exist if only it could employ more love and less hate and war. He seeks to speak to and inspire our youth to live at a higher level of consciousness, and to see themselves truly as their brother’s keeper. He is also an author and self proclaimed philosopher. You may visit his company’s site, Bradford Speaks Life Management, LLC to learn more about his work, to schedule individual sessions, or book him to speak to your youth organization.
Above: The Christian GOD interpretation
Literalists and religious fundamentalists who parade around in getups of fanaticism have littered our world today with misinformation that has formed the greatest misconceptions about what we call GOD. This has been largely a result of ignorance and little fault of their own. Culture is the true and underlying culprit, this we must overstand. However, there has to be some responsibility and accountability on all of our parts to want to see and discover the real and largely unseen world that surrounds us – not the fantasy world living in our minds that has been created for us by others. This fantasy is what has driven humanity mad, and has held firmly in place the apparent wedge that exists between the relationship of sciences and GOD. This fantasy world has also served to keep humanity captive to a substandard understanding of its true and powerful potential and nature. As I told a friend the other day, “my brother, Science IS GOD! The two cannot be separated.” To fail to see this is a vast oversight of what sits quietly bound, yet screaming just beneath our noses!
These misconceptions that I speak of have shaped our perceptions of the being often referred to as GOD – and particularly what IT wants of our lives. In truth, we have no clue – none of us do. But the belief that we do has left billions on Earth with the feeling of guilt that they have and are constantly failing to achieve what is expected of them by a GOD who forgives, but only to cast judgement again. What gives! Through sacred texts, so-called “enlightened” men have given us rules, principles, and commandments, all bearing the unique signature of their own interpretations of experience, wrapped and presented as synonymous with GOD’s wishes for how we are to live. Billions have swallowed this idea whole, primarily for a lack of alternative perspectives to consider. These interpretations have been passed down through generations by the purveyors of this “truth”, which is really only truth to them, and based upon their personal experience. Sidebar: You must have your own experience in order to truly know! They have gifted us countless ancient, outdated, obsolete and irrelevant second and third-hand stories and accounts of what GOD wants out of the lives of every single human being on Earth. A life that has been given freely and without any expectation of what to do with it. But we’ll get to that in a minute. Note: I use the word “IT” or “Source” – to refer to what most label GOD – in complete reverence…reverence to the fact that I do not perceive this Divine entity of LOVE as personified in the form of a male; I vehemently reject this idea in fact. If I had to assign IT a gender, it would both male AND female/masculine AND feminine. No human form at all would be my highest preference; I hope this chosen terminology doesn’t bother you as a reader and distract you from getting the point and intention of the entire article.
Above: Interpretation of one of the Hindi GODs
So let’s get to it! It is my personal belief – and I think most of us can agree – that life is given to us freely; to use entirely as we wish. To our awareness, we did nothing to arrive here on earth. You didn’t have to do anything to earn your existence, did you? So for all intents and purpose, Life appears to be some sort of gift, right? When we think about the proper intent behind a gift, it is for the receiver to use that gift in whatever way they see fit or desirable. Of course, as the giver of the gift, we may have our own wishes about how we would like to see the receiver use the gift we gave. But in the end, it is their choice on how – or even if – they use it at all. However, the way in which we choose to use the gift of life does not come without consequences attached to those choices. But this does not mean that you are not still free to live it as you wish. For example: if you choose to use drugs and alcohol without moderation, it isn’t a sin – but you could end up dead or acquiring health issues that could affect your gift in drastically negative ways. If we choose to engage in casual sex or promiscuity, it isn’t a sin – but such partaking could lead to fatal or life-long diseases, or a child shared with someone we never had any intention of being with on any long-term basis. If we choose to bring harm to or mistreat others, it isn’t a sin – it might be considered immoral by many social standards, however, and the results could return a similar fate to the perpetuator of such hatred. So you see, there is always cause and effect at play – it’s just the way our Universe is designed. The purpose of this design is to create unlimited potentiality for the experiencing of limitlessness, as well as to provide a mechanism and a mirror by which human beings are to see themselves in their relationships to other people, things, events, and experiences.
