May 2019 – Breakaway Consciousness

Mining For Inspiration | #Motivation | #Inspiration | #Life | #Music

“I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.”
– Stephen Covey

“Great things are done when men and mountains meet.”
– William Blake

BreakawayIndividual.com
Zy Marquiez
May 22, 2019

Inspiration is a gateway for the individual.

Inspiration can do many things, but most of all, it brings an infusion of energy into the soul that leaves it refreshed, energized, and ready to do anything at hand. When the individual in inspired, things are bound to happen and life takes on an “everyday above ground is a good day” type of vibe.

What inspires individuals varies, but inspiration infuses energy into all of us. Sometimes this just happens, sometimes you must seek it. At this current moment in time I am chasing inspiration in a particular way. This isn’t to say that I haven’t been inspired for other things, but when it comes to music, which is what I am currently sifting through, I needed something different, something that energizes me.

Lately I have been listening to a lot of different documentaries, interviews and podcasts, and I find those incredibly invigorating. I love listening to different reasonable arguments and so on. But that only offers one type of inspiration, particularly when it comes to research and self-directed learning.

Reading books and poetry is another way that I get a lot of inspiration, but again, it’s of a different taste. Sometimes movies offer inspiration, and sometimes people, but either way, inspiration comes in many forms, in many flavors. And while you might be inspired in one way, it doesn’t necessarily mean you shouldn’t maintain a constant stream of inspiration going on or that one type of inspiration will translate into all parts of your life.

For instance, there are times I am incredibly inspired to write poetry, but that inspiration doesn’t translate into say, organizing my personal office.

Do you really need inspiration for organizing a place? That’s a great question. I think inspiration can help us in limitless ways. Only you know what inspiration helps you personally accomplish.

Be that as it may, I have done a proactive push for inspiration as an approach for the last few weeks and it’s worked quite well, although I haven’t sought out music for a while when it comes to inspiration. When I do though, I find myself working out more, working out longer, dancing more and so on. Sometimes that music translates to cleaning and organizing more. In fact, if there’s something that translates into almost everything for me personally, it’s music.

Even with that, I am very particular with what I listen too (aren’t we all), but I find that sometimes all it takes is one song to change my mood and so on. Not that I’m a moody person, but I tend to remain in neutral by default as much as possible, simply as something I’ve learned from poker since that game is an emotional roller coaster du jour and maintaining your good and bad emotions under control is downright crucial. It’s a very Zen-like approach, but one that I don’t mind at all.

Now, whether it is music, art, writing, movies, people, or any circumstance in life, make sure your Inspiration Bank Account is as full as it can be [1]. That way, steamrolling through life becomes nigh effortless.

Seek out what inspires you, whatever it may be. Be proactive about it. Those jolts of energy that inspiration provides are monumental and have a way of adding oceans of fuel into your core being.

That very fuel that inspiration provides is what will allow you to go through life and venture any place you want, do anything you wish, and accomplish what you wish to accomplish. In essence, that fuel will help you get things done.

And that’s one thing that life is about, accomplishing things of various types. Be it trivial or meaningful, only you can decide for yourself what is what. But when you end up finishing goals or something else, whatever you do achieve via inspiration will further invigorate the core of your being further. This will create an energy loop that can be fed constantly to no end.

Sometimes, all it takes is one circumstance, one song, or one little snowball to roll down a hill to create an avalanche of energy at your fingertips.

So why not go mine for inspiration to see what can be accomplished? You never know what inspirational gems you will find and what treasures you may find.

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Author’s Note:

[1] The notion of “Inspirational Bank Accounts” sounds like an idea for some blogs doesn’t it! It’s a thought at least.

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Mindfulness Musing: Choices Made Out Of Fear & Love | #Life | #Choices | #Mindfulness

BreakawayIndividual.com
Zy Marquiez
May 21, 2019

Today I made a choice that was totally fear-based choice. I state this because I usually try to be mindful and make love-based choices.

For clarification purposes, a fear-based choice is simply a poor quality of consciousness choice, while a love-based choice is a high quality of consciousness choice. More importantly, choices made out of love are choices that are good not because it’s the ‘right thing to do’, but because you are acting out of goodness. Making a choice as such means you’re doing it not because you’re expected too, but because it is who you are.

