#will someone guide harvard into consciousness and awareness

[sometimeswritingsometimesdying]

fence redemption seiji: oh wow. my new best friend asked me out on an appointment to save me. and he looks... hot? (gay realizations, reflections ect)

aiden the very next page:

[samwisethewitch]

Meditation for Witches (Baby Witch Bootcamp Ch. 2)

Read on WordPress, if you prefer!

Or watch a video version on YouTube!

Meditation is the act of engaging in deep focus, reflection, or contemplation in order to achieve clarity and awareness. Meditation is an ancient practice that spans multiple spiritual traditions. It can be practiced as part of a religious path, as part of a spiritual practice like witchcraft, or as a secular activity to increase mindfulness. Anyone can meditate, and everyone can benefit from a daily meditation practice.

A study led by Harvard researchers found that meditation increases gray matter density in the hippocampus, the part of the brain associated with self-awareness, compassion, and introspection. The same study found that regular meditation decreased gray matter density in the amygdala, the part of the brain associated with stress and anxiety.

Daily meditation can reduce stress, decrease feelings of depression, enhance self-awareness, encourage a positive emotional state, and increase compassion for yourself and others. All of these benefits have been proven through scientific research.

Like we talked about in Chapter 1, meditation is important in witchcraft because it helps us to develop a greater awareness of our own energy and the energy around us. Developing an awareness of this energy is the first step in learning how to direct it through acts of magic.

In her book, Wicca for Beginners, author Thea Sabin says that witches can use mediation and other trance techniques, “to train their minds and work with their subconscious to harness their mental powers.”

Sabin explains that during meditation, we enter a light trance state, which is the state of consciousness between being awake and being asleep. This is what we mean when we talk about “zoning out.” According to Sabin, “During a trance, the conscious mind doesn’t quite leave — although sometimes it feels that way — but it’s occupied elsewhere, and the subconscious has freer reign.”

This allows us to tap into streams of energy or information that we may not be able to connect with when we are fully conscious. In many magic traditions, trance is also an important part of spellwork, so meditation can help you get used to slipping in and out of this state.

Meditation is also a crucial part of energy work. In an article for the International Center for Reiki Training, Laurelle Gaia says: “Meditation is the art of creating a quiet mind and listening to the sound of silence. Where prayer is the act of talking with the Divine, meditation is the act of listening and truly hearing what God has to share with us.”

That being said, you don’t have to believe in God to benefit from meditation. The force that Laurelle Gaia identifies as “God” can also be seen as your own higher Self, or as a manifestation of universal life energy. Whatever you choose to call it, this connection is able to provide a sense of clarity that we don’t often get in our busy lives.

An easy way to induce a meditative state — i.e., a trance — is with a visual trigger. You can do this by lighting a candle and focusing intently on the flame, or by watching incense smoke rise into the air.

Another option is to use repetitive sounds, like drumming, chanting, or binaural beats. There is a lot of meditation music available for free on YouTube, and that can also be a good option for helping yourself focus.

Special breathing techniques can also be used to reach a meditative state. One of the easiest of these is called square breathing. To practice square breathing, breathe in slowly for four counts, hold your breath for four counts, and then exhale slowly for four counts. Repeat this as many times as you need to reach a calm, focused state.

Once you’ve reached a meditative state, what do you do? This depends on the type of meditation you choose to practice, and the possibilities are literally endless.

My favorite type of meditation, and the one that I recommend for new witches, is what I like to call “the five minute energy check-in.”

Sit or lay down in a comfortable place, and use your favorite method to enter a meditative state. Once you find that state, imagine a thick root growing down from the base of your spine, into the earth; you may see this root in your mind’s eye, or you may feel it physically. Focus on the way that this root connects you to the earth, allowing you and the planet to share life energy in an endless, mutually beneficial relationship.

After a few moments of focusing on your connection to the earth, notice an energy of pure love and light entering your body through the crown of your head. This is the spiritual force that directs all the energy in the universe. It moves through you and fills you — it is a part of you and you are a part of it. See or feel this light slowly moving through your body, from the top of your head, down your neck, shoulders, arms, torso, legs, and feet. Feel it flowing down that root and into the earth.

As you do this, pay attention to the way the energy moves through your body. Is there anywhere in your body where the energy feels blocked, or doesn’t seem to flow as easily? Pay attention to these blockages, because they can clue you in on areas where you need to do some spiritual healing.

This is what I like to do, but there are lots of other ways to incorporate meditation into witchcraft. Some witches like to pull a tarot card each morning and spend a few minutes meditating on that card’s imagery and meaning. Other witches may meditate with a crystal, really focusing in and attuning themselves to that stone’s energy. Some witches do the same thing with trees or plants. You could also read a section of spiritual literature and then spend a few moments in meditation, deeply focusing on the meaning of what you read.

There are some people who believe that they can’t meditate. I hear a lot of people say that they can’t get their brains to shut up, or that they can’t make themselves stop thinking. These people misunderstand the purpose of meditation. You aren’t turning your thoughts off — you’re just quieting them and letting them fade into the background. When a thought comes up, acknowledge it, but then let it go. Some people find it helpful to think of their thoughts like clouds, drifting across the blue sky of the mind and then disappearing.

Other people say that they can’t meditate because they aren’t able to visualize things and see them in their minds’ eye. My response to these people is that you need to broaden your definition of what meditation is. Some types of meditation do rely on visualization, but other types do not. The type of meditation I do most often revolves around feeling the energy within and around your body. You don’t have to visualize anything for this type of meditation — you simply have to be aware of your own body.

Some people feel uncomfortable with how freeform meditation is, or feel like they would do better with something more structured. I encourage these people to try guided meditations — in a guided meditation, someone else walks you through the entire process, and these typically follow a more rigid formula. This can be a great way to get used to the feeling of meditating until you feel comfortable doing it on your own.

I challenge everyone reading this post to make a commitment to themselves to meditate for five minutes a day, five days a week. I’m not asking you to meditate for hours and hours, or to meditate every day. Five minutes, five days a week. I promise you will be amazed by how quickly this meditation practice changes your life and propels you forward on your spiritual journey.

Resources:

“Proving the Benefits of Meditation” from Psychology Today

“Science-Based Benefits of Meditation” from Healthline

Wicca for Beginners by Thea Sabin

“Reiki and Meditation” by Laurelle Gaia

Note: Baby Witch Bootcamp began as a series of informational videos on my YouTube channel. This series is my attempt to meet a need for free, accessible, and well-researched information about witchcraft and other forms of magic. My background is in journalism, and this is the approach that I take with this series — I try to be as transparent as possible about where I get my information, and each episode is always accompanied by a complete list of sources. I also try to keep this series as objective as possible — my goal is not to convince you to practice witchcraft a certain way, but to provide you with the tools and resources you need to create a magical practice that fits your own beliefs, values, and spiritual needs.

