Warning From George Monbiot

 https://www.monbiot.com/2024/10/30/dont-do-it/

Dear US voters,

in the spirit in which I would beg a dear friend not to get a facial tattoo, I’m writing to ask you not to vote for Donald Trump. While the decision to do so would make a statement, signalling your justifiable anger about the pain you have suffered, it is likely to disfigure you, damage your life chances and prove irreversible. 

In the link above is a lengthy warning. I live in Canada but believe humanity is under threat for its survival.

Last Thoughts Meandering Through The World

This

is my home where I wake and sleep

in gratitude for the man who takes care of me.

Gratitude for the first borne

for making me a mother.

then second and third

and their children.

These keep me disciplined

as much as possible.

In gratitude for those who remember

how I used to be. 

At least I have a roof over my head

three meals a day and care.

I don't know how long I shall have them.

I've forgotten how to keep on top

of the essential needs

and so tired of listening

to squabbles from the radio

the television the gossip

and the warnings leaving me

to understand how we have not cared

for one another sufficiently.

There are caring people who offer

advice, mention their concerns

for the future of humanity

gates, locks and words

as if fear and panic

is merely looking

for the right words

to go away

empathy looking for certainty

inventing the next century.

.

The Source of All Our Problems

 😔 

It's life! Because of life we must build schools, hospitals, roads, cars, medicine. This is why some have created AI. It can run this world  without humans.

We are closer to this realization than we think!

Imagine sports heroes being puppets. Imagine politicians as clowns operated by artificial intelligence. Imagine redundant hospitals turned into sports arenas.

Imagine no roads, no wars, no schools, no movies, no entertainment, no traffic jams. Look at how much we could save if we killed off all people in a nuclear war! There would be no more racism, no misogyny. No pollution. 

If you're exasperated with the state of this world imagine heaven on earth. But wait a minute there wouldn't be sex or BBQ'd steak. No reason to strive for first place, no shopping, no Christmas tree.

PUSSY

Now I have your attention, please understand this post will not be about sex but gender.

The reason I am using it is because there is a tendency to blame women which no-one wants to talk about.

There is outrage about the issue of gender. Having lived for 70 years on this planet I can confess my guilt. My school friend Suzanne called me out as a cissy. It was true. I didn't have courage engaging in conflict by expressing my values until after 1975 when a met a couple of women who were educated about world affairs of how women were valued. 

At that time I mostly sensed discrimination in bad behaviour, bad manners, and people who weren't nice. Feminism was not something I thought about other than I thought it dangerous. I experienced issues of discrimination and preferred to fight it discreetly. To call it bad manners. Give it attention.

A neighbour said her husband thought people who write letters to the editor were just seeking attention. This was when I learned if I wanted to get ahead I had to adopt popular beliefs.  Actually I learned to fit in watching sitcoms on TV.

It didn't work. Told I think too much, it hit home. Just look pretty and say yes. Be normal. Don't complain about how you have been treated. It's the pecking order, common sense, normal, natural. No-one will mind if you keep your thoughts to yourself, smile, look happy. 

Since those days I learned there was a lot of anger. Good kind teachers were too soft, kids would not be afraid of them and would misbehave. I was known as having "nice apples" and could get along if I kept my opinions to myself.

Today I see women in the news, in business and politics seemed to indicate we were getting on. Ups and downs were endured. Husband and children doing okay. I can't complain.

But now I know I am dangerous. I listen to news on the radio. I have an arts degree in adult education. I watch documentaries on TV. I read Chomsky and Harari. And the turmoil in our world is about women who have 'nice apples' also have wisdom and courage. We have learned that the path to a good future is to nurture the best in us. Not competing for the most of what each of us wants, not war, not weapons of mass destruction, not authoritarianism. Not lies, not hate, not quick slogans, not accusations not descrimination. Money is powerful if its used for the greater good, not locked up in the bank.

I am not saying we should give everything away. I am saying we should be socially responsible and ask ourselves what will be good for our conscience and our future. We are not just the shape of our genitals. We are thinking creatures, capable of doing a lot of good and perhaps surviving.

I Blame Media

 

The elections rely on every one who has a vote. But we need to dig deep into our resilient wisdom that gets buried sometimes. Especially when the planets move around. 

Instead of any discussion on Canadian politics the radio kept broad blasting US politicians, mostly one in particular. I thought CBC was better than that. Who was responsible for what is broadcast here?

Apart from the general mood which has more influence than I would like to admit, the reported violence over and over creates a darker mood. I feel in my stomach that humanity is dying. Not physically but mentally.

Thinking is necessary for survival even if this sentence sounds trite. 

Is it possible to grieve for humanity?

 Yes it is, I think.

Reading the news is not just a report of what's happening in society. It's also a sign of how we judge one another. 

When a politician who has no apparent integrity calls for support by creating a dichotomy around lies and media gives him more air time than politicians who have a real argument to make, because its entertaining and can be justified in bringing more money to the publisher, we may ask ourselves, what is the value of this?

