Listen to a reading of this article: ❖ We're on a planet-sized haunted hayride to Armageddon, and no one is driving. Sure at first glance it looks like someone's driving. It appears that there are governments which are run by elected officials, and that those officials get together regularly with the officials from other governments to determine how the world should be run.
"...with systems designed to benefit humans." Yes, we must change the money system, the root system of the system, from debt to asset, from private to public, from temporary to permanent, from centripetal to centrifugal, from greed to care. monetaryalliance.org
If there is a monster under your bed it will have a head which you can cut off with a knife or an axe. The big monsters, those that go by the named corporations have no real heads to cut off, and if they do(CEO's) they grow back like the Hydra of Greek fame. The monster though will live unless starved by inactive use of real people not using any part whatsoever of the particular corporate monster that seeks power, and growth, and accumulation. We don't need to dwell amongst these monsters any longer. Peace, The Ol' Hippy
It really shouldn't be a surprise normal folk can't connect with these entities. Corporate ladders & politics are the 2 biggest sociopath magnets on the planet.
There is an abundant body of academic literature explaining why a public corporation exhibits behavior indistinguishable from that exhibited by a sociopath.
If you believe in the evolution theory then you must accept that religion (86.4% of the world's population profess religious belief of some sort) is a product of evolution. Just as our triumph in becoming the dominant species on the planet. Our dominance was achieved (if you can believe it) by survival of the fittest. The very make up of man has proved destructive to nature and other species on a catastrophic scale as it will to man itself.
Our nature is of necessity self-destructive predominantly. We are a species destined for annihilation because of the very things Caitlin Johnstone has so clearly expressed. Religion is no more man's enemy then, than murderous intent and genocide, survival, war etc. It is how it is. Your selfish gene will survive until it doesn't. And then nature will randomly select through mutation, punctuated equilibrium, and chance another species to progress over millions of years. Maybe they will progress further than us.
As a religious person, I don't believe this of course but surely the atheist must accept it...unless they are influenced by some sort of Judaeo-Christian guilt/conscience that they would otherwise shudder to admit. Without God everything is permissible..including self annihilation. So stop fretting and dance! (I don't advocate this either)
"At some point we're going to realize that market forces and the profit motive do not have the wisdom to navigate through the existential crises humanity now faces. The only question is whether we'll realize this in time to do something about it"
If you don't like where the profit motive leads, what do you propose to "do about" it? Because the only alternative is various command-and-control economic measures, which have a poor track record (cf Stalin, Pol Pot, etc).
Your ability to see things clearly is matched by the simple way you express it. A very rare gift, worth more by being given freely. Thanks.
What comes to mind is re-writing the founding charters of corporations to make them less monstrous. This would take politicians, who are currently beholden to these same corporations, while the high priests of capitalism would howl mightily. A perfect circle.
A system that results in three billionaires holding more wealth than half the nation relies on people dreaming, but also, more importantly, it relies on them first being put to sleep.
What if the monster isn't so headless? What if it is an ancient set of families who take turns playing roles in the order/chaos pageant? The false gods you talk about are not self-perpetuating--they require massive tributes be paid to the ever-growing tree of lies. If the question was "Who is watering this tree?" then your answer, "us," would be vague but appropriate. But the question should be, "Who pays us to water a dead tree?" That's your "them," and I assure you they are mere men, not gods.
This is not a minor distinction. There is no amount of looking inward that will expose this particular enemy, e.g. Steve Jobs and Bill Gates were NOT created by shareholders as we know them. But they were created...
Yes... humans, like other species, build structures ( hives to hierarchies) which in turn continue to shape the behaviors and level of awareness of the creator species.
The egoic consciousness activates the survival brain and suppresses our sharing- caring brain. Thus most human structures—from family to school to government to corporation— reflect this: hierarchy, deception, domination, aggression/ coercion, competition, resource control and hoarding and manufactured scarcity.
The physical and social structures built by the ego and survival brain reinforce and reproduce this same level of
‘unconsciousness’ in a vicious cycle.
Building/ designing new physical and social structures which shape behavior is essential for our species ( this includes new ways to communicate and means of exchange which reflect our collective interdependence and interconnectedness). (Interestingly, these new structures can also lead us to the mass adoption of some old ideas that have not taken hold e.g. collaborative models, barter, consensus/ deep listening etc.)
Love is the felt recognition of our interconnectedness, our oneness. Models based on this universality, this oneness will reinforce greater awareness and love. And yes, as you say, we are love. This includes John Bolton.
The only way that change towards a healthy world has ever come about is when ordinary people find the courage within themselves to stand up and make the powerful do it.
Watch How to Start a Revolution DVD documentary and read From Dictatorship to Democracy by the late Dr Gene Sharp.
