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My dear friend Robin Artisson is currently living in Lousiana (not NO) and gave me permission to share this letter he wrote. I found it very inspiring:
It is so very hard having to sit back and watch the terrors of
Nature turned dark and destructive; to see lives shattered and
people split apart from loved ones and any hint of stability or
security- not that this world offers much of that.
It's equally as hard watching people all over the world radiate and
express such hatred and stupidity; christian "leaders" saying that
hurricanes and other tragedies are "god's punishment" and muslims
saying that any tragedy that strikes the US is "god's punishment",
and all of the boiling ignorance that people indulge in- the single-
minded and vacant hatred/ignorance of fundamentalists of any stripe
who infect the world with doctrines of absolutism and lies built on
fear and hate.
It really will overwhelm a person, if you make the decision- the
right decision- to face it, to not turn your head away from it. We
must go through these uprisings of terror and vileness, squarely
facing them, as though they were appearances of Guardians blocking
our way to understanding and peace- which they most certainly are.
And so the test begins- and even less sensitive souls will
immediately feel the cold, paralyzing sickness filling them as they
stare into the face of darkness. Nothing would be better, the soul
immediately feels, than just retreating, turning away, letting these
problems just solve themselves, somewhere else. Retreat is what the
overwhelmed most want- to go find peace away from the madness.
But there is no peace away from it, either; only denial, I'm sorry
to say. There may be a sham peace in denial, a temporary respite,
but the problem remains and grows only stronger, the more good
people deny it, run from it, cease facing it with full awareness.
I sit back everyday and get overwhelmed by something else- the awe
of the majesty of this great event that we call Reality. Even with
all the strife and hate, Reality also expresses strong love and
endless beauty- it is like a faery-symphony with musical themes of
heartbreaking beauty, and discordant, crashing, abrupt movements- no
matter how wonderful or repellent you find it, you can't stop
listening.
How beautiful the world is, how powerful and deep; and the most
amazing thing is that what we experience is not even the whole
picture- what other reaches of depth and beauty and fear await,
unseen, beyond the veil of common perception? I've had a hint of
them, seen beautiful and disturbing things beyond the veils of
common sensory reality; in both worlds, I have been in awe- and
thankful- that I am a part of it all.
But in dark and difficult times like these, a person finds the old
enemy of despair creeping up again, trying to find a weak spot in
the armor to stick his crooked knife. You find yourself hovering a
bit in your resolve to remain aware and brave. I feel it; it sickens
me and bothers me, and forces me to go on my hands and knees
sometimes, asking for help from the old powers, they who know more
about life than anyone could, for they are boundlessly aware of all
aspects of reality- and most importantly, they have lived it all
themselves. They understand better than we ever could; where we are
now, so once were they; where they are now, so will we be, if we
could just remain conscious and aware, and brave.
We share the same circle of Reality with them; we are one. These
terrors are needful in the cosmic scheme of Necessity; while the old
powers exist in what we might call an "ideal" state of timelessness,
they also gain the completion of their divine natures through human
life and its endeavors, and through all the expressed motions of
Fate. They do not only exist timelessly; they unfold in time as
well. There is no time or place unknown to them; they are Whole
beings.
When we are whole- or should I say, when we realize our wholeness,
it will only be because our timeless natures were likewise fulfilled
and made authentic by all experiences.
So there I sit, seeing how beautiful and powerful this great world
is, and all things are; I sense the mercurial and invisible spirit
about things, the eternity of things. I sense other powers moving,
and I sense the Truth there, like my shadow- chase it, and it flees.
Run, and it follows. You cannot grasp it, but if you sit still, you
find that it sits there with you, next to you, still with you. You
just sit still and become one with it, in simultaneity. Truth hovers
about us, always with us, though never grasped and controlled by us;
it consecrates us with its presence, but never allows itself to be
made into another object that we can shape to our ego-whims.
How beautiful and powerful all of Reality is- and this world- just
this world- what could be more peaceful and fulfilling than the mere
silence of sunset or the coming of the first cool winds in autumn?
What about ancient hills and mountains rising up in the distance,
filling you with a sense of wonder? You see people pass you in the
crowd- beautiful faces, handsome faces, faces full of hope and
youth, or age and experience, people who all, underneath the
trappings- have all the same desires you have- to be loved, to
provide for loved ones, to have children, to live somewhere in
peace, to have fun or adventures, to share stories, to be accepted.
So where does it all go "wrong"? Can some not see these simple
truths? Can some not just allow themselves to see the majesty of
things, and relate to other people that we have FAR more in common
with than differences? Why does peace and acceptance seem to be such
a feat for mankind?
Because most people, simply put, want to dominate other people.
There is no other way to say it. No matter how benevolent they may
want to make themselves out to be, leaders are leaders today because
nothing could give them more egocentric pleasure than being the
rules-dictator, the guardian of order and orthodoxy, the boss, the
chief.
It's an overblown manifestation of wanting to be accepted, something
we all feel- it is the same feeling, taken to a higher level of
intensity. The sort of acceptance they want is beyond just median
acceptance- they want to be admired, they want people to listen to
them when they talk, and carry out their desires when they say them.
