Spiritual Blogs

If nothing else, this is a message of compassion. I don't want to discourage rebellion, nor do I want to encourage rebellion, I just want people to love each other.

We live in a very divided society, and the elite have learned to exploit this division for their own gain. Conservatives vs. liberals, native born vs. immigrants, rich vs. poor, so much petty conflict among people who have so much more to gain by working together. People who have far more in common than different, yet the manipulative media keeps people focused upon the differences, the divisions. The media gives equal weight to two contradictory pieces of propaganda, and calls this "balance". Telling the truth would be balance, what the media spreads is cognitive dissonance which leads to confusion and conflict.

Then there's the mainstream society and the countercultures. At the moment in the US, I don't know of any countercultures that mainstream society takes seriously. Hipsters, goths, punks, emos, environmental activists, the Occupy movement, feminists, all of these are mocked openly, they're generally considered a joke by mainstream society. Back when these movements were gaining momentum they were taken a bit more seriously because they threatened societal norms, but now they're usually the butt of jokes and treated with disrespect.

The civil rights movements, as well as the hippie counterculture, are a couple examples of ones that merged into the mainstream, at least partially. It's now socially unacceptable to be racist in public, especially for those of European ancestry. We're constantly told how bad racism is, which is a step up from the way it was before. Of course, you don't have to tell a loving person to not be racist. It's a racist culture that needs to be reminded continually to not be racist. Society is a little less racist thanks to the civil rights movement, but there's still a long ways to go for real equality.

A good part of why these movements had some success is because they had a foundation of compassion and forgiveness. They weren't against society so much as they were for positive change within society. They focused upon what we all had to gain. It's easy for the media to demonize someone who's rebellious and destructive, but it's different with a peaceful and compassionate person. The media demonizes themselves by attacking someone like that.

You don't change society through hatred, anger or fear, those only make superficial changes. Society is already largely based upon those things, any "new" society created through those things will be, at its core, just like the previous society.

For those who want to scream at the police and military, who want to yell, "Wake up Sheeple!" at the "common" folk, I don't believe you're helping. That approach lacks compassion and understanding. Most of the police believe what they're doing is for the good of society. You marginalize yourself fighting against them, you create enemies where you could have allies. These are people who are just as exploited by the system as you are, don't get angry at them, practice some compassion. If you want to change society, you don't do it by attacking society. Focus upon creating the new, the common good, and not fighting the old.

The media and the elite exploit the countercultures for their own gain. When a distraction is needed, the media can pretend like our whole way of life is under attack by some "extremist" group. They're adept at manipulating fears, and it's quite easy for them to use an angry protest to frighten people. When people are scared their brains shut off, they go for what's comforting and familiar, change becomes very difficult. This is why compassion is so much more powerful at creating positive change than anger is.

Ultimately, I feel any counterculture is far more similar to the culture they're trying to replace than those in the counterculture would like to believe. Look at any subculture, they usually dress the same, act the same, share the same interests. Even the new age and the spiritual communities do this. It's conformity that pretends to be non-conformist. Of course, it's the similarities that make them a culture in the first place, but any rigid cultural structure ultimately oppresses the individual.

Well shit, I've insulted mainstream culture, as well as the subcultures, I'm not making any friends, am I? Well it's not my intention to insult the reader, I don't recommend taking offense at my words. You are not a culture, you are uniquely yourself! Nobody fits perfectly into any culture. This doesn't make culture the enemy though, fighting a culture just makes people cling to cultural beliefs more tightly. Threatening someone shuts them down, while Love and compassion open them up. If we do that enough, Love and compassion will work their way in to the core of our cultural values, and humanity can begin collectively creating some truly beautiful things on Planet Earth.


The Galactic Free Press
No copyright, share/edit freely
http://soundofheart.org/galacticfreepress/content/those-who-rebel-against-society-are-often-doing-it-favor