Poet Gene Derwood made this observation in the early 1960’s. I’m not for sure which “big thoughts” she was talking about but I know one that had us (I live in the United States) then was Communism and fear that the Communist threat was going to lead to our destruction. And since then I’ve seen “big thoughts” come and go and have learned to take all of them with a grain of salt, realizing that they are only “thoughts” or ideas.

Ideas are very powerful and are an essential part of what makes us human, probably the most essential part. But, like everything else we touch, we tend to corrupt our ability to think and pervert it into a means of controlling the world or at least vying to control the world. I have quoted Goethe often, “They call it reason, using light celestial, just to outdo the beasts in being bestial.” And when we allow our ideas to dominate us, and use them to seek to dominate others, we have suddenly become an ideologue. And ideologues are dangerous as if they are allowed to bring the poison in the heart to full fruition, they will kill in the interest of these ideas, even “noble” ideas. The best example is the Christian strategy in yesteryear of “encouraging” conversion at the point of a sword or the current Muslim extremist strategy of killing those that disagree with them.

We look at those two examples of ideological excess and shake our heads, taking smug comfort in realizing that we would never do anything like that. And most of us would not. However, we are all cherish our ideas and tend to take them too seriously, tending to take them as an end in themselves and failing to realize the wisdom in the Buddhist observation about words, “The finger pointing to the moon is not the moon.”

Of course, here I am talking about ya’ll as I am different and my ideas are more legitimate and not of the specious variety that you and the rest of the world are confined to. (wink, wink!) Seriously, here I use ideas to communicate but realize that these ideas are successful only if they reach willing ears and evoke some response from the heart. And that response might be “Wow, you are wonderful and brilliant and I’m gonna send you a lot of money real soon” which is the preferred response. (And, btw, I want gold bullion, no more of those damn rupees!) Or, the response might be quite contrary, something to the effect of, “Huh?????” or “Duhh” or “What the F___!” or “You are nuts!”

At this point in my life, here in the WP format and in my day to day life, I toss ideas out from time to time and appreciate the thoughtful responses I get. But I have no illusion that these ideas are of great “importance” or that anyone needs to believe them or agree with them. These ideas only reveal my perspective on the world and I do believe that this feeble, flawed, self-serving perspective has a certain importance in the universe though much less than I was taught as a child it might.

I must now turn off the spigot to this infinite wisdom and turn my attention to the enterprise which gives my life true meaning, continuing to work on constructing the world’s 17th largest ball of yarn in my back yard!

Of course, I am being ironic and I am speaking from experience. When growing up I was taught to blame “the world” or “Satan” or those “dang liberals” and it worked really well for decades. But, finally Reality bit me in the butt in my mid-thirties and I had to begin the arduous task of withdrawing my projections and accepting responsibility for my life.. I had to slowly learn that choices I had made, and was making, shaped my life and that I had at any particular moment the power to make better choices, better choices which could improve my lot in life. No, suddenly repenting like that (and “repenting” actually means “changing”) did not undo the bad choices I had made but it lessened the impact of some of them and empowered me to make better one’s in the present which could positively shape the unfolding of my life.

I found it really fascinating last week as the Tea Party and Republican party finally began to hear the giant sucking sound that has been toying with them for decades, their standard bearer, Senator Ted Cruz, came out and announced, “President Obama is trying to destroy the Republican Party.” Wow! Republicans themselves were openly discussing the disarray among their ranks and finally acknowledging the identity crisis that has been percolating in their soul for at least the past eight years. Anyone looking on with any meta-cognitive grasp of the world could see that the risk of destruction for the Republican party was from within its own ranks not from without But, demagogues like Cruz can never own up to their own faults and probably sincerely do not see them. They always have to project the cause of their misfortune outside of themselves, a procedure which resonates with the dispossessed who constitute the hyper-conservative wing of their base.

Obama would never wish for the destruction of the conservative voice in our political process as he knows it would bring calamity. He knows there must be dialogue and dialogue can take place only where there are different “presences” present. And if there is no “difference” present in any discussion, there is only an echo chamber. And an “echo chamber” ultimately leads to an expression of the Taliban that is present in all of our hearts.

