Topic: Current State of Affairs..Redux

[Definitive Journey]

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So it seems Obama signed off on the health care bill.

I've suspended judgement on it as I don't have enough information to even make an educated guess.

I'm simply amazed at the mass hysteria this has generated...

Some details are coming to light on this bill...I suppose I should watch the local news or talk to Ang about it 

It's going to be an interesting year, that's for sure!

Kris

[Definitive Journey]

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This reminds me of an old Zen story...

There once was a widower and his son who lived outside a village and farmed.  The young man wanted a horse. He told his father all of the reasons he should have a horse. "Oh, Father, it would be so good to have a horse. I could plow the fields beside you. You at the ox and I at the horse. We could prepare more land for planting and care for the increased crops. We will have plenty for us, and we can sell the extra in the village. We can save up so you will have ease in your later years. It would be so good".

The old man replied to his son, "We shall see what is good, and what is not".

For the young man's birthday, the old widower gets him a horse.

The young man is thrilled, overjoyed. He goes on and on about all of the things they will be doing with clearing the fields, planting and raising the crops. How the old man will not have to work hard in his later years. All the time saying "This is so very, very good".

The young man wakes up early every day to care for the horse. He brushes him out each morning and each evening. The two begin to clear extra land, in preparation of planting more seeds. Each day the young man comes in after brushing his horse out in the evening, telling the old man "This is so very good", and each time the old man replies "We shall see what is good, and what is not".

One morning the young man goes out to the barn to feed and brush out his horse, to find the horse is gone. He runs back to the house telling his father, "This is so bad, so very bad. How are we going to be able to clear the rest of the land in order to plant all the crops, and then till the land and care for the crops without my horse? This is bad, this is so very, very bad."

The old man replied to his son, "We shall see what is good, and what is not".

The young man feels very defeated. His father works the ox while he pulls the horses' plow behind him. The plow is so very heavy, the young man finds it difficult to even raise his head while plowing the field. He starts to fall behind his father with the ox. As the young man looks up to find his father and focuses his eyes, across the field at the edge of the woods, he sees his horse! He sees his horse has brought with him a mare!

The young man drops the plow behind him, running towards his father and yelling, "Oh father, this is so very good. Not only will we be able to finish clearing the extra land and planting the extra crops, now that my horse has returned. It is sure that we will also have a colt to sell in the village. We'll have the extra crop money and the money from the colt. You will be well taken care of in your old age. This is so very, very good."

The old man replied to his son, "We shall see what is good, and what is not".

The young man brings his horse into the barn and the wild mare follows him in. The young man begins to think that this wild horse could also be trained, ridden and pull the plow. He starts to dream of not only his father being well taken care of in his old age, but setting himself up and attracting a beautiful woman from the village to be his wife. He decides to break the wild horse himself.

He feeds and brushes out his horse and the mare. That night he tells his father of his hopes and dreams for the new mare, being able to set himself up as well as taking care of his father. He's very excited, all the time saying time and time again, "This is so very, very good".

First thing the next morning, the young man feeds and brushes out the mare and then his horse. He decides to forgo the plowing that day, and get to break the mare. It is not long before the mare has thrown him and he has broken his leg. He cries out to his father, "OH Father, this is so very, very bad. I should have plowed the field with you today. Now I have broken my leg and I can not either break the mare or help you in the fields. With what little bit we've done, we will be lucky to have enough to eat this winter. The colt will be of no help to use to us this winter while we starve, since it won't be born until spring. This is so very, very bad".

The old man replied to his son, "We shall see what is good, and what is not".

It just so happened that the magistrate had sent out his army into the villages to "recruit" all of the young men, forcing all able bodied men to join the army and prepare for his up coming war. The widower was too old, and the young man's leg was broken, so they were left behind while the others were forced to leave to fight the war.

The young man turned to his father and asked, "Is this good, or is this bad?".

Right now here in the USA we're asking, is this good, or is this bad?

[Michael]

A good story, and a good observation.

However, in this case it is good, due to the attendance of sanity over insanity. Had insanity succeeded in this case, it would have give a stamp of validity for extreme and absurd views, which would not have been good for the country - any country.

This is like saying when the horse returned with  more, it was good. And when the son broke his leg, it was bad. It is what follows that can turn to the opposite, not the action or event in itself.

This is all to do with I call 'contained values'. So long as we contain the time or the range of influence, we can attach a value on the basis of coherent principles. Only when we expand that containment - value in a scenario of open borders - do we see that, if we extend far enough, that all values evaporate.

The art of life is knowing when to contain and when to not contain, when to close our gap and when to open it - but more, how to close the and how to open.

If we contain valuation to the event itself, and reject considerations of consequences either dependant or accidental, then we are on safer ground.

Unfortunately, that is not good enough. Too often an obvious benefit leads to a disaster on a direct line of dependant consequence.

Thus we have to widen the container - extend it some way beyond the event but not too far, else we lose all reference point.

This is where wisdom comes in. There is a case of this explained well in Gurdjieff's Beelzebub's Tales.

In the story, the son breaking his leg is contingent - something could have been foreseen and done. He could have been more careful. But the arrival of the army is not contingent - it is accidental. It would be asking too much for anyone in their position to foresee some sequential events.

In the case in point, it is obviously good to do something about US Health Care - it is not sustainable, civilised or anywhere near best practice. The problem is that the fix is well recognised by international experts to be marginal - the problems have not been effectively addressed.

This to evaluate within a contained field, we have to look at the political side of this, not the bill itself. It could be that someone is so outraged that they commit a serious offence, but that would not be a dependant consequence - it would be a risk worth taking. A more sensible consequence is a win for intelligence over ignorance.

That is a more worthwhile evaluation basis. It now means that Obama has the potency to address some further pressing needs - which may or may not be good or bad on reflection. One step at a time is not bad advice in the absence of direct knowledge.