The al-Qaeda-connected group ISIS (Islamic State Iraq and the Levant) have taken Mosul and Tikrit, Iraq’s second and third cities, and may well take the whole country in a matter of months. At the same time, the group is rushing captured Iraqi arms (all built right here in the USA) into Syria in an attempt to turn around the failing revolution in that country.
The US and the western powers are helpless to stop this. Additionally, it is a prelude of what will happen in Afghanistan next year or the year after. The truth is, unless we occupy the middle east, the entire region is likely to become a new fundamentalist Islamic caliphate, and it is quite likely, also, that the new caliphate will include large sections of Africa.
This all started with the single most foolhardy geopolitical act of modern times, and the most fooling geopolitical act ever undertaken by the United States of America: the invasion of Saddam Hussein’s Iraq on March 20, 2003. At the time, I was certain that it would destabilize the middle east, and that’s exactly what has happened. Even worse, the administration then proceeded to ignore the war we could win, which was Afghanistan. The result of this was that the Taliban were not dealt with effectively. Now, the Taliban will very probably return to power.
Looking back, one wonders how any administration could have been so stupid. But it happened, and not only that, it left us with a vast, almost unimaginable national debt that is now inexplicably blamed on Barack Obama, an earnest but hamstrung president who has been left to swirl in historical currents not of his own making, and which he is powerless to change. Worse, our divided government has left him in the sort of power vacuum that encourages aggression wherever it may appear. He has managed the Ukrainian situation as well as could be expected, but that’s a sideshow compared to Chinese aggression in the Pacific, and, above all, the Islamic fundamentalist militancy.
What can be done to retrieve this situation? Unfortunately, very little. History has moved on without us. Because we sowed the wind, we have reaped the whirlwind, and now that’s what we have to live with. Even the most dynamic, savvy and powerful president one could imagine is not going to be able to do much to divert the rising tide of fundamentalism that is sweeping the Muslim world. It is not a majority movement by any means, but it has the guns and the will, and, like the Nazis, will sweep first to political victory and then compel obedience from all over whom it holds sway.
Barack Obama will be blamed for the catastrophe that’s unfolding, but it was inevitable from the first moment an American boot touched the ground in 2002. At the time, I thought back to another such attack that had taken place in the same place in distant history.
Now, in our era very few people care about history, let alone think about it or understand its importance. The reason that it is important is that, if you do what was done in the past under similar conditions, you are going to have a similar outcome. The old adage that history repeats itself is profoundly true, and generally ignored.
But let’s go back a couple of thousand years anyway, and see what history has to tell us about the present.
In the year 113 AD, Trajan, as leader of the world’s greatest superstate and the most powerful person on earth (read George W. Bush a couple of thousand years later) embarked on a final solution to Rome’s most annoying problem: the Parthian Empire. This empire covered most of what is now Iraq and Iran, and was a constant threat to Rome’s eastern provinces, most notably the province of Syria.
Just as Bush’s troops did in 2002, Trajan’s found the going in Iraq surprisingly easy. The opposition just melted away. He then declared victory and went home to enjoy his triumph. On the way back, he began to receive distressing messages that the garrisons he had left in the cities were under siege. It soon became clear that the whole position was collapsing. He died of a heart attack before reaching Rome, and the province was lost.
The Parthian wars went on for another hundred years, gradually sapping the strength of Rome, and when the barbarians began crossing the Danube into the empire 200 years later, for this and other reasons, the empire could not defend itself.
The west will not be destroyed by militant Islam, but millions of people who fall under its sway will suffer wasted, miserable lives because of it. Like all ideologies, it is profoundly worthless and a great waste of human energy. Like Nazism, Communism and the many religious militancies that have cursed the human species for thousands of years, it is a darkness of the mind, and leads only toward greater suffering. In the end, the areas where it gains control will become filthy, lawless and utterly miserable. There will be no justice, no economic prosperity and no life worth living.
Had anybody who was involved in the decision to ruin Saddam Hussein’s Iraq known just a little history, perhaps the administration might have thought twice about what it was doing. But that did not happen, and the result was predictable. A coherent if very ugly state was replaced by something very much more dangerous: a power vacuum overseen by a leader who is himself to partisan that he cannot command the loyalty of anybody around him, let alone his generals, let alone his people.
We have wasted vast treasure on Iraq and Afghanistan. All of that will be lost, and who knows how much more. People who start wars should never forget the same lesson that Trajan, Napoleon, Kaiser Wilhelm, Hitler and so many, many others have forgotten, and that the Bush administration certainly forgot: war does not just have unintended consequences, it is about unintended consequences.
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“war does not just have
“war does not just have unintended consequences, it is about unintended consequences”
Now that is clarity. It is a darkness of the mind. John Hogue’s “blog” this Friday should also be interesting! Thank you Whitley!
“war does not just have
“war does not just have unintended consequences, it is about unintended consequences”
Now that is clarity. It is a darkness of the mind. John Hogue’s “blog” this Friday should also be interesting! Thank you Whitley!
Sometime after Bush had
Sometime after Bush had (infamously) declared victory, a second press conference was held by the Bush administration to admit that things had gone awry in Iraq. While cold-reading the presenters, particularly Bush, I was struck with how surprised they were that their Saturday-morning cartoon strategy didn’t work, they honestly expected to be victorious in the invasion. Basically, there is *that* great a disconnect amongst our supposed leaders, that reality doesn’t really seem to apply to them after a point…
Shortly after being elected into office, my local member of parliament published an article in our community paper entitled “An early dispatch from the moon”. He was told by an experienced House of Commons staff member, “This place is the moon. Back home in your riding, that’s earth,” as an illustration of the disconnect between the halls of power, and the average voter…
http://tinyurl.com/pfs898l
Sometime after Bush had
Sometime after Bush had (infamously) declared victory, a second press conference was held by the Bush administration to admit that things had gone awry in Iraq. While cold-reading the presenters, particularly Bush, I was struck with how surprised they were that their Saturday-morning cartoon strategy didn’t work, they honestly expected to be victorious in the invasion. Basically, there is *that* great a disconnect amongst our supposed leaders, that reality doesn’t really seem to apply to them after a point…
Shortly after being elected into office, my local member of parliament published an article in our community paper entitled “An early dispatch from the moon”. He was told by an experienced House of Commons staff member, “This place is the moon. Back home in your riding, that’s earth,” as an illustration of the disconnect between the halls of power, and the average voter…
http://tinyurl.com/pfs898l
When you lay down with dogs
When you lay down with dogs you are bound to get fleas…
We helped Iraq years ago (80’s) in their war with Iran. We provided weapons and technology (‘dual use’) and Saddam Hussein ended up murdering innocent Kurds with poison gas. This was under the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations. After 911 Saddam became a member of the so-called ‘Axis of Evil’ as declared by George W. Bush and we went looking for ‘weapons of mass destruction’ and invaded Iraq. Does the U.S. providing Iraq with everything they needed to develop biological and chemical weapons not count as weapons of mass destruction?( Yes, we DID do that back in the 80’s). Now this group of terrorists taking over Iraq are capturing weapons, many of which we provided to the Iraqi Army to use to defend themselves, to use against the people of Iraq.
