Wide awake and staring into the abyss

…that is the future being shaped by the overall patterns now in play. It looks bleak. Seems we're collectively headed into very rough currents. i.e. shit hitting fans in all four quadrants and from many directions at once. At least that's what my cloudy crystal ball indicates.

My mistake has been to get too well-informed due to the research I did into various fields, first, as a trend predictor professionally, and then on my own dime and time because I got hooked on the adrenaline rushes that come with the intense shocks when you read what is actually going down behind the scenery described in our mainstream propaganda organs, aka the entire wall of noise that is corporate media. Anyway, my thrill-seeking tendencies were put to some kind of justifiable use IF I can contribute to the shaping of  a better version of our future in some way, however small. That's a big if, but anyhow.

Expressions of irreverence can serve as a very trenchant and effective form of civil disobedience. I believe We the People have been shockingly complacent since the coup d'état in 2000 when the BFEE (Bush Family Evil Empire) installed their ilk in every department of public life and beyond the seven seas.

There's an old German saying, 'Whosoever won't listen must feel'.

Pain, that is. From repeating known mistakes.


What do you think? And maybe more importantly, how do you feel about where we're headed as far as you can see?

Re: Wide awake and staring into the abyss

Yes Mascha,

Things are horrendous, and so in new ways. It seems to me that the greatest single ingredient of what's new in what's cooking is information, both quatitative and qualitative, as in Gregory Bateson's definition, information as 'news of difference'.

I used to write about a “morality of informedness”, meaning a responsibility to keep abreast and to emass adequate breadths of info in order to make optimum choices. Then, after a few decades of increasingly sellective attentions, I found myself valuing most the information that held an immediate felt relevance, namely, what I can act on in my own meager sphere, yet with reference to overall goals and directions I've recognized as worth my little while.

Today what one can be wide awake to is greater than ever. The unprecidented levels of informedness possible now are part of what, in the lower quads,  I strive to balance with my own  s t r e t c h i n g  capacities to metabolize and apply what I become aware of. This response has taught me to meet tensions with pressures. The more I feel inundated by complex informedness the more I assert a personal space in which to grapple with the onslaught, in which to make a sense I can live with based on the scope of needs (collective&personal) I'm able to address. 

At some point I entered a dance of regulating the influx, curtailing the intake, out of desparation. Or so it seems now. All the while I've kept a farely vigilent heart toward the work presented, as it shows up. Maybe that is a sort of default stance; a consession to overwhelm. 

Nowadays I tend to operate on a trust that my attentions and efforts are steadily harmonizing with the big picture. That how I am in the world(s) is roughly in accord with my potentials for optimal contribution and actualization. On a good day I come up short of distinguishing between private damage and collective degradation. I no longer speak of any 'morality of informedness' but recognize the irreducability of this grand procession without extracting myself as some special actor.

-at least that's my first take on your neatly vague kick-off.

 K

Re: Wide awake and staring into the abyss

Mascha,

Off (with) the top of my head:

I think things are getting both better and worse, and everything is accelerating.  Tipping points are probably being crossed, or have been, and heavy shit is very likely to hit the collective fan.  I don't think we, as a species, are going to escape heavy collective karma (cause and effect from past and present actions) - indeed that karma is being heavily reaped on parts of the globe already, but it's likely to get far, far worse and a lot more widespread.

I also think it's possible that humans will survive in some form, probably with greatly reduced numbers.

Check out this short documentary:

The Possibility of Hope - Children of Men Extra (1/3) (10:58)
The Possibility of Hope - Children of Men Extra (2/3) (10:46)
The Possibility of Hope - Children of Men Extra (3/3) (5:03)

That seems realistic to me.

I hope that civilization will survive in some form; possibly after we pass through a difficult bottleneck things - in the long term - will get much better than they are now. 

On the other hand, I have no fucking idea what's going to happen - we're in a full-on chaotic situation.  Please disregard everything I've said above.  :)

spiral out,
Arthur

p.s. remember that if you stare too long into the abyss, the abyss also stares into you…

Re: Wide awake and staring into the abyss

Incidentally - in case that doesn't come through in the above or is otherwise apparent - I totally freak/stress out about this kind of stuff all the time.  The mess the world is in.  And my freaking/stressing out really doesn't seem to help one little bit.

