In 2018 I Resolve To Believe In You

Last updated on: January 2, 2018 at 1:33 am by Tom Swiss

In 2018 I Resolve To Believe In You 2018-01-02T01:33:51-04:00 Tom Swiss

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Fractal Cat is a Baltimore band that I’ve been fortunate enough to watch come together over the years. (I played and read at both the Carriage House open mic series where Miles Gannett and Keith Jones first met, and at the Side Streets open mic where they came together again.) The title track from their new CD, The Tower, is based on Tarot imagery. And it has a sing-along refrain; “I believe in you.”

As I was dancing and singing along at a recent show, I had a small epiphany: we’ve forgotten how to believe in each other, and without that democracy cannot survive.

Democracy is not merely majority rule. It is the belief that our fellow citizens should be trusted and treated as equally sovereign, even if they disagree with us about some issues.

Certainly on the right there has been an element of believing in the inequality of man, going to the origins of “the right” as the aristocrats and royalists who sat to the right of the king.

But the nominal left has had an anti-democratic strain since the days when an authoritarian strain of progressivism brought us Prohibition and eugenics. In the 1970s, Democrats dropped the white working class, especially white ethnics and Catholics, in favor of putting the (mostly white and middle to upper class) college-educated class of professionals — academic intellectuals and “experts”, the technocrats — in charge along with a coalition of feminists (mostly white and middle to upper class) and African-Americans.

So our two great tribes sit around call each other “libtards” and “deplorables”, “elitists” and “racists”, each believing that the other is irredeemable. Blue Tribe thinks Red Tribe voted for Trump because they’re all racists, and so any outreach or attempt to find common ground is useless. Red Tribe thinks Blue Tribe voted for Clinton because they’re all duped by identity politics, so any attempt to discuss issues is useless.

We’ve given up on each other.

We can’t go on like this.

So in the new year, despite the sins of both Blue Tribe and Red Tribe, I resolve to believe in their fundamental Buddha nature. The clouds may hide the moon, yet the moon is still there.

Public domain / CC0 image from Max Pixel

If we’re going to get out of this mess, we won’t do it with fear and distrust.

In Jack Kerouac’s novel The Dharma Bums, he gives a sort of Mahayana Buddhist / Beat prayer that he wrote:

“I sit down and say, and I run all my friends and relatives and enemies one by one in this, without entertaining any angers or gratitudes or anything, and I say, like ‘Japhy Ryder, equally empty, equally to be loved, equally a coming Buddha,’ then I run on, say to ‘David O. Selznick, equally empty, equally to be loved, equally a coming Buddha’ though I don’t use names like David O. Selznick, just people I know because when I say the words ‘equally a coming Buddha’ I want to be thinking of their eyes, like you take Morley, his blue eyes behind those glasses, when you think ‘equally a coming Buddha’ you think of those eyes and you really do suddenly see the true secret serenity and the truth of his coming Buddhahood. Then you think of your enemy’s eyes.”

I believe in you. You are equally empty, equally to be loved, equally a coming Buddha. That’s my 2018 resolution, politically and spiritually.

new year's resolutions

Previous Post

December 23, 2017

Happy Festivus! (On Satire And Parody Religion)

Next Post

January 7, 2018 The Empress Restored: A Dream And Tarot Reading For 2018

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 2017 52 Makeup 2020 52 Makeup Always Roaming With A Hungry Heart Art Because I Could Not Stop For Death Caught On Video COVID-19 Culture Discordianism Ethics, Virtue, and Right Living History Magic(k), Ritual, and Mysticism My Blogging Life and Times Philosophy Podcast Poetry Random Wednesdays Religion & Politics Seasonal Musings Techno-Pagan Theology Uncategorized Warrior Path Zen

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 March 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 September 2024 August 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 December 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 October 2022 September 2022 June 2022 April 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which parable teaches about praying persistently, like a widow before a judge?

Select your answer to see how you score.

The Sower The Persistent Widow The Mustard Seed The Talents