I'm thinking it all comes down to two things:
1. what we believe to be the nature of the universe we live in, and
2. what we believe to be our purpose as human beings, alive in this universe.
Some of us believe the universe consists of random bits of energy/matter chaotically bouncing about, and coalescing from time to time into “things” that exist for a while and then cease to exist. Some of us believe that humans, and all creatures, are “things” like any other “things” in the sense that we/they are no more significant in the grand scale of “things” than any other “thing”.
Some of us believe the universe consists of ordered patterns of energy/matter, evolving toward greater and more complex patterns of order, and that “things” are the ordered coalescence of waves and particles and other cosmic stuff. Some of us believe that humans, and all creatures, are complex patterns of energy/matter that are significant only to the degree that they contribute to the evolution of cosmic patterns of order.
Some of us, of course, simply don’t reflect upon the nature of the cosmos, or upon the purpose – if any – of our human existence in it. Those are jobs for astrophysicists, philosophers, artists and out-of-work theologians. The rest of us eat, sleep, copulate, work, fight and die. Some of us worry, of course. Others of us conspire against those we call our enemies. Some of us store up unexpressed emotions and become chronically sick. Others of us see the vulnerabilities in the rest of us, and exploit them. Still others consume intoxicants – liquor, drugs, hypnotic audio-video media – to mute our inner voices. Some do a little of this, a little of that.
Depending on what we believe about 1. and 2. above, what we believe either doesn’t matter at all, or has cosmic significance.
So – what’s the nature of YOUR universe, and what’s YOUR purpose as a human being, alive in this universe?
This is not a trick question. I am sincerely interested. It really does matter to me. Thanks for reading my blog.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Taxpayers, Stockholders and Citizens
Do you have ownership in America? I bet you imagine you do. I bet you think that because you were born in the U.S.A., you are among the “we the people” referred to in the Constitution of the United States of America. I bet you think that because you vote, or have a mortgage and a job, you enjoy the privileges of ownership in this nation.
Hey – I believe a lot of silly things, too.
The health care reform legislation that passed the House of Representatives yesterday is a very tired, weak and lame law. Why? Because “we the people” no longer have the power to influence our government to enact laws that are in our common interest. Why? Well, here’s how it goes in a nutshell.
In 1776 our common prosperity was rooted in the ideal of a common devotion to universal liberty, and to the lands of the original 13 colonies. These were lands of unimaginable abundance, which had been occupied for thousands of years by indigenous people. It's true that nearly 300 years prior to the American Revolution our European ancestors had decimated and domesticated those native people. And it's true that during those years the “peculiar institution” of slavery insured a dependable labor market. The framers of the U.S. Constitution, nonetheless, were idealists who were willing to take considerable risks to envision and create a “land of liberty” and a government that protected the rights and freedoms of individual citizens.
Governments have always taxed citizens to enable them to do the work we need governments to do, mostly to maintain a standing army. In the early days of the U.S.A., taxes were mostly voluntary, like the offering collected at church (which eventually became “pew taxes”, but that’s another story). Those who became wealthy as the result of the freedoms afforded them, contributed to the national treasury out of genuine gratitude for the fruits of their freedoms.
That didn’t last long.
Revolutionary zeal naturally cools into national identity and pride. Wealthy Americans began to galvanize the power they exercise through the payment of their taxes. Wealthy people naturally seek ways to exploit their power to further increase their wealth. By financing the government, they begin to assume control of the government, and thus are enabled to pursue their dreams of “building a better world”, a world in the image of the Modern Venture Capitalist, through the agency of that government.
Today, those in the upper income tax brackets – businesses and individuals – pay a considerable percentage of the nation’s taxes. They also invest in legislation to insure they can remain in those tax brackets. One of the great coups d’états of the wealthy was the legal establishment of the “corporation”. Corporations enjoy the legal status of individual citizens under U.S. law. This has resulted in more and more legal and political power percolating up from the citizenry to the corporate wealthy. This is why Washington is currently overwhelmed by handsomely paid lobbyists who outnumber elected legislators by 23 to 1 (down from 25 to 1 in 2008).
Corporations not only are able to pay for government influence, but they create their own constituencies – groups of people to whom they are accountable. In a democratic republic (our current form of government), an elected representative is presumed to be accountable to the people who elect him or her. In a corporation it is the investors – also known as “stockholders” – to whom corporate leaders are beholden. Stockholders are motivated above all by the pursuit of profit. They are discouraged from applying personal concern for social justice or environmental stewardship or the health and welfare of fellow citizens when they vote their company’s shares.
Today Corporations and their stockholders, as America's principle taxpayers, are no longer responsible as American citizens, or to American citizens. They are responsible to the “market”. Their corporate self-interest dictates that they do everything in their power to keep their tax money from being distributed by the government for the benefit of the commonwealth. Thus they have done and are doing whatever they can to prevent those taxes from being used to protect the citizenry from being exploited in the marketplace, including the medical marketplace.
If you’re a corporation or a stockholder in a large corporation, then I guess you DO own America. The rest of us … well, I guess we’re just a line item on the property list.
Hey – I believe a lot of silly things, too.
The health care reform legislation that passed the House of Representatives yesterday is a very tired, weak and lame law. Why? Because “we the people” no longer have the power to influence our government to enact laws that are in our common interest. Why? Well, here’s how it goes in a nutshell.
In 1776 our common prosperity was rooted in the ideal of a common devotion to universal liberty, and to the lands of the original 13 colonies. These were lands of unimaginable abundance, which had been occupied for thousands of years by indigenous people. It's true that nearly 300 years prior to the American Revolution our European ancestors had decimated and domesticated those native people. And it's true that during those years the “peculiar institution” of slavery insured a dependable labor market. The framers of the U.S. Constitution, nonetheless, were idealists who were willing to take considerable risks to envision and create a “land of liberty” and a government that protected the rights and freedoms of individual citizens.
Governments have always taxed citizens to enable them to do the work we need governments to do, mostly to maintain a standing army. In the early days of the U.S.A., taxes were mostly voluntary, like the offering collected at church (which eventually became “pew taxes”, but that’s another story). Those who became wealthy as the result of the freedoms afforded them, contributed to the national treasury out of genuine gratitude for the fruits of their freedoms.
That didn’t last long.
Revolutionary zeal naturally cools into national identity and pride. Wealthy Americans began to galvanize the power they exercise through the payment of their taxes. Wealthy people naturally seek ways to exploit their power to further increase their wealth. By financing the government, they begin to assume control of the government, and thus are enabled to pursue their dreams of “building a better world”, a world in the image of the Modern Venture Capitalist, through the agency of that government.
Today, those in the upper income tax brackets – businesses and individuals – pay a considerable percentage of the nation’s taxes. They also invest in legislation to insure they can remain in those tax brackets. One of the great coups d’états of the wealthy was the legal establishment of the “corporation”. Corporations enjoy the legal status of individual citizens under U.S. law. This has resulted in more and more legal and political power percolating up from the citizenry to the corporate wealthy. This is why Washington is currently overwhelmed by handsomely paid lobbyists who outnumber elected legislators by 23 to 1 (down from 25 to 1 in 2008).
Corporations not only are able to pay for government influence, but they create their own constituencies – groups of people to whom they are accountable. In a democratic republic (our current form of government), an elected representative is presumed to be accountable to the people who elect him or her. In a corporation it is the investors – also known as “stockholders” – to whom corporate leaders are beholden. Stockholders are motivated above all by the pursuit of profit. They are discouraged from applying personal concern for social justice or environmental stewardship or the health and welfare of fellow citizens when they vote their company’s shares.
Today Corporations and their stockholders, as America's principle taxpayers, are no longer responsible as American citizens, or to American citizens. They are responsible to the “market”. Their corporate self-interest dictates that they do everything in their power to keep their tax money from being distributed by the government for the benefit of the commonwealth. Thus they have done and are doing whatever they can to prevent those taxes from being used to protect the citizenry from being exploited in the marketplace, including the medical marketplace.
If you’re a corporation or a stockholder in a large corporation, then I guess you DO own America. The rest of us … well, I guess we’re just a line item on the property list.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Insurgency
What is an “insurgency”? Who or what are “insurgents”? Are they different from “guerrilla” fighters or “rebels”?
I try to pay attention to the language of “media-speak”. When a word like “insurgent” is used to refer to people in Vietnam, Iraq, Somalia or Afghanistan, it is used to evoke a particular image. What do you see when you hear “insurgent”?
Mirriam-Webster’s definition of “insurgency” is this: “the quality or state of being insurgent; specifically, a condition of revolt against a government that is less than an organized revolution and that is not recognized as belligerency.”
In other words, it’s a loosely organized rebellion by an indigenous population that does not agree with other nations’ recognition of the formal government under which they live, and who do not, themselves, constitute an internationally recognized nation or state.
It seems to me that “insurgency” has no real meaning outside the context of empire. It takes an empire to superimpose a government on people who prefer their own, more local traditions of governance.
When I hear the word “insurgent” spoken, it sounds to me like “insubordinate” or “insolent”. I imagine adolescent troublemakers who just make trouble for the sake of making trouble. They simply won’t accept the rule of authorities other than themselves. They resist change, and their idealism may be commendable but they are prone to behaviors that belie their underlying evil nature. They are also anachronistic, refusing to yield to the inevitable march of the Modern Materialistic Imperial Movement. The Emperor’s crocodile tears may flow, but insurgents simply must be crushed.
Matthew Hoh was a U.S. Marine captain who served tours in Afghanistan before leaving the Marines to work in Afghanistan as a civilian advisor to the U.S. Department of State. Last month he submitted his letter of resignation, and began campaigning in Washington, D.C. for withdrawing American troops from Afghanistan. In his letter (which is posted on www.npr.org), he gives extensive detail regarding his decision to resign. “The Pashtun insurgency”, he writes, “which is composed of multiple, seemingly infinite, local groups, is fed by what is perceived by the Pashtun people as a continued and sustained assault, going back centuries, on Pashtun land, culture, traditions and religion by internal and external enemies.”
The Bush administration began the current phase of this “sustained assault” on the pretense of chasing Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda, and prosecuting the former president's “war on terror”. I see it as just one more case of imperial ambitions trumping the dignity and autonomy, rights and traditions of indigenous populations. If we're at all evolving as a species, it's time we put an end to the Age of Empire.
I try to pay attention to the language of “media-speak”. When a word like “insurgent” is used to refer to people in Vietnam, Iraq, Somalia or Afghanistan, it is used to evoke a particular image. What do you see when you hear “insurgent”?
Mirriam-Webster’s definition of “insurgency” is this: “the quality or state of being insurgent; specifically, a condition of revolt against a government that is less than an organized revolution and that is not recognized as belligerency.”
In other words, it’s a loosely organized rebellion by an indigenous population that does not agree with other nations’ recognition of the formal government under which they live, and who do not, themselves, constitute an internationally recognized nation or state.
It seems to me that “insurgency” has no real meaning outside the context of empire. It takes an empire to superimpose a government on people who prefer their own, more local traditions of governance.
When I hear the word “insurgent” spoken, it sounds to me like “insubordinate” or “insolent”. I imagine adolescent troublemakers who just make trouble for the sake of making trouble. They simply won’t accept the rule of authorities other than themselves. They resist change, and their idealism may be commendable but they are prone to behaviors that belie their underlying evil nature. They are also anachronistic, refusing to yield to the inevitable march of the Modern Materialistic Imperial Movement. The Emperor’s crocodile tears may flow, but insurgents simply must be crushed.
Matthew Hoh was a U.S. Marine captain who served tours in Afghanistan before leaving the Marines to work in Afghanistan as a civilian advisor to the U.S. Department of State. Last month he submitted his letter of resignation, and began campaigning in Washington, D.C. for withdrawing American troops from Afghanistan. In his letter (which is posted on www.npr.org), he gives extensive detail regarding his decision to resign. “The Pashtun insurgency”, he writes, “which is composed of multiple, seemingly infinite, local groups, is fed by what is perceived by the Pashtun people as a continued and sustained assault, going back centuries, on Pashtun land, culture, traditions and religion by internal and external enemies.”
