I follow the political news very closely, as most of you know. I also read and think about religious issues several times daily, as well as social and personal ones. In doing this, I am recently struck by the number of illusions we live. There is a passage in 'Shogun' that gets at this behavior. Two men are lavishly complimenting each other, when only a couple of months prior the one had urinated on the back of the other in a physical display of superiority remarkably similar to that of dogs. As the men bow and compliment, the one is thinking that everything they are doing is a sham. Later in the book, Toranaga reflects on how remarkable people are, ignoring the most obvious lies and settling themselves in the most appealing and false conveniences. At the very end of the book, Toranaga's real thoughts and motives are at last revealed, and you understand why he goes hunting so often. We are no different (well, we don't piss on each others' backs when angry, but we do worse sometimes).
We believe we are somehow superior to other living things on the planet. This is damaging two ways- it allows us to slaughter and exploit without shame other creatures, and it allows us to pretend we have no animal desires and drives. We have no right to simply exploit and destroy. While to live is to eat, which means to kill something, whether a bug, a plant or a steer, it does not confer the right to hunt to extinction, pen up and exploit solely for food, or mutilate in the quest for 'pleasing' animals.
We ignore the most obvious lies and distortions by our government. We turn over to it (them) all manner of problems that are our own. We make a great argument out of whether we are democrats or republicans, when we are all engaged in the same fantasy- that the government will, by its policies, end inequalities in outcomes, defend us from our personal rivals and control spending.
I listen to various economists and politicians talk about how we need to end deficit spending. OK, then end it. Now. This is like listening to overweight people loudly lament they need to diet while eating large fries and desserts. Nobody really wants to end any of this because it is so convenient to maintain the fantasy. The government prints money, therefore we can never have a 'deficit'. That argument has actually been made in print, apparently by someone who does not understand the noxious effects of inflation.
We loudly insist our particular religion is the only path to enlightenment. In so doing, we discount others' real experiences while insisting not so much on the understanding of God as on dogma and ritual. Each religion insists its adherents are the elect of God. Pick any one you like, they all claim that same status- Judaism, Christianity, Islam. Oddly, Islam is the only one that says that all true believers in God are the elect, in that sense being the most egalitarian of sects.
While loudly arguing over sectarianism, we deny spirituality and the reality of God. While ignoring our essential fleshly nature akin to all animals, we simultaneously ignore our spiritual needs and problems, burying them in fleshly indulgences
We promulgate the fantasy that all children can be elevated by the right kind of schooling. It is inescapable that people, whether children or adults, are constrained by their intellect and their circumstances. In turning education over to government, we make this educational fantasy part of the larger governmental fantasy that it will solve problems that have no solution.
We are all upset by disasters like the one in the gulf, while all the time refusing to modify our energy consumption behaviors. It has to come from somewhere. If we don't like the process of extraction and supply, we have the collective means to invest in research and find new power sources while using less power. Instead, we complain about the problem while refusing to fix its source.
Here in the US, we fatten ourselves on the most indulgent lifestyle in the world, while making almost nothing of the goods we consume. I bought my wife a blender yesterday. Not one was made in the US, not even the ridiculous, 500.00 blenders at Williams-Sonoma. It is not possible to consume without producing. All animals, even us, have to make their own nests. We are trying to separate results from effort.
In all these fantasies, we serve the needs of our flesh and not our souls. Even the assertions of religion are religious, not spiritual, and serve the need to be one the chosen ones. Our desperate service of our bodies ignores the reality of death for all, and of the presence and oneness of God all around us. Perversely, in trying to comfort our souls, we serve our flesh and destroy the world of God all around us.
Voltaire had it right in saying we can only tend our own garden. Before we can create orderly, rational government, before we can look beyond ritual and dogma to find God, before we can look beyond consumption to find productivity, we must first order our own spirits and lives.
Ted
We believe we are somehow superior to other living things on the planet. This is damaging two ways- it allows us to slaughter and exploit without shame other creatures, and it allows us to pretend we have no animal desires and drives. We have no right to simply exploit and destroy. While to live is to eat, which means to kill something, whether a bug, a plant or a steer, it does not confer the right to hunt to extinction, pen up and exploit solely for food, or mutilate in the quest for 'pleasing' animals.
We ignore the most obvious lies and distortions by our government. We turn over to it (them) all manner of problems that are our own. We make a great argument out of whether we are democrats or republicans, when we are all engaged in the same fantasy- that the government will, by its policies, end inequalities in outcomes, defend us from our personal rivals and control spending.
I listen to various economists and politicians talk about how we need to end deficit spending. OK, then end it. Now. This is like listening to overweight people loudly lament they need to diet while eating large fries and desserts. Nobody really wants to end any of this because it is so convenient to maintain the fantasy. The government prints money, therefore we can never have a 'deficit'. That argument has actually been made in print, apparently by someone who does not understand the noxious effects of inflation.
We loudly insist our particular religion is the only path to enlightenment. In so doing, we discount others' real experiences while insisting not so much on the understanding of God as on dogma and ritual. Each religion insists its adherents are the elect of God. Pick any one you like, they all claim that same status- Judaism, Christianity, Islam. Oddly, Islam is the only one that says that all true believers in God are the elect, in that sense being the most egalitarian of sects.
While loudly arguing over sectarianism, we deny spirituality and the reality of God. While ignoring our essential fleshly nature akin to all animals, we simultaneously ignore our spiritual needs and problems, burying them in fleshly indulgences
We promulgate the fantasy that all children can be elevated by the right kind of schooling. It is inescapable that people, whether children or adults, are constrained by their intellect and their circumstances. In turning education over to government, we make this educational fantasy part of the larger governmental fantasy that it will solve problems that have no solution.
We are all upset by disasters like the one in the gulf, while all the time refusing to modify our energy consumption behaviors. It has to come from somewhere. If we don't like the process of extraction and supply, we have the collective means to invest in research and find new power sources while using less power. Instead, we complain about the problem while refusing to fix its source.
Here in the US, we fatten ourselves on the most indulgent lifestyle in the world, while making almost nothing of the goods we consume. I bought my wife a blender yesterday. Not one was made in the US, not even the ridiculous, 500.00 blenders at Williams-Sonoma. It is not possible to consume without producing. All animals, even us, have to make their own nests. We are trying to separate results from effort.
In all these fantasies, we serve the needs of our flesh and not our souls. Even the assertions of religion are religious, not spiritual, and serve the need to be one the chosen ones. Our desperate service of our bodies ignores the reality of death for all, and of the presence and oneness of God all around us. Perversely, in trying to comfort our souls, we serve our flesh and destroy the world of God all around us.
Voltaire had it right in saying we can only tend our own garden. Before we can create orderly, rational government, before we can look beyond ritual and dogma to find God, before we can look beyond consumption to find productivity, we must first order our own spirits and lives.
Ted
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