Gurus and Chaos

If we are witnessing the beginning of World War III, I wonder how practical all the teachings of gurus will be for us in this modern age of vulnerability? The luxury of self-inqiry, consciousness exploration, and study of world teachers may be nothing more than drippy fantasy, once the harsh reality of organism survival is confronted by these impending acts of terrorism. Only, when I feel safe, when means to livelihood are fully met, do I feel I can look into the expansiveness outside the material reality. In fact, I wonder if it is nothing more than escapism?

I don’t think it is escapism. A person does what it can with what it has. When what it has is peace, it can pursue matters (hopefully) not directly related to survival. Is cooking escapism? You could certinaly eat raw vegetables…

Perhaps it would help if I knew what exactly you wre escaping from… boredom?

This is a pretty painful simplification. One could as easily argue that the “coming age of vulnerability” will produce a flowering of navel-gazing, with a corresponding rise in hucksters selling self-help manuals.

Hey, we may see the birth of the next Church of Scientology!

Less flippantly, perhaps the philosophy we’ve pursued so eagerly in our luxury will now be more important than ever.

As a designated guru-in-the-making iconoclast with the necessary amount of pie-in-the-sky idealistic visionary epiphemera:

a) C’mon! You knew since Orwell wrote 1984 that the likelihood of significant threats to individual freedom was substantial, and that the Outside Threat would be the explanatory device. Not that ulterior motives on the part of our elected officials is in any sense necessary. They’ll do it because it seems unavoidable if security is to be maintained.

b) I predicted that the major precipitator would’ve been Hiroshima sized bombs planted by the likes of the Symbionese Liberation Army in major metropolitan centers like London or New York. So sue me: I didn’t predict Islamic terrorists using hijacked planed. Fact remains, the essence of 9/11 was inevitable and I’m surprised mainly that it took so long.

c) That which we call our own–no, not the physical territory called the United States of America, but the way of life and the way of government that has made that way of life possible–is indeed something that could transform the world, to the benefit of our way of life, and to the securement of the security thereof; but only if we begin working on extending the fundamental political architecture of…no, not necesarily our Constitution, wonderful though it may be, but of the underlying principles (also expressed, in a different manifestation, by the governmental systems of Great Britain and Israel, among others): some system by which, to the greatest extent possible, individual citizens can have their intentions respected and realized, in a democratic manner, by the government.

d) Kick butt. Not your typical guru sentiment, but coercion sucks. The political entities that most immediately manifest themselves as Coercion Incarnate are the most evil, and need to be stopped, not by victory to the most successful oppressor, but by victory to the forces that most effectively empower the individual. I’m a radical lefty and have lots of criticisms of the US Govt, Western Civ in general, and even of the fuckin’ VOTE as a less than ideally democratic ideal. But adversariality is relative. The United States is a lot of things, not all of which are admirable, but in every way possible it looks wonderful compared to fundamentalist Islamo-pretensive theocratic centralized government using terrorist tactics, and one must be practical. Kick butt.

e) Meanwhile, I am very proud, as a guru-in-ongoing-training type, to see that to a significant extent we, those of use who constitute the US, have grown up somewhat since the days in which we designated a THEM in simplistic fashion and then carried out hateful antagonisms not merely against our sworn enemy but also against those who happened to share the same ethnic origin. I am VERY proud of the US for a general tendency to reach out and reassure our Muslim citizenry that we regard them as us and not as “THEM”.

And in Summary: for so long as violence continues to underly worldly order, violence will continue to have the chance of upending even the best of systems. We cannot rest on our laurels, such as they are. Democracy, worldwide, still has a long way to go. Actually, Democracy within the confines of the US still has a long way to go. Our tradition is one of improvement and of expansion of democratic principles to wider and wider implementation.

Let this continue.

QUOTE Originally posted by ssambr

I can look into the expansiveness outside the material reality. In fact, I wonder if it is nothing more than escapism?


Hi Ruth,

“Expansiveness” is a Meme. Is a meme made of Material? Assuming Thoughts are Memes, and thought is a material process, and that we are nothing more than a conglomerate of memes and genes (information), then there is nothing “Outside”.

Keep having sex, get a Sugar Daddy, and quit thinking so much.

Aloha,

jesse,ddr

Originally posted by erislover

Perhaps it would help if I knew what exactly you were escaping from… boredom?


O.K. Ruth, since you never took any of my unsolicited advice on Kinfonet, I doubt that you will take my advice on this forum either (see my above post).

Erislover has asked you a thought provoking question, and I am speculating that you have been reviewing the K teachings for an answer, while thinking psychologically (a K no-no).

Time’s up, let’s here your answer.
Aloha,

jesse,rc

p.s.—To the moderator, Ruth and I are long time friends, and have both agreed to engage in friendly debates with each other.

Survival don’t mean squat if ya don’t have a raison d’etre. When all hell’s breaking loose and hope’s dried up, it’s a great time to ponder the “meaning of life” and teachings of the great gurus. How else are ya gonna know if it’s worth continuing the fight against endless crap?