Resolving Our Growing Pains

By Judith Gayle | Political Waves

It’s been a rather amazing week, full of human interest stories. I’d say that those kinds of reports are diversions from our larger problems of climate change and global toxicity, but, hey! If we’re not examining our human condition with an eye toward discovery, toward growth, toward evolution, it won’t matter whether we have a world to plunk our junk in or not.

Political Blog, News, Information, Astrological Perspective. Meanwhile, politics remain obtuse: two separate world visions colliding in a crash of fury and frustration, stalemate the result. With the Republicans newly candid about their strategy to deny the black guy any wins at all, it’s evident to all of us that we’re going nowhere, fast. Perhaps, this hitch in our giddy-up is — like the wolf told Grandma — all the better to see with, my dear.

When we’re stopped from forward movement, stymied by such outrageous circumstance, we must — as my late father would say — adjust, migrate or die. Adjusting to our current situation means accepting that there are several versions of reality floating around out there, and we’ve seen that it will take more than the sharp pin of logic or science to pop the bubbles. Yes, some of us may migrate, some of us die, but the majority will learn to adapt by looking carefully, learning to recognize what we’re seeing, even glimpsing the shadow side of ourselves.

Everything seems like a Rubik’s Cube these days, a puzzle hard to solve. Let’s take the attack on the American Embassy in Benghazi, for instance. During Bush’s tenure, there were assaults on our embassies in Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Athens, Serbia and Yemen. I don’t remember any of them and evidently, neither do the Republicans, because those attacks are never EVER mentioned on their side of the hall. And yet, looking for any event that might illustrate Obama’s weakness in handling foreign affairs (which they consider their own political bailiwick), they did everything — are STILL doing everything — in their power to create it as a stake through the heart of the Pretender in the White House.

In a narrative that began as the sitting president and Mitt Romney faced off as candidates last summer, the Pubs had it that not only had Clinton mismanaged an expected attack but that Obama was personally micro-managing a cover-up. Romney was twice bitten by his inability to sell this to the American public, but he didn’t give up, nor did his party. The rhetoric continues to ratchet up these many months since, with ridiculous allegations from prominent Pubs calling this a scandal worse than Watergate. Wing-nut ex-Governor and presidential candidate Mike Huckabee announced on his radio program that when the scope of it is revealed, “… this president will not fill out his full term.” Busy wrestling REAL problems in our respective worlds, few of us have invested in this paranoia.

There are layers of speculation, beyond the obvious, for this unhappy event, heatedly discussed on FOX and offered for sampling by people like Lou Dobbs. The story lines are diverse: this was Obama, Clinton and Petraeus in cahoots with the CIA in mishandling a gun-running adventure with Syrian rebels. Or it was an Obama campaign plot in tandem with terrorists — an October surprise — to kidnap Chris Stevens, then earn security cred by exchanging him for Blind Sheikh Omar. Google any of this and you’ll find it in the far-right blogosphere, along with the absolute certainty of the fringe that Obama would be moving into his new mansion in Hawaii in January this year, as he handily lost the election.

For further details on alternate realities, Yahoo has the story on “Benghazi-truthers” and — I had to laugh — one of their sponsors is newsmax.com (favorite of the foaming, frothing right) which, at my reading, advertised an article entitled “3 Early Signs of Dementia.” I couldn’t have said it better.

Tragic though Benghazi was, and unprepared as we may have been — hampered funding, some $300 million cut from the embassy security budget, squarely placed at the Pubs feet, thank you — there was limited fallout during the election, and the blame seemed to shift mainly to the shoulders of U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, denying her a potential appointment. Beating this dead horse into a bloody pulp and anxious for a do-over, the Pubs invited “whistleblowers” to Congress this week. Carefully orchestrated by strong-arm specialist Rep. Darrell Issa, State Department employees came forward with details of the tragic incident but little new information regarding culpability. As CNN contributor David Rothkopf, noted:

Rep. Darrell Issa must be ruing his bad luck. The hearing he carefully orchestrated to pick at the scab of Benghazi was stepped on by the verdict in the Jodi Arias murder trial and by the story of three women held captive and brutalized for a decade in Cleveland. He was out-sensationalized and out-tawdried this week despite his own best efforts and those of his committee colleagues and staff members.

Out-sensationalized and out-tawdried. Yes, all of the above, yet these glaring and disturbing crimes did give us a closer look at ourselves, as does everything we see these days. Sometimes, we find a silver lining, a potent mirror to reflect us back to ourselves. Occasionally, we even find a miracle or two.

