Check, check – one, two, three check – ahem, ahem … is this thing working… I have big news for you, ladies and gentlemen. One that might change your life and business as usual.
Drum roll, please.

I apologize for being dramatic so as to get your attention, but what you are going to find out is so powerful that in all likelihood you might join us in drumming about it.
Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity, so I appreciate your giving me yours.
I know that your time is more valuable than money, so I made sure that your time investment in reading this gets you greater returns.

If you are a leader, you will discover here one of the greatest discoveries on how to maximize your team’s performance and productivity, how to get the most out of them, their 100%, and so raise your bottom line.
If you are a professional, if this catches on with your help, it will significantly increase your well-being, mental health, and performance, which will increase your value for your employer, along with your status, rank, and earnings.

Normally, I am all about virtues and consciousness, but this time, it is all about time and rhythms.
It is not about time being money, but about flextime at work, but not as you might know it. It is about the circadian rhythms or biorhythms of your people, which you need to consider in your business to take advantage of the time and rhythms. Circadian rhythms or biorhythms are biological processes, including sleep-wake patterns. Our biological clock regulates sleep patterns, feeding behavior, hormone release, and blood pressure – all of which determine our capability to function and perform our work.

You want your employees to be more productive, happier, and healthier, therefore here is an astoundingly powerful way to make that happen with one simple, cost-free measure: allow your people to choose their work times to match their own biorhythms or biological clocks according to their chronotypes – their tendency to be energized and fully capable at different times of the day. Simply put, don’t force your early risers to stay into the evening, and don’t force your “night owls” to come in before noon. Team activities, such as meetings and collaborative projects should be scheduled for afternoons when everyone can give their best and be productive.

All companies are missing out on enormous potential and profits due to the current paradigm that is reigning in most organizations. The problem is the deep-seated non-diversity or partial D&I policies. Meaning to say, “larks” (a.k.a A-persons) and “sharks” are running the businesses and “night owl” types (a.k.a B-persons) are forced to adapt, whereby they are not able to work at their peak and give their best. When you force your team members, whose biorhythm is that of the “night owls” to work in the mornings, they can only perform at their less than full capacity and become (mentally) ill.

There is nothing they can or should do about it because they are born this way – it is their chronobiology and genetics, but you can and should do much about it – allow full flextime at work, for one. Flexible hours schedule allows workers to alter workday start and finish times according to their biorhythms, and to be fair and not cruel to the “night owls”, the “core” period for local team activities should be in the afternoon (ideally between 1-5 p.m.) rather than in the mornings.

With postcapitalistic values gaining momentum, most companies are introducing new policies such as D&I and flextime, but in most cases, it is all just a front, which the executives introduced so that they could get more followers and customers.  Sadly, in too many companies, diversity means only hiring more women, and flextime means that you could come to work one hour earlier or later than the standard 9-5. Is that what “diversity” and “flexible working hours” really mean? Surely not in the eyes of the “night owls”’ types. Due to their natural biorhythms, evening persons can not give their 100% in the mornings, so they should be allowed to do their work at their peak times, given broad leeway in setting their own work schedule.

Various researchers looked into “chronotype diversity” of people in different occupations. They found that individual workers were more productive at certain times of the day depending on their chronotype. This refers to the underlying circadian rhythms or ‘body clocks’ of people which indicate their biological predispositions towards periods of activity and rest. Most importantly for employers and leaders, it refers to the periods of productivity of two different chronotypes of workers: “larks” and “night owls”.

Chronotype diversity may not be feasible for all roles or in every context but it is in most. For tasks that are interdependent staff needed to be on the same circadian cycle, such as emergency workers and surgical teams, they need to peak at the same and right time. However, for jobs that require “sustained attention” and a member of the team to be alert at all times, like long-haul flight crews, nurses, and police on surveillance, it benefits employers to have a mix of people who peak at different times.

A recent study aimed to discover when each chronotype was strongest. They tested early risers and night owls throughout the day and found that night owls hit their peak strength at 9 p.m. This is because their central nervous system and spinal cord excitability are each peaking at the same time. This gives night owls a burst of energy in the evenings to put toward things like creative endeavors, invention, and imagination. Early risers, on the other hand, never reach this same level of strength because their central nervous system and spinal cord excitability never line up at the same time. They hit a peak around 9:00 a.m., and then experience a downhill slope from there. Night owls are mentally alert for a longer part of the day than early birds.

One detail to bear in mind is that the majority – around 60 percent – of us are neither “larks” nor “owls”, we’re an intermediate mix of the two. Another factor to consider is that chronotype isn’t just about the time you go to bed and get up in the morning, it’s also about your optimal time of functioning – larks tend to be at their best earlier in the day, while owls tend to function better later on, which could have obvious advantages for certain career paths involving evening work or night shifts.

We live in a world that worships the early riser. The entire world wants us to be morning people. This pressure starts early in our lives with the school schedule and continues then with the traditional 9-to-5 workday. The early bird catches the worm, so they say, and pop culture is filled with variations on the theme that early risers do better in life, get more done, and usually with a smile or their face. This may be true in the current paradigm that favors morning persons but in reality, there is no such thing.

Both chronotypes can do equally well in life but if the “night owls” don’t do well, get less done, and have no smile on their face, it is only because they are forced to be like “larks”, to be what they are not, which is cruel.

Forcing one chronotype to live like the other chronotype is very much like forcing homosexuals to be heterosexuals or vice versa. It is pure cruelty and torture, leading to mental illnesses and reduced productivity.

The world isn’t full of “early birds”. And it’s not all “night owls” either. No one knows the exact percentages of different chronotypes (definite morning or evening types, or moderate morning or evening types) but regardless of whose speculations you take as the truest, according to every research, the “larks” are not a majority at all. Most studies show that less than a quarter of folks identify themselves as morning larks. Well, that’s really not much. Our entire approach to school and work is built around the genetic predisposition of less than a quarter of the population! How fair or wise is that!

Moreso, it’s actively terrible for more than a third that either identifies themselves as “night owls” or as moderate evening types who for medical, family, or other reasons prefer much more coming to work late. Approximately a third of the population are “night owls”, who are tortured every single workday to rise early to go to either school or work. This has to change for the world to change for the better. Because, how can any team flourish under a system that penalizes 30% of its members before they even come to work?

Equity is about respecting someone else’s conditions as much as you’d love for them to respect yours. This is also the golden rule – treating everyone as you would want them to treat you, or not treating them the way you wouldn’t want them to treat you (with disrespect, disregard, ruthlessness, cruelty, torture…).

The psychology of ‘chronotypes’, as it’s known, largely backs up the popular image of early rising, happy go-getters; though, as ever, the reality is much more nuanced. Like every propaganda, this one also serves an agenda of those who propagate it, nothing else. However, even if we ignore the torture and enormous cruelty towards the “night owl” types of people, we can’t ignore the fact that they can’t give us their best when we are cruel to them. If you want the “night owls” to perform to their full capacity, you need to stop being cruel to them and expect them to show up at work in the morning, when it is not necessary. It is against their nature. They are not lazy or lethargic or negligent or passive by nature; they are that way only when you don’t acknowledge their biorhythm and force them to live against their biological clock.

As it turns out, if you are a “night owl”, your sleep problem is not a problem at all. It is your nature, your biorhythm, your biological clock, your genetics, and chronobiology. Nothing to be ashamed of. Late sleepers are made to feel like losers, often mocked. They are tired of being discriminated against. And science has their back. But do you really need scientists’ studies to be humane to others?

Most of the night owl types of people are forced to either adapt or to choose the types of work that doesn’t require them to adapt, such as night-time jobs, which is not fair to them. Although the “night owls” flourish in professions without a time-frame (no shift-work), such as artists, musicians, writers, comedians, dancers, and so on, still, among them, many can give much in the professions that usually favor the early risers. In compliance with the equal employment opportunity, allow them to give you all that they can give by allowing them to work on their schedule.

That the “night owls” do well in life, get much done and with a smile or their face when they are allowed to work on their schedule, is evident in the list of famous “night owls”: Winston Churchill, Barack Obama, Carl Jung, Charles Darwin, Charles Bukowski, Bob Dylan, Gustave Flaubert, Franz Kafka, Prince, Marcel Proust, J. R. R. Tolkien, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, John Travolta, Keith Richards…

According to Wikipedia, some research (the study of 20,000 participants in the U.K.) has found that “night owls” are more intelligent and creative and more likely to get high-paying jobs than larks, or morning persons. The results of many researches indicate that, contrary to conventional folk wisdom, evening-types are more likely to have higher intelligence and creativity scores. A study among 1000 adolescents by the University of Madrid found that “night owls” scored higher than early birds on inductive reasoning tests, which often serve as a proxy for intelligence. However, they lag behind larks in academic scores (when exams are in the mornings).

The Savanna–IQ Interaction Hypothesis holds that more intelligent individuals are more likely to be nocturnal. – “Why night owls are more intelligent” from Department of Management, London School of Economics and Political Science, and Department of Psychology, University College London and Birkbeck College, University of London.
Roberts and Kyllonen found in 1999 that, in a sample of United States Air Force recruits (n = 420), evening types were significantly more intelligent than morning types. 
Night owls are smarter, more creative & have higher IQs by Dr. Kroes

Therefore, if you need more intelligent and creative staff, then you should hire the “night owls” and allow them to match their work schedule to their biological clocks so that they could be more productive.

The systematic study of circadian typology (CT) is relatively recent and has developed rapidly in the two last decades. In 2017, Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to three American scientists (geneticists and chronobiologists) for their paradigm-shifting biological clock discoveries (molecular mechanisms controlling the circadian rhythm). All the existing data suggest that this individual difference of circadian types or chronotypes affects our biological and psychological functioning, not only in health and disease but also in work capability. There are countless studies (one of them also here) that reviewed the psychometric properties and validity of CT measures as well as individual, environmental and genetic factors that influence the CT, which tell us to allow professionals to integrate chronobiological aspects of human behavior into their daily practice.

In this day and age, it is ignorant and useless to ignore any longer the biological markers that define differences between CT groups (sleep-wake cycle, body temperature, cortisol, and melatonin), thus we assess here the implications for CT and adjustment to shift-work and jet lag. We all need to acknowledge the differences between CT in terms of cognitive abilities, personality traits, and the incidence of psychiatric disorders. Since it is necessary, I emphasize the limitations and suggest some future avenues of work to overcome them.

One such avenue of work to overcome limitations is the real flextime policy; another is office lightening – Indoor Exposure to Daylight Improves Sleep, Cognitive Performance.
A real flextime policy allows staff to determine when they will work, without forcing anyone to jeopardize their health and well-being.

Advantages of complying with flextime

Academic literature has identified benefits of flexible working patterns to employees including life satisfaction, better well-being, a good work-life balance, and health benefits.
Advantages include allowing employees to coordinate their work hours with public transport schedules, with the schedules of their children, and with daily traffic patterns to avoid high congestion times such as rush hour.
Flextime is beneficial to workers pursuing an education.

Advanced organizations introduce flexible working patterns for their employee as a way to increase their productivity level, increasing profitability. Flexible working is also seen as a family-friendly policy, which leads to a good work-life balance for employees.
Many studies have shown that flexible working can provide a wide range of benefits for companies, including an increase in performance, productivity, and reduction in absenteeism, etc.
Flexible working arrangements may be a way for organizations to expand and increase their operations nationally and internationally at a lower cost.

With Millennials becoming the interest of many organizations, flexible working seems to attract them.
One of the positive effects of flexible working patterns is being able to attract highly qualified professionals regardless of chronotype. Early risers can see the benefit of flextime if they prefer to have the freedom to work whenever they want, as sometimes the life circumstances require them to change their schedule.

One of the main advantages of flextime is having freedom, as freedom is the highest goal of all human activity and endeavor. It is the natural longing in every human being.
For the “night owls” flextime means also the freedom from suffering because having to adapt to a disadvantageous schedule, they develop all kinds of afflictions, such as depression and other mental illnesses that lead to chronic physical diseases, addictions, relationship issues, and misery in general.

Many “night owls” are unemployed because they are unable to adapt to the rhythm of the “larks” due to health reasons. So, employment agencies could immensely benefit from a new flextime paradigm. Just think of all the immense unemployment payments that could be reduced and those resources transferred into some other social benefits or tax reduced!

Flexible employment is one of the vital factors in the European Union policy discourse. It is a means to reduce unemployment, increase economic and social cohesion, maintain economic competitiveness and enhance equal opportunities.

However, flexible working is not a standard yet, which is why I’m raising this topic and asking you to come on board for a paradigm shift. So far, it is mostly working parents and pregnant women who benefit from the measures regarding flextime, while the “night owls” are not considered at all.

Naturally, the propagators of the status quo and the current paradigm – the early risers – are quick and eager to point out the disadvantages of flextime but if you compare them against the advantages, they are not relevant enough. Most disadvantages are only real in the current paradigm but in the new paradigm (where flextime becomes the standard), they disappear. Overall, the advantages of flextime undeniably outweigh the disadvantages.

