The clinical psychologist John Weiwood defined spiritual bypassing as "the tendency to use spiritual ideas and practices to sidestep or avoid facing unresolved emotional issues, psychological wounds, and unfinished developmental tasks.” The bypasser spiritualizes social, relational, and political issues in an attempt to avoid their messiness and drama, and steers conversations onto spiritual ideas, where he or she enjoys a social advantage or psychological comfort.
Thank you dear Charles. Regarding your statement "The liberal media frames the issue as racism versus compassion, but says little about causes of immigration such as neoliberal economic policies and the global debt system that make life in many Global South countries so unliveable that people will risk everything to uproot themselves and move to a foreign country. Nor is there much mention of US support for the paramilitaries, death squads, and despotic regimes that are necessary to subjugate a population to an extractive economic order. Nor is there any understanding that immigrants are a kind of “final export” – once a nation has been stripped of its minerals, oil, timber, etc., all that is left to export is its young people. Nor, finally, is there much discussion of how the migration-generating global economic and imperialist order hollows out the North American working and middle classes as well, pitting them in artificial competition with immigrants and creating the social divisions that allow the elite classes to maintain their rule.."
In my understanding this happens because the liberal media, as well as the conservative media, are both an integral part of the american billionaires' global militarized empire.
IMHO, americans are profoundly propagandized, emotionally-manipulated, kept ignorant (of the empire's global mechinations), distracted by the partisan theatre and directed to fight over the question of what should be the color of the shoes of the person who rapes, plunders, enslaves, exploits and mass-murders humanity, should it be red or blue? That's the only question we get to have a say over in the american billionaires' sham "elections", to decide over the color of the shoes of the global murderer, thief and rapist. Not whether the murder, theft, enslavement and rape should take place, that's not within the realm of "allowed debate", but only whether he should wear red or blue shoes while on his global exploits..
We're propagandized, deceived and distracted into fighting over which of the billionaire's representatives we prefer to lead the global capitalist militarized empire and its plunder, mass-murder and rape of life on earth to enrich the few ultra-rich and cement their domination over life...
TRUMP AND HARRIS ARE TWO FACES OF THE SAME GLOBAL CORPORATE-CAPITALIST BILLIONAIRE'S MILITARIZED EMPIRE, THAT TURNS THIS PARADISE PLANET INTO A DIVIDED WARRING HELL, TO BENEFIT NO ONE BUT THE CONTROL OF A FEW ULTRA-RICH OVER HUMANITY AND THE PLANET'S RESOURCES.
Yes, they have differences in temperament, one is a psychologically-undeveloped wounded narcissist bully and the other speaks more of compassion and caring, but beyond their superficial differences in temperament, both of their administrations acted in almost identical ways when it comes to securing the narrow selfish interest of the few ultra-wealthy and the control of their global corporate-capitalist empire over humanity and the planet's resources
They each continued 99% of the pro-empire pro-billionaire global terror, plunder, mass-murder and domination policies of their predecessors. Yes, despite the massive and intense QAnon/MAGA marketing deception that falsely sells trump as "anti-elite rebel", trump's admin was NOT a deviation from these policies, but a continuation of them. If one looks at his ACTUAL actions (not the fake narrative that was carefully crafted around him but his ACTUAL actions) then it's plain to see. And yes, despite the propagandists in the liberal media selling us the corporate-capitalist democratic party as supposedly more compassionate and caring, if one looks at the ACTUAL actions of the administrations headed by a capitalist liberal then it is clear that they are just as murderous as conservatives are and work just as much as conservatives to advance the narrow interests of the ultra-rich corporate-capitalists and their domination over life on earth. I now see that the wise and insightful Chris Hedges just published a profoundly important post about exactly this https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/the-choice-this-election-is-between In my view this is one of the most important essays published in recent times for anyone who wishes to understand what is actually happening in the west today, the internal struggle within the elite between the two factions of the ruling class, the two faces of capitalism fighting among themselves for supremacy (who will be the elite group who will be the top dog, plunder the planet and dominate humanity), which is what this current billionaire's sham "elections" is all about, though this rivalry between the capitalist elite factions has been going on for some time now.
The nature of the two factions of the elite, as described so skillfully in that essay, really should be basic knowledge for all americans, becasue there is so much mislabelling of the elite's two capitalist factions that are fighting for supremacy among themselves (even going as far as labelling the ultra-capitalist pro-billionaire pro-militarized empire pro-Wall St ultra-zionist right-wing DNC and Harris as far-left socialist!!!) and so much misunderstading of what is actually going on, misunderstanding which is fully capitalized upon by the both factions of the ruling class and their propagandists to sell us their fake narratives as if this or that faction of the capitalist elite is on the side of the people. Really a very important and highly recommended essay.
PS. And if there's an interest, I wrote a bit about how the capitalist billionaire's global empire functions (regardless of whether it is a conservative or liberal in the white house) here https://substack.com/home/post/p-150090964
PPS. As for what can actually be done about the dilemma that Charles mentioned - of being caught in an all-encompassing anti-human abusive hierarchical system of domination, war, subjugation and exploitation, that gives us only the option of choosing between one or the other of its two puppets, and having practically zero influence on the empire itself and its control over our lives, with seemingly no way out - here's a suggestion, IMHO a very wise, practical and human-centered suggestion, that was already applied very successfully before (in half of Spain, when millions of people removed the ultra-wealthy hierarchical capitalist abusers from power and established a very productive and flourishing egalitarian self-rule without a government or ultra-rich rapists) with many links leading out from it for further, more detailed, exploration, if there's an interest https://www.pdrboston.org/egalitarianism
PPPS. Having said the above, I'd like to qualify my statements above after I've seen this video https://www.facebook.com/share/v/DjgVqtgD3wy2XJzY/ I'd like to ask anyone reading this to please watch this and tell me if you can ever imagine this level of human caring, empathy, heart attunement and emotional maturity to ever be shown by psychologically-stunted infantile bully narcissist abuser empathy-less trump? Not in a million years. We're talking about a completely different level of HUMAN DEVELOPMENT. A completely different connection to humanity and to the heart.
I'm not a harris supporter, i wish she wasn't so right-wing capitalist and zionist in her policies, and yet, still, on the most basic human level it's very very clear which one of them is more caring, more human, more empathetic, more heart-attuned, more connected to God. There's just no comparison. Watch the video.
IMHO they're both horrible on policies, both are pro-empire right-wing capitalists and zionists, but on the human level, i know i prefer a real caring and sensitive human being rather than an infantile cruel empathy-less greedy narcassist abuser jerk who dehumanizes and objectifies human beings and the living earth (and who buys his trophy "wives" off of the playboy catalogue, and has sham abusive loveless transactional "relationaships" with them, until they get wrinkled and are replaced by the next trophy wife that this wounded man-child buys) There is no question in my mind which one of them is more connected to the heart and to the sacred essence of humanity. I used to think they're both the same awful right-wing representatives of the billionaire ruling class, and in terms of policy that might be true, but in terms of humanity, there is simply no comparison.
I pray with all my heart that love, caring and empathy shines through. I pray with all my heart that trump's immature empathy-less greed, insensitivity, narcissism, cruelty, dehumanization and cold-hearted capitalist objectifying brain doesn't win. Trump's infantile narcissist trauma-thriving mentality is everything the old human world of domimation dehumanization extraction abuse and trauma was about. In my view, what harris has shown in this video (as much as i wish her policies were left-wing and not so right-wing) is the new world of caring, empathy and heart attunement.
I will second Paul's reply and also want to thank you for this important comment. I fully agree with what you pointed out, and also read Chris Hedges' essay that you linked and it was indeed eye-opening and provided a lot of clarity. I will now look into the suggestions you made in the second part of your comment. Thank you again.
Thank you to both of you. If you'd like to discuss anything in those links that I shared at the end of the comment then there's an email address at the end of those essays.
Lets take down the political machine first , revolutions are dangerous you never know what might fill the void ...it is not gauranteed to be ethical. Make it a real democracy , further reinforce the separations of power which have been eroded and take the money out of elections.
I totally hear you and your concern, though not completely sure what you might be imagining when saying “revolution”. If you are referring to the suggestion at the end of my comment then in such a case there is no “void” (that is waiting to be filled by a new ruler who pretends to represent the people. There is no new "ruler" or "leader", except for our Self) and it is very very clear how and who has the power to decide over our lives. We do. Each one of us. Exactly as it was already applied very successfully before (see details in my comment above). We “rule” ourselves. Not through delegated powers, not with some having more power than others, not with some elevated over others. Not through hierarchy of domination. Not through someone supposedly representing our will and speaking for us, but we, actually we, rule our lives. There is no “void” becasue this is NOT the replacement of one set of rulers with another set of rulers. This is the end of elevated rulers. Exactly as was already applied very successfully before. Full details in the links i shared at the end of the comment. Highly recommend reading them attentively if there’s an interest in understanding what is suggested abd how it was applied ❤️
Furthermore, it is impossible to have a real (not fake) democracy and to "take the money out of politics" in a social-economic system that is based on capitalist inequality. One of the basic premises of such a capitalist system (see here https://www.pdrboston.org/capitalism) is that money equals power. And since a capitalist economy is BASED ON and depends on class inequality then in such a system it is INEVITABLE that those who accumulated or received the most resources (which always ends up being the most cunning, clever, heart-divorced and sociopathic in a society) will have all the influence on politics (the direction of our lives). There is NO POSSIBILITY for a real democracy and to get money out of politics in a capitalist system of class inequality and domination of the few over the many. The domination of the moneyed class over society is built into this system. Again, see here for exactly the profoundly anti-democratic (and God-ignorant) principles that guide a hierarchical militarized capitalist system for the domination and control of the few moneyed ones over the many and why there is NO POSSIBILITY for real democracy in such a system https://www.pdrboston.org/capitalism
“And since a capitalist economy is BASED ON and depends on class inequality then in such a system it is INEVITABLE that those who accumulated or received the most resources (which always ends up being the most cunning, clever, heart-divorced and sociopathic in a society”.