In Ohio, an animated gent named Charles Ramsey earned stars in his crown by responding to the frantic calls of a young woman in the house next door. He figured, he said, that it must be a problem of domestic abuse, something of which Charles has familiarity having served time for a similar crime. But this was more than a family squabble and violence. It turned out to include multiple counts of rape and kidnap, a decade of imprisonment as sex slaves for three missing women, all at the hands of a mild-mannered neighbor with whom an amazed Charles shared barbecue.

Something of a social observer, our good Samaritan had this to say when an ABC reporter asked him to recount the incident: “Bro, I knew something was wrong when a little pretty white girl ran into a black man’s arms. Something is wrong here. Dead giveaway. Dead giveaway. Deeeeeeeeeeaaaaaad giveaway. Either she’s homeless, or she’s got problems. That’s the only reason she’d run to a black man.”

It should be noted that after that first sentence, the reporter studiously began to back up, but Charles, bless him, kept leaning in with his steady stream of chat. It’s corporate policy that the press has turned into such a sissy-ass impediment to hearing hard truth, avoiding the politically incorrect at all costs, and it’s an embarrassment to the profession and a detriment to the integrity of the national dialogue.

If we want a look at news with a bite, we have to click over to Comedy Central and watch Jon Stewart go after ghoulish Nancy Grace, for instance. Grace is a woman full of bile and accusation, linked to two prior suicides due to her aggressive questioning and innuendo. Nancy enjoys high ratings among those who favor the tabloids, and now that Jody Arias has been found guilty, she’s in search of another case that will mesmerize and mystify. In this clip, she relishes the taste of Ariel Castro on her tongue. Doubtful that she can resist a case so obviously perverse and tragic for long.

In other improbable news, a surprisingly healthy woman was discovered by workers digging through the 7,000 tons of debris left from the Bangladesh factory fire that occurred 17 days ago. She had survived by eating bits of dried food and drinking bottled water in the tiny space she inhabited. This is not only the kind of miracle that delights us all, but also offers a reproachful look at the unregulated 20-billion-dollar garment industry that feeds clothing and specialty items into the Western market. Workers paid as little as 17 cents an hour were virtual prisoners in the failing factory infrastructure, warned they would lose a month’s pay if they did not show up for their shift.

Only a problem in undeveloped nations, you say? Think again. Outside of Oxnard, California, a group of strawberry pickers were warned by their foreman to ignore the smoke and ash from a nearby wildfire or lose their jobs. When they took shelter from the fire, sure enough, they were fired. Not union members, they nevertheless appealed for help from the United Farm Workers, with excellent result. When we talk about unions, the rhetoric seems to invariably pitch upwards into hysterical tones about huge paychecks and unreasonable benefits, but it seldom discusses the obvious: worker rights. Without the unions, we’re ham-strung, unprotected and unable to negotiate for our own good.

Over a thousand wage-earners in Bangladesh died without advocates, while fifteen in California summoned the spirit to protect their health and well being, then seek intercessors. The neo-liberal policies that have created us all as worker bees, directed to dine on the crumbs from the plates of the wealthy but never join them, are still vulnerable to the remaining bits of law that inhibit them. Like holding up a cross to a vampire, that moment’s hesitation felt by the owner of the strawberry fields was the A-HA we must notice, and expand.

THAT’s what we should focus on as we read this story, as we read ALL these stories of slavery and abuse, of manipulation and exploitation. It is not enough to cluck our tongues, as we have over the school shootings and congressional obstruction. The laws of our country reflect the moral compass of our souls, and it is a harsh truth that the progressive rule of law that we have relied on for close to a century is in tatters. The lawmakers have failed us, as we have failed our candidates — and, as we have failed to defend the liberties of others, we have lost our own.

The days of finger-pointing must end. Can we see any of our selves in those we scrutinize, I wonder? Are we brave enough to face our shadow-side? In some small way, are we like the Daryl Issas of the world, conniving and controlling in dogged pursuit of our goals? Can we relate to the despair of someone like Ariel Castro when he writes in an (unaccomplished) suicide note that he can’t help himself? Have we had the courage of a Charles Ramsey, his unguarded, unselfconscious dialogue telling (racial) truth that makes his listeners uncomfortable? Even — Gawd help — is some bit of us like Nancy Grace, harsh judgment at the ready, invested in the drama without assessing the consequences?

If you can’t get a glimpse of that within yourself, here’s an idea: ask your best friend — the one you trust the most, the one who knows your secrets — to tell you about yourself. Here are the rules to this experiment:

Don’t pounce on them if they step on your toe.

