Standing on the Edge

“If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other” 
– Mother Teresa

While no apocalyptic-style occurrences have yet gripped the Earth, in the spirit of those fear mongering 2012 prophecies, you could be forgiven for feeling that the world is somehow sinking into a dark, bottomless pit of no return.

Top of everyone’s mind right now is the global financial crisis, which sees more and more American and European families sliding into poverty every day, to the point where we were reading about Greek mothers leaving their children on orphanage doorsteps because they simply could no longer afford to feed them.

Which undoubtedly suits those in power. I am no political expert or psychoanalyst, I am just a thirty-something mother who wants to see the 99 percent look within themselves and find empowerment, in order to make the world a better place again for my child, and for future generations beyond her. But it is not hard to read between the lines when you look out across the world right now.

As this crisis deepens, creating more and more of a chasm between rich and poor, it becomes more than just a chasm of financial means. It becomes a chasm between power and helplessness, a chasm between love and fear.

As the powerful have reached a point of breathtaking exploitation and corruption, the world has finally begun to wake up to the fact that things are not changed with vengeance, anger and war, but love for their families, their country, themselves – leading to peaceful change through non-violent protest and leading by example.

This makes the powerful afraid, and so they seek to cling on to their power by spreading more fear, and thus more feelings of helplessness. They keep us embroiled in wars so that they can continue to profiteer. They bring in controlling laws and regulations to stay in control of the masses. They make us believe they are trying to help those in need but never actually do it. They exploit our planet at the expense of life, including ours, be it driving people out of their homes to line the pockets of frackers or allowing oil companies to endanger the beautiful wilderness that regulates our climate. Global warming and climate disaster will no doubt be further means of exploitation by these people, profiteering to the last while bringing misery to the masses.

And to combat the growing uprising they seek to gain even more control, through new laws that suppress the right to protest or that can have you humiliated or thrown in jail indefinitely, for no good reason. They disguise these disgraceful elements of dictatorship under the banner of protecting the people from terrorism. But who are the real terrorists here? The only people they are seeking to protect are themselves.

And all the while, the real people of this world continue to suffer. The more we are suppressed, the more we are broken down, piece by piece, the more we fall into victim and survivor modes, worried only about ourselves and our very nearest and dearest. To hell with the rest of the world, what about me? In creeps the mindset that the media and the governments want us to have – what is the point of protesting? Unlawful action against corporations is wrong, it is breaking the law (never mind that those companies are being even more immoral and unlawful). Occupy is a waste of time, those people should go get a job. We can’t change the world, so we just have to put up with it and leave everyone else behind to survive. Screw humanity.

“Divide and conquer” springs to mind. But such a vision did Julius Caesar no favours, and it is time that people united again to put an end to this unjust power before it grows even more powerful.

We need to stop feeling afraid. Stop feeling angry. Stop feeling guilty. What do we want to be, truly? What do we want the world to be? Neither will be achieved through negative feelings. Nor will they be achieved by burying our heads in the sand. And most of all, they will not be achieved by blame.

Sure, it is easy to say that the powerful elite has caused all of these problems. But the truth of the matter is, they took advantage of a world that let them, and we have to face ourselves, to ask ourselves why.

We allowed ourselves to fall into the trap of thinking materialism was what made us happy, complete, whole, important, whatever. We allowed ourselves to become self-absorbed, lulled into a world of commercialism, celebrity and little or no responsibility. We fell asleep, in effect, and woke up to find the world had changed for the worst.

These curses of commercialism and consumerism have permeated every area of life. Technology means we are bombarded with so much information and so many choices on a daily basis that we have forgotten the true nature and meaning of things.

Even charities have taken the stance of marching up to you in the street and making you feel guilty. What, you can’t afford to give £20 a month to us? But look at you, with your nice clothes and your bag of shopping and your cup of Starbucks coffee! You’re a disgrace to humanity!

Think what you like of controversial comic Frankie Boyle, but you cannot deny he makes many valid points in his open letter to the BBC. He ends it talking about a documentary on life in Palestine. A doctor is asked what he thinks will be achieved by highlighting the plight of a child who cannot be treated because they don’t have enough supplies, and his response is that people will do nothing.

