THE BI-WEEKLY-ISH EH?! (*the one from the first half of November 2024)
So… any big shifts in the collective reality since the last time we newsletter'd?
As I recently said on Insta & FB, I wish I could say that I am shocked that Donald Trump (the convicted abuser/felon & demonstrable self-serving “billionaire” narcissist who likes to cosplay as a working-class person every now & again) — THAT GUY — was elected the president of America (again!), but I'm not surprised.
I am beyond bummed out and genuinely concerned for how much more chaotic & stupid the next four years are going to be (especially once we start hitting those climate change tipping points predicted for this decade), BUT, having just recently written a long newsletter about how far to the right the Overton Window has been pushed in regard to the public discourse on politics and society at large, the outcome of “Four More Years with a Human-Like Donald Trump in Charge of one the Most Powerful Nations in History” feels about par for the course we seem to be stuck on.
But, in the same way that Mr. Rogers once wisely said how we should look for the people who are helping during a time of collective bad vibes, especially in this modern era, it is also helpful to look for the people who are posting.
In recognition of that sentiment, I shared a handful of the tweets that resonated the most with me on my socials the day that Trump’s win was made official (and screenshots of some of those tweets can be found above or over here) — BUT — since some of the things I shared were only to my Instagram Stories (and therefore disappear after 24hrs), I wanted to give a spot in the newsletter to draw special attention to this still-very-relevant breakdown from the late-graet David Graeber (RIP) about the type of politics that have been on offer in most of our “western world” ballot boxes (don’t worry… it’s only a couple minutes long):
And while we all hopefully have a Graeber-driven train of thought running through our minds right now (because we all clicked play on the video above, right?), if you resonated with the clear way that David just communicated his thoughts on a topic that a lot of people have a hard time talking so rationally about (Bill Hicks put a similar thought more bluntly), please take a minute to check your local library and bookstores for some of the many great works David put out into our universe before exiting this plane in the year 2020 (yeah, that 2020).
Because, in the exact same way I felt it was notable to point out how many people DID NOT go out and vote BC CONS in the recent BC provincial election (and spoiler for those who don’t click over to read the previous newsletter: about 75% of the total British Columbian adult voting population, in one way or another, DID NOT cast a vote for the BC CONS), I feel it is also notable to point out that Donald Trump went down in total votes from the previous election (even if winning handily this time around)… it’s just that the Democrats went down even MORE votes (millions & millions) from the previous election (this tweet shares some numbers, although there is a community note about how some votes were still to be counted at the time that tweet was tweeted… but the main point remains).
On a related note, it also seems relevant to share this informative infographic that was posted to r/dataisbeautiful that shows how many of the past US Presidential elections would have been won by “DID NOT VOTE”:
OK… but what is one even supposed to do with this kind of information, eh?
Well, for starters, if you are someone who is not opposed to listening to podcasts as a form of self-guided ongoing education, I’d recommend seeking out the post-election episode of The Dig called “Democratic Dealignment w/ Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor” — which should be freely available wherever you listen to podcasts (but I’ll drop the Spotify link below because Substack works well with Spotify links for easy listening within the newsletter).
Whether you think you resonate more with the current political options offered for those looking “left” or whether you currently resonate more with the political options that get offered to those leaning more to the “right” (or whether you stopped genuinely resonating with any of the same official options that get rolled out wherever/whenever your once-every-four-years vote gets counted), the conversation that Daniel and Keeanga-Yamahtta have in the above episode hits a lot of nails directly on the head (and it really gets cooking around the 24-minute mark if you’re someone who only has time to jump into the juicy bits first). It is worth the time investment, scout’s honour.
Because there are REAL conversations (grounded in the reality of our collective situations) that we should all be taking part in — whether they be digital conversations, literal ones, or some combination of the two (and everything in between). REAL conversations that do not just involve blaming “others” for everything that is overtly unjust and unfair in the very society that we all are active participants in (whether we go about our participation mindfully or not, the reality is that we are all only in control of our own actions/reactions/inactions, no matter how much easier it is to just point fingers at everything everyone else is doing so imperfectly).
