The Invisible Sign

Honestly Speaking

There could not be a more apt image to describe this book. Since I began writing all those many decades ago, millions of words have passed through my fingertips, with 99.8% read only by me.

Soliloquy, dialogue, narrative, short story, fiction, memoir, article, journal entry, poetry, free verse, epic, satire, parody, commentary, stream of consciousness, existential reflection, letter, confessional writing, or reflection piece.

How many of those, and how many of each, I cannot begin to imagine.

More importantly, I cannot begin to remember how many times I asked myself: Why do I spend my time, my life, shouting as I do?

Is there anything that makes what I have to say important enough to share with the world?

As I’ve said before, I will say again:

Why is it that they look at what I look at, but do not see what I see?

Because more than seventy years of life taught me, without a doubt, that consensus and conformity are not the same as truth.

Yes, the crowd, the group, the majority—the world—can be wrong. Misguided and selfish allegiances that do little more than foster division, hatred, mistrust, and destruction.

The ceremonies and traditions of life in these not-so-United States notwithstanding, there is an underlying divisive force within all governments worldwide that, unless changed, will never allow humanity to find peace and unity.

Something is wrong. Not only with me, but with everyone!

What am I? I’m certainly no scholar or PHD laureate. I don’t “psychologically examine” anyone, and I’m certainly not a professor or educator of higher learning.

No, as I said, I should be presumed to be nothing more than just another old man shouting into the wind:

Another voice lost in the cacophony of ignorance perpetuated and carried forward by tribal tradition and religious dogma.

Seven Decades, plus…

It took seven decades before I even realized what I wanted to say!

Through those many words written over the years, I hoped somehow to communicate to the world, to God, and to myself that I exist, that I breathe, that I think, that I reason, and that what I have learned is much more than the sum of my errors, education, and experience — a personal gestalt.

Dare I say that I know more than all of humanity, or any particular ones within humanity?

Never — however, I do question the perspective of the entire world around me, and its willingness to concede that something must change!

Dare I not say, however, that I am unafraid and very willing to express—to shout into the wind—that humanity is so self-involved, so self-absorbed, that it will never admit it needs more than human leaders to bring about meaningful change in the world?

And yet, there is another reason to shout!

Because I was brainwashed! 

Just like you were. — Just like you are.

A sad fact about being brainwashed is that you are convinced that you are not, and vehemently deny ever being so. It’s always “them” that were brainwashed.

Taught to believe that we are the only true and correct, appointed by God above all others as righteous and glorious — we see all the others as “The poor, the confused, and the misled.”

“BRING US YOUR HUDDLED MASSES (AND WE WILL DEPORT THEM)!

The fact remains: Everyone is influenced by something or someone external to themselves.

So, choose a word from the following as you look into the mirror:

Brainwashed, programmed, manipulated, propagandized, dogmatized—the proper expression depends upon who or what is demanding your allegiance, and where you decide to place it.

Born under a flag. Raised in a religion. Raised by a village.

No matter how it is done, you are conditioned toward particular ideals, values, patterns of thought, and ways of life.

Call yourself American, Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Baha’i, Jewish, or anything else—you are what your environment taught you to be.

So, what’s wrong with that?

Take a look at the world around you. Do you see anything wrong with it? Is all of the division making it a better world; a safer world; a happy place?

Your government, the people that live across the street, or those in the car beside you as you wait in traffic. All normal-looking, everyday people, but do they hold your values? More importantly, do you hold theirs?

When chaos comes, as it does for so very many, who will be your allies and who will be your enemies?

Do the governments or religions hold the answers? 

“If only everyone would think the way I think, and believe what I believe, then we could all get along.”

No truer statement could be said, and no better condition could be imagined.

That particular thinking has been the tone of every religious and political leader throughout history:

“Why must make them do it our way!”

It is also precisely because of that thinking that those you call friends could easily and quickly become enemies. (Consider the German Holocaust.) 

Conditioned to harm…

We are conditioned, by both government and religion, to harm one another, even kill one another. Not ‘told’ to, just conditioned toward it.

Whether under the pretext of “weapons of mass destruction” as a nation, or simply because “we don’t care for their values,” as a people.

We kill because we feel threatened. We kill because they have what we want and refuse to share it. We kill when we are told to, and in those scenarios, we do it without question.

Despite morality or the laws of our Creator, we kill because we are conditioned to do so.

Where are the answers? 

That is what I hope to reveal by sharing what I learned in my lifetime of searching.

Many words for the sake of revealing simple answers because humanity, brainwashed people, are not easily convinced. 

But be warned, there is nothing mystical or wondrous about it. The answers are merely hidden behind the obfuscations of patriotism and religion, greed and selfishness, hatred and prejudice, etc.