thursday, july 8, 2010
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I have not before used this blog to post a book review, but the book I'm now reading, Family of Secrets, by Russ Baker, merits a very close look, as a work on its way to drawing together the threads of a modern mystery that most believed would never yield to a solution - the assassination of President Kennedy. That is not to say that Baker has solved the mystery...he has not. But his research is pointing in the direction of, if not an outright solution, at least an explanation that makes sense, and is not weighed down by poor research and disinformation.
I was seventeen years old in November of 1963, and share the inexplicable feeling of many that something other than a civil servant was murdered on that day. As we grasped for the meaning of the day and weekend following the crime, many of us felt the death of the youthful hope brought on by Kennedy's election in 1960. There was a sense that the old guard would soon pass away, and a new generation would be free to take a second and better look at the world in a way that acknowledged problems and looked for solutions. Kennedy's attitude toward the Americas to the south alone, (except for Cuba, the Kennedy blind spot) spoke to a new international relationship based in the parity between nations that a global economy would soon demand, rather than on the brutal power of empire. When Kennedy died, it was as if the empire had won after all, and for many, idealism was put up on a shelf.
As Baker points out in his book, research and public commentary on the Kennedy assasination, carries the risk of labeling by the mainstream media as conspiracy theory, a legacy of the years of exploitive and populist investigations, described in books, articles and web pages of often dubious scholarship, a cottage industry driven by public hunger for an alternative to the inherently dissatisfactory version of history emerging from the deliberations of the Warren Commission and never improved upon by numerous subsequent government-sponsored inquiries.
To give such efforts their due however, it must be acknowledged that over the decades since 1963 a core narrative has begun to emerge that would have remained buried but for the efforts of this army of historical archeologists.
-- working --
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Sunday, June 20, 2010
sunday, june 20, 2010
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BP's green flower power hard at work, setting fire to crude oil floating in the
Gulf of Mexico. The universal response of perps to an emergency is a guilty
panic to hide the evidence. By the time BP gets into court, it will be
"who ya gonna believe, me or your lying eyes?"
Nightmare in the Gulf...
Even though raw crude oil continues to pour into the Gulf of Mexico at the rate of 60,000 barrels of gunk per day, don't believe for a minute that this spill is our penultimate nightmare...that horror show still lies in our uncertain future. BP's pattern of criminal conduct in the Gulf, from the use of bribery to sabotoge government oversight, to the theft of an estimated $53 billion in oil royalties, to its illegal attempts to limit press coverage of the spill and it's aftermath, is but a stalking horse for greater disasters looming.
While I don't necessarily mean a (reasonable) fear of the potential for additional off-shore platform emergencies, given the pattern of corruption that permeated the Minerals Management Service for all 8 years of the Bush presidency, and the first 18 months of Barack Obama's, the danger is by no means remote, especially with hurricane season soon to arrive.
But there is also grave cause for concern about the wider patterns of corruption as yet uncovered, in other agencies of the government, where federal regulatory authority has been equally absent. Whether the tea party open-carry cowboys like it or not, the federal power to regulate is our only proven fail-safe against the rapacious nature of private economic power. Environmental stewardship and public safety demand the due diligence that only government can impose against the belief of the corporate elite in their god-given right to develop natural resources where they find them, and convert them to private wealth. What further disasters wait to be revealed, when the corrosive power of bribery and corruption finish working their ugly magic?
The free-market revolution begun by Milton Friedman groupies nearly 5 decades ago, is bearing fruit in the Gulf today. The private war against the public expression of power wielded by a government of the people, is all but complete. The alliance of corporate power and the Republican/populist right, was well exposed by a key Republican senator, who shamefully apologized for President Obama's "shakedown" of BP, (referring to the $20 billion government-controlled escrow fund that Obama imposed. to prevent BP from "slow-walking" damage awards, as has happened elsewhere.) The demand by the Republican leadership for an apology from Senator Barton, was not because they disagreed with his sentiments, but because it exposed the truth about Republican allegiances to their corporate masters.
For most of the opening decade of the 21st century, the Bush/Cheney administration operated under a policy essentially abdicating the government's responsibility for exercising regulatory authority in virtually every agency of the executive branch. The end of government regulation as a tool for limiting private power, is the flowering of Ayn Rand's dream...the semi-erotic fantasy with which she inspired the lust of Freidman, Greenspan and the flying monkeys of the new capitalism...of the ascendant private individual as superman, celebrating the death of collectivism. Some dream...sounds like a Soviet-era propaganda poster.
Like all religions, the purity of the free-market vision was betrayed by a metaphorical 30 pieces of silver; the collective greed and lawlessness of a corporate priesthood whose contempt for the politicians they found so easy to bribe, was exceeded only by their dreams of avarice.
Our caution for our immediate future lies in the realization that these predators worked every sheep pen in the government, not just the Mineral's Management Service, and not just the Department of the Interior. We have already seen the collapse of the financial markets, and the super-heating and collapse of the housing market, both caused by the same pattern of corporate corruption of government oversight. Given this horrendous recent history, we can only wonder and worry about what bursting bubbles lie in our immediate future.
Though apparently aware of the thirst of corporations for absolute power, President Obama has followed the lead of other Democratic politicians (read Bill Clinton) in an accomodation of influence, amounting to the "corporatism" with which he is often charged by the green left. It is certain, from his support last spring of increased off-shore drilling, and his fronting of the myth of oil rig safety, that President Obama did not envision himself leading a war against "Big Oil."
But in the Gulf, war has already been declared, and the first great battle is now being waged. President Obama, sword in hand, has demanded - and received - an escrow account of BP funds to pay for damages, leading to the first narrow victory in what BP hopes will be a long-term war of attrition. For there to be other victories, President Obama must slay the free-market dragon. If he doesn't continue to confront the corrupt power of the corporation, we as a nation, will face capitulation to corporate monarchs and the end of government of, by and for the people.
Hyperbole? I wish it were.
DHL
For most of the opening decade of the 21st century, the Bush/Cheney administration operated under a policy essentially abdicating the government's responsibility for exercising regulatory authority in virtually every agency of the executive branch. The end of government regulation as a tool for limiting private power, is the flowering of Ayn Rand's dream...the semi-erotic fantasy with which she inspired the lust of Freidman, Greenspan and the flying monkeys of the new capitalism...of the ascendant private individual as superman, celebrating the death of collectivism. Some dream...sounds like a Soviet-era propaganda poster.
