Climate Change and Weather

Previously, I have written about dreams of climate change and catastrophic weather that may be attributed to climate change. I think we are now in a period when even the deniers are beginning to have second thoughts. The recent fires in California fueled by warm temperatures and dry conditions are said to be the worst in the state’s history in terms of loss of life and the damage done. The earlier hurricane Michael that hit the Florida Panhandle and destroyed Mexico Beach was the worst in history experienced in that area. And we are hearing similar reports from around the world where catastrophic weather is the worst in recorded history. I have said before in previous posts that my dreams indicate the weather will get worse for many years yet.

In my books, I discuss some maps based on the dreams of Gordon-Michael Scallion. The maps provide a possible future that he saw in his dreams. Recently, I reviewed some maps called “I Am America” produced from visions and information received by Lori Toye. They also show a view of the possible future. The Toye map showing North America after all the changes are completed is similar, but not identical, to the one produced by Gordon-Michael Scallion. All of the maps target the year 2000 or shortly thereafter as when most of the changes will have occurred. Obviously, this did not happen so many think the maps are nonsense.

You can see what the effects to North America would be if all the ice melted in a National Geographic map at https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2013/09/rising-seas-ice-melt-new-shoreline-maps/. While not as dramatic in the western United States as the maps of Toye and Scallion, the effects to the East Coast are equally cataclysmic. Both prophets indicate the actual future geography is up to humans and is still being written. Were the events shown in their maps avoided or just delayed 20 years? Recent occurrences suggest that some of the changes that their maps depict may now be beginning in earnest.

On the internet, I have seen a question raised about who produced the first map. A Wikipedia article indicates that the Lori Toye map resulted from her visions in 1988, and the first copy was available in 1989. Her first vision occurred in 1983. The earliest copyright date on her maps is November of 1988. The earliest copyright date for Gordon Michael Scallion’s book Notes from the Cosmos in which he describes the Earth changes is dated 1987. And the first Scallion map I obtained many years ago is copyrighted 1982. I don’t know if the copyright is when the map was first produced or is for the changes he wrote about that are shown on the map. Anyhow, I have no reason to doubt that the maps were produced independently by the two individuals. Which actual map was first is probably not important.

The “I am America” maps are interesting because they show the changes that could occur in progressions or stages. Each map represents a different stage in the cycle of changes. Text around the maps explains the key events that will occur. I reviewed the maps because I wanted to see if what we are experiencing worldwide fits one of the stages yet. We appear to be experiencing some of the changes described for Map 1. There are five maps in total. A sixth map is referred to by Toye’s source as one that will not be shown to humans. According to her source, we will produce this map by our thoughts and actions. If geographic changes reach Map 2, we will see a much different country and world. Based on the information provided, scientific reports, and my dreams, I am using ten to twelve years for the final picture to evolve, which may not match either map.

The maps of and information about Gordon-Michael Scallion and Lori Toye are easily found with an internet search. The maps represent a possible future. My own dreams have indicated that the earth-axis shift described by Gordon-Michael Scallion, Lori Toye, and others will occur and cause flooding of many geographic areas. The scientific view is that such a shift is not likely to occur.

Some may dismiss these maps as products of disillusioned individuals. But they cannot dismiss what is actually happening. While the cataclysmic changes shown in the maps of Gordon-Michael Scallion and Lori Toye are still hypothetical, the actual changes occurring today are not. When the changes become so dramatic that everyone accepts what is happening, it will be difficult to avoid the serious consequences of inaction and disbelief. The time to prepare is now. I am NOT prophesying Armageddon, but I am warning that unless greater action is taken by individuals and governments, major Earth-changing events are coming, and it will not be possible to avoid the effects. Even if accelerated programs to deal with climate change are put in place, it may not be possible to prevent all of the predicted changes. Dramatic changes in the geography of the Earth that were not caused by humans have happened in the past. So it is not surprising that they may occur again. But we are causing or accelerating changes in the climate. The consequences will be felt by everyone. You can see this for yourself if you begin to record and interpret your dreams.

Prophets are often criticized, especially when the predicted events do not occur. However, such criticisms may not be justified. Predictions of the future reveal where the future leads if we stay on the current path. This is true for individuals and society as a whole. If we change to another path, then the future will change as well. Dire prophetic messages occur as a warning to change before it is too late. We have free will, and we can exercise that free will to create a different, and better, outcome. Of course, the longer we delay, the more difficult it will be to affect positive change.

