The Sobering Global Reality

Would you pay more to make Trade FAIR?

The Forces Shaping Our World

If you have not been getting depressed lately then maybe you just have not been paying attention. There is so much to be depressed about. In which case you might feel the seductive downward pull of melancholy. Perhaps there is a mysterious feeling of sadness lurking out in the wilderness stalking you, waiting . . .ready to claim you at a moments notice. Lurking . . .waiting. Till finally, like the evil SLIME in a B-grade movie it drags you down into subterranean depths, into the underworld. Perhaps even into Neptune’s world, into the subaquatic realm of deep dark and horrible feelings. And maybe . . . maybe, that’s not such a bad thing after all because let’s face it: there is actually plenty to be depressed about. And a warning: this is not one of those pieces of propaganda you see plastered all over the toilets of the Western World or bobbing up on the telly giving you a hotline number to call if you feel depressed. Managing depression has it’s place, but this is not one of those places. And you can be assured of this: There is HOPE. Real hope.

It will not here be proposed that the depressing reality is merely a chemical imbalance in the brain that some neurological doctor of reductionism can address by introducing a new poison into your brain. There now! It will all be better soon. Really? Honestly? Such bullshit.  It seems that so often the best that the medical fraternity aim for is that you will settle enough so that the problem goes away. As if we are three year old children that need to be put to bed, to be made unconscious. Thanks, but no thanks.

Ah yes feelings. Feelings! Those messy and fluid blobs of pulsating and very human energy that can not be forever avoided. Even if you want to. You may at times, find yourself standing on the metaphorical cliffs of your own isolation and loneliness and look into that sea of  seething and unregulated emotion wondering if your are brave enough to dip your toe in the water much less to jump in. You may at this point of contemplation feel an urge to run away. Or even take yourself off the game-board. Yes it certainly does happen. Or you may in defeat want to scurry back into the video game. Back to the television. Back to the bottle. Back to the fun-parlour. Back to the sex doll, or sex person. But as the Alcoholics Anonymous peeps will tell you, it will probably be necessary to hit rock bottom before you are ready to change.   But here’s the thing: it isn’t actually necessary to hit rock bottom. You can can simply decide to change. A radical proposition admittedly but there it is. So sue me. Yes, it can be done through choice. You can simply look at the “what-is” of your life and fess up. I did it! Just own the whole damn thing. And after making a thorough inventory of all the shit stuff . . .you then get to decide what you want to do about it.

Simply existing as an anaesthetized member of an unconscious civilization will not bring you any joy, or any real pleasure and certainly no fulfilment. Those things are all off the list. Surfing the mall for distractions will leave you feeling empty. Honestly . . .As you cruised past all those retail outlets offering all that cheap and even overpriced stuff, did you spare a thought for the people who exist in grinding poverty in slave-like conditions to bring you your pink satin panties? Your iPhone cover? Your new set of dumb-bells? Your cross-fit lycra gold lame tank top by Designer fitness pro Desmondo (made in Bangladesh)? Cheap t-Shirts. Overpriced stonewash jeans. A baby’s arm holding an apple. Now go be happy and shut the fuck up.

It’s no wonder you’re depressed. You should be. There is no simple way out. The truth is that us Westerners can be just as trapped as those in sweatshops. We’re all slaves it seems. And the competitive genes of the world’s poor are striving to get their kids into better education and higher paid jobs so that one day they can come to your country and take the best jobs from your kids. This is not a racist rant. And I wish it were’t true. But the way things are, it’s more than just a little bit true. We humans may have invented a bunch of technology that makes it ever easier to rape the Earth and produce ever more stuff, but it seems that sadly, we are a long way from being truly civilized.

So start crying. Really. If there IS something that can change the world it’s people getting in touch with their feelings. For it is not possible to engage with the authenticity we need to affect REAL change, from the place of narcissistic avoidance, perpetual numbness and proactive insanity. You just get more of the same. And you see , , ,this IS the Apocalypse. We are living through it. What does it mean? Apocalypse? Though I have noticed that most references to this truer definition have been whitewashed lately. Funny thing . . .  It means a lifting of the veil of secrecy and lies in a time of evil and corruption. Honestly. Seen the news lately? By that definition The Apocalypse is in full swing. And you need to make it your own. Start to get in touch with your own dark feelings, of sadness, of regrets or remorse. Spill the beans. About yourself. To YOURSELF. And when you’re done look out into the world and see with brutal clarity the BEAST of Revelations in fully exposed ugly mode. LOOK at the corruption of the world, and start weeping. You can change, but it’s not going to happen from the place of  hiding, of avoidance, of chosen ignorance and of endless addictions. Get clean. Get free. It’s time. Change.

