Michael Jackson was always on trial for something.
Michael Jackson was on trial his whole life.
Michael Jackson has been on trial his whole death.
Michael Jackson is on trial once again.
Or maybe there is something else on trial? The truth? Avarice? Corporate greed? Justice? Society? Ethics? The culture? The world? Humanity?
Here’s another chance for everybody watching to examine who they are being. Michael was always giving people those chances, wasn’t he?
And here he comes again… with one more chance. He knew exactly what he was doing. Michael Jackson will endure. Will those other things?
If you are paying attention there is a restlessness, a longing for more, for something better, for meaning. Some are very aware of this longing, this unacknowledged heartbreak, this mental leaning toward a better world. Some feel an unease, an itchiness, a plain vanilla anxiety that wants change but doesn’t know how to ask for it. And some just know in their gut something is happening… an underground rumble that they sense will erupt in an earthquake, but they don’t know what that rumble is or what it’s about. But everybody is feeling it– the realization that we can’t continue on this way. But what is this way? What to change? How? And who, what, how does a change take place?
Too many people for too long have had what is called: WIFS-“Well informed futility syndrome.” It’s a creeping malaise that comes from unrecognized and unexpressed anger about the way the world works that can cause nihilism (life is meaningless) and paralysis (so why do anything?) “Well informed futility syndrome” is a form of self-protection. It happens when there is overwhelming evidence of something harmful coupled with the realization that you have little or no control over it. It’s a defeatist attitude, a resignation, a retreat from the reality of something that looms impenetrable, unfixable, overwhelming, and too big to get your head around. Or your arms around. It’s the lament of the disenfranchised who feel victimized by overwhelming evidence or circumstances. It’s the cry of the disempowered: “But I’m only one person! The job is too big!”
The last decade has given us reason to feel WIFS: the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; the financial meltdown, Wall Street and the Madoff scandal; the skewed distribution of resources and wealth, realization that the 1% control the wealth; the global warming and climate change concern; the network news and its 24 hour feed of negativity, crime, disaster, and fear. The trend goes back even further: the frenzied media competition for market share; the growth of tabloid journalism and the tabloidization of mainstream media (medialoid;) the shift in prime time entertainment from uplifting variety and entertainment shows to crime and reality TV.
And the epidemic of bullying. After all, you have to put your anger somewhere when those who do the deeds that perpetrate futility in the masses are unreachable and untouchable.
So, let’s just all give up and go home, shall we?
Or let’s just medicate our frustration with drugs, or alcohol or food or TV. Let’s distract ourselves with our games, our devices or Facebook or Twitter. Let’s discharge that anger at teachers, students, parents, celebrities, and put caustic comments on articles anonymously calling somebody out for their stupidity. Or… well, you get the idea.
Some people will choose to stay in the space called futility. Some people find it safe there; it means nobody expects anything of you and you don’t have to do anything. You don’t have to think for yourself. Some people will stay there and complain loudly and maybe even recruit some people to screech with them. But noise is not action. Some people are in that place and find it uncomfortable and don’t know what to do.
It doesn’t help to get hysterical. Get calm and resolute. It doesn’t help to wring your hands. Roll up your sleeves. It doesn’t help to scream or blame. Be quiet and take up your sword of truth.
Each time Michael Jackson has been on trial, opposing forces try to use force to influence the outcome. Suddenly articles show up slamming or damning Michael. That’s not accidental. Money is exchanged, money greases palms, “journalists” get out their checkbooks and people who claim to know private things get paid by tabloids for their “tell all” stories. It happened after his passing, it happened during the Murray trial and it’s going to happen now. If you want to know how this dirty tricks game works read Lynton Guests: The Trials of Michael Jackon.
