The old ways have failed us, and yet we keep trying to preserve them.
We sit on the brink of extinction, as great a failure as a species can possibly attain, yet still we look to the past for advice.
The ancestors built a system which rewards sociopathy, and now we are ruled by sociopaths.
The ancestors made exploitation profitable, and now we are all being exploited.
The ancestors made ecocide profitable, and now we are watching our ecosystem collapse.
The ancestors made war profitable, and now we are on the precipice of nuclear annihilation.
The old ideas have led us to this point, yet still we take advice from the writings of dead men.
Life is ever-changing. Life is alive. Life isn’t where the dead ancestors left it.
Trying to navigate through life using the ideas of dead men is like trying to navigate the earth using a map of Pangaea.
Your entire understanding of the world is based on the long-dead thoughts of long-dead men. Your language. Your history. Your culture. Your government.
The knowledge of dead men can be useful for learning concepts. But the ability to navigate life with wisdom and skill is not a concept.
The way out of this mess isn’t in the direction that we have been walking.
The direction out of this mess will be new and unprecedented, wildly divergent from the old patterns. This will mean a great leap into the unfamiliar.
Leaps into the unfamiliar are always frightening. But leap you must if you want to be of use to the world.
If you want to help save your world, you must let it go completely. Everything you’ve ever known, right down to your most foundational beliefs about reality.
You must relinquish your attachment to everything you’ve ever known, because all you’ve ever known are the dead ideas which brought us here.
Take the leap into the unfamiliar. Let it all go.
Trying to help the world guided by your mental understanding of it is like pulling against a tangled knot; you only make it tighter. You must instead turn around and begin untangling.
Stop pulling at the knot. Stop trying to help. Your helping is only making it worse. Untie your knots first.
Caught up in old conceptual frameworks, you will always be acting based on the same deluded perceptions which got us here. Free from your world of dead concepts, you can see clearly enough to help.
Let your world die. Let your world of dead ideas die so that the real world can get a word in edgewise.
Let death die so that life may live.
All of your attachments to this world are attachments to concepts. Your conceptual understanding of the world is not the world.
Relinquish all your attachments. Overcome your fear of the unknown. If there is any hope for us, it lies in the unprecedented.
Until you have given your world full permission to die, you’re in no position to help it.
Let your whole world die. What remains will guide you.
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53 responses to “Until You Have Let Go Of The World, You’re In No Position To Help It”
Ancestors created a system which “rewards” sociopaths, that’s putting the cart before the horse.
The paradox of civilization is that once a group settles down and acquires a surplus of resources along comes a gang of sociopathic males (and their followers) to steal, burn, rape, etc. The only way for the group to acquire some level of safety is to acquire their own gang of sociopathic males for “protection”. Who then rise to rule the group. Rinse and repeat.
You can “release” these concepts and “raise” consciousness all you want, until some gang of sociopathic males comes all along and steals your stuff, burns your home, rapes your women, and kills you.
Well said.
Caitlin is calling us to awaken spiritually as a necessary prelude to overcoming the insanity of the world. All of us are implicated, not just the sociopaths who rule! Until we see our own egoic tendencies, and overcome them, no amount of political discourse about systems will amount to significantly better outcomes. It would be like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
“Those who don’t learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them” – This is said for good reason. We should not forget and let go of the past. This is why we are in such a mess in the first place. The boomers tossed the baby out with the bathwater and ruined western culture. It was fine, it had some issues, but it was already far better than what we have today. It is communism and marxism that is destroying the west. It is an elite group of people who prey on the good intentions of the populace that is destroying the west.
What the west needs to do is reach back into history. It needs to take a long hard look in the mirror and realize the path forward was, and always was, laid out before us by our history and by our ancestors. It was our ancestors that brought us here and it is them who can save us. We have lost our ability to see our purpose in life. We have lost our connection with the infinite. The larger whole that makes our place in history tangible, real, and worthy of life.
