The Dichotomy of Social/Political Change

I've been on the planet for some 40 odd years, I've seen many things come and go and yet I have seen much remain the same. With all the recent talk of "change", unrest and the general situation in the world, is there really any alternative left to people than this?

Wars are becoming more commonplace, prices rise to astronomical, and for many, unaffordable levels for the most basic of human needs, rights are silently taken away and we are slowly being left with...nothing. No hope, no way out, no future. You can write to your senator, you can vote for your party and you can debate till you are blue in the face but my most serious question is:

What can we do to really force (note I do not use the word demand as that relies on the action of another person) change? Good, lasting and morally correct change?


ETA Just to be clear with my motives, I am not seeking to incite or condone but seriously asking for an alternative and speedy way to right many of the wrongs that out governments worldwide are perpetrating and forcing us to perpetrate, albeit with our unwilling, silent consent.

I welcome your thoughts and ideas. Thanks for reading.

Thank you for your thoughts on this because I am with you. I have been here 60+years. I am a baby boomer which seems to be a bad word these days. But our generation has seen this before. The civil rights marches, the Viet Nam War, the Berlin Wall, the Cold War, the Cuban Missile crisis. I really thought we had learned our lesson about useless wars from Viet Nam, but we didn't.

I don't know anything NEW that can be done to make change. Study the history books and see how it has been done before. I know it will take one loud voice of the masses in concert to get the power that be to hear.

I'll probably get flack for this, but I don't care.

I think the answer lies in a process of changing our perceptions and what we focus on, ultimately. Choosing to direct our thoughts and behaviors in more positive directions, not becoming overwhelmed, depressed, apathetic, or overly angry about the things we are passionate about. For example, I feel strongly about human rights, I am incredibly aware of the dysfunction that exists in the world, and so forth... but I don't let it consume me. I realize that continually embracing nihilism and negativity AFTER I became conscious of the truths of the world is just as destructive as being either an uninformed ignorant or someone who is informed but chooses to elevate self-interests above all else.

I hope this makes sense so far. Let's see... the whole "divide and conquer" method just isn't working anymore. Even the whole "we are the 99%!" is divisive. The corrupt elite and politicians are a part of all of us (we are all One, after all!), they are not some subhuman entity completely removed from sentience. But they do represent the darkest manifestation of the soul, the most extreme version of evil that exists to some degree within each human (which, again, are parts of a whole).

So how do we "conquer" that darkness? To be blunt, we can't. What we can do, though, is subjugate it's power, influence, and importance by focusing our awareness, our consciousness, on love. Instead of trying to fight evil with rage, which veryyy often results in a sense of powerlessness, we should instead become empowered by extending compassion in every single possible way we can - and this needs to happen first on the individual levels. Then it can happen as a movement.

If we believe we are powerless and weak, we will indeed become so, if we aren't already. Once we realize the incredible power we have to direct the energy first of our own, individual existence ("individuality," of course, a conception born out of the illusion of time), we can then converge these "individual" energies to rediscover the truth of the Singularity. Not sure how long this process takes, or how it can ultimately manifest, but I feel its truth very deep within my bones.

reply to post by MOMof3

Thanks for your reply. It seems they assassinate the "good" voices though, such as Martin Luther King, JFK, et al. Nelson Mandela had to resort to violence eventually to stop a violent regime and he had to spend 26 years (from memory) in prison for it. I remember "them" in the UK saying after WW2: "Never again!" and yet here we are again, invading, bombing, killing and maiming all over the world.

I was thinking about history too funnily enough. Apart from a few things like the right to vote and a general modernisation of life in general (which does sometimes but not always benefit us the people) I can't think of the last major change that was non-violent in my country of origin (UK). Even some of the Kings and Queens met violent ends, but only to be replaced by another King or Queen.

Americans revolted in 1776 I think yet they are pretty deep in it now, judging from the new draconian laws being passed there. France's revolution doesn't seem to have helped them much in the present day. History is not my strongpoint so maybe I should look into that a little more.

reply to post by jewdiful

Thank you for replying. You won't get flak from me in any case, weapons are illegal here.

If I read your first paragraph correctly, and I think I do, your idea is to focus on positive things but in effect ignore the negative and just let it all happen? I wouldn't say I am letting things consume me but I am extremely worried by some of the trends I am seeing lately and just wonder what can be done to stop illegal things from happening, such as war.

I partially agree with the we are all one sentiment. I do not think that the 1% are or ever were part of us and believe they do not want to be. And while the terms people have chosen might not be the best, they are certainly only acting in their own interests and at the cost of everyone else. For example, most of the European Royal Houses are all inter-connected via bloodlines. Thats not a conspiracy theory either. I believe that George W Bush is also a very distant relative to the current Queen of England and many of the more powerful American families can trace their history back to the beginning. Power seems to have been consolidated by a select and shadowy few and they are not letting go or letting the world govern itself.

On a personal level I do try to practise what I preach, do no harm, help others, etc but I just don't see how that will help effect serious world change unless everyone wants it. So far, no one except a few on boards like this one appears to want it. Voting does not help, protesting does not help...

Hmm. Did we not give up our power? To the very ones who now use it against us by making new laws, etc, etc. Guess I need to think and read some more.