I have just finished watching a debate on ABC TV(Australia) – “Is Wikileaks a force for Good?”
It has done good – but a force for good? Poker machines raise money for good causes but I could not call them good. I wonder if instead of being a force for good. should we ask if Wikileaks is possible only because of our stage in history?
As my as my Indian friends fry the poha and Jewish friends fast on this the 9th of Av – the day the temple was destroyed (twice) - I wonder what is good anway?
I am convinced that history repeats in a loosely four generation cycle and we like the post WWI generation want change. Britian had lost the will to keep an empire. The world wanted freedom and an end of all war. Of course the USA – that pushed its 14 point peace plan back then, did not ratify it and kept its military while Britian had 30% less weapons pre WWII than before WWI etc.
Long before the recent recession, I often predicted we would enter economic and social upheaval of the 1920's and thirties. Now I am no prphet – it just seemed logical.
As the US economy size declines compared to China, the West is again repeating the same (economically driven?) call for a reduction in military expense. I often compare the US to Republican Rome which gained much of its power before the empire by military and economic pressure, at times as a mediator between warring sides, negotiating treaties to its advantage.
Now it is China that has the money – and a military presence not unlike the USA had as Britians military declined post WWI. Now the USA struggles over the will to empire.
The only thing I am uncertian of is how Chinas 1 child policy will effect its ability to innovate in future. Innovation is usually fueled by youth.
Will this mean that India will surpass China as an economic power house in say 20 years? Perhaps it will depend on India's ability to deal with its massive curruption problem.
Octavius was declared Augustus after defeating Cleopatra and Marc Antony in what was a battle od different world views. Augustus claimed to be the offspring of Apollo who sedjuced his mother in a temple- rational and military. Cleopatra claimed to be Isis (who the Romans pointed out was to them Venus and as a mother to children of both Ceasar and Antony easy to be labelled a prstitute), whose worship called for knowlwdge in the realms of intoxication. Antony, like alexander the Great, dressed as Hercules.
Are we now fighting a conflict of freedom versus control?
Naval historian Cyril Parkinson, of Parkinsons Law fame (“Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion”), wrote a book East and West in 1963. He argued that the shifts from East to West and back again are traceable to Babylonian times. He predicted the rise of China.
I wonder whether the shifting sands of time will focus more narrowly in the increasingly universal world of the internet? Will national boundaries bwecome less influential? Personally, I think that greed will force a more universal call to action – but whether it is sustainable will depend on whether we can realise the overall benefit in altruitic action.
I admit I dream of a world much as Rabindranath Tagore:
“I believe that there is an ideal hovering over the earth, an ideal of that Paradise which is not the mere outcome of imagination, but the ultimate reality towards which all things are moving. I believe that this vision of Paradise is to be seen in the sunlight, and the green of the earth, in the flowing streams, in the beauty of springtime and the repose of a winter morning. Everywhere in this earth the spirit of Paradise is awake and sending forth its voice.”
Writers like Tagore, and Sri Aurobindo describe a teleological view of history leading to a utopian future. The Western meta historian Arnold Tovey wrote with a similar bent.
The problem I see is that life is multifaceted. There are two sides to a coin. As I travel the world I see people point to the good of their culture and ignore the bad.
For every good there is always an equal and opposite social force. Sometimes one force is focused in one person or entity – and so holds sway against diffuse apposing ideas.
In the thirties Nazism grew because Germany had no middle ground. There was Communism or Nazism.
Are we becoming as polarised?
There is an idea in kabbalah that describes the ten divine qualities, or sephirot, in three lines or three pillars in the tree of life. The Pillars of Mercy, Severity and Balance. I am not wanting to sound “Madonna – ish” and I admit a gross over simplification here.
Now I admit, Kabbalah is used and abused to jusify anything these days. Anything can be called kabbalah these days. Anything can be called spirituality these days.
One of the triangles on this model balances expansive, kindly, flowing chesed with the fiery focus of gevurah. The middle line is compassionate but practical Tiferet, often described as serving a greater cause. But even there a fighting for a greater cause can degenerate into bigotry when selfishness takes over.
Perhaps it is in moments of calm reflection – in meditative stillness – we can see the balance of forces heaped upon us.
Or perhaps that is not enough. I once read a quote from the Chassidic leader, Rebbe Schneersohn who replied to someone who wrote he was avoiding social activism because it had been feeding his ego: “And without the activism there is no ego? Better a haughty activist than a self-centered do-nothing!”
A friend of mine was raised by Mother Theresa, who according to her, had an ego.
Egoless detachment may be an ideal for observation but ego drives achievement as well.
The question is whether we can turn our desires from self centredness to the greater good. I just finished Bob Geldoffs autobiography, and he certianly had an ego. But used it to make good.
