When bill grew up there was limited info. The media comprised of two mainstream channels and various newspapers and magazines. What media you were subjected to tended to be communal - as a community we tended to accept what we received from the media. The media changed for bill when he went to uni, and then when he took work in London. The diversity of media was complex then - but by comparison it was simple.
 system-for-the-rich controlling internet
The system-of-accumulation feared the internet, and there were many of the usual indicators that they were targetting the internet to control it in some way. It appears they now have that control. Pre-internet media was controlled; whilst it was always possible to learn the truth about the system-of-accumulation few tried to look - there was never any mainstream encouragement to learn the truth about the system-of-accumulation. Now it is also possible on the internet to learn similar truths but there is so much stuff being spewed out by the media it is hard to know where to look.
Enquiry is controlled by what you might call identity-ism. In our upbringing conditioning encourages us to identify with an identity that brings self-esteem, so we are practised in identity-ism. But the system-for-the-rich has recognised that dividing us leads to easier control. Over the years minorities-in-the-west, and the not-so-minority-women, competed for what little money and jobs were available. For a long while in the West manufacturing jobs were given to white males but the system-for-the-rich chose to automate, moved jobs into the service sector where minorites and women were encouraged to find work, and many white males became unemployed and unemployable. At no stage did givernment fulfil their role of protecting the jobs of their people. Even though there had been Occupy that encouraged Unity, people were still seeking identity-interests, jobs and finance for those with their identity. The system-of-accumulation saw the advantage in promoting division through identity politics, so following Occupy they used this strategy of identity-ism to further divide the 99%. With their success in this their greed is now taking them to add to their accumulation through increasing authoritarianism - push an authority whilst the people are divided. Promoting this division occurred through investment in media cementing differences and implying that certain identities were favoureed; this has led to the overload many people feel. A significant proportion of the population (especially unemployed white males) accepted these media strategies and began supporting the populists.
Try to see tathata
The first spiritual attribute we need to deal with the overload is tathata - seeing the way it is. Media is part of the control by the system-of-accumulation, when we see the connection between the media and our conditioning then we begin to see the way it is. Eseentially we cannot accept anything from mainstream media as that is part of conditioning .... until we start using the next spiritual attribute - discernment.
Discernment
Basically discernment is the spiritual skill of wise choosing. We have to learn how to choose what we listen to. When we combine tathata with discernment, we have a way of coping with the overload.
For zandtao this began at upheaval when bill threw off some of his conditioning. At the time he fortunately met an artist collective who helped him consolidate his firstgrace of upheaval. Coming from the world of academia and then the business of computer programming, bill historically had a view that was mostly mainstream. Once he experienced upheaval, he had an entry into the world as these artists saw it; he was able to begin to see the system-for-the-rich for what it was - not by politically reacting against it, just seeing it with a creative view.
Many genuine artists withdraw from this system-for-the-rich as much as possible - difficult as they need money to survive, but bill's path took him to compassion and then teaching. This meant he needed a view of the system-for-the-rich. As the conditioning was peeled back bill developed discernment, and chose particular media sources to glean the truth.
Rejecting media per se is not discernment. The BBC is a mouthpiece for the British government, and therefore Britain's system-for-the-rich. But when the BBC is discussing news that does not conflict with these interests their reporting can often be truthful and informative. If we watch left-wing media we can find true news that sheds light on what is happening, but remember that the left-wing sees through the filter of class so there is bias. This is a useful strategy of discernment - know the media bias and beyond that bias truth could be found. Presumably we can approach right-wing media with similar discernment. bill knows of libertarians where he can find some truth but their adherence to freedom is blanket, not discerning, and is manipulated to promote deregulation; as a spiritual seeker zandtao seeks liberation but freedom and liberation are not the same - it is discernment to know the difference.
Through tathata and discernment bill was able to perceive some of the truth in the world.
Cannot know about everything
We can use tathata and discernment to learn truth but it takes time to see through conditioning. But seeing through conditioning is not a one-off done deal, conditioning can change; how the media chooses a perspective can change and the discerning have to know these changes. There is too much to know so discernment means we choose what we can know about and we rely on others for their truth. But this requires such care because it is this process of reliance that gave the media its power to control. When bill grew up most people relied on mainstream media, and this was manipulated by the system-for-the-rich - and continues to be manipulated. But we have no choice in relying on others as we cannot know about everything, there is too much to know. So over time we learn who tells the truth - or at least who tries to.
The changing system-for-the-rich
We now live in confusing times. The system-for-the-rich has decided to become more authoritarian - not satisfied with previous levels of accumulation. So what are the tactics of this increasing accumulation? To increase their authoritarianism they have used populist leaders appealing to greed and other defilements making those their populist policies. Money is invested in the media to promote the populist and the populist's policies, and over time this just becomes the latest conditioning. For most people they haven't developed the spiritual skills to detach from conditioning and develop the conviction of the path.
Increasing Overload
The focus of this changing system-for-the-rich is presently in the US and Israel - although there are populist demagogues arising all across the world. Israel focusses global activism on the genocide in Gaza. In the US Trump has many focal points, troop deployments in cities with left-wing allegiances, attacks on freedom of the press, AI bosses allying themselves with Trump, shutdown and many more. Do we notice all of them? Attacks on Venezuela, huge payouts to the rich in the Big Beautiful bill. It is a constant attack. And we defend Jimmy Kimmel. With the populism and the increasing overload people are even more divided enabling the increasing authoritarianism of the current phase of the system-for-the-rich.
Seeker's own Sphere of Influence
We all need to defend our own spheres of interest and possible influence. This is not something people in general have done in the past. Firstly we abdicated our responsibility trusting mainstream politics and media. And the result is the current direction away from compassion towards increasing authoritarianism of the latest phase of the system-for-the-rich. We cannot know everything but we can focus on our own interests, we can be active in that focus; at the same time we hope that others take up the cudgel in their sphere but that is not our business. Our business is our knowledge and our sphere of influence.
zandtao is old and cannot be active. Whilst he can follow events on the net he cannot truly know what is happening because he cannot be there. But he has learnt this, when people follow their paths they have a duty to embody their path - see book on embodiment and pathtivism when it is finished. He is spiritual and he can encourage those seekers who have reached a certain level of autonomy to recognise the need for embodiment. At the same time he can encourage some of those seekers to become grassroots activists because the movement needs spiritual direction of love, wisdom, sila and truth. zandtao can point out spiritual attributes that can benefit the movement. And he can point to Marianne who has the strength to bring her radical love to activism. He calls this in himself -  - pathtivist advice - zandtao's sphere of influence. Hopefully it is of some use to compassionate activism.
Find and become active in your own sphere of influence.
Time Management
Resisting conditioning and being active in our sphere of influence is 24/7 and for life - conditioning and the system-for-the-rich is 24/7 and life and we need to be mindful of this. Whilst our choice of embodiment might change during our lives conditioning will always be there; the system-for-the-rich conditioning might change but it will also remain as part of the overall conditioning until there is no system-of-accumulation. As we can't know everything we also cannot do everything, we manage what we can know and we manage how we use our time realising activism is for a lifetime and not just until burnout. What our sphere of influence is, what our activism is - what we do - is our choice. But what is not a choice for seekers is that embodiment is 24/7 and for life. So we use the path to manage our time, and in this way show other activists how to manage their time, the advantages of being spiritual, and hopefully encourage activists to follow theit path.
| RADICAL LOVE AS GRASSROOTS ACTIVISM |
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