The Four Noble Truths of Buddha

The Four Noble Truths

1. Life means suffering.

2. The origin of suffering is attachment.

3. The cessation of suffering is attainable.

4. The path to the cessation of suffering.

1. Life means suffering.

To live means to suffer, because the human nature is not perfect and neither is the world we live in. During our lifetime, we inevitably have to endure physical suffering such as pain, sickness, injury, tiredness, old age, and eventually death; and we have to endure psychological suffering like sadness, fear, frustration, disappointment, and depression. Although there are different degrees of suffering and there are also positive experiences in life that we perceive as the opposite of suffering, such as ease, comfort and happiness, life in its totality is imperfect and incomplete, because our world is subject to impermanence. This means we are never able to keep permanently what we strive for, and just as happy moments pass by, we ourselves and our loved ones will pass away one day, too.

2. The origin of suffering is attachment.

The origin of suffering is attachment to transient things and the ignorance thereof. Transient things do not only include the physical objects that surround us, but also ideas, and -in a greater sense- all objects of our perception. Ignorance is the lack of understanding of how our mind is attached to impermanent things. The reasons for suffering are desire, passion, ardour, pursuit of wealth and prestige, striving for fame and popularity, or in short: craving and clinging. Because the objects of our attachment are transient, their loss is inevitable, thus suffering will necessarily follow. Objects of attachment also include the idea of a "self" which is a delusion, because there is no abiding self. What we call "self" is just an imagined entity, and we are merely a part of the ceaseless becoming of the universe.

3. The cessation of suffering is attainable.

The cessation of suffering can be attained through nirodha. Nirodha means the unmaking of sensual craving and conceptual attachment. The third noble truth expresses the idea that suffering can be ended by attaining dispassion. Nirodha extinguishes all forms of clinging and attachment. This means that suffering can be overcome through human activity, simply by removing the cause of suffering. Attaining and perfecting dispassion is a process of many levels that ultimately results in the state of Nirvana. Nirvana means freedom from all worries, troubles, complexes, fabrications and ideas. Nirvana is not comprehensible for those who have not attained it.

4. The path to the cessation of suffering.

There is a path to the end of suffering - a gradual path of self-improvement, which is described more detailed in the Eightfold Path. It is the middle way between the two extremes of excessive self-indulgence (hedonism) and excessive self-mortification (asceticism); and it leads to the end of the cycle of rebirth. The latter quality discerns it from other paths which are merely "wandering on the wheel of becoming", because these do not have a final object. The path to the end of suffering can extend over many lifetimes, throughout which every individual rebirth is subject to karmic conditioning. Craving, ignorance, delusions, and its effects will disappear gradually, as progress is made on the path.

8 Fold Path

The Noble Eightfold Path

	1. Right View	Wisdom
	2. Right Intention
	3. Right Speech	Ethical Conduct
	4. Right Action
	5. Right Livelihood
	6. Right Effort	Mental Development
	7. Right Mindfulness
	8. Right Concentration

The Noble Eightfold Path describes the way to the end of suffering, as it was laid out by Siddhartha Gautama. It is a practical guideline to ethical and mental development with the goal of freeing the individual from attachments and delusions; and it finally leads to understanding the truth about all things. Together with the Four Noble Truths it constitutes the gist of Buddhism. Great emphasis is put on the practical aspect, because it is only through practice that one can attain a higher level of existence and finally reach Nirvana. The eight aspects of the path are not to be understood as a sequence of single steps, instead they are highly interdependent principles that have to be seen in relationship with each other.

1. Right View

Right view is the beginning and the end of the path, it simply means to see and to understand things as they really are and to realise the Four Noble Truth. As such, right view is the cognitive aspect of wisdom. It means to see things through, to grasp the impermanent and imperfect nature of worldly objects and ideas, and to understand the law of karma and karmic conditioning. Right view is not necessarily an intellectual capacity, just as wisdom is not just a matter of intelligence. Instead, right view is attained, sustained, and enhanced through all capacities of mind. It begins with the intuitive insight that all beings are subject to suffering and it ends with complete understanding of the true nature of all things. Since our view of the world forms our thoughts and our actions, right view yields right thoughts and right actions.

2. Right Intention

While right view refers to the cognitive aspect of wisdom, right intention refers to the volitional aspect, i.e. the kind of mental energy that controls our actions. Right intention can be described best as commitment to ethical and mental self-improvement. Buddha distinguishes three types of right intentions: 1. the intention of renunciation, which means resistance to the pull of desire, 2. the intention of good will, meaning resistance to feelings of anger and aversion, and 3. the intention of harmlessness, meaning not to think or act cruelly, violently, or aggressively, and to develop compassion.

3. Right Speech

Right speech is the first principle of ethical conduct in the eightfold path. Ethical conduct is viewed as a guideline to moral discipline, which supports the other principles of the path. This aspect is not self-sufficient, however, essential, because mental purification can only be achieved through the cultivation of ethical conduct. The importance of speech in the context of Buddhist ethics is obvious: words can break or save lives, make enemies or friends, start war or create peace. Buddha explained right speech as follows: 1. to abstain from false speech, especially not to tell deliberate lies and not to speak deceitfully, 2. to abstain from slanderous speech and not to use words maliciously against others, 3. to abstain from harsh words that offend or hurt others, and 4. to abstain from idle chatter that lacks purpose or depth. Positively phrased, this means to tell the truth, to speak friendly, warm, and gently and to talk only when necessary.

4. Right Action

The second ethical principle, right action, involves the body as natural means of expression, as it refers to deeds that involve bodily actions. Unwholesome actions lead to unsound states of mind, while wholesome actions lead to sound states of mind. Again, the principle is explained in terms of abstinence: right action means 1. to abstain from harming sentient beings, especially to abstain from taking life (including suicide) and doing harm intentionally or delinquently, 2. to abstain from taking what is not given, which includes stealing, robbery, fraud, deceitfulness, and dishonesty, and 3. to abstain from sexual misconduct. Positively formulated, right action means to act kindly and compassionately, to be honest, to respect the belongings of others, and to keep sexual relationships harmless to others. Further details regarding the concrete meaning of right action can be found in the Precepts.

5. Right Livelihood

Right livelihood means that one should earn one's living in a righteous way and that wealth should be gained legally and peacefully. The Buddha mentions four specific activities that harm other beings and that one should avoid for this reason: 1. dealing in weapons, 2. dealing in living beings (including raising animals for slaughter as well as slave trade and prostitution), 3. working in meat production and butchery, and 4. selling intoxicants and poisons, such as alcohol and drugs. Furthermore any other occupation that would violate the principles of right speech and right action should be avoided.

6. Right Effort

Right effort can be seen as a prerequisite for the other principles of the path. Without effort, which is in itself an act of will, nothing can be achieved, whereas misguided effort distracts the mind from its task, and confusion will be the consequence. Mental energy is the force behind right effort; it can occur in either wholesome or unwholesome states. The same type of energy that fuels desire, envy, aggression, and violence can on the other side fuel self-discipline, honesty, benevolence, and kindness. Right effort is detailed in four types of endeavours that rank in ascending order of perfection: 1. to prevent the arising of unarisen unwholesome states, 2. to abandon unwholesome states that have already arisen, 3. to arouse wholesome states that have not yet arisen, and 4. to maintain and perfect wholesome states already arisen.

