Fear

Where does it begin?

Fear of the dark.

Fear of the stranger.

Fear of the parent.

Fear of the barking dog.

Fear of the bright flashing light.

Fear of the bully.

Fear of being embarrassed.

Fear of being caught.

When does fear ripen?

Fear of peers.

Fear of sexual identity.

Fear of society.

Fear of judgment.

Fear of the future.

Fear of the unknown.

We are all at odds with fear our entire life.

We do many things to keep our attention from focusing on our fear.

Drugs, alcohol, sex, career, religion, politics, pets, eating, reading, music, walks, talking…

All human activity is a way of doing something, anything that will keep us from thinking about our fear.

Ultimately, what can all these fears be boiled down to?

Death.

As far as we can understand, we are the only life form on the planet that knows it will no longer exist one day.

That's real.

Everything we ever love will die.

That is why we run.

That is why we climb mountains.

That is why we run from sunrise to sunrise.

We run to keep ahead of the fear.

We create a whole pantheon of stories we tell about the past, the present, and the future.

These stories we tell ourselves keep us from accepting the reality of death.

What death really means.

This is the evil at the heart of humanity.

This fear.

This fear of death keeps us from doing what is right.

This fear of death keeps us from doing what is just.

This fear of death keeps us from loving each other.

Understanding that death is the ultimate act of living reveals the importance of life.

Every life, every life is essential.

Every life important.

Every life, including yours and mine, has meaning.

You will not pass through this universe in its current form ever again.

Understanding the value of life and the significance of an individual's existence requires us to do more.

We can not let people die and let God sort them out.

That's absurd piss on the world logic.

This life is all we are guaranteed.

This is it.

This is why we stand; we speak up, and we fight for what is right.

For justice.

For freedom.

For our human rights.

Fear is the slayer of truth.

Death is the end of all things.

Love gives birth to the truth.

I love you all; this is why I'm telling you the truth.

Drop hate be hope.

Live.

Stop dying.

Peace.

Daniel J Frey aka Toby

Blame

Who is to blame?

Short answer…

We all are.

The act of blame serves three purposes.

The first is to target a thing or a person with a negative responsibility.

Blame.

Second, to generate guilt in a person or thing.

Blame.

Third, to deflect responsibility.

The blame game is as old as the human race.

Why are there no crops?

Who vandalized my sundial?

Why is the person I love dead?

Somebody did something; consequently, somebody must be to blame.

Blame.

Who is to blame?

I can't be to blame, am I?

When was the last time you heard anyone say they were at fault?

Occam's Razor suggests that no one you can personally remember has ever taken the blame.

It's easier to blame everything else but yourself.

Bandits, crooks, hucksters, flimflam men, liars, despots, dictators, and the sociopath next door and in your family all use 'blame' to stay in power.

Blame is used by governments, religions, social media, and charities worldwide.

Someone is to blame!

Blame them!

You're innocent.

Give me money, give me power, give me your soul.

Trust me.

You're not to blame.

Just an aside...

If anyone ever says, 'Trust me,' they are immediately untrustworthy.

That's a damn fact.

Trust is earned, not taken.

And that's at the core of blame.

Blame says that the other person is responsible.

You are ultimately taken off the hook; if someone else is to blame, you don't have to take any action.

For that kind of relief, allegiances are formed between those who blame others and those who believe they are not responsible.

Responsibility.

I'm here to say we are all responsible.

We are the weavers of darkness, hunger, poverty, injustice, and fear

There is no outside force, no invisible mythical entity darkening the world.

Its people.

Us.

Darkness.

Everything we love will die someday.

This is why it is so important to love one another while we can the best way that we can.

That is why we must stand for justice the best way that we can.

That is why we must feed the hungry.

Help those who are sick.

Be with those who grieve.

This is why we must drop the blame and take responsibility for our lives.

The harm we do.

It is our failure to do what is right when it is needed.

Doing nothing is not a virtue.

Doing nothing is the thread that stitches together the blindfold of fear.

I'm just one voice in a chorus.

I'm asking…

Drop hate be hope.

Peace

Daniel J Frey aka Toby

Boundaries

How far does your influence extend?

What are the boundaries of your control?

Do you even think about it?

Do you think about it a lot?

Do you road rage?

Do you hit your child?

Do you knock on doors and hand out fliers on political, religious, and social issues?

Do you yell at your neighbor's dog?

Do you not leave a penny?

Do you march?

Do you write your congressman?

Do you stay in your own backyard and ignore what's going on over the fence?

Boundaries.

We all have the potential to influence others.

Those people whom we know and don't know are also in their own bubbles.

Some of us are ballsy enough to romp over to our neighbor's yard and burst their bubble.

However, most of us are complacent and allow our neighbors to drown in theirs.

We assume their decline; their failure is all theirs.

We had no involvement in it.

Boundaries.

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.

There are groups of us who believe we can lead others to the well of our beliefs and make them drink the water we're pouring out of our mouths into theirs.

This is and has been a false narrative given to us by those individuals and societies that have subjugated us, the People.

