Sunday, May 20, 2007

doom and gloom at the cof

people are convinced that civilization is close to a crash at the cof. i'm not hearing any good solutions, other than to re-localize. i have to agree, that things don't look very encouraging at this point in time, but (again) i still cling to hope. what do i mean by that? i mean, i believe that humans are not only capable of a paradigm shift but are also not far from it, and that change can lead to a world presently unimaginable.

its just another choice, my belief in these possibilities. i know the odds aren't really in our favor, but what is the option? to believe in a future where the usa continues on being a totalitarian empire, subjugating the people of the world and taking their resources, creating endless wars and genocide, polluting the biosphere and driving its species into extinction and finally a dismal and meaningless end scenario in which the us nukes all other people and itself off the planet effectively ending all life except for cockroaches and bacteria and a bunker full of republicans? The fact is no one knows absolutely what the future holds. indeed by definition the future is only possibilities.

how do we steer the juggernaut around? how do we change it? how do we change it non-violently? we have the capability, all we have to do is discover it.

6 comments:

Ranando said...

Every once in a while the Earth needs to clean it's self up...

You just happen to be on it this time.

The Earth isn't going anywhere, we are.

Nina said...

prayer/focused intention has been shown to create change in behavior--if it's focused and if it's collective. an experiment was done a few years ago outside of baghdad. james twyman lead the experiment--hundreds of people in prayer for 24 hours (people around the globe also joined in at the same time from their homes, offices, etc.). violence dropped by over 1/3 in the day following.

it's possible to create an international prayer chain--where everyone spends 10 minutes every day at the same time focused on the same intention: peace. i did this with a small group of people--every morning at 9am we prayed for peace. we weren't dedicated enough though because we all eventually stopped and lost contact with one another.

i don't know tim. some days i wish to see a non-violent revolution but other days i am simply not sure if this is even possible. have you ever seen v for vendetta? some days i long to see someone like this v character rise up and lead us--unite us together--to demand change. but that creates a whole host of issues--what things do we wish to see change and can we all, collectively, agree? we gotta know what we want before we seek..before we demand..change.

whatever is done, it will take us changing our lives in a major way--we will likely have to put a lot of things on hold or cut back on--our hobbies, our jobs, our free time. while there are many organizations seeking to change things, it doesn't appear to be enough. we need to unite--put our lives on hold--and organize, create an agenda, demand, fight if need be, until this agenda has been actualized.

as i asked on my blog, what are we willing to risk and do? i admit to fatigue and burn out from asking these questions and thinking about them for as long as i have. many days i simply wish to find my niche in society and live peacefully and quietly--detached as much as i can from the outside world.

sigh...where's robin hood--where's superman/woman--when you need them??

tkn said...

ranando, are you saying that the domination of the world by the united states empire and its eventual collapse is the earth cleansing itself? i agree that the earth isn't going anywhere, but what are you talking about? peak oil? climate change? both? armageddon?

nina, i haven't seen v for vendetta yet, but i wanted to from seeing the previews. i agree we need to organize and unite. it should be a loose organization but widespread. for example, your intentional prayer group...why not continue the meditation as if your numbers were continually growing, despite not maintaining contact with each other?

my point is that it (non-violent revolution/positive social change) is possible, simply because i choose to believe it. that is hope for me. You can't prove to me either way, its simply a decision i have made, because it seems more likely to produce the desired outcome, positive social change, than not believing it is possible.

Nina said...

i hear what you say about positive social change. i also agree that non-violent revolution would produce the desired outcome for peace, or at least a lasting peace (which ultimately is what peace is about).

i'm pretty sure you know i'm an idealist. it's when i see reality some of that my faith and hope get murky. would non-violent means take more time? the question i sometimes ask is how much time do we have? can things get so out of control that there is no turning back? i flip and flop on this--a battle of idealism and logic. blah! anything is possible--that's what i tell myself. anything and everything.

i do believe this: if everyone, or if the vast majority of people believed as you did, organized and acted in an on-going manner, positive, lasting, peaceful social change would definitely occur.

thanks for your idea on getting back into my regular prayer routine. one of the things i liked about what the bleep was what one of the scientists had to say about how he creates his day every morning--his daily intention. we loved it so much, i printed it from the website. just don't know where it is today....i fall off the horse, i get back on...i fall off again, i get back on...etc. etc. etc. :)

Anonymous said...

I think one great long term solution is to reassess our personal and political objectives and create different, more resource-dependent outputs.

Sadly it is very difficult to speed up or slow down the economic means & tools that move and shape our society. There is widespread and even international acknowledgement now that people are wising up to the "greening of the Earth" but we have to keep on the heels of politicians, lawyers and the media not to mention business leaders to make sure it's not greening purely for profit.

I agree with Tim we are headed for a major realignment or paradigm shift. Some situations come upon us quickly like food hunger and the collapse of the debt system ( including the debt ladder that seemingly supports a lot of U.S. students). Many peops are now faced with these challenges and are busting their butts to make ends meet.

The energy crisis will hit us slowly. My prediction is when gas hits $4.20 there will be major, continuous grumbling which will lead to interregional rebellion, in terms of vehicular transportation.

What do I mean by interregional? If you accept the argument that we are all affected by state planning and statewide enterprises both private and public in monetary nature then break homo sapiens' movement down into regional districts not greater than 10 miles in area.

Most people would consider a 10 mile bike ride a healthy trip. Quite a few people here in the Valley do half that distance every day. More walk a quarter of that distance very day. How can we live together in 10 mile area regions not always next to one another, both rural and urban?

When, not if, parts of this nation go solar the district allocation of resources the community enterprises we help create and own will have energy generation and delivery outputs based on increments of 10 miles ( others and I predict this with reasonable certainty as the central office model of generating and paying for our electricity is pretty much dead and cannot grow beyond its existing state ).

>>people are convinced that civilization is close to a crash at the cof. i'm not hearing any good solutions, other than to re-localize. i have to agree, that things don't look very encouraging at this point in time, but (again) i still cling to hope. what do i mean by that? i mean, i believe that humans are not only capable of a paradigm shift but are also not far from it, and that change can lead to a world presently unimaginable.

Right! It's all about choice. You pick and a transparently operating business entity with minor proprietary angles sets the operative price openly, not the corporations and dictatorial fiat rule. All of the aforementioned action occurs by governance with oversight, not some corporate lackey wannabe government oversight.

>>its just another choice, my belief in these possibilities. i know the odds aren't really in our favor, but what is the option? to believe in a future where the usa continues on being a totalitarian empire

Heck yea! I believe in a better world.

crallspace said...

I will beat the same drum: localization will hold us above water.