[All links are
squeaky-clean and
clickable safe, boys and girls. No nead to herd the l'il ones out of the room].
A few things: I didn't say that Obama's brand of politics, or his aspirations, or his imbibing of the message of Liberation Theology was to my liking, necessarily. The frame I have for life here, or the theatrical stage of life that I recognize, is essentially tragic. But on that stage all sorts of interesting acts take place, with all sorts of interesting costumes, scenery, and musical score will appear, and it is up to the actors to do their best with the materials given them by the producers.
Okay, so if it is true that
We Want Change! (Say that like you really, really mean it! Get your body into it! Allow the song to sound through you like in a Mystic Rave!), and if this is the song people really want to start singing, then they should be given that chance, or in any case this is one of those unique moments in history when they may succeed in getting that chance. Then, perhaps, they will get to see just how
implicated they are in the crime and cruelty that rules and directs the present. If they really and truly understood what it means to be so implicated in the structure of things, then they would also have the chance to get more responsible, and the fact is neither of us can definitely say what may result from that. There are so many twists and turns in history.
And if it turns out that the core meaning of Liberation Theology is 'rotten to the core', which by the way is a little broad as a condemnation, and somewhat meaningless as a result, they will also have a chance to see that, because they will have lived it.
The 'cure' of poverty is getting and handling wealth, and gaining an ownership interest. When that happens, the former 'poor' gain a new relationship to the structure of things. Imperfectly carried out, that though is one of the meanings of the American experiment (in a land plundered from the former race of occupants, lest we forget).
The 'cure' for oppression is to be allowed responsible participation, to have the oppression lifted, to gain freedom of movement. But, oppression is more often than not a mental block, and so a Black president is going to have an almost incredible influence on the American polity, something never seen before. The implications are extraordinary and also dangerous.
It is worth the risk though.
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From the Hexagram No 16, Enthusiasm:
Thunder comes resounding out of the earth.
The image of ENTHUSIASM.
Thus the ancient kings made music
In order to honor merit,
And offered it with splendor
To the Supreme Deity,
Inviting their ancestors to be present.
Nine in the fourth place means:
The source of enthusiasm.
He achieves great things.
Doubt not.
You gather friends around you
As a hair clasp gathers the hair.
This describes a man who is able to awaken enthusiasm through his own
sureness and freedom from hesitation. He attracts people because he has no
doubts and is wholly sincere. Owing to his confidence in them he wins their
enthusiastic co-operation and attains success. Just as a clasp draws the hair
together and hold it, so he draws man together by the support he gives them.
For fun awhile back I cast the I-Ching asking about Obama. I thought the answer was very interesting, at least it caught my attention. The potency of the hexagram arises directly from the 'heart' of the hexagram, the fourth line, and it is the fourth line that represents someone who seizes captures hearts. The hexagram, which is imbued with Confucian political ideas, stresses that when a ruler captures men's hearts, and when their is a sort of holiness or righteousness in that sentiment, that it is only then that people can be mobilized for 'great things'. You, as an absolute cynic, of course, have no understanding of such things, but I submit to you (I may have to eat my words) that some 'great things' will be accomplished, and as I said they will express aspects of Americanism that are as old as the republic, but also new elements that have never before been expressed. Nothing in this crazy world is perfect, of course, but that doesn't really matter.
"Rulers have made use of this natural taste for music; they elevated and
regulated it. Music was looked upon as something serious and holy, designed
to purify the feelings of men. It fell to music to glorify the virtues of heroes
and thus to construct a bridge to the world of the unseen. In the temple men
drew near to God with music and pantomimes (out of this later the theater
developed). Religious feeling for the Creator of the world was united with
the most sacred of human feelings, that of reverence for the ancestors. The
ancestors were invited to these divine services as guests of the Ruler of
Heaven and as representatives of humanity in the higher regions. This
uniting of the human past with the Divinity in solemn moments of
religious inspiration established the bond between God and man. The ruler
who revered the Divinity in revering his ancestors became thereby the Son of
Heaven, in whom the heavenly and the earthly world met in mystical
contact.
These ideas are the final summation of Chinese culture. Confucius has said
of the great sacrifice at which these rites were performed: "He who could
wholly comprehend this sacrifice could rule the world as though it were
spinning on his hand."
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Read some of the
comments that were posted for that video, and you can see exactly the way that
hearts are moved. And don't think I am advocating for emotional politics, you cynical man!
This is American idealism, emotional politics, American personalism with links back to Whitman, and awakened religious sentiment, which is at the core of this republic.
Now, we'll get a chance to see where it all tends, but don't discount these forces, ideas and sentiments.
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That video was produced by Bob Dylan's son, BTW. I find it very, very interesting to consider the vast intellectual and civil potency in so many people who have, at least, an exalted sense of what America can be. For example
Bob Dylan, a fave of Obama. (Who even said he was reminded of the negative aspect of American politics when he heard BD's Maggie's Farm!)
She talks to all the servants
about man & God & law
everybody says shes the brains behind Pa
She's 68 but she says she's 54!
I ain't gonna work on Maggie's farm no more.
