A Toxic Environment To Be Aware Of

by Robert Wilkinson

There are many kinds of environments. They are the fields within which we live. There are many kinds of fields. Some can kill you if you're not careful. By being aware of these fields, we can survive and even do well despite the chaos.

There are physical environments, emotional environments, mental environments, and Spiritual environments. For many years I have pointed out that from one point of view everything that Is, is a "Spiritual environment." However, our view of this One Reality is often skewed by various forms of environmental pollution. These lead to toxic actions, feelings, and thoughts. By being aware of our environment, we can escape from toxic circumstances, or even clean it up so that life can prosper.

The cosmic atmosphere can be seen in the various sign positions of the planets, as well as the aspects between the transiting planets. For instance, we are transitioning from a long term Virgo-Pisces opposition in the atmosphere into a long term Libra-Aries opposition, with a hefty dose of challenge from the Pluto square.

Of course, there are fluctuations from day to day in any atmosphere. While some of these feel good, others can lull us into a false sense of security. While some only seem to be productive, others offer us an understanding of what must be stabilized and what must be destabilized as prelude to a new order.

The Cardinal T square that is happening this month is a perfect example describing the larger polarized atmosphere as well as the forced changes and turning points by the seeds of ongoing widespread global transformation. And yet we can also make great progress using the same aspects to turn a corner and learn to be more effective, creating new physical, emotional, and mental environments despite the general polarization.

I got to cogitatin' about this theme of environments due to an extraordinary comment on the same Frank Rich article, There’s a Battle Outside and It Is Still Ragin’ that I offered for your consideration recently. In the previous article, Black and White and Color - The Times Are Still A-Changin', I offered you a poetic view of color and culture, with its rich metaphors along with a companion piece, written from a "political" view.

Today's post is yet another view, one about media, perception, manipulation, and the ability of those who control the media in our society to give us all the news they feel is fit to be put out there. I thought the commenter, "Jumper" from South Carolina, brought up some very important points regarding the current public dialog, and just how toxic the environment has become.

We are truly at a point of decision in America as to whether we will allow hate speech and fear of the future to derail the American experiment for however long these viruses are allowed to run rampant. Our long term task is to persevere in creating newer, better systems based on integrity, cooperation, goodwill, all to create a more loving environment where a better individual and collective future may flourish for the good of all rather than the few.

The poster even brings up a great Bobby Kennedy quote, perfect for our times. He makes the point that GNP (Gross National Product) is not an accurate measure of a nation's wealth and greatness, which is found in the intangible goods of its citizens, such as wisdom, courage, and compassion. Since all nations aspire to have a larger GNP, perhaps this message applies to all of us, not just the US.

So at the risk of mixing Astrology, Metaphysics, Social Commentary, Politics, and current events and stir the pot of potential controversy, I present a piece from "Jumper" that I have titled "Don't delude yourself or your environment will kill you."

During my childhood and teenage years when I spent weeks at a time in harsh Arctic-winter conditions, (and loved it), rule one drilled into me was, "Don't delude yourself or your environment will kill you."

This past week, time stood still for all of America. Every adult, thinking American, from the President on down was forced to stop and look at themselves and ponder what their behavior had created. We're deluded beyond belief and we're destroying this nation of amazing opportunities.

We claim vicious, widely broadcast hate speech and defamation of character is merely free speech opinion. It's far beyond that. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote in a majority opinion, "The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man falsely shouting fire in a theater and causing a panic."

Note the word falsely. All this rubbish President Obama and now about Mrs. Shirly Sherrod was false and was designed to stir up hatred and cause panic ... panic so voters will fear black Americans and embrace the Republicans. Republicans are counting on our delusion. The current legal test is whether the speech would cause imminent lawless action. Breitbart's actions got her lawlessly fired and subjected to a technological lynching. Is this American free speech? We're deluded about freedom if we let this continue.

We're deluded if we continue to deny there are those playing on our gullibility such as Breitbart did. In these days of cell phone video, we think that it's real-time and can't be faked. Of course it can.

We're deluded if we continue to think politics is someone else's business. That's how we ended up with grossly overpaid officials in Bell, CA and South Carolina ended up with a mystery candidate for U.S. Senate.

At the University of Kansas, Robert Kennedy gave an amazing, perceptive speech that even today can help us set our course instead of merely drifting toward the next event.

RFK said we must, "confront the poverty of satisfaction - purpose and dignity - that afflicts us all. Too much and for too long, we seemed to have surrendered personal excellence and community values in the mere accumulation of material things."

He continued on and spoke of our Gross National Product,

"that Gross National Product counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors and the jails for the people who break them. It counts the destruction of the redwood and the loss of our natural wonder in chaotic sprawl. It counts napalm and counts nuclear warheads and armored cars for the police to fight the riots in our cities. It counts ... the television programs which glorify violence in order to sell toys to our children.

Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country,it measures everything in short, except that which makes life worthwhile. And it can tell us everything about America except why we are proud that we are Americans."