In the current paradigm, the flexible working pattern may not be applicable to all occupational fields but if we all shift the paradigm, then flexibility may be introduced everywhere.

Disadvantages of not complying with flextime

Let us now mention some of the many disadvantages of not implementing flextime into work schedules.

The time you wake up every morning is sealed into your DNA, so no need to feel ashamed about it. However, in the present paradigm, most “night owls” often feel guilt or shame for not raising early, which significantly lowers their overall level of consciousness. And, as we know now (Consciousness Theorem), the level of consciousness determines the level of success and well-being, so your feelings of guilt and shame rob you of chances to live well and be successful.

While staying up after dark was considered a negative trait, this changed in 17th and 18th century Europe (and subsequently spread beyond) due to the development and implementation of artificial lighting but the disdain and disregard for the “creatures of the night” still lingers in the minds of many inconsiderate “larks”. Many “night owls” feel stigmatized by it, which may lower their self-esteem, self-confidence, self-respect, and morale, subsequently lowering their overall level of consciousness and with it the level of success and well-being.

A bad repute is a disadvantage, which is often overlooked but it deprecates the value of the“night owls”. They are often blamed for unpunctuality or attitude problems by ignorant and inconsiderate “larks”. Advanced employers, however, have begun to learn to increase productivity by respecting body clocks through flexible working hours, while the Danish “B-Society” of “night owls” and the American Start School Later movement lobby actively for more school and workplace flexibility for the post-agricultural world. However, the majority of employers and colleagues are backward in that regard, having no consideration for “night owls”.

When there is a mismatch between our external environment and our internal biological clock, our well-being is highly disturbed. As countless studies show, chronic misalignment between our lifestyle and the rhythm dictated by our inner timekeeper is associated with an increased risk for various diseases.

So, another major disadvantage is ruined mental and physical health. There are many causes of depression and one of them is being forced to neglect our biorhythm, to work against our natural sleep cycle. Defying our internal body clock is scientifically proven to be highly associated with levels of depression. A new study published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry reported by CNN found that people with a misaligned sleep cycle are more likely to report depression, anxiety and have fewer feelings of well-being. Those who follow their internal circadian clocks may be less likely to suffer from depression than those trying to live on a different schedule.

“The health problems associated with being a “night owl” are likely a result of being a “night owl” living in a morning person’s world, which leads to disruption in their body’s circadian rhythms,” said sleep specialist Kristen Knutson, an associate professor of neurology and preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

Therefore, if you are a “night owl” suffering from depression or a “morning lark” who has compassion for all your dear ones who suffer from depression due to a misaligned sleep cycle, then you should join us in drumming about the need for flextime becoming a standard, for a paradigm shift.

Depression is, unfortunately, not the only illness directly associated with chronotype maltreatment. There is a huge number of diseases attributable to it but let us just mention cardiovascular disease, since it is so prevalent in all societies that regard alarm clocks rather than biological clocks.

Forced to rise earlier than their circadian rhythm dictates, the “night owls” end up being chronically sleep-deprived. Sleep deprivation has all sorts of consequences that are disadvantageous to both the “night owls” and everyone they interact with and work for. One of them is also obesity – Not Getting Enough Sleep Linked to Unhealthy Snacking. You can diet and exercise all you want, but as long as you neglect your biological clock, you are disposed to stress that turns you to sugar, caffeine, alcohol, sedatives, cigarettes, drugs, or other toxins.

Sleeping disorders and deficits cause tiredness, fatigue, irritability, difficulty to focus and pay attention, lack of motivation, and mood swings, weaken our immune system, which gives rise to illnesses and can lead to serious health problems, such as gastrointestinal ailments, heart attack stroke, diabetes, vascular diseases, and even cancer. The risk for heart disease increases by 48 percent if we consistently sleep less than six hours.
Numerous studies have proven that insufficient sleep can lead to high blood pressure, clogging of the arteries, and heart failure.
People who can ascribe their sleep disorders to shift work show an especially high risk of cancer. WHO classified nightly shift work as “probably carcinogenic.” Shift workers, such as hospital personal and flight attendants, due to the permanent displacement of the biological sleep-wake order and the use of artificial light tend to develop tumors.

Let us not confuse being a “night owl” with having a delayed sleep phase disorder (DSPD), which is a chronic dysregulation of a person’s circadian rhythm (biological clock is delayed) that manifests itself as a difficulty with falling asleep and waking up (it takes hours to do both), falling asleep around 4 a.m. and waking up around noon. Approximately 17 percent of adolescents and adults have DSPD. This disorder affects the timing of sleep, the peak period of alertness, the core body temperature, rhythm, hormonal as well as other daily cycles. No cure is known, and research suggests a genetic origin (a genetic mutation) for the disorder, as well as changes after puberty or a traumatic head injury. Attempting to force oneself onto daytime society’s schedule with DSPD has been compared to constantly living with jet lag.
Many doctors are unfamiliar with the condition, which is why it often goes untreated or is treated inappropriately; DSPD is often misdiagnosed as primary insomnia or as a psychiatric condition.  At its most severe degree, DSPD is not just a disorder but also a disability.

If you need some more convincing about “night owls” being actually born this way (rather than just being lazy), I invite you to educate yourself further about it. For instance, countless studies show that genes determine whether a person is a lark or an evening person. The Per2 gene on chromosome 2 regulates the circadian clock and a variant of it was found in families that demonstrated advanced sleep-phase syndrome. A genetic predisposition is not the only factor, of course. The person’s age also factors in, with teenagers and young adults tending to be “night owls” more than young children and elderly people. Also, the environment we live in influences our biorhythms to an extent. Living in nature or boosting one’s exposure to sunlight (including offices with glass walls), while cutting their exposure to artificial light may turn “owls” into “larks”.

We focused here more on the issues that “night owls” are facing in the world governed by “larks” but the same issues are facing also all the “larks” who somehow ended up working night-shifts, so they need to be treated fairly, too. Regardless of chronotypes, as a civil society, we need to provide opportunities for everyone to work at our peak times and without jeopardizing our health and well-being.

Let us allow our results or outputs to speak louder than our work schedules. If your ability to be your best self and do your best work is being thrown off by a couple of hours one way or another, at what point are you able to recognize that a seemingly harmless adherence to rigid work times holds you and your team back?

Apart from work, it is necessary to consider the chronotypes in schools as well. Kids who are “night owls” are less likely to have good grades if the exams are held in the morning hours, which is both unfair and cruel to them. Poor grades or academic performance doesn’t reflect their intelligence level but sleep deprivation. So, if you are compassionate and a loving parent, you need to prevent this cruelty and unfairness, starting in your own home (acknowledging them as they biologically are) and lobbying and campaigning wherever you can.
According to chronobiology, at their age, due to changing bodies, hormones, and circadian rhythms, as well as puberty (the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the brain undergo a sleep-phase delay in puberty), teenagers’ biological (internal) clocks shift to release melatonin much later than when they were children. Since teens are biologically programmed to go to sleep later, then they need to rise later to function properly but schools’ regulations force them to rise early and deprive them of sleep much-needed for learning and passing the exams. This needs to change and needs to change now. When the school-children schedule is adjusted, then also working parents can better adjust their working time to the flextime with the core period between 1-5 p.m.

In summary, knowing that we live in a world that is regulated by the law of polarity, among other laws, let us embrace the fact that there is also polarity among the people in terms of biorhythms. Although the late risers may be seen as negative, they are simply another pole of the needed dynamics for the world to move forward. Polarity and diversity provide the dynamics for evolution and development. Disregarding and torturing one part of the population for the sake of being able to put everyone in the same “Procrustean bed”, that is, ruthlessly forcing them to fit into an unnatural scheme has a horrific effect on humankind as a whole. And, when it comes to business, it reduces the productivity and profitability of the whole organization.

Therefore, let us each do our part to shift the old paradigm. Let us start discussions about it in our circles because right now, we’re not having these conversations at all. And, as influencers and leaders, let us change the policy in our organizations to that of flextime in the true sense of the word, rather than just an hour or two flexibility. If there is a need for a “core” period for local team activities, let it be in the afternoon, such as between 1-5 p.m. This way no one is tortured or compromising their health and everyone is at their productive phase.

We need to break free from 9 to 5 society and its cruelty and lack of respect for “night owls”. Quality of life, health, infrastructure, and productivity would all improve if we offered people work hours matching their circadian rhythms. The world without alarm clocks is the world with much less cruelty, torture, disrespect, (mental) illness, and other sufferings – in other words, a world with more peace and prosperity for all. Switching alarm clocks with biological clocks and respecting the people of different chronotype – this is a human rights issue.

So, ask yourself, what can you yourself do about it. The least you can do is to help spread the word about it by liking and sharing this insight.
What do you say?!

For the sake of altering work schedules and flextime policy, we would like to know the percentages of different chronotypes, so please let us know yours and share it with others, so that the results of this survey are as accurate as possible: Chronotypes survey

If you are keen on following the trends, most likely you jumped on the bandwagon of the psychology-driven recruiters who embrace the “Cultural Fit Assessment” into their recruitment practice. The concept of culture fit somehow veered into buzzword territory without any substantial evidence whatsoever to back it up and much indicators against it, which is why one of the most argued topics in the talent acquisition space is hiring for culture fit.

As someone who has 20+ years in recruitment and who majored in culture, allow me to make the case against this practice, even though I have a great regard for culture. The fact that I have a 100% success rate and that the teams I recruited have topped the rank lists and won all the awards might give me some credibility but the facts alone will convince you, that is, if you read them with an open mind or while in a constructive mode of consciousness (objectivity, intelligence, rationality, wisdom, acceptance, willingness, respectfulness, considerateness, neutrality, trust, permissiveness, sensibleness, or thoughtfulness) rather than a destructive one (ungratefulness, rivalry, arrogance, skepticism, passivity, or criticality).

I am not the only one to discover the faultiness of this hiring malpractice, so if you can’t trust me because you don’t know me, make sure to inform yourself well enough so that you don’t make this mistake any longer:
• Stop Hiring for Culture Fit – Harvard Business Review
• Is Hiring For Culture Fit Perpetuating Bias? – Forbes
• Stop Hiring for “Cultural Fit” – Kellogg Insight
• 5 Big Reasons Not to Hire for Culture Fit – Zappos and others show a better way to interview and hire awesome people
• The Dangers of Hiring for Cultural Fit – WSJ (The Wall Street Journal)
• Hiring for Culture Fit Doesn’t Work – Inc.
• Hiring For Cultural Fit: More Harm Than Good – Built In
• Why you should stop hiring for cultural fit – Applied
• Why hiring for culture fit is misguided – Hive Learning

Also, in his bestseller Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell examines how cultural differences play a large part in perceived intelligence and rational decision making.

Like with anything else, also with this topic, there are two camps – pro and contra ones. Both camps have their valid arguments but no one has actual proof, like an actual scientific study on the consequences of hiring for culture fit. If you have one, please let us know down in the commentary box (provide us with the link to the study, please) and we will be happy to include it here but until then, consider any cultural fit assessment as nothing but a theory or assumption.

Since there is no replicable evidence that hiring for culture fit is a legitimate method, no dignified and competent recruiter should practice it until it is proven to be valid.

The types of recruiters who don’t bother to investigate the scientific evidence of their adapted selection practice are also the ones who don’t bother to measure or evaluate the success of their hires, whether their hires really fit with the corporate culture and whether those they rejected on that basis would really fail in their environment. Even worse, they are so haughty that they believe their own Cultural Fit Assessment is flawless as opposed to all the other ones that they admit being possibly biased. It is one thing to be wrong but a whole other level of fault not to be willing to admit or at least consider being wrong – this is a mark of a recruiter type that has no qualities to act as a gatekeeper for any decent company.

There is a general opinion and consensus that psychologists’ profession or psychology is the supreme authority when it comes to recognizing human cognitive and emotional abilities in the recruiting process. The high regard of it reflects in the fact that psychology majors are one of the most sought-after programs at colleges and universities. This notion and regard come from the fact that besides psychology, there is no other recognized scientific discipline that specializes in the human mind, abilities, and behavior.

As an alternative, sometimes recruiters ask for a Bachelor’s degree in Humanities (part of the liberal arts) – a multidisciplinary study of human society, history, philosophy, and culture (literature, art, drama, music, languages, religion, and morality) – because its graduates are primed to be good problem-solvers and communicators excelling in critical thinking, analysis (qualitative, interpretive and theoretical, not scientific), and creativity, but their formal education didn’t equip them with the knowledge or skills to justifiably recognize top talent or the culturally fit.

