August 07, 2021

01

Psyche-Tao-Mind-God 
(And where do those lines lie?)
don't seem to have any idea
of what they are doing.

The old Shaman and Taoists,
who got it started
5,000 years or so BCE
had no idea of a point.

Their basic thrust was,
"Don't try to make the world better,
just sick to the Way
(And "the Way" was very much
here and now,
day by day).

"Eat when hungry,
rest when tired,"
and "chop wood, carry water,"
were their focus and goal.

"Do now what needs to be done now,"
and "let tomorrow's trouble
wait until tomorrow,"
was their guiding mantra.

It would be a different world
if Al Gore had won the election.
Winston Churchill made all the difference
over his term in office,
Franklin Delano and Eleanor Roosevelt
made all the difference
during theirs.

After Dwight Eisenhower,
money called the political shots
and everything--and I mean everything--
was done,
not to make a difference,
but to make a profit.

"Profit At Any Price!"
has been Capitalism's motto
ever since.

Socialism is feared by the Capitalists
because profits would go down
if the people started benefiting
from the goods and services 
of government--
and that will never do.

And, here we are,
now what?

Now, we know that a difference 
not only can be made,
but also will be made,
for good or ill, 
depending on who and what
are making the choices
and leading the way.

And The Way has no real say
in that matter.
Psyche-Tao-Mind-God seems to be content
with the particular
with no interest whatsoever
in the general or the overall.

Carl Jung thought Psyche's goal
is "individuation"--
the individual's task 
of being the best they can be,
and "letting the outcome be the outcome."

Which is the theme of the Bhagavad Gita--
from around 400 years BCE,
and is the sum of the Hindu idea
of where things are going.

Christianity doesn't care about
making a global difference,
"Just believe in Jesus,
keep your nose clean,
and it all will be made up to you
in the coming Kingdom of God."

In the meantime,
Money Rules!
And all Money cares about
is Making More Money!

We can individuate all we want,
but the environment is going to hell
and taking us with it.

And Money is buying the votes
of the people who could put a stop to it 
if they were individuated enough
to draw the right lines
consistently,
reliably,
over time.

Which takes focus, 
concentration,
awareness
and commitment to a cause
that will last longer 
than they will live.

Money is betting on that 
not happening.

And that looks like a safe bet to me.
And the end of the world as well.

–0–

02

The American Indians had it made
until the American Calvary road into their life.

It's always something.
To disrupt and scatter,
pillage, plunder, destroy.

We are always having to deal with something.
Something we don't like
and wish weren't there.

It's what we do best.
It's what we are built for.
It's our shtick. 

You might think we would have settled 
into it by now,
but noooooo.
We always act like it is the very first time.

We flounder, and flounce and wail
forever,
and then we get up and do
what needs to be done.

As a species, I'm talking about.
Individuals, not so much.
Individually, we have a hard time
getting past disappointment and dismay.

We could work on that.
It would give us focus and direction.

Managing our life and our attitude,
day-to-day,
actually, moment-to-moment,
would be an improvement.
We think things are going to be like this
and they are like that,
and we become undone
like that.

We start with squaring ourselves up
with the here and now,
the right here, right now--
with what is happening 
and what needs to be done about it,
and doing it the way it needs to be done
in each situation as it arises.

Without taking our eye off
the over-all situation regarding
our life in the world,
and what needs to happen there
for the good of the whole.

We have to walk two paths at the same time,
maintaining our balance and harmony
on both paths at all times.

It requires awareness/focus/attention.
And distance from emotional involvement
with what is going on on either path.

Emotional involvement is having a vested interest
in the outcome.
It is having an agenda.
A plan.
A way.
My Way.
Now!

My Way Now! is the source of all of our problems today
everyday.

Can't have a Way on The Way.

On The Way, 
it is always, "Okay, now what?"
And doing it as it needs to be done
in light of the situation as a whole.

Our will does not matter.
We have to set ourselves aside
in sincere service to the good of the situation
before us right here, right now.

We have such a hard time
with this simple concept.
Our Way Now means too much to us.
Growing up is getting over that.
And growing up is so very hard to do.
It is the hardest thing.
And the thing that matters most.
The thing upon which every other thing hinges.

If you are ever going to do anything,
let it be growing up!
Everything else will fall into place
around that.

–0–

03

My intentional focus
directing my life
through every situation that arises
is to see what I am looking at
and to do what needs to be done about it,
with the right attitude/spirit/frame of mind.

Noticing and being disappointed
in my failure to do this,
helps me be better at it.

It is like learning to make really good
chicken noodle soup
by making a lot of bad chicken noodle soup
and letting your mistakes and errors
guide and direct your choices and actions
the next time you make chicken noodle soup.

We are making chicken noodle soup here.
Compassionate,
non-judgmental,
awareness guides our way.
And recognizing mistakes and errors
is not to judge mistakes and errors
in such a way as to interfere
with your ability to live in light
of what needs to be done
in each situation as it arises,
but in such a way as it guides
each step along the path.

This reminds me of Jesus saying,
"Judge not that you may not be judged,"
in one minute,
and saying,
"Don't cast your pearls before swine,"
in the next.

Discernment carries us forward,
moment-by-moment,
day-by-day.

–0–

04

We are killing ourselves
and destroying the planet
in the unrelenting quest
for an ever-increasing standard of living
and an always larger bottom line.
Money wants more money all of the time.
There is no limit to our 
money-hunger
and it is killing us.

Greed at once runs and ruins the world.

If you want to fix something,
fix that.

There is no fix to that.
And, so, we have to turn
to a higher power.

We have to call on the Psyche
to help us stop ourselves.

It works the other way.
The Psyche is geared to helping us
stop ourselves
when it comes to ignoring our Original Nature
and merrily going our own way.

This is the story of the Garden of Eden,
which can be read as Psyche abandoning 
us to our insatiable desires,
and saying, in effect,
"Okay. Now see how you like having your way
all of the time!"

We have reached the limit of time allowed.
We are creating a world we cannot live in.
We are destroying, not only Eden,
but everything else as well.

The environment is gearing up
to bring an end to life on the planet,
and starting over
without the human element.

We need the Psyche to stop us
before we stop ourselves,
though it may be too late.
It has been calling to us
all these years.
Now it has to stop us altogether.

The COVID Variants may be the plan.

The Psyche has to become the active agent
in stopping the madness of Greed encroachment
into all aspects of life.

It could do so by restricting our swallowing
and limiting our breathing
until we change our mind about what is important,
and start living within limits acceptable to the planet
around the world.

Psyche ought to know where to draw the lines,
and we could learn to live within them,
if our ability to swallow and breathe
were severely hampered.

That would get our attention,
and require immediate action.
The way of Jungian analysis 
and individual adjustment
is taking too long,
and was globally ineffective
from the start.

We need a world-wide plague
starting right now.

If the Psyche cares about what is good for us
and the planet,
it will be bad for us
starting right now.

Well?

–0–