Commentary - this time written by me!
:-)
As a concerned citizen, lifelong environmentalist and peace activist I often wonder about the best use of my very limited “spare time.” (Do we really have much of any time when we’re not working hard to make ends meet, or recovering from exhaustion?)
My gut feeling is that there is a lot of media-fed “blame the victim” hype going on that prevents us from being really mad at the system. This, of course, benefits the stability of the system to keep it the way it is: daily rape of the planet for the profit of the rich and powerful. In this mental environment it’s just too easy to shy away from ardent, rabble-rousing dissent until we have achieved some imaginary level of eco-perfection. How many times have you wondered, even for a moment, ‘who am I to complain to (fill in the blank), when I have so much to improve in my own life?’ After all, didn’t Gandhi say that change begins with you yourself? Nothing wrong with a little humility, is there? Yet, I know it would take so much money and effort to get that solar water heater installed on my roof, or to install a rain capture system around my yard. In short, shouldn’t we simplify our lives to a level resembling the hobbits in Lord of the Rings? The psychic dilemma most of us face is this: we have worked to raise our awareness, thus our conscience is more acute. So when we think about the disconnect between what changes we need to make and where we personally are it can have the effect of making us somewhat paralyzed.
How much time and effort would it take to study all the issues we care about…to FULLY understand the subtle intricacies of both sides BEFORE we come to a reasoned conclusion sanctioned by all who we know and trust? Just thinking about it wears me out!
The powers that be (I refer to them as “elites”) know these internal dilemmas full well and have arranged to exploit our doubt and guilt through the mainstream media.
Don’t get me wrong, I would not suggest that people STOP pursuing ways to lessen their ecological or carbon dioxide “footprint” on the planet! I suggest, rather, that we find a measure of self-acceptance, a balance if you will, between reducing our own contribution to the environmental problems of our planet and our unique ability to affect changes in public policy. Each person knows where that balance is for themselves. We all have to struggle with our own calculus of what we have time for and what we feel comfortable doing. Some of us will be more comfortable keeping to ourselves (family and friends) to improve our impact on Gaia. Some of us will do nothing but organize for positive change in the world. And some will courageously endeavor to do a little of both.
Personally, I spend a good deal of my spare time and money on lobbying government to do the right thing and precious little on lessening my ecological footprint. In my own calculus, I have decided that an hour calling, writing letters or speaking with friends about an issue is worth ten hours working to put a solar panel on my roof (someday, maybe!). Why? I’ll give you an example: if and when we citizens can push public policy in Washington to change the fuel economy standards for the WHOLE nation, that would trump anything I could do as an individual to lessen my personal eco-footprint. Do I question this calculus every day? Yes. Well, almost every day.
On the plus side for lobbying: our state, county and city government is surprisingly accessible for the average citizen. Assuming you can take a day off during the next legislative session, you can drive up to Salem to visit your representatives (BTW, both houses are now controlled by Democrats). I encourage every citizen to experience this! Just call ahead and set up an appointment to visit your state Senator or Representative and tell him/her of your concerns. If not, take few minutes to call them!
Bottom line: the multiple crises we face demand nothing less than an organized, global shakeup of the way civilization operates. Some might call it a revolution, some might call it a re-alignment of values and attitudes. Wherever you stand, however you put it, it is clear to me that we have a choice between a completely chaotic, “market-driven” descent into hell, or a cooperative, democratic venture into a new era of decentralized economic self-reliance and ecological sustainability. I suggest we commence with the agitating and ruckus-making or we may soon run out of time and lose the ability to choose.
Sunday, November 19, 2006
News item to give us some cheer...
“V” Makes A Mark In DC
Worldwide Interest in RTP ("Right to Petition") Stirred
It’s working.
We are making good use of the powerful concept of en masse activist resistance used in the movie, “V for Vendetta.”
“V” is helping us as we build support for the unalienable Right to a Response from Government to our Petitions for Redress of Grievances regarding the Government’s violation of the war powers, tax, privacy and money clauses of the Constitution.
“V” is helping us as we educate the public about the First Amendment’s guarantee of our Right to Petition Government for Redress of Grievances.
On November 6, 2006, a lone man in a “V” mask and clothing visited security checkpoints at the White House, the main Treasury Building, the Department of Justice and the Capitol, to deliver a letter and the Petitions for Redress. A short videotape of the encounters has made its way around the Internet, including links from sites such as MySpace.com.
The letter informed the leaders of the Executive and Legislative branches of the federal government that up to 100 people in “V” masks and clothing would gather in silent vigil at those locations on November 14th to await a response to the Petitions for Redress.
True to his word, at 11:00 A.M. on Tuesday, November 14, 2006, nearly 100 men and women in “V” masks and clothing could be seen walking along different streets in downtown Washington, DC, all heading to Lafayette Park across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House.
MORE...(with photos)
“V” Makes A Mark In DC
Worldwide Interest in RTP ("Right to Petition") Stirred
It’s working.
We are making good use of the powerful concept of en masse activist resistance used in the movie, “V for Vendetta.”
“V” is helping us as we build support for the unalienable Right to a Response from Government to our Petitions for Redress of Grievances regarding the Government’s violation of the war powers, tax, privacy and money clauses of the Constitution.
“V” is helping us as we educate the public about the First Amendment’s guarantee of our Right to Petition Government for Redress of Grievances.
On November 6, 2006, a lone man in a “V” mask and clothing visited security checkpoints at the White House, the main Treasury Building, the Department of Justice and the Capitol, to deliver a letter and the Petitions for Redress. A short videotape of the encounters has made its way around the Internet, including links from sites such as MySpace.com.
The letter informed the leaders of the Executive and Legislative branches of the federal government that up to 100 people in “V” masks and clothing would gather in silent vigil at those locations on November 14th to await a response to the Petitions for Redress.
True to his word, at 11:00 A.M. on Tuesday, November 14, 2006, nearly 100 men and women in “V” masks and clothing could be seen walking along different streets in downtown Washington, DC, all heading to Lafayette Park across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House.
MORE...(with photos)
Friday, November 10, 2006
AN OPEN LETTER I FOUND TO HOUSE SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI:
Read and pass along to your friends and relaties and (MOST importantly) your representatives in Washington:
Nancy,
Congratulations to you in your new post, and mostly, to US VOTERS, who triumphed despite considerable fraud--only because of their VIGILANCE and their determined numbers! We VOTERS are who put you where you are, and who you need to LISTEN TO us now.
We hear that you're going to have lunch today, 11/9/06, with the "President" (We are aware, the proof is in, that BOTH his elections were stolen, hence the quotes...hard to beleive so many of you in Congress haven't factored that in yet!)
So... DON'T be making any promises to Bush about NOT impeaching him, like the nonsense you uttered before: This is NOT YOUR PROMISE TO MAKE!
It will be the PEOPLE's right to decide; Represented by the HOUSE you now reside over.
We are the ones Bush, et al, have harmed the most, while you "Representatives" sat in your cushy seats and kept rolling over to his imperial-style leadership! You have much to repair and much to be ashamed of. YOU OWE US!
We were all hoping, when you said it takes a WOMAN to really clean HOUSE,
you meant it, and THAT would INCLUDE clearing out the huge pile of ELEPHANT POOP we're all neck-deep in, the pile YOU guys have been gingerly stepping around! Do your job, exonerate yourselves in the process: INVESTIGATE Republican abuses of power, starting at the TOP, and then PROSECUTE, to whatever extent necessary. (Bush seems to think it appropriate to HANG Saddam, for killing maybe 1/100th of the people HE has killed.)
Letting these CRIMIANALS go with a slap on the wrist is just going to encourage MORE of this, and the PEOPLE will feel CHEATED again. As it is, they think Dems are hardly better.
The Democrats MUST become an effective OPPOSITION party before you can LEAD.
THIS is what we really voted for in such numbers: a serious CORRECTION, not more smiley-face, suckered "Bi-partisanship".
So, you GO, Lady, and do as you yourself prescribed: CLEAN HOUSE!
By: GrannyBgood on November 10, 2006 at 08:30am
Read and pass along to your friends and relaties and (MOST importantly) your representatives in Washington:
Nancy,
Congratulations to you in your new post, and mostly, to US VOTERS, who triumphed despite considerable fraud--only because of their VIGILANCE and their determined numbers! We VOTERS are who put you where you are, and who you need to LISTEN TO us now.
We hear that you're going to have lunch today, 11/9/06, with the "President" (We are aware, the proof is in, that BOTH his elections were stolen, hence the quotes...hard to beleive so many of you in Congress haven't factored that in yet!)
So... DON'T be making any promises to Bush about NOT impeaching him, like the nonsense you uttered before: This is NOT YOUR PROMISE TO MAKE!
It will be the PEOPLE's right to decide; Represented by the HOUSE you now reside over.
We are the ones Bush, et al, have harmed the most, while you "Representatives" sat in your cushy seats and kept rolling over to his imperial-style leadership! You have much to repair and much to be ashamed of. YOU OWE US!
We were all hoping, when you said it takes a WOMAN to really clean HOUSE,
you meant it, and THAT would INCLUDE clearing out the huge pile of ELEPHANT POOP we're all neck-deep in, the pile YOU guys have been gingerly stepping around! Do your job, exonerate yourselves in the process: INVESTIGATE Republican abuses of power, starting at the TOP, and then PROSECUTE, to whatever extent necessary. (Bush seems to think it appropriate to HANG Saddam, for killing maybe 1/100th of the people HE has killed.)
Letting these CRIMIANALS go with a slap on the wrist is just going to encourage MORE of this, and the PEOPLE will feel CHEATED again. As it is, they think Dems are hardly better.
The Democrats MUST become an effective OPPOSITION party before you can LEAD.
THIS is what we really voted for in such numbers: a serious CORRECTION, not more smiley-face, suckered "Bi-partisanship".
So, you GO, Lady, and do as you yourself prescribed: CLEAN HOUSE!
By: GrannyBgood on November 10, 2006 at 08:30am
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Just my 2 cents...
A few sobering thoughts on the election and the way things work:
In my view, while the election results were impressive and direct, it is not the American people who control the machinations of our national systems. It is an elite of rich and powerful men (and perhaps a few women). To the extent that we have set the stage for a slowing down of our descent into fascism, we have given ourselves a measure of breathing room and much-needed relief from the darkest days of fear. Much as I hate to give in to my cynical side, I think the elites helped the results along in order to curb the extremism (or rapidness of the descent) of a particularly radical wing of complete dipshits. They did this, I believe, to avoid any potential wrath from us really mad folks. Does anyone wonder about the extraordinary coincidences of "discovering" the Mark Foley scandal JUST before the election and the Armed Forces publications that came out with a rebuke of the way Bush, et al handled the Iraq war THE DAY BEFORE the election. Remind me if there were other events/revelations that seemed suspiciously well timed...and that the media actually covered. And what about the potential for stealing the vote with the HUGE number of e-voting machines? If the right wing of the elites stole twice before, why not this time? Could it be that the Democrats are just the more reasonable wing of the same group of folks?
What we can do about the situation...
now that we have some measure of the elite's attention, we should kick ass in the "nonviolent protests and civil disobedience" area of things.
It is a time when we have the potential to really feel our potential as a people and test the limits of this so-called democracy based on our Constitution. And by all means, there is NO harm in phoning/faxing/emailing our reps and demanding impeachment, but I'll tell ya: I saw an interview with Nancy P. on CNN and she emphatically said there will be no impeachment hearings.
:-(
DAMN! Woulda been SO much fun!
A few sobering thoughts on the election and the way things work:
In my view, while the election results were impressive and direct, it is not the American people who control the machinations of our national systems. It is an elite of rich and powerful men (and perhaps a few women). To the extent that we have set the stage for a slowing down of our descent into fascism, we have given ourselves a measure of breathing room and much-needed relief from the darkest days of fear. Much as I hate to give in to my cynical side, I think the elites helped the results along in order to curb the extremism (or rapidness of the descent) of a particularly radical wing of complete dipshits. They did this, I believe, to avoid any potential wrath from us really mad folks. Does anyone wonder about the extraordinary coincidences of "discovering" the Mark Foley scandal JUST before the election and the Armed Forces publications that came out with a rebuke of the way Bush, et al handled the Iraq war THE DAY BEFORE the election. Remind me if there were other events/revelations that seemed suspiciously well timed...and that the media actually covered. And what about the potential for stealing the vote with the HUGE number of e-voting machines? If the right wing of the elites stole twice before, why not this time? Could it be that the Democrats are just the more reasonable wing of the same group of folks?
What we can do about the situation...
now that we have some measure of the elite's attention, we should kick ass in the "nonviolent protests and civil disobedience" area of things.
It is a time when we have the potential to really feel our potential as a people and test the limits of this so-called democracy based on our Constitution. And by all means, there is NO harm in phoning/faxing/emailing our reps and demanding impeachment, but I'll tell ya: I saw an interview with Nancy P. on CNN and she emphatically said there will be no impeachment hearings.
:-(
DAMN! Woulda been SO much fun!
Whoa! An election to BEHOLD!
Here are a few letters to the editor that appeared on the subject on the NY Times (online version) on Thursday, Nov. 9th...just to share:
The Democrats’ Jolt to the Political Landscape (11 Letters)
Published: November 9, 2006
To the Editor:
Re “Democrats Take House” (front page, Nov. 8):
So President Bush is not “the decider.” We, the American people, are — as it was meant to be.
Emily Rome
New York, Nov. 8, 2006
•
To the Editor:
I watched, disheartened, as our country grew sicker and sicker. On Tuesday, it proved that its legendary self-healing abilities were still in good working order.
Anne Bernays
Cambridge, Mass., Nov. 8, 2006
•
To the Editor:
Now that our electorate has finally woken from its stupor, we should ask ourselves why it took six years to recognize the incompetence and demagogy of this administration and the responsibility of the Republican leadership that blindly followed its lead.
The damage done is enormous, in Iraq, in the United States and around the world. Years have been squandered while the critical issues of our time have gone unattended.
How and why were we fooled?
We have a fascination with personalities instead of policy, a desire to be entertained rather than enlightened, and a need to have an enemy to define us and give our lives meaning.
Thankfully, our democracy is still functioning, though we will not see really meaningful progress until we can disconnect the electoral and legislative processes from the flow of corporate cash.
