Dark days are upon us

Dark days are upon us.

The heartless command, our attention at the very least. It may be a
madman with an Arabic name; it could be a finance minister whose
madness won't allow him to admit he is wrong.

Our minds are not being molded, they are being violated, bludgeoned,
abused, every bit as debilitating as any comparable physical abuse, but
as Stockholm taught us, it is possible to love one's abusers. It's not
mentally healthy, but it is a survival strategy.

Democracy hasn't been taken from us. You can't lose what you never
had. What has been taken from us, though, is our democratic ideals and
beliefs. In the United States, money talks; it's speech is free. Here in
Europe, we politicize instead - it's so much more sophisticated - and we
simply deny sovereign states their sovereignty. Both methods are
employed in the name of "unity", but we're not one, nor of one mind, nor
should we be, but we will be made to be alike.

It's not the silence of the masses that frightens me. What does
frighten me is the moment of their awakening to the realization that
they have been lied to, manipulated, and extorted. No, right now, what
makes me so uneasy is the silence of those who should know better.
Perhaps they have been bought; perhaps they have been intimidated;
perhaps they have simply lost hope. It doesn't really matter when the
results are the same.

The paternalization of society, not just here in the West, and
misguided feminism (only in the West) have made everyone just a bit more
manly: we're so easily distracted by shiny, glittering, but ultimately
worthless little things. We can argue for days about meaningless,
trivial, irrelevant details, yet we won't admit, neither to ourselves
nor to others, that there's a real problem that needs to be solved.
We're in crisis mode all the time. Men are, as you know, always in
crisis mode.

Dark days are upon us. And, they will not find the light as long as
we can be distracted, frightened, threatened, intimidated and bullied
into thinking that different is dangerous, that otherness is
ostracizing, and that only each of us can save him- or herself.

A seeker's confession

There is a certain type of individual who simply keeps me in awe: a person who claims to know what they know and believe. I'm not that kind of person. Regardless of how much I think I might know, regardless of how much I might learn or want to learn, regardless of how much insight I think I might have gained over the years, I'm always in doubt. Or, as Bertrand Russell put it, "The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt."

Don't get me wrong: I'm not calling most people stupid, if if they are. It does strike me, however, that there are a lot of cocksure people in the world, and as far as I can tell, they've not got a clue what's going on. But that's a whole different matter, and for another time.

I have to admit as well that I have had few "heroes" in my life: individuals to whom I have looked up or whom I have admired, even from afar, but there is one who sticks out who raised himself above all others: Socrates. Why? Well, there are two reasons. First, because he's the one who first told us, "The only thing I know for sure is that I know nothing." Wise words, to be sure, and humble words, anything-but-arrogant words. Second, the only approach he took toward dealing with anything was by asking questions. When it came to questions, here was, without a doubt, the Master of Masters at work.

I am fully aware that other folks' heroes are doers of great deeds -- or at least perceived-to-be great deeds: generals, conquerors, founders of great religions, diplomats, intellectuals, whatever. The history of humankind is replete with examples of feats of strength, might, power, violence, murder, and blood. For me, though, the hero of heroes was an ugly guy with a shrew of a wife who asked a lot of questions that eventually got him executed. Why? Socrates was a seeker?

Seekers have fallen into disrepute in our day and age. We prefer those who know to those who wonder; we prefer those who speak to those who ask; we prefer those who are strong to those who are smart; we prefer -- let's be honest -- arrogance to humility. That's too bad, really, but seekers have always known that what the world wants/likes/honors/reveres, is very different from what it really needs.

Regardless, and nevertheless, it is becoming ever more clear that we are dying by our own hand; that what we think (want?) to know is false; that things/possessions/money can't bring us either happiness or salvation; that what one has is no match for what one can be; that all that bothers, troubles, and threatens us in the world is of our own making. Pogo was right, "We have met the enemy, and he is us." Whatever.

There is Truth and there are truths out there, and I refuse to stop looking for either.

The case of the unfulfilled dream

When I was coming-of-age, the Civil Rights movement was in full swing. People were in the streets protesting the war in Vietnam. Flower children were spreading a doctrine of peace and love. I, like many of my generation, had great hopes that the world would become a better place and that we'd be able to leave that better world to our children. We couldn't have been more wrong.

A forced stint in the military, rampant inflation, a delusional turning back of the clock, a celebration of greed, a misunderstood collapse of an "enemy", and one crueler war than the previous one have taken their toll. Since that time, it's been a small step forward and a big step back, and it would seem we're picking up the pace as well.

Wages for normal, working people have stagnated, inflation has been brought under nefarious control, many of the social programs instituted back then are being dismantled, there's been a massive increase in the number of refugees on the move, more people are dying of hunger every year, income equality has become obscene, the environment is polluted, the planet it getting hotter faster than we can do anything about it, but it's harder and harder to find anyone who really cares.

Oh sure, I have to answer to my kids -- and rightfully so -- since they're all of age and I taught them to speak their minds and ask uncomfortable questions. I believe I got at least that much right. What troubles me more, however, are their children, and those of my own siblings and their kids just making their dramatic, but welcome entry onto the world stage. What about them? I envisioned them then; I know them now. And there are days I simply hang my head in shame.

While I've never been a top-echelon optimist, I've always (most often, secretly) been a hopeful person. It wasn't solely up to me whether "things" turned out or didn't, but I have to ask myself nevertheless whether there was anything I could have done better, harder, more determinedly, more effectively to have possibly made those coming-of-age dreams come true. I've come to the conclusion that there were lots and lots of things I could have done but didn't. But I've also come to recognize that far too many of my one-time compatriots -- brothers- and sisters-in-arms, as we liked to style ourselves then -- simply gave up.

