Do Rulers Want to Destroy All Life and All of Its Memory?

 

When I hear of new wars or even old wars that never end I wonder if the reason is to clean the planet of all life here?

When I hear of politicians saying "grab 'er by the pussy" or make generalized remarks of hatred towards everyone who is different or who will not have anything to do with humanity if they can help it, I wonder if their long term goal is to find a way to kill off all life, its language and what little remains of compassion.

I believe there are some who hate anything that gets in their way. That they are entitled to get everything they want and not be criticized. 

It's not a full philosophy, it's a repugnance towards the messy life constraints. They want to get away from it all. Maybe move to another planet or at least have nothing to do with the masses.

Yes I have heard of several people who are so "special" they cannot deal with anything where they do not have control.

Where will this go from here? Remember the Handmaid's tale? Brave New World? 1984? 

Does it sound so ridiculous that right now there are souls planning  a world in which they are in absolute control? What do they need to achieve this? What would it take for this to happen? A planet that belongs to one corporation?

Astronomica

 

My latest book of poems "Astronomica" is now available at Ekstasis Editions. cover image- photo taken by Elaine Vickers

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.

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

This World Is Manufactured

This world is full of eyes 

Reaching the landscape 

Under the words spoken by 

Mighty dumb opinionators 

Parsing the lowest common denominator 

Every day then repeated on front 

Dummed down screens too big to not see.

Surviving the Politics of This Time

 

https://www.nationalobserver.com/podcast/mortal-giants/trump-post-american-world?utm

Certainly the corporate media today emphasizes the few who are at the top of the capitalist chart. Only business and money counts. Life without money is a slow hungry death. In between now and then will be stories of the vain narcissist, the talented hungry masses, and the large number of people who have been forsaken by the capitalist dream - to watch ordinary people quietly go mad while the extraordinary few brag, laugh and engage in silly games to show off their special cruelty.

The effective real people doing a lot of fixing and fix-up and caring, while the media ignores them as they promote pictures of a very small minority gloating over their fame and power. The silent masses will be weeping quietly. The wisdom accumulated from hard working genuine people will be forgotten.

First we can forget the mainstream. Go to the groups that are struggling, pouring all their energy into helping those who need help, creating space for the ideas that are most needed.

Then we can focus on the reality of our situation and do whatever we can to help. The first thing is to acknowledge we depend on one another to survive then move forward on that.

Humanity 101 - we already know this

 We think humans are one species but we behave as if we are many and we have to beat the others. We must win even if we don't know who or what it is we have to win. So we muscle in, go to war, and kill our relatives.

In this climate it is wrong to find the truth, to use our curiosity, our courage, our love for life.

Why is it we must hate and kill?

Because the most stupid are the most terrified.

What are we terrified of? We might be wrong? Our tribe may see us as stupid? Or that we may be tortured to death because we are not stupid enough?

The current unexamined power are those who have guns but no brains. Brains are a form of torture. The president does not have the most power.

That power goes to the key that unlocks the box. An inanimate box that holds the key to the box not owned by anyone or anything.

I don't know. No-one knows. Even the President is not allowed to know. This way we are all kept powerless. Nobody, no breathing person knows.

We humans are waiting for the big flood or fire to kill us all. Why?

Are we afraid that women will take over the men who have been trained to NOT THINK TOO MUCH, to rule the planet according to minutes of the last meeting?

We could learn the power-of-the-universal hug. We could lift the world up with our love and care. Find the power of compassion, support, wisdom and thinking through our problems as if we are all related. House and feed every human who needs it. Make health care available. Help those who need help.

I know this is the role of women, teachers, doctors and dentists. The warrior was trained so we could forget the power of loving kindness.

Losing Our Country Losing Our Minds

 https://www.nationalobserver.com/2024/11/19/opinion/saving-cbc-saving-canada-poilievre?utm_source=National+Observer&utm_campaign=f25cc29e16-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2024

Read this. Listen to CBC. Read National Observer. This is a critical time that demands our thinking, feeling and imagining a future based solely on greed for power.

The only thing that can save us from losing our selves is holding on to our relationship to other humans.

