Being For Something
Martin
In the seas off the coast of Iran there's an unusual manifestation. Apparently there's a division, a line that has appeared that separates logic and reason from ignorance and fear. This line that has appeared cannot be seen, though it can be tracked by GPS (by all accounts) and men in suits around the world are busy arguing over its location and the urgent release of a team of sailors who allegedly crossed it.
Such a line exists only in our minds, it is a line of potentially limited thinking.
I say our minds deliberately as I have yet to find a single difference between any human being on the planet that is worthy of distinction and separation from the rest of us.
Iran may argue that "They sailed over our line" the UN, (consisting of course of many other men) may argue that "Ah well, this may be so and then again it may be not" and they may sit on the fence (another boundary of thoughts?) Then there is of course the UK, "We refuse to apologise or admit wrong doing as we were clearly in the permitted waters off Iraq".
Later that century, after the expenditure of billions, if not trillions, the fish that swim below the surface of the seas off Iraq and Iran still wonder what all the fuss was about "what line?" they are heard to exclaim. Children who are taken on day trips from Iran and Iraq to the coast look out from the beach and exclaim "what line?" and then a further 93 years are expended teaching generations to come about the mysterious (shhhhh, man made!!) line.
The great thing about the sea is that it refuses mans lines. The Globes, Atlases and Maps of all time have been doing their utmost to distinguish, give priority too and power over another by drawing lines. Morocco even built a wall bigger than the great wall of China in the desert of Western Sahara to separate Children from Parents, Nephews from Aunties, Brothers from Sisters. Why? well there's a clue and its under ground and in the sea in the region. (Mineral rights, Oil and Fish perhaps?) Men have even planted millions of land mines to kill and maim anyone eager enough to pop home for tea.
Having seen the effects of land mines upon the human body, where lives have been devistated, limbs have been blown off, internal organs destroyed and people blinded by flying shards of bone as their friends step on a mine, I am left with no doubt whatsoever about the effects of these potentially limiting thoughts. I am left with no doubt that the level of "thinking" if we can call it thinking, that puts lines on nature to defend a position of ownership has had its day.
Our survival as a race now calls for a level of thinking beyond the limited towards the unlimited.
Our survival calls for rationality, logic and common sense. It calls for dialogue and a fight FOR agreement and consensus.
However, there is a big challenge ahead boys.
To reach towards new ground, new mutuality and new potential for a world that works for everyone requires courage, it requires commitment and a devotion to the common good that surpasses anything we've seen to date.
I deliberately target the boys here Ladies, I'm sure you know why :-)
The world that works for everyone is built on equality and right now you bear the brunt of our inhumanity, the brunt of poverty and hunger and the brunt of the effects of war.
So, for all the worlds leaders (of male persuasion)
Exercise 1.
- Find a line in the sea as created by God*
- Find a line on the land as created by God*
- Collect physical evidence of how the man-made lines work for the common good.
- Present your case to the worlds women at the 5th World Women's Conference
- Make your individual cases for why you should continue to construct lines anywhere.
- Make your collective case for why you should have the majority vote over world affairs.
*God - In defining God this is a universal definition that works without predjudice. (so in other words, no guns required to define which dogma is best, ok?)
Exercise 2.
If you've struggled with any of these assignments please ask the nearest woman or child under the age of 10 and you will find that they all have the same answer for you.
And on a closing note, for those of you guys who wonder if I'm a defector from the traditional image of masculinity, think again, I'm very much in fearless fighting mode.
The difference though for me and thousands of others, is that I am fighting FOR something and that ‘something' is a world that works for us all.
Access: Public
community
February 2008
I came here in search of the deeper discussion that you suggested. I may have nothing of substance to add. I could not agree with you more.
I remember an unusual time in my life, when I had returned troubled to my parent's home in the upper valley of El Paso, TX, along the Rio Grande. I approached the border of Mexico and for some time considered walking across and losing myself there for whatever lessons that might hold. I had no identification on me, no way that I could prove who I was or my citizenship, no guarantee of survival, no certainty that I would not be brutalized. But for some time, I contemplated the line that was our border and what it meant. A line marked by the river itself, and as rivers are prone to do, had a history of meandering in such a way, that sometimes a country lost some amount of land unwillingly to the other side. There is actually a park there that commemorates the return of some of that land back to I forget which party, but would not be surprised if it was the US, as we might push such an issue. I wimped out at the time, unwilling to give up the security and protections of my home for the unknown. I wasn't strong enough at the time to jump into the mystery that is life unteethered. It was a slightly crazy idea but I suppose I was searching for meaning in my life. A search that continues.
I do not think you are wrong to address this comment to the men of the world and set the women in a different place. A child of the women's movement here in the US, I nevertheless have come to a point in my life where I understand there are some differences in the sexes. It may be that these are hardwired or it may be that the long generations have made them almost so. Women understand the need for security, the need to feed their children, the need to shelter their children. Men should understand that when these are secure, civilization can progress. When these are threatened, civilization is stagnated, or even worse, suffers a setback.
Deborah
Thanks Deborah,
It was tongue in cheek to a degree as I believe that if we look at the way we're doing life, society and humanity right now, we either laugh or cry as my father used to say.
We cannot separate man and woman as we are in truth the complimentory sexes rather than the opposite sexes. We are interdependent, though the way the world works right now (and we need not go into the horrific detail) it would appear that as yet, many men have yet to see this with their own hearts and minds.
We canlaugh at this in the way that we may laugh at children writing on slates when compared the computers in modern classrooms, there is a vast difference in the thinking from the slate to the plasma screen … but digging beneath the surface, the slate itself is infinitley more complex under a microscope than anything a man could manufacture. And we may call it progress but how long did it take the slate to form?
We will look back upon these days and see the error of our collective ways. However, even this implies a judgement of right and wrong and I cant do this, I can only point at the consequences of potentially limited thinking, safe in the knowledge that a viable alternative exists, is being used today and can work for us all. (its called kindness, mutuality and consciousness)
Thanks for commenting and adding to the depth Deborah.
Love
Martin
Martin,
Oh yes, I am aware of until you see the two (man and woman) as one …
And complexity - you raise good points.
I too lack the ability to judge what is right or wrong as well. Wisdom is realizing that.
What has been “wrong” or “bad” in my life has led to changes and improvements, so was the bad really bad? or a means to the next step on the path? without which I could not be where I am today? Or would the place I would have been, without the bad, have been even better? Obviously, I have no direct answer to my own question.
Viable alternatives always exist. Alternatives always exist. How to judge viable, if one can not judge the outcome?
More later from me, I am sure.
Deborah
Stunning blog, Martin. (and thank you Deborah for being the trail that led me here.)