Tikkun Magazine, November/December 2008
Dear Swami
By Swami Beyondananda
Dear Swami:
There certainly doesn't seem to be anything good—let alone funny—about the current financial crisis and bailout proposal. The headlines and stories are grim and depressing, and that's why I'm writing you. No matter what the situation, Swami, you always seem to have something worthwhile to offer. So how about it—do you have anything positive to say about us being in deep financial doo-doo?
Bemadette Daly
Bellingham, Washington
Dear Bernadette:
Absolutely. I am positive we are in deep financial doo-doo.
This should come as no surprise, what with our body politic afflicted with Mad Cowboy Disease, Truth Decay, and Irony Deficiency, all of which have led to the most devastating condition of all, Deficit Inattention Disorder. As for the bailout plan, unfortunately most of the perpetrators have already bailed out using their golden parachutes, so when the crash comes they will have nothing to worry about. Meanwhile, according to the final Greenspan Report, the average American family barely has enough "green" to span the average month. So those of you spiritual folks who've long envisioned a moneyless society, your patience is paying off. We're almost there!
Fortunately, money isn't wealth. In and of itself, it is worthless. If you doubt that, try this simple experiment: Eat your money. While high in fiber, paper money has little nutritional value. And here is something even more amazing: A hundred dollar bill has no more nutritional content than a dollar bill.
So here's the real good news. As surely as the sun comes up every morning, we have more abundant wealth than we know what to do with. Wealth is energy, and how that energy is used. Not only have we been given solar energy to grow our food and power our lives, we've been given soul energy as well—to use and magnify our resources wisely. With the collapse of the house-of-credit-cards economy, we can finally get real. We can use the two most underdeveloped resources on the planet, love and imagination, to regrow our garden and have a heaven of a time doing it.
Dear Swami:
Having heard you speak recently, I know you have taken a stand in the upcoming election for Barack Obama. As a Swami, don't you think you should be above politics? And when you are speaking in front of a group of Republicans, what do you say to them ?
Saul Twarter-Tqffee, Atlantic City, New Jersey
Dear Saul:
Thank you for your thoughtful question. Believe me, I have tried to rise above politics. Unfortunately, the perpetrations of the current regime stink to high heaven, so even up here in my spiritual high-rise they are inescapable. Actually, my real mission is to help the American people choose a new precedent—government of the people, by the people, for the people—where the government does our bidding, not the bidding of the highest bidder. Obama becoming president will help us move toward that precedent. Of the two candidates who can win, he is the one who can really offer political climate change.
As for what I say to Republicans, it is simple. I say, "I am sorry for your loss." No, I am not talking about their losing the election. They can still win it by activating the base—fear, prejudice, and arrogant ignorance, the basest instincts of the body politic. And of course, they can win it if they use their energy—what the Chinese call chi—to keep voters from. going to the polls, or keep votes from being counted fairly. Chi-ting, it is called.
The sad loss I refer to goes far deeper than one election. The loss is, the party of Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Eisenhower, and Barry Goldwater becoming the party of Bush, Cheney, McCain, and Sarah Palin. The Republicans who ended slavery, started conservation, warned against the military-industrial complex, and reminded us that free people don't need a police state to protect them are all no doubt flipping in their crypts right now.
Now it is up to the American people to set things right by realizing we are the leaders we've been waiting for. It's time to fire the first big shots, and launch the evolution.
Swami Beyondananda is the comic alter ego of Steve Bkaerman and can be found online at www.wakeuplaughing.com
Source Citation
Beyondananda, Swami. 2008. Dear Swami. Tikkun 23(6): 80.
