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Let's Make the Fearlessness Movement Ning Grow and Strengthen in 2024

Hello All Fearlessness Movement ning members. As the year 2023 winds down and 2024 horizon can be seen now, it is a good time to get honest and speak truths. I have my own biases about what is the most important phenomenon going on globally, which is top position in terms of quick and deadly impacts. I am speaking about the political scene. On behalf of the need to awaken from the paralyzation of most of us from ongoing onslaughts of fear/terror/anxiety, I am convinced we have alternatives, and the path of fearlessness is a viable 'fear' vaccine that can be adopted and nourished. Let's work together to organize and grow this Fearlessness Movement. Pass around to your friends the link of this website, share it on your social media and make your endorsements if you feel called. [contact me to help out: r.michaelfisher52 [at] gmail.com

We can increase our membership and activities here and in your neighborhoods, but we have to attract more members to gain momentum. Currently the 2023 year is ending with 146 FM ning members and this number has remained roughly about the same all year long, with slow increases, and some leaving etc. As founder and host of the FM ning, I pay $330/ year for us to have this online community presence. I'd like help to pay for that and I'd like a whole lot more people to post here and create energy of ideas and actions to make the world a better place using a unique set of frameworks in which to do that--of which, our improved learning about fear and fearlessness is core and central and essential. I am not interested in adding to the Fear Problem by acting in ways that are not based in fearlessness as the objective below and motivating the good changes we want. 

Let's Not Ignore the Real Development of World Politics

I thought to copy an excerpt from a very good article on the threats of authoritarian populism (mostly far right wing, but also some left wing) in the political sphere. This excerpt by a reliable source at the organization "Othering & Belonging Institute" out of UC Berkeley, is published by Democracy & Belonging Forum, Dec. 20, 2023. Take a special note of the paragraph summary that speaks of the zeitgeist and potency of fear and anger feeding each other to drive the populism into a frenzy and effective dominant force on this planet. Enjoy reading, and let's talk about this and other topics related in 2024. 

Daring to Dream

by Míriam Juan-Torres (December 20, 2023)

Connecting the Dots #17

The year 2023 has been full of violence. Civilian deaths continue to rise in Gaza and Ukraine. The horrors of the Hamas attacks against Israeli civilians are ongoing. It took a day for Azerbaijan to seize Nagorno-Karabakh and displace thousands of Armenians, while at the same time the humanitarian crisis in Sudan continues to deteriorate under the radar. And these are only a few examples. 

Violence does not only come in the form of war though. 

And as the year comes to an end and I try to reflect on the months passed, I sometimes wonder if, as I am constantly steeped in research on authoritarian populism, my perspective is too clouded by the negatives. Yet no matter where I look, whether it’s in international news, progressive spaces, or far-right forums, the pervasive sensation I observe is usually a combination of anxiety, fear, and anger. But again, is this new or worse? When has the world been fair? When have we inhabited a planet where all belong?

Yet some dare to dream outrageous dreams and their dreams come true. In November, far-right leader Geert Wilders’ electoral victory in the Netherlands and Javier Milei’s in Argentina caught many by surprise. Wilders is a politician with more than 20 years of political experience who only a few years ago was convicted for hate speech and continues to run an explicitly Islamophobic campaign (for more on the plethora of Dutch populist parties see here).  Javier Milei is a political newcomer who runs on an anarchocapitalist platform and applauds the Argentinian dictatorship, idolizes guns, and challenges women’s rights. 

Wilders and Milei are not the only authoritarian populists who recently came to power through free and fair elections. Italy’s Giorgia Meloni is the most notorious of the bunch and, if I am not mistaken she was the first female authoritarian populist to become prime minister ever (she was elected in late 2022). In Slovakia, far-right politician Robert Fico returned to power by centering anti-Ukrainian sentiment, after having resigned in 2018 during his second term following the murder of Ján Kuciak, an investigative reporter, and his fiancee, Martina Kušnírová. Still, despite how his last term ended, he now intends to restrict media freedom. 

All of them and many others believed that their big bets could yield results. And they did.

