A response to Mr. Cusack's optimistic article on Bernie and New Year's thoughts :)

Wonderful, thanx; yet, I think you underestimate the direness of our feeble democratic processes existence at this time. In 2016 you couldn't throw a rock without hitting a revolutionary or radical, yet, because 'Hillary wasn't pure, perfect', their Hitlerian (now Trumplerian, as RumputiN/vlad-the-impaler were installed in the Blackhouse) excuse for helping install Trumpler in the Kluckahouse, now where's their sound and fury, where's the 'Bernie or Bust 'Bots' "revolution", declared in the beginning of 2016 by him, now, 3 years later; nowhere. The dinos, sinos, linos, ginos, ainos declare their allegiance to the illusion of non-violence, steadfastly, as it's evidently better than the delusion of violence, while their invisible coup's installing the king kong sized terrible two as emperor, along with the intelligence/military/police industrial complexes, Assange, wikileaks, hackers globally, Comey, remocrat conspiracy, immoral minority, Putin's puppets All, is the most violent event purposely unprevented since the levees in NOLA were let fail, the unnecessary unending war in Iraq started, and king george and his dick, cheney purposely didn't prevent the attacks on 9-11-01, with the republican conspiracy elite. Cloven covens of their actual religion of materialism, which they all practice behind masks, fronts of 'used' religions, worldviews, spiritualities, clustering in their conclaves, meet, with unremarkable tidings, the time is neigh for all to die from climate change, decimated environs, undrinkable water, unedible food, unbreathable air, unarable land, their 'final solution', ending humanity, is at hand. Still, the machinations of our technocracy's machinings of human beings, succeed in their device's designs; self-undoing of minds, hinds, the liquidation of the masses asses and assets to the vacuum-up (not trickle down) scarcity based economy of the global oligarchy (as opposed to nature's abundance base). That can happen again, especially with the mass replacing of non-Trumplerian Gov't workers of every kind with his picks, and the universal attempts to codify 'bipartisanship' as necessary at any costs, when the opposite is closer to the truth. Even if the global hackers were almost completely mitigated in their negative effects on the 2020 election (which is improbable because 6 months before the 2018 election we were told that it was being hacked, and no one has even voiced the curiousity as to why that hackings extent and its effects on the 2018 election haven't be fully investigated, made public; I mean, besides the obvious fact that their effects were undoubtedly to help the republicans), the 'Bernie or Bust 'Bots' not being put in their place by Bernie, not being stopped from poisoning the younger generations into becoming over-confident, complacent, apathetic, not doing the hard manual GOTV work the non-repubs must always count on them to do, could, alone hand the re-installation of RumputiN/vlad-the-impaler into the Blackhouse (because once you go Black you never go back). How will Bernie defy his 'Bernie or Bust 'Bots' and make them back down; or will he even try? I donated $ 600. to, and hundreds of hours to his campaign, yet he let that rabble exist; what is Bernie 'the Second Coming'? No sane person would allow one of his supporters to say such a thing, let alone allow it to become a movement; et tu Bernie? As well, for the New Year, a few pointless points on historical precedence on being and reality  :) I'll preface with: Where man is betwixt, plumb, in balance. It starts with individuals and 'discipline, being the art of feeling awe', Carlos Castaneda. A combination of Carl Jung's integrated self, with Adler's integration into community. A Sartrean freedom: "we are free because we are not a self, but a presence-to-self, the transcendence, nihilation of our self. We're other to our selves, that whatever we are or whatever others may ascribe to us, we are in the manner of not being it.", no longer ego ridden, a tool in la machine's hand, rather, as it began, man weilding tools to better life, in nature's balance. Not as evolved as Zen's 'empty cup', beginner's mind, Chan's 'empty boat', or The Tao's 'useless tree', but rather a lifelong student, choosing evolving over satisfaction, contentment, false-ego; with a healthy skepticism towards our own schtick, stories, lines, masks, mirrored images, shadows.  For e.g., it's not the self-sacrificed when we do what needs to be done, rather the false-ego sacrificed at Thee's altar within. Then, as we left no footprints that followed none, they will echo in all ways, always. In a more mundane, betwixt the sacred and profane, with the failures of macroscopia and myopia in mind, "…we(e),…" can, and many feel must, keep in mind evolutionary perspective (not that ants and roaches aren't more evolutionary): that sadly, "…it's funny how one insect can damage so much grain…", (Thanx to Elton John for the above quote from his great song, 'Empty Garden', a tribute to John Lennon), how 400 years of the religion of scientism, one instant, evolutionarily, in the life of the Universe, can extinct most life, possibly the Earth, destroy so much grace. Finally, humanity without a trace, or will we mothball NASA now, before it ends all; with the help of all the supposed sciences, and the corporate structure's convolution, 'la machine'?