The answer may come back in monetary terms. But what is the economic value to humanity?

Is media a kind of evil game? Are we really asked to vote for people who have the ability to put down whatever is alive, and who has nothing good to say about how to deal with serious problems like war, famine, climate change and integrity.

When I scroll down letters to the editor that merely show off our ability to insult with clever words.

I went to vote earlier today. All who volunteered were serious and seemingly dedicated to the idea that people should be treated with dignity. That voters are not gullible but caring humans who want to do whatever they can to make the world livable.

I came home feeling good that I had done what I could to save our species from dying by the egos of narcissists, warmongers, misogynists. My efforts are not showy, not extraordinary, but part of caring for life that's here and life that will come after us if we care for it.

Capitalism idolizes those with huge bank accounts, athletic winners, and the stunning beauty of young healthy bodies. Yet the people who keep society going are ridiculed because they are not perfect, or they struggle to survive. Families break down trying to reach extraordinary achievements caring for others even when money is short.

Wisdom, empathy, intelligence and integrity is available to us as long as we value it.  .....

Astronomica

 

now available at Ekstasis.

Acknowledgements

This fourth book is my attempt to understand the world as I lived it. My mother, one of four girls born to a man who fought in the first world war and returned to England with his bride.

They came to a small town in England where the daughters grew up and married young men who would be called up to fight in the second world war. Sadly my mother’s first husband was killed in the war when she was pregnant.

Marlow, a small farm town in England, the town I most remember before we emigrated to Canada was pretty and not too industrial. The lives of people were the stories I grew up with.

Father, mother, sisters and brother, came to Canada in 1965, settled in Lac de deux Montagne, got a job at Rolls Royce and met the boy I married. We moved to Toronto then to BC. Eager to learn who I was in this vast Universe, I learned to scribble.

Wanting all these years to jot down my experiences, poetry was the outlet I kept returning to.

With gratitude to the many teachers who helped along the way, I thank Ekstasis and all publishers who print memories, thoughts and hopes for peace in the future.

This porridge of egos and sleepless nights, are all a kind of love from one generation to the next.

cover image- photo taken by Elaine Vickers

I have a few copies now. Email ekstasis if you are interested in having a copy or janetvickers@gmail.com.

Power And Nurture, still, again!

The sign of mental illness is how a single unit fits into his world.

I call this unit MAN. He is beautiful, creative, strong and troubled. He can't get away from his worries because he knows too much and spends most of his time trying to unthink all the thoughts rushing into his mind.

This applies to WOMAN too if she arrives at a position where she has some control over her life. But first she has to break through the cloak and mythology of what society has told her - she represents.

Great Britain caused a lot of suffering while it was looking for success, for wealth, and civilized behaviour among its citizens. I don't know if it's possible to be in control. I think it's more of a desire based on social status and conditions which cause suffering for many. 

We want to be in control of our own lives but there are too many of us competing for space in the city or town and on top of that is influence from powerful sources who want other things, like wealth, popularity, love and friendship. So we attempt to create systems to organize life for the greater good.

There is one thing I want to remember. Very few people seek control. They seek belonging, community, being appreciated, loving and being loved. But the media seems to be bored whenever we talk of love. We tend towards generalizations that we fear and generalizations that make us feel better.

It has helped me to understand two forces of energy. Power and Nurture. When a society is built on power for power's sake, we end up causing a lot of suffering for those who have the least power, while those who have the most don't know what nurture is.

In times of war we train humans to be strong by ignoring and denying their nurturing feelings. We think of them as weak. If you're planning to kill and bomb the enemy to think about feelings is painful.

It raises all kinds of torture for the mind. It dismisses the soul. It ridicules the suffering of the enemy. It responds to conscience with anger, it finds someone else to blame. (You're just trying to make me feel guilty). 

Attempting to win wars with strategy, schooling, judgement that we are doing the right thing - all's fair in love and war, we end up hard, insensitive, looking for scapegoats to blame. We make a show of winning as we kill thousands and millions.

Or we choose to create societies that keep us busy, patting each other on the back. Being kind to ease our conscience, setting up boundaries of who we can trust and who we can't, dividing good guys and bad guys. Then we question ourselves to ourselves, forever, endlessly, blowing up in anger when something triggers.

How long can we live like this?

A World That Hates Women is A World that Loves Killing

 

A world that hates women is a world that loves killing

created by a single species who has discovered how to win

at all costs but not how to win forever, to be dominant

in control hawkishly watching everything that moves

listening to every sound for signs of aggression.

We Are Broken. How Did We Get Here?

Listening to Cross Country Check Up on CBC radio, I heard different voices say students have to wait months to see a councillor/counselor. Teachers including Principles are subjected to violence. Children are bullied from early grades by other children. Children are abused by parents. Here is the lack of community/social support everywhere - police force, politicians, teachers and doctors. 

