4th of July: The American Dream – and Awakening into a Greater Whole
I yesterday got an e-mail forwarded by a friend. It was about the American dream, on the occasion of Fourth of July, the national US holiday, being this year the 232nd birthday. The original mail said:
“Our American Dreams have been built and realized on the bedrock of faith, freedom, hard work and sacrifice since 1776. As part of the industry that has brought The American Dream of Homeownership to more families than any other country in the world we stand proudly beside you in shouting – ‘Happy 232nd Birthday America!’ ”
I first wasn’t sure if the “Dream of Homeownership” was meant ironically – in view of all the news about the real estate crisis in the USA caused by the present lifestyle on loans. Also some Swiss banks had been drawn into the maelstrom…
My friend from Texas had answered: “Yes, the American Dream is a strong motivator to work hard because here merit does get rewarded. However with time, the Dream itself needs upgrading since many have found that even after its realization in its present form, they remain unsatisfied. This upgrade should be in the realm of human development in the currency of life – consciousness. The present Dream is wealthy in the currency of material welfare – dollars, but very poor in the currency of life, which is why we struggle with life because the demand is greater than our ability to cope.”
For an onlooker there are other strange scenes coming into the dream, making it somehow a nightmare. There is the feeling of collective fear and a crave for security – the “right” to have guns and the related killings, the “border control syndrome” in the wake of 9/11, and the US having also forced other countries to launch new biometrical passports in the name of “security”.
Outer security can never replace the inner feeling of security, which has also to do with right action or the karmic results of wrong actions. The “victim” of aggressions is likely to become a future aggressor, also in the case of nations.
A small observation about security: For several months reconstruction work was going on with a house and its surroundings at the corner of the street in which my office is located, about 150 meters away. Since one month it is now the seat of the American embassy in Switzerland. The security preparations created some kind of a fortress – especially deep anchored fences, steel bollards along the road, entrances with security screening buildings. At the place where the old embassy had been, a street had to be blocked in order to avoid any approach of dangerous vehicles. The same is done with the street of the Israeli embassy. Other embassies are less “high security zones”, some with fences, some just houses along the streets.
Yesterday preparations for the celebration of today’s Fourth of July were going on in the garden of the American embassy. When I went home I saw soldiers of the guard screening someone bringing articles for the party. Tonight the party will start, this afternoon the street is reserved for the guests.
A contrast to this “dream of freedom”:
When I go home with my bicycle I come along the front of the Swiss “House of Parliament”. It is in the centre of the city, a few hundred meters from my office. No special fences, direct access, though at the entrance there is some screening. Directly in front of the building there was the party zone for the Euro08, and two times a week the place is used as a market where farmers sell their products. Sometimes I see members of the government, ministers, walking around in the city, just like other people do, without any security guards around. A feeling of normalcy with politics, not much fuzz about it, no high security ghetto.
May the 232nd birthday inspire the Americans to awaken from the “Dream” state of separativity into a higher awareness of oneness, of integrating into a greater life, sharing the needs of the greater whole and behaving on a friendly basis also with other nations, which don’t share the same sets of convictions. This certainly will create lasting security, based on the unity of existence.
The American embassy in Berne, this morning.
July 4th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
Precisely. May I add some thoughts?
It comes as no surprise that the “American Dream,” in its materialist manifestation, is built on illusions. The dream of life in Suburbia with the manicured lawn, the SUV, the van, and the boat in the garage, and the spa on the porch (three TV sets in the house and a living room that serves as nothing but a show case for family pictures), may appear to be funded by hard work … but upon closer investigation, it becomes clear that it is, in reality, funded by immensely high debt rates.
The median debt was at an all-time high of roughly $700,000 per American family, according to the latest data published in March 2008 (which is nearly $34,000 more than last year). Thus, even though the Dream may appear to be wealthy and generate a feeling of accomplishment on the surface, it may in fact just do the opposite: create an enormous amount of fear in the American’s unconscious. On a deeper level, every American knows that their manner of existing on the material plane – though wealthy to the onlooker’s eye – is indeed a “castle built on sand.”
Hence, the collective fear that hovers over this country, as it is rooted in inner and outer lack of security, bears a great potential for spiritual growth. If Americans could just realize that they never even had any of the securities they thought they did, a collective awakening could change the destiny of humankind. If they could realize that the true freedom the founding fathers have promised has, indeed, been resting dormant at the core of the real American life all along, they could re-direct the fate of our species in the blink of an eye.
Happy 4th of July, America.