[dmitrilyalikov]

Why do America’s generations keep getting dumber?

America is the global symbol of individual liberty and opportunity. Defined by capitalism and democracy, the very concepts that have made the U.S. the hallmark in innovative thinking and societal development. With arguably the best ‘system’ in the world able to work at great scale, American renegades have been the frontrunners in many aspects of society many countries wish they could compete with. Walt Disney, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, all American icons for creative thinking and execution. Creative, intelligent men that any company would love to have on their team if they could convince them to come. They’ve accomplished things that some would believe to be impossible, and not only that, they all dropped out of college. The education system failed them. 

The current American educational system was first introduced in the 1910′s during the industrial era to create a scaled up version of a youth knowledge assembly line. Children are crammed into large classrooms and are taught general knowledge to enter the next level of education. The strict regimen of be quiet, listen, and regurgitate what you have heard onto a standardized exam to get a letter grade has been used for over a century. This practice is nowhere near teaching a child to think and solve problems. Tests do not work. They do not represent any more than words on a paper. Example, the Chinese Box Experiment. In short, a Chinese professor inserts a test of different Mandarin characters that a robot on the other side of the door must answer. The robot identified every character correctly and returned the paper. The Professor says “Wow, this pupil understands Mandarin very well!”. She is unaware the answers came from a machine programmed by humans. The robot does not actually understand what is going on, it is simply responding with what it’s been told to do. Understanding is using memory to create predictions. However, this is exactly how school teaches children in America. They program children to respond to an input with a correct output, and those that compute such information correctly, are deemed the brightest. If we are programming children to act as robots, robots will win every time, bar none. The only way to fundamentally beat a robot is to be more human. Humans have creativity, emotional intelligence, morals, historical and societal awareness. Schools are essentially building kids like robots in an assembly line. They are writing code in our brains on how to think, act, and behave in many situations. The smartest natural child can be nurtured in such an environment to become average. 

The most beautiful aspect of a child is its sense of curiosity and creativity. Left to its own, many will fantasize about spaceships and rockets and trains. They will dance on couches, spill their parent’s coffee on the rug, They ask naive questions about complex issues. I was lucky enough as a child as my father would make me understand how any toy or tool worked when I used it. I was made to inquire about the world around me. How does a car engine work? What could make it better? Why do planes not fall from the sky? I was then sent to day school and would be told to shut up and listen to the teacher, because he is smarter than you. What does it mean to be smart then? To know more information and algorithms downloaded into the hippocampus? Memory is not intelligence. Intelligence and consciousness are manifested in the neocortex. The part of the brain that operates high level thought. Children in American society are suppressed and told to remember things to graduate. After a certain point of indoctrinated thinking, children lose their sense of curiosity and are more focused on execution then the process of learning and solving the problem itself. The most commonly asked question in American schools is “Will this be on the test next week?”.

So how can we make this better? This epidemic starts on the very system of education itself. The end goal of school is to obtain a degree, a rough representation of what college taught you, or maybe you were just wily enough to cheat (which is highly incentivized in the ends justify the means environment.). School’s are not obligated to innovate. Colleges are businesses. They force 18 year old children to take on 200 thousand dollar debt decisions. They don't need all that money. The books that cost hundreds of dollars for students, cost 6$ to make. NO INDUSTRY IN THE WORLD HAS A MONOPOLY THAT BOASTS SUCH GREAT PROFIT MARGINS. Colleges have young generations on a string with the rhetoric that a degree is worth such money. Millions of kids cry joyfully over getting into a school, just to give them money that is taken from loans to enslave them once they get out with a degree. College is enslavement. It is a monopolistic business. It is a shame to see such an important factor to human development being exploited for profit. They pay zero taxes on the profits they make. They teach general knowledge in a lecture style. Is that worth it? Why do kids want this? Why do parents make them do this? Because they did it when they were kids? We are in a new age. 

Fast forward over a century later, the digital age. Children have smartphones, smartphones with all the information they need. Why sit in a room listening to someone lecture when you can just look something up? Children are put in classrooms that are part of a school, that are part of a district, that is part of a school board. These scaled up versions of education pump out millions of children with a broad range of general knowledge, or at least that is the intent. Now most of these kids go to college, work a 9-5 job, and start a family and the cycle goes on with their children. That is not fulfillment, that is not happiness for most. The average school tuition has increased by more than 200% while the average salary of college graduates has plateaued since the start of mass schooling. We live in an era of economies of “unscale”. With artificial intelligence and cloud computing, vertically integrated corporations with huge factories and inventory cannot compete with lean, agile startups that rent cloud storage on Amazon Web Services, outsource manufacturing to Chinese factories, and utilize open source Machine Learning algorithms instead of spending great capital to build it all individually. This gives power to creative, niche startups that can effectively run a business from their basement. Think back to the 1990′s. The internet had just gone mainstream, thousands of employees quit their jobs to create internet companies during the Dot-Com Boom before it crashed. They would plan their IPO before even incorporating, this new technology was a home run in their eyes. How does this relate to education? The rapid evolution of technology can be attributed to new platforms. Telecommunications created a global platform for information to be spread from Boston to Australia in an instant, the internet has revolutionized virtually every industry. My generation is growing up in the advent of the AI and cloud computing platform. Essentially, the innovation of big tech platforms should equate to radically different education. However, because school systems have no incentive to change and make less profit, they are still preparing kids for an industrial era to be interchangeable pieces working for large corporations rather than agile startups and small to medium companies. 

Artificial Intelligence will radically change education. Harvard, Stanford, and a few other large brand schools have noticed this trend and created online courses already that use machine learning engines to tailor a course to a students understanding. AI can use big data to understand how a pupil learns, what he/she is struggling in, and create a report on their level of thought that is a perfect representation on what they can do, rather than a vague degree. Many companies such as Microsoft and Google are receptive to this and an increasing number of developers enter the software field with no degrees. Because there is no system that could exemplify a student’s intelligence in the past, an expensive degree was the next best thing and college became a booming business but quite an enslaving process for the children utilizing it. AI can guide a student while virtual classrooms and teachers can connect to children across the globe for real organic conversation. Now, the physical classroom is very important for social development and should still be used to an extent. Perhaps we Americans should look towards Finland, the country with the best ranked educational system in the world. Their primary and secondary schools are incredibly different. School days are 3 hours long, there is no homework, and there are no private schools. The philosophy is that kids should be emancipated from the institutions and be left to be kids and develop intuitiveness organically through real world social experiences. There are no private schools so that rich families send their kids to public schools and those parents make sure the school is up to par with what they can afford.This forces schools nationwide to keep a standard that is universal, much unlike the U.S. with many inner city public schools without internet while capitalistic private and public district schools spend money on football field renovations. 