The Bush administration began the current phase of this “sustained assault” on the pretense of chasing Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda, and prosecuting the former president's “war on terror”. I see it as just one more case of imperial ambitions trumping the dignity and autonomy, rights and traditions of indigenous populations. If we're at all evolving as a species, it's time we put an end to the Age of Empire.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Indigenous Improvisation in Afghanistan
I just listened to a radio news report by Tom Gjelten on the NPR news program “All Things Considered". Marines in Afghanistan, according to Tom’s report, are being demoralized by the incessant threat of IEDs – “improvised explosive devices”. I got to thinkin’ …
“Improvised weapons” are invented by desperate and determined people. “IEDs” are small, powerful bombs made out of whatever is available. A trash can, a rock, or the body of a dead dog – anything that is hollow, or can be hollowed out – is crammed with scrounged nails, scrap metal and toxic residues, and buried in the ground next to a road. Then a potent mix of unstable chemicals is packed into a plastic bag and stuffed into the container. Then an igniter – a blasting cap or something similar – is connected to the explosive. A wire is run to a trigger hidden in the ground where “coalition” vehicles are expected to roll. A tire or a boot hits the trigger, and … boom!
IEDs are essentially crudely made landmines. A landmine, in military and naval operations, is usually a stationary explosive device that is designed to destroy personnel, ships, or vehicles when the latter come in contact with it. There are dozens of styles of manufactured landmines. Every military campaign in the 20th century saw the use of mines. Undetonated landmines are strewn across vacated battlefields everywhere on the planet, and unsuspecting farmers and children still stumbles on them. Decades from now, IEDs will be waiting to maim unfortunate people in Afghanistan.
IEDs are not issued to combatants by governmental authorities, the way weapons are issued to national armies. They are “field expedient” weapons used by desperate and determined people to protect themselves from invading armies. In Afghanistan, IEDs are effectively frustrating coalition progress toward … well, whatever the objective really is.
I wonder what tactics I’d be willing to employ if foreign armies were marching through Connecticut cities and towns on a military mission to win over my heart and mind?
When U.S. soldiers were chasing the indigenous Viet Cong “insurgents” in South Vietnam forty five years ago, they encountered lots of improvised weapons. One of the veterans I know watched a couple squad members fall into a Punji pit full of sharpened bamboo stakes. Bamboo can be sharpened to a surgical edge. Both men were wounded, and had to be removed to the infirmary. The stakes had been smeared with human feces, and the Punji stakes drove bacteria deep into the soldiers’ systems. No way to protect against this kind of weapon. Eventually soldiers learned to send animals or prisoners ahead along the path.
One marine’s voice in Gjelten’s report is heard to say, “There was poop in that bomb”. Got me thinkin’ … is Afghanistan to Obama as Vietnam was to Kennedy?
Historians generally agree that U.S. military intervention in Vietnam was an error in foreign policy, and that President Kennedy was wrong to act on the advice of his Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara to enter the conflict between North and South Vietnam in 1961. “Insanity”, explained Albert Einstein, “is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.”
The indigenous Pashtun people (president Hamid Karzai is Pashtun), are, like the Viet Cong, fighting to retain their land and their indigenous ways of life. Those ways have served the people for thousands of years. We hear these people mostly referred to as “tribal” or “insurgent”, labels intended to de-emphasize their full humanity. The Pashtun live on land they have lived on for thousands of years, land they know, land they love. It has always been coveted by imperial powers. Even Genghis Khan couldn’t dominate these folks for very long. Why? Because they are resourceful, inventive, scrappy and willing to risk and lose their lives on behalf of their land. IEDs are just the most recent weapon they’ve devised to repel invaders.
Living, as we do, on land that only a few centuries ago was stolen from an indigenous population, why aren’t we more sensitive to the evils of empire? It’s this sensitivity that I intend to amplify among us through this blog in the next days and weeks.
“Improvised weapons” are invented by desperate and determined people. “IEDs” are small, powerful bombs made out of whatever is available. A trash can, a rock, or the body of a dead dog – anything that is hollow, or can be hollowed out – is crammed with scrounged nails, scrap metal and toxic residues, and buried in the ground next to a road. Then a potent mix of unstable chemicals is packed into a plastic bag and stuffed into the container. Then an igniter – a blasting cap or something similar – is connected to the explosive. A wire is run to a trigger hidden in the ground where “coalition” vehicles are expected to roll. A tire or a boot hits the trigger, and … boom!
IEDs are essentially crudely made landmines. A landmine, in military and naval operations, is usually a stationary explosive device that is designed to destroy personnel, ships, or vehicles when the latter come in contact with it. There are dozens of styles of manufactured landmines. Every military campaign in the 20th century saw the use of mines. Undetonated landmines are strewn across vacated battlefields everywhere on the planet, and unsuspecting farmers and children still stumbles on them. Decades from now, IEDs will be waiting to maim unfortunate people in Afghanistan.
IEDs are not issued to combatants by governmental authorities, the way weapons are issued to national armies. They are “field expedient” weapons used by desperate and determined people to protect themselves from invading armies. In Afghanistan, IEDs are effectively frustrating coalition progress toward … well, whatever the objective really is.
I wonder what tactics I’d be willing to employ if foreign armies were marching through Connecticut cities and towns on a military mission to win over my heart and mind?
When U.S. soldiers were chasing the indigenous Viet Cong “insurgents” in South Vietnam forty five years ago, they encountered lots of improvised weapons. One of the veterans I know watched a couple squad members fall into a Punji pit full of sharpened bamboo stakes. Bamboo can be sharpened to a surgical edge. Both men were wounded, and had to be removed to the infirmary. The stakes had been smeared with human feces, and the Punji stakes drove bacteria deep into the soldiers’ systems. No way to protect against this kind of weapon. Eventually soldiers learned to send animals or prisoners ahead along the path.
One marine’s voice in Gjelten’s report is heard to say, “There was poop in that bomb”. Got me thinkin’ … is Afghanistan to Obama as Vietnam was to Kennedy?
Historians generally agree that U.S. military intervention in Vietnam was an error in foreign policy, and that President Kennedy was wrong to act on the advice of his Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara to enter the conflict between North and South Vietnam in 1961. “Insanity”, explained Albert Einstein, “is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.”
The indigenous Pashtun people (president Hamid Karzai is Pashtun), are, like the Viet Cong, fighting to retain their land and their indigenous ways of life. Those ways have served the people for thousands of years. We hear these people mostly referred to as “tribal” or “insurgent”, labels intended to de-emphasize their full humanity. The Pashtun live on land they have lived on for thousands of years, land they know, land they love. It has always been coveted by imperial powers. Even Genghis Khan couldn’t dominate these folks for very long. Why? Because they are resourceful, inventive, scrappy and willing to risk and lose their lives on behalf of their land. IEDs are just the most recent weapon they’ve devised to repel invaders.
Living, as we do, on land that only a few centuries ago was stolen from an indigenous population, why aren’t we more sensitive to the evils of empire? It’s this sensitivity that I intend to amplify among us through this blog in the next days and weeks.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Uncommon Courage
My previous blog post connected "wholeness" with "courage". I must admit that connection hadn't occurred to me prior to writing the post. So I want to explore that connection here.
Geocosmysticism holds at least three notions together: cosmology, planetary consciousness and the embrace of mystery as core spiritual principles. Within the "planetary consciousness" component can be contained much of what we consider "material reality" - biology, embodiment, the human experience of living, loving, dying, Earth sciences and human knowledge in general. I would also include what have been referred to as "matters of the heart", sentiment, aspiration and even moral philosophy. Note that I am avoiding the word "feeling" here. That word, in my opinion, is used indiscriminately these days. The meanings it contains are rich and important. However, they have also become diluted through over-use. A topic for another day ...
So ... the word "courage" emerged about 600 years ago to refer to just about anything having to do with "the heart" (the French word for "heart" is "cour"). Only later did it become synonymous with "bravery". So, consider this. What if "heart" refers less to simple emotions, less to the muscle that pumps blood, and rather points us toward the mid-point in the Ayurvedic model of "chakras"?
A person of uncommon courage, as I see it, is a person who lives and acts boldly every moment, in alignment with the flow of energy moving in the seven chakras, or energy centers. In my judgment, it is this alignment that constitutes personal wholeness. I attribute the following aspects of courage with each chakra (I find it helpful to consider them in reverse order, from high to low):
Chakra #7 - Mind, Consciousness
Chakra #6 - Radiance, Beauty
Chakra #5 - Voice, Movement
Chakra #4 - Compassion, Connection
Chakra #3 - Passion, Full Range of Gut-based Feeling
Chakra #2 - Flow, Rhythm
Chakra #1 - Ground, Locus, Stance
Now, some folks think of these chakras literally, and some consider them metaphorically, and some just dismiss the whole model as "new age" nonsense. I happen to find them useful as a frame upon which to experiment with systematic geocosmysticism. Oh, yeah!
"Wholeness" is an ideal. "Courage" is both the means and the end of the pursuit of "wholeness", which, although an ideal, is never beyond approach. Forward, march!
Geocosmysticism holds at least three notions together: cosmology, planetary consciousness and the embrace of mystery as core spiritual principles. Within the "planetary consciousness" component can be contained much of what we consider "material reality" - biology, embodiment, the human experience of living, loving, dying, Earth sciences and human knowledge in general. I would also include what have been referred to as "matters of the heart", sentiment, aspiration and even moral philosophy. Note that I am avoiding the word "feeling" here. That word, in my opinion, is used indiscriminately these days. The meanings it contains are rich and important. However, they have also become diluted through over-use. A topic for another day ...
So ... the word "courage" emerged about 600 years ago to refer to just about anything having to do with "the heart" (the French word for "heart" is "cour"). Only later did it become synonymous with "bravery". So, consider this. What if "heart" refers less to simple emotions, less to the muscle that pumps blood, and rather points us toward the mid-point in the Ayurvedic model of "chakras"?
A person of uncommon courage, as I see it, is a person who lives and acts boldly every moment, in alignment with the flow of energy moving in the seven chakras, or energy centers. In my judgment, it is this alignment that constitutes personal wholeness. I attribute the following aspects of courage with each chakra (I find it helpful to consider them in reverse order, from high to low):
Chakra #7 - Mind, Consciousness
Chakra #6 - Radiance, Beauty
Chakra #5 - Voice, Movement
Chakra #4 - Compassion, Connection
Chakra #3 - Passion, Full Range of Gut-based Feeling
Chakra #2 - Flow, Rhythm
Chakra #1 - Ground, Locus, Stance
Now, some folks think of these chakras literally, and some consider them metaphorically, and some just dismiss the whole model as "new age" nonsense. I happen to find them useful as a frame upon which to experiment with systematic geocosmysticism. Oh, yeah!
"Wholeness" is an ideal. "Courage" is both the means and the end of the pursuit of "wholeness", which, although an ideal, is never beyond approach. Forward, march!
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Wholeness
"Whole: physically sound and healthy... having all its proper parts or components ... constituting the entirety of a person's nature or development".
portions of Mirriam-Webster's definition
I consider "wholeness" a value worthy of contemplation and cultivation in my life, a virtue worthy of pursuit. Observing wildlife outside my window in the morning helps me contemplate "wholeness". There is a range of textures, colors and movement, mini-dramas of inter-species conflict, a gust of wind moves a flowering branch and petals cascade onto the grass. The scene is relentlessly dynamic, and at the same time wonderfully harmonious. "Wholeness" means the richest of complexities in fluid and joyfully organic co-operation.
