Welcome to Eternity
Our lives have not been easy. Life on Planet Earth has not been easy for a long time, maybe ever. Being biological, as we are, and at least self aware enough to recognize this truth, we are humans.
A great reason Life on Planet Earth has not been easy for us is the rise of nation-states and the Corporation, both generated by unholy humans in their quest for power and control. Our borders are considered sacred by most tribes, even though most were generated by the British Empire before it was usurped by the United States Empire.
And yet there is one simple truth that has held since the beginning of time. And this truth is that we are eternal, living in eternity. It can be no other way.
Of course our biology will fail, it’s how biology works. Birth, growth, adulthood, aging and death. We know the pattern. What we do not recognize is that even Now, as always, we are living in eternity.
My sense is that our spirits choose this earthly existence because of the inevitable challenges of biological life. And the corresponding opportunities for vast growth. Angels and other non-physical types know eternity. They live it without the distractions of survival.
Those we know who have passed on are still with us. Many of us sense their presence even with their lack of physical form. Those yet to be born are with us as well, waiting for their turn on this earthly turning.
Here’s the simple truth. We are always living in eternity. It is our home. And yet we are even still ever moving through time, another inevitability. How can this be?
It is so because Now, this tiny point in time where the future becomes the past, is where we can find and recognize our eternal nature. And indeed, this Now we are ever sharing is always shuttling us through time. Eternal Awareness and Infinite Energy, co-mingling only Here in this place in time. We are Life, two elementals with opposite characteristics. Quite bizarre, and yet clearly true.
It is a great failure of the current state of science that ‘The Totality of Now’ is not the central declared truth of science. From the simplest two-slit experiments to hadron colliders, the Nowness of the experiment/experience is clear.
This is the truth of sport as well. It is this movement through time, we can never go back, that makes sports so captivating. So too are live performances captivating. The play, the live music, the acrobat, all capture our attention because of the fleeting nature of time. Failures and triumphs. And yet we are always Here, living in Eternity.
Of course, the recognition of this simple truth does not serve those few who control our corrupt and broken culture. We have been abused, traumatized and confused to the point where even this most simple of ideas seems foreign. It is not. This Life we are sharing is all there is. Life, and we, exist only Now.
So, as it is. We are all together for a very long time. Best we not forget this, the struggles of biological lie within a broken culture not withstanding. It may well be that these dangerous and auspicious times are designed to bring the truth of our Eternal Home Here in Life to the culture at large. One can hope.
The Cincinnati Southern Railway
For those not local to the Cincinnati area, you likely aren’t aware that the city of Cincinnati owns a rail line. We’ve had it since 1880, and now our politicians want to sell it off to Norfolk Southern, that wonderful corporation that brought is the disaster in East Palestine last February.
In a surprising confluence, my friend Justin Jeffre asked me about filming former mayor Dwight Tillary for remarks again the sale about a month ago. A bit later that same day Justin asked if I could also record Alfred Nippert. Alfred had such knowledge that the next day I suggested to Justin we could probably make a documentary with all we got from Alfred. He said go for it.
As it happened I was also able to film former Cincinnati councilman Kevin Flynn who also happens to be a real estate attorney. The result is this 20 minute documentary that describes the reason it came to be, construction, its evolution and why it remains a valuable asset. Lots of cool old photos and moving pictures….
This Restorative Process
Healing happens here in the present.
When humans are in conflict, things need to be sorted out. It may be a simple quarrel, or it may be a horrid crime committed. Still, the process is the same. Restoration.
Restorative Justice is the term that came into being in in the early 1990s. “Restorative justice is a fast-growing state, national, and international social movement that seeks to bring together people to address the harm caused by crime,” write Mark Umbreit and Marilyn Peterson Armour. “Restorative justice views violence, community decline, and fear-based responses as indicators of broken relationships. It offers a different response, namely the use of restorative solutions to repair the harm related to conflict, crime, and victimization.” -from wiki
A similar phenomenon occurred in school systems eager to find a better methodology than punishing and expelling students for unacceptable behavior. In this case the same process is referred to as ‘Restorative Practices’. Both terms share the same key features.
