Joe's Comments and Observations
This blog addresses my concerns regarding the direction the human world is heading and my unfaltering conviction that human destiny on this planet can be positively influenced by striving for knowledge, peace, understanding, love and social justice.
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
The Ghosts of Adolf Hitler
These ghosts have successfully populated the mind and spirit of current day madmen who have aspired to leadership positions throughout the world. Individuals such as Vladimir Putin of Russia, Donald Trump of the United States, Viktor Mihály Orbán of Hungary, Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, Ali Khamenei of Iran have taken on this “glorious” mantle.
These individuals espouse and attempt to propagate those core values as established by Adolph –
· The imposition of autocratic and despotic rule over an entire population.
· Unbending adherence to lies at the expense of the truth.
· Arbitrary judgements and pronouncements at the expense of reason and the rule of law.
· The blind acceptance and belief of the absolute superiority of a particular ethnic group and/or ideology.
· The unrelenting focus on demeaning and undermining a particular group(s) usually a minority, those who express contradictory points of views, those who are a minority in terms of sexual orientation or religious affiliation. This kind of dogged antagonism is usually designed to inspire the loyal adherents to fascistic principles to act with malice and violence against the designated “scapegoats.”
· The use of collective punishment directed at those deemed inferior who rebel against the ironclad and autocratic rule that defines their existence and usurps their freedom. Current examples of this practice can readily be seen in the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Israeli invasion of Gaza. These two examples reflect a careless brutality and total lack of respect for human life; for the safety and well-being of children, the elderly and the weak who are treated as less than human on account of their association with what is considered to be an inferior group.
At the end of his despotic reign, Adolph Hitler killed himself and left his native Germany in ruins. Strangely, it seems that the policies, as outlined above, still seem to have traction in this twenty-first century. The human world apparently has learned little from the clear and explicit lessons of the past.
Gaza - the New Holocaust
At the current time, February 14, 2024 it has been reported that over 27000 Gazans, mostly ordinary citizens, have perished – victims of the Israeli onslaught mostly from the air and the remainder murdered by Israeli soldiers. This ongoing war was waged in response to the attack of Hamas fighters on Isreali citizens killing an estimated 1200 indiviuals and the taking 0f hostages.
Although this terrifying attack by Hamas on Israeli civilians is deserving of a response, it must be remembered that the people of Gaza are essentially defenseless except for the Hamas fighters that are themselves no match against Israeli military power. In addition, the majority of Gazans are children and as a result, a staggering proportion of the dead have been children.
It is important to note that for 16 years the Israeli government with the help of the Egyptian government created a horrific situation in which over 2 million individuals were forced to live in a veritable prison in which they could not leave and a living environment in which the supply of power, medications, foodstuffs and water were arbitrarily rationed.
Many of the victims in Gaza perished as the result of bombardment from the air. Repeatedly the Israelis dropped 2000 pound bombs, weapons supplied by the United States, in the midst of densely populated neighborhoods. The level of destruction from these weapons resulted in the total collapse of many residential structures crushing men, women and children to death and leaving many victims with grievous injuries.
Eighty percent of the entire population of over 2 million Gazans were forced to abandon their homes and relocate attempting to find some safe haven within the Gazan ghetto. The Israelis imposed a prolonged siege on the entire population resulting in the forced scarcity of adequate nutrition, decimated water treatment facilities, diminished availability of a safe water supply and severely diminished access to fuel and therefore power.
Currently the Israeli government plans to forcefully evacuate over a million people from the last bit of Gazan territory that was considered safe. In addition, spokespersons for the ultra conservative wing of the Israeli government have begun to propose forcefully expelling Palestinian residents of Ganza and subsequently bringing in Jewish settlers with the aim of permanently occupying Gaza – reminiscent of what occurred in 1948 during the aftermath of Israeli-Arab War and creation of the Jewish State. This idea regarding future plans for Gaza might also explain the ruthless decimation of the Palestinian infrastructure in Gaza that is currently underway with no plans to restore what has been destroyed.