While Saddam Hussein was a pretty bad dude in lots of ways, he did bring a certain stability to Iraq and the region. After all the years of fighting over there, losing valuable American lives, and training the Iraqi Army to defend themselves, the Iraqi Army is pretty much abandoning their people. This is tragic, and I don’t think any of us want to waste more American lives over there at this point either. This group of thugs that call themselves ISIS even have Iran worried, and this evening they mentioned on the news that Iran may get pulled into this situation too. ISIS is even feared by Al-Qaeda, so how bad is that? The dominoes will begin falling and our world will become an even more frightening, dangerous place than it already is. I felt the pain of the people in Iraq attempting to flee the monsters headed their way as I watched the news tonight. These are people like you and me, with homes, friends, family, and young children that they cherish.
We must get off this Karmic wheel for good because it spins and spins and goes nowhere.
When you lay down with dogs
When you lay down with dogs you are bound to get fleas…
We helped Iraq years ago (80’s) in their war with Iran. We provided weapons and technology (‘dual use’) and Saddam Hussein ended up murdering innocent Kurds with poison gas. This was under the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations. After 911 Saddam became a member of the so-called ‘Axis of Evil’ as declared by George W. Bush and we went looking for ‘weapons of mass destruction’ and invaded Iraq. Does the U.S. providing Iraq with everything they needed to develop biological and chemical weapons not count as weapons of mass destruction?( Yes, we DID do that back in the 80’s). Now this group of terrorists taking over Iraq are capturing weapons, many of which we provided to the Iraqi Army to use to defend themselves, to use against the people of Iraq.
While Saddam Hussein was a pretty bad dude in lots of ways, he did bring a certain stability to Iraq and the region. After all the years of fighting over there, losing valuable American lives, and training the Iraqi Army to defend themselves, the Iraqi Army is pretty much abandoning their people. This is tragic, and I don’t think any of us want to waste more American lives over there at this point either. This group of thugs that call themselves ISIS even have Iran worried, and this evening they mentioned on the news that Iran may get pulled into this situation too. ISIS is even feared by Al-Qaeda, so how bad is that? The dominoes will begin falling and our world will become an even more frightening, dangerous place than it already is. I felt the pain of the people in Iraq attempting to flee the monsters headed their way as I watched the news tonight. These are people like you and me, with homes, friends, family, and young children that they cherish.
We must get off this Karmic wheel for good because it spins and spins and goes nowhere.
“We” will never successfully
“We” will never successfully “occupy” Iraq or any other country. Western powers have tried since Alexander the Great, and the effort has only created a heritage of trauma on both sides. I traveled by land throughout the Middle East in the 1960s when all the borders were open from India to Europe, and the people there then were for the most part just like the best of us here– peaceable and open. If religious fanaticism is spreading there, it’s not because most of them wanted it (read their literature and view their films!) – any more than the majority of US folks want it here, but dark forces are trying to force it on us here too. And if religious fanaticism is the enemy, then we have to recognize that the majority religions in the US have to face that enemy among their own ranks. And that same fanaticism is not just darkening lives here, it’s an obvious mover in “our” military adventures in the Middle East. Look to the sources and the similarities.
“We” will never successfully
“We” will never successfully “occupy” Iraq or any other country. Western powers have tried since Alexander the Great, and the effort has only created a heritage of trauma on both sides. I traveled by land throughout the Middle East in the 1960s when all the borders were open from India to Europe, and the people there then were for the most part just like the best of us here– peaceable and open. If religious fanaticism is spreading there, it’s not because most of them wanted it (read their literature and view their films!) – any more than the majority of US folks want it here, but dark forces are trying to force it on us here too. And if religious fanaticism is the enemy, then we have to recognize that the majority religions in the US have to face that enemy among their own ranks. And that same fanaticism is not just darkening lives here, it’s an obvious mover in “our” military adventures in the Middle East. Look to the sources and the similarities.
I wonder how much of this is
I wonder how much of this is real and how much another “false flag”?
The use of the name ISIS just rings of Illuminatti nomeclature and makes me dubious of what the real intentions and nature of these so called militants are. The elite love to use references to the “mother goddess” for many of their “projects” – and references to the mythical Isis, Isthar, Semiramis, and other variations of the same entity are usually signs that all is not what it appears.
That said – I would posture this opinion in reaction to Whitley’s statement: “This all started with the single most foolhardy geopolitical act of modern times, and the most fooling geopolitical act ever undertaken by the United States of America”
There was no error here – this was exactly what the elite wanted to happen – a destabilized Middle East with the intention of, at a minimum, ensuring that our species remains in perpetual conflict that the elite can profit from to a more serious maximum of setting the stage for an Armageddon scenerio that will reduce our popultion to the coveted 500,000 (Georgia guidestones).
My guess is that scenerio has not quit played out due to the collective strength of human free will AND many “white hats” working behind the scenes to counter the elite’s insanity. So now the elite up the ante. They somehow fund and create an army of instant “militants” that threaten to take back Iraq and drag the US into more debt and conflcit. And because they are such egotitists, they need to put their signature on their piece of art – they call it ISIS.
I dunno – but this is what I think of when I read this article. Whether I am right or worng – it’s still bad news for the world, but I must pray and hope that good will triumph, as it always must, over evil.
@Pssqd I feel the use of the
@Pssqd I feel the use of the name ISIS is a way of this group thumbing its nose at the feminine principle. They are Islamic extremists and they have no respect for women. They have taken on the name of the thing that they wish to destroy, the divine feminine and all that is good and nurturing in the world. It is obscene.
@Pssqd: Spot on! It annoys
@Pssqd: Spot on! It annoys me every time see it. No idea how it parses in Arabic, Farsi, Ordu, etc. but in English it is an insult to all women of all cultures.
I wonder how much of this is
I wonder how much of this is real and how much another “false flag”?
The use of the name ISIS just rings of Illuminatti nomeclature and makes me dubious of what the real intentions and nature of these so called militants are. The elite love to use references to the “mother goddess” for many of their “projects” – and references to the mythical Isis, Isthar, Semiramis, and other variations of the same entity are usually signs that all is not what it appears.
That said – I would posture this opinion in reaction to Whitley’s statement: “This all started with the single most foolhardy geopolitical act of modern times, and the most fooling geopolitical act ever undertaken by the United States of America”
There was no error here – this was exactly what the elite wanted to happen – a destabilized Middle East with the intention of, at a minimum, ensuring that our species remains in perpetual conflict that the elite can profit from to a more serious maximum of setting the stage for an Armageddon scenerio that will reduce our popultion to the coveted 500,000 (Georgia guidestones).
