“Why Can’t We?” – A Dialogue on Effecting Change

Flickr - Matches - S BakerJulian Rose and Zen Gardner, Guests
Waking Times

Editor’s Note: This is a recent exchange between two activists, Julian Rose and Zen Gardener, regarding a mutual desire to find more effective ways to precipitate more active participation in bringing about the much needed changes we all wish to see manifested.

Julian: Well  Zen,  it seems we are increasingly homing-in on the same subject in our writings  –  and that means in our thinking  – and it is an absolutely central issue of this moment, namely: “Why Can’t We?”

Of  course  millions of sincerely written words and no doubt thousands of provocative “think tanks’ have been straining to answer this question for decades, but as yet all we have is a lot of theory but very little practice. But very  little practice.. and there lies the rub. Without ‘the practice’ all  the  words  are  as  dross and simply clog up the arteries of purposeful change.

I find myself asking the same question that you bumped into in describing your Hamburger Man dream sequence – “am I misdirecting my best energies trying to wake up those who would prefer to remain asleep?” It solicited some very subtle responses in the comments column of that piece .. and yet .. when words carry their full weight of passion and are driven by the search for truth .. I believe they take on the dynamic of “an action” and thus spark something positive in at least a few sincere readers.

However, as I say in ‘The World Is Our Garden” the form this action takes needs to reflect a physical – as well as mental/spiritual – service to the planet. If not, I suggest that it is largely fraudulent and a mechanism of escapism. One which leaves the door open for our oppressors to carry on their work largely unimpeded.


  • How do you see us overcoming this seemingly intractable obstacle to achieving the sort of breakthrough that we need in order to really turn things around?

    Zen: I look at our condition as a layered one, with multiple dynamics at work. On the surface it appears mankind should obviously just rise up and overthrow these usurping parasites by our sheer numbers. Number one, by absolute non-compliance. No one wants more violence as it clearly begets violence, and the physically powerful come out on top with an affirmation of all the wrong paradigms and an eventual continuation of this imposed hierarchical structure with new, similarly cast “leadership”, no matter what promises are made.

    As you well know, the spiritual must be supreme where true conscious awareness permeates human society. We have yet to see this manifest fully on this planet but there have been attempts. Many talk about the power of the Awakening and I’m fully convinced that within this dynamic lies the key. Until minds and hearts are changed the structure around us will remain the same, no matter how many “makeovers” semi-conscious humanity undergoes.

    This question of “Why Can’t We?”,  or rather “How Can We?”, has been the question of sincere hearts for millennia. The problem today is that the social engineers have been so successful in breeding a dumbed-down, closed minded populace that it can appear no serious headway can be made. Exactly their intention, especially when so many have bought into the “hive mind” via powerful and oft repeated social and technological mechanisms. What I was referring to in the Human Hamburger Factory is how effectively overwhelming these programs have been and that we need to use wisdom and even conscious precision whenever possible in targeting those who can become effective agents of spiritual change, and avoid those who would distract and waste our energy when it is so vastly effective on the right audience.

    As I said there as well, we still need to scatter the seeds of Truth far and wide, as we don’t know for sure who is who or where they are. This brings me to another issue I think is very important. We need to now find ways to broaden our reach rather than just “preach to the choir” as the alternative community can tend to do. While our primary task is to strengthen those who have awakened since as we know the assault on, and challenges, to awakening are many. Those newly awakened are each potential powerhouses of Truth to help carry on in bringing about the needed paradigm shift, and I am fully convinced this is happening in every one of society’s strata.

    This may seem paradoxical, but it’s not. It’s similar to the effect of getting drawn into a futile, lower dimensional argument rather than keeping the higher ground in an exchange. That, or just terminate the discussion, or simply avoid those types when we encounter them. And that takes some spiritual growth to get to that point, although it can happen very quickly. A reminder that some “convinced against their will are of the same opinion still” or are actual energy vampires meant to weaken and distract is extremely important to learn. While we’re taking to the typically vocal, belligerent types just to prove we’re right or defend ourselves, those who would receive the Truth gladly may be slipping by right under our noses.

    Ironically, this confrontation can take place strictly in our minds in our approach to apparent problems and can stymie taking action, or produce wrong action through lack of understanding. We’re not here to react, but to respond consciously. Better yet, stay on the offensive, taking the conscious initiative according to the prompts of heart and spirit. When we operate from that centered space the Universe really goes to work! And as you know, it’s wonderful – whether in making wise political initiatives within the social fabric, or in learning to let go of old thought patterns as well as destructive, subservient lifestyles. Those decisions are the pivots that turn the course of history. If nothing else, our own – but as you know each of us is an intrinsic part of the whole fabric, so therefore everything has changed! That is the amazing power of a personal transformation. But transformed actions must and will follow if we are willing to respond…which is where we started. Ha!

