WHISTLEBLOWERS MOVE ‘TRANSPARENCY’
TO TOP OF PUBLIC AGENDA

The world will one day move to a model of Total Transparency. All highly evolved societies do. We are told this in Conversations with God. The question is how, and when?

There are those who say that transparency will never work unless and until all elements, all segments, of society are operating on the same model. I agree that this would be the most effective implementation of the idea. Yet it is clear to me that waiting for all cultures, organizations, institutions, governments, corporations, and individuals on our planet to embrace this notion simultaneously would be a waste of time. Such a shift in global consciousness is never going to happen all at once, with the snap of a finger. How, then, will it be produced? By people, organizations, and governments demonstrating leadership through showing the way.

This will take great courage. Masses of people do not like individual people who show the way to a new lifestyle. We like followers, not leaders.

We accuse leaders of making us “wrong,” of putting down our current way of being, of tearing apart our society with their “new ideas” and their “new rules,” and with their exposing of our foibles and of the non-beneficial outcomes of our present behaviors.

My favorite (and saddest) story about this is the account of Ignaz Semmelweis, described in Wikipedia as a Hungarian physician of German extraction and now known as an early pioneer of antiseptic procedures.

According to the Wikipedia article, Dr. Semmelweis “discovered that the incidence of puerperal fever could be drastically cut by the use of hand disinfection in obstetrical clinics. Puerperal fever was common in mid-19th-century hospitals and often fatal, with mortality at 10%–35%. Semmelweis postulated the theory of washing with chlorinated lime solutions in 1847 while working in Vienna General Hospital’s First Obstetrical Clinic, where doctors’ wards had three times the mortality of midwives’ wards. He published a book of his findings in Etiology, Concept and Prophylaxis of Childbed Fever.

“Despite various publications of results where hand-washing reduced mortality to below 1%, Semmelweis’s observations conflicted with the established scientific and medical opinions of the time and his ideas were rejected by the medical community. Some doctors were offended at the suggestion that they should wash their hands and Semmelweis could offer no acceptable scientific explanation for his findings.

“Semmelweis’s practice earned widespread acceptance only years after his death, when Louis Pasteur confirmed the germ theory and Joseph Lister, acting on the French micropbiologissst’s research, practiced and operated, using hygienic methods, with great success. In 1865, Semmelweis was committed to an asylum,  where he died at age 47 after being beaten by the guards as he tried to escape, only 14 days after he was committed.”

Four of the latest people to show us our foibles and the non-beneficial outcomes of our behaviors have been Julian Assange, the Australian Internet activist who is created with having created WikiLeaks; Bradley Manning, a United States Army soldier arrested in May 2010 in Iraq on suspicion of having passed diplomatic cables and other classified material to WikiLeaks — much of which is said by some to have generated many of the uprisings of what has come to be called the Arab Spring; William Binney, described by Wikipedia as “a former highly placed intelligence official with the United States National Security Agency turned whistleblower,” who has repeatedly claimed that the NSA regularly engages in warrantless eavesdropping, including surveillance of email, phone records, and other data; and Edward J. Snowden, the latest whistleblower, who recently unveiled information about U.S. Government surveillance of phone records and other data from millions of Americans.

All are considered by many to be traitors and criminals, who some believe should be punished by death or by life imprisonment for revealing the military, diplomatic, and security secrets of governments (chiefly, the U.S. Government) to the world.

Whether these men are “traitors” or “heroes” is a matter for history to decide. But they certainly do illustrate the danger of some people practicing transparency while others do not. Lives can be at stake — as those who argue for severe punishment of these men point out. Yet it has also been argued by others that many lives have been saved as a result of their whistleblowing.

Whatever the outcome of their cases and of their lives, there is no question that they and others have placed high on the public agenda the topic of just how open human society should be and can be. And the invitation in Conversations with God is for all of us, on an individual level, to practice complete and utter transparency in our daily lives, personal and business interactions, and intimate relationships — whether or not others are doing so also.

In this, as in all things that produce revolutionary and evolutionary shifts in our global society, somebody has to go first.

Comments

16 responses to “WHISTLEBLOWERS MOVE ‘TRANSPARENCY’
TO TOP OF PUBLIC AGENDA”

  1. politics Avatar
    politics

    Neale,
    I believe the issue is more advanced than just Transparency. I say this with extreme prejudice due to the nature of our own misguided examples of total transparency, which we are unable to control. If and when we try to everybody pleads the Fifth and the A.C.L.U comes to the plate and starts a totally different game that is not being played with Equality. Especially when the word Freedom becomes the game changer. Which anyone with common sense would dictate that Freedom is taken advantage of here in America. I agree that Freedom is our God given right, but what about when it becomes our enemy and we do not see the ambush coming?

