Every period of history produces wise people. But only this century, this decade, the last few years, has produced people who are woke. By now everyone must have heard this word, used to describe those who have achieved a state of enlightenment and knowledge which enables them to magically see oppression, inequality, and injustice in ways that previous generations were blind to.

To be woke is to KNOW. Not just believe or suspect but to KNOW from the top of your head to the soles of your feet that YOU ARE RIGHT. It is a state attained primarily by the young, though ironically it has often been taught to them by much older college lecturers.

The woke have magical powers. They, and only they, can spot racism, oppression, injustice, and inequality at ten paces and boy have they got their work cut out because that stuff is everywhere. Or so they tell us. And because it is everywhere, they say, stitched into the very fabric of the civilisation that we inhabit, that civilisation must be torn down brick by brick. Got a problem with this? Well, that’s tough because THEY ARE RIGHT. Because they are woke.

The woke love socialism and its cousin’s Marxism and communism which they use to protect themselves from actually having to look in the mirror. The woke, you see, know that the difficulties they face are nothing to do with them, and everything to do with the oppressive structures of Western civilisation. I wish I had known that when I was younger. It would have saved me doing all that pesky self-development work.

The woke are anti-life because they are anti-diversity. This is strange because they love diversity, so long as it is not diversity of thought. No other ideas are allowed, you must think like they do.

The woke hate the individual. They cannot abide the thought that individuals, by themselves and for themselves, might be able to make improvements in their lives without the aid of others. To the woke the community is not just valuable, it is everything and the individuals within it must conform to the needs of that community, or else. Those who are wise, rather than woke, might feel that this has echoes of the past, that such an approach had been tried before, in Soviet Russia, Mao’s China, or Nazi Germany maybe?

The woke are smart and use the best weapon in their armoury to devastating effect. They know that if they can get people sufficiently emotional then they will set aside their thinking minds, stop analysing their actions and cease questioning their motives. The woke will then get free rein. They do this by making you sad, outraged, angry, guilty or by inducing any other emotion that stops you thinking. They will also endlessly point to the far-right as being the root of all evil, conveniently ignoring the fact that the far-right are a vanishingly small group of morons with almost no influence, unlike the woke, who are vast in number and have huge influence.

But none of this matters. Because THEY ARE RIGHT and all who object are WRONG. And if those who are wrong will not sit down and shut up the woke will scream and they’ll scream until they get their way.

The woke wish to create a soul-less and stagnant world. Joy and laughter will be fixed between bounds; this is funny, that is offensive, and personal development will become impossible. Am I exaggerating? Not for one second, because personal development is tied up tight with personal choice. I am not talking about the personal choice of whether to have fries or onion rings with your burger. I am talking about the freedom to make mistakes, to learn from those mistakes and to change course having learned more about yourself in the process. Under woke rule all that will be OVER, because, just in case you were not paying attention, THEY ARE RIGHT, so what do you need to have personal choice for? Just do as they say.

So, who are the woke? Well if they were just street protestors there would be no problem. But the woke have a grip on many major institutions of society. They absolutely control academia and higher education, are rife in professional bodies and scattered throughout politics regardless of party, they sit on local and regional councils, dominate the charity sector, and heavily influence corporations. They are active within religion and spirituality, and of course all this is led by the outriders of woke, celebrities, and their cheerleaders in the media, many of whom have accrued enormous wealth and influence simply by mastering the ability to read an autocue. And we must not forget Big Tech, the real enablers of woke and the ones charged with building a mental prison for every Soul on Earth. All these people are bound together with one solid, insoluble bond, they know that THEY ARE RIGHT. They therefore do not feel that they have to argue their cause, debate, or even win elections. They believe themselves to be on the side of the angels and this entitles them, in fact in their eyes it compels them, to impose their views upon you. For the good of society of course…

