Christmas

Good intentions are not the same things as good results. The actual result of something is more important than the form that thing took. Likewise, wisdom is vindicated by all of her children.

The modern world has a way of confusing ultimate and lasting good with what makes you feel good right now. Though there is nothing wrong with immediate pleasure and comfort, the experience is non-benign if divorced from deeper realities. It is this disaggregation of our surface experiences from deeper realities, and subsequent compartmentalization of different aspects of our lives that leads to many of our personal and relational problems.

At the same time, good results must be recognized for what they are. This is all a roundabout way of getting to the point, which is that despite all of the stress, chaos, confusion, and sometimes loneliness, solitude and depression that are a part of this time of year; despite the rampant materialism, political correctness, and loss of perspective as to the original meaning of the season, even if the original meaning was a week of festivities dedicated to the god Cronus, the ultimate result is what matters. 

The preponderance of us are drawn closer to those we love and care about, and are given cause to reflect on that which we consider meaningful. There is joy, there is happiness, even if there is sorrow. 

It is for this last point it is most fitting that some of us celebrate the coming of the Divine in human form on this day. In the midst of pain and suffering, joy and hope, not apart from the darkness, but in the midst of it. The light does indeed shine in the darkness and the darkness will not overcome it. It is beyond a name and does not require recognition to be vindicated in all of our actions, for all of our actions that are good find their ultimate source and meaning in It. There is only one circle of love, friendship, happiness, hope, peace, and joy in the Universe. That circle finds its form in what I call the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. It is on this day I remember this circle of all that is good taking on human form in the depths of human suffering and brokenness. 

It is still here. He/She is still here. The Divine came irreversibly into the world over 2000 years ago and remains present in all those who allow It to live through them. It lives through you and I if we allow it it to. That circle of good many of us find ourselves drawn into is a step in the right direction. 

Affluenza

Affluenza is a term that was recently made famous when 16 year old Ethan Couch was let off easy for causing the deaths of 4 people and critically wounding 2 others. He was reported to have been under the influence of several substances at the time in quantities that would make fraternity initiation nights look weak by comparison. The defense made the case he did not understand the consequences of his actions because his perspective was distorted by the amount of affluence he grew up in.

Now, a major sub-theme to the outrage against this ties into the ongoing observation prevalent in modern society that there is growing inequality and that more and more wealth is being pooled by the people at the top of the hierarchy. This truthful observations has often lead to the idea that the people taking over this wealth are bad and that being wealthy is somehow a crime in and of itself. Whether this is openly expressed or not, it is hard to ignore it's reality when people say things like the so called 1% should pay 90% tax on what they take in because no one needs (the implication is that they should not have) that much money.

The absurdity of this statement aside, it is indicative of deeper socio-emotional issues that do in fact require addressing. Protecting and expanding the middle class is important for economic and security reasons in and of it self. However, redistribution of wealth has been shown in so many ways and so many places before this to not be an effective measure for achieving this that there is no need to address it at length here. One does not need to go to some extreme right wing outlet for this information, only look at the countries in the world with large populations that have attempted the same and see that, not only was it not effective for protecting the middle class, it lead to the creation of a new hierarchies completely out of touch with reality.

However, the opinion still creeps that those on top should not be there and that penalties must be inflicted. So seldom though do we turn the leans of examination onto ourselves and look for what lurks beneath the surface.

It is not the case that inequality in the developed world is not a problem. Indeed it is and the resulting poverty is an insult to free and prosperous societies. However,  most of those often commenting on it from the angle that the rich must be punished to pave the way for justice have no perspective on poverty and justice and are themselves afflicted with affluenza.

There comes a time when it is important for those who wish to have a truly global perspective to recognize that "first world problems" are not the same as those faced by the multiple billions of people in the world below even the third world's poverty line, either in severity, scale, or otherwise. Poverty is a problem anywhere. Having to make fuel cost conscious choices about what type of car you drive, having to take a job you are over qualified for, even not having a job for an extended period of time is simply not the same thing as being faced with the choice of which child you will sell in order to pay for food for the other ones.

The wealthy are not the problem and being rich is not a crime. The discourse must focus, not on the redistribution of wealth to create pseudo-equality, but rather on limiting the ability of non-benign actors and organizations at the top of the hierarchy to make choices, which create the systemic conditions by which inequality grows, both here and abroad. Then again, doing this effectively will entail sacrifices. You will have to not buy what you cannot afford. You will have to pay attention to what you spend on, and you will often have to give up those low prices.

At the expense of those now unemployed because the production of those low cost goods went to an oppressive totalitarian regime in which workers lives are as expendable as the products they make. 

Boundaries

The things we most often argue about are only symptoms of things hidden under the surface that we are not yet ready to confront.

Consider a romantic couple fighting over what they see to be bad traits in each other. A girlfriend accusing you of being too prideful. A boy friend saying you aren't giving enough to the relationship, or any number of other combinations.

In emotionally charged conflicts, which these tend to be, it is a safe assumption that whatever is being openly discussed is not the root cause of the conflict. It is both sides triangulating away from something hidden and too difficult to bring up. The question to ask is what is the underlying cause? More importantly, why can't we talk about it?

The reason has less to do with hiding things than it does with creating boundaries, or rather not creating them. On the one hand we avoid deep confrontation in favor of surface arguments because deep confrontation would leave us exposed for who we really are, thus violating the most fundamental boundary, but what lies in the depths of who we are is not always docile. When left in darkness, it has a tendency to run rampant and ravage. On the other hand, the reason things become hidden is because we did not pay attention to them and did not set boundaries around them to begin with. When not so restrained, and thus not in our control, they nearly always wonder to darkness.

