Black Market Love: Spirit Laundering on Wall Street

The stories of love are many, but stories of true love cannot yet be told without a sense of futility and longing...as true love can only be lived in the moment, even as it yearns for eternity and desires the union, the fusion, the dying into the beloved. The physical becomes simultaneously beautiful and awkward, a conduit, ever vulnerable to those who would fear and covet the life force of love, and who abuse their positions of power to extract profit from the history and culture of the oppressed and marginalized. True love is no exception, that ever desired dream of the fairy tale "ending" of Disney and Barbie culture that rescues the country girl from being regular, crowns her royalty and showers her with wealth...dream perhaps, true love, not so much, at least not in superficial gold, jewels, money, and castles. Love in this culture has always been a dream of luxury, leisure, and upward mobility, an image of perfect domestic bliss framed in social status and style is emblazoned on the psyche of every young American, and increasingly in any market in the world that has been bludgeoned by the seductive artifice of strength and success that is Hollywood marketing.

This propaganda of wholesome family values promoted by lofty hopes, and romantic imaginings that have shaped the national identity of American culture. Cowboys on the open plain, the freedom of driving the coastal highway, the masculine ideal of the All American athlete and feminine counterpart of the stand-by-your- man cheerleader, the American woman who can have it all, the access to higher education and the increasing success of American minorities, the white robed doctors with the most advanced medicine and health sciences procedures; these stand in stark contrast to the brutality of the bloody history of this nation, and its continued policies of intolerance, systemic oppression, and catastrophic corruption... each and every stereotype, identity, and role constructed from the bones and trace of a native spiritual essence, in spite of and perhaps owing to the systematic eradication of virtually all the ancient and deeply rooted native traditions. The wisdom and spiritual intuition of the medicine man, the strategy, skill, and agility of braves on the buffalo hunt, the artistry, grace, and dexterity of the women in transforming animal into food, clothing, and shelter, the dual roles and unique status of the two spirit "gender," the global interconnection of trade and cultural exchange along sea routes, the complementary masculine and feminine of the ritual dance and nature festival, the solitude and freedom of the vision quest, and the power and speed of messenger on the wild horse across the mountain plateau, are all the visions of that other world. If you truly open your heart to kinship with the land, you can feel them all around, for theirs is the realm of spirit, and this land may now be occupied by families, but like any home land, has never ceased to belong to the spirit of its native tribes, at whose loving touch and gentle footstep the earth once yielded her bounty to humankind. Ours is the corner of the world draped in illusion and lies, broken promises, false compromises, industrial pollution of the air and mind, chemical and genetic contamination of the earth and flesh, poisoning of the waters, exile of the sacred feminine song and dance, sexual autonomy imprisoned, the persecution of the sacred masculine warrior and shaman, medical and pharmaceutical enslavement of the sacred life force of creatures and plants, down to the molecular level...ours is a corner of the world asleep in The American Dream, now with one eye open afraid to wake afraid to face the consequences of an earth consciousness aware of the tyranny wrecked upon it for a millennia of Manifest Destiny, crafted from the hubris of European entitlement and greed relentless in maritime colonial penetration of "discovered" lands, dismissal of native cultures as subhuman godless savages and barbarians, so as to more heroically "save" them with disease, hunger, death, rape, and slavery. This barely distant past has been largely ignored and obscured from the historical lens, and much like the unforeseeable future, is regarded with apprehension and uncertainty teetering on the edge of persecution paranoia and fear, as the focus on current events tightens with each international conflict and national dilemma twisted and sensationalized by our state controlled media. Our very humanity is now, in this nation more than anywhere else in the world, and more than in any other age of our history, at the very edge of the void of spiritual annihilation.

Somehow, despite the obvious contradictions and inconsistencies, the American ideological spirit of equality and freedom has always resounded with all the people of the world in a way that has inspired

the global adaptation of these noble principles into social and political constructs towards a more humane world, but as Uncle Sam continues to point his finger at the rest of the world, America itself cannot seem to grasp the fundamental values of its own virtues, even as it cannot reconcile the brutality and violence upon which it was founded with abstract aspirations and declarations of righteousness. Through the relentless condemnation of the "others," "aliens," "(illegal) immigrants," "foreigners," and a blind patriotism devoid of introspection and long abandoned system of internal review via checks and balances, this American democracy has turned hypocrisy into cultural milieu du jour, a normalized and even celebrated sort of ignorant profundity.

