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While We Still Have Time

In spite of the grimness of the times in which we live, there is still hope. If you feel, like I do, that the usual discourse about matters of critical concern tends to be superficial, misguided, and false, then you might find some solace and inspiration here. I will try to offer insight and a holistic perspective on events and issues, and hopefully serve as a catalyst for raising the level of dialogue on this planet.

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Location: Madison, Wisconsin, United States

I was born in 1945, shortly before atom bombs were dropped on Japan. I served in the U.S. Army from 1968 to 1971. I earned master's degrees in Economics and Educational Psychology, and certificates in Web Page Design and as a Teacher of English as a Second Language. I followed an Indian guru for eight years, which immersed me in meditative practices and an attitude of reaching a higher level of being. A blog post listing the meditative practices I have pursued can be seen here.

Friday, February 03, 2006

Will the circle be unbroken?

I watched a bit of the State of the Union speech the other night, mainly to see how long it took for Bush to mention the attacks of September, 2001. The Huffington Post had a "9/11 Beat the clock" guessing game, and I wanted to see how close to the expected 90 seconds Bush would be. I was not paying close attention, but by my stopwatch it took a little over three minutes. I watched something else until the speech ended.

What I did do was watch the prelude to the speech and the commentaries afterward, and they were much more revealing than the speech itself as to what ails this country. I was left with a clear understanding that the culture of Washington, D.C. - elected officials, the judiciary, the government bureaucracy, the news media and other hangers-on - constitute a faux elite, self-reinforcing, self-congratulating, and self-perpetuating. They are a reality unto themselves, and the realities of the world are merely fodder for their cultural self-reinforcement. It matters not what harm is done on the planet, the essence of life for Washington D.C. circle-jerkers is to keep a hand in the action.

Such is the nature of the human condition. At every level of society, people try to establish cliques, mafias, in-groups, castes, and hierarchies. It can be at the workplace, the church, the peace group, or even the tavern. A "we-uns" that is "better" than a "them-uns," or a "him-un" and a "her-un."

I have had much fun and pain in my life tweaking the proverbial noses of the various mafias that have tried their group-identity nastiness on me. Some people actually die just because someone stands up to them. It is more than they can fathom. I especially have had some of my greatest battles and successes where there is an entrenched group identity, with a seemingly all-powerful leader controlling reward, punishment, group acceptance, and conformity. The more entrenched, the more fun it is to upset the applecart. I don’t take pleasure that some of the fallen from power can't live without their power, but we are all responsible for our actions. Or, as an Army buddy of mine used to say, you play, you pay.

Female reproductionAs far as anyone being exalted, superior, of "higher" birth or worth, we should keep in mind from whence we came, and to whence we are going. Every human being (except for the few who are conceived in a lab or other form of artificial conception) is the result of a male human being inserting the organ he uses to urinate in an opening in a female human being that is situated between the places where she urinates and defecates. Indeed, it is a critical skill in reproduction that the correct opening is entered.

Male reproductionThe male typically thrusts his urination/reproductive organ repeatedly into the female’s reproductive opening until he reaches a peak of excitation, resulting in his genetic material being expelled. When this material combines with the genetic material of the female, a "zygote" is sometimes formed, and after a gestation period, a human birth takes place.

There is great beauty and wonder to this process, but it is not something that calls for anyone thinking they are exalted beings. Not only are we generated from acts concentrated in the regions where we expel waste, but we are literal factories of urine and excrement, phlegm, bile, mucous, histamine, ear wax, eye secretions, and foul-smelling sweat. As we get older and the body deteriorates, the functions and odors become harder to control, we become more susceptible to diseases, and eventually we die.

I mentioned in my previous posting that former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger once said that "Military men are just dumb stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy." This is probably one of the clearest examples of the exalted mindset, of the attitude of the overclass, or the "ruling class." One person, or a group or "class" of persons, thinking of himself or themselves as "better" than others, or groups of others. This sense of "betterness" qualifies and justifies the "superior" forms of human life to commit any crime, any atrocity, because the "lower" human beings' lives don’t "matter."

Just for a little more context, not much reproductive activity is the result of "divine union," or loving conjugal activity between pure souls united in spiritual oneness. Often it is the result of rape, drunken revelry, submission to the demands of a dominant partner, bargaining, and youthful rebellion or "experimentation." Then there is just plain routine. Keeping things peaceful.

Whatever the case in anyone’s conception, we all got our start from a male of our species finding the right opening to plant his urinary appendage, and thrusting away for merriment and/or power until his genetic material combined with that of our mothers, resulting in us.

Henry Kissinger’s father found the correct opening. George H. W. Bush found the correct opening in Barbara Pierce Bush, resulting in the man who now rules the "free" world, so we think. George W. Bush, animal abuser, "gentleman’s C" graduate of Yale University, ne'er do well, brain damaged cocaine and alcohol addict, military deserter, corporate criminal, gleeful executioner, serial election thief, war criminal, domestic terrorist, torturer, secret police fomenter, facilitator of treason, enabler of natural disasters, and by whose criminal negligence and/or worse paved the way for the worst attacks on American soil in the nation’s history, is the leader and personification of all those who think they are better than other people.

The rich, the powerful, the enablers of the rich and powerful, all look to him as their leader. He is their man. His incompetence, negligence, avarice and murderousness is their incompetence, negligence, avarice and murderousness. If ever their was a prelude to a downfall, that prelude is now. It is not just Bush and his criminal organization that is going to fall. It is the entire peer group, cohort cluster, class, clique, caste and extended mafia - the rich, the powerful, the endowed, the information media that enable them, the corporate sponsors, the political parties, those that sit in judgement in black robes, the bureaucracy, and the various other supplicants and flatterers that flail around, trying to get in or stay in the supposed elite. When the change comes, they all will reap the harvest, whether on the physical plane or on another plane that we don’t know much about.

There are a few lessons we all can learn from this nightmare. One, of course, is the time-honored lesson that we should be very careful who we get naked with, why, and how. Another is that we should be even more careful about thinking too much of ourselves, mortal biological creatures that we are. Still another is to be careful of our associations with others, and of our identities with those associations. If we find ourselves identifying with any group, organization, team, region, or country to the exclusion of others, we are fair game for falling down the slippery slope of criminality, both individual and mass.

We are here to rise to a higher level of being, not to be criminals. To live against our true purpose is the worst crime, and it may be a long time in low places and states of being before we get another chance. And it certainly will be a long time before we again have the luxury of thinking ourselves "better" than others, if ever. Oh ye of wealth and power, of exaltation real or imagined, impeach your leader and his gang now, while you still have the chance. Find the right opening in your lives for once, while the potency lasts. It could be a long series of cold showers before you get another opportunity. For all who pretend overseership, some words from Bob Dylan seem meant just for you: "But you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears, take the rag away from your face. Now ain't the time for your tears." There will be plenty of time for tears when comeuppance arrives.

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