Saturday, May 19, 2007

Plenty of Blame


Its pretty hard to stay focused on what really ails us with all of the hubbub in DC over Gonzo going gonzo, making Justice an arm of the RNC, all the while being outed as a serial, possibly psycho liar that will even go to the ICU to get his way when it comes to illegally spying on his enemies.

These events, as outlandish and despicable as they are, are symptoms.

They are symptoms of what we have become as a people. Sure, we can blame the R's, or the far right. Or we can blame the Corporations that have overtaken the public discourse with the manna from hell they rain daily on our lives.

We can blame the media which has become little more than a stenography tool.

We can blame the capitalists who in their victory lap over Marx have behaved about as responsibly as a 22 year old wide receiver who has just scored the final game ending goal against his arch rivals.

We can blame the political operatives who have turned democracy into a high tech game of metawords and psychomemes powered by the force of our own fears and ignorance.

We can blame the Plutocrats who have never really relinquished control, even as we suffer under our vain veneer of self governance.

We can blame our laziness, our selfishness, our ignorance, our lack of compassion.

We can blame our genes, our parents, our history of violence.

We can blame our philosophy, our religions, our system of knowing,

and our subject/object mind sword that divides our world,

into self vs other, people vs people, and mine vs yours.

Or we can take the words of the Buddhists to heart.

"There is plenty of blame in the World,

so don't worry about it so much."

"They blame him who sits silent, they blame him who talks much, they blame him who speaks moderately in measured terms." There is not any one in the world who is not blamed."
The Dhammapada

Everything is based on mind, is led by mind, is fashioned by mind. If you speak and act with a polluted mind, suffering will follow you, as the wheels of the oxcart follow the footsteps of the ox. Everything is based on mind, is led by mind, is fashioned by mind. If you speak and act with a pure mind, happiness will follow you, as a shadow clings to a form.
The Buddha



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