This societal world or civilization that we live in today is a construct that has been created from the imagination of man which produces an image of the reality that we desire. In this world that has been created by man through his imagination, we have the ability to either be the better or worse version of ourselves.
There is no doubt that the vast majority of us especially those that occupy powerful and influential positions lean more towards the worst version of ourselves. With all the potential and opportunity that we have to be the better version of ourselves and we don’t, the question that I am going to ask is, WHY?
Well simply put, the avaricious and self indulgent nature of mankind as well as our insatiable appetite for power, wealth, dominance and control has lead us down the path of inumerable and unwarranted violent incursions, endless wars and conflicts. We seem to feed off of the violence, pain and suffering that we so easily inflict upon the weak, poor, uneducated, sick, and defenseless people. Our history is replete with some of the most horrific atrocities and acts of brutal inhumane treatment and indifference towards our fellow human beings.
Imagine if you will a world absent of wars, hate, suffering, violence, poverty, injustice, famine, aggression and discrimination just to name a few. Is such an idyllic world with this reality attainable? Well, I am of the mindset that it can be for it has also been said that if a thing can be imagined in the mind then it can be very much realized and achieved and thus becoming a reality. Hence the reality that we experience today.
Sustainability is another question altogether!!
So, what exactly is reality? How does reality exist and how is it experienced?
The reality that we live in is an extension of human consciousness which fundamentally means that it is as I have said earlier in this post (a human construct). Everything that we experience is a result of our consciousness and actions which in turn (knowingly or unknowingly) create this reality that the majority of us have consented to and experience through our sensory perception. Now you may ask how have we consented to this construct?
Allow me to explain and it is quite simple. Basically as a conscientious collective we have not objected to or made any bonafide or concerted effort to change the reality that we live in. For the most part we have unanimously accepted this world as it is and how it is being shaped every moment of our lives right in front of our eyes. I guess we just feel as though there is nothing that we can really do about it or either we don’t give it that much thought both collectively and as individuals. I mean hey, who is actually going to sit down and ponder why the world is so out of whack and consider what they can honestly do that will have a meaningful impact to change it?
Well there may just be a few who do actually ponder this and I actually being one of them!
This world is a product of our imagination and creativity. Nothing more and nothing less! All that we experience is a by product of our beliefs and how those beliefs are formed and acted upon which in turn produces the societal world that we inhabit and refer to as our reality.
(A few notable intellects, biophysicists and philosophical minded folks might disagree and say otherwise such as reality is just an illusion).
Now, with that being said I think that we can fundamentally agree that we do shape the so-called reality that we experience and therefore are very much capable of reshaping it! All it would require is for us to collectively be the better version of ourselves. Right?
Why is it that love, respect, consideration, compassion and empathy for our fellow human beings such a difficult reality for us? On a broad scale, in our society as we know it today, these behavior traits aren’t that popular on a daily basis but let there be a catastrophe, some disaster or horrific event and man folks just start oozing with the better version of humanity or when someone has a hidden agenda..
For the most part we just seem to promote and gravitate towards that which is most destructive and detrimental to our survival and well being. Mankind has always been on a collision course towards self destruction and is seemingly unable or unwilling (for whatever reasons) to change directions.
Apparently this is who we are and what we have elected to be which is definitely the worst version of ourselves. Whenever there has been an attempt to change course the worst version of ourselves rises up and has always pushed back and suppressed the better version of ourselves for whatever reasons.
Is a state of Peace and Harmony such a difficult thing to achieve and live with? History has shown us that they are difficult to achieve and maintain but it is doable. Any garden of flowers has to be attended to on a regular basis for it to maintain it’s beauty otherwise the weeds will eventually overtake it.. Now with that said, there are a lot of beautiful gardens in this world just as there are beautiful caring people and I do recognize that. However, there just aren’t enough of us to fight off the aggressive nature of the weeds!
So, for the moment ( and that’s what life is, a series of moments), this better version of humanity will continue to remain shut up in the closet of wishful thinking and never see the light of day until we, as conscientious and courageous human beings collectively decide to turn the knob and present it to the world as a very well maintained and beautiful diverse garden .