George Monbiot www.monbiot.com

The eye concludes that this is a species, beset by a lethal combination of conformity, distraction and a fear of offending powerful interests, actively collaborating in its own extinction. It sees a species dominated by Lords of the Desert: people prepared to destroy everything as long as they can command the ruins. It wonders whether the species has a survival instinct at all, or whether, instead, it has only an instinct to obey.

 

Humanity's War Against Nature

We might think we are heading into a dangerous age but we have been making this journey since the beginning of patriarchal capitalism.

It was the beginning of empire. Training young men to be soldiers. I'm not saying it should never have happened but there was a new power of the mind. It was strategic.  It was organizing levels of consciousness. Divide and conquer. It turned out to be really useful. 

What imperialism wanted was the warrior, willing to put his body into the battle to save his homeland from invasion. None of this was new it just became more obvious. Strong men had to be trained to kill strangers and kin regardless of how they felt.

Feelings had to become part of the weaponry and man had to give up his connection to his own mind. Distance himself from family, from mother and father, from belonging to the human race. Obedience was very valuable. War was very painful. Death final.

The timing of this I don't know. I am not a sociologist. I am a poet that's all. And I think this led to  misogyny, racism, classism and trauma between wars. Eventually humans became self-hating, wondering all their life if they were good enough, also trying to find the permanent in the future. But each century brought new groups. University graduates, scientists, artists, Christians, Jews, Muslims, Unitarian Universalists, Rationalists, Heathens. Along with this came the non-believers, isolated egos competing for the most of what each wants, workers, millionaires, feminists, misogynists, semites, whites, teens, infants, left-handed, and on it goes. Each generation invents new groups which makes many people angry or at least intolerant.

Now we see the end of our species in nightmares and artificial intelligence. The most powerful nation squandering its power on officials who are narcissistic, seemingly bent on destroying the nation they belong to because they have told themselves they are better than the group they have been slotted into.

We are self-hating animals, tired of all the labels, losing our identity to fashion.

Who Has The Authority To Speak?

 

I remember when I lived in the Bible Belt I got a few calls from unnamed men.

I emailed a few people to see who wanted to meet in a discussion group. The subject was multi-culturalism.

A male voice who I don't recall identifying himself said "You don't have the authority to do this". I wasn't sure what it was that caused him to call. He was polite and I can't remember what I said. I suspect I was equally polite and said thank you for calling. I wasn't sure what he was talking about. 

Most of the people I met were polite and helpful and some were even advanced in their dedication to humanity and worked bravely but new movements such as multiculturalism and feminism were often shut down.

Even the radical new movements were polite but it wasn't long before women who had started groups left them.

A couple of groups managed to leave their mark and created books before leaving or moving on.

Now the most powerful nation in the world has a president who openly ridicules women. White Supremacy uses women and those with brown skin to serve as second class.

How does it benefit us all? It plunders us towards war and violence. Furthermore it is the ignition to violence, fear and discontent. Respecting life is good for us. Encouraging freedom of different ideas to the point where a group is encouraged to believe they are superior to another group. It taints every mind with fear and doubt, it is cruel to those who are dependent on others for their care.

 

Consequences of Power Without Nurture

“The consequences of this election are clear for those on the frontlines of the climate crisis,” said Jennifer Krill, executive director of the environmental justice group Earthworks, in a statement. “Low-income communities and communities of color will bear the brunt of impact, from poisoned air and water to extreme weather events and rising sea levels, all within our lifetimes.” Winona Hauter.

https://truthout.org/articles/biden-made-slow-but-steady-progress-on-climate-trump-is-poised-to-dismantle-it/?utm_source=feedotter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=FO-11-11-2024&utm

Man As Saviour Woman As Nuisance.

 This might seem outrageous but I see our planet becoming antilife and pro power unless we wake up to what is happening.

The recent election coverage broadcast in Canada, revealed how controllers of the world have become more famous and adored. Love for the arts, music, literature, education and social engagement have become irritants to politicians.

Reporters want more sports, more winners and leaders, more wars, more death, more toys, more power.

We have reached the stage where reality is replaced with ego. This means that the feminine has become redundant, not in reality, but in choice.

Man has become more aggressive, more angry, more judgemental and more violent. As in the time of Hitler who wanted to be in control. Of everything.

We might call this narcissism which has been the major focus for leaders and although we might dismiss this as extreme, I remember thinking that the candidate for president must have more conscience than the one recently.