You might want to point that out– that when there is a trial and lots of money is at stake, deep pockets are paying out, trashy tabloid stories get published and the wire services repeat them without fact checking. You might want to point out that serially and repeatedly publishing mug shots silently telegraphs “guilt” where the accused is supposed to be presumed innocent until proven guilty and may, indeed, be innocent. You may want to comment about how media uses celebrity and sensation to sell their products. The phrase “if it bleeds it leads” presumes that networks must also sell “news.” Not just tell it but sell it. Does that mean embellish? You might want to tell people how they are being manipulated by powerful forces with hidden agendas. You might want to lead them in scrutinizing their unexamined assumptions. Some people who are advocates for Michael Jackson and social justice are doing a great service to their communities and their world by setting the record straight in a mature, controlled and dignified manner even in the face of frenzied madness. Others not so much.
I have heard of cases where fans are blaming Mrs. Jackson. Blame the real culprits– the media who pay to publish swill. Blame those who pass money through to opportunists looking to cash in and will cash in even on another’s misfortune or suck the bones of the dead because their humanity is empty. Look who stands to win and what or who stands to lose and why then follow the money trail. The Jacksons want the truth. Yes, they’re divided on the issues; they are people. As human beings, they too are entitled to mistakes, to denial, to dysfunction– just like every other family unit. But for the Jacksons, their sorrow, regret, anger, grief is being played out in a fishbowl, in front of the world. They can’t win any more than their famous sibling could. They can’t do or say anything right. They cannot even have privacy in their grief. Nobody but them knows who told them what after Michael’s passing or who came forward with what information. If your loved one was treated badly, possibly exploited, certainly manipulated and senselessly killed, you would want not just justice but revenge. So what kind of person calls an eighty-something grieving mother vile names? Who behaves so horribly in front of children? Not just Jackson’s children– the world’s children who are watching the goings on of the world they will one day inherit. Your legacy isn’t handed down at some future time or at your funeral; it’s being downloaded now.
Just for a moment, consider that no matter the outcome there is a greater lesson here. And consider that every situation has an energy field or bubble. The current trial has a field or energy bubble. If you throw hatred at the situation, you add to the hatred. If you throw anger at it, you add to the anger already present. Remember the “Power vs. Force” idea? Remember the idea of calibration? Remember the average human calibrates at around 200. The ethical calibrate high and the unethical calibrate low. Remember that the human body recognizes a lie/lies. The body knows when it’s lying. Think about a human body that has lied, and lied and lied; where would it calibrate? What kind of energy lives inside those cells? Is it power? Is it force? Remember that a person calibrating high counteracts multiple people calibrating low.
To give you a kind of visual metaphor: In medicine we learn to create a “sterile field” or an area where there are no germs. We do that so as to not infect or contaminate the area we are working with. We don’t create a sterile field by cursing at the germs, hating them and yelling at them to cut it out or screaming at them to be silent or leave. We create a sterile field by pouring on a substance that is the antidote to and counteracts germs. We cleanse and disinfect. We then preserve the integrity of that space.
The antidote or disinfectant for an area where hate, and greed and underhanded tactics live is not to throw more hate at it so the hate piles up; what works is to question what is going on there, to educate about it, to clean it up, to introduce caring and ethics and compassion– to bring in the folks with HEART. They disinfect with LOVE because they calibrate LOVE.
Make no mistake, love is not weak. I’m not talking about the sappy kind of love that sits in a circle and sings Kumbaya. I’m talking about the kind of love that converts that anger into action. The kind of love that loves humanity enough to say “ENOUGH!” Fierce love that tells the truth and demands the truth with a heart that can be felt. A heart that says “I care enough about you to ask you to drop your silly games of blaming others and take responsibility for WAKING UP YOUR HEART SO WE CAN WAKE UP THIS PLANET.
Michael Jackson had 40 years of practice. Some have had 4 and think either they’re done or they’re experts. Some have journied with Michael all along and they are now not just weary of what happened to Michael but now are weary of fans. Their voice of reason is drowned out by the voice of hysteria. Hysteria is not revolution. Changing the world and revolution is work. If you’re awake now you know why you’re here.
