e

Melt Down!



Posted: Tuesday, November 10, 2009

by e
Dhammabucha Rocksprings Meditation

Can you feel it? It's almost palpable, a feeling that permeates everything, hanging in the air like an impeding thunderstorm. Silent, ominous, dangerous, frightening and yet at the same time exciting and alive, and pregnant with possibility.

It all began on a sunny day in 1991. We were just emerging from a supposedly not too serious recession and everything appeared to be rosy again. But for some unexplained reason Bush One was voted out of office at the end of his first term even after a successful Iraq war and an economy apparently on the uptick.

There was a feeling out there that things were not quite right, but no one could put their finger on it. The average American began to become disgruntled but didnt know why. Even with two people in a household working full time at the expense of family cohesiveness, the only way to stay ahead was to borrow heavily because wages werent keeping up with expenses.

Underlying the appearance of prosperity in our country was a sinister, hidden time bomb that would eventually go off. And people could feel it. There was something very wrong with newlyweds leaving the church and immediately buying $500,000.00 homes, designer furniture, new cars and SUVS - all with no money down and only their good looks.

Of course someone would have to capitalize on this underlying unease, a disgruntleness that was underlying our pseudo prosperity, and use it to their advantage. Therefore hatred was introduced to the middle class by very wealthy, vocal people. It was a defensive play to keep the middle class focused on false bogeymen and not the real reasons of their discomfort.

It worked perfectly. The hatred was directed toward the only hope that the poor and middle class would eventually have - their government, being convinced that big government was bad, and big business was good.

When we look back, the 90's were the beginning of the middle class depression, and because none of the indices or Government figures hinted in the least about what was coming, the middle class got blindsided in 2008. In the meantime, seeds were being planted of real hatred between many segments of society; the wealthy and poor, the religious and secular, pro-life, pro choice, Republicans and Democrats.

Something was happening as if there was a magnification of differences that all of a sudden became not only irreconcilable, but filled with hatred against those who dared to disagree. The anger and hatred began to build, and the country trended toward something that had not happened since the Civil War; a polarization destined to disrupt the very fabric of our country.

Since the 90's, foreign governments have loaned us an overwhelming amount of money, especially Japan, loans that have staved off a full depression and provided the appearance of high prosperity. But it was all based on credit. And now, just as the housing ARMS are coming due, our country's world credit card is about to be cancelled. When that happens, the middle class depression will become a national depression. There is nothing to fall back on this time.

But here is the good news; as a society, things will get better. Wealth accumulation will shortly be a thing of the past. The tiniest of beginnings of it can be seen in congress with new attitudes toward society as a whole. Without an emphasis of wealth accumulation, which will be seen as not a workable situation regarding keeping Americans happy, there will be renewed emphasis on harmony. Lest you get teary eyed, let me explain that this is not some kind of drug induced hippie dream but a reality that will be the result of people finally deciding that contention is a stupid way to live.

We believed the "trickle down economic" models and the myth of wealth accumulation being the answer to job creation, but now it all comes out; neither works for society. They only work for a small segment of society while the vast majority lose everything as all the good jobs go away. And once they go away, they go away - fifty percent never come back,

The jobs have gone overseas. So what happened to capitalism creating jobs? Capitalism doesn't really care about creating jobs, or care a hoot about people; capitalism cares about creating capital, and if it can be created in China, no problem. The American people can fend for themselves.

And this is what's happening, and soon now, common folks will catch on that nobody has their back, except themselves, and we are the only ones that we can rely on.

Attitudes are changing, but change takes time, and the time is coming closer to a real revolution. A social revolution where people will begin focusing on their personal transformation as a human being rather than what they can buy or how much money they can make for the man.

So far, few have ever gone this way of personal transformation because they have been distracted by 2% of our population, the driven wealth creators. But once they taste the satisfaction of personal transformation and the joy that it provides to the spirit, there will no going back to the striving, ambition, and stress of material accumulation.

And the new society will reflect these new attitudes toward almost everything, especially the inequality, suffering and poverty that results from cold blooded, driven capitalism.

E. Raymond Rock (anagarika eddie) is a meditation teacher at DhammaRocksprings Theravada Buddhist Meditation Retreat Center: http://www.dhammarocksprings.org and author of “A Year to Enlightenment: http://www.amazon.com/Year-Enlightenment-Steps-Enriching-Living/dp/1564148912

He lived at Wat Pah Nanachat under Ajahn Chah as a Buddhist monk (novice) and at Wat Pah Baan Taad under Ajahn Maha Boowa and Wat Pah Daan Wi Weg under Ajahn Tui as a fully ordained Buddhist monk (bhikkhu). He was a postulant at Shasta Abbey, a Zen Buddhist monastery in northern California under Roshi Kennett; and a Theravada Buddhist anagarika at both Amaravati Monastery in the UK and Bodhinyanarama Monastery in New Zealand, both under Ajahn Sumedho. The author has meditated with the Korean Master Sueng Sahn Sunim; with Bhante Gunaratana at the Bhavana Society in West Virginia; and with the Tibetan Master Trungpa Rinpoche in Boulder, Colorado. He has practiced at the Insight Meditation Society and the Zen Center in San Francisco.
This Article has been viewed 1,158 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)
» left by efoghorjos
from Bonny Island, Nigeria
2 years 134 days ago.
18 fans. Follow efoghorjos on twitter!
perfectly done research. I use to think that the display of ostentation had been mainly a problem of developing countries but now I understand that this problem is everywhere- man does not really care so long as he has the resources to waste; one day he soon discovers there is no more to waste.
» left by e 2 years 134 days ago.
133 fans.
Well said Mr. Ezie. Thank you!
 
Best.......e
We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.