Conviction is a Gift

I listened to Jane Goodall speak about her latest Book of Hope. I enjoyed how she navigated the interviewer’s questions and stated that all of her books are about hope. I loved how she handily dispensed claims that animals are not sentient beings with the kindness of one who understands that empathy is a strength of being human. I appreciate her unrelenting ability to share her life’s experiences in hopes of awakening another’s aspirations.  And I am grateful that she never gives up.

As long as breath is given we have the responsibility to be fully alive.  Luckily there are many around us who take that responsibility seriously. They can see the precipice on which we stand but are unwilling to succumb to negativity and hopelessness. They cut a path that makes it easier for each of us to be our better self. To these people every season is the season of giving. Every day is a day to rejoice. Every being a welcomed teacher; every moment can be full of discovery.

Another great inspiration of our time is Prem Rawat. He is known as the Ambassador of Peace after a lifetime encouraging people towards self-knowledge. Like Goodall, Prem’s message comes from experience as he champions our humanity. His newly released book, Hear Yourself, touches hearts with clarity, courage and simplicity. 

Conviction born of knowing is a gift. It would be foolish to believe that it is meant for only a few. We all have the ability to tap into the great wonders of being alive. We all have a responsibility to be fully human. What an amazing transformation awaits humanity as we each come closer to knowing our full potential. Take time for this, friends. We are worthy.

In memory of bell hooks…thank you for cutting trails…

The Sovereign Ruler

The development of robotic killing machines is underway. One step beyond drone systems, these robots will take killing entirely out of human hands. Artificial intelligence, sensors and algorithms will determine the victims and the kill. This is not science fiction. About thirty countries are banning this new warfare before it becomes widely available and they’re asking others to do the same.

But we live in the United States, the country with the most to protect: our interference in other countries’ governments, our sale of arms to friends and foe, our willingness to keep the Pentagon and its secrets as top priority. There’s no surprise that the United States is rejecting the request to ban this warfare and is instead asking for rules of engagement and “codes of conduct”.  We are taking the lead in researching killer robots along with Russia, Israel, South Korea and India. Good luck managing death with “codes of conduct”.

The callousness of our ability to kill, to make excuses for the killing and to look away with ease has crept into every aspect of our society. Fear of other, vigilante self-defense and the need for power is crippling us. 

Not surprisingly, we’re being warned to take care of our mental health and while that is a good and worthy sentiment, it’s hard to live in such a desperate world and remain sane.

But we can and we must. There’s nothing normal in this lust for power and the willingness to kill. There is nothing human in spending billions on the Pentagon while people go hungry and homeless.

Someone recently asked me, “How can you know these things and not despair?” The answer is simple: the human heart remains my sovereign ruler and peace needs only to be given a chance. We can do this.

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“The Heart is the emperor, the supreme controller. The Heart is the fire at the center of our being, from which the spirit radiates.” 
-Neijing Suwen (Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine)

The Huangdi Neijing (given the title The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Medicine in one of the latest translations) is an ancient treatise on health and disease said to have been written by the famous Chinese emperor Huangdi around 2600 BC.

Decolonize

There’s a lot of talk these days about decolonizing. Decolonize our food, decolonize our wardrobe, decolonize our minds and on. We are learning what colonization meant and means to indigenous people the world over and it is a hideous legacy. 

And I keep coming back to this: We were all indigenous once. We all came from people who lived on the land, wherever that land might have been. Some of us are closer to it, but to many it’s no longer a living memory. I think there is a tremendous loss in this disconnect from the land, from the smells, the tastes, and the community. I would venture that the root of the violence we witness, the persistence of the patriarchy and the rise of greed all stem from the loss of our indigenous nature. 

I was a fortunate one. I can remember my grandmother’s garden. I can remember the sweetness of the fruit and the smell of baking bread.

Those memories continue to guide my choices. I want to decolonize. I want the freedom that comes from not fearing dirt. I want the vibrant health that comes from good clean food. I want to protect my water because I know that it is life giving. And most of all I want that for all of us.

I long for community that does not promote “the divide”. I want to be human first. The rest will take care of itself.  

