It sometimes baffles me how the global ruling class, whose core is tiny, manages to hold 99.9% of humankind under its domination. The criminocrats use every weapon in the book to achieve this, from propaganda to police violence, from bribery to blackmail, from dishonesty to debt.
For me, to be pure of heart is to source one's motivation in life from something deep within, that goes beyond mere self-interest. It's that innate sense of right or wrong, or ethics, that I write about in the article and which is an extension of nature. I would also say that nature is the form taken by the Whole, so it could be seen as being in harmony with the overall purpose of life. Corruption creeps in when someone is unaware of their innate belonging (perhaps because of what they have been taught in our society) and therefore is trapped in a personal subjectivity, self-interest, or when they lose faith in the voice within and instead follow exterior human voices out to manipulate them.
By the way, I understand your point about not coining new words, and I would say that there are never really any new ideas, just rediscovered old ideas, but as for not coining new phrases... I am not sure what a writer would have to offer in such circumstances!
Thanks for articulating everything that I believe as well. Though I am not so certain that the uncorrupted will inevitably find each other and surmount the dominant forces. I believe that transformation may be necessary to happen first. And the transformation that I am talking about is to unblock whatever is blocking most all of us from effortlessly unleashing torrents of love. This in particular is what I am working on as though my life depends on it, which in actuality it does.
My heart is open, but it needs to open much more. I give unconditional love to others through actions and words, but it is not enough, something is blocking me from giving love that anyone can feel and that I can feel. To open the valve such that one is radiating love effortlessly. Can you imagine that this is what all of humanity must do? The transformation has to be that big.
This is just my opinion but is something that I must do in order to save my own life.
It’s nice to read a piece full of hope. I flicker between hope and despair regularly, but it’s the colder, more rational side of me that holds on to the hope, weirdly.
I grew up in Northern Ireland and witnessed a microcosm of this kind of dynamic play out as the region slowly lurched towards some kind of peace... and the desperate, thinly veiled actions of the group that had held power became more and more obvious as they struggled to keep a hold of that power. More of the fire and brimstone free presbyterian preachers out on the streets screaming hateful nonsense through megaphones, the armed mafioso on both sides getting more itchy - the biggest bomb of the 30 years came right at the end....
So these overt actions, like openly screaming for censorship, demonising large swathes of the population, turning all the powers of the state inwards on its own population (as opposed to just against the ‘unworthy others’) are all, to me, acts of obvious desperation. The power structure knows we’re coming for it, and it’s snarling back. The more that fucker snarls, the closer we are. Some brave souls got too close too early - Julian Assange for example. Look at what that power structure has done to him. But how does it pick everyone off when its thousands, millions and billions at a time?
As the ever eloquent Cornel West often says, we just have to break the back our fear. Easily said..... but let’s get it done before the police complete their metamorphosis into the army, shall we? :)
This is a great formulation, that is, the "uncorrupted" vs the corrupted. It is very useful. It's so simple I wonder why I have not seen something similar before. Before I got to the end I kept thinking Oliver Anthony is the uncorrupted! Right, if people can unite around being uncorrupted, then left/right, religious/non religious, conservative/liberal, etc. cease to be forces for division.
I’ve been trying to advance these ideas since the beginning of the reign of error back in 2016. I used to antagonize Right wingers, but I found increasingly that we have much in common. A tiny bit of common interest can make other disagreement more fruitful. Solidarity is the key, and it takes courage, imagination, and perseverance, but it’s the only way.
I'm encouraged by your thoughts here, Paul, although also wary of this corrupted-uncorrupted divide - this is tempting, of course, but it amounts to accepting that some are 'pure' and others are fallen. I rather suspect we are *all* corrupted but to different degrees and in different contexts. Purity is an ideal to aspire to rather than a state of being.
However, what kindles my hope in this piece is your acute awareness of the broad coalition that we must forge if we are to defend diverse visions of the good life, and the recognition of the problems that our well-cultivated divisions bring to this project. This is the problem I have been working on in philosophy (even before I joined Substack), although it sometimes feels like guarding the back door while all the action is in front.
