Those of you who’ve read me for many years will have undoubtedly noticed a major transformation in the tone and content of my writing over the course of 2017. This shift has been the result of much personal introspection regarding how I had been doing things in the past and whether I was pleased with the outcome.
In the June post, People Are Devolving Into Degeneracy and Violence – Don’t Join the Club, I noted:
When times get tough people can unite and fight back against a common enemy, or they can be manipulated into fighting each other. Unfortunately, the latter has become increasingly popular amongst all sides in what has become an increasingly deranged, adolescent and counterproductive political environment.
Meanwhile, the people who are truly powerful, the oligarchs of industry and their bought and paid for political minions are the ones who really benefit. The primary purpose of this website from the very beginning has been to highlight how power actually functions in imperial America with the hope that people across the political spectrum could unite and push back against the unaccountable rent-seeking practices of a common enemy. It seems I was extraordinarily naive.
When a writer and thinker such as myself is forced to admit failure, it’s a very tough pill to swallow. Writing this blog is in many ways a thankless task. I’m essentially doing volunteer work day in and day out because I passionately believe in the ideas I put forth, and to see them have little to no effect on the public debate can be very depressing. Rather than seeing human beings unite to throw off the predatory shackles that bind them as I had hoped, I see people who should be coming together punching and yelling at each other in the streets — and that’s on a good day. On bad days, people are getting shot or run over, from Virginia to London. Watching all this madness unfold while the truly powerful sit back and grin, more secure in their positions as ever before thanks to rabble fighting each other, sometimes makes me want to just stop doing this writing thing. After all, what’s the point?
Upon deeper reflection, I’ve come away with several unpleasant self-critiques about how I had been engaging with readers over the past five years. For one thing, I realized that most of my posts revolved around expressing outrage about how poorly other people were acting and how dangerous these actions were to society at large.
While understanding how the system works and identifying some particularly bad actors is very important, it’s not nearly enough. By spending so much thought and energy on the transgressions of others, I realized that I had done my part to contribute to the “outrage culture” which currently infects our political dialogue. Pointing fingers at others incessantly is what unconscious people do, which more conscious people inspire others to live up to their best nature. For years, I had been doing too much of the former, and not enough of the latter. That’s not to say there’s no value in calling out bad actors, I think there is. The point is that my content had become defined by a dangerous imbalance, and it was bad for me and bad for you.
To see what I mean, let’s take a step back in time. Upon seeing the government response to the financial crisis nearly a decade ago, I immediately knew that the country was headed for a very dangerous and tumultuous time. This realization left me with a sense of a mission to get out there and warn people about what was happening and the destructive implications that would inevitably follow. You simply cannot have elitist theft and corruption at the scale we witnessed in the post financial crisis era without major blowback. I figured that the most important thing I could do was explain how the entire economy and political paradigm had become a parasitic, criminal, systemic cancer. I figured if people “woke up” to reality and got upset about it, we could unify the public against oligarchy and implement true governance by the people, for the people. I was completely wrong.
People certainly got angry, but much of this anger was channeled toward the election of a narcissistic con man, who immediately handed his administration over to Wall Street, just as all his predecessors had before him. Even worse, the election of Trump has made it even easier to divide the public against one another, rather than against true power. The road we’re headed on right now doesn’t end well, and I’ve recognized the error of my ways.
As I noted in yesterday’s post, operating from a state of anger (or fear) will only result in very bad responses to our real problems. Calling reality as I see it is as important as ever, but merely trying to get people outraged will never get us to where we need to — as individuals or a nation.
Part of the reason I felt like a failure when reflecting upon how things turned out since the financial crisis was due to my unrealistic expectations. I assumed a largely unconscious population could overcome and transcend our corrupt, neo-feudal society simply by becoming outraged. This was an extremely stupid and lazy assumption, and I now recognize that. I’ve since come to understand that a culture does indeed reflect the individuals who reside in it — an discomforting, yet fundamental truth.
