Zeitgeist Moving Forward Critique by Stefan Molynuex
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Interesting critique that I agree with many portions of.
What I still want to know is what is the root cause of money? I know films like Zeitgeist attempt to tell us where it comes from and how it's produced. But I'm afraid I didn't catch the why? Of course I have my own theories as to why, I'm just wondering if any Zeitgeist fans have any clues?
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Just for info
Hey there =)
so, I want to state - I am active in ZM for about a year now, but I do not like the new film, for a lot of reasons. Neither am I a big supporter of The Venus Project... Anyway, since you ask - here Peters reply on this critique:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozy52bZ6JTw
I did not listen to either of them, I am just tired of the whole thing at the moment, it just makes me irritated, so I am staying away =)
But I like ZM, since it brings together people who wants to talk about alternatives to the current, failing system...
With love!
S
=)
Well, in the Vienna ZM Chapter we discuss loads, we even invited a whole panel with interesting people who debated ZMF on the premier, and we will continue like this =) I dont know how other chapters are, but I have connected with all kinds of people in ZM.
I basically agree with your points of critique here below, and I think that the answer to our future lies in open discussions. Though I do believe that "the masses" do want to wake up - all in their own way... =)
Love and a big hug!
S
I can totally relate to that experience ...
...but I have more experienced that in the international forums, I wrote smth about that after ZMF came out btw - I wanted to post the link to this critique under this post for days, but the ZM homepage seems to be down or to slow all the time... But here is the same text as a comment on an Evolver post- I developed it a bit better for my ZM-post, but well - its still the "same same but different " =)
http://www.evolver.net/user/hello_im_alex/blog/reality_sandwich_delibera...
you are unique - all you do is ground-breaking
florries.wordpress.com - on life and living
Interesting critique
Interesting critique but I found that PJ's response basically ripped the whole thing apart.
Beyond thought
I must admit the ZM stuff is very fascinating and I love the research and examples that are discussed in the first half of the film. And, regarding the personal arguments above, Peter Joseph's response was very systematically superior, in every way (except in his own irritation). I am in academic sciences and have sat through countless reasearch talks, PhD thesis defenses, etc and he truly is a master at defending his argument.
BUT, the fundamental flaw in his work (and in Stefan's) as Absalom points out, is this (and I would never be able to point this out in other forums but since universal consciousness is a theme and goal here at Evolvler):
The idea that these problems can be solved exclusively with the 'thinking mind'. The thinking mind is the source of most of the problems, this mind which arises from the ego, even in its subtlest forms. There is a consciousness and intelligence beyond our thinking minds. Anybody around here who has done enough psychedelics, visited yogis, had near death experiences, etc knows that. Until your consciousness is seating Unity (rather than dualistically...wait that's an oxymoron!) we can't even begin to 'know' what an optimal strategy is. To claim an understanding of planetary efficiency and global sustainability without being rooting in the One is ludicrous...and futile.
As such a staunch supporter of science, PJ should reflect on some of Albert Einstein's quotes:
"The world we have made, as a result of the level of thinking (mind) we have done thus far, creates problems we cannot solve at the same level of thinking at which we created them."
"Science without religion is lame; religion without science is blind."
"My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slightest details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble minds."
"There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."
I didn't make it all the way
I didn't make it all the way through Stefan's critique and I'm not going to bother with the other one. I support ZM because its one of the few sources doing what it is doing, talking about what it is talking about. Everyone around me has no idea about any of this stuff, they are blind to even the first inklings of a worldview aligned with ZM. I would love to be shown other sources raising the same sort of questions ZM and producing anything near the quality that they produce.
"To claim an understanding of planetary efficiency and global sustainability without being rooting in the One is ludicrous...and futile."
I agree. Zeitgeist Addendum sort of presented unity consciousness as the ultimate solution rather than encouraging taking to the streets as Moving Forward did. (Seriously is there no other way to change things than going out and getting our asses beat by jacked up macho policemen? I mean, I'll do it if it comes down to that even though I don't trust them not to shoot me... But there has got to be another way.)
I definitely think they we will not see the sort of shining eco-city future that ZM imagines any time soon. I think we have a lot of falling apart to do before we are ready to do something on that level. Nevertheless, the more our peers can absorb the sort of thinking that ZM is encouraging with its films, the better.
"I am a human animal and I'm prepared to accept the consequences." Tom Robbins
my critique
I have my own critique if you'd like to read it:
http://www.kindagamey.com/2011/01/re-zeitgeist-moving-forward/
I'm pro- resource management, but i think centralization leads to corruption or weakness. I think the movement needs to be a safety net that grows in the cracks of the current system, not a city from scratch. I think science needs to wake up to the fact that the world is much bigger than the mechanistic viewpoint; that our reality is intertwined with consciousness.