Don’t bite them if they nail that part you thought was well hidden.

Don’t defend yourself lest you betray the trust you’ve placed in that one whom you have asked to reveal you.

Don’t even ask for truth unless you’re ready to hear.

There is every reason to want to know those parts of you that express without your permission, perhaps even your awareness, even if it’s difficult to hear. When we know who we are, we no longer have the need to drag our baggage, our story, our unforgiveness, behind us. As we enter this quickening of eclipses — closing out old energy and ushering in new — it’s important to remember that as we grow, we OUTgrow the old. We can leave what no longer serves behind, no harm, no foul — like a chrysalis abandoned by a butterfly.

When we start anew, we can be encouraged that the old thoughts, the outgrown habits, the discarded behaviors of a lifetime will no longer act as our default, our auto-pilot. We can find startling new ways to look at the world, ourselves and those around us. We can work through our growing pains to weed out the subliminal messages we tell ourselves, the dark imaginings we nurture and protect, our unkindness to self and others.

Where we make space within ourselves, that void will fill with tenderness for one another, if that is our choice. When we make space for love, we dissolve pain. Then we will have changed what we magnetize to ourselves, drawing to us all we need. As we open to love, we leave the sensational and tawdry, the self-serving and manipulative behind. When we decide to forgive ourselves and one another, filling ourselves with hope for tomorrow, we discover a clear path forward. When we love ourselves whole again, we change the world.

8 thoughts on “Resolving Our Growing Pains”

  1. This is a beautiful guide to that dance. But. A shadow can also be the feeling that you’re insignificant, that you have no right to speak, that you can’t make a difference, that your life is not so bad and you should just be grateful. This is the shadow of self-doubt and self-undervaluation. The strawberry pickers are exploited, the clothing sweatshop workers are exploited–but so are health care workers, call-center workers, admin people, code monkeys far and wide. People one to three steps up from the most vulnerable look around and say, well, I’m not labor, I’m a professional! I’m not poor, I even have health insurance…sort of…except when my child actually needs it…but I even have vacation!…except when I ask to use it…and I don’t dare ask because I know I’m expendable, disposable, valueless. Exploitation isn’t always obvious. Unions get killed off or hijacked or never form at all. Yep, there are people in far worse shape. But if we can each correct the dynamic where it’s happening to us, as it happens, the power could build.

  2. Wow, Jude. i know what just happened to me as i read this piece. It may be a long time before i figure out how you did it. Thank you for an excellent workshop on “The Shadow” and for the challenge on how to explore it. Just gotta find that partner in my vicinity soon (it seems that physical proximity would be essential to your recommended exercise). As our treasured and be-autiful “be” astutely observed there are correlations in the astrology, notably with Chiron. But with astrology or not, this piece today is an experience in transcendence that would cause Ralph Waldo to bow to you as i do now, with gratitude.

  3. Yes the Tyrant is corrupt and in cyclical process being broken down. How long will it take to transform this energy in our world-planet is the question though??

    And this eclipse series fueled with Mars energy towards the underworld in Lilith and the current Jupiter opposition to Ixion and Pholus, sees that justice is demanded for past abuses, through their mythological stories and playing out for real! in our world events of slavery that continue to bring consciousness and balance here. But it is going to have to take courage and action of us all to stand up, not take it by the politicians to defend the right of our vulnerable. This needs to be acted on instead of just viewed as valuable.

  4. To reiterate, here is today’s PW Oracle:

    Oracle takes us to the Aries daily for August 12, 2005

    Astrology Blog: The Oracle, Weekly Horoscopes, Monthly Horoscopes.

    Ask most people what’s important to them and they will tell you one thing and do something entirely different. Everyone has done this at some point and it’s a kind of hypocrisy that you need to rise above once and for all. What matters in your life is what matters and that’s what you need to act on. Looked at another way what you do is in fact what matters and the rest is just talk. Therefore if you really care about a certain situation quite close to home you’ll be the first one to make a move. You will make a difference.

  5. Amen Sister Jude, I’ve felt this a-ha moment myself; seen the unpleasant side of self and grappled with its unpleasant revelation. I believe you are right; through this series of eclipses we are getting closer and closer to a new birth of consciousness. All of us, altogether, though trying as we do to dismiss our guilty feelings, we must still acknowledge our part. We are the prisoners and we are the prison keepers.

