The world cannot make you happy

I think this is one of the most important lessons that I’m starting to learn. By ‘happy’ I’m referring to what people are ultimately seeking; the kind of long-term fulfilment that in my opinion everyone seeks in one way or another. By ‘the world’ I mean any ‘thing’. That is any objects, people, emotions, thoughts, concepts, activities; any thing in its truest meaning. This might sound quite dramatic or defeatist. ‘Well how am I supposed to be happy then?’ one may ask. Well I think it is possible to achieve this long-term fulfilment, if you have a deep understanding of what you’re working towards and a determination to cultivate it. However I’d say it is better described as ‘peace’ or ‘serenity’ than happiness. To me happiness is a kind of pleasure, a temporary emotion. It’s a warm fuzzy feeling you get which makes you smile. I think a common misunderstanding in modern western society is that it’s possible to feel like this all the time, and even that if you don’t feel like this consistently there is something wrong with you. Because emotions are temporary forms, by their very nature they can’t last forever.

So when I say the world cannot make you happy, I mean any ‘thing’ cannot give you the long-term peace that everyone is ultimately looking for. What’s more this peace that I refer to is not like a jigsaw, it cannot be assembled with any combination of ‘things’ either. For example it could never be achieved by being rich, and famous, and achieving all your goals, and having your ideal partner, and winning the Nobel peace prize and saving the whole world. On the contrary, it comes from a total non-identification with any ‘thing’, a kind of non-attachment.

Once again let me clarify what I’m referring to by ‘content’ or ‘at peace’. I mean a consistent contentment in ones day to day being, a significant reduction and eventually elimination of ones suffering. I’m not denying that ‘things’ bring people temporary pleasures, of course they do. Emotions are an essential function of sentient beings; we couldn’t live without their guidance. It’s obvious how ‘things’ like money, people, holidays or achievements could give people positive emotions. I’m not saying that participating in these things is pointless either, that would be silly. Experiencing positive emotions is one of the beauties of living.

What I’m saying is that it’s vital not to confuse contentment with temporary positive emotions. They are totally different concepts. No amount of positive emotions can lead to contentment, which is in my opinion what every human being is ultimately looking for. It is the understanding of this distinction which I believe is the key to contentment. Once one can live without identifying themselves with any ‘thing’ then one can be content. This is why I meditate every morning, because it awakens you to this reality. If everyone in the world meditated for just 5 minutes a day, I’m convinced it would be a much better and sane place.

A non-attachment to any thing does not mean you stop caring about any thing. It does not mean you lose your values or your desires to achieve anything in the world. It simply means that you don’t seek yourself in any of these values or pursuits. So when you run into difficulties with them, you do not delude yourself that a part of you is somehow under threat. Conversely when they go well, you don’t think you are somehow ‘more’ than you were before. This change in perspective from delusion to reality means the end of fear. It also means that the actions you take in your life are vastly more intelligent and profound. It means that the terrible things humans have created over the centuries such as war, prejudice and huge inequality are seen as the mad things that they are. This is a teaching which is given by someone called Eckhart Tolle, as shown in the video below J

Peace and Love to all

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPg9DnMP2D4

My ‘Eckhart Tolle For All’ Facebook Page.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Eckhart-Tolle-for-all/180830518629862

UK Uncut - Reinvigorating the spirit of peaceful direct action.

We all like peaceful protest. When the Iraq War broke out in 2003, my political consciousness awoke. I was 16, in my final year of high school. Many of my schoolmates rushed out of school in a mass lunchtime exodus, up Manchester's Oxford Road to the protest outside the town hall. All afternoon we marched through the streets shouting "Don't attack Iraq", "Not in my name" and "No more blood for oil". The police were violent that day, though the protesters, many of whom were no older than myself remained peaceful. I myself was charged by a police horse whilst at the front of the large crowd they had blocked off at the top of John Dalton Street. Somehow I ended up sprawled on the ground (unhurt) on the other side of the police line, homemade placard lost.

When Bush was in town later in the year, I wasn't so peaceful (though the march was). I was angry at the police and ended up being the only arrest of the evening. Not my finest hour. Over the years I have been on many peaceful demonstrations. They're not at all pointless. They show those in charge that the people are not going to be quiet and docile and accept whatever crap they're given. And yet I have always felt that direct action can be a lot more effective - though my police caution deterred me from doing anything to risk another arrest.

I have never been involved in violent protest myself, though I admit to feeling a wry smile spread across my face when the Tory HQ was ransacked by students at the end of last year. I do not think there is anything fundamentally wrong with violence directed against the property of the organisation being protested against. The problem with this kind of damage is the damage it does to one's own cause. We on the left already face a hostile media. Why give them more fuel to their bonfire of lefties and commies? If we are going to take direct action it needs to be eloquent, well argued and not wantonly violent.