I can tell you’ve never run a business.
To be fair, when I was young and spent a lot more time on abstractions than the concrete world I used to think that way. In retrospect it’s amazing the amount of blinders I had to put on to imagine that the only way people make money is through some kind of evil manipulative plot. Actually for the vast majority of businesses, which are small businesses but also large ones, they add value to people’s lives, including their employees who take no risk and put up no capital but still reap the rewards. But you don’t need to run a business to see for yourself, you can simply take the time to imagine what it’s like to throw all your chips into one hand and hope that you don’t go broke doing the thing you feel you must do. The intellectual fallacy is taking what is a minority of extreme cases (sackler family for example) and using that to equivocate with respect to the vast majority of people who make money justly. If everyone enters their particular market without coercion, the money they make is just, no matter the quantity. If you invent something everyone voluntarily wants, like say electricity, you stand to make a lot of money.
The other fallacy is projecting what we don’t like ie haven’t yet accepted about human nature onto “capitalism”, as if our economic system is the sole cause of human depravity! On the contrary, our current system seems to incentivize much less of it than any other in the history of settled civilizations. For both the environment and the people, I’ll take this over every failed communist and fascist experiment of the last century. The idea that if we rid ourselves of “the system” we’ll rid ourselves of badness and finally achieve utopia is a recipe for hell on earth.
In retrospect I almost can’t explain why I spent so long railing against the system that has given me everything I’ve ever needed, not the least of which is relatively clean food and water. I had dysentery when I was in India. So a good place for me to start is being thankful I don’t have dysentery. There’s a lot of work to do of course, and psychologically we are not well that’s for sure, but for me, damning the economy that lifted so many out of overtly, including myself, is no longer something productive, interesting, or aligned with how the world actually works. To use a phrase from Sowell, I no longer use my brain to rail against Cosmic Injustice and do what I can in my own very small sphere of activity. On the contrary, material abundance is giving us at least the opportunity to have the leisure time to try to work out how nuts we’ve probably always been as a species, and to give us the luxury of caring for the environment in the first place (starving people don’t care). And for those that still think we should all just revert to Rousseau’s ideal, we’re not going back so we need to work with where we’re at now. I’d urge you and folks that think like you to consider that even the admittedly imperfect system we have today is a product of iterative evolution that is beyond easy comprehension. Maybe this is the best, so far, that we’ve been able to muster.
Hello Richard and thank you for this. I apologize for the misunderstanding but when saying "capitalists" i am referring to the first category of people as described here (starting in the 9th paragraph) https://www.pdrboston.org/capitalism As you can see, the other two categories are workers and small business owners. If you'll read that entire piece then i think you'll realize that you're barking up the wrong tree and responding to something which you're assuming i might have meant but which i didn't.
Also, i could be wrong of course but it seems quite clear that you didn't read the suggestion i made as detailed in the resouces linked above, becasue if you have, you would have realized that you are assuming yet another falsity, that what is being suggested is fascism or communism. If you'll actually read the resources i gave that explain what is being suggestsd (before rushing to respond) then you'll realize that you assumed wrongly (very wrongly, because what is being suggeated is the polar oposite of fascism and communism).
You'll also realize that your assumption that what is being suggested negates businesses is yet another false assumption (arising from not reading the resources provided). Not only does it not negate bussinesses but in fact when this suggeation was applied in practice (in about half of spain, see the links above) businesses flourished like never before and its bussiness productivity far outproduced the capitalist economy (and that is even despite the fact that the free republic had to send numerous people to the front lines to fight the fascist & capitalist attacks by the ultra-rich who tried to crush people's freedom and reinstate the hierarchical domination of the few ultra-rich over the many).
And contrary to your assumption, its productivity also provided far higher standard of living to everyone (except for the few ultra-rich). Kindly read the resources provided if you wish to understand how that is possible.
Besides the information in the couple of resources provided above, they also contain numerous links leading out from them for further, more in-depth, learning and details, in there's an interest.
And by the way, as a side note (unrelated to the suggestion made) but since you mentioned india as an example of failure, you might like to know that india was one of the wealthiest places on the planet before its invasion, occupation, enslavement and plunder by british capitalists who murdered millions, tortured millions, enslaved millions more, and stole its vast resources to enrich the capitalist empire's core (a practice repeated by british capitalists throughout the planet, and later repeated by american capitalists as well). To be absolutely clear, this is just a side note since you brought up india as an example. What I suggested has nothing to do with india.
Glad to be getting into the comments early, and to see that we've started off with some excellent, positive and thoughtful sharings. I see this brilliant article as a message to all those commenters who have been so critical of Charles' foray into the political realm, calling him a sellout, a hypocrite, and purporting to understand his motivations better than he does, even when he does his utmost to explain himself in a way anyone can understand. You know who you are, you sanctimonious so-and-sos.
I read an essay somewhere that talked about how the world is going to change through the comment sections. I've been fascinated by them, in all the media I read. They usually bring out the worst in people, but sometimes the best. I believe that everyone who follows Charles is well-intentioned, has red-pilled themselves somewhere along the way and wants our systems to break down and reform. But this bypassing he speaks of - both kinds - is definitely an obstacle, and this article serves as a subtle way to encourage people to engage in a little self-examination before they start throwing around their self-righteous POVs all over the comments.
So, all you critics, before you succumb to your automatic nitpicking and compose another long-winded, room-air-sucking epistle into our wee forum, ask yourself what you're bypassing and perhaps share that instead of pointing out where Charles is - once again - going wrong. Because he's not. This is the track we need to be on. Bravo once again, Mr. E.
I've come to realize what is really needed is a red pilling from the red pilling. We're being duped by these false gurus who're keeping the fires of division and distrust stoked to advance their agendas and make money. So call me a sanctimonious so-and-so if you want. I was once a sheeple like you. No more. My eyes are now open that we're being deceived and exploited from both ends - the media/government AND the new age/substack false gurus and "experts". Wake up. Think for yourself. People like Charles are tearing us apart just as surely as the culture and political wars.
R Q, You just couldn't help yourself, could you? Why bother reading Charles if this is your mindset, except to insert division and no solution. Your ego could use a bath.
Seems to me like if you didn't want a caustic comment you should have kept your mouth shut in the first place. It's the same problem with you fucking boomers over and over again: you throw shit and then you bellyache when someone throws it back. Sit down, shut up and eat your fucking oatmeal granny. And comb you nappy ass weave.
You’re a different Jowzer than that other one who stole my handle, aren’t you? A bit nastier, but still entertaining in that look-at-that-sad-drunk sort of way. Please make some more asinine comments on my thread, I quite enjoy them.
“People like Charles are tearing us apart just as surely as the culture and political wars.”
Absolutely. Charles’ hypocritical sanctimony and perpetual self-justification is part of the problem, not the solution. Odd that someone who always warns about attempting to impose systems of control on all life doesn’t even realize that he himself is a control freak.
How is Charles trying to control you? How is he tearing people apart? These are writings. They are inert. They don't do anything unless you let them. Why spend the energy reading his work if you feel it is so damaging? Because you think your negative, non-constructive comments will somehow sway those who enjoy the thoughts he shares? That would be an incredibly ill-informed crusade. At least recommend someone whose Substack you feel is part of the solution. That would make you seem less of a troll.
I find it interesting you've failed to notice that many of my posts receive numerous likes. So obviously those readers who've liked what I've said - some of whom have also explicitly endorsed my posts - agree with some of what I've said and have indicated they find my contributions constructive, not non-constructive as you assert.
'Sheeple' is plural - only bots and trolls make such obvious grammatical mistakes. Don't you know that the singular for 'sheeple' is 'sherson'? And using profanity directly against another commenter automatically relegates you to the 'to be made fun of' category.
Judging from your comment, you've been black-pilled, my self-ignorant friend. You don't trust anybody, knee-jerking into useless cynicism from which you engage in comments solely to feed your own ego - exactly the type of person Charles is talking about.
I'm not deceived by Charles. I agree with him. There's a difference; it means I've engaged my critical thinking skills to analyze what he's written and it's made it through my discernment filters. You should get some better ones.
Dear sherson, thanks for enlightening me. Thankfully I never took a pill. Whichever color you took, I'm betting you took it rectally, followed by the insertion of your head into the same orifice to see where it went.
And now you're just amusing. Why the sudden fixation on my butt? I'm not sure it's appropriate to reveal your fetishes out of context. But speaking of asses, you've now made one out of yourself, so cut your losses and stop engaging, bud. Everything you've said simply proves the point Charles is making, but it gets tired quick.
I didn't say anything about your butt, other than you stuck your head up there. Pretty hard to tell what exact point Chuck is making amidst the word salad he's tossed for us. Maybe you've got to have your head up your ass to understand, so consider me confused.
Again with the butts! And now you're talking about tossing salad! Some of our more sensitive readers are going to get offended. Seeing as you're so easily confused, I'll make this plain: this isn't a forum about anal play, so go on back to Pornhub and get your jollies there.
Hey, my guy, but this was actually pretty clever. Pretty funny. It would be cool if trolling was generally amusing as a cultural convention. It would be some welcome Trickster energy. Taking the piss out of everything so that we don’t take anything (guru, media, politics, spirituality or trolls themselves) so seriously we cede our authority to it. It’s a bummer it so rarely serves that purpose, but thanks for giving me a glimpse of the better world my heart knows is possible. 😂
Thanks, and I agree. But this particular trolling has gotten tiresome as a couple of them have stolen my handle and as you can see from your other reply, are replying posing as me. Usually they peter out, but these ones are tenacious. I’d be flattered if it wasn’t so vapid and pointless, abd counterproductive to the discussion. Someone should do a psychological study of the troll phenomenon. Good PhD material.
