"Transcendental Meditation"

I should have known 25 years ago that I had lived in southern California too long when I "studied" Transcendental Meditation (TM). I was given my "Mantra" (sounds to be used during meditation) and told that it was mine alone, and not to be shared with anyone. It is still secret, and no one in the world other then my TM "teacher" and I know what it is.

About fifty years ago the Pope declared that "the Jews" were not responsible for the death of Christ. The then existent "mantra" was that if something bad happened, it was "the Jews "who did it. Shortly after that I heard a terrible racist joke about an older Jewish woman who lived is a Bronx apartment. She opened her window on the alley and shouted up two floors to her friend: "Blanche, did you hear"? And Blanche replied "Hear what"? "We didn't kill Christ" Blanche says, "we didn't, then who did? Her friend replies, "I don't know, but it must have been the Puerto Ricans". The punch line could easily have been "the communists". If it were today the answer could have been the "terrorists".

Starting in, I expect the late 40's the Government developed its own mantra that they too would repeat over and over again as we would repeat our mantra while meditating and it was no secret, it was communism, or communists.

Most of the Americans were called upon to blame whatever bad stuff happened in the world on the communists.

The Berlin wall? The Communists.

The Korean War? The Communists

Evil motion pictures? The Communists

Eastern European dictatorships? The Communists

The Vietnam War? The Communists

Labor Unions? The Communists

The Soviet Union? The Communists

The Viet Cong? The Communists

And so it was, and it went on and on. By the way, I never did understand how the Vietnamese people who were fighting against the French and then the American occupation of THEIR country (sort of like the Iraqis today) carried the dreaded mantra of "communists". They wanted what we wanted, a better life and "freedom" for themselves and their children from foreign (American) occupation and domination.

Events in the 21st century have allowed our government to create a few new mantras for us, and repeat them over and over again. They are, "9/11, terror. Terrorists, and terrorism".

OK, so they want to invoke a threat or two into our lives, fine. Be alert! Be vigilant! Swell. However this is not what the administration is doing. They are using 9/11 and all forms of terrorism as reasons to deny us our previously uncontested protections against the government. The government owns "the biggest shredder" around, and they are using it on our constitution.

The "Patriot Act" and all of its "permissions" to spy on ordinary citizens is an affront to each and every one of us. Protect us, to whatever extent is reasonable, of course, but to do what they are doing in order to "spy on us" is not. Congress is debating the renewal of the act, and many of them are declaring that if we don't renew and expand the act that we certainly will be attacked.

Borrowing from a fifties mantra of "I'd rather be dead then red", how about "I would rather violate our constitution then be attacked by a terrorist". It would be acceptable to become a fascist state dependent upon "big brother" then to risk being killed by a terrorist.

What in heavens name is wrong with the notion that if you want to do so many of these things that you go before a judge, and ASK?

It is time for me to resume my TM and meditate regularly, and hope the Defense Department does not consider either it or me as a potential threat as a terrorist, or perhaps one who supports terror!

Norman Horowitz

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