My understanding is that Hindus see Buddha as an incarnation of God. (Whereas Buddhists relate to Buddha as a person who they can identify with who found enlightenment.)The Hindu view is very much like Christians' understanding of Jesus Christ, but instead of incarnation we call him "son of God." Our culture is a patriarchy, so son makes sense. Power passes from father to son. Right now millions of Americans are looking to the President as a father figure. Some are very disappointed in their dad while others put him on an inpenetrable pedestal. I believe even more than garden-variety sexism, this deep cultural patriarchy is why we could not elect a woman President. We're looking for a Daddy, thus the white-haired, old me we elect. (Obama was the cool, young Dad archetype, but still a dad.) The ironic thing about this is that really the courts are our archetypal father-figure and the Congress is our Mother figure. Let's face it, moms do most of the parenting. Congress makes the laws. Dad comes in to back up Mom when necessary and otherwise remains stoically detached and distant. The courts do this for Congress. What does the President do? Yeah he does his executive stuff- signing or vetoing bills into law, pushing Congress for votes, Presidential directives, Commander in chief of the armed forces. The President is also our face, our royalty, and our scapegoat. I hope the next time we have a global crisis (such as the coming climate change crisis) we've got a Mother in the position of President, instead of a Daddy. I know in my own life when my Dad told me to do something, my first reaction was to rebel, because there was so much conflicting information coming from him. I felt authentic when I defied him. My Mother, on the other hand, I really wanted to please because everything I saw from her made her worthy of being listened to. My father demanded my respect, my mother earned it. (my father did earn it eventually, but he was allowed to not grow up for a long time because my mom did all of the parenting while he worked, so this didn't happen until I was grown and out of the house.) I wish we had a Mother in the White House. I was hoping to vote for one in the Primary, too. One who scolded the big bankers and wasn't afraid to give old men in the Senate what was coming to them. Unfortunately we've got a father. He's not much different than a lot of the fathers we grew up with, actually. Detached, arrogant, demanding respect he hasn't earned, and not listening to the good, wise men around him but instead blustering and boasting.

Tuesday, March 24th 2020