Whether it's the deer-in-the-headlights effect, a muddy lens, or this thickening fog of war, these days seem to be lacking real clarity. Likely it's a combination of all these, frankly I'll just say it's so. In looking, this would fit with the patterns showing in many areas of our lives. The economy, environment, social culture, politics, are all occluded, in spite of the sunny talk, yet in each there cannot be pointed to a single element of cause or solution. All are fraught with combinations of circumstances and ill-omens and hope. It is not any one thing that will come to seek us out or that will deliver us, it will be multiples arriving in concert; a perfect storm of perfect storms. We approach a Narrow Gate.
Which brings me to the lackluster spectacle of the so-called state of the union address last night. Certainly these brief comments will be among the million hoards of comments spouted around the planet regarding Mr. Bush's comments. And with the declining dollar, my two cents here is probably only worth one, yet I'll drop it in the meter regardless.
What really struck me, though wasn't unexpected, was what was not said. It was three long speeches of I, me, and mine. He did make a pasty offering to bipartisanship, but made no mention of community, group effort, of people coming together, of co-operation. Only in the realm of war was this relevant to him, no vision. He spoke of fear, division, and competition. These are ways of old no longer useful, in fact even harmful, as it is these attitudes that have brought us to where we are.
Bush wants to "secure the future," as if it can be locked in like a retirement plan, but then only for America. This nation-centric view is irrelevant in a globalizing world. He "rejects the false comfort of isolationism," but fails to see the reality of how isolated regular people live day to day. He says "we are winning . . . an ideological conflict we did not invite," and fails to acknowledge U.S. history in the region or that it has cost $300 billion to date (figures not included in budgetary numbers) and on it's way to estimates of $2 trillion. He demands Hamas "recognize Isreal, disarm, and work toward peace," but won't ask the same of Isreal, namely to recognize Palestine, to disarm, and work for peace. I will only make comment to what it might mean to lead by example, as it is only the Great Father whose motto follows to do as I say, not as I do. And in all this talk of war and conflict, he fails to mention that, he, his family, his friends, and roughly two-thirds of congress are shareholders of military contractors and corporations; the military industrial complex heavyweight of the U.S. economy consuming 55 cents of every dollar that flows through our fingers. Dirty, dark money, makes one not even want to touch it, lest it explode in your hand - no wonder credit and bank cards feel so clean. He talked of healthcare and rising medical costs, yet no mention of the pharmaceutical or insurance industries at the root of it. He even made mention of our dependence on oil and a few slap-sticks to renewables, but no comment on conservation, Exxon's record profits, and certainly no vision of restructuring our entire energy infrastructure.
Never once in all this great I, me, mine speech did he ask Americans to change their habits or look at themselves. It was all a tirade pointing to the big, bad, bad-guy Out There (somewhere, everywhere). I will point out for this President who enjoys wrapping himself in the cloths of Christ, that Beezlebub by any other name was born of inequity, the prideful bastard of greed (Eze 28:11-18). The insatiable lust of More for Oneself and surely I can't be to blame because I am beautiful. A true lover in Christ's cloth would call out America's gluttonous ways and lay them bare on the table for all to see, alas we remain hiding in a dark closet of ignorance. Let a warning be heard to all who can Hear.
We are approaching a revolution of conscience, a theme of Ethics will pervade as water soaks the sand. It will shine the light of individuals upon our common predicament. What I would truly like to see is a genuine leader with the courage to stand up and say what is real. Someone with the energy of Howard Dean, the ideas of Dennis Kucinich or Lester Brown, the cool-wisdom of Jimmy Carter, and wrap it up in a package of light humility, maybe either Bill Murray or Lisa Simpson.
I realize now that the ambiguous nature of these past five years has pervaded many of us. For me it caused a bit of bottling up of old rants marked with futility, of which this now is an expurgation of fecal matter to the compost pile. We must clear out what is bile is order to clearly work on what is new. What is new now is the Year of the Dog. There is also a landing approaching, this narrow gate we must all pass through before taking off into clear, clean flight. We must each who are aware, learn to become midwives; first to gracefully hold what is in the midst of violent death throes, then to pause and breathe before planting for new Light. These are very trying times indeed and will continue to be so as change continues to accelerate. War, falling economies, environmental shifts, social unrest will be great challenges, of which our only solutions lie in Co-operative efforts (emphasis on Co-). Perfects storms of difficulties require perfect storms of Communities, when all things come together, all things must come together.
syn the sis ~ The combining of separate elements or substances to form a coherent whole.
As for the 'recovering from discovery' aspect of the title, that would lead me into an entirely different spill on Lewis & Clark, native peoples, and more-of-the-same U.S. history, so maybe better for another time. Though if you are interested, there is a good article in the current issue of Teaching Tolerance (especially for educators). just this, ~sal
"It is humbling and scary to think that I am basically a normal, average American. Just to think about being more ecologically "green" would be a MAJOR action on my part. It is part of our whole infrastructure of culture and life that makes all of us in the USA so ecologically greedy.
It makes one wonder if there is any answer to the problem short of very radical, even socially upending actions worldwide? What are we leaving for the next generations? This is taking care of God's world?
"No. I'm telling you, if you are among the swan-divers, the free floaters, the fog-bound, the change maddened, if you are among those apocalyptic gamblers who actually hope that Spacetime will collapse in 2012, if you are squinting warily into the future, you are legion. Perhaps you've seen that photograph of Salvador Dali, in which all appears to have been tossed into the air. Dali's aloft, as is the furniture, a painting, multiple cats, and even a goldfish, its bowl and water also airborne. If you feel like that, you in a more common state than you might think.
Our very nature is Buddha, and apart from this nature there is no other Buddha.
Sutra of Hui Neng
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