In the Autumn of 2023, I embarked on a new adventure into higher education, driven by my building concern around Food Security issues and the certain reality that the UK is running the increasing risk of suddenly finding itself without sufficient food supplies for all of us to eat.
The journey that had taken me to a Postgraduate Course at the Royal Agricultural University in Cirencester at the age of 50 had been a long one. I very quickly began to feel as if I was meeting all of my accumulated experience head-on, quite literally by coming at it from the other direction. Or in what is the academic, abstract or theory-based way, as opposed to the predominantly experiential route my life has typically taken me before.
It was a mixed blessing. And whilst my concern that academia looks backwards to try and work out solutions for the future may have grown, I also experienced thinking of a kind which although restrained by the machinations of the UK’s current higher education environment, certainly helped me close that circle and helped me to view the difficult periods of my own story as one that I can fully appreciate and own.
One Module of my Course of Study was being trialed in a different way. The Course Tutors invited students to undertake what might be called a mini dissertation. Doing research on the real-life implications of poverty, with the suggestion that we might relate this research to our own life experience in some way.
With the childhood experience of being in poverty, it was not many moments before the opportunity to share something deep that might benefit others was flashing across my internal thought screen. And I was very happy to embrace the project with the aim of giving it everything that I have got.
The following pages represent the completion and submission of that work.
My final Report has been reprinted with only the details that could easily identify the personal information of those taking part removed.
The main body of the work has been adapted to form an e-book published on Amazon in June 2024 and has been reset with some very minor editing for the purpose of making this PDF available as a download from my Blog www.adamtugwell.blog in late 2024, and now as a full text version online in 2025.
I have shared this content, as the work has been assessed, marked and forms part of the Postgraduate Certificate in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security that I was awarded by the RAU in 2024.
After filming and publishing a video about Poverty in the UK which leaned heavily upon what I have learned and not least of all the understanding that You have to experience or be touched by Poverty to understand it, I have concluded that its relative popularity suggests that it will be helpful and of benefit to others if I were to publish the original (academic) work in different formats.
Poverty IS a problem that CAN be solved. It is a blight on UK society that simply shouldn’t exist. However, Poverty and our inadvertent acceptance of it is also symptomatic of the greater ills that we have to face, but which those so far untouched by Poverty are happy to avoid. Because to many, Poverty is something that happens only to other people, who are someplace else.
Thank you for reading and giving thought to what the realities of Poverty today really are.
In as much as it can be, the content of this e-book reflects the structure of the academic submission that I made to the RAU in December 2023, as a requirement of my Postgraduate Course.
The process followed should be self-explanatory through Parts 1 – 3 of this Booklet.
Parts 1 – 3 are then followed by the Reference List and the 1st Appendix, which includes the list of questions that I asked as part of the research project you are about to read.
The References used include academic standard sources and it is possible that some of these may not be accessible to readers who are not currently studying or working within the UK Higher Education system, without paying a fee.
Where this is the case, and you would like to consider the wider work offered by those sources, it is likely that a full Internet search will identify alternative pathways and/or sources.
I make no apology for the ‘grey’ information referencing, such as links to pictures of mail-order catalogues and other such materials. I believe these can only be of help to someone reading about the 70’s and 80’s as a child in Poverty, without their own experience of it, attempting to picture the being there and ‘living it’ for the very first time.
AT
Part 1: How we perceive Poverty in the UK
Despite the heavily publicised cost of living crisis and 14.4 Million People in the UK living in Poverty in 2021/22 (HoC Library, April 2023), the perception that ‘poverty is something that happens to someone else’ remains prevalent.
Poverty is neither new nor a temporary phenomenon. William Beveridge’s 1942 Report suggesting ways the Government should rebuild after World War II identified Poverty as a major issue. Albeit one identified as consisting of five ‘Giant Evils’, namely ‘Want, Disease, Ignorance, Squalor and Idleness’ (BBC, 2014) which are unrecognisable in the language of today.
However, Poverty has been recorded as a social problem since at least the 18th century (King, 2000), with the first notable legislation relating to Poverty being The Henrican Poor Law of 1536. (JSTOR)
It was the early 19th century before recognition of the need for considered legislation (UK Parliament), when work was undertaken to ensure that poor families received a basic education (Adamson).
Despite documented history, contemporary thinking suggests denial of genuine poverty. MP and Deputy Chairman of The Conservative Party Lee Anderson recently referring to ‘poverty nonsense’, stating that ‘real poverty’ was something that existed in the 1970’s. (Independent, Oct 2023)
From theories underpinning Malthusianism, where the first documented attempts were made to explain the mechanics of Poverty (Harvey & Read, 1992) to current exponential growth of Foodbanks reaching a total of 2,572 across the UK (HoC Library, Oct 2023), there is a disconnect between evidence of Poverty and the perception of what Poverty is.
My own experience of Poverty
I grew up in a one parent family, without a dad until I was a teenager. My parents separated when I was 7 months old and I was 6 when my mother secured a 3 bed ‘council house’ so my brother and I could have rooms of our own.
This was before the Child Support Agency and my father never paid any form of maintenance. My mother, brother and I were dependent upon ‘Social Security’ and ‘Family Allowance’, collected weekly, when mum walked to the Post Office to ‘cash’ a ‘Giro’, before the ritual of immediately buying whatever we were out of, or replacing anything broken that couldn’t be secured in another way such as paying a small amount weekly using the Gratton catalogue (Vintage Catalogues).
Although conscious that money was ridiculously tight, I never felt like I was going without. I didn’t miss the things other people had. Because they were things that I’d never had.
We received free school meals, had free school milk (Eastern Daily Press, Jan 2006), regular School Uniform Vouchers and I recall an emergency grant from the DHSS so that I had a proper mattress to sleep on. Hand-me-down clothes were often as cherished as I feel now about something new.
The signs of parental struggle were hidden from view, until either a distant family member had to step in financially, whilst charging a heavy emotional price, or I became aware of the abnormality of what I considered normal, like getting myself up, ready and walking the mile to my junior school, because one of the ways mum coped was to stay in bed.
The day the electricity coin meter was removed was one of celebration. I knew there was no more risk of being sent out late on a cold night to knock on doors or ride my bike to the garage to change a note for some coins.
I’ve heard it said “Privilege is invisible to those who have it” (TED, 2015). And in the context of my own life, I question, ‘Is poverty invisible to those who do not experience it?’
Considering poverty in the UK today
I believe everything to be relative to the life experience each of us has.
From this perspective and the limitations of time and scope to complete this project, I felt the most effective way to compare my experiences with the realities of poverty in the UK today, was to speak to a professional dealing with Poverty daily. Someone who could provide an objective, first-hand view of what people in poverty are experiencing, as opposed to today’s ‘accepted’ view.
Although I recall a Christmas Food Parcel from the local Church as a child, there was no regular access to Foodbanks, which have only become prevalent in the past 15 years. (HoC, Oct 2023).
Foodbanks are the obvious change in Poverty since I was a child, and I concluded this would be the ideal focus for my research.
Part 2: My Interview at a Gloucestershire Foodbank
Overview of the Foodbank
The Gloucestershire Foodbank [GFB] is housed and governed by a local Church. GFB runs as a separate organisation under the Trussell Trust umbrella, using their referral pathways and quality frameworks.
GFB operates three sites of its own within a Gloucestershire Town area, with the Salvation Army operating a linked site in the Town.
Discovery (Questions asked, Please See Appendix 1)
I asked Interviewee A (IA), for an overview of their role and what the Foodbank does. (Q1)
IA said the “Principle is that its people who are in food crisis and needing immediate support with food.” GFBs work is about “Crisis support, rather than ongoing. However, what used to be a crisis is harder to get out of, so we see people more regularly than we used to.” (Q2)
“We provide an immediate food parcel that will support people for a minimum of three days and we also have Citizens Advice workers on site to provide ongoing support as well.” (IA, Q2)
The presence of Citizens Advice (CAB) on site was a surprise. CAB have been providing support for the past year and GFB would no longer continue without it. (Q2)
I then focused on the use of GFB (Questions 5 – 20). 2022/23 had been GFB’s busiest year ever with a 40% upsurge in use. Numbers had already exceeded the Covid peak (which had been the previous peak) (Q6)
Whilst the largest demographic of users are single males “Because they rarely qualify for anything else.” (IA, Q16), the most significant change in user numbers in the previous year had been a 95% increase in the number of Pensioners using GFB. (Q16)
The reasoning given by IA for the rise in numbers was “Things cost more. Basic stuff has increased hugely”. “People have seen their rents go up by at least a couple of hundred [Pounds].” “You get ‘no reason evictions’, because they [Landlords] want to put the rents up.” (IA, Q7). They then added, “There’s an increasing issue with debt, [it] exacerbates the issue further.”
The growth in the number of GFB users came primarily from the existing demographic, areas around the Town with significant social housing numbers. However, there had been an “Increase in referrals from everywhere, from people who are working and not working.” (IA, Q8) It was also notable that 10% of GFB users are working, with this number increasing. (Q8).
We moved to qualitative and experiential issues for GFB users. IA listed challenges with rent, challenges with benefits and sanctions (Q9). Debt repayment within the benefit system “Takes people over the edge with what they can manage.” (IA, Q9)
IA added, “It’s been really interesting with Citizens Advice [working on site]. They say, ‘If you work with people, you can get almost anyone out of that crisis point’. Because usually there was an [identifiable] cause of it. But there isn’t always now. Sometimes there just isn’t enough money to cover everything.” (IA, Q9)
Relating the perceptions of Poverty in the media, I asked about users abusing GFB. It was clear that whilst there is a small amount of abuse, this was attributable to people, where “Their survival technique is to work the system.” IA later added, “I don’t think for many people it would be, ‘This is the way I want to live’”. (IA, Q10).
Asked about the typical experiences of GFB users, IA was clear that those suffering food poverty would also be suffering fuel poverty [energy poverty] too, and that there are simple realities at work such as being unable to cook food without electricity or gas. (Q13)
Attempting to understand how IA perceived the view of the public, IA felt that there is a lot more public awareness than there used to be, and that lots of people really do care. (Q19).
When asked if they felt Politicians [and government] understood the need for Foodbanks, IA said “If you’ve never experienced life like that, it’s very difficult to know what it’s like to live hand to mouth, in that place of crisis.” IA then added, “The minute you are removed from the ground, it becomes theoretical.” (IA, Q18)
IA suggested the perception society has of food Poverty and the use of Foodbanks is key to any solution. IA was considerate of how the system [government] works, and felt that working with other organisations was key. IA said “If we work together, there’s a lot more hope than if people come through between different agencies.” (IA, Q17)
Foodbank users are apprehensive, feel shame, have a sense of failure and benefit from experiencing a ‘safe space’. (Q20). Foodbanks are most effective when they “Make people feel like they matter”. (IA, Q20)
Part 3: What I found – A critical review of the research, reflection and reporting process
My experience of this project was sobering. Although I lived with Poverty growing up, that experience was quickly put in the context of how a child in Poverty might feel today.
The role of cultural expectations, media advertising and the disproportionate influence of pester power on parents navigating Poverty was brought into sharp focus when IA said, “The one thing they [parents] don’t want is for their child to feel excluded again.” (Q14)
The comment took me to the experience of a schoolfriends visit to our home and being ridiculed the following week because we had a black and white TV [when it was ‘normal’ to have colour]. In no time at all, my mum did a deal with the TV repair man and bought an old colour ‘set’. One that had probably been condemned.
Whilst “The expectations of life have changed.” (Q14), it was clear the commonality in the experience of the effects of poverty, or what being in poverty feels like, are very much the same now, as when I was a child. Particularly as IA’s view of poverty was “It leaves people in a continual state of crisis, because even if there is money coming in, you are never quite sure there’s going to be enough. You are never able to have peace about the situation, so there is always that anxiety”. (IA, Q11).
I was right there, feeling Poverty, as a child. But when IA shared “If you want to move people into work, they need to be able to work; not just survive.” (Q15), I was able to relate a range of more recent life experiences too.
Is anything really different about the way we look at Poverty now?
The recognition of Poverty as a social problem from the 19th century onwards has encouraged growth in academic thinking and commentary.
Highly valued work such as Rawls ‘Veil of Ignorance’ (JSTOR, 1999) help identify that society lacks basic Poverty awareness, and that the solution will require people to think differently.
However, whilst highly regarded commentators like Daniel Chandler (Free & Equal, 2023) consider Rawls work to be groundbreaking, the use of changing perspective as a tool to instigate fairness through behaviour modification is not new. It is documented as the principle of ‘Divide and Choose’, and has references in Genesis, Chapter 13 and 1 Kings, Chapter 3. (King James Bible).
So, whilst such solutions may be ‘new’, they may only be original in so far as context or the subjectivity of the viewer is concerned.
The importance or relevance of context in understanding Poverty
It is striking that technical understanding or acknowledgement of Poverty is present throughout history, both anecdotally and documented form. Yet Poverty continues to exist.
Historically we had Workhouses and Paupers. As a child, we had ‘Social Security’, ‘Family Allowance’, Council Houses and Black, and White TV’s. Today we have Universal Benefit, Benefits sanctions, Social Housing and Xboxes.
The tools Poverty uses to touch lives are forever changing. But the impact of Poverty remains the same.
The lived experience of Poverty reflects the time and how the world around us operates.
The tools Poverty inflicts harm with can be so different, that a different language is required to fully elucidate and contextualise the lived experience of Poverty at that moment in time.
Yet knowing only this may prevent translation of the message about Poverty, that everyone needs to hear.
The experience of visiting GFB and reflecting on what I learned made clear that when an individual is not experiencing the specifics of Poverty, in that moment, even when that individual has first-hand past experience of living in poverty and arguably therefore has the ability to relate to it very well, they can and will view Poverty in a mechanical way. Rather than the emotional way that is only possible for those enduring the lived experience at that time.
I agree with IA, that “The minute you are removed from the ground, it becomes theoretical.” (IA, Q18)
Reflections on Poverty in the UK today
I have become aware that:
The technical existence of Poverty is widely accepted, but its impact and reach is not.
The interpretation of Poverty is relative to the understanding of the viewer or those experiencing it.
Poverty is itself is highly subjective and constantly evolving.
Because the universal acceptance of Poverty is technical, no official effort is made to understand what lived experience of Poverty really is, leading to public policy solutions that make the subjective or experiential nature of Poverty considerably worse.