You see, it’s not actually as bad as it seems and at the same time it’s far worse. That is the paradox of course. Far worse? Well . . .you may have been listening to all those crazy conspiracy theories on-line and in your face saying all this terrible stuff. Who do you believe? What is actually going on? If you need any inspiration you can do a search on Building 7. There’s a case in point. How . . .the fuck . . .did it fall down? This is the question that many highly qualified people are asking. No answers from the US administration. No secret societies have put up their hand to admit complicity. What a surprise. And while you’re at it remember the worlds of Adolph Hitler. In the game of mass psychology, control and dominance, it is useful to tell a BIG lie. A lie so monstrous that people would refuse to believe it. Building 7.

So how should you make your way in a world of greed, corruption, anxiety, depression, evil and lies? It’s a good question. First confront your own corruption and lack of moral fibre. Feel your feelings about how you FEEL about such a breach of trust with yourself. Own it. And take your time. Give yourself more than a minute on this. THEN .. .FORGIVE YOURSELF. And then decide that you want to change. It’s the authentic decision that will lead you out of the labrynth.

There is an old Chinese saying. You should not fear making slow progress. Fear only making no progress. Stagnation really is death. You need to get committed to your own LOVE actions. State of being. Open heart meditation. LOVE of God however you conceive him/her to be. Get committed to yourself. Doing the REAL thing may seem odd at first. It seems we have all become so comfortable with the LIE that to live in the truth can feel a bit odd once you decide to get to it. A bit weird. Hey! Just do it. You could make up a list of authentic actions, projects, stances, behaviours, consumer choices, habits. thought patterns, friends, groups . . .songs to sing . . . and just schedule in things on the list. There would be no room for anything else. Turn off the bloody telly! In fact there is a new word doing the rounds: Voluntourism. Look that one up. Getting un-fucked is a job of work to be sure. But as an evil communist dictator once said. The journey of a Thousand Miles begins with a single step. Hang on! That wasn’t an evil Communist dictator who said that. It was Lao Tsu – a wise man. Strange how these things go.

If you need any inspiration to more deeply feel and understand the global perspective there are few more enlightening or sober reflections available than from the lips of the President of Uruguay – Jose Mujica as he addresses the United Nations 2013

Media Manager Murdoch’s Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth

Space Ship Earth - Courtesy http://daveginsberg.net/SpaceshipEarth/story.htm

The title: Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth comes to us from Bucky – AKA R. Buckminster Fuller – it’s the title of his most famous book – now with new added enzymes, you will no doubt enjoy Media Manager Murdoch’s Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth. As Bucky has remarked, “people sometimes wonder what it would be like to be an astronaut . . . and i say – you are an astronaut, right now. You are a crew member of Spaceship Earth“.

And here you are . . . on board Spaceship Earth, hurtling through the darkness of space at just over 100,000 kph. Today you are on the bridge of Spaceship Earth because it’s your regular Sunday shift at the controls of the great Blue Sphere. You cue up some of your favourite cruzy Sunday music and start into the day. The morning hot beverage  hovers right in front of you in it’s own little anti-gravity beverage holder. First thing, you start checking the state of the life support systems, because that’s always the first and most important thing you do when starting a shift. It’s all written up in the Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth. But WHOA!!! What you see next sends you into an instant panic.

Imagine! You have arrived somewhat sleepy, maybe a bit hung over from the night before. There you are in your sneakers, jeans and T-shirt – kind of standard uniform for crew members these days – and as you’re looking at the control panel you realize something is very wrong with the life-support systems. All the indicators for all the different functions of the life-support system are going crazy on the monitors. The air supply has suddenly gone critical – with low oxygen levels and high Carbon Dioxide levels – they are right off the chart. Water supply for both oceans and fresh water are way above safe targets for system functioning. As you check through the real-time monitoring you see that the forests that feed the air supply and help regulate the water quality are disappearing at an alarming rate for use as industrial raw materials to make paper and land clearing for agriculture. What’s Going On?!!! Haven’t the crew been using the correct Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth? You decide to quickly check the other critical functions to see if the emergency is systemic.

