Bcc: the usual and unusual suspects
Friends,
Sorry for ignoring you, but I've been getting a PDF version of
the book together and I've been in dialog with Pluto
publishing. The MOST AMAZING serendipity... on the very day I
began putting the latest draft into a word processor, I got a
message from the Pluto editor: "Have you thought about putting
your ideas into a book?" Is that propitious or what??! Pluto
is well known and respected for its title list and its support for
non-mainstream ideas. Their support would add immeasurably to
the possibilities of the book's success.
By the way, if anyone promises to read it and give me
feedback, I'll send them a PDF draft. I want every kind of
feedback, from grammatical errors to "You're dead wrong
because..."
ciao,
rkm
--------------------------------------------------------
From: "John Bunzl"
To: "ecopilgrim "
Cc: <•••@••.•••>
Date: Sat, 13 Nov 2004 08:28:07 -0000
I ... noticed from another recent post that, like me, you're
quite keen, Marguerite, on the "integral thinking" of Ken
Wilber.
Wilber, as far as I know, talks about evolution occurring in
all four quadrants of existence, those being: the inner
subjective individual (the cognitive/spiritual development
going on inside each individual); the outer objective
individual (the physical development of each individual, eg.
our brain capacity/development); the inner subjective
collective (the collective cultural worldview of society as a
whole aka Spiral Dynamics) and, finally, the outer objective
collective (our social institutions, eg. nation states,
political systems, etc).
He posits, by my understanding, that transformation to the
next level of the holarchy (planetary) will START in the inner
subjective consciousness of a small group of individuals and
will gradually spread from that quadrant into the inner
collective (cultural) and from there to the outer collective
(political system). But the process, once
started, does NOT continue to progress in that simple fashion.
If it did, Marguerite would be right: virtually every
individual would have to have undergone their own personal
transformation before society as a whole and our outer
institutions could change.
But once started as described above, the process of
transformation, Wilber posits, becomes far more complex with
each quadrant affecting the others in far more unpredictable
and non-linear ways. This is why Richard is right, I believe,
to suggest that transformation is not simply about each of us
changing but that there is indeed something called "society"
which is greater than merely the sum of its parts and which
is, therefore, an entity in its own right which in turn has an
influence on its constituent individuals. i.e. it's a two-way
street (or in Wilber's thinking, a four-way street!)
As Richard suggests, "The fact is that we need BOTH
personal AND social transformation." As Wilber is at pains to
point out throughout Sex, Ecology, Spirituality, it is our
failure to see that BOTH are valid and required - i.e.
recognising only one and not the other or unduly emphasising
one at the expense of the other - which has lead humanity into
so many disasters. Hence his call for an "all quadrant" (i.e.
inner AND outer, individual AND collective) approach.
--<snip>--
---------------
Dear John,
Thank you very much for sharing your interpretation of
Wilber's ideas, and relating them to the ongoing debate
between myself and the always energetic ecopilgrim.
I have a lot of respect for Wilber, for his work in
transpersonal psychology, aside from politics. It's
reassuring to see that our ideas on transformation are
in synch.
In our ongoing dialog, you and I relate similarly to how I
relate to Tom Atlee, Jim Rough, and even ecopilgrim herself.
We all respect one another, and yet we can never agree on
primary strategy! So we've given up on debate - after many
attempts - and occasionally pop up to support one another in
important ways.
all the best to you,
rkm
--------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Nov 2004 14:28:32 -0800
To: •••@••.•••, •••@••.•••
From: Jim Rough
Subject: Re: GLOBAL TRANSFORMATION: The liberation of human consciousness
Cc: •••@••.•••
This chapter is GREAT, Richard!
I particularly love your section on "Democracy and Personal
Liberation," hearing how people's lives can be freed up. There
is only one sentence that I'd change slightly. It's where you
say that "The myth fails to recognize that the deficiencies in
our current level of personal consciousness are due not to our
inherent natures, but are largely the result of systematic
conditioning." Yes, I think so too ... only I'd also add ...
"and the myth also fails to recognize that the deficiencies in
our current level of personal consciousness are due to the
myth itself. With a slight systemic change, it's possible to
change both the myth and those who fulfill the myth."
I think personal liberation and the culture of harmonization
will happen even more quickly than it would take to
"reprogram" people. I believe that, once we shift the
structure of the system, people will often find themselves
with new motivations and feelings.
Nice going ...
