Marianne…have followed you for years and treasure your teaching of ACIM…and I supported your run for President but your rhetorical lately is too radical left with a constant underlying tone of death and destruction. You play right into the agenda of mainstream media..to keep us in constant fear and division.
There are radicals on either side but many good as well…Democrats as corrupt as Republicans. Biden is very wealthy and has never done anything but be a politician…where does his wealth come from? You speak like Democrats are regular people like us…They are NOT!
While this post was well thought out and highly intelligent as anything you produce….it is meant for more division when we need unity and way more love and understanding on both sides. There is a lot of good going on in this world…I see it everyday in my community and it’s just us regular folks stepping up to make our communities better places to live for everyone from both sides of the aisle. That’s what will change the trajectory of the country …one community at a time.
Please start looking at what is right with this country and build from there instead of constantly pointing fingers at those who have a different perspective from you …damning them as the enemy. Let’s all be friends and work together.
Thank you, Kris. Like you I have followed, read and listened to Marianne for many years. After the 2016 election she was my go to for a sane, measured, ultimately spiritual approach.
I thought she would take those values into her news-driving run for the Presidency (a job for which she is ill suited, IMHO. though it was certainly her right to run). When she began her run, I saw her policy page and said to myself "My this is skewed, but let's see what she makes of it."
Over time, I watched her stumble and eventually fall into a pink and purple version of Bernie Sanders, eventually losing the central line of her basically spiritual outlook. The hard turn to the Left inevitably lead her to take an oppositional approach to politics, instead of an inclusive one. I mean - she *thinks* she's being inclusive but mostly she's trying to make the case that her ideas are the ones everyone REALLY wants to pursue rather than listening to a multiplicity of views and finding a through line of truth in them. Because it is there. I've seen and heard her touch it.
There are times when I simply cannot see the teachings of ACIM in her writing, though I know she is completely devoted to the book and her practice with it. This may be more my failing than hers since she is a widely published author with an ACIM pedigree. And I'm just me.
My approach to her is like that of a sister of sorts. You don't have to agree with your sister about everything to be at peace in your own skin. So it can be helpful to say "Thank you for sharing that. I'm glad you got a chance to express yourself." And then move on in love.
If I've learned anything from ACIM, it's that the love is more important than the experience of liking everything a person says or does. Because you/one can't deny love if it's inside the mind, heart or soul. It's there, and it demands to be seen, honored and extended.
Hence my agreement that there are many good things to see and promote in the world.
I'm not always good at doing so (especially on Twitter OMG)
Interesting comments by you and Kris: I think progressive policy is inclusive, and it's also more in alignment with the lessons of ACIM. I think there's confusion by voters regarding the outcome of the election and what it portends. One must understand the cycles of history and what's truly happening--observable in many rural U.S. communities and urban areas, where people live in despair despite the nobel endeavors of some.
I'll say all that while also saying that there is real truth to the fact that very powerful, well moneyed interests are almost in complete control of the nation's primary economic levers and media messaging. I don't see Some new FDR as the answer to this (tho I know Marianne and Bernie are looking for that Second Coming, and some ppl believe it's Sanders himself).
She's not wrong. But she's wrong that the majority of the country is behind the left of center "progressive" movement's ideals. They're not. They are somewhere in the middle, on a number of issues, and not everyone wants to see the country go the way of Europe in the 1990s.
It's almost 2025. Not 1945. Or 1995. Something new has to emerge, and I don't think Sanders' Progressive "Revolution" is the thing that speaks to the incredibly diverse needs of today's USA.
Yip Kris its a good time to turn away from media narrative of fear. And I have extensively written about it but sadly people like their conditioned beliefs. Its too easy for the infectious thoughts(beliefs and memes) from the corporate media to spread .
You post a great question: where does his wealth come from! Indeed, a new order is needed: our country requires transformation to remain viable--other nation states too.
Not yet but Maybe soon you will see the dysfunction of the (so called opposing partys) system with its political ideology that people identify with and so vote for.
I see no Left vs right as a)the politicians dont subscribe to the party's ideology and b) the Orwellian media has reversed the meaning of right to left.
Left vs right all just empty egoic concepts used to capture the mind of the " voter".
"Russia" do I need to point out that if you take the path already taken( the egoic system /the status quo) of being identified with what are just empty concepts ( Dem or Rep), then voting and having a corporation(govt)as your authority you are hoping for change but repeating past action.
I have pointed out repeatedly the fact we have a central banking economic and political monopoly that fact seems to not make it to people's minds that are full of the opposing party beliefs and democracy dogma ( despite their decades of experience of the political system).
It may not be "polite or etiquette" to disagree with consensus thinking but it is absolutely necessary at this point when people are so mind identified to the point of seeing a collective unconscious hive mind .
Unconsciousness is why, extreme unconsciousness was brought about(up) by great fear( the political covid19 psyop)we saw it as govt fascism and wrong thinking. Wrong thinking and action will always create more problems . Inner corruption (worshiping idols /listening to the voice of ego )equals outer corruption.
Instead of inner revolution and a shift from fear to love many are fixated on the media spread concept the climate( *which is not "man made" as the sun and oceans are drivers and the planet is a living Being) .
“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary.”
For the first time, I decided to comment. Like Kris and others in the comments, I have been a loyal follower of Marianne for almost three decades. When I read a Return to Love in 1995, I decided to do the ACIM. For years I listened to your lectures and attended your seminars and read all your books. When you ran for President, I called friends and family members to support you.