    Julian: Ha, indeed! “If we are willing to respond.” For the process is cyclical. Life progresses in wave forms that oscillate continuously, suggesting that the notion of ‘standing still’ is quite simply not a part of physics’s cosmic agenda. In fact, discovering that this oscillating “wave pattern” is a fundamental universal force – breathing life into all living entities – was a fantastic breakthrough for the quantum physicists who stumbled upon it. But perhaps an even greater one for of us lot.

    I say that because “to respond” is to “create movement”; and the way we react to a challenge only has two possibilities: embrace it or reject it. This does not mean that one shouldn’t reflect on what course of action to take. No, of course not. But there is a real criticality about the length of time one reflects for – and it is in this grey area where a great swathe of humanity falls down and fails to get up again. Thus “putting-off the response” is a kind of death wish for our creative powers and those of the Universe of which we are an integral part.

    To get beyond this major pit-fall is a serious challenge. I believe that we need some sort of new training ground that combines the intensity and focus epitomising the best of a marshal arts and shamanic school of teaching. A serious kick in the rump for those who know they have the tendency to stall..and are honest enough to seek a solution. But more than this: a new foundation for education as a whole..since the rot sets in immediately a child enters the educational programming of the lopsided status quo. In such a new educational setting, the question “why can’t we” is replaced by the “how can we?” you allude to. A school where, from the outset, challenges are recognised as four dimensional, physical, mental, psychic and spiritual. Imagine starting every young person off with that kind of foundation for appraising life and responding to the key challenges of the time!

    To get out of “mind” syndrome – and back into solar plexus/heart offerings. I am talking about a deliberate counteraction to our Westernised preference for intellectualising that which, in reality, demands a balanced response that draws from a combination of emotion, intuition and intellect.

    In spite of the fact that the critical state of our planet should be alerting people to take immediate remedial actions – a sense of this immediacy remains almost 100% missing. Instead there is typically a numbed, muted and fear oriented reflexive reaction – even from many of those who believe themselves to be on some form of path to enlightenment.

    We might do well to focus our attention on new forms of “wake-up calls” that engage directly with individuals’ still functioning survival instincts – then catalysing and steering these instincts into a more total response. One which touches and expresses the deeper motivation which stands behind our real reason for being here in the fist place.

    Zen: So very perceptive. Yes, it’s all of that for sure. I see the canvas almost like a watercolor of meshed influences which for me are hard to distinguish with all the overlapping and changing vibrations, but clearly indicates humanity is awakening, even through science as you pointed out. Certainly conscious, loving intention and True information drastically and positively affects this field which should be and has been our major emphasis.

    The whole idea of learning is a distinctly important one. Unfortunately we’re dealing with a world used to being told what to do, which we want to steer clear of. Reinforcing these old patterns is drastically detrimental, yet at the same time everyone should be free to share their information and even opinions. What makes people motivated really strikes at the core of change. But we must bypass the old “hot buttons” of fear or followership reinforcement in every way possible.

    Clearly how information is interpreted is a very personal experience. Again we’re dealing with matrix programming versus the awakened, enlightened mind and heart, completely different dynamics that are worlds apart. It’s interesting as this hits on the insanity of democracy in a potentially enlightened society. It’s much like how tribal cultures simply trusted the wisdom of their elders and shamanic teachers, knowing there were realms of knowledge, experience and understanding they had not yet learned or tapped into. So it is with any true educational process.

    In a so-called democracy, clearly an elitist fabrication as they ruled the fighting masses, obviously the outcry then ensues by those lower dimensionally motivated with “Who says?”, and back to the drawing board it could easily go. This leads into your proposal to accentuate influencing the enlightened who may need, and appreciate, further motivation through greater awareness which I have long advocated. However, I must admit I am somewhat jaded when it comes to approaching the wider swathe of humanity in this current culturally indoctrinated milieu. Not only regarding arousing and reinforcing old learning patterns, but actually bringing on a more virulent opposition to what we and others are trying to accomplish, which may explain the organic separation between mainstream and alternative information during this time of learning. However, a shift in this paradigm is clearly underway.

    All that to say I love your ideas on how to present information and hopefully motivation to the informed and awakened, or potentially awakened. Keeping a safe distance from reinforcing wrong paradigms isn’t all that complicated, especially when it’s all left up to the heart and spirit. Being aware of these dynamics, though, I think is imperative. At the same time, a clarion call needs to be sounded continually to take up the torch for conscious action in whatever way people are motivated and led, but we all need that nudge, if not that kick in the pants.

