Privatising Public Space to Realise Peace is Freedom

I’ve just been told by a waitress that if I don’t buy coffee I do not have the right to be in a space I thought was public.  I was to discover it had been corporatized.  I sat back and thought of all those people who do not have money who are increasingly marginalised from their community.  You hear people talk about social isolation without any regard for the economic structures that induce isolation of people given they do not fit in to the corporate box.

I recall Scott Ritter the former Senior Weapons Inspector in Iraq state at a public meeting in Melbourne about his concerns about the citizen becoming the consumer.  It appears the votes now are based on spend not opinion.  I was trained as an economist at a time when Users Pay emerged for the first time.  I recall buses being free, education free, hospitals free and tea ladies in Government Departments where tea breaks were 15 minutes in the morning and afternoon.  I studied just prior to the information revolution of laptops and mobile phones. I recall the first time I could access the internet from home and being amazed at the time.

Today I can see where we are heading and I know the real loss to our society as I have lived in society and seen the impacts around the world.  I recall the creeping capitalism in Central and South America.  I saw the ghettoization in certain parts of Santiago.  I recall Jesus on the cross in all parks, I regarded this as a metaphor.  My ex partner painted the most amazing painting of nature put on the cross.  He had nails through the branches.  He passed this to David Suzuki the famous Scientist who advocates for harmony with nature.  

The earth will one day be a corporation registered in New York.  Then people who exist on the planet on average 80 years lay claim to the earth that has been in existence for more than 4 billion years.

I recall studying as an economics student.  I recall going into a shop, I mentally observed myself locating a product, comparing prices, picking it up (as the product was not mine) taking it to the counter, having the staff member state the price, I then gave objects called money to exchange for the good.  I mentally went through the process of ownership.  I observed my rights to the product only after this medium of exchange had occurred, prior to that it was not mine.  Of course mine becomes identification with the product as owned and if someone came to me and took it out of my hands, then ran off, I could say ‘thief’ and other people would come and arrest this person for breaking the property rule of ownership.  Yet if I allowed this person to run off with my product in the awareness it is no longer mine, as the person needed it, if compassion moved me to regard the other as needing it more than me, I might say that how do I know the product is not mine, the other has it.  Of course Byron Katie (www.thework.com) explains it beautifully in respect of a unity consciousness that includes all experiences as part of a life experience.  Who regards life as happening and non-resistance as peacefully accepting ‘what is’ as it is.  This is far removed from the world of economic rationalism and capitalism that defines itself by the amount of digits on a balance sheet or in the bank account.  Of course prior to money humans identified with tribal status, the number of cows (in some cultures), cowrie shells (as exchange) or god forbid wives.  All signs of wealth and prestige that defined the primitive human condition as somehow more than or some sense of security arising from.

When I observe the public space shrinking and commensurate with this, the rights of citizens diminishing as public goods are transferred cleverly from the public sphere to the private sphere, I feel the shadow of fear arising in its many manifestations.  It seems we never seem to learn how to break free of the control paradigm that has held humanity back for thousands of years.  Yet at the same time I wonder if we can break through the illusion of ownership which has no future on a planet that is responding to the mass extraction, biological interference, chemicalised production, pollutants pushed up into the atmosphere, sludge released from tankers, garbage dumps at sea and CO2 emissions that have transgressed tipping points.  I see this blindness in activity with no real meaning and no real purpose that continues on giving its power over to the blind faith of monetary wealth without wisdom. 

I know I am not the only one who sees this.  I talk to people in the community.  I asked a young girl today what she thought of western society, she came from Sri Lanka.  She found it stressful and busy and she could see there was no real community here.  I have travelled to communities all around the world and I have seen how they come together, how they really know each other, in some villages they grow up together and die in the same place.  They have witnessed each others trials and tribulations, they have sought to survive in a world that has technologically overtaken the basics whereby it is impossible for the simple villager to compete with the savy professionals who know the system.  I saw their vulnerability as uneducated. My colleague at the time was a Rotarian (former business consultant) who was seeking to bring western styled education to this remote area.  He and I discussed the ramifications of bringing this mindset to an innocent people who valued family, community, lived in the fresh air away from the hustle and bustle of cities.  He had given deep thought to this and he was troubled on one hand about introducing this education program yet on the other they demanded it as they wanted to join in the capitalist system and live like the Americans. They had no concept of the problems that come with western styles of life and the massive disconnection that occurs through focusing on technology over people or as Noam Chomsky (intellectual) wrote Profit Over People.  This is the promotion of self interest over common interest.

