Revolutionary Misfit

Dare to be Inspirational

A System that Breeds Apathy

by Leave a Comment

A System that Breeds Apathy

Our society is currently based on a system that breeds apathy and complacency.

How?

I can best use myself as an example.

For the longest time I was convinced that money was the answer for everything.

If I could just make enough of it, well, then everything would go right with my world…the world.

How much was enough?

That’s a question I could never seem to answer to my satisfaction.

I did make some money…by some standards, a lot of it.

Did everything go right?

No, it didn’t.

And then something happened to me.

The realization began to dawn that money wasn’t the answer.

That money could not bring happiness…

to me, or…

to the world.

The indigenous cultures that our western capitalistic-minded ancestors displaced…

in their insatiable quest for land, gold and slaves…

knew very well that money wasn’t the answer. In fact, they didn’t even use it.

They knew that happiness comes from being part of a tribe consisting of individuals who don’t frantically seek their own well-being…

but the well-being of the tribe.

But we dismissed them as savages and just, well, kinda brushed them out of the way of our development.

Now we’ve reached a point in that development where it’s becoming apparent that something’s wrong with this system.

That something’s wrong when your life is reduced to a constant need to produce just enough of those little green papers adorned with pictures of dead notables…

to barely eek out a living.

The thought of taking care of a tribe,

well, that becomes a preposterous idea.

I’ve got to take care of me…and I’ve got my hands full just doing that!

Leave the taking care of others to people who have the whereabouts to concern themselves with that sort of a thing.

Leave that to the 1%’ers who we often see trumpeted in the media for giving back…

when in reality only a handful give a tiny fraction back in order to salve their aching consciences….

aching because of the gross luxury of their existence…

while some have nothing but a hole to shit in.

I saw a bunch of right-winger Facebook posts the other day admiring Donald Trump for giving 25 grand to the marine who was held in Mexico.

Trump giving $25,000 to that guy is like me giving 25 cents to a beggar on the street.

While both acts are laudable, they’re not worth going viral about.

We need more compassion than that to save this world.

After this dawning of my impact consciousness I began to feel the pains of the problem we all face when considering a life of impact…

How do I make a living?

Ah, the paradox of our system.

The answer to that question can be so daunting that we just give up on the notion.

We become apathetic once again…

We’ve got to fight against that inclination.

We, the 99%, are the ones who are going to change things for the better.

I can assure you that we cannot afford to leave it to the Donald Trumps of this world. The system works too well for them.

We can’t be apathetic and kid ourselves that we can leave it to the ones who are the very source of the problem.

The time to act is now.

Let’s get busy!

image credit: jonathan_franzone via Compfight cc

The Impact Point

by 1 Comment

The Point is Impact

Would it surprise you to know that there is, in fact, a point to this blog?

The home page reads…

The Revolutionary Misfit site is a forum for thought, conversation and inspiration on the topic of impact mindfulness.

So, if you kinda get an inkling about that vague word, impact, you’d at least be getting really warm, as you’re struggling to grasp the impact point.

Because the fact is, we all have one…

It’s hard to get away from it, really.

Remember when grocery store check-out clerks always would ask, “paper or plastic?”

Seems like an innocuous choice, but an impactful one nonetheless.

If you stop to consider that plastic is made of the same substance that when burned releases dreaded carbon into the atmosphere.

And if you consider that normal plastic basically never breaks down, environmentally.

And then there’s the matter of so much plastic waste ending up as floating garbage dumps in our oceans, or in the bellies of fish and sea mammals.

Of course, there’s a problem with paper too…it can get confusing.

So, the decision, as small and insignificant as it might at first blush seem, has impact…

As does the stupid act of giving us that choice to begin with.

Whenever you use a public restroom facility, do you leave the light on, or do you flip it off?

Again, a choice with impact.

When you shop for groceries, do you buy locally grown stuff, or manufactured food, filled with chemicals, and that has to be shipped in from afar?

Impact-full choice, once again.

And then there’s the bigger impacts…

Like what we choose to do with the vast majority of our life time allotment in exchange for those little green pieces of paper adorned with images of dead notables.

Who we vote for.

What we consume, physically, or mentally.

How we use our “free” time.

What we contribute towards enhancing the well-being of others, including the less fortunate.

How we simply treat other people.

What we think of them if they happen to have been borne different from us.

So, you see, there probably isn’t a more point-full topic to blog about than impact.

