Outraged takes reluctant(?) refuge in some supposedly endless “struggle,” without specifying even who or what, exactly, are the adversaries….or even exactly where this “battle” is taking-place.  Projecting the obviously less-than-ideal CONditions of the virtual-world-o’-hurt where domesticated Humans are trapped (and which they call “civilization”) onto the whole Living Universe, may give some cold comfort of the kind misery loves, but it’s nowhere near accurate.  Nor does it take-into-account all the evidence that our own Mother Earth has enjoyed about as much as She can stand of the domesticated peoples’ gangster-ruled “surf-and-turf wars.”

The “hot-house” where Outraged has been half-living, and within which s/he has received the entirety of the “knowledge” upon which his/her Manichean world-view is based, is itself being reclaimed for the Natural Living Arrangement by altogether Natural processes.  There is no “fight” happening here, except in the fevered captive imaginations of our tame Sisters and Brothers who’ve been sold the bill-of-goods about “life” being a long CONtested “plod” to no-one-knows-quite-where.

Meantime, Life Herownself just keeps-on doin’ Her Song ‘n’ Dance.  Maybe Outraged’s gloomy assessment is partly a CONsequence of some “seasonal-affective-disorder.”

Good thing there’s a cure for that.

HokaHey!

Re: TAO Walker

One should never assume. As Benny Hill proclaimed, to assume… is to make an “ass” out of “u” and “me”.

Your comment: “The actual Living Arrangement of our Mother Earth, f’r instance, is as substantial and “present” as anything us Human Beings know.  We DO have a “place” in it, and the daily conditions of our lives are excellent indicators of whether we are in or out-of our place….and in the latter case how far.  Outraged seems here honestly to admit her/his own relatively CONfused sense of that, but maybe could be a bit less eager to assume that everybody else is similarly afflicted.

”(L)evelling the playing field” seems on the face of it to be a goal worth pursuing.  The fact it is an entirely artificial surface, however, ought to be taken into account.  Anyhow, what real benefit can come of an arrangement in which everything is systematically reduced to the lowest common denominator?  Barack Obama said the other day he doesn’t accept that “the economy” has to be “....a zero-sum game.”  He has yet to articulate any ideas for reversing ten millennia of unexceptioned precedent, though….and so-far has spoken and acted only to prop-up that collapsing status quo ante.”

I do not perceive that we do not have a place in this entity you call “Mother Earth”, nor do I proclaim that we are not “out of place”.  How far “out of place” is conjecture, however if you feel there was ANY substantial time in history where this was NOT the case somewhere on this earth is to ignore reality.  I do not claim to be confused, I see it as speculative.  I do not control the good nor evil in this world therefore I TOO, will be benefited or shrouded by its unknowns.

Yes, the “playing field” is an artificial surface.  The “real benefit” is the cumulative effect of our struggle and the recognition of it.  I am not endorsing Pres. Obama per se, however to imagine that he can achieve more than any other ONE PERSON could achieve within the realms of “the facts on the ground” is scapegoating the man.  I disagree with many of his choices, however I am not looking at the documents he is, nor am I in his position.  I, at least, would feel remiss to disregard that.  As for as the economy, probably we’re done for…. but maybe not…. this is only ONE of the current battles raging.  One of several, on a list of many interconnected criminal pursuits of power.

Hitler didn’t rise to power overnight and Rome did not fall in a day.  Our EVENTUAL outcome remains to be seen.  The battle is even now being fought.  If history is the teacher it is avowed to be…. then win or lose, this battle will be fought again and again and again.

If Outraged were standing at noon on the corner of “Hollywood & Vine,” s/he probably would be willing to say with some precision and confidence “exactly” where and when that would be.  Granted those designations are essentially only conventions, but usefully reliable even-so within the limited context of their application.  There are likewise ways to be reliably oriented in other perhaps less geometric continua, as well.

The actual Living Arrangement of our Mother Earth, f’r instance, is as substantial and “present” as anything us Human Beings know.  We DO have a “place” in it, and the daily conditions of our lives are excellent indicators of whether we are in or out-of our place….and in the latter case how far.  Outraged seems here honestly to admit her/his own relatively CONfused sense of that, but maybe could be a bit less eager to assume that everybody else is similarly afflicted.

“(L)evelling the playing field” seems on the face of it to be a goal worth pursuing.  The fact it is an entirely artificial surface, however, ought to be taken into account.  Anyhow, what real benefit can come of an arrangement in which everything is systematically reduced to the lowest common denominator?  Barack Obama said the other day he doesn’t accept that “the economy” has to be “....a zero-sum game.”  He has yet to articulate any ideas for reversing ten millennia of unexceptioned precedent, though….and so-far has spoken and acted only to prop-up that collapsing status quo ante.

Like their new president, theamericanpeople, along with their domesticated contemporaries world-wide, DO NOT KNOW even vaguely just where-and-when they are.  That they half-live adamantly CONvinced otherwise only underscores how lost they really are.  Us surviving Savages, on the other hand, abiding within the organic integrity of our place in Nature’s arrangement, remain attuned to those sometimes ineffable signs showing us where She is and we all are today in HERstory, too.

That same clarity of vision is there for the asking for Outraged and his/her, in John McCain’s revealing words, “....fellow (and gal?) prisoners.”  They’ve only to leave-off all their plodding and praying, and get back to Singing ‘n’ Dancing.