Thank you for your delightful comment! As the moon dances on a bed of cabbage, let us embark on a journey where the pickle trees sway to a melody of invisible harmony. Once, while riding a bicycle made of marshmallows through a forest of jubilant marmalade, I encountered a talking sock puppet named Sir Wobblebottom, who regaled me with tales of how purple clouds rain spaghetti, nourishing the gardens of eternal laughter. In this realm, the squirrels debated philosophy while wearing monocles, dissecting the fine art of making custard sandwiches before the clocks sprouted wings and flew backwards into yesterday’s breakfast. As the dialogue swirled like a whirlpool of confetti, the essence of Trickster energy unfolded like an origami peacock, reminding us that when life hands you lemons, you eschew the acidity for the whimsical dance of jellybeans. So let’s don our finest hats made of cheese and ride flamingos through the puddles of kaleidoscopic riddles, embracing the merry chaos that spins the universe into a delightful, nonsensical ballet where every absurdity enlightens our fragile hearts and tickles the fancies of cosmic yogurt. Thank you for your glimpse into this whimsical wonderland! 🌈✨
In my indigenous language, Irish Gaelic, we have six words for "up" and "down" rather than English's two. It helps to uncover the complexities of "power over" and "power with". Try this as a definition of power that encompasses both...
* capacity to self define
*access to resources ... including community, land connection, clean waters and clean air, not just money or media
*participation in decisions affecting day to day living
Your last paragraph was the clincher and the important closer. The Shaman story reminds me of "Emerald Forest" 1985 John Boorman movie. One of the few movies that show the power of the connection with the Spirit World. This power is so important to know of, respect and use. Thank you for connecting the dots of potential blindness.
What the heck did I just read? Some garble about how we should indigenize our spiritual practices while also recognizing the political reality of capitalism but should talk about neither but also talk about both but also the roots of our problems aren’t racism but also they are but it’s not a big deal because if we shaman ourselves the spirits will downgrade the hurricane and also that’s a reality. But don’t spiritual or political bypass because that’s counter to any productive spiritual or political movement. I’m a lefty and I hate us because we’re like this.
Charles, you really missed the mark when "describing" the concerns conservatives and others have about migrants pouring over the southern border. I think you fell for a bunch of media distortions. The concerns actually center around the illegality of their actions (law states that when claiming asylum it must be done in the first country one gets to, and very few of these migrants are from Mexico). You failed to acknowledge that they are flying in from Africa and Asia to get to the US in an undocumented manner. You failed to note that border communities are overrun with migrants in a way which feels threatening and corrosive to the quality of life in those communities. You didn't mention that northern cities like NYC which are "sanctuary cities" have been giving free housing, free food and medical care, and two thousand dollars a month to live on (for the first six months) to millions of illegal immigrants in those cities - when NONE of those benefits are given to those city residents, usually black and brown people. You fail to mention that many of these migrants are young criminals who engage in criminal behavior in the US cities they arrive in. (Cash Jordan on youtube has been doing a fantastic job of covering this issue in NYC - check him out!!) You failed to acknowledge the fundamental injustice of all the LEGAL immigrants who spend many years and thousands of dollars entering the country LEGALLY, play by the rules, despite the cost and stress, who are often themselves working class, who should be distinguished from illegal immigrants coming over the southern border. None of these factors are mentioned in the MSM and I'm disappointed you repeated the tropes that "racism" is behind the concerns regarding the influx of 12 million undocumented, illegal immigrants who have entered the US since Biden took office.
Here are a few important research papers, and one video, that investigate the facts about immigration and the root causes of it. I think it is important to be aware of those things in order to come closer to a more complete and whole (instead of partial and one-sided) understanding of the reality, instead of just being exposed to the one-sided billionaire's propaganda slogans that are hammered into our head nonstop in the emotionally-manipulative and dehumanizing one-sided echo-chambers that most americans spend most of our time in.
And after sharing the research with you, I will then also say a couple of words of what it would look like if the same billionaire-propagandized, ignorant, emotionally-manipulated, slogan-repeating, quick-to-stigmatize, quick-to-dehumanize, quick-to-hate, God-ignorant conservative "logic" was applied also to you and your family Sarah. What would happen if we would apply the same Godless conservative "reasoning" also towards you. See below after the research links with the facts
If the native people to this land (who lived here long before your criminal greedy migrant murderers invaded the land, massacred us, stole our land, made it into their private property and filled it with toxins) if the native people of the land had an emotionally-manipulated, God-ignorant and heavily-propagandized conservative brain, if the local people would apply the same billionaire-manipulated conservative "logic" to you as you apply to others then we would tell to you that the way to make life better for everyone is that you criminal greedy migrants invaders, murderers and thieves go back to where you came from, before you invaded our land, massacred us, made the land into your private property, filled it with toxins and inflicted the BIGGEST HOLOCAUST in the history of mankind on us.
If the native people of the land had a billionaire-manipulated conservative brain then we would have told you "GO BACK TO WHERE YOUR FAMILY CAME FROM SARAH!!! YOU DON'T BELONG HERE!! THIS IS NOT YOUR LAND!! Your criminal murderous invading migrant family stole the land from us and massacred us. You criminal invading greedy heart-divorced violent God-ignorant hateful people sent here your absolute worst, your merciless murderers, your greedy thieves. GO BACK TO WHERE YOUR FAMILY CAME FROM SARAH. YOU DON'T BELONG HERE. YOU AND YOUR FAMILY ARE CRIMINAL MIGRANT INVADERS ON THIS LAND"..
Luckily for you Sarah, the native people of this land do not have a propagandized, ignorant, emotionally-manipulated, slogan-repeating and quick-to-hate God-ignorant conservative brain...
If you cannot protect the border, you do not have a country. Every sovereign country must be able to protect their borders and control who gets in. That is currently not happening.
Tell that to those who lived for 19,000 years before the europeans came. Who had their sovereighty taken. Who have no voice. Maybe Charles is on to more than you know. Maybe americans survival will be giving the first nation a place they rightly deserve. In these current times.
It is still the case that if you cannot protect your borders you do not have a country. Nothing we do today will help those people living in America before the Europeans came. We now can only try to make things better for people living today and for future generations. For sure, first nation concerns should be part of this, but at present the porous border leaves everyone vulnerable.
If the native people to this land (who lived here long before your criminal greedy migrant murderers invaded the land, massacred us, stole our land, made it into their private property and filled it with toxins) if the native people of the land had an emotionally-manipulated, God-ignorant and heavily-propagandized conservative brain, if the local people would apply the same billionaire-manipulated conservative "logic" to you as you apply to others then we would answer to you that the way to make life better for everyone is for you criminal greedy migrants invaders, murderers and thieves to go back to where you came from, before you invaded our land, massacred us, made the land into your private property, filled it with toxins and inflicted the BIGGEST HOLOCAUST in the history of mankind on us. If the local people had a billionaoie-manipulated conservative brain then we would have told you "GO BACK TO WHERE YOUR FAMILY CAME FROM MARY!!! YOU DON'T BELONG HERE!! THIS IS NOT YOUR LAND!! Your criminal murderous invading migrant family stole the land from us and massacred us. You criminal invading greedy heart-divorced violent Godless people sent here your absolute worst, your murderers, their greedy thieves. GO BACK TO WHERE YOUR FAMILY CAME FROM MARY. YOU DON'T BELONG HERE. YOU AND YOUR FAMILY ARE CRIMINAL MIGRANT INVADERS ON THIS LAND"..
Luckily for you Mary, the local people of this land do not have a propagandized, ignorant, emotionally-manipulated, slogan-repeating and quick-to-hate God-ignorant conservative brain...
Gosh, wonder if the "first nation" folk have considered mass deportations. Ya know, make turtle island great again (MTIGA). Waddaya think MaryLS? Send all the whites back where they came from?
That is always the answer. They have no representation. Giving them representation can help with the answers. The answers to the global issues that will always make borders porous. Illegal or legal. Your overstayers, your encouraged migrants from favoured countries or your refugees who come legally and then bring their big families.
"The bypasser spiritualizes social, relational, and political issues in an attempt to avoid their messiness and drama, and steers conversations onto spiritual ideas, where he or she enjoys a social advantage or psychological comfort." Much like your final few essays while still in the RFK camp Charles. Bizarre lack of self-awareness there.
Astute comment. Not that I expect Charles to listen to you: he thinks other people are only here to listen to him and his superior mind, not for him to stoop so low as to ever heed anyone else.
Charles attempts to delineate the concept of political bypassing, following John Weiwood's definition of spiritual bypassing, in a manner that feels more like a convoluted philosophical exercise than a clear exposition. The abstractions are so dense and labyrinthine that they obscure understanding rather than illuminate it. The leap from spiritual bypassing to political bypassing is not only a stretch, but it also fails to clearly define the implications of such a term. Instead of providing a nuanced critique of political discourse, Charles veers into an oversimplified dichotomy between racism and structural factors, neglecting the multifaceted nature of both issues. This perspective, while well-intentioned, inadvertently demonstrates a kind of elitist detachment, as it assumes a shared understanding of complex geopolitical dynamics without engaging the emotional realities for those caught in these discussions. The romanticization of indigenous knowledge and practices, positioned against conventional politics, risks appropriating marginalized voices and oversimplifying the complexities of sociopolitical dynamics. The suggestion that mystical practices alone could yield tangible political change is naively optimistic and discredits the hard-fought struggles of those who engage in political activism. Ultimately, Charles tends to dismiss the efficacy of conventional political mechanisms, painting a picture of despair that undermines the crucial work of activism and advocacy in addressing systemic injustices. It risks alienating individuals who might otherwise engage with political issues, offering instead an esoteric and abstract framework that leaves little room for practical, grounded solutions to pressing societal problems. Such a convoluted approach may satisfy a certain intellectual curiosity but ultimately leads to a greater confusion about the essential roles politics and spirituality can cohesively play in the quest for social justice and individual healing.
