The Ultimate Vampire Resource and Directory

Have you ever sat down with yourself and really taken a look at your true self and had a 'moment of truth'?

What I mean by that is, have you accepted parts of your personality or being that you always condemned in others but always rejected in yourself?

Did this change anything for you in the way you see the world and interact with the world and other people in it?

Since we all have the ability to make the decision between "Good" and 'bad", how easy do you think it is to accept the fact that we are all capable of committing acts of torture, murder? As well as the opposite unconditional love and compassion for strangers and even animals?

If we ALL acted out of kindness and work in a co-operative, collective manner do you think we could reverse or eradicate many of the world's issues? Without government involvement?

I have had moments of truth before. Rarely were they about something I had condemned in others but they still were things, fairly personal, that I had denied or tried to hide away from myself. They can be very important.

As for your last question. That's the entire purpose of a community, to act as a group for the betterment of all involved without the need to get some larger government into the situation. That's why I find it hard to understand people not being able to get medical help, your local community should be there for you.

If we as private citizens did work together for mutual goals, with goodwill and respect at the core, then I see no reason why we couldn't clean up a nation or send someone to Mars even. There's no law saying only NASA can do that stuff.

Absolutely I have had those moments.Its a part of personal growth that hopefully,we all experience thruout our lives.

As for the second part of your question..I would have to agree with Xav on that.

When we all say it like that, it sounds like such common sense...

But then, why doesn't anything happen??

I was thinking about it all today at work and it just made me feel very powerless to make any sort of change in the world.

Because at the same time we're thinking "if we just work together" we're also thinking "but I'm just one person".

It's why I get so upset at people that don't participate in the political process. Yes the entirety of the issue is massive but it's made up of any number of smaller parts, all of which we can directly affect if we just got up and did it.

You can't have a beach without billions of single grains of sand. Likewise we can't save the planet, cure disease or go to the stars without the efforts of many individuals working for a common goal.

I think humanity is at a point where people are just now starting to wake up to the real power that a single person has and the awesome power that we as a species have if only we would embark together. It may take some time but with the constant effort of folks who see our potential perhaps in time we will all see the truth of it and set out to the edge of the universe.

I think you're more than right and totally spot on with that one. Persistence and perseverance..

I think what gets in the way for a lot of people is the fear of speaking out and seeming different. With a layer of apathy on top of that?? I am not surprised we're taking forever to make any progress on the co-operation front.

...but what you're saying gives me hope that change is possible at least in the future.

The world would be a better place if everyone could live in harmonious coexistence. But that would infer, an elevated sense of "higher intellect" without emotion.

Emotions are an ever swirling soup of both negative and positive reactions to a given circumstance or situation. It is in our genetic makeup to act with either a positive or negative response, verbal or otherwise.

If we were to consider harmonious interlocution it would have to be within an established, directed, and cultured environment that had existed for a period of time where those who were found to be "persona non grata" have already weeded themselves out.

We can look upon those communities where "emotional content" SEEMS to have been achieved, such as with the Tibetans or those martial artists who have mastered the inner self. However anything on a larger scale is impossible. There will always be the majority that will never find that emotional content even if it seems as if they have...they have not...because emotions will always rule in one way or another, the human condition. Even in those communities that have SEEMINGLY found enlightenment.


With or without government intervention it doesn't matter. There will always be those individuals who have that nature which defines the borders of, for lack of better words "Good or Bad"

Our natures can not be changed unless our emotions are changed or eradicated. As humans we will never live in harmony one with the other, there will always be the presence of "Good and Bad" or "Positive or Negative" tendencies. It is the nature of the Human.

The 1960's was/is a good example of attempts at enlightenment, however it all basically boiled down to the "Hathor Syndrome" fertility, inebriety and music...Sex, drugs and rock n' roll.

Were the gods of the ancients then also guilty of "Good & Bad" as well?

If you consider mans beginnings, mans nature is not only a reflection of his beliefs but also of his genetics.

Equilibrium then should be the key where competing influences are balanced. Social equilibrium.Equilibration, the means of cognitive development in Jean Piaget's cognitive developmental theory.

Piaget placed great importance on the education of children.

"Only education is capable of saving our societies from possible collapse, whether violent, or gradual."


But education cannot cure the nature of man, the genetic structure that makes the individual who they are. Education cannot create the spandrels or phenotypic characteristics of mankind.

I've done bad things to bad people in my 32 years of military/government service. I've had to make hard choices and consider the ramifications of those choices both to myself and the individual or individuals concerned.

We have choices, sometimes they may be the wrong ones, but often, much more often, they are the right ones for the given situations of future circumstances.

Compassion must sometimes be negated, and the final verdict the only venue to an impossible situation where the multitude of lives concerned rest upon the termination of one.

Life is as it is. Humans are as they are. And ones reality is another ones impossibility.

Live your life as governed by your instincts, which includes your nature and your passions.

So Davy, does that mean that humans will continue to be as they are now?? Despite education and a growing awareness of our selves and our place in the universe? We will never evolve while our emotional selves remain a part of our nature??

That doesn't sound all too optimistic.

Try looking at it from a historical perspective.

If we progress to the point of change on a universal scale it will be at the loss of something. Man, as he is now, is not capable of change on a large scale, there are too many variables within the human condition genetically or otherwise.

That doesn't mean that man will never evolve to becoming a higher being, it simply means that it will take generations. We will never see the change, the evolution within our lifetime, unless of corse there is intervention.

