Between 1972 and 1973, Stevie Wonder released three albums: Music of My Mind, Talking Book and Innervisions. He was around 23 years old.
It would have be enough if the albums contained a few great tracks, some or many good ones. The albums are full of tracks that are masterpieces.
It would have been enough if he had written and performed the music. He played nearly all the instruments.
As much as I love and appreciate other legendary and productive artists, it is likely/certain that none has created such consistently superior recordings in such a short time at such a young age.
If you haven’t listened to any of them, listen to them all.
Well I am going to close my speech by quoting a Republican President and I ask you that as you listen to these words of Abraham Lincoln, relate them to the concept of a national community in which every last one of us participates:
“As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master.” This — This — “This expresses my idea of Democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no Democracy.”
–Barbara Jordan, “Who Then Will Speak for the Common Good?”,1976 Democratic National Convention Keynote Address
The Democrats did very well in the midterm election.
Now, before they take office in Congress and in so many state governments, they can and should think deeply about what to do next.
I recommend Democrats listen to Barbara Jordan.
Congresswoman Barbara Jordan was one of the great American orators of the twentieth century. Two of her speeches, the Statement on the Articles of Impeachment of Richard Nixon and 1976 Democratic National Convention Keynote Address (below), are ranked as all-time greats.
Fifty years have only made this message more essential.
It was one hundred and forty-four years ago that members of the Democratic Party first met in convention to select a Presidential candidate. Since that time, Democrats have continued to convene once every four years and draft a party platform and nominate a Presidential candidate. And our meeting this week is a continuation of that tradition. But there is something different about tonight. There is something special about tonight. What is different? What is special?
I, Barbara Jordan, am a keynote speaker.
When — A lot of years passed since 1832, and during that time it would have been most unusual for any national political party to ask a Barbara Jordan to deliver a keynote address. But tonight, here I am. And I feel — I feel that notwithstanding the past that my presence here is one additional bit of evidence that the American Dream need not forever be deferred.
Now — Now that I have this grand distinction, what in the world am I supposed to say? I could easily spend this time praising the accomplishments of this party and attacking the Republicans — but I don’t choose to do that. I could list the many problems which Americans have. I could list the problems which cause people to feel cynical, angry, frustrated: problems which include lack of integrity in government; the feeling that the individual no longer counts; the reality of material and spiritual poverty; the feeling that the grand American experiment is failing or has failed. I could recite these problems, and then I could sit down and offer no solutions. But I don’t choose to do that either. The citizens of America expect more. They deserve and they want more than a recital of problems.
We are a people in a quandary about the present. We are a people in search of our future. We are a people in search of a national community. We are a people trying not only to solve the problems of the present, unemployment, inflation, but we are attempting on a larger scale to fulfill the promise of America. We are attempting to fulfill our national purpose, to create and sustain a society in which all of us are equal.
Throughout — Throughout our history, when people have looked for new ways to solve their problems and to uphold the principles of this nation, many times they have turned to political parties. They have often turned to the Democratic Party. What is it? What is it about the Democratic Party that makes it the instrument the people use when they search for ways to shape their future? Well I believe the answer to that question lies in our concept of governing. Our concept of governing is derived from our view of people. It is a concept deeply rooted in a set of beliefs firmly etched in the national conscience of all of us.
Now what are these beliefs? First, we believe in equality for all and privileges for none. This is a belief — This is a belief that each American, regardless of background, has equal standing in the public forum — all of us. Because — Because we believe this idea so firmly, we are an inclusive rather than an exclusive party. Let everybody come.
I think it no accident that most of those immigrating to America in the 19th century identified with the Democratic Party. We are a heterogeneous party made up of Americans of diverse backgrounds. We believe that the people are the source of all governmental power; that the authority of the people is to be extended, not restricted.
This — This can be accomplished only by providing each citizen with every opportunity to participate in the management of the government. They must have that, we believe. We believe that the government which represents the authority of all the people, not just one interest group, but all the people, has an obligation to actively — underscore actively — seek to remove those obstacles which would block individual achievement — obstacles emanating from race, sex, economic condition. The government must remove them, seek to remove them. We.
We are a party — We are a party of innovation. We do not reject our traditions, but we are willing to adapt to changing circumstances, when change we must. We are willing to suffer the discomfort of change in order to achieve a better future. We have a positive vision of the future founded on the belief that the gap between the promise and reality of America can one day be finally closed. We believe that.