Then there are virtuologues, a new, yet relatively unknown breed of professionals, whose specialization goes beyond the mere human mind and behaviors into the broader domain of human consciousness, which is also the subject of psychology and philosophy but to a much lesser degree. Virtuologues specialize in specific modes of consciousness, especially the constructive ones, which are also called virtues, and in raising one’s own level of consciousness so as to raise one’s own level of well-being and success.

With the amount of trust in psychologists and reliance on them, you would think that they get everything right but they don’t, as a vast amount of studies and reports reveal:
• Hundreds of Psychology Studies Are Wrong
• book Psychology Gone Wrong
• Psychology’s Credibility Crisis
• The Psychologist’s Fallacy
• This Is What Is Wrong With the Core of Psychology.

This is not to demean anyone but to look the truth in the eyes. Let’s be honest, psychology tests and assessments have proven wrong on countless occasions. One such high-profile example is the famous IQ test, which is proven so wrong that hardly ever anyone considers it nowadays. But it was highly respected and used in the old days. How many other such psychological tests and assessments are currently in usage that have no proven value, do you know? You don’t want to know. Because if you knew, you would not rely on recruiters who majored in psychology to be the gatekeepers on who should join your team or not.

Reconsider using personality assessments (designed by psychologists) to screen job candidates because there is no proof of them being reliable. This is a more than $500-million-a-year industry, growing by about 10 percent annually in recent years. There are thousands of personality assessments available, and their quality varies. Some might even land an employer in legal trouble.

Compared to other hiring selection practices, personality assessments are among the least effective in predicting job performance, according to research by the University of Iowa, US. Test responses can change depending on mood and environment, as opposed to enduring personality traits. Also, in self-report personality assessments, job applicants can fake the answers – give the responses that they think the employer wants. Individuals should not be pigeonholed based on their personality assessment.

One example of faulty personality assessment is the assumption that one needs to hire an extrovert for a sales position. That inclination is wrong because I know plenty of people who are quiet and introverted but successful in sales. They would tell you that the best tool for a salesman is his ears—listening, not talking, but most psychologists won’t hear it.

Another such narrow-minded test or assessment that is now trending among such recruiters is the one about culture fit. Cultural fit and functional fit are two criteria that human resource departments consider when evaluating candidates for employment.

Culture fit in the context of recruiting is about having employees whose beliefs, values, and behaviors are in alignment with those of the employer. Cultural fit is the likelihood that a job candidate will be able to conform and adapt to the core values and collective behaviors that make up an organization. But this is opposed to the diversity and inclusion policy – don’t the people who studied psychology get that?

When it comes to culture, companies are like communities or even countries, who also have their culture. What would you think about the countries or communities, who don’t allow people of different values or even cultures to become their citizens or members? If companies accept customers with different values, why wouldn’t they accept employees with different values? Think about that.

We are living in a modern world where multicultural societies thrive the most, but there are psychology-majored recruiters out there who believe that it is wrong to have a diverse team and who don’t include those who don’t fit into their idea of what a great culture is.

Although the idea behind the culture fit assessment may be viable, the way the recruiters go about it is certainly not. The sort of questions they ask the candidates to determine whether they are a cultural fit is absurd, bordering on insane. So much that some go as far as using an algorithm to assess whether candidates are culturally fit!

Of course, there are some broad determinants, but the candidates have already taken those into account before applying. So, vegans will never fit into an environment where animal-killing is accepted, so they won’t apply for the jobs in the companies that exploit animals or do animal testing or sell meat. Likewise, the individuals who thrive in a casual environment are not likely to apply for the jobs that thrive in a strictly formal setting. Those who don’t share the values of the pharmaceutical companies won’t come knocking on their doors.

When it comes to values, which are promoted as the most relevant determinants for the culture fit, they are usually so broadly shared that anyone could be a fit for them and, just to get the job, any candidate can just lie that they share the company’s values, which are stated on the company’s website. Besides, those values are mostly just on paper, whereas the employees don’t really consider them much in their day-to-day chores. And even if people share the same values, that is no assurance at all that they will work well as a team because for that values don’t count that much but other factors.

As the research on cultural fit has evolved in academia, companies began drawing their own interpretations and methods of hiring. Can someone please tell me how could possibly the standard questions like these determine whether a candidate would fit with the team:

• Where do you see yourself in five years?
• Tell me three strengths and three weaknesses of yours?
• What do you appreciate most about working in a team?
• Do you dislike any elements of teamwork?
• What drives you in your day-to-day work?
• Is there anything you like about your current colleagues?

Rarely anyone has firm answers to those questions, which is an additional reason not to judge them on that feeble criteria. If someone wants to become an astronaut in 5 years and you are concerned about staff retention in your non-astronaut business, this is still not a viable reason to dismiss the candidate, as he or she could bring enormous value in a short time regardless of their goals. Most people don’t achieve their 5 years goals anyway, so to consider that answer in the selection process is irrational.

One of the main problems companies have with retention is not that the employees turn out not to be culturally fit but the flawed executives, who fake DEI or create a climate that is either toxic or disadvantageous for certain types or classes of employees.
We don’t have the time for delving into the irrationality of each of those questions or any other ones that recruiters use to determine a culture fit, but we hope you get the idea by now.

It’s understandable to want to hire people who align with the characteristics or values of your organization. However, incorrectly identifying culture fit can lead to a homogeneous working environment that lacks diversity, and can play into your unconscious biases.
The interviewers may fall into the trap of seeking personal connections instead of actually identifying common values. It’s like the colloquial “beer test” wherein faced with the difficulty of choosing between two candidates, you go with the person you’d enjoy having a beer with. However, there is substantial evidence that playmates rarely make for a solid company process.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) has become a business priority, and for good reason. Strong DEI policies are not just a “nice-to-have,” but rather essential for both individual and business success. In conjunction with ongoing global crises, social movements, and racial injustice, more people, especially the younger generations, are deeply invested in DEI and how organizations are approaching it. From existing employees to job candidates and even customers, people today are looking to invest their time, labor, and money into ethical, socially conscious businesses. If you are seeking only those that are culturally fit for you, then you are disregarding the public demand for diversity & inclusion of this day and age. The public will eventually find out about your malpractices and expose you. You have been warned.

If you need further convincing that dismissing those who seem not to be a culture fit is wrong, consider doing more research on that and this example: an older person returning to the workplace after caring for their children may not appear to fit into a culture of younger people happy to work late, but they will bring a whole lot of knowledge and life experience to the table that could make a difference to the business. And, just because they aren’t young and can’t go to the pub due to family commitments, it doesn’t mean they don’t uphold the same values of the business.

To avoid any misunderstandings, let’s state it clearly that corporate culture is very important but whether a job applicant is culturally fit is not that important because, with proper measures in place, such as those implemented by a virtuologue, anyone can adapt to a culture of their company that is compliant with true DEI. There is a proven correlation between the business culture of a company and its financial success, but let’s not confuse that with the recruiters’ flawed assessment for the culturally fit.

When hiring professionals, most companies, if not all, don’t look beyond academic credentials, which cost them millions in lost opportunities. In the current paradigm, recruitment is based mainly on academic credentials, which is proven faulty. Allow me to make the case for natural talents and informal education.
As someone, who has worked 20+ years in HR and L&D, and built high-performing, award-winning teams, I know a thing or two about what it takes to perform well, and a college degree is not it – in many cases, as it turns out, it can be even an impediment.

Naturally, all leaders strive for top talent in their teams, but what exactly is the criteria for top talent? All HR specialists have their take on this matter, but since they come from academic circles, naturally they are biased and lean towards academic credentials. Those among the HR officials, who worked hard for years to get their academic degree, cannot dare to consider the prospect of uselessness or worthlessness of it for the actual performance ability. Think about it.

What every employer is looking for now is a 20-year-old with 40 years of experience 😉

If you are ready to make enormous compromises, sweat, struggle, and get into huge financial debt to graduate from college, then you surely have faith in the academic credentials – this is then your religion, so to speak. Are you then in a position to accept college dropouts as your equals? Of course, not. If you work in HR, your bias is costing your company millions in untapped talent you reject every day. But it is not your fault. You are just a cog in a machine of the current paradigm. The perpetrators of the formal education established this paradigm, which you gullibly got caught up in, and they make every effort to keep this status quo, using you.

This is not to say there is no value in formal education or academic credentials, quite the contrary. There is enormous value in it and we are ever appreciative of it all. However, to say that informal education and self-education don’t have as much value, as old-fashioned HR officials reckon and accordingly act (rejecting those without academic credentials), it is not just proven faulty but highly narrow-minded, discriminatory, prejudiced, unfair, unjust, and intolerant, equivalent to sexism, racism, ageism, homophobia, classism, religious intolerance, and such discriminatory approaches that feed into the Inequality issue.

There is enough solid evidence to prove that competence and capability for most, if not all, work don’t necessarily or exclusively come from formal education.
Also, there is enough solid evidence to prove that the level of success is determined by the level of consciousness, rather than the level of education. See Consciousness Theorem

In a world in which most companies claim to embrace and comply with the Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) or even Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policy, the unfortunate truth is that most HR officials have a very narrow-minded view of what that actually means. Diversity and Inclusion (or D&I) is an approach taken by organizations to building diverse teams and promoting an inclusive workplace, in order to set underrepresented groups up for success. For small-minded recruiters that means having to hire more women, people of color, and LGBT individuals.

However, the elements of diversity include age, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, immigration status, race, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status. The socioeconomic status takes account of social and economic factors including educational qualifications, occupations, household income, the level of reliance on government income support, and the level of household overcrowding. D&I implies all of these elements, in particular including diverse educational qualifications!

Therefore, no company has the right to claim to adhere to Diversity and Inclusion, if they do it only partially. There is a vile trend of companies marketing their D&I or DEI policy when in fact it is nothing but a mere strategy to win more customers, build a reputation and increase revenues. To position themselves higher on the postcapitalistic market and exhibit their high standards, companies are weaving D&I or DEI into their mission statements but let’s not be fooled. Don’t they know that cool guys never call themselves cool? No one cares more about what you say than what you do. Top talent are calling on organizations to start practicing what they preach and build a truly equitable, diverse, and inclusive workplace. If you require and hire for certain positions only those with academic credentials, then this is not Diversity and Inclusion, but uniformity and exclusion.

Nowadays brands need to work harder to define what they stand for and what they don’t. Whether that means defining their stance on gender equity, politics, labor practices, or something else altogether, customers are expecting brands to hold themselves to a higher standard. Conscientious millennials are now the largest generation in the consumer base and workforce, shaping society in their image and expecting companies to be more value- and virtue-driven.

D&I approach is about gaining a proper understanding of the unique dynamics of diversity within an organization and then strategically addressing them to promote inclusion, innovation, and learning and to avoid discrimination due to stereotypes.

Excluding those without academic credentials and specific socioeconomic status is a far cry from the D&I or DEI as the public see it. Posting job requirements with a certain college degree is not being diverse and inclusive, let alone smart since a college degree says nothing about individual competencies and capabilities (as all savvy HR officials already know).

But this initiative is not about D&I or DEI benefits; it is not about dealing with the variety and heterogeneity of employees in a meaningful way that benefits all. It is about the solid facts or evidence that academic credentials are not the only measure of someone’s capabilities. There are countless records online, listing famous college dropouts or successful individuals and self-made millionaires who made it big without any academic credentials.

Here are just some of the few big shots, who have proven that the lack of academic credentials means nothing, and who would get rejected by the narrow-minded recruiters of this day and age: Oprah Winfrey, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Ellen DeGeneres, Ralph Lauren, Steven Spielberg, Ted Turner, Richard Branson, Warren Buffett, Louise Hay, many US presidents and politicians (Washington, Lincoln, Kennedy, Franklin, Roosevelt, Jackson, Truman…), John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, Roman Abramovich, Winston Churchill, Henry Ford, Thomas Alva Edison, Albert Einstein, Nikola Tesla, Mark Twain, Leo Tolstoy, Ernest Hemingway, Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, Hans Christian Andersen, William Shakespeare, etc.

If any of those people would apply for a job at your company before becoming famous, your recruitment team would reject them in the current paradigm. That is why the paradigm needs to shift, don’t you agree?

Recognizing your top job candidates is not an easy task, which is why sluggish and biased recruiters rely on academic credentials. They can’t be bothered to check beyond such credentials, such as the cover letters and proposals because it is much easier to discriminate a whole demographic than having to consider everyone.

Let’s not deny it, discrimination is what recruiters need to do in the selection process, but if it is unavoidable, at least it has to be based on the factual determinants of success and a college degree is not one of them. Apart from countless college dropouts having enormous successes, further evidence is countless university graduates who are unsuccessful or unproductive.

Virtuologues enable you to improve your hiring and selection process, recognize which factors contribute to individual success, and train for those factors across your organization.
A narrow-minded recruiter looks at a “purple” candidate and sees a “purple” candidate, whereas a virtuologue sees the red and blue beneath the surface.