When I see them and hear from them these days, it becomes clear how helpless they feel, how hopeless they've become, how defeated they are inside, and they do everything to prevent that anyone see that. Oh sure, some of them -- and not an insignificant number, I might add -- went over to what we might call the "dark side". They're still my friends and acquaintances. After all, "there, but for the Grace of G-d go I". And it saddens me all the more.

What I miss most of all about those halcyon days of light and hope is the feeling of sharing, of camaraderie, of shared hope, of shared faith, of being-in-it-together. How did Thoreau put it? "Things don't change, we change." He's got a point, I'll admit, but it's only a partial one.

The dream was real. The implementation left a whole lot to be desired. We were many then, and now we're few. And even though that dream remains unfulfilled, it was the right dream to have -- then, and now.

Summer's almost over

Summer was a much bigger deal when I was a kid and it was also a much bigger deal in the US. Three months of summer vacation is nothing to scoff at (especially when you consider that Europeans get a mere six weeks), but once you leave school and find a job and start working for a living, well, summer becomes more or less the hot time of year when you have to work. Nothing exciting about that, even if we tend to pack in more power-weekends at this time of year, just to convince ourselves that our lives are not completely in vain.

Hint: if you have to power-weekend at all, your life's pretty much in vain.

This was just another summer and not all that much out of the ordinary: a bit too hot, a bit too dry, a bit too short, and a bit too time-consumed by everyday life. We all tend not to really appreciate what we have while we have it, and I'm pretty sure that come November, I'll be thinking back fondly of these very days which will have been made better than they actually were because there has been time between now and when I will think of them again. That's pretty much how our minds work. We don't appreciate enough of what we have when we actually have it. Yes, most of us in the West have been firmly conditioned to want "more", or at a minimum to be dissatisfied with what we have.

That's pretty sad when you stop to think about it. Yes, there is definitely one thing that you cannot, you may not, be in a capitalist economy, and that's satisfied. Where would we be if everyone were satisfied? Consumerism and consumption is predicated on the idea that you can never, ever be satisfied. That's not only sad, it's downright unhealthy. What kind of a world have we made for ourselves?

But those days of lazy reflection are just about over. Kids are back to school. Our daily and weekly routines have normalized themselves. For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, the days are going to get noticeably shorter and the light is going to start fading. It's going to get cooler, then colder, and we're going to start getting a bit more precipitation than we like, so we'll grumble more, complain more often, be more dissatisfied than usual and, well, all the more "motivated" to go out and buy stuff we don't really need, because it's the only therapy we're willing to submit to. That's pretty sad, too, when you stop to think about it.

But once summer is over, we can at least act as if we're busier than usual and with the weather turning bad, no one's going to be coming along with extraordinary plans or demands. We can just get busy and do our thing, and start yearning for those crazy, lazy days of summer, which are so far off, and so beyond our reach.

For whom the bell tolls

"For whom the bell tolls" is a well-known and much used phrase in the English language. In 1940, Ernest Hemingway wrote a novel with that title, and he, in turn, took it from John Donne's Devotions upon Emergent Occasions,"Meditation XVII" which was published in 1624. Yes, the notion's be around for a while.

For most people in most places, tolling bells are a rarity. Oh sure, on Sunday you hear them a lot, but otherwise? In the little town I live in here in Southern Germany, however, you get to hear the bells a lot. There is a single small bell rung once at a quarter past the hour, twice at the half hour, three times and a quarter till the hour, and four times at the full hour. The the large bell chimes in tolling the hour itself. And, this goes on 24 hours every day of every year, that is, 365 days normally and 366 times in a leap year, for a grand total of 144,50 and 144,936 times, respectively. And this doesn't take into consideration the other times the bells are rung, such as before and after worship services or mass, the 3 o'clock ringing when someone in the community dies, or especially the three-minute continuous ringing at 7:00 am, noon and 6:00 pm (or 3 pm on Saturdays), which marks the starting, middle, and end of the workday.

The churches do the ringing (we have both Protestant and Catholic churches here), but it's not a church thing anymore. Pope Sabenius is credited with having the bells ring to mark the passage of the hours. They had always called to prayers and to mass, but this was something different, this was, as Gebser put it, the haptification of time, concretizing it, making time physical. I suppose the idea was to make us more aware of time and what we're doing with it.

We're only granted a limited amount of time during our sojourn on the planet, that's for sure. We were supposed to have learned, in school and elsewhere, that rare resources should be used with extreme care, but just like we're destroying our planet as a whole (like we had another one we could move to), we tend to waste most what we have the least of. We humans are simply downright weird like that.

So, when all is said and done, each and every time we hear a bell toll, we should think of Mr. Donne. We needn't ask for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for each and every one of us, and it should remind us of how precious time and life are. Too bad we hear them anymore. Well, I do, I must admit, thousands of times a year.

The cycle of life and our lives

As a kid, I remember the family going down to the orchard at the main crossroads not far from our house, taking along our own cider jugs to buy gallons of freshly made cider (and drinking what we could while we were there) because that was the only time of year you could get it. After all, they were local apples and they didn't ripen until fall. End of story. Now, you can get any kind of apple juice you want any time you want it, and so it's not special anymore. Not much is special anymore. And when nothing is special, nothing is appreciated. When nothing is appreciated, nothing is valued. It simply diminishes our lives.

Another important, and for me, favorite, time of year is the late summer/early fall when the wine is harvested. Of course, that's only really significant to those of us who live in wine-growing regions, though I'm sure that each region has its own special products or customs. At any rate, it is at harvest time that we get new wine, and along with it, the local bakers start making onion and other quiches, because that's what you eat when you're drinking new wine. We only get them at that time of year, and there is a deeply satisfying and enriching feeling when you have them because you know that you haven't had them for a year and it's going to be another year before you get them again. These are aromas, tastes, sensations and feelings that happen only in 12-month intervals.