This, my friends is the bedrock of our concept of governing. This is a part of the reason why Americans have turned to the Democratic Party. These are the foundations upon which a national community can be built. Let all understand that these guiding principles cannot be discarded for short-term political gains. They represent what this country is all about. They are indigenous to the American idea. And these are principles which are not negotiable.
In other times — In other times, I could stand here and give this kind of exposition on the beliefs of the Democratic Party and that would be enough. But today that is not enough. People want more. That is not sufficient reason for the majority of the people of this country to decide to vote Democratic. We have made mistakes. We realize that. We admit our mistakes. In our haste to do all things for all people, we did not foresee the full consequences of our actions. And when the people raised their voices, we didn’t hear. But our deafness was only a temporary condition, and not an irreversible condition.
Even as I stand here and admit that we have made mistakes, I still believe that as the people of America sit in judgment on each party, they will recognize that our mistakes were mistakes of the heart. They’ll recognize that.
And now — now we must look to the future. Let us heed the voice of the people and recognize their common sense. If we do not, we not only blaspheme our political heritage, we ignore the common ties that bind all Americans. Many fear the future. Many are distrustful of their leaders, and believe that their voices are never heard. Many seek only to satisfy their private work — wants; to satisfy their private interests. But this is the great danger America faces — that we will cease to be one nation and become instead a collection of interest groups: city against suburb, region against region, individual against individual; each seeking to satisfy private wants. If that happens, who then will speak for America? Who then will speak for the common good?
This is the question which must be answered in 1976: Are we to be one people bound together by common spirit, sharing in a common endeavor; or will we become a divided nation? For all of its uncertainty, we cannot flee the future. We must not become the “New Puritans” and reject our society. We must address and master the future together. It can be done if we restore the belief that we share a sense of national community, that we share a common national endeavor. It can be done.
There is no executive order; there is no law that can require the American people to form a national community. This we must do as individuals, and if we do it as individuals, there is no President of the United States who can veto that decision.
As a first step — As a first step, we must restore our belief in ourselves. We are a generous people, so why can’t we be generous with each other? We need to take to heart the words spoken by Thomas Jefferson:
Let us restore the social intercourse — “Let us restore to social intercourse that harmony and that affection without which liberty and even life are but dreary things.”
A nation is formed by the willingness of each of us to share in the responsibility for upholding the common good. A government is invigorated when each one of us is willing to participate in shaping the future of this nation. In this election year, we must define the “common good” and begin again to shape a common future. Let each person do his or her part. If one citizen is unwilling to participate, all of us are going to suffer. For the American idea, though it is shared by all of us, is realized in each one of us.
And now, what are those of us who are elected public officials supposed to do? We call ourselves “public servants” but I’ll tell you this: We as public servants must set an example for the rest of the nation. It is hypocritical for the public official to admonish and exhort the people to uphold the common good if we are derelict in upholding the common good. More is required — More is required of public officials than slogans and handshakes and press releases. More is required. We must hold ourselves strictly accountable. We must provide the people with a vision of the future.
If we promise as public officials, we must deliver. If — If we as public officials propose, we must produce. If we say to the American people, “It is time for you to be sacrificial” — sacrifice. If the public official says that, we [public officials] must be the first to give. We must be. And again, if we make mistakes, we must be willing to admit them. We have to do that. What we have to do is strike a balance between the idea that government should do everything and the idea, the belief, that government ought to do nothing. Strike a balance.
Let there be no illusions about the difficulty of forming this kind of a national community. It’s tough, difficult, not easy. But a spirit of harmony will survive in America only if each of us remembers that we share a common destiny; if each of us remembers, when self-interest and bitterness seem to prevail, that we share a common destiny.
I have confidence that we can form this kind of national community.
I have confidence that the Democratic Party can lead the way.
I have that confidence.
We cannot improve on the system of government handed down to us by the founders of the Republic. There is no way to improve upon that. But what we can do is to find new ways to implement that system and realize our destiny.
Now I began this speech by commenting to you on the uniqueness of a Barbara Jordan making a keynote address. Well I am going to close my speech by quoting a Republican President and I ask you that as you listen to these words of Abraham Lincoln, relate them to the concept of a national community in which every last one of us participates:
“As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master.” This — This — “This expresses my idea of Democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no Democracy.”
Thank you.
–Barbara Jordan, 1976 Democratic National Convention Keynote Address
History is a story of vulnerabilities and opportunities.