So why am I doing this? For starters, writing every day forces me to think things through and challenge my own assumptions on a regular basis. It’s a very powerful release for me as a person, and allows me to expel a lot of emotional baggage I might be otherwise carrying around. Secondly, I figure that if I’m going through all this, then countless others are as well. The responses I’ve gotten from so many of you this year confirms that this is indeed true. Many of you have told me that I’m providing some perspective and sanity in an increasingly insane environment. If this is all I can achieve, then it’s worth it.
Embracing the fact that you don’t belong in this political environment is actually quite empowering.
— Michael Krieger (@LibertyBlitz) August 23, 2017
I’m not here to preach or tell you that I’m right. I’m sure I’m completely wrong about all sorts of stuff, just like I’ve admittedly been in the past. Rather than instructing people about what to do, my hope is that we can grow and learn together through these daily musings.
I don’t want to be the leader of a revolt, I want to help people think. I’d rather inspire people, than make people angry, and I hope I’m finally doing that.
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In Liberty,
Michael Krieger
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It is difficult to know what to do when deceit and subterfuge are the means to an end. However, we have found a way. Turn to God and ask and ask and ask. We do not have His vantage point to know what to do when. God sees Time as All One, into the Hearts of Men and knows the Reason of Things. This is why JeSus was the Perfect Pattern, He always followed the will of His Father in Heaven. Out mentor did all of His days and he was murdered for the truths he told, but that is the price we pay at times.
God is real. When a nation turns away from God, then it will fall because it can’t know what the depraved Alien Mind is doing. Our mentor use to joke and tell us that so and so president was really a clone. We would roll our eyes, but what we came to know was it wasn’t that they were clones, but that they were under the influence of a mind. It was a remote viewer who saw a demon on Pres. Bush when he was calling for war. He called it an “Armageddon Entity”. Trump must have the same and the only way we can fight it is under God’s guidance.
That’s really great of you Michael, to be able to step back and be self-critical. This is something we are clearly lacking as a society today.
When i step back and think of my own behavior and words, I realize that i have become very angry, cynical and that i am critical of others who i deem to still be “asleep”. And guess what? I’m not getting great reactions nor positive results from others because of this.
You are right that there is a way to point to true problems in society without devolving into anger and contempt.
So i pledge to try to be more positive and open-minded in this messed up world and try to bring a message of togetherness rather than divisiveness. True discussion and discourse is what is important
Thanks for wake-up call.
Michael, Thank you. You are the FIRST writer with articles on ZeroHedge that I believe actually has an awareness of your mental health and the factors related to it, much less applied that to your influence on those that follow you. Reading these articles is a breath of fresh air. I want to keep up to date on the major happenings these days but I have been finding that extremely difficult as it takes more effort to get back to a healthy mental state after even just reading the article titles than it benefits me knowing the little that has changed since last time I checked. Many people have recognized there is a battle over our minds but none of the articles on that in secular writing (until yours) actually pointed to an effective solution. The Bible clearly teaches that we need to monitor out thoughts and emotions and correct them as needed. All those that have been turned off from Christianity though don’t get that message as often.
Thanks again. I look forwards to hearing more of your views on life and the world.
Steve
Michael,
You may not have affected materially the corruption and righteous ignorance in society. But I can at least tell you, just as Peter F above says, you are acting as a very effective role model for people who are willing to listen and try to raise the level of their thinking about the world around them.
As for you having your personal crisis online and in public….I wish the hell I had the courage to do the same.
And remember, this raising of only 1 individuals consciousness causes a flow through to other people whether they know it or not – in our families, at work, on our drive to work, the media they consume.
Doesn’t probably help with likes on Facebook though sorry… 🙂
Appreciate your blog more & more all the time. Thank you.
I think quite a few–probably most of the truly conscious–are struggling with this. Not to resist can feel like surrender but the resistance itself doesn’t feel “right.” As if we can sense at some level we may be doing the wrong thing for the right reason.
The MLK quote your featured was a beautiful expression of this dynamic. It is HARD to see what is happening and not feel like force for force is the only way…it may be an appropriate way at times but it certainly is not the only way.