Poverty requires a permanent solution that is objective and universal, that fully considers the subjective elements that make lived experience of Poverty real.
Whilst models for modifying collective and individual behaviour to create change exist, (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975), it is clear the need for change must be accepted before change is possible.
Regrettably, the historic tolerance of Poverty indicates an ongoing resistance to that change.
Within the current system, paradigm or ‘the way the world works’, self-interest is an embedded value. The relationship with the value of money is prevalent in everything. Whether conscious or not, the mindset is for some to be rich; others must be poor.
It is also notable that academic work and commentary considered helpful by identifying alternative approaches, economic models, and the use of tools such as Universal Basic Income may also hinder progress. It has become common for solutions tabled on the basis of instigating voluntary change at a universal level, when that change can only create a difference within the restrictions of the existing paradigm and how today’s world and economic system works.
Ending Poverty is possible. But the need to do so is not widely accepted.
The level of change necessary to end Poverty at the objective level, rather than merely seeking to alleviate Poverty at the current technical level is one that must be appreciated objectively through a process of valuing it at the subjective and experiential level too.
The proponents of that change must be fully accepting of the universal consequences of that change.
The journey to end Poverty for everyone begins with the question of how we make the consequences of lived experience of Poverty something that everyone understands.
In Conclusion
On the basis of life experience and what I have learned about Poverty in the UK today, I conclude that the true impact of Poverty IS invisible to those who don’t experience it.
“What do you mean – ‘Money isn’t real?’” I hear someone cry.
Well, if the financial and economic devices that government and the banks use such as deposit multipliers, quantitative easing and being able to call up new money on demand don’t tell us that money only has the value we say and believe it has, why not ask yourself the next question ‘How can the value of the money I earn and have in my account change when nothing else has?’
No, the paragraph above certainly isn’t enough to sow any seeds of doubt in the minds of those who are bought into the economic system that we have and believe that they gain or profit from doing so in some way.
But that doesn’t change the truth that underlies the way that money works. Not only in the UK, but in the US and right across what we recognise as the westernised world today.
A massive injustice has been and continues to be inflicted upon many innocent people by a System that has been purposefully designed, created, manipulated and extended, so that those who have control and money can use it to make themselves disproportionately rich through nothing less than the impoverishment of others.
The harm that the current monetary and economic system has created for people is so extensive and the consequences so harsh and far reaching, that the suggestion any person could do such things deliberately or otherwise to other human beings, and then sleep at night, does seem to be simply too hard to believe.
That disbelief is one of the reasons that so many of us still believe that money is real and that the way the economic system works is normal or just the way things are.
It also helps us to believe that the money banks lend us and use to finance our phones, cars, small businesses, houses, credit cards and everything else that we get on credit, is money that has been lent to the bank and was real before that whole process began.
Money, or more importantly, the money system that we have works. Because we believe that this is how money works.
The majority of us simply accept our understanding of money at the level of its transactional value. Rather than money itself being part of the very elaborate and deliberately complicated system that sits behind it.
The Money, Financial and Economic System we have requires much patience, understanding and open mindedness, before there is any chance of understanding how it all really works.
It was the ability to create money in the way that government and bankers simply print the stuff today, but make it look like something very different, which inherently made life something that increasing numbers of us can no longer afford.
‘Finance’, ‘leverage’, ‘venture capital’ and any one of a number of different ‘lending vehicles’ that now exist have enabled people who are favoured by The System to buy up property, the ownership and control of businesses and all sorts of different infrastructure that is essential to help with basic life. Just so that those same sources can charge interest and increase profit margins, making themselves and their businesses richer and richer, whilst they take ever more control of everything in life that counts.
Its not a question of legality. Not that legality itself can now be relied upon or trusted to make anything morally or ethically right.
The way The System has been constructed and developed has ensured that through actions such as deregulation and use of the civil and commercial courts, has meant that in terms of The Law itself, and the way that we have all historically paid deference to it, the whole process and everything that has happened to others so that some could become very rich has been legal and above board.
There is plenty of information available online if you would like to get an idea of what really happens behind the scenes and watching a film such as The Four Horsemen may be a good place to start.
However, the debate, discussion, argument or indeed truth about how money really works isn’t why I have written this blog.
I have written this blog because when you, I, anyone or everyone can accept the way money works today and the impact and influence it has on all parts of life, we must then also accept that money only works as it does and the few are only able to do the things they are doing to many others using money, because the way that their money works is what we believe money to be and what we consider to be normal about money.
The way we think about money isn’t normal. But it helps some to get very rich and very powerful for us to believe that it is.
Acceptance that money isn’t real and that the money system we believe in is the only way that anyone could have gained the wealth and control that they have, also brings with it a very different perspective on the role that money plays.
Because the recognition that money has no value means that every financial transaction that we engage in is based upon nothing more than belief.
If everything we ‘buy’ and therefore ‘exchange’ is based upon a transaction of belief, it means that unless there is some benefit to others by there being money or a recognisable currency of some kind made necessary for the completion of that transaction, we don’t actually need money of any kind to engage in the reasoned exchange or transaction of goods, services, employment or indeed anything else using money, at any level or in any way.
Money or the money system that we have has been created and used to exploit, enslave and cheat us all, as if life can be treated as if its just one giant Monopoly game.
With everything and perhaps everyone we see and hear about online appearing to be or on their way to becoming completely mad, the question of who or what lies behind the months of ‘drone’, UAP (Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena) or UFO (Unidentified Flying Object) sightings in the USA and over air bases in the UK hasn’t caused anything like the alarm that we might have expected it to, even 10 years ago.
Whilst there is much to suggest that Congressional Hearings in the USA indicate that the establishment is working towards introducing some new truth into the public realm, the question over the existence of Extraterrestrials of Non-Human Intelligence (NHI) forms visiting or even being present on the earth would no doubt raise many questions for the worlds population. Even amongst those from within different communities who believe that they have already accepted and are comfortable with the idea that either civilizations from outside of the world or entities that cannot normally be seen, exist.
Given the behaviour of the political classes and the world elites of late, the idea that the presence of aliens from other parts of the Universe or beings visiting Earth who have crossed dimensions and possibly even time could have been covered up and kept secret from the masses, certainly isn’t a story that many of us will find difficult to believe.
However, the question of why and for how long is a different matter.
Now, before you think that we are about to go down some conspiracy-driven rabbit hole to discuss the different ‘known’ types of extraterrestrials and spiritual beings who may be brushing past us in some shape-shifted form on the high street, there is plenty to read about on the internet or watch on platforms such as YouTube. If this is a minefield you want to walk across carrying an open mind.
The more important questions to focus on, is ‘Why would the presence of any intelligent non-human life forms be problematic for those who govern and have governed us?’ and ‘Why does this question remain highly relevant if disclosure of some kind is on its way?’
‘Disclosure’ would take power over ‘the narrative’ out of Leaders hands
Fundamentally, it all comes down to control. Or control of us, to be precise.
Those who are supposedly in control have always understood the value of information.
They know and thrive by the rule that what the general population believe and that the careful use of fear of just about anything can be used to influence the way that the majority of people behave.
However, when we talk about those in control, we should look above the politicians and the establishment beyond them, and also consider the historical role that religion and the interpreted or guided role of God, Source, some ‘higher force’, or whatever we may wish to call any form of unseen and all powerful deity that is important within our lives.
Our relationship with faith and religion is where all of us should be able to observe the most obvious example of how life plays out for us all, depending upon what believe, in whom we believe, and why we believe it.
Religion or more accurately religious dogma, rather than accurate truth or well-intended metaphor, are perhaps the cleverest and most dangerous tool that man has ever created for use against his fellow man. Because its main purpose has always been a tool of social control, with the pathway of faith within really being left to little more than the gift of chance.
Religion uses belief – and more importantly fear of the unknown, the unseen and the all powerful – and a hierarchy between us and any deity – that suggests there are special people who have a relationship with them that we don’t – to create, maintain and police rules that carry eternal punishments as well as in some cases, a premature physical death.
It’s that element of doubt, fueled by the restriction of information and learning that is enough to quiet even the most inquisitive of minds. Whilst knowledge of ‘the game’ empowers all of those who are ‘in the know’ about what religious dogma is intended for, and what the metaphors and stories that it contains really mean.
Religion was at its most powerful when there was very little choice or option for the masses. When the world in today’s terms appeared to be extremely small.
However, learning could no longer be contained as the enlightenment and industrialisation pushed through changes that led to it being normal for all classes within society to be given the opportunity to learn.
The power that had been held so tightly within the grasp of men of the cloth and the monarchs and lords who were bought into the way things were done, gave way to the printing press, to media and to westernized money-centric governments and other unscrupulous leaders who used other forms of fear and the threat of material loss in very effective ways to control us all too.
As the world has itself become smaller, the great countries and the empires that once existed have increasingly fallen behind the movements and organisations that run themselves today as a world government in waiting. All under the pretence that becoming the one, ideally alone, or one of the few, who rule the world is just about as good as it gets. No matter whether such systems of governance are genuinely good for all mankind and certainly without any regard to the real cost.
After all, if you are in charge of everything; there is nothing else and the buck stops with you, what you say really goes. Doesn’t it?
If the world is all there is in terms of intelligent life in the Universe, it would arguably be the case that this statement is certainly true.
But just like the questions that anyone who can think for themselves will surely have about the presence and meaning of God, or whatever we would like to call that all powerful being or energy; and whether those who place themselves in the role of middle man between us and whatever God is, have any genuine or ‘God given right’ to hold that responsibility, what is there really to tell us that Extraterrestrial beings or non-human intelligence doesn’t exist and that it could already have been on earth for at least 80 years already. Just because it or they are something that the masses haven’t yet seen?
Who do our leaders lead for?
It stands to reason that our leaders would know quickly, if the presence or visits of such entities as Extraterrestrials, forms of Non-Human Intelligence or openly active Spiritual Beings were to genuinely exist.
The question that therefore naturally follows is ‘Would it make more sense for world leaders to cover up the presence of Extraterrestrials or Non-Human Intelligence, or just come clean and let everyone know that they do exist?’
Such a question is only likely to be relevant, if such entities were generally peaceful and looking to help; to perhaps benefit mankind in some way, or find some other way to coexist.
If not, and if they were already here, there is as good a chance as any that the world would have already have experienced something akin to HG Wells War of the Worlds. Or something rather like one of the modern Alien Invasion Films like Independence Day.
However, if our leaders were not using any gifts that were shared to help makind, as the intent may otherwise have been, it is also arguably likely that whoever or whatever is visiting us would eventually become impatient with the worlds leadership. Especially as those visitors become more and more aware of what having the type of leadership we currently have on the planet really means for us and the planet itself.
The realities of ‘Disclosure’ for our leaders and then for us?
So, let’s say that the presence of the drones and the questions that surround them are heralding an oncoming form of disclosure, where the truth will be revealed to the world, and that we are indeed not in any way alone.
In one moment, we will all become aware that in terms of a very big Universe, the world and its human population has suddenly become very small indeed.
That in itself will raise questions for us that we will return to shortly.
But for our leaders, who have relished their dominion over the world and intelligent life, such an ‘outing’ would also revise their place and seriously diminish their perceived or ego-driven value in the Universe.
We can of course live in hope that our leaders would or would have had the good grace and be big enough to just accept this new reality and what it would really mean.
Sadly, we are not blessed with good leaders in the sense of them being good for anyone other than themselves.
Big egos, mixed with the perception of great power and the idea that their position makes them inherently right is a dangerous mix.
Holding on to and protecting the power that they have become so jealous of will almost inevitably be their priority. If the arrival and presence of Extraterrestrials or Non-Human Intelligence should be disclosed outside of the realms and conditions of their control.
And they are likely to do anything and everything they can to maintain that power. No matter what and who they destroy.
Can we take away the uncertainty of a post-Disclosure Future?
We need not share the ins and outs of what that pathway would look like.
But for us, it is very unlikely that the result of their actions would result in anything good for the rest of humanity.
It is almost certain that we would experience tragic levels of loss, rather than anything that we would recognise as being akin to a win. Even though we can be certain that the establishment narratives would tell us that was exactly what we were experiencing and that the cost was both unavoidable and necessary.
However, the truth that we would face, if the presence of a non-confrontational, non-controlling, non-warring presence were to be confirmed, is that the Universe and potentially the races and cultures of intelligent life that exist out there could be infinite in number.
The new place that we would then inhabit within the Universe would bring with it the requirement of another truth we will have to face: That we can no longer continue to live in the way that we have been, by abusing each other and the planet that we inhabit, as if it doesn’t matter. Because what is there is there for us to fight for control over, as it’s all that there is.
If the technology that some suspect is now being introduced to us over UK airbases and American skies does demonstrate just a little of what does already exist, it will defy the logic of any one of us who is materially obsessed that we either know all there is to know, or that we have the ability to conquer those who might already be visiting us. Let alone any others who have been sensible enough to stay away from such a selfish and troublesome place.
There can be little doubt that those of us who place material possessions, wealth and power above all things have lost sight of what real values and respect for life, humanity and the environment which we share and in which we live really mean.
It is the choice we have to recognise and to embrace this, where our post-Disclosure future would really lie. Irrespective of whether we can only accept that those who share the Universe with us are also physical in nature; whether they are spiritual or even thought-based in nature, or indeed they are something that we can make sense of that falls in between.
Inevitable change for us all lies ahead
One way or another, this planet and its occupants are on the pathway to inescapable change. Because we are either putting money, power and influence before other people, or we are playing a role at some level that is allowing others to do so.
None of us will know whether that change will be triggered by some plan for a New World Order, a pandemic, a financial crash, a third world war or the arrival of an Extraterrestrial or Non-Human Intelligent race that quickly makes our ridiculous leaders and all of us realise just how powerless they and we really are, when it comes to the way we have been living and what we have prioritised in life.
However, whenever and whatever that change is and what ever it will be, there is nothing more certain that that with that change will come a choice.
That choice will either be to stick with what we know and believe that the system we are living within serves our best interests through its obsession with material living.
Or, we can choose to leave the obsession with money, power, influence and top-down hierarches behind us and embrace a very different way of life that puts values, the love of our fellow man, our communities and the environment that we exist in partnership with. Right at the centre of a world that doesn’t recognise any difference between what the world tells us today is very small, and the true value of anyone living being, being as big as big could ever be considered to be.
