I've always been aware of things like the oligarchy, the sneaky dealings between the rich and powerful and their role in politics etc etc..
But it's now only starting to really get to me. I can't stop thinking about it. There is literally no hope for this world.
A friend told me the other day something I didn't know.. A corporation can do almost literally anything without being shut down as long as it doesn't damage it's shareholders..
In other news - You heard about TTIP? Among other things.. It will grant corporations power to sue countries if their policies cause a loss of profits..
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices...-why-the-answer-should-scare-you-9779688.html
Seriously.. I've never felt so depressed about the world.
I know so well that fear and the despair it brings. The denial of science, the ever-increasing and successful double-speak of the oligarchy, the rapid unraveling of ecosystems and the loss of civil rights would be terrible enough to contemplate if it were not for a populace that simply cannot be bothered to see it happening because they are too busy shopping. I have struggled with keeping my eyes open without getting paralyzed my whole life. Here is what I found that helps center me and gives me strength rather than robbing me of strength as my own pessimism tends to do: I think about how fear is really at the root of all of this and that my fear is contributing as much as the fears of anyone else. Greed is fear (fear of scarcity). Dominance is fear (fear of being dominated yourself). Denying science is fear (much easier to believe it is all in some creator's grand plan). There are many that say that the fear of death is at the root of all fears--I'm not sure I believe that entirely but I do think there is an unconscious connection.
So what can I do to
not contribute to this ever deepening sense of fear in the world--fear of each other, fear of diversity, fear of ideas and freedom? I go back to the only person that I have any control over and that is myself and I try to live in ways that diminish my own fear, that support my optimism (which balances my pessimism), that allow me to see corruption and brutality without being emotionally overwhelmed and frozen myself. As I said at the beginning, this is a lifelong struggle for me. It started in my teens and it continues now in my sixties. Accepting the struggle--that one cannot and perhaps should not ever reach a place where this struggle is over, is becoming more apparent to me. At the end of my life I want to know that I did not close my eyes and refuse to experience either the "terror or the beauty" as Rilke put it.
I also think that language matters. The language that you apply to your thoughts and feelings affects what you are able to do with those thoughts and feelings. Activists that have changed our world for the better maintain hope (Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Cesar Chavez, Ghandi, and countless others that will never be known). Without hope, the world of your worst nightmares gains traction. Maintaining hopefulness is so difficult but so essential. In my short lifetime I have seen the civil rights movements of gender, sexual preference, and racial equality make huge strides. All the "isms" that led to these uprisings still exist--it's a messy and slow process with steps both forward and back but there is undeniable progress that has affected my life in very concrete and appreciable ways. Without hope from a few strong leaders trickling down to people so beaten into submission and hopelessness, these changes never could have taken place. One of the things that keeps me going is being around the hopefulness of youth. It makes me realize my responsibility as an elder to help maintain this fragile power within each of us.
I'm not sure of the connection, but I also believe that imagination has a strong affiliation with hope. When I do things to strengthen my imagination in creative ways, I am naturally held in a more hopeful state. Art has always changed the world in profound ways and I suspect it is because art is the ultimate freedom, the unleashing of our innate unity as expressed through one unique individual's perception. Surround yourself with beauty. Make things with your own hands. Chant or sing--using your voice is an amazing antidote to the hopelessness.
I respect your voice, and all the voices here. We are all trying to figure out how to live within systems that want us half-dead or at least medicated into compliance. Hope really becomes the strongest weapon we have, albeit the hardest to keep hold of.