7. Right Mindfulness

Right mindfulness is the controlled and perfected faculty of cognition. It is the mental ability to see things as they are, with clear consciousness. Usually, the cognitive process begins with an impression induced by perception, or by a thought, but then it does not stay with the mere impression. Instead, we almost always conceptualise sense impressions and thoughts immediately. We interpret them and set them in relation to other thoughts and experiences, which naturally go beyond the facticity of the original impression. The mind then posits concepts, joins concepts into constructs, and weaves those constructs into complex interpretative schemes. All this happens only half consciously, and as a result we often see things obscured. Right mindfulness is anchored in clear perception and it penetrates impressions without getting carried away. Right mindfulness enables us to be aware of the process of conceptualisation in a way that we actively observe and control the way our thoughts go. Buddha accounted for this as the four foundations of mindfulness: 1. contemplation of the body, 2. contemplation of feeling (repulsive, attractive, or neutral), 3. contemplation of the state of mind, and 4. contemplation of the phenomena.

8. Right Concentration

The eighth principle of the path, right concentration, refers to the development of a mental force that occurs in natural consciousness, although at a relatively low level of intensity, namely concentration. Concentration in this context is described as one-pointedness of mind, meaning a state where all mental faculties are unified and directed onto one particular object. Right concentration for the purpose of the eightfold path means wholesome concentration, i.e. concentration on wholesome thoughts and actions. The Buddhist method of choice to develop right concentration is through the practice of meditation. The meditating mind focuses on a selected object. It first directs itself onto it, then sustains concentration, and finally intensifies concentration step by step. Through this practice it becomes natural to apply elevated levels concentration also in everyday situations.

Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire

Joe "Deadhead Dylan" Rossi

God Bless Evel Knievel

god bless Evel Knievel

god bless Evel Knievel
motorpsycho rage
life on the edge
like Jim
a man who lived on the outskirts for us
drove his bike to the ridge for us
waved at us, and laughed with us
mocked death & tempted fate with us.

how ironic
how anticlimactic
that he succumb in such a way
still only 69, but his time came
not at the bottom of a canyon
or in the twisted flaming wreckage of a car
or slapped up against hot Vegas concrete

not with bang, not a bang at all
but like most of us
w/ a soft subdued whimper.

the Muslims can bow towards Mecca all they want
but today I will bow towards Butte.

-----------------------------

what perfect timing
what radiant synchronization
tonight as I get down
with my poet's tribute to a daredevil spirit
comparing him to Jim

I sit down in bed, sick as a damn dog, for what it's worth
watching a retrospective and interviews with Evel
and the man, a young Evel, on his way to a jump
quotes, "Light my fire baby. Come on baby light my fire."

And he says, I wasn't part of a team; a two man show
I was one man against the odds and I captured the hearts and minds of Americans.

one man.

amen.

RIP Evel. Buy a bike for Jim and you two go tour the rock and roll canyons of heaven.

Keep me close to your heart

make custom gifts at Zazzle

Hilarious UPS video!

I ain't gonna work for UPS no more (to the tune of Dylan's Maggie's Farm)

I ain't gonna work for UPS no more
I ain't gonna work for UPS no more
Well, I wake up in dead of night
Fold my hands and pray for rain
I got a head full of ideas
But brown is drivin' me insane.
It's a shame the way they had me so damned bored.

I ain't gonna work in the tower no more.
No, I ain't gonna work in the tower no more
Well, Leroy hands you letter
He tells you of your crimes
He asks you with a grin
Why you can't show up on time
Then he suspends you every time you mis-sort door 4.
I ain't gonna work in the tower no more.

I ain't gonna work for the Austin Preload no more.
No, I ain't gonna work for Austin Preload no more.
Well, the boss he slams an irreg
Down on your feet just for kicks.
His office window
Is bullet proof thick
Some cheap ass security company stands around his door.
Ah, I ain't gonna work for the Austin Preload no more.

I ain't gonna work at 3 a.m. no more
I ain't gonna work at 3 a.m. no more
Well, they all talk to all the hourlies
Proper siding, blah blah blah
Everybody says
Just throw the package, fuck 'em all
Some asshole shouts "Herb where's my trailer for Door 4"
I ain't gonna work at 3 a.m. no more.

I ain't gonna work for UPS no more
I ain't gonna work for UPS no more
Well, I am old and I am white
Discrimination sure does bite
They say sing flow control, hell I'm out the door
I ain't gonna work for UPS no more.

Back to the 60's?

There is a problem with the naïve and simplistic idea that the 60’s are worth returning to. For a lot of people I think the fact that whatever Eden was glimpsed at back then, it became clear to many that paradise is beyond the grasp of the world as it was, when it became clear that too many people will continue to choose to remain asleep and in cycles of suffering and violence. Optimism gave way to cynicism; free love gave way to hedonism. Hope was replaced by wanton despair. The sense that “everything must be this way” for now cooled the fires of such bright stars as Morrison, Hendrix and others.

One of the reasons why the 60’s failed is the false hope of free love without consequences. The dangerous but seductive idea that it’s ok to do what you want. See, many folks seeking to rid themselves of the taboos and sins of the status quo, overindulged in those things deemed sinful by the Establishment.

Indeed, Blake said The Road of Excess Leads to the Palace of Wisdom, but once there wisdom is gained at what price? Jesus was quite wise and wound up nailed to a cross. Socrates smarted off and ended up dead. Jim was dead in a bathtub under suspicious circumstances at only 27. Wisdom at what price? In other words be careful what you ask for because you just might get it. Death is probably the ultimate wisdom trip as you finally get to “break on through.” Rock bottom is littered with people who found wisdom this way.

In their embrace of mysticism and Eastern religion, the hippies of the sixties probably glossed over the parts that said desire and the pleasures of the world only lead to more suffering. In Buddhism especially, they emphasize that desire is the cause of all suffering. Overindulgence, then as the satisfaction of base desires has consequences. In Taoism one of the virtues is moderation. True, there are many paths up the mountain and Rimbaud’s systematic derangement of all the senses may yield the palace of wisdom, but in what condition do you wish to arrive at your destination. On the other hand, blind repression of our human nature is another kind of excess. Moderation then might be one of the lessons to derive from the 60s.

Yes, the sixties remain a pivotal era for humanity and the players, while still too recent in their luminosity to be regaled as divine, will no doubt, as time marches on, be seen in a much better light; much like how the founding fathers of this country found post mortem accolades, despite being morally flawed. Those who survived the 60’s and those that didn’t were chosen to be on stage for us at this time, and in the least, chosen to articulate and express a vision of our next evolutionary step.

In a way this catharsis, this assertion of freedom, this revolution itself begun in the 60’s is an important step in the learning process, but it’s important to learn from our mistakes. Some people talk about wanting to go back to the 60’s, but do we really want to go back to body bags from Vietnam. No. Some would say that the situation in Iraq makes these times analogous and I somewhat agree, though the death count now is nothing what it was then. Still every life is important, but the gross carnage that was a result of our misguided domino policy in the 60’s; we have not seen that carnage yet, and I hope we never do. I hope we can get out of there, and the people in this part of the world can learn to use their heads along with their hearts, and loosen the shackles of their oppressive religion enough to live in a world where some moderation and indulgence is OK. Here we have excess of an entirely different nature; and the yet the result is the same; the emotional and physical destruction of the self.

