May I let my voice be a clarion call. I will use these words for justice. I will use these words for truth. And humour.

Monday, November 19, 2012

 

Regarding the Ongoing Catastrophes in the Middle East, Most Notably in Gaza

Hello World,

I suppose it's time I write something again.

Regarding the situation in Gaza, the Bible story of King Solomon threatening to cut the baby in half comes to mind.  I wonder who, among Jews or Muslims (or Christians, even), would step up and show true motherhood (and how that would manifest) right about now.

There is a law that is more profound than Islamic law.  A law more powerful than any so far revealed* in any religion, yet hidden in view so that only those who would wish can know it.

I await a humanity that cares to seek for this law through consensus from establishable common ground.  Else, destruction.  Even utter annihilation.  Every beautiful garden must have a dangerous guardian, and I'm trying not to be too attached to the outcome.

It does bring a tear to my eye and to my heart to reflect on all we love that we'd lose, and all we've lost already.

Lyrics: "This is a beautiful garden.  It has a dangerous guardian." from Ode to Glen Eden
Mood: Wistful
Colors: Orange, yellow, blue

Pax hominibus,
Agape to all,
Joel


*This is true only because although the texts do reveal this law, they cannot force any person to accept the revelation.  The ears have a difficult time hearing it amid the deafening noise floor of life in 2012.  I believe, however, that the heart of every human will begin to seek out this law, because it longs to know it. This law is simple to find, actually.  Just ask your neighbors about it, and your heart will begin to know.

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# posted by Rev J D @ 12:53 0 comments

Thursday, November 15, 2012

 

From Henry Nelson Wieman's "The Problem of Power"


I found this in the American Journal of Theology and Philosophy (Vol. 3 no.1)

It's from Henry Nelson Wieman's book Creative Freedom: The Vocation of Liberal Religion


Comments from thread on FB:


  • C: Shut up, watch your TeeVee Showz, and leave the rest to the "Big Boys" you stupid gits. Words cannot express how degrading, demeaning, and down-right maddening that attitude is.
    This defines the problem very well, as well as the arrogance that has brought us to where we are.
  • This piece, written in 1982 [edit: oops, published in journal in 1982], is actually quite accurate for today, if not moreso. 

    The statement in the box, I do believe. There is a giant mass of people in the US who are not able to (or choose not to) see the big picture and would not choose to a    llocate funds toward that which is needed in a complex society, and THAT is why we elect representatives and executives, who should do their jobs with as little corruption as possible when they've chosen to take on that specialized role in our society. Sadly, most of those who've been governing have been neglecting to do so with the common good front-and-center.

    Wieman argues that in a democracy, the people tend to argue for their own interests to the degree that for anybody to get into office, they have to kowtow to the voters' ill-informed [see 'media reform'] or myopic localized private demands; and anybody who gets into office (or tries to get in) and attempts to divert the process of governing AWAY from supporting these local interests toward the big things that only government can do is quickly voted out. Somehow military and prisons still receive support, but I imagine that's because they represent private moneyed interests whom the government is no longer able to govern, but rather now acts as a siphon of public funds.

    The two solutions he presents are problematic in that I can't see a way to connect the dots between the present situation and attitudes to what is required to get out of this: "1) Demonstrable truth concerning the common good which underlies and sustains the diversity of local and private interests but not identical with any part or whole of them. And 2) a form of religion which leads [people] to trust and commit themselves to the common good sufficiently to allow their government to command resources and concerted action in its service independently of local and private interests. Also this devotion of religious commitment must control the leaders as well as the people and control [men] who exercise the power of authority in high positions of government."

    I think he sees "religion" here secularly, in a way similar to my view of it: the way we live our life, rather than the narrow view of all the buildings, rituals. "Religion" being "that which holds us together," and "politics" being "how we choose to be in community with each other."

    The big problem I see with #1 is that the framework for talking about the common good needs to be rebuilt, and that won't happen until there are a preponderance of voices doing so in the media. A media revolution would be required. And with #2 the problem I see has to do with the argument that Bo has made (I here paraphrase and add my own extension): Why would you want to support a government with your tax dollars that is doing so much bad with it and NOT putting it to the common good (drones, wall street, military and prison pork projects....)? 

    I would rewrite #2 (CAPS are new): a form of religion which leads [people] to trust and commit themselves to the common good sufficiently to allow AND DEMAND THAT their government to command resources and concerted action in its service independently of local and private interests. Also this devotion of religious commitment must control the leaders as well as the people and control [men] who exercise the power of authority in high positions of government." IOW we have to develop the willpower to REALLY inculcate ourselves and our future generations about the importance of the common good. I don't have any idea how many people would agree with that philosophy, or would be willing to offer up that much of their energy toward that even if we did have a really accountable government. Anarchy (aside from the "if men were angels, no government would be needed" mantra) would suck. Totalitarian dictatorship would suck. Democracy IMHO, done right, would suck less.