The mind is the creator of all madness and the ego the instigator of all conflicts.
Where ya goi’n boy? Big Mo kept on walking because he just wasn’t in the mood to be dealing with some redneck cracker on a hot and muggy afternoon. He had just finished putting in another long hard day’s work at the plant and the only thing on his mind right now, was getting home to his wife and kids, taking a shower and sitting down to have a nice home cooked meal. After that he would go out on the front porch, enjoy a nice cool drink, watch the kids play around for a while and celebrate with his wife before calling it another day. But before he could even entertain any of that, he had to deal with this irritating ignorant cracker…
Hey nigger, you hear me talk’in to ya? I said where ya goi’n boy? Big Mo was in a hurry and making long strides, trying to put some distance between the two of them as he wanted to reach the bus before the confrontation he knew was imminent had caught up with him. He could see the bus pulling up to the stop but he was just not close enough to get on and avoid what was coming. Damn, he thought to himself, out of all the days to possibly be late getting home for dinner, why would it have to be this day. You see this day was also a special occasion for Big Mo and his wife Mattie because they had been struggling and working extremely hard to save every penny that they possibly could and were soon to be the proud owners of a new home and this would be the night for them to celebrate.. It didn’t matter that he still had to rely on public transportation to get around because ownership of a home is what he and his wife, Mattie had always dreamed of for them and their children. It would be a step up the ladder and also give them a sense of security but the most rewarding part of it all is that it would be theirs..There just weren’t that many Black folks during this period who owned their homes but they would be one of the few that did. Yes, this was indeed a momentous occasion and cause for celebration…But, first things first…
Big Mo came to an abrupt stop, whirled his huge frame of a body around and glared with a look of disdain and annoyance directly into the eyes of his insolent pursuer and said, what you want with me? I ain’t doing nothing but trying to get home to my wife and kids. Unfortunately Big Mo wouldn’t make it home this night. He had dared question a white man and did so in a manner that was considered challenging to the authority and superiority of this nobody cracker. A heated exchange between the two would ensue and it would draw the unwanted attention of other white folks. As fate would have it, things began to escalate and not to soon afterwards a mob of curious and angry white men would gather around and the instigator would accuse Big Mo of being an uppity nigger who needed to be taught a lesson. They would collapse around Big MO, beat him down and take him out to the woods to string him up and there his lifeless body dangled, hanging from a tree just like a piece of fruit on a branch.
Big Mo would not be celebrating with his wife tonight, he wouldn’t be sitting down to enjoy his dinner with his family, he wouldn’t be sitting out on the porch sipping a cool drink while his children played nor would Big Mo and his family ever have the experience of owning their own home.
He would never live to breathe a breath of air another day in Any-town USA. All because of the ignorance and racist vile that has permeated the air throughout American society and has profusely stained it’s soil with the innocent blood of ( far too many to count ) black men and women in this country. This is a short story that is all too reminiscent of what it is like to be a dark-skinned person living in a white dominated society. This short story is a prelude to the longest story that has been played out time and time again in this white dominated world in one way or another.
Let’s just fast forward 100 years plus and here we are where we find ourselves still experiencing the same racist vitriol. The perpetrators today are in the uniforms of Law enforcement throughout this so-called land of the free and the brave and justice for all (only pink skinned folks). Whether it is walking, driving, jogging, shopping or playing in a department store or park with a play gun, having the dark skin is an open invitation these days for harassment, police abuse and possible death. Just the mere suspicion of guilt by law enforcement or any white citizen today, ( just as it was back then ) seems to cause enough suspicion to justify the murder of many an unarmed dark skinned woman or man….It appears that we most definitely have gone from the noose to the bullet and we can’t seem to shake it….We can pray for all those innocent Black lives who have left this planet so abruptly at the hands of racism and their families, but praying and marching and protesting just isn’t enough. We must feel a compelling duty to eradicate our society of this viciousand insensitivity to human life on both sides of the paradigm…Are we capable of honestly taking a look deep within ourselves and really question who we really are as a dark-skinned people and what is it that needs to be done to eradicate our society from the grips of a sinister indifference as it pertains to the lives of dark skinned people all over the world. We can pray to the most high for strength and courage but eventually it comes down to the will of the people and what they are willing to do in order to achieve an equitable and lasting change.
