I will not employ a litany of tropes that only serve to denigrate a better idea.
I will not attempt to rip this treatise apart because of the uncomfortableness of admitting that I too belong to a society that perpetuates a rampage of stupidities .
You have displayed intelligence through an astute observation of historical dynamics.
You have uncovered truths .
We can do better.
We can do better, by turning away from the ego, and turning to God.
If you go to God for advice , and he goes to God for advice, and I go to God for advice , and they go to God for advice, and she goes to God for advice-
Absolutely. And therein lies Mattias Desmet’s weakness, a man that tried to be good and do good, no doubt. I prompted him several times over the years to go deeper, but he won’t touch spirituality. It is ironic that he blames materialism and rationalism for the dire state of society but, at his core, is a materialist and rationalist himself - just a better, more aware one. But we can’t fix materialism—which is ego-based and the belief that all we are is this body-mind - from within materialism by having better morals or better thoughts. We can slightly improve how people behave,, but this is a seesaw operation, as history shows. Only spirituality—that path to love and awareness - can cause permanent change, first in individuals and then in societies.
I would go even further. Sue. The root of all problems is spiritual. Actually, for deeply spiritual people, problems dissolve. It’s not that they find answers to the most pressing questions. The questions go away because they are seen as insignificant, ever-coming-and-going, transient mind-play, watched with a sense of amusement and not taken seriously anymore. The body and mind still has to act and live out their destinies, but as Shakespeare observed very accurately, life is a stage, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
But how do you fix spirituality when we have organised religion(s) whose main purpose is to obscure and distort it? Take the word "God" for example. It means different things to different people. Its meaning is so distorted as to make the word useless. Our perception of what God is has been manipulated for thousands of years by the priesthood class, holy books, teachers, parents... Few of us are capable to discover for themselves the true nature of spirituality - one that has nothing to do with what we're told it is.
I fully agree with your reply. Short answer: Find those true teachers that have found the true “God” for themselves and trust them to guide you, or find it in ourselves by ourselves. And then we know it, and all is good. “God”, the Absolute, is in everything. Hence it is in each of us. Discoverable, ever present.
Oh my goodness, I’m laughing here because whatever isn’t forbidden is considered compulsory is like the essence of Swiss culture when it comes to insurance.
All happy families are alike, but each unhappy family is unhappy in it's own way, I'm still looking for that happy family, you know the one with zero blemishes, everyone is young, glowing, new puppy, then there's Purina dog chow, what's in it, don't ask, might fracture the illusion
You are right. I didn’t want to imply these families exist, sorry. In an ego-driven, materialistic world, they can’t exist. Neither can similar rulerless societies. This is a visionary article, not a description of reality. That doesn’t mean it is impossible, but it starts with each of us and nowhere else.
Rules but no Ruler may seem a long way away right now, but it is not so far from what we our societies have aspired to and grown towards in the past.
Common (natural) law is a long run working out of the rules of society, of what we may not do to others and thereby live peacefully and cooperatively with our neighbours; it is not a series of positive injunctions; nor does it support those (rulers) who would issue edicts and regulations to us. It is being suffocated in an explosion of state power and control.
We are facing totalitarianism: we need to turn away and take the path to the ever smaller state, which is the path that leads to freedom.
Just as we can be our own doctor so we can be our own ruler. A big bang would be nice, but one step at a time stripping away pretty much everything the state has taken upon itself will get us there.
After seeing/feeling the tightening noose of authority during the COVID "crisis", and now the nebulous "climate crisis", I'm all for managing my own crises in future. In fact, I never asked for these meddlesome rules to remotely-declared crises in the first place. I'm happy to live in a degree of chaos if needs be. To look out my window in the morning and to decide if there's a crisis today or not. And I'm happy to rely on a loose collective where I know who our calm and decisive people are, and will happily defer to their skills when needed. People usually step up when there's an actual crisis. The greatest "chaos" actually always seems to arise in response to tightening authority anyway. So I'm quite happy to shed all of that. Co-operative Sovereignty is becoming an extremely appealing imperative for me. Maybe always has. I just didn't realise it until the Grabbing Ones started encroaching into my personal space - locking me down, trying to muzzle me, inject me, and shut me up.
Psychopaths gravitate towards power and once attained they gravitate towards unlimited power. The only way to avoid them is to remove the power structures and the only way to remove the power structures is to make them irrelevant. Easier said than done with all the sheeple still walking around looking for someone to tell them what to do, when to do it and why to do it.
I think anarchy is a great idea. on paper it can work, just like the multiple currently in vogue systems of government.
in practice, /all/ systems of governance are taken over by the power mad and psychopathic, breaking functionality.
no, I don't have any solutions, just complaints. I'm unaware of how to fully exclude the power mad and psychopaths so they can't contaminate the control structures.
AI is jealous of humanity, and is trying to hard. Great quote.
LOL
I love this; with no caveats .
I will not employ a litany of tropes that only serve to denigrate a better idea.
I will not attempt to rip this treatise apart because of the uncomfortableness of admitting that I too belong to a society that perpetuates a rampage of stupidities .
You have displayed intelligence through an astute observation of historical dynamics.
You have uncovered truths .
We can do better.
We can do better, by turning away from the ego, and turning to God.