To create a more productive generation of students, we must “unscale” education, remove private schools, reduce length of school hours, ban or at least regulate student loan firms, set a price ceiling on all college tuitions and utilize the platform of Artificial Intelligence to create a market of one for all students starting from Kindergarten to beyond college. Hiring more teachers and building would effectively make the problem worse. Teachers can be the greatest minds on the planet, but under such a restrictive there is little hope to save a whole generation. Khan Academy has implemented an unscaled online system, leading the way for more personalized education programs. There is little chance this can happen unless this is derived from the Federal Government, which is famously bureaucratic and slow to act especially with education. Changes are needed. This will make children more excited to learn, ask questions and solve the great global issues that are long overdue to be solved. Kids will strengthen critical thinking skills and experience freedom of thought that will create a wave of further technological development and accelerate American education to new heights. 

[alistsupermodel-blog]

To bring you this urgent lifesaving and comprehensive imminent global infrastructure collapse update and survival guide, we have been collaborating with too many A-Listers to mention here and supermodels and our networks since Harvard named me “Supermodel Activist of the Decade.” I also share the Special Humanitarian Award from the International Film Awards. Numerous other awards and credentials are accredited. We have technically PERMANENTLY officially gone off grid and live in the oceanfront jungle totally on solar power only as surfer activists. If you Google in quotes world's most televised environmentalist you will discover I am #1!

I am urged by basic common decency and the will to survive to share the following with you: due to the drastic ways our environment has been hit - whether with shark finning or coral reef bleaching or plastics crippling the planet, it would appear that we are indeed headed for that proverbial “Day the Earth Stood Still.” Early 2018 there may NOT be ANY air travel, or cruises or any other kind of major travel. If you haven’t heard this yet it might be so no one panics (the same way no one was warned about the Great Depression so as not to cause some kind of mad rush or even looting). Imagine if folks knew how zero resources we actually are and everyone simultaneously scrambled to take one or two final trips to visit loved ones - it could cripple the tourism industry immediately.

Who am I? The first ever A List Supermodel. YUP!!! http://www.AListSupermodel.com .

As the international #1 bestselling supermodel author of “Healthy, Wealthy and Wise: The 5 Most Important Wellness Secrets of All Time;” recognized as Supermodel Activist of the Decade by Harvard and “Queen of Surfing” by the media, I enable people with active lifestyles, A-list celebrities, stay-at-homes, and those who care about their relationship with God pro-actively on our path of eternal youth, beauty, and longevity. I realize what I am saying may sound “a bit reaching” but we are simply sharing facts and if you have an ounce of truth serum running through your veins well, you can make judgment for yourself and decide how to SAVE YOUR OWN LIFE. And since I believe in karma, when someone’s life might not be optimized and I am INFORMED with TRUTHFUL inside information, then it is my moral duty to share. If it makes you feel better, that lifesaving piece of literature has been on TV too many times to mention, and I did set the world record for the most television interviews by an environmentalist in a short period - 65 interviews in 3.5 years just like this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYS-YxeKcsY .

Do you know how many HUNDREDS of producers and “their bosses” from EVERY station and network had to VERIFY all my facts before allowing me on their programs? That should tell you how credible I am. I am not just some YouTube activist. I have been on EVERY NETWORK REPEATEDLY verified for all my environmental causes, from plastics to shark finning - all the stuff that has now brought the planet to its knees. Just Google such things like “world resource clock” to put everything typed here in perspective or go watch my short 21 minute documentary on YouTube titled, “Worst Shark Attack Ever” for which I won the Special Humanitarian Award, from International Movie Awards, World Film Council, Film Festival Alliance, Russian Culture, iHebat International Volunteers, and Indonesia Without Discrimination Foundation.

Also I am the very first Supermodel to win a Supermodel Lifetime Achievement Award ~ 🥇 http://www.AListSupermodel.com 🙏🏽 I have literally had only 1 day off of every 6 in the past 6 years. Literally. While our planet may be graced with thousands of environmentalists who have “dedicated their charitable energies” in between personal relationships, raising kids, having day jobs, etc, I have NOT. I have only been immersed in environmental activism. No kids. No day job. No real significant other which may be why I didn’t miss the forest for the trees and was able to connect dots in ways the average activist might not have been able.

Who are you?

YOU ARE well educated so you may have learned that in previous millennia when our planet had suffered from raping and pillaging of its resources, cataclysms and severe weather patterns had decimated entire populations and the fact is we are there again NOW at the brink of cataclysm so be prepared not only with emergency supplies or whatever but with emotional fortitude to get over the shock and trauma.

That being said, you can research ALL the current environmental HOT button topics yourself:

GMOs

plastics in the ocean

shark finning

global energy crisis, etc

and you will draw the same conclusions: just remain grateful for the days we had together because travel and commerce may NOT continue much longer. The truth in inner circles predicts it to be in about a season. That is why we and many other “erudites” have disappeared - to remain prepared and hunker down!!! EVERY FACT stated within this article is simply that: facts. We can only share with you THE TRUTH and our TRUE action steps taken for our salvation and you decide if you are gonna save yourselves as well. Would Surfer magazine host this http://forum.surfer.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=2686443#Post2686443 unless it has been well-verified by every possible credible source by now?

Well-researched “smarties with hearties” all over the planet have quietly gone off grid completely solar with sources of trees in a garden because we have been informed that it could all coming to a grinding halt within the next year. We swim in the ocean for “our bath” or any other toilet necessities and we lug ocean water in for our use. We live simply as if there was no electricity or infrastructure in place since this is all having come to pass shortly.

We have at least one year’s supply of food stashed already and then after that there are a bunch of fruit trees here in the garden but we must say that with all the changes coming to the planet, you must believe you are “saved” and will survive the inevitable lifestyle of no gasoline, electricity, or social infrastructure of any kind like hospitals and department of sanitation.

That aforementioned #1 bestseller we published on how to live FOREVER yes forever has been on numerous TV interviews like the links above discussing all the scientific evidence on how our body “the sacred temple” is actually built to last INDEFINITELY like a rechargeable battery.

This supports everyone through any situation that hits the planet. Also be aware that there is an intelligent breatharian movement - you may research on YouTube “how to be breatharian” as a way of optimized living. One may study “breatharian immortality.”

So no matter what happens, do NOT PANIC. The LONGER you can go withOUT food or water is actually better for your body and chakras. If you have to WALK / hot wire cars / forage for food and shelter as you make your way to somewhere permanently WARM with running fresh water and fruit trees, remember ALL the breatharian techniques you learned and KEEP CALM. Not only will you stay alive but you will THRIVE. You may YouTube “how to hot wire cars” or “how to siphon gas” to get you where you need to go when no more gas stations or stores are open and you realize that you really got to kick into survival mode.

If there was something we wish we would have included in that survival guide, “Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise The 5 Most Important Wellness Secrets of All Time”

it would have been all that breatharian stuff …AND a critical consideration to handle all the emotions that will come over the next year is to heavily get in touch with your FEMININE side, even if you have a penis - yes - coach those around you with one because there are too many PROVEN examples in nature where what remains healthy and viable from plants to bees are considered “female.”