What if we could actually dare to believe that NOT seeing enemies actually contributed to our victory? That while we may have to stand firm against many of the manifestations of this diseased mindset, we do not have to dehumanize those who practice it. What if the surest, most effective and profoundly transformative method for total change was the oblique parry and not the fatal thrust?
As I previously wrote, we should be very mindful of the New World we are constructing in the process of deconstructing the old. It would be a terrible tragedy to find we have just built a different hell for all our effort.
Al, people do have enemies. We have to dare to tell the truth.
Having an enemy doesn’t mean that you have to be out to destroy them. But we do have to stop them. Using violence is not going to work. The powerful want us to use violence because that is what they are prepared for.
Some things they aren’t prepared for are: creativity, truth telling, banding together for the common good, the medic’s code, people who can think for themselves, etc.
The fact that the enemy is present means it will be there also if we close our eyes. And we cannot choose to un-know that fact. I rather believe one can try to identify the manifestations of the diseased mindsets one observes in the world within oneself and not only project it back onto others or the world. In your own introspection you may find the tools, thoughts and weapons to eliminate it, dismantle it or trancend it. Maybe that’s one way to achieve transformative change.
Tolkein said it best IMHO:
“It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till. What weather they shall have is not ours to rule.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
Key in on “the fields that we know”: fix yourself, then your community. No one can shoulder all the evil in this world. If one gets overwhelmed by the evil, despair will surely follow. So, how you, Michael, and folks like Chris Hedges are able to function at all is intensely admirable, but beyond my current capacity. Right now, I can just focus on the small steps.
Michael, I have been a little negative about you and your feelings about President Trump. I would have voted, initially, for Ted Cruz. That is because I am interested in anyone that, legitimately, wants to follow the Constitution. We will not see the “perfect” candidate come our way nor will we see those of us, like yourself, stand up in unicine to counter what is happening. History has shown us that people, under stress, respond in about 5 ways and the first, frequently, is “denial”. We are only capable of effecting the area, locally, around us and only will expand that circle of influence if there is a Common Leader. Who is really leading us or is capable of doing so without the “microphone” of sufficient size to contact and coordinate a structured response. My brother and I have decided that we can only effect the area immediately around us and take in those we trust to support that. President Trump is the only person that has spoken of the things I, and others, have felt for the last 20+ years. I am very seriously trying to see POTUS do what he said he would do. I know I have only a very limited ability to understand what he is doing because of the HUGE amount of propaganda that is put forth from the major (and some minor) news sources. I no longer watch ANY of the networks (including FOX) because the information is either slightly twisted or the of the “lies of ommission” that occur in huge numbers. Don’t give up but understand that at the moment a coordinated “push back” is very unlikely because of no distinct Leadership on our part. How will we get that done?
How grateful I am to have found your blog only a couple of weeks ago! In early April, William N. Grigg – a writer focused on addressing his concerns over individual liberty being ever in conflict with ‘the state’ – died at the very young age of 54. Until finding your page, Will Grigg’s blog had been my foundational ‘opinion’ read. I miss his brilliance as a profoundly articulate writer and gifted orator. His last few essays somewhat betray his rapidly failing health, but if you choose to go back into his archives you may find a kindred spirit in your own work. You can also find some of Will Grigg’s interviews with Stanley Monteith at YouTube. http://freedominourtime.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2017-03-07T20:27:00-07:00&max-results=3
We do need to break free from being identified with particular political factions and look toward a future founded on mutual understanding and respect. To me, it begins with Moses’ Ten Commandments. Through the centuries, a lot of verbiage further complicated our understanding of those simple rules.
Jeremiah said it best perhaps: “Jeremiah 31: 33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord:…” (That’s the King James Translation. I’m not sure how that compares to the Hebrew.)
There are many Cassandra’s in this world. Juvenalis was one, Schopenhauer was one, Multatuli was one, Tolstoy was one, Mark Twain was one, Sophie Scholl was one, Camus was one, Aaron Swartz was one, you are one, Michael
Greek mythology was wrong. People listen to the Cassandra’s in this world. But silently. The things you see in the street and media are televised, advertised, exaggerated, propagandized, hardly true, biased, dangerous nonsense. It is good to hear someone saying sane things against these events, even when it is with anger. Your anger shows that you care.