Society is very materialistic. I believe that few people seek guidance daily for their activities. Looking within is not in vogue; the focus of most people now is on social networking enabled through gadgets and technology. Their view is external with enormous importance placed on distractions, material possessions, and wealth. Children and many adults are addicted to the applications on their cellphones and tablets with much of the day spent online. I wonder how many spend even fifteen minutes a day in meditation or studying their dreams.

If even a portion of the Earth changes shown happen, they could take down the US economy. The wealth people think they possess could disappear overnight. What would you do if you could not get cellphone reception or an internet connection for an extended period? Most of us are now completely dependent on these technologies. I can speak from experience living in Florida through hurricane Irma that it is not pleasant. For a period of four days, I was without power and cellphone reception. And for two days the restaurants open near me only accepted cash. Fortunately, I was prepared ahead of time by a dream that showed the impending event. I decided to stay in Florida because some family members could not leave. My dream and experiences are described in a November 7, 2017 post called “Reflections on Hurricane Irma.”

The time to prepare is now. If you are connected daily to your inner self, you will know what to do. If you are monitoring your dreams, you will prepared for any impending disaster. You will not panic and feel overwhelmed by events. You will know that true peace and joy come from within, and they can be found in any circumstance. But you cannot simply wait until there is a disaster to look within for help. You may find it difficult or impossible to reach any sense of calm if you have not prepared yourself in advance with daily effort. You simply will not know how to tune in. You will find yourself overwhelmed by events and completely dependent on external circumstances.

Society Reflects Us

This last election, with some incomplete results, shows a much-divided America. Each side in the division looks with scorn and contempt on the other side. Many of the core believers, whether espousing a democratic or republican philosophy, think they are right in all of their beliefs and the opposing views are nothing short of evil. People are now readily demonized based on how they cast their vote. We can no longer talk with one another, and political philosophy now defines our worth as a person.

My many years of studying my dreams has taught me that things are seldom as clear cut as our conscious minds might believe. The conscious mind develops filters during our formative years, and by the time we are adults, we see life through those filters. We think we see life as it is, the real world. But few people see the real world because anything that conflicts with their biases is filtered out and never really seen. The beliefs of our parents, the geographic location where we were raised, our religious training, the school where we were educated, the state of our health, and other influences during our formative years have all gone into creating our worldviews.

Even when I thought I was seeing everything clearly, my dreams have shown me that sometimes my view was not completely accurate. This is one of the great benefits of the study of our dreams. We quickly learn when our approach to a problem or position we have chosen is not correct. This allows us to see things in a broader way and make adjustments before we become completely committed to an erroneous position or bad approach. It is often difficult to see ourselves as we really are, not as we think we are or would like to be seen. But seeing the truth heals and grounds us in reality.

At this time in our society, there is much hate. Many people decry that hate and are quick to find blame. They believe the other person or group is the one responsible for all the hate. In reality, I think many of us contribute in some way. The world we experience reflects the beliefs of the society in which we live. And we are all part of that society. We all need to first examine our own biases and hates—yes, hates— to ensure that we are not contributing to the problem. If we look at people we consider the opposition and cannot find any good in them, we are probably not helping to reduce the fractious forces operating in America today.

Some few may be among the greater contributors to hate. But I think we must all first look within ourselves to resolve our own hate before pointing the finger at another person or group. That does not mean we cannot take positions and point out wrongs when we see them. However, we cannot spiel vitriol ourselves and claim we are not contributors to the hate that is so prevalent.

The subconscious mind speaks to us every night through dreams. It assesses what we have thought and done during the awake hours. Some have suggested that it is the soul’s review of each day’s activities. If we want to live a life that is free of illusion, we must unite the conscious and subconscious aspects of ourselves. We can begin to do this through an interpretation and study of our dreams.

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 [JD1]

Beliefs, Health, and State of the World

What are your beliefs? For a moment, examine your beliefs. What are your beliefs about morality, religion, politics, the economy, your job, your family, life, and death? If challenged, can you really defend your beliefs? Many of them were formed early in life and developed in relationship to your family and friends. But do you know them to be true or are they just a convenience that allows you to interact with other people with minimal conflict?

