The Democrats used to consider Dick Cheney a war criminal. Now Kamala embraces him. You might find this an interesting talk for getting a glimpse of why some intelligent people support Trump: https://youtu.be/UL34w5aMx4s. I don't agree with Tulsi on everything, and I have many concerns about Trump, but I agree with much of what Tulsi says, and I have different concerns about Kamala. I see problems on all sides. Who is spreading disinformation here?
You may not agree with the views of Tulsi Gabbard, RFK, Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy, and other obviously very bright people who support Trump, but to deny that they are intelligent and well-informed is pretty unintelligent and uninformed in my opinion. Many bright, good hearted, well educated, well informed people support Trump. And many people who support Kamala are actually not very well informed. I've met many of them. This is the kind of poorly informed, knee jerk, conditioned reaction that I see on both sides and to some degree in all of us, myself included, and which I'm hoping we humans can grow beyond.
There are VERY intelligent people who support Trump. There are even good hearted, profoundly deluded people who support him. It's not a matter of the reasons why people support him, which I suspect are many and various. It's the extraordinary degree of cruelty and suffering that ensues when demagogues rise to power - often on the backs of ordinarily bright and decent folk as well as chronic bullies and greedy scoundrels. This isn't a matter of ordinary political disagreement, it's the sort of mass hypnosis that history has witnessed many times before.
I respect your opinion, Rebecca, and you may be right. I see a lot of misinformation, hyperbole, and fear-mongering on both sides. And Trump seems to me to be the ultimate projection magnet for those who love him and those who despise him. I'm not a fan of his, but I didn't write this post to get into political discussions. 🙏
A perfect offering as we move through these next several weeks which seem like the most critical time ever - of course there have been hundreds of such times over the course of our species. But we are alive in this form now. And while it’s true that the coming election may hold significant historical impact it is important to see the results as part of an eternal unfolding and witnessing. Thanks Joan for your continued wisdom.
I'm not suggesting we shouldn't have opinions, nor am I saying that all things are equally right or wrong. I'm just suggesting things are not as black and white as we often think they are, and I'm suggesting that perhaps we can listen openly to other perspectives and hold our own views more lightly. There is so much exaggeration and fear-mongering on all sides.
Timely and most helpful. Recommitting to awareness first and always. Doing what I can; letting go of the rest. Thanks for being there Joan. Love, Tom ❤️
Thank you for this, Joan. Well said. I would add another Darryl Bailey quote: "What is there when there is no thinking?". Another question that's not meant to be answered, but absorbed deeply...
I read this one twice, the second time as if it were addressed to Germans during the moments that opened into the Third Reich. This isn't a moment opening into the Third Reich, we don't know what this moment opens into, but if living in this present moment excludes clear warnings from history - "the stove will burn your hand if you touch it" - and feeling and acting on them - then that practice becomes insane. To remind ourselves that this is all a dream, unfolding on its own, at the moment we must consider how to open to a dangerous political situation is to function without context. To pretend that 'fair and balanced' is the wisest and most compassionate stance - "good people on both sides" (says also Trump, when confronted with the violent insurrection) - narcotic. It's a true distraction from more pressing truths, a form of what Chogyam called "idiot compassion" I think. Trump says it to float his followers out of painful self-examination, to gain power. To say that there is no solid truth to be had is ultimately true, but radical skepticism can also be another escape hatch when we don't want to believe what our eyes see and our ears hear (or what actual experts say - again, look around). In one situation it's a glimpse of enlightenment, in another it's an enabling of violent chaos, mass sociopathy, mass psychosis. Encouraging followers to mistrust their own perceptions, declaring it all 'fake news', is an old trick of would be tyrants. We should stop "scaring ourselves and others"? Sure, when we're talking about neurotically generating and inhabiting worst case scenarios, that's psych 101 and the best cure is in the words of teachers like the ones you quote. But that isn't the same as counseling a mother to cultivate the larger view as her toddler approaches the stove with outstretched hand, or the bully barrels across the playground with a rock in his. Or a German reaching for internal comfort in Germany in 1933. Might not be as bad as all that, could be just the delusions of anxiety, dukkha-dukkhata wheels. But that's not the place to rest just now, I think.
I struggle with this, as I think everyone on this path does. It's painful, dark and scary, of course nothing is just black and white, and so much of what you say is wise and true. And of course we are in same-old history - why wouldn't we be? But maybe a better path would be to remember that right discrimination really is possible and at moments like this, crucial. And when there's fire, yell FIRE. "This is all a dream, but what you do matters." Chogyam, I think, on the Absolute and the Relative real.
