This Nation is Going Downhill Fast!
“Whistleblowers also have an inconvenient caveat: They should be hailed as superstars, yet they have a tough time after revealing their former company’s swindle……. The Wirecard scandal shows us that, even in 2020, fraud not only exists but thrives at the highest level………..Talk to company employees to bypass corporate-speak and find out what’s really happening. They have nothing to lose compared to the management team and they may even spill the beans.”
— Concoda, Medium
This author does not write about these things. By profession, I am an engineer and a mathematician. I have written and taught courses on these subjects at local universities. Observing what has been happening in this country precipitated in penning this article with an overwhelming sadness.
Sorrow and Sadness
If at all one is aware even partially, amidst this pandemic, the toll it is taking all over the globe, one is weighed down by an overwhelming sorrow and sadness. The killing of George Floyd and others like him leaves one totally appalled. Was this necessary? Of course not. But why? Is killing in our blood? Can one bring oneself to kill another with such ease? Or, is it that we glorify killing? Do we really enjoy killing? The immediate answer may be no. Is that really so?
A couple of years ago, a gentleman from the Midwest went all the way to Africa and killed a famous lion, and took a picture of himself with the dead animal and posted it online. He had to spend, obviously, a pretty penny too to accomplish his ambition and pervasive desire with his own justifications. He derived pleasure out of it, otherwise he would not have embarked in that expedition. There was a brief umbrage among animal lovers, but then again, in passing.
In all things, the guiding principle, if one may call it a principle, is pleasure.
Pleasure is one thing, joy is another. They do not seem to have any relationship with each other. One is tiring, the other is not.
Why do we hate? Is it because it brings psychological pleasure? Otherwise, why is this attraction to hate? If one observes, hatred is always followed by a sense of vacuity, a vacuity that needs to be filled again and again. Hence, it perpetuates itself. Hate gives us pleasure. It may feel crude to put it that way, but that is a fact. This pleasure may take various forms in its various manifestations. Hate also brings a sense of belonging, a belonging with those groups with a similar persuasion who are welcoming. The other day I was reading an article in the New York Times about a lady from Eugene, Oregon, who was a “White Supremacist.” It appears that this lady did not have much education, and became an embalmer. Not that “educated” people do not subscribe to white supremacy. This author knows several white folks who do believe in that kind of stuff, but clever enough to camouflage their feelings so that it is not obvious. In her spare time, which seems to be ample, she started “trolling” websites, and came across what may be called websites devoted to white supremacy. This lady started posting a few items, and received several supportive and welcoming messages. Presto, she belonged — a form of pleasure. It is the very nature of pleasure that it gets trite and mundane after a while. So, one jumps from one form of pleasure to another form, it is still pleasure. After some time, this lady got bored and abandoned the pursuit of white supremacy, took up body-building and decided to become a Muslim in Seattle. Now she belonged. Belonging brings pleasure, gratification.
What was Mr. Floyd’s crime? It is alleged that he was trying to pass on a fake $20 bill. It looks fairly simple Mr. Floyd could not have had the wherewithal to procure or own the necessary machinery to print money or was intent on cheating anyone. Do you kill someone for $20?
Mr. Madoff of Wall Street fame swindled billions of dollars. No one to this author’s knowledge put a knee on his neck for even a second. Mr. Kenneth Lay and Mr. Jeffrey Skilling of Enron fame perpetrated a massive securities fraud. Enron’s shareholders lost something close to $74 billion dollars, not twenty dollars. Once again, this author does not recall anyone from any law-enforcement agency putting their knee on these illustrious peoples’ neck for a nano second. They were all presumed innocent until proven guilty, which they were.
Yes, there is “White Privilege.” Yes, there is also the privilege that money brings.