Boyle’s response is equally harrowing. 

“I cried at that and promised myself that I would do something. Other than write a few stupid jokes I have not done anything. Neither have you.”

Such words are harsh. The truth is harsher. We have become indifferent to the world. We turn the other cheek, look away when we should be looking harder, pretend that the stuff out there isn’t happening.

There is a theory that the people or things that make us upset or uncomfortable in our lives are actually our mirrors, to help us change and grow.

The state of the world right now is a mirror to our mistake. Right now we feel like those who have control - the governments, the world powers, the banks, the rich, the elite – all of them are indifferent to us, our needs, the needs of the people.

But are they are a mirror to our own indifference? Yes, and that indifference has brought us to our knees.

Only by awakening and feeling, truly feeling, for ourselves and others, can we begin to restore balance, harmony and justice to the world. It is not the responsibility of a few, it is the responsibility of us all. So ask yourself, what am I prepared to offer? Indifference and self-misery, which will sink us further into a suppressed and broken nation? Or love, positive action and regard for humanity, which can only cause us to soar?

We are standing on the edge of a society falling apart. When you get to the edge, what will you do? Because even then, even when you are forced into stepping off that precipice, you still have a choice. You can fall. Or you can learn how to fly. 

A Rootless Tree

What I want from us is empty our minds

We fake the thoughts, and fracture the times

We go blind when we've needed to see

And this leans on me, like a rootless...

- Damien Rice, Rootless Tree

 One thing that pains me greatly whenever I read about an injustice or tragedy or cause online, is sometimes not even the issue itself – it’s the reaction and commentary from my fellow humanity.

If you take out the trolls, who are there to be cruel for the fun of it, and weed out the troubling comments that are genuine, it can be hard not to get angry, or incredulous, or frustrated, or simply just damned tired of trying to speak a point that should be loud and clear, but that is somehow being lost on so many.

You can put some of it down to ignorance, and some of it down to rigidity of thinking, and some of it down to simply being nasty. But the majority of it, or so it seems to me, stems from apathy and indifference, fear and extreme tunnel vision.

The media, the governments, the corporations – they’ve all done their job well, circulating this cycle of belief that people can’t make a difference, they can’t change the bigger picture.

Why bother? What difference will it make?

Why should I care about such and such, when I have my own problems?

It’s limiting to think this way, because you are never going to make a difference in any way whatsoever if you have no belief in yourself. And this lack of self-belief then projects itself out onto everyone else, because subconsciously, people see what they could be and instead of taking inspiration, they lash out at it.

So when people do make a stand, they are criticized for it, not because they are doing it all wrong, but because people don’t think they should be doing it at all. Activists should not unlawfully occupy Shell ships - that’s breaking the law. Even though, morally, Shell are committing a far greater crime against humanity. Occupy protestors should not be out on the streets - they should be back home getting jobs and not out causing inconveniences to the general public. Even though what they’re fighting for is of benefit to everyone.

Why does the world have this mentality? There are numerous elements to it, which make up a complex web of unconscious beliefs that the modern world has created.

Fear – most are subconsciously afraid of change, of the unknown, of repercussions, and of a new era – even a better one.

Apathy – many are trapped in the mindset of, “Why bother, nothing ever changes? No one can make a real difference.”

Indifference – others have become desensitized to what truly matters, through materialism, self-absorption, lack of compassion, or just plain ignorance.

People have become so wrapped up in this modern world, bombarded by so much information and “stuff”, that they have forgotten to simply be. Our minds are filled with racing thoughts. And if we don’t have enough going on in our own lives to worry about, then the media will helpfully put a hefty spoonful more into our heads. All these thoughts keep us too preoccupied to see the truth, too worried to create a better world because all those worries are so focused upon, they actually become manifest. 

It’s all about fear, guilt, pressure, and bullying. Even charities are buying into this consumerist mentality, with clipboard-wielding representatives chasing you down the street trying to make you feel guilty because you have nice shoes and bought a cup of coffee.