"...with systems designed to benefit humans." Yes, we must change the money system, the root system of the system, from debt to asset, from private to public, from temporary to permanent, from centripetal to centrifugal, from greed to care. monetaryalliance.org
I read The Grapes of Wrath a long time ago. At the time, I didn't notice that passage or understand its full meaning. Thanks for pointing it out.
If there is a monster under your bed it will have a head which you can cut off with a knife or an axe. The big monsters, those that go by the named corporations have no real heads to cut off, and if they do(CEO's) they grow back like the Hydra of Greek fame. The monster though will live unless starved by inactive use of real people not using any part whatsoever of the particular corporate monster that seeks power, and growth, and accumulation. We don't need to dwell amongst these monsters any longer. Peace, The Ol' Hippy
It really shouldn't be a surprise normal folk can't connect with these entities. Corporate ladders & politics are the 2 biggest sociopath magnets on the planet.
There is an abundant body of academic literature explaining why a public corporation exhibits behavior indistinguishable from that exhibited by a sociopath.
Yep.
If you believe in the evolution theory then you must accept that religion (86.4% of the world's population profess religious belief of some sort) is a product of evolution. Just as our triumph in becoming the dominant species on the planet. Our dominance was achieved (if you can believe it) by survival of the fittest. The very make up of man has proved destructive to nature and other species on a catastrophic scale as it will to man itself.
Our nature is of necessity self-destructive predominantly. We are a species destined for annihilation because of the very things Caitlin Johnstone has so clearly expressed. Religion is no more man's enemy then, than murderous intent and genocide, survival, war etc. It is how it is. Your selfish gene will survive until it doesn't. And then nature will randomly select through mutation, punctuated equilibrium, and chance another species to progress over millions of years. Maybe they will progress further than us.
As a religious person, I don't believe this of course but surely the atheist must accept it...unless they are influenced by some sort of Judaeo-Christian guilt/conscience that they would otherwise shudder to admit. Without God everything is permissible..including self annihilation. So stop fretting and dance! (I don't advocate this either)
"At some point we're going to realize that market forces and the profit motive do not have the wisdom to navigate through the existential crises humanity now faces. The only question is whether we'll realize this in time to do something about it"
If you don't like where the profit motive leads, what do you propose to "do about" it? Because the only alternative is various command-and-control economic measures, which have a poor track record (cf Stalin, Pol Pot, etc).
Your ability to see things clearly is matched by the simple way you express it. A very rare gift, worth more by being given freely. Thanks.
What comes to mind is re-writing the founding charters of corporations to make them less monstrous. This would take politicians, who are currently beholden to these same corporations, while the high priests of capitalism would howl mightily. A perfect circle.
A system that results in three billionaires holding more wealth than half the nation relies on people dreaming, but also, more importantly, it relies on them first being put to sleep.
What if the monster isn't so headless? What if it is an ancient set of families who take turns playing roles in the order/chaos pageant? The false gods you talk about are not self-perpetuating--they require massive tributes be paid to the ever-growing tree of lies. If the question was "Who is watering this tree?" then your answer, "us," would be vague but appropriate. But the question should be, "Who pays us to water a dead tree?" That's your "them," and I assure you they are mere men, not gods.
This is not a minor distinction. There is no amount of looking inward that will expose this particular enemy, e.g. Steve Jobs and Bill Gates were NOT created by shareholders as we know them. But they were created...
Beautiful piece
Yes... humans, like other species, build structures ( hives to hierarchies) which in turn continue to shape the behaviors and level of awareness of the creator species.
The egoic consciousness activates the survival brain and suppresses our sharing- caring brain. Thus most human structures—from family to school to government to corporation— reflect this: hierarchy, deception, domination, aggression/ coercion, competition, resource control and hoarding and manufactured scarcity.
The physical and social structures built by the ego and survival brain reinforce and reproduce this same level of
‘unconsciousness’ in a vicious cycle.
Building/ designing new physical and social structures which shape behavior is essential for our species ( this includes new ways to communicate and means of exchange which reflect our collective interdependence and interconnectedness). (Interestingly, these new structures can also lead us to the mass adoption of some old ideas that have not taken hold e.g. collaborative models, barter, consensus/ deep listening etc.)
Love is the felt recognition of our interconnectedness, our oneness. Models based on this universality, this oneness will reinforce greater awareness and love. And yes, as you say, we are love. This includes John Bolton.
The only way that change towards a healthy world has ever come about is when ordinary people find the courage within themselves to stand up and make the powerful do it.
Watch How to Start a Revolution DVD documentary and read From Dictatorship to Democracy by the late Dr Gene Sharp.