Labels: Community, ecology, sustenance, theology, Universalism

Labels: guitar, inter-faith, John 3:17, music, prayer, song material, tattoos, technology, theological sources, theology, Universalism

Someone asked me if I might talk about the eschaton made immanent. That's hard to do in two minutes. Actually it's not hard to say, but it is hard to be.

I believe the eschaton becomes personally immanent with the enlightenment of knowing what we can know and then believing and acting from that awareness. It is engaged connection from our innermost selves. It means opening up to the world in a spirit of vulnerability and faith, confidence and grace.

Labels: sermons, theology, Universalism

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A list of all available videos from UU GA is here.

A session from a truly inclusive humanist about the connection between folklore, religion, and raising children is here.

"My kids know what I believe and why, and I think that's important. I've had people say to me every once in a while, 'I really don't want to indoctrinate my kids so they don't even know what I believe.' That's a mistake! I don't think we need to hide ourselves from our kids. You are not indoctrinating as long as you then turn around to them and make it clear what you want them to do.

My kids will know that I invited them to turn over every rock and question every assumption. And that's all I would ever ask of a theistic parent--that they share the experience of their faith and say 'Here's what I believe with all my heart, it's very important to me, and I think it's true, but these are things each person has to decide for herself.

And I want you to talk to people who have different beliefs so you can make up your own mind. You can change your mind a hundred times. There's no penalty for getting it wrong, and I will love you no less if you end up believing differently from me."

Here is an excellent session on the past and future of our UU theologies by former UUA president John Buehrens, and Starr King President Rebecca Parker, one of my favorite professors. There is also an article on Earth as Paradise at UU World magazine by Rebecca here.

The Ware Lecture this year was delivered by former Vice-Presidential candidate Winona LaDuke.

Some great handouts on personal and institutional discernment available here.



pax hominibus,
agape to all,
joel

Labels: Humanism, personal bookmarks, religious community, theology, Universalism

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Here is a satellite's eye view of the deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest.

I just thought I'd leave a note here on my blog that I saw it. It looks like one helluva scar, 100 miles wide by 400 miles long. One big scar, about the size of Kentucky!



And another view of an area called Ruropolis (I wonder who named it that?)


Where does all that wood GO TO??? Is the land usable after it's been clear-cut?

chant/prayer/mantra: For our home, Earth. May we see fit to bless it and save it and all its creatures from ourselves, before it pays us back.


pax hominibus,
agape to all,
joel

Labels: economics, environment, interconnected web, theological sources, Universalism

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 Today, I worked back through two months of mostly-read email to look for stragglers, and came across one with a link to wordle.net.  I went there and pasted in the text from my Christ, Krishna, Buddha class term paper, and made some word clouds.

Labels: art, Christianity, christology, metaphor, Multitheticalism, theology, Universalism

Here is something I posted on a slashdot poll the other day, which asked, "Who is to blame for the US financial situation?" I was responding to someone who blamed the American Dream. It's the first thing I've ever posted there that got modded to +5:

What we need is for people to start redefining the American dream.

Here's a start:

1. A modest two-bedroom home (house, apartment, or condo) within walking distance of a municipal train line powered by electricity.

2. A home that is energy efficient, and powered by local power off the grid.

3. A job within half-hour's travel from one's home. (Perhaps by electric car/scooter/motorized skateboard, but preferrably by public transport or bicycle.)

4. A grocery store with good produce, and some good restaurants, all within walking distance.

5. And a 30-hour work week.

6. A cute puppy, if you're into that sort of thing.

7. A modest wardrobe of clothes that you really like, with a classic style that matches you, so you don't need to buy into next year.

8. Three or four pairs of good shoes (dress, sports, knockabout, boots).

9. Well-maintained and funded municipal lending libraries and public workshops for tools, so that not everybody needs to own a reciprocating saw and a compound miter saw for those once-a-year projects, or try to set up and maintain their own home recording studio. (If you're super-serious about that avocation, then yes, you have your own private workshop out back, but often, owning and maintaining your own is more of a hassle and a waste of resources.)