And while the world becomes more and more wrapped up in itself, it lets the rest of the world slide by, not noticing as it falls further and further towards the edge of the precipice.

“An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.”

- Martin Luther King, Jnr.

It is as if we have starved our tree of life, so preoccupied with getting the best branch to ourselves that we have neglected it, cut off the roots to further our own selfish cause, and thus cut off our life source, forgetting to look outward at the beautiful view, the full picture, until it is too late and the tree is toppling to the ground, sustainable no longer.

Yes, it is easy to blame the banks, and the media, and the government, and the terrorists, and whoever else for the state our world is currently in. And yes, they have created a terrible mess. But we have to take some accountability too. We let them. The question now is, are we going to let them continue down this road, or are we going to forge a new one?

Do you really want this dominion of uncaring, idiotic, power-hungry corrupt politicians and corporations to continue keeping their grip on our world? Really?

It’s time to wake up. Time to stop, to empty the mind of the incessant chatter and reconnect to what truly matters. Yes, it is true to say that right now, we can’t make much of a difference. How can we make a difference to anyone else’s life, when we can’t get a grip on our own? But if everyone thought this way, nothing would ever get started. Yes, there will be times when it seems like we are getting nowhere. Times when things go horribly wrong. Times when we feel like we are actually going backwards. That’s life. But we owe it to ourselves and our future generations to kick ourselves up the backsides and start living like we should be living. Loving and caring like we should be loving and caring, not just about those close to us, but about everyone. 

It’s time to go within, and start valuing ourselves. Becoming empowered again. Healing and accepting and loving ourselves, and then extending that out to others. Opening our eyes and seeing the corrupt world for what it truly is. We can’t hide away any longer and pretend it isn’t happening. We can’t pretend it will all go away, that our inaction doesn’t matter, that turning a blind eye won’t make things worse.

Or else, eventually we’ll bring our heads up from out of the sand, and find that our world has changed beyond recognition, with no way of finding our way back.

Save the Arctic

"The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it." 

- Albert Einstein

The idea of drilling for oil in the Arctic sends, for want of a better word, chills through me. As someone who cherishes the world we live in, and understands that we need to live in balance and harmony with our world, I can't understand how anyone else could possibly want to put such a beautiful part of our planet at risk, for the sake of making money. But then, I am not driven by materialism or greed, or power.

Sadly, much of the world still is.

The dreaded time has come where oil giants move ever closer to being able to drill for oil in melted areas of ice, caused by the very fuels they brought the world in the first place.

I take my hat off to Lucy Lawless and the Greenpeace activists who are currently camped out on the Shell drill ship in New Zealand, determined to prevent it setting sail for the Arctic despite the imminent threat of arrest. If I was there I would be up there with them in a heartbeat, for the same reason I would be chaining myself to a tree in my local wood were it threatened, or campaigning and protesting to protect wildlife, countryside or ocean, be it local or global.

Save the Arctic is something we should all be getting riled up about.

It's time to stop letting big business rule our world. It is time to stop being apathetic and thinking we can't make a difference. It is time to stand up for what we believe is right, and more importantly. it is time to believe in OURSELVES. We CAN make a difference. Why shouldn't we? Because if we don't, then our children, grandchildren, and countless generations of the future will look back and ask just one question.

Why?

The Fear Factor

“Don’t move the way that fear makes you move.


Move the way love makes you move.


Move the way joy makes you feel.”

- Osho

It often feels like the world is stuck in a cycle of fear. Governments, corporations and the media have become experts at exploiting those fears, and using them to control us to their advantage.

The daily barrage of news focuses on financial worries, recessions, war, violence, broken societies, tragedies, failings, struggles.

All keeping society locked in fear, either consciously or subconsciously. Power has always been sought, throughout history, and much of it gained through fear and consequent obedience.

It serves the governments and the media well to keep people in such a state. Why? Because when you are living from a basis of fear, you feel powerless. When you are not based in fear, you are living with peace and love, and that is when you begin to realise you ARE powerful. And if everyone started waking up to that fact, they would start to realise that rather than living under that control, we can change and control the transformation of them.