Many times people do the ‘right’ thing, but it’s not really who they are. They only carry out such choices because that’s what society expects of them, and not really because that’s who they are at the being level, all the way down at the soul.

The reason I state that is because it bothers me that I made a fear-based choice because I try and make positive choices, no matter how big or small the choice. It can be as simple as (1) being polite to someone, (2) saying hello to someone, (3) helping someone out, (4) giving an honest compliment, (5) being mindful of other’s needs, (6) telling someone you appreciate them, so on and so forth.

Even with all that, and the fact that I wanted to make a positive choice and was even incredibly mindful of it, I still acted out of fear. I thought about it for quite a bit, so it’s not like this was an autopilot choice out of fear, but still. I keep pondering about what choice I could have made that was different, but I can’t think of too many, and all were based out of fear.

The reason this is crucial is because choices based out of fear nigh ever lead to anything good, and stunt an individual’s evolution, if not make them devolve outright. This is where people begin making one fear based choice after another after another and they begin spiraling into turmoil and so on. I’ve seen this with a few family members so it’s something that I’ve been privy too quite often.

The opposite side of this spectrum is also true though. Choices made out of goodness and what’s right exacerbate an individual’s evolution and growth. And the same way consecutive negative choices compound into a snowballing avalanche of negative circumstances, consistent positive choices help an individual evolve in myriad positive ways creating a tsunami of positive change.

In any case, I share the above so that individuals may perhaps consider being cognizant whenever they make choices of various types.

Being mindful of the approach you take in life does take effort, but it’s always worth it.

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Conformity Crisis: The War Between Conformists & Non-Conformists | #Conformity | #Freedom| #Life | #Truth | #Friendship | #Friends

“The unexamined life is not worth living for a human being.”
– Socrates

BreakawayIndividual.com
Zy Marquiez
May 18, 2019

These days it seems that not a moment goes by without someone having some sort of disagreement.

Not that people should always agree about everything, that’s not the point. Disagreements come in all shapes and forms, just like people do. The point is that many of these disagreements you see, whether in person, or online, stem from a certain section of the populace’s ceaseless push to inculcate their beliefs on others, regardless of the consequences.

There seems to be two prevailing schools of thought out there regarding how to handle these situations. When aiding others in their search for truth, the initial school of thought, the non-conformists, don’t mind when other individuals ask them questions about beliefs and ideas discussed. The second group, the conformists, take downright offense to anyone questioning them on anything. The former seeks to help the individual arrive at their own truth; the latter seeks to be the high priest, just like those of ancient times who controlled the free flow of specific information.

This particular trend of individuals not wanting to have open discussions seems to be growing with time. Individuals who do wish to carry out further inquiry to seek firmer ground have nigh no options when speaking to closed-minded conformists because ultimately with a conformist, it’s their way or the highway. Ironically, what is happening to those who seek firmer ground is not unlike what happened to the “Father of Philosophy,” Socrates, over two millennia ago.

Socrates was feared because he wasn’t afraid of questioning an individual’s beliefs about any given subject, similar to individuals today who question the official narrative on countless issues. In parallel fashion to modern conformists, in Socrates’ time, the ultimate conformists of the time – as with much of history – was the state. This see saw bout of ideals that took place millennia ago still takes place now. That said, because of his very ideals, Socrates is the Godfather of Non-conformity. Socrates is the living definition of a question mark.

With the Socratic Method – of querying deeply into the subject – Socrates would begin to dissect an individual’s paradigm and those inherent flaws if any, usually in the realms of justice and goodness. Because of Socrates’ method, many times the paradigms individuals had – inculcated by the state and by religion – would drastically shift or disintegrate altogether, and begin something anew. This lead the state to lash out against him for questioning the system, particularly the “might makes right” the state was notorious known for, and eventually got him executed.

The state feared that the changes Socrates was bringing about in the populace would continue to spread and from their tyrannical point of view they could not allow that. Thankfully though, most of what he was able to accomplish still echoes to this day – even to this very post, thousands of years later.

In similar fashion, nowadays, people who push conformity are doing themselves and the other individuals a great disservice. This is because individuals pushing conformity are: (1) not being open minded, thus contemplating life from an incredibly narrow point of view, which (2) stunts the growth an individual may have by the exposure of a wide array of information. Further, (3) by attempting to force conformity on others, conformists are taking away a terrific learning opportunity from the individuals truly seeking answers to poignant questions, and (4) in the worst case, these conformists are even losing relationships through all social strata because they are not being open minded about the possibility that other options exist. All of this stands against the very nature of free-flowing inquiry.

