In terms of the larger picture, where we are in a play of forces that propel our evolution as conscious creatures aware of our o­neness, this piece paints a cogent picture of how pain drives our development. This map we are o­n now threatens to destroy the game for us all, which is why I harp so relentlessly o­n the way I see for it to change. If the world were aware that what's happening in crop fields is that we are being visited by another intelligence, it would hardly be a minor news report, and I cannot believe we would be able to continue this killing business as usual.  Just imagine the play that would take place in the international dialogue if we all knew what some people know, which everyone would understand if they but paid attention.

I got this piece from Wade Frazier, whose Linksletter, that tracks through the best of what's being written, can be accessed from our home page. He said:

This may well be W.'s gift to the world…seriously. I said this when he stole the election, and this may indeed turn out to be his legacy.

Dubya's Gift – To Drive The Train Wreck

Commentary By Thom Rutledge  3-25-3

My friend, Billy Bird, offered an uncharacteristically favorable comment about George W. Bush. He said, “Dubya is the perfect engineer to drive the train wreck.”

I tend to agree. Maybe Dubya really is — as he likes to think — following his destiny in some way. And maybe that destiny really is to help save us all. Maybe he will save us, not from the Bush family arch enemy, Saddam Hussein, not from any axis of evil, and not from wimpy should-be allies who seem to think war should remain an action of last resort, but maybe he will help save us from ourselves. Maybe Dubya is here for o­ne specific and very important reason: to drive the train wreck.

The potential upside of this global mess George W and his cohorts have gotten us into can be found in the possibility of awakening. In my experience, insight does not bring about awakening, pain does. And train wrecks can be mighty painful.

Consider motivation from a psychological perspective. Whether an organism is o­ne human being, a family, a business, a nation, or an entire world, pain is what inspires change. And if Dubya has given us nothing else, he has certainly given us pain.

Pain will either drive an organism to work harder to hide from the truth — ignoring and dulling the pain — or toward awakening, characterized by a willingness to experience pain for the purpose of learning how to solve problems in the most effective way possible. In either scenario — moving toward or hiding from the real problem — pain is the primary ingredient in motivation.

Insight alone, without the experience of pain, will not provide sufficient motivation for change, at least not sufficient motivation for the degree of change that is needed now, in the midst of o­ne of the great political train wrecks of modern time. Like the alcoholic who has reached the bottom, being smart will not save us. In fact, it is my contention that we humans have a bad habit of using our intelligence to avoid learning the lessons of our history, individually and collectively.

In my work as a psychotherapist, I tell my clients that insights are the tools we use to fine-tune our change, but o­nly after pain has inspired the initial transformation. In the context of Dubya's war, the pain we must become willing to feel is extreme because it is the pain not just of the past three years, but of a human history that persists in believing that the violence of war is a viable option for civilized societies. (What better example of an oxymoron is there than “civilized war?”)

Dubya's gift to us is ironically to be found in his apparent lack of knowledge and/or respect of history. Again, like the untreated alcoholic, attempts to make changes to avoid recurring consequences will bring about o­nly temporarily positive results. Until the bigger problem is addressed directly, be it a belief that alcohol works or a belief that war works, the vicious (yes, vicious) cycle continues. As I began recovery from alcoholism many years ago, I remember a counselor explaining to me that bringing flowers home to make peace with my wife was every bit as much a symptom of alcoholism as throwing the toaster across the room the night before. It is no accomplishment to get to the other side of the cycle. What we have to do is break the cycle completely.

Dubya's gift is perhaps to be found in his ignorance. Because he seems so incapable of understanding the bigger picture, because he thinks he is already seeing the bigger picture, the results of his words and actions are as blatant as a stumbling drunk telling us that he is okay to drive. Dubya's gift is in his lack of subtlety. Since he apparently models himself straight from the old westerns that he and I both grew up watching, there is really no question about the overly simplified model in which he has appointed himself sheriff of the world. What is left to do is for us — this organism we call the United States of America — to hit bottom. And Sheriff Bush is the perfect guy to take us there.

Get o­n board. Let's get this train wreck over with, and hopefully get o­n with our lives in a world in which we can at least begin to comprehend that violence begets violence and stupidity begets stupidity.

Let us pray for — and work for — awakening. Like the alcoholic who has reached the bottom, let us transform our pain into enlightenment.

Thom Rutledge [thomrutledge@earthlink.net] is the author of Embracing Fear & Finding the Courage to Live Your Life (HarperSanFrancisco).

From: Sedena C. Cappannelli [mailto:Sedena@aboutlifeinc.com]

This is quite beautiful. Thank you for sharing this painfully truthful perspective!

From: Robert White [robertarc1@msn.com]

While I believe your continuing parroting of the “Bush stole the election” line is both immature and inaccurate –thus serving to invalidate your more important messages — this article gets at some of the underlying belief issues in a powerful, compelling and thought provoking way. Thanks so much for sending it.  I've forwarded it, along with a recommendation to subscribe, to many friends.

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