During the depression, when people were out of work and had lost everything, the government paid artists to create. That was a wonderful thing, but here’s the REAL kicker…those who had nothing, no jobs, or goods, had time to recognize their OWN creativity. They began to write, draw, paint and do EVERYTHING that had been in them ALL ALONG, but was crushed by the way our society has been set up to kill creativity. The Depression was actually an American Renaissance.
See, that’s the thing…the way we live makes us miserable and kills/steals, the very best of what we are and can be. Our culture rewards obedience and punishes thinking outside the box and creative expression. THAT is WHY people have to work until they pretty much die, and never have time to discover all they could have been. It was an amazing and creative time for everyone.
We all need to think about what’s being taken from us, so that we can be more easily controlled. That’s what education is for, that’s what religion is for, that’s what the government is for…they are all there to kill the you that matters most.
We don’t need to fix our culture. We need to reinvent it.
Rethinking Life 
Comments on: "I’m reading this excellent book and…" (6)
Sad but true 🥺
Definitely. We are actually living in 1984 but it’s dressed up a bit better. We are brainwashed to believe that the way we live is the way TO live and it’s not. We teach our kids and everything is reinforced so that people are unable to see alternatives or punished for seeing them. It’s a horror story dressed up to look like a garden party.
We definitely need to do something, so much better, than we are doing now, especially in the usa.
Do you see hope on the horizon?
Truthfully, I see us crumbling. I think people have forgotten how to think and are used to being told what to do. Kids today are never without adult supervision…always being monitored and told what to do, so they are going to have a difficult time thinking for themselves as well. I think our country is facing a difficult future. I believe the government is going to try and put more restrictive laws into effect to control the masses and eventually there will be a war or revolution. If that doesn’t happen we will become more of a slave country and 1984 will look like a vacation spot. Right now the Eiffel Tower is shut down due to strikers. Paris has a history of strikes and people demanding change. Our power has been stripped from us and people watch tv for 60 hours straight and hope things will get better by themselves. They won’t. We’re in denial while laws and other things are happening behind our backs without any input from the people. The Patriot Act, took so much from us and we are monitored 24/7. We live in a police state but no one wants to think about that. If they take away our money for coins, we are lost. The state will have complete control over us and the middle class will disappear and there will be the filthy rich and powerful and the poor. The people have no control over the government. None at all. We don’t know what’s actually taking place and there are no laws to change that because the people in power write their own laws to begin with. As long as we continue with the system we have, I don’t see any hope. The government allows polluters to pay fines instead of stopping them from poisoning the water, air and earth, they vote themselves raises and refuse to up minimum wage so that people can feed their families. All the power is in one place…in the hands of greedy rich white men…who don’t care about anything except getting more for themselves. The police have been militarized and there’s nothing to stop them from killing protesters. Who will stop them? No laws will stop them, that’s for sure. The police and military follow orders from those greedy rich white guys because that’s what this country does, it trains people to follow orders. That’s what we are taught from the beginning…to obey. School teaches kids to obey or be punished. Perfect set up for an unequal distribution of power. There is only one voice in our country and that voice is male. As long as things stay this way, I think things will only get worse.
Indeed. Thus the reason for my 21 years as a wilderness monk. I was running away but rather towards that which truly matters.
Brilliant. People are so out of touch with themselves, kept running on the hamster wheel. I’m happy for you.