That our lives plays out in cycles is nothing new. The Ancients knew it and in fact entire civilizations endured for millennia based primarily on this simple principle. Don't get me wrong: I have no intention or desire to "turn back the clock" (an interesting phrase in itself) to an earlier age. I'm not making the case that there was a time when things were simply better. What I am saying is that recognizing and acknowledging the cycles of life enriches our individual lives. It's really very simple.

To be sure, globalization is taking its toll. We're so overwhelmed with everything anytime and anywhere that we can't tell the difference between what is and what is not, what is meaningful and what is merely mundane. We don't mark our times, our pathway through the year. We aren't aware of the cycles of nature and we're the poorer in spirit, if nothing else, because of it.

Strawberries and asparagus

Sometimes it makes me sad when I think that we moderns don't know much about anything anymore, especially things that were related to the year and weather and celebrations and whatever. Oh sure, folks more closely linked to the land, like farmers, have more awareness of such things, but not in any formalized way. There was a time when everyone knew about it because that was the method used to mark the journey through the year.

When I was in Wroclaw a couple of years ago in early June, we had strawberry pierogies for lunch (along with other types of pierogies), and they were eaten with a thick strawberry milk (almost like a milkshake) sauce. Not only were they outstanding, I recall how passionately enthused our Polish partners were that it was "strawberry time". They only ate strawberries when they were in season and that was the season, and they were ecstatic. And it's an enthusiasm that's infectious.

Just a few days ago, we had asparagus for dinner; the last of the year. The Germans generally eat white asparagus and you only get it from mid-April to the 26th of May. That's asparagus season. It's not really eaten at any other time of the year. It's always a meal with new boiled potatoes, asparagus, Hollandaise or butter-lemon sauce, and some kind of a meat side, like a Schnitzel or dried smoked ham or perhaps grilled salmon. It's an exciting time of year because it's asparagus season (and strawberry season, so most desserts and cakes have strawberries in or on them); it's special.

Now, you can get strawberries the year round, and you can get white asparagus the year round, but I don't really know anybody who buys or eats them other than "in season". I'm sure there are enough people who do or the stores wouldn't be offering them. You can have just about anything you want any time you want, but the result is that nothing is special anymore.

Special things at special times make for very special feelings. When that's gone, life becomes mundane and monotonous. Everything simply becomes everyday. And that's sad.

Resurrection

Back in February, I took a break from my train of thought at the time for a brief Valentine's Day interlude. If I was willing to take a break for a pseudo-holiday, I should be willing to do the same for a real one, so today, is our Easter break.

Easter is, without a doubt, the most Christian of all holidays that we (pretend to) celebrate. I mean, without Easter, there's no Christianity, pure and simple. You would think, and it still amazes me, that Easter isn't a bigger deal than it is ... for Christians, that is. Could it be that they really don't understand what the holiday is all about? Perhaps. It's a great kiddy holiday, though, even if you're an atheist: what's not to like about chocolate, in whatever form it comes in? Valentine's Day may mean chocolate for the sweetie, but at Easter, it's chocolate for the whole family (as well as those disgustingly artificial and chemically laden marshmallow chicks, but, hey, haven't I been harping on the fact that there's an upside and a downside to just about everything?).

What Easter has in common with just about every other major religion on the planet, is what most people just don't get. The focus, the theme of this particular holiday is life after death (put in most mundane terms) or eternal life (in a more spiritual and uplifting sense). Now, I don't want to go into detail about or have an argument about who has the better heaven. Every religion talks about what happens after we die and the common thread is that if you were "good" (whatever that means in the given religious context), what comes next is good, and if you were "bad" (and the same caveat applies here), what comes next is, well, literally, hell.

Who's right and who's wrong is not important. Whether anyone is right or anyone is wrong isn't important either. What is important is the fact that throughout the entire course of human history, recorded or archaeologically discovered, this has apparently been a subject that has been on our minds. The Neanderthals took great pains in burying their dead; the Egyptians made a civilization out of it; there hasn't been a time, place, or people who didn't try to come to terms with the fact that we're only here for so long and then ... . Yes, Easter is the holiday at which we think about death - as natural a part of life as there can be - as well as life, in particular life after death.

I believe that Easter is as good a time as anything to think about such things. Americans like to avoid the subject; other cultures apparently can't get enough of it. Regardless of where you personally stand on the issue, you need to come to terms with it anyway. You can believe that you can blow yourself up and awaken to six dozen virgins or that you'll walk streets of silver and live in houses of gold, or that you don't wake up at all and just rot in the ground. It really doesn't matter. All that's important is that you give it some thought.

Having said that, though, and in keeping with the current flow of posts (apart from this interlude), there is increasing interest in the topic by lots of people. One of the more interesting approaches, I would like to add, comes from the world of hard science, believe it or not. The philosopher of science Jim Beichler has written a number of articles and books on the subject. He has developed a theory of physics which he believes shows, scientifically, that individual consciousness survives death. He's part of a growing number of scientists who are refusing to be silenced by the "accepted wisdom" of the scientific community and are demonstrating in rigorous and scientifically acceptable ways that there's more in this area too than meets the eye, or we'd like to admit.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. If you're interested in Bleicher's ideas, you can find him on academia.edu. Open your mind. Expand your horizons. Take a new lease on life.

Self-awareness and the awareness of others

Anyone who has been slipping in and out of these blogs over the time I've been writing them, and especially anyone who has been following lately will have recognize that this idea, this notion, this concept of "the Other" plays a big role in what I write. If you've noticed, I've done my job. If you haven't, allow me to get a bit more direct.

Think about it: all of us are here in this reality (at least, I hope, all of you who are reading this); we share a common space (here) and a common time (now); we have common feelings, such as being happy, sad, frustrated, relieved, and more; we may speak different languages, but we all communicate (for better or worse); we have different backgrounds and experiences, but we nevertheless can relate to one another because of this (not in spite of this); we all dream and hope and yearn, and we know that other human beings do so as well. As I never tire of saying, we have much more in common than whatever it is that makes us different.

