I rented a small villa in Galataria village a mainly wine growing area on the way to the Troodos, the main mountain range in western Cyprus. The Village was at around 700-800 meters above sea level.

The Villa which was very close to the local village church, was small on one level with two bedrooms. Looking in a Southerly direction.

The village itself had a population of around a 100, the houses are mostly of typical stone village construction.

For three years the owners and myself had I would class it as having a good relationship.

At the beginning of 2022, I wasn’t feeling well, to me an unknown malady … I eventually went to the Emergency department at Paphos public hospital and after some test ended up being admitted to hospital. I was diagnosed with having a heart condition.

For about two weeks I was moved from Paphos to Limassol Hospitals and finally to Nicosia Public hospital where I had a heart bypass operation. Over ten days later I was discharged at Paphos Hospital.

I would comment here, that while my time in Hospital was excellent including the care, the after care, that which was to happen in my recovery after I left hospital, aside from a one time list of pharmaceuticals was non existent. All I can say is thank goodness the in-hospital operation and my actual self directed recovery was excellent.

After being discharged from hospital I was terribly weak as well I couldn’t walk and was taken in and looked after in the home of my very good friend Mark for over 6 weeks … a very kind man who was very helpful, actual essential in my time of need.

During this time, I continued to pay the rent for the home in Galataria. After several visits to hospital hoping to repair my leg, I contacted Stelios, the husband of the owner and said I felt I needed to be closer to the hospital. I returned to the unit to arrange to have it packed to move to a new place.

When I arrived at the unit to pack up, I found that the refrigerator had failed during my absence and all of my food in the freezer and the fridge had spoiled.

My year to year lease had expired and I told him I would not be renewing all seemed OK. When I had moved, I requested an inspection and return of the bond … he replied aggressively saying that he would retain the bond as he had to buy a replacement refrigerator. I found a replacement used unit for €30, however he refused to consider it and said he would decide what to do.

I have never come across a situation where a tenant was penalised for a failure of an appliance owned by the house owner.

Despite writing to him and asking him to reconsider the total unfairness of the situation, I did not receive a response. You might ask why did I not seek a legal resolution. That would have meant not letting go of the problem, and drawing out the conflict. I chose not to, it is my belief that balance will be achieved, and he will be held accountable for his unacceptable behaviour, hence I decided to let it go and put it in the hands of the Universe.

I am living in a small country in the European Union, which now has over a 50% full vaccination rate, I feel I have been very fortunate not to have contracted Covid 19 as yet.

Others, many others are not so fortunate.

Apparently around the world, providers are reporting a small but increasing number of cases in which Covid-19 patients with no previous history of mental health issues develop severe psychosis weeks or months after recovering from the virus, this has been labelled as post-Covid psychosis, also known as new-onset psychosis.

A calm and a dear friend and guide in my life contracted Covid in India where she lives, whilst the infection and the resulting disease was eventually cured, there has been a profound side effect of the disease or its treatment that has changed her quite dramatically.

This new disease exhibits the unreasoning symptoms as follows –

Anger, Paranoia and other psychosis

An external article here and here, may help explain the situation more clearly.

I am doing what I can to help and protect her and through others care for her.

My friend has been in India for over 25 years.

For me I find myself quite powerless in this situation, there is little known and even if I was in India, there is very little I could do.

As a result of the pain and suffering of my friend, I am pleased that I took the decision to be vaccinated, and due to new Government regulations concerning access to public areas such as Taverns, Shopping Centres, Restaurants and many other public areas it is mandatory to have a Safepass for access. Access to common areas is available under the following conditions.

1. A COVID-19 negative PCR test or Rapid Test carried out within the last 72 hours,
2. A COVID-19 Vaccination Certificate after at least 3 weeks from the administration of the 1st dose have passed,
3. Evidence of being released, in the case of persons who fell ill with COVID-19 within the last 6 months from initially being diagnosed as positive.

I am not an American, and personally I am not a fan of the likes of Trump, in my view from the outside his behaviour indicates a soul with an apparent total lack of any moral, virtue or ethical base, however this is not unusual as in various degrees it applies to others as well, seemingly in all political parties, worldwide. More than anything I am sad and disappointed about what American has become as it slides into the abyss, from childhood, my view was that America was something to aspire to … seemingly sadly no more.

It is far easier to be detached and give a view of a circumstance, as it is impossible to give a detached view when one is being carried along with those circumstances.

This is just my personal point of view. Understandably, I do not understand much of the rhetoric that comes from people in many countries, as I am not living their lives, nor have I had their experiences.

There have always been sides of a statement people will agree with and those who do not, they disagree because they both believe they are right. The world has many ignorant or uninformed people, looking for someone to blame for their problems caused by mostly outside circumstances, if these people can be controlled and targeted it is the creation of an army waiting to be enslaved and directed at an target of the choosing of those in power.

But it is my view from the media in all its forms and actions including violence in the wider American culture, we are way past disagreement, as I have mentioned before, we are in a forerunner to actual conflict on a local, maybe national scale. For this to happen will require a trigger perhaps something seemingly innocuous, when or even if this will happen is unknown.

