Portraits of dunniya from today’s rounding:1) A 75 year-old overweight white-haired woman in the Natural Foods store pulling this thin man behind her who is not protesting.At first I think it’s her docile husband and then I realize it’s her 55-yr. old grey-haired handicapped son(? serious cerebral palsy with mental retardation).What misery! 2) On the drive home a bilaterally amputated middle-aged man,the stumps still bandaged, in an electric wheelchair with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth! I’m not making this up! It just happened.Yes,life IS suffering.The Buddha got that one right.But then he deviated when he said”There is a way out of this suffering” Wrong! There is a way to accept the suffering and not to add to it through mental elaboration.But there is no way out.Did you know that the Buddha,himself, died from food poisoning from eating spoiled meat!? So he too had suffering to the very end.Only death ends the suffering and that only in some cases.We will leave that contentious question for a later date.
Category Archives: Modern Living
Politics,politics.Oy!
What’s going on really in Washington?! The hard-hearted,sharp-toothed lawyers( think Comey, think Mueller) are attacking the corrupt businessmen(think Trump,think Kushner).Don’t forget that the lawyers are already parasites of corporations and political institutions as no-one else can afford their outlandish fees! Reminds me of those videos of a fight between the crocodile and the tiger at the edge of the water.Except now we have the liberal journalists watching all this and commenting”Aren’t those crocodiles so nice,helping us to get rid of those mean,hungry tigers?!”What a sad spectacle!
Male/Female
Notice: This posting may be upsetting to some people as it flies in the face of the liberal,egalitarian ethos that now is part of the social consensus.Nevertheless,this is what I observe in working with people and in my own life experience as well,so I feel it incumbent on me to articulate this position..I do believe that operationnalizing this understanding has the potential to relieve people from a lot of grief. As well,I was given a spiritual order many years ago to write about this highly controversial subject.I intend to honour that order by producing a book on this subject- provided that Allah gives me enough time on this plane to do so.It will not sound anything like the writings of John Grey or Guy Corneau ,may his soul rest in peace, lol
There is a male ego and a female ego and they are different.The male ego is sensitive to its need for leadership especially in the family context.And the female ego is closer to the needs of the nesting instinct.When the male ego gets out of balance it can lead to pathological narcissism of which we see an abundance in the political sphere.When the female ego gets out of balance ,it leads to pathological materialism and the idolatry of the family and children.
If we are to have harmonious relationships and thus a peaceful society, the needs of both types of ego need to be identified and fulfilled.This is NOT what is happening,in so many ways.If you are able to escape from your current ideological position ,you will be able to see the truth of what is being asserted here and possibly move in the direction of peace and harmony.But this will certainly require energetic self-observation and hard work.God be with you on this holy journey.
Politics and Truth
My apologies if this is a repeat but I cannot get over it.Why are the Clintons and Obama not being investigated for their $2-400,000 talks on Wall St.?!That is more corrupt than anything Trump has done and is much more investigatable than her stupid emails(quoting Bernie Sanders here!) There are only two possible answers to this question..The less likely is that they are being protected by so-called “progressive” politicians(that may be an oxymoron).The more likely is that the powers to be,whether Republican or Democrat, are wont to investigate Wall St. since their ranks are heavily infiltrated by Wall St. people and their connections.Actually this is a much more serious threat to American democracy than the Russians-much more! Amongst other things this influence was responsible, in large part, for the last economic crisis and, in all likelihood, will be for the next one.”Vanity,vanity,all is vanity” said Solomon.I would
edit the word “vanity” into “narrow self-interest”.Pardon the chutzpah for editing the wise Solomon a.s.(Maybe it was a bad translation lol).
