The pulse of America is fading fast. Her time on the world stage as a beacon of freedom shall soon pass into the winds of history. She may never have been those high ideals we so often projected on her, but now not even the greatest conjuror can make us believe in her anymore. Fallen and broken, the American psyche is ripe for the plunder.

How can it be otherwise? This website and others like it have been proclaiming the ascendancy of John Kerry to rival George W. Bush in this year's presidential election long before even Howard Dean rose to his 15 minutes of fame and the foolish Michael Moore threw his considerable weight behind the pretend-contender Wesley Clark. These predictions were not based on guesswork but an awakened understanding of the way power works in the world. As of “Super Tuesday”, all political roads to redemption have been sealed off.

Germinating in the American womb over these next nine months will be the bastard child of all dark plots. It matters not who wins in November. The “Anybody But Bush” crowd will delude themselves into thinking that Senator Kerry is truly different than his co-ruling fraternity brother. The illusion of democracy will reign once more, but only briefly. If Kerry wins, as I imagine he will, the power elite will have secured themselves the presidency right up to that mystical and long expected year of 2012. Kerry, and whoever rides with him, will stand watch in America to assure that consciousness continues its descent into imprisonment until that fateful year has passed.

The time is now, more than ever, for those souls whose gaze is fixed on freedom to truly empower themselves. The power you seek can not be found in government reforms or politically correct movements nurturing wounded egos in an increasingly fragmented world. Your pain is your own as is your power. Ownership of them both is what is called for now. Scream all you want of shadow government conspiracies and alien interventions. None of that will do you any good.

The road to power is hard at first, but as you gain pieces of yourself back from the vampires that surround you and mislead you, a gathering momentum will remove many obstacles from your path. It has been the experience of this author that such power may be gained while in pursuit of the following:

1)

Divorcing your thinking from the status quo. As long as you see things the way the world does, you will continue to be plagued by its problems. If you desire a new world, you must be able to think in a new way. It is quite okay to have strong opinions as to what that world might look like, after all, it is YOUR LIFE that you are living. Unlearners need not live in the service of others, unless it is their informed choice to do so.

2)

Taking that leap of faith. You can't get to the new world by staying in the old one. Many of you know you don't belong where you are at currently. Yet you hang around waiting for the new and better thing to come along. It can not come along because your inability to move keeps it from you. You must release yourself from where you are in order to create the space for something new. It is a scary choice and there are no guarantees that you will succeed. But think on this…will you have “succeeded” if you stay on the road you are on now for the rest of your life?

3)

Creating something instead of watching something. The fear that grips us in our lives sometimes paralyzes us into being a passive victim of the world. When you start claiming back your power, you become less interested in what others are doing and delve more deeply into your own process. What you shall find in there is the treasure the world has been waiting for! And even if the world couldn't give a rat's ass about what you've found, you yourself shall be more than pleased. This alone will have positive results on your environment.

4)

Preparing yourself to let it all go. Whether the dark machinations of the power elite ultimately destroy your physical body or time claims it in a more peaceful way, in the end there is the simply the end. Those of us still fearing that great big change have not delved deeply enough into the core of power. If you had, you would have realized by now that you will carry on in your creative pursuits long after your body has become recycled dirt. Letting go of this wonderful, horrific, or somewhere-in-between life will be easier if you have lived your life fully according to your terms. Having had your fill, you can push yourself away from the table of life well fed and contented. If we have lived our lives depriving ourselves or feasting on poor nourishment, that lack will consume us as spirits and drive us back to clingy suffering time and again.

Many unlearners, out of the richness of their own lives and the gratitude for those whom they share it with, are naturally drawn to wanting to “do something” about the present quagmire in which the world is sinking. Once divorced from the worldview-at-large, you will see that the only way to help is to teach by self-empowerment. One empowered human is more powerful than a thousand cowards, the foolish ones on which the politicians feed.

While sometimes providing this editor with fodder for interesting insights, there is really no more that needs to be said about the upcoming SELECTION in November. The power structure will have its man or woman in charge, as has always been the case. The challenge of the unlearned in the times ahead will be to assert themselves when the rest begin to run for cover. With full power in your bosom, you would have it no other way.