Like all religions, the purity of the free-market vision was betrayed by a metaphorical 30 pieces of silver; the collective greed and lawlessness of a corporate priesthood whose contempt for the politicians they found so easy to bribe, was exceeded only by their dreams of avarice.
Our caution for our immediate future lies in the realization that these predators worked every sheep pen in the government, not just the Mineral's Management Service, and not just the Department of the Interior. We have already seen the collapse of the financial markets, and the super-heating and collapse of the housing market, both caused by the same pattern of corporate corruption of government oversight. Given this horrendous recent history, we can only wonder and worry about what bursting bubbles lie in our immediate future.
Though apparently aware of the thirst of corporations for absolute power, President Obama has followed the lead of other Democratic politicians (read Bill Clinton) in an accomodation of influence, amounting to the "corporatism" with which he is often charged by the green left. It is certain, from his support last spring of increased off-shore drilling, and his fronting of the myth of oil rig safety, that President Obama did not envision himself leading a war against "Big Oil."
But in the Gulf, war has already been declared, and the first great battle is now being waged. President Obama, sword in hand, has demanded - and received - an escrow account of BP funds to pay for damages, leading to the first narrow victory in what BP hopes will be a long-term war of attrition. For there to be other victories, President Obama must slay the free-market dragon. If he doesn't continue to confront the corrupt power of the corporation, we as a nation, will face capitulation to corporate monarchs and the end of government of, by and for the people.
Hyperbole? I wish it were.
DHL
Thursday, June 17, 2010
The Two Negations & the Lord of Creation
thursday, june 17, 2010
..............................................................................................................................................
I was listening to His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama, in the Four Noble Truths presentation that I posted a couple of days ago. He made the point that the first principle of Buddhist thinking is the principle of dependent origination, and in particular the principle of causation. Within this framework, everything that "exists" does so as the result of something that existed before it. Our minute-to-minute "reality", with all of its' arising causes and conditions, is impelled into existence by something pushing from behind, and in turn, as it shoves its' way through time, causes the onrushing future. As a result of this says His Holiness, the world of apparent existence that occupies our daily lives, is in fact empty of inherent meaning.
Then His Holiness made the point that the principle of dependent origination gives rise to two negations. First, that nothing comes out of nothing, negating the concept of a first cause. And second, because there is no first cause, any concept of a creator God is negated. (Interestingly, Saint Thomas Aquinas follows a similar line of reasoning to arrive at the opposite conclusion; that each event of existence is caused by the one before it until one reaches the first cause, which is God...well, there's no accounting for tastes).
With regard to the second negation, I had a feeling that something was up when someone sneezed at a Jewel Heart meeting, and no one said "God Bless You."
Just kidding. Actually these were the principles that attracted me to Buddhism in the first place. When I was coming up, the expectations of the so-called Judeo-Christian tradition seemed to require belief in a series of magical tricks, which made it impossible for me to remain a Christian practitioner after the onset of the age of reason. Buddhism seemed to offer relief from this expectation, and His Holiness confirms that the very hallmark of Buddhism is a negation of non-rational theories of origination. It was while I was in a crisis of faith regarding the existence of God and the nature of Christ, that Buddhism became available to me and filled a need for achieving a deeper understanding of existence, without the irrational expectations that I found alienating. It also provided an ethical framework for living within society that promoted human unity, justice and non-violence.
As described in an earlier post, at a certain point in my life, my rigid rationalism gave way to the demonstrated power existing within the subtle realm, the gateway to which is to be found only within the perceptive ability of human consciousness...as far as we know. Within this realm, the drama of visionary experience contains much that is anthropomorphic in its' apparent nature, leaving it vulnerable to psychological interpretation. (An example might be the eternal dance of Yamma, the Tibetan Lord of Death.) But, it also contains much that seems successfully descriptive of the more complex and subtle forms of spiritual existence one would expect to find in a natural realm coexistent with the universe as described by a modern understanding of cosmology.
It will remain forever true for myself that the God of the Old Testament, the Creator God of Genesis, is an impossibility. The logic traps of fundamentalism just do not work for me.
However, I cannot imagine a universe without consciousness, and I cannot imagine that consciousness is bound by its relationship to physical existence; indeed, His Holiness asserts that it is not. The basis for the Buddhist belief in reincarnation, he says, lies in the realization that matter and consciousness are separate and distinct. Matter, he says, cannot create consciousness. And consciousness cannot create matter.
Currently, a furious debate is unfolding in the scientific community, on the question of whether or not the mind exists independent of the brain. The question is of interest to psychologists, neurosurgeons and others who have professional cause to wonder about it. The debate is the subset of a debate - or is it a war? - between the Darwinian strict constructionists, and the stealth creationists of the intelligent design camp. I don't want into that fight; when rigid tautological battle lines are drawn, I tend to run for cover.
It is true however, that the world of science is searching for an explanation of how the brain creates the mind, and has yet to find one.
Buddhism, as expressed by His Holiness and the other enlightened beings, by negating the concept of a creator God, expressing the principle of dependent origination, and observing that matter and consciousness exist independently, opens the door to the realm in which we exist when we don't exist as inhabitants of physical matter.
As advanced as Buddhist thinking is from my perspective, and especially as compared to the relatively primitive fundamentalist religion of my youth, its' accomplishments become even more remarkable when one realizes that the concepts of Buddhism, which seem to fit so comfortably within the scientific model of quantum physics and the expanding universe, is actually 2,600 years old and came into existence at a time when the prevalent vision of the cosmos was of a flat world of earth with a dome of sky, riding on the back of a tortoise. The stars were perceived as little leaks of light exposing the sun in its hiding place behind the night.
The birth of Christianity led to belief in a world of faith, with human sinners struggling on earth, below a chorus of cloud-dwelling angels, archangels and saints in a universe consisting of an flat earth orbited by the sun the stars and the abode of God in Heaven. It has been a slow and difficult journey since then, for priests asserting their authority and theologians their understanding of God, within the unfolding knowledge of science regarding the nature and origins of the universe.
The understanding of the universe common in the years of my childhood, was influenced by the science of Einstein.* In those days, we were in the midst of a debate about whether the universe had existed for eternity in a "steady-state," or had exploded and was expanding. We did not know in 1950 that Einstein had already discovered that the universe was expanding when he wrote the General Theory of Relativity, in 1905. But it seemed counter-intuitive to him, so he assumed that his math was wrong and fudged his figures. Strange, but true.
