We don't need leaders, we don't need co-ordinators. Human beings have been conditioned since childbirth to be weak, selfish creatures. And almost every single one of us, with very few saintly exceptions, if and when we get in any position of power and authority, we will at some point ultimately look out for ourselves, for our loved ones, for our own benefit and self-interest. It's human nature (we've been conditioned to think). It's almost impossible to resist the temptation to be corrupted, when offered money & power in return. Especially the opportunity to lead a wealthy, safe life. It's inevitable we will succumb, because we all have suffered so much, that when presented with an easy way out, it becomes so much more appealing than the effort and energy it would take, to "try and change the world regardless".
I believe that's the whole point of the Zeitgeist movement.
Even the originators don't want to be giving people orders or tell them what to do. They suggest (and I for one am listening) that we should ALL be the same, we should ALL be as one, no-one should lead anyone else or co-ordinate others. Because such a system is inherently problematic. And we've all seen that happen all throughout history. Corruption hits ALWAYS in such scenarios, if not the people in power or the saintly charismatic leaders (which happens more often than not), then definitely their "followers" who all of a sudden decide that their "leaders" are not radical enough, or that they have forgotten or lost their will and commitment to total change..
And then those fanatics become "holier than thou" and start to resent their original "co-ordinators" and try to make change happen right now, THEIR way, whatever the cost in human life in the process, disregarding all of a sudden the "backward" teachings of their "co-ordinators". And suddenly, those same "leaders" find themselves losing their voice and power of persuasion, the situation goes out of control and they stand alone in a crowd of "newly enlightened" people who now hold a mob mentality and want to "burn" everything in sight. And those lonely leaders, charismatic and saintly that they are, cannot understand what went so wrong and how the people (starved for change) could so easily lose sight of what's right and what's wrong, and become lured in by the "dark side" of "each man out for himself".
And that's only the case with enlightened and saintly individuals who superhumanly manage to resist the temptation that threatens to corrupt them to their core. Imagine what happens to all of us, when they don't...
This has happened to EVERY political system this planet has EVER seen in its lifetime. Most probably because there is ALWAYS profit to be made (so people are lured into collecting it when given a chance to be in a position of power), and most likely because people ALWAYS prefer to try and change others and convert others to their OWN belief system, than risking the effort of trying to change themselves. If somehow there WAS NO PROFIT involved, then people would all of a sudden find themselves in a world where 90% of the reasons for conflict was eradicated. And by profit I mean money, status, power, difference.
All current political, religious and social systems try to break people into groups, into units. A divide & conquer mentality, that leaves people unaware of their value and potential for peace and love. Comparisons and discouraging accusations are made, judgement is being passed on and conflict arises as a result of that, in a self-perpetuating motif, that separates people into solitary helpless individuals. They then start looking out for a small circle of people (themselves and their loved ones, naturally), disregarding EVERYONE ELSE in the process. They cannot act any differently, they are "forced" to protect themselves against any external threat.
Those in "power" create the "EVIL OTHER" in the minds of innocent people, in order to focus their attention on how to "protect themselves" by handing over power and allegiance to "those of us in-the-know, that hold the keys to the mystery or prosperity and fortune". All of a sudden, people think they themselves know nothing, and they certainly must truly be blessed to be on the side of "good" and not on the side of "evil". So hallelujah to our "leaders" for knowing the truth, and hallelujah to our OWN belief system, because it's so EVIDENTLY better than everyone else's... We then become the blessed few, with all the knowledge, all the truth, and those "others" who aren't, had better agree with us and support (or serve) us, or else we will MAKE THEM "see the light", and we will MAKE THEM "save themselves from their lost, hopeless, sinful path they're on".
Hence, against our better will, while honestly seeking hope and change, we end up trusting some of us, we call them leaders or enlightened ones or co-ordinators, give them power and "order them" to change the world for us, make it a better place, and then we sit back and hope that they will magically change everything (especially ourselves with our tried and tested self-interest tendencies), while we remain, unchanged, guiltless and free to roam the world exactly the way we used to. In the meantime, those leaders are faced with the same or worse problems than before, alone to fend for themselves AND us, and if they some day even so much as TRY to change our ways for the better, we will respond by brutally accusing them for "disrupting our peace". And we will revolt or simply change them. With worse more incompetent ones.
And when they inevitably fail to make a difference, we call them corrupted or useless, in spite of them possibly belonging to a tiny group of pure good-doers. As a consequence, we may even force them to become corrupted, so that we can use them in our OWN self-interest. Imagine how we feel towards the ones that ARE actually corrupted. A vicious circle, worse than the worst nightmare humanity has ever had. That goes the same with ALL institutions and organisations, political systems and religious dogmas that we put our trust in, hoping they can ultimately "save us from ourselves"...
I believe, ANY change, must come from deep within ourselves first and foremost, it must come from actual real change in our everyday lives. In our perspective of the world. If every single one of us, (with the inspiration of the Zeitgeist movement for example or some other idea), starts to question whatever it is we're being served to eat (just see what's happening to my country Greece right now) and realizes the power of their will for freedom, justice and love, then things MIGHT begin to change.
