Living in a wounded world.

[scarletwoman]

I do not know how best to cope with the reality of the forces arrayed against the living beings of the world.

Our human institutions are hopelessly corrupt and beholden to the very powers that are killing us.

How does one live with the knowledge that we are witnessing a slow-motion doom inexorably enveloping the life of our beautiful planet?

The pathology of capitalism leaves nothing but death in its wake. Death of ecosystems, death of human empathy, death of vision and wisdom and spirit. Poverty and homelessness proliferates along with the degradation of the natural world.

Politics is a farce designed to distract and confuse and dull the consciousness. That which is insignificant and irrelevant is magnified in order to draw attention away from the deeper truth of the destruction happening around us.

Is this really what you want?

sw

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. K&R

:cry:

[scarletwoman]

2. It breaks my heart to see you weep, you are one of the most gentle souls on DU.

I guess I'm not bearing up well to the sum total of catastrophe that seems to be our lot.

I remember a time when some of us thought we could fix the world, but what actually happened is that the forces of darkness hardened against us and got stronger.

I don't know what to do anymore except hold to what I know to be true, and love every bit of life and beauty around me with my whole heart.

Peace,
sw

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. Ah, do not let me break your heart...

I was just unable to think of anything more coherent than what you had already said...

:hug:

[scarletwoman]

4. ...

:hug:

[phasma ex machina]

6. +1 "hold to what I know to be true, and love every bit of life and beauty around me with my whole

heart."

See, you already knew the answer.

:) :hug:

[BanzaiBonnie]

22. Hey phamsa, that's what I was going to tell her

Keep your heart open. We are all feeling the woundedness of the planet right now, but keep on loving it all.



O8) O8) O8) :grouphug:

[Bonobo]

13. Let's fix our own worlds first.

Everything I know and have learned tells me it is the only way.

Karma.

Creating good karma is the only way to ease the sufferings of ourselves and others and bring some healing.

[glitch]

38. Beautifully expressed pain in > peace out.

:hug:

[Warren DeMontague]

5. There's always the Taoist Parable of the Farmer's horse.

:shrug:

[conscious evolution]

27. +1

Lot of zen smack going around.

[G_j]

7. we came from the oceans

the earth is our mother

the gulf was already a polluted mess, now something has broken with a finality that says destruction and decline lie ahead for most all life on the planet, if there is not a major paradigm shift.

[scarletwoman]

16. "now something has broken with ... finality" That is indeed what it feels like.

:cry:

[tavalon]

19. I think we're past the point of a paradigm shift

I think we missed the last train. Blessed Gaia herself will be okay but so many creatures who lived upon her will go. And really, it only deserved to be us. We shouldn't ever have had the power to take other species with us in our extreme selfishness. It should have just been us. In a just world, it would have only been us.

[scarletwoman]

57. "It should have just been us." Our exquisite punishment is to go as victims of our own folly,

with the blood of a billion innocents on our hands.

At the last, we have even fucked up our own suicide.

[tavalon]

58. In the end, we couldn't even do our suicide right

That should be on our collective gravestone.

[bleever]

8. Lost, in a lost world.

So many people are dying.

Lost, in a lost world.


Still, I believe the answer is love, which is consciousness and compassion, which are two sides of the same coin.

[Electric Monk]

9. I hear you. I feel where you're coming from.

I don't know what else I can do... I've tried...

[Jamastiene]

10. K&R

[azul]

11. Strange thing happened to me in 1973

when I loved the world beyond telling and measure, yet I could find no way to take a part in this civilization that was wrecking the world. In a fasting state of hopeless love, I went down to the beach and sat at the water's edge one night. Early in the morning, out of the water came the sound of millions and millions of voices, like the sounds of all life that ever lived on the earth. Enveloped me. And my little life and voice was humbled. Was not on psychedelics, didn't occur to me that maybe I was going nuts, just took some of the burden off my seeming isolation and futility.

Heard this song after this experience, and I said, wow, the path's open:


"Take a walk down by, take a walk down by the river
There's a lot that you, there's a lot that you can learn
If you've got a mind that's open, if you've got a heart that yearns

If you listen to, if you listen to the water
You will hear the sound, you will hear the sound of life
There's a million different voices, there is happiness and strife

Message in the deep, from a strange eternal sleep
That is waiting there, that is waiting there for you
Like hidden treasure"

-Steve Winwood

[BanzaiBonnie]

24. That was awesome azul

I had a similarly hopeful message a long time ago.