Let’s not forget that the Senate voted to give President Bush authority to start a war in Iraq. Our euphoria should be short-lived, and our vigilance should be redoubled.
Ken Swensen
Pound Ridge, N.Y., Nov. 8, 2006
•
To the Editor:
Re “A Loud Message for Bush” (news analysis, front page, Nov. 8):
It’s almost too good to believe ... the American people have done the “almost” impossible using the greatest democratic process known to man, the vote!
A president so convinced of his power and his mandate has been handed a message: “You wasted your power and your mandate to act without consensus. The people have shouted, Enough! No more abuses of the Constitution and our freedoms; no more disregard for the values our forefathers fought hard to establish; no more ‘I am, therefore I can!’ ”
Thank you, my fellow Americans, for taking back our great country and for putting us back on the path to leadership and greatness in America and the world!
Doris Fenig
Floral Park, Queens, Nov. 8, 2006
•
To the Editor:
Re “A Loud Message for Bush”:
To President Bush et al.:
Here’s why we Democrats won: For six years, even though the Republicans barely won their elections (if they won at all: see the 2000 election), they have disregarded us, scorned us and demonized us.
The debacle in Iraq is not the problem; it’s a symptom of profound arrogance. Here’s the “loud message”: We don’t like being ignored.
Stephanie Nicholas Acquadro
Westfield, N.J., Nov. 8, 2006
•
To the Editor:
The shift in power in Washington is the result of a desire by midterm voters to cut the engines of President Bush’s wayward ship of state.
That most of us regard the present course as being disastrous is shown by the fact that we made this change with no clear, unified ideas as to how to plot a better path.
We can only hope that the White House will get the message, accept this verdict and unbend somewhat from its rigid ideology.
While there is certainly a need for an accounting by the Bush administration on many matters, the investigative powers that the Democrats have gained are not means for revenge.
Any true wrongdoing must be brought to justice, of course, but our most immediate goal should be to stanch the bleeding in Iraq.
As is so often the case, the way out of this mess seems to lie somewhere in the middle ground. We must all be prepared for sacrifice, to seek compromise where we can find it and tolerance where we can’t.
Like it or not, we are all Americans, all with a common fate. And we’re in trouble.
Reese Lloyd
Atlanta, Nov. 8, 2006
•
To the Editor:
As a Republican, I suppose I could go on and on with excuses for Tuesday’s debacle, but nothing would change what has happened, so let’s look at the bright side. It should be clear to all that much of the recent spike in violence in Iraq was an effort to affect our election.
With this out of the way now, perhaps there will be less of this bloodshed and the Iraqi government can get a handle on the pacification of the country and give us a legitimate reason to leave.
Also, with the election out of the way, the Democrats will have less need to carp at the administration; at the very least, they should start coming up with some solutions of their own.
Here are a few letters to the editor that appeared on the subject on the NY Times (online version) on Thursday, Nov. 9th...just to share:
The Democrats’ Jolt to the Political Landscape (11 Letters)
Published: November 9, 2006
To the Editor:
Re “Democrats Take House” (front page, Nov. 8):
So President Bush is not “the decider.” We, the American people, are — as it was meant to be.
Emily Rome
New York, Nov. 8, 2006
•
To the Editor:
I watched, disheartened, as our country grew sicker and sicker. On Tuesday, it proved that its legendary self-healing abilities were still in good working order.
Anne Bernays
Cambridge, Mass., Nov. 8, 2006
•
To the Editor:
Now that our electorate has finally woken from its stupor, we should ask ourselves why it took six years to recognize the incompetence and demagogy of this administration and the responsibility of the Republican leadership that blindly followed its lead.
The damage done is enormous, in Iraq, in the United States and around the world. Years have been squandered while the critical issues of our time have gone unattended.
How and why were we fooled?
We have a fascination with personalities instead of policy, a desire to be entertained rather than enlightened, and a need to have an enemy to define us and give our lives meaning.
Thankfully, our democracy is still functioning, though we will not see really meaningful progress until we can disconnect the electoral and legislative processes from the flow of corporate cash.
Let’s not forget that the Senate voted to give President Bush authority to start a war in Iraq. Our euphoria should be short-lived, and our vigilance should be redoubled.
Ken Swensen
Pound Ridge, N.Y., Nov. 8, 2006
•
To the Editor:
Re “A Loud Message for Bush” (news analysis, front page, Nov. 8):
It’s almost too good to believe ... the American people have done the “almost” impossible using the greatest democratic process known to man, the vote!
A president so convinced of his power and his mandate has been handed a message: “You wasted your power and your mandate to act without consensus. The people have shouted, Enough! No more abuses of the Constitution and our freedoms; no more disregard for the values our forefathers fought hard to establish; no more ‘I am, therefore I can!’ ”
Thank you, my fellow Americans, for taking back our great country and for putting us back on the path to leadership and greatness in America and the world!
Doris Fenig
Floral Park, Queens, Nov. 8, 2006
•
To the Editor:
Re “A Loud Message for Bush”:
To President Bush et al.:
Here’s why we Democrats won: For six years, even though the Republicans barely won their elections (if they won at all: see the 2000 election), they have disregarded us, scorned us and demonized us.
The debacle in Iraq is not the problem; it’s a symptom of profound arrogance. Here’s the “loud message”: We don’t like being ignored.
Stephanie Nicholas Acquadro
Westfield, N.J., Nov. 8, 2006
•
To the Editor:
The shift in power in Washington is the result of a desire by midterm voters to cut the engines of President Bush’s wayward ship of state.
That most of us regard the present course as being disastrous is shown by the fact that we made this change with no clear, unified ideas as to how to plot a better path.
We can only hope that the White House will get the message, accept this verdict and unbend somewhat from its rigid ideology.
While there is certainly a need for an accounting by the Bush administration on many matters, the investigative powers that the Democrats have gained are not means for revenge.
Any true wrongdoing must be brought to justice, of course, but our most immediate goal should be to stanch the bleeding in Iraq.
As is so often the case, the way out of this mess seems to lie somewhere in the middle ground. We must all be prepared for sacrifice, to seek compromise where we can find it and tolerance where we can’t.
Like it or not, we are all Americans, all with a common fate. And we’re in trouble.
Reese Lloyd
Atlanta, Nov. 8, 2006
•
To the Editor:
As a Republican, I suppose I could go on and on with excuses for Tuesday’s debacle, but nothing would change what has happened, so let’s look at the bright side. It should be clear to all that much of the recent spike in violence in Iraq was an effort to affect our election.
With this out of the way now, perhaps there will be less of this bloodshed and the Iraqi government can get a handle on the pacification of the country and give us a legitimate reason to leave.
Also, with the election out of the way, the Democrats will have less need to carp at the administration; at the very least, they should start coming up with some solutions of their own.
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
My philosophy
This culture wants you to believe love is a rare commodity. Wrong on both counts. It’s neither rare, nor ANY kind of commodity, but the people who run things make money from your desire for love and acceptance. So, it’s important for us to reaffirm (and remind each other) that love is everywhere, in everything. Love is in every molecule of air we breathe and in every cell of our body and the cells of all that’s alive and in the molecules of all that is. And it’s important for you to know that love is divine. Every religion teaches, in some way, that God, or the Divine, is love. So, of course, it becomes obvious, once you begin to be in touch with your intuition this most extraordinary conclusion: All is Sacred.
The difference between us is simply the level of awareness we have about our divinity. It is NOT that one person is good and another evil. It’s all in what you think, or where you put your awareness. That makes all the difference in the world.
This culture wants you to believe love is a rare commodity. Wrong on both counts. It’s neither rare, nor ANY kind of commodity, but the people who run things make money from your desire for love and acceptance. So, it’s important for us to reaffirm (and remind each other) that love is everywhere, in everything. Love is in every molecule of air we breathe and in every cell of our body and the cells of all that’s alive and in the molecules of all that is. And it’s important for you to know that love is divine. Every religion teaches, in some way, that God, or the Divine, is love. So, of course, it becomes obvious, once you begin to be in touch with your intuition this most extraordinary conclusion: All is Sacred.
The difference between us is simply the level of awareness we have about our divinity. It is NOT that one person is good and another evil. It’s all in what you think, or where you put your awareness. That makes all the difference in the world.
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
The Impossible Day
It was quite a remarkable day and all anyone can remember, among those who can remember, was that it was a Thursday. No dates or years come to mind, though there are many conflicting claims. The weather that day was, in itself, remarkable: calm and cloudless across the globe. It was a day like no other among days to make you happy to be alive.
On this "impossible day," as it has been referred to, there was, just for that day, an end to suffering around the world. Not a complete end to pain, but the suffering that comes from it. As if the teachings of Buddha had immediately been laid at the feet of all of us: a great bouquet of fresh lotus flowers strewn across the landscape wherever living beings walked. A great awakening to the gift of life came to the hearts of all humans--wherever they lived.
There were no deaths that day and, because of it, no mourning. It was a day's respite from the cycle of life. There were no births that day, as if Mother Earth whispered, 'dear Children, you are too many for me to take care of!' Just for that day there was no fighting or violence. The soldiers could not lift their weapons, nor men lift their arms to batter those who trust them. For that day there were no homes bulldozed in Palestine, nor suicide bombs exploded in Tel Aviv. For that day the torturers could not lift their arms to beat their captives.
For that day, addicts did not feel the stinging pain of need. For that day, thieves stayed home and men with saws could not cut a single tree. For that day, the millions who hunger—from the sub-Saharan region in Africa to the lowlands of Bangladesh—felt no emptiness in their belly. For that day the executives of big business made no calls nor sent emails to crush the planet for profit and leaf blowers everywhere fell silent. For that day people from all walks of life were kind to each other and children played in parks and homes without bickering or complaining or crying.
The world was at peace and so, the news anchors of TV and radio were silent. They were befuddled and could not summon the courage to say that a miracle had visited the planet. But we knew in our hearts what was happening. For that day we did not need the media to tell us about our lives.
The religious praised God and Allah and Brahman and the Goddess. The atheists laughed and cried all day and the agnostics wondered aloud what their eyes and bones could not deny.
In short, it was as if the great spirits of all human history--Buddha, Jesus, Black Elk, Muhammad, Quan Yin, Moses, Krishna, and all Goddesses past and present--formed counsel and created a heaven on Earth. Just for that one day, what everyone had always thought impossible was real. Laid bare beneath our feet, as if our birthright.
The little I can remember I leave for you as a gift. I remember thinking to myself that finally I had proof: it is possible! We can make paradise here on Mother Earth! We do not have to die to find heaven! Paradise is ours to make. We glimpsed the possibility of it one amazing Thursday. The day before was ordinary and the day after was ordinary, but the day after the Impossible Day was ordinary only because we choose to make it ordinary.
I say all this because I see that we have forgotten what the Impossible Day has taught us. The Impossible Day was a gift to help us to see what can be done if we choose a different path. Now we have lost hope, where before we knew what it was like to have hope for one blessed, miraculous day.
I say all this because I believe that there is forgiveness in our hearts. There is, in each and every moment, the potential to decide to have hope—it is NOT something we have to wait for someone else to give to us.
I say all this because I believe with all my heart that who so ever says we cannot accomplish a paradise on earth is a fool that has never glimpsed the truth of their soul. Those who say it is impossible have not glimpsed their own divinity for even a moment. It can be done through the power that comes from collective will informed by compassionate cooperation. And more importantly, much more importantly, it is our destiny to make it real.
It was quite a remarkable day and all anyone can remember, among those who can remember, was that it was a Thursday. No dates or years come to mind, though there are many conflicting claims. The weather that day was, in itself, remarkable: calm and cloudless across the globe. It was a day like no other among days to make you happy to be alive.
On this "impossible day," as it has been referred to, there was, just for that day, an end to suffering around the world. Not a complete end to pain, but the suffering that comes from it. As if the teachings of Buddha had immediately been laid at the feet of all of us: a great bouquet of fresh lotus flowers strewn across the landscape wherever living beings walked. A great awakening to the gift of life came to the hearts of all humans--wherever they lived.
There were no deaths that day and, because of it, no mourning. It was a day's respite from the cycle of life. There were no births that day, as if Mother Earth whispered, 'dear Children, you are too many for me to take care of!' Just for that day there was no fighting or violence. The soldiers could not lift their weapons, nor men lift their arms to batter those who trust them. For that day there were no homes bulldozed in Palestine, nor suicide bombs exploded in Tel Aviv. For that day the torturers could not lift their arms to beat their captives.
For that day, addicts did not feel the stinging pain of need. For that day, thieves stayed home and men with saws could not cut a single tree. For that day, the millions who hunger—from the sub-Saharan region in Africa to the lowlands of Bangladesh—felt no emptiness in their belly. For that day the executives of big business made no calls nor sent emails to crush the planet for profit and leaf blowers everywhere fell silent. For that day people from all walks of life were kind to each other and children played in parks and homes without bickering or complaining or crying.
The world was at peace and so, the news anchors of TV and radio were silent. They were befuddled and could not summon the courage to say that a miracle had visited the planet. But we knew in our hearts what was happening. For that day we did not need the media to tell us about our lives.
The religious praised God and Allah and Brahman and the Goddess. The atheists laughed and cried all day and the agnostics wondered aloud what their eyes and bones could not deny.
In short, it was as if the great spirits of all human history--Buddha, Jesus, Black Elk, Muhammad, Quan Yin, Moses, Krishna, and all Goddesses past and present--formed counsel and created a heaven on Earth. Just for that one day, what everyone had always thought impossible was real. Laid bare beneath our feet, as if our birthright.
The little I can remember I leave for you as a gift. I remember thinking to myself that finally I had proof: it is possible! We can make paradise here on Mother Earth! We do not have to die to find heaven! Paradise is ours to make. We glimpsed the possibility of it one amazing Thursday. The day before was ordinary and the day after was ordinary, but the day after the Impossible Day was ordinary only because we choose to make it ordinary.
I say all this because I see that we have forgotten what the Impossible Day has taught us. The Impossible Day was a gift to help us to see what can be done if we choose a different path. Now we have lost hope, where before we knew what it was like to have hope for one blessed, miraculous day.
I say all this because I believe that there is forgiveness in our hearts. There is, in each and every moment, the potential to decide to have hope—it is NOT something we have to wait for someone else to give to us.