Dreaming big, however, takes courage. And while authoritarian populists such as Wilders and Milei, Meloni, and Fico seem to have courage aplenty, the lesson that mainstream politicians are drawing is that the only way to combat the surge of authoritarian populism is to adopt their frames. The President of the European People’s Party at the EU Parliament (the EPP is the center-right, pro-European political party which gathers over 83 parties from 44 countries), Manfred Weber, recently made this evident during some of his first remarks on the back of Geert Wilders’ victory by concluding that adopting the far-rights’ postures on immigration is the only way to prevent the rise of the far right. There’s no alternative vision, no inclusive dream. 

The constant whitewashing of Meloni’s image by EU leaders and the media also reflects how as long as authoritarian populist leaders keep in line with economics and foreign policy, the rest of Europe can turn a blind eye to whatever happens in “internal politics.” 

To me, this mostly demonstrates one of the biggest threats to democracy and human rights in Europe—the collusion, the blending, the normalization, and the incorporation of authoritarian populist ideas and actors into the mainstream. The branding of those ideas as the only solution to complex challenges. The alternative to rejecting authoritarian populism frames is not to say that there are no problems, that migration is not a relevant issue, that people aren't struggling, that fear is unreasonable. Or to delegitimize voters who vote for far-right candidates. But presenting the far-rights’ solutions as the only reasonable options shows at best a failure of imagination and at worst a cynical lack of commitment to justice and human rights.

The year 2024 will be a definitive year on many fronts. 

We are less than three months away from Super Tuesday in the United States of America, when Donald Trump will likely win the nomination as the Republican candidate. The November 2024 US general elections could very well yield a victory for Trump, and historical examples show us that a second term by an authoritarian populist is far more dangerous, as they come equipped with lessons from their first term and can double down on their authoritarian practices. Some, like historian Robert Kagan, have been keen to emphasize that a Trump dictatorship is increasingly inevitable. In the meantime, across the US, Republican governors continue to (ab)use preemptive laws to circumscribe what cities and counties can do, targeting abortion, and LGBTQ and voting rights, often in majority-minority localities. 

European Parliament elections are scheduled for June 2024. Turnout at EU elections across the continent is notoriously low, yet historically they are the elections where the far right have had some success while failing nationally. Albeit in the past they didn’t have enough representation to wield significant power, their presence at the EU Parliament provided a platform for far-right leaders like British Nigel Farage to deliver attention-grabbing performances. While their national results are clearly shifting, far-right candidates are also projected to have record-high results in the upcoming EU election. The largest group is still projected to be the European People’s Party, which in the past generally adopted a cordon sanitaire approach to far-right parties (a joint agreement to refuse to cooperate with the far right), but now is increasingly coalescing with it. 

For the first time, the possibility of a far-right-dominated European Union seems very real. 

This would have severe implications for European citizens, as several big reforms will be underway during the new year. While the green transition continues, authoritarian populists and center-right populists are increasingly challenging green policies. Elected officials across Europe aim to conclude a migration pact in 2024, and unfortunately it seems we can only expect further securitization and outsourcing of state violence and border management to third party states that are often authoritarian. And I am also keeping an eye on a new EU Defence of Democracy package. The draft proposal has been advanced with the goal of trumping foreign influence of lobbying groups, but includes provisions affecting civil society organizations as well. According to Transparency International, the “demand for civil society organisations to disclose foreign funding risks designating them as foreign agents, which could expose civil society to unwarranted and perilous stigmatisation.” We have seen in Russia, India, Hungary, and Italy how the targeting of NGOs and attempts to limit their international funding is amongst the first authoritarian practices of elected far-right leaders.

Even though the results are predictable, the coming year will also see presidential elections in Russia, where around 110 million will be able to vote, including, for the first time, parts of Ukraine under the control of Russian forces (it seems like a good time to bring back to memory the statements of the Kremlin’s spokesperson: “Our presidential election is not really democracy, it is costly bureaucracy [...] Mr. Putin will be re-elected next year with more than 90 percent of the vote.”)

