Degrees of Separation   
and
Reading Between the Lines

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Degrees of separation:   This  phrase describes the  hidden or hard-to-see links between things that, on the surface appear to be unrelated.  Its a word used in science, in psychology, in statistics, and in other disciplines to describe the way everything is actually connected to and related with everything else.   It's about how things that may seem separate are actually related.   Because the  connections are often separated by intermediary links,  the connections are often unseen by the unschooled and by the casual observer.   

For Example, those who are the behind-the-scenes controllers of the multi-billion-dollar drug business are secretly financing or otherwise bringing good fortune to many of those politicians that favor keeping drugs illegal.   In many instances the degrees of separation are so deep that even the politicians don't know that some of the money or the good fortune that show up in their lives had its origin or its inspiration from the drug czars.  

Reading Between the Lines:     This is another concept where the listener/observer is also required to be an active participant in order to receive the full  communication.   "Reading between the lines," means that there is information in the written statements or spoken words that are not stated directly.   The reader/listener is required to bring his/her mind into the process and pull up into consciousness the information that is there but, at the same time, is not openly stated and not obvious to the casual observer.  (See the Examples below.)

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The "Degrees of separation" concept acknowledges that there are intermediary, often unseen,  links between a starting point and an ending point, between cause and effect, between where you are and where you want to be.   The connections are there, but the connections are often not obvious.   Finding these relationships can be likened to connecting the dots in a child's coloring book and then seeing a picture that was not easily visible prior to connecting the dots.

Some Examples:  In the 2008 presidential campaign when John McCain said he supported and approved of the George Bush's Supreme Court appointees,  that was an indirect way to tell the ultra-conservative religious leaders that he (McCain) favors forced motherhood (opposes reproductive rights) ) that he is anti-gay rights, and that his political agenda will be strongly conservative.

The classic way that this has been demonstrated is to describe the relationship that  human beings have to each other.   If you want to contact another human being, no matter who or where he/she may be, you can do so by contacting  someone you already know and asking them to connect you to someone he/she knows who can connect you to someone he/she knows who can connect you to...   The links continue for about seven steps.   Researches have concluded that there are, on average, seven intermediary steps between you and any other person on the planet.   With the advent of present day technology the number of links required appears to be getting smaller.  

Hiding the Truth:  Cause and effect relationships follow this same pattern.   All of life follows this pattern.   All too often, the actual cause of a problem is not what you've been led to believe it is.   Many politicians and religious manipulators are masters at hiding these links and/or putting fake links in the chain to lead the unsuspecting public to a false conclusion.  It's called misinformation or disinformation.   Here's an example you can identify with:   

Have You Noticed        ...

The Value in Your Money:  Have You Noticed how the price of the goods and services you buy has changed in relation to the U.S. dollar.   Politicians say the price has gone up.    That's a patently false statement.   The truth is that the value of the dollar has gone down.   This is a rather subtle distinction, but its meanings and implications are phenomenal.  The U.S. dollar is worth less today than it was yesterday so it takes more of them to equal the value of goods and services you buy.   And why has the value of the dollar gone down.   The relationship is straight and simple, basic, supply-and-demand economics.   "If demand stays the same, an increase in supply results in a decrease in value."   

Postage Stamp  Example:  Through deficit financing, "Resident" Bush and company have added literally trillions of additional dollars into the economic system.   As a result, you and I are paying more dollars for the same goods and services.   This, for example, is why a three-cent, first-class, U.S. postage stamp from 1940 has been replaced by a forty-one-cent first-class postage stamp in 2007.   The mail delivery services that cost three cents in 1940, cost forty-one cents dollars, today.   Why?   Is the intrinsic value of delivering a letter today significantly different than it was in 1940?   No!   Then why does it take almost fourteen times as many dollars to buy this same service today?   Because the value of the dollar had gone down.

This means that in relation to the 1940 dollar, the 2007 dollar has lost almost all of its value. (92.7% of its former value has disappeared.   7.3% is all that's left in the 2007 dollar.)     The economic ratio may vary slightly, but the same relationship applies to all other goods and service.   

As another example, the relative values of a quart of milk and a loaf of bread are still, today nearly the same as they were in sixty years ago.  In 1950, I used to by a quart of milk and a loaf of bread for nineteen cents each. 

