CONSERVATIVE OR LIBERAL
OK. I have to admit
something. If you consider yourself to
be liberal, progressive, enlightened, etc., please listen to me. If you are conservative, right-winged,
anti-everything-Obamaesque, conspiracy-obsessed, this is for you, too.
First, you conservatives. You believe that the world is
filled with corruption. Even the person
next to you cannot be trusted. You
believe that God created the world, with you in it, and that there is evil here
but that goodness will prevail. Star
Wars. Your beliefs and actions you try to keep
under control, find out what is true and what is not, seek the good and avoid
the bad. You believe that God is protecting you. Bad is really bad. It can be found everywhere. Your enemies are bad. Especially those Muslims. They do not believe in God the way you
do. They are part of the evil that lurks
around every corner. Hilary wants to abort all babies regardless of their age
in the womb. And same-sex couples make
you want to puke. You believe people
should be free, but only if they want to do what you think is right, like buy
AK47s without a full criminal check. You want to rise to the top of the human
heap. “Work hard and reap the
harvest.” That is your motto. You are
willing to give to the poor, but they must keep their distance. All these street people could be as wealthy
as you if they just worked hard. But they
don’t. So no public fund of money should
be wasted on them. Certainly taxing good people to support bad people is not
good. Christian teachings seem to accept
the status quo, but only if you are wiling to treat others the way you want to
be treated. You are willing to say one
thing (wage war) but do another (go to church).
That’s confusing to me. I do not
like conservatives. I am not one.
Now, you liberals.
You are living in a fairly comfortable, exalted world. You have met people, probably, who believe
(and will tell you) that you are going to hell.
Not “to hell with you!” but you
are going to hell. But you do not
believe in hell and you doubt that Jesus (or one of the prophets of Judaism or
Islam) is the true voice of God. In fact you reject monotheism, but you love
the narratives in its religions. You consider people who believe in traditional
explanations of life and death to be misguided.
You yourself have gone beyond religion and seek the answers to life’s
mysteries in history, literature, art, music and studies of the mind. Science is your religion. “Prove everything and keep looking,” that is
your motto. You have met others who are brighter than you, who know infinitely more
than you do, and who will take humanity into realms that you cannot dream of. But
you know you are intelligent. You are
well-educated, and look down on people who betray their lack of education by
the way they speak and behave. You trust
people but are pretty sure only bright people should make the rules. You may
support religion but seek the answers to life’s mysteries in history, literature
and studies of the mind. If this fits your perception of the world you are a
liberal.
I am a liberal. I
have perceived a self that I call me who is more than himself. I am the world. I am all that I can see, hear, feel, know or
imagine. I have discovered that through my study and practice of Buddhism. Specifically, that is the existential proof I
have discovered in zazen, the
particular form of meditation that Japanese Zen priests engage in, as I have
for 60 years. I now know that everything I love and everything I hate is
me. Anger and jealousy are as much a
part of me as the most forgiving and altruistic feelings I may have. At 81 my sense of myself as a tiny, lonely,
frightened, defensive, potentially vicious little boy has been swallowed up by
the me of all being. That makes me kind,
loving, helpful, thoughtful, forgiving, and socially responsible. My job is to be still enough to see myself in
the body and heart of every person, animal or plant that I encounter. That is
very hard to do. It does not come
easily, especially for an only child.
Which brings me to Donald Trump. God help me.
I am Donald Trump! Every childish thing he does, his desire for
winning, making lots of money, seeing himself as the greatest person on earth,
lashing out at his critics, drawing distinctions between himself and others,
demonizing them, dismissing things he doesn’t understand, etc. All of these characteristics belong to both
of us. The only thing that worries me
about this is the harm we can do to the world if we have our way. As someone I admire very much has said,
governments are necessary to prevent people like us “from pursuing naked
self-interest all the time.” In his brilliant piece this month in The Atlantic (“What’s Ailing American
Politics” July/August 2016), Jonathan Rauch warns that all of us –
“politicians, activists, and voters” -- have
“become more individualistic and unaccountable … [because] Americans
have been busy demonizing and disempowering political professionals and
parties, which is like spending decades abusing and attacking your own immune
system. Eventually, you will get sick.”
Our naked self-interest has brought us where we are today. “Chaos becomes the new normal – both in
campaigns and in the government itself.”
“Neurotic hatred of the political class is the country’s last
universally acceptable form of bigotry… [whereas the] core idea of the
Constitution was to restrain ambition and excess by forcing competing powers
and factions to bargain and compromise.”
Rampant individualism may actually bring down our republic.
I am still savoring Rauch’s article. It will require several
readings for me to fully digest it. I
think every teacher in every school in the country should make it required
reading for bright students. Certainly
it should be a must-read for all our representatives in Washington. It is succinct and clear, but it flies in the
face of much that I had believed was going on, with me and my country.
- GTW at home in Palm Desert, July 6, 2016
