“Writing Samples”

-All By Andrew Thomas Truman-

"Religion to me denotes faith in a Book. The god of the xtians Or the god of Islam or the god of Israel. A philosophy is to me the same as a DO or way of life.”

That's a really good point. After all, their self-denial is not a suitable reason to entitle them unto any of their claims.

There is, to me at least, a big difference between a religion and a philosophy. A religion to me always represents the conformity and heard mentality of those that gather beneath the rules of a book on the grounds of some kind of divine or supernatural authority. Whereas a philosophy makes more sense to me, as a philosophy is a DO or way of life based upon principles that are acknowledged as theoretical.
I think that when people say god it is wrong.
They imply by that very word self-deification, it is suggestive that they (and their writings) have all knowledge available in the universe, and on those grounds they have a right to dictate authority over others because of that fact.
I don't think the universe is like that. Mind you this is only my take on it, but I don't get that feeling about the universe. I don't think that this massive and endlessly astounding universe is a single-minded bigoted and judgmental prick.
I think the Universe is something beyond the limitations of personality as we understand it.
When you say god you only create division, you only create condemnation and you only create confusion.

Despite all the negativity abound, I really think the world is changing for the better, People are starting to wake up. One simple goal, is just to make sure to produce something creative every 
day.

One of the best discoveries of my life is one which bolsters creativity. Besides sadness which is an obvious source of inspiration for many an artist across all mediums, I have found that often the bi-product of learning something new is new creative thoughts and ideas. The greatest well spring of original concepts springs from academic pursuits of various kind.

I was thinking about leadership lately. I think a misnomer some people think is that to be a leader you have to push every body else down, fight your way to the top and then rule with force, I don't think that this is the case for a real leader but rather a simpleton tyrant. after all a Tyrants rule is ever short lived in the grand scheme of things.

No a true leader has patience and discipline. They don't act foolishly or on a whim. They have to consider all the variables of each situation and how it will affect all persons involved. They have to move and make decisions with consideration and genuine empathy. A true leader also walks among his people not above them and doesn't act from outside the mass.

False. God is a human projection upon the universe. As both a word and a concept it is irrevocably flawed. The very idea of god was primitive man's conception of what the sun was, and across human history a mythos about the story of God(the sun) formed and has led to much confusion in our time as the original meaning was lost, it has been reinterpreted so many times that it transformed into a falsity.

“It is funny how, when I am not feeling like a mute, I actually have a lot say.”

“What fascinates me is I get this sense that I am moving closer and closer to something awe inspiring, and not just me, as I look around I see others seeing the same thing too, as they also approach the catalyst of change into a better world. I think some of the smartest among them hang back and try to offer glimpses into what they have seen through art and music, while those who don't see the Tao as clearly clumsily try to translate the nature of their visions out of the desire for gain and fall.”

    “One of my biggest pet peeves is when people confuse religious study with meditation. If you are actively doing anything it is not meditation. Religion is a convention that is outdated and needs to be thrown out if mankind is to evolve into something greater. Also it is social programming and the opposite of meditation, meditation is only stillness and silence and the regulation of breath.”

If all your work makes you rich, you will be successful...well in this modern, transitory and temporary society anyway. But if all your work makes you happy? I would think that is probably a lot closer to what they mean by enlightenment.

-me

"So we destroy nature and build these disgusting cities and then kick people out of them for not keeping up with a society that has now made it illegal to be poor? How blind are we?"

Never date someone who does not meditate.

This may sound like a biased statement, or perhaps even a modern form of bigoted, but let me assure you that it is not, and I will tell you why. Meditation is not only a lost art that has existed for many thousands of years, but it is also a deeply studied topic in the annals of modern science. Much research has been given into the astounding and transformative benefits of this practice.

Meditation brings a sense of peace and focus to one's life. By learning to quiet the mind we learn to hear that inner voice that is the true self, That which is often drowned in the noise and distraction of society and it's many obligations.

If you cannot ever find the quiet and peace within your own mind, and you don't even know yourself it is a wonder that anything in life can be accomplished!

To not meditate to to drift through life not knowing who you are or what you want.

Tell me, do you want to date such a person?

Just saying.

"That old saying, that you're entitled to your opinion... I don't agree with that. If you don't understand the subject you are discussing or are flat out wrong about something, then you aren't actually entitled to it."

"It has always been a human trait to endow our ancestors with supernatural qualities."

"The only difference between a religion and a cult is the number of attendees."