Growing up in the age when we were practicing duck and cover I always had a fear that we would blow up this world. The first guided meditation I was in I saw a beautiful woman "goddess" walking toward me with something cradled in her hands. It was a spark of life, glowing and beautiful. She then helped me understand that no matter what there is life and there will always be life. No matter what we do, we can't stop it.

[phasma ex machina]

45. Meditation makes my Inner Light glow.

O8)

My favorite metaphysician, Stuart Wilde, just finished another book.

Grace, Gaia, and the End of Days: An Alternative Way for the Advanced Soul

"The divine wind of grace offers you hope and good fortune; it can cure everything. It can grant you an invisible protection, a miraculous healing; it can offer you visions through what I call "pure information," which is downloaded info that comes to you directly as visions, extrasensory perception, and dreams. Grace can carry you to dimensions and places of learning far beyond anything discovered by human beings before. Grace can grant you clemency for your darkness and liberate you. Grace is pure love, a great gift, the Sacred Healer, but it is one that is poorly understood."

In this book, Stuart Wilde gives you the keys to levels of metaphysical comprehension and sophistication not normally understood. Stuart says that we are in the Kali Yuga, the Age of Destruction, when the self-correcting intelligence of the planet (Gaia) will take back Earth on behalf of the animals, nature, and the little children. He says there are battles currently raging in the spiritual worlds between the forces of light and the ghouls (dark entities) in order to free us all. He describes a power he calls the Solar Logos, which he says comes to Earth to deliver a rebirth he calls the Renewal. As such, he calls this time the "End of Days" - not because the world will end, but because it is the end of the world as we know it.

[Bonobo]

12. Move to a tiny island where everyone knows each other.

Where 90% of the people scoot around on scooters.

Where people grow lots of their own vegetables.

Where there are no street lights or convenience stores.

Where there is nothing "interesting" to do, by modern standards.

Like me. If you can.

When it hits the fan, I think we might just be able to survive for a while, helping each other.

[tavalon]

21. So, if I may ask, why did you pick Japan?

I've chosen the Northwest because I think the weather up here will become even better with time for growing food. I used to live with a bunch of people out in Duval on about 10 acres. If it really hits the fan fast, we can land back there. Hell, we probably will end up back there, now that I think about it.

[Bonobo]

29. It kinda just turned out that way.

I wound up studying Japanese in college.I wanted to speak an unusual language.

My first choice was going to be Welsh, but the Welsh professor advised me against it! What are you going to do with Welsh, she said.

So after some more thought, I chose Japanese.

Life takes us all on a wild ride that we didn't buy the ticket for.

But I think it was fate. Or I am blessed. Or lucky. Or both.

I like the way it worked out.

I think the NW would be a nice place. Maybe BC would be nice. But I am done with the US for good.

[tavalon]

35. I'm pretty much done with the US myself

I've been looking at BC.

[bear425]

39. If I may ask, how did you make the transition?

Are you still a US citizen and, if so, how difficult is it to stay in Japan for the long-term? Feel free to PM me if you like, so as not to clutter up this thread.

[Delphinus]

14. Powerful post, scarletwoman.

I have no answers, as I, like you, am trying to find my balance through all this mess. I walk as lovingly and as gently and as peacefully upon this planet as possible, knowing all the while it is not enough.

[OneGrassRoot]

15. I second this. n/t

[Matariki]

42. I'd like to hear about that too.

[Sanity Claws]

17. We need to create new systems

I keep thinking that we need to construct workers coops to counter the power of corporations.
We also need to build communities that have their own source of energy and food.
These communities can live independent and in disregard of the corruption elsewhere.
I don't think my idea is that crazy. Anyone want to join me in working on this? I am serious.

[crikkett]

32. Count me in.

:hi:

[Odin2005]

71. I agree with you completely!

:)

[tavalon]

18. That aside

I hope you're planning on GOTV this fall!

:sarcasm:

10 years of busting my ass as a GOTV and a volunteer in so many other ways and I am just this close to saying fuck it. Let the country burn.

[chillspike]

20. Give it time

Humanity just has to catch up to the rest who understand. Everyone learns at their own pace. Think of the hard times as learning phases for those who don't know. We've all had our learning phases. Don't abandon your beliefs so there is somebody waiting for them when they finally reach full understanding.

