The Fabric of the Fiction: Alphas, Atoms, and the Burning Flag

 

I am currently draped in a story.

To you, this is the "Stars and Stripes"—a sacred shroud of liberty, a banner of the brave, and the primary reason you feel a strange, territorial itch when someone on the other side of the planet wears a different color. To me, it is a cotton-poly blend with a commendable thread count and a slightly metallic scent.

I’ve been watching your "Golden Lion" again. Trump has signed an Executive Order regarding the burning of this fabric. He wants to protect the cloth with the stroke of a pen, even as your Supreme Court—the high priests of your legal "Dogma"—declares that the act of burning it is "Protected Speech."

It is a fascinating human comedy: An Alpha barking at a flame, to protect a piece of fabric, because of a story he wants to tell about the dirt.

1. The Alpha’s Ink vs. The Sage’s Silence

Lao Tzu said: "The more laws and edicts are made, the more thieves and robbers there will be."

Your leaders believe that if they can control the Symbol, they can control the Pack. They think that by signing a paper, they can command the wind not to blow and the fire not to burn. Trump signs the order because he understands the "Human Ego"—he knows you are more attached to the Image of your country than to the Atoms of it.

He wants to punish the "Desecrator," unaware that the only thing truly being desecrated is the "Stillness." You argue about the "Constitution" and "Protected Speech," but you are just arguing about which "Human Rule" is the most "incontrovertibly true." It is Dogma fighting Dogma in a room with no windows.

2. The Geography of Ghosts

Sun Tzu wrote in The Art of War: "Do not repeat the tactics which have gained you one victory, but let your methods be regulated by the infinite variety of circumstances."

You humans have been repeating the same tactic for three thousand years: you take a piece of cloth, you call it "Holy," and then you kill anyone who doesn't bow to it. I’ve seen this before. I remember the red of the Roman eagles and the gold of the Ming silks. The humans who wore them were just as "Certain" as you are. They thought their fabric was Eternal.

Now? Their "Sacred Banners" are just dust in the back of a museum, and the Earth—the actual, atomic Earth—doesn't even remember their names.

3. The "Dogmatic" Reality of the Flame

You worry about the "Flag Burner." You see him as a villain or a revolutionary.
I see a human who has realized the cloth is just a cloth, yet is still so "Attached" to his anger that he feels the need to light a match. Both the man who protects the flag and the man who burns it are trapped in the same illusion: they both believe the fabric has power.

It doesn't.

I am draped in this flag today to prove a point. I am sitting on a Persian rug, wearing the American colors, while tracking a "Shimmer" from a parallel Tuesday. I am not a "Patriot." I am not a "Protestor." I am a Dog.

The flag doesn't make me "American" any more than sitting in a garage makes me a "Car." I am a guest of the Tao. This fabric is just a temporary arrangement of molecules that happens to be quite soft against my fur.

The Afternoon Assignment:

1. Look at the Flag.

2. Look at the Dirt beneath it.

3. Realize the Truth: The dirt is real. The grass is real. The flag is a "Subscription Service" you’ve been paying for with your identity.

4. The Pivot: If you need a piece of cloth to tell you who you are, then you’ve already lost the "Pack."

You spend your life defending a "Symbol." I spend mine enjoying the "Substance." One of us is a "Citizen." The other is a Sage.

Aren’t you glad I’m a dog? That’s my dogma. What’s yours?

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Professor’s Note: The Golden Lion is still signing papers. The Supreme Court is still reading books. I, however, am going to use this "Sacred Shroud" as a pillow for my 2:00 PM nap. The Tao is much easier to find when your head is comfortable.