by Chris Billowsin Spirit Speculations2 commentstags: Change of Mind, Human Condition, Political Opinion
I used to be a socialist. My parents were once members of the New Democratic Party and I was indoctrinated in its principles when I attended University. My professors in Political Studies, Labour Studies, and Social Work routinely criticized our privately-owned capitalist market system talking about how exploitation was at its root. As a student I believed that to fix the world we needed to change the system and that Socialism was the solution. Yet, in my exposure to Rudolf Bahro, I realized that Socialism was fundamentally a materialistic philosophy. It did not recognize our relationship with the planet or between each other. According to Socialism, the purpose of life was for each of us to share as equally as possible the material wealth of the planet. I rejected Socialism by helping establish the Green Party in Manitoba since I was attracted to the Green philosophy that all things are interconnected. Despite the rise of green thinking Socialism remains a constant force in Canadian society. Canadians and Manitobans are proud of their publicly funded health care system, which demonstrates that the majority believes in Socialism to a limited extent since health care is easily our most socialistic program. I have […]
by Chris Billowsin Spirit Speculations0 commentstags: Change of Mind, Defining Life
“Hi my name is Chris and I am a recovering ideologue.” No, I am not intending on starting a self-help group like Alcoholics Anonymous for people who are turned off to political and religious ideology, but this blog post is a bit of a confession. Like many, attending University for me was a time of exposure to many new ideas and systems of thought. I came across a multitude of theories in psychology, sociology, history, science, and various other courses. I started looking for a system of thinking that was consistent and had an inherent integrity. I was influenced by socialism during my Social Work and Labor Studies courses. I was influenced by spiritualism during my Religion courses. While individual ideas came, evolved, and went I was convinced that that ideology in some form was the tool and method in which to solve the world’s problems. It was that conviction that inspired me to help form the Green Party. That is where I participated in and promoted the view that it was just a simple matter of convincing everyone to think Green, or ideally adopt a Green ideology, and then we could solve the environmental and social issues plaguing Canada. […]
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