As noted above in the quote, the old methods of demonizing a bad actor are recognized as the result of broken relationships. Indeed, it is these relationships which must be healed. Whether the result of a criminal act, or someone acting out in school, the process is the same. Restoring relationships.
Typically, the process begins with a cooling off period, where offender and victim or two or more acting out are removed from contact with others until emotions become settled. Then offender and victim, or those acting out, are brought together for a conversation. Ideally the setting is a ‘Restorative Circle’.
In a Restorative Circle, those involved and one or two mediators form a circle with chairs. This is in contrast to situations where, say in a classroom, where someone is ‘in charge’ at the front of the room. The circle becomes an equalizer. All participants share in the physical circle.
Then the task is to encourage everyone to be ‘present’. From the World5 perspective, we recognize that Life happens only Now, so it is but aligning with the truth of our reality. Regardless, the point is to see the humanity in everyone who is engaged in the process, and to approach the session with a clear mind and warm heart. No name calling, no speaking over one another, no blame. Openness is key.
Once the space for healing is established and everyone is present, meaningful conversations begin. And they begin with questions. The questions are not accusatory… “Billy why did you hit Bobby?” The questions are honest efforts to understand those involved. “Billy, what were the circumstances that led you to think hitting Bobby was the best option?” “How were you feeling when the encounter occurred?” How do you think Bobby felt during the encounter?” What do you thing we might do to minimize the damage done, to each of you and your classmates, and prevent such situations from reoccurring?”
Again referring to the quote above, these are not ‘fear-based questions’. This is an honest effort at healing. An honest effort toward restoration.
Clearly not everyone and every situation is going to be in the space to leverage This Restorative Process. In severe criminal cases, it might be months or years before the space to forgive and heal exists for a victim. Yet the value of This Restorative Process is not hampered by the time required to seek restoration.
It’s quite simple when we’re paying attention. De-escalate the situation. Make sure the folks involved are able to get past the emotions of the moment. Once such a settling has occurred, we get present with each other. Hence, THIS Restorative Process. And once we’re settled and clear minded, we ask Questions That Matter. These are key because there is no attempt to punish or blame, just to understand what happened with as much clarity as possible. And then all do what is needed to heal and make amends.
This process is ground-breaking. It has the potential to transform policing, the criminal justice system, school systems, families and our very lives. I leave you with a 20 minute film that highlights Restorative Practices in the Finneytown School System, a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio…
This Transformation We Require
So we’ve been taught, and grown up, in a culture that values money and its attendant power above all else. Why is this case instead of say, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness being our top priority? It’s actually quite simple. It’s because 600 years ago the British Crown made ‘The Corporation’ a viable business entity. Horrible idea.
Which makes on wonder about nation-states as well. There’s been the natural evolution over the ages, from small villages to cities, city-states and more recently nation-states. Not as horrible an idea as ‘The Corporation’, but one that has seemingly outgrown its usefulness. Some might argue that it’s usefulness was pretty seriously challenged by European colonialism, which so much reshaped the world to support Empire’s ruthless agenda.
Since WWII the U.S. has taken over the mantle of Empire, trying to bend the world so that U.S. hegemony can continue forever. Ain’t going to happen. The trends that supported corporate and nation-state growth are no longer trends. And the supposed virtues of corporations have been seen for what they are. Bullshit, lies, corruption and falseness at every turn. We need a new way forward.
Even the ground rules of the old culture are busted. We assume, and Einstein even postulated, that there are an infinite number of points in time, just as there are an infinite number of points in space. He was wrong. There is only one point it time where Life, and hence we, exist. The point of Life is Now. Less punny, the totality of Now just aught to be the central tenant of any culture. In this one it’s a wildly foreign idea. Yet that makes it no less true.
