A New Way of BEing

Probably the greatest difference between the lives and personalities of the 21st century, compared to that of the 20th, is the division of life into many specialties, departments, compartments, identities, fragmentation, identities, arguments and controversies that became supplanted by the one, universal consciousness limited only by one's limits that they have to be.

People don't have to think like a Democrat, Muslim, black, just because their father and grandfather did so, but can choose the total awareness possible to every conscious human being who isn't conditioned to fit into one of the pigeonholes -- which even educated liberals, think is the ultimate designations of what must be.

That is the problem of conditioning -- when it becomes redundant and unnecessary for individuals who are constantly and always learning -- and so never become fixed in that mold that proclaims, "I am a Democrat, just as my father and his father before him, and so must all my descendants also be, for that is who we are, and all we can be."

Not that there's anything wrong with being a "Democrat," or "liberal," or "progressive," or "enlightened," but there is always more of life and truth beyond that, which is always discovering and never concluding, because the mind full of conclusions, is a closed mind, and not an alert mind that is always learning, and being in that truth of the present reality.

Instead, the closed mind is always fighting the last battle and war -- and so is unaware of what is happening right now. So now they take their ancient battles and turf wars to the sidewalks, and argue over who can and cannot use the sidewalks, and who has primal right of way, when such encounters are in reality infrequent -- and it is quite possible in many places still, to have a road and path to oneself, yet still be arguing in the many forums now possible, who is exclusively "right," as though that was an entitlement for some, but not the others.

And so many foundations of that old contentiousness and arguing over nothing and everything, began to disappear and lose its relevance and significance -- despite the protests of "progressives," that they must always remain the eternal battle between the left and the right. In fact, a key teaching of the 20th century, was the very concept of duality as the essential nature of all things -- rather than its oneness, wholeness and integrity. The limitations of that paradigm (world view), was to create the problem and struggle in everything, most notably, between the present and some other time in the past or future. As such, one could never be focused fully in the present to solve the problems of the present, because that energy and attention was divided among the many realities and contrived issues, so one didn't know whether one was solving the problem of the present, or some other -- and thinking, it was the same.

And so such people, confused as they are, fight the last war and solve problems that are no longer the problem, as though that were meaningful, and think they are doing everything they can, to make the world a better place -- while doing absolutely nothing at all, or doing all they can to create the problem that they think they are "solving."

What's Going Down?

The rabidly partisan right and the rabidly partisan left are getting farther apart -- but far more people are getting tired of the partisanship and opting out, some as independents, while many more refusing to participate in the political forums and discussions -- as non- or counterproductive.

That's what is being overlooked as the media tries to herd us into the partisan camps with their evermore inflammatory provocations.

I think this is a very important evolution from politics as usual -- just as the mainstream media is becoming less of the dominant driver in societal exchanges.

Far more happens beyond the political realm than happens in it -- and it seems Republicans are a little further down this path than the Democrats, because the Democrats require more party solidarity and conformity than the rest of society wants to be involved in.

That's not bad -- except for the parties, but most people don't identify as much with the parties as they might have in the past. People have evolved towards their own individualism and independent thinking -- especially the Republicans. So while that may be regarded as an erosion of the power of the Republican Party, it is to the benefit of individual power -- as people no longer see the need to identify and serve a sectarian cause greater than themselves.

The exception are the Democrats, the unionists, the communists, the socialists, and ideologues who believe they are powerless unless they can mass and impose their will on the others, and especially the individualists.

But the future belongs to the new, empowered individuals who don't feel this need to affiliate, identify and conform in order to realize their own power.

That is how the world has changed but the old media (mind), still insists on seeing things in the old partisan divide -- despite the fact the most people have dropped out of that old game.

That's the significance of the Sarah Palins and the new breed of individuals not playing the game in the same way it's always been played before, and of course, controlled by those who think they shape the opinions and thoughts of eveybody else, ie., the old mainstream mass media.

Always a Work

Winning elective office is not the be-all, end-all of citizenship and public service anymore. One no longer has to hold an office in order to have a voice in the development and evolution of any matter -- as long as one has a forum in which to express it.

There used to be a time when public office was the highest office, but it no longer is, and why Sarah Palin can say she is answering to a higher calling, and a higher office -- which is the right of any individual to speak for themselves, while not being the target for the abuse of speech by others, as many lately, have considered public office now to be.

Human power and influence (politics), evolve with the times and technology -- making the old ways simply obsolete. Some cultures are more tradition oriented than others -- or at least give lip service and go through the motions to seem so. However, when there is a clear advantage to doing things in a new way, eventually most of the people end up embracing that new way -- after a few pioneers and trail blazers have led the way that was not so clear to everyone from the start. But there are these rare few -- who will be ostracized and criticized greatly at first, because that is the way it is with true leaders, and not just followers who people call their leaders, because they are so predictable at being controlled and conform to the familiar old ways.

So finally, we get to the point that nobody believes that the political leaders are in fact leaders, but only followers -- of the money. Thus "winning" becomes losing in this greater sense -- of losing themselves, and their clarity of purpose, of what is really right and true -- and become only these skeptical and cynical people who pride themselves that they know how the game is played, and what it takes to win at that game.

And so rightfully, the people stop believing in such a system and organization -- and more and more people drop out and live on the beaches. They don't want to succeed in that kind of a society and system -- because winning doesn't mean anything, or much, except that one has been willing to sell out their fellow citizens for a few dollars more. And so the pictures and portraits of such leaders show that clearly in these hideous conflicted masks of faces pulled in a thousand different directions -- without any sense of integrity and wholesomeness.

These pictures are painful to look at, but they truly reflect the people as they really are, and not how they wish others to see them. Instead, they want to build enduring beautiful monuments to themselves to disguise the ugly masks of deception and brute power and force that keeps them in their place in the pecking order (seniority) -- as though that was all there was to life anymore.

Although they may talk of "change," that is the furthest thing they want. They want things to continue on -- except for themselves to have a higher position in the status quo.