Downton Abbey, Conciousness and Buddhism

Carson: "We may have to have a maid in the dining room."

The Earl of Grantham: "Cheer up Carson, there are worse things happening in the world."

Carson: "Not worse than a maid serving a duke."

Aside from Downton Abbey one of my avocations is the study of Conciousness. I have studied the subject for a good while attending workshops, reading and meditating regularly. Recently I acquired two new books, "The Magicians Way" by Wm. Whitehead and "You are Here," by Thich Naht Hanh. The books provide a contrast which is instructive to those interested in this subject.


I think there theoretical truth in this theory. However, in my experience, two problems arise in practice. First, it is extraordinarily difficult to strain out thoughts and emotions and to maintain a pure focus on ones goal. Second, there is the issue of the subconscious. How can one know that what is really a desire when so many desires come from the hidden unbidden? I have not been able to figure this out.

Whitecloud's book reminds me greatly of it predecessors, "The Celestine Prophecy" and "The Secret." He explains that the it is possible, by holding a goal in mind purely and without the interference of unreal thoughts and feelings, to manifest directly and instantly what we want. He states that to do so, we must recognize that thoughts and emotions are not real. By doing so, we may function on the plane of creation purely and efficiently.

I believe Whitecloud's approach has merit. Although, it is difficult to achieve in practice. First, I have found it extraordinarily difficult to hold a goal in mind without the intercessors of emotion and thought. Second, there is the issue of the subconcious. How does one manifest when the subconcious arises and asserts it's will, unbidden?

My favorite spiritual development instructor is by far, the Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Naht Hanh. The many books written by him clearly and effectively explain Buddhist philosophy to the western mind. "Things inter-exist; they inte-are. They are organic. There is no path to the cessation of suffering without suffering." In other words, enlightenment comes from the experience of life wholly, light and dark.

The contrast between the two approaches is interesting as it is instructive. Namaste.

Incompetence, stupidy and then the SEC.

 

Having been utterly clueless about Bernard Madoff's 50 year multi-billion dollar ripoff while failing to prevent the immense and so far unpunished meltdown of the U.S. financial system, the Securities and Exchange Commission has now let off two ex-Bear Sterns traders with a civil fine which constitutes a tiny fraction of what the two traders earned while defrauding investors. In fact, the SEC even admits in its own filing, that the two misrepresented their activities and results to investors.

This is one of the most odious and incredible aspects of the whole financial meltdown. That is, the dearth of competent enforcement not only prior to but since the debacle. Very few convictions have been achieved while in point of fact, most perps have been allowed to go free and to keep the money stolen via their many frauds.

Even more amazing, has been the lack of zeal by the press in reporting the greatest fraud and theft in history. The financial press was mute and clueless prior to the meltdown and the press in general has been a chorus of reeds since.

“Are we like late Rome, infatuated with past glories, ruled by a complacent, greedy elite, and hopelessly powerless to respond to changing conditions?”
                          Camille Paglia
 

What does all this mean? First, our institutions do not function as advertised and in fact, function little at all. Second, our society is now beset by criminals who have free reign to steal what they can while allowed to freely keep what they have stolen. Second, it means our press is not a press at all but a propaganda machine employing over-paid teleprompter readers to dish out pap in place of real information. Third, it means the rest of us are virtually helpless in the face of this all. Fourth, it means that American society is doomed, at least as we have always imagined it to be. No society supposedly based on the rule of law instead of the rule of evil men can long withstand this state of affairs.

America's Dumbass Problem

"There's no fixing stupid."

One of the features which stands out so clearly and which has huge consequences for the U.S. is our dumbass problem. Whether it's Shawn Hannity's idiotic and gross misrepresentations of President Obama's economic record or the cracker woman who asked Santorum how an "avowed Muslim" could be allowed as President or the old man who famously said that the government should "keep it's hands off his social security," or the idiots who continue to insist, despite fact and logic that the President was not born in the U.S.. What is clear, is that having to deal with this sort of garbage is damaging the nation.

Dealing with the intellectually incompetent lowers the level of the debate as it impedes and often prevents dealing with important issues effectively. One example of this is the case of healthcare in the U.S.. The fact is, we do not have as so many insist we do, the "best healthcare in the world." We spend the most but, have 45 million people with no healthcare coverage and are in fact 36th in life expectancy. It is a mystery to me that anyone could then claim our healthcare is the best. Yet, it is a tenet of the dumbasses that it is. The result, the U.S. wastes billions on a poor and cruel solution which consistently damages our ability to compete economically.

I have had many people ascribe the melt down of Wall Street to Obama and insist it is a fact, even as I point out he was not even the Democratic nominee when these events took place. The fact is, the economy demonstrably began to deteriorate about 6 months into Dubya's first term and clearly started to turn around about 6 months into the Obama presidency. Yet, when I point this out, charts provided to the dumbasses, it is as if logic and reason don't exist... well maybe they don't for them.

I am open to what to do about this. It is often pointed out that a large portion of the population lacks any real critical reasoning abilities. Perhaps, in the future, we will see a world of more Einsteins and fewer morons via genetic engineering. Until then, we will have to bear the unbearable as those who cannot think rule those who can.