Life can be destroyed. The weapons which are now in the hands of our species are too powerful, and if they are ever used the commons will suffer ultimate destruction.

I’ve been faced with a choice in my life, as has everyone in my generation. The choice is: join the power structure as it is, or oppose it.

The former choice means working for a corporation or the government; this leads to wealth and security. The latter choice means working against the corporate structure; this leads to poverty and maybe early death.

I tried very hard not to decide this for awhile, but I could not evade the choice.

When there is no joy, life has no value. When there is no emotion, there is no reason to go on. I want to live with the freedom to look at the world honestly. I will not live recklessly, but I will not accept security. I do not want the moral degradation that goes along with that and the serving of the interests of power.

I think people should try to live with an honest spirit and challenge those who infringe upon their joy. They should oppose those who spread misery and suffering across the Earth, and do so for nothing other than personal gain.

Bertrand Russell, Albert Einstein and Noam Chomsky – possibly the three greatest minds in history – have each warned that our species will soon destroy itself, perhaps even this century, if we do not renounce war. But this has not come to pass.

What is more, the warnings haven’t even been discussed – few are even aware of them. Life can be destroyed. The weapons which are now in the hands of our species are too powerful, and if they are ever used the commons will suffer ultimate destruction.

Life can be destroyed, and we can destroy it if we are not careful. The compassion has been drained from modern life. The owners of our society want more for themselves, and to do that they need to kill. For that they need people to kill for them; to get people to kill they need to get them to hate. The owners have great influence over how we think. They do not control our personal choices or thoughts, but they do create an ideological framework of the world which most of us accept.

Even those with rebellious spirits rarely think their way out of that framework in which we are all ensnared. It is a framework that we accept unknowingly, and it is completely false. Because of it, we have a false view of the world. Reason must be implanted into peoples’ world views, and compassion must be put into their hearts.

It’s a simple task but very difficult given the balance of power and given the understanding that material power is not a positive force in our world. Power encompasses evil; where there is power there is a source of violence and horror and barbarism.

Concentrations of power are concentrations of violence. Those who have power are always in favor of the status quo, and they are always going to use their means to convince everyone of the correctness of the status quo. They create the societal framework on this basis.

I believe we should try to live on that free-flying emotion that allows us pure clarity and energy to work without self-interest. It is arrogant to have joy, and so we must be arrogant.

There are either material rewards or spiritual rewards, and you cannot have both. You must do different things to acquire each. You must act in an unnatural fashion for material rewards; you must betray your own spirit and common sense.

The pursuit of material wealth requires that you act to increase your own gain. Consequently, you must act to increase your brother’s loss and suffering. That is the choice of our time.

There is a joy that pierces through every moment of our lives and every atom of this universe: a joy that stems from love – which is the only real value. Love is the reason to act even when no final purpose can be perceived. If it is lost, there is no reason and no hope.

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