I don't equate "wholeness" with the absence of tension or stress. I don't necessarily agree with the common expression, "it's all good". I certainly believe, at the macro-cosmic, micro-cosmic, and planetary level, there is a kind of grand "wholeness". It's at the level of my own experience - the human dimension - where the cracks and hiccups in the flow appear. The stars and planets and galaxies swirl effortlessly around in the sky. The wild critters don't seem to wrestle much with managing relationships. We of the highly evolved brain and a modicum of self-reflection ... well, we find our existence laborious, and we suffer. We yearn for that which hangs just beyond our grasp. We strive to achieve successes that are measured by the number of hits on our website. We are sadistic and masochistic, narcissistic and paranoid. We are starving for community and yet continue to spend our fleeting hours riding our vehicles of perpetual isolation (cars, computers, tvs, hypno-video toys). We relish our discontent, and wouldn't know what to do with ourselves if the Market didn't give us our daily marching orders.
I want my life to mirror the wholeness that I observe in nature, the wholeness I believe is preeminently natural. I guess a life of wholeness, for me, above all, calls for uncommon courage. More on that to follow.
I consider "wholeness" a value worthy of contemplation and cultivation in my life, a virtue worthy of pursuit. Observing wildlife outside my window in the morning helps me contemplate "wholeness". There is a range of textures, colors and movement, mini-dramas of inter-species conflict, a gust of wind moves a flowering branch and petals cascade onto the grass. The scene is relentlessly dynamic, and at the same time wonderfully harmonious. "Wholeness" means the richest of complexities in fluid and joyfully organic co-operation.
I don't equate "wholeness" with the absence of tension or stress. I don't necessarily agree with the common expression, "it's all good". I certainly believe, at the macro-cosmic, micro-cosmic, and planetary level, there is a kind of grand "wholeness". It's at the level of my own experience - the human dimension - where the cracks and hiccups in the flow appear. The stars and planets and galaxies swirl effortlessly around in the sky. The wild critters don't seem to wrestle much with managing relationships. We of the highly evolved brain and a modicum of self-reflection ... well, we find our existence laborious, and we suffer. We yearn for that which hangs just beyond our grasp. We strive to achieve successes that are measured by the number of hits on our website. We are sadistic and masochistic, narcissistic and paranoid. We are starving for community and yet continue to spend our fleeting hours riding our vehicles of perpetual isolation (cars, computers, tvs, hypno-video toys). We relish our discontent, and wouldn't know what to do with ourselves if the Market didn't give us our daily marching orders.
I want my life to mirror the wholeness that I observe in nature, the wholeness I believe is preeminently natural. I guess a life of wholeness, for me, above all, calls for uncommon courage. More on that to follow.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Cosmic Ennui
"The more the universe seems comprehensible, the more it seems pointless."
Steven Weinberg, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize in Physics, 1979
Weinberg was a panelist on Ira Flatow's NPR program "Science Friday" a few weeks back, along with Brian Greene and a couple other brainy guys. They were discussing what we know and don't know about the cosmos. I was saddened to read this quotation from him, but not surprised. So many "brilliant minds" appear to see nothing in existence but tedium and meaninglessness. And sometimes, because I tend to revere science and "brilliance", I allow myself to sink into a cynical, bored disposition toward life. Partly I do that by choice, to connect with a part of me that IS that way, the part that recognizes that meaning is NOT self-evident, and that there IS mostly randomness in the universe. Once I've spent the obligatory moments there, I come back to myself, and permit the eyes of childlike fascination to be the lens through which I see my world. It is such a wonderful reunion with myself! I get to imagine the world at play, the random swirling eddies (that's a band name!) as splashes of motion and color on a cosmic canvas. I get to see my world as ART, and if I believe anything at the core of my being, it is that humans have evolved as the species of ARTISTS, and not merely as mechanics or technicians or analysts or diagnosticians or brainiologists of one form or another. So, Dr. Weinberg, keep on comprehensing our universe, keep on peering and peeking with those prodigious, smartypants, adultist peepers. You'll keep on seeing no point. Because the point is ... "there is none so blind as the one who WILL not see." Point, game and match!
Nobel Prize in Physics, 1979
Weinberg was a panelist on Ira Flatow's NPR program "Science Friday" a few weeks back, along with Brian Greene and a couple other brainy guys. They were discussing what we know and don't know about the cosmos. I was saddened to read this quotation from him, but not surprised. So many "brilliant minds" appear to see nothing in existence but tedium and meaninglessness. And sometimes, because I tend to revere science and "brilliance", I allow myself to sink into a cynical, bored disposition toward life. Partly I do that by choice, to connect with a part of me that IS that way, the part that recognizes that meaning is NOT self-evident, and that there IS mostly randomness in the universe. Once I've spent the obligatory moments there, I come back to myself, and permit the eyes of childlike fascination to be the lens through which I see my world. It is such a wonderful reunion with myself! I get to imagine the world at play, the random swirling eddies (that's a band name!) as splashes of motion and color on a cosmic canvas. I get to see my world as ART, and if I believe anything at the core of my being, it is that humans have evolved as the species of ARTISTS, and not merely as mechanics or technicians or analysts or diagnosticians or brainiologists of one form or another. So, Dr. Weinberg, keep on comprehensing our universe, keep on peering and peeking with those prodigious, smartypants, adultist peepers. You'll keep on seeing no point. Because the point is ... "there is none so blind as the one who WILL not see." Point, game and match!
Monday, May 4, 2009
Medical Brief
This is brief blurb on a subject I've been ruminating and dialoging about for two decades. The subject is medicine, especially the welcome challenges of CAM (complementary and alternative medicine) to the modern medical model. With current fears about "pandemic" being inflamed by hyperbolic media coverage of the H1N1 virus, the subject is on my mind once again.
"Medicine" is a word that has a rich etymology that goes all the way back to the origins of language itself. It's meaning begins as "thought" itself, reminding me of Dr. Julian Jaynes argument about the "Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bi-cameral Mind". His theory is that our brains were once a single lobe. During that time, we didn't have the capacity for reflective thought, acting more or less instinctively, much like the rest of the world's critters. The evolution of the hemispheric brain enabled us to have "internal conversations", i.e., "thoughts".
We then discover the roots of "medicine" evolving the meaning of "judgment", as thinking leads to discernment and discrimination between and among elements of our environment. "This is better than that ... that is a friend, this is a foe", etc. Further development includes the emergence of a class of people refered to as "mediators", priests to mediate between people and gods, and later doctors to mediate between common people and the mysteries of their bodies.
Consider this analogy: as the Protestant Reformation reflected the beginning of an age of empowerment of the masses through access to information through print media, and the throwing off of the authority of "mediators" in their relationship to knowledge, might we be in the throes of a Medical Reformation, reflected in the growing distrust of medical authority and re-discovery and recovery of a personal, unmediated relationship with our bodies, ourselves?
"Medicine" is a word that has a rich etymology that goes all the way back to the origins of language itself. It's meaning begins as "thought" itself, reminding me of Dr. Julian Jaynes argument about the "Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bi-cameral Mind". His theory is that our brains were once a single lobe. During that time, we didn't have the capacity for reflective thought, acting more or less instinctively, much like the rest of the world's critters. The evolution of the hemispheric brain enabled us to have "internal conversations", i.e., "thoughts".
We then discover the roots of "medicine" evolving the meaning of "judgment", as thinking leads to discernment and discrimination between and among elements of our environment. "This is better than that ... that is a friend, this is a foe", etc. Further development includes the emergence of a class of people refered to as "mediators", priests to mediate between people and gods, and later doctors to mediate between common people and the mysteries of their bodies.
Consider this analogy: as the Protestant Reformation reflected the beginning of an age of empowerment of the masses through access to information through print media, and the throwing off of the authority of "mediators" in their relationship to knowledge, might we be in the throes of a Medical Reformation, reflected in the growing distrust of medical authority and re-discovery and recovery of a personal, unmediated relationship with our bodies, ourselves?
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Squirrely Strategies
Our yard is host to many of our common Easter Grey Squirrels. There have been as many as ten battling for morsels under the bird feeders. We also see a couple American Red Squirrels, and lately they appear to have the upper hand. When it comes to defending their grazing zone, the reds are ferocious. Let a grey get too close, and he's likely to lose a hunk o' tail.
Of course it's also "courting" season, so the pheromones are feeding the frenzies. It's comical to see a territorial standoff followed seamlessly by a wild romantic scramble up and around the tree and out to the end of a branch and back again. All the while the goldfinches and chickadees and titmice flit from feeder to feeder in their own seasonal dance of nesting and gathering and brooding.
It's comforting to see everything working the way it's meant to.
Of course it's also "courting" season, so the pheromones are feeding the frenzies. It's comical to see a territorial standoff followed seamlessly by a wild romantic scramble up and around the tree and out to the end of a branch and back again. All the while the goldfinches and chickadees and titmice flit from feeder to feeder in their own seasonal dance of nesting and gathering and brooding.
It's comforting to see everything working the way it's meant to.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Work: Round #3
"Work is part of our display, part of the parading of our beauty. It is the way we return our beauty to the community, and this is important both to the individual and to the community. Why? Because all beauty yearns to be conspicuous. Beauty and display go together; so, therefore, do beauty and work. Our work is meant to be beautiful, to increase the beauty of the world, of one another, of the worker."
Matthew Fox, The Reinvention of Work.
"Why do you worry about clothing? Have you noticed the flowers doing that? Oh, right - they aren't smart enough to worry. They're just happy being beautiful!"
Jesus (paraphrased)
I spent some time with a friend yesterday assembling musical instruments. The time flew by, and the results were rewarding. I feel deep gratitude for the chance to share in creating something of genuine material beauty.
I recall having always had the desire to make things. I also recall getting the message that there was something either too mysterious or too complicated or too pedestrian about shaping natural materials into things of beauty. These activities were fine as "hobbies", but they didn't constitute "real work". There was this abysmal gap between "work" and "art" as I was instructed, because art was more like play, like fun. And work is meant to be ... well ... work. Something we must do because we must eat and shop and have shelter and retire. One mustn't expect to derive pleasure or satisfaction or spiritual reward from work. One does one's work as one does one's duty, as an obligation imposed on one by virtue of one's birth.
Matt Fox comments on statement from Thomas Aquinas, a 13th century philosopher of the Church. Work is "display", like flowers and harmonies and Rose-breasted Grosbeak males exposing the deep red patch on their chests as if to say, "see my beauty!"
My geocosmystical work is to make beauty. Like a bird. Like a cherry blossom. Like a great joke or a poem or a play. Or a song. Yes ... a song! And a wooden instrument to decorate my song, and many voices and sounds and rhythms ... yes! A song!
Matthew Fox, The Reinvention of Work.
"Why do you worry about clothing? Have you noticed the flowers doing that? Oh, right - they aren't smart enough to worry. They're just happy being beautiful!"
Jesus (paraphrased)
I spent some time with a friend yesterday assembling musical instruments. The time flew by, and the results were rewarding. I feel deep gratitude for the chance to share in creating something of genuine material beauty.
I recall having always had the desire to make things. I also recall getting the message that there was something either too mysterious or too complicated or too pedestrian about shaping natural materials into things of beauty. These activities were fine as "hobbies", but they didn't constitute "real work". There was this abysmal gap between "work" and "art" as I was instructed, because art was more like play, like fun. And work is meant to be ... well ... work. Something we must do because we must eat and shop and have shelter and retire. One mustn't expect to derive pleasure or satisfaction or spiritual reward from work. One does one's work as one does one's duty, as an obligation imposed on one by virtue of one's birth.
Matt Fox comments on statement from Thomas Aquinas, a 13th century philosopher of the Church. Work is "display", like flowers and harmonies and Rose-breasted Grosbeak males exposing the deep red patch on their chests as if to say, "see my beauty!"
My geocosmystical work is to make beauty. Like a bird. Like a cherry blossom. Like a great joke or a poem or a play. Or a song. Yes ... a song! And a wooden instrument to decorate my song, and many voices and sounds and rhythms ... yes! A song!
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Play, Fool!