So, a year after the 50 th Memorial of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., let us remember his shining example, and his spirit's, "judging not lest ye be judged's" compassion for his neighbor, "treated as he wanted to be", for he wanted to be more, ever studiously growing. His dream was for all who choose awakening. So too, those who suffer, and suffer from false-ego, and its projections, in mental cells, built of walls of delusions, with bricks of illusions, their personal hells, shouldn't be judged autocratically, as laws can work and be compassionately applied. Also, even though, King pulled, "the arc of the moral universe bends towards justice" out of his as, we know, if we take bullets we aren't making them, addressing personal injustices stops them from becoming global ones too. If we don't exercise our responsibilities their Siamese twin sisters, freedoms, will wither like unused muscles, as well. "You can't dismantle the man's house with the man's tools (materialism)", Audrey Lourdes, and Gandhi's, "be the change you want to see in the world, and the root of all oppression lies in (supposed) science", though he pulled Satayagraha", out of his as. What we don't matters as much as what we do, the manner in which we don't or do things brings light, life to them or it doesn't, those most attached to life or death are more closely death, live on your feet or die continually on your knees. To the degree we're complicit, silence may be violence; for the American way of most everybody taking their golden silence all the way to the bank is the root of the current ascendancy of the American Daymare. You see, while might might make right, it always makes wrong, and fraternity rules. Confucian's 'Hanfu', "Heaven above, Earth below", manifests harmony. Where man is betwixt, plumb, in balance and true.  Let's start. "An arrogant person considers himself perfect. This is the chief harm of arrogance. It interferes with a person's main task in life, becoming a better person."- Leo Tolstoy. An arrogant person projects he's perfect, and knows he's not; the projection is a bluff that cons most. No, the chief harm of arrogance is the incorporation of the delusion of seperation into life's relations; specifically that he or she is superior- allowing all the projected supposed liberties (mostly in the form of abuses of others and self) and entitlements. A person's main task in life isn't becoming a better person, for that simply happens with the happenstance of getting older; usually. Rather, discovering self through evolving, embracing change, as it's one of the only constants that exists; Rudyard Kipling's wonderful poem, 'If', is a good starting point.  "There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self."- Ernest Hemingway. We can, and I feel must, do away with superiority of all kinds, especially nobility, royalty, aristocracy, etc.. He's just talking about improving, growing, and falsely attributes superiority to it; when that action brings false-ego into the mix which limits perception and desire to change, grow, limiting and/or defeating actual continual growth- realizing a perpetuation of the delusional construct of superiority, while supposedly struggling against it. 'All things in moderation', must include moderation itself; no? "We crucify ourselves between two thieves: regret for yesterday and fear of tomorrow."- Fulton Oursler. Not bad, yet, it can lead to large mishaps; for, if you're off the path by a millimeter, uncorrected, soon you'll be off it by a mile. The Native American story which winds up with you've two wolves inside you, whatever and whatever, the one that leads is the one you feed, comes to mind; not well. The stronger we struggle in reality, and with it, the stronger our solutions with it will be, and less diluted. For, intellect can't lead, as the life doesn't follow; and life is relation.  "Someone once told me the definition of Hell: The last day you have on earth, the person you became will meet the person you could have become."- Anonymous. Not bad, but, it doesn't only happen on the "last day", as most people suffer from frustration, anxiety, regret, as you spoke of, and further, that can lead to procrastination, lack of fulfillment, malaises of many kinds. Tempered with the reality that the corporate structure has made a trap of this world. The projection in it's convolution, primarily through it's sociological programming en masse, that the delusional construct of materialism is almost all, if not all. You speak of this well. Yet, further experience and analysis can bring one to discern the illusion of separation as central to it. for what matters, what is matter; how can supposed science be allowed to defeat life with the delusion that the only things that exist are what can be proven through scientific methodology, as projected by them to exist. When most humans still, not being totally devolved by the convolution yet, experientially know, the things that matter most are not matter, non-material; dare I say love, etc.. "I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman, 'Where's the self-help section?' She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose."- Steven Wright. Indeed, and you're correct "our best selves can differ dramatically", to paraphrase, yet, I disagree that the common thread is grace; and "the best self", as you repeatedly say, as it deals with accepting our limitations and not struggling more strongly with them. Is life not indivisible, and human life especially, illimitable in it's poetential; is that not you too? Grace is great, but, isn't that a bar above, less describable than you're refering to it as? Aren't you speaking in more mundane terms and attributing to them more sacred studies- albeit for good intentions? I'm advocating for more accuracy, just so we don't buy our own desire for contentment and self-satisfaction, the gate to self-possession, as true or real growth? Bob Marley said, "…every need has an ego to feed…", in one of his great songs, isn't it better to let "questions be questions, as the answers will come of themselves", Martha Graham, than be content with half-answers? Yes, all those single mother heads-of-households, civil servants, etc., everyday saints, etc., are heroes, by experiencing and understanding that it's not me who uplifts when my hand is extended to uplift another, it is one; okay grace, with a small 'g'- everyday grace. Also, Machiavellianism, self-possession should be clearly seen as the global oligarchy's most successful subversion of the individual, life in relation, and people, with the lifestyles of the rich and famous being package as authentic, desireable and legal, when they're known of those. Vampirism through cannibalism, of every kind is the extinction of humanity incarnate. We're not a country of exceptionals, nor is it exceptional, there are no exceptions; we all die without arable land, drinkable water, breathable air- climate change unaddressed murders everyone eventually, extinction is forever. Abolishing non-renewable fuels use, and thereby abolishing global defacto-slavery, IS NECESSARY NOW. Also, keep perspective, if someone didn't vote Hillary they vote RumputiN/vlad-the-impaler. Hope your New Year's new all the way through and have a better day; reality.