That purpose is simple, have kids and make the world better for them. If you don’t have children, you can still make the world better. The countless number of scientists, mathematicians, composers, writers and thinkers all contributed to the greatest civilization this world has ever seen. It’s your privilege to live in it. It is also your responsibility to not live in the “here and now” but in the stream of the infinite. You need to do your part. No matter how small or insignificant that is.
“Kinsmen die and cattle die, but one thing that never dies, is the deeds of a good man.”
Sorry mate, cannot buy that at all. Why ? Because if it were true, we wouldn’t be having these constant wars against nations that have accepted communism and socialism. It seems to me, we are not allowed to see these nations succeed in their management, because it may give other nations a heads up, where we are going wrong, and might encourage our people to protest and allow some of their ideas to be introduced.
For example, EDUCATION, in every Communist/socialist country, EDUCATION is highly valued and prized, to such an extent their Governments provide education from day one the highest possible opportunity for FREE. They do not saddle their people with debts they can never pay off in their lifetimes, thus allowing them the FREEDOM to choose their careers and become most productive. Compare that with the so called Western systems where education costs a fortune and saddles students with debts they have no hope of ever repaying, then when they graduate, they have this Millstone around their necks interfering with their productivity for the rest of their working lives. PLUS, education standards today, (in particular in the U.S.) are so poor these days, last ranking Poll I saw, ranked the U.S. somewhere around 27 or 28, way BEHIND the Communist/socialist states. So clearly, there is an elephant in the room there. Now take a good look at those Communist/social states you hate so much, what level is their technology today, in BOTH Russia and China’s cases, they leave the Western states for dead. How, if what you claim, is this possible, clearly going by your post, they should be way behind the eight ball, yet the FACTS say differently.
B.T.W. considering this site is an Australian based site, maybe you should look into our Aboriginal culture that sustained them throughout the ages. Are you aware, their ideas were so similar to Communism it’s not funny ????????? YEAH, right here in our own back yard, their belief in Communism sustained them for centuries. Of course when the whiteman arrived, they threw a spanner in the works, and introduced Western thinking and private property which disenfranchised these people no end, until we have what we have today, the total destruction of their way of life and claims to the land.
If you ever needed an PERFECT example of how DESTRUCTIVE Western thinking is, you need look no further than what we’ve done to the aboriginals here in Ozz. So it is possible, we do have hold of the wrong end of the stick, and need to discard everything we’ve ever been taught and know, just like Caitlin says, and start with a new clean slate. Dare I say it, With ALL OPTIONS ON THE TABLE ????
Not sure what fairy tales you are reading that paint communism as a great idea. It has been the single most destructive ideology of the 20th century. It is responsible for murdering, at least, 100 million people. How many more people must it kill before you get your paradise? How much more blood needs to be split before your communist utopia comes about? It has failed everywhere in spectacular-blood-lust fashion.
You also can’t compare communism with modern America. America today is not a “western” state. It’s not even a democracy or ever was. It’s now a kleptocracy. Numerous studies by ivy league universities have shown this. It’s a dystopian nightmare that our founding fathers would not approve of. It’s more akin to communism than you think. I would say its communism 2.0.
Personally, I think America should dismantle most of the federal government, end the federal reserve bank, return power back to the states and counties as intended by our founding fathers. That will never happen unless the people have the courage to stand up.
If you look at other countries like Switzerland and Austria, they have great governments that provide well for their people. This is a better model for western nations. They provide excellent education for their citizens as well as high standards of living. None of them are communist.
As for China, I first went to China 20 years ago and have lived there for over 10. I can say one thing about China, it’s not what you think. Chinese today are proud of their heritage and ancestors. They have not lost their connection to their past. In fact, they honor it and cherish it. This is one thing I really love, and admire, of the Chinese. If I had to compare the current China to anything, it would be America in the 50’s. I have more freedom, a better standard of living, in China than I ever would in America.
A pretty amorphous statement; there have many in the past from whom we can learn.
“The unknown cannot be discovered by a mind that is full of the known. What we are going to do is to find out the values of the known, look at the known, and when that is looked at purely, without condemnation, the mind becomes free from the known.”