One of the real advantages (and unfortunately, obligating characteristics) we have as human beings is that we know, are aware of, recognize, and (often begrudgingly) acknowledge that there are other creatures in this reality, in this here and now (and for the more advanced, that then and there) who are very much like ourselves. In other words, we are aware of ourselves (I keep getting the feeling that there is a "me" in "my head" who experiences things) and we are aware of others who are like ourselves (that is, "you's" and, in general "others", who experience similar things as well). We take this all for granted, I know, but if you stop and reflect upon it, this is quite an amazing, if not mysterious, state of affairs. For as much as we love our pets (as we should), they're not doing this. For as much as we are stunned by the capabilities of whales and dolphins and chimpanzees and bonobos, they aren't doing this either. They're close, I'll give you that, but they are not quite there (perhaps, yet, but that remains to be seen). Without going over the top, I have to admit, that there is something about us humans that makes us different (not necessarily better ... and Lord knows, judged by our behavior, not at all better) than our animal cousins.

The simple fact is we are capable of much different things than they are, and, what is also worth noting, those things of which we are capable, can have a far greater impact on others, our environment, on the world in general than any of our cousins can generate. In other words, knowing about, being aware of the consequences, or impact, of our thoughts and our actions, in simplest terms, obligates us to be more conscious of whatever it is we are doing. This is, I admit, an extremely difficult idea to grasp. It is, nevertheless, more important than ever.

We don't have to go so far as to believe that we are the pinnacle of creation or the end-purpose of whatever. What we do have to realize is that since we are capable of so much, our responsibility for what we do is just as great. Just because we can doesn't mean we should. Instead, it means we should be careful (of what we do).

Same difference

If there is anything I love about this life and this world, it's the diversity. Really. It can't be colorful enough, diverse enough, multi-culti enough for me.

Here we are, all of us, on one small planet, somewhere in the middle of a rather small solar system, somewhere at the edge of a galaxy, in the endless vastness of space. The universe is huge and we've got pea brains. How is that supposed to work? Still, those pea brains produce enough whatever to allow us to go to the moon, cure some diseases, think about weird stuff, and also pollute the planet, destroy the atmosphere and bring ourselves to the brink of destruction. Tell me why that is, in and of itself, not worth contemplating?

In all of my musings, of course, I keep coming back to one point: even though we're all so different -- actually unique as individuals -- there is so much about us that is still the same: our feelings, our sorrows, joy, pain, desires, wishes, hopes, and aspirations. We'd all, it appears, like to live a decent life (whatever that means) and not have to worry as much as we do about as many things as we do. I get the feeling that we'd all just like to know that our children are doing OK, that they are healthy and (at least sometimes) happy, that they have enough to eat and, when the situation calls for it, can celebrate and be happy about births and marriages and birthdays and whatever else is reason for joy.

OK, I'll admit it, I haven't been everywhere. But, wherever I've been, this is what I have seen and felt that people want. From all the TV shows, documentaries and travelogues that I have read, I get the impression that this is what most people want. I'm beginning to think -- though admittedly all evidence is not yet in -- that this is somehow a feature of the human condition. I really don't know what the difference is between me, a Wall Street banker, a worker in a German factory, a French civil servant, a peasant in China or an Aborigine in Australia. Oh, our circumstances are very, very different, but how we all feel about the world around us ... well, I can't really see how different it is. We feel the same joy and pain, we suffer from the same diseases ... where is the fundamental, existential difference? I just don't see it.

On the outside, we're very different: our hair, eyes, skin, stature, build ... you name it ... are very, very different. On the inside, our intelligence, our attitude, our self-understanding, our face-to-the-world ... if you know what I mean ... are very different as well. But deep down ... and I mean really deep down, at the core of our being, at that space-time that defines us as being "human" ... well, I'm not sure there's all that much difference at all. I haven't been able to locate that difference, but I've sought far and wide. I've tried to find it in every person I have ever met. But, as it turns out, the more I look, the more I find out that in the most important, essential and deepest ways, there just isn't a lot of difference between Mike and Jane and Michele and Rolf and Dimitry and Joanna, and Jose and Qiang and Kwame and ... well, you get the point.

It takes a while before you realize that we're really not all that different from one another. And it takes a little longer to realize that we're all more alike that different. But once you do, I can assure you, the world becomes a simpler place, and as a result, it becomes a better, more livable place as well.

Now back to our regularly scheduled program

The world goes on, regardless of our involvement. The path it takes in its "going", well, we do have something of a say in that.

It would appear that over the past couple of posts, I've digressed, gotten off the beaten path, if you will, taken an unexpected turn (and you'll note that all of these phrases are, yes, metaphors), but that's not the case at all. Truth be told, I've simply continued with what I was saying, but tried to relate it to the real world in which (at least) most of us believe we find ourselves. If we only knew. Yes, if we only really knew where and when we are.

Let's face it, we haven't quite got this consciousness thing figured out yet. The materialists can't explain it, the metaphysicians are probably too enthusiastic about it. We only know what we know and that is what we experience, but somehow we suspect that that's not all there is. Even the most dyed-in-the-wool materialist knows that there is more in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in any of our philosophies (with apologies to William). Yes, my dear friend (or occasional reader, I can't know ... though it doesn't make a difference), we are a strange species. And that, more or less, is what the past few posts (and probably most of my posts) have been about.

We have trouble -- and by "we", I mean all of us -- with uncertainty. Our lives are full of it, but we wish they weren't. We'd love to know what is what, to not have to worry about every little thing, and to be able to get up every morning and face the day with renewed vigor and confidence. Of course, we're in a very privileged and exalted position: we don't have to worry about where our next drink of clean water comes from or our next bowl of rice, or if the radicals are going to show up with blood-lust and machetes, or if we have to sign up for Obamacare or not. No, we don't handle uncertainty very well, but just when was the world certain at all.