This reminds me of an interaction I recently had on Reddit, where someone posted this image to r/Buddhism with the post title, “I keep seeing this on Instagram. I don’t think I agree with it since compassion should exist no matter what. What do others think?":
Probably because it was posted to r/Buddhism (and probably because I’m somebody who once wrote a blog post that was subtly titled “Buddhism v. Capitalism: How the path to enlightenment is paved in the crumblings of our corrupt broken system”), when the above post showed up on my Reddit feed, it immediately reminded me of a term I read in a Buddhist book that I resonated with called “idiot compassion” — SO — I will share the gist of what I shared with this person on Reddit, as I think it is a helpful way to think about compassion during trying times like the times we seem to continually keep finding ourselves living in:
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This sort of ‘spiritual dilemma’ reminds me of a phrase called "idiot compassion" that I came across while perusing Buddhist literature — I don't remember the specific book/s, but a quick Google led me to an article on Elephant Journal that includes a snippet from a Pema Chodron Q&A, so I will just copy/paste Pema's descriptive response below:
"Idiot compassion is a great expression, which was actually coined by Trungpa Rinpoche. It refers to something we all do a lot of and call it compassion. In some ways, it’s what is called enabling. It’s the general tendency to give people what they want because you can’t bear to see them suffering.
Basically, you’re not giving them what they need. You’re trying to get away from your feeling of I can’t bear to see them suffering. In other words, you’re doing it for yourself. You’re not really doing it for them.
When you get clear on this kind of thing, setting good boundaries and so forth, you know that if someone is violent, for instance, and is being violent towards you—to use that as the example—it’s not the compassionate thing to keep allowing that to happen, allowing someone to keep being able to feed their violence and their aggression. So of course, they’re going to freak out and be extremely upset. And it will be quite difficult for you to go through the process of actually leaving the situation.
But that’s the compassionate thing to do.
It’s the compassionate thing to do for yourself, because you’re part of that dynamic, and before you always stayed. So now you’re going to do something frightening, groundless, and quite different. But it’s the compassionate thing to do for yourself, rather than stay in a demeaning, destructive, abusive relationship.
And it’s the most compassionate thing you can do for them too.
They will certainly not thank you for it, and they will certainly not be glad. They’ll go through a lot. But if there’s any chance for them to wake up or start to work on their side of the problem, their abusive behavior or whatever it might be, that’s the only chance, is for you to actually draw the line and get out of there.
We all know a lot of stories of people who had to hit that kind of bottom, where the people that they loved stopped giving them the wrong kind of compassion and just walked out.
Then sometimes that wakes a person up and they start to do what they need to do.”
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Hopefully, the above words didn’t trigger anybody’s reactionary “woke alert” reflexes (and hopefully we’re all still reading along), BECAUSE, not only do I think there is some useful wisdom in that Pema Chodron quote (ie. in order to truly have compassion for others, you need to truly have compassion for yourself — and vice versa in a loop forever et cetera), BUT… there was also an unexpected comment that someone left in response to what I posted that I think is worth noting (so please try to stay with me a little bit longer).
At first, only an agreeable “Thank you ~ compassion for oneself, too” comment had been left in reply to what I commented on that Reddit post. And a couple of upvotes (#humblebrag). But, not long after, someone else jumped in the replies and left a “Trungpa and Pema share a troubling history, somewhat hypocritical” comment + they shared a link to an article on a website called ‘THE GURU’ entitled “Secrets of Shambhala: In Pema Chodron's Shadow”.
I read the article & you can feel free to read it too (I was already loosely aware of some of it… probably in the way that, by now, I think everybody is loosely aware that there usually ends up always being weird and/or disturbing stories when somebody gets worshipped like an infallible guru/god/star).
As someone who personally thinks that Pema Chodron has written and said MANY wise and helpful things (and I still think that after reading the article, because The Places That Scare You and Welcoming The Unwelcome are audiobooks I often use to soundtrack a morning stretch on the floor and I would still recommend them to anyone else looking for solid human advice), even though it is always a bummer to hear stories that tarnish whatever unrealistic picture one might of had about the life another person has lived — which is why it’s never a good idea to put anyone up on a pedestal in the first place, including ourselves, fyi (in fact, a big thing I like about Buddhism is the idea that everyone is a potential “buddha” because the actual “Buddha” was just a human being who woke up to the reality of human existence and then continued living out a human life teaching what he realized thru direct experience until he died in old age after eating some bad food, or at least that’s the gist that my brain has chosen to remember) — so I guess the main thing that stuff like this always makes me think about is:
It’s the teaching that is most important, not the teacher.
Or, as the old saying goes, quit throwing the baby out with the damn bath water every time you find some dirt in there (humans are messy—LIFE IS MESSY—there’s almost always going to be some dirt in there).
Especially in a world that runs cover for the actions/inactions of people who our society actively keeps rigged to let live as if they are somehow infallible (despite all the evidence to the contrary), we all need to learn to stop getting so caught up in the exposing of another fallible human turning out to be —sHoCkeR!— totally fallible (especially given the shadowy world that we all have found ourselves dropped off in).
