A short conversation about how to rebel

1: Strange times

We are living in strange times.

What’s a person to make of today’s world?

Climate change. Pandemics. Economic recession. Populism. Nationalism. Argument. Division. A sense of imminent doom.

When did it all begin to go so wrong?

Governments are untrustworthy, negligent, corrupt.

The media lies¹.

Corporations and big business draw ever closer to their ideal: profit at whatever cost.

People and communities are irrelevant. The environment? WTF’s that?

The powerful accumulate power, the wealthy acquire wealth, and the rest of us….

….are locked down in a world of propaganda and spin.

2: Moths

The scale of the lies disempowers us. That, of course, is the intention: our loss of power.

Corporations, oligarchs, hedge funds and billionaires hold all the cards.

Would they fund politicians and political parties for nothing?

Would they buy out the media for nothing?

In return they get something they desperately want: the undermining of democracy.

Politicians nest like moths in the pockets of the wealthy. The media becomes the mouthpiece of the super-rich and the powerful. What are ordinary people supposed to do?

We live, we are told, in the only possible world.

It’s the way things are.

That’s the way things work.

Get real…

And who wants to rebel?

Rebellion doesn’t look like a comfortable option, does it?

3: The first act

But rebellion – ethical and compassionate – is becoming essential. There’s a storm heading in our direction. Raise your gaze above the horizon and you’ll see it. It’s like a tidal wave approaching at full tilt.

Something has to change.

The first act of rebellion isn’t hard – it involves no one except yourself.

It’s called ‘acceptance’.

That’s all…

Acceptance.

The acceptance that the world has taken a wrong turn.

The acceptance that the greater part of everything is terribly wrong.

Acceptance.

That’s it.

A quiet and self-sufficient act.

4: The hijack

You see, our nations have been hijacked by the greedy, the immoral and the careless.

This isn’t a conspiracy theory. The evidence is well documented². How else, do you think, could so much of the world’s wealth come to be owned by so few?

Democracy is failing.

Our media is failing.

Our economies are failing.

And our environment draws ever closer to collapse.

There’s evidence of this all across the Earth³.

5: Taking it personally

It’s personal, too – this crisis of our world. It’s here, in our everyday lives.

What we eat is wrong.

The way we travel is wrong.

We work for the wrong reasons. We manufacture the wrong things.

Even the way we breath is beginning to fail us.

Our breathing is too quick.

Our inhalations are too shallow.

Even our eyes – yes, our eyes! – are failing us.

They dart this way and that like minnows in a pool. They rarely – barely – pause long enough to see.

We find ourselves in a social Armageddon. This isn’t science fiction. It’s not some future dystopia, a forecast of imminent doom.

It’s here and now, in front of us. Inescapable.

Our world is making us unhappy.

It’s making us tired.

It’s making us tense.

And it’s making us ill.

Something has to change.

You have to accept that.

Our world has taken a wrong turn.

You have to accept that.

And it’s easy to accept.

You just have to open your eyes.

So that’s the first act of rebellion.

You can do it by yourself.

Acceptance of how bad it’s all become.

6: Tinkering

“Maybe we can fix this a little at a time?” you suggest. “Incremental change is surely best?”

But you can’t just tinker at the edges.

The system gobbles tinkering up.

Our economy – our entire society – is based on consumption. It consumes trivial and sometimes even major change.

You need to think bigger than that.

We can’t just fix a bit here, a bit there.

We need to overhaul the lot.

7: The second act 

After acceptance – the acceptance that everything needs to change – the second act of rebellion is to begin that change.

To begin to change the way we think.

To begin to change the way we see.

To begin to change how we eat and how we breath, what we consume, what we use.

We need to change it all.

“Are you sure?” you ask, a little disconcerted. “Is that possible? Isn’t it already too late?”

8: How to change

“Breathe,” I murmur…

Breathe more slowly.

Slow your gaze.

Listen.

No one can stop you breathing.

No one can stop you slowing your gaze.

These things are in your control.

Change the way you think… by slowing your breathing, by steadying your gaze, and by asking, “What should my ultimate objectives be? Toward what purpose should my life – and all our lives – be aimed? To what purpose should the nations of our whole world be aimed?”

9: A penetrating gaze  

We can change the way we see by looking beyond the faces, behind the fanfare and the show, into the minds of others, into their hearts, deep beneath their words. What do they want, our spokespeople, our leaders? What are their motives? What patterns do their actions reveal?

10: Action

And we can change what we do.

We can eat differently. Maybe a little less. Definitely vegetarian. Definitely sustainably.

We can travel differently. Definitely less. Definitely sustainably.

We can work differently. Definitely less. Definitely not for businesses which damage or harm other people or the natural world.

We can work more effectively, to better ends.

We can think more. Believe less. Learn more. Assert less.

We can re-use more. Use less. Help others. Share more. Take less.

We can join cooperatives. Spend less. Borrow little. Own less.

We can let the exploitative, destructive corporations wither on the vine.

After acceptance comes action.

Meet with others. Talk about our broken world. Make plans. Plan change. Take the next step.

That’s the second act of rebellion, which no one can prevent.

Beginning the change in ourselves and amongst our friends.

A great deal is wrong.

Let’s put it right.

www.ethicalintelligence.org  “The ethics of common sense”

Twitter & Facebook: @EthicalRenewal

References/Notes

1. See ‘A short conversation about our broken media’, here: https://lukeandreski.wordpress.com/2020/04/13/a-short-conversation-about-our-broken-media/
2. See Oxfam: https://policy-practice.oxfam.org.uk/publications/an-economy-for-the-1-how-privilege-and-power-in-the-economy-drive-extreme-inequ-592643
3. See “A short conversation about why we should be scared’, here: https://lukeandreski.wordpress.com/2020/02/15/a-short-conversation-about-why-we-should-be-scared/

© Luke Andreski 2020. All rights reserved.

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Short Conversations: During the Plague

“A book which cuts to the heart of populism, climate denial, our profit-driven culture and the integrity of our politicians…”