Humor aside, this graphic illustrates one of the most fundamental flaws of “Western” thinking, which always needs to know what, as opposed to how. By asking “what,” the assumption is that reality is an object that can be grasped. If we ask “how,” then we can see that it is a process instead, always in the making. Confused? Think about language: it’s always in the making now, always in process, always in transition.
Via OneGoodMove.
Today is Blog Action Day, and the subject is cosmically charged: poverty. For Americans, and other do-gooders the world over, “poverty” tends to be someone else’s problem. There’s lots of compassion and empathy to go around, but often it’s couched in paternalistic terms. The discussion of fixing Africa’s economic troubles, for one, has often focused on charity. True enough, the system of global finance and the legacy of colonialism has much to blame, but at the same time, “Africans” (it’s a big place with different cultures, religions and languages, so the term is problematic to begin with) are clever, smart people. It’s high time we create a space and step aside to support local solutions, while at the same time doing our bit to end the global slave system we call finance.
With that said, I wanted to return to the issue of “other people’s problem.” Due to the recent financial crisis, it appears that Americans are going to join the majority of the world in terms of economic access and privilege. We consume and pollute way too much, so this is a good thing. I’m a fan of Lynne Twist, author of the Soul of Money, who argues that “abundance” is the wrong goal. She says it’s better to be “sufficient.” I find this an aspiration that is in keeping with justice and ecological concerns. Sufficiency suggests we live within our means; that we only consume that which is available in real time. This means that we stop borrowing against the planet’s resource bank by extracting ancient solar energy, and return to using the solar energy that is available to us on a daily basis. This is how our ancestors lived, and this is how the surviving humans of our age will live as well.
But sufficiency is a spiritual issue as well. Are we always aspiring to a better, utopian future rather than being grateful for what we have? This is a core issues for well-being. I once participated in a “prosperity group,” which was a weekly gathering of friends (mostly folks from my yoga class) who wanted to read a “channeled” book, Creating Money, and to do the exercises together (it’s a great book, BTW). I realized rather quickly that most people in the group would never transcend their state of “poverty,” because they were spiritually impoverished. That is, they believed that their lives lacked sufficiency in that moment, and would always be trapped on the treadmill of negative thinking about their present state of being. I read the book closely and discovered something quite useful. It asks readers to imagine what their life would be like if they suddenly received a million dollars (or any large lump sum). Don’t visualize the things you would buy or other material goods, but focus on the feeling. What emotion or sensation wold it be? At the time I was a struggling freelance writer, so my simple goal was that I wanted to be able to write without stress. I deconstructed my desire to find out why I wanted to write in the first place. I realized that it was because it allowed my to connect with a higher, creative force than what I normally experience in daily life, that I liked to solve puzzles and explore ideas, and to lose myself in them. By the end of the exercise I learned something very important: I didn’t need a million dollars to achieve that, all I have to do is to sit down and write. Problem solved. The money would come later.
A final note on context. I’ve become aware of late that everything I believe and say is benefited from my “cultural capital.” That is, I’m the product of an investment of both my family and society in terms of education and cultural privilege. The truth is that everyone operates from the means that are available to them, and the knowledge that it constitutes. I just want to give thanks that I have lived an abundant life and I hope that I can share and spread whatever wisdom this life has afforded me.
Graph from Political Compass. You can take the test to see where you’re at.
For a peak inside what motivates people to submit to “higher” authorities whiles simultaneously degrading others for refusing to do so, I came across this amazing article which paints a painful psychological portrait of those of the authoritarian persuasion. The article, however, doesn’t explain how people get to this point. I’m no psychologist, but as a student of human consciousness, I suspect some kind of abuse– physical, emotional or sexual– is what transforms a beautiful child into such a monstrous personality.
I offer this wisdom for the sake of compassion, because as things get tough and us weirdoes go pro, the fascists will smell blood (remember that Palin and her sudden rise is an important weathervane of where a lot of Americans are at these days). We need to watch our backs.
