In the face of the future, which is always unknown, there probably isn't a whole lot to be gained by projecting scary outcomes. Here and now is always the reality. Looking at a screen, or hearing words transmitted from afar, how much can be assumed to be in the cue for our own destinies? Paying attention is fine and good, but to be ready for anything, good or ill, it's best just to be present. Little is known while much is being believed. I know I don't know shit about what's coming down the pike. Has Trump shown himself to be all that predictable? I'm ready for whatever the universe tosses my way. It could be a universal awakening, or doomsday. WTF?
I don't get out much, don't have teevee, but I was at neighbor's election party with 95% there to see Hillary answer their prayers. They found out that I wasn't there for their candidate, even though I was not for Trump either. I think it bothered many of them that I could still be smiling after they called Ohio and Florida. I'm still smiling. I am not going to let a bunch of projections about future bugaboos bum my experience or make me run out into the streets. Hell, the Cascadia subduction quake could go off under our asses by inauguration day, and I would have been sitting around worrying over the a government that has been corrupt all my life anyway.
Watching the trail where my feet are landing and owning only myself, I find peace in that. I'm ready to help if it's needed.
Namasté,
Satya
I think it IS good to think about possible future scenarios so we can be prepared and possibly prevent further negative outcomes.
Would you sit outside idle in a chair while a wolf pack approached instead of going inside?
If you knew of a hungry pack of wolves in the area, would you be more alert and watchful? Would you appreciate and take advantage of the information or choose to ignore it altogether? Maybe tell others to not pass on the information to neighbors because its best to just live in the moment and let things happen?
We are sharing the information so others can prepare for the wolves IF they come. We could be more alert and look for signs, set some traps, be ready to fight for our lives (or rights). There is a time to sit idle and hold on to the peacefulness of the moment, enjoy it and smile. But if thats all you do you might find yourself in the moment when you exit the south end of a northern facing K-9. You can still be in the moment, and I would argue in a more peaceful and content state, after you make preparations and have the knowledge of what might happen.
I think like many hard-working Americans, I'm still putting in overtime every day to make ends meet. I work for myself, but I routinely finish a day's work between midnight and 2am.
Having said that, I think it's important to keep an ear to the ground and see what's going, theorize about possible outcomes, but I agree that too much time spent on thinking about doomsday scenarios is a bad thing.
I have a couple weeks of food and water stored, strictly for the possible Cascadia subduction quake, but we could also have Yellowstone blow and cover the entire midwest in enough ask to collapse most buildings. I can't really do much about that, but I can do things that affect my own outcomes with my business and those immediately around me. It's a tough balancing act.
I agree. I live in Michigan so winters are tough with Great Lakes effect. We prepare to stay alive in case of harsh weather. I have just recently increased our preparedness supply "just in case". The political climate is one 8 have generally ignored, until now. Y2K was silly to me. Most of the "sky is falling" scenarios that have came and went, while I paid attention to, I shrugged off. I am, however, more concerned now than ever before. If it goes one way it might be great, but if it goes the other way there is a chance it could get really ugly.
We never fully recovered from 2008, the economy horrible but is being artificially held up, the REAL numbers of the unemployment rate is at an all time high, there is 6 trillion missing from the national budget unaccounted for that is threatened to be investigated (the day before 9-11 it was 2.3 trillion), we are on the cusp of the biggest political criminal investigation in our history, the Elites didn't get the president they wanted, the military industrial complex is frothing at the mouth for a nice big war (not to mention it would take the focus off all of the above mentioned issues) and winter is fast approaching... I would say its prime time to pay a little more attention and increase your preparedness.
Its easier to fool a man than it is to convince a man that he has been fooled.
Its easier to fuck over a population than it is to convince them they are about to get fucked over.
What I was getting at is this, there's only so much can be assumed, not known, but assumed about what may develop as time passes. One needn't dwell too much on things, as the farther out the probabilities lie, the shakier our guessing becomes. The wilder the variables become, the more the future scenarios weaken. We have intelligence to apply within a pretty narrow range of possibilities. All well and good. At some point, the investment in the unreal can diminish the connection to the real. There is only so much can be gotten out of entertaining any hypothetical, and the hypotheticals are infinite in their possibilities.