But, why is this deep craving to accumulate massive doses of money at all cost? Yes, one does need money, a bank account, a place to live, and food to eat. But what is this deep, everlasting urge to possess such vast sums of money? Is it because it fills a deep inner void, hoping to fill that void by shoveling loads of money into that void? Is that emptiness so painful to the point one is willing to go any distance no matter how that money is obtained? What is the origin of that emptiness? Is it born out of comparison — comparing oneself with others and competing with them? Can one stay with that emptiness without trying to move away an inch from it? Any movement away is an escape, and all escapes bring fear and that movement progressively turns into running away from that emptiness. There is no filling that void. We can try to suppress that void with the fond hope it will go away. Go away it does, deep into the unconscious and starts its mischief — mischief that escapes into alcohol, sex, incest, seeking power, climbing the ladder at work and so on. If you ever had a neurotic boss who is constantly climbing, you know the drill. This author has experienced several in his career.
This author, being a “colored” person, has faced prejudice all his life. During his education and on the job. He had been repeatedly passed over for promotion even though he was abundantly qualified.
Seeing all this, can we change society? Society is you and me. I can change if I really want to. But trying to change another is a waste of time and energy and in itself is an escape from one’s own emptiness. There can be marches, “Black Lives Matter”, Wall Street sit-ins and other lofty proclamations from wealthy companies that profess in their advertisements how they are for justice and so on while continuing to do what they have always been doing, a mere modified continuity of the present, another form of turning tomorrow into yesterday. Hence, it would be a mistake to assume that this moment heralds a future of unprecedented harmony.
Violence
Comparing is violence. Competition is violence. Ambition is violence.
When we compare our child with some other kids, we have already killed — committed an enormous violence against a child. Our schools do the same, only we call it “education.” We succeed in killing the child’s curiosity and creativity. We want our children to conform. At the mere sight of nonconformity, we feed the children drugs such as Ritalin and Adderall to bring them to conform.
From the earliest age, the programming of the children begins which is nothing but an initiation into violence. Grading children is a form of violence. “Sports” is not for fun, but has become another venue to manifest violence. Haven’t we all seen parents yelling, shouting and throwing punches during children’s sports? Coaches have been punched. Then again, we have valedictorians. Learning is not fun anymore, but has become a theater to be violent if not explicitly, but subliminally. Some children quit learning. Some turn to other forms of violence such as bullying, dealing in drugs, and so on. We proclaim how damaging and awful is bullying, leading some children to even commit suicide, while conveniently forgetting that we the parents and teachers are the real bullies who taught them violence through comparison and competition. We are all programmed from childhood to be violent.
Feeling superior is a form of pleasure. Feeling inferior is also a form of pleasure. Why does one feel superior or inferior? How are those feelings born? Out of comparison. One compares oneself with others in whatever capacity, the residue and the mark it leaves is either superiority or inferiority. This author is not a psychologist, but writes from his own experience, watching and observing himself.
“You observe a lot by watching.”
— Yogi Berra
Seeking power in any form is violence. Clinging to power is violence. Power may come of its own accord, but to set out seeking it causes the mischief. One need not look far to understand the ramifications of seeking and clinging to power. General Colin Powell is a good example. General Powell was the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest position in the Department of Defense (DoD) hierarchy. It is beyond any doubt that the DoD has military intelligence on just about any country on this planet, including especially Iraq. The DoD under his leadership should have known whether Iraq had weapons of mass destruction or not. Subsequently, he became the Secretary of State. Prior to the commencement of the second Iraq war, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had grave doubts about whether Mr. Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. Indeed, according to published news, the CIA was unwilling to assert or endorse the opinion that Iraq possessed any weapons of mass destruction. President George Bush and Vice President Cheney wanted to go to war against Iraq and needed some justification to embark upon this tragic adventure. General Colin Powell eagerly obliged — a useful idiot. He made a colorful presentation before the United Nations made up of lies. Had he told “No” to President Bush emphatically, the history would have been entirely different. Or, failing which, he could have resigned. Why didn’t he? He would not have become impoverished or destitute. The craving for power, the accompanying accoutrements, the longing for adulations, wanting to be part of the inner circle. We are still paying for that war in terms of lives lost, several people wounded and maimed, mothers crying, and trillions of dollars in lost money. We have homeless people in Washington DC. There are children that go to bed hungry. All this goes to show where the craving for power and wanting to be admired by others lead.
