Fascism, in the most literal sense, exists when governments control the economy- though private individuals may have ownership of the tools of production. Clearly, we have reached a point where huge corporations are working closely with world governments to create power monopolies. So, we can basically do whatever we want and run a business and make some profits, but we can not, on the whole, shift our economy to be people focused instead of profit focused without a change in government policy. We are currently economically dependent on the creation of wars and slave labor and things like that- and it is corporate and government interests that keep us on the track- and of course- the consent of the people-us. So we've got these major human rights violations happening all over the world in addition to some serious ecological problems that are caused by the same corporate and government interests. If we want to see it more clearly, we should just think of the US government as a huge corporation that we work for in competition with other corporations, or other governments. This is really what's happening and what has been happening and when we make advances, gain the right to vote as women, end apartheid, whatever- it is all happening in a way that continues to support the interests (profits) of government corporations.
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The point is not to minimize the very real struggles that people faced and continue to face in political activism and in major social and cultural revolutions. Actually, these people, the people who have fought for and continue to fight for civil liberties and human rights understand these concepts fully and understand that we are still functioning in a world that is not focused on the empowerment of the people. So what can we do?* * *
We can choose to lives lives of courage and love. Why? We are disempowered by all this bad news we hear all the time- war, famine, natural disasters, school shootings- all this individual and collective insanity will really get to us and make us feel bad. Feeling bad is the collective state we are in when we give up our power. While we probably can't really handle the amount of information that we get about how bad the world can be, we still do have some responsibility in the global community at this point- but getting empowered on a personal level might be the best place to start. I'm not saying "work on yourself". That can be pretty disempowering too, like we're really fucked up and to blame and all that. I'm not saying that. I think we should just have more love in our lives. I think we should ask ourselves if our relationships to different aspects of our lives make us feel strong. Our work, our partnerships, our relationships to our bodies- all of it. We should get a sense of what is actually disempowering in our lives and then bring some love into it. To love really is an act of courage in itself. I had this really great conversation with my father the last time I visited him about how being courageous in a surrendered state- that's really the art of living right there. That's what love is. That's what god is.
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All this really bad stuff that's happening in the world. Yeah, it's really really bad. Worse than you think actually, but that kind of information is only one kind of information we can use to inform our lives. We are at a point in human evolution where we need to be informed by our hearts and our spirits and our creative energy. We need art and music and courage and love. If you are alive on the Earth, then you belong here and should probably be making some art and loving your life especially if you are going to watch some news and learn more about what's happening in our world.
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