The World Is Flat

A friend of mine from AutoTrader shared the video below with me. I found it extremely interesting and it covers a lot of the points expressed in The World Is Flat.

I just recently finished reading (listening to) The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century by Thomas L. Friedman and all I can say is... WOW. The idea behind the book is that the world has really turned into a very level playing field due to advances in computers, internet and technology. In goes into depth as to how easy it really is for someone to outsource anything they need done (in India) or made (in China) and why our society and we as individuals can truly benefit from this outsourcing. It also explores the top ten "flateners" of our time and how they have changed the world as we know it. This book really opened my eyes to the bigger picture of global commerce and how tremendous the possibilities really are for anyone who wants to take advantage of them. Wanna know the craziest thing about this book? It was written OVER THREE YEARS AGO. It's already been revised twice. If you watch the video above, it'll make sense to you as to why I find this so crazy.

Also, we as Americans, have a lot of learning and catching up to do if we want to keep up with emerging global super powers like China and India. For a lighter, easier read with much more detailed instructions on how ANYONE can thrive from the expanding possibilities made possible by the internet, I HIGHLY recommend The Four Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss.

Enjoy.

I DIDN'T SIGN UP FOR THIS

I live in St. George.... or so I thought. I know it's not much snow, but still, I didn't sign up for this. I moved to St. George in part so that I wouldn't have to look at another sight like the one above. But I find myself, yet again, pushing snow off of car after car after car. Wet feet, wet pants.

On the plus side, this SHOULD be the only time I have to push snow this year =) The snow slides right off the cars and will probably be melted by late afternoon. So with that in mind, I pushed snow off of car after car with a BIG WARM SMILE on my face. Now I think I'm going to go enjoy another great part about St. George.... FREE Cappuccinos at the Chevy Dealership.

As for anyone to the cold cold north of me who might be reading this.... ENJOY the snow. =)

Thanks For Meisha

Meisha, I wanted to let you know that you gave me butterflies. Yes, for the first time in a long time, YOU DID. It wasn't any big action that caused it, you just touched my hand. I don't think I realized how much of the last weekend we went without so much as touching hands until that very moment. I NEVER want to upset you to the point that we don't touch. I'm sorry. Truly. Sorry.

I've learned that I need to be thankful for my mistakes. If I didn't make them, I couldn't learn. I also think it's hard to learn from those mistakes if you're not thankful for the learning experience. Let's just say I haven't been thankful enough. I learned some very new very horrible feelings this weekend. I never thought I would be grateful to learn horrible feelings but I am.

I spent most of the weekend feeling sick and sad inside. I'm still learning to recognize feelings and connect with them, so I spent most of my time crying inside. I know tears don't belong on the inside and someday that will change. But when you fingers touched mine after such a long drought, my heart jumped. I felt all light headed and floaty (in a really, really good way). At that moment, I just wanted to hold you. I want to remember that feeling. I LOVED IT. I haven't been open to feeling it enough and I thank you for helping me to feel it.

I want to thank you for being you. You truly amaze me. We talk about the respect we have for people who stay true to themselves. I can't tell you how much I admire you for being that type of person. Don't ever change who you are, for me or anyone else. Thank you for your patience and thank you for your insight. I don't know how you do it, but you always see things for they way they really are. I always find myself caught up in a situation and thinking about it from the inside of the circle. You have a gift to observe from the outside of the circle and really approach things soundly and logically. I know that doesn't sound like it should be a turn-on, but for an overly-analytical bastard like myself, IT IS (weird, huh?).

Thank you for being my source of strength through the last several months. These are WITHOUT A DOUBT, the toughest times I have gone through in my life (I should probably quit saying that, because tougher times keep coming). I love that you help keep me on track when it comes to talking and thinking positively. IT HELPS, seriously. I really hope all the things I keep reading about tough times making people stronger are right, because I think we're going to be VERY STRONG and VERY SUCCESSFUL someday.

Again, THANK YOU for the butterflies. I needed them. Truly. Now it's my job to figure out how to give them back........

Love,

Religious Views - Part 1

OK, so I'm feeling like something in regards to religion must be addressed as a first real post for this blog. Religion has played a major role in my life. I was raised in the LDS church. Yes, I was a Mormon (well, technically still am as I haven't had my records removed from the church). Let me firstly preface with this.... Mormons are GOOD PEOPLE. They believe in all the basic principles that any good religious people believe in. I feel they are a very misinterpreted and misunderstood people. With that being said, I do not believe the LDS church is the one and only true church on the face of the earth. In fact, I do not believe that any RELIGION is the one and only true religion on the face of the earth. I believe everybody and nobody is right all at the same time. This is not an attack on religion. This is simply me, sharing my thoughts and opinions. If you're curious, read on.

Reality is what you make it or what you believe it to be, whichever comes first.

