You are floating down a running river. The changing scenes along the banks are so interesting. You are lost in the views. But the river still demands attention and focus. As distracting as the scenery may be, there is the possibility of danger in the water.
The mass of new scenery in American life is staggering. It is possible that as this is written, a million Americans are generating videos, and eventually there will be a million media channels to show them. The government of America once proceeded with a limited number of news items, occasionally outrageous, often important, but mostly plain. Now we seem to be at one outrage a day, or even an hour. The river is running, dangerous rapids ahead, but the passing scenery, beautiful or horrifying, is so alluring.
Focus Americans. Be attracted or disgusted if you must by the constantly changing news and content. The flow. But keep diligent and vigilant focus on what matters. Some who do not mean you or most of us well are depending on distraction, hoping that like a child or pet, you will be fascinated by whatever shiny object is dangled in front of you. Please focus.
Ambient music is characterized by atmospheric, textural soundscapes. Brian Eno’s Ambient 1: Music for Airports (1978) is credited with starting and naming the genre. He described ambient music as being able to “accommodate many levels of listening attention without enforcing one.” Definitions are fuzzy, so adjacent genres—ambient, neoclassical, minimalist, New Age—may seem to blend and merge. Erik Satie called his own works “furniture music”, which doesn’t seem very different than airport music.
Hiroshi Yoshimura (1940 – 2003) is my current favorite. A Japanese artist, musician, composer and sound designer, his first album, Music for Nine Postcards (1982), came just a few years after Brian Eno, and Yoshimura is sometimes called the Brian Eno of Japan.
Below are a couple of tracks, Clouds and Blink, from Music for Nine Postcards.
Even if you are familiar with ambient music, you may not have heard/heard of Yoshimura. If you are not familiar with ambient music, convinced it is just some more of that New Age “stuff”, give it a try. One of my experiences is to walk among the songbirds, one ear on Yoshimura, one ear on the birds. Nice.
Three weeks ago I published the image above and the post below. It was not meant as a joke.
Joke’s on us. Trump is asking the Treasury to issue a $250 bill with his portrait on it, to celebrate America 250. The law does not allow the portrait of a living person to appear on currency, so Congress is being asked to change the law. (Or alternatively, the Treasury will simply break the law, since the president controls federal law enforcement, so who is going to arrest them?)
The lesson here, one we should have learned, is that Trump is totally predictable. Trump supporters praise Trump’s leadership style, saying it works because he is unpredictable. No. Maybe I got the denomination wrong, but the idea was right. As I said recently about Trump’s war strategies, he is not playing three-dimensional chess, he is playing zero-dimensional chess. You can see his craziness coming from a mile away. The American dilemma is what to do about it.
The U.S. $10,000 bill was discontinued in 1969 and was last printed in 1945.
This may be the year it is printed again. Will Trump order the Treasury to resume printing the $10,000 bill, this time with his portrait instead of Salmon P. Chase? Chase was Abraham Lincoln’s Secretary of the Treasury.
Stranger things have happened and are still happening.
The news this morning about “cleansing” Gaza brought me back to poet Mahmoud Darwish (1941-2008), featured here a year ago.
“Mahmoud Darwish is a literary rarity: at once critically acclaimed as one of the most important poets in the Arabic language, and beloved as the voice of his people. A legend in Palestine, his lyrics are sung by fieldworkers and schoolchildren.”
From the start of this Israeli war on Gaza and its people, I have focused not just on the depraved indifference to Palestinian lives but also on the cultural decimation. Not long ago Trump threatened to end a civilization in Iran. While he hasn’t followed through yet on the threat, Israel appears to have no such compunctions in Gaza.
Mahmoud Darwish is one of the Palestinian cultural treasures. Fortunately, he is out of reach of current events. Fortunately, his poems cannot be destroyed by the most deadly weapons.
Please also consider the vital message that “a tyrant’s fear of songs” does make life worth living.
On This Earth By Mahmoud Darwish Translated by Munir Akash and Carolyn Forché
We have on this earth what makes life worth living: April’s hesitation, the aroma of bread at dawn, a woman’s point of view about men, the works of Aeschylus, the beginning of love, grass on a stone, mothers living on a flute’s sigh and the invaders’ fear of memories.
We have on this earth what makes life worth living: the final days of September, a woman keeping her apricots ripe after forty, the hour of sunlight in prison, a cloud reflecting a swarm of creatures, the peoples’ applause for those who face death with a smile, a tyrant’s fear of songs.
