First they ignore you.
Then they laugh at you
Then they fight you.
Then you win.
-- Mahatma Gandhi
It's time. One might even say it's past time. One might even say it's long overdue past time. But actually, the time is perfect. The time is ripe. The time is now.
Something's happening and it's happening everywhere at the same time. The people of Planet Earth are rising up. They're rising up in over 1,500 cities in 82 countries so far. And the rising up has just begun. Something is definitely afoot.
People who are attuned to such things have known this was coming. The ancient Mayan calendar predicted a Great Shift, beginning on Dec. 21, 2012. We are barely a year away. People are hearing the call and the shifting has begun.
Humanity is rising up and throwing off the shackles of oppression, worn for millennia, across the ages, across the continents, across all cultures, races and religions. As in the words of Howard Beale, the enigmatic television anchorman portrayed by Peter Finch in the 1976 movie, Network, "we're mad as hell and we're not going to take it anymore!"
Peter Finch won a posthumous Academy Award for his role in the movie, which garnered a total of four Oscars in 1977. Here is an excerpt from one of the most famous scenes in the movie. It could have been written about what's happening in the world today. Speaking is Finch's character, Howard Beale:
"I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It's a depression. Everybody's out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel's worth, banks are going bust, shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter. Punks are running wild in the street and there's nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there's no end to it.
We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat, and we sit watching our TV's while some local newscaster tells us that today we had 15 homicides and 63 violent crimes, as if that's the way it's supposed to be. We know things are bad -- worse than bad. They're crazy. It's like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don't go out anymore. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we are living in is getting smaller, and all we say is, 'Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials and I won't say anything. Just leave us alone.'
Well, I'm not gonna leave you alone. I want you to get mad! I don't want you to protest. I don't want you to riot -- I don't want you to write to your congressman because I wouldn't know what to tell you to write. I don't know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the crime in the street. All I know is that first you've got to get mad.
You've got to say, 'I'm a HUMAN BEING, Goddamn it! My life has VALUE!' So I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window. Open it, and stick your head out, and yell, 'I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!' I want you to get up right now, sit up, go to your windows, open them and stick your head out and yell, 'I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!' Things have got to change. But first, you've gotta get mad!... You've got to say, 'I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!' Then we'll figure out what to do about the depression and the inflation and the oil crisis. But first get up out of your chairs, open the window, stick your head out, and yell, and say it: 'I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!'"
Humanity is mad as hell and we're not going to take it anymore!
We are witnessing the birth of a new paradigm for mankind, one that is a game-changer for the entire planet. What is unfolding before our very eyes, ears, hearts and minds, is the awakening of our collective consciousness. We are becoming aware, at a level as never before, of the one truth that connects us all.
Will this movement succeed when so many others that have come before it have failed? Only time will tell. But there has never been the kind of global participation in a single movement like what we're seeing today. With 99 percent of humanity united in a single cause, can change be far behind?
The key word here is unity, for unity is the name of the game. This change is not about further dividing us between rich and poor, have and have nots. The change that is afoot is one that acknowledges a larger truth than the one under which we've lived throughout history. We are awakening to the truth of who we are as humans. The time is ripe for this awakening.
We are not separate. We recognize our true nature as that of oneness. We will no longer allow a system that divides and conquers. We will no longer support those systems which keep us in bondage, either physically or spiritually. Greed, corporate or otherwise, is not acceptable. Pillaging the planet is not acceptable. Bigotry, racism, sex trafficking, genital mutilation and other forms of inhumane treatment are not acceptable. Hunger and lack of clean drinking water are not acceptable.
We are all in this together and we know it. Through technology that connects us in real time all the time, the world has grown small enough for us to see one another in real time. When we saw the Egyptians throw off the oppressive Mubarak regime in Tarir Square last spring it was a win for humanity. That win ignited the hearts and minds of oppressed people throughout the Middle East, sending people to the streets throughout the Arab world, and the Arab Spring was born.
There are those who criticize the Occupy movement for not having a clearly stated agenda with specific outcomes, or any kind of visible leadership. But those who took to the streets of Berlin on the evening of Nov. 9, 1989, and began tearing down the Berlin Wall had no clear leadership either. There came a moment in time when a critical mass of people were all aligned in the same consciousness and the actions that unfolded in Berlin gave courage to thousands across Eastern Europe, who began tearing down the walls of tyranny within their own countries.
This movement is not about "them." It's about "us." For "we" are all "them." None of us wins unless all of us wins. It's that simple. It's that complex. There are those who already know this and they're the ones in the streets.
But we can't stop here. The 99 percent is incomplete. We must win the hearts and minds of the 1 percent who don't yet get the message so 100 percent of humanity crosses the line together.
It will happen. Of this you can be sure. It's only a matter of time.
What is arising in you in response to the Occupy Wall Street movement? Have you taken to the streets? What is your experience?