The most interesting thing about the Universe, everything that may or may not exist and the place that we all have within it, is it is something that we can learn about and enjoy the pathway of discovery it offers us all, just as soon as we recognise that we have always had that choice – and that it is a very real and valuable choice too.
Watching the stories unfold around UK Farming and Food Security is as frustrating as it is concerning for these following significant reasons:
The Government isn’t going to change course on its overall relationship with UK Farms and Farming. Even if some media friendly concessions are made. Much like two of the UK Supermarket chains this week making public announcements that they support our Farmers over the Inheritance Tax issue, whilst at the same time taking no action to create genuine change that would help Farmers to receive an income that reflects the role that they have as a Key player in the Food Chain.
Farmers are committed to ‘changing unchangeable minds’. Because of the way that the Agricultural Marketplace and the systems feeding in and out of it have been deliberately manipulated over a period exceeding 50 years.
There is an industry-wide dependency upon subsidies and contract production/trading arrangements that effectively surrendered the control of UK Farms and Farming to the establishment (primarily EU ‘modelling’) and big business, which has resulted in a cultural deprogramming of some of the most creative and entrepreneurial mindsets to exist within the SME, operational business world.
A situational bias exists within the UK Farming community, UK agricultural academia, UK Farming advocacy organisations and the industry media and commentariat, where the solutions to the problems that many freely elucidate and the outcomes that they desire are only considered within or relating to the structure of the existing economic paradigm and cultural deference that the general UK population has to the Public Sector, NGOs, Government, Politicians and public figures, or those in ‘a position of responsibility’ or influence.
The reluctance or objection to ‘going a different way’ that adheres to UK legal requirements, but is itself not led or reliant upon government, the public sector or any industry bodies that are heavily influenced by them, is based purely upon the idea that Farmers themselves taking responsibility for investing in either the diversification of their own enterprises or collectively with other local or like businesses, will offer unacceptable levels of financial risk. Whereas waiting for the government, public sector, industry bodies and those businesses like Supermarkets to ‘wake up’ and ‘invest to save UK Farming’ will not.
The latent pool of knowledge, experience and understanding that exists within the Farming community, throughout agricultural academia and the supporting sectors, has the ability to offer industry changing outcomes that would quickly return Farming and Food Production to the central role within UK Communities that it traditionally had, and still should. Based on the reality that Food is as essential as Air to breathe and Water to drink for every person, each and every day.
Those members of the wider Farming community with platforms and voices to be heard remain focused on promoting the issues, solutions and outcomes as their own view and experience enables them to see them. Too often overlooking the reality that there are profound threads of commonality between every one of them which are all too often being overlooked, as the default position is for everyone to focus on what is ‘right’, only for them.
This was the situation a year ago. A year before that and so on. IHT has just focused the imagination of more people than before. But could prove counterproductive.
It doesn’t stop there. But going into further reams of detail will not help anyone who is not open to the collaborative, community approach that has now become necessary for UK Farming to evolve and regenerate itself into a model of working and operation that will not just allow it to survive. But actually thrive.
As an experienced business leader who spent 12 years in frontline politics after being a local government officer and senior charity manager, then embarking on a research and thought journey that took me to complete a PGCert in Sustainable Ag and Food Security at the RAU, I have a perspective on what is happening that doesn’t conform to stereotype to say the very least.
The door I am referring to opens to the room of collaboration and discourse where using everything as we are doing it and know it, is left behind. Because this all represents the past, and what whoever or whatever is really driving all the problems that UK Farming faces wants to happen and intends to be in place.
Although I made my misgivings clear about the aims and approach of No Farmers No Food from the start and have seen nothing yet to suggest that they are anything other than a problem awareness raising vehicle, I keep a close eye. Hoping that something will change and a touchpaper or catalyst might appear that will at least begin to bring the different ideas, views and suggested solutions together in a way that opens every mind to learning from each other’s views and most importantly, leaves the egos behind.
In a tweet yesterday, No Farmers No Food, talked up the value of marketing boards as many will remember them with the inference or suggestion that they could be of great help to UK Farming, if they were to exist now.
It was one of the rare occasions when I felt that I wanted to respond, seeing that there are principles that could be highly beneficial in the fight to save UK Farms and Food Security today, depending upon the approach taken and what the model of such organisations would be and how they would operate today.
I haven’t focused on ‘marketing boards’ in anything like the historic sense. In no small part as their demise arguably led and fed into many of the problems that the industry faces today. Because the platform they offered was not protected as it should have been by government and the public sector, and was in no small way exploited by a range of different profit driven organisatons for the levels of financial gain which have led to the crippling financial straightjacket that UK Farming now finds itself in.
I’m grateful that Hector responded as he has done. As whilst I would suggest there is a broader picture to consider that I have touched upon in the points above, and I don’t believe that marketing boards are in and of themselves a solution to the mess that UK Farming is now in, there are a number of very valuable points and suggestions made that could be massively helpful within a cooperative operational business or some kind that has a system of governance that runs locally and outside the influence of any of the usual suspects that quickly come to mind.
I would certainly be supportive of the discussion group idea that the proposal discusses and feel sure that the communication technology that is now readily available could be used to create a discussion and ideas sharing platform that could prove to be game-changing indeed.
I will end here by saying only that there are no politicians and no political party that exists today that can or will be able to make the changes to the UK Farming industry that only Farmers and the businesses that are aligned with the sector can and have the power to do so themselves.
The only thing that is really stopping UK Farming from making the changes that are now needed is the recognition that the power to make those changes rests only with UK Farmers themselves.
Many thanks again to Hector and best wishes to you all.
It is reasonably safe to assume that if you have found your way to reading this page, you will be aware that we are facing massive societal and economic problems, locally, nationally and internationally too.
The chances are, however, that you will already have an idea or ideas of your own that anchor to what you have concluded yourself or that you agree with others to be the cause.
Common causes for problems like the Cost-of-Living Crisis, Inflation, National and Personal Debt, Energy Prices, Strikes and others too are identified as events such as Brexit, The Covid Pandemic, The War in Ukraine, or placed directly at the feet of The Government, a previous government, any one of The Political Parties or one or more of the Politicians involved.
However, it is not the events that the Country and the World has faced which are the cause of our problems themselves.
It is not the Political Party, the Group or Individual itself that can be identified as the cause.
Yes, the way that our Governments, Politicians and anyone with influence or responsibility for the response and measures taken to mitigate against or implement solutions to, or even see them through to conclusion, are certainly a more informed way to think about these events, rather than it being all about the events themselves.
But even the response or way that those with power have responded isn’t the real cause of our problems.
Our problems are caused by the way that we, and more importantly the way that our Politicians and anyone with influence or responsibility that can affect our lives in some way thinks, acts and behaves.
It is thoughts, actions and behaviour that cause everything. This is what really matters when it comes to the effects of every decision taken that affects Public Policy of any kind, and then finds its way to us.
The crisis that we face and the problems ahead were not deliberate. But they weren’t created by accident either
The UK and the world are sleepwalking towards disaster. Chaos that could have been avoided if the people who lead us – Our Politicians, had taken a very different approach to the way that they think, act and behave when it comes to the decisions they make.
Contrary to accepted thought or to any common or accepted narrative, the people who we currently elect to be Politicians are rarely the best fit to fulfil the role of being a public representative.
Poor Public Representatives make decisions subjectively, in an isolated or myopic way, and do so without due care and attention to the broad range of factors and considerations that the Public should be able to expect and already assume will inform the process of how objectively based Public Policy – which all of it should be – is made.
It is because we have been electing people who are not suitable to be Politicians for so long, that the negative impact from having poor decisions made repeatedly to solve that problems that previous poor decisions made by other unsuitable Politicians have created, that the effect on everything has been cumulative, getting steadily but unconsciously worse.
Bit by bit, ‘The System’ that we have has become increasingly skewed away from and in many ways proactively geared against balance, fairness and what we might call being just in about every conceivable sense possible, when it comes to the different life experiences that we all have.
What is ‘The System’?
For the purposes of making sense of Awakened Politics, ‘The System’ is the structure or framework that makes everything work (or not work) in the way that you and I experience life from the moment we look outside our inner being, live, interact with businesses, organisations, and basically everything beyond personal relationships that lie outside of ourselves and outside of our homes.
For many, indeed for most, ‘The System’ only touches life or the experience of life in a number of very specific ways.
The ways that ‘The System’ touches our lives specifically can be defined by location, lifestyle, career, demographic, education and just about everything that can be used to define or identify a difference of some kind between each of us and anyone else.
‘The System’, for us, is usually a lot of very different things that we have going on continually within our awareness – whether we are physically asleep or awake, added to an even greater list of things going on outside of our awareness that we may not even become or need to become aware of if we were to live a full life and exceed an age beyond 100 years old.
Whether we are aware of ‘The System’ or even parts of it or not, any system or what might be called an ecosystem has its own set of rules that make it work and keep it working.
The rules of ‘The System’ are defined, created, reviewed and maintained by a process that we understand as ‘Democracy’.
We elect Public Representatives or ‘Politicians’ to think about, research, consider and make all the decisions about ‘The System’ – which will ultimately affect us all, even when we are unaware that any or all of these decisions are affecting or touching our lives in some way.
The role of Politics in ‘The System’
To reach agreement, compromise and then conclusion on the rules of ‘The System’, a process of review, discussion, debate and regrettably even argument has historically taken place, based on alternative ideas, or sadly ‘whose idea is best’.
It is rarely, if not ever conducted on the basis of discussion to find agreement on what outcome will be best for everyone concerned.
This process of debate and everything that surrounds it is what we know as politics.
The people we elect as Politicians have responsibility for the rules that govern the thinking, the actions and the behaviour in everything beyond ourselves and our personal lives.
However, if the power entrusted to Politicians is misused or abused, rules can easily become law that mean the thinking, actions and behaviour of others can become unnecessarily, avoidably and unjustly detrimental towards us all. Whether it be us as individuals, as communities or even as a seemingly silent majority.
When we have entrusted Public Representatives to make decisions that are in the best interests of everyone, we are less likely to question the validity of those decisions because it immediately brings into question whether the decisions made by the majority in selecting them are actually sound.
We will not therefore easily accept that ‘The System’ and that The Electorate could be the victims of abuse.
Why do we need Politics?
Let’s start with a question: How do you know what you need at any moment or for any reason or any purpose?
When you’ve thought about it, your answer is likely to be ‘from experience’ or rather, what you have learned from experience so far.
So, what do we do when we don’t have the experience to provide that answer?
The chances are your answer will be to look for and to find the solution – probably by tapping a question into a search engine like Bing or Google, or rather to learn it in some other way.
But what happens when decisions need to be made concerning the services like schools and the NHS, or the infrastructure like parks and roads that are common to us all, that we share, but are not under our direct influence or control?
Whether they are ‘services’ in the strictest sense, or infrastructure that is managed by a service of some kind, all these things that exist for the common good – because we will all typically need them or need access to them at some point or for some reason in life – must be managed with decisions made for us all, on our behalf, for that same common good.
Politics, in its strictest sense, is the debate or discussion that surrounds the management of these ‘public services’ and the system or procedure of decision making that creates, reviews and oversees the implementation of the management strategy for all of these things.
It’s what happens beyond this basic need for the exchange of ideas and discourse – where decisions should always be made in a fair balanced and just way – where the problems really start to begin.
Why do we need Government?
For the purposes of understanding Awakened Politics, it is important to recognise that the terms ‘Government’, ‘Public Sector’ and ‘Public Services’ are all interchangeable terms.
They stand alone as terms to different people, depending on the perspective or experience of the individual.
In some ways they are arguably the same thing and in others they are very different. They are not in any way mutually exclusive.
In relation to Awakened Politics, Government itself is the decision-making body or if you like, the board of directors. It is the top of the management structure that makes the strategic decisions that the executive managers, administrative and technical staff (that make up the Public Sector and provide Public Services) then carry out.
We need and should be able to rely on government to ensure that decisions on our behalf are taken when they should be, and that their implementation into delivery and material form are then completed or continued in the way that they should be.
Who is The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government for?
Awakened Politics has been written with the UK Political, Government and Electoral Systems primarily in mind.
Whilst The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government is the fourth book in a series following ‘Levelling Level’, ‘The Basic Living Standard’ and ‘From Here to There Through Now’ that were also written and published in 2022, it could just as easily be the unexpected or unanticipated prequal, building on the way of thinking or methodology that was presented in the 2018 book ‘How to Get Elected’ too.
The fundamental basis of the idea or proposal made here is built upon an alternative ‘grassroots up’ system to the outwardly 4-Tier system of Government that we currently have in the UK.
However, the model of constructing Government or rather the way of selecting and appointing Politicians or Public Representatives suggested later could be applied to and implemented within different existing political spaces, if it were collectively decided to pursue The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government within the constituency or constituencies involved.
If you are reading this book, the chances are that you will either a) wish to see a system embracing Awakened Politics fully implemented where you are located, or b) Will be resistant to any process that will deliver it and a system of government or governance that will reflect it.
The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government has been written for people who are awakened to the need for all decisions on Public Policy to be made by others who are fully conscious or awakened to the realities of how life works.
Awakened Politics can only genuinely exist if we have Public Representatives who not only can but will translate and legislate in a way which makes sense of that understanding – and most importantly the realities of human nature – to ensure that we have governance that works responsively and proactively in a balanced, fair and just way for all.
Awakened Politics is for everyone and everything.
Part 1: Where we are today
Problems always begin with the way that we think
You may only be aware that there is something wrong with the world beyond our doors.
If the problems outside haven’t walked directly into your life and touched you yet, the chances are that your experience will tell you that whatever might be wrong, those kinds of problems will always get sorted out. That everything will ultimately be fine, and things as you know them, or what you have consider to be normal, will just carry on as they always have before.
It is certainly true that the UK and the World has been in a mess many times before. However, what we face now is likely to be different to anything that anyone has experienced in living memory. It has the potential to be far worse than anything that the history books that we have seen can tell us. We are now in the first stages of what will be inevitable change.
Contrary to the accepted or common view, the reasons for this change and the combination of problems that will lead to and be part of it, are not the events that happen that cause the real problems.
It is the way that we think, act and behave – and more importantly the way that our decision makers think, act and behave towards all events that have an impact upon all or a number of us, that really count.