Humans are humans, with their natures and tendencies. These can be transcended and modified, but some are deep and abiding. We are, for example, not always inappropriately selfish and seeking comfort.
Those natures and tendencies exist in environments, personal and social. Depending on the circumstances of the moment, these can leave people vulnerable to all sorts of forces, some dark. History is clear that these vulnerabilities can be the ground for all kinds of phenomena, especially when the social environment is more extreme and challenging.
Here we are.
Opportunities for transcendence and transformation, for at least realizing where those natural vulnerabilities might lead, if not resisting them, what are they and where are they?
They are widely available. But. If we are to avoid falling prey to those forces, or if we are to escape in case they are here already, there are a few steps.
Admit that there’s a problem—not just in the circumstances but in ourselves, that we are human and that we are vulnerable.
Realize that there are those who are trying to exploit those vulnerabilities, ostensibly to make things better, even to turn back the clock to a time when things were better, but actually because few things are more human than wanting to dominate and make your ideology the rule of the land.
Try to find and follow a path of transcendence and transformation. This is tricky. Not so long ago, the Nazis were successful at exploiting the vulnerabilities of the German people. But they knew that the Church doctrine of transcendence and transformation, including compassion, was an obstacle. So they co-opted what the Church stood for, leaving Christians feeling comfortable being complicit in the worst perfidy.
Admit the natural human vulnerabilities, realize the unrelenting efforts to exploit those vulnerabilities, try to transcend and transform. That’s it.
Training is a word with different meanings. Especially now, with its common use in discussing AI.
AI training is the opposite of Buddhist mind training.
Training is a key process in developing AI models. It is the foundation by which those models acquire the knowledge they use to cultivate their intelligence.
Buddhist mind training practice is different than AI training. It is not about acquiring knowledge, far from it. At the start, Buddha and his tradition established that mind is everything. If we, individually and universally, want to reduce our suffering and live a better life and have a better world, we have to investigate and transform our mind. We have to train it.
It is a semantic coincidence that training is a central word and process in both AI and Buddhist practice. An ironic one, since AI regularly tends to pulls us farther and farther out of our own minds, while mind training aims to take us farther and farther into our own minds. We can of course do both. But since it is already attractive to leave our mind behind sometimes, one more easy opportunity to go out rather than in is often welcome.
Following are all nine parts of Richard Brautigan’s work The Galilee Hitch-Hiker. You do not know that you need Richard Brautigan, this and his other works, but you do. Serious, sentimental, silly and sad, he responded to strange times and a strange life (aren’t they all?) in ways that would do any writer proud. Open hearts are the most vulnerable.
More about these poems and Richard Brautigan here.
The Galilee Hitch-Hiker
The Galilee Hitch-Hiker Part 1
Baudelaire was driving a Model A across Galilee. He picked up a hitch-hiker named Jesus who had been standing among a school of fish, feeding them pieces of bread. “Where are you going?” asked Jesus, getting into the front seat. “Anywhere, anywhere out of this world!” shouted Baudelaire. “I’ll go with you as far as Golgotha,” said Jesus. “I have a concession at the carnival there, and I must not be late.”
The American Hotel Part 2
Baudelaire was sitting in a doorway with a wino on San Fransisco’s skid row. The wino was a million years old and could remember dinosaurs. Baudelaire and the wino were drinking Petri Muscatel. “One must always be drunk,” said Baudelaire. “I live in the American Hotel,” said the wino. “And I can remember dinosaurs.” “Be you drunken ceaselessly,” said Baudelaire.
1939 Part 3
Baudelaire used to come to our house and watch me grind coffee. That was in 1939 and we lived in the slums of Tacoma. My mother would put the coffee beans in the grinder. I was a child and would turn the handle, pretending that it was a hurdy-gurdy, and Baudelaire would pretend that he was a monkey, hopping up and down and holding out a tin cup.
The Flowerburgers Part 4
Baudelaire opened up a hamburger stand in San Fransisco, but he put flowers between the buns. People would come in and say, “Give me a hamburger with plenty of onions on it.” Baudelaire would give them a flowerburger instead and the people would say, “What kind of a hamburger stand is this?”
The Hour of Eternity
Part 5
“The Chinese read the time in the eyes of cats,” said Baudelaire and went into a jewelry store on Market Street. He came out a few moments later carrying a twenty-one jewel Siamese cat that he wore on the end of a golden chain.
