Sunday Stream (5) ~ One-ness of Duality
Posted: October 31st, 2004, 3:27 pm
The race for America's future is drawing closer and closer... Tuesday will be the 'shot heard around the world' as the polls open for the final tally (at least that is the presumption).
The fight for the White House has never been greater in our lifetime, no matter what our ages are. The good old duality is in full force... and the outcome is bleak no matter what side 'wins'. I say that because of so many factors, many of which America, much less other countries are fully aware. But here in the U.S. neither candidate has come clean with what is truly at stake here. Bush and the Oilers and Kerry and the Lawyers are hoping that they will have the say-so of the direction this country will go... and the duality is between attitudes - fear and hope.
But both candidates certainly have to know that what is at stake is who controls the oil. We are aware that Iraq has the second largest oil reserves in the world. We also know that America is the largest user of oil in the world, with China now running a close second.
In the eyes of those in the know, they understand that "he who holds the key to energy holds the key to dominance in the world" and Iraq is now in the hands of America, albeit the war drags on as the Arab world understands what Iraq has and why the U.S. and it coalition is there... it is no secret to them.
The world is driven by oil. We use oil for not only our cars and trucks, our trains and planes, but oil and its byproducts are used worldwide for many other things, and power is the number one use of oil - to power our energy producing plants. Oil is used for pharmaceuticals, for virtually the majority of what we consume... even this computer that you are using right now - look at how much plastic is used.
The reason ultimately is oil that we are in Iraq. America is the largest user of power in the world. America is an oil junkie, with most other countries reliant on oil also. But in order for the U.S. to sustain its lifestyle, we had better have our hands on the junk. Our economy would quickly crumble if our fix for oil was jeopardized. No telling what our come down off oil would take us.
But as I said, we are not alone in our fix for oil. A commodity as precious as oil has become is in the hands of Arab countries. Sure there are smaller deposits worldwide, but Saudi Arabia and Iraq are the two places on earth that have, what is termed in Petro-Speak, Mega Projects, i.e, fields that have reserves of a minimum of 500 million barrels, which have become more and more scarce. But the world is using more and more oil daily - the world consumes an estimated billion barrels of oil every eleven and a half days.
(see: http://www.fromthewilderness.com/PDF/Commonwealth.pdf)
Do we, the so-called free democratic countries, allow the countries of the Middle East to control our destiny? America, for one, is certainly not taking the chance. According to an article written in May of this year, "Iraqis also know that 14 US military bases are already under construction, enough to accommodate the (for the moment) 110,000 American soldiers who will stay in Iraq until at least 2007." The U.S. is spending billions of dollars to build military bases in Iraq, a country that has the second largest reserves of oil in the world. And the government is also expanding base operations in other Arab countries, including Qatar and Kuwait.
(more - http://www.axisoflogic.com/cgi-bin/exec ... 0&num=7942)
All this madness over oil... it’s truly incredible that humanity has reached this peak... where the government in control controls the oil that controls the world... and the Arabs have every right to think that they should have some say-so over what is done with their oil and their countries that have it... it is our human nature.
So, providing these provided links are not full paranoid exaggerations, what do we, the world, do for our oil addiction? Lifestyles are threatened... food supplies are threatened (agribusiness relies heavily upon oil for fertilizers)... economies are threatened... and that of course could easily lead the any hope for world peace being threatened.
If we can believe others in holding out some hope from the end of oil (at least affordable for most people), there appears to be one spark of encouragement for cannabis sativa ("useful hemp"). I know the majority that may read this are thinking, "Right! Stay stoned and who cares what happens..." but any search for information on this plant will reveal many encouraging facts about this ubiquitous plant, and oil is one of them, which is much cleaner for our environment incidentally. Maybe not a billion barrels a day (I don't think so, anyway), but there are many things that can and have been done using this plant for centuries - paper (the U.S. Constitution having been written on it), food, medicine, cloth (stronger than cotton), and even building materials!
( link - http://www.cannabis.com/faqs/hemp1.shtml)
Of course converting to a hemp-based economy from an oil-based economy would throw the balance of power out of whack, but it may be about time.
In the United States "the wealthiest one percent control about $2.3 trillion in stocks, or about 53% of all individually or family-held shares. The wealthiest 1% owned 64% of bonds held by families or individuals, and 31% of total financial assets held by families or individuals, which includes everything from stocks to bonds to cash." while "the wealthiest 5% controlled 59.2% of the nation's wealth in 2001, little changed from the 60.3% in 1995.
(see - http://www.globalpolicy.org/socecon/ine ... naires.htm)
I am not against people having wealth and I do not believe that all wealth has to be shared amongst all people. That is a rather Utopian dream that can never be realized, however, I do see within that article that these same wealthiest are the one's that are benefiting from the current administration's tax cuts... and ultimately it is the citizens that somehow pay for it. The dualities continue, don't they? The Democrats and the Republicans, the Democratic countries and the Arab Theocracy countries, the rich and the poor... dualities are the human way of life, odd knowing that the major religions speak of One God.