New York Times recently interviewed General Colin Powell. Apparently, he is still trying to justify his conduct in support of the second Iraq war. The response to that reported interview has been overwhelmingly negative of the General. I have given below some of them:
“What if that same voice that publicly proclaimed the necessity of invading Iraq had instead told Bush privately that it was not merely an invitation to unintended consequences but a mistake, as he personally believed it to be? What if he had said no to Bush when he asked him to speak before the U.N.? Powell would almost certainly have been obligated to resign, and many if not all of his top staff members involved in the Iraq issue would also have quit; several had already considered doing so the previous summer.
Bush’s request that he be the one to make the case against Hussein to the U.N. was enormously flattering.
The more I think about it, the more I realize it’s important to keep the job.”
— Robert Draper, NY Times, July 17, 2020
“Jack Straw nails it — the problem is that people who could have done something by resigning did not. The same thing is going on now with the Covid-19 crises here — all of these doctors falling over themselves trying to avoid a public argument with a president and his close advisors whom they know to be malevolent fools. Maybe if in March they said what they were thinking — at the risk of getting fired, or just quit — instead of asking us to read their minds, Fauci, Birx et al. would have at least convinced most of the public this was not a liberal joke and everyone had to take personal responsibility. Give me back not just men of integrity but men of conviction, like Elliot Richardson, Bill Ruckelshaus, and Cyrus Vance (although he resigned after the fact, only in order not to compromise a military mission he could not stop, but doing nothing to aid the mission). I will take one of those three over ten Colin Powells. You could even say that Jeff Sessions has more integrity than Colin Powell because he recused himself from the Russia investigation and did not back down when Trump got angry. As the depth of his gullibility and his deception of the public have become clear, I have lost all respect for Powell as a civilian public servant.”
— Stuart Wilder, NY Times, Letters, July 16, 2020
“How convenient for Powell to have his version out there now — what a fine and principled fellow! Now how about your journalist asks him about his role, as a mid-ranked officer in the U.S. military, in participating in a scorched-earth policy against the “Viet Cong” (i.e. the villages full of people caught in the middle of a war) and covering up My Lai and many other such incidents. Was he simply unable to resign then as well?”
— Phillip Egalite, NY Times Letters, July 18, 2020
Can Change Happen
This author, while in high school, was below average in his studies, nor did he show any interest in anything — no movies, no sports. The world appeared to be meaningless to him. He graduated from the high school with the lowest possible grades. His father was the principal of the high school, was ashamed of his son. One day as this author went for a walk, it spontaneously occurred to him what would happen if he stopped comparing himself with others. All forms of comparison stopped. A huge burden was lifted. Even the physical body felt lighter. What if he stopped competing with others? All competition ceased. Additional burden lifted. The lightness of being was palpable. What happens if comparison and competition ceased? One is left with oneself — to face oneself as one is. No escapes. The studies took on a different meaning. Indeed, they even became interesting, especially Mathematics, the subject he hated before. Mathematics has an elegance to it. The experimentation started. What happens, instead of memorizing, after reading the theorem or the problem, close the book, ponder over the problem without seeking an answer or solution. Even if a solution appears, just discard it and stay with the problem. Additional solutions appear. Discard them too. Come back to the problem every time as though you are looking at it for the first time. You looking at the problem without any seeking. What happens if that gap between the one who is looking at the problem and the problem itself ceases, not by force or will, but of its own accord? Let the problem alone remain. Pure observation without any accumulation. The problem dissolves, leaving behind multiple solutions that one had never thought of before. This may all sound complicated when one attempts to describe it in so many words. In reality it is not complicated, especially when one is young. As one gets older, the weight of all the programming one undergoes through “parenting”, and “education” is hard to overcome. Conforming is easier, go along to get along has become the norm.
