Consumers

I hear we live in a consumer economy. The term is used in media constantly. It is a given. By defining human beings as consumers, some human beings exploit human greed and materialism for great profit. This is not new.

Stepping away from the addictive process of consuming every new thing is part of an awakening. The brainwashers of advertising use peer pressure and fear of isolation to peddle electronic devices, cars, clothing, alcohol and soft drinks. They used to peddle cigarettes in the same way, before the product was revealed to be more toxic than being the odd man out.

Watching television with commercials has always felt like manipulation to me. I could not enjoy the content of a drama or comedy without the nagging feeling that my brain was being programmed to do things against my better interests. I stopped watching commercial TV about twenty-five years ago.

I come back to the Japanese Buddhist mantra , "Person environment one." If you are submerged visually in commercial advertising all day, your mind and your environment are no longer your own. You are inhaling messages, overt and covert, which shape your ideals and your interests. The goal of the originators of these messages is simple. They wish to own you.

You are what you eat. In a similar way, you are what you watch and consume. Taking time away from the messages of media and the process of consuming or planning to consume is essential to finding your center. Meditation is a useful tool for this. Yoga is another. Other forms of focused activity, geared to releasing the mind from cluttered thought, are useful tools to break the pattern of wanting and buying and wanting more.

As I have said before, wanting more when you are full is a symptom of disease. The lords of the consumer economy never want you to stop wanting. This is a struggle for your health and mental well being in a world driven by money and profit. The choices are difficult and require great balance and persistence.

Anger

The politics of anger are rising from the relatively wealthy in the form of the Tea Party in America. Funny. I am reminded of the advent of the French revolution, when the relatively affluent Bourgeoisie manipulated the destitute and truly poor to dislodge the aristocracy for them. The result was a Reign of Terror, in which many of those leaders of the Bourgeoisie were cannibalized by their own monster.

The politics of common sense are seldom popular, because common sense is an antidote for personal greed in society. Greed wins the attention of the middle class. Trashing the concepts of progressive taxes, public health care and business regulation gets the bourgeois mob inflamed. They are motivated by greed, not by social justice.

This year's elections in America will be a test of the true center of the American conscience. Will the people choose the politics of anger and materialism? Or, will the people realize that patience and the correction of the materialistic and militaristic policies of the past decade will eventually promote greater economic equality in the country?

Humility

This is not an age of humility. It is an age of celebrity and self-promotion. Youtube has enabled the ad man in everyone with a digital camera or mobile phone. "Look at me." is the underlying mantra of videos of cute cat tricks and gurgling babies. There are, of course, exceptions, but Google Ads belie a certain egocentric materialism generally.

As a humanist and atheist who admits ignorance of what I cannot see or understand in The Universe, I do experience a natural humility every day. My tenuous grip on life and consciousness allows me to appreciate the vastness of The Universe. I do not live comparatively in relation to other human beings. I understand that we are all smaller than bacteria in the great Universe around us. The famous will sicken and die no more elegantly than the man sleeping under a bridge.

Admission of the smallness of my life in the great sea of life and non-life around me is liberating. My greatest possession, perhaps my only possession, is this moment. Though it is precious to me, it is fleeting and so easy to miss. I choose to share my moments with you because I feel our greatest quality as human beings is our ability to share our internal experiences of The Universe with each other. Bringing our shared awareness to life's successive moments breeds compassion and mindfulness. Each tiny light of shared consciousness, like my own, joined with millions like itself, may eventually illuminate a world darkened by selfishness, poverty and violence. This is my idea of a great vision of a better world.

Inertia

The human brain has its own form of inertia. This inertia seems to increase with material comfort and affluence. It leads to conservatism in most who follow that path.

Hunger combats human inertia. The hunger for knowledge, the hunger for food, the hunger for human affection. These are motivators for human change, human progress. Intentional use of hunger is a powerful tool, used for centuries by those who have sought enlightenment and freedom from desire. Hermits isolated themselves from human companionship to produce a hunger for human interaction. The silence of cloisters produced a hunger for human speech and conversation. Yogis fast to liberate themselves from the distractions of metabolism.