I say all this because I believe with all my heart that who so ever says we cannot accomplish a paradise on earth is a fool that has never glimpsed the truth of their soul. Those who say it is impossible have not glimpsed their own divinity for even a moment. It can be done through the power that comes from collective will informed by compassionate cooperation. And more importantly, much more importantly, it is our destiny to make it real.
How dare you, Mr. Bush!
Kudos to Mr. Olbermann from MSNBC...
Published on Tuesday, September 12, 2006 by MSNBC
This Hole in the Ground
by Keith Olbermann
Half a lifetime ago, I worked in this now-empty space. And for 40 days after the attacks, I worked here again, trying to make sense of what happened, and was yet to happen, as a reporter.
All the time, I knew that the very air I breathed contained the remains of thousands of people, including four of my friends, two in the planes and -- as I discovered from those "missing posters" seared still into my soul -- two more in the Towers.
And I knew too, that this was the pyre for hundreds of New York policemen and firemen, of whom my family can claim half a dozen or more, as our ancestors.
I belabor this to emphasize that, for me this was, and is, and always shall be, personal.
And anyone who claims that I and others like me are "soft,"or have "forgotten" the lessons of what happened here is at best a grasping, opportunistic, dilettante and at worst, an idiot whether he is a
commentator, or a Vice President, or a President.
However, of all the things those of us who were here five years ago could have forecast -- of all the nightmares that unfolded before our eyes, and the others that unfolded only in our minds -- none of us could have predicted this.
Five years later this space is still empty.
Five years later there is no memorial to the dead.
Five years later there is no building rising to show with proud defiance that we would not have our America wrung from us, by cowards and criminals.
Five years later this country's wound is still open.
Five years later this country's mass grave is still unmarked.
Five years later this is still just a background for a photo-op.
It is beyond shameful.
At the dedication of the Gettysburg Memorial -- barely four months after the last soldier staggered from another Pennsylvania field -- Mr. Lincoln said, "we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract." Lincoln used those words to immortalize their sacrifice.
Today our leaders could use those same words to rationalize their reprehensible inaction. "We cannot dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground." So we won't.
Instead they bicker and buck pass. They thwart private efforts, and jostle to claim credit for initiatives that go nowhere. They spend the money on irrelevant wars, and elaborate self-congratulations, and buying off columnists to write how good a job they're doing instead of doing any job at all.
Five years later, Mr. Bush, we are still fighting the terrorists on these streets. And look carefully, sir, on these 16 empty acres. The terrorists are clearly, still winning.
And, in a crime against every victim here and every patriotic sentiment you mouthed but did not enact, you have done nothing about it.
And there is something worse still than this vast gaping hole in this city, and in the fabric of our nation. There is its symbolism of the promise unfulfilled, the urgent oath, reduced to lazy execution.
The only positive on 9/11 and the days and weeks that so slowly and painfully followed it was the unanimous humanity, here, and throughout the country. The government, the President in particular, was given every possible measure of support.
Those who did not belong to his party -- tabled that.
Those who doubted the mechanics of his election -- ignored that.
Those who wondered of his qualifications -- forgot that.
History teaches us that nearly unanimous support of a government cannot be taken away from that government by its critics. It can only be squandered by those who use it not to heal a nation's wounds, but to take political advantage.
Terrorists did not come and steal our newly-regained sense of being American first, and political, fiftieth. Nor did the Democrats. Nor did the media. Nor did the people.
The President -- and those around him -- did that.
They promised bi-partisanship, and then showed that to them, "bi-partisanship" meant that their party would rule and the rest would have to follow, or be branded, with ever-escalating hysteria, as morally or intellectually confused, as appeasers, as those who, in the Vice President's words yesterday, "validate the strategy of the terrorists."
They promised protection, and then showed that to them "protection" meant going to war against a despot whose hand they had once shaken, a despot who we now learn from our own Senate intelligence Committee, hated al-Qaida as much as we did.
The polite phrase for how so many of us were duped into supporting a war, on the false premise that it had 'something to do' with 9/11 is "lying by implication."
The impolite phrase is "impeachable offense."
Not once in now five years has this President ever offered to assume responsibility for the failures that led to this empty space, and to this, the current, curdled, version of our beloved country.
Still, there is a last snapping flame from a final candle of respect and fairness: even his most virulent critics have never suggested he alone bears the full brunt of the blame for 9/11.
Half the time, in fact, this President has been so gently treated, that he has seemed not even to be the man most responsible for anything in his own administration.
Yet what is happening this very night?
A mini-series, created, influenced -- possibly financed by -- the most radical and cold of domestic political Machiavellis, continues to be televised into our homes.
The documented truths of the last fifteen years are replaced by bald-faced lies; the talking points of the current regime parroted; the whole sorry story blurred, by spin, to make the party out of office seem vacillating and impotent, and the party in office, seem like the only option.
How dare you, Mr. President, after taking cynical advantage of the unanimity and love, and transmuting it into fraudulent war and needless death, after monstrously transforming it into fear and suspicion and turning that fear into the campaign slogan of three elections? How dare you -- or those around you -- ever "spin" 9/11?
Just as the terrorists have succeeded -- are still succeeding -- as long as there is no memorial and no construction here at Ground Zero. So, too, have they succeeded, and are still succeeding as long as this government uses 9/11 as a wedge to pit Americans against Americans.
This is an odd point to cite a television program, especially one from March of 1960. But as Disney's continuing sell-out of the truth (and this country) suggests, even television programs can be powerful things. And long ago, a series called "The Twilight Zone" broadcast a riveting episode entitled "The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street."
In brief: a meteor sparks rumors of an invasion by extra-terrestrials disguised as humans. The electricity goes out. A neighbor pleads for calm. Suddenly his car -- and only his car -- starts. Someone suggests he must be the alien. Then another man's lights go on. As charges and suspicion and panic overtake the street, guns are inevitably produced. An "alien" is shot -- but he turns out to be just another neighbor, returning from going for help. The camera pulls back to a near-by hill, where two extra-terrestrials are seen manipulating a small device that can jam electricity. The veteran tells his novice that there's no need to actually attack, that you just turn off a few of the human machines and then, "they pick the most dangerous enemy they can find, and it's themselves."
And then, in perhaps his finest piece of writing, Rod Serling sums it up with words of remarkable prescience, given where we find ourselves tonight: "The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes,
prejudices, to be found only in the minds of men.
"For the record, prejudices can kill and suspicion can destroy, and a thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all its own -- for the children, and the children yet unborn."
When those who dissent are told time and time again -- as we will be, if not tonight by the President, then tomorrow by his portable public chorus -- that he is preserving our freedom, but that if we use any of it, we are somehow un-American...When we are scolded, that if we merely question, we have "forgotten the lessons of 9/11"... look into this empty space behind me and the bi-partisanship upon which this administration also did not build, and tell me:
Who has left this hole in the ground?
We have not forgotten, Mr. President.
You have.
May this country forgive you.
Kudos to Mr. Olbermann from MSNBC...
Published on Tuesday, September 12, 2006 by MSNBC
This Hole in the Ground
by Keith Olbermann
Half a lifetime ago, I worked in this now-empty space. And for 40 days after the attacks, I worked here again, trying to make sense of what happened, and was yet to happen, as a reporter.
