Sea of Misdirection

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Have you ever woken up and known exactly what time it was, down to the minute? It’s an amazing mechanism, our internal clock. It’s a gift we have that we don’t appreciate and don’t give much thought to. If this intrinsic device is monitoring the outside forces without our control, what else do we have inside of us that interacts with the outside world?

Our autonomic nervous system is comprised of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. The sympathetic nervous system is also known as our “fight or flight” response. It is influenced and aroused by outside factors. When someone pulls a knife on you, your sympathetic nervous system will produce a rise in adrenaline and help your body to react in a way that is intended to help you find safety. The parasympathetic nervous system, on the other hand, is known for controlling the “rest and digest” process – the things your body does to keep you alive without any input from your conscious mind.

Perhaps these systems exists on a spiritual level as well. Perhaps this is the reason the “Law of Attraction” seems to work.

But I once watched a documentary about The Secret (or the law of attraction) and found it was more propaganda than anything. If you’re not familiar with the idea, I can summarize it in one story I distinctly remember from the film: A man spoke about how he had been drowning in debt. He told himself he had money even though he didn’t… then POOF! A mysterious check randomly landed in his mailbox and he was saved.

What’s dangerous about believing in this magical phenomenon? Your psyche, for one. If you think your perspective on the outside world alone is enough to manifest physical developments, you might as well spend your entire day convincing yourself your problems have already disappeared. This is a formula for living in denial that will only enable your problems to worsen by not properly addressing them.

Now let’s return to the internal clock and why that is significant. It regulates and interprets an external value without our control or conscious effort. I believe we have an internal spiritual “clock” – only rather than time, it monitors direction.

Keep taking steps, actions and initiatives that take you closer to where you would like to already be. Imagine you at that destination in life you would like to arrive at and shape your day according to that. Spend no time contemplating whether your effort holds any value if the fruits of your labor will never be fully ripe. The system of thought that avoids this destructive, purposeless doubt is known as faith.

When you shape your actions, thoughts, and beliefs to align with a successful outcome you are becoming the person you want to be. As you constantly dwell in a system of perpetual growth each new achievement will come to you without surprise. Your goals will be accomplished because you corrected yourself to attain them, not because you convinced yourself you were capable and your level of blind confidence was enough to fool the physical world.

Just as we have an internal clock to subconsciously monitor time, I believe we have a metaphysical tuning fork that informs us about the direction we are heading in. We know when we are shaping ourselves into the creator we aspire to be just as we know when we are crumbling into a creature of destructive habit.

I hope you take this day to direct your thoughts and actions toward your ideal self. If you take to the sea with your boat and allow the wind to shape your journey you will die lost and starving. Bring your map with you so that even the storms will not misdirect you. Do that, and one day those same storms will only be remembered for helping to shape the greatest captain who ever took to the sea.

Would you kill the love of your life if…

What if the love of your life lost their mind, and their inability to show restraint during a time of crisis was putting your own life at risk?

What if a group were chasing after you, and one loud noise would give away your position and get you killed?

Would you risk hurting someone you loved to save yourself?

What if hurting them were your only option, and the future of humanity depended on YOUR survival??

James faces the same predicament in the following excerpt. To give you some context:

– James is locked in a hidden prison room.

– Zephrons are giant red aliens who invaded planet earth and enslaved whatever humans they chose not kill.

– The night of the invasion, a group of locals escaped to an underground military base. They were soon afterward indoctrinated by Colonel Fitz, who considers himself to be the new messiah. This scene takes place in that underground base.

– The zephrons are going to wipe out the rest of humanity in one day…

And James is the only person who can stop them.

* * *

CHAPTER 52

James’ stomach grumbled loudly. He hadn’t eaten a good meal since before his sentence to the picking plant. He looked around aimlessly for something edible to distract him. Nothing. Only the doggie saucer of water. He took handfuls from it, desperately hoping for the water to trick his stomach. He began weeping as he drank.

“I wanna marry you,” said Penny.

James raised his head. Penny moved in, then began licking water out from the bowl. James crawled backwards then clutched himself and began to rock. He smeared dry the tip of his nose, then looked across the room to Spes’ cell.