— Jiddu Krishnamurti, The First and Last Freedom
“William James used to preach the ‘will to believe.’ For my part, I should wish to preach the ‘will to doubt’ … what is wanted is not the will to believe, but the wish to find out, which is the exact opposite.”
— Bertrand Russell, Sceptical Essays
The one paradigm that pervades our whole world, and is doomed to let us down severely and soon, is the impact of Peak Oil, and its big brother Peak Energy. Oil is a finite in quantity and absolutely essential to do any work. I despair at those intergalactic travelers who say “There is water on Mars, so we can split that into Hydrogen and Oxygen and use it as rocket fuel.!” (The trouble is you need exactly as much Energy to split water as you get from burning the resulting gases – there is zero net Energy in water because it is already just burnt fuel.)
Humans have developed this amazing technological world by digging up fossil fuels and burning them, with terrible climate consequences. We have this perverted idea that all you need to get more Energy is some money. The answer to every problem is said to be to buy some Energy, and build a machine to fix things.
But the oil is running out, it could last another 80 years if we took care of it, but we need it for 95% of all transport, and we have gone down the road of Globalisation, where transport is crucial. If you are worried about climate change (and you should be), then you will know that all it takes to fix things is to scrap all the Energy infrastructure, power stations, petrol stations, cars, trucks, tractors, buses, trains and planes, built up over the last century, and build a whole new lot that uses renewable energy. But the Energy to do that is simply not available. They say it will cost trillions, but actually you will not be able to buy the Energy at any price. So the “renewables solution” is fake news. It can’t be done, no matter how much you try. I have explained this to The Greens, but they cannot accept it, because it means that Industrial Civilisation is effectively over, and you can’t get elected by announcing the end of civilisation.
We could have made the transition to renewables if we had started 40 Years ago, when the CO2 problem was first emerging, but we didn’t. Humans are just not up to looking at the long term future. Peak Oil has been known about in the White House since 1957, but the response has been to hide it from the people and attempt to grow the economy, and its fuel consumption. They dropped the Gold Standard in 1971 in anticipation of having to import a lot more oil. They lend their toilet paper money to fracking firms to keep fracking, even though they make a loss on the poor quality fuel they produce, because to stop producing oil would signal a crash in the market and game over.
The Trump administration can see that The End is getting very close now, and are showing that they will fight for the last of the oil. Hence our good allies Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and the dastardly enemies Iran , Libya and Venezuela.
The technology for renewable, clean, practically free energy has been around since Tesla discovered it. The universe and its components ARE energy. But, like everything else that doesn’t profit the power and money junkies the technology got suppressed. The monsters are having a lot of fun with the technology though creating UFOs to fool people. I’ll also add, a lot of UFO sightings are government drones.
The climate has changed because the military and government have the technology to manipulate weather and are in fact doing just that. They are stupid children playing with fire. I believe as an individual it’s still important to live environmentally respectful.
We are at a time of awareness now that Everything we’ve ever been taught and assumed to be true has to be questioned.
Every time I hear reference to space travel, be it the Moon, Mars or whatever, I have a good laugh. Unfortuately, we are all being fed BULLSHIT, do some research into this issue yourselves. You will discover Humans will NEVER be able to travel in space anywhere, until we discover some way of protecting ourselves from the Gamma radiation spread all over space. Check out the reports written by some of the Astronoughts that have spent extended periods in the space station, keep in mind, though, the space station is NOT in OPEN SPACE, so the effects there are not as severe as they would be in total space, but still relevent and observable and measurable.
WHEN/IF we ever discover how to protect ourselves from this life destroying danger, we then have the hurdle of powering space craft. Rest assured, the current system of brute force simply does not cut the mustard to cover the distances in a relevent time required. We have a heck of a long time to go, before we can discover the sources of power and protection to free us of the chains that bind us to the Sol systems.