My doctor advised me to avoid stress and aggravation, but acknowledged how difficult that is, especially these days when - as he put it - “the whole thing is falling apart.”  Yeah.

spirals,
Arthur

Re: Wide awake and staring into the abyss

Hi Mascha,

“Nice” thread :-)!

Methinks the mess we're in is the perfect opportunity to really look at what's been going on - for thousands of years humanity has suffered from a disease called “Resistance to What Is”; and all this resistance has ever done - as Arthur just said - is create greater disasters, leading to more resistance, leading to….you know where I'm going.

Maybe, the mess is now big enough for us to realize that this old “approach”, this old level of consciousness really isn't doing it…Maybe now we can stop resisting whatever is happening in our lives, on the planet, in the universe and actually make changes inside - not from a place of resistance but from a place of acceptance.  Then, and maybe then alone, things outside will change too.  Thing is, that if we get hooked on a certain outcome we want to see, we're right back to square one again…

Sometimes I think I'm actually doing this (I may be delusional) - leaving behind ego identification and all that, and the world really does move more freely at those times…

The biggest thing is that the biggest change we can accomplish is inside each and every one of us - without any concern for the outcome…

Love ya,
Frans

Re: Wide awake and staring into the abyss

Dear Frans,

From what I've seen, I think you really are. Well done, you!

Love,

Nicole

Re: Wide awake and staring into the abyss

Those are some strong responses from everyone. I had to give myself time to absorb the gist of what came through. Thank you.

Arthur, I don't know how to thank you enough. Those 3 videos you linked to are a platform from which we can jump into our own individual follow-ups and get more clarity.

I especially resonated with Naomi Klein's  words in part 1 of 3, starting at 7:44 minutes. And now I'll have to email those links to everyone I've been talking to about what's next for us members of the human race.

More later, you magnificent beasts.

m

Re: Wide awake and staring into the abyss

Mascha: Arthur, I don't know how to thank you enough. Those 3 videos you linked to are a platform from which we can jump into our own individual follow-ups and get more clarity.

I especially resonated with Naomi Klein's  words in part 1 of 3, starting at 7:44 minutes. And now I'll have to email those links to everyone I've been talking to about what's next for us members of the human race.

~

You're very welcome, Mascha.  This video is also good:

The Shock Doctrine: A Film by Alfonso Cuarón and Naomi Klein, directed by Jonás Cuarón (6:47)

Alfonso Cuarón directed Children of Men.

Here's another perspective worth considering:

I sense that we're collectively starting to turn an evolutionary corner, but we're having a hell of time making the needed turn, mostly because too many of us are driving with our eyes shut and our feet pressing both accelerator and brake. Whether or not we enter a saner humanity on a sufficiently large scale depends on all kinds of factors; two that seem foundational to me are (1) waking up, and (2) taking (and putting energy into) actions that primarily arise as a result of waking up. And what catalyzes such awakening? Challenging conditions, of which we have an overwhelming abundance.

It helps to remember that there's no such thing as an insignificant act. What you consider to be a minor contribution may turn out to be major. Because of this, it's worth doing whatever you're doing with as much care, clarity, and presence as possible, even it seems terminally mundane.

Many old structures are starting to show signs of crumbling. Their massive weight may give the impression of long-lasting solidity, but more and more of us are losing interest in buying that impression. The fact that such structures still hold an enormous amount of power means that they have to be approached with great skill, a skill that best arises from well-rooted wakefulness.

This means, among other things, not getting stuck in us-versus-them stances, and letting ourselves really get, right to our core, that what we do to another we do to ourselves.  - Robert Augustus Masters, posted in Whither Humanity? RAM Weighs IN

Re: Wide awake and staring into the abyss

A workshop that began as this thread began, and is wrapping up as I write this, addresses what Arthur mentions in,”…The fact that such structures still hold an enormous amount of power means that they have to be approached with great skill, a skill that best arises from well-rooted wakefulness.”

If transcripts or recordings become availible I'll let you know.

