October 19th, 2011 
rob in the pagé family 
As most of you probably know, the “Wall Street Protests” have pretty much spread all around the world. I do admire the courage of those who are involved in these protests. The message that I hear from these groups is that they are done having the banking and corporate elite taking all the wealth at the expense of the people. I see these protests as a way for people to send a message to the elite.
I do want to challenge those individuals who want to change the system. I believe that revolutions throughout history have failed mainly because people revolt but then end up replacing the system they revolted against, with the exact same system. Then over time, the system then corrupts again and consumes those that forced the changes in the beginning, resulting in the process repeating itself. I believe that if we are to brake the cycle, we must first take a look at some core root causes.
We are extremely powerful creators. The amount of power we have at our disposal is vast. Getting comfortable managing that power takes a lot of work. I’m still trying to get a firm grasp of how it works and how to manage it all. I found for most of my life I was very uncomfortable with that power, so I gave it away. There are a lot of people out there that are more than happy to receive that power. Those are the 1% of the world. 
Those people are more than happy to “capitalize” (verb: Take the chance to gain advantage from) on others so that they can profit from that excess energy. So I decided to stop giving them my power. Working a job means you are being capitalized! Where do you think corporate profits come from? The excess energy of the workers! Remember, they cannot “take” it. It must be given away! But that meant I had to completely restructure my life. It meant that I had nobody to blame but myself. It meant I had to become consciously aware of my power and ALL the forms it takes. It meant stepping away from the corporate, capitalistic, scarcity model and work towards a prosperity / sharing type model. Don’t ask me what that looks like because I am still trying to figure that out.
Money is one form that represents my energy, but there are others. How about being angry with somebody? That is a form of emotional energy transfer to that individual. Voting is another transfer of power. The list can go on and on. Some of them are obvious, others are much more subtle. Could the protests be a form of energy transfer to the 1%? I believe it is.
So for me, it does not make sense to protest against another human being as all I would be doing is giving them my power. I don’t want to force my will upon them either. Instead, I am working towards recognizing how powerful I am, using the power I have to support my family and using the excess power to help other people. What if we managed where our power went and used it for looking after ourselves and all the excess power went towards helping others rather than for corporate gains, etc? Would our communities flourish and find prosperity? Would poverty disappear? Would we have time to spend with family and friends? Would our relationships change? Would there be peace on this earth?
I think it is very interesting to watch the growth of the protests as it is a clear indication to me that there is a very specific energy flowing over the face of the earth. The question that remains is; do we revolt because we are angry about being the victim of other people’s actions or do accept that we created this situation ourselves, take 100% responsibility for our lives, make some changes and start acting like conscious self governing adults?”
I don’t have the answers and I am no expert on any of this stuff. These are just my musings and questions that I have. Worthy of discussion though.
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Hi there,
I’m one of the volunteer organizers with the Toronto “Occupy” protest. I share your concerns 100% with the direction of energy. I see us both disempowering ourselves and fleeing our responsibilities in the idea that we must get our the change we wish from some upper one percent, a line that can be drawn anywhere one likes, depending upon their biases. I see that we have both the power and responsibility to create the new system and culture that we wish to see, and that a population that depends on an “elite” to give it to them would not undergo the growth needed for them to be able to manage and live in such a society of equality, accountability, transparency, and abundance.
Thank you for your humble and wise insights. I’d started this email intending to ask for you to speak at our event in Toronto to share this insight. But in writing, I’d realized that this is something I must take ownership of, lest I make you my scapegoat for creating change. Not only do you have your things to take care of where you are, but relying on you for this would negate the power and understanding- and thus responsibility- I have to present these ideas to my friends here myself. Thank you for leading by example. I love how the learning process just springs up on you like that some times, haha
Peace and love,
Jack
jack, what you wrote is so beautiful, honest and true to the core. Thank you so much for being wise and seeing the truth in what I am trying to share with people. Well put, well done. Bravo to you my friend.
Hello my friends…after the big rush of contemplating that kind of absolute freedom and how it must be so great, one question comes to my mind!!…what about the poor, the sick and the elderly people?…how can they free themselves?…a lot of excess power will be required to make sure that all brothers and sisters benifite from that type of new world order!!…and that’s why in my view a long transitional phase will be nequired to get there!!…we will probably need a new charter of rights that would be based on social and moral responsibilities and beeing helded accountable for our actions instead of giving away our rights and energy to the old type of system that is in place right now!!…that let’s them decide what’s right and what’s wrong for us to say or do or think!!…will it become the law of the jungle where the strong survive and the weak perrish?…a lot of real questions lie ahead of us my friends!!…also what comes to mind is that it’s a viable system in a small rural area but what about the big towns and large cities?