B.T.W. writting that we have “good allies” with Saudi Arabia and the UAE leaves me with disgust. How anyone can call someone an ALLIE who chops up people because they have different viewpoint to theirs, is in my humble view, no “allie” of mine. Let’s not forget the constant head chopping going on in that nation, I guess next you’ll call them CIVILISED ????
“The trouble is you need exactly as much Energy to split water as you get from burning the resulting gases…”
I was taught this as well in college, but it’s not that simple. Tesla discovered that strange things happen when using resonant frequencies. Stanley Meyer discovered that water molecules could be vibrated apart into oxygen and hydrogen using far less energy than standard electrolysis. Thomas Henry Moray offered the U.S. government the means to pull free and abundant electricity out of the air, but the government said no, that it would decimate the existing energy industry. Over unity energy production has been discovered over and over again during the last century, yet it continues to be suppressed.
There is plenty of energy to be had and this will probably continue to be true long after the human race is either no longer recognizable or simply is no longer. The problems encountered with energy can be chiefly focused upon the storage and transportation thereof. Oil, natural gas, and water which is held behind a dam are forms of naturally stored energy which is easily available for human use through the appropriate technology . In each case this stored energy was ultimately sourced by the sun and is available when needed if infrastructure is in place.
Technology also allows humankind to generate energy directly from the sun such as with solar panels and reflective arrays or less directly as from the wind which is put into motion by the heating of the sun and rotation of the Earth. There is even technology which captures the energy of tidal forces, making it “lunar energy”. Then there is nuclear energy also made through technology as well as manufactured biofuels such as ethanol, chiefly plant based (also ultimately solar).
The point being made here is that there is limitless energy to be had as long as the sun continues to shine and the Earth and moon continue to revolve, etc. providing that transportation of such energy to an available market and/or storage of same is possible. Our current technological challenge with the issue of efficiency being paramount is the storage of excess energy generated during peak opportunities for portable use such as transportation or for later consumption when generation is poor or not possible.
By way of example and as mentioned earlier in this thread, elemental hydrogen and oxygen can be derived from the electrolysis of water (expending electrical energy to do so) and each element stored for later use as a fuel. When “burned” and recombined back into the water from which they were derived this effectively yields back the energy used to separate those water molecules. Energy in, then energy out… no problem here, better living through chemistry.
The point here is that through such a process the readily available “free!” energy such as that from the sun may be stored chemically for some later use as needed, where needed. Storage as such is not a zero-sum game, it also takes energy but it’s been a long time since the sun sent us a bill for all that energy it gives up and most of it could be considered to be going to waste as we speak.
BTW, Marxism and Communism both suck. I suggest that very few of the “intellectuals” who publicly espouse such nonsense actually qualify as “workers” in any true sense. I have little faith in their supposed sense of egalitarianism but many do seem to have a pronounced flair for elitism. I also suspect they only wish to overturn the status quo (apparently the fundamental principal of Marxism) so that they instead can then “rule”, and always horribly, historically speaking. I might add, in their own elitist minds those simple minded peasant “workers” will always best remain as if so many drones or “useful idiots” to use one of their own terms. So how many billionaires are there now in the PRC and Russia? (Rhetorical question) Some might be listed under “oligarchs”.
Beautiful thoughts for the spiritually-minded.
So far away from the wrecked political world with which Caitlin is also very familiar.
Perhaps it could also be summed up as the supersensible opposite the material.
If we care about our fellow human beings to the point of wanting to pass on whatever enlightenment we know about (however humble), perhaps pointing to the bridges from one to the other is a useful avenue to explore.
I am convinced there are many such bridges, and they can provide important learning experiences for us all.
Of course the material world is something we have to deal with while we are in it. We have to “get our hands dirty”, as they say.
But floating away in meditation 24/7 isn’t a solution either.