Co-heartedly,
Jim
------------------
Dear Jim,
Yes! I think you're on the same wavelength with John above,
with his citation of Wilber. We've got the quadrants, and your
Wisdom Councils cut across the quadrants in non-linear ways,
as does John's Simultaneous Policy, and as do the notions of a
Harmonization Movement. As primates we tend to stake out and
defend a turf, but we're actually collaborators in the project
of energizing the whole grid of quadrants.
stay in touch,
rkm
--------------------------------------------------------
From: Diana Skipworth
Date: Sat, 13 Nov 2004 11:42:57 EST
Subject: Re: weekend dialog...
To: •••@••.•••
Dear Richard,
I am a middle aged and maybe too simple minded to completely
understand your intention in your book, but on an intuitive
sense, I 'get it' and am heartened. These times are fast
approaching the point where the door of change will turn on
its hinges. We just need to be brave, believe in ourselves,
and KEEP PUSHING.
On the day Ronald Reagan died, I was in Washington, D.C.
protesting the war, and the motto that day was "Tell the
Truth." The father of Nicholas Berg led the march from across
the White House (Langum Park, I believe it is called) down J
Street towards Donald Rumsfeld's house. The truth sets us
free, and I felt as if I was floating down J Street as people
cheered us on and some joined us.
The time of reckoning for me came when the D.C. police blocked
the street to Mr. Rumsfeld's neighborhood after Mr. Berg and
some others had entered. There I was, all five feet of me,
belly-to-belly with armoured police with their shields, and me
simply holding my anti-war sign. People were shouting, "no!
no! let us in!" and it seemed an eternity as we faced off,
until Mr. Berg and friends turned around because they refused
to continue the march to Donald's house without ALL of the
protesters allowed to participate.
To me this was the point the police lost their power and
ordinary people retook theirs. Because the protesters stuck
together and refused to be frightened away by the superior
weapons of the police, they had to admit we were correct and
allow us passage to Mr. Rumsfeld's house. I heard to the door
creak!
The original American Revolution was executed by ordinary
untrained people, this newest one is being waged by untrained
ordinary slobs like me.
------------
Dear Diana,
Many thanks for your positive outlook! We the People are the
only hope for humanity, and you have felt that and seen it
exhibited in the scenario you shared with us. WE CANNOT
INFLUENCE THE REIGME. It is that simple. Protest is a total
waste of time, apart from the positive side effects you have
articulated from your heart. Elections, which I argued against
before - for perhaps subtle reasons - should now be
universally boycotted because they are now obviously 100%
FRAUDULENT. The regime has dug its heels in big time,
explicitly declaring its separation from even its European
'allies', with its intimidation of Iran & Korea, its genocidal
war against women and children in Iraq, and its PNAC "We want
it all for ourselves" agenda. Only lap-dog Blair is still
hanging on to Bush's coattails by the skin of his teeth, as
his non-Labour Party sinks ever lower in the polls. People all
over the world are beginning to boycott American goods, the
American economy is being intentionally torpedoed, and the
regime could care less:
"One hundred nations in the UN have not agreed with us on just
about everything that's come before them, where we're
involved, and it didn't upset my breakfast at all."
-- Ronald Reagan, following the US invasion of Grenada, 1983
"I will never apologize for the United States of America - I
don't care what the facts are."
-- President George Bush 1988
" 'The people' are niggers."
-- attributed to neocons in private conversation
"The way to restore prosperity is to kill off 80% of the
world's population."
-- similarly attributed, his finger near the red button
diana - thanks again!
rkm
--------------------------------------------------------
From: "Ron or Susie Jenkins"
To: "Richard Moore" <•••@••.•••>
Subject: aloha
Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 14:57:39 -1000
Richard - had to send you this. Susie
Subject: The prophecy has been fulfilled!
"The larger the mob, the harder the test. In small areas,
before small electorates, a first-rate man occasionally fights
his way through, carrying even the mob with him by force of
his personality. But when the field is nationwide, and the
fight must be waged chiefly at second and third hand, and the
force of personality cannot so readily make itself felt, then
all the odds are on the man who is, intrinsically, the most
devious and mediocre — the man who can most easily adeptly
disperse the notion that his mind is a virtual vacuum.
The Presidency tends, year by year, to go to such men. As
democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more
closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty
ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the
land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White
House will be adorned by a downright moron. "
-- Henry L. Mencken, political journalist for the Baltimore Herald, 1920.
------------
Susie, thanks! I wish Oliver Stone would to an " HL Mencken". - rkm
--------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 17 Nov 2004 12:18:43 -0800
From: Janet McFarland <>
To: •••@••.•••
Subject: Re: ESCAPING THE MATRIX & GLOBAL TRANSFORMATION
This is amazing! Congratulations! I will have to read a little at a
time, but I wanted to congratulate you immediately. Thank you
for your life work.