Rebecca, I am not suggesting we should ignore history, or that all views are equally true, or that we shouldn't speak out or take action if we are so moved. In fact, I said as much in this post.
I do have big concerns about Trump, but I also have different big concerns about Kamala. And I see misinformation, fear-mongering, exaggeration and things being taken out of context on both sides. For example, the line you cite about Trump saying there were good people on both sides. I'm not sure if you meant Charlottesville or Jan 6, but in either case, that line has been taken out of context over and over by Democrats and used to enflame people. In regard to Charlottesville, Trump was, as I recall, referring to the ongoing disagreement over whether or not to take down statues, not to the neo-Nazis, and he condemned white supremacy at the same press conference. In regard to Jan 6, there clearly were many decent people there who had no intention of doing anything violent.
I am deeply disturbed by much of Trump's behavior and rhetoric, by his lies and exaggerations, by his refusal to accept the election results, and I see racism and sexism and fascist demagoguery in much of what he says and does. But I don't think he's Hitler. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'll be like those Jews in the early days of Hitler's rise to power who said he wasn't anything to worry about. But I really don't think the world will end if Trump gets elected. Yes, he'll do some things I don't like, as he did before, and he'll do some things I like.
And the same will be true if Kamala is elected. I see disturbing behavior on the left as well, including lies and exaggerations. As I said in response to someone above, the Democrats used to consider Dick Cheney a war criminal. Now Kamala embraces him. You might find this an interesting talk for getting a glimpse of why some intelligent people fear Kamala and support Trump: https://youtu.be/UL34w5aMx4s. I don't agree with Tulsi on everything, and I'm not a Trump supporter, but I think Tulsi Gabbard is an intelligent person who makes some very good points.
I find people on the left often more close-minded than people on the right. People watch MSNBC and read the NY Times and think they are getting God's revealed truth. They call out Fox and demonize folks like Tucker Carlson and RFK without ever actually listening to them. (And I'm not saying I agree with Tucker or RFK about everything, only that I was surprised when I actually listened to some of these people and found they were intelligent and had some good points).
In my view, our entire election system is un-democratic. I support eliminating the electoral college, having rank choice voting, and having the primary election on the same day in all states. As it is, my vote doesn't matter at all. I'm in Oregon. I'd like to see something other than the two-party system.
In any case, my article wasn't about taking sides or arguing politics. And it wasn't suggesting we shouldn't take a side and fight for what we think is right. It was simply suggesting that things are not as black and white as we often think they are, and that perhaps we can listen openly to other perspectives and hold our own views more lightly. It was inviting people to question what actually helps and what maybe only makes things worse. Are we feeding and acting from fear and ego, or are we coming from wholeness and love? The latter doesn't mean we do nothing to stop a Hitler or to call out demagoguery. But maybe we can look in the mirror and see our own flaws as well as those "out there" in the other side.
Your recent pieces have been a pleasure to read; they strike with the sense of true authenticity. Do you find your recent works have been “more real” than in previous years? I’m just curious if there has been any perceived “turning up the fire” in your reality.
I'd have to go into memory and comparative thinking to answer that, and whatever I said would be a story. But I do have a sense that I'm ever more willing to be myself, rather than trying to be someone else.
My wife and I visited the JFK museum a few years ago. We got all caught up in the narrative arc of his life, and then we came to short black hallway with Walter Cronkite waiting with the news of his death, and we both began to shake. I have a vivid memory of being in algebra 1 when the news came and just watching the way others reacted. I don’t remember how I felt, which was probably numb. I saw a you tube video of a folk hootenanny from before that day. It was calm and gentle and a far cry from performances a few years later, which I believe were expressions of buried trauma.
Saving Private Ryan is a film about the massive trauma of WW II. When I watched the opening scene of the older Ryan collapsing on the beach and begging his wife to tell him he’s a good man, I experienced a shock of recognition. That guy was my father along with thousands of guys just like him. Traumatic events change us so that we become more fearful and reactive, emotions we interpret as reasonable.
Collective trauma is problematic because it gets everyone. Traveling around rural America, you see communities devastated by economic conditions. Donald Trump’s base is composed of desperate people who’ve lost what little they had. I get angry with them but the difference between they and I as I’ve felt traumatized rather than liberated by his existence.
The stories that we need let go of are painfully embedded in our bodies, yet I see very little discussion of that in spiritual writing.
