The deceitfulness of the lie that a human being can have complete control over a situation is one that many in this day appear to believe. The idea that a single human mind can coordinate and dictate the outcome of every process and procedure, is a seductive one, and many try to use their minds in utilizing the skills of others to ensconce themselves in the seat of power. There also seems to be many who are willing to support regimes, which promise something that they in turn would desire. Minds and wills are turned and changed from independent purposes, to subservience and servitude, and the exercise of creative talents becomes lost and forgotten in the purge to rid society of initiative and to regulate and standardize all thought and activity.

As we forget, or never have known the folly of the past, we again fall into the abyss of regimentation and stultifying sameness, which takes away our human dignity and dulls the mind from asking questions. The idea of protest does not occur to a generation of people, who never fought for a freedom and liberty, (I am one such) which is now so far away as to be ancient history. We have swallowed the folly that man has now conquered all his demons and our governments lead the way to a utopian future, and that they would never dream to harm those who reside in their domains.

In recent times we have seen the uprising of young people in response to government cuts that will massively affect their futures and impact on their ability to work and function in society. Young people are rightly angry, that they have been promised so much and are now denied seeing their work brought to fruition. The path of education has closed up and nothing seems to be promoted, valued or available as a different option, certainly nothing that is regarded as worthy.

Many feel short-changed, having been assured that the future is bright if they stay at on at learning institutions, but even a first class degree will not get you a job. Is our quality of life getting better and are our futures more assured than the “bad old days” we are told about? Are the manifestations of culture and learning really better than our forbears?

Society works from the premise that it is getting better and more sophisticated at dealing with the needs of its consumers. Sound bite and obvious lies inhabit the airwaves, in the hope that those who have suffered the indignity of a so-called good education will not notice the gaps and inconsistencies. The dumbing down is almost complete as people become obsessed with looks and feelings, and the superficial gloss of media and machine. There appears there is little evidence of many looking below the surface of greasy, filthy lucre, to find knowledge and deeper wisdom, which will enable them to ask cogent questions and seek truth and transparency.

However, some are now seeing through this dark glass, and realizing that the cupboard is actually very bare. The choices are stark, and for many, non-existent. The only way up has been university, or so we have been told, but some are looking outwards to other avenues of making a living and having a good and worthwhile life. Are we now again discovering others and each other? Perhaps we are on the verge of a new renaissance, where truth, beauty and wisdom will blossom out of the quagmire of the emptiness.

Our society meddles in the affairs of other societies, to mask the supreme inadequacies of our own, and provide excuses for the forcing of one point of view, or one political agenda on the whole world. We are heading for a dictatorship, which will ensure that all hearts and minds are its own and keep the peoples of this planet in trepidation and fear of a foe that is not real. The only foe will be ourselves and the enforced slavery were have built around ourselves. 

The tragedy is, we don’t seem to see it and can’t bring ourselves to believe it. We have become like the frog in the pot who doesn’t notice the water getting hot until it is too late. Perhaps the strictures of the cutbacks we are experiencing of late will help us to again clarify what we value. It is a tragedy that so many are faced with real day-to-day problems of how to look after those they love and are responsible for, are having to suffer such hardship and worry. The education received did not quite prepare them for this. Maybe we should keep our eyes firmly fixed on home, and as each person, community and government puts its own house in order, we will actually see a difference and have the caring society we said we had in the past.

Rather than continually seeking our own good, or the good of those who keep us, we will find ourselves ready and able to give and make sacrifices for those we don’t know and have no particular truck with us, and the vice of selfishness is loosed from our hearts and minds. We begin to see that there is more than this world and we don’t have to conform to it, or it’s wishes. Our minds and wills are set free and we can make real choices. 

When we are controlled by this motivation, we find ourselves to be truly free, and that we have control of our own desires and deeds, to serve others and build a different country, based on equity, justice, mercy and charity. We can’t really afford, in any respect, to turn away. The alternative is not a choice.