Tag: buhdylosophy

One wishes to walk the earth in harmony. To sit beneath the trees, to walk near the speaking waters as they dance to the sea, to gaze from high mountain tops at the wholeness of creation. One wishes to grow old and watch ones children grow old under the bright blue sky having lived a life of peace in harmony with the planet and all living things. To spend the gift of life in contemplation and perfection of one’s inner self, moving one step closer to harmony with each stride down the path of one’s life.

But one is beset on all sides by flaming assholes.

We are who we are…progressives/liberals/radicals/democrats…because we care. Because we feel. Because we have the capacity for empathy, the capacity to feel the pain of others.

This is a curse.

The curse of consciousness.

Like, we don’t have enough pain of our own, we need to have more pain? The pain of others? Puhleeze. But that is just who we are. We want everything to be wonderful for everyone…and are willing to suffer to make that so. Compassion, empathy. We join with others to try to ease the suffering in the world. To some extent. Until we reach our individual limit. Or until someone pisses us off and we bail. Or lash out. Or blow up.

We work hard and struggle to build a Progressive Utopia…until it gets too hard or someone says something we don’t like. We are full of high ideals and noble goals. Until the shit hits the fan.

Then we are just humans again, having to face our own pain, instead of the pain of others. Having to face our own limitations, instead of bemoaning the limitations of the wingnuts or Bush or the enemy du jour.

Working for high ideals and noble causes and making a difference (and believe me, we do) is sweet. Having to face our own limitations, our own pain, our own humanity and all its failings in the course of that…is bitter.

We are good at eating the sweet.

There is an old saying…Your right to freely swing your fist ….ends at my nose. Pretty clear cut, in principle, til the lawyers get hold of it.

There is another old saying that ‘takes it back’ even further…Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law. It seems almost absurd in the context of the world we live in today, where we are deeply restricted by laws and basically living in a police state. But the saying is meant to convey, in part, that we a DO have perfect freedom. The only thing that restricts that freedom is…..consequences. You are free to do whatever you want, but you WILL face the consequences for your actions. Another way to put it….Karma, it is not a philosophy…it’s The Law. For every action there is a (not necessarily equal, in human affairs) reaction.

The position of Freedom of Speech is that you have the right to use any word any way you want to. That is absolutely true.

I have the freedom of speech to call you a huge flaming asshole for doing so.

That is a consequence of you exercising your freedom.

Then you defend yourself…then I attack your defense. Then you attack my attack, and I defend.  Etc. Etc. Etc. We have the Freedom of Speech to yell at each other all day long! But there are consequences. We are also “free” to punch each other in the nose, or “free” to pull out guns and shoot each other. But there will be consequences.

Freedom!!!

This is why political correctness started. The consequences for using your freedom of speech are mostly (aside from hate speech) social consequences. Iow, people yelling at you or shunning you. Yes we all have the freedom to say whatever we want, but the consequence for saying things that hurt other people is that people will say things back to hurt you. If enough people are hurt or offended by what you say you will have ALL those people trying to hurt you back. Or if you are lucky, trying to explain to you why what you are saying is hurtful. Like it or not, for good or ill, this is how societies define what is “acceptable speech.” By using their freedom of speech to “police” your freedom of speech. To make it politically (note: polite, police. Same root. Societies DO police themselves, through …politics, heh) correct. Or to use different words …(Since it has reached the point where the phrase “politically correct” is now an “attack phrase” in and of itself!)…socially acceptable. How is what is or is not socially acceptable determined?

1) eliminate fear

2) eliminate greed

3) come to senses

4) form planetary government body based on UN model, preserving all national and cultural identities. 4a) form oversight agency for planetary government 4b) form oversight agency to oversee oversight agency 4c) repeat

5) form Council of Strict But Fair Grandmas to cut through the BS of above agencies 5a) see 4a

6) reallocate all worldwide military resources to producing planetary rescue technologies and development of alternative energy

7) establish world resources council to review, reform and reinvent farming practices and technologies and allocation of food, water rights and technologies and allocation of water

8)employ all planetary citizens (billions) making less than two dollars a day to clean, polish and replant planet

8) crash course teaching program to teach people to be teachers

9) teach people to be doctors, engineers and research scientists

10) rest, knowing that world is saved

Bonus! 11) teach Barack to bowl

Yesterday NLinStPaul asked (rhetorically)

You mean we can do this and have some fun?

Goddess above, I hope that’s true!!

In my opinion, fun is vital!

The guy who is fond of the phrase The Long War, THIS guy …. is anti-fun….

and we are anti-That guy. Logically then, we are PRO-FUN!

(Note: some links may go to images that human beings under 18 are ‘not allowed’ to see…but you will have to click on them to find out which ones!)

CLICK!

We were, literally, made to love each other. Your Preacher disapproved it, your Gubmint boo-hoos it, yeah yeah yeah. It is tittered at and whispered about, it is taboo’d, verbotten, and discouraged on the surface of our silly society….even as its waves and tides wash over each and everyone of us every minute of every day and affects everything we do see and think about with it’s primal pull from deep in our loins to the top of our brain chemistry.

Whether you believe in evolution or in a God created world….There is nothing more natural than sex…in fact sex IS nature. Nature has one goal, to regenerate life through…sex. Whatever the ‘life force’ is that animates EVERYTHING on this planet, it is expressed in its purest form as sexual energy. Unless of course, you don’t believe in science, and it is all caused by the will of some big guy with a beard sitting on a throne in the clouds causing and ruling all life through his power and will. And who decided in his infallible wisdom, that SEX was the way that all life should be produced. That’s right! God chose and invented sex!. And yet, Gods ‘chosen’ minions on earth have been repressing God’s choice…God’s will, for thousands of years. If sex is so bad, why did God choose it?

We think about it all the time, and our bodies are constantly producing, secreting and distributing sexual signals that are imperceptible to our ‘higher selves.’ Yet denial and hypocrisy is the way our society deals with anything even vaguely sexual. Unless of course, it is used to sell a product.

The Rant, a fine human tradition. And one I occasionally trade on shamelessly. Humans have odd social rules, especially those of us humans descended from the Puritan/Protestant tradition of hiding our emotions. But it seems to be somewhat socially/politically acceptable to, every once in a while, but not too often, let our emotions out in one big burst. Our fellow humans seem to, for the most part, understand that this is a necessary, or at least inevitable, part of living in an emotionally repressed society.

Iow, we are ‘allowed’ to let our true feelings, such as frustration and anger out once in a while, as long as we ‘act normal’ the rest of the time. And I agree. And so I do my best, lol, to act normal. Ranting makes people uncomfortable, rants are usually mostly raw emotion. Raw emotion is in itself uncomfortable, because it triggers an emotional response in us, and we don’t like to be emotional. We are not good at it, we haven’t been trained to deal with it, we don’t know how to respond to it. It makes us uncomfortable, in a society built around the idea that comfort is the highest goal.



Abandon Comfort, All Ye Who Enter Here

The world is made up of nearly seven billion people. In order to change it, you have to change the minds of those people. That’s a LOT of changing! Should we try to sit down and have a conversation seven billion times to change each individual mind? Obviously not. The travel expenses alone are prohibitive.

Margaret Mead said:

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.

So how does this small group change the world? By indeed, the only method that has ever worked.

Propagating ideas.

If an idea is specific but not simplistic, but can still be stated relatively simply, and the truth behind it is potent enough, iow if it resonates with enough people…if it changes enough minds….it changes the world.

But there is a problem….or two…hundred.

.

Asked about two thirds of Americans’ opposition to war, Cheney says, ‘So?’

“War is merely a continuation of politics by other means.” Though Clausewitz didn’t intend it to be used this way, the quote has gained a life of its own for the bald truths contained within it. First that war is always a choice (though, rarely, the only other choice is surrender) and second….that it is a choice made by politicians.

My fellow citizens, at this hour, American and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm Iraq, to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger.

George Bush, March 19, 2003

.

What if that choice didn’t exist? What if war was not an option for politicians?

.

America must not ignore the threat gathering against us. Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof, the smoking gun that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud.

George W. Bush

We can’t allow the world’s worst leaders to blackmail, threaten, hold freedom-loving nations hostage with the world’s worst weapons.

George W. Bush

We know that dictators are quick to choose aggression, while free nations strive to resolve differences in peace.

George W. Bush

I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we’re really talking about peace.

George W. Bush

Though Clausewitz was merely reflecting the reality of our times…he was wrong. War is not a continuation of politics, it is the failure of politics, and of diplomacy, and reason, and imagination…and most importantly, will. It is the choice of dullards. Dullards who inevitably, somehow, manage to profit from their failures to achieve peace. War is always…..a failure.