Transitions

I gave a sleeping bag to a homeless guy on the street Thursday. It was an old sleeping bag, and I had been planning to give it away for months, but kept forgetting. I was downtown the day before, and passed by a man standing next to a building, so I asked him if he wanted a sleeping bag. He was deaf, and I had to say it more carefully. He said yes, he did need a sleeping bag. I told him I would be back the next day with the bag, and he said he would be there.

I doubted this, but a man should do what he says he is going to do. So I went back Thursday, and sure enough the guy wasn't there, but an African-American guy was at the same place, and said that he could use a sleeping bag. He was a really nice guy. I figured good enough, and gave him the bag. I talked with him for a few minutes, gave him some encouragement, then left.

On the way home I was second-guessing myself, wondering if I had treated the guy with enough respect, or that I was not thinking too much of myself. This soon gave way to anger. Anger at the system for putting people in this position. Anger that we live in such a fragmented society that some people are filthy rich while others have noting. An arrangement like this is madness, and madness is not a model for longevity.

By itself mass homelessness doesn’t seem like a threat to the “American” way of life. But that is the reductionist view, that separate parts are just that – separate parts, with little to no effect on each other. In reality it is all holographic. Every part is related to every other part, and every part is an example of the whole. We pretend the part is independent of the whole at our peril.

What I call the backward element in this country – and others – is largely responsible for this predicament, but really it is all of us. We are all complicit. Some more than others, for sure, but we all participate to some degree in this compartmentalized, reductionist way of looking at the world.

It isn’t just an intellectual exercise, though. Greed, destruction of the planet, overconsumption, tribalism, exclusivity, waste, entertainmentism and recreationism are rooted in human psychology. It is partly due to what has been described as the reptilian brain, but I believe it is best explained by Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. In this approach human consciousness progresses (hopefully) through stages, with the lowest level known as deficiency, then through the more advanced being needs, leading ultimately to self-actualization.

This approach parallels the yogic method of advancing through energy levels, or chakras, to the highest level of enlightenment, or God realization, Samadhi. In Buddhism it is known as Nirvana, and is still not the highest level. In Zen Buddhism at least, there is the highest level known as the Void. I’m no expert on higher level consciousness or theories about it. It is mainly experiential, for everyone to know for themselves, in their own way and in their own time.

In your own time means it can take longer for some than others, hence the notion of reincarnation. Or, as Willie Nelson once put it, you keep coming back until you get it right.

It’s pretty obvious that as a nation, and as a species, we haven’t gotten it right. We are getting a great lesson in this Pandemic crisis. We have a perfect lesson in how not to be, and of how not to choose our leaders. Donald Trump, deranged criminal sociopath, narcissist, rapist, pathological liar, is the perfect leader for millions in this country. They identify with his crudeness, his racism, his lying, his greed, his dishonesty, his self-dealing and his promotion of violence. He called the Coronavirus a hoax, then proceeded with a negligent response to the growing crisis. Many of his followers are dying as we struggle through the economic and health devastation that he has wrought. It is a bitter lesson. The lockstep that his “Republican” cronies keep with him show how entrenched the sociopathic way of being is in this country.

In a backhanded way, though, this is a time for optimism. If we keep up the way we have, we are through as a species. Millions will refuse to see this, retreating to their crackpot religions, their crackpot ideologies, and their profligate ways. In Freudian terms they are natural-selecting themselves out of existence. If we are lucky we will learn from this.
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Here’s a song. Add one word - self - to this song and you have the story of Donald Trump. A song for these difficult times. Here's some traveling music. Here's a tip on how to reach higher consciousness. Some words of wisdom on getting through this crisis. Ladysmith Black Mambazo. R.I.P. Joseph Shabalala.

Here's an example of natural (self)selection at work.

Here is what we can expect when we engage in natural (self)selection.

Here's an example of how easy it is to fool Trump followers.

Something I wrote recently explains my view of the "Republican" party.