Yes, trauma is part of our conditioning. But I'd be careful about lumping all of Trump's supporters into one basket. Many of them are people who previously voted for Obama and/or Bernie. Some of them are brilliant thoughtful folks like Tulsi Gabbard, RFK, Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy, and many others. It seems to me that many people in this country, myself included, feel politically homeless. Many people, like those you mention, feel the political parties and the "elites" have failed them. The Democratic Party used to be the anti-war party, now it's the pro-war party. Not that long ago, Democrats considered Dick Cheney a war criminal, now Kamala embraces him. Many longtime progressives, like myself, feel that the woke left is missing the mark in how they're approaching race and gender issues, issues we care deeply about. So for many reasons, it appears that roughly half the country supports Trump. Sadly, many Democrats seem to think the solution is to self-righteously demonize Trump and his supporters and try to shame anyone who isn't voting for Kamala (and I'm not suggesting this is what you were doing). This does not appear to be a winning strategy.
I just read a fascinating article on Trump’s appeal in the NYTs. It said he was low on conscientiousness and very high on disinhibition, as opposed to other politicians who carefully curate their answers. I get really upset at times with Trump supporters but, living and teaching in Oklahoma meant a lot of my colleagues and students are Trump supporters. Some of them are dear friends and I avoid the topic. What I find deeply troubling about his well educated supporters is that many appear to have theocratic leanings.
Is if "spiritual" or "disinformation" to have compassion and love for the other?
The Democrats used to consider Dick Cheney a war criminal. Now Kamala embraces him. You might find this an interesting talk for getting a glimpse of why some intelligent people support Trump: https://youtu.be/UL34w5aMx4s. I don't agree with Tulsi on everything, and I have many concerns about Trump, but I agree with much of what Tulsi says, and I have different concerns about Kamala. I see problems on all sides. Who is spreading disinformation here?
You may not agree with the views of Tulsi Gabbard, RFK, Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy, and other obviously very bright people who support Trump, but to deny that they are intelligent and well-informed is pretty unintelligent and uninformed in my opinion. Many bright, good hearted, well educated, well informed people support Trump. And many people who support Kamala are actually not very well informed. I've met many of them. This is the kind of poorly informed, knee jerk, conditioned reaction that I see on both sides and to some degree in all of us, myself included, and which I'm hoping we humans can grow beyond.
There are VERY intelligent people who support Trump. There are even good hearted, profoundly deluded people who support him. It's not a matter of the reasons why people support him, which I suspect are many and various. It's the extraordinary degree of cruelty and suffering that ensues when demagogues rise to power - often on the backs of ordinarily bright and decent folk as well as chronic bullies and greedy scoundrels. This isn't a matter of ordinary political disagreement, it's the sort of mass hypnosis that history has witnessed many times before.
I respect your opinion, Rebecca, and you may be right. I see a lot of misinformation, hyperbole, and fear-mongering on both sides. And Trump seems to me to be the ultimate projection magnet for those who love him and those who despise him. I'm not a fan of his, but I didn't write this post to get into political discussions. 🙏
Ouch !!!
Beautiful, Joan. And the perfect quote to end with
A perfect offering as we move through these next several weeks which seem like the most critical time ever - of course there have been hundreds of such times over the course of our species. But we are alive in this form now. And while it’s true that the coming election may hold significant historical impact it is important to see the results as part of an eternal unfolding and witnessing. Thanks Joan for your continued wisdom.
As always , thank you Joan for all your sharings.
Something ínside myself say yes to all you have written, but my mind thinks that this is better than that. Thank you, Joan
I'm not suggesting we shouldn't have opinions, nor am I saying that all things are equally right or wrong. I'm just suggesting things are not as black and white as we often think they are, and I'm suggesting that perhaps we can listen openly to other perspectives and hold our own views more lightly. There is so much exaggeration and fear-mongering on all sides.
The vast openness holds it all ...loves it all ...unconditionally ...eternally 💕
Beautifully said, good reminders (which I seem to need from time to time) thank you 🙏🏻❤️
Timely and most helpful. Recommitting to awareness first and always. Doing what I can; letting go of the rest. Thanks for being there Joan. Love, Tom ❤️
Lately I have been wondering…
what would Joan write about The Election?
I woke up today and here it is.
Your reassuring reflections are more than
I had hoped for.
I am grateful for every sentence and quote.
Thank you very much!
🌱🙏🎋
To keep calm I watch sunlight sparkling on water, marvel at old trees wearing autumn leaves, and revel in dogs running free.
