Be careful what you vote for

The party that wins

after nurturing anger and hate

will do the same to you.

Book of Weeds: Chapter 2

 

i. Science is the church

of humility and gratitude.

ii. if you have a kitchen table

where a mother once peeled potatoes

cut onions, opened a tin of beans

while singing to Dean Martin

iii. and you have a sister

who invited everyone

to your mother’s 80th party

iv. and further back in memory

a grandfather, smoking a pipe

in his greenhouse

v. you are obliged

to care what happens

to others.

vi. the priesthood is your secretary

not your soul.

The Supreme Court

(for Ruth Bader Ginsburg, March 15, 1933 - September 18, 2020.)

How quietly she sits in judgment

fully qualified eyes open

watching the work of men

corrupt the world again to make us empty headed

re-fill the space with bullets of hate 

for all that is flesh and turn it into steel

trashing heroes and prophets of old

she knows 

you can't create a new world on anger

and all the poets weeping over sculpted manifestos 

cannot kill plastic bankers so dead to this world

they think they will live forever

—they won't but you will.

Conversation, CBC and the Facts

I woke up this morning after a good night's rest and listened to CBC Early Edition, drifting in an out of sleep, then listened to Matt Galloway's interview with Bob Woodward, who writes for the Washington Post.

At first my emotions said I don't want to listen to more news about Trump and US politics. But I did want to hear a conversation between Matt and Bob.

Bob's new book "Rage" was the subject and there are a few things that stuck out in my memory of this interview.

When asked if Trump is a racist Bob said he doesn't use those terms, he reports on facts. Now the 'facts' he talked about was Trump's response to COVID as news was travelling from China to North America. On mentioning ways of protecting the American people from the virus and reports from medical experts, Trump accused Bob of having drunk the "Kool-aid".

This is a fact because Bob had the conversation and Trump used the term "Kool-aid."

What do you think? There is a fact. You decide. You have the capacity to gather facts as well as educated opinions. 

I appreciated that interview, Matt Galloway, The Current and the CBC radio.

Conscience Is Our Superpower

 The Strongman Far Right Ruler claims he will win the election because he has nurtured in his people, anger and hate. He has given them guns so they can go out and kill whoever is different from them. Guns are power because they can kill and cannot be killed themselves. Guns are made of metal and triggers. 

The Gun lobbies knew that in the short run the easiest way to hang on to power is to override conversation, to kill the voice of humanity and democracy is with weapons that kill but cannot hear.  The ruling elites are not interested in the suffering of people. They are tired of that kind of truth, so they have invented a new medium for elections — fear.

This is not new of course and although centuries of suffering and torture has been recorded in history and film, that narrative has been silenced. From a vast jungle of plants and animals, all that remains now are winners and losers.

The winners have guns, bombs and money. The losers have only conscience, intention and a love for life. The winners have dispensed with these things: conscience, intention and love. The winners don't need truth or education. They just need to win. Each year the city becomes more brutal while the castle grows stronger and cannons louder.

Eventually the survivors will believe that democracy, community, and education were a waste of time and money. Silencing the song of the bird and the wind. Then the winners will be flattened by the mundane existence that dominates their world with contempt.

Contempt for your experience, your feelings, your knowledge and facts. The landscape will be stripped of grass, ants and frogs. Soil will blow in the wind and all that remains are rocks.

Rocks have no voice if there is no-one to hear it. Winning has no purpose on a planet where nothing can hear its songs.

The only thing we have is our conscience. The only power we have that is greater than death is the conscience we have while we live.

This Just In!!!

 We have learned the anthro-hyena  doesn't exist. DNA records say there is no evidence of such a creature. At best it's a comic, at worst its a myth designed to make humans feel better about the extent of corruption in the world today.

The problems we face are due to hubris, self-interest, vanity and greed. These are all created by humans who view the world as an opportunity for self-aggrandizement. 