This is not to say that people shouldn’t be held appropriately accountable for their actions (or that people should not let the experienced and/or alleged actions of another affect what they feel is the best personal relationship for them to have with that human’s life/work/art going forward) — BECAUSE THAT IS NOT WHAT I AM SAYING — I am just saying that the important thing to remember is that it is nobody’s responsibility to carry water for the actions of anybody else (we only start to take on some of that responsibility if we keep knowingly making excuses or avoiding inconvenient context in favour of our continued unquestionable allegiance).
We don’t need to make hypocritical excuses for anyone else’s behaviour when it does not align with the kind of genuinely decent person that we are all (hopefully) trying our best to consistently be more often. Even if the person with the questionable actions has provided us with more than a few “aha” and/or positive moments that have helped us better focus our (hopefully) always-expanding perspective… it is totally possible to just keep the good stuff while getting rid of the rest (especially if the person in question is not someone you even engage with in your IRL).
On a related note: if we’re ever going to have a society that puts more funding/focus into dealing with the root causes of most of our “bad” and/or “criminal” behaviour (hello systemic poverty + oppression + exploitation!), it would be foolish to think that this future more compassionate and rational society would not also require much more human forgiveness and/or room for people to grow AND change (and heal) than what is currently on offer in our hierarchical “do as we say, not as we do” world (a world that is consistently contradicting its supposed values).
So, if a piece of wisdom resonates with you, wherever/whoever you hear it from, nail that piece of wisdom down to your foundation, make it your own AND start continually applying it to YOUR life! Because all the genuine wisdom out there is all just different fingers pointing at the same moon (and once you see the moon for yourself, you can just start using your own finger for the pointing whenever you need a reminder).
It only matters that something inside you recognized actual wisdom as wise (same thing for recognizing all the unwise “wisdom” for what it is too) — BUT — if you don’t actually start experiencing the wisdom you recognized for yourself (ie. by continually applying it to YOUR own actions/reactions & interactions while you go about your impermanent existence as one of the many human beings currently alive right now), then all you’re really doing is just carrying around a bunch of theoretical words and thoughts in your subconscious… along with all the other random words and thoughts (and pictures and memories and worries and opinions and ads & etc) that swim around in our over-stimulated brains each day.
As the righteous Fred Hampton put it:
Similarly, we also don’t need to be carrying the water/weight (and guilt and shame and etc) of all of the many unjust & inhumane actions that have been done throughout the history of our interconnected societies (and that are still being done in our shared present and foreseeable future) — especially if we are not personally responsible for such actions/inactions/reactions (I mean, just speaking from my own experience, A LOT of unconscionable stuff happened in the world, or even just here in North America, long before I even entered stage right in the year 1983).
HOWEVER… to do so in a way that does not just involve continually applying stubborn willful ignorance to the realities of not just our own life but the life of others (which will do no good for your mental health and/or “spiritual” well-being, let alone everyone else’s), we all have to individually start staying much more on top of making sure that OUR own actions/inactions/reactions are actually aligning with the expectations we keep being so disappointed that everyone else’s actions/inactions/reactions are not lining up with (ie. practice what you preach so much that your practice becomes the bulk of your preaching).
And, if you ask me, it all starts and ends with our most basic agreed-upon spiritual cliche (ie. all the major organized religions say they believe some version of the following, even if most of them go on to contradict this core belief with a bunch of other fishy add-on beliefs):
Treat others how you would want to be treated AND stand up for others who are being treated in ways that you wouldn’t want to be treated.
The way my simple brain looks at things: if your “politics” and/or “religion” actively contradict the aforementioned “Golden Rule”, personally, I believe that you believe what you say you believe in as much as I believe that you actually believe it… if you get me? And I don’t mean that in a judgemental way, I only mean it in an observational way (I promise you that my brain has its hands more than full enough with just trying to stay on top of my own actions/inactions/reactions while I go about trying to stay alive in the same world as everyone else).
So, on that note, since we live in an overtly “Christian”-centric society here in North America (where a ‘War on Christmas’ meme can get more social shares than a ‘War on Gaza’ update), and since I’ve already shared a handful of rational Buddhist thoughts above, I am going to balance the feng shui out with a video entitled “James Talarico Delivers Sermon Against Christian Nationalism” below (and shoutout to Edmonton-comedian and former-Cranbookian Mark McCue for not only sharing a clip from this video in his stories, but for also jumping into the comments section of my ‘NOBODY SHOULD VOTE BC CONS’ post and exposing himself as a fellow “socialist commie”):
For me, it was the, “Show me how you treat other people and it will show me what you really believe” line from the video that really landed as the wise piece of wisdom that I hope anyone still reading will nail down to their foundation and start applying to their own actions/inactions & interconnected interactions, HOWEVER, the rest of the video was wonderfully refreshing to see/hear too & I recommend making time to give it a listen (and then please have a think about the people in your life that might be reached with a “Christian” sermon like that).