HokaHey!

Re: TAO Walker

Your comment: “The “message” Outraged seems to’ve gotten is that this admittedly mostly symbolic gesture is nevertheless a hopeful sign on the long road to….well, where-and-what, exactly?

Good question.  I’m not “exactly” sure. Then again as we plod on through life are we ever “exactly” sure of where-and-what?

This was a hopeful sign in the direction of “leveling the playing field” in one aspect.  Truthfully, legislation of this nature shouldn’t HAVE to exist, it should be a given.  So there is much to do.

This old Savage didn’t mean to dampen anyone’s enthusiasm here….just to put the instant occasion for it into some larger context.  Buddhists generally start from the premise that the “given” condition of Human life is “suffering,” which is not so unlike the Xtian one that has Humans as a “fallen” bunch badly in-need of “redemption.”  Us free wild Indians simply don’t see it that way.

For example, GrammaConcept was likely merely being polite in addressing his/her comments to “Mr. Walker,” probably unaware there are no “misters” here in Indian Country.  Meantime, while the somewhat platitudinous generalities offered in-response to this Old Man’s pretty specific observations may salve some hurt feelings, maybe actually letting us in-on some of “....the mystery of ‘happiness’” would have been more helpful.

Certainly “The children are watching.”  It might be worthwhile to pay a little precious attention to what, exactly, it is they are seeing.

Similarly, Outraged is right Obama’s signing of the bill in-question “....says something.”  This old Indian said plainly here what some of us who’re NOT part of lip-serviced americanpublic heard.  The “message” Outraged seems to’ve gotten is that this admittedly mostly symbolic gesture is nevertheless a hopeful sign on the long road to….well, where-and-what, exactly?

Finally, back to GrammaConcept, no claim has ever been made by this Old Man to knowing “everything,” or even very much at all.  On the other hand, knowledge being nothing but responsibility, anyhow, doesn’t our common Humanity require us to offer one another an honest description of whatever we’re considering together, as it looks from where WE are in-relation to it?  Or are we to conclude that not knowing everything means we can’t know anything?  If the latter is the-case, one might wonder what’s the “point” of anyone, including GrammaConcept, ever saying anything at-all.

  In our Council Circles here we aim to examine whatever it is we’re considering from as many “angles” as possible.  It is understood that any particular view-point is limited, but all taken together can provide a hopefully comprehensive “picture” of whatever it is….giving us a better chance of addressing it together to mutual benefit.  The domesticated peoples are in-a-sense imprisoned in a CONtraption designed and operated to exclude any “take” on its COnstruction and CONditions not generated from INSIDE the thing itself.

It might yet prove beneficial to our tame Sisters and Brothers to have a description of their CONdition from some of us who are NOT subject to its severe limitations.  Then again, maybe it won’t.  We’re ALL going to see.

Hokahey!

Re: TAO Walker

Hmmm…. I certainly can’t totally disagree, but yet if the struggle remains not so unlike what it was, BUT ever so slowly we gain, this is good…..no?

I understand that the true and REAL things also remain decidedly visionary and at times, oh so far away.  But still we fight, because we must…. for those who come after us and those who come after them.

Obama is one man in a world of many.  The signing of this legislation was a simple thing for him to do.  That’s true.  But the fact that HE DID DO IT, instead of denying even the SIMPLIEST GESTURE of empathy and fairness says something.  It does.

Hoka Hey, my friend.

Tao Walker:

“May All Beings, Without One Exception, Have Happiness And
The Causes Of Happiness..”
-Tibetan Buddhist Prayer… (spoken every day by most practitioners)

Now why would they pray daily for That??  Deluded?..Or, may be, just maybe,
they know something of the deeper meaning of the mystery of “happiness”?

You, too,  Mr. Walker, are sounding too ego-inflated and sadly steeped
in negative, self-justified, judgment here….
As a fellow traveller, I ask you to remember something
that you surely do already know:
No matter how much you know, even about delusion, you do not know all…

Rest assured, there is much more to learn, even for us elders..

Your Good Will is wished for, and needed, as well…
The children are watching.

The “global” economy already pays-off its workers equally….has for millennia.  Everybody, every-day, gets “....another day older and deeper in-debt.”

As for that allamerican “pursuit-of-happiness” people get so gaga about, it’s difficult to even imagine a more infantile national “ethos.”  Big brother Barack’ll just keep-on handin’-out the lollipops, though, since the cheap-thrill of sugar-rushes are just about the only “highs” he and his kid-ees can still afford these days. 

Grown-ups will always do the hard and dirty work first.  The “fun-stuff,” if any, will come (like true happiness) in its own good time.  The grown-up thing for the new U.S. president to be doing would be to inform his constituents, a-k-a theamericanpeople, of the true magnitude, exact shape, and toxic content of the mess they’re in, helping them to grasp the plain fact that it is going to be extremely difficult and personally painful, for all-concerned, to get it cleaned-up.  Instead, he puts pen to paper a few times, chats-up fellow pols, talks-up even further the already grotesquely over-inflated allamerican national ego, and aids-and-abets the comforting delusion that business-and-politics-as-usual (just better “managed”) will be “....sufficient unto the needs of the day.”

“Shock comes….ooh, ooh.  And terrifies for a hundred miles around.”  Looks from here in Indian Country like our tame Sisters and Brothers are really in-for some big ones.

HokaHey!