The saddest aspect of this current historic reality is that the methods employed by the Israeli government against Hamas and the people of Gaza reflects many of the techniques used by Nazi Germany during World War II including that of harsh and horrific collective punishment using overwhelming force against an essentially defenseless civilian population. This behavior also underlies the strongly held belief that Palestinians are somehow less than human and can certainly be imprisoned in such a dehumanizing environment over a prolonged period of time with no regard for the immeasurable harm that this does to the human spirit.
It is terribly ironic, that the Israeli people who had suffered grievously from the inhumane and reprehensible impact of the Holocaust are now responsible for a Holocaust of their very own making.
Saturday, December 02, 2023
Swimming in an Inexhaustible Sea of Information
I am thoroughly impressed with the sheer amount and breath of content that is swirling and streaming through the varied information portals that inundate the human world. We seem to be swimming in an inexhaustible sea of information. Much of this tidal wave consists of purely personal data amplified ad nauseum on social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, anecdotal information outside the realm of personal experience, lies and misinformation disguised as truth that is mostly transparent propaganda, and a plethora of advertisements designed to sell products and support causes of all kinds. A vanishingly small portion of this informational tsunami contains real data of any significance.
In spite of this daunting aspect of modern human existence, the reality principle remains intact. This reality is that we are ephemeral creatures with a limited lifespan existing in a amazingly expansive universe in which we are but an infinitesimal part. Within our evolutionary journey as a sentient species on planet Earth we have “inherited” a most amazing organ, the human brain, that has given us self-consciousness and a most extraordinary tool – the ability to comprehend and appreciate this fabulous cosmos we inhabit if only briefly.I do whatever I can to minimize my involvement and exposure to the ever-growing virtual matrix that encapsulates the dimensions of our cultural terrain. It is an expansive space without dimension; it is infused with a light that is deficient in its capacity to illuminate; it is a joyless space where happiness is encouraged but never realized. It is a place of continual distraction.
Humanity appears to be stuck on a treadmill of its own making – where abysmal conclusions are drawn from spurious data and the same mistakes are made over and over again in spite of what history teaches. These mistakes often lead to disastrous consequences such as war, starvation, genocide, and the cumulative impact and trajectory of these choices may well undo our capacity, as a species, for survival.
On the Propensity of Humans to Do Harm to Each Other
These processes are complex and overlayed by our ever-changing state of mind, and the state of health of both body and mind. In addition, all of these “cerebral gymnastics” are influenced by our variable and often volatile emotional states of being that originate from a distinctly separate part of the architecture of the human brain. These choices are also constrained by the summation and convergence of innumerable past experiences that influence so much of the decisions we make.
I am pursuing this line of investigation into the nature of the internal world of the human mind (i.e. brain) in order to understand why there is so much suffering that can result from human interactions. It may be that the level of complexity that is inherent in each of us, as briefly outlined above, is further magnified in the arena of human interactions resulting in a vast panorama of possibilities and outcomes. To quote a line from the Bob Dylan song, Idiot Wind, “It’s a wonder we can even feed ourselves.”
Within the swirling matrix of human interactions, differences in attitude and viewpoint are bound to surface. It is within the nature of politics to find mechanisms to assuage differences in order to reach practical and sustainable solutions to societal problems. Within this elaborate matrix of human interactions with its wealth of possibilities, it becomes inevitable that there are those who succeed; those who fail and those who succumb.
I remember what my dear friend, Ralph, of long ago who was an immigrant from Jamaica and living in New York City, at the time, said to me. To paraphrase, he marveled at how well New Yorkers seem to get along given not only the sheer and often overwhelming population density but also the fact that so many came from disparate and diverse backgrounds. To me, this reality highlights the natural human longing to find harmony whenever possible. Sadly, this tendency is too often overshadowed by the equally powerful propensity to surrender to the emotionally-laden feelings of prejudice, bigotry, fear, and hatred.
Tuesday, October 17, 2023
The Fate of the People of Gaza
Further exacerbating this untenable situation is the barbaric siege imposed upoon Gaza that has resulted in the blockade of all electrical power, water, food and medical supplies. Ironically, the scale of this inhumanity as a means of collective punishment is behavior reminiscent of Nazi Germany. If this behavior continues, massive death and unspeakable suffering will surely follow. Is this the kind of future scenario we are embracing with our silence?