10. A clean and safe park within walking distance.

11. An electric guitar or piano or something of your own to cherish, that reflects an authentic manifestation of your true self and your avocation.

12. An internet connection that is as robust as a phone or electrical connection, and secure, and as simple to access as a (70s-style) television.

13. A community, a job, and a government that supports me more and counts on me, but doesn't exploit me.

14. A partner and friends to enjoy life with.

That, to me, is the American dream. I could care less about impressing you that I'm keeping up with the Joneses. I'd rather impress you by being me, and by allowing you to be you.

While I offer that as a hope and as a new vector for us all to pursue, I recognize a few things:

First, it would require a little bit of reengineering our politics, government, and economy, so that we could establish these "sharing" things. It would also require a little bit of backtracking with respect to the draconian pursuit of individual achievement in the USA.

Second, this is not just a dream for the USA. This is something I'd like to see for everyone alive in the world.

Third, we may need to cut that dream back even more, unless we can get our population down a bit further. My list, while much more modest than the old American dream, may still not be sustainable, especially when we consider the trees, the bees, and the orangutans. Read Sustainability by John Cobb for more info on where I'm coming from.

And fourth, this is just my vision of how things ought to be, and I haven't elaborated on many of the complexities of these goals, so please try not to read in arguments against them or support them without spending a little time thinking of what they might mean to you, and what kind of backstory I would add in support of these goals.

lyrics: "Angel flying too close to the ground." -Willie Nelson

chant/prayer/mantra: "Change is coming. Now is my time." From Forty-six and 2, by Tool.


pax hominibus,
agape to all,
joel

Labels: heaven on earth, pax hominibus/bright shiny future, renewable energy, slashdot, sustenance, theology, tool, Universalism, USA

First, my sweetie asked what was up with the last post -- x(-1)...x(1.5)...x(3). She said it was nutty and nonsensical. Then again, she hasn't been studying Christology the last few weeks.

My basic response is: A) the nomenclature may actually be better as x-sub-n (with the n running from -1 to 3 and being a subscript, rather than expressed within the parens. B) the numbers -1 through 3 are mostly just to convey the general order of the expressions of the christos/logos, beginning with an initial kiss upon wisdom, and at x(0) being that wisdom incarnate in an unfriendly environment, and all positive numbers seeking to retrain the environment and grow in it such that the entire environmental context becomes the logos itself.
If that didn't make sense, perhaps we're going to have a bit of a longer sit-down to discuss this, because my model does make certain assumptions that take the original ideas of Arius and Origen into a more Universalist vector.... Stages x(2) and especially x(3) are represented by these words from US forefather James Madison:

"If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary."

I'm not sure why he leaves out women. Perhaps they are already angels? Um, probably not across the board.


The second thing she asked about was "What does the Mary Tyler Moore theme (referred to in the title bar of this page) have to do with anything?" It's basically a message of hope that me and you and Mary are going to make it. Well, here's the lyrics:

Who can turn the world on with her smile?
Who can take a nothing day, and suddenly make it all seem worthwhile?
Well it's you girl, and you should know it
With each glance and every little movement you show it

Love is all around, no need to waste it
You can have a town, why don't you take it
You're gonna make it after all
You're gonna make it after all

How will you make it on your own?
This world is awfully big, girl this time you're all alone
But it's time you started living
It's time you let someone else do some giving

Love is all around, no need to waste it
You can have a town, why don't you take it
You're gonna make it after all
You're gonna make it after all

lyrics: see above.

colors: a flashing rainbow .gif (I just drew a new tattoo design yesterday, based on the mathematical proof element "And then a miracle occurs!" (I have no idea what's going on with that second link, but found it interesting that there was a seven-pointed star there.) When I get the chance, I'll upload my pic, hopefully.