I will be aware in a detached way of the result of the elections but there is no point being invested in the outcome for no one outside America and those who don’t vote have any say in this election. I see little point in being active in the conflict as it is something that only Americans have any say in.

What happens now with the replacement for Justice Bader-Ginsberg and afterwards in the Presidential elections will set the tone and timetable for either the slow restoration of the path to a new ethical America or to its destruction – none of this has come from an outside enemy but from within, from internal division which are trading in the America that once was, to what it will become

Who or what drives this?

In my view a lack of personal reflection and critical thought, this normally would come via a proper education system for the majority, but the lack of a balanced and universal system has lead to an overriding ignorance, identity fusion, the adversarial system of the government and its culture (Predatory Capitalism – Profit before all else – confrontation) the courts and business and an infotainment media that broadcasts opinions, a slanted, nay biased version of the truth, or straight out lies, rather than truth.

Why does this happen, people lie because they are afraid, they individually and as a group have an expedient approach to attaining and maintaining government, where the lure of power trumps ethics, honour, virtue, truth and of course democracy itself.

One wonders if the constant division that is being fostered, along the lines of politics, creed and colour is being directed by those who would prefer a civil war leading to the destruction of America as opposed to a class war between the rich and the real people of America that are not – for which the outcome is a given. Those that influence the path of America, would prefer a Civil war to a class war.

The most pressing problem I see are the effects of Climate change and pollution. The science is not open to debate, for credible scientists have proven that the effects for the future for the planet will be profound, in change in sea level, weather and hence rainfall, however we don’t seem as a species to take it seriously. We make movies about it, but do very little to change the way we live, we seemingly are fine to do nothing about it because we don’t want that future to ask anything of you today, when today is all we have.

Sadly industry has made us all complicit in climate change and pollution by their methods and product output in this consumption led society.

A big part of the reason I came to this little village was to write, to be with nature, to be at peace, meditate and live simply, in essence to remove myself from Consumption and conflict in all its forms, things, media, opinion and things we cannot control, which is everything except my own choices. I do not wish to add to or become part of the storm.

After the events in Washington of the 6th of January 2021 I would add this. I remember reading a book called Armageddon written by Leo Uris, published in 1964 about the time when Berlin was occupied by the allies after World War two and the process of riding the country of Nazi influence and supporting the introduction of a democratic government. In the fictional book there was a comment between a German politician who endured the war in a Nazi jail and a senior American soldier. The comment was from the german politician speaking about the Nazi’s and their actions.

“Nazi’s could spring up anywhere, in any country.”
The response from the American soldier was.
“But it hasn’t has it.”

Well that may no longer be true.

We must remember from history, that “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”― Edmund Burke

I hope that the American public does not stand idly by as others have done, as their liberty is traded for tyranny and an ideology of ego, abuse, murder, horror and genocide.

From a mis-interpretation from over a century and a half ago, industrialists like Andrew Carnegie believed that Darwin’s Theories justified an economy of vicious, vindictive, heartless competition and inequality. To this end, many quoted the following supposedly from Darwin’s “On the Origin of the species” … It is The phrase ‘survival of the fittest’ this is often incorrectly attributed to Darwin. In fact, it was coined by the philosopher Herbert Spencer in response to reading Origin of Species five years after the first edition was published.

If we look at the state of the world, Capitalism is not humanities ultimate destination, but it works well for those currently at the top of the pyramid hence with their support Capitalism continues – like Carnegie his ideological supporters and descendants who created and sustained the beginnings of the culture we have today, a hierarchical culture consisting of the very few that have and the balance, the many, the vast majority that have not. Capitalism is an economic and political system in which a country’s trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state.

Contrary to the mis-understanding above, Darwin’s actual quote in his 1871 book “The Descent of Man” argued that the human species had succeeded because of traits like sharing and compassion. “Those communities,” he wrote, “which included the greatest number of the most sympathetic members would flourish best, and rear the greatest number of offspring.” That Darwin was not an economist is a given, his observations were scientifically based, not an un-researched ego based self-serving opinion, his view was that wealth-sharing and cooperation have always looked more consistent with his observations about human survival than the elitism, cronyism and hierarchy that dominates contemporary corporate life and hence Western culture by and large.

To sustain this fallacy, a message of unequivocal support for Capitalism has indoctrinated us at every opportunity, the proponents of which have drummed into us since birth that Capitalism is good … of course, this has been initiated and driven by those who want their sweet ride to continue and by those who own or benefit from the Corporations. Today the media influence and even control the majority of input to our minds, more especially the target is broadly humanity or as Corporations refer to them consumers, the many who don’t reflect on the behaviour of our societies our cultures and themselves.

Indoctrination depends upon constant reinforcement to keep harmful ideologies alive. But instead of being strong, our civilisation, this collection of social constructs is skin deep and toilet paper thin, and very vulnerable to the unexpected.

We are within a culture in the west where we are continually told and re-enforced that Capitalism is the way forward, so the vested interests have convinced Governments that humanity, a socially co-operative animal to live within a system that sets about re-programming our very nature, to the false concept of “every man for himself” –  this is not what we are …(so wrong) and further in our case using a hieratic structure to control is and consumerism and fear to manipulate us and debt to ultimately control us.  All for the illusions that sustains the ego – money, status and things.

Money like almost everything around us is a human construct, and money itself has been hi-jacked from being a means of exchange to now for some in many cultures, and its underlying social constructs – perhaps too many, use money as a measurement of self worth.

Further we are told that the heads of corporations are better than the rest of us, they work harder, this is totally incorrect, most of humanity works harder, they have to, especially the poorest just to survive. But the truth is they are in their exalted position as they have access to opportunity which the vast majority of humanity does not. Further how can an organisation whose only focus is profit and status, driven by people who are greedy, detached from their consumers and their staff, apathetic and uncaring of families and society as a whole and many who are psychotic, be good for humanity as a whole.

The majority of the western countries operate in today’s version of Capitalism to their ultimate shame, today it is more of a monopolistic even predatory culture …  Capitalism requires a hierarchical system of owners and indentured workers. True Capitalism was originally a free for all for the sale of products and services in a highly competitive market place this hasn’t existed for well over a 100 years … hence if a company became uncompetitive, they lost market share or were stripped and the viable assets sold. This has gone on for some time to the point now that there is little true competition, as power and control of many industries has been concentrated into few companies – we are on the path to a severe monopolistic system, perhaps Fascist tendencies via cartel behaviours, owned by oligarchs, rich almost beyond measure.

This behaviour is driven by ego, status seeking, spiritual emptiness, animal drives and greed.

Most animals take only what they need …. However humankind is the exception. The greedy human take all they can how and when they can.

Throughout my early adulthood, my uninformed opinion which I didn’t question that the United States was a good guy, who’s actions we could support and aspire to, Yes they had set about purposefully dividing the world into friends and foes and spent untold funds (at a cost to the lives and facilitis available to the “average” American on projecting their desires, beliefs, their aggression, control and fears onto others but more importantly at that time, they were at war with poverty, not as they do today, at war with poor people – they aspired to and embraced education not derided it, however what side the US & Australian Governments were really on became very apparent from the 1980’s and 90’s when decisions came down on the side of money, not labour, not the people – but with Government led Union busting strategies.

Multi-national Corporations are the leading proponent of what Capitalism is in its predatory form and what is will become.

Everything changed from the time, when the decline of the middle class began in earnest, the various Free Trade deals exported American factory jobs overseas, the decline of the home countries is now painfully apparent, I have considered that at some point when you effectively reduce the income on the middle class, they cannot make manufactured products cheap enough…. this has all led to the contraction of the US Economy and changed its focus from a diverse economic base to what it is mainly a service based focus … as well this has now followed a well-worn path of inner conflict and outer decline foreshadowed by many similar countries and empires of the past … the most recent being within the last millennia England, Russia, France, Spain and Portugal plus … before that Greek, Roman and many other ancient empires.

Whilst America is still a world power, it no longer is a world leader, that is respected by other countries.

Ignorance versus stupidity … we cannot change a persons mind until they are open to it, they are ready and willing to countenance an alternative way of thinking. Ignorance is merely a lack of education which can be fixed, purposeful or intentional stupidity is not so easy to resolve.

Peace comes by the way of engagement and discussions, however identity politics are highly partisan perspectives is now pervading humanity in the West, where these days a casual discussion so easily degenerates into anger and confrontation to the point these can become personal and adversarial, and in the age of electronic media and its immediacy, they have just spiralled downwards. Where as usual people instead of having reasoned response to a subject, attack the messenger …. not argue a response to the subject message.

Obsessions and Addictions will destroy an individual, a family, a community or even a country … but there are those some even simpler that will destroy all of us if let go unchecked. The Ego itself – the false you , ignorance and fake information (social media) are the greatest crisis facing humanity and stopping them from Facing truth.

Addictions such as Drugs, Alcohol, Shopping, Workaholic (isms) , shopping via the internet, video games – the addiction to power, people who have power want more and more and more – nothing is enough for them.  Acquisitions – Corporations that must own more and more – the addiction to energy usage – in the past and today the primary addiction to oil … even though we know its consequences – just look at the negative consequences on the environment – at the same time we are deforesting the planet, our only way to repair this damage – plants which are our lungs – which are destroying the very environment that created and sustains us for the sake of our addictions – these addictions are rewarded and considered to be acceptable … when most of them originate from a total focus, even a psychosis of greed feeding the ego.

I understand that the process of putting my thoughts down here is essentially pointless, it will change nothing in the issues I mention, all it will do is get the angst out of me, and perhaps someone who reads this will be able to help create a strategy with the aide of some of these thoughts.  

Corporate or Government Actions and spin come from business or an ideology with intent, incompetence, ignorance, blame, arrogance, all using the safety of regurgitating dogma / beliefs with a lack of care or oversight.

It has been pushed through all media since the 1980’s that the essential driving force and the value of organisations are the leadership level, and the stars are Senior Management, the CEO in particular. This has been the justification for the huge difference in the salaries between Blue collar, the workers at the coal face who do the work and the C level that are supposed to direct and manage the whole organisation. This has been proven incorrect during the Pandemic, as it is not the CEO or the board members who are proving their worth by helping, it is the Transport and active workers at the coal face so to speak.