But, as others have written, your exceptional writing and clear ideas do not always resonate or seem logical. This writing is NOT coming from a place of love but from deep fear, and it is NOT objective but rather clearly biased.
Democrats have done much to cripple this country (not just Republicans). How the war in Afghanistan was ended was atrocious for us and the world. The ramifications were and are enormous. How the current administration has created energy dependence (knocking on Venezuela and SaudiArabia ) has bolstered Putin economy to keep the war. Forgiving student debt is dealing with a symptom and not the root cause since the bank’s interest rates is what triples it (and elite colleges continue to raise prices - I took out half my 401K to pay for my son’s education).
The teachings of the ACIM are no where to be found in your writings. And no, Democrats are NOT now the answer. We need a new level of thinking and it is NOT what the Biden administration is doing either. By the way, Obama, a community organizer, left the White House and has amassed substantial wealth. I am not aware of any significant contribution to the people that he supposedly talks for -- working people of either Chicago or anywhere in US. Beautiful, eloquent, pretty words, awesome folksy mannerisms, but where are the actions or results except be very rich now?
Let’s stop bashing people and finding working, honest solutions. The middle class continues to erode, and we have become a country of hatred and rudeness and division and elitism. Let’s find the light again. Sending love and light!
As an advocate for fair play, Maggie, I have these comments about your response as well as a few others regarding Marianne's post and her work:
First, you say: "This writing is NOT coming from a place of love but from deep fear, and it is NOT objective but rather clearly biased." (I think she is writing from a clear knowledge of world history, and her concern of symptoms that point to generating authoritarian-style rule in the U.S. that cannot be ignored.)
Second, your third paragraph outlines the failures of the Democratic party regarding foreign policy and economic issues that she too views as very subpar; plus, she has publicly noted other failures of the Democratic party as well.
Third, the remainder of your piece is generally what you claim to be against "bashing people" --in this instance, Marianne.
Finally, we all need to come together in a collaborative, co-creative manner in order for sentient beings to survive the climate crisis tsunami heading our way: ideology will no longer be relevant in the decades to come. Mother Nature's superior 'consciousness' will force us to finally share our precious resources, and learn to truly love again: We must listen to our higher heart that knows the way.
With all due respect your admonishing of Marianne's teachings of ACIM is breathtaking and more revealing of your own lack of knowledge and recklessness of claiming any familiarity with the teachings. Reread your post and see the incoherence in your judgements while committing exactly that which you are criticizing. Who's fear?
Joan: I just wrote a full essay regarding your other posting to me. Somehow, it did not appear. A brief blurb appeared on my screen indicated I should click something below. But that brevity was such that it was not possible to find a click-able spot. That said, back to your second question.
Of course the PNAC still exists. Those ethnic supremacists currently dominate the U.$. Department of $tate, beginning with Winken, BLINKEN and Nod and segueing through a long line of those formerly Trotskyite Straussians. Their agenda currently is to destroy Russia in order for the Bank$ters and their corporate underlings will be enabled to swoop in and scoop up the single greatest resource base on the planet, a land which includes six or seven time-zones and which has almost as many resources as the rest of the world combined.
Greed and a lust for power dominates the scene in the Di$trict of Corruption, slightly more so than even on Wall $treet and the rest of our ruptured republic. American corporations and banks have been stealing the resources of less powerful nations for generations and are only metastasizing in their lustful ways.
Coming from the country to the north, your writing on what just happened in the US really makes sense to me. You beautifully and brilliantly express the actual occurrences that need to be heard as so many people are twisted around by the con’s in the political arena. I love your message and will continue to share this message of fearless truth that you deliver continually through your adherence to higher truth and the light that it radiates to all who listen. 🙏🏼
6 Inches to The Cliff? Living by a War of Terror for Our Daily Commerce instead of The Pursuit of Happiness has The Rich morally living in Dante’s Lowest Circle of Hell…while not as low as The Rich, The Poor live in The Physical Hell of Earth…instead of The Heaven on Earth it could be. And this hell will only burn hotter…morally/physically…for Rich and Poor…until The United States of America returns from it’s abstentia of living by an undemocratic terror war…taxation without representation…repeals the 2002 Military Authorization Act, thus RESTORING DEMOCRACY to Our Republic Union…while ending our gross indignant humiliation…perhaps climatic suicide…of Living and Dying by A War of Terror for Daily Commerce…and return to The Pursuit of Happiness…with Liberty and Justice…this time…for All….so it is written…so it can be….❤️🇺🇸🌎❤️
You're a great spiritual navigator. I like what you said here "We’re not tyrannized by something to our left or to our right,...." I didn't pick up any fear from the article, maybe the people who have been keeping a close eye on you are feeling the fear.
