Zen teaches that once we can open up to the inevitability of our demise, we can begin to transform that situation and lighten up about it.
When times get tough, at some point, people instinctively know they need to lighten up in order to get through it.
In the contemporary world, we think of politeness as surface behavior, like frosting - it's sweet and attractive and finishes off the cake. But 19th century nobility and the enlightened thinkers and stoics before them viewed manners in a very different way. To them, manners are an outward expression of an inward struggle.
Once you get to the Enlightenment, the way that powers get to be hyperpowers isn't just by conquest. It's through commerce and innovation. Societies like the Dutch Republic and the United States used tolerance to become a magnet for enterprising immigrants.
We know that enlightened capital didn't get rid of the slave trade.
To my mind, the education of children - girl children, specifically - is what really creates an enlightened society. It creates a liberal society.
Everybody wants to get enlightened but nobody wants to change.
'Bamboozled' is the grassroots that will enlighten Americans from all backgrounds and political affiliations to the true history of the Democrat party and the facts about what liberal policies have done to our nation and communities of color.
We all have burdens and we need to learn to carry each other's burdens, lighten each other's load.
The true grandeur of humanity is in moral elevation, sustained, enlightened and decorated by the intellect of man.