I think that many people become comfortable with their beliefs; their beliefs help them deal with daily life and justify their actions. We often hear the phrase everyone is doing it. Or everyone believes …. It is easy to go with the crowd, the path of least resistance. As I have witnessed disease and death around me, I realized that often it could have been avoided. But the beliefs of the sufferers prevented it. They felt powerless to replace their current beliefs with new ones that promoted good health. So they point to genetics, lack of time, lack of money, the futility of change, and many other things as reasons for a poor diet and lack of exercise.

Others with psychological issues point to discrimination in society or the job, lack of opportunity, bad luck, and a host of other things as the reasons for their poverty or low paying jobs. They believe that life is stacked against them and their problems are not of their own doing.

As I have aged, I have been particularly sensitive to the outcomes of certain beliefs and lifestyles that I have witnessed over the years. When I was younger, I often wondered how certain situations would end. Now, I have witnessed that end for many of them, and the results were very predictable and not pleasant for some of the people involved. The law of cause and effect cannot be avoided.

If you want to live a long and prosperous life, you must do certain things, which are well documented. These include maintaining a good diet, regular exercise, adequate sleep, and a positive attitude based on a sense of purpose in life. And it means not doing certain things such as smoking or embracing hate. If you do the beneficial things and avoid the harmful ones, your chances of having a long, prosperous life are greatly increased. And yet most people ignore any such advice. They develop the following attitude: when my time comes, I will die. It doesn’t matter how I have lived. They disavow any personal responsibility for how they will age, physically and mentally.

My own thoughts about aging and the quality of life have caused me to write a book on healing. In this book, I take a holistic approach to healing, but I also include material not normally included with healing. I am now seeking a literary agent for this book. In addition to this book, I have completed two novels this year, which is the reason for my lack of posts. I am also seeking an agent to represent me for these two books as well.

In the past, I have tried to get my message out about dreams through my books and various posts. I think that this year we are seeing some of the things that I warned about such as a continued worsening of weather due to climate change. I believe we are still in the early stages of these changes and that it will get much worse. I have warned about a stock market crash, which obviously has not happened yet. But once again, we are seeing instability in the stock market. We saw a downturn of about 10% after my earlier warning, and now we see another drop in stocks. 

I don’t know if this one is the beginning of the crash shown in my dreams, but I think that crash will happen. We reached almost double the historic average for the PE ratio on the S&P 500, and many stocks were close to or at their all-time highs. Yet consumer household debt is higher than right before the last crash, and average earnings in real dollars haven’t made substantial gains. The entire world is awash is debt. And I don’t believe that nations have begun to factor in the full effects of climate change.

The United States budget deficit was $779 billion dollars for fiscal 2018 and it is projected to soon reach a trillion dollars a year. Maybe the added growth will help some, but independent forecasters don’t think it will be enough to make up for increased spending and the loss in tax revenue due to the corporate and individual tax changes. And as interest rates increase, the interest on the national debt, which was $522 billion in fiscal 2018, will be even higher.

Unfortunately, we don’t seem to learn from past mistakes. We are doing many of the same things all over again that brought about the last crash. In many parts of the country, real estate is overpriced. And lenders have relaxed lending requirements, which will result in foreclosures in a downturn. My son is a real-estate broker and he said many of his clients are being priced out of the market. The unemployment rate has dropped to below 4%, but average salaries with high debt levels do not support home purchases and continued growth in the economy.

My dreams seem to show that the economy will slow. I have not had any recent ones about the stock market. I don’t think it is possible to say how far the stock market performance measures will exceed historical averages, but one thing is clear: the risk of a stock market crash has increased. Many well-known market bulls are now worried about the market. Until my dreams indicate otherwise, I still expect a crash to occur. Pay close attention to the next two weeks. Fear of and actual election surprises could trigger a further selloff, particularly with some large companies reporting weaker than expected results. If the market survives this period without a significant correction, it still faces serious challenges in 2019.

On May 7, 2015, I posted an item about food shortages in China in three years. This summer news items have appeared about a serious pig disease in China that is spreading. China is the world’s largest producer and consumer of pork. A significant loss of pigs could be devastating for them. Thousands of pigs have already been culled due to the disease.

I posted a dream about Edgar Cayce and climate change on August 18, 2015. You can find it in the archive. According to that dream, we are still early in the cycle of worsening weather. Before it is over, I believe major cities will be flooded and crops will be affected. The financial impact will be enormous and will involve the entire world. Areas around the world are now reporting temperatures and storms never before experienced, and I believe this will only get worse. When I mention this to people, the reaction is often the same. They change the subject and pretend they didn’t hear me. Understandably, people don’t like bad news, and they don’t want to think about the possible destruction of their entire way of life. However, people who have lost their homes and jobs due to hurricane Florence or Michael know just how quickly everything can change. 