In truth the earth belongs to no-one.  It is a sacred space as the indigenous wisely observed, whereby this living system is deeply responsive to all changes.  It is an entity in its own right, it is conscious, and it is a brilliant system where the sum of the parts exceeds the whole.  It is a system based on homeostasis where the essence is that the system of a whole wins when all contributes to the good of the system.  If a species gets out of control this living system responds and that species over a period of time will die off as it is not able to work in balance or harmony with the whole.  This living system has wide tolerances and it adapts in order to function optimally.  It is a living system endlessly giving as all is interconnected.  The species system is in harmony with the whole.  I feel this intuitively when I feel ‘peace’ arise within myself. I see myself as part of this species system where my love of the planet is what stops me from acquiring endless assets and defining my life by materialism. When you have loved like I have and not allowed a often disconnected world to change my inner feeling, you see yourself as part of echo-system that reflects back to you true love.  The trees provide me with oxygen (there is no cost, no fear in this), the soils produce crops, fruits, herbs and the waterways carve out streams which provide me with water.  The system is abundantly giving of itself so all can live.  I so resonate with this form of love in action that requires no accolades, no recognition, no ego gratification, it is in itself just being who it is without grandeur.  I really love this humility.  I resonate with this as I learn to live on less money than most, I learn to allow life to flow and seek to find a way to live in this world but not be of it.  I do not wish to join in the destruction of the planet, I wish to walk another path where all are welcome, where all can share in a spirit of community, where no-one is isolated or left behind because they don’t fit the mould.  Where all recognise the greatness within themselves rather than seeking it outside themselves.  Where all come into the recognition that happiness is the sign you are in alignment with your own truth and that other truths are just that, other truths.  You do not have to be approved or agreed with, it is okay for each to choose their path.  If I am not approved of that is okay too as I cannot change another from choosing their judgements and beliefs. I would want them to be free to choose whatever serves them.  Life is both positive and negative experiences.  I remember Patch Adams stating that whether he brings joy or challenges others, he still remains happy.  He is not seeking approval or to fit in. It was in his own personal life transition, in the mental institution that he truly found himself, he said he committed to making every day happy.  He would not follow any other path.  he would bring joy to others and he has done that.  He said he is not into religion or spirituality but for him, friendshipism was his joy. He loved making friends and the feeling of community.  So he travelled the world to the saddest, poorest places and made friends as a simple clown. He brought others on these trips to experience the feeling of a tribe, a community, to learn unconditional love in service to humanity.  I was one of those privileged enough to go with him.  I felt inspired to join him as he said he was into peace.  So I went along knowing it was my destiny to go on this journey. Little did I know how wise this Fool was.  He actually calls himself a Fool.  He had us go to orphanages and be with the children who had no family, who had come out of disruptive homes and who were vulnerable to criminal elements coming into the homes. At the time we were in Saint Petersburg there were around 600,000 abandoned children (or more).  So we learned to give love to strangers, to people we’d never met, we became instant friends and allowed love to flow to these beautiful children as they had never known unconditional love.  We gave until we were exhausted.  To smile into the eyes of thousands of people offering friendship was an honour.  It was us that received.  For as we gave without any agenda, we received the feeling of community and joy to the point where our own egos disappeared.  We became ONE with the people and that for me is what mirrors the echo system I spoke of before.  I felt myself as one with every person I met and I felt this extraordinary love flow from one to the other.  I saw this as ‘laughter as the best medicine’ as we all felt so good. Every person was accepted, every person approved of, every person included, every person valued.  Not one left out. This was the community that I felt drawn to co-creating. I saw the potential in the human family to come together in peace.

I recall in Saint Petersburg interviewing the clowns (see my website www.worldpeacefull.com).  I asked them about peace. They spoke of their great love for all the people they met. They spoke about the world they had all come from that was selfish, self seeking, cruel and unaware of the joy of this precious moment in time.  We had stepped into the what I feel was the ‘real world’ as it was completely unconditional, as nature is unconditional. There were no lines of division – this is mine, this is yours – or status where one is better the other is lesser – there was no one is more beautiful another ugly – all became beautiful in this world because in truth it was not the world that changed, it was us.  As I deepened the love I felt for humanity I deepened the love I felt for myself.  I saw the mirror of the other reflected in the joy on my own face.  I saw no-one as unacceptable, I was ready to give whatever I had to them. It was not a loss it was an expansion in my own sense of humanity that occurred.  I realised this was the real abundance.