Conflicts often come from a clash of beliefs or ideologies … in each case both sides think that they are in the right.

It takes a community, a village to create a fully formed person – this is by and large no longer available in this adversarial, kill or be killed, isolationist western ideology. For the form, the psychic make up of people comes back to primarily the environment of which they grow up in – very early … whether it is loving and nurturing or it is detached even abusive –  if abuse or detached parenting happens early on – before memory is able to remember (say Less that 18 months as a guide)  …. these children / adults will react to this implicit memory even though they cannot remember the incidents that shaped them, they will remember the feeling the emotion of that time without remembering the actual incidents or circumstances.

The way we form our emotional makeup and ultimately our personality is not only a reflection of our relationships with our primary caregivers, our emotional being, but also others which we form an attachment and ultimately our relationship with our entire culture – hence you cannot separate the nature or us (the neurological function of a human being) from the environment that nurtures us and that we continue to exist within.  We are shaped by the society we live within … Violence is not Universal by any means, but lack of understanding of the anger is. Without a village and family to bond with, in the worst case children will bond with their peers and hence gangs are perpetuated.

There is an African Proverb that goes, “The child who is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth.”

It is my experience which has been confirmed by the current crisis that is the Covid 19 pandemic it is so apparent that in the current scenario this senior level management are pretty much useless. The stars of all organisations are the workers.

Social Media is more often opinion, as we know opinion is the lowest form of knowledge and consciousness, it’s is more about unsubstantiated beliefs than facts.

We plunder the planet, without regard for the planet or other life forms. But the majority of people do not reflect, I guess we are in denial, unaware or un-accepting of our effect and the now given future outcome … or more likely we don’t think about it at all …. the evolution of life on the planet is still going on and either we will evolve to a more present, responsible life form or we will go extinct and Gaia will try again.

Capitalism … demeans those things that are not valued by it – a man who is a basket weaver in a village … perhaps the best at what he does .. because his process is not valued by the “New” Capitalist dogma, the person perhaps feels or his society will demean them and make them feel unworthy.

Going back to Normal after the pandemic (if that is possible) … but the old normal only works for those who have money, opportunity and influence at the expense of everyone else   … not for families, not for the majority.

The Buddha said, the one contains the many and the many contains the one – Whilst we value the ego and its illusions we will be led by the manipulators into the Abyss … if we are, then we must remember that the world will survive our short tenure but we will not.  Gaia will start again with hopefully a better new life form, who thinks of the impacts of their action, not just selfishly acts.

I hope it may give you another perspective on the status quo, that almost nothing that surrounds us is real, it is a purely human way of creating constructs to help us understand and live within a shell that encompasses our cultural understanding deliberately excluding all others, in the west the culture is a form of Capitalism, which is primarily Adversarial, punitive, predatory and unforgiving.

Preface and Index – for my series “On the Edge of the Abyss”is here

Part 1  - A Paradigm of Control — here
Part 2  – Retail and Consumerism — here
Part 3  – Politics — here
Part 4  – Beliefs — here
Part 5  – Media — here
Part 6  – Control & Propaganda — here
Part 7 – Cultural Division, The Media, Judgement and Projections – here
Part 8 – Consumerism and Minimalism – here
Part 9 – Humanity in 2018 – here
Part 10 – A Path to understanding and dialogue – here
Part 11 – Where we are, and where we are going – here

The future is not written as yet, so this article can only be my view of the situation, a perspective if you like. I feel we have reached a point of crisis, where we are perched on the edge of the abyss where a greater collective awakening is the only way we will ultimately survive, in other words wisdom, compassion/ empathy and reflection over greed, desire and the ego mind.

I assume that such an awakening is unlikely en masse in the foreseeable future, but I do believe it has already begun, but the souls are not of sufficient numbers, to support radical change, hence my perspective. Change when it normally comes comes via little steps over millennia.

On our home, we’ve have grown to be as an out of control cancer that plunders the planet, without any regards for the future of the planet or the life that it contains, we seek only humanities needs, with no regard for other life forms including the futures of our own. We are as a parasite without consideration for its host – unless we change we will kill the ability of the host to sustain human life.

There really is no other choice but to change, either a majority of us decide to change, perhaps by realising our terminal effect on the planet – or the Web of Life implodes upon itself and we all go the way of the dinosaurs as we change the planet irrevocably to the point that is becomes uninhabitable for us – it is not the end of the world, just the end of the world for us … Gaia will survive and start again to find a more suitable species to work with, to move forward.

The thing is that we cannot force ourselves to wake up, as waking up is a product of the evolution of the consciousness, not something that can be achieved by even a profound desire. It certainly cannot be achieved within the layers of constructs we have created on the earth to suit our needs and desires.

