IN THE WORLD

Tedious as it may be, we still have to talk about covid, the Ukraine and the plans of the WEF. Here is my current state of thought!!

THE GREAT COSMIC GAME!

We're in the second millennium and the twenty third year

Up here in Craster we're in rude health, never fear

The utter madness around us makes me smile every day

Our leaders don't lead, no-one believes what they say

We've got climate and covid and Biden's mad war

And hate between Islam and Israel expands more and more

The doctors are striking, the railways don't run

Roads full of potholes, heavy rain blots out the sun

The covid enquiry is making smooth lawyers rich

Whilst the truth it's not looking for lies clear in the ditch

The pandemic is over but excess deaths are rising

If it’s the jab or the lockdown it would not be surprising

The facts seem quite clear but our smart MPs don't care

Though they hate Andrew Bridgen which does not see quite fair

Now Boris and Biden have lost their war in Ukraine

The great pipe-dreams of NATO have gone down the drain

Many thousands have died and puppet Zelensky still rules

Slick reports in the mass media must think we are fools

While the Russians and Chinese will have the last laugh

And BRICS now covers the Earth, much more than by half

Out in the desert the rich oil Sheiks are smiling

For keen climate campaigners the talk is really beguiling

The air conditioning's running and big private jets flying

For these COP28 wizards getting to Net Zero is trying

In China and India they are burning tons of black coal

Putting carbon back in our air where it plays a key role

In greening our deserts, feeding both plankton and plants

Can we forecast future climate, I don't think there's much chance

Can we manage the weather, survive Klaus Schwab's Great Reset?

There'll be strange unforeseen consequences that much I'll bet

How many times did our leaders agree to ban war?

Will we never learn lessons from what has gone on before?

Our world is still run by mad elites who have wealth

The profits of Big Pharma depend on the public's bad health

Elastic money from banks fuels our government debt

Our elections change nothing – more of the same's what you'll get

Amidst muddle and confusion we may wonder what's next

Is there an optimistic conclusion to this sad tangled text?

I think somewhere up there our Earth has her own plan

Too deep and too clever for self-serving man

Human brains are fantastic, powering the great cosmic game

Big changes are soon coming and life won't be the same

“GOD”, THE WEF AND THE ARC - I'VE HAD ENOUGH!

Last month I commented on the new initiative by the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship. I think I was too kind. Really I've had enough of these worthy folk and all their pious talk. On re-reading their blurb, I cannot see this group providing any kind of challenge to the smarter folk of the World Economic Forum.

Yes, Jordan Peterson asks 6 sensible questions whilst the other worthies talk about freedom, goodness and virtue, underpinned by a new reverence for God. But to say that the ARC analysis of our current problems is simplistic and even naïve is putting it mildly! I am beginning to despair that such supposedly smart folk cannot see beyond the well-meaning rhetoric of their good intentions. I am particularly puzzled by what seems to be a new and emerging hope that by turning to “God” the world can find a better way forward! Better, that is, compared to the totalitarian “controlled” world which is being planned by the rich elites of the WEF. The WEF has at least come up with plans for four very powerful new cultural institutions which we have talked about in previous newsletters.

It is not just the ARC worthies who are turning to “God”. I have been astonished to find that such YouTube “thought-leaders” as Alex Jones (Info wars), Jordan Peterson, Tucker Carlson, Russell Brand, Paul Kingsnorth and even Laura Dodsworth invoking “God” as an answer to today's problems. Is this really the best and only way to bring meaning into our modern urban lives? Is this really the best answer that these articulate and supposedly intelligent folk can find? And which “God” precisely are they talking about? We do, after all, have a big choice given all the various “Gods” human societies have worshipped! From my reading of history, it seems that differences of belief in these various “Gods” have created many of the most vicious wars ever endured on this planet. So I certainly do not think the optimism of these new god-fearing worthies is justified or even wise.

