From Precedential Plank Seven - Don't Get Even, Get Odd! - Politics As Unusual by Swami Beyondananda
In Odd We Trust
So how do we break this chain of foolishness? Well, first thing is to laugh heartily at the foolish habit we have of getting even — and start getting odd instead. An eye for an eye guarantees continued blindness. On the odder hand, every positive change or great innovation has come from some odd individual with a wild, crazy and laughable idea. Humans flying like birds . . . HA! An end to slavery . . . HA! Women voting . . . HA! An upstart start-up nation insisting on inalienable rights . . . HA! Guaranteed, when humorologists go back far enough in history to find the first laugh, it was probably at the oddball nutcase who invented the wheel.
A Just War is Still . . . Just War
Meanwhile, we accept the most blatant insanity as sane and normal. Like war. Think of how many years the U.S. stayed in Vietnam to “save face.” I guess it takes an oddball to point out that war isn't face-saving, it's ass-losing. We stayed there to save face, and we ended up losing our ass instead. Take a look at the faces of those in charge. Would you lose your ass to save their face? And forget the idea of a “just war.” Every war is justified as just . . . and that's what we've been left with: Just war.
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Are You Ready for Nonjudgment Day?
I have a dream. I have a dream of Disarmageddon and Nonjudgment day, a day of civil discourse when the Elephant lies down with the Donkey . . . and doesn't roll over on top of him. I have a dream that the leaders of the world will all commit Hokey Pokey together at the U.N., and the forces of laughter will become greater than the farces of negativity, criticism and judgment. With no one criticizing, we will have uncritical mass and — it goes without saying — Nonjudgment Day. Now this may sound like some wild, pie-in-the-face vision, but I ask you: Which world would you choose to live in? The world where we dance the Hokey Pokey together, or the one where we blow each other up? The choice is ours every day and every minute . . . love or fear. Will we continue down the well-worn path to Armageddon . . . or take the road less traveled to Disarmageddon instead? Are we going to buy into original sin, or go for humanifest destiny where we actually realize our human potential? Because no matter what I see on the 6 o'clock news I believe we have the potential to be human, that mankind can treat man kindly, and that we can bring about Nonjudgment Day where all heaven will break loose! May we laugh, laugh, laugh till the sacred cows come home. For truly the farce is with us.
But Seriously, Folks ... What would happen if we tried something odder than getting even? What if we applied our human intelligence on behalf of something intelligent for a change? Sure, it's a challenge to give peace a chance, but don't you think war has already taken way too many shots — and missed? Are you satisfied with unnecessary suffering, or ready to take a chance on something new? What if children of God everywhere finally grew up, and became adults of God, aware and enlightened co-creators choosing love and not fear? The World Game — Wouldn't this be a great family game for the whole to world to play? And you know what they say. A family that plays together, stays together. Let the games begin!
Exerpted from Swami for Precedent: A 7-Step Plan to Heal the Body Politic and Cure Electile Dysfunction.
good writing.
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