I'd love to hear your thoughts about this topic. Please feel free to leave a comment in the space below and/or pay a visit to my personal blog and website: Rx For the Soul.
Become a Fan and be notified when new posts appear. For personal contact, reach me at judith@judithrich.com.
Blessings on the path.
Follow Dr. Judith Rich on Twitter: www.twitter.com/dr_judithrich
At the other end of the spectrum, we have a lovely world where many can dream of being a star, or becoming wealthy. How wealthy, well as wealthy as this British businessman who bought, not out of need, but out of vanity, a rose diamond of about 27 carats. At what price? At a price of 48 million US dollars. Unknown without the Internet. Oh of course he most certainly worked hard all of his life and has merit in earning such wealth, no doubt.
Does he however, realize that the vaccinations he received as a child, no thanks to his work but to the work of a whole society and a whole stream of research over centuries, enabled him to survive long enough to build his empire? That some of this money could go to drilling wells for clean water, paying for vaccinations. The list just goes on. But no, a diamond that will sit in a safe most of the time, is more important. I cannot help but find this disgusting and immoral.
However, most of the world’s population is either too busy just surviving, or too under developed to even begin to comprehend the new concepts. If we throw into the arena such things as superstition, religion, myth and legend, then progress becomes an incredible challenge. When the Roman Empire fell under the pressure of the ‘rest of the world’, incredible technological progress was lost for centuries because never shared with the masses: Such things as concrete, advances in medicine, aqueducts, under-floor heating of homes and many more.
Just a couple of centuries after Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas; the mapping of the globe had been achieved. There is hardly a square inch of the globe that today not viewed by satellite imagery. The days of exploring vast new earthly frontiers are over. What is more, an astronaut once remarked that from space one could not see any frontiers drawn on the Earth; these are man made constructs that have but temporary validity.
There are however two new frontiers. The first is interplanetary exploration, which most of us consider negligible for various reasons. The second is attaining the next level of evolution of our species.
Humanity is at the threshold of a new level of evolution, of a new level of intelligence that superstition and ignorance are still suppressing, a level that would not shame us in front of an advanced alien nation that may contact us some day. Will the age of computers be the catalysis? What is it going to take to educate the masses, pull them by their bootstraps and eliminate these incapacitating relics of our past that are religions? Let us hope that it will not involve survival of the fittest (or the richest) accompanied by the usual slaughters, as in most of our history.
Blessings,
Judith
Thank you for your measured reference to the Mayan Calendar and avoiding the word "apocalypse" that so many media outlets can't resist. Yet the date 12/21/2012 refers to the Long Count calendar, which is no longer in use. There is another Mayan calendar, the Tzolk'in, which measures sacred time, and lately has been curiously in sync with current events. Steve Jobs, bless his soul, left this world on a 3 Caban day, which means the destruction or obstruction of creative intelligence. October 15, the day that Times Square and many other cities held Occupy" events, was 13 Manik, the day of the Deer. The energy for that day reads
"The greatest power is always invisible. It’s the songs in your heart, the thoughts in your mind, the images you dream. Who wrote those songs, who put those thoughts in your head, who painted those dreams? If they are not yours, someone has stolen your power. Take it back. Take back the power that is innately yours."
Perhaps humanity is finally listening to that inner call to break free and take back our own potential and our own freedom, in tune with an ancient calendar that has come calling on us in the face of two challenges that are far greater than any of us have ever seen: the test of millennia and intended total destruction at the hands of a conquering race.
Birgitte Rasine
(Producer of the Mayan Calendar Portal, www.maya-portal.net)
First, thank you for your comment. I think it's your first one here, so I'm happy to have your thoughts and insights included and shared in this space. Secondly, yes, I've never interpreted the 2012 "event" as apocalyptic. If anything, quite the opposite! If anything, I see it as a Great Collective Awakening, a breaking through to a whole new level of awareness and understanding of who we are here and what is possible. I see it as the beginning of a great age of transformation, and in all transformative processes, there is that which ends and that which begins. However, I do not see the ending as apocalyptic as some do. It is part of a natural unfolding into a new order that calls us to function at a higher vibration.
I look forward to visiting your site and learning more about what you're up to. Thanks again for your input.
Many blessings,
Judith
Aristotle said, "It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."
This week, I've been listening to a podcast series, "Ecology, Ethics and Interdependence" hosted by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. In session 4, the question is raised on how we are to decide the ethical weight of representing the rights of people and living things who have not yet even come into existence.
There are a number of people who respond such questions are absurd, yet for vastly different reasons. One participant explained in terms of self-grasping:
"The question of absurdity or not is a measure of self-grasping.
You find it absurd because your concept of in-group/out-group is vast enough that you have genuine concern and you value future generations. I give you just the opposite statement from Steven Forbes, which is an American billionaire who declared on Fox News that to change our behavior now because the ocean might rise in a hundred years for him is absurd. He thought this was silly.