We have on this earth what makes life worth living: on this earth, the Lady of Earth, mother of all beginnings and ends. She was called Palestine. Her name later became Palestine. My Lady, because you are my Lady, I deserve life.
UFC Octagon being built in front of the White House for America 250
Most Americans remain outraged and demoralized daily by the administration of the nation. If you are one who has grappled with these and other emotions, please do try to be of good mind and spirit.
One other response is that those Americans are simply exhausted. As the expression goes, what fresh hell will today bring? Pictures of the UFC Octagon being built in front of the White House fit that thought.
More is to come, especially as we draw closer to July 4, planned as a peak moment to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. America 250 has already been and will become a distortion of the history and of the values it represents. Among other things, at that historic moment 250 years ago, enlightened and oppressed people believed they could do better than living under a tyrant who cared nothing about them and everything about power and enriching himself and his friends. Because that sounds so familiar today, too close to home, we won’t hear anything about it in the official America 250.
Which is why, late as it is (so many responses to Trump are late and ineffective), we need alternatives to the official America 250. For just one example, we are going to be asked to sing both The Star Spangled Banner (official national anthem) and Lee Greenwood’s God Bless the U.S.A. (unofficial national anthem). I can think of many other songs we should be singing together that tell the American story, and you can too. That’s just one example of an alternative possibility.
Think and talk about how 2026 can be turned into an accurate and positive celebration of America’s admittedly imperfect history—then do it. America began as a somewhat enlightened, somewhat self-serving attempt to throw off the chains of unenlightened rule. For the rest of this year, and for the rest of this administration, we will be facing powerful attempts to rewrite history. We have the power to correct that and to transcend the unenlightened. We have the power to pursue and create alternatives. Starting with America 250.
It is Memorial Day, not Veterans Day, but there are never enough days to celebrate the sacrifice of our veterans.
In July 2020, Senator Tammy Duckworth was asked whether George Washington’s owning slaves should lead to taking down his statues. She said this question deserved a national dialogue.
Trump’s campaign responded:
“After saying she was open to tearing down statues of George Washington, Tammy Duckworth is now using her military service to deflect from her support for the left-wing campaign to villainize America’s founding. If she can’t defend George Washington, our first Commander-in-Chief, those of us who still respect our Founding Fathers’ immense sacrifice and think America is worth fighting for will hold her accountable for cowering to the far-left fascists in the Democrat Party.”
Trump talking about “immense sacrifice”, especially with respect to Senator Duckworth or any others who have served and sacrificed, including the ultimate sacrifice, is beneath comment. For those not familiar with the military career and the public service of Senator Duckworth:
Senator Tammy Duckworth is an Iraq War Veteran, Purple Heart recipient and former Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs who was among the first handful of Army women to fly combat missions during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Duckworth served in the Reserve Forces for 23 years before retiring at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in 2014. She was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2016 after representing Illinois’s Eighth Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives for two terms.
In 2004, Duckworth was deployed to Iraq as a Blackhawk helicopter pilot for the Illinois Army National Guard. On November 12, 2004, her helicopter was hit by an RPG and she lost her legs and partial use of her right arm. Senator Duckworth spent the next year recovering at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where she quickly became an advocate for her fellow Soldiers.
One doesn’t have to have served in the military to honor those who have. Officials pretending to be patriots while ignoring the plight of veterans is nothing new in America, though the current administration seems to have perfected the strategy.
Thanks to all those who served in the military and in war, whether currently in government, public service or civilian life. More than mere lip service, they deserve the best we as a people can provide, and also deserve our respect. Claiming that Senator Duckworth was “cowering to the far-left fascists in the Democrat Party”, or that Senator Mark Kelly, another combat veteran—and an astronaut!—should be tried for treason and hanged is not a sign of respect for veterans or for selfless sacrifice. From some quarters that don’t seem to understand sacrifice, such respect would be far too much to expect.
We look for answers that account for the most evidence. If the questions regarding Trump are “Huh? Wha?”, the answer is not what you and others might think.
The sign reads “Hemispheric Defense Command”. In the movie, reports of flying saucers were investigated by the Hemispheric Defense Command. My mind raced. Hemispheric Defense. The Trump Doctrine. Flying saucers.
It’s true that the Epstein story remains one of the continuing coverups in Trump’s life. But what if there is something else that is hidden, something bigger, something that explains…everything.
If you had arrived on a flying saucer, wouldn’t you be sure you were smarter and better than any mere earthlings? Wouldn’t you often sound a little—or a lot—crazy to those earthlings?
