As we head into the patriotic season of July, one topic that won’t be discussed is how this nation uses soldiers and then throws them away. By some estimates the families of our military used 100 million last year in food aid. How is it possible that we would ask young people to risk their lives before they could possibly know what that choice will mean, and then leave them begging to have their basic needs met? What follows is an article from Huffington Post on what these cuts may mean to military families.
To read, click here.
The Supreme Court is expected to strike down part or all of what has been called “Obama Care.” This may actually be a blessing in disguise if people turn out to demand public option. According to the constitution, protecting the welfare of the people is a duty of government. This means things like educating our children and providing them with basic healthcare should not be limited to those lucky enough to be born to rich parents. When the court strikes down any part of the health care bill, lobbyists will descend on Washington like vultures. We need to start getting ready now so that the vultures are lost in a sea of doves. American cannot be a great nation while it’s children languish. Universal healthcare, at least for our children!
To read article, click here.
One of the strangest stories last week came out of Michigan. The Republicans in the state legislature were working on an abortion ban, which itself is no surprise. The surprise came when two female legislators were banned from speaking for one day. One of the two was punished for saying the word “vagina.” She said, “I’m flattered that you are all so interested in my vagina, but ‘no’ means ‘no.’” It was claimed that the elected official should lose speaking rights because she was being,”uncivil.”
I’m all for being civil in government and everywhere else, but I also realize that those in power get hurt mighty easily. To be specific, they get their feelings hurt by anyone who accurately describes their oppression. For groups dominated by men to make decisions about women’s personal lives is oppression in my opinion. To make talking about women’s body parts off limits is a perfect way to keep the conversation abstract and therefore irrelevant. It is incomprehensible that an elected offician should lose their first amendment rights because she made some powerful men with sexist attitudes uncomfortable.
The state has broken out in protests. The following article describes some of them. Many of the signs at the protest used the dreaded V-word. My favorite read:
“I Didn’t Come From Your Rib. You Came From My Vagina.”
To read article, click here.
Noam Chomsky, for many of us, has been a singular influence. His courage and clarity have seen few peers. His commitment to universality in ethics has also left him speaking as few have. For Chomsky fans, this is a rare glimpse into the emotional side of his commitment to human rights.
To read article, click here
“I used to drink yet increase in thirst, until I knew the truth, sublime it’s splendor; Then my thirst was quenched without drinking.” -Aristotle
I imagine Aristotle as a young seeker tantalized by knowledge. He lusted to know everything and his very quest seemed to aggravate his thirst. At some point it seems that he began to immerse himself in life. He still studied passionately, but he was no longer living life at arm’s length.
Aristotle’s statement reminds me of Jesus’ saying that those who come to him would never again hunger and thirst. Neither Aristotle nor Jesus were speaking about adopting belief systems. The teaching of Christianity no more feeds the soul than the teaching of any other sect or subject matter. What feeds the soul is true living.
Jesus said that he came that we might have life. Every spiritual teacher worth the name calls us into life, not some creed about life. To accept Christ, or Buddha, or any spiritual teaching means to accept who we are in the nature of things. To live with authenticity requires that we die to our imaginary life which separates us from other people and from real living. Like Aristotle, we must learn to stop living life at arm’s length.
Only the truths of reality and the beauties of life can quench the thirst within us. And we cannot sip this ocean through the straw of religion, we must drown in it. Religion brings us to the threshold of living, but at some point we must leap into the mystery itself. To live into the reality requires that we die to the world we have imagined for ourselves. So Jesus taught that those who hold on to their souls will lose them. We must die into living. At that point, there is no longer religion or non-religion, there only is life.
I am always sad to see people give up on the sacred when they stop believing in God. The symbol “God” is like a compass pointing to the mysterious intelligence that pulses throughout everything. Cosmic intelligence doesn’t itself have to think or be conscious. Any pattern is a kind of intelligence. The whole point of religious symbols is to point us to this heart of life. Getting upset about whether that creative power is actually in a human shape is very sad.
