Friday, May 12, 2006

The student was ready and the Master appeared


I had some life changes in the last two years. Many priorities changed in my life and I was looking at life differently. Surprisingly, I was drawn more to the path of mysticism rather than magic. In the past I was drawn to the Golden Dawn tradition but for some reason I wanted to rid myself of all the ceremonial trappings and meditate to enlightenment.

This introspection was also part of my mundane life. I started questioning why things were the way they were. Why did my property tax go up and why do I need to pay that amount? Why do I need to arrive at my job at eight and leave at five? Why must may taxes be taken out of each check rather than pay at the end of the year?

The result questioning these and many, many more questions was I learned we simply give control of our lives to ruling authorities with much faith and little assurance of our universal and eternal rights. The more frightening point is few these days question "why?". That is when Michael Savage, scurge of the political left and the ACLU, entered my consciousness.

I had heard Michael Savage in the past and quickly changed the radio station. As a native Texan, I had a hard time dealing with his New York City accent and his brash demeanor, I was not ready for the Master. However, I started listening to him on my drive home and more important listening to what he said and realized that Dr. Savage ( yes, he received his Doctorate from UC Berkeley) was practicing something that few did anymore. Dr. Savage was a critical thinker. Trained in the scientific method, he was applying this to his political and world views.

I was hooked. He had reasoned and thought out arguments. He did not spew the Democrat or Republican talking points. This is not to say he did not spew, he did. However, at the end of his rant he would detail why he held the view he was discussing and, amazingly, it was the most reasoned and rational view that had been publicly discussed by all, especially any politician in the last 50 years. Dr. Savage is very intelligent, but, if we all think about what we are going to do or why we do what we do, wouldn't we also have some level of rationality?

Dr. Savage gave me a valuable gift, in fact, a priceless gift, that of using the most powerful gift given by God, the gift of really using my mind, critically thinking. If anybody reads this they may write it off as another right-wing tool to promote the talk show monopoly of the Repbulicans. Interestingly though however, after listening to Dr. Savage and using my brain I quit being a lock-step Republican and now consider myself as a Libertarian/Independent awake individual in God's Universe.