We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Fortune’s fools

Click here to access article by Phil Rockstroh from Intrepid Report

This poet and philosopher always has me running to my (online) dictionary whenever I read his articles. But, I'm always rewarded with special insights so creatively expressed. In this piece he expounds on some insights he has had following the recent birth of his son.
As of late, my darkest thoughts and angst-engendered imaginings have involved the following: The ecological debasement of the earth, the ongoing degradation of daily life within U.S. society, and the attenuated destiny of the individual under the yoke of late stage, global capitalism. My ruminations have been, in large measure, engendered and inflamed by the following: On Tuesday, Feb. 26, of this year, a son was born to my wife, Angela and myself.
 The main insight I take away from this is that, in order to save ourselves, we must dig down deep within our souls by paying attention to the "sounds" that our souls make regarding our present ominous circumstances. By turning away from the many distractions that capitalist sources supply us with, and learning to listen to these messages from within, we can find our way out of this dangerous mess.
Deep down, your life’s calling is encoded within you. Throughout your lifetime, it will arise as inchoate yearnings, reveal itself as implausible daydreams, or as dream-borne symbols that seem, in regard to your daytime exigencies, abstruse or useless. You may know it as a hollow ache in your chest. Or a nettling voice, in the recesses of your awareness, that asks, “how did it come to this?”