Above: interpretation of the ancient Egyptian GOD, Osiris
The best way to analogize the GOD/Man relationship, and the inherent expectations that accompany it, is to consider it within the context of the relationship between a parent (the creator on a microcosmic scale) and a child (the created). The parent typically loves the child, there is rarely any doubt about this fact. The parent wants only the best for the child, we can probably all agree on this as well. The parent also harbors a great desire to see their child smiling, happy, and joyful as they move through life. They want to be there to celebrate them and their achievements, as well as to wipe the tears from their eyes when they are feeling sad, are hurting or suffering. These are just a few of the most basic things that any parent wants for their child – they want the absolute best for them. Parents will set certain rules into place for the child to abide by, in an effort to protect them from harm. This is a symbol of their love. They will often use others to help get messages to their children that they are having a difficult time delivering. Love is never a question. The most primal thing that a parent wants to see in their children is their surviving and thriving. An emotionally healthy parent has a deep, deep desire to see their child filled with glee. And THAT, beloved, is the only hope and expectation of you with YOUR life from your Creator to you, the created.
The Creator/parent at some point must come to the realization that they cannot protect the child from all suffering that life is sure to bring. They realize that at some level they must let go a little, to allow the child to get their feet wet with the rich experiences of living. But, they will always be there for them. Not because they want to, but because they have no other choice. You see, the connection between a parent and child is far more complex than most of us are aware of. It is not just a physical or genetic one, but a spiritual and energetic one as well; this is most often overlooked. Energetically, a parent can never escape the connection they share with their child; not even when they abandon them or give them up for adoption. There is an invisible line, an ethereal link that is always there connecting you. Such is also the case between YOU and YOUR Creator. Even when you choose what some might view as a crooked path, or life of chaos for yourself, just like a child is always connected to and loved by its source, so are you also connected and loved eternally by YOURS.
Above: New Age interpretation of GOD – pure energy; without form, but containing all forms
The variations in which we could possibly live our lives are endless. We tend to only be aware of the limited number of ways that we have been exposed to; oblivious of the fact that there are people living in distant corners of this planet, living a completely different way of life than you. There is no expectation for how you are to live your life, but I do believe there is a hope that you will during your time here, choose to live an enlightened one – a life that is filled with love, kindness, compassion, forgiveness, empathy, and selflessness. The hope is that you will awaken from the dream, and to the realization that YOU are the dreamer. Always know that you are ALWAYS connected to, and ALWAYS loved, no matter what you choose for your life. It is impossible to lose love, because Love is what you are.
LOVE,
20 BradfordSpoke 14
Bradford Speaks is a Life Architect, Coach & Youth Speaker, who desires to wake up humanity to see a world that could exist if only it could employ more love and less hate and war. He seeks to speak to and inspire our youth to live at a higher level of consciousness, and to see themselves truly as their brother’s keeper. He is also an author and self proclaimed philosopher. You may visit his company’s site, Bradford Speaks Life Management, LLC to learn more about his work, to schedule individual sessions, or book him to speak to your youth organization.
The primary of living is to fall in love with the moment.” -Bradford Speaks
Though some believe they have solved the mystery of life, such a claim is an extremely bold statement to make; so let’s be clear that this is not my claim here. But I want to also be clear that it is my claim that from my perspective the point of living is to totally fall in love with the moment; and I believe this with 100% of my being. If this belief serves to solve life’s mystery for you, then so be it – embrace it wholly. It certainly works for me! 🙂When we are unwilling to embrace the moment – and ultimately fall in love with – every single challenge, struggle, consequence, victory and success life brings our way, we suffer. We spend more of our time trying to figure out the “why”, instead of taking it all in as simply what-IS, and loving it just as it is. As humans, our nature is to weave meaning to things; we attempt to attach meaning to all the twists and turns of our lives. This is why the phrase “everything happens for a reason” is so popular in modern culture. We may not know what that reason is, but we are fairly certain it must have some meaning behind it. It all just can’t be random, can it? Weaving meaning is the way we make sense of the vast and mysterious world surrounding us. We should strive to make meaning of our experience, and come to love whatever meaning we make of it. We typically find it easier to fall in love with what we like A LOT.So my suggestion is: Set your intention on making the point and meaning of life one that you like A LOT, so that falling in love with it is smooth and easy.Embracing each moment in no way means to ignore our feelings or emotions. Feelings and emotions are what give life depth, contour, and well…motion. They are what make a still frame shot into a movie. Life represents itself to us in small bits – or what many call, moments. Like single, milliseconds of a motion picture, we edit each frame simultaneously in our minds, and then paste them favorably together to create a story we can be proud of. But, is it the actual story that makes us proud, or is it the way we receive and perceive the story? I would argue that it is the latter.Often times we cannot change the story, but we can ALWAYS change our perspective on the story. Change your perspective on anything, and you will be amazed at the love that can potentially follow.Shine Brightly,Bradford Speaks
Life Architect, Coach & Youth SpeakerCertified NLP Practitioner
If it were not for the darkness that we experience in life, the Light that subsequently illuminates our pathway would not shine as bright. Darkness is a necessity for The Light in YOU to become more evident, showcasing the true essence of who you really are. – Bradford Speaks
Bradford Speaks’ Mind
Life Architect, Coach & Youth Speaker
Bradford Speaks is a Life Architect, Coach & Youth Speaker, who desires to wake up the world to see one that it could exist in if only it could employ more love and less hate and war. He seeks to speak to and inspire our youth to live at a higher level of consciousness, to see themselves as their brother’s keeper. He is also an author and self proclaimed philosopher. You may visit his company’s site, Bradford Speaks Life Management, LLC to learn more about his work, and to schedule individual sessions, or book him to speak to your youth organization.