--
Be aware of yourself and the change will come naturally.
Cart before the horse and still can't be led to water
I was totally unfamiliar with the ZM thing until this post and the trailer teasers were posted here so I went and checked out the site, and I'd like to see the movie.
But reading what they have proposed so far, in that a solely technological - political solution, is not enough. As someone who's been involved in architecture for 15 years the solutions to our resource problems have been on the shelves since the 70's. In the practice I worked at we dusted them off and demonstrated how we could help clients save $$ over time. My principal was at the 1st Earth Day, and has designed subterranean energy efficient houses that still stand today, (and probably will 100 years from now). I would love for it to be so simple to be a mass change to zoning, building codes and ordinances to begin changing how our cities and buildings work, but that takes time, money and political will across not just the US but around the world where there is no such thing as building regulation. The US has the most complex, pro-community, pro-safety, set of building codes in the world. Look around you, this is the best we got. And other than ADA (American with Disabilities Act), everything governing construction, zoning, and efficiency is local.
Even those interested in utilizing the most green tech it still comes down to the bottom line. It takes a change in thinking. Even if the developer want's to be the most resource efficient and responcible, his investors want the lowest upfront investment and the fastest pay back. We have to change people's spirit to not cling to money for money's sake, but to do the best they can with what they have, and no amount of math and specifications can do that. I agree, developers, investors and consumers have to transcend a lot of baggage to even begin to make the kinds of changes ZM suggests.
6 Tektite Serpent
----------------------------
"That which we obtain too easily, we esteem too lightly" - Thomas Paine
"We never reflect how pleasant it is to ask for nothing" - Seneca
Money and consciousness
Some thoughts on Stefan and the Zeitgeist Movement:
He mentions entrepreneurs create wealth. Really? Is it not that they actually convert life into money. The wealth is already there. In economics a forest is worthless unless it is converted into board-feet of lumber and sold. Once something enters the realm of money there is a constant pressure to grow. But nothing can grow forever. Thus we need a new money system not more free enterprise capitalism with a patchwork of technological solutions.
Are resources really scarce or is it that money is scarce? We live in a world/universe of abundance if we can change our consciousness. As humanity's consciousness shifts to a higher frequency then we may see the acceptance of free energy technology, which I believe is real.
Many people have suggested money with negative interest. This would make money operate like everything else in the universe which is to decay over time. Money with negative interest would flow from those who don't need it to those who do. It would create greater equality and end the desire to accumulate more money. This stems from the fact that the universe does want to provide for us. We've created this dog eat dog world through the use of money with interest.
If we believe that nature is competitive (survival of the fittest) then that assumes a winner and a loser. But if the lion wins and eats all the antelope then the lion loses too. In nature it seems all creatures are of equal value whether they are big or small. It is a series of interdependent relationships. The blade of grass is no less important than any top predator or graceful humpback whale. Human behavior seems to mirror our culture of money and places great value on those jobs or persons that create the most money...e.g. stock brokers. That is why the system creates so much inequality and suffering.
Material desires are not infinite if all material needs are met. The only desire that is infinite is our desire to expand consciousness. Material desires are only substitutes for a lack of infinite consciousness. Our current paradigm says we are separate competing egos (consumers) while in reality we are all connected and have the potential for boundless awareness and love.
The criticism of the current system in ZM is quite correct. However like another poster suggests we can't keep using the same tools that created the problem to fix the problem.
Part III
Ok just watched Part III of Moving Forward, just about puked after the opening monologue that "unlike politics and religion, science has no ego." If he really believes that then he has no understanding of the purpose of religion (aside from those who have systematically abused it throughout history), and say the US Constitution or Bill or Rights which have no ego either in and of themselves. I have a PhD in biology from a tier 1 university and while 'science' may have no ego as a method, I've yet to meet a scientist without an ego. People have egos, tools don't. This I see is his fundamental shortcoming of really nailing the root or core problems (as I stated in a previous post) created in our society.
An outright cynical and contrite dismissal of religion is as totally ignorant as an outright dismissal of science (ask Einstein). Science AND religion AND politics have all contributed devastating atrocities to humanity. He seems essentially a philosophical materialist.
Funny that 'survival' is the basis for sustainability in his new world. Anyone who understands the chakra system (Kabbalistic systems) knows that survival is the root (and lowest vibration) form of energy in our being. There are other higher spheres (and vibrations) of influence in chakra (or Sepiroth) system. An imbalance in this chakra combined with cutoff from the vibratory spheres, is the source of our duality and hence the source of the instinct of self-preservation at the expense of all others.
Oh yeah, and a fucking computer running everything, what is this The Matrix?! The Beast of Revelations?
I did however like the final chapter and the discussion of peak oil, Michael Ruppert was a nice addition to this entire film.

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