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Pink sky descending, yellow crow rising

Pink sky descending, yellow crow rising.  Towers, black, glistening, mute, needles of glass from the crushed dome of night fallen to earth, waiting. Constellations, old gods, having lost their homes, whirl and wail in a colorless void.  Now, red waters of darkened, fallen sky run in the dun prairie.  Native souls sing by water’s ragged edge, heedless of debilitating grief.  A tall blue sky stands firm inside the heart, filled by a relentless sun of warmth and grace.

Self-Sufficiency Minimizes Exploitation

Those needs or desires that cannot be fulfilled by one’s own effort but require the assitance or labors of others are what opens one to exploitation.  Obviously, there are fundamental desires or needs that will never be autonomously fulfilled, and what would be the point of a world of co-existing beings within which individuals could fulfill their needs without interacting with each other?  But as we reflect upon our industrialized society and how far it takes each person from the capacity to meet basic needs without dependency, we understand why exploitation and misery are so rampent.

Knowing one’s self, and providing for one’s self, again become the priorities of the day.  Surrendering certain unnecessary dependencies is a great value in this world of exploitation and scarcity.  Individuals and agencies that hold power will not want to allow that to occur, because it is the energy of their dependants that feeds them.  But this is a necessary swing of the pendulum, in this time especially.

Facts First

“It is a capital mistake to form conclusions in advance of the facts.”  -Sherlock Holmes

Where is Principled Living?

The personal factor plays in politics so that principle must frequently yield to the yoke of self-interest.  Even the powerful, like anyone else, allow their desires, however paltry, to defeat the obvious truth of principles.  Like mules they are driven by the stick of their passions despite the hideous magnitude of the impact of such a self-serving force in the halls of government.  Even now, billions of dollars are extracted from the laboring masses to feather the nests of indulgence of the wealthy and influential.  But this is as it has been as far back as history is described, and way before.

So, it is the personal factor that impedes truth, and not that we haven’t figured out principles of justice and fairness, or not that we fail to understand compassion, love, kindness and generosity.  All who were children understand these things, if not by their presence, then by their absence.  It is one’s own individual attachments to certain personal joys, indulgences, little secret privileges that yield some physical, mental or emotional pleasure, that are the cause of the derrailment of the hope and dream of all civilizations.  When these things are allowed to drive the body and mind blindly and with indifference to truth, they cause untold misery.

Self-honesty is the greatest need of this age or any other.

But it is unlikely, and probably by Plan, that this problem will continue.  Because this world is veiled from its own Origins and Cause.  In such a situation, it is ridiculous to expect integrity, honesty, or fairness.  On the other hand, perhaps fairness is perfectly consistent and flawlessly maintained by the Hidden Principles (Hercalitus’s Logos) behind it all.  How can we discern either way, when our own eyes are blinded not only the the greater Truth, but even to our own self-deceptions and our own degree of ignorance and need.

The conclusion here that aches for realization, is that one must see to one’s own self-healing, to improving one’s self-awareness and integration with that Logos, if there is to be any hope at all of living truthfully and honorably.

Pure Reason

Can anyone be certain at any time that one is thinking clearly?  If thought is the only measure of that, then, self-evidently, the answer is “no.”  Somewhere above thought there is a place of pure Reason.  I’ll meet you there.

Raven

Raven against the blue sky

   his dark shadow flickering

over green pine boughs.

Two Questions To Ask of Every Public Servant

It’s truly a marvel that we don’t speak more about the fact that our government officials, especially in Congress, in the Federal Courts, and in the white house, are mostly of wealth and privilege. Many have never lived from pay check to pay check, or had to pay for unexpected car repairs or medical needs with a credit card, unsure whether it will ever get paid off. How can they possibly relate to what most of us are going through? How could a person, secure in their comforts and influence, truly act to alleviate the suffering of many of us at the possible cost of those comforts? In all honesty, how many of us who aren’t wealthy have been, or would be, willing to risk our own comforts and advantages to help others?

So, clearly, this truly is the blatant conundrum of public service. And, although it may seem obvious, it may be time to refresh one’s active understanding on it. As Paul Simon said, “Why deny the obvious, child?”

One way to address it might be to ask two questions of every individual in office, or running for public office. Is the person truly qualified, of course, is the most basic question (although clearly there are many in office distinctly unqualified). But also, can he or she specifically relate to my problems?

The second question is one we often ask, but almost unconciously — it’s really time now to ask with greater understanding and resolve. You can bet that lobbyists ask that question and are very clear on what the answer should be. We need to be as clear and more insistant that our public servants truly serve the interests of we, the people. The evidence that they don’t has become such a towering mass of stinking filth that it is a true marvel there are not major acts of civil disobedience everywhere. It is a testimonial to the power of the doctrine of consumerism, the debilitating nature of debt and employment, and the pandering of our media to power that these things are not wide spread, and indeed that revolution is not in the air. Perhaps we have not yet suffered enough.

Wake Up Now

“Wake up now, dear traveler.  The night is almost over and the light of the stars is fading.  Your sojourn here is like one’s stay in an inn, where one’s arrival is inevitably followed by departure.  You do not even now listen to the beat of drums signaling your departure.” -Bulle Shah