A man in full

Though I hesitate to link to this, because I fear it may make some people's heads explode a la David Cronenberg's Scanners, I'll do it anyway. It's the last installment of a five-part interview with Tom Wolfe, whose Bonfire of the Vanities is the definitive American novel of the 1980s. Wolfe is a national treasure, always refreshingly unpretentious and optimistic, and never more so than when he sums up his thoughts on the next 800 years (!) of "American centuries."

As Wolfe puts it, "Be happy."   

Comments

[Michael H]

I enjoyed his line about all that's standing in the way of the next nine "American Centuries': ""The biggest problem is all the people who see a problem."

And the full context of the "Be Happy" line is important too: "Maybe I should start to give moral advice, which is: Be happy with what you have!"

[Hope Rivers]

"Be Happy" - Great advice. But what's with Mr Wolfe's interesting fashion sense??? White and black socks, with white and black shoes, white suit, black and white tie....

Well is very good with theme's and creating a presence, looks like a happy combo to me ;-)

[william]

Hot button for me Michael P I stayed out of politics for over 35 years but the Iraq war was too much for me to remain quiet. Brought back memories of Vietnam that other illegal war for profits. Over one million Vietnamese died and 58000 Americans died in that “be happy” war and most Americans did not even know whom they were fighting.

Ask the Iraqis how happy they are with the American invasion and occupation or the parents and wives that lost children and husbands in the Iraq war. Spend some time with them Wolf and see how happy you are. Please note the government does not let us see the caskets coming back from Iraq. Just be happy.

Wolf demonstrates to me everything that is corrupt and naïve about our American arrogance. This does not mean we should not find joy in our lives. I spent the afternoon with my grandchildren and found much joy in that and later demo a new ping golf hybrid club and the ball went straight as an arrow. Any golfer knows that happiness. But I find no happiness about a war based on lies and deception and the suffering that it ensues.

Wolf states that America has 800 more years like Rome. Rome did some great things and on the backs of who. Be happy to be like them?

Wolf a fan of bush jr. yea there is a great man that dances on the white house steps while people die in our wars for profits. Be happy that we have a sociopath running America? But in all fairness he is only a reflection of the people that voted for him but we humans would rather blame our politicians than look into a mirror.

A president that called the war in Afghanistan romantic but opted out of his chance to “be happy” and romantic by fighting in Vietnam. Many call those folks chickenhawks.

Be happy? One thing that is for sure karma is doing its thing. Create a society based on greed and power and the country starts into a decline in wealth and morality that has never been seen in the history of the world. Be joyful that these spiritual laws exist but not happy for that.

Best kept secret in the world capitalism like communism must self-destruct due to spiritual laws not religious laws. Not sure that makes me happy but it does reinforce what my research has revealed to me about the relationship of spiritually and karma.

There are new souls and old souls on this planet and I suspect that Wolf fits the new souls category with his simplistic statement of be happy. He is a classic example of someone who has made it with his intellectual and materialistic success and now sees the world with his tainted I got mine glasses. Intellectual capability is not divine intelligence.

Put Wolf and Cheney (Mr. 5 deferments) and bush jr and their families and make them ride around Baghdad in humvees until all the troops are home and I predict shock and awe getting our troops out of Iraq. It would be interesting to see if Wolf would change his be happy tune after riding around in those hummers for 14 months.

[Smart Alec]

I give up.

[Hope Rivers]

Ohhh happy days....

[william]

“Ohhh happy days....”

I suspect that the soul learns more from its struggles and suffering than its ohhh happy days. This is not to say we should spend our lives looking for struggle and suffering. Joy and suffering molds the soul more I believe than just joy or just suffering. Like a yin and yang affect.

I think a more spiritual discernment on Wolf’s part would have been to suggest to “be loving.” The advice to be happy appears superficial, inauthentic, and lacks a depth of understanding of the human condition, the evolution of conscousness, and spiritual awareness.

Of course I see a difference between be happy and joyfulness. One type of person can be happy killing another person or cheating someone out of their life’s earnings. I suspect joy must be aligned with some level of spiritual awareness.

Joy is in the same league as peace, love, assurance, wisdom, harmony, and beauty, whereas happiness can be obtained by a visit to theme park or Warren Buffet buying a company at a great price.

When Jesus stated peace be with you he could have also stated joy be with you or love be with you but never happy be with you.

[Hope Rivers]

Yes William I totally agree with you.

