This is the updated and extended version of my book The Journey, which was published in 2016. Hi, I’m Michael Lanfield, and thank you for joining me on this journey, The Journey to Awakening. The awakening of the mind and the awakening of the heart. Let's take a few moments… Breathe in deeply and exhale slowly. The Journey to Understanding is the understanding of cultivating our intuition. It is deeply sensing and interconnecting with all lifeforms both at the microcosm and the macrocosm levels. We observe a little insect, the ant doing their job, while also viewing the larger picture of the problems that humanity is faced with on Earth. For hundreds or maybe even thousands of years, human beings have been engaged in, and part of the many evils on Earth. Corrupted governments, megacorporations, religions, and all other institutions have been together in all of this since the very beginning and actually exacerbate the issues. Problems like the oppression of women, environmental devastations, economic and political issues, wars and domestic violence, illnesses and diseases of all sorts, etc., the problems are boundless. So many problems persist nowadays, which confuses and leaves people living in despair. The majority of humans continue supporting the same violence that is harming us all. Thinking that reforming or improving human laws and governments will improve the system, is wishful thinking. It may slightly improve in certain areas, but it will never solve the underlying reason why we're in this mess in the first place. There are many theories and explanations for the world’s problems that humanity is dealing with. And yet most people do not understand and address the root cause. Buckminster Fuller said, "You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that make[s] the existing model obsolete." Most people still are trying to change and reform the current system that we're living in. We've been trying for thousands of years. And nothing seems to work. When we elect a new president or politician, the same problems continue or are getting worse. It looks like for humanity; there is no hope. Individually, we feel hopeless and that we don't make a difference. We need to create an entirely new way of life, one where we live in harmony with all living beings and walk away from the monetary and governmental systems. Most of us are born in hospitals where our freedoms are taken away, given all sorts of vaccinations, a social security number, and birth certificate that keep us tied to the system. We think we are free because we can go and do as we please. But that far from the truth. We must exercise our birthrights and live freely on the Earth as sovereign individual beings and denounce our citizenship. We are all Earthlings! All of us have the birthright to a fair share of clean water, plant foods, and seed. No one has dictatorship over the Earth, our bodies or the other animals living here with us. This is what nonviolence is all about. It is unfortunate that in our society, most of us don't live with love for all sentient beings (including nature). How can we expect to live free, happy lives when we support the use, theft, and killing of other innocent creatures? If we want to be liberated and free, we need to give that to all other living beings as well. There is no way to continue using, confining, enslaving, and killing others if we want freedom for ourselves. It doesn't work that way. As individuals, it is also essential to cease supporting a system dominated by corrupt governments and political ideologies that only serve a few elite people. Only when we move entirely out of cities and society will we finally be living free and happy away from any oppression and aggression. Once we stop supporting the monetary system (as much as we possibly can), and the herding culture, by not eating foods of immense suffering and death, then we are called to create veganic homesteading communities. As well, we are also here to voice our birthrights. What are our three most essential birthrights? 1. The birthright to live and move freely anywhere on the Earth. 2. The right to individual human sovereignty (self-ownership). 3. The right to seed, plant foods, and clean water. These birthrights are not given to us by any government authorities, and so they are considered illegal because governments don't want anyone to live their birthrights. And therefore, these principles and values stem from our heart values of love and instilled within nature. And if it is not legal and official or has a scientific validation, it is not legitimate, and many people are considered to be crazy. This means that most people in our society cannot comprehend and grasp these concepts and consider those who are anarchists to be extremists who only care about themselves. Far from the truth! However, out of the thousands of years that humans have been part of the herding culture on Earth, governments and the monetary system have done little to nothing to improve society for the betterment of humanity, nor have they created a genuinely peaceful and free life. If we want to change the course in the world significantly, we need to live away from cities and our culture and learn to live with love for all creatures. This means that any time governments and police force authorities challenge us, we need to exercise our three main birthrights, as described earlier. The first step is a very profound one. All of us must live a life that respects all lifeforms and learn to live with minimal harm to each other and the Earth. This means that we don't eat or use nonhuman animals for food, clothing, testing, entertainment or anything else that harms them. It is not necessary in our current world to do so. Many people have already demonstrated that they can live healthy lives without harming and using animals. Until this happens, we will still be savages and spiritually disconnected and unawakened human beings. Individually and collectively as a human species, we are all severely wounded because of the use and consumption of animals and animal products. Our culture does not teach us to question any of the official narratives. And because we are not able to make the vital connections, we thus, cannot consider ourselves intelligent or truly free. Intelligence is the ability to make vital connections. If we're eating animal foods and using animals for clothing, testing, entertainment, pets or other purposes, and still supporting governments and the monetary system, we're not making intelligent connections. Some people are questioning