" ...all you have to do is contemplate a simple grain of sand, and you will see in it the marvels of creation,"
Paulo Coelho - The Alchemist
" ...all you have to do is contemplate a simple grain of sand, and you will see in it the marvels of creation." This quote from Coelho's, The Alchemist, resonates powerfully in my own heart.It carrieswithin it the same essence of St. Exupery's words in the Little Prince, "Only with the heart does one see rightly."
I think that, that contemplation in the marvels of creation, that sort of seeing with the heart and feeling with the heart, was wondrously taking place in the still uncomplicated, still innocent, still trusting heart of my 2 1/2 year old grandchild as he lay on the bed about to take his nap, blinds to the window open, when his attention was struck by, and he became fascinated with the transparency of the blue sky outside and the clouds floating on their way to infinity "in his imagination and inhis heart too," to that place where, "only with the heart does one see rightly;" that place where one sees in it all of the marvels of creation, including that one grain of sand where truth is a burning light that touches the soul.
As he drifted out with the cloudsto a world of restful sleep, his eyes following themon their way to infinity, he drifted with them to a land of softness, relaxation; to a wordless understanding of creation, creativity and magic. All of which found a home in his intuitive heart, peacefully resting there, cradling himto sleep and to connectedness with the unvierse.A connectednesswhich he is yet too little to express in words, or music, or writing, or life values but all of whichlulled him into a full three hour, deep, and restful nap.
It is our politicians, however, cradled as they are in and by greed, the ones who cannot be lulled by floating clouds drifting on a blue sky, to see the marvels of creation and the softness of truth. Time and time again they fail to see the marvels of creation in a simple grain of sand, or in the simple yet deep spiritual connection between them and the softness of standing up for the right thing.
Greed, the ambitious hold of, and for power, get in their way " morality defined as the right thing to do gets turned on its head and like snake oil sellers, our politicians tell us that they are giving us wondrous presents to be unwrapped at Christmas time or any other time, when what they are really giving us is a sack of coal, shattered pieces of the American Dream 2009,in a packed tsunami full of lies.
It is our politicians, misers all, hoarders of money all, who, like pocket pickers straight out of a Dickens story, rub their hands in glee, toasting amongst themselves as to how much of our money they are going to put in their pockets, while claiming all along that they are in a Christmas-Give-Away mode.
It is our politicians, who, have allowed our jobs to bewrapped up and exported out to other countries. A give away indeed to the American corporations which have moved their factories and support services to other countries where they pay laborers and support service techs next to nothing; evading responsibility for paying any fair share of taxes to our national coffers. "
Our politicians stopped seeing what the right thing to do is, a long time ago. It is they who have exported our, "Rags to Riches," dreams out of our national soul. It is they who sell us war as peace; it is they who rob our national treasury to fund war programs; it is they who defund programs and deplete our national resources, then turn around and blame anything they can sell as the culprits for the brokenness in our national treasury. It is they who make up excuses as to why healthcare reform, true healthcare reform which means universal healthcare for all cannot be had. It is they, who, wanting to ingratiate themselves with the cash flow of insurance companies vote to keep the insurance companies afloat and alive, and give them green light as to how they, the insurance companies, can rain financial downfall on anyone needing health and care.
In the ever lauded American Dream of the American landscape any hardworking man (and woman too) could go from rags to riches if he or she applied himself or herself, worked hard, and could, in an upward climb on the rungs of the ladder, one day find that he or she had indeed gone from rags to riches.
That dream is no longer there for the American worker who finds himself or herself out of a job in a job market where there are no jobs; in a world where the politicians, beginning with the Bushes and continuing with Obama, are creating a caste system which carries with it no universal healthcare or true healthcare reform for the American people, a world where the American worker who has no job, who cannot create paper money out of thin air as did the financiers who were allowed by our politicians to create such paper money out of thin air; workers who are without recourse they have no job, no money, and indeed who are unable to purchase healthcare, are now being forced by political greed and political refusal to see what the right thing to do is, to buy health insurance " or otherwise go to jail.
Surely, any politician paying attention to Coelho's grain of sand knows that giving his or her country a sack of coal while claiming that it is filled with wondrous Christmas Give Aways is the wrong thing to do.
Surely they know that handing people a mirage saying it is the truest of the true oasis is the wrong thing to do. Surely they know that mirages soon vanish, that people remain thirsty for true water, true verdant refreshment, truly in search of true restfulness, in search of a window through which they can see the connectedness between them and the entire universe.
But perhaps they don't. Perhaps politicians live in a jail cell of their own making, made out of their own greed. A cave where light nor clouds filter through.
Perhaps politicians live in a dark zone, all the while claiming they have the light.
