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Saturday, May 22, 2004
Friday, May 21, 2004
"The adherents of the old order have a powerful ally in the natural law of inertia inherent in humanity which is, as it were, a natural defense against change. Thus pacifism faces no easy struggle. The question of whether violence or law shall prevail between states is the most vital of the problems of our eventful era, and the most serious in its repercussions. The beneficial results of a secure world peace are almost inconceivable, but even more inconceivable are the consequences of the threatening world war which many misguided people are prepared to precipitate. The advocates of pacifism are well aware how meager are their resources of personal influence and power. They know that they are still few in number and weak in authority, but when they realistically consider themselves and the ideal they serve, they see themselves as the servants of the greatest of all causes." - Bertha von Suttner, Nobel Peace Laureate, 1905
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Thursday, May 20, 2004
Thursday, May 20, 2004
America as we have known it is dying. The Jeffersonian principles of democracy to which America gave birth are being dissolved under the cover of protecting our national interest, forgetting that Jeffersonian democracy is really our only national interest. Our belief in un-bounded possibility has turned into an immobilizing paranoia - a commitment to nothing more than caution and status quo. We no longer dream of the expansion of our imaginative capabilities. We cling to the system. We are immobilized - frozen - petrified by the fear of losing our way of life, even as that way of life - or any real human value associated with it - becomes more difficult for us to articulate. We have substituted the real enemies - hatred, hunger, disease, and violence, for imaginary ones - Iraq, gays, and yes, terrorists, who are like any other thing we fear - they become self-fulfilling prophecy - we sub-consciously act in ways that perpetuate them.
Greed has replaced everything else.
America was once a radical nation with radical ideas sweeping over the world, turning all the old systems upside down and announcing to humanity that a new age had arrived, that the old world was gone and had been replaced by bold, daring, unimaginable possibilities. Glory, glory hallelujah.
Where has America gone? And who will bring her back?
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Wednesday, May 19, 2004
Yesterday a new picture surfaced from the Iraqi prison in which an American soldier is hunched down giving a big smile and thumbs-up sign over the body of a dead Iraqi prisoner. Given reports that as many as 70% or more of those detained there were done so by mistake, there is a good chance that this is the body of someone who mistakenly incarcerated. What would God say about all of this if God had a voice?
All I can imagine is God weeping. Not just for the person who died, but for the person giving the thumbs-up sign too. In fact, especially for that person.
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Monday, May 17, 2004
Tuesday, May 18, 2004
I heard that Michael Moore's new movie got a twenty minute standing ovation at Cannes - the longest ovation in the festival's history. I don't think that Michael Moore's approach is the one that will lead us to peace and harmony. It will rather further entrench the beliefs of conservative people. There is a principle in zen that what you resist persists, and what you allow to be disappears. This is very easily misinterpreted, so one must be careful. If you've read enough of me you know that I'm the last person who would advocate that we ignore all the troubles in the world. This is not what is meant by "allow it to be." "Allow it to be" means that we can see it for what it is. Resistance blinds us in the arrogance of our own minds and the righteousness of our own positions, so that we are so caught up in ourselves and in the brilliance of our own morality that we cannot actually see the humanity in our adversaries. If we cannot see the humanity in our adversaries then we are no better than they. If we can see the humanity in our adversaries then we are still no better than they, but that is exactly what we will see, and this will give us the depth of compassion required to achieve real reconciliation - the kind of compassion that can win over an adversary - inspire an adversary - something no form of resistance can ever do.
Remember that Gandhi did not resist his adversaries. He allowed them to be and they were able to see themselves. Martin Luther King did not resist. He allowed his adversaries to be. At the same time he never abandoned his own dream. Martin Luther King said that, "Violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral. It is impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all. It is immoral because it seeks to humiliate the opponent rather than win his understanding; it seeks to annihilate rather than to convert. Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love. " This idea does not only apply to physical violence, but to spiritual violence as well, and yes, there is such a thing as spiritual violence. In fact, it is the root of physical violence.
If we cannot see the humanity in those who would go to war then we will end up going to war against them ourselves. We will become that which we hate. Therefore, we must find a path of love.
This is a hard pill to swallow. It is a lot more fun to dehumanize our adversaries and prop ourselves up. But this will get us nowhere.
Michael Moore's approach, while rooted in his own passion, is the old way of doing things. The future now calls us to a more difficult path. The future calls us to a path of love. If we want to feel good about ourselves, Michael Moore's movie is a great path. If we want to create real change in the world, we must chart a new course and carve out a new path where few have walked before us.
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Monday, May 17, 2004
L.A. Times reported Saturday that the body of a nine year-old child was found in a dumpster. This did not happen in one of those places like Iraq where the people are barbaric and know not of civilized culture. It happened in downtown Los Angeles. Also, it was not a big story on page one. It was a little bit of a thing abandoned somehwere in the middle of the morass, much like the little nine year-old boy, God bless him.
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Sunday, May 16, 2004
"The greatest strength is gentleness."
Iroquois Saying
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Saturday, May 15, 2004
"If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain:
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain."
-Emily Dickinson
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