In other words, you can't force people to believe as you do, regardless of your moral high ground or the low ground from which you stand.

If you do, you are a little dictator.

A nationalist.

A fascist.

A supremacist.

Believing that everyone is within your boundaries of control.

Your subjects to do with as you please because you are the king of the world.

Boundaries.

Boundaries.

There are boundaries we break, but there are also boundaries we don't break.

We allow poverty to murder our neighbor and their spirit.

We allow injustice to steal truth.

We allow racism to beat other people down.

We allow those who lack boundaries to make us cowards.

It is difficult to have boundaries when passions are inflamed.

However, there is a difference between seeing a person drowning and either ignoring them or throwing them a book on how to swim.

There is an answer to boundaries that is a compromise.

There is a boundary in between.

It's called love.

Love understands; love attempts to tell us that you can't always get what you want.

Do no harm; love asks of all of us.

Your boundary ends inside of your head; your influence ends there, also.

Your boundary ends at your fingertips.

Community.

We come together as a community, share ideas, and chart a course that best suits all of us.

Together.

Taking all reasonable ideas and beliefs into account.

In the history of the world, there has never been a single belief or a single person who has had all the correct answers to life's problems.

Nobody.

History, in fact, is littered with people and beliefs that lack proper boundary control.

Truth, justice, freedom, and love have always defeated them.

Put a spotlight on their poor boundary control.

Always.

Peace

Daniel J Frey aka Toby

Why Change Can't Happen

Believe me.

That's the central problem in America.

Beleif.

You can believe me or not, but understand that there is a fundamental roadblock at the heart of gun control, abortion, voting rights, civil rights, and human rights.

That roadblock is what you believe.

There has always been an error in interpretation as to what belief means.

Belief has always been a game of chance.

You either believe or you don't.

If you believe, then you are part of the club.

You get rewarded by the club.

Belief provides immediate benefits.

If you don't believe, you are somehow out of touch, sinful, against God, against me as a person who does believe.

You don't get any benefits.

You're on your own.

No club for you.

There is no fighting belief.

Once a person has committed themselves to a story, it is impossible for them to entirely let it go.

And what does belief do for us?

It feeds our prejudice.

It feeds a monster called ego, which demands that I'm the center of the universe.

Belief tells us it is right for us to be selfish.

Protect our own.

It feeds that inherent genetic childhood psychology, that feeling that I am the center of the world and that I must survive.

My needs before the other.

I am the chosen.

The one.

Consequently, in this mix in our nation, there is a group of people who firmly righteously believe they are God's chosen people.

There are organizations as well as individuals who understand the dynamics of this prejudice and exploit it for their own benefit.

For profit.

These 'brokers of evil' keep the monster called White supremacy alive, feeding it the red meat of death and destruction.

They are the gatekeepers keeping racism on sale.

These gatekeepers can be found in legislative bodies.

Sitting in judgment on legal benches.

In pulpits.

In our places of work.

In the home.

The belief that I'm better than everyone else on the planet is not limited by class, race, nationality, or income.

Belief is a cancer on the soul of mankind.

Belief served a purpose when humans were alone on a hostile planet with limited resources.

Belief is a sickness that rots society from the inside when you live in a world of abundance.

Belief keeps the individual isolated.

Isolated from reality.

Isolated from asking who is my brother who is my sister?

Belief.

What does your belief tell you right now?

Can you see people marching for their freedom?

Or do you see thieves reaching for something that doesn't belong to them?

Do you hear people crying?

Or do you see insects who got what they deserve?

Do you defend the past?

Or do you embrace the future?

Do you hate?

Do you love?

Change can't happen unless we change what we believe.

We have to stop believing and start knowing.

What do you believe?

Peace

Daniel J Frey aka Toby

Madness

There are no words that will stop the madness.

Only through our actions will we gain our rightful protection from fear.

What is at the heart of gun rights madness?

What is the pillar, the rock on which some believe we have an inherent right to kill?

This country, in particular, suffers from this madness the most.

The source of the origin of this madness is nothing new.

No.

It was brought here with the arrival of Europeans to the shores of the Virginias.

It was in the hearts and minds of the Pilgrims.

It is the belief that God, the one and only Christian God, created the White race to dominate the world.

If any other race got in the way of God's will, then it was the duty of White people to put the other races in their place.

It was their duty to kill in God's name.

White people are the chosen judge, jury, and executioners of God.

The source of the origin of the gun rights madness is the belief in White supremacy.

I'm too old now to pull my punches.

It's too late to put a diplomatic spin on madness.

It's time we took the lies by the neck and kicked it out into the spotlight.

This ugliness, this vile evil fostered by timid sociopaths to keep themselves in power, has gone on too long.

Guns are tools of death.

Period.

Not everyone is qualified to work a jackhammer, are they?

They may think they can.

They may believe they can.

But they would be mad to think they could.

Tools do not have an inherent right.

WE, THE PEOPLE, and our rights to peace, happiness, and security —our rights supersede the madness that prioritizes tools over lives.

WE, THE PEOPLE, have to confront our brothers and sisters who believe in the madness of White supremacy.

