just love…
“The truth of simplicity brings life’s clues.”
Living in a fantasy of money, lust and religion, it is hard to see where the battle begins. Of course, each person is distinct and appropriate to their own mind; we all understand the battles within and birth-right prejudices, but until we honestly see the bigger picture and trim our denial, we have no hope of escalating our condition. It reminds me of Daniel Quinn’s, Ishmael, and the battle against the unknown bars that cage our culture; the exact same reason why he thought the ‘60’s revolution failed.
The drawback of living a life that follows the rules society sets is that your life, my life, everyone’s lives are not wholly their own; it’s a walk down a structured path. I believe that nature has so much more to offer, a more organic meandering; embracing the learning turns of life… choosing to live life, instead of reliving it!
As Thomas Paine once tried to inspire in his day can be said here today, “we have it in our power to begin the world over again.” We just need to breathe confidence into our visions for lasting peace and real change. Some call me naïve, but I believe we are at the cusp of change, just moments before we realize we can redesign our values… and stop competing. I repeat loudly…. STOP COMPETING. Competition is at the root of our captivity; our self-created bars also serve in keeping us too busy to see the obvious. The fastest way to destroy a community is to withhold resources; people will turn on each other for fear of losing what meager resources they have.
I believe people choose the righteous path when playing a fair game and that a good person comes from within, not from threats. Western values and morals are all built on fear; and we are so petrified of losing that we blindly chase our tails in vain.
Thomas Paine had the right idea with his “guaranteed minimum income”… a system of social welfare that guarantees that all citizens and families have an income sufficient to live on, provided they meet certain conditions. It seems most of Europe agrees with this plan, as does Canada and most of the Scandinavian countries… France began their program in 1988, which seems a bit late for a country who learned long ago to put community first with their lavish meals and long siestas.
France does seem to have their lives in alignment with healthy living… as their rates of disease are down with eastern cultures, yet the French still eat, drink and smoke without fear. I believe one of their keys to success is their commitment to keeping food free from contaminants, and from cooking seasonal foods from local farms.
Here in the United States, we aspire to a higher calling… we want food to be cheap, easy and fast; while our corporations want to make the most products at the cheapest cost, creating the biggest profits. We don’t put our physical or mental health as a priority in our lives, so what we desire is then manifest, the most unhealthy, wealthy nation in the world.
We are told that if we follow certain rules, good will follow; we will go to heaven, get in the right schools, get a good job etc. Success by this standard is quite easy for the small, gifted and mostly white percentage of people (and their offspring). But what if you are born into poverty or worse, the possibilities are slim to nearly impossible for the beaten, broken and abused larger percentage of the population. And we are tired of this hypocrisy, otherwise we would not be backing such extreme candidates as Trump and Sanders, and these unlikely candidates have gained strength. One wants to beat everyone into submission with an oversized club, and the other wants to level the playing field by forcing Wall Street and large corporations to share their wealth.
Putting politics, religion and capitalism aside… there will be more than one path to regain our pride and sense of control in our lives, but it will first begin with changing the story we tell ourselves. It is time to believe in the intent of our being, not as interested in what we do, but why we do it; to reconnect our spirit to the divine oneness of us all on this planet. No room for labels, just for love.
I repeat loudly… JUST LOVE.
Take apart your bow and arrow…
And what you have now will be there tomorrow.