[zippy890]

23. nice. thanks

I agree with your sentiment.

:thumbsup:

[conscious evolution]

28. Zen smack

Some peoples heads are harder than others but the pain will eventually register.It always does.

[blindpig]

25. We must fight

For the love humanity, for the love of justice, for the love of the Earth we must fight.

We must fight effectively. We must organize outside of anything that has the slightest stench of the ruling class. They've got all the money, guns, economic power, we've got ourselves, and all of us together can win.

There really is no choice in this, we must put our economy on a rational basis or those fuckers will cut the Earth out from under us for the sake of a fat quarter.

Kill Capitalism

[Catherina]

33. +1 n/t

[Spheric]

44. +1 K&R /nt

[maryf]

51. Solidarity nt.

[Odin2005]

72. +1,000,000,000,000

[NikolaC]

26. K&R

[Lorien]

30. Wise words. K & R.

[crikkett]

31. Be the change you want to see.

Plant a garden. Ride a bike. Buy local or secondhand. Use canvas bags. Limit electricity unless you go solar. Stir-fry instead of bake or grill. Don't upgrade or buy into every new gadget on the market. Recycle electronics. Turn off your television. Sign up your salons to Matter of Trust, and send in your nylons.

That's in answer to:
"How does one live with the knowledge that we are witnessing a slow-motion doom inexorably enveloping the life of our beautiful planet?"

[northernlights]

40. even better than stir fry

get a "hotpot" solar cooker or two. No need to burn anything to cook a meal or boil water.

[William Z. Foster]

67. counterproductive and dangerous

We are at such great risk, have such a desperate need to pull together and fight the common foe. The entire planet and every living thing on it is at risk. This is not the time to counsel people to withdraw into the safe hidey-hole of personal choices and personal beliefs and individual lifestyle changes. You are recommending the course of action that got us into this horrible mess.

[seabeyond]

34. when the very lowest of who we are is continually honored, rewarded, insisted on

and the good of who we are is continually attacked, this is what happens. it doesnt effect any one area, it effects all that we are.

it is a site to behold

[tranche]

36. Hey, I stepped outside today.

The sun was shining and the air smells really fine.

[Javaman]

37. Like I have said in other threads, "the mayans were optimists".

we are instead dying of 1000 cuts.

[stuntcat]

41. I think if it wasn't for tv..

If it wasn't for TV, sports, video games etc.. the stuff that takes up 40-70% of many consumers' minds, then people would start noticing how the rest of the life is paying.. paying forever.

But maybe a lot of them wouldn't care anyway! I have some inlaws who don't give a shit how we rape the world, they have their steaks & cable tv & big cars. :puke:

[Patsy Stone]

43. No, this is not what I want

but I accept that it is currently such, and until we all live in a Gene Roddenberry world, it shall remain mostly such, with accomplishments and setbacks along the way. That's not to say I don't hope improvements and emotional evolution will occur, but I don't see utopia becoming a reality in my lifetime. I will, however, continue to fight the seemingly losing battle, because, for me, it's the right thing to do.

Politics has always been a corrupt business, from the first stirrings in Greece until now. Although the main idea is altruistic -- governing ethically for the good of the many -- the reality is that it's always been at the mercy of forces which humans are sometimes too weak to resist. Even the best politcal philosophies fail in the face of greed and megalomania. Even the most benevolent king can be narcissistic and susceptible to temptation and thoughtless cruelty. Human morality is a funny thing. If someone can find a way to justify an action, in a way they can live with, especially if they convince themselves it is for the good of others over themselves, thoughts or actions reprehensible or unacceptable to some, seem perfectly justified to them. In other words, the system is not a problem, per se, but when placed in the hands of humans, it can easily fall prey to human vices.

The Earth has survived this far, and it will probably continue to survive past our lifetimes. In the future, perhaps humans will evolve to a way of thinking that we would wish for, but in the meantime, I'm just going to do my part to make my little section of the world (and the people in it, like you) a little happier.

But that's me -- I'm a giver. :)

:hi:

[femrap]

46. Thank you so much

for your words. I'm cutting and pasting them.

I hate Greed. And I think we're seeing Capitalism eat itself.