Poor thinking, actions and behaviour in decision making leads to poor experiences of life.
Today’s Politicians are unconscious, unaware and asleep at the wheel. This means everything is out of control
The problems that we are facing today have been created little by little and step by step over a very long period of time.
Yes, you will read and hear many well-known public figures and people such as journalists attributing blame for everything to an existing Political Party like The Conservatives, Liberal Democrats or Labour; to events such as Brexit, The Covid Pandemic or even The War in Ukraine.
But the reality underpinning all of the problems that we have, the way that these Political Parties behave and the way that events such as Brexit, Covid and Ukraine have been dealt with too, is it has been the thinking, mindset, values, motives, integrity and understanding of the decision makers – The Politicians – when each and every decision has been made, that has led the UK and the World to be where we all are today.
Believe it or not, the pivot point between Politicians making good decisions on Public Policy or making poor decisions on our behalf comes down to their understanding of the difference between what’s right for them subjectively and what’s right for everyone objectively.
The problem with Politicians today is they either don’t understand the difference between what’s right for them vs what’s right for everyone, or they deliberately fail to discern between the two.
Either way, the result is very much the same. In the most basic of terms: Politicians are not making decisions based upon being fully aware and in full consideration of everything that is relevant to each decision.
Politicians make poor decisions and continue to make poor decisions because they believe that the methods of thinking, acting and behaving they have adopted culturally are acceptable, proper and therefore ok.
Politics will not change or even deviate away from this until Politicians change the way that they think, or we change the way that we think and elect Politicians who think differently.
Because decisions are not being made in the best interests of everyone, Politicians have and are still creating life experiences for increasing numbers of people – and potentially for us all – that are out of control.
Real people, living real lives and having real life experiences just like you and I are on the sharp end of this right now.
Politicians are unaware of the impact of the decisions they make, because they have no understanding of the lives that the majority of the population live
The reality of how the UK Political System and how British Politics is broken, can be more than adequately explained in the difference between having Politicians who are effectively unconscious or ‘asleep at the wheel’ as they are today, and the very distinct alternative of having Politicians who are fully conscious of the reasons for and the implications of everything they do.
It cannot be emphasised strongly enough, just how real the different consequences are and will be between what we already have and what we could have and should have in terms of decision making in the best interests of everyone and everything.
These differences will continue to exist for as long as we fail to embrace the necessary process of change, rather than continue to seek what look like easy alternatives.
All of the Public Policy decisions being made today and the decisions that have been made for decades have been made with highly subjective aims.
The aims or desired outcomes that led to these decisions may have been to appeal to the Voters who typically support the Political Party in or seeking power. They may have been to keep the Banks, The Markets and Big Business happy. They may have been to maintain or gain favour with the EU or the Government of a Country such as the USA. They may have been based upon what the government of the day decided that ‘they’ could afford (£).
Whatever the motives or drivers behind the decisions may have been, those motives have become preferential influences or biases.
This means that the decisions have been made without consideration of all the facts, impacts and consequences in mind – as they always should be.
Poor decisions made by Politicians, influenced by biases or fears that favour one thing or the aims or wants of certain people always disadvantage something else or other people in some way.
There is no in-between – irrespective of whether the result is publicly seen or unseen.
The impact of poor politics, poor Politicians & poor decisions in all areas of Public Policy: We have inequality, imbalance, injustice and unfairness creating winners and losers in life
The impact of Poor Politics or poor decision making, undertaken without due care and consideration of all the facts, consequences and what is balanced, fair and just, is what you see and experience when you look outward into the world in any way today.
If your own life and experience has not been touched in a way that is discernable to you personally so far, please do be grateful.
If your eyes are open to see beyond the narratives, you will witness problems, pain and suffering being visited upon innocent people and entire communities.
If you really want to see how Unconscious Politics and the Unconscious System of Government and Governance that we have is affecting people, you will not need to look very far.
The majority of the problems that people, communities and entire Countries face are unnecessary and could be avoided.
The UK ‘System’ of Governance and Public Services is now broken beyond repair
As is the case with most money-based or money-obsessed systems and their countries around the world, the UK ‘System’ is now broken beyond repair.
Along with the USA, the UK may soon prove to be just a little further ahead in the race towards the bottom and a final collapse.
But in real terms, the reality of having every government across the world led by sleepwalking Politicians and with Unconscious Politics will soon add up to the same thing. What we will personally experience in the form of massive change and a period of painful challenges lies ominously ahead.
Whilst the downward line of trajectory that successive UK Governments have subjected the UK to has been the same since the FIAT monetary system and unhindered globalism was arguably fully embraced in 1971, there have been many, if not countless opportunities when Politicians could have taken steps to lead and run ‘The System’ in a very different way.
As the thinking that the money-based order that the UK sits within has successfully reached everyone and everything, the belief in money as a thing, rather than money being just a means of exchange has moved the emphasis of modern life away from humanity and values to measuring and qualifying everything in terms of what you earn, what you can accumulate and what you can own.
We have now reached a point where the prioritisation of money, greed and the accumulation of wealth with easy living is so obsessive and the sickness about money and the role it plays in life so profound, we have reached and passed the point where ‘The System’ itself as we know it could be repaired.
Accepting second best and compromise as the only alternative to the Politicians we have today doesn’t work: It’s what we’ve tried doing for decades already
The giant step or quantum leap on the path of voluntary change is reaching the understanding and the acceptance that what we genuinely need from our Politicians and from Government now and for a better future will not simply be offered up to us on a plate.
There are plenty of wannabe politicians as well as existing politicians who can appeal to many of us as an alternative to what we already have right now.
Those who covet public roles, just like the Politicians in control today did so before they assumed power, will use words, use the media, use social media platforms and even look a certain way that sounds like or gives the appearance that once elected they would be different, do different things and take governance of our Country in a very different and beneficial way.
Regrettably, the majority of these people are or would be no different to the Unconscious Politicians that we have already got and would deliver Public Policy with the same biases and being subject to the same kinds of self-serving motivations and influences as Politicians we see sat as Conservatives, Greens, Liberal Democrats, Labour and the SNP already are.
For example, as I write this in late November 2022, the Political Party or Group known as ‘Reform UK’ which doesn’t currently have any seats in the UK or Westminster Parliament, is promoting itself as an alternative to the current government on the basis that it says it will stop illegal immigration via France across the English Channel – simply by ‘stopping the boats’.
Single issues are by their very nature single issues. That’s not what General Elections are about.
The existing Political Parties and the Politicians who appear to have credible policies that suggest they will solve the widest number of problems win General Elections, because their approach touches most areas of Public Policy.
However, the Parties that we have – even the ones we haven’t elected yet – do so Unconsciously.
The Political Parties and the Politicians we have, whether elected or not, do not understand, consider, make allowance for or think about the consequences of everything they touch for everyone who can be touched by what they do.
They are false prophets. With messages that appeal because something or some part of it looks or sounds great to enough of us in some way.
The reality is that they are Unconscious and have no appreciation of what their piecemeal involvement in Public Policy and legislating will really do.
There is no meaningful exception to this rule.
Noise isn’t action. Just because a problem is talked about, it doesn’t mean anything is being done
Because of the way that media, social media, the internet and the dissemination of information works today, our attention is all too easily distracted and diverted away from many of the things that we should really have much greater care for.
Meanwhile, the way that we have become conditioned to interact with the flow of information coming at us from the world outside of us or outside of our life bubbles also has the ability to add additional weight to events and to the influence of celebrity and people with public platforms in a disproportionate and therefore highly misleading way.
Regrettably, this has become an ingrained cultural problem to the point where many people believe that it is normal.
In respect of the issues that we really should be considering as important to us personally as well as communally, the result is that unless we are actually looking properly and not taking everything as read or at face value, we are missing the news, or when it reaches us, it comes with a wrapping of opinion that far exceeds its genuine value.
Unfortunately, we easily fall into the trap of believing that what we don’t hear about or what we don’t see doesn’t matter, and take for granted that when we do hear about anything, the fact that the information has come to us in some way means that solutions are already being found and that whatever is necessary is already being done.
Sadly, for all of us, this simply isn’t the case.
Money can only put the effects of problems on hold. It never addresses the cause
Because Political and Executive Decision Makers in the Public Realm either avoid or are ignorant of the complexity and interconnectedness of the issues and problems that they face on our behalf, it has become very easy to suggest and create the narrative that money and more of it is the answer to all things.
The problem with this approach isn’t only that money isn’t real – as we are all in the increasingly painful process of finding out.
It is that when the money lie is working, providing more of it just has the effect of putting the problems – or rather the causes of the problems – on hold.
Money itself never addresses the causes of problems, as even when money is apparently short, the question still remains ‘What was the cause of money being short?’
What is real, never changes in value.
Missing the point: The Devil is in the Detail
We are all guilty of having allowed ‘The System’ to degenerate and for things to have become as bad as they are. Because as a majority, we take it for granted that the way that everything works is as straightforward as we believe and think.
Politicians are the same as the majority of us. Before they are elected or appointed, the majority of them have been looking at and interacting with life in exactly the same ways.
There is nothing different about most of them that makes them better able to deal with Public Policy and managing the things that are important to all of us in any different way.
What Politicians, senior executives in the Civil Service and in Local Government fail to recognise, because they have no experience, acceptance nor understanding of the wider picture, is how the services, creation and running of infrastructure or anything to do with the Public Sector interconnects with not only so many other areas of Public Policy, but has a direct impact on so many different areas of life for so many different people, businesses and organisations too.
Public Policy is made today, as it has been for a very long time, based on dealing with the effects of issues or problems.
Decision makers are either unaware of or deliberately avoid dealing with the cause.
The complexities and interconnectedness of Public Policy & Governance require a way of thinking and an outlook on life that today’s Politicians just don’t have
Regrettably, the way that culture and society work today with the messages, narratives and programming that it provides, has left or is encouraging everyone not only to believe that they know and understand everything, but that armed with this seemingly ubiquitous knowledge they are being told that they have, they can then do or be whatever they want, without fear of consequence and without any kind of cost.
Thinking is not ‘joined up’. There is no recognition of the relationship between work, effort, commitment and integrity.
The journey or process takes place from start to finish without any kind of meaning to the result for anyone and least of all the individual.
The ease with which things appear at the click of a link or push of a button compounds this lack of awareness into the failure to appreciate the complexity of the systems and the procedures that make everything work around us and just how many different roles or contributions can and are being made in order that what seem to be the most basic of products or services are accessible to us or reach us on what we have learned to regard as throw away terms.
Public Policy and the system of governance that we have is no different.
In fact, what we fail to realise and appreciate far beyond the complexity of the relationship between input and reward and ease of accessibility of all things, is everything that seems to be so easy has come to be taken for granted in these ways because decision makers are either blind to or are deliberately ignoring the real costs of living life unsustainably.
The self interest and greed that has influenced the decision makers is allowed to permeate the whole public narrative, because our decision makers believe that they will benefit even more if they acquiesce with an approach that apparently comes without any cost to them, but with every benefit too.
Few of us will willingly recognise or accept the costs of unsustainable living, until such time as those costs reach us directly or have an effect on us in some way where we accept that the perceived disadvantages outweigh the perceived benefits in a meaningful way.
There are consequences to every decision made in the Public Realm.
Each Public Policy affects other Public Policies, is or will be affected by other Public Polices in some way.
Public Policies that govern the way that businesses and organisations behave and conduct their business, as well as how each of us as individuals think, have the power to have either positive or very negative implications for us all.
Everything our Politicians do has a cost, implication or consequence in some way. Especially when they surrender the power that the Electorate or that Voters have given them, to people, to ideas or to 3rd party organisations that are or have their own agenda, and therefore subjectively influence them.
Our Politicians are making a mockery of the democratic system. Many of them are willfully blind to the consequences of their actions. But whether their actions are deliberate or borne of ignorance, the fact is that they have taken roles that require awareness of everything that Public Policy does and that it touches, and that when they fail one of us, they fail all of us just the same.
Can the problems we have with Government & Politics be solved?
Yes. All of the problems that we have with Government and with Politics can be solved.
The question really should be whether the majority of people want those problems to be solved or whether they will accept and where possible embrace the changes to everything that we know today that would allow for all of the problems that we collectively share to be solved.
Part 2: The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government
We can solve all shared problems if we have Good Government
A system of Awakened Politics, leading to the implementation and continuance of Good Government will allow for all societal or problems shared across the community, where The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government is fully implemented and comprehensively or universally responsible to be solved.
However, it is important to understand that the solutions to today’s problems that The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government offers will not be to everyone’s liking.
Some, perhaps those we currently recognise as just the few, have much to gain from maintaining a system which continues to benefit only some at the expense of all others and mitigates this in very inhuman ways.
In terms of Awakened Politics and Good Government, what does Awakened mean?
In terms of Awakened Politics and Good Government, to be Awakened quite literally means to be fully aware, considerate of and making allowance for the impact and consequences of the choices or the decisions that are about to be made for everyone and not just those who appear to be the only ones that decision will affect.
It is important to understand that intelligence, education, position or anything else that ‘defines’ anyone as being different does not make anyone ‘Awake’, fully ‘Conscious’, or enlightened, and this is particularly so in the case of the Politicians we have today.
How is Awakened or Conscious Politics different when we are all awake or conscious anyway?
Medically or physiologically speaking, yes, if you are reading this page, you are ‘conscious’. Also, in these same ‘literal’ terms, you are likely to be physically ‘awake’ too.
What some people may not realise, or indeed, what many of the people around them may not realise is that what they currently understand to be conscious or to be awake is only partially so.
In terms of absolutes, people may not be ‘Conscious’ or ‘Awake’ at all, if there are things going on in the world around them or that are contributing to the experience that they are having that they are neither conscious of or aware of in any way.
That absence or lack of awareness most often exists in terms of peoples understanding of themselves. Why they feel the way they do about things. Why they react the way that they do. Why they are motivated in the way that they are. And how experiences they have themselves affect and influence them in their future – usually without them giving the matter any thought.
If a person is not fully aware of or can make consideration of, or allowance for everything that is going on in a situation over which they are making some kind of judgement or a decision, they are not ‘Awake’ to or ‘Conscious’ of everything that is going on. They will therefore be making that decision or judgement unconsciously.
