Transforming Fear into Love in Tumultuous Times

Note: this episode was recorded the first week of the 'new administration' during Trump's second term in office. 

        America is fast becoming a fascist oligarchy. Or as Bernie Sanders puts it, a Kleptocracy.  Dive into the unsettling realities of Trump's re-election and the eerie parallels between current events and some of the most authoritarian regimes in history. In this gripping episode, we explore the profound fears and anxieties permeating the nation as the political landscape shifts dramatically. We unpack how tactics like 'flooding the zone' aim not only to destabilize and overwhelm the public, but to terrorize. Amid the chaos, figures like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez emerge as beacons of hope and resilience while Language of the Soul host, Dominick Domingo urges us to find strength in solidarity, subversion, satire and humor. 

        The emotional aftermath of this election cycle leaves many grappling with futility and paralysis. By sharing his own personal struggle,  Dominick suggests that as important as examining societal structures is the calling to look within and reflect. The key to overcoming futility and galvanizing may lie in the intricate relationship between the inner realm of our emotional lives and the expression of it on a macrocosmic level. After all, the collective reality we share is nothing more than an amalgamation of our subjective realities! This episode is a call to action to shift from fear to love, thereby transforming the world we manifest!

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Transcript

Navigating Chaos and Mobilizing Hope

Speaker 1 0:45

Getting Unstuck. During the campaign cycle leading up to Trump's re-election, a popular meme making the rounds in social media questioned which side of history each of us might ultimately find ourselves on. Though there were several variations, all boiled down to one sentiment Ever wonder what you would have done pre-World War II, during the Nazi Party's rise to power? You're doing it now. Here we are a week into the new administration and we're all deer in the headlights. It's almost as if we didn't see this coming. Play by play, the masses are paralyzed by the utter bombardment of unprecedented outlandish measures, from absurd executive orders, cabinet appointments and governmental hiring and firing to the recently announced plan to turn the Gaza Strip into the French Riviera. Surreal does not cover it. The latter resulted in nothing less than a jaw-drop heard around the world. The thing is, the strategy is being employed by design. The strategy is being employed by design. Long before Trump's re-election, steve Bannon cited calculated methods straight out of the Third Reich's playbook. Flooding the zone means issuing so many outlandish measures that forge such chaos. Folks find themselves literally unable to respond effectively or at all to any one of them. The shock and awe compels most average citizens and elected officials both to throw their hands in the air in a state of futility, to surrender to paralysis or even fall victim to the Stockholm Syndrome that ensures nearly any legislative measure will be accepted Effectively chaos is normalized. As it so happens, this concerted tactic also goes by the name of terrorism. Soon after 9-11 and before the invasion of Afghanistan, color-coded terror alerts in the media dictated just how fearful and anxious the public should be on any given day. This state of low-level anxiety successfully habituated the public to accept everything from wiretapping and governmental overreach to waterboarding, and so it was few batted an eye when the war on terror was waged. Months of tapping into the public's deep-seated fears paid off, justifying all measures taken against the common enemy of terror the common enemy of terror. Beyond this vivid example, I struggle to recall another historical period during which the American government so blatantly inflicted terror on its own people.

Speaker 1 3:17

Trump has repeatedly claimed he has no affiliation with the far-right's Project 2025 or its authors. However, one needn't catastrophize to see that its agenda is systematically being executed. However, one needn't catastrophize to see that its agenda is systematically being executed. A simple Venn diagram overlaying this administration's unprecedented measures to date with the agenda of Project 2025 reveals a startling overlap. It should be noted that, while many far-right Republicans are gleeful about the breakneck progress, level-headed Americans of all political persuasions are horrified. The US is swiftly on track to becoming an autocracy hell-bent on doing away with free and fair elections, freedom of the press and personal liberty. We're already a fascist oligarchy that benefits rich benefactors, the 1%, while reducing the working class to powerless sheep. Perhaps worse is that we're all swiftly establishing ourselves, in the words of Bernie Sanders, as a kleptocracy. Trump has his eye on Canada, greenland, the Panama Canal and now Gaza.

