Chapter I  -  Ship's Log

This journal was written on May 2020 during the global pandemic of the Covid-19 Corona Virus. YouTube!

Dear journal,

I am writing this in order to create a connection with the other human beings who are reading and listening to this journal, at this time.

But first, let me introduce myself. I am a human terran, sailing on the ship of life, with the gentle sounds of wood creaking and ocean spraying offering their unconditional guidance, as I embrace the sea of self-discovery. I am, therefore, the captain of my ship, also a pirate, stealing life experiences here and there, but I assure you, I do not have an eye patch, or a parrot. But I am, in the presence of rum.

As most explorers on Planet Terra, I too had quite the ambitious plans for the year of Our Self 2020, but synchronicity had other plans, better plans, mandatory plans. Thus, at the beginning of 2020, a global pandemic came to visit humanity, which created new challenges and opportunities for the collective consciousness.
What was once a rather smooth sail, has been matched with a major forecast change, a defying dance of lightning and thunder, supported by a ferocious army of aggressive waves. Things got bad, and then they got worse. And then, the adventure began.

Having found myself within the midsts of this once-in-a-lifetime global event, I quickly realized that most of my previous plans were but a swift song of expectations, which faded away to leave room for a new and improved reality. After many years of learning, self-study, exploration and practicing the power of inner-reflection, it was now time for the exam, the real test of applied knowledge.

When faced with uncertain situations like this current event, I immediately went to the Emergency Procedures Manual, a mentally-stored book of wisdom, and proceeded with the First Rule:
When things are not easy, let go of easy.

-What does it mean? You ask with a soft voice and a desire to find this somehow interesting.
-Good question, thank you very much. It means, in times of major emergencies, and why not, any challenging situations, letting go of the automatic belief system that things have to be easy, can turn out to be a blessing in disguise.

I have therefore decided, irrevocably, to completely detach from any trace of expectations that this event will be easy to overcome and that it will somehow go away in a blink of an eye. As soon as this expectation was dropped, things became, surprisingly, easier. Letting go of easy, made it easier, with far less resistance to what is, and what was to come. Transformation achieved!

However, there's more. You didn't thing it was that easy, did you? If so, please refer back to the First Rule.
The stormy weather and the rocking of the ship have calmed down a bit, but the journey has only began, there are more procedures to be explored, so, without further a-due, I moved on to the second rule in the book of wisdom:
When things are not easy, let go of fear.

-This is starting to sound repetitive and non-sensical. Said the voice of impatience.
-If you give it a chance, it will make sense. As many wise souls have said before me, danger is real, but fear is optional. I do see the strong winds pushing the ship in a frightening manner, but what looks like chaos to me, is nothing but a harmonious dance for the storm, so by letting go of fear, there was less resistance to what is, while still taking all the safety measures to ensure, secure and preserve life and health.

Fear can be a useful friend guiding towards inner reflection, but, if left unchecked, it can cloud judgment, amplify negative experiences and even affect the mental and physical heath. So I embraced King Fear and made it walk the plank, while also acknowledging a hint of sorrow, as I was saying goodbye, for now, to a long time friend. Fear was now free to roam the waters of my life, but I made a promise that not matter what happens, I will not feed the attention-seeking monster, but I will acknowledge it is there, ready to come back any time, without the slightest hesitation.

Another interesting concept had its opportunity to shine at this time, and that was the third rule in the book of wisdom, colloquially referred to as:
Let go of extreme thinking.

Instead of thinking something has to be either this, or that, it could be both this and that, and find a center point, the balance of duality, the point of trinity. Keep this idea in mind, as it will play a key role later on our journey. Yes, this is our journey, you are my guest of honor, but please don't touch anything, maintain the ship in proper order.

And so, having embarked on a challenging experience without any expectation of things being easy, without fear and without extreme thinking, the inner exploration advances forward.

A clear mind can channel exciting knowledge, so now is the time to write down the ship's log of events, wisdom charts and opportunities to improve. This log shall serve our future selves while sailing in different waters, in the future of now, which is where you are while matching this journal. The current global events brought not only challenges, but also opportunities. One such opportunity was letting go of blaming and taking responsibility to change for the better.