Once we narrow the playing field of time to Now, we begin to see more clearly the power of our intent. Our collective lives are a mess, pollution is everywhere, if the nuclear war doesn’t kill us, the climate chaos will. Ugly times. And yet, locked into the reality of Now, we understand that we still have options on how we think, feel and act. A tremendous freedom awaits those of us who hold this truth tightly.
Oh yes, and learning Life is relegated to this tiny point in time where the future becomes the past offers another requirement. We are all Here together. Always. We are all always moving from here. Together. A pretty refreshing notion as well.
So we need to find our common ground first. Perhaps then we can begin moving together to solve our horrendous problems.
Our problems, from generations of abuse and corporate overreach all over our planet, are legion.
This Consumer Culture
I imagine that in ancient cultures the goal was water, food and getting basic needs met. Beyond that explore, play, learn, even as other animals do. Getting along was a given. The tribe shared the vibe.
From there we’ve found ourselves gobbling up plastic crap to no end, from our grocery bags to gadgets. We were taught that money is the road to happiness, and more is always better. He who dies with the most toys wins. It’s not only ruining our planet, it’s not making us happier. It was all a lie.
New phone. New car. New shit. We adore it. We’ve been well trained.
The tribe in that ancient culture had a greater sense of abundance than we do. No monthlies, credit cards and the fears of lack so many of us hold. It’s worth noting that they met their needs locally, water, food and wood for energy. We have the same needs now. We just have a corporate greed/corrupt government model today. It is this that must be transformed.
This War Machine
Living in nation-states that disagree sure seems like a great system if you’re in the war business. Recall that a whole slew of nation-states were drawn up by the British Empire. Fuck. And there are amalgamations like China, one political system reigning over a huge number of tribes. And places like the U.S., where we wiped out the indigenous people and brought a bunch of slaves along. Land of the free my ass.
It’s generally been like this since Medieval times, the greatest change being the equipment of war. Catapults hardly compare to the many death machines this war machine has come up with. And now AI and the robots are coming. And of course the frequency. In the Middle Ages we had breaks between our wars.
As many of us recognize, the war in Ukraine goes much deeper than Putin, no angel, wanting to claim Ukraine to remake the old USSR. It’s all part of the demented maniacs willing to destroy we humans out of their greed. The many unknown forces determined to keep us abused and confused, we cannot let them continue. It is this that must be transformed.
This Corrupt Political System
The corrupt political culture, here in the U.S. and on display across the globe, is so evident it needs no discussion. There are a few relative beacons, like the very northern European nations (Norway, Sweden, Finland) but there aren’t a lot of great examples.
At the same time we have a ton of dictators, authoritarians and fascists. This makes for terrible lives for millions and even billions of us as these ‘leaders’ care nothing for you and me. And it doesn’t look like it will fix itself. While it is my sense that most of us humans are pretty decent folk, our politicians and leaders clearly are not. It is this that must be transformed.
The Way Forward Is a New O/S
While healing and restoring are much needed ingredients, we start with a new yet ancient paradigm. We recognize that we exist within Life, and that Life happens only now. Ergo, we only happen Now. This necessitates that we are All Here Together as well. There is quite literally nowhere else in time we can be. All else is speculation or memory.
Once we grasp this great truth, we can focus our attention, our intent, on how we are playing this living moment. Our fears and pains are seen more truly, where they can be more easily released. And we must begin by healing ourselves. Otherwise whatever new system emerges will end up corrupt as well. Integrity is requisite, and is only found where we humans are able to heal and grow.
Once we have our own selves together, we can begin to remake this crazy world we find ourselves living in. We reject the legal status of ‘The Corporation’ and its effect of globalism, which is a terrible system for getting our needs met, but a great system if your own goal is making gobs of money.
Our priorities could be peace, good governance, localism, organic food and learning, without which we are at the mercy of corporate control. Of these objectives, localism most directly strikes at the heart of the corporate controllers. There are innumerable cases where sourcing needed materials comes from the other side of the world because it makes corporate financial sense, though it makes no sense at all for a healthy culture to be doing such things.