One God and One Universe and yet here we are on one planet with multiple ideas of how to bring us to that One-ness. Who would you believe and trust to take you to that One-ness that is the promise of religions? The path is not one but many, or so it seems if we listen to others and follow their advice 'religiously'. There are many religions, most of which sprang from some other religion... divisions and subdivisions... carving the pie into ever shrinking pieces to feed more and more people as we continue to reproduce. If we weren't so damn sociable maybe we wouldn't have quite the problems that we are now experiencing. But that is the way we are - social creatures because we know that we are of the same family of Homo Sapiens, but we'd rather not believe that but we have no choice. It is only the lonely that doesn't see the connection, and in many cases, will refuse to see that connection.
We humans are an arrogant lot, even calling ourselves 'intelligent" as if intelligence is something that can be measured by some thing other than ourselves. Who is to say we are intelligent but ourselves? We measure our intelligence with our progress from the past... look at what we've accomplished since __(?)____.
The life upon this one planet feeds off itself, and we feed off our own humanness - we take advantage of our own kind to better ourselves... wars and greed, lust and gluttony, theft and lies, deceptions and anger, we use these things to survive amongst our own. The human beast that longs for peace and love cheating and stealing, killing and maiming our own to 'better ourselves'...
Where do we learn these things? Is it in our nature? To do otherwise may reveal our innate weakness, or what we measure as weakness. We can't simply live in peace and love one another for that is considered weakness, but weakness is not what it appears so many times - surrender and dropping our defenses is the way to our center... our true being. If we keep our defenses up and refuse to "surrender" to our true Self we never achieve that Oneness that is the promise of many enlightened. The dissolution of duality, the defend/offend, that keeps us at the point of turmoil and stress because that is the accepted level of living that we feel is our destiny.
Our resources to live the way we believe is 'better' are based upon false promises. Our current way of life is just as limited as any form of life... all things are limited in their ability to survive. But if we acknowledge that what we are is more than what we see, touch, smell, hear and taste, we take a giant leap to our One-ness. But that simple thing requires surrender... acceptance of that inner light that is our true life.
Whatever happens at the polls this Tuesday will be but dusty memories a hundred years from now, while our progeny will continue living the human drama under conditions far different from what we are living in today. Life will survive as it always has for the essence of life is One - One Light, One Universe, One Love and One Laugh beyond the veils of our egos to which we shall all return... our home of Non Duality.
cecil
31 october 04
The fight for the White House has never been greater in our lifetime, no matter what our ages are. The good old duality is in full force... and the outcome is bleak no matter what side 'wins'. I say that because of so many factors, many of which America, much less other countries are fully aware. But here in the U.S. neither candidate has come clean with what is truly at stake here. Bush and the Oilers and Kerry and the Lawyers are hoping that they will have the say-so of the direction this country will go... and the duality is between attitudes - fear and hope.
But both candidates certainly have to know that what is at stake is who controls the oil. We are aware that Iraq has the second largest oil reserves in the world. We also know that America is the largest user of oil in the world, with China now running a close second.
In the eyes of those in the know, they understand that "he who holds the key to energy holds the key to dominance in the world" and Iraq is now in the hands of America, albeit the war drags on as the Arab world understands what Iraq has and why the U.S. and it coalition is there... it is no secret to them.
The world is driven by oil. We use oil for not only our cars and trucks, our trains and planes, but oil and its byproducts are used worldwide for many other things, and power is the number one use of oil - to power our energy producing plants. Oil is used for pharmaceuticals, for virtually the majority of what we consume... even this computer that you are using right now - look at how much plastic is used.
The reason ultimately is oil that we are in Iraq. America is the largest user of power in the world. America is an oil junkie, with most other countries reliant on oil also. But in order for the U.S. to sustain its lifestyle, we had better have our hands on the junk. Our economy would quickly crumble if our fix for oil was jeopardized. No telling what our come down off oil would take us.
But as I said, we are not alone in our fix for oil. A commodity as precious as oil has become is in the hands of Arab countries. Sure there are smaller deposits worldwide, but Saudi Arabia and Iraq are the two places on earth that have, what is termed in Petro-Speak, Mega Projects, i.e, fields that have reserves of a minimum of 500 million barrels, which have become more and more scarce. But the world is using more and more oil daily - the world consumes an estimated billion barrels of oil every eleven and a half days.
(see: http://www.fromthewilderness.com/PDF/Commonwealth.pdf)
Do we, the so-called free democratic countries, allow the countries of the Middle East to control our destiny? America, for one, is certainly not taking the chance. According to an article written in May of this year, "Iraqis also know that 14 US military bases are already under construction, enough to accommodate the (for the moment) 110,000 American soldiers who will stay in Iraq until at least 2007." The U.S. is spending billions of dollars to build military bases in Iraq, a country that has the second largest reserves of oil in the world. And the government is also expanding base operations in other Arab countries, including Qatar and Kuwait.
