Civil disobedience and Dandelions – Beyond Meds: Alternatives to Psychiatry

By Leaflin Lore Winecoff ~~

Civil disobedience and Dandelions…

… are often on my mind.

What does civil disobedience mean to you?

Have you ever been confronted with a choice to do what is ethical, true …versus what is lawful, or profitable? Do you have the courage to choose what is ethical, when it goes against the grain? When it’s not the easy path? When it might cost you money or status? If it hasn’t happened yet, it might happen soon – be ready!

And how does one decipher what is ethical, sustainable, when the code is corrupted? In a complicated system, within complicated systems, within which we are all complicit? What are the natural laws, the fundamental code, that truly must be adhered to, eventually, inevitably? What does it mean to be in integrity, with what truly is, not to a seemingly benign societal prescription that actually enables atrocity?

Definitely not saying I have any answers, or am less complicit than anyone else. Simply mustering the courage to publicly muse.

Choice is a fundamental of magic. Along with Belief. Along with Paradox. When all else falters, Magic is the most reliable thing. Some would call this idealistic; I daresay it’s naive to think otherwise.

I don’t know if “salvation” is an option for us, yet I sense it’s an inevitability, on some level – paradox … I kinda reckon that in these times its all souls on deck, all souls must bear witness to what we’ve agreed to via our choices over time.

It’s our soul contract, this “consensus” reality.

Every one of us has power… every one of us is complicit. Addicted to an illusion. Sometimes it’s hard to recognize the moment of choice … but this is the call. Moment to moment. Simply surviving authentically is a form of activism, at some point.

What would it mean to cease consenting to an unacceptable reality? Have you ever wanted to just …. Stop? But the momentum of the machine won’t let you? What if we all ceased to consent? Entertain the possibility that this contract has expired? Have the courage to break it when it’s not valid?

My hope, and I don’t hope lightly, but rarely and ardently, lies in the possibility that those in positions of power – police, military, doctors, gov officials, “bosses” of all sorts, people with fingers on triggers and buttons – experience the grace of a moment of wakefulness when it counts, to be able to make a brave choice, large or small, that ripples out and creates a shift in the current of the void …

Here’s the thing- ALL of us have power!

POWER IS NOT GRANTED

IT IS EXERCISED!!

We are all the bosses of our own lives. Free will is a thing. With consequence.

As systems supposed to serve us fail us, the silver lining is … we are free. Not beholden to continue our investment in such systems.

We all wield the magic of choice.

Choosing what’s right versus what’s societally condoned is hard. Because there’s no script. We might do it wrong; we might slip through the cracks… & that’s scary. Simply surviving authentically is activism, at times.

But I hypothesize that it’s through the cracks where freedom is found. Medicine grows bravely through the cracks. And it’s possible … likely even …inevitable, even!! That those who fear not slipping through the cracks (or more aptly, those who fear, yet persevere)… shall inherit the world.

Be like the dandelion, medicine that grows through the cracks! Don’t be afraid to be a tenacious weed. Follow your freakin bliss, whatever keeps you going & reaching for the light, relishing the night, pushing against the concrete of angst in these crazy times we are blessed to experience.

It can feel lonely to be such, a medicinal weed in a world where the prescribed reality abhors weeds & promotes monoculture … but actually we are in the majority. Lettuce dew know it, true. I’m in solidarity with you.

More by Leaflin:

Find Leaflin’s work on Instagram