This article uses concepts and ideas that arose in the past (whatever ‘past’ means – a few seconds, years, decades or centuries ago?). It is actually extremely hard to come up with a major idea that hasn’t already arisen before – even if one may not be aware of that – and it is even more difficult to say or think anything without using pre-existing concepts, and this article and other articles by the same author are certainly no exception. That is related to the fact that the past is not a monolith, but full of extremely different ideas. The notion that *all* concepts and ideas that have arisen in the past are *equally* harmful and responsible for the evils of the present is absurd. The present is not a monolith either, it has good and bad aspects – some things in the past have contributed to the good aspects, and others to the bad ones. Abandoning or rejecting *all* the thought and experience of the past is impossible, and the attempt to do so is only likely to make one intellectually weaker and easier to manipulate.
Or, to put it another way, R.E.M. from the Eighties:
It’s the End of the World as we Know it,
and I Feel Fine
The two common adversaries from this piece seem to be 1. sociopaths and people who exploit other people or circumstances for their own benefit and 2. Religious leanings and perspectives on the world. Concerning no.1 how do you identify a sociopath? Does he or she confess to being a bad sociopath? Is there a mandatory test? Is not one persons sociopath another persons “great leader” Concerning no. 2 I see the issue here but what do you do? Many hear applaud the old “teachers” What religion stays and which goes? ‘who will decide that? The quote by Einstein found in Chico’s and Trisha’s post says it well;
Here is what I believe the issue is really about. The human brain serves it’s master, the individual. Our world is a world of individuals who each have an unique perspective and who each cater to their own survival. We are at odds with each other by design. What goes on in that black box that makes this or that person do this or that? Who knows?
Human logic is what we use to rationalize our beliefs and actions etc. What individual will decide who is good for the Earth and who is not. That is the draw of religion. That person (God) will come and judge. Others say we will be “enlightened”
It all is missing the point. Individuals posses intelligence and utilize it as individuals, That is the issue.
We have now an alternative. Here are some links below to what I see as an alternative to the statement; “You must instead turn around and begin untangling” No way we will ever untangle this Knot. It is a knot miles high and we couldn’t even as humans agree where to start. So instead. my take on Einstein;“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them” Instead; We cannot solve our problems forming “conclusions” in the same manner that led to our problems. Why do I say it this way.? Because the “thinking” is the process. That is the key. Individuals control that process now. Some are sociopaths, some are just looking out for themselves and their family, some seek power, some are ignorant. All have human failings. The failing of an individual with limited perspective, a self to provide for and just basically not being God and making mistakes.
We change that. A Collective intelligence where human logic is the moderator to our myriad perspectives is my hope. Transparent process instead of black box and open to revisions without attachments to individuals or groups of individuals with specific interest ( the flow of power from some to others) We all play a part.
I also fee that turning towards “Collective Intelligence” would satisfy Caitlin’s insight as her quotes:
“The direction out of this mess will be new and unprecedented, wildly divergent from the old patterns. This will mean a great leap into the unfamiliar.”
“ Let your world die. Let your world of dead ideas die so that the real world can get a word in edgewise”
“Until you have given your world full permission to die, you’re in no position to help it “
“Relinquish all your attachments. Overcome your fear of the unknown. If there is any hope for us, it lies in the unprecedented.”
My take on all these quotes; is let go of the world in your control as an individual and how you navigate it as an individual relying solely on your individual intellectual abilities. Let’s see what processes and conclusions “we” can form together “Collectively” when we let the whole of human logic stand as the “Moderator”
https://medium.com/@whmilk/the-value-of-anonymity-in-a-collective-intelligence-c0a003f481b6
https://medium.com/@whmilk/save-the-world-collective-vs-individual-intelligence-69e1353ea9b5
Check out the use of fMRI to measure empathy or the lack of it as a way to identify sociopaths: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-neuroscientist-who-discovered-he-was-a-psychopath-180947814/
Also interesting is how Dr. James Fallon used fMRI to accidentally discover that he was a sociopath: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-neuroscientist-who-discovered-he-was-a-psychopath-180947814/
After studying video interviews of Dr. Fallon, he does indeed show a great many characteristics that are common to sociopaths, enough to convince me that he is indeed one as his brains scans indicated. This suggests that not all sociopaths are evil, but it appears to be true that all who are evil are sociopaths.
