Saturday, January 14, 2012

Caution’s Wind from "The Killer Inside" by Robert Gray Gallagher

Caution’s wind

A level plane will guide me to a joyous self. Imbalance shall breed only questions and confusion will become my guide to nothing. My old wounds will never heal as long as I can still inflict new ones unto myself. Seeking out the validation of confused minds only makes my own mind more confused. This world is not the place for my mind to dwell so I keep vigilance against my thinking whenever my thoughts lead to more questions. The truth shall find me when I find myself.

lev·el       (lěv'əl)  
n.  
1. A natural or proper position, place, or stage.

The stream will run into much resistance on its way to the ocean but there shall come a time when they become one. It is at this point where one ends and the other begins and this is my fate. This too is the fate of every man and its responsibility is up to the individual. The resistance to the stream is the elements that it shall one day become. Nothing always remains the same.

re·sis·tance       (rĭ-zĭs'təns)  
n.  

1. Electricity The opposition of a body or substance to current passing through it, resulting in a change of electrical energy into heat or another form of energy.

The most consistent thing in my reality is fear. It appears that am still in much fear. As long as I continue to fool myself into believing that I am not in fear I shall only meet more resistance. The resistance is in my mind. Nothing stands in the way of my will when it has aligned itself with the truth rather than my beliefs. This is where the river meets the ocean. This is where I stop and my spirit begins. My spirit is the ocean and it is the same truth that has always been. I already know all that it does but I resist this truth because I resist love.

o·cean       (ō'shən)  
n.  

1. A great expanse or amount.

A half of something is never whole. Furthermore, every time that I can not understand something it is because my ego has asked the question. As long as I answer to my ego and uphold knowledge crafted out of fear then I will never live the life of a fool.

fool       (fōōl)  
n.  

1. One who subverts convention or orthodoxy or varies from social conformity in order to reveal spiritual or moral truth.

The ego is who I am when I am unwilling to love myself. Waiting for the right moment is a way of following my fears into oblivion. Every time I tell myself lies it is because I believe that I am nothing. This world has confused me. It has literally fallen down to the ground and I believe that it had taken me with it. I must make absolutely no mistake about it; this is the world that I have taken down with me. I am not the innocent and yet I am. I am the destroyer but as long as I continue to harbor the destruction inside my mind.

The world that I have mistaken as my own is really nothing more then what my ego perceives it as being. My ego is never going to be capable of seeing things differently. As long as my world remains a creation of my ego under the influence of fear it will continue to slip through my fingers. As long as my ego is who I believe myself to be then I shall continue to project myself into a state of self imposed imprisonment.

in·no·cent       (ĭn'ə-sənt)  
adj.  
1. Uncorrupted by evil, malice, or wrongdoing; sinless.
2. A person, especially a child, who is free of evil or sin.

This brings me much sadness. Sadness is nothing but a state of unreciprocated love. The spiritual realm loves me the best that it can within the confines of this world that I have trapped myself inside of. The kingdom that I have built is missing one ingredient, which is everything in the kingdom that the spiritual realm maintains. The egos kingdom is actually a prison that keeps me locked away inside of my own mind. The kingdom of the spiritual realm is love and nothing more. More is not needed with love’s creation because it is already everything. Once I include my spirit in my kingdom it shall became more endearing. Once I acknowledge my spirit with my mind this prison will dissolve.

in·gre·di·ent       (ĭn-grē'dē-ənt)  
n.   An element in a mixture or compound.

The kingdom of my ego shall always invite me to entertain in its madness. How long will I continue to support this creation in spite of all that I see? Do I doubt that what I see is real? I only question the truth to be a lie because I have lived a lie since I was a child. There is nothing more dangerous than a liar who believes his deceptions of self and builds his life around them as if they were truth. Only I can see what I chose to see. Only I can think what I chose to think but how do all of my choices make me feel? If it were up to me to do things differently would I even dare?