So we're having this conversation about how we feel stuck in the psychic mud of making everything "productive" and "effective" and "meaningful", and one guy says, "hey, when was the last time you had fun? I mean ... REALLY had REAL fun?" So we all get quiet and think about this very serious question for several minutes. And the guy starts LAUGHING! Like, what the f***? And he says, "you know, if you were watching this drama of three men in deep, heavy cogitation about having fun, wouldn't YOU laugh?" Took a few seconds and we were all laughing.
So I write this blog stuff and try to write something every day, and sometimes I can't really think of anything to write about so I make stuff up. And I really count on readers to feed back to me what they get from this stuff. And to remind me not to take life or myself so damned seriously. It's Spring, time for golf and gardens. Mostly it's time to make serious time for PLAY! Anyone up for tennis, hoops or badminton?
So I write this blog stuff and try to write something every day, and sometimes I can't really think of anything to write about so I make stuff up. And I really count on readers to feed back to me what they get from this stuff. And to remind me not to take life or myself so damned seriously. It's Spring, time for golf and gardens. Mostly it's time to make serious time for PLAY! Anyone up for tennis, hoops or badminton?
Theologies of Scale
"Economies" - conceptual frameworks for thinking about and participating in a system of managing material resources - have long been understood in terms of "scale". You may be familiar with the phrase "economies of scale". What I think that means is that there are different rules that govern a household economy, a municipal economy, a regional, national or global economy. Because of the variation in their magnitudes, economists apply different formulae in their analyses and management of these economies.
"Theologies" - conceptual frameworks for thinking about and participating in a relationship with divinity - tend to presume that there is one Divinity, with a universal character and absolute attributes that apply everywhere and at all times. That is one of the reasons for the ubiquity of religious conflict. I conceive of God in a certain way, and immediately assume, since we are, of course, talking about God, there can be only one correct way to conceive of God.
I think that Hindu conceptions are probably closest to this. They conceive of mini-gods and mega-gods, and although these deities operate in their respective ways, they are really marginal to the human experience. Their divinity applies to the mini-worlds and the mega-worlds. There are human-scale divinities that operate ON the human scale, exhibit human qualities, and are able to engage with humans on human terms.
Not that any of this matters in some kind of meaningful way ... just one of the threads weaving it's dissonant harmonies through my resonant mind ...
"Theologies" - conceptual frameworks for thinking about and participating in a relationship with divinity - tend to presume that there is one Divinity, with a universal character and absolute attributes that apply everywhere and at all times. That is one of the reasons for the ubiquity of religious conflict. I conceive of God in a certain way, and immediately assume, since we are, of course, talking about God, there can be only one correct way to conceive of God.
I think that Hindu conceptions are probably closest to this. They conceive of mini-gods and mega-gods, and although these deities operate in their respective ways, they are really marginal to the human experience. Their divinity applies to the mini-worlds and the mega-worlds. There are human-scale divinities that operate ON the human scale, exhibit human qualities, and are able to engage with humans on human terms.
Not that any of this matters in some kind of meaningful way ... just one of the threads weaving it's dissonant harmonies through my resonant mind ...
Monday, April 27, 2009
Constellations
"Constellations are normally the product of human perception rather than astronomical realities." (Wikipedia)
It thrills me to gaze up into the night sky. A couple nights ago Robin and I sat out under the stars long after the house and the peepers were quiet. Ursa Major, the Great Bear and Big Dipper shone high in the dark dome above. I remembered some lesson from a visit to the Hayden Planetarium: "Follow the 'arc' of the handle in the dipper to the bright star Arcturus; connect the stars in the front of the dipper and follow them up to Polaris." It still works. Those nocturnal jewels haven't wandered from their cataloged locations one bit. It's about this time every year I have to locate the book I've carried around since I was a kid - H.A. Rey's __Stars__ (it's not in its usual place ... the search continues!) It's illustrated with drawings and cartoon images of constellations which have pointed me skyward for decades. In the back are double-page sky charts and maps so you can find your particular sky on any particular night.
Of course, the internet is full of resources. "Astroviewer.com" has an interactive map and does the same thing as my old book with a couple clicks. I did notice they've replaced the Zodiac names of constellations with more generic "astronomically correct" titles, e.g., "Pegasus" is "Winged Horse", and "Taurus" is "Bull".
And, yes, from the scientific astronomical point of view, all those clusters of shimmer we see from down here have no meaningful relationships with one another. But our perspective is the human perspective, and we humans are seekers after meaning. We create and tell stories, weave relationships among diverse elements of our experience, and make art. Night skies inspire me to live more deeply and more fully into my geocosmystic humanity. Tonight, I'll wish upon a star or two ... or a whole constallation!
It thrills me to gaze up into the night sky. A couple nights ago Robin and I sat out under the stars long after the house and the peepers were quiet. Ursa Major, the Great Bear and Big Dipper shone high in the dark dome above. I remembered some lesson from a visit to the Hayden Planetarium: "Follow the 'arc' of the handle in the dipper to the bright star Arcturus; connect the stars in the front of the dipper and follow them up to Polaris." It still works. Those nocturnal jewels haven't wandered from their cataloged locations one bit. It's about this time every year I have to locate the book I've carried around since I was a kid - H.A. Rey's __Stars__ (it's not in its usual place ... the search continues!) It's illustrated with drawings and cartoon images of constellations which have pointed me skyward for decades. In the back are double-page sky charts and maps so you can find your particular sky on any particular night.
Of course, the internet is full of resources. "Astroviewer.com" has an interactive map and does the same thing as my old book with a couple clicks. I did notice they've replaced the Zodiac names of constellations with more generic "astronomically correct" titles, e.g., "Pegasus" is "Winged Horse", and "Taurus" is "Bull".
And, yes, from the scientific astronomical point of view, all those clusters of shimmer we see from down here have no meaningful relationships with one another. But our perspective is the human perspective, and we humans are seekers after meaning. We create and tell stories, weave relationships among diverse elements of our experience, and make art. Night skies inspire me to live more deeply and more fully into my geocosmystic humanity. Tonight, I'll wish upon a star or two ... or a whole constallation!
Friday, April 24, 2009
Impatient Bird
Cardinals and wrens, crows and finches awaken me on Spring mornings. Once in a while, there are new sounds ... fresh voices among the feathered chorus. At 5:00 a.m. their songs can sometimes be an abrupt introduction to the day. Robin heard impatience in the call of one bird yesterday morning. Endless repetition of the same pattern of notes - what the hell is he wanting? A mate? Food? Title to his territory? To piss off sleeping people?
Later, we joined friends to see the movie, "Earth". Our 13 year old son had gone to Waterbury with his class to see "Earth" the previous day, and reported his experience with little enthusiasm, which we read as a hopeful sign. I might have guessed what was coming when the movie opened with a tribute to Walt Disney and showed clips of "Bambi". I had listened to a radio interview with directors Alastair Fothergill and Mark Linfield that really had me juiced for something EXTRA extraordinary. I judge it to have been quasi-extraordinary. True to Disney-form, it was the human drama projected onto the globe, onto the cosmos, with whales and polar bears and elephants in the roles of mommies and daddies doing seasonal battle with the elements and ubiquitous predators, and the sun as Deus Ex Machina serenely carrying out its daily, supreme migration. Yet, there were truly extraordinary visual moments. One slow motion sequence of a cheetah's running attack on a gazelle revealed the cat's head motionless in absolute focus on its escaping prey, while every other part of its body is rippling with the exertion of a 60 mph run. I'd watch that clip again and again. And there were others.
Most of the birds have quieted their singing this morning, which is a signal to me that it's time to get along on the adventure of my day. Thanks, you feathery critters, for all you do, and all you give, to enrich my experience of life. May I always honor you for the beautiful beings you are, and not merely for what you give me. Aho.
Later, we joined friends to see the movie, "Earth". Our 13 year old son had gone to Waterbury with his class to see "Earth" the previous day, and reported his experience with little enthusiasm, which we read as a hopeful sign. I might have guessed what was coming when the movie opened with a tribute to Walt Disney and showed clips of "Bambi". I had listened to a radio interview with directors Alastair Fothergill and Mark Linfield that really had me juiced for something EXTRA extraordinary. I judge it to have been quasi-extraordinary. True to Disney-form, it was the human drama projected onto the globe, onto the cosmos, with whales and polar bears and elephants in the roles of mommies and daddies doing seasonal battle with the elements and ubiquitous predators, and the sun as Deus Ex Machina serenely carrying out its daily, supreme migration. Yet, there were truly extraordinary visual moments. One slow motion sequence of a cheetah's running attack on a gazelle revealed the cat's head motionless in absolute focus on its escaping prey, while every other part of its body is rippling with the exertion of a 60 mph run. I'd watch that clip again and again. And there were others.
Most of the birds have quieted their singing this morning, which is a signal to me that it's time to get along on the adventure of my day. Thanks, you feathery critters, for all you do, and all you give, to enrich my experience of life. May I always honor you for the beautiful beings you are, and not merely for what you give me. Aho.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Dirt
| "Don't put that in your mouth, honey! Ick … it's dirty!" "She's a hard worker, and not afraid to get her hands dirty." "I'd have scored that point if the other guy didn't play dirty!" Lots of words take on lots of meanings as they get used, meanings that have nothing to do with their original meaning. I like to trace words back to their early meanings. The word "dirt" began as a synonym for "shit" (I'll trace that word at a later time). Today, it doubles for an unsavory truth about someone ("see if you can dig up some dirt on that guy") and the condition of being destitute ("dirt poor"). In my case, I grew up hearing "dirt" used to describe that which must be shaken or wiped off my shoes before entering the house, and to refer to the brown stuff out of which grass and trees grew, and from which rocks could be dug. "Dirt" was of no consequence, except to farmers and baseball infielders, neither of which pursuits I anticipated in my future. Those early meanings stayed with me for a long time. Along the way I heard expressions like "dirty old man" and "dirty tricks" and "dirty pool", and watched "Dirty Harry". It's not hard to see how the word "dirt" came into my vocabulary as "bad stuff". And also, how I early on developed fear about "the world out there", the world of "nature", and the ground beneath my feet as a dangerous and unfriendly thing, a place that would contaminate me with icky stuff, within which I didn't belong, and which didn't belong in me. I've grown in my understanding of dirt. I'm making dirt in my compost bin. I recognize the erosion of topsoil on the planet is one of the critical environmental issues of our time. I let some leaves decompose on my lawn, because they become a component of the dirt that supports the grass. Today I'm less afraid of "dirt". In fact, I'm working my way up to starting a garden. Getting my hands really dirty. And since I've been introduced to Milorganite, the link between dirt and shit has been forged once again! |
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Work: Round #2
When we read the word "slavery", I imagine most of us immediately think of the shameful buying and selling of Africans by plantation owners in the American South. We run some of the video narrative from "Roots" and "Gone With the Wind". Nearly 4 decades from the March on Washington and our national battle about civil rights for people of African descent, we consider slavery to have been a sad, unenlightened episode in American history.
Slavery has been around since the dawn of human civilization. Empires are built as one nation's armies occupy the lands of other people, and the indigenous people are classically denied the rights of citizens, and forced to work under penalty of physical punishment, building temples and shrines and other tributes to the greatness of the king, queen or other human to whom is ascribed absolute power.
And as we reach the outer limits of the Imperial Age, as ambitious demigods are running out of Earth frontiers to conquer; as we come to recognize how much freedom we have given up in our quests for greater and greater material comfort and acquisition; as we wake up to the truth that the public welfare or health or job satisfaction or happiness or meaning has never been a priority for the Emperor ...