He arrives as a child by flying saucer in Queens. He is adopted by a local family, the Trumps, just as Kal-el was adopted by the Kents. Just as Kal-el’s earth identity is Clark Kent, the child from the saucer becomes Donald Trump. Just as Kal-el/Clark is actually a superman, so the young Donald is a superman too.
If we have only one lesson about authoritarian government, it’s this: You may believe that you are protected because you are supportive of those in power. Only “wrong thinking” citizens will be subject to exclusion and punishment, which they deserve.
Historically, that is nonsense. A hallmark of authoritarians is that everyone and everything is either useful for their ambition or an obstacle. There is no such thing as loyalty. You may think it is impossible for an authoritarian to turn on you—you, a true believer—but you are deluded. Besides being ambitious and self-interested, authoritarians are whimsical, often to the point of seeming craziness. If they wake up and decide there is something or someone they don’t like, it won’t matter what or who has been on their side before.
This is the heart and soul of democracy. Ideally, though it isn’t always achieved, those in power act without fear or favor. If you think this can be selective, you may not understand. If you think that you are the chosen, while the others who are punished are the justified victims, you are wrong. In an authoritarian regime, the next victim is you.
Do we want smarter people or better people? This is in some ways a trick question, because an instant answer is that we want both. But if we can’t have both, at least not at the same time, which do we want first?
Here, smarter people means those who can think things through reasonably. They are knowledgeable and are curious and can find ways to learn what they don’t know and need to know. They are discerning.
Here, better people means those who maintain a balanced view of what is good for themselves and good for others, and are guided by a commitment that however they reach what is good for themselves, out of necessity or desire, the effect on others is at least as important or more important.
When we see people who are not so smart, in positions of power and authority or among our neighbors, we are sure we want smarter people.
When we see people who are not so good, in positions of power and authority or among our neighbors, we are sure we want better people.
Nevertheless, at least until I reach the end of this writing, I am going for better people. We have problems that smart people solve. We have problems that smart people create. But smart, whether from other people or within ourselves, cannot wholly solve the problems of soul, theirs and ours. Good people, better people, can.
Mindfulness is a growing movement and a good one. It continues to help many to improve themselves and their lives, reducing stress, enabling calm, increasing focus, and developing an overall sense of well-being. Much better than mindlessness.
Finding your mind is an essential step. But once you are there, what are you going to do? Different religious, spiritual, philosophical and psychological traditions offer different recommendations, some of which are expressly related to mind and mindfulness. Buddhism is one of the traditions that puts your mind at the absolute center. Once you have found your mind, the next step is to transform it for the better.
The Dalai Lama has frequently taught about Eight Verses for Training the Mind, a Tibetan Buddhist text by Geshe Langri Tangpa (1054-1123). The following is from The Dalai Lama’s Book of Transformation:
GENERATING THE MIND FOR ENLIGHTENMENT
For those who admire the spiritual ideals of the Eight Verses on Transforming the Mind it is helpful to recite the following verses for generating the mind for enlightenment. Practicing Buddhists should recite the verses and reflect upon the meaning of the words, while trying to enhance their altruism and compassion. Those of you who are practitioners of other religious traditions can draw from your own spiritual teachings, and try to commit yourselves to cultivating altruistic thoughts in pursuit of the altruistic ideal.
With a wish to free all beings I shall always go for refuge to the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha until I reach full enlightenment. Enthused by wisdom and compassion, today in the Buddha’s presence I generate the Mind for Full Awakening for the benefit of all sentient beings.
As long as space endures, as long as sentient beings remain, until then, may I too remain and dispel the miseries of the world.
In conclusion, those who, like myself, consider themselves to be followers of Buddha, should practice as much as we can. To followers of other religious traditions, I would like to say, ‘Please practice your own religion seriously and sincerely.’ And to non-believers, I request you to try to be warm-hearted. I ask this of you because these mental attitudes actually bring us happiness. As I have mentioned before, taking care of others actually benefits you.
Continuing on this path, you will also begin to appreciate the value of human life, how precious it is, and the fact that as human beings we are capable of reflecting on these questions and following a spiritual practice. Then you will really appreciate a point emphasized again and again by many great Tibetan masters: that we should not waste the opportunity offered to us in this life, because human life is so precious and so difficult to achieve. As life is valuable it is important to do something meaningful with it right now, since, by its very nature, it is also transient. This shows how you can bring all the elements of the various spiritual practices together so that they have a cumulative effect on your daily practice.