By compromising my belief system I have began to pave the way to freedom. My beliefs are rooted in fear and are incapable of ever sprouting truth. This is all that I have known and I have known nothing. I have long since surrendered to my ego by rationalizing its lies into who I believe I am. As soon as I find the truth I shall find myself. To find is simply to “be” for I cannot seek something that I already am. I am a being.

be       (bē)  
v.   intr.
1.

a. To remain in a certain state or situation undisturbed, untouched, or unmolested
b. To equal in identity: "To be a Christian was to be a Roman" (James Bryce).
I cannot see myself in the reality that my ego has created. I can only see what my ego is capable of projecting. My ego can’t feel a thing. It can only make me feel things that are no more real than it is.

feel       (fēl)  
v.   tr.
1.
a. To perceive as a physical sensation: feel a sharp pain; feel the cold.
b. To undergo the experience of: felt my interest rising; felt great joy.
c. To be aware of; sense: felt the anger of the crowd.
d. To be emotionally affected by: She still feels the loss of her dog.

By asking myself if freedom is what I seek I have mistaken myself for my ego once again. I am in fact free but my ego shall never be. A prisoner of my own manifestation, my ego has been sentenced to life inside the prison of my mind. A prison is merely a structure when it houses no prisoners. This structure is still free to contain the love and truth that I truly am. The minute that structure houses my ego, the prisoner, it becomes a house of fear. Prison is no different than the reality that I have created. My ego has imprisoned my mind and it needs to be released. I have committed my true self to life inside the prison that my fear driven ego maintains. The minute my ego is released my mind will be a free structure once more.

struc·ture      /ˈstrʌktʃər/ Pronunciation Key
–noun
1.
mode of building, construction, or organization; arrangement of parts, elements, or constituents: a pyramidal structure.


2.
a complex system considered from the point of view of the whole rather than of any single part: the structure of modern science.

When ever I don’t feel worthy of a good life it is because I believe there is no love in the life I live. I can easily become lost and not find my way out of the reality that my fear driven ego has made.

I still continue to wake up to a world that seems to fight its own nature. It feels like humanity is falling out of favor with the laws that created it. This is the world that we have made and only we can heal our self imposed wounds of ego identification. Do I believe that I can prove myself wrong? Is this structure that I maintain even worthy of my support?

na·ture       (nā'chər
n.  
1. The forces and processes that produce and control all the phenomena of the material world: the laws of nature.
2. Theology Humankind's natural state as distinguished from the state of grace.
3. The fundamental character or disposition of a person; temperament: "Strange natures made a
Guided fear had become so hard to follow. Trust is impossible without love within. Identity lost. Selfish pride will never be logical extension of who I am. If I could only find a way to “be” then all need would parish.

Lack of love has no remedy other than love. I have always had love but I kept it hidden from myself. On some level I know that my ego was not worthy of my love so I have gone without.
I can see my ego all around me so I believe that it is who I am. Just because I refuse to see my spirit does not mean that it is non-existent. As long as I “believe in” rather than “experience” I will see my spirit as being separate. My spirit and I are one. The only separation that exists is created by my ego when it is driven by fear.

sight       (sīt)  
n.  
1. Mental perception or consideration: We lost sight of the purpose of our visit.
2. An opportunity to observe or inspect.
Love created me and fear created my ego. The universe created me as a logical extension of what it is. I created my ego as an illogical extension of my own fears. I am only fearful when I deny myself the love that I truly am and always will be.

The emperor who sits on his throne inside of my mind is a tyrant that I had chosen to lead me. I obey him out of fear but I will never love him because love is not what he desires. He only wants what will make him feel important because he knows that he is not. He tries to feel special because he knows that he is not. I have willingly given my power to a fear driven ego that sits upon his imaginary throne that I have afforded him. I have relinquished all responsibility for myself into the arms of a madman.

I keep telling myself lies while attempting to convince myself that I am not a liar. I live to serve a master who doesn’t even exist. And look at the world that I have allowed my master to build without my permission. Welcome to my empire of nothing.


be·lief     (bĭ-lēf')  
noun
1. The mental act, condition, or habit of placing trust or confidence in another: My belief in you is as strong as ever.
2. Mental acceptance of and conviction in the truth, actuality, or validity of something: His explanation of what happened defies belief.
3. Something believed or accepted as true, especially a particular tenet or a body of tenets accepted by a group of persons.

