13 Consciousness

Consciousness 13

********

       What am I conscious of?  Is it a moment-to-moment awareness?  It can move systematically or subtly but it is always changing.   But do I have an underlying unconsciousness that guides me?   For that I must totally immerse myself; but the range moves frighteningly from dog in heat to an image of Jesus.  

      At this moment, I am trying to focus on what my resting consciousness is. 
      Do I have a resting consciousness or restless consciousness?  There is some research which indicates that men cycle through a sexual waxing and waning every 90 minutes.  I have not kept count.  

      The human consciousness is far more troublesome than animal consciousness. So, listen now, as our small Dominican animal group wades into the swamp of human consciousness out of being swamped by Hurricane Maria. 

******

      "Myrtle, I don't know how you found this cave but you saved the whole group from Hurricane Maria," Coqui sang out echoing through the vast cave on the devastated island of Dominica.

     "Turtles know about holes in the ground including caves,"replied Myrtle. 

      Just then Fran the cat appeared out of nowhere, " I wanted to join this group because I overheard something about consciousness."  

       "Bringing you up to date, Fran, we have been coaxed here by Mom Nature to help humans, who are about to destroy the planet, get a clear idea of the danger that faces us all," Hooie hooted.   

     " The problem got past us at least 100 years ago, by all of us animals, except the 1918 virus which killed 1/3 of the population. We thought that humans were so intelligent that they would not lead us into the swamp of stupidity, where we find ourselves in now. The 1918 virus tried to wipe out the human race hoping to start over with something better, but failed, " chirped Andi, the osprey. "Most virus species and a few bacteria can think their way around an antibiotic in a flash. They are faster thinkers than humans,"  

     " Now you bring us back to the main issue. Is it consciousness, greed, speed or the waning of natural intelligence in humans that we are to tackle?" cracked Cackle. 

     " Don't go so fast. Slow down and we can see one problem at a time," crooned Mira the sloth.

     " So be it," flapped Mary the facilitator.  "But you raise a totally new issue in what you call the waning of natural intelligence."

     “Humans are not just greedy or speedy, but have wandered away from natural law.  In doing so they have become fragmented into liberals vs. conservatives, workers(slaves) vs. entrepreneurs or conflict driven vs. peace mongers, and worst of all God fearing vs. God damning,” purred Fran, the cat from out of nowhere.

     “This Group needs to find a level playing field,” hummed Hummy," we have got to find solid ground. So, let us assume for a moment that there is a speed at which living things begin to fragment and lose the natural order of the Universe. This puts all living things in jeopardy and eventual death.”

     “I am all for it,” barked Jake, the Basset hound,” I have always envied those Greyhound legs.”  

      “I don’t know about your legs,” bleated BillyG, "But we have too many balls in the air. I, for instance, think we are leaving out a most crucial problem of humankind and that is DENIAL. Humans deny the essential forest just to cut down a few trees."

12 Believing

Believing 12

********

     As I watched the videos of people and dogs being rescued from the flooding of Hurricane Harvey, I found myself focused on the dogs more than the people. The dogs were obedient to a fault, sad but resolute, and appeared to know what was going on. How did they know? The simple explanation is that there are no words to be said during a disaster in progress.

                                                                 *******

     “How do we know that the planet is threatened because of simple disarray?” clucked Bertie, the peregrine falcon, “We have seen world wars, famine, genocides, plagues and hellacious storms. Some of us are descendants of those creatures who survived major meteor strikes; So, what’s the big deal about this time?”

     “Something in my consciousness believes that this time it is truly different,” Shazam clucked back, “and I say believe rather than know with good reason.”

     “That’s scary,” Myrtle blurted, “but believing and knowing are the same for me. I both believe and know that the Great Turtle in the Sky is watching over me.”

     Hummy chirped, “I hope that we can agree that Mom Nature does not look like any of us.”

      “As your facilitator, I trust that we can agree on Mom Nature’s appearance rather than a creator that looks like us. This way we can arrive at a common ground. It is sad that many humans peel themselves off from other living creatures to make a god in their convenient likeness,” clucked Mary the White Pelican. “Hooie brought up something that we should understand. Mom Nature is compassion for all creatures.”