... the word "slavery" takes on new meaning for me. As I listen to the national conversation about work and life, I hear people expressing chronic anxiety as the result of losing any sense of job security, let alone the jobs themselves. That psychic pain is easily as punishing as the whip. Of course, it's politically incorrect to make such an analogy. I hear my own voice saying "how dare you suggest any current psychic suffering could even compare with the 18th and 19th century experience of Africans on this continent?" It's that voice that keeps me frozen, keeps me from feeling my own "rage against the machine". And that's a much more effective form of slavery, in the long run. If I can plant the master's oppressive voice inside the people's hearts and minds, I've created a population of slaves who believe themselves to be free! They'll work themselves to exhaustion, not as the result of physical threats from the outside, but because they have believed that NOT to work is itself shameful, and because without work there is no provision, and without provision there is no ... no life! No matter how much rationalizing I do, my geocosmystical mind keeps saying "get up, stand up ... stand up and protest against the oppressor!" Resistance is not futile ... it is critical.
Slavery has been around since the dawn of human civilization. Empires are built as one nation's armies occupy the lands of other people, and the indigenous people are classically denied the rights of citizens, and forced to work under penalty of physical punishment, building temples and shrines and other tributes to the greatness of the king, queen or other human to whom is ascribed absolute power.
And as we reach the outer limits of the Imperial Age, as ambitious demigods are running out of Earth frontiers to conquer; as we come to recognize how much freedom we have given up in our quests for greater and greater material comfort and acquisition; as we wake up to the truth that the public welfare or health or job satisfaction or happiness or meaning has never been a priority for the Emperor ...
... the word "slavery" takes on new meaning for me. As I listen to the national conversation about work and life, I hear people expressing chronic anxiety as the result of losing any sense of job security, let alone the jobs themselves. That psychic pain is easily as punishing as the whip. Of course, it's politically incorrect to make such an analogy. I hear my own voice saying "how dare you suggest any current psychic suffering could even compare with the 18th and 19th century experience of Africans on this continent?" It's that voice that keeps me frozen, keeps me from feeling my own "rage against the machine". And that's a much more effective form of slavery, in the long run. If I can plant the master's oppressive voice inside the people's hearts and minds, I've created a population of slaves who believe themselves to be free! They'll work themselves to exhaustion, not as the result of physical threats from the outside, but because they have believed that NOT to work is itself shameful, and because without work there is no provision, and without provision there is no ... no life! No matter how much rationalizing I do, my geocosmystical mind keeps saying "get up, stand up ... stand up and protest against the oppressor!" Resistance is not futile ... it is critical.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Green Conscience
How many of my modern conveniences would I be willing to give up in order no longer to contribute one iota to the erosion of the global eco-system? I have grown rather attached to this computer, and I know the plastic casing, the metals and other chemically produced materials that make it work are not biodegradable. There's probably a computer I could use that is made entirely out of recycled materials, and that contains only components that were made without hurting the environment. But I expect it costs as much as a car. Which is another of those things I've grown very dependent upon. Maybe addicted to. Riding on oceans of asphalt that keep me blissfully oblivious to the living systems struggling beneath me or whizzing past me. Then there's my cell phone. Five years ago I bragged that I'd never use one, let alone make it my #1 wardrobe accessory, file cabinet and relationship manager. So I try to forget that certain minerals that are critical to cell technology are mined in gorilla territory, and even though it's illegal to hunt gorillas, there's enough money in poaching to attract plenty of risk takers.
And I'm still living on the grid, sucking up kilowatts to run everything, and barely mindful of the creatures, human and other, who live in the foggy shadows of the steaming, belching, white hot monsters that spew my electricity. I barely consider the habitats - rivers for hydro electric, mountains of coal, native human lands with veins of fissionable materials - that no longer exist because I need my juice.
Of course, you know this all gets me feeling guilty, which is why I don't like to look at it very often or for very long. But I'm striving to be a more courageous geocosmystic, which means looking at things as they are, and feeling what I need to feel. Writing this blog is one way I do that. Maybe I can't change the world, but I can change myself, and I can be the change I dream of. Awareness, consciousness, courage to face the truth - these are honorable beginnings. Next steps to come. Aho!
And I'm still living on the grid, sucking up kilowatts to run everything, and barely mindful of the creatures, human and other, who live in the foggy shadows of the steaming, belching, white hot monsters that spew my electricity. I barely consider the habitats - rivers for hydro electric, mountains of coal, native human lands with veins of fissionable materials - that no longer exist because I need my juice.
Of course, you know this all gets me feeling guilty, which is why I don't like to look at it very often or for very long. But I'm striving to be a more courageous geocosmystic, which means looking at things as they are, and feeling what I need to feel. Writing this blog is one way I do that. Maybe I can't change the world, but I can change myself, and I can be the change I dream of. Awareness, consciousness, courage to face the truth - these are honorable beginnings. Next steps to come. Aho!
Monday, April 20, 2009
Shadow
There are days when shadows are really dark. Those are days when the sun is particularly hot and high. I like those days because I can see the shadows vividly. Their outlines are sharp enough to mistake for solid objects, and I know where to go for shelter and shade.
There are days when shadows are not so clearly visible. Days like today. Overcast days that create no sharp contrast between light and dark. Days like this challenge me to know where the boundaries are, what direction to take. Even the line between life and death is blurred.
This is soul-terrain. Important dimensions of my life are hidden among the mottled greens and browns of my inner landscape. I wander, a zombie in my own dreams, with no vision, no clarity of mind, somnambulistic.
I covet the eyes of the hunter, the tracker, the wilderness guide, who sees the subtle traces of previous passers-by, recognizes danger before stumbling into it, and reaches into what looks barren to my sight, and draws forth fruit.
There are days when it's really good to pay close attention to the shadows.
There are days when shadows are not so clearly visible. Days like today. Overcast days that create no sharp contrast between light and dark. Days like this challenge me to know where the boundaries are, what direction to take. Even the line between life and death is blurred.
This is soul-terrain. Important dimensions of my life are hidden among the mottled greens and browns of my inner landscape. I wander, a zombie in my own dreams, with no vision, no clarity of mind, somnambulistic.
I covet the eyes of the hunter, the tracker, the wilderness guide, who sees the subtle traces of previous passers-by, recognizes danger before stumbling into it, and reaches into what looks barren to my sight, and draws forth fruit.
There are days when it's really good to pay close attention to the shadows.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Corporate CEO Pay
Let me know if I'm way off the mark here. I'm no economist. I never took a real economics class. But here's what I think. I think the guys (yeah, most of them guys) who are making 100s of millions and billions of bucks by buying and selling money really believe that's their job in a free market, capitalist system. I also think that belief has percolated up into the minds of the likes of Hank Paulson and Timothy Geithner. They believe that in order for the system to do what the system is designed to do, the wealthy and powerful MUST exploit EVERY opportunity to make the greatest profit. Every artificial restraint on those ambitions (regulations) are impediments to these objectives, and so must be removed or resisted at every turn. If citizens start chafing at apparent inequities, then the media can be bought and put to work "educating" the population about how they just need to wait until the economy "turns around". My point in all this is that the longer the majority of us wait to organize ourselves and become politically active toward reclaiming our power as "the people", the more likely it is that we will be further disempowered, and the likelihood of violent revolution increases.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Changes
What is changing in your life? What are you changing ABOUT your life? There are changes I want to make in my life. Those kind of changes seem to have to always begin with changing my mind. A change of my consciousness. A decision to reorient my thinking, modify my habits of thought. Spring is the season of transformation, the "Via Transformativa". An opportunity to connect with the Divine as the "agent of "change" in my life. Holy Spirit fire comin' to burn the deadwood of my soul, lick my conscience with tongues of flame, and ignite a fresh passion for creation and creativity. Too often I yawn into the face of the Green Man as he's crying out to me to awaken and dance in his soil. Not this season! I'm digging in and relishing the richness of the ground upon which I have settled for a time. Smelling flowers, climbing trees, shaping growing places for food. This is a change I choose!
What are the changes you are choosing?
What are the changes you are choosing?
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Starstuff
Once in a while I call to mind some fact that helps me sustain a perspective of joy and fascination with being alive. There aren’t many things I call “facts”. But I do call it a fact that no thing in the known universe is ever created or destroyed. Things change. Matter becomes energy, becomes matter, and on and on.
So I think to myself that the stuff that has taken the present form I refer to as “me” was once something else, and will be something else in the time to come. And all the stuff that is me right now was at one time 14 billion years ago part of the cosmic hiccup that set galaxies and supernovas spinning in space.
I think that’s a fact. I also believe, and feel a certain yearning to re-connect with that world “out there”. When I gaze into the night sky at stars and constellations, I feel my heart drawn upward and outward, as if there were a whispering song luring me back to dance among the planets. That’s the “cosmystic” part of me.
So I think to myself that the stuff that has taken the present form I refer to as “me” was once something else, and will be something else in the time to come. And all the stuff that is me right now was at one time 14 billion years ago part of the cosmic hiccup that set galaxies and supernovas spinning in space.
I think that’s a fact. I also believe, and feel a certain yearning to re-connect with that world “out there”. When I gaze into the night sky at stars and constellations, I feel my heart drawn upward and outward, as if there were a whispering song luring me back to dance among the planets. That’s the “cosmystic” part of me.
Exile
There are lots of directions I feel led to go with this. Lately, I’m intrigued by this word. Exile. Webster’s says it’s about self-imposed absence, or enforced removal from “one’s native country”. The way I’m thinking about it, it has a more expansive definition. “Exile” for me, is the spiritual and emotional experience of being separated from my home, my abode, or from my “homeland”.
Archetypally, the Garden of Eden represents the homeland from which humans were once and for all sent into exile. The Bible describes periods when the people of Israel were taken out of their “promised land” into exile, to live “dispersed” among the nations. The phenomenon of Zionism within the Jewish tradition is the conviction that God will return the people from their exile and once again restore them to that land of promise. The creation of the nation of Israel in the 20th century is seen by many as the fulfillment of that promise.
I’m considering lots of other kinds of exile in the world today. The Native Americans driven off their rich, ancestral lands to live in places they have no relationship with. The people of Tibet violently chased away from their homeland by the Chinese. Africans captured from the land that sustained them for millennia, and shipped to the western hemisphere to fuel the industrial age. There are many more examples of people who have become exiles as the result of war and conquest.
Sometimes people are exiled because of natural disasters. People become refugees – seeking “refuge” from floods or pestilences or political dangers. But just moving from one’s hometown to a strange city can feel like being “in exile”. Today I’m thinking sadly about the growing population of homeless people in our country who have been evicted from their homes, their abodes. We have an entire lexicon of words to describe many kinds of exilic experience: eviction, displacement, marginalization, expatriation, immigration, emigration … you can think of others.
Christian tradition has picked up this idea and effectively taught that the earth is not our home; that we can’t count on living safely and securely in relationship to the material world; that we must hope (and work!) for a place in our real home, in heaven. Certainly that’s how the modern era has shaped our experience. But Jesus taught something different. “The ground upon which you stand is your home; The Earth is the domain of Divinity”.
I think this religious mistake is largely responsible for leading us to this critical moment in global survival. I want to see it corrected.
Archetypally, the Garden of Eden represents the homeland from which humans were once and for all sent into exile. The Bible describes periods when the people of Israel were taken out of their “promised land” into exile, to live “dispersed” among the nations. The phenomenon of Zionism within the Jewish tradition is the conviction that God will return the people from their exile and once again restore them to that land of promise. The creation of the nation of Israel in the 20th century is seen by many as the fulfillment of that promise.
I’m considering lots of other kinds of exile in the world today. The Native Americans driven off their rich, ancestral lands to live in places they have no relationship with. The people of Tibet violently chased away from their homeland by the Chinese. Africans captured from the land that sustained them for millennia, and shipped to the western hemisphere to fuel the industrial age. There are many more examples of people who have become exiles as the result of war and conquest.
Sometimes people are exiled because of natural disasters. People become refugees – seeking “refuge” from floods or pestilences or political dangers. But just moving from one’s hometown to a strange city can feel like being “in exile”. Today I’m thinking sadly about the growing population of homeless people in our country who have been evicted from their homes, their abodes. We have an entire lexicon of words to describe many kinds of exilic experience: eviction, displacement, marginalization, expatriation, immigration, emigration … you can think of others.