(more - http://www.axisoflogic.com/cgi-bin/exec ... 0&num=7942)
All this madness over oil... it’s truly incredible that humanity has reached this peak... where the government in control controls the oil that controls the world... and the Arabs have every right to think that they should have some say-so over what is done with their oil and their countries that have it... it is our human nature.
So, providing these provided links are not full paranoid exaggerations, what do we, the world, do for our oil addiction? Lifestyles are threatened... food supplies are threatened (agribusiness relies heavily upon oil for fertilizers)... economies are threatened... and that of course could easily lead the any hope for world peace being threatened.
If we can believe others in holding out some hope from the end of oil (at least affordable for most people), there appears to be one spark of encouragement for cannabis sativa ("useful hemp"). I know the majority that may read this are thinking, "Right! Stay stoned and who cares what happens..." but any search for information on this plant will reveal many encouraging facts about this ubiquitous plant, and oil is one of them, which is much cleaner for our environment incidentally. Maybe not a billion barrels a day (I don't think so, anyway), but there are many things that can and have been done using this plant for centuries - paper (the U.S. Constitution having been written on it), food, medicine, cloth (stronger than cotton), and even building materials!
( link - http://www.cannabis.com/faqs/hemp1.shtml)
Of course converting to a hemp-based economy from an oil-based economy would throw the balance of power out of whack, but it may be about time.
In the United States "the wealthiest one percent control about $2.3 trillion in stocks, or about 53% of all individually or family-held shares. The wealthiest 1% owned 64% of bonds held by families or individuals, and 31% of total financial assets held by families or individuals, which includes everything from stocks to bonds to cash." while "the wealthiest 5% controlled 59.2% of the nation's wealth in 2001, little changed from the 60.3% in 1995.
(see - http://www.globalpolicy.org/socecon/ine ... naires.htm)
I am not against people having wealth and I do not believe that all wealth has to be shared amongst all people. That is a rather Utopian dream that can never be realized, however, I do see within that article that these same wealthiest are the one's that are benefiting from the current administration's tax cuts... and ultimately it is the citizens that somehow pay for it. The dualities continue, don't they? The Democrats and the Republicans, the Democratic countries and the Arab Theocracy countries, the rich and the poor... dualities are the human way of life, odd knowing that the major religions speak of One God.
One God and One Universe and yet here we are on one planet with multiple ideas of how to bring us to that One-ness. Who would you believe and trust to take you to that One-ness that is the promise of religions? The path is not one but many, or so it seems if we listen to others and follow their advice 'religiously'. There are many religions, most of which sprang from some other religion... divisions and subdivisions... carving the pie into ever shrinking pieces to feed more and more people as we continue to reproduce. If we weren't so damn sociable maybe we wouldn't have quite the problems that we are now experiencing. But that is the way we are - social creatures because we know that we are of the same family of Homo Sapiens, but we'd rather not believe that but we have no choice. It is only the lonely that doesn't see the connection, and in many cases, will refuse to see that connection.
We humans are an arrogant lot, even calling ourselves 'intelligent" as if intelligence is something that can be measured by some thing other than ourselves. Who is to say we are intelligent but ourselves? We measure our intelligence with our progress from the past... look at what we've accomplished since __(?)____.
The life upon this one planet feeds off itself, and we feed off our own humanness - we take advantage of our own kind to better ourselves... wars and greed, lust and gluttony, theft and lies, deceptions and anger, we use these things to survive amongst our own. The human beast that longs for peace and love cheating and stealing, killing and maiming our own to 'better ourselves'...
Where do we learn these things? Is it in our nature? To do otherwise may reveal our innate weakness, or what we measure as weakness. We can't simply live in peace and love one another for that is considered weakness, but weakness is not what it appears so many times - surrender and dropping our defenses is the way to our center... our true being. If we keep our defenses up and refuse to "surrender" to our true Self we never achieve that Oneness that is the promise of many enlightened. The dissolution of duality, the defend/offend, that keeps us at the point of turmoil and stress because that is the accepted level of living that we feel is our destiny.
Our resources to live the way we believe is 'better' are based upon false promises. Our current way of life is just as limited as any form of life... all things are limited in their ability to survive. But if we acknowledge that what we are is more than what we see, touch, smell, hear and taste, we take a giant leap to our One-ness. But that simple thing requires surrender... acceptance of that inner light that is our true life.
Whatever happens at the polls this Tuesday will be but dusty memories a hundred years from now, while our progeny will continue living the human drama under conditions far different from what we are living in today. Life will survive as it always has for the essence of life is One - One Light, One Universe, One Love and One Laugh beyond the veils of our egos to which we shall all return... our home of Non Duality.
cecil
31 october 04
.....Ft. McHenry...O Say Can You See? from across harbor this morning........