Speaker 1 4:22

Trump's delusions of grandeur, his hero worship of autocrats like Putin, kim Jong-un and yes, hitler, is not in and of itself a problem. What's at stake is our standing in the world, our international relationships, our national security and the very real threat of global warfare. Without going into any one policy, measure or crime, as the case may be, things are looking grim. Anyone who has not drank the Kool-Aid and kissed the ring, anyone who knows the horrors of history, recognizes the path that we're on. It feels as if we're going to hell in a handbasket at breakneck speed.

Speaker 1 5:02

Since Trump's inauguration 17 days ago, too many absurd and horrific developments to count have transpired. In my own circles and I do not live in a bubble. The palpable sense of futility has been pervasive. Mobilizing remains off on some distant horizon. As we process the shock and awe, taking stock of the situation and our own paralysis, alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has given us permission not to curl up and lick our wounds, but to simply breathe. Others have assured us that our elected officials within the Democratic Party are organizing more than it might seem, taking the legal action necessary to combat unconstitutional policies. Judges have rescinded, revoked or halted several EOs, already a promising trend.

Speaker 1 5:52

In this moment, each one of us struggles to find our own coping mechanisms, not just in order to take action that will protect our freedoms but simply to maintain our mental health. It's a daily struggle to combat the terror and sense of doom, retaining hope for the future and faith in mankind. It's nothing less than that. Whether one seeks a personal policy for enduring four years of hell or connects dots and sees the current climate as the end of democracy and the ushering in of fascist oligarchy for the unforeseeable future, the impact is the same. Dread Early on, social media was flooded with everything from regurgitations of shocking news stories to comical memes that served as political satire, propagating doom and gloom rings.

Speaker 1 6:39

Counterproductive to some. In my view. Venting and commiserating has value only in that it can forge solidarity. Visibility yields identification and reassures each one of us that we are not alone, for good or bad. Tribal bonding and forging a common enemy like fascism fuels social reform. It has since the dawn of time. There is no denying that identity politics plays an immense role in social evolution. However, at some point, beating the drum of a solution has far more value than beating the drum of a grievance.

Speaker 1 7:16

Just a day or two ago, a friend posted a comical meme on social media that I quickly liked. I then noticed that in the comments, one of his Facebook friends shamed him for reposting the meme, saying there was nothing funny about the current state of affairs. Upholding my policy never to engage with strangers in social media, I nonetheless felt compelled to comment to my friend, the original poster keep it up. Art, and specifically political satire, will be our salvation. I stopped short of citing historical examples, from Aristotle fighting for the arts in the face of fascism to political pamphlets portraying Marie Antoinette as a whore, leading to both the French Revolution and our own. I recount that example to illustrate the following we're all coping in our own ways and it's best not to judge another for his or her approach. Those who propagate the horrific news are accused of catastrophizing doom-speaking or otherwise demonstrating that misery loves company. Those who use humor, levity or outright satire to cope are seen as complacent, even apathetic.

Speaker 1 8:23

Because of the course my own life has taken in recent years, I find it essential to remain positive. Systematically, all was taken from me my career, my means, my agency, everything but my life. Immense spiritual growth has resulted, albeit not yet reflected materially. After recovering my health, I then endured two years of emotional paralysis, during which my mom was in home hospice. No-transcript, remaining content as Rome burns around me became essential. That skill set can be summed up in a few words I pick my battles.

Speaker 1 9:18

That said, it's not for me to minimize the pain of others, petty as it might seem to me with my newfound perspective, what I do know is this what we put our attention on grows. We get to choose what to give airtime to and must concern ourselves with what will manifest. The law of attraction is alive and well and there is no value to propagating catastrophic doomspeak. Take action or don't. The question becomes how do we get there? How do we move beyond the shock and awe, the paralysis, and mobilize, given our diverse means of coping. How do we forge solidarity and band together? Simply put, look in the mirror. Gandhi's words are true Be the change you wish to see in the world. When we self-reflect, the ripple effect ensures that the macrocosmic world obeys. Let me explain Mid-pandemic.