Christian tradition has picked up this idea and effectively taught that the earth is not our home; that we can’t count on living safely and securely in relationship to the material world; that we must hope (and work!) for a place in our real home, in heaven. Certainly that’s how the modern era has shaped our experience. But Jesus taught something different. “The ground upon which you stand is your home; The Earth is the domain of Divinity”.
I think this religious mistake is largely responsible for leading us to this critical moment in global survival. I want to see it corrected.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Original Instructions
President Obama has made education reform one of the three top priorities of his first 100 days, along with health care reform and the economy (or is it the war on terror?). Our education system is certainly broken. In America’s 19th and 20th century scramble to get and preserve our imperial advantage, education has been strictly about programming children and youth to compete for more power and more stuff. The ideal of democracy (which was long ago superseded by the ideal of an ever-expanding consumer market), included the proposition that every citizen, in order to be an equal participant in a democratic republic, was entitled to a publically guaranteed education. Genuine democracy cannot work when the citizenry is trained to think of ourselves as consumers. The Obama administration appears to be using the internet to recover some semblance of an active, educated national citizenry. I applaud the effort.
On the other hand, I wonder if schools – private or public – can prepare people for living as citizens of the cosmos, or the Earth, or the land.
A favorite book of mine is entitled Return to Creation, written in 1991 by Manitonquat (Medicine Story). “Story”, as he is respectfully addressed by friends, is an elder, and the spiritual leader of the Assonet band of the Wampanoag nation, whose ancestral lands were once what is now the area of Newport, Rhode Island. I spent a weekend with him and his wife at Rowe Conference Center in 2004.
As Story tells it, the land of the Wampanoag was shaped by Maushop, the principle Hero-deity of the people. Maushop slept in the curve of Cape Cod, and gouged out the sound with a shovel made of an iceberg. Then, Maushop made the people – four races of people from the four colors of clay. “He mixed them in shades of brown, some with more red or white, more black or yellow.” Once the gift of the body had been given, Maushop gave people the gift of mind, the gift of heart and then asked Creation itself to give people the gift of Kishtannit, part of Creation’s own Spirit. “Then Maushop taught the human beings what they needed to know in order to survive and add their music to the great Song of Creation.”
“Those teachings are the Original Instructions. Most people who have an ancient oral tradition speak of such instructions, or the instructions are implicit in the tales and legends of the people. These instructions are very similar throughout North America.
“It is this concept of Original Instructions that most profoundly distinguishes native spiritual belief from all the man-made religions of the world. The Original Instructions are not ideas. They are reality. They are actually Natural Law, The Way Things Are – the operational manual for a working Creation.”
Indian people believe the Original Instructions are written on the soul of every creature, including human creatures. The role of teachers is not to edit those instructions, let alone re-write them. Rather, a teacher’s job is to awaken the student to what is already known within her. Thus, as the “original people” believe, those Original Instructions continue from generation to generation to guide and sustain tribal life.
Pink Floyd had it. “Hey! Teacher! Leave those kids alone!” Let’s recover a sense of why it is we educate our young people. Are we pressing them from the bleachers to compete harder and score more points than the other kids? Or are we willing to allow them to discover the Original Instructions? Seems to me we need more than education reform in America. We need to relearn the Original Instructions.
On the other hand, I wonder if schools – private or public – can prepare people for living as citizens of the cosmos, or the Earth, or the land.
A favorite book of mine is entitled Return to Creation, written in 1991 by Manitonquat (Medicine Story). “Story”, as he is respectfully addressed by friends, is an elder, and the spiritual leader of the Assonet band of the Wampanoag nation, whose ancestral lands were once what is now the area of Newport, Rhode Island. I spent a weekend with him and his wife at Rowe Conference Center in 2004.
As Story tells it, the land of the Wampanoag was shaped by Maushop, the principle Hero-deity of the people. Maushop slept in the curve of Cape Cod, and gouged out the sound with a shovel made of an iceberg. Then, Maushop made the people – four races of people from the four colors of clay. “He mixed them in shades of brown, some with more red or white, more black or yellow.” Once the gift of the body had been given, Maushop gave people the gift of mind, the gift of heart and then asked Creation itself to give people the gift of Kishtannit, part of Creation’s own Spirit. “Then Maushop taught the human beings what they needed to know in order to survive and add their music to the great Song of Creation.”
“Those teachings are the Original Instructions. Most people who have an ancient oral tradition speak of such instructions, or the instructions are implicit in the tales and legends of the people. These instructions are very similar throughout North America.
“It is this concept of Original Instructions that most profoundly distinguishes native spiritual belief from all the man-made religions of the world. The Original Instructions are not ideas. They are reality. They are actually Natural Law, The Way Things Are – the operational manual for a working Creation.”
Indian people believe the Original Instructions are written on the soul of every creature, including human creatures. The role of teachers is not to edit those instructions, let alone re-write them. Rather, a teacher’s job is to awaken the student to what is already known within her. Thus, as the “original people” believe, those Original Instructions continue from generation to generation to guide and sustain tribal life.
Pink Floyd had it. “Hey! Teacher! Leave those kids alone!” Let’s recover a sense of why it is we educate our young people. Are we pressing them from the bleachers to compete harder and score more points than the other kids? Or are we willing to allow them to discover the Original Instructions? Seems to me we need more than education reform in America. We need to relearn the Original Instructions.
Work: Round #1
"History is governed by those overarching movements that give shape and meaning to life by relating the human venture to the larger destinies of the universe…The Great Work now, as we move into a new millennium, is to carry out the transition from a period of human devastation of the Earth to a period when humans would be present to the planet in a mutually beneficial manner." Thomas Berry, The Great Work "And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done." Genesis 2:2 God made a freakin' universe. I want to make something as awesome as that! I lost my job last fall, and joined tens of millions of Americans currently "unemployed" in the One of the thoughts that continues to pop into my head is that "work" is synonymous with "survival" in our current world. "In the morning, we do our work. The rest of the day, we make things." These are the words of an indigenous African woman whom Matt Fox has often quoted in his writing and his talks. My dad had a similar saying: "There's a time for work, and a time for play." But it didn't take long in this culture before training for work, applying for work, getting to work, doing my work and keeping my job began to take up all my time. It's taken losing my job to remind me that "work" is not the same as "life" or "living". There are activities that communities must perform in order to function effectively, and to survive. For indigenous people, these activities do not so consume the time and energy of people so as to detract from anyone's opportunity to "make things". The hidden truth is that in "making things", humans discover the joy of living. Consider the "things" you "make", or that you've "made". Were you the school girl who "made the grade" (or didn't "make the grade")? Or the young soccer forward who "made the goal". Maybe you're the preacher who effectively "made his point". How about the salesman or the cop who "made his quota"? Or the reporter who "made his deadline". I know the socially responsible guy who asks himself regularly, "Did I make any difference today?" I try to remember to ask myself this question daily: "Did I make anything … anything at all … today?" What do geocosmystics "make"? What is the "Great Work" of Geocosmysticism? |
Monday, April 13, 2009
The Bible
Gotta get this out of my system. There's this book. You probably know the title. Might even have an old copy around the house. Maybe you've read it, or parts of it in the course of your life. If you're of my generation, maybe you spent some time in one kind of church or synagogue. In that case, you probably know some of what's in that book. Right – the Bible. By the way, the English word "Bible" comes from the Greek word biblios (biblios) which simply means "book". Why would I need to write a piece on "The Bible" in a blog about "geocosmysticism"? Two reasons. 1) I grew up in a Bible-reading and preaching church, learned to enjoy reading and studying the Bible as a student of religion and literature in college, immersed myself in biblical scholarship in seminary school, and spent a decade and a half of my life preaching and teaching from Bible texts. I have been formed in a Bible culture, and even though I have separated officially from the Christian ministry, and my beliefs have shifted away from those of the "confessional" Church, the language, stories and images from the Bible live in me and continue to sustain me upon my spiritual journey. I continue to believe there is wisdom to be mined in the Bible, and in other ancient, sacred texts. 2) The majority of my community today are self-described "pagans", "witches", "animists" and atheists, groups that have not been welcomed … no, let me speak plainly ... groups that have been (and continue to be) identified as "enemies of God", by "Bible-believing" people and churches, and persecuted by "Christian society" with the intention of conversion, marginalization or extermination. Others of my friends and family, for any number of reasons, have concluded that the Bible, as a key symbol of "organized religion", is irrelevant at best, dangerous at worst. When I quote the Bible, which I do infrequently, I can feel them withdraw from me. I guess, if I'm honest, I feel hurt by that. But I also understand this ambivalence or antipathy toward the Bible. The book has been misused to justify abuses from wife beating to slavery, from witch burning to apartheid. My "dear people" are fully justified, in my opinion, to be suspicious, if not hostile, toward a book that continues to be used by many to fuel prejudice and worse. So, I may mention Jesus or Moses or By the way, Jesus was more than the first non-violent revolutionary (Stephen Stills). He was a very radical geocosmystic! |
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Resurrection
Resurrection David Eagleman is a neuroscientist at Baylor College of Medicine in Following is one of the forty I liked. This is a long quotation, and perhaps I shouldn't include it, but all credit belongs to the author, and if you buy the book, maybe he'll overlook my wholesale co-opting of his worthy text. "Egalitaire" "In the afterlife you discover that God understands the complexities of life. She had originally submitted to peer pressure when She structured Her universe like all the other gods had, with a binary categorization of people into good and evil. But it didn't take long for Her to realize that humans could be good in many ways and simultaneously corrupt and mean-spirited in other ways. How was She to arbitrate who goes to Heaven and who to Hell? Might not it be possible, She considered, that a man could be an embezzler and still give to charitable causes? Might not a woman be an adulteress but bring pleasure and security to two men's lives? Might not a child unwittingly divulge secrets that splinter a family? Dividing the population into two categories – good and bad – seemed like a more reasonable task when She was younger, but with experience these decisions became more difficult. She composed complex formulas to weigh hundreds of factors, and ran computer programs that rolled out long strips of paper with eternal decisions. But Her sensitivities revolted at this automation – and when the computer generated a decision She disagreed with, She took the opportunity to kick out the plug in rage. That afternoon She listened to the grievances of the dead from two warring nations. Both sides had suffered, both sides had legitimate grievances, both pled their cases earnestly. She covered Her ears and moaned in misery. She knew her humans were multidimensional, and She could no longer live under the rigid architecture of Her youthful choices. "Not all gods suffer over this; we can consider ourselves lucky that in death we answer to a God with deep sensitivity to the byzantine hearts of Her creations. "For months She moped around Her living room in Heaven, head drooped like a bulrush, while the lines piled up. Her advisors advised Her to delegate the decision making, but She loved her humans too much to leave them to the care of anyone else. "In a moment of desperation the thought crossed Her mind to let everyone wait on line indefinitely, letting them work it out on their own. But then a better idea struck Her generous spirit. She could afford it: She would grant everyone, every last human, a place in Heaven. After all, everyone had something good inside; it was part of the design specifications. Her new plan brought back the bounce to Her gait, returned the color to Her cheeks. She shut down the operations in Hell, fired the Devil, and brought every last human to be by Her side in Heaven. Newcomers or old-timers, nefarious or righteous: under the new system, everyone gets equal time to speak with Her. Most people find Her a little garrulous and oversolicitous, but She cannot be accused of not caring. "The most important aspect of Her new system is that everyone is treated equally. There is no longer fire for some and harp music for others. The afterlife is no longer defined by cots versus waterbeds, raw potatoes versus sushi, hot water versus champagne. Everyone is a brother to all, and for the first time an idea has been realized that never came to fruition on Earth: true equality. "The Communists are baffled and irritated, because they have finally achieved their perfect society, but only by the help of a God in whom they don't want to believe. The meritocrats are abashed that they're stuck for eternity in an incentiveless system with a bunch of pinkos. The conservatives have no penniless to disparage; the liberals have no downtrodden to promote. "So God sits on the edge of Her bed and weeps at night, because the only thing everyone can agree upon is that they're all in Hell." |
GCM - The Return
Ok, so I got some of the major pressure points addressed this past week, and there's still more to be addressed, but I can give some time to this blog adventure again. It's true - I enjoy expressing myself this way, and also enjoy the interaction with others who find my musings interesting) or at least a-MUSE-ing. I've got some pieces in the hopper - topics like "The Bible", "Atheism", "Exile and Return", "Dirt" and "Starstuff". Thanks to everyone who's encouraged me to stay at it! Go, GeoCosMystics!