And let’s leave you with these progressive words of Elon Musk:

“You want to make sure that…if somebody great wants to join the company that they actually get an interview. This is actually one of my big worries. Like, if Nikola Tesla was alive today, could he get an interview? And if not, we’re doing something wrong. And I’m not totally sure he would get an interview. So, if one of the most brilliant engineers who ever lived could maybe not get an interview, we should fix that and make sure we’re not barring the doors from talent, or that we’re looking at the right things.
“Generally, look for things that are evidence of exceptional ability. I don’t even care if somebody graduated from college or high school or whatever… Did they build some really impressive device? Win some really tough competition? Come up with some really great idea? Solve some really tough problem?”

Here we present a cure for and prevention from COVID-19, called Virtufication, which serves as a psychological or energy vaccine.

There are specific pharmaceutical solutions to prevent or treat COVID-19 such as vaccines, immunizations, and medications.
However, apart from pharmaceutic solutions, humankind has other available solutions. One of them is to boost own immune system by building an antibody with the power of the constructive modes of consciousness, the virtues.

We will reveal the cure for and the prevention from COVID-19 but first, you need to discern the fake news from the genuine ones.

Detecting fake news

There is much misinformation about Covid-19 circulating online, which is why you need a way to detect the fallacies. There is a lie-detector organ in human body, which is there to help you tell truth from lies. This organ is: muscles. Some muscles are more telling than the others but in general you feel weaker in the presence of lie and stronger in the presence of truth.

If your level of consciousness is high enough (above 200 on the scale of consciousness) and there are no toxic or disturbing substances in or on you (including metals – gasses, watch, jewelry etc.), you can do a simple kinesiological muscle test (MRT or MMT, a.k.a. neuro-muscular biofeedback) to detect a lie or truth.

Research published in Psychological Science cited similar results related to human lie detection. Scientists determined that, as compared to more-conscious mental processes, less-conscious mental processes are more accurate when it comes to predicting whether someone is telling a lie. The muscle test detecting a lie or truth is most accurate when you are at the highest mode of consciousness possible – preferably put yourself in the mode of inner peace, or compassion, or joy, whenever you attempt to use your muscles to discern whether this article and any other are telling truth or lie. When it comes to solutions, effectiveness is the measure of truth.

Using your muscles as well as intuition (gut feeling), you can tell whether the information here and elsewhere is true or not. Also, with the same method, you need to find out the truth behind all the nonsense circulating mass-media these days. Bad news sells, so there is no shortage of scary stories in the media about coronavirus. There is far too much hysteria around it at the moment, which puts you in more danger of making yourself ill by merely focusing on this. Stress, fear and worry is what makes people ill, with even fatal consequences.

Some say coronavirus is “deadly”, which is not true. To say that coronavirus is deadly would be the same as saying that cars are deadly. Yes, there are people dying after being infected by coronavirus, however, it is not the virus that kills them but their weak immune system, which is why only people with a compromised immune system get infected and only less than 5% die. Over 95% who were known to be infected, recovered from it. Many other people were infected but haven’t developed any symptoms due to their strong immune system, so there is an estimate that only less than 2% infected people die. Based on Johns Hopkins University statistics, the global death-to-case ratio is 2.13% as of 2 August 2021. If coronavirus were deadly, then all or most infected people would die. This proves that virus doesn’t kill, something else does. And this tells you that you need not fear the coronavirus.

Why some people die after they were infected with virus is because of their negative modes of consciousness, such as fear, worry and other stressful modes. The release of stress hormones shuts down the immune system and so makes you prone to infections and diseases.
Fear breeds stress and the fear of the coronavirus is what is deadly, not the virus itself!
People love a drama and so like to revel in the doom and gloom! We suggest staying away from such people where possible or, even better, talk some sense into them!

The point here is that no matter what your state of health, you will only benefit from steering clear of the fear and bringing yourself into any of the constructive modes of consciousness. Do not spread fear and worry, instead spread compassion, faith, love, unconditional joy and other virtues.

A word or two on whether you should trust conspiracy theories. When they base themselves on fear, worry, blame, speculations, distrust, (often) lies, and other flaws or destructive modes of consciousness, we don’t advise engaging in them, especially if they are problem-focused rather than solution-focused. Whoever doesn’t have a better solution than the one they are protesting against, should reconsider whether they are adding to a problem or solution.

We support the solution-focused theories that base themselves on virtues, such as responsibility, courage, constructive criticism, helpfulness, thoughtfulness, positiveness, benignity, goodwill, openness, flexibility, calmness, kindness, optimism, hope, honor, wisdom, and other such constructive modes of consciousness.

You can distinguish if a theory is a good or bad one by the rhetoric its perpetrators use. If there is any talk that instigates fear, worry, blame, speculations, distrust, violence, swearing or bad language, foul play, and other flaws or destructive modes of consciousness, you can be sure that it is a bad or negative one. Nothing good comes from bad seeds or actions. And no solution can be found by focusing on the problem rather than the solution-finding.

Regarding the prejudices and false conclusions, let’s use a metaphor: did you know that no snakebite ever kills? Snakes do not kill people. The bite does not kill. What killed many people was not the snakebite but the poison. Not even that. If we let the poison spread in the body, that is what kills, not the snake. We need to prevent the spread of poison or to take the antidote or, better yet, to learn to assimilate the body so that it turns the poison into a medicine, to turn what was originally negative into a positive one. Failure to do so will kill us, not a snake, not even a bite or even poison. Our inaction kills. It is the same with all other “snakes” in our lives, such as “toxic” humans, viruses and situations.

One can only contract a virus while vibrating at the same rate as the virus, and stress and fear drags men down to the level of the virus. Also, due to the vibratory power of words, whatever man voices, he begins to attract. People who continually speak of virus or disease, invariably attract it. Virus cannot survive and a disease cannot exist in the tissue that has a high vibration. Therefore, we need to maintain a high frequency to maintain our health.
When you get sick, it is due to your frequency drop, thus you need to raise it – you can raise it with medicines, food, and virtues.

Virtufication is the process of raising consciousness (not awareness) or a leap of consciousness, which is done through cultivating high-potency virtues.

Pharmaceutical or medical vaccines help people develop immunity to a virus. That is all they do. Vaccines don’t kill a virus; they keep you from getting sick from it, so if you get contaminated with a virus, you still have it in you and can transmit it to others. Pharmaceutical or medical vaccines are injected into blood, but transmission or spreading of virus occurs mostly through nose and mouth (hence the masks). Let’s not forget that coronavirus is a respiratory pathogen. What vaccines do, they prevent you from getting ill from a virus, but they don’t prevent you from getting contaminated with it and so they don’t prevent you from spreading it. Therefore, you should keep being careful around others, if you don’t want to contaminate them in case you are contaminated (which you can’t know since vaccines suppress the symptoms).
Can you still transmit Covid-19 after vaccination? – BBC Future
What COVID-19 vaccines can and can′t do | Science – DW
You may want to wait a bit for a new VACCINE type able to induce STERILIZING IMMUNITY, which prevents transmission and is intranasal.

There is not even one single scientific evidence that vaccinated people do not spread a virus. If you have a proof, please give it to us, so that we could gladly publish it. Until now, we haven’t found or received any. As a matter of fact, all the found evidence point to the contrary, to the fact that the vaccinated people can equally transmit the coronavirus as the unvaccinated do.
The fact that it is not against the law to refuse vaccination (vaccines will never be made mandatory by law), it proves enough that unvaccinated people do not harm anyone. If unvaccinated people would spread the virus more than vaccinated, harming others, then a law would be enacted against those who harm others.
Also, the fact that coronavirus infections rise, regardless of most people being vaccinated, should be additional indication that vaccinated people spread the virus.
Think about all that before jumping to conclusions, judging or restricting the unvaccinated people. Animosity toward anyone is inhumane and mutually damaging. As any flaw, it makes you weak, so refrain from it.

Although pharmaceutical or medical vaccines may be currently the best official means to contain the pandemic and to prevent getting ill from coronavirus, not everyone can or will get vaccinated, such as:

• • people with phobias – aichmophobia or trypanophobia (extreme fear of needles and injections; estimated at least 10% of adults) and blood-related phobias, which are mostly genetic.
• • Many individuals reject vaccines, as it is either against their philosophy or religion (churches that rely on prayer or faith healing such as Christian Science, Amish, Fundamentalists, evangelical Christians, Church of the First Born, End Time Ministries, Faith Assembly, Faith Tabernacle, The First Church of Christ, First Century Gospel Church, etc.), which should be respected, given that unvaccinated do no harm (no more than vaccinated people).
• • Ethical vegans also refuse the vaccines because, even if some vaccines do not contain ingredients derived from animals, they were tested on animals and animal-derived materials have been used in the production process.
• • There are also certain groups of people who are advised not to get a vaccine for health or medical reasons (small children, people with some allergies, disabilities, and other health conditions)
  Vaccines have some adverse and even fatal effects (myocarditis, pericarditis, thromboses, hemostasis, cerebral hemorrhage, anaphylaxis, etc.) on certain vulnerable people, which raised hesitancy towards vaccines.
• • Many people are concerned about dying from vaccine because, although it is rare, it does happen. As of Aug. 23, 2021, VAERS received 6,968 reports of death among people in US alone who received a COVID-19 vaccine. There are countless others who reported death elsewhere. In many cases there is correlation but not causation evidence.
• • Some people are waiting for a new vaccine that provides sterilizing immunity (prevents not just getting ill but also getting infected with the virus and spreading it). New vaccines are in the pipeline from various providers.
• • And then there are many of those who are only waiting for a vaccine to be fully tested and approved, having concerns about them being approved too early, that is, without the standard number of clinical trials.
• • On this list of valid reason for rejecting pharmaceutical vaccines, we are not going to add here any conspiracy theories, but will validate all the people who are simply put off by being pressured to get vaccinated by all the bullying and restrictions. There is a valid psychological reason for resisting when feeling pressured into something. The pressurizing methods are contra-productive for certain types of people, who will only reject vaccine for the sake of rebelling against being pressurized. This is in accordance with the law in nature that is referred to as the law of action and reaction or the law of physics, called Newton’s third law of motion: for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. In other words, for every force there is a matching counter-force. Many weak people will certainly break under the pressures from all sides (such as employers mandating vaccinations), but the strong will get stronger under pressure and oppose it even stronger, which is why pressures or taking away people’s freedoms can never be a good solution. It may work here and there but on the whole it is destructive rather than constructive.

In the wake of massive protests and measures against the unvaccinated people, all these conditions need to be taken into account before judging and restricting the unvaccinated, especially given the fact that vaccinated and unvaccinated people can spread the virus equally.

That said, we repeat, it is unwise and detrimental to make any decision, including about vaccination, based on fear, worry, prejudice, skepticism, or any other negative mode of consciousness. Decisions should be always made while in a constructive mode of consciousness (above 200 on the scale of consciousness).

For those who make a decision against any of the pharmaceutical or medical vaccines, there is an alternative – virtufication, which is also not for everyone. It is only for those who are willing to consistently virtufy themselves, which additionally positively affects mental health, well-being and success (achieving goals). Virtufying is an form of purifying, so, like washing hands or taking showers, it is a matter of psychological hygiene. As you know, there are consequences for the neglect of physical hygiene, which is true for psychological hygiene, too.

Virtufication is a self-administered psychological or energy vaccine.
A vaccine is a biological preparation that provides active acquired immunity to a particular infectious disease. Virtufication does that, too. It provides the means to activate acquired immunity to all diseases. It injects high-potency virtues into your blood and body cells.
A vaccine typically contains an agent that stimulates the body’s immune system. In Virtufication that agent is a set of virtues. High-potency virtues boost the body’s immune system.

By activating the virtues you are releasing certain chemicals in your body that activate body’s defense mechanism, and signaling new genes to make new proteins that change the structure and function of your body. By virtufying yourself, you can harness the power of virtues to up-regulate the genes that make the antibody for the immune function within a few days and so direct your body to prevent and heal any disease.
More about that is explained in our Virtuology book.

The most potent virtues or modes of consciousness are presented on the scale of consciousness – a logarithmic scale that ranks different levels of consciousness. Both the cure and prevention consist of keeping your modes of consciousness as high as possible throughout the day, and not going down the scale below 200.

Throughout the day your diverse modes of consciousness go up and down countless times, as you are a bit in the mode of love, joy, compassion, courage, relaxation, gratitude, as well as in fear, worry, anger, frustration, pessimism, skepticism, greed, criticism, grief, guilt and so forth. At the end of the day, the sum total of all your positive and negative modes amounts to your average mode of consciousness or, in other words, your personal level of consciousness. The more positive your various modes of consciousness throughout the day are, the higher your level of consciousness becomes. The level of your consciousness determines your well-being.