  • C: Military and Prisons also receive money because they are directly associated with Fear and a hypothetical lessening of fear by penalizing "bad people". Sadly the really bad people aren't always the ones incarcerated.
  •  I wonder just where are these really bad people hiding out?

    Wieman may provide an answer to this: "In all ages and among almost all peoples excepting recent Western society, a few persons had privileges traditionally established which the masses did n    ot have. They had leisure, did no manual work, could wear ostentatious clothing permitted to no others and develop manners and qualities of mind which set them apart from the common people... which made everyone view these privileged few as a different kind of being from the rest of humanity."

  • C: Yes, and history shows that many of these were not good people. We have the same today in the "privileged classes" of the 1%.

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# posted by Rev J D @ 07:39 0 comments

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

 

Sermon:Tending a Sensitized Conscience


Tending a Sensitized Conscience

Delivered November 11, 2012 at First Unitarian Church of Pittsburgh



       During my twenties, I drove taxi for a year at Union Cab in Madison, Wisconsin. I remember early on, the dispatcher – his name was Tim, but everybody called him “Hat” – I remember Hat telling me, “You've got to really listen to your radio.” I thought to myself – Did he mean just always be tuned in to the CB radio so we could listen and put in a bid when a trip became available in our area? Did he mean to listen closely to the songs on the FM radio stations? Or did he mean to really listen to the voice of the dispatcher, to hear the tone of his voice, and try to find out from his inflection whether the calls he was giving were good calls that would take me and my fare all the way across town, or they might be just a few blocks, for which I'd have to drive a couple miles to get there? Or I thought maybe he meant even deeper listening, and his use of the word “radio” was a metaphor – in which he wanted me to listen to others so closely, and figure out the stories prior to the stories, to hear what was happening in their hearts and their heads. Then again, maybe it wasn't about people at all. At the very beginning of the teal hymnal, we have a song that says, “Listen more closely to things than to beings...”
       This is a sermon about listening deeply. Listening with the purpose of educating our conscience – our internal sense of right and wrong, also known as that still, small voice within. This education I'm talking about assumes that our conscience is not some static entity. That our sense of right and wrong is dynamic. It assumes that as we open to receive new experiences, the conscience is capable of fine-tuning its compass toward the good, and also of becoming more keenly attuned to nuance. The invitation I'm investigating today is for each of us to consider sensitizing our conscience, according to our present ability and desire. To make it capable of detecting things that it previously could not.
       First comes the question of why to do this. Having a sensitized conscience means being ready to take on some of the sting of life, feeling a little more tender, maybe even raw. It may be preferable or easier to just go out and numb the pain we already have. And maybe your life does have a lot of pain. And if that's the case, this sermon may well not be for you, at least not in this moment. But if you are willing and have the capacity to move to a deeper level of connection with suffering, the question of why still looms. 
       I think of the enlightened Bodhisattva from the Buddhist tradition who, upon reaching a state of enlightenment and understanding suffering, then and there makes a vow to go back to the human world and work to guide people to the alleviation of their suffering. To choose that is to enter into a world of discomfort. There's a good reason to go back and engage (from whatever state of enlightenment you already have). Taking on some level of discomfort is bearable, especially with the knowledge that the discomfort you take on with a new sense of awareness may help alleviate some actual pain in the lives of others. To my understanding, pain is an order of magnitude stronger than discomfort.
       There's another reason why you might want to develop a more sensitized conscience – spiritual growth. There is always room for increasing our awareness, thereby allowing for a better-informed conscience. I have a brief story to illustrate this point. The first General Assembly I attended was Portland in 2007. I was staying in a hostel 3 miles from the assembly floor. I got on the bus in the morning, and got halfway there, and realized I'd forgotten my name badge. If you forget your name badge, there is no way you can get onto the floor. So I turned around, knowing I would be at least 45 minutes late, and wouldn't be able to make it to any of the workshops during that morning session. And I had an epiphany! There were three different workshops all at the same time I had wanted to attend, and I would've been unable to take in two of them anyway. Missing all three wasn't really that much different, in a way. Right there on the bus I realized that if I were at GA, I wouldn't be able to pay attention to what was going on on the bus! And from there, I realized that we are missing almost everything, all the time. I imagined there were even a million things going on in that bus that I wasn't aware of and would never be aware of. But that's no excuse not to try and pick at least one thing to pay attention to. The key is to prioritize what gets your attention.
So, a second question then is 'How to cultivate a sensitized conscience?' The first step is to be curious. Ask questions – of yourself, and in dialog with others. “What am I experiencing? How do I feel about it? What experiences have I had in the past that lead me to feel this way, and not some other way?” Can you imagine how others with different perspectives, based on different life stories might feel in the same experience? It's easier to do if they're right there in the room sharing the experience with you, especially if you can just ask them.
       A really good way to sensitize is to ask, “What am I missing?” The things on the surface, at least, you and I try to catch. But, as I like to interpret my old taxi dispatcher “Hat” as saying, find out what's under the surface there. When there's a conversation or dialog, it's often more telling to listen into the noise-floor for what's NOT being said, either something that's under the surface, or may actually just be an elephant in the room that people are focusing away from, either consciously or unconsciously. I've learned to know my senses only take me part way. As humans, using our senses, we do not have the ability to see in the Infrared or Ultraviolet light, we cannot hear the high-frequency sounds that dogs can hear, or the 7.8 Hz low-frequency sound of the earth's constant rumble. We do not have the inherent ability to detect radon gas in basements, not can we detect radioactivity. We have to stop and ask, I wonder if there's something I'm missing here, and then go out and get (or devise) an instrument to find out. The same is true with developing a keener sense of conscience.
       So once we do begin to have a more sensitized conscience, what happens? We do, indeed, start having to ask questions of ourselves, and begin calling ourselves into accountability. Accountability is uncomfortable, especially when one is less-than-willing to engage, or not sure how to go about engaging (I have been in both situations myself). You may start to feel guilt or shame for things you've done or left undone, or you may feel fear of what might happen (such as 'doing it wrong') now that you're doing something. Another thing that happens is that we begin to see and feel new nuances from new perspectives, and may feel compelled then to report back on what we've discovered on this free and responsible search for truth and meaning. A sensitized conscience is a very good tool for that search, and practicing the right of conscience may very well be the result of that search.
       There's a sacred text -- actually a rather profane text, but sacred in that it serves a purpose worth studying -- I came across in late-August of this year. In this case, the sacred text was words spoken by Clint Eastwood, at a political convention. I don't mean for this to be a political sermon. In fact, the only way I see it as political is that the root of the word 'politic' refers to “how we choose to be together in community.” Eastwood's way of being in community was quite remarkable, actually.