We Must Rise Up
As the great historian and intellectual Noam Chomsky has noted, there’s hardly a time in human history where substantive change occurred without the citizenry rising up. Politicians and demagogues are not inclined to give up power unless confronted by citizens that will no longer tolerate their corruption. We see that quite clearly here in the United States.
For Progressives, locked into the two party system, the lesser evil typically means voting for Democrats, in spite of their lust to appease their corporate owners. The Republicans are off the charts now, going to any lengths to make this country ‘white and christian’, which it has never been. Whether we consider the maybe 10 million indigenous people or the maybe three million slaves, non-whites have played a huge role in our country’s history. Sadly, it’s a very ugly history.
Yet we find ourselves now facing a great precipice. If we do not change our children and grandchildren face much more cruel lives. Our climate chaos continues to wreak havoc, and the permanent war paradigm destroys entire populations in the name of greed. We must rise up.
Now is the time we change or perish. Welcome to World 5.0…
Insane Ukraine
We have to unfuck our culture. Rephrase – We must get past corporations and nation states. Both are archaic and we and our planet are dying.
It is in our nature to go about our business and live our lives as best we can. And we all know that the decked is stacked against us. If we look clearly into history, we see the culprits. Nation states and corporations.
Many of our nation states today are but the result of the British Empire designating them because they had guns and ships and the interest. Much of Africa and South America in particular are composed of countries that The British Empire drew the lines for. What a shitty way to determine national boundaries.
The corporations stood right there with them, the East India Trading Company and The Hudson Bay Company are history book examples. A trio of government officials, missionaries and corporate toadies combined to spread a thick layer of bullshit over whomever they intended to colonize. Praise Jesus.
Today many of us understand that many of these nation-state boundaries are but the result of empire, and that regionalism and tribal ancestry make for much better governments.
Oh, I almost forgot I was writing about this fucked up piece of shit war in Ukraine. I watch, I rage, I weep and repeat the cycle. Insanity indeed.
All the governmental players have a role and responsibility in this ugly disaster. The US has poked the bear as they say, with numerous bases and an aggressive stance toward Russia. You throw in crazy-ass Putin, who cares for nothing but retaining and growing his power, and Zelenskyy, whose hero status is suspect and is friends with Ukrainian oligarch Igor Kolomoisky. Some argue he’s running a government no less corrupt than his predecessors.
Damn. There it is again. Not good vs evil, as our corporate media would have you believe, but bunch of bad actors that includes the Unites States.
Putin’s actions starting this conflict were reprehensible, as are his continuing decisions to keep bombing innocent people. So it’s an easy sell to make him the bad guy. Zelenskyy hasn’t shown that disgusting level of murder, but he’s no saint. The real kicker here is the United States, who has shown little interest in negotiations and great interest in blowing up stuff making millions and billions for the Lockheed Martins (42 billion last year) and Boeings (23 billion last year) and other members of their club. Our government serves up military grade weapons and these war corporations make the financial killing.
So the Permanent War Paradigm, which we were first warned about by President Dwight Eisenhower in 1960, is on full display and shows no sign of being diminished. Our corporate-controlled culture continues to make sure corporations always win. Not good for us citizens. Not good for this dear Earth.
Let’s start with priorities. The first is always ourselves, and the first response must be to hold peace in our hearts, despite this and other war tragedies. We do not help the citizens of Ukraine by offering them thoughts of fear or an anguished heart. We help by holding peace in our hearts and recognizing that they are in our hearts just as we are in theirs. It’s how Life works.
Healing requires letting go of our own fears. Fear is the mind-killer. Always the enemy of peace, and therefore never our friend. Whatever answers fear seems to offer are false. Love is the answer, Here in this Life we share. It is the first truth.
There are thousands of peace organizations and groups, but they seem to have little impact on our situation. We are no more peaceful as a planet than we’ve been since World War II, with the constant beat of war drums ever since by The War Machine.
