I think a finally understand Barack Obama’s philosophy and approach to dealing with our country’s enemies. I haven’t learned anything listening to Obama himself, because his utterances are either melodic sounding empty verse or rubrical statements filled with misleading euphemisms and sheer contradictions. I had instead to turn to the wisdom of the Zen monks living in the Big Sur area’s Tassajara monastery, where human lives and priceless property are being threatened by one of 323 raging California wildfires.

For example, I didn’t find Obama’s November 10, 2007 statement in his Foreign Policy page on the Obama ’08 website very helpful. He says,  ““I will send once more a message to those yearning faces beyond our shores that says, “You matter to us. Your future is our future. And our moment is now.”” Not sure exactly who the “yearning faces” or  “you” is, but from other statements Obama has made, it sounds like “Iran’s colorful Mahmoud Ahmadinejad”, as the Washington Post’s Maziar Bahari refers to him, would qualify as someone who matters to us, whose future is our future and who shares this “now” moment with us (whatever that means).

Assuming for a now moment that Obama thinks of Ahmadinejad more as an enemy (I know that is a harsh way of describing Ahmadinejad, when he does have such a youthful and yearning face) than a friend, I looked to the Renewing American Diplomacy section of Obama’s Foreign Policy website page (conveniently located just under Obama’s “plan” for dealing with Iran) for help in understanding Obama’s strategy. However, I was once again left dazed and confused in Obamaland.

One of the diplomatic strategy linchpins in the grand design of the Barack Obama Plan is summarized in the subheading Talk to our Foes and Friends. My first impression was, “Wow, that has a nice, almost Mid-Western folksy ring to it.” I read on and learned that, “. . .if America is willing to come to the table, the world will be more willing to rally behind American leadership to deal with challenges like terrorism, and Iran and North Korea's nuclear programs.” I nearly swooned reading the words! In my mind’s eye, I saw all the world’s friends and foes sittin’ ‘round a dinner table right next to the Field of Dreams cornfield just eatin’ and chattin’ about peace, human rights, global warming, the evils of capitalism, how the United States owes everyone something, how to wipe Israel off the face of the earth, please pass the corn. . .

After a thorough reflection upon that scene, (my brow furrowed, eyeballs looking up and left, fingers stroking my chin and tongue in my cheek), I realized I must be missing something. The new image swimming in my poor head swung ‘round to Clint Eastwood singing “I Talk to the Trees” in Paint Your Wagon.

I talk to my foes,

But they don't listen to me

I talk to my friends

But they never hear me

The world hasn't time

To stop and hear what I say

I talk to them all in vain

The Obama master plan sounded just a little too naïve and idealistic to be taken seriously by mature person. The ideas seem so driven by ego inflation that they redefine “self-importance” and totally disregard a dangerous regression to the “magical thinking” of a very young child. Either someone is suffering from a Christ complex or there must have been a typo!

I thought I would never really understand what Barrack Obama’s philosophy and approach to dealing with our enemies until the San Francisco Chronicle’s religion writer, Matthai Kuruvila, came to my rescue in his July 10 article entitled, “Monks Practice Zen of Firefighting”, with the subheading,  “Handful of holdouts at Tassajara monastery predictably calm as flames approach center.”

In his report, Kuruvila writes, “Zen practitioners here have long understood that fire is not only a part of the region’s landscape, but also an integral part of their spiritual experience. The reason they’re out there — to be in closer contact with the harmonious balance of nature — includes the fire.”

Kuruvila quotes the abbot of the monastery, Myogen Steve Stucky, who explains the monks’ philosophy and approach further:

Fire is not a stranger. It’s telling us to be here in accord with the reality of fire. . .we’re not really fighting the fire. We’re meeting the fire, letting the fire come to us — make friends with it and tame it as it reaches our boundaries.

Thanks to the clear and simple thinking of California’s Zen monks, I finally get it. Here is Obama’s plan in a nutshell:

·   Dealing with our enemies is part of a spiritual experience.

·   We need to get in closer contact with our enemies to understand the harmonious balance of nature.

·   Our enemies are not real, they are just teaching us reality.

·   We really shouldn’t fight our enemies, just meet them.

·   We should let our enemies attack us and make friends with them as they reach our borders.

·   In this way we tame our enemies and achieve world peace.

If only the Obama campaign would hire a few Zen monks as spokespeople, then everything god-king Obama stands for would be a lot clearer to voters. Deep down, we all know that if each of us would only listen to some Higher Self, we would realize that in the end, nothingness is the key, and, after all, Obama is the essence of nothingness.