MyDD :: Rightwing Authoritarianism and Conservative Identity Politics (Pt 3 in the series):
* Authoritarian submission: A high degree of submission to the authorities who are perceived to be established and legitimate in the society in which one lives.
* Authoritarian aggression: A general aggressiveness, directed against various persons, that is perceived to be sanctioned by established authorities.
* Conventionalism: A high degree of adherence to the social conventions that are perceived to be endorsed by society and its established authorities.
OK, I think this is taking niche marketing way too far!
The Worst Horse / How do I love thee, Bizarro Thai Ronald McDonald? Let me count the ways….:
I love that you offer your hands to me in a Buddhist expression of gratefulness and reconciliation. It’s so surprising. Almost as if I’ve never seen you before.
I have a new article about Dharma Punx up at Reality Sandwich. I have also posted it here.
Against The Stream: Connecting Punk with Buddhism
Was Buddhism the first DIY spiritual path? According to Noah Levine, “Sid” (Siddhartha Gautama AKA Buddha) was history’s earliest punk. He went against the prevailing guruism of his day, eschewing the caste system by inviting women, criminals and the poor into the enlightenment camp. Like punk, Buddhism’s user interface is decidedly personal and open source. Akin to the proverbial Sniffin’ Glue punk dictum—”Here’s a chord, here’s another, now go start a band”—Buddha said, here’s the Dharma, now go get enlightened. Continue reading →
The Simian Think Tank – STT Blogs » Psy-Ops and Coercion:
The secret of mind-control is simple–so simple that Rushkoff can sum it up in one sentence: “In whatever milieu coercion is practiced, the routine follows the same basic steps: Generate disorientation, induce regression, and then become the target’s transferred parent figure” (64). Hard-sell car salesmen, CIA interrogators and psychwar ops, and cult leaders have long used this technique. Under coercion, millions of otherwise rational people can be persuaded to act against their own interests–whether by shelling out big bucks for an overpriced lemon, betraying a comrade and a cause, or allowing a gang of criminals to destroy their nation’s Constitution and launch criminal wars of aggression.
I think the above statement (in bold) is generally valid. The paragraphs is from an article in response to why people so quickly believe the official version of 9-11. I’m still not convinced that it was an inside job– a) because focusing on the past doesn’t help us deal with the situation as it exists right now, and b) the government is run by bureaucrats (i.e. people) who make lots of mistakes. With that said, I still believe it was deployed quite effectively as a kind of mega-spectacle slight-of-hand trick. Regardless of who was behind it, they were successful at unleashing a massive wave of paranoia that is eating America alive. If you visit the WTC site and you’re sensitive enough, then you will understand that 9-11 was most certainly one of the most explosive acts of black magic in the history of humanity.
“Generate disorientation, induce regression, and then become the target’s transferred parent figure”:
In a typical Evangelical megachurch ritual you will see people blasted with multimedia in such a way that their nervous systems are over-stimulated (see my post on BattleCry) causing group hysteria and disorientation.* But I want to go back to my basic premise, which is that manipulation is more effective when people have low self-esteem or a lack of a strong center. These techniques don’t impact all people the same way. We need to move from generalizing the “pubic” as if they are a mass of playable clay. I think if you talk to any person one-to-one you will find their view of the world is generally nuanced and complex (with the exception of the Neocons, of course). From an ecological perspective, this means we need to reinforce the psychic immune system through education, proper nutrition, critical pedagogy, and strong doses of place, i.e. nature when available.* Note: with my critiques of religious spectacles, some have accused me of being anti-Christian and intolerant. That is not the case. I am anti-manipulation. I fully support people having the choice to believe what they want as long as it doesn’t involve killing or controlling people who disagree with them.
