Mad World - Are We Listening?

We hear only what we are listening for...
We hear only what we want to hear...

Does this mad world have a voice in your world?

Can you hear the voices coming at you everyday?

Can you hear this still small voice of madness within?

All of life is our teacher but can we hear?

It is there. Are we listening? Do we want to hear?

Or are we turning away, day by day?

All around me are familiar faces
Worn out places, worn out faces
Bright and early for the daily races
Going nowhere, going nowhere

Their tears are filling up their glasses
No expression, no expression
Hide my head, I wanna drown my sorrow
No tomorrow, no tomorrow

And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I'm dying
Are the best I've ever had

I find it hard to tell you
I find it hard to take
When people run in circles it's a very, very

Mad world, mad world

On the turning away
From the pale and downtrodden
And the words they say
Which we won't understand

Don't accept that what's happening
Is just a case of others' suffering
Or you'll find that you're joining in
The turning away

No more turning away
From the weak and the weary
No more turning away from the coldness inside
Just a world that we all must share
It's not enough just to stand and stare
Is it only a dream that there'll be
No more turning away?

As I lay in bed, snug and warm and comfortable and secure,

the world passes me by. If I close my eyes, I won't see.

If I plug my ears, I won't hear. Why would I want to?

I know that most of the world now and throughout history

has been poor, struggling to survive, disabled, or oppressed in some way,

... even in America.

An honest look at this mad world makes obvious

that absurdity rules, especially for those that are drowning

in their fight for survival. Losing this fight is felt day by day.

It is a matter of time before they go under.

Down deep I know this. We all know.

So I don't look. I don't listen. 

It hurts too much and I don't like pain.

Why would I want to feel their suffering? hear their despair? see their pain?

If I get out of bed, I stand and stare...

If I catch a glimpse, then I destroy any compassion within me 

with finger pointing and blaming;

blaming them for being oppressed, for being disabled, for being poor... 

for being lazy and dirty and repulsive and different than me. 

Disparaging them for their own pain, suffering, and despair. 

I stand and stare... gawking in disgust.

Damn them!!! It is their own fault.

They are speaking a language I don't understand, won't understand.

That's why I listen to TV that tells me this is true. They even call it news!

How great is that?!?!? This is truly a great country.

Out of sight... Out of mind. Out of mind... Out of heart.

I live in a nice world with all of the worldly comforts I want 

and far more than I need.

I have the privilege of choice every day: 

my home, my neighborhood, my church, my country.

What's wrong with that? Why would I dare step outside of my world

with all of its safety, comfort, security, and certainty?

Isn't that some sort of crime? I'm no idiot! 

As long as all I see are people like me, thinking like me, voting like me, being me; then I know I am safe and secure. 

And isn't that what life is all about?!?!? 

Living a life that comforts me, confirms my biases, and leaves me alone.

Don't talk to me! Don't look at me! Don't touch me! 

And heaven forbid, don't have conversations about things that matter with me. Because I know that you speak in a language I can't understand.

Heaven forbid that I hear you.

Heaven forbid that I feel your pain.

“Those who do not weep, do not see.” (Victor Hugo, Les Misérables)

“It remains an experience of incomparable value that we have for once learned to see the great events of world history from below, from the perspective of the outcasts, the suspects, the maltreated, the powerless, the oppressed and reviled, in short, from the perspective of the suffering.” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)

“The true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members.” (Mahatma Ghandi)

We must learn to See through the eyes of the brokenhearted.

We must learn to See with our own eyes of brokenheartedness.

The Cocoon

“Humanity has been sleeping — and still sleeps — lulled within the narrowly confining joys of its closed loves.” (Pierre Teilhard de Chardin)

Each year we live, layer after layer of conditioning creates a sort of cocoon where we see only what we are taught to see, hear only what we are listening for, the echo of our own voice; where we insulate and isolate ourselves from discomfort, insecurity, uncertainty, reality, truth, and the vulnerability of relationships as we sacrifice our own authenticity, identity, and integrity. After a while, we know nothing beyond our little cocoon. But that’s OK because it is safe and warm and predictable… and sleepy. We hang a sign on our cocoon, “Do Not Disturb!”