My guess is that scenerio has not quit played out due to the collective strength of human free will AND many “white hats” working behind the scenes to counter the elite’s insanity. So now the elite up the ante. They somehow fund and create an army of instant “militants” that threaten to take back Iraq and drag the US into more debt and conflcit. And because they are such egotitists, they need to put their signature on their piece of art – they call it ISIS.
I dunno – but this is what I think of when I read this article. Whether I am right or worng – it’s still bad news for the world, but I must pray and hope that good will triumph, as it always must, over evil.
@Pssqd I feel the use of the
@Pssqd I feel the use of the name ISIS is a way of this group thumbing its nose at the feminine principle. They are Islamic extremists and they have no respect for women. They have taken on the name of the thing that they wish to destroy, the divine feminine and all that is good and nurturing in the world. It is obscene.
@Pssqd: Spot on! It annoys
@Pssqd: Spot on! It annoys me every time see it. No idea how it parses in Arabic, Farsi, Ordu, etc. but in English it is an insult to all women of all cultures.
The ISIS development is the
The ISIS development is the most terrifying thing that I can think of. I was just a boy in first grade when the Cuban Missile Crisis occurred. My memories of adults crying and whispering amongst themselves reminds me that it was a serious matter to adults. Ameircans knew that the situation was bad, a possibly horrific end result lay there if the wrong steps were taken. We didn’t find out until many years later just how dangerous things were, how close we came to nuclear war. Thankfully, some Russian General or Admiral did not want to risk annihilation in a horrible war and declined to launch the missiles when the US pushed the embargo hard. Unfortunately, the current enemy, Islamists, do not posess such restraint or logical thinking when it comes to mass destruction. Their goal is not so much to conquer the US(and the heathen West) but to destroy it. It doesn’t seem as if any amount of reason will suffice to deal with their threat…at least not reasoning with them. I sense that, ultimately, it is going to boil down to a continual series of violent events…attacks by ISIS/Al-Qaeda/Islamist Jihadists all over the world, and responses by the Western powers, such as air strikes, etc. Those measures will absolutely not work. We will do them, we will engage the enemy, kill thousands of people, but the crux of the problem will still remain. The existence of Islamic Fundamentalism will continually feed into this vicious cycle. What MUST happen(and I cannot imagine it happening in the near future at all)is that the common, good people of the Islamic world must stand up and fight the radicalism of their own most hateful and evil fanatics. However, we saw what happened in Nazi Germany. A determined, fanatical, evil minority was able to influence and then control the rest of the German people, to astoundingly horrific consequences, still being felt to this day. Given the incredible brutality evident by ISIS, against its enemies, who can blame an Iraqi soldier in Mosul for discarding his uniform, and fleeing? I often wonder, had I been a German in 1939, would I have been strong enough to stand up to the Nazis, knowing the way that they dealt with their enemies? Secret Police, torture, mass extermination.. What we will probably see in Iraq and the region is more of the same, only worse, ultimately. This is truly a frightening development.
Lou
The ISIS development is the
The ISIS development is the most terrifying thing that I can think of. I was just a boy in first grade when the Cuban Missile Crisis occurred. My memories of adults crying and whispering amongst themselves reminds me that it was a serious matter to adults. Ameircans knew that the situation was bad, a possibly horrific end result lay there if the wrong steps were taken. We didn’t find out until many years later just how dangerous things were, how close we came to nuclear war. Thankfully, some Russian General or Admiral did not want to risk annihilation in a horrible war and declined to launch the missiles when the US pushed the embargo hard. Unfortunately, the current enemy, Islamists, do not posess such restraint or logical thinking when it comes to mass destruction. Their goal is not so much to conquer the US(and the heathen West) but to destroy it. It doesn’t seem as if any amount of reason will suffice to deal with their threat…at least not reasoning with them. I sense that, ultimately, it is going to boil down to a continual series of violent events…attacks by ISIS/Al-Qaeda/Islamist Jihadists all over the world, and responses by the Western powers, such as air strikes, etc. Those measures will absolutely not work. We will do them, we will engage the enemy, kill thousands of people, but the crux of the problem will still remain. The existence of Islamic Fundamentalism will continually feed into this vicious cycle. What MUST happen(and I cannot imagine it happening in the near future at all)is that the common, good people of the Islamic world must stand up and fight the radicalism of their own most hateful and evil fanatics. However, we saw what happened in Nazi Germany. A determined, fanatical, evil minority was able to influence and then control the rest of the German people, to astoundingly horrific consequences, still being felt to this day. Given the incredible brutality evident by ISIS, against its enemies, who can blame an Iraqi soldier in Mosul for discarding his uniform, and fleeing? I often wonder, had I been a German in 1939, would I have been strong enough to stand up to the Nazis, knowing the way that they dealt with their enemies? Secret Police, torture, mass extermination.. What we will probably see in Iraq and the region is more of the same, only worse, ultimately. This is truly a frightening development.
Lou
Hello – I am a neophyte
Hello – I am a neophyte poster but find the discussion above both interesting and terrifying. I am going to write my posting from a free associative mindset. I am a futurist and newly retired business professor who has tried for more than thirty years to reinforce a “new paradigm of leadership” as we see the consequences of “old paradigm leadership” in our families, on our children, in our businesses and in geo-politics. Bear with me potential allies and friends.
My thoughts:
– The crusades were the foundational origin of the incredibly ignorant adversarialism between fantasizers of Allah and fantasizers of Yahweh, etc…………..both have roots in the same fantasies of supra-natural intervention in human affairs. Are not these middle-eastern cultures all semetic? Beyond archaic theological ideology, I have thought, on occasion, that this is simply about deep-rooted desire to control territory from those who are racially “inferior” to “ourselves” whoever we might be as ourselves.
– I find it odd that this focus returns again to the area that encompassed the “cradle of civilization” and, perhaps, “the garden of eden”. Was it Ken Wilber who said, we eat our gods or Jung?…….
– The monied elites in the West and in the East do have the same agenda…..and that is the subjugation of human sheeple to their will. This is not a new agenda. It has been the historical destiny of the human species as controlled by those who have the monetary/resource control to move us toward quality of life or misery. As a product of the nuclear mushroom age as mentioned above, as a child, I always felt like this was a theatre posed to drive everyone, particularly our parents, into a contagion of paranoia that actually lives on in the baby boom generation.
– As to George Bush, the American people, who are the government if people take citizenship responsibly, allowed that lightweight to get elected, people his White House with militant (elite), corporate-owned rascals and do unto OUR world what has been done unto OUR world what has been done. If citizenship beyond slogan and faux adversarialism doesn’t emerge in this democracy, this democracy is done and will be a short footnote to human evolution……if we make it to that point.