We are the same age, so I am sure you know the lyric
The more you suffer
The more it shows you really care
Right? Yeah, yeah, yeah
And this is also good
http://www.howardzinn.org/on-getting-along/
Rock-‘n-roll…
Trumps election, regardless of what you think of him is the start of people waking up. The division that we see is necessary. Ideologically the differences in the country are so great that they can’t be healed. Worse yet is the enormous hypocrisy of the psychotic fascist left. If they think “climate change” is a real problem let them go fund a solution…but they know its a scam so why would they? I’m glad to see people standing up to thugs in the media, hoodlums in our government and tanking ratings of the morons in Hollywood.
There comes a point where we have to have acceptance. Sometimes those of us who are more aware become shocked that other folks can’t see whats going on. By doing this we can alienate ourselves further and become less productive in our ability to try to help others. Feeling angry, alienated, is no good.Being positive and presenting a message of hope laced with caution. A more passive approach I find works so much better than dumping tons of negativity on someone. The most important thing is to remember the power of truth is on our side, no one can take that away.
I would work on conciseness or even terseness in this sound bite era. Everyone is inundated with information to the point of oversaturation. I have had success writing a 1000 word piece, and then reviewing and editing and reediting until it was down to 300 – 400 words without relinquishing any of the substance of the article. Get rid of articles and conjunctions as much as possible while using words that have solid meaning. Avoid overlapping thoughts and redundancies. Save the embellishments for poetry, short stories and novels.
Good advice for each of us – whether writing or speaking.
Michael, I applaud your willingness to change.
I believe the idea “I am what I think about.” With this thought in mind I’ve come to believe, very recently, that we could improve things by a shift in our thinking.
Less “trump is an ass” or “blm is awful” and more “i want responsible, thoughtful leadership.”
I think there is overlap in our thinking.
Joe
I think MK you have underestimated the importance of your blog. With CNN, WaPo, NYT, MSNBC spreading false news daily, how does one find out what the truth really is ? How many of us have the time to research each and every false news. Deep state gets its way if we are fooled.
Why with all the power and money they have, they still think it important to fool us ? Because we can take the power away from them with our votes.
I just cannot understand why we cannot find 330 willing and capable bodies to replace more than half of the current congressman and senators. That is 1 person out of 1 million of us.
Keep us informed and be willing to serve. That include you, MK, for you are capable.
Michael,
I deeply appreciate your work. I also deeply disagree with you about emotions such as anger and fear. Anger is a healthy response to injustice. When we experience anger, we are understanding that harm is happening to ourselves and/or others. That’s a good thing, not a destructive thing. Anger is (or at least can be), the impetus to justice.
Likewise, there are many things to be feared. They aren’t the things inculcated in us by govt. and corporations, they are the actions taken by this govt. and corporations from which people have people every right to be fearful.
Fear lets us know something is wrong. It could be the impetus to working together. For example, knowing that your neighbors are going down financially, that their kids can’t eat, that maybe this is also true for you–that’s a reason to band together and help each other. Courage isn’t the lack of fear, it’s going ahead and taking action even when one feels very afraid.
The truth is there are some very bad actors running the show. We need to understand this fact. We need to talk about what they are doing and how they are doing. If that makes us angry and afraid, so mote it be (as the pagans say!). We can’t get anywhere with out being able to talk about harm being done. That doesn’t mean this is the only thing we can talk about but it does mean we can talk about it, that it is necessary to talk about it in order to make things better for us all.
We don’t have to fear any emotion or any idea or any truth. These are all necessary parts of making the best sense of what is going on and figuring out how to best address things which are going wrong and understanding things which are going to help.
Hi Jill and thanks for your comments.
If you go back and read yesterday’s post, you will see that I do acknowledge the importance of anger and fear. What I am suggesting is that we need to transcend those emotions in order to think more clearly and come up with non-violent, creative solutions.