In 1926, Edwin Hubble was looking at the stars through his telescope (Mount Palomar), and noticed that the light from certain stars had shifted into the red portion of the spectrum, indicating that the wavelength was increasing. His observation, which became known as "Hubble's Law," was that the shift in the light wavelength from a distant object, to the red portion of the light spectrum, increased proportionate to the distance of the object from Earth. This led Hubble to the realization that the object was moving away from the earth, and that the universe was therefore expanding. It was a monumental discovery; embarrassing for Einstein, and a big surprise for the rest of us, although it took about 30 years for the news to reach the west side of Cleveland.
The realization of an expanding universe leads to the further insight that the universe has not existed in its' present form since eternity as previously believed, but was created by a single catastrophic event occurring a short 15 billion years ago - a factoid from which we can derive not only the age of our universe, but its' approximate size as well. Imagine a space roughly the shape of a flattened globe with a radius of 15 billion light years, and you've got it.
In modern time, the scientific journey of discovery was also taken in the other direction; to the universe existing within the structure of matter. The understanding of matter that I had as a child was probably not much different from that of a child living in ancient Greece. We shared a belief in atoms as the smallest of things. And atoms, we believed are little solar systems of unimaginably tiny elemental planets. As it appeared, the same understanding that we applied to how the sun and the planets functioned in the solar system, could equally be applied to an understanding of the sub-atomic world.
Not so we found out; apparently things at the level of particle physics are chaotic, and the same sets of rules do not apply. Strangely...and quite poetically, when we get to the center of sub-atomic particles, with their positive and negative energies exquisitely balanced in a dance of strong and weak forces, we find, not the tiny elemental worlds we expected, but vibrating strings of energy spelling out the illusion of matter.
The very illusions perhaps that His Holiness refers to when he speaks of the negation of intrinsic existence.
Our growing scientific knowledge carries us ever forward, into the heart of the mystery of existence. And what God do we carry forward with us on this journey of discovery? The God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob. The god that spoke to us when civilization was young, and the world was a disc, riding on the back of a tortoise. We have good reason to do so, we believe. The bonifides of the God that led Moses through the wilderness, were confirmed more recently - a mere 20 centuries ago - by someone whose trustworthiness is impeccable; the son of the living God.
But will our limited ability to understand the vast realms to which we have been introduced in the last 100 years, allow us to meld our understanding of the God of the Old Testament, with our understanding of a universe expanding toward infinity in two directions? Toward the external infinity of the universe of stars, planets and galaxies in one direction, and the infinitely small universe of matter in the other? If so, can we call it God, with any sort of insight or understanding of what we mean when we use this term? It is apparent to me that my poor powers of imagination fail to give rise to a vision of a consciousness so vast that it can rule so great a realm. Depends on the definition of "rule" no doubt.
Remarkably, in pointing the way back in time to the "Big Bang" science has given us a place mark of fundamental value, a tool to be used in our struggle to reconcile ancient myth and modern knowledge in our search for understanding. It has revealed the manner and the moment of our creation. Has it also revealed at least the shadow of the Lord of Creation?
Before Einstein and Hubble, we didn't have a point from which time is reckoned. We lived in a world that had always been, in a universe that would remain forever the same...ticking it's way through eternity like the elegant timepiece of Jefferson's understanding. Even Einstein believed it; so much so that he fudged his numbers rather than change his mind.
Creation myths abound in man's ancient memory, but none of them compare to the story of the Great Explosion, before which is only the shadow of mystery, and after which is the birth of everything, awakening in a newly-crafted cradle of time. Though it sounds like an aboriginal myth created in dream-time, it is in fact, rock-hard science.
But all of this only serves to describe the physical universe, and offers nothing to account for the existence of consciousness. It must be asked, was the Big Bang of physical creation concomitant with the creation of consciousness, and if so, how? Did it happen in the same big flash? Did consciousness coalesce as matter did? As an incomprehensibly dense plasma of newly forming electrons, protons and neutrons coalescing into the periodic table of the elements? Or did the birth of consciousness come later, after the fire had died down, and the earth had cooled. Did it wait for the birth of the biosphere, before consciousness came to Earth and other places?
Science no doubt would surmise that consciousness grew incrementally in the same manner as the atmosphere; the collective expiration of the planets' living things over eons, giving rise to the breathable and navigable ocean of air that encircles the planet. Is there a comparable mechanism for accumulation of consciousness arising perhaps from the signal response of a collective infinity of flagella-waving amoebic nerve endings?
Seems a bit unlikely, and it certainly lacks elegance as an explanation for human consciousness, but the fact is we don't know. We know there was a big bang, and we know there is a world of matter. We live in it. We're made of it. We know there is consciousness. We think it. We become aware of it; an inner presence when we meditate. But of its origins we know nothing.
It has none, His Holiness would no doubt say, and no doubt he is right. But imagining that an event of consciousness might occur concomitant with an event of matter, at a moment when the universe flashes into sudden existence, leads one to wonder what sort of influence one aspect of such an event might have had on the other, and what aspect may have led to what outcome? The answer to such questions lie beyond the horizon defined by the explosion that led us to our present time and space; the mysterious event preceding, and undoubtedly causing, the only big bang of which we know.
(His Holiness goes the extra mile, by suggesting that the "Big Bang" is unlikely to have been a unique event. From the Buddhist perspective, he has said, the big bang is more likely to have been one of many. Not unique, but rather a common occurrence - the drop of water that suggests a greater ocean. Leading us to imagine a mysterious multi-verse of dark matter, and distant dimensions...but then that's why he's the Dalai Lama.)
Many suffer alienation from spirituality due to anger and bitterness toward the God that permits human suffering. Where was the God of mercy during the Holocaust? During Hurricane Katrina? Our way of understanding, and our need to feel control over the environment, gives rise to the God to whom we pray for deliverance.
When prayer fails, is not our anger directed at the straw man set up by a limited human vision? If so, it is a misplaced anger, and should be directed not at the Lord of Creation, but at the cargo plane made of sticks and vines, set out in the jungle in hope of attracting the source of the mystery by which it was inspired.
We must always remember that the world of human misery, the whole ugly history of wars inspired by greed served by violence, the ancient tradition of indifference by the elite for the fate of the poor, is a world of our own creation. It is the human choices we make that create the suffering of the world, not the demons of hell, abetted by an indifferent god.
Our prayers are largely misplaced. Instead of begging for deliverance from misery and misfortune, our need is for insight, to open us to the realization of the perfection within which we are living day to day, and to an awareness of the human suffering we create by greed and violence. To be awakened to the need for change in the world, so that the human vision of earth as a ball of resources ripe for development may be transformed into a respectful awareness of the sacred garden of life into which we were born and in which our treasured consciousness resides. So that our thirst for violence as a tool for intimidation and command may be transformed into an awakening awareness of human suffering and a response inspired by love and compassion.