I’m think’n we’re well into the domain of fascism. Corporate and political interests are in powerful “harmony” evidenced by many things but the handling of Covid with heavy handed punitive mandates and lockdowns, with a concerted effort now to pretend there was little to no harm done, as a horrifying example. The wealthy got more wealthy. The poor more poor. Vaccine injured ignored. Doctors silenced. Censorship deployed. There’s a lot of us feeling none too happy right now about the election. We feel between a rock and a hard place seeing corruption on all sides. We didn’t escape anything. We’re deeper in because we’ve chosen denial and fear and silencing as our weapons of choice. It’s the conservatives who are seeing more clearly and calling out the “progressives” for their arrogance and heavy and heavier hand, afraid of the people, the workers, the common man, looking to the elites for a savior. The arrogance is stunning. We have a fighting chance if “we the people” start listening to each other with curiosity and kindness and reject the division fostered by the “elite” class. Invite your neighbor over for dinner. Ask questions. Get to know each other again. Sit on your front porch. Have a potluck, nothing to do with politics, but only about building resilient community. We’re going to need each other. We have a lot more in common than not. We, the people, are a lot nicer than the Left would have us think. We have problems, often big problems, but being curious instead of fearful about each other will go a long way towards solving our disharmony. Imagine that world.
Yes. I think many things happening right now are not being taken seriously enough but, to me, deliberately pushing division and encouraging us to fear each other is historically at the tippy top of the hierarchy of potentially scary events. Putting in the effort to find a way around the divide by taking the time to understand, to stand under, each other and to find some common ground makes us stronger, more able to tackle big problems, and less vulnerable to powerful forces who might benefit from a divided, fearful country wasting a lot of needed energy pointing fingers at each other.
Good night Irene. It was NOT a good night. I checked both the NYT and WAPO coverage and noted that on both sites, they gloated over what they called "election deniers" losing in some number of contests.
For those not tuned into those Main$cream Media monsters and their CIA connected agenda; their new meme, so nicely shared with a gullible public, is that those millions of Americans who contended that the 2020 election was stolen in places like Philadelphia, Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee, Atlanta and Phoenix...happen to be deniers of the carefully stage-managed election where an obviously senile candidate actually votes than Obaminable received some eight years previously. Uh-huh.
Even Stalin famously remarked that he cared not a damn who voted for whom. His concern was that his only consideration was simply one of who counted the votes. For some years now I've been posting that "When machines count the votes, voters' votes don't count.
Brazil had all its election returns counted within 24 hours. That nation is nearly as populous as the U$$A and has considerably more problems with rapid communication in some of the less developed parts of the country. Ever hear of the movie "Two Thousand Mules"? Ballot dumping by paid operatives in Atlanta a couple years back. This year there were "glitches" in Dominion voting machines in Maricopa County, Az. in an outer suburb of the home of more than half the residents in that state. Something similar occurred in Monmouth County, New Jersey.
Mail-in voting? Should be limited to those who are elderly, sick, housebound, or on a planned beforehand trip outside of their polling place. But the Democrat party loves them undated ballots which get dumped into the "right" hands. Some still call it the Democratic Party, but they are mistaken, as I once caucused with the DFL party here in Minnesota and came to the realization that the organization is totally top-down by means of the Soviet style State Central Committee and both the state's Central and the DNC. Top-down decisions are the very opposite of democratic procedures. In fact, by law there two only two examples of actual democratic governance here in this ruptured republic: Referendums where each individual voter casts a ballot in such states as are fortunate enough to have the process of Initiative and Referendum, where WE THE PEOPLE decide on a particular issue, as against some party-hacks: The second form of actual and real democracy in America occurs in states which have townships. At the annual township meeting, each voting resident of that township has one hand-raising vote on a matter at issue...yes, right there in front of God and everybody, you let it all hang out.
Don't even get me started on the Republicans and such characters as the sexually-blackmailed Senators Lindsey Graham and Senate Minority Leader McConnell. While being a "public servant", McConnell has amassed a fortune in the hundreds of millions, while drawing a government income somewhere between middle-middle and upper-middle class individuals. Yeah, it's a paying proposition to being a member of the upper House, the House of Reps too, for that matter. Nancy Pelosi, the Dems. House Speaker, has been in a spitting contest with McConnell as to who has amassed the larger fortune "serving" the public.
The Di$trict of Corruption is an equal-opportunity grease pit for a combination of psychopaths, sociopaths and the terminally blackmailed. Epstein and his buds were sincere about their camera and video productions.
...Or as some observers have pointed out: "If voting actually mattered (the Trillionaires and their minions) would make it illegal. " Voting only encourages the Pro$titicians to keep up the same-old, same-old racketeering.
Carstie, sadly, there are granules of truth that you write about. It takes true love of others to build a real democracy for the people--we still haven't learned that lesson since the get go. My hope: there are people around the world trying to manifest a new, better way for governance, education, business, etc. I support their endeavors to regenerate a thrivable planet, based on the sustainability of life as the driving force--otherwise, all will no longer thrive on Earth. I believe Marianne is one of those people; thus, I support her endeavors too.
As my lengthy comment on your other posting did not go through, no matter how I tried, perhaps, Joan, you could post your own e.m. addy to me and I'll send it to and hopefully through, you, should you so please. -carstie
“Voters this week were the real grown-ups in the room … The neofascist threat to our democracy didn’t end this week; it was merely forestalled … Our government needs to show up for the people now, the way the people this week showed up for it” … Nice Writing!
The true Neo-fascists are the self-styled "Neo-Cons" a cabal of Straussian "former" Trotskyites. Their PNAC plan called for the U$$A to overthrow something like seven countries in five years. Well, they did manage to destroy Iraq (with no weapons of mass destruction present) and massively disrupt Afghanistan for around 20 years, with tens of thousands of deaths mostly due to the military half of the Military Industrial Complex, the biggest moneymaker for the London Bank$ters and the rest of the "investor class". For good reason, that bunch is also known as the "WarDefense Industry". They are not about defending America, but all down on defending the most profitable racket around...armaments production.
