CITIES, TOWNS, AND SUBURBS: Local Goverment in a Time of Peak Oil and Climate Change

CITIES, TOWNS, AND SUBURBS: Local Goverment in a Time of Peak Oil and Climate Change

A few thoughts on Peace.

One does not need to be passive in order to be loving.

In order to effect meaningful change in this day and age there is a need to inquire incisively into any issue to discover its unique vulnerabilities. This requires a thorough and exhaustive study of the roots of any system - an acquaintance with its fundamental network and its essential sources. People with compassion tend to see the 'good' in all things. They don't typically delve beneath the surface in search of weaknesses as do their conscience-less counterparts. But they must if they are to keep up.

A warrior consciousness is required. Anger is a potentially powerful force for good. Its expression is certainly often gratuitous yet other times presents a finer line - as in Jesus knocking aside the money-lenders' table. Violence towards the sentient is never justifiable in my mind, nor is the notion that if we all just modeled peacefulness things would change. The latter can be as damaging and dangerous as the former because it is construed by many to endorse passivity and non-action. Both enable the status quo, when the real need is for active engagement with the process of transformation.

The whole Peace and Disarmament movement has become confused by/with contemporary concepts re compassion and actualization. It is not enough (as we all want to believe) to espouse support of biologic diversity, environmental justice, human rights, etc., etc.. It's not enough to attend rallies, workshops and seminars in support of these things regardless of how many thousands attend, or how prominent the Nobel laureates invited to speak. The fact is climate activists and peace activists flying around the world to take part in these things contributes to and supports the very mechanisms of the systems they purport to oppose far more than it challenges or changes them. Without unflinching investigation into whose 'needs' are actually being served by any action, there is always the danger of achieving exactly the opposite of what is consciously intended.

Those who are not outraged are not paying attention. And yet many of those outraged, including this writer, are guilty of not doing many things within their power and reach to mitigate or extinguish the very injustices they rail against. I have not reduced my consumption of resources to the degree I could. I don't focus on finding ways every day to limit my use of products and services that contribute to commercial operations which degrade and impoverish. This is why so far we are unable to co-exist peacefully. It's about competing aspects of human nature and the lack of awareness of these within our own selves.

It's not about being loving as in being nice or polite, or even necessarily kind. It's about loving by becoming aware that harm to any other is harm to oneself. Jesus knew and taught this. And for his efforts they strung him up on a cross. He warned his disciples to be ready for persecution too. He said 'they will hurt you for believing this - but do it anyway. Do it because it is the only way to salvation (freedom from enslavement to false concepts)'. And he told them wWhat happens here on this plane of earthly existence is not all there is by a long-shot and that what matters most is to live as simply as possible trusting that there is enough for everyone 'that all are provided for'. They would have strung him up for these blasphemies against 'self-interest' even if he had been 100% 'peaceful'.

So why have we confused the need for decency/civility/respect with 'not making waves' or our actions 'being acceptable'? Why cannot impassioned-yet-civil debate be the standard rather than pretenses of farcical diplomacy (wiki-leaks)? One does not have to be a 'terrorist' to understand that the walled fortresses of those who have made it their 'right' to oppress others deserve to come crashing down. One does not need to engage in injustices to put a stop to injustice. We tend to think that's how it works because we've failed to learn the lessons inherent in our own human history. Unbridled anger has of course played its part in this tedious repetition. But anger itself is not the cause. Anger is simply an emotion. Anger can be usefully applied. There's no need to throw the baby out with the bathwater...