Keen conversations of proactive mental discernment should have a certain flow, like a see saw, a back and forth between minds. However, what is taking place is far from such a common sense and proactive approach. The talks that are taking place currently between conformists and non-conformists echo a societal instability brought about by the conformist that will only exacerbate with time.

Intricately, this particular issue is touched upon in the thought-provoking book Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, by Shunryu Suzuki, who cautions individuals on this very subject:

“Try not to force your idea on someone but rather think about it with him. If you feel you have won the discussion, that is also the wrong attitude. Try not to win in the argument; just listen to it; but it is also wrong to behave as if you had lost. Usually when we say something, we are apt to try to sell our teaching or force our idea.”[1][Bold & Underline Emphasis Added].

In other words, allow others the freedom to make choices, to find their own path – to make mistakes. That is one of the best ways individuals grow, by learning from their choices. However, forcing opinions and/or beliefs on others is diametrically opposed to all that is good and sensible.

Moreover, not only is overriding someone’s freedoms rather inhuman, or conformist to say the least, but it goes directly against the very idea of Freedom and its downright tyrannical. In contrast, if conformists would opt to listen to others, as happens in free-flowing conversations of open-minded individuals, those pushing their beliefs and agendas would come to an understanding as to why the other individual feels reticent to the particular issue. That simple step can help magnitudes in understanding where another person is coming from and why the other person feels as they feel. A conformist’s conversations never even get that far. Ironically, that would arguably be the place where the most progress could be made.

If inquiring individuals who wish to engage in mental discernment are not allowed their own personal moment of clarity of piercing through the veil, they will not own the moment – know the truth – but merely borrow another person’s footsteps as their own. Such an instance robs the individuals of making great progress in their strides for the truth, and thus leaves them at square one.

When someone is forced to intellectually conform they are not allowed the freedom to philosophize – to seek wisdom. Philosophy is crucial, for it literally means the love of wisdom. How is an individual ever going to gain insights, journey to wisdom, unless they are allowed or even urged to ask questions?

As modern philosopher Peter Kreeft Ph.D. warned in his Philosophy 101 By Socrates:

“If we do not philosophize, if we do not question appearances, if we are satisfied with whatever makes us feel happy, we will never know whether we are being deceived about who we are and what level of our being is being satisfied.”[2][Bold & Italics Emphasis Added].

An individual that is not allowed to hone their senses and polish their intuition will not have the opportunity to learn to see the forest for the trees. If said individual merely accepts the authoritarian conformist’s attitudes, they will suffer in many ways. These inquiring individuals will have a harder time – or nigh impossible time – figuring out deception, as we are seeing nowadays; these individuals won’t be able to figure out a well constructed argument based on facts and logic from outright speculation or downright lies; these genuinely curious individuals will also not be able to become as robust and intellectually self-sufficient as possible as they could be in this newfound age of disinformation. Such an individual will be just like a boat in the ocean with a damaged sail that is drifting aimlessly directly into an eternal storm confusion.

That is why it’s imperative as individuals to help others realize their full potential as they seek truth and growth within our world. As other individuals grow, they will share what made them change in positive fashion. And as we learn from them we can integrate these lessons and help others just as so. This type of concurrent growth is not unlike the rising tide lifting all ships.

Ruminating a bit deeper into this entire conundrum, maybe this issue is about more than truth though. Perhaps there’s more on the line than meets the eye. What seems to be missing to some extent, in some individuals at least, is simply the ability for them to be caring human beings, regardless of beliefs. A truly caring, wholesome individual will not simply railroad someone else because they believe something different or refuse to believe them.

It seems that following a personal philosophy of seeking personal growth through an attempted mastery of your mental and spiritual wellbeing seems like a prudent choice to say the least. And personal growth involves more than just attaining truth or strengthening beliefs.

Observing the words of Kreeft once more:

“Wisdom is more than knowledge. Knowing all facts in a library does not make you wise. Wisdom is a knowledge not just of facts but of values, of what is humanly important; and it is a knowledge that is a lived, that is learned by experience and lived out in experience.”[3][Bold & Italics Emphasis Added]

When conformists push their ideals and beliefs onto inquiring individuals, they take away the opportunity for those individuals to have meaningful experiences for growth and self-development, which includes more than simple truths or beliefs. Those instances may never take place again. Individuals that are not allowed to live to their fullest extent will only realize a fraction of the capability they would otherwise be able to achieve if they were allowed to venture upon their personal road less traveled – their individual journey.

