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Has the world tipped beyond the point of no return?
- Last week in the city where I live, there were riots.
- We have a global economic crisis
- We have politicians that appear to represent the views of (capitalist) business. Most of the masses just don't care or are disenfranchised from politics, which undermines democracy
- The world is consumed with consumerism/want/greed
- There is global warming.
I believe all are completely inter-related , although there is a solution, the world has gone too far down the path of globalisation/capitalism to stop the rot
Is Spock:
A) A realist?
or
A pessimist?
or
C) A typical Buddhist
- We have a global economic crisis
- We have politicians that appear to represent the views of (capitalist) business. Most of the masses just don't care or are disenfranchised from politics, which undermines democracy
- The world is consumed with consumerism/want/greed
- There is global warming.
I believe all are completely inter-related , although there is a solution, the world has gone too far down the path of globalisation/capitalism to stop the rot
Is Spock:
A) A realist?
or
A pessimist?or
C) A typical Buddhist
0
Comments
Same things happen in my place too, but without riots, and... I can only watch the social circus performing before my eyes without being able to change something.
With the risk of sounding like a paranoid old man, this system was made to destroy my generation and the generations to come.
A Buddhist understands the cycles thus does not suffer or is shocked about these things.
But, yes, your perception of these things are clear.
Corporate govt has taken over the secular world. Profit & power before people.
:-/
But if you open a good history book, you might come to the conclusion that peaceful and prosperous times are not the norm for us, earthlings. Just within the last century there have been *two* *world* wars.
Thus, I suspect that to a neutral observer what is happening right now is more or less business as usual.
PS. Regarding Global Warming: climate has changed on humans before. Just a little over 10,000 years ago, a good chunk of modern Western world was covered with ice. Just a little over 10,000 years before that, tigers and rhinos roamed places like France or California. And our ancestors were there to see it!
So yes there are a lot of wrongs going on in the world, look at history and you will see as long as humans have been on this earth this has been the case, but there is also a lot of rights going on in the world, so my opinion is, lets start highlight the good things more, and lets get more good people of the world getting their voice heard to get the wrongs of this world changed, and lets start being optimistic that this world can start to change for the better.
With Metta
With metta.
As for the rest of the planet? Oops! But - thinking long term - I think the human population is already self-regulating and most demographers agree we'll peak at 9 billion by about 2050.
Thinking really long term - hey, it's all a big cycle.
I think the answer lays somewhere in the middle.
As things do change and evolve and flow...
Water, Ocean, River, and all that good stuff!:)
just want to add, in the 20th century, we had about 100 wars.
pretty good average.
there is no tipping point. things continue to evolve. great change
seems to be on the horizon.
I really hope something big happens soon, but I hope its big in a peaceful way. There is already too much violence, and politicians lie persistently. Honestly if I felt that a single party didn't lie I would vote, but there is no truth in anything they say. If we could gradually help our children to avoid violence and lying, and our friends and family, maybe if we all managed that we could create a generation of peaceful people... But I doubt it will happen as long as power is divided unequally.
Not talking about Armageddon though, but I'm sure within a generation or two the riots may evolve into open revolution in some countries.
I hear you, but don't you think it's different if if it's consumption and greed that afflicts most of humanity, rather than all out war?
I think all this is unprecedented in history to have such a massive world population and such easy communication.
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/10-signs-that-economic-riots-and-civil-unrest-inside-the-united-states-are-now-more-likely-than-ever
To answer your question @Spock, I believe we are already past a tipping point - it's just that we are still falling, and haven't quite hit the floor yet. As a Buddhist, I don't worry too much about it, because I know that what truly matters can never be threatened by external events.
As a citizen of planet earth, a father, son and life partner, I am concerned that very scary times are ahead for all of us. The unfair division of wealth, the wasting of natural resources, the lack of spiritual principles, the rise of political and religious extremism and the rampant materialism that defines our age will all ultimately destroy our civilization - at least IMHO.
But that doesn't mean it's the end of the world, or even of all humanity. I believe that coinciding with this destruction will be a 'rebirth' of sorts, and that those who have sight will see, and those that truly value life will live. We are not alone, as much as we may think we are.
Namaste'
Kwan Kev
it is just, that the wheel of dharma has to be turned again...
Not sure if it's to do with being an optimist.
When I feel a spot of rain on my baldy head and a big black cloud coming towards me, I don't shout "yay... I think it's going to be sunny"
Awesome stuff!
the evil wolf was seriously wounded and is one bite away from being dead シ
If only people listened to "conspiracy theorists" who have been warning (for years) about the concentration of wealth and power into the hands of the few and the destruction of the middle class.
Make no mistake, this has been planned and orchestrated for a long time. Privately owned central banks have been slowly strangling the American (and global) economies like a gang of pythons.
Ending the Fed would be a good start. If you're an American, Ron Paul is probably a safe bet.
Metta,
Guy
The media like to report on and exaggerate a world in chaos ( for example if you believed everything say FOX news says, you would be so frightened of the outside world you would never leave your house), when in reality these types of things have always happened in the modern age. How many riots in the history of the world ? how many economical crisis ? how many wars ? and guess what civilization is still here.
afflicts humanity. But the human psychology
has not changed. Too many people are willing
to go to war. After every major war, people
will declare 'never again'.
It usually last a few years until another
'justifiable or inevitable' war breaks out.
the sad thing is we blame others for our suffering.
