“People try to do all sorts of clever and difficult things to improve life instead of doing the simplest, easiest thing—refusing to participate in activities that make life bad“ Leo Tolstoy.
We must avoid the alarmism that is so prevalent with environmental activism and politics. We have some serious challenges to deal with but as I read about these various green deals, UN agenda 2030, and all the climate alarmism, I am concerned about the players pushing the various agendas. The greatest threat I see is transnational corporations, international and reserve banks, and an elitist billionaire hierarchy trying to push us into actions that will cause more harm than benefit to humanity as a whole. Consumer materialism is the singular issue we need to resolve, not trying to keep consumer materialism alive at all costs. It’s not about money, it’s about getting humanity and all 8 billion humans to thrive and flourish, and at the same time find a more harmonious balance with the natural world on which we depend totally.
In my posts, Thinking Anew parts 15, 16 and 17 {March 2022) I covered the idea of parallel society. Unless some global disaster befalls us and we are forced to change instantly, we are stuck living within the current global system. So my suggestion is that we begin the process of sustainable living locally and change the whole system by example of how humans can thrive and flourish simply by making the decision to do so. We can still have possessions but our need for them will diminish as we realize that quality of life with happiness and full well-being is better than standard of living and a craving for possessions. As one of my favorite comedians, George Carlin said, “Trying to be happy by accumulating possessions is like trying to satisfy hunger by taping sandwiches all over your body.”
For the most part, the majority of humanity lives unconsciously guided by the conditioning of society to react to situations and events with little thought. The act of consciously and mindfully considering everything in life would begin the change immediately (see posts, Sustainability, Technology, Mindfulness and Choice {July 2020} and Coming Back Into Our Sovereignty – Part 2: Mindfulness and Personal Truth {March 2021}. Becoming conscious of our thinking moment by moment would show us how we are manipulated into a mindset of violence and conflict to resolve problems. We are driven into separation and ‘fear of the other’ by a global media narrative that defines our reality for us. “If human beings become conscious, the need for domination and conflict will dissolve” Sadhguru. The title of this post says politics. There will always be some form of politics and the need for leadership, otherwise we would degenerate into chaotic anarchy. Americans have this notion that rugged individuals made the country, but that is the myth they use to push individual freedom. I agree with individual sovereignty with the need for compassionate collaboration as a community.
While I have stated in previous posts that I am not a libertarian, I find them too selfish (complex, but to keep it simple, this rugged notion of self-reliance ignoring all others), I am too centrist, but do fully support the idea of self-sovereignty as part of a community that does not demand adherence to extreme views. Extremes of anything irritate me. I believe that honoring and respecting the authenticity of all people as collaborators in living together as crucial to our individuality and community. Many indigenous cultures practiced and still practice this idea.
We must create a new kind of politics at the local level that changes politics at all levels. In current politics where choosing a politician is still an option, we still cannot bypass the political polarities that trap us – we must change the whole system. We know our politicians are corrupt and the system is rigged and corrupt, yet we persist in believing that somehow the next politician will be honest and have integrity. There are some new politicians that have integrity but they are either pushed out quickly by the system or become corrupted by it. As long as money controls elections and politicians, the monied elite hierarchy will manipulate and control.
In Spirituality, Service, and Connectedness – Part 10 – a new kind of politics {August 2021} I overviewed a notion of politics in a sustainable society. Whenever there exists rigid separation and hard differences between people, the system will always control us. While our governments continue to think they control us for our own good, nothing will change, for our political systems draw people who want control and to push their agenda’s that they convince us are our agenda’s. Until our elected officials recognize they are our servants and not our masters, little will change. People do not go to war, governments do! Many people will rise up to ‘fight’ an oppressor, but when one thinks of the last 5000 years anywhere in the world, consider how many fought and died for problems that were created by the leadership over power, control and fear. More recently, the WWI resulting from politics of the ruling families of Europe to WWII arising from the politics of charismatic leaders who drove ideologies of power.
There are some individuals that can change the system but they are always marginalized by the system they wish to change. We need to recognize those that are truly benevolent leaders and support them – think Gandhi. Conscious recognition by us will arise when we ask, ‘Do they come from a place of Love, unity, commonality and wisdom, or do they continue to use Fear and separation to drive their agenda’s’ – whenever they tell us there is ‘an other’ that opposes us and we must follow them for our safety, that must be our recognition that they are of the existing corrupt system. When talking with a friend recently about this, she said “aren’t you doing this when talking of the hierarchy?” I am not talking about opposing the hierarchy, just simply ignoring it and creating a new parallel society until the hierarchy collapses under it own excesses.
Consciousness and mindfulness Is everything. There is much gained in being focused on our well-being of ourselves and others. When a society becomes more self-aware, mindful, reflective and present in the moment, it moves unconscious and often automatic conditioned behavior into a place where we can ask, “why do we do this and who benefits? Being mindful and reflective makes us stop reacting and doing something destructive out of anger or greed. Being mindful makes us pause for a short period, reflect, consider outcomes, and then respond from a place of compassion and eventually Love – full unconditional Love for ourselves and the natural world in which harmony surrounds all our lives and what we do.
“The more we move from automatic, unconscious and reactive ways of living to present, reflective and conscious ways of living, the more harmony surrounds our lives… Healthy soul based free-will with higher wisdom versus ego related selfish free will.” New politicians will truly think about what is best for everything. It’s akin to the Seventh-Generation kind of thinking that many indigenous cultures practiced – the decisions we make today should result in a sustainable world seven generations into the future. “The Seventh-Generation philosophy is integral to [sustainable living]. It intensifies the bond of community, promotes stability, and provides concrete values with which each person can test his or her everyday actions. Although the indigenous cultures practiced ancient traditions, their cultures were not frozen in the past.” Now that is a kind of new politics I support.
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