If you go to God for advice , and he goes to God for advice, and I go to God for advice , and they go to God for advice, and she goes to God for advice-
then how would there be any conflict?
Absolutely. And therein lies Mattias Desmet’s weakness, a man that tried to be good and do good, no doubt. I prompted him several times over the years to go deeper, but he won’t touch spirituality. It is ironic that he blames materialism and rationalism for the dire state of society but, at his core, is a materialist and rationalist himself - just a better, more aware one. But we can’t fix materialism—which is ego-based and the belief that all we are is this body-mind - from within materialism by having better morals or better thoughts. We can slightly improve how people behave,, but this is a seesaw operation, as history shows. Only spirituality—that path to love and awareness - can cause permanent change, first in individuals and then in societies.
Thank you for addressing the root of our political problem as being a spiritual issue.
I would go even further. Sue. The root of all problems is spiritual. Actually, for deeply spiritual people, problems dissolve. It’s not that they find answers to the most pressing questions. The questions go away because they are seen as insignificant, ever-coming-and-going, transient mind-play, watched with a sense of amusement and not taken seriously anymore. The body and mind still has to act and live out their destinies, but as Shakespeare observed very accurately, life is a stage, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
But how do you fix spirituality when we have organised religion(s) whose main purpose is to obscure and distort it? Take the word "God" for example. It means different things to different people. Its meaning is so distorted as to make the word useless. Our perception of what God is has been manipulated for thousands of years by the priesthood class, holy books, teachers, parents... Few of us are capable to discover for themselves the true nature of spirituality - one that has nothing to do with what we're told it is.
I fully agree with your reply. Short answer: Find those true teachers that have found the true “God” for themselves and trust them to guide you, or find it in ourselves by ourselves. And then we know it, and all is good. “God”, the Absolute, is in everything. Hence it is in each of us. Discoverable, ever present.
Oh my goodness, I’m laughing here because whatever isn’t forbidden is considered compulsory is like the essence of Swiss culture when it comes to insurance.
All happy families are alike, but each unhappy family is unhappy in it's own way, I'm still looking for that happy family, you know the one with zero blemishes, everyone is young, glowing, new puppy, then there's Purina dog chow, what's in it, don't ask, might fracture the illusion
You are right. I didn’t want to imply these families exist, sorry. In an ego-driven, materialistic world, they can’t exist. Neither can similar rulerless societies. This is a visionary article, not a description of reality. That doesn’t mean it is impossible, but it starts with each of us and nowhere else.
Rules but no Ruler may seem a long way away right now, but it is not so far from what we our societies have aspired to and grown towards in the past.
Common (natural) law is a long run working out of the rules of society, of what we may not do to others and thereby live peacefully and cooperatively with our neighbours; it is not a series of positive injunctions; nor does it support those (rulers) who would issue edicts and regulations to us. It is being suffocated in an explosion of state power and control.
We are facing totalitarianism: we need to turn away and take the path to the ever smaller state, which is the path that leads to freedom.
Just as we can be our own doctor so we can be our own ruler. A big bang would be nice, but one step at a time stripping away pretty much everything the state has taken upon itself will get us there.
Lovely summary, thank you. Fully agree.
This is a good Dream.
In order to manifest, we must first Dream it. If you can See it - it becomes so much more possible. If enough of us See it, we start to Share it.
Joy would ensue.
Nice piece and it's a great idea.
However human nature says that bad actors will take advantage and dominate without checks.
Also rules may not be followed or followed selectively-how would you know ? What would be the knock on effect ?
What happens in emergencies or crises, are they faced collectively ?
Reaching consensus without leaders can be slow look at the EU with trade deals.
Lack of accountability, who carries the can when things go wrong ?
I love the idea and could see it working in small like minded communities just not writ large.
After seeing/feeling the tightening noose of authority during the COVID "crisis", and now the nebulous "climate crisis", I'm all for managing my own crises in future. In fact, I never asked for these meddlesome rules to remotely-declared crises in the first place. I'm happy to live in a degree of chaos if needs be. To look out my window in the morning and to decide if there's a crisis today or not. And I'm happy to rely on a loose collective where I know who our calm and decisive people are, and will happily defer to their skills when needed. People usually step up when there's an actual crisis. The greatest "chaos" actually always seems to arise in response to tightening authority anyway. So I'm quite happy to shed all of that. Co-operative Sovereignty is becoming an extremely appealing imperative for me. Maybe always has. I just didn't realise it until the Grabbing Ones started encroaching into my personal space - locking me down, trying to muzzle me, inject me, and shut me up.
Psychopaths gravitate towards power and once attained they gravitate towards unlimited power. The only way to avoid them is to remove the power structures and the only way to remove the power structures is to make them irrelevant. Easier said than done with all the sheeple still walking around looking for someone to tell them what to do, when to do it and why to do it.
I think anarchy is a great idea. on paper it can work, just like the multiple currently in vogue systems of government.
in practice, /all/ systems of governance are taken over by the power mad and psychopathic, breaking functionality.
no, I don't have any solutions, just complaints. I'm unaware of how to fully exclude the power mad and psychopaths so they can't contaminate the control structures.
Going back to the 10 commandments. Basic rules, would not need rulers.