If even a single person had loved this boy and accepted him unconditionally, the shooting would not have happened.

Look into his eyes and tell me what you see? I see a soul who was not loved. Regardless of his family conditions, if even a single kid or teacher at school had accepted him unconditionally, or if a stranger on the bus had recommended the right book, what might Nikolas Cruz have become?

Go on, keep arguing about gun control, about what measures can be implemented to stop this violence, about what was wrong with this boy...but in a society starved of love, know that these tragic errors will continue. If you want your kids to be safe at school, teach them to look for that kid who is starving for love. Show them what love is and how to give it. You can do the same thing. Learn to love every person you come into contact with, starting with yourself.

This violence is the result of a spiritual crisis. It isn't going to be solved by blaming, shaming, arguing, or punishing (nothing ever is). Love.

There is one thing holding you back from freedom, and it is fear. More accurately, it is the belief that fear is justified.

You believe that you must conform to the demands of others. You think it inevitable that you are dependent upon a husband, a wife, a life partner, or a parent. You believe that to claim your freedom is to become vulnerable...to risk being left on your own, desperate, helpless, and lacking. This is the message of the world, and it is untrue. 

Freedom is the discovery of your true identity and a knowing of your invulnerability. I'm not talking about faith in your invulnerability; rather, a knowing that you are love, you are perfect, you already are everything and you already have everything. Freedom, therefore, requires a conscious awakening, an alignment with that which is real, a detachment from that which is material form and; thus, impermanent and unstable.

You are connected with people who say they love you or care about you...and, in return, they feel justified in controlling you. That isn't love or caring, it is slavery.

There is nothing wrong with you. You are already perfect. You are free to be what you are and to do what you want. The universe has already given you permission to exist in perfect peace and harmony, alone or with anyone you choose to be with, doing or saying whatever comes natural. If someone who you love is jealous or controlling, that is his ego and it is his problem. It is your job to teach him how to cure that jealousy, how to not become overwhelmed by it. If you continue to fear and respect his ego, you make his jealousy real. You enable him to suffer further. But if you love him, then lovingly tell him that you are free...just as he is...and then show him what love is.

Do not let a school tell you that you must get good grades or you will not have a successful life. Do not identity with a job or profession. You want to be successful, and a successful life requires a knowing of your true identity. Do not fear the loss of a friendship or a relationship. If you believe that you need someone else...that means you do not know your true identity. You do not believe in what you are and, therefore, have given away your freedom as though it is worth nothing. In truth, it is worth everything..

Without freedom, your life will never be successful. The universe cannot channel its abundance through you if you allow the egos around you to block the light. You cannot respond to your intuition if you hide it and allow others to attack it. You cannot find peace, love, or health if what you serve is ego. Your true nature is freedom, and this knowledge alone is powerful enough to destroy ego.

Only when you slip outside of ego, you can become free. Only in freedom can you begin to love. Now you will stop sneaking around, stop lying, stop fantasizing, and stop cheating. If you think dishonesty is a form of sensitivity, nothing could be further from the truth. You are, instead, serving an illusion that perpetuates ego-based ignorance and cruelty.

Claim your freedom and let go of all shame and guilt. Your life will be filled with energy. This energy, this love, is life's creative energy. It will flow from you to your partner, to your spouse, to your children, to your dog, and to everyone you come into contact with. Far from lacking; you have just become the source of abundance (rather than a shameful coward waiting for breadcrumbs to drop from the table). 

That fear you believe is real...it isn't real. That fear is the tool of those who are trying to control you. A slave cannot be slightly more free. If you allow yourself to be a little bit of a slave, then you are a slave. Freedom is honesty, it is a knowing of what you truly are, an awareness that there is nothing wrong with you. Be love. You are not your thoughts, you are the observer of thoughts. In life and even in death, your soul is eternal and invulnerable. This knowing is freedom.

Claim your freedom now, and refuse to slip back into fear. This requires a daily spiritual practice and meditation. Try it, and you will find out that there is nothing to fear.

I was watching Queer Eye on Netflix last night (episode 4 To Gay or Not Too Gay) and realized...we need a way for straight people to come out of the closet too!

Coming out isn't just about sex or sexuality. Maybe it isn't even about being gay.  Coming out is about being brave enough to be who you truly are.  It's about not caring what people think.  Coming out is about saying, "Hey Mom, hey Dad, this is who I am...I'm just gonna be me from now on...I'm gonna do things my way...I would like you to please try to accept me for who I am." 

Coming out is about claiming freedom from the expectations of others. It is about designing your own life, doing things your way, loving who you want to love, following your own career path, maybe dropping out of college or going on a trip around the world, maybe choosing minimalism, exploring spirituality, alternative lifestyles, being who you truly and authentically are. How tragic it is that this most important ritual is only something homosexuals get to do!

Fuck that. It's time for everyone to come out of the closet. It's time to break from from social expectations, sexual norms, traditional male/female roles...it's time for you to be flamboyantly you! 

Come out to the world. Stop living according to the expectations of others and start being true to your own intuition. What do you really think about monogamy? How do you feel about marriage? Parenting roles and expectations? Gender roles? Professional stereotypes? Cultural traditions? Political issues? Social issues? Why not openly state your truth and then begin to live it? Why not find your authentic voice, even if your friends and family don't get it?