They want to be the one in charge- whether it is a "democratically
elected president" or a dictator in a third-world nation, or the
Pope with his faux-friendly smile, they are all "feeding" on the
worshipful stares, the votes, the way people fear them or give in to
them, or respect them.
The Taliban used fear and terror to beat down an entire population;
they became the kings in the same way European monarchs did- at the
tip of a sword. The Vatican hierarchy took power the same way, with
the help of kings; to the most local level, preachers and "christian
group" leaders want to be in the spotlight, dominating the minds and
wills of other people. They'll use whatever ignorant claim to
authority they can get their hands on; the bible or the koran are
just easy ways to get people to obey.
All people being in awe and humbled by the immense beauty of Nature,
and working together as equal humans, for the good of all- such a
simple dream simply cannot be in the same world where the
Darwinian "power over others" impulse exists; humans are not
uniformly strong-willed; strength of will is not equally shared. A
few will speak, many will listen. The many can be convinced to put
aside their own feelings and hearts and minds, in exchange for the
will of the few, or the abusive individual/cabal that sets itself up
as the leadership.
It takes strong will to be sure of yourself in life; most would
rather not have that responsibility; they will happily trade in
their own "sacred kingship/queenship of the self" in exchange for
the rule of another.
On some level, I guess they think that if it turns out to be a
disaster, they can always blame the bad ruler, and avoid blame being
put on themselves. But I say that people who give up their duty to
self and to true self-awareness make the larger, more serious crime
than any crime that may be committed by those they turn the power
over to.
Hitler's crimes were not as bad, in my opinion, as the collective
invisible crimes of denial committed by the people who gave him
power, and blindly followed him- yes- harsh though it may sound,
Hitler didn't act alone; he had millions of accomplices that carried
out his will, simply because they didn't want to live for
themselves, AS themselves. They forgot about their own hearts and
lived AS Hitler.
I know that I am not alone- a time has come now, in Fate's seasons,
where people are gaining in awareness (hard as that might be to
believe at times) and more people are aware of our responsibilities
to true awareness. The proliferation of alternative spiritualities
are only one example of this emergance of a new awareness- what IS
the ocean of alternative spirituality, if not a vast movement AWAY
from the old power-brokerage of the past, that masqueraded
as "religion" and "Spirituality" for so long?
It's not just a christian "god" we want to break with; it's all the
outworn power structures that we KNOW, deep inside, violate the
heart of the world itself. We are aware now of the violence lurking
inside people, the will to power, chiefly because aware people know
that power from meeting it inside themselves.
And anyone who is aware of it knows already how it stands to poison
the world that could be- peace cannot be had until we stop giving
our bodies and minds to the armies of people like Fred Phelps, and
the funamentalist preachers who storm hatred on the world, and the
churches that abuse people on multiple levels, while riding on the
coat-tails of their "tradition", thinking that their great age and
the fact that so many generations of people 'believed' them gives
them some immunity to modern realities. They need to make
compromises, and radically change their way of thinking and abandon
the hateful, anti-social philosophies that they endlessly apologize
for and try to make acceptable, all in the name of "truth"
and "Tradition", or failing that, they need to become extinct.
A famous political writer once said "The people get the government
they deserve"- and how true this is! The vast majority of people
tolerate evil in our governments and even in their churches-
although they have clever ways of hiding the evil under names
like "morality" and "order" and "custom" and "tradition"
and "procedure". They look the other way while outdated, dangerous,
unstable, and harmful machinery creaks and grinds away, spilling
blood constantly and greasing itself with human suffering.
The inertia of it is too great; few have the awareness of it,
because it is the LAST thing anyone wants to look directly at; and
few have the will to stop it, because they feel like it cannot be
stopped- it's too old, too strong, too far gone... or worse yet,
they feel like it should NOT be stopped- the evil of the entire ugly
habit of denial has become too much a part of what they call "holy"
or "normal" or "right".
And what is at the base of it all? Greed for power, the will to
dominate others, to be in the spotlight, to be the smartest, the
most clever, the strongest, the richest, the rule-maker, the master.
The men and women who want that, will use anything and anyone to get
it, as I said, even masquerading as the righteous clerics or priests
or preachers; and sadly enough, some of them will really think that
they are doing "right", and not acting on ego at all.
When you become just aware enough, you find the terrible truth- the
ultimate guardian- the fact that you can no longer be comfortable
or "integrated" into society, like everyone else. You feel like an
alien, a person awake among sleeping bodies. You don't want power;
you either want everyone else to wake up, or you want to get up and
get somewhere else, quick. The weakest of the awake simply want to
go back to sleep, back to pleasant or terrible dreams. At least they
wouldn't be lonely, then.
What can you do? Lie there awake and look at the sky, listening to
the massive drone of the snoring masses around you. Don't go back to
sleep; you've slept long enough. Watch the sky, feel the firm
ground. Wait and see what happens. You may start to realize that
your true companions are laying there, looking around too. What can
you all do? Agree that the awesome reality that we all share, asleep
or awake, is amazing enough to just sit and watch for ages- and
agree to be kind to one another, while we do. It is no bad thing to
celebrate a simple life, after all.
RA
Copyright 2005 Robin Artisson
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