More on Facing into the Anger

From comments and emails I’ve received, I am not alone as I witness an increase in anger in friends, family, and associates, especially when we try to talk about the seriousness of the climatic, economic, energy, and environmental predicament we’re collectively facing.  Some report it as markedly different in the wake of the last six months of calamitous economic unwinding. The inevitability of change is hitting home and people are not happy about it.

By Charles Shaw, AlterNet. Posted April 11, 2008.

Excerpt from story:  "I’m cringing at the realization of how easy it has been and still is for me to judge people for being where I was not that long ago. When it comes to myself, I’ve got lots of compassion. I was born into an insane culture. I was shaped and pressured and forced and guided and wounded and altered and thwarted and numbed and hoodwinked and lied to and ripped off. When it comes to everybody else… well, it’s guilty until proven innocent, with me as both judge and jury. With the legendary intensity of a reformed smoker, I’ve stomped through the world, handing out condemnations and sentences like so many business cards: Tim Bennett… Reformed Civilized Person… Call me for all your Anger and Judgment needs! I mean… it’s the end of the world as we know it, people! Wake the fuck up!"

“What I would say to the guy in our circle is that, sure, let’s get rid of the current “criminal cartel”. I’m all for it. But if we don’t understand how the culture of civilization works, if we don’t see how Empire drives us forward to oblivion, we’ll soon find that the “people’s cartel” is locked into the same patterns of destruction, domination, and control that the criminals are. It may seem saner, kinder, even gentler, but ultimately, no matter how good our intentions may seem to be, this culture compels us to destroy the community of life, in our mad quest for progress, growth and comfort.”

From Carolyn Baker's Blog

A friend recently asked me what I knew about The Secret, and I had to confess, absolutely nothing. A couple of days later, another friend asked the same question, so I decided I’d better investigate this supposedly revolutionary new book and DVD that have taken the country by storm. As I did so, I discovered that nothing about The Secret is revolutionary or new but rather a glitzy, twenty-first century redux of what has come to be called in metaphysical circles “New Thought”.