    My point being simple, any transparency without foresight just complicates any process that could quite possibly arise as a benefit , which Mankind may overlook due to an unnerving way of contradicting the truth. I am not proposing any harsh or rash behaviors to allow for any mandates that may be looked at as Authoritarian or, whats the other one, oh yea, Dictatorship. Both of which are impossible to do in this Country because of the Constitution and Democracy.

    I remember reading a good book a few years ago and for some reason a certain passage stuck with me. It was about an individual and a sieve, it was required of this person to fill the article with water. Eventually they did.

    What does this metaphor have to do with your post or my comment? Maybe nothing, but I have a question to ask of it’s eventual meaning, Was or Is a sieve created to hold water?

    Is it possible we are too ambitious in our endeavors? Especially when our track record is questionable. Need any examples?

    Evolution that is Conscious comes from Logic that is understood, doesn’t it?

    1. Erin Avatar
      Erin

      politics…I believe your last line sums up “common sense”…quite eloquently, in fact.:)

  2. Mike Brown Avatar
    Mike Brown

    Bah humbug. Do you want every detail of your life exposed to government?

    Then welcome to your New USA -government that sacrifices citizens rights to haystack

    data for years from everyone on the loophole that no wiretap order is necessary to

    scan stored emails. I guess in your world we’ll just rely on the God inside us to regulate

    us.

    I’m grateful for Edward Snowden as a civil libertarian and we can all applaud

    when he’s nailed to the wall by the US government. Its also great that a 29 year old

    is an authority on what should be revealed publicly. Transparency? Edward Snowden

    said he did it for privacy ; a quaint notion today:

    “I don’t see myself as a hero,” he said, “because what I’m doing is
    self-interested: I don’t want to live in a world where there’s no
    privacy and therefore no room for intellectual exploration and
    creativity.”

  3. mewabe Avatar
    mewabe

    To shift the conversation away from the abuses of total surveillance by government, which is obvious enough for anyone with open eyes to see…

    Would it be possible to have transparency in an economic system that is predatory and exploitative, where knowledge is power (to control and exploit)?

    As long as we have economic classes, we will have control and exploitation, of the poor by the rich, of the vulnerable by the powerful. Practical knowledge (that has to do with the acquisition and growth of power and money) will be jealously guarded by the rich and powerful, because for the rich to exist, the poor and “working class” (or an exploitable class of workers and consumers of cheap junk) must exist as well.

    Why do we have so many laws? Because of rampant dishonesty. Our ways are so predatory that many people imagine that the best protection against a social collapse is a semi automatic weapon and a ton of ammunition.

    The civilized man (as opposed to the Indigenous person) is a sad creature indeed, whose only barrier against total barbarism appears to be a fear of the law.

    How could transparency be attained under these conditions? The predatory and exploitative mindset must first subside, and it is not about to do so anytime soon.

    By the way the “rich” is not any different than the “poor” expect that s/he has the tools (money) to act differently. But this exploitative and predatory mindset is found in all economic classes and all social groups, except for a few idealists that most people today still call “dreamers”, a few anarchists, poets, artists and creative people who are free and independent by nature, and Indigenous, tribal people.

  4. Erin Avatar
    Erin

    Great food for thought here…Looove the stuff that makes folks go “Hmmm…???” 🙂

    Oh, Beloveds…to imagine that mass “watching” has not been going on…like, for-ever…would be somewhat ignore-ant by choice, which, impo, too easily becomes define of stupidity. “You can’t handle the truth!” were true words, too. Truth unleashes personal responsibility of matters, stupidity separates those with brains & those with brains that use them. It’s a sorting project of a control process…See this!

    These “whistle-blowers” are no different to Us than informants of governance & military…ergo, by Our own defines, makes Us All treasonists & traitors…or All not. This is creating evidence of who’s ‘above’ the law…See this!

    The present Nature of this time & place does not know “Transparency”…Most creatures, other than human, must hide, esp. from humans, to survive…they camouflage themselves or reflect lies both to be fed & to not be eaten. Their homes are kept secret to protect young, they set traps for kills, prey have defense mechanisms in place for attacks, predators often roam in offensive groups for success. Nature kills & feeds on a daily basis…24/7 to be exact.