Charles, I have described most of your work as bypassing--spiritual, political, and what I call in my own words, "climate bypassing."
How you can write a post about political bypassing and not mention trauma (or emotional wounds in your words or experience) doesn't address this elephant in the room when bypassing is invoked.
As far as I know, you haven't done any or much trauma work; that is the antidote to bypassing. Ironically, most of your narrative in this post floats above the body, like your other work. It is, as I read it, bypassing.
So, maybe just read this essay yourself, first, before you bypass us all!
Reliably as clockwork, Charles employs yet again his usual disingenuous rhetorical tactics to accuse his critics and detractors of being flawed and inferior people for not blindly prostrating ourselves before the Great God Eisenstein. Not many readers have ever attacked him for being insufficiently political, for not making it all about politics. Therefore, his most vocal critics cannnot legitimately be accused of "political bypassing," no matter how much he dishonestly tries to imply such.
He was actually receiving pushback for his weaselly attempts to endorse Trump without endorsing him, by trying to imply he was the better choice yet not ever quite saying he was the better choice -- to be MAGA and yet not MAGA at the same time. Some of us simply don't like being jerked around by manipulative influencers, that's all. It's not that any of us are demanding that absolutely everything must be reduced to political considerations - no matter how much Charles would like to lie about that, and lie about us - it's that Charles should be able to make his arguments without resorting to endless streams of logical fallacies and factual distortions, which he refuses to do. As usual, the premise of an Eisenstein essay is false to begin with: while political bypassing is a real phenomenon (if that's the term you prefer to employ), very few of Charles' own critics and naysayers are guilty of it. Period.
Charles was CORRECTLY and LEGITIMATELY being accused by many people of spiritual bypassing, so what does he immediately do? He coins the term “political bypassing” and throws it in the faces of his critics as a sort of Tu Quoque. Because that’s what Charles invariably does when he receives any pushback whatsoever. He simply HAS to be “deeper” and “wiser” and “smarter” than anyone else. His endlessly needy ego depends on his ability to think this way about himself.
That seems to be exactly what he does....he hides his truth, veiled in circular logic and smoke and mirrors narrative, so that he can protect himself from the criticism of what he is sharing....he did the same in the Coronation essay. So, when I called him out on it in that essay, he did exactly what he did here: he spins it into a red herring and straw man argument (in the follow-up to Coronation he called the Coronation essay a myth to counter my calling out his fantasies and fallacies)...such disingenuous BS. And, yes, best to catch the fasle premise early on, because he quickly builds a story and narrative that leaves that simple untruth to sound truthful, so one easily gets lost in the branches of his verbosity while the trunk continues to rot. And he continues to blather nonsense week after week.
Fascinating new line. Can’t wait to read more! Thank you ☀️
Politics are a diversion, clearly failing the ability to bring real change, but also because the manifestation of their best intentions will always be biased by an economic logic of growth that if fact noone truly wants to change, and is limiting its scope. So in the extreme we want world peace, but selling weapons supports GDP enormously and the global economy. The second will always prevail.
So this is not where the power of change is, and neither it is in the economic elites that I agree with you are assumed to hold way more power than they actually have: because in the same way, any intent for change is paralyzed by the dominant growth paradigm around them.
As a result if we want power of change we need to look elsewhere and that opens the field of subtle quantum or God-originated power, that helps those who are in harmony with the greater order of the universe.
You mention the indigenous tradition but I would not minimize the potential to rediscover this power source within our own cultural spiritual traditions. It is way more alive than many people think, closer, and easier, as it holds our own ancestrally and memory.
I recently relocated to Guatemala with my partner after we both finished school.
Largely because that is where she is from—and the weather and food are phenomenal—but partly because I could not find any work at all where we lived, and I have very little doubt that the fact I am a straight, white, confident, conservative man was a major factor.
For what it’s worth, and for a Latin American perspective on the issue, her relatives in Guatemala are entirely against the Open Borders and want Trump to win because they believe Kamala will do everything in her power to usher in communism.
It might have more to do with the fact that you're deluded and out of touch. There is no communist threat in the US. The Dems are by world standards centrist or centre right. Trump is a rapist grifter crook. Support for him is either amoral, a cognitive issue or a mental illness.
TDS accurately describes people voting for a rapist and transparently obviously grifter who Wells pieces of his suit to the hapless rubes in his cult.. There are probably less than 1000 communists in the US. None hold office.
Biden can put a stop to it right now. Trump is not yet in charge. Make him accountable if or whe he is. My prime minister can stop arming and giving tactical support by tonight. Thats what I know.
I’m sorry that being a straight, confident, conservative, white man forced you to flee your birth nation. The discrimination you face at home must be overwhelming. I only hope the US doesn’t interfere with Guatemalan politics while you are there, thus infringing on your newfound freedoms!
It is so funny to read this because I once heard the term "The Gray Occult" which is a comfort zone that crystalizes groups into non-development even though they think they are involved in something beyond the norm ( a better way). It shows that a society that stops expanding in one way or another is subject to break down and decay. Flexibility keeps one ready to build upon one's knowledge in ways that reconcile us to higher Truths.
“I am done with great things and big things, great institutions and big success, and I am for those tiny, invisible molecular moral forces that work from individual to individual, creeping through the crannies of the world like so many rootlets, or like the capillary oozing of water, yet which if you give them time, will rend the hardest monuments of man's pride.”
I think to say “I’m leaving politics” is a form of political bypassing in that reaffirms politics as a zone that one can be in or out of. The notion of a non-political life is, I’d say, as illusory as the separate self.
One may not be in contact with public officials, candidates, and material policy making, but that doesn’t disqualify one’s life as political.
Id go so far as to say if one was stranded on a desert island, there would still be some politics involved — the rules one creates for oneself, the negotiations of survival with the natural environment, and the import of future and past contact with other humans.
We may not identify as the citizen of a given state, but we’re all citizens of humanity, earth, and the network of consciousness.
In other words: I think we need to find more sophisticated, elegant, careful ways of talking about the aspect of politics in human culture, such that we don’t conceptually, and falsely, quarantine it away from our sense of meaning in life. Because when we do that, we disempower ourselves and others. Better that someone retreats to a cave for 6 years fully aware that they are a political actor, than to pretend otherwise. Better for the world, but also better for their spiritual journey, their relationship with the Truth.
I know you said you were stepping aside from the election, but I seriously appreciate your attempt to illuminate the greater truth around the mass immigration issue—perhaps the most salient of this election.
I am also grateful for your illustration of the immense power of prayer 🙏🏼
Prayer works.
The first time I ever tried praying in earnest, I was in the throes of debilitating alcoholism, seriously contemplating buying a shotgun and blowing my brains out. I had long known how much I was hurting myself, and wanted to quit, but couldn’t find the will.
I had a dog named Dave who I loved very much, but knew I couldn’t take care of him anymore, as was barely keeping myself alive. I could have just dumped him off at the local animal shelter, but even as a hopeless drunk, I couldn’t bring myself to do that to him.
So I prayed to God that he would find a home for Dave because I wasn’t able to care for him properly.
Literally the next day, a knock came on my apartment door. It was a man I had never met but who apparently lived just a few houses down and was a friend of one of my roommates—the roommate was Dave Thibedeau, the survivor of siege of Waco whose book was the basis of the recent Paramount series.
He said he had just randomly received a feeling that he should come over and see what was up. Had lived there for 6+ months and never seen him.
He heard about my struggles and ended up falling in love with my dog and taking him home that night.
Within another week or so, amidst some other ‘serendipitous’ experiences, I woke up particularly hungover one morning and decided I would quit booze cold turkey and never drink again. It will be 7 years since my last drink in January.
Hope this story inspires someone else to reach out to God for help and admit we are powerless on our own.
Thank you dear Charles. Regarding your statement "The liberal media frames the issue as racism versus compassion, but says little about causes of immigration such as neoliberal economic policies and the global debt system that make life in many Global South countries so unliveable that people will risk everything to uproot themselves and move to a foreign country. Nor is there much mention of US support for the paramilitaries, death squads, and despotic regimes that are necessary to subjugate a population to an extractive economic order. Nor is there any understanding that immigrants are a kind of “final export” – once a nation has been stripped of its minerals, oil, timber, etc., all that is left to export is its young people. Nor, finally, is there much discussion of how the migration-generating global economic and imperialist order hollows out the North American working and middle classes as well, pitting them in artificial competition with immigrants and creating the social divisions that allow the elite classes to maintain their rule.."
In my understanding this happens because the liberal media, as well as the conservative media, are both an integral part of the american billionaires' global militarized empire.
IMHO, americans are profoundly propagandized, emotionally-manipulated, kept ignorant (of the empire's global mechinations), distracted by the partisan theatre and directed to fight over the question of what should be the color of the shoes of the person who rapes, plunders, enslaves, exploits and mass-murders humanity, should it be red or blue? That's the only question we get to have a say over in the american billionaires' sham "elections", to decide over the color of the shoes of the global murderer, thief and rapist. Not whether the murder, theft, enslavement and rape should take place, that's not within the realm of "allowed debate", but only whether he should wear red or blue shoes while on his global exploits..
We're propagandized, deceived and distracted into fighting over which of the billionaire's representatives we prefer to lead the global capitalist militarized empire and its plunder, mass-murder and rape of life on earth to enrich the few ultra-rich and cement their domination over life...
