A lucid perception of reality reveals that our entire experience of what we call the world is inseparable from the awareness in which it appears, and that this awareness is boundless, timeless, and head-over-heels in love with all that is. There is no possible experience of the universe which is not painted upon the canvass of infinite loving awareness, with paint that is made of that same awareness, by a painter who is that same awareness....This is a clear statement of perennial wisdom, the message at the core of all wisdom traditions. The rest of the post elaborates on in. The purpose of life is realize by experiencing it directly without mediation, not merely understanding it through concepts. This requires waking up from the dream and opening "the eye of the heart."
This is the basis of "enlightenment." Raising the level of collective consciousness is a matter of individual's waking up. Without raising collective consciousness sufficiently, ideals are utopian and remain merely aspirational.
A nice quote I ran across:
ReplyDelete"Mysticism teaches that there is wisdom inaccessible to the intellect. You can only reach it through surrender, being nothing."
~ The Rabbi in #Netflix #RussianDoll S1E3
source: br. frederick-james, osb. on Twitter
This is how activism dies.
ReplyDeleteThis is how activism dies.
ReplyDeleteIf the collective consciousness is raised, society spontaneously transforms without the need for "activism." Without raising the collective consciousness, activism is utopian wishful thinking.
A corollary to this is that a society reflects the level of collective consciousness, in its culture and institutions. While the level of collective consciousness is unobservable, its reflection in culture and institutions is observable.
This can be measured quantitatively based on various standard socially, political and economically, however it is difficult to quantify some of the qualitative factors.
Speaking truth to power can wear people down, so I grant her that. We all want an escape at certain times in our lives.
ReplyDeleteIt's difficult to raise collective consciousness when it is destroyed by adulthood. The narratives of childhood are discarded.
There are those who play the long game of changing culture; unfortunately most of them are in the employ of the ruling class.
“Speaking truth to power”
ReplyDeleteThat’s not what she is doing... she is speaking her thesis in her dialogic system she is in ....
“ and head-over-heels in love with all that is.”
ReplyDeleteLOL. Well I am not in love with all of these morons I can assure you of that... they are detestable human beings...
“ can wear people down ”
ReplyDeleteYeah.... All she is doing is longing for a dialogic synthesis.... she’s tired of all the arguing back and forth...
There's some dialog in the comment section of her website, consisting mostly of choir singing. How can you not see her critique as speaking truth to power?
ReplyDeleteI’m not a libertarian... I don’t have any problem with power...
ReplyDeleteYou seem to be conflating her thesis which you are in agreement with as ‘truth’ ...
Just because you agree with something doesn’t make it true...
I look at US policy as too weak and we should be killing a lot more of our enemies...
ReplyDeleteSo if I write an article promoting that anti-thesis to CJs kumbaya thesis am I too ‘speaking truth to power”?
I don’t think so...
Criticism of official narratives is speaking truth to power.
ReplyDeleteSaying that US foreign policy doesn't go far enough is advocacy of the official narrative.
Do you have a problem with censorship?
Those who speak truth to power get censored; those who don't have their message amplified.
“ Criticism of official narratives is speaking truth to power.”
ReplyDeleteCriticism and truth are not synonymous...
She disagrees with the policy so what? She’s just one person out there out of 7 billion...
Truth has to be testable...
“ truths are based on clear observations of physical reality and can be tested through observation.”
It’s not a matter of truth or falsity...
It’s a dialogic discussion back and forth, thesis vs antithesis , hammering the other side then the other side hammering you back .... incessantly... which eventually leads to a synthesis of the theses...
And it’s tiring and frustrating and she probably has times where she wishes it was over already and writes something like this...
She’ll be ok she’ll get her breath and be right back to hammering the other side in a short while...
“Saying that US foreign policy doesn't go far enough”
ReplyDeleteThat’s a figure of speech... I’m saying the level of destruction should be higher... that’s a testable outcome....
We should adjust policy to increase rate of destruction... measure destruction at time 1 than at time 2..
If destruction at time 2 is less than time 1 and govt saying it is higher and then someone were to point out that is not true then THAT would be “speaking truth to power”...
Someone in dialogic disagreement with the policy of increased destruction is not “speaking truth to power”....
You sometimes hear the statement “speak your truth!”
ReplyDeleteThere is no “your truth”.. truth is absolute...
Someone saying “speak your truth” is to put it kind as possible not well educated....
“We hold these truths to be self evident: that all men are created equal!”
ReplyDeleteThen: human chattel Slavery....
Whaaaaaaaaaaaattttttt?????
Think testable outcomes....
(Us constitution written by dialogic Art degree morons prior to Darwin touching off the transition to s scientific academe in about 1860 we are still in transition state)
https://arc.aiaa.org/doi/10.2514/3.7849
ReplyDeleteTransition states are usually characterized by instability...
'Truth to power' infers that it is a courageous act. There are examples where criticism was met with censorship, imprisonment, or death.
ReplyDeleteHardly any debate is involved when speaking truth to power. Her website is an echo chamber, and outside of that, her message is drowned out by ruling class narratives. Debates give critics attention, if not oxygen. The strategy for those in charge is to ignore, censor, or destroy. Time spent arguing with minions is probably time wasted.
I'm surprised activists aren't always depressed. They are losing the propaganda war, the culture war; they're failing to raise consciousness beyond their tiny audiences; and there's no people's movement in sight. If anything, a majority are sheeple.
“ I'm surprised activists aren't always depressed. ”
ReplyDeleteThey probably are... and just dealing with the depression as best they can...
'Truth to power' infers that it is a courageous act.“
ReplyDeleteOk you’re saying it’s become a figure of speech... I’m taking it literally.. remember I don’t have an Art Degree ....
It's something that an activist can do, that has consequences.
ReplyDelete"Punching up" and "punching down' are figures of speech.
Obviously, Caitlin is punching up.
Why dont you just say she is in disagreement with current policy?
ReplyDeleteShe's in disagreement with the current socio-economic system.
ReplyDeleteA lot of topics to tie up in one bundle.