New day in old way

I was listening to a couple of African-American political commentators when the first pundit said that the world would be disappointed if Obama was elected and did not push for social justice and equitable treatment or at least the liberals. The pundit-2 noted that no one expects Obama to be a Black Power advocate and champion the cause of Black people. The first pundit responded that social justice and equitable treatment was not a "Black people" issue but one of fairness. The reality is that Black people are at the bottom of the barrel using just about any social indicator that you can choose.

The significance of this exchange is that it speaks to the fundamental contradiction that we each face when we attempt to excel in a world that is based on "riba" or something for nothing. If we can not get past the need to conform to the existing dictates of society we end up with new caretakers for the same old house. This is old house needs more than a new coat of paint. It needs more than putting up new siding. But recognizing that requires us to suspend our belief in the righteousness of the existing order. It means that if we are down and don't deserve to be we need to get up. But if we are where we are suppose to be then we can lay down and feel content. The idea that Obama is not either willing or able to challenge the existing inequity and bias in society is a sad commentary for the future.





This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Mental pressure and psychic duress

Unfortunately, with the new found appellation of "slogger," I feel pushed to peck out a message just to keep faith with my commitment to "blog" by establishing a blog. I don't plan to spend much time blogging about blogging. But I do want to pierce the psychic veil that covers my understanding and darkens the insight that flows from unobstructed reflection.

i think that age changes how we think and what we think. My prime hope is to grow in knowledge and power through opening myself to the cosmic flow of intention and the divine purpose of life. That is not spookism or fundamentalism or even apostasy (of course I wouldn't think so since it is my idea). But we often do not notice whether we are on the path or not during our younger years. It is only when we near the path that we look over our shoulder to trace the steps that brings us where we are. Sometimes we wonder how the heck we got where we are and where does it portend to lead.

Embedded in this wandering and meandering reflection is the sense that even when we find that which seems most senseless there is a mote, an iota, a speck of purpose. Today, I want to point to, at the time seemingly inane, comments made by politicos and pundits that were intended to press the advantage for their personal purposes. I was recently emailed a link to the Daly show where there were clips played of Republican operatives being hypocrites.

On one Karl Rove being very critical of an early potential Democratic VP from West Virginia. Rove belittled his serving as mayor of Richmond, VA identifying it as only the 105th largest city in the U.S. and the person having only three years experience as governor. This was followed by a clip of Rove praising the qualifications of Palin which included her "executive" experience as a mayor and serving two years as a governor which were portrayed as strengths. Then O'Reilly was show on a clip attempting to humiliate a young 16 or 17 year or popstar (Jessica Simpson's sister I think) as a pox on American society due to her being pregnant. O'Reilly took special pains to point out that it was the girls parents who should be held responsible for her loose moral, nonethical, irresponsible behavior. This was followed with a clip of O'Reilly softpedaling Sarah Palin's daughter's pregnancy as a private matter not to be commented on and as not a bad thing if she and her child does not end up on the government dole.

What does this say to us? It is not like we were not aware of the contradictions that are an inherent part of politics. But please don't abandon your commonsense. Please don't forget that there are things we should remember. Please don't ignore the ideas hiding behind the curtain.





This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.