Red Barn Rockland

FROM 01/01/08 TO 03/31/08

Right Livelihood

While it is difficult to pass judgment on how others make their livings I do feel it important to bring perspective to choices of work or career. A. Some add to the store of human wellbeing. B. Some maintain what we have or are. C. Some are exploitive, living off the work of others. If I were a young person I would examine the glitz or rewards recommending my commitments in my work life by this yardstick: “To what extent will my life weigh towards A and away from C?” “Progress,” if we can use that term in an age of crisis and transition, is generated from A with B holding things otherwise steady and secure. We try to minimize or neutralize C, those who live off the fat of the land, or take from others to feed themselves. When things get really off balance we have mortgage/credit crises or wars of conquest based on lies and greed. “Progress.” sadly more often than not, is one step forward and one step backward, with a third step in the balance. That one step in our time will be a hinge for all history to follow, weighed toward A or toward C, a fateful step indeed, each of us will choose.

03/30/08

From “Out There” to “In Here”

In ancient times there were spirits hiding behind clouds, under rocks and bridges, inhabiting trees and deep waters. Until recently, it has been plausible to invoke “mystery” for beliefs; the gods/goddesses filled the breach, the “mysterium tremendum,” the “god of the gaps.” Out of the mystery came revelations to selected prophets, avatars, and saviors on earth. There was a Reality, a Logos, Brahman, beyond our understanding. This God of Sky created Universe, designed every “creature” and thing and set them into motion (it is said in fundamentalist Christianity, about 6,000 years ago). What else could explain the marvelous design and clockwork operation of this vast spectacle? Human consciousness itself was seen as a gift of the Divine, implanted as a soul, atman, homunculoid, in the heart, or perhaps a room at the center of the brain. Rich and poetic as many of these theories have been, in our world of astronomical, biological, and neurological sciences all hypotheses of a “creation” from “out there” (or worse, “up there”) have been replaced as explanations for how we are wondrously “made” or why we are here. The future lies with emergent theories from “in here,” evolving from our past, reaching for richer and more engaging purpose and meaning as citizens of this planet in this neighborhood of space.

03/26/08

Rites of Eostre

The Goddess of Dawn danced along the horizon such a seductive dance that the Sun God just had to rise and warm the earth, coming on ever stronger for the springtime renewal of life. It was a collaborative dance. To help we rose early to climb hillsides and line beaches to engage with the dawning of light. There is a certain thrill at the dawn, an expectancy, the joy of light coming into the world, an awakening as if the greening of grasses and trees were coursing through vessels deep in us as well.

03/23/08

The Philadelphia Speech

For me Obama’s Philadelphia speech cleared the air. It framed our modicum of social progress in race relations in a definition of the American experiment, “in order to create a more perfect union.” It was a call to keep this hopeful context in mind, not to focus down on incidents that could divide us. The issues before us such as corporate socialism, the divide between rich and poor, the shrinking middle class, global warming, improving international relationships including ending that horrible occupation, these are before us whether we allow ourselves to be distracted or not. My perspective is different than Obama’s of course as I attempt and claim a world citizenship politically and religiously. But I don’t expect Obama to be there now. As with Jimmy Carter, perhaps a wider frame will follow his service as President. His speech was too long to attain the immortality of a Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address but it deserves study by us all and by historians from now on. It will certainly merit inclusion in “America’s Great Speeches” anthologies. How refreshing it would be to have a President who can write his own speeches and evidence a first class mind behind his vision and leadership.

03/19/08

On Joining the Minister

Were I able to communicate with candidate Obama, I would have emphasized the process in a twenty-year church membership. Yes, often when you first visit you join the minister. You are attracted or inspired by whatever you see in the minister. In time this attraction becomes relational, in family crises, in the rites of marriage or child dedication or death. But as in all relationships you begin to perceive that the minister has strengths and weaknesses, endearing qualities and yes, flaws and limitations. By then you have joined the congregation itself. With time you realize that ministers come and go but the congregation remains where it is, its presence real in your life and in the world that surrounds it.

03/12/08

A Fighter

Hillary Clinton is a fighter all right. I recall back when she was in charge of a universal health care proposal she came forward with a rather well conceived plan and charged ahead with it like a bull dog. The plan went down to a flaming defeat primarily because too few had been consulted as collaborators early in the process, and there was too little flexibility in working it through Congress. This is why I don’t anticipate much flexibility between now and the Democratic Convention. She knows she is the best candidate and seems to feel she is entitled to the Presidency as well. Why won’t the rest of us who feel otherwise just get with the program? We shall see.

