One Red Hot Mama

Only 1% of the earth's crust is solid rock. Underneath the ground we stand upon, seething molten rock circulates, looking for cracks in the tectonic plates to spew forth its innards when the pressure builds to an intolerable level.

When Mother Earth feels the need to express a mood, her external affect is measured on a scale from 0-8. Her personality can be relatively benign, emitting whispy plumes of volcanic ash and a small trickle of liquid fire-rock, or higher up on the scale, she could become a murderous monster with the ability to wipe out life on planet earth as we know it.

Mama's biggest super-volcano and most living, breathing entity resides in Yellowstone National Park, deemed "Old Faithful" by tourists who love to watch her spew boiling water with the regularity of a cowboy with a wad of chewing tobacco in his cheek. Her caldero, a crown chakra that spans a 50 mile radius, breathes and heaves under an aliveness that bespeaks her massive power and presence.

Scientists try to reassure us that a warning, a.k.a. advance notice might be possible should she decide 'enough is enough' and blow her stack. Sure, people can move about 500 miles away and escape the rain of fire that literally froze people in their very stances as rock sculptures -  facial expressions an all - when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD. But nothing, literally nothing, could be done to prevent the massive climate change wrought by the elimination of the sun's rays. Volcanic ash from a super volcano eruption magnitude 8 would blanket the earth's atmosphere and cause irreparable damage for centuries to come.

Granted, "Old Faithful" might not show her darker side to humanity for thousands of years. But when the kids behave poorly, one never knows when the wrath of Mama might descend on them.

Whether one is a superstar of a multi-million dollar movie franchise that incinerates in a fiery car crash, or workers in a Bangladesh factory, or a team of crack fireman caught in a forest fire, the heat of the elements shows no mercy when the power of fire exceeds the tolerance of matter.

So while the trajectory of our life cycle - it's length and the circumstances of our departure -  may have almost infinite causes, one thing is for sure. Nothing lasts forever except forever (which is in itself a human construct about the nature of time).

No one should live in terror of a super volcano or any other catastrophic phenomena, born either of mother nature or human nature. But keeping our inherent fragility in mind, it is good to remain humble in the face of life in action.

As the bard Cat Stevens sang, "We are only dancing on this earth for a short time," so we might as well dance before we get too old and crusty.

What Is the "What Is"

Modern day gurus advise us plebeians to accept the "what is" as a recipe for sanity. Could this be a 21st century colloquialism resembling God's original utterance, "I am that I am?" 

Despite the enigmatic nature of this Holy reference, both the former and latter phrases are loosely related to unconditional acceptance of perceived circumstances (internal/external) and the idea of Self-knowledge.

I can't vouch for the authenticity of the biblical source, as it is near impossible to get an interview with God and the sources are unreliable. So how about a truism from a real live human being named Thich Nhat Hanh -  

“Life can be found only in the present moment. The past is gone, the future is not yet here, and if we do not go back to ourselves in the present moment, we cannot be in touch with life.”

Which brings us back to the "what is." No matter the life phase, bio-rhythm, season, geographical location, or hormonal cycle we are in, one cannot escape the circumstances of the moment. Life is one fluid movement undergoing change and transformation incessantly, which complicates the matter; by the time one groks the "what is," it has become the "what was," requiring instantaneous adaptability to a groundless, wide open void.

To avoid insanity, this conundrum requires the human psyche to remain as loose as a wet noodle. So today I raise my glass to flexibility, relaxation, stillness, nowness, lucidity, and the heavenly delight of angel hair pasta dripping in a butter-garlic sauce.

The Dalai Lama Speaks of Love

"The foundation of all spiritual practice is love. That you practice this well is my only request. From the earliest stages of our growth, we are completely dependent upon our mother's care and it is very important for us that she express her love. if children do not receive proper affection, in later life they will often find it hard to love others.

In the beginning of Buddhist practice, our ability to serve others is limited. The emphasis is on healing ourselves, transforming our minds and hearts. But as we continue, we become stronger and increasingly able to serve others.

The Buddhist notion of attachment is not what people in the West assume. We say that the love of a mother for her only child is free of attachment. Cultivating closeness and warmth for others automatically puts the mind at ease. It is the ultimate source of success in life.

Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive."

--the 14th Dalai Lama

The Prescription Kings

Americans make up 5% of the world population and consume 85% of the world's prescription narcotics. Dude - that's awesome if you're a pill popper or the owner of a pharmaceutical company. For the rest of us, it's a sad commentary on doctors, their patients, and most of all Big Pharm a.k.a. the multi-billion dollar companies like Eli-Lilly and Merck who lobby Congress to write bills in their favor. And write them they do.

It would take a thesis to roll out the nefarious ways of the pharmaceutical companies and how they conduct slanted studies, push products to doctors with hefty checks as  "thank yous," and manipulate governmental laws. But with only coffee as my upper, it's not a happening idea.

As a former cancer patient and pain pill popper, I certainly know the value of narcotics when used for a good reason, although a skilled hypnotist could have done the trick as well. But alas, insurance companies don't cover that service -  they cater to Big Pharm alone. So for the sake of my wallet, the contents of the little brown bottle with child-proof cap was more practical than keeping a hypnotist by my bedside.