To decolonize means to take back our humanity. Let’s relinquish our belief that power is dominant and a necessary evil. It doesn’t have to be.

Being human is the greatest power.

We can rekindle our relationship to the earth and one another. It’s not too late to call back the memories. Let this be our time.

Contemplation

Tis the season of giving and the season of gratitude, light gives way to dusk, dusk to darkness and if we are not trying to escape, it’s a perfect time for contemplation.  Contemplation is not worry. It is a pause from the ordinary to reclaim the extraordinary. It’s a gift we give to ourselves in answer to a call that comes from deep within. And if we are fortunate contemplation is more feeling than words.

There is a silence within us that welcomes us home. 

Gratitude wells up there. It arises when we take full stock of all the Good that has come to us and through us. And it arises for no reason at all.

Often the whirlwind of circumstance carries us away but then sometimes by chance and sometimes by purpose we are reminded.

Life is a gift.

It is worthy of our recognition, worthy of our gratitude and worthy of our attention.

We offer up days to celebrate and give thanks. We invite loved ones and strangers into these moments and we hold these times as special and sacred. I have always had a hard time with that – the designation of a day or an hour for celebrating life. 

It has always seemed to me that everyday should hold that celebration, that accountability towards all we dearly love. 

What a difference could be made in this too often cruel world, if more of us would take the time…extend this time of thanks  – even just a bit more.

Be well friends. Seek Gratitude. Share Love and take time for Contemplation

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

I don’t have a TV, haven’t for many years. So watching the hotel’s six news outlets gave me a glimpse at the BS streaming in most homes on a daily basis. 

The Rittenhouse trail has gone to deliberation.  Pundits from all sides regurgitate what their team wants to hear. Heated arguments among the few gathered outside the courthouse are spotlighted. And if you blinked you missed the interfaith clergy praying near-by for sanity and sanctity to prevail. Just not sexy enough for airtime. 

More importantly, witnessing people standing for peace could unite more people for peace and unity doesn’t serve our war minded economy. Divisiveness is ignorance and very abundant these days.

So I woke up in Liberal, Kansas and found myself remembering a song of relevance, “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”. Gil Scott-Heron wrote the prophetic lyrics in 1971 chastising the trance that has immobilized our people.

The revolution will not be televised. It will be lived and told by the living.

I also listened to a zoom conversation by The Center, an LGBTQ advocacy in La Crosse. They hosted three Black youth who have grown weary of hearing the “N” word as they walk the halls of their high school. And made wearier by the inertia of an administration unwilling or unable to help them. 

The youth were clear. Perhaps the most important take away was the straightforward, “We’re not here to fix people who don’t get it. We’re here to help one another.” With their conviction, I am sure they will, because the revolution will not be televised. It will be lived and told by the living for the living.

CUSH

WISDOM

Lyrics

You will not be able to stay home, brother
You will not be able to plug in, turn on and cop out
You will not be able to lose yourself on skag
And skip out for beer during commercials, because
The revolution will not be televised

The revolution will not be televised
The revolution will not be brought to you
By Xerox in four parts without commercial interruptions
The revolution will not show you pictures of Nixon blowing a bugle
And leading a charge by John Mitchell, General Abrams, and Spiro Agnew
To eat hog maws confiscated from a Harlem sanctuary
The revolution will not be televised

The revolution will not be brought to you by the Schaefer Award Theatre
And will not star Natalie Woods and Steve McQueen or Bullwinkle and Julia
The revolution will not give your mouth sex appeal
The revolution will not get rid of the nubs
The revolution will not make you look five pounds thinner, because
The revolution will not be televised, brother

There will be no pictures of you and Willie Mae
Pushing that shopping cart down the block on the dead run
Or trying to slide that color TV into a stolen ambulance
NBC will not be able predict the winner
At 8:32 on report from twenty-nine districts
The revolution will not be televised

There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down brothers on the instant replay
There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down brothers on the instant replay
There will be no pictures of Whitney Young
Being run out of Harlem on a rail with a brand new process
There will be no slow motion or still lifes of Roy Wilkins
Strolling through Watts in a red, black, and green liberation jumpsuit
That he has been saving for just the proper occasion

