The Wattle.

In what sense am I and my writing Australian?

My writing is intensely anti-authoritarian - a noted Australian character trait.
It is rebellious and revolutionary - the wild colonial boy.
I do have a tinge of red in my beard - this is Irish - I have some Irish ancestors.

My writing is Christian with references to the Bible - Old and New Testaments.
This is British or European - my ancestors again.

My writing is socialist with roots in the French Revolution and Marxism - I have some French ancestors.

My theology is universalist with relevance to any culture.
The mind, the heart, the body - all these things are universal.

But in what sense am I Australian?

Australia is an old country - the oldest place on earth.
Our mountains are worn down by millennia of wind and rain.
Our land is flat and vast.  Our rivers are old and slow.
Our trees are evergreen.  Our animals are marsupials - unique and strange.

But our society is new, post-enlightenment, modern.
We live in cities where the earth is covered over and the trees are European - deciduous and colorful.
Our culture was British, now it's American - a sitcom culture full of dark shadows and violence, superficial and glib.

The wattle is yellow - bright and profuse.
Our wildflowers are small but abundant.
Our trees are old and wizened, tall and strong, their roots go deep into the earth.

In Aboriginal spirituality the spirit sinks down into the ground in true antipodean fashion.
European spirits rise up to the sky and God is above.

Aboriginal art shows the ground as seen from above with a strong inward dimension.
This can be expressed as within like the Hopi Indians of America.
Aboriginal spirituality goes deeper, deeper within, and deeper into the earth.

The only Biblical reference that might be of help is when Moses encounters God on Mount Sinai.
God tells Moses to take off his shoes because he is walking on holy ground.

This relates closely to Aboriginal spirituality with its sacred sites.
The feet are also important to Aboriginal people.
When dancing they stamp their feet - as if to penetrate deeper into the earth.

Is post-modernism in Australia a sinking into the earth - a descending into the unconscious?
A strong sense of the bush and the sacredness of the wilderness is typically Australian.

The Australian colors are green and gold - the colors of the wattle.
Gold is the color of the sun or light, green is the color of chlorophyll which absorbs the light.
They are solar and life-giving.

The eucalyptus in the gum trees is an intoxicating drug.
Australians are known for being laid-back - "She'll be right mate", "No worries".

It is the opposite of European angst or British stiff upper lip.  
The antipodes again.

Australians are very impatient with anyone who pussyfoots around or procrastinates - "Have a go you mug", or with anyone who is not "True blue".
(The working man's singlet is blue.)

But an Australian man and his mates can be quite intolerant of anyone who is different - immigrants, homosexuals, aboriginals.....and he can also be misogynistic.

The dominant western culture is male, secular, and materialistic.
The media - dominated by an Australian - is violent, negative, and biased.
The language is brutal and glib.

The plutocrats aspire to be a kind of democratic aristocracy.
Their culture is cynical, pragmatic.  It is criminal until they are caught and then they blame some underling and claim ignorance.

And we all work for them.

They own everything.

But somethings gotta give.
We can't go on this way.

A new idealism is appearing on the internet - organizations dedicated to social reform and international justice.
They are independent and supported by thousands of donors.

This is the idealism of Aquarius beginning to manifest.
It is bubbling up from within and no one can stop it.

It is international and immediate, fraternal and altruistic.

It challenges politicians and plutocrats.

And it is growing quickly.

Every day there are more - more websites, more supporters.

The plutocrats are powerless to stop it.

The politicians are almost relieved to bow to their ideals.

This is revolutionary global change.

It begins.....