As human beings, not only do we seek resolution, but we also feel that we deserve resolution. However, not only do we not deserve resolution, we suffer from resolution. We don't deserve resolution; we deserve something better than that. We deserve our birthright, which is the middle way, an open state of mind that can relax with paradox and ambiguity. To the degree that we've been avoiding uncertainty, we're naturally going to have withdrawal symptoms--withdrawal from always thinking that there's a problem and that someone, somewhere, needs to fix it.
The middle way is wide open, but it's tough going, because it goes against the grain of an ancient neurotic pattern that we all share. When we feel lonely, when we feel hopeless, what we want to do is move to the right or the left. We don't want to sit and feel what we feel. We don't want to go through the detox. Yet the middle way encourages us to do just that. It encourages us to awaken the bravery that exists in everyone without exception, including you and me.
Meditation provides a way for us to train in the middle way--in staying right on the spot. We are encouraged not to judge whatever arises in our mind. In fact, we are encouraged not to even grasp whatever arises in our mind. What we usually call good or bad we simply acknowledge as thinking, without all the usual drama that goes along with right and wrong. We are instructed to let the thoughts come and go as if touching a bubble with a feather. This straightforward discipline prepares us to stop struggling and discover a fresh, unbiased state of being.
When Things Fall Apart. "Six Kinds of Loneliness". (54-55)
bumbling mumbling with a hint of insight
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Friday, July 13, 2007
Pulling Out
Of the war that is. BBC News published an article this morning (presumably along with every other news source in the nation and, quite possibly, the world) that the US House passed legislation calling for the removal of most US Troops from Iraq by next April. I really haven't been following this quite as well I should have been, but I do have an understanding of the gradual turnover of opinions being seen in the House and Senate from the past couple of months. So far the House and called to end US military involvement in Iraq three times--which were either shut down in the Senate or by President Bush.
It's quite interesting. There is a quote in the BBC News article: "But Mr Bush rejected calls for a withdrawal of US forces, saying it would be disastrous. He said troops would only be withdrawn when conditions were right, 'not because pollsters say it'll be good politics'."
Well, my question is when will conditions be right? When will it feel "okay" to leave the Iraqis on their own? When all the building are destroyed? When military officers outnumber citizens? When their culture becomes extinct? When Iraq is no longer Iraq?
The fear that has been pumped into our hearts in astounding. I don't know what or who to blame here, in fact, I don't feel like I can blame anyone or anything. The people are turning on our current administration, and that change I can certainly see happening. I think most people can. But what I don't understand is why we continue to sit. We protest, we march on Washington with our ready-made posters and our visible slogans that muster up chuckles and laughs. But it all just divides us more. I don't even know where to start. It's so disheartening.
And I can't possibly have an educated opinion on how the Iraqis must feel, must want, must need for themselves. I have never talked to one of them. I haven't gone there yet. I haven't seen the events turn for so many years now. I can't possibly know how to think in this matter, and neither do most people. I will never trust what the newspapers are saying, what the television shows, what the President of my own country has to say about the war, about the people, about what they need and what I need. I can't possibly believe in that.
Currently I am reading this book called The Suitcase: Refugee Voices from Bosnia and Croatia. "A woman with two little girls said, "I have even lost faith in humanitarian aid. I have a feeling that even people who are helping us are doing it for themselves and not for us. That is why I want to forget my story and never tell it to anyone again. I don't even feel like a refugee anymore. I just feel poor (79). To think of humanitarian aid, something I want to devote my life to, in this way, breaks my heart. It doesn't even make sense that people could be hurting other people, saying they are helping, but really are just helping themselves. Does this look similar to anything we are seeing in Iraq? To help create stability for the Iraqi people? To help bring them democracy? To help them regain their own lives? History seems to repeat itself...
In some ways I wish I had been paying attention since 2003, with my ears and eyes closely following the news headlines on TV and in the papers. But another part of me, the bigger part, is okay with my withdrawal. Its because I just do not trust the eyes, the ears, the telephone of information that is strung from person to person and finally dumped onto the colorful headlines of Fox News, CNN, ABC, The Times, The Globe, etc etc. The point of the game telephone is to see if the message changes at all when whispered from person to person. Usually it ends up changing, which in turn changes the purpose, the idea, the understanding of what has been said or seen.
Let's connect the dots. I still feel at a loss...
It's quite interesting. There is a quote in the BBC News article: "But Mr Bush rejected calls for a withdrawal of US forces, saying it would be disastrous. He said troops would only be withdrawn when conditions were right, 'not because pollsters say it'll be good politics'."
Well, my question is when will conditions be right? When will it feel "okay" to leave the Iraqis on their own? When all the building are destroyed? When military officers outnumber citizens? When their culture becomes extinct? When Iraq is no longer Iraq?
The fear that has been pumped into our hearts in astounding. I don't know what or who to blame here, in fact, I don't feel like I can blame anyone or anything. The people are turning on our current administration, and that change I can certainly see happening. I think most people can. But what I don't understand is why we continue to sit. We protest, we march on Washington with our ready-made posters and our visible slogans that muster up chuckles and laughs. But it all just divides us more. I don't even know where to start. It's so disheartening.
And I can't possibly have an educated opinion on how the Iraqis must feel, must want, must need for themselves. I have never talked to one of them. I haven't gone there yet. I haven't seen the events turn for so many years now. I can't possibly know how to think in this matter, and neither do most people. I will never trust what the newspapers are saying, what the television shows, what the President of my own country has to say about the war, about the people, about what they need and what I need. I can't possibly believe in that.
Currently I am reading this book called The Suitcase: Refugee Voices from Bosnia and Croatia. "A woman with two little girls said, "I have even lost faith in humanitarian aid. I have a feeling that even people who are helping us are doing it for themselves and not for us. That is why I want to forget my story and never tell it to anyone again. I don't even feel like a refugee anymore. I just feel poor (79). To think of humanitarian aid, something I want to devote my life to, in this way, breaks my heart. It doesn't even make sense that people could be hurting other people, saying they are helping, but really are just helping themselves. Does this look similar to anything we are seeing in Iraq? To help create stability for the Iraqi people? To help bring them democracy? To help them regain their own lives? History seems to repeat itself...
In some ways I wish I had been paying attention since 2003, with my ears and eyes closely following the news headlines on TV and in the papers. But another part of me, the bigger part, is okay with my withdrawal. Its because I just do not trust the eyes, the ears, the telephone of information that is strung from person to person and finally dumped onto the colorful headlines of Fox News, CNN, ABC, The Times, The Globe, etc etc. The point of the game telephone is to see if the message changes at all when whispered from person to person. Usually it ends up changing, which in turn changes the purpose, the idea, the understanding of what has been said or seen.
Let's connect the dots. I still feel at a loss...