Near the beginning of his speech, he says: “So I -- so I’ve got Mr. Obama sitting here. And he’s -- I was going to ask him a couple of questions.” I thought to myself, “Is this performance art? Is he acting? He must be acting.”
He went on to ask the silent and invisible man in the chair questions regarding his 2008 promises vs his record regarding Guantanamo and then interrupts himself, saying, “What do you mean shut up?” He continues to ask questions to which the invisible man in the chair remains silent, and then Eastwood interrupts himself again... “I am not going to shut up, it is my turn.” He speaks for a while longer, and interrupts himself again, responding indignantly to the chair... “What do you want me to tell Romney? I can’t tell him to do that. I can’t tell him to do that to himself.” Then later, “I’m sorry. I can’t do that to myself either.”

       I felt so appalled, I had to pause the video. It took me a day or so after experiencing this for my conscience to begin to sort things out. The issue was not with just the words. The real issue I saw was with the process, the way it was done. I can only imagine President Obama sitting with his family in the White House living room, or at work with his staff, watching this pseudo-conversation. Were it me, I would be nonplussed perhaps, and I don't know whether I would be amused or very not amused. Here, Eastwood had brought an imagined likeness of the president, the most powerful man in the world, and dressed him down. He made this man – this African-American man who had been vested with power by over 50% of the voters three years ago – he made him invisible, put him there into the narrative without his permission, and then, of all things – he made this imagined character into the fabled (and fearsome) angry black man, without ever having his invisible man in the chair even speaking a word of his own. For all listening, it was like hearing one end of a telephone conversation – the profanities were unspoken, but they were there to be sure. After almost four years of keeping his cool amid being treated like a second-class president in so many ways -- as if he can't be legitimate, or "our" equal or better than us -- finally somebody had conveyed anger on his behalf, and strangely, it was Clint Eastwood who did so. Wordlessly. Unexpectedly. Without permission.
       What did it mean to me? I still don't fully know. Not without complexifying, by being in conversation. My conscience tells me that what Eastwood did was mean-spirited and unethical, and may eventually somehow serve something good – but at a huge cost. This was not microaggressions, this was aggression. And to be clear, I call this racism. And by shining his light in this way, Eastwood unconsciously gave others permission to do the same. In this sacred text, is a conversation that needs to be had, if we are to come together.
       Throughout this election cycle, and since the results came in, I have been feeling the gravest sense of broken community. Among white people, straight people, and men, with the unacknowledged privilege of being white, or straight, or male, it seems there are large groups of people feeling their privilege slipping away. I see them in fear and anger regarding this change, and believe they are avoiding invitations to come to common ground. I see a power still entrenched, and refusing to let others speak for themselves, instead speaking for them and plastering them with labels.
       With no universal conversation happening, the signal-to-noise ratio is low [the children's story involved exploring the noise floor of various situations with respect to audio recording]. In order to hear each other, to have a conversation that doesn't make the Abby in each of us want to cry, we need to turn the noise down AND come to common ground. Until all parties are ready to come together and talk, however (and some are still not ready), I will be taking my dispatcher's advice, and listening to the radio, trying to find what's underneath and behind this. I want to see more than just the surface of this pain, fear, and anger. And I want to get to a place where we desire to have this conversation not only for the instrumental purpose of creating greater community, but also for the intrinsic value of bringing each person back. to. wholeness.       