|
Appropriate for any time.
Ed
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, November 19, 2003 9:44
AM
Subject: RE: Toward a spiritual
renaissance
I
invite you all to re-visit Allen Ginsberg's Howl.
Appropriate for the times.
Hi Lawry,
Your hope for guidance from Canada to help the US find its way
toward peaceful resolve is by far more logical than anything that is likely
to transpire. It is flattering to Canadians, yet I don't believe that
Canada, in these days of increasingly influential corporate agendas, is
necessarily the country to lead the way as a beacon. I will second Ed's
opinion of Paul Martin's intended directions and would concur that we are
not far behind the U.S. in arriving at some huge seeming impasses.
I don't believe you are looking exclusively at a Western
decline in morals and culture. I believe that that is a global symptom
of collective guilt, and heaven is where you are if you are willing to
choose for it. Relocating for the sake of leading the way by example is
tempting, but in the long run merely results in another distraction, another
imagined separation from the so-called "evil" around you. With such
judgment, you presume a position you do not have, and will augment your
fears. Trust in the world, do what you feel is right and help others by
walking ahead of them a little as you can easily do, Lawry, but if you give
up your own sense of peace because of insanity in one or many, you give
up on humanity. In so doing you show the world that peace cannot triumph,
that it is in itself unattainable, and forgiveness impossible. I'm sure you
know that peace is not only true, but is the only thing that does work, and
it is a choice from moment to moment. I suspect you may also understand
that forgiveness is the closest thing that we have to heaven on earth. Trust
in the world and all life because it is governed by a power that is in all
of us, but not of us.
This having been said, I wish to clarify that should the world simply
ignore error, we allow ourselves to be misled, and do a disservice to both
the victim and the victimizer. If we or others are not accountable, no
progress transpires. The Whitehouse appears to be the monster today, but
tomorrow will reveal other monsters behind the puppet government.
When I was in Maui about 16 years ago, there had been but one or two
serious crimes on the island for many years prior.
People were friendly and warm. It was not overly tourist-ridden, and I
looked forward to its independence from the U.S., but never thought that
possible. We heard from Darryl's Ex, who was living on the big island, that
the few remaining royal Hawaiian descendants were planning secession,
and then came Ray's article on the very same thread that a document was
submitted to Congress after all. New York in 1980 or so, following the
Canadian assisted rescue of prisoners in Iran, was so open to Canadians that
Darryl and I were given free lunches in a restaurant and even free clothing
in Manhattan just for being Canadian. Things change all the time. Mecca is
no longer Mecca, but it is and never really was. Americans are just as
capable of sanity as they are capable of being misled, and it is within them
as it is within Iraqis to find their own way out of fear. If and when they
are ready for international input, it will surely be there, though that help
may take a different form than anticipated.
Being vigilant to a politician's psyche by observing facial
nuances and the like, though fascinating to observe, will not necessarily
lead you much closer to truth behind the scenes. We already know that Bush
is far more insane than the rest of us, and that most news we seek out with
regard to his actions basically boils down to the same news event, over and
over-- Just how insane is he? Or anyone in that position of power? The Bush
administration was established by other far more influential people,
and therefore Bush's team may well be the last to know what's going
down. Economies change, new people seem to emerge as threats, money begets
more money and poverty sux. Wars are ongoing worldwide, and our judgment of
the U.S. certainly takes our minds off of The District of Congo, the twenty
million baby girls who are murdered by their own parents for being the wrong
sex, or the countless other holocausts of history. The policy of
scapegoating the "evil" onto a nation outside of our own is the same one we
apply to our personal lives when we project. We must do what we can to deny
what is not truth, to remove the blocks to love within and then of
course do our best to ensure that government policies reflect that in just
governance. Though the US is most influential, it is abundantly
clear that lately its guidance has been selective and self-serving. But
that will change. It will grow out of the adolescent stage to earnestly
embrace other nations--down the road. Be patient with its fears as much as
with your own.
One thing that is crystal clear to me is that trying to solve the
world's problems over my own lifetime is investment in fear. There have been
thousands of civilizations that fractured fear into what it has become, and
it will take time, as long as it takes, to undo it before we
all invest in what really matters. What is important is to live in your
own mind with peace at your side, and to remember that healing does not come
from treating symptoms, but from taking form around a peaceful
attitude of mind and thereby changing the content. If we ourselves are not
peaceful, we cannot be truly kind or helpful. We do not react to fact, we
react to interpretations around a fact. By making our perceptions real, we
try to offer ingenious ways of solving problems, political, economic,
religious or social, to magically escape from them. But upon making
these interpretations real, we cannot escape from them in order to
stand back and look at them in a clear light. Ego mind is always trying
to understand what is initiated by itself. It's the classic revolving door
syndrome. Peace and Do Unto Others is also a dream, but one that
will sit better with your thoughts than the chronic anxiety of feeling that
you and like-minded must be the ones to rescue the world.
Form through which we communicate is not important. Places and
things, special people, rituals and prayers are not important. What is
significant is the love that speaks through us when we join with the
love that is in us but not of us, the love that joins with truth (higher
self), and connects with that place of peace in others that we all
share.
I read that when Beethoven's close friend's husband had died, he did
what he felt he could do that was most helpful. He said to
her, "Tonight we shall speak together in tones", then simply sat down
to the piano and played to her for two and a half hours. She was much
relieved.
Natalia
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, November 18, 2003 9:06
AM
Subject: Toward a spiritual
renaissance (was RE: [Futurework] Be a good little beaver for Uncle
Sam!)
Yes, good point. I would guess that the differences in values
within the US is greater than those between, collectively, the US and
Canada.