– Even as a Management prof, I have told my students for 25 years that we are in a race to elevate human consciousness to the level so that it can counter the ever-evolving and suicidal, homicidal, etc-cidal nature of the species. I have used Marge Wheatley’s book, SO FAR FROM HOME, to enlist warriors.
– Maybe an addition to this website (Whitley, at a distance, has shaped my passion to evolve consciousness from the days of COMMUNION) could add a Resource Clearinghouse whatever that is called on websites. There is a critical mass of positive warriors emerging across cultures and beyond corporate media presentation. Warriors need information that is true to arm the weapons of sanity. Ever hear of Margaret Wheatley, Peter Senge, Yablonski, Barbara Marx Hubbard…..good examples of committed warriors already on the path to making change versus lamentation.
– Finally, today, at least, the primary purpose of the digital “revolution” from the corporate-elite-industrial-medical complex is to induce deep trances states that allow for easy manipulation of sheeple who operate and only respond responsively to their digital connectedness. A dumbed down individual or culture is much easy to extort from than an enlightened individual or culture. I am a hypnotist, too, and we all know that those things that are repeated over and over and over again become the mental reality of the recipients of the suggestions…….be they noble Westernist or noble Easternists………we all become automatons to media and its increasing influence.
Enough for now. I reiterate that this was a free associative response to what I read above.
Nick
Hello – I am a neophyte
Hello – I am a neophyte poster but find the discussion above both interesting and terrifying. I am going to write my posting from a free associative mindset. I am a futurist and newly retired business professor who has tried for more than thirty years to reinforce a “new paradigm of leadership” as we see the consequences of “old paradigm leadership” in our families, on our children, in our businesses and in geo-politics. Bear with me potential allies and friends.
My thoughts:
– The crusades were the foundational origin of the incredibly ignorant adversarialism between fantasizers of Allah and fantasizers of Yahweh, etc…………..both have roots in the same fantasies of supra-natural intervention in human affairs. Are not these middle-eastern cultures all semetic? Beyond archaic theological ideology, I have thought, on occasion, that this is simply about deep-rooted desire to control territory from those who are racially “inferior” to “ourselves” whoever we might be as ourselves.
– I find it odd that this focus returns again to the area that encompassed the “cradle of civilization” and, perhaps, “the garden of eden”. Was it Ken Wilber who said, we eat our gods or Jung?…….
– The monied elites in the West and in the East do have the same agenda…..and that is the subjugation of human sheeple to their will. This is not a new agenda. It has been the historical destiny of the human species as controlled by those who have the monetary/resource control to move us toward quality of life or misery. As a product of the nuclear mushroom age as mentioned above, as a child, I always felt like this was a theatre posed to drive everyone, particularly our parents, into a contagion of paranoia that actually lives on in the baby boom generation.
– As to George Bush, the American people, who are the government if people take citizenship responsibly, allowed that lightweight to get elected, people his White House with militant (elite), corporate-owned rascals and do unto OUR world what has been done unto OUR world what has been done. If citizenship beyond slogan and faux adversarialism doesn’t emerge in this democracy, this democracy is done and will be a short footnote to human evolution……if we make it to that point.
– Even as a Management prof, I have told my students for 25 years that we are in a race to elevate human consciousness to the level so that it can counter the ever-evolving and suicidal, homicidal, etc-cidal nature of the species. I have used Marge Wheatley’s book, SO FAR FROM HOME, to enlist warriors.
– Maybe an addition to this website (Whitley, at a distance, has shaped my passion to evolve consciousness from the days of COMMUNION) could add a Resource Clearinghouse whatever that is called on websites. There is a critical mass of positive warriors emerging across cultures and beyond corporate media presentation. Warriors need information that is true to arm the weapons of sanity. Ever hear of Margaret Wheatley, Peter Senge, Yablonski, Barbara Marx Hubbard…..good examples of committed warriors already on the path to making change versus lamentation.
– Finally, today, at least, the primary purpose of the digital “revolution” from the corporate-elite-industrial-medical complex is to induce deep trances states that allow for easy manipulation of sheeple who operate and only respond responsively to their digital connectedness. A dumbed down individual or culture is much easy to extort from than an enlightened individual or culture. I am a hypnotist, too, and we all know that those things that are repeated over and over and over again become the mental reality of the recipients of the suggestions…….be they noble Westernist or noble Easternists………we all become automatons to media and its increasing influence.
Enough for now. I reiterate that this was a free associative response to what I read above.
Nick
And so this is what you get
And so this is what you get when you have idiots running your country whose primary constituents are other idiots who have more money than brains.
And so this is what you get
And so this is what you get when you have idiots running your country whose primary constituents are other idiots who have more money than brains.
One more thing about ISIS:
One more thing about ISIS: ‘Islamic State Iraq and Levant’ should be ISIL, right? So that makes me wonder even more about about the use of ‘ISIS’ for this group. Isis was also the goddess of magic and nature, as well as The Divine Mother, so this group is the opposite of the representation of Isis.
A study was done by the Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute back in 2011. They discovered that all it takes to sway a majority of people to a belief system is 10% of people who adhere strongly to that belief.
http://freakonomics.com/2011/07/28/minority-rules-why-10-percent-is-all-you-need/
“What does it take for an idea to spread from one to many? For a minority opinion to become the majority belief? According to a new study by scientists at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the answer is 10%. Once 10% of a population is committed to an idea, it’s inevitable that it will eventually become the prevailing opinion of the entire group. The key is to remain committed.”
It is no coincidence that, ironically, The Nation of Islam (A primarily black sect of Islam) believes the same thing:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beliefs_and_theology_of_the_Nation_of_Islam
“Passed down via written lessons from 1930 to 1934 from Wallace Fard Muhammad to his student Elijah Muhammad, referred to and titled The Supreme Wisdom, the Nation of Islam continues to teach its followers that the present world society is segmented into three distinct categories.[citation needed] It teaches that from a general perspective, 85% of the world’s people of all races and faiths are the deaf, dumb and blind masses of the people who “are easily led in the wrong direction and hard to lead in the right direction”.[citation needed] These 85% of the masses are said to be manipulated by 10% of the people who are referred to as the rich slave-makers of the masses of the people.[citation needed] Those 10% rich slave-makers are said to manipulate the 85% masses of the people through ignorance, the skillful use of religious doctrine, and the mass media.[citation needed]
The third group referred to as the 5% is the poor righteous teachers of the people of the world who know the truth of the manipulation of the 85% masses of the people by the 10% and that 5%, the righteous teachers, are at constant struggle and war with 10% to reach and free the minds of the masses of the people. (Assignment of Mr. Elijah Muhammad, The Supreme Wisdom, February 20, 1934; Power at Last Forever, Minister Louis Farrakhan, Madison Square Garden, New York, October, 1985)”
ISIS is using this strategy, backed up by intimidation and violence, much like the Nazis did prior to WWII. I would guess that many of us here at Unknown Country are the 5%, so this is a great challenge for us personally and as a world-wide group of only 5% of its population. It is also as painful as watching a train wreck in slow-motion.