Meanwhile, “in the cocoon there is no idea of light at all, until we experience some longing for openness, some longing for something other than the smell of our own sweat.” (Chogyam Trungpa, Shambhala; the sacred path of the warrior)

 

Afterthought: Not everybody is going to be able to change their lives so abruptly and so drastically if you have not spent your life mindful of the 'other', of those that are different, with a worldview that includes all and envisions a world that works for all. Too many people have closed themselves off from  the reality of this world that we live in and have isolated themselves in their own bubble or echo chamber, fabricating an imaginary world of comfort, security, and certainty. Apart from truly immersing oneself in this life as it is, the least a person can do is to open your mind, heart, and will, expanding one's worldview to include all people, and becoming willing to become aware that the world does not revolve around you. You are a grain of sand on the beach of this world thinking you are the whole beach. Can we become aware? Can we pay attention? Can we learn to listen? Can we become human? Can we learn to have compassion for all? Unconditionally?

If Only . . .

If Only I Could …

I spent most of my life strutting around, touting the answers, thinking I know. 

Then life flattened me, uprooting everything, including all those so-called answers.

Learning to live the questions completely changed the trajectory of my life in such an aggravating and life-giving way.

“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms and like books that are written in a foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers. . . . Live the questions now.” (Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet)

If only I could …

Think like everyone thinks.
Believe what everyone believes.
Be like everyone else.

… but that’s not the shape of my heart

If only I could …

Not think, not care about what is real and true.

Be oblivious to the cognitive dissonance screaming in my head and heart.

Ignore the dissonance of the difference between what is real and the lifetime of fictions in my head.

Live in a box, a container of conditioning full of that which I’ve been told all of my life.

Live in a cocoon, all snug and warm, comfortable and secure, and so nicely certain.

Believe what I was told to believe, that system of beliefs that is delivered to your door predetermined primarily by zip codes, comfort zones, and religious and social bubbles.

Download the myths and mores of culture and automatically accept them and believe, conforming to this world.

Shrink the dimensions of my mind back to what it was before it expanded to see, feel, and understand a whole new paradigm and a whole new world.

Unsee the depth and breadth and richness that I have been shown once I let go of dogma.

… but that’s not the shape of my heart

Comfort, Security, Certainty

Facing our gods

... for what we are worshiping we are becoming."
"That which dominates our imaginations and our thoughts will determine our lives, and character."
(Ralph Waldo Emerson)

god of comfort

god of security

god of certainty

(An All American Trinity)

“But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes you are
You're gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody” (Bob Dylan)

Humans have a tendency to worship… worship something… worship anything that is ultimate or of supreme value in one’s life. Although we are often unaware or deceive ourselves, it is not hard to tell what it is that we worship, if we pay attention. What is it that occupies our thoughts, attention, time, energy? What is the focus of our desire. What is the object of our lust?

FACING OUR MANY VERY SUBTLE GODS

We call ourselves a culture and religion of one, and only one, God. But I propose that we may be one of the most pluralistic cultures in the world when it comes to our gods.

But here is the thing; our gods are smarter than we are, they are cunning and sly like a fox.

My gods, that I’m beginning to see, are largely hidden neatly beneath the surface of my life, out of sight… out of mind…

“A person will worship something — have no doubt about that. We may think our tribute is paid in secret in the dark recesses of our hearts — but it will come out. That which dominates our imaginations and our thoughts will determine our lives, and character. Therefore, it behooves us to be careful what we worship, for what we are worshiping we are becoming.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

We live our lives by the stories we tell ourselves, whether they are true or not. Myths that have gripped us deep within, often at a young age... and when we are old, we do not depart from them. Beliefs are now modern iterations of the instincts we no longer need to survive in the wilderness as hunters and gatherers by triggering fight or flight in the face of danger. But those instincts have evolved in order for us to survive in the present day complex societies, confusing cultures, and dire realities by triggering illusions of comfort, security, and certainty in response to our fears of the unknown, and denial of death. When things are beyond our ability to comprehend or make sense of, we must simplify and contain those complexities into systems of beliefs and stories in our minds. Using stories to explain away our greatest fears could give a hint at what it is that we worship and desire.

Out of sheer lust for comfort, security, and certainty, we create systems of belief, then we hang on for dear life crying out for a savior.

How do we discern that which we worship? 

How do we identity our gods?

What is it that occupies my attention? 

What is it that I desire, that I long for?

What is it that I work my whole life for?

What is it that I cling to?

What is it that I grasp?