That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t continue to call out what is going on, we should. It just means calling it out and getting angry about it is merely the very first step we need to take.
So for going too fast and making errors in writing above. I just wanted to add this by MLK Jr. “ANGER at INJUSTICE is the POLITICAL EXPRESSION of LOVE”.
Michael, I can’t agree that we should transcend these emotions. These are powerful emotions which form the basis of action. We need them! They help us be very clear that something is terribly wrong. From there we have other thoughts/emotions that help us take the best action we can.
As much as I value what you say and are doing here, I think it is a real mistake to transcend emotions of any kind. They are part of who were are at a very profound level. They are powerful tools for justice and kindness.
Keep up your good work!
It just goes to show that what works for one person, might not work for another. Everyone should do what feels right to them.
What I outlined definitely works best for me.
A man who ain’t thinking ain’t much use. And those shitheads you are exposing deserves and needs to be exposed. But they are not worthy our anger or emotions. But who have not felt it? Transcending that may not, perhaps should not, remove the outrage and anger, but one does not have to give after for it. And when so many are at some place you have been, how many will reach were you have come? You said once you didn’t contribute to significant change – I believe you do. Great post!
Maybe it is not anger, but righteous indignation. Can you not imagine anyone not getting righteously indignant over the introduction of RNA interference into our food chain via GMOs. They are insane.
This is adultery in its worst form.
Mike,
I have been woken up and I too want solutions. I’m with you (Definitely not her or him.). I have been educating my kids so that maybe they can make the proper choices when they grow up.
Also I am expecting a tragic and horrible market crash when this all breaks down. I think that nothing will really change until after the crash. The fear i have is are we going to get a Hitler type? or FDR type?
You and I both know what needs to happen but unfortunately there are to many fringe political groups and the people will not necessarily follow the group that is best for them. Instead they will follow some strong charismatic leader who will feed them all sorts of stories.
This is why this blog is so important. Mike you are a strong charismatic leader and you are making lots of people aware of the Oligarchs. I also think you know the best solutions. We together are making a difference here. This country has kicked out the Oligarchs before and we can do it again. There are a lot of great people on the internet that have some great solutions and if enough people start to believe what we have to say, I think America can be saved for another hundred years. The foundation is the most important part of a building. The rest of the problems can be fixed if the foundation is strong. America was built on a solid and strong foundation.
I think your latest thoughts are the closest you’ve yet come to the truth. The sociopaths have been with human civilization as long as it has existed, and they can only destroy. As our ‘consciousness’ increasingly spirals to ‘better’ levels, I think we have hope of ‘solving’ our problem. Personally, I think the solution will be when we choose to not be consumers, but makers. BTW, my political activism (I’m 70) was fueled by the ‘ego-enlarging’ righteous indignation. It felt so good, but all our efforts ‘failed’…unless you consider the reward we didn’t expect… Bernie Sanders (he enabled us to really scare the sociopaths).
I have to add, when it hits the fan, 3 words (if you’re in a temperate climate): spuds and cabbage (they grow and store themselves – practically weeds), and poultry (can go feral) – these cover basic human nutrition: carbs, protein, fats (weeds for vits and mins). Also, read ‘A Paradise Built in Hell’ by Solnit.
Thanks for thinking outside the box, Mike 🙂
Spuds & cabbage will not survive our ND winters, and chickens lose their toes at minus 10F. I’m not sure how wildlife survives unprotected here. It’s tough! Nettles kept an uncle alive as a German prisoner during WWII. I dry lots of nettle leaf in early spring and root in early fall. Nettle hay would probably be the best possible winter feed for both domestic animals & for humans. Do a search for nutritional properties of nettles. They even contain iodine!
Gosh! Same age and exactly the same thoughts far away from you here in Mediterranean Europe. And also….. I grow spuds, cabbage and have chickens plus being blessed with many wild herbs everywhere (weeds for vitamins). Don’t forget the eggs – most complete food on earth. Somehow I just cannot kill my feathered friends.
To Mike. Pity your name is not Donald Trump. Imagine! A visionary, courageous, thinking leader with the input of the kind of people I see commenting here.