Great links. I remember reading an article some time ago where they interviewed people who where diagnosed as sociopaths. It was interesting to hear it from their perspective. Like you said; “not all sociopaths are evil”. My thoughts are that we all operate from the “self” and don’t necessarily need be evil to make our little contribution to the overall demise of our species. Look at all the ordinary people out talking sports, barbequing and generally just putting nuclear war off in some far corner of their mind. I have in the last year or so started to take notice of the large extent that people develop self-serving delusions in order to function in the capacity they desire.
The more I think about it the better it gets. That was a great story about the doctor. My GoDuckGo (not Google) search show a link that said only 25% of those in prison were psychopaths. What are the other 75%, selfish/stupid? One side to his condition was that; “It can open up the region to be more significantly affected by environmental influences” which was a positive in his instance. Perhaps this is how evolution or adaptation or whatever works. Anyway I just think it is a mistake to rail against “sociopaths” anymore than against a certain race or religion. Yes you may be correct in some way in general. Will that really fix the underlyying issues and what are those issues? And do they affect us all. I believe they do.
The percentage of sociopaths in the general population is estimated at 2%. Sociopaths in the prison populations may be around 25%. But here’s the kicker: sociopaths in the highest positions of power and control in human society, a very specific sub-population, could be upwards of 95%! Sociopaths rise to the top where the damage they do snowballs in an exponential manner.
Yikes! The opportunity I imagine just looks too great for them. I have been amazed over the last year also at the ability of some writers spreading propaganda. It is literally an art form to be able to weave and mesh lies and disinformation with emotion and social pressures all in the guise of “honest journalism” in order to manipulate.
Still they are lies and they do make errors, huge errors. It is just that no one thinks that way for the most part. Debate is more of a social /emotional sport.
Also one glaring red flag that everyone should see is that in human societies Lies and general B.S. have to be “sold”. By this I mean the person lying to you has to look the part, dress, hair, demeanor and the environment, news room, church, office of leader has to look “special” also. Then they throw in some music or people smiling,, laughing or crying and you can’t escape the Matrix.
That is why I always believe our conclusions should be formed collectively in a neutral place, transparently and with logic as the moderator. We need to strip away all the “tools of the sell” because we aren’t selling anything.
Back to the sociopaths, That little black box they posses called the mind/brain. What really goes on in there? We would probably be amazed. They I assume are living life to the “fullest”
Ssorry, Caitlin, but as a revolutionary Marxist, I believe in the opposite of letting the world go. It may be fine for Buddhists, but I am not a Buddhist. As Marx said, “The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it.”
Also, I dislike poetry (with certain exceptions), so I don’t read it. I prefer it when you write your excellent prose against the powers that be.
As Marx said, “The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it.” Marx was a moron. In philosophy what you want is a conclusion you can believe in; (A Justified True Belief) It may not be perfect or “truth” but at the present moment it is the conclusion with the less likely fatal errors. What you want is for the philosophers to “interpret the world in various ways” then you have different perspectives and can draw stronger conclusions. The problem is that human life and the human environment is rife with emotions, wants and needs that conflict with forming the strongest conclusions. If you really want something that is strong, a conclusion you can build upon then attempt to remove all the distractions. Not just push it all aside as Marx would have you do and do what you “feel” is right just so things change. Who are you to judge and what rules of logic are you using. Something the philosophers don’t know of. I don’t think so. You are fighting against the “powers” that would like to obscure logic and the perspectives of error free thinking. Marx is doing the opposite. Through away the good and act on desperation and emotion.
You mistake the buddhist position. Non attachment is the attainment of a view that is non reactive. The purpose of meditation and practices is to be awakened (from the sanscrit root budh). An awakened person lives in a state of heightened perception, and has abandoned unwise desires, and is therefor free, or liberated (From the chains of their own mental karma). That person can then be more effective in the world, a better, wiser, compassionate player in the drama of their lives and times.
So letting go is what we do on the way to liberation. It is not a rejection of life, or others, or responsibility. It is to embrace ones divinity and fulfill ones capacity.
