Caitlin Johnstone has her own voice, her own genius. What draws me to her work is her gift for going into shadow and coming out with poetry. She channels the collective unconscious. She is a seer and what she sees in this age is both light and shadow, horror and beauty. She also places herself at psychic risk, difficult, almost toxic risk; she gets into the right kind of trouble. She carries the projection of truth-sayers. She is a modern day shaman. All shamans in their development go through some terrible ordeal which uniquely prepares them to serve their people, and enables them to venture between worlds, to travel between disparate realms. Not easy as many of us can attest to. We easily get unsettled, disoriented, confronted by insecurities when we open fully to the suffering and cruelty of the world. We titrate our pain and the pathos of existence, whereas some among us, like her, mainline it, and it maims her, but she relentlessly transmutes it into grace, she comes out of it with gifts for her community, often dark gifts, art and poetry and crushing, poignant, unflinching narrative reporting. She walks the edge of sanity which for her means awake but for most people, living unconsciously from fear, means convention, conformity and being comfortably numb. I would guess that part of what keeps her going is seeing her gifts land, noticing eyes beginning to open. And they are, they are. Gratefulness...
What a beautiful and well deserved homage to Caitlyn. I couldn't have said it better if I tried. She is my muse and the shred of sanity I cling to in this bat shit crazy world
I concur with your observations. My observation of your writing is you are of equal calibre. Analysis that keeps one engaged to enjoy your wordsmiths skills.
I thought it was all in my head. I watch people go about their daily lives as if everything’s normal and it’s just me who feels an overwhelming sense of doom. I write my journal, I take my vitamins I eat organic I get out into nature and yet my feelings don’t change. It’s coming. I know it.
We’re on a path of self destruct. We need a revolution.
There’s so much negativity. Maybe I need to stay off social media and stop watching the news, but at the same time I need information because ‘knowledge is power’.
We’ve all been duped. We no longer get the politicians we think we’re voting for because they’re liars and corrupt. They’ve been bought by lobbyists.
I can name on one hand the ones I’d trust and they’re the ones who either stick their heads above the parapet and get smeared by the right wing press or refuse to play by the Israeli lobbyist handbook and get ostracised like Corbyn .
We have to fight back. We have to expose the lies then truth will win eventually. It’s hard work!
Even doing small things like hiding Israeli avocado’s behind Spanish ones on the supermarket shelves 😂
They have stolen our hope of peace and friendship and without that it’s impossible to thrive.
Hi Diane. Yes, I like you have an overwhelming and foreboding sense of doom. The ever-widening disparity between the rich and poor, the threat of nuclear war, the 24/7 propagandising and ‘dumbing down’ of the masses (”Idiocracy”), West-supported genocide, ecocide…oh, I could go on and on. What a sad state of affairs humans as a collective have gotten into. This beautiful Blue Orb we live on and share with all its inhabitants, a precious jewel floating in a backdrop of the infinite. Something that may give you and others a little comfort is to listen to Carl Sagan’s beautiful prose “Pale Blue Dot”, or along with connecting to nature some Buddhist readings. There are many who think the same. We are all ‘brothers and sisters’ on this “Pale Blue Dot”. Take care 🙏
We cannot allow Israel to escape the legal consequences of their war crimes. The Hind Rajab Foundation has, among other things, filed a case with the ICC against 1,000 Israeli soldiers for war crimes in Gaza.
They have taken further steps in recent days, and vacations are becoming a lot more difficult for IDF soldiers, worldwide. The Hind Rajab Foundation can use our help. Please join me in making a contribution.
You might find meaningful to watch the recent interviews that Glenn Greenwald did on his Rumble platform, and Ali Abunimah of the Electronic Intifada, did with the head of this organisation, Dyad Abou Jahjah. It was very informative.
Here's a petition calling for accountability for the arrest of Ali Abunimah in Switzerland:
Then, you decide to act, you think about how to act, you train yourself to act, you act, you provoke reactions, you discover its weak points, you counter-react. Thus, you erase the future derived from the past and build a new future.
"As the Doomsday Clock moves to 89 seconds to midnight…….. I thought you were kidding.... but the clock has indeed moved another second towards midnight. Annie Jacobson, in her most recent book: 'Nuclear War, a scenario', may be too optimistic about her description of Nuclear Winter. . In her rendition of a nuclear winter, she did not take into account 2 important potential effects from a nuclear war. Having experienced towns in British Columbia in 2021 which had to turn on streets lights at noon during the wildfires that raged during that summer, even though thousands of firefighters were fighting the blazes, it was dark enough at noon to completely blot out the sun. Moreover, at the same time, the air quality in the city where we live was worse than any city on Earth ---- all of that with thousands of firefighters at work.
