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True Independence: Advice for Building Resileint and Self-Sustaining Community

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Perhaps the first step to change is to realize we're being bulldozed. The situation is totally absurd. The second step is to realize we don't have to stay stuck in the system. The third step is to develop a new system with like-minded folk. The fourth step is to realize we're likely to be verbally and physically attacked and plan for it. Indeed, we may die. Is the future survival and evolution of the human race worth it to us? What do we want for our descendants unto the seventh generation?

In saying this I am not advocating war or revolution, for these would only set up the "same thing different day" scenario. What I am advocating is the development of ways of becoming independent of corporations, banks and their puppet governments. Forget about corporate or government health care. Get corporations and government out of the equation. Get together with others and begin developing your own health care system. Start by creating health within and around yourself. Healthy lifestyles aren't "preventative medicine"; they are affirmative action! Identify alternative healthcare providers, some of whom are regular medical doctors, some who whom are not. Seek out all those who are willing to work with you by considering alterative modes of payment other than the illusionary dollar. Take it out of the corporate and government hands. If you are a health care provider, think of how you can diversify your practice in order to help more people meet their needs.

Another step is to build community. Meet with people, identify what strengths you have in the community as well as what resources these people have. Do they know how to build, garden, slaughter an animal, raise chickens for eggs, or build sustainable shelters? Maybe even"..? Learn to do these yourself. Get your needs met outside the corporate system. See joblessness as a challenge to meet your needs within a local, caring community. Let "no more alienation" be your battle cry. Stay out of box stores. Even if you are in the city, are there farmer's markets selling local produce around?

Develop alternative economies with a lot of flexibility. Research and use ideas such as time-dollars, work exchanges and bartering as ways to exchange services in getting your needs met. Be creative, there are no ends to the possibilities. Money isn't IT! In fact, its an illusion. Develop REAL economy.

Host meetings with like-minded folk. Research Transition Town. If there is one in your area, hookup with them. If not, begin one. Or, just start researching who has what talents in your community and begin organizing a network.

Most importantly, follow Lao Tzu's advice in the Tao Te Ching, "Be newborn, be free of yourself." Get out of your head and challenge yourself to move out of the conditioned brainwashing you are living under. Get the preacher, politician and corporate bureaucrat off the pulpit and out of your head. God is within your depths and all around you, always. She/He is not preaching a sermon from on high. She is your Sophia, your Wisdom. "Love Her and all will ultimately be well." Or, as the Bible's "Book of Hagia Sophia" puts it, "love Her and you love life." Why? It is because She is your Nature's Intelligence. She's not on a pulpit. She's in every cell of your being and every cell composing this magnificent universe. If you see someone on a pulpit claiming to be Her, or to know Her via some theology, move beyond that. Don't buy it! Go inside yourself. .

Resources

See if any of these are in your area. If not, get some people together and begin the change.

Transition Town:

http://www.transitionnetwork.org/

Alternative Economies:

http://verdant.net/alternate_economy.htm

Living on Less:

http://www.shoestringbudget.org/living-on-less-the-alternative-economies/

Time Banks:

http://timebanks.org/

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Burl is an avid writer and publishes to OpEd News while also blogging regularly on http://anewgaia.ning.com. Burl's primary passion is in the unity of world religions to science and the holographic nature of the universe in which the part mirrors (more...)
 
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True Independence by Burl Hall on Saturday, Jun 9, 2012 at 8:32:38 AM
Tweet: True Independence: Advice for Building Resileint and Self-Sustaining Community: http://www.opednews.com/articles/True-Independence--Advice-by-Burl-Hall-120609-747.html by Burl Hall on Saturday, Jun 9, 2012 at 8:37:25 AM
"The Mess", exists only in one plane of existence. by Paul Repstock on Saturday, Jun 9, 2012 at 12:56:21 PM
Fixing Problem by Burl Hall on Saturday, Jun 9, 2012 at 5:13:35 PM
First define the Problem, then Fix It by David Chester on Monday, Jun 11, 2012 at 9:31:12 AM
First define the problem, then fix it. And ... by E.J.N. on Monday, Jun 11, 2012 at 12:50:26 PM
We can too fix the problem. We must. And ... by E.J.N. on Monday, Jun 11, 2012 at 12:38:38 PM
Seriously? by E.J.N. on Sunday, Jun 10, 2012 at 8:53:37 PM
How to fix the mess for good. by E.J.N. on Monday, Jun 11, 2012 at 1:40:54 PM