Friday, May 12, 2006
Joy and fear
I'm happy to state that a "letter to the editor" of mine was recently posted on CNN. The point I made, to paraphrase, is that if we as a nation become a fear-driven police state in our fight against "terrorism," then the terrorists have won, regardless of whether there is ever another attack on US soil or not.
I think this is an important point, and way too many people either lose sight of it or want us to lose sight of it so that they can push our fear buttons. And in some very important ways, this ties into who I am and what I'm trying to do as an artist.
Terrorism, according to Merriam-Webster Online, is "the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion." "Terror" is further defined as "a state of intense fear," or "one that inspires fear."
By this definition, anyone who uses fear in a "systematic" way to get what they want is a terrorist. To me, this definitely includes the various random idiots who blow up buses, coffee shops, and random bystanders to attempt to get their way.
But it also includes those in our own government who keep using the fear of "another 9/11" to motivate people to approve things like Patriot Act II, detaining people for years without charges, hearings, or due process, and the use of torture in secret prisons to obtain "valuable intelligence" regarding possible foreign terrorist activity. And this makes me sick at heart.
I believe it was Ben Franklin who wrote, "Those who would sacrifice a small amount of liberty for a small amount of security deserve neither liberty nor security."
I believe that fear can be a useful emotion. It's like an alarm, that tells you something needs to be noticed and attended to. But do you use the fear, or do you let the fear use you? Do you listen to the warning, decide what the cost of not heeding it is, make plans and choices and get on with your life, or do you try, like Ahab after his whale, to eliminate all sources of fear from your life?
I've been in both positions at different times in my life. I came rather close to becoming one of those "survivalists" who hides up in the hills with a six-month supply of canned beans. But then I asked myself, "Is this really what you want to be doing with your life? If you died today, right now, would you rather it was while cowering in fear, or while doing the stuff that makes life worth living?"
I'm a firm believer in self-reliance and disaster preparedness. I do believe that while in general we can choose the course of our lives, every now and then "shit happens." Some of the shit we can prepare for. Having the ability to survive without grocery stores, electricity, or running water for a couple of weeks at a time is a useful thing, in the event of an earthquake or hurricane. It puts you in a place where, if the shit *does* happen, you can be part of the solution rather than part of the problem.
And yes...if you can continue on with your life's purpose in a place where fewer disasters are likely, the sane thing may be to move there. But to abandon your life's work simply to get out of the way of the Great Hand of Karma...it's self-defeating.
I mentioned a few paragraphs ago that this whole megillah is part and parcel of what defines me as an "escape artist." Here's how that goes.
My art is to help people learn to find the moments of "escape" in their own minds. Because I believe that if you can imagine yourself sitting on a warm beach somewhere with something fruity and wet and possibly alcoholic in a glass in your hand, whatever irritations you've been dealing with probably won't seem that bad anymore.
Yes, people are going to cut you off in traffic, the cash register is going to break down just as you get to the front of the line, and someone is likely to try to push you to react out of fear, rather than respond out of your truest heart voice. But you get to decide how you respond. You can choose to get angry - and anger is often fear in disguise. Or you can choose to take a deep breath and act in a different way. Tell a joke to the person behind you in line, so that *they* don't get wound too tightly. Call the 800 number on the "How am I Driving?" sticker. Take a walk rather than yelling at your boss. Research the issues and vote based on your research and personal philosophy, not based on fearmongering campaign literature.
Random acts of kindness are the diametric opposite of random acts of terror. And if we can create and maintain a society where people are happy, kind, and considerate, and maintain that in the face of all obstacles...the terrorists lose.
Is it easy? No. Is it possible? Yes. I choose to spend most of my time trying to unwind and un-torque myself and as many people around me as I can manage. I can't think of a better way to spend my life.
Paradise is, after all, a state of mind.
I think this is an important point, and way too many people either lose sight of it or want us to lose sight of it so that they can push our fear buttons. And in some very important ways, this ties into who I am and what I'm trying to do as an artist.
Terrorism, according to Merriam-Webster Online, is "the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion." "Terror" is further defined as "a state of intense fear," or "one that inspires fear."
By this definition, anyone who uses fear in a "systematic" way to get what they want is a terrorist. To me, this definitely includes the various random idiots who blow up buses, coffee shops, and random bystanders to attempt to get their way.
But it also includes those in our own government who keep using the fear of "another 9/11" to motivate people to approve things like Patriot Act II, detaining people for years without charges, hearings, or due process, and the use of torture in secret prisons to obtain "valuable intelligence" regarding possible foreign terrorist activity. And this makes me sick at heart.
I believe it was Ben Franklin who wrote, "Those who would sacrifice a small amount of liberty for a small amount of security deserve neither liberty nor security."
I believe that fear can be a useful emotion. It's like an alarm, that tells you something needs to be noticed and attended to. But do you use the fear, or do you let the fear use you? Do you listen to the warning, decide what the cost of not heeding it is, make plans and choices and get on with your life, or do you try, like Ahab after his whale, to eliminate all sources of fear from your life?
I've been in both positions at different times in my life. I came rather close to becoming one of those "survivalists" who hides up in the hills with a six-month supply of canned beans. But then I asked myself, "Is this really what you want to be doing with your life? If you died today, right now, would you rather it was while cowering in fear, or while doing the stuff that makes life worth living?"
I'm a firm believer in self-reliance and disaster preparedness. I do believe that while in general we can choose the course of our lives, every now and then "shit happens." Some of the shit we can prepare for. Having the ability to survive without grocery stores, electricity, or running water for a couple of weeks at a time is a useful thing, in the event of an earthquake or hurricane. It puts you in a place where, if the shit *does* happen, you can be part of the solution rather than part of the problem.
And yes...if you can continue on with your life's purpose in a place where fewer disasters are likely, the sane thing may be to move there. But to abandon your life's work simply to get out of the way of the Great Hand of Karma...it's self-defeating.
I mentioned a few paragraphs ago that this whole megillah is part and parcel of what defines me as an "escape artist." Here's how that goes.
My art is to help people learn to find the moments of "escape" in their own minds. Because I believe that if you can imagine yourself sitting on a warm beach somewhere with something fruity and wet and possibly alcoholic in a glass in your hand, whatever irritations you've been dealing with probably won't seem that bad anymore.
Yes, people are going to cut you off in traffic, the cash register is going to break down just as you get to the front of the line, and someone is likely to try to push you to react out of fear, rather than respond out of your truest heart voice. But you get to decide how you respond. You can choose to get angry - and anger is often fear in disguise. Or you can choose to take a deep breath and act in a different way. Tell a joke to the person behind you in line, so that *they* don't get wound too tightly. Call the 800 number on the "How am I Driving?" sticker. Take a walk rather than yelling at your boss. Research the issues and vote based on your research and personal philosophy, not based on fearmongering campaign literature.
Random acts of kindness are the diametric opposite of random acts of terror. And if we can create and maintain a society where people are happy, kind, and considerate, and maintain that in the face of all obstacles...the terrorists lose.
Is it easy? No. Is it possible? Yes. I choose to spend most of my time trying to unwind and un-torque myself and as many people around me as I can manage. I can't think of a better way to spend my life.
Paradise is, after all, a state of mind.
# posted by Loren Davidson @ 10:29 AM 