When I said "Ohhh Happy Days" I was thinking of the song, remember the clip I posted on here from You Tube? I guess all the politics rearing its head again in this thread, I felt compelled to recall it :-)

[Hope Rivers]

Ohhh by the way on our news tonight its saying that Hillary Clinton has virtually lost and will have to be stepping down very soon. Seems the Democrats are all agreeing she needs to step down. There was an interview with Ted Kennedy also saw complications regarding her as a possible vice president to Obama, which to me is no rocket science.

Her most outstanding capability from what I can see is racking up massive debt, which no doubt will be left for others to scrap up the mess. I guess if your gonna go, go with as much damage as possible and leave it to the bloke to pay the bills from her spending sprees, seems to be her mentality.

Anyway my source still leads her to becoming toast soon, it's a destiny/karma? thing ;-)

[Hope Rivers]

I also agree with regarding the superficialness of being "happy". Some people feel much happiness watching others suffer, playing with people's minds and emotions and the list is endless as you can guess.

Many are into pornography or casual sex for the few minutes of "happy" it brings, but in reality it tends to bring misery later (broken marriages, desensitization and isolation, the unravelling of societies moral fabric, more baggage and heartache what else, ohh "love" becomes a scary word and sadly impossible to achieve.

[Michael Prescott]

William, I was thinking of you when I worried about exploding heads! :)

Btw, I suspect that when Wolfe sings the praises of Rome, he's thinking along the lines of Edward Gibbon's reflections on the Pax Romana: "If a man were called to fix the period in the history of the world during which the condition of the human race was most happy and prosperous, he would, without hesitation, name that which elapsed from the death of Domitian to the accession of Commodus."

[william]

Concerning Hillary and Obama. There is rumor that Obama will help Hillary find a way to pay off her political debts. Interesting twist the two candidates for the “working folks” are concerned about her 12 to 25 million-dollar debt with her and her husband’s reported assets to be over 50 million.

From my pint of view it matters not who wins in the long haul a nation must play out its beliefs or paradigms and often as in human life we must go through a major emotional turmoil such as sink deeply into economic decline or be defeated badly in a war before a country is ready to switch paradigms. I.e. Germany and Japan.

Hope thanks for the clarification. In this country happy days can have many meanings. We had a TV show called happy days that showed the trials and tribulations and the happy times of teen-age life.

Michael H was surprised by your answer on the topic of be happy. “Maybe I should start to give moral advice," I have noticed in my life advice is seldom utilized (by myself or others) and it seldom has the impact that it had on the person giving the advice. Dr Hora calls unsolicited advice trespassing. Don’t know if I would go that far but he may have a point.

“Anyway my source still leads her to becoming toast soon, it's a destiny/karma? thing ;-)”

She had a lot of negatives going into this race. To me she seems phonier than a three-dollar bill, which if it existed would be worth 1.8 euro’s. She went with the experience theme, which did not play out with very upset Americans with politicians in Washington dc. The liberal media is harder on her than our own right wing political corporate media cable news network many call fixed noise.

To bush jr’s credit he has a 6 point lead in approval ratings over congress. 28 compared to 22 approval ratings. We Americans love to blame our politicians for our ignorance. I.e. unawareness.

Her true colors appear to be shining thought. Kind of sad to watch it play out. Golf time, time to be happy.

[Hope Rivers]

William stating a fact doesn't equal advice.

[Hope Rivers]

Ok I missed the point.....You meant Wolfe.

But this Hora's advice, of advice being like trespassing, is extreme. Without good advice our children would have no direction and end up in all sorts of trouble. I just read a news article that american teen girls between 14 - 19 have been infected more than ever with STDs, with the latest findings, claiming approximately 40% , obviously for every girl there's a boy with it too.

Clearly advice may have helped here. Looks like with roles models of the likes of Paris Hilton and Lohan this is what happens and sadly for quite a few it can occur on their very "first" experience, how would you feel if this was your daughter or son?.

I think his advice may only refer to his ego and those with ego issues who have problems listening to advice. People who think along these lines I feel are ignorant and see themselves more superior than anyone else and therefore beyond advice so it gets up their nose when anything resembles advice that looks remotely directed at them.

Now I'm not saying all advice is worth listening to, one still has a choice to listen or not or simply just ponder on it and do whatever.

That's my advice ;-)
(ok that last one takes me to ten advices typed in this post, had to round it up, couldnt sit at nine :-)

[Hope Rivers]

Now I'm not saying all advice is worth listening to, one still has a choice to listen or not or simply just ponder on it and do whatever.

