We dream of revolution daily. A daydream mapping a new reality. A sudden radical change to the status quo, the reclamation of our humanity. Some overcome torment and go on to inflict it on others, some become silent — their disillusionment, crippling, people like us become radicalised and determined to bring about a change for the common good whatever it takes.
Cognitive dissonance is a well-documented phenomenon. We listen to music that speaks of humanity and revolution and healing, yet, we are reduced to being mere consumers in a materialist culture, using drugs and booze to numb our pain. Our redemption songs have become escapist melodies; our hearts and minds anaesthetised. How curious it is that our actions do not reflect our highest choices.
Consumerist culture has rendered us commodities. The violence inherent in the way we view the world has us tearing ourselves apart as we live under conditions that require us to act against our best interests daily. Simply going to the market to buy the goods we need to survive requires us to participate in supporting the oil industry. Forcing us to put the knowledge of the destruction we are complicit in out of mind for long enough to present a facade of normalcy, to perform the modern equivalent of chopping wood & carrying water. But, at what cost?
Societies have been built on notions of power and control leading to dominance and destruction. This is not who we are. We are stardust born of the soil. We were made to love. We were made to rejoice. We were made to be custodians of the land that supports life, not exploit it and extract the very generative force from our shared abode. Sages through the ages have been advising us to return to love but do we even know what that looks like?
Codependency is our modern cult. Instead of taking shared responsibility to co-create only that which serves all our needs, we are slaves to greed. We shift blame, we point fingers, disabling ourselves and our children, robbing one another of life and liberty. All because we bought into the lie told by capitalists and colonisers. We traded our sovereignty for comfort and convenience. If only our amnesia had not taken hold if only we had not believed the untruths we were told. Fret not, we have now. We can look within and let the truth of our hearts lead the way.