Those who are allowed to gain personal insights on their road to self mastery will not only grow profoundly but will also develop a more robust Socratic Philosophy, just like the Greeks did in ancient times.

In ancient times:

“The Greeks became the world’s greatest philosophers partly because…they learned to question appearances to find something more, some hidden reality behind the appearances.”[4][Bold Emphasis Added]

Such is the reason why appearances, beliefs and supposed facts must always be questioned. For if they are not, what might be hidden will never rise to the surface and will not be able to be seen in pure darkness. Truth is the only light beam that disintegrates the shadows. And the only way to attain truth is for individuals to hone their inner fire, their inner light.

Touching upon this very concern, award winning teacher, advocate of self-directed learning and of individual freedom, John Taylor Gatto urged in his landmark book Dumbing Us Down:

“People have to be allowed to make their own mistakes or to try again, or they will never master themselves, although they may well seem to be competent when they have in fact only memorized or imitated someone else’s performance. Success in my practice involves challenging many comfortable assumptions about what is worth learning and out of what material a good life is fashioned.”[5][Bold, Underline & Italics Emphasis Added]

Questioning our conformable assumptions, our beliefs, about what is worth learning for each individual and bringing about the most growth is what this entire conundrum is about. That is why it is crucial that:

“One should not present others with ready-made answers, preach to them, or only make them memorize things. One needs to activate them. They should figure things out. The ambition can even be to liberate them.”[6][Bold, Underline & Italics Emphasis Added].

To help individuals achieve total freedom – physically, spiritually, psychologically, emotionally and mentally – they need to be encouraged to walk their own path, learn their own lessons – find their own wisdom.

If individuals aren’t allowed to grow, or choose not to, their mental faculties will atrophy, like someone who uses crutches constantly and has their muscles atrophy from disuse.

As friends, colleagues, or simply caring human beings, perhaps it is imperative not to worry only about our subjective ideas, beliefs, or even outright facts. Not saying those are not important, so please do not misunderstand me.

All I am getting at is that, perhaps, what the vanguard consideration should be is helping other individuals wherever they may need help along their road, so they can then better understand whatever it is that they seek knowledge in. What got them to their current point in life is vastly different to what got you to yours. In like fashion, what gets them to the truth will most likely be vastly different than what got you to it.

Allowing other individuals the opportunity for growth, by not making them conform, is one of the greatest gifts we can help flourish in another human being on their journey. Along this journey, other individuals may at times need help. Walk along side them, as long as they need, and help them when possible. But remember, their life is their journey.

While your paths may cross time and again, ultimately an individual’s journey will be a rather unique and authentic experience. Along this path, the side of the road will surely be rife with random rocks lacking meaning. But now and again, among the ruble, an individual’s curiosities will be sparked by sparkles of truth, and they will find gratifying gems. These are the very gems of wisdom that will push individuals further down their path to intellectual treasure, further towards their adventure for truth – towards individual growth and incredible self-development.

Ultimately, what another individual does is up to them, for its their life, their freedom, their choice. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t help them along that journey. Just help them in any way you can, especially if they implore you for help. That’s what friendship is all about. That’s what being a caring human being is all about.

And maybe, just maybe, one day these individuals will realize that it was you whose left some of those gems along their road, and that they’ve been given a gift, and that it’s been there all along, just waiting for the right moment.

And the right moment is now.

Give them that gift.
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Author’s Note:

This article was written a few years ago for New Agora Magazine. It has been slightly edited, but the core content remains unchanged.

I share this because if you simplify a lot of the issues taking place nowadays, they are about conformists vs. non-conformists. Now, whatever side you fall on, that is your business. What you rarely see from each side, but even less from the conformist side, is an attempt at seeking understanding.

How can progress be made without understanding? Perhaps that’s where a lot of the arguments and discussions should start, seeking understanding and/or common ground. After all, we are all humans, and just because we can’t see eye to eye on every issue doesn’t mean we don’t have the option to see what other people have gone through, empathize with their plight, comprehend their obstacles and circumstances better, but most of all, understand why they are who they are and why they believe what they believe.