What fueled the vibrancy of that era (the 1960s) and what has seared it into our collective social memory was a confluence of factors including psychedelic drugs and the war in Vietnam as well as a clash between new and old ideas. The dialectic was at work: thesis and antithesis. The next step we need to embrace, than is synthesis.
To treat free love as just an excuse to do whatever you want, is to abuse it and that’s one reason why the sixties failed. There must be responsibility within love. Science is forcing us to throw off the mythologies of old, and in the vacuum between this old paradigm and a new mythology, is I think the dangerous place we find ourselves now. God is dead, so why not do what I want? Because God isn’t dead, he’s just not who you think he is.

A Last Fling With Decadence & Democracy -- Original CD featuring Sex w/ an Angel

Get a signed limited edition copy of the CD Last Fling w/Decadence and Democracy, a compilation work by me, Joe Rossi AKA Deadhead Dylan & The Desolation Doors, backed by a host of excellent musicians, with songs recorded over the last two decades of the last millenium: live tracks, studio, original American music!

Send $10 cash, check or money order and a cool fun letter with your desired mailing address to

PO Box 685313
Austin TX 78768-5313

or you can use Paypal:

A Third Option:

you can visit amazon.com by clicking on the link below and purchase it there:

Joe Rossi: Last Fling w/ Decadence & Democracy

At amazon you can also listen to sound clips of all the songs, read reviews, post reviews etc. The music on the CD is some of the music featured in our YouTube videos, such as Love Her Like The Rain, Rock & Roll Socks, Brainflower, and Freeways & Mirrors. You can also hear some of the tracks at http://myspace.com/mjoerossi or http://myspace.com/electricsol



The first two options are preferred as I have not heard from Orchard, the label selling my CD, in years, even though I know for a fact that they have been selling my CDs. Sooner or later, I will have to hook up with them and see what is going down, but in the meantime the first two options helps us in a much better and more direct way, plus the ones amazon sells won't be signed for obvious reasons.

There's even some used cheap ones out there. I guess! Check it out!

Remember, it's all about L O V E!

Cheers!

Profound Quote re: Eternal Life

One of the better quotes I came across in MySpace said "the trick is not to live forever, but to be able live with yourself forever." I'm paraphrasing.

I always like to use the analogy of the mirror. When you die, you are handed a mirror. You're fate then is to look into that mirror for all eternity. If you were mean, ugly, hateful, angry, dark and loathsome, well that is what you get to watch forever. If on the other hand you were beautiful, loving, happy, light and lovable, well that then is what you get for all eternity.

I think in a nutshell that is what Jesus was trying to teach us, as well as other great masters.

The Metaphorical Versus The Literal

It is important to remember that in mythology, and religion; the stories we believe are not literally true, but rather are metaphorically true. At least that is what I believe. So while a literal hell does not exist then, there is a metaphorical hell. Which might be like the difference between going to a hellish place or just watching a movie about hell.

There can also be reconciliation between the Western ideas of sin, hell and damnation, and the Eastern religious concepts of a life cycle or samsara, and reincarnation, and the effect Karma has on future incarnations.

If we postulate that life is indeed eternal, and indeed it is, than we can assume that consciousness has an endless supply of life cycles in which to reincarnate. And if one's karma is continuously bad, than he or she will continue to reincarnate in forms of life that suffer, inflict suffering and continue to suffer ad infinitum. That sounds hellish to me. On the other hand if one's karma is good, and one's sinful transgressions not so severe, and there is a geunine and self propelled effort to repent, grow, love and forgive, that they progress into a state of heavenly bliss and escape the wheel of life and its constant suffering i.e. heaven.

Some question how life can be eternal. That is not the eternal life of the afterlife that we might imagine, but more rather to the impermanence of life as we know it. The life forces and processes at work here on Earth. What happens when the Sun dies, or supernovas or gets hit by an asteroid. Sure, true enough life here on Earth might or will end. But elsewhere in the known universe in all the known galaxies there are billions upon billions of stars and planets, and somewhere at sometime, perhaps in billions of years from now or maybe only millions, or quite possibly millions of years ago, microscopic life is beginning or began the long series of events that lead a people such as ours to a place where it is now in History.

And I bet this story we're living has been told over and over and ago, eons before this universe came into existence perhaps. And there will always be life in some form somewhere for consciousness to become aware of, and for it to become aware of itself.

UPS: erstwhile Hell on Earth

Honestly, UPS has got to be one of the most miserable places one could be employed. Nobody that works here ever seems happy. All people do all day morning long during work is yell at each other, scream at each other, belittle each other, bag on each other, gripe, scream, complain, bitch & moan.

I almost quit today. Well, I tried to walk out. Clocked out and everything, but my boss stopped me, one of the few people that don't feel the need to scream and yell at me. It's just all the other supervisors, and her boss, and the upper bosses, that bitch and yell at our boss, so he has to bitch and yell at us. What is it they say about shit rolling downhill? No wonder UPS's favorite color is brown.

All I can say is thank God it's Friday.

Hello I Love YOU

Dylan Morrison

No one is really sure when and how Dylan Morrison became myth and enigma; nobody is even sure really where he comes from. One day he just showed up and it seemed like it was an old story, like an oral tradition, that has just been around since time immemorial.

He is a rock and roll legend, some obscure Jack Fate, as he has been before he even went away, into the desert or the woods to study with shamans, to fast in the desert for forty days & nights, wandering the wilderness and so forth, on his own hero’s journey before returning to his village.

More like Peter Pan, the boy who never grows up, and is on his restless sojourn to nevernever land; his bad boy image, tousled hair and leather pants, serving him well on his journey into the endless night. Women swoon for this dangerous pirate on the high seas; this Casanova, playing the cards at the all night arcade. Pushing the envelope. Walking the line. On the edge.

Is it fact or fantasy, or a lethal combination of both; the way Jungian archetypes recycle their motifs and dramas, in fresh young faces, courting the public eye, dancing as divine fools, tragic comedians, while spectators living in the shadows are watching, waiting, consuming the flesh of the Eucharist: voyeurs, participants in ritual, myth.

Dylan Morrison knew all this; but still he kept quiet, as he ambled about the town. The kind of shadowy figure that one day walks off into the sunset, a solitary vanishing speck of humanity on a long straight highway, fading into the faraway hills of the gentle desert with the sunset splashing fire red, burnt orange & orgasmic twilight sky blue, never to be seen or heard from again

Sex w/ An Angel

Clinton/Obama 2008

• Clinton/Obama get the Democratic Party Nomination.
• Clinton/Obama clobber two white guys to win the back the Presidency in 2008.
• A woman and an African American, two historic firsts.
• You got Clinton's experience having being married to commander in chief, and a few terms under her belt at the Senate. A career politician no doubt but capable enough, and a woman, and intense, intelligent but green Obama, perhaps putting him in a good position for 2016

Joe Rossi's 2008 Prediction

Clinton/Obama get the Democratic Party Nomination.
Clinton/Obama clobber two white guys to win the back the Presidency in 2008.