Grab her by the pussy, bitches, cat ladies, idiots -- have returned as misogynist anger, but I can't help but think as we take away the privilege of white men, they are incensed to be seen as privileged rather than great leaders.

Rulers do not care about how others see them. They feel they have proven they are miles above everyone else, and they have earned that position by their own gifts. Rulers are demigods not humans.

The people of colour, women, gays and others simply don't belong here. It's a feeling deeply rooted in the ego who has been praised for winning the war, whatever and whenever it is.

To be a firefighter, doctor, nurse, pastor, teacher, politician, police officer - takes courage and strength when they work with others for the greater good. Society doesn't exist in war or political battles. There are winners and losers. That's all.

Requiem for Humanity

 

Sometimes we were given opportunities to improve our lot, but because it was offered to all, not just to you and me, we didn't see the value in it. We became social crocodiles. We voted against it because we believed that true power was only given to a special minority. We were still children in a moral sense, behaving badly.

We looked for politics that would make us special. We didn't understand that uplifting all of life would also uplift us.  And because we wanted special status we never blamed ourselves for the outcomes, we would jeer and laugh at the ridicule shown to others in a short moment of smugness.

This is how we lost the world, allowed those who did the work to be burned as witches, murdered as queers, hung as Africans. We are in the minority but we decide the fate of the future of all.

When people go hungry and homeless while a special few fly jets to different planets, we are saying life is common, not special. Then we treat each other as trash.

Weaving a Future From Dreams and Wisdom

 

"Harris is the rule of law; Trump, lawlessness. Harris, inclusion; Trump, exclusion. Harris, decency; Trump, loathsomeness. Harris, the American Dream; Trump, the American nightmare. Harris wants the best for the country; Trump wants the best only for himself. I don’t need to go on. You know all this. The question is why doesn’t everyone else? " Robert Reich.

 “By fascism I just have in mind (1) the cult of personality of a Leader; (2) the party that becomes a single party; (3) the threat and use of violence; and (4) the big lie that must be accepted and used to reshape reality: in this case, that Trump can never lose an election.” Robert Paxton (The Tyee, Nov. 5)

I have only heard a couple of people explain why they are voting for Trump, and I sense, which is not proof or rational judgement, and it seems like they don't really know or cannot articulate.

So I have a theory, based on feelings not logic, not provable, that its somewhat like a nice cup of tea, known, warm and comforting.

I also believe that our most common theories work like a blanket on an infant's cot. We are not ready to give it up, so when we do our worst, when we are left without any way to tackle it, trying to overcome grief and shame, we'll find something to blame.

The Wheel of Justice

 

When a narcissist with great ambitions takes over the media, daily reports keep telling us we have no hope.  It's not because of some mysterious reason. Bullies begin by threatening your neighbours and friends and the isolated egos who struggle to survive feel overwhelmed, the power we need is to do what is needed.

It's not easy because most people do not think they have power over others or the kind of power to change the course of events. Most of us think in terms of personal actions. What can an ordinary person do?

That we live in a time where power is in media, wealth and fame, puts the majority of people in the faceless, nameless public.

For centuries, no matter where you live, we are told we live in a hierarchical society. The nation sets up gates in the city where most of us are locked out of metaphorically high towers.

But it's not just one narcissist who is concerned here. We are living in a time where many people are looking for justice and the power of love to get us through this. Of course we don't have a plan to take over the hunger for money, power and fame. We don't have a gun that will make everyone kind and brave, instantly.

The long war against human greed and violence is still being fought although its very difficult to point out what we can do about it. It's not an easy fix. There are too many monsters in the way.

These monsters are not just a particular group of people. Not just misguided Christians, Capitalists and Truck Drivers. Not just white people. Not just males. If we want to blame a particular group we could say humans but humans are also the doctors, the nurses, the teachers, the students and the shop owners.

These monsters have written poetry, songs, built cars, homes and shopping centres. They are everywhere. They are us after having been traumatized in the centuries old habit of struggling to win. So in our desire to get rid of them we can't send them to jail or hang them.

We cannot win our battle to define then imprison THE BAD GUYS. We have to change the way human society works. Not with games and prizes. But with the heart and the stomach and the eyes and the ears.

With words to up our own dedication to the nameless cause of future survival.