Group Chat Arbitration Phase 2

Dear fellow humans,

I apologise it took me so long to send this message, but I guess i just needed to take my time to carefully read, understand, empathise, and analyse the conversations I missed, and then diligently craft what I’m going to say and how I’m going to say it. So, please accept my sincerest apologies. But after many hours of forensic and diligent analysis and perusal of the two months worth of messages I missed, I think I am ready now to share this message, which I intend to be inspiring, hopeful and healing for us all.

As you may have noticed, I had left the group nigh on 2 months ago, on March 15th. And I left because I truly felt unappreciated, unheard, undervalued and underestimated by many people. All I wanted to do is to help others; inspire others. My purpose in life is to help everyone else achieve their true potential. I know that the impact we have on others is the most valuable currency there is. I live with the adage, “If my life can help someone else, then.. it matters”, and I want my life to matter. I try my best to aspire to inspire before I expire. And since I had gotten ‘Mortality Motivation’ around 3-4 years ago at age 15, I approach life from a standpoint that if I live each day as if it was my last, one day I will most certainly be right. 

And this was useful a few days ago for me, when my heart rate fluctuated violently like a roller coaster from a range of 42 BPM to a maximum of 144 BPM, and my arms numbed out and then literally froze in position and I felt my heartbeat intensely palpably in my hands. I thought I was gonna undergo a heart attack, and probably die. And after it all subsided a little, that particular experience prompted me to send messages to my closest friends saying “If something happens to me, it has been an honour to have been your friend”. I had to spend over 2 or 3 hours before my heartbeat went back to normal levels. And now, having gone through that harrowing experience, I can see life even more clearly than ever, cuz I came back from probable death. 

I hope no one ever experiences this, but, the truth is, it can happen to anybody. So, let us not judge anyone else. We often think we know what others are going through, but the truth is; we have no idea! So, let us choose to stay united, love and care about each other, understand and empathise with each other, and never judge each other. Let us not take anyone or anything for granted, cuz we never know if the last thing we said to somebody, is actually going to be the very last thing we ever get to say to them, or the very last time we ever get to hear their voice. I read somewhere the following question: “What if we woke up tomorrow with only what we were grateful for today?” 

And I don’t approach the matter of my prior exclusion from the group from a personal standpoint, but rather from a perspective of our collective good of the organisation(s) we’re proudly contributing to. We have lost most of our supporters and members, and thereby, our influence, clout and prestige as well. So even though I left two months ago, now I’m back, and, life’s too short so, I bear no grudges or resentment at all whatsoever. For I have healed my soul, and if we all did that, what a beautiful world we’d live in. Just imagine!

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Let us remind ourselves that life is too short, that grudges are a waste of time. Let us laugh when we can, have the courage to apologize when we should, and let go of what we can't change. Let us love deeply and forgive quickly. Cuz life is too short to be unhappy.

Wayne Dyer once said “Loving people live in a loving world; hostile people live in a hostile world- SAME WORLD”

The entire environmental and climate movement is, sadly enough, in steep decline. This is highly incompatible with our goals, and not conducive to success, is it not? Thus, the question before us is: How will we be remembered by future generations for our unwise behaviour in regards to how we treat one another? How will they remember us? One cannot answer those existential questions with any certainty at this point, but it is clear before us, that what will they say about us depends on how we keep our rendezvous with destiny, and how we treat one another. Change starts from within, and what we achieve inwardly shapes outer reality. So long as we are not at peace with each other, then getting to where we want to be as a world, and as a species, is impossible. Creating the world we want starts with us setting the example for it. 

Let us remember the wise saying by Abraham Lincoln, “A house divided against itself cannot stand”. Our united vision for a habitable hospitable planet should preponderate over and overpower our individual inclinations to quarrel or argue over non-significant issues. We need to zoom out and see the bigger, the much bigger, picture. The picture that, decades ago, Carl Sagan reminded us of: The pale blue dot. That’s all we got, no planet B, at least not anytime soon. So let us recognise that, all we really have got, is each other. Let us remember how short life is, and that grudges are a waste of time and energy. Let us never turn our backs on time, because we can never reclaim it back. Let us remind ourselves of what Maya Angelou taught us "Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future and renders the present inaccessible."

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Draining each others’ souls is the best way we can ensure our failure. Fratricidal bickering never serves its perpetrators. Intra-organisational indignation never benefits its partakers. Internal strife would never help its participants or invokers. We see this even in countries, when they go through civil war, they decline exponentially; the same applies to organisations and movements, too. 

I recently heard a saying that went something like “We need to stop playing games and start saving the planet." 

Our internal struggles, disputes and wrangles only brew hatred, distrust and a toxic environment that eventually poisons everyone’s soul, inhibits our true potential, and stymies our ability and chances to secure a livable future. They are mere distractions from our work and true mission in our lives.

As the African Proverb reminds us, “If you wanna go fast, go alone. But if you wanna go far, go together.” And when we think about this more deeply, we realise that is pretty much exactly what befell the environmental movement during the last few years. We went alone and we were fast (think 2019), then, our demise was also fast and look now where we are, sadly. If we had gone together, had we been more united as an environmental movement, and had an inclusive united front for all change-makers, this wouldn’t have been the case, at least not probably anyway. 

David Suzuki said once that “We’re in a giant car heading towards a brick wall and everyone’s arguing over where they're going to sit." In other words, it doesn’t matter what anybody gains from this; our positions here are irrelevant, they’re just another distraction in a series of distractions, planted not by our adversaries, but by us. Let us remember the African Proverb that states “When there is no enemy within, the enemy outside can do us no harm.” We have to come to a point, wherein we ought to choose to maturely recognise that our organisations are not the destinations, but rather the tools. Two carpenters never fight over a hammer, they find a way to work in harmony and in peace with each other and use the hammer as a tool to fix or mend wooden objects or furniture, and do their work. Let us never confuse the map for the territory; or the vehicle for the destination. F4F, Rise for Climate, XR, you name it, they’re all nothing but tools. Nothing more, nothing less. The sooner we recognise this, the sooner will we be able to understand our own truths: That all we truly have, is each other! 💛; and the sooner will we be able to see behind the veils of illusion that, these organisations we work within, are merely collective avatars, forms by which we seek change; tools, vehicles and conduits to an end. 

And thus, all this begs the question: Who does our internal fights truly benefit? Does it benefit us? Or does it benefit our adversaries? Who does it serve? us? or those who would dream of seeing us fighting amongst ourselves? 

It’s a simple, yet powerful, question. And it seems that the more we ask it, the less we’re likely to fall for the mental entrapment of fighting and attacking each other. Because, whatever we do to each other, finds its way into our souls, and it poisons us from the inside. For when we put each other down, we all fall. When we lift each other up, we all rise. 

Those who seek to trade our precious planet for short-term gain, gleefully relish and gloat at our internal resentments and bickering. For they want us to be divided, so that we don’t focus on fighting them, but instead, increasingly divert our mental and temporal resources into fighting each other, leaving us with less time and energy to fight them. Let us keep in mind that "An enemy divided is more easily conquered”. So, let us not allow ourselves to be conquered. The power of choice, lies inside each one of us. And I trust each one of us to use our power wisely and with due diligence.

I’ll later be relaying a short video anecdote by one of my long-time mentors, Prince EA, that illustrates why we have to be careful to not fight over nugatory or insignificant issues: https://fb.watch/kGWU7Ez4Fs/ 

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When I used to send a lot of messages here in the group, some being excruciatingly long, I only wanted to help share the knowledge and wisdom that I had been accumulating during my spiritual journey of wisdom, that I had embarked upon since I was a 12-year-old. I just wholeheartedly wished to share that, cuz I knew the power of inspiration is particularly potent. I believe I am an ‘Adaptive Leader’, meaning that when I see something not working, or notice a flaw or shortcoming in something, I don’t dither to point it out. I am unafraid to challenge the organisational norms and help us all grow and become the best version of ourselves, both on an individual level, and collectively too. Because if I noticed it and the others didn’t, then, it is my response-ability to point it out. And, isn’t that exactly what we are ALL doing with our activism to society? Isn’t that what we stand for? To not be silent when we notice or see something wrong or not working correctly?

I’ve studied Psychology from Cambridge University, and if I may, with your permission, share one of the most relevant and powerful lessons or knowledge I acquired: 

There was a study from 2009, by Heifetz et al, which posits that there are six prime principles of the aforementioned adaptive leadership:

Socrates said “I know you won't believe me, but the highest form of human excellence is to question oneself and others.” So, I humbly invite us all here today, to show the world that we are a paragon of human excellence!

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We are all superheroes, in our own right. Each one of us has their own superpower, their own element. And what I sought and still seek to do, is help everyone recognise their element and achieve their true potential; to help others bring out their own elemental powers out into the world; to be a cause for others believing in themselves. After all, true leaders don’t get others to believe in them; true leaders find ways to get others to believe .. in themselves! 

Thus, if we are to achieve peace and unity in F4F, we have to come to a point were we are able to recognise that, everyone is right, in their own perspective. And that, thus, everybody deserves to be heard for what they have to say. There is no right or wrong answer, everything is about understanding. 

As the late spiritual mentor, Ram Dass once wisely said “When you know how to listen, everybody is the guru.”

Let us remember that, strength grows when we dare, unity grows when we pair, love grows when we share and relation grows when we care. So let us all, together, live in peace, not in pieces.

Ram Dass wisely reminds us that “Together we are all on a journey called life. We are all a little broken and a little shattered inside. Each one of us is aspiring to make it to the end. None is deprived of pain here and we have all suffered in our own ways. I think our journey is all about healing ourselves and healing each other in our own special ways. Let's just help each other put all those pieces back together and make it to the end more beautifully. Let us help each other survive.”

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I wish you all have the most meaningful, purposeful, fulfilling lives for yourselves. Let us all remember what Stephen Hawking taught us, that, “We are all time travellers, journeying together into the future. Let us all work together to make that future a place we want to visit.” 

The full might and wrath of the fossil fuel industry and its shameless lackeys have been unleashed upon us once more, and more vehemently than ever; those who seek to trade the planet for imaginary money, know jolly well that in unity we are unstoppable, and thus they are always engaged in the malicious pursuit of undermining us from within; if we allow them, we will lose everything we hold near and dear to our hearts, our children and grandchildren will experience suffering of inestimable proportions; but if we choose to suspend our egos, dance together in unity and sing with each other in unison, we’ll embark on our greatest ever journey; a journey of creation to counter their destruction, and victory will be ours, for there is no greater response. In these dire and stressing times, it behoves us to remember to care for, understand and love one another; to stick together and listen to one another; to cherish our differences and to allow each other and ourselves to be ourselves, and who we were meant to be. As I always say "It's not who you were, or even who you are that matters, it's who you choose to be. For the future lies in just that."

Maya Angelou once said “History cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage need not be lived again." We cannot undo our past disputes and hurtful conversations, but if we choose to see them as an opportunity for learning and growth, we need not go through them again.

Let us remind ourselves that life is too short, that grudges are a waste of time. Let us laugh when we can, have the courage to apologize when we should, and let go of what we can't change. Let us love deeply and forgive quickly. Cuz life is too short to be unhappy.

So I hereby invite us all to live simply, speak kindly, love generously, and care deeply.

After all, we need each other, cuz, at the end of the day, we are all one!

This has been Yusuf Kemal here, and I invite us all, to re-consider.