That alone will solve more problems than forcing people to do anything, even if you are inherently right.
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Footnotes:

[1] Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, p. 108.
[2] Peter Kreeft Ph.D., Philosophy 101 by Socrates – An Introductory To Philosophy Via Plato’s Apology, p. 74.
[3] Ibid., p. 10.
[4] Ibid., p. 19.
[5] John Taylor Gatto, Dumbing Us Down – The Hidden Curriculum Of Compulsory Schooling, p. xxxv.
[6] Tommi Juhani Hanhijarvi Ph.D., Dialectical Thinking – Zeno, Socrates, Kant, Marx, p. 32.

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Time Management: Eternity & A Day Will Never Be Enough | #Time | #Life | #Dreams | #Goals | #Motivation

“The bad news is that time flies. The good news is that you’re the pilot.”
– Michael Altshuler

Imagination!
BreakawayIndividual.com
Zy Marquiez
May 16, 2019

The title of this blog post stems from the song, Eternity and A Day. It is a song that takes place in one of the Underworld movies.

At this very moment, I am currently going through my final check up of my poetry book A Kaleidoscope Of Possibilities, and it escaped me that I had written a poem called “Eternity & A Day Will Never Be Enough”.

I mention this because time is something I will always write about, and even think about more so. Rereading this poem made me realize that no matter how much time I was allotted as an individual, there would never be enough time for me to realize all my dreams. This sounds rather dismal, but perhaps it’s not.

You might be thinking, “How could NOT achieving all your dreams not be bad?”

Great question, I am very glad you asked. We are going to employ a binary answer for this.

First, let’s take a slightly different outside-of-the-box point of view. If every single one of us had more time, what would we do? We would cram even more things into our schedules and fill it to the hilt. Say we have 48 hours in the day, what would we do? We would probably have more goals, dream more, dream bigger, or perhaps not dream at all, perhaps still live life to the same degree we would when we have 24 hours a day not pushing ourselves to our maximum potential. The point is that, adding more time might only add more work (be it actual work, chasing dreams, etc.), but perhaps not more freedom to accomplish everything, if that makes sense.

My contention is that more time has never been the problem. The problem stems from not using each minute, each hour, each day, to its maximum potential. Whether we have 24 hours in a day, or 48 hours in a day, a bad habit in time-management will be a bad habit either way. Now to my second point.

The possibility, and I say possibility because it’s not a certainty, that we may not achieve all of our dreams is paramount because it should make us appreciate the moments, goals and dreams that we have to a remarkable degree. For instance, if you knew you had 10 dreams, wouldn’t you spend time chasing those that mean the most?

Having only a certain degree of latitude in life pushes us out of our comfort zones and into consideration of things we might not otherwise feel if we didn’t have any pressure from the clock.

In my personal case, I know that if I had more time, that would just me more goals, more dreams, and so on. That would be fantastic, but it would never end, which is my anchor in all this.

If an individual is employing imagination to its maximum potential, there will never be enough time for them to accomplish all their dreams, and that’s a good thing because that means they are pushing themselves constantly, instead of say having 2 or 3 goals they might wish to accomplish.

This notion hits me hard because my appreciation for time every passing day grows considerably. Leave it to a poem to remind me of it.

These thoughts are to help foster rumination of whatever goals individuals may have, and structuring them in a way that helps them gain more out of life.

Now I get back to one of my dreams, and I hope every single one of you do as well.

You all have a stellar evening.

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Suggested Reading:

Nixon and Johnson Pushed the CIA to Spy on U.S. Citizens, Declassified Documents Show

Their paranoia led the agency to launch Operation CHAOS—in direct violation of its charter

Source: History.com
Adam Janos

What prompted the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency to spy on American citizens on U.S. soil in the 1960s—in violation of its own charter? Because two inhabitants of the White House suspected sinister foreign influence behind the decade’s growing civic unrest.

For President Richard Nixon, the anti-war demonstrations that mired his presidency never made sense. During one conversation with his treasury secretary John Connally, he described the unrelenting protesters as “a wild orgasm of anarchists sweeping across the country like a prairie fire.”

His confusion wasn’t entirely misplaced. More than a quarter-million Americans demonstrated against the conflict in Vietnam, a sustained and widespread effort that helped erode morale amongst servicemen overseas. It was a sharp break from the broad bipartisan support Americans had offered to the previous wars of the century.

