Thanks Charles. Happy to allow the appropriate time for fermentation.
As soon as hearing RFK’s speech announcing this I thought of you and your long campaign to draw attention to the real malady at modernity’s heart - othering.
Seemed to me the perfect vehicle to challenge the belief of us and them. Especially how “liberal” people dehumanise the people behind Trump. (Speaking as a liberal)
I personally felt o had been readied not to jump into outrage or betrayal precisely because I’ve had the grace to be able to hear what you’ve said over the years.
I was shocked when I heard about Kennedy's alignment iwth Trump, and my first thought was, 'What will Charles Eisenstein say?' - knowing that it would be thoughtful and well considered and worth hearing when it comes. Assembling/integrating thoughts should take time but I look forward to the results, however difficult I may or may not find them.
I think you should wait to post your response until the sick feeling you get from your computer has passed. That's how it works from me. Those feelings are powerful messages! Love and light to your family!
Sharing love and support. Be kind to yourself. Your body of work speaks for itself. There can be no challenge to that. I stand with you in all you are moving through.
But honestly….I’d like people to ask themselves why they care so much?
The intensity of “caring” and passions around these issues…the disturbing certainty with which many seem to parse “good” from “bad”, is in fact the very heart of the problem.
So I am curious…why do you care so much? And how can you be so sure that one side is wholly good or one side is wholly bad?
I think sometimes we "care" for us, but quite often someone like Charles "cares" more because it's not about him. It's about offering perspective and guidance for others who are trying to find their way in these very confusing times and politics globally right now is one of the most confusing things around.
I'm not speaking for Charles, but from what I know of him, because he's like myself, he doesn't see one side as wholly good or bad which is why it takes us so many words to address the nuances of these wild times we're living in.
Yes, I get that. And my message wasn’t directed at Charles, but more just at the community and “people” and anyone of us who finds ourselves caring too much or being seduced into the idea that one side is wholly good or wholly bad.
From the Taoist parable of the farmer, as well as through personal experience, I've learned to try my best not to label things good or bad for one can't always know what the outcome of the "bad" thing can lead too, nor vice versa. I think we usually label them as that because they feel bad at the time.
The dilemma that I'm simmering with is that there are things equally on BOTH sides that are HIGHLY concerning for our country moving forward. It feels as if we lose in BIG both ways. So how to vote under those circumstances when the larger issues carry equal weight? Plus, I don't trust either side to live up to their promises which adds a complete other layer of complexity.
It's quite a dilemma for so many that don't automatically raise the red or blue tribal flag because there's so much fear of "the other side".
At the same time, I notice the fear that I have with both and are working with that.
These are quite complex, trying times that we're living in. It seems that everything, including shopping for simple things like lightbulbs, takes a host of research to try to figure it out which takes so much time and energy.
Humans, especially in the U.S., need a bit of a break to catch their breath before the next wave hits, but the tsunamis are just constant.
This is true. It's the loud disagreeable voices following the corporate media influences that, I believe, are giving us a distorted vision of what this process is. We're under the illusion from these voices in social media that there are so many of "them", we're left with a sense of imbalanced and unreasonable fears.
That said, I do believe that we have some threats on both sides that make it difficult for us, or at least people like me, to figure out which way to go. I don't engage with mainstream media much except to get a read on what others are being exposed to so I'm not naive and understand what causes people to have the opinions they do so I can engage to try to help them navigate their inner worlds.
That said, for the very first time, I have big concerns that weigh equally on both sides that are causing confusion on how to vote. There is no option that I'm seeing that gives me confidence. I will be concerned regardless of who gets in due to extreme foundational issues that we're facing right now.
I'm hoping as I continue to meditate on and feel my way through this that I gain more clarity and confidence with however I choose to vote.
I am so with you on this one. We're being stirred up with so much fear and it's causing lots of confusions for many. This is why I think it's so important that Charles writes about it to bring some nuance to the discussion for people to help them sort themselves out.
Love you Charles. Sorry for your loss. Please take as much time as you need. No rush at all. The depth of your heart and perspective is a gift to humanity and is always appreciated. Please take care of yourself ❤️
PS. Not sure if you saw already this quite amazing essay on rfk, but if you haven't I highly recommend it (especially the last third of the essay).
Mind opening and fills in so many blanks for me. I was already thinking most of this, but this substack, Curb Your Enthusiasm, knocked me off my feet. I'm sharing with everyone I know. Thank you for sharing it with Charles! I've been feeling very alone in what I was seeing. So glad to see that's not the case!!!
