Seems like we have another "holiday" to note. Somehow our plentiful forms of government civil services (which are anything but "civil") have failed to make April Fool's Day another excuse to squander taxpayers' money by taking still another day off. I am almost reluctant to bring this to their attention, although I doubt anyone who works for the government reads PlanetLightworker. Heaven forbid that they might entertain a new thought beyond more ways to extract money out of the few working people left who aren't already employed or supported by the government. Ha! Maybe instead of posting the days they are off, they should simply post the days that they do "work." It would be less to read.

All of that notwithstanding, the subject of this piece is not government inefficiency - too easy and too exploited for centuries. I do wish to delve into the nature of April Fool's Day. First, I wish to extend an apology to those readers who live in cultures that have had the good grace and wisdom to NOT celebrate this particular day and who may not know what the day is about. It is, in short, a day reserved for going out of one's way to make others the butt of pranks, schemes, and jokes. The most favored tactic seems to be to tell someone a believable lie that is upsetting, and then after panic sets in, explain the ruse, and have a good belly laugh at the expense of the chagrined dupe who then feels foolish for having believed you. How uplifting for both the trickster and the tricked.

If these antics were reserved to one day a year perhaps we could all grin and bear it or hide out that first of April each year and answer neither telephone nor doorbell. Unfortunately, it appears that many people enjoy promulgating lies all year long. We are so surrounded by lies that it is difficult to know what to believe. Advertisers, politicians, governments, teachers, theologians, physicians, lawyers, news agencies, executives, spouses, parents, children, and on and on, delude and distract us daily and diligently. Why?

I believe that the universal answer is the perceived need to control. Lies are built on the foundation that if the facts were known, you would take action contrary to what the liar wants you to take. Hence, whatever or whoever is the subject of the lie is judged as being not good enough to win your approval. The interesting thing is that most lies have short lives. Facts endure; lies tend eventually to be found out, and when exposed to the light of fact are undone. We have become so acclimated to hearing lies that when one is undone, the general reaction is "so what, everybody does it." I will long remember the famous statement by Bill Clinton, "I never had sex with that woman [Monica Lewinski]." By the time all the layers of deception had been shoveled out, most people were sick of the whole matter and were eager to forget it. Tell enough lies and soon the lie becomes seen as fact. There is perverted wisdom in that statement. There are probably many people who do not believe that Slick Willy did have sex with her even though he admitted it later.

Please note that thus far in my diatribe, the use of the word "truth" has not occurred. The most common form of lying is to suppress or subvert facts. A fact is a fact. A hammer is still a hammer even though it may be used in the moment as a doorstop. Truth is different. Truth is what we discern in the moment and can change from one moment to the next. The truth of a hammer can be that it is a doorstop now and then a tool to drive nails ten minutes later. Truth is what we honestly believe in our hearts is so at a point in time. When we do not speak our truth as appropriate, we are engaging in another from of lying that is more detrimental to the liar than to the object of his deception. When we do not speak our truth, the subsequent emotions that are not released remain in our souls, and if not eventually cleansed, can accumulate until physical manifestations develop - like cancer, especially of the fifth chakra, the throat area.

Speaking the truth is not about popularity or deceiving someone to do or believe what you would have them do or believe. Speaking the truth is about presenting yourself as the essence of who you are. What is the defining quality that you have that says above all else who you are as a Spiritual being? Are you fearful of stepping into that way of being? Do you even know what it is? What blocks you from knowing your essence and/or stepping into it publicly? Just one word: fear.

Fear. That's what April Fool's Day is all about. Take any joke or prank that preys on someone's acceptance of what is said or done, trace it to its origin, and you will find fear. Don't we have enough self-induced fear? Why do we need to attempt to create fear for others? Does misery truly "love" company? I think so. We may not being do so well ourselves, but by golly, we pulled one over on poor old Hank, so we must be better off than he. What a schmuck that he would fall for that gag!

Truth is an antidote for fear. When we discern what the truth is for us and keep our awareness focused on it, then fear dissolves. What remains are facts and the implications in the moment of those facts. Fear feeds on lack of information, and in the case of April Fool's Day gags, misinformation (or disinformation as heartily practiced by the government). "Know the truth and the truth will set you free," we are told. Free from what? I say freedom from fear. Most of our lives are lived with fear as the watermark of the fabric of our days. You may say, "Vex, the gray cells have indeed begun to wink out. How could you say that? I don't live my life in fear! Maybe you do, but I don't."

Ah, my friend, Vex is now going to demonstrate his compassion. It's not easy, but I'm going to give it a shot. Try this exercise. Pick a day, and for that entire day from the time you awake until Wee Willie Winky sprinkles sleep dust in your baby blue eyes, journal every instance in which you find fault with someone, are contemptuous of someone, have an anxious thought that something is not going to go your way, realize something that did not go your way, have anger towards someone or some thing, feel frustration, taste cowardice, or experience apprehension. In short, make notes about what you experience in an average day. This is not easy, and probably very few, if any, of you will do this exercise. Here comes the compassionate part: That's okay. All of those situations that I asked you to journal (and many others) come from fear for they are not coming from love (unqualified acceptance). Love is easy to spot. When in a state of love, one experiences harmony and a sense of being at ease. "You gots your fear, or you gots your love," period. Choose (that's another topic).

The state of love is always available to you. You can access it by simply focusing on the moment and consider only that which is present. The future is undefined and indefinable. As a variation on the Little Train That Could, "I think I know, I think I know, I think I know," doesn't make it so. The fact is that none of us knows for sure what is going to happen next. Whenever you have an icky feeling, ask yourself, "Self, what are the facts about what is happening right now?" Acquaint yourself with the facts (this may be a novel experience for many of you) free of all meanings, judgments, and interpretations that our egos (or the egos of others) place on the facts. Then realize that all you really know are the facts. Everything else is made up; it's a story. We are all grand storytellers. Remember, a hammer is a hammer. You can evaluate, judge, and make up stories about the hammer. It is still a hammer.

So, for every April Fool's Day, try accepting others instead of duping them. The funny thing about accepting someone is that when we do that, we tend to get acceptance as well from others. Gosh, if that happened, perhaps we would be motivated to do a lot more accepting. Now, that is funny.

H. Vexson is a black sheep offspring of an established East Coast (USA) lineage that predates the Internet and who heavily invested in Xerox and Apple at the right time. After graduating from well-known ivy prep and collegiate institutions, he was struck in the head by a mallet in a polo match. Although his team did win, he experienced an epiphany, sold his ponies and the Bentley, and sallied westward to California. There he garnered some minor fame in establishing a chain of aromatherapy stores named Smell This, garnering him a small fortune and establishing independence from the East Coast Vexsons. Forsaking the family traditions of Republican conservatism, he is a Libertarian, writes bad poetry, and lives quite comfortably where he may view the ocean and the mountains as well as the poor souls going to and fro their "jobs." If you wish to have a personal communiqué forwarded to him, please do so in care of the Editor of this magazine.

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