CHAPTER FORTY SEVEN. THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM.

Written by: Rick Staggenborg, MD on Oct 29, 2009 8:36 AM PDT

This essay is dedicated to the proprietress of the Tibet Nepal Galleria in Pasadena, California. She kindly took the time to explain to me that Hinduism is monotheistic, in that the Gods of the Hindu pantheon are all manifestations of Vishnu, the one God. This was a key piece of my understanding of the relationship between Hindu belief, other monotheistic religions, and Buddhism.

May we all have the wisdom of the avatar Ganesha, the Elephant God, who places and removes obstacles to our actions, in order to assure that Vishnu will remain whole in this Universe. Buddha taught that we are all part of the eternal One, connected by what Christians call the Holy Spirit. I pray that they are all right, and that we may someday achieve a true understanding of the wisdom revealed to Muhammed, who gave us the last chapter in the Book. May Jews, Christians and Muslims remember that we are all “People of the Book.”

Trying to grasp the problems with the American government, I am reminded of the story of the twelve blind monks trying to describe an elephant by touch alone. As you may imagine, as they were all feeling different parts of the elephant, they came away with radically different impressions of its nature. Only by effectively communicating could they bridge the gap between their individual perceptions of the reality of the elephant could they come closer to understanding its true Form. In a similar fashion, only by abandoning our preconceptions and approaching each other in a spirit of mutual respect can we hope to understand this beast we call our government. Then we are in a position to harm it, lest rogue elements use its brute force to strip us of our right to self-government.

Fortunately, by simply adopting this attitude and working together to understand the problems in our government, we will also hold the key to solving them, if we are truly a moral people who only want what is best for the country and everyone in it. Yes, that includes Dick Cheney, George W. Bush, Karl Rove and all their criminal co-conspirators. I am sorry if that disappoints anyone, but that is the only way to correct the course of the Ship of State in time to avoid a collision with the rapidly melting iceberg threatening us all. There is no time for seeking retribution and fighting amongst ourselves on deck, while the tiller spins wildly. There is a difference between acknowledging these crimes and perpetuating the cycle of blame and recriminations that has helped lead to the brink of catastrophe. If you are so blinded by your anger that you lack the reason to see that we must stand behind our President in order to push him in the right direction, then you are missing the point.

Some aspects of the problem are revealed in pieces by the corporate press, and our task is to make sure that they present enough information to put together the picture of the entire beast. This information is already available in standard sources in magazines, newspapers, radio and even on television. For those who understand how to use a computer to sift through the misinformation and find the truth, the task is even easier, and we must teach our young that it is worth the effort. Once we have a common image in mind of what America is and should be, it is easy to explain to those too busy, discouraged, confused, lazy or complacent to put the picture together on their own. Even those motivated by naked self interest alone will understand the need for concerted action to save America and the planet if we connect the dots for them.

From my study of what is wrong with the United States government, the elephant in the room that none of our politicians want to fully acknowledge is the problem of corporate personhood. If the American government is an elephant, then it has gone rogue. Those who understand that a Constitutional amendment to end the ability of corporations to buy our Congress know where to strike to fell it if need be. Rogues must be confronted and the threat they pose neutralized. The alternative is to continue to let international corporate terrorists control it by leading it by its nose, which always follows the money.

In the words of the New Seekers:




I'd like to build the world a home
and furnish it with love,
grow apple trees and honey bees
and snow white turtle doves.


I'd like to teach the world to sing
in perfect harmony.
I'd like to hold it in my arms
and keep it company.


I'd like to see the world for once
all standing hand in hand
and hear them echo through the hills
for peace throughout the land.


Thats the song I hear.
Let the world sing today
a song of peace
that echoes on
and never goes away.


I'd like to teach the world to sing
in perfect harmony.


I'd like to teach the world to sing
in perfect harmony.


I'd like to build the world a home
and funish it with love,
grow apple trees and honey bees
and snow white turtle doves.


I'd like to teach the world to sing
in perfect harmony.
I'd like to hold it in my arms
and keep it company.