After all, the overwhelming majority of the population of Gaza are not members of Hamas, or participants in the fanatical and violent extremist actions perpetrated by Hamas. Can the Israeli government actually claim innocence in the midst of all of this horror? Can they continue to propose that Hamas alone is evil as they are the originators of the horrific blockade that has persisted for so long, and as they intentionally bomb buildings where people reside, target ambulances, mosques, communal marketplaces, hospitals and even cars filled with individuals attempting to escape from the worst of the mayhem.
In the final analysis, in this the twenty-first century where we find humanity engulfed by two major conflicts, it seems that the human species has not learned much in regard to actively pursuing a path of social harmony and peace in over ten thousand years of civilization. This unavoidable reality still dominates human behavior even though science has clearly shown that all humans are members of the same human family and that as stewards of this planet, we continue to act in a way that is responsible for the inexorable deterioration of the ecological fabric that sustains all of life on this most remarkable planet Earth.
Shadows of War
On September 8, the world was rocked by the incursion onto Israeli territory by gunmen directed by Hamas, the radical group in control of Gaza – from the extremely tiny territory of Gaza populated by over 2 million inhabitants that have been subjected to a severe and unconscionable blockade for 16 years. This blockade has successfully interdicted shipments of such important commodities as medical supplies, water and with effective control of electrical power that is supplied to this enclave. Free passage out of Gaza by Palestinians has been made virtually impossible. Gaza has been described as the world’s largest outdoor prison.
On Sept 8, a state of war became the second major global conflict in the human world adding to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine War.
My thoughts on this situation –
At times like these, it is tempting to take sides and offer a plethora of rationalizations regarding the infinite wisdom of going to war and fill ourselves with a sense of righteousness ennobled by our grievances. And yet, the age-old song of violence and retribution gets played once again. And once again, humanity is infected with a bolus of rage and hatred that will ultimately get us nowhere. And once again, true human progress is thwarted.
What is not clearly understood is that the human world is heading towards an unsustainable future, for humanity is undermining its own prospects by maintaining a structure with a vast imbalance in the distribution of wealth and the reliance on massive violence and death to sustain the status quo. This subservience to power leads inevitably to needless suffering on a massive scale. In addition to this recurring onslaught, we are collectively laying waste to the biological infrastructure that sustains all of life.
Shadows of War
Darkness once again falls
heavily upon this tiresome human world.
Shadows of war
propelled by ridiculous dreams of dominance and empire
sustained by minds
unable to see the horrid future they project,
unwilling to embrace the pain and suffering
they inflict,
unreceptive to the laments of mothers
over the children forever lost to the shrill
call of bombs and bullets
as explosions rip through the fabric of neighborhoods,
unrepentant for the death they distribute
to the innocent like candy,
for all the blood and bones and carnage,
for all the wrecked lives and distorted hatred
injected into the future,
unable to embrace all of humanity as equals,
ever ready to crawl into bed
with hollow and pointless death.
Shadows of war,
a long and tiresome story
revisited again and again
the litany long,
the dark foreboding song always the same,
the list seeming endless,
stretching back
to the very beginnings of
civilization.
How long can Homo sapiens endure?
how long can the natural world
upon which we depend
sustain us?
when we choose
chaos over harmony
needless death and unimagined suffering
over love and life,
darkness over light,
stupidity over real intelligence
over and over again.
Darkness once again falls
heavily upon this tiresome human world.
Wednesday, August 23, 2023
Dance of the Generations
Periodically I go through my collected works of art and literature and on this one occasion a particular idea inundated my consciousness with insistent clarity. An inner truth revealed itself to me. The driving force of my creativity is to capture through some medium the real nature of reality and my response to it. Art strives to peel away the layers of distraction and confusion and affect that permeates the human world in an attempt to reveal what lies underneath.
In the evolution of humans, there came a time in the development of the species that a spark lit the pyre of the consciousness of self and that startling quality of perception that instantly changed everything for the better and the worse. As a result, we have both the wondrous capacity to comprehend the nature of things and yet we can value our individual selves so highly that it can thoroughly obstruct our vision.
