Masks...

We all wear masks, masks defined by the roles we play and how we wish to be seen by others. But when do they stop being masks? Masks are something we can take on and off that cover what exists underneath; what truly is. Do we know what is truly underneath the masks we wear? Or do we see our masks as ourselves?

When we meet someone and say that we want them to see and know us for who we really are, do we want them to see underneath or do we want them to see us as we WISH to see ourselves (for better or worse)? This can work both ways- we could want them to see us as the wonderful person we believe ourselves to be or as the ugly person we are afraid that we are. But is that wonderful person or ugly person the true us?

I think at times others have the ability to see and know us better than we are able to know ourselves. They see through the lies and false image we present for our own benefit every day. But can anyone ever help us to see the real us? If we cannot know the real us and others can never fully know the real us, is there a real us to know? And if there is not, do we have the ability to create ourselves and form it into the ideal vision of who we want to be?

They talk about space and the ocean being the final frontiers. I don't believe that is so. I believe that our psyche and the depths of our identities are the final frontier. Even if we spend our whole lives trying to figure out who we are, both as individuals and as a species, I don't think we'll ever have a definitive answer. And even if we do, it will be gone the next moment as a new experience changes it a bit.

Does that mean that we should never try to understand who we are? I don't believe so. I think that we have to understand enough about ourselves to find the consistencies within ourselves and use those to base our identities on. We create our own stability and use it to create stability in this world for those we touch. We are the eye in the storm we call our lives. I guess in the end the best you can do is to be true to what you believe is the most accurate version of yourself you have experienced.

I LOVE Halloween...

What can be wrong about a holiday that lets you be whatever you want, or have ever wanted to be? I love to see people's costumes and try to guess how they wish to see themselves in their heart of hearts. Like the regular guy who dresses as a superhero. Or the mild mannered woman who chooses to be a witch, a longtime symbol of female empowerment. I was a ghost pirate this year- wonder what that says about me? That I like stealing and am tired of life? Or let's get really metaphysical and say that I wish to bring about the death of materialism and excess? I know, I know, that's stretching it, but I'm sure a psychiatrist out there who is an adherent of Freud's that would have something profound to say.

What was your costume, or the one you would have chosen had you dressed up? Think for a minute- what might it have to say about you?

The beginning of the end...

First things first- YAY PHILS!!!! Knew you could do it! No stopping fate...

Read something scary this morning. Apparently the Bush administration is putting a last minute full court press on laws that would deregulate many industries that do significant environmental damage, laws that would take significant time and effort to reverse. The corporate lobbyists are going nuts trying to get everything in place and in effect before the new administration, so that nothing can be undone. These laws would allow for higher emissions, increased deforestation, increasing coal mining in protected areas, and other such actions. This weakening of environmental protections have been a goal of this White House from day one, but they have waited until people's attention has been shifted elsewhere and have touted the possible financial benefits at a time when everyone is concerned about money.

It's another prime example of short term gain trumping long term negative effects. Just because the full impact of these measures may not be felt for some time, it does not mean that it is okay to move forward. Supporters will claim that these acts are fiscally responsible, and they may be; but what about environmental responsibility and generational responsibility. People are used to nature being a renewable and bountiful resource, but even if there is a large supply, it is still finite. The human population is doubling at an astounding rate, which means that we are consuming double the resources even if we stay at the same rate. Industrialization of countries that were not consumers for these resources before is adding to the drain and taking a huge toll as well.

The earth is not a giant credit card with an unlimited spending limit, that we can take from as we wish without ever having to pay the costs. Human skin regenerates, but if you take enough off or damage it enough, it doesn't grow back. We are pulling the skin off the earth every day, digging deeper and deeper into her to pull out what we want. Eventually, we will take so much off this planet that it will not be able to grow back. In the meantime, we have created vital systems that cannot survive without these resources. What happens to our progeny when they are gone? Why do we feel we should be waiting until the last minute to deal with these issues?