I hope you're right. I've seen this division particularly evidenced by the verbal sparring since Covid and then the Ukraine war were fomented to distract us - namely on the issue of Climate Change. Opponents on both side of this question (take Roger Hallam and Patrick Heningsen as polar examples) actually both agree that the core problem lies with elites and a rebalancing of power and wealth. But to persuade them to agree with the other over *anything* is impossible in the circumstances, at least in social media forums.
I suppose I am really referring to people's outlook on the world, and in particular to everything that is happening in the 2020s, rather than to their individual character and behaviour in every aspect of life. It is the identified currents of thoughts which I regard as uncorrupted, even though the individuals manifesting them can never, as human beings, be perfect! I do say that many of the corrupted are only so in a provisional sense, so I am not writing them off entirely! I agree with you, Chris, that purity is an ideal to aspire to, rather than an achievable state, but perhaps my interpretation differs from yours in that I would see those who aspire to that purity as being pure of heart. That's as close as a human being can get to purity, after all.
As long as the 0.1% print the money and land is bought and paid for, the Babylonian black magic trick will keep all the uncorrupted stuck within their tiny squares, running on the hamster wheel...
The Oliver phenomenon also gave me hope - if only he knew about permaculture he could inspire his followers to create a tiny village for themselves... Perhaps with blue paint on the rooftops the DEW death ray won't fry them. 😉
Political values? Yuck. Nature is always true, humans seldom are. The minute you identify with something outside of nature, you lose your freedom. The soul is nothing human, so take no refuge in believing or identifying with anything humanity offers. All that is non-human, just is. Anything touched by humanity becomes corrupted.
Thank you! My question is what is it, exactly, that is ‘pure’ and what is it that ‘corrupts’ this purity, exactly, in this model? Thanks! My recurring personal challenge is to try to answer these big questions without coining any new words, phrases or ideas but to simply use those already in common currency. Is this possible do you think? Thanks again!
They - the corrupted - achieve their goals via your political representative. Your local politician is the weak link which we can all exploit if we choose to. Who’d ‘ve thunk?
For me, to be pure of heart is to source one's motivation in life from something deep within, that goes beyond mere self-interest. It's that innate sense of right or wrong, or ethics, that I write about in the article and which is an extension of nature. I would also say that nature is the form taken by the Whole, so it could be seen as being in harmony with the overall purpose of life. Corruption creeps in when someone is unaware of their innate belonging (perhaps because of what they have been taught in our society) and therefore is trapped in a personal subjectivity, self-interest, or when they lose faith in the voice within and instead follow exterior human voices out to manipulate them.
By the way, I understand your point about not coining new words, and I would say that there are never really any new ideas, just rediscovered old ideas, but as for not coining new phrases... I am not sure what a writer would have to offer in such circumstances!
Thanks for articulating everything that I believe as well. Though I am not so certain that the uncorrupted will inevitably find each other and surmount the dominant forces. I believe that transformation may be necessary to happen first. And the transformation that I am talking about is to unblock whatever is blocking most all of us from effortlessly unleashing torrents of love. This in particular is what I am working on as though my life depends on it, which in actuality it does.
My heart is open, but it needs to open much more. I give unconditional love to others through actions and words, but it is not enough, something is blocking me from giving love that anyone can feel and that I can feel. To open the valve such that one is radiating love effortlessly. Can you imagine that this is what all of humanity must do? The transformation has to be that big.
This is just my opinion but is something that I must do in order to save my own life.
It’s nice to read a piece full of hope. I flicker between hope and despair regularly, but it’s the colder, more rational side of me that holds on to the hope, weirdly.
I grew up in Northern Ireland and witnessed a microcosm of this kind of dynamic play out as the region slowly lurched towards some kind of peace... and the desperate, thinly veiled actions of the group that had held power became more and more obvious as they struggled to keep a hold of that power. More of the fire and brimstone free presbyterian preachers out on the streets screaming hateful nonsense through megaphones, the armed mafioso on both sides getting more itchy - the biggest bomb of the 30 years came right at the end....
So these overt actions, like openly screaming for censorship, demonising large swathes of the population, turning all the powers of the state inwards on its own population (as opposed to just against the ‘unworthy others’) are all, to me, acts of obvious desperation. The power structure knows we’re coming for it, and it’s snarling back. The more that fucker snarls, the closer we are. Some brave souls got too close too early - Julian Assange for example. Look at what that power structure has done to him. But how does it pick everyone off when its thousands, millions and billions at a time?