DHL
* To my amazement, I found the following quote recently, over a year after writing this essay...
"The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend a personal God and avoid dogmas and theology. Covering both the natural and the spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things, natural and spiritual and a meaningful unity. Buddhism answers this description. If there is any religion that would cope with modern scientific needs, it would be Buddhism."
Albert Einstein
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reprinted from Peaceful Fire Journal, February 19, 2009
I was listening to His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama, in the Four Noble Truths presentation that I posted a couple of days ago. He made the point that the first principle of Buddhist thinking is the principle of dependent origination, and in particular the principle of causation. Within this framework, everything that "exists" does so as the result of something that existed before it. Our minute-to-minute "reality", with all of its' arising causes and conditions, is impelled into existence by something pushing from behind, and in turn, as it shoves its' way through time, causes the onrushing future. As a result of this says His Holiness, the world of apparent existence that occupies our daily lives, is in fact empty of inherent meaning.
Then His Holiness made the point that the principle of dependent origination gives rise to two negations. First, that nothing comes out of nothing, negating the concept of a first cause. And second, because there is no first cause, any concept of a creator God is negated. (Interestingly, Saint Thomas Aquinas follows a similar line of reasoning to arrive at the opposite conclusion; that each event of existence is caused by the one before it until one reaches the first cause, which is God...well, there's no accounting for tastes).
With regard to the second negation, I had a feeling that something was up when someone sneezed at a Jewel Heart meeting, and no one said "God Bless You."
Just kidding. Actually these were the principles that attracted me to Buddhism in the first place. When I was coming up, the expectations of the so-called Judeo-Christian tradition seemed to require belief in a series of magical tricks, which made it impossible for me to remain a Christian practitioner after the onset of the age of reason. Buddhism seemed to offer relief from this expectation, and His Holiness confirms that the very hallmark of Buddhism is a negation of non-rational theories of origination. It was while I was in a crisis of faith regarding the existence of God and the nature of Christ, that Buddhism became available to me and filled a need for achieving a deeper understanding of existence, without the irrational expectations that I found alienating. It also provided an ethical framework for living within society that promoted human unity, justice and non-violence.
As described in an earlier post, at a certain point in my life, my rigid rationalism gave way to the demonstrated power existing within the subtle realm, the gateway to which is to be found only within the perceptive ability of human consciousness...as far as we know. Within this realm, the drama of visionary experience contains much that is anthropomorphic in its' apparent nature, leaving it vulnerable to psychological interpretation. (An example might be the eternal dance of Yamma, the Tibetan Lord of Death.) But, it also contains much that seems successfully descriptive of the more complex and subtle forms of spiritual existence one would expect to find in a natural realm coexistent with the universe as described by a modern understanding of cosmology.
It will remain forever true for myself that the God of the Old Testament, the Creator God of Genesis, is an impossibility. The logic traps of fundamentalism just do not work for me.
However, I cannot imagine a universe without consciousness, and I cannot imagine that consciousness is bound by its relationship to physical existence; indeed, His Holiness asserts that it is not. The basis for the Buddhist belief in reincarnation, he says, lies in the realization that matter and consciousness are separate and distinct. Matter, he says, cannot create consciousness. And consciousness cannot create matter.
Currently, a furious debate is unfolding in the scientific community, on the question of whether or not the mind exists independent of the brain. The question is of interest to psychologists, neurosurgeons and others who have professional cause to wonder about it. The debate is the subset of a debate - or is it a war? - between the Darwinian strict constructionists, and the stealth creationists of the intelligent design camp. I don't want into that fight; when rigid tautological battle lines are drawn, I tend to run for cover.
It is true however, that the world of science is searching for an explanation of how the brain creates the mind, and has yet to find one.
Buddhism, as expressed by His Holiness and the other enlightened beings, by negating the concept of a creator God, expressing the principle of dependent origination, and observing that matter and consciousness exist independently, opens the door to the realm in which we exist when we don't exist as inhabitants of physical matter.
As advanced as Buddhist thinking is from my perspective, and especially as compared to the relatively primitive fundamentalist religion of my youth, its' accomplishments become even more remarkable when one realizes that the concepts of Buddhism, which seem to fit so comfortably within the scientific model of quantum physics and the expanding universe, is actually 2,600 years old and came into existence at a time when the prevalent vision of the cosmos was of a flat world of earth with a dome of sky, riding on the back of a tortoise. The stars were perceived as little leaks of light exposing the sun in its hiding place behind the night.
The birth of Christianity led to belief in a world of faith, with human sinners struggling on earth, below a chorus of cloud-dwelling angels, archangels and saints in a universe consisting of an flat earth orbited by the sun the stars and the abode of God in Heaven. It has been a slow and difficult journey since then, for priests asserting their authority and theologians their understanding of God, within the unfolding knowledge of science regarding the nature and origins of the universe.
The understanding of the universe common in the years of my childhood, was influenced by the science of Einstein.* In those days, we were in the midst of a debate about whether the universe had existed for eternity in a "steady-state," or had exploded and was expanding. We did not know in 1950 that Einstein had already discovered that the universe was expanding when he wrote the General Theory of Relativity, in 1905. But it seemed counter-intuitive to him, so he assumed that his math was wrong and fudged his figures. Strange, but true.
In 1926, Edwin Hubble was looking at the stars through his telescope (Mount Palomar), and noticed that the light from certain stars had shifted into the red portion of the spectrum, indicating that the wavelength was increasing. His observation, which became known as "Hubble's Law," was that the shift in the light wavelength from a distant object, to the red portion of the light spectrum, increased proportionate to the distance of the object from Earth. This led Hubble to the realization that the object was moving away from the earth, and that the universe was therefore expanding. It was a monumental discovery; embarrassing for Einstein, and a big surprise for the rest of us, although it took about 30 years for the news to reach the west side of Cleveland.
The realization of an expanding universe leads to the further insight that the universe has not existed in its' present form since eternity as previously believed, but was created by a single catastrophic event occurring a short 15 billion years ago - a factoid from which we can derive not only the age of our universe, but its' approximate size as well. Imagine a space roughly the shape of a flattened globe with a radius of 15 billion light years, and you've got it.