Virtufication Find out here what virtufication is and how it can help you. Virtufication

Virtuology Find out here what virtuology is and how it can help you. Virtuology

Book The basics of Virtuology & Virtufication in detail. Book

Prevention and Treatment

For both the prevention and treatment it is important to boost your immune system by any means possible, because the human body has internal defense system to naturally fight off viruses.
Every disease is caused by a mind not at ease. All disease has a mental correspondence, so in order to heal the body (rather than just symptoms) one must first heal the mind. “As within, so without.”
As one’s ships come in over a calm sea, healing, too, comes when we calm down and cultivate the virtue of inner peace. Our healing comes when we realize that there is no power in virus unless we give it power by believing it has power or by fearing it.

1. Shift into an elevated mode of consciousness, such as love, joy, faith, or gratitude. This will up-regulate the genes for immunoglobulin A (IgA), a protein marker for the strength of the immune system. If you do that for nine to ten minutes three times a day, average IgA levels shoot up by 49.5 percent. The more you cultivate those and other potent virtues, the stronger you immune system is.
   

   IgA is an antibody that is used by the body’s immune system to neutralize pathogens such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, and other organisms that invade or are already living within the body’s internal environment. It’s so powerful that it’s better than any flu shot or immune system booster; it’s the primary internal defense system in the human body. When stress levels (and therefore the levels of stress hormones like cortisol) go up, this lowers levels of IgA, thereby compromising and down-regulating the immune system.

   The advantage of cultivating virtues in health is that they boost the immune system, which prevents diseases and keeps us healthy.

   Out of countless studies, let’s mention the one of Dr. Joe Dispenza, who conducted a study on the effect virtues had on immune function. They took saliva samples from 117 test subjects before and after a four-day workshop in which the participants were asked to generate elevated thoughts and emotions. They measured immunoglobulin A (IgA), a protein marker for the strength of the immune system. During their four-day workshop, they asked their participants to shift into an elevated state such as love, joy, faith, or gratitude for nine to ten minutes three times a day. They wanted to see if this would boost their immune system, that is, if they could up-regulate the genes for IgA simply by changing their emotional states. The results amazed them. Average IgA levels shot up by 49.5 percent.

   That and many other studies proved that by maintaining elevated modes of consciousness, i.e. virtues, we can literally up-regulate new genes that make new healthy proteins to strengthen our internal defense system.

   This means you have the power from within to up-regulate the genes that make IgA within a few days and so direct your body to prevent and heal any diseases. Something as simple as moving into an elevated state of joy, love, compassion, or gratitude for five to ten minutes a day can produce significant epigenetic changes in your body and health.

   Epigenetics provides the proofs that the virtues of love, joy, gratitude, faith, compassion, and peace are signaling new genes to make healthy proteins affecting body’s composition and function. The stress, which is mostly self-imposed, is turning on unhealthy genes in your body. By fully embracing virtues and rejecting the stressful thoughts and emotions, you could turn on new genes and change your health.

2. Avoid stress and shifting into the lower modes of consciousness, which are ranked on the scale of consciousness below 200. Especially don’t give in to fears and worries.
3. Consume food that boosts your immune system, which contains antioxidants, vitamin A, C, D(3), and E, Zinc and Magnesium. We recommend:
   Fruits: citrus fruits, blueberries, elderberry, kiwi
   Vegetables: red bell peppers, broccoli, spinach, mushrooms, beans (zinc)
   Herbs: garlic, ginger, turmeric, Tulsi, Basel leaves
   Nuts and Seeds (Vitamin E): almonds, sunflower seeds, Flax seed, pumpkin seeds
   Probiotics and fermented foods: Kombucha, Sauerkraut, Kimchi, pickles, Tempeh, Miso, tofu, soy sauce, cider, cocoa
   Raw honey, and green tea.
   You can also take supplements rich in omega 3 & 6 fatty acids, and D3 vitamin
4. Make sure to stay hydrated, have enough sunshine, sleep and to exercise regularly

Treatment

Symptoms:
A coronavirus infection causes flu-like symptoms such as:

• dry cough,
• fever
• a runny nose
• fatigue
• difficulties breathing
• an itchy throat
• headaches
• joint pains
• nausea
• diarrhoea
• shivering

An infected person can go up to 14 days before noticing any symptoms. According to WHO, the incubation period is, on average, five to six days.
Treatment of the infection depends on the severity of the disease presentation.
Medical treatments include administering fever-reducing medications, oxygen, maintaining fluid balance, if necessary administering antibiotics to combat bacterial co-infections.
Antibiotics don’t help because they don’t kill viruses; they only kill bacteria.

“The way we can heal ourselves is to heal others. In fact, I know of no other way to heal ourselves than to do it for other people.” – Patricia Cornwell

Self-care:
If you have mild symptoms, stay at home until you’ve recovered.
Otherwise, contact your competent health office, get in touch with the doctor or call a hotline – and stay at home.
Quarantine – stay at home, keeping a certain distance from others, washing your hands regularly, as well as airing living rooms and bedrooms properly and not sharing household objects (dishes, clothes, etc.) with third parties, without washing these as usual beforehand. If possible, you should not share your bathroom. Hygienic articles should not be shared and clothing should be washed regularly and thoroughly.

You can relieve your symptoms if you:

• • rest and sleep
• • keep warm
• • soak up the sun, the sun is anti-viral
• • drink plenty of liquids
• • use a room humidifier or take a hot shower to help ease a sore throat and cough
• • Vitamin C, Zinc, Black Elderberry, Antiviral Mushrooms (reishi, lion’s mane, shiitake, maitake), Traditional Chinese Medicines (yin xiao)
• • reduce any type of stress to minimum – stress is a major contributor to any illness
• • change your frequency by cultivating the virtues that rank high on the scale of consciousness

Change Your Frequency, Change Your Reality

Frequency is key. As Nikola Tesla put it: “If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.” Like everything else, all of your cells vibrate at a frequency. So, healing is about raising your frequency. The best and natural way to raise your frequency is to virtufy yourself.

All things have a frequency, including the human body on the cellular level. Higher frequency results in better health and general well-being. When you raise your frequency, you feel lighter, and when you lower it, you feel heavier, tighter, and darker. With higher frequency you radiate more light and good vibes, whereas with lower frequency you emanate bad vibes and spur disease. The higher your frequency is, the greater personal power, clarity, peace, and joy you experience and you have less, if any, discomfort or pain, and all predicaments are easily dealt with. The higher your vibration is, the more connected you are to your soul and less to your ego.

Prevention

Prevent yourself the same way you do to protect yourself from a flu virus:

• • keep your modes of consciousness as high as possible throughout the day, and not going down the scale below 200, as presented on the scale of consciousness
• • reduce any type of stress to minimum – stress is a major contributor to any illness
• • go vegan – according to several studies vegans are 73% less likely to get severe COVID-19
• • eat the food mentioned above that boosts your immune system, containing antioxidants, vitamin A, C, D(3), and E, Zinc and Magnesium
• • regular and thorough hand washing
• • exercise – 30 minutes of physical activity a day for adults and one hour a day for children
• • avoid alcohol, sugars and smoking
• • avoid going on trips, using public transport
• • keeping your distance from sick persons

According to the US Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, no proven case has been reported to date of a person being infected by consuming contaminated foodstuffs or through contact with objects contaminated with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Nor have there been any reports of other coronaviruses causing infection through foodstuffs or contact with dry surfaces. However, virus transmission by way of smear infection is considered possible from surfaces contaminated shortly before contact. Water does not constitute a relevant route of transmission.

Well-being is our natural state of being. When you don’t experience well-being, it is because you are resisting it, and you are resisting it with your false beliefs and misconceptions.

If you believe that worrying and fearing is natural in certain type of situations, you need to know that this is not true. If you are worrying and fearing, it is because you are a worrying and fearful person, because your degree of consciousness is at lower levels, such as the level of worry and fear. Have a look at the scientific scale of consciousness, which proves how worry and fear have a low vibration, whereas intelligence has a totally different and higher vibration, so it is not intelligent to worry or fear.

What is normal, it is not necessarily natural or right. The most natural thing is to balance any negative condition with a positive one. So if you are in danger, it is smart not to fear or worry but instead to keep positive. You can’t love and worry at the same time. Just try it this instant, engage in the thoughts and feelings of love and see if you can love and worry at the same time. You can’t. You either worry or love. So, your duty is to love and have compassion, rather than worry or fear, or engage in any other negative, low-vibrational modes of consciousness.

It is scientifically proven that everything is energy, even the matter and bodies are all condensed energy. So when you broadcast the negative vibrations of worry and fear, you are sending out a low frequency that is picked up by others – so you are actually sending negative vibrations to the world, instead of sending the good vibrations when the world most need it. You are making the situation much worse with your worries and fears. So you must stop that this instant and engage in the thoughts and feelings of compassion towards others, because compassion will heal and transform the situation. Compassion is that powerful.
Actually, all we need is compassion to make everything all right.

When you feel compassion, meaning, when you are engaging in the thoughts, emotions and deeds of compassion, you feel positive and you radiate positive vibrations which can reach them no matter how far they are. These positive vibes stir up their vibes for the better causing them to feel better and do better. So if you want the world to be better, instead of fearing and worrying, you should spend as much time as you can engaging in the thoughts and feelings of compassion. You will be amazed what repercussions that will have. The magic will happen. Suddenly, you will experience the world around you to change for the better. Be the change you want to see in the world – said Gandhi. This is what he meant. You have to change if you want your surroundings to change.

Other powerful virtue that you could activate in yourself in times when a worry or fear enters your mind or heart is the virtue of joy, if possible unconditional joy. There is so much to be joyful about, but in times of stress most people just focus on the things that take the joy away. It is all just a matter of focus, a matter of perception. What do you choose to focus on? You know you have a free will to focus on whatever you want, don’t you? So harness your free will, and choose to focus on the good side of any situation, or on just anything good in your life. It could be the sunshine, the birds, good friends, something joyful that happened in the past, anything. Just hold on to the thoughts and emotions that bring you joy, and they will transform any situation for the better.

In regards to any disease and death, consider these truths:

No one thing causes anything (a virus alone can’t cause a disease or death).

The number of causes for any event is infinite. There is non-linear dynamics behind causality processes (as opposed to linear: A→B→C).

We all reap what we sowed.

Reincarnation and karma are real.

Like energy, life cannot be destroyed; it can only change form.

One’s exact time of bodily “death” is karmically set at birth.

It is safe to die.

In an energy field of 600 or higher (inner peace), almost anything will heal.

Whatever problem you have in life, if you apply the 12 Steps to it, that will solve it.

Praying is beneficial. Prayer increases healing.

What is held in mind tends to manifest.

The purpose of human life is to undo negative karma and gain positive karma.

Don’t worry, be happy!

We hope we can bring more awareness and common sense to your actions regarding mass protests. We invite everyone to focus on solutions rather than on problems – the virtues-based solutions.

People of different levels of consciousness have different tastes and different understandings of the same subject, which is why no writing can please everyone, including this one. If you are highly opinionated and radical about the perceived high value of protesting, this blog post will be a waste of your time as it will not do anything for you, especially it will not validate your beliefs. However, if you are asking yourself whether you should join the protesters or why protesting is not effective as you hoped for, then you will get the answers and solutions here.

This post may be stepping on some toes, kicking off a spicy discussion, and raising all sorts of interesting questions about how loosely we can wear the garments of our various shifting and intersecting identities, and how difficult it can be to keep on moving through our sticking points into empathy, and what a gap there can be between our intentions and the effect we have on others.

We kept quiet for a long time, maintaining our neutrality, but now that things are getting out of hand in some regions of the world, escalating to a destructive degree, we feel like we should honestly examine the nature of the beast which has been unleashed.

The idea of moral superiority entertained by many protesters and the “holier than thou” secular mindfulness, brought to us by neoliberal elitist sociopaths and politicians, have been the source of many immoral, inhuman acts, including killing those perceived as morally inferior. Such morality leads to the cancel culture, exclusion, and division. Virtuology, on the other hand, advocates inclusion and unison, with a rehabilitating rather than punishing approach toward transgressors.

Before anything, to be crystal clear, our position about the protests is neutral. We are neither anti-protest nor pro-protest. The point of this post is to clarify many things surrounding this topic and hopefully get you to be neutral as well so that you could address any issue peacefully with creative rather than destructive power. If more people would spend less time being focused on problems and conspiracy theories and more time being focused on and creating a solution, all problems would be solved easier and quicker.

“anti” movements & protests

Because of a shift in the collective consciousness, this year is going to see an increase of “anti” movements and protests, which in themselves are destructive and don’t bring any progress, even when they are based on virtues. As history proves and historians warn us, on the whole, “anti” protests have never ever brought anything positive or constructive; as a matter of fact, they have brought much negativity, such as killings, deaths, imprisonments, violence, destruction, hatred, and similar negative outcomes and side-effects. Yes, such protests may have brought a change here and there but, on the whole, it was never a change for the better as they hoped for.