One of the things I've been really focused on since I moved to St. George is gaining a greater understanding of what I feel and believe on a spiritual basis. Meisha and I have had a lot of very long talks and done a lot of soul searching on these subjects. We've shared and developed our ideas of spirituality and religion together through these talks and reading and a few movies, actually (See What the Bleep Do We Know!?, Zeitgeist: Addendum, Alex Grey: Chapel of Sacred Mirrors).

Religion vs. Spirituality

The biggest thing I want people to understand is that religion and spirituality are SEPARATE. Religion, in my opinion, is an organized machine designed to keep order within a particular belief system - much like the government. Religion has nothing to do with spirituality. Spirit, by definition is the principle of conscious life; the vital principle in humans, animating the body or mediating between body and soul. Spiritual simply means pertaining to the spirit. This means a person can be completely devoted to their spirit and things of a spiritual nature without giving any credence to a religious system.

My Problems with Religion

The problem I see with with religion is that it forces people to think the same way everyone else in their religion does. If you start to question certain principles within the religion, you are typically shunned and seen as a non-believer. I've raised several questions about certain aspects of the religion I was raised in that seemed to be "unanswerable" questions both by my teachers and my parents. I asked these people: "How can you believe in something when you don't answers to some of the crazy things this church does?". The answer I typically got was "Sometimes you have to let FAITH be the answer. If you feel in your heart that many other things are true about the church, then this particular thing must be right and true as well, regardless of whether it can be answered or not." In my opinion, faith is the quickest way not to think for yourself or question authority.

Call me overly analytical, that's fine. It's my nature and I've come to accept it. The bottom line is that if I have to rely simply on FAITH as my basis for the morally questionable things I've seen a church do, I can't believe in that particular church. To put it in the words of another extended family member when speaking to her son about some of his own personal "unanswerable" questions about the church "Son, sometimes you just have to follow blindly." -baaaahhhh

I also feel that as soon as man gets in the way of true and correct principles, they can be corrupted. For example; there are currently over 38,000 versions of Christianity known today. That means the things ONE person said were interpreted THIRTY-EIGHT THOUSAND different ways. If you are someone who feels that you have found the ONE TRUE interpretation out of 38,000 possibilities, I'm happy for you and I truly hope it works out for you. Now you take those 38,000 separate interpretations, filter in the interpretations of different prophets over the years, teachers and individuals who all share their opinions and interpretations with each other and the variations from the original teaching are INFINITE. It's a telephone game. I prefer to think for myself and come up with my own answers and interpretations to spiritual teachings. I am always willing to hear someones opinions and beliefs and truly hope that I can learn a little from everyone I talk to. I just can't accept these telephone game teachings as "truth".

Religious Leaders

I believe that Jesus Christ was one of the most influential spiritual teachers in the history of the world, but not the actual son of God. I also believe Siddhartha Gautama (founder of Buddhism and supreme Buddha) and Muhammad fit in the same category - great teachers and leaders. These people were very enlightened and each brought with them their own belief system, each system being influential enough to spawn millions (if not billions) of followers over history. I believe that many great lessons and principles can be learned from the teachings of these influential people and all of them have some very good things to say. I still can't feel that only one of their belief systems is "the ONLY true" belief system.

"GOD"

God may end up being an entirely too lengthy idea to fit in just one post, but here goes my cliff notes version: I don't believe in God. I believe you ARE God. I believe I AM God. And I believe WE ARE God. What does that mean? As I mentioned earlier in this post, reality is what you make it (See The Secret, What the Bleep Do We Know!?, Think and Grow Rich, The Jackrabbit Factor, As a Man Thinketh(Click for free download), etc.).

Here is why I believe the concept of "God" works for people:

They have likened him in their own image in order to identify with him. Can you imagine a parent trying to explain to their children when asked about God, "Well, son, 'God' is the all-seeing, all-knowing spiritual and energetic force in the universe from which all things come and all things will eventually return." It's much easier for children and adults to identify with a particular individual who "looks like me, talks like me, walks like me and looks like my great grandpa - just with super powers". Now isn't that concept easier to identify with?

Now, when I say that you are God or I am God, does that mean that we can truly create anything we want with thought? -Yes, it does. Does it mean we can magically create things from thin air? -No. Any great invention or creation in the history of the world started with a single thought. That thought converted to an idea, the idea to action and the action to eventual conception. How many things do you see on a daily basis that you could have never imagined 5 years ago? We truly are Gods (and Goddesses) and have the ability to create ANYTHING we put our minds AND ACTIONS to. So, if we're all Gods and Goddesses, why can't we just have or create anything we want? We can, the problem is that many of us lack the focus it takes to create. If we could all focus perfectly, we could all create perfectly.

Death and Afterlife

A man once came to my porch and asked me a question "Where do we go when we die?". He then said "That certainly is an important question, isn't it (classic salesman tagline when you want someone to agree with you)?" I told him "No." He didn't seem too curious as to why I felt such a way.