Friday, April 3, 2009
Time
Given currently more pressing issues, I'm hereby giving notice that my daily blog posts will be discontinued for the forseeable future. I hope to return to the project, but ... we'll just have to see. Thanks to everyone who has been following this.
With love,
Bob
With love,
Bob
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Nature
"Nature" is, of course, used to describe the world around us as it exists without the technical interventions of human beings. That usage is fairly recent, largely the result of our invention of more and more complex and powerful tools ("tekne" is Greek for "tool"). Technology has radically modified our environment. Humans have evolved an advanced capacity for objective thought, the ability to see ourselves as "other" than "what is out there", and can readily think of ourselves as "outside of nature". It was in the 70s when I read Desmond Morris' book, The Naked Ape. It was my introduction to the very notion that my own body, my appetites and impulses, could be understood in relation to my "belonging to nature". For me, it was a freeing insight, an "aha!" moment. Up to that time I'd simply not perceived that connection. It had never occurred to me that I was "part of the world out there". It certainly wasn't a welcome idea for everyone. It was tremendously controversial, and disturbing to what was then a small but reactionary Christian fundamentalist population. In some ways, it was this popularization of evolutionary biology that gave a boost to what is now the "intelligent design" rear-guard actions. These folks continue to REALLY resist the notion that human beings belong AMONG the natural orders and phyla, and insist on our "unique status" among "God's creatures." For me, in this regard, the work is to more deeply experience myself as belonging WITHIN "Nature". There are also other meanings for "nature" I would like to explore. The word "nature" can also be interpreted in light of its relationship to "native". The meaning is something like "original". What is "natural" is that which was "in this place from the beginning", or "as far back as memory can see". The creation myths and stories of most peoples include allusions to "the time before time", when nothing was here. Then, in the stories, there is the introduction of "the original people". Our human history, particularly modern history, is filled with grand movements of populations, colonialism, migrations and displacements. Indigenous populations have been decimated by the industrial age, and we are only coming to understand the wisdom that comes from living in a particular place for tens of thousands of years. One could say that "native" people are the "natural" people, in that they have "deeply inhabited" the land. Finally (for this post), "nature" can be defined in terms of the opposite idea, that of "artifice". Artifice conveys both the sense of "craft" and "crafty", a clever means of out-maneuvering natural phenomena. Sealing a seagoing vessel's hull with pitch is an "artificial" means of forestalling the "natural" tendency of wood to leak. Insulation in your home or outerwear is an "artificial" means of preventing "natural" heat loss. For the most part, I'd argue that crafty means of outsmarting "nature", in this sense, are to be applauded! In any case, the idea of "Nature" and "the natural" is a dynamic one, and an important one for geocosmystic consideration! Rev. Bob Werme, M.Div., MAHRM 203-437-2468 |
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Inspiration
I've said that this blog project is a personal exercise, a discipline to keep me writing. I tend not to exercise much discipline. In fact I recently began recruiting some of my friends to help me better structure my time. There are tasks I avoid, duties I procrastinate in doing, and responsibilities I shirk. I easily let my mind meander through the lists of things I need to do, flaccidly and limply resting on one item, and then rolling off it like a sleeping drunk. Today, several themes have received more than their share of keyboard clicks, and none has yielded MUSE-ic. Today, I'm not going to push the river. I'm going to let my spirit "lie fallow" for a day, and trust (in that uniquely geocosmystical way), that leaving it alone for a while will raise again the creative juices from the aquifers of my soul. Metakye Oyasin. Shalom. Blessed Be. Namaste. Amen. See ya! |
Monday, March 30, 2009
Anthropocentrism
Yeah, I know ... a lot of letters. But it's a key concept in my geocosmystical lexicon. It's the idea that humans are the fait accompli of creation's trajectory. The sine qua non of everything else in the universe. Without reference to French or Latin, "it's all about us". Whether you're of the evolutionary biology or scientific creationism school, the entire sweep of cosmic history reaches its climax in Homo Sapiens (there I go with my Latin again!). We da man! We da best! Whether we're "created in the image of God", or "the farthest along on the evolutionary scale", it amounts to the same thing. From one perspective, we've adapted as a species rapidly and effectively enough to dominate other species. From the other point of view, we were just given "dominion" over all the other species. Bottom line: both ways of approaching our human status among other life forms bring us to the conclusion that we are the reason for everything. Go us! But ... what if these very perspectives are what have put us in peril of losing everything? I thought we were beginning to wake up as a species during the cold war, when the threat of mutually assured destruction as the result of nuclear holocaust opened our eyes to the consequences of harnessing our mental superiority in service to our national arrogance and imperial aspirations. Enough people made enough noise back then to cool down the firey rhetoric of the superpowers. And here we are again, on the brink of irreparably depleting the planet's biodiversity, melting polar ice, further eroding the ozone layer. How do we plan to prevent global disaster? By once again launching an heroic human agenda to stimulate MORE human productivity, MORE human "solutions", MORE of the same hubris that insists ... what? Right! "It's all about US!" I have this argument frequently. "So what are you saying, geocosmystic? Are we just supposed to quit being human beings, quit having inventive minds and voracious appetites? Are we supposed to 'go back' and live like animals?" Here's what I want to say, although I seldom have the presence of mind to articulate it in the heat of verbal exchange. It's not beyond the range of our collective imagination that we can slow down the pace of planetary degradation. Just as there are methods for de-escalating interpersonal or national conflict, we can learn to regulate our furious pursuit of MOREBIGGERBETTER. Take a collective breath, count to ten, sing a song together, play drums, splash mud on ourselves ... laugh for the sake of laughing. Participate in activities together that can help us not take ourselves so damn seriously, activate and amplify the foolishness which is a part of each one of us. Dance. Pretend to be a chicken. Sometimes when I write this blog I have to say to myself, "Oh yeah? You're not so damn smart!" Yeah, I'm not so damn smart. Nor am I that wise. But I'm workin' on it. And I can do a pretty good chicken! Maybe it's the result of our shift from hunter-gatherer to agrarian living that changed our fundamental relationship to the Earth. I do remember, however, that farmers used to practice "crop rotation", leaving a field "fallow" for a season or two in order to permit it to renew it's nutritional content. There was that sense of "husbandry", of humans living in respectful, caring relationship to a living world that had it's own timing, its own balance and flow, and that our human presence within it required some attention to the ways of that living world. Within a single century, we figured out how to make that living world operate according to OUR wants and needs, pumping artificial chemicals into the soil and our bodies and water, spraying them into clouds and on insects and trees. We can stop that, and begin again paying attention to the beauty of circadian rhythms, the cycles of a living system in motion. Yeah, I know. That's a lot of words. Hey - it's all about me! Sometimes I think and act as though I'm the center of the universe. But I know better, and I'm working on living my life more in sync with the other critters who are just as sure it's all about them. In the end, it's all about the Earth, the Cosmos, and our intimate, mysterious dance around the fire. Aho! |
The Miracle of Energy
I used to have a little piece of raw muslin cloth about book size with a hand sillouette stamped on it. Church Lady gave it to me. She said it was sent to her in the mail from the celebrated faith healer Oral Roberts (for a small donation). The cloth was to provide a 'target' for the healing that would be sent through a radio or television transmission from Roberts' broadcast studio, into the living room of whomever placed that target on their TV set. Church Lady presented it to me as if it were a splinter from the rib of Jesus himself.
I grew up suspicious of religious charlatans, raised as I was in a liberal Sunday School that was more interested in ethics than metaphysics. The very notion of "miracles" was something of a problem. Liberal people screw up our faces, or adopt a condescending tone at the very notion of "miracles". I learned to believe in empirical science's power to elucidate a cause-and-effect relationship between every set of phenomena. There were, in fact, Sunday School lessons that suggested that Jesus walked on water because he had figured out where the rocks were! It helped swallow the otherwise ridiculous notion of someone REALLY walking on water!
My geocosmystic spirit takes empirical science seriously. So these days, in the wake of quantum mechanical discoveries and superstring theories, it's less easy to dismiss "miracles" because they won't yeild to direct, linear causal explanations. Science has demonstrated that the "fabric of the cosmos" (the title of Brian Green's terrific synopsis of current science) continues to be a rich texture of mysterious questions and wondrous incongruities. Certainly on the scale of our planetary comings and goings, the laws of Sir Isaac still do apply and deserve to be honored. However, as we navigate this life as humans, we can be just as certain that subtle energies and heretofore unmeasured and unexamined realites are operational within and around us. I choose to press joyfully, curiously and lovingly into that Mystery. I have no doubt the Mystery is big enough to handle my pressing.
These days, many forms of distant healing are being practiced and promoted, both within and outside organized religious groups. It appears that there is a growing consensus that the Life Force, whatever it's ultimate source, flows into our living bodies from a dimension beyond our 3-D sensory world. Some might look at that "other" dimension as existing within ourselves, others will point outward. Given the paradoxes inherent in either direction, they're probably both right and wrong. It all hinges on what we mean by "beyond".
In any case, I'm more humble these days in my judgments about "energy healing". I've experienced Reiki, and it made me feel better. Oral Roberts may deserve some ridicule for his strange blend of medicine show hucksterism and used car salesmanship, but he was tapping into something real. The Energy of Life appears to be about its work, moving among us in healing miracles, even today.
I grew up suspicious of religious charlatans, raised as I was in a liberal Sunday School that was more interested in ethics than metaphysics. The very notion of "miracles" was something of a problem. Liberal people screw up our faces, or adopt a condescending tone at the very notion of "miracles". I learned to believe in empirical science's power to elucidate a cause-and-effect relationship between every set of phenomena. There were, in fact, Sunday School lessons that suggested that Jesus walked on water because he had figured out where the rocks were! It helped swallow the otherwise ridiculous notion of someone REALLY walking on water!
My geocosmystic spirit takes empirical science seriously. So these days, in the wake of quantum mechanical discoveries and superstring theories, it's less easy to dismiss "miracles" because they won't yeild to direct, linear causal explanations. Science has demonstrated that the "fabric of the cosmos" (the title of Brian Green's terrific synopsis of current science) continues to be a rich texture of mysterious questions and wondrous incongruities. Certainly on the scale of our planetary comings and goings, the laws of Sir Isaac still do apply and deserve to be honored. However, as we navigate this life as humans, we can be just as certain that subtle energies and heretofore unmeasured and unexamined realites are operational within and around us. I choose to press joyfully, curiously and lovingly into that Mystery. I have no doubt the Mystery is big enough to handle my pressing.
These days, many forms of distant healing are being practiced and promoted, both within and outside organized religious groups. It appears that there is a growing consensus that the Life Force, whatever it's ultimate source, flows into our living bodies from a dimension beyond our 3-D sensory world. Some might look at that "other" dimension as existing within ourselves, others will point outward. Given the paradoxes inherent in either direction, they're probably both right and wrong. It all hinges on what we mean by "beyond".
