Welcome to the Universal Age of Complicity - are we all complicit for today's state of the world?

If you're anything like me you are most likely feeling pretty fed up with the ever-increasing and seemingly never-ending bad behaviour and poor decisions of many of our elected officials, public figures, religious leaders, CEOs, financial institutions and others who reign, govern, control, manipulate, dictate, claim ownership, spy and lie to us. It's as if those at the wheel are totally out of control and driving us to the edge of a deadly precipice.

One only has to read some the comments posted on social media referring to any of the above and you will be shocked at the level of resentment, mistrust, disappointment and hopelessness expressed therein. I've even written my own comments in my moments of despair too.

So how has this situation come about? And more importantly what, if anything, can we do about it?

I believe we must realise our old ways of thinking and doing things no longer serve us as they once did. For example many people express despair at our current political system yet they keep voting for the same political parties mistakenly thinking a change of government is the answer. All this achieves is a change of our masters. Their ideologies and rules remain the same.

Whether it's our resentment towards our financial institutions, the growing disparity between the haves and the have-nots, our unbalanced immigration policy, homelessness, our paedophile-ridden religions and more, I believe we must examine our own level of complicity in the whole scheme of things.

Most Western societies suffer from all, if not more, of the schisms mentioned above, but the biggest and most dangerous schism is the ever-widening gap between the 20 per cent at the top who own most of the wealth. It is amongst this 20 per cent that those who claim ownership over the other 80 per cent are to be found. They are able to do this because of our willingness to accept their terms and conditions imposed upon us. This in turns creates a kind of familiarity or sense of security within - albeit begrudgingly.

This is where our complicity comes in. Yes we complain, post negative comments on social media and may occasionally participate in a demonstration, and for most of us that's as far as it goes. Whilst others are still in total denial that anything systemically is wrong whatsoever - they being the top 20 percenters.

We need an antidote, as it were, to whittle away at our collective complicity as it's this complicity that provides the life-giving oxygen to our out-of-control masters or owners. We must starve them of this oxygen if we are to stop our out-of-control bus from going over that precipice.

There is no need to break any laws or destroy any property in order to decrease our complicity: we just need to quietly change our daily activities so that progressively we are no longer serving them as we once did. We can do this by following some, but not limited to, the tips listed below. Here you might think of even better ways or methods of doing this.

We complain about our banks but the solution is simple. Most of us have accounts that have automated deposits and withdrawals already in place. Keep them in place thereby making the bank work for you for little or no gain, and if you are lucky enough to have any savings, transfer those savings to a credit union or banking co-op where you will receive higher interest. Your savings are still guaranteed by the government  - at least here in Australia.

Stop buying all that 'stuff'. By the time we turn 50 we should already have almost every conceivable gadget and convenience imaginable. Nowadays most peoples' houses are totally full to overflowing with useless stuff. Spend your money on self-improvement, not their stuff.

Stop watching too much TV, especially those mind-numbing commercial TV stations as they are greatly responsible for our excessive consumerism.

Question everything. Work on the assumption that every utterance made by politicians, religious leaders and our other masters or owners are mostly to further their interests or those of their party, corporations or more... Until proven otherwise.

Distance yourself from individuals, organisations, ideologies and religions known to be affiliated, connected or harbouring paedophiles. Association and silence are compliance. As Thomas Mann once said, "Tolerance becomes a crime when applied to evil".

Cease following trends and fashion. Be yourself, not someone else.

Take back control of your health. Make food your medicine where possible. To quote Hippocrates, "Before you heal someone, ask him if he's willing to give up the things that made him sick".

Buy only local food and other products. Globalism is a major disaster for developed countries. Avoid food and other products wrapped or packaged unnecessarily. We are about to drown in our own plastic waste.

Eat less meat. According to a recent UN report the meat industry with all its ancillary support industries creates more greenhouse gasses than any other industry - 37 per cent of all greenhouse gasses. As of 2006, livestock production now covers over 30 per cent of Earth's land surface. Think of the health and environmental benefits this would bring if we all ate less meat.

Don't use self-checkout facilities. Create jobs instead.

Use cash... While you still can!

Continue your education by reading good books and engaging in intelligent debate. With the new age of the internet there can be no excuse for ignorance, or worse still wilful ignorance. Ignorance is compliance.

Learn to think critically. Critical thinkers are our owners' worst fear. Realise no one is coming to save us.

Our owners have no intention of changing the 20 per cent/80 per cent imbalance of power. Desmond Tutu once said, "If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor". Remember, doing nothing is compliance.

Stare down political correctness at every opportunity. The political correct are like leeches sucking away our life forces and turning us into zombie-like creatures.

Start today by gradually untangling yourself from the tentacles that bind you to your owners' reality. It's so easy. The power rests with the people, but we need to exercise that power collectively. Remember there are many times more of us than them.

A good place to start for some might be to put one less sausage on the BBQ, whilst for another it could mean inquiring at a local credit union about opening a new saving account.

Nowadays I am very wary of all religious leaders, but I do agree with the common sense words of the Dalai Lama, "For thousands of years we have prayed for a peaceful society, but nothing has changed. Praying won't solve the problem. Now we must become realistic. Who created this violence, these problems? You created the problems. So it's your responsibility to solve them. Don't ask God".

Stop The World Day - the blueprint

Garry Greenwood - March 2019.