Dreaming with Elvis

Many remark upon information-overload in what seems to be becoming our ‘post-truth-world’. That is, it is becoming increasingly difficult to look for truth ‘out there’ because in researching any subject whatsoever, there are myriad, contrasting viewpoints and ‘truths’

Is this media outlet fake news, or is it that one?
Is there climate change, or no climate change?
Is it the best of times, or the worst of times?
Is the earth over-populated, or is there enough room for us all?
Is a given country ‘defending democracy’, or just its backpocket?
Is this treasure, or trash?

Whatever the dichotomies and paradoxes, they all have their supporting arguments amongst the 7.7 billion of us here on planet earth. You can google whatever you want, and the ‘rightness or the wrongness’ of any subject whatsoever has been laid out for you, hundreds and maybe thousands of times over.

But all these, like beauty, are all in the eye of the beholder (which is you, of course).

It can be despairing as we attempt to make sense of our lives and our world, especially now: our increasingly-connected world has given rise to massive, head-spinning, lightning-fast interconnectivity.

And it’s also highly disruptive and unsettling, too, because try as we might to hang onto our accustomed ways, they are nonetheless changing, expanding, shifting.

And whereas we had but a few TV channels, news outlets and leaders ensuring a prevailng narrative once upon a time, now there are thousands of sources, with more springing up continually.

As we slowly evolve from hierarchical and centralized organization to organization that is more horizontal and decentralized, human beings are becoming less enthralled and held in check by so-called authority figures.

Sure there’s a lot of us-and-them, fear tactics and coercion still at play, but there are also wider, more decentralized movements at play, too, with people realizing they have the power (and evolutionary mandate) to simply get on with creating the more fluid structures and lives they want to experience, rather than what top-down leadership dictates.

They are not seeking permission: they are simply creating. And this is wonderful.

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So what now in our much vaster, more multidimensional, multi-polar and multi-stakeholder world, knowing we really can’t control everything and everyone all the time (even though we do try to), knowing our version of the truth is just that: our version?

What shall we write with our moment in time, when we are evolving beyond 2 channels, a 2 parties and us-and-them, and us-vs-them?

I’m wondering about the parts of you and I that could contribute more beauty, smiles, upliftment, opportunity, hope and diversity.

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Elvis belts it out beautifully HERE

If I Can Dream

There must be lights burning brighter somewhere
Got to be birds flying higher in a sky more blue
If I can dream of a better land
Where all my brothers walk hand in hand
Tell me why, oh why, oh why can’t my dream come true
oh why
There must be peace and understanding sometime
Strong winds of promise that will blow away the doubt and fear
If I can dream of a warmer sun
Where hope keeps shining on everyone
Tell me why, oh why, oh why won’t that sun appear

We’re lost in a cloud
With too much rain
We’re trapped in a world
That’s troubled with pain
But as long as a man
Has the strength to dream
He can redeem his soul and fly
Deep in my heart there’s a trembling question
Still I am sure that the answer gonna come somehow
Out there in the dark, there’s a beckoning candle

And while I can think, while I can talk
While I can stand, while I can walk
While I can dream, please let my dream
Come true, right now
Let it come true right now
Oh yeah