As one granted privileges in several ways, who seeks to be a better ally, I want our congregation to be ready to call out oppressions wherever we see them. And I don't want the people with dark skin to have to call out their examples of oppressions each time they come. Or the women to call out theirs, or the LGBT folk, or the people who have disabilities, or the people with oppressions marginalized enough that they didn't even make this list. I want us to be sensitized allies, who step up and into the conversations before the persons on the receiving end have to become their own last line of defense. And because I want to honor the dignity of all, when I do step up and speak, I will try not to speak on behalf of others. I will speak for myself. It has taken me a long time to figure that out, and I doubt I still have it completely right. This spiritual growth is a work in process.
       So, now. How to tend a sensitized conscience? The rewarding part is knowing you're coming into closer connection with others, and making room for – as Leslie Takahashi Morris states it – the more gorgeous rainbow world, where there is room for a river of identities. The reward is knowing that in closer connection, you're listening back in time for the seeds (both the wondrous and the tragic) that made them what they are. And you're listening forward in time for the flowers they hope to bloom, that make them do as they do.
       Another way to cope with this new awareness is to know the reason why you chose it. Principle zero – love! – the foundation and predecessor for all our principles. Principle zero says step forward with a spirit of confident love. That spirit of confident love says your still small voice within is not a burden to carry as you make your way, but is a blessing to guide you each and every day. 
       Amen.


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# posted by Rev J D @ 15:16 0 comments

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

 

Nine (9) Important Keys to Real Democratic Elections in the US and Elsewhere

In time for 2016, I am convinced we need a National Election Amendment, including some semblance of the following.  Multipartisan task forces should hash this out and negotiate the details for maximum democratic process.


1. Approval-voting instead of plurality-voting (allows everyone to vote with absolute sincerity, and dismisses the problem of "lesser-of-two-evils" and ALSO eliminates the need for "primaries" and all of the weird distortions caused by insincere voting at that stage); 

 

2. Public money only -- no private donations, or privately-purchased advertisements (allows free speech to be equitable, and mitigates opportunities for candidates/representatives to be corporately-beholden); 


3. Democratically-elected *media*, with ~20% of the FM spectrum dedicated to news and opinion from people we elected (bandwidth and time given according to proportion of popular vote -- allows all people to have their voice heard through representatives in the public media, rather than the overwhelming skew of voices only representing corporate media ownership, and narrowly defining the bounds of discourse);

4. Eliminate electoral college (we're not delivering vote-counts via pony express anymore, and direct voting makes every person's vote count);

5. End to gerrymandering.  Set the congressional district boundaries and keep them as-is until it comes time to add or subtract.  When that happens, each of the significant parties (define at whatever threshold) in the state should get to pick counties in a rotating draft, such that the Republicans get to pick one county for the district of their choosing, then the Dems, then the third party, then R then D, etc, until they're all spoken for.  To simply have dominant state legislatures recreate district lines in ways that secures their continued dominance has an ossifying effect for democracy.
 

6. Consensually-agreed-upon secure voting (either paper or transparent, secure machines with audited paper record) with sufficient resources at every precinct (It's not who votes that counts, its who counts the votes.)  The electronic voting systems frequently used do not in any way merit public trust.

7. Adequate resources for voting.  Nobody should have to wait more than 2 hours to vote.  Ever.   A standardized system.  The secure voting system should be standardized.  Citizens in Florida shouldn't have remarkably different voting experiences than those in Iowa.