Janet
------
Janet,
And thank you for your ongoing participation.
rkm
--------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 17 Nov 2004 12:03:57 +1300
To: •••@••.•••
From: Robert Gregory
Subject: Re: * Take 2: Matrix & Transformation *
Hi Richard
A few suggestions on chapter 1, read last night. Excellent
material overall and throughout. I would have liked to see a
bit more about how humans deceive other humans, and why. I
think that some additional material about JFK, then Colonel
Ollie North and the Reagan era, including HIV, the central
America war, maybe the USS Liberty in 1967 and related would
demonstrate that the powers that be are continually vying for
power, prestige, and money, and will stop at virtually nothing
to achieve their aims would be useful. .... Maybe these
issues come later - but I think there could have been more in
chapter 1 to set the stage and build depth to what you are
saying. ...[excerpted]
Re Chapter 2
Again excellent. I would like to suggest that you add some
information about social movements such as the Quakers or
Amish who developed their unique societies up to a certain
size and scope, and have remained limited in growth - it would
be interesting to see why the limits are there. Similar it
would be intriguing to add something about the Falung Gong
movement, which has been largely suppressed, but which
expanded rapidly - why would be intriguing... . [excerpted]
----------
Dear Bob,
Many thanks for your enthusiastic feedback! Please do comment
on the remaining material as well.
As you may have noticed, the current chapter 1 ("The Matrix")
replaces a much longer treatment (the old "Part I") which
included a somewhat detailed history of the USA. Rather than
expanding my treatments, as you suggest, I've been trimming
them down! And yet, your topics are important - and useful
things could be learned by examining them.
I look at it this way. The book is a vehicle intended to take
the reader on a particular journey, and to show the reader the
view from a certain vantage point, a certain mountain top. In
order to appreciate that vantage point, we must first understand
the foothills, intermediate vistas, etc. It is tempting to
linger and enjoy the view at each point, but that is a distraction
from the journey.
Below I'm pasting in the synopsis of the book that I prepared
for Pluto. It describes the view from each intermediate point,
each chapter. I'll be reviewing each chapter to ensure that it
focuses on its role in the journey, doing that fully, but not
otherwise tarrying.
best regards,
rkm
--------------------------------------------------------
_________________________
Table Of Contents
_________________________
Chapter 1 The Matrix
Are you ready for the red pill?
Imperialism and the matrix
World War II and Pax Americana
Glitches in the matrix, popular rebellion, and neoliberalism
Globalization and world government
The management of discontented societies
The New American Century
Following three centuries of national-competitive imperialism,
1945 saw the emergence of Western-collective imperialism under
Pax Americana, an unprecedented economic boom, and a policy of
general Western prosperity. Capitalism's growth imperative
forced this regime to be consciously abandoned (c. 1971) by
elites and replaced, incrementally, with neoliberalism and
globalization. The New American Century marks yet another
global regime change as American elites pursue unilateral
military and economic hegemony.
_________________________
Chapter 2 We the People and the transformational imperative
Civilization in crisis
We the People
The transformational imperative
Civilization is facing a crisis of survival that can only be
addressed by a thoroughgoing global transformation of our
economic and political systems. Earlier social movements-the
anti-globalization movement, the Populists, and Gandhi's
liberation movement-have much to teach us both by their
successes and their failures. The only agent that can or will
bring about the necessary transformation is an awakened We the
People.
_________________________
Chapter 3 The harmonization imperative
Adversarial systems and liberal democracy
Liberal democracy and elite hegemony
Divide and rule
The harmonization imperative
Based on systems analysis, we can see that our political
system-with political parties and competitive elections-is not
democratic and could never be democratic. Indeed, if we look
at the words and actions of the Founding Fathers, we learn
that the American Constitution was consciously intended to
facilitate elite dominance. We are kept under control by
divide-and-rule factionalism, and We the People can only come
into existence if we learn to overcome our divisiveness and
find our common identity as sensible human beings.
_________________________
Chapter 4 Harmonization in the microcosm
A very promising gathering in Michigan
Meeting dynamics: collaborative & adversarial
A gap in our cultural repertoire
The dynamics of harmonization
Meetings are the vehicles we use to make plans and decisions
in our societies, as citizens, in business, and in government.
We have two kinds of meetings-adversarial and
collaborative-and neither of these seek to-nor is able
to-resolve differences among participants. Listening-based
facilitation provides a new kind of meeting dynamics-based on
harmonization-which enable participants to break through their
deep differences and find their common purpose. Outcomes of
such meetings, as reported by participants, have been truly
amazing.