In modern time, the scientific journey of discovery was also taken in the other direction; to the universe existing within the structure of matter. The understanding of matter that I had as a child was probably not much different from that of a child living in ancient Greece. We shared a belief in atoms as the smallest of things. And atoms, we believed are little solar systems of unimaginably tiny elemental planets. As it appeared, the same understanding that we applied to how the sun and the planets functioned in the solar system, could equally be applied to an understanding of the sub-atomic world.
Not so we found out; apparently things at the level of particle physics are chaotic, and the same sets of rules do not apply. Strangely...and quite poetically, when we get to the center of sub-atomic particles, with their positive and negative energies exquisitely balanced in a dance of strong and weak forces, we find, not the tiny elemental worlds we expected, but vibrating strings of energy spelling out the illusion of matter.
The very illusions perhaps that His Holiness refers to when he speaks of the negation of intrinsic existence.
Our growing scientific knowledge carries us ever forward, into the heart of the mystery of existence. And what God do we carry forward with us on this journey of discovery? The God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob. The god that spoke to us when civilization was young, and the world was a disc, riding on the back of a tortoise. We have good reason to do so, we believe. The bonifides of the God that led Moses through the wilderness, were confirmed more recently - a mere 20 centuries ago - by someone whose trustworthiness is impeccable; the son of the living God.
But will our limited ability to understand the vast realms to which we have been introduced in the last 100 years, allow us to meld our understanding of the God of the Old Testament, with our understanding of a universe expanding toward infinity in two directions? Toward the external infinity of the universe of stars, planets and galaxies in one direction, and the infinitely small universe of matter in the other? If so, can we call it God, with any sort of insight or understanding of what we mean when we use this term? It is apparent to me that my poor powers of imagination fail to give rise to a vision of a consciousness so vast that it can rule so great a realm. Depends on the definition of "rule" no doubt.
Remarkably, in pointing the way back in time to the "Big Bang" science has given us a place mark of fundamental value, a tool to be used in our struggle to reconcile ancient myth and modern knowledge in our search for understanding. It has revealed the manner and the moment of our creation. Has it also revealed at least the shadow of the Lord of Creation?
Before Einstein and Hubble, we didn't have a point from which time is reckoned. We lived in a world that had always been, in a universe that would remain forever the same...ticking it's way through eternity like the elegant timepiece of Jefferson's understanding. Even Einstein believed it; so much so that he fudged his numbers rather than change his mind.
Creation myths abound in man's ancient memory, but none of them compare to the story of the Great Explosion, before which is only the shadow of mystery, and after which is the birth of everything, awakening in a newly-crafted cradle of time. Though it sounds like an aboriginal myth created in dream-time, it is in fact, rock-hard science.
But all of this only serves to describe the physical universe, and offers nothing to account for the existence of consciousness. It must be asked, was the Big Bang of physical creation concomitant with the creation of consciousness, and if so, how? Did it happen in the same big flash? Did consciousness coalesce as matter did? As an incomprehensibly dense plasma of newly forming electrons, protons and neutrons coalescing into the periodic table of the elements? Or did the birth of consciousness come later, after the fire had died down, and the earth had cooled. Did it wait for the birth of the biosphere, before consciousness came to Earth and other places?
Science no doubt would surmise that consciousness grew incrementally in the same manner as the atmosphere; the collective expiration of the planets' living things over eons, giving rise to the breathable and navigable ocean of air that encircles the planet. Is there a comparable mechanism for accumulation of consciousness arising perhaps from the signal response of a collective infinity of flagella-waving amoebic nerve endings?
Seems a bit unlikely, and it certainly lacks elegance as an explanation for human consciousness, but the fact is we don't know. We know there was a big bang, and we know there is a world of matter. We live in it. We're made of it. We know there is consciousness. We think it. We become aware of it; an inner presence when we meditate. But of its origins we know nothing.
It has none, His Holiness would no doubt say, and no doubt he is right. But imagining that an event of consciousness might occur concomitant with an event of matter, at a moment when the universe flashes into sudden existence, leads one to wonder what sort of influence one aspect of such an event might have had on the other, and what aspect may have led to what outcome? The answer to such questions lie beyond the horizon defined by the explosion that led us to our present time and space; the mysterious event preceding, and undoubtedly causing, the only big bang of which we know.
(His Holiness goes the extra mile, by suggesting that the "Big Bang" is unlikely to have been a unique event. From the Buddhist perspective, he has said, the big bang is more likely to have been one of many. Not unique, but rather a common occurrence - the drop of water that suggests a greater ocean. Leading us to imagine a mysterious multi-verse of dark matter, and distant dimensions...but then that's why he's the Dalai Lama.)
Many suffer alienation from spirituality due to anger and bitterness toward the God that permits human suffering. Where was the God of mercy during the Holocaust? During Hurricane Katrina? Our way of understanding, and our need to feel control over the environment, gives rise to the God to whom we pray for deliverance.
When prayer fails, is not our anger directed at the straw man set up by a limited human vision? If so, it is a misplaced anger, and should be directed not at the Lord of Creation, but at the cargo plane made of sticks and vines, set out in the jungle in hope of attracting the source of the mystery by which it was inspired.
We must always remember that the world of human misery, the whole ugly history of wars inspired by greed served by violence, the ancient tradition of indifference by the elite for the fate of the poor, is a world of our own creation. It is the human choices we make that create the suffering of the world, not the demons of hell, abetted by an indifferent god.
Our prayers are largely misplaced. Instead of begging for deliverance from misery and misfortune, our need is for insight, to open us to the realization of the perfection within which we are living day to day, and to an awareness of the human suffering we create by greed and violence. To be awakened to the need for change in the world, so that the human vision of earth as a ball of resources ripe for development may be transformed into a respectful awareness of the sacred garden of life into which we were born and in which our treasured consciousness resides. So that our thirst for violence as a tool for intimidation and command may be transformed into an awakening awareness of human suffering and a response inspired by love and compassion.
DHL
* To my amazement, I found the following quote recently, over a year after writing this essay...
"The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend a personal God and avoid dogmas and theology. Covering both the natural and the spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things, natural and spiritual and a meaningful unity. Buddhism answers this description. If there is any religion that would cope with modern scientific needs, it would be Buddhism."
Albert Einstein
Monday, June 14, 2010
monday june 14, 2010
.........................................................................................................................................
Of Cozy Relationships....
and Criminal Conspiracies
There is a difference.
Cozy relationships are like your mom reading you a bed-time story, with a tucked-in sleepy ending where all live happily ever after...criminal conspiracies end with indictments, and people going to jail...I'm just saying.
