Chris Renzo, Contributing Writer
Waking Times
Our nation, the United States, is the richest and most powerful nation in the world. The rich live a decadent lifestyle, and there exists a large middle class, but tens of millions live in poverty. 50% million people [1/6 of our population] cannot afford basic health services. 15% of our people live in dire conditions. 85% of retired Americans, the most vulnerable demographic among us, live in poverty. We also have one of the highest infant mortality rates in the world. Yet how can this happen in the “wealthiest” nation in the world? We all feel somewhat helpless don’t we? This helplessness does not feel good, and so we often suppress our compassion in an attempt to defend ourselves from the perverse inequality in this country and in the world. And sometimes, in attempts to ward ourselves from the pain, we blame those in povertyfor being in poverty. Subsequently, we look outside ourselves for the solutions to our problems. We want “someone” else to fix the big problems facing our world. Yet, when we do this, we subvert our ability to be optimally human by allowing “our leaders” to deal with our inner most spiritual and ethical dilemmas. The roots of this dilemma are psychological.
We need to be brave and observe the belief structures that uphold this current way of life. All of it. Do we really believe we are “survivalists?” This belief supports our current destructive ways. Yet, I know, there is a place in all of our hearts that cries out to the injustice, to the destruction, and to the tyranny all around the globe.
We need to be brave and honest. We need to ask ourselves whether or not a concentrated group of people, those who have a detached interest apart from you and I, a group of people whom create the politics that govern the distribution of power and wealth, can really be trusted to the overall wealth of the entire collective of people?
I understand the confusion, the frustration, and the desperation we feel. The problem seems so beyond us and too big to deal with as individuals. And, therefore, we plead for our governments to fix our ills. But we need to bare witness to the possibility that our desperation gets us to oversee the truth that politics is a game of deception.
If we were really allowed to see all that went on in government, we would not choose to be governed at all. Governments aim is to convince us that the decisions it makes are for our own good. Yet this system allows for our food to be poisoned, in the name of profit. It pushes us into war to protect its own interests, in the name of profit. It is a horror. And we are told that we are “survivalists.” But are we really? Or is that what we are taught? Therein lies the deception.
Politics is a practical art. The political arena becomes a place where people of power seek to convince you that their self-interest is your own. In this process we abdicate our autonomy to a governing body that each day alienates itself further and further from the needs the common person. The 99%.
Now, this is not my attempt to bastardize America. I am pointing to an endemic of social system dysfunction that can be felt and observed everywhere. The governments no longer govern; they conduct deals for their own self-interest. War and dysfunction are their business. War is absurdly profitable for the powerful. Furthermore, over 50% of America’s hard earned tax money goes to fund the military: [Pie Chart]. “That’s the name of the game,” they tell us. “Freedom is never free,” we hear. But how are we free, if our social ethic condones the mass murdering of civilians and soldiers worldwide, in the name of profit? Is this really freedom?
On the surface it seems that no one is going to stand up to the outrage of inequality we see. Yet, there is an outrage building within the hearts of all of us. We are becoming more compassionate, and, I feel, more of us are becoming more aware of ourselves and each other. We feel the outrage for the innocent children, with their rib cages exposed and swollen bellies, desperately looking for food at their local trash heap. If we are to evolve as a society, and as people, this perverse inequality cannot continue. And anything that gets in the way of progress should be made aware of and done away with. We must ask ourselves the ultimate question: Can self-interest ever be replaced by the best interest, the common interest, of humankind? If so, how?
——————————————-
The profit motive allows us to justify and condone our destructive ways of life. And who do you think keeps in place a way of life where the acquisition of wealth justifies the destruction of the world and the dis-empowerment of most of its people? The banks, those with the wealth and those in power. Those with the power would no longer retain power if they acted in the interest of the commoner. And that is why nothing ever changes.
But we must awaken to our own POWER! We have it, and it is within us. It is the invincible truth within you that no one can touch. Therein lies your true freedom and source of highest intelligence. Inside you exists your moral and social compass. Let’s realize that those with the power could no longer retain power if we awoke to our true nature as divine creators on a collective spiritual journey.
Read On...
We need to be brave and honest. We need to ask ourselves whether or not a concentrated group of people, those who have a detached interest apart from you and I, a group of people whom create the politics that govern the distribution of power and wealth, can really be trusted to the overall wealth of the entire collective of people?
If we were really allowed to see all that went on in government, we would not choose to be governed at all. Governments aim is to convince us that the decisions it makes are for our own good. Yet this system allows for our food to be poisoned, in the name of profit. It pushes us into war to protect its own interests, in the name of profit. It is a horror. And we are told that we are “survivalists.” But are we really? Or is that what we are taught? Therein lies the deception.
Politics is a practical art. The political arena becomes a place where people of power seek to convince you that their self-interest is your own. In this process we abdicate our autonomy to a governing body that each day alienates itself further and further from the needs the common person. The 99%.
Now, this is not my attempt to bastardize America. I am pointing to an endemic of social system dysfunction that can be felt and observed everywhere. The governments no longer govern; they conduct deals for their own self-interest. War and dysfunction are their business. War is absurdly profitable for the powerful. Furthermore, over 50% of America’s hard earned tax money goes to fund the military: [Pie Chart]. “That’s the name of the game,” they tell us. “Freedom is never free,” we hear. But how are we free, if our social ethic condones the mass murdering of civilians and soldiers worldwide, in the name of profit? Is this really freedom?
On the surface it seems that no one is going to stand up to the outrage of inequality we see. Yet, there is an outrage building within the hearts of all of us. We are becoming more compassionate, and, I feel, more of us are becoming more aware of ourselves and each other. We feel the outrage for the innocent children, with their rib cages exposed and swollen bellies, desperately looking for food at their local trash heap. If we are to evolve as a society, and as people, this perverse inequality cannot continue. And anything that gets in the way of progress should be made aware of and done away with. We must ask ourselves the ultimate question: Can self-interest ever be replaced by the best interest, the common interest, of humankind? If so, how?
——————————————-
The profit motive allows us to justify and condone our destructive ways of life. And who do you think keeps in place a way of life where the acquisition of wealth justifies the destruction of the world and the dis-empowerment of most of its people? The banks, those with the wealth and those in power. Those with the power would no longer retain power if they acted in the interest of the commoner. And that is why nothing ever changes.
But we must awaken to our own POWER! We have it, and it is within us. It is the invincible truth within you that no one can touch. Therein lies your true freedom and source of highest intelligence. Inside you exists your moral and social compass. Let’s realize that those with the power could no longer retain power if we awoke to our true nature as divine creators on a collective spiritual journey.
Read On...
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