Lessons from the 2014 election

Random and opposing thoughts regarding the mid-term election:

Our political system will continue to be corrupted by and in the grip of those obsessed with money and power.

We will rely on the leadings of the spirit and the spiritual.

Gross inequality will continue.

We will distill our lives, or our lives will be distilled for us.

The militarism will continue.

We will learn by the riveting experience of suffering…and forgiveness.

Secrecy in government will increase. Our privacy will continue to be invaded and diminished.

We will be clearly shown that we are one, that we depend on each other, not as "The other" but as "The one.” We ARE the enemy and the enemy is us. (Pogo was right, sort of....)

Purveyors of fear (still the great motivator) will continue to shape our culture and attitudes toward our neighbors, be they on our street or in the rest of the world.

The Great Unraveling will teach us compassion and humility.

Global warming will continue. “Natural disasters” (Nature shaking off our toxic species) will grow more and more severe.

The manifestations of environmental disintegration and the power of nature will force themselves upon us. They will require us to change.

Ignorance will spread…thanks to fundamentalism, corporate media, distorted values, amplified media demagoguery and impoverished schools and families.

We will discover truth through experience.

The homeless, many of them veterans, the mentally ill or both, will continue to find homes only in the streets. They will continue to be neglected, even scorned. Children will suffer in growing numbers. Homeless, hungry and abandoned.

We will learn that change begins with us acting as individuals and as communities (including ‘communities of interest’). Change begins in “small places” within the "oneness."

Technology will grow with little or no consideration given to unintended consequences. Escapist sports, games, consumerist values and other fantasies will define our culture. We live in a drop-out, fabricated, media-manipulated world of distorted and corrupted values.

We will withdraw from corporate media, consumerism and their contrived values. There will be a growing suspicion of technological change masquerading as “progress."

Crime will increase, including that committed by our “system of justice.”

We will be forced to examine and re-examine deeply, and then reshape, our values and our actions. Restorative justice, compassionate listening and non-violent communication are manifestations.

The good (love) in religions will be muted; the bad (prejudice, anti-intellectualism, self-righteousness and judging) amplified. Religions will grow as a problem, not a solution.

We will turn to spiritual “leadings” and reject religious dogma and dictates.

Government and politics will grow as a source of our fear and despair.

We will focus on and do what is possible. We will live and act more closely to our communities and homes. We can not afford to be distracted by events (news?) we can do nothing about. We will govern ourselves.

Our infrastructure will continue to crumble. Private profit will reshape and then destroy “The Commons.”

We will be called upon to act together and independently in new, sustainable, cooperative, humane and creative ways.

We may not have “fallen far enough.”

We will evolve to new awareness and, then, a new consciousness.

Making 'conscience' and 'consciousness' one

Some words in pairs invite joint consideration because they are so close in appearance and because they so strongly suggest new meanings by their proximate definitions.

“Experience” and “experiment,” “myth” “and “mystic” are two such pairs.

The other day I found myself meditating on the attraction between “conscience” and “consciousness.”

I felt an almost magnetic pull, but when “conscience” and “consciousness” neared, the polarity seemed to reverse, reach stasis and freeze their meanings in respectful, yet unfulfilled, proximity.

In the palpable space between “conscience” and “consciousness” emerged a new meaning. No word I know signifies that meaning (suggestions are welcomed!), but if you hold “conscience” and “consciousness” together simultaneously, you can feel it.

A power emerges between the two.

Out of my consideration came a notion that took the form of two questions:
Can we be fully conscious if our conscience hasn’t been engaged?

Can our conscience be fully engaged if we are not fully conscious?

“Conscience” and “consciousness” in full rely on each other.

Of course “fully” is impossible because there is always more. We are evolving as individuals and as a species. Our conscience and our consciousness are growing.  All existence is dynamic.

As a result of my meditation, I am certain growth of consciousness is informed by conscience; and the growth of conscience relies on a widening and deepening consciousness.

Perhaps conscience and consciousness are kept separate because they are represented by distinct words. Without a word that defines their attraction and, yes, their oneness, are we doomed to keeping them apart?