How do you overcome your inertia? Do you even try? The seduction of routine consumption of food, alcohol, and entertainment is ever present in American life. Those who have grown rich by glutting America with consumables now try to steer its government to allow for even more exploitation of the consumers' addiction and greed. Cheaper fast food. More drugs. Less need for mobility. More bad television and distracting gadgets.

Overcoming mental and physical inertia is part of my personal practice. As I age, this requires more and more effort and mindfulness. A rigorous exercise regime is necessary. A strict adherence to a healthy diet is necessary. Daily morning commitment to make each day a day of progress, not stasis. Inertia is easy. Practicing the art of being the most growthful person I can be is difficult.

Money

Greed is the social motivator in current human societies. This is simply a reaction to the obvious deterioration of the planet's resources and human overpopulation. Animal, mindless responses, translated into complicated derivatives and securities.

There is little rational basis for hoping that this trend will let up, since the destruction of the planet's health is well under way at the hands of those who hold financial and political power. The only possible hope lies in the heart of each individual who sees the value of human life beyond consumer comforts and the accumulation of things. If this hope is allowed to grow and spread to others, there may be some hope for humankind.

The salvation of the human species does not lie behind a teller's window or on the trading floor of a stock exchange. The salvation of the human species lies within your single individual heart and mind. By adopting a mindful, compassionate and loving daily practice, which turns its focus from getting things to doing good, you may well be turning the tide of greed and destruction.

Packing

There is an art to moving. If there were a degree for moving, I'd have a doctorate. In the past forty years I have moved about thirty times, usually by myself, since I have lived alone for most of that time.

My house is now packed neatly into one large room here on the first floor. Fifteen medium boxes of moderate weight/density. Twelve plastic crates, smaller with more compact weight of wrapped dishes, glassware or books. Boxes are stacked for easy access, since they usually go into the truck first. Larger furniture is next. Small items are last. They are tucked securely into holes left by larger items.

More often than not, I hire movers. I have great admiration and empathy for the men and women who lug the weight of the materialism of others for relatively low pay. They represent a vanishing segment of the population of developed countries: Those who labor against gravity and friction for their living. They provide a truly valuable service.

I have known people who enjoy brutalizing paid laborers. These selfish bullies feel that they are entitled to insult the dignity of a person who has to work hard for their money. What could be more cowardly? There may come a day when those who labor at basic services, like moving, will be considered worthy of more respect. I hope that day comes soon.

All in all, while I struggle with my muscles and joints, exerting myself against the weight of my own possessions, I find moving tremendously invigorating. My heart races at the prospect of new habits, new walks, new acquaintances. Many people seek this exhilaration in travel. I learned many years ago that travel does not satisfy my need for shaking out the cobwebs as well as moving to a new neighborhood, where I will live for a year or more.

In The Dhammapada, the translated sayings of Gautama, there are repeated references to moving or movement as a method to diminish attachment and to spread the word of liberation. I must concur. My moving is motivated as much by economics as by philosophy, but the net effect is the same. Weeding out, packing up and lifting your life, box by box, requires having your feet firmly planted on the ground. Breathing deeply with the mind wide open helps a lot.

Materialism

The corruption of the Christian ethos by Catholicism becomes ever more apparent as lay Catholics in wealthy communities in Massachusetts whine over the loss of real estate. The parishioners at St. Francis Cabrini, for instance, have been occupying the Catholic Church in the coastal town in hopes of taking it over from the archdiocese of Boston after the Vatican's final decision to close the church down. The wealthy parishioners are willing and able to buy the church.

Why not? Perhaps Rome is missing out on a great opportunity here. The independently-owned franchise is an American tradition. Why not sell off the churches as Mac-temples to the more prosperous and materialistic congregations? For the Catholic devout, the church is obviously comparable to a country club or other community organization, with the added mystical provenance. Then there's the possibility of adding a Dunkin Donuts drive-thru.

