trenton

How to become the next Martin Luther King?

8 posts in this topic

I am very curious about personal development and how it relates to politics.  Considering some of the greatest leaders of all time, how is it that they were able to rally tens of millions behind a common goal?  How would ordinary citizens like us have to change in order to become the next great leader?

I understand that many of King's goals have yet to be realized.  This includes reforming the medical system, eliminating global poverty, eliminating systemic racism, and others.  King was also opposed to the Vietnam war arguing that capitalism and militarism were inseparable.  A modern example is the American attacks on civilians in the middle East.  According to Donald Trump we should take their oil to pay ourselves back.

If the next Martin Luther King were to emerge, what would he or she have to do in order to unify millions behind a common goal?  I think a good attempt would be to get people from all across the political spectrum to support a constitutional convention to impose term limits.  Currently many conservatives and liberals support the idea.  If something does not change, then mankind will fail to stop the water wars and the damages caused by climate change.

At one point in my life I considered becoming an activist, but I felt that there were no realistic ways to realize the goals I had in mind.  Using King as an example, which goals are realistic or not realistic? His goals often seemed unrealistic, but we would have been wrong.  I have a hard time distinguishing between being realistic and limiting beliefs in this case.  I think being realistic is a limiting belief, but at the same time we might fail if we pursue such ideals.

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1. Be aware of the current zeitgeist.

2. Have an idea of how to change society.

3. Have oodles of charisma.

The ideas one has don’t necessarily have to be realistic. They just need to sound good to lots of people.

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@Willie sounds like a start.

What exactly is charisma?  I don't think I have a lot of it.

I guess so long as the ideas resonate with people, it should bring about some progress even if the dream or goal is not realized in this life time.

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@AtheisticNonduality what do you think would be the most fitting way to start a peaceful revolution?  What changes should we be calling for and how should they be actualized?  What knowledge are we missing?

 

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I think this kind of personality cult usually is more of a stage orange manifestation, so you shouldn't necessarily expect future movements to work in the same way, they might be far more decentralized than in the past. But if there was a next Martin Luther King, he would most certainly focus on animal rights rather than human rights. ;)

Edited by Scholar

Glory to Israel

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35 minutes ago, trenton said:

@AtheisticNonduality what do you think would be the most fitting way to start a peaceful revolution?  What changes should we be calling for and how should they be actualized?  What knowledge are we missing?

 

That's your job! Step number one: think for yourself! Now, repeat this phrase to me: "Always question authority, and never believe or repeat a phrase just because someone else told it to you."

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34 minutes ago, AtheisticNonduality said:

That's your job! Step number one: think for yourself! Now, repeat this phrase to me: "Always question authority, and never believe or repeat a phrase just because someone else told it to you."

First of all no.  I will not repeat that just because you told me too.

Secondly, the changes I have in mind are the abolition of American imperialism as well as our responsibility in modern slavery such as our cell phone sweat shops in which workers are not paid a minimum wage and the right to unionize is not protected.  Our economy is fundamentally broken so long as wide spread human rights violations across the globe are necessary to maintain a position as a global super power.

Thirdly, the knowledge I am missing is greater clarity on why the United States wants to start a war with China.  We need people to call out corporate greed in advance of any armed conflict so that we stop the cycle of constant war by moving from Syria to China when we bomb civilians.  Racism, imperialism, and capitalism are all tied together and the more clear I am on how, the better.  Anti Asian and Muslim rhetoric is designed to plant the prejudice necessary to make us feel justified in exploiting other nations for their resources in order to maximize profits while remaining a global super power.

Fourthly, no such revolution can occur from within the government.  There is a conflict of interest which prevents anti-corruption measures such as term limits from being implemented.  If we are serious about bipartisanship, then the government needs to become functional through anti-corruption.  After this, corrupt politicians can be removed from power so that systemic change can take place.  This can only occur through massive action by many people.  The government does not want to do it.   Maybe I need to start telling people about the constitutional convention as our only way forward.  This can reach people anywhere in the political spectrum.

Finally, as for independent thinking, it is one of my values and I will do my best here.  I have this life.  I just appeared in existence one day without an explanation.  I already knew English and that the woman looking at me was called "mom.". Life is amazing to the point that I can't comprehend it.  This is why I want to do something incredible that accurately reflects the value of this life I have.  The question I need to answer is "what best reflects the value of my life and how does this compare to how I am currently living it?"

Life is more than money, more than sex, and more than me.  (Note that anti-money or anti-sex as a moral dogma does not work, it is transcended through a higher vision.)  If I ever hope to accurately reflect the inexpressible wonder of this life, it must be put toward something bigger than me.  Life is more selfishly surviving.

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