In the case of people having gone through any manner of abuse at the hands of someone more powerful than them, this process is taken out of their hands and survival takes over. All the same, what is hidden must be brought out one day and must be framed for what it is.

To name something is to take power over it. It is the act of defining it and bounding it. It is also the first step to being free of the chaotic waves of fear and anxiety, and the first move to take hold of the weapons of reason and wisdom. This is seldom an act that is accomplished in solitude. However, the choice to take control originates with each individual.

So what is really under the surface? What is the real problem? What is it that you have yet to bring into the light and set a fence around, rather than leaving it to roam and ravage in the darkness?

Actually Getting The Chance To Save The World

The real issue with modern politics is not bad government directed policy. It is a lack of initiative on the part of the individual. No amount of legislation will ever change that. 

However, this does not stop those in charge of legislation from trying to change it. Neither does it stop people from having their opinions dictated to them by public figures claiming their policy leads to salvation.


Most policies, whether they be new gun control laws, health care system overhaul, or trying to get the potholes down the street fixed are flawed to begin with because the amount of coordination, compromise and add-ons required to pass them dilutes the original intent sufficiently for much of the endeavored to miss the objective. At the same time, while seeing the effects of the new legislation on the potholes down the street is easy enough to monitor, measures of effectiveness are not as forthcoming with more large-scale legislation geared at more complex systems. However, it is critical to take into account that these limitations have more to do with the nature of the game itself than how it is currently played. Policy is a tool and a necessary one for shaping courses of action and focusing efforts. It is not the same thing as realizing those efforts. No amount of telling someone what to do and how to do it will ever have as much effect as the person making the choice for him or her self.


How much more would the effect of individuals taking responsibility for their actions be if those actions were taken to cure the troubles of whatever communities we find ourselves in? No amount of reposting socially conscious statements on social media compares to actually going out to the street corner and having lunch with the homeless alcoholic. Being faux sensitive in order to keep up with the current fashion is not the same as actually being sensitive to the troubles around you and then action to correct them. This need not be limited to the surrounding community in purely geographical terms either. Indeed the whole world is our community, but not acting on a problems because it has been conceptualized as too big to act on is as much of a crutch to our moral pride as reposting something about social justice and calling it doing your part.


Ending something like Sex Trafficking is as much about making life as much better as possible for the one former victim you know as it is about legislation and enforcement to ensuring the crime never happens to anyone ever again. Ending Global Poverty is as much about the one kid in the slum you have the opportunity to give new shoes to today as it is about UN education initiatives and ensuring economic policy helps rather than takes advantage of the majority of the world below the poverty line, and ending homelessness is as much about having lunch with the homeless alcoholic down the street as it is about changing cultural norms and dealing with income inequality.


When the problem becomes so large that only a new law can save us, there is no hope at all. The problem is in front of us all the time if we look. Each individual determines their own level of involvement. However the surest way to be certain the problem will always be with us is to do nothing at all. At the same time, there are those who demonstrated that no level of involvement was too deep and no sacrifice was too much. How much more could be done if this attitude became more prevalent?

  

What You Don't Know Can Kill You

Humans have a very hard time evaluating risk. We are not as rational as we may think and logic and reason are normally brought into our internal thought processes and external actions as a way to justify what were in truth emotional decisions. However, the degree to which we fail to logically account for risk, though it is linked to this, goes above and beyond.

There is actually sound biological reason to this. If we did evaluate risk "rationally", and thus made choices to avoid it, there would be a whole host of things we should rationally avoid. For nearly all of human history and in much of the world today the leading cause of death among women in the age range capable of baring children was and is child birth. This does not seem to have stopped the proliferation of humans to this day. In fact, lack of ability to rationalize and valuate risk has lead to much of the behavior that has allowed humans to become the current dominant species on this planet. It has also lead to our greatest atrocities.

Lack of food security risk valuation lead to the greatest mass killing in modern times.

What you don't know can indeed kill you.

However, it is also often what you do know, but do not accurately perceive that will do the same. In the modern world, near eradication of most short term risks has tremendously deteriorated our already low ability to valuate risk. This does not strictly mean that we do not under value how risky something is, but that we also have a tendency to over estimate it.

Just as we bring reason in to justify our emotional behavior, the same is done to assign disproportionate risk values to things that make us uncomfortable. This is why we see stories of kids being expelled from school for chewing their toast into the shape of a gun. This is also why we discuss euthanasia of unborn children because of genetic defects. Finally, this is why we have talk of laws against smoking in one's own house while at the same time no one seems to think it's a bad idea to get in a car and drive, an act that kills far more people every year than marginal exposure to second hand smoke ever has.

The modern world, as all worlds before it, is a complex system. It cannot be understood by simply looking at it's dissected parts, but rather requires an examination of the whole on its own terms. At the same time, all complex systems trend towards chaos, destruction, equilibrium and then back to chaos. This is as true for a sand hill piled by the wind to the point it collapses under its own weight and then is blown again as it is for a political system claiming power to the people only to be taken over by elites and then revolted against only to repeat the process again. For the time being, such absurd lack of ability to perceive reality is only an element of trending chaos. However, at the same time, it opens us to decisions and subsequent behaviors that are ultimately damaging to the human person. The world will go on regardless of what we do. However, it is our choice to what extent we contribute to that world being better and less chaotic than it was before.