At the Feet of Kali

Rated: PG for occasional non-PC content

(...continued from previous entry)


The more I flow with the stream of my life, open to the divergent currents (even the back eddies), and respond in flexible ways, then the more I am able to move freely through my world. (Here in the West, we tend to limit our conception of flexibility to the physical, and so we are drawn to the practice of hatha yoga, which develops flexibility of the body. But the "higher" yogas-----raja yoga, bhakti yoga, karma yoga, jnana yoga-----practiced in the East focus on developing flexibility of our mental, emotional, and spiritual dimensions as well.) I endeavor to embrace reality---in all of its forms, light and dark---and respond flexibly. So I bow down deeply at Kali's fearsome feet, and yet dance nimbly to avoid those treacherous toes!

I rode the waves of my walkabout, the ups and the downs. The crests brought me to my wonderful artist friends in New York, numerous generous and funny homeless friends on both coasts, chess in the park, a beautifully mad lark to Mayan ruins with Shine, and an opportunity to help Carol during her final days. The inevitable troughs involved hungry days, dodging the cops, a rainy night with maniacs, sleep deprivation, and too many deaths.

Death, the biggest Change (from our bio-centric perspectives), barged into my walkabout in all manner of ways. It came gently on soft feet for my aunt Rosie who passed away at the age of 90. It came slowly and painfully for Carol as cancer claimed her body, spectacularly, horribly. It was shockingly sudden for my mother's young Japanese boarder Tepei who died in a tragic skateboard accident. And it was all too violent for Terry and Nate, two homeless people who were murdered in Poughkeepsie, NY and Venice, CA, respectively. (Recently, Los Angeles has experienced more murders involving homeless victims. An especially horrific attack occurred when some young men burned a homeless man to death by dousing him with gasoline and setting him on fire. In another shocking incident, five people were killed in a homeless encampment near a freeway overpass. No suspects have been identified in either case.) Kali will have her due.

As we are witnessing, economies also change, stumble, crash. Perhaps my experiences with the homeless are becoming a bit more socially relevant during these days of widespread home foreclosures, vanishing savings accounts, and epidemic job layoffs. The ranks of the homeless are surely swelling as I write this. Budget deficits are prompting local governments to make cuts in medical and mental health services, food programs, and youth and senior programs. Homeless shelters in Los Angeles are already reporting a sharp increase in the number of families using their facilities.

And, of course, political regimes change too. (Thank God!....er, Kali!) In fact, "Change!" has been the battle cry of Obama's presidential campaign. I'm optimistic about the possibility of Obama implementing real systemic changes, but I'll believe it when I see it. Cuz I'm talking about actual structural changes here, not just policy shifts. Pulling out of Iraq is a much-needed change, but it is merely a lateral policy shift. I look forward to evolutionary changes to our socio-political systems themselves.

Oh, maybe stuff like:
---Campaign finance reform to curtail rampant influence peddling to the deepest pockets. (I won't hold my breath on this one.)
---Universal healthcare (an especially nice boon for homeless people and wayward monks!)
---Real steps toward creating a green economy to address energy dependence, pollution, global warming, natural resource depletion, etc.
---Ending the horrific Bush Doctrine policies of pre-emptive war (what a nice euphemism for "attacking whoever the hell he wants"), misinformation (another nice one for "lying"), warrant-less (i.e., "illegal") wiretapping, and "enhanced interrogation techniques" (can you say "torture"?) will be a great ("no-brainer") first step. But I'm hoping we can switch gears entirely and implement a more proactive international diplomacy to defuse conflicts at their roots-----yes, even with those some would call our "enemies". Okay, maybe this is more of a policy change.....
---Well how 'bout putting the damn solar panels back on the White House then! (The ones that Carter put up and then Reagan tore down. How symbolic was that?!)

Whoa! How did that soap box get under my feet? So much for the detached composure of this ex-monk.....

Before I get too caught up in the nitty gritty details of recent changes, it would probably serve me to remember the big picture. Otherwise, I can get worked up into the kind of lather that spawns the conflicts that I am seeking to cure, internally and externally. So I will try to balance my subjective observations with some objective considerations about the nature of Change itself. I remind myself that Ma Nature teaches me that destruction and creation---the left and right hands of Change---are inter-dependent. The old gives way to the new, and the new becomes the old. Endings are beginnings, beginnings are endings.

So if I look closely enough, I may start to see that creation and destruction aren't so different after all. Maybe they are actually the same thing dressed up in different language depending upon the context. The creation of a sculpture or a painting is also the "destruction" of the original state of the media (the block of marble, the acrylic paints organized neatly in their tubes). The demolition of a building is also the "creation" of a mound of rubble and dust and memories and possibilities. Creation and destruction are ultimately just the change from one pattern of matter and energy to another pattern. We usually call it "creation" when the new pattern is one we prefer or is more recognizable. We use the term "destruction" when the new pattern is less preferable or less recognizable. Our distinction between "creation" and "destruction" is merely the result of judging Change through the filters of our biased perspectives.

Sound bleak? (Cup half empty or half full?) Well, not if I recognize that, as the Great Terminator, Kali is also the destroyer of ignorance, of evil, of the odious and odorous-----in other words, of all things Bill O'Reilly. Kali doesn't choose sides-----she's an equal-opportunity destroyer. So the next time she relieves my nagging headache or evaporates my writer's block or slaps down the Celtics' winning streak or throws the bums out of office, I'll try to remember to tip my hat to the Goddess of Garbage Collection. Kali's dance of destruction is simultaneously a dance of creation.

