Where do we go from here

Let's remember the majority of Americans still supported the war in Vietnam all the way to the bitter end - a friend reminded me of.

First of all, thank you to those of you who chip in the five bucks every month. Times have been tough for all of us, and it goes a long way to help me eat and still make shit. And please forgive my delay. I just haven’t been able to engage here. For obvious reasons. But today I finally was able to and thank you for your patience.

Like many of you, I’ve been trying to resist the funky daze and knee deep paralysis that has been left in the wake of this sudden and prolonged onslaught on everything.

It hasn’t been denial that has urged me to turn my awareness inward. It comes more from an engaged sense of spiritual purpose to not participate in the insanity. To remain unmoved and detached as an act of defiance. To simply choose to not engage. As a patriotic act of humanity.

Anyone who has ever had even a tinge of co-dependence, or enabled or been exposed to insane behavior knows that it takes two to tango. And I have dug deep to define and protect my circle of influence amid the tumult and absurdity of Trump/Elon 2.0.

I do this to preserve and survive. To outlast the motherfuckers as my friend Clem would say.

I think the number one thing one must do during a prolonged siege is to simply endure. Survival is the ultimate act of defiance. To resist getting sucked into the blackhole laced, sphere of influence that these power magnets demand is a righteous and powerful act of singularity with profound consequence.

But if we are not going to get sucked into the maelstrom of chaos, what do we do instead?

Me? I’ve gone to the dog park. Yeah. That place. I’ve found community to be a refuge from the blitz. I actively choose to spend quality time with people I care about to maintain a sense of footing as everything erodes. It’s a ritual. It keeps me regular, no matter what color the sky is at sundown.

I also check in on friends who are battling health stuff, or lost everything in the fire. And I even do the other little shit. I see where I can be of some use. I look for ways to send a little bit of love and reassurance. Then, magically, I feel it. And i can carry on for one more day and do something productive. Lately, I’ve been finding the best way to do that is to simply make people laugh. And I do this during the worst prolonged economic dip in all of my 47 years! And I feel joy and peace despite the fuckery. (Most of the time).

Uncertain ground can be very fruitful for spiritual development. The wise among us have said that shit for a very long time. What I am trying to put words around today isn’t original. But maybe because it isn’t, you can trust it. Because it is sea worthy, and battle tested. We know it works. Because it has worked in the past.

So what am I getting at here? It is my humble opinion, that this is a time to develop our resilience. It’s a great opportunity tp grow. Also— We must gird our un-skake-ability before we even consider meaningful, sustained resistance. The movements of the past knew that. Let us not forget how long it all takes. How long. History has a way of making it seem like great efforts for social change were linear and short in duration. They were neither. Ever. Ever. Ever.

Plus, they never really end, they just keep beginning.

I got a news flash. This time of historical un-precedence is no different. It’s the end of an empire and this is what it has always looked like.

And I know the army of disrupters hate to hear that shit. They so desperately want to be unique snow flakes - these narcissists disguised as “game changers.” But they are common and completely unoriginal. All their efforts to the contrary are, in the end, quite predictable. The only difference is that they have been given the keys to the kingdom, because people who yearn for power lack moral courage by design.

But before we grieve this deranged set of anomalies dressed up as circumstances, let us remember that maybe there is good that will come out of this terror. And it is a good that would never have emerged any other way.

Maybe America will bottom out. Maybe a new, modern democracy in tune with the world and people it serves, that learns from its mistakes will emerge from the ashes of this twisted dream. Maybe we will be more humble as a people.

Yes, sure China will capitalize from our loss of values on parade, but at least we can stop pretending to be something we are not. Perhaps we can finally be honest with ourselves. That this is what we are. And at last, reckon with that hard truth.

That is my message of non-violent denial. Let it fall. Like a tree in the woods. Just make sure you’re not standing under it.

We can only die on one hill in this life, and I find it important to die on the right one.

Hey I get it.

Absolutely, there will be consequences from all of this. There already is. But even beyond the worsening climate crisis, what concerns me most are the deeper, internal ones that further twist and damage the fragile, American psyche.

Namely - the message tattooed to every action, and executive order- That nothing matters. This digitized, metastasized, existential battle cry could spread like a virus. And motivate more chaos. Since nothing matters, that there is no rule of law, fuck it.

That is the danger that I fear.

Social decorum has been engulfed in the fires of our violent identity crisis as a people. And it may be gone. We could not grapple with our darker side, our id, our shadow, and integrate it - and instead gave up to the false projections and idols of our past and regressed.

But of course we did. Jung would laugh. And so would Buddha. Probably Jesus too. Because he was fucking zealot.

A word or two more before I sign off for the day, if you will so indulge me.

Diamonds. Yes, I said, Diamonds.

Lets remember that diamonds sprout into being from prolonged exposure to two conditions. Time and pressure. The more time, the more pressure, the brighter the diamond.

I think this squeeze will generate an unwanted renaissance in art, freedom, peace, and happiness. It can. It really can. Call me naive. But I call it chemistry. Because, after all, a chemical reaction has occurred. Things have been burned and they will not be the same ever again. They cannot get un-burned, But that doesn’t mean, diamonds won’t eventually be the byproduct from this firestorm. It’s that image, the diamond in my mind, that will help me endure the next decade or so. It will keep me buoyant for the long haul.

As Solomon Burke says in the Tom Waits song, ‘always keep a diamond in your mind.’

The face of these times he gives.