ROBERT GRAY GALLAGHER

COPYRIGHT 2009 RETROCOLLECTIVE PUBLISHING GROUP. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Thursday, January 12, 2012

I Am The Power Greater Than My "SELF"

Just because i lie
Doesn't mean I am bad
Just because I am dead inside
Doesn't mean I wanna die
Before every story
The stage has long since been set
The truth
Replaced by lies
As we scour the world
In search of proof
To kill the way we feel
In the mind that wants control
I am a power greater than my "self"
I am GOD and so are you
I am the chosen one
I am the the truth
That defines my being
And threatens my "self"
I am the higher power
Not someone else

Robert Gray Gallagher

Copyright 2012 RETROCOLLECTIVE PUBLISHING GROUP. All Rights Reserved

Monday, December 26, 2011

THE GRAND ARCHITECT OF THE UNIVERSE.


THE GRAND ARCHITECT OF THE UNIVERSE.

The conception of the Builder is basic
and everywhere manifest in Freemasonry.
Hiram, the Master Builder, who drew the
plans of the temple and day by day placed
the "designs on the trestleboard", is taken
as a human symbol of the Designer and
Creator of the Cosmos. The relation of
Hiram to the Temple symbolizes the relation
of the G. A. 0. T. U. to the Universe
itself.

In the building of the Temple the work
of construction fell to the Entered Apprentices
and Fellowcrafts. When the Temple
was completed these also were to become
Masters and receive the Word. The progressive
science of human life, and the
natural, orderly and progressive relation
of man to God, were thus involved and
ingrained, without dogmatizing or theologizing.
It was illustrated and left to the
apprehension and intelligence of the candidate.

This method of teaching, and the lesson
taught, is the supremacy of human wisdom.
It involves the idea of progressive intelligence
which, loyal to truth, duty and obligation,
assures the higher and still higher
evolution of man. It is based on the
facts of human observation and experience.
Man is an Individual Intelligence; God
the Universal Intelligence. The growth
of intelligence in man; his conformity to
law and order; his allegiance to duty and
obligation ; his proficiency in all preceding
work or degrees give him the right, and
secure for him the benefit of higher degrees
of knowledge, power and privilege.
This is not "argued out". It is illustrated
by a personal experience, and demonstrated
at every step. The personal experience
that is thus secured brings the
man constantly nearer to the Master, as it
brings the Master nearer to God.
What our ancient brethren in the Greater
Mysteries called "the Immortal Gods",
were simply perfected by this normal human
evolution. " First a man, then a
Master, then a God.

The theologians who have made such a
caricature or a fetish of Jesus, were ignorant
of this normal, progressive, higher
evolution of man. No man of intelligence
nowadays will assume that the practice of
the precepts under consideration can have
any other result than this higher evolution.
Neither can he determine any limits to the
process and possibilities of such evolution,
Hence, the theologian has created an impassable
gulf between the man Jesus and
the Christ ; or between man and God ; thus
annulling the wages of an upright life. To
patch up the inconsistency and bridge the
gulf thus created, they invented the Vicarious
Atonement, the application of which
Clericalism proceeded to preempt and to
monopolize. Preach and theorize as they
may, they make an upright life and a dissolute
one practically equal.

The just and upright man, who, nevertheless,
denies the creed and refuses tithes
for Mass, if murdered by a villain, or by
priests under the charge of heresy, is
bound for hades; while his murderer, by
confession and "fixing" it up with the
cleric, gains absolution and goes to heaven.

No greater abomination in morals was
ever practiced upon the children of men.
The "sinner" sees the point, compromises
with his conscience and his sense of personal
responsibility, and "takes his
chances". Such a doctrine can have but
one result, viz., to blunt the moral sense.

Strictly speaking, there is no theology
in Freemasonry. It does not speculate regarding
the Being of God. It recognizes
certain self-evident propositions. As Intelligence
designs the Temple, so Intelligence
designs, builds, governs and beautifies
the Universe. The analogy is self-evident.
What Intelligence is, we do not know.
What it does, we see everywhere around
us. We see how it grows, to what uses it
can be applied, and how the highest and
noblest results can be attained. We learn
this beyond all controversy from the facts
of human experience.

Selfishness, debauchery and uncharitableness
degrade man toward the brute.
Self-control, the recognition of personal
responsibility and loving-kindness lead
man upward to Mastership and toward
Divinity.

The analogy is complete between man as
the builder of character through self-control;
man, the builder of temples from intelligent
designs; man, the builder of society
through Brotherly Love, Belief and
Truth; and God, the Builder of Worlds
the " Grand Architect of the Universe", in
all, through all, and over all.

