Outside of Society

There have always been warriors. That is to say that war and warriors have been a caste in cultures almost universally, even before tribes began putting walls around agricultural communities that evolved into cities and nations. Societies have classically been partitioned into four classes: Warriors, Priesthood, Administrators, and Workers. Then there are rare individuals who simply don’t fit in. There is nothing within the social confines for them behind walls and they must go outside of society either of their own will, or forced out by one or all four of the classes within the walls.

Outside of society are the mentally ill, the criminal, the artist, the poet, the shaman and so on. I might add the alcoholic and addict or just plain ole F” ups but these are luxuries in one sense and the wise ones know it. To serve no useful purpose inside the walls of social norms is a frightening thing for those who are forcibly exiled for one reason or another. This can be true for artists, poets, alcoholics and addict who want nothing more than to “fit in”… to be in the “in crowd”. I hear it all the time from those in recovery who wish “to be productive members of society.” But, to a few, criminals or artists and shaman, nothing could be more repulsive than to be accepted by the norm. We go where we don’t want to be protected by Warriors (and, in many cases, we have more in common with the Warrior than any other class), blessed by the Priesthood, categorized and taxed by the Administrators, or to be welcomed back into serfdom as a Worker.

Patty Smith sang it best; “outside of society, that’s where I wanna be!” Is it so wrong that some of us don’t want to become a cog in the machine… a part of the meat-grinder? Is it a compromise if we yield to leaching off the excesses of it? I think so… but then it is hard to escape it… only a few… only a few.

If there were a Mount Rushmore of the few who succeeded, whose four images would you carve on it? I can draw my four from four of these:

·         Buddha

·         Jesus Christ

·         Boudicca

·         Miyamoto Musashi

·         San Juan de la Cruz

·         Galileo

·         William Blake

·         Red Cloud

·         Morihei Ueshiba (O Sensei)

·         Mark Twain

·         Jack Kerouac/Alan Ginsberg/Neal Cassidy

·         Alan Watts

·         Mother Teresa

All of these and more. I have left out the great reformers of our time because they were working within the frameworks of Society. Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and so on were indeed great enough to be put on a Mount Rushmore but these aren’t striving to be outside.

geo 5,626

A Bitter End for a Sweet Man

I haven't felt like posting much since my Dad passed away. It is a peculiar phenomenon that I don't quite understand. It is as though my ideals, my ideas, my perceptions really don't matter much... not as much, at least, as the abiding essence of life... no, that's not it... it is something else... something I can't put a finger on and name... or a story that goes on without a name. I wonder whether his story meant anything to him as he lay there in his hospital bed with what appeared to be not much more to be concerned about than his next breath. I grieve, of course, but I believe I might be grieving for myself as well: I.e., born to die.

   Dad was a robust and healthy man up to the last ten years of his life. He went down fast as his mind was captured by a strange and cruel dementia. A sharp, bright man with a great sense of humor was reduced to scanning for one liners in order to speak. It was a harsh way to go and he was a good man that I believe deserved the best as he exited from this life. The man earned his way and his payment was this! Damned if the Gods aren't sadistic!

   In thinking about old age... our declining years... our end... I can comfort myself with the suspicion that, by the time we go, we are ready to go. Our infirmaries prepare us for the end of it. We think, "This is awful, let's get the eff out of here!" and then we go... just like that. I suppose a good life like the one my Dad lived is reward enough... he had love in his life and compassion for us all, as well as comfort in his so called Golden Years. That ought to be enough.... Shit, what am I bitching about?

geo 5,625

Loving Kindness

It is with gratitude that I look back on my past and think of all the small gestures of kindness that got me through. The simple light of hope stayed kindled just because someone simply smiled or gave me shelter when I had no home. I have found loving kindness from high and low. I don’t have to think long and hard to remember a Christmas dinner, the books on the shelves, the kind hosts, and the house on Addison Street in Berkeley some forty plus years ago. I don’t have to strain to recall them but I do have to give some extra effort to bring up incidents whereby the opposite occurred. I can recall only a little of the pain, the heartbreak, the disappointment of rejection and grief caused by indifference, hatred or fear. Those dark clouds have passed and, when my mind is opened with strong emotions of loving acts of kindness, I am still impressed and gratitude encourages me to be kind if I want to be remembered. Let resentment slip away if I will and allow my soul to be embraced by the Heart of Compassion in which there is no fear disappointment, despair, or hatred.

geo 5,619

Old Cow Practice

Remember the example of an old cow:

She’s content to sleep in a barn.

You have to eat, sleep and shit ---

That’s unavoidable --- anything

Beyond that is none of your business.

Do what you have to do

And keep yourself to yourself.

Patrol Rinpoche

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When it gets right down to it my faith is un-faith. I get all tied up in a knot with dogma and credos when I depart from the basics. The basics to me are the simple things I must do each day that must be done. Life gets complicated when I start adding things to it. If my attention strays from its center I am useless to myself and to anybody else. Moralistic jingoism gets set aside along with patronizing self-righteousness. They are replaced with a humility that allows others the freedom of their own dignity. Do the next right thing and then shut up about it. Allow the merit of compassion to sink in before I take credit for it because compassion is its own being and knows no restrictions. I become content to be free of encumbrances as an Old Cow practicing the three basics: eating, sleeping and shitting.

geo 5,615

Om/Amen

Amen: Old English, from Late Latin amen, from Ecclesiastical Greek amen, from Hebrew amen "truth," used adverbially as an expression of agreement (e.g. Deut. xxvii:26, I Kings i:36; cf. Modern English verily, surely, absolutely in the same sense), from Semitic root a-m-n "to be trustworthy, confirm, support." Used in Old English only at the end of Gospels, otherwise translated as Soðlic! or Swa hit ys, or Sy! As an expression of concurrence after prayers, it is recorded from early 13c.