Nixon wasn’t just resentful of the anti-war movement: He was also suspicious that foreign powers might be behind them. And so, in June 1969, the president directed the CIA to prepare a report on the anti-war movement and what foreign communist support the demonstrations might be receiving.

President Nixon at a news conference at the White House said the government had heard the demonstrators demanding an end to the war, but said it would not be intimidated by them—and would prosecute those who break the law. He also said he felt TV accounts of demonstrations on Capitol Hill gave the incorrect impression that ‘Washington is in a state of siege.’ (Credit: Getty Images)

He was the second consecutive president to demand CIA surveillance of American dissidents. His predecessor, President Lyndon Johnson, had already directed federal agencies to investigate civil unrest in July 1967 following a spate of race-related violence.

The result of those executive requests—the CIA’s Operation CHAOS—would directly violate the Agency’s charter, mandating that the CIA focus its counterintelligence on overseas targets only. The charter, drafted when the agency was created in 1947, reflected the Constitutional principle that American citizens are entitled to a high degree of personal privacy.

How Did the CIA Do Their Spying?

Because the goal of Operation CHAOS was to establish proof of foreign influence in American dissident movements, agents were deployed to universities across the United States, where they infiltrated the “New Left” and learned the culture and lingo of the movements they would purportedly be part of. Once they had successfully infiltrated, agents deployed to foreign nations, where they sought information on foreign connections.

In both their domestic training and their international work, agents collected the names of American citizens and organizations connected to dissident movements, creating a computerized index of more than 300,000 names. Of those, approximately 7,200 American citizens had more thorough “201” files opened on them, deeper portraits which included information such as their place of birth, their family members and their organizational affiliations.

The CIA also supplemented some of these “201” files with information gathered through a CIA mail-intercept program, wherein the CIA covertly read postal correspondence between the United States and the USSR.

Black Panther Party members demonstrating outside the New York courthouse, New York City, April 11, 1969. (Photo by David Fenton/Getty Images)

Who Was the CIA Spying On?

The CIA was most concerned about foreign influence inside the loudest civil-unrest movements. In the late 1960s and early ’70s, that meant looking for foreign linkages to the antiwar movement, the black nationalism movement (the Black Panther Party) and civil-rights groups, such as the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

But while the stated goal of Operation CHAOS was to find connections to foreign actors, most of the “201” files were at best tenuously connected. For example, a 201 file was opened on Grove Press, Inc. a press that published an author later discovered to be a Soviet agent. In an unrelated endeavor, Grove Press also helped produce I Am Curious (Yellow), a Swedish film drama with explicit sex scenes. When those scenes drew a polarized response amongst the American public, the CIA kept track of how film critics reviewed the movie.

Despite their diligence, in 1969 the CIA reported to the White House that there was “very little evidence of communist funding and training of such movements and no evidence of communist direction and control.” Operation CHAOS nevertheless remained in effect until 1974.

President Nixon, left, shakes hands with CIA Director Richard Helms, March 1969, at the agency headquarters in McLean, Virginia. (Credit: Getty Images)

The top-secret report “Restless Youth,” penned by CIA Director Richard Helms at the request of the White House, concluded that student radicalism sprang more from political and social alienation at home. In his cover letter, addressed to then-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, Helms took pains to emphasize that spying on U.S. students was outside of the CIA’s purview: “This is an area not within the charter of this Agency, so I need not emphasize how extremely sensitive it makes the paper. Should anyone learn of its existence it would prove most embarrassing for all concerned.”

Kissinger, in summarizing the letter for the president, derided the findings, in part because it “tends to dismiss the communist and other outside influence as a factor.”

It was “a no-win situation,” writes former CIA officer and Operation CHAOS member Frank Rafalko in his book MH/CHAOS, which defended the Agency against those who criticized it of domestic overreach. “Each time we reported that there was no evidence of foreign control within the domestic student and black militant groups, the White House reaction was one of skepticism… It was back to the drawing board each time. And each time, we had to expand our horizons, to reach further and look at every dissident to try to detect any foreign contact and what that contact meant. In the end, we were trying to defend our conclusion—we were trying to prove a negative.”

What Made The CIA Finally Stop?