    “Know your enemies, know yourself, and you will always be victorious.” (Sun-Tsu, Chinese general & military strategist)
    “Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.” (Vito Corleone, the Godfather II)

    Hmmm…Perhaps why Lion & Wildebeest hang out in the same fields…perhaps why whistle-blowing squirrels & crows who ring the warning bells to their neighbors are ‘removed’ by hunters as par for the course (main course, that is).

    Until mankind believes in their leaders as they believe in their God(s), transparency cannot exist. HEBs are not Anarchists…their evolution has simply brought them to a time & place that these beliefs are knowings…That is simply not here & Now.

    And there will be maaany “firsts” toward higher-thinking before such is deemed acceptable to pursue further by the maaany others…We are just silly that way. I See these informants as Patriots of Courage, literally & in every sense, laying their lives on the line for what they believe in…”Being the change they wish to see” of Life here. Bless them, vote for them, raise them up to be Seen…and those in fear of them will be Seen as well…See this!

    In short, tho impo, of course…Being riled by this stuff…by any stuff…defines one as Being Rile-able. In other words, easily made to lose their self-control of anger. And Darlin’s…if YOU are not in control of Self, somebody else Is…simple as that. We ARE wiser than this, We ARE NOT bandwagon jumper-onners.

    Rather, WE are constantly in process of Being the Changes we & We wish to See. Sooo…Ya wanna See Transparency? Are ya striving to BE transparent? Then no worries…Your will is done…Know this!!!
    This truly is a Good Journey, Kids…and a most beautiful place, indeed, to call Home for the moment…Enjoy what ya got while ya got! Be no less than Amazing while yer havin’ at it! Blessed be. <3

    1. mewabe Avatar
      mewabe

      I agree Erin, predation and transparency do not go together…nature itself demonstrates it, as you point out (camouflage, hiding places, etc).

      Ag long as human beings behave in a predatory way towards one another, transparency will remain a dream. Everything must change in our societies and cultures, or nothing will change, because everything is connected, not made of separate “parts” (political parts, religious parts, economic parts, business parts, military parts, conservative or liberal parts, spiritual parts, etc).

      It will all either remain one big chaotic and self-destructive mess, or become one harmonious whole, but either way it will be one, because it cannot be any other way.

  5. Christopher Toft Avatar
    Christopher Toft

    I see it as a case of starting with the cultivation of personal transparency, joining organisations with a transparent ethos & “expanding the circle”.

  6. Awareness Avatar
    Awareness

    Agreed, don’t wait 🙂

  7. Marko Avatar
    Marko

    Of course there is always the possibility that selective secretive
    information can be used by other governments & people to harm us
    that becomes public by information being leaked out.

    Anytime the government talks about new military or technological developments
    & news of what we are doing be it in Afghanistan or any foreign
    issues, tech developments, people always ask the same question.

    Why are they publishing this information, when other countries are monitoring
    our news to piece things together & we make it easier for them to
    find out what we are doing?

    In one sense we give out too much info to the public. That threatens our possible safety.

    Now retail, wholesale & large corporations & such can become more transparent
    with out hurting our safety. Sensitive government information,
    technological discoveries will be stolen immediately by other sources.

    1. mewabe Avatar
      mewabe

      The government gives out information all the time, to our so called potential enemies, both openly through the media and covertly, because our system fundamentally depends on conflict, military and otherwise. WITHOUT INFORMATION BEING STOLEN OR LEAKED, THERE WOULD BE NO ARM RACE…and without an arm race, without the FEAR ELEMENT, the whole house of cards would collapse.

      Imperialism requires enemies…to justify its aggression. It’s as simple as that. When it has no enemies, it creates them. After the Soviet Union collapsed, the US floated out on its own for a while, without the justification it needed to keep carrying a big military stick, but now, thank god, we found “terrorism”, we can all breathe easier, the US is back on track in its quest to remain a “superpower” and to validate spending more money on its military budget that all other nations combined while letting its infrastructure and economy fall apart, which doesn’t hurt the elite a bit.

      The US CANNOT have peace because peace is very dangerous to its system…the government and top military leadership know this. In peace time, PEOPLE START QUESTIONING THINGS about their society, things that don’t work for the people…they start questioning why they are getting screwed, they focus on demanding improvement and question the government with greater alacrity.

      But war shuts everyone up…especially with such cleverly manipulating statements as “if you are not with us you are with the enemy”. War creates tyranny, and tyranny is good for business, it keeps everyone in line, including some politicians who might otherwise question some government policies, but who can’t because it would be portrayed as “unpatriotic”.

