This Night, 2012, Questions of Leaders

It is now 1:00 am of election night, 2012. A black man has claimed his 2nd term against an onslaught of racism and lies from his opponents.

I attended Raja yoga class all evening, and tried not to listen to any comments on the returns. Our teacher: " You may think worldly things matter, ... like who is president... but none of it stacks up to your spiritual being."
Forgive me teacher, I do not quote you accurately, I paraphrase, yet I am elated at the returns, and would be the opposite if the situation were reversed. Make me worldly because of that, but there are so many issues which hang in the balance, many personally worrisome in my own life, I had a huge amount at stake on this evening of a quarter moon at the beginning of November .

Our class subject tonight, ironically, focused upon gurus, and their role.  What is a guru, and how have ours operated through time to bring our little class to where it sat tonight, pondering the truest path to enlightenment? No simple answer can be given to that question, but there we all were, while a $2.5 billion election was finalizing itself, like a long, expensive football game.

As a country we just endured more than 18 months of electioneering, which involved a huge amount of the breaking of the Yama 'non- lying', and possibly the one that admonishes 'non'stealing'. It is hard for me to separate the issues of government from issues of spirituality. If this were Mitt Romney as angry tyrant, engaging the disparaging masses toward wrong thought because they need a scapegoat to their victimhood, I have a hard time just letting that one pass without some strident response. The hope is that their bad Karma will take them down, as it has seemed to do tonight.

As I check my facebook and emails, I am comforted by the elation from my friends, gay people, musicians, teachers, civil rights lawyers and many others I know who are just good, informed working folks who know which side of the bread their butter is on.

The numbers  had me disappointed earlier because Obama was ahead in the popular vote by slightly less than a million. As the counts move toward the west, my dear homeland, his popular lead increases. The last I checked,  my president leads by more than 1.8 million. The west coast is an entirely different country from the South or the Midwest. We are a polarized country, carrying all the neurosis associated with that affliction.

Ah, but gods and goddesses, Divine Mother, thank you for the 57 million or more who were able to vote against corruption, and lies and shifty voting policies, to elect a decent man. May the future improve with this motion forward.

Haiku for Misty Fall Day

Last Leaves

My dogwood tree waits
Sparse leaves hold against a breeze
Birds visit quietly