If a full scale nuclear war ever occurred, the wildfires and firestorms from the bombs would be thousands of times worst. .... but with no firefighters. If wildfires from that summer in our neck of the woods can obliterate the sun, and dangerously pollute the air to be the worst on the planet --- I would doubt that the air would even be breathable, that is, if you can see where you are.
“Humanity” has had its day. We are nothing but filth. We allow ourselves to be run by oligarchs . We commit genocides. We starve entire nations via sanctions. We are putting our beautiful nature-given planet at grave risk. We take and we take and we take from Mother Earth without giving a goddamn thing back.
I don’t wish for nuclear war that would eliminate all the beautiful species of this earth. Rather, a virus that would eliminate only Homo sapiens would do it.
Your comments resonate loudly and clearly. Humans are indeed a blight on the planet's ecosystems. As Neil Armstrong warned NASA about Apollo 13' problems when returning to Earth::, "Houston, we have a problem", I would assess the human presence on Earth with similar urgency: "Humanity, we have a problem".
Personally, although our problems seem unsolvable, and they very well might be, I've seen a lot of baseball games decided in the last inning. Yogi Berra said it best: "It ain't over till it's over". We haven't been knocked out yet, but how many more punches can we take. There's a theory called 'The Hundredth Monkey theory' in which it was found that if a good idea comes along and enough monkeys adopt it, that it will inevitably change the habits of the tribe.
Without sounding too optimistic, I think such an idea is still in our deck of cards... all we have to do is find it... Any suggestions ???
Maybe putting limits on what money implies can also help. What bothers me a lot is that there have been thousands of social revolutions, and money still making the world go round... it doesn't have to be that way..... the trick is how to make it so it has less importance in our lives... Money won't go away, but its nasty sides could..
For example, why not make it illegal to own more than 3 homes....(arbitrary) including organizations and corporations....? A few corporations own more than 2 million homes, and counting... Did you know King Charles III technically owns about 6 billion acres of land ... about 1/6 of the planet's land... billions with a B... He/She should own... 1 or 2 without the Billion... If insanity left the room, no humans would be found left in it.
In reality, I feel exactly as you do. The oligarchs, genocide, sanctions, but mostly, one that you did not mention, we evict one another from our dwellings.... for MONEY. We can't get any dumber than that. Soon, when the moon and stars line up to make the universe readjust itself from 'intelligent' beings, , we will evict our species from life...
I guess it took a live-streamed genocide to turn me into a complete misanthrope, along with Amerikkka’s responsibility for eliminating an entire generation of Ukrainian men. (But don’t get me wrong; Putin did what he had to do, which was to protect his people, something every great leader does.) My point is that neither of these abominations HAD to happen, and only did so because of Amerikkkan interventionism.
Caitlin Johnstone has her own voice, her own genius. What draws me to her work is her gift for going into shadow and coming out with poetry. She channels the collective unconscious. She is a seer and what she sees in this age is both light and shadow, horror and beauty. She also places herself at psychic risk, difficult, almost toxic risk; she gets into the right kind of trouble. She carries the projection of truth-sayers. She is a modern day shaman. All shamans in their development go through some terrible ordeal which uniquely prepares them to serve their people, and enables them to venture between worlds, to travel between disparate realms. Not easy as many of us can attest to. We easily get unsettled, disoriented, confronted by insecurities when we open fully to the suffering and cruelty of the world. We titrate our pain and the pathos of existence, whereas some among us, like her, mainline it, and it maims her, but she relentlessly transmutes it into grace, she comes out of it with gifts for her community, often dark gifts, art and poetry and crushing, poignant, unflinching narrative reporting. She walks the edge of sanity which for her means awake but for most people, living unconsciously from fear, means convention, conformity and being comfortably numb. I would guess that part of what keeps her going is seeing her gifts land, noticing eyes beginning to open. And they are, they are. Gratefulness...
What a beautiful and well deserved homage to Caitlyn. I couldn't have said it better if I tried. She is my muse and the shred of sanity I cling to in this bat shit crazy world
I concur with your observations. My observation of your writing is you are of equal calibre. Analysis that keeps one engaged to enjoy your wordsmiths skills.
