Prajnaparamita

 Sustainability is forgiveness.  This is the karma behind Christ's message, and resurrection.  We are told Christ died for our sins, but it might be more accurate to say that Christ died for our karma, and was resurrected to reveal that our karma was utterly consumed.  Because we are forgiven, we are sustained.  Sustainability is forgiveness.  As in the microcosm so in the macrocosm.  If we judge, we condemn, and persecute, and hierarchy arises, and oppression ensues.  Conflict.  

Sustainability is forgiveness.  We transform conflict into loving relationship through forgiveness.  We must not judge.  We must tolerate.  We must tolerate ourselves - our bad knees, our bad backs, our bad faith, our bad attitudes.  And as we learn to tolerate ourselves we learn the art of imperfection - being at peace and content through tolerance.  This leads to a general tolerance, which is self-evidently more sustainable than intolerance.  Intolerance leads to conflict.  Tolerance leads to peace.  

In these final days of degenerate Empire, it is healthy to remember that the Imperial Rebellion has been going on for a long long time.  During the period of the 60's there were communist and socialist revolutions all over the planet, as former colonies threw their efforts into defeating Empire.  These movements were unsuccessful, in large part because they failed in their attempt to create a global Republic.  The socialist revolutions in South America grew in tandem with Liberation Theology, the well-founded claim that Jesus was essentially communist, and his teaching was fundamentally communist in its economic prescription for happiness.  You see, private property always leads to competitive advantage, which leads to natural selection favoring the wealthy.  This may or may not be sustainable, depending upon whether or not the wealthy then hoard their wealth, or spend it on others.  This is the realm of ethics, or spirituality.  Indigenous tribes practiced the tradition of the 'giveaway' wherein the wealthy members of the tribe would regularly give away all their valuables to less affluent members.  Indeed, it still happens on the Lakota reservation - the guy who owned the gas station in Pine Ridge had to sell it, because the culture required him to give away the gas for free... private property without the spiritual ethic of voluntary redistribution (serving others) leads to class segregation, which leads to conflict.  

For which we must be tolerant.  We must have faith in having faith, and be tolerant of the potential for class struggle inherent in private property ownership.  Again - private property is not the problem - an absence of spiritual values, or ethics, is the problem.  We've been taught not to share, and it's making us very unhappy.  By reintroducing ethics, or spiritual values, we remember that we are actually here to help one another out, not compete against one another.  We don't need some radical pogrom, we just need to be gently reminded that trying to be happy while being selfish is like trying to get a suntan on a submarine.  Instead, lets practice sharing what we have, knowing we have enough.  And while keeping the faith, and tolerating ignorance with compassion, we must also overcome the pedagogy of the oppressed, which always exists wherever there is hierarchy, dig?  Like parents bossing their children, or teachers bossing their students, or men exploiting women, or two-leggeds exploiting nature, or the ego exploiting the body, the power hierarchy of empowered/disempowered must be composted, and put to rest.  And step one has to be forgiveness.  Step two is taking responsibility for the creation of something new.

We compost the power hierarchy by cultivating healthy and loving relationship between opposites.  This is tantra.  Yin and Yang, masculine and feminine, light and dark, left and right, samsara and nirvana, emptiness and form... these dualities may be in oppressive conflict,  which is unsustainable, but they would rather be in love,  allowing the interaction to be one of healing, rather than destructive, relationship.  Tantra is the art of creating healthy and sustainable relationship between diametrically opposed opposites.  How do we create a both/and scenario out of an either/or scenario?  We must abandon the logic of rational judgment and practice the irrational wisdom of the heart, through forgiveness.  

Forgiveness is basically the difference between a zero-sum and a non-zero sum game.  In a zero-sum game, for me to win you must lose.  For every winner there must be a loser, so the sum adds up to zero.  In a non-zero sum game, for me to win you must also win.  If you lose, then I lose too.  This is known as a win-win strategy, something that Asian cultures are beginning to be recognized as having a talent for.  The West has been dominating a zero sum geopolitical arena for a while now, and we are evolving into the collective recognition of a non-zero sum reality.  Buckminster Fuller said it best:  "It's all of us or none of us."  We must love one another, or die.

 How can we create a healthy and safe society without judgment?  We all know that hippies aren't judgmental, but they can't run a meeting either, let alone a business.  We must have some discernment, even if we aren't judgmental about it. We must practice prajna.  

 Prajna is a word that is best translated as 'discriminating awareness'. By practicing discriminating awareness, we are not judging, we are not condemning, we are loving, and tolerant, but we have a razor-sharp sword of discernment which is keenly aware of precisely how our actions and the actions of others affect the harmony and balance of the whole.  We are keenly aware of the dharma, and whether or not our thoughts and actions are in alignment with the dharma, knowing that our karma will be favorable or unfavorable as a consequence.  Prajna - the razor-sharp sword of discriminating awareness that does not judge but rather arises out of compassion and a desire to help others - is the tool by which we create a merciful, nonjudgmental, resilient and tolerant enlightened society.  

You see, masculinity tends to judge.  This is why men have invented religions and governments, and forms of control.  Femininity is less judgmental, more tolerant, which is why women create life.  It's easy to see why the life-creating feminine might be feared by the control-creating masculine - this is tantra too, by the way - but the dance is in loving what we fear, and approaching it fearlessly out of a heartfelt desire to deepen the relationship and ultimately, express love.  Consequently, men's religions and governments are required to teach forgiveness, and practice mercy, if there is to be any balance between opposites and peace in the world.  The two most ancient tantric techniques in the world are the sincere apology and the expression of appreciation...