There are humans who have learned how to trick the masses into believing that some people are worth more than others while focusing on constructs that abuse and denigrate all life.

This is bad news. Infinite Power apologizes for your loss ~ no one is to blame except for you and me and we have to do something about it.

You will lose sleep, you will be crushed by anxiety and you will find hope in choosing to do what benefits all of life on this planet ~ or much of it anyway.

First you might scale down your expectations of what you can achieve alone. Then question everything you read and see. Is it scientifically proven and do you know enough about science to understand the results?

Lastly don't despair. You were not born to have such large bank accounts that you have to hold your money in offshore accounts. You were not born to be sexy for your whole life. You were not born to be an expert with the correct answer for everything. If you believe you know everything and you are the most powerful person in the world ~ you are a slave to your ego.

The problems we face are huge but since it's humans who caused most of them, it's humans who can re-build society so that we can survive.

There are no prizes for this work other than the continuation of our partnership with nature.

Face of the Anthro-Hyena

 

Here is the image of an anthro-hyena (they/their).  
See their face. They have two eyes, a nose, a mouth and two ears (which you can't see at the moment). They look just a like a human. A face with or without a beard, hair that comes in different shades. So what is the difference between an anthro-hyena and a human.

There is no difference that is recognizable from the outside. What you don't know yet is they are to blame for all the problems in this world. 

I know that throughout human social history there have always been groups of people blamed for everything. So many wars, so much violence played out on various societies all over this planet, because hate inflamed conflict. Blaming those who were not to blame at all and who were the targets of horrible crimes, often ending in genocide. Panic promoted to destroy the civil societies that had been getting along okay, not perfect but okay.

Now I am giving you some useful, life-saving information. It was never witches that caused this wholesale destruction. It was the anthro-hyena!

And the problem is they are hard to identify. They come in all colours, sizes and types. The anthro-hyena is a danger to all societies no matter how civilized or progressive they are because anthro-hyenas adapt so well wherever they settle.

Where you won't find them is in the field grazing with cattle, or the jungle hunting with the tigers, or the ocean swimming with orcas and sharks. 

So if they can't be identified why should we fear them?

They appear as though they are well educated and articulate humans.

But the key difference is this. Humans usually feel attachment to family, friends and tribes. Humans seek to belong no matter how smart or powerful they might be. Humans have emotions.

The only thing an anthro-hyena has is cunning. Everything in their life is translated into power. Every pleasure is subservient to the need to rise to the top. And they can't see it. They cannot see how much power, wealth or beauty they have been endowed with because they always need more. 

Megalomania is the term used to describe the constant striving for power over everything. Remember Yurtle the Turtle, the Grinch, Mussolini, Hitler, and Stalin? They have been labled megalomaniacs. There is a lot of documentation that suggests megalomania ultimately destroys great empires. Yet no matter how educated or enlightened humans become we fall for the certainty of authoritarian regimes. Not all of us, of course, just enough of us to corrupt our governments so they fall apart and suddenly we learn we have been pushed out of the conversation and our opinions no longer matter.

Anthro-hyenas are the designers and crafters that sell the system to an unsuspecting public.  It is not an easy task. Only a few have the 'talent' to do this. 

Anthro-hyenas can be found in powerful corporations, governments, police and military forces; wherever the focus is on power. 

They are articulate, smart, fashionable and teflon coated. They never take their eyes off the goal, every action, word, sentiment and effort is directed to getting to the top or enabling their client to get to the top. 

They create values that are super-human such as the GDP, current fashion, brand, status and strategic plans so that human values such as family, contentment, compassion and empathy don't count.

Once we have rid our society of human values we are thrown out of the Garden of Eden. The apples, the trees, snakes and metaphors are stored in foreign bank accounts and life is starved to death.