The cunning slicksters of the right have schooled us well in the art of the media spin, and the importance of directing the flow of conversation. With that in mind, I can't help but pay attention to the message sent to us sheeple of the lamestream media whenever I hear the phrase "cozy relationship" as a descriptor for the quid pro quo that existed between employees of BP and the Minerals Management Service, (the federal agency responsible for, among other things, safety and environmental regulation of deep-water drilling, and collection of royalties for the oil taken by the petrochemical giants operating off our shores.)
Regardless of the media outlet, from Fox News to the New York Times, the phrase "cozy relationship," is being used when alluding to the scandalous reports of drug use and sex parties that hit the papers some time last year, and the relevance of this old news to the current catastrophe in the Gulf. There is nothing the media likes better than reporting on naughty sex parties after all.
My concern is that the phrase is waaaaaaay too light-hearted for the reality of the moment. It seems likely to me that a bit of diligent investigation by the Department of Justice is likely to turn up, not a cozy relationship, with all the warm fuzzies implied by the phrase, but rather a criminal conspiracy...one whose consquences now flow by the millions of barrels from a hole punched by BP in the bottom of the ocean.
In the years since Watergate, the art of the ass-covering memo has been perfected. I am as sure as I can be, that a paper trail in rich detail extends from every drug and sex party hosted by BP employees for their co-conspirators in the Minerals Management Service, to every supervisor up the chain of command whose approval would have been needed for expense account items that included cocaine and hookers. To be succint, when low-level BP employees take the initiative to corrupt government officials, they are acting on orders from higher up...much higher up. Do I know it? No. Can you bet on it? Yes. In fixing responsibility for initiating the various acts of corruption through which BP vacated the power of the government to check its greed, we need to recall that foot soldiers don't set policy, general staff officers do.
We are learning that these parties at the MMS were standard operating procedure during the past 8 years. In an administration that ignored federal regulatory responsibility as a matter of policy, the employees of the MMS had little to do on a day to day basis, and as we know, idle hands...
We are quickly arriving at a point where the bill for the catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico can be totaled and presented to BP. Without a doubt, it will be far more than it would have cost BP to simply operate under the law in the first place. But hindsight is 20/20.
But what of the cost to the environment in the gulf, and the people of the region that make a living on its fisheries...and its oil? And what of the cost to the taxpayers in the uncollected royalties that should have been paid by the oil companies but were not , due to the negligence and malfeasance of the same corrupt officials? The same evidence trail that documents the connection between federal/corporate corruption of safety and environmental operations are also likely to demonstrate that BP has profited hugely in this regard as well.
Wake up America...your country needs you.
DHL
(btw, speaking of cozy relationships...)
.........................................................................................................................................
Of Cozy Relationships....
and Criminal Conspiracies
There is a difference.
Cozy relationships are like your mom reading you a bed-time story, with a tucked-in sleepy ending where all live happily ever after...criminal conspiracies end with indictments, and people going to jail...I'm just saying.
The cunning slicksters of the right have schooled us well in the art of the media spin, and the importance of directing the flow of conversation. With that in mind, I can't help but pay attention to the message sent to us sheeple of the lamestream media whenever I hear the phrase "cozy relationship" as a descriptor for the quid pro quo that existed between employees of BP and the Minerals Management Service, (the federal agency responsible for, among other things, safety and environmental regulation of deep-water drilling, and collection of royalties for the oil taken by the petrochemical giants operating off our shores.)
Regardless of the media outlet, from Fox News to the New York Times, the phrase "cozy relationship," is being used when alluding to the scandalous reports of drug use and sex parties that hit the papers some time last year, and the relevance of this old news to the current catastrophe in the Gulf. There is nothing the media likes better than reporting on naughty sex parties after all.
My concern is that the phrase is waaaaaaay too light-hearted for the reality of the moment. It seems likely to me that a bit of diligent investigation by the Department of Justice is likely to turn up, not a cozy relationship, with all the warm fuzzies implied by the phrase, but rather a criminal conspiracy...one whose consquences now flow by the millions of barrels from a hole punched by BP in the bottom of the ocean.
In the years since Watergate, the art of the ass-covering memo has been perfected. I am as sure as I can be, that a paper trail in rich detail extends from every drug and sex party hosted by BP employees for their co-conspirators in the Minerals Management Service, to every supervisor up the chain of command whose approval would have been needed for expense account items that included cocaine and hookers. To be succint, when low-level BP employees take the initiative to corrupt government officials, they are acting on orders from higher up...much higher up. Do I know it? No. Can you bet on it? Yes. In fixing responsibility for initiating the various acts of corruption through which BP vacated the power of the government to check its greed, we need to recall that foot soldiers don't set policy, general staff officers do.
We are learning that these parties at the MMS were standard operating procedure during the past 8 years. In an administration that ignored federal regulatory responsibility as a matter of policy, the employees of the MMS had little to do on a day to day basis, and as we know, idle hands...
We are quickly arriving at a point where the bill for the catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico can be totaled and presented to BP. Without a doubt, it will be far more than it would have cost BP to simply operate under the law in the first place. But hindsight is 20/20.
But what of the cost to the environment in the gulf, and the people of the region that make a living on its fisheries...and its oil? And what of the cost to the taxpayers in the uncollected royalties that should have been paid by the oil companies but were not , due to the negligence and malfeasance of the same corrupt officials? The same evidence trail that documents the connection between federal/corporate corruption of safety and environmental operations are also likely to demonstrate that BP has profited hugely in this regard as well.
Wake up America...your country needs you.
DHL
(btw, speaking of cozy relationships...)
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
wednesday march 16, 2010
.......................................................................................................................................
Peace for the Region
Last week's Israeli insult toward Joe Biden was an arrogant double-cross of America's efforts to bring the peace process to a successful conclusion.
The Vice-President, it is well-known, was in the region to reinforce the American commitment to the security of Israel. This re-iteration of a U. S. foreign policy that dates back to the very birth of Israeli nationhood, is so fundamental to the peace equation, that it should have been unnecessary. To speak clearly of the security of Israel is to lay the foundation for the process itself.
The attitude taken by Israel reminds me of the relationship that existed for a while during my childhood. Following a long illness, I returned to school - fit for duty though in a weakened state. My older brother out of compassion for my vulnerability, became my protector - that is, until he caught me taunting an enemy and threatening him with my brother's retribution. "You're on your own," he told me, "and if you get your ass kicked, it will be on you."