At your young age you could be a wise disciplining daddy to all the old but immature, narcisstic, greedy wimps wanting to rule the world. “No more money for your make up Macron!?”
Do they really believe their own fairy tale thoughts and stories??? Worse, do they really believe we can’t see through the blatant inconsistencies and obvious lies. My mind boggles reading what these “brat, bullyboy, toddlers” try to convince us of. Sometimes I could die laughing if it wasn’t so dangerous.
Happily TPTB are getting too mightily overconfident so they might even end up tripping themselves up ( if they don’t press the N button first)
For the perspective of an American living in Europe get his free e-book,
“Living the Shaman´s Dream”: [email protected]
Michael,
Have you heard of Vairāgya (dispassion)? Have you ever read “Vasistha’s Yoga?” It’s an ancient story of a divine prince, Rama, who becomes outwardly sullen and listless, to the extent that his courtiers were concerned and addressed the king. Vashstha was called to instruct Rama. The lesson is basically that the dispassion is just something one has to get used to, then one can act in accordance with truth and not be at all concerned with outcomes (i.e. clear the field of weeds and stones but be unconcerned about the weather that might come for your successors). It’s hard to do. What does one do when there is no fruit on the vine that has been tended?
It’s obviously not a Christian text. If that’s a problem, look at the blue (tribal) shadows that may be casting themselves over a clearer understanding of unfamiliar sources of divine teaching.
Hi, and thanks for the suggestion. I wrote on exactly this topic in my post, Do Ends Justify the Means? https://libertyblitzkrieg.com/2017/05/12/do-ends-justify-the-means/
Here’s an excerpt:
Unfortunately, many people don’t have any principles to begin with and simply live their lives in the pursuit of their own superficial, materialistic or egotistical goals. These are the types of people who most often employ “ends justify the means” thinking, which is exactly why those of us who do have principles must reject this way of thinking and pursue a more conscious manner of achieving our ends. If that means our ends aren’t achieved in our lifetime that’s something that must be accepted. The means we use will reverberate in the universe forever and will benefit the world whether we’re able to point to definitive results or not.
Your suggested story seems interesting, thanks. I’m not sure why you might think I would be bothered by a non-Christian text. I’m not a Christian (or a member of any organized religion for that matter), nor have any of my writings implied that I was. Wondering where you got that idea.
Thanks for the reply. BTW, Vasistha is not so much a story as it is a teaching full of stories, with the main event being the teaching of Rama through various stories and parables told by Vasistha. It is not a short read. I have two versions, both abridged and translated by Swami Venkatesananda. One is 365 pages of daily readings, and one is nearly 700 pages (abridged at that!). It’s one of the longest works in antiquity. I recommend starting with the page-per-day, reading slowly, and then meditating.
I see how your previous post relates to my comment, but that’s not the main point of my comment. The title of this current post “Why Am I Doing This?” is more to the point. Rama is supposed to be a divine incarnation, yet he doesn’t seem to care. I don’t talk much to folks about these topics because they are all conditioned to “simply live their lives in the pursuit of their own superficial, materialistic or egotistical goals.” Truth-telling is the last thing they want to hear. So, I lose interest in butting my head against the wall for naught. Doing nothing would be withdrawal. That’s what Rama was struggling with, merely going through the motions. I am there too, as I hold little hope for this Fourth Turning ending well. But it will end, and at that point, when all the delirium gives way then people will need to work together to rebuild. I wait in spiritual exile until then, doing my duty, not seeking anything else, and enjoying what comes to me without effort. This is what dispassion is to me: it’s the “why” and the “doing” and “this” all rolled into one.
As for the Christianity comment, I guess I am conditioned to offer that disclaimer given that so many folks have issues with “blasphemy.” Even those who are more evolved can have a spiritual ego compounded by shadows of blue-thinking (mythic membership, cognitive dissonance, etc.), so I am cautious. In the comments thread I saw two specific references to the Bible and maybe some other casual references to God. I guess I tripped on my own predilection for Eastern philosophy and projected my disdain for simplistic Christian thought (FYI, I enjoy some Christian scripture, and even attend Mass most Sundays, but most of it I find poorly thought-out and contrived as an authoritarian means to an end – controlling the masses).