To find out if such well-meaning actions were a self-inflicted dose of futility or not, think about it a bit. Try to come up with any “anti” protest that has brought a positive change and you will come to realize that historians are right about it as, if you could find any, they are too few and far between. Don’t confuse the “anti” protest with the “pro” rally or march or campaign. Likewise, don’t be fooled, as many so-called “pro” demos are in fact “anti” protests. When you are pro something, there is no need to protest about it, is it? A protest is typically ‘against’ something or other, thus campaigning for something is better than protesting against the other.

From anti-globalization, anti-gun, anti-Chevron, and anti-Wall-street (Occupy) to anti-China pro-Tibet demos, Arab Spring, Greta Thunberg’s led climate rallies, and more recent anti-oppression movements that were all focused on problems rather than solutions, none of them have achieved anything substantial. A fancy, symbolic declaration here and there to convince the mob that something is being done but nothing else really changed for the people in terms of quality of life.

I am not even going to pretend not to see the hypocrisy of protesters (that is, frankly, a projection of my own hypocrisy). What I would really like to know is how those who wish others to change have changed themselves? Because, if you are protesting about pollution, for instance, then the question is what you yourself are doing about not polluting the Earth. Those clueless kids who got it wrong that pollution causes global warming (it does but only to 1%; Earth warming is more due to solar magnetic surface cycles), how many of them have actually stopped eating meat since the meat industry pollutes the planet the most? And how many anti-pollution protestors have stopped using cars and airplanes?

Everyone wants others to change their ways, but they don’t want to change their own ways about the same thing. How ridiculous is that! No wonder nothing changes. No wonder hypocrites have no power to change anything. Go ahead and take it personally. I sure did when friends at the Pro-Tibet rally gave me dirty looks and disapproving remarks for not joining the second time around (I got disillusioned after the first attempt). What do I know about Tibet to be the judge who is right or wrong about territorial claims! And did Tibetans show up for me and my folk when we needed support? No, they didn’t. I don’t have to be unsupportive as they were, but no judging on both sides, please.

the law of nonresistance

The real reason why “anti” protests or movements were never and can never be successful is not just that they are led by hypocrites, minorities, or conspiracy theorists, or that they are problem-focused rather than solution-focused, or that they are nothing but a blame-game and a victimhood demonstration but because they are a violation of supreme universal and spiritual laws. The failure of protests has its roots in simple laws of nature and the laws of physics, in particular the law of nonresistance, which in physics is called Newton’s third law of motion. This law regulates that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. What that means is, the more you resist, the stronger the other side gets. What you resist, persists. So, by offering resistance, you are making the other side stronger.

As the folk saying goes, the strongest is the tree that the winds beat the most. Another one says, what does not kill them, makes them stronger. In other words, unless you kill your opponents, you make them stronger. And killing is, of course, never a solution as it brings more problems.

The proof that resistance builds strength, you can see in your own life on all levels. One such proof is in the gym. As you know, the more resistance you confront in form of weights or on the bike, the stronger your muscles get. Another proof is all your conflicts. Whenever someone attacked you, what did you do? Did you do what the attackers wanted you to do, did you stumble, or did you get more resourceful and stronger in defending yourself?

Do you think that when you oppose, protest, attack, vilify, or do anything against someone that they will just sit there and cry? Of course not. They will do everything they can to defend themselves, to get allies and whatever to show that they are right and you wrong. In a way, you force them to get stronger. So, your efforts are counter-productive. You believe you are doing something great and noble when in fact you are doing the opposite.

There is truth in the phrase ‘No good deed goes unpunished’ as acts of kindness backfire on those who offer them. Let’s not forget the proverb, advocated by Charlotte Brontë, Lord Byron, Shakespeare in “Romeo and Juliet”, Søren Kierkegaard, Karl Marx, the movie “Highway to Hell”, etc.: the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Hitler’s intentions were also good for his folk when he orchestrated the uprising against the Jews and others. Historically, all the do-gooders in the world are troublemakers. Naïve people easily fall victim to the terror of do-gooders and their ideologies, as fighting for political correctness, they get manipulated into believing that it is ok to be offensive, humiliating, and even exert violence. Consider that, but not with your ego-driven mind. What’s your gut feeling telling you about it?

You’ve got to see it as it is. You might have excuses and justifications for your past cluelessness, but now that you are in the know, all vindications lose value. The sooner you embrace this law of nonresistance, the quicker you stop inflicting suffering upon yourself and others. More on Nonresistance on Wikipedia.

Nonresistance certainly does not mean that you should do nothing, be passive or go into any of the faulty modes such as apathy, bitterness, victim mentality, or anything like that. If you are sure that there is some destructive force prevailing in your community, there is a constructive, virtuous way to conquer it and surely it is not the way of destruction or hurting others, such as attacking them, vilifying them, criticizing them, shaming them, cursing them, being disrespectful, judgmental, antagonistic, and such.

Once you are familiar with the power of non-resistance, you will realize that it is unintelligent and barbaric to use weapons, even in self-defense (because whoever is attacking you will be thrown off by it), since we have intelligent and civilized means to find solutions. Being pro-gun is like saying the brute force is more powerful than intellect. On the surface, looking superficially and narrow-mindedly, one can conclude that sword is mightier than a pen, but anyone willing to inquire deeper would find out that history proves otherwise.

Words vs. Swords
The fact that people are using more pens than swords speaks for itself which of the two proved to be better. Also, the fact that generals don’t rule the world but those using pens is another proof.
Great writers create immortal literature. Name one gunman or warrior that achieved something great or lasting. Name one gunman or soldier that is mightier than, say, Shakespeare or Picasso. What would the world be like had William Shakespeare chosen the sword over the word?
No one needs to prove the power of the written word, as everyone is very well aware of it. The ancient Greek philosophies, the Vedas, the Bible, the Quran, the Bhagavad Gita, the Declaration Of Independence, the Communist Manifesto, etc. – all these writings have had, and continue to have, the power to change the lives of individuals and society.
As Sun-Tzu wrote in “The Art of War”, battles are won before they are fought.
By virtue of pen, battles need not even be fought.

A pen can write and draw. It can write mighty poems, prose, articles, letters, music, movies, recipes, teachings, signatures, declarations, laws, history, and a check, to name a few. It can draw potent paintings, pictures, illustrations, cartoons, designs, etc.
Words and pictures are a more effective form of communication than weapons and violence.
Ideas have a broader impact than weapons. We have achieved with our “pen” or writings so much more than we could ever achieve by force or “sword”. In wrong hands, neither pen nor sword has any power.

Terrorists and others who prefer using force over intelligence should ask themselves what have they achieved with their violent terrorist attacks? The world has not changed to their beliefs and is more antagonistic towards them than before. If they have used their intelligence better, say, to create arts to propagate their message, they might have been able to convert a multitude to their beliefs.

An allegory might help to see how power doesn’t lie in physical but mental strength: who is mightier, lion or man? Sometimes it is one and sometimes it is the other, but all in all, men are mightier than lions due to the power of intelligence, otherwise we wouldn’t have lions caged in Zoos, or tamed in circuses and movies.

Primitive people believe that they need to fight evil with evil. How better are they then than those they fight against? They are then no better. If you concede the moral high ground to those you take as inferior, then they win – they brought you down to their level. Is that what you want?

Whenever you allow anyone to sink you to their level of indecency, it is your fault, not theirs. If you resort to destructive, indecent, improper, unethical, disrespectful, rude, judgmental, antagonistic behavior in the course of opposing or protesting against something or someone, then you are no better than them. If you use your high ideals as an excuse to take the lower moral ground, this is your choice and therefore your fault. If you go down to their level of impropriety and offensiveness, they are winning, not you. Do you not see that?

the end doesn’t justify the means

If you engage in anything that has to do with harming others, even if those others are evildoers, then you are the same as those harming you (those you protest against). Why would your reasons for harming others (those you protest against) be any better than theirs?! By protesting against others by attacking them, vilifying them, criticizing them, shaming them, cursing them, being disrespectful, judgmental, antagonistic, and such, you are harming other human beings. This is not the way decent, civilized people do things. There is another way to do it – a PRO way, in the manner of Gandhi, Mandela, and MLK. Did they use weapons, rude words, or vilify anyone?

Mahatma Gandhi was influenced by Tolstoy’s book “The Kingdom of God Is Within You”, which embodies the idea of Christ’s teachings of nonresistance during conflicts. Leo Tolstoy, Mahatma Gandhi, Jesus, Krishna, and all the other wise people were notable advocates of nonresistance, which is why it would be wise for you to also consider it. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told everyone not to resist evil and turn the other cheek. In the Bhagavad Gita, Sri Krishna criticizes the warrior Arjuna for his resistance to fight on the battlefield due to his adversaries being his friends and relatives, advising him to go on and fight. This is controversial outside the context. Context is key, as always. If you made it to the battlefield where is your duty to fight as a soldier, if you refuse to fight in that context, you are in a resisting mode. The view of death is also key because Krishna and Hindus know that there is no death (eternal life and reincarnation). By going with the flow, not resisting, we are surrendering to God’s will, allowing to be the instruments of the universal laws and karma being carried out. Non-resistance is the highest ideal because it implies the non-duality and highly potent virtues of surrender, faith, inner peace, and such.

Don’t follow the primitive leaders that resort to any such uncivilized means. If you succumb to Machiavellian views in which “the end justifies the means”, then you are no better than those you protest against, who also resort to any means to achieve their ideals. If a leader of a conspiracy theory is pointing only to problems, criticizing, blaming, raging, and such without giving any constructive solutions, but only destructive ones, while profiting from it, then beware of such flaw-driven, paranoid sociopaths who create a cult-like following on the basis of “them against us” scheme that they turn into “us against them” (as if this is more noble). They can be fascinating, charismatic, and bombarding you with convincing proofs of their theories, but so were also Hitler, bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, Castro, Lenin, Stalin, and many other then-perceived-great-saviors and cult leaders. There are so-called proofs for anything, even for Earth being flat, but none of it justifies violence and vilifying others.

How do you know a right leader from a wrong one? How do you know anything? The human mind is not capable of telling truth from falsehood. How do you know whom to trust? How do you know if you are brainwashed, manipulated, or simply wrong? Both the establishment and the opposition use the same tactics to get you to side with them. How do you know when you are deceived or living in an illusion? If you don’t live in bliss, you live in illusion because well-being is humans’ natural state of being. You can recognize a good leader or guide by their virtue-driven rhetoric, explicitly calling for non-violence and respect on social media, contributing to the success of the campaign without any bloodshed.

Sure, some smooth operators play you with their sophistry, dazzle you with their sophisticated, academic, or grandiose eloquence, or maybe you are more drawn to the charismatics guru types who play on your desperate need to believe in something and belong to a group or cause, or maybe master manipulators won you over by playing on your fears, doubts, hopes and wishes. Whoever wins you over with some irresistible controversy and creates an us-versus-them dynamic is not going to lead you to anything good but will convince you that you are on a good path or doing something great for the whole community, when in fact you are being used as instruments in their agenda. Check your before and after condition to know the truth. Whoever uses heated, antagonistic lingo is leading you on. If their “truth” is really true, they would behave in the manner of wise-men, rather than angry, arrogant attention seeker and know-it-all. Think about it with your own head.

Where do you draw the line? It’s not always easy to discern whether your discomfort is personal, or if it’s reflecting a larger, systemic problem with protesting, so go with your gut feeling. If you find yourself among the crowds that are violently expressing their views, anger, hatred, or attacking others, voice an objection and walk away. Don’t tolerate it for the sake of the end goal because the end never justifies the negative means since there are always positive means available.

If you’re attending a rally or march addressing social ills as an act of solidarity, especially for a reason like, say, a dark-skinned person just got murdered by cops for no reason, you should avoid making it your personal mission to soothe or contain people’s rage. Apart from making you look like a douchebag, opposing your own crowd, aversion also deprives you and others of opportunities to learn. There is the right time and place for everything, as well as proper action. It is never proper to force anything. The time of crisis is a great opportunity for soul-searching and for men to seek solace in God.

The positive means

The Chinese say that water is the most powerful element because it is perfectly non-resistant. It can wear away rocks and sweep all before it. So, be like water – instead of resisting and fighting back, find other ways to get ahead.

This is how the mainstream wins. The establishment wins when they don’t resist but do as if they give in by giving the impression they comply – issuing some new legislation, declaration, or whatever – when in reality nothing really changes. In some cases, they might even give the protesters what they wanted but they compensate it by taking away something else so that nothing changes in the end. They keep on doing this until they wear you out. Like water – not resisting but finding new ways forward or transmuting into other forms.

