Raising consciousness in time of war!

Whoever and wherever we are, war takes the measure of our state of consciousness. When it arrives we all have profound obligations. Passivity is not an option.

“But the confronting of reality usually is a negative process. It is ideology that insists upon relentless positivism. That’s why it opposes criticism and encourages passivity. I would argue that confronting reality — no matter how negative and depressing the process — is the first step towards coming to terms with it, which is what I will attempt to do in a small way over the next four chapters.”—

Saul, John Ralston; Saul, John Ralston. The Unconscious Civilization (The CBC Massey Lectures) (pp. 37-38). House of Anansi Press Inc. Kindle Edition.

*****

When war comes very bad things happen that should never happen. It also follows there are things not happening that must happen. Where I am very concerned over what is happening I am even more concerned over what is not!

What is not happening is the essential public out cry against this global crisis. This is WW lll, a global war, a hybrid war, and a war with immense consequences for the future of all Humankind. Planet Earth has never been such a unitary, highly integrated, interdependent entity than now; but we allow ourselves to be divided, conquered and enslaved to war and the craziness of a bunch of war mongering ideologues.

Where are the powerful student protests that ended the Vietnam war in the 1970’s? Where are the global protests of 2003 where millions of people in major cities around the world protested the sacking of Iraq?— one of the most flagrant criminal war crimes ever committed.

I have always maintained if the public knew the true costs of war, societal and economic, we would never allow them to happen. They are inevitably a profound betrayal and abandonment of the public good precipitated by tyrants, despots and ideologues willing to burn down our houses for the sake of their demented egos.

As someone with an interest in history and politics I have been The Diligent Spectator all my adult life and like many others knew this train wreck was coming down the tracks— to know some history is to know the future— of course the despots don’t want us to know our own history leaving them free to perpetrate their lies and treachery.

(The Diligent Spectator was also a casualty of the war, a blog, killed off by the censors on a platform less than accommodating to free speech and relevant commentary. He has though been re-incarnated as History’s Parrot and squawks on.)

To not know history is to drive in a torrential downpour with your windshield wipers in the off-position.

Like so many others my age I am only alive today because of teams of very dedicated medical practitioners. When death knocks at the door they are there to give you a new lease on life and a much deeper appreciation of life.

This has led me to speculate…. What if we go to our doctors and they diagnose without prescribing or undertaking treatment. The same applies to our writers, historians, journalists, pundits, politicians and everybody else. We see , we hear, we speak but nobody wants to undertake proactive treatment. We just reincarnate the Tower of Babble.

Where there are those who are willing to speak the truth and acknowledge the cycles of history, there too many more who are charlatans, constantly shaving the truth and refusing to discuss the truths of our times.

It is remarkable how openly the Western MSM and politicians have whored themselves to their corporatist war mongering masters.

It is equally remarkable how with such juvenile vigor we scapegoat other countries, like Russia and China for the train wreck of our own making and our piggish refusal to take responsibility for own polices and actions.

Our political and economic elites are trapped in a delusional hierarchy of their own making and the only means available to liberate them is public intervention where a dialogue for peace, civility, decency and democracy must prevail. The true measure of Western Civilization is being taken and history is in the witness box. Are we up to the challenge?

The gift of consciousness

Humankind has been blessed with the greatest gift of all. We were awarded the highest level of consciousness of any living being. With this award comes the opportunity to pursue life in many so many aspects with great potentials. It also comes with many responsibilities, vulnerabilities, opportunities for great successes and catastrophic failures. Consciousness is the ongoing struggle between good and evil.

Western civilization is now facing catastrophic failure. It is of our own doing and we cannot lay the blame on other cultures or peoples. Where we have consciousness we have free will and with that comes the necessity of assuming responsibility for our actions and atrocities. Most profoundly this is a failure of consciousness where false prophets, war mongers, and ruinous ideologies haves put down deep roots in our civilization.

We like to think wars emerge out of nowhere and it is the good guys vs the bad guys. Nothing could be further from the truth. The present crisis has its historic roots in WW ll and in too many ways we are seeing a sequel to that war 80 years ago.