Somehow all that good Catholic teaching has failed to convey the Christian message to these die-hard congregants. Simply put: "It's NOT about the church, stupid!" The rites, bricks and mortar of the Roman Catholic Church have been its focus for centuries. This is at the root of its decline and, hopefully, its fall.

Perhaps these dispossessed congregants can find some community in their displacement. Perhaps they will form the kinds of relationships which will supplant the significance of vestments and hollow absolution in their lives. Perhaps they will learn to love on another and care for each other, instead of running bingo games to buy gold candlesticks for pedophiles. I hope so, for their sakes.

House

a house is not a gnome

in the garden nor castle
from plywood and nails.

at best it's shelter from
prying eyes, cold or heat
of the night or blue days.

at worst it's a holy shrine
of flash and shining ego
with designer labels about.

materialism won't feed
you, homeless in the night,

even in an ivory mansion.

move the furniture now

and throw everything out.

windows and doors wide.

do welcome in the outside.

make your own house just,

a place for love and peace.

"I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers.

In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in.

I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street.I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints.

The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents." Major General Smedley Butler.(1881-1940.) As quoted in the 2/10/10 issue of http://www.globalresearch.ca/

The international decline of financial capitalism presents a crossroads for humanity. Awakened from the miasma of the Bush-Cheney years by sudden financial discomfort, Americans and others find themselves potentially bankrupt and enslaved by large financial institutions, who have robbed national treasuries with impunity.

Perhaps the fog of war-mania will also lift, as governments turn to internal spying, political incarceration and martial law to control their angry citizens. South Carolina's legislature is reportedly considering a law to suppress free speech by forcing critics of the U.S. government to register as dissenters. There has been a general use of 911-ism as an excuse to discourage street protests and marches in the U.S. generally. State police organizations increasingly back neo-con candidates.

To those who are currently untouched by the collapse in the American economy, I say, "It isn't over yet." Ancient wisdom dictates that disaster teaches a society compassion and levels the great economic divide which causes greedy domination by the wealthy. The cycle of history. The financial collapse may well take the bloated wind out of the military-industrial complex which has gotten us here.

It will be increasingly important for each person to adopt a daily practice to get through these changes. That practice may include brave activism for social and economic justice despite potential harm. Clinging to the selfish materialism and blind nationalism of the last two decades will not cut it when the whole world is in crisis and one rising force, China, starts calling the shots.

America can perhaps be resurrected by its loss of its superiority and its acceptance of a place as less militaristic part of a coalition of nations who believe in universal human rights, true democracy and world peace.

Webness

I received a comment (unposted) from a reader today, whose email signature included a link to a Web site. The Web site is a so-called female escort agency. I was blasted with graphic pictures of gigantic naked breasts and bleached smiles. Now, while cyber-pimps and pornographers are often seen as sketchy folk, I appreciated this person's comment. I did wonder why this person was drawn to my rather quiet blog on ethics, politics and practical philosophy. I also wondered if the comment was made by a real person.

I chose to meditate on this during my afternoon walk. I recalled seeing an ad recently for housewives who wanted to make cash working from home. I then researched these schemes and found that these suburban housewives are posting links to pornography sites and offshore casinos through various search-engine advertising programs. Then I wondered how many of these stalwart suburbanites signed petitions against gay marriage or attended yowling Tea Party meetings about family values and getting government out of their health care.

More communication, more information, its all here on the Web. But, what is it achieving? Is it educating? I know it is entertaining at a profit if suburban moms can cash in on porn and gambling. Does that add value to our lives in general? Or does it just make us all a little less accountable, less responsible, less ethical or just plain less caring?

I look across the national landscape as reported in a variety of media. I don't see knowledge, awareness and improved quality in our country. I see terror-phobia, ignorance of how the health care system works, nationalist ego without basis, and a determined, evil movement by some on the Far Right (neo-cons) to undermine the average person to the advantage of the already super-rich.