“Green Acres”, “Beverly Hillbillies”, and “Hooterville Junction”
Will no longer be so damn relevant
And women will not care if Dick finally got down with Jane
On “Search for Tomorrow”
Because black people will be in the street looking for a brighter day
The revolution will not be televised

There will be no highlights on the eleven o’clock news
And no pictures of hairy armed women liberationists
And Jackie Onassis blowing her nose
The theme song will not be written by Jim Webb or Francis Scott Keys
Nor sung by Glen Campbell, Tom Jones, Johnny Cash
Engelbert Humperdinck, or The Rare Earth
The revolution will not be televised

The revolution will not be right back
After a message about a white tornado
White lightning, or white people
You will not have to worry about a dove in your bedroom
The tiger in your tank, or the giant in your toilet bowl
The revolution will not go better with Coke
The revolution will not fight germs that may cause bad breath
The revolution will put you in the driver’s seat

The revolution will not be televised
Will not be televised
Will not be televised
Will not be televised
The revolution will be no re-run, brothers
The revolution will be live

What Will Be Our Legacy?

In 1933, Franklin Roosevelt established the Civilian Conservation Corps. Over nine years the CCC employed 3 million men giving relief to the unemployed during the Great Depression. They created 700 new state parks and planted 3.5 billion trees on land destroyed by fires, clear cutting and did a lot more. We still benefit from much of what they accomplished. 

Currently, I am enjoying a cabin in the Ozarks built by the CCC. I have walked the trails they cut here and those at home at Devil’s Lake State Park. They created a ninety-year legacy that still gives to us.

In sharp contrast an international gathering of world leaders is wrapping up its 26th yearly meeting. These gatherings were created to keep the planet safe from human mismanagement. But far from the visionary and swift action taken by those who implemented the CCC, the COP meetings have yielded little in the way of legacy. Instead we are told that military emissions should be exempt from national emissions scrutiny. And the meetings have remained elite and aloof to people – primarily indigenous – already suffering the effects of climate change. There are more oil reps in the COP meetings than people who are losing homelands and livelihoods due to our reluctance to change.

The failure to listen to indigenous people has driven us here. The concept “to the conqueror goes the spoils” must end. For those who say, “It’s too late.” You are also not listening. Yes, it will take a mammoth effort to end the use of fossil fuels, but it can be done. One step. Take one step to reduce consumption and take the larger step to demand that leadership reverses course. 

We can and we must. 

White Rock Mountain, Arkansas. One of over 700 state parks created by the CCC in its 9 year history. What will be our legacy?

Diversity, Inclusion and Equity

Our local paper reported on a recent school board meeting. During public comments a representative from “Education, not Propaganda” explained that words like “diversity, inclusion and equity” should not be taught to our children.

Hmmm. I always thought those words were used to champion our collective humanity. You know the “one people, one race” ideal. It appears that brotherly love is taking another hit these days, as is the notion of learning from our past so as not to repeat it.

The new bandwagon is demanding that school boards whitewash our history replacing facts with fiction. They have taken a page from Steve Bannon’s playbook and are punishing school board members who violate what they consider to be conservative principles. They are threatening members, shutting down school board meetings, and forcing their propaganda wherever they can. 

My father was a conservative. He fought the Nazi’s in WWII. He honored freedom of speech and applauded my willingness to explore critical thinking on all subjects. I don’t think he would look kindly on this ill wind blowing across our land. I think he would fear it. I know he would fight it. 

But since he’s not here, I’ll honor his legacy by taking up the fight. There are numerous statewide organizations leading the way towards reconciliation and equity. Among them is a Christian interfaith organization called Wisconsin Counsel of Churches. Their latest effort is called “Taking a Faithful Stance for Equity”. 

And although I do not profess a faith, I signed up to take a stand. 

The time is long gone to sit idle thinking everything will be ok. It is not OK. But it is within our power to make it right.  “Diversity, inclusion and equity” should be our mantra until they are understood and until they are lived.