This blog is simply an attempt to get people to pay more attention to the impacts they have on a moment to moment basis.

You know, like to leave the earth (and its inhabitants)  better than the way we found it (and them).

And I believe that there are three things that generally impede our being mindful of impacts…

  1. Self-interest (especially the economic variety)
  2. Small us thinking
  3. Impact blinders

If you desire to know more, there is a plethora of posts regarding each of these impediments.

But, in our westernized world, it’s private property that gets the lion’s share of our mindfulness.

We work hard to acquire it, maintain and grow it, protect it and ultimately pass it on in some form or another (sale, inheritance, etc.).

We only ask of others that they refrain from impacting our shit in any negative way.

What they do with everything else…who cares!

That pretty much sums up the narrow spectrum of popular thought regarding impact.

“Don’t tread on me”, becomes our battle-cry as we engage in grave struggles in the name of private property protection (we call it freedom, since that provides better motivation)…

We even coin a new phrase for the acquisition of stuff and immortalize that in our most cherished freedom document…

We call it…

The pursuit of happiness.

But then the reality finally hits that this is a non-sustainable notion.

As we just witnessed in 2008, when the excesses of Wall Street’s great decade of capital sequestration ended up impacting Main Street in a negative way as the value of everyone’s stuff plummeted…

Except for those that didn’t have any to begin with…

In that case, the people themselves were devalued.

Impact is simply hard to get away from…it’s sort of built in, like a physical law.

Now, granted, hedging against all hell breaking loose may not be the most laudable reason to be impact mindful.

But, hey, at least it’s a reason.

Working to enhance the enjoyment of all life forms on this planet helps assure that they won’t try just as hard to rob me of mine.

On Being a non-Political Spiritual Person

by Leave a Comment

On Being an NPSP (non-Political, Spiritual Person)

A while back I wrote a post about being an NRSP (non-Religious, Spiritual Person).

This morning, I want to expand that a little, to the realm of politics.

For some, politics and religion are basically one and the same. So, in that sense, this post may risk redundancy.

But, in my mind, there is at least a subtle difference in the real world, if not the one inhabited by habitual watchers of the Fox News channel.

When I say non-political, I don’t mean abstaining from involvement in causes that have political impact. Many great changes in our society came about as a result of that…the Civil Rights Act of 1964 immediately comes to mind.

No, on the contrary, activism is a good, even spiritual, thing to get involved in…it’s a vehicle for impact, for sure.

What I’m getting at is this “game” of politics that we enjoy playing perhaps a bit too much. The one that presupposes winners and losers, like any typical sporting event. Except, in this case, people and planet are at stake, not championship trophies, or rings.

The game that pits the blues against the reds. The one that’s the frequent source of vitriol seen in Facebook comments and Twitter feeds. The one that propels the status quo. The one that assures nothing ever gets done in the nation’s capital, or in the capital of your state.

The one of political ads claiming that the Ebola virus is the greatest threat civilization has ever faced, while continuing to deny the scientifically proven planetary threat of climate change.

I tend to stay out of political arguments. Now, is that always the case? No, I sometimes wade in gently, if I feel that things are being said that defy logic and common sense.

But it usually only results in getting called names, like libtard. Not sure where that one originated, but you see it a lot lately.

The heat of hateful political discourse has been turned up to unbearable levels since the election of Barack Obama as the first black President of the U.S.A.

Why is that?

No, I’m not about to play the race card. So, please read on…

Obama has been a politically polarizing figure like no other. There are some who think he can do no wrong…others that he can do no right…and a few in the middle.

I believe the middle is the safest place to be, unless you feel the need for gang affiliation. Because it’s those on the fringes who always seem ready to rumble and rip each others throats out.

And it’s those fringes that represent the zones of political discourse experiencing the most rapid growth.

That’s too bad and actually quite threatening because we need change in our society, now like no other time in my lifetime.

But if all we can do is disagree, sometimes solely for the sake of disagreeing and feeling that euphoric high of rightness (which some equate to right-eous-ness), then we shouldn’t be too optimistic about positive change happening.

The rich will keep getting richer and the poor poorer and more alienated from the idea of the American Dream…

The “too big to fail” Corporatocracy will continue to control the economic and political system for their selfish benefit in the name of capitalistic freedom…

And the weather will keep getting hotter and weirder, species will continue to disappear, oceans will rise, storms will rage and the human race will rapidly head towards the next great event of planetary extinction.