The beautiful art of learning to do the best I can with what I have was pushed to the forefront of this ever-expanding inner-experience. Before it all began, there were numerous long term plans which included traveling in various countries, visiting many places, writing, meditating, and finding myself. When faced with the stark reality of having to let it all go, it felt great to not have that resistance and to easily adjust to the path of least resistance. Inside a small apartment on my wooden pirate ship, with not enough natural light, no beach, no mountains, no nature, a decision was made, and you are now experiencing some of the results of doing the best I can with what I have, this ship's log being one example.

With more time on our hands, this was a great opportunity to take care of oneself, physically and mentally, to engage in deep introspection and meditation, clear the mind, listen to self thoughts and act as an observer in the eye of the storm, while facing the inner mirror. I looked myself in the eyes and I saw the love of creation. I saw you.

In terms of work, a superb opportunity to study more, find and develop new skills, participate in online studies and get new certifications. Yes, there is internet on my pirate ship.

Depending on the current work some of us have, we could now see if this job is really worth it, we can question and test it, and the results would indicate if we are indeed on the right path, or maybe we can use this opportunity to adjust our lives towards a new and improved reality. If, in times like these, self-improvement does not take place, it can be a great revelation that we don't really lack time, but we may lack discipline.

Socially-wise, an immense opportunity to spend more time with people who matter, family, friends, partner, children or completely alone with inner guidance. Also a deep, heavy feeling of saying goodbye to the departed. This was also the time to see who really cares about our well being, and who do we really care about. Remember those people whom you rarely spoke with, because you thought you had no time? How about now? I am inclined to believe the distance kept from them was not because of lack of time, but lack of interest. Therefore, a better understanding of who really matters to us.

A double-edge sword refers to the experience with a partner. Having an opportunity to spend more time together, could provide great insights and endless ways of testing the relationship, to strengthen it or to bring light on the things that are not working. There is some potential for relationship breakups, but if that happens, it would not be because of the current lockdown events, but because of unsolved issues that were put aside and now had to be faced. Nobody can outrun themselves.

A similar situation with regards to housing. We can now see if our current residence is worth spending time in, or maybe there is an opportunity to change it for a better location. Maybe more natural light, bigger house, a balcony, a garden, any kind of potential improvements could have been uncovered. I have my list. And it's precisely detailed, a long-term goal.

We cannot go through such a global event without massively improving hand washing and why not, the overall hygiene. This has the potential to become a trend that may last indefinitely. Not a bad twist of events.
Mother Earth finally had a breather with this global lockdown, a brief moment of cleansing pollution and restoring some of it's natural purity. Sadly, we will probably go back to our old ways soon.

Many companies are now faced with a new experience of having employees working from home and, if successful, there may just be a major shift within the overall remote working experience, with possible future positions being deployed at home, thus downsizing the overall expenses and providing a more flexible work schedule. A win-win for those who see it so.

If there is one thing this experience underlined, is the need to drastically improve the world-wide medical collaboration. Scientists and people within the medical environment should have an incorruptible, uncensored, decentralized technical platform where they can share medical findings in real time, without the need of approval from any tyrannical government.

Scientific findings, such as new viruses could be shared globally within minutes and the entire planet would be alerted to any new potential threats. Improved safety measures should be initiated in due time and many lives could be saved in the future. The scientific community could have untethered access to their studies and sharing of information, while also being considered for leadership positions during times of crisis, thus bypassing slow political decisions and providing direct answers and solutions which are focused on saving and preserving lives.

To avoid dependence on expensive life-saving equipment created by private corporations with complete monopoly, we can use 3D printing to create some of the medical tools needed, and open-source it to the world, so the entire planet can print the required parts with minimum spending, thus saving money and lives.
Instead of having enormous spendings allocated to the "defense" industry (read: war), we can now understand that global healthcare requires immediate funding and the entire system should be revolutionized in such a way to handle a crises of global proportions, along with providing medical care to all beings. The current lack of experience and equipment shortage should imprint in our minds the lesson of: never again!