The progress of Change on what I regard as important issues, social equity, and laws protecting the vulnerable, pollution, all life and the planet, on our only home move egregiously slow if at all, basically because wild life, the poor and vulnerable and of course the environment have few lobbyists and advocacy groups also there is no or little money or political capital to be made (perhaps vested interests have also seriously road-blocked progress) for Governments, there are hard choices to be made that affect the status quo, our standard of living, for humanities approach, or at least their governments, appears selfish in that they seem more concerned about at least maintaining, their income, their possessions, their way of life that will inevitable be impacted it we take the necessary decisions … in many cases their stressors on their life seem to take their full attention, leaving no room for reflection hence rather than understanding the major threats to come that are already impacting their lives. Many are seemingly not concerned enough to do something even if it is to just remove themselves from the influence, more likely many are totally focused in just getting through each day … many believe the “leadership” has few ethics, honour, compassion, morality or intellect to understand the big picture, Like Politicians, all they see is themselves, their tribe, their peers and self interest creating their perspective.

For freedom and their civil liberties `perhaps because they don’t affect them directly … ( and when they do it will likely be too late) – perhaps they are so focused on living and surviving … but what is amazing to me here is that these topics of pollution, climate change and looking after the planet instead of plundering it, affect the future, a future where they and their children will live, so it occurs to me, will our descendants survive the planet and the climate we are creating for them to live in.

The Political Leadership in most sovereign jurisdictions is sclerotic, it is unaccountable, achingly slow and seems mostly about “Let’s just follow the “leader” not that the leaders themselves know where they are going, they seem to follow the path of least resistance, (remember leadership by Poll is not leadership … it feels more than public relations management ) but importantly the acquiescence and compliance to external influence, control, all manifested through propaganda, ignorance and manipulation is shaping their future and those of their children and their descendants, we are being lead into the abyss – all of these practises from “Governments” and the Oligarchs seemingly are directed to maintaining their comfort zone ideologies to eliminate dissent.

Although Climate change has been proven in science, this too have been hi-jacked by politicians as a belief system, not fact and so have become a opinion, a political football.

Large corporations wish to retain the status quo because at this point in time, they have a solution to a current problem or provide a product today – change would alter that. In the past, such people have controlled humanity through religion, through politics, fear and these days the use of debt, via consumerism, the availability of money. Remember one pays for debt with time, with your lack of true freedom.

What causes this reticence to embrace change that isn’t directly relatable to greed or money. I feel that The Ego does, the Ego is Made of Fear. All of the ego’s responses come out of fear. He / she who acts fearlessly, acts from their authentic self (which is different from the ego). The ego is your coat of armour; it’s what you use to protect your surface self.

Currently some nations appear to be in a rush towards authoritarian leadership especially in many of the largely leaderless highly politically partisan countries, such as Australia, the UK and of course the USA plus perhaps many others.

Humanity has been here before, as recently as the 1920’s, 30’s in Europe, now is it time for those members of the new world, to learn from the past, but sadly history shows us as a species we do not learn from history … Stephen Hawking said … “We spend a great deal of time studying history, which, let’s face it, is mostly the history of stupidity”, also G. W. F. Hegel said …. “But what experience and history teach is this – that people and governments never have learned anything from history, or have acted on principles deduced from it. Each period is involved in such peculiar circumstances, exhibits a condition of things so strictly idiosyncratic, that its conduct must be regulated by considerations connected with itself, and itself alone” from Aldous Huxley who said … “That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons of history.”

Now to today …. Very few Governments have a clear major mandate to rule – Australia doesn’t, the United Kingdom is in flux, the lack of definitive leadership and an inability to move forward out of the Brexit disaster.

The Covid 19 crisis has revealed along with the fragility of our culture, what is important, mainly the total lack of real leadership in the Western Democracies where the focus is on business not on the welfare of people…. the best country performances has come from those countries with female leadership, something I applaud.

Countries that are Theocracies or Dictatorships are seemingly freer to experiment and or invest long term in large scale infrastructure … the West is hampered by the ever-present gorilla in the room …. If we do “this” … will it work for us or against us in the elections, and of course getting permission for the projects from their backers may be the most telling part, the like of Corporations have a vision of about 3 months, not 5+ years let alone 15 years that would be necessary for major infrastructure projects, such as a new sustainable power system – as well the reason that Corporations don’t like change is that their operations have been designed to fill a need in the here and now, with a change , their own future Corporate profitability and that of their investments may likely be put in jeopardy.

For every subject or problem that the world faces, there is now little credible leadership from any source, we as a species merely stumble from problem to problem, few even acknowledges the existence of a global threat. People feel safer when they are not confronted with an issue like pollution or climate change …. they would rather ignore it and stubbornly hang onto the past when things were OK, (political organisation have been built around this) but this denies the cumulative affect of our actions in worsening climate change that comes from burning coal, running cars and our diet of other lives in the form of meat.