*HI54 UPDATE: upon closer inspection, it appears that the James Talarico clip I saw on Instagram (that had a line about "show me how you treat other people") is not from the Youtube video I embedded above — HOWEVER — the sermon I ended up embedding is really great, so I am just going to leave things as is (but if anyone finds the Youtube link for the sermon I meant to share, please feel free to share in the comments)!In closing, as Jack Kornfield once put so well, in a podcast episode I can’t recall, so, I have since paraphrased in my own mind, less so well as:
“It’s not up to you to figure out how to save the whole world, that would be hubris to think that — BUT — it is a reality that you are only in control of your own actions/intentions… so just focus more on tending to the parts of the (metaphorical) garden that you can actually reach yourself. It is not only all you can do, but, if you do it mindfully, it can also be more than enough to work with (ps - the goal in life is sustainable contentment).”
Because you can’t change THE world, you can only change yourself — HOWEVER — once you truly make the switch to realizing that you only really have control over your own actions/reactions & intentions, and once you start consistently applying that understanding to your individual lived experience (so that the wisdom starts becoming experiential instead of theoretical), what you should start to subtly realize quickly is that you may not be able to change THE world, but you can actually start to change YOUR world (ie. the parts of THE world that you actually interact with: YOUR friends, family, neighbours, lovers, haters, strangers, co-workers, collaborators, pets, wildlife, nature, yourself, online/offline, etc).
And if you can not only SEE the objective truth in the paragraph above—but also—if you can get out there and start experiencing how true it is for yourself (ie. FEEL wisdom) through your own actions/interactions in the parts of THE world that YOU actually touch each day, then it doesn’t take too big a stretch of the imagination to realize that if enough of us are coming together + working on ourselves from a place of shared foundational values (again, I’d like to nominate “the Golden rule” as the main value for us all to try and stay true/consistent with… and then I promise we can worry about adding on other values once we have this basic ‘golden one’ mastered), there really is no reason why more of us could not benefit our individual AND collective lives more by better embracing the following mindset:
The way that I can change MY world is the way that you can change YOUR world is the way that we can change OUR world.
And I think that might be as realistically close to changing THE world as one could ever hope to get in a single lifetime.
So… what’s the status update from over in YOUR world?
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And that feels like more than enough out of me for one newsletter (but here’s an old blahg post with related compostable wisdom if anyone wants more) 🙃 — SO — here’s one last wise thought from David Graeber’s head that more people could do with having bounce around their minds a bit more often:
And here’s Bernie Sanders & Thurston Moore (from Sonic Youth) to play a little ‘protest ditty’ while everyone makes their way to the exits:
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As for me, I will holler back at whoever is still subscribed one more time before this month of November becomes another long December (that’s not just a promise… that’s the bi-weekly-ish guarantee!) — BUT —you can also follow 95EH on the Instagram (where local EHs get shared daily in my stories + occasional posts to the main feed) and on Facebook (where a Daily EH?! gets shared on the daily + I also started testing out a Nightly EH?!).
I also share ‘An Eh A Day’ over on the 95EH.CA tumblr and it is also worth noting that I am still currently keeping a bare-bones version of The 95EH Events Calendar up & running over at MOUN.TOWN/EVENTS (which still gets filled with Kimberley & Cranbrook area events on a regular basis, for anyone interested in something like that).
Finally, to put a tidy bow on both this newsletter and my #LocalAreaElectionSeason coverage, last week, at the AGM for the community garden that I turn compost at (aka: KEGG.CA), after the nomination for Vice President was rejected by the gardener who knew the by-laws best, and after no one else in attendance gave that look that they wanted to accept the nomination, even though I did not head down to the AGM that night to take on any new non-profitable responsibilities, I ended up walking out of the meeting as the Vice President.
How’s that for participating in the democratic process, eh?
Now I’m off to go watch some more of that Mr. McMahon docu-series on Netflix — because I figured I would treat our flat to a one-month $5.99 Netflix rental to go along with the Fire TV stick that we recently hooked up to our previously remote-less flat screen tv (the same tv I won at the February 2020 Sully Super Bowl party… yes, that 2020).
TBH, I’m also unfortunately interested in watching 58-year-old Mike Tyson fight that garbage Youtube influencer who turned into a fighter (no, not that one, the other one) — mostly for my own sake of witnessing where some of the current culture is at (y’know, for educational purposes), but also a bit out of plain old circus-variety curiosity… and that gong show airs live on Netflix this Friday (hence me signing up for Netflix for the first time in at least a few years).
Because we all contain multitudes.
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Jeremy // HI54LOFI
(95EH’s Temp Intern)