All the time, I knew that the very air I breathed contained the remains of thousands of people, including four of my friends, two in the planes and -- as I discovered from those "missing posters" seared still into my soul -- two more in the Towers.
And I knew too, that this was the pyre for hundreds of New York policemen and firemen, of whom my family can claim half a dozen or more, as our ancestors.
I belabor this to emphasize that, for me this was, and is, and always shall be, personal.
And anyone who claims that I and others like me are "soft,"or have "forgotten" the lessons of what happened here is at best a grasping, opportunistic, dilettante and at worst, an idiot whether he is a
commentator, or a Vice President, or a President.
However, of all the things those of us who were here five years ago could have forecast -- of all the nightmares that unfolded before our eyes, and the others that unfolded only in our minds -- none of us could have predicted this.
Five years later this space is still empty.
Five years later there is no memorial to the dead.
Five years later there is no building rising to show with proud defiance that we would not have our America wrung from us, by cowards and criminals.
Five years later this country's wound is still open.
Five years later this country's mass grave is still unmarked.
Five years later this is still just a background for a photo-op.
It is beyond shameful.
At the dedication of the Gettysburg Memorial -- barely four months after the last soldier staggered from another Pennsylvania field -- Mr. Lincoln said, "we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract." Lincoln used those words to immortalize their sacrifice.
Today our leaders could use those same words to rationalize their reprehensible inaction. "We cannot dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground." So we won't.
Instead they bicker and buck pass. They thwart private efforts, and jostle to claim credit for initiatives that go nowhere. They spend the money on irrelevant wars, and elaborate self-congratulations, and buying off columnists to write how good a job they're doing instead of doing any job at all.
Five years later, Mr. Bush, we are still fighting the terrorists on these streets. And look carefully, sir, on these 16 empty acres. The terrorists are clearly, still winning.
And, in a crime against every victim here and every patriotic sentiment you mouthed but did not enact, you have done nothing about it.
And there is something worse still than this vast gaping hole in this city, and in the fabric of our nation. There is its symbolism of the promise unfulfilled, the urgent oath, reduced to lazy execution.
The only positive on 9/11 and the days and weeks that so slowly and painfully followed it was the unanimous humanity, here, and throughout the country. The government, the President in particular, was given every possible measure of support.
Those who did not belong to his party -- tabled that.
Those who doubted the mechanics of his election -- ignored that.
Those who wondered of his qualifications -- forgot that.
History teaches us that nearly unanimous support of a government cannot be taken away from that government by its critics. It can only be squandered by those who use it not to heal a nation's wounds, but to take political advantage.
Terrorists did not come and steal our newly-regained sense of being American first, and political, fiftieth. Nor did the Democrats. Nor did the media. Nor did the people.
The President -- and those around him -- did that.
They promised bi-partisanship, and then showed that to them, "bi-partisanship" meant that their party would rule and the rest would have to follow, or be branded, with ever-escalating hysteria, as morally or intellectually confused, as appeasers, as those who, in the Vice President's words yesterday, "validate the strategy of the terrorists."
They promised protection, and then showed that to them "protection" meant going to war against a despot whose hand they had once shaken, a despot who we now learn from our own Senate intelligence Committee, hated al-Qaida as much as we did.
The polite phrase for how so many of us were duped into supporting a war, on the false premise that it had 'something to do' with 9/11 is "lying by implication."
The impolite phrase is "impeachable offense."
Not once in now five years has this President ever offered to assume responsibility for the failures that led to this empty space, and to this, the current, curdled, version of our beloved country.
Still, there is a last snapping flame from a final candle of respect and fairness: even his most virulent critics have never suggested he alone bears the full brunt of the blame for 9/11.
Half the time, in fact, this President has been so gently treated, that he has seemed not even to be the man most responsible for anything in his own administration.
Yet what is happening this very night?
A mini-series, created, influenced -- possibly financed by -- the most radical and cold of domestic political Machiavellis, continues to be televised into our homes.
The documented truths of the last fifteen years are replaced by bald-faced lies; the talking points of the current regime parroted; the whole sorry story blurred, by spin, to make the party out of office seem vacillating and impotent, and the party in office, seem like the only option.
How dare you, Mr. President, after taking cynical advantage of the unanimity and love, and transmuting it into fraudulent war and needless death, after monstrously transforming it into fear and suspicion and turning that fear into the campaign slogan of three elections? How dare you -- or those around you -- ever "spin" 9/11?
Just as the terrorists have succeeded -- are still succeeding -- as long as there is no memorial and no construction here at Ground Zero. So, too, have they succeeded, and are still succeeding as long as this government uses 9/11 as a wedge to pit Americans against Americans.
This is an odd point to cite a television program, especially one from March of 1960. But as Disney's continuing sell-out of the truth (and this country) suggests, even television programs can be powerful things. And long ago, a series called "The Twilight Zone" broadcast a riveting episode entitled "The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street."
In brief: a meteor sparks rumors of an invasion by extra-terrestrials disguised as humans. The electricity goes out. A neighbor pleads for calm. Suddenly his car -- and only his car -- starts. Someone suggests he must be the alien. Then another man's lights go on. As charges and suspicion and panic overtake the street, guns are inevitably produced. An "alien" is shot -- but he turns out to be just another neighbor, returning from going for help. The camera pulls back to a near-by hill, where two extra-terrestrials are seen manipulating a small device that can jam electricity. The veteran tells his novice that there's no need to actually attack, that you just turn off a few of the human machines and then, "they pick the most dangerous enemy they can find, and it's themselves."
And then, in perhaps his finest piece of writing, Rod Serling sums it up with words of remarkable prescience, given where we find ourselves tonight: "The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes,
prejudices, to be found only in the minds of men.
"For the record, prejudices can kill and suspicion can destroy, and a thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all its own -- for the children, and the children yet unborn."
When those who dissent are told time and time again -- as we will be, if not tonight by the President, then tomorrow by his portable public chorus -- that he is preserving our freedom, but that if we use any of it, we are somehow un-American...When we are scolded, that if we merely question, we have "forgotten the lessons of 9/11"... look into this empty space behind me and the bi-partisanship upon which this administration also did not build, and tell me:
Who has left this hole in the ground?
We have not forgotten, Mr. President.
You have.
May this country forgive you.
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
"How Deep is Your Ecology?" writings from...Earth First!
A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise. - Aldo Leopold
The central insight of John Muir and of the science of ecology was the realization that all things are connected, are related; that human beings are merely one of the millions of species that have been shaped by the process of evolution for three and a half billion years. With that understanding, we can better answer the question, "Why Wilderness?"
Is it because wilderness makes pretty picture postcards? Because it protects watersheds for downstream use by agriculture, industry and homes? Because it cleans the cobwebs out of our heads after a long week in the auto factory or over the video display terminal? Because it preserves resource extraction opportunities for future generations of humans? Because some unknown plant living in the wilds may hold a cure for cancer?
No. It is because wilderness is. Because it is the real world, the flow of life, the process of evolution, the repository of that three and a half billion years of shared travel.
All natural things have intrinsic value, inherent worth. Their value is not determined by what they will ring up on the cash register, nor by whether or not they are good. They are. They exist. For their own sake. Without consideration for any real or imagined value to human civilization.
