Keeping the Peace

In a national mood of potential renewal, I invite not only police to be tangibly present in our neighbourhoods as officers on the beat - but to be encouraged to learn more of what keeping the peace actually means.

For the presence and demeanour that we demonstrate communicates atmospherically. Everyone is part of keeping the peace to the degree that we share a presence of acknowledgement and respect. But like anemones - we communicate fear or threat by being drawbridged and evasive.

In focusing on the mindset of looking for trouble(makers) - the role of 'fighting crime' substitutes for keeping the peace. This role needs to be activated when appropriate and deactivated when no longer needed. A mind alert and at rest - in connected relationship founded in a genuinely felt shared purpose - NOTICES - and shares much more than the mind engaged in predatory mode.

To the mentality that only considers symptoms, my words may seem irrelevant or whimsy - but sooner or later it will be realized that fear based actions raise the level of fear. This could be called the level of distrust and a fragmentation of society into private egos - often without a real sense of community or belonging.

Of course policemen and women are to use proportionate means to uphold the law - but the way in which this is done often tends to an institutionalized lack of respect or disregard for actual members of the public they are supposed to serve.

Alas in our 'terrorized state' - and with civil unrest increasingly likely - our policemen are more and more felt as agents of the state rather than protectors of the community with powers accorded them by the state.

Law and order is a symptom of true social health - and this is not something that the police can 'do' - but a culture of trust and communication can replace a culture of blame and exclusion.

Adversarial politics results in the pursuing of selfish interests at the expense of the common good. But selfishness need not be reinforced as the truth of human beings - even if the consumer economy 'insinuates' a 'getting' mentality as fulfilment.
There is ALWAYS a deeper level than the symptoms suggest - and this is not dealt with by budgets but by the courage that can only come from valuing the presence peace above one's own private sense of self interest.

The only time that such a cultural renewal can 'take' - is when there is `an opportunity such as we are in - when a sense of inspiration and hope opens a greater sense of possibility than the old programs.

Out of the Loop

As our democracy has in so many ways become a farce with politicians spinning for position and privilege in an ever declining pretense to any real power for change, it is surprising that many are more than twice shy of getting involved?

The manipulation of perceptions is not the way to do business or politics or personal life - except as a short term deceit with long term consequences. Of course citizens use the same means to serve their own personal agendas and this is one reason why society has fragmented into alienated sections on so many levels.

There is a 'rightness of being' that can be felt and can communicate itself that is a different foundation from the self righteousness that we otherwise attempt to employ against a sense of 'wrongness of being'. In the latter is all the stuff of a world gone mad. In the former is life restored one step at a time to a sanity that the mad have by definition - forgot. It really is and feels alive - without needing hype and extra stimulation to prop it up or fuel it.

If a new movement arises - it is felt as a shift or change at a deeper level than re-branding the old with a bit of 'creative accounting' thrown into its makeup. This is a universal feeling and calls for aligning with a greater good than any of the personalities, parties or even policies involved. The willingness to work together is born out of the recognition of trust as essential to our mutual good. Despite history.
There will be those who still try to save only there own from ruin and this does undermine trust. We need to identify the mentality at work and address it honestly and not knee jerk into self righteous withdrawal from the larger process of communication that IS society.
There will be little appetite to get involved in politics from those who have been conditioned to consume and display as the expression of freedom.

It is to be seen if this political change sparks a resurgent willingness to engage in real discussion, participation and support for social and political change beyond a desire making life comfortable enough to go back to sleep again. For whatever the political activity of a citizen, most may yet be politically neutered by the indoctrination of the illusion of freedom that is fed out to 'consumers' at much deeper levels than most realize - otherwise we would not all have woken to find such a nightmare unfolding as it is appearing in terms of negative social change caused by the breakdown of the capacity to control life 'on my terms' - or indeed trust the balance such desire for power in market based models.
The sanity that underlies wisdom is nothing new - but the sense of life that is discovered by following it is indeed life felt anew.
To be wholehearted in  life is a wonderful thing - do not wait for politicians, but do be part of the health and heart of this world - and learn to discern the true and the false. They are seemingly mixed up because our minds are mixed up. Real communication opens a larger circle in which apparent differences can become workable in common purpose and a cause for a deepening appreciation of life.