What can be done about this? There is no Big Answer. We are evolving, and our technology with us. Perhaps one day China, as it takes over the world, will paternalistically guide us back to a more moderate path. Perhaps a Haiti-like apocalypse will wipe the slate clean. Perhaps the U.S. will continue on its Balkanizing descent and become a larger version of Mexico or Colombia. It is obvious to me that technology will not save any of us.

So, while I try to keep abreast of advances in communication and technology, I am very conscious that my touchstone is my daily personal practice. I strive to practice in the virtual world as I do in the real world. That is the best I can do.

Democracy

Life is often a beauty contest. Perhaps this accounts for the snail-pace of human progress.

Our eyes are programmed for choosing sexual mates. Our brains, however, will decide ultimately what happens to the human species. A just, functional and happy human species will depend upon those who have the intelligence, compassion and inventiveness to apply science and ethics to daily life.

Democracy is a lofty concept. Mob rule is not. When democratic institutions are used by angry mobs to vent their rage, they cease to function for the good of all the people they represent. There is an ugly mood in the U.S. at present: A group tantrum by those who have become lured into superficial materialism by Wall Street and mortgage bankers. The American middle class threw away their own national dignity abroad, their own equity, their own privacy and their own power as laborers in the Bush era. What did they get? They got LCD TVs, polluting Hummers and barn-like mini-mansions, made of junk materials.

So, as these willing victims of the 'greed-is-good' con game rage at having to pay the piper, they look to vent their regressive anger upon the progressive politicians who are trying to help them clean up their mess. They kick their feet and scream as government tries to relieve them of the burden of unaffordable health care. They throw their support behind scheming opportunists, who represent the same creeps who stole their money in the first place. They look for new scapegoats and the same old ones, like gay people, African-Americans, immigrants and others.

So, politics begin to resemble high school prom-queen and prom-king competitions. Sarah Palin, a woman who has glaringly obvious deficits as an intelligent leader, gets into the political sphere because she looks pretty and has done all the conventional 'right' things as a wife and mom. Scott Brown, the U.S. Senate candidate in Massachusetts, gets into the political sphere because he was a jock, a nude poster-boy and drives a pick-up truck. Those whose lives peaked and plateaued in high school rally to the flags of these pubescent icons.

Meanwhile, democracy and the people's real needs are discarded. They are successfully sabotaged once again by the evil forces behind the doctrine of personal greed and materialism, who gladly fund and promote this process of regression. The bankers slink away to their gated mansions with a cynical laugh at their willing dupes, the Tea-Party-style fanatics.

Today is Martin Luther King Day. Martin Luther King, who was the most inspiring man in my adolescent life, was not a pretty man. He was no prom-king candidate. He did not advocate rage or tantrums. He did not advocate selfishness or materialism. He did not support free-market capitalism. He did not whine and rant about what he wasn't getting. Martin Luther King spoke to the hearts of those who yearned for progress, social equality and economic justice for all through civil, progressive government. And, he was killed for it by the same characters who are currently funding efforts to subvert peace, the Obama administration, human rights for all and universal health care.

Make your choice. Will you indulge your own negativity? Will you go on justifying your own materialistic selfishness? Will you continue to begrudge paying taxes for social welfare programs in America while not even blinking when your taxes needlessly kill civilians in Afghanistan and Iraq? Who will you support in the voting booth?

Materialism

Today I have been bombarded with breathless accounts of people shopping by journalists at National Public Radio, considered by some to be the font of intelligent reporting. What is wrong with this society?

Several months ago people were assaulting politicians who were finally trying to do something to help people by reforming a broken health care system. Today they were rushing into stores to charge gadgets, for which many of them have no money. The brainwashing to buy is coming from those disproportionately unaffected by the current Depression, in which millions of middle class people are spiraling into poverty.

Wake up, America. Wall Street is not your friend. Mainstream media is no longer objective. Your future is at stake.

Extremes

One of the goals of my practice, learned from Buddhist and monastic Christian practice, is the narrowing of my moment-by-moment attention away from the extremes of my reactions and desires. It is the most difficult and most rewarding aspect of my practice.