Even more important than the individual wild creature is the wild interconnected community - the wilderness, the stream of life unimpeded by industrial interference or human manipulation. These twin themes of interconnectedness and intrinsic value form the core of the ideas of such pioneer ecological thinkers as John Muir, Aldo Leopold and Rachel Carson, and are the basis for action by Earth First!ers. This biocentric world view, as opposed to the anthropocentric paradigm of civilization (and the reformist position of mainstream environmental groups), has been developed into the philosophy of Deep Ecology by philosophers such as Arne Naess of Norway, John Seed of Australia, Alan Drengson of Canada, and George Sessions, Bill Devall, Dolores LaChapelle and Gary Snyder of the United States, among others.
Earth First!, in short, does not operate from a basis of political pragmatism, or what is perceived to be "possible." Wilderness is not something that can be compromised in the political arena. We are unapologetic advocates for the natural world, for Earth.
A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise. - Aldo Leopold
The central insight of John Muir and of the science of ecology was the realization that all things are connected, are related; that human beings are merely one of the millions of species that have been shaped by the process of evolution for three and a half billion years. With that understanding, we can better answer the question, "Why Wilderness?"
Is it because wilderness makes pretty picture postcards? Because it protects watersheds for downstream use by agriculture, industry and homes? Because it cleans the cobwebs out of our heads after a long week in the auto factory or over the video display terminal? Because it preserves resource extraction opportunities for future generations of humans? Because some unknown plant living in the wilds may hold a cure for cancer?
No. It is because wilderness is. Because it is the real world, the flow of life, the process of evolution, the repository of that three and a half billion years of shared travel.
All natural things have intrinsic value, inherent worth. Their value is not determined by what they will ring up on the cash register, nor by whether or not they are good. They are. They exist. For their own sake. Without consideration for any real or imagined value to human civilization.
Even more important than the individual wild creature is the wild interconnected community - the wilderness, the stream of life unimpeded by industrial interference or human manipulation. These twin themes of interconnectedness and intrinsic value form the core of the ideas of such pioneer ecological thinkers as John Muir, Aldo Leopold and Rachel Carson, and are the basis for action by Earth First!ers. This biocentric world view, as opposed to the anthropocentric paradigm of civilization (and the reformist position of mainstream environmental groups), has been developed into the philosophy of Deep Ecology by philosophers such as Arne Naess of Norway, John Seed of Australia, Alan Drengson of Canada, and George Sessions, Bill Devall, Dolores LaChapelle and Gary Snyder of the United States, among others.
Earth First!, in short, does not operate from a basis of political pragmatism, or what is perceived to be "possible." Wilderness is not something that can be compromised in the political arena. We are unapologetic advocates for the natural world, for Earth.
Monday, September 11, 2006
The Body Is NOT a Machine. . .
. . .and if I hear that goddamn analogy one more time, I swear I’m going to scream!
My cousin from back East came to visit me in Eugene last month and we had a little disagreement. He’s a good guy. Compassionate, intelligent, a competent professional guy who gives far more generously of his time to the poor than I, but he’s yet another one of those people our culture has molded to enable the status quo to continue without missing a step.
“The body is like a machine” he said, “a very complex machine,” he argued.
I don’t even know how we got started on the subject. I held back that scream I mentioned before and let him continue. I was raised to be polite. It’s something I’m trying to loosen up a bit. He had an impressive line up of reasonable examples of all that science knows about: brain function, genetics, chemical interactions in the body, etc. Of course I, being a good anarchist, ecofeminist Eugenean raised by New Age parents respectfully disagreed. Unfortunately, I did not have very convincing statements to offer up off the top of my head. I’m the kind of person that likes to mull things over before I speak. Writing it out first is even better. What follows is my answer.
My dear cousin, the body is very much UNLIKE a machine. It is, in fact, not at all helpful to think of it as a machine and rather unhealthy to even think of us as a body, separate from mind and soul.
Machines are dead—we are alive. Electricity animates machines. As for the human body, it is still—after many generations of contemplation and inquiry—a mystery how our bodies are animated. Machines have no soul, we do. Machines are very stupid, we are sometimes smart and, at our best, even wise. Even the greatest computer in the world only truly understands ones and zeros. Nor is there any sign on the horizon that computers will ever be able to think as humans do. The body is, like all living beings, sacred. Machine: profane. Machines cannot love, create poetry, compose music, sculpt, nor think for itself. Human body: 6 more “can do’s” for us.
Our bodies are self-regulating and self-healing with its own wisdom and self-awareness. Machines: not even close.
It’s an exercise in self-oppression if we think our bodies are machines. When machines breakdown we kick them (when we can get away with it) and swear at them. It makes it far too easy to do the same to our bodies when we view them as machines. Instead, we should be asking (lovingly) of ourselves, ‘what am I doing wrong and how can I improve how I live to feel right again?’ And if pollution or the stress of modern life impinges—against our will—on our body’s health, we should be asking, ‘how can I agitate with my neighbors to end the assault?’ If we think our bodies are machines, it makes it easier to hand it over to “experts” who (somehow) know better. Like handing over our cars to the local mechanic. We were never meant to hand over responsibility for our bodies to ANYONE. Instead, we have always lived to ask for loving assistance in healing. It is a moral cop-out to hand over the responsibility and, in so doing, we make it far too easy for doctors and hospitals to squeeze profit from what should be everyone’s right: good health.
If our bodies were very complex machines it wouldn’t feel so awful for an ironworker to go pour molten metal all day or a line worker in a factory to stamp out widgets eight hours a day. Instead we would get a feeling of: ‘ahhh, communion at last!’
The comparison between body and machine is so far off it even asks the wrong question or assumes the wrong assumption. The body, by itself—without the mysterious spark of life---is simply dead: flesh and bone, blood and sinew for only a brief time after that spark is gone. To try and hold the thought in our minds that we are body alone—just to consider what that means—is to imagine death and therefore, no body, nor mind, nor soul.To see ourselves accurately we must begin to think of ourselves as body, mind and soul. That is: BODYMINDSOUL. Period. No spaces, no separation. To look at ourselves in the mirror and say, ‘I have an ugly body’ or ‘I have a beautiful body’ belies the truth of who stands before the mirror. Yet, most of us have practiced this form of self-illusion. We are ALIVE and that’s all that need be said.
Look, bottom line: we have to start questioning how we think, how the society wants us to think, if we’re ever going to really change how things operate in the future. It’s no small feat. Mao says power comes from the barrel of a gun, but I say, power comes from the well of your soul. To understand this is the beginning of our climb up into freedom. The way things are in modern Western cultures, nobody’s even lifting a finger to change things if they think everything’s fine the way it is.
. . .and if I hear that goddamn analogy one more time, I swear I’m going to scream!
My cousin from back East came to visit me in Eugene last month and we had a little disagreement. He’s a good guy. Compassionate, intelligent, a competent professional guy who gives far more generously of his time to the poor than I, but he’s yet another one of those people our culture has molded to enable the status quo to continue without missing a step.
“The body is like a machine” he said, “a very complex machine,” he argued.