You can't tell a rock to fly, no matter what you think is best for that rock.

You can't just tell a White racist to grow some compassion because it will never happen.

We have had over 2,000 years of the doctrine of love.

Do unto others as you would have done unto you.

How has that worked out?

It's a slogan that's often forgotten.

100's of millions of people have been killed around the world.

Murdered by White Christians because they knew God is on their side.

If you don't see the correlation between White people killing other races by the millions in history, in the name of their God, from the beginning of the Crusades to today, you have a bag over your head.

Until we confront the foundations of White supremacy that founded this nation, the U.S.A., we will never end the madness of gun violence.

Every Sunday, parishioners in this nation are told there is only one way to God.

They are told there is only one religion that God likes.

They are told there is only one kind of person God likes.

The White, protestant, Christian male.

All others are second-class passengers and are subject to being killed for disobeying White males.

This is the madness that is taught to our children before they can even speak.

This is what they learn in Sunday school.

I know it as a fact because I'm a witness to it.

The supremacy of the White race.

They believe this is true because why would an adult lie to them?

Somewhere, somebody, and it might be us, has to stand up and say no more forever.

Forever!

Drop hate be hope.

Peace

Daniel J Frey aka Toby

Brotherhood

Equality.

The word the idea of equality strikes fear in many hearts.

Not just racial equality.

No.

But intellectual, cultural, physical, and gender equality also strikes fear.

How could someone be afraid of being equal?

Being equal means I am not unique.

I am not special.

I am not chosen.

I don't get a break.

I'm not first in line.

I am not the best.

No more entitlements.

Notice how there is a lot of "I" in these thoughts?

"I" as opposed to "us."

Human beings are unique, as far as we can tell, in that they can hold two opposing thoughts in their minds at the same time and believe both of them to be true.

I am special; therefore, mankind should serve me.

The rest of humanity was placed on this earth to maintain my position as leader.

If you are so superior, you should be serving mankind, ensuring its happiness, freedom, and justice.

Equality.

Thinking and saying you are the best is a good indication to the herd that you are not.

Our journey to brotherhood has only begun.

It received some good press, including a news announcement back in the 1950s.

Like a voice in the wilderness that echoes between the trees, 'I am a Man' pricked up the ears of those asleep.

Far too many fell asleep after those voices of freedom were taken away from the world's consciousness.

Too many thought the fight was over.

The battle with inhumanity was over.

It was only a round of a fight that has no end.

Fear.

Fear is a terrible thing.

It will make people do terrible things.

Fear will make people deny the truth.

That's why it's such a potent weapon for those who profit from fear.

Realize those who profit from fear it's their only source of income.

They know not of any other trade than fear.

Fear.

Let us trade our fear for compassion.

Let us trade our fear for what love demands of us all.

More.

Love wants us to understand there are no boundaries to its reach.

Love is the future.

Fear no more, my sister, my brother.

We are right by your side together, facing the future together.

Drop hate be hope.

Peace

Daniel J Frey aka Toby

How To Recognize You Are The Problem

Originally titled, "How To Recognize You're The AS*$#@!

As an empath, I perceive, sense, and feel more deeply than a typical person.

This is not a miracle; it is not a superpower; it is not psychic.

Take a child with a sensitive personality, mix in a mentally and physically abusive parent, and what pops out of the psychological personality Easy-Bake-Oven 99.0% is a sociopath.

1.0% of the time, you get a male empath.

I see dead people.

I see their lies.

Everyone.

No matter how big or how small, I can tell in an instant you are lying.

What I can't tell you is your reason why.

You're motivation.

Before I was diagnosed at the age of 55 as being an empath with no boundaries, I believed that I was the cause of the hate in the world.

Everyone hated me so much that they lied to me about everything.

I never asked people why they were lying.

I assumed it was something with me.

People couldn't and wouldn't tell me the truth.

I found out it wasn't me.

I learned this really late in life.

It is a world ruled by hate and cruelty, kept in place by a vast ocean of indifference.

I discovered that I could immediately recognize who the problem was.

Not just the apparent tyrant.

But the indifferent, self-righteous, I got mine, you go get yours, entitled, unaware, no questions asked bigot.

Bigot, in this case, means - a person who is obstinately or unreasonably attached to a belief, opinion, or faction, especially one who is prejudiced against or antagonistic toward a person or people based on their membership in a particular perceived group.

The following is a list, not comprehensive, of both significant and supportive problems I have found in the society of The Walking Dead...

You don't hold the door open for a stranger?

You don't send cards?

You don't come to a complete stop at a traffic sign?

You don't share the sidewalk?

You don't sing?

You laugh at racist jokes?

You steal?

You don't call your loved ones?

You own a gun?

You don't say thank you?

You don't vote?

You don't tip.

Everyone agrees with you?

You stop across the crosswalk?

Everyone says you're charming?

You make those around you cry?

You ignore current events?

You hit your child?

You have a vanity plate?

You give the finger?

You don't ask questions?

You assume everyone agrees with you.

You belong to a club?

You are physically violent?

You lie.

You kill.