Great article! Thanks for sharing. Miri's arguments make so much sense to me. I had hopes for RFK, but now the ball is back in our courts - we need to save ourselves from the tyranny. I always thought Trump was a deep state actor, giving a false sense of choice vs. the other deep state actor, all while dividing the people from each other.
Loving one’s enemy whilst embedded inside today’s techo-political outrage machine is the hardest thing, the rarest of commodities, the path obfuscated on all sides by the deceiptful devices forces that profit from division.
I believe that everyone has the inate ability and desire to evolve towards higher consciousness and love. If anyone stunted my potential for this I wouldn't appreciate it.
I will certainly appreciate your perspective, when it is ready.
I read the transcript of RFK's speech, and what is clear to me is simply that politics are messy. Here on Substack we can write about our ideals and the better world our hearts know is possible, but when elections approach with no chance of victory it is sometimes a more effective option to use one's leverage to create uneasy alliances, to attempt to create chinks in the armor from within.
My feeling in watching Tulsi Gabbard and now RFK drift into alliance with Team Trump is that both of them came to realize the strength of the narrative control structure they were up against: the well-timed hit pieces and relentless focus on character flaws rather than actual issues. And when you're confronting that structure, it's impossible not to notice that there is only one person who has yet been able to stand up against that structure and survive, and his name is Donald Trump. He did it through a combination of celebrity status, name recognition, personal wealth, and an alliance with a large number of Americans who had already rejected the media as a reliable source of information.
Of course in the process Trump assimilated the Republican Party, and he has to be at least somewhat responsive to their pet causes. And my personal feeling is that he did all of this not from a sense of working for a higher cause but simply to achieve the ultimate notoriety, the capstone for the Trump phenomenon and the Trump corporation.
So...it's messy, but it's easier to negotiate with a narcissist than with an ideologue, and I have at least some hope that - as the price of earning RFK's endorsement - Trump will follow through on ending the war in Ukraine and digging deeper into our crisis of chronic illness - or perhaps even assigning RFK in that role. And perhaps this alliance will ultimately help to break the power of the narrative control structures so that the next RFK or Gabbard running on a truly new and inspiring platform has a real chance of building majority support.
Charles, I hope you can take the time and space you need to be with the grief and upset you and your family are in.
I’ve been wondering what your thoughts are on these political changes because I’m eager for insight beyond “RFK is a sellout/traitor” or “finally RFK has figured it out” which I’ve been seeing from so many. I can wait for you to share, though.
Trump is tired, past his peak. And he is an easily influenced man. That means that Bobby might be able to exert some serious positive influence, though others will be fighting him for it, and it will be dangerous.
Add Tulsi in the equation now also. It's increasingly complicated. Now there is an identifiable team, it is quite the head-scratch. Will it end up in house? Yikes!
Speaking personally, I was pretty devastated by the news that Kennedy was joining Trump because I had a lot of hope that a Kennedy presidency would be a giant leap toward the Beautiful World that you and others like you helped me to see was possible. I assume you joined forces with Kennedy for the same reason. This news makes it pretty clear that, for the time being at least, this is no longer a viable path. Kennedy under Trump will be hamstrung by the corruption he is so apt at pointing out.
I harbor no I'll will against Kennedy for his decision. I don't know why he did it. Maybe he saw that he could not win and is positioning his sights more long-term. Maybe he exhausted himself fighting and needs to settle down into a more comfortable position for awhile. I cannot judge him either way, I currently work a job that hurts my soul because I'm afraid of not being comfortable. Either way, I believe he is a good man who stood up and bravely told the truth in front of the nation in the face of tremendous opposition, and no matter what comes next I will always respect him immensely for that.
Either way, what I am looking for, and what I think a lot of us are looking for, is hope via a tangible path towards the More Beautiful World. We no longer have that through Kennedy. Personally I believe the needle of responsibility is moving back towards us. We all have to figure out how to do this through our communities. Maybe just to help open people's hearts so that the next time Kennedy or someone else stands up and tells the truth, more people will recognize it as such. Maybe we can start to create communities that resemble the More Beautiful World. I greatly look forward to hearing your thoughts.
As we await Charles's thoughts, I would like to share this regarding the reasons RFK is doing what he's doing, or being forced to, or left with no better option, in order to keep his most fervently-held goals alive, the foremost of which is saving children. There's another long-game goal involved – please read on.
