Tannishblog

The American empire is expanding. The Neo-Con agenda is world dominance. Dahr Jamail comments on the likelihood of a permanent American colony in Iraq, a beach head for larger campaigns. It make sense.

Meanwhile the US Senate grills oil executives about their record profits of late. These news items are not unrelated. The specter of peak oil is haunting think tanks near capitol hill and desperate times call for desperate measures. As Republicans forge ahead with their version of a brave new world, the Democrats are making appropriate noises in the name of lip service, but are conveniently lacking the spine to redirect the American juggernaut that is current foreign policy. They’re afraid of running out of oil, too.

There is something frightening about this whole scenario, something that transcends the soul. As a Buddhist, I see a beginningless Karmic chain leading to the inevitability of the end of mankind on this planet. There is a chance the Karmic debt can be erased or eased, however unlikely unless a critical mass of people adopt new ways of relating to the world and to each other. As an ex-Christian, I see a self-fulfilling prophesy of Apocalypse spurred by fundamentalist belief that the end of times are near. It’s a chicken-and-egg puzzle: Which came first, the proximity to Judgment Day, or the actions that lead to Apocalypse, spurred by the belief in the imminence of Judgment Day?

At this point, does it matter?