Part of mans ascendancy will be to accept that which he either has denied out of fear or personal belief of his own self in his relationship to the universe and what it holds for humanity.

Man continues to learn at a pace that takes generations. regardless of what me may look at as being "Advanced" the probability of it having already existed at a point in time is in itself a controversial paradigm.

Man discovered the atom in the early/mid 20th century. However, The Qur'an spoke of the atom over 1400 years ago.

So we are catching up on certain things once known and rediscovering that which has been forgotten. But it is being accomplished at a pace that the mind can conceive.

Man, without a doubt, will one day achieve that goal of mastery over his emotions and his nature but that day is not at the present, not in a universal scale, maybe a personal one, but even that is a constant battle with ones self.

Nothing in life is at a state of perfection, not a flower, not an animal, not the universe, nothing. All is governed by the laws of chaos, and that is not a bad thing, it is the balance.

Man can agree to disagree that is a balance. Man can not disagree to agreed disagreement. That is the reverse of chaos theory, there is no balance there.

What you are looking for and hoping for will come. But the price of its evolution may not be what you expect.

Man thought of the atom centuries before Islam, many centuries before. The concept of an atom dates back some 2,600 years and comes from Greece & India. And the atom was only physically detected in the 20th century because there was no means to do that before then.

You talk of universal change, no species is capable of changing itself universally. Evolution is the product of a few related families pushing off ever so slowly into another direction and dozens if not hundreds of those splits occur within every species.

What man can do is slowly change our perspective of the world. There need not be any grand evolutionary jump, we don't need evolution at all in this case. Those of us who have come to some better understanding should be the "few" in this species who push the whole into a better state through knowledge, reason, respect and most importantly setting an example.

I could talk about cooperation for my entire life but unless I actually do it few will listen. Paradigm shifts take time to encompass an entire civilization let alone a whole world. They've happened before and they will happen again. The question is what are *you* going to do about?

I've recently come to accept a lot of things about my personality. I always clashed with my parents growing up, and I know why. I'm the exact opposite, yet the same at the same time. I have the same attitude, but different views. They manipulated me and made me believe that their way was the only way, until I met some new people and my eyes were opened to the idea of just being yourself, and not caring about anyone's opinion. "An it harm none, do as ye will." I firmly believe in that sayig.

The day that I realized being self centered and driven is not a bad thing was the best and the most freeing day of my life.
I released all cares about the opinions of other people in things that regarded me. It changed the way that I look at the world around me and the people in it.

I discover something new about myself everyday. As well as when these self discoveries happen, a part of
me changes. Either to build on it, or rid myself of it.

As for banding together and ridding ourselves of the government. Let's say we did. It works for a little bit, we begin disagreeing with certain perspectives, these perspectives create animosity, next thing ya'know. We are at eachother's throats. Who will police us? We need the government to an extent. In order to band together, we would need to be a collective, and agree on the angle of everything. Because of our personalities either we look over certain things or they act as a magnet for us to clash.

I have had several moments of "truth". How does one grow emotionally, spiritually and mentally otherwise?

It is also my nature to ponder about profound ideas of life and afterlife though I never get half of what is being said. Thus the many moments of "truth". Sometimes, those moments are not too pleasant. Rude awakenings, you can call them. So it goes either way.

Lately I have been thinking about the theory of life after death. What happens when the physical body is no longer operative? Can we survive? Perhaps there will be no moment of "truth" at all.

Of course these experiences changes one's perceptions of the world. Sometiimes there isn't a clear answer as to what is good or bad. Nor do we make the right decisions at that moment in time. Do i wish to know that i am capable of torture? No i don't. And i have never found myself in that position. So it all depends on what the moment of "truth" entails.

where to start?

it's not so much as "good" vs."bad" what's good for one person might be annoying to another person personality wise. However everyone has their path and somethings you might not like might be your best asset- you just have to see it for yourself. Really depends on what part of you, you're trying to rid of.

Since you asked on a bigger scale about the world, yes anything is possible when you put your mind to it.

I've learned to just live and I don't tell others how to live. I tend to stay away from people that my gut tells me are dangerous, but other than that I don't tell anyone what they should and shouldn't do and I do what I want to. I'm here to live. Not to try and live up to standards that aren't my own. I won't live by someone else's words or beliefs. You can have a well rounded life and not have to worry about what's in the Bible, for example. There's plenty to occupy your time. Just live till you can't anymore.

I really truly like what Moonkissed wrote:

"The day that I realized being self centered and driven is not a bad thing was the best and the most freeing day of my life.
I released all cares about the opinions of other people in things that regarded me."

I do realize I have a great worry with what others think about me and how they see me and in that way I am always trying to make the changes within.

Which is not always desirable.

But I have a very strong Libra in my Horoscope, so what can I do?? =)


When it comes to changing the world, the more inner power one has, the more one can influence the world.
But at the end of the day , this all is but a dream...

I see different things about myself that I want to change, yet at times I realize why I do not.

Thanks for everyones thoughts!

I believe that growth and change is sn important part of life. Knowing yourself and being able to accept the positive and negative in your life is important :)

To think that working together will resolve all conflict is silly. There simply can be two negatives that are both correct. They polarize each other, respect if you would. If more people responded to the negative behaviours in this manner, I would say that we would be able to resolve conflict on a large scale.

Humans tend to break "natural law" simply in the act of emotion and belief. Still I have to admit it would be nice if more people were open to doing this.

Personally my experience leads me to focus more on when I have these moments, how can I incorporate them on a larger level for my own betterment? To worry about others would be a moot concern.