What is it that I cannot let go of?
What is it that I cannot live without?

What is my addiction???

Nothing is certain.

Nothing is secure.

Nothing is permanent.

Nothing gives lasting comfort.

So what longings have my illusions created?
What or who is my savior? Another person? A belief system? Politics?

Am I grounded in reality? Or illusion?
Is my illusion my savior? My addiction?

Comfort

“The lust for comfort 

murders the passion of the soul, 

and then walks grinning in the funeral.” 

(Kahlil Gibran)

“People wish to be settled.

Only as far as they are unsettled

is there any hope for them.”

(Emerson)

“We find comfort among those who agree with us… growth among those who don’t.” (Frank Clark)

“Comfort is one thing, and truth another; they lead away from each other. If you seek comfort, you may find it in an explanation, a drug or a belief; but it will be temporary, and sooner or later you will have to begin over again. And is there such a thing as comfort? It may be that you will first have to see this fact: that a mind which seeks comfort, security, will always be in sorrow. A satisfactory explanation, or a comforting belief, can put you soothingly to sleep; but is that what you want? Will that wipe away your sorrow? Is sorrow to be got rid of by inducing sleep?” (Krishnamurti, Commentaries On Living, Series III | Chapter 13, ‘ Why Should It Happen To Us? ‘)

“There is the comfort in God, which is an image put together by thought, or comfort in some illusory concept or idea. And that’s all you want. But you never question the very urge, the desire for comfort, never ask whether there is any comfort at all. One needs to have a comfortable bed or chair— that’s all right. But you never ask whether there is any comfort at all psychologically, inwardly. Is it an illusion which has become your truth? You understand? An illusion can become your truth— the illusion that you are God, that there is God. That God has been created by thought, by fear. If you had no fear, there would be no God.
“So this is a very complex problem of our life— why we are so shallow, empty, filled with other people’s knowledge and with books; why we are not independent, free human beings to find out; why we are slaves. This is not a rhetorical question; it is a question each one of us must ask. In the very asking and doubting, there comes freedom. And without freedom there is no sense of truth.” (Krishnamurti)

Security

“Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.” (Helen Keller)

“Shutters on storefronts and shutters in the mind -
We kill ourselves to keep ourselves safe from crime.
That's the gospel of bondage…” (Bruce Cockburn lyrics, Gospel of Bondage)

“So where is security? There may be no security at all. Just think about it, sir, see the beauty of that—having no desire for security, having no urge, no feeling of any kind in which there is security. In your homes, in your offices, in your factories, in your parliaments and so on, is there security? Life may not have security; life is meant to be lived, not to create problems and then try to solve them. It is meant to be lived and it will die. That’s one of our fears—to die. Right?” (Krishnamurti, The Last Talks, pp 34-35)

“When we close the windows and doors of our house and stay inside, we feel very secure, we feel safe, unmolested. But life is not like that. Life is constantly knocking at our door, trying to push open our windows that we may see more; and if out of fear we lock the doors, bolt all the windows, the knocking only grows louder. The closer we cling to security in any form, the more life comes and pushes us. The more we are afraid and enclose ourselves, the greater is our suffering, because life won’t leave us alone. We want to be secure but life says we cannot be; and so our struggle begins.” (Krishnamurti, Life Ahead, p 54)

“What happens when you seek security, certainty? There must be fear; and if you are conscious of your thought, you will discern that it has its root in fear. Morality, religion and objective conditions are based fundamentally on fear, for they are the outcome of the desire on the part of the individual to be secure. Though you may not have any religious belief, yet you have the desire to be subjectively secure, which is but the religious spirit. Let us understand the structure of what we call religion.
“As I said, when one seeks security there must be fear; to be subjectively certain, you seek what you call immortality. In search of that security, you accept teachers who promise this immortality, and you come to regard them as authorities, to be feared, to be worshiped. And where there is this fear, there must be dogmas, creeds, beliefs, ideals and traditions to hold the mind.” (Krishnamurti, Santiago, Chile | 1st Public Talk 1st September, 1935)

Certainty

“If your knowledge of fire has been turned to certainty by words alone, then seek to be cooked by the fire itself. Don’t abide in borrowed certainty. There is no real certainty until you burn; If you wish for this, sit down in the fire.” (Rumi)