" Its gargantuan financial power has turned our government into a system of legalized bribery, a government “of the people, by the people and for the people” now having turned into a government of the corporations, by the corporations, and for the corporations." -
An example of this is our own Department of Human Services that has become dependent on it's own clients to remain in business and therefore creates dependency on it's programs and services in order to continue getting funding. This is how I see this happening - I have worked in some of the areas of Social Services that make up the Developmental Stages of Growth that Erik Erickson talks about. Each stage represents a different age group and the emotional/social development possible within that stage. As a person moves through the Social Service System, they are moving through these Developmental Stages of Growth, with most not getting very high within each stage. Especially the people who were born into the system because the system supports the lower end of each stage by how they treat the people in the system. These are the stages I’m speaking about –
Stage 1: Trust vs MISTRUST – Infancy – Social Services/Child Protection
Stage 2: Autonomy vs SHAME and DOUBT – Early Childhood – SS/CP
Stage 3: Initiative vs GUILT– Pre-School - SS/CP
Stage 4: Industry vs INFERIORITY – School Age – SS/CP
Stage 5: Identity vs Role CONFUSION – Adolescents – SS/CP/Job Corps
The last three stages are affected by the first five stages:
Stage 6: Intimacy vs ISOLATION – Young Adult – Jail/Prison/Job Corps/Homeless
Stage 7: Generativity vs STAGNATION – Middle Adult – Jail/Prison/Homeless
Stage 8: Integrity vs DESPAIR – Adulthood/Maturity – Jail/Prison/Homeless
The Department of Human Services is contributing to the development of MISTRUST, SHAME/DOUBT, GUILT, INFERIORITY, CONFUSION, ISOLATION, STAGNATION, and DESPAIR, which forces people to be dependent on government services and keeps them in survival mode. This needs to change!
I very much appreciate this nuanced and comprehensive analysis, including, "As long as democracy fails to deliver, neofascism will threaten us like a dark specter of frightening possibility." And that we have for a long time had "government of the corporations, by the corporations, and for the corporations."
But, respectfully, I think it's not useful to suggest that the tiger can change its stripes just because we desperately need it to: "Only the political sensibility of a new New Deal -- including a return of the Democratic party to an unequivocal support for the working people of the United States -- will begin to correct the imbalance by which massive social and income inequality has driven so many into chronic despair. . . .Our government needs to show up for the people now . . . ."
The Democratic Party cannot transform itself from being one of the billionaire class's political tools. The proof of this requires a longer discussion, but I would suggest that a good start is at bit.ly/BlessedDisillusionment_Dems, the chapter on the Democrats from my "Blessed Disillusionment: Letting Go of What Cannot Save Us, Turning to What Can." But I believe the record you cite, Marianne, is also strong evidence for that proposition.
Michael Goldstein, I read your very compelling Chapter 5--I concur with all your wrote. But what, briefly, is the plausible, sane option for the people of Earth since powerful, militaristic-choice style players seem to rule everything--far from being reverent for life? And did you write a book that's available or is your title herein from another essay?
Thank you, Joan, and forgive me for not seeing this sooner. Yes, "Blessed Disillusionment" is can be ordered by your local bookstore and is available on Indiebound.com and bookshop.org. The most info about it is at https://www.amazon.com/Blessed-Disillusionment-Letting-Cannot-Turning/dp/0578978318, but you may prefer to purchase it another way. And it answers your first question by suggesting a path towards building a massive, sustained, nonviolent but truly revolutionary movement.
I have long been a fan of Marianne, but I have seen you fall from the ACIM teachings in your political aspirations. You are stereotyping people. (Beer vs wine, for example. as If one typifies a person or way of life that is is better than the other... really?) I see you more disconnected than ever from the promise of, the truth of, the things you “teach”. You have fallen victim to so much fear and separation. I’m disappointed. But yet you are human, learning and evolving, as we all are.
The system that MAY WELL BE entering its death throes is itself merely the latest iteration of the manorial system, which in turn was an outgrowth of the imperial legacy of Rome, Babylon and Ancient Egypt. Tax codes, rents and mortgages and the banking system itself, all need re-imagining-with a view towards true shared decision-making between management and labour, between providers and patrons. Joe Biden has some of that viewpoint. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez has a stronger sense of it, and what will we see from Mr. Frost, thus far a true breath of fresh air! Nothing is over until it's over, and the DeSantis story will long play out, yet We, the People are no more "foolable" than we were in Lincoln's time.
Beautifully written and precise in articulating the issues. The systemic problems that undermine the fairness principles that most Americans want are so deeply entrenched, entangled and protected that I’m having a difficult time seeing how to dismantle them. Love you. You are a beacon of hope for me. 💙💙💙
Marianne…have followed you for years and treasure your teaching of ACIM…and I supported your run for President but your rhetorical lately is too radical left with a constant underlying tone of death and destruction. You play right into the agenda of mainstream media..to keep us in constant fear and division.
There are radicals on either side but many good as well…Democrats as corrupt as Republicans. Biden is very wealthy and has never done anything but be a politician…where does his wealth come from? You speak like Democrats are regular people like us…They are NOT!