mood: eh.

chant/prayer/mantra: a little prayer for positive communication.


pax hominibus,
agape to all,
joel

Labels: Christianity, christology, pastoral care, tattoos, technology, theological sources, Universalism

x=logos=christ

x(-1) is the one who learns to taste the creator's wisdom for the first time (adam and eve, the first person to make a wheel, or matches, the first person to sell land, or split the atom)*
x(0) is th one who knows and speaks the understood nature of the creator's wisdom/logos (zoroaster, moses, some OT prophets, mohammad)
x(1) is th one who learns to incarnate it and manifests it (krishna, buddha, socrates, jesus, hypatia, joan-of-arc, mlk, saoshyant?)
x(1.5) is th one who basks in the afterglow of the incarnate (gospel writers, disciples, paul, saints, promise-keepers)
x(2) is th one who can speak and manifest it without punishment or remonstrance
(saoshyant)
x(3) is th one who can live it freely and naturally (saoshyant, along with a not-too distant future generation) (post Glory of Romans 8.)

*th enumerations within parens are not meant to be exhaustive, only examples

chant/prayer/mantra: may we enter the unravelment of the Zoroastrian eschaton, and all be of one ousia with the saoshyant.

i know that may all sound nutty and high-falutin', but really its just fancy theological talk, for "let's get past this, and get along, and get it on to happening, eh?"

pax hominibus,
agape to all,
joel

Labels: Book of Romans, Christianity, christology, heaven on earth, parousia, pax hominibus/bright shiny future, theology, Universalism

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...

...is acceptable to me.

Makes reference to
"There is [now no distinction] neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is not male [a]and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus." from Galatians 3:28. That and Romans 8:18-25 are about all the Paul I can take, however. Too toxic. Paul gets two points for two good pericope samples. Although this one kind of has a yonic invasive quality to it, it might be difficult to deal with for some folks who've been through certain Christian damage events, or who simply don't appreciate the violation of being hoovered into a giant wicker basket.

lyrics: Eddie Izzard, talking about the Stoics, on "Circle".

colors: blue, orange, and yellow, for an angel education picture i drew earlier today.

mood: metatronic, bionic, embryonic

chant/prayer/mantra: be. do. have (only a little). enjoy.


pax hominibus,
agape to all,
joel

Labels: anti-oppression, Book of Romans, classism, coursework, equal rights, freedom versus freedom, heaven on earth, Multitheticalism, parousia, racism, theological sources, Universalism, Women's Rights

If I had the energy, I would be blogging on:

1. Senator Obama's recent resounding speech in Berlin, coupled with the ColorOfChange.org's petition to Fox News (rejected, BTW) to stop being racist. And Fox News' new ploy to call MoveOn.org (related somehow to ColorOfChange.org) 'the new Klan'. Buh??????? As a person who majored in psychology, I will ask, "Project much?"

2. How awesome is it that Texas is plunking down several billion dollars to connect wind energy to the electrical grid, and hopefully other stuff? And also, that GM is pushing to get electrical charging infrastructure set up in many communities around the country, in support of the 2010 release of their electric hybrid car called Volt? (Though big demerits to them for trying to be proprietary about it, and wanting to charge an extra $500 for electric vehicles produced by other companies to get a converter.)

3. The ongoing "trickle down" theory going on with respect to the housing loan travesty. The assumption by those advocates is that by bailing out the big centralized banks, it will somehow help the end user. Sheesh! And with the method of the bailout being related to tax dollars propping up Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, we are finally seeing the black hole that will consume the U.S. economy. This stands to be a very painful event horizon, and I am afraid our nation's economic might has been badly wounded by the Bush Administration's borrow and spend policies (News today: $482 Billion deficit predicted for 2009).