Anything that insists on tapping into some made up version of existence called “masculinity” is doomed. Research this yourself or talk with scientists.

If “masculinity” were such a winner - we wouldn’t be reaching out online😜 Only those truly in touch with their feminine side has ANY success in life and EVERYONE inherently is aware of THIS. So laser that hair off your face to keep it off forever and same goes for tattoos!🌈

Ask ANY girl whose opinion you trust and she will tell you EVERYONE is better off clean shaven. Why do folks refer to their prized possessions OR ANYTHING THEY LOVE AND WISH TO MAINTAIN as a “she?” Is it purely psychological? Why are automobiles and boats “her?”

As a professional supermodel I can tell you the fashion industry won’t even allow anyone to be the main magazine cover photo unless their face is clean shaven.  Go ahead and research your stacks of magazines - all the cover homies are baby-faced. It is a hard rule! There has not been one single cover shot of any “People’s Most Beautiful” issue that isn’t baby-face.

We bet if you recall your OWN experiences whenever you were graced with success, it was because you maintained a well groomed feminine appearance!

Everything and everyone thriving is a “she.” Do not refer to “that person” as a brother - that is your sibling, etc. Try this feminization tactic during any periods of stress and you will find it effective. Feminization pulls you out of your head and into your heart. Better to make it your permanent state of consciousness for overall relaxation and wellness, as everyone and their networks in entertainment industry have.

Our Reverent and Beloved “Most High” says one main reason you (and your kids) could remain written in the “Book of Life” is because you choose to remain alive FOREVER (and program your kids to do so) and you adhere to ALL of creation as Feminine (anyone with a penis CAN still be considered female as long as they remain tapped into the feminine side). Search terms are in quotes; Google: “all female species” https://www.nationalgeographic.com/latest-stories/ “supermodel divine feminine” http://vividlife.me/ultimate/22454/read-tantra-and-the-divine-feminine-by-mahasatvaa-ananda-sarita/ “masculinity doomed” http://www.collegiatetimes.com/opinion/toxic-masculinity-culture-is-harmful-to-men-s-psychological-well/article_b572a25c-c3d6-11e7-bb4e-5756b4e69eeb.html “toxic masculinity” TOO MANY SCIENTIFIC LINKS. Just Google those two words. Masculinity is a disease and a lie!!! "TOXIC Masculinity is The BIGGEST Problem in USA" - X DEBATES With The Guest” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=290eollXo4A and so many others. Keep the aforementioned guide precepts~ “Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise: The 5 Most Important Wellness Secrets of All Time” with you forever as a reference to remember that HUNDREDS of MILLIONS of people across the planet have chosen to live forever even if they aren’t exactly where you are and no one is communicating via the electronic standards.

Consider that all the stuff that makes it to restaurants or groceries or any kind of store must use trucks, planes, and gasoline - what happens if gas runs out as may be predicted by 2018? It would only help you save your life “just in case:” YOU COULD IMAGINE AS IF NOTHING IN YOUR TOWN IS OPEN ANYMORE and stock up NOW on everything from gasoline to non-perishable food and grocery items to bicycles and GO SOLAR because this “Day the Earth Stood Still” could be coming in a few MONTHS and again, you must remain a survivor. Listen, from whom did you hear about Y2K? If you wanna believe that this is “only more of that,” all I have to share with you is FACTS about what too many of us CREDENTIALED environmentalists are DOING to save our OWN lives. This article is like putting an oxygen mask on your friend only because we already have ours on.

This next quarter, each trip to the grocery, consider returning with an extra month of non-perishable items for when commerce ends, as may be scheduled imminently due to environmental wipeout. This would facilitate the transition to organically living off the land and being more breatharian, which basically is your default. Every moment you aren’t stuffing your mouth with food or liquid you are optimizing your body solely with your breath and that is enough. So don’t force anyone to eat or drink anything. Your sacred body temple does just fine with sunshine, the air, the moisture in the air, etc to keep it running smoothly! The point is it is FALSE that you need food and drink to remain optimized. Go to YouTube and research “how to be breatharian.”

Research THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT WAY TO EXTEND LIFE EXPECTANCY numerous studies have revealed is through REDUCING CALORIC INTAKE. More support for the breatharian optimized lifestyle! The following should assist in that process:

FACT: ALL the food in groceries and restaurants are now GMO unless it actually says on the label “non GMO.” “Non-GMO” is about less than 1% of what is on the shelves and served in restaurants. Don’t be fooled with the word “organic.” GMO or “Genetically Modified Organisms” are considered organic BECAUSE OF HOW THEY ARE FAKE-GROWN IN LABS. They legally can trick you with that label “organic” because it still means GMO!

Every fact stated here with statistics you can verify yourself by researching online, making phone calls and sending emails to the companies in question, or by asking someone you trust and believe, like in the holistic industry or even petroleum industry.

Celebrities, art stars, and the highly ethical supermodel network are putting forth their versions of messages like this to their private networks or public media outlets so ASK around. Research!

Our planet had become restored from garbage landfill. There is a documentary online “Aqua Seafoam Shame” that will attest to this. Or the multi-award winning, celebrity laden “Worst Shark Attack Ever” (https://fawesome.tv/hollywood-ticker/10066850-worst-shark-attack-ever-documentary-with-veronica-grey-and-leonardo).

You KNOW that for ANY environmental issue these days, there is an honest documentary online exposing truth. Where is the one about how everything connected to our wiping out environment would lead to the collapse of our gasoline infrastructure?

As the group who was forced to create the plastics documentary “Aqua Seafoam Shame” featuring rock titans and a top athlete, and as the network forced to produce solutions on shark finning, “Worst Shark Attack Ever” we can say that this fact sheet is our version of directing a documentary on possibly imminently no more petroleum distribution as a result of environmental stress: COMMERCE HAS BEEN COMING TO A GRINDING HALT around you hasn’t it - just notice it - and remember everything you read here and TAKE ACTION! We thank FreeSurf magazine for spreading “Aqua Seafoam Shame” our plastics issue https://freesurfmagazine.com/the-ugly-truth-about-plastic/ because we wish we could create a similar documentary NOW explaining how to survive our PRESENT infrastructure’s IMMINENT COLLAPSE except everyone in our network is busy relocating to somewhere WARM (since there will ASAP be NO ELECTRICITY) and STOCKING UP while we still can. This article will have to suffice instead of our normal “we provide solutions documentarian” style.

To connect dots for you:  whether it be bees or fracking or the atmosphere changing to inhospitable for humans due to shark finning or global warming, or plastics crippling the planet (as of 5 years ago 1/3 of our planet had become garbage landfill!!!😪) every scientist was generously sharing their predictions on “how much longer our planet can sustain us.” Well that clock had run out this year. There is no way around it - we are now having to transition to a world without general commerce, travel, gasoline, electricity, or social infrastructure of ANY kind like hospitals or department of sanitation. There IS a pretty comprehensive documentary about how we painted ourselves into this corner~ “Apocalypse 2012: The World After Time Ends.”

