Commander in Chief

This week Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton traded blows in the televised debate aimed at winning over undecided voters as they seek to become America’s next Commander in Chief. How has it come to this – that America, the champion of world democracy, should be reduced to a belligerent slagging match between caricature candidates fronting like puppets for their corporate masters. If the world’s situation was not so perilous it might even be funny. But within a few short months the American people will choose one of these two to serve them and invest them with the power to start a nuclear holocaust. How democratic is America and why would any nation want to emulate their interpretation of democracy? According to Noam Chomsky, a Harvard academic and political commentator, America systematically undermines any country where there is a danger of true democracy breaking out. He believes that the CIA has been fuelling dissent around the globe for decades and backing those who can be bought to do their bidding. If subversion fails they can send in the marines as a last resort. In Western culture we are encouraged to pursue a lifestyle that undermines our health. The explosion of chronic diseases that are overwhelming our health services results in cries for additional funding to support our ‘front line heroes’ in the fight against cancer, diabetes, heart disease etc. Even when the funds can be found they only serve to maintain the status quo rather than solving the problems at their source. Anyone suggesting that we could protect our health by changing our ways should not run for public office; it’s not a vote winning strategy. If however the idea caught on to the extent that it looked like a genuine democratic initiative then doubtless the CIA would foment some discord to ensure that American business interests would benefit. Each of us is our own Commander in Chief in control of our health. We have the power to start a holocaust in our wellbeing with every mouthful we eat and every misguided thought we think. We can abdicate our responsibilities to others to decide what we eat, what quick-fix medicine we take, what TV station to tell us what to think or what political puppet to vote for. Alternatively, we could embark on a democratic experiment in health where we enquire, through a meditative practice, how each part of our body is feeling, what’s going on for us right now, what we can do to optimally support each cell of our being. We could investigate claims made by pharmaceutical product suppliers, we could buy organic produce and grass-fed beef, we could ‘go green’ and live sustainably. We could even grow our own food free of pesticides and fertilisers and even start our own ‘Farmacies’. We could talk to our neighbours and build community. We could live in harmony with our fellow man and care for our natural environment. We might even canvass the views of our neighbours as to how to optimise the health of our society. But enough already; it smells like meaningful democracy. We don’t want to invite the marines to kick in our front door.

New Deal

Like many others I have a growing unease about where our world is heading. Our news is constantly filled with tales of war and corruption and our corporations have seemingly a free hand when it comes to poisoning us for profit. We need a new deal but what can we do? To me, Ghandi had it right when he told us to – ‘be the change you want to see in the world’. This is not a call to ignorance or to bury our heads in the sand pretending atrocities are not happening. Rather he’s telling us to do what we can to show there is a better way. If everyone saw and believed it, there would be no more famine or war for a start. It’s arguable that abandoning monoculture would reduce pestilence and even plague would become rare if people had ready access to wholesome food and clean water. What does your new deal look like? What needs changing in your life? How are you going to be the change – living it out in real time as an example to others? Don’t wait for the inertia of the status quo to slow. It’s not going to happen any time soon; there’s too much money invested in doing the wrong thing. Instead be part of the solution.

Gain

In my Rocker days, in my dreams, gain was about cranking up an amplifier until my guitar would squeal like Dave Gilmore’s or Carlos Santana’s. As an RF engineer gain was to be optimised within a particular band and otherwise suppressed. In my marketing days gain took on the demands of increasing market share. In mid-life gain is usually about weight. Thinking most commonly about money however, I was struck last year by the simplicity of the statement, made by film director Tom Shadyac, that the pursuit of wealth beyond one’s needs is a mental illness. The Biblical account has always been with us …….’What does it profit a man that he gains the whole world but suffers the loss of his soul?’ Today I like to think that I’ve attained a level of maturity that allows me to relate gain to wisdom. Five years after a major challenge, through the gift of 20/20 hindsight, we may gain a change of perception that reveals how we grew and so gained from the experience. Sadly it doesn’t always happen. Bob Dylan recognised this in his Hard Rain lyric ‘I met one man wounded in love, another man wounded with hatred’. What would Dylan have to say about the atrocities perpetrated in the Gaza strip where the Israelis ‘gain’ the upper hand through the systematic destruction of Palestinian infrastructure and proliferation of illegal settlements? What human being could fail to be wounded with hatred? What people could accept such a wound to the collective psyche such that future generations didn’t continue to bear the scars? Here in Northern Ireland I have gained enormously this past year through involvement with a Community Garden project. My first task was to clear away ten years of overgrowth from a former poly-tunnel which nature had reclaimed. Shrub roots had grown beyond the artificial boundaries of their plastic tubs and impervious layers of stone and plastic membranes below, to drive deep into the earth. In a few short years the artificial divisions imposed on nature had healed over. This observation brings hope that even the most deeply entrenched political and sectarian differences can similarly be healed by the relentless march of healing growth. My father used to ask me “How important do you think it will be in 50 years?” He was referring to the healing of the human psyche and the wisdom gains of advancing years. He was also aware that, when the wounding is sufficiently grievous, the normal three score years and ten of a human life may be insufficient for true healing but that change is continuous and inevitable. Let us seek to gain the lasting and priceless treasures of love as demonstrated on the smiling faces of children at play – and perhaps through the passionate wailing of Carlos Santana’s guitar!