K

Re: Wide awake and staring into the abyss

jikishin: A workshop that began as this thread began, and is wrapping up as I write this, addresses what Arthur mentions in,”…The fact that such structures still hold an enormous amount of power means that they have to be approached with great skill, a skill that best arises from well-rooted wakefulness.”

~~~

Just wanted to note that Robert Augustus Masters wrote the text you quoted (the way you phrased it makes it sound like I wrote it).

cheers,
Arthur

Re: Wide awake and staring into the abyss

 Mascha, you wrote: It looks bleak. Seems we're collectively headed into very rough currents. i.e. shit hitting fans in all four quadrants and from many directions at once. At least that's what my cloudy crystal ball indicates.

Hey all –

Synchronous for me to read this just now – just two or so mornings ago, I awoke from a seemingly prolonged dream about tornadoes. I've had recurring tornado dreams since girlhood. It's partly due to a childhood in the Midwest, where springtimes are heavily peppered with these frightening whirlwinds. (And indeed, these storms are happening right now). But over the years, I began to notice  apparent waking-realm “echo patterns” with these tornado dreams. Far away, “mild”  dream tornadoes seemed to arrive right before some minor personal disturbance in the waking world, while closer, more destructive dream tornadoes “predicted” rough roads ahead for loved ones, community, country, world. (I recall a dream about a huge, bone-ripping tornado right on top of me a few days before 9/11.) In this recent dream I was in a house with some traveling friends peering out at several destructive, near-by tornadoes. There was the feeling of it being a prolonged storm and the need for lots of shelter. I was scared but not as deeply frightened as has often happened before with these dreams. There was a sense of facing the storm together,with others, riding it out …

Sometimes a tornado is just a tornado, and a dream is just a dream.

Nevertheless, the aftermath of this dream leaves me thinking:  time to open, time to gather, time to love more deeply.

Be it irreverently, or otherwise …

As Gwendolyn Brooks once said: “Conduct your blooming in the noise and whip of the whirlwind.”

Love,
Mary

Re: Wide awake and staring into the abyss

Tornado safety tips for you, Mary.



Liz

Re: Wide awake and staring into the abyss

LOL, Liz – that's the best thing I've read all week!

:-)

Re: Wide awake and staring into the abyss

My favorite is third from the bottom.

Liz

Re: Wide awake and staring into the abyss

That's my favorite too, Liz.


Well, here we are, tied to the kitchen chair...

Great thread Mascha.

Re: Wide awake and staring into the abyss

Mascha, I wish I could pick you up and take you into this day with me….these large Labrador days wash over me like a pristine waterfall… I am baking up some roast vegetable soup, probably with vegetables from everywhere in the world(where does broccoli come from and yams and red peppers at this time of the year)(I have not perfected the 100 mile diet yet, though it is a new year project) and a huge spinach salad, and me 'n' Shiv are going to find a fishing hole out on the ice and some trout will jump on the hook and we might cook them over a fire…. 

Re: Wide awake and staring into the abyss

Jane,
That is so beautiful. And also how I feel, said with so much grace that
there is nothing more i could add. Only that It's got to be the way forward…

Pure delight.

Lisa

Re: Wide awake and staring into the abyss

for thousands of years humanity has suffered from a disease called “Resistance to What Is ”

via indoctrination into the church of what is not

–

No amount of make believe can help this heart of mine
…
End - your dreamworld is just about to end
Fall - your dreamworld is just about to fall
Your dreamworld will fall
…
The sun comes up and we all learn
Those wheels must turn  

The True…

…all that is near and dear shall one day disappear and vanish…

The Good…

…love…

The Beautiful…

…in the face of the truth, the good…

…love and let go…till it ends, it's all any of us can be expected to do…

…in the end (personal or apocalyptical), it's the only thing we really can do…

Re: Wide awake and staring into the abyss

You know, as I am reading everybody's responses one after the other again, it's like receiving answers from different facets of the same being.

…A composite being, doing the 'call and response' number that black churches in America are famous for. Only we're doing it worldwide. I've often thought, after seeing footage of black Christian services as a child, that those gospel-singing-swaying-and-hollering Churches must be the only places where Jeshua bin Joseph, that revolutionary Palestinian wild man, is still alive.

m

P.S. Jane! Who is Shiv (or Shivvy as you sometimes call her/him?) I know that Rosie is a dog but not really a dog. Shiv, I imagine, could be a  modern form of Shiva. Smokin' - just like you said.

Re: Wide awake and staring into the abyss