Transmutation is founded on non-resistance. Rather than resist, water transmutes into the humid air, vapor steam, frost, snow, ice, as well as clouds, puddles, rivers, oceans, etc. Water is the only element on Earth that comes in three forms or states: liquid, gas, and solid, and easily changes from one state to another. The changes of the state include melting, sublimation, evaporation, freezing, condensation, and deposition. All changes of state involve the transfer of energy. The Sun provides the energy to power the water cycle. When water changes state, the total number of water particles remains the same – nothing is lost.

Do you get what I mean by that? Humans are not water but we are made mostly of water. The average percentage of water in a person’s body is around 60% if not more ( changes slightly with age, sex, and hydration levels; lungs 83%, heart 75–80%, brain 73%, muscles 70–79%). Therefore, advice to be non-resistant like water is not that inappropriate, as it may seem superficially looking. Rather than resist, we can change our own state and with it change our surroundings, including those that stand in the way of our well-being.

There are all kinds of ways to engender compassionate confrontation, genuinely express spiritual determination in the face of repression, and build inspiring alternatives toward a just and peaceful world. Whether we’re doing some great community service type work, writing, promoting virtues, raising consciousness, saying prayers, staging meditation vigils, leading chants on a megaphone, scaling lampposts for a banner drop, painting signs, passing out flyers, or coordinating accessibility and legal support, there are so many great ways to participate in collective, public actions. Personal choices for ethical alignment are one thing, but trying to fair-trade-purchase our way out of systemic oppression? Not gonna work.

There is no need to use guns because ARTS is a mightier weapon than ARMS. Primitive people use guns, force, and violence, whereas civilized people use arts, power, and diplomacy to win. If there is a country that rules the world, it does it through arts & culture, rather than through force. Arts is the only way to eventually win the hearts and minds of the other camp and open up the possibilities for reconciliation.

Arts is one of the highest forms of protest when it is virtue-driven rather than used in a derogatory manner (as means to vilify anyone, or for mocking, character assassination, or any other negative and destructive means). You don’t have to be an artist to engage. Anyone can do arts and, most importantly, anyone can disseminate arts and participate. Whether it is a song, poetry, graffiti, posters, comics, cartoons, painting, literary work, fashion statements, or anything else, it has power in the right hands.

All “successful” (not successful in terms of end goals) protests and revolutions had strong artistic props (images and anthems).
Art can be used effectively to communicate a protest message to a wider audience, garner public support, involve people in a movement, and avoid the police brutality that might often come in response to conventional protest methods. In repressive regimes, art can disguise the message in form of metaphors and allegories so that only insiders get it. Art and photography can also be used to publicize injustices suffered during protests and often serve as snapshots of a protest that can outlast the protest message.

Artivism (a portmanteau word combining art and activism) developed in recent years as antiwar and anti-globalization protests emerged and proliferated, with artivists using their artistic talents to fight against injustice and oppression. However, artists are activists since the dawn of time. All avant-garde, progressive art is a form of protest, which is why is impossible to single out the most exemplary ones, so we are going to just mention some, which might not be the best examples but serve the purpose here.

In the 1960s the songs of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, John Lennon, and others protested racism, war, and the military-industrial complex, in an artistic tradition of political protest. Woodstock was one of the most famous music festivals of all time, held in 1969 as a hippie protest (Flower power) against the Vietnam War, or for peace. Sting composed songs for a variety of causes, displaying the virtue of compassion for victims, such as saving the rain-forest in Brazil, for widows against the Pinochet regime in Chile, a plea against the Cold War with compassion for the Russians, for homosexuals, refugees, etc. There are many arts of music that serve as a protest against the establishment, such as rock, punk, heavy metal, etc. that are not effective when they express resistance and ANTI sentiments instead of PRO proposals and virtues. Reggae music is an important means of transporting vital messages of the Rastafari movement, with the reggae musicians as the messengers and agents for change.

Dada artists rejected the logic, reason, and aestheticism of modern capitalist society, instead expressing nonsense, irrationality, and anti-bourgeois protest in their works. The art of the movement spanned visual, literary, and sound media, including collage, sound poetry, cut-up writing, and sculpture. Dadaist artists expressed their discontent toward violence, war, and nationalism, and maintained political affinities with radical left-wing and far-left politics. Many types of artists protest against capitalism, industrialization, and globalization, rejecting the artificially synthesized mass culture. The most well-known contemporary visual artivists are Ai Weiwei and Banksy.

Arts can be used for both constructive and destructive ends. Maybe one of the most sinister examples of the power of arts is the use of the artistic, graphic symbol of the red-white-black swastika (ancient symbol for good luck and well-being) designed by Hitler (who was an artist prior to going into politics) for the Nazi Party, which was insignia for the Aryan race protesting against Untermenschen (subhumans) such as Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, blacks, the physically and mentally disabled, Jehovah’s Witnesses, dissenting clergy, Slavic people, etc.

the law of causality

Another law that governs the universe and the outcome of protests is the law of causality, a.k.a. what you give is what you get. So, if you criticize others, you will get criticized. If you disrespect and shame others, you too will get disrespected and shamed. If you hate and curse others, you will get it back. Everything you put out comes back to you like a boomerang in one form or the other. This is why criticizing, vilifying and cursing others is foolish. Curses, like chickens, come home to roost. The same applies to blessings and praise, too, of course.

“Anti” protests are never about being kind, respectful, loving, compassionate, or any other virtue. Mostly they are outlets to vent one’s anger, frustration, hatred, victimhood, bitterness, resentments, fears, worries, criticism, blame, aggression, irresponsibility, rivalry, and similar faults. Anything that is driven by faults is faulty, even if it is based on virtues.

Maybe you are different, but if you look around at your fellow protesters without any bias, you can’t help but notice that they are flawed. When flawed people protest again other flawed people, what does that say about the whole venture of protesting? Those you protest against may be flawed but so are you. “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at them,” said someone wise. The same goes for words because words can hurt as much as stones.

If you call yourself Christian, then by engaging in any “anti” protests, you are acting against your moral standards because Jesus Christ told you to turn the other cheek, didn’t he? He said, resist no evil, for he knew, in reality, there was no evil, therefore nothing to resist or protest against. No person and event are just bad, as everyone has their positive and negative features, due to the law of polarity. Seeing just one side in person is narrow-minded and wrong and leads to them acting badly even more. Just because we don’t agree with some people, it doesn’t mean that they are bad or wrong. Did Jesus protest against anyone? You have no right to call yourself Christian if you don’t follow Christ’s example. Resisting no evil and turning the other cheek doesn’t mean what you might think. Most superficial people interpret it wrongly, which is why they don’t follow Christ in that, even though they call themselves Christians. No matter what your interpretations of Christian teachings are, it is a sin or wrong to engage in anything disrespectful, judgmental, and hurtful to another human being, regardless of whether you agree with them or not. The impulse toward pseudo-martyrdom in Christian circles, wanting to sacrifice proudly for what you believe, may come from a noble source in you, but if it contains any dishonorable acts, then it is no longer noble but to the contrary. And let’s not forget the law of reaping and sowing, so, for instance, oppressing and demeaning women (patriarchy, inequality, witch hunts, etc.), children (pedophilia), LGBTQ community, pagans, “heretics,” and others must backfire if we all reap what we sow. No wonder Christians feel oppressed, but who is going to stop this cycle?

Jesus: “But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which spitefully use you and persecute you.”

If you call yourself Buddhist, then you too should not engage in any violent activities, whether violence is expressed physically or otherwise. Real Buddhists are non-confrontational, not judgmental, and don’t partake in nonviolence pissing contests. They reserve their energy for actually tackling systemic injustice. Not to mention the principle of karma, which is aligned with the principle of causality! If you really believe in karma and reincarnation or rebirth, then you know that if you are, for instance, oppressed, it is only because you too were an oppressor, in this life or a previous one. As karma represents a rhythmic return to harmony, you should pay your karmic debts with dignity and in peace, rather than resist it and repeat the cycle. Protesting is also a form of oppression if you press your agenda(s) and belief system onto others who don’t want it and cause any suffering to others, including the establishment.

civil disobedience

This is not to dismiss the tactical usefulness of civil disobedience and civil rights movements. No doubt, it can pressure a company or politician to flinch and even change their way. Still, they should be used as tactics, not prized as merit badges of moral fortitude… just saying. Unfortunately, some well-meaning, foolish persons take pride in bragging about themselves opposing, resisting, and getting arrested, as if their engagement is all about showing off and feeling important. Of course, we have nothing against the Twitterati and the likes feeling like they did something important that day or that they have a purpose.

I have to admit I share a vicarious thrill when cyber-attacks bring some corporate Goliath to its knees, even if only for a couple of hours. Nonetheless, I am as displeased when the rich suffer as I am when the poor do, so I take no pleasure in seeing anyone in distress or on their knees. Alas, both groups have their faults and need to be cut to size from time to time to correct their ways. Whether public shaming, cyber-attacks, and protests are the best way to go about it, I doubt it. A plausible consumers’ threat to boycott if the company doesn’t comply with their demands usually works, as executives are at the mercy of their customers, hence “the customer is the king”. And in the case of workers, a threat to strike is effective when they are focused on finding a solution, rather than on the problem.

Transforming the cyber pranks into effective political actions that can advance the goals of communities and humanity as a whole will most definitely require virtue-driven endeavor (as opposed to flaw-driven protests): building networks and relationships of trust and commitment among millions of people who, needing healthy food and decent jobs, make pressure on brands and governments to hold themselves to a higher standard. We do it by making choices about who we vote for, who we buy from and who we work for.

Protesting vs. democracy

Protesting is not democratic because if a majority has voted for a set of politicians and policies then the dissident minority should respect it rather than protest it. Whatever system of governance and policies we want, the election day and booth are the time and place to voice it, rather than whimsically anytime on the streets. This is what democracy is all about – accepting the will of the majority that is conveyed every four years or so. There will be always winners and losers in democracy. If losers (the minority) protest because their will is then not being carried out, then what is the meaning or use of democracy?!

If a dominant group infringes upon the rights of a minority and the lawfully elected government issues repressive legislation aimed at curbing their rights, of course, the public doesn’t need to wait for years to express its objection. However, there are lawful and peaceful ways to go about it. Certainly, there is nothing wrong to take to the streets or to social media channels to express your opinions, as long as you maintain your decency. The best is to follow the golden rule: Treat others as you would like others to treat you – Do not treat others in ways that you would not like to be treated.

However, you can’t change some legislation by mere protesting. Laws are changed through complex legislative mechanisms. These things have protocols you need to follow, such as demonstrating huge public support through petitioning, campaigning, lobbying, advocacy, networking, and then writing letters to politicians, contacting the local legislators or policymakers to get them on board and navigate the technicalities of the legislative system, such as setting up an inquiry, securing a parliamentary debate on your issue, proposing an amendment to the bill in question or a new ballot, and rallying votes.

And if you can’t get through, there are always NGOs and associations you can turn to to make things happen, or partner with celebrities, willing to be a spokesperson for the movement, dedicating to the cause for years, rather than as a publicity stunt.
You might think all this is exhausting and time-consuming but protests are, too, and ineffective, so if you are willing to engage in a cause, be smart about choosing how you involve.

Whatever the status quo is, there will always be opposition. Challenging the status quo is part of the dynamics of the law of polarity. If protesters get their way, in time, their opposition will get stronger and protest too, and the whole dynamics between the opposite fractions will carry on. There will be always a large group of voters that doesn’t get their way after the new election or outcome, so they will keep on finding faults with the current governing group, even construct mean conspiracy theories about it. Certain demographic groups, such as anarchists, libertarians, socialists, and others, have a long history of antagonism to authority per se, rejecting any authority for the sake of being against the rule, dominance, and control.

The differences of opinion should be expressed in a peaceful, respectful, truthful, and reasonable manner, rather than with aggressive, devious, and unethical behavior. Freedom of speech or expression comes with a duty to be respectful towards others and peaceful. Those who abuse their right to freedom by being disrespectful, ill-mannered, rude, vulgar, hurtful, discriminatory, homophobic, racist, hatemongers, troublemakers, and/or evil have no right to freedom of expression. While international law protects free speech, including when it is deeply offensive, to protect certain public interests or the rights of others, speech can be legitimately restricted under the same law – such as when it violates the rights of others, or, advocates hatred and incites discrimination or violence. Discretion of speech is a higher good than freedom of speech.

The theatrics of the majority and minority dichotomy is intertwined in the fabric of democracy. This push-and-pull game between the opposite sides is never going to stop, whether the current protesters win or not, which is why from an absolute perspective, it is pointless to engage in it. It is more constructive to let go, be neutral and raise consciousness, knowing that the reality is created from the inside out.

With so many people protesting against democratically elected governments, maybe it is time to reconsider whether democracy is all it is cracked up to be. In the name of democracy, many crimes have been committed and immoralities allowed. It is all good on paper, in theory, but like every other system and religion, in praxis, it gets tainted with human human ignorance, bias, narrow-mindedness, and mischief.