“Do not worry, human. It will never-”

“Never what!” James screamed. He stood up, grabbed the prison cell bars, then shook them. “What do you want me to do? My best friend is dead, my dad is dead, and tomorrow morning, every human on the surface of the earth will be dead! And here I am.” He grabbed both sides of his hair and breathed chaotically. “Stuck in a prison cell, unable to do anything about it.” He squinted back at them and pointed his index finger. “And you idiots expect me to believe that this is God’s plan? That somehow my being here is going to help me conquer the zephrons?”

“Calm down, human. God knows-”

“God knows, God knows, you know what? God knows shit. That’s what I think. If you want something done you’ve got to do it yourself, period.”

A humming noise came from outside. The door started to creak open to the corridor, and Fitz entered in. He held the ring of keys.

“Well well well, traitor.” He walked over to James with the key ring in one hand, a rifle in the other. “I get your bicep, in case you were wondering.”

“What happened to Roy? What happened to your daughter?”

“I locked Penny up for disobeying me. She was hanging around that drunk loser after I forbid her to.”
“And Roy?”

“Why don’t you ask her?”
“I did.”

“Well? Did she tell you?”

“She’s a little kooky if you haven’t noticed.”

Fitz smiled. “Roy is dead.”

“From a bullet?”
He nodded.

James lowered his head. “Suicide.”

“Not suicide.”

James looked back up.

Fitz grinned and pointed to himself. “That was all me.”
“You killed Roy?”

Just then, the ambulance sirens in the hallway began going off – the same that were triggered whenever someone stepped out from the elevator and entered the underground base. They were soon accompanied by the sounds of zephron howls. Human shrieks quickly followed.

“You led them back here!” said Fitz.

James tried to shake his head as Fitz raised his rifle.

“You led them-”

Janie ran in and tackled Fitz. The ring of keys dropped to the ground, but the rifle remained in his grasp.

“My king! My king! We have to go!”

Greg, Juan, and the other underground council members rushed in. They grabbed Fitz and carried him off his feet and out from the room, then turned towards the back end of the corridor. The keys remained in the middle of the room, unreachable by any of the now-fully exposed prisoners – the door to the secret prison had been left open. All the zephrons had to do was peak inside and James would be toast.

“Ahh!” screamed Penny.

James hurried over then hugged Penny’s face into his chest. He picked up a ratty, child-sized blanket and did his best to cover them both with it. He whispered into her ear as the loud, nightmarish yells echoed from the main room over to them.

“Penny, I need you to calm down,” he whispered.

She bit her lips into her mouth. “But what’s happening?”

The screams only intensified. So did the wild zephron howls. It was a slaughter – no doubt about it. James was nervous and scared, but knew that as long as everyone inside the secret prison area remained quiet, there was a good chance the zephrons wouldn’t bother leaving the main room. And even if they did, they were more likely to run straight past them and battle Fitz and his small army instead.

“What’s happen-”

“Don’t worry – I just need you to be quiet. Can you do that for me?” James’ eyes flickered up. He noticed the hammer in the corner of the cell. “Everything is going to be okay.”

“James!” said Penny.

“Shh,” he whispered, then covered her mouth. “Be quiet, Penny.”

Soon he heard their loud, thumping footsteps echoing through the corridor.

“Hime-cared!” She blurted out.

James hugged her face into his shoulder. “Please… just, shhh.”

Penny struggled to break free as the monstrous roars grew closer. She began to move her limbs erratically, and screamed more muffled words. James struggled to keep her quiet, but she wouldn’t be still. Penny escaped his grasp.

“James! James! Promise you’ll marry me, James!”

He could hear the zephrons closing in. James crawled on his hands and knees over to the hammer. He picked it up, then gulped and looked at Penny.

“Say you love me! Say it!”

James grabbed Penny by the throat and shoved her down, back against the ground. His hand shook as he held the hammer over her forehead.

“Shut-up,” He pleaded through a whisper.

“JAMES!” Penny screamed.

“Don’t!” said Fides, from across the room.

“JAMES!” She shouted again.

James swung the…

* * *

Well, what would you do? I’d love to hear a variety of perspectives.

* And if you’re dying to know what actually happens, you can start by clicking here.