In my view Climate change and the resulting Global Warming is the most powerful weapon of mass destruction that has even been created. Its existence is undeniable … whether its total cause is man-made or not, it clearly doesn’t matter … we must respond and do what we can, for we must remember that the planet will survive, what is debatable at this point is will we and the majority of other life forms on the planet. Are we that selfish, for if we do not take action, then our children, our future families will pay for it, suffer from its effects, not too respond or to delay and obfuscate is selfish, irresponsible and unconscionable.  For climate change is not an ideology or belief system, it is a proven scientific fact – however politics has chosen to muddy the waters by saying that it is a belief system, an opinion instead, yet looking around at the weather and the accompanying changes is real …. It reminds me of the story of the frog, one that is put in very hot water and immediately jumps out and the one that is put in water that is slowly heats up … it stays in the water and eventually dies …. I don’t want that to be our epitaph.

If we look to the past we can see a progression as technology has changed many things, however the major type of products remains strikingly similar.

Arundhati Roy quote seems very apt as we move on – “You steal from the poor, you subsidise the rich, you call it the ‘Free Market’.

An effective Class system exists in almost all countries, stratified by money , things, access and power.

Conformity, domestication Energy Food Production Water Transport Waste and how to handle these are major problems, especially plastic.

Perhaps we should see opportunities for new industries in these problems. Corruption … Self seeking Conservatism ….

Seeking answers to todays and tomorrows problems by returning to the past.

Generally, worldwide, I see the active trend to the worst of Capitalism, especially predatory Capitalism taking us on the path to slavery and or Fascism … for without limits, in the form of legislation and effective unions, Capitalism has created a two-sided paradigm that requires both customers and workers, rewarding customers with easy access and low costs, while treating workers as an inexhaustible resource to be exploited with low wages and poor conditions …. This is not sustainable … specifically, for this consumer society is in the final death throws, for the society only works if the customer has funds, and the prices are affordable —- there comes a point when products cannot be made at a lower cost and when the main consumers do not have the funds to purchase because of the downward pressure by Capitalism to increase their profits … not giving them a living wage, this makes people into slaves to their income, the ideal of the house with the white picket fence is an impossible fantasy, even if it was ever realisable at any time — to consume, people then try debt, which seems such a total rort … as well we know that debt puts us in a prison and we pay off the debt with time, our most precious non renewable resource.

What will replace the current economy, for now there is little new directions available, no investment available or engine to create the next. One might argue that this is not true, however all systems, have an inertia, until the driving force behind it wains (the dying middle class in many countries were the main consumers, now they to are disappearing and many have become wage slaves – after this transition from the old system to the new what will we have?

The ancient economy was mainly based on subsistence farming, and hunting.

The industrial revolution phase lessened the role of subsistence farming, converting it to more extensive and mono-cultural forms of agriculture in the last three centuries. The economic growth took place mostly in mining, construction and manufacturing industries. Commerce became more significant due to the need for improved exchange and distribution of produce throughout the community.

• In the economies of modern consumer societies phase there is a growing part played by services, finance, and technology—the knowledge economy. This involves the provision of services to consumers and businesses, such as baby-sitting, financial advice, banking, insurances and entertainment.

(A shopkeeper and an accountant would be workers in the tertiary degree.)

• Quaternary stage/degree of the economy:Involves the research and development needed to produce products from natural resources and their subsequent by-products. (A logging company might research ways to use partially burnt wood to be processed so that the undamaged portions of it can be made into pulp for paper.) Note that education is sometimes included in this sector.

Other sectors of the developed community include :

• the Public Sector or state sector (which usually includes: parliament, law-courts and government centres, various emergency services, public health, shelters for impoverished and threatened people, transport facilities, air/sea ports, post-natal care, hospitals, schools, libraries, museums preserved historical buildings, parks/gardens, nature-reserves, some universities, national sports grounds/stadiums, national arts/concert-halls or theatres and centers for various religions).

• the Private Sector or privately run businesses.

• the Social sector or Voluntary sector.

But what will the basis of the new economy, in these days of such change.

The wonder of humanity is that the unique path which we all have can generate a new direction and new goal to bring meaning to our lives and our work, however one of the current problems with humanity is that those that may have these revolutionary ideas if they are not in Politics or bureaucracy will have normally little to no opportunity to express it … so how do we change the world?

One way is to create a new way, without regard to the old, disregarding dogma and over time as the old disintegrates and dies, the new will grow and become established …. the question must be asked how do we do this?

A Change economy – sharing economy – is the meaning of work to the many changing – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Externality

I would pass on the general comment that unchecked consumption is a greater threat to the planet than the growth in population itself .. also that flawed retail marketing and production strategies in Agri-Business, in Corporate food production and distribution, means that between 40-50% of all food grown, never reaches a person.This came from what I have been able to understand from the Pope’s statement on climate change and researching Engineering limitations in the Agricultural / harvesting process. … To blame population growth instead of extreme and selective consumerism on the part of some, is one way of refusing to face the issues.

A correction will be necessary, this can either being managed, or it will just happen and the ashes will lay where they fall. By it’s very nature, today, I feel like Alice and the looking glass, change outside of the norm may not be possible, as observations of Politicians, reveal their many all too human character flaws, which are that they are driven primarily by self interest, greed opportunism and dogma – however let’s look now at sometime in the future.