But don't go looking for the anthro-hyena. They are shape-shifters. Don't waste time blaming anything or anyone, just do what you can for your life and the people you love who depend on just communities, shared responsibilities. Live as generously as you can, give as much of yourself as you can, comfort as many as you can. Look to the first nations as examples of what life was like before the anthro-hyena turned the fields into colonies.

Take Back This Land Gabriola style

This video was created by the people of Gabriola Island. It reveals to me how art, the voice and music offers the land the soul of integrity. Thanks to all who made this recording and filmed it.

Dr. Henry's Wisdom: Be kind. Be Calm. Be safe. Examining the Power We Possess

 

Dr. Bonnie Henry is the head medical officer for BC who has guided us with advice on how to cope with COVID pandemic, based on science.

Using her notes on protecting ourselves from the virus, I was inspired to examine the health of our neoliberal capitalist society, and how I might apply Dr. Henry's wisdom to living in my community.  Although I am not a scientist I question how we might support people in a democratic society? How can we work together to belong here?  

White supremacy, Fascism and Nazi sentiments destroyed Europe in the thirties and forties and once it took over, there was very little that people could do. What became clear to me — was the killing of Jews, homosexuals, gypsies, disabled, and anyone who questioned the command, was actually the culling of humanity to create an alienated zombie class.

1. Fascism did not die after WWII. The toxic feelings  live within the heart of all, waiting for an opportunity to come out in rage and frustration, to replace the complex emotions with fear, poverty and hate. Nihilism that took millions of lives, and destroyed nations. 

Yet still fascism rises again and again. It is a virus of the mind and we must be vigilant against the myths and habits that rob us of our humanity.

2. Who benefits by hate groups? We can look inward when headlines make us sit up and notice. As well as being honest and in touch with our feelings we can keep our mental health by identifying them. Take a thought, any thought — who benefits by the outcome of that thought if it is unexamined.

3. Popular does not mean good or natural. 

4. Better to deconstruct the idea not the person. People who hate have already been trashed. They need to restore their self-esteem by being part of a community that honours life. And they need others to speak up for dignity, not hierarchy.

5. Be proud of your achievements or character not the conquests and colonial attitudes that you did not contribute to or suffer from. 

6. Pride in one's heritage is about honouring the struggles of your ancestors who did not have a stake in the wars they were forced to fight. Supremacy is about holding mythological worth over others through murder, torture and abuse and has nothing to do with an individual's inherent strength.

7. Symptoms of trauma and abuse are not your fault, but to hurt others because you were hurt, is. Stop the harm and let the virus die.  

8. Your home is your sanctuary where you can restore your self and your loved ones. It's no-ones business what you do unless you are hurting another being.

9. Discipline is what you do for yourself. You can encourage and inspire others to discipline themselves, but using force will simply alienate the mind and heart to the idea. Punishment and reward is not discipline, it's trying to force change using your own power.

10. Your community needs YOU. Your feelings, your tears, your honest ideas, and your mistakes. A community without human conscience and empathy is a prison not a community. 

11. Your routines of hygiene and sustenance can be the border you cross from the world you did not create to the world that comforts and renews.

12. Whatever comforts you is your medicine as long as it does not demean or harm others. 

13. Whatever you invite into your home should not abuse you. Television, radio, social media, music — are tools. Ask yourself — what purpose do they serve? Do they entertain, enlighten, calm or soothe? Or do they harm? 

14. You can't protect your domaine by excusing abusive behaviour. And you can't always control it. But you can ask yourself what it's doing there? Is it a past trauma? Is it a new pain?

15. You are the only one who can express how you feel. How you feel needs to be noticed. Not what anyone says you should feel.

16. Don't tell anyone else what they should feel.

17. No matter where you are or what you are doing, admit what you feel. You own your feelings.

18. Wander through the world wherever you feel safe. Breathe in and out. You belong where you are.

19. Competing for the most of what each of us wants makes us all homeless. We are part of something else to whom we owe our lives.  Empathy and compassion is the book beneath our neural substrate.