Politicians have said that we need to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and that gutting the pristine forests and oceans of our nation is the way to do it. I would argue that we need to reduce our dependence on oil, period. We need to embrace a simpler life altogether. A life that will not only reduce our negative impact on this planet and sustain its resources, but that will also leave us better equipped to weather any shortfalls that may happen in the future. This means less driving, more walking, less reliance on chemicals and industrially created products, smaller homes and vehicles, reusing resources and creating products with a focus on reusability, a shift away from a consumer-based "throwaway" society.

Our lives are not any happier or fuller than our ancestors were, just arguably more comfortable. But comfort, and what it takes to be happy, is in the eye of the beholder. Ask the Amish if they lead lives that are full of basic contentment, and they'll tell you yes. Ask your neighbors the same question, and I bet you wouldn't get that answer. Maybe, just maybe, the Amish are on to something...

On a personal note...

What is it about love, the passionate love that two people share? How can it be so desired and yet so feared? Why is it so simple, yet so complicated? Why is it so important in our lives, but we spend so much time convincing ourselves that it isn't and we don't need it just so we can protect ourselves? Why do people want someone to love them for who they really are, yet be anyone other than who they really are in order to get the object of their love to love them? Why do people die for it, but also die without it?

If I had the answers to those questions, I'd be a millionaire and my blog would be read by a lot more people than it is now. I wish I could say I understand that kind of love, but to understand it you have to have experienced it and know that you were at the time is was happening so that you could take note of the experience. Since that has not happened to me, then I can't say I understand that kind of love. I can Monday morning quarterback with the best of em, but that's about as far as it goes. So much needs to align in order to experience true love, it's amazing that it happens at all. You have to be in the right place at the right time, both physically and metaphorically in your own life, and meet the right person. And that person has to have the same thing happen. When you think about it that way- WOW! Maybe getting struck by lightening doesn't seem so rare of an occurrance after all, or I have really pointed out how remarkable an occurance true love is; I'm over 35, so it has been said that the two happen at about the same frequency.

They both happen often enough to make people afraid to go out into a thunderstorm with an umbrella and to spend a lot of time and money hoping that we will meet the One. Unfortunately, they do not happen often enough in MY life. However, hope is something I try to keep in plentiful supply in my life, so you never know...

Staying strong in the face of adversity

Last night's World Series game was something to see. I think it reminded some people and players about why certain teams make it to the World Series. Here were some men in just shirt sleeves, playing in the pouring rain, strong winds and temperatures in the mid 30's. They were doing everything they could to see the ball in the rain and to hit and pitch a slippery ball with precision. While they may have been gripping in the dugout, they had their game faces on in the field. Both sides were there to win and both sides wanted to finish it. They were no less committed to the outcome because of the weather.

Bad weather is placed in our way all the time. We are all given struggles to contend with. But do we pack it in and say, "this is too hard, I'll quit", or do we live our lives like it's the World Series and keep on going? The World Series, for many players, is a once in a lifetime event. They give it their all because they may never get the chance again. Your life only comes once; are you going to live it with the same level of commitment?

Living a life of purpose with a strong sense of investment in the outcome is important. The people around you, your loved ones and friends, require nothing less from you. Live in the present moment, doing all you can to work towards the brightest future you can imagine. Learn from the past without dwelling in it. The key to any journey is knowing where you are going, even if you aren't quite sure of how you'll get there. We will never be able to predict how the journey of our lives will unfold; that's one of the challenges of life, but one of the most exciting things as well. Knowing where you want to be at the end of it will help you to make the decisions that come up along the way and shape the nature of your journey.

Commit to your living your life and to the outcome you desire for yourself and others. When you do, you'll find a little bad weather really isn't such a big deal, it's only temporary and all part of the game.

GO PHILS!!!!!!!!

Interesting question...

First of all- WAY TO GO PHILS!!!! Keep it up!

I saw an interesting advertisement (what for I don't know) that was sponsored by a think tank of scientist (never said what kind). It posed a question that was answered by a few scientists. Not surprising, each scientist came up with his own answer. The question was, "does the free market corrode moral character?"