India is also expected to celebrate general elections in 2024 and Prime Minister Narendra Modhi’s Bharatiya Janata Party is likely to reign supreme, and thus expected to continue its persecution of journalists and Muslims while cracking down on civil liberties. 

That being said, while the playing field is extremely uneven in Russia, in India, PM Modi seems to boast unprecedented levels of approval for prime ministers who are officially elected, raising the question of how – as people committed both to belonging and democracy – we confront the authoritarian lurch of democratically elected and widely supported authoritarian populists leaders, a question that is likely to become more and more important. 

Nonetheless, I also have hopes for 2024. 

This year will be the year of a new government in Poland. After a long road, Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government was sworn in on December 13. Tusk will be able to govern thanks to a coalition that includes moderate center-right politicians as well as progressives, and has stated that “his government would focus on restoring the rule of law and respect for the constitution.”

I am also hoping that the authoritarian populist victories we have seen in 2023 will be a more definitive wakeup call, and that we will cease to see the far-right surge with surprise. [cont'd].... 

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There's a long story behind my finding this 4 pp. fold-out brochure in a medical library in New York City. It is the only evidence currently available on this group [1] that was apparently started under the guidance of the famous theosophists, Alice & Foster Bailey. Since 2006, when I found this brochure (which I made in color, aged, and adapted with a few excerpts here only using photoshop), I have been searching for answers to the mystery of where this group and The League 'disappeared' and why no traces. Currently, the fine folks at Lucis Trust, NY, are attempting to search into this. Curiously, no body in the current big American theosophical organizations has heard of this League but they do suspect the Bailey's were quite likely to have taken on initiating such a project. IF anyone has any leads to finding out more about this group, let me know: 

r.michaelfisher52@gmail.com

But besides that fascinating historical evidence, and a story yet told, I wanted to share the brochure today, it seems appropriate as just 5 days away from one of the most important elections ever in U.S. history. The level of tension, fear, dread, etc. is palpable. It's also in my dreams. And, so, I thought it would be good to share these words, ideas, and spirit of fearlessness from this group in 1931, of which North America was deep in the Depression and fear was rampant. If you haven't already picked-up the nuanced connection between The League's mission and my own via the In Search of Fearlessness Project (1989- ) and later, founding the In Search of Fearlessness Research Institute (1991- )--and, the uncanny sense of a paralleling historical soul-based work that is wanting to go on in this world, it is so obvious to me--and yet, struggles of resistances to manifest this Project effectively are so powerful as well. To say it bluntly, there is no such project that has such a systematic well-thought out "program" to improve fear management and remove fear on the planet as a barrier to the evolution of consciousness. This is powerful beyond words. I wished, in retrospect, I would have found this brochure in 1989--boy, that would have made a big difference! But, that's the way it is. 

End Note

1. Just recently, I have attained a few documents on this group, I am reviewing, and will keep you posted with updates, if you let me know you are interested. 

* A variant theme arrived after, which is more accurate to Barbara and my visioning and planning: "CARING ABOUT CARING, IN AN AGE OF ANXIETY" 

End Note (for this blogposting)

1. "Religion" sounds awefully strong I know. I could have said "spirituality" or "philosophy" and I could have not mentioned this at all. I suppose it was thrown in just now [a week after I posted this all] because of my critical reflective journaling on what it is that I am doing and attempting to ignite on this planet. I wrote, that the In Search of Fearlessness Project 1989- came as if from centuries before there was an 'I' or 'prophetic moment' of encountering with this truth path and revelation. But everything I can write and publish and teach on fear and fearlessness, really won't make sense until the total context of it is understood by others. It is a religion--meaning a religio (a return to source connectivity and sanity thereof) and it is a therapy--meaning a therapia (a philosphical therapeutic corrective in metaphysical dimensions and structural dimensions of the evolution of consciousness and dysplasia within that developmental circuitry) and, it is an education--meaning edu-care . I have qualified, using Latin words for what I am onto and called to bring out to this planet's evolution. A much longer discussion of course. And, as for the religio of fearlessness, if you attune to it, and go beyond what most "religions" are these days and in the past, you'll perhaps come into a new learning and imaginary of another kind (aka for the 21st century). You'll have the potential to see what I see, or know what I know, and to breathe and to move to action. A religio of fearlessness has never been strange to me since its inception in late 1989, however, I am not one to go around talking or promoting religion. That said, in my 2010 first major book published [2] I went so far as to see (and act out) that I could easily articulate a first draft of a "Credo of Fearlessness" (see pp. 39, 126, 205, 214). That Credo came about as a reflecting on what it was that is going on with this whole fear and fearlessness thing. Indeed, Credo's are part of all religions pretty much. 