8. Penalties for intimidating, harassing, or intentionally misleading anybody about voting should be severe (e.g. 2+ years in prison), and should be enforced.  "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time."
 

9. No term-limits (if representatives are naturally popular, the constituency would suffer if they need to seek somebody else less qualified with less experience).

10. Everyone gets the day off for election day (this allows for people who work long hard hours to have their voice heard)!


Please, get talking in social media, until this framework gets pushed into the mass media. Another quadrennial election cycle with this kind of ramped-up toxicity and inanity, and our nation is kaput.

In order: Approval-voting, no private money, elected media, eliminate electoral college, end gerrymandering, standardized secure equitable voting, term-changes, national holiday.


OR do we not have the political will to establish true democracy and overcome corporate oppression? 


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# posted by Rev J D @ 10:30 0 comments

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

 

Trenchant Commentary on Obama's Performance from Americans for Safe Access (ASA) Director Steph Shearer



Steph Shearer tells the story about the hope Obama gave for positive change on this front, and disappointment of drastic negative bait-and-switch changes so clearly.

Regarding Obama campaigning in 2008: "I went to sleep that night excited about a new direction for this country that would include me as a recognized medical cannabis patient."

Now in 2012: "In fewer than fours years of President Obama, we have seen more raids on dispensaries than during the Bush Administration's entire eight-year tenure. The Obama Administration has taken property from landlords, threatened local officials, forced the release of patient records, used the Internal Revenue Service to bankrupt legitimate dispensaries, told banks to purge medical cannabis clients, evicted patients from low-income housing and denied a petition to recognize the well-established medical value of cannabis."

This is perfidy of the first-order.  The rallies, the political pressure, and the petitions he has either ignored or pooh-poohed.  I'm not a one-issue voter and hate the prospect of Romney in the WH, but while bending the arc of the universe toward justice on many other issues, why did Obama choose to bend it backward in this case, and what are we who care about this issue supposed to do with our vote?

Some reserve hope that he will make changes once he gets a second term, but I think of Lucy, Charlie Brown, and the football, and how the best indicator of future performance is past performance....

I like him in SO MANY WAYS, and just want him to do the right thing here.  Instead he (and most democrats, actually) appears to be kowtowing again and again to corporate sponsors in the pharmaceuticals industry, in oil, in alcohol and tobacco, in law enforcement, and others, who give hundreds of millions to keep things as they are.  The MMJ industry doesn't have that kind of money--they're not even allowed to put their money in banks!--and in today's post-Citizens-United decision, doesn't have access to their inner ear.  In the meantime, Americans for Safe Access is losing access because of this perfidy.


pax hominibus, agape to all, joel

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# posted by Rev J D @ 08:25 0 comments

Thursday, May 31, 2012

 

Why Talk about Cannabis?

A friend on Facebook recently questioned why I have a bug up my butt regarding President Obama's position on cannabis.  Here is my initial response, which I am saving here for later honing toward a more succinct draft:

Regarding your comment, "Cannabis? really?" I am led to believe that it's not really an issue for you?  Our president has also laughed it off several times as a non-issue.  That is most marginalizing to a community of people already in danger of becoming lower than second-class citizens.

In case you consider cannabis to really not be an issue, consider these three things.  First, among the wide diversity of cannabis strains, there is definitely legitimate medicine for many people suffering from MS, Crohn's/IBS, cancer, glaucoma, arthritis and epilepsy.  It is arguably (although less so) medicine for some people with chronic pain/inflammation, anxiety, ADHD, Alzheimer's, and a host of other maladies.  And everyone knows it has side effects, such as euphoria, paranoia (likely amplified by its illegality), lethargy, and short-term memory issues.  Compare those side effects to the cautionary list at the end of your average pharmaceutical commercial, and you may be surprised at what some people consider 'acceptable' side effects.  After giving states the green light in 2009, the Obama Administration has recently done a 170-degree turn on its states' rights policies, and has used the IRS, the DOJ and the DEA to force the businesses with the best practices and the best reputations--operating as model members of their communities, and within the state laws--out of business.  These are not the thug-operations that are basically no better than drug dealers with a lease on a shanty.  They were doing their best to follow state laws, turning people away with incorrect authorization, testing the products for potency and to make sure there are no fungus, mold, or pesticides, and labeling as accurately as possible.  They were/are truly trying to serve those who need it medically.  As the feds attempt to shove it all back underground, those people are running low on quality options.

