It is interesting when consciousness shifts from separation to oneness. This way of seeing life is completely different from the traditional viewpoint of separation, distrust and threat. The feeling of oneness is that we are one family, one eco-system and one world. It models on nature. We are naturally interconnected and when we learn the philosophy of peace we will truly understand the idea of what we do to another we do to ourselves. What I’ve learned over the years is that fear creates war and love creates peace. When we have the courage to truly tackle conflict face to face through dialogue, self reflection and within a context of the law of attraction, then we will really see that what we fear we attract and what we look at disappears. In truth there is no threat. Most will find that hard to understand but resistance is what creates a focus on what is not wanted and when that focus is intense we unwittingly create it. If we want peace it takes time and energy to really get a handle on what causes discord and conflict. In my work it is misunderstanding from within paradigms of power and control. Ways of life passed down through the generations. We believe to protect ourselves from threats we have to build weapons and surveillance systems to be forwarned and forearmed. What I am learning is that peace creates the environment for peace as people don’t feel fear and naturally de-escalate the rhetoric and intention for violence.  In truth we are naturally peaceful.  The violence is a learned response to fear.  Perhaps when we teach for peace and nonviolence that may be the world that arises, again, naturally.  We will no longer look for threats but shared opportunity.

Below is a video on global surveillance, in my view the greatest statement of fear and illegal intrusion into the personal lives of millions. I wonder if we can drop our arms? can we drop our defences? I wonder how far into the future we will travel to get to a point of fearlessness? I am working on it in my own life, no weapons will I carry when I walk at night nor will I listen in on anyone, I will respect privacy and equality.  I did that with my neighbour today, her door was open but I didn’t look in as I wanted to give her her right to privacy, quite naturally I felt that, it is respect.  She did not invite me in therefore I gave her freedom of choice, as those values are natural to me. I am cultivating trust, positive thinking and starting to understand there is more to us then meets the eye. Some would say we have lived many lives and those who had near death all report we are here to love and indeed there is more. There is evidence to substantiate that. If true, then what is to fear? That is what I find fascinating. Perhaps the greatest journey is from the head to the heart, perhaps open dialogue opens the heart and mind to new possibilities and frontiers never considered. Imagine if we speak to enemies to find both sides are thinking in the same way. I wonder if what they see in the other is in themselves (projection)? Imagine if we chose to solve problems not hate people in a spirit of libertarianism. What if we surveilled ourselves (look inwardly for truth) more than others, what then? Values in my view are the greatest national security, as we find our integrity and truth, we will be open and visible, naturally.  There is nothing to fear or hide.  However, I would like to know if someone is intercepting my communications illegally or casting a drift net with specific words or labelling me as POI (person of interest).  I would rather sit down and talk to them about their fears and perceptions rather than have others assess me who do not know me. We are all human and our lives are dynamic and they are constantly changing.  The thing with communications online is that it is kept for posperity and something someone said 10 years ago may be different today.  Yet a file can be created and a profile defined and it can be wrong.

I love this quote.  “I look forward to a time when the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace,” apparently Jimi Hendrix is responsible for those powerful words.  I wore them on my jesters jacket when I travelled the world for peace, as it is my silent mantra. Power over others of course comes from deep insecurity, yet to-date this is unquestioned.  Power is still perceived as security and influence.  I am learning that powerlessness seeks to detect threats. Threats come from fear and fear seeks protection, attack or destruction to remove the threat. I think of former US President Nixon here and the outcome. He became paranoid – so did the technology create him or did he create the need for technology?  It is how we use technology that matters, what is the intent behind it?  If fear is in control then it will be used more and more for surveillance.  If love/peace is behind it, it will be used to determine the truth of matters, learning from all sides.  It is a bit like religion people can read the same book and interpret passages differently given their fear or desire for truth.  Eckhart Tolle speaks of religion in service of the ego or religion in service of the truth?  So always balance becomes the central point.  Are we moderate enough to not abuse technology or are we determined to use it for our own ends – is money the name of the game (self interest) or civil liberties (freedom).  Imagine if there is no threat just our own fears projected. Imagine if we question our thinking where that takes us refer www.thework.com