TRUMP AND HARRIS ARE TWO FACES OF THE SAME GLOBAL CORPORATE-CAPITALIST BILLIONAIRE'S MILITARIZED EMPIRE, THAT TURNS THIS PARADISE PLANET INTO A DIVIDED WARRING HELL, TO BENEFIT NO ONE BUT THE CONTROL OF A FEW ULTRA-RICH OVER HUMANITY AND THE PLANET'S RESOURCES.
Yes, they have differences in temperament, one is a psychologically-undeveloped wounded narcissist bully and the other speaks more of compassion and caring, but beyond their superficial differences in temperament, both of their administrations acted in almost identical ways when it comes to securing the narrow selfish interest of the few ultra-wealthy and the control of their global corporate-capitalist empire over humanity and the planet's resources
They each continued 99% of the pro-empire pro-billionaire global terror, plunder, mass-murder and domination policies of their predecessors. Yes, despite the massive and intense QAnon/MAGA marketing deception that falsely sells trump as "anti-elite rebel", trump's admin was NOT a deviation from these policies, but a continuation of them. If one looks at his ACTUAL actions (not the fake narrative that was carefully crafted around him but his ACTUAL actions) then it's plain to see. And yes, despite the propagandists in the liberal media selling us the corporate-capitalist democratic party as supposedly more compassionate and caring, if one looks at the ACTUAL actions of the administrations headed by a capitalist liberal then it is clear that they are just as murderous as conservatives are and work just as much as conservatives to advance the narrow interests of the ultra-rich corporate-capitalists and their domination over life on earth. I now see that the wise and insightful Chris Hedges just published a profoundly important post about exactly this https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/the-choice-this-election-is-between In my view this is one of the most important essays published in recent times for anyone who wishes to understand what is actually happening in the west today, the internal struggle within the elite between the two factions of the ruling class, the two faces of capitalism fighting among themselves for supremacy (who will be the elite group who will be the top dog, plunder the planet and dominate humanity), which is what this current billionaire's sham "elections" is all about, though this rivalry between the capitalist elite factions has been going on for some time now.
The nature of the two factions of the elite, as described so skillfully in that essay, really should be basic knowledge for all americans, becasue there is so much mislabelling of the elite's two capitalist factions that are fighting for supremacy among themselves (even going as far as labelling the ultra-capitalist pro-billionaire pro-militarized empire pro-Wall St ultra-zionist right-wing DNC and Harris as far-left socialist!!!) and so much misunderstading of what is actually going on, misunderstanding which is fully capitalized upon by the both factions of the ruling class and their propagandists to sell us their fake narratives as if this or that faction of the capitalist elite is on the side of the people. Really a very important and highly recommended essay.
And besides that new essay by Hedges, here are a couple of other insightful and fully referenced essays by other researchers that go into this issue in detail https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/both-trumpism-and-anti-trumpism-are
And here https://caityjohnstone.medium.com/trump-minus-narrative-equals-bushbama-84a363947536
And here https://johnspritzler.substack.com/p/the-billionaire-class-is-no-more
PS. And if there's an interest, I wrote a bit about how the capitalist billionaire's global empire functions (regardless of whether it is a conservative or liberal in the white house) here https://substack.com/home/post/p-150090964
PPS. As for what can actually be done about the dilemma that Charles mentioned - of being caught in an all-encompassing anti-human abusive hierarchical system of domination, war, subjugation and exploitation, that gives us only the option of choosing between one or the other of its two puppets, and having practically zero influence on the empire itself and its control over our lives, with seemingly no way out - here's a suggestion, IMHO a very wise, practical and human-centered suggestion, that was already applied very successfully before (in half of Spain, when millions of people removed the ultra-wealthy hierarchical capitalist abusers from power and established a very productive and flourishing egalitarian self-rule without a government or ultra-rich rapists) with many links leading out from it for further, more detailed, exploration, if there's an interest https://www.pdrboston.org/egalitarianism
And detailed answers to faq is here https://www.pdrboston.org/faq-how-to-have-no-rich-no-poor
And see here how this was already applied very successfully before (in half of spain, as mentioned above) https://www.pdrboston.org/egalitarianism-in-spain-1936-9
Here's a more detailed account of how it was implemented https://www.pdrboston.org/lessons-from-the-spanish-revolution
As well as here https://open.substack.com/pub/johnspritzler/p/we-are-taught-lies-about-the-american
PPPS. Having said the above, I'd like to qualify my statements above after I've seen this video https://www.facebook.com/share/v/DjgVqtgD3wy2XJzY/ I'd like to ask anyone reading this to please watch this and tell me if you can ever imagine this level of human caring, empathy, heart attunement and emotional maturity to ever be shown by psychologically-stunted infantile bully narcissist abuser empathy-less trump? Not in a million years. We're talking about a completely different level of HUMAN DEVELOPMENT. A completely different connection to humanity and to the heart.
I'm not a harris supporter, i wish she wasn't so right-wing capitalist and zionist in her policies, and yet, still, on the most basic human level it's very very clear which one of them is more caring, more human, more empathetic, more heart-attuned, more connected to God. There's just no comparison. Watch the video.
IMHO they're both horrible on policies, both are pro-empire right-wing capitalists and zionists, but on the human level, i know i prefer a real caring and sensitive human being rather than an infantile cruel empathy-less greedy narcassist abuser jerk who dehumanizes and objectifies human beings and the living earth (and who buys his trophy "wives" off of the playboy catalogue, and has sham abusive loveless transactional "relationaships" with them, until they get wrinkled and are replaced by the next trophy wife that this wounded man-child buys) There is no question in my mind which one of them is more connected to the heart and to the sacred essence of humanity. I used to think they're both the same awful right-wing representatives of the billionaire ruling class, and in terms of policy that might be true, but in terms of humanity, there is simply no comparison.
I pray with all my heart that love, caring and empathy shines through. I pray with all my heart that trump's immature empathy-less greed, insensitivity, narcissism, cruelty, dehumanization and cold-hearted capitalist objectifying brain doesn't win. Trump's infantile narcissist trauma-thriving mentality is everything the old human world of domimation dehumanization extraction abuse and trauma was about. In my view, what harris has shown in this video (as much as i wish her policies were left-wing and not so right-wing) is the new world of caring, empathy and heart attunement.
Thank you for this comment! You are a blessing to this world. I am reading up on the 'hidden revolution' now.
I will second Paul's reply and also want to thank you for this important comment. I fully agree with what you pointed out, and also read Chris Hedges' essay that you linked and it was indeed eye-opening and provided a lot of clarity. I will now look into the suggestions you made in the second part of your comment. Thank you again.
Thank you to both of you. If you'd like to discuss anything in those links that I shared at the end of the comment then there's an email address at the end of those essays.
THANK YOU!!!! 👏👏👏
Lets take down the political machine first , revolutions are dangerous you never know what might fill the void ...it is not gauranteed to be ethical. Make it a real democracy , further reinforce the separations of power which have been eroded and take the money out of elections.
I totally hear you and your concern, though not completely sure what you might be imagining when saying “revolution”. If you are referring to the suggestion at the end of my comment then in such a case there is no “void” (that is waiting to be filled by a new ruler who pretends to represent the people. There is no new "ruler" or "leader", except for our Self) and it is very very clear how and who has the power to decide over our lives. We do. Each one of us. Exactly as it was already applied very successfully before (see details in my comment above). We “rule” ourselves. Not through delegated powers, not with some having more power than others, not with some elevated over others. Not through hierarchy of domination. Not through someone supposedly representing our will and speaking for us, but we, actually we, rule our lives. There is no “void” becasue this is NOT the replacement of one set of rulers with another set of rulers. This is the end of elevated rulers. Exactly as was already applied very successfully before. Full details in the links i shared at the end of the comment. Highly recommend reading them attentively if there’s an interest in understanding what is suggested abd how it was applied ❤️
Furthermore, it is impossible to have a real (not fake) democracy and to "take the money out of politics" in a social-economic system that is based on capitalist inequality. One of the basic premises of such a capitalist system (see here https://www.pdrboston.org/capitalism) is that money equals power. And since a capitalist economy is BASED ON and depends on class inequality then in such a system it is INEVITABLE that those who accumulated or received the most resources (which always ends up being the most cunning, clever, heart-divorced and sociopathic in a society) will have all the influence on politics (the direction of our lives). There is NO POSSIBILITY for a real democracy and to get money out of politics in a capitalist system of class inequality and domination of the few over the many. The domination of the moneyed class over society is built into this system. Again, see here for exactly the profoundly anti-democratic (and God-ignorant) principles that guide a hierarchical militarized capitalist system for the domination and control of the few moneyed ones over the many and why there is NO POSSIBILITY for real democracy in such a system https://www.pdrboston.org/capitalism
“And since a capitalist economy is BASED ON and depends on class inequality then in such a system it is INEVITABLE that those who accumulated or received the most resources (which always ends up being the most cunning, clever, heart-divorced and sociopathic in a society”.
I can tell you’ve never run a business.
To be fair, when I was young and spent a lot more time on abstractions than the concrete world I used to think that way. In retrospect it’s amazing the amount of blinders I had to put on to imagine that the only way people make money is through some kind of evil manipulative plot. Actually for the vast majority of businesses, which are small businesses but also large ones, they add value to people’s lives, including their employees who take no risk and put up no capital but still reap the rewards. But you don’t need to run a business to see for yourself, you can simply take the time to imagine what it’s like to throw all your chips into one hand and hope that you don’t go broke doing the thing you feel you must do. The intellectual fallacy is taking what is a minority of extreme cases (sackler family for example) and using that to equivocate with respect to the vast majority of people who make money justly. If everyone enters their particular market without coercion, the money they make is just, no matter the quantity. If you invent something everyone voluntarily wants, like say electricity, you stand to make a lot of money.
The other fallacy is projecting what we don’t like ie haven’t yet accepted about human nature onto “capitalism”, as if our economic system is the sole cause of human depravity! On the contrary, our current system seems to incentivize much less of it than any other in the history of settled civilizations. For both the environment and the people, I’ll take this over every failed communist and fascist experiment of the last century. The idea that if we rid ourselves of “the system” we’ll rid ourselves of badness and finally achieve utopia is a recipe for hell on earth.
In retrospect I almost can’t explain why I spent so long railing against the system that has given me everything I’ve ever needed, not the least of which is relatively clean food and water. I had dysentery when I was in India. So a good place for me to start is being thankful I don’t have dysentery. There’s a lot of work to do of course, and psychologically we are not well that’s for sure, but for me, damning the economy that lifted so many out of overtly, including myself, is no longer something productive, interesting, or aligned with how the world actually works. To use a phrase from Sowell, I no longer use my brain to rail against Cosmic Injustice and do what I can in my own very small sphere of activity. On the contrary, material abundance is giving us at least the opportunity to have the leisure time to try to work out how nuts we’ve probably always been as a species, and to give us the luxury of caring for the environment in the first place (starving people don’t care). And for those that still think we should all just revert to Rousseau’s ideal, we’re not going back so we need to work with where we’re at now. I’d urge you and folks that think like you to consider that even the admittedly imperfect system we have today is a product of iterative evolution that is beyond easy comprehension. Maybe this is the best, so far, that we’ve been able to muster.
Hello Richard and thank you for this. I apologize for the misunderstanding but when saying "capitalists" i am referring to the first category of people as described here (starting in the 9th paragraph) https://www.pdrboston.org/capitalism As you can see, the other two categories are workers and small business owners. If you'll read that entire piece then i think you'll realize that you're barking up the wrong tree and responding to something which you're assuming i might have meant but which i didn't.
Also, i could be wrong of course but it seems quite clear that you didn't read the suggestion i made as detailed in the resouces linked above, becasue if you have, you would have realized that you are assuming yet another falsity, that what is being suggested is fascism or communism. If you'll actually read the resources i gave that explain what is being suggestsd (before rushing to respond) then you'll realize that you assumed wrongly (very wrongly, because what is being suggeated is the polar oposite of fascism and communism).
You'll also realize that your assumption that what is being suggested negates businesses is yet another false assumption (arising from not reading the resources provided). Not only does it not negate bussinesses but in fact when this suggeation was applied in practice (in about half of spain, see the links above) businesses flourished like never before and its bussiness productivity far outproduced the capitalist economy (and that is even despite the fact that the free republic had to send numerous people to the front lines to fight the fascist & capitalist attacks by the ultra-rich who tried to crush people's freedom and reinstate the hierarchical domination of the few ultra-rich over the many).
And contrary to your assumption, its productivity also provided far higher standard of living to everyone (except for the few ultra-rich). Kindly read the resources provided if you wish to understand how that is possible.
Besides the information in the couple of resources provided above, they also contain numerous links leading out from them for further, more in-depth, learning and details, in there's an interest.
And by the way, the author of these essays also has an excellent substack account (excellent in my view of course) that i highly recommend pursuing as well, if there's an interest. For example here https://substack.com/home/post/p-137593390 or here https://johnspritzler.substack.com/p/ever-wonder-how-much-greater-is-the? On what we get in a capitalist economy vs what we produce
And by the way, as a side note (unrelated to the suggestion made) but since you mentioned india as an example of failure, you might like to know that india was one of the wealthiest places on the planet before its invasion, occupation, enslavement and plunder by british capitalists who murdered millions, tortured millions, enslaved millions more, and stole its vast resources to enrich the capitalist empire's core (a practice repeated by british capitalists throughout the planet, and later repeated by american capitalists as well). To be absolutely clear, this is just a side note since you brought up india as an example. What I suggested has nothing to do with india.
Glad to be getting into the comments early, and to see that we've started off with some excellent, positive and thoughtful sharings. I see this brilliant article as a message to all those commenters who have been so critical of Charles' foray into the political realm, calling him a sellout, a hypocrite, and purporting to understand his motivations better than he does, even when he does his utmost to explain himself in a way anyone can understand. You know who you are, you sanctimonious so-and-sos.
I read an essay somewhere that talked about how the world is going to change through the comment sections. I've been fascinated by them, in all the media I read. They usually bring out the worst in people, but sometimes the best. I believe that everyone who follows Charles is well-intentioned, has red-pilled themselves somewhere along the way and wants our systems to break down and reform. But this bypassing he speaks of - both kinds - is definitely an obstacle, and this article serves as a subtle way to encourage people to engage in a little self-examination before they start throwing around their self-righteous POVs all over the comments.
So, all you critics, before you succumb to your automatic nitpicking and compose another long-winded, room-air-sucking epistle into our wee forum, ask yourself what you're bypassing and perhaps share that instead of pointing out where Charles is - once again - going wrong. Because he's not. This is the track we need to be on. Bravo once again, Mr. E.
I've come to realize what is really needed is a red pilling from the red pilling. We're being duped by these false gurus who're keeping the fires of division and distrust stoked to advance their agendas and make money. So call me a sanctimonious so-and-so if you want. I was once a sheeple like you. No more. My eyes are now open that we're being deceived and exploited from both ends - the media/government AND the new age/substack false gurus and "experts". Wake up. Think for yourself. People like Charles are tearing us apart just as surely as the culture and political wars.
R Q, You just couldn't help yourself, could you? Why bother reading Charles if this is your mindset, except to insert division and no solution. Your ego could use a bath.
I'm not sure I follow. Isn't it his right to offer a differing view? I can't speak for Charles but I think he fully expects dissenting views.
This is quite the differing view. "Hey DD, fuck you".
Seems to me like if you didn't want a caustic comment you should have kept your mouth shut in the first place. It's the same problem with you fucking boomers over and over again: you throw shit and then you bellyache when someone throws it back. Sit down, shut up and eat your fucking oatmeal granny. And comb you nappy ass weave.
You’re a different Jowzer than that other one who stole my handle, aren’t you? A bit nastier, but still entertaining in that look-at-that-sad-drunk sort of way. Please make some more asinine comments on my thread, I quite enjoy them.
Hey DD, fuck you.
“People like Charles are tearing us apart just as surely as the culture and political wars.”
Absolutely. Charles’ hypocritical sanctimony and perpetual self-justification is part of the problem, not the solution. Odd that someone who always warns about attempting to impose systems of control on all life doesn’t even realize that he himself is a control freak.
How is Charles trying to control you? How is he tearing people apart? These are writings. They are inert. They don't do anything unless you let them. Why spend the energy reading his work if you feel it is so damaging? Because you think your negative, non-constructive comments will somehow sway those who enjoy the thoughts he shares? That would be an incredibly ill-informed crusade. At least recommend someone whose Substack you feel is part of the solution. That would make you seem less of a troll.
I find it interesting you've failed to notice that many of my posts receive numerous likes. So obviously those readers who've liked what I've said - some of whom have also explicitly endorsed my posts - agree with some of what I've said and have indicated they find my contributions constructive, not non-constructive as you assert.
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'Sheeple' is plural - only bots and trolls make such obvious grammatical mistakes. Don't you know that the singular for 'sheeple' is 'sherson'? And using profanity directly against another commenter automatically relegates you to the 'to be made fun of' category.
Judging from your comment, you've been black-pilled, my self-ignorant friend. You don't trust anybody, knee-jerking into useless cynicism from which you engage in comments solely to feed your own ego - exactly the type of person Charles is talking about.
I'm not deceived by Charles. I agree with him. There's a difference; it means I've engaged my critical thinking skills to analyze what he's written and it's made it through my discernment filters. You should get some better ones.
Dear sherson, thanks for enlightening me. Thankfully I never took a pill. Whichever color you took, I'm betting you took it rectally, followed by the insertion of your head into the same orifice to see where it went.
And now you're just amusing. Why the sudden fixation on my butt? I'm not sure it's appropriate to reveal your fetishes out of context. But speaking of asses, you've now made one out of yourself, so cut your losses and stop engaging, bud. Everything you've said simply proves the point Charles is making, but it gets tired quick.
I didn't say anything about your butt, other than you stuck your head up there. Pretty hard to tell what exact point Chuck is making amidst the word salad he's tossed for us. Maybe you've got to have your head up your ass to understand, so consider me confused.
Again with the butts! And now you're talking about tossing salad! Some of our more sensitive readers are going to get offended. Seeing as you're so easily confused, I'll make this plain: this isn't a forum about anal play, so go on back to Pornhub and get your jollies there.
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Hey, my guy, but this was actually pretty clever. Pretty funny. It would be cool if trolling was generally amusing as a cultural convention. It would be some welcome Trickster energy. Taking the piss out of everything so that we don’t take anything (guru, media, politics, spirituality or trolls themselves) so seriously we cede our authority to it. It’s a bummer it so rarely serves that purpose, but thanks for giving me a glimpse of the better world my heart knows is possible. 😂
Thanks, and I agree. But this particular trolling has gotten tiresome as a couple of them have stolen my handle and as you can see from your other reply, are replying posing as me. Usually they peter out, but these ones are tenacious. I’d be flattered if it wasn’t so vapid and pointless, abd counterproductive to the discussion. Someone should do a psychological study of the troll phenomenon. Good PhD material.