So this means that he was strictly and only concerned about now and himself. So, it's not our future. It's about me and basically not about others."
I'd really love to hear more public dialog on ethics.
we talk we do not talk
our eyes are sour
and there is silence
and how we talk
when our silence is louder
than words
and what are words
but vehicles of feelings
and what is silence
and only in death
do we not communicate
for our silence
is the thunder
in the storm
and what is motion
but energy unleashed
while only in death
do we not communicate
from our souls
of sensitivity
and they are touched
by the energies of communication
be it silence
be it noise
upon our souls
the marks be laid
be that energy
notes of music with words
or sharp spears and knives
the souls of living organisms
be touched for good or ill
and we talk we do not talk
only in life change, the final change
do we not communicate
the positive or negative energies
we choose, each of us
to give love and tenderness
to go beyond ourselves
to think before we speak
without a microphone
and it was once said
we sow that which we reap
and only in the final change
cease we to communicate
on Gaia, in Gaia, with Gaia.
Rolf KrogsætherC2011
I'm always moved by your poetry and moved by what inspires you to write and moved by the generosity of your sharing with us.
As always, thank you! And bless you....
Judith
or other forms for the human senses, I have seen vei through the gallery with which I work
the total subjectivity of the arts. A piece of work is garranteed not to function for all. There will always be those who do not like it or like it or feel nothing. A piece of work does not function for that individual person if nothing is felt. If it is liked or dis-liked means it has push a button in that person and moved that person and of course then the work has done its' purpose.
So I continue and will till the last door.
Rolf
Occupy Within: A Movement in Awakening
http://www.facebook.com/?sk=lf#!/pages/Occupy-Within/102184506557967
Come join all............
Blessings,
Judith
I have not taken to the streets. My experience? .... Perhaps shades of hope and faith that this is truly what the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) referred to as an 'economic awakening'. I am hoping that we move quickly from a conversation about what we are 'against' to a conversation for creating what we are 'for'!!
There is hope! Read this: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/18/occupy-wall-street-planning-convention_n_1018570.html.
Blessings,
Judith
And whenever I can, I go for the local Main Street merchants rather than the national chains. I don't care what Ace has in its commercials, the local family-owned and operated hardware store has more helpful hardware advice... as well as being a primary small-town gossip & meeting point! :) An advantage of small towns, but many cities have neighborhoods that can function as small towns, in this sense at least.
Here you go: http://www.cafepress.com/+occupy-wall-st.+bumper-stickers.
I'm ordering mine as we speak!
Love,
Judith
Let's take it even more viral.
The philosopher Rodney King’s question “Why can’t we all just get along?” has apparently been answered; the answer so far, is no.
Is the “occupation” justified? Yes; the water under the bridge is contaminated with the leavings of greed and self-serving business as usual. Is there hope the 1% will respond with meaningful change? Maybe, in the patina of daily doings, but in substance…? Is there hope for a fundamental shift in considerations by those who have for those who have not? They may express sympathy, yet often show little empathy for others in need, so the answer is no. However, can a popular uprising against large institutions effect change? Of course, if those who are party to it, whether physically active or merely philosophically supportive, use government, communication, and marketing mechanisms as well or better than those against whom they rally. Not to say know the rules to play the game better, but change the rules to make a better game.
More importantly, it’s about individual discipline; my definition of discipline: remember what you want most. If the 99% begin forgetting and allow their “daily doings” to quiet their voices, something the 1% relies on, then the battle is already lost.
I am not pessimistic; I am very supportive! But, like marriage, as great as the honeymoon may be, what happens next and next and any number of next’s makes the marriage last... or not.
Pretty mad too!
Lawson
You are too kind! But you are still welcome!
Lawson
Yes. That's also what Wall Street did to produce the status quo. And the reason the movement is successful is because enough people are calling the bluff. The bluff which consisted in the promise that the new rules (made in the past decades) would make for a better game. They didn't. They had gaps large enough to make a camel go through, although not large enough to make the wealthy enter heaven.
Wall Street is finally caught with their pants down. They got away with their game because nobody was asking the question: why should this work anyway? Explain yourself!
Please forgive my brief comment apparently ripe with potential for misinterpretation. You are right about the past attempts being lame and remarkably self-serving for those responsible for them.
My comment was predicated on the hope that those making the rule changes would be motivated by or were in fact those filled with a greater sense of empathy for the needs of others and the need for a more even distribution of wealth and resources than by those to which you referred, plus the fact that we will still need rules, and for that matter, a game.
Please let me know if that suffices…
Respectfully,
Lawson
The old model doesn't work anymore. None of it does.
The 99% say no to the way we live. They see a better way.
This is a new beginning. For the entire planet.
We saw this in 1969 and dropped the ball.
Let's not make that mistake again.
Fanned and badged!
Blessings your way,
Judith