The Price Of Pleasure

Today, we're immersed in the quality of selfishness, seeking to benefit ourselves with no regard for others. Within the quality of selfishness, we sense prepackaged pleasures - food, sex, family, money, honor, knowledge and power.

In this world, we understand that pleasure comes at a price. If we want to eat, we have to pay for food; if we want a family, we have to invest time, energy and effort in it; if we want money, we have to work for it; if we want knowledge, we have to study; if we want power, we have to seek it out etc.

Sometimes, people seek greater pleasures than has been 'formally approved' for this world. For example, people use drugs to feel heightened pleasure, but there's a problem.

The problem with drugs is that you borrow pleasure on credit, which puts you in debt. You take from the 'pleasure bank/store' without paying for it. You pay for the drugs with money, but you don't pay for the pleasure that the drugs give you. Eventually, this discrepancy has to be reconciled and you have to 'pay' for the pleasure somehow - which is why people become addicted and then begin to suffer, which is why people experience withdrawal symptoms, which is why people's lives fall apart etc. (It's similar to how collection agencies come after us when we're in debt, and how they can make our lives miserable as they seek to collect what we owe.) This reckoning has to take place because all pleasure comes at a price. As they say, "blood, sweat and tears." [1]

Now, the pleasure of the next world is real. It's a very intense pleasure, which is a direct stream from God. We can only sense this type of pleasure if we're in the quality of bestowal, seeking to benefit others instead of ourselves. We shouldn't seek out this pleasure in and of itself, rather, we should seek to benefit others and the pleasure will follow.

In everything we do, we should seek to benefit others instead of ourselves.

__________
References:
1. Blood, toil, tears, and sweat. www.en.wikipedia.org. Retrieved Sept 13, 2014.

Copyright © 2014, Carter Kagume. All Rights Reserved.

The Worldwide Annual Smoking Holocaust

Smoking is a serious problem that needs to be addressed. Round tables should be established to seek to eliminate smoking entirely.

Here are a few notes on smoking, tobacco and the tobacco industry:

1. Within the last few years, the worldwide tobacco industry is estimated to be around USD $700 billion [1].
2. There are about 1 billion smokers worldwide, 80% of whom live in low and middle income countries. Up to half of these will eventually die of a tobacco related disease. [2] 
3. The Nazis killed 6 million Jews between 1941-1945 [3]. Tobacco companies kill 6 million people worldwide every year [2] - a worldwide annual smoking holocaust.

If you use tobacco, you'll pay. You'll pay with your wallet (smoking is an expensive habit), you'll pay with your health (you'll likely suffer from a tobacco related disease), and you'll pay with your life (up to half of all users eventually die of a tobacco related disease).

If you're addicted to cigarettes/tobacco and would like to quit, please contact your doctor  and/or your local community support groups.

In everything we do, we should seek to benefit others instead of ourselves.

__________

References:

1. Statistics and facts about the tobacco industry. www.statista.com. Retrieved Sept 7, 2014.
2. Tobacco. www.who.int. World Health Organization (WHO). Media centre. Fact Sheet No. 339. Updated May 2014. Retrieved Sept 7, 2014.
3. The Holocaust. www.en.wikipedia.org. Retrieved Sept 7, 2014.

Copyright © 2014, Carter Kagume. All Rights Reserved.

Marijuana Harms Animals

Marijuana harms animals in terrible ways.

Animals, such as ants, bees, beetles, butterflies, even cats and dogs inhale second-hand smoke and because they're small creatures, the effect on them is pronounced. Not only that, but the effects can last longer because they have a harder time eliminating the toxins from their systems.

Sometimes, animals eat marijuana that's left around the house or outside, thinking it's an edible snack. Being high is a terrible, awful feeling for an animal.

If you're smoking in your house or outside, think about the effect you're having on the animals around you. It's not fair that your high becomes an animal's nightmare, that your pleasure becomes another's pain, that your gain becomes another's loss.

We live in an integrated system and we have to be mindful of the effect our actions have on those around us, including animals. In everything we do, we should seek to benefit others instead of ourselves.

Copyright © 2014, Carter Kagume. All Rights Reserved.

Who Benefits From Our Intoxication?

Ask yourself:  were you put on this planet to be drunk, stoned and high under the influence of drugs and alcohol? To be passed out, hung over, unable to help yourself and others? To waste your life away?

If drugs and alcohol were two personalities who came up to you and asked to take control of your body, would you let them?

Nobody wants to be controlled by others, yet we allow ourselves to be controlled by drugs and alcohol. Nobody wants to be bossed around by others, yet we allow ourselves to bossed around by drugs and alcohol.

Society and aggressive marketing practices have influenced us in a negative way - to think that drugs and alcohol are cool, that it's acceptable to be under the influence of drugs and alcohol.

Yet drugs and alcohol are destructive to our health, welfare and well-being. In extreme cases, drug and alcohol abuse and addiction are a death sentence.

While smoking has decreased in the past few years, there's a new trend to legalize drugs. So what ... we can lie around with stupid smiles on our faces wasting our lives away?

Who benefits from our intoxication and drunkenness? Think about it.

Copyright © 2013, Carter Kagume. All Rights Reserved.

Be Free

Why trade the confinement of slavery for the confinement of prison? Be free.
Why trade the confinement of apartheid for the confinement of prison? Be free.
Why trade the confinement of poverty for the confinement of prison? Be free.
Why trade the confinement of oppression for the confinement of drugs and alcohol? Be free.
Why trade the confinement of abuse for the confinement of drugs and alcohol? Be free.
Why trade the confinement of loneliness for the confinement of drugs and alcohol? Be free.
Why trade one form of confinement for another form of confinement? Be free.

Today, we're all immersed in the confinement of selfishness, as we seek to benefit ourselves with no regard for others. In this state we trade one form of confinement for another form of confinement. We pile on misery upon misery.

We should seek to benefit others instead of ourselves and become genuinely concerned for each other's welfare and well-being. This is true freedom because it frees us from ourselves, from selfishness and from all the confinements that selfishness brings.

Be free and connect with others in mutual concern and responsibility.

Copyright © 2013, Carter Kagume. All Rights Reserved.