      This game is an old game, and the elite has in the course of history become excellent at manipulating the masses, to the point that most of what is openly discussed in the public arena is completely irrelevant, the real agenda being so nefarious, because it is, as it has always been, a pure, single-minded agenda of POWER for its own sake.

      It may sound like a “conspiracy theory” to state that there is a class of people, in the world, that wants to have and keep dominant power, and who play the world as some would a chess game. But it would actually require an inordinate amount of NAIVETY to believe otherwise. Let’s look at human nature: from the school yard to the prison yard to the corporate and banking environment, to international politics, the game is always the same and remains extremely crude and basic, even when taking on the appearance of sophistication and civility: it is a game of dominance…WHO WILL DOMINATE WHO? This is the main question that is on the mind of the ruling patriarchy, anywhere and at anytime (yes, it is quite an obsession).

      Being secretive and hiding all manners of abuses in the name of “national security” (such as the extreme degradation of the environment by the military on ultra secret “Superfund” sites) is only one of the weapons in the arsenal that is used to play this old, extremely unintelligent, ape-like male patriarchal game of dominance.

      1. Marko Avatar

        Well there will come a time when we will get tired & out grow the need for conflict. Conflict will be replaced with the love of the challenge to express more & more of our unlimitedness of being in the human experience.

        That challenge and excitement of living without the need for negativity & conflict comes as we evolve. That’s what I choose for myself anyway, however imperfectly I demonstrate that.

        We as individuals determine that first, living in that sphere of being. Later others will follow & eventually the collective.

        So when people stop playing the conflict & negativity game, the game will have to change.

        I believe small pockets or groups of humanity will live that way even as others live in the old world school of thinking & being. We will have both together until we don’t.

        Magically,
        -Marko

        1. mewabe Avatar
          mewabe

          I am not sure changing the world is where it’s at.

          I question the concept of linear evolution.

          I long as we focus on goals, whether the goal is enlightenment or becoming something more than what we were yesterday, we will remain oblivious to life.

          It is perhaps when we relinquish all goals, without exceptions, that we truly awaken, having reached the ultimate reality: the here and now, the only place where LOVE and LIFE can be known.

          Most of humanity is oblivious to love and life because chasing its own concepts. This is why it seems to live in darkness, because it cannot see what is.

          FREE of ALL beliefs, FREE of ALL goals, of all compulsions to get ANYWHERE or reach ANYTHING, we GENTLY, EFFORTLESSLY, PEACEFULLY enter eternity (the present moment, now) and infinity (the space where we are, here).

          We awaken to WHAT IS, and we know that it is PERFECT and COMPLETE, because it is love, it is life.

          We are in wonder, in enchantment.

          We are free.

          We can then start living, rather than pursuing a concept about life.

          1. Marko Avatar

            You certainly cover a lot of ground Mewabe in your last comment.

            It starts out with your perception of dealing with change which seems not to change anything if I understand it right, & maybe I don’t?

            You also said:

            “Free of all beliefs, free of all goals, of all desires to get anywhere
            or reach or have anything (for there is nowhere and nothing outside of the here and now), we gently, effortlessly, peacefully enter eternity (the present moment, now) and infinity (the space where we are, here).”

            I think that desires & goals are the engines that fuel our lives to create our next conscious selective experience. The law of attraction is senior to even gravity & thus the silly putty of the Universe if you will, for us to create anything eventually, that we desire, good, bad, fantastic etc.

            That’s the mechanism or the MO of life. We need not use it consciously as many unconsciously do so now, but if we use & understand it, we create more of the beauty we have instead of destroying it.

            You finished by saying:

            “Beyond the reaches of our most expansive dreams, concepts, beliefs, ideals, everything already exists, and is already here and now, in the palms of our hands and within our undying hearts.”

            It may all be here, but in our current incarnation do we not select from the library of everything & look at things in more detail?

            That’s being in the relative of experience rather than the simply knowing but not being able to experience, as is the case in the absolute right?

            To be able to consciously change what we don’t prefer or to stop continuing in that which we don’t really desire is the option we have in the relative of free will.

            That seems like a good thing to me.

            Now, I’m not quite sure if I understood what your point or points you were trying to make exactly, but if it works for you that is great. There are many rivers that lead to the one ocean.