If I have dreams about the economy or climate change, I will post them. Recently, I had a dream that indicated a change in direction for me. I don’t yet know what this means, but I may soon be involved in some new venture or presenting my experience with dreams in a new way. I think the entire world has now been warned about the potentially cataclysmic effects of climate change. As individuals, we have to decide how we will respond.

I recently watched a CNBC interview with Larry Summers, considered by some as one of the smartest economist to ever serve in government. I believe he succinctly captures the economic dangers we face in the future. We have juiced the stock market through low interest rates, easy money, and tax cuts. We have borrowed from the future to benefit the present. But the stimulus is not sustainable and I fear the day of reckoning has been made much worse by recent actions.

My reason for emphasizing the importance of dreams is to avoid the mistakes of the past by seeing what the future brings if we stay on our current path. I think history has shown us that people do not learn the lessons of history and the mistakes are repeated because they think this time it will be different. Dreams can reveal whether or not that is the case. They will show the future that we will soon face.

A higher level of mind through its communications in dreams has its own purpose, which is not under our conscious control. If I am warned about some event such as a devastating storm or stock market crash, that does not mean my dreams are going to update me daily about that coming event. I may only dream about it once, and the dreams then move to other concerns. I have been warned, and now it is up to me to evaluate the information and decide on a response.

We all have to decide how we want to live. If you are uncertain about the path to take, study your dreams. Don’t fear what you are shown; you will be lovingly guided to make the right choices. The effects of those who have chosen a path of hate fill the news. They are cut off from their inner selves and they live in a world of delusion.

Dreams and the Fear of Death

I think today’s topic is relevant for everyone. Death is inevitable for all of us, and most people have some degree of fear or trepidation when facing it. It is not a question of intelligence with fear of death relegated to only the less intelligent. In fact, some of the most intelligent people in history have exhibited great fear at the prospect of their physical death. John Von Neumann, who many consider the greatest mathematician of the twentieth century and probably the smartest person alive in the first half of the last century, was said to be terrified of his own death when the end approached (see http://www.eoht.info/page/John+Neumann).

The most intelligent people may exhibit even greater fear than that of the average person because their intelligence has served them well in the material world where they have been able to control many aspects of their lives as well as events surrounding them. Death is an unknown for them where their physical abilities will no longer be relevant. And I think this scares them. Also, many of the most intelligent people are either atheists or agnostic. They do not have a belief in the afterlife to comfort them as they approach their end.

I believe the study and interpretation of one’s dreams can help alleviate the fear of death. Edgar Cayce, the famous twentieth-century psychic and mystic, said that in our dreams we were closer to the state we experience after death. If you seriously study your dreams, not just examining an occasional one that seems unusual, I think you will find much evidence that an aspect of you transcends the physical self. In time, you will experience the great movement of your consciousness to other places that occurs regularly when you sleep. Some will say that it is all in the mind and only part of the activity of the physical brain when we sleep. However, dream events will occur that cannot be explained by scientific theories that limit the mind to the brain.

A simple example of this is a visit to a place far away where you see events taking place that are only reported to your conscious self later on. Perhaps you see a family member or friend involved in some activity, experiencing a problem, or undergoing a great change in their state. In your dream, you may see in considerable detail what is occurring, even though you have had no direct contact with the person for some time. And the occurrence in the dream may not be related to his or her normal activity and your knowledge of them. You might dream that they experienced a fire, which you witness in the dream, only to later learn that they experienced a fire on the day of your dream. Now if this only occurs once, you might pass it off to a coincidence. However, regular study of your dreams will make it clear that this is a common occurrence.

Often, when I awake and reflect on my dreams, I realize that I have had a very busy time during my hours of sleep. The actual day may have been uneventful, but I may experience events and situations that leave me exhausted from all that I have witnessed and experienced in my dreams, from personal local events to national and world events. Your subconscious will tune into information of relevance or interest to you and filter out everything else. If someone you know has an undiagnosed cancer, you may dream about it because of your closeness to him or her. You won’t dream about the thousands of other people with undiagnosed cancer because they are not relevant to you in a personal way.

