The Crux of the Bisquit

I am often flabbergasted by the daily goings on that I am made aware of through my senses. The crazy, crazy way humans seem to fumble about with love, life and their challenges never seems to run amok in quite the same way twice. On top of that, the media will spare no expense to bring us death, disaster and mayhem, served up in outrageous sound bites and streaming bit torrents of data that astound. In these times, there seem to be no end to the complexities of "modern life" and understanding our environment seems to get more difficult by the day. One can see the drive to return to a simpler way of life exhibited in many ways. It seems that our urge to recapture many of the old traditions, values and ways is running a neck and neck race to invent the next big thing, or solve crisis X,Y or Z. Like the animated character who hovers over a chasm for a few seconds, their limbs grasping at thin air, churning the void, or perhaps presaging their impending demise, we humans are prone to become unable to "grasp", "just spin our wheels" or otherwise incapacitate ourselves when faced with seemingly insurmountable challenges.
The change that we need is not going to come from any "single bullet" theory, it won't be through adjusting the mix of foreign aid to social service funding. It can not come from legislation, regulation or indoctrination. It must come from how we make peace with our own selves. The "logical" approach which has been taught in schools ad infinitum cannot overcome the desperate pain wreaked on our souls by the unjust and cold reality that is projected to our retina by our telescreens. Nor can our emotions exclusively save the day. What is needed is a path that honors and respects what is, and that rewards incremental changes that benefit others as well as our selves. In nature, there is no waste. The top dogs never take more than they need, unless their excesses provide others with plenty as well. With a life out of balance comes the topsy-turvy effect of rapidly advancing and quickly receding issues that alternately require all of our attention and utter ignorance in rapid succession. At the heart of the matter lies the fact that we must stay grounded, or none of our efforts will have any traction.

We are standing at the brink of awareness, holding desperately to what worked in the past. However, "all good things gotta come to an end" as the song said. What has provided the butterfly security and protection through most of it's life must be discarded if it is to fly. We are now required to leave our own chrysalis. Well-known to many are the concepts of Power and Control. These two players disrupt any real advancement of the human condition. We, as a people cannot grow or achieve anything without abandoning these toxic by-products of by-gone days. Revisionist historians are finally allowing us to recognize that our past was not fundamentally a series of wars and dramas that played out as innate human greed, inhumanities and hostilities. Instead, we can look a little deeper and see evidenced back through the ages, the enduring compassion, unconditional love and innate power of humans to live in service to others, reveling in their success, rather than our own.
Time and time again throughout our past, human beings have given of themselves without seeming limits. Trying to carve out a better life in the face of adversity. Power and control are both illusory. No one deserves either being exerted over them, nor can we develop fully when either is part of our reality. The human organism is no more suited to these beliefs, processes and activities than fish are to being astronauts. It has come to pass that all that served us well in the past needs to be thrown out. Father knows best was only the title of a show, it was even tongue in cheek. It will not be easy to overcome "I'm the Lord of my Castle" thinking. It is, however, necessary and the time for waking up to the facts has come. Growth can only come as the seed hull dissolves. Letting go is never easy but the rewards have never been as great either!