Smoking Mirrors – October 15, 2009
Dog Poet Transmitting…….
Being as I am in a philosophical frame of mind lately, I thought I might take this opportunity to clarify the position of Smoking Mirrors. You can see in the masthead above what the intention is but… I suspect that not infrequently there are readers who feel the blanket is much too big for the bed. No doubt there are people who believe that I have aversion and contempt for the material plane and more of the same for those who traffic in it, as if it were as real as they think it is. From this, you might also assume that I don’t think it’s as real as it seems to be. I’ve banged my head on enough low-hanging door lintels and other things, designed for people of average size, to know that it’s real enough.
On my way to doing what I now do, on my way to doing what I will soon do and on my way to whatever I’m going to do or not do after that, I’ve owned a few failed businesses and worked for people who had successful businesses. Some of the finest people I ever met were full on members of the business community and served to make my life a lot easier than it might have been. Some of them created an environment where fun and enthusiasm were the order of the day. They were generous, honest and often pleasantly eccentric.
Independent of the fact that I prefer other dimensions and the worlds inside my head, I’ve had a lot of fun in this one. I’ve been brutalized by it too. The one who oversees me saw fit to tenderize me in the gladiator schools of this tormented realm. It’s also been the springboard to other worlds and without a launching pad you will always be short of a launch. Conflict has made me strong and taught me the secret resolutions that are hidden within it. I’m only at a certain point on the spiral staircase to the stars but I’m far enough along that I can look over the railing and catch vertigo. As I’ve said a time or two here before, the key is not to piss over the railing.
I want to make it clear that there are a lot of really good people here that are struggling to do the right thing, even when no one is watching them.
I watch a lot of movies and read a lot of books; not so many of the latter as was once the case. Without the business people who labored to bring these things into form, I wouldn’t have been able to do either. Without the people who built the roads and the rails and the airports and planes I would not be in Europe today. Let’s not forget the ships of sea. Without this world, I would have had no venue in which to learn the important lessons that I needed to learn, so that one day I could travel to the other worlds that draw me like I draw the very breath of life.
Without those who have opposed, betrayed and imprisoned me I would never have had the opportunity to make the decision not to be like them. I’ve profited from bad examples every bit as much as I have from the good ones. The tales of epic struggles for liberty and redemption have inspired my soul. The lives of the great hearted ones who have gone before have shown me the possibility of the human state. The tragedy of those who failed in their humanity, still remain as icons of what not to be.
I owe the snake in the grass as much as I owe the eagle in the sky. This world is a tapestry that is made beautiful by the contrast in colors. There is no lasting satisfaction in the endless stream of products and events that flow from the cornucopia of matter but that awareness is its greatest gift.
Even though people have tried to kill me and imprison me for the extent of my natural life and intended that I suffer even worse than either of these, I can honestly say that I bear them no ill will. I owe them for what they helped shape me into. Resentment and enmity are ship anchors that will keep you here as long as you bear them. I’m not going to rattle my chains. I do believe it is necessary to rattle the cages though.
The reality of what I try to do, within the limitations and restrictions of my ability, is to point out the dangers that I have been exposed to. Having been through some portion of these things, it is my desire that others will be spared these things. It’s foolish to imagine that I have any real ability at this but one can’t help but try. One will develop no ability further on unless they work at it now. In some ways, suffering is a real gift because it brings with it empathy and compassion, which one might otherwise have not acquired. This is not to say that suffering confers this on everyone. Quite often people choose to reap resentment and enmity instead.
I look at the terrors of the past as playground scraps now. You become old when you begin to look back upon your life more than you look forward. We do this because we are attached to things we failed at and cannot change. We cannot change the past which is why we work to alter the facts of it in our minds. Lying to yourself is a fool’s gambit. We’d be spared a lot of grief if we were more honest with ourselves.
What I am trying to say is, though we get into strong language here, even though we pen the endless Jeremiads and rail like Savonarola, it is not for the purpose of making a villain out of anyone. That effort is very effectively achieved by those so engaged. The purpose is to state what many others state in these days; some things are wrong and an offense against humanity and whatever there may be that can be called divine.
We are all confused… some more than others. Whether our crimes are great or small, we all have them. However, as soon as one admits they were wrong, they open the door to being right. As soon as one departs from selfish and offensive actions, they are on a different course than they were. While we breathe it is not too late to change.
My methods may not suit everyone. I’m still learning as I go and am a work in progress but some things need be said because lies can kill you. The few of us with the stones to speak out against the psychopathy of Zionism and Israel are labeled as what we are not. On the other hand there are some number of bloggers and pundits who accuse me of being too soft on the Jews because I don’t condemn them as a whole. You can’t win. You can only say what you know; never forgetting what you do not know. I will add that silence is a form of complicity.
It is past disputing that Israel was involved in plotting 9/11. It is past disputing that there are serious exaggerations in the historical records of events long gone. It is past disputing that Operation Cast Lead was a war crime and that the Palestinians are victims of genocide. It is past disputing that Israel is a much greater danger to the world than Iran ever will be. The insidious daily lies of the catamite press seek to twist reality into something it is not and unless some number of us expose these lies, these lies will go on being carved into the stone that hangs around our collective necks.
People may not want to hear the truth but some of us don’t want to hear the lies either. I have as much of a right to be here as anyone. I am not going to look back at my life with regret about what I did not say and what I did not do. I am going to look forward to the day when these lies have been hung out to dry before the eyes of the world, exposed for what they are and a testimony to the darkness in us all.
There’s nothing wrong with business and entertainment. There’s nothing wrong with taking what temporary enjoyments and pleasures one might find along the way, so long as they are not at the expense of our fellows. There is nothing wrong with being rich and in a position of prominence and power. There can be a great deal wrong with how one applies and uses them. We are stewards and nothing more. We can lose all that we have in an instant and curse the day these things ever came our way. We have a duty to one another and our first duty is to speak the truth regardless of the consequences. It is on this that we will be judged in the aftermath. It is better to consider this now than to discover it later.
I want to thank all of you who have been a part of this experiment for making me much more capable than I would have been. This has been a group effort and it is going to be a group effort. As soon as we make up our minds to engage in this effort with every particle of our being, just that soon will angels fly to our side. The battle is already won. This is the critical point.
End Transmission…….
To my correspondent from Ulaanbaatar, please send me an email that is not restricted by government software.
Have I got it Right? Talking 9/11 Blues
Original source: http://smokingmirrors.blogspot.com/2009/10/our-sacred-trust-and-greater-promise.html
Last updated 17/10/2009
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