While this post was well thought out and highly intelligent as anything you produce….it is meant for more division when we need unity and way more love and understanding on both sides. There is a lot of good going on in this world…I see it everyday in my community and it’s just us regular folks stepping up to make our communities better places to live for everyone from both sides of the aisle. That’s what will change the trajectory of the country …one community at a time.
Please start looking at what is right with this country and build from there instead of constantly pointing fingers at those who have a different perspective from you …damning them as the enemy. Let’s all be friends and work together.
Thank you, Kris. Like you I have followed, read and listened to Marianne for many years. After the 2016 election she was my go to for a sane, measured, ultimately spiritual approach.
I thought she would take those values into her news-driving run for the Presidency (a job for which she is ill suited, IMHO. though it was certainly her right to run). When she began her run, I saw her policy page and said to myself "My this is skewed, but let's see what she makes of it."
Over time, I watched her stumble and eventually fall into a pink and purple version of Bernie Sanders, eventually losing the central line of her basically spiritual outlook. The hard turn to the Left inevitably lead her to take an oppositional approach to politics, instead of an inclusive one. I mean - she *thinks* she's being inclusive but mostly she's trying to make the case that her ideas are the ones everyone REALLY wants to pursue rather than listening to a multiplicity of views and finding a through line of truth in them. Because it is there. I've seen and heard her touch it.
There are times when I simply cannot see the teachings of ACIM in her writing, though I know she is completely devoted to the book and her practice with it. This may be more my failing than hers since she is a widely published author with an ACIM pedigree. And I'm just me.
My approach to her is like that of a sister of sorts. You don't have to agree with your sister about everything to be at peace in your own skin. So it can be helpful to say "Thank you for sharing that. I'm glad you got a chance to express yourself." And then move on in love.
If I've learned anything from ACIM, it's that the love is more important than the experience of liking everything a person says or does. Because you/one can't deny love if it's inside the mind, heart or soul. It's there, and it demands to be seen, honored and extended.
Hence my agreement that there are many good things to see and promote in the world.
I'm not always good at doing so (especially on Twitter OMG)
but this is the Gold in the mine of life.
Interesting comments by you and Kris: I think progressive policy is inclusive, and it's also more in alignment with the lessons of ACIM. I think there's confusion by voters regarding the outcome of the election and what it portends. One must understand the cycles of history and what's truly happening--observable in many rural U.S. communities and urban areas, where people live in despair despite the nobel endeavors of some.
Amy Louise. You described my observation of her political views to a T…thank you for sharing.
I'll say all that while also saying that there is real truth to the fact that very powerful, well moneyed interests are almost in complete control of the nation's primary economic levers and media messaging. I don't see Some new FDR as the answer to this (tho I know Marianne and Bernie are looking for that Second Coming, and some ppl believe it's Sanders himself).
She's not wrong. But she's wrong that the majority of the country is behind the left of center "progressive" movement's ideals. They're not. They are somewhere in the middle, on a number of issues, and not everyone wants to see the country go the way of Europe in the 1990s.
It's almost 2025. Not 1945. Or 1995. Something new has to emerge, and I don't think Sanders' Progressive "Revolution" is the thing that speaks to the incredibly diverse needs of today's USA.
Yip Kris its a good time to turn away from media narrative of fear. And I have extensively written about it but sadly people like their conditioned beliefs. Its too easy for the infectious thoughts(beliefs and memes) from the corporate media to spread .
https://notpublicaddress.wordpress.com/2021/01/15/dem-vs-rep-a-divide-and-conquer-strategy/
You post a great question: where does his wealth come from! Indeed, a new order is needed: our country requires transformation to remain viable--other nation states too.
Not yet but Maybe soon you will see the dysfunction of the (so called opposing partys) system with its political ideology that people identify with and so vote for.
I see no Left vs right as a)the politicians dont subscribe to the party's ideology and b) the Orwellian media has reversed the meaning of right to left.
Left vs right all just empty egoic concepts used to capture the mind of the " voter".
"Russia" do I need to point out that if you take the path already taken( the egoic system /the status quo) of being identified with what are just empty concepts ( Dem or Rep), then voting and having a corporation(govt)as your authority you are hoping for change but repeating past action.
I have pointed out repeatedly the fact we have a central banking economic and political monopoly that fact seems to not make it to people's minds that are full of the opposing party beliefs and democracy dogma ( despite their decades of experience of the political system).
It may not be "polite or etiquette" to disagree with consensus thinking but it is absolutely necessary at this point when people are so mind identified to the point of seeing a collective unconscious hive mind .
Unconsciousness is why, extreme unconsciousness was brought about(up) by great fear( the political covid19 psyop)we saw it as govt fascism and wrong thinking. Wrong thinking and action will always create more problems . Inner corruption (worshiping idols /listening to the voice of ego )equals outer corruption.
Instead of inner revolution and a shift from fear to love many are fixated on the media spread concept the climate( *which is not "man made" as the sun and oceans are drivers and the planet is a living Being) .
“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary.”
― H.L. Mencken
Just brilliant.
Thank you for capturing the importance of this moment.
For the first time, I decided to comment. Like Kris and others in the comments, I have been a loyal follower of Marianne for almost three decades. When I read a Return to Love in 1995, I decided to do the ACIM. For years I listened to your lectures and attended your seminars and read all your books. When you ran for President, I called friends and family members to support you.