“Who Do You Want As Your Neighbor? That’s what it really boils down to!” -Marquis
Above is a photo of my friend, Marquis. The words above, as well as the ones to follow, are his own. He was one of the participants who filled one of the 23-hours inside of the mock solitary confinement cell at UCLA during October 2014, the Month of Resistance Against Mass Incarceration.
What makes Marquis unique, you might ask? He actually served 15 of his young 36 year life inside a state penitentiary in Texas for a first offense, non-violent crime. Seven of those 15 years were spent in solitary confinement, so he speaks from first-hand experience and from his heart. But even after that, he still doesn’t feel he’s paid his full debt to society. I’ll tell you this, contrary to what many people’s perceptions are about so-called ex cons, the young man is very intelligent and bright, very well spoken, wise, and very open and honest about his experience inside the system. And he is committed to changing it.
Here are some of his most notable remarks as he spoke to an 18 year-old about his solitary confinement and incarceration experience:
– I have no regrets, no quarrels with the time I served. I did the crime. My issue is with the product that the prisons are producing.
– The intent of prison is NOT to reform or rehabilitate inmates, it is to torture, abuse, and use. It actually breeds an even more violent and criminal mind than the one that entered the prison, one that has little regard for life due to the violent nature of the prison environment. It eats away at their conscience.
– I no longer have the right vote, so I have little political power to choose our leaders. So I’m doing things like this as my part to help create change.
– I skipped my plumbing 101 class at the community college today because this cause is so very important, not just to me but to all of us.
– Taxpayers footed the bill to feed me, clothe me, and house me for 15 years. I’m not even close to paying back that debt.
– Solitary confinement creates insanity in what was once a sane human being. It breaks down the mind.
– I was often beaten and spoken to harshly by corrections officers and other prison staff, for trying to organize and hold study groups, encourage reading, self education, and self discovery – true reform to other prisoners.
– I saw 60 year old men become so frustrated with themselves because they could write their name but could not use it in writing a sentence. What happens to one who can’t read or write when they re-enter society? We’ve failed him yet again.
– The only reason I was able to survive and come out relatively healthy and sane was because I was one of the 4% of inmates who had great family support. They sent me books, newspapers, magazines, etc; their contact and care is what helped me maintain my sanity.
– Your bed is about “this wide”, you can barely turn over in it, and you have a toilet/sink combo over in that corner.
– People don’t realize that by not ensuring a prison system that actually addresses the real (often mental and emotional) issues that many prisoners face, when released, those same people could be their neighbors. So do you want someone who’s a worse criminal than before around your family and children, or someone who’s going to be a contributing member of society?
– Solitary confinement corrupts the mind, so it is not strange that a detainee might draw an image on his wall and begin having conversations with it…or start masturbating to pictures of fully dressed women. Something just isn’t right about this type of treatment toward humans; on so many levels.
– On my day of release after 15 years of time served, they handed me $100 cash, and sent me on my way. If you’re lucky, that might get you a night in a hotel and a meal or two. But then what?
Marquis, much love to you my brother for speaking out so loudly against the system that has misused and abused you and millions of others. We need more brave ones like you to fight and win this war against mass incarceration, and finally put a halt to this slow genocide. Thank you!
LOVE,
20 BradfordSpoke 14
Bradford Speaks is a Life Architect, Coach & Youth Speaker, who desires to wake up the world to see one that it could exist in if only it could employ more love and less hate and war. He seeks to speak to and inspire our youth to live at a higher level of consciousness, to see themselves as their brother’s keeper. He is also an author and self proclaimed philosopher. You may visit his company’s site, Bradford Speaks Life Management, LLC to learn more about his work, and to schedule individual sessions, or book him to speak to your youth organization.