Salvador Dali Part 6
“Are you or aren’t you going to eat your soup, you bloody odd cloud merchant?” Jeanne Duval shouted, hitting Baudelaire on the back as he sat daydreaming out the window. Baudelaire was startled. Then he laughed like hell, waving his spoon in the air like a wand changing the room into a painting by Salvador Dali, changing the room into a painting by Van Gogh.
A Baseball Game Part 7
Baudelaire went to a baseball game and bought a hot dog and lit up a pipe of opium. The New York Yankees were playing the Detroit Tigers. In the fourth inning an angel committed suicide by jumping off a low cloud. The angel landed on second base, causing the whole infield to crack like a huge mirror. The game was called on account of fear.
Insane Asylum Part 8
Baudelaire went to the insane asylum disguised as a psychiatrist. He stayed there for two months and when he left, the insane asylum loved him so much that it followed him all over California, and Baudelaire laughed when the insane asylum rubbed itself up against his leg like a strange cat.
My Insect Funeral Part 9
When I was a child I had a graveyard where I buried insects and dead birds under a rose tree. I would bury the insects in tin foil and match boxes. I would bury the birds in pieces of red cloth. It was all very sad and I would cry as I scooped the dirt into their small graves with a spoon. Baudelaire would come and join in my insect funerals, saying little prayers the size of dead birds.
I know how important this midterm election is. I’ve already voted and have supported candidates who will start serving as correctives to what is, by all measures, the worst governance America has ever had. That is saying something.
I know from a messaging standpoint that in this case, too much is never enough. Less than a week before the election, with many close critical races, there is no time to let up. There is going to be plenty of time after the election to see where we stand and move forward appropriately. Just a few more days of messages and then….
Of course I want an optimal outcome. I’ve done what I could, which may not have been enough, whatever that means, but I’ve tried. If you are an American voter, and think we need to get back on a better less insane track, please vote and ask other like-minded Americans to vote.
Beyond that, as I’ve said before, I believe the days before, during and after the election are going to be unprecedentedly challenging. Losers, from Trump on down, will do everything to subvert and invalidate outcomes they don’t like and won’t accept. I am expecting that we will be getting messages asking us to help push back on these efforts. I will do what I can, as others will.
But in the meantime, I’m interrupting to say that me, my email mailbox, and my text folder join me in saying that we are exhausted.
When someone out of envy does me wrong By insulting me and the like, May I accept defeat And offer the victory to them. –Eight Verses for Training the Mind, Langri Thangpa (1054–1123)
When I first saw this excellent ad, before it closed with a message about Jesus, I was sure it was a Buddhist ad campaign, even though I didn’t think that was a thing (it’s not).
The verse above is from Eight Verses for Training the Mind, a classic text of Tibetan Buddhism. The central aim of mind training (lojong) is to rid ourselves of self-importance. From that, all of our best will unfold.
Whether we are aware of it, all of our religious traditions promote this. For theistic traditions, it is that we are less important than God. For non-theistic traditions, it is that we are less important than other people.
If God gets you there, good. If the teachings of Jesus get you there, good. If the teachings of the Buddha get you there, good. If non-religious philosophy gets you there, good.
You may note that some who comment on this believe that God or Jesus or whoever want us to be warriors, so losing is not an option, in fact is blasphemy. How is that going?
Did you know that the CDC (Center for Disease Control) has a museum and that the museum includes a COVID-19 Timeline?
It is a summary reminder of the calendar of the worst days of the pandemic. At some point that felt like it would never get better or end, even though the worst days took only two years. (“Worst” being relative, since the effects still linger and the disease is now endemic.)
Remember Trump?
When you cross-match Covid and Trump, you find some interesting things.
Trump was first in office during the early days, though even then he demonstrated a known tendency toward absurdity not grounded in reality. For example, his suggestion of injecting bleach as a treatment. We don’t know what would have happened if Trump had been in office during the later worst days, but based on what we know now, we might still be seeing federally-funded bleach injections for a range of diseases.
The big point is that the worst days of Covid are behind us, thanks to scientific advances and to to a large number of citizens willing to treat it as the public health disaster it was. We have used the very human ability to selectively forget and move on, which in proper proportion is a psychically good thing, as long as it doesn’t get in the way of handling the next potential pandemic.
There is no official museum with a Trump Timeline. If the disease of Covid peaked in late 2022, Trump has not peaked yet. He is still with us as a pandemic, though hopefully not endemic. We continue to promote public information and vaccines, which ultimately worked for Covid.