But, as others have written, your exceptional writing and clear ideas do not always resonate or seem logical. This writing is NOT coming from a place of love but from deep fear, and it is NOT objective but rather clearly biased.
Democrats have done much to cripple this country (not just Republicans). How the war in Afghanistan was ended was atrocious for us and the world. The ramifications were and are enormous. How the current administration has created energy dependence (knocking on Venezuela and SaudiArabia ) has bolstered Putin economy to keep the war. Forgiving student debt is dealing with a symptom and not the root cause since the bank’s interest rates is what triples it (and elite colleges continue to raise prices - I took out half my 401K to pay for my son’s education).
The teachings of the ACIM are no where to be found in your writings. And no, Democrats are NOT now the answer. We need a new level of thinking and it is NOT what the Biden administration is doing either. By the way, Obama, a community organizer, left the White House and has amassed substantial wealth. I am not aware of any significant contribution to the people that he supposedly talks for -- working people of either Chicago or anywhere in US. Beautiful, eloquent, pretty words, awesome folksy mannerisms, but where are the actions or results except be very rich now?
Let’s stop bashing people and finding working, honest solutions. The middle class continues to erode, and we have become a country of hatred and rudeness and division and elitism. Let’s find the light again. Sending love and light!
As an advocate for fair play, Maggie, I have these comments about your response as well as a few others regarding Marianne's post and her work:
First, you say: "This writing is NOT coming from a place of love but from deep fear, and it is NOT objective but rather clearly biased." (I think she is writing from a clear knowledge of world history, and her concern of symptoms that point to generating authoritarian-style rule in the U.S. that cannot be ignored.)
Second, your third paragraph outlines the failures of the Democratic party regarding foreign policy and economic issues that she too views as very subpar; plus, she has publicly noted other failures of the Democratic party as well.
Third, the remainder of your piece is generally what you claim to be against "bashing people" --in this instance, Marianne.
Finally, we all need to come together in a collaborative, co-creative manner in order for sentient beings to survive the climate crisis tsunami heading our way: ideology will no longer be relevant in the decades to come. Mother Nature's superior 'consciousness' will force us to finally share our precious resources, and learn to truly love again: We must listen to our higher heart that knows the way.
With all due respect your admonishing of Marianne's teachings of ACIM is breathtaking and more revealing of your own lack of knowledge and recklessness of claiming any familiarity with the teachings. Reread your post and see the incoherence in your judgements while committing exactly that which you are criticizing. Who's fear?
Chuck, I concur with your sentiment herein.
Joan: I just wrote a full essay regarding your other posting to me. Somehow, it did not appear. A brief blurb appeared on my screen indicated I should click something below. But that brevity was such that it was not possible to find a click-able spot. That said, back to your second question.
Of course the PNAC still exists. Those ethnic supremacists currently dominate the U.$. Department of $tate, beginning with Winken, BLINKEN and Nod and segueing through a long line of those formerly Trotskyite Straussians. Their agenda currently is to destroy Russia in order for the Bank$ters and their corporate underlings will be enabled to swoop in and scoop up the single greatest resource base on the planet, a land which includes six or seven time-zones and which has almost as many resources as the rest of the world combined.
Greed and a lust for power dominates the scene in the Di$trict of Corruption, slightly more so than even on Wall $treet and the rest of our ruptured republic. American corporations and banks have been stealing the resources of less powerful nations for generations and are only metastasizing in their lustful ways.
Coming from the country to the north, your writing on what just happened in the US really makes sense to me. You beautifully and brilliantly express the actual occurrences that need to be heard as so many people are twisted around by the con’s in the political arena. I love your message and will continue to share this message of fearless truth that you deliver continually through your adherence to higher truth and the light that it radiates to all who listen. 🙏🏼
6 Inches to The Cliff? Living by a War of Terror for Our Daily Commerce instead of The Pursuit of Happiness has The Rich morally living in Dante’s Lowest Circle of Hell…while not as low as The Rich, The Poor live in The Physical Hell of Earth…instead of The Heaven on Earth it could be. And this hell will only burn hotter…morally/physically…for Rich and Poor…until The United States of America returns from it’s abstentia of living by an undemocratic terror war…taxation without representation…repeals the 2002 Military Authorization Act, thus RESTORING DEMOCRACY to Our Republic Union…while ending our gross indignant humiliation…perhaps climatic suicide…of Living and Dying by A War of Terror for Daily Commerce…and return to The Pursuit of Happiness…with Liberty and Justice…this time…for All….so it is written…so it can be….❤️🇺🇸🌎❤️
You're a great spiritual navigator. I like what you said here "We’re not tyrannized by something to our left or to our right,...." I didn't pick up any fear from the article, maybe the people who have been keeping a close eye on you are feeling the fear.
I’m think’n we’re well into the domain of fascism. Corporate and political interests are in powerful “harmony” evidenced by many things but the handling of Covid with heavy handed punitive mandates and lockdowns, with a concerted effort now to pretend there was little to no harm done, as a horrifying example. The wealthy got more wealthy. The poor more poor. Vaccine injured ignored. Doctors silenced. Censorship deployed. There’s a lot of us feeling none too happy right now about the election. We feel between a rock and a hard place seeing corruption on all sides. We didn’t escape anything. We’re deeper in because we’ve chosen denial and fear and silencing as our weapons of choice. It’s the conservatives who are seeing more clearly and calling out the “progressives” for their arrogance and heavy and heavier hand, afraid of the people, the workers, the common man, looking to the elites for a savior. The arrogance is stunning. We have a fighting chance if “we the people” start listening to each other with curiosity and kindness and reject the division fostered by the “elite” class. Invite your neighbor over for dinner. Ask questions. Get to know each other again. Sit on your front porch. Have a potluck, nothing to do with politics, but only about building resilient community. We’re going to need each other. We have a lot more in common than not. We, the people, are a lot nicer than the Left would have us think. We have problems, often big problems, but being curious instead of fearful about each other will go a long way towards solving our disharmony. Imagine that world.