In the US, we live in a country of extreme views and extreme differences in wealth and well-being. While the extremes, diluted by a bureaucratically grinding government, generate slow social progress, the temperament of America is fickle and often unfocused. Materialism is the common ethos of the country. Freedom, as touted and seen by most Americans, is a euphemism for selfish pursuit of monetary wealth and/or celebrity. This adds to the challenge of practice for me.

Tempering the extremes of reaction and desire, brings calmness to the mind. Calmness of the mind allows for self-confidence and an understanding of self. Self-confidence and self-understanding allay many personal cravings. Allaying personal cravings allows the perception of the needs and humanity of others. Generally perceiving the needs and humanity of others, without seeing them through selfish insecurity and/or desire, breeds compassion. Compassion brings love. Love extinguishes fear and violence.

This doesn't just happen. It's exhaustive labor much of the time. A simple subway ride in the city with this consciousness brings countless tests of my resolve to practice. Driving in the city makes this practice nearly impossible for me. But, the commitment to the effort has paid off.

Possession

Possession is always a two-way process. There is no possession of goods without a reciprocal possession by goods. This is the essence of Buddhist admonitions about materialism. It is a core precept lost entirely by Christianity. It has little historic correlation in Judaism. Islam preaches a socialism, pertaining to possessions, which is never concretely followed in Islamic cultures. The economic divide between rich and poor in all cultures permeated with these religions is a glaring indictment of the messages of those religions, as they pertain to greed and possessions.

Buddhism (the core sutra philosophy, not the cultural religious forms) advises a realistic approach to possession. Detachment entails the constant mindful understanding that all things and beings are transitory, illusory. Liberated consciousness, that mental energy that supersedes its origins in personality through practice and meditation, enables its source to be detached from all possessions and ties to the material world.

Detachment is an acquired skill, in other words. As someone who recently bought new appliances, I can attest to the seduction of shiny new things. However, I have been struggling with remaining detached from these machines, despite their efficiency and time-saving benefits. Remaining detached from people is much more difficult, of course. To love unselfishly, to be compassionate and to be detached simultaneously are the skills of a Buddha. Perhaps this is beyond the capacity of most, if not all, human beings.

Practice is the daily conscious attempt, moment by moment, to strive for this Buddha state, a state without possessiveness, even of oneself.

Change

Change is inevitable. Our bodies change constantly. The weather changes. The planet itself is always changing.

Human beings can execute behaviors, based on thought, which can change our environment. Yet, how do we use this exceptional ability? We use it to accumulate things at the expense of our health and well being.

The change which some politicians are promoting in their speeches is not really change for the betterment of the species or the planet. Their focus is to preserve the bad habits of materialism and selfishness which are rapidly degrading the planet. They are obsessed with human creations, wealth and power.

True change for the better would be focused on education, the alleviation of poverty by taxing the materialistic, directly dealing with overpopulation and holding responsible those who have plundered human wealth for irresponsible and destructive purposes. However, the domination of world governments by the very greedy corporate entities who have been destroying the planet for decades has perhaps already doomed the human species to a bleak future for some time to come.

Individual practice always allows for positive change in one human life. If the current destructive course of the human experience is to be reversed, individual practice will be at the core of that change. Living in the light of truth with compassion and responsibility is one way to create daily changes in the world, one life at a time.

Beauty

Visual perceptions of human beauty are obviously learned behaviors. What is beautiful in one culture is not beautiful in another. What one person finds beautiful in a lover may horrify another.

Yet, there are social trends of beauty. These are taught to a receptive public by the drumming of visual commercial media. Long hair, short hair, tall, short, thin and plump. These all come and go with the whim of advertisers and the appetite of consumers for change.

There are also basic, generally accepted elements of human beauty which include youthfulness, muscularity, symmetry, smoothness of skin, large eyes, thick hair, white teeth, etc..