Here's why:

Let's say, for example, reincarnation is the one true afterlife. If I believe that instead, I will go to "heaven" when I die, I will still be reincarnated. If I believe that I will end up in one of three kingdoms, possibly to never be with my family again, I will STILL be reincarnated. You see, most of us don't really know what happens when we die. We make educated guesses based on teachings, stories and beliefs. For some, this is a REALLY important question. They can not deal with an "unknown" afterlife. It's not an important question for me. When I die, whatever will happen is bound to happen. I am not going to live my entire life for the next. I am going to live for the life I'm in. I feel if I'm a GOOD person now, whatever happens next will be GOOD. Even if it's nothing at all. I'm comfortable with that.

A Final Word

I don't have any problems with someone who wants to be religious and believe in a religion. As stated above, I'm very open to hearing and discussing their beliefs as I feel we should both be able to grow from the experience. The only thing I ask from them is to hear me out on my beliefs as well. I certainly don't want to offend anyone with my beliefs and I would hope they wouldn't want to offend me either, however, I will not change my beliefs or who I am for someone. If my opinions offend them and they can't deal with it, it's best we not discuss anything. If you've taken the time to read all of this, THANK YOU. I appreciate your interest in my opinion. You are welcome to share yours with me as well. I don't intend to debate, only to learn and grow from and with those who want to learn and grow from and with me.

Highly Recommended Viewing:

What The Bleep Do We Know!?

Zeitgeist: Addendum

Introducing....... me.

FOREWARNING: I USE EXPLICIT WORDS, IDEAS AND IMAGES IN MY BLOG

So I've decided to start my own blog. I've taken some time recently to take a step back and look at myself online. I wanted to know who I was. After all, I've recently also realized that I haven't the slightest clue who the hell I really am. So I asked myself.... "How can I get to know who I am?" The best answer.... Google myself. After sorting through the first page of the much more famous Josh Manwaring, Idaho Real Estate Agent and enjoying the page of the Australian Josh Manwaring, who isn't shy about his "Aussie fucking pride!", I realized I'm really nothing more than just another douchebag, shirt and tie, buy my shit salesman online.

I don't want to be a salesman. I sell cars for a living and have for 3 years now. I like cars. I like selling them. I just don't like being a "salesman". I just want people to buy what they want and if they want what I'm selling, I'm happy to tell them about it. I hate having to use terms like "If I could (insert ridiculous offer here), could we send you home in this today? (followed by ear-to-ear car salesman grin)" Nobody wants to hear that shit. And aside from cheese-dick slick back plaid suit car salesmen, nobody wants to SAY that shit either. If you like something BUY IT. Don't show up at some car dealership expecting to be sold by some guy you wouldn't trust any more than the weird child molesting bastard down the street. What's the point to all this car sales rambling? Not sure. I just don't like to have to be a typical salesman. It's created who I am today and I'm not sure I like me right now. I have worried about keeping a professional persona on the internet in fear that if I don't, some day, some customer will google me and find out I use the word "fuck" or worse yet, someone might find out that I'm supportive of those who use drugs (as long as they grow in the ground) for recreational and spiritual purposes. I also heavily support gay marriage too, by the way.

I don't care anymore. If a customer doesn't like me and won't buy a car from me based on who I am outside of work, THEY CAN BUY SOMEWHERE ELSE. If I get fired for who I am outside of work, I CAN WORK SOMEWHERE ELSE (or ideally, not at all- more to come on that subject later). I'm just sick and tired of being someone I'm not for the sake of slinging some product to people. I swear, from this day forward, to be myself(whenever I figure that out) at all costs.

To those of you (especially any family members) who are reading this and seeing words you never thought little "Joshy" would type, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I haven't been true to myself around you. I'm sorry that you don't really know the "real me". I don't believe in using offensive language around those whom it bothers, so I don't (usually). If you have read offensive words on this page, understand that it was YOUR CHOICE. I warned you before you read it. I just put the words on the page, I didn't force you to read them. This blog is a depiction of my world how it really is, not the made for TV version. If you are interested in getting to know me, I suggest you follow this blog. I will use this blog to share and discuss things of great importance in my personal life such as relationships, religion, spirituality, money, emotions, art, music and perhaps even the meaning to life :) You might learn something interesting. I might learn something interesting as well and share it with you.

I'm realizing that this post is seemingly very angry. Understand this: I'm angry with myself (and almost over it) about not sharing myself with the world and keeping who I really am bottled up inside only to share bits and pieces with those I am most close with. I am not angry at the world. The world is a beautiful place full of love and possibility if we just choose to see it that way. This is my choice, to see love and possibility.

I hope I can help you see it too. I look forward to you getting to know me getting to know myself.

=Josh=