Speaker 1 10:20

I found myself without answers In the way of human nature. Unprecedented events require elaborate explanations, resulting in rampant conspiracy theories. I tend to resist internet rabbit holes and tinfoil hats categorically. The only observation I found myself sharing was this we had found ourselves in a cultural timeout and were being called upon to self-reflect, to take the opportunity to slow the fuck down and figure out what got us in this mess. Personally, I named a few societal ills I saw as being ushered out, and forcefully Colonialism, capitalist greed, materialism and the patriarchy that had led over centuries to marginalization, ostracization, ravaging of resources and exploitation of the planet. These outdated paradigms had run their course and were no longer serving us. Sadly, when things went quote back to normal, the traffic resumed, along with the shitty air quality. Nothing seemed to have changed. I found myself wondering how many had missed an opportunity. And here we are again being called upon to take stock.

Speaker 1 11:35

Quantum mechanics acknowledges in a myriad of ways that there is an inextricable link between our subjective realities, those perceived by our sense organs and reified in the brain, and the collective reality that manifests from them. The universal, objective reality in which we all interact is the amalgamation of the subjective realities of the collective. In short, we are all responsible for this mess. If we're truly living hell on earth or if there is indeed a doomsday clock ticking away somewhere, we've all had a hand in it. Personally, I never see manifestations as punishment, simply as a product of cause and effect.

Speaker 1 12:17

The first step in empowerment is taking responsibility for what manifests, both individually and collectively. If seeing the world as a projection smacks of solipsism, it's a good instinct lest we reduce the world without to object status. Still, for most of us, there's an undeniable sense that we have a hand in all we perceive around us, not only the societal ills, but our immense human potential and capacity. Most of us sense the eerie connection between world events and our interior lives, both emotionally and spiritually speaking. If you are like me, you claim no responsibility whatsoever in what has come to pass on the political landscape. You may identify as having rallied against the opposition tooth and nail in order to preserve you fill in the blank democracy our humanity, personal liberty, equanimity, dignity. I've suggested that, in order to combat futility, we must make the connection between our subjective reality and what has manifest globally To drive that home.

Surviving Cultural Regression and Trauma

Speaker 1 13:21

Let me share my own journey in processing this surreal landscape. Oh, I'm not there yet, not by a long shot. But there is hope on the horizon, hope that I will once again feel the wind in my deflated sails. My journey looks like this I was devastated when I saw what poor shape incumbent candidate Joe Biden was in. No one wanted a repeat of history in the form of Trump 2.0. I breathed again once Kamala came along. My hope for the future was renewed. I framed her as a warrior princess leading the march that was in full swing, set on ushering out toxic patriarchy. I also saw the resistance to that progress, the backlash. Conservative resistance is always the digging in of heels by obsolete dinosaurs. I joined in the fight using my podcast platform, my agency and my gifts to turn the tide. When election results came in after November 5th, my newly restored hope was dashed on the rocks. I was winded, devastated, stunned into paralysis. I found myself saying it was all I could do to get out of bed in the morning.

Speaker 1 14:33

The power of words is strong, even the mantras we repeat to ourselves In the days following the election results. My list of mantras looked like this Wow, people are shittier than I could have possibly imagined. Over 50% of Americans. Anyway. The deplorables got what they wanted. The short-sighted, ignorant majority willfully voted in fascism and the effective end of democracy. I give up On both humanity and the world, as I've done my entire life. I've overestimated both.

Speaker 1 15:12

I've spent not just this campaign season, but my entire life devoted to making my difference in the world through my creative efforts, by nudging folks to look beyond the ends of their noses to live, examined lives and reflect. My naive lifelong hope was that this introspection would amount to not just humanism but platonic values like personal liberty, equanimity and love. I'm angry, though I'll never allow the opposition to further divide and conquer. I'm pissed at allies who never once listened to my podcast or, as far as I can tell, engaged in the dialectic, but are suddenly outraged now that their comfort and security is directly affected and their privilege is at stake. Without kids of my own, I'm not invested in leaving a better planet to my offspring. I've kept a low profile and my carbon footprint is nearly non-existent. I don't have a materialistic bone in my body. I've contributed nothing to the consumerist culture that's poised to do us in. All good things come to an end and democracy has never lasted.