all of this, slowly walking away from it all. We are still enslaved because we're dominating other living beings. And thus, we are also bound by governments and the monetary system. We are consistently living in fear because the mainstream media and governments program fear in us. We're part of this monetary herding society, so indoctrinated and condition since birth by outside authorities and cultural narratives, that we think governments are here to protect us. This is far from the truth! If you still think governments have their best interests in us, you are sadly still heavily indoctrinated by cultural narratives and don't question any of it. This is why governments continue pumping the public with conflicting information and exaggerations, confusing the public. We are so distracted by external forces that we can't make the connections to see what's really happening in the political and economic realm, with governments and police authorities, forcing their agendas and committing egregious crimes against humanity. That is why the authorities are called "Police Force" and Governments, "govern", means to rule and control. Though some people may receive tax benefits, a pension or are making a good income and like their job, as a whole entity and institution, governments are not here for the overall good of humanity. Will electing a new politician or president really going to solve the cause of the problem? No! We've been trying for a long time, without any real positive change. And because this, it eventually leads to illness and diseases, treating only the symptoms of the illness by taking more drugs and pharmaceuticals to combat all of these problems. What we do to the nonhuman animals of this Earth, has many negative consequences. When we enslave animals, steal from them, kill them or use them in other ways, we can see many of the same types of things happening to us. We are used against our will, have our property or children stolen or taken away from us, enslaved by governments and money, and eventually get the debilitating diseases, and suffer and die horrible deaths. Animals are living in overcrowded large warehouses, unlike in the past, where they were roaming out free in the fields. Even if animals live good lives, they too, are slaughtered and have their throats violently slit. No matter the label or name on the supermarket packaging or how animals were treated before being killed, animal agriculture is a system of immense cruelty and violence. To comprehend the far-reaching negative implications of our current society, we need to start questioning all of this and stop supporting such practices. How do we escape this system that has such a stronghold on us? Regarding the covid-19 virus outbreak happening in 2020, are the governments exaggerating the numbers of illnesses and deaths? Are they covering up what is really going on? How do we know what they are saying is true? Through social media sites like Facebook and YouTube, many people are being censored and silenced. Health professionals are instructed to hide the facts and tell people false stories. Governments are the most powerful entities who own megacoroporations, here to fulfill their own agendas. All these different virus pandemics that took place in the past (like SARS, Ebola, Zika, mad cow (or BSE), bird flu, etc.), many of them go under different names, arise because we humans let it all happen. We eat animal and cooked foods and developed weaker immune systems as our bodies become acidic, inflamed, and mucus-filled. What we do to the animals, eventually comes back to us many times over. Because of what we do to nonhuman animals, governments are slowly doing it to us. We have to realize the repercussions of our actions and our buying choices. In the past, we used to live more self-sustainably in harmony with the Earth, not relying on outside authority for necessities like water and food. These things are given to us by governmental institutions in exchange for money, and thus, taking away our precious free time working in mundane and stressful jobs to pay for these things, that we should be acquiring freely from the Earth. We used to grow and prepare all our own food, but today we go to the supermarket or restaurant for that. We are so comfortable with someone else doing the work for us. And yet, we still don't have time to meditate or pray and do all the inner spiritual work or be with our families enjoying life with them. Thus, we are spiritually desensitized. Our emotions are hidden and suppressed. It is up to every one of us to awaken and realign with love from within our hearts. Not just for ourselves and other human beings, but all life on Earth, including the environment. The time to begin, evolving and awaking to a new way of living is now. We have to walk away and completely stop supporting all the institutions of our society: religions, economic and political systems, legal and penal, mass or mainstream media, educational, scientific, medical, and pharmaceutical industries, and more. That is why it is urgent that we awaken and live alternatively away from cities and towns, and instead, create communities that interconnect and work in harmony with the natural environment and all Earthlings. Veganic permaculture homesteading communities, where we live eco-sustainably, not relying on domesticated animals or animal inputs or using GMO seeds or harmful chemicals on the land, is our goal. Our birthright is to live freely on the Earth as sovereign individual human beings, each with our fair share of land, water, seed, and plant foods, taking care for our precious “Earth home”. In times of need, with the help and comfort of like-minded community members, we are there for each other. We all work with one another in harmony for the greater good of everyone. This is the circle of life, the symbiotic relationship between us all. This is the way we are meant to live. We are not killers, rapists or thieves. What happens if all the supermarkets and stores suddenly all close down? Where will people get their food from? If city governments and officials decide to turn off of everyone's water or electricity supply, then what will people do? This has happened before in neighbourhoods and even whole states and provinces disconnecting people from the power grid. I remember this happened in parts of the province of Ontario and New York State (called the Northeast blackout of 2003). Many people lost their electricity and some even water for many hours and even days. It was said that the numbers were around fifty-five million