Today’s member edition of Planet Waves FM is about to publish. In the lead article I look at the psychology behind the NSA spying scandal and the ‘daddy issues’ that are inherent in our political system. This is a truly interesting, even necessary exploration of the mentality involved in politics, government and its many attempts to spy on people. Today’s edition also includes a look at Jupiter opposite the Galactic Core and other current astrology, our excellent news briefs and my weekly horoscope readings for all 12 Sun, Moon and rising signs. The graphic is the top of the lead article.
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“The problem we are facing is when a legitimate need is confused with a totally illegitimate abuse of power.”
How are you ever going to quantify or measure this in practical terms? Nothing is true. Everything is permitted. You cannot have an intellectual discussion with a rabid dog! Only retrospectively can you quantify behaviour! Can they please justify crossing which line? It is a semantic nightmare of Jurassic proportions. Yet on a personal level it is quite straightforward to acknowledge each other’s personal space!
The new technology demands that we now face up to a new set of non defined parameters! Where there were 3 sheep dogs and 50 sheep…now there is one sheepdog and 500 sheep. Needs must! Does it not ultimately revolve around the concept of privacy? This is difficult…the sense of self that indeed needs to feel safe…is an arbitary ever changing concept. In moments of deep trauma, the definitions and parameters of safe will change along a continuum in relation to moments of carefree laissez faire!
There is also the individual freedom versus the consensus of a group. We all have a responsibility to manifest the expression of our communities, but the grey area begins if and when I start advocating the likely needs of that group as speculation!
Democracy cannot be based on John Stuart Mill’s “The Greater Good” It does not and cannot work. It is therefore incumbent upon us to set out our own concepts of privacy, since the assumption that we all mean the same thing is a non starter! Do you really have that much to hide? One could construct a Wilhelm Reich view that in some cases one’s need for privacy is a continuum whose other facet is anal retention and sexual froideur! Is it just possible that the resonance of the Sibley chart is asking for a fresh look at some long held assumptions! A civil discourse is preferable to a civil war…n’est pas!
There is another strand from the 60s Uranus Pluto conjunct that is now in need of first quarter attention. “Let it all hang out.” The thrust of the jist was to dis-abuse ourselves of as many constraints as possible! We seem to have been bombarded so severely by the onslaught of ubiquitous media growth, that the lion that once roared so loud and proud, is something of a mouse alongside the laptop dance.
This is the most serious of the issues that Uranus Pluto throws up! The curve of your thought forms is surely not that dangerous a place to be! Sharing them is a choice. But could it not be possible that the eavesdroppers may actually learn from you, as the synthesis of your thinking is refined.
The issue of holding abuses of those thought forms to account is on the table!
Paul
Good point, Eric, and important. Thank you.
One of the deepest spiritual crises of our day involves feeling safe, which is about trust. The NSA spying scandal is an assault on our trust, no matter which way you look at it, though I also believe that getting these matters into the open is better than having them be concealed.
As for whether to trust Edward Snowden: there is more to this decision than there may seem on its face. Discrediting him casts the potential revelation of an urgent truth, in the public interest, in an untrustworthy light. In making such an assessment, I suggest going deeper, and considering the matter on the most personal level. What would you do if faced with a similar situation?
Would you have the courage to go public? How would the potential consequences influence your choice? How would you weigh and balance the private consequences against the public benefit of your actions? If you chose to remain silent, to the detriment of millions of people, how would you live with that choice?
Dear Eric and Planet Waves team,
This is one of the best editions EVER! So much to reflect on, so much to take in. I must also congratulate you for an excellent BALANCED presentation, keeping the perspective sharp and clear without drifting off or getting side-tracked into subjective material….masterfully done everyone!
That said, please forgive me if I launch into an opinion which is not my own but one that makes the most sense to me;
I may be wrong but we humans seem to be really good at creating, perfecting and abusing technology with enormous consequences to all sorts of “innocents”. Just look at any era or age and we can find examples from the dawn of human history when we picked up our first stick and used it as a weapon until this moment. We seem to continue to wrestle with the same issues as a species with the main difference being just how MUCH damage we can inflict upon others and the planet with our addiction(s) to technology and our desire to have power over others and Nature. Those in power will always corrupt systems and trust with technology if given the chance. We did it with Clovis points in the Neolithic and we are still doing it today.
Perhaps part of the lack of outrage over this latest incarnation has its roots in a deeper understanding: that all of this ‘power-over’ others behaviour is rooted in fear. That domination of others is a very, very old story that is (possibly) on its way out of our collective. That possibly (we can hope) as we gain true spiritual understanding we realize that nothing that is fear-based will ultimately succeed. Only loving, mutual respect is the way forward. It may take generations and, sadly, we may not have that kind of time left to us, our dysfunction has gotten so bad.
I am grateful beyond measure that there are brave and decent people out there willing to expose the corruption and dysfunction in this modern age. We all need to come to our own terms with this brave new world and no doubt there are clever techies working feverishly right now to develop blocking software to offer up in the marketplace for those who feel the need to go to such measures. But the truth is, we’ve been at this dance for a very, very long time. If we are ever going to make a truly enlightened leap into a new consciousness, then we need to find ways to re-pattern ourselves so that fear and fear-based decisions and actions are no longer our main motivational choices. I know this is simplistic and some would say delusional thinking, but technology by itself will never change anything here on planet Earth until something else changes first… it is the Human Being using the technology that has to change, and that is the conundrum.
Thank you Eric and Team. This may be the most important-to-read subscriber edition ever. If the fertilizer continues to hit the oscillator as it is now, it is not only the lead article, but also the other sections and the stupendous horoscopes as a lasting and understandable guide through the wilderness within and without. You have done a great service, Eric. Now it is for people to avail themselves of it through a subscription.
Dear Eric and others,
I am new to your community via Elisa Novick – and just wanted to say that I appreciate being touched in unimaginable ways that embody integrity and truth regardless – clearly communicated with your words – and so it is – no other way. I am so pleased and tickled and filled with respect in your direction – truly – and just to say that this article is brilliant and spot on – love, love, love the first paragraph for its depth and more…
much love and THANK YOU,
Jody
This is what happens when the lookouts don’t recognize the danger due to familiarity. I heard an NPR piece on recreational and commercial drones. Like the internet and smart phones, when we all want one, or perceive one necessary for our livelihood, then we are less likely to notice, object or care that the line has been crossed to illegitimate abuse of power. What’s the difference between my drone programmed to do work for me, and their drone, programmed to invisibly suck away my liberty and privacy.
Part of the plot? or How the organism in the environment adapts? or maladapts–the first step to extinction? We have a lot to think about with our big brains. Wake up!
“What we are seeing with the NSA eavesdropping is not merely the result of technology, though technology is often what sets the limit on what can happen (of which there is apparently none today). Neither is it the result of an authentic need for a benevolent authority to guard the perimeter. Even crows have lookouts stationed around fields, and deer warn one another of an invasive presence in a forest. Everyone understands that there is some legitimate need for the government to watch the boundaries and be alert to invasion and betrayal. The problem we are facing is when a legitimate need is confused with a totally illegitimate abuse of power.”
— from today’s member edition of Planet Waves