I don’t believe the answer to our problems will be found in any political argument.

I rather believe that it lies within a shift in the paradigm of thought.

To one that recognizes that we’re all in this boat together…

the reds and the blues…

the us and the them…

And really the last thing that matters is what your voter registration card might say.

And, no, this is not an admonition against voting, ala Russell Brand. After all, we can’t just sit back and blame the politicians…they’re just puppets and we hold the strings that pull them via that important constitutionally granted power.

It’s an encouragement not to participate in the game of polarizing political discourse.

To be a non-Political Spiritual Person.

To take the politics out of discourse and turn all that into discussions of mutual benefit.

image credit: Truthout.org via Compfight cc

A Suffix that Sucks

by Leave a Comment

A Suffix that Sucks!

Lately my mind has been over-preoccupied with visions of “re-patriation.”

Needless to say, new ones (i.e., ideas, visions, etc.) have been kinda crowded out in that process.

But, thankfully, I have my good old stash of CRG posts (all 612 of them) out there to be used on occasion for spare parts…

I’ve received a few comments on various posts over the years that attempt to label me as one of those nut-jobs who leans towards socialism, or even communism.

Hell, some will quickly label you that way as soon as they find out you voted for Obama.

I believe some might get that impression because in the past I’ve mentioned the likes of Che, or Sandino in a favorable light.

Actually I really don’t feel qualified to judge the ways in which men choose to govern themselves.

I simply call it like I see it.

I once observed the world through very restrictive lenses…

Back then, if you didn’t believe in my Big Three C’s of Christ, Capitalism and Conservatism (the Republican political brand) you were doomed to the fiery depths of hell.

When you grow up in a particular place and associate only with particular people, you tend to have views about the world that are “in line” with your environment.

That’s understandable.

But almost invariably as soon as one ventures out a bit further from the fold, new vistas of thought and perception open.

Especially if you’re a person who isn’t content to just take in new experiences sensorially…

and not allow yourself to venture into deeper levels of awareness.

You may refuse yourself that luxury because of being so anchored in your traditional experience of life.

You’re content to play the role of outsider looking in.

But then there are those adventurous types who open up their hearts and minds, becoming a part of their experience.

I’m definitely one of those types.

And I’ve become a part of the Latin American experience.

I’m still a gringo, no doubt about that (I get reminded of it frequently), but I’ve come to empathize with the feelings that Latin people have towards my previous paradigm that would have quickly condoned capitalistic imperialism as being “the will of God.”

It isn’t.

And all that leads not to the conclusion that I’m a socialist, nor a communist.

In fact, I don’t believe that any particular brand of ism, meaning a scheme of government, world-view, or religion, has it 100% right.

In my humble opinion, ISM is a suffix that sucks!

You see, when folks believe that they do (have it all right), problems occur, resentments are fomented, wars are started, people are oppressed and slaughtered and humanity is generally brought a notch lower.

I don’t have the answers and don’t mean to pretend to.

I don’t believe anyone does.

But I do believe in a few things.

Like being compassionate and open-minded and trying to understand why people believe and behave differently and not condemning them for doing so.

I also believe that we’re all connected.

That there’s some force outside of our understanding that is in control and has given us a purpose and that it’s not to pursue our destruction (that word “our” implying and encompassing a sense of connectedness with each other, the natural world, and the universe).

Too often the isms lead us down that road of mutually assured destruction.

Usually it’s because we become convinced in our hearts and minds that “we” are right and “they” are wrong.

But that just isn’t necessarily so and until we can begin to grasp the idea that no one’s completely right and that we’re all in this (boat) together, I’m fearful that we will go on destroying each other and our planet.

I believe that most of these ism’s, world views, religions, or whatever you want to call them have some element of good in them.

The “good” that works for the common benefit of the entire connected world.

Maybe we should just focus on that and disregard all the rest.

image credit: phill.d via Compfight cc

9-11: A Day that Went from Bad to Worse

by Leave a Comment

9-11: A Day that Went from Bad to Worse

This post first appeared in the CRG blog on September 11, 2010…

I was in Hawaii on September 11, 2001. The time there is 6 hours behind that of the east coast of the U.S. So I groggily answer a call around 4:00 am from an employee of Live Oak Capital (my former company) that informed me that the U.S was under terrorist attack. “Huh,” was my foggy brained response. And right after that (as I began to awaken, perturbed by the call), “is this some kind of a joke” (or something to that effect). Flipping on the tube I found out quickly that no it was definitely not a joke.