In your dreams, you may attend weddings, sit in on lectures, and visit cities of interest to your conscious self. Your wanderings can be far and wide because you no longer have the physical limitation. Edgar Cayce, in his readings while in a self-induced trance, sometimes described the street and buildings he passed as his consciousness went to the location of the person requesting the reading. He even described any unusual activities of the people he passed, which were later verified as occurring at the time of the reading.

You are not your physical body. Your physical body is your expression in a corporeal world, but you are not limited to it or by it. The study of your dreams will make that very clear. After many years of dream work, I am as comfortable in my dreams as in the waking state. I can pass from one state to another with ease. The real work is done in my dreams because I first dream about future events before they occur. The events I will meet in the physical are first encountered in my dreams before becoming physical. This gives me an opportunity to make conscious changes in my life if I don’t like what is being built in my dreams. And it allows me to prepare myself psychologically for events I cannot change, such as hurricane Erma discussed in a previous post.

Mystics talk about the connectivity of all life. You don’t have to be a mystic to experience this; you can experience it in your dreams. A study of your dreams will soon make it clear that we are all connected in terms of consciousness. We are not the separate isolated beings that some think we are. “Thoughts are things,” as Edgar Cayce frequently said, and they exist independent of the brain. Our thoughts affect others and their thoughts affect us. We are all part of a glorious tapestry that that is interwoven through our shared consciousness, not simply our conscious mind. The conscious mind is only one part of us that rises to address the physical world and may become quite deluded. The deeper layers of consciousness reach far beyond our physical bodies to the Eternal and have a clearer perspective on our real nature and purpose, which is related in dreams to those with a sincere purpose to seek guidance and discover the truth.

Death is merely a transition from one state to another. I would be disingenuous if I said I was not apprehensive about the possible pain associated with death. However, I have no apprehension about what happens after death. If you want to understand death and remove any fear of death, study your dreams.

Dreams and Violence

Acts of violence do not just spring spontaneously from nowhere. Thoughts of attack and revenge for believed affronts often build for many years before finally finding physical expression. They come from a psyche with a dark side that reveals itself through dreams.

In my books, I mention a European study in which it was found that a higher degree of violence occurred in the dreams of people in the United States compared to those of people in certain similar highly developed nations in Europe. We cannot constantly feed our minds with thoughts of violence and expect no impact. We pattern our lives through our thoughts. That is how we create. “Entertainment” in the form of movies, TV shows, and video games is saturated with violence. I can no longer watch most movies or popular TV shows. The carnage that occurs serves no artistic purpose and is meant to shock and horrify. The producers have discovered that violence sells, so now they seek ways that are ever more bizarre to glorify violence and the slaughter of humans.

From the earliest age, children watch their superheroes act as killing machines. The answer to the world of evil is to have greater powers to destroy those of evil intent. So is it surprising that some people with feelings of persecution and a desire for revenge pick up assault weapons and become the avengers for all of the real and imagined offenses against them.

I am aware of studies that indicate there is no correlation between the violent content of video games and movies and physical violence. One argument to support this view is that entertainment in the way of movies and video games is sold internationally and not just a US phenomenon. That is certainly the case, but many years ago when I was in France, I decided to watch a movie in my hotel room. The movie was one I had seen before and I soon realized that all of the most violent parts had been edited out. So just because entertainment, at least in the case of movies, is exported widely, it does not mean the extreme violence in some of the movies remains when viewed in other countries. In the United States, movies shown on network TV have the nude scenes edited out. In Europe, I found that the opposite was the case; the nude scenes were left in and the violent ones were edited out. Obviously, these are my personal thoughts and observations; I do not have carefully conducted studies to support any general conclusions. However, I did find it very interesting as a cultural difference in the approach to violence.

There is another aspect to consider here as well. There could well be a lag effect. It took some time for the American diet to affect other countries, but we now see a growth in obesity in many other countries, especially those where American fast food has become popular. There might be a lag before we see the effect in other countries of the increase in violence in our entertainment. Of course, the ready availability of guns in the United States makes it easy for those with homicidal tendencies to actually carry out their fantasies of vengeance. In many countries, they would have a difficult time acquiring weapons for mass killings.

I believe the causes of violence we are witnessing in our society are complex. What led the German people to follow a psychopath who took the nation into ruin and was responsible for the murder of millions? Most experts on social behavior point to the humiliation of the German people after World War I and the effects of the Great Depression. The people no longer had faith in their government and wanted change. They also wanted someone to blame for their dire condition. And that blame fell on the Jews.