Wow - mind blowing , thought provoking, truth that cuts to the core- Thank you 🙏
Ay, love you Caitlin ❤️🇵🇸
Thanks and praises forever, to you and Tim, for keeping us living, feeling, seeing and not alone.
"And we beat back the revolution within ourselves with a chair and a whip for no other reason than because that’s how we were raised"
This explains why it's taking so long to get the revolution going... Everybody, please stop whipping the revolution back, please!
So relate to this
Lotta synapse grinding images to shake us up. If that was your intent, as it of course is of all art, you succeeded.
A first-class political analyst - and a poet we didn't know.
I thought it was all in my head. I watch people go about their daily lives as if everything’s normal and it’s just me who feels an overwhelming sense of doom. I write my journal, I take my vitamins I eat organic I get out into nature and yet my feelings don’t change. It’s coming. I know it.
We’re on a path of self destruct. We need a revolution.
THIS. So many of us right now..... In a holding pattern ....waiting ......waiting. watching the dark gather. Waiting for the signs to act.
There’s so much negativity. Maybe I need to stay off social media and stop watching the news, but at the same time I need information because ‘knowledge is power’.
We’ve all been duped. We no longer get the politicians we think we’re voting for because they’re liars and corrupt. They’ve been bought by lobbyists.
I can name on one hand the ones I’d trust and they’re the ones who either stick their heads above the parapet and get smeared by the right wing press or refuse to play by the Israeli lobbyist handbook and get ostracised like Corbyn .
We have to fight back. We have to expose the lies then truth will win eventually. It’s hard work!
Even doing small things like hiding Israeli avocado’s behind Spanish ones on the supermarket shelves 😂
They have stolen our hope of peace and friendship and without that it’s impossible to thrive.
“Even doing small things like hiding Israeli avocados behind Spanish ones on the supermarket shelves”…love it 😆 ❤️
Hi Diane. Yes, I like you have an overwhelming and foreboding sense of doom. The ever-widening disparity between the rich and poor, the threat of nuclear war, the 24/7 propagandising and ‘dumbing down’ of the masses (”Idiocracy”), West-supported genocide, ecocide…oh, I could go on and on. What a sad state of affairs humans as a collective have gotten into. This beautiful Blue Orb we live on and share with all its inhabitants, a precious jewel floating in a backdrop of the infinite. Something that may give you and others a little comfort is to listen to Carl Sagan’s beautiful prose “Pale Blue Dot”, or along with connecting to nature some Buddhist readings. There are many who think the same. We are all ‘brothers and sisters’ on this “Pale Blue Dot”. Take care 🙏
Caitlin the poet and wisest of women.
"And you come at long last to stillness
And you turn and face the world, palms open".
🙏
We cannot allow Israel to escape the legal consequences of their war crimes. The Hind Rajab Foundation has, among other things, filed a case with the ICC against 1,000 Israeli soldiers for war crimes in Gaza.
https://www.hindrajabfoundation.org/perpetrators/hind-rajab-foundation-files-historic-icc-complaint-against-1000-israeli-soldiers-for-war-crimes-in-gaza
They have taken further steps in recent days, and vacations are becoming a lot more difficult for IDF soldiers, worldwide. The Hind Rajab Foundation can use our help. Please join me in making a contribution.
https://buy.stripe.com/cN228hbY5g7jaM84gg
You might find meaningful to watch the recent interviews that Glenn Greenwald did on his Rumble platform, and Ali Abunimah of the Electronic Intifada, did with the head of this organisation, Dyad Abou Jahjah. It was very informative.
Here's a petition calling for accountability for the arrest of Ali Abunimah in Switzerland:
https://chng.it/8D4pkxPhWS
Thank you for the info. You are very right we can not allow israel to avoid punishment.
Caitlin, directed energy thoughts. Right to the heart. With much appreciation, I thank you.
Wow! This is everything I'm feeling, and thought unutterable, right now. Thank you for uttering it though, in absolute perfection.
Horror and beauty at the same time. Pure gnosis.
Oh damn, Caitlin! I love Platipi.
Instead of contention, competition in doing good is a much better way.
How reflective, on an unexpected upbeat, on this Chinese New Year (of the Snake) day. Thank you, Caitlin.
Who can fathom the depths of iniquity, the venality, the dash toward oblivion of this species called "human"?