03/06/08

Arbitrary Inclusion

A reader asked me why I did not list the Bahai Faith among the major religious traditions on my home page. I left out many, not out of antagonism but so as not to make the paragraph tedious to read. The idea is there: inclusion. I also left out Mormons, Sikhs, the Shinto tradition, Zoroastrianism, various tribal faiths and many more living and extinct. I will never forget the beauty of the Baha'i temple in Delhi, India, with its sculpted shape as an opening lotus bud. I appreciate the early attempts of Baha'i leaders to reach out to various religious traditions to enrich their own. As with all traditions I am both appreciative and critical. The most difficult aspect of Baha'i Faith for me is their belief in progressive revelation, limiting their outreach to the Abrahamic faiths which share this view. My outreach in contrast is based in our common humanity. I do not perceive any direct pipeline from God to selected prophets. I have admired Bahai's I have known and feel we are kindred in the spiritual adventure.

02/21/08

What Is An Economy For?

Most current prognosticating has our U.S. economy entering a recession (see Blog for 02/13/08). In anticipating what would be done to turn things around I feel we must first ask: what is an economy for? Ideally an economy exists to feed, clothe, house, provide health care and a basic education for all who participate in it. This provides a baseline for individuals to develop their unique gifts to enrich their own and the lives around them, i.e. the quality of our common life. This is seems to me is the minimum requirement for a "land of opportunity." Such has been the goal of human history, the humane core of justice for our spiritual traditions over the last several millennia. Today we hear that it is important for an economy to grow as if growth itself is the end point. It is bad for cancer to grow and prosper, but good for an economy. Why? Why grow it? For what purpose do we "stimulate" it? If we are to "rebuild" it we should structure it for efficiently serving its just and humane purpose.

02/20/08

Where's Iraq?

Susan Jacoby was interviewed by Bill Moyers this evening and cited a study where only 23 percent of college graduates could point to Iraq on a map. Further she said, the map had countries labeled indicating most could not find the "Middle East!" You would think that a borrowing of 700 billion dollars of credit burden for taxpayers for this occupation of a country would warrant at least a cursory glance at a map to find it. I have known where Iraq is since fourth grade when I began collecting stamps. But stamp collecting has become a passé hobby today. It is too quiet and individual for children who watch fast moving TV dramas and surf the web in an "information revolution."

02/17/08

Financial Woes Ahead

So much for deregulated financial practices and greed pushing the envelope. Now we have the sub-prime mortgage crisis, plus credit woes at all levels of markets, and household debt. If over 70 percent of GDP is fueled by consumers, family by family, and our families are maxed out on their credit, the good times are not going to roll for awhile (see blog for 10/26/07). As we hear about foreclosures, defaults, bail outs and bankruptcies, the declining dollar and liquidity crisis, hedge funds that don't hedge and a "shadow financial system" that freezes, we will be experiencing more than market corrections. Already in "prosperity" we have seen longer lines at soup kitchens and food pantries, increases of homelessness and domestic violence, all symptoms of unsustainable inequities. Real income has been stagnant for a long time for the great majority of us. More cannot obtain a living wage for their hard work. There will be more "corrections" than the powers-that-be anticipate if we are to emerge from our deepening recession with a society intact and healthy. Today the UN announced new global warming initiatives for this year. And we have an election this year, we hope a turning point and opportunity for new leadership. It is time to step up.

02/13/08

The Mormons

Watching the PBS series on the Mormons I learned that Joseph Smith's father was a Universalist (and his mother a Presbyterian). Having encountered Caleb Rich in late eighteenth century New Hampshire experiencing visits from angels and Jesus, propelling him into a life of Universalist charismatic preaching, we should not be surprised at visitations in the "burned out district" of New York several decades later, this time sending a Universalist farmer's son onward to found a new American faith. Other Universalists in this period left for Spiritualism. Smith's departure, however, led to the Book of Mormon, a written Revelation (capital R) and an authoritarian faith. The young teen's early visions produced a great epic story of the American west. I wonder what his parents eventually thought of their son's journey. Did they wish he had stayed home on the family farm? And what of his father's little country congregation of Universalists?

02/11/08 - A

The American West

Another Universalist in upstate New York also went west, the painter Frederick Remington. His vision was one of adventuring appreciatively. He painted life on the frontier, Indians, cowboys, the buffalo hunt, drama and landscape, open sky and bright sunlight playing on dust and grass and sinewed action. For me his story carries far more congruity with his Universalist upbringing than that of Joseph Smith.

02/11/08 - B

Jinn Swirls

I know where the ancestors lived.

I have seen their farm houses,

now with indoor plumbing

and paved driveways.

I have imagined their furrows

beneath split level pastel subdivisions

with neat watered lawns.

I have traveled wide

to find the Egyptian Ka

and the Buddha's Samadhi,

to the apricot trees of Confucius

and Lao Tzu's mist filled mountains.

Now comes the play

of breezes through palm leaves,

the gentle caress of moving air,

the whine and roar of jets leaving

and noting returns of primary elections.

My grandchildren face that uncertain future

I freely enter; they will journey further

into the heat and whirlwind

and I will vanish with the jinn

swirls in receding flow

the needles, the fronds, the thick leaves dripping

the drone of lawnmowers obsolete.