In this country, we are seeing a greater divide between the rich and the poor with a disappearing middle class. Many are frustrated that they are unable to participate in the benefits of technology and find themselves struggling to survive. An undercurrent of frustration has been building and those who feel neglected or ostracized by society look for people to blame. And in deranged individuals, this blame may fuel violence against those they believe are responsible for their condition.

The fast pace of life in the United States leaves many behind, and even those who are highly successful often decry the demands of keeping up with all the voicemail, email, and messages. Now, few families can relax for a quiet dinner together without constant interruptions and distractions: one or more of the family members spends the dinner hour on the phone or a computer instead of interacting with other family members. The very technology that is supposed to make our lives better is enslaving people who have become controlled by their devices. And those who don’t understand or use the new technology may feel confused and helpless, and they often find themselves relegated to lower paying jobs. I fear that in this country we have lost our connection to our inner selves and made technology the answer for everything.

Many people are worried about their second-amendment rights being violated by any change in gun laws. I wonder how many have actually read the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution. Here is what it actually says. “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” In this statement, I don’t see any intent of the writers of this amendment to let a psychologically disturbed person with violent tendencies obtain a weapon. When this was written on December 15, 1791, people who served in the Militia much like the National Guard today would keep weapons so they were ready if called to duty. In fact, lower courts have repeatedly found that this Second Amendment does not give someone the right to bear arms.

However, in June of 2008, the Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision ruled that it does give individuals the right to bear arms, although in the majority opinion, it was stated that this does not give someone free reign in terms of manner of carry and use. Clarification is still needed on what they consider the limitations.

In any case, I am not writing this to enter into a debate on gun rights, although I think it absurd to not have mandatory universal background checks for the purchase of guns. The issue I want to address is how we have gone from a society where murder in the schools was a rare event to what now has become commonplace. When I was growing up, I encountered some individuals who seemed quite disturbed psychologically, but I did not think any of them would murder their schoolmates. But I can also remember the teachers in elementary school constantly emphasizing the right way to treat other people and that it was wrong to engage in physical violence against another person. The heroes in the movies were not characters who could kill better, but they were ones who had a moral code and did what was right, no matter how difficult and how great the cost to them personally.

Our dreams reveal our subconscious minds and the lives that we are building from day to day. Events that occur in our lives first occur on a psychic level and they are revealed in our dreams. If you have an argument with someone, it does not just happen spontaneously as most people think. You experience that argument in your dreams at night before it ever occurs in the material world. If you don’t believe me, you should start remembering and recording your dreams. You will soon see the correspondence I am describing. Of course, it is not just an argument that is reflected in this way; it is every significant event in our lives.

If we want to change the violence we see in society, we must change what is in our minds because the violence occurs there first. Unfortunately, mental issues are often just treated by pills such as anti-anxiety medications, if treated at all. We have a broken society where many of our youth are growing up without guidance, often in households where there is no responsible adult. We are now beginning to see the real result of so many dysfunctional families and broken homes.

Society must change course to avoid disaster. The influencers that include the role models and producers of the entertainment consumed by our youth need to reassess their own values and the effects of their actions. They need to ask themselves the following: are we taking the moral low ground to only increase our wealth, or we taking the moral high ground to increase the wellbeing and mental health of our youth? The course we are currently on as a society will not end well.

We need only look at the published statistics for violence by country to see that we have a problem in the United States. The difference is not small; compared to many countries in Europe and Asia the difference is enormous. In terms of gun violence, we are not as bad as Honduras or El Salvador. But we have twenty or thirty times the rate of gun-related homicides as some countries in Europe like Germany (based on a review of multiple sources for several recent years). And we have a thousand times the rate of Japan. I find this interesting because these countries were the violent nations that brought us World War II. Perhaps their destruction taught them well that gun violence is not the answer. (The comparisons between the United States and Europe or Japan vary considerably with the year, but the conclusion is the same: we have a much higher rate of gun-related homicides and homicides overall.)

The population of Japan is about 127 million. The number of homicides in 2014 was 395 (https://knoema.com/atlas/Japan/Homicide-rate). According to a January 6, 2017 BBC report How Japan has almost eradicated gun crime by Harry Low (http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-38365729), the number of gun-related homicides in Japan in 2014 was “six”—yes, only six. The population of the United States is about 324 million. The number of homicides in 2014 was about 12,000. The number of gun-related homicides in the United States in 2014 was about 8,000. These numbers are taken from a FBI report.