All the outrageous behavior by the religionists lately? Well I don't presume to know everything but my best guess is that they have become aware that increasing numbers of people have began to see through their futility. It is as simple as that. It seems to me that these outbursts of supreme stupidity are the death throes of the great illusion. Their reactions are entirely not surprising, after all, they have lost their power to entrance through lies.

Religion=division

"Don't make the mistake in assuming that I hate religious people, this is not the case. I have many religious friends whose company I find enjoyable. Sadly also I know more than a few people who would otherwise be genuine friends and allies, but their religion prevents this from being so because I will not subscribe to it. I do not make the assertion nor have a done the research to claim that religion is a sort of definite mental virus, though being the way it is passed from one host to the next I have often pondered this line of thought. No, my concern is when I see people getting atop loud podiums on the evening news and cry out for discrimination against non-religious or gays or even sometimes agnostics, and the list is longer than that make no mistake. It bothers me that when these people have their face down in a bible they fail to see another human being same as they are standing just before them. Also, backward thinking is counterproductive and frightening. If they continue along this path, how is that different than when we had a nation divided by segregation?"

"You are a lot stronger than you think you are."

-me

When studying, never settle with the first opinion on a topic, to gain perspective, take in many opinions from every side, in so doing you will come out much the wiser and better read on said topic.

I get rather tired of these "Only God" Bumper stickers I keep seeing. It astonishes me how people fail to see this as anything other than confrontational. Every time I see one I feel like I've been slapped across the face simply for having a differing opinion. If It said something like I choose to believe in god or something to that effect instead it would be a lot more reasonable. "Only God" Sounds like a big F U to me. It also sounds like a declaration of war.

I've been saying it for some time and it's proving true, not that I claim any sort of psychic power, rather it is obvious deduction of what I see. What is going on in this country right now is one of the oldest tricks in the book just on a grand scale, the playing of the rubes. 

The rich in this country are using money and political leverage to bleed the people of this great nation dry and then jumping ship. If you watch the news you'll catch stories of billionares moving out of the country with the money they made here. Fool everyone with false promises, separate them from their money and skip town. It's just an old dirty trick.

I think it's high time we reach a new level of thought. I have noticed stagnancy in that we are still at the point where we have to argue weather religion is true or not. As a species we are more than aware enough to realize that no religion is true, we have the facts plain as day and it is no longer even a question. Religion is a bi-product of humankind's childhood. Many of us have grown up now and we have put away these foolish(and harmful) notions. Only those people that have ulterior motives and or are unwilling or unable to grow up and or are patently dishonest can claim to believe in such ridiculous things. Let us put them to rest once and for all, for the good of every living thing upon the earth. For a future without toxic fallacy. For a life devoid of fatal illusions.

End Religion Now. The time has come.

To me it is the scientific explanation of things that feels the most spiritual, even qi in it's case is is outstandingly more profound it it's actual working than it is in it's philosophical consideration. It can be measured and quantified, and tests have shown it's capacity for cellular regeneration as well as other astounding successful scientific observations have shown time and again the potential of the practice of meditation...

Conservative:

    Conserving Bigotry 

    Conserving prejudice 

    Conserving Racism

    Conserving inequality

    Conserving falsity 

    People think there is a god because the memory of our ancestors is always with us.

    Live-writing: (Adj.) 

        1. Any composition submitted continually as it is published. 

        2. A series of writings in chronological order

Mixing the dark and the light, is there a better poem than this?

People have both social and anti-social aspects to their nature. If you find yourself unable to live with the anti-social aspects of some one else's character, than you would do well to  disassociate with this person. Only when even lesser qualities in a person do not disturb your peace can harmonious cooperation be achieved.

To fill the whole in the heart 

That is a manifestation of falsity

A life lived too joyful

nothing is accomplished

Here is wisdom seen by those

With open eyes.

It is quite fascinating how ever since I went sober sally I just can't stop learning.

Never let the profane intrude sanctuary.

I see a lot of weird symbolic stuff when I meditate. Whatever the third eye is I opened it, through diligent practice, meditation and Tai-chi. I think that one of the mistakes that has always misled mankind is the mis-interpretation of inner experiences. I don't think there is an answer.  I can't understand what I see and I think just seeing it is all it's really about.

    "You will never be more aware of how alive you are, once you have lost your air, and gotten it back."

