when it comes to Obama i'm all ears

As-salaam Alaykum means hello in Arabic and it began Obama’s speech in Cairo this past week. I suppose it’s time to weigh in on Obama. He is the reason for my little parlay into religion and his most recent diplomatic event centered around the very thought that propels me to explore what makes us religious; peace. He mentions in his speech that all the religious cultures fighting each other have the same values at their core. I’ve seen the same, that the little bit of time I’ve spent looking at different religions I’ve come to find that it’s more about the human condition to want peace and that maybe we set about rules and ideas that will hopefully help us, at least internally, achieve that.

Where religions go so wrong, or maybe it’s the religious people that go so wrong, is in the absolutes. In my Meditative Inquiry session tonight, Obama’s speech was actually mentioned by one of our leaders. He pointed out how interesting and refreshing it was to hear Obama give an essentially Buddhist construct to the conflict in the Middle East. Obama essentially asked both parties to “be present with what is.” In this way, both sides don’t give up what is in their hearts and central to their cultures. Instead, they let go of all the conflicts that have come before and move forward from the issues that arise now, in this moment. They stop dragging the past into the present.

This is a constant call in our group, to return to “presence.” I call it “return to center” which is a constant move in yoga (even though I don’t practice yoga this one line has stuck with me). This centeredness and calm is what is refreshing to me about Obama in the first place. It’s what drew me to him so utterly. He seems so in opposite of what we have come to understand and expect from leaders and politicians. He doesn’t work from a place of fear nor does he incite fear. He radiates calm.

I just feel safe with Obama in the white house. Maybe it’s an irrational calm like Bush gave irrational fear, but I want, above all, to believe that the goodness and hope I feel really is what is present now. And I know that the job loses haven’t stopped, that GM declared bankruptcy this week and that the housing-market is still in the tank, but the economy feels better too. And every night that I’ve pushed the pre-set icon of the stock index on my iPod touch I’ve seen a steady incline since March. And I just think the Obama effect is in full swing. Whether he really does chose the “right” actions or not, it feels like he does. Hope is a powerful thing and it’s something I may be morphing into a religion for myself.

Last week (ironically?) we talked about world peace in our Meditative group and the concept was that it starts with you. If you live your life with presence then the madness that surrounds you will dissipate. I believe this. I believe it wholly. It may actually be my truth and it is what is at the center of the Obama affect (or anyone’s affect for that matter). There are a million cliches to point here. “You get what you give,” might be a good one. Even though it bucks the Buddhist idea, history does have a keener eye in hindsight, but there are only a few exceptions to a man’s greatness coming to light posthumously (saints excluded). We like to say a President doesn’t really have impact on the economy and we don’t know if we’ve been in a recession or even a depression until it’s already happened, but I want to live in this moment. The past 8 years were full of fear and worldliness and it felt uncomfortable and tense. This moment feels good and right and just and I can only imagine (though I know I shouldn’t) that good things beget good things.

I watched The Tale of Despereaux this weekend and the at the beginning of the movie, the narrator says something like, “If you know fairy tales, then you know the hero doesn’t show up until the world needs him.” The hero in the movie is a little mouse with big ears whose entire philosophy is “truth, honor, justice.” I know the world needs a hero now, but I won’t pose the question of where or when he might arrive and I certainly won’t talk about the coincidence of big ears.


**You can listen, watch, and/or read Obama’s speech here.