By Judith Gayle | Political Waves
The load of information we’re exposed to on a daily basis is overwhelming. I can’t tell you how full my brain is, packed tight with facts, concepts, insights, all seeking a file folder. I mentally compartmentalize this collection with some success, but rather than drop the ball I keep scads of files, on paper and on my hard drive.
Taking care of all that information is a full-time job, of course, so I’m constantly behind at disposing of outdated material and cyber-clutter. It dogs me. My 3D self whines and frets about the 4000-plus e-mails (mostly political alerts) in my inbox and the stacks of notes representing “some day” articles, comforting itself that I have at least chronicled my time here; my 5D Self quietly whispers that I AM that chronicle, I should just lean back and enjoy it.
But I can’t help myself. Every day I add to the files, cross-checking to see how my side’s doing. Yes, I have a side. I caucus with the rational, the open-minded and the progressive. No matter where I go or with whom, I am in the process of educating those around me to what’s happening in the world and in their society. It’s a form of self-defense: these people are completely unaware that they contribute to the mental/emotional construct that is our mutual, collective reality. In ways as old as time, then, they know not what they do.
After eight years of Orwellian Bush-speak and four more of truthiness featuring FOX stars like Rove, Hannity and Beck, many of us still have some catching up to do on what is real, what is necessary to promote a productive future rather than perpetuate the illusions of a retreating past. But we can’t just throw facts at our right-leaning brothers and sisters. We have seen that facts themselves seem to settle at the top of conservative thought like an oil-slick on water.
Still, you never know, things feel a bit differently these days, and in this time of internal chaos — with the unaware blindly defending their tribalism but the newly awake searching for options — some stray fact might be the pry-bar that lifts the lid and lets in the light. I salt conversation with my viewpoint, rightly assuming that here in the Pea Patch it is not the one most often heard. I’m pretty deft at reading my audience so as not to rub them the wrong way, but I’m driven to get the information out there. Once you know a thing, you can’t un-know it.
Read that again, it’s our lodestone: once you know a thing, you can’t un-know it. For instance, as a member of the first generation on the pill, I cannot un-know the liberty of contraception. As a woman born into the latter half of the 20th century, I can’t un-know the freedom of choice of sexual partners and practices, or the responsibility of choice to carry a fetus to term. My experience defines me; some of it was naughty, most of it was nice. There were some sorrows, as well, but coming from over thirty years of Course in Miracles consciousness, I’m not given to regret or remorse over apparent errors of the past. In fact, I believe that we can experience a lifetime of glorious mistakes, learning experiences and consciousness-changing events without choosing guilt as a companion, because — so exquisitely true — a child of God needs no defense.
No amount of superstitious shame-speak or guilt-mongering is going to impact my sexual self-definition, then, or encourage me to deny my fellow humans those same freedoms to sexually explore. We were all born with tingly parts, best to figure out what they’re for. But don’t listen to Rick Santorum, because he DOESN’T KNOW. I’m not sure how or when he poisoned his possibility of enjoying a functional life, but he did, and now he wants to poison ours.
And — God/dess bless the stunningly arrogant self-righteousness of the Republican radicals — it now appears that women everywhere have noticed that Mr. Santorum and his fellows don’t consider females’ personal freedom equal to their own. Across the board, and most dramatically in the swing states, women are shifting their allegiance to the Democratic party. With the exception of the stringently religious, women are running from the Calvinism that would take them back into barefoot pregnancy, and rejecting the overt sexism of the radical-right.
That’s our template for reform. We have talked so often about the political being personal. When it comes to your vagina or mine, when it impacts our daughters’ lives and futures, we’ll gather to make something happen. We have become capable of home-grown activism in these last years; we’ve organized on-line and gathered thousands of signatures — even hundreds of thousands — in hours. When our sensibility is outraged and our numbers grow impressive enough, we are able to crack what used to be insurmountable walls of resistance. During the Bush reign, before the economy went south, petition-signing had little impact and many of us grew weary with it; it’s a different story today. These days, corporations are concerned about profit while the public has discovered the power of the purse and a growing sense of outrage at having been played for far too long.