The Work is a simple method that allows people to question negative thinking.  Many decisions are made from unquestioned beliefs that are conditioned, traditional, educational and so on.  The Work enables you to turn around negativity and find the good (or peace) in life as it is.  When I studied peace and conflict studies in Bangkok, I questioned an intelligence officer (our teacher) about who is the enemy.  He actually didn’t like my question but I recall thinking had he been trained to question his own thinking he would welcome the question.  If he felt negative (which he did) he would put that question down on paper and seek for truth by questioning it.  I have come to find through The Work that any negativity is false, it is not facts where we simply state what is so, it is negative and thus has to find an enemy.  Thus intelligence in my view is learning to question thinking for truth, and always when you find the truth it sets you free from negativity.  Much of the surveillance in our world is driven by fear, not a love of truth.  It is not about capturing random acts of kindness it is about finding perpetrators, so we look for what we fear and guess what – we find it.  That is how we create our world.  Many people believe the news and think the world is a dangerous place which is why we agree to it and lose our freedoms.  Yet for me, I am  not afraid at all, I would welcome sitting with the so called enemy to learn of their thoughts and help them to see friendship in my eyes.  I can’t do that through a cyber world but I can do that in person.  Peace is a state of being not a state of mind.  It is about knowing there is nothing to fear and understanding that life is diversity, we can’t stamp out all things we disagree with but we can create cultures of peace, we can create information exchange that helps inform decisions, we can use information for the highest potential of humanity rather than feeding egoic minds that seek power over others.  The true meaning of information is virtue, that is the highest knowledge and it is never discussed.  That is the information I seek, I seek to know thyself and be true.

Given this type of awareness (The Work – questioning) then security and freedom don’t increase/decrease in opposite directions, when you question negativity for the truth you will feel more secure and freedom will expand, this is the experience of enlightenment.  That is how real truth works.  Truth of course, according to Byron Katie is the here and now.  It is not a concept.  We all try and navigate life through educational schools of thought and concepts.  Imagine if we realised that reality was now and that there is in reality, no past or future.  We may record it in a file but it no longer exists in our reality.  Change is the only unchanging reality.  So our power is now and in this moment there is no fear.  That is how you see differently, living in this way changes everything.  Tomorrow I could see differently.  So why capture so much information that is no longer real?  Is it true that information gathering is power?  Or is power the power to love and live a life of virtues where when I benefit you benefit.  That is what I call a win/win.

Here is an interesting video on surveillance, very informative and a good discussion point for a brave new world or a world that is open to dialogue and civil liberties as the true democracy we all desire.  This is a report  written on Echelon http://www.duncancampbell.org/menu/surveillance/echelon/IC2001-Paper1.pdf

Here is an article highlighting the Australian rhetoric, the last line is a key line given the rhetoric that seeks to highlight another reality.

http://www.businessinsider.com.au/tony-abbott-warns-of-heightened-level-of-terrorist-chatter-following-martin-place-siege-2014-12/

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has revealed security agencies have been monitoring “a heightened level of terrorist chatter” since the Martin Place siege in which two hostages were killed along with the gunman, Man Haron Monis.

As the country starts shutting down for the Christmas holidays, Abbott warned that there remained people in Australia with “the intent and capability” to carry out attacks on Australia and said people should remain vigilant.

The PM called a meeting of the national security committee of cabinet today where new ministers, including Kevin Andrews, sworn in as defence minister earlier, were briefed by security officials including ASIO on the increased terrorism chatter.

He said police and security agencies had told ministers that “in the wake of the Martin Place brush with terrorism… there has been a heightened level of chatter amongst people who we would normally think of as terrorist sympathisers.”

He said it was important to “keep the public as informed as I can”.

The term chatter is used in security circles to refer to exchanges of emails, phone calls and text messages by people under surveillance, or messages that are intercepted because they contain suspicious content.

“Australians should go about their lives as normal, because what terrorists are trying to do is to scare us out of being ourselves. I just want to assure people that now and always, while the terror threat is heightened, that our police and security agencies will be very active and very visible,” Abbott said.

In a media conference called in Sydney, Abbott reminded Australians that the national terrorism threat level remained “high”.

This is one below the highest level, “extreme”, in which an attack is believed imminent or is already underway.

“At this level, an attack is likely, we don’t know when and how an attack may come, but we do know that there are people with the intent and the capability to carry out further attacks,” Abbott said.

“We know that there are people out there with evil intentions and we will do everything we can to protect you from them,” Abbott said, adding the first responsibility of the government was the safety of the public.”

The siege in Martin Place was initially feared to be the work of organised terrorists because a flag carrying a statement of faith in Islam was displayed in the window of the cafe and the gunman, Man Haron Monis, had requested an Islamic State flag. Monis was later revealed to be a self-styled religious extremist with a long criminal history.

Follow Business Insider Australia on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn

The Greens response to mass surveillance and indeed, bullying.

We shouldn’t have to sacrifice our privacy to save a failing Prime Minister