Let's bring something else to the table.

I was recently in a coffee shop in a seaside town. There are many towns like this all over the country, the world in fact, in different states of change. Where you have the old meeting the new. Because of this towns proximity to the coast it has yachting clubs. With these clubs comes money. With this money comes new people and businesses. This town has a mix of working class and upper middle. Small parts have become gentrified. I like towns like this when in balance, but I’m not sure they can exist now as they once did. Hipsters are not just bringing good coffee and interior design to your town. There are bringing something else. It reminds me of the scene in, The Life of Brian when they ask, “What have the Romans ever done for us?" Well this list becomes quite long and hilarious in all the good that came with the Romans. So what have the hipsters ever done for us? Well, I do like good organic food, nice cafés, bars, better quality products. But I’d rather it didn’t come with crucifixion if you don't agree with their ideology and new gods.

While in one of these nice cafés waiting for my hot chocolate a conversation was taking place. A relatively young man, in full hipster uniform and owner of a small design shop down the road. He was explaining how he had struggled with all the racism in the area since moving there. He was white just to clarify. As I was listening to this conversation everyone seemed to be agreeing with him, well at least nodding. Then the owner of the café who was agreeing mentioned he had recently been banned from a local social media group. He had called someone a C%NT. The person he was calling a C was racist according to him. He was surprised he was banned and not the apparent racist. Now I’m not shy of getting involved in these types of conversations. So I jumped in and asked the pair of them what racism they had seen? I let them know I was curious as the word racist is used so often now. The examples they gave were slim pickings. Then I went on to explain that language has been changed so much. What they were really talking about was older generations who don’t know what words they “should" be using now. What I really meant was each day the thought police change the meaning of our words. I then dropped a bomb in the room. I didn’t know how explosive this was going to be. I honestly didn’t. I thought I was aiming for common ground. I said, “Who’d have thought five years ago that today you wouldn’t be able to say a man is a man and a woman is a woman." Sighting J K Rolling being canceled. At first in some confusion over language I thought the young hipster guy was agreeing with me. He wasn’t. I was wrong. It all changed very quickly. He called me a transphobic CU%T and a few other things I can’t remember. I was genuinely shocked. He went on and on, pointing and shouting. He then left the shop and told me to watch my back. He then said the C word a few more times. Yes it was shocking and the continued threats to me as I sat outside were frightening. Not because of a physical threat to me, but because he had hate in his eyes and that’s dangerous and unnerving. No logic, understanding or humanity. Just hate and he got there real quick.

Now this may sound juicy and exciting but it’s really not that interesting.

It’s not that interesting because it’s obvious. I have heard lots of stories like this before. I don’t want to just add more content that creates more division and anger to a situation. You can go on TikTok or Youtube and see reactions like this all day. All feeding off of each other. This level of anger only comes from extreme fear. He was trained to fear my language and my very being. He was susceptible to it, this level of hate comes from pain. You only have to have eyes to see to notice what’s been playing on our screens over the last 10 years. It’s everywhere and I mean everywhere. Now what is interesting is how do I react to this? Why did that just happen? What do we all do with this type of insanity?

The answer came from a friends son, a young master in the making. He had recently had a similar experience, not as extreme but rooted in this same ideology. It was with a band mate. Whilst in this disagreement he felt something. He used these very words “I felt like I was feeding something.” He felt his participation was helping it to exist and grow. I absolutely love this, the word participation. He is only fifteen and he got it. I would love to believe this is happening all over the world. Young people awakening to a hidden truth. Yes, his mother is extremely wise and brought her son up to be curious, but he felt this. He wasn’t repeating anything he had heard. A true felt experience. Most cultures and spiritual traditions will have a name for this experience, something feeding off our negative energy and emotions, our loosh. What he had experienced was what Eckhart Tolle would call the pain body. The native Americans would call it Wetiko or the angry wolf. Jiddu Krishnamurti, violence of the mind. The Gnostics, Archons. The Christians, Demons. Carlos Castenada, the Flyers. My friends son hadn't read any of these texts.. Upon further contemplation he decided that he no longer wanted to feed this energy. Now that's a tall ask and a noble one. Amazing.

I did pretty well in my situation. I didn’t feed it too much, but I still engaged and that's all that’s needed. That's what they want. They want your negative energy. I will say that I don’t have many experiences like this anymore. I used to but over the years I’ve realised my part in it all. My participation, my energy. So I have to be more vigilant in all situations. Be as present as I can. Especially now in this time. I don’t want to be fuel anymore. I will not pretend to be anything either. If I get angry. I get angry. If I feel I want to speak the truth I will but I will be careful. What’s my energy beneath my words? What am I feeding? We have so much more we can bring to the table.

MC