In a year, these ramblings will mean very little. In ten years, even less. In a hundred years, they will be long gone and forgotten. (So relax, ex-monkboy. Breathe deep, let it go, let it flow.....) In a thousand years, empires will have risen and fallen. In a million years, human civilization---if we survive---will be unrecognizable to us now. And in a mere billion years, I'm sure us humans---as we recognize one another---will no longer be around. We may very well have "naturally selected" ourselves out of the evolutionary race* by then. But I'm an optimist and I envision a future where we will evolve into much more complex and capable beings. A future where we will truly understand the unity of humanity and transcend the petty conflicts we inflict upon ourselves. A future where we will recognize the unity of life and learn to support our brethren animals and plants. A future where we will realize the unity of the Universe and build bridges to the stars, without and within. A future where both sexes can pee standing up.

*Now there's a concept: an "evolutionary race". I can imagine the "Evolutionary 500... ...Billion":
".....and as we come out of the first turn of the four and a half billionth lap, humans are in the lead, followed closely by the cetaceans, with apes not far behind. In the middle of the pack are about 10 million other species jostling for position. Working their way up on the inside are the cockroaches, whose pit stop for radiation shielding may soon prove to have been a stroke of genius. Struggling on the outside are the polar bears and snow leopards who have faded as things have begun to heat up. The reptiles are still looking nervously over their shoulders ever since that cataclysmic smash-up that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million laps ago. And bringing up the rear are lemmings, tapeworms, WWE fans, and smart toasters."

Of course, this is a very anthropocentric treatment where I've deemed intelligence to be the leading edge of evolutionary development. Humans have only been around for a few million years at most if you go back to homo habilis. If we instead use the measuring stick of species longevity, then the truly long-lived animal species-----sharks, crocodiles, ants, mollusks, and various single-celled organisms that may go back a billion years or more-----could make a strong argument for already having won the race! (And the plants and bacteria may just be laughing at us, entertained by all the animal species rushing around the planet, here and gone in the blink of an eye.)

And yet, the race goes on. Does it ever end? I think not. Species continue to evolve and I wonder what other intelligent creatures will come along over the next hundred million years. Whales already sing---will they develop a taste for poetry and theatre too? Will cats and dogs hold rallies for the right to vote? Will chimps shun technology if we make a mess of things?

And evolution continues to work on us too. (Keep hope alive, WWE fans!) We are living longer, getting taller (well, at least the rest of you are), and our brain genes continue to evolve. And apparently the gene for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder has become much more prevalent over the past couple thousand years. (Really, no joke. The gene is a form of the dopamine receptor gene DRD4. And here I thought all along that ADHD was MTV's fault!) As I've said before in this blog, we find ourselves at an interesting threshold: either we will evolve into wiser beings or we will probably select ourselves out of the picture. It's quite an elegant design, actually. (Intelligent or otherwise.) It remains to be seen if our species will be the ultimate "winner" of the Darwin Awards!

Jeepers, look at the size of this behemoth entry! My apologies. Obviously, I chose way too big a topic for my first lesson here. And I shall endeavor to be much more concise on my future lessons, or I'll never finish this. Though it may seem that the writing floodgates did finally open, I've actually been sporadically tinkering away at this for a few weeks now while I was up at the cabin. I bow down at the feet of Kali and pray that she may one day gently massacre my resistances to writing.

Funny. All this talk of Kali and I only just remembered that I met her at a small temple in a remote part of Kathmandu, Nepal. Her disciples called her Kali Mata ("Mother Kali") and she was supposedly the earthly incarnation of the Goddess of Destruction herself. She didn't have eight arms or a garland of human heads, but she did have the grim goddess' deranged glare down pretty good. What I remember most was her taste for expensive whiskey and the resulting mood swings between jocular hostess and imperious goddess.

But now the librarian glances at the clock and considers me through narrowed eyes. Ah, Mighty Kali, Goddess of Time, stamps an indelicate foot, her impatient sword gleams red. The library is closing now and I'd best head back to the cabin if I know what's good for me. (Ah, the cabin, now don't get me started.....)


Lesson #2: Everything takes longer than I planned.




"Don't worry about it. It might be the best thing that ever happened to you."
---black-robed Kali-das ("Servant of Kali"), responding to my query regarding the prevalence of malaria as we walked a dusty path along the Ganges in Rishikesh, India


"Nature is ever at work building and pulling down, creating and destroying, keeping everything whirling and flowing, allowing no rest but in rhythmical motion, chasing everything in endless song out of one beautiful form into another."
---John Muir, naturalist


"The difference in mind between man and the higher animals, great as it is, certainly is one of degree and not of kind."
---Charles Darwin


"In your pet's universe, you are called 'the ape that brings food.'"
--- Scott Dikkers, from You Are Worthless: Depressing Nuggets of Wisdom Sure to Ruin Your Day


"Black Guy Asks Nation For Change"
---a decidedly non-PC article on the Obama campaign in the satirical Onion News


Merry Christmas! (Oh....and Joyful Kwanzaa....and Jolly Winter Solstice.....and Happy Hankunnah.....Chunkyhun.....ChakaKhan.....uh, that Jewish Holiday!)

(Dang, am I being all un-PC again?!)