The 1972 discovery that two former CIA operatives were involved with the Watergate burglary had dramatic repercussions for both the CIA and the White House. Nixon fired CIA Director Helms, whose replacement, James Schlesinger, would only last a few months before being replaced by William Colby. In 1974, as the Agency faced heightened scrutiny over partisan corruption, Colby terminated CHAOS.

In December 1974, four months after President Nixon’s resignation, The New York Times broke the story of Operation CHAOS to the general public. The following year, President Gerald Ford established the United States President’s Commission on CIA Activities within the United States (also known as the Rockefeller Commission), which further elucidated the claims.

Blog Update: Published My First Book The Twin Flame, Future Projects & More | #Poetry | #Prose | #CreativeWriting | #NoctisBlackburn

TTF1
Breakaway Individual.com
Zy Marquiez
May 15, 2019

I got a pleasant surprise today.

Today I (finally!) received a hardcopy of my first book ever, The Twin Flame, published under a different pen name, Noctis Blackburn. This poetry book features 111 poems. I couldn’t hesitate and showed my Mom first and she loved it. I really love the glossy cover and how the book turned out.

TTF2

I decided to publish under a different pen name than Zy Marquiez because although I do plan on publishing poetry under this name (more on that in a second), I plan on keeping different themes under different pen names, not unlike what Nora Roberts does when she publishes under J.D. Robb. Many other authors do this as well.

Moreover, under Zy Marquiez I plan on (hopefully) publishing non-fiction research books about a few different topics in the future, all of which will be thoroughly researched and footnoted to the hilt, but will have non-mainstream topics not unlike what is covered in this blog. These topics will certainly make people incredibly judgmental. This is the vanguard reason why I will employ different pen names.

That said, if people find out, it matters not too much since it is me either way. I am merely doing this to simplify given how many people can judge you by merely knowing one component in life without knowing you at all, especially nowadays with the internet being what it is. This is the very example of judging a book by its cover, or judging a person by one circumstance.

Now, the above book is a collection of poetry as the subtitle alludes. I’m incredibly thrilled because I’ve been hoping to publish a book for years now, but due to health issues and myriad circumstances, I never got around to it. At least now that first step is officially done. Now for more.

Within a week or so I am going to be doing a giveaway for paperbacks of this book for those interested. I first needed to double check the hardcopy and make sure that everything was fine and ready to go. That said, if you are interested in the book, Lulu does have a discount of 15% at this very moment, though it is only good for one more day or so. And for heaven’s sake, don’t order the Hardcover because of the price! That’s just Lulu fleecing people. The link provided is of the softcover because it’s 60% less than the hardcover. I only decided to publish a hardcover for me personally, as I love hardcovers, and because it wasn’t going to add too much to the publishing process once I got the hang of it. Now for future projects.

Within a week or so I am going to publish another poetry book called A Kaleidoscope Of Possibilities published under Zy Marquiez. This book will be poetry mostly published in the past on various websites and social media platforms, sprinkled with a heavy dose of notations throughout. The book is essentially complete and just needs some touch ups and the final stamp. This book will not follow a single topic but will be a collation of poetry that’s as old as 20 years old, and as new as poems written the last 12 months and so on. This poetry book is a book about considering deeper aspects of life, obstacles, fear, love, and all topics written about therein of which there are many. This book does not follow any single theme whatsoever. This is why I chose to go with ‘Kaleidoscope’ as the first word, while using ‘Possibilities’ as the anchor because possibilities are what life is all about.

Another book which is nigh a complete, which I will publish under either Tristen Troy or Zy Marquiez (with an alias of Halcyon Halo) is Halcyon Days. A time table of two weeks should not be out of the realm of possibility. It really depends on what other things fall on my lap. This book will follow a positive theme throughout, be it romance, life, time, etc. I’m undecided if the book will be 100% unpublished content, or if a fraction of it will have already been featured in the concurrent Instagram account. I can’t wait to get this one out as I’ve had most of it complete for almost 3 weeks, I just needed to iron out The Twin Flame and finish the touch ups of Kaleidoscope of Possibilities. This book will feature 111 poems total.

Now, something else that I’ve recently begun, but is probably at least a month off which will be published under the moniker Noctis Blackburn is A Heart Of Darkness. This book will feature an in-depth view of many of my fears, be them love, life, darkness, general fears, the pain of dealing with my grandmother’s passing recently, fears of losing my mom, and many other themes. Some of the poems could be positive, just really depends on what one gets from it. Notations might be added to this one, like Kaleidoscope of Possibilities, but I am still undecided. This book will also feature 111 poems as well.

