Alternatives to Despair

I am no stranger to despair.

I have wept from my knees, fists pounding the ground, ugly sounds erupting from the depths, tears streaming until the water tanks were empty.

I have grown hoarse from yelling and questioning the gods.

Not the gods of love and compassion who lead our hearts into the limitless embrace of unity, but the false gods of power and control who have led our society to this moment of collective despair.

Instead of the paradise Mother Earth would easily create, rogue groups of love-hungry beings have built a matrix of control, false comfort and unconscious convenience that distracts and dissuades us from our truth and power. It is hurting our collective soul.

Humans create the reality in which we exist through our time, energy, and choices.

What we give our attention to, grows.

The matrix demands our attention constantly. Mainstream media, public education, professional sports, and popular music act as the voices for a controlled civilization. Think this, buy that, take this, believe that, all as determined by corporations in medicine, technology, agriculture, intelligence, and defense who create policy and law.

Where control dominates, there is violence, imbalance of power, and disconnection. The cold hand of unconscious comfort promises cold hard cash in exchange for our attention. The price is war. People fighting for their basic right to exist. The pie rapidly expands for billionaires and exponentially shrinks for the world's majority. Dichotomies and hierarchies rule: democrats and republicans, men and women, white and black, us and them.

This is not the only way it is, but a rather loud, deceitful narrative that is imploding.

Another way is calling to us.

The voice of the Earth sings in resonance with our hearts. She reminds us of the beauty, harmony, and abundance available through a heart-centered life.

Where communities live connected with Mother Earth, there is reverence, resilience, purpose, and wholeness. Collaboration and co-creation that serves the highest good for all beings is the natural way. Grace and generosity are the standards. There is more than enough and people share their overflow. Every person's unique gifts and presence are recognized, and everyone is provided for.

This is not an outlandish utopia. There is hardship that comes from living in community and taking responsibility for resources, energy, and conflict resolution. There is challenge in letting go of the old systems and beliefs, de-conditioning the mind and re-training the heart and body to lead the way. There will be a new form of work that requires attention as we expand our consciousness and turn the focus inward.

We are on the precipice of a grand shift.

As truth is being illuminated, our innate power is being awakened.

The "normal" capitalistic, capitalistic culture is being realized for what it is: a lie that keeps us asleep and fighting against each other. No longer do we want to participate in these systems that govern with swords, educate from a single perspective, and medicate us for profit. We no longer want to live in a society built on greed, without a code of ethics that includes all beings, all animals, all land, and all water. We no longer want to exist in all this fear and hate.

This moment is the key.

It is easy to despair in the face of all the lies and the horrors that litter our world. Shit, I still shudder when I see videos of cows crying as they are marched to their doom in crap-filled torture chambers, all so people can eat $1 burgers served in one minute or less. My heart pains when I see footage of war, destruction, constant loss, constant disappointment, violence, abuse. The pit is endless.

Once you see through the illusion, don't stay. That fear is the lifeblood of the matrix and it wants to pull you in. It wants to overwhelm you with hopelessness and make you feel small and worthless. It wants to deceive you and feed off you.

Walk into your life, with this new truth you have gleaned, and live differently.

Live from your heart.

Show up for your loved ones and keep finding more people to love. Support them too, and be supported by them.

Do the things that make you genuinely happy to be on this planet.

Have the adventures, make the connections, enjoy the experiences.

Listen to the trees and the mountains, seek the wisdom of the water and the flowers, learn the lessons of the animals and the crystals. They are the keys to the ancient remembering.

Plant seeds and care for them as they grow. Do the same with dreams.

Bring consciousness to everything that you do, including the things that you do not like or wish were different.

Especially be aware of things that are comfortable and convenient and "have always been done this way", as they are often links into the matrix of control.

The system works because we feed it. We have learned to feed it just as generations before us have learned. We work to earn to pay for all the stuff we want. We agree to work for someone else's dream. We settle for someone else's version of reality. We grow exhausted from the demands of modern society and choose expedience over sustainability.

To create a new reality, woven in love and harmony and reverence for all beings, we have to let the old ways crumble.

Instead of trading our time for money, we could turn our energy to our dreams and to creating paradise on Earth.

Instead of giving our money to corporations, we could find real humans in our community to provide goods and services.

Instead of giving our attention to celebrities, sports, and the news, we could become the most loving versions of ourselves imaginable. We could tend to all the hurt and broken parts of ourselves and start radiating like beacons of compassionate light.

Instead of giving our power to fear and control, we could let love lead us to bliss, abundance, connection, and harmony.

We could learn to pray again.

We could learn to listen to the voice of the Earth and the voice of our hearts.

We could learn to see all beings through a lens of understanding and curiosity.

We could hold each other as we process and free ourselves from generations of disempowerment, deception, and misinformation. We could love each other as we forgive the parts of ourselves that forgot the truth. We could laugh with each other as we shed the confines of the illusion and enter a state of presence, gratitude, and awe of all that is.

In the midst of devastation, overwhelm, and collapse, I think we will find the real truth that connects us all.