I saw so many people at that election party flipping their experiences into dread. The next day we start to hear of people acting out in fear of what they think they know, so caught in the unreality of their projections, none of which I would invest a cent in, if I could. By way of self inquiry, I have learned to look at my own thoughts and projections. Seeing what I know, and don't know (and where the future is the issue, I surely don't know), I might see where to invest my present. Staying as present as one is able to does not make one stupid, or any less able to respond. I ain't going to toss out my 12 gauge because I don't know what's coming. Whatever is laid before me, I will deal with it as it comes up, using whatever is at hand, if I see a practicality in it.
Shit might happen. Might not, just as well. I cannot and will not think of everything. I might be saying, "boy, I didn't see that coming." But right now, right here, I'm still doing fine.
There are two kinds of fear: acute and chronic. One's natural and good. One's crazy-making and unhealthy. One says, "Fuck, a wolf pack! Do I have time to get to my shotgun?" One says, "OMG, wolves might be coming to get me. Oh no, what if they are?"
Even if Trump appoints Sarah Palin to be Secretary of the Interior. That, I sure wouldn't like. But what will it serve if I sit here and sweat what I can't stop, or can do little about?
I just think there is a balance you can strike where you can pay attention and learn the signs of whats to come and living in the moment and having joy without living in fear. And I believe now is a good time to pay more attention and run some scenarios so you can be better prepared. I don't see the benefit of living in the moment and running only on defensive measures when you can take the opportunity to pay attention, try to notice signs that might lead to certain possibilities and use them to form a plan and prepare for them.
I'm not saying stock up on arms and ammo, build a bunker and order enough supplies that they have to truck them to your door with an 18 wheeler. I'm just suggesting that things are especially volatile right now and prime for some serious stuff to go down, so it would be a good idea to increase your preparedness supply and pay attention to what is happening.
Well, as far as all that goes, if Shitmageddon comes down, my physical situation is one that most prepper minded folks would love to be in. I have the Christian Right, armed to the teeth, a mile down the dead end road that the marauding masses will have to get past, and we can blow the big culvert below their place and stop even the four wheelers. I have my copy of Peterson's Field Guide To Edible Wild Plants! I am a jack of all trades and can patch stuff back together if needed.
Whatever comes, I have come to the place in my old age where I will surely take it as I am able, without the levels of concerns I had in my younger years, when I was more the political and environmental activist. I have seen quite a lot come and go in my time, and always gravitated to the counsel elders along the way to here and now. I took a lot away from what they had seen in their times. I know that no one gets out of here alive, not as the body at any rate.
For me, the peace is worth more than any possible attainment. I will try to not let... Forget that, nothing will take that peace, not even the worst possible scenario. I would bottle and give away this shit if I could. It's always there, but only for the discovery. What is this discovery? Seeing what is and is not real. It turns out that neither what I think I am, nor what I think is happening, is what is really the truth. But this is my seeing. Everyone else has their seeing. Seeing is way better than believing.
I hope this all doesn't come across in the wrong way, but that's always the gamble, eh?
I do love this life, whatever it brings.
Namasté,
Satya
Ok. I get that. I think we see and accept things differently. You seem like a very good, intelligent and peaceful person that I would enjoy being around but I accept we have slightly different viewpoints on this particular topic. Thank you for the conversation on this matter. :o)
Communications is always dodgy at best. It takes time and I'm in no hurry. Glad to be here with you and everyone.
@Satyagraha, I definitely get what you're saying. I have a bro-in-law that is head-over-heels into worrying about the future. I think there is a danger there; he's said "This is it, we're done," more times than I can remember over the last couple of years.
I just watched a DVD of All the President's Men,. This is a two disc set, released in 2006, 28 years after the movie was made. I would recommend it for a perspective that goes straight to message in the original post in this thread.
Here is a good in-depth documentary on the origins of the PR industry and it's use in both business and politics:
The Invention of Public Relations
Another excellent documentary about Edward Bernays, Walter Lippmann, and Gustav Le Bon and their contributions to the psychology of perceptual manipulation in modern society and the creation of the Council on Foriegn Relations:
Thanks for those documentaries Shamangineer, excellent stuff!
