RDCharlton wrote:Now, please keep in mind, when I speak of the dark side or the light side (in this sense), I am inclined to see them as they are portrayed in the yin-yang. In myth, the monster is necessary for the Warrior Hero to arise. Without the monster, the hero remains a farmer, or blacksmith, or a simple soldier.
Does that make sense?
It makes plenty of sense. Do appreciate the explanation.
There is the inner warrior who takes on his or her own demons, and there is the external warrior who takes action in the world and confronts opposing forces. It's not possible to be alive and not experience this classic conflict.
This is a culture that keeps score. We rate our warriors and rank them by wins and losses, statistical comparisons and measurements.
Somewhere I read that the Number One motivating factor in the choice of a presidential candidate is an assessment of the candidate's chances of winning, not the issues or the candidate, but instead on
our impression of what other people are likely to do.......which is often absolutely incorrect. Skewed predictions can become self-fulfilling prophecies.
For instance, polls show that more people say they are willing to vote for a woman or a black man or an Hispanic than those who say they believe that others will vote for a woman, etc. In other words, we don't vote for our favorite candidates. We vote for the candidates
we believe are the most popular with everybody else, and here's the rub......individually, we think we're the only ones who are open-minded or unbiased.
If we knew how many Americans were willing to change the way things are currently done, and we knew how many people want an outsider to get into the White House, we might actually get something done as a real nation. Instead, we're stuck on the idea that the masses of Americans are not willing to see beyond money, celebrity, resume chic, and a passion for extroverted grandstanding.
Of course, I have a dog in this fight (me and my ego). I would love to be part of the contest for president. Right now, I'm someone who is easily dismissed as incapable of creating a political action, because I'm just here on the internet. I make it sound like I'm such an underdog, but I'm not sure that I couldn't make this thing happen......I would have to go into full warrior mode. I wonder if I even know what that is.
Americans, and I am definitely in that number, do not trust their fellow Americans to do the right thing, and we follow this false impression to a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy, as if we are artificially becoming the dark side we have invented in our imaginations. We think we are not prepared to make basic, fundamental changes that address root causes of problems we all face.
Oh well.....I feel isolated and distrusted. Can't help wondering if my critics are just plain biased against me right out of the box. It's not me. It's the many groups to which I belong.......female, worker, Hispanic, and so on and so on.....where does that leave me? I'm not alone, though. All the folks who would benefit from my presence in the big job.
It's frustrating to watch this race go to the ones who just accept the way things have always been done..........*sigh*.....
Once in a while a door opens, and let's in the future. --- Graham Greene