Now, at this stage a lot of people may say, well I do not pay any attention to these people, to the news or current affairs so what difference does it make to me? Well I suppose it all comes down to whether you care about the future or not, because most people, in the West at least, were born into a system which allowed us to think, speak and act differently to the herd if we wished to. And the thing is that we all did that, even if we don’t think we did. The very fact that you have ever been for a tarot reading, or on a healing course, or studied meditation is proof of this because in the society we were born into these were not things accepted by the mainstream. Everyone reading this has gone against the grain in some way, because the society we had, though it might have disapproved or even tried very, very hard to dissuade us largely allowed us to be different. But it’s not like that now, for the woke will allow no dissent from their orthodoxy. Because THEY ARE RIGHT. Consider the pressure placed upon people now, at this early stage, not only to act a certain way, but to think in those ways too. Is mask wearing a choice? Is staying at home a choice? Is taking the knee a choice? Superficially you are still mostly free to choose all these things. But try arguing against them with the woke and they will shut you down and shut you up. There is no debate with the woke, not about anything, ever.

The woke either do not know, or they do not care that everybody is different, and that it is simply not tenable to expect everyone to fall in line with ideas that suit only a narrow section of society. The woke do not want you to live and let live. They want to stop you living as you choose. I can think of nothing more anti-spiritual than this because everyone has their own work to do, and when we do it everyone benefits. But the woke only want you to do your work if they approve of it.

Thankfully though, all is not lost, yet. Because we still have some people who are wise, and they can see through what is happening and call it what it is – fascism. This is a strong word, made appropriate by the fact that so many of the woke refer to themselves as anti-fascist. For as Simone Weil, mathematician, mystic, philosopher, political activist and heroine of the Left, said

“…anti-fascism is meaningless. The anti-fascist position is this: Anything rather than fascism; anything, including fascism, so long as it is labelled communism.”

The wise can see, despite the woke obsession with the group, that everyone is different, walking a different path through life and needing different outcomes.

The wise recognise that history tells us to be incredibly careful about those who eulogise for a New World. Year Zero people, who want to reset everything, are the most dangerous people of all. History confirms this.

The wise see that it is not words that count, but actions. So, when the woke speak words of fairness but engage in acts of destruction and violence then the wise know which one to take notice of.

The wise do not believe that everything is perfect in our society. The wise recognise that many problems persist, but they also know that to err is human. Where the woke attribute inequality and injustice to malice the wise think that maybe it is because humans are not perfect yet. And because of this fact – which has been true for all people at all times – those who scream I AM RIGHT the loudest are probably the most wrong. The wise can see that civilisation is a fragile thing, and the line that separates humans from animals is very narrow. Why obey laws at all, say the woke? Because if you don’t it will be Mad Max before you know it, say the wise.

The wise know that they do not know. That is, after all, what makes them wise. They realise that they don’t have all the facts and are operating in a best guess scenario. The woke believe – no scratch that – they are ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN that they know everything they need to know. They have the answers, because they are woke. The thought that they might not have it quite right, have failed to think through the consequences of their actions or have it just plain upside down never occurs to them.

The woke are primarily emotional, but the wise use emotion and the mind to balance each other. The wise are not cold or simply all about logic, but they use mind and heart in union because they can see that while emotion is a powerful ally in our quest for a fuller life, it is a murderous enemy when left unchecked.

The wise and the woke are as one in their desire that all people should have a good life and that no one should suffer. But the wise can see that as long as people are on the planet this will never happen. The woke simply cannot handle this fact and howl against it every opportunity they get. They may be laden down with guilt at the good of their own situation or twisted with anger at their hardship. Either way they demand equality at all costs and will propel everyone back to the Dark Ages if that’s what it takes to get it.

The wise are, on the whole, amused by the woke and find their antics mildly absurd. But the wise ought really to be much more engaged. The woke – in all their many guises – will destroy society if they get their way, because that is what Utopian movements always do. It is what happened in Soviet Russia, Nazi Germany, Mao’s China, and Pol Pot’s Cambodia. The woke may say that it is going to be different this time, but the wise can see otherwise because they know history and they know human nature.

