In the forests of the night

Doesn't it seem as though news departments of various television and radio outlets meet to discuss what stories to run?  The world is in chaos, there are wars and bombings everywhere, our nation is being dismantled at a quickening pace, as the citizens are catching on, yet the same six stories are covered, all with no substance.

The other day, no matter how quickly I used the remote channel changer, there was snide gossip about Tiger Woods.  His tale was the lead story, even ahead of the dog show.  Righteous indignation for the drooling masses.

Frankly, watching such coverage should make one uncomfortable.  Who watches gossip? Who decides a personal melt down is news?  Why put so many women, who look at Woods as a soap opera character, on TV to express outrage?  We are have become the gossip nation.

World wide coverage of a discovered personal failing does not recommend us to the Federation of Panets.

Put aside, now, this disconcerting notion that people all around you are shallow. Look at what lesson has been revealed. There is a very clear one, if you look.

In Wood's speech, his media apology for who knows what - for upsetting his image is what I got, Mr Woods said he was having therapy and it was there he was reminded of the spiritual life.

That is the lesson, do you see it?

In today's world someone can divest moral responsibility to a word that exists outside the person.  We are told immorality is a disease.  Some virus done it, no me.

Simply, Mr. Woods had no moral center regarding marriage and preferred not to have one, thank you very much.  It is as simple as that. This is not a sexual addiction, some made up term for a person who sees no reason not to engage in rabbit sex, but who needs a cover.  He got caught and, now, sees the light, allelujah.  He has been reminded of his spiritual side.

Woods does not have a mature understanding of being married, as opposed to being mated.  Because he was rich, famous, and nice guy, women presented themselves.  There are plenty of them whose career is "soft hooking," as I once heard it described - by a woman. These people have no moral center either.  This was the norm in the Hollywood I saw.  Rabbits all. There is a rabbit social contract that is  easily breached for money.

So presented with  ways to be a jack rabbit, Woods took the opportunities.  It was fun and the attention flattered his ego. He explained:  he felt he earned this activity.

What he was really saying is:  I made money and was famous, so morality does not apply to someone above the masses.  Like I say, this is Hollywood; it is Washington D.C.

He had no first assumptions about trust and his faithfulness, so what the hell. The game is to not get caught. He lost that game and, gee, everyone around him was serious about their morality.

Marriage for Wood was finding a social front, locking in a nice soft-hooker, and enjoying family life, as a moral cripple would define it. Here we come to the many definitions of love. Can we say he "loved" his wife?  Your answer defines you.



Woods was arrogant, a pathological narcissist, another nice term for being selfish. He was a teenager confronted with rules he pretended to accept while doing what he wanted.  I wonder if the rules of golf would have been honored if no one was watching.

Here we are at the important point:  are we programmed creatures guilty of nothing (B. F. Skinner) or are we adults able to discern meaning and responsibility?  Most will answer quickly to the latter, but I wonder.

We are quick to go to all manner of therapy, to be exorcised of whatever devil can be found. The Bible has all manner of names for these spirits, though far fewer than the names of psychology texts. Most of us need an outside force to blame, rather than be honest and say we invited the devil in for tea. In the end, ether we are not responsible for anything, responsible for our actions, or responsible for not examine outselves, a serious flaw.

To admit that we caused a problem would mean we are morally responsible. Mr. Woods does not see that, though he is in distress. He is trying to manage people and the world, rather than himself.  He won't find his answers in therapy where the spiritual life is discussed.

Pride is the greatest sin of all.

William Blake. 1757–1827

489. The Tiger

TIGER, tiger, burning bright    
In the forests of the night,    
What immortal hand or eye    
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?    

In what distant deeps or skies             5
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?    
On what wings dare he aspire?    
What the hand dare seize the fire?    

And what shoulder and what art    
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?      10
And when thy heart began to beat,    
What dread hand and what dread feet?    

What the hammer? what the chain?    
In what furnace was thy brain?    
What the anvil? What dread grasp      15
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?    

When the stars threw down their spears,    
And water'd heaven with their tears,    
Did He smile His work to see?    
Did He who made the lamb make thee?      20

Tiger, tiger, burning bright    
In the forests of the night,    
What immortal hand or eye    
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?