2. Fisher, R. M. (2010). The world's fearlessness teachings: A critical integral approach to fear management/education for the 21st century. Lanham, MD. University Press of America/Rowman & Littlefield. 

Hi All, 

FYI: Just wanted to share the good news that I have just had confirmation that my new 6 wk course at Vancouver Island University, Elder's College program, has 10 registered students (over 50 yrs. of age) and we're going ahead with it next wk. That's exciting and going to be a good way to meet new people and share thoughts and feelings about where our world is going and where we might be able to turn it around (even a little). Title of course and description below: 

Understanding Fear And Its Effects On Humanity

This is an introductory course on the nature and role of fear, individually and collectively. In the last three decades, especially since 9/11, fear has, for various reasons, become a growing topic of major concern in several academic disciplines, operations of democracy and governance and in its uses in business, advertising and popular culture. Explore your personal relationship to fear, the importance of multiple perspectives, critique the normal socialization and the culture of fear.

ELDL 060 F23W70       6 sessions: Thu, Sep 14-Oct 19; 10:00-11:30am

Instructor:                   Michael Fisher

Location:                     Online 

R. Michael Fisher, PhD, is a retired educator who has focused on the impact of psychological, cultural, political, and philosophical issues on education, and how it often fails to emancipate us from the oppressions that hurt us. He is also an author of over 200 articles, has published 15 books, and is a popular teacher on YouTube. Michael has taught adult education for over 45 years, spent several years as a school teacher, and has been involved in youth and family rehabilitation work. Michael's research has focused on the phenomenon of fear and fearlessness since late 1989, and he refers to himself as a ‘fearologist’.

Gail Bradbrook (UK), co-founder of Extinction Rebellion, gives a summary 34 min. talk on what she has learned over decades of trying to understand why the world systems are in collapse and why the activist movements are often not very successful to changing things. She is teaching we have to give up the idea that we can inluence governments and other power-money leaders to change in any real dramatic way that will make a difference to restore "aliveness" on this planet. She is teaching what research on Left and Right brain has to offer as well. I have long been a fan of that research and applications. The deeper 'roots' which she is after in analyzing what has gone so wrong, especially in the West (North), she emphasizes that it is a "spiritual crisis."

In 34 mins. she says a lot. At least, that's her view and of the many she collaborates with, reads their studies, and co-ordinates change with. I agree with lots of her diagnosis summary of the 5000 years that we have been constructing this Dominant worldview of self-hate and destruction; the pathology is real and she tells how many Indigenous peoples and others have named this destructive 'force' (e.g., Wetiko, Windigo) and, then she concludes the talk with practical things we can do to both carry ourselves through the crisis (especially the mental health deterioration)--through the fear and hate, and how we can rebuild together in networks, local and global (the glocal). Full credit to her long efforts to lead in this vision and do the homework and risk her own comforts to be at the edge of this change. Yes, I have my critiques of XR and Bradbrook's "vision" etc., but that is not the most important thing... I recommend this video summary. 