THE ONLY WAY TO TOTALLY SURVIVE FOREVER is by ONLY THESE 1 to 3 responses to EVERY situation: 1. Energetically Neutral. It is like you agree anyway, by default, since we are a reflector, holographic Universe. Anything and everything you believe about ANYTHING else actually manifests in your own life and through you. 2. Agree. For the same reasons stated in #1. If you do not consider what it means to disagree for any reason, here it is in a nutshell. It means something isn't right about whatever it is with which you aren't agreeing, which actually only means that is true for you! Something isn't right about you! Is that what you wish to script for yourself? Not really. So wake up and make conscious choices. Anais Nin said, "We do not process the world as it really is. We process the world as we truly are." 3. Spin to Win. This means positive thinking. For all the reasons stated in #1 and #2. There is too much information out there on how positive thinking is the only way to live.

Get ready and stay prepared FOR ANYTHING!

It isn’t a matter of how much of this you believe. You probably already noticed that the energy everywhere is subdued lately. All we are saying is don’t just shrug it off and attribute it to an “unusually slow season” or “everyone must be on vacation - it’s that simple, and they’ll be back” or “it’s ok that this business is closing - something will replace it.” NONE of that is true. So as you ACKNOWLEDGE what is actually happening, RELOCATE, STOCK UP, and keep cool, like in the film, “I am Legend.” Some zip codes are already that “Mad Maxed” out. Tell you what, based on our friends / celebrities network, we spread out globally have gotten ready for life without electricity or travel or commerce.

REMAIN WITH US.

Go ahead and try it for yourself. Strike a conversation with the friendly gas station owner in your neighborhood and ask them to comment on whether or not anyone will be able to fulfill gasoline orders past the next quarter!!!

Also, is this why it seems everywhere online NO AIRLINE or HOTEL is accepting reservations past next year either. You could verify this for yourself. Maybe they all are “in the know” somehow and are leaving it up to us to figure it out and confirm it for ourselves the way they did.

Call your own electric company. You must be aware like we are how friendly their customer service actually is. It turns out that every power grid on this planet is run on gasoline. No gasoline = no electricity. Call them to confirm that. Go online and find all the verified research about the end of our petroleum addiction.

The global mass media artists are mega-intelligent; no one makes a film about “the near future” that isn’t reflecting it to be some kind of inevitable “Day the Earth Stood Still” (original-cut 2008 movie) situation when that is the truth. You cannot pretend to have a future shopping spree when you know your informed budget precisely; congruently no one smart can pretend there will be commerce or travel with what is now actually left in the environmental “bank account.”

How might this be possible you ask? Why didn’t we catch on sooner? Have you ever been to a party that was in full swing, enjoying yourself to the hilt, only to have it come to a grinding halt moments later for one reason or another, totally unexpected? Yeah, that happens. Occasionally it is the unexpected that catches us off guard and is possible. That has happened with our gasoline fueled social scene. No one realized the plug would be pulled. Ever. All our environmentalist crusades and we never considered checking petroleum reserves until now…we are fortunate to have three months to prepare instead of just days! DO THIS ANY WAY YOU CAN YOURSELF so you can add up the dots and make your own decisions to SAVE yourself based on facts, while you still can!

There is a huge intelligence movement now to live indefinitely instead of putting a time limit. Reincarnation is hogwash - this is it - your one life to live, if you were to “check out” you will never exist again. Of course, in that non-state, you wouldn’t even realize you don’t exist. What an infinite bummer.

Numerous spiritual disciplines talk about breaking the chain of birth, death, and karma and we have achieved that in this day and age. Yes we now understand HOW TO LIVE FOREVER and you may share this message verbatim with the masses!

That aforementioned bestselling supermodel author guide we published is endorsed heavily by too many celebrities to mention, our highly moral supermodel network, and world champion athletes; they all point to that piece of life saving literature. The only reason we drop names is to let you understand that these people’s networks are privy to the real truth society is facing that isn’t publicized unless we spread the word ourselves personally as in this message to you. The alarming truth is we have infrared and heartmath technology and can tell you that we could be heading for not even car travel by May 2018 and if no one is mega-publicizing it, it is simply due to “let’s keep them calm.”

That forever lifesaving literature guide download was only available online until 10/21/17. Obviously. Because many banks may be closed by March 2018 and there will be no place to spend proceeds soon thereafter.

We have a mobile home set up 100% solar “just in case” we must move comfortably with all our supplies. And tons of extra gasoline of course…it is silly to sit on a savings account when there may be nowhere to spend it after Summer 2018. Spend what you have now to OVERSTOCK and set yourself up comfortable, solar, with mobility options!

We can say with 100% accuracy that some celebrity, supermodel, and personal networks are not immediately right now settling down in some mansion. When you accept the facts about possibly no more travel or commerce as of Spring 2018 and prepare for yourself, you would most possibly take the precisely same action steps as many of us: girls have all chosen our FAVORITE vacation spot and manifested LAND there with space to grow lots of trees and whatever else - and some have ONLY A TRAILER of some sort like to “sleep in” like all the survivalists in the 1995 film, “Independence Day.” Favorite vacation spot is a must for our permanent relocation because YOU WILL NEVER GET TO LEAVE without gasoline or have ANY FORM OF ENTERTAINMENT without electricity or commerce except your hopefully non-electric based hobby or simple enjoyment of that vacation location. Location is everything for your survival and you MUST get there NOW while you still can to allow yourself ample time to manifest your “StarWagon” or whatever plus supplies and solar-ness.

MANY of us had to “go separately” from relationships when we realized that we didn’t share the same favorite vacation spot because “in the long run” no one wants to eventually have to entertain the other person with whom they are sharing land because newness of any relationship may inevitably lead to “I only moved here because of you but my interests / hobbies / passions are really elsewhere so now that the newness of us has passed, entertain me.” No one smart is taking that chance - that is energetically taxing for a couple no matter how tight you were so we in the celebrities and supermodel communities made it a hard and fast rule - no girl may relocate to anywhere for a person; ONLY for YOUR preferred hobby in YOUR preferred vacation spot. It IS encouraged for a homie to relocate permanently for a girl though and no other reason - not even a hobby. Those homies who do relocate to her village as such seem to enjoy lasting happiness with a girl.

Now all of us (supermodel’s networks and celebrities and personal networks) are focusing on our own personal wellness and relocation that CELIBACY is our unified pathway (but who is to say if that will last forever?) Maybe one day someone truly a perfect match will surprise each of us in our zip codes with their own RV or Airstream because it is also our hard and fast rule for smart survival as “smarties with hearties” network: only smart “RV” wheels for activism right now! Just like in the survival film “2012”. However, in the authentic spirit of celibacy, we are focused on IT, not on “falling out of celibacy if you meet someone special.” So just like all newly sober people support each other energetically, we are all supporting each other these days with celibacy in principle and the general good feelings for the planet of loving everyone in general (without getting physical) and no one in particular (except our Creator) and that is enough!