Speaker 1 16:18

Yet again, the masses have demonstrated their inability to self-govern and self-regulate. As much as I love planet Earth and think we have a cool thing going on, we may not deserve a relationship with her. In my better moments, I took refuge in understanding that all that transpires, including pendulum swings and seeming regressions, does so in the interest of propagation, not the proliferation of any one species, but of life. The popular sentiment of late suggests that Earth will be fine without us. I cannot disagree. What's left to do but throw one's hands in the air when a lifetime of contribution cannot save the masses from themselves? A viral meme put it perfectly. And yet a crowd of slugs surround the stage at a political rally shouting in unison Salt for slugs, salt for slugs.

Speaker 1 17:12

If my half-century ministry of opening minds by touching hearts through storytelling amounted to nothing, imagine my futility on realizing my example as a gay man thrown in the paths of countless Republican family members has remained an opportunity untaken, a spiritual gift on the exchange table in the department store of life. What's left to do but let Rome burn, to throw in the towel and adopt a hedonistic lifestyle in the final act? All of the above thoughts swirled in my head or left my mouth at one time or another, sometimes facetiously in humor, and other times earnestly. My brain struggled to make sense of the senseless. For obvious reasons, the election results were beyond disillusioning a punch in the gut. There was no one demon to blame, working from the wings. It was not misogyny, nor was it racism alone that did us in. Uninformed swing voters could not be blamed, nor could the protest voters, however idiotic I deemed them. The nail in our coffin was the usual suspect that has long been our undoing Capitalist greed.

Speaker 1 18:24

Americans live and breathe consumerism and materialism like crabs in boiling water. This alone accounted for the emperor's new clothes phenomenon that blinded voters to their chosen candidate's complete lack of ethics. Never mind, trump is everything their mothers taught them not to be. Never mind that he's the furthest thing from a leader ever spawned. Putting food on tables and roofs over heads justified the requisite moral lapse. The hypocrisy their justification holds no water. Some have rationalized building nuclear weapons to feed their families. More to the point, placing one's pocketbook over humanity and importance over what one knows to be ethical is a dead-end road. Government has never functioned without an emphasis on social issues, the well-being of citizens. The greatest irony of all is this In the pursuit of a cheaper egg, the middle classes have ignorantly voted in those with the least concern for their well-being. They've given free, unchecked reign to a broligarch kleptocracy.

Speaker 1 19:34

Between November 5th and Inauguration Day, I found myself startled by my inability to bounce back. I identify as resilient. Even so, inspiration continued to evade me. Normally I would process my grief, mourn, the passing of my illusions about the world by creating. I would make lemonade of lemons by reframing my narratives emerging from the creative process, with the policy needed to move forward. But inspiration refused to strike when I found myself directly affected by the aggressive tactics of the new administration. Unable to get the HIV drugs that keep me alive, I resigned facetiously, only in part, to retiring in the LA wash with my rescue dog Bowie and passing away peacefully.

Speaker 1 20:22

I envisioned giving up the fight and what that might look like. I knew better than to entertain such a fantasy, but it continued to haunt me. I knew better than to entertain such a fantasy, but it continued to haunt me. Part of me knew that culling undesirables, undocumented citizens, old folks, homos with chronic diseases and all others seen as drains on the system, is the unspoken agenda of the far right, as is scapegoating and ethnic cleansing. Why was I so willing to give up the fight? It was unlike me. I knew I needed to look into my defeatist mindset. It was more than fatigue. Eventually I realized why I was so triggered, as is true of most of my marginalized friends, those with the most to lose in the frightening new landscape.

Speaker 1 21:10

The cultural regression keyed into past trauma, a lifetime of it, to be precise. Whenever the pendulum swings, regression leads to the feeling of being unsafe. I have had a lifetime of feeling unsafe. For me, security has been an elusive fantasy.

Speaker 1 21:31

As the youngest of four siblings and ten cousins, I was vulnerable, to say the least. But the real clincher, even more than alcoholic dysfunction or perhaps precisely due to it, was the lack of predictability, the feeling that chaos was always at the door, threatening order. To be clearer, I learned early that those on whom I should have been able to rely were unpredictable, prone to capricious emotion. They operated on the pleasure principle and not true principle. In my world there was no rational scaffolding to cling to the ultimate in feeling unsafe. Principle had no currency in this climate, and so I created it for myself. For much of my adult life, I manifested order around me and maintained it. Sometimes that structure was at odds with those pesky human emotions and their pleasure principle.