Four Arrows (Wahinkpe Topa) aka Dr. Don T. Jacobs (a longtime member of FM ning and cultural warrior), gives a really useful interview (video) on his work, which I see as part of fearlessness path and its connection to re-visionist (corrective) Education today and the survival of this planet's ecosystems. He says, "I want to be human"... and he defines that in a very unique way in regard to the relationship with "hope" for change of this world and its hegemonic Dominant worldview--as he offers a 'reading' of a universal Indigenous worldview (sometimes called Kinship worldview)-- as a solution to our current crises on mass scales. The Indigenous worldview is based not on a fear-based cosmology and value-system--and, that's really important to note. He talks about decolonization and Indigenization as processes of re-socialization and re-education on a mass scale and how 'turning' things around from the current status quo is near impossible but that doesn't mean we ought not do what we can to "be human" in the midst of this tragedy and rather 'hope-less' situation in terms of actual outcomes of our work to liberate ourselves and come to our Natural-based (place-based) intelligence--or what he has called "primal awareness." He also says so interesting things on hypnosis and de-hypnosis in this regard of bringing change and transformation about. 

Note: at the 1:04:00 mark in the interview. Four Arrows is talking about the "mysteriousing" of existence, rather than a noun for "god"--the former being the Indigenous way. He says, it is this in touchness with the mysteriousing that is "getting in touch with that fearlessness around death" and he concludes: "I have never met a traditional Indigenous person who has a fear of death...[or] fear of life." 

For a concise write up on Four Arrows' Indigenous-based worldview on fear and fearlessness, go to:

https://coachesevolve.com/moving-from-fear-to-fearlessness-by-four-arrows/

Book Covers:               2021                                                                    2018 

I have spent the last 5-6 years studying and writing books on two critical adult educators, also motivational "coaches" and leaders of various endeavors with ethical and emancipatory importance. I'm aware of my energetic (voluntary) devotion as I look at these two books together. It is pretty clear that I am passionate about assessing the people who catch my eye as 'outstanding' human beings, and their ways of educating and promoting agendas that would be labeled by most people as "progressive." 

That said, there is no easy label or box to put either of these two living Americans (first Four Arrows, aka Wahinkpe Topa, aka Dr. Don Trent Jacobs; and second, Marianne Williamson) --although, they are both 'radicals' of some sort, even pariahs who stir things up and make many people uncomfortable with their teachings and critiques of society. My aim in these books was not always clear but I wanted to document their contribution, in part, as important historical figures of their time--and, who I believe will have still an ongoing impact of significance in the future. Most decidedly, I took them on as "subjects" of study, in what are books above that I would best categorize as intellectual biographies, because they have articulated a focus on the Fear Problem (as I call it). 

I'm just beginning now, after finishing a few months ago the Williamson book, the comparison and contrast of them and their transformative teaching approaches. Surely, they are both holistic, both spiritual, and so on... yet, I have critiques also all the way through each of these books. Not surprising, I am critical of their partial, and under-theorized, notions of the Fear Problem and its solutions. They certainly have "advanced" tracks they've laid down to work with fear but that falls short of my expectations and my own holistic-integral framing and fearanalysis. Yet, that's all part of the dialogue I wish to have with them and their followers, and their critics--that's what learning is all about. Unfortunately, at this time, Williamson has refused to engage me in conversation about this work. Four Arrows has been gracious and we are continuing to dialogue. 

I suspect in the near future I will do more writing on comparison and contrasts of their work and their personalities that influence their leadership in education generally--but also beyond that, as they are also prophetic voices in our day that have much wisdom to guide societies everywhere towards more sanity, health and sustainability (i.e., maturity of consciousness). They both are well aware the current civilizational trajectory is collapsing and extinction on mass scales is well underway. The future is precarious, to say the least. I encourage all to have a listen to their work. They are both readily available on the Internet sources as well in my books and articles. 

Re: my recent FearTalk #12 with Four Arrows, go to:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmyYqdyCtsU

Also, I just found this video image and link of Four Arrows back in his younger days and his work with horses (whispering):

go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxzAm08731c 

IN a recent interview (Mar. 12, 2020)... I heard this 80+ year old man, scientist, environmental activist, say some really important things. As powerful as he has been in his career (e.g., The Nature of Things, and The David Suzuki Foundation)--helping bring science to education and political policy, etc., he told CBC interviewer Anna Marie Tremonti [1] that he's always been controlled during his career as a scientist and as host of the show and a dignitary of a foundation, etc... THAT "I've been constrained" by those who run those organizations and programs, as they would tell him "...'oh, you can't say that'...you have to couch everything, with 'oh, well, there's this hope...there's this opportunity' and people have never really confronted the reality...seriously enough...", he said. 

Now as an elder not under anyone's thumb and their fear that the consequences of him speaking the truth would have been not politically correct, or pissed off funders, etc., David is coming out full blast these days and saying what now fear has controlled in him and others. Some of his truths he spoke in this interview: 

- we have less than 10 years to 'turn around' total chaos (e.g., with global warming, climate change, migrations and economy collapsing etc.)

- we have to get beyond sugar-coating and hope-mongering strategies and get to the raw 'truth' and don't wait for politicians to act on it "it's going to be too late" when they actually do some really big things to help

- "We just have no idea what is coming" and current hope in "geo-engineering" and "science" solutions are going to really make things even worse 

- "This the great fear I have. We're at a point where we have a very limited amoutn of time, in which we can actually do something to prevent total chaos." 

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The whole point of my blogs on fear and politics of late, is to also speak as an elder (albeit, only age 69)--there is no use anymore to hold back and sugar-coat reality, and yes, the facts of science included--and, yes, there is FEAR controlling almost everything in this world and the ways we 'talk about problems and crises' on a global scale--and, politically, etc. This is going to really be our downfall, and rather soon... as Suzuki, like myself and many others are saying ... I have always promoted FEARLESSNESS over HOPE... because things are that serious. 

Note

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOnUW-3EQ2w

My latest video is a demonstration of a futures scenario of how a group can resolve the world's wicked problems. 

Based on a subversive graphic novel, this sci-fi futuristic film noir (2006 (c) Warner Bros.); screen play by The Wachowski Bros. (of The Matrix film trilogy 1999-2003) is well worth a watch in the next days ahead. Barbara and I took it out the other night, and the analogies and metaphors and 'story' are so connected to what happens to a nation and culture that has come to be ruled (and infected) by a fear virus-- in our case now, novel Coronavirus and the 'spin' of fear contagion that is shutting down rapidly all parts of societies everywhere. The implications of the "shut down" or "lock down" security regime have to be investigated (and resisted)--because this is political as much as it is a biological phenomenon. Watch this movie V for Vendetta... and start talking it up. There are so many excellent quotes on fear (and fear mangement) in this film, including a wonderful section on "transformation" of Evey, the female protagonist--as she comes to fearlessness out of a life of unhealed wounds and fear-based living in a 'Fear' Matrix. There's also a sub-narrative of an "experiment" re: a virus... okay, I won't spoil this further.  -enjoy, -M. 

R. Michael Fisher, Director, Instructor, The Fearology Institute... is looking for a new cohort of students to take coursses and pursue a certificate in Fearology. Want to find out more about it, go to this new video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oisrTrOR2to

Greta Thunberg, 16 year old protestor-leader on climate change (2019)- 

A (largely) youth (school) movement has begun with a young woman's protests on the inaction, what she calls all political movements have failed to stop the climate change crisis (re: global warming)... she is being nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize... this is nothing to shrug off... I love hearing youth voices speak out with 'truth to power' that most adults are unable to attain, so it seems. It's political action like hers we have a lot to learn from. To ponder... 

In this speech she says to the world (especially economic leaders): "I don't want your hope.... I want you to panic .... I want you to feel the fear I feel everyday."  

Whoa! That's a quote I won't forget. And of course it is a claim about "fear" and contra "hope" (and a lot more)... this is philosophically and politically an important point to grasp and take in and then also critique... even Greta can learn from what she is speaking about... and, all of us as humanity, as Homo sapiens, as she likes to speak about need to reassess a lot of things we say as adults to youth, and say to them in this time of 'tipping point' cascading crisis on a planetary level. 

I invite Greta and her movement to join the Fearlessness Movement. For my own take on Greta, some months ago, I did a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMKKLXhSG9o