AVATAR & DEPRESSION

Let's take a moment to imagine why some viewers are reporting disorientation, sadness & depression after viewing the film.

Haven't we lost the innocence that comes with hoping for an idealistic or even Utopian society/culture? Especially folks after the horror that was 2009. We were ALREADY depressed from the ugliness, the greed, the breech of the cultural code(s) about ethics and altruism.

People seem beyond hope, yes? At the end of their ropes. Plagued with self-doubt. Battered by a loss of civility. Crushed by financial burden.

So after the Avatar experience what might one be expected to feel that is socially acceptable? How can something so subjective as a response to a film have a paradigm, a limit, a correctness?

Through any number of complex social failures, we have nothing but the shit in our laps to contemplate and a vague (perhaps embarrassing), tiny flame of desire and determination that things will get better.

If a movie can do something beyond that and nothing else can, how can we shut down that option? Why should we? And if people are depressed post-viewing, perhaps that is because there is probably a seed of awareness brewing that the way we have been living in this culture is without merit and has killed off the better nature of our angels. And that awareness will help us to move in a very different, wiser direction ultimately. Which is a very good thing.

Happy Holidays and a New Year of Peace & Wisdom

Afghanistan: BRING THE TROOPS HOME

I don't pretend to know how difficult it is to be the President of the United States. The man is looking tired and gray so I can safely assume a lot of the job is a pain in the butt.

And speaking of buts...... Sending in more troops whether for 18 months of 3 years will do NOTHING to destroy/weaken/demoralize or shame the Taliban.

How could anyone with access to supposedly sophisticated "intelligence" think that military might will lead to any productive end.

Oh wait, extending and increasing the deployments WILL be good for defense contractors, private soldiers of fortune, private special-ops units, all the manufacturers of special equipment as well as all the basics.

The military can't properly support and supply the troops there now. And where are they going to recruit 30,000 more people who are just as excited as punch to head off to one of the most challenging and scary operations that they could ever imagine?

There will always be terrorists. It's a matter of perspective. To some people, the United States is a terrorist regime. There will always be threats from some countries, from some groups, because we have not evolved into a wiser species by the year 2009, just a more technologically advanced consumer culture. There is still plenty of racism, bigotry, religious intolerance, gender bias, xenophobia and hate to monger.

Might in and of itself cannot make everything right. Because "right" is not universally defined the same by all.

Bring the troops home. Spend those billions on sorely needed domestic needs. A more enlightened foreign policy will do more to subdue radical threats than any military operation.

US Rep. Patrick Kennedy

Patrick Kennedy is not my rep here in RI but our state is tiny and everything is more intimate. Patrick has been very forthcoming about his periodic battles with substances. And he has been very direct about the fact that he is bi-polar.

Patrick was devoted to his Dad, Senator Ted Kennedy, but did not always support the same causes or candidates. It would be very interesting to me to imagine was his Dad would have said about Patrick's public ideological skirmish with Catholic Bishop Tobin over abortion rights. The Bishop has refused to serve Patrick communion and is suggesting he may need to look elsehwere to find a religion more in line with his abortion rights beliefs.

Patrick also took on some House Republicans in DC last week accusing them of racism, bias and homophobia.

His controversial beliefs have caused plenty of chatter because his language has been so aggressive and fearless. I say his actions are not theatrical but rather based in strong convictions and impatience with bullshit.

Thanks Patrick, long may you bruise and confront those who are out-of -step, unaware, smug, self-serving, disingenuous, lacking in leadership and not representative of the better nature of our angels.

Americans In Love With Murder

How is it possible that as a "superpower" heavy hitter on planet Earth the United States has more people in prison than any other country AND, whenever possible, we get all excited about killing some of them.

Capital Punishment is nothing if not the most obvious manifestation of devolution. There can be no logical/ethical/rational argument for state-sponsored extermination as some call it.

A country that supports capital punishment and apparently is proud of the fact, is a country that has lost any genuine compassion. We've got technology up the ying yang but we behave like depraved, moronic, small-minded /losers filled with hate.

Whatever crap we dish out, we get back. Heard of karma?

Must Be The Season of The Witch

If you haven't heard this song for awhile, or if you've never heard it, I recommend a little trip to itunes. I find it satisfying to listen to YEAR ROUND.

And speaking of Halloween, it is my favorite time of the year. Which I think has more to do with the celebration of self-expression than it does with anything pagan but you can't go wrong with a few dedicated pagans. Perhaps it should be pagans with a BIG P.

Halloween gives us the opportunity to be creative at a high level. Think of the lighting possibilities alone! And we get to adopt a persona that may have primal roots or at least something Jung would appreciate. That Jung, quite the wild one, eh?

I not only like manifesting an environment that represents something about my issues or past lives. I LOVE experiencing what others have created as well. I love most haunted houses even if they charge admission. I love looking at the spectacle of hundreds of trick or treaters. Maybe this has something to do with the theory that our intrinsic chi (I don't know if there is another kind) always has been and always will be. We adopt this particular paradigm of human life when we choose to learn some lessons relevant to our evolution. And Halloween might be custom, or it might be cultural idiosyncrasy or it might be a mass halogram. Different from mass hallucination.

So we have Halloween as a perennial fave but now we are all about vampires and aliens judging by our cultural products. I love both. I am very curious about what we can deduce about their current popularity. Political commentary? District 9. Cutural AND political commentary? True Blood. Aliens but all the above? Flashforward. Attractive but potentially spooky alien? V.

Does this mean we are preparing for an opening in our unconscious or just tired of greed and forclosures? Or are aliens already among us infiltrating our cultural process? Likely?

The fullness of the moment

I was staring out my kitchen window as it got dark today. Facing East I saw the harvest moon. It really looked like it had a face. And it looked perfect. I was thinking about the Neil Young song about the harvest moon.

I kept staring at it. I was imagining what it would take to make the moment ideal, a real stellar memory. But then I had to ask myself why I needed anything else to make the experience anymore intense or special.

Staring at the Moon. Trying to fathom how far away it really is. Hard to imagine people traveled there and stood on the surface and looked back at the Earth. And the color is more like a feeling.

So I let the image bore through my eyes into my brain as well as the feeling that it's perfect right now. Just me in my kitchen. No musical interlude necessary. A perfect moment and a perfect memory.