Action-Reaction and the Inevitable Unknown

It's official: we're fucked.

That's been my prevailing analysis of the situation overall since I learned of the oil catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico. The scope of the damage to ecosystems beggars belief. And there's still no mitigation in sight. This fellow has been covering the sordid story of the political and corporate assfest of a response in his own way. God knows we need a sense of humour with such horrific matters. But taken as a whole, the environmental devastation that we as a species have inflicted upon this planet, our only home – the toxic chemicals in the ground, the water, and the air; seas choked with plastic; wholesale destruction of forests; topsoil depleted, and on and on and on – seems to indicate that if ever a species deserved to go extinct, it's us. I don't want to go all 11th Hour here, but facts are facts. We're all culpable to some degree. The laptop on which I'm typing these words is the product of a long chain of industries that all pollute, all devour natural resources. That's the way we do things. The problem is not that we've done it, it's that we've done it with zero regard for the future, zero regard for anything but satisfying our pathologically single-minded desires. Some, of course, are more guilty than others...

It is not an easy thing to watch the wretched circus of ignorance and deception with the eyes of an awareness too keen for its own good. Not that I would have it any other way, given the choice. But there is the choice, too, of whether to focus upon the appearance of hell on earth in all its unholy forms, and despair, or to turn one's attention to the things in which there is some reason to see good, and rejoice. And always there is the grand perspective, in which all is precisely as it must be, without judgment of good or evil, although that is not one that I would take exclusively. It operates in the background, without impinging or interfering. We who are here, inside the fish bowl, have our judgment calls to make as long as we're here. The trick is to recognize that for each judgment we pass on something outside of us, there is a judgment being passed on the inside as well. Better to go within, search out what offends us about ourselves, and work on that. Far be it from me to prescribe anything for anyone, but I'll tell you what I think is a pretty important key. Forgiveness. That's the magic that'll set you free, from what I've come to understand about the way things work. Karma's a vicious circle. By default, it locks you in. If you want out, you'll need something that transcends that pattern. That's all I have to say about that. Best thing for me here is to shut up and take my own advice. (grin)

As I was about to say before I sidetracked myself, there's plenty to be pissed off about. Plenty of things in life to break your heart and make you weep from the depths of your soul. I get that. There's a neverending stream of things we don't understand the reasons for. We can only carry on and do the best we can, and just know that there is a reason, however beyond our grasp it may be at the moment.

I'm as confused as anyone, quite honestly. The less I pretend to know about my future and the less I project my fears and fantasies onto the unknown, the less work of letting all that go I set myself up for. Our precious fears, our precious fantasies. All is vanity. More anxious wheel-turning in the fevered workings of the monkey mind, desperate to justify its own sense of indispensability. Let it go, Neo. Free your mind.

Has there ever been a more perilous time? I think of the Atlanteans, who (allegedly) had technological advantages that most of us wouldn't even dream of. So much knowledge, and yet so little wisdom. The wave came and the mass of them were totally unprepared to ride it. Is that to be our fate as well? Cataclysm and descent into even further depths of ignorance in the struggle to survive? It is not hard to imagine that future. But what happens, will happen. Ours is not to anticipate the utterly unpredictable, but to prepare our hearts and souls to meet it in whatever form it chooses to take. And in this moment, we yet have that opportunity. It is not too late to take appropriate action according to the promptings of the inner guide, that still voice that tells us what is right, what we need to do and what our focus should be.

Have courage and persevere, even in the face of seeming impossibility. Shed your illusions as they are revealed to you and embrace truth. Know that you are here for a purpose. Seek to embody what virtues you can, moment by moment. Love yourself and see the love around you. Be at peace. Follow your star.

In mutual support and everlasting brotherhood,
this self.

0 comments: