Nonduality

I just want to say one thing, which I won’t go into detail about right now, is that I think it’s time we move towards nonduality, which doesn’t mean “sameness” but does mean incorporating both “light” and “dark” aspects in a healthy way. I think any kind of Absolute can miss out on truth. For instance, something which is all light and doesn’t know anything about darkness can get hurt or mislead easily, it’s too trusting. And it’s the same with darkness, if it doesn’t know anything about light it can be really dumb. And I’m not talking about any particular race or gender or anything, I’m just talking about this in an abstract conceptual sense.

Once a friend of mine said to me “What is wrong with us? We want to prise up the rock and look underneath.”

It’s true though, I think sometimes you HAVE to look under the rock to see what’s going on over there, and if it has any relevance on what you’re doing over here, and if you’re doing the same thing even. And sometimes things under the rock aren’t so bad either, just different.

Being diagnosed manic depressive was fucked up, because no matter which way I went people pathologized it. If I was sad it was always “Oh no, she’ll kill herself” and if I was happy it was always “Oh crap, and now she’s going manic.” And the irony was that it sometimes seemed to be when I had an equilibrium that people got worried. Same with my race, and my gender, etc. Anytime someone says that something is pure or purity is good I get grossed out, whether it’s white supremacists or native activists or feminists or whoever. It denotes this idea of singularity which no one can ever achieve, or if they can I don’t want to know them. And I mean single AND separate/superior, not ideas of Oneness, which is really nonduality and something entirely different.

I don’t think our planet is evolving towards the triumph of good over evil, or vice versa. I think our planet is moving towards a unity between two poles, and a lot of other people think so as well. What that will look like I don’t know, and I’m not willing to hazard a guess either. I think it will eventually resolve issues of violence, since suddenly there won’t be any such thing as “sides.” There is no side. I don’t think it will be boring though. People will still be complex little creatures, we won’t be friggin’ pod people or anything. And I think we’ll still debate and disagree, but I don’t think it will be with the same vehemence, I think it will be more like learning. And ideas around power will change. Already a lot of intellectual/artistic type people are abandoning this corporate exchange in ideas, I think people should be paid for their work, but I also think there’s something insideous about trying to control information. I remember when everyone was happy, the internet was the Information Superhighway and we were going to have revolutionized lives. And now certain people are like “Fuck! The internet is a goddamn Information Superhighway and my kid’s been hitchhiking!” Lots of people are panicking because information is accessible in a way never before seen in human history. Look at porn laws, blogging laws being drafted, attempts to create geographical boundaries in Cyberspace, shutting down Napster and other P2P file sharing systems. Not all of it is about intellectual property laws.

I was reading in The Politics of Jesus that the main crucial difference between him and his followers was that he was literate, which was still a rare thing back then. I don’t think only literate people are worthwhile, but being fluent in ideas does give an advantage. Even cultures without writing systems had very advanced ideas being exchanged through oral storytelling, which is why eliminating Native languages was the number one priority of the colonizers. In other places this has been book burning, outlawing certain thoughts even as “treason.” The Patriot Act itself is a giant muzzle law, and here in Canada the residential school claimants are forced to sign a non-disclosure agreement and state that additional charges will not be brought against the government. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Bush has begun to institute “mental health screening” for every citizen.

In an interview for Medulla, Bjork said “You know, its ironic that just at the point the lawyers and the businessmen had calculated how to control music, the internet comes along and fucks everything up.” Bjork gives the finger again, this time waving it into the air. “God bless the internet,” she adds.

“I’ll still be there, waving a pirate flag.”