_________________________
Chapter 5 Harmonization as a cultural movement
The prospects for a large-scale harmonization movement
We the People: the process of waking up
Harmonization processes awaken a sense of We the People in
participants, and the hope that we can, together, actually
make a difference in society. People who go through such an
experience frequently emerge with a great deal of enthusiasm
for sharing the experience with others. These elements provide
a credible basis for hope that a harmonization movement might
develop and spread widely and rapidly. Harmonization processes
have the potential to enable a formidable, all-inclusive,
grassroots movement-a movement capable of transforming our
societies. We the People are a sleeping giant, and such a
movement could enable us to wake up.
_________________________
Chapter 6 Harmonization and global transformation
Interesting times
Achieving critical mass: the role of activists
Achieving critical mass: the role of community
The waking of the giant
Cultural dynamics and cultural transformation
Global transformation and the third world
Engagement with the regime
The key to getting a harmonization movement started is for
grassroots activists to understand the potential of
harmonization. The key to turning the movement into a
transformational movement is for the movement to focus on
community empowerment. Such a movement in the West needs to
focus on cultural transformation before it gets overtly
political; early attempts at political effectiveness would be
premature and futile. The third world (e.g., Brazil,
Venezuela, Cuba) is leading the way in global transformation.
Successful engagement with the regime will be possible when
the cultural transformation has spread sufficiently in our
Western societies.
_________________________
Chapter 7 A charter for a democratic world
Introduction
A global charter: the primary provisions
The maintenance of peace and harmony
The management of large-scale projects and operations
The management of the global commons
System review
When our movement prevails, we will need to establish a new
system of global order. As an advance contribution to our
first global council, I offer a systems analysis and the
outlines of a global charter. The provisions of this proposed
charter can be seen as system constraints, which if observed
in the microcosm, can provide a global macrocosm, which is
democratic, peaceful, stable, sustainable, and economically
efficient. The core principles of the proposed global system
are local sovereignty and harmonization.
_________________________
Chapter 8 The liberation of human consciousness
Cultures and conditioning
Liberalism: today's mythology
There is hope for the liberal
Cultural evolution in a democracy
Democracy and personal liberation
Education in a democratic society
The 'governance' of human societies, ever since the emergence
of Homo sapiens, has always been facilitated by mythologies.
Human psychology-characterized by programmable youth and more
rigid adult mentalities-evolved so that mythologies can
provide cultural stability. With the advent of civilization,
these characteristics have been universally exploited-by means
of conditioning the youth-to enable elite rule. With the
advent of The Enlightenment, liberalism has replaced religion
as the dominant global mythology (apart from recent attempts to
re-introduce religions fundamentalism.) Harmonization can free
us of this subjugating mythology and lead to the first-ever
liberated and democratic human societies. In such societies we
can scarcely imagine the scope of the cultural and personal
renaissance that is likely to develop.
_________________________
_________________________
--
============================================================
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You are encouraged to forward any material from the lists or the website,
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Richard Moore (rkm)
Wexford, Ireland
_____________________________
Now available for review:
ESCAPING THE MATRIX -
Global Transformation: Why We Need It, and How We Can Get It
TOC with URLs of chapters:
http://www.cyberjournal.org/cj/show_archives/?id=352&lists=newslog
Entire draft as one web page:
http://www.cyberjournal.org/cj/show_archives/?id=343&lists=newslog
Previous version, with more American history:
http://www.ratical.org/co-globalize/rkmGlblTrans.html
_____________________________
"...the Patriot Act followed 9-11 as smoothly as the
suspension of the Weimar constitution followed the
Reichstag fire."
- Srdja Trifkovic
There is not a problem with the system.
The system is the problem.
Faith in ourselves - not gods, ideologies, leaders, or programs.
_____________________________
"Zen of Global Transformation" home page:
http://www.QuayLargo.com/Transformation/
QuayLargo discussion forum:
http://www.QuayLargo.com/Transformation/ShowChat/?ScreenName=ShowThreads
cj list archives:
http://cyberjournal.org/cj/show_archives/?lists=cj
newslog list archives:
http://cyberjournal.org/cj/show_archives/?lists=newslog
_____________________________
Informative links:
http://www.indymedia.org/
http://www.globalresearch.ca/
http://www.MiddleEast.org
http://www.rachel.org
http://www.truthout.org
http://www.williambowles.info/monthly_index/
http://www.zmag.org
http://www.co-intelligence.org
============================================================
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