There is something that unites us all. It doesn't matter if you're a dirt farmer in deepest Africa, or a day laborer in China, or an executive on Wall Street, or a production worker at the Daimler plant in Stuttgart. What we all have in common is that we have absolutely, positively, definitely no idea why we're here.

Oh, we're here all right. We get up every morning. We go about our business. We do what we have to do, whatever it may be, but in the end, at night, before we go to sleep, we all have that moment when we ask ourselves, just what the hell am I doing here? Where did I come from? Why am I? The true believer asks him/herself this, as does the atheist, the agnostic, the materialist, and the forlorn and forgotten.

Oh, you can -- from your privileged position of so-called knowledge in alleged developed Western society -- think that you know. But, late at night, when the lights are out, when all is dark and quiet, you know that you simply have no idea why you are.

The wonder, the mystery, of life is that we just don't know. The comfort, the surety, of life is that we suspect (rightfully) that no other human being on this planet knows either. We're simply all in it together.

Aren't we so proud of ourselves

Today's a special day, of sorts. No, it's not a holiday, and in these parts nobody is celebrating, I can assure you. For better or for worse, most younger folks don't even know that it is a day worth remembering. No, it's not National Fluffy Bunny Day nor some celebrity's birthday, it's what was once known in the US as VE Day (that is, Victory in Europe Day). It was on this day, 69 years ago that Nazi Germany surrendered to the Allies ending World War II in Europe. (It's good to remember when wars are ended. It's too bad that they have to start in the first place.)

As with most commemorations of this sort, it's all done for the wrong reasons. We like to celebrate victories (if that's what they are) even if these victories are pyrrhic (and if you don't know what I just said, look it up). Don't get me wrong, it's good that the Nazis were stopped. What I'm troubled by is that we didn't stop them before they got started.

We love to blame the Germans. Really. The Nazis, the Holocaust ... their militarism in the First World War ... yes, there are lots of reasons to look down on them. Sure, we have a bit of a problem with the fact that they are now successful (in relative terms), build great cars, love the environment and solar energy and nature, but when push comes to shove, we can always pull out the "Nazi" card. We certainly don't want anybody getting uppity.

To be perfectly honest, I'd have less of a problem with all of this, if we non-Germans weren't so holier-than-thou about it all. Really. Many, many Americans loved Hitler and sympathized with the Nazis. Even today, as recent events have shown, anti-Semitism and hatred of the Jews is still a motivating force; the Bush family got wealthy catering to the Nazis banking-wise; the world tolerated them right up until the war; how many people even today would welcome a strong leader (Führer) to take charge and protect them from their own freedom? In the center of it all, of course, are the Jews, but who among us knows the difference between the ethnic group, the adherents to a particular religion, and the State of Israel, three very different, very distinct entities? No, we'd rather lump and stomp. It's all so much easier that way.

Yes, we like to think that "it couldn't happen here", that what happened in Nazi Germany was a "German thing". Unfortunately, it's not, it was a human thing. People who are downtrodden look for strong leaders. People who feel betrayed, look for a savior. People who feel they have nothing left to lose look to someone else to get them out of their misery. And, the easiest way to do that, of course, is to appeal to humanity's most base instincts: I have got to be better than somebody (anybody) else.

It was not a flaw in the German culture or character that allowed Hitler to come to power. The very same overarching, being-suppressed-but-feeling-superior, isolated and lonely feeling is more than present in Americans today. When someone can demonstrate to me the difference between "We're #1" and the Master Race, between "My country right or wrong" and "Deutschland über alles", between the imperialism the US demonstrates to the world and that which the Nazis failed to achieve ... well, then, I suppose, I'll think about this all a bit differently. Until then, however, I'll just note the day with a sense of bitter-sweet humor.

It can happen anywhere ... and some places more probably than others. And the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Hey, it's just a figure of speech

Yeah, that's what we'd like to think, but that's not the way it is.

The theory that describes this close relationship between speech and thought is called the "Whorfian Hypothesis", after the cultural-linguist Benjamin Whorf who first proposed it. Like anything else in academia, it isn't uncontested, but even if it isn't precisely accurate, it is generally a good description of how things are. Anyone who has ever learned a foreign language knows there are certain ideas or notions or concepts or, well, just simply words that are untranslatable. These folks also know that there are somethings, that even if they are similar in meaning are said in very different ways.

For example, the Germans have a word (one of my favorites, by the way), hinterfragen which is untranslatable. Literally it mean "to question behind" (fragen = to question; hinter = behind). What is means is to be critical about something, to question the assumptions upon which a statement is made, to try to get to the bottom of the matter, to find out what is really going on. On the other hand, we English-speakers can be "cool as a cucumber", and I can assure you that calmness and cucumbers are not two ideas that the everyday German would bring together like that.

The point is that both of these notions: the questioning and the self-assuredness are being expressed in metaphorical terms. There is no "space" behind questions any more than cucumbers can be calm and self-composed. Again, these are metaphors that help us express what we want to say.

And this is the point: there are many more instances of these kinds of things in all languages than there are instances of literally saying what you mean. "Hinterfrager (those who tend to "question behind") are called doubting Thomases; "smart cookies" know a lot; almost universally we all "go through Hell" when things are bad and find ourselves "in Heaven" (sometimes numbered, e.g., 7th) when things go well. The more you look, the more you dig into the language -- any language -- the more figurative (for metaphors are but one figure of speech) it becomes. Language is, at heart, figurative, not literal.