I encourage everyone to listen to this interview he did with Dr Phil for context:
As readers here may know, the mainstream media is mistakenly saying RFK Jr gave up and is not in the race. But RFK hasn't pulled out of the election, he has just suspended his campaign and will still be on most state ballots. He explains the reasons in various places, such as the interview above.
This interview also reveals that after relentless legal warfare attacks by the DNC to try to keep him off the ballot in state after state, draining his funds and keeping him in the courtroom instead of campaigning, and numerous other dastardly, un-democratic DNC tactics, he and his team analyzed the situation and discovered that he could inadvertently be helping to elect Harris, who has no interest in RFK Jr's causes or those of the majority of Americans. Trump, on the other hand, is aligned on the most existential issues: ending the endless wars of choice, stopping the government-run censorship and surveillance regime, and reversing the chronic disease epidemic of children and adults which is now costing us five times the military budget and causing untold disability and death, especially concerning American children who are the sickest children on Earth.
So, RFK was forced to switch gears, but he hasn't given up.
It's clear that he wants to achieve what his uncle and father set out to do, and unify the country to tackle the existential issues. It's clear that the current Democratic party has abandoned its former values and now promotes war, surveillance, censorship, industrial monopolies, mandates, and authoritarianism, and a Harris administration would be more of the same in all these ways.
Here's what RFK Jr is suggesting:
In battleground swing states, a vote for Trump is needed to keep RFK on the path to achieving his vitally important goals regarding children's health, war and censorship. So, vote for Trump in battleground swing states. In all-blue or all-red states, where your vote won't make a difference in the outcome, VOTE KENNEDY. This will help achieve many things if Kennedy gets 5% of the popular vote nationwide, including a viable independent party, in the next election and future elections, and this will bring much-needed public funding, recognition, visibility, debate access, etc.
This is the other long-game prospect. If he gets 5% of the popular vote, there will be a seismic shift away from the two-party, Uniparty duopoly. This would be a major milestone for independent politics, and a critical step toward sustaining this movement for years to come. Such funding would be transformative, clearing many of the organizational and financial obstacles designed to suppress independent campaigns and sustain the stranglehold of Washington insiders. Furthermore, if Harris or Trump fail to get 270 electoral votes, Kennedy could still be in the running and end up in the White House.
I'm choosing to keep the faith and trust his wisdom and judgement in striving for the best possible outcome in this difficult situation, in the decade he feels he has left to be effective.
I respect Kennedy's decision to form an alliance because I want to see the end of the duopoly. Also, I have been following the work of Children's Health Defense (Kennedy's organization) for years. CHD covers a wide range of health-related issues very well. https://live.childrenshealthdefense.org/chd-tv/shows/ Kennedy's commitment to holistic health is sincere. His skill as a litigator equips him to understand regulatory capture and how to undo it. I am inspired by his courage to align across the left/right divide.
UPDATE: NEW INFO FROM RFK Jr – he emphasized this week that rapidly increasing censorship and totalitarianism, which is suddenly sweeping the globe, represents the biggest threat, for if we lose free speech, all other goals evaporate. (See Jenna McCarthy's latest post for a list of examples of this rapidly-increasing menace to humanity and life as we know it. https://jennasside.rocks/p/rfk-jr-wants-everyone-to-vote-for)
RFK Jr released a statement Sep 5 urging EVERYONE TO VOTE FOR TRUMP as the best and only way now to advance RFK's goals and their shared goals of restoring our children's and nation's health and ending the forever wars and censorship. Trump needs a landslide victory in both the popular vote AND the Electoral College in order for it to not be contested and challenged. A close vote would be disastrous.
Please trust RFK Jr's instincts, integrity, and ability to see the big, big picture, as well as his agility in responding to the ever-changing current situation. We must be agile as well and let go of our initial hopes for how this campaign should go.
Keep in mind that the mainstream media has been biased for a long time, manipulating our opinions and thoughts and suppressing important truths. If we realize that this bias was strong regarding the pandemic, we ought to also realize it's been biased regarding President Trump during his first administration. Let's ask ourselves how much of our opinion about him has been shaped by media manipulation.
The DNC and its masters sabotaged RFK and his campaign at every turn, but we must unify and show that we are stronger. A wholly new, unprecedented alliance has emerged with three former democrats – Trump, Kennedy, Gabbard – and we'd better join them en masse to save us from going over a totalitarian cliff. They need our active support, before it's too late. As RFK has said, no-one ever complied their way out of totalitarianism, and throughout history, those who censored were never the good guys. Do what you can to spread the word to vote Trump.
