To halt the decline of our civilization and stop our race toward ecological, economic and social collapse, we must sow and create a paradigm shift, a shift in the dominant world view, a shift in consciousness. That requires consciousness raising, media activism, and education. But we also need a fundamental
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Writings of J. Todd Ring: Freedom, Democracy & Education
If you value compassion or human decency, then you should value education – not indoctrination. And if you value education, then you must value truth above comforting illusions or denial, and you must value freedom, diversity, individuality, curiosity and creativity, because education becomes indoctrination without them, and freedom becomes tyranny,
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Knowledge vs Opinion, Enlightenment vs Delusion
As Plato said, everyone has opinions, but few have knowledge. It is important that we keep that in the back of our minds, if not the fore. Two levels, there are, in everything: there is the question of how to live, and how to construct a society that is just,
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: What Must Be Done
Open letter to friends of freedom: Hi folks, People are beginning to realize that we need a different attitude and view with regards to how we see nature, life, humanity, and ourselves. Very few get past rudimentary first steps, however. Since this shift in paradigms and consciousness is essential and
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Enlightenment: Raising Consciousness & The Cloud of Unknowing
Ideology is neither salvation nor liberation. As important as a paradigm shift, a shift in world view, or a shift in consciousness and perspective, clearly is, we must understand this. It is not ideas or ideology that will save
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Conspiracy Theory Revisited
We should remember that the cult of authority, the cult of obedience, and the cult of conformity, are profoundly anti-intellectual, anti-science, anti-empirical, and anti-democratic, as well as extremely dangerous. And these three cults now reign supreme across the Western world, as Western societies close down, having imported the authoritarian model
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: From Bankers Ruling The World, To The People Ruling The Bankers
(And Rebuilding And Healing The World In The Process) “I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies.” – Thomas Jefferson “I pray we shall crush the moneyed aristocracy in its infancy, for already it bids defiance to our laws and seeks a contest
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Seven Virtues To Liberate and Heal The World
The following is a seed thought, a note to myself, for further elaboration in the future, and it is a note I will share with others, because it is a seed thought which is powerful, healing, and liberating. I will not go into any lengthy discussion, meditation or exposition of
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: The Hollow Men Encounter The Spirit of Capitalism
And We Recoil In Horror Before The Reality Is Anything More Than A flickering and Fleeting Perception, Which Can Be Easily Denied, and Swept Aside “We are the hollow men, the stuffed men” Weber’s, The Protestant Ethic & The Spirit of Capitalism remains the most important text in sociology, and
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: The Psychology and Therapeutic Benefits of D&D
Or, Why D&D Kicks Butt There is a mounting body of evidence and experience that shows that D&D, the original role playing strategy game (like chess, but with improv theatre, and no great powers of concentration required), has very positive psychological and therapeutic effects on children, youth and adults. The
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: The New Renaissance Women and Men
For thousands of years, philosophers and others have been asking questions such as, What is a just society? What is virtue? What is a virtuous life? What is the good life? What is the source of happiness? What, even, is real? Who are we? Where did we come from, where
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Overviews of philosophy, religion, politics, history & sociology: where one might begin – or continue in more depth
Fascinating look here, in this BBC podcast (linked below), at the history, sociology, psychology, theology and politics of fundamentalism, evangelism, millennialism & apocalyptism. See also, Michael Grosso’s, The Millennium Myth, & The Millennium Book of Prophecy by John Hogue. My own views in terms of religious philosophy, political philosophy and
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Medieval Society – Then and Now
“You’re still fucking peasants as far as I can see.”- John Lennon Great short video, linked below, but the view of medieval peasant life is too one-sided – as is typical. Oh the smugness of modern society. Medieval peasants had little freedom, and were bonded to the landowner class. But
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: The Definition Of A Warrior
Here is a good working definition of a warrior. Chogyam Trungpa, or the 13th Dalai Lama, can explain it better. I am just a student. (See, Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior, and The Bodhisattva Warrior) Nevertheless, I think the following thoughts are worthy of reflection. A true warrior
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Compromise or Collapse
The elite always do the same thing. They have repeated the same failed patterns for millennia. They never learn. They could be wealthy and powerful, virtually in perpetuity, or at least, for a very long time – if they were willing to compromise. They are not. Instead, they fall into
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Lemmings, Cowards & Sheep Unite!
Covid-1984, which is the best way to describe the recent events, is certainly acting as a litmus test. It is separating clearly the men from the boys, the women from the girls, and the people who are capable of sane and rational thought, from the lemmings, the cowards and the
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Getting Off The Treadmill: Seeking More Through Less
Newer, better, more… Newer, better, more… On and on the circle goes. But when you begin to see through such delusions and self-limiting, self-imprisoning patterns, then the door to true wisdom opens. First, however, you must get off the treadmill of always seeking newer, better, more. If it doesn’t exhaust
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Taoist Political Philosophy – Or, How To Not Make The World Worse, By Good Intentions Gone terribly Wrong
The modern world, and particularly the modern Western world, which has now, as of these past few decades, successfully, and tragically, exported itself to become the basis and norm of the modern world globally, is clearly and indisputably in great and severe crisis, on multiple levels: sociologically, politically, economically, psychologically,
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Censorship, Big Tech & The Closing Down of Society
Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube, and the MAGATs – Microsoft, Apple, Google, Amazon and Twitter – are all now embedded and engaged in censorship, data mining, privacy invasion, the new global surveillance and police state, and/or state-corporate propaganda, and manipulation of elections and the public mind (ie: the Facebook and Cambridge
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Big Exodus from Big Tech
Time for the exodus to begin in earnest from the now confirmed to be fascist and deeply Orwellian Big Tech giants. At the least, we need to begin the migration and the shift, by supporting and using the alternative social media, search engines, email, browsers, etc., which do not data
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