So why do I care? Well, if how we speak reflects how we view the world, and if how we view the world is reflected in how we act, then an increasing number of commercial, business-related, impersonal metaphors would indicate that we are becoming more commercial, business-related and impersonal in our thinking. If our thinking becomes more commercial, business-related and impersonal, then it is only a matter of (very little) time until our actions become commercial, business-related and impersonal. That's not good for us as people, because, well, human beings are deep down neither commercial, nor business-bound nor impersonal. Human beings are in trouble when there are no other human beings around. Robinson Crusoe didn't lose it because Friday showed up. John Donne told us clearly that no (hu)man is an island unto himself. And this is why, in the end, prolonged solitary confinement is rightfully considered torture.

What we say matters, and how we say it matters even more. Listen to yourself. How are you engaging the world? What vocabulary, phraseology, and which figures of speech dominate your own communication with the world?

I can assure you that whoever is (truly) listening already knows.

The "bottom line"

... that ain't.

Language has always fascinated me. Oh, sure, it is amazing to learn another one and get a true, inside look at the ways of thinking of different language community and culture, but it is also breathtakingly wondrous to take a step back and look at one's own language with fresh eyes.

The title today is an everyday, common, often-used phrase, to be sure. "The bottom line": what it all really comes down to, the heart of the matter, whatever it is that makes the difference; the bottom line.

While we English-speakers all immediately understand it, a lot of us really don't know where the phrase comes from. This one comes right out of business. The phrase is a simple, direct reference to the balance sheet: you look at what you took in, you look at what you had to spend to get it, and what's left over is profit, it's the last thing on the balance sheet, it's the bottom line.

Now, for those of you not schooled in the intricacies of business theory, this is what is generally known as "net profit". Profit is -- and most people don't know this -- just like temperature: it's of one bolt of cloth; it may be positive and it may be negative, and so it is with profit as well. (Negative profit is generally referred to a "loss", but that's another story.) Yes, the bottom line in the actual, real, factual, calculated what's-left-over-after-all-is-said-and-done; it's, well, the bottom line.

Of course, none of this is particularly special, is it. After all, it's just a phrase, we all use it, and now, we all know where it come from, but so what? To me, we now come to the interesting part. This is a phrase from business, commerce, from the economic sphere. It doesn't have to do with people, emotions, personalities, feelings, justice, correctness, morality, or any other of those fuzzy, hard-to-identify-and-agree-on notions folks are always throwing around. No, the bottom line is the razor-sharp, intricately calculated what-it-is. We take a cold, impersonal, calculated concept, and apply it willy-nilly to just about any situation we can think of. We use it in our daily affairs, in our marriages, our relationships to kin, with our friends, enemies, partners and competitors. We're not really talking about "profit", we use it to mean what is, in the end, important enough to take special note of. This way of using words (for those of you who were asleep in English (or any other native-language) class, is what we call a metaphor: we use a word to mean something other than what it actually means because it makes the point better than whatever other word we were thinking of using.

What I find so interesting about this is that we -- especially in the English-speaking world -- are using an increasing number of such metaphors (that is, those coming from the business, commerce, economic sphere) in our everyday speech. We've not only commercialized our society, we're doing it to our language as well. This is not a comforting development.

While all language use is, ultimately, metaphorical, it might be a good idea to take stock of where we're getting our metaphors from. There's a too-close relationship between how we think, how we speak, and how we act.

With a small caveat

It should be clear where I'm coming from, but I'm guessing it is not clear to absolutely everyone. I also think, quite seriously, that there's still a chance for some confusion, so let me clear that up as well.

First of all, yes, we are all created equal and endowed with some inalienable rights. That part of the Constitution the founding fathers got right. However, ...

We don't all show up in equal circumstances. Some people have it a lot harder in life than others, and this for any number of reasons. We don't all have equal opportunities.

What is more, since we have ranked (rigged?) our priorities in favor of the economy over the society, this inequality of opportunities is a double hit for those left out. When it comes to economic forces -- which are valued higher than any other in our modern-day, consumerist, capital-driven, money-loving world, those without are at more than just a disadvantage: they've been shut out completely. Consequently, we can't judge them by our otherwise money-prejudiced standards.

Facebook, for example, abounds with sappy, pathetic drivel about how our lives would be better if we made better choices. That's vague enough to agree with, but it's too vague to be true. For all of those born with a gold, silver, or even stainless steel spoon in their mouths, talk is cheap. Before you disparage the poverty-stricken, the weak, the disenfranchised, the oppressed, and the have-nots (i.e., those without spoons, so to speak), you should give your personal pathos a second thought. I would like to see all those well-enough-off-to-think-they're-more-deserving-than-others manage under the same circumstances as those for whom they no longer feel responsible. Yes, we like to think that responsibility is a personal thing, but that's only part of the story ... a very small part of it actually.

In an age of unbridled, rugged individualism, too many John-Wayne wannabes like to think that they got to where they are by their own efforts. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Your social background, your skin color, your fitting or not-fitting into legislated categories, your upbringing, your diet, your family circumstances all play a part in which breaks you get and what breaks you. Recent studies have shown that even random determination of a privileged position leads quickly to the assumption that the benefiters are getting what is their due. Once "there", these people almost invariably tend to get less compassionate quickly as well. Could it be ... I mean, is it perhaps just possible, that you're not being objective about your stance on rights and responsibilities? Could it be that you're just opining from a rather privileged position?

Now, while I still believe everyone needs to make the best of what they have, there are still too many folks without enough for "good", let alone "best". This is anything but a one-size-fits-all matter.

What Alfie doesn't know

Most of you will miss the allusion in the title. It's OK. It's not that important.

In a recent discussion with a friend, one of his observations about the sad state of current affairs was simply that what we're seeing is just humans being human. That seems to be a reasonable statement, but it got me thinking, and I'm not exactly sure how reasonable it is.

It assumes a lot. For example, it implies that things are as bad as they are because that is all we, as humans, are capable of. It intimates that given half a chance, humans will make the wrong choices. It insinuates that humans are inherently defective or deficient (or evil? or degenerate? or nasty? or ...?) in some way. It struck me that my friend doesn't have a very high opinion of his fellow humans.

