Merry Christmas?

 

"Seymour Melman, in his book “Pentagon Capitalism,” documented the way militarized societies destroy their domestic economies. Billions are spent on the research and development of weapons systems while renewable energy technologies languish. Universities are flooded with military-related grants while they struggle to find money for environmental studies and the humanities. Bridges, roads, levees, rail, ports, electric grids, sewage treatment plants and drinking water infrastructures are structurally deficient and antiquated. Schools are in disrepair and lack sufficient teachers and staff. Unable to stem the COVID-19 pandemic, the for-profit health care industry forces families, including those with insurance, into bankruptcy." Chris Hedges, https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/the-democrats-are-now-the-war-party?

On CBC radio I was listening to gospel music. Most of the day's broadcasting has been Christmas stuff. Jesus who is held up as the saviour of mankind while mankind has historically destroyed life for the sake of power. The message from saviours and prophets has been mostly about love and nurture, yet the egos who seek to be in positions of power are still addicted to the notion they, and they alone, can save the world. The world they didn't create but inherited.

Empires are built and its defenders become obsessed with control. Controlling what they did not create. And so the teachings of wise people are misinterpreted so the egos can feel powerful.

Power and life are opposed to each other in civilizations we know today. Unless of course we being to celebrate and care for the life on this planet.

The problem with that is we won't have trophies and markers that indicate our achievements.

Warriors For The Human Spirit

 

WARRIORS FOR THE HUMAN SPIRIT

Training to be the Presence of Insight and Compassion

We need leaders who recognize the harm being done
to people and planet through the dominant practices that
control, ignore, abuse, and oppress the human spirit.
We need leaders who put service over self,
stand steadfast in crises and failures, and
who display unshakable faith that
people can be generous, creative, and kind.

Margaret Wheatley

https://margaretwheatley.com/2019-warriors-for-the-human-spirit-training/

Poetry as an alternative to news

 

SBN 978-1-77171-360-3 Sleep With Me (poetry) 23.95 published 2020 84 pages The trenchant poems in this book use the word 'Lullaby' as an ironic metaphor delivering incisive commentary on our capitalist society. Never predictable, the lines roll from one to the other, crashing on the headland of the mind, challenging our concepts of the world around us. Combining passion and wit, Vickers' probing questions and observations are a must read for those who want a keener look at ourselves and our cultural milieu. Box 8474 Main PO, Victoria, BC V8W 3S1 e-mail: ekstasis@islandnet.com phone: 250-385-3378 fax: 250-385-3378

Robert Reich - How the Game is Played

 https://robertreich.substack.com/p/the-economys-large-and-growing-unproductive?utm

But humanity still has language, can think and organize for a just society.

Infinite Power 

is not a zero sum game but a journey

a stone thrown in a lake

circular ripples emanating outward

parallel phylogenesis toward the shore

and we are droplets

splashing into other droplets

falling and rising with the breeze

immersing into the universal body of water

and ascending towards the sun

we laugh, we sing, we sink, we swim

all the rest is construct.

Infinite Power, Janet Vickers, Ekstasis Editions, 2016

http://www.ekstasiseditions.com/

When Life Becomes No More Than a Problem

Now I know the news is about collecting stories of violence and problems, but this morning I learned that people who can't afford health care support may be forced to choose MADE as a way out. Then I read about the recent decisions in US Republican circles which refuse to challenge the right to bare arms even after so many shootings in school classrooms. "Its not a gun problem - it's a mental health problem." Also an item about refugees fleeing countries of origin looking for a safe place to live drowning in unsafe small boats.

Where is the morality of government, where is the morality in power? Where is the morality of billionaire influencers who purchase big bling social media companies? Where is the morality of corporate mainstream media? Where is the morality of politicians who get media coverage by spreading fear of "the other"?

When did morality become the fear of sex before marriage or same sex relationships? How has public discussion become "too sensitive" when we talk about the needy, poverty, affordable housing? Where is the morality of hoarding money in offshore bank accounts to avoid paying taxes? Why has justice been limited to the law and punishment?

I believe it boils down to the political notion that we cannot afford the quality of life. We must feed the economy, not by feeding families or housing the poor, but by adding inflation to loans, mortgages. 

We cannot afford to care for the planet, the sea, the woodlands, the environment, our children's future, our health care. 

We expected the most powerful nations to organize just societies, but they have invested in war, weapons of mass destruction, prisons and keeping refugees out.

Humanity is a threat in a world where power blinds and life is an unaffordable burden. We need a whole new way of tackling problems first by interrogating the common arguments and reorganizing our priorities. We cannot afford life - your life, not mine.

People Starving, Sick, Lost - oil companies doing great

 https://mailchi.mp/nationalobserver.com/qatar-in-canada?e=bfd991718e

On Our Own Together

 

"If governments were serious about preventing climate breakdown, there would have been no Cops 2-27. The major issues would have been resolved at Cop1, as the ozone depletion crisis was at a single summit in Montreal." George Monbiot. https://www.monbiot.com/2022/11/26/fermenting-a-revolution/

We are on our own together. Reading, talking, thinking, sharing, loving, hating, hugging, raising children. We are at risk of self-destructing. What can we do?

"There are no solutions" said Anatol Rapoport, a well respected mathematician (general systems theory, mathematical biology and modeling of social interaction and stochastic models of contagion)   He contributed to general systems theory, to mathematical biology and to the mathematical modeling of social interaction and stochastic models of contagion. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatol_Rapoport.

That shut me up quick.

If humans could bark like dogs we would be barking all the time but since we are human we create problems in our minds to satisfy egocentric needs. We tend to blame the "other" we have created in our own imaginations. Tend to generalize in our minds - until we learn better from people like Rapoport, Monbiot, Atwood, Hippies, and teachers who can tolerate the idea we are not supreme.

I am comforted by the terrifying theories of Gabor Mate as he writes about trauma in his latest book "The Myth of Normal". We could blame the Nazi's for the Holocaust, and the Communists for the holodomor in Ukraine. Blame the British for colonization further traumatizing the innocent people in the lands we invaded, blame the monarchy of Europe for creating class systems, but really we are all in this status seeking judgemental cruelty game desperately trying to prove we are worthy even if we don't own castles or fast cars. 

The rush to feel superior, to prove myself, to believe "I made it" came from not examining myself on the emotional plane where love for myself can be an acceptance there are no others, no foreigners, good guys or bad guys. 

Get rid of the construct not refugees created by politicians desperate for our vote. Or money from "influencers".

"They" are not destroying our planet, "we" can do things to calm the fears of friends and neighbours. We can raise our children with loving kindness and not demand they be "top of the class". We can live until it's our time to die without forcing others to do what we can them to.