Technorati Tags: DouglasRushkoff
Air Force Academy chapel, Colorado Springs, CO
Cylon Resurrection Ship, somewhere in outer space
In case you haven’t seen Sci-Fi network’s Battlestar Galactica (I highly recommend that you do), the premise of the story is that a race of robots created by humans decides to destroy their creators. The cyborgs, called Cylons, have developed a theistic construct of the universe, believing in a single God (the humans are polytheists who warship something akin to the the Greek pantheon). It’s one of the more interesting twists in the series plot lines. The Cylons eventually believe they are doing “God’s” work, so instead of simply destroying the fleshy heathens they decide to invade and occupy a human colony in order to convert them to their cybernetic lord (sound familiar?). In the process of the occupation the Cylons torture, detain and kill the humans without a hint of irony (again, sound familiar?). The hint that perhaps the Cylons are stand-ins for fundamentalists comes with their ability to “resurrect” their consciousness into cloned bodies whenever one of their advanced humanoid models is killed. The “resurrection ship” (pictured above) contains fresh cyborgs that can be downloaded with the consciousness of terminated or killed Cylons.
The religious pursuits of the Cylons obviously have their real world analog, and is a sophisticated commentary on the nature of fundamentalist religion. In it I find echoes of my own sense that monotheism is a bit like a dangerous thought virus that has no logical basis in reality, yet has a way of repeating and transferring itself from one generation to another. Thus I was intrigued to discover the similarities of the Air Force Academy chapel (the first image) with the resurrection ship. Since we know Cylons are not modernists (as the chapel was made in the 1960s and is clearly inspired by modernist architecture), it’s probably a clue that Battlestar Galactica’s writers do in fact view the Cylons as a type of fundamentalist culture which is militaristic, dogmatic and homogeneous. After all, one of the key reasons the Cylons initially attack the human race is that they are viewed as sinful and impure. All these elements happen to be aspects of what is transpiring at the Air Force Academy– and the US military in general– which has become a fierce fundamentalist conversion center, thereby combining high tech with militancy and intense faith. Things get a little loopy, however, when it turns out that it’s tied to the ministry of Ted Haggard (you know, the preacher guy who apparently loved speed and hard (male) bodies).
According to David Antoon, who writes about the academy in a scary article about Christina fundamentalism in the US military:
The Christian supremacist fascism first reported at the Air Force Academy is endemic throughout the military. From the top down, there has been a complete repudiation of constitutional values and time-honored codes of ethics and honor codes in favor of religious ideology. And we now have a revolving door between Blackwater USA, which is Bush’s Praetorian Guard, and the U.S. military at every level. The citizen-soldier military dictated by our founding fathers has been replaced with professional and mercenary right-wing Christian crusaders in control of the world’s most powerful military. The risks to our democratic form of government cannot be overstated.
It’s expedient for the warmongering neocons to encourage fundamentalist militancy in the armed forces because it gives them a hardcore base to execute their goals for economic domination of Muslim controlled oil fields. But like the Cylons, the danger of cultivating such a class of “theo-cons” is that they ultimately may not be controllable and will put forward their own agenda of apocalypse and rapture, something Bush apparently believes in, although I find that to be an excuse at best, and a deadly ruse to hide more nefarious goals. The connection between the mercenary army, Blackwater, and Christian supremacy is an example of the kinds of bad things that happen when you let the tiger out of the cage. In the end, by deploying its private fundamentalist army in the heart of Iraq, the White House may have ultimately undermined its mission. It’s hard to put a smily face mask on extremists in the age of transparent global media. So we may be saved from a Cylon attack after all.
Ram Dass once said this of gurus: G-U-R-U, aka Gee You Are You.
Ode Magazine : Fire your gurus:
More than 1,000 years ago, the Chinese Zen master Lin Chi underlined the danger of gurus. He saw that many of his contemporaries in the 9th century transferred responsibility for their spiritual well-being to others. He said this meant they gave away their power and authenticity. This inspired Lin Chi’s oft-quoted statement: “If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him.” In other words, if you think you can find enlightenment outside yourself, you’re on the wrong track. After all, the essence of Buddha’s teachings is that everyone carries the Buddha nature inside, or—put another way—we are all Buddha. Lin Chi’s warning is still relevant today. Despite the far-reaching individualization in the modern Western world, people continue to seek handholds. Nowadays, there are more gurus than ever, despite the change in titles: mental coach, therapist, social worker.