Oh, I don't blame him for harboring incorrect notions or drawing false conclusions or anything of the sort. After all, we; that is, humanity in general, have a pretty rotten track record when it comes to good things. A lot of blood has been spilled, a lot of people have had to suffer, and we never seem to tire of finding new and obnoxious ways of making other people's lives miserable. What I think I heard him saying was, there is really nothing we can do about any of this; it's simply hardwired into the system, if you will. And it's there that I don't agree.

Yes, I'm one of those hopeless (or is it hapless?) idiots who believe that we can do better than we do. I'm not convinced that we're born brutish or evil or sinful or anything like that at all. Granted, the major Western religions, the so-called Abrahamic Faiths, all postulate a defective creation, (Hu)Man, but I'm not sure that's a strong interpretation of the Creation narrative. This doesn't mean that I automatically agree with our Humanist brethren, for they, at least for the most part, are convinced that we're nothing but atoms, molecules and physical and chemical process that somehow randomly produces the epiphenomenon of consciousness that forces us to decide but completely influenced by external forces and natural laws that leave little room for actual choice. Yes, deep down, I believe they, too, think, we're simply not capable of more. I, however, can't help but think that we are.

Since we're on the topic of what we all believe, I'll tell you what I believe, namely that humans are, to be sure, capable of the most incomprehensible depths of stupidity, of brutality, cruelty, and depravation, yet, at the same time, we are capable of reaching the most unimaginable heights of wisdom, creativity, kindness and love as well. Our individual lives and the life of humanity plays out between these two extremes. While I don't argue that we have been giving the down side more than its due, I would argue that we have the chance to be better. If there is one thing about humans which I unflateringly believe, it is that we -- individually and collectively -- can choose to shape our destiny.

Yes, I believe that whatever happens to us is, to a great extent, in our own hands. We can destroy the world, or we can save it. We can decide. We have consciousness, self-consciousness, and more than just mere instincts and drives. We have awareness, self-awareness, intelligence and insight, even if we don't always put that particular foot forward.

In the end, it is up to us, but it is also up to us to decide what we want to do and how we want to do it. It's not an easy choice and but we can make it. We're not victims of the forces, powers around us and we're more than the combination of our genes. Until we recognize and acknowledge that, however, we'll continue to ... well, put in simplest terms, simply keep screwing up.

So, heads up out there. The hour, it is getting late. If we're to make something of ourselves, we need to start working on it now. Right now. If you're here, you're in. There's no escape. It's time to show ourselves what we're really made of.

Earth Day reflections

It isn't actually a holiday, just a commemorative day, but I believe we should rethink our position on this one. To me, Earth Day should be a full-fledged holiday, like Memorial Day, or Veterans Day, but more important; like Presidents' Day or Columbus Day, but more meaningful. No, we need a day to stop and think about the Earth.

We've only got one, and we're killing it.

Now, for all of you doubters and deniers: get over yourself. You're a huge part of the problem. Global warming is a fact, the ice caps are melting, islands are being lost and soon coastal regions will start flooding; we're acidifying the oceans and desertifying the rainforest regions; we're polluting the air, poisoning our water supply (and ourselves) and destabilizing the earth's crust in places (cf. fracking). You can say it ain't so, but you're wrong. You can believe that humans aren't the problem, but you're wrong. As my main man George Carlin was fond of saying, "you're here, you're guilty, end of story."

What gets me more than anything else is the justification of our ignorance and ignoring: to give ourselves better lives. How oxymoronic can you get? Oh sure, in the short term, some of the obscenely rich will get richer, and most of the obscenely poor will even more obscenely poor. Our lives are not going to get better folks. There is no way they can.

The simple truth of the matter is that the earth is a finite time-space entity. Acting as if it is infinite is, in simplest terms, stupid. But that's what we're doing. The developed world is consuming too many resources in improper ways with catastrophic results. The undeveloped world thinks the developed world knows what it's doing, but it doesn't. Things aren't looking good, folks.

It really is time to think about setting aside at least one day to reflect upon our own suicidal insanity. Earth Day would be the perfect day, but we missed our opportunity again. I wonder how many more we really have.

Boring and uninteresting

You don't have to be paranoid to know everyone's after you. Paranoia, at least this side of a formally diagnosed illness, is simply a feeling. I say "simply" knowing full well that it's much more than that. Truth be told, I tend to think that what we feel is often more significant and important than what we know.

I know that there are lots of folks who "feel" that they can't live without their personal technology (laptop, smartphone, tablet, etc.) and there are a whole lot more who feel that they have nothing to hide. After all, most of us lead such boring and uninteresting lives that ... well, who really cares whether I was at the movies or the mall last night, or whether I stopped in this fast-food joint as opposed to that one? In general, I agree. Who cares? More specifically, I would say that eventually, the wrong people.

Information can be a powerful tool, or a powerful weapon. As my friend Julius used to say, abusus non tollit usus; that is, just because something is abused or misused doesn't make the thing itself bad. In this regard, information are like guns. They can be very helpful and provide a lot of "feeling safe". But, in the wrong hands at the wrong place at the wrong time, they can be deadly. You just have to know that about guns, and the same holds true for information. What is more, if you have a gun, chances are very high that you are going to use it at some point, willingly or unwillingly, consciously or unconsciously, seriously or frivolously. And the same thing holds for information.

Personally, I'm not all that comfortable with third parties -- be it the government or the shop around the corner -- having, storing, and what's even worse, manipulating my personal data. I'm not paranoid. I know they have it and I know they use it, but I'm not convinced they need it. It's at this point that too many people say, "Well, I've got nothing to hide, what does it matter?" or "Who could possibly be interested in my boring life, so who cares?", but I'm a firm believer that if you don't need it, you needn't have it.