– Thomas M. Watt

Hello to You

Hello to you with silent breath,

I hear your thoughts and struggled quest.

I’m sorry if you feel so bad. I’m sorry if you don’t feel glad.

I’m sorry if you feel so empty. I’m sorry if your dreams are heavy.

I’m sorry that you hate hope too. I’m sorry that depresses you.

I’m sorry if things didn’t work out. I’m sorry if the time ran out.

I’m sorry if you waste the days, waiting for grey clouds to rain.

I’m sorry if you feel alone. Sorry if you hate your phone.

Sorry if you’ve been betrayed, felt a loss, called deranged.

But there’s not much that I can do, except to say I’ve felt that too.

And when we breath with heavy chests with thoughts of lonely and great unrest,

And when we suck and can’t do shit and all is wrong and life’s a bitch,

That’s when you need to stand and say, “There’s still a chance, so fuck the grey.”

Because from deep anguish your heart rises, from great loss new hope surmises.

From your hatred of yourself, from your knowledge of no help, 

Comes a force from deep within, it helps you out, it’s why you’ll win.

For what more can they say to you, when you’ve lost all yet pulled on through?

You will win and shout and say, “I felt the loss, I did decay, I was depressed, I did delay. But then one day I stood and saw, a heart’s as heavy as its boss. Sorry folks but I refuse to curl all up and amuse you. No more laughing, no more scoffs, I’ve come to tell you no man’s lost.”

For on that day when they beat you, push you down, leave you bruised. You can rise if just you know it, turn around and make them notice. As much pain is in your chest as bad as hurt feels from this test, as much as God sounds like nonsense and as low as you feel from the rest, if you just rise and please believe – You only lose if you don’t breathe. 

– Thomas M. Watt

The God of the Living

And the clock ticks

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

When the clock ticks, when the hand strikes, when the time moves, when the words fly.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Days are upon us, nights aren’t as long, work goes unfinished, albums become songs.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Light never fades, darkness subsides, the truth is unmoving, the truth is inside.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Wisdom is silent, God’s voice doth speak, teachers in school, teach what they see.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

When does the world, see truth unfold. When will the world, stop being sold.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Since the beginning, when God made His man, man has been fooled, by what’s in his hand.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

You see there’s a thing, few really know, for what is divine, is more than what’s shown.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Don’t you ask why, don’t you ask how, know God will do it, and doing abounds.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

The truth is kept secret, shouted are lies, the voice of the night, in the day we despise.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Come look around, come see for yourself – others like you still know what you’ve found.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Down with religion, down with God’s rule, is what they all chant, is what they all do.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

But there’s a problem, a big one you see – God will continue, because he hears you and me.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

What is the meaning, how can you say, what good does belief do when God’s in decay?

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Oh-hoh-ho-ho, he-he-he-he, you still must be lost, you still can’t quite see.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

You see it’s a myth, a blinding big lie, for what is of God, rules over time.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Still are in wonder? Worries surround? Fine I shall tell you, listen to the sound.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

God cannot pass, his way cannot go, He’s the God of the living, as faith surely shows.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

What is to say, how can we see? How can God live if the world rejects He?

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

How can you be lost, and not understand? Listen to me – God’s way has a plan. He is the strong one, and stronger than men. He is the true King, and He is still the end. Men cannot kill, they cannot destroy, their very creator, who makes of them toys. When you soon learn, and can know it too, you will shortly see, that God can’t be disproved. He’s made it this way, on purpose He has, to stifle the wicked, and swat them in hand. He knows of the humble, He knows of their prayers, he raises them up, in ways seen unfair. For His way is different, much different you see, God’s way is to give, and He gives unto we. Don’t be afraid, if you still do not know, just go on in faith, and God will expose. The fault is of thought, to think you must rule, the greatest mistake, is to think you must prove. God’s way on your own, the words that he spoke, that you must somehow, make wisdom glow. All you must do, and listen to me, all you must do is leave action to He. Go on in trust, of what you can’t see, go on believing, and God sets you free.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

– Thomas M. Watt

(Photo courtesy of Dan @ http://www.pocketrubbish.com/ap/)

The Walls before Us

A man with grass stains on his jeans and blisters on his hands fell down on the pavement. He hardly managed to catch himself, and even after he did, he dropped himself back down and sprawled his limbs flat to the black concrete anyways.