The second important consideration is that the drug war is: a race war, a class war, and a culture war, all wrapped up into one.  It is not a war on drugs.  It is a selective war on people--our own people.  A quick look around at the arrest, conviction, and incarceration rates can tell you which categories of people are most affected.  People of color, stopped for DWB and a car search that finds a baggie of weed for example, become ensnared in a system that benefits from keeping them ensnared.  The prison-industrial complex is alive and well, privatizing profits while taking our tax dollars, requesting the government to help keep their prisons full!  For more on that, read Michelle Alexander's "The New Jim Crow."  Our nation's young men of color (though probably anybody would do) are worth more to some segments of the investor class behind bars than anywhere else.  Meanwhile, in richer, whiter neighborhoods, people have custom-made marijuana-infused cakes and pastries delivered to their parties.  If caught, they can pay for a good lawyer and get off scot-free like Rush Limbaugh.  That touches on the class and race war elements.  Regarding the culture war, it's no coincidence that the war on drugs started in 1970 on Nixon's watch, directed against the countercultural elements who happened to not only like being intoxicated in this fashion, but were also against Vietnam.  With the rise of the military-industrial complex, we've seen the militarization of the drug war as well.  Not a coincidence.  The poor, the people of color, and the people of the counterculture all have common cause here even if they're from different social locations.  Meanwhile, those who perpetuate the drug war are interested in marginalizing the voices of all of these people.

The third issue is money.   Five hundred leading economists, including Milton Friedman, have stated that it makes clear economic sense to legalize.  Money spent incarcerating people for using a substance safer than alcohol and tobacco is wasted money.  With federal support, however, drug programs are easy money to collect for local law enforcement looking to bolster their budgets.  It's money that goes down the tubes, however.  Putting a person needlessly in prison costs >$30k/year.  Meanwhile, the person who comes out of a punitive prison system is not likely to be a better person, and with a felony on their record, will no longer be as employable to our economy simply because of that mar on their record, and we have another person either struggling at odd jobs, returning to the drug trade (which perhaps they didn't even do before, but now have scarce options), or living on the dole if they can.  Instead of spending that $30k on prisons, it could be spent on educating our youth, or on really rehabilitating and restoring people with real drug problems.  Obama has talked a good game on the benefits of treating the drug problem as a public health issue, but the proof is in the pudding.  As a portion of budget outlay, police intervention is still the lion's share of the strategy.  On the flip-side of the coin, there are arguments that with regulation and taxation, the government could earn a great new revenue stream.  I think that while it could certainly bring in some money--enough to counteract the additional public health costs of legalization--it wouldn't be enough to make a dent in the federal debt, or even in the annual deficit: http://money.cnn.com/2005/06/07/commentary/wastler/wastler/  But $10-20 billion isn't chump change either.  The real money comes indirectly from productivity gains as we are no longer decimating lives, families, and communities with a drug war that has done far more damage domestically and abroad than the drugs themselves could have done.

In the end, the question that needs to be asked is, "WHY are we needlessly creating and maintaining a criminal class, when the law as it stands undercuts people's healthcare options, when it perpetuates economic differences across race, class, and culture, and when it is driving us deeper in debt while supporting a prison industry that shrinks the economy, and not really creating anything of value?"

chant/prayer/mantra: stay on it. pax hominibus, agape to all, joel

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# posted by Rev J D @ 20:51 0 comments

Saturday, December 3, 2011

 

Today's Sermon for the MFC

Salvation Moment by Moment

I'd like to start by finding out how many of you are staying up to date with the Occupy Wall Street movement and to what degree. Please keep your hands down if this is the first you've heard about it. Raise your hands high if you're a part of the OccUUpy group on Facebook and check for messages over lunch on your phone's web browser. And somewhere in the middle if you're somewhere in between. Thank you.

For our nation and our world, this Occupy movement is timely, if not entirely overdue. On a personal level, it could not have come at a less opportune time. While trying to study and prepare for this interview, I have been riveted and driven to distraction by this movement's presence and its way of being in the world, and by the brutal responses from established powers.

I believe my attraction is because the occupy movement is so closely aligned with our UU principles and values. At a recent #OccupyWallSt General Assembly, they proposed a draft for a vision statement so rich and compelling (and unreported in the news),.... I'll devote some time today to share it: We envision: [1] a truly free, democratic, and just society; [2] where we, the people, come together and solve our problems by consensus; [3] where people are encouraged to take personal and collective responsibility and participate in decision making; [4] where we learn to live in harmony and embrace principles of toleration and respect for diversity and the differing views of others; [5] where we secure the civil and human rights of all from violation by tyrannical forces and unjust governments; [6] where political and economic institutions work to benefit all, not just the privileged few; [7] where we provide full and free education to everyone, not merely to get jobs but to grow and flourish as human beings; [8] where we value human needs over monetary gain, to ensure decent standards of living without which effective democracy is impossible; [9] where we work together to protect the global environment to ensure that future generations will have safe and clean air, water and food supplies, and will be able to enjoy the beauty and bounty of nature that past generations have enjoyed. [PAUSE]