Today, in the 21st century, humans have fallen out of love with “progress”. The fact that we live on a finite Earth whose life support systems, including climate, depend on highly complex and potentially scary natural eco-systems, runs continually through our mass media. What we call “sustainability” has now become a dominant objective of our narratives. Consumerism is no longer the useful driving force of our economies or even our way of life. Currently we are in some kind of “no man’s land” where we don't know what we are here for. “God”, it seems, is the first refuge for many in this uncomfortable situation.

Of course it is true that before the emergence of the secular well-ordered/well-controlled nation states, the coherence and smooth operation of Earth's civilisations did depend on the power of many different systems of belief and their associated religious functionaries. Then, for about the last 300 years, the operation of secular states became directed towards “progress”. “Progress” came from effective use of science, technologies and the industrial development of a “consumer” economy. Social control and order was maintained by the dynamic of the wage economy, money, police and multiple laws enacted by governments. The “social contract” and the purpose of life was simply to work together to achieve “progress”. We did not need “Gods” for this. Religion faded into the background. We effectively became our own “gods” and were very pleased with ourselves and our newfound mastery of the natural world. Fifty years ago this dream-world began to crumble with the emergence of “green” movements and a realisation by the wealthy elites that the resources of the Earth were finite! The simple objective of “progress” began to lose its dominance.

So, in our new “post-materialistic” world can we find better answers to the great existential questions of meaning that do not depend on inventing “Gods”? And can we be more imaginative and constructive about better alternative cultural changes that will promote viable alternatives to the totalitarian prospect of global government by the WEF? These are the two BIG questions the ARC should be asking.

It's clear that humanity's previous search for “progress” in material goods now need to be replaced by a search for a new kind of spiritual/philosophical “progress”. Inventing, or re-inventing, “Gods” seems like going backwards not forwards! We know much more now about the magical complexity of the cosmos and the extra-ordinary role that “life” has in its continued evolution. With my early training in theoretical physics at Cambridge, I believe that those of us who manage to escape the dream-like bubble of a tinsel-town urban existence and work with nature on a day to day basis, have no difficulty knowing what we are here for. We can see that “life” develops and progresses through variety, complexity, beauty and the wise management of intelligent creative human beings. Whether we like it or not, we have “free will” and must take the responsibility of trying to manage “life on Earth” so as to take life forwards towards even more complexity and beauty. If we continue to be arrogant, over-confident, greedy and hoping “God” will save the day, then we are not only deluding ourselves but entirely failing to understand our huge responsibilities. We certainly are clever and creative (not perhaps as clever as we think we are) and we already have all the technologies and science we need to make the Earth a much better place for life. What we don't have is the wisdom and life-enhancing cultural institutions to enable and achieve this very clear and necessary objective. Our leaders don't lead, our science has the wrong focus, our money system not only measures the wrong things but also gives power to the wrong people/organisations. Our religions are out of date and our mass media thrive on inflaming gossip and fear.

What we actually need from the “great and the good” is a “root and branch” review of most of our major cultural institutions. Without this – as surely anyone with a brain must see – the established institutions of money, populist democracy, “free” market economics, banking and unlimited private ownership are simply going to continue to concentrate power in the hands of a few lucky (greedy and unscrupulous) billionaires and their compliant political allies. Hopeful rhetoric about “freedom” and a new belief in some “God” are NOT going to change this.

Whilst the world's wealthy elites are carefully crafting the various threats and crises which are the necessary condition for cultural change, the well-meaning “goodies” (who favour “freedom” in a multi-cultural heterogenous world) are still on square one without any meaningful counter-proposals. I find the expensive ARC initiative by Paul Marshall and his pals in Dubai very frustrating, even if it has co-opted 45 right-thinking luminaries from all over the planet as its advisory board. It may be slick, articulate and glossy but from where I sit it has no real substance. What substance and proposals it has will almost certainly be directed and guided by those who are paying the bills. It's good, of course, that the high profile talk of the ARC is at least turning a spotlight on the terrifying plans of the WEF but where oh where are the cultural engineers we so badly need to promote less dangerous and more life-enhancing cultural changes?