the power of money?

As I read earlier today here: "Money can buy anything except meaning." And as Occupy Wallstreet has gone global (yup there are Occupy's growing wide and far like mushrooms) I'd say many people seek to redefine "meaning" in the broadest sense. What is it all about. Really about.

[Official Statement from Occupy Wall Street - this statement was voted on and approved by the general assembly of protesters at Liberty Square: Declaration of the Occupation of New York City]

"As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies.

As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power. We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these facts be known.

They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage.

They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses.

They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one’s skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation.

They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization.

They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless nonhuman animals, and actively hide these practices.

They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions.

They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right.

They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay.

They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility.

They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance.

They have sold our privacy as a commodity.

They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press.

They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit.

They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce.

They have donated large sums of money to politicians supposed to be regulating them.

They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil.

They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people’s lives in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantive profit.

They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit.

They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media.

They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts about their guilt.

They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad.

They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas.

They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government contracts.*

To the people of the world,

We, the New York City General Assembly occupying Wall Street in Liberty Square, urge you to assert your power.

Exercise your right to peaceably assemble; occupy public space; create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutions accessible to everyone.

To all communities that take action and form groups in the spirit of direct democracy, we offer support, documentation, and all of the resources at our disposal.

Join us and make your voices heard!

*These grievances are not all-inclusive."

let's chat

If you discovered you actually had the ability to actively shape your world as you experience it, would you?

Neale Donald Walsch is launching a new book: A storm before the calm. With interest I read his intro. He is literally shaping the book as a conversation, implementing opinions from memory and also from his readers who care to provide their viewpoint on topics from marriage to nature, to economy systems, to health care, to our global future as we see it today in a separate book. And marketing jazz aside: I understand where he is coming from. Increasingly I, and others, find it harder and harder to keep up with the world of duality. It is tiresome because it doesn't correspond with our new desires. Why would you care about customer's demands if your friend has cancer or another friend has been trouble finding work for a year? Have you had enough too of paying mortgages? We know something is seriously off key with the status quo and it's bugging most of us tremendously. So what is it?

Instead of hankering down and building a bunker to weather 2012, Walsch is doing a great job of being the devil's advocate by stating that all of us shape this world as it currently is, and obviously have the ability to 're-shape' it now we have stopped liking what we created. he doesn't mean changing it with our physical force, but by changing the attitudes of our mind, which influences and brings about the physical state also (read up on quantum mechanics and modern physics if you think this is baloney.) 

I long enjoyed ideas from this nature, that we as supposedly nimble homo sapiens are uneducated in what we are exactly capable of. I was given information by others (friends, peers, strangers) as well as being taught by the larger part of who I am to aid me in changing my previous more limited viewpoints. It's a continuing expansion. The power we will discover apparently is our innate ability to 'educate ourselves' in the most profound sense, and because of those increasing downloads, the extra knowing and feeling (I call it the best re-boot since the invention of sliced bread) it will bring about great changes in us and for us. It's a no-brainer that more and radical changes are imminent, not because we are hippies, misguided politicians or ignorant doodlers, but because the writing on the wall is getting so incredibly large we can't shut the curtain on it anymore. It is becoming self evident. You can't ignore what is staring you in the face while it's chewing and burping loudly. I find this encouraging. To summarize: staying on the snooze button will get us nowhere, re establishing what all of us wish to develop into is far more sensible even when looked upon from many different and colorful point of views. So kudos to Walsch for sticking his neck out and starting his conversation. By all means make up your own mind. I happily dare you.

I guess what I'm suggesting is to go on a self discovery tour (not the navel staring I mean the going out there and exploring your ideas both old and new). And do it fast. Use whatever bandwagon you need and any transport required, any library or e-book. Find the information you need and somehow gravitate toward and by all means: think for yourself. It is your choice after all. And instead of going for the-sooo-bloody-old rant of "get realistic" and knuckle down in this challenging climate I think it is more helpful to do something bigger then we are individually, and become part of that change we want to see (great blog-post here by Surili about when we get disillusioned or discouraged). What matters is what we do here, what we will be able to do in 20 years time still and to clean up the crap we've been leaving around as it is affecting our own health now too.

Opposed of playing nice and tidying my pigtails I rather express that which rings true to me. If this makes no sense to some, fine. If I am an oddball, fine. If I am unsuccessful, fine. I don't care about those things anymore anyway. I do however to my great astonishment, care deeply about humanity, and where the heck we're going. I prefer it to be awesome, inspiring and beneficial to both rock, plant, animal and humans and all particles in between. And I'm also quite willing, as is my husband, when times "toughen up" further to share our place with those we know to be in need. Increasingly I find this to be more important, to help look after others, to help them, to encourage them, opposed to what happens on a daily basis with me personally or what will "really" happen in 2012 when the Maya calender is due for a new chapter. 

I'm thinking bigger picture and multi-dimensional, are you?