新年快樂!
恭喜發財!
Year of the Snake - represents flexibility and the shedding of old, unworkable, habits that prevented new growth. Bring it on!
Then, you decide to act, you think about how to act, you train yourself to act, you act, you provoke reactions, you discover its weak points, you counter-react. Thus, you erase the future derived from the past and build a new future.
AND WE WILL COME CRASHING DOWN ON THEM
LIKE WAVES OF HISTORY
—Nick Estes
As the Doomsday Clock moves to 89 seconds to midnight……..
Judy,
"As the Doomsday Clock moves to 89 seconds to midnight…….. I thought you were kidding.... but the clock has indeed moved another second towards midnight. Annie Jacobson, in her most recent book: 'Nuclear War, a scenario', may be too optimistic about her description of Nuclear Winter. . In her rendition of a nuclear winter, she did not take into account 2 important potential effects from a nuclear war. Having experienced towns in British Columbia in 2021 which had to turn on streets lights at noon during the wildfires that raged during that summer, even though thousands of firefighters were fighting the blazes, it was dark enough at noon to completely blot out the sun. Moreover, at the same time, the air quality in the city where we live was worse than any city on Earth ---- all of that with thousands of firefighters at work.
If a full scale nuclear war ever occurred, the wildfires and firestorms from the bombs would be thousands of times worst. .... but with no firefighters. If wildfires from that summer in our neck of the woods can obliterate the sun, and dangerously pollute the air to be the worst on the planet --- I would doubt that the air would even be breathable, that is, if you can see where you are.
89 seconds .... seems optimistic....
Hi John
“Humanity” has had its day. We are nothing but filth. We allow ourselves to be run by oligarchs . We commit genocides. We starve entire nations via sanctions. We are putting our beautiful nature-given planet at grave risk. We take and we take and we take from Mother Earth without giving a goddamn thing back.
I don’t wish for nuclear war that would eliminate all the beautiful species of this earth. Rather, a virus that would eliminate only Homo sapiens would do it.
I’d gladly die for the sake of our planet.
Gypsy,
Your comments resonate loudly and clearly. Humans are indeed a blight on the planet's ecosystems. As Neil Armstrong warned NASA about Apollo 13' problems when returning to Earth::, "Houston, we have a problem", I would assess the human presence on Earth with similar urgency: "Humanity, we have a problem".
Personally, although our problems seem unsolvable, and they very well might be, I've seen a lot of baseball games decided in the last inning. Yogi Berra said it best: "It ain't over till it's over". We haven't been knocked out yet, but how many more punches can we take. There's a theory called 'The Hundredth Monkey theory' in which it was found that if a good idea comes along and enough monkeys adopt it, that it will inevitably change the habits of the tribe.
Without sounding too optimistic, I think such an idea is still in our deck of cards... all we have to do is find it... Any suggestions ???
Hi John
My only suggestion is eliminating MONEY.
How about something very doable, Nationalize the following:
Healthcare
Energy
Communication
Higher Education
These are a start : ) If we make those changes peoples lives with change for the better making further changes possible
Landru,
Maybe putting limits on what money implies can also help. What bothers me a lot is that there have been thousands of social revolutions, and money still making the world go round... it doesn't have to be that way..... the trick is how to make it so it has less importance in our lives... Money won't go away, but its nasty sides could..
For example, why not make it illegal to own more than 3 homes....(arbitrary) including organizations and corporations....? A few corporations own more than 2 million homes, and counting... Did you know King Charles III technically owns about 6 billion acres of land ... about 1/6 of the planet's land... billions with a B... He/She should own... 1 or 2 without the Billion... If insanity left the room, no humans would be found left in it.
Gypsy,
In reality, I feel exactly as you do. The oligarchs, genocide, sanctions, but mostly, one that you did not mention, we evict one another from our dwellings.... for MONEY. We can't get any dumber than that. Soon, when the moon and stars line up to make the universe readjust itself from 'intelligent' beings, , we will evict our species from life...
Hi John
I guess it took a live-streamed genocide to turn me into a complete misanthrope, along with Amerikkka’s responsibility for eliminating an entire generation of Ukrainian men. (But don’t get me wrong; Putin did what he had to do, which was to protect his people, something every great leader does.) My point is that neither of these abominations HAD to happen, and only did so because of Amerikkkan interventionism.
Get me the fuck outta here!
beeeeeautiful🙇🏽♀️🤎