I think a revolutionary marxist is generally motivated to help others, to create a just society, much like those on the bodhisattva path. Cheers!
This prose from Caitlin is very much in tune with Krishnamurti in his book “Freedom from the Known”
I attended a lecture by Krishnamurti back in the early 1970s. Contrary to the title you have cited, Krishnamuri was an advocate of fact over opinion, which is what I liked about him. I very much hate the post-modernist idea that there is no such thing as fact or truth. He was right on about that.
What is “truth”? When does someone’s interpretation of a+b+c become “truth” or “fact”? Is it not just their interpretation? May someone else given the same variables come to a different Interpretation? Can individuals make honest errors in logic? Who is to judge or how do we judge? What is the measuring stick? Is this not why we call it an “opinion” because it may vary from one individual to another?
Cait,
Read Charles Eisenstein on Climate (free online book). He describes the paradigm change in world view. Very much like the Buddhist concept of dependent arising.
Great idea, but few will ever try; if one is taught from birth how to feed upon human flesh, they will never be able to view as equals those they saw before only as something to eat, and therefore, the possibility of change will never come.
I almost cried reading the start of this article. “Caitlin nailed it!” Of course, you’d think I would be used to Caitlin nailing it, but this time she hit the nail with such accuracy and force that the beauty was almost overwhelming.
Albert Einstein is alleged to have said the same thing as Caitlin — “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” But Caitlin said it with more lucidity. We cannot solve our problems with sociopaths doing our thinking. Our world has been built on sociopathic constructs, and we need to let all of that go and rethink our world using empathetic constructs. In order to do that, we have to remove the sociopaths from power. Letting go of the control structure they have steered us into building for them may indeed be the first step towards removing them from power. Only then will humanity have a chance to reach its true potential. We can’t get there allowing sociopaths to lead us. We have to lead ourselves and ensure that sociopaths do not. It is the biggest challenge humanity has ever faced, and it always has been. We just didn’t know it. Now, at last, we are starting to understand.
Wait, this just in! Starting around the 14 minute mark in this video (https://youtu.be/Y0c5nIvJH7w), Graham Hancock echoes the very same sentiments that Caitlin Johnstone expressed in her above article. And this superb TEDx talk by Graham Hancock was actually censored by the people who run TED as being inappropriate for public consumption!
Yes, TED censored Graham Hancock, author of “Fingerprints of the Gods”, which I am currently reading after the universe delivered it into my hands a few weeks ago free of charge in the most mysterious and synchronous way that I have come to recognize as meaningful. This is similar to the most mysterious and synchronous way I happen to read Caitlin’s article, and then a few hours later, after a brisk 2.5 mile walk in the hot Colorado summer sun, I come back to discover and watch for the first time Graham Hancock’s TEDx talk that directly echoes what I just read today from Caitlin Johnstone.
While our human world is definitely led by sociopaths, I’m seeing some interesting signs that our universe may not be.
You never cease to amaze me, Caitlin Johnstone. As an artist, it is an everlasting challenge to present the “new.” Fewer of us know how to accomplish this, let alone know that that is our life’s work. I admire your greatly for your voice in this wilderness.
I have given way to the bad old days
Plastic idols no longer hold my sway
Tap on tap off is where it’s at
I’ve traded my sows purse for shit coin
And now my data has joined in with all the rest ! In caring & sharing whilst the polar caps melt
All we need is safe place for all the so called leaders of the world so they won’t harm themselves and we can get on with the rest of the world
Thank you Caitlin
What you say at the beginning, with which I agree, is that we’re living under Fascism.
Re the old ideas leading us to this point, let’s not jettison them all as some, I hope we can all agree, are rather sane and simple, having come from the likes of Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad, Marx, Lenin, and other great minds. Bottom line? Be kind.
Love your work, Caitlin. Keep it up!
Lenin? But not Stalin?