All the 5% can really do is work to retain their own integrity and walk the walk, love with appreciation, compassion, forgiveness, humility, understanding, and valor.
Peace.
One more thing about ISIS:
One more thing about ISIS: ‘Islamic State Iraq and Levant’ should be ISIL, right? So that makes me wonder even more about about the use of ‘ISIS’ for this group. Isis was also the goddess of magic and nature, as well as The Divine Mother, so this group is the opposite of the representation of Isis.
A study was done by the Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute back in 2011. They discovered that all it takes to sway a majority of people to a belief system is 10% of people who adhere strongly to that belief.
http://freakonomics.com/2011/07/28/minority-rules-why-10-percent-is-all-you-need/
“What does it take for an idea to spread from one to many? For a minority opinion to become the majority belief? According to a new study by scientists at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the answer is 10%. Once 10% of a population is committed to an idea, it’s inevitable that it will eventually become the prevailing opinion of the entire group. The key is to remain committed.”
It is no coincidence that, ironically, The Nation of Islam (A primarily black sect of Islam) believes the same thing:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beliefs_and_theology_of_the_Nation_of_Islam
“Passed down via written lessons from 1930 to 1934 from Wallace Fard Muhammad to his student Elijah Muhammad, referred to and titled The Supreme Wisdom, the Nation of Islam continues to teach its followers that the present world society is segmented into three distinct categories.[citation needed] It teaches that from a general perspective, 85% of the world’s people of all races and faiths are the deaf, dumb and blind masses of the people who “are easily led in the wrong direction and hard to lead in the right direction”.[citation needed] These 85% of the masses are said to be manipulated by 10% of the people who are referred to as the rich slave-makers of the masses of the people.[citation needed] Those 10% rich slave-makers are said to manipulate the 85% masses of the people through ignorance, the skillful use of religious doctrine, and the mass media.[citation needed]
The third group referred to as the 5% is the poor righteous teachers of the people of the world who know the truth of the manipulation of the 85% masses of the people by the 10% and that 5%, the righteous teachers, are at constant struggle and war with 10% to reach and free the minds of the masses of the people. (Assignment of Mr. Elijah Muhammad, The Supreme Wisdom, February 20, 1934; Power at Last Forever, Minister Louis Farrakhan, Madison Square Garden, New York, October, 1985)”
ISIS is using this strategy, backed up by intimidation and violence, much like the Nazis did prior to WWII. I would guess that many of us here at Unknown Country are the 5%, so this is a great challenge for us personally and as a world-wide group of only 5% of its population. It is also as painful as watching a train wreck in slow-motion.
All the 5% can really do is work to retain their own integrity and walk the walk, love with appreciation, compassion, forgiveness, humility, understanding, and valor.
Peace.
Obama is no better than the
Obama is no better than the lying, self-serving piece of human waste that he replaced.
There are a number of reasons
There are a number of reasons why all presidents in modern times have failed. They have to do in part with the people we have elected, but mostly with the unfortunate reality that our country is simply not electing the best people Bush was a foolish choice. I thought Obama was, too, given his obviously unfulfillable promises. But what other option was there? McCain, who would have put a completely incompetent idiot a heartbeat away from the White House? Never would I have cast such a ballot. I was more torn with Romney, but I finally decided that he was an empty-suit fat cat with no connection to the people at all. I didn;t vote in the last election.
I think that the media should take responsibility for the fact that its quest for ratings is the primary reason that American politics are polarizing. They only care about stirring up controversy and hysteria, no matter the issue. Talk about a bunch of whores. I listen to them screaming their lies on the radio and television, gobbling at the ratings like addicts doing hits. Disgusting.
Obama is no better than the
Obama is no better than the lying, self-serving piece of human waste that he replaced.
There are a number of reasons
There are a number of reasons why all presidents in modern times have failed. They have to do in part with the people we have elected, but mostly with the unfortunate reality that our country is simply not electing the best people Bush was a foolish choice. I thought Obama was, too, given his obviously unfulfillable promises. But what other option was there? McCain, who would have put a completely incompetent idiot a heartbeat away from the White House? Never would I have cast such a ballot. I was more torn with Romney, but I finally decided that he was an empty-suit fat cat with no connection to the people at all. I didn;t vote in the last election.
I think that the media should take responsibility for the fact that its quest for ratings is the primary reason that American politics are polarizing. They only care about stirring up controversy and hysteria, no matter the issue. Talk about a bunch of whores. I listen to them screaming their lies on the radio and television, gobbling at the ratings like addicts doing hits. Disgusting.
Whitley,
Unfortunately I
Whitley,
Unfortunately I recall an entry you wrote at the time of the invasion of Iraq stating that you felt it had to be done to secure the supply of oil in Middle East for the use of the Western world and therefore supported the Bush administration position. Iraq, at that time, had the second largest reserves of petroleum in the world, after Saudi Arabia. I remember being very surprised but your line of reasoning, especially since Bush2 was so patently a fool and a tool of the Richard Viguery/Roger Ailes sound-bite idiocracy. Your take on the invasion did not sit right with me and I nearly unsubscribed to UK because of it. In the end, I held on to see where both the war and your thinking would go and I am relieved to read your views on the disastrous historical folly that was the “Invasion of Iraq of 2003”. Nothing justifies what the Bush/Cheney gang did by implying that Saddam was behind 9/11 along with Bin Laden who even back then rejected Hussein as a decadent leader with no real allegiance to Islam! As the uncovering of Saddam’s “lifestyle” (obscene term!) demonstrated, he was indeed as non-religious, unethical and callous as it is possible to be. The WMD argument was transparently false when Powell addressed the UN and showed in his eyes that he was just delivering the message not genuinely endorsing the contents. Unprecedented 100s of thousands of people from around the world tried everything they could do within the law to prevent the invasion. There was more than enough time for Bush and Blair to re-consider the insanity of what they were preparing to do but they charged blindly ahead and the debacle of the Islamic world is the result.Today, it is totally irresponsible of the Obama administration to keep the Patriot Acts in place whilst still insisting on a US pull-out from Iraq and Afghanistan. The exercise of “Real politic” requires that those who created the debacle clean it up – not in the CIA/NSA way of propping up those they think – wrongly – can be manipulated.As we learned from Karzai, they can’t. The same people who brought us Iraq also brought us the Wall Street melt-down in which any hope of having the resources needed to set the world on a safer course have now evaporated. Obama’s heart is in the right place but his head is owned by his handlers and the same corporate thugs who condemn everything he attempts to do. Minus the Patriot Acts and the long stream of Executive Orders that followed from it, America could have recovered from 9/11 with the resources needed to contain – if not reduce – the insane Islamists to
the status they deserve as the ignorant misogynists, sadists, and puritanical despots they really are. Now are our hands are empty as well as tied behind us. I don’t see any way that this can end without all-out war. And I mean all-out – the greatest nightmare of our post-war generation. “Mutually assured destruction” does not work with those incapable of rational thought. Al Qaeda and the Taliban are irrationally and irretrievably committed to an ethic of death as are the Bush/Cheney gang and all of their Neo-Con supporters. Militarism is a one-way street to oblivion but they are too brain-washed ( brain dead?) to see it.
