The Trap

I haven't written anything in a while. The world is still here with more of the same. Thank goodness many continue to question and share their discoveries about the truth of our predicament while I have taken a break. It seems I have been trapped in the daily grind that is becoming more difficult to navigate. Here in the beast empire as the Laura Knight-Jadczyk so nicely describes the US, the daily grid is like trying to run a fifty yard dash in a few seconds while knee deep in molasses on a cold day. The vice grip of slavery gets tighter and my country mates haven't noticed a thing.

Let's see what my fellow Americans are preoccupied with this weekend.

The latest star wars movie opened and there are some interesting parallels between the hero's seduction by the dark side, and the role of individual Americans in the state of the world. The internal struggles Anakin faced was dampened by his self importance. He believed that he could help save the world and bring democracy by taking an absolutist stance. This doomed him to failure because self importance blinds one from seeing the consequence of one's choices. It prevents us from seeing that we are by our choices responsible for the way things are. Thus before we can begin to do anything about the world, we have to be know who we are and how we function in the grand scheme of things. We have to have the strength to refuse the lies we are told on a daily basis. Anakin couldn't do that, because he was blinded by what I call "being on the right side" syndrome. He had no understanding of how he functioned as a machine for someone who had plans contrary to his.

In the real world it is much the same. I admit that sometimes there is so much to think about that you just want to bury your head to forget it all. At what cost I ask? Are we doomed to become as evil as Anakin/Darthvader. He buried his head to what was happening to him because he was busy doing what he believed was saving those he loved and the Republic. While that is a grand and noble gesture, he couldn't see that he needed to save himself from becoming the tool of those bent on destroying the very things he was fighting for. In the process he lost all or depending on who you're talking to gained a lot of power.

I admit to burying my own head in the daily grind. I am lifting it today but any effective remedy requires that many others do the same. But I am worried because like Anakin, my fellow Americans are allowing the machinations of Palpatine, er... the neo-cons to continue. It means we silently condone the meanspirited, self serving, abuse of others carried out by our so called leaders. In our moments of idealism we think that it is enough to want good things or look only at the positive side and it will turn out ok. Wishful thinking. You have to wonder if this way of being is all there is to reality. For many who cannot accept that this is all, the lack of understanding of self often lead to belief systems. These systems further trap us in this reality and make us tools of the Palpatines of this world. Fundamentalist minions anyone?

When and how did our collective choices based on beliefs lead to this? Anakin Skywalker never saw the trap and neither do we as Americans. It is depressing. It means we won't be in a position to find a way out until it is too late, much blood has been shed and we have lost all that we tried so desperately to hold on to.