Politicians are not and have not been making decisions consciously. If they were and had been, the world today and the experience that we are all having of it would be very different in just about every conceivable way.
What is Awakened Politics?
Awakened Politics is the assessment, creation, proposal and pursuit of new and improved Public Policy and Community or Social solutions that are based upon, built and evolved from the point of decision-making taking place under a condition of full awareness and consideration for all factors involved, driven by the unequivocal pursuit of fairness, balance and justice, and what is in the best interests of all members of the relevant constituency involved.
As a minimum, the attributes, experience and qualities of any Awakened Politician will include their ability, commitment and will (and in no order of prioritisation):
To be fully self-aware.
To be human and to prioritise humanity, conscious thinking, actions, behaviour and life above all ‘things’.
To treat all other human beings as equals, in thought, in word and in deed.
To be able to see, understand and value all sides of an argument or dispute and undertake to always access all the information necessary and from enough sources to make a fully reasoned judgement, even when circumstances are fraught or pressurised.
To take all decisions on Public Policy based upon what is known to be at that moment, not on the basis of what could be, what might be or what if?
To make decisions that run contrary to public and media opinion or subjective narratives, even when they might appear to reflect the zeitgeist or common view.
To recognise and discern the needs, impacts upon of the person or upon persons they are least likely to identify with and treat them the same as if they were themselves that same person and have nothing in life to support them beyond the person that they are.
To not be intimidated by the perceived power and the different circumstances of any other.
To be able and willing to ask questions which lead to understanding of impact, motives, circumstances and likely outcome from all perspectives.
To understand and respect the realities of human nature in all things and in all circumstances.
To see, volunteer for, promote and live the role of being a Public Representative as a calling or as a vocation. Not as a job or a career.
To recognise the role of money, currency and all systems of payment as a method only and not as being a ‘thing’ in any sense.
To be the voice and reasoning of the third parties who are not present or represented, or are not ‘in the room’.
To be able to empathise without being emotionally compromised or without becoming emotionally entrenched, or to recognise and act accordingly when they are.
To have a rudimentary understanding of how business, organisations, economics and the regulations and regulatory system that governs the activities of them all work.
To have practical experience of working with and leading a range of different people in different working environments and circumstances.
Understand, question and asses the motives for something being proposed
To uphold the correct decision, even when it may not be popular to do so.
Understand and make allowances for their own biases, aims and desires
Understand the practical implications in terms of desired outcome (advantages) and the undesired outcomes (disadvantages)
Be able and prepared to reject proposals and solutions that create imbalances that are not essential for the greater good
To see their role through impartially at all times, particularly when under pressure from subjective influences that seek to compromise the objective nature of any decision-making process
To practice the Principle of Charity in every conceivable and valid way.
To be able to be a leader, even when being led.
To understand or make allowances for the positive and negative behavioural effects of a decision
To understand the impact of circumstance and relativity to conditions for people in all circumstances and situations.
To be able to consider and visualise the impact and consequences of Public Policy decisions up to as many times removed as necessary, upon people, upon businesses, upon orgnisations, upon existing Public Policies and upon the relationship between us all and with all others.
To be able to make arguments based upon being constructive, improving proposals or suggestions already made, or making clear the flaws in such proposals or suggestions that may not be apparent to whoever initially made them
To be able to determine exhaustively the difference between wrong and right based on the freedom of the individual to be, in relation to the freedom of all others to be, set against the needs of the community to provide public services and support that is accessible to everyone in the same way, when required, on a universal basis and no more.
To be able to assess and understand the process of conditioning that creates innate or unconscious prejudices as well as those which the person is aware of, and how these influence behaviour and impact society when that person has an influential role. They will be particularly aware and conscious of any such prejudices within themselves.
To be able to look beyond the detrimental behaviour of any individual group and consider their needs impartially, as they would do any other individual or group
To be committed to localisation, deglobalisation and the priority of the community, our communities and our Country, from the grassroots up.
To be committed to working collaboratively with all other nation states for reason of mutual benefit without relinquishing or surrendering political control to any person, organisation or government of any type that would have the ability to create, impose or police governance of any kind upon people, businesses, organisations or public bodies of any kind that they themselves are responsible to and have been elected to represent.
To see and treat Government, Governance and The Public Sector as tools of facilitation to be used on behalf of The Public for the Public and Greater Good, and that they are not and should not ever be treated or considered to be an entity that can prioritise itself or its existence in any way or at any time.
To never surrender the power to decide on behalf of the relevant constituency that has been entrusted to them to any Political Party, Ideology, Social or Demographic Group, subjective interest or bias of any kind, for the full period of their elected or appointed term, or until the moment they have chosen to relinquish that responsibility and formally stepped down.
And more.
What is Good Government?
Good Government is the creation, implementation and review of governance systems and public policy with impartiality, balance, fairness and consideration to the implications for all, from the creation of strategy to individual policy and ongoing at the point of operational delivery.
The approach of those working as Public Servants (Civil Servants, Local Government Officers, Public Sector Workers) of every kind as a part of Good Government will always as a minimum include:
Treating every Member of the Public as an equal and value them as being exactly the same when it comes to the service, solutions and outcomes that they offer or provide.
Being minded that the function of Government and the Public Sector is to serve the best interests of the Public and the relevant community above all things
Being minded that the organisation, department, or service that they are employed by is not an entity in its own right and that the priorities of that organisation, department, service or of their own, must never be placed before the best interests of the public and the communities they serve.
Being self-aware enough to know and to step away from prioritising their own needs, fears, desires or aims in relation to the role that they have, when they have the ability or function that will allow them to do otherwise
The reform of The Public Sector and of Public Services that was already necessary before we entered the current period of crisis MUST begin with the reform of Public Policy via Awakened Politics. Then and only then can the structure, working practices and cultural models of what will constitute Good Government and the delivery of Public Services in the most appropriate and relevant ways be able to begin.
How does Good Government work?
Good Government requires that all policy makers, legislators, executives and officers at every level and of every kind fulfill the requirements and expectations of their role and/or responsibility with awareness and understanding of the impact and consequences of their decisions and actions both directly and indirectly, no matter how many times removed.
The consideration given will always be reflective of the level of responsibility involved. For instance, an MP or government minister should always have fluency in understanding the impact of public policy on all end users, whether their role be personal, professionally representative or pecuniary in a practical and/or material sense.
Beliefs or emotional well being – which could also be considered to be taste or appearance is always specific and therefore subjective to the individual concerned, can only be addressed effectively at the individual level itself and Good Government will always therefore allow for catering for specific requirements at the one-to-one level, where decisions made by officers can and will only impact upon the individual concerned.
It is the framework or overriding commonality of structural policy which is the most essential element of Good Government.
The whole principle of Good Government and its overlap with Awakened Politics is that it should never be argued for, created or delivered on the basis that someone is this or because someone is that.
Awakened Politics and Good Government succeeds by delivering on the basis that it treats everyone equally and exactly the same, or supports this same principle by excluding the circumstances where this principle can be compromised.
Any policy which does or could play to alternative thinking is self-serving in some way – even if it appears to positively discriminate in favour of a particular group.
Isn’t The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government just being idealistic?
No, Awakened Politics isn’t just being idealistic.
Although many people would argue that it is idealistic to think that everyone could think, act and behave ‘Consciously’ or in an ‘Awakened’ or enlightened manner all the time.
The thing to always bear in mind about The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government, is that it is the thoughts, actions and behaviour of decision makers, legislators, executives, administrators and technical staff of all kinds that will deliver a Fair, Balanced and Just system for all.
The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government is not dependent upon each and every one of us thinking, acting and behaving in an Awakened, Conscious or enlightened manner all of the time.
The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government requires that those who have taken up a role that is publicly responsible on our behalf are not only able, but will think, act and behave Consciously and in an Awakened way in everything that they do when they are fulfilling the responsibilities of that publicly related role.
Can Awakened Politics exist within the current political system?
Yes, Awakened Politics can exist within the current Political System.
In fact, to a very small degree you can be sure that it does. Even now there are a few Politicians who really do think, act and behave as a fully Awakened Political system would require that each and every one of them would do so.
However, acting either alone or in isolation means that when any Public Policy is delivered and implemented in a way that genuinely ends up being for the genuine greater good, the outcome is down to pure luck, a lack of interest on the part of other Politicians, or because those other Politicians believe that to support such a Policy will help or enrich them or some subjective interest in some way.
The foundations of Awakened Politics are self-awareness, awareness of others, values, integrity and humanity
It seems incredible that the concept and existence of an alternative values-driven world to the one we currently live and believe in must be explained. But this is where the world is and where we really are today.
The fundamental basis of Awakened Politics and therefore Good Government, is always doing the right thing for everyone, even when they are not present and represented, or it would appear that they will not be affected by whatever our Politicians are about to do.
Awakened Politics and Good Government is about valuing People or the Person, and the experience they are having, more than what is outside all of us, or what we might know as ‘things’.
When we can care and understand about ourselves, we can care and understand about others – or choose not to do so, if that should be our own genuine choice.
Politics and Government by its very nature and purpose is the care, service to and consideration of all others and the governance of all things that are external to or outside of them.
This care, service and consideration must always be provided by people who are thinking, acting and behaving in a Fully Conscious way when taking or enacting that responsibility for others.
There is and can be no in between. Or somebody, somewhere will always be failed.
The Golden Rule: Good Government is a method of facilitation and delivery. It is not an entity in itself
One thing that will always be important to remember and bear in mind is that no matter how powerful any Council, Parliament, Assembly, Non-Government Organisation (NGO) or related Public Service Provider might be, that body, organisation or department is and only ever will be a tool, device or service for action and delivery on behalf of the Public for the genuine greater good.
These Public-serving organisations will never be an entity in their own right.
Public-serving bodies and organisations must never be allowed to be able to make their own policies or set strategies of any kind that prioritise their own existence or that of their staff or members above or before the interests of the Public and therefore the People they have been created to serve.
Whilst todays Politicians are either ignorant of, deliberately avoid or are therefore Unconscious of the truth, much of the problems with Public Services of all kinds today are reflective of this golden rule about the existence of Government and the services it provides to the Public in some way.
Good Government is a question of priorities
In the most basic of human terms, we can either prioritise what is inside of us or who we really are, or we can prioritise what is outside of us and what we appear to be or have means to everyone else.
Good Government will always prioritise the Person and humanity first and in all things.
It’s what a politician thinks of and does for the person they least identify with that really matters for Fairness, Balance and Justice in Government to exist
Diversity, alternative Political Philosophies and differences in Politics don’t promote or guarantee fairness and balance.
Anyone appointed to a position of influence and authority because of the physical, material or ideological difference they have with others is more likely to prioritise those who they most closely identify with – or for want of a better term, prioritise the interests of ‘those of their own kind’.
The benchmark of any system of government and the political system that facilitates or leads it being truly representative, Fair, Balanced and Just, is what the politician or political decision maker does on behalf of the person they know least about, have least in common with or are least likely to understand.
A system of government cannot and will not work in the best interests of all, if it doesn’t consider and treat fairly, justly and without bias of any kind, even the very people we might consider that we have every reason want excluded in some way or to despise.
If you have read this and immediately think of someone or some group of people that you feel to be undeserving of the same care and consideration that you for yourself would like, you can now use that feeling and emotion to understand how any system of governance and politics will quickly be undone.
Good Politicians MUST be Judged by the results of their actions. NOT by their words, what they appear to do, or how they might look
It is easy to see why Political Parties now fall over themselves to secure Candidates for Elections who already have a name, such as celebrities or people who have for some reason been publicly recognised as a champion of some specific cause or in some other way.
‘They are this’, ‘They are that’, are the words or the thinking that accompanies the thought processes of today’s Politicians and Political Parties when they select and appoint their Candidates – often for ‘Seats’ that they already consider to be theirs to allocate and that they therefore ‘Own’.
What the Political Parties today don’t think or worry about, is what the Politicians they effectively appoint would actually do, or indeed, what they have actually already done.
Words are just words. Whether spoken, written or even typed up or presented to the public through a screen, on a page or through a public meeting somewhere.
If we really want an idea of what any Politician can offer us or what they will bring, we must think differently about the way that they have been appointed, and the pathway that has delivered them into a publicly representative role.
What politicians have already done, rather than what it looks like what they have done or what they or someone else tell us they have done, is the best indication of what they will do.
Real research doesn’t stop at a title or at a headline. It takes time. But when one person must be trusted to think, behave and act Consciously for so many, it is essential that we too made that selection Consciously and being Conscious of all the facts and realities that underpin who they really are. Not how they or anyone else would like us to think.
People will always tell you who they are. They will also do so very quickly, as long as you make the effort to hear as well as listen.
Awakened Politics tackles today’s problems today and is mindful of the future. But it leaves the past behind
It may surprise many that most of the decisions made in Public Policy are based on what Politicians want the world to look like in the future using what’s already happened in the past as their guide.
Because the past triggers what we know as guilt, whilst the future triggers what we know as anxiety too, Politics and Politicians today are fueled by emotions.
When emotions are in charge of decision making, no form of Awakened, Conscious or Enlightened thinking and the genuine care that comes with it has any hope of shining through.
Yes, lip service can and will always be paid to ‘good thinking’ in a world where what everything looks like is firmly in control. But the end results will never turn out as anyone intended, simply by design.
Emotions don’t dwell in the moment itself. They are the sirens of another time and place, which is irrelevant to the moment in which we make the decision to act.
For Good Government to do its work beneficially for everyone, the decision making of Awakened Politics will always be conducted in the here and now.
Yes, there are those of us who will always respond to this by proclaiming ‘There has to be a plan!’. But it is because we have become so obsessed with ‘plans’ and trying to control the future, that we have completely lost control of what is happening around us and around the world right now.
The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government will solve our problems
When all Public Policy decisions are made impartiality, with integrity, with respect to the laws of cause and effect, and with what is in the best interests of everyone in mind, in the moment and without trying to second guess or prevent certain outcomes of any kind, those decisions will always be right.
Doing the right thing is not always easy, especially when there may appear to be simpler, more cost effective or even more reliable or proven ways. The cost of doing the right thing in everything never creates problems or comes at a price that isn’t just or is unfair, whilst failing to do so will always cost someone, somewhere and more often than not, that cost to others will become cumulative in many different (unforeseen) ways.
Just as one lie requires many more to cover its path, poor decisions in politics require many more to cover them up.