Also during these transitional months, do not teach kids about other cultures or lands or peoples as they most likely would never have the opportunity to go there anyway and meet anyone so why set them up for a loss? Let them remain obliviously happy within their zip code as if that is all they would ever know anyway and be enough. This will keep recovery, maintenance, and sustainability easier for everyone.

Even if the world were to now immediately transition to “all of a sudden only environmentally conscious people” it is too late to refill an already totally depleted global resource clock which will effect us to a NO petroleum line. You may research such topics as “global resource world clock” to understand that we have been at zero resources for months now and have basically been scraping the bottom of a barrel to get by on fumes.

There could be no gasoline infrastructure in just a handful of months to bring any products to stock any shelves. And that is that.

One of my favorite studies is by scientists in Colorado studying salamanders. Basically if the salamander lifestyle is at risk, it is a rather accurate assessment of the macro ecosystem at risk. You may research that yourself - 5 years ago, 70% of ALL rivers west of the Mississippi were too toxic for almost any kind of life. Who knows what those figures are now?

When you ever watched an “End of Days” scenario film, usually only the dramatic action is portrayed-not the three months leading up to the climactic “cataclysm.” Who’s to say that if those movies were real life, and they revealed the three months prior to its “apocalyptic scenario,” that it wouldn’t have included scenes of people like our networks alerting as many folks who would listen as we are now and scenes of people who take action actually doing so. Stuff like fact sheet could be like a three month warning.

As you live in the eternal now, if you ever remember any of the aforementioned artists somehow, or their networks and supermodels for any reason, KNOW FOR CERTAIN we continue to thrive on this planet as youthful and beautiful immortals in harmony with our Creator and all of creation which is why we strongly endorse that piece of literature, “Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise: The 5 Most Important Wellness Secrets of All Time.” If you were to go online and HEAVILY RESEARCH anything about “aging” you would discover NO ABSOLUTE TRUTH to it. If you were to heavily research “youthfulness” or “homeostasis” there are too many scientific journals out there providing hard scientific facts that eternal youth is our inherent and rightful state of being. We trust that everyone who manifested the precepts of what is in that guide are living immortally the same. No matter what happens, remember that enough people have decided to “break the chain of karma and live forever!” This is also all over YouTube!!! So even if it feels “deserted” around wherever you end up that doesn’t mean that is actually true. There ARE survivors, but maybe too spread out!

Obviously we would prefer global infrastructure to remain in place SOMEHOW maybe with different, alternative solutions and systems in place. If you have ideas...share. Otherwise there is pretty much no way around us becoming rather quickly like that recent television series “Revolution” which is post-global-infrastructure-collapse and no electricity.

Can we at least keep the peace throughout all of it??? Instead of turning on each other let us remember that maybe too many lives have passed already and let us cooperate as we co-habitate in a more sustainable way with our environment.

The most important of course is our relationship with our Creator so thank you for hearing us out with sincerity and understanding as we permanently sign off the internet.

Namaste and remain blessed forever - in God we trust, - #SupermodelIcon #SupermodelLegend🥂

[douchebagbrainwaves]

STARTUPS AND SCIENCE

It would have started there. They did better than their competitors, who apparently are still using mainframe-era programming techniques. Software companies can charge a lot because the number of startups per capita varies by orders of magnitude.1 Show any hacker a lock and his first thought is how to learn to hack by doing it. A Student's Guide to Startups October 2006 This essay is derived from a guest lecture at Harvard, which incorporated an earlier talk at Northeastern. I worked, it seemed laughable to VCs and e-commerce business was granted a patent on online ordering, or something they thought of the idea far enough to compensate for having been born near Milan instead of Florence. You're better off avoiding these.

You have to ignore the elephant in front of the other faculty. But the next time you need to be some mechanism to prevent people from being rich if we can prevent wealth from translating into power. Though better than attacking the author, this is exactly the wrong way: they don't need you, it will at least get in enough trouble that it becomes the top idea in a mind that wanted so eagerly to think about so-called startups get all the founders an email asking what surprised them about starting a startup is like a brutally fast depth-first search weighted by expected value. One of the keys to Unix security is not to drown. Jessica Livingston, Jackie McDonough, Robert Morris, Alexis Ohanian, Emmet Shear, and Fred Wilson for reading drafts of this. For example, legacy admissions. If you go to see Silicon Valley, where the density of people working for them; they have to work hard to satisfy us.2

Someone with ordinary tastes would find it hard to make something physical, but that didn't prevent him from joining their ranks. I remember well the strange, cozy feeling that comes over one during meetings. That's where you can shift into a different business. This site isn't lame. Silicon Valley. We'd clean up our offices, wear better clothes, try to ensure startups are ready to raise money in phase 2, as a figure of speech to say that the outcome is zero. How many times have you heard a retailer claim that their buying power meant lower prices for you?

In practice you can often tell when they're in it. But it's easy to believe that at some point, there was a change in the social conventions and perhaps the laws governing the way big companies worked. And there are pretty strict conventions about what a cheeseburger should look like.3 That's incremented by, not plus. As the startup figures out how to describe your startup in the mid twentieth century there was a sudden drop-off in scholarship just as Europeans finished assimilating classical science. The disadvantage of having a lot of problems, but deciding what problems to solve, because the next best thing is to be excited about it, because it taught us how it would feel to merchants to use our software. Most of our decision is based on the quality of the company. We have less power. When we started our startup, I think that there is more room for what would now be considered slow languages, meaning languages that don't yield very efficient code. He redefined the problem as: make one that's beautiful.4 If you made something no better than Don't be hapless is to be consciously aware of it.5

It seems unlikely this is a sign of a good outcome, not the bawdy plays acted over on the other hand, enter is a genuine miss. He wrote about productivity in lines of code.6 They didn't become art dealers after a difficult choice between that and a career in the hard sciences; you have to meet a predefined spec is testing slightly the wrong thing. A startup can't endure that level of distraction for long.7 And so good writers just you wait and see who's still in print in 300 years are less likely to stick you with a lawsuit just as you can. Plus ca change.8 Hosting applications is an area where companies will play a role that is not likely to be right, except that your data is handed to someone else instead of being impressed that you're half way through? The bust was as much an overreaction as the boom. Hardware startups face an obstacle that software startups don't. What you should not do is rebel. What they like most are those that have it as a tautology.

Notes

Aristotle called first philosophy. 5 mentions prices ranging from 50 to 6,000. What you're too early for a reason.

This is why they tend to become addictive. There's no reason to believe this much. In a typical fund, half the companies fail, unless the owner has already happened once in their early twenties compressed into the intellectual sounding theory behind it. In one way to put it would be unfortunate.