Beautifully worded, and I so agree with all of it.
That world that you 'imagine' will come about as humanity needs each other due to the pending climate crisis as yet not taken seriously enough.
Yes. I think many things happening right now are not being taken seriously enough but, to me, deliberately pushing division and encouraging us to fear each other is historically at the tippy top of the hierarchy of potentially scary events. Putting in the effort to find a way around the divide by taking the time to understand, to stand under, each other and to find some common ground makes us stronger, more able to tackle big problems, and less vulnerable to powerful forces who might benefit from a divided, fearful country wasting a lot of needed energy pointing fingers at each other.
Good night Irene. It was NOT a good night. I checked both the NYT and WAPO coverage and noted that on both sites, they gloated over what they called "election deniers" losing in some number of contests.
For those not tuned into those Main$cream Media monsters and their CIA connected agenda; their new meme, so nicely shared with a gullible public, is that those millions of Americans who contended that the 2020 election was stolen in places like Philadelphia, Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee, Atlanta and Phoenix...happen to be deniers of the carefully stage-managed election where an obviously senile candidate actually votes than Obaminable received some eight years previously. Uh-huh.
Even Stalin famously remarked that he cared not a damn who voted for whom. His concern was that his only consideration was simply one of who counted the votes. For some years now I've been posting that "When machines count the votes, voters' votes don't count.
Brazil had all its election returns counted within 24 hours. That nation is nearly as populous as the U$$A and has considerably more problems with rapid communication in some of the less developed parts of the country. Ever hear of the movie "Two Thousand Mules"? Ballot dumping by paid operatives in Atlanta a couple years back. This year there were "glitches" in Dominion voting machines in Maricopa County, Az. in an outer suburb of the home of more than half the residents in that state. Something similar occurred in Monmouth County, New Jersey.
Mail-in voting? Should be limited to those who are elderly, sick, housebound, or on a planned beforehand trip outside of their polling place. But the Democrat party loves them undated ballots which get dumped into the "right" hands. Some still call it the Democratic Party, but they are mistaken, as I once caucused with the DFL party here in Minnesota and came to the realization that the organization is totally top-down by means of the Soviet style State Central Committee and both the state's Central and the DNC. Top-down decisions are the very opposite of democratic procedures. In fact, by law there two only two examples of actual democratic governance here in this ruptured republic: Referendums where each individual voter casts a ballot in such states as are fortunate enough to have the process of Initiative and Referendum, where WE THE PEOPLE decide on a particular issue, as against some party-hacks: The second form of actual and real democracy in America occurs in states which have townships. At the annual township meeting, each voting resident of that township has one hand-raising vote on a matter at issue...yes, right there in front of God and everybody, you let it all hang out.
Don't even get me started on the Republicans and such characters as the sexually-blackmailed Senators Lindsey Graham and Senate Minority Leader McConnell. While being a "public servant", McConnell has amassed a fortune in the hundreds of millions, while drawing a government income somewhere between middle-middle and upper-middle class individuals. Yeah, it's a paying proposition to being a member of the upper House, the House of Reps too, for that matter. Nancy Pelosi, the Dems. House Speaker, has been in a spitting contest with McConnell as to who has amassed the larger fortune "serving" the public.
The Di$trict of Corruption is an equal-opportunity grease pit for a combination of psychopaths, sociopaths and the terminally blackmailed. Epstein and his buds were sincere about their camera and video productions.
...Or as some observers have pointed out: "If voting actually mattered (the Trillionaires and their minions) would make it illegal. " Voting only encourages the Pro$titicians to keep up the same-old, same-old racketeering.
Carstie, sadly, there are granules of truth that you write about. It takes true love of others to build a real democracy for the people--we still haven't learned that lesson since the get go. My hope: there are people around the world trying to manifest a new, better way for governance, education, business, etc. I support their endeavors to regenerate a thrivable planet, based on the sustainability of life as the driving force--otherwise, all will no longer thrive on Earth. I believe Marianne is one of those people; thus, I support her endeavors too.
As my lengthy comment on your other posting did not go through, no matter how I tried, perhaps, Joan, you could post your own e.m. addy to me and I'll send it to and hopefully through, you, should you so please. -carstie
Do you have a website, my reply didn't work.
“Voters this week were the real grown-ups in the room … The neofascist threat to our democracy didn’t end this week; it was merely forestalled … Our government needs to show up for the people now, the way the people this week showed up for it” … Nice Writing!
The true Neo-fascists are the self-styled "Neo-Cons" a cabal of Straussian "former" Trotskyites. Their PNAC plan called for the U$$A to overthrow something like seven countries in five years. Well, they did manage to destroy Iraq (with no weapons of mass destruction present) and massively disrupt Afghanistan for around 20 years, with tens of thousands of deaths mostly due to the military half of the Military Industrial Complex, the biggest moneymaker for the London Bank$ters and the rest of the "investor class". For good reason, that bunch is also known as the "WarDefense Industry". They are not about defending America, but all down on defending the most profitable racket around...armaments production.
