THE NWO AS A HOUSE OF CARDS

by Judith Paulson

"...And the wind shifts and the dust on a doorsill shifts
and even the writing of the rat footprints
tells us nothing, nothing at all
about the greatest city, the greatest nation
where strong men listened
and the women warbled: "Nothing like us ever was."

from "Four Preludes on Playthings of the Wind" by Carl Sandberg

The thing about a house of cards is bumps and breezes. You can't have any. Everything has to be still, the air, the ground. No loud voices, no vibrations, no movement. The slightest jingle or jangle, and "poof" no more house of cards. They thrive in stagnant places where there is no circulation. You can't put them where a breeze might find them or a fan might blow them or someone might walk by just a little too fast or with too heavy a step. Balance opposing cards against each other... place cards between heartbeats... don't breathe. "Little boxes, on the hill... er, inside... little boxes made of ticky tacky... little boxes, little boxes, little boxes in a row...."

The thing about a house of cards is they all fall down. Attack them with a strong breeze and they come crashing down like some god-destroyed Babel. Or dismantle them one-by-one. Or just leave them alone. They all fall down and you realize, "Hey, this is just a house of cards."

LITTLE BOXES MADE OF TICKY TACKY...

"...When the Tao is lost, there is goodness.
When goodness is lost, there is morality.
When morality is lost, there is ritual.
Ritual is the husk of true faith,
the beginning of chaos...."

from the "Tao te Ching" by Lao Tzu (tr. Stephen Mitchell)

"And God spoke all these words, saying,
'I am the Lord your God,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt,
out of the house of bondage.
You shall have no other gods before me.
You shall not make for yourself a graven image....'"

from the Holy Bible (revised standard), Exodus 20:1-4

Living waters flow to renew life in a body of water... to prevent it from stagnating and becoming swamp. Truth -- whether religious, political, or cultural -- must flow... must live in the heart to be viable. When Truth no longer lives in the heart, it evolves into ritual and dogma, and ultimately becomes meaningless. The institution behind the spouted "Truth" becomes a golden calf..., a false image of what once was. It becomes a house of cards. All appearance, no substance. An emperor with no clothes. The living, founding Truths of our late, twentieth-century's religious, political, and cultural institutions, all too often survive as trite symbols, rote-recited dogma, and mechanical rituals -- our system's golden calves. This is both good and not so good for House-of-Cards builders.

It is good because when Truth no longer lives, something else can quietly be slipped into its place. This is what many think is happening now with the New World Order... conspiracies under every rug and around every corner... in a similar way to how the communist threat was seen in the McCarthy era of the 50s. Are there deep, dark conspiracies in black-budget areas of our government? Probably, yes, there are some. Are they going to cause the enslavement of the U.S. population by a foreign -- or alien -- elite? I don't know. However, the climate for House-of-Cards builders is excellent right now because, for many, religious, political, and cultural values have become that "husk of true faith" that Lao Tsu talks about above. And it's what the Bible talks about when it mentions "false images." When our values -- whether religious, moral, social, or political -- cease to live in our hearts, they become false images of truth. Ritual as false image... Religious social functions as false image... The American flag as false image (you don't need to pass laws to protect a living symbol)... Any truth lived from habit as false image... and, the more fervant and vocal and strident a false image's proclaimers are, the more false -- and the more dead -- the truth. The atmosphere is stagnant -- and kept that way by defensive and fear-filled false-image keepers -- perfect for the House-of-Cards builders of the NWO.

It is not so good because when Truth no longer lives in our hearts, we are on our way to chaos. Citizens no longer care whether the system -- the perceived or the real -- lives or dies. It is difficult to create Houses of Cards when a population is living the Truths of their country in their hearts. Easier when a population takes its truths for granted. But there's a downside for House-of-Cards builders. While having a population whose truths are dead, yet vocally defended, is an excellent building ground for Houses of Cards; having a population that realizes its predicament and that begins taking steps to rectify that position is not so good. It then becomes necessary to keep the population from realizing its true situation. But, short of enslavement, how does one do that?

