I've always fancied myself an inquisitive person, never taking assumptions for granted, always wanting to know the reason behind the reason behind the reason, and I've generally striven to make sense of my reality and of ultimate reality as I could comprehend it. I've gotten answers that have satisfied my analytical, scientifically-oriented or left-hemisphere side and I've gotten answers that have satisfied my intuitive, artistically inclined right-hemisphere side. I can fend for myself in a debate and I can articulate my thoughts and beliefs well enough, so I offer to you some things to consider in the wake of the Republican takeover of the House of Representatives this week. Hopefully I'll introduce some new aspects and dimensions to what you might already hold as true for yourself now.
Republican politicians have demonstrated a great ability to campaign, as many liberals have learned, but they also have a patent incompetence when it comes to governing and doing right by the people of this, my adoptive country (I'm Chilean by birth and citizenship). Now, in general, many people, the great majority of humanity even I would say, aren't necessarily adept at examining their own beliefs, question their assumptions and maybe see if some of those are really constructive and empowering or rather divisive, dis-empowering and (always) ultimately counterproductive. It could be argued that all of humanity's problems are self-created and that we could eliminate war, poverty, disease, etc. if we abandoned certain behaviors as a species and as individuals — and I do personally that our problems, that all our problems, individually and collectively, are a reflection of what's going on with us, in our lives and inwardly with our own selves, and they're a reflection of our state of consciousness. Everything we see around us in our immediate (and, ultimately, the larger) environment is always is a reflection of our own state of consciousness, individually and collectively. This could be called a "spiritual truth" even, a precept of the perennial philosophy. The truth is that there are ultimately no "problems," only causes and effects, or natural laws asserting themselves, if you will. A problem is always relative to the individual experiencing it, and the individual does not often realize how he or she has directly or indirectly contributed to the problem; therefore the individual frets against the problem, bumping against the problem, pushing against it, without realizing that a problem cannot be solved at the same state of consciousness that caused it.
American society has been dumbed down steadily for a while since after World War Two, when it coalesced into its present shape more or less. As a Chilean, for me to utter that comment may provoke outrage in some, assent in others, but it is my honest opinion, expressed without contempt because I'm aware of how primitive the whole human race, American, Chilean and myself included, really is — and all of course in spite of the fact that we think ourselves so advanced... we're advanced technologically, yeah, but we're spiritually as shallow and empty as can be, and even that isn't intrinsically a problem either. It's a condition, simply, but we create a whole lot of grief for ourselves — individually and collectively, as has been demonstrated — when we try to fill the natural void inside with all kinds of shit that just isn't good for us on any level — spiritual, psychological or physiological. We all engage in negative, useless behaviors on a compulsive, semi-conscious basis habitually, daily, but we don't realize what we're doing, and so we just generally observe the way our lives unfold — but we're not necessarily so convinced, if at all, that we have anything to do with any of it. The truth is, we have everything to do with it.
As a race we're very dualistic in our thinking, very quick to judge and draw conclusions, but we make it difficult to open ourselves to new thoughts and ultimately new experiences if we adopt a very rigid, dogmatic attitude towards life and other people. At the same time, our modern world is so interconnected and filled with information that it can sometimes be hard to make sense of what's really going on and there can be a classic case of information overload, attention deficit, and the need to escape and tune everything out, engaging in escapist and destructive behaviors, etc. but that can be eventually overcome or remedied. What I think is also essentially true is that we create a lot of problems for ourselves because we draw negative things to ourselves by adopting consistently negative patterns of thought, speech and action... thought, word and deed are the three levels in which we create our realities, and if these go unexamined and unchallenged by ourselves, naturally we won't understand much of why certain seemingly-bad, but ultimately perfectly natural, things occur in our individual and collective spheres of existence. Thus for a lot of Americans, the terrible terrorist attacks of 9/11/01 were an outrage because their beloved nation had been attacked by hateful radicals from a faraway land — terrorists that despised America for reasons very simply drawn and understood, in very basic terms. At the same time, many other Americans understood that America has been the dominant global power for decades and as such has exercised considerable political and military muscle, and definitely not always for the good of all concerned.