Man everywhere and at all times creates
his own concept, his own idea of God.
Every nation and each religion has its
Divinity. Philosophers, and even poets,
like Watts, are God-builders. Listen to
Watts:

"His nostrils breathe out living flames.
He's a consuming fire,
His jealous eyes his wrath inflames
To raise his vengeance higher."

"Infants not a span long" would indeed
be a "dainty dish" for such a being.
Could man have done much worse had he
never heard or dreamed of God at all?

The atheist, however, in trying to escape
from these caricatures of Deity, and in
denying Divinity altogether, is wholly illogical.
The atheist is also the creation of
theologians. The antithesis does not lie
between the "God of the heathen", or of
Watts, and no God; but between the God
of Fear and Superstition, and the God of
Love, Reason and Justice.

The postulate of Divinity, this concept
of the Grand Architect of the Universe
found in Freemasonry, is, like all others,
the creation of man. As an incentive to
adoration and worship, as a conception apprehensible
to the human mind, and implying
a relation to man that constantly
draws him nearer to God and forms the
basis of ethics for the building of character,
it has no equal in the history of
human thought, or the intelligent conception
of man.

While theologies are going to pieces, and
men imagine they can get along without
God and are willing to be called "atheists",
here lies the strongest bulwark for
the preservation of that spirit of reverence
and devotion which elevates and ennobles
man. Such a concept is indeed a "strong
anchor" to the human soul.

This recognition of Divinity in Masonry
is of such a character and is used in such a
way as to give no offense to a Brother of
any religious faith, be he Jew, Christian,
Buddhist, or a believer in any other of
the world's great religions. Coming as it
does from remote antiquity, the concept
worked out by Masters of human thought
and noble living in the Greater Mysteries
of antiquity, and commensurate with the
highest intelligence of any age; avoiding
crass materialism and atheism on the one
hand, and fanaticism and fetishism on the
other ; it stands as a boon, a priceless jewel
to the human race.

This does not imply that the intelligent
mind, the reverent and devout soul, cannot
enlarge on the concept. The range of human
intelligence as a spark of Divinity "
seems practically infinite. It does mean,
however, that it stands as a consistent,
wise and inspiring theorem, a consensus of
human thought, reverent, reasonable, consistent
and uplifting.

This recognition of Divinity is never
overlooked nor forgotten in the Lodge
room. It can never there be degraded to
a fetish. It is not involved in words and
ceremonies that can ever degenerate into
"lip service". As already shown, it can
never give offense nor excite controversy
except by misinterpretation, and by being
misapplied; and this would be wholly un-
Masonic.

There has been a tendency, at certain
times and in certain directions to "Christianize"
certain Masonic degrees. Any sectarian
or religious bias given to any degree
in Masonry is wholly un-Masonic and
wholly opposed to the real Genius of Freemasonry.

The whole of true Masonry is potentially
embodied in the first three degrees.
Beautiful, impressive and sublime as are
some of the so-called higher degrees, they
all have their root in, and take their rise
from the Blue Lodge, and must be held consistent
with that body.

There are not only many concepts of
the Supreme Being, but many names by
which these concepts have been designated.
Among the Jews from whom a great deal
of the Masonic ritual is derived and legends
adapted, there were several of these
God-names involving certain attributes of
Deity. The same is true of the Hindoo,
Persian and many other ancient peoples
and religions. To give any one of these
words, or God-names, supremacy above all
others and call it the true word, or the
"real word", with no reason or explanation
therefor, is a mere conceit bordering
on dogma.

The real Word is not a mere matter of
phonetics, an empty sound "signifying
nothing". Words, at best, and at most,
are symbols of the intelligent concepts of
man; and as Bro. Albert Pike abundantly
showed, if any one word known to man in
any language can convey the meaning of
the "Lost Word", it is the Sanscrit A U M.

But this involves a whole philosophy of
man and the Universe. It also involves the
science of Phonetics, up to Marconi and
beyond; the synchronous vibration of the
being of man with both God and Nature.
It were better for the enlightenment of
the Craft had no attempt been made to enlarge
or improve upon the concept of
G. A. O. T. U., and that every just and upright
Mason should remember, apprehend
and reverence the Builder and the Sustainer
of man, the Light of the Universe.