I'm in exactly the same boot. Kennedy was a life-raft for me. I really, deeply, viscerally, dislike Trump, as much as I dislike the current iteration of the Democratic Party.
However, there is this: Trump accepting him shows you the heterodox nature of his movement. Much like what I thought the "left" used to be--accepting of all kinds of views and especially those skeptical of corporate entities like Big Pharma and the Merchants of Death Industries (to which the "left" and most Democrats are seemingly now beholden to), the possibilities and horizons are interesting to say the least.
I'm intrigued, to say the least, about that Charles will write!
The left-right distinction is now irrelevant to me. For me, the important distinction is between: dissidents versus authoritarian controllers; establishment versus anti-establishment. The establishment hates Kennedy almost as much as they hate Trump.
Taking your time is the actual medicine here. The reactivity and projections are injurious to our humanity. Thank you for taking your time. I will do the same. Tucking you and. your family in my heart as you ride the waves of grief.
“War mentality saturates our polarized society, which envisions progress as a consequence of victory—victory over a virus, over the ignorant, over the left, over the right, over the psychopathic elites, over Donald Trump, over white supremacy, over the liberal elites. Each side uses the same formula, and that formula requires an enemy. So, obligingly, we divide ourselves up into us and them, exhausting 99% of our energies in a fruitless tug of war, never once suspectingthe true evil power might be the formula itself.”
So well put! Thanks for finding that quote which sums it all up. I am hesitant in what I share on FB these days but I immediately cut and paste and posted. 🙏🏼
Thank you for demonstrating what it looks like to “be with” big life events amidst the tumultuous nature of a being a presence in the public arena with care, dignity and respect for the human being experience. May you and your family find comfort and peace during this time 💛.
It is my view that electoral politics just isn't where the rubber meets the political road right now, and a lot of us are realizing that this is so and are engaging in prefigurative direct action of a sort which nurtures a new world into being without asking governments their permission or participation.
James, I like your ideas theoretically, but need to hear more of the language of the heart in your essay to feel drawn to what you are doing. I feel strongly that change will come about through the heart more than through the head at this particular time in the cosmological design. The mind has had its centuries to lead us, and look where it has gotten us through its disconnection with the heart. Like you, I also don't believe that politicians will lead the way to our liberation, but rather that a slow process of awakening the hearts of humans will eventually lead to a trickle of change that will become a river and then an ocean of change towards unity, peace and cooperation. And I see this awakening process happening through the increased solar flares and the cosmic rays from Central Sun and the Stars, as well as the change in the heartbeat of the Earth Herself through her so-called Schumann Resonance and other internal activities within Her, as well as all the natural "disasters" that are ever increasing upon the Earth until we, the humans, learn to love and respect our Mother as the source of Life itself and take steps to protect and nurture Her and "feed the holy," as Martin Prechtel says so eloquently. I see this as happening organically and locally, starting with each one of us within our own families and communities and spreading outward, like the underground network of mushrooms, to encompass the entire Earth. This will not be human-led but will happen in conjunction with humans and our Mother Earth/Father Sky as we begin the waking up process and the Earth Herself begins to release all the murder and violence and disrespect she has had to hold for centuries through storms, earthquakes and volcanic explosions. This is also karmically necessary for the balance to be restored between humans and Mother Nature. This will put humans back into their right place within the natural order of things, as the rainbow bridge between Heaven and Earth -- not the conquerors of Earth, a tragically laughable approach.
Thanks Charles. Happy to allow the appropriate time for fermentation.
As soon as hearing RFK’s speech announcing this I thought of you and your long campaign to draw attention to the real malady at modernity’s heart - othering.
Seemed to me the perfect vehicle to challenge the belief of us and them. Especially how “liberal” people dehumanise the people behind Trump. (Speaking as a liberal)
I personally felt o had been readied not to jump into outrage or betrayal precisely because I’ve had the grace to be able to hear what you’ve said over the years.
Peace man, hope the family is ok.
Take your time. Your deep, heart-felt thought is precious in this impatient era.
I was shocked when I heard about Kennedy's alignment iwth Trump, and my first thought was, 'What will Charles Eisenstein say?' - knowing that it would be thoughtful and well considered and worth hearing when it comes. Assembling/integrating thoughts should take time but I look forward to the results, however difficult I may or may not find them.
Exactly my sentiments. 🙏🏼
SAME !!
As if you owed anyone a justification. Blessings Charles
I think you should wait to post your response until the sick feeling you get from your computer has passed. That's how it works from me. Those feelings are powerful messages! Love and light to your family!