After giving this a bit of a think, I would have to say the answer is no, because to answer yes would say that its the market that shapes us, and not the other way around. That's not to say that I think that the free market is beneficial to our moral character. I feel that any market, free or otherwise, at the end of the day reflects the moral character of the people that comprise it. Any market system, on paper, is good. It's how it is distorted by human character in action that keeps it good or makes it bad.

If you have a group of people who feel strongly that the needs of others are as important as their own, then the free market is a wonderful system for them that rewards initiatives without the negative effects of greed. If you have a group of people who are self-centered and who as a whole do not care about the needs of others unless it is shown to benefit them, then a free market system will only reinforce that selfishness by financially rewarding those who make profit at the expense of others. The system did nothing in and of itself, it only enhanced the characteristics that were present in the people who comprised it to begin with.

That is the danger of looking at any economic system in black and white- capitalism, socialism, communism- and applying the label of good or bad. What is perfect on paper may not bear any resemblance to what that system turns into in practice, and a system that works very well for one culture may be an absolute disaster for another. That's why there is no point in labeling systems and sticking to dogma. There is nothing wrong from picking and choosing what works in practice for a particular group of people from any combination of systems. Who cares if we, or any country, are capitalist, socialist, communist, or whatever? It's about what is beneficial and effective. We don't get any brownie points for adopting the whole of a system to the exclusion of others if it means we fall flat on our face. Bankrupt is bankrupt.

The best system is the one that works... so get over the labels and demand that our politicians enact practical strategies that do the greatest amount of good with the least amount of harm, no matter where they came from; maybe we need to give commusocicapitalism a try.

"We hold these truth to be self-evident,...

that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." So said Thomas Jefferson is the Declaration of Independence, and this has been the credo by which we have identified ourselves to the world for the last 250 years.

That is what makes what happened in Texas recently so deplorable. A black man was run over and dragged to the point where his body was mangled and officials were still finding pieces of his skull 3 days later. One of the two men involved in the crime was a member of a prison white supremacist gang during a four year stint that began in 2003, which was for a murder charge that was pleaded down to manslaughter. The 3 men were known to each other before the incident and there was alcohol involved. However, whether this was an actual hate crime or not, the fact that it echoes a similar incident that WAS a hate crime that occurred only 200 miles away leaves a bad taste in the mouth of many. All 3 of these men were born after civil rights were enacted and became a part of daily life in this country. None of them grew up in a culture of legally enforced segregation. Racism was not a legally mandated and protected state of being, and to be racist was by choice for these men.

Is Texas an isolated hotbed of racism? To think that is true is downplaying the breadth of the issue and painting an unfair portrait of a considerable number of whites in Texas. It does lead you to wonder why, in a generation with no direct experience with legal segregation, the behaviors and attitudes of racism and segregation remain? While it is naive to assume that just because a form of oppression is outlawed, the oppression is going to miraculously disappear. It takes time for people to change, especially those who lived the bulk of their life under by it. But you would think that there would be hope for those who were never a part of that system, for whom equality under the law was a given and was legally protected. Why is this not the case?

How much improvement in race relations has there truly been in the last 40 years? I think that now that some of the newness has worn off and the assumption of civil rights has become commonplace, we have lost the sense of urgency in safeguarding its implementation. I speak to both whites and blacks. Self-segregation is as common now as it ever was and it is being justified now on a cultural basis instead of a racial one. There is little dialogue to promote common understanding between the average white and black person in this country, so there is little chance that this is going to change. After fighting so hard and paying such high costs to de-segregate this country and bring legal equality, why are we voluntarily segregating ourselves and leaving opportunities for misunderstanding that can lead to such acts of hate?

At the end of the day, we are all humans in the eyes of God and the rest of the creatures of earth. We are all Americans in the eyes of the rest of the world's citizens. We need to look for the common bonds that unite us as a way to open up dialogue and to create the open and free society initially envisioned by our founding fathers and expanded by men like Martin Luther King. We can not afford- economically, culturally, and in societal terms- to have two such distinct "countries" existing here. The last time we had two distinct nations within our walls, we were almost torn apart and destroyed by the Civil War. The cost to all would be too high if that were to happen again.

Let us remember the principles which define this nation and truly be "one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."