Where Did the Value of Your Money Go?     So, where has that ninety-tthree percent of the dollar gone?   Einstein told us that physical things don't simply cease to be; they change into energy and/or re-form and appear as something else.   The lost value has been clandestinely transferred into the holdings of the super wealthy.   How is it that the richest one-percent of the people own more wealth than the poorest ninety-percent combined?   What is really behind the Bush and company activities that added more money to the national debt than all other presidents combined, going back all the way to George Washington?   (If you don't already know  how wealth is transferred from the people to the super wealthy, you are invited to read the page titled:  Money -- Is it Demonic or Divine?°)   

Here's the bottom line:   You are being lied to and screwed over by those who behind the scenes, own the structures that control the United States government.   When those in power can't steal your money directly, they abscond with it clandestinely by stealing the value out of the money.   And almost nobody notices.   Why?   Because cause and effect are distanced by only one, simple, degree of separation.  It's called "inflation."   Again readers who don't see the connections are invited to read the page titled:  Money -- Is it Demonic or Divine?°)   

Reading Between the Lines:   Take a moment to examine   Genesis 3:22-24 in the Christian Bible°   These passages offer a clear, but rather puzzling and disturbing example of messages that can be found by reading between the lines.   

Another example can be found in the words of Saint Paul in Chapter 13 of First Corinthians.    "I may give all my possessions to the poor and surrender my body to be burned but if I have not love, I gain nothing."   In this statement, the unspoken message that can be deduced by "reading between the lines," is:  The ultimate sacrifice I could make is to sacrifice my life and be burned as a gift to God.   And that would be a good thing only if I have love.   

What does this tell us about the mind set (the belief system) of Saint Paul?  In those days, killing animals and burning their bodies as a sacrifice to God was a common practice.  There is no evidence that God desired or required this, but his activity was engaged in under the belief that it appeased the angry fickle superhuman God who lived above the clouds.    

Here's a man whose access to the teachings of Jesus was second in connection only the apostles themselves.   He was one of the major contributors to the Christian theology.   And yet, he held a belief that, today, we call archaic and obsolete.   Because his beliefs would almost certainly have been typical of men of his day, what does that say about how the murder of Jesus by the Roman soldiers was interpreted and presented in the Christian Bible?  (See the section titled:  The Crucifixion / CruiseOfFiction.²       

Would you consider sacrificing yourself or would you kill one of your children, or a goat, or a sheep and burning the body as an appeasement to God?   Perhaps it's time to offer an additional perspective on the Christian crucifixion story.   Also see the section  titled:  The Ultimate Sacrifice.°

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Cooperation Versus Competition:

Most of us function primarily  in one of two modes.   We may, at times, shift to the opposite pole, but for the most part, we either work together in unity and harmony or against each other in duality and conflict.    

Duality - Conflict - Fighting:  In the duality mode, it's us against them.   Football is a good example of this.  It's primarily about fighting, pushing, shoving, knocking the other side down, claiming territory, and scoring points.   If an opponent is injured, that's good, because then he's out of the game, and this increases the other side's chance of winning.  It's a zero-sum game.   In order for one side to win, the other side must lose.   

Unity - Harmony - Cooperation:  In the unity mode it's us with them.   An orchestra is a good example of this.   Everyone is  part of a unified team.  All  work toward a common goal.   It's about cooperation, harmony, synchronized rhythm, and mutual support.   Everybody adds to the product produced.   The higher and stronger the quality of each participant's input, the grander the overall result.   In this example, the product is beautiful music, a blessing for all to hear.   The same product can be given to ten people or ten million, and it is not diminished in the slightest by sharing.   It's an infinity-sum game.   The more everyone shares the bigger the product.   Everybody wins.   The success of the Hubble orbiting telescope is another excellent example of the unity and harmony mode of living.     (Ref. 1: The Value of Commerce)°     (Ref. 2: What is Community and Why Is It Important)°  

Buckminster Fuller        Buckminster Fuller    ...

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Your Job:  Obviously, if you choose to accept the N.V.P. Team's  invitation, you'll be asked to play in the unity mode where everybody wins.   That's not to discount yourself.   You're still number one.   The secret is that everybody else is also a number one.   (And how many number one's are there?   As many as work together in harmony toward the common goal.)   

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Understanding the Fundamentals

Rules of thought and behavior apply to everything humans do, whether it's as simple as picking up a pencil or as complex as running a country.   In this essay, the N.V.P. team will explain the "Rules of the Game Called Life."  

In order to win at this game, players need to understand what the game is, what the rules are, and how to apply the rules.   Players need to understand the basic rules of intentionally creating, and they need to understand the specific rules of the specific aspect of the game that they choose to focus on.   