I have always been fascinated with the grandiose ceremonies of movie awards. People who play roles in movies seem to be almost worshiped on a global scale, but the real reason eludes me, as they are no more than passionate humans playing scripted roles in edited movies, providing entertaining stories for their viewers. Nothing inherently wrong with that, but heroes, they are not. I should be inclined to think that doctors, firemen, police and every other human on this planet who saves lives on a daily basis and dedicate themselves to serving humanity, should also receive the same level of gratitude as shown towards inspiring actors.

Why are we worshiping people who entertain us more than we acknowledge the others who also serve humanity? A great opportunity to reconsider our focus and gratitude. Real heroes do not wear capes, they do not fly nor do they have super-human abilities. Real heroes are humans who dedicate their lives for the betterment of humanity.

Based on the recent events, many countries are already reconsidering their trading relationships and they are now noticing how dependent some of them are on a centralized location, a single point of failure which can have adverse effects in terms of crises, therefore an amazing opportunity to reconsider their manufacturing locations and overall trading strategies.

Inevitably, this event had a direct and negative impact on the already unsustainable global economy and this is a great time to have a closer look at the idea of Austrian Economics, as opposed to the existing Keynesian Economics. Fascinating read, no doubt.

An interesting event taking place in some regions is the idea UBI  -  Universal Basic Income. In simple terms, some governments are giving away free currency to their citizens. Free for now, but there might be long term consequences. Still, UBI is an old school of thought which has been tested in several countries but never fully implemented, and now it is another opportunity to put it into practice. This may or may not become a standard in the future, but it does provide a great testing ground within the current economic turmoil.

We also see the same old recipe of giant zombie corporations screaming for immediate government bailouts. Some unhealthy companies might be better off resetting themselves, and people should be bailed out instead of banks or any other private corporation. We have the same resources on Earth, with or without digits in computers or unsustainable business.

Being distracted, we tend to forget what is important and we separate ourselves through many socially-engineered belief systems. Gender, race, religion, politics, being easily offended by what others think, and so on. But when the going gets tough, we remember that none of that really matters, what matters is communication, good medical system and overall human-to-human collaboration, to help each other with the common goal of life preservation and extension. If we can accomplish these during a time of crises, we can also recreate them in the absence of danger.

Therefore, promoting continuous human separation and fragmentation is clearly a matter of choice. We choose to make the world the way it is, by allowing biased dogmas to drive us further from the inner truth of soul binding. So let's stop pretending we need a reason to be good, and just be good, a natural, effortless communication with our Higher Self. The most tranquil waters require the slightest effort.

It may look, overall, that things are getting worse, but I believe they are only getting uncovered, so all the inconvenient truths we avoided or were unaware of, are now staring us in the face. It is up to us what we can do with them, but now the awareness has been increased and we can no longer pretend these challenges do not exist. Playing the ignorance game is no longer credible and many of our leaders have now been put to the test and they made it obvious who is working for us, and who is not. Still, a difficult job to have during times like these, so we can give some of them the benefit of the doubt, but looking closer, we can now see those who are genuine and those who are exploiting this event. A good thing to remember during the next elections.

As usual with events like these, we have a great opportunity to test what a police state looks and feels like. Some civil liberties have been removed and there are, in many places, human rights abuse by the local local governance, all in the name of safety. History has a lot to say about hurting people in the name of safety, but it is a good reminder of the real boundaries of our perceived freedoms.

In terms of freedom of expression and communication, most of the major online platforms are now exhibiting ultra-aggressive censorship programs. Many accounts are swiftly being shut down in the name of community guidelines, supposedly to curb the spread of false information, while the same platforms are allowing some privately-owned biased news corporations to spread their disinformation unfazed. This is a reoccurring event and it is now blatantly displayed for the world to see. Because of that, new technological platforms are already taking shape, which are allowing people to share their ideas and challenge the main narrative of the status quo, while slowly moving away from the old censorship platforms.

A troubling trend is gaining momentum in the form of pushing at the forefront of the expert community some people who have no medical background, no medical expertise or certifications, but are being displayed as global professionals who push their own agenda with sketchy scientific evidence and questionable global solutions, while some voices from the real medical and scientific environment are being suppressed, because they challenge the main narrative. Luckily, there is great discomfort which is pushing against some of the initial storyline and we may end up, eventually, with a clearer view of how it all started and how dangerous it really was. A good time to avoid extreme thinking and stay focused, balanced and informed.