If we had not found a way through the pandemic, the devastation would have been staggering and still ongoing. We will get through this lingering and still uncontrolled disease, if we have the will and find a way.
“Mendacity is the enemy of man, and yet more and more love is lavished on guile and lies. Truth is homeless in our world.”
A World of Phantoms
For most of us, life is a series of evasions, pretensions, substitutes, and rationalizations. We do not see the world as it is but as a projection of ourselves, and so we are prisoners of delusions that hold us in their spell even after we become aware of their deceptiveness. Gradually pretensions are converted into certainties, rationalizations become entangled, and madness sets in.
So many people become salesmen of their delusions. So few people are fully conscious of the non-finality of our here-and-now world.
In analyzing and discussing problems of Jewish Law, possible solutions are often advanced in the Talmud with the introductory words, “I might have thought,” “I might have been led to believe.” After proving that these arguments are mere suppositions or hypotheses, a conclusion is usually reached.
One must learn to understand thoroughly the precise meaning of these phrases, Reb Bunam said. For the world in which we live is a mere supposition or hypothesis. The conclusion is still to come. “At that time I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech, that all of them may call on the name of the Lord and serve Him with one accord” (Zephaniah 3:9).
How did the Kotzker, who was consumed with a passion for veracity, for eternity, look at people whose whole life was spent serving spurious goals?
Falsehood is not merely a discrepancy between what is said and what is meant. It twists and distorts the basis of a man’s life, deceiving him into believing he lives in a reality that does not exist. A person living a lie and taking it to be the Truth moves in a world of self-delusion.
Falsehood is not just a stigma that sullies man’s thinking. A healthy life consists in knowing what one wants, seeing an ultimate goal ahead, and hoping to reach it by means of clearly understood actions. And mendacity is a disease that binds a man’s entire existence. As a result of it, our perceptions are false. We regard as real what can be measured and controlled; what defies measurement and control we reject as irrational and unreal.
In Jewish mystical literature the world here and now is called “the world of falsehood”; each grain of truth may be surrounded by shells of falsehood. Our truths are often half-truths, acquired piecemeal and preserved precariously, their only refuge being the lips of a few dying men. For so many people die for the sake of a lie. So many who profess truth really shun it. Their solemn proclamations are often veiled deceptions.
This is what Abraham did. He forsook community and deception to live with Truth in solitude.
Genuine solitude is the prelude to a new community. However, if you do not withdraw but remain part of “the world,” your supreme effort must be not to deceive yourself. Clearly one of man’s strongest inclinations is to deceive himself.
People do not know whether they are alive and where they are. The world abounds in misrepresentation—lives without design, movement without aim, roofs without walls. They think they dance, yet they are paralyzed. Delusion holds them enraptured. They feel so comfortable in the clutches of their self-deception that when Satan himself embraces them, they think he is in love with them.
Mendacity is the enemy of man, and yet more and more love is lavished on guile and lies. Truth is homeless in our world. We suffocate for lack of honesty. As a result, man dies while yet alive. Who can speak of resurrection when life itself has become death?
Coarse and swaggering, men make insolent speeches and engage in presumptuous dealings. But they are dead, while Truth, though buried in the grave, is alive. Sometimes a voice cries out from underground, and a few isolated individuals sigh and weep.
When a man does not delude himself, he does, at the least, recognize the world’s falsehood. As long as he believes that his delusion is ultimately coherent, that his conceits have final meaning, he lives in a realm of phantoms. Though idle, he is convinced of his achievements. Even as he lies dying, he persuades himself that he is alive.
Each person should wrestle with this question: am I living in a world of phantoms? Is my life, are all my concerns mere delusions?
At the time of World War II, superhero comic books were growing in popularity. Even more so in the following decades.
A big question emerged: Why didn’t Superman just end the war quickly? He certainly could have.
The answer is obvious, even to those who admire him. He is a comic book character. Like all great characters of myth and fiction, he may exist as an all-powerful ideal in the psyche, spirit and imagination, but not in the real hard world.
We are thankful we do have human heroes in dire situations, and that is exactly how the force of evil was vanquished in World War II. In the overall social and political sphere, once in a while we do find individuals who can help “bend the course of history with their bare hands.” But we shouldn’t count on it.
Instead, as deep into undemocratic evil as we are sinking, what we have are very human politicians, which means that some will try their best, or what they think is best, which may not be enough. If we are waiting for Superman, or superheroes, or just heroes, know this: they are us.
