How Many Times Must The Warheads Be Dropped?

Posted on October 20, 2017 by Douglas

“Yes, ’n’ how many times must the cannonballs fly
Before they’re forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind” – Bob Dylan, Blowin’ In The Wind

How many times must the warheads be dropped?

I wish to confess my neglect, and offer remediation. What have I neglected? On August 10, 2017, the human family observed 72 years without using a nuclear weapon in warfare. I have had an annual custom of observing this happy occasion here, here and here. I did not observe this in either 2016 or in August of 2017. But humanity has gone 72 years, 3 months and 10 days without using a nuclear weapon in warfare. By “nuclear weapon” I mean either a fission weapon or a fusion weapon. America used fission weapons against Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Nations of the world have only tested fusion weapons, also called thermonuclear weapons or hydrogen bombs. No nation has used a fusion weapons in warfare since November 1, 1952. My people have refrained from using our most destructive weapon for almost 65 years.

How many times must the warheads be dropped? I regret to inform you that the human race has only gone one month and sixteen days since the last nuclear test, conducted by North Korea. The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, also known as the Iran nuclear deal, has recently been decertified by President Trump. I confess to not knowing whether or not this is a good thing. I feel that all I can do is keep watching.

How many times must the warheads be dropped? I am pleased to share with you the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to the International Coalition to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). ICAN’s efforts resulted in a treaty banning nuclear weapons. Yes, I understand that nations with nuclear weapons opposed this treaty. Yes, I understand that the treaty isn’t technically in force, as it requires ratification by 50 nations. We’re currently at 3. Yes, I’m aware that it is unclear who is going to enforce the provisions of this treaty. But we have to start somewhere.

“The man or woman of Knowledge is watching—watching without coming to fixed conclusions, watching without condemning the world, watching without losing hope, watching without becoming jaded or cynical, watching without blaming leaders or individuals or nations, watching the changing landscapes of the world, looking for the signs that the world is giving to indicate how, where and when the Great Waves [of Change] will strike.”

How many times must the warheads be dropped? Hopefully two.

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Welcome to Mystery of Ascension! We are students and advocates of the the New Message from God. We are members of a worldwide community. We seek to assist the world in successfully navigating difficult times ahead. We seek to assist the world in successfully emerging into a greater community of intelligent life. You will also find some poetry. Find out more about us here. Contact us here.

Who Will Provide The Grand Design?

Posted on January 7, 2014 by Douglas

“Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.”

The Roman poet Horace (65 BC-8 BC) wrote these words in Book III of his Odes in 23 BC. One translation is “How sweet and fitting it is to die for one’s country.”

Breathes there the man, with soul so dead,
Who never to himself hath said,
“This is my own, my native land!”

In this poem, a portion of “The Lay of the Last Minstrel,” written in 1805, Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) goes on to praise heartfelt patriotism, and condemn the selfishness of the person who is indifferent to the fate of his country.

Who will provide the grand design?

People are crazy and times are strange
I’m locked in tight, I’m out of range
I used to care, but things have changed

Bob Dylan says “Things Have Changed.” What has changed? They say the world’s population in Sir Walter Scott’s day was about 1,000,000,000. It’s slightly over 7,000,000,000 now, and growing at 1.2% per year. That doesn’t seem like much, but by the Rule of 72, that’s a doubling time of 60 years. Can you imagine the stress that a world with 14,000,000,000 people will experience? You may not be around for it, but your children might, and their children will.

The Great Waves of Change says the human family as a whole must unite and gather together to deal with these great challenges. Here is a paragraph which elaborates on this idea:

“In a world of ever-growing population and declining resources, humanity will face a great decision, a fundamental choice in which direction to go. Do nations compete and challenge each other for the remaining resources? Do they fight and struggle over who will control these resources, and who will have access to these resources? For indeed, all the great wars of humanity’s turbulent past have been a struggle, fundamentally, over gaining access to and control over resources.”

Someone is reading this and thinking, “This is all easy for you to say, Mr. Kum Ba Yah, Mr. Uniting-the-warring-tribes-of-humanity.” Ah, would that it were! The creation of the image at the top brought up various stresses for me. There are 196 countries in the world, and readers from 188 of them are going to look at this image and say “Why didn’t you include my country?” I don’t think the United States and Saudi Arabia share very many values. On what basis will these two countries join? This could be tricky. A voice in my head said “Why make Brazil the head of the snake? What has Brazil done for the world besides give us ‘The Girl from Ipanema?!?'” My answer for that voice is “Brazil hasn’t been in a war since 1966. They’re doing something right.” After finishing the image, I had to go lie down for a while. I found merely thinking about this to be difficult.

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And Who Did You Meet?

