The Chinese have a saying: “May you live in
interesting times.” Apparently it is not meant as a blessing but as a curse! Yet
the wisdom of I Ching recognizes that
blessings and curses are two sides of the same coin. The Yin and the Yang are the shady and sunny
sides of the magic mountain of life.
Once a certain saturation point arrives, the Yang fish turns into the Yin
fish as they eternally play the game of hide and seek, challenging humans to
find that fine and elusive balance between polarities. While the world
processes what just hit the United Sates, some are musing whether we are on the
cusp of something truly radical. Perhaps
Lady Liberty is singing the blues pointing to the fire in her outstretched arms-
commemorating a death / heralding the birth of a new being.
Emma Lazarus wrote in her poem “The New Colossus”
about “A mighty woman with a torch” who is supposed to be the “Mother of
Exiles” who welcomes all the downtrodden, crying out the famous lines etched on
that iconic Statue adorning the port of entry: “Give me your tired, your poor,
your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your
teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me. I lift my lamp
beside the golden door.” Lady Liberty has been mute when that idealism got thrown
out in the New York harbor. The Golden
Door has been wide open for those who pay cold hard cash, while the wretched
cannot find refuge here.
The American experiment did produce something unprecedented in world
history where the Jeffersonian dictum of “life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness” steered many toward a life that was denied to them in a world where
one’s birth determined one’s destiny. The American Dream was coined in an age
of European revolutions when the top-heavy power of monarchy and church was
overturned to give the common man some semblance of power over their lives. Jefferson’s
“All Men Are Created Equal” slogan galvanized the multitudes to try their luck
at something utterly new.
While the dream of persecuted Europeans was built
upon the ashes of native civilizations and partially executed by slave labor,
it created a melting pot where warring factions of Christians could live
together under common bonds. Europe’s emigrants fled their homes and villages.
Their skin color helped them mask their ethnic identity, at least in public
places, to avoid discrimination by the Anglo American population. These early
migrants could hide their Irish or Italian -ness, but America’s dream continued
to expand as world wars and colonial adventures brought strange new people onto
its shores.
Soon the nation became a powerhouse and more diverse,
but by the late 20th century American Dream had mainly turned to
mere consumerism. A house in the suburbs with a “white” picket fence to keep
the undesirables out became the symbol of that dream. Labor, civil rights and
women’s movements continued to fight for equal opportunity for all -- leading
to a black family gracing the White House. Visceral reactions set in as they threatened
entrenched interests. Paul Krugman prophetically wrote in 2002 in “The Sons
also Rise” that “Inherited status is making a comeback,” but he could not have imagined
the reality of 2016. Today the country seems to accept reality showmanship,
life styles of the rich and famous, tax evasion, xenophobia, and abysmal sexism
as legitimate and desirable qualities in its leaders.
A segment of American populace seems to be ready to give up hard won rights to authoritarianism. Some people are proclaiming hail to the CEO of the
united states of unrest, others are seriously indignant and ready for battle,
but some of us may want to pause. As a teacher of
literature and history of ideas I am intrigued by an ancient idea: clinamen or unpredictable swerve of
atoms that Lucretius spoke of in On the Nature
of Things. Science too recognizes the unpredictability and uncertainty of
how the fundamental units of life will behave. Stephen Greenblatt resurrects Lucretius
in The Swerve: How the World Became
Modern. It may do some magic with
our current situation. After all Lucretius invokes Venus in the beginning that
awakens the sleeping senses of all creatures and Mars, the warring god falls
asleep on Venus’ lap. Is it possible
that this strange new America is a portal?
We know something has
been rotting in the body politic for quite some time; perhaps the cleansing
times have arrived for the Leviathan. Hobbes was right; men love liberty and
dominion over others. This of course contradicts the idea of liberty for all.
Funny that Lady Liberty is a woman and the state of nature as well as
materiality are often feminized. Given the radical dualism of western
ideologies, destruction of everything “material” including the earth in the
name of disembodied divinities or scientific reductionism are inevitable. Modernity and cultural imperialism have
convinced a large number of people around the world that destroying our habitat
for short term gains is acceptable.
Pursuit of happiness as consumption via mindless
extraction and industry are driving us to the point of extinction. Standing
Rock protesters included people from every corner of the world who recognize we
cannot go on this way. However, extremes also unleash other energies. While wholesale corporatization has led to
monopolies and the mechanization of life, globalization and technological
advances have also created a strange democracy of ideas. Awakening of life energies and depth
intelligence that the Buddha and Yogis speak of are also arising. Western
goddesses of Liberty, Mercy and Justice may need the cleansing force of a Kali.
When the image below had shown up in New York, I was startled because I was
putting the finishing touches on my book Absent
Mother God of the West: A Kali lover’s Journey into Christianity and Judaism.
When recently my friend Hope shared this
article by a scholar healer, I was deeply moved. http://www.rebellesociety.com/2016/11/18/veradechalambert-kali/
Perhaps Hobbes’s material man needs a profound
awakening of consciousness ala other ways of being. Life’s pulsating reality is forgotten in the
pursuit of wealth. Liberty has turned to
libertinism and liberty for a few at the expense of most. Pursuit of happiness
became mainly a pursuit, a chase under an economy that manufactures restless desires.
Living in a mentally constructed reality
some people imagine the golden pot at the end of the rainbow. We do not enjoy
the rainbow in hot pursuit of the golden pot, always beyond reach. It’s time
for a benevolent takeover of America’s famous dictum. Perhaps powerful countries can learn more
from small countries like Bhutan where Gross National Happiness is more
important than GNP and other indexes.
There has been a misperception that Indic ways of
liberation known as moksha and nirvana are merely religious and life denying
ideas to be practiced by old and the tired ready for death. Fortunately those
who are practicing Yoga, mindfulness and various other forms of meditation
realize they are nothing like that. Change is the flavor of life. Realize anitya (impermanence) said the Buddha and
do not grasp as it is like trying to capture water in your fist. At this point
in our collective history if we long for liberation from our unconscious fears
and learn to actually taste life, we can share and distribute happiness for the
benefit of all.