One of the great problems in our society today is the fact that we live in a world that is largely run by superstitious children. When it comes to people making vast decisions that effect massive numbers of people, I don't think anyone who believes in religion should be allowed to make public policy. Religion by it's very nature is self-serving, and anyone that openly declares affiliation to one should be barred permanently from the halls of power. At the very least discussion of what should be a very personal and private matter should be grounds for immediate dismissal from ones post. Lastly it should be that religion is absolutely barred from being written into law in anyway soever. I.E. nonsense like RFRA should be struck mercilessly from written law.

    You often hear people cry out loudly when acts of violence are announced on the news. Situations where real people are getting robbed, misled, hurt or killed horribly. The kind of thing that if it happened to you, you could not possibly conceive of how terrifying, how un-believe-ably horrible and life destroying it could be if it happened to you. Yet despite all the posturing of some of us, and granted the sincerity of a few, the sad fact is that people largely are apathetic toward the suffering of others.

It will be interesting in the future, where people look back on us for how primitive we were.

Never underestimate an opponent. Be confident, but don't be cocky. Show respect even to your enemy's. 

If you want to be right all the time, don't form strong opinions, study hard and do lots of research on the topics you like discussing.

If you want to be a good writer remember this one thing: You got to be just enough sour, and not too sweet.

I am so happy to be in Seattle. It almost feels like a strange sense of homecoming being here. The city still seems like a living thing. I don't know how to describe it exactly. Maybe it was having lived here on the streets before, Or maybe it's all the rock stars that came from this place, The great blues men that came from here, Grunge. I cannot quite put my finger on it but there is some sort of magical sort of feeling I get just being here. I am a country bumpkin in a much bigger world that is beautiful, awe-inspiring and grand in scale.

Sometimes being strong means giving someone a break even when they don't deserve it.

Isn't it sad when popularity is mistaken for wisdom?

Rest is part of preparation.

    I find it very insulting how all these old corporate media dinosaurs keep talking about progressives like we are all young, ignorant and blind, treating us all like we belong at the kids table. Little do they realize the truth is we are aware, informed and paying very close attention to every move they make, taking note of every lie being told, and every speculation spun. Somehow they don't see that the very world is changing around them, and when they talk about the stupidity of others they are only projecting their own insecurity making it ever the worse for themselves.

I find it Ironic that the movie "god's not dead" is actually a title borrowed from a line in the satanic bible. In it's original context it read: "If god's not dead, he'd better have medicare!"

In the garden of moral pretense, corruption blooms

-Me

It is a terrible thing indeed to live in a world where ignorance and stupidity are often such powerful forces.

I get tired of people who think that they are so freaking hot they think the problems of the world don't apply to them. Being self-absorbed does not exempt you from reality.

If you aren't willing to be wrong you can never be right.

One of my least favorite things is when people say "please don't interrupt me" so that they can continue lying to you.

Nobody hates Americans more than Americans.

Something I have been talking to people about lately is work ethic. It amazes me how people can be these days. When I entered the work force at 17 it was unheard of for people to bring their headphones or cell phones onto a shop floor, that sort of thing used to get you fired. Now a days people get all heated if you tell them it's not allowed. What the fuck, this inattentiveness can get people killed. Leave it in the break room or in your car you damn baby.

We are living in crazy times. As it turns out both parties are red-handed and guilty of both illegal and highly unethical behavior in trying to win the presidency. The possibility of a special election to elect a new president grows daily. At any rate the events occurring now will certainly make the pages of our history books in the future, a shame it's for shameful reasons.

I hate what America has become. I wish I was stupid. Life was easier when I wasn't aware of just how bad it is. This used to be the best country in the world but it has been corrupted by the evil of corporate greed. Being American used to mean something special. Now you are just a slave to kleptocracy. What hurts the most is how many people are blind to the predicament we are in.

It seems I can be rather opaque. Probably a bi-product of constant pondering.

When the season's change,
I feel in in my heart.
A feeling stir's within me, 
Something unnamed, unknowable
The threads of continuity.

"Shatter The silence"

I feel quite sincere, 

Music is not the answer in these times

With everything so glaring today, How can we stand by and sit idle?

Music is better a product of peace and prosperity

When the world is calm, it is a very pleasnt thing

It is a path of ease and celebrity

However to continue to play, when our fellow people suffer

is a vile obliviousness.

Mere words, a simple acknowledgment...matters

But to keep on, traversing the easy path in the wake of their suffering...

It is a shade of apathy.

Humility is the key in the face of reality.

Pedestal is the worst place to live when our siblings in our human        family suffer.

I cannot simply ignore the pain of others.