Monks Versus the Military – CommonDreams.org:
Throughout the protests, the monks have used the symbols and practices of Buddhism to express their discontent and rally public support. At first only a few monks demonstrated in towns such as Pakokku, where the authorities used hired thugs, now called Swan Arr Shin (Possessors of Strength) to lasso and catch the fleeing monks with lariats. Then the thugs threw the monks in prison where they forced them to disrobe and tortured them. In Pakokku, the monks kept some army officers captive for a few hours, but since then, they have walked through cities and towns silently, observing the Theravada monks’ traditional discipline of silence and downcast eyes. They have also been chanting the Metta Thoke or Loving Kindness Sutra, which sends and shares merit to all living beings.
Technorati Tags: Burma
Back in the ’80s you may remember the rise of “Liberation Theology,” an approach practiced by a faction of Catholic clergy who took the message of helping the poor seriously by working for social justice. Now there is a movement gaining strength in Latin America called “Liberation Ecology,” which takes the concept a step further to promote the idea of human stewardship of the land as being one of the prime directives of our spiritual path.
The following clips are from a fine article that documents this rising movement.
AlterNet: Environment: Latin America’s Surprising New Eco-Warriors:
Although few North Americans seem to have noticed it yet, in the past few years a “liberation ecology” movement, with the church at its spiritual heart, has been taking shape from Chile to Mexico. Will the Vatican, I wonder, encourage or stifle it? Latin American Catholics have, after all, taken on what they saw as forces of injustice before.
**
In his essay “Christianity and the Survival of Creation,” Wendell Berry writes that our destruction of nature “is not just bad stewardship, or stupid economics, or a betrayal of family responsibility; it is the most horrid blasphemy. It is flinging God’s gifts into His face, as if they were of no worth beyond that assigned to them by our destruction of them.”
Pt. 1
Pt.2
These high-tech evangelicals could be straight out of sci-fi. Except they are real, and they know how to use media against media. Like a Maoist opera on steroids, BattleCry might be marching on your doorstep soon. Should we be scared? The strange thing is that I nave taught media literacy to fundamentalists, which shows me that anyone can use media criticism as a weapon. In this case it is in the hands of a Christian youth army that looks and sounds cool if you don’t have the critical capacity to see beyond the style of the message to truly understand its content. I don’t understand why Right Wingers are so scared of so-called “Islamo-fascists” when there is a slick Taliban right in their own backyard. America watch out.
An afterthought: I’m aware that often what we oppose is really a way of expelling our inner demons. I have no doubt that is why I have focused my attention on media. The danger is whether we truly process these inner monsters, or use our activism as a kind of penance as we continue to hurt and destroy people, as has been the case of many fundamentalists of all persuasions, including media activists. Also, when I see these kids feeling genuine love, I believe it is real. But rather than take ownership of it, they attribute it to an outside force. This is why they claim allegiance to a cross, and not a circle.
Technorati Tags: BattleCry
This has to be a prank. Do we also need passports for the astral realm?
China tells living Buddhas to obtain permission before they reincarnate – Times Online:
Tibet’s living Buddhas have been banned from reincarnation without permission from China’s atheist leaders. The ban is included in new rules intended to assert Beijing’s authority over Tibet’s restive and deeply Buddhist people.
“The so-called reincarnated living Buddha without government approval is illegal and invalid,” according to the order, which comes into effect on September 1.
If you read my article, The Fifth Element of Hip Hop, you may be interested in the above video as Black Dot deconstructs the chakra system.
Bridging media literacy with ecoliteracy, this blog features various meditations and musings by Antonio Lopez, an old school dharma punk and media educator. He is the author of:
