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?