Whitley,
Unfortunately I
Whitley,
Unfortunately I recall an entry you wrote at the time of the invasion of Iraq stating that you felt it had to be done to secure the supply of oil in Middle East for the use of the Western world and therefore supported the Bush administration position. Iraq, at that time, had the second largest reserves of petroleum in the world, after Saudi Arabia. I remember being very surprised but your line of reasoning, especially since Bush2 was so patently a fool and a tool of the Richard Viguery/Roger Ailes sound-bite idiocracy. Your take on the invasion did not sit right with me and I nearly unsubscribed to UK because of it. In the end, I held on to see where both the war and your thinking would go and I am relieved to read your views on the disastrous historical folly that was the “Invasion of Iraq of 2003”. Nothing justifies what the Bush/Cheney gang did by implying that Saddam was behind 9/11 along with Bin Laden who even back then rejected Hussein as a decadent leader with no real allegiance to Islam! As the uncovering of Saddam’s “lifestyle” (obscene term!) demonstrated, he was indeed as non-religious, unethical and callous as it is possible to be. The WMD argument was transparently false when Powell addressed the UN and showed in his eyes that he was just delivering the message not genuinely endorsing the contents. Unprecedented 100s of thousands of people from around the world tried everything they could do within the law to prevent the invasion. There was more than enough time for Bush and Blair to re-consider the insanity of what they were preparing to do but they charged blindly ahead and the debacle of the Islamic world is the result.Today, it is totally irresponsible of the Obama administration to keep the Patriot Acts in place whilst still insisting on a US pull-out from Iraq and Afghanistan. The exercise of “Real politic” requires that those who created the debacle clean it up – not in the CIA/NSA way of propping up those they think – wrongly – can be manipulated.As we learned from Karzai, they can’t. The same people who brought us Iraq also brought us the Wall Street melt-down in which any hope of having the resources needed to set the world on a safer course have now evaporated. Obama’s heart is in the right place but his head is owned by his handlers and the same corporate thugs who condemn everything he attempts to do. Minus the Patriot Acts and the long stream of Executive Orders that followed from it, America could have recovered from 9/11 with the resources needed to contain – if not reduce – the insane Islamists to
the status they deserve as the ignorant misogynists, sadists, and puritanical despots they really are. Now are our hands are empty as well as tied behind us. I don’t see any way that this can end without all-out war. And I mean all-out – the greatest nightmare of our post-war generation. “Mutually assured destruction” does not work with those incapable of rational thought. Al Qaeda and the Taliban are irrationally and irretrievably committed to an ethic of death as are the Bush/Cheney gang and all of their Neo-Con supporters. Militarism is a one-way street to oblivion but they are too brain-washed ( brain dead?) to see it.
I did indeed post that
I did indeed post that journal. However, at the time I believed the Bush Administration’s lies about weapons of mass destruction and, above all, it’s supposed plans for postwar Iraq. The weapons didn’t exist and there were no such plans.
My motive in writing the post was that the third world needs Iraqi oil, which represents 10% of OPEC output. When oil prices rise, impoverished people starve. That matters to me.
I did indeed post that
I did indeed post that journal. However, at the time I believed the Bush Administration’s lies about weapons of mass destruction and, above all, it’s supposed plans for postwar Iraq. The weapons didn’t exist and there were no such plans.
My motive in writing the post was that the third world needs Iraqi oil, which represents 10% of OPEC output. When oil prices rise, impoverished people starve. That matters to me.
And as far as the Bush
And as far as the Bush Administration is concerned, they delivered Iraq to Iran with their catastrophic policies.
And as far as the Bush
And as far as the Bush Administration is concerned, they delivered Iraq to Iran with their catastrophic policies.
I was baffled by this post.
I was baffled by this post. The claims – like occupying all middle east would help when results occupying just Iraq are clearly visible. Just total absurdity.
But, on the other hand… Merchants of war are doing quite wonderfully. The giant sucking sound I keep hearing: military-industrial complex gobbling up new funds, fresh money to feed the ever-hungry war-machine. Playing on the heart-strings of those who have pity for all the orphans, widows and the poor people of this world. Yes, the poor need to be saved, and this can only be done by war! The women need to be saved, too, and this can only be done by war! Bread and circuses – entertainment for those who seek entertainment. And bread for those who live from bread alone.
I was baffled by this post.
I was baffled by this post. The claims – like occupying all middle east would help when results occupying just Iraq are clearly visible. Just total absurdity.
But, on the other hand… Merchants of war are doing quite wonderfully. The giant sucking sound I keep hearing: military-industrial complex gobbling up new funds, fresh money to feed the ever-hungry war-machine. Playing on the heart-strings of those who have pity for all the orphans, widows and the poor people of this world. Yes, the poor need to be saved, and this can only be done by war! The women need to be saved, too, and this can only be done by war! Bread and circuses – entertainment for those who seek entertainment. And bread for those who live from bread alone.
What’s the alternative …
What’s the alternative … Isolationism?
Whether by design or happenstance I wonder if that is not how the stage is being set.
What’s the alternative …
What’s the alternative … Isolationism?
Whether by design or happenstance I wonder if that is not how the stage is being set.
It’s hard in the current
It’s hard in the current political climate to glean much useful information from any politician. Each(to varying degrees) has an agenda, which trumps honesty. Getting elected (or reelected) becomes the goal. A “bad Republican” is better than a “good Democrat” is the kind of thinking we see again and again. Feel free to switch Republican for Democrat in the example. I do believe that each party has merit, and we MUST have checks and balances. But what we have is nothing even close to that. Members of congress shouting out “liar” during proceedings, TV commentators hoping that the President fails, people asking “..Well, how do you like YOUR president now?… as if he is not the president of _all_ the people. Frankly I am sickened by the desire to make sure the other side accomplishes nothing. The rich in the US have grown demonstrably and measurably richer, at the same time that the middle class has gotten poorer. High credit card debt is killing many otherwise sensible, hardworking people. Why did we use those cards in the first place when we all knew it was dangerous? Because for many of us, our costs kept rising while our effective earnings dropped. Student loan debt is outrageous. We expect our kids to go to college, but paying for it? The rich don’t really have to worry about paying for it. All the while the top 1% kept getting richer and richer. This kind of inequity and imbalance can only disenfranchise and polarize people. One prety face is enough to influence an election(but didn’t work), or a screaming TV commentator throwing out garbage in the hopes that some of it will stick. It’s OK to lie to the American people (“…I did not have sexual relations with that woman…”), (“We have proof that Iraq has WMD’s…”), I could go on and on. Global Warming/Climate change is to be “believed”, not accepted as science. That means we have a choice, I guess as to whether we will have clean air or extreme temperatures or not. I guess if we don’t “believe” it then everything will be just fine. Sadly though, the US may be among the better behaved political institutions, even with all of this malarkey going on. But I still expect better, we deserve it. I have to stop ranting, it’s getting out of hand. Sorry.
