The Mind and Heart Speaks (for Greta Thunberg)

Greta

You have said the right things

made the right, bold, fearless accusations 

clearly.

We are moved by shame and guilt

years of vanity and dreams

small crumbs of hope

even though we know better.

As you say — the science speaks

and I fear your success

like any success

makes it difficult to step back

into the torch bearing crowd

for the next scene.

You must not carry the cross alone

no matter how they implore you.

Rage has a mind of its own

and once released may turn on you

make demands.

Let them go, find a brief peace.

Now we need the choir to sing what is known, 

over and over, until our parts are clear to us.

You are the shofar at sunset

now the rest of us must find

our instruments before the dawn.

The War

The war is not about conflict between different beliefs, different religions, or races. Neither is it about the roles of gender.

The war is about maintaining a narrative of supremacy over the diversity of life. The war is about making the masses miserable, anxious and mute. The war is about maintaining the grip of exploitation and oppression on the world by sowing and nurturing hate and fear as endless systems.

When opinionated people believe the "real world" is this one of greed, hate and violence, it is because the tools of oppression have convinced them there can be no other way. Our choices and creative imagination have been sucked out of the sphere of neoliberal capitalism.

Education, nature, curiosity, justice and reason are continually battered by a superimposed doctrine often called "common sense" or "normal" that strangles our own thoughts before they mark the blank page, leaving the system of fear and oppression to govern society.

This is why people like Greta Thunberg still have the ability to follow their own instincts. But it comes with extraordinary courage and we see their brilliance clearly.

There was a time when entering the adult world we had to choose between our own understanding of how the world works in order to fit. Our precious freshness and innocence is given up to avoid the label "naive".

Now we are in a time when the world is trapped in sophistry, the game of thrones. As a civilization we have lost our way. Our institutions are broken or silenced.

But the war will not be won until we re-learn the value of our own imagination, our own contributions to the mysteries and sciences of relationship.

Mental Instability creates Political Instability

Invasive Weed

"On Monday, Maxime Bernier sent out a string of tweets attacking Greta Thunberg, the student environmental activist. The leader of the new People’s Party seeks to bring to Canada a poison afflicting many democracies: the collapse of convention."

John Ibbitson, Globe and Mail. 

People: please don't confuse political trends as public voice.   Watch for the tricksters who create public consent. They are in politics, education, business and media of course. (I am not saying these institutions have failed but propaganda is an invasive weed.)

People of integrity who value peace and social justice know how all things must be weighed and considered in our choices — how we react, who we vote for, who we believe, and who we can see through.

Does anyone believe that Trump, Bolsonaro, Boris Johnson are working for the greater good?

Yes they do but you have to check their particular interests. Why do they hate environmentalists, women, refugees and those with different religious faiths? Because their livelihood depends on maintaining a state of self-interested ignorance?

Conversely why do some feel absolute contempt for politics, education, and humanity in general — they are willing to invest in guns, violence and hate?

Setting up barricades against public conversation and engagement, is not a trend, it's a manipulation of public sentiment.

Greta Thunberg has single mindedly used her will to act in a way that gives us an example of how humanity could take back the future.