Yes, Gabor's words exactly. About his path also on this hard road of understanding. Dorothy Day is a tough saint indeed. May her own duty to "be with" be a journalists mantra. And may all the Ali Mortadas exist to keep us on/in/aware that our path is part of the path. A tributary of awareness, grief, action, sharing.
Bless you, Patrick Lawrence, for your deep contributions. For humility. For words of true care. We can use this. Palestine must be the issue. And Lebanon, Syria, Iran will be loved into a sane existence again too. Be of good cheer. We can hold life dear. We work on loving as a collective verb. Write on.
Gabor Mate, the great Canadian psychotherapist, make the same point over and over. Do you want to be illusioned or dis-illusioned? The latter is the better pathway to decency.
The fall of the Syrian Arab Republic has been soul-crushing to see, but it seems once again to be another inevitable step towards a more fair and equitable world, as horrible as the short-term prospects for the Syrian people appear to be. What will 2025? One shudders to think, but like Stephen says, we cannot look away, not remain blind to what is happening, not allow ourselves to be consumed with fear and anger.
Craig Murray is now bearing witness to the destruction of Lebanon using US bombs and US money and under the protection of the US. So what he said in his Consortium News column last year again reinforces what he said. That brave man and his team are shooting videos and talking to residents about the wanton destruction of Beirut…as a drone is buzzing above their heads. He is resisting our own governing systems rather than be complicit. I think most everyone reading your post is doing the same thing.
Thanks Mr. Lawrence. I have been suffering with reoccurring depression for the past several days or so after reading up on some articles about climate change and the direction our society is heading. I have ceased celebrations. In fact, I have ceased to assign meaning to anything, because, well...I feel like there is none, at least, if something is horrible as what I am reading about may be allowed to happen by meaning-assigning humans like me.
My withdrawal and mourning of the inactivity I see around me (that is, the way people "do not want to lose their illusions", as you have put it) has actually rendered me inactive as well. It has paralyzed me. I recently reached out to a friend of mine in Gaza several days late–late, because I was struggling to see any reason or value in continuing. What harm this has caused her, I do not know yet, because she has yet to respond. This is a very extreme example, but it ties into your point, that celebrating, that having any conscious thought beyond illusion is a form of resistance. This also makes me wonder how fear and learned helplessness (or hopelessness) may play a role in propagating these illusions or ensuring that people remain convinced of their reliance on them.
"Tell it like it is." Aaron Neville 1966.
Yes, Gabor's words exactly. About his path also on this hard road of understanding. Dorothy Day is a tough saint indeed. May her own duty to "be with" be a journalists mantra. And may all the Ali Mortadas exist to keep us on/in/aware that our path is part of the path. A tributary of awareness, grief, action, sharing.
Bless you, Patrick Lawrence, for your deep contributions. For humility. For words of true care. We can use this. Palestine must be the issue. And Lebanon, Syria, Iran will be loved into a sane existence again too. Be of good cheer. We can hold life dear. We work on loving as a collective verb. Write on.
Gabor Mate, the great Canadian psychotherapist, make the same point over and over. Do you want to be illusioned or dis-illusioned? The latter is the better pathway to decency.
Thanks as always Patrick.
The fall of the Syrian Arab Republic has been soul-crushing to see, but it seems once again to be another inevitable step towards a more fair and equitable world, as horrible as the short-term prospects for the Syrian people appear to be. What will 2025? One shudders to think, but like Stephen says, we cannot look away, not remain blind to what is happening, not allow ourselves to be consumed with fear and anger.
Craig Murray is now bearing witness to the destruction of Lebanon using US bombs and US money and under the protection of the US. So what he said in his Consortium News column last year again reinforces what he said. That brave man and his team are shooting videos and talking to residents about the wanton destruction of Beirut…as a drone is buzzing above their heads. He is resisting our own governing systems rather than be complicit. I think most everyone reading your post is doing the same thing.
Thanks Mr. Lawrence. I have been suffering with reoccurring depression for the past several days or so after reading up on some articles about climate change and the direction our society is heading. I have ceased celebrations. In fact, I have ceased to assign meaning to anything, because, well...I feel like there is none, at least, if something is horrible as what I am reading about may be allowed to happen by meaning-assigning humans like me.
My withdrawal and mourning of the inactivity I see around me (that is, the way people "do not want to lose their illusions", as you have put it) has actually rendered me inactive as well. It has paralyzed me. I recently reached out to a friend of mine in Gaza several days late–late, because I was struggling to see any reason or value in continuing. What harm this has caused her, I do not know yet, because she has yet to respond. This is a very extreme example, but it ties into your point, that celebrating, that having any conscious thought beyond illusion is a form of resistance. This also makes me wonder how fear and learned helplessness (or hopelessness) may play a role in propagating these illusions or ensuring that people remain convinced of their reliance on them.