If you continue living according to the expectations of others, that isn't freedom. Are you obeying the rules of your parents, or worse yet your husband or wife? Fuck that. Be true to who you are an what you know is true. Let the world adjust to fit you. Maybe you are afraid to express yourself creatively? Fuck that. Maybe you are tired of dressing a certain way, talking a certain way, making the same bullshit small-talk? Let it go.

Come out. Be proud. Be you. This is the most important of life's rituals, and it isn't something that should be reserved only for homosexuals. Now is the time for you to come out and be flamboyantly you. 

Here's my coming out: I'm openly spiritual. I believe that love is unconditional or it isn't love. I'm polyamorous and think monogamy for life is a terrible idea. I will not be limited by the guilt and shame put on me by others. I truly do not care about judgments or opinions. I believe the universe is abundant and there's no reason to fear. I'm bored to death by small-talk and refuse to engage. I believe that it is possible to completely escape ego. I will write and sing what I want to and do business the way I want to. I will live where I want to live and be myself no matter what. I will love completely and love for life. I will parent according to my deepest human truths. That's a start.

Actually, I have come out of the closet many times over the years...and each time I have faced exactly what a homosexual might face. I've lost people for sure...but that is exactly what needed to happen for me to move forward.

We all need to come out because it is the only way to be free...the only way to be you.

For the past 16 years, I have known my reason for being. I remember the moment (it was at a Starbucks in San Francisco). It was the year 2002, and I was on a business trip when I experienced an unexpected moment of clarity and inspiration. This idea was so powerful and revolutionary that it excited me like nothing before and nothing since. 

It was during the aftermath of 9/11, during those bleak years when it looked to me as though the Bush Administration might actually succeed at crushing truth, freedom, and justice in the USA. I was a recent MBA graduate with my first serious (yet disappointing) job. I had grown up a proud American, a true believer. I had followed all the rules and advice, I had worked hard, scratched and clawed for my education, and I believed that this was the path toward happiness...that the good life was just around the corner.

Until I realized it was all a lie. Everything we are told in school, in the media, and through every facet of mainstream culture is an interwoven series of lies designed only to keep the system going. Institutions, corporations, governments, and the people who control them deliver human misery through a never-ending, exhausting effort to organize society according to their rules. The system does not care about people; rather, it places people in service to centralized authority.

The process of true re-education is long, painstaking, and filled with despair. You are on your own, engaged in endless debates to convince people of what they are unwilling to see. Even if you succeed at articulating a truth...even if you might somehow manage to convince a few people...you remain aware that you are powerless. You no longer fit in, yet it isn't clear where you belong. Still, part of being human is that deep desire to live your truth, to stand up for what you believe, to change the world in some way. So you go on.

People like me struggle, sometimes for a lifetime, to change the system. The problem is that the system is designed to work exactly in the way that it does work. The system isn't going to change. Any effort to reform a government or institution is effort utterly wasted. So what can we do?

We, as people, can come together. I don't mean come together to protest or fight for anything or try to change anything...just come together. When we have each other, we don't really need institutions. We can ignore all forms of centralized authority. We can use technology, we can invent, we can work together (and for each other), we can create, we can love, we can be happy. Human unity is the end of misery.

This answer is simple, and yet it isn't. The problem is that, without a spiritual awakening, people don't know how to get along. In today's normal state of human existence (the egoic state), people believe they are separate, cut-off, and in competition with each other. People take advantage of each other, they lie, they manipulate, they shame, they judge, and they blame. In the typical ego-driven state, human beings have become slaves to institutions for the simple reason that we don't know how to get along with each other. If we did get along, there would be no need for institutions to claim authority over us.

Only by escaping the ego is it possible to end toxic behavior. Only in an enlightened state of awareness can we align our lives with unconditional love, acceptance, giving, and creativity. In the state of spiritual aliveness, we immediately feel that the universe is abundant, we align with an invisible, immaterial realm that is safe and unchanging, we lose fear as we embrace our perfect freedom and happiness. We end suffering. This is the normal state of human existence, as it existed before centralized power came to be. 

This shift away from centralized power and authority is called "decentralization". It is possible to ignore centralized authority, to live in freedom. You can escape the ego completely. You can live in a continuous, connected state of conscious awakening.  I have learned to let go of all attachments, and have seen life's abundance come in to replace whatever is lost.

Humans today are going through a massive awakening. Millions of us are reading the great spiritual works, listening to talks, and reshaping our lives. But we are still too isolated, too much within the system. The next step is the introduction of a technology that connects people more easily than fate, facilitates harmonious win-win relationships, and delivers abundance in all areas of life through decentralization.

I started the I Am by Infobeing Foundation to create "I am", a mobile app which is designed to deliver a large-scale shift toward decentralization. The designs are simple, it will work, and thanks to some recent funding by a few wonderful people, we are on the verge of finally building it.

I'm not attached to what happens next. I can make no promises or predictions. But I am grateful for the opportunity to fulfill what I know is my life purpose.