In my early flirtations with religions of the world I was quite taken by the Buddhists and the concept that life, as we practice it everyday, is really the dream and we need to be awakened (enlightened) from that dream. And ... I was equally impressed with the idea that the gong was a device to remind you that you had to be awakened from that dream......
I know how simplistic and perhaps naive this sounds, and it probably is but the concept struck me hard as I read another post from The Existentialist Cowboy earlier today concerning the number of right wing nut jobs who are openly saying that we (as a country) need "another 9/11".
Why?
Because that will bring the country together again...unite us...presumably under the brilliant and visionary leadership of George W. Bush. (on edit: gagging optional)
I responded to "The Cowboy's" post and his response led me to the thought about "the gong"....here's what he said:
These people are what Carl Jung feared, that is, they are but instances of mass psychosis.
snip
I have often written and defended my position: the GOP is not a political party, it is a crime syndicate, a criminal conspiracy. Lately, it's become even worse. The GOP IS the evil empire and they have made same of the US.
It is the first sentence that struck me the hardest. I wrote a few weeks back that some other associates of mine, quite independently of one another, had asked if someone had set off a "stupid bomb"....one reference was to our local community and the other was to the nation as a whole....
Well, maybe The Cowboy stumbled (or maybe brilliantly identified?) onto the real truth. Perhaps we as a nation are suffering under some form of mass hypnosis. Perhaps we have all fallen under the spell of uber-patriotism. Perhaps we've all bought into the great American Delusion that it doesn't make any difference who we elect because as Nader told us so clearly in the 2000 election campaign "there isn't a dime's worth of difference between (republicans and democrats)..them"
Maybe we bought into the delusion that "the grownups are in charge" and all we have to do is keep shopping, buy tons of useless stuff on our credit cards, buy houses and cars we can't afford and remember that Al Gore is just an overweight (fat) alarmist, know-it-all, so don't worry about Global climate change, and everything will be okay....life will never change.....
GONG!
Wake up!
While we're dreaming about that next new McMansion or GarageMahal or the newer, bigger shinier SUV, our country and maybe even our planet is circling the bowl....
I don't know how to sound the alarm any louder....I don't know how many of us "banging the gong" it will take to reach critical mass to make things change....
but I'll keep banging on the gong.......
