Moving Forward in Confusing Times
From a talk by Tim Jackins at a meeting for the RC International Liberation Reference Persons and International Commonality Reference Persons, April 2023
For many of us in RC, as we have discharged our distresses, we have seen the usefulness of using our regained abilities and perspective to be part of changing our societies. We understand that to create possibilities for every human to be free from the effects of distresses, it is not enough to create opportunities for people to discharge; we need to make changes in our societies in order to stop distresses and oppressions from continuing.
CHALLENGING OUR LIMITATIONS
Many of us commit ourselves to taking actions—by talking to others, protesting, and so on, which we hope will lead to changes in the functioning of our societies. To do this we have to go against our distress recordings. This can bring up many confusing, restimulated feelings of being small, powerless, unimportant, isolated, discouraged, and more. These old, recorded feelings make it difficult to clearly see good paths forward. They are part of what allows those societies to continue to exist, even when the societies clearly are not providing even the possibility of good lives for their citizens.
We can think about what would be best for us to do in the present no matter what happened in the past and no matter what undischarged feelings remain with us. Those feelings change with discharge, as you have proved to yourself many times before. But to really begin to end the effect of those distresses on us and on our societies, we need to have our functioning in the present not be dictated by the feelings of undischarged distress from the past. We can decide to think and act afresh.
Many of us have already chosen to act against our distress recordings and are actively involved in trying to change the societies. We do not do this perfectly, but we are able to function better and better in these directions, as we both continue to discharge and gain new experiences, information, and contact with a wider range of intelligences.
While we get better at moving forward despite our distresses, our distresses may still confuse us. Many of us have feelings of desperate urgency. Many of us are determined, but that determination has patterned aspects to it: we drive ourselves forward to keep from fully feeling and being stopped by recordings of discouragement. Other pieces of our distress make it difficult to openly share our thoughts or build the relationships that will be needed to build a broad-based force for change.
SOCIETAL COLLAPSE
Our societies are having great difficulties in continuing to function. This is becoming impossible to hide. The oppressive measures used to maintain our societies also show more and more openly. Life is getting much more difficult for most of the world’s people. Many people are dying, and there are many armed conflicts. This is happening because these societies are based on the exploitation and coercion of people and the resulting distresses inflicted on them.
It appears that there is no rational force able to stop this collapse of our societies. We can work to minimize the suffering and damage, but we are not in a position to prevent it. We get to grieve and discharge about it so that we can think clearly about how to change the situation when opportunities to do this develop.
Big changes become possible during times of collapse. We can be ready to help make those changes be in directions that are most human and least irrational. While we alone are unlikely to create these situations, we can work to be ready to participate effectively when they arise. What are some of the ways we can do this?
SUSTAINING OURSELVES AND OTHERS
This is a long-term undertaking, and we need to be able to sustain ourselves and others for a long period. Desperate, short-term efforts that leave us discouraged and burnt out are unlikely to be effective. They are also unlikely to attract others or communicate reality to them. We need to have good, enjoyable, but not necessarily easy, lives and be able to think about our families and our other relationships. We can think about how to conserve and strengthen ourselves.
We can challenge the separation from others that has come from our early years. Because of these early distresses, many of us have developed a pattern of simply ignoring most of the people we are around, people who can be part of moving the world forward in rational, human ways.
If we are going to play a good role in moving things forward, we need to make efforts to consistently show the full humanness we think every human possesses. We can think about many other people and decide what relationships, small or large, we might try with them, rather than ignoring them or not being aware of them because of old patterns of isolation and discouragement.
I think we will survive the many serious and dangerous situations that this societal collapse is causing, including the climate emergency. We have developed excellent resources for freeing ourselves from the limitations pushed at us by past, undischarged distress. The more of us that decide and act to limit the effect of those recorded feelings while facing and discharging those same feelings, the more quickly and effectively we will be part of creating societies that are fair to everyone.
(Present Time 212, July 2023)