Lou
It’s hard in the current
It’s hard in the current political climate to glean much useful information from any politician. Each(to varying degrees) has an agenda, which trumps honesty. Getting elected (or reelected) becomes the goal. A “bad Republican” is better than a “good Democrat” is the kind of thinking we see again and again. Feel free to switch Republican for Democrat in the example. I do believe that each party has merit, and we MUST have checks and balances. But what we have is nothing even close to that. Members of congress shouting out “liar” during proceedings, TV commentators hoping that the President fails, people asking “..Well, how do you like YOUR president now?… as if he is not the president of _all_ the people. Frankly I am sickened by the desire to make sure the other side accomplishes nothing. The rich in the US have grown demonstrably and measurably richer, at the same time that the middle class has gotten poorer. High credit card debt is killing many otherwise sensible, hardworking people. Why did we use those cards in the first place when we all knew it was dangerous? Because for many of us, our costs kept rising while our effective earnings dropped. Student loan debt is outrageous. We expect our kids to go to college, but paying for it? The rich don’t really have to worry about paying for it. All the while the top 1% kept getting richer and richer. This kind of inequity and imbalance can only disenfranchise and polarize people. One prety face is enough to influence an election(but didn’t work), or a screaming TV commentator throwing out garbage in the hopes that some of it will stick. It’s OK to lie to the American people (“…I did not have sexual relations with that woman…”), (“We have proof that Iraq has WMD’s…”), I could go on and on. Global Warming/Climate change is to be “believed”, not accepted as science. That means we have a choice, I guess as to whether we will have clean air or extreme temperatures or not. I guess if we don’t “believe” it then everything will be just fine. Sadly though, the US may be among the better behaved political institutions, even with all of this malarkey going on. But I still expect better, we deserve it. I have to stop ranting, it’s getting out of hand. Sorry.
Lou
It’s hard in the current
It’s hard in the current political climate to glean much useful information from any politician. Each(to varying degrees) has an agenda, which trumps honesty. Getting elected (or reelected) becomes the goal. A “bad Republican” is better than a “good Democrat” is the kind of thinking we see again and again. Feel free to switch Republican for Democrat in the example. I do believe that each party has merit, and we MUST have checks and balances. But what we have is nothing even close to that. Members of congress shouting out “liar” during proceedings, TV commentators hoping that the President fails, people asking “..Well, how do you like YOUR president now?… as if he is not the president of _all_ the people. Frankly I am sickened by the desire to make sure the other side accomplishes nothing. The rich in the US have grown demonstrably and measurably richer, at the same time that the middle class has gotten poorer. High credit card debt is killing many otherwise sensible, hardworking people. Why did we use those cards in the first place when we all knew it was dangerous? Because for many of us, our costs kept rising while our effective earnings dropped. Student loan debt is outrageous. We expect our kids to go to college, but paying for it? The rich don’t really have to worry about paying for it. All the while the top 1% kept getting richer and richer. This kind of inequity and imbalance can only disenfranchise and polarize people. One prety face is enough to influence an election(but didn’t work), or a screaming TV commentator throwing out garbage in the hopes that some of it will stick. It’s OK to lie to the American people (“…I did not have sexual relations with that woman…”), (“We have proof that Iraq has WMD’s…”), I could go on and on. Global Warming/Climate change is to be “believed”, not accepted as science. That means we have a choice, I guess as to whether we will have clean air or extreme temperatures or not. I guess if we don’t “believe” it then everything will be just fine. Sadly though, the US may be among the better behaved political institutions, even with all of this malarkey going on. But I still expect better, we deserve it. I have to stop ranting, it’s getting out of hand. Sorry.
Lou
It’s hard in the current
It’s hard in the current political climate to glean much useful information from any politician. Each(to varying degrees) has an agenda, which trumps honesty. Getting elected (or reelected) becomes the goal. A “bad Republican” is better than a “good Democrat” is the kind of thinking we see again and again. Feel free to switch Republican for Democrat in the example. I do believe that each party has merit, and we MUST have checks and balances. But what we have is nothing even close to that. Members of congress shouting out “liar” during proceedings, TV commentators hoping that the President fails, people asking “..Well, how do you like YOUR president now?… as if he is not the president of _all_ the people. Frankly I am sickened by the desire to make sure the other side accomplishes nothing. The rich in the US have grown demonstrably and measurably richer, at the same time that the middle class has gotten poorer. High credit card debt is killing many otherwise sensible, hardworking people. Why did we use those cards in the first place when we all knew it was dangerous? Because for many of us, our costs kept rising while our effective earnings dropped. Student loan debt is outrageous. We expect our kids to go to college, but paying for it? The rich don’t really have to worry about paying for it. All the while the top 1% kept getting richer and richer. This kind of inequity and imbalance can only disenfranchise and polarize people. One prety face is enough to influence an election(but didn’t work), or a screaming TV commentator throwing out garbage in the hopes that some of it will stick. It’s OK to lie to the American people (“…I did not have sexual relations with that woman…”), (“We have proof that Iraq has WMD’s…”), I could go on and on. Global Warming/Climate change is to be “believed”, not accepted as science. That means we have a choice, I guess as to whether we will have clean air or extreme temperatures or not. I guess if we don’t “believe” it then everything will be just fine. Sadly though, the US may be among the better behaved political institutions, even with all of this malarkey going on. But I still expect better, we deserve it. I have to stop ranting, it’s getting out of hand. Sorry.
Lou
Agree strongly that the
Agree strongly that the brainless, self-serving, attention-seeking, egoists that comprise the popular media – Rush, Hannity, etc. – are largely responsible for our polarized political state. I listen to these “intellects” and their primary skill appears to be an uncanny ability to muddy the facts, while weaving together disparate and unrelated points, with the intent of simply stirring emotion. It’s an unfortunate par for the course that is unlikely to disappear any time soon.
Agree strongly that the
Agree strongly that the brainless, self-serving, attention-seeking, egoists that comprise the popular media – Rush, Hannity, etc. – are largely responsible for our polarized political state. I listen to these “intellects” and their primary skill appears to be an uncanny ability to muddy the facts, while weaving together disparate and unrelated points, with the intent of simply stirring emotion. It’s an unfortunate par for the course that is unlikely to disappear any time soon.