Am I pleased with the election result (UK)

I am encouraged and hopeful that such shared purpose undertaken with good will can bring diverse perspectives toward a simpler more practical and therefore more unified Britain.

The nature of truth demands the willingness to release personal gain in favour of a shared or common good. This must be demonstrated by the leaders to become credible and desirable to the nation at large. The sooner this shift becomes a social change the more clear will become the positive steps that will lead us from out of our own spin, and into a direct appreciation of the life we share in this country and the part we play in our world.

The personal characteristics that are called for in the leadership are more important than the historical policies that are associated with them. To be able to remain in communication amidst passionate differences is a truly creative endeavour - and the way in which the outcome is arrived at is as important as the outcome itself - for an honourable process of communication - listening and speaking for the sake of a greater good than one's own personal agenda - is absolutely the way to discover that rigid minds in dominance or subordination to each other are not really strong - but joined hearts in the best discernible next step - are.

The tribal identities represent the aspect of the ego sense that gets its sense of self from difference - and from exploiting difference to raise its own. This is not an enlightened or truth loving way of living - in fact it will - taken to its extreme - cost us the earth - as well as depriving us of what could be discovered instead.

The time of rational ideologies that attempt to define and impose various truths without regard for true workability is also an exhausted attempt to engineer society or indeed allow mere market force to engineer society. For both of these are of the intent to manipulate others - or indeed each other.

The real deficit that must be corrected is the deficit in trust. Growing, maintaining and extending trust is a fundamental key in the rewakening to a freely embraced responsibility and the keeping of the peace.

It is not surprising that dire circumstances set the stage for such changes - but the change itself remains in the realm of the courage and conviction of the heart. In this we all play our part.
The heart is not the superficial emotional manipulator or subverter of reason, but is the unified intelligence that discerns and guides amidst variables and apparent complexities that otherwise effectively keep us blinkered at best and blind at worst.

Good housekeeping is not rocket science and a good home is more than a house. Our belonging in life, in our country and in our locality is not merely a definable externality but a participation in real relationship.

The view of the problem - seen through the problem - is insurmountable and we tend to focus only on tiny parts at a time and either live small - or shift ceaselessly from crisis to crisis.

But the willingness to take a step in a truly shared trust will always a discover the next step - and in time, a clearer perspective of the true nature of that which remedies the true cause of diverse problems.

It is not clever politicians we need - but wise ones - and wisdom is a gift freely bestowed to any who are willing to be truly honest with themselves and each other.

There is nothing that manipulators will not twist to their own usage - but the spirit of true communication is anathema to lies for it is more than simply information or words - it is an active presence of true authority.

The media are also called to serve more than the self survival that seems to be derived from the fuelling or feeding off of conflict and drama for the attention grabbing attention and sales or ratings.

Do I expect this government to immediately get wise? No - but in their willingness to share a common purpose may well be the foundation of a resurgence of wisdom in workable governance amidst the perils of the macro-corporate economy’s unchecked dominance and the ignorance of the value of the micro economy as it has been progressively eroded and denied its natural opportunities of creative expression by a false promise of a techtopian consumerism.

Debt is a modern brand of slavery. Who or what are the Masters of the modern debt ridden world? What are the actual relationships beneath the apparently separate ‘bodies’ and institutions. What is the basis of our ignorance such that we are so easily kept ignorant? We need more than cuts and ongoing mitigation of pain for the unfortunate. We need to get real. We need to ditch the attempt to rule by deception. Not just this Government - but as a society. Why? - because reality has caught up with us - and given us a real opportunity. Is this not good news despite the pains of readjustment and rehabilitation?