     And suddenly, Free, the butterfly fluttered, “Blunt your sharpness, untie your knots, soften your glare, and settle your dust.”

     Buddy, the Agouti, mumbled, “God is a verb and not a word. But, I don’t mind all this talk if we get to the right action. We have to hear many tones before we find middle C. Compassion is a tone and our tone must be true to our heart.”

     “So, we are reaching agreement that our tone says something about our compassion and we learn by active listening and we untie our knots too. That’s a tall order; and as we hear each other’s compassion we will come to believe.” bleated BillyG.

     “I realize that some of you know that parrots make jokes but this is no joke,” moaned Paula the Sissarou parrot, “I feel the power of the circle drawing us in.”

      “Don’t be scared,” crooned Mira, “you ‘all are finally slowing down and finding the comfort of Middle C.”

     Mary, the facilitator, chimed in, “When believing and knowing join hands there is a sound that can be only described as BEAUTIFUL.”

*******

     Thus, we come to a stepping-off place as the first 12 episodes are fleshed out. The author, Phil, cannot breathe life into the circle but the animals can supply the Kickapoo Joy Juice necessary for the élan vitale. The next 12 episodes could be heard if the animals find out how to create the sound of a Rolls-Royce Merlin engine from the sound of a batch of hand held can-openers.

*******

11 Freedom

Freedom   11

*******

     Voyagers don’t just pull their ideas from the center of the ideological spectrum. They believe creativity happens when you merge galaxies of belief that seem at first blush incompatible. They might combine left-wing ideas about labor unions with right-wing ideas about local community to come up with a new conception of labor law. Because they are syncretistic, they are careful to spend time in opposing camps, always opening lines of communication. The wise moderate can hold two or more opposing ideas together in her mind at the same time.

David Brooks

New York Times

*******

     “I hesitate to speak,’ rumbled Cesar, the iguana,” but I must, at least, give you pause for reflection. Returning to those human problems that King rattled off, I would like to add a suggestion. Stop thinking about human nature for a moment and consider the human condition.”

     “Thank you for bringing that up,” crooned Mira, the sloth,” This conversation has been too fast for me to digest.”

     “Spit it out,” bleated BillyG, “Don’t hold back.”

     “Think about it this way,” Cesar whispered, “A woman in Massachusetts just won over 750 million dollars and I doubt that she will be able to maintain her composure because conditions will far outweigh her ability to cope.”

     “How do you know about her?” questioned Bertie, the peregrine falcon. “We are on Dominica and a bit isolated to say the least.”  

      “Until yesterday, I was a famous person’s pet iguana in the Washington area. He brought me here as a safe place compared to the United States. He returned to deal with the coming crescendo. You all know that the world is in disarray or you would not have started this group,” replied Cesar.

       “Let’s cut to the chase,” Milvus, the black kite, demanded, “The suspense is ruffling my feathers.” 

        “The overall message that I bring from my anthropologist owner concerns consciousness. He believes that bulk of human consciousness is a tribal one. We must find a way to deal with that or go around it. Otherwise, human nature will bring us all down through a simple lack of awareness. We can see it because we have been reverently deliberate in our journey through time,” rumbled Cesar.        

     “We cannot tackle a problem until people become conscious of it.”

      “What in the hell is reverently deliberate?” squawked Cackle.

      “ I think that humans have lost reverence for Mom Nature,” bleated Mum, the nanny goat. “About 4 million years ago the guys (males) left their families and joined tribes leaving the girls to tend to the families. Hormones over humbleness, testosterone over humility, and ultimately triumphant ego driven tribal leaders over Mom Nature, herself. What a disaster! The family was so effective and good for the little tykes that boredom set in and the guys stumbled into wine making. The rest of the story is not pretty.”

     Hooie hoots, "Do we really have freedom if some of our consciousness is stuck in our DNA and emerges from time to time and embnarrasses us? I would say that we are free if we are aware that our poorly hidden tribalism is in our genes and we counter instinct with compassion."