Quotations

On each main page you'll find quotations from various articles or books I've written. Here are a few more to ponder, I hope you enjoy them.

Modern living is unreasonable. People struggle not because they are weak or incapable but because the demands on mind body and spirit are too great for most of us. Mindfulness, bodily heath and spirituality all help us to cope, but none of these can alter the fundamental problem that it is a toxic system that needs to change.

It is easy to forget that we have been socialised (programmed) from birth. Even with the least authoritarian and benign of parents, family and friends we are still subject to huge influences. It is very clear now that the level of manipulation by media, educators, corporations and government is constant and omnipresent. Once we realize how manipulated we are only then can we develop our own true sense of self and our own genuine opinions.

Equality is not the recognizing of gender, sexuality, race, culture and beliefs. Equality is the transcending of these labels and treating all people with equal respect and dignity.

If people are prepared to trade truth, justice & freedom in exchange for mere survival, at any price, that is when tyranny becomes victorious.

The whole world is a miraculous blessing; if a child can see this simple truth, then the man or woman who cannot is truly lost. Even so, the lost can be found and the child in all of us, although maybe silenced, can be found again.

What use will money and wealth be to those who possess them when the rivers and land are poisoned, the seas devoid of life and the air polluted beyond tolerance?

With each generation that passes more of the land is swallowed up by stupidity and greed. The fields, hedgerows, woodlands and wild forgotten patches I knew are all gradually erased by shops, roads, housing estates and carparks. Our children will not even realise what was there before and so it continues. When will this madness ever stop?

Humanity cannot keep expanding in numbers and its relentless destruction and still expect everything to be ‘ok’. We moved far beyond ‘ok’ a very long time ago, the world is in crisis because of us. To believe otherwise is dangerous and delusional. In this finite world we have only two choices - to change ourselves to fit within it or die out.

The earth gently reminds us that what occurs in our heads and what we perceive, in the virtual world, is not reality - reality is all around us waiting for us to return to it.

The real divide is between those who have everything and the rest of the world - who have a tiny share of resources, despite outnumbering the ultra-wealthy by billions. Dividing us turns our attention away from them and towards destroying each other - it's an old trick but sadly it still works. Isn't it time we all stopped falling for this nonsense and put real people, who are accountable, fair, caring and not obsessed with greed, in charge?

Fascism and Communism are opposites but practically speaking they are almost identical. Fascism hopes to create utopia for ‘their people’ while Communism hopes to create utopia for ‘everyone’. In reality that ‘everyone’ becomes ‘their people’ too, as in both systems those who disagree in any way will be oppressed or destroyed.

Woke Culture: it sounds good in theory but in reality it is about creating more division - provoking conflict all in the name of inclusion, while excluding groups that are 'out' in favour of those that are 'in'. The philosophy around wokeness justifies discriminating against the 'out' groups and encourages the cancellation of those who do not agree. There is no room for free speech in woke culture - you are allowed to think and say whatever you like, so long as it fits with their ideology, a de facto censorship of any alternative viewpoint.

The fundamental problem is the pyramid structure of society. The ordinary person is so lacking in knowledge and information that they can only influence their immediate circle to a small extent and nothing more. The power flows from the top and thus each layer controls that beneath it. Until we return to smaller and more circular systems of control that are localised and fairly autonomous we will be at the mercy of corrupt and self-interested narcissists who are currently running this planet. Good ideas and good intentions, a few good deeds are not enough, we need so much more and from everyone - what is needed is a wholesale rejection of the corrupt system and the ejection of those who profit from its continuation, at the expense of 99% of humanity.

Regardless of human sensibilities, dogma, and ultimately our own hubris, the universal laws of nature apply throughout the known and unknown cosmos, as they always have done, and they will continue to do so (whether we like it or not) until the end of of time.

Humour is essential and a part of maintaining balance in life. Serious work is worthy but it cannot be maintained long-term without opportunities to unwind, relax, laugh, smile, cry, be stupidly carefree, re-experience childlike wonder, stop to smell the flowers, and to enjoy the journey.

When the 'dull and ignorant' are the loudest voices in society what hope is there for future generations? This soundbite mentality needs to become unacceptable, otherwise humanity is destined for the graveyard, along with countless other species. It is our intelligence and adaptability that has enabled our survival, if we abandon that then we are surely doomed.

All reality, as humans interpret it, is limited and subjective, we are incapable of experiencing an objective reality, although that does not mean we cannot have shared experience. Like time, perception is relative, so even within our selves, our own perceived reality is not consistent and is dependent on our psychological state at any given moment. To me, this is all a detour or a cul-de-sac (perhaps necessary to understand your own self), it does not matter ultimately, what matters most is what we are here to do in our lifetime and making our best effort to achieve what we perceive as our soul's purpose.

On the ragged path to wisdom one might begin full of pride and confidence in our ever increasing knowledge. But, over many years of strenuous effort, one comes to understand how little one actually knows. Even the most wise, despite a lifetime of study and exertion, cannot obtain perfect knowledge or perfect understanding. To my mind, realizing this truth is the beginning of achieving wisdom.

After I wrote my first book and it was a success, I thought I was important for a brief moment, until I realised how unimportant I am and my book too, no matter how good or bad it is. The world is filled with jumped-up people, full of their own self-importance, and it has long been this way, perhaps it may always be so. None of us matters- what is important is “The Great Work” and what small part we may play in its unfolding. If you can realise your own insignificance then you have acquired more wisdom than the myriad egotists, the ‘great and the good’ who, down the ages, have been in love with the sound of their own voices rather than performing simple acts of service.

Luke Eastwood - author, musician, artist & druid