Sharing love and support. Be kind to yourself. Your body of work speaks for itself. There can be no challenge to that. I stand with you in all you are moving through.
My take these days is "nothing is good or bad, it just IS.
Who are we to say?
✌️💜🙏🇺🇸
But honestly….I’d like people to ask themselves why they care so much?
The intensity of “caring” and passions around these issues…the disturbing certainty with which many seem to parse “good” from “bad”, is in fact the very heart of the problem.
So I am curious…why do you care so much? And how can you be so sure that one side is wholly good or one side is wholly bad?
I think sometimes we "care" for us, but quite often someone like Charles "cares" more because it's not about him. It's about offering perspective and guidance for others who are trying to find their way in these very confusing times and politics globally right now is one of the most confusing things around.
I'm not speaking for Charles, but from what I know of him, because he's like myself, he doesn't see one side as wholly good or bad which is why it takes us so many words to address the nuances of these wild times we're living in.
Yes, I get that. And my message wasn’t directed at Charles, but more just at the community and “people” and anyone of us who finds ourselves caring too much or being seduced into the idea that one side is wholly good or wholly bad.
My apologies. I wasn't clear on that. My bad.
From the Taoist parable of the farmer, as well as through personal experience, I've learned to try my best not to label things good or bad for one can't always know what the outcome of the "bad" thing can lead too, nor vice versa. I think we usually label them as that because they feel bad at the time.
The dilemma that I'm simmering with is that there are things equally on BOTH sides that are HIGHLY concerning for our country moving forward. It feels as if we lose in BIG both ways. So how to vote under those circumstances when the larger issues carry equal weight? Plus, I don't trust either side to live up to their promises which adds a complete other layer of complexity.
It's quite a dilemma for so many that don't automatically raise the red or blue tribal flag because there's so much fear of "the other side".
At the same time, I notice the fear that I have with both and are working with that.
These are quite complex, trying times that we're living in. It seems that everything, including shopping for simple things like lightbulbs, takes a host of research to try to figure it out which takes so much time and energy.
Humans, especially in the U.S., need a bit of a break to catch their breath before the next wave hits, but the tsunamis are just constant.
Be well, and thank you for the clarification.
Yes, I know that when I react out make a decision out of fear, it tends to be a bad decision.
When I act out of love, or make a decision based on love, it is usually a better a decision.
Hence the voices creating fear of the other, I feel, are not serving us.
Equally, o don’t want to be ignorant or complacent about any real risk or threat.
It’s sometimes hard to know the difference between a genuine threat and a manufactured one created by loud voices.
This is true. It's the loud disagreeable voices following the corporate media influences that, I believe, are giving us a distorted vision of what this process is. We're under the illusion from these voices in social media that there are so many of "them", we're left with a sense of imbalanced and unreasonable fears.
That said, I do believe that we have some threats on both sides that make it difficult for us, or at least people like me, to figure out which way to go. I don't engage with mainstream media much except to get a read on what others are being exposed to so I'm not naive and understand what causes people to have the opinions they do so I can engage to try to help them navigate their inner worlds.
That said, for the very first time, I have big concerns that weigh equally on both sides that are causing confusion on how to vote. There is no option that I'm seeing that gives me confidence. I will be concerned regardless of who gets in due to extreme foundational issues that we're facing right now.
I'm hoping as I continue to meditate on and feel my way through this that I gain more clarity and confidence with however I choose to vote.
I am so with you on this one. We're being stirred up with so much fear and it's causing lots of confusions for many. This is why I think it's so important that Charles writes about it to bring some nuance to the discussion for people to help them sort themselves out.
check out my message of today to Charles, within it may lie the answer to the "Duality Problem" ...
I've looked for it, but I'm having trouble finding it. Is it a separate message that you wrote or in this thread?
Sorry, I'm fairly new on this platform so I may be overlooking something.
nBDYMUSTDECIDEWHISaGDRaBAD
dECIDEWHATyu
WIIVEWITH
Love you Charles. Sorry for your loss. Please take as much time as you need. No rush at all. The depth of your heart and perspective is a gift to humanity and is always appreciated. Please take care of yourself ❤️
PS. Not sure if you saw already this quite amazing essay on rfk, but if you haven't I highly recommend it (especially the last third of the essay).
https://miri.substack.com/p/curb-your-enthusiasm
It is by a serious and very insightful researcher I highly respect who has always been on the money so far with her analysis.
Obviously not a must and obviously no rush. Please take care of your energy first and foremost. Much love and respect to your being dear Charles..
Mind opening and fills in so many blanks for me. I was already thinking most of this, but this substack, Curb Your Enthusiasm, knocked me off my feet. I'm sharing with everyone I know. Thank you for sharing it with Charles! I've been feeling very alone in what I was seeing. So glad to see that's not the case!!!
Great article! Thanks for sharing. Miri's arguments make so much sense to me. I had hopes for RFK, but now the ball is back in our courts - we need to save ourselves from the tyranny. I always thought Trump was a deep state actor, giving a false sense of choice vs. the other deep state actor, all while dividing the people from each other.
Loving one’s enemy whilst embedded inside today’s techo-political outrage machine is the hardest thing, the rarest of commodities, the path obfuscated on all sides by the deceiptful devices forces that profit from division.
That’s a compelling and thought provoking essay. Thank you for sharing. 🙏
I believe that everyone has the inate ability and desire to evolve towards higher consciousness and love. If anyone stunted my potential for this I wouldn't appreciate it.
I will certainly appreciate your perspective, when it is ready.
I read the transcript of RFK's speech, and what is clear to me is simply that politics are messy. Here on Substack we can write about our ideals and the better world our hearts know is possible, but when elections approach with no chance of victory it is sometimes a more effective option to use one's leverage to create uneasy alliances, to attempt to create chinks in the armor from within.
My feeling in watching Tulsi Gabbard and now RFK drift into alliance with Team Trump is that both of them came to realize the strength of the narrative control structure they were up against: the well-timed hit pieces and relentless focus on character flaws rather than actual issues. And when you're confronting that structure, it's impossible not to notice that there is only one person who has yet been able to stand up against that structure and survive, and his name is Donald Trump. He did it through a combination of celebrity status, name recognition, personal wealth, and an alliance with a large number of Americans who had already rejected the media as a reliable source of information.
Of course in the process Trump assimilated the Republican Party, and he has to be at least somewhat responsive to their pet causes. And my personal feeling is that he did all of this not from a sense of working for a higher cause but simply to achieve the ultimate notoriety, the capstone for the Trump phenomenon and the Trump corporation.
So...it's messy, but it's easier to negotiate with a narcissist than with an ideologue, and I have at least some hope that - as the price of earning RFK's endorsement - Trump will follow through on ending the war in Ukraine and digging deeper into our crisis of chronic illness - or perhaps even assigning RFK in that role. And perhaps this alliance will ultimately help to break the power of the narrative control structures so that the next RFK or Gabbard running on a truly new and inspiring platform has a real chance of building majority support.
Wow! Beautifully thought & expressed :-)
Beautiful, eloquent and spot on!
Charles, I hope you can take the time and space you need to be with the grief and upset you and your family are in.
I’ve been wondering what your thoughts are on these political changes because I’m eager for insight beyond “RFK is a sellout/traitor” or “finally RFK has figured it out” which I’ve been seeing from so many. I can wait for you to share, though.
Trump is tired, past his peak. And he is an easily influenced man. That means that Bobby might be able to exert some serious positive influence, though others will be fighting him for it, and it will be dangerous.
Add Tulsi in the equation now also. It's increasingly complicated. Now there is an identifiable team, it is quite the head-scratch. Will it end up in house? Yikes!
Take your time, Charles!
Speaking personally, I was pretty devastated by the news that Kennedy was joining Trump because I had a lot of hope that a Kennedy presidency would be a giant leap toward the Beautiful World that you and others like you helped me to see was possible. I assume you joined forces with Kennedy for the same reason. This news makes it pretty clear that, for the time being at least, this is no longer a viable path. Kennedy under Trump will be hamstrung by the corruption he is so apt at pointing out.
I harbor no I'll will against Kennedy for his decision. I don't know why he did it. Maybe he saw that he could not win and is positioning his sights more long-term. Maybe he exhausted himself fighting and needs to settle down into a more comfortable position for awhile. I cannot judge him either way, I currently work a job that hurts my soul because I'm afraid of not being comfortable. Either way, I believe he is a good man who stood up and bravely told the truth in front of the nation in the face of tremendous opposition, and no matter what comes next I will always respect him immensely for that.
Either way, what I am looking for, and what I think a lot of us are looking for, is hope via a tangible path towards the More Beautiful World. We no longer have that through Kennedy. Personally I believe the needle of responsibility is moving back towards us. We all have to figure out how to do this through our communities. Maybe just to help open people's hearts so that the next time Kennedy or someone else stands up and tells the truth, more people will recognize it as such. Maybe we can start to create communities that resemble the More Beautiful World. I greatly look forward to hearing your thoughts.