You destroy.

You don't care.

Worrying about the world is for others.

You mind your own business?

You don't know what the problem is?

You don't ask.

If you recognize any of these problems as being you, then surprise, you have begun the process of no longer being the problem.

Well... maybe.

Recognizing that a problem exists is the first hurdle to actually taking steps to address its source.

You have to have a conscience still inside of you.

Hope.

The best thing is hope.

There is always redemption.

A chance to make what was wrong right.

There is a chance you can stop being the asshole.

That is our purpose in a real-life awakening.

Peace

Daniel J Frey aka Toby

Empathy What Is It Good For?

I see things normal people don't.

I feel things normal people don't.

I hear things normal people don't.

Because of what I see, feel, and hear, it drove me to end my life.

The world was too much for me. 

I couldn't take the daily abuse after living in a world a life of hate for 55 years.

Casual cruelty bolstered with a good dose of hypocrisy.

My daily diet.

Everyone around me talks a good game but never follows through with what love requires of all of us.

I had mistakenly, it turned out, convinced myself there was no more love.

No more love in the world.

No more love for me.

My life had dried up.

I was a loser.

No career.

No job.

No money.

No friends.

No dreams.

Everything I pursued failed.

By every measure of our Western society, I'm a washout.

I couldn't understand why people were so uncaringly cruel.

Cruel to each other.

Cruel to the people I love.

Cruel to me.

Stop! Stop! Stop!

A little voice told me to stop.

Don't leave yet.

That little voice of a friend asked me to give love one more chance.

I had no more trust left in me.

I no longer knew what was right or wrong.

I didn't care anymore.

So I listened.

And listened.

I learned that I wasn't entirely wrong.

The world doesn't understand love like I do.

It doesn't.

At 55, I was diagnosed as an INFJ empath.

I was correct in being depressed with the world around me.

As Dylan sings, how many ears must one man have before he can hear people cry?

I had heard that song since it was first released.

Nobody was listening.

Nobody.

I pleaded with the sky…

You can't hear people cry.

You can't hear me.

What is normal?

What is normal.

Empaths are not normal.

I'm not normal.

I know now why I'm not normal now.

I see, feel, and hear things the average person doesn't.

Just like a dog who can see, hear, and smell things people can't.

You have to ask yourself...

Follow me...

Do dogs live a better life than you or not?

The dog can hear that tear that falls in the silence of your room.

The dog can see the lonely person sitting awake all night in the darkness.

The dog can smell the fear of life and death you breathe.

Dogs and empaths are alike that way.

I'm here to tell you it's not a good thing to feel the pain of everyone around you.

Empathy: What Is It Good For?

I have since learned to build filters, barriers, and boundaries over the past six years.

Boundaries that keep most of the flood of emotions from other people from drowning me.

I listened to that small voice tell me I needed to be what I was born to be.

No longer in pain, but to be free and let the world know it can do better.

To be on guard.

To sound a warning.

Now, while the world sleeps.

While the dark side of humanity works to take love out of the world.

I'm the dog in the yard.

Outside tied up…

I see that shadow at your door...

I'm the dog barking in the night.

Wake up!

Wake up!

There's danger at your door.

Peace.

Daniel J Frey aka Toby

Beginnings

Life begins when you realize you are not the only person who needs love.

Children believe they are the center of the world.

Nothing can tell them differently.

Their wishes, their demands, and their worldview place them at the center.

Nothing exists beyond the realm of the child’s mind.

They do not understand the importance of a reasonable bedtime.

They can’t subsist on cookies.

Every want, every whim must be fulfilled ASAP.

The adult, the caretaker, is there to fulfill their prejudiced view of how the world works.

Me... me... me...

Only life experience will have a chance to break through their cosmic certainty.

It will happen when...

The first time, they feel hungry, and there’s no food that night.

The first time they see their caretaker cry.

The first time a wish goes unanswered.

Slowly…

Slowly…

Given enough time, this child will grow up and hear other voices besides their own.

The voice of despair.

The voice of fear.

Even, even the voice of hope.

The voice of love.

Every human who has ever lived or shall live goes through this cycle.

But not all come out the other side genuinely alive.

Awake.

Childhood is a type of shell.

A prison.

A shell that keeps the mind safe from reality.

Too soon.

Experience like a hammer raps raps raps on that shell, asking each of us to come out and play.

Join the party.

Not everyone can break the shell of childhood.

Forever caught in their own head, they can’t hear other people cry.

They refuse to hear the call for justice.

For freedom.

For hope.

For equality.

They know they are safe in their shell.

For love which reaches its never-ending arms around all.

Society, like a forest, is filled with life.

Some are sprouting, some are growing, some have lived a lifetime, and winter has come.

While others are still in the ground, in their shell, waiting for that drop of human kindness, that drop of reality, to break their shell and let them grow.

To begin.

Peace

Daniel J Frey aka Toby

Why Care?

Isn’t it evident that the majority of the human race rejects the act of caring?

If, quite simply, the majority agreed, then the world would be different from how we currently find it.

There would be no hunger.

There would be no one in need of a home.