–The denouement of my country’s budget crisis two days ago left me and other liberals flushed with victory. It is so delightful to win the ball game! But, my ego-satisfaction from the event was quickly given pause by the realization that the battle will continue and, more importantly, that the real issues that are on the table are beneath the surface and will not be resolved in my lifetime. In fact, they will never be “resolved” for these issues are human and will resurface in every generation. One of these core issues is answering the question, “How do I get what I want?” when “what I want” can only be achieved in a context and the context always involves other humans with a different set of wants seeking fulfillment with equal intensity. This issue boils down to the issue of compromise and when it comes to our wants….those “wants” in the depths of our heart…we must realize they do not want any compromise. At times I catch myself with my personal “wants” ready to tyrannize my little world and often feel that I’m a little boy again who is wanting to say, “Give me what I want or you’ll be sorry!” Or, as Senator Charles Schumer said yesterday morning, summarizing the Tea Party hubris which had just been roundly bitch-slapped by reality the night before, “I’m gonna hurt a lot of innocent people if I don’t get my way!”

In this ongoing political crisis, wiser heads must prevail, “heads” that are governed not by the lizard-brain wants that refuses to compromise but by that “pauser reason” that Shakespeare had such an understanding of. When we employ that “pauser reason” (given to us by the gods when they equipped us with a neo-cortex capable of meta-cognition), we can realize that our wants are best satisfied when we are willing to accept “some” satisfaction of our wants in exchange for letting others have some of theirs.

We do not exist in isolation. We exist in a context and that context must be respected even when at times it includes things which we are vehemently opposed to. We have to realize that the world is big enough that others can have “wants” that we find objectionable while we are left alone with own “wants” which others will find objectionable. But when individual or group wants go beyond the pale and seek to tyrannize others, Reality will eventually set in and “bitch slap” the offending person or group. In my country we have the luxury of being part of a “bitch slap” when we cast our vote and voice our opinion. Some cultures have at their disposal a less eloquent, less sublimated, bitch-slapping process so often vividly illustrated around the world. One example that comes to mind is the “regime change” in Libya two years ago when Gadaffi was “voted out of office” by the lizard-brain of his culture, culminating with his dying body being dragged through the streets and eventually being sodomized by a metal pole. Each of us has the same lizard brain and if unchecked by the God-given “pauser reason” our wants too, individually and collectively, will be expressed with similar expressions of violence. It is not pleasant to see avarice and violence of this sort in our own heart but it is there and if we don’t own it, it will find expression in our attitudes and actions. Lewis Chamness
ph. 479 422-4777

Certainty is scary. If there is any doubt, just look at the Taliban…or, if you dare, the Taliban’s proxy in our country, the Tea Party. T. S. Eliot once advised us to forego our certainties for a moment, to “live in the breakage, in the collapse of what was believed in as most certain and therefore the fittest for renunciation.” Eliot realized that it is always our assumptions that create our greatest griefs, individually and collectively. The tyranny of assumptions once gave us the flat earth, for example, and other iron-clad certainties such as the “fact” that women are best kept in the household, that blacks are inferior, that homosexuals are evil, and that the earth is just 6,000 years old. And “assumptions” burned a lot of “witches” at the stake and brutally killed a lot of “heathen” for not believing in the right god. And, I could go on and on…

Now, with this critical view of “certainty”, I am surely not saying that we should live our lives in an eternal flux, waking up each day to a completely confusing world of “non”-sense. To question every dimension of our experience, individually and collectively, can easily just be a narcissistic enterprise in navel-gazing. Those who are that existentially insecure, and fall into this trap, are going to have trouble functioning and, yes, at some point will merit the description, “nuts”! But it is important to recognize the “tyranny of assumptions” in our history, personally and collectively, and from time to time use God’s gift of reason, Shakespeare called it “the pauser reason,” to examine our heart and consider if we are “tyrannizing” with our assumptions somewhere in our life. And, the best place to start is always in our relationships to those closest to us for in our intimate relationships our “assumptions” most often come out to play. And political parties and their factions (conservative and liberal), religious groups, and all ideological belief systems need to do the same. And, “Why not?” What harm will it do?” What harm could come from occasionally looking at where our assumptions, our premises, lead us? Well, actually this can lead to great harm to the social cohesion of the group which is the reason that rarely are they given attention, especially with more conservative groups. And, marriages can be jeopardized too but not if each of the persons are willing to humble themselves and realize they need to embrace a paradigm shift and open their heart and mind a bit, making more room for their mate. (W. H. Auden posed the question, “Suppose we love not friends or wives, but certain patterns in our lives.”)