~ ~ ~ PLEASE SEE UPDATE BELOW THIS COMMENT ~ ~ ~
As we await Charles's thoughts, I would like to share this regarding the reasons RFK is doing what he's doing, or being forced to, or left with no better option, in order to keep his most fervently-held goals alive, the foremost of which is saving children. There's another long-game goal involved – please read on.
I encourage everyone to listen to this interview he did with Dr Phil for context:
https://x.com/DrPhil/status/1828848142713766099
As readers here may know, the mainstream media is mistakenly saying RFK Jr gave up and is not in the race. But RFK hasn't pulled out of the election, he has just suspended his campaign and will still be on most state ballots. He explains the reasons in various places, such as the interview above.
This interview also reveals that after relentless legal warfare attacks by the DNC to try to keep him off the ballot in state after state, draining his funds and keeping him in the courtroom instead of campaigning, and numerous other dastardly, un-democratic DNC tactics, he and his team analyzed the situation and discovered that he could inadvertently be helping to elect Harris, who has no interest in RFK Jr's causes or those of the majority of Americans. Trump, on the other hand, is aligned on the most existential issues: ending the endless wars of choice, stopping the government-run censorship and surveillance regime, and reversing the chronic disease epidemic of children and adults which is now costing us five times the military budget and causing untold disability and death, especially concerning American children who are the sickest children on Earth.
So, RFK was forced to switch gears, but he hasn't given up.
It's clear that he wants to achieve what his uncle and father set out to do, and unify the country to tackle the existential issues. It's clear that the current Democratic party has abandoned its former values and now promotes war, surveillance, censorship, industrial monopolies, mandates, and authoritarianism, and a Harris administration would be more of the same in all these ways.
Here's what RFK Jr is suggesting:
In battleground swing states, a vote for Trump is needed to keep RFK on the path to achieving his vitally important goals regarding children's health, war and censorship. So, vote for Trump in battleground swing states. In all-blue or all-red states, where your vote won't make a difference in the outcome, VOTE KENNEDY. This will help achieve many things if Kennedy gets 5% of the popular vote nationwide, including a viable independent party, in the next election and future elections, and this will bring much-needed public funding, recognition, visibility, debate access, etc.
This is the other long-game prospect. If he gets 5% of the popular vote, there will be a seismic shift away from the two-party, Uniparty duopoly. This would be a major milestone for independent politics, and a critical step toward sustaining this movement for years to come. Such funding would be transformative, clearing many of the organizational and financial obstacles designed to suppress independent campaigns and sustain the stranglehold of Washington insiders. Furthermore, if Harris or Trump fail to get 270 electoral votes, Kennedy could still be in the running and end up in the White House.
I'm choosing to keep the faith and trust his wisdom and judgement in striving for the best possible outcome in this difficult situation, in the decade he feels he has left to be effective.
I respect Kennedy's decision to form an alliance because I want to see the end of the duopoly. Also, I have been following the work of Children's Health Defense (Kennedy's organization) for years. CHD covers a wide range of health-related issues very well. https://live.childrenshealthdefense.org/chd-tv/shows/ Kennedy's commitment to holistic health is sincere. His skill as a litigator equips him to understand regulatory capture and how to undo it. I am inspired by his courage to align across the left/right divide.
UPDATE: NEW INFO FROM RFK Jr – he emphasized this week that rapidly increasing censorship and totalitarianism, which is suddenly sweeping the globe, represents the biggest threat, for if we lose free speech, all other goals evaporate. (See Jenna McCarthy's latest post for a list of examples of this rapidly-increasing menace to humanity and life as we know it. https://jennasside.rocks/p/rfk-jr-wants-everyone-to-vote-for)
RFK Jr released a statement Sep 5 urging EVERYONE TO VOTE FOR TRUMP as the best and only way now to advance RFK's goals and their shared goals of restoring our children's and nation's health and ending the forever wars and censorship. Trump needs a landslide victory in both the popular vote AND the Electoral College in order for it to not be contested and challenged. A close vote would be disastrous.
Please trust RFK Jr's instincts, integrity, and ability to see the big, big picture, as well as his agility in responding to the ever-changing current situation. We must be agile as well and let go of our initial hopes for how this campaign should go.
Keep in mind that the mainstream media has been biased for a long time, manipulating our opinions and thoughts and suppressing important truths. If we realize that this bias was strong regarding the pandemic, we ought to also realize it's been biased regarding President Trump during his first administration. Let's ask ourselves how much of our opinion about him has been shaped by media manipulation.