Ambient Music Drifting Down the Grand Canyon

Those who have read Double Down, know how much the Southwest and the Grand Canyon figure in the plot. Watch this video of the Grand Canyon, from the YouTube channel Ambient Music. I love this music, the mood & feel as you go soaring down the canyon!

Smooth & cool
Wind in your hair
Sandstone, rocks, moods.

Kozmic Avenues: A Online Tribal Community

This was the site begun by Skye when the Doors shut down their off topic message board, The Severed Garden. Just a growing community of hipsters, classic rock fans, and artist/spiritual types. Come on over and say hello.

Mrs. Atomic US3000 Mystery Science Theater

I'm still not sure what's going on here, but this woman is one of a kind. She spins her stuff on YouTube, but this woman is seriously funny. We mean like: Lucy Ball, Carol Burnett, Tracy Ullman type genius. And those eyes!

Here is I'm Watching You --from Karlaland

I see dead people (messages from God)

I get messages from God. Yep. You heard right. On my way to work, or throughout the day, I drive past the marquees of quite a few churches. Often times it just may be a nugget of wisdom that could easily be at home in any faith or scripture. Scraps of New Testament wisdom that could be home in the Tao Te Ching, or vice versa.

Or there’s the local mosque with its never changing assertion: Humans were created to worship God. When you at first contemplate that idea it seems kind of strange, because we assume a perfect being would not need to be worshipped. But that assumes that the worshipping is done for the benefit of God, and not vice versa. Much how Jesus asks rhetorically if the Sabbath was made for man, or man for the Sabbath.

So let’s rephrase that statement so we can understand it better or more to the point you can understand how I interpret it. Humans were created to have reverence and respect and to venerate the Ideal of LOVE. And in such reverence and regard we would seek to emulate or become like that which we worship, which are the ideals of love, compassion, forgiveness, mercy and patience. All that is GOOD, then is what we as humans were created to worship and honor.

But getting back to the idea that I get messages from God, well what is he or she trying to tell me. To be a Christian, a Baptist, or a Muslim? Or maybe God is just saying his truth is abundant in many shapes, sizes and forms, and the prevailing wisdom of all religions rings true throughout out the ages. Not only do I drive past Churches, but also Buddhist Temples and Hindu shrines.

I believe for the most part the essential truth of all religions, but in a Joseph Campbell style understanding about the importance of mythology in human history, and the underlying truth that most myths point to, the Ultimate Ground of Being.

The Why of Violence in the Mideast and here in America

What kind of person beheads another man like Daniel Pearl or Nick Berg?
What kind of person blows himself up killing countless innocent strangers as well?
What kind of person kills fellow students before turning the gun on themselves?

Surely they must come from so cold a world where such actions and reactions are nothing out of the ordinary and viewed as cathartic justifiable in light of their own “victimization.” This eye for an eye, cut throat universe of karmic boomerangs as violence begets bloodbath and cycles of vengeance whirs endlessly towards more of the same.

As for suicide bombers we must conclude that life had become so meaningless so devoid of love and purpose and genuine joy that the only out they can see is to do what they do. It always strikes me as so overwhelmingly a simple issue as having to ask yourself, why would somebody kill themselves and be willing to in the process kill untold innocent others, but one who hates not only their own life, but the lives of others, many whom they envy. They basically do not experience love. They are without love and therefore without hope.

The problem in the Middle East is religious, for nobody can be happy that is hostile towards own his own human nature, for as they read their scriptures, they believe the normal and natural longings of their physical bodies will lead them to destruction, and even further away from love Thus, they are in conflict with themselves and the extremely oppressive posture they take towards their own sexuality creates an ongoing tension with the inevitable violence and aggression we know so well. Other conditions in the Middle East only serve to aggravate this already “joyless” state.

Ask yourself the next time you’re upset, or feel like snapping at someone, or think to yourself that someone is an asshole for some innocuous offense such as driving a tad too slow in front of you. “Doesn’t that asshole know I am in a hurry?!” Think about how preposterous that sounds!

Back to my point, if you take a deep breath the next time you find yourself upset, ask yourself: are you tired? Is it the end of a really long day? Did you get enough sleep last night? Are you hungry? Do you need to go the bathroom? Is it hot and muggy and the A/C is broken? Are you trying to juggle many demanding situations such as work, kids and personal chores? All of these activities will increase your stress level.

It’s also part of being alive. Hunger, pain, tension, fear, and anger, worry: all these emotions and physical events are unpleasant but necessary in life. If we didn’t get hungry we wouldn’t know when to eat, or to eat at all. If we didn’t feel pain we wouldn’t know to take our hand of the fire, or deal with the symptoms of an illness. They are messages.

Problem then in places like the Middle East, where the ongoing and prevalent antipathy towards the physical needs of the body, such as for sex, is aggravated by a scarcity in the country’s ability to meet basic needs. Imagine being a twenty-something in Iraq, your family’s been killed, it’s hot, good meals are few and rare. There is not much reason to have much hope. Basically, your miserable and your life feels worthless as though you’d been forsaken.

There really is not much difference in the mindset of the Virginia Tech student who killed scores before turning the gun on himself and the Muslim militant who blows himself up taking countless people of his own kind with him. Sure, there may be political motives on the part of the Jihadist, a concept of martyrdom for the sake of some future Islamic state tilting the scales in favor of such drastic measures, whereas with Virginia Tech, no clear political agenda being promoted, but rather the lone savage and desperate act of a miscreant bent on self-destruction. The personal and immediate goal in both cases is the end of their own suffering and the infliction of suffering upon those whom they bear ill will, whom they perceive as being happy and enjoying things they themselves seem fated to be denied.

The VA Tech shooter is an interesting case. When I found out he was probably autistic it made sense. Imagine having the same normal needs as anybody, but crippled emotionally with fear, insecurities, and an inability to communicate effectively to meet your needs. Imagine the cycle of self-hatred, and self-loathing you would subject yourself too, the utter alienation and desperation that would be your world, as you find yourself lonely in a world of seemingly happy people, and completely unskilled socially and so destined to be marooned forever lonely in a world full of happy people.

This is not to justify the horrible things that occurred but perhaps to try and get inside the head so we can understand why these kinds of things happen and why circumstances and psychological bearings can push people with little to nothing to lose to the breaking point, from which there is no return.

Possible Road Trip Summer 2007

Road Trip Summer of 2007

Tentative plans to road trip August 3rd through August 12th the Midwest and Rust Belt on into East via Pennsylvania to NYC. With our GPS and a rental car, laptop and an acoustic guitar, we plan to visit
• St. Louis
• Chicago
• Cincinnati
• Philadelphia
• New York City

So stay tuned!