There would be safety.

There would be growth.

There would be peace.

What we have is endless cycles of hunger, poverty, brutality, stagnation, and war.

We do not have a brotherhood.

We do not have a population that hears the cry of despair.

We do not feel the time is right for change.

What we have is a belief in a cultural myth telling us one race is better than the next.

No matter where we find ourselves in this world, everyone everywhere is fed the idea that they are the pinnacle of society.

We are the best.

This giant mass of malignancy corrupts the spirit.

Damns the soul.

We are the best.

It’s purpose?

To feed the wicked who profit off the resulting misery.

Entitlement.

Until we find a way to break this hold on the soul of humanity, we are doomed to repeat it forever.

One step forward, two steps back.

Our fight is with the darkness that whispers… “Might makes right.”

The profit is power.

Profit from holding back food.

Profit from keeping people behind walls.

Profit from fear.

Profit from war.

Profit from ugliness.

There is an idea that has been expressed for the past 2,000 years.

Many of us have pitched the same line.

Only love will conquer hate.

Repeat…

Only love will conquer hate.

As the wind of selfishness blows back and forth the voice of love has resisted hate.

It calls for all who are alive to care.

To care for the poor, the weak, the lost, yes, even care for those that hate us.

To be alive means to love.

To be alive means to care.

To grow.

To challenge the darkness.

To not let evil blind and deafen compassion.

To keep the profiteers of doom bankrupt.

To stand in the doorway and proclaim freedom and justice for all.

Peace.

Daniel J Frey aka Toby

Change Happens

Standing in the doorway of the schoolhouse.

Putting up a fence between countries.

Between neighbors.

Going to war.

Stopping people from voting.

From living free of violence.

As soon as you stop progress and implement conservative ideals, you actually put into motion a cascade for change.

The conservative mind has never grasped this fact.

For every action, there is a reaction.

Stopping change will have the exact opposite of the initial intent.

No part of this universe doesn't operate around the physical reality of change.

Everything is cooling down.

Eventually, everything in our universe will reach the temperature of absolute zero.

Minus 273 degrees Celsius, or for those who resist change, minus 459 degrees Fahrenheit.

It's the temperature at which atoms no longer vibrate.

The temperature of the universe when it is absolutely dead inside.

Human beings have the unique ability to hold two opposing thoughts at the same time.

I love my mother, but I hate what she does.

I love eating ice cream; I'm lactose intolerant.

Human beings can appear alive and active, yet inside they are dead.

Their hearts, their minds have reached absolute zero.

They no longer move.

They stay where their God has intended.

Their God can be ancient in its adherence to resist change or new.

The old Gods of prejudice, racism, elitism, religion, and nationalism all preach and inoculate their believers to the ideal of not changing.

Keeping the social order dictated and carved in stone by their founding fathers.

Given the benefit of the doubt, the White man is on top of the pyramid and deserves a free lunch while everyone else below him pays cash.

The human irony.

There is real irony here.

The reality is that those who stand in the public space and declare there will be no more change forever… 

They have fired the first shot, the starting pistol, that will bring about the change they so desperately want to prevent.

Like a dam in a river, the water behind the blockage begins to build.

Through age and poor construction, the dam, no matter how large, how thick, how deep, cannot withstand the pressure of change that builds behind it.

You can't stop the merry-go-round of life.

Life will find a way.

Life will pour over that dam standing in the doorway of progress.

And what is this progress that change in our society is pushing for?

John Lennon said it… 

Imagine no heaven, no countries, nothing to kill or die for, no religion, no possessions, no greed, no hunger, no hell.

Just earth below and sky above.

A brotherhood of man where we all live in peace, sharing the world and this universe together.

As one people in tune with the true nature of life.

Change happens.

I know I'm not the only one who knows this.

Peace

Daniel J Frey aka Toby

Pant Load

Are you walking about with a pantload on?

And don't know it?

As an empath, I speak from direct observation of our society.

Are you like the average three-year-old walking about with a loaded diaper?

Totally unaware?

Totally unaware of the stink left behind?

Like a child with a pantload who comes to the dinner table, making everyone gag.

I liken being an empath to being able to see germs.

I see germs.

I see the germs when you're self-absorbed.

I see the germs when you disregard safety.

I see the germs when you neglect to care for others.

I see the germs when you don't care about yourself.

Our society wading in the wave pool with a pantload on.

They are unaware of the wake of suffering, of pain left behind them.

As Joseph Campbell observed, all of Western Society has lost touch with those rituals that tell a person they are no longer a child; they are now an adult.

Children only think about themselves and don't give a shit about anyone else.

Children don't think about the pantload they have on.

Adults do.

Adults can smell the problem and take action.

They clean it up.

Adults take responsibility for themselves as well as their community.

The person who blocks the sidewalk, the person who runs you down in the crosswalk, the person who gives you the finger, the person who doesn't pay taxes, the person who doesn't vote, the person who lies to gain power, the person who kneels on your neck all have a pant load on.

They suffer from not having empathy.

They suffer from not even having sympathy.

No one told them they needed to wipe their ass.