Thank you for your suggestion and very thoughtful commentary.
As a writer myself, it’s easy to slide into introspection and doubt. But, I find humour helps, so let’s try, shall we? Like so…
If a Muslim extremist is a Jihadi, then what do you call a Redneck extremist?
A Yeee-hawdi.
‘Hope’ that helped…
CRH
Wow, what a fabulous post. Thank you. It’s frustrating living through these times, but I agree – inspiring others is better than making them angry.
I love a good quote:
Helen Douglas
Character isn’t inherited. One builds it daily by the way one thinks and acts, thought by thought, action by action. If one lets fear or hate or anger take possession of the mind, they become self-forged chains.
Marcus Aurelius
How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it.
One of my personal favorites:
HW Longfellow
If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man’s life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm any hostility.
And, last but certainly not least:
My father, Richard:
It’s NEVER too late to just shut the fuck up… never too early, either.
Perhaps what yourself and others are concerned about is battling for a love of the TRUTH. Religious teachings, and arguments of logic aside for a moment, the truth is what is more important than derision, division, and deception, which has reached a level today beyond our puny conceptions of possibility.
Everything is upside down and a lie in today’s world.
So many who are waking up are naturally angry at being duped or fooled. It is easier to fool a man or woman than convince them they have already been fooled, and these stubborn souls may never wake up. Much to the joy of their masters.
I have been experiencing the exact same angst that nobody will listen to or care about my efforts to expand conciousness myself lately, through comments exactly such as this one. Being as I am sure from the lack of support or positive responses and negative troll responses (like shoot the messenger and change the subject) that I have been wasting my time. I have made the conclusion that extremely few people who want to wake up will read comments such as this one, or believe them either!
So it is up to you and others who write better than I do, and gain at least more acceptance than I have had. Keep going, and good luck. Thanks for an article which has been on my mind too.
So, in other words, MK, if I didnt get as much support and thanks as you do, and have as great a way with words as you do, I might not keep fighting either!
Thanks much for the great article. You are OUR speaker. You da man! I do NOT mean that you discouraged me at all!
Thanks Mike for what you do,
This is one of the best comment sections on a thread I have ever seen, it seems that everyone is feeling it. What to do about it is the perplexing question. On the cusp of a consciousness awakening it feels most turbulent, it sits within us asking us the questions, you know something is askew, something is amiss , the current world is not working, what to do, oh what to do?
I commend everyone for seeing that non-violence is the answer and that each of us in our own ways are doing what we can to awaken from our self-delusions.
Again thanks Mike for what you do.
I’ve recently found your work and greatly appreciate your insights and perspective. Looking forward to reading more!
Thank you
From those I knew at the Standing Rock, Oceti Sakowin Camp last year I learned that EACH one of us has a specific role and purpose in the realization of the Creator’s Will for the Creation. Too often we look for a ‘leader’ to make things right by showing us the way. What I observed about Oceti Sakowin is that people were welcomed into Camp as their Home. Each person spent a few days contemplating how things worked, saw what needed to be done, found their particular niche, and pitched in. The Sacred Fire has been scattered outward.
Chief Arvol Looking Horse, August 26, 2016
“You alone – and only you – can make this crucial choice, to walk in honor or to dishonor your relatives. On your decision depends the fate of the entire World.
Each of us is put here in this time and this place to personally decide the future of humankind.
Did you think the Creator would create unnecessary people in a time of such terrible danger?
Know that you yourself are essential to this world. Understand both the blessing and the burden of that. You yourself are desperately needed to save the soul of this world. Did you think you were put here for something less? In a Sacred Hoop of Life, there is no beginning and no ending.”
