Aug 13, 2020

Ten Days of Charles Eisenstein

A Collection of Tweets That Fell on Deaf Ears
By Josh Liveright / filmsforaction.org
Ten Days of Charles Eisenstein

Beware:

At war

Or at peace,

More people die

Of unenlightened self-interest

Than of any other disease.

From Earthseed: The Books of the Living

~Octavia Butler

 

I recently finished a ten day course called "Political Hope" with Charles Eisenstein. After each segment, I tweeted what I gleaned. Here's an edited version of those tweets:

 

First question: Aside from everything else, are you in service to life or at war with it?

Here's a test: Why are you here? Is it to survive and maximize your self-interest? If your answer is yes then you have accepted the story of separation. You've accepted that who you are is a separate individual in a world of others. You’ve bought into a mythology that is one hundred percent constructed.

Also: Do you believe we are flesh robots programmed by our genes to maximize our reproductive self-interests? Do you believe that natural selection and survival of the fittest lies at the root of human nature? Do you believe competition and dominance drives our unconscious desires? These myths are also chapters in the story of separation.

In the story of separation, our wellbeing doesn't depend on anyone or anything else. In this story, nothing bad will happen to you if someone else gets sick, goes bankrupt or suffers. 

Fungi mine stone to supply trees with minerals. Trees store extra sugar to dole out to fungi in need. A forest takes care of itself through reciprocity while humans insist on identifying with self.

A tree is a wondrous thing that shelters, feeds and protects all living things. It even offers shade to the ax-men who destroy it. Human nature at its "root" has the capacity to embody symbiosis once the story of separation fades away.

The basic default problem-solving template of our society is defeating evil by asserting dominance over the evil doers. It's the basic mentality of war, the go-to formula when we attempt to solve any problem in politics or otherwise. We are mostly blind to any other solutions. Systems generate beliefs and beliefs generate systems. It's the ourobouros, the snake eating it's own tail.

In the us vs. them rigid mindset the diagnosis always posits the other side is evil. The good vs. evil narrative is a weapon in the story of separation. It's pure war mentality and therefore dehumanizing.

Imagine we're all on a giant boat in the middle of the ocean stuck in a maelstrom, a massive whirlpool sucking us down into the abyss. If we realized we could all row at the same time we'd likely make our way out of the storm. Unfortunately, we're all distracted, brawling up on the deck.

What if we realized we were part of the problem? After all, we're part of the system, right? This is a huge challenge, a bitter pill to swallow, as our ego-identified righteousness keeps defaulting to ‘that other guy is the evil one, not me’.

Have you ever truly thought about where your own wound comes from? Have you ever wondered if you could conceive of justice outside the realm of punishment and place it in the realm of restoration and healing instead? Isn’t that the path of love?

In the us vs. them paradigm what if you're no better than the evildoers? What if the blind spot you see in them also exists within you?

The endless war we’ve declared on the symptoms of what we've determined is wrong with the world contributes to the conditions that caused those symptoms to begin with. We're cycling through the same patterns so what if we looked at creating a new system that embraces healing rather than winning and losing?  What if we looked deeper, at the root cause - competition, dominance over, and othering, to name a few of the obvious pathways to suffering.

We all know the felt experience of belonging yet we continue to look for the good guys and bad guys. This is a veil that keeps us from giving presence to our yearning to to be part a loving, healing community. What if we questioned this diagnosis? What if Darwin was wrong? Descartes too. And I'm sure we could brainstorm together to name a few others.

In the story of control, progress is measured by centralized domination. The story of connection understands that order naturally arises from chaos because the world is alive, vibrating on many frequencies, cells spinning. Instead of imposing control what if we listened more closely to what needs to shift?

If we accept the world is born of story, belief begins to wear thin, and even though superficial structures may remain in place, the veil becomes threadbare. The ideological core disintegrates and a new story emerges.

We imprint on everyone and everything we encounter so when we engage with others, what if we remembered to serve love, kindness, generosity and compassion? In doing so we strengthen that field of awareness. There is both power and humility in serving love. This is called morphic resonance which is natural law, quantum mechanics. The unseen realm. Rupert Sheldrake speaks eloquently on this.

In holding a space of interbeing and connection for those around you, trust you are powerful and brave. We become agents of awakening when we practice this brand of courage. We then shift things toward love through the law of morphic resonance. 

Every act is political and can either help align the world to the story of separation or connection. Actions that align with compassion will serve the story of connection. Actions that align with domination and violence will serve the story of separation. Story creates the system and we create the story.

We're living in an era where truth is being made visible. The ugly truths around white supremacy and racism, sexual abuse and violence, patriarchy and misogyny, all forms of othering, are symptoms of the story of separation. These truths are erupting at an unprecedented pace. The emperor has no clothes.

The cynicism running rampant today is a defensive response to the betrayal we've experienced over and over due to our hopeful view of the world and what was promised to us. With awareness of the cynicism and embracing the gift of intuition, our gut instincts, we can trust the unreasonable expectation that change is possible. We are then in a process of unlearning the unlearning.

"The way to make decisions is to take in all the information that's available to you, including the information that's been off the table, and let that in. Even the information you might once have felt justified ignoring or dismissing. All parts are useful."

~Charles Eisenstein

The key to unlocking any polarizing issue lies in looking at those things both sides unconsciously agree on. It resides in the questions that neither side is asking, and the unconscious assumptions that both sides share.

The fullness of the human experience is rarely discussed. We usually only talk only about the symptoms of our suffering. Ask yourself, is this all that's available? Attempt to bring in ALL the information before standing on your soapbox.

When investigating the symptoms, we tend to only look at what's on the menu. We need to look off menu and make the invisible visible. These may be the things we need to be talking about most of all, making the unseen seen.

We need to talk more about restoration, regeneration and protection. This shifts our mindset into problem solving mode rather than dystopian existential dread. Thing is, you can serve being right or you can serve the truth. Each has their payoffs but which one is useful for creating change?

You are made of many parts. Use all your resources. Don't fall into the trap of defining yourself as one type of person. We all have a full range of being. People love to reduce one another to one of the parts. This being human is a Guest House. Thank you Rumi.

Seems we are in the dilemma phase of humanity as so many of us feel stuck or trapped yet suddenly we see the prison bars for what they are. We both fear and desire impending liberation. This is an initiation, and an invitation for change. So, a gentle reminder, the wound is where the light enters. Rumi strikes again.

Trust the process of gathering information and serving the birth of a new story, embracing and radiating knowledge outward through random acts of kindness and unreasonable generosity.

In the chaos, or dilemma, we can take a step toward change by invoking a "memory of the future". We shape the new story while it shapes us. It's an act of faith and trust, an invitation.

Movements create us. Listen for the voices of change. They are whispering to us all the time. What would we do with our power once we realized it? Ay, there's the rub.

"Sometimes I am the terrorist I must disarm."

~June Jordan

"dont be an extremist about anythin but love. if you gon go hard about anythin, do it with love.​"

~Aja Monet

Rate article 
Community
Trending Articles
Masculinity
Climate Change Documentaries
Transition Documentaries
Subscribe for $5/mo to Watch over 50 Patron-Exclusive Films

Become a Patron. Support Films For Action.

For $5 a month, you'll gain access to over 50 patron-exclusive documentaries while keeping us ad-free and financially independent. We need 350 more Patrons to grow our team in 2024.

Subscribe here

Your support helps grow our 6000+ video library, which is 99% free thanks to our patrons!