Gagablog 53 - No More Weapons! Peace and freedom - thanks Obama and Gaga!

I don't think I have ever wrtitten two Gagablogs on the same day - technically it is "tomorrow" now, 3:45 AM on 9-10-13. But I got ahead of myself and got some things wrong in the last edition, like the fact that congress has not voted on Syria yet, my friend misreported that to me, and want to try and say it all more simply, clearly, and quickly now. Of course Gaga always says it best, but I won't try to relate this much to Gaga, other than to say she is impossible to keep up with - this is part of the nature of being what I call "from the future", she has that connection to the ideal future we are enetering that shows us the way, and gives us glimpses of what it will be like all the time, like slipping back to that future, perfect time. But I think of myself as "from the future", too, or "from Oz" as I call it, though I spend too much time trying to talk about this stuff from this side instead of assuming anyone would understand based on Oz terms - but my new book should help with that, help others get the Oz understanding. My last edition was an attempt to compare the waiting for Artpop for the waiting for a decision on whether to take a military strike against Syria - the first, Artpop, is "inevitable" a magical destiny that will transform us. The second, the military strike, has been presented as "inevitable" or necessary in different ways but it is not, it is not "destiny" just a likely outcome of a course of events - but based on previous courses that we should have learned better from, not be eager to repeat. And this time of "waiting", before we "take action" is magically special, because we can avoid it. We can't avoid the transformation Artpop will provide to our culture and psyche -we need it, it's way due, and we are ready for it, to make the most of it, to live up to the full promise of Art - it wlll save the world. But there has to be a world to save - we can't blow ourselves up before Novemeber - we should not ever be ready or in a position to do this, but unfortunately we have been for far too long and have not outgrown that mentality - but we are about to. So all I am saying now to connect this to Gaga is that Artpop is coming out, we have already heard about half of the songs from it, and it is coming true, the cultural revolution Gaga is predicting. We can try to ignore it, or focus on less important things like Miley Twerking, but while Miley said she knew she would "make history" by doing that, she made some sort of effect on the history that is determinded by twitter, in the moment, but the actual Future will look back on the History of it as the 1st performance of Applause wonder at why society focused so much on Miley. But artpop is a transformation that we need, that is our fate, and it is exciting wating for it. By contrast, attacking Syria has been "in the cards" for years but so far had not been drawn, yet it really seemed to be at the very top of the deck this week. This whole time I've always advocated, worked magic, for a "special surprising event" that would provide a peaceful out to this whole situation, and anticipated that the solution could become a model for solving all problems in the world - all the while I think there was an idea hidden back there that governements and the UN could start acting responsibly, live up to their purpose. I think the new development that America, Russia, and apparently even now Syria agree that they should just give up their chemical weapons is such a "magical, surprising development" and it shows how far off-base we were that we did not have more faith, and make more progress, in this way before. I believe Obama that it was the foreseeable threat of military strikes that prompted this breakthrough, but I want to say that the "threat" is not the same thing as using force. The only thing I'm comparing to Gaga here is the inability to "keep up" with a story that is moving at light-speed - and anything like this moves that fast because it is catching us up from barbarism to the fast-track to paradise. Its like trying to keep up with Gaga - I have no idea what she is up to now, but throughout this gagablog I have tried to anticpate what she would do and mean and what significance that would have on world events. I do this from my own intuition more than really knowing what she is up to and all the statements she has made, because everyone I hear fits in with these ideas. I do this from the idea that we both are "coming from" and representing that same truth of a love world earthly paradise that is right around the corner for us, ready for us as soon as we are ready for it. It's a non-violent world, a world without violence. And it is not only possible, it is necessary, and it makes things easier to understand when we look at it as part of this path to the non-violent future. I can't wait to find out what Gaga is doing now, next, and make some more connections, but the connections I want to make now are between the use of force and weapons by nations and the use of force and weapons by individuals. Obama is using the threat of force appropriately, knowing it does not have the same or even as much power once the threat is carried out. The ability to use force should, at worst, be a possible "threat" - but I'm going to go completely non-violent here and hope people can follow it. The natural consequences of global warming are threats that we want to avoid, but they are real - we are really messing up the planet in a way that will come back and destroy us, bit by bit or in whole huge sections. This is a threat and one we need to respond to. If you are mean to your lover, you might end up breaking up -this is a threat we need to respond to. These threats are real - just like Artpop is real, a lesson we will learn that we desperately need. even if we ignore it, the lessons are there and will continue to come up until we benefit from them. This is the natural way of things - some things are bad and have bad natural consequences, some things are good and have goo,d