This month I continue with my pivot away from retirement formulas and towards what’s causing the loss of faith for the elderly and many others. So, what happens when someone you admire or trust begins to act in ways that disturb how you think of them, do you perhaps then begin to doubt where you stand? I guess the answer depends on your upbringing and the many patterns and stories that you have relied on for your own continued sanity, this is how we make sense of it all.
One thing is clear, we can’t bully ourselves into clarity, we can’t force ourselves into being courageous or be pushed into thinking something is right when in our guts we know it to be wrong. If we deny our feelings or intelligence, it’s fairly improbable that we can expect to achieve self-discovery or peace by hiding from our inner essence.
Empires grow in the same way people do, by expanding their power and influence but over time they begin to fail when their military or religious might becomes unjust and begins to be challenged. If we lack trust in our close friendships or when citizens start to notice their governments are no longer acting in their best interests, power inevitably declines.
We have had many such examples of empire building, the Han Dynasty, the Greeks, the Persians, the Roman Empire and now the current power on earth the American Empire. All have risen and all must move over for change to inevitably occur, it is only when we fear that change do we fight to hold on. But we all know in our hearts that change is inevitable, and history tells us that using violence only ever delays the end and creates a wave of destruction on this path.
What does it all mean for the average man on the street when the leaders of vast empires get angry about their diminishing power? They begin to act like most humans do, by becoming confused about how to move on and then making mistakes where things get worse. Dialogue works where anger fails.
We only have to look at the current situation in America where its very ideals and sense of democracy are ignored by an elite that is still grasping for more power and wondering how it all went wrong. Blind justice, disinterested leaders, institutions that no longer serve people, a lack of tolerance for others and a growing denial of freedom of speech and thought. When an empire or an individual denies their values or beliefs we know they’re in trouble.
This is how over time the average person’s life becomes slowly worse off, an individual’s hopes and dreams decline along with the bad choices that are made by their leaders, we know this to be true in our own lives when we make not-so-good choices in our relationships that can lead to loneliness and divorce, our happiness declines. It’s logical that a country or a person can’t continue to make bad choices and still believe they can have whatever they want, that’s simply delusional.
It appears every month the difficulties become more pronounced and it’s certainly not pleasant to live in such times. We have such advanced killing technology and believe we are so smart but in terms of wisdom we are only a little more advanced than the ancient Sumerians who existed over 4000 years ago, we are simple-minded humans when it comes to the management of our emotions. Unfortunately, some of these bloated primates who possess appetites for destructive fury currently have their finger on the trigger. That, without any doubt, will affect the average family’s future if we allow these apes to stay in power.