[marew]

47. I could not agree more.

And my heart cries also. Sometimes I feel like I am the only one out there. And I want no one and no creature to suffer but it seems so few feel that way. And you and I and others and I are not too sensitive. They, the others, are not sensitive enough. Whether it is the poor and sick in our country who can't afford health care and sometimes food or the marvelous creature with whom we share the dying slowly in the oil, I cry for them all. Suffering is suffering. And so few care.

[BeHereNow]

48. You are one of the few people I would share this with- from the Tairona Trust.

As you know, I am a long time follower of the Kogi Indians and their warning to the
"younger brothers" (us) about what was happening to the planet as a result of the
disruptions and destruction of their practices and sacred sites.

The journey into studying the Kogi's started when I say Alan Ereira's documentary
made by the BBC in the late eighties.
"From the Heart of the World - the Elder Brothers' Warning'"

Alan recently emailed me with an update about a pending second film.
Apparently, the Kogi have more to say to us.

I wrote to him this morning to ask if he had any word from them
about the BP disaster.
I remembered a section of their last written communication with the world
about what they call Dungunavi:

This is an excerpt from the 2009 letter to us from the Kogi.

"Dugunavi (another damaged sacred site) is the person who has to take care of the sea, so she is a Mother too, and we must take care of the sea just as of the Earth so that it produces fish, shellfish and everything. We human beings are her children. Dugunavi… is slowly fading. The Organisation Gonawindua Tairona and their Cabildo exist to make public declarations about all this since the Mothers cannot take care of things unaided."

You can read the entire letter here:
http://taironatrust.org/
(They also talk about the water cycle being broken)
I wish more people would learn about the Kogi.
I fear it is too late.

From the first documentary:
"
the Kogi were almost unknown until they agreed to the making of ‘From the Heart of the World - The Elder Brothers’ Warning’, a BBC documentary made by Alan Ereira in 1990. The film contained a strong message of warning concerning the environment.

“Up to now we have ignored the Younger Brother. We have not deigned even to give him a slap. But now we can no longer look after the world alone. The Younger Brother is doing too much damage. He must see, and understand, and assume responsibility. Now we will have to work together. Otherwise, the world will die.”
Kogi Mama



BHN

[scarletwoman]

52. I first read the book, _The Elder Brothers_ many years ago, shortly after it first came out.

The Elder Brothers' message has stayed with me ever since. When the oil well first ruptured their words were the first thing I thought of.

Back then, in one of the many threads here expressing shock and dismay, my dear friend DesertRose made a comment, "They've hit an artery", and it hit me like a blow. We have slashed and ripped and raped our Mother's body, and now She is bleeding out.

I understand that the Earth Herself won't die, but weakened and beset She is being rendered incapable of caring for Her children. She will have to withdraw Her life force and Her blessings from the arrogant children who have so heedlessly ill-used Her, in order to heal Herself.

I think a great culling of the human race is drawing upon us.

About 8 or 9 years ago I was a guest at wedding of one Leonard Crow Dog's grandsons. Late in the day the wedding party and some of us friends were sitting informally around a campfire, just quietly chatting. Crow Dog himself came and joined us, and mostly sat silent. One his relatives asked him a question -- I didn't hear what it was -- and Leonard started speaking.

"The earth is gonna shake. The earth is gonna shake like a dog shaking off fleas. The earth is gonna shake off the white man."

sw

[BeHereNow]

53. "I think a great culling of the human race is drawing upon us."

I agree completely with all that you say.

I am just so saddened that so many innocents dying.
I can't even look at the videos some of the people have posted on
the Internet.

BHN

[blindpig]

62. Don't get sad, get angry.

Refuse catatonia, impotence, do not let this pass. There is too much to lose, too much suffering to avert, a future to be preserved. Let the anger motivate us to rational analysis, hard work and sacrifice, whatever it takes to turn this thing around. Let us show that the capitalists ethos is not the definition of humanity, we are better than that.

[Beringia]

49. Could it be we are here to take a big test

of whether we know how to live on this planet. And there is the distinct possibility we will fail the test. I think it will be the individual who manages to pass and I don't know how that squares with our living under big governments, with fake elections.

[maryf]

50. Rage, despair, depression...

Rage is the one that will win the day. We have to scream, fight... please sw, don't get consumed in despair...

When I get mad I cry, now when I cry I get mad...We have to fight to save this planet and its life!! Stop the death! Kill capitalism...