glorious natural consequences. But then there is the threat of "unnatural" consequences, of violence. Violence is the tool fo the weak against the powerful. The weak use weapons and violence to affect things they don't have the natural power to control - this is why so much violence is the fault of men and why there is so much sexual violence and domestic abuse. Women are sexually in control, in power, naturally, and resenting that power men have resorted to violence, economics, and patriarchy to take power over sex for themselves. If someone is "right" or "just" then the truth will set them free and be proven to all eyes, but people resort to violence if they "can't wait" for that and insist they are right. It is as Jesus said, blessed are the poor and meek and peacemakers - because theirs is the true power, the greatest power there is, the power of love. We have gone on some perverted courses, humanity has, and nations in particular, but we are all basically doing the same thing, making the same mistake. Because there are things out of our control we have resorted to violence to try and control them, but it only works temporarily, and really does not work at all. The threat of force is not the best way to motivate people, appealing to good nature is. As I said many gagablogs ago, the best way to get someone to disarm is not to yell "Drop your gun or I'll shoot!" it is to say "look, I threw away my gun so you don't need yours." The idea is that we can't trust the other person, we can't be the one to throw down the gun first, because what if that person is "off", is not on the same page of decency, and decides to shoot you once you drop your gun? I mean, they have a gun, after all, what does that say about them? I can't put muy gun down until I know they will submit to my will, etc( but then again, why did I have agun in the first place?) I can't get over the statistic that the police in Germany, total, fired like 87 shots in one year, while American police can fire 87 shots into one "suspect." But the main reason I want to make this about guns is that is is the essential solution to Syria - disarm - but the princple applies to all weapons, at all levels, held by nations or individuals. We don't need weapons. The only idea why we even pretend we need weapons is to "deal with that one crazy person" who wouldn't throw their own gun down when you tell them they don't need it, show them they don't need it. But there are other ways to deal with that crazy person, just like there are other ways to deal with crazy governments. But it is the existance of the weapons in the first place that provide a huge measure of the craziness - would Assad have done some of these things to begin with if he did not "beleive" in the power of chemical weapons, to devestate, to terrorize? But of course using them could not work out as planned because it is no way to act. But the same is true of all weapons. While we still have the craziness of weapons, and how they make people crazy and make regimes crazy too, we might need to continue to have that "threat" in order to affect people who still believe in violence - but we should always be able to avoid having to actually carry it out, we are advanced enough for that. "Violence" the threat of violence, is only useful for scaring crazy people - but we don't even punish crazy people, we treat them. SO the first step is removing the waepons, and while I fully believe in leading by example and getting rid of our own weapons, as long as some weapons exist there will be people motivated by them. So not only should Syria turn over its weapons to be destroyed, we all should. Not just chemical weapons, all weapons. We don't neeed them, really and we never really did. They create the problems they claim to "solve" and we can get rid of them all without any negative consequences. Kang and Kodon won't invade if we don't have a big enough board with a big enough nail, I promise. If we can trust each other, and never imagince we will "Have to" kill each other, we will never be in that situation, and we will find other ways out of any conflict that seems like that sort of situation. I guess people have used weapons to defend themselves - but against whom? I love the story fo the Buddha giving up his body to the hungry tigress to feed her cubs, when others might think of "self-defense" in that situation. Chemical weapons aren't cool, they don't make anyone think you are cool, and if even having them makes you an asshole, using them makes you a super asshole -but you are already an asshole for having them. The same is true for guns - why do you need them? Are you really suck a jerk you expect to have to protect yourself with lethal force, or so greedy you think you have to protect your stuff that way? More deeply, what do you distrust so strongly about your fellow man that you want the power to kill him? Does that distrust and unsettled feeling about other humans make you the safe user/owner of a gun? If you want a gun because someone esle might be unstable and also have a gun, well, could n ot someone who is more stable than you percieve you, and your gun as an unstable person who might need to be defended against? It is just a mess of fear and inadequacy and it is wrong. A gun does not make you man, or a person, and if you aren't feeling enough like a person from interactions with other people then that is what you need to focus on, not being able to shoot them. The reason this comes up for me now is 3 recent news stories. A 3-year-old girl shot and killed herself in Yellowstone, the first gun death there since like 1978 - because no one needs guns in Yellowstone, I guess. But why do people need guns anywhere? A boy here in colorado shot and killed his best friend and mentor, a really pretty 18-year-old girl, when she jumped out of a closet to surprise him - he thought she was a burglar so of course he had to shoot her. And the news today is that George Zimmerman was threatening his estranged wife and her dad with a gun - and we have her paniced, fearful for their lives call to the police