Crystal

About me:

I Believe in Humanism, a nonreligious philosophy based on reason and compassion. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~"Each is entitled to the Honest opinion of all. And there is but one way to get an Honest opinion upon any subject whatever. The person giving the opinion must be Free from Fear."~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.. How is Truth to be Found? By investigation, experiment and reason. Every human being should be allowed to investigate to the extent of his desire -- his ability. The literature of the world should be open to him -- nothing prohibited, sealed or hidden. No subject can be too sacred to be understood. Each person should be allowed to reach his own conclusions and to speak his honest thought. He who threatens the investigator with punishment here, or hereafter, is an enemy of the human race. And he who tries to bribe the investigator with the promise of eternal joy is a traitor to his fellow-men. There is no real investigation without freedom -- freedom from the fear of gods and men. So, all investigation -- all experiment -- should be pursued in the light of reason. Every man should be true to himself -- true to the inward light. Each man, in the laboratory of his own mind, and for himself alone, should test the so-called facts -- the theories of all the world. Truth, in accordance with his reason, should be his guide and master. To love the truth, thus perceived, is mental virtue -- intellectual purity. This is true manhood. This is freedom. To throw away your reason at the command of churches, popes, parties, kings or gods, is to be a serf, a slave. It is not simply the right, but it is the duty of every man to think -- to investigate for himself -- and every man who tries to prevent this by force or fear, is doing all he can to degrade and enslave his fellow-men. Ingersoll's Vow When I became convinced that the Universe is natural--that all the ghosts and gods are myths, there entered into my brain, into my soul, into every drop of my blood, the sense, the feeling, the joy of freedom. The walls of my prison crumbled and fell, the dungeon was flooded with light, and all the bolts, and bars, and manacles became dust. I was no longer a servant, a serf, or a slave. There was for me no master in all the wide world--not even in infinite space. I was free--free to think, to express my thoughts--free to live to my own ideal--free to live for myself and those I loved--free to use all my faculties, all my senses--free to spread imagination's wings--free to investigate, to guess and dream and hope--free to judge and determine for myself--free to reject all ignorant and cruel creeds, all the "inspired" books that savages have produced, and all the barbarous legends of the past--free from popes and priests--free from all the "called" and "set apart"--free from sanctified mistakes and holy lies--free from the fear of eternal pain--free from the winged monsters of the night--free from devils, ghosts, and gods. For the first time I was free. There were no prohibited places in all the realms of thought--no air, no space, where fancy could not spread her painted wings--no chains for my limbs--no lashes for my back--no fires for my flesh--no master's frown or threat--no following another's steps- -no need to bow, or cringe, or crawl, or utter lying words. I was free. I stood erect and fearlessly, joyously, faced all worlds. And then my heart was filled with gratitude, with thankfulness, and went out in love to all the heroes, the thinkers who gave their lives for the liberty of hand and brain--for the freedom of labor and thought--to those who fell in the fierce fields of war, to those who died in dungeons bound with chains--to those who proudly mounted scaffold's stairs--to those whose bones were crushed, whose flesh was scarred and torn--to those by fire consumed--to all the wise, the good, the brave of every land, whose thoughts and deeds have given freedom to the sons of men. And then I vowed to grasp the torch that they had held, and hold it high, that light might conquer darkness still. ~Robert G. Ingersoll (1833-1899) .. HAPPINESS IS A SHARED LIFE. I enjoy practicing many forms of yoga. Love Organic food and wine. .. .. ..

Shinedown - Simple Man
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5gvSzbSMNg

Be Something you Love and Understand.