For the past 24 hours I've been sitting with the resonance of my last post, which was a link to a youtube video titled "All Wars Are Bankers Wars." While the video does a reasonably thorough job of exposing how all of America's military endeavors (from the American Revolution up through today) have been financially motivated by an elite few at the expense of the many, something about it was not sitting right with me.
Before getting into my critique, I'd like to say that the information in this video is excellent. It is information that is not seen or heard in any state-sponsored educational institutions or mainstream media outlets in America, and so needs to be disseminated. The American people, myself included, have the absolute right (and I would go so far as to say responsibility) to educate themselves about the true motivations underlying the past and current wars our country has been/is embroiled in. Those financial super-elite who are in powerful positions need to be held accountable for their transgressions, which necessitates that we know exactly what those transgressions are.
However, I'm uncomfortable with the implications of the demonization of the so-called 'bankers.' The video adopts a fairly clear stance with regards to all members of the class of the financial super-elite, maintaining that they are greedy war-mongers who are to blame for all of America's military aggression. After some consideration, I have two responses to this.
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1. Unfortunately, the responsibility does not lie solely with the financial super-elite. While it may be convenient to dump the burden all onto one group and say:
"If we get rid of them, we fix the problem!"
That is an overly-simplistic analysis. In truth, some of the responsibility for every murder, every act of atrocity, and every military misdeed lies with everyone down the chain of command, from the greedy and powerful banker pulling the strings at the top to the uninformed and manipulated soldier pulling the trigger at the bottom. We cannot forgive the soldier and lambaste the banker. It is not the same sort of responsibility, because the banker pulling the strings had clear picture of the situation and thus was able to make a more free choice, while the soldier (we can assume) was acting under the assumption that the reasons for going to war were just. However, every individual who surrenders autonomy and critical thinking and becomes nothing more than an extension of the person issuing orders bears responsibility for what happens at the end of the day. This is not me having at go at anyone in uniform, this is simply an energetic truth. Anyone who says:
"Ok, you go ahead and make my decisions for me and tell me what to do."
is absolutely accountable for their own unwillingness to take responsibility for themselves. This goes as well for the taxpayers who funded all of these wars. Again, we bear a different degree of responsibility then the puppeteers themselves, because widespread indoctrination, manipulation and disinformation have successfully tricked many people into thinking all of these wars were necessary in some way. But the same rule applies.
LETTING SOMEONE ELSE DO YOUR THINKING FOR YOU DOES NOT GET YOU OFF THE HOOK.
The 'problem' here, which resulted in all of these wars, is not the financial super-elite and their greedy, war-mongering ways. That is a symptom of the underlying problem, which is large numbers of people who are willing (many even eager) to let someone else do their thinking for them. Those money-hungry dudes pulling the strings have intentionally exacerbated this and capitalized on it by gradually institutionalizing the practice of doing whatever authority tells you. Most of of mainstream contemporary American society has been designed with the express purpose of maintaining a population of willing slaves: people who are ready to let an external authority figure decide what should be valued, how tax dollars should be spent, and what they should think about the people next door. We are all, every single one of us, collectively responsible for our current situation. We cannot dodge responsibility by blaming the bankers who lied to us and told us we had to go to war in the first place, because it was us who did not question what we were told even as the bodies piled up. Real, lasting change will only become possible through every single individual taking responsibility and stepping into accountability. In doing so, it will no longer be possible for the few to manipulate the many.
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2. The second point of unease I have with the demonization of the financial super-elite emerges from the fact that, in truth, the only thing that can ever enslave an individual is a belief system. 'Debt' cannot enslave someone, as it does not actually exist. 'Incarceration'cannot enslave someone, because incarceration is a transitory situation which exists only on this physical plane, whereas freedom is something that exists in our consciousness.
It is a debt-based belief system which holds people in slavery, not the 'debt' itself.
And likewise, it is just as easy for a prejudice-based belief system to enslave people. This is self-evident, and shows up in homophobia, Islamaphobia, misogyny, and many other forms. It can just as easily show up in bankerphobia. Believing that any one particular group of people is 'evil' will distort your view of reality and restrict you to a limited number of responses in many situations. To evolve as a collective, we must patiently and compassionately free ourselves of all debt-based and prejudice-based belief systems. It is nowhere near as simple as chucking out those in power who have pushed 'their' wars on the rest of us.
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While those are my critiques of the video I posted, I do strongly encourage people to watch it. It is an incredible opportunity we have, to try and collectively transform our world. It will not be simple, and it will not be some either/or dualistic solution. It will require a nuanced understanding of both ourselves and our current situation and the tender, loving, discipline of being absolutely committed to integrating all aspects of ourselves which would constrict the flow of divine love moving through us at all times.
In order to creatively transform the large-scale ways we engage with one another, (politics, economics, etc) it will also require the a clear analysis of how we've chosen to do it thus far. That will necessitate the unveiling of a lot of information that has been deliberately obscured, hence my posting of this video.
We as a global community are faced with an amazing opportunity: to collectively re-envision and transform our world. It is my joy to take advantage of this opportunity - nothing could possibly bring me more peace and bliss than participating in our collective evolution. In the interests of that evolution, I will continue to present information that I think will help us in our evolution. I will also continue to be critical of everything, including myself to whatever degree I am able, and I encourage you to do the same: educate yourself, and question everything.
Again, it is only through large numbers of people agreeing to let someone else do their thinking for them that people in positions of power were able to abuse it. In order to evolve, in order to not be taken in by any new external belief system, we must pierce through the fog of disinformation presented to us via our state-sponsored school systems and our mainstream media, and illuminate the underlying belief systems that such disinformation represents. Simultaneously we must excavate our interior and compassionately expose within ourselves all the external belief systems we have already ingested.
There is no authority higher than that of our own hearts, and no truth greater than the truth of love.
It is my joy, my honor, and my privilege to do this work with all of you. Thank you!
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