Check out these Wisconsin faith organizations countering ignorance and hate:

Wisdom

Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice

The photo is from “Taking a Faithful Stance for Equity”

Choose the Green Path

The United Nations Climate Summit begins November first and is already being pronounced a failure. World leaders are declining attendance, covid is ramping up and the costs to produce and attend the two-week conference are steadily climbing out of reach – as is the warming of the earth.

This moment of uncaring has been brought to you by decades of lies and by greed that has known no bounds. This precarious moment has been fueled by cynicism and steered by a dominant culture that cares not for the earth or for people, but prides itself on how much it can take and how quickly.

I once learned that the original people of this land referred to the colonizers as “fat takers”. I don’t know if it was so, but it seems applicable today. Fat takers: the ones who skimmed the cream off the top, who took the best at any cost. No vision of the future for themselves or for their progeny. No care for the earth or for replacing what they stole. This mindset has led generations and the bill of sales is now being laid on our table to be paid. And it is a bill we cannot pay if we continue on the path of the scorched earth.

Frightening people with statistics is not working. And we’ve grown numb hearing about increased fires, hurricanes, volcanic eruptions and other abnormalities – unless it’s happening to us.

Waiting for world leaders to act is a kicking of the can. It gives us someone to blame, but that’s all. No, this moment requires all of us. Humankind must stop allowing greed to govern. We must find our compassion and our empathy, and fall in love with the earth once more. The green path is waiting.

Our Human Family

The covid pandemic has not brought the clarion call one hoped would bring the people of the word together. Instead, driven by fear and division we’ve been dazzled by lies rather than unity.

Later this month world leaders will meet in Glasgow, Scotland to discuss the larger concern of climate change. For those with the ability to glean the rapid changes the earth is undergoing and the harm that it’s causing people, we can hope for swift and decisive action. But hope may not be enough to sway money driven politics to change the policies that have brought us to this point.

The media has finally loosened its tongue on the dire consequences we face if the earth continues to grow hotter. But many of us are still cushioned by the fossil fuel lull of cheap heat, water at the ready, and air-conditioned lifestyles. Too many are not prepared to reduce the consumption of what they believe is living the “good life”. 

We have not yet understood that we’re part of a larger human family. And by some estimates a quarter of our family are already suffering the result of climate change in lack of water and food. Eighty -five percent of the world’s population have been affected by human-induced climate change. Human beings are on the move to find new and better ways to survive. But our borders, our fears and our inability to change habits and to share are leading to extreme conditions for many. Too many of the human family are needlessly suffering. And hope and prayers alone will not change the course we have chosen.

It’s time for a revival of the human spirit; time to remember the human family and to respect our home, the earth that is capable of feeding all of us. That is the indigenous understanding we all need to remember and accept.

photo – a logo by Eigenes Werk, August 7, 2006 – under Creative Commons shared license

Your Fighting Spirit

Never give up your fighting spirit and learn from others who refuse to conform. 

I had an older cousin who spent the last four decades of her life in a wheel chair. In her early twenties she was paralyzed from muscular dystrophy and could barely move her hands or her head. The first time I learned of her, it was because I heard her voice singing in church. It was a strong and clear voice. It embodied love. When I realized the powerful voice I heard had come from her seemingly broken body, I was amazed. 

She then became my Sunday school teacher. She was devout to her faith, but what I witnessed in her was an unyielding ability to be true to her self. She didn’t tolerate sympathy, because she did not feel lacking. She was not satisfied with Sunday worship alone; she lived her faith and cared for those less fortunate. Many a Saturday I spent ripping sheets apart and rewrapping them to be sent to lepers’ colonies. Many more were spent volunteering at a local Down’s syndrome home – under her supervision. Simply put, she was a powerhouse. 

Her fighting spirit helped keep my own alive. I know her unwavering determination to love caused many to keep her a bit at bay. They respected her, but few could keep up with her. They wanted her to conform to their understanding of what her seeming illness could and should do. But she was defiant, and her resistance to become what others expected of her was a great teacher to me.

We never walk alone. Take courage from those who give it so freely. Let the love and compassion that pulses through us be the victor. Hold onto your fighting spirit.  Resist normality. It was never meant for you.