Song of the Lizard - a poem

Song of the Lizard

Stand on the highest rock

circle 360 degrees

to see what might be coming

is it food or an enemy?

if it’s food then eat it

otherwise kill it

everything else

is political correctness.
~~~ 

Sometimes I wonder how much trends affect our institutions through the people who are employed by them? Do ministers, politicians, CEO's find a way to hang on to integrity in spite of pressures they must deal with or avoid, to survive? Is it easier to be the lizard?

What is your narrative and how can you move forward

George Monbiot has written a longish article which includes the success, failures, and the machiavellian underhanded responses from the fossil fuel support lobbies. He mentions the need for a short narrative to explain where we are - here is his:

“The world has been thrown into climate chaos, caused by fossil fuel companies, the billionaires who profit from them, and the politicians they have bought. But we, the young heroes, will confront these oligarchs, using our moral authority to create a movement so big and politically dangerous that our governments are forced to shut down the fossil economy and restore the benign conditions in which humans and other species can thrive.” Monbiot, First Strike.

Here is mine: The world has been organized by the need for humans to create societies for support. It is the nurturing society that honours life. But the need for sustenance has been corrupted by egos that seek to control and dominate and they are capable of great cruelty in order to maintain power over the masses. We must interrogate and observe how they do this in order to rise above the structural violence inflicted upon the sentient beings we share this planet with. We need the power of our best selves to guide our selves and our beloved community.

What is yours?

Your Hate Does Not Benefit You

"We saw in the North American free-trade agreement renegotiation and the imposition of steel and aluminum tariffs that the U.S. leader had no patience for facts and enjoyed bullying his allies more than confronting his country’s adversaries, while his acolytes sought to replace the postwar order with a Washington-centred hub-and-spokes system." Paul Heinbecker, Globe and Mail.

I'm not convinced that free trade was good for me or for the workers in factories, but the US President is not on our side either.  He doesn't even seem to be on the American people's side. As for our Prime Minister he seems to be more onside with business than with the citizens even though he made promises and was elected on a campaign to honour the land and sea on which we depend.

What has been lost is a respectable conversation between interests for the sake of the greater good of all.  From somewhere there is the financing of hateful threats to those who have been marginalized, including those who are concerned about climate change.

Meaningful dialogue has been taken out of our domaine and funnelled into the boots and trucks of angry people who have chosen hate as a way out.

A way out of what? A level gaze at all the competing interests who want to take more and give less? 

A way out of owning how our ancestors and nations were complicit in the exploitation of smaller nations, how they colluded in barbaric practices for the sake of dominion over the most land. Not to civilize it but to enslave the people and pollute the land for profit.

In this way, we too have been polluted -- not just broken hearted but corrupted. Ideologies we submit to are often evil because of how they effectively confuse and alienate us from our own mental health.

The best example of this is white supremacy -- and no I am not talking about all the people  who are not brown skinned. I am talking about the movement itself, funded by interests who wish to remain anonymous.  What exactly does white supremacy stand for?

Reading between the lines it stands for hegemony over those who have moved away from the masculine ideology that demands sacrifice on battle fields, absolute obedience in the corporate board room and support for enslavement. I am also talking about the feminine ideology that props up the command that their men must always be strong and never vulnerable, promotes the feminine body as a host for the next generation but not a complete being. The corruption of Christianity for the sake of power-over the people through unexamined obedience.

Some may claim that Christianity was corrupt from the beginning when the teachings of a young rabbi became the foundation of a new religion. Some may claim that religion by its very nature is corrupt as it indoctrinates the innocent for the sake of controlling the masses.

I am saying that corruption is so embedded in our civilization and collective memory, that we need to examine our lives and beliefs enough to figure out the thoughts and values we hold and the way we support the idea of control. Controlling nature, our children, our seniors, our selves.

What is the best use of my power? To hear the voices of others, to support community, to heal my own injuries and to love life. Once I feel compelled to dominate or conquer something I must interrogate that need and ask who benefits?

Who Funds Right Wing Movements?

"In Britain, for example, we now know that the EU referendum was won with the help of widespread cheating. We still don’t know the origins of much of the money spent by the leave campaigns. For example, we have no idea who provided the £435,000 channelled through Scotland, into Northern Ireland, through the coffers of the Democratic Unionist Party and back into Scotland and England, to pay for pro-Brexit ads."Crisis? What crisis?. George Monbiot.

We need to remember that the ordinary voter is not to blame for the way things are. We are encouraged to see things the way multi-million dollar ads suggest and cannot see what information has been deleted. We are subjected to intentional editing all the time.

Democracy can't survive if power is abused and the elected governments seek only to win elections not save their countries. Big business, politicians and media must take responsibility for doing there part to sustain just societies.

