We have choices, even within a caste system or hierarchical system! Samkhya Philosophy offers some great choices.

We have choices, even within a caste system or hierarchical system and even when religion and patriarchy hang over our heads. What ever you decide to do, you have not wasted your time. You learn something important about yourself.  Ancient History told as it happened can offer some great solutions.

My friend in India married a man her parents wanted her to marry. He abused her. She went through hell finally spending a great deal of money to get a divorce from him and then married a man who could care for her (still a bigoted patriarch, but he loved her).

I believe she worked with her parents to get a good outcome and she is very happy now. Your responsibility in an arranged marriage is to allow your voice to be heard.

Do not go thru any process blindly, resentfully or hatefully.

We live in a very difficult era. The Dvapara (Samkhya Philosophy) era follows the Kali era. The Kali era is the darkest time in the cycle of life. You could study the eras (YUGAS) philosophy to get a better perspective on what is going on in your life. It helps put things into a better perspective.

We have passed through the most IGNORANT era in a 24,000 year period.  Sometimes it feels like one third of the World wants us to return to that era.

It does not surprise me that ignorant, violent, corrupt, bigoted men and women and their abusive patriarchal systems are in charge and having a fit that many of us here on Earth are not buying their gaslighting and revisionist history bullshit any longer. But we still live under the recovery era (Dvapara) when things have to get really bad in terms of conflict and chaos, so we must do our best to take care of and love ourselves and others.

I have some rules to guide me which I have learned by studying many different scholars and from reading books like the Bhagavad Gita, a story from the Mahabharata where "Krishna" is sent by "Vishnu" to restore balance on Earth.

The Fertile Crescent era of Earth from 10,000 BCE forward to climate disasters (where men became hunters, women became gatherers and dogmatic religions began to sprout up everywhere to control women and children) is the darkest period during the Kali era where men solidified their power.

I came to believe that all of the great teachers and philosophers came to remind us of the truth in balance, peace and love and to restore balance on Earth such as Rama, Krishna (late last millennium) Jesus, Buddha (turn of millennium) Rumi, Muhammad, early new millennium.  Women like Queen of Sheba, Mary Magdalene, Joan of Arc, Angela Davis, Dorothy Stanton, Gloria Steinem have forwarded inclusive wisdom as well.  The great Greek philosophers like Aristotle, Galileo forwarded wisdom.  Many of the great artist and writers, male and female over the years like Voltaire Thoreau, Stanton, Nietzsche, Jung (who studied with Gurus in India but could not let go of the patriarchal idea), Krishnamurthy (an abused boy from India), Joseph Campbell, Simone de Beauvoir, Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Jean Paul Sartre, Martin Luther King, Jr., Angela Davis, Barack Obama have forwarded wisdom as well.

There was always a great backlash of ignorance that followed every period of enlightenment. I think the ignorant numbers are shrinking and that is why men and their enabling women, religion and patriarchy are so afraid!!

Right now in the World there is an authoritarian, oligarchic coup with many genocides of uncooperative people, where the leaders of this time (most of them men) find they MUST cooperate with constant war, religions and patriarchs of the time in order to preserve power. It is very intense and chaotic.

Women must find a way to stay safe and keep their children safe. People take many different paths to safety  but mostly it boils down to three different approaches:

1. Cooperate and submit (men are very tricky and find ways to enlist women in their battles).  I lived here as a child and started rebelling at age 25.  I was in full rebellion by 25 and nearly killed myself in many different way for the next ten years.  I had a good time not giving a damn though!

2. Choose a peaceful way to travel in life aside the violence and chaos of patriarchy and religion (meditate, engage in peaceful activities, keep your children close and in love but teach them real history, not the revisions of men, patriarchy and religion). I did this as I raised my daughter 29-65.  I had so much anxiety worried about restitution for past acts where I had hurt others and trying to heal myself in the old church way.  Finally, I found Samkhya Philosophy.  I studied it in both India and Bali over the next several years.

3. Be a warrior and fight the oppressive, chaotic, abusive systems! This is the most difficult of all and I do not recommend engaging in it with small children to raise, but there is no reason why you should not engage as you get older.  I have always been a bit of a rebel, from birth.  I was born Breech as I understand it.  I was a warrior.  I argued with my conservative father quite often about politics and life as a young woman.  But I was a full out warrior from age 65 to present.

Now I believe I am a philosopher with a great deal of understanding I can share with other fellow travelers, 77+ for however long I live.  As my friend Carol Lynn says, "One person at a time."

However, there are some strategies that keep you sane in the process.

1. Remember your smallness in all of this. Some philosophers believe that rather than follow a dogmatic belief, religion or guru, EACH INDIVIDUAL MUST GO THROUGH A DRAMATIC TRANSFORMATION OF SELF BY WHAT IS CALLED SVADYAYA AND PRATYAHARA, as we go through this exit from chaos and abuse to peace and love again.  Stay humble and small.  Do not proceed with pride.

2. If you do engage in any battles, fight without wasting energy on winning, do not expect any outcome and do not crave any reward. Fight your best fight out of a sense of duty to peace, harmony, love and freedom alone.

3. Give something you think of as your away to someone who needs it every day.  If the person you chose refuses, try again.

4. Help someone who seems to need your help every day, just one person each day. If the person you try to help refuses, try again.

5. Celebrate your progress toward self-transformation and unconditional love by wearing something that attracts other people to smile and converse with you. I wear a flower crown!

https://a.co/d/iYwOc1j

6.Put little attention to the petty gossip and name calling to “put you in your place” from anyone (even your family). Your job is to learn to love yourself as you are, to live in as much peace as possible, and to love others unconditionally.

BE YOUR OWN GURU, as my Ayurveda Teacher Dr. Vasant Lad of Pune has said to me many times!!

Learn from every wise source you come across. You will begin to see clearly what is revised history and what is the Truth of the past.

Here are two links to where i share some of my wisdom:

https://bsky.app/profile/mlbosin.bsky.social

https://marielouisebosinma.com

Marie Louise Bosin