Ok this isnt as clear as it should be, what I meant is all advice doesnt have to be followed. There's no harm in listening to it, at the very least it shows tolerance (patience) and isnt that a virtue we all need more of?.

[william]

“Without good advice our children would have no direction and end up in all sorts of trouble.”

I believe this is a great misconception that our advice to our children is what keeps them out of trouble. They learn by experience and even bring with them learning from experiences from past lives.

This I think is why we see some teens very loving and others with many problems. Yes their parents are often like their children but I think our vibration level may determine who are parents will be. Like attracts like. There are of course exceptions to this rule.

One must be very careful when challenging the teachings of dr Hora. He appears to have deep understanding of the meaning of words and their underlying reality. Even though dr Hora was Jewish he felt Jesus was the most profound person to walk on this earth. Not because of the belief in his sacrifice for our sins but Jesus understanding of reality.

My point on advice is that I don’t think anyone has yet read the teachings of dr Hora even though I have mentioned him many times on this blog. Michael H did look up his website I believe. This is not a bad thing as we usually read what we need to read. This is the universal law of progress in action.

“There's no harm in listening to it, at the very least it shows tolerance (patience) and isnt that a virtue we all need more of?.”

Virtue is one of Hora’s favorite words. Ok here is some trespassing I mean advice ”beyond the dream” by dr Thomas Hora. Very interesting guy.

“William stating a fact doesn't equal advice.” When people start stating facts to me all kinds of red flags come up. Often one person’s fact is another person’s fallacy.

[Barbara]

I think that Wolfe unfortunately misses the point of those people who point out problems.

I'm very happy with what I have, and I agree that's one of our biggest problems, not just as Americans but as humans -- we always want more. It just happens that in America we have more to begin with so there's a higher measurement set to begin with.

What I worry and complain about is how we're about to squander away what we have and then have no more -- no more oil, no more forests, no more ability to keep producing more and more food to feed us all, no more of what it takes to keep the world operating. And the rest of the world seems to be following the US into that valley of overconsumption, to the point of using up everything.

The problem is that we need to learn to be happy with what we have -- exactly. We need to stop overconsuming everything the planet has left to offer, stop overpopulating, and stop being so greedy and allowing big business to be.

I see the corporate empire builders and the super wealthy, and mega-religions telling people to continue to "be fruitful and multiply" as not very different from people who collect junk and old magazines and newspapers, and can't throw anything away. They are hoarders of wealth and things, and they inspire greed in us in order to keep themselves acquiring more. Consumption is god, money is god. It's a sickness. That's it exactly.

[Michael H]

I don’t think Wolfe is suggesting it’s wrong to recognize problems, Barbara. He says that the biggest problem is all the people who see a problem - I think he’s suggesting that focusing on problems prevents us from seeing the solutions. Who was it that said that problems aren’t solved on the same level they are created?

I’m not sure there are any solutions for his fashion problem though!

And William, not to defend George W too vigorously, but I think there are too many people who see the Iraq debacle as a solo job. It seems to me that the entire country shares some responsibility for our foreign policy blunders under GWB. We forget how angry and vengeful America was post 9/11, and we still are in many ways. The Iraq action was supported by the media and Congress (and yes, there was apparent manipulation of intelligence by the administration), but I think we need to consider that everyone was affected by the collective state of mind of the country at the time. There weren’t many that spoke out against the action, because most everyone was paralyzed by fear and hatred.

Though I disagree with Wolfe that George W’s willingness to strike out at perceived enemies is admirable, I do agree that we cannot know at this moment what will eventually come of the situation in Iraq. “The biggest problem is all the people who see a problem.” If enough people worldwide genuinely see that, Iraq may someday become a thriving democracy in the Middle East. We can’t know from our current perspective, and we can’t solve the problem from our current perspective either.

[Hope Rivers]

William says:
"I believe this is a great misconception that our advice to our children is what keeps them out of trouble. They learn by experience and even bring with them learning from experiences from past lives"

"Even though dr Hora was Jewish he felt Jesus was the most profound person to walk on this earth. Not because of the belief in his sacrifice for our sins but Jesus understanding of reality".

Right so Dr Hora recognised the profoundness of Christ, this very same man who said "advice is like trespassing" yet isn't that what the ministry of Christ was all about? His purpose was to teach and give advice, usually in parables, the only ones who had issues with his advice where the ones whose ego's refused to to listen to his wisdom and who plotted to kill him as a consequence.

He also said regarding children "Forbid them not, allow them to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven."

Now that to me means educating your children in the way christ lived and preached. There is something in proverbs that mentions to train them up the right way also.