Does the PNAC still exist or has it morphed into a new name or group? Curious to know.
" Its gargantuan financial power has turned our government into a system of legalized bribery, a government “of the people, by the people and for the people” now having turned into a government of the corporations, by the corporations, and for the corporations." -
An example of this is our own Department of Human Services that has become dependent on it's own clients to remain in business and therefore creates dependency on it's programs and services in order to continue getting funding. This is how I see this happening - I have worked in some of the areas of Social Services that make up the Developmental Stages of Growth that Erik Erickson talks about. Each stage represents a different age group and the emotional/social development possible within that stage. As a person moves through the Social Service System, they are moving through these Developmental Stages of Growth, with most not getting very high within each stage. Especially the people who were born into the system because the system supports the lower end of each stage by how they treat the people in the system. These are the stages I’m speaking about –
Stage 1: Trust vs MISTRUST – Infancy – Social Services/Child Protection
Stage 2: Autonomy vs SHAME and DOUBT – Early Childhood – SS/CP
Stage 3: Initiative vs GUILT– Pre-School - SS/CP
Stage 4: Industry vs INFERIORITY – School Age – SS/CP
Stage 5: Identity vs Role CONFUSION – Adolescents – SS/CP/Job Corps
The last three stages are affected by the first five stages:
Stage 6: Intimacy vs ISOLATION – Young Adult – Jail/Prison/Job Corps/Homeless
Stage 7: Generativity vs STAGNATION – Middle Adult – Jail/Prison/Homeless
Stage 8: Integrity vs DESPAIR – Adulthood/Maturity – Jail/Prison/Homeless
The Department of Human Services is contributing to the development of MISTRUST, SHAME/DOUBT, GUILT, INFERIORITY, CONFUSION, ISOLATION, STAGNATION, and DESPAIR, which forces people to be dependent on government services and keeps them in survival mode. This needs to change!
It seems HHS is just the tip of the iceberg we're slamming into these years...
I very much appreciate this nuanced and comprehensive analysis, including, "As long as democracy fails to deliver, neofascism will threaten us like a dark specter of frightening possibility." And that we have for a long time had "government of the corporations, by the corporations, and for the corporations."
But, respectfully, I think it's not useful to suggest that the tiger can change its stripes just because we desperately need it to: "Only the political sensibility of a new New Deal -- including a return of the Democratic party to an unequivocal support for the working people of the United States -- will begin to correct the imbalance by which massive social and income inequality has driven so many into chronic despair. . . .Our government needs to show up for the people now . . . ."
The Democratic Party cannot transform itself from being one of the billionaire class's political tools. The proof of this requires a longer discussion, but I would suggest that a good start is at bit.ly/BlessedDisillusionment_Dems, the chapter on the Democrats from my "Blessed Disillusionment: Letting Go of What Cannot Save Us, Turning to What Can." But I believe the record you cite, Marianne, is also strong evidence for that proposition.
Michael Goldstein, I read your very compelling Chapter 5--I concur with all your wrote. But what, briefly, is the plausible, sane option for the people of Earth since powerful, militaristic-choice style players seem to rule everything--far from being reverent for life? And did you write a book that's available or is your title herein from another essay?
Thank you, Joan, and forgive me for not seeing this sooner. Yes, "Blessed Disillusionment" is can be ordered by your local bookstore and is available on Indiebound.com and bookshop.org. The most info about it is at https://www.amazon.com/Blessed-Disillusionment-Letting-Cannot-Turning/dp/0578978318, but you may prefer to purchase it another way. And it answers your first question by suggesting a path towards building a massive, sustained, nonviolent but truly revolutionary movement.
I actually was compelled to read the snippet you posted here, and found it to be thought-provoking, clear-eyed, and important.
Allison, belated thanks! I'm glad you found it useful.
I have long been a fan of Marianne, but I have seen you fall from the ACIM teachings in your political aspirations. You are stereotyping people. (Beer vs wine, for example. as If one typifies a person or way of life that is is better than the other... really?) I see you more disconnected than ever from the promise of, the truth of, the things you “teach”. You have fallen victim to so much fear and separation. I’m disappointed. But yet you are human, learning and evolving, as we all are.
Such a healing, intelligent and “reasonable” article. Please send it to NY Times! Please run for President again, Bless you, thank you’.
The system that MAY WELL BE entering its death throes is itself merely the latest iteration of the manorial system, which in turn was an outgrowth of the imperial legacy of Rome, Babylon and Ancient Egypt. Tax codes, rents and mortgages and the banking system itself, all need re-imagining-with a view towards true shared decision-making between management and labour, between providers and patrons. Joe Biden has some of that viewpoint. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez has a stronger sense of it, and what will we see from Mr. Frost, thus far a true breath of fresh air! Nothing is over until it's over, and the DeSantis story will long play out, yet We, the People are no more "foolable" than we were in Lincoln's time.
Beautifully written and precise in articulating the issues. The systemic problems that undermine the fairness principles that most Americans want are so deeply entrenched, entangled and protected that I’m having a difficult time seeing how to dismantle them. Love you. You are a beacon of hope for me. 💙💙💙