“Some people never go crazy. What truly horrible lives they must lead.” ~ Charles Bukowski

In a world where “the norm” is healthy, sustainable, just, and moral, there would be no reason to write this article. But alas, we do not live in that world. We live in an absurdly unhealthy world of makeshift tyrannies, stopgap superfluities, and substitute (hyper) realities.

The only way to engage with such a world is to devote ourselves to being free. Like Albert Camus said, “The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.” This isn’t being negative. This is being real. This is being vulnerable to actuality. This is embracing the way things are, here and now, in order to achieve a sacred space where real healthy change can begin to take place.

Jeff Roberts, Collective-Evolution
Waking Times

A team of Australian researchers are using a non-invasive ultrasound technology to assist in removing toxic plaque and lesions from nerve cells commonly associated with the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.  

If you are one of the many millions of people who have witnessed the degenerative effects of Alzheimer’s disease, then you likely know how heartbreaking it is to see a loved one’s quality of life dissipate in what seems like an instant.

No more! Credit: Maasiyatjaan.blogspot.com

By Wes Annac, The Culture of Awareness

I’m reaching a point in life where I no longer want to hold back. I no longer want to play small or watch from the background as other people fulfill their passions, and I want to contribute as continuously and wholeheartedly as everyone else who’s using their creativity and spirituality to uplift the world.

I no longer want to keep myself from saying certain things just because I feel like it isn’t my place or it’ll offend someone.

I want to express exactly what I feel in any given moment, and the struggle to figure out exactly how I want to contribute to this revolution diminishes when I realize that the tools I need to seriously express myself have been in front of me the whole time.

Source: www.pontiactribune.com | Original Post Date: April 20, 2015 –

Fed up with soaring rates of disease from intravenous drug use, Portugal tried something radical: they decriminalized drugs. Yes, all drugs. Across the board from marijuana to heroin to ecstasy. And it worked.

In July 2001, Law 30/2000 went into effect, decriminalizing the purchase, possession, and consumption of all drugs for personal use. Though this is not the same as legalization, and the drugs are still illegal, “Otherwise, we would have gotten in trouble with the UN”, Dr João Goulão, President of the Institute of Drugs and Drug Addiction and architect of the law, explains, it shifts the focus from punishment to treatment, so getting caught using these drugs amounts to little more than the equivalent of a parking ticket. “We figured perhaps this way we would be better able get things under control. Criminalization certainly wasn’t working all that well.”

Tess Pennington, Contributor
Waking Times

I am inspired by the very definition of self-reliance: to be reliant on one’s own capabilities, judgment, or resources. Ultimately, it is the epitome of independence and lays the groundwork of what we are all striving for – to live a life based on our personal principles and beliefs.

It is a concept rooted in the groundwork  that made America great. Being dependent on our own capabilities and resources helped create a strong, plentiful country for so long. That said, the existing country as it is now is entirely different than when it began.

Why Are We So Dependent?

It is much too complicated to get into how the “system” was created. That said, the purpose is to enslave through debt and to create an interdependence that will force you and your family to never truly find the freedom you are seeking...