> I think the real problem that confronts us is that humans are relatively short lived, and by the time we wake up
to our demeaned consumptive lifestyles, we're well into the second half of our lives. Many never wake up.

Ah, now nere you touch on one my favourite topics. Alas, it's too braod and complex to discuss here, but your comments parallel the warnings in every true spiritual tradition throughout history. There are two dominant viewpoints here. Those who have contact with the psychic (i.e. emotional and intellectual) and spiritual (i.e. atemporal) aspects of their own consciousness understand the necessity of transcending the mundane and ephemeral. Those who lack this defining human experience are inevitably obsessed with mere material wealth and pleasure; corporate types all fall into this category, in spite of many claiming such spiritual insights as are offered by Sun Tzu.

> If we lived for say a thousand years, I'm certain that the vast majority would reject passive consumption of commodified life experience, in its myriad forms.

Again, there is fascinating and well-corroborated evidence that this can be more than mere speculation, but we are not yet on that path.

> So I don't believe those who refuse to play the game are anywhere near sufficient in numbers to precipitate change, though there's great quality of life to be rediscovered by those who can break the spell.

Yes, we're in a minority and may have no alternative but to "go down fighting". From the perspective of spiritual development, this may be inevitable, necessary, and, strangely, beneficial. Consider the Japanese discipline of seppuku ("hari-kari") - when banned by the US occupation after the war, most moral, intelligent Japanese greatly bemoaned this mistake, since it was their main bulwark against corruption within the ruling class. If the spiritual is real in one's life, death is but another intermission.

Oh dear. Another one.

>>A good case can be made for this decline being deliberately engineered by the Global Power Elite.<<

I know that I am wasting my breath here, but just take a moment to consider that statement in the light of the rest of your thesis, Beelzebub.

>>The obvious solution is to change our lifestyles, our ambitions, our industrial processes and our economic systems.<<

This would seem to be a call to the individual to, somehow, take action.

But if the circumstances of our existence are being controlled by this mysterious, invisible, unnamed, all-powerful Global Power Elite, how are we ever going to be in a position to effect those changes on a global scale?

Historically, this would be a call to the citizenry to revolution. Aux barricades, citoyens, and all that.

But if you cannot identify the enemy, who will you rebel against? Just waffling on about some kind of "third option" is just self-indulgent twaddle, and we have had quite enough of that already.

The very best you can achieve, as illustrated by the other posts here, is to get the old fogeys onto their traditional hobby-horse, "bring back National Service, it's discipline that we need here. Discipline!"

Sad.

Pericles,
Ok, let's call it a National Social Service then to help the less understanding to understand. Stop thinking military, that's too old-fashioned. We're experiencing the evidence of that not working now. Anything to stop young people becoming like our present middle-aged. We can no longer support so many hangers-on. btw. how much are you prepared to work & pay for to support somebody else ?
I'm paying far too much. I think 25 % tax of what we earn should be more than enough & probably is sufficient to get Australia back on track.

> But if the circumstances of our existence are being controlled by this mysterious, invisible, unnamed, all-powerful Global Power Elite .. if you cannot identify the enemy, who will you rebel against?

Any discussion with Pericles is largely a waste of time. Not only does he insist on redefining common English words to suit his personal interpretation of them, he never bothers with basic research. For those who may not know who are the GPE, a.k.a. the Global Dominance Group, a list of current members of the Bilderbergers, the Trilateral Commission, and the Council on Foreign Relations provides the key names. Like any large organization, their membership changes over time, but the following will provide background material and a list of names:

http://52midnight.com/files/a-The_Bilderbergers.html
http://www.counterpunch.org/phillips02092006.html
http://52midnight.com/files/a-A_chronological_history_of_the_New_World_Order.html

> Just waffling on about some kind of "third option" is just self-indulgent twaddle

My third option is specifically defined in the article referenced, but of course you wouldn't bother reading that.

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/dear-julia-you-have-it-right-on-your-carbon-tax-20110730-1i5cc.html
Shadow Minister will say its the lefty Fairfax media.
Col will refuse to admit it comes from the party of his Dear Margret, or that she believed in man made climate change.
Individual will scream blah!
SOG may launch into me, along with others.
But just what is happening in Australian Politics?
Abbott says yes/no/maybe/never!/true/not true/ support Turnbull/no I do not!
poor fella my country!

> But just what is happening in Australian Politics?

Well, the agenda of Corporate Globalization is proceeding apace,

http://www.progress.org/global01.htm

as it has since Alexander Downer insisted that ".. it is good for all Australians, the region, and the world ... Whether people fear globalization or not, they cannot escape it":

http://52midnight.com/files/a-Foreign_ownership_in_Australia.html

You are experiencing the benefits and consequences promised by your former Foreign Minister, and I'm sure you're suitably grateful. Now that all major Australian assets are owned and controlled by foreign corporates and bankers, a "mopping up" operation is taking place to acquire the assets of private citizens. The best way to do this is via inflation. Reduce the real value of money, increase mortgage rates and property taxes, and make home ownership unaffordable. The banks will end up owning all housing, as is now happening in the US, and Oz will become a nation of tenants, forever indebted to the banks. At the same time, with jobs moving to regions with the lowest labour costs, Oz wages will need to come down to "internationally competitive rates" - that is, just above the poverty line. The best way to create the necessary inflation is with a "tax on everything", of which the proposed "carbon tax" is a marvellous implementation.

There's no mystery about any of this - it's been going on for years, and widely reported in the alternative media. Of course, the corporate-controlled mainstream media dismisses such reports as "conspiracy theories", and most Ozns are stupid enough to believe that things like the Global Financial Crisis are "accidents" rather than covertly planned events - i.e. actual conspiracies.

Julia Gillard, like almost all Oz pollies, does what she's told by her bosses; see this if you want to know who your real government is:

http://52midnight.com/files/a-Naming_names_-_the_New_World_Government.html

> poor fella my country!

At the risk of repeating myself, such statements are quite wrong. It's NOT your country, it belongs to the TNCs and the international banks. You really should try to understand this, difficult as it may be.