The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government would mean that everything will be done the right way at the right moment in time. Doing so shines light on what also needs to be changed for the better, rather than requiring more and unnecessary action to cover bad policy up.
The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government is a method, way or direction. It is not a manifesto, strategy or fixed agenda in itself
The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government is not and cannot be a political philosophy or a set of specific objectives or aims in itself.
Like being awake or being conscious in itself, The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government is a way or state of being, or method that can and will be applied to Politics and Government in a comprehensive or universal sense.
Compromise isn’t necessary when everyone does the right thing for everyone
Perhaps the acid test or most accurate way to confirm if Public Policy is being created or revised through Awakened Politics by Awakened Politicians.
Anyone who has been active within Politics at any level or employed in any role or profession allied to Politics or Government of any kind, who believe the way that it all functions is ‘normal’, will certainly scoff at or ridicule the idea that compromise isn’t necessary in order for everything to work.
The point is being missed by them, and by anyone who believes that anything about ‘The System’ works as it should, that compromise is nothing more than ‘the middle ground’ and an agreement to disagree.
Any matter of Public Policy that is determined by Awakened Politicians would not require a middle way.
By its very nature, bias against the shared aims of Balance, Fairness and Justice for All, founded on the principle of humanity and life first, doesn’t exist. If and when it does, it indicates the presence of thinking and a way of being that functions in a different way.
Part 3: The bridges we must cross to reach Awakened Politics
The biggest obstacle on The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government is our own unconscious thinking
Changing from a system of government that doesn’t work in everyone’s best interests to one that does should be very easy. Don’t we all look after our own best interests after all?
However, without an external event or series of external events taking place that really forces the majority people to stop and think and awaken, a course of voluntary change will take a very long time.
People who see, experience and believe there is nothing bad about the unconscious System that we have will not willingly embrace an Awakened System of Governance that they will inevitably see as likely to cost them or create a loss for them in some material or money-based way.
People are so intoxicated with the current system that revolves around Money and self-interest, there is very little understanding, acceptance or appreciation of how the values set that we have culturally adopted hurts us all as individuals.
Awakened Politics & Good Government cannot exist where other influences are at work
For Politics and Government to be fully Awake, it is absolutely essential that the sanctity of the relationship between Voters and Public Representatives is uncorrupted and remains incorruptible.
The greatest travesty that exists within our so-called democracies today is the role and influence of Big Business, ‘The Markets’, Banks and ‘The Financial Sector’.
It has become very clear through the chronology of political events in the UK during the Autumn of 2022 alone, that our Politicians are actively prioritising ‘what the markets want’, above doing whatever is in the best interests of everyone else.
The reality that this action effectively rubbishes or gives the lie to The UK being a democratic Country aside, this evidence does in itself spell out that care and consideration for the impact of decisions are only being made on purely a financial or rather monetary policy basis.
Government decisions are not being made on a public policy basis. This means that issues created by the very real ‘cost of living crisis’ are being treated as nothing more than an afterthought at best, if they are really being thought about by Politicians in any meaningful way at all.
Awakened Politics isn’t fully Conscious or Enlightened if any bias or subjective influence is present or at work, either for the individual Politician, for any Political Group or Grouping to which they may belong, or indeed within the Council, Parliament or Assembly of whatever kind it might be, to which each and every elected Politician once elected belongs.
The relationship between Voter and Public Representative (Politician) will always be ultimately based upon trust. But that doesn’t mean we cannot or shouldn’t have a political and electoral system that reduces the instances where corruption of any kind cannot be limited to a point where it will not be easy to hide and where it can be readily detected or seen.
The UKs broken Political System: Straight to the top must stop
No, of course the Prime Minister of this Country doesn’t just end one day as a normal person and find themselves PM the next day. But the pool of politicians that every British Prime Minister is drawn from – that’s currently the 650 Constituency Members of Parliament (MPs) pretty much can.
MPs literally are at the top of the UKs political tree and its certainly not unknown for MPs to be elected in their 20’s, with very little experience of life and the only experience of working has been in organisations which are closely aligned or feed into the political system in the UK as it is and has for a long time been.
Age itself is certainly no guarantee of what any MP can offer and the very regrettable truth is that many older and supposedly better informed or experienced new MPs offer a very myopic or subjective view of life, are also driven by politics being ‘a career’, and have no real understanding or experience of life that has enabled them to ‘step into someone else’s shoes’, when it comes to making judgments over policy decisions which will inevitably have a profound impact on life for many people in a way they are simply unequipped to visualise, empathise with or even constructively think about.
You cannot provide Conscious Government or even have functioning Conscious Politics if the politicians or representatives involved in any public debate cannot or choose not to relate to the reality that people, communities and organisations already face and what they will face as a result of whatever decision that is about to be made.
Money related bribes are not the only kind corruption that exists
One of the flaws of the English Language and the way that it has evolved, is the manner in which we freely attribute different meanings to the same word. People then fall into the trap of failing to recognise the different uses and then see others as being wrong when they have used that word in what we see as an incorrect way, or more likely they have used that word in a way that their experience tells them is correct, but which ours then tells us is wrong.
There are many examples. The meaning of one word in particular that can create such a misunderstanding and become one of the barriers we face to understanding why we have an urgent need for Awakened Politics and Good Government, is corruption.
In the Western world, we generally consider the word corruption to equate to illegal or unofficial financial payments, backhanders, the exchange of brown envelopes or what we most commonly know as bribes; all using money or a resulting financial payment or pecuniary benefit of some kind.
Corruption isn’t just about money. In fact, any act which is undertaken by a decision maker or person with influence or responsibility of a public or legally recognisable kind, that aims to secure a result or outcome that favours themselves or the interests of someone or something they favour, is itself corrupt.
In terms of or in comparison to so-called Third World Countries, ‘banana republics’, other less ‘developed’ economies and even globally known group organisations where bribes using money are regrettably all too recognisably widespread, Western Countries and their governance may not outwardly appear to be in any way the same.
However, decision making that favours a specific group, a specific interest, a specific Political Party, a specific idea or indeed a specific or subjective outcome of any kind – right down to something such as career advancement or the job security of the individual, is arguably even worse.
This form of sanitized, prejudicial corruption is rampant throughout the Western world today. But its impact and ramifications are even less likely to be detected or openly seen – even though they are arguably often far worse. Beyond the obvious, prejudicial corruption creates injustice at the quality-of-life level for those on an honest path, that defy logic and sense.
Making others wrong, doesn’t make anyone right
Perhaps the biggest obstacle to Awakened Politics, beyond the cultural obsession with money itself, is the underlying and emotional need and driven desire on the part of so many people to make others wrong, in the misplaced belief that it somehow then makes them right.
Just because we can look better, sound better, communicate better, influence 3rd parties more effectively, or do anything that can ‘win’ the argument, it doesn’t necessarily follow that the argument, proposal or solution that we have made is right.
Winning an argument or debate in this way certainly doesn’t confirm that the outcome or consequences will be in the best interests of everyone that it then becomes the route that everyone involved then takes, or that it becomes the policy or agenda that is then adopted.
We are the sum of our experiences. And from the perspective of every individual, our view of the world is based on our past – whether we are Conscious of this or any part of this fact.
In the subjective environment of a debate, discussion or argument, we may well reach the conclusion or even agree that one of us is right. But that doesn’t make the other party wrong.
Objectively and to step into the way of Awakened Politics, Conscious Politics or even Enlightened Politics, each of us – and especially our Politicians, must be humble enough to accept that we do not know everything, no matter how confident of the credibility and value of the experience that we already have, and which has made us who we are.
There is nothing worse than people being so sure of what they do know, that they have no idea of what they don’t.
Power and influence doesn’t automatically make someone right either, even though it will certainly help those who do not value the responsibility they have to others that comes with that power and influence to convince many other that they most certainly are.
Why is Awakened Politics not active and flourishing as it should be within Government today?
Awakened Politics and Good Government doesn’t exist within ‘The System’ today, because ‘The System’ itself is skewed too far towards indulging and pandering to the biases of anyone or anything that is able to influence the leaders and Politicians that we currently have.
Yes, there are certainly a few Politicians around who ‘are in it’ for all the right reasons – i.e., they are thinking about and wish to fight for what is good and what is right for everyone. But Awakened Politicians are certainly few and far between, right now.
There is certainly a much greater number of people that arrive in the entrance hall of todays Political System with good intentions. They join the Political Parties and become Candidates in elections at all levels of Government.
Regrettably and more often than not, they discover the realities of just how broken and undemocratic ‘The System’ just as soon as they are elected and have experienced the very tip of the iceberg from within. They are all too easily corrupted by the realities that Politics today isn’t about achieving what’s best for all and that you have to submit to the unconscious and corrupt nature of ‘The System’ if you want to progress and fit in.
Sadly, the reality is that the rot and chaos caused by so much unconscious thinking within the decision making and governance processes over such a prolonged period of time, has made it seem or feel all but impossible for anyone who looks objectively at the problem, its causes and effects, to believe that life can be lived in any other way.
However, all that is wrong with ‘The System’ is based on just that – belief.
So, if belief and thinking can be changed or is changed and reaches a critical mass that transforms ‘The System’ so that it works and operates in a completely different way, the power of groupthink will certainly do its magic. Only this time, it will be for the good and benefit of us all.
Good Government vs what we have today = People & Life vs Money & self-interest
For as long as the majority of people unconsciously or without thinking believe that they continue to benefit from the way that the world works today, and that those benefits outweigh what they understand to be any disadvantages for them, we all remain condemned to a world and future that will be increasingly unfair, unjust, imbalanced and a champion of pain and hatred in places where such darkness has now natural right to be or to even be seen.
That is the world today. This is where we really are. And if you cannot feel, see or experience the unfairness yourself, that quite literally means that you continue to unconsciously believe that it is ok for someone else to be disadvantaged, for them to suffer, or for you to even store up disastrous consequences for yourself that are ‘out of sight and out of mind’.
Many of us neither see, nor realise that the way we have all been living for decades and beyond is not sustainable and never has been.
We have been living unsustainably without any apparent, perceptible cost for so long, that we have all fallen into the trap of thinking that this is normal, and this is how things will always be.
The current System, mindset and way of thinking is based on feeding a manufactured or created desire for pleasure. Not happiness.
The world System functions to keep as many of us as possible blinded to our reality by providing us with a constant flow of instant hits.
Yet the cost to us all, of this money and self-interest-based system or order has and will increasingly be the compromise and destruction of our physical, mental and spiritual health.
We are quite literally living and existing within lives which run completely contrary to who we are and who we should continually be striving to be, just because of our relationship with two things:
MONEY & SELF-INTEREST
If you are able, take a moment to reflect upon how money and its bedfellow’s wealth, greed, material gain and self-interest itself have an influence or an effect on just about everything in life that is outside or external to ourselves.
Then reflect on the reality, that this thinking touches everything outside of us in just about every way, and it does so and can only do so, because we have allowed our thinking to be taken over so that everything could become this way.
Yes, you, I and everyone else has surrendered their power to this material driven world and continue to do so each and every day in even the very smallest of ways.
But we have the ability to take that power back. We can reject the desire that we have for instant gratification or pleasure that is only touches us momentarily from outside, but is nonetheless used against us by the system that is supposed to serve us, but is in fact taking everything from us in every possible way.
Happiness is a state of being that cannot be influenced, created or installed by something that is outside of us. It is by being fully Conscious or self-aware of ourselves, that The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government will begin.
By being Conscious of ourselves, we then have the ability to be Conscious of the experience of life for others. We then have the ability to create and maintain a system of Awakened Politics and therefore Good Government too.
Good Government will work in the best possible way for everyone, because it will provide either the services, the rules & laws and the opportunities that everyone needs, rather than what each individual wants.
Could Awakened Politics work in the current structure?
Yes, Conscious Politics could work within the current political structure.
But for Politics to be fully Conscious, it would require everyone operating or functioning with the current political structure to change the way they think. To change the way they behave. To change the way they interact. To change their experience (and therefore step aside to allow people who are better suited to Conscious Politics to take over). To basically change everything that they are and currently do.
Existing Politicians and the Political Parties they are a part of will not step aside or change. They are unconscious of the impact of their presence and what the real cause of all the problems are that they are failing to address.
Wouldn’t politicians have to be ‘Spiritual’ for Awakened Politics to work?
The answer is NO.
Politicians do not need to be ‘Spiritual’ to be ‘Conscious’ and Good Public Representatives.
The term ‘Spiritual’ is massively overused. It is used inappropriately in many cases and within the circumstances to which and to the behaviour of those to whom it is applied.
Awakened Politicians cannot be qualified by the group they belong to, by their affiliations, by the qualifications or type of experience that they have.
Awakened Politics is not about what Politicians say. Awakened Politics is all about what Politicians actually do and how they do it too.
Being a good person in the most meaningful way is not something that is within the gift of any other person, group or organisation to qualify in another, in any way.
Being ‘Conscious’ or ‘Awakened’ is not about being better than anyone else. It’s about being the best we can be. About seeing everything as it really is and responding and then acting in the best ways that it is possible for us all to do so.
Nobody has to be part of anything or be qualified in some way by anybody or anything else to be the best that they can be in every possible sense.
Good Government can only be fully Conscious if it is both aware of and able to act upon every issue at the most local, community or individual level possible
We’ve all heard terms such as ‘Localism’ and ‘Devolution’ being used by todays Politicians.
Regrettably, the way that Politicians use these terms is misleading. The meaning Politicians use is intended to suggest that the Public Policies that they relate to are bringing Political Influence and Power back to local Communities, thereby giving people like you and I more of a say and therefore a bigger role.
What Localism and Devolution have really meant in reality, is the centralisation of power and influenced carved up differently or in an even less meaningful way than the attribution of Political Power and influence over the way that we are governed today, through the Government Tiers as they already are.
We don’t need Mayors, Police & Crime Commissioners or Regional Bodies or Boards of any kind. Especially not when the pretense suggests misleadingly that their presence somehow results in the Public, The Electorate or Voters being more involved or able to influence the decision-making process.
The Tiers of Government already exist in many areas across the UK that would be more than sufficient for power to be devolved in a very meaningful way. To a level where people could and would have a much greater level of influence and have a genuine say on day-to-day and real-life solutions to the issues that affect them.