Get Together Summer 2007

Get together in the summer of 2007

Joseph Campbell emphasizes the importance of ritual and ceremony. By participating in everything from church or temple to rock concerts, Halloween parties, marathons, sporting events we are participating in myths, and doing something to enhance and define our social connections with each other and with the cosmos. To that end, I intend to start doing something on a weekly basis, at the same time, same place perhaps or a variety of places in and around Austin that involved picnicking by the water, playing music, getting together, meeting each other, having fun, participating in rituals and myths and celebrating love & life. Tune into our myspace page at myspace.com/mjoerossi for the calendar of where we’ll be this summer.

A Last Fling With Decadence & Democracy -- Original CD featuring Sex w/ an Angel

Get a signed limited edition copy of the CD Last Fling w/Decadence and Democracy ... a compilation work by me, joe rossi, backed by a host of excellent musicans, with songs recorded over the last two decades of the last millenium: live tracks, studio, tracks, original america music!

Send $10 cash, check or money order and a cool fun letter with your desired mailing address to

PO Box 685313
Austin TX 78768-5313

or you can use Paypal:

A Third Option:

you can visit amazon.com by clicking on the link below and purchase it there:

Joe Rossi: Last Fling w/ Decadence & Democracy

At amazon you can also listen to sound clips of all the songs, read reviews, post reviews etc. The music on the CD is some of the music featured in our YouTube videos, such as Love Her Like The Rain, Rock & Roll Socks, Brainflower, and Freeways & Mirrors. You can also hear some of the tracks at http://myspace.com/mjoerossi or http://myspace.com/electricsol



The first two options are preferred as I have not heard from Orchard, the label selling my CD, in years, even though I know for a fact that they have been selling my CDs. Sooner or later, I will have to hook up with them and see what is going down, but in the meantime the first two options helps us in a much better and more direct way, plus the ones amazon sells won't be signed for obvious reasons.

There's even some used cheap ones out there. I guess! Check it out!

Remember, it's all about L O V E!

Cheers!

Grace

random notes on a dark blood day

in wasted scenes of dreams
& backward screams of children play
dogs are obeying, inner voices to play ball

shouts outside the window
t.v. rambles on
more die today as hatred fires another volley
time tock tick tock ...

the thing then is to deal with it, because this shit is going to happen.
you're going to have your tsuamni's and you're going to have your pscyhos going postal
you're going to have your hurricanes and you're going to have 9/11s.

maybe this human caused cases are damning, to our collective psyche, because we believe it to be preventable ... but like a rogue shark, or a killer virus, life has a dark underside.

At the top of the food chain, we all don't much think about what it's like to be any of the lower life forms of the planet. Some of us, we get a hangnail and our day is ruined. We didn't get the bonus at work. Damn.

Be thankful you're alive. Be thankful you're alive every second and don't take any of it for granted. Thank the Sky, God, the Godess, the Metaphors, The Myths, the Great Spirits
.

Justin Siegel, Jame Hall and NEXTEL: Partners in CRIME!

Justin Siegel and Jamie Hall are a pair of crooks as far as I am concerned. My wife inadvertantly signed up for some chat service on her nextel, and now NEXTEL, their willing accomplice in corporate theft refuse to stop billing us monthly on behalf on jsmart technologies, which was started by slimeballs Justin Siegel and Jamie Hall, who cannot be contacted, and NEXTEL does not seem to know how to get ahold of them either, but they are more than willing to charge us $2.99 a month on my phone bill and pass that along to jsmart tec, who are the only ones who can cancel our account which we don't use.


http://www.jsmart.com/jsmart/html/feedback1.jsp?source=JSmart

Wandering, wandering wonderall ....

Wandering, wandering wonderall ....

---

the highway
the road less travelled
jack kerouac

images conjured of hitchhiking sojourns into an American Night

still the day may arrive
I'll wander these broken dream highways into the East
through the Plains, & the Ohio Valleys

through Mississipi & stretches of Appalachins
Pennsylvania, Upstate New York
eeerrie canal, wanderlust, daydream, deadhead road tours

yeah I love the idea the yielding horizon
yielding small towns, giving up the ghosts of histories past
quiet times, tree-lined avenues, rolling hills, baled hay, & cotton
windmills, watertowers, old mills, abandoned houses

on the outskirts, prairies, cattle roam
ancient trails, wonders home.

wonder is here
where I wander in mind
to all the places unseen
in Time.

Let Us Ride ...

et us ride such swift & surging currents
into the future, drips like paint from ragged cloudburst skies

let us script words
& then poisoned pens, we let it fly
into your maelstrom, city night she begins w/ horns & voices
in the night

so cool & smooth & w/ elegant aplomb
approach the podium caress the speaker glib & wired
into sunsets, frames & frozen fantasies

of log cabins, rolled in stone, & gypsy weavers
finding freedom, violence in words & images on the screens of so many televisions
tuned into Time

this ragged face of history, of cars & castles of yore & mimes
& poet laureates, actors, singers, radicals, feminists, care-takers, muck rackers
rabble rousers, they cry

a slingshot, bullseye, arrow flies into my mind, the bullet dies all light explodes
into the future seed, a Kingdom not of words, not of realms, not of mine.

a place where nothing happens
because every thing has been perfected rendered in ionic
classic lines.

Let Us Ride ...

et us ride such swift & surging currents
into the future, drips like paint from ragged cloudburst skies

let us script words
& then poisoned pens, we let it fly
into your maelstrom, city night she begins w/ horns & voices
in the night

so cool & smooth & w/ elegant aplomb
approach the podium caress the speaker glib & wired
into sunsets, frames & frozen fantasies

of log cabins, rolled in stone, & gypsy weavers
finding freedom, violence in words & images on the screens of so many televisions
tuned into Time

this ragged face of history, of cars & castles of yore & mimes
& poet laureates, actors, singers, radicals, feminists, care-takers, muck rackers
rabble rousers, they cry

a slingshot, bullseye, arrow flies into my mind, the bullet dies all light explodes
into the future seed, a Kingdom not of words, not of realms, not of mine.

a place where nothing happens
because every thing has been perfected rendered in ionic
classic lines.

A Vast Left Wing Conspiracy

If you listen to Rush Limbaugh there is a vast left wing conspiracy to concoct among scientists this far fetched foolish notion that somehow human generated greenhouse gases are causing global warming in order to bring down America!

P.S. Kiss The Duchess For Me -- Autographed

But it now using your credit card or paypal account!

or

Send $15 check, cash or order to
joe rossi
po box 685313
austin tx 78768

The Crystal Ship

The Dead Head Parking Lot

And so it comes about I have a blog now that represents the grateful dead parking lot in the hey day of the boys ... lots of stickers, trippy stuff, garage sale stuff. Want to also do a scrap book blog
with all this interesting stuff I've collected.....

stay tuned into the madness
we roll at dawn

The Founding Fathers

In Chapter One of Founding Fathers, author and historian Stephen E. Ambrose discusses the character, achievements, and short-comings of several of the founding fathers, with an emphasis on George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. The first and third Presidents, respectively, these men are singled out not only for their prominence, but for the fact that such icons and champions of liberty were in fact men who profited from an institution that was the antithesis of freedom: slavery.

Through anecdotes he relates how both men, in light of this fact, have fallen out of favor with many American educators citing a case where one teacher dropped Thomas Jefferson from required reading and another where the name of a middle school originally named for George Washington has it changed to something more politically correct.