Someone earlier (Ed?) wondered whether Canada was losing its own
way. (Sorry for the lack of precise attribution: I have been for the last
two weeks embroiled in complicated and time-consuming negotiations and and
skipping lightly on my list-reading...) I hope this isn't happening.
The West, generally, is in my growing opinion in deep trouble, morally,
culturally. We very much need a place or places where this degradation is
not happening, both to serve as a haven for those who do not wish to
remain part of the degradation, and to serve eventually as a resource
through which the West can rebuild itself.
I can think of no more important a priority than
this.
Lawry
The current issue of the Economist contains a
review of the US that suggests rather wide ranging differences and
growing divergences in values there as well.
Ed
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, November 18, 2003
9:12 AM
Subject: RE: [Futurework] Be a
good little beaver for Uncle Sam!
Further to this you may be interested in the book:
Fire and Ice: The United States and Canada and the Myth of
Converging Values by Michael Adams.
Adams runs Environics, a polling firm of some repute in
Canada. His sampling of opinion (over a very wide range of
values/issues) shows the differing values between Canadians and
Americans and within the US itself where there are surprisingly wide
regional spreads.
arthur
Lawry:
Times are very difficult, and require a surer, more granular,
and more disciplined treatment than is normally the case. Missteps
at this time can create very bad results. I would hope that Canada's
historical ability to see the moral light and policy essentials will
again prevail, and that Canada may be able to help the US learn what
it must, but by ignoring the US's mistakes, but by guiding the US to
their resolution.
My fear,
Lawry, is that Canada may also have lost its way and that our moral
light has faded since Pearson and Trudeau were Prime
Ministers. Chretien, who is about to leave the scene, is a
very bright man, but a pragmatist, not an idealist.
To his credit, he kept us out of the "coalition of the willing", but
he has not offered anything as an alternative except the rather
tired idea that if the UN goes along with it, we'll go too, knowing
full-well that the UN would not. I read Martin, the incoming
Prime Minister, as a neo-con whose major concern will be keeping the
deficit down and improving the economy, including trade relations
with the US. And to improve trade relations with the US we
have to pretend to support what the US Administration is doing,
don't we?
The light of
higher purpose still shines on in Canada, but you increasingly have
to look for it. One sees it in people like Romeo Dallaire, the
general who almost single-handedly tried to stop the blood bath in
Rwanda, but I'm afraid we're not going to find it in our
politicians.
Ed
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, November 17,
2003 10:24 AM
Subject: RE: [Futurework] Be
a good little beaver for Uncle Sam!
Good morning, Ed,
The single most important task that lies ahead for the US
is to learn what it must learn so as to be able to start playing a
positive and helpful role in the world. At this point, we are
doing the very opposite, so the learnings will have to be profound
and cognitively revolutionary. Any reassurances that those
who are the present creators of the US's current policies receive,
whether they come from other US citizens or from foreign sources,
will only serve to delay those learnings and ensure a continuation
of the present policies.
I do not believe that is in the interests of anybody,
whether US citizen or citizen of some other country, for anyone to
engage in behavior that allows the current US policy-makers to
believe that they have done right.
Times are very difficult, and require a surer, more
granular, and more disciplined treatment than is normally the
case. Missteps at this time can create very bad results. I would
hope that Canada's historical ability to see the moral light and
policy essentials will again prevail, and that Canada may be able
to help the US learn what it must, but by ignoring the US's
mistakes, but by guiding the US to their
resolution.
Many of us here in the US remember the help of Canada with
the hostages and Americans in Iran. We remember Canada's sterling
record in peace-keeping, and international development assistance.
We remember the contributions of Canadians to the arts and
domestic life in the US. Canada has a great standing in the eyes
of US citizens, and it would be wonderful if Canada could use some
of this standing to help the US find its way to becoming that
better citizen of the world.
Cheers,
Lawry
There are times when, as a Canadian, I feel a little less
than proud of my country's political leaders. This is one
of them.
I see by today’s local paper, the Ottawa Citizen, that
Canadian Federal opposition members are demanding that Prime
Minister-to-be Paul Martin's first order of business this week
must be to phone U.S. President George W. Bush to arrange a
meeting that will begin the process of repairing badly damaged
Canada-U.S. relations. The softwood lumber crisis, mad cow
disease and the Iraq war are just three issues he should address
with Mr. Bush immediately, not to mention establishing a good
personal relationship, they say. Tory leader Peter MacKay said
Mr. Martin should not wait for Mr. Bush to call and congratulate
him on winning the Liberal leadership, but should pick up the
phone first and do so this week. And, says Alliance MP Deb Grey:
"He needs to prove what he says about mending relations with the
U.S. -- on BSE, get the borders open, deal with softwood lumber.
We didn't want to get involved in Iraq -- so what are we going
to do on that front?"
Yes, what indeed? What might Bush want in return to favoring
us with a pat on the head? Well, he could grant us the privilege
of joining the US in sinking into the Iraqi quagmire. The
Americans certainly need help there. According to this morning’s
Power and Interest News Report (PINR) dispatch,
"… if the White House is able to corral a greater number of
countries into committing troops to Iraq, the president and his
administration -- specifically the likes of Vice President Dick
Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his deputy Paul
Wolfowitz -- will appear vindicated on charges of unilateralism
and anti-internationalism, which is one of the most widespread
and accepted criticisms of this White House's foreign policy. It
would be both an international and domestic political victory
over their critics if the Bush administration were able to
create a true coalition of military forces sharing constabulary
duties in Iraq."
Question for my fellow Canadians: Do we really want to help
these guys out even if it does mean getting a few more cows over
the US border?
Ed Weick
|
