The Bridge
of Choice
By Jared Rosen and David Rippe
(excerpted from The Flip—Turn Your World Around)
www.theflip.net
Imagine yourself standing on a bridge between two
worlds. On one side of the bridge is an upside-down
world. Why is it upside-down? It is upside-down because
people have lost their intimate connection to the
whole, and feel isolated and separate from society.
Even their thoughts are fragmented. That world is
upside-down because fear has trumped love as the dominant
emotion—even though love is what we all seek.
It has been turned topsy-turvy because sources of
news and entertainment paint dark pictures of violence
and murder instead of celebrating the best that people
can bring to life.
In the upside-down world more money is spent on war
than on all social service programs—for children,
the elderly, education, the homeless, the hungry,
the disabled—combined. The good people of the
upside-down world willingly consume toxins through
their water, air and food supply and wonder why they
feel tired and ill most of the time.
In the upside-down world people say they value children,
yet parking lot attendants make more money than child-care
workers and sports figures make more in one season
than educators do over an entire career. It is an
upside-down world because children are taught computer
literacy but not emotional literacy. Faced with an
inability to cope in a contradictory world, kids act
out their unresolved emotions. The upside-down answer
is to give them drugs rather than honestly dealing
with their issues. Having taught our youth to self-medicate
through pharmaceuticals, we jail them later after
they have taken illicit drugs to numb the feelings
they never learned to express.
The world is upside-down because people kill each
other to control limited underground resources—oil,
ore, minerals, water and precious metals—while
they ignore unlimited resources above their head like
the sun and wind which can be harnessed for an endless
supply of energy.
Trust is a rare commodity in the upside-down world
and intentional deception is commonplace. Our institutions—government,
religion, media, education—claim to provide
comfort and aid to society while in fact serving their
own interests.
In this crazy world, despair turns to desperation.
We feel more alone, more isolated, and ever more over
our heads—upside-down. The world feels like
it is spinning out of control, into chaos and collapse.
The Other Side of the Bridge
On the other side of the bridge, there is a world
that is Right Side Up. People walk in balance with
the earth and honor all living beings. People know
that everything and everyone is interconnected. They
realize that love is to be treasured and shared as
the highest form of acceptance.
The people in the Right Side Up world teach their
children that emotions are to be expressed, not repressed.
They learn that it is safe to speak their truth, and
trust is a natural outcome of their relationships.
In the Right Side Up world, food is more wholesome
and nutritious because the seeds are not altered and
the food is not processed with a range of untested
chemicals whose names are unpronounceable and interactions
unknown. People grow their own flavorful food, rich
in nutrients in their own backyard or community garden.
Rain is not heavy with pollution because people in
the Right Side Up world do not rely on burning oil
and gas for energy. Instead, they count on the power
of the sun, wind and tides as well as other clean
renewable energy sources for their energy needs.
The Right Side Up world values diversity and self-expression.
Communities celebrate the human spirit through their
art forms, which have become a way of life, blended
harmoniously with spirituality. Humankind rejoices
in the spirit within every one and every thing—and
we have evolved beyond our fascination with darkness
and evil.
The Right Side Uppers adhere to a Second Bill of Rights
that gives all people…
- The right to a useful job that pays a living
wage for adequate food, clothing and recreation
- The right for every businessperson, large and
small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from
unfair competition
- The right to a decent home
- The right to medical care and the ability to
achieve good health
- The right to a good education
- The right to adequate protection from the economic
fears of old age, sickness, accident and unemployment
Does this sound like the impossibly idealistic ravings
of a left-leaning lunatic? Think again. The Second
Bill of Rights was proposed by Franklin Delano Roosevelt
in his State of the Union speech on January 11, 1944.
How far we have regressed in sixty-odd years!
Yes, the Right Side Up world encourages acceptance,
tolerance, and freedom to live the way one wants as
long as it harms no other. Conflict is met with compassion
and human unity is the guiding principle for society.
The Choice
You are standing on this bridge between two worlds—one
is upside-down, the other is Right Side Up. The bridge
is about to collapse. You must make a choice to go
in one or the other direction. Which side would you
go to?
Most people would choose the Right Side Up world.
It is the obvious choice for a better place to live
in. Yet, so many people view the Right Side Up world
as idealistic and unattainable, and thus accept living
in the upside-down world. Is it the gravity of fear
that holds them in this destructive state? Is it lack
of faith? Or have the forces of the upside-down world
so skewed our perceptions that we do not believe a
Right Side Up world is possible?
We live in an amazing age. It is a point in the evolution
of humankind when a massive shift in consciousness
called “the flip,” is taking place. The
flip is happening in nearly every facet of our global
society.
The flip is occurring whether we embrace it or not,
whether we believe it or not. The question is whether
you will be a willing participant and active proponent
of the flip, or if will you struggle to hang on to
an outmoded, broken world that serves the darker parts
of our being. By choosing to believe in the possibilities
of the human spirit, by embracing the flip, you can
become free to express yourself and work for a balanced
world and a whole-hearted life.
The choice is yours.
Jared Rosen and David Rippe are coauthors of The Flip—Turn
Your World Around, Hampton Roads Publishing Company.
They can be reached at www.theflip.net
or 513-253-4854.
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