The reason that Politicians in Westminster will not devolve power back towards the people using the existing framework of Government* is that everything they do is always about maintaining or increasing their level of control.
Awakened Politics and Good Government is based upon the decisions that affect us communally being made where it is best and most fitting for that decision making to be.
*There are currently up to four Tiers of Government in the UK. Beyond the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assemblies in Mainland UK, these are Parish & Town Councils, District Level Authorities (Borough and District Councils), County Councils and Parliament.
Having Political Awareness, a Political Conscience, being Politically Conscious or Politically Aware is not Awakened Politics, Conscious Politics or Enlightened Politics
Because of the way that we regularly attribute different meanings to the same words, it is important to be clear about the differences between Awakened Politics, Conscious Politics, Enlightened Politics and what are arguably similar everyday terms such as to be ‘Politically Aware’ and have ‘Political Awareness’ or to be Politically Conscious or anything like that.
If you are ‘Politically Aware’ or ‘Politically Conscious’, you are thinking about, considering, observing and may even be involved in politics and are very likely to have your own ideas about what politics itself should achieve.
However, being ‘Politically Aware’ or Politically Conscious’ doesn’t mean that your involvement in Politics – in whatever way that might be or mean – is being conducted in an Awakened, fully Conscious or Enlightened way.
Wokeness and Woke Politics
Wokeness and being Woke in any related way is just being idealistic in a heightened or dangerously myopic way.
Woke idealism seeks to impose a specific and subjective value set on others unconsciously, as it pays no regard to alternative life experiences, practical reality and human nature in any meaningful way.
Wokeness is the promotion of the view that an idealistic narrative can be imposed upon everyone and then become the view accepted and ‘lived’ by everyone, making the objective the subjective and the subjective the objective for all.
Being Awakened, fully Conscious or Enlightened is knowing about, understanding, making allowance for and having a reasoned relationship with everything and everyone. It is not about excluding, erasing or destroying the things that make us uncomfortable or that we do not like.
Part 4: How do we make Awakened Politics a reality?
How do we make Politics truly representative of everyone?
If we really want Politics to be truly or genuinely representative of everyone, everyone must feel they are being represented genuinely and that their own truth is the place where the journey to the creation, review and change of public policy begins.
Anyone who pours scorn on the idea that you can or even should involve everyone in politics in some way beyond programming people or telling them what to do, is part of the problem we are moving away from.
They will not accept the validity or functionality of The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government as a worthy or legitimate cause.
For The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government to work effectively and as it should, it is essential that the people effected by decisions are able to access and interact with the people making the policy decisions.
In the limited cases where policy decisions being made affect people at an inter or intra community level (Regional, National etc.), those same people or others just like them should always have been directly involved in appointing the politicians upon whose shoulders that collective responsibility will be shoulders and the decisions made.
Cause & Effect: Awakened Politics leads to Good Government
If you require a very quick run through the technicalities and mechanics of why the majority of solutions to existing problems presented by politicians don’t work today, the mechanics of the travesty are quite simple.
Politicians today are not aware of, do not have a meaningful understanding of or are resistant in some way, to the relationship between cause and effect.
Everything Politicians do today is focused on dealing with the effects of a problem.
For example, when it comes to there being a shortage of people to fill low-paid jobs, some Politicians argue that the UK should allow more immigration of low skilled workers.
Yes, it sounds like a reasonable and sensible solution. But none of our Politicians outwardly ask the question or want to even begin dealing with the reality that there are already millions of people in the UK who could work, but are not working. People who might otherwise be able to fill some, if not all of these jobs.
We cannot and will not have solutions to the problems that we face together or communally – whether we are aware of them or not – if we do not have Politicians who not only understand the complex nature of creating and maintaining effective and balanced Public Policy, but are also prepared to have the difficult conversations and debates that will certainly offend those who would benefit from the current way of doing things to be maintained.
When the Political System itself becomes Conscious, it will lead to Good Government in every sense.
The process begins with us all being Conscious and making Conscious decisions about who Represents us Publicly and therefore is all about who we choose to elect.
How do we get from here to Good Government?
Good Government will come as a direct result of fully Awakened Politics.
Awakened Politics is only possible when the Politicians that we have can, will and do think, behave and act fully Consciously in everything that they think and do when they are representing others.
The most challenging obstacle to Awakened Politics today, isn’t changing the mind of individual politicians. Indeed, some ‘Awakened Politicians’ will already exist. But their number is very few.
The most challenging obstacle to Awakened Politics today is ‘The System’ itself.
‘The System’ is overwhelmingly focused and driven on the ‘money, wealth and self-interest’ motives.
When a system is so overwhelmingly skewed to work in such a twisted and selfish way, it literally means that everything within that system – whether it be procedures, rules, laws, cultural thinking or working practices – is built, created or has been adapted to promote that same way of thinking for everyone.
A skewed system makes it very difficult for anyone to operate or act differently, even if the thoughts of the individual are not aligned with the practice itself.
Whilst it is always possible that everyone within ‘The System’ could change their mind and approach at the very same moment in time and embrace Conscious Thinking, behaviour and actions in every meaningful sense from there onwards, the reality is that not everyone will change their mind about everything they share or experience with others communally, unless something has happened which changes everything for everyone and makes them of the same mind.
Awakened Politics & Good Government will not work for everyone until every public representative works for Awakened Politics & Good Government
For every one of us that changes our way of thinking about how the world works and then embraces that change in every way we possibly can, humanity has already taken a giant leap forward.
However, for a society to exist that is Fair, Balanced and Just in every sense possible, and that has a System of governance which reflects that, it is essential that we have a Political System that is fully ‘Conscious’.
For our Political System to be ‘Fully Awake’, it necessarily follows that all of the Public Representatives, decision makers, legislators or Politicians within it must think, act and behave Consciously and in an Awakened manner too.
What would a fully Awakened Electoral System look like?
It is or would be possible for the current electoral and political systems to function Consciously and for all of the Politicians and Political Parties within it to think, act and behave in an Awakened way.
However, Awakened Politics done properly would not require Political Parties or any kind of process based on competition – or what is in effect a race to decide whose ideas are best.
Equally, the existing Tiers within the UK Government System mean that it is quite literally the case that the people or Politicians making the most far-reaching or profound decisions that affect us all are likely to be the most difficult for us to reach, for us to know or for us to interact with.
For Awakened Politics and therefore Good Government to exist and then to work effectively, it is essential that none of our decision makers are insulated from different realities and the life experiences of the people they govern.
It is impossible for anyone make potentially life-changing decisions on behalf of The Public to be able to function or operate with a number of different people or levels of communication between them and Voters, effectively making them many times removed.
Awakened Politics is beyond any need for Political Parties
By its very nature the pursuit of a political, economic or other kind of ‘ideal’ or ‘philosophy’ by any group, whether political or not, is in the interests of that group or what they specifically share in common. It is not in the ‘best interests of all’, because it prioritises outcomes that are aligned with those beliefs, aims or the philosophies that are shared by that group, or that group and its affiliates alone.
Doing the right thing for everyone, and by necessity using the benchmark of care for the people a politician will have the least in common with, doesn’t require any ideal or philosophy other than doing the right thing by and on behalf of everyone in the most Balanced, Fair and Just way.
Awakened Politics supersedes the biases and innate prejudices that flourish and take over within politically motivated groups that see outcomes being all about the routes or journeys to get there, rather than the right result being the most important thing.
If Politics is undertaken Consciously, Political Parties are therefore no longer necessary.
Awakened Politicians do not need to leverage ideals or philosophies to ‘do the right thing’.
Wouldn’t we just be better off with a Dictator taking the decisions that affect us all?
In the situation the UK and many Countries around the world are facing, there will already be many who would find the idea of a ‘no messing around’ dictator or authoritarian character ‘who gets things done’, to be highly attractive.
Indeed, during periods of world history where similarities exist between different times and what we are now experiencing within our own, people have found themselves very receptive and open to the idea of charismatic leaders who deliver a strong and compelling message that suggests that they and only they have the magic formula and the ability to put everything right.
When life gets really shit for a lot of people – as things are very likely to do so for the majority of us all very soon, it can be very easy to fall into the trap of believing what’s right for them is right for us too – or rather what looks like a win-win, will actually turn out to be a win-lose
Is it possible to have a ‘Good Dictator’?
The idea of a good, benevolent dictator can be as intoxicating as the most compelling political messaging, soundbites and propaganda. Particularly when the process of looking closely at the problems with our broken Political System will quickly demonstrate that meaningful decisions rarely happen by design, because individual politicians and Political Parties are always putting their election hopes and other forms of self-interest first.
However, like most things in Politics, Government and life generally, the realities of decision making are multilayered and nuanced to say the least. I.e., just because you can streamline the process of decision making, it still doesn’t guarantee that the person or in this case, the dictator will be making Conscious decisions which are good for us all.
Whether we begin The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government via the ‘Voluntary’ or are compelled to do so via the ‘Sudden Impact’ route, the practical reality is that at least temporarily and for a period of time, somebody – either an individual, or a very small group of individuals, will have to make and oversee the implementation of all of the key Public Policies that will make Awakened Politics and Good Government work, as it should.
By necessity, this is likely to require that we place our trust in someone to do this all for us.
To do otherwise will take significantly longer and may open the door to alternative forms of leadership and societal control that we really will not want or enjoy in any way.
As with the selection of Awakened Politicians for the future, this selection or choice will all boil down to one thing; the question of who and what will really work.
It will be by necessity the case that alongside the prevailing question of who we can trust not only to do the right things and to see them through, that they will also hand over power, once their tenure has ended and the fundamental basis of a Good Government System in in place.
Part 5: WE ARE ALL RESPONSIBLE AND HAVE A ROLE TO PLAY. Awakened Politics and Good Government will only come from us – not someone else doing it for us
We ALL have a role to play in The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government
For Awakened Politics not only to work, but to keep working and for it to lead to Good Government too, it is essential that we all play a very conscious part in selecting and appointing the Public Representatives or Politicians who will make decisions on our collective behalf.
It doesn’t matter how any of us may be different or may even be perceived as being different to others.
For Awakened Politics to work and function fully and effectively, we must see everyone as being fundamentally the same and being equal where the role of Government, of Governance and of the Public Sector itself is concerned.
Whilst the people we select, appoint or elect to be Politicians may be relatively small, it is essential that we create and maintain a structure of Government and an Electoral Process that feeds into it that ensures that Public Representatives are not only in touch with real life, but that the real-life experiences of all that need to feed into Public Policy are heard and valued as they should be.
To be able to view the people we elect differently and in a fully conscious way, we must begin by being fully conscious of ourselves and think differently about the relationship we have with our communities too.
The personal benefits of Awakened, Conscious & Enlightened Thinking
Few of us understand that seeking a never-ending line of temporary hits from the pleasures that the world will give us in the form of ‘things’ and as experiences, comes at significant personal cost.
In exchange for fleeting, temporary and transitory pleasures, we are surrendering our thinking, our humanity and ourselves.
Moments of pleasure will never replace a constant state of happiness and the peace that we can and will attain, if and when we put humanity and life first.
When we have attained a relationship with everything and everyone outside of ourselves, based on what’s Fair, what’s Just, what’s Balanced and what’s basically good for everyone in the situation, because it’s how we would all like to be treated in that situation – whichever of the roles we might play, we will all have very good lives and live life in a very good way.
It may appear to be materially poor in some ways in comparison to what we take for granted and consider to come without cost right now. But it will be a life and way of being that is both mentally and spiritually enriched. It can and will provide a level of wellbeing that no form of material wealth will ever afford.
Self-Awareness leads to Awareness of others
Most of us at some point in life will fall into the trap of believing that everyone else thinks like us. That in the same circumstances, they would choose to do and then do exactly the same things that we would do too.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
We are the sum of our experiences. And if we have not understood and learned from all the things that we have experienced, we are very likely to repeat any mistakes or poor decisions that we have made over and perhaps over again.
Self-awareness is achieved by taking the time and making the effort to ask why things happen, how they happen, what role we played in making them happen and asking all the questions about events which feel meaningful or create an emotional response for us.
The process of becoming self-aware is the way in which we equip ourselves to reach a place of understanding of life around us that steps beyond the simple process of attributing blame.
It sounds like a lot of work. But like most skills we learn and assimilate as we grow, once we have mastered the basic process, it is a skill that can very quickly become akin to muscle memory and help us in the very smallest, yet the most significant of ways.
For us to live, experience life and to survive, the reality is that we don’t need to be fully conscious or self-aware in terms of our metal being.
Indeed, many people have lived entire lifetimes and good lives too, without thinking deeply about anything they experience and without feeling any need to do so.
There’s nothing wrong with living a life with limited self-awareness, if the individual concerned isn’t making decisions or isn’t taking responsibility for the lives, experience and wellbeing of others. Especially when those others are going through experiences in life that those who have accepted responsibility for them do not properly understand.
Self-Awareness & Critical Thinking
Once we have learned to be or have become ‘self-aware’, in the sense of learning to ask the ‘How’, ‘Why’, ‘Who’, ‘What’ type questions of ourselves and the experiences that we have had and that have made us who we really are, we become much better equipped or enabled to look on the world outside of us in a much healthier and productive way.
Being self-aware is much more than just being ‘present in the moment’, being ‘mindful’ or practicing ‘mindfulness’*.
Self-awareness is about understanding who we really are, why we are that way, how we function and operate, and what we need to do or to improve to be the best person that we can possibly be.
The reality is that as Voters, we don’t need to practice self-awareness for The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government to exist, work and be maintained. But we do have a responsibility to ourselves and to anyone that we care about to ensure that anyone and everyone who has influence over our lives is thinking, acting and behaving in the way that they should be.
For a Fair, Balanced and Just System to exist, we must all contribute to the process that ensures that the decisions that affect us all and therefore the people them on our behalf, are making from a place where they are fully self-aware and have the integrity, diligence and commitment that follows and goes with it to be able to make Public Policy decisions that are in touch with and considerate of all of our very different lives.
To be able to engage in this process in a fully Awakened way, we must be able to observe, accumulate information and think critically too, as this is the way that we filter the information that comes to us, and how we ensure that the gaps in our knowledge are filled, if for any reason we do not then fully understand.
* Like most things of the self-help genre that are usually far more complex and require practical experience that goes way beyond intellectual understanding today, mindfulness has been packaged and repackaged many times over, so that personal growth can be sold as being easy. In reality, it is anything but.
