Conscious Decisions - A RANT.

Those of you well familiar with this process may well wish to pass this article along to those... less familiar with conscious-based decision making, and read on for pure enjoyment. I do think we are passing through a time, though, where self-centeredness is up for question, and those who would prefer their personal pain are being left out to the open to dry. They feel the change upon them acutely, as the rest of us move into Change.

What do I mean by that? Well...

We're at a time when the idea of economic security is changing rapidly. How the balance of power swings is already interesting, and I think it is going to get a lot more interesting very soon. As Victor Frankyl said: "The best of us didn't come back," and I can't help but wonder what aspects of culture are going to thrive, and which other ones will not. We can observe Change on all its levels, hermeneutically if you will: personally, interpersonally, and societally, simultaneous to any given juncture in our experience.

North America has been 'on top' for quite some time. Mark Carney only last month said something akin to "We need to get used to the idea that our neighbours to the South may not recover for a very long time." To translate: the US$ is no long the reserve currency of the world. It just needs to be made official. Somehow.

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Whether the BRIC makes this official, or the US, or the complete collapse of paper currency, isn't really of concern here. Propping up Greece's debt with more debt, creates, well, debt. The end. The question I'm pursuing is: what does this mean for you? and, are you preparing?

Parallel to this, is that nasty Peak Oil thing, playing itself out in the background for the last forty years. That we are only just beginning to make the Green Collar Economy at the height of peak oil production, is probably a strong indicator of how well prepared we are to alter which currency we refer to as a benchmark in the coming years, ie: we'll probably wait until we have to panic, cry foul play, and then indulge in victimhood stories for decades.

Not pretty.

For my money, it comes back to a question of VALUE. What, do you value - intrinsically - and have you actually examined this? Or, are you sway to unconscious swings and "surprise" motivations? I call such impulsivity no less than personal pain. That unsightly 'forgetting' which our consumer culture encourages.

For example, one person I recently met, by her own words, sat idle in a marriage of 16 years until she accepted that her husband was most likely homosexual and that her needs were deeply mis-satisfied. My question for anyone in a similar situation is: do you really need to commit adultery before you acknowledge your own needs? Is this best-strategy of self-discovery, and bringing new people - new information - into your life? ... Obviously not: however, the example illustrates the lengths a person can go in allowing less than conscious decisions to be at the helm of ones thinking.

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The emasculation of men is by no means an end-goal of self esteem; rather, I think it a terrific route to full blown sex addiction. ... But perhaps, dear feminists, these points deserve posts unto themselves: I am not making a gender claim here, as the social contract between men and women is of great concern to me. And that said... I would love to meet a Babe In Total Control of Herself... but am not convinced I have yet.

Under All Things Indigo, what is disturbing me greatly in our predicament today, is the over-abundant availability of spiritual teaching. Some of it is good, and, naturally, I rely upon select authors myself. Though I am not Christian, I believe there is a prophecy or two about "false teachers arising in abundance near The End," which I respect and even admire. What exactly we're at the end of is up for debate, but I think there is something in such prophecy to the abundance of watered-down-crap out there on the subject of spirituality (especially Taoism!!) which, frankly, is used as a way to further mask an authentic dialogue with oneself and others, rather than uncover and deepen. Hence this posting here: Mindfulness as Action

Let's just say, Oblivion is Not Enlightenment, and it strikes me that the current bulk of economic activity would much rather keep us seemingly happy on the oblivion side of this equation.

"Education appears to be the thing
 that enables a man to get along
 without the use of his intelligence."
GB. Shaw.

Our minds are like sponges all through the life span - not just as children. We constantly model. By being wary of "education," (how and what we learn) you may have a chance at finding intelligence - whatever your educational goals happen to be. Our underlying needs - our dialogue with our self - is a really difficult thing for North Americans. I am speculating that we are just so used to 'being on top,' that attending to our needs hasn't really been of dire concern. But we've ran out of land: We've ran out of indigenous territory (and peoples) to exploit. (Damn hey, if only the Earth was flat!) And our paper currency had best get on with putting a green stripe into its legislation, or otherwise tear itself up and move out of the way for mother nature to take back all of her crusted-up, paved-over body: And as individuals, we are either making daily choices to move back into an accord with Her, or we're lost in our heads trying to live some other man's dream.

Which brings me back to this person I met recently. Given the rising economic transition we are in, given peak oil is at its height, and given also the baby boom trying to retire... given all these massive pressures upon the way we have been organising ourselves, I believe that using ones inner values as a compass to be best-method: Actual embodiment of ones ideas is going to cost something. ...Continuing to hide out in a pre-fab tool shed of products made cheaply in China is no way to forge ones future... China, always a fine subject unto itself, is in such an enviable spot: they have the means of production - period - they have the willing labour - period - they've been buying up American gold - period - and they work @$#!ing hard... economically I say: well played China! (See my profile to the right;)

A bourgeois ethic, on the other hand, is a bourgeois ethic. Chick-flik libertarianism is but a doe in the headlights. And anyone who has played 'Buck Hunter' even once... well... you know what comes next.

Cheers.
- P.

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http://phils-natural-building.blogspot.ca/

http://i-ching-guidance.blogspot.ca/

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