            Magically,
            -Marko

          2. mewabe Avatar
            mewabe

            Everything works within the dynamic of a paradox. It is difficult to explain, and perhaps it is only my own way, I might be different, from another planet 🙂

            But a point I can perhaps try to communicate is that the more we are grounded in the absolute, the more conscious we are of having our being in the absolute, the less our chances of getting lost in the relative, in the world. That’s easy enough to understand in theory, yet most people forget such a simple truth, because they get so involved and blinded by their own ideas.

            Also, the more we are grounded in the absolute, the less we need to act, because the more potent, decisive and “on the mark” our actions. We hit bull’s eye every time, so there is less to DO and more to BE.

            What does this have to do with transparency? Not much, it only has to do with the ideas of changing the world and changing ourselves.
            I have noticed that everything comes through paradox, such as “it is when we no longer seek that we find”, etc…

            Again, I might be different, originating from a universe where people stand upside down to see the world right side up.

          3. Victor Avatar
            Victor

            Your ideas and concepts, Mewabe, are fascinating, and this is funny, because you´re speaking about being away of ideas and concepts…

            How do you live in the ´real´ world, I mean, the relative, physical world in the context of those concepts…?

            Do you have a job? Do you have a wife? Kids? Do you pay bills? Do you make trips? Vacations? Do you maintain a house, a car, and all ordinary expenses of every day, and a month, and a year…?

            I´m not asking necessarily about your private life, but these are generic questions.

            About changing the world ´vs.´ changing yourself one by one, or making activism or politics; what´s the point of that in the context of only ´Be here and now, and anything else matters´, in your oppinion…?

            My best regards…

          4. mewabe Avatar
            mewabe

            Thank you Victor…

            If I followed my way of being to its conclusion, as I did for a while when I was 18, I would be a total misfit, meaning that I would not fit in society in any way. I could be a vagabond, a gypsy, a nomad, an adventurer, following my inspiration, my intuition, not stopping anywhere long, moving on, always FREE.

            I don’t fit in the “system”. My soul does not fit in it. I don’t think anyone’s soul is meant to fit in it, because the system is a soul-crushing and heart-breaking machine…but most people do not realize it, because they do not listen to their own soul or heart. They just know they are unhappy, and they think it’s because they don’t have the right car, the right house, the right relationship or the right job.

            I have compromised in my life…absolutely free inside, yet making a living as an artist, having a house, etc…I don’t have kids, I am divorced and in a new, beautiful relationship. But I try to live as much outside of the system as I can, and the woman I love is the same way.

            It is not so much a matter of doing or not doing, but of being.

            When you ask me how to live in the world with my worldview, it is simply a matter of being. I am who I am no matter where I am or what I do.

            For example, when I was drafted for a year in the army, I refused to obey ANY order, to do ANYTHING I was told to do. I did not fight them, I simply lived as a FREE, SOVEREIGN individual within the context of the army, ignoring their assumption of any kind of authority over me. I treated the officers and everyone else as equals. They had never seen anything like it, because I was not political, and I did not antagonize them…I simply and very calmly said NO. I did not play the game, I did not accept the rules.

            They couldn’t do anything with me, neither break me nor change me. I spent half of my time in the brig, but they eventually let me go, although I had 2 more months to spend there, because they admitted they couldn’t do anything with me.

            Why didn’t I go along with the program as all people do?
            Because there was a draft, and it made them assume, legally, that I was their property, the property of the government for a year. There is NO WAY I could have accepted this insane idea under ANY circumstance, because IT WENT AGAINST THE SPIRITUAL KNOWLEDGE of who I am.

            It is the same with the system…we do not have to become its voluntary slaves.

            We can live a spiritual life, knowing that we are part of the absolute, of a complete, perfect, sovereign reality, within the chaos of the relative human world. It helps to be grounded in the divine creation, in nature.

            I do some activism, but as a pure expression of my love for the earth and for people and animals, for all life…but I do not do it in an antagonistic manner. I do it unconditionally in a way, not attached to the outcome. I do not do it to win, but to EXPRESS who I am, to express BEING.

            If we take care of the present, as we do when BEING fully here and now, the future takes care of itself. Here and now is where we are, there is no other place or time. When we are fully in the here and now, we are at a place of what some would call “mastery”, at a place of true power, spiritually, creatively, physically.

            We can be in the world, we do not have to be of the world. The world is immersed in the past and the future, and running past the present like a freight train, oblivious to reality. We do not have to live this way. We can cultivate our own way of being, honor our own rhythm, and more than anything honor the needs of our soul to be true to its nature ABOVE ALL OTHER REQUIREMENTS, even if it means rejecting all of society.

            All the best to you Victor…

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