If one person starts to care for something and then tries to "convince" or "co-ordinate" or "lead" people into changing the world, he will almost always fail in changing the world. There will always be negative forces battling his every move. There will always be resistance. Matter and energy tend to stay where they are, unless forced to change by an external factor. So when the external factor arrives, there will always be resistance, equal to the amount of the power that the external factor has to begin with. People are like (and ARE INDEED) physics. If someone tries to MAKE us do something, we will more often than not RESIST with equal strength and persistence, as the offender. And thus violent conflict ensues, that NEVER ends, until one side caves in. Whatever that may mean for the "loser" and the "winner".
i.e. If one of us starts caring for the environment, and tries to convince others to do so too, by violent force, he will be met with equal or even disproportionately stronger resistance. If all of us however start caring for the environment and "lead by example", then the said social stigma of environmentalists for example will be eradicated, because EVERY one will have now become an environmentalist. And change will have already happened. No need for conflict. No need for violence. No need for separatists. No need for "us and them". We would all be the same. No need or reason to argue or fight or try to preach or "save" others.
It only takes the effort of ONE to change ONESELF.
And the same goes with everything else, not just the environment. EVERY aspect of our daily life. Everything we do, all the people we interact with, every situation we find (or put) ourselves into. If we change ourselves, we will instantly succeed in changing the world.
See what I mean?
The solution and the "critical mass" needed to achieve good and prosperity for ALL mankind is among OURSELVES. Right now. Not out there to be harvested and expected and entrusted on a few "leaders" or enlightened/worthy/saintly/gifted individuals. Those people, though we might respect or hold for what they ultimately are (a precious source of inspiration and courage), are still people, flawed and weak like ourselves. And we shouldn't weaken them more by placing our fate and the fate of the whole mankind on their hands. They simply CANNOT and WON'T succeed in changing the whole wide world. If they even try, they will be met with opposition and resistance. They will be forced to use violent conflict and humanity will be worse for it. We will all suffer disproportionately more than we could tolerate. It's happened before. Hey, it's been happening EXACTLY like that since the beginning of time.
Isn't it time we did thing differently? Isn't it about time we take responsibility for our own actions and we take things in our own hands while trying to change whatever it is that's holding us down?
Let's start with little things.
Things we can all do differently in our everyday life. Treat ourselves AND ESPECIALLY others the way we would enjoy being treated ourselves. Then take it up a notch, do something more challenging, like GIVE a little SOMETHING, and EXPECT NOTHING in return... Then do a bit more, then a bit more, even. Every day, tiny bits of change, of progress. Small things. Easy things.
Baby steps.
And take it from there.
Sure there will be bad days, when resistance will be greater than our strength to overcome it. I myself, can always find excuses to contradict myself and my better intentions, and I do. After all, we alone are ourselves' most violent opponents. Wouldn't you agree? Let's give ourselves permission to fail every now and then. And not hurt ourselves with thoughts of negativity and failure. If we didn't fail, if we never made mistakes, we would never learn anything. Right? Others have the right to make mistakes too. Like we do. And they shouldn't have to be tormented for and because of them, much like we shouldn't torment ourselves.
We can learn forgiveness from all this.
Sure there will be days when we are faced with conflict from all those others out there, who are a little behind in THEIR struggle to change. Let's not allow them to set us back. Let's not let them influence us back into remission. And for God's sake, let's NOT TRY AND CHANGE THEM. Let them be, they have their own battles to fight. Their own ghosts to combat. They don't need OUR truth. They have their own. Instead, we should all stand our own ground, and stay on our OWN path to improvement. And maybe then THEY will find us inspiring and courageous and will focus THEIR strength, not on fighting us, but on bettering themselves. This could possibly one day eradicate conflict and violence. They are not better than us, nor are they worse than us. They are just themselves and they have every right to be, much like we have every right to be as we are, inside our own path of betterness (sic). We shouldn't judge them and if they judge us, then we should not allow ourselves to agree with them. Or fight them because of it.
We can learn tolerance from all that.
Before we know it, we will turn ourselves into new, better versions of ourselves. And we will have done so without the help of leaders or co-ordinators. We will have used others only as inspiration or support, rather than as enemies or suppressors. And maybe "they" will have done so "themselves". I believe in the essential good of EVERYONE. If we take away all those reasons that others could use against us (reasons we first and foremost create ourselves), they will eventually have no ammunition and they will have to concentrate on themselves and their own path. And change will happen, step by step, without violence or conflict. And we will move on.
We can learn progress from all that.
There will be people who will downright refuse to change. Rather, they will most probably attempt to judge us, hurt us, categorize us, fragment us, suppress us, influence us, control us or violently fight us. Let's do our best to resist that. If we find ourselves in pain or agony or weakened by such actions, let's find support in like-minded individuals, friends, family, whatever each and every one of us holds dear and special in our hearts. And protect ourselves. NOT FIGHT them or attempt to CHANGE them. Let's not give in to the ease of all the negative emotions that we could use as weapons. If we survive (and unfortunately not all of us will), sooner or later they won't. They will be deprived of the kind of support we enjoy from our allies and loved ones. They will find themselves alone, fighting a futile fight, because we will never give it to their provocations. They will become isolated in their own short-sightedness and they will eventually fight themselves. So they will probably wither away, and we will have survived and moved forward, without conflict or violence. Still on our path to become better and kinder, with love in our hearts, not hate. So the more people we have in the world changing, the less people will there be who don't.
We can learn evolution from all this.
Evolution is tolerance, forgiveness, progress. And with it, comes change. Change that not only we can believe in (sic) but also change that we alone can control and enforce on ourselves. And if we ALL succeed in changing ourselves, there will come a day, that all of a sudden the whole wide world will have changed. And Love will be One.
I'll drink to that, and from today, I am officially embarking on my own path towards change.
Good luck to you if you so choose to embark on yours.
And if and when our paths meet please honk and smile.
Promise I'll do the same.
It's good to know we are not alone.
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