What you see as you range through all the critical functions on Spaceship Earth’s life-support system reveals your worst nightmare. Every single life-support sub-system is showing critical danger levels. You look at the graphic visual display and the meters are all swinging wildly into the red.

Biodiversity is critically endangered – you can’t believe what you’re seeing. The rate of extinction of species has hit 3 species an hour! Mother of God – what has happened?! The Global temperatures have increased so much that the polar ice-caps are in imminent danger of melt-down. Population growth is now so fast that you see it will intersect with all the other factors with what can only be catastrophic consequences. You are really panicking now. The only thing you can think of doing is to check-in with another team member just to make sure you haven’t made a mistake with the life-support monitor program. Cause if this is accurate you figure it’s time to take swift action to save the Ship and her crew.

You reach for the global interplanetary communication system SKYPE. You’re calling Charlie Spiral – the day-shift leader for the life-support systems. Hi Charlie it’s Josh here. Charlie comes on sounding a little too relaxed. Wazzup my man? It sounds like he’s just waking up – at 11am in the morning! Well Charlie it seems like we have a problem with the life support systems. Everything is going WILDLY out of control.

You can now see Charlie on screen and he is in bed with no less than two beautiful looking young ladies. Just a minute says Charlie I’m just going to do a little line here. Shoooooooo . . . .Hmmmmm . . . .yeah that’s a whole lot better. Charlie starts sounding a lot more confident and in control.

Man . . .wazzup wit you? You come bustin in on ma Sunday bootie time like this. What’s the problem man!!?? Charlie sounds upset.

I start to feel silly as if maybe i shouldn’t be bothering him after all. Well Charlie I AM sorry but, but, but . . . I have just realized that the Spaceship Earth is in dire trouble Charlie. Dire Trouble. I repeat the words Dire Trouble for added impact as if maybe this will penetrate his drugged up mental state.

What Charlie says next is certainly confusing and perplexing

Did you download the systems upgrade from Media Manager Murdoch? asks Charlie.

Well um no . . .i was using the old default program Charlie. But it should still give accurate read-outs of the life-support systems. But Charlie is adamant about Media Manager Murdoch’s new upgrades. In fact he is becoming more upset and belligerent by the second.

Damn your ass man! If you would do the Murdoch Upgrade not only would you be on a higher planetary pay scale – man, how do you think I can afford to live large with all these beautiful Ho’s? – But now listen to me and listen GOOOOOOD. You would see that there is no cause for alarm Mo FO! All the old indicators for life support have been shown to be way out of style by Media Manager Murdoch. Get with the program kid or you gonna lose all yo level 4 access privileges man. Do the MuthaF#@&in upgrade ya dumbass!

So anyway  . . . i took Charlie’s advice and downloaded Media Manager Murdoch’s Operating Manual. It plugs and plays perfectly with the monitoring system. Wow! It’s amazing. And now I feel better. Yep . . .I was really scared for a minute there. But now all the critical indicators are back in the safe range and we’re zipping through the inky blackness of space like happy little vegemites. Let’s rock & roll dudes. All I needed was the Murdoch Media Manager upgrade. Of course. Crisis averted. Now I understand that the imminent collapse of all the life support systems was just because I was using the OLD program. BOY, WOW we wont be making that mistake again. Will we flipper?

This post based on a novel idea by Professor Andrew Wilford with inspirations from Fiona O’Sullivan. See Also American Fasciscm and Fake Media this Blog. Also inspired by Robert Manne’s Article Sydney Morning Herald September 3 2011 –  The Truth is Out There    Also by Robert Manne SMH – A pressing Case for standing up to Rupert Murdoch’s bullying.

The title: Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth comes to us from Bucky – AKA R Buckminster Fuller – it’s the title of his most famous book – now with new added enzymes, you will no doubt enjoy Media Manager Murdoch’s Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth.