I had the strangest dream the other night. I dreamt that I was told that change was coming that it was so fast and so extreme, we would ‘meet ourselves around the corner’. That expression usually refers to opposing political views. It means that when someone is left wing, they go around one corner and when someone is right wing they go around the opposite corner. Like walking around the block. When they are completely opposite to each other, i.e. really extreme, on that walk around the block they eventually end up meeting. It’s a strange expression I know, but it kind of makes sense.
Anyway, with this dream, I was told that this was the extremity of the change that was coming for us all. Good change if we grab hold of it, don’t get me wrong, but change nonetheless. Part of that change feels to me like people starting to question our political structures. Asking – are they still fit for purpose in society? Is the antagonistic, sometimes violent, opposition really helpful? This clash of views that creates such anger and hatred – is this really what we want? Don’t we all, fundamentally, want the same thing? Namely: good public services, opportunities for us to explore, a future for well-educated children, safety and security, health systems that operate properly, transparent and optimised use of our taxes and protection from corporate greed. An end to this ‘it’s all about me’ and an end to well-meaning but misguided ‘let the rich pay for it all’. A quick clue – while they should pay their fair share it shouldn’t be so that others pay nothing. But fundamentally, regardless of who you are or where you are, we are all connected. We are all part of the huge collective consciousness that is nature. We are not separate to it, we do not have dominion over it. We are a part of it. It is in not recognising this that we have ended up with a polarised society that is tearing itself apart. Make no mistake, someone somewhere is winning something out of it, there is a benefit to someone or a group of people to have a disconnected society. But it does not benefit the majority, and it’s time we started standing up and being counted for that. To argue for connection, to put forward the society we want to see.
It should be no more acceptable for the wealthy to attempt to evade taxes than it should be for someone to take everything society has to offer and give nothing back. Both sides are disconnected, both sides are polarising. And society should be about pulling together for everyone’s sake, not just our own.
We should have the kind of connected communities where everyone wants to give something to society. Where the rich want to pay their taxes in full, and others should want to contribute as well. To give back what they get out of it, because we all get something out of our public services. So that we can have the excellent public services we as citizens all deserve. But we do all have to pay in an equitable amount. Yes, the rich will pay much more than they receive, and to some that is unfair. But in a connected, collective community that is entirely fair. It’s like saying that someone who is incapable of working because of an illness or disability should not receive public services because they aren’t paying into it which is demonstrably untrue and equally as unfair. Society should look after its vulnerable, and a connected society does so not because it should but because it wants to. If the rich send their children to public schools, for every child they have they pay for another’s education through their taxes. If they pay for private healthcare, for every operation they have through it they are paying for someone else’s who cannot afford private healthcare. The experiences will never be the same – otherwise, why pay? – but the tax take is equitable so it provides more money to the state system to provide a different level of excellence. It enriches the state system whatever the detractors say. Similarly, we should not have able-bodied people not at work (who are capable of work) because the state’s benefits are better than a wage. Corporations should pay a decent wage (not just a living one) so that people can thrive, not simply survive. There is nothing more depressing in life than simply surviving. I am all for people earning as much money as they want to, I don’t have a problem with billionaires, but don’t do it at the expense of someone else. Don’t step on the little man because you want to be the world’s richest person. That’s not what happens in a connected society. By all means be the world’s richest person, but uplift others along the way. Because by definition there can only be one ‘world’s richest’ which means there’s a role in lifting everyone else up, not pushing them down.
We shouldn’t need DEI policies or rules because people should be appointed to all jobs because they are worthy of that job, not because they need positive discrimination. We shouldn’t need to think that our sex, race, age, sexual preference, religion, anything is a factor in us being treated differently to anyone else because, fundamentally, we are all connected to each other. Yes, we are individuals but we are also part of the collective conscious. If a person can do the job and has persuaded the interview panel they have all the technical and personal skills to fit in with the team, be reliable and deliver on the expectations of the role it doesn’t matter if they’ve come from Mars. They should be appointed. Someone in those situations is always going to be disappointed, it’s the nature of the beast. But let it be because the person who was appointed was simply a better candidate, as bitter as that pill is to swallow sometimes. As a woman, I have faced all male appointment committees (funnily enough, never all women though), and lost out to a male candidate. Unconscious bias? Quite possibly. Not as good as the candidate appointed? Quite possibly also. We also should not feel discriminated against whilst doing the job. If our boss doesn’t reflect our cultural background or anything, we shouldn’t have to wonder if they are discriminating against us. We should simply know that, as we are all connected, if there is a problem then we can work it out. Because the problem will be something that can be worked out somehow – when it’s based on bias, it can’t be.
We shouldn’t need to have combative politics that only feeds the ego and not the soul. We shouldn’t allow politicians to divide us to the point where people take great delight in deliberately goading others with a different view. Being spiteful and rude, basically many of those who post about politics on social media platforms like X. Click baiting and being deliberately provocative for no other reason than it provides them with interactions to increase their chances of receiving payment…without declaring that’s why they’re doing it. It shouldn’t be an option provided by a social media platform. In a connected society, we take responsibility for ourselves and our actions, always aware that they have an impact on the collective consciousness. And if as a collective our actions are more negatively focused than positive, it’s obvious which direction society is going to go in. Because the collective consciousness functions whether we are aware of it or not. Whether we believe in it or not. And so we are already having an impact whether we recognise that or not.
I know this all sounds completely idealistic but I can’t believe I am the only person who is so fed up with, basically, the same thing over and over again. We may elect different political parties, and there may be some ideological differences between them, but the end result is increasingly the populations getting more and more turned off of who runs our country. Off our political system as a whole which has more an effect of governments governing with impunity. It suits them more, it feels, for us to feel more disinterested. And we are more disinterested the more disconnected we become. We have an epidemic of mental health problems, and we are more disconnected as a society than we have ever been. Yet we’re not seeing the pattern.
It’s time for us, the people, to start telling the government, the corporations, and all the others who have in interest in us not speaking up, to speak up. To talk about what it is we want to see. For us to come together and – peacefully and respectfully – articulate what we want. To know that when we become bigoted in our speech, it is born from fear. A fear we can overcome together, as a collective. Again, I know this probably sounds fanciful, far-fetched, and idealistic. But if we don’t start the dialogue from a perspective, we don’t start it at all. And I think there are a lot of us who want to start it. A lot of us who want to feel connected to our society, to our communities. To be a part of something that enriches rather than enrages us.
Change is coming, that is a given. Let’s be the ones to shape that change rather than have it shaped around us. Anyone with me?
Louisa Simpson 