The current materialism in society, combined with relentless saturation of daily life with commercial media which use human beauty to sell things, has led to a reduction of human beauty to its superficial material value. Beauty has been reduced to a manipulative tool to achieve materialistic gains. This is a generalized prostitution ethic, which is revealing itself on all levels of society.

One result of this ethic is the devaluation of hard work and merit as keys to success. The consequences of this are obvious. When those with marketable beauty become catapulted to positions of responsibility and celebrity over those with merit, genius or dedication, the fabric of society deteriorates.

Part of my practice is a conscious attempt to focus on merit, decency and intelligence in the people around me. This practice rapidly has made me aware that those with marketable beauty are seldom the focus of my attention in public settings or in general interactions. If conventional beauty has become power and power corrupts, then conventional beauty corrupts.

Honesty

You cannot achieve peace and happiness in your life without developing the practice of honesty in relating with others.

Honesty with others requires honesty with oneself. Honesty with oneself requires self knowledge, self acceptance and the practice of self improvement, or evolution.

We are currently living in a popular culture in which alcoholism and distaste for self exploration are in vogue. Denial is rampant. Denial of real financial worth. Denial of responsibility for debts. Denial of responsibility for children's education. Denial of responsibility for the welfare of the society as a whole.

Self exploration, through meditation, intimate relationships, psychotherapy or other tools, is absolutely necessary to achieve self knowledge and honesty. It is necessary to take regular hard looks at your motives, emotions, reactions and hopes. Doing this throughout your day and your life will deepen your understanding of your life.

Self acceptance is the practice of looking at the results of your self exploration and accepting those results as who you really are. Warts and all!

Self improvement entails working from your real self image and daily working to make yourself more loving, more compassionate, healthier and more generous. It also can entail making yourself less selfish and less obsessed with your own needs at the same time.

"Spiritual" practices, based in sanctimonious and ethereal rites, are useless when seeking happiness and peace in one's life. Incense and fancy dress never made anyone a better or happier person. Hard work does. And it is best to start working right now.

CEO-Plutocracy

I have used the term 'corporatocracy' to describe the current world government. Yes, world government. The world is being governed (badly) by corporations.

The Business Roundtable, for example, represents 160 US corporations through their CEOs, who as a group lobby and push around the US government at all levels. There are similar organizations and institutes in every industrialized nation. This amounts to a plutocratic group who govern through veiled bribery and campaign contributions.

The US sees its most blatant putsch by the CEO-Plutocracy to date in the $700 billion demand placed before Congress. Amazingly, Congress has said a temporary 'No', but this is temporary. This minimal show of resistance is spurred now by genuine fear that there will be a popular uprising in the voting booths this November, when a general election takes place.

The reality is this: Those in corporate power know that the planet is polluted, overpopulated and under-resourced. They will do whatever it takes to see that they and their offspring survive in the opulence to which they are accustomed and feel entitled. End of story. It's that simple, ladies and gentlemen.

Practice will become more essential for those who are not part of the CEO-Plutocracy. That is, for 90+% of the human species. To survive in a world controlled from the top is difficult. Look to stories from Victorian England for a primer. To evolve will become more and more challenging. To refrain from self-defensive or forced military violence will become nearly impossible. War will be used to keep the poor occupied, distracted and limited in numbers, as much as possible without alerting them to the real reasons for their systematic enslavement and destruction.

Practice living without aspirations to be part of the CEO-Plutocracy. It is a closed system and it is a corrupt, evil system. Live to be compassionate. Live to be whole in mind, body and spirit. Live without material obsessions or addictions. This practice will put your truth and your essence out of the reach of those who would dominate you or destroy your essential being.

Thieves

Wake up America!

Bail Out = Corporate Welfare = Your Future Bankrupted.

Money

Currency, money, is a contract. In the US we are seeing what happens when unscrupulous thieves break that contract to satisfy their own aggression and greed. They are reaping the product of unbridled greed and desire. No government should give them quarter. No conscientious person need be troubled by their fate.

If you practice daily deception and theft, your life will be subject to deception and theft. Feeding greed and desire inevitably leads to disappointment and pain.