Reality’s Song is vivid, persistent and exists beyond our control. Time moves forward, pushes boundaries, ushers in the constancy of change and glides into the future with precision. As individuals we are powerless within this domain no matter how well taught we may have been regarding the supernatural forces that supposedly operate purely for our benefit and work tirelessly on our behalf.
When the mind is opened to the majesty of Reality’s Song; to the enormity and power of the cosmos, to the universe extending outward to extraordinary dimensions; to the remarkable aspects of the natural and living worlds; to the ever-present and dynamic mother Earth; to the wonders of the human brain, life reveals itself as a remarkable gift. From this perspective, an individual life journey, however brief, is a fantastic experience.
Reality’s Song embraces everything. It touches us with inexplicable joy and immense sadness, with love’s surprise, and promise, and untold grief, with the inner-workings of the natural world; with the star-filled midnight sky, with the dance of the planets, with black holes and supernovas, with the enormity of space and the incessant rhythm of time. Although we may witness the many variations of Reality’s Song, it is not sung for us; it is not here for us. Reality’s song is an intrinsic and inescapable aspect of the expansive universe.
Reality’s Song teaches that life is fleeting, that pleasure and pain and emotions and thought, intellect and reason are products of the human brain and have no existence outside ourselves. Reality’s Song clearly demonstrates that the cosmos is immense and that humanity is not a necessary component of its existence, and that the continued presence of the human species is far from guaranteed. Reality’s Song embraces truth and does not coincide with delusional ideas and fantastic conclusions.
To be a sentient being existing in all of this incredible splendor is a reality that I gladly embrace and feel immensely privileged to experience however briefly.
During this final phase of my existence as an autonomous being on this earth, our only home, I would like to shift my focus to that somewhat intangible aspect of being I refer to as peace of mind. I did refer to my time in life as a final phase not on account of any serious or debilitating illness but on account of the inescapable reality that the time ahead of me is far shorter than the time that has already elapsed. Realistically, we are all dying in that as soon as we are born our trajectory is clear although the time allotted may vary.
I have included the following poem –
Ode to the Elusive Peace of Mind
I wish to say farewell
to all trivial considerations,
all venal and self-serving dreams,
all of ego’s darlings
piled up like so many useless magazines
cluttering the thoroughfares of the mind.
I wish to terminate the leases
of all the shabby and unwanted tenants that
occupy the precious real estate within
my neuronal wonder.
I wish to finally release all the hostages
reminiscent of bygone desires and
missed opportunities,
they take far too much succor to retain.
I wish to welcome all of
life’s truly wondrous aspects,
of nature’s magnificent presence
and finally let all of existence consume me
within the grasp of perfect peace.
These series of wishes as outlined above, represent both individually and collectively a challenging set of goals. Over my lifetime, I have accumulated a torturous array of tattered remnants that no longer serve any useful purpose and that, in fact, present serious obstacles to a fuller appreciation of the wondrous quality of being.
All humanity is part of the “dance of the generations” where those living move about the Earth interacting with each other and the natural world that establishes place and time. Encased within the recesses of our bony skull lies that remarkable organ that projects the essence of ourselves, maintains our intricate library of memories, initiates our thoughts and desires and that propels us forward. Each of us expend our allotted time in our own unique ways. This dance eventually propels us into the oblivion of death so as make way for the next generation. This is the inescapable truth. We may try to deny this reality, or obfuscate the implications, but that is no matter – the dance goes on. It is far better to appreciate the dance and join in the revelry rather than bemoan this fundamental aspect of the reality principle.
To quote the master (William Shakespeare) -
THE SEVEN AGES OF MAN
All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
Then, the whining school-boy with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then, a soldier,
Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden, and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth. And then, the justice,
In fair round belly, with a good capon lined,
With eyes severe, and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws, and modern instances,
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.
As You Like It (Jaques, Act 2 Scene 7)
I am fast approaching my 79th Birthday (October 2023). I have had the privilege to have had “many turns at the wheel.” I have lived in many domiciles throughout this country; slept in many beds; walked many, many miles both amid the wonders of nature, and traveled through vast expanses of this human world.
On the chalkboard of my life I have attempted to highlight those experiences that remained vivid to me.
