Australia Day: An Inspiration for the World
Whether or not to celebrate Australia Day on 26 January is not the real question. The real question revolves around perception.
I’ve come to understand that most questions asked by human beings can be answered by understanding the relationship between objective and perceived realities. Most problems can be solved and conflicts resolved in this same way.
My years of studying indigenous shamanism, as well as those when I was chief economist at an international consulting firm (an economic hit man) have taught me that there are two general types of reality: objective and perceived. The computer I’m writing on is an objective reality. The words I write are perceived reality.
When you come right down to it, perceptions – and the stories we create around perceptions – control most all human activities. Religion, culture, legal and economic systems, and even countries are created and maintained by perceived reality; when enough people accept a perception or when it is codified into law, that perception changes objective reality.
We can say that there is a Perception Bridge that determines how we view objective reality. That bridge is one of the most powerful tools human beings have ever created. It is the basis for shamanism, psychotherapy, the arts, and – increasingly – science (through quantum mechanics).
In Australia, Objective Reality 1 is that January 26 is ¬the day that the Union Jack was raised in Sydney Cove and the official declaration of British sovereignty on the land that became Australia took place.
A Perceived Reality that it was “invasion day,” the beginning of a horribly traumatic and genocidal history leads to an Objective Reality 2 that celebrating that day is honoring the terrible abuses which followed. The perception that it is a day of nationalism that must be stubbornly celebrated leads to an Objective Reality of deep hurt and feelings of anger, resentment and guilt. Both perceptions divide the nation.
However, Australians have the opportunity to adopt a new perception. They can recognize that this fragile space station that is our home is threatened by what we’ve come to call “the modern world,” that we have created an economic system that is consuming itself into extinction and driving the world toward catastrophe.
This Death Economy is based on short term goals that are destroying the very resources upon which it depends. Increasingly, economists and others who study systemic approaches conclude that we need to learn from indigenous cultures like those in Australia; they created economic systems that are themselves renewable resources. What economists refer to as a Life Economy does not ravage resources; instead it cleans up pollution, regenerates destroyed environments, recycles and develops processes that are renewable. This type of system has sustained indigenous cultures for millennia.
So, the new Perceived Reality is that January 26 is a day to celebrate because we’ve come to realize that it marks the building of a Perception Bridge. It has taken a long time to understand the true nature of that bridge but it is now taking hold. People in Australia, and around the world, see that indigenous wisdom—the perception of what it means to be human and in a sustainable relationship with the rest of the planet – is exactly what we need in order to assure the continuation of life on earth. That Perception Bridge will lead to a new Objective Reality.
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has stated: “Australia Day’s date will not change while I’m prime minister…” and that he “will not be bullied by a tiny minority”. Let’s help the Prime Minister keep January 26 as a day to celebrate a new truth: the tiny minority is not bullying anyone; rather it is offering to help us create an environmentally sustainable, socially just human presence on our precious earth. Australia Day will be a day that inspires people around the world to blaze a trail that leads future generations into truly prosperous life-styles.
John Perkins is the author of New Confessions of an
Economic Hit Man (2016), the New York Times bestsellers
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man (2004) & The Secret
History of the American Empire (2007).
He is
an ex Economic Hit Man who exposes the clandestine
operations that has created the current global economic
crises. John speaks regularly at international economic
summits alongside prominent world leaders such as Russian
President Vladimir Putin & UN Secretary General Antonio
Guterres. He proposes a masterplan to transform what he
calls a failing ‘Death Economy’ into a thriving ‘Life
Economy’ that provides sustainable abundance for all. John
is also recognized as a leading expert on indigenous
cultures and shamanism.
About InfoReset
Seminars:
Conscious Events returns to New
Zealand on 25 March 2018 with their latest seminar brand
called InfoReset. The Full Day Seminar Tour (11am to 6pm)
features an amazing lineup of authors who will be speaking
in this part of the world for the first time. Ex Economic
Hit Man, John Perkins (USA) who has spoken at international
economic summits will present hard evidence on the role of
Economic Hit Men in the destruction of entire countries and
how the current Death Economic system can be transformed
into a Life Economy. Conchita Sarnoff, Investigative
Journalist and research professor at American University,
will address the global epidemic of human trafficking and
child abuse that haunts the corridors of power from Harvard
to the White House. Son of Oscar winning Hollywood director
Olive Stone and co-host of RT’s Watching the Hawks, Sean
Stone is the expert commentator on global geopolitics and
the imperialistic agenda behind world events. True to the
name, InfoReset Seminars promises to be a powerful
Information Reset for all who attend! www.inforeset.com