Jefferson receives especially harsh treatment. Not just because he owned slaves, but because in his writing he is intellectually honest enough to admit that slavery to the reasoned mind does appear to be immoral. Regardless of his academic honesty, he maintains a belief that African Americans are inferior to justify not only inaction towards the cause of emancipation, but to justify his ownership of slaves, which economically-speaking, was quite convenient for him to do.

Still, Ambrose does strike a balance by pointing out Jefferson’s significant achievements, such as establishing freedom of religion with the Virginia Statutes of Religious Freedom, and promoting the idea of universal education. And it was the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 which was based on plan he had written outlining how the country would be settled west of the Appalachian Mountains that set the precedent still in effect today by which U.S. territories would be come states.

Still, Ambrose leaves no doubt that in his estimation Jefferson’s racism and ownership of slaves taints these accomplishments.

His treatment of Washington is not nearly as harsh, though Washington, a Virginia farmer like Jefferson, also owned slaves. While he does not consider Washington to be Jefferson’s intellectual equal, he views Washington more favorably for the simple reason that Washington took courageous and decisive steps for the cause of freedom, and cites the fact that upon his death Washington did free his slaves. Ambrose maintains of Washington that he “never lied, fudged, or cheated.”

He notes that Washington led the nation to victory despite long odds, and did so at great personal risk. He notes that had Washington lost the war and been captured by the British he would have been tried for treason and executed. “Washington personifies the word ‘great,” he concludes.

Ambrose’s main point would seem to be that despite the irony of the fact that these founding fathers owned slaves, their intellectual and political efforts helped plant the seed that would change the world, and for that they should be honored and remembered. He defends them with statements such as “few of us ever completely escape our time and place.” For Ambrose, the fact that Washington risked his very life for the cause of the freedom coupled with the fact that he freed his slaves upon his death earns him a pass, and cements him as the greatest of the founding fathers in this historian’s eyes.

Jefferson need be remembered primarily for his brilliant way with words, but notably as well for advancing the causes of universal education and religious freedom. His eloquence on such matters helped justify the brave efforts of later generations and offers an ounce of redemption; even though Ambrose makes it clear he regards Jefferson’s character as flawed. He notes an apparent death bed conversion of sorts wherein Jefferson declines to be at the 50^th anniversary celebration of his Declaration of Independence, and quotes Jefferson as having discerned “All eyes are opened, or opening to the rights of man …the palpable truth that mass of mankind has not been born, with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred and ready to ride them.”

He allows that the fact that these men were far from perfect but concludes “that doesn’t mean we should judge the whole of them only by this part.”

In judging past leaders by today’s standards it’s important to remember that all humans are imperfect. If we are to judge those white Americans who were slave owners, what are we to make of the Africans complicit in the slave trade that turned in their fellow men? History is full of ironies such as this: some Cherokee Indians were also slave holders who were forced to adopt their slaves as their own after the end of the Civil War. The man that is oppressed today may be tomorrow’s given the chance. That is not to excuse the behavior outright but to put their behavior in proper context.

Christianity, which plays such a prominent role in American history, emphasizes the imperfection of all men, and in recognizing that we’re all imperfect, there is imperative to forgive your fellow man, for “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” Or in other words, people who live in glass houses should not throw stones. It’s easy with hindsight to look back upon the actions of historical figures and pass judgment, but in doing so we invite future generations to cast aspersions upon our generation as well. In short, nobody is perfect, including the founding fathers, but their contributions and the things made possible through their courage and effort, deserve to be acknowledged, and as mitigating the more unsavory aspects of their character.

American Misfit

Misfit power
David against the giant empire
the rebellion of the sons against the father
is an old, old story
(Norman Brown.)

mayhem in the colonies
Mutiny on the bounties
The mouse that roars
The elephant that buckles
The shot that is slung
The ogre sinks to his knees
And vanishes into the ground

The copter crashes into the jungle
The death star blown to kingdom come
The empire falters, the imperial army stumbles
The weak overwhelm the strong

A ring bearer brazenly walks into the land of Darkness
A boy with a porridge bowl dares ask for more
Nobility hides in orphans clothes
True wealth lies in a pauper’s robes.

Upstart Martin
Bookworm monk
Nails his beef on the
Papal door.

Stories of Washington
& rag tag armies, misfit crews
Slipping out in the dead of night
Into a divine mist or fog
By the invisible hand of God
Pivotal moments at the birth of epochs

Pitchfork armies, militias
& the speakeasy ways of Thomas Paine
w/ common sense words, & a pamphlet
spelling out quite clearly that the King
he wears no crown.

Elegant words from a dubious lord
Slave-owner, lawyer, visionary, boar.
& it seemed for a spell, Dixie might win the war.
Triumph of the weak over the ways of the World
Is an old, old story, as history has bore.

Ironies are bound as the tables often turn
In this sordid tale, this Morality Play
Or as they say in the East, even the demigods will stumble
As they fall over their own reflection.

You can rise too high, soar too far
& for that you will be humbled.
No sooner do you set sail for America
That your ship runs into ice & is lost in its own legend & lore
Little consolation to the souls mired in the depths of the dark Atlantic
Or for the survivors as they drag themselves to shore.

This is an old, old story
The Story of America
The underdog that sings.
A tortured song for true Americans then
That are torn by dark musings.

Just as an Empire’s battleships
Sailed for our precious American shores
We now find our sailors and sons faraway
Trying to settle some score
Trying to teach the world to sing
In the tumult of a third world war.
How far from America, have we sailed from thee,
This city on a hill no more?

Love Her Like The Rain

She's like a cloud floating across the sky
Fall in love with her
And you will never ever die

And I love her, love her like the rain
And I love her, love her like the rain

She's like a dream, floating downstream
Floating away, up into the sky

And I love her, love her like the rain
And I love her, love her like the rain

Forest princess Queen of the living earth
She's the light, she's the air, and trees
She's the love, the love we breathe
She's the thunder; she's the rain
And you need her, or you go insane

And I love her, love her like the rain
And I love her, love her like the rain
And I love her, love her like the rain
And I love her, love her like the rain

Like the rain
Like the rain
Like the rain
Like the rain

Of War & Peace

Somehow I wandered out of Los Angeles.

I was born in 63.
The year that they killed Kennedy.
3 years later we were in a war
& still don’t know what we were fighting for.

Somehow I wondered as I wandered into the Doors, post Van Halen & the usual ego driven high school trips AWOL & scribbling notebooks like Harriet the Spy. Somehow I drifted into Austin for the turn of the century unrealized Y2K mayhem but the real maelstrom was a year and ½ away on 9/11.

Forty years since the summer of love. And here we are.

I hear that a lot is on the line in Iraq, but tell me wasn’t there a lot of talk like that about Vietnam. Best as I can tell, we lost that war, and there was a great deal at stake with that War, domino theory and all. Kind of makes you wonder what would have happened had we won! I happen to believe that if a war is a just war, then the right side will win. Look at three pivotal wars in recent history: the American Revolution, the Civil War, and World War II. Can it not be argued that a great good arose from these?