Showed them how to wash their hands after wiping their ass.

How to share and be a part of society.

The world.

Life.

Told them about love and charity.

Especially love.

Like children left to raise themselves, they have no concept they are the problem in our world.

They have no touchstone of what it means to be an adult.

They're bopping from one self-centered interest to the next.

They're making it up as they go.

Those of us that can see and smell have an obligation.

Our privilege is to tell society to wash up.

Wipe your behind, grab a bar of soap and a towel, and get to scrubbing.

Be a teacher, not a preacher.

Demonstrate what an adult is not.

Get clean.

Drop hate.

Then, join us at the dinner table, where love is the meal, and hope is the dessert.

Peace

Daniel J Frey aka Toby

What Is Myth?

Myth is a corruption of truth.

Simply, I use the term 'myth' to describe lies that we believe, which give us comfort from reality.

Need it put more plainly?

A myth is a fairy tale we believe is true.

With the added complexity that our fairytale is true and everyone else's fairytale is a lie.

Myth is a large umbrella that shelters many a human belief.

Under the umbrella of myth, you will find, yes, all the religions of the world.

Both past and present.

But you will also find under that shelter of self-delusion prejudice.

You will find racism, entitlement, apartheid, segregation, urban legend, intellectualism, science deniers, liberals, conservatives, family, and friends all seeking shelter under the umbrella of myth.

You will even find yourself.

The umbrella of myth is a human invention.

It was not given to us mystically.

We created it for a specific reason.

Fear.

Fear of the unknown.

Myth gives us a reason why bad things happen.

Myth gives us control over things we can't control.

Myth tries to remove the random nature of the universe.

Our greatest fear is death.

Consequently, the greatest stories we ever made up to tell ourselves are those stories about life after death.

Those stories give us comfort from the inevitable termination of our existence.

If we believe in them, we get a coupon to "live after we die for free."

It's obvious why we created such stories.

Fear is the motivation behind all myths.

An example is the fear of the stranger, which motivates racism.

The endless storytelling occurs worldwide and in our homes, businesses, and places of worship.

Those people are not like us; they don't believe like we do, we're better.

There is a common theme underlying all the fear that shelters under the umbrella of myth.

That common theme is self.

Selfishness.

I am good, everyone else is bad, I deserve everything I want, and I don't care who I harm to get what belongs to me.

Selfishness.

Selfishness shelters under the belief that it is good to sacrifice the lives and well-being of the other to keep intact the myth.

At all costs.

The sacrifice of family, friends, happiness, but most of all truth, truth is the first and most important thing to destroy to maintain our personal delusions.

Fear will always be with us.

There is only one power in this universe that can overcome it.

Love.

Love lifts the chokehold of fear so we can see the world as it is and not through our personal expectations.

Love will allow you to see the need in the world, hear the cry for peace, and feel the urgency of now.

Love will let you understand we only get one chance at life.

That's why every life is essential.

Love makes clear that today is the day we do right, not after we're dead.

Love is the only power that can drive back the night terrors of fear and allows us to live together as we should, not as we imagine.

Peace

Daniel J Frey aka Toby

Denial

I'm not fat.

Did I do that?

I don't have to pay taxes.

It's not my problem.

Those people are why I don't have a job.

I have good genes; I can't get cancer.

The weather will get better.

I'm a winner.

Nobody is looking.

My husband has a second job, that's why he works late.

She's just in a mood.

Rehab will help.

That charity does good.

My pastor would never lie.

Covid is a hoax to take away my freedom.

Truth makes everyone who can hear it uncomfortable.

Too many of us prefer to be comfortably numb.

So many issues plague us daily. 

From personal to national, it is understandable why some of us want to shut it all out.

There is a wolf at the door.

Unlike the big bad wolf, this creature will be with us all for the rest of Time.

Denial.

The creature I'm referring to is denial.

Denial is the effect.

The cause of denial is the willful ignorance of fact.

No democracy, no nation, no people, no community can peacefully exist when ignorance is put into a place of honor.

The burden of a healthy society is to care for the sick.

The sick include not only those with failing physical health but also those with failing ethical health.

Our brothers and sisters suffer from anxiety of uncertainty.

They fail to consider their responsibility for their suffering.

They fail to consider that their health, happiness, and freedom are born out of securing those rights for others and themselves.

We rise together.

We fly together.

We reach together.

We overcome together.

Walk away from the dark comfort of denial into the bright community of truth.

It's your choice.

If you can see it.

Denial.

Peace

Toby aka Daniel J Frey

Why I'm Not Grateful

Is the ocean grateful that the river runs into it?

Is the sky grateful for another cloud?

Is a lion grateful for the hunt?

Are you grateful to be able to vote?

What does it mean to be grateful?

To be grateful implies something was given to us.

Something that was not expected.

Something that we could not achieve on our own.

Something that goes beyond our expectations.

Is the bird grateful it can fly?

No.

It flies because it can.

It is expected.

It doesn’t owe anyone or anything for its rightful ability to take flight.

It’s what it does.

As humans, we should expect to be fed and have shelter, safety, justice, freedom, and love.

