Do we hide or do we rise?
I’m talking about our reaction to what is happening to the things that we care about; or at least things that we should care about. I’m talking about all the things that are being eroded and whipped out from under our feet. Things like our rights and our freedoms. Our communities, community values and our ability to be able to afford to put a roof over our heads, or food on our table. I’m also talking about what is being allowed to happen to the natural world around us. After all it is nature that keeps us alive, we are rather dependent upon it; not only for our food but also our sanity. The ability to get out and connect with nature reduces our stress and improves our mental health.
I could carry on and make a long list of these things. I didn’t think that I needed to do that, because everyone reading this is living in the same world that I am living in. Or are they? Maybe I do need to do that.
Because so many people are allowing themselves to be brainwashed by the lies and propaganda being put out by our Government and their puppets; the main-stream media. It’s almost as if they have all bought the same blinkers and are wearing them en-masse. If you look at what their response is to the crisis that we are living through, it is definitely hide. And YES it is a CRISIS. We are in danger of losing everything that is dear to us. Yet people are not interested until it’s too late.
In the words of the song ‘Big Yellow Taxi’
“Don’t it always seem to go
Joni Mitchell 1970
That you don’t know what you’ve got
Till it’s gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot”
There are certain types of people who I would expect more of. It would seem that people who claim to follow ‘pagan’ or spiritual’ paths, being ‘more in touch with nature’, ought to have a higher level of concern and interest in being proactive in these situations. Many are; don’t get me wrong here, I’m not tarring everyone with the same brush. But many aren’t. I hear many neo-pagan and new-age spirituality followers constantly repeating ‘I only work with love and light’. I hate to tell these people that the brighter the light, the darker the shadows. But it is only working with the shadow side that you can change things.
I came across one, on social media, advising someone who was expressing concerns to “Close down your crown chakra and focus on the good things you already have“. That is akin to telling someone to close themselves down and ignore what is going on, or put another way to stick their head in the sand and pretend that it isn’t happening. That is what inspired my choice of header image for this article. However, when an Ostrich sticks its head in the ground it isn’t in the belief that it can hide, it is actually checking its eggs. So the Ostrich is being proactive and taking care of that which is important to it.
Many Folk ARE Proactive
We are not all in the same boat! Not all of us are able to take even the sort of actions that we may wish that we could. We are not all able to take off and travel a distance to take part in a demonstration. Many of us would have loved to be able to get to the recent ‘Trespass’ defending our right to roam on Dartmoor. For whatever reason we may not have been able to make it.
Yet, whatever our situation, there is always SOMETHING that we CAN do. If we can’t travel distances we can join a local like-minded group. If we have trouble getting out, we can send emails. We can educate other people by having conversations with them about the situation, they may not be aware. What we can’t do is just pretend that nothing is happening, ignore the situation and hope that it goes away. It won’t and we will wake up one day to discover that it is too late.
It is amazing what being proactive can do for turning feelings of negativity into positivity. When we DO something it makes us feel good. And yes, we do need to focus on good things, but not to the point of refusing to see anything else.
I came across a brilliant piece of action the other day, as a social media post in the form of a rap. I copied and pasted it directly, with permission from it’s author (thanks Paul). Even social media can be used to take action.
“who wants to hear what I’ve got to say I go on about the same stuff every day but I hope you can see it matters to me and I can’t put it out there any other way so don’t shut yr ears when I moan and complain i want to get off this world it fills me with pain i’m just saying my truth and i wish i was proof to the lies and the crap that falls on us like rain you know there’s people that’s good and there’s people that’s bad and there’s people that’s chilled and there’s people that’s mad but the people who stand and reach out their hand yes those are the people that make me feel glad and sometimes i get down and i don’t see the way to be a good man and get through the day and i rage and despair like a grizzly bear if you see me coming get out of my way we’re on a bad road and it does us no good we go further and further into this dark wood and the tricks and the lies are blinding our eyes and we’re hungry for good bread but stones are our food so no more greed and cheating and lies no more getting fat off a hungry kid’s cries give love to the Earth and know what She’s worth and and in peace and in wisdom a new day will rise”
Paul Southcott (Facebook)
I also think that Brendan Myers is completely correct when he says that ‘Nothing is inevitable in human affairs’.
“I find it deeply troubling, that so many people around me cannot imagine a better future for themselves or for humanity. So many people succumbing to misanthropy, pessimism, and quietism, and calling it “rational”, or even “natural”.
Brendan Myers (Facebook)
Nothing is inevitable in human affairs. And there are plenty of other ways to be rational.
Come on, friends, let’s do better.”
Even Winnie the Pooh has more wisdom than a lot of folks
“You can’t stay in your corner of the Forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes.”
Winnie-the-Pooh – A. A. Milne