There are many ways to keep the natives quiet or at least distracted... many ways we contribute to our own control, where we give our power away bit by bit, where we risk our souls for short-term gain....

Silence by intimidation

This has happened to all of us. Some authority figure says something truly obnoxious. Maybe it's about another race. Or about a certain religious or ethnic group. Perhaps it's about a different economic group. Or someone who just looks different. We find ourselves shocked by this person's statement but we say nothing. Why? By not saying "No, I disagree with you," our silence says instead that we agree. And we give a little bit of our power away. Sometimes we fear what "others will think"; but with civility, tact, and love we can still voice "I don't agree"; be heard, seen, and touch others. Sometimes we fear getting into an argument with someone we care about but we don't have to argue, we only have to state that we disagree.

I know people who have bigoted views with regard to people of other races and religions. I used to "go along" out of my liking for them as people and my respect for them as "authority figures" in my life. One day, I just couldn't do it anymore and I said to one of their remarks, "Y'know, I disagree with you about that. It is not true in my experience." They never brought up the subject with me again. I probably have not changed their views much but now someone they like and respect no longer supports their views and they know it. It's a start.

Surface over substance -- The price we pay for glitz

Visual artists who can't draw. Special effects but no plot. Anorexics with breast implants. Rich but no character. Smells good but has no taste. Learning with no effort. Living but no time to think or play. These are the values that "suits" throw money at because they don't recognize quality. But are these really our values? Or are they the values of a lowest-cost, highest-profit, "let the buyer beware," corporate version of culture? Quality takes time, after all, and time is money. But how, why, is glitz so insidious? Well...

Glitz can keep us from thinking. If we spend our time wondering how the technology works, we're not worrying about plot, characters, or their values. We just keep wondering how they did it.

Glitz takes up our time. While we "ooh and ahh" about the effect(s), we are distracted from thinking about the real issues of our lives.

Glitz moves us to conform. The more singular the standard for being correct, the less room there is for being who we are in reality. And the time and money it takes to conform to that false image keeps us in line... in economic line and in socio-cultural line.

Glitz keeps us striving after false values and discredits those who are different. As long as we are striving for the latest "look," the latest car, the best neighborhood, the trendiest dinner reservation," we are not striving after those values that will really matter in the long run. We are not striving after those values that will challenge the House-of-Cards builders. We are paving the way to our own enslavement. And if we buy into the glitz, we automatically discredit those who might be our truth bearers if we could only get beyond the false "image" we hold of them.

But all is not lost... yet. Look at the genuine surprise when revivals of quality shows on Broadway draw larger crowds than newer trendy ones -- even when the newer trendy ones get all the awards. Envy, when museums rake-in big bucks at shows of the old masters when galleries have trouble getting folks in the door after the free-booze opening. Amazement, when television shows with novel premises, intricately plotted stories, and likeable characters win out over cookie-cutter plots with cynical characters but great special effects. Wonder, when computer games that are written by talented writers, scored by gifted musicians, drawn by inspired artists and designers do zillions of dollars better than those concocted by a committee of product developers and project managers. Awe, when people respond to quality and substance instead of its lack. People aren't so dumb..., yet. And more and more of us are opting for change while the House-of-Cards builders continue to "rearrange their deck chairs on the Titanic."

Paralyzed by fear

"Were it possible for us to see further than our knowledge reaches,
and yet a little way beyond the outworks of our divining,
perhaps we would endure our sadnesses
with greater confidence than our joys.
For they are the moments when something new has entered into us,
something unknown;
our feelings grow mute in shy perplexity,
everything in us withdraws,
a stillness comes,
and the new,
which no one knows,
stands in the midst of it and is silent.

"I believe that almost all our sadnesses are moments of tension that we find paralyzing because we no longer hear our surprised feelings living. Because we are alone with the alien thing that has entered into our self; because everything intimate and accustomed is for an instant taken away; because we stand in the middle of a transition where we cannot remain standing....

"We could easily be made to believe that nothing has happened, and yet we have changed, as a house changes into which a guest has entered. We cannot say who has come, perhaps we shall never know, but many signs indicate that the future enters into us in this way in order to transform itself in us long before it happens. And this is why it is so important to be lonely and attentive when one is sad: because the apparently uneventful and stark moment at which our future sets foot in us is so much closer to life than that other noisy and fortuitous point of time at which it happens to us as if from the outside....

"...we will... gradually learn to realize that that which we call destiny goes forth from within people, not from without into them. "

from "Letters to a Young Poet" by Rainer Maria Rilke

I believe we empower those things to which we pay attention. You empower what you fear by allowing it to dominate your feelings and thoughts which, in turn, lead to actions (or inaction, as the case may be); as what you fear becomes an ever greater focus for your concerns. Fear is a strong emotion. It empowers the negative quite a lot. In the past, "fear of other" and "fear of the unknown" served our species well as we worked our way towards the top of the food chain. But, like the person who plays out tapes from their childhood that are no longer useful for the adult, our species must develop a new attitude for intra- and inter-species behavior that is based on love and proaction instead of fear and reaction. Transforming fear begins with trust and faith in the "ALL That Is" and a willingness to move with change -- with love for God, for the Earth, and with the knowledge that nothing is truly separate from anything else. Continue transforming fear by naming and acknowledging it to yourself and to others. Then take proactive baby steps, one day at a time, to move through what you fear. The decision is yours.

Distracted by fighting each other

The system plays us off against each other for a reason -- Black against white against Native American against Latino against Asian against Female against Gays against this-religion against that-philosophy against fill-in-the-blank. When we hate and prey off each other, we are preoccupied with our personal villains and the system remains safe to do as it pleases. The disenfranchised -- ALL of us -- must pull together. There is no piece of the pie the system will give to any of us. They resent giving us crumbs and expect us to fight each other to get those.

The system needs its victims. You can't have enslavement without slaves, afterall. And if we are intimidated into silence, distracted by glitz, paralyzed by fear, or fighting each other, we play directly into the hands of the House-of-Cards builders. Can we turn that around? Oh yes. Indifference and apathy are weapons, make no mistake. Right now those weapons are trained on you. Turn them around... for these are weapons to make a House of Cards tumble. Decide not to go into agreement with, and consciously withdraw your energy from, the system. "Easy to say," you say. Yes, and easier to do than you might think.

THEY ALL FALL DOWN

You say you want a revolution, well...

When interacting with the brick walls of life, we need to be realistic about who can do what to whom. To those who want to take back power by force, that means fighting an entrenched, established system. You need superior forces (in numbers, training, and weaponry), a superior strategy, and/or more powerful allies (who can then turn on you, later). If one foolishly takes on a superior power, the fight will result in either physical death or forced assimilation (intellectual or spiritual death).

And, by responding to force with force, we lower ourselves to the level of those we are fighting -- to the level of those who use coercion to force others into a system with which they do not agree and where they cannot support themselves. Think about how many countries play musical dictators. Switching from one power group to another power group changes nothing, just as voting Republican or Democrat will change nothing. And, revolution by force encourages strong reaction by force. Look again at who you are giving your power to. Try to see where there is real power and where there is nothing more than a House of Cards with a little man playing Oz; whose system is running on the momentum of the past, like a fan whose switch has been turned off while the blades continue to rotate.

Take two steps forward, four steps back.
Gotta be another way.

To everything there is a season, turn, turn, turn...

Working inside the system for gradual change and individual empowerment provokes less reaction but there is reaction nonetheless. By the time one stays in an organization long enough to get the power to initiate change, the institution will have made one jump through enough hoops to be certain that individual is no threat to it's continued existence in the status quo. It will have absorbed, neutralized, and peacefully assimilated us. A good example of this is what happened to some in the women's movement. Many women donned power suits and went to work to "change the system." But the corporations didn't change. The women did... becoming as ambitious and ruthless as men on that particular merry-go-round. No room for humanity, commpassion... no room for family either.

The Civil Rights movement after decades of court fights; and attempts at both peaceful, evolutionary change and strident, revolutionary change; now has many voices within it who say the Black community as a whole is not better off.

In this kind of evolutionary attempt at change, the result can be brainwashing -- becoming what you set out to change, or hidden reaction.

Take two steps forward, two steps back.
So if revolution doesn't work and evolution doesn't work, what does?

Saying "No"

Rome had political power; Jesus had none; yet in the long run, the followers of Jesus won over the entire Roman empire. The British colonial empire had political power; Gandhi had none. In the end, India won nationhood. How did these two highly spiritual men topple the greatest world powers of their day? They said "No" to the status quo and "Yes" to its alternative without violently challenging the system in place at the time.

Instead of seeking power and control over an oppressive system, each looked instead to setting up an alternative that worked to empower the people among whom they lived. As we work to transform our fears, we find we no longer need to control everything so much. And in losing our need to control, we find our fears diminish. Our only failure is in not realizing our true situation to begin with -- that we have given our power away. We only need take it back. One retains the support of kindred spirits without inviting attack from the establishment until it is too late and the system falls in on itself due to lack of support -- like a house of cards.

Systems are reactive by nature and it's a weak point. When one looks back through history; when a population says "No," and moves on, the system must follow and adapt, or die. True change is a spiritual process that happens inside the heads of individual people. Governments, corporations, and individuals who are not aligned with the new spiritual energy flooding our planet will be swept away and gone in a very short time. Gandhi and great religious leaders of other faiths knew this, and transformed their worlds by setting up an alternative and ignoring whatever House-of-Cards "system" was supposedly in control at the time.... We can do the same. For the sake of our planet, we must do the same.

Take two steps forward, don't look back.

You don't need power or money to do this. Just shift your focus by saying "No" to the old world's political order that has ceased to provide a viable quality-of-life for the majority of its citizens and say "Yes" to building a new world. These things we can do now...

1. You are the power. Even if it's only the power to withold approval, you are the power. Examine your assumptions and agreements with the current socio-political reality. Governments govern with, and only with, the approval of those they govern. Choose and define which social compact agreements are still viable for you and your family.

2. Opt for quality and sustainability wherever you can. And, as Gandhi said, "Live simply so others may simply live." Can you simplify? almost all of us can. Start now. Every time you shop, vote with your dollar. Is that carpet made in a foreign sweat shop that uses child laborers? Are the things you buy reusable and sustainable, or plastic throw-aways? Do you support organically grown agricultural products, range-fed meat, biodegradable products with minimal packaging? Vote with your dollars. Vote everytime you shop.

3. Choose substance and sincerity over surface and cynicism. Refuse to accept the "power over" paradigm where one is supposed to look down on others in order to attain status. Refocus on a world where "empowered" is the norm; where all people can be as they are and still be accepted as valuable.

4. Be proactive; move towards the good. Instead of boycotting logging or paper companies who have bad environmental records, institute recycled paper products where you work and live, or organize reforestation efforts in your area, or make certain that you don't buy products made of rare woods. Instead of reacting against welfare mothers by voting for conservative republicans, consider volunteering to help new mothers learn how to be mothers, or teach someone to read, or become a big brother or big sister so our adolescents won't become pregnant in the first place.

5. We all deserve love. Put love in your heart. Show love and compassion for others as they are... now. No time left for bigotry, racism, sexism, lookism, etc. We are all human beings. And we are all in this world together. Focus on love and compassion: for yourself, for others, for the animals and plants, and for the planet which sustains us.

6. Live your Truth. Time is important; give gifts of time to your family and friends and talk about working to make a better world. The more people hold to a positive, proactive vision of the future, the faster it will become reality.

7. Think about, look for, and work towards viable living alternatives. As it decays, the current socio-cultural reality may feel... may become... very intense. It will help, if you align yourself with those people and situations where the new spiritual energy can find a place to build and flourish.

8. And use lowercase letters for n.w.o.

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© Copyright 1996 by Judith Paulson. Permission is hereby granted to electronically transmit or reproduce this article for personal, non-profit use, on condition that all paragraphs, including this notice, remain intact.

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