LOVE is not the path of least resistance. It’s frustrated but patient. LOVE knows it’s not a sprint to the finish but a marathon. LOVE has to bear witness to it all. LOVE is courageous and brings a hurting heart that says: “we can be better,” a heart that has been cracked open and has learned to be steadfast in its conviction that the world can be changed and it should be. The kind of LOVE that knows we are here to change it. The kind of love with the courage of a hurting heart that no matter what it must bear witness to (pain, frustration, insults, lies) it remains steadfast in its fierce insistence on truth, beauty, social justice, equality and compassion because it understands that humanity is ONE and deserves LOVE. It also understands that humanity IS LOVE incarnated but has forgotten. It is the mirror that demands that ALL HUMANITY COMES ALONG.
That kind of love becomes expert at LOVINGLY standing as a mirror:
“That’s an assumption; how do you know that’s true? Have you examined it?”
“No, that’s not correct; actually, this is what happened and here is the proof…”
“Take a look at what you just did/said do you really want to be that kind of person?”
“That didn’t happen and it harmed someone; do you really want to continue harming people? Maybe you want to check it out first…”
“Dude, unless you saw it for yourself; you may not want to repeat it. If it were you, would you want someone spreading lies?”
“Whoa, can you prove that’s true? Do/did you know him personally?”
“Have you looked into this? Have you considered the source?”
“You know that the media is a constructed reality, right? You know that half that stuff isn’t real or it isn’t the whole story, right?”
“Most people don’t know that the media, on a slow news day, makes stuff up; that’s how stuff gets distorted.”
“You know that paparazzi eggs people on and hurls insults to get a reaction, right? You know they do that to get a money shot. A money shot is when they can antagonize somebody or invade somebody’s privacy or make somebody mad enough to get a negative picture… you “get” that’s not really the real person, right?”
“Did you just call that woman a………? That’s harsh; why would you do that? What if somebody called your mother that?”
“Reality check Dude. Whoa, you are really misinformed. Lots of stuff has been revealed. You need to catch up with…”
There are plenty of ways of being a mirror by asking: “‘who are you being?’ while at the same time asking ‘who am I being?'”
In the last month I have twice driven by a group of kids on a playground and a park where the interaction looked a little rough like maybe there was some threatening or ganging up going on. Each time I stopped the car and each time they noticed me. I then rolled down the window and asked: “this is friendly, right? I mean you guys are keeping it real, keeping it friendly, right?” Each time I was assured it was. And it was when I drove around the block or watched from out of sight.
There are all kinds of ways to love fiercely. There are ways to be a mirror with questioning, provocation or kindness instead of venom. And you don’t hide behind “anonymous;” you examine your assumptions, you walk in the other’s “moccasins,” you try to be aware of your own prejudices, look at the bigger picture and you put your head down and push forward knowing that even though you are one big contradiction yourself, you are trying and you make a difference with each person your life touches.
But here’s the most important part: HEART.
If you’re not coming from your heart, people know. And if your heart isn’t open, people know. If you’ve closed off your heart to someone, they know it.
Michael Jackson was loved all over the planet by millions of people. The HEART knows.
I am being asked the question (you know what question) so here is my answer:
1. Stay calm and stay focused during even the most difficult moments. (Stay in the heart; stay in the love)
2. Don’t feed the anti-love people with clicks and comments at their websites. No matter how it looks, they are becoming irrelevant and extinct. (Feed only LOVE)
3. If you need to turn your anger into action, make intelligent comments and give links and proof. Use the Man Behind the Myth video link. But calibrate LOVE, not hate. Write to the program directors/producers that are disseminating offensive material. Go to the media website and respectfully express your opinon- if you rant they won’t hear you or they will dismiss you.) Call out reporters but give reasons and links to information. Don’t engage in Twitter or Facebook wars. The world is watching. Being calm and dignified can change the prevaling opinion.