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Douglas

Oh, who did you meet, my blue-eyed son?
Who did you meet, my darling young one?
I met a young child beside a dead pony
I met a white man who walked a black dog
I met a young woman whose body was burning
I met a young girl, she gave me a rainbow
I met one man who was wounded in love
I met another man who was wounded with hatred
And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard
It’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall

Bob Dylan – A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall

One thing that is interesting about this particular review is that it is the first time the word “prayer” is used in Steps to Knowledge:

We shall begin our fourth review period with a special prayer.

“I accept my Knowledge as a gift from God. I accept my Teachers as my elder brothers and sisters. I accept my world as a place where Knowledge can be reclaimed and contributed. I accept my past as a demonstration of life without Knowledge. I accept the miracles of my life as a demonstration of the presence of Knowledge and I give myself now to cultivate that which is of the greatest good within myself to be given to the world.”

Here is the word cloud for the steps under review (steps 22-27):

I’m not happy with the shape of this word cloud, but I’m seeing that experience and error are things by which I must practice being served. The final paragraph of the review talks about the value of the review, not just for me, but for the people I will serve in the future. Part of my development is being aware of how people learn (or don’t learn) things.

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And What Did You Hear?

Posted on April 1, 2013 by Douglas

And what did you hear, my blue-eyed son?
And what did you hear, my darling young one?
I heard the sound of a thunder, it roared out a warnin’
Heard the roar of a wave that could drown the whole world
Heard one hundred drummers whose hands were a-blazin’
Heard ten thousand whisperin’ and nobody listenin’
Heard one person starve, I heard many people laughin’
Heard the song of a poet who died in the gutter
Heard the sound of a clown who cried in the alley
And it’s a hard, and it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard
And it’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall

Bob Dylan – A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall

The review in step 21 of Steps to Knowledge is a review of steps 15 through 20. Just as step 19 was about seeing and just seeing, this review is about reviewing and just reviewing, looking at the steps, looking at how I practiced, and looking at what happened when I did what I did. I am encouraged to resist the temptation of drawing a conclusion, as it is still very early in the game.

If you want the truth about something, you must practice today (and the next day, and the next day, and the next day…).

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Oh, What Did You See?

Posted on February 6, 2013 by Douglas

“Oh, what did you see, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, what did you see, my darling young one?
I saw a newborn baby with wild wolves all around it
I saw a highway of diamonds with nobody on it
I saw a black branch with blood that kept drippin’
I saw a room full of men with their hammers a-bleedin’
I saw a white ladder all covered with water
I saw ten thousand talkers whose tongues were all broken
I saw guns and sharp swords in the hands of young children
And it’s a hard, and it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard
And it’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall”

Bob Dylan – A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall

Step 14 of Steps to Knowledge is a review of all the previous lessons. (Someone wondered, “Including the Step 7 Review?” Yes.). A new component which is being introduced is the examination of one’s practice, and the examination of the results of one’s practice. Did I have a preference or an aversion for a particular practice? Did I follow the directions as given, or did I fudge and smudge them? What happened as a result of my practice? On the one hand, I believe I followed the directions as given when I did these steps. On the other hand, it didn’t even occur to me to start writing anything down about my experience of a given step until I got to step 22. I suppose you and I will just have to take my word for it.

Here is a word cloud of the first 13 steps.

I am amused that “KNOWLEDGE” and “assumptions” are on opposite ends of the cloud. I see this cloud saying “If you want Knowledge, practice today, think today, understand today,” in much the same spirit as Kabir’s poem which opens with the line “O, FRIEND! hope for him whilst you live, know whilst you live, understand whilst you live, for in life deliverance abides.”

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Oh, Where Have You Been?

Posted on January 10, 2013 by Douglas

“Oh, where have you been, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, where have you been, my darling young one?
I’ve stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains
I’ve walked and I’ve crawled on six crooked highways
I’ve stepped in the middle of seven sad forests
I’ve been out in front of a dozen dead oceans
I’ve been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard
And it’s a hard, and it’s a hard, it’s a hard, and it’s a hard
And it’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall”

Bob Dylan – A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall

Debriefing and reviewing seem to be an integral part of the learning experience. I’m recalling the 72-member advance team that Jesus deployed in the 10th chapter of Luke’s gospel. The debriefing session took place in Luke 10:17-24. But the point I’m approaching is that Step 7 of Steps to Knowledge is a review of the first six steps, both individually and as a sequence. I consider this to be the important sentence in this step:

“It is very important at this juncture that you not require that you have any conclusions, but that you ask questions and realize the extent to which you need true Knowledge.”

It did not occur to me to make such a word cloud when I did this Step. I see it saying, “If you wish to approach Knowledge, you must practice, you must think, you must question your assumptions.”

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Mystery of Ascension

A great mystery / Is my true self that I bring / From my ancient home

Tag Archives: Bob Dylan

How Many Times Must The Warheads Be Dropped?

How many times must the warheads be dropped?

Who Will Provide The Grand Design?

Who will provide the grand design?

And Who Did You Meet?

And What Did You Hear?

Oh, What Did You See?

Oh, Where Have You Been?