As Is The Feeling,
So Is The Result.
The usual metaphor is, drain the swamp, which IIRC, originated with Nancy Pelosi (?). Contemplating the metaphor, I thought, yes, that is why we see so much scum at the top reaches of American politics and institutions: scum usually resides at the bottom of a swamp, but when the swamp is drained, the water level de-elevates such that the scum which sat at the bottom of the swamp now sits at its top. The bottom of a drained swamp is its new top. Scum also sits at the top of a swamp whose waters slow to a crawl or stop altogether.
Rivers, OTOH, have scum neither on their bottom nor their top, because their waters are moving right along and do not slow or stop.
So, to clean a swamp, which is a natural part of a river, only with slower-moving water, one would flush it, not drain it. Draining a swamp merely surfaces scum, who promptly stink up the place, as we see in so many American institutions. A reformer moves fresh waters into and through a swamp, to clean it and even scour the swamp’s bottom, moving scum out into fast water, which dissipates it.
POTUS Trump got the waters moving again. The Party succeeded largely in slowing the waters down and partially draining the swamp so scum could form and putrefy again: lockdown the economy (the waters), push thugs, judges, and lawyers (the scum) against cities, businesses, and citizens (the swamps). The Party will be content to stop the waters altogether, to give scum a chance to cover the tops as well as the bottoms of American institutions (the swamps).
Swamps are natural and beneficial in many ways. They have honored places among the powers of being. Swamps grow noxious and harmful only when their waters move at speeds insufficient to keep at least their tops free of scum and clean for nutrition. Flush a swamp, do not drain it, so to speak. Malevolent personalities (scum) quit institutions (swamps) whose communications (waters) run deep and sure.
Another interesting aspect of swamps, one of their natural beneficial functions, is as pollution sinks. Draining swamps destroys that beneficial function of swamps, whereas flushing them promotes it.
Ulysses flushed the Augean Stables. He did not drain them. Water is one of three natural cleansers, the principal others being light, fire, and air.
The Navaratri festival is observed by contemplating on God for ten days and cleansing one’s self of all impurities, to experience the Divinity within. The penultimate day of the festival is dedicated to what is termed as Ayuda Puja (worship of weapons). The weapons to be worshipped are the divine powers within. When the Divine is worshipped in this way, one is bound to progress spiritually. On the contrary, the usual practice now is to treat the Divine and the devotee as separate from each other. This is wrong. The Divine is omnipresent and is in everyone and in every object. Realising this oneness, all actions should be done as an act of dedication to the Divine. Imagine the bliss that can be experienced in such a state of mind! It is essential to celebrate the festival in this sacred spirit. It is not enough to do this for only ten days during the Navaratri festival. It should become the rule all through one’s life, till the time one draws one’s life-breath.
- Sathya Sai Baba – Divine Discourse, October 14, 1994 / Daily Email, Sai Inspires: Subscription
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