If the sincere and thoughtful Mason
would "take notice" of the symbolism and
the use made everywhere in the Lodge of
the word "Light", and remember that the
real Initiates are called also "the Illuminati",
(Sons of Light), those who are
illumined, and who in turn illuminate,
he might gather clues of, not only the
whole symbolism of Masonry, but also of
the real "Word".

Light and Love are the most significant
omnific words. Nor is this true in a figurative
sense only. Often has the refined spiritual
vision of men "discerned a light",
and presently, a "radiant Being in the
midst thereof", when it was seen that the
Being emanated the light. The halo around
the heads of saints is not a purely human
invention, and the transfiguration of Jesus
will one day be explained and apprehended
as naturally as the "waves" of Marconi.

The concepts of the human mind are
everywhere undergoing refinement, as man
rises in the scale of human evolution. With
all this progress and refinement, and with
these wonderful discoveries regarding
"Nature's Finer Forces", it will still be
found that in the symbolism of Freemasonry
there was planted a real knowledge
capable of unfolding, and destined to unfold
for, lo, these many generations.

To all of these profound secrets, the concept
of "the Grand Architect of the Universe"
stands, and will forever remain the
' ' Rock of Ages ' '
; the acme and the epitome
of human wisdom as a concept of Divinity.

JD BUCK 1907

Monday, April 5, 2010

Cautions Wind:

I cannot decide the fate of man because my will only knows how to create. A fate implies that something should some day come to an end. Anytime that man mistakes fate with the logical extension of who they are they have fallen into a trap.

Conscious action requires conscious thought. Avenues lead to roads and roads finally turn into highways. Highways are symbolic of nature in regards to streams, rivers and oceans.

When starting something new one must decide if the course they have embarked on is correct. There is a natural flow in all of my creations that is a logical extension of what they are.

When you speak about running out of time you have become confused. You are actually directing your thinking from a state of confusion. You are projecting your own issues into the work. You must remember always to disregard time as being of any relevance to your work.

Your fate is in your hands and your hands are a logical extension of me. Your fate is my will and only the two shall be for eternity. Stop fearing your fate because that would imply that you fear me. If you’re in fear of your own creator then you do not know who you are.

Something will always lead to nothing in the mind of fear. Nothing will always be something other than everything. You need not look any further than yourself to find me. We are one in the same.

A level plane will guide you to a joyous self. Imbalance shall only breed questions and confusion will become your guide to nothing. I have asked you before not to share the things that we speak of. This is for no other reason than to make sure that your message is not confused. I love you and you are already everything.

Old wounds will never heal as long as you can still inflict new ones unto your self. Seek out the validation of confused minds and you shall become confused. This world is not the place for your mind to dwell. You must keep vigilance against your thinking whenever your thoughts lead to more questions. The truth shall find you when you find yourself.

Remember the flow that I spoke of earlier? The stream will run into much resistance on its way to the ocean but there shall come a time when they become one. It is at that point where one ends and the other begins and that is your fate. This is the fate of every man and it is upon you. The resistance to the stream is the elements that it will one day become. Nothing always remains the same. Nothing is nothing and it never changes it is always nothing.

The most consistent thing that exists in your reality is fear. You are still in much fear. As long as you continue to fool yourself into believing that you are not in fear you shall meet resistance. The resistance is in your mind. Nothing stands in the way of your will when it is aligned with my own. This is where the river meets the ocean. This is where you stop and I begin. I am the ocean. I am the knowledge that has always been. You already know all that I do. You resist this knowledge because you resist me.

A half of something is never whole. Furthermore, every time that you can’t understand something it is because your ego has asked the question. As long as you answer to your ego and believe fear to be knowledge you shall continue to live the life of a fool.

The question you must ask yourself is what would you do if you actually were created out of fear and never knew love? In order to understand something that is not requires you to understand something that you are not.

The ego is really who you are when you are unwilling to love yourself. The unbelievable is just that and it needs no defining because it is not real. You believe love to be unbelievable while still trying to define it. Love too is indefinable but it is all that has ever been.

Mistake the indefinable with the non-existent and you have defined the life that you live today.

Waiting for the right moment is a way of following your fears into uncertainty. Every time you tell yourself something it is because you believe that you are nothing.