But mostly:
4. Watch the video below. Watch it until you completely get it and can practice it.
5. Go to Major Love Prayer for a daily collective meditation during the trial and take your HEART with you. Use the image of the video in your meditation.
5. Hold the energetic in you and in the field (bubble) where things are happening. There is a potential here to impact the world in a big way, to expose things that need exposing, to look greed and avarice in the face. Hold space for that. As Michael Jackson would say: Create it “in space.” In your mind and particularly in your heart FEEL A MIRACLE HAPPENING. It really is all for LOVE.
19 Comments
Rev. B thank you for this it really helps us keep perspective on what this really about. But now even with the Wade Robson allegations it’s becoming even harder. But the truth will prevail I have to be more positive.
MJ’s fans, now is the time we all must come together more than ever. Let us stick together and be responsible individuals for the sake of his children and his family. My God, how many trials must this poor mother Katherine Jackson endure? She went to trial when Michael was accused, when his doctor was accused of manslaughter, and now the AEG. Again, she has to endure this sexual molestation again. I want to speculate but the timing is just too fishy; AEG has to be behind this. My prayers are with the children and the family. We are living in a difficult time indeed.
Interesting how now that the estate is solvent and worth a billion, along comes someone who denied twice in court under oath that Michael Jackson did anything inappropriate saying “absolutely not; that’s ridiculous.” It’s reported he had “repressed memory” and as a diagnostic, that has always been in question. This is particularly distasteful for Jackson is not here to respond or defend himself. Perhaps Robson just joined the ranks of those like Martin Bashir. It would not be suprising to find that Robson’s career first declines and then ends, that fate by his own hand. Who would hire him now after denying many times any wrongdoing by Jackson now that he is dead, Robson sues him. Convenient those “repressed memories.” Convenient that the accused is dead. Convenient timing. Convenient that this is brought forward just as AEG is sued for negligence in Jackson’s health. Could it be that money has crossed hands in dark corners somewhere behind the scenes. Expect more of the same. At times like this people are often “encouraged” to come forward. Encouraged in cash.
In almost 4 years of research, I have learned that anything is possible. In fact, things that reasonable people would never believe are not only possible, but “convenient.” Up until now Wade Robson enjoyed a sterling reputation and was highly respected as the premier choreographer. Now? Not so much, I think.
Thank you Rev. Barbara. This is most needed right now and is a very important wake-up call as we very quickly forget when we are in the middle of it all. Namaste! Love and light to you and everyone. <3
Barbara, thank you for Majorlove link, it will be well used.
You warn us in this post that greed and avarice would show it’s face in this trial. However the form it has taken never entered my mind.
Reading your own and readers comments, it is obvious to me that we are all thinking along the same lines. Because of this, I will just state that when it relates to Michael there are no limits,no boundaries or just plain decency these life-forms masquerading as human are not prepared to cross.
So now it is the “old repressed memories syndrome” trick. Ha. How many decent folk have been pilloried and lost their loved ones over that.
Due respect to all pyschologists, I would like to be daring and challenge this. (Barbara if you need to edit this,you have permission.)
From experience, along with others, there is no such thing as repressed memories. If you are at an age where you can walk, talk and think, your memory of such acts are imprinted forever, more accessible than you would wish them to be.
Namaste,
Lynaire
Thank you Rev. Barbara. It is not easy for MJ fans, not before, and certainly not now. I really don’t know if and when there will be peace in the lives of all the people that love Michael Jackson. In my life, Michael made me feel at peace. He shows me every day how to cope with things. Sometimes I don’t get it immediately, but I can learn. But when will HE (his legacy) have peace in this or any world ? I am sorry for Wade Robson. I don’t know what made him do this NOW, if he already knew for 2 years. I think he made a very bad decision. He hurt himself, the people in his surrounding, the MJ fans… and for what ? If he had continued to spread what he did before, positively about Michael, everybody would have loved him. I think that is one good example of how hate and revenge can destroy everything. I even considered that, if Michael ever did something wrong to him (which I don’t believe at all but since we were not there…), he still could have continued to live his live as he was used to. He did not have to come out to the world with that, considered that Michael could not harm anyone else again. And if not for the money, why then to file a charge ? He could have sought help in private. You see, in my opinion it makes no sense. Short viewed of him, or nagged into it by someone else……… for what purpose ? Character assassination, money, support for the AEG cause ? Timing strange, the way of making it public through filing a case with the Estate. I wonder how you all think about this. Happy to have here a community to come to…..