Boycott is the word of the day! We saw what happened to Rush Limbaugh, for instance, and you will be pleased to learn that he continues to lose sponsors, who now consider him too radical for their purposes. And look at pink slime: raw beef hips, lips and leftovers, pressure cooked and given an ammonia bath. Of the four plants that produced the grisly stuff, three have shut down due to public outcry, and one has gone bankrupt. Schools have made the filler optional and fast food joints have run from it in droves, lest the bad press impact their sales. That’s happened in a matter of weeks.
Here’s another example. Shortly after Trayvon Martin’s killing highlighted the Stand Your Ground laws, the right-wing American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) came under scrutiny. The organization, reportedly designed to “promote the principles of federalism,” is supported by tons of big business — the Koch brothers, the Coors and Scaife families, Exxon Mobil, Bayer, Reynolds, Wal-Mart and 300 other active corporations along with fundamentalist names you’d recognize like Dobson, Huckabee and Schlafly — promoting state legislation that favors corporate interest. Besides promoting the NRA’s Stand Your Ground law in Florida, ALEC is behind the punitive immigration law in Arizona and the push to disenfranchise minority voters with Voter ID bills in various states. People United for the American Way and the Color of Change groups went after ALEC, and just this week, because of public outcry, Coke, Pepsi and Kraft Foods have all withdrawn their support.
I wonder, is this what the Republicans mean when they talk about “the market correcting itself?” (OK, I’m a snot, but a snot ready to boycott companies that would take advantage of us all in the name of profit and ideology.)
Here’s one close to my heart. Every spring, baby seals are born to be clubbed to death by the Canadian fishing industry. Sign the Humane Society’s pledge to boycott Canadian seafood, here. And I can’t even begin to discuss the killing of dolphins in The Cove; thanks to Ellen deGeneris for giving this issue a good airing recently, exposing the cruelty of the Japanese fishing industry. Sad to report, deep Naval sonar here in our own nation killed sixty or more dolphins this week. So much to do, isn’t there?
This headline caught my eye yesterday: Sparrows Tweet Louder To Be Heard In Noisy Cities. A group of researchers who were studying the rise in urban noise in San Francisco’s Presidio district over the last thirty-five years found that little white-crowned sparrows, which could no longer be heard over the growing noise of cars, air conditioners, and leaf blowers, had learned to sing louder. Not only that, they scrapped their old song because the range was inadequate for the level of noise pollution, developing a newer, higher pitch with fewer notes that soon spread across the city. Their new song is now known among those who chart these things as the “San Francisco dialect.” These tiny little citizens learned to adapt, to recreate. To evolve.
It’s our turn now. The very lack of money that has driven our insecurity has passed through the placenta of big business to increase corporate sensitivity to the consumer. All the signs tell us that we can take advantage of this vulnerabiity to design a new song, use our voices to protest what we can no longer tolerate, and shape its change. The talking heads will continue to do what they’ve always done, despite us — pollute the airwaves with their projections of the ways things are, have to be — but those of us who want to restore this nation must talk louder, using our wallets and our numbers and our passion for heartfelt change. We have the wind at our back, now we need to develop a new dialect.
It’s Resurrection Sunday tomorrow. Easter, or if you prefer, Eostre. It’s spring, with all its hope and renewal and enthusiasm, a time to “make a joyful noise, all ye lands.” And when it comes to recreating a fair playing field, a compassionate business model and a government in service to the commonwealth for our struggling nation, sing louder, won’t you? The whole world is waiting to hear our new song!