Then when we look back, what will have become of the monumental edifices, the largely vacant shopping malls, these symbols of the past ‘glories’ of consumerism, consumption and distraction – what are we to do with the vast buildings and their open spaces, perhaps housing? … a productive thing we could do, it rip up the vast car parks and do something useful with the land, like grow food!

Flowing on from this retail contraction, inevitably there will be corporate failures, first in retail, then in manufacturing, the transport and service industries, the more leveraged the company is, the more likely – but around this point this will be a financial Armageddon scenario, there will be no one to buy these assets, Banks will have made loans to formerly secure and even the blue chip – stocks will plunge, companies will fail, or go into Chapter 11, (these assets will again be unwanted, useless, perhaps even toxic, as there will be no buyers), then the Banks (which were formerly too big to fail, and which are even now larger) will become vulnerable, cash will dry up, if this correction is wide spread, then the cycle that was started by greed, whose first chapter was the 2008, Global Meltdown will have its Finale, its curtain call for the banks will be asset rich, but cash poor, huge asset right downs, and this time, there will be no bail out, the socialist Public cash cow won’t be there, the public won’t allow it (and the US can’t afford it), but if they ignore the advice of the experts and pay the billions to shore up these financial edifices, will only hasten the demise of America and the financial system as a whole. We will have wide spread Corporate collapse – the US Budget itself will become even more vulnerable without Corporate and personal taxation income from the millions of the now unemployed, confidence will collapse, the currency will dramatically devalue, imports will cost more, what will need to happen will be severe and permanent expense cuts are applied – I cannot see the Hawks and the GOP accepting this (especially to defence), the US. will print money, borrow more but in time, inevitably societal collapse will follow.The Corporate spin that Trade deals are good for America is a falsehood .. they are only good for Corporations – the NAFTA was supposed to increase jobs, but it has had the opposite effect, in effect over 600,000 jobs have been lost in the USA – Corporations just took the opportunity to move manufacturing to lower paid jurisdictions such as Mexico … with few laws protecting the rights of workers as well as few environmental protections …but the real basis is the Corporate grab for more Power and control, the strategy is to entrench Corporate domination, what’s at state here is individual national sovereignty .. I would suggest you look to David Korten’s article that will develop this further, here. This confluence of flaws and scenarios, from the Political, Administrative, Taxation, Judicial and financial mis-management, means we enter the unknown realm, of what happens next? There is a lesson for us all here, again, sadly one, we won’t learn from as George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel said … “history teaches us is that people and governments have never learned anything from history, or acted on principles deduced from it – Hegel”, I guess a part of what I am saying is that unrestrained consumption for its own sake could not be sustained – but from an environmental point of view, if economists would have actually taken into account the environmental impact of business, almost no business could be profitable, but a good thing will mean the ending of this paradigm, means that the planet will get a reprieve.

“When we see the planet as a community to which we belong with respect, rather than a resource to be plundered, then we have begun to evolve” ~ #intmf

Yes … his future is here …. regarding influence and power structures we are going backwards into multi layered “command and control” rather than forward into a sociocracy or a consultative, inclusive structure that primarily values the planet and the Biosystems.

Ignorance (the lack of all forms of beneficial education) and the illusions that the current dogma has taught society, are the real and present dangers to us +++ the next steps that we take and are taking will determine if humanity will survive.At some future time if any of us survive, what will they say of us? Were they so distracted with trying to make a living, we forgot to live? Are we do distracted and invested in illusions that we search for connection for meaning in the gadgets we have created (instead of those life forms, including our family and friends around us)… or we need gadgets because we cannot be alone with our thoughts … do we think through the instant gratification these gadgets provide is the something we seek … and ignore our environment, and the people who are or may have been the most important people in our life and ignore the other life that shares this planet with us … all of which has the same value to create a balance as we do.

Albert Einstein said a couple of things …”A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”

The status-quo is always in transition, slowly … what works today may be made redundant tomorrow with a truly disruptive paradigm ( a life changing concept, not just a technical concept, but a new social structure ) that takes hold of our imaginations – whether we have that time to wait, I don’t know – sadly the future of the planet is in the hands of the Politicians at the moment, a more pathetic display of ignorance, opportunism and uninformed power I have yet to see … the real issue is they they do not know what is the right decision, they are influenced by lobbyists from Corporations, unaccountable economists (where economics appears to be more of an art form, a perspective than an all encompassing science) by their political donors (masters), and occasionally maybe a constituent, they do not know the right path, so they stay with no decision restricting us to the status quo, which though they may not realise it, is still a decision which gives us more of the same, more of that which is patently not working.During my research, I can see many people with thoughts of the future, so of us will be right, others not, me included, it really doesn’t matter. There are many people who are trying their best, actually within each person, I believe everyone is trying their best, we cannot and should not judge others, it is hubris and ego to consider that other people aren’t doing what they can, or that we are doing more – in fact it is taking on a victim mentality. At some point the concerns of the people will reach an level of inertia and change will happen – but what is without question is that we are always in transition, as nothing stays the same, the purpose of this post, indeed all of my posts is to raise awareness, to offer a perspective … not to do so would be irresponsible, my efforts and those of others may change nothing, or perhaps everything, we cannot know the ripple effect of what we create, what it will touch and what may come of it.