It’s very suspicious because the timing is suspect. And his previous support and praise of Michael is not indicative of someone who has been harmed but quite the contrary. He was not sullen or depressed or reticent as most victims- he was animated and enthusiastic in his praise of Michael and gratitude for Michael’s mentorship. Not buying it. It reeks of hidden agenda and “encouragement” from outside sources.
In the nineties it was discovered that “repressed memory syndrome” was, in actuality, planted by the therapist. And yes, it ruined people’s lives.
“Repressed memory syndrome” ….How convenient, how sinister and I agree, what timing!. The existence of repressed memory recovery has NEVER been accepted by mainstream psychology. As you stated Barbara, the most common criticism is that “recovered memories” are tainted by, or a product of, the process of recovery or the suggestions used in that process, ie. the therapist can plant a “memory” during “therapy”. Barbara it is so sad and distressing…there are charlatans in every profession especially when large sums of money are involved……
“It’s a thin line, between love and hate”…How many of us have experienced, or know someone who has been on the wrong end of a love gone bad? Michael loved so many, so purely, so clearly and so intensely it’s no wonder this particular theme shows up time and time again. I am with you Barbara…just not buying it. Something strange and about this whole thing …..AEG is a giant in entertainment. I believe they will do anything to win….
We must stay the course and work on raising consciousness. All the roadblocks and bright shiny objects are just to distract us from “holding the center”. I, for one, will double down in my efforts.
Love and light
Victoria
The same tactic as is being used by Wade Robson, and whoever is pulling his strings, was used last year against Michael`s children when his siblings brought up valid questions for the estate of Michael Jackson to answer. Create a story to deflect attention from themselves, in this case AEG are the ones on trial so, what better tactic to employ than accusing the man whose death you are being accused of being negligent in of abuse against Wade Robson.Lots of money buys lots of lies and even more silence. Nearly four years on, and still they will not let Michael rest, let alone in peace. What goes around comes around, down the line, sometime in the future all the shady people with equally shady agendas will be nailed, if not in this life then in the next. Justice will prevail eventually.In the meantime we must endure, just as Michael did, and pray for a fair outcome to this trial.
Under “therapy” many many years ago I had a ‘repressed’ memory, which, once I began consulting a truly great therapist, I was able to sort out was not an accurate memory, in very significant aspects of it.
My first instinct when these preposterous ‘new’ allegations hit the fan, was ‘who got to Wade Robson’ and ‘who has something to gain right now from a heinous defamation of Michael Jackson?’
Did someone take a page out of Evan Chandler’s play book and ‘induce’ the supposed breakdown Robson had, precipitating suddenly ‘recovered memories’? Has someone threatened the well-being of his child, himself or himself and his family?
Its beyond odd that under the real trauma of aggressive and ill-intentioned cross-examination in 2005 Wade did not waver, crack or ‘breakdown’ in his declaration of Michael’s innocence – and yet choreographing a show for AEG, and at a time when Katherine Jackson and his children are poised, in what looks like a strong case for them against AEG, to hugely gain financially, is a ‘trauma’ that brings on these ‘repressed memories’ that slander Michael Jackson violently.
It is fact that there is absolutely NOTHING some people won’t do for money. NOTHING. They will kill their own child or parent, and viciously maintain any lie, and for far less money than what is at stake in this trial.