    I don’t mean to over intellectualize all of this, but I think it’s good to be aware of the dynamics at work, as old learning patterns can and will kick in on either side of all of this and we should be aware of them and not reinforce them. Taking action is imperative – but it needs to be drenched in conscious, loving awareness, however it can be manifested.

    Julian: Nicely said. So, we are broadly on the right track, it seems. Targeting those who are mostly already aware and/or becoming aware.

    For those already mostly aware, we both appear to believe that a “call to action” is the most crucial issue. One can be aware, yet not willing to take the steps that this awareness calls for – and this is the same malaise as the grey area I mentioned earlier – of  “too much time spent reflecting.”

    What would happen if we formatted a blog site to focus specifically on action plans? For example: we all agree that chemtrails must be stopped – but how? The immediacy of the need to take action is unequivocal. imagine you are a general and you are charged with stopping an unprecedented type of aerial assault. What do you do? You call up your best and sharpest staff to come-up with a highly focused plan of action to end this threat – with the minimum loss of life. Then, once having agreed on the strategy, you set the process in motion.

    When army chiefs (of any worth) meet in a crisis, it is not to have protracted armchair conversations about the nature of the enemy, but to pull together the resources to bring about a successful mission. Blogs should be moving in this same way now, because it is “we” – the ones who are supposed to be aware – who must take control and become the generals who lead the world out of – and/or – beyond the abyss.

    Zen: Right on. It would be good to collect this action oriented information in one place. As of now it’s scattered about amidst news stories and information of all sorts, as in the case of my website as well. Many are asking for this and doing so will really put the onus on them to act accordingly, if they haven’t felt that call clearly enough already.

    Plans of action focus the issue on action, and as you said not on just repeating the problems over and over like armchair generals. “Why, I’m aware of this and know it’s wrong and shouldn’t be” as if that’s enough to change anything. True conscious awareness of course has its intrinsic value and impetus but with it comes a changed life, if it’s the real deal. Otherwise its not fully aware, nor conscious.

    We’re up against some serious mental diseases and engineered mechanisms that induce and reinforce this “groupthink” mentality, but they’re clearly surmountable. Namely these are denial, cognitive dissonance and what they call the “spiral of silence” that yields to social pressures instead of conscience. This informational and normative conformity is hugely at play in the mass mind programming and which I’m planning to explore further in the near future as I think it will help some people. Fortunately people are snapping out of it, even if ever so slowly. Confronting people with serious realities AND providing avenues of action is a whole lot tougher to ignore. At the least, that old accountability factor kicks in and Universe goes to work one direction or the other – empowering those who take it to heart, or pushing reluctant folks back for more of the same toxic “mess of pottage” they’re apparently craving until they’re either fed up or fully hypnotized.

    Either way, such a well aimed instrument specifically presenting courses of action would have a seriously beneficial effect and I’m sure many would gladly contribute to such an effort.

    Julian: Brilliant! So onward it is my friends. Onward and upward and downward and sideways too – if that’s what it takes! But no going back and no fence sitting – unless one wishes to invoke the cosmic/karmic retribution that Zen has so well expressed above. We are tasked to overcome all that tries to stand in our way – for that is a human being’s route to the promised land. I believe that this Promised Land is not somewhere in the far beyond, but for us to bring into existence, right here, on this jewel called Earth. A planet which each one of us chose, or were offered, as the place to establish our home during this lifetime. Now, once having made that choice – we are going to have to take responsibility for it. It is for us – and us only – to give birth to this Promised Land – which all child bearing women will tell you – is not without pain – but is nevertheless about the most joyous and exciting challenge that one could ever ask for.

    Zen: Yessiree! I wouldn’t have it any other way! We’re not really saying anything new here, but it’s so good to stop and take a look at where we’re going and what more we can do. So many wonderful folks have done such a terrific job at highlighting real solutions it would be hard to name them all, but I think many people share this same underlying frustration we’re attempting to address.

    The infusion of truth into the body politic has been like a drip system, one which is definitely waking up and empowering the body, but it seems it’s time to up the ante, fully waken the patient and concentrate on helping it start to eat some real food on its own and come to life. We’ve masticated problems for long enough—even though we’ll need to continue to keep tabs on what’s going on out there for sure as it only adds fuel to the fire of conviction.

    The call to action has always been there, but now’s the time to turn up the volume! And to blow up more of these hindering dams blocking the rivers of real life, as so many others have been in the process of doing for years, without whom we wouldn’t be here today. “We stand on the shoulders of giants” as the expression goes – now let’s help take it to the next level! Onward!

    – More from Julian Rose can be found at Changingcourseforlife.info

    – Zen’s writings and posts can be found at ZenGardner.com

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    ZenGardner.com


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