The core abomination of the human condition is still the abyss between the "haves" and "have nots"

[wcepler]

The core abomination of the human condition is still the abyss between the "haves" and "have nots".

**********************************************************************
The have and have not distinction is the supremely repressed truth of human existence.

It's what Good and Evil is all about. It's instructive to remember that the only time Jesus Christ lost his cool was when whipped the money changers out of the "temple".

It's also instructive to remember that the compassionate teachings of Jesus Christ MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE addressed the have and have not obscenity. Yes, Jesus touched many spiritual bases, but he HAMMERED the vampire rich over and over again.

So why was he doing this? In what cultural/religious context did Jesus witness the pig rich (always 1% or less) grind vulnerable and suffering humanity under their heels?

Jesus' heart went out to the poor in spirit (and pocket), and can there be any real doubt that he was crucified not for tinker toy theological reasons (who gives as rat's ass about geezer theology?), but because he got too close to the greed power structure of that time and culture?

The Romans didn't want to be bothered. Jesus was crucified by RICH PEOPLE because he was genuinely threatening their B.S. rationalizations for vampire greed.

In life it’s always wise to follow the money. For example, which current Washington lobby is the money, money, money lobby? No question, it's the neocon cabal (to which Paul Wolfowitz has just returned -- why are we not surprised?) which tries to buy off everyone and generally succeeds. Indeed, it has basically bought and paid for our Defense and State Departments. This money, money, money lobby is the dog relative to the foreign policy of the United States of America has been reduced to a pitifully obedient tail.

Same thing for other countries. Which country or countries are historically associated with money, money, money? Follow the money indeed. It sure doesn't take you to Africa, does it? It also doesn't take you to the no longer silent majority of middle and lower class American citizens who are paying for the Bush Oil Wars with family-destroying taxes and our children’s lives. It’s finally obvious to barnyard animals that the United States of American is a textbook Dictatorship of the Rich.

Perhaps an alternative way to say this is which country or countries BENEFITED from 9/11? We all know the Repiglican Party benefited from 9/11, but what nation benefited from 9/11? Samo for who would benefit from invading Iran, most probably. And for that matter, who benefited from the probable assassination of honorable Senator Paul Wellstone and sending anthrax only to high profile Democrats?

Said still another way, the have and have not conflict is the ESSENCE conflict between Good and Evil.

This is all so simple. The Greek God like "haves", as Jesus saw so clearly, are incarnate evil! And so is any community or country whose God is money, since not all cultures obsess about money and try to integrate it into their infinitely hypocritical national religions.

Relative to this Heart of Darkness, nearly everything that passes for religion or politics is a smoke screen dreamed up by Greek God like elites to hide from view this planetary country club of multi millionaires and multi billionaires who are the literal God's of planet Earth.

Yes, there's also the sitcom of our ONE party system (i.e., the Democratic/Republican Party), and the religious fanaticism drivel that ALL Middle Eastern religions use to justify murder in the name of God.

Symptoms, side shows, static, smoke & mirrors . . .

Behind it all is the abomination: the have and have not abyss.

What to do, what to do? Are the elites simply hard wired into the human condition, like “death and taxes”? No, just because our ancestors resigned themselves to literal slavery since the beginning of recorded history, doesn’t mean we have to spend the rest of our lives bending over.

At least these last seven years have shown us with absolute certainty that neither politics nor religion will EVER help us, since they are part of the problem, not the solution.

More than anything else we have to soul challenge the psychotically evil rationalization that the have and have not abyss is in some way “acceptable”, since without such world wide acceptance, this Heart of Darkness evil would simply fall of its own weight.

Also, as long as we continue to buy into crap like “Divine Right” or “Manifest Destiny” (or neocon lies about 9/11 and preemptive Oil Wars!), we too are more part of the problem than the solution.

And the solution?

Hard ball. What else?

Or in the words of the eloquent and passionate environmentalist, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, “See you on the barricades” (7/10/07)
**********************************************************************

W. Christopher Epler (Bill), <http://theliberationofrealism.blogspot.com/>

[aquart]

1. Jesus was in the home of a supporter

When he was anointed with 300 silver pieces worth of fragrant oil. When his followers suggested that a better use of the oil might have been to sell the oil and distribute the proceeds to the poor, he said,

"Matthew 26:11 (New International Version)

11.The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me."


Now St. Mark possibly noticed how callous this sounded, because his version is:

"Mark 14:7 (New International Version)

7.The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me."

In both cases, the poor are some amorphous eternal lump whose needs can be dealt with at any old time, while Jesus wanted his NOW. Because he was leaving town for good. And that was more important. (Doubtless none of the poor were on the verge of dying.)

In the SAME PASSAGE, both versions, the immediate result is that Judas hightails it to the Romans and sells Jesus for one tenth the value of the oil. Deliberate insult? Who knows?

