Sunday, January 26, 2014

Reflection

Protesters use mirrors to show the riot police what they have become.There has been a recent flurry of images showing protesters using mirrors to show police what they have become. We need to reflect on the truth behind the images. We need to reflect upon our entire way of being in the world. Power and control has not worked. Family violence continues, national, regional and state militarism, policing and warlordism have proven that they are not valid ways to control the population. Often, it is through reflection that we get the most accurate assessment of  our status or situation.

This post, in my original listing was akin to thought and was paired with it, but in so many ways it is completely separate and distinct. Reflection is like re-reading a favorite book or poem. The eyes that first experienced it are perhaps a bit clearer, our experiences change the meanings ever so slightly and time that has informed our lives may allow us to enhance certain aspects and tune out extraneous noise that is inevitable in our perceptual systems. Reflecting on old ideas is just as important as who we have become.

This past week, as we see growing foment and citizen movements attempting to wrest political power from entrenched elites, we have been bombarded with images and "news" about how a tiny fraction of moderately wealthy people are trying to help the disadvantaged. A counterpoint to this generalized " buzz" about our benevolent overlords, Now one of the wealthiest billionaires in the U. S. claims that the wealthy are getting a "bad rap" and are under threat, much like the Jews were on the eve of Christal Nacht.

It must be difficult to bear the heavy burden of a 150 Million dollar yacht.

As the rest of us see things, the thugs who make up the police force and the warriors who "defend freedom" around the world are only keeping the world safe for those who continually oppress and exploit us and the planet upon which our lives depend. Reflecting on these things before we let a single dollar, yuan, euro or bit coin slip through our fingers is essential to reigning in the power that the uberwealthy hold over us. Without our consumerism, their empire is crippled. Learning to live on nothing needs to become the watchword for people who are committed to leaving something viable behind for future generations.

I continue to advocate for planting trees, wherever you are, putting in smart gardens and learning to create a healthy life on our own terms, not the ones that the wealthy classes shove down our throats. Continuing to reflect on where we are in the process of evolution, the difference between wants and needs and where we want this culture to end up in the future will help inform our decisions moving forward.

Just don't get too enamored with what we see reflected, it is no more real than what we may see in our dreams, ironically for some, it is no less so either. When we take the time to reflect, it can often allow a bit of a respite from the stressful present, or the immediacy of experience. This in turn can allow our sore bodies and spirits to heal, for our organisms to grow and for our true selves to get hold of our attention in ways that the work-a-day world never really provide. To be good cogs in the wheel, we must keep our heads down and bear whatever burden the machine requires.

If I do not get back to this keyboard, remember, I only went away to make someone else's dream become reality. Help me to make mine a step closer to reality by supporting this blog. I do everything I can to keep advertizing out, so the common, commercial assault can be  kept at bay, but the only way that I can keep providing this blog is if those who care to read it can afford to help pay for the ability. I feel like a schmuck for asking, but rest assured, I will use every dollar I make from it to bake sawdust into biochar, enrich soils and plant trees for the future. This is one of the few vehicles that I can use to spread the word about what can be done to salvage a damaged planet, I ask you to frequently reflect on ways that you can help transform the world for the better. Not only my grandchildren are counting on us to give them a fighting chance, but their grandchildren are as well.

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