Empiricism
Biggest problem of modern times-Empiricism! -thinking you can find truth through external facts and data.I was just trying to get my head around the U.S. -Canada lumber dispute.It is incredibly complex on many levels as are Many other disputes-international and personal.So as opposed to Judge Gorsuch who claims to be able to judge without looking at the people involved(only facts and the law!),in fact the safest way to judge is to look at the parties involved- in this case the U.S. and Canada.Just look at how each country treats its’ own citizens and you have the answer.The fact that the World Trade Organization and Nafta have repeatedly ruled mostly in Canada’s favour is only a confirmation of this reality.P.S. I am not a Canadian nationalist.I abhor nationalism of all kinds.
Terrorism and Contemporary Society
(The London terrorist attack)We are experiencing a complete social breakdown-nationally and internationally!Look at the masses of refugees,the Civil wars occurring all over the globe,the homeless within the wealthier societies,drug addiction everywhere just to name a few.To blame specific individuals and even specific religious ideologies is disingenuous at best.The most sinister aspect of this breakdown is that all the values that are supposed to represent progress and hope are the very things at the heart of this crisis.So Liberty( much touted) has turned into decadence and licentiousness; Democracy has turned into manipulated electoral politics: Capitalism has become unfair,dishonest and monopolistic and the Rule of Law(and regulations that follow from it) has become paralyzing bureaucracy that the vast majority of individuals, perhaps all in fact.,are unable to manage.Do you see the depth of the problem?! What is being offered as solutions are actually the problems themselves!
Social Injustice
Every society has its injustices.In our society a major form of injustice is made up of audits,inspections,complaint processes and bureaucratic quagmires.The politicians like to call it “due process” but actually it is oppression often enough.I think we just have to acknowledge it and accept it.Trump,for all his faults and shortcomings,is a wonderful teacher here! He is involved in so many audits, lawsuits and investigations,some criminal,that the average citizen would have succumbed to these stressors ,with a heart attack or a nervous breakdown,a long time ago.He,on the other hand,just keeps doing his thing and ignores all the potential personal catastrophes all around him.Intriguing!
The Bottom Line
The bottom line.No one can manage the complexity of the modern world.So the journalists just look for the kaka,people like Obama rationalize things into inaction and paralysis and Trump makes up stories to keep afloat.The only real answer is to start simplifying.(In all fairness Trump is the only one who
touches that base from time to time).If we don’t simplify,we will self-destruct!
The Autism Epidemic
Here it is.The explanation I have been looking for.You don’t have to listen to the whole lecture as the presenter is not a skilled speaker.This IS the bottom line,however,as far as I can figure out.BIG Problem.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yydZZanRJ50
A Series of Concentration camps
Thinking about day-cares I have seen,I realized that our society is organized as a sequence of concentration camps!
- The almost mandatory large or even smaller daycare.As opposed to the organic way of kids growing up around their mothers,their extended family and the neighbours,they are herded, often enough kicking and screaming, into commercial daycares where the main purpose is to keep them orderly and to generate income for the owners and workers.As compensation,the parents give in to all the childrens’ demands outside of camp hours and buy them whatever they can afford.(It is intriguing to note here that when they do charity ads for orphanages in Africa,many of the children look so much more alive and real than their counterpart Western zombie kids, despite the fact that the latter have so much more material goods!)
- Then we move into the concentration camp of public schools where young active,creative children are required to sit quietly for long hours and to learn things that have nothing to do with their real lives.This in contrast to learning from their actual living environments and experimenting with their creativity.In compensation ,these concentration camp kids are allowed to play sports in the off-hours and pressure their parents into buying them whatever gadgets are the most in vogue in the marketplace.
- The last, and perhaps longest-lasting camp, is the workplace-conceived of and designed by those least creative of professionals- the MBA’s and modern architects.This is often an airless “open” office space with cubicles separated by artificial dividers where there is only “canned” air, constant sound,no privacy and excessive work demands leading to very high levels of stress and frequent burn -out.The compensation is that you get to have a beer or a glass of wine(for non-Muslims that is) after hours and dream of your once-yearly vacation to Cuba or other southern clime..
- There you have the series:-daycares, public schools and inhuman workplaces.Is it any wonder that people are so crazy and behave so badly.Thoughts?!