There are dystopian works of art and literature suggesting how we all have been duped, enslaved, or are being boiled like the proverbial frog. There is speculation that television, movies, and other media, suggest different futures, either to test our acceptance or to normalize the ideas. We have notions of an afterlife, or our next lives.

But there are also theories of awakening from the delusions of this existence, the realization that we are more than the narrow view of who we are and how we fit into our various societies. And there are suggestions that upon your own awakening, there may be merit in helping others to awaken too.

What would such an awakened or enlightened society look like? How would it ripple through the various societies, and how would it affect anything from power structures at the macro level all of the way down to our simple day-to-day lives? Do we envision something of a French Revolution revisited, complete with the guillotine? Will we gather in togas around the fountain to discuss philosophy? Will we find the peace of Shangri-La?

I have a different vision. It’s not a “vision” in the sense of “this is how I would like it to be,” but rather one of waking up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night upon being shown hell itself.

This vision, this awakening, it is a final acceptance of the thought, “We are already dead.” It is when no individual can be emotionally swept away by a cause, by a news story, by promises of a better tomorrow, by platitudes, or by anything else. It is when no cleric weilds any power to convince any one of the faithful that this is the way that things should be, or that there is value in the suffering. It is the day when no belief in a rule of law prevents any righteous or just action with clear conscience. It is the awakening to zanshin – what remains when every notion of anything disolves, when there is no belief, no faith, no patriotisim, no morality — nothing – to suggest the next step. It is when we accept that there is nothing that we truly own, so nothing that we struggle to keep; that there is nothing that should be done, so nothing to sacrifice to make it occur.

It is the day that society determines that it has had enough – that there is nothing left that can be squeezed from it, and there is no spectacle that can distract it. On that day, there will be no riot. There will be no fear. There will be no “fight or flight” or any other predictable flow of the people. Instead, there will be a profound stillness, an inexplicable quiet as more and more no longer respond to the sensational feeds, the spectacle, or any other “bait” to keep the populace divided and off-balance.

On that day, and in that quiet, an individual will not worry about how he will find food to survive that day. Instead, he will recgonize the moment that will make the best use of his death.

And there will be no narrative that will explain it away, nothing that can be offered that will taken, nothing to put the people back to sleep. There will be no shortage of people who will lay down this life to act decisively against any lingering fool who would attempt to take advantage of them.

How many people today are becoming diamonds rather than being crushed? How many are needed in each family, neighborhood, community, or office, to inspire the others to awaken as well?

Good people will suffer. Good people will lose their lives. And so will the others. How else could it be when the people develop immunity to deceipt?

Just a thought…