All roads lead back to the motivator - greed - as the number one reason such imbalances exist. CEO's have replaced kings as the rulers of the land, employing millions of workers, (no longer called serfs in the modern era), to line their coffers. The big "C's" - Communism and Capitalism - have both failed because of a root cause, the human ego. A voracious animal, it breeds an insecurity that makes a person grasp for more and more, despite all evidence that enough is enough.

Our rulers, elected or otherwise, will always be subjected to the corruption of selfish human drives unless that man or woman embraces deeply spiritual or humanitarian values. False power corrupts, but real power is born of a need to act decisively and swiftly, to save beings from their suffering.

The Buddhists have a prayer of aspiration that is worthy of repeating here: "May All Beings Benefit." In the meantime, vote with your feet.








 

Most Dangerous Country on Earth

Gallup and the Worldwide Independent Network polled 68 countries at the end of 2013 to determine which country was considered the biggest threat to world peace. The winner for this undistinguished honor was the USA, with Pakistan coming in a distant second. The other baddies of the world ranked so low that they are not even worth citing. (China was almost off the radar, which was an oversight of gargantuan proportions.)

Granted, the countries most wary of the the United States are in the Middle East and our neighbors in South America, all of whom have experienced the wrath of Uncle Sam's military-industrial complex directly. 

Ironically, when questioned which country was the most desirable for habitation, the US was also number one again.

This raises an interesting point. The United States is perceived as the world cop because it plunders the planet for resources, to insure its high standard of living - often in the name of democracy. While the rest of the world abhors the rape of their resources for American comfort, it is that very American standard of living that appeals to the rest of the world.

Herein are the ties that bind. The quest for material wealth puts the needs of the powerful few over the vast majority. And that majority, witnessing affluence, dreams of it as well. The cycle of materialism thus becomes a prison of the mind whether one is king, bean counter, or worker bee.

Thus, the wheel of samsara rolls on. Getting off this merry-go-round, which spins faster and faster out of control, requires one to go to the power source to regain control. But that power source lies not in an electrical switch built from copper and wire. It is an inner awareness that triggers decisions dictating every molecule of life.

Working for the welfare of the whole will be the only way to insure the survival of earth's population in the coming centuries. Let's not saw the branch we are sitting on, please, and enjoy the view instead.

Everything's Real in Reality

A precocious four year old was cavorting about the living room playing charades with her mommy, grandma and me. Acting out a terrifying Tyrannosaurs Rex, then a slithering snake, she was totally engaged in the excitement of the moment. Then, with a skip and a hop, her attention ricocheted elsewhere and she whisked into her mother's childhood bedroom. 

The tiny lady re-emerged proudly wearing a bead necklace, compliments of mommy's suitcase. But instead of resuming the game in which we were embroiled, she marched straight up to me and delivered the following words about one inch from my face - a feat made possible as I was sitting on the floor:

"Everything is real in reality."

Then she made poste haste for the bedroom, to adorn herself in yet more finery. When she re-entered the gaming area, she remarked, "I'm smart, kind, and beautiful," then resumed the game with a wonderful pantomime of 'a moon'.

I was gobsmacked. Why did this fun-loving little one, with no apparent interest other than charades and mommy's necklaces, suddenly veer into metaphysical musings squarely directed at me? To top it off, her serious communication resembled a zen koan, and zen koans always bedevil me. 

After pondering the meaning of her cryptic message for 24 hours, one interpretation rose from the depths of my foggy mind. Perhaps Reed was assuring me that the phenomenon we were acting out have their counterparts as three-dimensional life forms but we are not the parts we are playing. It was an act of compassionate to tell me that - otherwise we might have been dinner for the Tyrannosaurs Rex.

Still, there is something in her pointed lesson that remains an enigmatic Rubik's Cube of the mind. So I leave you with Reed's koan to contemplate for yourself... 

Everything is real in reality. 

Go figure.

Don't Get Sick Here

The United States, one of the richest countries in the world, has state of the art medicine and medical facilities - for the richest people in this country. Try being poor, or better yet middle class, and find out that medical attention may cost an arm and a leg. 

A group of friends were talking recently and one woman recounted that her mother lost her home when she had to sell it to pay for medical bills. An Irishwoman in the group was horrified; in the British Isles that would never happen.

Granted that in countries with socialized medicine, a sick person might have to wait for months to get an urgent test requiring specialized high tech equipment. Not a good deal either. But in these countries, private policies are also available for more flexible care and they don't cost the equivalent of rent or a car payment plus insurance.

Now that Obamacare has set in, the situation should theoretically improve. But God help the computer illiterate. Or worse yet, those short on patience or time. One must be a person of leisure and saintliness to navigate the many phone numbers given that lead to the wrong department - and that is after waiting on the phone on hold for an hour listening to the schlock muzak that loops over and over and over and over. 

Mind you, being the resident of many African nations or other massively poor/war torn countries may insure you no medical care at all, especially for deep-country dwellers and deep-city impoverished peoples, i.e. Congolese refugees in South African townships or the 8 million Syrian refugees. So Americans shouldn't really complain.

It's just hard to watch the disorganization and lack of funding when it comes to the care of human beings, as this country is awash in a sea of plenty. It's not only perplexing; immoral would be a better term.

But since the world is gradually evolving into a global economy with its concomitant environmental impact (for the worse at the moment), let's hope that the trend towards globalization morphs into worldwide care for each other. Afterall, we live on a small planet.