How do we get out of this? How do we reclaim independence while fostering a healthy life? Don't expect an external God to do it for you. First, we start with ourselves by asking are we really free? Personally I don't think so. We "shop till we drop" while our children are educated in a standardized classroom with a military style of line up, shut up and do as your told mentality. For entertainment we are mesmerized with some new fad made popular by an advertising gimmick that gets us to buy what the corporate elite want us to buy as we watch a football game of a pile of overpaid grown men falling on top of one another. Drink that beer, keep guzzling! And what's the relationship of the quarterback and the center?
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/
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
3
3
1
