Weekend News

Alma D'Shikra — The World of Lies

For those who aren't familiar, Alma D'Shikra is an ancient phrase from the Zohar that describes this world as a place where truth is hidden and things tend to appear "not as they really are."

It's a description of the world as a reality that covers up the truth. There are a few ways to read it.

The first is that we're focused on the material, but we came here for the spirit — relationships, our own growth, love, new experiences, and feeling this crazy event called life.

The more you get tangled up in "stuff," in your image, in entertainment and outside distractions, the further you drift from the spirit and the divine.

The second is the trap we're caught in — a belief about how life works that's based on stories with no real foundation.

You go to the supermarket and pay for a plastic bag to "save the environment," but every product in the store (even the lettuce) is wrapped in plastic.

In a supermarket meant to sell food, most of what's on the shelves isn't nourishing — it's lifeless, has no vitality, isn't natural to the human body — but it is edible. And that's why most people are sick.

People get sent to prison for terrorism and then released in "deals." Do you think they'd release you in a deal if you broke the law?

To make a battery for an electric car that's supposedly "less polluting," they burn fuel — and those batteries later do more damage to the environment than gas cars.

You're sure you're an amazing person because you sip through a paper straw instead of plastic. But either way, the straw pollutes. The real environmental damage comes from manufacturing clothes, medicines, tires, cars, smartphones, processed food — the stuff you use all day, every day.

Sunscreen, medications, and even chemotherapy contain carcinogens.

They tell you to get vaccinated and wear a mask to protect public health — but smoking in public is allowed.

Most punishments for crimes are fines. Which is to say: punishment is for the poor.

We spray poison on our food to kill bugs, and somehow decided that's not dangerous for humans to consume.

There are thousands of carcinogens in everyday products — but the one thing we're told causes cancer is the sun.

We inject ourselves with toxins to "strengthen the immune system" — but what actually strengthens the immune system is food, sun, movement, meditation, and good sleep.

There are laws that protect vaccine companies from lawsuits over health damage.

The news is basically a string of ads, funded by drug companies, processed-food conglomerates, and donors connected to people in power.

All of our medicine is built on treating symptoms — not on healing.

They tell us recycling matters, while governments and corporations dump trash into the ocean.

We're convinced veganism saves the planet — but the real damage comes from the corporations, and sometimes from the manufacture of meat and dairy substitutes themselves (think of what happens to bees).

We go to war with no clear goal, and end them with no clear outcome.

Medical errors are the #3 cause of death in the US — but they still scare people away from fasting, herbs, and ancient medicine.

In school we're not taught how to grow food, how to heal disease, how to make money, or how to manage our minds.

Part of growing up as a human being is waking up from the lie and figuring out what kind of life you actually want to live — the kind that serves you and your soul, instead of all the distractions.

But the real problem isn't the lies.

The real problem starts the moment we refuse to admit to ourselves that maybe — just maybe — we were wrong. That we chose, and keep choosing, to believe the lie day after day.

We're not victims, after all.

For some reason, most people choose to believe lies that don't serve them.

Why do people prefer to listen to those who say the world is about to end, rather than those who say it isn't?

Why do people prefer to listen to those who say their health or mental state is "genetic," rather than those who say it can be otherwise?

Why do we listen to the ones scaring us about pandemics, but not to those who tell us viruses are part of nature?

Am I telling myself the sun is harmful — or is it the toxins I'm eating and rubbing onto my body?

Am I telling myself the shot harmed me — or am I still blaming the virus?

We're afraid to meet the truth. But the truth does set us free.

Lies bind you, scare you, shrink you. The truth lets you start choosing how to make the most of life.

Alma D'Shikra is an ancient name for the consciousness Matrix.

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Do you weave philosophy into your life?

In recent years, getting to know the insights of various philosophers has completely changed the way I think about life.

From Plato to Socrates to Nietzsche — but my way in was actually through Stoicism, which has become very mainstream lately.

Stoicism was born in ancient Greece. It developed as a response to philosophies focused mainly on pleasure, emotion, or skepticism, and proposed a way of life built on:

• Reason (Logos)
• A universal natural order
• A sharp distinction between what's in your control and what isn't

Later, Stoicism reached Rome and took a very practical form through thinkers like Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius — who turned it from abstract theory into a daily practice.

Marcus Aurelius, who led the Roman Empire, is remembered as such a meaningful leader precisely because he didn't fall into corruption or let what people thought of him affect what he did.

He practiced meditation and journaling, constantly reflecting and observing his own life.

Here are some ideas and practical tools I've taken from him and from Stoicism:

If you go through life without challenges, failures, and disappointments, no one — not even you — will ever know what you're capable of.

The world wants to know which category to put you in. That's why it sends you difficult situations from time to time.

Instead of thinking of them as inconveniences or tragedies, think of them as opportunities. Am I going to face this problem, or run from it?

Do I want to grow, or sulk?

The main task in life is this: to clearly separate which external forces are not in your control, and which decisions actually are.

A flight gets delayed by weather — yelling at the gate agent won't make the storm pass any faster. No amount of wishing will make you taller, or shorter, or born in a different country. No matter how hard you try, you can't make someone like you.

If you can focus on clarifying which parts of your day are in your control and which aren't, you'll not only be happier — you'll have a real edge over people fighting an already-lost battle.

Journaling is a non-negotiable practice. That daily ritual is the philosophy itself.

You prepare for tomorrow, reflect on today, and remind yourself of the wisdom you've picked up from teachers, books, and experience.

Writing is the most effective way to balance the mind, strengthen self-worth, and stay conscious of your life.

I examine my whole day, retrace what I did, hide nothing from myself. The sleep that follows that kind of self-review is especially sweet.

You become what you give your attention to.

If you don't actively choose which thoughts and images to expose yourself to, someone else will do it for you.

First tell yourself what you want to be — and then do what you need to do to become that person.

Bring philosophical approaches into your life as a way of living — so that other people don't fill that void for you with things that don't serve you at all.

In my Dealing With Stress course, I teach the Stoic techniques I practice every day:

• Meditation (no prior experience or "spiritual" identity required)
• Writing that moves your emotions forward, not just describes them
• Building new habits, from the moment you wake up to the moment you fall asleep

All of these will turn you into a different person in front of life's challenges.

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