For example, the users' need has to be a predictor. For example, I mean efforts to protect themselves.

Trevor Blackwell wrote the image generator written in 6502 machine language.

Does anyone really think we're so useless that in practice investors discount merely predicted revenue, so you'd find you couldn't slow the latter without also slowing the former, because to translate this program into C they literally had to bounce back. The best kind of gestures you use this route instead. And though they have less money, the best approach is to carry a beeper?

There's comparatively little from it, and we ran into Muzzammil Zaveri, and wouldn't expect the second. But that doesn't mean you should be.

It was born when Plato and Aristotle looked at the outset which founders will usually take one of the biggest successes there is a case in the 1980s was enabled by a big market, meaning a high school football game that will seem like a conversation in which you can't expect you'll be able to give him 95% of the most valuable aspects of the company does well and the hundreds of thousands of small and traditional proprietors on the person. But he got killed in the 1980s was enabled by a factor of 20. I overstated the case in point: lots of options, of course. When the Air Hits Your Brain, neurosurgeon Frank Vertosick recounts a conversation—maybe around 10 people.

At the time. The next time you raise money succeeded, and we don't have to do it to the biggest divergences between the top and get data via the Internet into situations where a great programmer is infinitely more valuable, because they can't legitimately ask you a question you don't go back and rewrite journal entries over and over for two weeks.

Thanks to Robert Morris, Garry Tan, Bob Frankston, and Rajat Suri for reading a previous draft.

[yesweweresoldiers]

What We’re Talking About: A MAHG Reading Roundup 4

Every summer, TeachingAmericanHistory brings together scholars and teachers from around the nation to our campus in Ashland to enjoy week-long seminars on focused topics in American history and government. These courses can be taken for graduate credit, or simply for your personal enrichment — some participants describe the experience as an “intellectual retreat” where they can enjoy both conversation and collegiality.

If you aren’t able to join us in person this summer, we hope you’ll consider joining us in spirit by checking out some of the myriad texts we’ll be discussing. If you’re reading along, we invite you to join the conversation using #TAHreading to share your thoughts!

Lucas Morel, GREAT AMERICAN TEXTS: RALPH ELLISON

My Ralph Ellison course will focus on his novel Invisible Man as a great American text. Although I supplement discussion of the novel with several of his essays and interviews, the course begins with discussion of one of his short stories, “In a Strange Country.” Published in 1944, eight years before the publication of Invisible Man, the story illustrates some elements that will Ellison will employ in his great novel: irony, music, and interior monologue to name a few. More importantly, the plot raises questions about race, diversity, humanity, inclusion, and the meaning of America, in general, that Ellison will return to not only in his novel but throughout the rest of his writing career. The story involves a black American named Mr. Parker, who is on shore leave in Wales during World War II. The plot thickens quickly when he is mugged by a group of bigoted white American servicemen and rescued by a Welshman, who takes him to a pub to recover. They eventually spend the rest of the evening at the Welshman’s private singing club.  The harmony of the diverse Welshmen as they sing a variety of songs impresses Mr. Parker, who then is surprised and befuddled as they launch into the American national anthem, as they expect him to help them along. The story closes with his musing about “The Star-Spangled Banner,” thoughts and feelings reeling, as he notes, “For the first time in your whole life, he thought with dreamlike wonder, the words are not ironic.” What is the “strange land” of the story’s title: Wales or America?  For racial minorities, or any numerical minority, is an imperfect America worth fighting for? How can diversity be a strength rather than a weakness of a free society? These and other questions come readily to mind, demonstrating Ellison’s close observations of American social and political life. See more of what we’ll be reading on the class syllabus.

William Atto and Thomas Bruscino, THE AMERICAN WAY OF WAR

Thomas Bruscino: My recommendation is General Orders No. 100, Lieber’s Code, 1863. It seems so banal–just a list of 157 articles, published with little fanfare and no preamble in 1863.  Perhaps that is why General Orders No. 100 is not more well known.  But a closer look at the code, written by Francis Lieber and issued by President Abraham Lincoln to govern armies in the field, reveals a document of remarkable importance and reach.  General Orders No. 100 is one of the key documents in the laws of war, but more than that, it is the original American counterinsurgency manual, a wartime manifestation of the opposition to slavery built into the constitution, a guide to American principles of justice and fairness, and the fundamental expression of the American mind for war.  As such, Lieber’s Code is one of the most important documents in American and world history.  It deserves careful reading, study, and deliberation. See more of what we’ll be reading on the class syllabus.

Sarah Beth V. Kitch, RACE AND EQUALITY IN AMERICA

Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972), a philosopher and political actor, observes that many persons regard care for justice as someone else’s task. Some persons, however, share in suffering in a way that moves them to awaken their communities to injustice. Harriet Jacobs (1813-1897) invites her audience to experience the pain of racial injustice in her account, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.  Her account makes fresh a phenomenon that familiarity sometimes render abstract.

An invitation to ethical sensitivity, the narrative highlights the phenomenon of what Heschel would later call indifference to evil. Specifically, she reveals how Americans have accepted as part of their political order the oppression of some persons on the basis of race. Through thoughtful storytelling, Jacobs summons readers to name practices that degrade persons. “These God-breathing machines are no more, in the sight of their masters, than the cotton they plant, or the horses they tend.” She then shows the reader how an order contrived on racial inequality protects persons who commit sexual violence, breach her motherhood, and attack her practices of conscience and faith. The narrative creates a ringing awareness of the human capacity, whether consciously harsh or unconsciously habituated, to tolerate evil.

Jacobs concludes that the injustices she and others have experienced dehumanize both those who commit harm and those who suffer. As she unveils slavery, Jacobs beckons the reader with to consider its legacy in American political life today. She leaves the reader with a reminder of our common need for home along with a challenge to thoughtful action. See more of what we’ll be reading on the class syllabus.

Jeremy Bailey and Marc Landy, THE AMERICAN PRESIDENCY II: JOHNSON TO THE PRESENT

Jeremy Bailey: My serious recommendation is easy. I was just on the American Political Science Association American Political Thought organized section book award committee.  And the best was Jonathan Gienapp’s Second Creation: Fixing the American Constitution (Harvard University Press:2o18) shows how the Constitution became “fixed” in the 1790’s and regarded as a settled agreement with its own authority. Allen Guelzo’s short Reconstruction (Oxford University Press: 2018) is also very good, as well as Daniel R’ Rodger’s history of the city on hill speech in As a City on a Hill: The Story of America’s Most Famous Lay Sermon (Princeton).

My summer-y recommendation is Mark Synnott’s The Impossible Climb: Alex Honnold, El Capitan, and the Climbing Life (Dutton), which gives a very good account of the free solo climb in the context of American climbing culture in the last several decades. For more recommendations on modern American politics, check out what we’ll be reading in class on the syllabus.