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Thank you for your delightful comment! As the moon dances on a bed of cabbage, let us embark on a journey where the pickle trees sway to a melody of invisible harmony. Once, while riding a bicycle made of marshmallows through a forest of jubilant marmalade, I encountered a talking sock puppet named Sir Wobblebottom, who regaled me with tales of how purple clouds rain spaghetti, nourishing the gardens of eternal laughter. In this realm, the squirrels debated philosophy while wearing monocles, dissecting the fine art of making custard sandwiches before the clocks sprouted wings and flew backwards into yesterday’s breakfast. As the dialogue swirled like a whirlpool of confetti, the essence of Trickster energy unfolded like an origami peacock, reminding us that when life hands you lemons, you eschew the acidity for the whimsical dance of jellybeans. So let’s don our finest hats made of cheese and ride flamingos through the puddles of kaleidoscopic riddles, embracing the merry chaos that spins the universe into a delightful, nonsensical ballet where every absurdity enlightens our fragile hearts and tickles the fancies of cosmic yogurt. Thank you for your glimpse into this whimsical wonderland! 🌈✨
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J, You believe "everyone" is well- intentioned? I bet you don't now...
Guess not! The guy just stole my handle. That'll teach me. I'll try not to make fun of these people in future, but it's very hard to resist.
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In my indigenous language, Irish Gaelic, we have six words for "up" and "down" rather than English's two. It helps to uncover the complexities of "power over" and "power with". Try this as a definition of power that encompasses both...
* capacity to self define
*access to resources ... including community, land connection, clean waters and clean air, not just money or media
*participation in decisions affecting day to day living
Your last paragraph was the clincher and the important closer. The Shaman story reminds me of "Emerald Forest" 1985 John Boorman movie. One of the few movies that show the power of the connection with the Spirit World. This power is so important to know of, respect and use. Thank you for connecting the dots of potential blindness.
I'm going to check that movie out! Thanks for the recommendation.
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What the heck did I just read? Some garble about how we should indigenize our spiritual practices while also recognizing the political reality of capitalism but should talk about neither but also talk about both but also the roots of our problems aren’t racism but also they are but it’s not a big deal because if we shaman ourselves the spirits will downgrade the hurricane and also that’s a reality. But don’t spiritual or political bypass because that’s counter to any productive spiritual or political movement. I’m a lefty and I hate us because we’re like this.
Charles, you really missed the mark when "describing" the concerns conservatives and others have about migrants pouring over the southern border. I think you fell for a bunch of media distortions. The concerns actually center around the illegality of their actions (law states that when claiming asylum it must be done in the first country one gets to, and very few of these migrants are from Mexico). You failed to acknowledge that they are flying in from Africa and Asia to get to the US in an undocumented manner. You failed to note that border communities are overrun with migrants in a way which feels threatening and corrosive to the quality of life in those communities. You didn't mention that northern cities like NYC which are "sanctuary cities" have been giving free housing, free food and medical care, and two thousand dollars a month to live on (for the first six months) to millions of illegal immigrants in those cities - when NONE of those benefits are given to those city residents, usually black and brown people. You fail to mention that many of these migrants are young criminals who engage in criminal behavior in the US cities they arrive in. (Cash Jordan on youtube has been doing a fantastic job of covering this issue in NYC - check him out!!) You failed to acknowledge the fundamental injustice of all the LEGAL immigrants who spend many years and thousands of dollars entering the country LEGALLY, play by the rules, despite the cost and stress, who are often themselves working class, who should be distinguished from illegal immigrants coming over the southern border. None of these factors are mentioned in the MSM and I'm disappointed you repeated the tropes that "racism" is behind the concerns regarding the influx of 12 million undocumented, illegal immigrants who have entered the US since Biden took office.
Here are a few important research papers, and one video, that investigate the facts about immigration and the root causes of it. I think it is important to be aware of those things in order to come closer to a more complete and whole (instead of partial and one-sided) understanding of the reality, instead of just being exposed to the one-sided billionaire's propaganda slogans that are hammered into our head nonstop in the emotionally-manipulative and dehumanizing one-sided echo-chambers that most americans spend most of our time in.
And after sharing the research with you, I will then also say a couple of words of what it would look like if the same billionaire-propagandized, ignorant, emotionally-manipulated, slogan-repeating, quick-to-stigmatize, quick-to-dehumanize, quick-to-hate, God-ignorant conservative "logic" was applied also to you and your family Sarah. What would happen if we would apply the same Godless conservative "reasoning" also towards you. See below after the research links with the facts
1. https://johnspritzler.substack.com/p/illegal-immigration-to-the-us-myth
2. https://johnspritzler.substack.com/p/censored-the-truth-about-mass-migration
3. https://youtu.be/ueNWlMyUNy4?si=YqSLyhucBOgId6Sr
4. https://johnspritzler.substack.com/p/german-and-us-rulers-are-using-weapons
5. https://johnspritzler.substack.com/p/the-biden-trump-liars-debate-lies
6. https://www.pdrboston.org/illegal-immigration-what-should-we-
7. https://open.substack.com/pub/chrishedges/p/the-choice-this-election-is-between
8. https://www.pdrboston.org/illegal-immigration-myth-vs-reality
If the native people to this land (who lived here long before your criminal greedy migrant murderers invaded the land, massacred us, stole our land, made it into their private property and filled it with toxins) if the native people of the land had an emotionally-manipulated, God-ignorant and heavily-propagandized conservative brain, if the local people would apply the same billionaire-manipulated conservative "logic" to you as you apply to others then we would tell to you that the way to make life better for everyone is that you criminal greedy migrants invaders, murderers and thieves go back to where you came from, before you invaded our land, massacred us, made the land into your private property, filled it with toxins and inflicted the BIGGEST HOLOCAUST in the history of mankind on us.
If the native people of the land had a billionaire-manipulated conservative brain then we would have told you "GO BACK TO WHERE YOUR FAMILY CAME FROM SARAH!!! YOU DON'T BELONG HERE!! THIS IS NOT YOUR LAND!! Your criminal murderous invading migrant family stole the land from us and massacred us. You criminal invading greedy heart-divorced violent God-ignorant hateful people sent here your absolute worst, your merciless murderers, your greedy thieves. GO BACK TO WHERE YOUR FAMILY CAME FROM SARAH. YOU DON'T BELONG HERE. YOU AND YOUR FAMILY ARE CRIMINAL MIGRANT INVADERS ON THIS LAND"..
Luckily for you Sarah, the native people of this land do not have a propagandized, ignorant, emotionally-manipulated, slogan-repeating and quick-to-hate God-ignorant conservative brain...
Mike drop. Well said.
If you cannot protect the border, you do not have a country. Every sovereign country must be able to protect their borders and control who gets in. That is currently not happening.
Tell that to those who lived for 19,000 years before the europeans came. Who had their sovereighty taken. Who have no voice. Maybe Charles is on to more than you know. Maybe americans survival will be giving the first nation a place they rightly deserve. In these current times.
It is still the case that if you cannot protect your borders you do not have a country. Nothing we do today will help those people living in America before the Europeans came. We now can only try to make things better for people living today and for future generations. For sure, first nation concerns should be part of this, but at present the porous border leaves everyone vulnerable.
If the native people to this land (who lived here long before your criminal greedy migrant murderers invaded the land, massacred us, stole our land, made it into their private property and filled it with toxins) if the native people of the land had an emotionally-manipulated, God-ignorant and heavily-propagandized conservative brain, if the local people would apply the same billionaire-manipulated conservative "logic" to you as you apply to others then we would answer to you that the way to make life better for everyone is for you criminal greedy migrants invaders, murderers and thieves to go back to where you came from, before you invaded our land, massacred us, made the land into your private property, filled it with toxins and inflicted the BIGGEST HOLOCAUST in the history of mankind on us. If the local people had a billionaoie-manipulated conservative brain then we would have told you "GO BACK TO WHERE YOUR FAMILY CAME FROM MARY!!! YOU DON'T BELONG HERE!! THIS IS NOT YOUR LAND!! Your criminal murderous invading migrant family stole the land from us and massacred us. You criminal invading greedy heart-divorced violent Godless people sent here your absolute worst, your murderers, their greedy thieves. GO BACK TO WHERE YOUR FAMILY CAME FROM MARY. YOU DON'T BELONG HERE. YOU AND YOUR FAMILY ARE CRIMINAL MIGRANT INVADERS ON THIS LAND"..
Luckily for you Mary, the local people of this land do not have a propagandized, ignorant, emotionally-manipulated, slogan-repeating and quick-to-hate God-ignorant conservative brain...
Gosh, wonder if the "first nation" folk have considered mass deportations. Ya know, make turtle island great again (MTIGA). Waddaya think MaryLS? Send all the whites back where they came from?
I dont think the UK could take it. We are only a small island.
Fortunately many don't descend from the filthy British. Chuck, for example, is a Kraut.
That is always the answer. They have no representation. Giving them representation can help with the answers. The answers to the global issues that will always make borders porous. Illegal or legal. Your overstayers, your encouraged migrants from favoured countries or your refugees who come legally and then bring their big families.
"The bypasser spiritualizes social, relational, and political issues in an attempt to avoid their messiness and drama, and steers conversations onto spiritual ideas, where he or she enjoys a social advantage or psychological comfort." Much like your final few essays while still in the RFK camp Charles. Bizarre lack of self-awareness there.
Astute comment. Not that I expect Charles to listen to you: he thinks other people are only here to listen to him and his superior mind, not for him to stoop so low as to ever heed anyone else.
"Bizarre lack of self-awareness". Sums it up pretty well.
