Do not look into the mirror

62 degrees F. Another unseasonably mild day. The perfect day for drifting and daydreaming.

The Iraq civil war plays continuously on CNN—no longer in the background. Other news stories interrupt the Iraq story rather than the way round.

President Bush speaks of the war on terror as being a long struggle. He cannot shift his attention to civil war.

Civil war does not lend itself to good/evil or black/white dichotomies. Civil war is the nightmare from which we hope to wake to find reality restored. Yet civil war is the real that is part of the human condition. Civil war is the condition that proves the rule rather than the exception in its exposure of our hidden dark side. Black and white blends into gray at the borders. We see our natures most intimately during civil wars. Civil war lies outside the reality we construct for ourselves. Civil war is the surplus we try to repress. Civil war is that terror we deny. Civil war is the mirror that reflects our warts, lesions, and boils.

Maybe, President Bush has it exactly right. It is best not to look into the mirror. Yes, it is a damned fine day for drifting and dreaming. Well, drifting anyway.