The Worst Agreement - Essay

The Worst Agreement

I had an epiphany yesterday, so powerful that I pondered it off and on throughout the day. It eventually awoke me this morning at 3:30. Like most epiphanies, it feels like there’s an element of spirit to it, so the message is bound to lose something in the retelling. After all, epiphanies are usually meant primarily for the one receiving them in the moment they are recognized. This is one reason that reading about spiritual experiences or the words of the Masters is of limited benefit; the real power is always in direct experience. If we want to experience what Jesus, or the Buddha, or (insert spiritual hero here) experienced in terms of living a life of service and/or soulful connection we have to not only be willing to live as they did, but actually do the things that brought them the ability – not only the desire – to do so. Anything other than that is lip service, excuses and rosy-eyed wannabe-ism masquerading as devotion. But I digress, as usual.

Now about this epiphany. I’ve known the concept for a long time but until yesterday, I was unable to integrate it viscerally. It had to do with a concept I first came across in “The Four Agreements” by Miguel Ruiz about six years ago. I’ve read it in Jane Roberts’ “Seth” accounts, seen it throughout my study of Andean shamanism and it was re-emphasized to me yesterday as I was reading “Seeing In The Dark”, by Colleen Deatsman . The concept is that everything we are experiencing here in life is the result of a collective dream which we have co-authored. Leaving aside the messy aspects of such an idea for now such as those dealing with the suffering of the innocent – why would they co-author their own suffering – let’s assume that there is truth to that idea, that we have somehow signed on for rampant corruption and pollution, a “shooting-a-day” in places of learning, never ending war and politicians that smile, joke and enrich themselves from it. How could that be?

There’s an answer, but it’s not a thought that would not be popular among many I count as friends and family. Before I explore it with you, let me share the short anecdote that helped me tie in this teaching with my life. The other day, someone asked me that if I had so much disdain for the United States government – and I do – why don’t I just move to another country? My answer was automatic, unexpected and from my heart.

“I like it here,” was all I said.

The other person looked confused. A light went on in my head, so I continued.

“Yeah, I like the desert over there to the east and the mountains over there to the west. I like the clean water that bubbles out of the ground and the expansive sky around here. I like the smell of sagebrush after a rainstorm and aspen trees. Why should I move because the government is corrupt? Where would I go?”

The other person didn’t have much to say, because all governments are corrupt since corruption is not a function of government as much as it’s a function of people in power who act in self-centered, sociopathic ways. There’s nowhere that this is NOT the case at this point. And hell, what can he say about aspen trees? They laugh in the breeze and turn technicolor every Autumn. Best things ever.

So yesterday it all came together for me: the teachings and the conversation, all packaged up into this nifty little epiphany. I guess until I had both the teachings and the conversation, I wasn’t able to “feel” the truth of the teachings as powerfully for me. (How important are the little interactions we have every day?) So here it is – be prepared to say “duh”, because it’s pretty basic. Ready? Here we go: The United States is nothing more than a collective agreement. That’s it. Here, I better put that in its own little line so it sticks out.

The United States in nothing more than a collective agreement.

That’s it. That’s the great revelation.

Anyone who knows anything about me knows that Native American history, spirituality and lifeways are a significant part of my life. I know a little about how the West was “won”. One word: genocide. It wasn’t stolen because it wasn’t owned. The natives who lived here were majestic animals and real humans in every respectable, honorable sense of those terms. They fought brutally among themselves at times but there were physically pragmatic and spiritually energetic reasons for that which are hard for the western mind to comprehend and, let’s face it, humanity can be brutal. But in short, they lived with the land and lived their “religion”, which is deep; far deeper than modern Christianity (unless you’re like Thomas Merton, who was a serious Christian. He’s worth looking up).  An author called Dan Price observed in a book entitled “Radical Simplicity” that the Nez Perce lived for thousands of years in NE Oregon, often near the current town of Joseph. The only thing you can find as evidence of their living are some petroglyphs, which are less like graffiti and more like a newspaper, and some chunks of pottery or maybe some arrow or spearheads. A community that size can’t live that small without serious respect for life, a basic tenant of most spiritual paths.

But as we know, a new culture came in and claimed the land and killed anyone who opposed them. In other words, the US possessed the land in such a way that the Natives were unable to survive in an acceptable manner to them. So they fought.

I won’t go into the facts about the so-called “Indian Wars”, but it is no exaggeration when I say that the actions of the US government were far more severe than those of the Native people among themselves before their arrival. So eventually the Natives were driven out and the land possessed by the new people; a far more brutal, greedy and self-righteous lot. In fact, I believe the original “shock and awe” campaign involved the level of depravity to which the US and her soldiers would sink to gain their aims. At first it did not compute to the Natives, who often warred by “counting coup”, a glorified game of tag, rather than killing their enemies. That as much as anything broke the spirit of the Natives and made them subject to not only the genocide but to the cultural brainwashing that followed.  

Here’s the point: You and I were born under the “agreement” that the US owns the land. Instead, I’m going to tell you something else. It’s important enough to get it’s own line, too:

The United States doesn’t own shit.

The idea of an over-arching “Great Father” government is an agreement most of us continue to buy into. Are you ok with that? I’m not. If Washington is my “Great Father”, then notwithstanding the many luxuries he showers on me after he comes home from his work raiding other lands for oil, he’s a pedophile that requires my silent submission - and I’m not good at either silence or submission. Instead, I feel like a man who is just now remembering abuse he suffered as a small child. The thing is, the Great Father continues to abuse not only me but my siblings the trees, the seas and all of humanity. He pisses in the water that’s easy to get and tries to sell the rest to his buddies. He controls my food, and it gets worse every year. My friends the mammals, reptiles, birds and aquatic life have all cried to him to no avail. In return, I get roads, a relatively stable economy and protection from retaliation from the governments “we” invade. Oh, and by the way, I get to pay for it.  

Thanks for the $5 bill Dad, but it’s not worth the abuse.

This little missive is not really about politics, rebellion, or wrongs committed against Native Americans. It’s really more of a written revelation and confession that I was OK with all the US did and does, that I helped dream it, create it and sustain it; that at some point and in some invisible quantum/time-space/spiritual equation, I was good to go with it. Because of what I’ve read and experienced, I have no choice but to believe that.

So what other dreams am I living that have no basis in objective reality? Are there others that are equally horrific? What else have I agreed to? What have I created? What have I done? What questions can I ask myself to ferret out the beliefs that continue to enslave me? I’m not going to talk about what to do with the answers to those questions because, just like the antidote to many poisonous plants are mere steps away, answers often arise organically with honest questions. Seeing the answers and our aversion to them is also part of the work of growing a soul we can be proud of. So recognition, responsibility and acceptance of what is are the primary subjects of this essay. Suffice it to say that if I can dream the chimera, I know I can dream her Elysian antithesis. 

How about you?

Are you in an abusive relationship – not a metaphorical one, but a real one? Do you hate your work but feel like you “have to” go sit in a cubicle? Are you chronically ill, fatigued? Are your friends more like “frenemies” than soulmates? Is gossip the conversation of the day? Are you addicted to porn, sugar, “that one drink” or the NFL? What is beneath the majesty of your beautiful soul that you continue to engage? Because I’m here to tell you, it’s within your power to change ALL of it. It’s your dream. It’s my dream. It’s our dream…

And it’s time to get a new one.         

--Eric Marley

October 2015