I think anyone who claims that everything is peachy and nothing bad is going to happen is in denial. I also think that anyone who gets too wrapped up in all of it or too scared needs to remind him/herself what the true nature of existence is - changing, and impermanent. All things change, and the manner of change is rarely determined by us. How we handle the change is however.
Namaste'
Kwan Kev
At least part of the problem is that some people are *spoiled rotten*. Ask youself, what can you get right now? There is so much on offer and all your desires can be satiated on a whim. There is an: "I want it and I want it now!" mentality. Supply and demand: If everyone gave up their desires; if we all just stopped consuming, what would happen, worst case scenario?
If we are a 'herd' as the conspiracy theorists would have it, then isn't that what we asked for? Shall we all sacrifice our tv's, video games, porn, designer clothes & furniture, raves, chocolates, drugs, prostitutes, coffee shops & other hollow celebrations?
This 'worship at the altar of capitalism' business, that grants us so much freedom, or slavery as the popular film 'fight-club' would have it, really shows in peoples attitudes. Just look at the vicious rivalry when the Playstation 2 came out, as one example. We're at the top of the food chain, and all clambering over one another to get the latest boxed item or look. Depending on which way you look at it, we're either all like a herd of cats (each person vying for some malformed version of what personal power means) Or like a herd of sheep all copying one another because "isn't that what we're supposed to do?" [/hippy hat]
But, UGH, those are the words of my former stupid, cynical, hypocritical, paranoid, conspiracist self. Not to say that it's all false what I said, just not helping that's all... let he who is WITHOUT sin cast the first stone, not 'let the sinner throw stones.
BTW- you may be interested in the following It's a 1984 VS Brave new World scenario (in case you missed the first link):
http://www.recombinantrecords.net/docs/2009-05-Amusing-Ourselves-to-Death.html
As my quote said, the world is going to shake itself out. This will be done somehow, typically through war or revolution. The flames have been lit. The world is beginning to tremble. There is civil unrest abroad. This will soon become a fullout shake as the world reorders itself. We can only hope to weather this great change and come out in a peaceful place. Is it the end of days? No. Is there going to be change? Yes. Sadly, the only way we ever learned how to allow this change is to destroy and rebuild. If all of humanity could let go of their places of power and wealth and control, it would create less suffering. However, we are still trapped in samsara, deluded and clinging. Peaceful revolution is but a fantasy.
Such is life, cyclical.
@zidangus I'm quite optimistic, probably to a fault.
But don't be hypnotized by this barrage of negativity, look at the situation soberly. It is true that in the last 60 years or so the West (less than a 5th of the world, by the way!) has enjoyed an almost uninterrupted period of stability and prosperity. It is also true that there are strong signs that either stability or prosperity or both are presently declining.
This is where studying History will help restore some sanity to our panicked minds by putting things into perspective. Life has never been easy or fair, folks! Individuals have always been at the mercy of the powers that be (and even those powers have always had to fight to the death to stay on top) That is the very nature of human condition and there's nothing whatsoever exceptional about today in that regard. If you have any doubt, pick 10 random places on the map, then pick 10 random times within the recorded history and research what day to day life was like for the average Joe in those 10 randomly found Place-and-Time pairs.
Ironically, if the World was a rock-solid, predictable place, there wouldn't be this forum because there wouldn't have been Buddha. The idea that life is suffering would be prepostrous in an environment that provides guarantees of wealth, liberty and justice. Had Buddha been born some time during the last 60 years in the West, he would probably have been taken for a very morbid and irrationally gloomy person and largely ignored.
So let us let go of our ideas of what the world should be and accept that it's changing, that we can't control the way it changes, that we can't know how it will change and that the only guarantee is Right Here and Right Now. Be all that you can be right here and right now as the future is a fantasy and the past is forever gone. That's real Buddhism.
In light of our own capacity for self preservation, it's understandable that people will feel subjectively under threat when events are kicking off around us.
You can bet your bottom dollar if things do take a turn for the worse (not sure what is meant by 'the point of no return'- it's a given things do change) there's will always be some relaxed family on a remote island kayaking over the gentle ocean and not feeling any ripples at all.
Don't forget we all have it coming not matter what our station in life- we just need to adapt to our surroundings. Don't forget the people of Leningrad survived a lengthy siege in WWII- for 3 years- living on bread made from sawdust.
lets get over it and on with the show..
The ice caps are melting, the oceans grow higher
Our forests are burning, lives lost in the pyre
The climate is changing though some would deny it
There’s little we value unless we can buy it
There’s record earthquakes and giant tsunamis
Young little girls are becoming new mommies
There’s blood in the streets and unrest in the air
If it's not on my street then I don’t seem to care
We got ‘round the clock breaking news
Talking heads spew outrageous views
Blogs and tweets and 80-point headlines
I wish somehow when it’s finally time
You could some way send us a sign
Religions are spreading death and hate in your name
Celebrity culture worships excess and fame
And those that are hurting asked to share all the pain
While the richest of all get to pocket the gain
There’s war all around us, with more on the way
Those who have nothing are the ones that must pay
The Golden Rule seems now to be obsolete
So long’s I got mine, then my world seems complete
We got ‘round the clock breaking news
Talking heads spew outrageous views
Blogs and tweets and 80-point headlines
I wish somehow when it’s finally time
You could some way send us a sign
Wouldn't private health care be cheaper for individuals in the long run?
Metta,
Guy
Regards,
Zelkova
And yet ... humans as a whole are better off than we've ever been in history.