Rick Staggenborg, MD


Founder, Soldiers For Peace International


Portland, Oregon

CHAPTER FIFTY SIX. THE BRAVE NEW WORLD

 Written by: Rick Staggenborg, MD on Nov 29, 2009 7:30 AM PST






This chapter is dedicated to Aldous Huxley, who credited the experiencing of nearly total blindness in his youth with opening the doors of his perception. He perfected the art of seeing and gave us the terrifying vision of our possible futures in 1984 and Brave New World.








As I drifted toward consciousness this morning, I visualized myself at a crossroads. This image seemed to represent a choice I had to make that would determine the path my life would take from that point. It came to me that this did not have to represent some critical decision, but any of the choices that I make every day that together determine my personal future. With every decision that I make, my individual destiny changes.

The same can be said of our collective future. Every day we make the decisions that shape the future of Mankind and each day we awaken to a new world. The nightmare of an inexorable march to self-destruction is not possible if we awaken to the fact that our interdependence requires of us that we consciously choose to love life itself enough to show in every choice our love for ourselves and each other. We need only choose this path to free ourselves and choose the high road toward cooperation and ultimate peace.


There are an infinite number of futures that we might inhabit. Our choices are but one force among many that determine our individual and shared fates. The decisions of others play largely in our destiny, as do apparently random events that may have unpredictable consequences.

At times, small and seemingly insignificant occurrences may change the future in ways impossible for us to recognize. This is termed the butterfly effect, which may be the basis of karma, if such a thing exists. The theory of karma postulates that our fortunes depend on our actions not only in this life but in past lives. In Buddhist and earlier Hindu traditions, it is accepted as a given that all of our actions are punished or rewarded in the fullness of time.


There is a vast gulf between various schools of religious thought as to whether there is a God who can intervene in our individual and thus collective fates. At one extreme, it is believed that there is no God and that our individual choices determine our ultimate fate. Obviously, this is only true if reincarnation is a fact of existence, since there would be no other way to explain why some are so disadvantaged a birth or by later life circumstances, regardless of their conduct in this life.

It strikes me as extremely illogical to begin shaping my personal reality by making the a priori assumption that life itself has no inherent purpose. If the answer to the question of God's existence is unanswerable with certainty, then I choose to believe that God exists and is perfect love.


At the other extreme of religious belief are those religions that argue that God determines all things, thus presupposing that free will is an illusion. It is clear that many of those subscribing to this notion of blind faith in the unseen have abrogated their responsibility to act upon the world with care and the sense that there are consequences to their actions that are under their control. They blithely choose to follow the path of least resistance toward perceived rewards that they convince themselves they have earned or have been granted by their special relationship to a God who exists only in their imaginations.

Thus in America we find religious fundamentalists hastening what they see as the inevitable destruction of the world, and throughout the world jihadists kill in the name of a perverted version of Allah that they believe wills their craven acts of destruction and will reward them in the next world.


Physicists engaged in constructing models of physical reality concluded long ago that God does indeed “play dice with the Universe,” to use Einstein’s evocative phrase. At a subatomic level, the physical location of a particle such as a photon cannot be predicted if it interacts with another particle or object. This is the basis of both the Heisenberg uncertainty principle and the wave model of light and other “particles.” It is easily demonstrated by passing photons or electrons through a diffraction grating. The result is a diffraction pattern showing the characteristics of a wave.


The easiest way to explain this is to postulate that the position and direction of a given particle passing through a diffraction grating is determined by the probability that the particle exists at a certain location in space with a particular velocity at any given moment. This uncertainty is expressed mathematically as quantum fluctuations in these variables.

Thus, if there is a God acting on the world, it may well be through altering these probabilities. If there are miracles occurring that help us to shape the destiny of ourselves and mankind, then it may be that we can only detect them by recognizing the extraordinarily improbable nature of some of our experiences. In other words, if Schrödinger’s cat suddenly appeared to be outside the box in which he had placed it, he would have to conclude that a miracle has occurred.


We cannot know whether God is acting in the world, but if we accept our responsibility to act with love and compassion toward our fellow man then we may have faith that we are doing the right thing, whether or not we believe that we are acting in accordance with the will of God. We can then sleep easily at night, knowing that whatever dreams may come, we will awaken to a new world of our own making that will be better than the one we last saw.








Rick Staggenborg, MD






Coos Bay, OR