Stan Goff claims: "I would be very suspicious of anyone who claimed to have THE solution."

Why? I know the solution.

Part of it is to forget about the hundreds of actionable crisis that hit us day after day, that serve only to keep us distracted, frustrated and hopeless.

Goff hit on it briefly but didn't go far enough when he said all these issues are interwoven. Well, if they're interwoven, perhaps there is a common factor which all these depressing problems have in common. Well, there is and it's the key to the solution.

We have no coherent vision of where we're going. Can you imagine lining up on a track and getting in the blocks to start a race, only to realize you had no idea where the finish line was? Would it matter how fast you were? Or how smart? Would it matter how well prepared your strategy was? No, none of these things would matter if you didn't know where you were running.

This is essentially what our country, and our world for that matter, is doing right now. We're all racing because everyone else is racing. Yet, we don't know where we're going. And while we run and run and run, we're killing our environment's ability to sustain our lives, killing our diversity and killing ourselves. And we're convinced that we must keep racing so we never even have the time to ponder if we should stop for directions.

What we need is a finish line: A vision of where we're going.

It's this vision that is the foundation upon which all other issues are framed. It's the vision of the Finish Line inside each of us that determines the decisions we make, the strategies we formulate and the races we run.

If you had to guess, and if you had to assume the entire world was following a single vision of the future and racing towards some ultimate goal, what would you guess that it was? Imagine the world as if you were traveling from another planet, working on a science project, and you had to describe what you saw on a daily basis on our planet.

It probably wouldn't be pretty. Numerous wars being fought all across the globe. Explosions everywhere. Poverty everywhere. Environmental destruction everywhere. Fighting everywhere. Can you imagine how all our destruction and fighting must sound if you could hear it at once from outer space?

Now imagine how different our world might be if our unified vision of our Finish Line was human beings as enlightened stewards of this biological miracle and masterpiece. Imagine what a place might look like where its inhabitants were racing towards this goal.

Imagine this new vision as the new foundation of our decision-making processes.

Might we then make different choices when it comes to energy, military, political, educational, transportation, social and other issues?

Well of course we would. And not because we were told to. It simply would be.

Instead we spend all our time fighting over a never-ending stream of unbelievable crimes against nature and humanity, not seeing or fighting the cause of each of them.

If we spread and live a new vision of human potential then we won't NEED to address all the distracting problems.

It might sound complicated but it's really quite simple. Or perhaps you think me too idealistic?

Only fear would think so. Or having no faith in our potential.

What's our Finish Line?

What's our Finish Line?

#1 M. Schweder

I'm not sure i understand how your plan can accomplish this.
1 Ignore crisis
2 Formulate a vision
3 Unify the world with that vision

How? Through enlightenment? Rules, laws, good leadership ?

Now wait a minute stan, who's going after Michael Chertoff???

Michael Chertoff the biggest crook, neocon in ten years

Seriously? How did we get a crony like Chertoff who doesn't care about blacks, or anyone not on his payroll?

Is this the example of patheticness!??? Do we really have incompetent crooks everywhere?

Please everyone needs to make sure this guy Chertoff is thrown in jail.

Doug

About "the vision" --- I think in some ways, it is a matter of uncovering the vision; and much of it is done through detailed practical experience. Also, through education (in which blogs now are prominent.)

Strong vision usually emerges in a very difficult birth, but it seems to me that it always consists of learning and a strong moral dynamic.

That said, I think much of the vision already exists on some level in most people - strong communities, peace, healthy environment - but has been covered over and culturally manipulated by corporate and plutocratic interests to take the form of doublethink - that you can possess healthy aspirations that will only come to be by ignoring them for what "has to be". That's the sickness and stress of our society and the iniquity of a marketing culture.

Sustainability, democracy, community from the ground up --- these are what we have to focus on (in our necessary, real, and detailed struggle) as they strengthen and brighten the full vision.
----------------------------------------------------------

On another subject, I agree with Stan - and have been saying so for some time - that we have to "ratchet up" our resistance - boycotts, massive civil disobedience. But I don't agree that we should ignore elections. In the first place, all elections are not national, and on local levels they can be very useful in creating an environment conducive to development of a necessary infrastructure (as I mentioned on another thread.) In the second place, elections are the heart of democracy, and however corrupted they are, they are an essential element in the vision Matt spoke of. We are going nowhere if we don't work on our vision of democracy in practical terms.