I don’t even know how we got started on the subject. I held back that scream I mentioned before and let him continue. I was raised to be polite. It’s something I’m trying to loosen up a bit. He had an impressive line up of reasonable examples of all that science knows about: brain function, genetics, chemical interactions in the body, etc. Of course I, being a good anarchist, ecofeminist Eugenean raised by New Age parents respectfully disagreed. Unfortunately, I did not have very convincing statements to offer up off the top of my head. I’m the kind of person that likes to mull things over before I speak. Writing it out first is even better. What follows is my answer.
My dear cousin, the body is very much UNLIKE a machine. It is, in fact, not at all helpful to think of it as a machine and rather unhealthy to even think of us as a body, separate from mind and soul.
Machines are dead—we are alive. Electricity animates machines. As for the human body, it is still—after many generations of contemplation and inquiry—a mystery how our bodies are animated. Machines have no soul, we do. Machines are very stupid, we are sometimes smart and, at our best, even wise. Even the greatest computer in the world only truly understands ones and zeros. Nor is there any sign on the horizon that computers will ever be able to think as humans do. The body is, like all living beings, sacred. Machine: profane. Machines cannot love, create poetry, compose music, sculpt, nor think for itself. Human body: 6 more “can do’s” for us.
Our bodies are self-regulating and self-healing with its own wisdom and self-awareness. Machines: not even close.
It’s an exercise in self-oppression if we think our bodies are machines. When machines breakdown we kick them (when we can get away with it) and swear at them. It makes it far too easy to do the same to our bodies when we view them as machines. Instead, we should be asking (lovingly) of ourselves, ‘what am I doing wrong and how can I improve how I live to feel right again?’ And if pollution or the stress of modern life impinges—against our will—on our body’s health, we should be asking, ‘how can I agitate with my neighbors to end the assault?’ If we think our bodies are machines, it makes it easier to hand it over to “experts” who (somehow) know better. Like handing over our cars to the local mechanic. We were never meant to hand over responsibility for our bodies to ANYONE. Instead, we have always lived to ask for loving assistance in healing. It is a moral cop-out to hand over the responsibility and, in so doing, we make it far too easy for doctors and hospitals to squeeze profit from what should be everyone’s right: good health.
If our bodies were very complex machines it wouldn’t feel so awful for an ironworker to go pour molten metal all day or a line worker in a factory to stamp out widgets eight hours a day. Instead we would get a feeling of: ‘ahhh, communion at last!’
The comparison between body and machine is so far off it even asks the wrong question or assumes the wrong assumption. The body, by itself—without the mysterious spark of life---is simply dead: flesh and bone, blood and sinew for only a brief time after that spark is gone. To try and hold the thought in our minds that we are body alone—just to consider what that means—is to imagine death and therefore, no body, nor mind, nor soul.To see ourselves accurately we must begin to think of ourselves as body, mind and soul. That is: BODYMINDSOUL. Period. No spaces, no separation. To look at ourselves in the mirror and say, ‘I have an ugly body’ or ‘I have a beautiful body’ belies the truth of who stands before the mirror. Yet, most of us have practiced this form of self-illusion. We are ALIVE and that’s all that need be said.
Look, bottom line: we have to start questioning how we think, how the society wants us to think, if we’re ever going to really change how things operate in the future. It’s no small feat. Mao says power comes from the barrel of a gun, but I say, power comes from the well of your soul. To understand this is the beginning of our climb up into freedom. The way things are in modern Western cultures, nobody’s even lifting a finger to change things if they think everything’s fine the way it is.
Is there a meaning to life and do I really care?
According to Abraham Maslow, once you have enough to meet your basic needs the human organism tends to turn his or her attention to questions more "substantive" Like, what is the meaning of life? That is his theory. Mine is a little different. I propose that the very asking of the question is a clear indication that you are not living according to the way we are designed, or more accurately, to ask the question indicates that we are not living in a culture, a society or a tribe that is nurturing enough.
Since we are so removed from the experiences of our ancestors, I am merely speculating on nothing more that my (nagging) intuition, but that intuition has been right so often over the years that I have learned to heed it's wisdom a great deal more carefully.
My theory is that we have evolved to need both intellect and intuition to accurately experience life's remarkable wonders. Even more than that, we are not fully human unless we perceive the world with BOTH intellect AND intuition. We, as human beings, are designed to move through this beautiful life with some balance of using both to perceive. In so doing, we feel and know so much more about life than we could ever as simply rational, intellectual beings. How do you REALLY rationally explain the miracle that springs forth from an acorn and (somehow) becomes a giant Sequoia? How do you REALLY explain (with your brain) the difference between the inanimate objects in our surroundings and that which is alive and self-replicating? What does the spark that animates life look like and what is it made of? Are our rational minds capable of understanding this? I see no signs of it.
Do you know that "something" we feel is missing from our lives, but have no name for it? It is a kind of longing that comes from being starved of a flow of knowing that comes from a developed (and trusted) sense of intuition. It also comes from the hole in our heart when we have no community to nurture us. We are alive in this crippled excuse for a society in spite of these longings. Without these connections, it is easy to see how we can wonder, 'why am I here?' But if we were whole beings capable of the full spectrum of knowing, if we could "see" the radiance of all the blessedness that surrounds us and all the love (in all varieties) we have within easy reach, why would we care to ask such a question?
We who feel this pain of loss can at least name it for ourselves and try to find comfort in each other's arms. We can build community. That is a start.
- February, 2006
According to Abraham Maslow, once you have enough to meet your basic needs the human organism tends to turn his or her attention to questions more "substantive" Like, what is the meaning of life? That is his theory. Mine is a little different. I propose that the very asking of the question is a clear indication that you are not living according to the way we are designed, or more accurately, to ask the question indicates that we are not living in a culture, a society or a tribe that is nurturing enough.
Since we are so removed from the experiences of our ancestors, I am merely speculating on nothing more that my (nagging) intuition, but that intuition has been right so often over the years that I have learned to heed it's wisdom a great deal more carefully.
My theory is that we have evolved to need both intellect and intuition to accurately experience life's remarkable wonders. Even more than that, we are not fully human unless we perceive the world with BOTH intellect AND intuition. We, as human beings, are designed to move through this beautiful life with some balance of using both to perceive. In so doing, we feel and know so much more about life than we could ever as simply rational, intellectual beings. How do you REALLY rationally explain the miracle that springs forth from an acorn and (somehow) becomes a giant Sequoia? How do you REALLY explain (with your brain) the difference between the inanimate objects in our surroundings and that which is alive and self-replicating? What does the spark that animates life look like and what is it made of? Are our rational minds capable of understanding this? I see no signs of it.
Do you know that "something" we feel is missing from our lives, but have no name for it? It is a kind of longing that comes from being starved of a flow of knowing that comes from a developed (and trusted) sense of intuition. It also comes from the hole in our heart when we have no community to nurture us. We are alive in this crippled excuse for a society in spite of these longings. Without these connections, it is easy to see how we can wonder, 'why am I here?' But if we were whole beings capable of the full spectrum of knowing, if we could "see" the radiance of all the blessedness that surrounds us and all the love (in all varieties) we have within easy reach, why would we care to ask such a question?
We who feel this pain of loss can at least name it for ourselves and try to find comfort in each other's arms. We can build community. That is a start.
- February, 2006
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