I say this movement reflects us politically from our first principle to the seventh. Dignity, right relations, spiritual growth, search for truth, democracy, community, and our Earth. The movement and its process is both life-affirming and energizing—Rev. Jeremy Nickel of the Mission Peak UU congregation in Fremont, CA had this to say about his first experience at the Occupy Oakland general assembly: “What I experienced was something so much deeper and more meaningful than I could have ever expected. For the first time in my life as an American I experienced true democracy. The work had gotten underway about an hour before I arrived. Thousands of people gathered peacefully, centered on a raised area where one person at a time could speak. And since the crowd was far larger than the small speaker system could reach, all the words were repeated by those close enough to hear, and so they radiated out in a slow, gentle echo, a system called "the people's mic." It truly is the sound of people hearing each other.” Nickel later continues: “These General Assemblies are radical little incubators where hundreds of new ideas are being proposed, debated and researched. I have no doubt that a lot is going to come out of this. New people are being motivated and encouraged to participate in our democracy and that can only be a good thing.” [PAUSE]

In my view, this movement is seeking the realization of our Universalist theology. In the 19th century, Christian Universalists such as Hosea Ballou argued about the shape of universal salvation after death—whether everybody would be immediately saved, or whether there would be a limited period of punishment prior to salvation. In the early 20th century, Universalists like Clarence Skinner began moving the conversation away from “otherworldliness” toward a universal salvation during life. This matches my understanding of Jesus' message, “I have come that they may have life more abundantly.” And now as part of this centuries-long process, there is a new movement discovering its new message—and establishing a new voice—trying to democratically create a heaven on earth with room for everyone.

[slow] In stark contrast, we presently have heavens and hells side by side. Like John Calvin's theology made manifest before us, only an elect few enjoy an expanding abundance, while the rest of us are left behind with scarce jobs, wage slavery, and pervading anxiety. As Clarence Skinner wrote: “Vampires still live and grow fat on the blood of human beings—throwing the anemic, skeleton forms into the teeming city to crawl out a wretched 'death-in-life.' All this is hell—-social hell—-men suffering from instituted customs and practices for which society is responsible, which can be eradicated out of the world.”

The people of this occupying community are seeking to change the paradigm from singular competitive personal heavens marked by economic division and individual isolation to a cooperative universal heaven where we realize the interconnected unity of our shared fortune. The Occupiers choose to visibly not participate in an oppressive system reliant on economic and political abuse. That non-participation is a vitally important rejection of the paradigm. It's part of the process.

And process matters! I believe it's important that this movement doesn't miss the mark by seeking redress only for economic issues that generally affect us all. These words from Malcolm X serve as notice of loooongstanding economic oppression: “'Brainwashed blacks'...were raised to believe [in] pie in the sky…while right here on earth, the slavemaster white man enjoyed his heaven.” [fast] I believe Occupy is happening now because the recession and the class oppression are finally causing turmoil in white communities that formerly enjoyed more privilege. As near as I can tell, this movement does not commonly work to address oppressions specific to communities of color. 

Until the stories of those long-oppressed are heard and brought to the center, the movement will not be democratically multicultural, and will be weaker as a result. I don't mean this as a condemnation of mistakes. I mean this as a process—an opportunity for learning and for practicing a beloved community with improving character. Unitarian Universalism is familiar with this story. We struggled in the civil rights era, and still do. Over time many of our congregations have begun the work of becoming anti-racist institutions. I believe that growing our anti-oppressive voices into the conversation—both as allies and people of color—will strengthen the movement and allow for a more diverse unity, and a wider heaven truly for ALL.

Because what is at stake? The very future of a common heaven. And the force of the Occupy movement is under attack and threat from several angles. Of course it is. The corporate system of power, greed and corruption will use every tool available in its arsenal to reassert itself. With militarized police, it attacks protesters and tears up camps that often include the only homes of some otherwise homeless people. It focuses its mass media on spin and PR, ignoring authentic conversation. It changes laws to push the struggle to its favor until the lie shines through.

Anti-oppression training teaches us that after a change agent or insurgency asserts itself, established power will reassert itself to clarify its values as primary. I hope with my heart that the Occupy movement is poised to reassert itself again and again through any means available. I look forward to bolstering their strength. I want to negotiate for the restoration of a loving mended fabric of connected humanity, fit considerately onto the natural fabric of this world. We stand to gain the realization of ancient dreams coming alive in our world....

