In the Garden of the Apocalypse by Ron Curran

Part of disempowerment is the theft of language, the ‘theft of the commons’, of that which belongs to the community. The theft of the common dialogue or the place where that dialogue can happen.

Most of us are so flat out just trying to keep our heads above water, paying the bills and trying to survive, that our expression, our voice is simply ignored or even trampled in the rush. Our intimacy and our dreams are traded or dismissed determined to be valueless in the stampede of hard core material opportunity.

Our senses are bombarded endlessly by TV screens, magazines, twitter, YouTube, blogs, by shooting, violence, text sex, spam and an endless dump truck of brain dead dvds and junk mail like a host of banshees rising up from hell. An avalanche of 5 minute crap from the throw-away society, a skip bin culture masterminded by ‘team bad taste’.

Disaster capitalism where the forests, the oceans and the very air we breathe is fair game for rampant exploitation and is under direct threat, not only from climate change and species extinction but from any number of other human-directed, man made possibilities. A tree falls, a hole in the ground, a mine, an ocean made dead, another species extinct, the rules of the playing field on planet earth in the no-holds barred game of ‘ecocide’.

Whether it is the ecology, the original and natural culture of the individual or the all-embracing texture of the community, it is the integrity of that ‘whole’ community that counts. It is integral to our ‘resonance’, our social navigation and survival.

Responding to this invasion, this assault, this calamity means reclaiming your independence and not becoming the acquiescent carrier of an unsustainable, dead-ass culture. Our unique spirit of opportunity ultimately advises and defines us, our sense of diligence and discernment, of self-expression, of self-value and what it contributes to our dynamic and constantly evolving role as the guardians of culture.

How? Through developing choice, through empowerment, through affirmative action and developing a credible awareness so that we can become social and cultural strategists, acrobats in the physical theatre and politics of survival, in an absolutely contemporary sense. One-on-one or in a group or worldwide, because there is no separation of interest anymore, we all share the same future. Culture these days is compressed, we all sit at the same table, are part of the same documentary.

But our sense of place, of signature and dialect, the unique and poetic irregularities of diversity and our intimacy, are what empower us, give us choice and define our contribution to the social manuscript. Our artistry, our vision and our consciousness are our weapon against complacency and disempowerment. Diversity is what gives a culture its vibrancy and its life force.

The ground upon which you stand is sacred ground. Rediscover voice, learn how to fall and by the same token, how to roll. Write a song, compose a poem, paint a picture, plant a tree, take a walk around the block, hit the street, bang a drum, yell it out, whatever it takes. Let’s look at a society where a sense of humanity rates higher than the state of the economy, where a sense of fair play and kindness gets a few more points than spin doctoring, false advertising, scam or lies, where vision overrides mediocrity.