The final book that’s slated to be published for now under Zy Marquiez/ The Lightning Baron is a book tentatively called Lightning & Thunder Bring Frightening Wonder. This book will feature lightning, storms, and many other darker themes, mostly as metaphors for fear, pain, suffering and more. I was going to publish this book sooner but I am undecided whether I want to do 111 poems, or many more. The vanguard reason for this is because many of these poems have already been shared on this blog, but they are short. This is why I changed from 77 to 111, but I might increase that a lot more, though I am still uncertain to how many. I would really love to feature photos with this book, but I’m not sure how much that will add to the price. I will probably keep it simple for now.

There are other projects that I have in mind, but that’s the lions share for now. I just wanted to give you guys an update as to why I haven’t been as active on this blog with reviews, posts, quotes, and the like. That said, stay tuned because there will be a lot more coming!

Hope you guys have an amazing day. And more than anything, don’t forget to take at least one step every day towards making your dreams continue.

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Suggested Reading:

Mindfulness & Music | #Health | #Thoughts

Breakaway Individual.com
Zy Marquiez
May 15, 2019

Today I did something I hadn’t done in a long time: I decided to do a full workout without my headphones on to be more Mindful. Admittedly, it took a little getting used too, but it wasn’t so bad since I was reading most of the time.

Because I avoided using my Ipod, I was able to remain incredible focused and stay in the moment while working out, rather than just go through the workout as I nigh always do. This allowed me to focus on my breath, my focus, and my thought process in a way that’s closer to what I would employ with poker than not.

When I find myself breathing deeply as much as possible, interjecting such deep breaths with 4×4 breath cycles where I breathe in for 4 seconds, hold my breath for 4 seconds, breathe out for 4 seconds and hold for 4 seconds, I end up being incredibly more focused, getting more oxygen, feeling more energized, and so on.

Al Lee & Don Campbell, authors of Perfect Breathing, explain the importance of a mindful breathing technique:

“This exercise, as simple and innocuous as it seems, is the most important exercise to master. Once you have developed the habit of slow, deep breathing and your body remembers that this is the natural way to breathe, it will slowly become a part of everything that you do. It will become your “secret weapon” when you need an extra burst of energy; it will become your rock when you are feeling emotional shattered; and it will become a peaceful, quiet refuge at times when you need sanctuary.”[1][Bold Emphasis Added].

This approach has never failed me, but it’s something that I need to stay focused on because its easy to fall into the bad habit of breathing with only partial lung capacity breathing in a shallow manner.

Breathing with only part of your lungs, as opposed to employing the entire real estate of your lung capacity, is incredibly limiting because only so much oxygen is going into your system, and as such you will not get the healing and energizing benefits that a full mindful approach will dictate.

For the most part, that was the extent of my early morning, just trying to focus on being mindful and so on. Now to the afternoon.

After receiving a package today that I was waiting for a while, it reminded me that that I needed to give a friend a letter of recommendation. Because of this I had to drive elsewhere. This is crucial only in that when I am driving, I am usually nigh always listening to music or documentaries on my way to whatever locale it is I am going too. Today I decided that I would follow what I did in the morning and forgo the music. In fact, I didn’t even bring my Ipod because I know myself, and I knew that I would probably want to listen to music or something else eventually. This made the drive not only enjoyable, but I was able to think about a lot of things.

When my mind is engaged while listening to music, it’s rare that I think about things in a mindful way. Yes, I myself, just like everyone else, can think while listening to music, but the thoughts aren’t as logical, or as thought-out, or thoughtful as when there’s no music, nor lyrics, each of which can be incredibly distracting, and when combined, are downright disrupting for thought. Of the 700+ tracks on my Ipod, there’s two, maybe three songs that I have no problem employing a mindful approach with. Still though, nothing beats the ability to think clearly when your mind is going at a mile per minute with no end in sight.

These thoughts are shared for consideration when individuals are going about their day and perhaps are having trouble slowing down, focusing, and so on. It’s not something that cost anything, but the net benefits can be quite significant once one’s mind is fully engaged.

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Footnotes:

[1] Al Lee & Don Campbell, Perfect Breathing, pg. 12-13.

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Suggested Reading: