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I wrote this book report for class at HSU.
It came out like a philosophical introspection of my own beliefs...
I recommend that you read this book...

NRPI400 Greg Vanderlaan-Part 3
A Language Older Than Words by Derrick Jensen pages 77-122

He starts off with a story about Jesus. The reality of the Christian Church is quite different than the teachings of Jesus. I am an Atheist. I simply do not believe that God exists. This subject was studied in depth by me during my time spent at AA meetings. That club is a meeting place for Alcoholics and the subject of God is discussed frequently. We feel that a power greater than ourselves restored us to Sanity. Many members choose Jesus or Allah or Buddha or Krishna as their higher power. In my case, I came to believe that the organization itself was my higher power. This worked well. There is even a joke in our club that the word GOD is an acronym for the three words, Group Of Drunks. A collection of people can accomplish more than an Individual. In some cases, the power of the group exceeds the power of the individuals added together. In the Italian language a bundle of sticks is called a fascia. That is the origin of the word Fascist. A bundle of people working together. I have listened to many people whine that their Church has been of no help to them and that they feel estranged to the religion of their youth. The obvious solution is to simply discard that religion like a person would discard a flat tire or a broken toaster. Jensen starts off by complaining that the Christian Church does not follow the teachings of Jesus. Well, just discard Jesus. That is an obsolete religion in my opinion. We currently have the technology to re-create a religious experience. It makes much more sense to have the experience personally of "Climbing Mount Sinai and Talking to The Burning Bush" than depending upon second hand re-telling of the story. He says that our culture uses the Bible to justify weird behavior. I agree, Christians are weird and they would be better citizens of the world if they dumped their religion and learned to think for themselves. I heard that our 'resident, George Bush talked to God and God told him to "SMITE SADDAM and OSAMA". Also, Allah told Saddam and Osama to fight a holy war against "The Great Satan"... All these guys are clearly insane. If they all simply stopped believing in God, then God would stop telling them to kill. I have found that in general, people that have eaten LSD-25, Peyote or Psilocibin tend to be gentle and kind. The "feeling of Fusion at the Heart of the Cosmos" prevents people from becoming insane mass-murderers. With the famous exception of Charles Manson, Acid-Heads are usually really nice people. Christians and Muslims often get excited about which brand name of God is correct. HOW SILLY! They have a great desire to convert other people to their religion. This sometimes involves torture. Atheists and Acid-heads tend to not care what other people believe. We feel sorry for the people that follow obsolete Gods but we realize that selecting a God is really their responsibility, not ours. I have tried their religion but found it wimpy. The act called communion, involves eating a sacred wafer of bread that is supposed to let you experience God. I can see that if it was RYE-bread infected with a fungus called ergot, the practice of communion might work, but my experience was that nothing happened. If a person eats the "sacred wafers" at a Grateful Dead concert there is no doubt about the effectiveness. No FAITH required. Faith is a catch-all excuse for religions that simply do not work. He says that trees scream when they are chainsawed to death. This is hard to believe, but I cannot rule it out completely. I have witnessed the chainsawing of giant redwood trees and it is quite a disturbing experience. Extremely noisy. There was the sound of the saws and LOTS of screaming by people in the forest. This happened on Greenwood Heights road in Freshwater, CA. The Eco-Activists that had been camping in the trees had a lot of friends on the ground. There was so much noise that a tree screaming could be lost in the mix of sounds. He feels a bit of guilt about using trees to manufacture paper for books. We have the technology to make paper out of weeds. There is no need to make paper out of trees because the plant HEMP can be used to make paper. Sadly, our government prohibits the growing of hemp. If we simply changed stupid laws, we could solve this eco-logical problem. I have seen paper that was made from Hemp. The Declaration of Independence was printed on Hemp. He continues with bashing Christianity. The way they treat women is pretty weird. That philosophy of seeing women as "a necessary evil" and a "foe to friendship" is sad. A better way to live life is to be friends with women. We are partners working together for common goals. By adopting the philosophy of kindness and cooperation, I get to live in a world where half of the people are automatically friends. "We are all one 'neath the infinite sun, forever forever forever"... Lyrics to a Rainbow-Gathering Song... Seeking a third way: He says that "the cruelty we take for granted is not natural". I understand that people that are brainwashed by Islam or Jesus take cruelty for granted but I certainly do not. The best solution is to teach people to Think for themselves. The system we have in place teaches people to read a book or ask a Pastor what to do. Obedience is important in these religions. Doing what you are told to do is highly valued. The public education system also rewards obedience. The school system trains people to become compliant wage slaves. It is valuable to an employer or military leader to have mindless robots that will do what they are told to do. One of the comments in our class by a fellow student pointed out the belief that the reason Psychedelics were illegal is that they changed people into disobedient, questioning humans. The masters of society certainly want controllable compliant "sheep" to be the norm. As a matter of fact, Christians are often called sheep. Is this a joke or a subliminal realization of fact. They are good about following orders. He also says that most people hate their jobs. On rare occasion, I have had the right livelihood. Once I had a job at a plastics factory and we made plastic wheels for wheelchairs. At the end of the day, I felt that I had accomplished something worthwhile. He never found a job that was worthwhile so he became self employed. The classic American Dream. He seems to be upset about the history of the world. In the past, Europeans killed or enslaved the native people of countries that they invaded. I refuse to feel guilty or upset about this. I have the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change. I cannot change history. He should simply "get over it". In American History, The Dutch people founded New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island and the English founded Jamestown in Virginia at about the same time. The Dutch were very tolerant of different languages and religions. The English were very Intolerant. If tolerance of other peoples cultures was an efficient technique, we would speak Dutch in the USA. We speak English here because... Intolerance worked. In the past, what worked was cruelty and enslavement. In the year 2004, we should try a different system because times have changed... I look forward to seeing what his plan is... http://gregvan.bravehost.com