The outcome of the actions of Wall Street and others was austerity, where Main Street had to loose access or have essential services cut back. Whilst the perpetrators went back to the behaviours they knew. To me it was a purposeful action on behalf of Governments to cut back services that consumed money, falling into their policies to reduce support for their citizens. The areas that were affected and funding reduced were to name a few

Science, Journalism, Education, Arts, Welfare, Justice, Heath and the Environment. I feel truly it matched their Neo-liberal ideology and plans perfectly.

Over time the continuation of the status quo has resulted in the oppression and exploitation of the majority of American workers, minimal or nil wage increases, an effective reduction in wages and conditions, whilst the big end of town has more money than they know what to do with it, other than hoard it or spend it on strategies for their own benefit – I guess the question arises how much money is too much?

This consumer economy will fail, because the pressure provided by the employers on the average person has resulted in poor pay and conditions, and together with the societal enticement to buy stuff will end because even with high personal debt levels – the time has come where even China and the those other countries with the lowest costs cannot manufacture products cheap enough … the end of the consumer economy is here and not even the ethics and equality or the lack of them of the like of Amazon will save it, millions of families now live pay cheque to pay cheque, wage slaves to their few desires, their debt and their essential needs.

All this has hardly effected those with millions, except it ultimately will …. The end is in progress now, culture of the America is a consumer economy … for the economy to work, they need to people to buy stuff. The economy is a gigantic machine in which one person’s consumption generates someone else’s income. The pandemic began by crushing the economy’s income and hence its productive capacity — a shock to the supply side of the economy, as many types of business activity were rightly shut down for imminent public health concerns.

Change is coming, mind you it may come in another form, that is a financial collapse of the system itself, leading to a societal collapse – because on this second occasion Main Street would not countenance bailing out the irresponsible and greedy a second time, or perhaps the onset of the effect of Climate change will rear its head.

We live in an era of blatant lies and fraud, not just in the obvious, Banking and finance, but in also Government, education, religion, food, even sport.

Since the beginning of civilisation, fraud has never ever worked long term, secrets that gnaw at people, causing them persistent distress or anxiety centred in the moral or value centre, their dissatisfaction grows –  there will be an accounting.

We must remember that inequality is intrinsic in any economy especially in a high-functioning end-game capitalist economy such as the USA and much of the European Union and Australia etc. The problem is that inequality is at historically high levels and worsening. America and other advanced Capitalist countries are becoming less capitalist and more feudal … whether feudalism is the intent of those in control or just a unplanned for outcome is unknown, but it seems a convenient outcome whatever the case.  

Change is coming … from a thinker and a creator the quotation below.

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”
― Buckminster Fuller

Perhaps there will be some good news here …. With their forced solitude at home, perhaps some have reflected on their lives and hopefully begun the process of changing their perspective, and over time changing their lives …. Even to the point of travelling the path to knowing who they actually are, not what society or dogma says what they should be.

The confusing political environment in the USA is also contributing to the uncertainty … the visible fear of those with money, expressed through the leadership of the Republican Party and probably the Democrats as well, they are the main drivers of this strange political policy and its total disregard for the needs of the majority of the people they are meant to serve.

Our mostly Rush-to-Judgement Media has played its part, in many cases adding to the mayhem and violence, I wrote about its mostly negative contribution here, it opinion and perspective generating division and often hate … Social Media – exacerbates conflict and divisiveness in society – Awakened Nomad – http://bit.ly/2Ny49Ni … to be sure the news you received is real and not fake then check, do your due diligence .. if it is fake, then ask yourself who benefits, don’t just rely on it being true, because it aligns with your own cognitive biases.

Martha C Nussbaum, the Philosopher also said it so well, when describing fear ..

“When people are afraid of one another and of an unknown future, fear easily gives rise to scapegoating, to fantasies of payback, and to poisonous envy of the fortunate (whether those victorious in the election or those dominant socially and economically).

We need to think hard about fear and where fear is leading us. After taking a deep breath we all need to understand ourselves as well as we can, using that moment of detachment to figure out where fear and related emotions come from and where they are leading us.”

Let’s define feudalism itself –

Feudalism is defined as a Medieval European political, economic and social system from the 9th to 15th century it was the dominant social system in medieval Europe, in which the nobility held lands from the Crown in exchange for military service, and vassals were in turn tenants of the nobles, while the peasants (villeins or serfs – now us very soon) were obliged to live on their lord’s land and give him homage, labour, and a share of the produce, notionally in exchange for military protection.

Of course those at the very top of the pyramid, the billionaires, their disciples and wannabees, would much prefer a race war than a class war, hence the fringe ideologies, white power, Nationalism have reared their ugly heads – however what they forget is the people who work for them, that keep their money making machines going are of the 90+% – they will see the oppression and misery all around them in their own family and friends, and will one day say enough is enough, and they will join those that want real change.

Today only people who can afford a decent education can have one, the majority are forced to leave the schooling system after high school and get a job. This has the convenient outcome of providing fodder for the military and lowly educated people for corporations – the ideal new generation serf for today and tomorrows feudal lords.