One thing I do know from living the experience at the Occupy Montreal camp is that by helping out those that live on the street and the first nations people that come to the camp that with the help of peace, love, hamony and caring for each other it works wonders and small miracles every day!!…but meanwhile, those living outside the camp and going about there daily lives really have a hard time understading and getting a “grip” on what the camps are all about!!…it’s sort of a way to test what we preach!!…can love, peace and harmony bring about a better futur for the planet and it’s habitants?…it sure can my friends!!…PEACE!!
Richard / composer-guitarist and action commitee member at Occupy Montreal
http://www.reverbnation.com/richardlupien
http://imaginepeace.com/
Richard;
Great questions. I believe that a self governing individual has a duty to help those who are either unable or unwilling to govern themselves. I know for a fact that my mother-in-law for example is capable of governing herself but she needs help. So we built her a house on our domicile. I don’t believe in shipping her off to have somebody else look after her. As our community / clan / tribe grows then we can share the duty so that it is no longer a burden. These people will not get left behind. Everyone is of great importance and value. You are right. It will take time and it will be a transition. That is why I am NOT advocating for the downfall of the government or the economy. We need them while we make this transition. If they fail or fall then it will be chaos and many people will perish. Something I don’t want to see happen but the reality is, there is a good probability of an event like that occurring.
Rob –
Continuing to allow the upper crust to manage the current administration will guarantee the continuation of the Federal Reserve. Governing ourselves will never yield that change, because, by allowing members of the Council on Foreign Relations to govern themselves, they will necessarily guarantee their own future.
We Are Change doesn’t necessarily imply that we want to run the Fed, or replace it with our own. And while that has happened often in the past, Feudalism wasn’t replaced with Feudalism 2, Peristroika didn’t yield Leninism 2. Governing myself may keep me out of a FEMA camp, changing the Federal Reserve may spare others.
I think that’s why they’re there, at the camps. Not sure they all know why they’re rioting in Oakland, but clearly many people know there is something funny going on, and while they may not fully grasp the core problems surrounding extension of credit, I have great respect for those who are standing up to the government thugs because I really believe that is likely the only chance to save your opportunity to govern yourself at all.
I believe that the greatest accomplishment of the occupy movement, in particular the form of protest that was used, is the reestablishment of the true sense of community and equality. It may not have been perfect, but it was real. I haven’t seen that much progress has been made in the government or corporate world changing direction. If anything they seem to have accelerated their own self destruction by the passing of strange laws(fictions) which further discredits their legitimity. Do they(the government) have a role to play? Of coarse! Are they fulfilling that role as they should? That is questionable. I had always bought into the idea that was presented to me that we must work hard in an interdependent society so that my work may serve others and that I may benefit from the work of others. It makes sense and I still think this would work well. The awakening for me happened when (for a reason I can’t quite recall) I became aware of how money moves through the economy. It was the piece of the puzzle I needed to see to understand why people(including myself) behave the way they do. It was actually quite bizarre. It was the missing dot that painted a picture that made sense to me. That’s not to say that I agreed that the world should function this way, but I could see everyone’s complicite role in creating the problems that exist in the world.
My awakening was not about corupt politicians and profiteering corporations. It was about about my own corruption and profiteering! That is not to say that I was doing anything illegal, quite the contrary, my sin was to blindly follow someone else’s path and laws without questioning it. I had forcefully and willingly become numb to the pain felt by others in the world and I had completely dissowned the roll I have played in creating those conditions and allowing them to continue existing through my unquestioning obedience. I have now broken the wall that prevented me from feeling. I allow myself to feel others in need and own up to the part I play in it. I cannot stop myself from hurting others yet, because instead of creating a free interdependent relationship with others, I have allowed myself to become dependent. Those who claim to represent me (the government) ignore my will and take my power to do things I do not like. They kill, steal, deceive and enslave others in my name. To me it feels like being conscious of murdering someone you love but being completely unable to control your actions. It is an absolutely horrible feeling and I want it to stop. I joined the occupy movement to share this and learn from others going through their journeys. To this end, it has been a success. I discovered that we seem to be traveling toward a converging point although we are all getting there from a different starting point and travel at varying speeds. I saw occupy discussions go from speaking at each other to listening to each other. I’ve seen the conflicts get resolved rather than get avoided. I have watch mutual love and respect grow. This to me is the success of the occupy movement. I believe what happens next will be critical for its future. The people either take what they have learned and use it to regain their individual power, dignity and personal growth, or they settle for higher taxes for corporation and a poor substitute for freedom.
Happy travels occupyers, hope you have learned to master your canoe, because the rapids ahead are pretty rough!