On my chalkboard of life there are many fanciful entries filled with preposterous expectations, and there is a multiplicity of lists enumerating tasks planned, tasks completed and tasks abandoned. On my chalkboard of life there are protestations of love and impassioned pleadings; there are expressions of precipitous joy and the howling of despair; there are intricate tapestries of proclamations of brilliant successes and barely perceptible references to utter failures; there are entire litanies of somewhat intelligible references to dream sequences and idle wishes; there are inchoate rants against absolute lunacy of the human experience.
Throughout the chalkboard of my life there runs the very current of experience, of choices and consequences and the meanderings of love.
On the chalkboard of my life, there is a more limiting space left for a future that still has me in it. My fondest hope for all the future generations that follow is to achieve the fullest degree of happiness, joy and enlightenment that life may bring.
Furthermore, my deepest and most sincere advice to anyone who will listen is to imbibe fully the experience of existence; taste every moment; savor all the nuances of the space you occupy; express your feelings no matter how mundane or profound; live and love as if your breath might suddenly fail you; do not judge yourself and others harshly – better yet do not judge at all. Embrace the art of forgiveness and lighten the needless burdens you may carry.
Lastly, and most importantly, don’t be stupid and never listen to stupid people for stupidity pays homage to lies and sows seeds of mistrust, malice and hatred. Stupidity prepares the human world for endless cycles of hapless aggression, vengeance, and dissolution. Stupidity shutters the mind and in so doing thwarts the possibility of real human progress.
These are my suggestions that spring from the cumulative weight of the lessons my life has taught me.
Wednesday, July 26, 2023
Reality's Song
Periodically I go through my collected works of art and literature and on this one occasion a particular idea inundated my consciousness with insistent clarity. An inner truth revealed itself to me. The driving force of my creativity is to capture through some medium the real nature of reality and my response to it. Art strives to peel away the layers of distraction and confusion and affect that permeates the human world in an attempt to reveal what lies underneath.
In the evolution of humans, there came a time in the development of the species that a spark lit the pyre of the consciousness of self and that startling quality of perception that instantly changed everything for the better and the worse. As a result, we have both the wondrous capacity to comprehend the nature of things and yet we can value our individual selves so highly that it can thoroughly obstruct our vision.
Reality’s Song is vivid, persistent and exists beyond our control. Time moves forward, pushes boundaries, ushers in the constancy of change and glides into the future with precision. As individuals we are powerless within this domain no matter how well taught we may have been regarding the supernatural forces that supposedly operate purely for our benefit and work tirelessly on our behalf.
When the mind is opened to the majesty of Reality’s Song; to the enormity and power of the cosmos, to the universe extending outward to extraordinary dimensions; to the remarkable aspects of the natural and living worlds; to the ever-present and dynamic mother Earth; to the wonders of the human brain, life reveals itself as a remarkable gift. From this perspective, an individual life journey, however brief, is a fantastic experience.
Reality’s Song embraces everything. It touches us with inexplicable joy and immense sadness, with love’s surprise, and promise, and untold grief, with the inner-workings of the natural world; with the star-filled midnight sky, with the dance of the planets, with black holes and supernovas, with the enormity of space and the incessant rhythm of time. Although we may witness the many variations of Reality’s Song, it is not sung for us; it is not here for us. Reality’s song is an intrinsic and inescapable aspect of the expansive universe.
Reality’s Song teaches that life is fleeting, that pleasure and pain and emotions and thought, intellect and reason are products of the human brain and have no existence outside ourselves. Reality’s Song clearly demonstrates that the cosmos is immense and that humanity is not a necessary component of its existence, and that the continued presence of the human species is far from guaranteed. Reality’s Song embraces truth and does not coincide with delusional ideas and fantastic conclusions.
To be a sentient being existing in all of this incredible splendor is a reality that I gladly embrace and feel immensely privileged to experience however briefly.
Wednesday, June 28, 2023
Ode to Existence Revisited
Enmeshed and so often, entrapped
within this human worlddistraction the norm,
conversation distilled into
a kind of relentless babble
born on the wings of bits and bytes,
joy equated with pleasure
and childish excitement,
happiness to be forever
pursued and hoarded like treasure,
a synthetic world of trinkets
and idle possessions,
heirlooms acquired,
building vast fortunes
of synthetic and finite illusions,
all with no consequence
all with little meaning.