Roy Blunt also linked to the Delay-Abramoff mafia, its time to expose this before all the media.

Clearly there is so many crooks in washington the 6 or 7 of us ought to start a HUGE organization just to track all the crimes, report them, and RESOLVE them by collective outcry!!!!!!!!

How many damn crooks need the lapel pinned on them? In republicans and democrats, especially crooked K-street democrats and anyone who is buddies with Abramoff.

Its time to make Abramoff radioactive, because well he is Tar every single person alive who is associated with Abramoff, make them realize this guy is a stain of corruption, bad for business, bad for everything. Sink the whole ship and throw it down the river!!!!!

Doug E.

Re the vision thing: admirable, but not very realistic. The world is not going to sit down nicely & share a vision together. Too many cooks, real complicated pot.

I see the world, & this country, as small groups & large groups; this group over here trying to do this, that group over there trying to do that. Multiplied by x (a big number). Butting heads, locking horns, a big, cyclic, chaotic, ever-changing process, possibly orchestrated by gargantuan cosmic forces or possibly by an old bearded guy up on a cloud throwing lightning bolts, who the hell knows.
All you can do is pick your group & make your best efforts & hope for a safe landing at the end of the ride, where you either hook up with your 72 allotted virgins or blend blissfully into the karmic soup, clutching your ticket for the next go-round, if there is one.

I kinda like my group. I think we're gonna keep making noise & fighting the good fight, trying to spread peace & love & sanity till the planet explodes in a shower of pretty fireworks. I got nothin' better to do.

Matt.............and we run and we run to catch up to the sun,but its sinking.....Bliss is ignorance for a lot of folks....and we aparently have no "just stewards" out there. we must make a noise to be heard....and yes enlightenment,rules, laws and good leadership would damn sure help

Just a thought...

Since Bush really seems completely unable to relate, what if we put Iraq into terms he and his cronies do notice???

A very basic funeral costs around $5000. Let's say we negotiated for some discount for "quantity".

$3500 per funeral. Bush writes a check out of his personal bank account each month for the discounted services.

September has been a pretty quiet month in terms of Iraq... only 49 deaths so far.

W writes a check on Monday, provided no other 19 year olds have their bodies blown to bits this weekend, for $171,500. I wonder how many months it would be "acceptible losses" for young men and women to die in Iraq then...

NOTE: Chertoff is the weakest link, he is also connected to crony Matt Blunt!!!!

Focus on sending ALL of the Chertoff/Abramoff stories into the national media non-stop and connect Roy Blunt!

Attention all bloggers: Do good work today and send all of the Michael Chertoff stories to the national media repeatedly

This guy Chertoff is bad, bad news as is Abramoff. Its time we make him radioactive for the media and someone gets up and prosecutes the guy.

Remember Chertoff can not be defended: To defend Chertoff is to defend Abramoff, and people worse than Bush. We must bring this slime down, and he's easy pickins at this point!!

FULL Media contact list: Send them all the stories on RAWSTORY.com and the Michael Chertoff stories!!!

Lets do our job, we are the movers of the law!

Doug E.

Matt #1

This is a brilliant point. You're so right that we need to have a feel for where we're going--at the very least on a personal level.

How to get there? I have 2 ideas to contribute.

1) The more we each individually live and make daily choices consciously in alignment with our personal intent, the more practice we'll get. We can then become more skillful at doing this in other ways (e.g. within other groups in which we participate). Before we can have a collective intent we need to develop clarity on our personal intent.

Even on very small-scale collaborations (e.g. 2 people working on a project) it can sometimes be surprisingly difficult to agree on a clear statement of purpose and then to carry that out. It's a skill that can be honed; it requires commitment and honesty from all participants and no hidden agendas. It's worthwhile to work on no matter how challenging. At the very least it reveals where the "disconnects" are.