Sounds like the media stories about society are breaking apart while we have politicians who throw out more insults and threats. Donald Trump is popular and could win the election. Pierre Poilievre could lead in the Canadian elections. Justin Trudeau is incompetent say news headlines. These stories don't say why. CBC radio and television are threatened with no funding, police forces are threatened with defunding. While our society is drowning in bad news popular politicians call for defunding the nation, health care, policing, public schooling.

Sounds like voices promoting the defunding of Canada.

What is the cause of this breakdown? Is it capitalism drawing every drop of blood it can while so many things are going wrong? Should we find someone to blame like the PM of Canada or the Liberal Party? By January we could be ready for absolute climate collapse as teachers, doctors and preachers hide in their basements while the whole world is covered in water and fire. Where will the next witch hunts take us? I mean this proves there are witches here, doesn't it?

We were warned by a girl a couple of years ago. Could we blame women for bringing down the entire planet? Could we blame Satan? Could we blame the economy?

There are people responding to this crisis, groups trying to warn us way back. You'd think we would all be behind that fight. Park our cars in the garage and take public transport. But wait a minute the drivers are on strike.

So we could have shuffled some money around to make sure drivers were well paid. Make sure doctors and nurses were well paid. Pay for schools to hire more teachers. Put a stop to selling all houses to the highest bidder.

What's happening today was often predicted by many adults, social workers and free lance professionals. In short we could have invested in the society we live in for the sake of people, but instead we watched dramas of violent greedy people finding evil ways to win. We could wake up to the reason that just societies teach people to care for others and that we were never isolated units competing for the most of what each of us wants.

We are mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers and cousins who cannot survive the anxiety of everything being a contest for ultimate survival as we step on millions of faces in order to get to the top of the ladder.

Contempt for Differences Equals Contempt For Life

 

https://thetyee.ca/Culture/2024/10/07/Thomas-Piketty-Plan-Save-World/?utm_source=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=071024 

We have different opinions because we have different experiences. If you're parents were easy going and didn't make a lot of demands, you may feel no-one really cares, you are not important enough for anyone to notice you, or if you're parents were demanding you may feel responsible for the happiness of others.

Your whole life might be looking for signs you have worth, maybe intelligent, or rich or good looking. If so you will suffer.

This whole universe has planets, weather, birds and demons trapped in the human psyche. The determination that everything is about you and you know more than everyone else, will either make you mad, stupid or bitter.

Even the very educated, wise or beautiful struggle. The confidence trick is the oldest most broken habit in the world. 

Humanity And Their Big Reveal

 

Politicians, influencers, specialists and the whole patriarchal history of life in war, needs to think about how we might survive into a sustainable world. First we need  wisdom. Second we need to recognize how fear of admitting mistakes  hurt our chances for survival. 

Thinking is not the same as doing and admitting where we have made mistakes makes us targets for ridicule. Much easier to talk about what others are doing wrong.

How bipedal creatures with a life span of 80 years destroy hope for the future is mostly about beliefs and values. It shouldn't be but we get stuck here and can't seem to see the big picture. 

We as represented in corporate media, politics and religion are trapped by our stories, reluctant to simply shrug and focus on today. So how can we liberate ourselves from self-delusion? We can't! We can self-interrogate but this doesn't mean we will be free of delusion tomorrow.

Do we really want to see ourselves as others see us? Are others clear of their own self-delusion and do they want to dismiss "the other" in a way that makes us feel good?

Beware of generalizations that smear the other. I remember receiving a call from a man who did not identify himself before saying "you don't have the authority to do this." What was it "I" was doing? Writing newspaper columns on history using materials from the museum? Working for a group of seniors creating programs on history? Multi-cultural conversations bringing people of different backgrounds and religions together? Identifying feminist conversations? 

At that time, women were targets of criticism and verbal attacks if they expressed ideas for changing conversations about the role of women in the world. That's not to say this community was misogynist. This was a community run by Christian traditional views that emphasized men as head of the family. Men as the authority on right and wrong.

Human societies have established hierarchies, pecking orders, but do not talk about it or reason with it.

Humans are ruled by unspoken values that allow us to believe we are right and that all is well. We leave our beds and go into the world with this confidence until somebody challenges us.

We tell ourselves we are strong. We can tackle the constant messages from "out there" telling us more than we want to know, telling us we are not always right, we don't know everything, we don't know anything. Shut up and go back to bed!

The best thing about our species is this. WE DON'T KNOW EVERYTHING. WE ARE NOT ALWAYS STRONG. WE ARE FLEXIBLE. WE HAVE MORE TO LEARN. WE ARE CAPABLE OF COMPASSION. WE CAN CRY, FEEL GUILT, EMBARRASSMENT AND SAY SORRY! AND ALTHOUGH WE HAVE CONSTRUCTED COMPLEX SOCIETIES. We cannot assume anything! But the most valuable tool in the kit, is, love. It binds us through emotion as long as we are not trained to dismiss our vulnerability.

WE ARE CAPABLE OF LOVE, SELF DOUBT AND COMPASSION! That is our strength.

Well that's my opinion anyway.