Where Do We (the World) Go From Here?

This is an open forum call for responses to the question, 'Where does the world go from here?' Asked circa 1306 MST 9 FEB 2021.

You have a whole world generally afraid, or if not afraid, generally made, or 'recommended' to stay at home and work from home.
You have a whole world generally polarised and angry at some (generally imaginary) half which are terrorists and or anti human rights/marxists.
These issues have been poked and prodded to the point that even things such as wearing a mask or not have become polarised and make people demonise and mistrust their neighbour and eachother.
You have a whole world where these issues have created massive suffering, loss of life, and alcoholism, drug addiction, and mental illness.
You have massive mistrust in the main stream media, government, and instead of trying to solve issues they seem to be entrenching themselves and 'dumbing down' on rhetoric and hypocrisy, on both 'sides'
You have massive surveillance and military and police presence in most countries which is unheard of .

As my friend and elder says, 'be of the world but not in it' So I do my best.

Where do we go from here?

a reply to: chris_stibrany
Everything on your list is but a diversion from hat is really going on, since Nixon opened up China to the world. China is what is happening to the world. They have quietly bought and paid for nearly every government/monetary system in the world worth having, and will slowly twist the screws until it is evident to all what has happened...but then of course, it will be too late.
Go flip on "Dancing with the Stars" and forget everything.

a reply to: chris_stibrany

When I spend any time on the internet, I need a few minutes to register back into reality. I am getting better at not allowing myself to become emotionally attached to anything on the internet, because when back in reality, it is easy to see my emotions are responses to a manipulated event. Like crying during a movie.

I have been spending a lot of time in the community and communicating in the physical world. Much of what is pumped into the internet is fiction, fantasy, manipulation, and distractions. I think we will manage just fine, as long as we put our priorities in the right place, work together, and keep the mental from bleeding into physical.

I think back to when I was a child and we were poor as church mice. We endured. All of us. Some of us even did great. It is not just about being positive, it is about working with what you have, and learning to make stone soup.

a reply to: Zrtst

I remember when I was a child, "Made in China", meant it was cheap and poorly made. Here we are over sixty years later, where nearly "everything" in America is "Made in China", including what we eat. Yet we bitch about China being the evil enemy that will be our destruction, without realizing how ridiculous it sounds.

If China really is the problem, our masters, or our destruction, it is just a bit too late to be crying about it now.

a reply to: Zrtst

Thanks for the help.

So what can we do about it? Hence 'where do we go from here'?

originally posted by: NightSkyeB4Dawn
a reply to: chris_stibrany

When I spend any time on the internet, I need a few minutes to register back into reality. I am getting better at not allowing myself to become emotionally attached to anything on the internet, because when back in reality, it is easy to see my emotions are responses to a manipulated event. Like crying during a movie.

I have been spending a lot of time in the community and communicating in the physical world. Much of what is pumped into the internet is fiction, fantasy, manipulation, and distractions. I think we will manage just fine, as long as we put our priorities in the right place, work together, and keep the mental from bleeding into physical.

I think back to when I was a child and we were poor as church mice. We endured. All of us. Some of us even did great. It is not just about being positive, it is about working with what you have, and learning to make stone soup.

I agree wholeheartedly. But I think it is a bit disingenuous to say focus on the physical, when in the physical, people around me are all holed up in their homes and going out with masks even to take a walk all by themselves. It makes me sick.

originally posted by: chris_stibrany

I agree wholeheartedly. But I think it is a bit disingenuous to say focus on the physical, when in the physical, people around me are all holed up in their homes and going out with masks even to take a walk all by themselves. It makes me sick.

Sorry to hear that. It is not that way here, but I live in a rural area, so I am sure that has a little to do with it.

It is about half and half with the masks, but most don't seem to be bothered by the other. I work in the community, so my contact is with those that are not staying in their homes. We also provide for the needs of those that choose to stay home or have to stay home. It really doesn't bother me either way.

So how are we going to get out of this trap?

a reply to: NightSkyeB4Dawn

originally posted by: Zrtst
a reply to: chris_stibrany
Everything on your list is but a diversion from hat is really going on, since Nixon opened up China to the world. China is what is happening to the world. They have quietly bought and paid for nearly every government/monetary system in the world worth having, and will slowly twist the screws until it is evident to all what has happened...but then of course, it will be too late.

I read a thing that appealed to me some years ago.

It was a description of the Ark of the Covenant. And what it said was the Ark is moved in an ever Westerly direction. That it departed the shores of America and was making its way to China. It must have made a very short port of call in South Korea. Their economy blossomed from the 80s to the 00s. And, now it's found its way to China.

a reply to: chris_stibrany
The most immediate issue, which most people in the world will be thinking of before anything else, is keeping some sort of economy going. People being off work means having no money to buy things, which means the people who sell things will have no money to give to the people who make things, which means that the people who make things will have no money to buy things. It will take hard work and hardship to get out of that vicious circle, and keeping democracy going will have low priority in comparison.

a reply to: Snarl
interesting theory. however according to the O.T. stories, the Ark of the Covenant did not always cause prosperity...the Philistines captured the Ark, but as recounted in Wiki..."1 Samuel 5 and 6 describe the Philistines as having to move the Ark to several parts of their territory, as tumours or hemorrhoids ("emerods") afflicted the people in each town to which it was taken: Ashdod, then Gath, then Ekron. The Septuagint adds that "mice sprang up in the midst of their country".[5] Stirrup points out that the "severity of the punishments increases through the passage": tumours in Ashdod (vv. 6-8), extensive tumours and panic in Gath, which had volunteered to take on the Ark (vv. 9,10a), and tumours on those who did not die and deathly panic in Ekron, which was 'volunteered' to take the Ark (vv. 10b-12).[6] The text explicitly ascribes the plague to "Yahweh's hand" (1 Samuel 5:6)."

originally posted by: chris_stibrany
So how are we going to get out of this trap?

a reply to: NightSkyeB4Dawn

I don't see us as being in a trap. I see having to make choices. As with everything else in life, you have little control over what others do, and what obstacles may come your way.

The only thing you may be able to control, is how you respond, and whether you will continue your journey or if you cave in, literally.

a reply to: chris_stibrany

You're confusing the world with the US.

a reply to: chris_stibrany

Where do we go??

Well, here's a suggestion. We go home. We take care of our families, and help our friends do the same.

We do what's best for us, and let others do what's best for them. If that infringes upon us, we deal with it, to coin a phrase, By Any Means Necessary.

Original, right???

Time to thin the herd.

Your faith will be tested soon enough.

a reply to: chris_stibrany

That's cool. Where are you, and why aren't people bowing down to masks and social control?

a reply to: Whodathunkdatcheese

Thing is, most people around here are home. And holing up like hermits.

How does that help anyone?

a reply to: seagull

Faith in what?


a reply to: DeathSlayer

Sorry, I forgot about the question...I'm in line with many...I will maintain my position of employment, provide for my wife and I for a few more years, or as long as this job holds out. I'm close enough to retirement that I have determined this will be my last pay-check type job. Then it will be focusing on my artwork, perhaps sell some paintings again. That and fishing with the grandkids.
I will attempt to skirt the cultural and political realms as much as possible, paying taxes, trying to evolve only as necessary with monetary systems, taxes and the like. oh...and teach my grandkids the truth of the world in which they live, perhaps smuggle a book to them now and again.

a reply to: chris_stibrany

It may not.

Or, again, it may. You helping your neighbors does no good?? Or protecting your family?? Comes a time when you've got to decide what's most important.

Family? Friends? For me, those rate far higher than anything else ever will. Those will always come first. Everything else is fourth.