These rights of life are not given.

These rights are part of the expectation of life.

Freedom is an inalienable right.

We are all born free.

Our rights as humans.

To be grateful implies these rights are given to us.

By who?

Show them to us!

This is the argument stated in the Declaration of Independence of why our founding fathers were not “grateful” to the King of England.

Since the foundations of civilization, men have corruptly manipulated the weak.

The most insidious is the evil that men do to the minds of the innocent.

The most hateful is the idea that we should be grateful to them.

Grateful that we are allowed to exist.

To whom?

To White racist men in the White racist world, in White racist pulpits, in White racist places of power.

They want us all to be grateful to them forever.

They want us to owe them for allowing us to exist.

They want us to be on credit until they say we are paid up.

They want us to be grateful that they allow us to have our sustenance, shelter, safety, justice, freedom, and even our love.

Who we love.

There is no end to this mortgage of suffering.

I get fired up when I’m asked to be grateful for the air I breathe.

I get fired up when I’m asked to be grateful I’m allowed justice.

I get fired up when I’m asked to be grateful I’m allowed to live.

If you want me to be grateful, give me something I don’t have on my own.

Give me an equal opportunity to work.

Give me a chance.

Give me financial credit.

Give me the freedom of the vote.

Give me respect.

See me.

Peace

Daniel J Frey aka Toby

Original Fear

Children have a fear of the dark.

It is a rational fear to the child because they are still children.

The fear is born out of the belief that the world will change when the child closes their eyes.

A world that changes cannot be predicted.

Not being able to predict the future is an innate, fundamental fear response.

This fear is genuine for all of humanity.

To survive in a hostile environment, regularity and predictability allow for a relaxation of awareness.

Allows rest.

Allows sleep.

Removes fear.

That is why the parent puts on a little light in the child’s room.

This little light illuminates the room and the environment.

The child can peek out from their shut eyes and see the room is still the same.

Sameness allows rest.

Sameness allows sleep.

Removes fear.

That little bit of light of truth allows the child a space of comfort in a hostile world.

We, as the carriers of light, it is our privilege to hold up that little light of truth.

We hold that light of truth up in a hostile world.

That light seen by the fearful gives them comfort.

Gives rest.

Gives peace.

Removes fear.

Sweet dreams.

Peace

Daniel J Frey aka Toby

Possible

The rain falls.

The rain falls and gets everyone wet.

A yellow glow of light in a window tells you mom is still awake.

Drawings on the refrigerator.

A young man waiting in a car for a girl to come out.

My test results.

Possible.

Dad is angry.

Where is the money coming from this week?

He's on the wrong side of town.

God is angry.

God is silent.

Possible.

Will they care?

Will they listen?

Will they feel the things that I feel?

Possible.

The comfort that darkness brings is that it covers us up, so we don't have to be responsible.

We can't see the way things are.

We only see what we imagine.

The irresponsibility of comfort.

That's one of the discomforting realities of life in America.

Comfort shortens vision, curtails possibilities, and deadens responsibilities.

This past election, only slightly more than half of Americans were made uncomfortable.

Seventy million people were comfortable with darkness.

They were comfortable with the way things are, resentful, fearful of the way things could be.

Their comfort stopped them short in their journey of life.

They have stopped asking themselves what is possible.

None of us likes to admit when we are wrong.

It makes us uncomfortable.

Too many of us rely upon our own ego, which tells us that we can never be wrong.

We don't look at ourselves in the mirror and ask, "Who is that?"

We find ourselves at odds with the universe.

Impossible?

Justice is impossible.

Freedom is impossible.

Equality is impossible.

Love is impossible.

At the core of this impossible view of life, we will always find fear.

Fear of being wrong.

Fear of being right.

Fear of allowing ourselves to be happy.

Fear of being who we are.

Fear of sharing.

There are no magical words to stop this fear.

No magical incantation or phrase will turn our lives from darkness and seek the light.

For those of us who live in the light, all we can do is keep the door open.

Redemption is always possible.

It is as it has always been.

The world turns, and a new day comes.

The world stops for no people, no person, no government office.

Life lives; it does not bury itself alive.

We all want love and happiness. 

I know I'm not the only one…

Peace

Daniel J Frey aka Toby

Home

Home is where you are, not where you're going to be.

Where are you today?

Are you on your way to work?

On your way to the refrigerator?

On your way to despair?

To hope?

Everyone is seeking meaning.

Meaning of life.

Meaning to sadness.

Meaning to circumstance.

Home is where you are.

What does that mean?

Ideas are given power by the people who believe them to be true.

The idea of home, for many, is an external dwelling.

A place where four walls come together under one roof.

Yet whether you own a home or want a home, you can only rent that home.

All of our lives are a trek from one home to another.

We don't own it.

We are only caretakers.

The current occupant.

Renters.

Life.

Home is where you are, which means you are home.

You are home already, right now, this very second.

Where you are, so is your home.

You are the precious dwelling of the infinite.

Your life is the meaning of home.

Wherever you are, there will also be life.

Where are you going?