So the question is; what are dark skinned people ready and willing to sacrifice in order to accomplish this goal because anything substantially meaningful definitely comes at a cost!! The cost has been paid many times before from the period of slavery and the (underground-railroad and abolitionists) to the forties, fifties and sixties (civil rights and voting rights groups and integration proponents) and the seventies (black power and black nationalists groups) and now.
Radical Change requires Radical Action
We are all Big Mo’s, Mattie’s, their family and some of us just might never make it back home.
Written by; Alton DeVeaux Jr. (5th Generation African)
This particular topic has been swirling around in my mind for years and now I feel that the time has arrived for me to finally speak on it. As you can see, the title to this piece is (WORDS) and I’m going to speak about the power that people give them.. What exactly are words except a means of which we communicate and interact with one another for whatever the purpose may be. They are fundamental and primarily essential to our understanding and learning but otherwise are not relevant…However, there are those people in the world who understand the power that words can have and will not hesitate to use them as a tool to divide, control, manipulate and exploit… So Beware!
Hello and blessings to all. Let’s talk about the one thought I’m fairly certain that most of us at one time or another have had regardless of how long we may have been on this planet..and that is….
There just never seems to be enough allotted time and life as a lot of folks will say, is simply much too short. This is called brevity and we all can most definitely attest to its ups and downs which creates a perpetual ebb and flow of uncertainty and constant challenges which are vicissitudes.. Yeah, these are just two words out of many that most of us will never use or even know. However, these two words sort of sum up life’s mortality, unpredictability and all that encapsulates it.
Welcome, you have now stepped into the realm of truth and hopefully you will enjoy the read and become another enlightened soul…
Human values are the principles, standards, convictions and beliefs that people adopt as their guidelines in daily activities. Principal human values are the foundation on which professional ethics are built. They are a set of consistent measures and behaviors that individuals choose to practice in the pursuit of doing what is right or what is expected of them in a humane society. Most laws and legislation are shaped by human values. If a country professes freedom, equality and justice for all as well as high moral family values then the leader of this country should embrace and reflect those same principles and values…
Now I for one am extremely aware of the pervasive and ubiquitous nature of hypocrisy in the makeup of our species and our society… I am aware of how it courses through the arteries of the most unaltruistic of our kind and lends itself to malevolent folks who promulgate self-serving agendas. I also understand completely how the process/action which is not seen (thought) allows compromise to maneuver and manipulate many people’s sense of values and principles which in turn open the door for hypocrisy to take root and flourish..If we paid closer attention to the behavior and actions (not rhetoric) of said folks who demand our steadfast adherence to these fundamental values/principles we would acknowledge their blatant hypocritical posturing and require the same of them. Unless of course we choose to be swept up in a wave of ignorance and denial ourselves for whatever reasons…Which of course is exactly what the trumpeteers have elected to do!!
Welcome, this truth should speak to the hearts and souls of all people but mainly to my dark-skinned brothers and sisters with whom I hope my words will resonate deeply with..
The greatest hindrance to any one person being able to pursue aspirations and succeeding in life aside from those obstacles that have been systematically placed in their pathway is the propensity for procrastination, a lack of faith in our ability and fear. Of course I’m not referring to those folks who may have some form of physical or mental disabilities that may or may not be an impediment, but primarily to those of us who are in complete control of all of our faculties. I thoroughly understand what the ramifications and impacts of racism, bigotry, xenophobia, discrimination, sexism, injustice and other forms of practiced oppression may have on a person’s psyche. I get it, but in this country does it determine who we are and where we go in life? If not, then why on earth do so many of us settle for it?
