According to Pema Chödrön, we might think that knowing ourselves is a very ego-centered thing, but by beginning to look clearly and honestly at ourselves, we begin to dissolve the walls that separate us from others. The journey of awakening happens just at the place where we can't get comfortable. Opening to discomfort is the basis of transmuting our so-called "negative" feelings. We somehow want to get rid of our uncomfortable feelings either by justifying them or by squelching them, but it turns out that this is like throwing the baby out with the bath water. According to the teachings of vajrayana, or tantric, Buddhism, our wisdom and our confusion are so interwoven that it doesn't work to just throw things out. By trying to get rid of "negativity," by trying to eradicate it, by putting it into a column labelled "bad," we are throwing away our wisdom as well, because everything in us is creative energy—particularly our strong emotions. They...
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I have an idea myself, but might be crucified as being unpatriotic... anyway, I'll say it. Like you said on my blog earlier, "To thine own self be true."
I think patriotism can be good or bad, depending on whether or not it creates division.
I am thankful - so VERY thankful for the freedoms I have - but sometimes feel imprisoned by the label "American", mostly because it seems to associate me with other Americans who don't exactly represent America in a way I'd like to see it represented - that is, as open-minded individuals without any discrimination against religion, color, gender, etc., not just for our country, but the entire world.
Do you know why it is violent? Because you are separating yourself from the rest of mankind. When you separate yourself by belief, by nationality, by tradition, it breeds violence. So a man who is seeking to understand violence does not belong to any country, to any religion, to any political party or system; he is concerned with the total understanding of mankind. Krishnamurti
"I am not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world." ~Socrates
Does that makes sense?
I do believe that the creation of this democratic experiment that we call the United States is a marvelous notation upon the ongoing evolution of the progression of mankind.
How treasonous, how blasphemous, how arrogant, to believe that a government could be by the people and for the people. That we could be audacious enough to believe that one could form their own view of God; that we could support the separation of church and state. The quest for external power, whether it be Pope, King or Potentate continues under the guise of "the love of money is the root of all evil" big business.
But we press on.