In the evolution of man, it seems that despite the worst inclinations of some of us, our civilization slowly yields to the good. Having learned the importance of innate human rights, the white man was forced to concede that personal liberty was the providence of the black man as well. And both black and white man then were cornered into having to admit that these rights, such as the right to vote, extended to women as well. Hitler was grossly delusional in his wanton and evil disregard for the Jewish people’s right to their very lives. Having realized that white-borne communicable diseases and territorial avarice lead to the widespread eradication of Native American populations, Americans now let the Indians exploit and sap those Americans gullible enough to gamble in their casinos of their life savings.

It was the dictates of conscience, and conclusions of men committed to scriptural ideas found in all major religions that slowly yielded these advances in mankind’s civility. It was not the triumph of one ideology over another, but the triumph of goodness and decency, mercy, forgiveness, and an openness to rise above the petty and fleeting circumstances of our temporal mortal lives. Sometimes in asserting our rights then, and in the course of securing those rights for others, wars are fought. Lives are lost but its specious to use these just causes to morally justify every military action undertaken arbitrarily by any one country.

History is full of interesting tales of how the tables are always turning. Just because the United States has been involved and on the winning side in just causes does not mean it has carte blanch to wage war whenever and where it sees. The American Revolution was fought against the Imperial British, but who joined us in Iraq but the British, and who was maligned in the process, but France, an indispensable ally against the British in our fight for independence.

The choice to use bloodshed is regrettable and hopefully avoidable. Also it is hopeful, and perhaps, imperative that the cause be a just cause. Southern states buried millions of American men who went to their deaths defending their right to keep humans in perpetual human bondage. Think about that.

It can be argued that Jesus could have fought off his tormentors, could have used to violence or guile to avoid his fate, but instead accepted his fate stoically, preferring to wage a much more important fight on a spiritual battlefield. The point lost on most folks is his remark that the rest of humanity isn’t off the hook; that they must too take up their cross if they are to be worthy of him.

So what’s the point then? Would pacifism have won World War II or freed the slaves? On the other hand, the fall of Saigon did not lead to rapid rise of Communism throughout the world. Maybe short victories were won, but the proof will always be in the pudding. Change can be slow and painful. History is littered with the casualties of this process. It’s an ongoing dialectic with the pendulum always swinging between war and peace. Always carrying that big stick, it’s important to remember speaking softly, is probably even more important.

Jesus lost the immediate battle in that he lost his mortal life, but he gained spiritual life, and the fruits of his sacrifice can still be measured. So it’s important to remember that sometimes in losing we still win. As he said, he who loses his life save it, and he that seeks to save his life will lose it. It’s a matter of knowing of how to lose, and how to win, gracefully, and for the right reason.

Our current generation will have plenty of battles to fight, but I fear that the current war mongering and hate mongering in the name of 9/11, only detracts us from the real battles we must fight in the future.

Onward through the fog …

Road Prayers

Rolling down the 210 en route to the Sierras
Stirs quaint & not so dear memories on this open road
Friends faraway & friends fallen into the long soft night

Where Weisman roams, in the hills overlooking Glendale
Further farther still, Sylmar beckons just beyond the blood soaked streets
Where Rodney King grimaced, twitched beneath the batons of L.A.'s finest.
Skalestky's brood up against the mountain, ragged crags of rock & stone
I remember these days & nights of music fond memories still

farther up we roll past the cemetery where sweet Carlos he lies
beneath the San Fernando sky

these are the days I say my road prayers
w/ Roky Erikson calling forth a memory of Jefe
& me & Dharma, ol Richard yes, dancing in the Broom's lair
To "Don't Slander Me."

I say my Road Prayers to Robert, yes,
The Zimmerman. He blares out my IPOD, all pirated sounds
I think what fascinating & awesome days to come of age
To think these are my songs, just for me, these wanton blissful tunes.

My songs, the song of love, the troubadour he loves to sing
Loves to make the critics wince, the naysayers cry, while the poets still dare to dream
this song they sing.

Like a child they say
Seek first the kingdom, yes I do
I believe in You.

Belief is a beauty thing.
Kerr promised a miracle, & the ghost in You
knows how to ring
The Bells inside the Mission's scene.

like a mission in the rain
the ghosts they still find time to complain
to ridicule and throw flames & scream

terminal adults, these cantankerous creatures think they possess the keys
like Valley People who rise up & ream
The Peaceful Children of the Hills, who seem
So happy, blissful with a golden treasure eyes have never seen.

let those who have ears now hear
let's make this argument loud & clear
there can be no sanctuary for those who have not learned the fine art of
forgiving

all that they see
& all that they hear
in the heat of the violent night
& upon the birth of a bright new day

comes a smooth silk saviour
who knows all the tricks &
rules this game from someplace deep inside
the forest beneath the torrential rain.

road prayers
for my friends, who play
in the shadows
or in the light of the coming day.

Pale Moon Above the Chumash Nation

pale moon hangs dreamily
over the the Happy Valley
peers through the thin clouds
above the wet forest night

The Chumash take the white man's wagers
petty payback for pestilence past
still the land is young, & the earth still spinning
into the future, the Sovereign sing.

Billy Jack lives in the caves nearby
holds for the radical chic 60's idealism
knowing peace & love now that is all well & good
but still every once in a while
you got to kick a little ass!

Brainflower

notes from rainy saturday 1/13

Notes from a rainy day

Where are the flagellants

To ward off this next wave

Birds down under fall from the sky

Along Congress Ave, Austin TX a scene repeated.

Ticking forwards towards come what may

A bright new future or just a large mass grave?

They dragged the Semites to their Pyres

On Valentines Day.

They flew planes into buildings;

Cursed tyrants on the gallows.

Wasted moments in fear & pain.

Who are the new creatures

& who is wasted in their grave?

Death is your friend

In the end, the only answer

In Europe, the black death gave rise to industrialism.

Changes in religion; survival of the fittest

Shaking forward & yet violence still finds the best of men

Rising and falling their swords on the fallen.

Didn't we already win this war?

Let's see: the reasons for going to war were pretty much 1) WMDS and 2) regime change. Seeing how there are clearly no WMDs in the country, Saddam is history as are his sons, as well as is noted terrorist Al Zarqawi, how is it that we haven't already won?

If we're going to define winning as when all these people learn to play nice and fair we're going to be there for a long, long time.

I'm sorry but the fundamental problem is much deeper than that. There's a reason why our most solid allies in the region are monarchies. When people in the Mideast vote, they usually vote against the U.S. and to wipe Israel off the face of the earth. Do you really think the Shi' ites who make up Iraq's current government are different that the ones next door in Iran?

There is also what I call the misery factor. You can muck things up with all sorts of ideological debates about politics and religion, but the bottom line is that the cause of all the suffering in Mideast is unhappiness. Addressing the root causes of that unhappiness is the answer; its not going to happen at the end of a gun's barrel.

Besides, we're going hemoragghing debt now, and I find that obscene.

A definition of Evil

Evil is ignorant selfishness. Good is enlightened selflessness.

I am going to make some generalizations, so keep in mind, I am well aware there are exceptions to every rule, and nothing is black and white, or clear cut & dry.