I always get mesmerized by these 9-11 anniversaries when we relive each and every second of that fateful morning. Surely there has never been an event in world history that was as carefully documented and broadcasted live as 9-11. And each and every videotape serves as a precious reminder of just how vulnerable even the greatest superpower can be.

What is always most inspiring on these days of remembrance and what always tends to make one a little prouder to be from the U.S., is the level of courage and selflessness on display that day. Political, ideological, ethnic, religious, or economic differences ceased to matter. For a brief moment, what mattered most was preserving life. And many lost theirs in the attempt.

The decision by those courageous “average joes” (who in reality were anything but) on flight 93, who in an instant, as soon as they figured out exactly what the five hi-jackers were really up to, decided to put an end to their plot, is heroic beyond words that I am capable of expressing. Likewise the courage of N.Y.C. police and firefighters who stormed into those burning buildings and then up those stairwells to hell, is also hard to describe with mere words. And then there were the ordinary citizens, caught up in something they certainly hadn’t planned for that morning, who simply helped one another.

I heard a quote today that came close to offering up at least semi-adequate words.

That the 9-11 tragedy showed us the worst of our enemies and the best of ourselves.

Some would use the event of 9-11 to provoke hatred. I would rather remember it to inspire love, love of country, but also love of humanity. That is what will conquer evil.

Yes, 9-11 was a day that went from bad to worse, but on that day a country went from great to greater.

MikeJonesPhoto via Compfight cc

The Impact Mindfulness Worldview

by 3 Comments

peole planet universe

When you first hear or read the phrase impact mindfulness, what comes to mind?

Probably some sort of save the world kinda of a thing, no?

And it is that, but much more.

In this post I want to explain in more detail what the impact mindfulness worldview really means.

You see, the normal way of thinking about personal impact is to put the cart before the horse…

That the best way for me to have an impact on the world is to first focus in a self-interested way on my economic success…and from that firmly established and comfortable platform, I can have my greater impact.

Sounds perfectly legitimate…doesn’t it?

Here’s the problem with it.

If you’re Donald Trump and you make sure that a certain percentage of your success is funnelled towards some type of image-driven impact, a certain very small percentage…

It doesn’t detract from the fact that the other 90+% of your daily energy and focus is purely self-interested, group interested, consumption oriented and certainly not People and Planet interested.

The impact mindfulness worldview suggests that a larger percentage of your interest be impact focused. In fact, all of it…

Yea, you heard that right, 100%!

It must permeate every aspect of your life.

It must become who you are and what you’re about.

Because only when enough people do that will we begin to solve the problems we have in this world…

Problems that have been exponentially growing to uncontrollable proportions…

right before our very eyes in just the last generation.

Problems like religious fanatics that unleash genocidal rage on unbelievers, global warming that’s already wreaking havoc on the planet’s weather systems, a growing income gap that threatens social unrest around the globe, developed nations that are literally consuming the world out of existence, etc., etc…

We have a killer virus on the loose in Africa and it seems the worldwide response is to seal borders and leave those inside them to their fate…rather than find a real (but non-marketable) solution.

To solve these problems impact can’t be sequestered in that small slice of our lives we label as charitable.

It must pervade every waking moment of your conscious existence.

That’s the “mindset” of impact mindfulness.

It’s not simply donating time or money to this or that worthy cause…even though doing so is a very good and impact worthy activity.

It’s adopting a mindset that sees the world and our place in it in terms of the three foundational pillars of Impact Mindfulness…

Prioritizing Impact Over Interest – that is, making sure our daily choices or activities, especially those consumptive and economically focused ones, are impact mindful…

Embracing the Concept of The Big US – that is, seeing the entire world and its inhabitants as fellow crew members on a planetary ship…the only ship we have…so that it becomes of utmost priority that we take care of it and each other…

Removing Impact Blinders – that is, being mindful of status quo ways of thinking that serve to trap us into doing “it” (life) in the same old destructive ways…you might even call that “wilful blindness.”

The world, our world, needs people who are thinking and acting according to the impact mindfulness worldview.

These are the people that can save us…

and they are YOU and ME.

Please join us at Revolutionary Misfit and be a part of the change!

Connect with RM

Revolutionary Misfit social media connections...