Welcome to ParallelTimes.info. This is my first blogpost, podcast and vlog recording for this new endeavor. In this recording I’ll explain the intention for ParallelTimes.info. So, what is ParallelTimes.info? I will be interviewing people and businesses who are now creating new models of life that allow individuals and communities to live free from centralized government entanglement and control. Why? There’s a lot of really exciting stuff happening out there in the world now – models for education, healthcare, commerce, banking, community, agriculture, technology, and information, for example, created by brave and brilliant people. They’re laying their livelihoods and lives on the line to pave the way for the rest of us. I want to help get the word out about these models, to celebrate, support, and propagate these ideas. We need to know about these models, be inspired by them, and emulate them.
In 2022 a group called The Academy of Ideas produced a great short program named “The Parallel Society vs. Totalitarianism/How to Create a Free World” that I will refer to in this post. I recommend that program and all their other shows which are available on YouTube. In “The Parallel Society vs. Totalitarianism” they talk about how the creation of parallel society played an important role in the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe. They quote visionary thinker, Czech poet and musician, Ivan Jirous as saying:
If it proves impossible legally to compel the ruling power to change the ways it governs us, and if for various reasons those who reject this power cannot or do not wish to overthrow it by force, then the creation of an independent or alternative or parallel society is the only dignified solution.
Jirous inspired the creation of an alternative artistic infrastructure in Czechoslavakia during the late 1970s in response to government control of artists and musicians. The Academy of Ideas tells us Jirous hypothesized that if enough infrastructure were created an “independent society” would spontaneously form and function as a pocket of creative freedom in a highly oppressed society.
He said
…the “independent society does not complete for power. Its aim is not to replace the powers that be with the power of another kind, but rather under this power, or beside it, to create structures ...in which the voice of the ruling power is heard only as an insignificant echo from a world that is organized in an entirely different way.
The term “parallel society” was later coined by Czech Catholic philosopher and mathematician Vaclav Benda, who extended Jirous’ concept to refer to all social and economic structures that exist unconstrained by the State, not just music and the arts. The idea is to create better, alternatives to oppressive, archaic, state structures that are in the process of dying.
The Academy of Ideas reports that the parallel society in Eastern Europe became so strong, decentralized and outside of state functioning, that the Communist authorities lost their power. This led to the revolution that swept through Europe in the closing months of 1989.
Why is the creation of a parallel society so important at this time in our world as a whole? Well, I don’t want to dwell too long on the pathology I referenced earlier, of central entanglement and control. But, for the sake of reference, it’s plain to see that governments around the world made personal and health sovereignty difficult, if not impossible for some people, during the Rona plandemic.
For example, healthcare workers in New Mexico, where I live, as in so many other places, were forced to get vaccinated, or apply for an exemption with ongoing testing, in order to keep their jobs. Since I worked for a healthcare organization that made this a requirement for all workers, not just those working on the frontline, I was forced to leave since there was no way I was going to choose the jab or Rona testing.
In a free society people make their own health choices, as provided in the U.S. Constitution. So, clearly we’re no longer living in a fully-free society.
As in Czecholslavakia of the late 1970s and 80s, the idea of creating a parallel society, is about forming new structures and models for living that are not dependent on centralized control.
It’s not just our government that is attempting to take away personal sovereignty step-by-step – it’s also international corporations, our media, and international bodies like the World Economic Forum, the World Health Organization and the United Nations. Not a good deal. If you’re listening to this, you probably know all about these things already, so let’s not focus on those here.
I like the often-repeated quote from Buckminster Fuller, who was a visionary and who, oddly enough, my uncle worked with. Fuller famously said:
You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.
I want to help shine the light on those people and organizations who are doing just that, creating a free and parallel society, one-step-at-a-time.
So, what kinds of businesses and organizations are we talking about?
Businesses that get set up as private membership associations, or PMAs, to operate with integrity, but without the constraints of government regulations.
Healthcare organizations that provide effective, wholistic, preventive, as well as curative community healthcare without being beholden to traditional health insurance reimbursement requirements, including Medicare and Medicaid.
Small farmers providing truly healthy food to their local communities, using regenerative and humane agricultural practices.
Parents and teachers who have left the public school systems, to create alternative schools, schooling cooperatives, and home schooling situations that allow parents to determine what their children are taught.
Entrepreneurs who are creating new technologies that allow for telephone and internet communication with privacy, and businesses that honor and celebrate peoples’ innate right to free speech.
People who are creating intentional communities, raising food and living off the grid, to become independent of power and control by government and corporate forces.
And that’s just a small sampling of the exciting people and organizations I will be interviewing.
Know someone I should talk to? Please reach out by emailing Together@ParallelTimes.info.
Together we CAN make these changes in our own times.
I invite you to join me.
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