This is amazing!
https://twitter.com/JulianAssange?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
So clearly, I don’t understand how to put in a tweet here. It’s at Julian Assange’s twitter. It talks about white power scaring people who aren’t white and black power scaring people who aren’t black. Then it shows the miracle! A white and black hand together and the saying is–this is the only power that scares the establishment.
the original seems to be from the freethoughtproject.com
Thank you, Jill! I don’t ‘twitter’, but I did find the unity image.
Michael– Thank you for your earnestness and honesty. I think the quality and character of the comments you elicit speaks to the quality of your thought and writing, and is so different from most of what one finds on the web today. As a practical matter, the most interesting thought I have seen recently is from John Kasich, who suggested this past weekend that the most productive way to deal with the high level disfunction in our culture is to act constructively at the local level. For myself, I have joined a municipal committee working to improve streets and sidewalks in our town, and will become a trustee of my church. And then keep going wherever I am led.
Both sides come to resemble each other because they are trying to get the same thing. Our society has more equality but instead of universal peace, equality actually leads to more conflict over the same objects.
The old solution of periodic ritual sacrifice doesn’t work any more. Look at the scapegoats the Nazis hunted. Now we scapegoat the scapegoat hunters. Sacrificial religion including Sacrificial Christianity has been debunked (rightly). There is a Non-Sacrificial Christianity but it points to a radical solution that people are not ready to try:
They want what you want because you want it. Just stop wanting it, and they will stop wanting it too.
We hope to put things back together with coping mechanisms and buying off this interest or that. That’s what we have been trying to do, searching for easy solutions and comforting situations. We have to try everything else before we will really do what we need to.
No possibility of reasoning it out in that case, experience is the only teacher.
The way change really happens is if a new system appears to replace the old one.
Even in the best case scenario of fighting against something, when you succeed perfectly in fully tearing down the old system, you still won’t have anything to replace it with. You have just created a vaccuum. Most likely the old problems are just going to reassert themselves again over time, refilling the vaccuum.
That’s why it’s much more important to know, and focus on, what you are fighting FOR rather than what you are fighting AGAINST.
Fighting against something is only a defensive move, the goal is limiting damage. Ultimately you will not gain or improve anything. Success is not losing, but even then you will not win.
Building something new on the other hand is an offensive move that can displace the old system with something better and keep the space occupied so the old ways can’t return.
I’d imagine mentality wise building something better is also much healthier than always being on the defense, clinging to what remains, angry at the attackers. Building something creates a constructive mentality, while focussing on the enemy creates destructive one.
This is true in all areas of life btw. When having made a decision it helps to reflect and try to place it:
What’s your attitude? Are you fighting a) for ‘good’ or b) against ‘evil’?
If you succeed will you have a) built something good or b) destroyed something bad?
If your answers come out on the b) side ask yourself if it you cannot find a way to tackle the problem with an approach that matches a).
Choose b) only if you absolutely cannot find something for a).
This should be rare, most of the time it is possible to find a constructive approach. If you cannot think about one now that probably means that you do not yet have enough knowledge in that area. Learning more will give you more puzzle pieces with which to create new ideas. Some of which will be on the a) side.
As an example Bitcoin/Cryptos falls under a), fighting against the banksters is b).
I totally agree. Thanks for sharing this with us.
“The way change really happens is if a new system appears to replace the old one.”
Agree. Yet, the post-modern meme is anti-truth. I want a society based on truth and love, which seems like something everyone would want. Yet, because of the post-modernists belief that we each have our own truth and there is no universal truth, how could that possibly work out? Conservatives want their beliefs to be made into universal truth, which is a less-well-metastasized version of the post-modernists’ disease. When I try to have a conversation with a post-modernist I am accused of being a right-winger, while the conservative will call me a leftist. No discussion, just logical fallacy.
So, I wait. There will be a time to pick up the pieces. In systems theory, there is a point at which a system is no longer able to handle additional energy. Chaos ensues and there is what is called a bifurcation point. At that point, the system breaks down. That’s where the change happens. With proper support a new, higher-order system takes place of the old. Without it, the system devolves to a lower order. I don’t fight against the old system. I let it come to an end of it’s own accord. In the mean time, I get ready to step into that vacuum and fill it with truth and love.