I live in a small town in NE Wisconsin, near Lake Michigan. Most evenings I take a walk as the street lights are coming on. The other night it struck me that there are no moths circling the street and porch lights as they did when I was a kid. I remember how every street light would have a galaxy of moths and other insects circling about. The porch light at my childhood home would have moths bumbling about. It was not uncommon to see bats circling through, grabbing a quick airborne snack.
Most of that is gone now. I can't recall seeing a bat in the last six or so years. Butterfly numbers have dramatically dropped along with honey bees and dragon flies. Fireflies are gone. We are truly led by monsters. Short-sighted, morally vacuous corporate gollums, goons and vampires.
Look to nature to see where we are headed and find any way possible to resist.
We kill our own kind. Killing is what this culture does as a solution to almost everything. We need to stop killing our own kind intentionally. Yet we do it wantonly and don't even blink about it. We treat it like a horse race. People's lives seem like nothing until we feel the pain. Humanity has to change this immediately. Those who want to wake up now must act differently. We need to demonstrate another way.
I agree with you, this is a death culture. It’s everywhere. Insects are disappearing because of climate change, but I don’t doubt that they are also disappearing from the reasons you give. I just think it’s both.
The climate does change. But this time humans have changed it rapidly because of what we have pumped into the atmosphere. The rate of change is going to cause warming and weather patterns to become extreme and deadly.
Weather manipulation has been going on since 1940s now you can see the all day checkerboard of chem trail clouds blocking the sun . Just like Bill Gates said to do.
In the US every military base including the closed ones, and the secret ones are EPA nightmares. The amount of nuclear pollution, war toxins, industrial toxins is huge in every state, and probably every foreign base as well..We even dumped it into the oceans to hide it from view.. then there are the intentional corporate sites, pcbs, PFAS forever chemical in every water supply country wide, agriculture runoff has killed so much wildlife and the ecosystems. We literally shit on our own plates. The fish are poison, but we have cell phones and Internet. An increasingly Police state mentality as well.
Actually, the climate is changing as the Super El Nino has proved. Record Pacific ocean temps now. Record high temps in both the Arctic and Antarctic. Record high temps across Europe now. I think those facts have meaning if we
But you haven't put any substance forward for your stance. Climate is always changing. of course if you're going to be bombing, chemtrailing, letting poisons into rivers and waters, spraying against bugs, installing EMF towers everywhere plus many more assaults on the environment, yeah, I guess it will change. But the waters won't rise because even if the temps do go up, ice contracts so the waters will be lower not higher. What happened to their theory of "global warming"? Has time proven them wrong? And you're going to believe something this criminal syndicate tell you?
You're wrong. Global warming is absolutely occurring... caused by endless pollution of the environment in many forms. The Arctic and Antarctic poles ARE melting, glaciers ARE melting around the world, which causes the sea level to rise. Average global temperature is rising.
Denise - I’m not a climate scientist. I don’t need to put any substance forward on such a global issue that is written about by experts all over the place constantly. You have access to everything I have access to. As an adult you are perfectly capable of researching climate scientists and comparing and contrasting what they say to determine what you think about the science they put forth.
Climate is always changing. That is completely separate from what the current climate issues are. If you disagree then you disagree I guess. But according to the climate scientists I follow this is two different things and the research I read supports this.
Time is proving them right. There are heatwaves and crazy weather patterns going on all over the world. You’re not really making sense anymore though. I hope you reconsider.
I don’t believe anything from a criminal syndicate.
Yes, the climate is always changing, but that's not the issue. The issue goes by the name 'global warming' which is a particular subset of climate change describing the current warming trend, which is real and caused by humans, provably. We understand to a high degree what all the influences on the climate are and on what timescales they operate. The current trend cannot be accounted for by any of the natural cyclical processes because they operate on timescales either too short or too long to deal with a rapid climb over decades.
I hope Caitlin doesn't mind me doing this, but you can read about the whole problem here:
Nein, Insekten verschwinden nicht wegen "des Klimawandels", sondern deshalb, weil so viele Menschen politisch keine Garten/Grün/Naturflächen mehr zugestanden bekommen (Massen-Wohnbausiedlungen für völlig eigentums- und besitzlose Menschen, die es in der überwiegenden Mehrzahl weltweit gibt; Einkaufs-Malls en masse). Und wenn noch Garten/Grün/Naturflächen vorhanden sind, ob privat oder öffentlich, werden sie derart umgestaltet und verschandelt, dass sie für die heimische Tierwelt völlig nutz- und wertlos sind (klinisch-sterile beschissene Stein"gärten", Hybrid-Zierpflanzen oder eben überhaupt keine Pflanzen mehr). Wohin Mensch auch blickt: Betonwüsten Betonwüsten Betonwüsten. Am Land - wo ich mit meiner Familie lebe, in Telfs in Tirol/Österreich - ist es sehr gut. Alles Heimische wächst und gedeiht, Vögel, viele verschiedene Eidechsenarten, Frösche, Kröten, Blindschleichen, Insekten (viele Bienenarten, geschützte Wespenarten, Hornissen, verschiedene Schmetterlingsarten und Falter, Regenwürmer en masse, Vögel jedweder Art), alles kreucht und fleucht, haben natürlich erhaltenen Lebensraum. Viele Bauernfamilien haben noch die schönen, altbewährten Bauerngärten, wo vielfältiges Leben existiert. Es liegt an der Gestaltung und Erhaltung von Naturlebensraum.
That's right. If wars are going on across the seas, we don't care. We just go on as usual. Imagine if we DID care. The oligarchs wouldn't stand a chance. When it's us that it happens to, then we'll care but nobody else will. I'd love to see Americans start to care and change the whole rubric.
Omg you’re right…. Geezus god almighty the more effects of climate change I see and hear about the more the reality settles in and sends chills through me.. damn this is gonna get bad
It's not climate change, it's pollution and poisoning. Fluoride in the water, soils saturated with pesticides, herbicides. Spraying to kill bugs, chemtrails polluting the skies, pharmaceuticals polluting the water, it's a free for all and it's us that are doing it not just Gates et al. Hemp can answer all of that. Do you know that hemp can clean up superfund sites of mercury and pesticides and other heavy metals? And it brings nutrients to the top soil as well as sequester carbon? And a whole lot of other things that clean up and regenerate humans and nature.
it's us in the sense that most are not yet convinced a revolution is necessary. we do have to change the bus-drivers, but also the engine and the steering gear. most true environmentalist have come to this insight. capitalism won't cut it (e.g. it's not flexible enough to make the switch to a hemp based economy and/or would find ways to fuck it up).
If you could let your mind venture a little, and imagine that we don't need government at all. To have government now with the technology we have is silly. It's like using an old typewriter when we have a computer. We have to move with the times and government is simply obsolete now. Many people have worked out how to do it in another way. I can explain if requested.
I mean yeah, we could have warlords, robber barons, or fuedal lords. You get rid of the somewhat distributed power of a modern state with a degree of rule of law, and you get something evil more dictatorial, the power of outright violence and brutality.
i'd agree that at least in a transitionary period (which can take some generations) a kind of 'suppressive' system is necessary to subdue the long-standing capitalist conditioning. (and historians to prevent backsliding).
What did anyone think when crops were sprayed with pesticides such as glyphosate and others? They were designed NOT to be washed off by rain, hence accumulating in the soil with every application. I too remember when we wouldn't leave the porch light on as to not attract so many insects. Heck, even mosquitoes in my area have seen a significant decline!
This thread was going well. Thoughtful even and then…conspiracies get mentioned. There are so many things happening that we don’t need to regurgitate conspiracy theories like…chem trails. 🤦🏽♂️
See that's the program talking. Why don't you want to talk about what I believe and many, many others, that we are being sprayed with aluminum, barium and strontium, going by tests people have made? It's because the program wants to keep things the same. What basis do you have for thinking they are conspiracy theory and not fact? Do you think the people who fluoridate your water, bomb innocent people, inflict bodily harm by putting medical procedures into law, who take over land from farmers, kick people out of their homes, have a whole department dedicated to secret intelligence, put up cameras everywhere to surveil us, and a whole lot more that goes against the people, you think they don't conspire?
Do you know that a contrail dissipates after about 2 minutes?
You can't tell the difference?
Do you think it's ok for planes to leave those scars on the sky when if you car did it would be taken off the road?
Chemtails can be seen even where no airports are anywhere nearby.
When I mow and I would rather leave the property wild however, I brake for the few Butterflies and Bees that I see now. I even tap the brake on my car for Butterflies. When I was a kid going to the country to my Grandfathers farm there would be moths so thick you would have to wash the windshield before you went home. On my way to my Fathers place farmet in the countryside, there are no insects on the windshield day or night.
I fact I thought we might develop a population measurement system by the numbers and kinds of insects on the windshield. At least they would have a purpose in their death.
That is my experience to Mark. I work at a laboratory that is also a national wildlife area. We had Pheasants, fox, coyote, deer, millions of bees and of course butterflies. Now there are few and zero pheasants, fox and even the deer are very few in number now. I wrote a poem a few years ago, Butterflies dancing with Neutrinos. I had to explain to people what butterflies were. : ( Only somewhat kidding.
Good point about the moths. I grew up in Texas, but same thing. Now? I don't see nearly as many moths.
I think your fireflies moved to NE Ohio, though. There aren't as many as there were in Texas when I was a kid, but we still get dozens of them every summer night, weather permitting.
Back in 1998 I bought 21 acres of beautiful rural land in the Driftless Region of SW Wisconsin, with plans to begin building a house and small educational retreat center. One night on the way home from a visit to Madison, I did a little detour to go visit the land and get a sense of what nights were like there. When I arrived, the meadow was FILLED with fireflies -- thousands drifting across the land and mixing with the stars overhead. There were so many, looking up was disorienting -- the stars and fireflies were mixed together. I thought of taking a half-hour to sit and take it in but was exhausted from the day and I had work in the morning. Besides, I thought, I'll be living out here next year and will be able to see this regularly.
Wrong.
The next summer I was living on the land and there were maybe a half-dozen nights with a dozen or so fireflies in the meadow. The next year, half that number. The year after, none and none for the next dozen years I lived on the land. One of the biggest mistakes of my life was that I didn't sit down on that land and fully appreciate the beauty of that long-ago night.
Six years in NW Wisconsin and I haven't seen a single firefly.
I remember, quite a while ago now - could even be a decade - reading an editorial in one of the big science journals about a married couple, both entomologists studying the fauna of the Amazon. They talked about two expeditions twenty years apart. The first expedition, they struggled to sleep with the cacophony of insect activity. The second, they said it was almost deathly quiet.
Insect populations have been plummeting for decades.
From southern Wisconsin originally.. I've noticed the same thing over the years, especially where I grew up. There used to be so many fireflies in the summer.
The general problem is ourselves. Stop fertilizing, using pesticides, fungicides and herbicides on our lawns, gardens and crops. The bugs will return and so will the bats, butterflies, mosquitoes.
I think we’re past the tipping point as well. Long past it, by some metrics.
And it’s all so fucking stupid. I think it’s the stupidity of it that gets me the most. Like, I get the psychopaths, they can’t really help themselves. But it’s all the other people who are passively going right along with it that I can’t excuse.
For most. Convenience trumps doing what is right, moral, or necessary. Convenience is purposeful. We’ve been trained to enact convenience even to our own detriment.
An astute observation, but I have some reservations about purposeful. Convenience should serve a role in affecting human flourishing, but under a pathocracy, purpose loses any coherence. And, as you noted, it’s all detrimental.
We ought to be degrowing right now in our everyday life. Cut out buying plastics, find alternatives that are not disposable, cut out idling the car for nothing, be conscious of energy use. The military uses the most energy so stop paying for the military. By "prepping" you are preparing you mind to accept defeat. No, our thoughts have power. We ought to expect the best. We need to talk about what that would be because we summon what we think about mostly and what we speak.
"The people in charge are just going to keep driving this thing into the ground until there’s nothing left to save. If there’s going to be a world-saving revolution, it’s going to come from we ordinary people who are willing to acknowledge reality, not from the oligarchs and empire managers presently steering things who have been blinded by the pursuit of profit and power."
Exactly--we have to become our own "heroes" as they say. The oligarchs are blinded by their obsession of making more and more money at the expense of others, and they're driving us all toward a cliff. So it's time to for us to grab the wheel, hit the brakes, and toss those a-hole oligarchs out of the bus! Revolution time!
The Revolution C, As Caitlin says and as history has proved, revolutions are never going to come from the ruling class and the oligarchs.
Such a movement must come from artists, cultural workers, trade unionists, genuine journalists, and public intellectuals and charismatic leaders who can get the masses to rally round for the cause of liberation.
Moreover, it will have to come from global south leaders like Fidel, Che, Patrice Lumumba and Ho Chi Min to name a few.
Bummer! Shoot me but in my 85 yrs, never has the opportunity to change course seemed so possible. Young people are rising up, adopting new ideas, working for change. At 85, I say: itis always darkest before the dawn.
"young people globally are actively rising up in what researchers, historians, and media outlets have formally dubbed the "Gen Z Revolts." Over the last few years, a massive wave of highly connected, digitally savvy, youth-led uprisings has swept across Asia, Africa, South America, and Europe. Driven by deep frustration over economic inequality, rampant corruption, rising living costs, and elderly political elites (gerontocracies), these decentralized movements have already toppled several national governments.
Unlike past generations, today's youth bypass traditional political organizations. Instead, they leverage platforms like TikTok, Discord, Instagram, and Reddit to instantly educate, mobilize, and share tactics across borders
Recent Examples of Youth-Led Revolts: Bangladesh (2024 Revolution) Widely cited as the world's first successful Gen Z revolution. What began as a student-led protest against public-sector employment quotas quickly mutated into a massive anti-government uprising. The relentless youth mobilization ultimately ousted the nation's long-standing authoritarian prime minister, sparking a chain reaction of inspiration for young activists worldwide.
Nepal (2025 Government Ouster) When the government implemented a social media ban amidst ongoing corruption and nepotism, Gen Z took to the streets by the tens of thousands. Using Discord, Instagram, and VPNs to bypass state censorship, they forced the resignation of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli. Protesters then uniquely organized a digital election on Discord to help select an interim leader.
Madagascar (2025 National Uprising) Triggered by chronic water shortages and electricity blackouts, young people organized massive nationwide marches. Defying violent crackdowns, the youth-led movement successfully pressured President Andry Rajoelina to dissolve his government, culminating in him fleeing the country/
.India (2026 Education & Exam Protests) A massive examination paper leak affecting 2 million students exposed deep structural corruption and favoritism within the education system. When authorities initially dismissed the youth, thousands of students filled the streets of New Delhi and other major cities to launch the "Cockroach Protests" (reclaiming a derogatory term used against them). The ongoing movement has forced high-level resignations and evolved into a broader fight for government transparency//
.Morocco (GenZ 212 Movement) Spurred by a combination of a 22%+ youth unemployment rate and anger over deteriorating healthcare, young Moroccans launched the GenZ 212 demonstrations. They actively protested the state prioritizing massive funding for the FIFA World Cup over schools and medical centers. The pressure successfully forced the royal palace to announce historic 16% budget increases for health and education;
.Kenya (Finance Bill & Tax Revolts) Young Kenyans utilized TikTok and encrypted messaging to launch decentralised, leaderless protests against a controversial finance bill. Their intense street mobilization successfully forced the president to withdraw massive tax hikes aimed at poor and working-class families, making it a monumental victory for youth civil society
.Key Characteristics of Today's Youth Revolts According to data groups like the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) and research from the Harvard Kennedy School, these modern youth uprisings share highly distinct blueprints
:Leaderless & Decentralized Structure: Rather than relying on a singular charismatic leader, Gen Z utilizes horizontal networks. This makes the movements highly responsive and incredibly difficult for police and governments to neutralize by simply arresting a "head".
Shared Cultural Symbols: Despite vast distances and cultural differences, young activists borrow tactics and iconography from each other. For example, the grinning pirate flag (Jolly Roger) from the anime One Piece has been adopted as a universal symbol of youth defiance across protests in Europe, Africa, and Asia.
Socioeconomic vs. Ideological Focus: Experts note that these revolts are rarely about abstract political ideologies (like capitalism vs. socialism). Instead, they focus on tangible, broken institutions—fighting directly against corruption, nepotism, state violence, and an economy that locks young adults into poverty and high unemployment."
Source: AI with primary sources......a tool being used along with social media to conduct the youth revolt
dale ruff, Maybe you are right about young people rising up. Here in Australia school kids walked out of class - in all the capital cities - to protest a right-wing, racist, white suprematist party, loyal to Trump.
One gets scared when one isn't active. There is lots you can do - at this phase we need to talk talk talk but about what we want not what we don't want. Imagine that hemp is grown by a lot of people and it is used for buildings. People save 50-70% on energy costs and hemp insulation is highly effective and so safe a baby can sleep on the insulation bats. And a whole lot more. We need to be active talking about all the wonderful things we can do because our thoughts and our speech is immensely powerful. And the wicked ones get us to speak about the world they want and people do it all the time without giving any time to talking about what they want.
Try talking to buffoons! I don't get anywhere with them.
Here I am in S. France raging, because 2 people with a car parked below our patio want me to stop watering my plants because water is dripping on their car. I have a lovely lot of insects and bees. Screw the car!
For some reason I feel like interpreting this as hopeful. The sheeplike complacency of the spoiled, yet oppressed American public desperately needs the motivation this kaleidoscope of horrors can provide.
They are beginning to wake up, and if it’s not too late, we can turn all of these lemons into Hollandaise.
Thank you Caitlin. In the U.S. People could decide to stop voting for the Red and Blue cabal that sold us out. But....that ain't gona happen. Maybe next time, IF there is a next time.
The Democratic Socialists are a joke. They're just a subsidiary of the Democratic Party and should therefore not be supported. The two-party paradigm has to be smashed into many pieces before we see anything like actual democracy.
Hello Dr. Who. I have to say I am with you on this. I suppose it is possible the Dem. Socialists could grow into something better but with AOC there I would find it impossible to support them.
Anyway we need a 3rd party that isn't called socialist anything. Social democrats or? Isn't Mamdani a Democratic Socialist? Or is he not good enough either?
Because we don't. How many people in your circles do you talk about this with?
I know I'd love to say a heck of a lot more and I say more than most, but most of them get angry, walk off or hang up on me. That's because they are suffering from the dissonance. Whenever someone hangs up on someone or shuts someone down, it is their obligation to make the initial move back to uniting with them. Never suck up to someone who hangs up on you or blocks you or ever tries to shut you down. That just gives rewards to sociopathic behaviors. We need to incentivize good behaviors in our life, behaviors that treat others as sovereigns and treat ourselves as sovereigns. Let me say that another way - we need to stand in our own sovereignty as well as recognize the sovereignty of others. Having been enslaved for eons, we don't even have a model of what sovereign interaction even looks like.
True, it is very hard to find people who talk with, I'm lucky my daughter is and we had a real talk about the mess these money-as-god people the other day, it is so good to share with someone else who "gets it", which is why this substack is so important to we contributors.
Islam cannot be located on the Western political spectrum because its moral framework precedes and judges that spectrum. Modern political binaries—forged in the secular conflicts of post-Enlightenment Europe—are fundamentally inadequate tools for evaluating divine revelation.
Islamic conservatism is not, and has never been, identical to contemporary right-wing politics. Under the paradigm of classical Sunni jurisprudence (fiqh), a Muslim can be socially traditional, economically distributive, fiercely anti-racist, anti-imperialist, and deeply hostile to ethno-nationalism without the slightest internal contradiction.
On social morality, family structures, personal ethics, and property rights (al-milkiyyah al-khāṣṣah), Islam’s demands align with what is termed traditional conservatism. On economic justice, mandatory wealth redistribution (zakāt), state welfare (Bayt al-Māl), the prohibition of usury (ribā), anti-imperialism, and environmental stewardship (khilāfah), its imperatives align far more with the Left.
My own personal trajectory reflects this exact distinction. By any modern standard, my personal life embodies absolute traditionalism: I am a Hanafi Sunni Islamic scholar who saved himself for marriage, has never touched alcohol or drugs, and has no tattoos. Because the secular Right superficially claims to champion traditional morality, I once found myself default-siding with them on most cultural debates.
The ongoing genocide shattered that conflation forever.
What unfolded was a moral watershed that exposed how the contemporary Right’s rhetoric of 'tradition' and 'heritage' serves as a cover for ethno-nationalist arrogance, racial chauvinism, and profound cruelty. We watch with outrage as those who claim the mantle of Christianity celebrate the brutality of agencies like ICE, dehumanize migrants, and justify tearing families apart in the name of Jesus (as)—weaponizing the Prince of Peace to sanctify state violence. Combined with their relentless, systemic Islamophobia—spreading fabrications, attacking Muslims, and actively celebrating the destruction of Muslim lives across the globe—supporting such a movement becomes a moral impossibility.
This rejection of the Right is not an embrace of the secular Left. Where the Right succumbs to malevolent hostility and tribal hatred, the Left remains trapped in secular moral relativism and ideological folly. Yet a vital temperamental distinction remains: the Left’s errors predominantly stem from moral confusion and misguided idealism, whereas the Right’s errors stem from calculated cruelty.
As Allama Iqbal (ra) observed in his critique of Western political systems, both wings of secular politics proceed from a materialist mind that is fundamentally blind to the spiritual destiny of man. Whether through untrammelled capitalism or secular progressivism, reducing humanity to mere economic or political material inevitably generates tyranny.
True conservatism ought to be rooted in divine justice, accountability, and the protection of the innocent.
I am willing to sit down and discuss politics with anybody—Left or Right—so long as they agree on basic, unyielding moral baselines: that deliberately targeting and killing civilians is wrong, that Israel is committing a genocide, and that slaughtering infants is an absolute evil, even when those babies are brown and Muslim. If you cannot bring yourself to affirm even these elementary principles of human decency, you have surrendered your conscience—fuck off and go die a dog's death!!!!!!!!!!!
All of which is the reasons why israeli zionist jews hate Islam so much: no more raping children or adult prisoners, no more killing innocent people/children for the fun of it. No more any of the hateful things they love to do. No more treating women as objects.
My grandmother gave me a poem just before I got married.
God took a ribbon from man's side and gave it to woman.
From under his arm not to be ruled by him, but to be protected by him.
From near his heart to be loved by him.
From his side to stand beside him.
There's more but I can't remember it, but that gives the gist.
Yes, we live in a Suicide System. That is what capitalist competition is. Cooperation is the only sane way to live. We start where we are, family, neighborhood, community. Prof. Richard Wolff has the right concept of business co~ops. The people united can never be defeated!
My constant worry is my Great and Grandchildren, who did not contribute as much to this coming horror as the ones before my generation and onto this one. It's no good saying we see what is happening but doing nothing to stop it. The moneyed people appear to have no intention of stopping no matter how many billions they have-on paper anyway. One has to ask, do they have children, grandchildren and greatgrandchildren? Do they care about the mess they are leaving this country in for their descendants? Obviously not or they would use their billions to change the mess they are producing because of their over-the-top greed. How much does anyone need to live a comfortable life? Not anywhere near $billion dollars, that is just for the sake of having it, sure it buys some botoxed wives, but honestly the non-botoxed truly do look so much better, but that's men for you, and silly women who think it more important than what's inside, or intelligence. More money wasted daily/hourly that could be given to charities to feed too many hungry families - through no fault of their own.
We had a recipe for civilization in the 1600s that we discarded in favor of slaughtering the natives and instituting slavery. The antidotes for slaughter and slavery were argued for extensively and were called Soul Liberty, Freedom of Speech, Democracy, and Freedom of religion.
Our US forefathers bastardized each of these principles so badly, it left us in the very circumstances that compelled them in the first place, and nobody has ever looked back.
The Slavery of Choice: Why Secular Freedom Is an Existential Trap
To the modern secular observer, my life may appear defined entirely by restrictions. They see the five daily prayers, the moral boundaries placed around desire, the disciplines of fasting and modesty, and the submission of my will to commandments revealed long before I was born. They look upon this and wonder how anyone could possibly call such an existence 'freedom'.
They look at the boundaries while missing the tranquillity within them.
My contentment does not stem merely from following rules, but from something far deeper: absolute certainty. I possess direct answers to the questions that modernity leaves deliberately unresolved.
I know that existence did not begin with man. The universe is not an accidental arrangement without purpose, nor is human consciousness a temporary flicker emerging from a meaningless cosmos. Behind creation stands its Creator: the One who brought existence from non-existence, who sustains every atom within it, and upon whom every created thing depends. I know where I came from.
Because I know my origin, I understand my purpose. I am not an accidental spectator wandering through an indifferent universe, forced to manufacture a temporary meaning and call it truth. I am a created being with a Lord, and a moral agent whose existence carries responsibility. I know what my Creator expects of me.
Worship is not merely an emotional experience; it is the fundamental orientation of human existence. My desires are not sovereign, my intellect is not infallible, and morality is not something to be reinvented according to the transient fashions of each generation. Revelation provides an objective horizon against which I can measure my thoughts and actions.
And I know what lies beyond death. This is perhaps the greatest source of tranquillity. Death is not an absurd interruption to an otherwise meaningless existence; it is a transition. This worldly life is temporary, accountability is real, resurrection is certain, and I will ultimately return to the One who created me.
I possess an ontological continuity that modern secular existence struggles to offer: I came from Allah, I belong to Allah, and I am returning to Allah.
The modern individual may possess extraordinary freedom of choice, yet remains existentially homeless. He can choose what to eat, where to live, what to believe, and what identity to construct, yet still lies awake wondering what any of it ultimately means. Choice alone cannot produce tranquillity. A soul rests not when given more options, but when it realizes the truth.
When sacred boundaries are erased, man is not liberated; he simply becomes enslaved to appetite, status, and the exhausting demand to invent purpose for himself. As G.K. Chesterton astutely observed, when men stop believing in God, they do not believe in nothing—they believe in anything.
My submission is not the negation of freedom; it is its foundation. As Allama Iqbal so masterfully expressed it:
'That single prostration which you deem so heavy frees man from a thousand other prostrations.'
I bow to Allah so that I do not have to bow to everything else. They look at my life and see a cage; I look at theirs and see a ship adrift without a compass. What they mistake for restriction is certainty; what they mistake for a burden is purpose; what they mistake for submission is liberation.
Within these sacred boundaries lies sakinah—the profound tranquillity of a soul that knows where it came from, why it is here, and where it is going. Without certainty, the soul remains perpetually discontented. With it, it can finally rest.
When I was a child my religion was pretty much like yours, although not so solid, when I say solid I mean totally enfolding. It was deemed strict, but we knew what was okay to do and what was not, I guess my grandfather, whom I adored, being a lay preacher and staunch old-school Christian helped guide me, and as he was so full of fun there was lots of laughter in my childhood.
Your religion is so strong in each of you, it is beautiful to see, which is probably what scares the people who have money as their god. Such a pity,because money feels nothing, gives nothing but a false pride, as we see daily with the oligarchs around us.
An unthinking submission to superstition certainly works for some people. It's why religious leaders so eagerly monetised it. But, apart from the smug sense you'll be okay when you're dead, how does it really help? How does the notion 'we are all in god's hands' help anyone when, clearly, it is humanity that is the problem? What use is uncritical contentment when action is required? It is all very nice that your superstition makes you feel so safe and happy, but what will it do to save the world? The world needs leaders - including religious leaders - to stop papering over the cracks, because humanity's saviour is not going to be sitting on our thumbs and moaning an occasional prayer. It's going to be, and has to be, humanity.
The Myth of Self-Rule: Why Modern Atheism is Just Worshipping Yourself
Reducing deep religious conviction to passive superstition misrepresents both spiritual theology and historical reality. The premise that faith encourages people to sit idle creates a false dichotomy between divine trust and human responsibility. True faith has never been an anaesthetic for passivity; it is an irreplaceable moral engine for action, justice, and societal progress.
In Islamic tradition, prayer is far from a retreat into quietism. Prophet Muhammad (saw) famously stated:
«الدُّعَاءُ سِلَاحُ الْمُؤْمِنِ»
'Prayer is the weapon of the believer.'
One must reasonably ask: does a weapon sound like an instrument of passive surrender? A weapon is forged for active engagement, struggle, and defence against hardship and injustice. It is an instrument of moral fortitude, not an excuse for inaction.
Far from papering over cracks, history’s most profound movements for human betterment were birthed directly from sacred duty. The abolition of the transatlantic slave trade, the Civil Rights Movement, and the founding of the world's first hospitals, universities, and widespread relief agencies were all driven by individuals acting out of religious conviction.
Furthermore, the foundation of modern civilization—its science, art, and medicine—was built directly upon religious bedrock. Sir Isaac Newton, widely regarded as the greatest scientist in human history, was a devout Christian who viewed his breakthroughs in physics as an exploration of divine architecture. Similarly, Ibn Sina (Avicenna), the undisputed polymath whose Canon of Medicine defined medical practice for over five centuries, was a devout Muslim scholar who routinely turned to prayer for intellectual clarity when solving complex scientific problems. Even Albert Einstein, while rejecting a personal deity in favour of a cosmic order, vehemently repudiated dogmatic atheism, noting that the harmony of natural law revealed a mind of vast intelligence. Historically, secular atheism contributed remarkably little to the foundational development of human thought compared to the overwhelming legacy of religious minds.
If humanity is the problem, relying solely on unanchored human nature risks repeating the very errors that caused our damage. Edmund Burke rightly noted, 'The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.' Far from encouraging fatalism, faith demands rigorous stewardship. As Allama Iqbal (ra) observed, 'It is the lot of man to share in the deeper aspirations of the universe around him and to shape his own destiny.' Similarly, G. K. Chesterton pointed out, 'The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.'
Ultimately, the secular notion of absolute autonomy is an illusion. Human beings are inherently wired for devotion. In the end, you either worship other human beings, or you worship yourself—meaning your own desires—or you worship Allah. We are all slaves to something; we only get to decide who or what holds our allegiance. I am entirely content with my decision.
I appreciate your devotion to the betterment of the world, and in so doing, Humanity.
But my own understanding of spirituality and the blurred line between the western concepts of 'religion' and 'philosophy' has me wanting to encourage you to explore more perspectives of faith and belief beyond the Abrahamic trinity.
If I, as a content atheist, have faith in anything, it would be in the inherit ability of humans to change themselves and the world around them.
We are dying now, but we still have time to change.
I read and watch videos on lots of topics and subjects; I am not only an Islamic scholar, but also a polymath and a polyglot.
Once, I was being interviewed by a lovely Black American woman who asked me a few questions about my qualifications and background. I mentioned that I was a polymath, and with complete sincerity, she replied that she was never very good at math.
It was unbelievably difficult not to burst out laughing right then and there, but I managed to hold it together somehow. Now that was true spiritual power!
On a more profound note, your trust in the human capacity for transformation is deeply moving. Humans possess countless faults and flaws, yet those amongst us who strive for good are so remarkable that even the angels pray for forgiveness for them. That innate ability to pivot, reform, and elevate both ourselves and the world around us is perhaps the most noble spark we carry. As Edmund Burke wisely observed, ‘Custom reconciles us to everything’—yet it is precisely our capacity to break free from harmful custom and choose a better path that keeps hope alive.
Rod, I would like an extended discussion of this stuff between you and The Custodian - but I am guessing, in the end, it will just amount to nothing useful - it seems if you just believe, then there is no room for real discussion / development . .
I live in a small town in NE Wisconsin, near Lake Michigan. Most evenings I take a walk as the street lights are coming on. The other night it struck me that there are no moths circling the street and porch lights as they did when I was a kid. I remember how every street light would have a galaxy of moths and other insects circling about. The porch light at my childhood home would have moths bumbling about. It was not uncommon to see bats circling through, grabbing a quick airborne snack.
Most of that is gone now. I can't recall seeing a bat in the last six or so years. Butterfly numbers have dramatically dropped along with honey bees and dragon flies. Fireflies are gone. We are truly led by monsters. Short-sighted, morally vacuous corporate gollums, goons and vampires.
Look to nature to see where we are headed and find any way possible to resist.
We kill our own kind. Killing is what this culture does as a solution to almost everything. We need to stop killing our own kind intentionally. Yet we do it wantonly and don't even blink about it. We treat it like a horse race. People's lives seem like nothing until we feel the pain. Humanity has to change this immediately. Those who want to wake up now must act differently. We need to demonstrate another way.
I agree with you, this is a death culture. It’s everywhere. Insects are disappearing because of climate change, but I don’t doubt that they are also disappearing from the reasons you give. I just think it’s both.
Yeah the climate is always changing though. Calling it climate change is sidestepping the real problem - pollution.
The climate does change. But this time humans have changed it rapidly because of what we have pumped into the atmosphere. The rate of change is going to cause warming and weather patterns to become extreme and deadly.
Weather manipulation has been going on since 1940s now you can see the all day checkerboard of chem trail clouds blocking the sun . Just like Bill Gates said to do.
In the US every military base including the closed ones, and the secret ones are EPA nightmares. The amount of nuclear pollution, war toxins, industrial toxins is huge in every state, and probably every foreign base as well..We even dumped it into the oceans to hide it from view.. then there are the intentional corporate sites, pcbs, PFAS forever chemical in every water supply country wide, agriculture runoff has killed so much wildlife and the ecosystems. We literally shit on our own plates. The fish are poison, but we have cell phones and Internet. An increasingly Police state mentality as well.
Actually, the climate is changing as the Super El Nino has proved. Record Pacific ocean temps now. Record high temps in both the Arctic and Antarctic. Record high temps across Europe now. I think those facts have meaning if we
care to acknowledge them
Record high temps all across the southern US. For weeks at a time.
Well we might have to agree to disagree on this one. Pollution is a problem, but climate change is also a verifiable problem
But you haven't put any substance forward for your stance. Climate is always changing. of course if you're going to be bombing, chemtrailing, letting poisons into rivers and waters, spraying against bugs, installing EMF towers everywhere plus many more assaults on the environment, yeah, I guess it will change. But the waters won't rise because even if the temps do go up, ice contracts so the waters will be lower not higher. What happened to their theory of "global warming"? Has time proven them wrong? And you're going to believe something this criminal syndicate tell you?
You're wrong. Global warming is absolutely occurring... caused by endless pollution of the environment in many forms. The Arctic and Antarctic poles ARE melting, glaciers ARE melting around the world, which causes the sea level to rise. Average global temperature is rising.
Denise - I’m not a climate scientist. I don’t need to put any substance forward on such a global issue that is written about by experts all over the place constantly. You have access to everything I have access to. As an adult you are perfectly capable of researching climate scientists and comparing and contrasting what they say to determine what you think about the science they put forth.
Climate is always changing. That is completely separate from what the current climate issues are. If you disagree then you disagree I guess. But according to the climate scientists I follow this is two different things and the research I read supports this.
Time is proving them right. There are heatwaves and crazy weather patterns going on all over the world. You’re not really making sense anymore though. I hope you reconsider.
I don’t believe anything from a criminal syndicate.
Yes, the climate is always changing, but that's not the issue. The issue goes by the name 'global warming' which is a particular subset of climate change describing the current warming trend, which is real and caused by humans, provably. We understand to a high degree what all the influences on the climate are and on what timescales they operate. The current trend cannot be accounted for by any of the natural cyclical processes because they operate on timescales either too short or too long to deal with a rapid climb over decades.
I hope Caitlin doesn't mind me doing this, but you can read about the whole problem here:
https://unsubpress.substack.com/p/in-the-current-climate
This isn't something about which there's any doubt or ambiguity whatsoever.
So many conspiracies. Where are these being promoted? Just wondering.
No reason to disagree both are related and detrimental and fully approved by government.
Pollution and geo-engineering
Ecological breakdown. Covers all causes and results.
Mass pesticide use over long periods of time is surely a culprit too.
Frankie, Bees are disappearing and very soon there won't be any honey. A metaphor for life we now live.
Nein, Insekten verschwinden nicht wegen "des Klimawandels", sondern deshalb, weil so viele Menschen politisch keine Garten/Grün/Naturflächen mehr zugestanden bekommen (Massen-Wohnbausiedlungen für völlig eigentums- und besitzlose Menschen, die es in der überwiegenden Mehrzahl weltweit gibt; Einkaufs-Malls en masse). Und wenn noch Garten/Grün/Naturflächen vorhanden sind, ob privat oder öffentlich, werden sie derart umgestaltet und verschandelt, dass sie für die heimische Tierwelt völlig nutz- und wertlos sind (klinisch-sterile beschissene Stein"gärten", Hybrid-Zierpflanzen oder eben überhaupt keine Pflanzen mehr). Wohin Mensch auch blickt: Betonwüsten Betonwüsten Betonwüsten. Am Land - wo ich mit meiner Familie lebe, in Telfs in Tirol/Österreich - ist es sehr gut. Alles Heimische wächst und gedeiht, Vögel, viele verschiedene Eidechsenarten, Frösche, Kröten, Blindschleichen, Insekten (viele Bienenarten, geschützte Wespenarten, Hornissen, verschiedene Schmetterlingsarten und Falter, Regenwürmer en masse, Vögel jedweder Art), alles kreucht und fleucht, haben natürlich erhaltenen Lebensraum. Viele Bauernfamilien haben noch die schönen, altbewährten Bauerngärten, wo vielfältiges Leben existiert. Es liegt an der Gestaltung und Erhaltung von Naturlebensraum.
We don't see others as 'our own kind'. That is part of the issue.
That's right. If wars are going on across the seas, we don't care. We just go on as usual. Imagine if we DID care. The oligarchs wouldn't stand a chance. When it's us that it happens to, then we'll care but nobody else will. I'd love to see Americans start to care and change the whole rubric.
Same here. Same everywhere
Omg you’re right…. Geezus god almighty the more effects of climate change I see and hear about the more the reality settles in and sends chills through me.. damn this is gonna get bad
It's not climate change, it's pollution and poisoning. Fluoride in the water, soils saturated with pesticides, herbicides. Spraying to kill bugs, chemtrails polluting the skies, pharmaceuticals polluting the water, it's a free for all and it's us that are doing it not just Gates et al. Hemp can answer all of that. Do you know that hemp can clean up superfund sites of mercury and pesticides and other heavy metals? And it brings nutrients to the top soil as well as sequester carbon? And a whole lot of other things that clean up and regenerate humans and nature.
it's us in the sense that most are not yet convinced a revolution is necessary. we do have to change the bus-drivers, but also the engine and the steering gear. most true environmentalist have come to this insight. capitalism won't cut it (e.g. it's not flexible enough to make the switch to a hemp based economy and/or would find ways to fuck it up).
If you could let your mind venture a little, and imagine that we don't need government at all. To have government now with the technology we have is silly. It's like using an old typewriter when we have a computer. We have to move with the times and government is simply obsolete now. Many people have worked out how to do it in another way. I can explain if requested.
I mean yeah, we could have warlords, robber barons, or fuedal lords. You get rid of the somewhat distributed power of a modern state with a degree of rule of law, and you get something evil more dictatorial, the power of outright violence and brutality.
i'd agree that at least in a transitionary period (which can take some generations) a kind of 'suppressive' system is necessary to subdue the long-standing capitalist conditioning. (and historians to prevent backsliding).
What did anyone think when crops were sprayed with pesticides such as glyphosate and others? They were designed NOT to be washed off by rain, hence accumulating in the soil with every application. I too remember when we wouldn't leave the porch light on as to not attract so many insects. Heck, even mosquitoes in my area have seen a significant decline!
🎯
This thread was going well. Thoughtful even and then…conspiracies get mentioned. There are so many things happening that we don’t need to regurgitate conspiracy theories like…chem trails. 🤦🏽♂️
See that's the program talking. Why don't you want to talk about what I believe and many, many others, that we are being sprayed with aluminum, barium and strontium, going by tests people have made? It's because the program wants to keep things the same. What basis do you have for thinking they are conspiracy theory and not fact? Do you think the people who fluoridate your water, bomb innocent people, inflict bodily harm by putting medical procedures into law, who take over land from farmers, kick people out of their homes, have a whole department dedicated to secret intelligence, put up cameras everywhere to surveil us, and a whole lot more that goes against the people, you think they don't conspire?
Do you know that a contrail dissipates after about 2 minutes?
You can't tell the difference?
Do you think it's ok for planes to leave those scars on the sky when if you car did it would be taken off the road?
Chemtails can be seen even where no airports are anywhere nearby.
When in doubt, plant a tree.
When I mow and I would rather leave the property wild however, I brake for the few Butterflies and Bees that I see now. I even tap the brake on my car for Butterflies. When I was a kid going to the country to my Grandfathers farm there would be moths so thick you would have to wash the windshield before you went home. On my way to my Fathers place farmet in the countryside, there are no insects on the windshield day or night.
I fact I thought we might develop a population measurement system by the numbers and kinds of insects on the windshield. At least they would have a purpose in their death.
We suck as a caretaker of the Earth : (
That is my experience to Mark. I work at a laboratory that is also a national wildlife area. We had Pheasants, fox, coyote, deer, millions of bees and of course butterflies. Now there are few and zero pheasants, fox and even the deer are very few in number now. I wrote a poem a few years ago, Butterflies dancing with Neutrinos. I had to explain to people what butterflies were. : ( Only somewhat kidding.
No insects here this year, but we're having a mega drought so...
Good point about the moths. I grew up in Texas, but same thing. Now? I don't see nearly as many moths.
I think your fireflies moved to NE Ohio, though. There aren't as many as there were in Texas when I was a kid, but we still get dozens of them every summer night, weather permitting.
Back in 1998 I bought 21 acres of beautiful rural land in the Driftless Region of SW Wisconsin, with plans to begin building a house and small educational retreat center. One night on the way home from a visit to Madison, I did a little detour to go visit the land and get a sense of what nights were like there. When I arrived, the meadow was FILLED with fireflies -- thousands drifting across the land and mixing with the stars overhead. There were so many, looking up was disorienting -- the stars and fireflies were mixed together. I thought of taking a half-hour to sit and take it in but was exhausted from the day and I had work in the morning. Besides, I thought, I'll be living out here next year and will be able to see this regularly.
Wrong.
The next summer I was living on the land and there were maybe a half-dozen nights with a dozen or so fireflies in the meadow. The next year, half that number. The year after, none and none for the next dozen years I lived on the land. One of the biggest mistakes of my life was that I didn't sit down on that land and fully appreciate the beauty of that long-ago night.
Six years in NW Wisconsin and I haven't seen a single firefly.
I remember, quite a while ago now - could even be a decade - reading an editorial in one of the big science journals about a married couple, both entomologists studying the fauna of the Amazon. They talked about two expeditions twenty years apart. The first expedition, they struggled to sleep with the cacophony of insect activity. The second, they said it was almost deathly quiet.
Insect populations have been plummeting for decades.
From southern Wisconsin originally.. I've noticed the same thing over the years, especially where I grew up. There used to be so many fireflies in the summer.
The general problem is ourselves. Stop fertilizing, using pesticides, fungicides and herbicides on our lawns, gardens and crops. The bugs will return and so will the bats, butterflies, mosquitoes.
I think we’re past the tipping point as well. Long past it, by some metrics.
And it’s all so fucking stupid. I think it’s the stupidity of it that gets me the most. Like, I get the psychopaths, they can’t really help themselves. But it’s all the other people who are passively going right along with it that I can’t excuse.
Fear. Denial is easier.
For some, perhaps.
For most. Convenience trumps doing what is right, moral, or necessary. Convenience is purposeful. We’ve been trained to enact convenience even to our own detriment.
An astute observation, but I have some reservations about purposeful. Convenience should serve a role in affecting human flourishing, but under a pathocracy, purpose loses any coherence. And, as you noted, it’s all detrimental.
De-growth is inevitable. Plan accordingly.
We ought to be degrowing right now in our everyday life. Cut out buying plastics, find alternatives that are not disposable, cut out idling the car for nothing, be conscious of energy use. The military uses the most energy so stop paying for the military. By "prepping" you are preparing you mind to accept defeat. No, our thoughts have power. We ought to expect the best. We need to talk about what that would be because we summon what we think about mostly and what we speak.
Yay! Bring it on!!
"The people in charge are just going to keep driving this thing into the ground until there’s nothing left to save. If there’s going to be a world-saving revolution, it’s going to come from we ordinary people who are willing to acknowledge reality, not from the oligarchs and empire managers presently steering things who have been blinded by the pursuit of profit and power."
Exactly--we have to become our own "heroes" as they say. The oligarchs are blinded by their obsession of making more and more money at the expense of others, and they're driving us all toward a cliff. So it's time to for us to grab the wheel, hit the brakes, and toss those a-hole oligarchs out of the bus! Revolution time!
The Revolution C, As Caitlin says and as history has proved, revolutions are never going to come from the ruling class and the oligarchs.
Such a movement must come from artists, cultural workers, trade unionists, genuine journalists, and public intellectuals and charismatic leaders who can get the masses to rally round for the cause of liberation.
Moreover, it will have to come from global south leaders like Fidel, Che, Patrice Lumumba and Ho Chi Min to name a few.
My suggestion to toss them IN FRONT OF THE BUS . .
“Denial facilitates the continued decline of Western capitalism. Too little is done too late against problems not yet admitted.” -Richard Wolff
Love it Tom
Bummer! Shoot me but in my 85 yrs, never has the opportunity to change course seemed so possible. Young people are rising up, adopting new ideas, working for change. At 85, I say: itis always darkest before the dawn.
"young people globally are actively rising up in what researchers, historians, and media outlets have formally dubbed the "Gen Z Revolts." Over the last few years, a massive wave of highly connected, digitally savvy, youth-led uprisings has swept across Asia, Africa, South America, and Europe. Driven by deep frustration over economic inequality, rampant corruption, rising living costs, and elderly political elites (gerontocracies), these decentralized movements have already toppled several national governments.
Unlike past generations, today's youth bypass traditional political organizations. Instead, they leverage platforms like TikTok, Discord, Instagram, and Reddit to instantly educate, mobilize, and share tactics across borders
Recent Examples of Youth-Led Revolts: Bangladesh (2024 Revolution) Widely cited as the world's first successful Gen Z revolution. What began as a student-led protest against public-sector employment quotas quickly mutated into a massive anti-government uprising. The relentless youth mobilization ultimately ousted the nation's long-standing authoritarian prime minister, sparking a chain reaction of inspiration for young activists worldwide.
Nepal (2025 Government Ouster) When the government implemented a social media ban amidst ongoing corruption and nepotism, Gen Z took to the streets by the tens of thousands. Using Discord, Instagram, and VPNs to bypass state censorship, they forced the resignation of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli. Protesters then uniquely organized a digital election on Discord to help select an interim leader.
Madagascar (2025 National Uprising) Triggered by chronic water shortages and electricity blackouts, young people organized massive nationwide marches. Defying violent crackdowns, the youth-led movement successfully pressured President Andry Rajoelina to dissolve his government, culminating in him fleeing the country/
.India (2026 Education & Exam Protests) A massive examination paper leak affecting 2 million students exposed deep structural corruption and favoritism within the education system. When authorities initially dismissed the youth, thousands of students filled the streets of New Delhi and other major cities to launch the "Cockroach Protests" (reclaiming a derogatory term used against them). The ongoing movement has forced high-level resignations and evolved into a broader fight for government transparency//
.Morocco (GenZ 212 Movement) Spurred by a combination of a 22%+ youth unemployment rate and anger over deteriorating healthcare, young Moroccans launched the GenZ 212 demonstrations. They actively protested the state prioritizing massive funding for the FIFA World Cup over schools and medical centers. The pressure successfully forced the royal palace to announce historic 16% budget increases for health and education;
.Kenya (Finance Bill & Tax Revolts) Young Kenyans utilized TikTok and encrypted messaging to launch decentralised, leaderless protests against a controversial finance bill. Their intense street mobilization successfully forced the president to withdraw massive tax hikes aimed at poor and working-class families, making it a monumental victory for youth civil society
.Key Characteristics of Today's Youth Revolts According to data groups like the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) and research from the Harvard Kennedy School, these modern youth uprisings share highly distinct blueprints
:Leaderless & Decentralized Structure: Rather than relying on a singular charismatic leader, Gen Z utilizes horizontal networks. This makes the movements highly responsive and incredibly difficult for police and governments to neutralize by simply arresting a "head".
Shared Cultural Symbols: Despite vast distances and cultural differences, young activists borrow tactics and iconography from each other. For example, the grinning pirate flag (Jolly Roger) from the anime One Piece has been adopted as a universal symbol of youth defiance across protests in Europe, Africa, and Asia.
Socioeconomic vs. Ideological Focus: Experts note that these revolts are rarely about abstract political ideologies (like capitalism vs. socialism). Instead, they focus on tangible, broken institutions—fighting directly against corruption, nepotism, state violence, and an economy that locks young adults into poverty and high unemployment."
Source: AI with primary sources......a tool being used along with social media to conduct the youth revolt
dale ruff, Maybe you are right about young people rising up. Here in Australia school kids walked out of class - in all the capital cities - to protest a right-wing, racist, white suprematist party, loyal to Trump.
Unfortunately so true
I’ve no answer
So I try to Never Give Up
But I actually feel lonely and scared
One gets scared when one isn't active. There is lots you can do - at this phase we need to talk talk talk but about what we want not what we don't want. Imagine that hemp is grown by a lot of people and it is used for buildings. People save 50-70% on energy costs and hemp insulation is highly effective and so safe a baby can sleep on the insulation bats. And a whole lot more. We need to be active talking about all the wonderful things we can do because our thoughts and our speech is immensely powerful. And the wicked ones get us to speak about the world they want and people do it all the time without giving any time to talking about what they want.
Try talking to buffoons! I don't get anywhere with them.
Here I am in S. France raging, because 2 people with a car parked below our patio want me to stop watering my plants because water is dripping on their car. I have a lovely lot of insects and bees. Screw the car!
For some reason I feel like interpreting this as hopeful. The sheeplike complacency of the spoiled, yet oppressed American public desperately needs the motivation this kaleidoscope of horrors can provide.
They are beginning to wake up, and if it’s not too late, we can turn all of these lemons into Hollandaise.
Actually, I prefer an emulsion.
Nice! - I guess most people Caitlin's list will know what an "emulsion" is . .
Not lemonade?
Thank you Caitlin. In the U.S. People could decide to stop voting for the Red and Blue cabal that sold us out. But....that ain't gona happen. Maybe next time, IF there is a next time.
Instead of not voting, wouldn't it be more effective to build a Social Democrats party?
They have and it is on substack.
The Democratic Socialists are a joke. They're just a subsidiary of the Democratic Party and should therefore not be supported. The two-party paradigm has to be smashed into many pieces before we see anything like actual democracy.
Hello Dr. Who. I have to say I am with you on this. I suppose it is possible the Dem. Socialists could grow into something better but with AOC there I would find it impossible to support them.
Anyway we need a 3rd party that isn't called socialist anything. Social democrats or? Isn't Mamdani a Democratic Socialist? Or is he not good enough either?
https://laborpolitics.substack.com/p/will-dsa-seize-the-moment-or-self?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=twspk
You know why the media doesn't talk about it?
Because we don't. How many people in your circles do you talk about this with?
I know I'd love to say a heck of a lot more and I say more than most, but most of them get angry, walk off or hang up on me. That's because they are suffering from the dissonance. Whenever someone hangs up on someone or shuts someone down, it is their obligation to make the initial move back to uniting with them. Never suck up to someone who hangs up on you or blocks you or ever tries to shut you down. That just gives rewards to sociopathic behaviors. We need to incentivize good behaviors in our life, behaviors that treat others as sovereigns and treat ourselves as sovereigns. Let me say that another way - we need to stand in our own sovereignty as well as recognize the sovereignty of others. Having been enslaved for eons, we don't even have a model of what sovereign interaction even looks like.
True, it is very hard to find people who talk with, I'm lucky my daughter is and we had a real talk about the mess these money-as-god people the other day, it is so good to share with someone else who "gets it", which is why this substack is so important to we contributors.
Islam cannot be located on the Western political spectrum because its moral framework precedes and judges that spectrum. Modern political binaries—forged in the secular conflicts of post-Enlightenment Europe—are fundamentally inadequate tools for evaluating divine revelation.
Islamic conservatism is not, and has never been, identical to contemporary right-wing politics. Under the paradigm of classical Sunni jurisprudence (fiqh), a Muslim can be socially traditional, economically distributive, fiercely anti-racist, anti-imperialist, and deeply hostile to ethno-nationalism without the slightest internal contradiction.
On social morality, family structures, personal ethics, and property rights (al-milkiyyah al-khāṣṣah), Islam’s demands align with what is termed traditional conservatism. On economic justice, mandatory wealth redistribution (zakāt), state welfare (Bayt al-Māl), the prohibition of usury (ribā), anti-imperialism, and environmental stewardship (khilāfah), its imperatives align far more with the Left.
My own personal trajectory reflects this exact distinction. By any modern standard, my personal life embodies absolute traditionalism: I am a Hanafi Sunni Islamic scholar who saved himself for marriage, has never touched alcohol or drugs, and has no tattoos. Because the secular Right superficially claims to champion traditional morality, I once found myself default-siding with them on most cultural debates.
The ongoing genocide shattered that conflation forever.
What unfolded was a moral watershed that exposed how the contemporary Right’s rhetoric of 'tradition' and 'heritage' serves as a cover for ethno-nationalist arrogance, racial chauvinism, and profound cruelty. We watch with outrage as those who claim the mantle of Christianity celebrate the brutality of agencies like ICE, dehumanize migrants, and justify tearing families apart in the name of Jesus (as)—weaponizing the Prince of Peace to sanctify state violence. Combined with their relentless, systemic Islamophobia—spreading fabrications, attacking Muslims, and actively celebrating the destruction of Muslim lives across the globe—supporting such a movement becomes a moral impossibility.
This rejection of the Right is not an embrace of the secular Left. Where the Right succumbs to malevolent hostility and tribal hatred, the Left remains trapped in secular moral relativism and ideological folly. Yet a vital temperamental distinction remains: the Left’s errors predominantly stem from moral confusion and misguided idealism, whereas the Right’s errors stem from calculated cruelty.
As Allama Iqbal (ra) observed in his critique of Western political systems, both wings of secular politics proceed from a materialist mind that is fundamentally blind to the spiritual destiny of man. Whether through untrammelled capitalism or secular progressivism, reducing humanity to mere economic or political material inevitably generates tyranny.
True conservatism ought to be rooted in divine justice, accountability, and the protection of the innocent.
I am willing to sit down and discuss politics with anybody—Left or Right—so long as they agree on basic, unyielding moral baselines: that deliberately targeting and killing civilians is wrong, that Israel is committing a genocide, and that slaughtering infants is an absolute evil, even when those babies are brown and Muslim. If you cannot bring yourself to affirm even these elementary principles of human decency, you have surrendered your conscience—fuck off and go die a dog's death!!!!!!!!!!!
Love it, love it, love it.
All of which is the reasons why israeli zionist jews hate Islam so much: no more raping children or adult prisoners, no more killing innocent people/children for the fun of it. No more any of the hateful things they love to do. No more treating women as objects.
My grandmother gave me a poem just before I got married.
God took a ribbon from man's side and gave it to woman.
From under his arm not to be ruled by him, but to be protected by him.
From near his heart to be loved by him.
From his side to stand beside him.
There's more but I can't remember it, but that gives the gist.
Sorry, spellcheck at it again. God took a "RIB"
I like "ribbon" better!
Please read and share.
https://forensicmawlaanaa.substack.com/p/the-corporate-colonization-of-the?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=8btafy
The paradigm defying belief system is actually true for Orthodox Christianity as well, if in different ways...which is why you dont hear much about.
I empathise with where you are coming from - and I am a 74yo atheist!
Yes, we live in a Suicide System. That is what capitalist competition is. Cooperation is the only sane way to live. We start where we are, family, neighborhood, community. Prof. Richard Wolff has the right concept of business co~ops. The people united can never be defeated!
My constant worry is my Great and Grandchildren, who did not contribute as much to this coming horror as the ones before my generation and onto this one. It's no good saying we see what is happening but doing nothing to stop it. The moneyed people appear to have no intention of stopping no matter how many billions they have-on paper anyway. One has to ask, do they have children, grandchildren and greatgrandchildren? Do they care about the mess they are leaving this country in for their descendants? Obviously not or they would use their billions to change the mess they are producing because of their over-the-top greed. How much does anyone need to live a comfortable life? Not anywhere near $billion dollars, that is just for the sake of having it, sure it buys some botoxed wives, but honestly the non-botoxed truly do look so much better, but that's men for you, and silly women who think it more important than what's inside, or intelligence. More money wasted daily/hourly that could be given to charities to feed too many hungry families - through no fault of their own.
Every billionaire is a policy failure.
Also, don't worship these parasites. They hurt all of us.
We had a recipe for civilization in the 1600s that we discarded in favor of slaughtering the natives and instituting slavery. The antidotes for slaughter and slavery were argued for extensively and were called Soul Liberty, Freedom of Speech, Democracy, and Freedom of religion.
Our US forefathers bastardized each of these principles so badly, it left us in the very circumstances that compelled them in the first place, and nobody has ever looked back.
The Slavery of Choice: Why Secular Freedom Is an Existential Trap
To the modern secular observer, my life may appear defined entirely by restrictions. They see the five daily prayers, the moral boundaries placed around desire, the disciplines of fasting and modesty, and the submission of my will to commandments revealed long before I was born. They look upon this and wonder how anyone could possibly call such an existence 'freedom'.
They look at the boundaries while missing the tranquillity within them.
My contentment does not stem merely from following rules, but from something far deeper: absolute certainty. I possess direct answers to the questions that modernity leaves deliberately unresolved.
I know that existence did not begin with man. The universe is not an accidental arrangement without purpose, nor is human consciousness a temporary flicker emerging from a meaningless cosmos. Behind creation stands its Creator: the One who brought existence from non-existence, who sustains every atom within it, and upon whom every created thing depends. I know where I came from.
Because I know my origin, I understand my purpose. I am not an accidental spectator wandering through an indifferent universe, forced to manufacture a temporary meaning and call it truth. I am a created being with a Lord, and a moral agent whose existence carries responsibility. I know what my Creator expects of me.
Worship is not merely an emotional experience; it is the fundamental orientation of human existence. My desires are not sovereign, my intellect is not infallible, and morality is not something to be reinvented according to the transient fashions of each generation. Revelation provides an objective horizon against which I can measure my thoughts and actions.
And I know what lies beyond death. This is perhaps the greatest source of tranquillity. Death is not an absurd interruption to an otherwise meaningless existence; it is a transition. This worldly life is temporary, accountability is real, resurrection is certain, and I will ultimately return to the One who created me.
I possess an ontological continuity that modern secular existence struggles to offer: I came from Allah, I belong to Allah, and I am returning to Allah.
The modern individual may possess extraordinary freedom of choice, yet remains existentially homeless. He can choose what to eat, where to live, what to believe, and what identity to construct, yet still lies awake wondering what any of it ultimately means. Choice alone cannot produce tranquillity. A soul rests not when given more options, but when it realizes the truth.
When sacred boundaries are erased, man is not liberated; he simply becomes enslaved to appetite, status, and the exhausting demand to invent purpose for himself. As G.K. Chesterton astutely observed, when men stop believing in God, they do not believe in nothing—they believe in anything.
My submission is not the negation of freedom; it is its foundation. As Allama Iqbal so masterfully expressed it:
'That single prostration which you deem so heavy frees man from a thousand other prostrations.'
I bow to Allah so that I do not have to bow to everything else. They look at my life and see a cage; I look at theirs and see a ship adrift without a compass. What they mistake for restriction is certainty; what they mistake for a burden is purpose; what they mistake for submission is liberation.
Within these sacred boundaries lies sakinah—the profound tranquillity of a soul that knows where it came from, why it is here, and where it is going. Without certainty, the soul remains perpetually discontented. With it, it can finally rest.
When I was a child my religion was pretty much like yours, although not so solid, when I say solid I mean totally enfolding. It was deemed strict, but we knew what was okay to do and what was not, I guess my grandfather, whom I adored, being a lay preacher and staunch old-school Christian helped guide me, and as he was so full of fun there was lots of laughter in my childhood.
Your religion is so strong in each of you, it is beautiful to see, which is probably what scares the people who have money as their god. Such a pity,because money feels nothing, gives nothing but a false pride, as we see daily with the oligarchs around us.
Thank you for sharing
An unthinking submission to superstition certainly works for some people. It's why religious leaders so eagerly monetised it. But, apart from the smug sense you'll be okay when you're dead, how does it really help? How does the notion 'we are all in god's hands' help anyone when, clearly, it is humanity that is the problem? What use is uncritical contentment when action is required? It is all very nice that your superstition makes you feel so safe and happy, but what will it do to save the world? The world needs leaders - including religious leaders - to stop papering over the cracks, because humanity's saviour is not going to be sitting on our thumbs and moaning an occasional prayer. It's going to be, and has to be, humanity.
The Myth of Self-Rule: Why Modern Atheism is Just Worshipping Yourself
Reducing deep religious conviction to passive superstition misrepresents both spiritual theology and historical reality. The premise that faith encourages people to sit idle creates a false dichotomy between divine trust and human responsibility. True faith has never been an anaesthetic for passivity; it is an irreplaceable moral engine for action, justice, and societal progress.
In Islamic tradition, prayer is far from a retreat into quietism. Prophet Muhammad (saw) famously stated:
«الدُّعَاءُ سِلَاحُ الْمُؤْمِنِ»
'Prayer is the weapon of the believer.'
One must reasonably ask: does a weapon sound like an instrument of passive surrender? A weapon is forged for active engagement, struggle, and defence against hardship and injustice. It is an instrument of moral fortitude, not an excuse for inaction.
Far from papering over cracks, history’s most profound movements for human betterment were birthed directly from sacred duty. The abolition of the transatlantic slave trade, the Civil Rights Movement, and the founding of the world's first hospitals, universities, and widespread relief agencies were all driven by individuals acting out of religious conviction.
Furthermore, the foundation of modern civilization—its science, art, and medicine—was built directly upon religious bedrock. Sir Isaac Newton, widely regarded as the greatest scientist in human history, was a devout Christian who viewed his breakthroughs in physics as an exploration of divine architecture. Similarly, Ibn Sina (Avicenna), the undisputed polymath whose Canon of Medicine defined medical practice for over five centuries, was a devout Muslim scholar who routinely turned to prayer for intellectual clarity when solving complex scientific problems. Even Albert Einstein, while rejecting a personal deity in favour of a cosmic order, vehemently repudiated dogmatic atheism, noting that the harmony of natural law revealed a mind of vast intelligence. Historically, secular atheism contributed remarkably little to the foundational development of human thought compared to the overwhelming legacy of religious minds.
If humanity is the problem, relying solely on unanchored human nature risks repeating the very errors that caused our damage. Edmund Burke rightly noted, 'The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.' Far from encouraging fatalism, faith demands rigorous stewardship. As Allama Iqbal (ra) observed, 'It is the lot of man to share in the deeper aspirations of the universe around him and to shape his own destiny.' Similarly, G. K. Chesterton pointed out, 'The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.'
Ultimately, the secular notion of absolute autonomy is an illusion. Human beings are inherently wired for devotion. In the end, you either worship other human beings, or you worship yourself—meaning your own desires—or you worship Allah. We are all slaves to something; we only get to decide who or what holds our allegiance. I am entirely content with my decision.
I appreciate your devotion to the betterment of the world, and in so doing, Humanity.
But my own understanding of spirituality and the blurred line between the western concepts of 'religion' and 'philosophy' has me wanting to encourage you to explore more perspectives of faith and belief beyond the Abrahamic trinity.
If I, as a content atheist, have faith in anything, it would be in the inherit ability of humans to change themselves and the world around them.
We are dying now, but we still have time to change.
I read and watch videos on lots of topics and subjects; I am not only an Islamic scholar, but also a polymath and a polyglot.
Once, I was being interviewed by a lovely Black American woman who asked me a few questions about my qualifications and background. I mentioned that I was a polymath, and with complete sincerity, she replied that she was never very good at math.
It was unbelievably difficult not to burst out laughing right then and there, but I managed to hold it together somehow. Now that was true spiritual power!
On a more profound note, your trust in the human capacity for transformation is deeply moving. Humans possess countless faults and flaws, yet those amongst us who strive for good are so remarkable that even the angels pray for forgiveness for them. That innate ability to pivot, reform, and elevate both ourselves and the world around us is perhaps the most noble spark we carry. As Edmund Burke wisely observed, ‘Custom reconciles us to everything’—yet it is precisely our capacity to break free from harmful custom and choose a better path that keeps hope alive.
Rod, I would like an extended discussion of this stuff between you and The Custodian - but I am guessing, in the end, it will just amount to nothing useful - it seems if you just believe, then there is no room for real discussion / development . .
I was reading your post and suddenly it all changed! The first one was good too...
There are only 5000 people in the world. They are called Bankers.
Everything else is a commodity.
The Thiels of the world need the resources. Soon they will herd us into the machine and out will come Soylent Green.