Now obviously when kids are raised in atmosphere of little love, they will generally display this later in life as well as pick up all their enviromental influences. Preaching to a child to be a certain way and not being it yourself will encourage rebellion later. The fact is his advice is right its just we live in a world with much confusion about what is "love". Most dont know therefore how can they teach it to their kids, if what they learnt from their own parents is what drives them somewhere deep within. There are many factors for kids going of the rails, besides this too, they hit the world with no foundation of "love" and are drawn to whatever appears to be the major consensence. Right now its a very hedonistic world and like sheep they follow thinking this is the way life should be.

But there are people who have heeded this advice and have seen success with their children, so its not a fallacy. Being committed to "love" and living it with gentle guidance and being their will lead to better results than believing in the midset, "they will just do what they want" and give up or attempt a half hearted approach

You can teach children through the examples of other peoples experiences without them needing to experience them. I know of many kids who are committed to staying virgins before they marry, now there's plent of pressure "out there" for them to follow the ways of the world, but they've been taught wisdom and have parents who really love them and are their friends also. These kids have made these choices themselves after good counsel and much thought.

I guess each to their own but one has to look at the whole family dynamic first(including parents/grandparents beliefs and habits) to see the seeds of their kids future, after all they all begin by learning by what they see and there lies the biggest danger.

[Hope Rivers]

Now some people here may not understand the concept of virginity and why its better to wait. Well if we truly "love" another and ourselves we would want the best for them right? Keeping them whole and complete for the right partner(this is not just a female thing its also for males to be this way too)

Often sex is just driven by selfish urges with no real thought to whether the person is someone your gonna keep around. With each encounter a piece of one's soul given away. Now for people who dont believe this must look at why? If one has closed down one's emotions, obviously one will never quite understand, it also explains why its easier for men to have multiple partners than for the average woman. So basically we are operating from an incomplete place.

The more encounters the harder the heart gets and for some heartache and rejection builds up, so then the harder the heart gets, its a vicious circle.

So this is not even including the risks of STDS, basically its why Christ never endorsed divorce, he saw the unity of man and wife to remain as one and in a state of "love" as in the highest order of Gods plan for humanity.

[Hope Rivers]

also when I mention the word "love" I never mean the emotion or feelings. Its always about the actions :-)

[outta here]

Politically, Michael, you've pretty much proven by this point that you're a pudgy, entitled little authoritarian white boy who isn't ever going to grow up. Your spiritual beliefs make no inroads on any of that immature sense of entitlement, and over time they appear more and more to be an outgrowth of it. The toxic mix of authoritarianism and (repressed) mysticism that once made Ayn Rand attractive to you just got redistributed to George Bush and seances. It didn't really evolve.

I'll wish you continued success on aggressively distilling your readership to conservative dead-enders. I've been intrigued enough by psi evidence to seek out defenses of it; survival hypotheses were more of a stretch, but I was prepared to listen to the evidence. But your incessant need for Daddy authorities and your childish, flag-waving, race-charged shrillness on political issues has helped to recharge my skepticism about the narcissism, magical thinking and ideological needs that are served by paranormal beliefs. Every political belief you hold--every single one, without exception--is drawn from the dregs of talk-radio conservatism. Not one exception. Not one! You think you're a daring, skeptical thinker because you're willing to consider that Ouija boards may be real but you parrot every button-pushing issue generated by the billion-dollar hate industry of Fox News and smugly pat the heads of your commenters who try to correct you like they're kindergarteners. I do get a laugh occasionally at the spectacle of someone who can't get beyond the most simplistic, vulgar, childish, hyperemotional tribal formations of nationalist identity imagining that he has something to impart about transcendent metaphysical perspectives. That laugh is about the only thing to be gained at your site anymore.

So, thanks for becoming so unreadable. It's been instructive. I'm going back to my materialism now, where, sometimes, once in awhile, I can manage to find an adult. Or at least someone who has outgrown the infantile edicts of "America is number one" and "Shut up and be happy."

[Hope Rivers]

Outta here: I hope you don't treat everyone like this out in the real world. Everyone is on their own path of enlightenment, no one is infallible including yourself.

When one starts insulting anothers appearance, for a heightened impact to their message that really is a reflection on one's one fractured state and maturity level.

Clearly this is a "bullying" tactic and serves no purpose at all, other than recognising your anger issues.

Don't dislike psi and survival just because their advocates are disagreeable to you. Treat them on their own merits.

Best of luck to you, though.