Om: mystical word in Hinduism, Buddhism; an utterance of assent, 1788.

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I've wondered if the words Om and Amen have anything in common; after all, they are both affirmations. We usually think of Amen as an affirmation: i.e., “So be it.” Not being an etymologist I just Googled up a couple of snips at the word. I do believe that the word, Om, is as undefinable as the word God or the word Love. We all know what we think we mean by it but, when asked, most of us would impose a variety of definitions we have been taught through the lens of culture.

Most of this crap can be nothing more than mental masturbation. I prefer to drop all that and simply use the word as Paramahansa Yogananda did as a conscience raising vibration in his Metaphysical Meditations: “O infinite energy, infinite wisdom, recharge me with thy spiritual vibration.”

There are often times when I think all this spiritual stuff is nothing more than a bunch of mumbo-jumbo but then, in the morning, I sit on my cushion and begin my usual prayers with an Om. My spirit lifts a bit and, by the time I get to the end of my prayers or chants, I am ready to meditate. My battery is recharged and, for the most part, I go about my day ready for whatever comes. I don’t have to define God or Om. It is enough to connect with the Heart of Compassion and for my feet to get grounded. Amen.

geo 5,613

Inclusive Esoterica

If you turn your light inwardly, you will find what is esoteric within you.

The Sutra of Hui Neng

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Esoteric is a term that implies elitist or exclusive, as in the mumbo-jumbo only the in-crowd understands. Having preferred to be the out-crowd my whole life I am not so inclined to try to be accepted anywhere that demands I join the in-crowd to “get it”. In or out, it doesn’t matter because what is important is that I find the center… the core… the esoteric within. It comes with a certain confidence that can’t be faked because such confidence comes with enough humility to appreciate the esoteric center in others. It is an inclusiveness that is qualitatively juxtaposed to the exclusiveness of sects or cults. Inclusion means that I accept you as you are just as I accept myself as I am. Or, as Martin Buber would have called it, the union of “I and Thou”. In even more common terms by the Beatles, “I am he and you are me and we are all together…” It is so perfectly put that it comes off as corny to the more cynical but it is true golden mean. It is so simple that it becomes esoteric to anyone seeking the answers or approval from others. Or, as the Carpenter said, “The kingdom of heaven is within.”

geo. 5,607

Everything Counts

   Whatever we have done with our lives makes us what we are when we die. And everything, absolutely everything, counts.

Sogyal Rinpoche

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   Another famous show business personality was taken out by substance addiction. His friends, and people in the industry of the sublime narcissism of fame, were taken aback and some even expressed shock. Others took on the onus of Job’s councilors by trying to make sense of it… the dissolution of his marriage and etc. When someone we know falls it is a natural response to try to figure it out without grasping the reality of the delusion that has most of us bound by one desire or another unfulfilled… of never having enough or knowing what we want out of life.

    This leads me to think about spirituality that is as delusional as any substance addiction. Some very intelligent and aware people I know of have this idea that they can attain ecstatic states of consciousness and perform miracles. Some gurus or preachers exploit this spiritual materialism and have also convinced followers that by merely sitting in the presence of the “master” they can become enlightened. But, what is enlightenment if it doesn’t transform and tame the ego? If enlightenment doesn’t result in loving-kindness and thereby free us of our addictions, it is delusional. No matter how many disciples we gather around ourselves we die alone with the ego as our only companion. The Carpenter had it right when he said that the fulfillment of the law is The Heart of Compassion; compassion for myself, and for all others.

geo 5,606

The Pot Bowl: Hawks and Broncs

Super Bowl?

Saturday morning… clear sky… all the news is about the Super Bowl. Some call it the Pot Bowl because Denver and Seattle are open cities for the recreational use of marijuana. I don’t give a crap about the debate around marijuana. I no longer smoke it but I ain’t against other people using it. Those who rant against it as a gateway drug to other addictions are misinformed. The truth is that any drug is a gateway drug. Alcohol, pot, tobacco, prescription pain killers… Jails and prisons are full of folks who got introduced to the criminal culture via the procurement or sales of marijuana… or standing in front of the 7/11 to get someone to by a case of beer or pack of smokes for them.

            The way I see it is that there are those who see any inebriant as a social evil because drugs are a chemical shortcut to bliss. For many this is a knee-jerk reaction to a dislike of anyone obtaining some kind of pleasure that they consider immoral. Using a crutch like “the Children” as an excuse to ban it or for reasons of health… be it mental, spiritual or physical health compels them to legislate against any and everything they oppose. I only have to witness the self-righteous indignation some ex-smokers confront smokers with. Many non-smokers, whether they once smoked or not, want to ban smoking in the confines of one’s home; even out in the open having already banned it on beaches and parks in some areas.

In this country we have the experience of the era of Prohibition that opened a door to the growth of criminal gangs and we can see the results of the War on Drugs and the correlation of that with the gang culture hear and in Mexico. It is my belief that those who directly or indirectly profit the most from prohibition are those who wish to continue it. I believe that the Crips, the Bloods and the Sinaloa Cartel most likely agree with Bill O’Reilly, preachers from the pulpits, and pundits on TV. Yes, keep the War on Drugs going. Don’t even get me started on the subject of how illegal pot farming has ruined our pristine National Forests and so on…

I say: Go Seattle Seahawks… Go Denver Broncos. Smoke it up! It ought to be a great Super Bowl whether anyone smokes a bowl or not. I am one of those annoying people who think the government has no business in our homes, how we defend our homes, our bedrooms, our love-life, or our use of drugs (prescribed or not). The more we give up power and self-determination to the government in any area of our lives the more confined and prohibited our neurosis will explode.

geo 5,603