[scarletwoman]

55. I'm not depressed. I'm not in despair, I'm simply deeply saddened.

I'm all for "killing capitalism" -- but in practical terms, how does one accomplish that?

Certainly not by electoral politics, that's just a show put on by the Ruling Class to dupe the masses into thinking that they have a say.

I doubt very much that capitalism can be killed until capitalism itself has killed off so much of the world that there are no longer any profits to be made. It's like cancer -- the cells just keep multiplying and eating up the host until the host dies. The cancer dies when the host dies.

Love is creative. We need to love fiercely and uncompromisingly. And out of that love create alternative ways of being in the world. It's useless to fling ourselves against the Wall in rage. I'm not of a mind to be a suicide bomber.

The work that needs to be done is done first in our consciousness. Put our energies into creating alternative ways of engaging with each other, alternative ways of meeting the basic human needs of food and shelter.

Capitalism draws its strength from fear -- fear of scarcity, fear of suffering, fear of ostracism. The supreme irony is that it is capitalism itself that creates those very conditions. What's needed is an antidote to fear.

sw

[G_j]

56. after all we have done to immerse ourselves in illusion

or better, delusion, it is simply the law of cause and effect, yea, karma, taking place.
What horrors will we create to eventually force ourselves to change? Would any horror be enough?
I have met so many wonderful, beautiful people in my life, There are millions of incredible people on this planet!
But they don't aspire for power and wealth, as mostly sociopaths do. While some were learning organic gardening,
making music, raising children, they were devising ways to puncture the earth, sell us the water and control the crops through mutation.
But the majority just went along, content through exhaustion and codified by television and fed lab tested addictions.

:think: the whole Pink Floyd, "Animals" theme just popped into my mind, so I had to dig this up:

Sheep (Waters)

Harmlessly passing your time in the grassland away;
Only dimly aware of a certain unease in the air.
You better watch out,
There may be dogs about
I've looked over Jordan, and I have seen
Things are not what they seem.

What do you get for pretending the danger's not real.
Meek and obedient you follow the leader
Down well trodden corridors into the valley of steel.
What a surprise!
A look of terminal shock in your eyes.
Now things are really what they seem.
No, this is no bad dream.

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want
He makes me down to lie
Through pastures green He leadeth me the silent waters by.
With bright knives He releaseth my soul.
He maketh me to hang on hooks in high places.
He converteth me to lamb cutlets,
For lo, He hath great power, and great hunger.
When cometh the day we lowly ones,
Through quiet reflection, and great dedication
Master the art of karate,
Lo, we shall rise up,
And then we'll make the bugger's eyes water.

Bleating and babbling I fell on his neck with a scream.
Wave upon wave of demented avengers
March cheerfully out of obscurity into the dream.

Have you heard the news?
The dogs are dead!
You better stay home
And do as you're told.
Get out of the road if you want to grow old.


:-(

[blindpig]

63. We must organize, our numbers are all we got.

And if we do it right our numbers might be enough. We gotta try, sw. I for one cannot let this pass without a fight.

Love? The love of a mother for her children, the love of children for their mother. This is a fight for love, for humanity, the Earth and all of it's life. What we can do as individuals is good for the soul but they will continue doing what they do. What we can do as organized humanity is remove profit as the sole motivator of our civilization's behavior, maybe that will be enough. And if it is not we will have at least have shown the good in our species.

[scarletwoman]

64. You know, I've thought about this problem for years.

It's all very well to talk about "organizing" in the abstract -- and don't mistake me, I believe this is the correct action.

There are small pockets of people all over the world who have organized within their communities and are accomplishing good things -- every community garden in a blighted U.S. urban neighborhood, every woman's clinic in a rural Nepal village, every workers take-over of a derelict factory in Argentina is a small victory for the People.

None of these can stem the greater tide of capitalist destruction, what they do is ameliorate the results of the abuse by the elites, and improve the prospects for the survival of those who are involved.

On the other hand you have the membership of DU, supposedly a refuge for "progressives", who cannot even imagine doing without a credit card. Who wouldn't think of doing without their 401Ks. Who don't want to close their BOA checking account because it would be too inconvenient.

As long as people are willing to assist in the forging of their own chains, all talk of freedom and resistance is useless.