As a chilling parallel, there had been a coup d'etat in my country on the same day of the week, Tuesday, September 11, but of the year 1973 — two years before I was even born. During the military raid where tanks and bombers of our own armed forces rained death upon our presidential palace, a democratically elected Socialist president was killed, Salvador Allende, and a military junta assumed control led by Gen. Augusto Pinochet, who would not relinquish power for seventeen years thereafter. The coup and other outrageous events associated with it, such as the assassination of Orlando Letelier in Washington D.C. were acted upon with the knowledge, consent and occasional assistance of the U.S. government, which regarded Allende's 1970 election as a potentially alarming event. Allegedly, Henry Kissinger and Nixon argued about they couldn't allow some country in South America — then the U.S.'s back yard — to "go red" and be lost because of the stupidity of its own people. If other South American nations started electing socialist leaders, the Soviet Union might have found willing partners, naturally... And so on and on it goes, the cycle of human action and reaction, cause and effect, and the collective learning and growing, or the spiritual evolution of the human race, continues slowly and painfully...
In this context, Western society and American society, probably Chilean society as well (I've lived for fifteen years) has definitely been dumbed down, manipulated by the forces of consumerism, religious intolerance, government, etc. and that is also due to its own set of causes and factors. So when I hear and see a lot of the current populist "anger" "out there" that supposedly exists, I have to admit being slightly unable to relate when it comes to perceiving certain natural causes and effects taking place, asserting themselves. We are living through "difficult" times, they say, they are hard because the "economy" is bad. As should be evident to everyone perhaps (and South Park made clear), the economy, indeed the whole of human society, is the way it is because we've made it that way, entirely out of thin air, ourselves alone only, and we often pretend that things are the way things are because they have to be, or we simply don't understand... but it's not all that hard to understand. I am personally not entirely convinced that the near-endemic economic collapse of 2008 was entirely accidental or unavoidable, but that's not for me to discuss here. What is clear is that a certain set of factors came together to produce a rather predictable, but still allegedly "awful" result that ultimately has everything to do with self-created circumstances. Whether the "self" is the whole of humanity or just a single being is only a matter of number and degree of difference, but ultimately all of us are here, and so we're all ultimately responsible for all of it. We may individually reject certain notions or certain aspects of ourselves, but we can't escape the realities of our creative being. We may be able to deny forever, but eventually we will begin to see... and so the cycle goes.
So again, going back to Republican politicians — they may have won an election, some of them may have won public offices, but they will now have to actually do something with their charges. I am not too convinced that a lot of them will get behind legislation to help put Americans back to work, extend their unemployment benefits, help lower their healthcare costs and provide coverage for those who need it, etc. You know, what I would define as "helping people". Perhaps the people of Kentucky will think Rand Paul is helping them when he sides with this or that corporate donor who expects him to perform for them. Perhaps Rand Paul won't take the side of corporations against the interests of the American people — I think we all know how those questions will be answered. So on the cycle goes, but whether anyone learns anything from anything and is able to actually progress within the cycle is a matter of personal motivation, of individual curiosity. No one can be forced to understand anything they aren't ready to comprehend, and everyone will always find confirmation for their beliefs all around them, no matter how ultimately twisted or perverted those beliefs might be. So if Republican politicians think they've won, they better mean a political victory. Because by the American people, I'm not sure anyone has won, or will win.
All of this might sound bleak, harsh or depressing at times, but it all is what it is, and it is all ultimately a reflection of humanity evolving and growing, sometimes through a lot of pain and strife, though the suffering can be left behind as the species ascends collectively to higher states of being. That can be done through education and through personal exploration and discipline. What I choose for myself is to try and focus on the positive as much as I can now, because I've focused on a lot of negativity in my life and it's caused me problems. I think we can all share in that sentiment more or less but the important thing is that we learn and move on. I am personally very optimistic at the present time, even with the Republican takeover of the House. I try as much as possible to dictate my own perspective on anything that I'm confronted with and everything I encounter in my daily life, and so even though technically Republicans "won" on Tuesday, I think it remains to be seen who really won and will benefit from those results. Again, we have no one to blame but ourselves, individually and collectively, and it's not even a matter of blame but of awareness — again, individual and (hopefully one day total) global awareness. So seek to become more aware or focus on the positive, because there isn't much more you can do to improve your life or contribute quality to it. All I can tell you is, I know from experience.