My point is that it is data about me. All the little bits and pieces than everyone is collecting is being shared with everyone else who is interesting in collecting, and the next thing you know, others know more about me than I do, and they're not willing to tell me what they know. At that point, I say it's time to rethink this data or information-collection thing. If it is information about me, why shouldn't I have a right to know what it is and what's being done with it? If they are using this information, say as a corporation, to generate profits, why am I not receiving royalties? If it's the government, why shouldn't I know what they have and who has it and what it's being used for? In other words, when do the rest of us find out what apparently so many others already know?

Like I said last time: I'm not saying we need to opt out of society or go into seclusion. I'm not saying that we need to fear either corporations or government, but we do need to be aware, and since we are involved, I believe we have every right to know. What I'm making a pitch for is more personal involvement and awareness. It is personal, so let me be personally involved.

At least you should know

While most of us like to think we're hard-boiled enough to know what's happening, the real fact of the matter is that most of us are still quite naive. I'm not saying naivité is a bad thing, but too much of anything can be less than good in the end. By the same token, knowing a whole lot of little things and not putting them all together can be just as bad. Technology, though not bad in and of itself, can be used to do lots of things that aren't in our best interest. Quite often, little "perks" are included to distract us from the bigger issues.

For example, collecting bonus or payback points or whatever they're called just tell retailers more and more about our purchasing decisions. The "old" system of figuring out what you bought and offering you discounts on name-brand products is really old. Since you voluntarily give them your information, they can link you to what you buy. The next new twist will come, I believe, when they've refined face-recognition. Anyone who has been tagged in a Facebook picture has their face charted and plotted, but this is perhaps the harmless side of the passport photos that are required these days. Frontal shots without smiles are required now not only for passports but also for driver's licenses and other identification documents. Why, because it makes it easier for the face-recognition software to work and refine.

There are two aspects of this I find interesting. On the one hand, they (whoever "they" are, it doesn't matter) know what we look like. They don't have to know our name, that's secondary. Anytime you are "seen" by a video surveillance camera ... and these are popping up everywhere, though in some countries (e.g., the UK) more than others (e.g., Germany). It is becoming ever easier to recognize you. On the other hand, a number of retailers have installed cameras to monitor what customers actually look at. Do you scan the top shelf in a grocery store before taking something off the bottom? Do you tend to pick from the middle? In neutral terms, "they" are merely trying to determine you search behavior ... or whatever. It won't be long till retailers know who you are and what you generally look at as well as buy. We're all going to be receiving more offers than we might like.

Smartphones have taken on new dimensions as well. In addition to GPS tracking and signal triangulation, newer models register how many steps you take, in which direction, how often you take it out of your pocket or purse and more. This is all getting transmitted to "someone". Some have incorporated face recognition so that they not only know how often you look at it, but soon they will also know to whom you are showing it as well.

Now think about it all for a moment. Think about the different pieces of the puzzle, and you quickly realize "they" know a lot more about us and what we do than we like to think.

Am I trying to instill fear or get you to stop using your phone? No. We can't live without our devices and they can be very useful too. What we need to think about, however, is what kinds of information do they need to know about me, individually. How much of this should "they" be allowed to collect? How long should "they" be allowed to store it? At what point is my privacy (and security) being violated? These are more relevant and important issues than you might think, and if you are interested at all in either your privacy or security, you may want to give it all just a bit more thought.

Here is not there, but maybe it should be

In all our thoughts about ourselves and our own individual lives, we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that we are part of something bigger, namely the world around us. Yes, this is what causes us so often to retreat into ourselves, but we can learn things "in here" that we can put to use "out there".

For example, employment, unemployment and underemployment are all problems we face. If we have a job, we're afraid to lose it, so we tow the line. If we don't have a job, we are often willing to take anything, since we (often erroneously) believe that something is better than nothing. I don't know if it's a majority of us but it's certainly more than anyone would like to admit, many, many people are underemployed; that is, they are working in jobs that don't make full use of their qualifications. (And, by the way, if anyone tells you that unemployment is high because there is a skill shortage, feel free to just slap them ... there's hardly anything that is more meaningless to say.) This, however, is all positioned to change ... and not for the better.

In at least tuning in part-time to the world around us, our American friends should be aware that the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is heading toward closure. This is a free-trade agreement that the Americans are negotiating in secret with a number of other nations around the Pacific Rim. Simultaneously, the EU is negotiating with the Americans regarding an EU-USA Free Trade Agreement as well. Neither bode well for us little people. Both of these exercises in insanity must be stopped.

In principle, there is nothing wrong with free-trade agreements. It is precisely this that makes Europe (both the EU and the EFTA) as strong as it is. Our problems come from imbalance; that is, from treating unequal partners equally. This is the same reason why NAFTA is not working as it should, but NAFTA was taken as the example of how to develop a trade deal that offers only benefits to the corporations, not to the people. The TPP and the EU-USTA are designed with only corporate interests in mind. If either (or both) of these are put into practice, we can't begin to number the people who are going to suffer. If you don't believe me, read up on them yourself. And once you have, you will soon realize that regardless of how politically different you and your neighbor may be, when it comes to these, you are both going to get screwed equally.

This is one of those instances where the Devil is truly in the detail. When spoken of from a high-enough level, it all sounds very nice, but once you look behind the facade, through the smoke and mirrors, you quickly realize that our good plays no role in the negotiations whatsoever. So, once again, though we are apparently on opposites sides of an issue (for example, capitalism and free markets), we soon come to realize that we little folks are not intended to have any say in the matter. I can assure you, though, that we little folks will be the first ones to feel the effects. I'm not over-exaggerating when I say that a lot of us are not going to survive either one, and a whole lot of us won't survive both.

I mention this for the simple reason that faced with such bleak prospects, rash and false decisions on our part will only increase the damage. If there was ever a time to get informed, to understand what is happening to us, this is it. You can't say you weren't warned.