Memo to self: stop laughing like it's funny just because it's uncomfortable to be the one who sees that it is not funny, have the courage to seek the source and stop accepting reality on the level that it dribbles down to, be aware of internalized bias and contradictions between intent, action, and result, and have diligence in locating the causes of anger and fear from within yourself, make sure that you are not judging others by standards that you do not hold yourself to, know that your vision may not be clear nor correct...and stop laughing like it's funny, because that joke isn't funny anymore.

The American Dream has long been a cozy illusion in the collective subconscious melting pot, of many diverse peoples, cultures, and beliefs, with many goals, agendas, and visions converging to share in the purpose of a "more perfect union." The potential jackpot of wealth for the few, relative prosperity level for some, and the generally comfortable existence for most has allowed the illusion of American superiority and progress, individual freedom and sense of autonomy to pervade even in the shadow of total cultural annihilation and a genocide so complete that even Hitler really wouldn't have a leg to stand on in a side by side comparison. The problem with his master plan was that its reasons and intent were explicitly and clearly stated and carried out in an organized and controlled system which was therefore visible and trackable, therefore unlike denied, covert, charitable, and proselytizing genocide, rendered his actions open to international scrutiny, justice,

and culpability. In these intentionally chaotic and divisive times, not only minority groups and native populations, but anybody who is presumed to be in any way different, out of context, of potential threat, or simply inconvenient, becomes a potential target for some sort of punishment or death, whether physical, social, or economic. This made quite complacently possible as the human social proclivity for group affiliation and sense of optimism and hope for the future has been co-opted by a government and media that strategically focuses on the differences and divisions between conveniently manufactured identity groups with assumed common traits to maintain civil obedience via visual profiling based police force, economic growth via addictive consumerism driven by compulsive identity reaffirmation, complacency via self-censorship enforced by peer group inclusion or ostracism based on perceived political, moral, and spiritual "correctness," collectively acting to encourage "competitive" exploitation of labor, promote the illusion of effort towards international friendship, charity, and altruism, drive the progress of modern science and medicine and development of new and more potent pharmaceuticals for the industry's self-authored and ever increasing list of diagnosis of new and more deadly diseases, and continue to declare the American education system as the gold standard as it churns out of each next class of financial success stories even as it discourages mutual awareness, honest communication, acknowledgement of fundamental differences in the spirit of finding a true common ground, and stifles any genuine understanding of the significance of dialog, language, and hearing in the human conversation of global culture and historical precedent in the frantic sleepwalk towards the edge of the supposed future.

The occupying class of this country must reevaluate the foundational validity and cultural intent of the founding principles of its purpose here and justify itself in respect to the people's, languages, cultures, and spiritualities it has marginalized on its five and a quarter century warpath. Is a nation ever conscious of its own impending self- annihilation, and if so does it lash out to cause as much destruction as possible or finally find the courage to look in the mirror and take responsibility for its own actions and redemption? Is this really what progress looks like? Are expensive self-help gurus, yoga, and other

misappropriated exotic religious and philosophical practices the new most profitable opiate of the masses? Why haven't we realized the impossibility of Wall Street even after the corruption and graft necessary to keep it running has been exposed, the impossibility in the pun of the name itself as a wall being a street or a street being a wall? Has the Western theory of human led exploration of science, medicine, and man made technology this convincingly replaced the individual human sense of wonder and reverence for the super- natural wisdom of Earth and her spirits in their tireless guidance of humanity towards the eternal?

Has this government sold our collective soul for corporate profit? Is it that difficult to stop condemning the rest of the world for our own ignorance?

Can we agree that I'll be your mirror if you'll not hate me just because you don't like what you see?

How come there has been so much amazing discourse over the last 50 years and nothing has changed except to get worse?

Did America fall asleep waiting for Godot? Stop dreaming. It's time to wake up.