Can one bring that same approach to our problems such as hate, violence, and greed? It is not at all easy. Initially, it will be very painful. Unless one faces them inwardly within oneself without any escape, they will continue, as it has from time immemorial. We were barbarians, we are now “less” barbaric. We used gas chambers for carrying out death sentences, we used electric chairs, now we use lethal injections — less barbaric. Some time ago, there was an article on the toll it takes on the executioners. We used to do “lynchings”, now we use cell phones to call the police like the lady in the Central Park in New York. Of course, there is always that now well-known proverbial “knee.”
Then there is always the now popular “Yoga” with a capital Y. There are “Gurus” who teach how to meditate, and if they are from India, it is even better. The Gurus will teach you a “secret” mantra that you are expected to repeat endlessly. There are places that teach “Mindfulness.” None of these has brought about any change. What these things do is bring a little quiet to the superficial layers of the mind, a mere anodyne. That superficial quietness releases a quantum of energy, which one uses to pursue what has one always pursued — comparison, competition, greed, envy, jealousy and climbing the corporate ladder with all its accompanying mischief. Rewards may be in heaven, but the misery is here and now.
This nation has been on a war footing for the past several decades. The Korean war, the Vietnam war, the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, the war in Afghanistan, the first Iraq war and the second Iraq war — all brought to you by “The Best and the Brightest.”
Do we really want to change? I think not. The house is on fire, and we are looking for a match to light the cigarette.
Not an end, but a beginning
On a clear morning one day, this author was walking as usual from his room at the university towards the mess hall for breakfast. Suddenly, the whole environment surrounding him changed. The sun light on the green leaves of the trees, the reflection of the sun light on the scattered clouds, all took a strange intense hue. There was a deep and intense silence in the mind. All mental movements had stopped. There was no past and there was no future. There was an intense, overwhelming joy emanating deep from within the stomach. This joy was unbearable. It was joy, not happiness or pleasure. It brought tears to one’s eyes. There was a palpable presence. There was an immensity, an immeasurable intensity. The experience was beyond all measure. This author had never used any psychedelic drugs. This was not a projection of the mind. It was not an imagination and there was no longing for any kind of experience. There was no mind with all its mischief, comparison, competition, envy and jealousy, nor was there any desire to experience anything. One was bathed, immersed in that intensity; and there was death — an ending. Not the death resulting from any disease, suffering and pain. There was no inside and an outside. It was as though a clay pot was broken and the air inside and outside had merged. This experience was extraordinary. This author had not experienced anything like that before. There was an utter, penetrating clarity. The breakfast was eaten while bathed in that silence. There was chattering going on in the mess hall, but all of that passed through the author’s being without any resistance. Returned to the room, attended the classes, back to the room. It was still there, the presence, the immensity beyond measure. There were no thoughts. The body, unable to withstand it, sat down. Tears were flowing on their own — not out of sorrow, but because of an unbearable, penetrating joy. There was a brief dialog, a dialog not of the spoken word, but yet there was a dialog through that all-pervasive silence. It asked, “either this or that.” The author sort of understood what it meant, but did not respond. The author left for dinner with his friend Devarajan to the mess hall. The sun had set. The full moon was rising. After the dinner, the two of us went for a walk as usual, except that this was a moonlit night, the moonlight dancing on the leaves. During the walk, Devarajan said that it felt strange that night, and that he felt a quietness that he had not felt before. That night during sleep there was an awareness. It lasted one more day and it was gone.
Several years have passed since that experience. It had left a memory. The mind longs for that experience, and yet one knows that it cannot be sought after nor can it be pursued, nor induced through any practice.