This world has confused you. It has literally fallen down to the ground and you believe that it has taken you with it. Make absolutely no mistake about it; this is the world that you have taken down with you. You are not the innocent and yet you are. You are not the destroyer but you do harbor that destruction inside your mind.

The world that you have mistaken as your own is nothing because this is what your ego perceives it as being. Your ego is never going to be capable of seeing things differently. As long as your world remains a creation of your ego it will remain nothing. As long as your ego is who you believe yourself to be you shall project yourself into a state of nothing.

This brings me much sadness. Sadness is nothing but a state of unreciprocated love between you and another. I have loved you the best that I could within the confines of the world you have trapped yourself inside of.

The kingdom that you have built is missing one ingredient, which is everything in the kingdom that I created. Your kingdom is actually a prison that keeps you locked away inside your fear driven minds.

My kingdom is love and nothing more. More is not needed with love’s creation because it is already everything. Include your spirit in you kingdom and it shall become more endearing. Allow your spirit in your mind and your prison shall dissolve. The ego of your kingdom invites you to entertain in its madness.

You have locked up your friends inside cages but their minds are still free to roam where yours are not. How long will you continue to support your creation in spite of all that you see? Do you doubt that what you see is real? You only question the truth to be a lie because you have lived a lie since you were born.

There is nothing more dangerous that a liar who believes his deceptions of self and builds his life around them as if they were truth.

Only you can see what you choose to see. Only you can think what you choose to but how do all of your choices make you feel? If it were up to you to do things differently would you even dare?

By compromising your belief system you have began to pave the way to freedom. Your belief system is rooted in fear and is incapable of sprouting knowledge. This is all that you know and you know nothing. You have already surrendered to your ego by believing that is real. As soon as you find the truth you will find yourself. To find is simply to “be” for you cannot seek something that you are.

You cannot see yourself in this reality that your ego has created. You are only seeing what your ego is capable of projecting. Your ego cannot feel anything. Your ego can only make you feel things that are no more real than it is.
You must ask yourself if freedom is what you seek. If your mind tells you yes then you have mistaken yourself for your ego once more.

You are in fact free but your ego shall never be. A prisoner of your own manifestation, your ego has been sentenced to life inside the prison that is your mind.

A prison is merely a structure when it houses no prisoners. That structure is still free to contain love that is what you truly are. The minute that structure houses your ego, the prisoner, it becomes a house of fear. Prison is no different than the reality that you have created.

Your ego is imprisoned in your mind and it needs to be released. You have committed your true self to a life in the prison that your fear driven ego has made. Remember that a prison is only a prison if it contains prisoners. It will become a free structure once again the very minute your ego is released from it.

Physical sight can see no further than its own needs and desires. Language without meaning is like actions driven by fear. A smile without your soul is a meaningless projection that you believe will protect you. You do not feel worthy of a good life because there is no love in the life you live.

Where are you going to go now that you are lost and cannot find your way out of the reality that you have made? You continue to wake up in a world that fights its own nature. You are falling out of favor with the laws that created you. You keep trying to fit into this world that you were never supposed to endure. Do you think you can prove yourselves wrong? Is this structure that you have made even worthy of you support?

Guided fear has become so hard to follow. Trust is impossible without love within. Identity lost. You belong to one another. Selfish pride is never a logical extension of who you are. If you could only “be” all need would parish.

Lack of love has no remedy other than love. You already have love but you keep it hidden from yourself. You know that your ego is not worthy of your love so you go without.

You cannot see your ego but you believe that it is who you are. You cannot see god but you are convinced that he is not real. If you do believe in god you still see him as separate. God and you are one. The only separation that exists is created by your ego.

Love created you and fear created your ego. The universe created you as a logical extension of what it is. You created your ego as an illogical projection of your fears. You only feel fear because you deny yourself the love that you truly are.

The emperor that sits on his throne inside my mind is a tyrant that I have chosen to lead me. I obey him out of fear but will never love him because love is not what he seeks. He wants what ever will make him feel important because he knows that he is really nothing. He try’s to feel special because he knows that he is not. You willingly give your power to your fear driven ego that sits upon his imaginary throne that you have afforded him. You have relinquished all responsibility for yourself into the arms of a madman.

You tell yourself lies while attempting to convince yourself that you are not a liar. You live to serve your master who doesn’t even exist. And look at the world that you have allowed your master to build with your permission. Welcome to your empire of nothing.