I listen to guided meditations by Sam Harris, Shizun Young, Richard Lang, Joseph Goldstein (and more) on the Waking Up app.
Chandress Seba singing songs on YouTube is soothing, too.
The present moment is all I have.
I want to enjoy and love the life I have been given.
I don’t want to waste the precious moments
speculating and worrying
about all the things
I don’t understand,
and can’t control.
To accept the wild world
as it arises and passes away
is the only way
I have found to live in peace.
I am very thankful for your writing
which buttresses my belief!
Thank you for this, Joan. Well said. I would add another Darryl Bailey quote: "What is there when there is no thinking?". Another question that's not meant to be answered, but absorbed deeply...
I read this one twice, the second time as if it were addressed to Germans during the moments that opened into the Third Reich. This isn't a moment opening into the Third Reich, we don't know what this moment opens into, but if living in this present moment excludes clear warnings from history - "the stove will burn your hand if you touch it" - and feeling and acting on them - then that practice becomes insane. To remind ourselves that this is all a dream, unfolding on its own, at the moment we must consider how to open to a dangerous political situation is to function without context. To pretend that 'fair and balanced' is the wisest and most compassionate stance - "good people on both sides" (says also Trump, when confronted with the violent insurrection) - narcotic. It's a true distraction from more pressing truths, a form of what Chogyam called "idiot compassion" I think. Trump says it to float his followers out of painful self-examination, to gain power. To say that there is no solid truth to be had is ultimately true, but radical skepticism can also be another escape hatch when we don't want to believe what our eyes see and our ears hear (or what actual experts say - again, look around). In one situation it's a glimpse of enlightenment, in another it's an enabling of violent chaos, mass sociopathy, mass psychosis. Encouraging followers to mistrust their own perceptions, declaring it all 'fake news', is an old trick of would be tyrants. We should stop "scaring ourselves and others"? Sure, when we're talking about neurotically generating and inhabiting worst case scenarios, that's psych 101 and the best cure is in the words of teachers like the ones you quote. But that isn't the same as counseling a mother to cultivate the larger view as her toddler approaches the stove with outstretched hand, or the bully barrels across the playground with a rock in his. Or a German reaching for internal comfort in Germany in 1933. Might not be as bad as all that, could be just the delusions of anxiety, dukkha-dukkhata wheels. But that's not the place to rest just now, I think.
I struggle with this, as I think everyone on this path does. It's painful, dark and scary, of course nothing is just black and white, and so much of what you say is wise and true. And of course we are in same-old history - why wouldn't we be? But maybe a better path would be to remember that right discrimination really is possible and at moments like this, crucial. And when there's fire, yell FIRE. "This is all a dream, but what you do matters." Chogyam, I think, on the Absolute and the Relative real.
Rebecca, I am not suggesting we should ignore history, or that all views are equally true, or that we shouldn't speak out or take action if we are so moved. In fact, I said as much in this post.
I do have big concerns about Trump, but I also have different big concerns about Kamala. And I see misinformation, fear-mongering, exaggeration and things being taken out of context on both sides. For example, the line you cite about Trump saying there were good people on both sides. I'm not sure if you meant Charlottesville or Jan 6, but in either case, that line has been taken out of context over and over by Democrats and used to enflame people. In regard to Charlottesville, Trump was, as I recall, referring to the ongoing disagreement over whether or not to take down statues, not to the neo-Nazis, and he condemned white supremacy at the same press conference. In regard to Jan 6, there clearly were many decent people there who had no intention of doing anything violent.
I am deeply disturbed by much of Trump's behavior and rhetoric, by his lies and exaggerations, by his refusal to accept the election results, and I see racism and sexism and fascist demagoguery in much of what he says and does. But I don't think he's Hitler. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'll be like those Jews in the early days of Hitler's rise to power who said he wasn't anything to worry about. But I really don't think the world will end if Trump gets elected. Yes, he'll do some things I don't like, as he did before, and he'll do some things I like.
And the same will be true if Kamala is elected. I see disturbing behavior on the left as well, including lies and exaggerations. As I said in response to someone above, the Democrats used to consider Dick Cheney a war criminal. Now Kamala embraces him. You might find this an interesting talk for getting a glimpse of why some intelligent people fear Kamala and support Trump: https://youtu.be/UL34w5aMx4s. I don't agree with Tulsi on everything, and I'm not a Trump supporter, but I think Tulsi Gabbard is an intelligent person who makes some very good points.