I would define evil as unenlightened selfishness, which is a result of ignorance. Therefore, and quite ironically, I have concluded that as far as people go, the most evil people among us are our children. I know that sounds crazy and insane, but consider that I’ll contrast that with the notion that the best among us are the old.

When a child cries and throws a fit, because he or she doesn’t get what she wants, she is doing so because she knows no better (ignorance) To a child the world revolves around THEM. Children can be terribly cruel to other children, especially ones with handicaps. But we excuse children because they really know no better; they are acting on their first thoughts and instincts. They are innocent little beings that amaze us. Yet their fundamental nature is very “me” oriented.

Think about most grandparents, about how they dote on their grandkids, worry about their kids, volunteer at hospitals. I think as you grow older you become wiser (hence the evolution of the archetype of God as a wise old man with a beard) and begin to find your purpose in life as being others and not yourself. You live for others. You see yourself in others, and realize a certain oneness with others. And the kind of self worth and happiness this produces far outweighs your own selfish needs. In fact, worrying about your own selfish needs over others tend to increase your isolation and loneliness.

So if you see life as a progression from extreme self-centeredness to extreme selflessness, I see that as the ideal life pattern. Children by nature are selfish, but as they mature and grow and start families of their own, their lives become less about themselves and more about others, and they become happier.

You ask how I define evil. Nature is evil. Life is evil. Think about it. Dogs are evil. If you doubt that just ask a cat. But cats and dogs are simply obeying their natural instincts. If a shark attacks me while swimming is it evil? It is as far as I am concerned, because my life is over. But ultimately the shark is simply acting on an instinctual need to eat. It is not evil in an ultimate sense.

I know of a mass murderer who killed 250,000 people, many who died horrible deaths being ripped from the arms of their loved ones. Is this killer evil? I don’t know can a Tsunami be evil? Is an earthquake evil, or just a natural act of God?

As humans we know the difference between good and evil in that we know that life must kill life in order to live. We comprehend duality. We know that for every sun rise there is a sunset. In math we know that every positive number has a negative integer. I believe we have to find a balance. You can’t give in to nihilism because all of us are in this together. There can be no life without sacrifice. You cannot have good without evil. There is a pendulum swinging forward towards our collective destiny and it involves knowing both good and evil.

Those of us alive in the 21st century in many ways won the lottery of life in terms of when in human history we are living. We have access to the best health care, education, comforts, technology, so I think in many ways we need to appreciate these moments that we are alive and count our blessings. We are doing things that would amaze our ancestors. I know it’s easy to get disillusioned and beaten down by ennui. Mass media makes it possible to know that people are starving and suffering in other parts of the world. We can work to alleviate suffering, but there always will be suffering as long as there are conscious sentient beings in the world.

But think if were born in another time, when women didn’t have rights, when slavery was the norm, when people died of pestilence, plaques. We might have been drafted to fight in wars we didn’t believe in. Of course, there’s the possibility we might witness Nuclear Armageddon or a global environmental calamity due to global warming. Welcome to our part in world history. We are witnesses, in all its gore & all its glory.

I like to think life; our experience of life, the collective human experience is a progression from bad to good, from war to peace, from death to life. It’s an evolution from the simple to the complex. There is a peace of mind when you accept your place along this path. You also need to take a certain amount of responsibility. And you need to love others, unconditionally. If they commit acts of evil, hate the sin, but love the sinner. It’s not easy to do.

There are in many religions and faiths key elements that I believe to be true. That said, I don’t think there is a devil per se. There is your rational mind and your ego coupled with your animal nature, and based upon genetics and your environmental conditioning, there is your fate. To the extent that you become more conscious of your place in the world, and the fact that despite how small and insignificant you may think you are, deep inside you, you are connected to the source of all life, every action, big or small, that you take is important.

I always liked the idea in Christianity of original sin, or that all have fallen short in the eyes of God. It’s a way of saying, we’re all to blame, equally, as life as it is lived must include both good AND evil. There can be no life without sacrifice.

Remember those puzzles we had when were a kid and you had these numbers and you tried to get the numbers all to be in sequence and every time you move a number you affect all the other numbers, like a Rubik’s Cube. We are all like those numbers in the puzzle, and the entirety of the puzzle is the entirety of ourselves in the known universe, and we are one with that universe and yet also that small number. Still every move we make is connected the larger puzzle and brushes up and affects other parts of the puzzle, for a chain a reaction ad infinitum.

Evil is one number in the puzzle that only is concerned about where its number is in the puzzle and could care less about how moving about affects all the other numbers. Some of us when this number pushes up against us, push back, and blame it on the other number. Fair enough, but a wiser approach might be to not push back (turn the other cheek) and try to reason with the number.

Evil would be the unenlightened selfishness of the one number that does not act with enlightened self-interest that is part of a larger puzzle and learning to move in harmony with all the other pieces of the puzzle is the source of happiness.

Death of a Tyrant

Central to Buddhism is the idea of compassion and not just compassion for the needy or the infirm but compassion for all living beings who are suffering due to the conditions of their life. You find this sentiment in most religions.

I believe that when Jesus said “You do it unto the least of me, you’ve done it to me,” he just wasn’t talking just about the poor or crippled, but the morally inferior as well. Because I believe people that we define as evil are in reality just people who are very sick. Many times this has to do with what happened to them as children.

I didn’t know this until recently but Hussein was brutalized by his step-father. He never knew his real father. This isn’t to excuse his behavior but to try to get some understanding into how a man like him comes to be because he wasn’t born into this world an evil dictator. Somehow along to his death he became transformed into something vile. More times than not, what he experiences as a child is a factor, as we all know these are formative years.

We can all agree that if we become aware of little boy who is abused, that we will care about the little boy and have compassion for him. Can we then somehow find it our hearts to have compassion for the same boy having grown up and having not dealt with his childhood abuse very well? Once upon a time, Saddam Hussein was an innocent little boy. Do any of you have any curiosity about what you have to add to a little boy to make him into a brutal dictator? This doesn’t excuse the behavior or make it OK, but at least we can get an idea of where it comes from.

In Christianity they say, hate the sin, love the sinner. In Eastern thought this is expressed more as the idea that we must have compassion for all living beings, even if we disagree with their behavior because their behavior is simply the result of their programming. A person is not their programming. With an execution, it’s as though we take a tape player and because we don’t like what the tape is playing, we ceremoniously destroy the tape player.

We can kill Saddam Hussein’s ad infinitum, but until we deal with the conditional circumstances of his development i.e. the cultural, religious, and social customs of his environment; the ongoing vicious karmic cycles of abuse, hatred, retribution, and violence, these programs will continue to be generated and find their way into tape players to play them. And we can continue to destroy tape players, thinking somehow we are wiping out the programs we don’t like, but paradoxically are perpetuating the proliferation of the programs.

But in a small way, in the sense that we become capable of killing a broken old man, we are no longer innocent, and are in fact playing a similar (if less lethal) program. In many ways, we become tainted, corrupted, in our effort to stamp out the perceived evil; we become infected with the same type of hatred. We become mirrors reflecting back the hatred.

The men who killed Saddam allowed Saddam’s inhumanity to rob them of their own. As I said before I don’t mourn Saddam’s downfall, rather I mourn that he succeeds in dragging so many down with him.