Critical Thinking
Critical Thinking is the process we undertake to decern between what information is genuinely helpful to us to know, and what is not.
We take for granted that the sources of news and information that we follow are providing us with facts, when in many cases – particularly in respect of what we believe to be legitimate or ‘mainstream’ sources, the information they provide is anything but.
When you are able to ask the ‘Who’, ‘How’, ‘What’, ‘When’ and ‘Why’ type questions of yourself, and see the benefits to yourself of why it is always good for us to do so, you can then apply this way of thinking to the process of filtering all the information that comes to you in a much more reliable way.
For example, try watching, listening to or reading the same news story from a number of sources and pay attention to what comes into your view. ‘What’ are they telling you; is it fact, opinion, subjective or objective? ‘Why’ are they telling you this; ‘Who’ will benefit from you accepting what they say without question? ‘Who’ and ‘What’ is hidden from view? ‘How does someone gain or how have they been incentivised by any of this’? ‘Who’ will be disadvantaged by this; ‘How’ and in ‘What’ way?
As you begin the process of repeatedly knocking on this same door, it is just as important to view the secondary and tertiary and however many sources of news and information that you visit in the same way, and that you do not simply trust a source like the government or an apparently reputable brand just because of who they are. It is regrettably the case that they expect the majority of us to be asleep and will often exploit that fact – which makes what they are doing even worse.
When we approach the selection and appointment of Public Representatives with self-awareness and think critically about the information that greets us within that process, it will be much easier to discern between false prophets and pretenders and those who once elected, will deliver decisions on our behalf for Public Policy which is Fair, Balanced, Just and always done right.
REMEMBER: We all have a vital role to play in our systems of governance
If we have not engaged with and contributed meaningfully to the process of selecting the People who become our Public Representatives and Politicians, we have no genuine right of regress when the decisions that these same people have taken, or the responsibilities they have to us are neglected, and everything goes wrong.
Part 6: How The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government will happen
We could change to a system of Conscious Politics and Conscious Government right now, IF everyone of us were to change how we think about life and our relationship with everything and everyone outside of ourselves, in what we see as the world.
As you’ve probably already realised by reading this far, that’s very unlikely, given the way that the world works today.
In a reality where even now, as ‘The System’ we know is in the process of collapsing, so many people are not awake to the reality of what is going on around them because it hasn’t directly affected them yet, there are only two pathways that could put us on The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government.
The First Pathway
The first or preferred pathway, is the voluntary or step-by-step route. This revolves around each and every one of us rejecting the legitimacy and benefit of ‘The System’. Then asking all of the right questions and doing all the right things that we either can or feel able to, to provide others with the opportunity to walk through this door voluntarily through a process of free will, and somewhat sooner than they might otherwise do so.
The Second Pathway
The second or unavoidable pathway, is the sudden impact route. It’s the process of being jump started from our slumber by an external event or changes to our circumstances that have the immediate impact of making us aware in a meaningful way. Basically, a shock that hits and tells us that the way everything has been working and the role that we have ourselves been playing within it, simply isn’t right.
The Voluntary Pathway to The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government
The good news for you if you are reading this, is that you are already on your way to Conscious Politics and Conscious Government – hopefully via a journey of exploration, rather than because events in the world have already created the emergency that will force the majority of us to look at life in a very different way.
The Voluntary Pathway is about discovering who we really are, how the world outside of us really works, what our relationship with the world outside of us really is and how the world influences all of us.
When we begin to understand all of this and the role that we personally must play to bring about change, we can also begin to understand how and why other people behave the way they do – even when they remain unconscious of the real reasons.
By waking up to ourselves – much in the same way as it has been said that you cannot love others if you do not love yourself first – we can then really begin to understand just how difficult and challenging the role of being a Public Representative should genuinely be.
In turn, we can then appreciate just how well equipped, experienced and motivated all of our Politicians need to be.
The Sudden Impact Pathway to The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government
We are fools to take for granted the apparent peace, security and seemingly good lives that we believe we have today.
Very few of us believe that our experiences of daily life will really change. Even though the majority of us lived through the Lockdowns of the Covid Pandemic (so far) and have recent memories of just how contrary our thinking vs reality can actually be.
We still don’t believe it possible that things could change completely from the way that they already are.
We have covered events and the process of events that are likely to unfold in the coming months and years. Events that are already unfolding in many ways that the reader may not currently be fully Aware of.
The upshot of this series of books is that things will change, whether we are Conscious of them or not.
For the majority of us who are not insulated from everything that happens in the world (in the way that very few could possibly still be), this change will require us not only to look deeply at ourselves, but to then change our way of thinking, our way of being and our way of living to then live and interact with each other and the world outside of us in very different ways to what our experience has been up until now.
The impact of national and world events may be very sudden. Perhaps a war, natural disaster or like event.
Or they may be cumulative. Perhaps the ongoing collapse of The Financial Markets, Currencies and The Money Based System itself. All as greed and ineptitude of those with power and influence steps further and further away from humanity, sense and control.
Ironically, the ‘Sudden Impact’ route and the ‘Voluntary Route’ not only have the outcome of The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government in common.
They also have a point of ‘critical mass’ or point of change, where the scales of balance literally tip from the existence of ‘The System’ to the next system in common too.
This critical mass will be much easier to define via the ‘Sudden Impact’ route. As the collapse of The System – in whichever way it might come, will ultimately affect the majority of us at the same time, and force our hand when it comes to changing our thinking and then embracing the changes that will equip and help us in what some call the ‘New Earth’ to come.
Part 7: Steps necessary for The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government
The solution to every problem begins with the selection and election of Politicians who are fully Awake and committed to Balance, Fairness and Justice for all
Anyone would be forgiven for having little interest or confidence in the Politicians that we have running the Country today.
However, there is a vicious circle at work.
We have poor Politicians making poor decisions that affect us all poorly, because we are collectively making poor decisions when we Vote to elect our Politicians.
Sometimes we are not even bothering to Vote at all.
It has been said that we get the Politicians that we deserve. And in this sense, it is arguably very true.
We don’t all need to live our lives consciously the whole time and there is no obligation for us to do so. If our way of living and the decisions that we are making don’t put others or anything else in harm’s way.
However, what we should all be taking very seriously and what we should all see as the role in Politics that each and every one of us are obliged to play, is in selecting people as Public Representatives or Politicians.
Our own meaningful engagement in the selection and election of our Politicians is the only way that they can be trusted and relied upon to engage in Awakened Politics and in a fully Conscious and Enlightened way, as Public Representatives, on behalf of us all.
Just like securing the best of everything that we can do for our families and the people we love to keep them happy, secure and safe, selecting the right Politicians to make the right decisions on behalf of us all is very much a process of engaging in and seeing through our responsibility to ourselves and to others in the same way.
How do we identify and select ‘Awakened Politicians’?
The only way that we can be sure that any Politician will act and behave Consciously and with the integrity that we should all be able to expect of them at the highest levels of government and Public Representation, is to require that they prove themselves at the level which is nearest and most transparent to the locality or the community first.
It stands to reason that Politicians who lead any system, should have a Conscious understanding of the way that the entire system works first. And that for us to rely on them thinking, acting and behaving Consciously in leadership of other Public Representatives, they should have demonstrated their ability beyond question as a Public Representative at all levels leading to that role first.
It is always better to have been offered than to have asked.
How do we maintain Conscious Government once we have it?
If we identify, select and continue to identify and select people who will be Awakened Politicians, and do so with an Electoral System that prioritises grassroots-up, the system and decision-making process will itself become self-governing.
It cannot therefore be emphasised strongly enough just how vital it now is that we all take the steps necessary to engage in The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government as individuals and as communities at the grassroots level, to ensure that every Public Representative is the right choice.
With Awakened Politics, the way we Vote doesn’t matter, as long as it allows genuine choice
Within the unconscious way that our Politicians, Political Parties and the Political System works now, the recognition that there is something wrong on goes so far as to encourage the misplaced belief that the problem lies within the way that The Electorate Votes.
The point that those Politicians and people with an interest and influence on Politics today are missing, is that it isn’t the way that people are asked to vote that matters, if the people who are then elected as Politicians and Public Representatives don’t think, act and behave in a fully Awakened way.
The ongoing debate over ‘First Past The Post’ and ‘Proportional Representation’ or any voting system like it is little more than a straw man argument or the promotion of an alternative system that is a white elephant.
Poor Government, Poor Governance and Poor Public Services are directly related to Poor Politics and the Poor Politicians that exist and masquerade as Public Representatives within it. Nothing else.
Why is there any need so many different politicians, if those at the top are fully Awake?
If all Public Policy decisions are or were always made on the basis of doing what is right, in the moment and without consideration for any ‘what ifs’ or ‘what could be’s’, we wouldn’t need masses of politicians, political groups or political parties in anything like or what we would recognise today.
However, human nature is such that any one of us can become unconscious of the biases that come from experiences of all kinds and the massive power of even the smallest and most passive of influences that can creep into our being.
It is therefore essential that there is always a Council, Assembly, Meeting or Parliament that is formed that consists of independent Conscious minds, that mean anything other than decision making conducted in the best interests of all is flagged, called out and no longer continue whether innocently or under the gaze of the willfully blind.
The New Electoral Process: The influence of the Voter must be and remain ongoing. It cannot just be meaningful on the day of an Election or Vote itself
The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government will require that every Voter is able to access and influence the Political process in a meaningful way, continually.
Under the current Government Tier and Electoral System that we have, this is simply not possible. It must change.
With The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government, Voters at the grassroots or most localised community level will always be able to vote for Public Representatives that they know, are able to get to know and who they know and understand all about.
Tier 1
These local representatives should then collectively make up grassroots or local community level councils, meetings or assemblies where all decisions that concern only that community will exclusively be made. This would be Tier 1.
Tier 2
The next level of decision making will be made at a level or Tier of community (perhaps what we might know as a region or Counties today) where the next level of collective decision making is most relevant and to where as much as possible has been devolved or decentralised away from what we today recognise as central government. This would be Tier 2.
The Public Representatives in Tier 2 would already be or have been Public Representatives in Tier 1 and therefore selected and elected by people or by communities at the grassroots level.
Tier 3
The next level – what might be Tier 3, might well be at the levels we recognise today as England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, or at Westminster or UK Parliament level, which of course could be Tier 4.
Again, Public Representatives at each and every Tier must be serving or have served in all the Tiers below and the emphasis on the whole system is that the responsibility for every decision is devolved exhaustively to the Tier which is nearest to the Voter and that it is practical and therefore possible for it to go.
The importance of the role of Young People in Awakened Politics
Whilst Awakened Politics indicates a grassroots-up restructuring of Government, of Governance and how the Public Sector is managed and run, it is easy to assume that even then, the voices and influences will focus on older people of all kinds and backgrounds, who have more experience of life. Thereby taking away value and consideration of the very relevant views and input that must be considered from the Young.
The inexperience of the idealistic young blinds them to practicality, whilst practicality blinds the old to aspiration and the pursuit of something better for all.
Better outcomes for all are encapsulated by the idealism and energy of the Young. That idealism must be moulded and redirected, but not stopped or prevented by the experience of the old.
The relationship between the direction of idealism and the practical journey that takes us there must be defined and formalised so that Young People who can offer better aims and objectives within the realm of Public Policy, Governance and how everything works can and will influence change where it is in the best interests of all to adopt.
The Young who are engaged should always have the benefit of a learning opportunity that goes way beyond ridicule or being told ‘you are wrong’, when there are genuinely good reasons – that can be explained – for those with more experience saying no to whatever the Young might want everyone to do.
It is certainly not impossible for Young People interested in Public Representation to be able to contribute a fully Awakened approach and understanding to Politics and Government. But they will regrettably be few.
We must embrace the process of looking carefully and considerately at idealism without allowing idealistic outcomes to be imposed in any way that can affect others, without care for practicality and human nature.
A way to do this will be to convene shadow local Councils, Assemblies or Meetings that all locally elected Public Representatives must attend. And that some way for such panels of Young People to influence the selection, appointment and election of Politicians at the most local level in a meaningful way should be a required part of that process.
The Helping Hand that we will need to engage everyone in The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government
It cannot be understated how challenging it will be for many to picture that way that we do Politics, Government and Governance any differently to how it is done now, given that to one degree or another, most of us still believe that we have an overwhelmingly beneficial interest in things continuing as they are.
It is certainly true that more and more people are Awakening to the deeper and unseen realities of the way that the world around us works, each day. Whether that understanding is based on a personal or spiritual type of revelation, or it is about waking up to how decisions that affect us all are really being made and who they are really being made for.
Even the most Awakened, Conscious or Enlightened amongst us do not know everything.
The danger we face as we set about the unenviable task of changing how the whole world thinks, is that change of this kind can and will only begin in the abstract, because of the way that the world works today.
To make a meaningful start, we need a practical foundation or jumpstart that makes sense of or provides an unyielding reference point that guides the transition between the money and material wealth obsessed earth that we are spinning around on today, and the people and life focused ‘new earth’ that we will find real happiness upon, if we refuse to let unconscious and unenlightened thinking, actions and behaviour in Politics and Government get in the way.
The Helping Hand is The Basic Living Standard, or cultural recognition that society has an obligation to create, monitor, maintain and implement such rules and regulations across government, the public sector, charities and business to ensure that the focus, motivation, aims and priorities are to observe the value and freedoms of each individual person first, and that as a minimum or benchmark, everyone can afford all of the basic essentials in life and to live in a sustainable, happy and healthy way, without need for support or intervention of any kind, whilst in receipt of the equivalent of the basic weekly wage or the equivalent thereof.
The Basic Living Standard is effectively the lighthouse that will guide people of every kind to think, act and behave differently in their interactions with the world around them.
Adopting what appears to be such a radically different baseline for our values set may seem difficult to imagine. But the reality is that with the focus flipped from material wealth to people and life, everything else and every problem that must be solved will begin the journey towards the best outcomes for everyone, with the right option becoming ever clearer to decision makers and to us all, as we collectively travel further along The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government.
You can download a FREE copy of the PDF Version of The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government immediately below and copies of Adam’s other Books which are currently available to download FREE can be found HERE. The link to download the Book for Kindle version from Amazon (£1.99 UK Price at time of publishing) can be found at the bottom.
Adam Tugwell 