…that births all new being.
To quote Ursula LeGuinn, “How you play is what you win.”
…which might help us to understand why the age of protest and progress is coming to a close.
Our problems have outgrown our solutions in the same way that our solutions are incorporated into the existing problems. Fighting even the good fight only serves as that which cancels the effectiveness of any fight through more fighting. A reminder of how visions that come from within the decay of the current cultural structure, have become ineffective for what is most needed, which is less, not more action: less production, less consumption.
“The present convergence of crises––in money, energy, education, health, water, soil, climate, politics, the environment, and more––is a birth crisis, expelling us from the old world into a new.”
― Charles Eisenstein, Sacred Economics: Money, Gift, and Society in the Age of Transition
The collective future, so lacking in any indications of cohesiveness, has become impossible to envision, or even effectively to revision, but might rather be inviting us to slow down and reflect on what is trying to happen, what isn’t working, and more clearly than ever reveals to us that the goal of progress, as it has shaped and deformed the world around and in us, is failing us, long term. All solutions coming out of our collective crumbling structures, rather than serving to repair, replace or shore up, only serve to reveal the deeply rooted embeddedness of the weaknesses within these structures.
Perhaps what we are most in need of now, is a type of sanctuary which might serve to slow down the damage, both personally and collectively. In many ways, Covid-19 has provided us with an opportunity for sanctuary. Is nature herself speaking to and through us?
May this new decade be remembered as the decade of the strange path, of the third way, of the broken binary, of the traversal disruption, the kairotic moment, the posthuman movement for emancipation, the gift of disorientation that opened up new places of power, and of slow limbs. May this decade bring more than just solutions, more than just a future – may it bring words we don’t know yet, and temporalities we have not yet inhabited. May we be slower than speed could calculate, and swifter than the pull of the gravity of words can incarcerate. And may we be visited so thoroughly, and met in wild places so overwhelmingly, that we are left undone. Ready for composting. Ready for the impossible.
Dr. Bayo Akomolafe
A refuge that facilitates the withstanding of the nearly unbearable tension of this historical moment, a place we can be that remains more true to these difficult times, is the place of the lost.
“In order to find your way, you must become lost.”
Dr. Bayo Akomolafe
In other words, the very urge to find a way, is itself a message trying to tell us, that in spite of our best efforts and intentions, precisely where we are; lost.
What then, can the silent protest of sanctuary offer us now? Listen in as Gordon White and Dr. Bayo Akomolafe discuss our cultural moment here:
Theoria 
Problems outgrow solutions when I fail to see reality as it is and my suffering increases continuously until I finally remember, I am not this body. I am not these experiences. I am not these emotings and identify the error in my own thinking, the very cause of my suffering.
What is a Good Fight? It is wrong to initiate violent force or to engage in coercion all the time in any place, yes? So what exactly is a good fight? When I defend myself against a killer and win?
What is the good fight you are fighting? How do you fight with out initiating violence or engaging in coercion?
The author writes “visions that come from within…the current…structure[s], have become ineffective for what is most needed-less…action…production…consumption.”
I propose the Solutions currently fail to provide relief because we have not properly identified the problem and if I cannot properly identify a problem then I will fail to see the solution.
The author speaks of weakened structures quoting Charles Eisenstein when he wrote of a crisis in money, energy, education, health, water, soil, climate, politics, the environment, and more––is a birth crisis, expelling us from the old world into a new.”
True. However if we fail to correctly identify the crisis, we will fail to see and support and move towards the solutions.
The World Republics with their Representatives LOCKED DOWN the ENTIRE World Economy in response to what amounted to a very bad cold.
Supply chains have been destroyed for many more years to come. Peoples lives were destroyed, not by the flu, but by Government Mandates, Regulations.
Natures Order is Harmoniously Pressure Mediated Self Interest.
Modern Republics with their oh so very easily corrupted Representatives for a few pieces of silver, or an Epstein style Honeypot Blackmail Trap are the cause of most of the suffering out there.
The author is lost because the author does not correctly see reality as it is. When I am lost, I took a wrong turn due to an error in my thinking.
The Republics are Crashing and Burning. More and More of the Majority are recognizing it, but still not enough. Eventaully, more will see it and by 2032 or so, the embers will snuff out, Ananke.
At that moment in time and place, who ever is left alive, will find themselves in the very same position the founders of the US Constitution found themselves in.
Have you ever wondered why Benjamin Franklin barked at the woman on the street who queried him what kind of Government they had, ” A Republic, if you can keep it!!!”
Ha ha ha. That man was so wise. He knew. He tried diligently and heroically to advocate for many of the Democratic Processes, here I speak not of the Party which did not exist until the late 1820’s when the Federalists were destroyed very much like the Democratic Party today is destroying itself – No _ I speak of the Democratic Process of Education, Debate and Voting as they do in the house and senate.
But he was unable to get the Government to allow the People to vote Directly on the Laws, Regulations, Taxes, Debt, Printing and War and that is why he knew, we would not be able to keep our Republic, why?
Because, Republics are the WORST form of Government due to how EASY it is to Corrupt the Representative.
Marxism with its evolutions, Communism in the East and Socialism in the West is FAILING due to how easy it is to corrupt the Representative.
It is time for the People to vote Directly on the laws regulations taxes, debt printing and war. That is the solution for 2032.
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Thanks, Ka! I was so inspired by the wisdom offered by Bayo Akomolafe’s talk. Enjoy!
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I’m saving this podcast for later.
What you have written here helps to heal me. You have put words to many of my own unspoken, unexamined inklings. You have gone deeper. This is a birth process.
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“Our problems have outgrown our solutions in the same way that our solutions are incorporated into the existing problems.” Wow! I could not have said that better if I tried. It is sadly true. Rebellion has become a commercial commodity, a slogan slapped on a tee shirt and sold at a kiosk in the mall, or on Amazon. I still believe that we can find solutions though. One step at a time. Thanks for the post. Cheers!
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Thanks, Jeff! T-shirts for sale… great example. I’m with you, one step at a time. 🙂
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Are you still tuned to a body? The fact that our solutions are incorporated into the problems is evidence that we have not properly identified the Problem. We can still find the solutions when we properly identify the problem.
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