Many years ago, I was in Tokyo on business for several days. One evening I decided to take the subway to the entertainment district and explore the area. When I boarded the subway around 8:30 pm, I was quite surprised to see young children on the subway by themselves after dark. Later, I learned that Tokyo is considered a safe city. In fact, in a recent list of the safest cities in the world for 2017, The Economist ranked Tokyo as the number one safest city. No US city made the top ten.

While working in a corporate job, I made a number of business trips to Israel. I was part of a group that would meet in in the evening in the small bar/lounge of the hotel to decide where to have dinner. One evening, while waiting for the others in the group, I began to talk with a young female server who had recently finished her compulsory military service. I asked her if she had ever visited the United States. She acted surprised by my question and said, “Oh, I could never do that.” I, in turn, was surprised by her answer, so I asked, “Why not?” She said, “It is too violent there.”

If we want to understand violence in our society, we must start with ourselves. We must see how violence begins, which we can do by studying our dreams. Our dreams reveal what we really are, not what we think we are or idealize ourselves as being. What will become physical is first expressed there. The isolated acts of violence we are witnessing are a reflection of society. We cannot fill our minds with thoughts of violence through TV, movies, certain sports, and video games with no effect. We meet what we have created as individuals and as a society.

The Digital Age

I think most of us are aware of the tremendous impact the digital age has had on our daily lives. The digital technology and sharing of data has brought us many benefits. Things that were once considered impossible now have become routine. We can reach family members and friends immediately by calling them on their mobile phone. We can capture and share high-resolution images in an instant. The experiences of family and friends are available in real time through video, and we have access to an incredible inventory of movies, sports programs, and documentaries.

However, with any technological advance, negative aspects can surface. We now find our lives are intruded upon more than ever before. Cloud data storage sites contain details of our lives that limit our privacy and anonymity. Every time we provide details of our lives such as our age, address, telephone number, interests, hobbies, vacation spots, purchases, likes, dislikes, favorite books, pictures, friends, etc. we add to the digital profiles that define us. If we post our activities and locations during the course of the day on Facebook, we have now provided real-time details about our lives. As computers become faster and ever more sophisticated, I envision a time when someone will be selling our life stories to advertisers and perhaps others as well. They will provide a level of detail that even our family members and closest friends don’t know.

At some point, we will discover that there are absolutely no secrets because what we have said and done has been recorded by someone and is now part of that digital profile. Conversations can be overheard and recorded from a distance, and videos of things we did that we would rather forget may have been captured by someone without our knowledge. And recordings of our telephone calls, as well as all searches we have ever done on a computer, are now in digital form and could potentially become part of our profiles. My understanding is that Google has retained every search we have ever done. They are legal safeguards for certain information, but this has never stopped the unscrupulous.

Greater London has an estimated 500,000 CCTV surveillance cameras. I doubt that we can go anywhere without being captured on camera multiple times. We may think we have anonymity in a large city like London, but with image recognition software and ever-faster computers, it would be possible for someone to submit a query that shows all of our outside activity during a specified period. And, of course, stores, gas stations, banks, restaurants, and others have private surveillance cameras as well, which may not be included in the half a million number.

Recently, we have all become aware of fake news. This problem points out a serious issue with the Internet and some of the large social networking companies. The development of the Internet has given us an incredible sense of freedom. People who didn’t have a voice before can now easily make themselves heard. They can enter chat rooms, post to sites, and create their own blogs and express their views. They can also create news that isn’t real news. Democracy and an open Internet give us freedom to express ourselves like never before, but not all expression is constructive. Some is misleading or downright dangerous. We value free speech in this country, but we do not accept someone yelling fire in a crowded auditorium or theater just to cause a panic. Yet, that is what we are seeing today on the Internet. People are doing posts to confuse and scare the viewers.

I think an important question is the following: Who is the editor or controller of what goes onto that high-speed highway. We value news publications that have a good editorial staff that require all stories meet a certain minimal standard in journalism. The sources are checked for accuracy and the story must be relevant and unbiased. There is no such editor for the Internet. Even individual companies who provide Internet services are struggling to filter out fake news and threatening or otherwise dangerous posts. The Internet is like a giant printing press where anything can be produced; some make better use of it than others do, but monitoring all of the digital content in real time on the Internet is just not possible.