I am alive. As I continue to watch the struggle of being Black in America, and the flurry of young black men being brutalized and senselessly gunned down like wild animals by bullying police officers all across the American landscape, it all evokes memories of my distant childhood and the rejected messages and conversations that my dear mother so eagerly wanted me to hear and understand. It wasn’t that she was paranoid or anything, but it was that she loved me so much, and my safety and well-being were of the utmost importance to her; this didn’t only apply to me, but it was the case with all of her children. The same can be said of most mothers as it pertains to her offspring; even in the wild kingdom. I grossly ignored her, and listened to my own experience, and as of today was horribly deceived by it.
Mothers and Suns often share a very special bond, as do father’s and daughters. My relationship with my mother was no different – my mother and I are still very close today. My mother was born in 1931 in the small Louisiana town of Bogalusa, Louisiana, located just outside the back door of the still highly racist state of Mississippi. My father actually moved to Bogalusa as a young teen (where he met my mother) from Silver Creek, Mississippi, in search of better opportunities than were afforded anyone of African descent living in Mississippi during that time. I can’t imagine there was much more in Louisiana for a black man than was in Mississippi during that time, but he came over and just like so many other descendants of slaves, somehow found a way to make it work. He was born in 1930, not too far away in the rearview of the “abolishment of slavery”, which any unbiased historian would tell you, wasn’t fully accurate. It had not been truly abolished, especially not in the south. I mean, lynchings were still taking place. The murder of 14 year-old Emmitt Till, one of the most horrific in recorded American history, happened in 1955 for godssake, and Jim Crow Laws were in full effect! These laws carried the power to incarcerate people for being unemployed. And yes, you guessed it, due to the lack of opportunities afforded to blacks in a economic system uncompromising to their predicament, thousands upon thousands fell prey to these wretched laws.
In the 1970s-80s, I was growing up in a slightly different time than they had, of course. I had no idea what true segregation was really all about. In every school I had ever attended, classes were filled with both black and white students, so there wasn’t much that I observed to be extremely strange or odd. We played together on the playgrounds and laughed together in the classrooms and during lunch and recesses. As I became older and more aware, however, there were a few things that began to stand out: The fact that every day after school, most of my white friends would be picked up by their parent or get on different buses and go to their neighborhoods, and we (the black kids) would either walk home or take the bus to our neighborhoods. Many of the poorer white kids took the same buses as the black kids, and didn’t live too far from our neighborhoods or housing projects, but there still existed separation between us, literal and figurative. These whites were who would be called today – and even then – “white trash”. This is a very negative term that I always abhorred and was very uncomfortable with. I would often wonder with the mind of a child, though not quite in these words – why are we separated after school but not during school? Why do we live in different and disconnected neighborhoods? Why can’t I see and play with my white friends away from school like I can my black ones? Where do they live and how far away are they from me? How do their neighborhoods and lives at home differ from mine? What horrible thoughts for a child to have to entertain! These are just a few of the questions and curiosities I held inside.
The conversations that my mother would attempt to have with me as a young lad were what I perceived to be racist in tone, but in retrospect, I realize they weren’t. I didn’t want to hear her because what she was saying was in direct conflict with what I was experiencing, or what I wanted to experience. I wanted to be happy just as any child or person does; I wanted to fit in, I wanted to live in a perfect world of acceptance by all, and I was trying to protect that desire at all costs, even at the risk of ignoring my mother’s precious and loving advice. I wanted to see the best, believe the best, and to trust that I was liked because of who I was as a person and a human being. My mother was only attempting to protect her child from a system that she knew was potentially dangerous and meant no good to a young black adolescent male. Of course as a child I couldn’t see things in the way she did; my experiences were quite different from hers. In my mind, my little world was already perfect to a great degree, and again, I wanted to keep it that way. Thinking this made me feel good. Instead of listening to her, though, I chose to trust my own representation of society and how it was being shaped for me. Against all warnings, I chose to unconsciously trust the system and those who had designed it, thinking it must have my best interest at heart. After all, I was only a child, so how couldn’t they? I didn’t see myself as a descendant of slaves; I rarely saw myself as less than human, or much different than anyone else. I knew I was just as smart, intelligent, funny, and talented as anyone else, regardless of my color. So why would I be treated differently, I thought? That was how I saw myself, but apparently not how the society around me did. I had some very kind white teachers throughout school, and I love them for the effort they made to break out of how there were undoubtedly raised to see blacks, to show what seemed to be genuine concern for my well-being. What conversations took place in their homes, I don’t know. All I can go by is how they treated me when I was with them. I would learn that this is how America works. The same people who smile and laugh with you, are often the ones voting for legislation to create hell for you. Racism has become more easy to hide. Because of the fight to eradicate it, and the growing unacceptability of it, racists have been forced to go underground and work from behind the scenes. Michelle Alexander makes this crystal clear in her book, The New Jim Crow, Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. This is a highly recommended read for all Americans.