A look around UK Uncut's website shows us an organisation who present both a compelling and well reasoned argument, and an imaginative new way of taking direct action. Its members target high street stores owned by tax evaders or tax evading companies and organise sit-in protests. Yet these are not just good old fashioned sit-ins; they turn the stores into arts spaces, have stand-up comedy sessions, choir recitals. This isn't just rowdy protesters making a scene, but something which will engage and entertain members of the public.

What UK Uncut are doing is not necessarily new. We've been seeing flash-mobs for a few years now, as well as political stunts organised through the internet. Last year for example, anti-homeopathy activists gathered outside Boots stores to swallow bottles of homeopathic "remedies" in protest at the company's decision to sell medicines science deems ineffective. Sit-ins too are nothing new, they go back to the days of student protest in the 1960s. What UK Uncut have done however is to bring these ideas together to create a political movement which is both vibrant and powerful. This is the true spirit of direct action.

Yesterday, UK Uncut held numerous sit-ins and other events around London to mark a day of protests in the capital and other cities, against the huge and unjust public spending cuts which will leave many people to face huge hardships. In particular, the bail-in at Fortnum and Mason grabbed the attention, as police arrested numerous peaceful protesters. Sally Mason, a UK Uncut supporter from Manchester who was involved in the occupation said: "We weren't just going to march from A to B and be ignored, people are prepared to take civil disobedient action because they are angry at the unfairness of these cuts. Fortnum & Mason is a symbol of wealth and greed. It is where the Royal Family and the super-rich do their weekly shop and a picnic hamper costs £25,000. This sits in stark contrast to everyone else who is struggling to make ends meet, fill in their tax returns and benefits forms, and face huge student debts, unemployment and the closure or dismatling of their local services that we need and depend on such as the  NHS, libraries and leisure centres."

UK Uncut are not alone in their view that these cuts are unnecessary and ideological. They are not alone in their view that a better solution would be to tackle tax evasion which costs the treasury an estimated £95bn per year - easily enough to cover the £81bn in public service cuts over four years. The TUC's march yesterday was important, and no doubt showed the government what people think about the cuts. But it is UK Uncut who are really sticking it to the man. A tax evader might not pay any attention to a protest march, but when one of his shops is shut down it will affect him. At the same time their presence on the high streets of Britain offers them a chance to connect with people, they may make enemies, but they will also make friends and influence people who'd never even thought about the real issues facing us today.

The other interesting thing about UK Uncut is that they are a loose grassroots organisation, connected primarily via social networking. Events are organised around the country by small groups and individuals who share a disgust at the cuts and a determination to take action, even if it means getting arrested. In a video posted on The Guardian website last month, UK Uncut co-founder Daniel Garvin explained: "We've seen... opposition movements in this country become quite stale. The anti-war movement was a classic example. You'd march from the US Embassy to Parliament Square every other month or so until the numbers just go down and down and down because A - the government doesn't listen to that sort of protest and B - people get extremely tired and bored of hearing the same people speak and just trudging up and down in the rain. They want to feel more part of the process... I think there are a lot of people that are really disaffected with politics and want much more control in saying what they do."

UK Uncut continues to grow as a movement. An organisation US Uncut has formed in the states, inspired by UK Uncut to tackle corporate tax cheats over there. Will it succeed? Who can say. One thing is known, our public services are part of what makes this country great, and are under threat from a government with an extremist neo-liberal ideology. We need to stand up and defend them before it's too late. Whether you're a fan of direct action or not, UK Uncut are a huge part of that fight and their efforts should be applauded.

The problems of todays world in a paragraph

The physical needs for food, water, shelter, clothing, and basic

comforts could be easily met for all humans on the planet, were it not for the

imbalance of resources created by the insane and rapacious need for more,

the greed of the ego. It finds collective expression in the economic structures

of this world, such as the huge corporations, which are egoic entities that

compete with each other for more. Their only blind aim is profit. They

pursue that aim with absolute ruthlessness. Nature, animals, people, even

their own employees, are no more than digits on a balance sheet, lifeless

objects to be used, then discarded.

From Eckhart Tolle's best selling book 'A New Earth :-)

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Eckhart-Tolle-for-all/180830518629862

London protests 26/3/11 - In Pictures

These pictures are courtesy of Alastair Ball in London.

Welcome to The Leftists

Hello and welcome to The Leftists. Today is the 26th March 2011 and many of you will be down in London protesting against the most savage public spending cuts Britain has seen in the best part of a century. Let us know how you spent the day. Some of The Leftists bloggers will be posting their own accounts and pictures of the March 26th protests soon.

The Leftists has been set up to provide news articles and essays, as well as (political) arts (fiction, art, music, etc) on a wide variety of issues, and from a wide variety of leftist perspectives. Our contributors are Labourites, Greens, anti-capitalists of various degrees and affiliations, religious/spiritual people, atheists, even some bleeding LibDems. Some have stood in elections. Others are journalists, activists or artists. Some are just very opinionated people.

We aim to create short bio pages for all the contributors on here, as well as hopefully create a community of free-thinking, social-minded people who want to tackle the world's problems.