You can do more than “endure and pray for a fair outcome to this trial.” You can watch the video on this page and go to Major Love Prayer for a daily meditation. Engage your heart and send LOVE (truth, justice, beauty) into the energy bubble of the trial. Lies, greed, corruption, malice and manipulation are toxic and cannot endure in an ecosystem awash in LOVE and HOPE which is an expectant outcome that supports life-affirming actions. Spiritual guru Gregg Braden calls it scientific prayer when you see and especially when you FEEL and send that message. Heartmath Institute calls it non-local reality- the human mind impacts matter. Just the presence of a human mind can alter the outcome of an experiment.
While it may not be easy to witness or navigate emotionally, this trial has the potential to explode a lot of myths. It has the potential do demonstrate how big business uses its power to exploit and roll over an individual. It has the potential to reveal the dark underbelly of the entertainment industry. It can reveal how the lure of money can wipe out years of loyalty. It can tell the real stoy of the artist and who owns the art and the artist. It can demonstrate how when money is the motivator ethics can be easily compromised and how easily people are thrown under the bus to save money, to save a corporate brand, to save face. It has the potential to show the monster face of greed. It will contrast the powerful with the powerless and has the potential so show how ruthlessly the game of power, greed, informaiton and branding is wielded.
There will be those who will work hard to continue the caricature and the meme that they so recklessly constructed for career advancement, money. power and facetime. The ones who made their fortune and fame sucking the life of another human being have much to lose if the stinking, rotting truth of their treachery is uncovered for the world to see. The long term consequences of their actions nor the full cost of their treachery has fully been appreciated- by themselves or by others. They are running in fear from the full realization of their own deeds of darkness and to maintain the denial and distract themselves, they will frantically attempt their own redemption. There is none. When you have used your position, power and influence to dehumanize another, to exploit that dehumanmized being, and to make the world a darker place, the contribution stands and speaks for itself. When your target was someone whose misison was to change the world and make it a better place, your treachery and darkness is magnified and costs in a way that money could never remediate. You have sold your soul to darkness. And you have sold the world to darkness. You have cost humanity light. And what you do to one, you do to the whole of humanity. What you contribute here with your life by what you say, what you do and who you are being either destroys or it builds; it either lifts humanity up or drags it down. A deed cannot be undone. When the deed contributes to the darkness of humanity the darkness follows you; when the deed contributes to the light of humanity, the light likewise follows.
No matter how unconscious people try to be, how much denial they try to employ, how many excuses they try to levy, or how much they try to distract or deflect– their inner core knows. It always knows. And it knows that it is always a choice. LOVE always chooses light no matter how seductive the darkness.
Only in 2005, Michael stood alone. Celebrity “friends” suddenly disappeared. They didn’t want to be tained by association. Michael Bearden, Akon, Will I Am, let us see if they will now stand with Michael. Akon wrote a song for Michael “cry out of Joy”, a lovely song and Usher and others wrote a song for Michael as well call “better on the other side”. Let us see the light or darkness in these friends. TMZ, Perez Hilton et al have established themselves, unfortunately, as the go to for gossip whether true or not, as you say. And the fact is people believe it.
I only pray that the outcome will be over in favor of Michael and then his legacy, hopefully, will shine and he will rest in peace.
You bring up an important issue. Unfortunately we are judged by who we associate with. Self preservation dictates that when someone is pilloried and considered a “hot mess” or a “train wreck” we keep our distance. Michael Jackson and his life was the perfect storm in more ways than can be articulated. When he allowed people close, they betrayed him, so he learned to keep them at arm’s length. When he kept people at arm’s length or moved on with his life leaving them behind, they felt abandoned by him and retaliated by denouncing him or worse. People who were once friends but with weak ethics were seduced by tabloid reporters with handfuls of cash. This recent seduction is no different except for the fact that the cannibals who once fed off his flesh are now gnawing his bones. They will soon want to suck the marrow. Necrophilia, they call it. Even the most cynical can see it’s a ploy for money. Except those who won’t but that’s because of where they callibrate.