So where does this leave us? I think we have to decide for ourselves on what is acceptable. How much of our lives do we want exposed? Once we provide information in digital form, there is no guarantee we can ever erase it. We can have a nude or embarrassing picture posted on a website without our permission taken down, but most likely copies are already on numerous servers and computers that we could never locate.

We need to be critical of anything we read from the Internet. What is the source? Is it a trusted publication and are we certain it is actually their website? Who is the author? What is their background? Anyone can claim anything. But what is the research that backs up the claim? Are they just expressing an opinion or are they stating something as fact?

With freedom comes responsibility, and now more than ever before that responsibility falls upon us as individuals. Most of the sites we visit cannot assure us that the material posted has been carefully reviewed for accuracy and bias. That responsibility is now left to us. I fear that technology has run far ahead of humans’ ability to control and manage it. John Von Neumann was perhaps the greatest mind of the 20^th century. He is quoted as saying "the ever accelerating progress of technology ... gives the appearance of approaching some essential singularity in the history of the race beyond which human affairs, as we know them, could not continue.” We may be fast approaching that singularity. Some think it will occur within the next twenty to thirty years.

Once the secret to the atom was unlocked, there was no going back. It was up to humans to control and manage an incredible new type of energy. Unfortunately, I think humankind has not been up to the task. Now, we face the very real prospect of sophisticated artificial intelligence. The technology is evolving faster than our ability to control it for the benefit of all. We may soon reach a singularity where everything is undone and there is no going back. And we may not like the new state of human affairs.

Dream about Fake Intent

On January 23, I had the following brief dream. I saw two large groups of soldiers come together in some kind of truce. One group was Asian, which could have been Chinese or Korean, and the other was White. The truce was initiated by the Asian group, which acted friendly and espoused a desire for peace. Suddenly, the Asians, who had feigned peace, began to attack and slaughter nearly all of the Whites.

I find it interesting that this dream occurred right before the big initiative by North Korea proclaiming a desire for peace with South Korea and a desire to show a United Korea at the Olympics. While better relations between North and South Korea may be constructive, I don’t think a dictatorship like North Korea can survive in a truly peaceful and open environment. The country is a closed society that survives based on absolute allegiance of its people to Kim Jong Un, who is a dictator. I believe he is feeling the impact of the sanctions and is trying to get relief by reaching out to South Korea to drive a wedge between our nations.

Some in the United States think that North Korea is ready to negotiate and is interested in peace. If he approaches the United States to open negotiations and professes a desire for peace, I think we must examine his intent very carefully. Time is in his favor because with each passing month the progress he makes with his missile program takes him ever closer to being able to deliver a nuclear weapon to any part of the United States.

My dream did not say the Asians were North Koreans. We have had a reasonably good relationship with China, with China being a huge trading partner and holding over a trillion dollars of US debt. If that situation were to change suddenly, the results could be catastrophic. Also, some friction in the South China Sea could easily escalate. I'm not sure anyone in this country really understands the long-term intentions of China. 

Sometimes the real-life counterparts of the actors in a dream are not evident immediately, but eventually the meaning becomes clear. Clearly, we should strive for peace. But that does not mean we should be blind to the real intentions of other nations.

Dream of Food Shortages

On April 19, 2015, I had the following brief dream. I dreamed I was talking with the leader of China. He said that in three years they were going to have a difficult time with food shortages. I saw a map of China, and he identified a spot where I took him to mean the problem would start. He didn't give the cause of the food shortages.

This dream was posted in May of 2015. I mention it again because we are approaching the three-year mark.

I have several new items I am preparing to post. The first is a dream that I think relates to the current appearance of friendship on the part of North Korea. I say appearance because my dream suggests it is not real. The second post is about the digital age and some of the dangers that may not be apparent to everyone. The third post will be an update on my dreams about the stock market. I’m not sure the current volatility is over, so I want to wait a few more weeks before I provide an update. I think several danger signs still exist such as the 10-year bond yield approaching 3%. Also, I have great difficulty understanding the addition of debt by the Federal government when interest rates are rising and the economy is reasonably healthy. The deficits will increase, which should make all of us nervous. I am not an economist or financial expert, but the recent weeks have illustrated just how quickly things can change in the markets.

The weather conditions around the world are getting more volatile each year. In a previous post of a dream in August of 2015, I described a dream that indicated the weather would get much worse during the next ten to fifteen years. We are still early in the cycle, so I expect the losses experienced due to extreme weather to only increase.