Drawing on the positives as we head into the next year

Kevin Smith

Personally, and across the board, I’ve come across some things which have kept me going and hold out some hope for our future.

Recently a reader here posted this music clip, ‘Earth to God’

It reminded of an article I wrote here in the run up to Christmas 2018 – Syria and the will of god. A piece which pondered whether and how religion plays a role in important world events.

I also talked about the resilience of the Syrian people and suggested that for us to survive we need to become more like them.

At that time, I was exploring religion.  Although I haven’t done a great deal of reading and learning since, I feel my views on religion have taken more shape, particularly in the background to what has been terrible year with lockdowns.

In December 2020, I look at people and their negative traits brought out by this crisis and it’s easy to be despondent.  Most of us have experienced a range of negative feelings and emotions, and at times I’ve felt like giving up.

But it’s not been all negative. So, I thought to share some of my thinking and emotions throughout the rollercoaster year, drawing on some lessons learned and positives as we head into next year.

THE NOT SO GOOD

Since around May I’ve been exploring reasons why so many people seem to lack any basic reasoning or critical thinking skills, just accepting governments diktats.

I wrote about media propaganda and the emotion of fear, education, ideology, denial and poor perception of the obvious. I also explored motives and evidence to make sense of what’s happening and where this is leading to.

Back in April, I knew that lockdowns were wholly disproportionate and despite less information about Covid-19, these measures were at best guesswork.   However, for several months I held on to the view that it was political and scientific stupidity driving the decision making.

A few months ago, I finally accepted that the whole Covid-19 narrative was based on taking us towards the so-called Great Reset, a social and economic experiment which relies on fear, destruction of today’s society and dependence of people on the state.   This is all unfolding rapidly.

For me I’m still struggling to come to terms with the willful destruction of society to bring through this back-door agenda.  And the majority of people seemingly are still oblivious or in denial.

I’m not so surprised that governments lie and cheat, but I guess it is the sheer scale of the 2020 horror show. I now wonder if the origin of COVID-19 was deliberate and the introduction of the vaccine fills me with utter dread.

For me, my day-to-day frustrations have been with people who are scared of their own shadow and won’t entertain any other viewpoints on Covid-19 and lockdown.

Wearing masks outside, crossing roads to avoid people.  Even wearing masks on their Twitter profiles as if to make some sort of statement.  The trained scientists and journalists with their tunnel vision.

My biggest annoyance is with the church and its hierarchy.  I rarely attend church but come across many worshippers saying that they feel abandoned and deprived of the social aspect of attending services and church events.

What has always frustrated me most is the church doesn’t speak up against wars abroad or consider the root causes of humanitarian disasters.  Instead it treats the symptoms, expecting its congregation to pick up the pieces through wasteful donations.

Likewise, the church simply accepting against all the scientific evidence that it has to close its doors.  Its easy to see why so many people are turning away from religion.

To sum up 2020, for me has been one of frustration and a lot of personal negativity which is unlike me. Previously I had learned to accept that there is much wrong in the world, but hold on to much good too.

THE GOOD

Personally, and across the board, I’ve come across some things which have kept me going and hold out some hope for our future.

This year my mother who I care for has been quite unwell with various ailments. After many prayers and keeping her at home, she keeps bouncing back and in hospital recently received excellent care and kindness.

This year I reconnected with my two nieces.  The older streetwise, funny and smart.  The younger, sensitive but with an amazing enquiring mind.

It’s our younger generation we should protect from the darkness descending on us and nurture.

I’ve come across many young people who’ve amazed me with their wisdom and reading of what’s going on in the world and maturity in carrying the burden of the hardships and possible bleak future.

I encourage all those going through family relationship difficulties to make the first move to reconciliation, regardless of original fault. It’s worth the effort.

As I explained before often the most intelligent critical thinkers are more vulnerable to mental health issues. For me, vindication is very important to my mental health.  In supporting others, I always remind them to feel the comfort of vindication and likewise they’ve always supported me with coping strategies, even strangers on Twitter.

Music and humour have been great releases throughout this crisis.   I always say to people if we can’t change things or prevent evil from imposing itself on our lives lets at least have a laugh.

Turning towards the main message of this article, I have strengthened my faith, that good always overcomes evil.  Things happen for a reason.

After what I think might have been a  sort of spiritual awakening a few years ago,  a faith from somewhere has helped me do the things I feel I should be doing.  This year, the strains and stresses have pushed me back to struggling again with anxiety and low mood.

But this faith remains unshaken and has prevented me from slipping back too far.   I use this to build up again each time I have a wobble.

I’ve also learned over the years and more recently to not engage with every battle. Choose the most important ones and fight them fiercely.  The Twitter community is also a great place to hang out with like-minded people. Avoid the negative accounts and stick to the insightful funny and compassionate people of which there are plenty.

And as I said before, many people feel their church has abandoned them and have said to me they are losing their faith.  I always remind them that a cold damp church and the religious hierarchy are quite distinct (and in many cases quite the opposite) from the religious teachings where they acquired their faith.  Pray and read at home as I have done since I started my tentative journey into religion.

And I always say to people of religion and non-religion to respect the freedom to worship whichever religion and celebrate religious festivals together.

As seen with Black Lives Matter, BREXIT and lockdowns the state wishes to divide us along racial, religious, ideological lines and distract us.  If we hold together and focus purely on the destruction of our societies we stand a better chance of defeating the evil of reset.

The case study, as always to follow is Syria. A people of many diverse religions and ethnic groups which collectively saw off a huge foreign alliance of evil.

THE FUTURE

In 2018 I realised that we need to change to survive.  2020 has shown me that things are worse than I thought back then, and we probably need to deal with real hardships to become better human beings.

While I still retain some hope the reset will be stopped in its tracks soon, I don’t think it will.  I suspect it will take the continued suffering and further realisation of what is unfolding and why, for people to finally rise up and defeat it.  There’s only so much the few of us fighting this tyranny can do, so it looks as if all humanity will have to take up the slack.  But the reset is a hugely ambitious undertaking with many facets and variables to slot in to succeed.

So, my prediction is ultimately the reset won’t succeed, but at a great sacrifice to us.

As I said in 2018, perhaps God is testing us, giving us the tools to finally overthrow the darkness which hangs over us.  Maybe this is our last chance, our last test.

In my previous Syria article, I said God may, ultimately, intervene to prevent humanity’s destruction as possibly has been done during previous world wars.  We don’t deserve it, but it may happen if there’s enough will within us to change.

Seasons greetings and peace to all.

Earth to God: Lessons of 2020