    But it can and must change and we are given opportunity after opportunity, cycle after cycle, to grab the gold ring and become free of our auto-pilot thoughts and habits. P. Sophia points out that Jupiter is almost to the degree that opposes Ixion. In myth, Jupiter (Zeus) forgave Ixion and gave him a second chance, which Ixion screwed up. The U.S. was also given a second chance this year with a solar return chart that repeats the original (Sibly) chart’s ascendant (beginning) and midheaven (how it all turns out). We still have almost 2 months time to take advantage of it. The Universe has also provided us two chances via the yod between Saturn, Pluto and Jupiter (in the Dec. Solstice and March Equinox) to grab the gold ring.

    The new U.S. Solar Return chart (2013) effective this coming July will have Chiron the Healer at 13 Pisces trine the U.S. Sun at 13 Cancer. The Sun also will have an opposition to Pluto, but this Pluto will be the apex (point) of a yod between the Moon in Gemini who sextiles Venus in Leo. If the Moon stands for the People and Venus stands for the Values of the People, and they will be pushing relentless Pluto to purge what’s no longer needed; the auto-pilot thoughts and habits, we CAN transform.

    The U.S. Sun will also be squared by Uranus in Aries in the new solar return, as will be the transiting Pluto. This will also activate the U.S. natal Saturn at 14 Libra. The U.S. Solar Return chart for 2013 has the Uranian Point ZeUS at 14 Libra, opposite the solar return Uranus, but will trine the solar return Juno (equal partner) at 17 Aquarius rx too. There is extraordinary challenge in this new solar return chart, but equally, there is extraordinary support.

    The U.S. natal Sibly Jupiter will be celebrating it’s return in July, and when it does it will be part of a grand water trine with Saturn in Scorpio and Neptune in Pisces. If that ain’t love then I don’t know what more the heavens could provide us to help push through our growing pains. It’s now or never.
    be

  6. Interesting article, Judith.

    An I mean interesting in a good way. Thought provoking.

    Chris Hedges is my hero. Not only did he file and win a lawsuit suing President Obama against the signing of the NDAA in the Northern District Court of New York, but he continually and fearlessly speaks truth to power. He denounced the New York Times over the war in Iraq and left his job as a result. He resigned from PEN and refused to speak at their festival over the hiring of a supporter of the war.

    Judith, I agree with you in so many ways, however, the fact that our civil liberties are being taken from us on an almost daily basis cannot be denied. Eric had the courage to address the tanks in the streets of Boston after the bombing and was criticized by some PW readers for it. The current system is broken. We can assimilate into a society of drone warfare and military control for corporate power or we can summon our moral courage and make a stand. In order to do that we need to confront our shadow self for sure, but we are running out of time.

    In a powerful recent talk to the Green Party available on Youtube Chris Hedges states:

    “We cannot build a movement unless we are ruthlessly and relentlessly self-critical.”

    “We cannot play by their rules.”

    “Supporting acts of civil disobedience creates logistics by which resistance is possible.”

    “We have undergone a corporate coup-d’état and it’s over and they have won.”

    “We continue to funnel energy into a dead political system that is theatrical farce.”

    “Obama is a brand.”

    If I’m still around, I look forward to 2016 so I can see for myself if the Obama family moves into their $35 million dollar estate that Penny Pritzker, now Secretary of Commerce, sponsored for them. I have no doubt there will be other homes as well.

    I spent time at Zuccotti Park, handing out my letters to Warren Buffett and speaking for the need for a new system of equality and sustainability. The crystal clear, divine spirit of unity and good will could be felt by everyone who stepped foot on that little patch of earth in the middle of a concrete city. One Saturday, I was talking to a group of six or seven people when a woman stopped to listen and smiled. When I was finished I turned to her and she said that the reason why she stopped to listen was she could feel the spiritual force coming through my words and that it was rare when dealing with political issues to feel that without the anger. My frustration NOW is that we seem to never learn and as a result we repeat again and again the same mistakes which lead further and further away from what most of us want for the world. And the stakes keep getting bigger. When I took the Transition Town Training four summers ago, carbon emissions were at 360. We have just hit the 400 mark as of the day of the eclipse. Hello Beautiful People!!!!!

    Like Martin Luther King, Jr. Chris Hedges is a minister, both had father’s who were ministers. They grew up in homes where conscience and morals mattered and possessing these characteristics required something of them. It required them to act. Hedges is moving or has moved into a dangerous arena. The possibility exists that, like King, someone will silence him. He continues anyway, driven by the desire to leave his children a brighter future.

    When the judge ruled in Hedges favor the Obama administration and our Attorney General were right there to file a stay. Keep the lid on things.

    Bradley Manning is a symbol and a threat. He is a symbol of what is morally best in each of us and a threat to what will happen if we step out of line.

    Mia

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