Poised as we are at this great turning point in History... on this New Year's Eve which ends 2012 and begins 2013, I am reminded of a quote by Sir Isaac Newton:
"If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants."
I might paraphrase Sir Newton by saying that if we are going to see further, into the changes, and into the battles, of 2013, we need to be standing on the shoulders of some pretty impressive giants. 2012 was a Year of enormous Changes on Mother Earth, especially in the Consciousness of Worldwide Humanity. I believe that most of these Changes were good, and were part of a prophesied Shift or Awakening connected to the Mayan calendar, and manifesting in the Arab Spring Movement, Anonymous, WikiLeaks, the Occupy Movement, Strike Debt, Idle No More, the trends toward eco-consumerism and organic awareness, the defeat of Romney, and many, many other things happening on personal, interpersonal, local, state, national, and global levels. These manifesting changes take place in religious, political, professional, spiritual, leisurely, romantic, and social networking worlds. I believe that 2013 will see the continuation of these Changes, the intensification of the Shift, and that there will be many moments in 2013 when the Forces unleashed by the Consciousness Shift will face challenges from the Elite and the bastions of the Status Quo. These Forces will triumph on the whole, even if we do see some setbacks on occasion. The March of Human Progress cannot help but be empowered at this stage of History: and I know this because I have peeked behind the curtain and seen the gears and levers.
The GIANTS of Influence for 2013 are Many. And no one, of course, can predict which "nobodies" are going to suddenly become "somebodies" in the throes of this Movement over the Next Year. However, by analyzing the trends, by following current events (in independent media rather than on TV network news stations), and also by giving myself to meditation and prayer about what I read and watch and hear and see, I, the FoX, believe I have identified at least TEN INDIVIDUALS that I believe You should Watch, take Motivation from, give Support to, Pray for, Emulate, and Assist over the next coming 12 Months. Individuals are of Enormous Importance at this Time in History. The agents of the Devilly Box, the "elite" and the "status-quo-upholders", are doing all they can to undermine the power of Individuals, even going so far as to undermine the definition of "personhood" to include large corporations. They do so because their father the Devil knows that Individuals hold far greater Power than they probably realize, and the Devil fears that power. Corporations, and indeed, even Governments, will never hold as much sway in the moral Universe, in the sight of God, and in the inheritance of Progeny, as even the most "insignificant" Individual holds, even if unbeknownst to him. For it is in Individuals that the glory of God is manifested. It is Individuals who are made in the Image of God. It is Individuals who have the Power to state Intentions, to practice Binding & Loosing, Sowing & Reaping, Blessing & Cursing, the Ways of the Universe. And what God has to say about Personhood and Soul-standing and Influence certainly matters more than what Courts and Media have to say.
Without further ado, here is my list of fascinating, influential, and important World-Changing individuals to meditatively agree with, and pray for, in 2013.
Without further ado, here is my list of fascinating, influential, and important World-Changing individuals to meditatively agree with, and pray for, in 2013.
Counting Down:
10. Michio Kaku. Michio Kaku (links to the Wikipedia article) is an American theoretical physicist whose major influence comes from the fact that he is a Futurist. In agreement with what this Blog has been claiming since the very beginning of 2011, Kaku argues that humanity is right now at a major crossroads and can go one of two ways. Either Humanity can turn towards a global, scientific, tolerant community that addresses planetary concerns such as climate, likelihood of conflict, and other environmental/social/political problems; or Humanity can go the way of sectarianism, conflict, suspicion, terrorism, and, ultimately, self-destruction. Kaku has identified countless ways that technology stands to improve and increase -- exponentially -- in the next several decades, and each "revolution" that he predicts is mind-blowing. The more technology increases the more stark our choices will be, in regards to what kind of Humanity we are about to become. Throw away all your philosophy, folks: do not depend on ideas of predetermined outcomes, innate natures, or foregone conclusions in the story of Humanity. WE are writing this Story, we can change it at any time, we can Believe the best about ourselves and dare to try to overcome the base things that seem to always control us and keep us from progress. Kaku believes that fighting for nuclear disarmament and resisting the tendency in government to rubber stamp new nuclear energy is key to this particular set of years we have ahead of us. I advise my Readers to subscribe to updates about Michio Kaku on their favorite social networks, to watch his youtube videos (starting with this one), and above all, to join with him in two things: (1) help propagate the Idea that Humanity is at an important crossroads and that the actions of this generation are pivotal, and (2) be a part of the anti-nuclear Movement. Sign online petitions, attend public hearings, write letters to editors and representatives, post memes, all dedicated toward ending Nuclear weapons & energy in 2013.
9. Paul Stamets Paul Stamets (links to the Wikipedia article) is an American mycologist. That is, he studies mushrooms. You may not necessarily see a connection between mushrooms and changing the World, but that is because mushrooms are surprisingly under-studied. It is estimated that 12% or more of mushroom varieties are undiscovered, and even those that are discovered are not all completely understood. Stamets himself has discovered many intensely beneficial uses for mushrooms, including cures or treatments to such diseases as Cancer, Alzheimer's, H1N1 and other super flus and bugs. Another major application of mushrooms that Stamets has discovered is bioremediation - using mushrooms to convert toxic substances in pollution, such as spilled oil, to non-toxic organic compounds that Plants, Animals, and People can digest and take Nutrition from. Mushrooms can literally clean our Planet. Also, by cultivating mushrooms we can sequester enormous amounts of carbon out of our atmosphere, possibly helping to reduce or reverse runaway climate change. There are a lot of youtube videos where Stamets argues for mushrooms and their positive impact on Humanity as a whole... perhaps the most concise, clear, and yet detailed video is the TED talk called Six Ways Mushrooms Can Save the World. What I find most interesting about Stamets is that he seems to believe mushrooms are part of a pronoiac plot to save the Planet and his evidence for that is the fact that mycelial growth happens along the same template as both the connecting of neurons in our brains and in the growth of the Internet. He has actually said that the Internet was bound to come about at this time in our history because our evolutionary link with mushrooms programmed that eventuality into our future many millions of years ago. You can empower the ideas of Paul Stamets by patronizing his online store at www.fungi.com which has a full catalog of mushroom products, and finding uses for mushrooms in your own personal life. Then, share the applications with your friends and family. Let the whole World become more well acquainted with the Fungus Kingdom, for it is truly Magical indeed!
8. Julian Assange Julian Assange is an Australian activist/journalist who has become one of the most wanted men in the World, and has been dubbed an Enemy of the State in the United States simply by being a good journalist and choosing to question the official stories of the news media. The organization he founded, WikiLeaks, has released more classified documents to the World than all the rest of the World's media combined. Most of this has been done without a huge budget, with equipment that is affordable to Individuals, and the information released has been quite embarrassing to the Governments of the World... showing them to be corrupt and conspiratorial and guilty of spying on their own citizens, manipulating global events for the profit of the elites, and engineering conflicts in otherwise peaceful zones. Assange currently has political asylum at the Embassy of the UK in Ecuador but faces almost certain extradition to Sweden and perhaps an unfair trial in the United States and eventual imprisonment unless the People of the World continue to rally behind him, demand his release, and also COPYCAT his actions. The hacktivist group Anonymous owes a great debt to the ideas, philosophy, impetus and actions of Assange, and We invite You to Join Us. Here is a video on how You can be involved in taking down the corrupt structures of control from your personal computer, laptop, or smartphone: How to Join Anonymous - A Beginner's Guide. If Assange avoids the fate that the elites of the World are currently envisioning for him, he intends to run for a Senate seat in New South Wales, Australia, where We know he will do Much Good.
7. David Cobb David Cobb is an American activist currently working on ending Corporate Personhood with a group of grassroots organizations collectively known as Move to Amend. Just as Governments fear Julian Assange, corporations should learn to fear Cobb and all his co-activists in the Movement to end corporate personhood. Since 1886, Corporations have been defined as "persons" by the United States Supreme Court which has resulted in them being given many legal privileges that have allowed them to influence (read corrupt) our democracy with money. The truly landmark case which empowered corporations the most was not all the way back in 1886, however, it was in 2010 (Citizens United vs. the Federal Election Commission). It allowed corporations to spend unlimited amounts of money to finance candidates. This has, in fact, ensured that corporate-friendly politicians will always be the major candidates in our elections; it has effectively legalized bribery and grift; and furthermore it has made it inconceivable that third parties or "average Joes" will ever make much headway in American politics. As long as corporations are people the desire of elites to profit off our our natural resources will always outweigh (literally) our collective will as Persons in this democracy to preserve our environment. The desire of elites to profit off of war-making will outweigh our collective will to make Peace. The desire of elites to profit off of the medical service industry will outweigh the intentions of medical professionals to seek cures and wellness rather than short-sighted treatments that lead to increasingly iatrogenic and preventable diseases proliferating throughout our populations. The work of Move to Amend activists centers around amending the United States Constitution to define personhood as only for Human Beings. If this amendment is successful it will seriously limit how much say the top 1% have over the rest of us, and will end the fiction of entitled corporations as they rampage across national boundaries to seek the cheapest labor and the most fragile, readily available natural resources, in the most unethical markets. YOU can get involved by joining a local chapter of Move to Amend or starting one in your hometown if there is not one. Already more than 150 cities across the United States have officially called for a Constitutional Amendment that would end corporate personhood because of the work of David Cobb and other activists like him. Each new city increases the pressure on Congress to act. Soon enough they will not be able to ignore Us.
6. Vandana Shiva Vandana Shiva is an Indian environmental activist who is also fiercely embroiled in a struggle against the devastating effects of corporate personhood. However, her approach is immediate and specific to one particular atrocity being committed by corporations (and one corporation in particular) rather than being long-range and broad like David Cobb's approach. Vandana Shiva is specifically engaged in confronting Monsanto, which is the World's largest agriculture corporation and arguably the most corrupt corporation on Earth. Monsanto is replacing traditional, sustainable, and organic methods of farming all across the World by genetically engineering seeds for many crops. The appeal of Monsanto's crops is that they are resistant to Monsanto's own pesticides, which include Round Up. The disadvantage, however, is that the genetically modified foods cause well-documented illnesses in humans that are being purposefully covered up by the FDA and the USDA (many of whose top officials are current or ex-employees of Monsanto). What is more, the pesticides they are supposed to be used with are wreaking havoc on the insect kingdom which are the pollinators for the entire Planet. This weakens the very fabric of Life on Planet Earth and calls into question our ability as Humans to find any refuge in Mother Nature that we don't pay Monsanto for. Already farmers in India, Africa, and many parts of the developing world are locked into a cycle of debt and poverty because they have bought Monsanto's crops, and these crops are also seedless, so the age-old practice of saving one's own seed has become impossible, and, in many cases, illegal, as Monsanto has sought to actually patent certain DNA sequences. Effectively Monsanto is saying that it owns certain species of plants, and more and more, those species of plants make up the diet of all Humanity. Roughly 43% of the food you can purchase in an American supermarket today came from Monsanto directly or indirectly (indirectly because all industrial meats are definitely fed genetically modified feed). Small farms are disappearing as a direct result. Even foods under the USDA Certified Organic label are being compromised by GM crops. Organic farms that border chemical farms are frequently contaminated by cross-pollination with nearby GM crops, and no remuneration is made to the organic farmers who lose their organic crops as a result. And what is more, the Monsanto lobby is spending millions to keep ordinary consumers in the dark about the disadvantages of consuming genetically modified products. What Vandana Shiva is doing, basically, is empowering the small, traditional farmers. She is a popularizer of seed-saving, of organic agriculture in general and of permaculture and biodynamics specifically. She is a whistle-blower on corporate agriculture. What YOU can do is simple. Buy as little supermarket food as possible. Grow food in your own Garden. Learn how to Garden. Eliminate food waste in your house hold by freezing and canning leftovers, stocking up, being economical. What you cannot grow yourself, you can trade with people who are growing. You can shop at farmer's markets. If you must go to a supermarket as a last resort be as conscientious as possible, choosing things that are labeled "GMO Project Verified" when available or, if not available, at least going with what the USDA debatably says is "organic." Strike out anything that doesn't meet at least these minimum requirements from your diet ASAP. Do not let Monsanto, or, for that matter, any industrial agriculture company, have one more dollar of your money if you can help it. Real, organic, local, homegrown, free-range, GMO-free food is better for you, more delicious, and getting trendier every passing day.
5. Evo Morales Evo Morales is the current President of Bolivia, and is the very first indigenous person to become President of a modern Nation. His Presidency has been remarkably focused on indigenous rights, on de-colonizing, and on environmental issues. Chief among those environmental issues is banning genetically modified organisms from Bolivian agriculture and groceries. In 2012 President Morales championed the Law of the Rights of Mother Earth which recognizes the Earth Herself as a "subject" of our collective interest as Humans and states that the Earth has certain rights which Human governments must respect. These rights include the right to Life, meaning that Earth's life systems must be left intact with enough integrity to keep functioning for future generations and for species other than just humanity. Other rights include the right to clean air, clean water, the right to be free of contamination (by genetic modification, pollution, and other means), and the right to Diversity of Life. This Law will, I believe, serve as a template for other forward-thinking Leaders in other countries, possibly including our own, and is very important because Mother Earth is indeed a living Being, and She must be given our respect or we as Humans will fall out of equilibrium with Her, and in the end it will be us as Humans who pay. Not the Earth. Evo Morales is also an influential Person to watch because he took a cue from the great Mayan Prophecy regarding the new cycle we began at the end of the Mayan "fourth cycle" in the Long Count Calendar on December 23, 2012. In agreement with what this Blog has been saying all along, President Morales said on 12/21/12 that we were entering a period when Peace & Unity can set us on a new course, one much different and better than the path towards destruction we have all collectively been upon in the past Century. President Morales has, in other words, publicly supported the idea of the Shift and as such has proven himself to be a worthy exponent of that Shift. Watch it continue to work through him, and indeed, watch for more indigenous men and women like Morales to increasingly take the stage in World Events.
4. Chief Theresa Spence Chief Theresa Spence is the leader of the Attawapiskat First Nation in Canada. She is currently on Hunger Strike demanding a meeting with Canada's prime minister Stephen Harper regarding treaty rights that are being repeatedly ignored by the Harper government so that it can bend over backwards to appease Corporate Interests. These include the interests of TransCanada, a corporation which is developing the Tar Sands region in Northern Alberta, poisoning First Nations people, polluting water, decimating forest land, and speeding up climate change. All of this is in the name of cheaper fuel and "energy independence" for the United States. TransCanada and their cronies, -- along with every U.S. Republican who says he wants to "create jobs" by removing environmental regulations pertaining to oil drilling, exploration, development and refining -- hope to construct a major pipeline known as the Keystone XL pipeline that will go across the U.S./Canada border all the way down to Texas, and will increase the carbon output of the fossil fuel industry to a conclusively runaway level. Stand with Chief Theresa Spence on her Hunger Strike. The Hunger Strike has inspired actions from indigenous populations all over the World and their movement is now called "Idle No More." It is a definite inheritor of the same Revolutionary impulse that was (and is) in Occupy, which Occupy itself inherited from the Arab Spring pro-democracy movement. Like the Idle No More facebook page and follow their updates. If a solidarity rally is held anywhere near where you live, attend, and get involved. Also, please support the work of Bill McKibben and 350.org, who are tied for this spot #4 on my list of ten influential people, because they are very effectively engaging the American political arena on the issue of Climate Change and they are specifically saying "No!" to the Keystone XL pipeline. I, the FoX, intend to be in Washington, D.C. for the 350.org protest against Keystone on President's Day, February 17, 2013. You should be there too! One more person to include in your solidarity would be Kumi Naidoo, and all the activists of Greenpeace International, who are fighting climate change in a multi-faceted way: by occupying the international climate talks and summits such as the recent Doha Climate talks, by resisting oil giant Shell's plans to open up risky drilling in the pristine Arctic Ocean, and by persuading companies to stop wiping out key rainforests that replenish our atmosphere and work against the greenhouse effect. Consider becoming a supporter of Greenpeace to add your name to this struggle as well.
3. Michael Reynolds Michael Reynolds is an American architect in Taos, New Mexico who pioneered the design and marketing of sustainable housing by inventing the Earthship. Earthships are carbon neutral homes, self-sustaining, and relatively inexpensive to build. They are also resistant to earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, and other extreme weather events which are likely to become more and more commonplace as a result of climate change. Earthship design led also toEarthbag construction, or the use of "super adobe" to create sustainable homes for under $10,000. Living in a sustainable home makes you part of the solution, not the problem. There will be an increasing trend in 2013 to become self-sustaining and many people will successfully achieve the dream of going off the grid. Americans should get on this quick. Already the designs of Michael Reynolds are being implemented in Haiti (links to a youtube video) and New Zealand. As the worldwide housing market becomes increasingly more ridiculous (in terms of how much money and energy building and maintaining them requires), sustainable housing will be a more and more attractive alternative. In my opinion the difference between living on Planet Earth as-is and living on the New Earth, the Utopian Paradise envisioned by authors such as Ernest Callenbach or Starhawk, involves transitioning to sustainable housing, alongside gardening, homesteading, freezing, canning, preserving, and of course, using renewable energy. What can YOU do to empower the ideas of Michael Reynolds and other sustainable living proponents? Whatever your current situation is, take the next step toward sustainability, whatever that is for you: for some it will mean growing a garden, for others building a worm compost bin, or raising your own chickens, or actually purchasing land on which to build a carbon neutral home
2. Thoth Thoth is a street performer in New York who is truly mind-blowing and seems to actually supernaturally embody Music as though it were a quality of Spirit or Source. Thoth's ideas and personal philosophy were shaped by his rich experiences as a Human Being and he is bravely going all out to simply inspire people in their day-to-day lives. Thoth may not be a political giant but he is a Giant in Spirit and he is emblematic of an emerging culture that does not require traditional jobs and does not buy into the corrupt Devilly Box system of our society. Thoth is simply doing what he loves to do and by so doing is spreading Joy and Love and all the things that make us Human. That is more precious than anything in our day and age. Consider giving Thoth's music a listen, or reading his writings on his Web site, or watching his videos on Youtube. Then follow his example and become your own Best You. Because:
1. Number One is YOU. YOU, whomever YOU are, YOU are an untapped resource for healing our Planet. You were born to the specific Time and Place you were born to for a PURPOSE. Your Life has MEANING and POTENTIAL and YOU are Meant to Succeed in Life, to be Happy, to be Alive, to be Healthy, to make Positive Changes, and to Inspire Others. I have written about other individuals in this Blog Post who can inspire YOU or give YOU a model to go on. I hope YOU will pray for these individuals, patronize their businesses, contribute to their non-profits, subscribe to their updates, and I hope that all along through this miracle of the Worldwide Web YOU will connect with other YOUs out there and together We can assert our Rights as Humans to Live at this Time, in the type of World that We would dream about. We are strong enough to empower, and to create, the World of our Dreams. We must let Hope be more Active than Cynicism. We must fill our days with Productivity. We must Network with the likeminded, we must seek out our fellow World Changers at any cost. And no matter what happens in our personal lives over the Year 2013, We must not become Unfocused. We cannot succumb to issues of personal dramas, we must not let our frustrations get the best of us, we must handle problematic people and situations with inner strength and the grace of God. We must all be our BEST to maximize the abundance of good Energy that came with the Shift. The Shift is now Over. You have Shifted. Now YOU Focus, Humans! Evolve, Collaborate, and Respond to the Messages the Universe is sending YOU. There has never been a Time like Now, and there never will be again. YOU are the One YOU've been waiting for.
LoVe,
KiJjiT the FoX
A beautifully well rounded list that ends on a very uplifting and empowering note. Thank you Friend. The Old Paradigm is dead, WE are the New Paradigm. Focus, yes. Community, check. Personal drama, bye bye. Light always prevails.
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