Richard Rohr, the Franciscan monk that I esteem so highly, recently provided a different take on Jesus’ words on the cross, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Rohr explained that Jesus was merely pointing out that those men were not “conscious” of what they were doing, but were driven by intense emotion, emotions which T.S. Eliot once described as “daemonic, chthonic powers.” Those people were not “thinking” but merely acting, or better yet, “acting out”. They were the “toy of some great pain” which they had not found the ability to integrate into their consciousness and thus could only project onto someone else. Jung has said, “What we resist, persists” and when we have ugliness abounding in our heart, it persists and does so always in projection “out there” onto someone else or some other group. But even if the foe is vanquished, the pain is still there as it has not been brought to conscious awareness and will merely find another victim. For, it always has to be one of “them” who is the problem.

Thus I come to the Tea Party, my “whipping boy” of the day. They hate Obama with a passion and have used that and other hatreds to unite them as a peripheral political force, one that has managed to influence the Republican party most of which does not view things as rigidly as they do. The moderate Republicans could have set limits at any point along the way and spared themselves the present mess they are in. For example, they could have merely told the hyper-conservative wing of their party at any time, “Hey, you guys who think the earth is only 6,000 years old need to get your head out of your backside” and that would have told these neanderthals that there was a limit that could be set at anytime by the Republican mainstream. But, the “mainstream” was insecure about its agenda and felt it had to cater to those “neanderthals” and win their support as otherwise they could not win national elections.

And, once again I am reminded that in group behavior there are always lessons for the individual. Setting limits is an essential element of being human and if we can’t set them…or, if the ability to set them is impaired…we will at some point find ourselves in a “heap a’ trouble.” And, as I have said frequently of latte, “been there, done that” as I speak from experience. For I today, just like the Tea Party…and everyone else…need to remember the wisdom of W. H. Auden, “We wage the war we are.”

Science is the prevailing mythology of the day and I even think that in a way it is our God for our consensus in our culture is that the answers to life appear to lie in science. Now by calling it our “mythology”, I am certainly not dismissing it but merely drawing attention to the ephemeral nature of the whole of reality, including human reason. Now I think this modern day “prevailing myth” is a step in the right direction, providing mankind with opportunities to make this world a better place for all of us. AND, I do think that use and application of this prevailing mythology could be greatly enhanced by a moral perspective that can be obtained from such mythologies as that of the Judeo-Christian tradition that I subscribe to. I do not think that science and faith are mutually exclusive.

But the Tea Party extreme of the Republican Party represents a different take on this matter. Their deep-seated aversion for science reflects a view of the world that influences everything they think, say, and do and explains their Taliban-like rigidity. For example, modern science presents us with a view of the world as a dynamic process which is difficult to understand and is actually very humbling if you stop to think about it. True, some scientists don’t look at it this way, viewing it only a matter of time until we figure it all out and can…basically…wrap our head around the mystery of life. But then there is the other extreme, represented by the Tea Party science deniers, who insist that their view of the world…the physical world and spiritual world, the whole of reality…is “right” and that they have been able to wrap their head around it. The notion that reality is in flux would bring them face to face with a Mystery that would challenge their concrete-thinking faith and make them deal with the profound existential uncertainty and doubt that lurks in their heart. It is because of the unconscious fear of this abyss in their heart that they cling tenaciously to their way of looking at the world, to their “certainties”, and can brazenly declare they are “right” on matters such as the current government shut-down and looming debt crisis. Now, once again, this is not idle theory nor is it “fact.” I speak from experience as I have “been there, done that” and sure enough there is an “abyss” of uncertainty and doubt that has to be addressed when you forego your concrete-thinking grasp of the world. But, I can say with utmost sincerity that the “abyss” was an opportunity for faith in my case and my faith has deepened through the experience. But, my faith is not of the same variety as it used to be when, I now realize, it was basically merely a faith in my faith; or, to put it differently, a faith in myself or my ego-consciousness. It was a confidence in reason as a way to figure things out and to “”wrap my head around” a Mystery that cannot ever be grasped but which is powerfully Present nevertheless

Obama was right that he can’t negotiate with people who have a “bomb strapped around their chest”. Karl Rove has called them “the nutty fringe” of his party. John Boehner has referred to them as “knuckle draggers.” Other Republicans have openly admitted, “We’ve been hijacked!” Yet, the Tea Party was able to accrue this power because the Republican Party had such little confidence in the tenability of its agenda without the support of these “low-information voters.”

