“Our task is to build a wide and deep movement, as spiritual as it is political, strong enough to stop these unhinged traitors. A movement rooted in a steadfast commitment to one another, across our many differences and divides, and to this miraculous, singular planet.” Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor, “The Rise of End Times Fascism,” The Guardian, 13 April 2025
“How do we break this apocalyptic fever? First, we help each other face the depth of the depravity that has gripped the hard right in all of our countries. To move forward with focus, we must first understand this simple fact: we are up against an ideology that has given up not only on the premise and promise of liberal democracy but on the livability of our shared world – on its beauty, on its people, on our children, on other species. The forces we are up against have made peace with mass death. They are treasonous to this world and its human and non-human inhabitants.
“Second, we counter their apocalyptic narratives with a far better story about how to survive the hard times ahead without leaving anyone behind. A story capable of draining end times fascism of its gothic power and galvanizing a movement ready to put it all on the line for our collective survival. A story not of end times, but of better times; not of separation and supremacy, but of interdependence and belonging; not of escaping, but staying put and staying faithful to the troubled earthly reality in which we are enmeshed and bound.” Ibid
A useful way to think about what’s happening in the world today, is that most humans worldwide are in favor of human survival and human well-being, but many of them are not nearly as effective as they could be if they had a better understanding of their own capacity to change the world. Then – because of human insanity – there is an influential minority who simply do not care about human survival or human well-being. Lastly, there is another minority who are trying to remain neutral.
As Friends for Human Survival, we are in favor of human survival and human well-being. Human life on Earth is heading toward a cliff. We need to change direction.
Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor, wrote the article quoted above.
- Dependent Origination: Because all things arise from, and depend on, other factors, nothing has a "self" or separate existence.
- The Self is Empty: The idea of a permanent, unchanging self (soul) is an illusion; we are a shifting, interdependent flow of physical, mental, and conscious processes.
- Beyond Extremes:Emptiness is not simply "existence" or "non-existence," but rather a middle way that transcends conceptual, black-and-white thinking.
- Experience of Freedom: Realizing emptiness is described as a joyful, safe experience, akin to waking from a nightmare and realizing the fear was based on a misunderstanding of reality.
- Implications: Emptiness is central to Mahayana Buddhism, particularly the Heart Sutra, and is used to dissolve fixed mental patterns and habits.
- Analytical Emptiness: This involves deconstructing phenomena by breaking them down into their parts to show they lack a singular, independent essence.
- Non-dual Emptiness: A direct perception where the strict, rigid, and often conflict-ridden separation between subject (self) and object (world) softens into a fluid, interconnected, and open way of being.
- The Nazarene Sect: Early believers (Jewish Christians) did not consider themselves as founding a new religion, but rather fulfilling Jewish prophecy.
- Worship and Practices: Early followers continued to pray in the Temple in Jerusalem and maintained Jewish lifestyle practices, including circumcision.
- Core Beliefs: Centered on Jesus’s resurrection and the belief that the Kingdom of God was imminent.
- Internal Diversity: Like other 1st-century Jewish movements, this group held varying views on Jesus's relationship to the divine.
- Gentile Inclusion: The move to include non-Jews (Gentiles) without requiring adherence to the Mosaic Law (dietary laws, circumcision) caused significant tension.
- Theological Shifts: The focus on the divinity of Jesus (God the Son) was considered heretical by broader, traditional Judaism, which regarded it as a form of dualism.
- Historical Events: The destruction of the Temple (70 CE) and later restrictions following the Bar Kokhba revolt (135 CE) accelerated the separation, forcing the two groups apart.
