No one is autonomous.

No one is autonomous.

Who said Elon Musk is the one who should decide? Someone might respond with something like, "well, no one specifically, but he is…".

He is what?

Well, you know — smart, innovative, brought us more things that have changed the world than any other human being, etc.

So, how do we respond?

The systems driving our economies reward him with unprecedented wealth. And, therefore, power. 

But, why him?

Question: is what he has done, good? Answer: well....

Question: is he a good person? Answer: well…based on what we tend to know, probably not.

So, why have we bestowed so much power on him?

Because the right kind of person, at the right moment and time, can give an Elon Musk unprecedented access to nearly unlimited resources, if that would benefit that person.

One person.

Is that what we really want? One person, with the majority of the power (because he has the majority of the money) getting to decide how that power (money) will be used to organize societies around the world? (What, by the way, does it tell us when that person appears to be developing an exit strategy from the Earth itself? What does he think he knows?)

Is this a good thing? Is that what the rest of us really want?

"Oh, c'mon, he’s just a smart guy. It's just capitalism; he's made lots of money – give him a break."

Really? Our response to the upshot of these realities is…give him a break?

No one is autonomous.

What he is doing is impacting all of us, whether we know it or not.

We need each other. He may not believe that he does; but, we do. The concentration of power / money in one person‘s hands who doesn’t recognize that he needs us should be a frightful thing.

But, it isn’t…for too many of us.

It must be that we think that it's OK somehow, as long as we benefit from an Elon‘s smartness (and money). Perhaps there are some ways that we do. But, after you listen to him talk for a while, and after you look into the ideologies that have shaped what he believes, you start to wonder whether the endgame for him is what we’ve imagined it to be…just more money (doesn't feel like it)?

It has been said that (the love of) money is the root of all evil. That can be understood to mean a lot of things. But, in the frame of what I’m presenting here, we could wonder if the evil involved is the kind of power hidden behind the money.

$1 trillion is more than just a little bit of money. $1 trillion is more than the whole economies of 170 countries. $1 trillion worth is a notable fraction of the whole US economy. And $1 trillion got Elon access to our government ostensibly for the purpose of reducing spending...ironically, in a way that would enhance the possibility of Elon‘s particular $1 trillion (which was probably the plan all the way along). Not to mention, among other things, the use of that money to aid other societies around the world, to aid research that allows us to aid other societies around the world (not to mention our own society).

No one is autonomous.

Able To Do

The more one does and sees and feels, the more one is able to do.

-- Amelia Earhart

They Don't Scare You

Most success comes from 50 small things moving in the same direction, not one big thing.

... 

One way to beat fear is with steps so small they don't scare you.

As you get closer to fear, you realize there was never anything there to be afraid of.

-- Shane Parrish

Required Of

I’ve noticed…that I often feel required of.

And, perhaps more importantly, why I can tend to frame it that way. 

Hoarding

If there’s one thing Jesus is opposed to, it’s hoarding—and it’s not just about physical possessions. The ego is the ultimate hoarder. It hangs on to everything. We hoard our entitlements: I am rich, I am educated, I am a person of authority. We hoard our principles and ideologies; we hoard our self-justifications and our resentments. We use all these things to line the nest of our fragile sense of selfhood.  

But Jesus sets himself against any kind of hoarding. He teaches a path of radical non-clinging. He says in effect, “Don’t clench your fist. Open your hands.” The world is abundant and provident beyond belief, and what flows through it is a coherence, a beauty, a life force that is a direct expression of the heart of God.  Continue…here.

-- Richard Rohr

3 Observations & A Question

At the end of the day, you can’t require anyone to take care of you.

 

At some point, we have to acknowledge how our compulsions set us back.

 

Much of the time, just keeping yourself in a position for something to happen is the most important thing you can do.

 

We tend to think if we had more money, we would be able to be more free — but, seriously, how often have you observed that to be the case?

Prior 3 Observations & A Question…

Social Security & Solar vs Coal

 

Robert Reich

 
AXIOS

I Do Not Live By Being Right

I will live by the best I can discern today. Tomorrow I may find out I was wrong. Since I do not live by being right, I am not destroyed by being wrong.

-- Verna Dozier

Another, Seriously — This Is Our President?

Another, Seriously — This is our President?:

If You Thought Tulsi Gabbard Was A Problem:

 

The law that creates the DNI position specifies that the nominee “shall have extensive national security expertise.” Pulte lacks any expertise, let alone extensive experience, which one might think a president would want at a time of international tension and outright war. But he is loyal to Trump, which, apparently, is the only criterion that matters here. Continue...here.

-- Joyce Vance

The Senate Should NOT Confirm This Person

How much more is needed for the obvious, Trump continues to fleece America for his own greatness (as he perceives it anyway)...not America's:

Trump’s interest in profiting off the presidency remains clear. Jonathan Edwards of the Washington Post reported today that 14 of the 27 known donors to Trump’s $400 million ballroom project have won new or expanded federal contracts totaling over $50 billion since they made their donations. Continue...here. 

-- Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American

There is no democracy without journalism.

-- Scott  Pelley

I Rose To It

I didn't fall in love, I rose in it.

-- Toni Morrison

Prescription: Against My Position

I have what I call an iron prescription that helps me keep sane when I naturally drift toward preferring one ideology over another. And that is I say ‘I’m not entitled to have an opinion on this subject unless I can state the arguments against my position better than the people do who are supporting it.’ I think only when I reach that stage am I qualified to speak. 

-- Charlie Munger

If only there were more of us who were willing to take this medicine....

Ineffective

Ever noticed...how ineffective trying to out-yell someone is?

Inflation & Data Centers

 
GALLUP - Front Page

 
GALLUP

Wholehearted Spirituality

Wholehearted spirituality in the freedom of the Spirit gives us courage, courage to bear witness to God’s grace against all odds, courage to speak despite efforts to silence us, courage to act authentically and in ways that encourage and empower the weak and the vulnerable. 

-- Rebecca Button Pritchard

4 Observations (from Others)

We have this habit of thinking that our “current” self is the permanent one.

--  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

 

I want to become acutely aware of all I’ve taken for granted. 

-- Sylvia Plath

When we open up space for the Spirit and let the Spirit fill that space within us, we begin to change, and we become agents of change.

-- Brian McLaren

 

And now that you don’t have to be perfect, you can be good. 

-- John Steinbeck, East of Eden

Prior 4 Observations (from Others).

On The Lighter Side: But Do Not

 On the Lighter Side:

What Would Emerge?

In an area that I routinely walk, someone recently cleared a bunch of the heavy foliage that had built up next to the path. Just a few days later there were three or four different kinds of flowers that I had never seen before growing in the cleared area.

Which got me thinking — what kinds of things would emerge in my life, if I were willing to clear out of the way some of the things that have grown up in front of them?

Don't Walk Away From

You have to pick the places you don't walk away from. 

-- Joan Didion

LT: Ideas From Others

A good leader is curious to hear ideas from others. A bad leader cares more that others hear their ideas.

 -- Simon Sinek

As A Society

I'm wondering...about what causes us as a society to fall asleep to what is going on around us (or, for that matter, to wake up).

HISTORY: Four Horsemen of Calumny—Fear, Ignorance, Bigotry, and Smear

MORNING BREW

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

June 1 is always an important day; per the above, now as much as ever.

An important historical reading...here.