We also have to bear witness to the fact the world war we are now in is the third in just over 100 years all of them originating in the West. Wars as we know them are knife fights usually fought secretly in the halls of power that spill over into the street. When they arrive on the street they alter our consciousness into instant passivity where they deserve our rigorous collective scrutiny. War is fascism on steroids and our tolerance for it should be zero.

In these post modern times the destruction extends beyond the battlefield with lightning speed, jumping whole oceans with no regard for national borders. War in these times war is a crime against all humanity.

Where evil prevails over good it is a failure consciousness. Evil has the advantage as it is expedient first choice of tyrants and despots to advance their tyrannies and destroy the essential equilibrium that sustains our societies.

Democracy provides the essential equilibrium of our societies and in the last half century in the West it has been devastated by the rise of ideologies ruinous to our cultures; ranging from war, corporatism, neoliberalism, colonialism, and a lack of social consciousness, actively suppressed by war mongering ideologues.

Can the democracies of the West be resuscitated? Stay tuned!

Consciousness is Power

In the Image above Yuri Kochiyama, reminds us our consciousness, or our state of being is our greatest gift. Knowledge and education are essential adjuncts to it and the tyrants of our times have subverted our rights and the truths of our times.

The martyrdom of Julian Assange is a stunning indictment of the desperation and inhumanity of the elites clinging to their ill-gotten power. It is also a failure of consciousness that he remains behind bars. His incarceration also signals the collapse of juris prudence in the West where law courts become the tools of tyranny.

Most importantly Kochiyama reminds us consciousness raising is essential to our times especially especially when wars and tyrannies prevail.

We must recognize the power of our collective conscience where we rise up to a higher purpose and speak together in solidarity. This is our greatest weapon when our elites have betrayed us.

When British Prime Margaret Thatcher declared “there is no such thing as society”, she was declaring war on the people she was supposed to serve. She was a god parent of the neoliberal ideology now dominating the West, instrumental in destroying Western democracies, and consolidating the absolute power of corporatism. She was trying to negate the most fundamental human right— as social beings we are meant to live in societies that are social and not sociopathic.

“The Unconscious Civilization”

Over 20 years ago Canadian philosopher John Ralston Saul wrote one of the most important books of our times. Where we usually think of consciousness of the individual, he addressed the issue of the consciousness of our societies. Like the good doctor doing his diagnosis he goes to the very core of our existence and how levels of consciousness impact and define our societies. He also provides guidelines for citizens:

“Equilibrium is dependent upon our recognition of reality, which is the acceptance of permanent psychic discomfort. And the acceptance of psychic discomfort is the acceptance of consciousness.”

War induces extreme “psychic discomfort”, despondent passivity and denialism only deepen the crisis.

Ralston delivers a stunning indictment on how corporatism and it’s associated ideologies have destroyed Western Civilization. We must bear in mind his book was written over twenty-years ago when the present crisis was still incubating and his book is a harbinger of things to come:

“There has never been so much disposable money, yet there is no money for the public good. In a democracy this would not be the case, because the society would be centered, by general agreement, on disinterest. In a corporatist system there is never any money for the public good because the society is reduced to the sum of the interests. It is therefore limited to measurable self-interest.”

“There has never been so much disposable money”…. and I might add in too few hands. The concentration of wealth is so excessive the fast cash has bought and paid for whole governments to where their allegiance is to their corporate masters and not the peoples and democracies they are mandated to defend and perpetuate. Bribery, intimidation, and regime change are embossed on the calling card of the empire.

Corporations of the West have a vested interest in perpetual war. War now is about profiteering, expanding markets and stealing other countries resources, wealth and right to self-determination and peaceful co-existence.

As a result of this conflict an estimated 10 million refugees have fled Ukraine and an estimated half-million Ukraine troops are dead or wounded in a war planned, financed and provoked by NATO.

Consciousness is the very essence of our being, or not being.

Kochiyama and Ralston are true prophets, among so many, who have seen the train wreck coming down the tracks, undetected because of betrayal, treason and passivity. Now consciences must be raised to the address the recovery.

Whoever and wherever we are, war takes the measure of our state of consciousness. When it arrives we all have profound obligations. Passivity is not an option.

In case you missed these:

In times of censorship and naked propaganda sharing becomes more important than ever. Please do.