So it is today with Israel. The situation as it exists in the region today is untenable; the misery of the people of the elusive State of Palestine, is a bitter injustice, tolerated and excused for too long by an American foreign policy that guarantees the security of an Israel motivated to use this protective umbrella to subvert Palestinian statehood, while paying lip service to the peace process. The result is continued injustice for the Palestinians, and a march toward disaster for Israel, whose demographics doom the dream of a Zionist democracy, in the absence of the two-state solution that the justice of history demands.
The struggle over Palestine since 1948 has given rise in present time, to a state-less reign of terror directed against the so-called near and far enemies of global jihad - Israel and its' American big brother. The American foreign policy establishment bears responsibility for this outcome, a flowering of the karma created by our uneven approach in the region resulting from our consistent tilt toward Israel. Thus American interests in the region beyond its support for Israel, have grown to include our own security issues relating to protection of the homeland from terrorist attack, as well as our commitment to honor the aspirations of Palestinians for statehood.
To address these interests, it seems to me necessary to un-link the outcome of the peace process from the issue of Israeli security, by offering a guarantee of military protection to an emergent State of Palestine. similar to that now enjoyed by Israel.
American will always be a guarantor of Israeli security; this responsibility will remain sacrosanct. Though some may be prone to attribute American support for Israel to effective Israeli lobbyists, I would contend that the true source of American support for Israel is written first in the American heart, and only incidentally by Jewish politicians and lobbyists.
An important point, given the next point I need to make. It is often true that only a very stern older brother can make the call when the perfidy of a younger sibling puts the community at risk. The solution in this case lies not in the abandonment of Israel, but in the inclusion of Palestine within the military protection of the United States, and the United Nations.
The time has come to recognize that the problem in the middle-east, is not just a regional conflict. The linkage between Palestine radicalism and the terrorist network of global jihad is that of an infection to a physical injury. Both must be treated. The imbalance of power created by the American presence in the region, with it's persistent tilt toward Israel, allows both the original wound and the resulting infection to go untreated. Israel must be confronted with the reality of the American stake in peace, and with the unwillingness of the American establishment to be held hostage to Israeli hegemony in negotiating an emergent Palestinian state.
DHL
.......................................................................................................................................
Peace for the Region
Last week's Israeli insult toward Joe Biden was an arrogant double-cross of America's efforts to bring the peace process to a successful conclusion.
The Vice-President, it is well-known, was in the region to reinforce the American commitment to the security of Israel. This re-iteration of a U. S. foreign policy that dates back to the very birth of Israeli nationhood, is so fundamental to the peace equation, that it should have been unnecessary. To speak clearly of the security of Israel is to lay the foundation for the process itself.
The attitude taken by Israel reminds me of the relationship that existed for a while during my childhood. Following a long illness, I returned to school - fit for duty though in a weakened state. My older brother out of compassion for my vulnerability, became my protector - that is, until he caught me taunting an enemy and threatening him with my brother's retribution. "You're on your own," he told me, "and if you get your ass kicked, it will be on you."
So it is today with Israel. The situation as it exists in the region today is untenable; the misery of the people of the elusive State of Palestine, is a bitter injustice, tolerated and excused for too long by an American foreign policy that guarantees the security of an Israel motivated to use this protective umbrella to subvert Palestinian statehood, while paying lip service to the peace process. The result is continued injustice for the Palestinians, and a march toward disaster for Israel, whose demographics doom the dream of a Zionist democracy, in the absence of the two-state solution that the justice of history demands.
The struggle over Palestine since 1948 has given rise in present time, to a state-less reign of terror directed against the so-called near and far enemies of global jihad - Israel and its' American big brother. The American foreign policy establishment bears responsibility for this outcome, a flowering of the karma created by our uneven approach in the region resulting from our consistent tilt toward Israel. Thus American interests in the region beyond its support for Israel, have grown to include our own security issues relating to protection of the homeland from terrorist attack, as well as our commitment to honor the aspirations of Palestinians for statehood.
To address these interests, it seems to me necessary to un-link the outcome of the peace process from the issue of Israeli security, by offering a guarantee of military protection to an emergent State of Palestine. similar to that now enjoyed by Israel.
American will always be a guarantor of Israeli security; this responsibility will remain sacrosanct. Though some may be prone to attribute American support for Israel to effective Israeli lobbyists, I would contend that the true source of American support for Israel is written first in the American heart, and only incidentally by Jewish politicians and lobbyists.
An important point, given the next point I need to make. It is often true that only a very stern older brother can make the call when the perfidy of a younger sibling puts the community at risk. The solution in this case lies not in the abandonment of Israel, but in the inclusion of Palestine within the military protection of the United States, and the United Nations.
The time has come to recognize that the problem in the middle-east, is not just a regional conflict. The linkage between Palestine radicalism and the terrorist network of global jihad is that of an infection to a physical injury. Both must be treated. The imbalance of power created by the American presence in the region, with it's persistent tilt toward Israel, allows both the original wound and the resulting infection to go untreated. Israel must be confronted with the reality of the American stake in peace, and with the unwillingness of the American establishment to be held hostage to Israeli hegemony in negotiating an emergent Palestinian state.
DHL
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
tuesday march 2, 2010
......................................................................................................................................................................
Gateway to the Path
This is a time to reflect and recap. A year has gone by, and I've had a considerable change in the path of my life. I've retired from my public career as a social worker in child welfare, and I'm two months into planning an alternate future.
It's a largely positive experience so far. I am well-prepared for a change in social identity as a result of the past two years spent attending Jewel Heart. It helped me gain an improved understanding of some applicable Buddhist principles. By attempting to understand emptiness, and through meditation on attachment, I believe that I am better able to see the benefit to be gained by experiencing change without fear of loss.
It may be said that retirement is akin to death; it is the shedding of a body of behaviors and modalities surrounding a public role, not unlike the shedding of the physical body at death, with it's cocoon of behaviors, thoughts and delusions.
But the future takes planning. I want to finish The Redemption of Coyote Woburn, the mystery novel I began last year. In writing fiction, there is a need to envision a context in which your characters can find a home and a way of facing the future. So hiding in the basement and building bookcases was ok for January and February, but it's March now, and spring will be here soon; there are projects, in addition to Coyote, that need planning. Like a trip to Dysart Woods...on which, more to come.
About politics, I remain optimistic. In early 2009, the optimism of the emerging Obama coalition gave cause for hope. The backlash, though anticipated, has been harsh...violence is always at the center of human potential and an episode in which American populism is unleashed in civil unrest is a horror to contemplate. Are things that bad? Only if I make them so though indulgence in fear.