As the ever eloquent Cornel West often says, we just have to break the back our fear. Easily said..... but let’s get it done before the police complete their metamorphosis into the army, shall we? :)
This is a great formulation, that is, the "uncorrupted" vs the corrupted. It is very useful. It's so simple I wonder why I have not seen something similar before. Before I got to the end I kept thinking Oliver Anthony is the uncorrupted! Right, if people can unite around being uncorrupted, then left/right, religious/non religious, conservative/liberal, etc. cease to be forces for division.
I’ve been trying to advance these ideas since the beginning of the reign of error back in 2016. I used to antagonize Right wingers, but I found increasingly that we have much in common. A tiny bit of common interest can make other disagreement more fruitful. Solidarity is the key, and it takes courage, imagination, and perseverance, but it’s the only way.
Thank you for your thoughts.
I'm encouraged by your thoughts here, Paul, although also wary of this corrupted-uncorrupted divide - this is tempting, of course, but it amounts to accepting that some are 'pure' and others are fallen. I rather suspect we are *all* corrupted but to different degrees and in different contexts. Purity is an ideal to aspire to rather than a state of being.
However, what kindles my hope in this piece is your acute awareness of the broad coalition that we must forge if we are to defend diverse visions of the good life, and the recognition of the problems that our well-cultivated divisions bring to this project. This is the problem I have been working on in philosophy (even before I joined Substack), although it sometimes feels like guarding the back door while all the action is in front.
While there's life there's hope. 😁
I hope you're right. I've seen this division particularly evidenced by the verbal sparring since Covid and then the Ukraine war were fomented to distract us - namely on the issue of Climate Change. Opponents on both side of this question (take Roger Hallam and Patrick Heningsen as polar examples) actually both agree that the core problem lies with elites and a rebalancing of power and wealth. But to persuade them to agree with the other over *anything* is impossible in the circumstances, at least in social media forums.
While the fires in places such as Maui and Kelowna have been tragic the one upside is all the forms of “mutual aid” these communities are engaging in.
The end of the pandemic and the rise of Oliver Anthony are other hopeful signs.
I believe in a future.
Thanks Paul
I suppose I am really referring to people's outlook on the world, and in particular to everything that is happening in the 2020s, rather than to their individual character and behaviour in every aspect of life. It is the identified currents of thoughts which I regard as uncorrupted, even though the individuals manifesting them can never, as human beings, be perfect! I do say that many of the corrupted are only so in a provisional sense, so I am not writing them off entirely! I agree with you, Chris, that purity is an ideal to aspire to, rather than an achievable state, but perhaps my interpretation differs from yours in that I would see those who aspire to that purity as being pure of heart. That's as close as a human being can get to purity, after all.
I’m a few of those categories. Father, dissident, permaculture practitioner and rapper. I’m with you all the way baby. Here’s my current take in song form https://open.spotify.com/track/1uf9fcR7B4sQn6GtjzkRHw?si=0jU5TgxnTfSvvV6tURUzJQ
As long as the 0.1% print the money and land is bought and paid for, the Babylonian black magic trick will keep all the uncorrupted stuck within their tiny squares, running on the hamster wheel...
The Oliver phenomenon also gave me hope - if only he knew about permaculture he could inspire his followers to create a tiny village for themselves... Perhaps with blue paint on the rooftops the DEW death ray won't fry them. 😉
Political values? Yuck. Nature is always true, humans seldom are. The minute you identify with something outside of nature, you lose your freedom. The soul is nothing human, so take no refuge in believing or identifying with anything humanity offers. All that is non-human, just is. Anything touched by humanity becomes corrupted.
Thank you! My question is what is it, exactly, that is ‘pure’ and what is it that ‘corrupts’ this purity, exactly, in this model? Thanks! My recurring personal challenge is to try to answer these big questions without coining any new words, phrases or ideas but to simply use those already in common currency. Is this possible do you think? Thanks again!
They - the corrupted - achieve their goals via your political representative. Your local politician is the weak link which we can all exploit if we choose to. Who’d ‘ve thunk?