Your Job:  If you choose to accept our invitation, your first job is to have or create a clear understanding of the fundamental rules of intentional creating.    Two major points of focus are:   The Three Universal Laws°    and   How to Create a Winning Context?°     

Understanding Overall Game Strategy 

The principles expressed in this section apply to all games -- to all conflicts -- to all of life.   Here's a functional success strategy, first, described in the traditional "us-against-them" format and then in the "us-with-them" format.

Us Against Them:   The "us-against-them" tactics have six core features:   1)   Applying only a defensive strategy does not solve problems.  2)   Doing more of the same or doing  the same thing harder does not solve problems, either.  3)    The best defense is a good offense.   4)  In order to win, an aggressive attack at the core of the opposition is required.   5)  Study and clearly understand the nature of both the conflict and the opposition.   6) The best and fastest way to win is to find and attack the opposition's weakest point.   

Two examples of conflicts in which the losing combatants are violating these rules and failing miserably are the pro-choice side of the forced motherhood (anti-abortion)  war and "Resident" Bush's  so-called war on terrorism.   Both are applying a defensive strategy only.   Both are applying only more of the same and doing the same thing harder.   Neither is taking any significant offensive actions against their opposition.   (Readers need to remember that the war in Iraq and the war on terrorism are two completely different conflicts.)   Neither understands the nature of the conflict nor the mindset of the opposition.   And both are ignoring the oppositions weak points.   

Both are little more than futile gesturing,°  apparently being done to give the public the impression that they (the so-called  leaders) are actually doing something.   (There's also the possibility that their goal is to fulfill a hidden agenda.)°   The vast majority of the public has no idea what's really going on.   Most people are simply and mindlessly going along with and accepting, as fact, what their leaders tell them.

Both are dismal failures.    Both are about to experience a major success of their opposition.   In both conflicts it's NOT a question of whether  the opposition will win.   If the present strategies continue, it's only a question of when the opposition will win.   In both cases, the losing strategies are already having a profound global impact.   When the opposition scores a major victory, that destructive impact will be multiplied to a level that no one really wants to even imagine.   

A terrorist major success will be obvious and dramatic.   It could cost hundreds of thousands of human lives.   The results of the forced motherhood success will be equally as deadly, but far harder to see.   The death and misery will be hidden, as it already is,° behind one or more degrees of separation°.°

Us With Them:   Now, the "us-with-them" format as applied to the ultra-conservative fundamentalist Christians who talk as if they speak for all Christians.   The N.V.P. team is not physically attacking or intentionally harming anybody in any way.    The team's weapon is to simply speak the truth in the face of any lies and to bring the truth to the public's attention.   The New-Vision Project speaks the truth and, one of our projects is designed to do so in an entertainment format.°   

Because the opposition is attempting to use the power of secular law to force their beliefs onto everyone else, the N.V.P. team aggressively challenges the right-wing Christian extremists to prove that their claims are evidence based and not simply made-up, religious  fairytales.   The overwhelming evidence indicates that the ultra-conservative fundamentalist Christian stories are based upon unprovable fairytales.°   In sharp contrast to third, the N.V.P. team's stories reflect what the latest evidence tells us is most probably reality.   The  team speaks the truth (countermanding stories) loudly and frequently.   The goal is to be better at telling true stories than the opposition is at telling deceptive stories.   

The N.V.P. team is not fighting anyone or attempting to control anybody or  forcing its beliefs onto anybody.   Even in the face of a well-orchestrated campaign of intentional deception, the N.V.P. team  remains in a joyful, playful state of being.   The N.V.P. team simply applies the Universal Law of Allowing° to those who choose to force their religion onto the rest of us.   The N.V.P. team  exposes the intentional deceptions, the half truths, the lies of omission°  and the hidden agendas°  of those who are bent on increasing their wealth, power and control° at everyone else's expense.   In so doing, the N.V.P. team  applies the underlying essence of all six of the above-listed "us-against-them" tactics.   

On a small scale, the  N.V.P. team is being quite effective at accomplishing its goal.   The destructive fairytales presently being peddled as the truth are being seen for what they are.   The Team's vision is to seek, find and speak to larger and larger audiences.

Your Job:  If you choose to accept our invitation, your job is to have or create a clear understanding of the Universal Laws of Allowing and Intentional Creation.°   and then to practice, employ, and incorporate them into your life.