SO – I believe in “critical
SO – I believe in “critical mass”……morphogenic fields and Sheldrake’s work from the 50s. The mind creates the frame of reality we inhabit, individually and collectively. Often altered, often altered.
Ten percent is an optimistic number, but if 10% of folks change the way they see and understand reality, hope may emerge. As an educator, I think I have enlisted at least that percentage of my students in the quest…..often grudgingly on their parts. But enlisting warriors of spirit is not an easy task……..Bring back the military “draft” and watch an immediate change in consciousness………………………………
As I often reminded them…..”Why does the future matter? Because: You will be spending most of the rest of your life therein/thereof.” Might have been an off-quote from Mark Twain.
Just as we tolerate the politicians we elect, we get the media we choose to watch.
The mindset of consumptiveness has gripped the human spirit for 300 years bringing us to the point where we are trying to exist in an ecological context we are destroying.
Another thing I have posed to learners, and relevant to Whitley’s work, is the following inquiry:
If you were an extraterrestrial being witnessing the past 1000 years of human existence on this planet, what would you conclude?”
Onward,
Nick
SO – I believe in “critical
SO – I believe in “critical mass”……morphogenic fields and Sheldrake’s work from the 50s. The mind creates the frame of reality we inhabit, individually and collectively. Often altered, often altered.
Ten percent is an optimistic number, but if 10% of folks change the way they see and understand reality, hope may emerge. As an educator, I think I have enlisted at least that percentage of my students in the quest…..often grudgingly on their parts. But enlisting warriors of spirit is not an easy task……..Bring back the military “draft” and watch an immediate change in consciousness………………………………
As I often reminded them…..”Why does the future matter? Because: You will be spending most of the rest of your life therein/thereof.” Might have been an off-quote from Mark Twain.
Just as we tolerate the politicians we elect, we get the media we choose to watch.
The mindset of consumptiveness has gripped the human spirit for 300 years bringing us to the point where we are trying to exist in an ecological context we are destroying.
Another thing I have posed to learners, and relevant to Whitley’s work, is the following inquiry:
If you were an extraterrestrial being witnessing the past 1000 years of human existence on this planet, what would you conclude?”
Onward,
Nick
SO – I believe in “critical
SO – I believe in “critical mass”……morphogenic fields and Sheldrake’s work from the 50s. The mind creates the frame of reality we inhabit, individually and collectively. Often altered, often altered.
Ten percent is an optimistic number, but if 10% of folks change the way they see and understand reality, hope may emerge. As an educator, I think I have enlisted at least that percentage of my students in the quest…..often grudgingly on their parts. But enlisting warriors of spirit is not an easy task……..Bring back the military “draft” and watch an immediate change in consciousness………………………………
As I often reminded them…..”Why does the future matter? Because: You will be spending most of the rest of your life therein/thereof.” Might have been an off-quote from Mark Twain.
Just as we tolerate the politicians we elect, we get the media we choose to watch.
The mindset of consumptiveness has gripped the human spirit for 300 years bringing us to the point where we are trying to exist in an ecological context we are destroying.
Another thing I have posed to learners, and relevant to Whitley’s work, is the following inquiry:
If you were an extraterrestrial being witnessing the past 1000 years of human existence on this planet, what would you conclude?”
Onward,
Nick
SO – I believe in “critical
SO – I believe in “critical mass”……morphogenic fields and Sheldrake’s work from the 50s. The mind creates the frame of reality we inhabit, individually and collectively. Often altered, often altered.
Ten percent is an optimistic number, but if 10% of folks change the way they see and understand reality, hope may emerge. As an educator, I think I have enlisted at least that percentage of my students in the quest…..often grudgingly on their parts. But enlisting warriors of spirit is not an easy task……..Bring back the military “draft” and watch an immediate change in consciousness………………………………
As I often reminded them…..”Why does the future matter? Because: You will be spending most of the rest of your life therein/thereof.” Might have been an off-quote from Mark Twain.
Just as we tolerate the politicians we elect, we get the media we choose to watch.
The mindset of consumptiveness has gripped the human spirit for 300 years bringing us to the point where we are trying to exist in an ecological context we are destroying.
Another thing I have posed to learners, and relevant to Whitley’s work, is the following inquiry:
If you were an extraterrestrial being witnessing the past 1000 years of human existence on this planet, what would you conclude?”
Onward,
Nick
Hmm. Yes, the world is in
Hmm. Yes, the world is in dire straits on many levels, and we do seem to be rushing headlong over the cliff, but all this anticipation of doom, this lamenting, blaming and finger-pointing is not going to help, and if thoughts and feelings truly are energy, then they may be adding to the tide of disaster. Do I have an answer? No. I don’t. But if there are powers out there that feed off our fear, our hatred and antipathy, that encourage us to hate and be afraid of each other, I do not want to play their game. I choose hope.
It is easy to talk about being a force for good, about being enlightened and seeing clearly the true nature of reality, which is not what we are told it is, but the real test is how those beliefs, ideals and commitment hold up when all the evidence around us seems to point to despair. It is easy to talk about love, compassion and goodness, but really hard when so much around us seems hateful and evil. It takes immense courage and mettle to resist the allure of despair and stand firm. We can be courageous. Remember who we are. Remember what we are capable of.
No real answer lies in military action or political action or any particular political or religious system, though they might be deemed necessary. The answers are within the human heart and soul. If humanity is to suffer, and it well may, humanity needs those who can help keep hope alive, who can help to quiet the panic, the fear, the hatred. I see it as the choice we are being asked to make: to swim with the great tide of fear, anger and despair, or to hold to what we know about reality and ourselves as beings of light, and BE that light in our own lives.
Hmm. Yes, the world is in
Hmm. Yes, the world is in dire straits on many levels, and we do seem to be rushing headlong over the cliff, but all this anticipation of doom, this lamenting, blaming and finger-pointing is not going to help, and if thoughts and feelings truly are energy, then they may be adding to the tide of disaster. Do I have an answer? No. I don’t. But if there are powers out there that feed off our fear, our hatred and antipathy, that encourage us to hate and be afraid of each other, I do not want to play their game. I choose hope.
It is easy to talk about being a force for good, about being enlightened and seeing clearly the true nature of reality, which is not what we are told it is, but the real test is how those beliefs, ideals and commitment hold up when all the evidence around us seems to point to despair. It is easy to talk about love, compassion and goodness, but really hard when so much around us seems hateful and evil. It takes immense courage and mettle to resist the allure of despair and stand firm. We can be courageous. Remember who we are. Remember what we are capable of.
No real answer lies in military action or political action or any particular political or religious system, though they might be deemed necessary. The answers are within the human heart and soul. If humanity is to suffer, and it well may, humanity needs those who can help keep hope alive, who can help to quiet the panic, the fear, the hatred. I see it as the choice we are being asked to make: to swim with the great tide of fear, anger and despair, or to hold to what we know about reality and ourselves as beings of light, and BE that light in our own lives.