All I see around here are colonized minds. Sure, they gripe about the status quo, but barely a one is willing to let go of the preconceptions that keep the status quo humming merrily along.

They point and hoot at "freepers" and "teabaggers" and "Republicans" without the least bit of self-awareness that they are just as deluded and narrow and dualistic in their own thinking.

"Don't mourn, organize!" Yes, that's the spirit. No doubt whatsoever. But who, where? I'm just an old woman living alone in the woods. The nearest big city is 100 miles away.

My goal is much more modest, to simply touch a mind now and again. Unless we are willing to storm Wall Street and the U.S. Capitol, torch the buildings and drag all the "little Eichmans" to the guillotine, what is left to us are the small things.

Decolonizing minds, starting with our own, is the first of these.

sw

[William Z. Foster]

68. the people here are not representative of very many

DU membership is skewed to the upper 10% income bracket, largely educated white collar people - the very people recruited and trained their entire lives to be shills for their masters, and who are rewarded for being shills for the ruling class.

Over the last 40 years the model for political organizing has been flawed. That is why it seems that "it won't work." Successful movements for political and social change come from outside of the winner's circle, from the nobodies, and great mass movements always start with small groups meeting and discussing what to do.

Your point about "colonized minds" is good. So let's start decolonizing minds. Don't worry that there are only a few of us. Better a few seriously tackling this, than a big herd of people out for some sham event - like cheering for and voting for some charismatic "progressive" political candidate. We don't need a plan, we don't need to have all of the answers, we don't need a sales and marketing pitch that will bring in millions. We don't need MSM airtime, we don't need celebrities, we don't need millions of dollars. A handful of people who are serious and committed is far more powerful than the whole partisan electoral dog and pony show, than the mass media. A handful of people can change the world. We will change the world.

[scarletwoman]

70. Thank you for your thoughtful and encouraging post.

Our numbers are definitely small -- I've pretty much been advocating for building a movement outside of partisan electoral politics the entire 9 years I've been on DU.

Over the last 40 years the model for political organizing has been flawed.

That's because most of whatever there was of a "Left" in this country got co-opted into the Democratic party and partisan electoral politics. We've been counselled endlessly to "change the system from within." Most self-described "liberals" are still at it. "Be pragmatic, be practical, be patient!" Right, because it's been working so well over these past 40 years.

So, yes, let us decolonize minds as best we can. It's what I've done my best to do here all along.

sw

[William Z. Foster]

77. unraveling

One mind decolonized starts an unraveling process, and that then catches on and spreads to others.

It takes a tremendous amount of effort to keep everyone's minds "raveled" - 24 hours a day people have to be bombarded with the message, and many threats and a few bribes are needed to keep people cowed and in line. A few people questioning it threatens the whole edifice of lies.

The people who try to convince us that it is hopeless - "they have the guns, they have the money, they have the media" - are just trying to scare and discourage us. The people in power have a much more difficult job - that is why they need the money and the guns and the media. They have to run around stamping out each and every little ember, because they know that resistance can quickly spread into a wildfire. All we need to do is continue to start little fires and fan the flames - anywhere and everywhere - and sooner or later one will catch and events will start moving very quickly. The difference between the approaches by the two parties, and their shills and mouthpieces, is this: the "conservatives" think that by aggressively and overtly smashing down any resistance they can keep us all in line and protect the system, the "liberals" think that with bribes and a gentler approach (with an iron fist hidden in the velvet glove) they can keep us all in line and protect the system. That is like the two different approaches that pet owners use with their pets, and "pets" is how we are seen by the wealthy and powerful. Actually, pets are treated better. "Conservatives" think that discipline and punishment is the best way to manage pets, "liberals" think treats and gentle guidance (with the whip hidden behind the back and used only as a last resort) is the best way to manage pets.

[scarletwoman]

78. Starting little fires...

Have flint, will travel.

sw

[William Z. Foster]

79. the key

What changes people's minds is conditions, not any persuasion or sales job by any of us. Capitalism will inevitably create deteriorating and intolerable conditions. That is the main reason we oppose it - not because we don't "like" it, not because we don't "believe" in it, not because we have a commie agenda we are trying to force on everyone, not because we are pie-in-the-sky utopia promoters - but rather because it does not work, and causes tremendous destruction and misery as it hurtles towards inevitable disaster, and holds in place a tremendous level of inequality and injustice in the meantime.