About 90 years ago, an Inuit chief up on the Canadian Arctic was asked what his religion believed. He replied, "We don't believe. We fear." It is time we stop deluding ourselves that all is well, and feared for the quality of our future, pondered what RFK said March 18, 1968, and set about building the better nation we all love in our hearts but which we have allowed vanity, greed and hatred to keep us from creating.

I believe this man has laid out a fairly compelling argument for us to pay attention to our many environments. While I'm not into fearing for the quality of our future, I am all for being courageous, strong, and determined to create a better world not dominated by fear and stupid destructive power games.

We are here to create a better life whenever and wherever we can on many levels of life. That means improving the environment when we are able. And to remember that the intangibles of life are more of a standard to strive for than the grosser things in life.

© Copyright 2010 Robert Wilkinson

Comments

[Leslee]

Thanks for sharing this, and all your positive posts. It's so hard to take in all the nastiness - and hard to avoid it. My elderly father, who is not a hateful person, forwards me these hateful emails he gets and I mostly delete them, or occasionally find a truth-meter type of site (eg, Snopes) to correct them, but it gets to me what's being thrown out there for the gullible to believe. Comments on otherwise interesting articles online are often so mean. (sigh) Anyway, I'm glad you found this comment with the quotes from RFK - they're lovely and inspiring and above the fray - which we need to hear so much to counter the ugliness.

[Dawn]

I fear self-righteous mandarins who would deny red-blooded Americans their right to free speech under the questionable and kaleidoscopic rubric of "HATE"...punishable by WHAT???...because they, or their cultural cliques, find some utterance offensive...or simply disagree.

There are satisfactory defamation laws on the books.

The Sherrod story is more complicated and nuanced than would appear at first blush to the uncritical, Kumbaya eye. Only a free press or brash bloggers could thrash that out.

Likewise, Americans are within their rights to criticize Obama because they disagree with his policies, or question his birthplace, or don't dig his style.

It is RACIST to constantly attribute criticism of POTUS to racism.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." 'Nuff said.

Oh, I think the Founding Fathers would surely extend the blessings of free speech to the Internet.

[Robert]

Hi Dawn - Proprietor and bouncer checking in briefly. Get over it. We are not speaking of critical thinking that evaluates what is working and what is not, or what is objectively true versus what is subjectively "true." There is hate speech. I just took a dose not long ago. To quote the Bard, "You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows..."

There is racism, in that humanity is hardwired to fear that which is "different." We learn to GET OVER IT. A person does not have the right to be hateful and justify it in the name of "free speech." That's the sophistry of the lower ego justifying its own negativity. "And the silver tongued devil dances in a circle, swearing the truth teller is telling a lie..." Do not justify hate speech with attitude and superficial thinking and arguments.

[Dawn]

There are those who are assiduously working to abridge what little First Amendment Rights we still have.

"Hate Speech" is a crowbar.

High-minded people are rightly worried.

[Joanne]

This is so right on! Thank you for sharing!
Joanne

[D]

Thank you Robert - beautiful food for thought.

[Moira]

A UK reader checking in here with HUGE thanks to you Robert for posting this, and for your eloquent, perceptive challenge to the contempt/spite/hate culture that flourishes under the fig-leaf of free speech. Or free capitalism, or other rationalisations for greed and hate-of-difference.

I bless you for giving voice to other ways of being and thinking, and challenging with words and wisdom the poison of polluting hate-thought.

[BritLitChik]

What a thoughtful article, Robert. It reminded me of many things...and without getting 'windy', in particular it made me think of being in Costa Rica (I was there about a year ago). I had (wrongly - my own fears) expected to find it to be something like Mexico - some people working, some not, some crime (watch your wallet!) What I found was a lovely, beautiful slice of paradise. After taking a lengthy trip across the country, through the mountains and into the rain forest, I found EVERYONE working, friendly, and did not feel like I had to "watch my wallet" everywhere I went.

I had the opportunity to have a engaging discourse with, of all people, a lady giving me a manicure. She was beautiful, delightful and knowledgeable about her country and customs and we had a fantastic talk despite having little ability to speak in each other's language.

They have no military - so the money gets spent on education. Everyone goes to school. Everyone is expected to finish. Everyone has the same opportunities. And while every country has its problems (for them the major one seems to be being stuck between Nicaragua and Panama and not far away from the Columbian Cartel), these folks live a fairly peaceful existence in their beautiful country and make the time to embrace their environment and take care of it far more than most countries in that part of the world. They could be living in fear, could be building a military to protect its people from the conflict surrounding them, but they don't.

I like that.

