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About Us
The war within us & the war without us
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Like most people, I am extremely prejudiced in some way; in my case,
against culturally sanctioned barbarity like cannibalism, female
genital mutilation, and slavery. I don’t care in the slightest about
the Politically Correct argument that “it’s their culture.” It may be
my own brand of culturally sanctioned barbarity, but I say it is a good
use of American influence, whether it is diplomatic persuasion,
expenditures of capital to influence or outright bribe people, or even
the use of our military might to stop these barbaric cultures from
eating, mutilating, torturing and enslaving people.
And like most people I am a hypocrite in some way – ways, more
accurately. In this case I realize that my eating hamburgers and bacon
is almost certainly equally abhorrent to a member of People for the
Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) or to a basically vegan society
like India or to Muslims. I was a strict vegetarian for six years and
having written and created our “Animal Powers Meditation Kit,” I’m so
in love with animals now that I’m thinking about risking my health
again and going back to it. I wonder if the people of India are
considering formally giving up their disgusting caste system or if the
Muslims are considering giving equal rights to women? I doubt it.
Though the battle between meat eating and vegetarianism rages within me, I, whose day and night devouring of
the news of the world via the internet is almost an addiction, am aware of hardly
any skirmishes being fought, at least in public, in what I am compelled to call
the outrageously prejudiced and backward nations like India or those of the
Muslim world to mend their ways.
Why is this? To paraphrase the
philosopher George Ivanovich Gurdjieff (1872 – 1949), a friend of our
much-missed friend and mentor, Professor Arnold Keiserling (1922 – 2005), “To
get well you must first know that you are sick.” This important teaching can and
should be broadly applied to many aspects of the development of individuals,
families/clans, and the nations of the world.
Though it has been culturally sanctioned since ancient times, I suspect that many people in India and
places with equally vile caste systems know that it is an abomination that should not be allowed to endure. I have hope that India’s economic success and close interaction with the west will result in the end of treating people as “untouchables” and the myriad other practices that drags them back into the dark ages.
I wish I was as hopeful for the
women of the Muslim world but I am afraid that the culturally and religiously
sanctioned violence against them – even just the threat of it – keeps them
bonded to their captors in the ultimate Stockholm syndrome. While Muslim dress
and custom may keep them somewhat immune to the stupid sexual taunts of
thoughtless strangers, women of the Muslim world are prevented from being the
mitigating force that women must be if men are to not be allowed to fuck up
everything – and they will without women to straighten them out! I’m not kidding;
this is a deadly serious matter.
Look at any photograph of any mass
gathering in a Muslim country, especially the violent ones, and what do you
see? The real question is what don’t you see and the answer is women. They’re
not allowed to be there and even if they were, they are not allowed to be the
equals of men and so they can’t look them in the eye and say “What are you,
kidding me? Stop acting like a bunch of assholes and go home! Your mothers
would be ashamed of you!” The absence of women’s influence and equality is what
is keeping the Muslim world in its present backward state. Maybe if the
Politically Correct crowd here in the United States saved a bit of their
indignation and venom for those who torture and enslave innocent women, if they
can spare savaging the President and those who support him (like the spirits
that I contact when I do psychic work – they ALWAYS say that he’s doing the
right thing in Iraq and will be vindicated by history in the near future as
having been right all this time) for his treatment of our enemies, then we
would finally start presenting the merest hint of the kind of monolithic united
front that Muslim countries present due to the absolute despotism of their
dictators. FYI, I psychically get that things are going to get better in Iraq and the
Middle East and sooner than we think.
In our books “Goddess Guide Me” and
“The Oracle of The Goddess” I postulated that the wars between nations are the
outward manifestation of the inner wars we all fight, especially the war
between our masculine and feminine sides – we all have both and if you think we
don’t then your war is really raging. I do think that peace is not only
possible, it is inevitable but only if we are all willing to do the work.
You cannot negotiate with someone
who views negotiation as merely a method for stalling you so illegal and/or
violent acts can be planned and executed. You cannot expect that your being a
good person is going to cause anyone else to act like a good person – you can’t
“bomb people with love.” You can’t depend on religious piety to protect you. As
the old Arabic saying goes, “Trust in Allah but tie your camel.” The worst sin
is to not see things as the really are.
There are billions of good people
in the world and they deserve to live peaceful lives of quality and meaning.
Unfortunately, there are at least hundreds of millions of vile people who would
like to see these good people bent to their will in some way or another. I don’t
know about you, but my allegiance is to the good people and especially to the United States of America.
We are a great country who has and is doing great things. We all have a war
raging within us about various and sundry subjects great and small, but we
should not let that war prevent us from being civil and compassionate to each
other – that includes giving our country’s leaders the benefit of the doubt. We
are the good people here; we’re the one’s offering whole nations the way of
peace, democracy and equality for all. I am not sure that it is rational to
expect people to rush out of the dark ages of the Muslim religion, especially
when it is shot through with violence as a basic tenant, certainly as the prime
response to anything that even resembles change.
Many people are astounded that a “New
Age Author” can support President Bush and the war on terror and in Iraq and Afghanistan. I am a registered
member of the Green Party who voted for Ralph Nader in 2000, yet each and every
time I do my psychic work I am sure to ask whomever it is that answers me and my
clients if it is still true that President Bush is doing the right thing and I always
get that he is and has been, other than his great mistake in not taking us faster
toward energy independence the way the government of Brazil is doing. However,
they started with a head start, the no-opposition climate of their dictatorial
junta of the 1970’s and we, with our warring conspiracies, entrenched
attitudes, and resistance to enduring even the slightest deprivation of our fun
lives, have got a long row to hoe. And Brazil doesn’t have to be a beacon
of freedom and fight the forces of the dark ages that are truly threatening you
and me with death and the destruction of everything we hold dear and true.
The war for the development of our soul rages within us as
the war for the development of a better, safer, and more peaceful world rages “without”
(an archaic word for “outside”) us. Just as we on the path of spiritual
development occasionally believe that life would be easier if we just stopped
trying to improve, many good people mistakenly believe that if we stopped using
our military to fight against our sworn enemies that they would stop trying to
destroy us and let us go back to our former state of denial. It ain’t going to
happen. Without the United
States to fight the good fight the world
would plunge into a living hell of technology-fueled dictatorship.
We can't leave Iraq or Afghanistan or all of the other places where our
presence keeps the lid on the craziness - believe me (or the spirits),
it would be a lot worse if we left! May we all
keep our sense of proportion in our criticism of our government or lack of
same. And may the spirits that advise me and those I care about be as correct
about our nation’s future as they are about individual futures; so far, so
good! |
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