“The very desire to be certain, to be secure, is the beginning of bondage. It’s only when the mind is not caught in the net of certainty, and is not seeking certainty, that it is in a state of discovery.” (Krishnamurti)

“I am asking myself what is fear, not what I am afraid of. I lead a certain kind of life; I think in a certain pattern; I have certain beliefs and dogmas and I don’t want those patterns of existence to be disturbed because I have my roots in them. I don’t want them to be disturbed because the disturbance produces a state of unknowing and I dislike that. If I am torn away from everything I know and believe, I want to be reasonably certain of the state of things to which I am going. So the brain cells have created a pattern and those brain cells refuse to create another pattern which may be uncertain. The movement from certainty to uncertainty is what I call fear.”
(Jiddu Krishnamurti, Freedom from the Known)

“Fear begins and ends with the desire to be secure; inward and outward security, with the desire to be certain, to have permanency. The continuity of permanence is sought in every direction, in virtue, in relationship, in action, in experience, in knowledge, in outward and inward things. To find security and be secure is the everlasting cry. It is this insistent demand that breeds fear.”
(JIDDU KRISHNAMURTI, On Fear)

“The fact is there is nothing that you can trust; and that is a terrible fact, whether you like it or not. Psychologically there is nothing in the world, that you can put your faith, your trust, or your belief in. Neither your gods, nor your science can save you, can bring you psychological certainty; and you have to accept that you can trust in absolutely nothing. That is a scientific fact, as well as a psychological fact. Because, your leaders — religious and political — and your books — sacred and profane — have all failed, and you are still confused, in misery, in conflict. So, that is an absolute, undeniable fact.” (JIDDU KRISHNAMURTI, Psychological Revolution)

“The radical, committed to human liberation, does not become the prisoner of a ‘circle of certainty’ within which reality is also imprisoned. On the contrary, the more radical the person is, the more fully he or she enters into reality so that, knowing it better, he or she can better transform it. This individual is not afraid to confront, to listen, to see the world unveiled. This person is not afraid to meet the people or to enter into dialogue with them. This person does not consider himself or herself the proprietor of history or of all people, or the liberator of the oppressed; but he or she does commit himself or herself, within history, to fight at their side.” (Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed)

The Questions We Refuse to Ask

"There are two things that determine (who we are and) who we will be:

the questions we ask and

the questions we refuse to ask.”
(Sam Keen)

What resonates so deeply with me about this statement is that

1) who I am is closely tied to the questions that matter to me, the questions that I have the courage to ask. These are foundational to my identity.

2) but those questions that I refuse to ask, that I’m afraid to ask create a sort of negative of me. They reveal what might be missing within  me.

We all hold tightly to things that create our own sense of comfort. Do I hold so tightly to these things that I won’t dare to challenge my own assumptions that undergird my comfort with questions that might uproot things… that might uproot EVERYTHING!?

We all hold tightly to things that create our own sense of security. Do I hold so tightly to these things that I won’t dare to challenge my own assumptions that undergird my security with questions that might uproot things… that might uproot EVERYTHING!?

We all hold tightly to things that create our own sense of certainty. Do I hold so tightly to these things that I won’t dare to challenge my own assumptions that undergird my certainty with questions that might uproot things… that might uproot EVERYTHING!!

"Inwardly we are whirlpools of misery and mischief and therefore to be regarded outwardly as a great figure is very gratifying. This craving for position, for prestige, for power, to be recognized by society as being outstanding in some way, is a wish to dominate others, and this wish to dominate is a form of aggression. The saint who seeks a position in regard to his saintliness is as aggressive as the chicken pecking in the farmyard. And what is the cause of this aggressiveness? It is fear, isn't it? - Krishnamurti, Freedom from the Known

Also see

https://ronirvine.wordpress.com/2012/04/07/facing-our-gods-2-2/

https://ronirvine.wordpress.com/2014/12/02/the-bubble-of-indifference/ 

https://ronirvine.wordpress.com/2017/03/19/community-and-comfort-conformity-and-certainty/ 

https://ronirvine.wordpress.com/2013/04/20/the-cocoon/

https://ronirvine.wordpress.com/2013/03/18/familiarity-and-exclusion-freedom-and-oppression/

https://ronirvine.wordpress.com/2009/03/11/the-god-of-comfort/ 
https://livingwithopenhands2.blogspot.com/2019/07/permanency.html