Practical spirituality for a complicated world.
***image1***The absolutely fabulous comedienne Lily Tomlin is a native of Detroit, or so I've been told. An interviewer once asked her, "When did you leave Detroit?" Lily deftly replied, "As soon as I realized where I was." When I was in college, I began thinking about where I wanted to live. Some of the places I considered back then, still hold an allure for me. I seriously considered moving to Vermont. I also thought it might be nice to live in Michigan or Minnesota. I even applied for a teaching job in a small town on the coast of Oregon, and got the job! Unfortunately, the offer came after I was hired to teach in Gulfport. I already had an apartment on the beach there, so I stayed. I recently saw a photograph of my old neighborhood in Gulfport…nothing left but cement slabs and rubble. In 1999, I was a presenter at a conference on addiction, in Portland, Oregon. It was my first trip to the Northwest, and I finally got to visit the small coastal community where I'd been offered a job way back in 1973. To my surprise, it seemed very much like the small coastal community in South Mississippi I'd tried so hard to escape all those years ago. It was beautiful country, but not necessarily socially progressive like I'd imagined it to be. I still haven't visited Michigan, or Minnesota, or Vermont. Perhaps, I won't. Maybe I need to keep those places safely ensconced in my fantasy of possible Edens to which I may escape one day. Except, I'm not young, and thin, and cute any longer. I'm middle-aged and slightly chunky (although in a very attractive way). It's not as easy to pack up and move as it once was. In addition, I think I've learned just a bit in the last 30 odd years (some of them quite odd, indeed). The old saying we've all heard so many times is true: Wherever you go, there you are.
Some people, who know that I'm originally from South Mississippi, with strong New Orleans connections, and that James is a native of Baton Rouge, have asked me why people live in such vulnerable places. "Don't they know that it's just a matter of time before a levee gives way, or a storm surge rushes inland?" they ask. I explain that, yes, they've heard all the warnings and predictions. They've seen the TV shows about what would happen to New Orleans if a strong hurricane hit just so. Yes, they're aware that hundreds of thousands of acres of coastal marsh have been lost because of oil drilling and lack of replenishment from the Mississippi River's annual flooding. The river is now confined within the levees, and the river delta is disappearing before our eyes. There are huge dead zones in the Gulf, areas where nothing lives. The people who live there know all this. Their politicians know all this, as well. They managed to live in a collective state of denial. Honestly, they just never really considered that it could happen to them. Those were things that happened in Bangladesh or Thailand, not Louisiana, Mississippi or Florida. So, people went on with their lives. They barbecued on the weekends, they got married, got divorced, raised families, went to work, went to school, went to church, watched TV, and went on with their lives. They ignored the words of the prophets for as long as they could. Then, one day, the prophecies were fulfilled. And everyone was surprised.
Why didn't the government do something? Why didn't Bush, or Clinton, or Reagan do something? These are not the questions of competent adults. These are the questions of brainwashed sheep. They don't see themselves as powerful individuals, capable of independent action. They've been trained to follow orders, and to expect the federal government to be mommy and daddy, and take care of them. They're bought off with welfare, pensions, and special privileges for their own groups, alcohol, drugs, sex and television. And guess what? Many others in the country are right there alongside them. Most people are trained to stand in line, go over here, fill out that form, pay this tax, pay that tax, support the troops, wave the flag, and be thankful for the little bit of trickle down they get. What is there spiritual about living the life of a slave? Perhaps the saddest thing of all is a slave who doesn't know he's a slave.
Traditionally, prophets have been feared and detested. Who in their right mind would want to be a prophet or messiah? Their life expectancy is short, and they can't get professional errors and omissions insurance. They don't even have a pension plan. Yet, there are all sorts of prophets around us, telling us of what's coming. Many people, even in the spiritual communities, don't want to hear it. They'd rather meditate on pink bubbles of light, organize the Department of Hugs, hold hands, light candles, and sing "Kumbaya." They're willing to do anything except discuss what the real problems are. Dear friends, it is called denial. But, I don't want to be too hard on us. After all, if we started to talk about what the problems really are, we'd have to admit that many of the beliefs we've based our social engineering on, are quite flawed, indeed. We'd have to do what alcoholics do when they begin recovery, namely admit that our problems are spiritual, and require spiritual solutions. It doesn't seem as if most people in our country are willing to do this. They seem happy to discuss issues in terms of religion or politics, but not in spiritual terms.
On a deep level, we are all connected. Some call it the collective unconscious. On the soul level, there is no denial. There is only Truth and Love. On this level, we all realize what's going on in the material world. The challenge is to bring that deep inner knowing into our outer lives, our conscious awareness. Many people find this to be overwhelming. They'd rather have someone else, i.e. an expert, take care of things for them. They'll gladly pay tithes, or taxes, if they're relieved of the burden of having to question official religious or political dogma. I wish it weren't this way, but it is.
What if I told you that there was a Category 5 storm bearing down on us right this minute? What if I told you that the levees we have in place, won't protect us? What if I told you that the authorities you trust for protection cannot save you? Can you understand now how people weren't prepared for Hurricane Katrina? No one ever really thinks that the levees will actually give way, or that 40 foot storm surges will push inland. Those things only happen to pagan foreigners, right?
Incidentally, there truly is a Category 5 on the way. The breeze is picking up, and the water has a slight chop. This is only the very edge of it. But, it's on its way, and it's a big one.
OM
To ask Robert a question, visit his Web site at www.RobertOdom.com, email desertrj@msn.com or send mail to PO Box 33, Santa Fe, NM 87504.