I've heard Christians defend this up hill and down dale, but the one I admire in this passage is still Judas.

[undergroundpanther]

2. How the haves came to have it all

All authority is an empty sound... Here is a parable

The box is full of salmon, and a man sits atop the box. Long ago this man hired armed guards to keep anyone from eating his fish. The many people who sit next to the empty river starve to death. But they do not die of starvation. They die of a belief. Everyone believes that the man atop the box owns the fish. The soldiers believe it, and they will kill to protect the illusion. The others believe it enough that they are willing to starve. But the truth is that there is a box, there is an emptied river, there is a man sitting atop the box, there are guns, and there are starving people.
http://ranprieur.com/readings/jensenbox.html




March 6. Ian writes that the "A thinking mind cannot feel" piece is "kookoo," and argues that what's wrong with humans is not thinking but greed. I think it's a semantic point. What we call "greed" is a style of thinking that seeks power-over instead of power-with, and headlong economic "growth" instead of a stable balanced system.
Basically, we plunge ahead into greed and "progress" and "growth" because we're running from unpleasant feelings about unresolved past traumas.
http://ranprieur.com/archives/006.html


We suffer from a misguided belief that love implies pacifism. I’m not sure mother grizzly bears would agree, nor many other mothers I’ve known. I’ve been attacked by mother horses, cows, mice, chickens, geese, eagles, hawks, and hummingbirds who thought I was threatening their children. I have known many human mothers who would kill anyone who was going to harm their little ones. If a mother mouse is willing to put her life on the line by attacking someone eight thousand times her size, what does that say about our own hearts? (The mother mouse won, by the way.)

http://permanentlyindignant.com/tag/collapse/

If we won’t fight back when our loved ones are dying and our own bodies are being poisoned, when will we take a stand? We each need to find our own threshold: the point at which we break free of our fear and act on behalf of those we love…

[wcepler]

3. thanks for the parable

I love your first parable. Thank you. Acceptance is all. The Greek God elites live the lives they live because the human race thinks they deserve such lives. It's like a force field around nuclear fusion. The force field is the world's acceptance of people who spend more money during an hour of shopping for clothes that all the rest of us spend on our children's health in a lifetime. Also, alas, this has little to do with politics, since for every Murdoch and Paris Hilton there is Gore or Kennedy Greek God.

[Indenturedebtor]

4. Sometimes I think

that the only true hope for our species is contact by aliens :P

Until then it will always be "us against them", and every person has a lot of "us's" and even more "thems". But then we'd probably attack the aliens for questioning our many gods, or for using freaky sexual positions (hard to use the missionary position when you have no legs you know) and be summarily vaporized.

I dunno, guess I'd just like to be around to see it :nuts:

[wcepler]

5. I agree

How interesting! That thought has actually crossed my mind too. I think you're absolutely right; the us vs them chemistry would be instantaneously redefined. Since I DO believe our galaxy (for openers) is crawling with advanced life forms, this scenario is conceivable to me. Anyway, fun to think about!

In the meantime, I think all the signs are that the Bush/Republicans are imploding. It's that old, old story of give a fool (especially a GREEDY fool) enough rope and he/she will hang his/her self. Since the diaper dems have turned out to be more part of the problem than the solution, this rope/fool business in our only hope.

Bill

[Igel]

6. When I was a "have not"--

such a dehumanizing way of putting it, but I'll use your nomenclature--I had enough to eat, even if ground beef was a bit of a treat. If I misbudgeted, by the end of the month I'd be working off my earthquake survival beans or rice. I had a place to stay, even if my "place" was only big enough for my desk, my bed, 2 bookcases, a 10-year-old TV and me (either on the bed or squeezed between the bed and a wall to watch TV). And I had a bike that I could use for shopping, commuting to work or school (under 5 miles each way, rain or shine), but no car--I couldn't afford the gasoline, much less the insurance or actual car payments.

But you know what? I wasn't envious of the people in their beemers, their $1000 suits, or their trips to that bastion of the useless rich, Sun Valley. I simply wasn't greedy for what others had. I could bike through Holmby Hills (the truly ritzy part of Beverly Hills) with no problem and no jealousy. I'd go by crowded restaurants where the hors d'oeuvres cost $20 and think nothing of it.

And to this day I don't see why people that can get by so worship money that they need more of it, beyond simply living. They have to have nifty vacations, new tvs or a car less than 5 years old; they have to have expensive clothes or toys. Foolishness; if you can afford them, fine, but if you can't, don't worship stuff. As a 'have not' I could bike to the park or to the beach, I could get books from the library or take long walks.

Now, if I needed expensive medicine or equipment and couldn't afford it, I could see a complaint. But then that would be 'simply living'.