al gore
December 2007 
Is It Independence Day... Or IN Dependence Day?
David Jon
Why do we look outside of ourselves for meaning, for purpose, for signifigance... for guidance even? Are we that empty? Are we that devoid of a sense of direction? Are we that crippled after 10,000 years of Civiliuzational subjugation to the priests and the politicians, the teachers and the taunters, the popes and the mullahs? Is this all we have left: we are just so many objects to be manipulated by those whom we mark as exemplary in some way; those who we surrender and sacrifice all our authourity to... so that we have none any longer?
Think about the fear that sends so many to the psychics and fortune-tellers. Think about the anxiety because we have lost a sense of direction within ourselves to the point that we are running over to Madame Sue's little drapery-lined porch to have our palm read--to have here tell us who we are and what we are supposed to be doing!!
Think how sad that is?
Add to the list the Buddha and Jesus and the Dalai Lama, Ken Wilber, Adi Da, and Andrew Cohen. Add to that list George W. Bush and Rush Limbaugh, the neo-con loudmouth Ann Coulter or the neo-liberal loudmouth Al Franken. Add to the list your Momma and your Poppa. Add to that list all those who have wittingly or unwittingly served to dis-empower you to the point were you have no capacity for trusting that there is even an inkling of Light or Illumination within you. Thank Civilization and the 10,000 years of subservience to a System (Communist, Capitalist... Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Persian, Chinese, or Japanese... what is the difference, really... tell me...).
And then reflect on those who break-away from the System of External Authourization For Your Own Existence---for your own good... for your own well-being, we are told. What is their fate? What does the System do to them? It kills them, right. It eliminates them. It extinguishes the flame and the fire of Radical Independence before it spreads to others... before it brings the whole collusive enterprise down in a heap of smoldering ash.
And if they are not outright killed--if the System for The External Authourization For The Right To Be doesn't snuff them out then it will lock 'em up and call 'em 'crazy.' Anything to diminish that sort of Freedom that stems from the Inherent Principle---and not that Freedom that comes from getting Authourization from soneone else.
But I'll tell you what. Even when I look around here at Zaadz I see a lot of well-meaning people looking to others for the permission to be who they are--to be their 'Self'--to be the Self... to be free. That, to me, tells me just how far we have either a) fallen... or b) have yet to go in order to truly resuscitate Spirit. Because the truth of the matter is that if you are looking to Ken Wilber or Rush Limbaugh, Al Gore or Al Sharpton for guidance and direction--for a sense of mission and purpose, for meaning and significance--then each of those is just a difference mask covering up a Systemic Illness that is leading humanity over that cliff... again and again... .like Wiley Coyote... into a cloud of dust.
The other truth of the matter is that you, in all honesty, do not need anyone else's validation or authourity to be. You ARE! THAT IS THAT! Yes, you may need someone to disclose to you just how much you try to lean on someone else. You may be drawn to an exemplary model or teacher--and if they are worth a shit, mark my words, then they will throw you back on your Self each and everytime you try and lean on them, or refer to them, or be guided by them.
Please... remember this. GOD LIVES IN YOU. The TAO IS INHERENT in your every cell, no different than the Dalai Lama or Ken Wilber. You don't need to justify your existence. You don't need a permit. You don't need anyone or anything else to confirm what is always already the case. YOU ARE THAT. And the only way you can ever help the situation right now, here on Earth, in this Galaxy, in this always-crucial nexus of THIS... is to trust that the Left-Hand and Right-Hand of God are upon your shoulders, too. And don't ever be seduced into thinking that someone else knows your direction. For the only thing they can refer you to is their direction... making of you a virtual mockery of your own existence.
So please... please... have Faith in the Power that carried you here. That Power is still with you. It is not in Ken Wilber or Deepak Chopra.... or any of their books. It is you. You are the Power. You are the only one who can BE that POWER!
Access: Public
Yes, and in the same breath - or merely to continue - in YOU being ALL THAT, You are also Ken and the Tao and Rush Limbaugh and You are every last component of the System(s) that “dis-empower” and crush and snuff, and to realize that YOU ARE THAT entails understanding, and taking responsibility for, all this as well. It’s no wonder that we’d rather place our power in others, because doing so allows us to keep hiding from the fact that we are wholly responsible for the system as it now stands. Scary thought, that, but radical and life-changing and wonderful at the same time … and as you wrote, the only way to change that system is to accept responsibility and BE.
Awsome post, David, and Happy 4th of July!
I think one of the interesting ironies in all this is that we have to be taught how to think for ourselves. There would be no ability to find ultimate truth within ourselves were it not for a number of authority figures teaching us the steps along the way.
I'm laughing about the sublty of this indoctrination into asking for permission to be–such as “May I go to the bathroom?” If we ask the system enforcers about this small matter the opinion might be “Well, we must ask so we don't disrupt what everyone else is doing” which makes sense until we think about it. We're only disrupted if we're already asking for permission to be. I suppose the question might be how does the collective work either way, and looking at, for instance, biological systems we see the ole hierachy of the dominant monad at play. In the final analysis that would be God's hands on our shoulders, yes? This is not something we should lightly shrug off.
Excellent additions/clarifiers Siona, Umguy, and Bran.
You are each right in adding what you did. I appreciate you taking the time to do so.
Thanks.
DJP
True, we each should look inside for answers, above any external source. But I am not an island. Just because I look at others and their thoughts doesn't mean I am surrendering to them or giving away my own power. If Spirit is IN me AND Spirit is ALL that exists, then I can find myself reflected in the world around me, as I perceive it. As Spirit AND a human being, I cannot exist, nor would I want to, by merely “looking inside.” I'll continue, happily, to look outside myself (which I can never really do because all that I see comes through the filter that is myself) as I do things like partner with my wife and read the books of people who have more time to research and write their reflections on social phenomenon than I do. Looking to others does not entail a priori surrender of my own internal compass. You got me thinking, though!