The kabbalistic teacher Michael Laitman, points out that in kabbalah the soul achieves graded attainments called worlds. The word "Olam", world, derives from "Alamah" or concealment.
These are the degrees of concealment of unity. Unity is the ultimate, most intense delight that one can possibly feel. That the collective soul is seeking.
Laitman wrote: “It is said that there is no greater pleasure in our world than settling doubts. After being lost in doubt, after searching and being confused, a person gets confounded in contradictions and is unable to resolve a problem. Then suddenly a person finds a solution. The solution comes because two extremes merge into a single whole and form unity. They complement one another and exist thanks to one another.”
I am agnostic in my wait and see attitude towards messianic chronologies. I dont know if I can pin utopian dates on mankind as do some who see the Messiah in the Rebbe or the revealling of unity that Michael Laitman suggests was predicted by kabbalist Baal Ha Salum.
I do know, that the increasing bipolar division of a schitzoid political debate needs to seek unity. But unity is more than the short term thrill of politcal promises over sold and under delivered.
“Yes we can” …....... but will we? I remember when Kevin Rudd and Barak Obama thrilled us with utopian ideals I really doubted they could pull it off. The cycle of an aging baby boomer generation costs an economy.
Still, from the time of colonialism on, after the hoo haa of cut backs it was trade and exchange that rebuilt the market …. and a public works program that we usually associate with Labor or the US Democrats.
Hopefully we can tackl the swings of history like yachts against the wind, narrowing our focus on an atruistic ideal.
For thinkers like Laitman “this unity which the souls reveal in everything, even in our world, is perceived as the greatest delight ….peace is savored after a war. That is to say, first we sense a contradiction, reveal the lack of unity, completeness; realize the evil. Darkness should precede light because otherwise we will attain nothing.”
Mystics of East and West – and Laitman rejects the label of Mysticism for Kabbalah, atleast not in the sense the word came to used with the rise of Christian thought – describe the seeking of opposites like lovers, opposites merging as one. Sufism, Christian mystics and Jews describe a marriage be it of God and Israel, Jesus and Church or Allah and his worshippers. Ancient Hindu monotheism similarly marries apposing aspects of the divine.
And lovers, like Romeo and Juliet, may go through trial and tribulation to be together to enjoy the sweetness of love.
Meanwhile, the worlds of Montague and Capulet fought on regardless.
What of us?
Rather than divide our world Cleopatra against Augustus, freedom againsy structure, perhaps we need to seek a practical, yet altruistic middle ground. Peace historically has thrived in times of structure which, ironiucally meant there were powerful people gulty of abuses.
Turning back to Wikileaks, I find myself asking is whether it will do more good – or will its revelations be one sided as totalitarian regimes simply keep their secrets hidden and laugh at the free world.
Assange himself has threatens any would be Wikileaks employers with a 12 million dollar fine if they break ranks. Again we see that for every social force we see the opposite even within the same organisation and person.
Freedom and restriction are a matter of perspective.
Of course, we could ask to what extent we are really free – how much of our choices are a product of biology and social conditioning, or the agonies of our personal and historical pasts ….......
…... but that I suppose is another question and for another time.
As it is, I have just finished cooking Poha Upma, a recipe from Andhra Pradesh. Before I first visited India I would like may a Westerner squrmed at the amounts of chilli in the dish. As in many Indian foods, different ingredients cool what are hot ingredients.
The balancing of tastes makes for a harmonious whole. Ayurveda extends this to personality temprements that left unbalanced go to extremes – just like the chilli if unbalanced in a dish.
And of course for a true democracy – if one really exists – people should be able to make informed choice. But we dont have all the facts – even from Wikileaks which may dump a bunch of pages online but does little to help evaluate the total picture.
Meanwhile, the Jewish crowd go hungry waiting for the ever approaching sunset.
One friend emailed “As the person does not eat or drink for a day, and he know there is nothing he can do about it, resigns to the fact, suddenly he is free of worrying about that part of his body, catering for himself, and suddenly all that energy, activity, thinking process becomes free for other activities.”
Unlike in India, fasting is not a very Jewish activity, as it is associated with Jewish mourning. Still, I witness clarity of thought among fasting Indian friends, who enjoy the cleansing experience. To sit back as if from the distance of Pluto to see that so much of what we call important ultimately is nothing.
Is this what Ken Wilbur meant by adulthood? Someone who takes FULL responsibility for their emotions, and their results in the three basic arenas of life?
We long for freedom but need structure. Without it we will forever be needing Bob Geldoff to form another sing along ….....
I wonder if he looks back and asks about the long term good for all his efforts?
…....... he certianly tried hard enough
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