It has been observed and stated that an accusation of “child molestation” is worse than an accusation of “murderer.” And Mesereau said, correctly so, that Michael would have been killed in prison by someone seeking notoriety for killing a famous “pedophile;” they are apparently treated the worst in prison and hunted by their far superior peers who only rape and murder.
What is interesting about that is that “we” (used here as the collective) profess to love and protect children as part of our inherent moral code, yet we allow children to starve all over the world; we don’t work very hard to stop the sex slave trade that begins with the kidnapping or selling of children; We do nothing about the promotion of rape culture and misogyny in the military, hip hop and music videos; we protest abortions and the day-after pill yet abondon those same children after birth and then condemn them and their families as “welfare leeches;” we look the other way when inner city kids are looking for meaning and somebody to care about them and then we then condemn them when they join gangs; we don’t pass laws limiting the purchase of weapons or ammunition or institute background checks even after the slaughter of children by automatic weapons that cut adults in half never mind that we can’t fathom what those weapons do to children’s bodies; we want our children to have opportunity and have well paying jobs so they don’t resort to crime but we won’t support our schools and underwrite education for everyone…
Michael was trying to say his whole life that all people on the planet have an obligation to all children on the planet. He was saying “It takes a global village to raise a child/children.” He acted on his beliefs. They clashed with societal norms. And people who lean toward shadow anyway were quick to believe the worst while others didin’t know what to think. Everyone forgot he was an artist with an artist’s mind and imagination. And they didn’t realize he was an empath.
The other important point you raise is that is it IMPERATIVE that fans NOT GO to sites like Hilton and TMZ to give them the clicks that keep them in business. I thought Perez Hilton have vowed to clean up his act; it does appear as if he is at least questioning the motivatoin of this come-lately accuser. What is important now is to refrain from hysterical reactions, to remain calm, and strategize while things are in flux. It’s far from over. Big money brings out desperation. And dark and sensational stories bring fans to sites they should avoid. That demonstrates the cynical calculation that manipulates and seduces to sell the product. Michael tried to teach that too. Everyone should listen once more to “Tabloid Junkie.” If you want it to fizzle or better yet stop, don’t feed it.
Thank you Ms. Kaufmann,but when I need instruction on how to pray and meditate, for a fair outcome to this trial or anything else, I will consult my Blessed Mother. All prayer is valid and powerful, each of us travels a different route,, it`s where we are going that matters.Love and Blessings to you.
Robbie, this felt angry to me. Was that intended? If you have been here for awhile, you know that we have and do, honored all faiths and all expressions of faith and prayer. And it’s Reverend Kaufmann, Ms. M. There is never any disrespect here for the expression/s of faith. Mother Mary is one of my benefactors as well as others from the Christian tradition. I hope you do invoke her.
Regular readers here have been privy to studies from a few research institutions that have proven in laboratory and other experiments how prayer does impact humans and human consciousness and what the most effective form of prayer seems to be and the outcomes induced with the methodology. Prayer affects DNA according to some studies. And using visualization and emotion in prayer seems to increase the amplitude. Nobody here is putting down your faith or your form of prayer. The instructions are a formula for enhancement based on scientific studies.
If it’s for Michael, try to remember it’s all for LOVE.
Rev. Kaufmann, you said : “we don’t work very hard to stop the sex slave trade that begins with the kidnapping or selling of children;”
I would like to add my point of view : if there were no humans (men, especially in this case) that were interested in “using,” “buying” these children, there would be no “market” for it. (how horrible that looks/sounds!) And who are these men? People all around: business men, workers, family fathers, priests, criminals, friends, co-workers…. who knows who they are, but they exist and we could not know if it’s our neighbor. If these people would think and live higher morals, then there would be no such problem. But how to achieve that in this world now?