And yet,
the reality of existence
moves along its
indefatigable path,
within the boundaries of
the wondrous cosmos.
Surrounded by the matrix
of the living world,
passengers aboard this fabulous spaceship
Earth,
caressed by capricious winds,
greeted by morning mist
tossed upon perilous water,
enlivened by sunlight,
subdued by nightfall,
intimidated by fearsome storm,
forever surprised by the intrinsic beauty
delicate intricacies of nature’s tendrils
that reach into every corner and crevice,
every delicate spring blossom,
every blade of undulating grass,
every tree no matter how massive or
diminished,
every creature within its domain,
every idle thought that triggers
perception,
every substantive or meaningless dream.
Surrounded by this most amazing
universe,
this most fabulous galaxy
decorating the heavens with
innumerable stars,
witness to the dance of the planets,
subtleties of light and dark,
to the wild configurations of
shape and form and texture and color.
Blessed with this most awesome capability
of the sentient mind
to uncover the mysteries of
the nature of things,
to explore the vast and inner terrain of
self,
to find meaning,
to explore possibilities,
to appreciate detail and
discover function,
to search for truth
and find it,
to know peace
and appreciate the essence of love.
bounded by explosive birth
and the finality of death,
constrained by the
vagaries and vicissitudes
of unfolding time,
life is to be affirmed
by wrapped attention,
life is to be possessed
from moment to moment and
neither squandered nor abandoned.
The Existential Joy of Living
I will start by claiming that humans living in the Western and so-called “developed world” have been sold an erroneous bunch of goods. By that I mean that from the capitalist-oriented perspective, the many aspects of an individual life have been neatly bundled into a very concise and complete package. The primary elements of this package clearly specify that if one adopts the appropriate attitudes and addresses life in the prescribed and appropriate manner, living comes with a precise guarantee of security, safety, fun, happiness, and especially prosperity. This model for living within the boundaries of a consumer-based existence is essentially delusional. In my estimation, this is all nonsense.
At birth, regardless of one’s country of origin, color of skin, gender, culture, economic class, there are absolutely no guarantees. It is true that throughout the world, regardless of nation, humans belong to two distinct classes – the small minority of the privileged that have accumulated exorbitant wealth and power and the rest of humanity subject to the priorities and whims of the privileged who have attained a level of influence that gives them enormous authority. This delineation of classes has been a dominant force in the history of civilization. Unless one proposes that humans will miraculously undergo profound transformation, this organizational model will persist into the future until the species undermines its own viability and moves backwards towards a more primal existence.In spite of this persistent and delusional representation of reality that surrounds us, no one is immune from the vagaries and vicissitudes of life and death’s untimely arrival. No one can escape the depth and scope of human feelings and emotions. No one can avoid the consequences of the forward movement of history that is the repository of the collective choices humanity has made over time.
In many ways, the unfettered accumulation of wealth introduces a constant source of distraction and often negates a deep-felt appreciation of existence. In my mind, it is no small tragedy to live one’s life deadened to the wondrous presence of the natural and human worlds that we are such an integral part of. It is a waste of individual existence, to move through life bound and constrained by a subservience to delusional thinking.
As individuals, it is within our power to free ourselves of such limitations and open ourselves up to the existential joy of living – a fundamental appreciation of our intrinsic connectedness to the totality of all that surrounds us. In this way, we can appreciate the fragile, wondrous, compelling, ever-interesting and finite nature of existence within the matrix of an amazing universe. In this way, we can come to embrace our own mortality.
Beyond the delusional fantasies that have been fashioned and refined over the millennia of human civilization, the inescapable truth is that each of us has one turn at sentient existence. It is up to each of us to decide how to experience our individual journey before our stay is irrevocably terminated. We may protest, but reality is, in fact, larger than us all.
There is a powerful urge for humans to look with pity and with a sympathetic eye upon those who seemed to have suffered a “cruelty of fate” - overcome by a grievous illness or cataclysmic accident obviously victim of circumstances beyond their control. This response may seem altruistic, but the internal motivation of such an outlook is decidedly more complex than it would seem. In my judgment, this response also satisfies the need to uplift once own life; the first-hand experience of someone’s suffering is a potent reminder that there is no fairness in life and that we are all prone and subject to calamities of all kinds. It is a stark representation of the fragile nature of existence. Feeling pity also represents a distorted view of the experience of living. Even within the midst of profound suffering, each of us has the capacity to appreciate the joy of existence.
