|
When John Lennon traveled to Canada, he met Marshall McLuhan at the University of Toronto. McLuhan, a wordsmith intent on displaying his imagined superiority, started their conversation by saying he believed language was a form of organized stuttering, which was stretched into harmonious patterns in music. Hoping to put Lennon on the spot, he asked John for his view?
“Language and song to me,” Lennon responded, “ apart from being pure vibrations, is just like trying to describe a dream. And because we don't have telepathy, we try to describe the dream to each other, to verify to each other what we know, what we believe to be inside each other. And stuttering is riight – because we can't say it. No matter how you say it, it's never how you want to say it.”
I think that John did justice to the art of communication. So much so, in fact, that in the sense that human beings use symbolism to communicate what they know, and what they believe is inside of each other, John Lennon and his music are symbolic of concepts ranging from personal growth to the quest for world peace. Hence, in my attempt today, to communicate an internal and eternal vibration, I hope that this Lennon quote will help to explain the shortcomings in this essay.
********* ********* ********* ********* ********* *********
The first month of 2010, while not yet over, has been eventful. Three things, which I believe are related, come to mind: the tragic events in Haiti; this week's election to fill the seat of the late Senator Ted Kennedy; and the holiday honoring Martin Luther King, Jr.
The events in Haiti bring two things to mind. First, as advanced as the human race has become in terms of technology, we still inhabit a planet upon which nature is the first law. Second, the response to the human tragedy illustrates the wide range of human potential – from the most decent and concerned efforts to help members of the human family, to the vile and evil rants coming from some of the self-righteous fools in our nation. In the past, I've spoken of Malcolm X's lesson about placing a clean glass of water next to a filthy one, and trusting that thirsty people will make the right choice. Few examples of clean and filthy water have been placed before the public as these.
This week's election means many different things to many people. In my opinion, the Democratic Party did not have a clean enough glass of water to place before the public, to demonstrate how dirty the republican glass was. In order to convince the public of the significant differences that each party represents, we need not only to improve on our communication skills, but we need to produce a sparkling clean glass of water.
Dr. King was a master of communication. His genius went far beyond the ability to deliver a moving speech. He put himself on the line, advocating for those marginalized by society, and exposing the hypocrisy of a system that oppresses human beings. Perhaps his greatest insight was that those who hate – and the urge to oppress others, like the emotions that would justify not helping the needy in Haiti, are 100% rooted in hatred – do severe damage to themselves, in the context of creating roadblocks to both individual and group advances towards human potential.
********* ********* ********* ********* ********* *********
I was in the nearest Barnes & Noble bookstore at the beginning of the week, buying a selection of reading material to last me through the end of the month. One of the things that I found interesting was that, in the religious and philosophy sections, there were no books by or about Martin Luther King, Jr. Odd, that, considering that he was the most influential religious philosopher in our nation's history. Of course, I was able to find “King books” in the section where “minority studies” were kept. Although we celebrate King's life with a holiday, his message continues to be marginalized.
When I think of King today, in the context of current events, I try to focus on his teachings about the power of love and forgiveness. It is a sparkling glass of clean water, that a thirsty culture desperately needs to drink from.
Part of that message is as difficult as it is important to take hold of. This is no coincidence, for King was not seeking to set an example in an easy or unimportant way. I love how he explained his interpretation of Jesus's message to “love your enemies.” King relied upon the Greek language to communicate this concept. There are three words that describe love: eros, or romantic love; philia, which is the level of love between personal relationships with those close to you; and agape, which is different than romantic or personal relationship love. King described agape as “understanding, creative, redemptive, good will to all men.” King himself did not “like” his enemies. He had some hilarious things to say about men like Eugene “Bull” Connor, in private among his friends. But he had a love of mankind that included his enemies.
********* ********* ********* ********* ********* *********
As I walked through the aisles of the bookstore, I was reminded of something that one of my favorite authors, Erich Fromm, had noted more than fifty years ago. There were a large number of books in the “Christian” section of religious books, that focus on how to get rich by way of Christian principles. To say that these are filthy glasses of water is an understatement. They go far beyond merely missing the mark: they are blasphemous. However, as tempting as it is to continue on this line of thought, and risk having my OP placed in DU's religion & philosophy aisle, I'll go back to Fromm.
Erich Fromm was, of course, a noted psychiatrist and sociologist. His writings, many of which are being re-published, attempt to communicate avenues that lead to personal and community/national “sanity.” While I strongly recommend that people read his books, I am obligated to warn you that his enemies called him a socialist and an atheist. So be careful, especially when reading his views on the power of the teachings of Jesus and other great teachers in human history.
Fromm, like King, recognized that individuals experience “love” on various levels. Infants experience what is known as a narcissistic form of love: everything is self-centered, with an inability to recognize any distinction from self. This is a healthy, natural stage of human development. However, when narcissistic love continues beyond the stage of infancy, it is a pathology. And an unattractive one, at that. More, this pathology does severe damage when it is manifest on a national level, when it promotes “leaders” such as George W. Bush or Pat Robertson.
Fromm also wrote about the levels of love associated with family and friends, and romantic love. In terms of romantic love, he notes that the sensations associated with it will fade, unless the individual advances to a mature love of the significant other.
And he also writes about the type of love of mankind, including one's enemies, that King spoke of. In the same way as King, he does not advocate that people like those who are their enemies. While in some cases, a formerly hostile relationship can evolve into a friendship, in numerous other cases, this is not going to happen. It would be both unrealistic and another stumbling block to an advance in human progress, to expect that to happen.
Yet the greatest stumbling block to individual and group advancement is the toxic ball & chain of hatred. This does not mean “hating” injustice. It is about hating other people. The extreme example of a hateful person, Fromm points out, is the narcissistic individual. And, again not by coincidence, the narcissist always, at the deepest level, has either a self-hatred, or an absence of the ability to love anyone, including themselves.
********* ********* ********* ********* ********* *********
Both King and Fromm recognized that an individual infected by hatred is incapable of reaching their full human potential, in terms of mental health. Likewise, they knew that a society infected with hatred was equally incapable of reaching its potential, including being what Fromm termed a “sane society.”
I suspect that the vast majority of people are aware that our society is not healthy. And the level of disease, or pathology, is not based upon things such as earthquakes, which are beyond our control. The sickness is found in the way some people react to things such as the earthquake in Haiti, or the violence in Afghanistan, or the needless suffering found in communities across our country.
We need to offer that clean glass of water. It cannot have a film of corporate corruption, such as that which the “leaders” of our party so often serve up in Washington. It cannot have particles of hatred floating in it. No, instead we need to offer our society the same transforming drink that King served.
Just as individuals and groups of good will have assisted our brothers and sisters in Haiti, we need to offer our country that same type of assistance. Without the filth that contaminates Washington, as well as state and local government. I am still convinced that there is a need, for example, for an up-dated version of King's planned 1968 Poor People's Campaign, to communicate the reality of injustice and suffering in America. After events in 2009, I think the time is ripe for this. Maybe it's just a dream. Even if that's all it is, I thank you for taking the time to read this. I hope that I have been able to communicate what I believe, and what I think is inside each one of us.
Peace,
H2O Man
|
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