The DNC and its masters sabotaged RFK and his campaign at every turn, but we must unify and show that we are stronger. A wholly new, unprecedented alliance has emerged with three former democrats – Trump, Kennedy, Gabbard – and we'd better join them en masse to save us from going over a totalitarian cliff. They need our active support, before it's too late. As RFK has said, no-one ever complied their way out of totalitarianism, and throughout history, those who censored were never the good guys. Do what you can to spread the word to vote Trump.
❤️
RFK Jr's powerful new ad.
Finish the story, Bobby.
https://x.com/NicoleShanahan/status/1829972000150077754
I'm in exactly the same boot. Kennedy was a life-raft for me. I really, deeply, viscerally, dislike Trump, as much as I dislike the current iteration of the Democratic Party.
However, there is this: Trump accepting him shows you the heterodox nature of his movement. Much like what I thought the "left" used to be--accepting of all kinds of views and especially those skeptical of corporate entities like Big Pharma and the Merchants of Death Industries (to which the "left" and most Democrats are seemingly now beholden to), the possibilities and horizons are interesting to say the least.
I'm intrigued, to say the least, about that Charles will write!
Seems RFK now has immediately gained millions of right wing votes for 2028
However if he ends up in charge of the CIA he may have to plan his own assassination… 🤔
😂
The left-right distinction is now irrelevant to me. For me, the important distinction is between: dissidents versus authoritarian controllers; establishment versus anti-establishment. The establishment hates Kennedy almost as much as they hate Trump.
Taking your time is the actual medicine here. The reactivity and projections are injurious to our humanity. Thank you for taking your time. I will do the same. Tucking you and. your family in my heart as you ride the waves of grief.
Here's a quote from you along these lines:
“War mentality saturates our polarized society, which envisions progress as a consequence of victory—victory over a virus, over the ignorant, over the left, over the right, over the psychopathic elites, over Donald Trump, over white supremacy, over the liberal elites. Each side uses the same formula, and that formula requires an enemy. So, obligingly, we divide ourselves up into us and them, exhausting 99% of our energies in a fruitless tug of war, never once suspectingthe true evil power might be the formula itself.”
~ Charles Eisenstein, “Find the Common Thread”
So well put! Thanks for finding that quote which sums it all up. I am hesitant in what I share on FB these days but I immediately cut and paste and posted. 🙏🏼
Thank you for demonstrating what it looks like to “be with” big life events amidst the tumultuous nature of a being a presence in the public arena with care, dignity and respect for the human being experience. May you and your family find comfort and peace during this time 💛.
It is my view that electoral politics just isn't where the rubber meets the political road right now, and a lot of us are realizing that this is so and are engaging in prefigurative direct action of a sort which nurtures a new world into being without asking governments their permission or participation.
https://www.resilience.org/stories/2023-08-08/nonviolent-revolutionary-prefigurative-direct-action-a-school-of-praxis/
James, I like your ideas theoretically, but need to hear more of the language of the heart in your essay to feel drawn to what you are doing. I feel strongly that change will come about through the heart more than through the head at this particular time in the cosmological design. The mind has had its centuries to lead us, and look where it has gotten us through its disconnection with the heart. Like you, I also don't believe that politicians will lead the way to our liberation, but rather that a slow process of awakening the hearts of humans will eventually lead to a trickle of change that will become a river and then an ocean of change towards unity, peace and cooperation. And I see this awakening process happening through the increased solar flares and the cosmic rays from Central Sun and the Stars, as well as the change in the heartbeat of the Earth Herself through her so-called Schumann Resonance and other internal activities within Her, as well as all the natural "disasters" that are ever increasing upon the Earth until we, the humans, learn to love and respect our Mother as the source of Life itself and take steps to protect and nurture Her and "feed the holy," as Martin Prechtel says so eloquently. I see this as happening organically and locally, starting with each one of us within our own families and communities and spreading outward, like the underground network of mushrooms, to encompass the entire Earth. This will not be human-led but will happen in conjunction with humans and our Mother Earth/Father Sky as we begin the waking up process and the Earth Herself begins to release all the murder and violence and disrespect she has had to hold for centuries through storms, earthquakes and volcanic explosions. This is also karmically necessary for the balance to be restored between humans and Mother Nature. This will put humans back into their right place within the natural order of things, as the rainbow bridge between Heaven and Earth -- not the conquerors of Earth, a tragically laughable approach.