A view of Economics which explains a lot - by Fred Guerin

An 'insider' view of why economics programs at the university level nurture sociopathological tendencies in students.

A study published in 1987 by Arjo Klamer and David Colander and then repeated by Colander in 2005 demonstrates that graduate students in economics are far removed from learning or being interested in the real world:

"They compete among each other for ‘technical excellence’ in mathematics so they can solve tricky technical problems but do not think it is important to know anything much about the real world economy nor about the economics literature and history of the discipline that has gone before them. They adopt classic Groupthink characteristics as they are moulded (socialised, brainwashed, choose your own word) by their professors (who then feed them into their own networks for employment etc)."

As the author says, "there is little wonder the profession has very little to say that makes any sense about the real world. It is largely a disgrace."

Economics students tend to be middle class, highly competitive white males who come from relatively well-to-do families.

That pretty much says it all.

If you want more details, read this piece on 'The Brainwashing of Economics Graduate Students' http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=41542.

Fred Guerin on Facebook.

League of Canadian Poets - Poetry Pause Feb. 11

Be Lived on Searchlight 2019

What is Searchlight?

"Searchlight is CBC Music’s long-running hunt for Canada’s undiscovered musical talent, judged by a combination of audience voting and a panel of celebrity judges, who represent a cross-section of the best that the Canadian music industry has to offer."

Leah Hokanson has entered her song "Be Lived"

If you go to the link, go to "Artists" and then put Leah Hokanson in the field ... it will take you to the image of her album cover and the song itself so you can hear it.

A music and sound explorer, with 30 years experience as a vocalist, pianist, conductor, teacher and facilitator, Leah has recently released her first CD. The cover is titled "Be Lived" - an excellent piece of advice for living, which you can play from the website.

Leah's music is rousing, reflective, inspirational and meditational. She has a deep resonance of compassion in her voice and the way she leads the choir. I have learned how healing music can be with insightful, professionals like Leah. Her CD is titled Facets and you can order it from her website.

The Issue is Structural Violence

"The constitution outlines Canada's system of government, as well as the civil rights of all Canadian citizens and those in Canada" Wikipedia.

The law of the land is like a tapestry where new items are added and some old ones deleted.

Values like fashions change. People change. Countries change. Change brings fear and tension. The greater good for all, as boring as that sounds, moves up and down the chart of priorities like the stock market.

Countries, religious institutions, and parts of our civil society may dismiss what is good for all for the sake of their own interests.  Workers are expected to be loyal to the corporation they work for, to be team players, to show willing regardless of how comfortable they are with changes.

It is expected that we do not bring shame to our family, religious congregation, club or profession.

We are to achieve standards recognized as high by the tribe. But there is always the threat of failure: being homeless, alone, hated, cast out - even though you cannot control all circumstances no matter how much education or diligence you possess.

Competing demands take us beyond the law of verifiable existence, beyond what we have learned through our own experience or character. However we are caught in the doctrine of a capitalist system which emphasizes profit as the proof of success. Jobs and the economy are needed to buy food, clothing, and transport. And all this demands a proscribed appearance of "normal'.

Life looks like a series of battles to win, the need to be "seen" as powerful in a system invested in making you feel powerless.  The greater good gets lost in the details.

We are trapped. How can we survive when all we depend on comes under the jurisdiction of other forces? How can we work for sixty hours a week and admit just how fragile we are? Even the unemployed and the poor are working hard to survive, to appear "normal".

Where do we get to actually live, to consult our heart and soul, when such concerns have already been dismissed as sentimental and our appetites unrealistic. When do we get to invest in building character rather than the self-improvement doctrines from other "experts".

Turning to the wisdom of ages through religion, science and history does not offer absolutes as they change with the centuries. The bible is a big book and covers all the contradictions imaginable:  racism or agape, obedience or compassion, acceptance of  poverty and suffering yet disdain for the poor and feeble, working for peace yet glorifying violence.

Returning to the Law of Verifiable Existence (LOVE) brings the law down to my level, to my emotional intelligence with the skills I possess and knowledge I have. I put myself on the table, in the street, at the hall and the voting polls. I take responsibility for what I consume. Cynicism and despair, criticism and sarcasm, are not the ultimate responses to this world in which I must dwell. The world is not out there - it is the hope for my grand-children, the support for theirs. The world is the ultimate theatre of my time and resources.

Winning and losing is a shallow measure of who I am and what my life is about. The GDP is simply the measure of a capitalist system. If the law does not have compassion or courage or morality, it is a living hell. The law and our constitution is the written agreement on how to love life.

LOVE is not just a personal and private relationship, it is the primary condition of our lives.