2) There are real-life examples of successful collective decision-making. The one that comes to mind is Porto Alegre in Brazil, a large metropolitan area where annual budget decisions are made by the LOCAL POPULATION. There are meetings held in all the local areas to educate people about upcoming decisions on everything from municipal plumbing upgrades to educational programs. This has been going on successfully for many years now. It has led to huge increases in literacy and education, better housing standards, elimination of most corruption, just to name a few outcomes. YES! Magazine had a good one-page article about this a year or two ago.

Joan

I love your outlook and wit! And you are right, this is a 'fighting the good fight', time for all, we will not give up.

I agree with Arry, re. what the focus should be, "sustainability, democracy, community, from the ground up-" and it is time to take control of our own destinies. In the words of Florynce R Kennedy
"Don't agonize, organize!"

Matt, i basically believe most people are good, and, when given the choice, will choose to do the right thing for family and environment. But there is a small group that is creating the "distracting problems", and they must be dealt with, IMHO

Gasket blows wide open: Larry Franklin to sing on AIPAC including Douglas Feith.

Plus Judith Miller released on plea-bargain....Can you say conspiracy charges.......If we're going to bring all the neocon-zionists down we need to damn well stay ahead of them and go through the backdoor.

Doug E.

#12 - DOUG E !!! WOW! WOO HOO! WHATTA NIGHT!!!

Any news coverage on cnn, msnbc, etc., yet?

Story on CNN and MSNBC, also coverage on NBC later. I wonder when the Democrats will make a statement...?

Doug E.

Shit, I just realized something........It all came together and hit me like a ton of bricks.

Judith Miller is THE SOURCE FOR THE LEAK.

She is going to try to pin it on Libby, Rove as part of the conspiracy.

But Miller is the source, she was a PLANT who was working alongside Bolton the whole time and she and Bolton learned of Plame directly from that guy Steve Fleitz when they were all in that room together.....

She then discussed it with Libby and Cheney learned it from their conversations with the CIA plants.

JUDITH MILLER IS THE SOURCE. I'M DAMN NEAR POSITIVE NOW. SHE'S GOING TO TRY TO WALK OUT OF THIS ONE WITHOUT NAMING HER PARTNER, JOHN BOLTON!!!!!!!!!!!

Doug E.

Doug,

I have a question for you. Are you against AIPAC because they are a lobbying firm or because they are for Israel or both?

Nuke,

You ought to know the answer to that. I'm against them totally because they're a shadow-lobbying firm for Israel's government who doesn't have good intentions in mind at all!!!

Have you read the indictment case yet??? Yeah that's what I thought. Ariel Sharon has this game tied up!

Doug E.

Doug,

So what is your position on Israel? That the arabs should be able to invade Israel and kill every Jew they see?

Nuke,

No my position is the countries should be permanently seperated and agree to the NATO resolutions to have no further involvement with another. Disagreements be handled in court.

IE: No more taking any oil from eachother, and they are forced to adopt alternative fuel sources like the rest of the world.

Iraqis have been crying for it for ages, its time we present full fledged solutions and leave oil behind.

Doug E.

Oh, I agree that we should get our own fuel. Did you hear that they are looking at turning coal into gasoline? Just like the Nazi's did. You take coal and water, pressure and temperature and you get basic hydrocarbons that can be turned back into gasoline (using a catalyst). I think they said it was economically feasable if oil prices stay above $30 barrel.

Wow, hydrocarbons. What a concept!

Nana #11,
Thanks for the kind words. Gotta laugh so I don't cry!!!

Yeah Arry, who would've thought of that?

Plus Coal is the worst thing for the environment there is. If the zionist nazis want to use Coal, they're no better than the pillagers of this earth and do a dis-service to the Jewish people and whole world.

We have hydrogen based carbons right around the corner. There's no need for any more COAL!!!!!!

Doug

Solution? there is no solution short of re-engineering the miserable human species. Unfortunately that reengineering will be done by the ruling class. The solution if any will be for "them" not "us".