But the issues facing us are serious, and time is short if human suffering is to be prevented. I do believe that the conservative resurgence of 2010 is a mere reaction to the mainstream of human thinking, which appears to be in the midst of an awakening.
The failure of Copenhagen while discouraging, at least show-cased the emergence of China as an engine of environmental change. That alone is cause for celebration - a big part of the pessimistic global-warming model was based on the assumption that China would plod through each phase of industrial development, spewing co2 in their wake, before arriving at the painfully obvious realization of global limits. Instead, China offers the surprise that they intend to leapfrog over the west and embrace the market opportunities inherent in the shift from a carbon-based economy to one based on re-newable energy sources with minimal environmental impact. This kind of market pressure has the potential to shift the western discussion from one that is driven by reactionary carbon-invested industrialists, to one that is driven by a new generation of entrepreneurs capable of competing with China.
How long does history give us, to wrestle the monster to the ground? To kill the influence of the carbon-based industrialists, and begin to evolve our systems to address the common good while preserving the earth - the incubator that gives us life on our journey through time?
This is our task; to live in harmony with nature in accordance with the vision of the Great Spirit. How to find this pathway and how to embrace its heart? How to bend our arrogance and our will to the greater wisdom of which we are only a part?
In some ways, Americans are harmed by the very diversity that we cherish. A million pathways to choose from...some sincere and from the heart, some appealing to the dark nature that is our constant companion, and the hungers it gives rise to. How to know that the path we choose to follow is the correct one? The path revealed though meditation on our true nature, the path capable of leading us to the heart of the great mystery, capable of serving as a guide to the heart of the Great Spirit?
President Obama I'm bound to say, is as good as it gets, though only time will show the fruits of his leadership; time and the ability of the rest of us to understand and follow the leader's wise counsel. The president is proving himself a tough executive who will get us by hook or crook, to a signed bill on health care and will begin the process leading to the eventual mitigation of environmental catastrophe, to the extent that it can be mitigated at this late date.
On balance, despite a rough year, there is yet reason for hope.
On March 7th, I go back to Jewel Heart after an absence of a month or so. I miss it when I'm not there. Looking forward to a class being taught by Susie and David called "Gateways to the Path." I made my way through Lam Rim I, but really don't feel like I gave it a good effort, so I will look to begin again, perhaps with better focus.
Can I re-hab the basement to create room for a sacred space? Can I re-hab my body through exercise in time to save it from ruin? I was born in 1946, and my goal is to make it to 2046. How likely do I think that is, and what in addition to a desire for longevity for its own sake, can I bring to the quest?
DHL
......................................................................................................................................................................
Gateway to the Path
This is a time to reflect and recap. A year has gone by, and I've had a considerable change in the path of my life. I've retired from my public career as a social worker in child welfare, and I'm two months into planning an alternate future.
It's a largely positive experience so far. I am well-prepared for a change in social identity as a result of the past two years spent attending Jewel Heart. It helped me gain an improved understanding of some applicable Buddhist principles. By attempting to understand emptiness, and through meditation on attachment, I believe that I am better able to see the benefit to be gained by experiencing change without fear of loss.
It may be said that retirement is akin to death; it is the shedding of a body of behaviors and modalities surrounding a public role, not unlike the shedding of the physical body at death, with it's cocoon of behaviors, thoughts and delusions.
But the future takes planning. I want to finish The Redemption of Coyote Woburn, the mystery novel I began last year. In writing fiction, there is a need to envision a context in which your characters can find a home and a way of facing the future. So hiding in the basement and building bookcases was ok for January and February, but it's March now, and spring will be here soon; there are projects, in addition to Coyote, that need planning. Like a trip to Dysart Woods...on which, more to come.
About politics, I remain optimistic. In early 2009, the optimism of the emerging Obama coalition gave cause for hope. The backlash, though anticipated, has been harsh...violence is always at the center of human potential and an episode in which American populism is unleashed in civil unrest is a horror to contemplate. Are things that bad? Only if I make them so though indulgence in fear.
But the issues facing us are serious, and time is short if human suffering is to be prevented. I do believe that the conservative resurgence of 2010 is a mere reaction to the mainstream of human thinking, which appears to be in the midst of an awakening.
The failure of Copenhagen while discouraging, at least show-cased the emergence of China as an engine of environmental change. That alone is cause for celebration - a big part of the pessimistic global-warming model was based on the assumption that China would plod through each phase of industrial development, spewing co2 in their wake, before arriving at the painfully obvious realization of global limits. Instead, China offers the surprise that they intend to leapfrog over the west and embrace the market opportunities inherent in the shift from a carbon-based economy to one based on re-newable energy sources with minimal environmental impact. This kind of market pressure has the potential to shift the western discussion from one that is driven by reactionary carbon-invested industrialists, to one that is driven by a new generation of entrepreneurs capable of competing with China.
How long does history give us, to wrestle the monster to the ground? To kill the influence of the carbon-based industrialists, and begin to evolve our systems to address the common good while preserving the earth - the incubator that gives us life on our journey through time?
This is our task; to live in harmony with nature in accordance with the vision of the Great Spirit. How to find this pathway and how to embrace its heart? How to bend our arrogance and our will to the greater wisdom of which we are only a part?
In some ways, Americans are harmed by the very diversity that we cherish. A million pathways to choose from...some sincere and from the heart, some appealing to the dark nature that is our constant companion, and the hungers it gives rise to. How to know that the path we choose to follow is the correct one? The path revealed though meditation on our true nature, the path capable of leading us to the heart of the great mystery, capable of serving as a guide to the heart of the Great Spirit?
President Obama I'm bound to say, is as good as it gets, though only time will show the fruits of his leadership; time and the ability of the rest of us to understand and follow the leader's wise counsel. The president is proving himself a tough executive who will get us by hook or crook, to a signed bill on health care and will begin the process leading to the eventual mitigation of environmental catastrophe, to the extent that it can be mitigated at this late date.
On balance, despite a rough year, there is yet reason for hope.
On March 7th, I go back to Jewel Heart after an absence of a month or so. I miss it when I'm not there. Looking forward to a class being taught by Susie and David called "Gateways to the Path." I made my way through Lam Rim I, but really don't feel like I gave it a good effort, so I will look to begin again, perhaps with better focus.
Can I re-hab the basement to create room for a sacred space? Can I re-hab my body through exercise in time to save it from ruin? I was born in 1946, and my goal is to make it to 2046. How likely do I think that is, and what in addition to a desire for longevity for its own sake, can I bring to the quest?
DHL
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