By Benjamin ‘Raven’ Pressley

In my opinion, It has come to a time in history that we as human beings need to evaluate and re-evaluate who we are and what it means to be human…..Human beings should not abuse other human beings. They should not abuse animals or this planet either but especially they should not abuse other human beings. In order for this madness to stop we need a change of heart, actions and behavior. It is time for a remnant of people to arise and commit themselves to look at the big picture and get their eyes off themselves and their causes for the sake of survival and the bettering of the state of all human beings. There are certain things we can all do that has nothing to do with our affiliation to any set of beliefs personal or corporately. I do believe we are all spiritual beings and we cannot accomplish this without calling upon a power stronger than ourselves because whether we agree with it or not humans are NOT basically good. Think about it. Is it harder to be bad or good? See what I mean. Yes, there are exceptions but the majority of human history has proven that people when it comes right down to it will do what is best for them personally and selfishly and look out for themselves or at best someone close to them or a closely held religious or national belief system. Regardless whether you agree with that it really comes down to which side of us we feed the most that has the most power over us. If we feed our selfish side we become more selfish. If we feed our selfless side, caring more about the big picture and how it is affecting others and the world we live in we become more selfless. Feeding that selfless nature rather than the selfish nature certainly has a better chance of survival and sustainability and the hope of a better world for those present now and in our future.

So, in an effort to raise awareness, empower us to rise above our differences and create a better more sustainable world community I offer the following tenets and challenges that I am calling ‘How To Be Human’ and I invite your input in building this list. And though some of the tenets included may be influenced by our spiritual beliefs resist the urge to list anything influenced by any specific religious beliefs. A complete human being is physical, mental, spiritual and social. I invite your multiple contributions to this list in any of those categories. Do try not to be wordy though. Say what needs to be said only in as many words that are needed. I will be compiling them into an on-going list in my blog so that all may share it, reference it and download it. Thanks for your input.

• Treat others as you would have them treat you.
• No one is OVER anyone else. No one is better than anyone else. We submit to one another’s gifts and support those better at one thing or another in the interest of benefiting all.
• EVERY person has something to contribute to society and should be respected as such.
• When it comes to respecting and treating one another respectfully it does not matter who they are. It does not matter what gender, affiliation, nationality, religion, race, creed, physical challenges, mental challenges or sexual preference they are.
• Everyone should stand up for and defend those younger, weaker or innocent from those who would take advantage of them.
• Make ALL choices in life only after you have considered its lasting consequences on yourself, others and future generations.
• NO religion has a right to impose its domination on another by force, manipulation or otherwise.
• NO so-called family/co-habitation situation has the right to belittle, torture, abuse or torment anyone else in the family/co-habitation situation. This includes all forms of guilt, head games, manipulation, verbal abuse, emotional abuse and physical abuse.
• No one has a right to punish someone else. Fair and just consequences should be allowed and applied to a situation that requires such a response only after the reward and consequences of certain actions have been made clear and are understood by both parties. This is especially true of the parent to child relationship. Imposing consequences to a child’s actions as appropriate teaches them real life lessons that actions have consequences or rewards and reinforces how we should be careful of the choices we make. All consequences and rewards should be used in a manner that restores, heals and teaches.
• All that we enjoy and participate in life should be with balance in mind. Balance, and as much as possible, equal time should be given to every activity keeping in mind that we all are mental, physical, spiritual and social beings and each of these facets of who we are needs nurturing and time.
• We must evaluate the foods we are eating and how we process foods and exercise regularly. Our food choices and activity level have lasting effects on our health mentally and physically.
• Creativity should be nurtured and encouraged when it is noticed in another person or in ourselves. This particularly applies to our children.
• Preserve the stories of our cultures and our history in as objective a manner as possible. It is not history if it is recorded in a biased manner painting one culture superior to another.
• We must learn from our past or we are doomed to repeat it, however, we are not to live in the past. What is past is past. We cannot change it. We can only learn from it and use what we have learned so as not to make the same mistakes again.
• We must recognize the value of REAL things and not build an unsustainable culture overemphasizing the value of currency. We must be willing to barter and trade services and products not just some form of currency.
• We must realize that passing laws is NOT the answer. People must be willing to change as a culture and care more for one another knowing that how we treat one another eventually will have unpleasant consequences on ourselves and future generations. The laws we live by must be written on our hearts not subject to corrupt enforcers and interpreters of laws written in books. Yes we must be willing to enforce consequences upon those who are menaces to society, others and themselves but passing laws cannot be seen as a solution to the ills of our society.
• We must maintain a warrior clan a.k.a. military. They should defend us from all invaders and enemies foreign and domestic. And they should be provided for by the people they protect. They should not have to provide for themselves for their daily needs. They are putting their lives on the line to defend us it is the least we the people can do.
• Holy men and spiritual leaders should not be financed by a government provided for by peoples’ taxes. The followers of a particular organized spiritual culture should be supported by its followers or by the holy person themselves. Followers of any spiritual movement should not be like dumb sheep they should think for themselves and not be afraid to question ANY spiritual tenet presented. And all of the other tenets in this list should also apply to any spiritual organized culture.
• All people have a right to bear arms and maintain whatever means they know how to use safely and proficiently to defend themselves and their families and communities. We cannot be totally dependent on a warrior clan, military or police enforcers. All sane human beings should have a plan and means to defend themselves, their family and their community.
  

  GREAT QUOTES “Im starting to believe that the way to become immortal is to attach yourself to the eternal, to become a link in the unbroken chain of human knowledge and in that way become the eternal; but in order to do this we must teach that knowledge in such a way that our link in the unbroken chain of ancient wisdom survives us. I think we all have had the seeds of that wisdom planted within us by someone very special, and we are beholden to pay that knowledge forward.—Duncan Disorderly Phd