What is attention if not a pain threshold? 

Words are not what they point at. A cat is not a cat. Our word cat merely calls our attention to the fundamental mystery we call a cat. Don't cling to words. Don't mistake the finger pointing for the moon. 

You are it. How do I know? Well, I don't know for sure. But, with that said, if you think about it, we can reverse engineer how we got here. And if we go back far enough, we get to the source of us all - the Big Bang. You are ever single yesterday that ever occurred, you simply need to sit still and wonder about it all. If you do, I bet you'll soon realize that you are it.

Remember: Don't forget

Meaningful suffering is what gets you where you want to go. Meaningless suffering is what keeps you where you are.

Meaningful suffering feels like "the burn" of lifting weights or going for a run. It's the discomfort that goes along with our consciously moving towards our goals. The pain of repeated mistakes - the symptoms of which are eerily close to the Seven Deadly Sins - feels a lot milder compared to the pain of growth. And that's why we so often fail to recognize it. It feels like a desire met; simply because to abstain from a desire is to suffer meaningfully. You can't have it both ways. Or, as the clumsy cliche says, you can't have your cake and eat it, too. 

"Love is what is left over when everything good is gone."

Becoming "Real", as the Skin Horse from the Velveteen Rabbit put it, hurts. That's because it is an effort. When we first fall in love with someone, we fall in love with the potential for more. As we experience our new partner's beauty, we also experience their shortcomings and pains. If we would rather not be present with them when they are suffering, or if we do not want to allow their sufferings to influence our lives, we do not love them. Love is the feeling of being present with uncertainty, pain, and fear without judgement. It isn't easy to do, and it isn't common. But we've all experienced that person who stays with us through our struggles, no matter what time of day or what the situation. They love us. And having someone like that in our lives makes our lives a whole lot more beautiful. We can - and must, if anything is going to change - do that for others. So, as Augustine said, "Love, and do what you will."

The word "science" is Greek for "knowledge" and/or "learning". Our ideas - especially those ideas we feel overly emotional about - are opportunities to learn something new about ourselves. When we explore our ideas, or test our ideas out on the world, we are being "scientific". To have ideas that we hold on to so much that we feel threatened if they are threatened, are not real. Our emotions - especially rage or sorrow - point at areas where we can grow. But if we don't investigate these feeling-toned ideas, we will never change. We will stay rooted in a recurring experience; something that is close to our colloquial definition of insanity. I am not saying I know for sure, but I have lived a life of constantly testing my ideas out on reality. I pay attention to when and where I feel more intense (almost irrational, if not totally irrational) emotions, and I patiently and compassionately explore them. Doing so has lead me to meaningful experiences. That's why I share these videos with you. My hope is that they inspire you to test yourself and your ideas as much as possible. We're not meant to be right. We're meant to be real. Go read the Velveteen Rabbit and you'll understand.

Blocking a shot that leads to a broken rib, which incapacitates a player indefinitely so that they miss out on playing anymore towards their team's championship run, is considered heroic. A person who loses their job for standing up against corrupt management is considered brave. A peacekeeper who jumps on a grenade to save innocent lives becomes a legend. What have all three of these examples got in common? They're utilitarian; they're examples of the greater good.  

Utilitarianism isn't intrinsically good or bad. It is a very successful ideology, and has been humming like electricity throughout our culture for a very, very long time. It does fail, however, if and when the goals of the culture are not clearly defined. The goal of the hockey team is to win the championship. The goal of a business is to produce quality products that better themselves over time. The goal of a peacekeeper is to protect innocent lives. What is the goal of Canadian culture (if there is such a thing)?  

As you can very well see, this lack of goal-oriented direction is what is rising to the surface and taking the form of a dissenting minority of people. They are not the problem. The real problem is that Canada has no collective identity, no long-term goals, and less-than-imaginative leadership. If we're going to avoid a worsening cultural war, we're going to have to sit down and talk with one another so that we can figure out what we want to achieve together. 

When we talk about vaccines, what we are really talking about isn't science vs anti-science, vaxxers vs anti-vaxxers, the majority vs the minority, or any other false dichotomy. What we're talking about are human beings. What is deeply saddening is that human beings (just like you and me) are the target of much heated slander these days. Have we forgotten already what this kind of conduct leads to? When the leader of our country says that he has "no sympathy for people who don't want to get vaccinated", what he is really saying is that those individuals no longer meet the requirements necessary to be considered human beings anymore. I strongly and whole-heartedly encourage you to think about this.  Please, as much as it is difficult to do, please do not forget that when you disparage a group of people - calling them "sheeple or covidiots or whatever - you're talking about human beings; you're talking about people with lives, loves, hopes, fears, and families, just like you. Please don't forget this. That's why Remembrance Day, and the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, and many other national days of mourning and grief have been created and preserved - so that we do not forget about the human beings behind the titles. 

Metta
Sending you lots and lots of love and light,
Mitch

I, Mitchell Anton MacEachern, am not right. I am seeking the truth. Being right and seeking the truth are two totally different things. The most important difference between them is that seeking the truth doesn't make me right. Part of the journey of seeking the truth is to honestly self-reflect on the truth-seeking that we do. I can see now, especially after listening to my podcasts (with a critical and open mind) that I have a performative aspect to my personality, and that this aspect feels wrong to me (it shows up in my relationship to music, too). I'm not saying performance is wrong. No, not at all. What I mean to say by "wrong" is that my personal performative aspect bugs my conscience; it consistently leaves me feeling sullied. With that said, I could be wrong about that feeling itself. Now you can see how tricky honest self-reflection can be. It's kind of like juggling while riding a unicycle. 

With that said, I believe feelings are trying to communicate information to us, but language can't accurately capture their message(s). Art can do a better job, in my opinion, than language. That's why it's worth it to take up an art form as a hobby; as something to do for no reason other than to be with yourself, to be with your feelings. Art gives voice to the voiceless, it gives soil and water to seeds. It's worth considering.

Anyways, I want to apologize for my performative nature. It does not lend itself to a truth-seeker. It's a disguise, a costume I put on to be more attractive to both myself and to you. All I can do is bring it up to consciousness for evaluation. And in doing so, I hope to get in touch with a more authentic version of myself.

Thank you for listening/reading!
Metta
Mitch