Ghosting God, Ghosting Self
Day 89
There is an article in The Atlantic that is entitled: The End of Reading is Here. It is chronicling the demise of reading hardbound or paperback books and how this affects the ability of we the people to think critically, to soak in and up the wisdom of previous generations throughout the millennia, and to be able to fend off the onslaught of lies, subterfuge, and scams that are coming at us all the time on the Internet, through our phones, tablets, computers. It is a chilling article which I believe everyone should read.
I am thinking about outrage, still. It is a theme that has sparked a serious introspection within me and, the article above promotes my own inner outrage. This may be why I love the prophets so much, they channeled their outrage into words and actions that served God, served the community. Even though the people did not listen, even though they may have not used the best venues, the nicest wording, the prophets were dedicated to addressing the venal, mendacious, callous, cruelties of their time and this lineage has been passed down to all of We the People and it is apparent that most of us are not using our inheritance well. It is apparent that we the people have lost our ability to deal with the cognitive dissonance that arises as a result of understanding that “this” can be true and the exact opposite of “this” can also be true. The Talmud is a perfect example of cognitive dissonance to me, it has arguments covering the entire continuum of what a commandment means. The argument over what is meant by “an eye for an eye” is one that runs the gamut from everyone being blind to setting up the actuarial tables that are used today to determine the monetary value of an injury.
The prophets have shown me and We the People how to be obstructionists to the status quo, how to stand up to mendacity, how to shout truth from the rooftops, and how to serve our higher selves, our inner wisdom. Yet, too many of us continue to serve the money, to serve ‘the man’, to serve the cruelty that also lies within us. It is inconceivable to me that, after all we know, after all we have witnessed, we the people will continue to serve “the man” whom we know to be disloyal to everyone, whom we know to be a liar and a thief, whom we know his cruelty knows no boundaries. Yet, too many of we the people are still kissing his ass, kissing the asses of Johnson, Jordan, both Stephen and Max Miller, Lutnick, Vought, Vance, Rubio et al, as well as the asses of Bernie, AOC, Mandami, and the other “socialist democrats”, whom we know are anti-semitic, anti-everything that they don’t like. What both of these groups have in common is their inability to hold two truths in their minds, in their souls at the same time.
The example of our moment is, in my estimation, the horrific actions of Hamas on Oct. 7th, 2023, before then and since then towards Israel, towards the border Kibbutz’ that strove to make a way of co-existence with the people of Gaza, and towards the people of Gaza themselves, as well as the horrific, in my opinion, over the top response of the Netanyahu government. Both of these things are true, yet one group only sees Israel as the victim and the other group only sees Gaza as the victim. Because most of us are no longer reading, no longer improving our cognitive skills and allowing AI to do the work, it is harder and harder for most of We the People to hold these two truths in our being, hence the rhetoric and the evil cruelty we see happening here, abroad, in the UN, in the world towards Israel and Jews, towards Muslims and Arabs, which has been going on for the most of the past 3500+ years.
What is needed is for We the People to become Outraged at what is being done in our names. What is needed is for We the People to read the prophets more and allow their wisdom to infuse our minds, to use our inheritance from them to fuel our actions, and to STAND THE FUCK UP to the liars, the bullies, the cruel ones who purport to be doing their horrific actions in the name of Christ, Adonai, Allah while they are doing them for themselves ONLY!
I have fought this urge for cruelty within myself forever, sometimes winning and sometimes losing. I realize my thievery was cruel, my ignoring the needs of another to satisfy my own was cruel, and my going to prison twice abandoning my daughter, was the cruelest of all. I heard the Voice in that jail cell in Dec. of 1986 and have been working to make amends for the earlier cruelties and minimize doing more. I have been seeing the cruelty of my volcanic outbursts at what I perceive as injustice, immorality, etc and know the lava that flowed harmed some people and I am very sorry for this.
ACTION STEP
How are you holding two opposing truths in your being at the same time
God Bless, Stop Ghosting God, Ghosting Self, Rabbi Mark