He remained there, lying face down, until a hand finally took hold of his. He looked up and saw the silhouette of a brown, curly head of hair.

“What do you want?” He said to her.

She chuckled. “I want to help you.”

The man used his hand as a visor to guard the intense rays of the sun, and her face finally came into view. She had thin lips, brown hair, and the sexiest hazel eyes he’d ever seen.

The man groaned as he returned to his feet. He brushed his jeans off. “Why do you want to help me? Nobody wants to help me.”

She smiled sweetly. “I want to help you because you are so close to victory and you don’t even realize it.”

The man grumbled again. “You’re outta your mind lady. I’m not close and I never was, neither.”

She laughed, and the two started walking together.

“Why can’t you see?” She said.

“What?” He returned, pressing his left eyelids nearly closed.

“Why are you so blind?”

“Blind! Lady you got no idea the problems I’m dealing with!”

She stopped him, put her hands on his shoulders, then stared directly into his eyes as she spoke. “And how many times before have you encountered a scenario you were certain could not be overcome? How many times before did you think you were finished, only to live on? Things are not as they appear. There is a way to victory, I promise you that.”

“Why? How?” He said at once.

She smiled sweetly. “Are you so lost? The why and how does not matter. What matters is that you go on in the belief that there is a way.”

The man shook his head, scoffed, then looked away. “Yeah, well… How am I supposed ta-” He began, before suddenly catching himself after looking back.

The lady was gone.

I never did a single thing in my life I didn’t at first believe could be done. And I never heard an interview where the person being questioned looked lost, out of place, and had no idea how they randomly wound up succeeding. Happy 100th post Wattie nation. When all hope is lost, place your belief in what is above finding you a way out. Watch what happens.

– Thomas M. Watt

Drinking and God

When I drink, I enjoy conversing. I love to speak. I love to argue. I love to talk to people who build conversation. I am a passionate believer in God, but I just so happen to speak with people who don’t believe.

Not that I try to get them to fear, or realize, but I like building conversations. Every so often, in our time on this planet, we run into people who enjoy the search for truth. The search for truth is the polar opposite of the search for personal fulfillment. The search for personal fulfillment goes this way – I believe this, and will disregard everything you say to counter it, by way of aggressive hand pokes and head shakes and discrediting tones and saying things that you’ve never heard of, in order to make you feel like a fool.

I hate that. I fucking hate that. I love people who don’t know. I love people who want to know more. I love people who know more than me. I love people who know less then me, but would like to know more. Conversing with these types, we learn more.

I think the joke of it is, as far as God goes, he usually comes out on top, in a sensical manner. I honestly feel it is evidence of non belief when a ‘believer’ shuts out outside opinions in order to keep believing. This person’s belief can then be attributed to a way of feeling good about themselves, and in no way demonstrates their belief in a higher power.

I’m excited for the day people can drink and say what they really think, rather than what is cool to say. For instance, if I make some asinine joke about vodka, all will laugh. If I say something about ‘being a man’ people will often nod in agreement. The truth is, I don’t really care about anything, save for the truth. Unfortunately, there are very few people who actually seek truth, and an overwhelming majority seeks feeling good at the particular moment.

How boring life is when all you do is act as something you’re not. How terrible a time it is when you are forbidden from speaking an actual opinion, and instead voice the words of what is acceptable, and what is held in ‘high regard’.

As far as the quest for God/ no God goes, it must be the truth. As soon as it becomes an idealistic view, we are no longer seeking God, but a way to feel better about ourselves. I truly despise that. I don’t think there is anything more disheartening to a believer than a false believer. And for those who don’t believe in God but are willing to speak in honesty about the subject, they are the most honest people who exist.

If in some way you think the acceptance of non-believers goes against God, you are an idiot. For, the only person willing to gamble their salvation is the very one who has put much thought into the matter. And if you do believe in God, make certain it is God, and not a dispirited worldly view. If it is thus, it is nothing, and belongs only to imbeciles. Seek the truth, and ye shall find it.