In the words of author Charles Eisenstein, in his essay Who Will Collect the Garbage?: “One characteristic of this world will be that each person will have recovered a very basic, simple birthright: to wake up in the morning excited and happy [smile with eyes] about your work for the day. We will be in love with what we do; in other words, we will all... be... artists.”

In closing, I pray that we may each find our art and make it our livelihood. And may we find common ground to stand together. And may we see one another eye to eye [eye contact] in a diverse and loving community based on siblinghood and sustaining joy.

Amen, and blessed be.

pax hominibus, agape to all, joel

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# posted by Rev J D @ 09:46 0 comments

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

 

Excited about the recent #OccupyWallSt Vision Statement

Pic from here.


"You can't evict an idea whose time has come!" 

I first came across this OccupyWallSt list of points when Michael Moore copied it to his own post which was on a link from the OccUUpy group on Facebook. (Funny how information gets around.)







Anyway, here is the text of the most recent draft:
We Envision: [1] a truly free, democratic, and just society; [2] where we, the people, come together and solve our problems by consensus; [3] where people are encouraged to take personal and collective responsibility and participate in decision making; [4] where we learn to live in harmony and embrace principles of toleration and respect for diversity and the differing views of others; [5] where we secure the civil and human rights of all from violation by tyrannical forces and unjust governments; [6] where political and economic institutions work to benefit all, not just the privileged few; [7] where we provide full and free education to everyone, not merely to get jobs but to grow and flourish as human beings; [8] where we value human needs over monetary gain, to ensure decent standards of living without which effective democracy is impossible; [9] where we work together to protect the global environment to ensure that future generations will have safe and clean air, water and food supplies, and will be able to enjoy the beauty and bounty of nature that past generations have enjoyed.

What excites me about this? Any visionary counter-statement from those who would instead be corporate overlords will pale in comparison if it even dares to mention money.  This vision statement, and this movement are an idea whose time has come, democratically and wondrously.  Seems that the tyranny of "power-over" only knows how to respond with more and greater tyranny.



lyrics: "Home, home on the range, where the deer and the antelope play.  Where seldom is heard a discouraging word, and the skies are not cloudy all day.  How often at night when the heavens are bright with the light from the glittering stars, have I stood there amazed and asked as I gazed if their glory exceeds that of ours.  
(Thanks, Gramster Hamster!)


colors: red, white, blue, green, yellow, orange, purple, black, indigo. 
mood: really okay.  a little stressed over an upcoming career interview. 
chant/prayer/mantra: om, om on the range.... 

pax hominibus, agape to all, joel

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# posted by Rev J D @ 19:27 0 comments

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

 

#OccupyWallStreet first statement

It took the OWS folks a couple weeks to come up with anything to tell people about why they are doing a permanent sit-in.  I'm attaching the entirety of the text here as a mirror.


This was unanimously voted on by all members of Occupy Wall Street last night, around 8pm, Sept 29. It is our first official document for release. We have three more underway, that will likely be released in the upcoming days: 1) A declaration of demands. 2) Principles of Solidarity 3) Documentation on how to form your own Direct Democracy Occupation Group. This is a living document. you can receive an official press copy of the latest version by emailing c2anycga@gmail.com.

Declaration of the Occupation of New York CityAs we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies.

As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power. We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these facts be known.

They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage.


They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses.

They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one’s skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation.

They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization.

They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless nonhuman animals, and actively hide these practices.

They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions.

They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right.

They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay.

They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility.

They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance.

They have sold our privacy as a commodity.

They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press.

They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit.

They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce.

They have donated large sums of money to politicians supposed to be regulating them.

They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil.

They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people’s lives in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantive profit.

They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit.

They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media.

They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts about their guilt.

They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad.

They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas.

They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government contracts.*

To the people of the world,
We, the New York City General Assembly occupying Wall Street in Liberty Square, urge you to assert your power.

Exercise your right to peaceably assemble; occupy public space; create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutions accessible to everyone.

To all communities that take action and form groups in the spirit of direct democracy, we offer support, documentation, and all of the resources at our disposal.

Join us and make your voices heard!

*These grievances are not all-inclusive.


I SUPPORT these statements.  They do not pre-empt the opportunity for inclusive action, while leveling their truth against the system that has done so much harm against humanity and our planet.

. . lyrics: colors: mood: chant/prayer/mantra: pax hominibus, agape to all, joel

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# posted by Rev J D @ 07:32 0 comments

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