And you are right about the weapons and ammunition. For us in Belgium, it is incomprehensible that so many people in the US are so eager to have a weapon, whatever, a gun or even more of them. All in the name of “freedom” and ” the right to protect yourself.” It is not only about all the risks taken by this kind of attitude, but also: what a tremendous sum of money could be used to push forward this world if all these funds would be used for helping people. Yes, we don’t do enough for the people of the world. I think some CEOs of big corporations and politicians also should learn about Michael, and start to think like we do. Wonder if this is ever going to happen, or if these people have too big ego to identify with this BIG “little moonwalker”.
Remember how we talked about the Dalai Lama’s statement: “The western woman will save the world?” Women will need to create solidarity and claim their power to change things. We live in a world that permits the sexualization of females at a very young age, produces infant “beauty queens,” allows the Catholic Church to police its own preditors, fosters a culture of silence in the military where men regularly rape their fellow soldiers, buy music that demeans women as posessions whose only value is as sexual arm candy, isn’t outraged at the mercy killing of Islamic daughters and sisters “sullied” by rape, doesn’t protest the rape of women in South Africa while trying to hike miles for water for their children, that allows words like “b*tches” and “h*es” and the c-word to populate pop culture, that tolerates men making a baby as proof of their sexual prowess- a baby they often abandon, produces promos and commercials depicting women as sex objects and sisters remain silent instead of screaming outrage. Now the producer (Simon) of X-Factor thinks it’s a good idea to produce a new show that features men sitting on a couch and critiquing women’s bodies as they parade in front of them. It’s another example of lending a stamp of approval to a misogynous rape culture. Women have to get fed up, angry and take action. One worman in particular– Jennifer Newsom is making a difference with her “Not Buying It” campaign at Miss Representation that hits ’em where it hurts most- the wallet. Sex trade is big business and all of these injustices to women feed it.
Men speaking up against machismo, misogyny or showing compassion or caring find ridicule and mockery awaiting them. Republicans here just mocked Obama for being out there tyring to save the world while they (the Republicans) are trying to get people jobs so they can feed their families. (paraphrased) Here’s a newsflash: If there is no inhabitable world left, a job won’t do you much good. And while you’re working hard at your bandaid job to feed your children, their future is being destroyed because their planet is being destroyed.
And don’t even get me started on guns… ever notice how guns, bombs, missiles, bullets… are all phallic shapes? Ok, I won’t go there… I’ll let you think that one over in silence.
Michael Jackson was mocked because he didn’t fit the mold. He didn’t buy the rape culture and exploitation with women so the culture decided there had to be something wrong with him. He must be gay. And what’s with all those little boys around him? So you see how the caricature was formed.
Instead of going rabid or hysterical, fans need to watch closely what is happening. They need to not rant and act crazy– they need to calmly educate. There are those who are now questioning this latest development even while they are “reporting” it. What you can do that is effective, is to support the questioning. For if one person is once again making an obvious money grab from his estate– how many others in the past grabbed for his money? SUPPORT THE QUESTIONING.
Michael was a cultural mirror and when you look in a mirror and find ugliness, your first impulse is not to change “the man in the mirror,” it’s to smash the mirror. He was an irritant, a provocateur, a deviant from the normal good ole boys who embrace sex, anger and violence as a synonym for “manhood.” When the message and the messenger threaten the status quo and how things work in a culture, that is a threat. When you ask people who are acting irresponsibly to become responsible, they resent the fact that you’ve just pointed out their complicity and laziness. But when that messenger threatens your amassed wealth, you kill the messenger. They are still killing that messenger. Wade Robson is Demi Lovatos Creative Director. AEG is her tour promoter.
It isn’t Michael or his message that is going to change anybody’s mind or change the world; it’s us. Michael’s job is done; the torch is ours. Start a fire. (That’s a metaphor)
Thank you Rev. Barbara for your wise words.