office, but she did not press charges when they arrived. This gets into so many isses, and I agree with Chris Matthews (former host of Up!, I think that is his name) that having a gun changes the dynamics of any altercation. Zimmerman has visited the gunmaker who made the gun he shot Trayvon with, and he has become a symbol of injustice and fear and the tragedy of guns, while Trayvon has become a civil rights symbol of justice and truth and goodness. Zimmerman threatening his wife with a gun is a very scary prospect in itself, simply for echoing what is the situation for what I believe are the majority of murders in this country, domestic violence, people murdering their spouses or girlfriends or boyfriends. But what makes it even worse are the Zimmerman specific details, that he was taunting them to approach the car, as if that would give him the right to shoot them. That is the lesson he learned from getting away with murdering Trayvon - he can murder anyone he gets his car close enough to. The truth is, he shouldn't have a gun. Syria shouldn't have chemical weapons. Not JUST because they are Syria, but no one should have chemcical weapons. And no one should have a gun. No one should have weapons at all, and the only use for them from now on is to give the worst ones to the most responsible people, to bring them to bear on others who still hold their little one, until they can all be collected and destroyed. That's right, crazies, we're gonna get your guns. Obama won't have to take them, the UN will collect - they'll send a bulletproof drone so don't even bother fighting back. But they will only do that to the most intractable crazies because everyone else will fllow the example and just give them up willingly. I've learned a few things from the news about this who mess - Lybia gave up their chemical and nuclear weapons program voluntarily, in response to pressure, but in order to rejoin the world community in good standing. We should expect all countries to follow suit, including America. Time to start disarming, not just nuclear and chemical weapons but everything. Its the way forward, the right thing to do, and we will haev such inceedible benefits from giving up war and violence that it will save the world. I also learned that a conservative editorialist in the Wall Street Jounral said that the whole affair is fullfilling Obama's clever plan to reduce AMerica's military strength and influence in the world. Of course he was scared by that, he is probably well connected, at least ideologically as a conservative, to the military industrial complex, but I was just like "right on! I hope so!" His wording in the editorial was that Obama's actions would reduce AMerican power more than his wildest dreams. The newsanchor on MSNBC reporting on it said it was laughable, like a satire of conserrvative criticism, but I can agreew ith it with full praise for Obama - while even that complaining editorial did not realize how true it really is, and certainly does nott appreciate how good it really is. It is time to stop being the world's policeman, not because we don't need some authority and rules in the world, but because we can trust the whole of humaity and diversity of nations to make that rule fair and just, we can do this all together. We don't need these guns to win, we are lovers - lets insist it's our life! I love how it was a "mistake" or mistatement from Secretary of State Kerry that opened up the possibilty for avoinding war - that magical turn I was playing for. I hope it works, that Assad disarms, that the whole thing goes to show Obama went about it the right way, and even that he will get authorization but be able to avoid using it. This will show the way to the ideal future, because we will have natural consequences we need to deal with as the whole worrld, together, such as global warming, and we can't waste time, resources and lives on problems we keep making for ourselves, enforcing our own consequences. We face big consequences for what we have already done, naturally, and we need to start working together. Weapons, from now on, should only be uysed to collect other weapons, and even for that there are better ways than force, than actually using force. We are finding one now, and I love it that a peaceful path is emerging despite all projections, and it shows the truth that those who are so eager for war are criticzing Obama when he apparently has plenty of power to decide but is holding that power over them to make something happen by motivating Syria instead of using power to force people to do things. It shows greater stregth to hold power back than to let it go, and can have much better effects, especially when it is the kind of power based on violence and fear. There is no ultimate reality to fear, love is the opposite of fear and it is real, fear only seems real and is a bad motivator - it gets things done sometimes but not by improving them. Buy contrast, love, seeking trust and goodness in each other, is real and will always prevail. We should know this and seek it out eagerly, and beware anytime we feel inclinned to violence -that is always a sign that we need better and more communication. Tolerating violence turns us all into Zimmermans, leading us to feel justified to kill others, which is never justified. We can start living up to these ideals and we will find that they get easier and easier, just as following Gaga becomes easier and easier the more you do it, becuase you realize how close we really are and always have been, how important that connection is and how insignificant the barriers are to it by comparison. Like I say in my song "Welcome to China": "the heart is an open door, all that's between us is 'you' and 'me'" I love you Gaga, thanks for showing us what we can be - I'm going on vacation soon and hope to return the favor to you, in my special way. Thanks, and thanks Obama - I got a little worried but I think its all going to work out, thanks to your skillful means as well as magical "accidents", and we will have more plowshares than we will know what to do with!