Accepting what is of course includes accepting / resonating with / being the evolutionary impulse.  It includes seeing that the dream we are in (and are) is pretty fucked up in a lot of ways, with plenty of unnecessary suffering, and striving to change that.  It means accepting transcendence and inclusion - inclusion of what is good/essential and rejection of what is partial or pathological.

And it includes me ending this post now because I have work to do.  :)

spirals,
Arthur

Re: Wide awake and staring into the abyss

…it's like receiving answers from different facets of the same being…a composite being…

…at the abyss…No amount of make believe can help this heart of mine…love…

Re: Wide awake and staring into the abyss

at the abyss…

One might think the belief that other people are in need of basic pointing-out instructions would be first among the grand illusions to go.

But no, not necessarily so. Even after you've become the abyss to a large degree, that assumption might be the last one to get banged out of you.

Watchit and weep

.

Re: Wide awake and staring into the abyss

…at the abyss…

An echo: Even after you've become the abyss to a large degree, that assumption might be the last one to get banged out of you.

An echo: All assumptions end with the end of the need for being and becoming…

…No amount of make believe can help this heart of mine…love…

Re: Wide awake and staring into the abyss

Mascha,
Thanks…There you go again exercising my Abs uncontrollably. (and the weeping subtly accompanies)
Love those guys…
Doug

Re: Wide awake and staring into the abyss

e,

Love Ya buddy.  Beautiful!

Rtur,

Yes, that's the only real change that can happen, I believe - change that comes from a level of consciousness that accept what is and that accepts that the outcome isn't up to us, that believes any outcome  has a deep beauty, no matter what it looks like to us…

Frans

Re: Wide awake and staring into the abyss

Hi folks. Fab thread, M.

I was thinking that those of us who migrate upSpiral tend to sensitise to all the downSpiral palaver…are things getting worse because folk are helter-skeltering into numbed despair…or are things same as they ever were only there are more of us… and we have infoglut access to  the span  of the damage we inflict in blindness?

The picture is too vast and complex to draw aetiological or prognostic generalisations….if i even think about trying to ponder the whole, I just wanna reach for some anaesthetic and numb myself into a clump of banal biomass…..greed/despair-fuelled entropy versus the vainglorious negentropy of the growing collective cry for release….

I try to stay in touch with the pain of compassion I feel and  act locally, thinking worldcentrically. I succeed about 60% of the time.

Warmly, Jon xx

Re: Wide awake and staring into the abyss

That hurt!!!! :-)

f

Re: Wide awake and staring into the abyss

Is this you, Mr. Crystal?

Yeah, that must have been rough…


Momma: What the hell is going on out there?

DeVito: Nothing, momma.

M: Who is in there? Who are you talking to?

D: Nobody, momma.

M enters kitchen: WHO IS THIS?!

D: This is cousin Paddy…

M: You don't have a cousin Paddy!

D turns to Crystal: YOU LIED TO ME!!!

              Thwack

                   ~8~


Zen on a stick.

:o)

Re: Wide awake and staring into the abyss

Luckily, there are nice aliens at the bottom of The Abyss.

Re: Wide awake and staring into the abyss

Yep them aliens deal in plangent irony… railroading politically correct hope with trollike focus and a ruthless compassion matched only by their technological beneficence…pass the mushroom tea please….

Re: Wide awake and staring into the abyss

Hmmm wrote the above last night on a coctail of post-RAM workshop procesing and overwork and lack of sleep…I do not have a drekking clue what I was talking about although i was making sense unto myself at the time….reminds me of my days taking hallucinogens and writing poetry 25 years back…looks great at the time then…er..well…Jon x

Re: Wide awake and staring into the abyss

LOL, Jon! Reassuring, thought i was just gone brain dead cause i can usually follow you at least a bit…

it's so funny because i have been so sleep deprived lately that i have started occasionally posting non sense replies to the online discussion group  i moderate for people who run Kumon learning centres like me… last night someone brought one of them to my attention and i had to admit that i didn't know what it meant either lol…. yeah it seemed like a good idea at the time, can so relate

x Nicole

Re: Wide awake and staring into the abyss

Hi Nicole, thank you for reassuring the man. My visceral reaction went the other way, actually. Was going to tell Jon yesterday night that it's like watching a gymnast in the www. noosphere Olympics do flips nobody in their conditioned mind would have expected. Astonishing and freeing at the same time.

Is yelling, “keep it up, Jon, Balder, everyone and their mother!” too cheerleady for this discussion?

I think so - obviously. Hmmm… too late.

m

Re: Wide awake and staring into the abyss

LOL, Mascha, feel free! I sure don't mind…