People who do spiritual and personal development work are alive to the idea of transformation. In fact, you will not get far in this scene without coming across the word and the need for it in your life. But transformation takes different forms. Death is a transformation, so is losing your job, or your partner, or your house. The woke will call their work transformative, but is it still transformation when someone else imposes it on you? Were the Jews ‘transformed’ by being carted off to concentration camps? Were Chinese students ‘transformed’ by being banished to a life in the fields during Mao’s Cultural Revolution? If that kind of transformation is your bag then bring on the woke, because they sure have some transformation lined up for you. The wise say there is no need for this because they are prepared to tear themselves down in order to find themselves. The woke did that once, on a weekend workshop last year, and are now ready to tear everything else down so they don’t have to go back to that work ever again. And as they set it up for themselves so they will set it up for you. Under the woke regime there will be zero opportunity for personal development because the entire woke philosophy is built on the fact that either YOU ARE OPPRESSED, or YOU ARE THE OPPRESSOR. If you are oppressed, then why bother to improve yourself because your situation is not your fault. And if you are deemed to be the oppressor, well good luck…

The woke will say that they are just advocating kindness, compassion and encouraging people to be respectful to each other. The wise agree that such things are very important, but then wonder where that kindness is when a woke twitter mob causes someone to lose their career over some ‘offence’ or ‘micro-aggression’, or when the livelihoods and streets of those who the woke claim to support are destroyed?

Of course, there is a way out of all this, and that is to get on the woke-train. Indeed, many people already have and will be scratching their head at my words because they thought they were woke and did not think it was a problem. But such is the power of the woke, to get people to identify as something they really aren’t. If you are on the woke-train because that is what you really believe then fair enough. But if you are on the woke-train for an easy life, or because you quite fancy the idea of shaking things up a bit but haven’t actually looked at the intentions of those driving the train then you’ve got a shock coming, because converts to woke can never be woke enough. They will turn on you the moment it suits them because the woke always eat their own…

The woke have an advantage right now, but I still say that it is better to become wise, rather than go woke. Mainly because wisdom endures. How can I become wise; I hear you ask? Here are some ideas.

1.      Examine history. The parallels between what is happening now and Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution are startling. Those who cannot learn from the past are doomed to repeat it.

2.      Recognise the Law of Karma, a reality which proves that you cannot make people good by legislation. Those with karma to play out will play it out, regardless of how woke society becomes.

3.      Ask how the changes which the woke push for affect all people, not just woke people. Is it really fairness that the woke seek, or domination?

4.      Compare actions with words. If you must follow any one then follow those who have lifted themselves up, not those who wish to tear others down.

5.      Check your emotion. FEEEEEEELLLL, but then check. The media is explicitly intent on getting you to react, because reaction means clicks means traffic means revenue. But emotions are just one tool that the Soul has at its disposal. The Mind is powerful, but it sometimes lies. The Heart is wonderful, but it often deceives. Opening to emotion is the start of a journey, not the end.

6.      Be compassionate for the woke whenever you find them. They are on a journey of development; they have not yet done the work and are simply not ready to look deeply into themselves. But one day they will, and maybe you will be there when this happens. You might have to be patient though. It takes five seconds to go woke, but it may take a lot longer than that to realise the error. This is, of course, part of the problem, for being wise takes time and effort…

I do not like divides. I would much rather have everyone live together in harmony. But the woke don’t want that. To them it is their way or the highway and they will divide, divide, divide in order to achieve their goals. But the true conflict is not as they say, between races, genders, classes, or generations. It is between the wise and the woke.

Part of becoming wise is realising that you cannot change the world until you have sufficiently changed yourself. The world is not, as the god father of woke Karl Marx said, one big class conflict. This world is a place of individuals, each walking individual paths and playing out their individual karma. These individuals come together in families, groups, and societies. Sometimes this coming together helps the individuals work out their karma. At other times – like those we now live in – the collective becomes the place where people go to hide, to avoid doing the work that they deep down know they have to do. And there is nothing enlightened about that.