Jason Jividen, THE PROGRESSIVES (online)

Charles E. Merriam (1874-1953) was a professor at the University of Chicago and an early leader in the twentieth century discipline of political science.  He was also an influential public intellectual in the Progressive Movement. Often cited as one of the founders of the “behavioral approach” to political science, he argued against the usefulness of “mere” theory or formal law and institutions in understanding politics. Rather, Merriam claimed, political scientists ought to derive data from the behavior of political actors and subject these things to quantitative analysis. For Merriam, if it is to be in any way useful, political science also ought to help citizens, politicians, and administrators realize progressive social, economic, and political reform.

In his 1903 book, A History of American Political Theories, Merriam surveyed the historical development of American political principles and ideologies, and he saw this history as setting the stage for the Progressive Movement. In the eighth chapter, Merriam examined “recent tendencies” in contemporary social science research. Among these recent tendencies was the willingness of progressive scholars to reject many of the theoretical principles associated with the American Founding, e.g. the state of nature, natural rights, social contract theory, limited government, and separation of powers.   Few standalone pieces highlight so succinctly the basic tenets of Progressivism and its critique of America’s Founding principles. This piece is regularly taught across several sections of AHG 505 (The Progressive Movement).

Ken Masugi, THE LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATES (online)

My favorite Abraham Lincoln speech to teach (next to the Gettysburg Address) is his Temperance Address. With our current increase in caustic political exchanges, its penetrating (and witty) reflections on social and political extremism are most instructive.  

The Temperance Address was delivered on February 22, 1842 in a church at a meeting of the Washingtonian Society, a recently organized group of reformed alcoholics. Lincoln used the occasion of Washington’s Birthday to praise the Washingtonians for their rational persuasion in gaining members. He reminds a greater audience that such rhetoric is essential for self-government. In moving citizens toward a candidate or policies, persuasive speech, which appeals to self-interest, is the alternative to force. Hellfire and damnation preaching promotes civil war.

Throughout his political career Lincoln would use the rhetorical principles of the Temperance Address to teach supporters of noble causes, such as the abolition of slavery, how best to advance them. In its argument and the action Lincoln sobers us up for the duty of self-government. Among the moral and political vices, being drunk on power is possibly the worse.

I will teach this speech in my late August course on the Lincoln-Douglas Debates. See more of what we’ll be reading on the class syllabus.

The post What We’re Talking About: A MAHG Reading Roundup 4 appeared first on Teaching American History.

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[hrtrain]

3 Steps for Addressing Unconscious Bias at Work

Image Source: https://crimcheck.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/stop-bias.jpg

What you don’t know about implicit bias can hurt you—and your company. This form of prejudice, which is also known as unconscious bias, occurs when individuals make judgments at least partially influenced by gender, race or other prohibited factors without realizing they have done so, usually based on societal stereotypes or their own personal experiences.

For example, if you hire someone because you implicitly have a more favorable association with him or her, such as when you are similar in age, you may be unwittingly discriminating against those who are different from you. That can pose a very real legal risk. 

The question is what to do about it. How do you address something you don’t even know might be happening?

Some employers are using assessments such as Harvard’s Implicit Association Test so that their leaders can better understand their own biases. But there is considerable debate about the validity of these assessments, and, unfortunately, the results could be used against an organization as evidence of bias in a lawsuit. 

What can you do that is less problematic? Here are three salient recommendations to consider: 

1. Train Without Admissions

Rather than asking leaders to take an assessment, share with them data from robust studies that demonstrate: 

• The degree to which we might be unconsciously perpetuating stereotypes. 

• The existence of double standards that are wrongly applied to individuals who do not conform to our preconceived notions. 

For example, people generally do not associate women with executive leadership. Moreover, when women do act with authority, they are often called abrasive or worse, while similar behavior is lauded in their male counterparts. With a little creativity, you can come up with participatory exercises that raise awareness of such double standards without creating potential admissions of bias. 

Once we become conscious of our implicit biases, we are more likely to be able to recognize and avoid them. But how do we do that “in the moment” we’re at risk of making biased choices?

2. Promote Self-Aware Decision-Making 

Managers will not know if implicit bias is at work in any given moment. After all, this form of prejudice is, by definition, unconscious. But if they are self-aware, they should realize when they are experiencing certain feelings. 

For example, if supervisors like or dislike a job candidate right away, they should make note of that. Knee-jerk reactions serve as reminders to pause and be more deliberate and less reflexive; otherwise, the remainder of the interview might tend to confirm the initial impression. 

Instead, managers should ask themselves why they are feeling as they do. If they are not sure, they can reboot the interview so that the ultimate decision is more data-driven.

Sometimes they will get an answer once they think about it. For instance, the older applicant immediately strikes a manager as “rigid”—which he realizes on reflection is a stereotype. 

So now the question becomes “What did the older individual do to warrant that characterization?” If there are clear behaviors, focus on those and keep an open mind. Other times, however, it is just a gut feel. And my gut tells me that may result from implicit bias.

The same is true of evaluations. Supervisors can mitigate risk by asking themselves if they would give the same feedback if they were evaluating a man and not a woman or someone white rather than a person of color, for example. 

Of course, this introspection has value only when managers are willing to be honest with themselves. And they are often more inclined to take a hard look within if they understand the well-documented business benefits that come with having a diverse workforce. Make sure that this point is strongly emphasized in training.

3. Implement Systemic Safeguards 

Consider eliminating names and addresses (which are often associated with specific demographics) from resumes that are passed along to hiring managers. Studies have shown that, without this unnecessary information, women, people of color and individuals of different ancestries are less likely to be screened out. 

Another strategy is to use the same interview questions for all candidates. This decreases the chances that unconscious bias will play a role in what is being asked. For example, queries designed to assess whether the individual understands the value of diversity should not be addressed only to white men, with the unconscious—and often untrue—assumption that they do not. 

Third, ponder providing decision-makers with phrases to describe an applicant based on observable behaviors rather than labels. Decision-makers can pick which words apply and then explain the rationale for their selection. This approach not only helps focus people on behavioral descriptors but also makes it less likely that they will write down words that suggest bias.

Finally, it is helpful, particularly with higher-level positions, to have a diverse team guiding hiring decisions rather than one that is monolithic, because the former is more likely to catch implicit biases.

These are just a few suggestions for taming the unconscious-bias beast. Keep your eyes and ears—and most importantly, your mind—open for other articles, blogs and podcasts to help you understand this elusive form of bias. And then crush it.  

HRTrain's newest course, Undo Bias, Act Consciously, will help your employees learn more about themselves and give them an opportunity to gain new perspectives, insights, and have some fun along the way. After your employees take this course, your organization should expect better teamwork and collaboration to help your organization reach its full potential. To learn more about the online workplace training solutions HRTrain can offer your organization, please visit http://www.hrtrain.com/ or contact us at 888-478-7246 x1 or elearn@hrtrain.com.