[Darwin]

I have spent my life teaching the writings of mostly women of color and working with mostly white students on deconstructing white supremacy.i have recently lost my job as a college teacher (part time for 16 years) i was a mostly well liked teacher and the college just wrote me a letter and cut me loose. just like that. and i went with the shift (a lot of my ability to shift had to do with reading robert's writings. i was sort of ready for it) now i am working with old folks in a progressive nursing home as a social worker and as a direct care person. i made the transition to socialwork in the last two years (i was teaching at nite) and into the direct care work in the last three months) the direct care work has really changed my life. just like that. in the one month that i have had my license which has enabled me to actually do direct care legally, i have realized more clearly that i can actually affect my environment positively through my own energy (and all of the hard work that I do on myself and managing my own "stuff") and that is a form of social revolution that is coming about because of the spiritual changes occuring in human culture at this time. i am humbled by the responsibility of taking care of people at the end of their lives and by being there when they transition.
i would have never known one decade ago that i would be doing this work, but my black studies background (academic -graduate degree- and growing up in the south in the fifties and sixties and being someone who is racialized as white both visually and culturally but who has an affinity for black culture and love of black people) actually prepared me to do this work in the nursing home. white supremacy and racism are tied intimately to the modern world economy. They are part of everyone's consciousness. (this is why i think that we should use a black studies model for schooling our kids from kindergarten on...and black studies would include and center of course the discourse of all non white and non western people)hopefully, with the advancements (not the best word, but you know what i mean) in spiritual awareness that are happening in western culture, people will "gentle up". i agree that things are rough as far as the ways that we treat each other. i see it in the daily life that my son has to navigate with his friends. it's not easy trying to raise a compassionate kid when very weird, insidious forms of bullying (including hate speech)are the norm. But through the writings of women of color i have been reminded over and over again that even in the face of extreme unkindness (and the material ramifications that go with it)people can be compassionate, live lives of service and use their lives for the overall good.
.

[ull]

Manipulation through media is something we are also getting more and more of here in Sweden. But we do have one of the Wikileaksservers safe here in Stockholm..

[LB]

It’s a sad fact that racism is alive and well in this country, although its wide-ranging scope is rarely discussed in the media or amongst the politically correct. Racism is not unique to white people; minorities are just as likely to participate as anyone else – power has many forms. And contrary to popular belief, white people – particularly those who have been marginalized based on socioeconomic factors, disability or gender – are just as likely to suffer abuse at the hands of opportunistic authority figures. If we can’t discuss the real issues honestly, how can we ever hope to heal that which divides us? I watched an interview with the farmer involved in the Shirley Sherrod fiasco and he spoke very kindly of her efforts to help him.

Until we’re willing to look at the truth and hold everyone accountable to the same standard, the scapegoating, mistrust and misreporting (as well as sensationalizing) will continue, making it difficult to differentiate between legitimate and bogus claims. Instead of automatically defaulting to the expected response and turning it into an ‘us against them’ scenario (Democrat vs. Republican, Liberal vs. Conservative, Black vs. White), what would happen if we put our critical thinking skills to work, kept an open mind, then objectively looked at the facts involved in each unique situation? If we’re all spiritual beings having a human experience, then doesn’t this make the most sense from a spiritual perspective?

Although I remain a strong supporter of alternative news sources such as Link TV, I’ve found they are generally no more reliable when it comes to accurate reporting on matters involving race than the mainstream media is. How sad.

I was fortunate enough to have grown up in a multi-cultural environment; the people I loved and called ‘Auntie’ and ‘Uncle’ came in all colors. I experienced both love and racism and understood from an early age how damaging the effects of operating from a false perspective can be. Children don’t have the luxury of seeing things through a political lens; they just see what’s there. No one – regardless of race, gender, or socioeconomic status – deserves to be made a sacrificial lamb in order to serve some greater political cause.

[Kieran]

Hard to comment, but I feel I must....I really don't think that the problem in America [or the UK] is 'hate speech' [although the governments and mass media regularly engage in far more subtle hate speech] ...I think it is a totally craven, dysfunctional, corrupt and outdated system that is the problem.

Naturally, this state of affairs will annoy some people so much for so long that they lose their compassion and wisdom and are prone to being led down some dark avenues. And some people are always looking for such opportunities.
It was ever thus.

However, what is the distance between regularly defining opinions one abhors 'hate speech' and the formation of de facto thought police? Likely not very far, and as blogs now appear to be under attack in general, we should fiercely guard against throwing the baby out with the bathwater. 'Hate speech' is such a newthink definition and the thin end of a very nasty wedge. And... 'fig leaf' of free speech? Yikes! That statement is scarier than anything I could read anywhere online.

The 'man shouting fire in a theater' analogy does not really stand in my opinion.. modern governments would take the opportunity to ban all people from 1. shouting 2. having the right to shout 3. the banning of theaters just in case.

At any rate, the imaginary people in the theater [posited as rather easily led if I may say so] would likely deal with the fire-shouting man on the spot or maybe ignore him having taken a look around and seen for themselves, rather than demanding a law preventing all people everywhere in the future from crying wolf.

Thanks for the article, i always enjoy reading here... and may we build a better and more tolerant and self-responsible future together, and may all the haters just chill out.

" And so it is to the printing press--to the recorder of man's deeds, the keeper of his conscience, the courier of his news--that we look for strength and assistance, confident that with your help man will be what he was born to be: free and independent."