Doubt is actually an indispensable aspect of faith. It is the refining fire which purifies our beliefs and prevents them from becoming dogmas. Paul Tillich used to say, “Serious doubt is confirmation of faith. It indicates the seriousness of the concern, its unconditional nature.” Our specific ideas about God are only helpful if they point beyond themselves to an experience of the unknowable sacred. I call the ground of our being “sacred” not because I believe it is a person like me, but because I have reverence for it. To this end doubt is every bit as important as belief.
A problem comes when doubt becomes a belief system. When doubts become self-sustaining they can be as idolatrous as any other dogma. A militant atheist can be a fundamentalist without the bible. The answer to doubt is not to pretend to believe. The answer is to turn doubt on itself. Is it really possible to explain your experience without any ground of intelligence? Just because it isn’t a human being does not mean it isn’t wonderful. When we have the courage to doubt even our doubts, an mysterious intelligence shines through with a light of its own.
The real problem in life is not intellectual doubt, but is instead our lack of trust in life, in ourselves, and in reality. This is why we need the symbols of the sacred- to escape the hell of emptiness and to discover the intelligence which shines through our experience. Again, the solution to doubt is not to pretend to believe in something that your mind doubts. The answer is, in the words of one sage, to: “Release the dogs of doubt on doubt itself.”
Q: “What does the U.S. have in common with South Sudan and Somalia?”
A: “They’re the only three countries in the world that haven’t ratified the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child.”
This fascinating article by Amanda Solter, Soo-Ryun Kwon and Dana Marie Isaac looks at U.S. attitudes to criminal justice from an human rights perspective.
To read, click here.
Before professional wrestling when national, wrestlers could be “good” in one part of the country and “bad” in another. When coverage went national, even loyal audiences began to see they were being duped. In the same way, the Australian Rupert Murdoch convinced FOX viewers in the U.S. that the network was loyal to America by spinning the news with a patriotic twist. Of course, Murdoch was spinning the news differently in each of his markets around the world, but few Americans think outside their own boundaries so the scam went undetected. But now Fox has intoduced a station appealing to Latino and Latina audiences. It is interesting to see how the same story is spun in each of those markets. The “regular” U.S. coverage aimed at white viewers with racist attitudes uses words like “younger illegals”, whereas the Latino version uses terms like “undocumented children.” Even the photos are very different.
To read article, click here.
The Voyager spacecraft was launched in . After taking pictures of the gas giants and their 48 moons, both voyagers headed out to become the first human objects to leave the solar system. Its recent signals indicate that Voyager 1 may have finally entered interstellar space 35 years after its launch.
To read article and see voyager photo, click here.
“If you are depressed, you are too high up in your mind.” -Carl Jung
I have always been intrigued by Jung’s quote here. Of course, it is an oversimplification. There are many reasons people get depressed, but I think he is making a point that is generally true. Much of our unhappiness comes from trying to live our lives on the surface. We rush from event to event and lose all sense of being rooted to life and to the earth. We do not take the time to properly grieve, or even to sit and replenish our creativity. The antidote to much suffering lies in the deeper parts of our being.
World scripture is replete in stories that lure us into the depths. There are stories of whales or dragons swallowing people and taking them down into the murky deep. There are stories of people standing by deep and ancient wells, and sages huddled in caves. All of these images remind us that much of our life is lived below the level of everyday concerns.
Some of what we call “depression” is actually a much deeper process of death and renewal. The resurrection is not a onetime event, but happens throughout our lives. If we do not come to terms with the deep sadness involved in this process, it can surface in ways that are very hard to handle.
When we stop reading scripture as history or science, it can be helpful in putting us back in touch with the depths of life. Rather than stories about dead people from thousands of years ago, these stories show us a map to our own souls and to the one human spirit.
Quiet moments spent experiencing our depths are irreplaceable. We don’t have to “do” anything at those times. We needn’t think we can understand or change these deep currents. To be aware of our depths is to be fed by them.