4. My ongoing experience working at a state mental health facility this summer. It has been intense, and deeply instructional. I am seeing mental illness, and spiritual illness, in a whole new light. At the same time, it has been devastating hearing the stories and seeing the conditions of some of the people there, as a result of parents and family, organic brain damage, religiously-based delusions (that run along a continuum), drug abuse, abandonment, stress, and a system that doesn't have the political will to deal properly with mental illness. Along with the prison system, our mental health system could use a lot more support, and some serious reform, bordering on abolition, because our current system is very much still punitive and not designed to be restorative. I'm not happy to say that the prison system sees minimum sentencing laws and recidivism as good for business. I'm also not happy to say that the prison business is not good for the inmates, the correctional officers, or the communities with prisons.

5. The big thing to comment on, that I can barely begin is the hostile shooting with a shotgun at a UU church in Tennessee, by a man who was upset about not having a job, and blaming the "liberals and the gays." This, shortly after the supreme court took the time out to further validate the second amendment. I can't even begin, other than to pray for healing. Healing for everyone involved. Healing of the whole. When I heard that it was an usher who jumped in front of the gunman who was one of the ones who died, it finally brought me to tears.

When time allows, I hope to do a bit more research and reflection and get a bit more detailed on all this.

lyrics:
"Time to bring it down again.
Don't just call me pessimist.
Try and read between the lines.
I can't imagine why you wouldn't
Welcome any change, my friend."
-Aenima, by Tool

colors: light brown, the color worn by all of the "Individuals" in the "Secure Treatment Area" (behind the razor wire fence and multi-port gate) at Napa State Hospital.

mood: soul tired

chant/prayer/mantra: May the people of this world, and of this world's religions, and this world's politics, and the world's cultures, come together and be made whole, and allow for authenticity without harm or intentional transgression. And may there be grace. Amen.


pax hominibus, (for now and the future)
agape to all,
joel

Labels: changing the prison paradigm, Christianity, freedom versus freedom, mental health issues, oppression, paradigm shift, politics, racism, renewable energy, Satan/devil, Universalism

If you had any doubts about the sincerity of Google.org's good intents, they are all but put to rest by this official Google team post, which conveniently doubles as a press release of sorts.

While its usually not good to be entirely trusting and naive about anything, if I had to throw in with any corporate entity, Google might likely be my best bet. A PR-related press release is one thing, but the fact that they are bringing in some heavy-hitters from all sorts of industries says to me that they are serious about making good things happen.

And I find it intriguing that they are looking to hire a team of people who meet some seriously high minimum requirements (advanced econ or public policy degree, mathematical prowess, 15+ or 7+ years experience in the field, depending on the position) to address "Poverty and Sustainable Development" in their business model.

When they're looking for a generalist or a minister, maybe I'll be there.

Though I'm slightly troubled -- only slightly. In one of the job opening requirements, they state, "Our mission is to accelerate growth and positive social impact using market-based, entrepreneurial approaches that promote sustainable economic growth and empowerment." I wonder what if in our present world "sustainable" and "economic growth" don't go together, at least without a lot of twisting and bending? I can see areas of the world where there will definitely *need* to be economic growth in the future, but I hope their model of economic growth is an order of magnitude better than the Dow-Jones-worshiping "Growth-for-growth's-sake" mentality that has been subjecting our world to some pretty futile actions for some time now.

Note that the verse (Amplified Bible)linked to previously states, "nature (creation) itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and corruption [and gain an entrance] into the glorious freedom of God's children." As a Universalist minister, that brings joy to my heart. Once we get a good working defn of "God's children," and elaborate enough so as to bring a well-grounded understanding into the mix, we end up with a declaration that we here on Earth are going to start doing right, and in so doing, transcend the common shackles of humanity that have hounded us for millennia. THAT will be an exciting time. In the meantime, "GO TEAM!"

lyrics: Pixies - Gigantic

mood: tired

colors: color of my cat sitting next to me, or maybe purple and green again.


agape to everyone,
and pax hominibus,
joel

Labels: Book of Romans, Capitalism, economics, google, parousia, Universalism