02/08/08

Our Professional Military

An all-professional military is different in kind from a citizen army recruited with the draft. An all-professional military is no different in kind from an all-professional police force or fire department. Their responsibilities differ but not their basis. Motivations for joining the force may vary: a free education, getting out from under one's family or neighborhood, a career choice, patriotic feelings, protecting the public, love of adventure, etc. Unfortunately the public frame for relating to this new system lags behind the realities. "Bring our boys home" or "Support our troops" needs a new frame of reference to be honest emotionally. We are not fighting WW II over in Iraq or even to "save democracy." The means as well as the ends in this "war" are very different from past wars.

02/04/08

Decline and Fall

Watching the Super Bowl today reminded me of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. The Roman legions depended upon agility and good leadership as well as strong team discipline. As the Empire expanded, new players were brought in, the most experienced players absorbed into the team and its Mithraic mysteries as the Empire ballooned into the landscape of the Danube and the forests of Germany. But the best laid plans are subject to surprise. Suddenly the young "barbarians" pour over the center of the line, the pocket collapses, and a time of troubles begins. As reports filter back to Rome, Foxboro in this case, we shall see if the dominance of the old Empire can prevail.

02/03/07

"The Integral Vision"

Ken Wilber's latest popularization (2007) gives a fine overview of his basic "integral operating system" (IOS) and differentiation of lines, stages, states, and quadrants, valuable insights. It does, however, highlight problems I have with his system. First and foremost is his mind-body dualism driven by a Theosophic perspective. "Every mind has its body." (p. 54) "Mind issues straight from spirit." (p. 179) Consciousness he believes comes in from "a Big Mind" but he never identifies how the connect is accomplished or animated. It is quite at odds it seems with stages and disconnecting for his UL quadrant from the other three. Second, his lines are arbitrarily parallel, for example, emotional and cognitive. The latter rests upon the former in present day neuroscience. Thirdly he is unfair with Carl Jung, accusing him of falling into the pre-post fallacy. Wilbur doesn't however, define "rational" and appears not to see the value of myth in higher understandings or formations of our natures. As we leave one stage for the next we become able to "see" the former objectively, i.e. learn from our experience or energize the psyche transformed. He sees Jungian typology (the MBTI) as only horizontal, a common reductive error. And lastly, he appears to accept the cleavage of "religion" from "spirituality" at face value, perhaps because he lives in the upper chakras and fails to see the integrative value of the heart chakra for all the LL quadrant aspects of human spirituality. Religion works in those messy social arenas of spirituality directly involved in the relational and communal values of our lives. In short, his system is too pat, too neatly complete, and perhaps too cybernetic as well.

01/30/08

The Primaries

Listening to Republican and Democratic speeches to their respective "bases" it appears they live in two different spheres. On the one hand is a fear-based concern for controlling unruly elements in the world (including the U.S.) to protect "free markets" for corporate dominance. On the other hand is a concern for unifying conflicting interests in society, often labeled "change," restoring services to the needy and leveraging things towards universal health care.

I often agree with Edwards, though I am not sure he understands how pervasive are the problems he mentions or how related to nearly everything else. I like Obama, his values, vision, and process, but hope he understands the systemic entrenched problems he would face. I feel hesitant about Hillary as I feel the Clinton economics pushed us right into the laps of a primitive corporate socialism further developed under Bush. McCain is a man of integrity but oriented to the wrong century with the wrong fixations. I too admire his grandfather. Romney seems slippery and I fear would put a chameleon face on more of the same. Giuliani has surrounded himself with neo cons. If he drops out who will they flock to? With Huckabee I understand his human side but his hard Republican line seems incongruous. In contrast to the other candidates he has a sense of humor, important for holding a powerful office. I am grateful for Ron Paul's opposing our occupation of Iraq but feel his economics are an anachronism, fit more for the 18th than the 21st century. So that leaves me with Obama. As I said, I like Obama and hope the Maine Caucus agrees with me.

01/21/08

Uni-Verse

Grammatically speaking, most people put the article, "the," in front of universe, "the universe." "The" points to some thing, an object apart from other objects or from one's self. But actually we live and move and have our being within Universe. It is not a part from anything. It can, and I would think it must, stand alone without "the." Language does effect the way our mind perceives, comprehends or relates to reality. And universe is wonderful, we live in verse, the poetry of living, the poetry of all that is. Universe!

01/14/08

5th Avenue South

In winter we live on the main street in Naples, FL, 5th Avenue South, a street of boutique shops, Starbucks, restaurants, and a theater in one direction, and the beach in the other. Very swell. Naples is a car dependent city. One would look in vain on 5th for groceries, hardware, stationary, books or everyday clothes. Those can be found in malls and strip retail along the Tamiami Trail. If you don't drive or walk long distances, taxis are your only option. Not well suited for reducing carbon emissions but perhaps in 30 years or so Naples will be under water and a few hundred thousand people can begin again elsewhere.

01/07/08

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