Sunday, October 04, 2009
On the Need to be Informed
Today I have just returned from seeing a documentary movie which touched me deeply. It is Michael Moore's latest film, "Capitalism: A Love Story."
Although this is not a political blog, I am going to say a bit about this film, for I feel it is extremely important to all of us to be aware of what is going on right now in our country, as capitalism has been equated with democracy.
What Moore points out is that in the last ten years, there has been a "takeover" of our democratic institutions and governing bodies by giant corporate and global interests. The Congress, once a free and independent body dedicated to promote and protect the welfare of all, has been "bought out" by these huge institutions, whose greed now has become a de facto religion for many and increasing the bottom line is the new pathway to heaven. He recounts in excruciating detail the suffering and loss that have been inflicted on so many of the "dispossessed" as the new philosophy of "wealth equals worth" has taken over and the middle class is squeezed out of existence.
Today, the top 1% of the country controls more wealth than the lower 95% combined. We are rated the richest country in the world, yet millions lack health care, a decent job, or adequate housing. In America, a house is foreclosed every 7 seconds.
As usual, his is an "in your face" presentation, delivered with the savage wit of a Jonathan Swift. Like Socrates, Moore is a gadfly who speaks truth that many would prefer not to hear. His aim is not to woo favor with the elite, but to speak for the "common citizen," who is rapidly falling from his/her place as an equal among equals to "peasant" status as a result of the economic coup d'tat that has occurred in this country. This massive transfer of wealth from the many to the few is due primarily to the lifting of government regulations that kept corporate greed in check for so long. Without regulation or accountability, free enterprise has run amuck.
The cry that is raised against our current president is that he is taking us into "socialism", a system that is concerned with the welfare of all citizens, rather than that of the wealthiest classes. However, those who equate "free enterprise" with democracy are concealing the fact that we are, in fact, no longer a democracy, but rather a plutocracy, a country ruled by and for the interests of the extremely affluent. These victimize those who, ironically, often are the strongest supporters of those who exploit them.
I was many times brought to tears as I watched families being evicted from their homes, workers fired from their lifelong jobs on short notice. And I watched in amazement at the CEO's and government officials who had set in motion the events that have led us to this crisis, for which they accepted no responsibility and showed no remorse.
If we are to exercise compassionate understanding of what is in fact going on right now in our country, we must have the strength and heart to look squarely at the evidence before us and not be blinded by the slogans so cleverly employed to keep us in ignorance. Too many have suffered for the enrichment of the few. All of us know others who have been seriously wounded by this turn of events; perhaps we ourselves are among the victims.
I think we are coming into a period of national awakening, out of the trance of the last few decades into a more realistic view of what is happening. I think Woody Guthrie is going to be popular again, and that we will see more people getting together to discuss how to respond to this real threat in order to protect the true values of what we call democracy.
Even as we go ever more deeply into our spiritual practice, even as we commit more fully to our common charge to assist in the current transformation of consciousness occurring through kundalini and other spiritual approaches, we cannot afford to ignore the issues in the "other" world of practical affairs. We must each use our gifts as best we can to make this world a better place for the human values of caring and compassion.
Throughout history, it has often been the spiritual practitioners, the caregivers, and the artists (the painters, musicians, poets and others) who have kept alive essential humanistic values, even when the world around them was aswirl with chaos and violence. The saints continued to commune with God and offer spiritual nurture even as the cities were going up in flames. The poets chanted their magic lines even as those in power fought to control even more of the world's goods.
I often think of the teacher in the local college who influenced me profoundly when I was in my early teens. Her salary was, I am sure, extremely modest. She lived in a tiny two room apartment, drove an ancient coupe, and lived a simple life style. She had never traveled to Europe, nor even to the major cultural centers of the country. Yet she was able to transmit her love of Wordsworth and Emerson to her students in unforgettable ways. She was a true transcendentalist, one who saw that there was indeed a current of the divine that ran through all, and that each of us was connected to that current. She called it Divine Love. I think of it as Kundalini.
(Recently, I met the above squirrel on my afternoon walk. He eyed me from his branch, unafraid of the "human" eying him from the ground below. He reminded me once again that we are all connected, persons and persons, humans and their animal friends.)