So we must rise up. Getting into the streets is not an ideal answer, but it’s required if we intend to rebalance our lives and end this scourge. Of course voting is the minimal requirement, but that is a slow remedy, fraught with bullshit.
In rising up we force the issue, reminding legislators of our power and intent, reducing to some small degree the corporate influence.
Not a pretty or hopeful picture at this point, but we see great opportunities for change as the old system continues to crumble under the weight of its own corruption.
Let us do what we can and be who we are, and dream of brighter days, where Life is held in much higher regard, and our tolerance for war is zero.
The Story of World 5.0 – Jim Prues
So it was August 8th, 2004 when, while walking my wolf-dog, I stopped in my tracks. World 5.0 had just popped into my head. World 5.0, I said to myself again. Wow. World 5.0. I had no idea what it meant but I knew it was a powerful idea. After 20 seconds or so, I started walking again.
A couple of years later I understood this idea well enough to put a quirky little video together, “Transmission One” which is still a favorite. Around the same time I published the first iteration of the World5.org website, a glimpse of which shows up in Transmission One.
In 2007 I began researching and outlining for a book on the topic. I was amazed at so many things coming together. Four previous cultures – Hunter/Gatherer, Agrarian, Medieval and Industrial. And each connected to emerging technologies of the day. Our primate ancestry coming from bonobos, not chimpanzees. So many ills of our culture are the result of the establishment of ‘The Corporation’, a very bad idea instituted by the British Monarchy in the 10th century.
And so it was that in 2011 I published the first iteration of the book, World 5.0 – Healing Ourselves, Our Earth and Our Life Together. We held an event at Fountain Square in Cincinnati on the Autumnal Equinox to commemorate the release, 11 years ago from the time of this writing.
And along the way a few more videos, the most important being ‘The Declaration of World 5.0’. Indeed, the book is prefaced with the same copy as the video. Other vintage vids are listed at the bottom of the home page at World5.org.
In 2017, with Donald Trump as president, I deemed a new edition of the book would be useful, and so I went to work on a new chapter. This new chapter made clear that Life is not what we were taught growing up, and that the character flaws that allow a Donald Trump presidency (his and ours) need to be healed for a healthy culture to exist.
And so during the Fall Equinox of 2018 I published the second edition of the book, this time entitled “World 5.0 – We Move From Here”, intending to make the Totality of Now clear by the subtitle. Ok, so I’m not sure that worked for the average person. Might be more confusing than anything as we’re so caught up in a corrupt consumer culture. You can download the book via the link.
I remember reminding myself that I could now rest, knowing I’d done my best with this book and being quite aware that the emergence of World 5.0 into popular culture was far beyond anything I might do. Besides, if I tried to force things I’d probably do more harm than good. Knowing we’re all Here in Life together allows a tremendous amount of trust as each moment passes.
Finally, I got notice early this year that for technical reasons World5.org needed to be migrated. I chose this opportunity to rebuild the site completely, and I feel like for the first time World 5.0 has a home on this InterWeb we’re constantly connecting with. I note that this InterWeb is the enabling technology of World 5.0.
Along the way I have found this journey one from fear into Love. The learning of “A Course in Miracles” started in my thirties, was key. Fear is the mind killer. We live in eternity. Bodies come and go.. So much living.
The real decision, always, is how we want to spend our time, and how we deal with the inevitable drama of this human biological experience. How we throw off the chains of the old world, and live and love now.How we use our intent.
Now I’m again feeling like ‘my work here is finished’. With the book and this new website anyone with an interest can glean the essence of this incredible idea rather easily, and step forward into their journey of healing and into their true self. I plant seeds and nurture as I’m led/inclined, but I now see my work as primarily holding this space of Peace and Love, this Totality of NowLife that we all share. Not a bad place to be… đ
And so now we have the tools to guide us into Life and Love, into World 5.0. How World5 emerges into public space and impacts our cultural transformation I cannot say. Yet it is coming. The old, industrial, corrupt, broke-ass system we grew up in no longer holds. The New Age of Earth Citizens is upon us. We live NowLife.