Of course not Stalin. Stalin was the gravedigger of the revolution. The main name missing here is Trotsky. I am a Trotskyist and supporter of the Socialist Equality Party, the International Committee of the Fourth International. Stalin slaughtered all of the Trotskyists, including Leon Trotsky.
Your poem Caitlin, is saturated with profound wisdom – something most in this culture are totally unprepared for. Thank you so much – these are words that I really needed to hear. I am part of as mall group concerned by our fatal predicament which will meet later today, and I will read your poem for them as part of my sharing.
typo – should read “a small group”.
i agree that any and all attempts to save and continue the status quo need to stop period.
i disagree, though, we need something completely unprecedented in its place.
i rather think that there is nothing new (or original or unprecedented) under the sun, when it comes to human ideas (or ideals) about society. what Jesus / Marx / Ghandi / MLK / Arundhati Roy (and many female unknowns as well) said and did still fully resonate with me today. not that they were perfect as human beings. i’m talking about the gist of their insights about how we should related to each other in a society and between societies.
the enemy of humanity is not concepts or males. rather, the individualist-capitalists are the ones who reject concepts of any kind, as their ideology is incapable of producing any philosophically grounded concepts.
Your ideas about letting go of everything down to your concepts of reality sounds very much like the recommendations of Advaita Vedanta for awakening. However, that is an escape from maya. The prediction that once awakened, your body will function better than usual. But I have my doubts about that.
It is a rare occurrence when I am not fully in agreement with your take on any of the
numerous outrageous happenings in today’s world. You see, I believe the past to be our friend and not an enemy.
I find that there has always been choices available that provided great benefits to humanity and the planet as a whole.
The problem is that there have been, and are, ruthless individuals of great rhetorical skill void of any empathy or conscience that are all consumed by greed and power, and will do anything to obtain and keep it—people need to ignore and walk away from these folks and not be enticed.
Greater awareness and thoughtful analysis of what is happening around us, and the effects it has elsewhere is required—fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me! Along with folks keeping humanity, part of the human life form—Jesus, along with many other wisemen, have spoke many words to live by—But…! It seems they may have died because of them….?
“Trying to navigate through life using the ideas of dead men is like trying to navigate the earth using a map of Pangaea.”
Like Buddha, for example?
I can’t quite follow you on this one. Other than we need to build on them. And also use the ideas of old dead women, such as Baba Yaga.
I found this a bit nebulous. Have you been smoking pot? But seriously, if the scales of Maat held the fully integrated souls of all mankind having existed since the dawn of time on one side and any single human soul on the other, what does that have to do with the price of tea in China? The sum total of human cognition continues to be written on the backs of our ancestors. This will also be true for our children’s children’s children who, hopefully, will not callously cast aside whatever potentially valuable contribution our own generation manages to generate but will instead individually investigate whether great grandpaw and great grandmaw were indeed total morons and Neanderthals.
First of all, there is nothing wrong with smoking pot. But I agree that the poem is a bit airy-fairy. I believe in Marxism. That is objective truth.
Good Post!
Some actual suggestions would be helpful.
Such as – stop eating Meat.
Learn to grow an organic backyard garden, learn how to grow your own food.
Shop at local farmers markets and join an organic food co/op.
Barter and Trade.
Buy Jeans at second hand stores that support good causes and wear political tee shirts.
Every time you spend some money, think, how can I spend this money in an alternative way?
BDS everyone and everything that is associated with your enemy, whoever that may be.
Great ideas, thanks for posting
Your solutions are ridiculous. Not everybody has a backyard or is interested in becoming a farmer. People who live in cities, for instance. Not everyone wants to become a vegan. I already get clothes from the Goodwill and other places, but many second-hand clothing stores have become so trendy that their prices are right up there with new clothes. You sound a little airy-fairy to me. As an urban person, I do go to the farmer’s markets. But many people don’t live near farmer’s markets, especially in the midwest.
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Albert Einstein
“Pinata Planet Syndrome” satire at CanadaFreePress on the games elites play on hapless humanity
IT’S A DAMN GOOD DAY TO DIE