residences that were without electricity. What happens when people don't have access to water, electricity or food for years or even decades? Then what will people do? This happens because we are so reliant on government city services to supply all of our water, energy, and food. If we can't afford to pay our utility expenses, the authorities can temporarily or even permanently shut them off. Do you think governments genuinely care about us? Absolutely not! It may seem if people are getting their retirement or welfare cheques every month or a tax refund at the end of the year. There may be some human laws that protect people to a certain degree, but as a whole entity, governments are not there to protect us. Ask yourself, why do problems keep getting worse from year-to-year? Every day in the news, all you hear is tragedies, one after another, with one feel-good story in between somewhere in the newscast. Someone killed another person, robbed a store, this country is at war with this other country or something about the political or economic crisis. And the never-ending disasters continue. The media keeps pushing fear and anxiety onto the public. People then want to lock their doors and bar their windows. Now we're so afraid of everyone, many of us don't even go out because of this and stay home to watch TV. Just look at the crises that humanity is facing in 2020 with Coronavirus and the lockdown. Governments and mainstream-media have us living in fear, telling us to be afraid of something, which first, none of us can see, and secondly, doesn't affect people with a strong immune system, and are told to spend most or all of our time in our homes, refraining from going outside. The problem is, people are eating so many animal and cook foods, which are the cause of many of these virus pandemics. The acidity, inflammation, and mucus from these cooked foods are leading to people's bodies become more susceptible to catching viruses or bacteria. If we just ate the right foods for our species, which is raw whole plant foods, especially ripe fruits, and stopped killing other living beings, then we wouldn't be in this mess we are in today. The media and through governments and social media channels, we're bombarded with all kinds of conflicting information and stories. We don't know what the truth is nowadays. We go to school, churches, and other places of gathering, where everyone is eating the same acidifying and inflammatory foods. The processed, dead animal and cooked foods that do nothing to help boost our immunity. These foods may initially taste good, but overall they age the body faster and introduce toxins that it doesn’t know what to do with. Because governments lie, steal, and enslave us, how can we trust anything they are saying to be in our best interest? With the covid-19 virus, many health professionals are told to diagnose other ailments as covid-19. Diagnosing the seasonal flu or heart disease as covid-19 and putting people on oxygen ventilators is profitable for business for the medical and pharmaceutical industries. So the governments and media fabricate, lie, and manipulate the number of illnesses and deaths to keep people living in fear. Humans are now so scared, many people are wearing facial masks and washing their hands frequently to eliminate or reduce the risk. These safety measures, do little to nothing to stop viruses. It all has to do with how strong our immune system is capable of protecting the body from foreign pollutants. I am not fond of governments. Why should we trust or even listen to people who are here to keep us in debt and servitude? We need to stop supporting the wealthy elites, and move away from cities and the monetary system, and exercise our birthrights, creating and living in veganic homesteading communities out in nature. We need to become minimalists and stop living materialistically and buying things we don't need. It is destroying our bodies, minds, and souls, and ruining our beautiful home. Our most essential birthrights are that we are sovereign individual human beings, the right to govern our own bodies, without the interference of official authorities or power, and our fair share of land, water, seed, and plant foods, and to be able to live and move freely anywhere on Earth without any restrictions. These rights are given to us from the universal force creator on Earth. Every free-roaming animal is instilled with these birthrights, so why shouldn't we have those same natural rights? In nature, there is no such thing as country borders, and animals go where they please. Even though some animals may eat other animals, they do so only because of instinct or sustenance. We don't! The majority of humans eat animal foods only because we were taught to do so as young children. After many years we get accustomed and enjoy the taste of animal flesh and sections, and think it is natural, normal, and necessary to do so. We need to stop all this madness. We are not cavemen or cavewomen anymore, lions or tigers with fangs, nor are we out in the wilderness starving to death. We make all sorts of excuses and justifications, none which make any logical or moral sense. We pick and choose what animals and animal products we eat. We support governments and live in cities because that's where many of the jobs are, and we just feel it is a part of life that everyone must do. We conform to all of this because we don't want to be considered different. We never think for ourselves, and just go along with society. It's no wonder why the average human can't awaken out of the delusion, and why many of us are so spiritually disconnected from our inner voice. I came to these realizations many years ago when I had my spiritual awakening. No longer did I want to use or kill animals or get anyone to do it on my behalf. I then made a change and went on a new direction in life. My mission is to teach others these ideas so that we can all live in peace and harmony. In time, I too, like everyone else, will leave society for natural living in homesteading communities for a better way of life. This is our true calling and purpose, and what we must all do as compassionate and loving humans. If you found this audiobook beneficial, please share the Bandcamp link with others. If you would like to learn more, get my other books through my website or directly on Amazon. www.weareinterconncted.com Join our ever-growing online community forum "World Vegan Community" to discuss and learn how to create physical veganic homesteading communities at: peaceful-village.com/forum Thank you.