Today I have my own children, and up until now we have taught them to see themselves just as we do – as equal, because they are. We have taught them to be virtually colorblind- to expect to be treated no less than the valuable human beings that they are. Today I feel that this was a little naive of us, so I’ve added a little caveat. Let me explain. We didn’t fail by teaching them to be colorblind per say, but by neglecting to make them aware of the unwritten, unknown, invisible disadvantages that come along with being Black and/or poor in America. Their mother and I have succeeded in teaching them the power of self love and self empowerment, but failed to educate them to the fact that the society in which they would exist may not actually be colorblind towards them, as we have instructed them to be towards it. Sure, there are many people, including white people – in talk and in action – who claim to not see color; which is really tough to do, especially in America. The foundation of America’s systemic architecture never viewed people with darker skin – or non white skin for that matter – as equal or deserving of the same privileges. Not the Native American, not the African, not the Filipino, not the Japanese, not the Guatemalan, not the Korean, not the Chinaman, not the Cuban, not the Mexican, not the Brazilian, nor the Palestinian. Historically, they seemed to be all just casualties of Western convoy and conquest. Over the centuries since slavery, the laws have been slowly, systematically, and cunningly augmented to continually enforce and support racist, caste, and slavery ideologies through the use of over policing in poor and black neighborhoods, mass incarceration, the building and development of the Prison Industrial Complex (PIC) school to prison pipeline, and the creation of American ghettos across the American urban landscape. Even though I have European, African, and Native American blood flowing through my veins, in America I’m only considered and seen as Black, with little weight given to the complex, multi-racial aspects that truly make up who I am biologically.
In America, this counterfeit colorblindness that exists is indicative by the the single fact that the Unite States Constitution was not written, and was never re-written, to take into account and consideration the well-being of the African descendent, for he was never intended to be a permanent part of its society outside of the role of a slave. The “freedom” that Blacks in America have today is the result of a great miscalculation on the part of the master architects or “founding fathers” of the American Empire; an oversight of the slaves’ strength, resilience, and will to fight and rise up against the oppressions that had long caged them. The rights that come along with the Constitution and the Bill of Rights for every American citizen has always been a grey area for Blacks, and in many ways still are. There has never been any open apology for this great crime against humanity, no reparations paid to offset the loss of both life and the opportunity to create generational wealth that could have helped stabilize and empower a group of people that had been gravely oppressed for more than 400 years. Surely they could use an economic boost that is beyond social welfare programs, which only serve to perpetuate a search for more of the same. But I suppose that such a lift might pose too large of a threat to the system, and we can’t have that now can we?
I should have been a little less trusting of you, and more trusting of my mother. No one loves me like she does; what on earth was I thinking?! I should have been a little less optimistic in my belief that the society to which I was raising my children to go out into and become loving, value-contributing citizens in, might not embrace them in the same way as they would embrace it. I trusted that my Suns would be allowed to dress and express themselves in whatever way they choose (as long as they were not violating any laws or harming anyone) without the worry of being profiled, harassed, and hunted down on the streets like some kind of prey. I trusted that you would protect them, respect them, and value their lives as you do your own children. You don’t, because you don’t see them as you do your own – the way that I see yours as my own. I can see it so clearly now, and I can’t change you by myself, but I can change me, and I can re-educate my own. I will not teach them to stop loving or to stop trusting, but simply to be more keenly aware of what surrounds them behind the drape of reality.
My misunderstanding of your intent is totally on me. It’s on me that I gave you so much credit, entrusted you with what means so much to me, and expected so much of you as it pertained to the value of my life, my children’s lives, and the lives of all people. I shouldn’t have.
LOVE,
20 BradfordSpoke 14
Bradford Speaks is a Life Architect, Coach & Youth Speaker, who desires to wake up the world to see one that it could exist in if only it could employ more love and less hate and war. He seeks to speak to and inspire our youth to live at a higher level of consciousness, to see themselves as their brother’s keeper. He is also an author and self proclaimed philosopher. You may visit his company’s site, Bradford Speaks Life Management, LLC to learn more about his work, and to schedule individual sessions or book him to speak to your youth organization.
Soulcial-isms: From the Mind of Bradford 