Different countries have applied different solutions. Most of them closed down parts of their economies, unemployment soared, some countries practiced only voluntary social distancing while keeping the economy open. In some places, fines were given to people going out without a mask or without a signed paper to justify their reasons to be outside. Various curfews were enacted. It all points to a genuine idea for staying safe, but there are controversial practices on various locations. We need to learn from this and do better in the future.
Whatever the cure for this current health emergency will eventually be, it should be based on unbiased scientific evidence and be made available to all humanity, open-source, generic, with no patent or monopoly and affordable to all.

It is important to understand our history is being written right now and if the joint effort of mass disinformation should be recorded as a truthful timeline of the current events, we might end up with a false version of history, which future generations could be influenced by. Truth based on facts should be the ink on the history pages.

After more than 2 months of global lockdown, most of the news corporations are now talking about a return to "a new normal", which, by the looks of it, may not be the same as before and the potential removal of civil liberties is a probable outcome.

Remember rule number 3 in the book of wisdom? Letting go of extreme thinking? The more I research, the more confused and disappointed I become. The drug-like effects of wanting to hate and to be always right, have become the soft spot of many humans. Imagine hating a politician, for whatever reason, either real or imaginary. Now, with that hatred stored and ready to fire, any news which puts that politician in a bad spot, will be met with an explosion of hateful emotions and a complete disregard for rational thought and critical thinking. We are, supposedly, emotional creatures, which makes us susceptible to easy manipulation and continuous manufacturing of consent. Instead of letting extreme emotions take over and being driven by hate, there is always another way, if we choose so.

There is the balanced way, the trinity point where we put aside our feelings and engage in actual research to see if what the media is feeding us is anchored in reality, or is it just a narrative to serve their agendas. Instead of falling for one-sided thinking, we can aim to balance our views. A critical thinking populous can be a dangerous thing against a fabricated version of reality. Ideas like: "do your own research" can become the mark of heretics.
But if there is something that can definitely be improved, is the idea of holding accountable all sources of disinformation. Any privately own news corporation should be responsible and held accountable for any piece of misinformation they spread into the minds of humans. Imagine that, a world where truth is mandatory. That idea alone, can get us in trouble. The thought police is a worthy adversary.

I am looking at the school system, there is so much to be improved, but maybe we can teach children that we, the adults of today, have done our best, but it was not enough as we have made quite a few mistakes. We broke some things and made a lot of noise. The act of teaching them that they matter and we need their future help, could empower them to become better problem-solvers, serve humanity with kindness and cohesion, and prevent future global tragedies.

This pandemic could eventually be transformed into a solid stepping stone for our long term growth, along with pushing out what is no longer serving us and making room for something better. We have to improve, or face a repetitive history. This tiny self-replication creature might just be the catalyst we need to reach the threshold of a new global awareness.

So, what is there to do, dear journal? If I could get one single wish from this limited experience in physical form, it would be to bridge the gap between our oversoul and the collective consciousness of this planet, to break the experience of forgetfulness and unveil the stage of oneness. A thief, they should call me, the crazy pirate who stole negativity and ran with it on a deserted island, never to be seen again. What would humanity do without the cold embrace of negativity and fear, while remembering the essential truth: that we are all part of the same Team Humans?

Wishful thinking, I know. A small pirate cannot take on himself such a big task, but it is up to you, human terran, to choose a path of exponential awareness, to cultivate love, kindness and forgiveness, to push for a better world and acknowledge the beauty of our interdependence.

A journey of a thousand nautical miles begins with a first question: what can I do to help? Don't answer me, answer to yourself. When our inevitable lifespan reaches its end, it is, I believe, a comfortable feeling to know we have done our best during this brief journey here. But have we done our best? Can we do our best? Will we do our best?

Scary thoughts but what do I know, I'm just a drunk pirate sailing on this wooden ship. And the weather is looking better, maybe I'll explore a bit more and continue writing on this journal.

This is your stop, my dear friend. I'll drop you off now and wish you eternal remembrance of your indestructible self. I hope you enjoyed sailing with me and hope to see you again.

Shivai, human terran!