If you are looking for happiness, a home outside of yourself, what are you looking for?

Unless and until you are happy within yourself, you will never find contentment outside of yourself.

Life is the journey, not the destination.

Life is now.

Life is in you now.

Your life is in your home, which is you.

But our lives are not tied to the ground.

All of our lives are mobile.

Each person is in their own recreational vehicle, traversing the world.

Each is gaining experience and building a collection of memories.

A scrapbook.

Where are you taking your home?

What is your destination?

Are you ignoring the signs on the road?

Are you drowning out the sounds in the streets calling for justice?

Have you pulled the curtains so that you don't have to see children caged?

Have you put up a fence to keep the neighbors off of your property?

If you have, you have forgotten you're a renter like the rest of us.

You're a renter.

We are all given only so much time in this world.

It is up to each of us to do our best with the time we have.

Not to waste our home.

Our life.

Our time.

Our responsibility to each other.

Our love.

On November 3, we have a responsibility to ourselves and our neighbors.

Vote to save our democracy.

Vote to save your home.

Vote for peace.

Vote for love over hate.

Peace

Daniel J Frey aka Toby

Wait

The sun at dawn.

That coffee in the pot.

A red light.

Wait.

In line for a meal.

In line for a job.

In line to vote.

Wait.

To be seen.

To be recognized.

To be respected.

Wait.

Freedom.

Equality.

Justice.

Peace.

Wait.

It's easy to sit back and not do anything when you have everything.

It's easy to dismiss the tears, the fears, the anguish of people not like you.

It's easy to live in fear of change.

It's easy not to see, not to hear, not to feel when doing so means sharing this world.

It's easy to do nothing.

It's easy to tell others to wait when you are in power.

It's easy to wait.

Wait.

Why should we wait?

This nation of ours has wrestled and fought over the timetable of freedom that it laid down in its foundational documents.

It has fought every step of the way to allow those words of freedom to ring true.

All are created equal...

You would think that a People whose credo is freedom for all would be cheerful and grant this to be true.

Yet here we are today in the first part of the 21st century in America, and a good 40% of Americans do not agree with the Constitution.

My freedom is more important than your freedom.

If you have to have freedom, I'll do away with my freedom before I allow you any of mine.

My power is sanctified; I will not share my abundance with you, the takers.

It's bizarre that a People who declare themselves defenders of liberty and justice only mean themselves.

No one else need apply.

Wait?

No, we ain't waiting anymore.

The Freedom Train is pulling out of the station.

We've got a few more weeks until this election, and we're moving on.

Freedom won't wait.

Freedom, like a falling rain, will change with the season.

In the Winter, it will fall like snow, slow and beautiful.

During the Spring, it was long and drenching.

In the summer, hot and fast, the thunder rolls across the hills and echoes in the valleys.

There is no need to wait.

Everyone has a ticket to get on the Freedom Train.

It's up to each of us to get on board or not.

To get your ticket punched, all you have to do is vote.

Don't wait.

Vote.

Peace

Daniel J Frey aka Toby

How

How do we help the blind see?

How to help the deaf hear?

How do you help the numb feel?

Obligation.

How can I help?

How can I matter?

How can I walk the walk?

Compassion.

How to run?

How to reach?

How to be hope?

Love.

The acid that will dissolve any democracy is willful ignorance combined with intolerance.

Willful ignorance is defined as the choice to ignore reality.

A preference, a choice, not a mistake.

Willful ignorance is tied spiritually to entitlement.

I am owed, I deserve, I’m next in line, I will take at the expense of others.

Consequences are not for me.

Consequences are only for those who are unfit, unworthy, on the other side…

Willful ignorance, intolerance, and entitlement are walls of fear built by humans.

They are high, they are thick, they are not fragile.

Many have tried to attack these walls directly, but always with no effect.

You may win a battle, but not the war.

Not only will the individual rebuild these walls, but the community that they protect will assist.

People who live protected behind the walls of willful ignorance, intolerance, and entitlement are numb to voices in the streets.

They are numb to the images of despair.

They are numb to the feelings of loss.

How do you reach them?

Why would you want to reach them?

Really?

Why?

Haven’t they placed themselves above humanity?

Haven’t they walled themselves off from human kindness?

Haven’t they buried themselves in the dirt like the living dead?

Yes, they have.

Fear will always have the potential to make all of us do bad things.

For those who have been given much, much is expected.

If you know how to swim and someone is drowning, love says save that person.

If you know how to stand and someone has fallen, love says help them up.

If you know the truth and someone has lied, love says speak up.

Someone has to be the adult in the room.

We are not here to save those who are already safe.

If you are reading my words, more than likely, you are in the choir of hope.

To round out our choir, we need all the voices of the earth.

That’s why we care.

That’s why we fight.

That’s why we sing.

We are not afraid of the fight for justice.

We will stand outside the walls of willful ignorance, intolerance, and entitlement, calling to our brothers and sisters to join us in a beautiful land.

There is redemption

You can begin again.

A land where fear has its place.

A land where love leads the way.

Peace

Daniel J Frey aka Toby