So when I see the loss of public space I know that fear has captured people in authority or power.  I see they are grabbing onto more and more to feel the power they feel is not enough.  If only they had the opportunity to step into the world I have had the privilege to enter and experience that abundance is always available when you open your heart in innocence to others.  When you seek the peace in yourself and give it to another through sharing what you have, considering how they feel, giving more than they expect and being positive and accepting of diversity. That is when a leader lives by example.  That is when this leader realises they are here to serve humanity not take from it.  This is the real leadership that humanity is crying out for at this time.  We don’t want more kings with serfs, nor emperors in palaces, we want leadership that has a vision to show those who cannot see that they are great, that all are teachers and learners, that all are leaders and followers when the whole is served as the self.  This is how I know the way we are going right now will not serve humanity.  I see it as a direction that will lead the planet to collapse and to uprisings as people become aware of how they are being treated.

So values are the Fool’s gold that I offer to all who read this.  I offer it in real humility.  I offer it as pearls of love to each person. May they find their true happiness through living to give.  May they find their true purpose by following their heart even if it seems foolish.  May they find the real world by respecting themselves so that they can respect the diversity of others.  May they find their journey is magnificent, that no one person is lesser or greater that all are great, as Patch wisely stated in Moscow.  He said most just don’t know it.  Can we learn to uplift others rather than put them down.  Can we give them a hand up not a hand out.  Can we find ourselves in them, this is how we reunite humanity, one person at a time.

So I reclaim the public space which I will call inner space.  I will give of myself until the end of my life.  I will receive so another can learn to give.  I will let go of false god’s and find the real source of love within myself and never allow another to take from me what I was born with. I will not allow another to devalue me because they do not value themselves.  So I send this Fool’s Gold into the world as the real currency of love that will change the planet, returning it to homeostasis. For this is the recalibration, the global reset that is occurring silently in your dreams.  

For it is time to move on and live my dreams.

Peace, om shanti.

*I just felt to write this poem as I felt the inspiration for unity arising within my heart.

THE TRUTH BEYOND SPACE AND TIME

I feel for space,

I feel for the truth beyond space and time,

I feel for the true expression of balance,

I reach for the values of a meaningful life,

I wait for my moment in the sun… patiently,

I await the movement which is arising momentarily,

I feel the warmth of kindness as life supports my every need,

For in every need is the desire for kindness,

This is the love that gives,

That lives in homeostasis,

That is the real currency of abundance,

That will always return to you in higher yields,

As you yield your ego,

As you let go of your greed,

As you allow control to fall away,

As you let yourself say,

What you truly feel and think without censure,

Then the world watches you aghast at your incredible life,

For they can see you and you free them with your words of truth,

Authenticity is not to be seen to be but to be seen and to BE,

For when you are real others will follow your lead,

As night follows day,

You cannot bare false witness to any other.

Leadership serves through self sacrifice,

Revealing your truth, your life to the world not as an act of self aggrandisement

but giving permission for others to be seen, heard and BE free,

For the real freedom is visibility and authenticity,

It is placing all your cards on the table,

Not keeping one up your sleeve,

For it is not the winning hand it is the honest hand,

It is the clean hand that doesn’t take money to change hands,

For this hand cares nothing for winning or losing,

It only seeks hands above the table to be visible in this game,

For money will come and go,

But friendship is the real purpose of the game,

As we sit together and play as friends,

There are no concealed hands,

All hands are above boards,

For friends will never cheat, lie or harm another,

For it is the friendship that is valued above all winning,

As this is the true wealth of nations,

This is the Gross National Happiness

A gift that keeps on giving.

For friends look after each other,

They will not see you on the street,

You will never be homeless or bereft,

For a friend will gently take your hand,

and understand your plight,

They will not seek to be right but a kite,

Free flowing and wild,

They will never fight to win you over,

They will truthfully tell you when you can’t see,

For this is what it means to truly care,

For life is to live fully (fooly) and move on

in peace.

It is the peace that all seek,

And this only returns in kind.