Halloween

The current elevation of Halloween to a commercial and community holiday is symptomatic of many elements of modern American culture. Neighborhoods are littered with plastic and paper products, branded with orange and black themes of pumpkins, skeletons, scarecrows, vampires, etc.. Walking around my own neighborhood convinces me that the owners of the decorated homes have absolutely no idea what this ritual is really about. However, I am convinced that Walmart rules in their households, which contain impressionable children under the age of eighteen. The lack of mirth in the American culture is reflected in this penchant for gloom, fright and death. The patent disregard for the general appearance of the neighborhood, the environment, is also glaringly obvious in these displays of disposable materials. Halloween has eclipsed Thanksgiving, it seems. The latter holiday, in its traditional American form, was a time for community functions for the needy, high school sports events, and a history-minded reflection on the controversial origins of this nation at the expense of its native inhabitants. Thanksgiving now is a long weekend for travel, since American families are no longer community-based. Halloween is a community holiday to the limited extent that Americans celebrate community in these times. America is balkanized. Ethnic communities have once again superseded the community at large. In the absence of the nationalist fervor of war fever, like that of 2001, what is the American community? What is the American identity?

Oppression

Oppression is accomplished by instilling fear.
Fearlessness is the antidote.
Face the oppressor.
Look him in the eye fearlessly and firmly.
Stare down the oppressor wherever he appears.

Oppression is accomplished by instilling fear.
Liberation is accomplished by rejecting fear.

Perception

I know I struggle with my self perception daily as I grow older. Gravity is changing me. My DNA is winding me down. Perception is very tricky. Philosophers have struggled with the concepts of subjectivity and objectivity for centuries. I have been snapping photos lately on my daily walks. This shot has jarred my perception, even though I took it and know exactly what the subject looked like in my eyes as I was taking the photo. I am learning in my practice to try to give qualified attention and validity to my perceptions. I must perceive, assess, judge and act. I am human. But I am learning to always accept that my perception may be skewed or flawed. By testing my perceptions with the perceptions of those I trust, I often learn a great deal about myself. Life, lived fully, is a joint venture.

Microfinancing

Last week an Indian banker was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Truly amazing. This man has made a living from giving loans, as little as $27, to the poor of India. He boasts changing lives by bringing entrepreneurs out of poverty. There is a 50% success rate among his customers, though most pay him back. His greatest boast entails lending money to women in rural villages who then buy HIS cell phones (he happens to own the largest cell phone company in India). The women then charge fellow villagers to use the cell phone because they cannot afford to buy one. Chances are most never will, if they spend all their meager savings renting the cell phones from this man's customers. In a society where people are reduced to feeling like microbes due to poverty and overpopulation, I wonder if it matters to them whether they are consumed by a shark or a minnow. In any case, I think the Nobel Peace Prize Committee has really captured the spirit of these times. I suppose, in the current materialistic mind, which is encompassing the Industrial World, the possibilities for profit and sainthood are endless and entwined. I do not believe in saints, con men or profiteering philanthropists. It is part of my practice to see and speak the truth as I see it.

Photography

I have taken to snapping pictures during my daily walks. I was very resistant to this idea for a long time. I have had a hard time with cameras most of my life. I am glad I have decided to play with this medium. It has become a challenge and a creative daily exercise. There is also the technological learning curve. I post the photos to my Flickr site, which is in my links section on the right of this page. Most fascinating to me is the reaction the camera, just being there in my hand, elicits from my fellow pedestrians. It evokes a shyness in some. Curiosity in others. And obvious paranoia in a few. Policemen seem especially suspicious of the camera. Interesting. In fact, they appear consistently to have a rather guilty expression, like I may catch them doing something they are not supposed to be doing. This strikes me as rather an odd reaction for guardians of the peace and of our civil freedoms. This process is changing my relationship to my environment. I cannot say exactly how, but I can feel the change in my consciousness. My practice is enhanced by doing new things, especially things I tend to resist, because I fear discomfort, embarrassment or failure.

Autumn

delight in the death
the browning smell
the blue metal skies
winter's mild warning

delight in the death
see your own in it
accept it and inhale
release your breath

delight in the death