I find people on the left often more close-minded than people on the right. People watch MSNBC and read the NY Times and think they are getting God's revealed truth. They call out Fox and demonize folks like Tucker Carlson and RFK without ever actually listening to them. (And I'm not saying I agree with Tucker or RFK about everything, only that I was surprised when I actually listened to some of these people and found they were intelligent and had some good points).
In my view, our entire election system is un-democratic. I support eliminating the electoral college, having rank choice voting, and having the primary election on the same day in all states. As it is, my vote doesn't matter at all. I'm in Oregon. I'd like to see something other than the two-party system.
In any case, my article wasn't about taking sides or arguing politics. And it wasn't suggesting we shouldn't take a side and fight for what we think is right. It was simply suggesting that things are not as black and white as we often think they are, and that perhaps we can listen openly to other perspectives and hold our own views more lightly. It was inviting people to question what actually helps and what maybe only makes things worse. Are we feeding and acting from fear and ego, or are we coming from wholeness and love? The latter doesn't mean we do nothing to stop a Hitler or to call out demagoguery. But maybe we can look in the mirror and see our own flaws as well as those "out there" in the other side.
I wish you well...🙏
And I you. 🙏🏻
Your recent pieces have been a pleasure to read; they strike with the sense of true authenticity. Do you find your recent works have been “more real” than in previous years? I’m just curious if there has been any perceived “turning up the fire” in your reality.
I'd have to go into memory and comparative thinking to answer that, and whatever I said would be a story. But I do have a sense that I'm ever more willing to be myself, rather than trying to be someone else.
Really helpful post Joan, thx. The Mark Twain quote perhaps the most pithy!
dear joan,
thank you for this as always!
i love The Work of Byron Katie and i love this Rumi quote you shared:
"Borrow the Beloved’s eyes.
Look through them and you’ll see the Beloved’s face
everywhere. No tiredness, no jaded boredom…
Let that happen, and things
you have hated will become helpers."
thank you so much!
much love
myq
My wife and I visited the JFK museum a few years ago. We got all caught up in the narrative arc of his life, and then we came to short black hallway with Walter Cronkite waiting with the news of his death, and we both began to shake. I have a vivid memory of being in algebra 1 when the news came and just watching the way others reacted. I don’t remember how I felt, which was probably numb. I saw a you tube video of a folk hootenanny from before that day. It was calm and gentle and a far cry from performances a few years later, which I believe were expressions of buried trauma.
Saving Private Ryan is a film about the massive trauma of WW II. When I watched the opening scene of the older Ryan collapsing on the beach and begging his wife to tell him he’s a good man, I experienced a shock of recognition. That guy was my father along with thousands of guys just like him. Traumatic events change us so that we become more fearful and reactive, emotions we interpret as reasonable.
Collective trauma is problematic because it gets everyone. Traveling around rural America, you see communities devastated by economic conditions. Donald Trump’s base is composed of desperate people who’ve lost what little they had. I get angry with them but the difference between they and I as I’ve felt traumatized rather than liberated by his existence.
The stories that we need let go of are painfully embedded in our bodies, yet I see very little discussion of that in spiritual writing.
Yes, trauma is part of our conditioning. But I'd be careful about lumping all of Trump's supporters into one basket. Many of them are people who previously voted for Obama and/or Bernie. Some of them are brilliant thoughtful folks like Tulsi Gabbard, RFK, Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy, and many others. It seems to me that many people in this country, myself included, feel politically homeless. Many people, like those you mention, feel the political parties and the "elites" have failed them. The Democratic Party used to be the anti-war party, now it's the pro-war party. Not that long ago, Democrats considered Dick Cheney a war criminal, now Kamala embraces him. Many longtime progressives, like myself, feel that the woke left is missing the mark in how they're approaching race and gender issues, issues we care deeply about. So for many reasons, it appears that roughly half the country supports Trump. Sadly, many Democrats seem to think the solution is to self-righteously demonize Trump and his supporters and try to shame anyone who isn't voting for Kamala (and I'm not suggesting this is what you were doing). This does not appear to be a winning strategy.
I just read a fascinating article on Trump’s appeal in the NYTs. It said he was low on conscientiousness and very high on disinhibition, as opposed to other politicians who carefully curate their answers. I get really upset at times with Trump supporters but, living and teaching in Oklahoma meant a lot of my colleagues and students are Trump supporters. Some of them are dear friends and I avoid the topic. What I find deeply troubling about his well educated supporters is that many appear to have theocratic leanings.