Being on the political left is not about getting recruits, converting believers, or selling any program or plan, rather it is about bringing the conditions to people's attention in an understandable way, and understanding the process and the historical context so that we can be of some use to people when things start falling apart. One group, a small group of those benefiting most from Capitalism and a cadre of sympathizers and apologists around them, will fight ferociously - is fighting - to scare people back into compliance. The left can stand fast on this and say "no!" where liberals and progressives and Democrats cannot, because they will always be vulnerable to offers of peace at the price of compromising. The left can continue to agitate since it cannot be bought or intimidated, and in that way a small number of people can have an enormous effect and perform a tremendous service for everyone.

[cilla4progress]

54. My goddess...

this is one of the most beautiful, yea tragic, encapsulations I've seen on DU or anywhere else of the current condition and my feelings.

What do we do, SW?

[scarletwoman]

60. Thank you for your kind words. I have no answers.

However, I do know that asking the right questions is the most important thing we can do. A true question bears the seed of its own answer.

Peace,
sw

[earth mom]

59. I feel a distinct before and after. Nothing is the same, our world is changed forever.

:cry:

[scarletwoman]

61. It DOES feel like that.

It's the same feeling I had when bush* "won" the election in 2000, the same feeling I had when the World Trade Center towers burst into flame.

A corner turned, a doom invited. The infinite threads of possible futures narrowed down to a single path heading into darkness.

sw

[BlancheSplanchnik]

65. yes, that feeling of doom

like your stomach just fell 100 stories.

I remember VERY clearly that feeling too, when boosh got chosen..... and I wasn't even very political at that time, though I HAD gone to vote with an unusual fervency. Still, I knew on some visceral level that something very very bad had just happened.

The one hopeful thing I can think of is that "all this" will bring forth many positive, healing ideas and actions. and I think it's important to try and keep refocusing on any positive way of looking at our place in the world now, because when I'm spiralling around in this negative doomed feeling, it gains energy--so it has an effect metaphysically speaking. Also, from a practical standpoint, it's very hard to make wise decisions and take constructive actoin when you're swirling down that negative vortex.

I struggle to hold this perspective, I am trying to deliberately catch my -- a constant battle-- since I'm kind of inclined to be misanthropic, at least in terms of the anonymous mass (ha, a misanthropic Buddhist. hrmmm )

[William Z. Foster]

80. agreed

We have passed the point of no return and everything will be different from here on out.

There was a fork in the road a couple of years ago and the choice was take the rabid dogs of Wall Street down and save the planet, or revitalize them and turn them loose on the world for once last frenzied escalating assault on the world, and watch them rip and tear at everything.

[Jennicut]

66. We have been crapping on the Earth since the industrial revolution.

Nothing new in my opinion. Earth is lucky is has rebounded from us before. We don't respect it at all...

[Odin2005]

69. Too many have forgoten that all change must start locally.

It seems that for the past 40 years we have had Politics-By-Who-Screams-Loudest, the expectation being you keep screaming until The Government does what you want it to. We have forgotten what the Leftist activists of the Depression knew, real change must come from below, from the mass of The People MAKING CHANGE HAPPEN. The national government is corrupt with corporate money, we cannot expect it to be a catalyst for progress. WE OURSELVES need to force progress, not expect our rotted-out government to do it for us.

[scarletwoman]

73. You know that. I know that. A handful or so of other DUers know it, too.

But making the point that partisan politics is NOT the correct vehicle for changing our world is largely unwelcome here these days.

[Odin2005]

74. Yep. Too many people think Politics is screaming one's beliefs.

I say REAL politics is LIVING one's beliefs, being the change one wants to see in the world, and helping other do the same.

We need to relearn what TRUE community is, what TRUE civil society is, and stop thinking of ourselves as a collection of atomistic individuals. We are all in this together. We understood this in the 30's, but ever since the 70s most have forgotten that basic truth.

[Imagevision]

75. Bush spent 8 years running this country into the ground and many

expect Obama to fix it in 1 or 2 years.

[scarletwoman]

76. You seem to have wandered into the wrong thread.

Nowhere in my OP does the word "Obama" occur.

And if you think that the "pathology of capitalism" (my phrase from the OP) only happened during the eight bush* years, you obviously haven't paid attention to the economic and political trajectories of the past 40-50 years.