The worst is the illusion of democracy, as in pseudo-democracy and demoncracy. As Johann Wolfgang von Goethe put it, “None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free,” the same applies to democracy. You think you are making free choices, when in fact you are being manipulated from day one, so you can’t tell. Free will is an illusion. Unfortunately, the elected are not the ones who have the best solutions for the whole country, but those who are best at manipulating the public to vote for them.

The problem with democracy is not only the illusion of free will and democracy but also that most people don’t get what they want. First of all, all those masses, who voted for the opposition, have to live with the policies made by the others who won the election, which is not fair to them – their will is not done. And the multitude who voted for the elected party (due to manipulative campaigns), the majority of them end up getting disappointed with false promises and not much (or anything) being better for them. So, their will is also not done.

The vulnerability of democracy was noted by Socrates, the wisest philosopher of all times, who predicted that democracies eventually fall due to giving equal voice and votes to the nonintegrous and ignorant segment of the population. Historians point out that the average duration of a democracy is thus usually only two-to-three hundred years before the self-centered voters deplete the country of its resources and political erudition. This weakness of democracy is why Socrates and Aristotle recommended the oligarchic form of government (in which power rests with a small number of people; preferably the most sagacious and wise are the appointed rulers); otherwise, selfish rhetoric would eventually prevail and weaken the republic, progressively leading to its downfall.

By the way, Socrates gave perhaps the oldest recorded statement of nonresistance philosophy around 399 BC. He was sentenced to death by the Athenian democracy for teaching his students to question authority and think for themselves. Socrates accepted his fate on reasons of morality and justice, rather than accept help from his supporters to flee Athens and escape execution. Jesus Christ did the same centuries later.

When it comes to oligarchy, it already runs most aspects of our lives. Most influence people get from family, work, teachers, and religion, all of which are oligarchic rather than democratic. None of the companies anywhere in the world are democratic; they are all oligarchic. If democracy is such a great governing system, why businesses are not democratic?! Religious organizations are also not democratic but oligarchic. Families are also not democratic but oligarchic. Formal education is also not democratic but oligarchic – people don’t get to decide what their children will be taught at schools. Since most establishments are not democratic, we can not say we live in democratic societies, can we?

Over idealization of democracy as the “one size fits all” magical solution to the frail infrastructure of countries is not realistic. Blindsided by their infatuation with the ideals of democracy and waving the flag of freedom, global leaders repeatedly fail to grasp the underpinnings of their grave blindness and instead project blame on terrorists.

All problems are learning and evolving opportunities, rather than grounds for getting into conflicts. Embracing the universal truth – “as within, so without” (the outside world is a reflection of our inner world), bright people know that all problems, such as disease, poverty and disorder stem from karma and a blocked psyche, and that to fix any problem on the physical or material level one must fix it first on the psychological or spiritual level, as well as cleanse own karmic debt, get rid of bad karma. This is what virtues and Virtuology are for.

Some of the virtues to cultivate in the context of protests are honor, dignity, respectfulness, decency, considerateness, diplomacy, tactfulness, sensibleness, thoughtfulness, benignity, kindness, responsibility, compassion, peacefulness, calmness, gratitude, faith, hope, optimism, altruism, forgiveness, acceptance, fearfulness, etc., as well as creativity, wisdom, mindfulness, resourcefulness, willingness, flexibility, openness, neutrality, modesty, helpfulness, etc. to find the kind of solutions that work for all.

How grand it is to stay calm and be compassionate when others expect you to be upset! Anyone can get upset, but it takes brilliant people to rise above the circumstances, have faith in the universal laws, and perceive order in apparent disorder.

The Murphy’s law

Since we talked about the universal and spiritual laws underlying the ineffectiveness of protests, we might as well refer to Murphy’s law too. It is a supposed law of nature, expressed in various humorous popular sayings, to the effect that anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. Entropy, also called the second law of thermodynamics, supports that Murphy’s Law’s claim. If anywhere, then especially in a protesting setting, you can count on something going wrong and the escalating disorder or deterioration.

From a peaceful protest being hijacked by opportunists with questionable motives, radicals, extremists, anarchists, libertarians, socialists, looters, agent provocateurs, engaging in violence and vandalism as well as distorting the message, to overreacting vigilantes and armed right-wing militia, along with the usual media misrepresentations and manipulations of the opponents, who don’t take the attacks sitting down. As usual, intruders will infiltrate to taint the movement and alienate sympathizers by slipping in inaccurate slogans and using disruptive “take-over” maneuvers.
And on top of all, even if the issue gets somehow solved, consider Murphy’s 13th Law, too: Every solution breeds new problems.
All things considered, you might get into the protesting fueled with your idealism, but it needs to be balanced with realism. No reason to be pessimistic because where there is a will, there is a way, an effective way. Evolution is given. Nothing stands in its way; only, it can’t be forced.

Don’t get me wrong. All of this talk about the futility of the “anti” protests is not meant to discourage anyone from following the path they believe is the best for them and/or their community, but to encourage all those among you who don’t feel like participating in protests to stay home and rather do something more constructive about it. What is good for some, might be bad for others. Don’t follow the herd just because you were talked into it or because you feel bad for not joining the crowd in showing what you stand for.

There are much better ways to show what you stand for than protesting. How about proposing the alternative, the better way of running the country, or planet?! So, this is meant to encourage you and empower you to be authentic and creative rather than just take the path of less resistance by just resisting with others.

Whatever you do, don’t get dragged into a heated conversation because not only that it doesn’t bring anything, but it causes both of you to get agitated and lower your level of consciousness which is disadvantageous on many levels. Both of you might get some satisfaction out of it but it is short-lived and destructive rather than constructive. If you feel like you need to criticize some apparent evildoers, make it constructive rather than shaming or hurting them. Not because they deserve it, because you are a kind and respectful person. You are kind and respectful because you are kind and respectful by nature, not because others make you so. It is in instances like these that you show what you are made of, what your real character is.

non-duality

I know there are always going to be people who will misread the intent of my post, misinterpret my words and even take them to mean the opposite of what I meant. I’m cool with that. We are all narrow-minded, myself included. On my end, I’m not trying to pull a speaking-out-both-sides-of-my-mouth act, because even though I’m taking a stand and then defending also the other stand(s), this is not meant to be confusing (as superficial people may perceive) but to illustrate my main points behind all points, which is that I stand for non-duality. Protests are all about duality, “us against them” or vice versa, which is against my values and the values of virtuology.

I’d love to unpack this a bit. Any forms of duality are just the two sides of the same coin, and for me, the sides don’t matter but the coin. I don’t take sides. I don’t do it because I see the positive and negative qualities in both sides and because in my experience oneness is the answer and solution and medicine and and and. Neutrality is a virtue, one that is aligned with the universal laws, the golden mean, and the Middle Way.

This “them against us” or vice versa attitude shared by the majority is not mine. I don’t protest because, in the spirit of oneness, I see a part of me in everyone and everything – in the evildoers, the hypocrites as well as in the righteous. It is beneath my dignity to protest, complain, shout or do anything against anyone. Duality thinking comes from ego and leads to suffering, whereas non-duality thinking takes us beyond the world of appearances into the sphere of essence, absolutes, and freedom from suffering (caused by division, separation, disunion, disconnection, conflicts, and such). Contrasts are there, but we don’t need to cling to one or the other – that is what non-duality is all about.

I also don’t protest because there is nothing to protest, as my reality is just fine, since it is determined by me, not by others, as I take full responsibility for my life. How about you? I could live under Hitler and still be fine because I am at peace with myself and the whole world. I have no reason to fear anyone since I give no one the power over me. As already mentioned, being like water – not resisting but finding new ways forward, we have more power.

I could be killed and I have no problem with it because I believe in eternal life and reincarnation. Death is not an issue for me because it is not the end, as I believe in eternal life and know that like energy, life cannot be destroyed; it can only change form. I also know (as taught in Bible, Quran, Vedic astrology and many other teachings, including by scientists and philosophers) that everyone’s exact time of death is set at birth, so there is no one, not even a virus to blame. In fact, there is no death, or death is not the end, as people who had near-death experiences testify (it is a transition from one state or plane to another, or it’s an entry into a higher state of consciousness or of being). My husband had not one but five near-death experiences.

And, I could be forced to be injected with some chemicals and this would be no problem for me because I can block the adverse effects and even flush it out of my system, as anyone can. For those who fear a vaccine, it will indeed be harmful to them, due to the reverse placebo or nocebo effect (negative expectations are powerful and pervasive in clinical practice).

I know my powers; do you know yours? They are the same, whoever you are. That is my point. We are all the same, regardless of appearances. It is the essence that matters. This human essence connects us. From that standpoint, protesting against others and harming them along the way is essentially an act against oneself.

The underlying motive of the protesters, the elephant in the room no one wants to see, is their fear. They play the blame-game because they have all sorts of fears, existential fears. And they have them because they believe others have the power to create their reality. They don’t take responsibility for their life. They have no faith in the power of God and are not aware of their own powers, which if not embraced and controlled can be destructive rather than constructive. Only by taking full responsibility for your choices and their consequences will you ever break free from the constant cycle of victimhood and the blame-game.

Fear is a misused imagination and inverted faith. Fear is faith in evil, instead of good. In other words, if you fear the bad guys, you believe in them being evil and having power over you; you only see their bad side and not the good side, which is narrow-minded. Jesus said: “Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?” To be fearless, you don’t need courage but faith. You must substitute faith for fear, otherwise, you will keep being stuck in fear, victimhood, and the blame-game that leads to your ruin. No one is doing it to you; you are doing it to yourself by the choices you are making. Have faith in your powers to design your reality regardless of others and, above all, have faith in God who is in charge, whether you like it or not how things are. Don’t hand the power over your life to no one because others are meant to look out for themselves first.

Another underlying, incognito motive of the protesters is ignorance. They believe they know what or who the cause of their suffering is or of the climate change or every other problem, but they are wrong as causality is not linear and there are many causes, starting from oneself (as within, so without). They are also ignorant of the Higher Power and the universal laws that govern the world. All is well with the world for those who believe in almighty God.

By protesting, you are saying your life, your reality, is determined by others, not you. Surely, it appears that way on the surface. On the surface. You don’t want to hear it, but your reality is all your doing, on levels you don’t understand. Causality is multidimensional and not linear; it less clear-cut than you think. There are wheels within wheels within wheels in the causation game, and if you are not at the wheel of your life, who is to blame? This is not to blame you for anything but to empower you because you can turn anything around once you take responsibility for your life and embrace your superpowers, your virtues.

Sure enough, there are enough negativities in the world to strikes a sour note with you, but if you are not aware of the Law of Polarity, then this is all you see: good and evil. Looking from your perspective, you are right to get sour at this or that, but you should know that your perception is limited by your perspective, by not seeing the big picture. Humans are narrow-minded by nature. This has both positive and negative sides. The catch is to transcend the narrow-mindedness, the duality thinking. For that, you need to raise your consciousness, which is done with virtues. We call it virtufication.

You can go through life by playing the blame-game, looking at what divides us and continue to get upset with others, or you can embrace your virtues, such as unconditional joy, love, peace, compassion, gratitude, faith, hope, honor, altruism, forgiveness, acceptance, wisdom, etc. and opt for well-being. It is your choice.

It might seem you are making choices with protesting and many other things, however, more often than not we are just pawns in a game that is larger than us. It takes an extraordinary influence to sway out of delusion and illusion. This may be that call for you. Or maybe not.

When you go with the flow, know that there is not just one flow. Protesting is not the only game in town, you know. Kicking and screaming is far from an ideal way to solve things. There are many other smarter things you can do to achieve your end goals, ones that don’t involve harming, blaming, and vilifying others.

Instead of doing something constructive, you might need to join the protesters to learn from your mistakes, to be a pawn in the agitators’ game. No change should be forced, though. You can’t just fix everything with brute force and ignorance. Sometimes you need to use some finesse. You need to put your best foot forward if you want things to really change. I guess it’s true, the squeaky wheel gets the grease so you might need to speak up to be heard. But, is squeaking the best you can do to achieve your goals?

In matters of social justice, it takes a village to set the wheels in motion. It is a numbers game but the numbers can go both ways, so make sure you are with the right crowd, going in the right (intended) direction. If you don’t want to be just a cog in the machine anymore, protesting is not the best way to go about it. What is? Raising consciousness or virtufication.

All is well with the world.
All is well with the world for those whose level of consciousness is high enough to be able to perceive non-duality, the positive side of negative events, and vice versa, and so be at peace with themselves and with the whole world.

In closing, we’re nothing without a sense of humor about ourselves, right? I might come across as being anti-protest with this, which kind of defies the theme here, does it?! But how am I to illustrate the point that being anti-anything is not the answer?! My being anti the anti is not the answer either, is it?! Of course, I see hypocrites among the protesters only because I am one of them deep down. So, rather than ridicule me about this, humor me, please.

Sincerely,
Natalija (von Talidari)