“Convert difficulties into opportunities, for difficulties are divine surgeries to make you better.

”

- Unknown

F.E.A.R. is a popular acronym for False Evidence Appearing Real. Given that fear comes from our ego, which is not who we truly are at all, then this actually holds a lot of truth.

Overcoming fear is not easy. Fear flows from our ego, embedded with all of the core patterns we contain within, which stem right back to childhood. It permeates, chokes and paralyses, leaving us unable to live the full lives we want to. The key to conquering fear and the patterns that feed it is to live in the present moment, in complete awareness.

We all have a shadow side. Embrace it. Know that it balances you and makes you who you are.

Religion, family beliefs, culture, governments, media, peers – all these and more contribute to a build-up of thought patterns within us. Make the conscious decision to step out of this cycle! Don’t view fear as bad, but as something to teach us the most valuable lessons about ourselves. Once we go within, face our fears and then overcome them, we free ourselves. Not just from our own personal fears that hold us back, but also from the hold that misguided beacons of power hold over us.

"The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it."

-Albert Einstein

The saddest part for me, when watching or reading of injustices or unrest in the world, is that people will get fired up about them, but then they are forgotten again, left to settle in the dust in vain.

We are ALL powerful. Even if you only contribute in small ways, imagine the difference it would make if everyone did the same? (More on that theory in future posts).

The time has come to stop turning a blind eye to the corruption and injustice that lies not just on your doorstep, but across the world. We are not powerless to change things. We CAN transform the way society works.

It starts with us. It starts with YOU. 

Striking a Chord in the World

“Harmony makes small things grow, lack of it makes great things decay.”

– Sallust (Roman historian)

Harmony. When you say the word, it makes all things seem as they should be. Everything and everyone working in unison, without conflict. A sense of bliss, of peace.

When I first played around with the idea, the dream, of creating a “harmony project” I was not long out of college and a keen environmentalist. I wanted to create something that would bring all of my favourite charities together, raising awareness of their campaigns, and teaching others of the importance of living in harmony with the planet.

Thirteen years on, the harmony project of my mind encompasses so much more than just the environment, although that still plays a key part too. I have read, listened to and watched different people and different points of view, whilst absorbing the unfolding issues that currently blight our beautiful world.

Corrupt politics. Vast corporations with far too much power. Capitalist greed. Climate change. Utter disregard for the environment. Torture. Manipulation. War profiteering. Illegal and immoral wars. Persecution. The stealth erosion of human rights. Polarity, duality, and a world that is finally waking up, rebelling against those corrupt minds in power who try so desperately to control the world through fear.

“And harmony means that the relationship between all the elements used in a composition is balanced, is good.”

- Karlheinz Stockhausen  

My own personal harmony comes from writing. That is what I am, that is what I do. So The Harmony Project became a blog.  My vision of it still seeks to spread awareness of key issues like those above. But rather than add to the fear and the worry, the doubts and the accusations flung from one opinionated group to another, this small corner of the web seeks only to inspire, illuminate, and perhaps bring a little peace to the turmoil.

Thoughts, meanderings, art, poems, stories. Expression of how we can rise above these issues, rather than worrying about what effect they will have.

“Art is a harmony parallel with nature.”

- Paul Cezanne

Something is stirring in the world, which touches our spirit. Although riots and violence remain, suddenly, people are turning to peace in order to fight injustice. From Egypt to Wall Street, people are waking up to the fact that violence only leads to more violence.

Our spirits, our souls, have been stirred. And so, this blog seeks to stir some more, with positive thoughts, inspirations, contemplations.

“Beauty is being in harmony with what you are.”

- Peter Nivio Zarlenga

What are you looking for? Do you desire peace?

If so, look within. For in order to create peace in the world, we first have to create peace in ourselves. In order to better the world, we must first better ourselves. It all begins with me, with you, with us.

And as each of us finds that peace within, singing our own harmonic song, we strike a chord in the world in unison, and together, make a difference.