Because I Said So

The Library

Click on the links below to navigate through  the pages of

Vitality Journal

November 2008 issue.

“In the beginning was the Word,” or so goes the tale.  Some say the Universe began with a word, a thought made manifest by will.  When you think about it, the book of Genesis basically says the beginning of everything was due to the Creator uttering four words…because I said so!

 

What is interesting about nearly all “mainstream” theological doctrines is their purported investment in the idea that “free will” is a reality and that it is a necessary element to the mystery of faith.  Even the doctrine of “vitalism” suggests the body itself possesses a “will” to heal itself.  Inherent in this position is the suggestion that the body “decides” or “says so”.

 

A serious philosophical question is posed whereby the phrase some have coined as “God’s property” was placed at odds with the idea that in the end we are creatures of choice.  I was having some difficulty dismissing this perspective on ones “right to die”.

 

I was also struck by the synchronicity of certain events unfolding in the media, with respect to the $700 billion bail out plan,  as I debated introducing a “darker perspective”  into this fledging journal.  On the one hand, “Vitality Journal”, as the name rightfully suggests is suppose to augment the end goal of what health pioneers like practitioners of the CDS Institute strive for.  But how does one “heal” if one does not squarely and objectively confront the source of the ailment?

 

Reading the news articles and the op-ed pieces on the state of the nation’s economy has peaked my curiosity as I see repeated references to the Great Depression and multiple comparisons and analogies of the “bailout” to those salvation programs implemented during the era of the “new deal”.  There seems to be a significant effort on the part of many writers and commentators to cast the government in the same role of that which it served over seventy years ago.  And now we are on the eve of voting for a new FDR.  By the time this column goes to print the exit polls will unveil the new chief executive, unless we have a sequel to the “Chad” fiasco.

 

Somehow the analogy of this current crisis being cast in the same light as that of the Great Depression is a bit hard for me to swallow when economists won’t even use the “R” word.  It is as disingenuous as comparing the Iraq war to World War II.  The Great Depression was an Era where thousands were jobless and food kitchens were swamped with entire families that were uprooted.  Folks buried their gold out of fear that the “Revenuers” would come and seize their stash at gunpoint.

 

What I see right now is a society blindsided by complacency and apathy, suddenly confronted by the possibility that it can not leverage its next projected ten years of refinancing on its already maxed out Visa card.  The “credit crisis” is about salvaging the ability to continue mortgages and car loans to feed the securities industry so that M-1 and M-2 “money supply” is sufficient to keep the printing presses rolling.

 

Maybe my perceptions are slightly jaded by an upbringing that emphasized the value of saving for a rainy day and actually “paying” for stuff.  I meet so few these days who have actually maintained a savings account and I am truly perplexed at the suggestion our populace faces a financial meltdown because we are facing stricter standards to get a car loan.

 

Those versed in the vast and intricate complexities of debt based finance will agree that our economy is significantly hampered by a lack of credit and the ability to leverage obligations.  The stark possibility that we have, in many respects, pushed the books to the theoretical limits of the accounting equation suggests we face some challenging times ahead.  Not even the media can mask this any longer and no candidate running this election season has a realistic solution that a savvy voter will buy is showing true and long term promise.

 

Some will blame the government, some will blame the banks or other corporations, others their neighbors, their spouses or even their dog.  Still others may be sincere enough to take a hard look in the mirror and blame their own history of decisions that placed them in their present situation.  But not one of these options will bring remedy, resolution or hope.

 

One of my favorite movies of this last decade is a film with Antonio Banderas called “Take the Lead”.  It is based on real events surrounding the efforts of a ballroom dance instructor who decides to bring his passion to a group of teens in detention at an inner city school in New York. The world these kids know is very dark and gloomy, where life is a serious and constant struggle to stay alive.  To reach graduation without becoming a victim of a crack pipe, a pimp or a bullet is to graduate with honors.

 

While each kid in the “class” has a story, the one that strikes me the most was of a young girl whose mother engaged in after hours in-home prostitution while the girl raises her younger siblings.  One night this girl averts being raped by one of her mom’s clients and she runs to the school after hours seeking the sanctuary of the detention hall, which is now a make-shift dance studio.  She turns on the stereo and begins dancing alone.  This occurrence leads to a turn of events which pairs her up with an unlikely partner in an upcoming dance competition.  As the two learn the art of the waltz, she reveals that dance is the element in which she can be “in her moment” and where all the world’s problems fade into the background.

 

The film never suggests that the waltz made the “hood” magically transform, but what it does for her is give her hope that she can transform. However, her decision to exercise her will to change her destiny is not without events that test her resolve.  She nearly sees her vision of dancing the waltz against the back drop of a live entourage of musicians wash away.  For a moment, alone in a stairwell on the eve of the competition,  her partner nowhere to be found,  she doubts her choice to dare to dance,  to dare to dream,  to dare to hope.

It is at this moment the film teaches the viewer the greatest risk in our exercise of our free will, to pursue change...that is the emotional risk of the real possibility of disappointment.  History shows those who beat the odds first had to beat their fears.  Before we can address the issues causing us so many problems we must sincerely confront how serious we are with respect to our intent to commit to change, knowing that merely committing to the endeavor and being willing to take the risk does not guarantee we will not experience serious disappointment.  At the end of the film the young girl does get to dance the waltz, but many do not.  Many dare to hope and do not see the realization of their dreams. Some go so far as to believe they may as well just check out for good-giving up on life all together.

 

And then the Universe comes along, in all its mystery, and exercises its own “free will” and says… “Nah I’m not finished with you just yet”.  That, my friend, is vitality. It means never give up - never!

WJ