The Battle Between Heaven and Hell

If you think about it, probably the worst thing that could have happened to President Obama at the get-go was the death of Teddy Kennedy. When Teddy and his family gave Obama their support, I knew he would win. But Teddy's death left Obama without a seasoned, time-tested fighter behind him. It was such a powerful loss to what Obama claimed to be about that if the circumstances had been different, I would have been yelling for an investigation.

Alas, a very public brain tumor is not poison in his tea. (Do I read too many murder mysteries?) Teddy knew how to work the Congress. He was out spoken, passionate and unafraid to stand up for his beliefs. Obama appears to give compromises before they are demanded of him. He takes ten steps backwards when one or two might be needed. Teddy could get worked up and confront others with the truth and then do the hard work necessary to build his coalitions and power, the give and take, the horse trading. Lyndon Johnson did this when he refused to let the Civil Rights Act be watered down. Hard stuff.

It is probably a matter of temperament as much as anything. But are there bigger forces at work and play here. Is there a cosmic battle between Lucifer and Ahriman happening? Are we even meant to talk about this kind of stuff? In the Anthroposophical tradition, Ahriman represents the cold, mechanical, inhuman forces which fight the Luciferic forces of excessive emotion, feeling and lack of intellect. The too cold, hard, intellect wars with the too hot, all feeling, mindless emotions. These are both on the dark side. We all need both feelings and intellect, but it only makes sense to have a balance and that balance has to come from human beings who have their feet on the earth and their spirits looking upward and are balanced by their hearts. When we lose our balance, the whole world suffers.

So, our work has to continue to be both inward and outward. We need to be aware of what is going on in the world and stand for our truth and yet we need to work on ourselves and walk the walk. Thick Naht Hahn says "There is no path to Peace. Peace is the path." I am still trying to curb my  acidic tongue and at the same time speak the truth. If I want world peace, I can sit around and bemoan the situation we are in now or I can be peaceful in my thoughts and actions. (hard stuff) I have talked about this before, but Gandhi said that Love is stronger than any weapon man can create. He also said that peace is not passive, soft, or easy. Peace demands courage, vigor, power, and great strength.

The Voters Rights activists who marched and were beaten and even died to get the vote for blacks in the USA look, from my perspective, much braver than the KKK hiding behind robes and masks, wielding weapons and dogs and superior force. Let the gods and the fallen angels battle it out in heaven, but let us be the change we want to see here in earth. (some expressions are cliches for a good reason) Let us all practice balancing our intellect and emotions with our hearts. The heart knows what is good and what is evil. It just does.