Charles attempts to delineate the concept of political bypassing, following John Weiwood's definition of spiritual bypassing, in a manner that feels more like a convoluted philosophical exercise than a clear exposition. The abstractions are so dense and labyrinthine that they obscure understanding rather than illuminate it. The leap from spiritual bypassing to political bypassing is not only a stretch, but it also fails to clearly define the implications of such a term. Instead of providing a nuanced critique of political discourse, Charles veers into an oversimplified dichotomy between racism and structural factors, neglecting the multifaceted nature of both issues. This perspective, while well-intentioned, inadvertently demonstrates a kind of elitist detachment, as it assumes a shared understanding of complex geopolitical dynamics without engaging the emotional realities for those caught in these discussions. The romanticization of indigenous knowledge and practices, positioned against conventional politics, risks appropriating marginalized voices and oversimplifying the complexities of sociopolitical dynamics. The suggestion that mystical practices alone could yield tangible political change is naively optimistic and discredits the hard-fought struggles of those who engage in political activism. Ultimately, Charles tends to dismiss the efficacy of conventional political mechanisms, painting a picture of despair that undermines the crucial work of activism and advocacy in addressing systemic injustices. It risks alienating individuals who might otherwise engage with political issues, offering instead an esoteric and abstract framework that leaves little room for practical, grounded solutions to pressing societal problems. Such a convoluted approach may satisfy a certain intellectual curiosity but ultimately leads to a greater confusion about the essential roles politics and spirituality can cohesively play in the quest for social justice and individual healing.
sometimes people just lose the plot and should retire. Charles' brain has died on him.
This was a good comment. Thanks for taking the time to write something clear and cohesive.
Charles, I have described most of your work as bypassing--spiritual, political, and what I call in my own words, "climate bypassing."
How you can write a post about political bypassing and not mention trauma (or emotional wounds in your words or experience) doesn't address this elephant in the room when bypassing is invoked.
As far as I know, you haven't done any or much trauma work; that is the antidote to bypassing. Ironically, most of your narrative in this post floats above the body, like your other work. It is, as I read it, bypassing.
So, maybe just read this essay yourself, first, before you bypass us all!
Reliably as clockwork, Charles employs yet again his usual disingenuous rhetorical tactics to accuse his critics and detractors of being flawed and inferior people for not blindly prostrating ourselves before the Great God Eisenstein. Not many readers have ever attacked him for being insufficiently political, for not making it all about politics. Therefore, his most vocal critics cannnot legitimately be accused of "political bypassing," no matter how much he dishonestly tries to imply such.
He was actually receiving pushback for his weaselly attempts to endorse Trump without endorsing him, by trying to imply he was the better choice yet not ever quite saying he was the better choice -- to be MAGA and yet not MAGA at the same time. Some of us simply don't like being jerked around by manipulative influencers, that's all. It's not that any of us are demanding that absolutely everything must be reduced to political considerations - no matter how much Charles would like to lie about that, and lie about us - it's that Charles should be able to make his arguments without resorting to endless streams of logical fallacies and factual distortions, which he refuses to do. As usual, the premise of an Eisenstein essay is false to begin with: while political bypassing is a real phenomenon (if that's the term you prefer to employ), very few of Charles' own critics and naysayers are guilty of it. Period.
Charles was CORRECTLY and LEGITIMATELY being accused by many people of spiritual bypassing, so what does he immediately do? He coins the term “political bypassing” and throws it in the faces of his critics as a sort of Tu Quoque. Because that’s what Charles invariably does when he receives any pushback whatsoever. He simply HAS to be “deeper” and “wiser” and “smarter” than anyone else. His endlessly needy ego depends on his ability to think this way about himself.
Exactly right. The usual mindfuckery of St. Chuck and his minions.
That seems to be exactly what he does....he hides his truth, veiled in circular logic and smoke and mirrors narrative, so that he can protect himself from the criticism of what he is sharing....he did the same in the Coronation essay. So, when I called him out on it in that essay, he did exactly what he did here: he spins it into a red herring and straw man argument (in the follow-up to Coronation he called the Coronation essay a myth to counter my calling out his fantasies and fallacies)...such disingenuous BS. And, yes, best to catch the fasle premise early on, because he quickly builds a story and narrative that leaves that simple untruth to sound truthful, so one easily gets lost in the branches of his verbosity while the trunk continues to rot. And he continues to blather nonsense week after week.
10,000%
Well put
Fascinating new line. Can’t wait to read more! Thank you ☀️
Politics are a diversion, clearly failing the ability to bring real change, but also because the manifestation of their best intentions will always be biased by an economic logic of growth that if fact noone truly wants to change, and is limiting its scope. So in the extreme we want world peace, but selling weapons supports GDP enormously and the global economy. The second will always prevail.
So this is not where the power of change is, and neither it is in the economic elites that I agree with you are assumed to hold way more power than they actually have: because in the same way, any intent for change is paralyzed by the dominant growth paradigm around them.
As a result if we want power of change we need to look elsewhere and that opens the field of subtle quantum or God-originated power, that helps those who are in harmony with the greater order of the universe.
You mention the indigenous tradition but I would not minimize the potential to rediscover this power source within our own cultural spiritual traditions. It is way more alive than many people think, closer, and easier, as it holds our own ancestrally and memory.
Ironic the number of people from North America who want to flee to Latin America because life is untenable at home for us. Of course most have money.
I recently relocated to Guatemala with my partner after we both finished school.
Largely because that is where she is from—and the weather and food are phenomenal—but partly because I could not find any work at all where we lived, and I have very little doubt that the fact I am a straight, white, confident, conservative man was a major factor.
For what it’s worth, and for a Latin American perspective on the issue, her relatives in Guatemala are entirely against the Open Borders and want Trump to win because they believe Kamala will do everything in her power to usher in communism.
It might have more to do with the fact that you're deluded and out of touch. There is no communist threat in the US. The Dems are by world standards centrist or centre right. Trump is a rapist grifter crook. Support for him is either amoral, a cognitive issue or a mental illness.
You are a brainwashed, useful idiot suffering from severe TDS.
TDS accurately describes people voting for a rapist and transparently obviously grifter who Wells pieces of his suit to the hapless rubes in his cult.. There are probably less than 1000 communists in the US. None hold office.
You may actually just be retarded if think that there are less than 1,000 communists in the United States.
You are literally a subject MK Ultra, and the MSLSD propaganda oozes out of even your written words.
You are so hopelessly lost.
I pray for your salvation and for the scales to drop from your eyes before it’s too late.
There is a genocide going on under biden and kamalas watch. Whats support for kamala called.
How much do you know about this? Trump is far worse on Gaza. He told Netanyahu to not agree to a ceasefire until post election
Biden can put a stop to it right now. Trump is not yet in charge. Make him accountable if or whe he is. My prime minister can stop arming and giving tactical support by tonight. Thats what I know.
Trump will be worse. Much much worse on this and on everything. I share your desire that the US stop any support of Israel's genocidal campaign
I’m sorry that being a straight, confident, conservative, white man forced you to flee your birth nation. The discrimination you face at home must be overwhelming. I only hope the US doesn’t interfere with Guatemalan politics while you are there, thus infringing on your newfound freedoms!
Love the shaman story. Reminds me of the idea that if there are powerful dark forces there must also be powerful light beings.
It is so funny to read this because I once heard the term "The Gray Occult" which is a comfort zone that crystalizes groups into non-development even though they think they are involved in something beyond the norm ( a better way). It shows that a society that stops expanding in one way or another is subject to break down and decay. Flexibility keeps one ready to build upon one's knowledge in ways that reconcile us to higher Truths.
“I am done with great things and big things, great institutions and big success, and I am for those tiny, invisible molecular moral forces that work from individual to individual, creeping through the crannies of the world like so many rootlets, or like the capillary oozing of water, yet which if you give them time, will rend the hardest monuments of man's pride.”
― William James
I think to say “I’m leaving politics” is a form of political bypassing in that reaffirms politics as a zone that one can be in or out of. The notion of a non-political life is, I’d say, as illusory as the separate self.
One may not be in contact with public officials, candidates, and material policy making, but that doesn’t disqualify one’s life as political.
Id go so far as to say if one was stranded on a desert island, there would still be some politics involved — the rules one creates for oneself, the negotiations of survival with the natural environment, and the import of future and past contact with other humans.
We may not identify as the citizen of a given state, but we’re all citizens of humanity, earth, and the network of consciousness.
In other words: I think we need to find more sophisticated, elegant, careful ways of talking about the aspect of politics in human culture, such that we don’t conceptually, and falsely, quarantine it away from our sense of meaning in life. Because when we do that, we disempower ourselves and others. Better that someone retreats to a cave for 6 years fully aware that they are a political actor, than to pretend otherwise. Better for the world, but also better for their spiritual journey, their relationship with the Truth.
I know you said you were stepping aside from the election, but I seriously appreciate your attempt to illuminate the greater truth around the mass immigration issue—perhaps the most salient of this election.
I am also grateful for your illustration of the immense power of prayer 🙏🏼
Prayer works.
The first time I ever tried praying in earnest, I was in the throes of debilitating alcoholism, seriously contemplating buying a shotgun and blowing my brains out. I had long known how much I was hurting myself, and wanted to quit, but couldn’t find the will.
I had a dog named Dave who I loved very much, but knew I couldn’t take care of him anymore, as was barely keeping myself alive. I could have just dumped him off at the local animal shelter, but even as a hopeless drunk, I couldn’t bring myself to do that to him.
So I prayed to God that he would find a home for Dave because I wasn’t able to care for him properly.
Literally the next day, a knock came on my apartment door. It was a man I had never met but who apparently lived just a few houses down and was a friend of one of my roommates—the roommate was Dave Thibedeau, the survivor of siege of Waco whose book was the basis of the recent Paramount series.
He said he had just randomly received a feeling that he should come over and see what was up. Had lived there for 6+ months and never seen him.
He heard about my struggles and ended up falling in love with my dog and taking him home that night.
Within another week or so, amidst some other ‘serendipitous’ experiences, I woke up particularly hungover one morning and decided I would quit booze cold turkey and never drink again. It will be 7 years since my last drink in January.
Hope this story inspires someone else to reach out to God for help and admit we are powerless on our own.
God bless you. God bless the USA.
And God bless all beings everywhere.