Speaker 1 22:26

In relationships, both romantic and platonic, my insistence on principle, the fact that I compartmentalized it from emotional agreements, amounted to a lack of compassion. Oh, I'm as empathetic as they come, but my insistence on principle, on enforcing the codes one lives by and being impeccable with one's word, took precedence. Learning to balance both principle and compassion was a hard pill to swallow. But I finally arrived, and still, somehow I could not protect myself from the world. In the same way, those older siblings stole the attention of our parents, me learning to go inward and nurture intrinsic self-worth.

Overcoming Fear With Love

Speaker 1 23:08

Unreliant on external validation, I found myself ill-equipped to deal with things like competitiveness and professional jealousy. Instead of defending myself, I turned the other cheek, loved my enemy and chose to see through the eyes of love. What this means is I was unable to protect what I built for myself Throughout childhood in order to survive in my alcoholic household. What this means is I was unable to protect what I built for myself Throughout childhood in order to survive in my alcoholic household, I'd learned to render myself silent and invisible. I recently saw an old video of me as a teenager. I was saddened to see how I slinked around in the shadows, a wallflower apologizing for his very existence. Being gay only compounded this survival strategy. My father and his blue-collar friends were more comfortable when I erased myself and, as it turns out, the world liked it that way too. It was a shocking revelation to me. To connect the dots An administration hell-bent on erasing my community is an extension of the terrorism I've endured throughout life.

Speaker 1 24:13

And yet it's logical, predictable and fitting. In the 90s, a popular movement known as the Landmark Forum asked participants seeking to improve their lives to ponder the following question the first time you recall feeling unsafe, how did you react? The forum's counselors then worked with participants to develop new tools, new strategies to carve out new neural circuits. The documentary what the Bleep beautifully illustrates how our peptide addictions often pull puppet strings from the wings. For example, if one has internalized negative self-messaging from her environment, such as the belief that she is a klutz, her subconscious will guarantee she finds a way to spill a drink at a party. Similarly, a codependent will magically find an alcoholic across the room at that same party.

Speaker 1 25:05

My peptide addictions wire me to erase myself. My virtuous nature, often intertwined with naivete, inclines me to forego defending myself and what I've built. My self-sufficiency and minimalist tendencies mean I've developed an anti-consumerist worldview. The downside is that, when combined with the aforementioned disposition, I've managed to allow everything material to be taken from me. Position. I've managed to allow everything material to be taken from me. Together, all these tendencies have made me the perfect casualty for an administration out to cull. If this kleptocracy has its way, I'll be put out to pasture.

Speaker 1 25:44

Connecting these dots was mind-blowing. In the ever-unfolding but not yet concluded narrative of my life, this plot point is perfectly scripted. My emotional and spiritual journey has led me here and is reflected in my external circumstances and conditions. Changing my winning formula by trying something different this time around is precisely what I am being called upon to do, I hope by sharing my story, what I am being called upon to do, I hope by sharing my story, you will see that the key to overcoming futility and rising to the occasion may lie in examining your own personal journey. If you feel stuck, the answer may lie in taking the next step in your spiritual journey. The micro always reflects the macro. The personal path I have shared is unique to me. What is universal is this Terrorism works the same for all of us.

Speaker 1 26:42

When we feel unsafe, ego gets the best of us and we act out of fear rather than love. Further, when terrorized, we tend to isolate and retreat because the world doesn't feel safe. Everything we encounter in life all day, every day, is sorted as a threat or an opportunity. We either react with cortisol and adrenaline or, conversely, with euphoric brain chemicals that best equipped us to maximize the opportunity before us. When we resist mind and ego, thereby creating a safe space for ourselves, when we resist mind and ego, thereby creating a safe space for ourselves, we're able to tap into our core essence, which is always love.

Speaker 1 27:17

When, seeing through the eyes of love, anything is possible. Miracles are possible. In fact. Marianne Williamson defines a miracle as a shift from fear to love. I would add the words against all odds, putting on the goggles of love, seeing our human potential and capacity may seem like an insurmountable summit or a fool's errand at the moment, but it's what this fight is going to take. If you think about it, the fascism we must combat is the ultimate embodiment of ego, ranamak, and ego is, by definition, fear-based. Darkness can only be conquered by light. In the same way, fear can only be conquered by love.