Choices

I think there comes a point in everyone’s lives where they have to choose sides, and  I don’t mean with political parties, or rugby games…

While we have free will, we have been carefully herded to live in constant fear; every system in place is to support us being afraid all the time and keep us in reaction mode. It takes a huge effort to see past this game and start living your own truly free life.

We are lead to believe that we need to fight against everything “out there” so that things can be right again.  Stop the governments, stop the military-industrial machine, stop the crime, stop this, stop that!  Fight, fight. fight! The list is endless and we’re always finding a new enemy to point fingers at; the problems become insurmountable, anger and hate build even more; the people at the top of the (perceived) food chain just wring their hands with glee. Have you tried to go up against a mega corporation alone?  How did that work out for you? They can swat us like flies all day long.

But what if it’s as simple as stopping the duality in ourselves instead?  There is a school of thought that says the world is just a reflection of how we really feel inside. You can only answer this for yourself – but how do you really feel inside? Are you living in constant fear, anger, hate, jealousy, resentment?

What if it’s about understanding – and accepting – that every single one of us has the ability to be endlessly compassionate, loving, caring and embracing; and at the same time, supremely cruel, hateful, greedy, manipulative?  What if it’s about getting around your head that while we look at murderers, corporate thieves and environmental destructionists (made up word) as the “bad” guys here; we all have the ability to be those people?

Temptations abound of course.  The promise of money, comfort, ‘security’ is very seductive, and when you’re desperate enough for that, you’ll do just about anything to get it.  But then when you start tipping too far on the other end of the scale, too much money, comfort and security, it becomes a prison as you do anything not to lose that, which you also do at any cost. See how cleverly the system is designed against you?

Power is not ‘evil’, money is not ‘evil’, technology is not ‘evil’ – they are being used for ‘evil’ purposes.  And this is where choice comes in.  Every day in every way, we are faced with a new opportunity to exercise choice.

Social Media – the power to connect billions of people around the world to share ideas and come up with better ways of taking care of each and this planet.  The power to make new friends and expand your horizons, share your knowledge with like-minded people.  Yet the owners of this use it to collect and sell our information to the highest bidder, run experiments on us to see if they can change the global mood; throttle what you see to herd you into thinking certain things; help identify you as a ‘terrorist'; manipulate what gets shared and make people pay to get their message out where before it used to go everywhere.

Technology – the power to build machines that can keep coma victims alive while their bodies heal.  To build machines that clean air and water making it safe for everyone. To build alternative energy like solar to halt the destruction of our planet in the quest for more energy.  The power to look at the stars and map our place in the Universe. Yet it is being used to pollute our planet on every front and bring mankind to the brink of destruction. It’s being used to build weapons of mass destruction, to mass murder people of all nations for invented reasons.

Money – that we have given a stupid piece of paper backed by nothing so much power boggles my mind, but ok, here we are.  The quest for more of it and its perceived power is the singular driving force on this planet right now. How much is enough? I was told recently to work work work very hard for years so I can sell my business for lots of money! How much money exactly?  How much is enough?! We can use money to restore the environment, plant more trees, feed the hungry, put the homeless in houses.  But instead, countries use economic warfare to keep nations in debt they can never repay.  Young adults are duped into student loans they can never pay off. Governments puppets take bribes from the multinational mega corporations who pay to push agendas that feed their bottom lines only, and not in the best interests of the nations of this planet.

Food – we all need it to survive, we used to have the most incredible produce available to us. Small family farms fed the locals and most people prospered, people grew their own wherever they could.  Enter the multinationals and we no longer have a food chain, we have a food-like chain. It’s filled with toxic chemicals and GMO’s; and animals are decimated in their billions to feed the fast food, city lifestyles we have been herded into whilst kept in shocking conditions before they are put down to feed us. Mono crops are destroying the environment and the small farmers at an unprecedented rate.

The media – there are so many people trying to make a difference on this planet, the media is an important tool to let others know where they are and what they can offer. But instead, we are bombarded with a campaign of buy buy buy that cripples your freedom of choice. We are lied to by mainstream media every single day.  We are assaulted with messages of fear and hate every few minutes, all day every day on the radio, television, internet, magazines and newspapers to drive the military complex’s agenda.

All these people had a choice. What would you choose if you were in their shoes? If you had unequalled power of at your fingertips, what would you do with it?

But you see, it’s so much easier to just point fingers and complain bitterly from the armchair because the real path out of all of this, takes work; because the answer is not “out there”, it is in you!  It takes every one of us looking at ourselves, accepting who we are in all forms and making peace with the parts of ourselves we find offensive. For when you are truly at peace with yourself, you start to see the world through different eyes. And if enough people do this, we have the ability to change everything.

It starts with you.

 

Well that’s what I think anyway…

Filed under: Leadership
by Veronique Palmer via Views from Veronique