Thank you Jude. Thought of you today when Len said “even as the most graceful and compassionate are vulnerable to contention, the most cynical and exploitative are subject to exaltation and praise.” Don’t know who he meant regarding the cynical and exploitative.
be
Before we move along, just wanted to add that I Googled around to get the source of the “cult” and “CIA” business on ACIM, and found the conspiracy theories interesting if not very likely according to my experience of 35 years. I suffered more “mind control” with my ex-husband than from my home-study of ACIM, or the dozen or so groups that came together without dominant leadership, sequestering from normal life or financial benefit to anyone: all three necessities for a cult. Fear keeps people in cults, CIM seeks to eliminate fear. Not to mention the part where I never EVER chanted mindlessly nor knew anyone who did. I read a daily affirmation more than once, for a year or so. Does that count?
I actually did enjoy the research since so much of the theory is a 10 on the “silly scale.” Also found out that the CIA attempted to infiltrate a lot of the early psychic groups and introduce Eastern thought into Western mind in an effort, I suppose, to confound and confuse the general public, and was mightily tickled to learn that some attended séances in an effort to contact and “debrief” dead agents. Talk about missing the entire point!
ACIM, a practice of radical love and forgiveness, is not for everyone, and — as mentioned by aprilius52 — there are many paths to Light, no one superior to another, both of which the Course itself points out. And if we are a product of our experiences, CIM is only one of many traditions and studies I’ve spent my life with, MOST of which have influenced my thinking but never, ever “controlled” my mind. I didn’t want to leave that unsaid because some people respond with FEAR to this notion of cults and/or mind control … and that was NOT my experience of CIM nor is it my intent in these articles. I didn’t want fear to be the “last word, ” as it were, and if we’re working in our heart-chakra, mind control isn’t much of a danger.
I’ll leave this post with a quote I’ve long appreciated and truly believe, from Krishnamurti:
“Truth is a pathless land. Man cannot come to it through any organization, through any creed, through any dogma, priest or ritual, not through any philosophic knowledge or psychological technique. He has to find it through the mirror of relationship, through the understanding of the contents of his own mind, through observation and not through intellectual analysis or introspective dissection.”
Oh and thanks for the correction, liminali, Cat Stevens is the best!
Have a great week, dearhearts and thanks for playing!
Katie……agreed on the CIM………biggest mind control cult of our time…….well……a tie with the estherham scam perhaps……..both reliant on the repeat after me……chant chant chant programming that conditions the subconscious mind. Hardly in line with independent thought or intellectual discernment……..simply a wonderful replacement for old fashioned religion. That’s why it was so easy for so many christians to transition from one to the other. True evolution and transition defies former programming, and does not follow its rituals in an identical manner.
It’s easy to change the character names in a play, changing the plot, behaviours and ritualistic repitition is where real transformation begins……..paraphrasing Einstein……..you cannot solve a problem at the same level it was created!
I know nothing about “course in miracles” other than what I read on PlanetWaves. There are many paths to enlightenment.
yes, time to chirp louder.
http://youtu.be/Ha3Rm4MSX-g
hope this one works
Judith, thanks for another amazing column. To echo Be, yes it’s time to give a damn and to know exactly what our money supports. Our purchases DO count and the time has come to know what these companies stand for and to spend wisely. Note, I didn’t say to buy cheap. Read The High Cost of Discount Shopping for more insight into using our purchases to shape policy.
Found this — Pfizer, Reynolds and Proctor & Gamble sending us a big fat raspberry — and here’s the heart of it:
“Every time you buy a bottle of Tide, you are supporting Stand Your Ground and voter ID laws. Every night that you grab up your Oral-B toothbrush and brush your teeth with Crest, your money is going to fund the effort to suppress the vote. Dawn may take grease out of your way, but could also make your vote not count on Election Day.”
Good read on ALEC sponsors: http://www.politicususa.com/alec-sponsors-boycott/
Fe and Len, gratitude for your kind words — and … oh dear, Liminali … couldn’t open the link[?!]
Jude: Thank you. An amazing piece. Whenever things get me down, your example lifts me up. Your grace is amazing.
