We have gotten to this point because neither side is right, neither side has the answer, neither side is the moral righteous. And the more they think they do, the less they are right. The more they attempt to inflict themselves on others, the more they do the opposite of what they intended.

Both ideologies (conservative and liberal) have created in our society a population that cannot think on its own, cannot act without being told in some way to act, and have created in their minds the notion that someone somewhere must tell them what is right and what is wrong. This has happened in every society…every civilization has fallen for nearly the same cause…and we are no different. Our fall just seems faster because we think we are right and have the resources to continue the delusion.

We have not imparted WISDOM into our society. We may KNOW a lot (and even that is questionable), but we never truly learn how to think on our own. Our schools teach us what to think about a subject, our parents teach us how to live an what to think in their image, and we never fully learn to develop WISDOM. So, we keep on repeating the same mistakes over and over again while actually working to convince others to make them with us. And if they question us on the mistakes we label them, make fun of them, and humiliate them into some corner of our society we do not wish to hear.

Those who believe they are right from the outset may never understand this. Everyone not like them is wrong. I say we are both wrong. The minute you have to live like me or me like you we are both wrong. The minute I seek to inflict who I am on you through the collective I am wrong. The minute I blame you and not me for the ills of society I am wrong. The minute I point my finger I am wrong. The second I do not consider me I am wrong. The minute I open my mouth without action to follow I am wrong.

The minute I need not speak but through action may be the first time I have ever been right.

An important thing to remember is that decadence is only decadence to YOU. You define it for yourself and then seek to make it so for everyone else. In this exercise, we have forgotten how to let others BE. So, we make them wrong and classify them as “less” than we are and in turn make everything about them wrong. This is one silly practice, and because of it we have created a society that can no longer be itself without thinking itself “decadent” if it doesn’t act just like those who have defined it.

I would venture a guess that if we stopped classifying all of this meaningless garbage we would find that we really aren’t all that bad. We tend to focus on meaningless drivel that does not deserve attention while allowing the meaningful parts of our existence flounder. It is this focus, or lack of it, that is undermining our society because it undermines the individuals who make up that society.

As it will. When you are the richest nation on earth with the most debt and the most toys, you tend to lose focus. “Things” become the most important aspect of life, money becomes the focus, and you are willing to do just about anything to acquire things and make money. You have, at that point, sacrificed who you are for who you think you are. You have become the illusion.

The only cure is to wake up. This requires deep inward focus and attention to self. Your ego has created a word you use often, “selfish”, and made it bad so that you never wish to focus on self. Focusing on “self” makes you bad, whereas diving into the worlds of others makes you “concerned”, and “good”.

I ask you one question, what has all of the desire to make all of that not you exactly like you accomplished? It seems to me that all of your desire to make the world like you has done nothing but given you the false impression that the world is falling apart because of its failure to be like you. That is your mistake, not the world’s.

©2009 Thomas P Grasso All Rights Reserved