In any case, I'm more humble these days in my judgments about "energy healing". I've experienced Reiki, and it made me feel better. Oral Roberts may deserve some ridicule for his strange blend of medicine show hucksterism and used car salesmanship, but he was tapping into something real. The Energy of Life appears to be about its work, moving among us in healing miracles, even today.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Drums, Candles and an Hour for the Earth
| From 8:30 to 9:30 last night, in the midst of a ribald geocosmystic celebration of Deb Miles' reaching the halfway point on her centenial journey, we joined what I hope was a global circle of consciousness. We raced about the house turning off lights and lighting candles. We put the electric guitars, computers and appliances offline. We sat around a firepit with bellies full of roast chicken (thanks, Robin!) beneath a clouding sky, and listened to Deb lead us in native American chants, and Carl Mikkelson sing some love ballads, sea shanties and folk songs. We drummed (Carl really plays the bejeesis out of that bodhran!), Randy Miles on the djembe and most of us bouncing sticks off our hoop drums. We sipped (well, MOST of us sipped) marguaritas and exotic malt beverages. We forgot to check when the hour had past. None of us seemed to miss the lights or the buzzing amps or even our LCD screens. Lots of folks pitched in to keep us focused on the beauty of the night rather than distracted by Electricality and Electronica. The beer and tequila were tasty, but altered states were the result of sitting together in the dark with heartbeat drumming, human and "pinkletink" (peepers) voices and Lulu's nuzzling and shepherding. I'm missing something critical in my life when I don't routinely put my body with others in a circle around a flame, beneath the protective face of our Sky Father, and with my barefeet upon our Earth Mother. In that geocosmystical space, clock time becomes irrelevant. The misty grey morning after has its own rich beauty and power. That will be the subject of a future post. Aho! |
Friday, March 27, 2009
Wilderness
Does that word call up for you images of a barren dustbowl desert with tumbleweed rollin' and sand in your mouth? Or are you reminded of the Hebrew Bible's tale of how, following their escape from Egypt, the people were led by Moses "into the wilderness" for forty years? Maybe "wilderness" in your mind just refers to any empty place. It's a powerful and important word in my geocosmystic world. The Wilderness is where I get to know myself apart from the influence of my narrow human culture. It's where I am stripped of the superficial identity given by my tribe, and emblazoned with a NAME that connects me with my universe. My friend Justin Pegnataro has launched his own adventure called the Two Coyotes Wilderness School. I've put a link to his website on this blog. He's providing education for children and adults focused on renewing our human sense of belonging to the natural world. I hope you'll look in on Justin's work. Right now --> notice your relation to the natural world. Some of us spend almost all our time far from wilderness. If there's a window in your room, look out of it. What's going on? Take just a brief moment to acknowledge your connection to that "out there" world. A tree, a sparrow, a cloud ... anything. You've just taken a step into the wilderness. Follow your heart. |
Religion
As I see it, geocosmysticism is not a religion. Nor is it "religious". I suppose if a group of us got together and drew up a list of precepts or collected stories to publish as our "sacred scripture", or gathered together regularly for some formal ritual activity, some would call us religious. Actually, the word "geocosmysticism" was derived from "geocosmystic", which was a stab at stamping a label on folks with an ecclectic, ecceentric but identifiable set of spiritual dispositions or beliefs - like myself (see my initial post: "What is GeoCosMysticism").
I used to say "all people are religious". What I meant by that was everyone operates in this world with a set of beliefs, some transmitted to us from parents, family, local and broader culture, formal public and parochial education, peer influence, and some developed through personal experiences of being sensate, embodied beings. We develop attachments to people, ideas and practices, and value some more than others. Some ideas, values, people "matter" more, take on greater "meaning". At some point in our formative years, we recognize that there are matters and meanings that we value, but that appear to be in conflict. There are lots of examples, none of which come to mind at this moment. The process of extracting meaning from a world filled with paradoxes and ambiguities, a universal human process, is what I refered to as "religion".
This individual religious process has, of course, evolved into cultic activity. Human history is shaped in no small part by the influences of certain individuals who have extracted meanings that have galvanized groups into Religions. The lives and teachings of the Buddha, Moses, Jesus, Mohammed, Lao-Tse and others have been compelling enough to launch national movements and communal practices which have influenced kings and emperors, generals and merchants ... and, as they say, the rest is history.
Geocosmystics see all this history and say, "but what about the rest of the story?" The rest of the story is that all across the planet there have been communities and cultures who have lived without the imperial influence of "religion", who have discovered wisdom and joy and rich meaning by living deeply into their relationship with the Earth and the Cosmos without violently superimposing the human agenda on everything else. This is where we seek meaning and discover what truly matters, together as pilgrims and pioneers of Planetary Peace.
I used to say "all people are religious". What I meant by that was everyone operates in this world with a set of beliefs, some transmitted to us from parents, family, local and broader culture, formal public and parochial education, peer influence, and some developed through personal experiences of being sensate, embodied beings. We develop attachments to people, ideas and practices, and value some more than others. Some ideas, values, people "matter" more, take on greater "meaning". At some point in our formative years, we recognize that there are matters and meanings that we value, but that appear to be in conflict. There are lots of examples, none of which come to mind at this moment. The process of extracting meaning from a world filled with paradoxes and ambiguities, a universal human process, is what I refered to as "religion".
This individual religious process has, of course, evolved into cultic activity. Human history is shaped in no small part by the influences of certain individuals who have extracted meanings that have galvanized groups into Religions. The lives and teachings of the Buddha, Moses, Jesus, Mohammed, Lao-Tse and others have been compelling enough to launch national movements and communal practices which have influenced kings and emperors, generals and merchants ... and, as they say, the rest is history.
Geocosmystics see all this history and say, "but what about the rest of the story?" The rest of the story is that all across the planet there have been communities and cultures who have lived without the imperial influence of "religion", who have discovered wisdom and joy and rich meaning by living deeply into their relationship with the Earth and the Cosmos without violently superimposing the human agenda on everything else. This is where we seek meaning and discover what truly matters, together as pilgrims and pioneers of Planetary Peace.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Geocosmystic News Analysis
Yesterday Mount Redoubt popped off a couple clouds of ash up in Alaska, and the North Korean government said it was going to shoot a satellite into orbit. Here we are able to witness some of the key ideas that make Geocosmysticism the only true way to God. I wrote that in my Bill Maher voice. Of course, there are many paths by which we may approach the Grand Poobah of Everything, grasshopper. But I digress ...
The volcano is one way the Earth self-regulates. Gaia is a living system. Not merely on the surface or in the atmosphere. The top soil and crude oil we humans exhaust so efficiently are the parts that get our attention most of the time. We need food for the cows we eat, and gas for the engines we ride. But Gaia has a much richer and wilder inner life than we often notice. She's a hot, juicy mama and her subterranian motions go largely unnoticed except by seismologists. Except when a volcano erupts, or there's an earthquake or a tsunami. A little reminder that Mother Earth is fierce in her love for herself, because she knows ALL terrestrial life depends upon her health. If something's making her sick, or knocking her off-balance; if she needs to let off steam, she lets off steam. Mama gets to spew when and where she needs to. And if Chevron's tanks of crude are being stored maybe a little too close to that blast space, Mount Redoubt doesn't care. For the most part, my soul rejoices to see pictures of Gaia's volcanic inner vitality erupting. I thank ... er ... the Grand Poobah that I live in such a powerful place.
Hillary is a good Secretary of State, I think. I also was glad she expressed concern about North Korea's intention to put up a satellite. Except for the hypocricy of it. We're just moving the battleground higher into the biosphere. Space - the final frontier - is a lot farther out there. Someone can check me on this, but I think there are already over 6,500 satellites in orbit around the Earth, and several thousand pieces of satellites or other "space junk". The orbital range of things we launch up there is a pretty narrow band of ionospheric. The geocosmystic opposition to NK's announcement is "we don't really need anymore of our toys strewn about up there!"
The volcano is one way the Earth self-regulates. Gaia is a living system. Not merely on the surface or in the atmosphere. The top soil and crude oil we humans exhaust so efficiently are the parts that get our attention most of the time. We need food for the cows we eat, and gas for the engines we ride. But Gaia has a much richer and wilder inner life than we often notice. She's a hot, juicy mama and her subterranian motions go largely unnoticed except by seismologists. Except when a volcano erupts, or there's an earthquake or a tsunami. A little reminder that Mother Earth is fierce in her love for herself, because she knows ALL terrestrial life depends upon her health. If something's making her sick, or knocking her off-balance; if she needs to let off steam, she lets off steam. Mama gets to spew when and where she needs to. And if Chevron's tanks of crude are being stored maybe a little too close to that blast space, Mount Redoubt doesn't care. For the most part, my soul rejoices to see pictures of Gaia's volcanic inner vitality erupting. I thank ... er ... the Grand Poobah that I live in such a powerful place.
Hillary is a good Secretary of State, I think. I also was glad she expressed concern about North Korea's intention to put up a satellite. Except for the hypocricy of it. We're just moving the battleground higher into the biosphere. Space - the final frontier - is a lot farther out there. Someone can check me on this, but I think there are already over 6,500 satellites in orbit around the Earth, and several thousand pieces of satellites or other "space junk". The orbital range of things we launch up there is a pretty narrow band of ionospheric. The geocosmystic opposition to NK's announcement is "we don't really need anymore of our toys strewn about up there!"
The Geocosmystic Boogie
I’m big on movement. Get it moving. Cut the shit, do the thing. (Thanks again, Robin!) I don’t want to become colonically fixated here, but we do call it a “bowel movement”, right? There’s good stuff that our bodies are amazingly skilled at refining from the shit we eat, and then there’s … well … the shit! And let’s not forget that shit is good stuff, too … just not good for us as it’s constituted when we expel it.
One of the beliefs I hold as a GeoCosMystic is this: “It’s ALL good.”
I have little interest in marking time, marching in place. Stats. Stasis. Statistics. Stuckness. Staying put. Knowing my “place”. I want to be going somewhere, making progress.
Dancing is movement. Walking, running, flying, spinning, ascending or descending, climbing, swimming, diving, soaring … you get the idea.
Where does my geocosmystism take me, shake me, push me, drive me, or launch me? Is it the latest and the greatest of neuvo-spiritualities? Does it plunge me into the dirty business of organizing for social justice? Does it MOVE me? Does it get me up and out and in and among and down wid’it? Does it wind me up and send me screaming into the culture with YouTube videos and Facebook links with Tweetledeedee and Tweetingisdumb? I know I don’t want anything to do with anything that makes me any more of a liquid crystal or plasma-navel-gazer than I already am. Is there something in between, a "middle way"?
So … geocosmystics are bodies in motion. We’re putting our bodies on the line for our wild notions. We’re the answer to the Zombie Nation! Next question?
One of the beliefs I hold as a GeoCosMystic is this: “It’s ALL good.”
I have little interest in marking time, marching in place. Stats. Stasis. Statistics. Stuckness. Staying put. Knowing my “place”. I want to be going somewhere, making progress.
Dancing is movement. Walking, running, flying, spinning, ascending or descending, climbing, swimming, diving, soaring … you get the idea.
Where does my geocosmystism take me, shake me, push me, drive me, or launch me? Is it the latest and the greatest of neuvo-spiritualities? Does it plunge me into the dirty business of organizing for social justice? Does it MOVE me? Does it get me up and out and in and among and down wid’it? Does it wind me up and send me screaming into the culture with YouTube videos and Facebook links with Tweetledeedee and Tweetingisdumb? I know I don’t want anything to do with anything that makes me any more of a liquid crystal or plasma-navel-gazer than I already am. Is there something in between, a "middle way"?
So … geocosmystics are bodies in motion. We’re putting our bodies on the line for our wild notions. We’re the answer to the Zombie Nation! Next question?
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Gratitude for Earth, Stars and You
Day 3 of this blog-quest. I'm feeling a swelling in my fourth chakra which I recognize as gratitude for the two legged, ten fingered creatures who've read and commented on my geocosmystical musings. It's good to be welcomed into the circle with all my theo-illogical baggage full of the hollow husks of holiness. Hey ... I love aliteration. I love words. I love exploring meaning in language and culture and history. And I love to taste, touch, smell and savor the divine textures and flavors and fragrances of the Earth. Part of what's gone awry in religion has been the distrust of sensuality. Part of why I write is to help me jump off that religious train before it slams into the rocks, and hop back on the magic bus. And it's good to have friends and bloggers to share the adventure together. Aho!
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