Well done, Jude. And it seems the most powerful tool we’ve got is free will and the free market, which, by product boycotting having a hold on the bottom lines–we’ll see results!
Sing out!
http://youtu.be/Ha3Rm4MS
🙂
I have deep respect for the Anaretic Degrees, be. Thanks for pointing out that “Hades opposes Narcissus in the last degree of Gemini and Sagittarius,” suggesting the hand of fate in all we learn/awaken to during this period. That info also helps illuminate one of the few “difficult” relationships I’m chewing over this season, involving a 29 degree Sag. Oy!
Yes, we’re due a Resurrection, GaryB and I hope it requires no further slipping and sliding toward the edge of reason. I was thinking about how the spring season traditionally requires a sacrifice of some kind, from the early pagan rituals to the Christ story. We’ve had our share of burnt offerings in the last weeks, from Trayvon to the dolphins and — literally — the Tibetan monks and too many others to count. Me, I’m looking for a kinder, gentler tradition! I’d like to think our understanding of the Divine no longer requires our supplication or sacrifice; and if not now, soon.
Bless you back, aword — and … inclusive to the earlier commentary @ dream work, your mention of “almost-waking” is, for me, the most productive of dreamscape. This is the twilight period when I decode the symbols of the dream and bring the messages forward into “real life.” This provide me such a creative, clear stream of information that I keep a little tape recorder next to the bed to record insights, when this period is lucid enough for me to use it. You guys read some of them in these articles. This is that “foot in both worlds” period that is more powerful than we know. Seems to me, if the last bit of the dream is of importance to forward motion a’la Jung, the twilight period is the marching orders it issues!
Thanks to all you signers/posters, too — and I’m with you, Vince, regarding sonar. It’s responsible for disorienting and killing our biggest mammals, as well as the dolphins, and our seas have become too fragile to take much more assault. It’s a concern of the heart, for those of us who understand that “having dominion” means we have responsibility to protect and preserve, rather than exploit and mis-use. I’m greatly encouraged by the increase in animal activism I’m seeing; sometimes we learn things via baby steps. Perhaps our renewed interest in protecting and healing animals will bleed over into greater compassion for one another.
Last but not least — gosh, Katie Scarlett, you’ve certainly given me something to think about. As an aside, I’m always inundated with “Hey, Jude” references. I suppose you get a lot of, “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn?” Blessed be on your way, kiddo, there’s nothing here to prove and, as I said, neither of us needs a defense.
I signed the petition and posted both it and The Cove on facebook.
Deep sonar is a killing machine of the innocent – our brother and sister mammals – must be stopped!
From the depths of volumes of mostly useless and often outright malicious external input come sometimes dreams that inspire and shed light in my world. One of those moments came this early morning upon almost-waking. I understood that in order to reach out into the world I must dis-continue reaching outward with my mind and instead spend more time expanding my heart.
Another silvery-shiny moment was upon reading your article, Jude.
Sing Loudly, indeed; All Creatures Great and Small.
I see that Hades opposes Narcissus in the last degree of Gemini and Sagittarius, the signs of education, high and low. It’s time to give a damn.
be
Well, it makes sense Jude. Birds symbolically represent spiritual forces and their song is getting louder, so where the spirit leads the soul must follow. Thanks for this fine article and for the hopefullness it inspires. I will sign the pledge too. And you aren’t alone in being dogged by out-dated material and cyber clutter. When you have the time, after all the battles have been won, you (and we who are just as dogged) can lay down your sword and clear the clutter. Until then though, continue to educate the masses wherever you find them, no matter how loud you must chirp.
be
Thank you Judith,
This Spring, more than ever, it feels as though many things have died and we await the Resurrection of a New day!
“Thirty years of Course in Miracles consciousness”? That would explain a lot. Many truly enlightened people know/understand that CiM was a pernicious CIA MK-ULTRA mind control project.
Someday I hope Rush Limbaugh will wash liberal darling Bill Marr’s filthy misogynist mouth out with soap!