Of course, there may come a time for anyone to reach a point when the intensity of suffering may far outweigh the will to live; when living can no longer embrace an appreciation of being alive. As sentient beings we do have an intrinsic right over our own lives and should feel free to make a reasoned choice to end our earthly sojourn. That is the nature of true autonomy.
In conclusion, it is really up to me to fully appreciate and enjoy the precious and ephemeral moments that I have the good fortune to experience. After all, death will come soon enough.
Friday, May 19, 2023
The Current Reality of Life in the America of Today Should be of No Great Surprise.
What are the current economic, social, and political, realities living in the United States? I believe I can say with complete candor that we live in a communal environment that is essentially unsettling, unsafe, corrosive, and often dangerous. The problems we face as a people are complex, multi-faceted and fraught with ominous possibilities for the future if left unattended.
The current over-riding economic issue is the monumental disparity in the distribution of wealth in the nation. Ten percent of the population actually possesses 85% of the entire wealth of the nation (from a report issued by the Economic Policy Institute). Furthermore, an additional portion of this wealth is squirreled away in secret off-shore accounts. A significant number of the current holders of this wealth do not seem to have any real sense of moral or social responsibility and seem to be devoid of any semblance of a moral compass. Many seem to eschew taxation of any kind, use their wealth as a means to influence and manipulate public policy to foster their own interests, and are apparently oblivious to the staggering needs that so many of the nation’s people face on a daily basis.In my estimation, this endemic and distorted imbalance in the distribution of financial resources is in many ways responsible for the many social crises we are facing as a people. As a result, wealth that could be used to promote and sustain the common good has become scarce. Consequently, the United States has become a nation where so many are rendered homeless; where about one-quarter of the nation’s children live in poverty; where the nation’s poor have a mortality rate that is exceeding diminished as compared to their wealthier counterparts; where the accessibility to meaningful health care and mental health services is sadly restricted, and where essential social services are often lacking. There is no rational explanation for this kind of severe discrepancy. It is a situation that will worsen over time. This perverse situation is essentially unsustainable.
This reality should not be a surprise, given the fact that this nation was founded on the underlying premise that members of the white and propertied class would and should rule. There was no expectation at that time that there would ever be real equity for all. It was never questioned that real power would ever be in the hands of other than the chosen few. This reality essentially remains unchanged to this day.
In my mind, the most disturbing aspect of the current social environment that is particularly apparent within far right of the political spectrum – whose views do not reflect the sentiments of the general population - is the apparent predilection to embrace violent means to terrorize and impose their extreme views on everyone. This is unfolding within a culture that seems to have embraced the universal possession of weaponry with extremely dangerous potential. Furthermore, the endemic hatred and bigotry that are essential components of the white-supremacy movement has become incorporated into the philosophical foundations of a major political party. These developments suggest a future in which civil strife will become normalized and democratic principles of government will devolve into the imposition of minority rule that would require the use of severely repressive methods to maintain itself. This kind of future would inevitably be unsustainable and wreck enormous havoc upon the American people.
Again, this should come as no surprise in a country that supported and maintained the institution of slavery for hundreds of years; that committed acts of near-genocide against native populations and effectively drove them from their land; that carried on many wars of aggression against people of color around the world using weaponry of mass destruction and inflicting unspeakable destruction; and that has repeatedly condoned violence directed at immigrants from foreign lands throughout its relatively short lifespan. The cumulative impact of this history has effectively imbedded bigotry, intolerance, and hatred into the national psyche. These widely-shared attitudes have worsened in recent years due to the undeniable fact the United States will soon be a white minority country. It is for this central reason that democracy has lost its luster especially in sections of the country where slavery and racism were acutely prevalent. What is particularly discouraging about this overarching reality is that race is a made-up term, for all of humanity is comprised of members of the same species, Homo sapiens – the notion of white supremacy is entirely fallacious.
Again, in this light, the current state of the nation is entirely consistent with its past.