This is a scary moment for our country and even for the world, given the significant position we have in the global economy. There is no telling what will come of this. As Shakespeare put it, “”We know what we are, but know not what we may be.”

This old hippie bromide from the Sixties, though a bromide, is very profound. It reflects detachment from the exigencies of life, realizing that be it bad or good, “This too shall pass.” And that is helpful when life gets difficult but it is also helpful to apply it to the whole of your life and even to the whole of life itself.. It helps bring to mind the transitory nature of life and reflects a latent hope that even though “this” will pass, the process of life will continue.

I have been applying this bit of wisdom to our Congress’s current impasse. Now I have intense feelings about this matter and am not remaining aloof from the issues at all. I am even angry at the way a handful of hyper-conservative Republicans can hold our entire government and country hostage. But my anger and the whole of my emotions are mitigated by the realization that, “This too shall pass.”

Now it is easy for me to be so philosophical about the issue as I can handle the impact…for a while. Others are not so fortunate. Others are hurting already and more will join them as this political battle of wills continues. Yet this minority of the House…some thirty in number… will not budge because they know they are right. One of them even said as much. And people who “know” they are right are really scary. I know as I used to be one of them until I finally learned that my confidence was specious, that it was actually a desperate effort to hide a profound existential insecurity and doubt about myself and life itself; and, yes, doubt of God.

Yet, once again I return to, “This too shall pass” for the whole of human experience is a tempest in a tea pot in some sense and this particular present-day tempest is really pretty trivial in the grand scheme of things. Those who are dug in at the heels on the issue could benefit from realizing this and perhaps they could be less intransigent. They should remember the observation of Shakespeare, “There is a destiny that doeth shape our ends, rough hew them how we may.” And, though there is “rough hewing” underway presently, I have firm confidence in that Destiny that is always Present, always doing its handiwork always in spite of those who take themselves to be so important.

Well, it is over and we can now rest at ease knowing that the tumult of Walter White’s life came to a more or less acceptable resolution. Yes, BREAKING BAD concluded last night and I did get to see the concluding episode and did not have to sacrifice any small furry animal to accomplish this!

I just concluded reading Maureen Ryan’s column in Huffington Post and she provides a brilliant analysis of the episode and the series. I noted as I read this column that it was almost as if I was reading literary analysis. But then, as I noted yesterday, Breaking Bad has a literary quality to it as it is not merely entertainment but is a work of art diving straight into the heart of human existence. For example, one of Ryan’s points was that White always managed to come out on top in some way even in impossible circumstances, always managing to contrive an exit strategy which would further his interests. And even here, in this final episode in which he dies, he accomplishes his often announced purpose of taking care of his family even thought he had to arrange it in such a way that he will never get the credit for it. So, once again he made a “successful” exit. One could even say, he found a way to beat cancer in that he contrived a way to die under his terms and, in his own words, have a good time in the process. “I liked it,” he said at one point about his career in meth production.

The heart is complicated and these complications are difficult to bring to the page but good writers can do it. And good writers who are also good movie producers can, we are learning, bring the heart’s “beastly little treasures” to the “little screen” as well as the “big screen.” Oh yes, there is all that other drivel. But, if we are discriminating viewers we can find “good stuff” on Tv and Breaking Bad is the best thing I’ve ever seen. I will soon begin watching it again. And I strongly encourage you to read Ryan’s column.

One other thought about the literary quality of this TV show. I just stumbled across a quote from Franz Kafka, “Literature is the ax that cracks the frozen sea inside.” This show is an ax that can wreak havoc on our “frozen seas” if we approach it with a discriminating mind.