For me, I’m locked into who and where we are, and through many journeys, well know this Totality of Now. ‘There is no fear, I need do nothing.’ Such is my mantra. Life is our home. We’re always one.
Mississippi God Damn
The ongoing water crisis in capital city Jackson is torturous for those folks living there, and plenty hurtful to the rest of us who are paying attention.
It was a combination of a century of neglect, bad government and heavy rains.
The neglect stems for Mississippi being the racist, often hateful and corrupt state that it. Nina Simone said it best in her 1960s classic song. Jackson Mississippi is about 150,000 citizens, about a quarter of which live in the government’s definition of poverty. And it’s 82% black.
Their water system has been utterly neglected. They were already operating on backup pumps because of disrepair. Don’t drink the water warnings were regular, with so many pipes over a century old. And then a climate chaos fueled storm. So much neglect. And a state government who has fostered that neglect for a generation. A state government of white men.
As Natalia Marques points out… “âIn order to fully repair the system the city needs more than a billion dollars in funding. On the state and federal level, the state has not received nearly that much.â âMeanwhile, the war on Ukraine has been bankrolled over the last 6 months to the tune of $54 billion. Bidenâs newly announced âSafer Americaâ plan is giving $37 billion to bankroll 100,000 police officers. It is obvious what the United States values more than basic necessities for Jacksonâs people: war abroad and policing at home.â Ouch.
So now is where I’m supposed to tell you about their woeful state government, but it could be any state, blue or red, yet especially in red states, the corruption is even more rampant and sickening. No doubt because of the added ideology of the religious right. But it’s everywhere. Pick a state. Pick a story.
So we need new stories. New stories that reflect our lives together here in Life. Stories about who will lead in our governments, because government needs to be the Great Balancer between commerce and community, and The Corporation has completely ruined that balance in our time. We need legislators of integrity.
The need for revolution is upon us, for transformation in how we live, work and play. How we choose to live and how we inevitably die. Will we choose to live grounded here in Life with everyone and everything, or succumb to old world goals of wealth, fame and power? One cannot be and do both. Will we die with grace or in terror of the unknown world that exists beyond and before biological life?
Now is when I’m supposed to recommend strategies and tactics that will actually impact and dismantle the old broke down, corrupt culture. That’s a tough one, but I know where it starts. UBU. Disengage from supporting war or any politician who supports it. Stop filling your brain with doom scrolling and distracting bull. Focus on a healthy mind and body. Focus on local issues and finding local solutions. Folks of integrity and authenticity are how we remake this ugly culture.
As the founder of World 5.0 I see a clearer way forward. It’s presented well enough on the site, world5.org. We currently have only a couple of thousand folks as subscribers, but one can imagine what we will be capable of if we have a couple of hundred thousand. And so we invite you to join us.
As we grow, and rise, we will indeed reshape our Earth to a home of health and happiness for us all.
The Farmers Awaken (not in the US yet)
A few years ago the farmers of India captured the media’s attention with their blockades of major roads in and out of India’s cities. The Modi government had created and tried to enforce policies that supported the agribiz corporate agenda, and made life that much tougher for the already poor farmers.
One of the protestors, Mr. Singh, had this to say in November of 2021…âThe root of the agricultural issue in India is that farmers are not getting the proper value of their crops. There are two ways to see reforms â giving away land to the corporations, the big people, the capitalists. The other is to help the farmers increase their yields.â
And after the year long protest, the government gave in, reversing the policies that initiated the protests. Make no mistake, the agricultural system in India is still a not mess of long-standing grievances and more recent issues, often around changing climate, yet it was clearly a victory for the farmers.
Just this past month, July 222, farmers in the Netherlands are making their voices heard with similar protests, blocking streets and entrances to grocery stores to make their point. In this case the Dutch government is using the need to reduce nitrogen emissions and runoff as the reason for new laws that hurt the farmers.
There is no question the agribiz model of farming sucks. It produces shitty food and the nitrogen runoff here in the US has devastated the Gulf of Mexico, creating vast ‘dead zones’ where fish cannot survive. Yet instead of sheparding the farmers of the Netherlands into organic, wholesome growing methods, they’re taking an approach that screws the farmers but leaves corporate agribiz pretty much intact. More BS.
We’re seeing uprisings in Africa as well, where Mr. Smarty Pants Bill Gates thinks bringing in big tractors and ‘the Agribiz Way’ to these farmers will make them ‘more productive’. Perhaps. It will surely make them more in debt, more exposed to nasty chemicals, and less in touch with the land they’ve worked for thousands of years.
Now we’re seeing Canadian farmers who see the writing on the wall that their government wants to impose similar harsh measures that large scale farms can comply with, but most small farmers cannot. Does it seem like there’s a pattern here? You bet.
And what is this pattern I speak of? It goes by multiple names, the two most common being The Great Reset (World Economic Forum 2020) and The New World Order (popularized in the 1990s). Now, these terms both immediately bring ‘conspiracy theories’ as the defining characteristic, yet if you’re part of whose behind corporate media would you not take this exact approach. Invalidate the idea regardless of truth – which is what corporate media has been doing for at least 40 years now.
Looking at our world, and why farmers and so many others are not putting up with the bullshit anymore, and there can only be one of two conclusions. 1) The Great Reset is clearly in evidence, and we must do whatever we can to resist. 2) These vast imbalanced are just the result of corporate greed, and we must do whatever we can to resist.
So, conspiracy theory or clear truth, our response must be the same. We must do whatever we can to resist. It’s what World 5.0 is about, and it’s just in time…
There Ain’t No Good Guys
Singer/songwriter Dave Mason sang this song written by Jim Krueger, which held the chorus…
There ain’t no good guys, there ain’t no bad guys, there’s just you and me and we just disagree.
For most of we nearly 8 billion humans, the saying seems true enough. We’re just trying to get along and get by, challenging enough in these times. On the geo-political scale however, only the first part is true. There ain’t no good guys.
In the world of corporations and their ownership, we have long-standing ruthless folks running Wall Street and our financial system. Historically Morgans and Rockefellers, more recently Waltons (Walmart), the Musks and Bezos and Gates. They do not serve us. They are lost in a world only known to the ultrarich. They spend money to buy and build crazy shit. Gates is lately on a mission to buy land and ensure the world’s agriculture never gets away from the agribiz model, in spite of its devastation.
Musk and Bezos, and their peers just want government off their back so they can continue to exploit people and planet. Like the US government has clipped their wings. Right. They ain’t good guys.
How about nation-state leaders from around the globe? Yeah, right again. With very few exceptions, mostly in South America in places like Chile, our rulers are in the throes of corporate control, which they gladly accept to grow their personal power through it ruins their citizens’ lives. They ain’t good guys either.
Our elected officials at every level, for the most part, care little about citizen rights or happiness. Their focused on corporate interests, not ours. They ignore their oaths and our priorities with reckless abandon, while performing fellatio at every turn for their illegal money grabbing. They ain’t good guys.
And with even a modicum of awareness about the state of things in these United States, we find about one-third of our populace willing to overthrow an elected president because they’re controlled by ideology and are cult followers of Donald Trump. They ain’t good guys either. Though, not as defense but as a recognition of reality in this culture, they’ve been beat down, abused and mis-educated for so long this sort of right-wing, hate spewing individuals should come as no surprise.
So what we find is ‘average’ Americans are content to be citizens and take care of their lives. It’s the sickos who seek power and position and influence over others. Which brings us to a bunch of knucklehead (to be kind) running our cities, counties, states and Federal Government. Not good.
Most troubling is how we’ve been so handily manipulated to keep allowing these demented folks to maintain power and control over us. Donald Trump is but one example.
The fix is clearly an educated electorate, who would not put up with this bullshit. Republican, Democrat or Independent, if we are ‘woke’ – to take back a term the manipulators now disparage, we won’t elect corporate owned politicians. We’ll elect folks who have our back and are interested in ‘the pursuit of Life, Liberty and Happiness instead of corporate profits.
It’s clearly this simple. Yet the forces against our education are vast and long-standing. Which means we require substantive change, even transformation, to repair this broken system. Which means we must rise up and thwart this corrupt system at every turn we can. It’s what citizens are required to do if we want to be citizens, and not slaves.
Corporate Boat Versus Life Boat
In the muddle of these times, progressives ’embrace’ the democratic party because they have no alternative. We in the US live in a duopoly, where our votes are limited by the two party system.Democrats feign policies efforts that would improve our lives, but damn, they’re stymied again, and again, and again. The Republicans are now well adrift from reality, with many aligned with traitor Donald Trump, and nearly all of them given to ideology that does not befit us, and a lust for power that makes corporate interests ever the priority. It’s all too damn ugly.
We may begin to see another option if ranked voting, such as Maine and Alaska have recently initiated, takes hold. But for this election and the near future, the dems are all we have. Sad.
The Republicans began their trajectory in the 1980s with Ronald Reagan, the democratic party took a turn toward neoliberlism with the Clinton presidency in the early 1990s, and it has only gotten far worse with more recent ‘leaders’.
With this context, it’s clear we must make our voices heard more loudly than they have been, as the data shows are elected leaders pay almost no attention to our needs and interests, and all the attention they want to Corporate Overlords. Super Elites. Ideological Controllers. See, they’ve been so successful in keeping us duped that we don’t even have an accepted term for these bastards.
I needn’t remind that these bastards are destroying our planet’s biological life at a horrific pace, we humans included. That precious resources are used for yachts and rockets and endless bullshit because these bastards have almost all the money. The yacht is a nice metaphor for the corporate boat, which has controlled our culture for hundreds of years.
Warned again and again, even by our founding fathers, that corporations inevitably corrupt other institutions, we see now how far we are under their thumb. The recent decisions by the utterly bogus Supreme Court to overturn a woman’s right to her body, the regulation of guns and the EPA’s power to regulate can all be easily linked to these bastards.
There is a way out of this morass for each of us. We transform ourselves, away from mindless noise on the screens and toward our true selves. We each have on. Even these bastards. Yet they are so far from knowing themselves that that fat guy can way more easily fit through a needle. A few things for starting…
Turn off the screen. So much useless, time sinking, distracting horseshit that whatever of value exists in that ream it’s not worth chasing. Far wiser to learn to sit with yourself, breathe, notice your body and what’s happening within the place you are in, knowing we are all here in Life together. So we not only move the goalposts, we change our entire life’s game.
Ending our fear is the requirement behind finding our authentic selves. Because our authentic self is Love, which is antithetical to fear. Love is the Energy side of our eternal Tao. Yang. Just as Eternal Awareness is our Yin. We have much to release and let go.
And we must start with ourselves so that we bring authenticity, and its attendant integrity, into our lives. We change the framing of our lives and how we spend this preciousness of Life we share. So this is the Life Boat. So THIS experience of living we are sharing Now, is, quite literally, the Life Boat. Or the First Truth as I call it.
We give our attention to personal healing, which is what I describe above, because healing our lives together and our planet requires that we are healing ourselves already. Then we can begin our efforts to transform this corrupt and broken culture. Indeed, we must rise up.
And as we become more and more authentic we understand and appreciate the messaging we give ourselves on how we best participate, best let our voices be heard, within this transformation process we are undertaking. Our nearly fearless selves understand our place in All This.
And this is what World 5.0 is about. It’s yet another name for our Life Boat. Embracing ourselves, embracing each other, embracing our Earth, and above all, embracing This Life We Share Forever.