When it was clear that John McCain would run against Barack Obama, I thought to myself, “Can’t lose on this one.” Prior to that, I always felt the opposite, that I couldn’t win given the nature of Presidential choices election after election. I’d seen how McCain had done in the Republican Primary here in NH and how he was treated by George W following it. George, following his father’s example with Willy Horton... In my mind, McCain was a real Republican in the tradition of Eisenhower, Ford and even Nixon. Was I ever wrong!
Choosing Sarah Palin for VP was even worse than George H.W.’s choice of Dan Quail. Recently, we have been treated again to the intellectual vacuum that is Sarah Palin. Even when interviewed not by Katie Couric but by Glenn Beck of all fascists! She didn’t know the name of a single founding Father and this, following the realization that she had no idea why there is a North and a South Korea or what the Fed does in the US government!! This is junior high civics class for God’s sake! The fact that the Tea Baggers worship this cutie is even more scary when it becomes as obvious to you as it is to me that these people pose the threat of a peculiar and recent form of American fascism. They are small-minded and cruel. They are ignorant but without humility.
Senator McCain, your inability to “gracefully surrender the things of youth” has caused you to frantically grab onto your hold on power. To do so, you were willing to insult us all, but especially women, in your attempt to equate a cheerleader with Hillary Clinton in your desperate attempt to wrest power from Mr. Obama. As it was said to Dan Quail, “I know John Kennedy and you sir are no John Kennedy,” so it can be said of Sarah Palin: “We know Hillary and ma’am, you are no Hillary”! Sir, you’ve almost placed us in the position of watching as a completely inept person supported by a group of American fascists take over the Presidency of this country should you face cancer or worse for a third time. Shame on you! You owe us a sincere apology Senator McCain.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
No Forgiveness for Buddhists?
(First, a brief aside...)
Keith Olbermann has demeaned himself and his listeners with regard to his childish gloating over the personal failings of Tiger Woods. While he’d never use this word, Olbermann is a prophet when he does his commentaries. Real prophecy is the willingness to speak truth to power and Keith certainly does that -and- with the eloquence associated with great orators such as Obama, Kennedy, Churchill, Lincoln and others. However, he demeans himself and deeply discourages me when he ridicules people like Tiger for the weaknesses we all have in common. He makes himself no better than the Religious Right when he does so. Truly, for Christ’s sake, stay on the high road, Keith! We need you.
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A couple of weeks ago on Fox News, Brit Hume commented that Tiger Woods would be forgiven his sexual recklessness if only he would abandon his Buddhist practice and become Christian. What? God doesn’t forgive Buddhists now? You can get a better deal with Christianity? What is this Christianity which isn’t really Christianity? This thing that began with Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson and others really isn’t Christianity at all but in fact, stands Christianity right on its head. And where are the Catholics? The Orthodox and the Episcopalians and the Protestants? Are you too lazy to speak out? Too lacking in faith to stand up?
This whole obsession with the sexuality of Bill Clinton, Tiger Woods and others, conservatives and progressives alike, is precisely what Jesus of Nazareth said NOT to do. Don’t judge he tell us because the judgment comes back upon you. There’s a reason why the silly tattle-tale Christianity has come about. In the 10th century, the Roman Catholic Rite, largest of twenty or so Catholic rites, became celibate in order to swindle the inheritance of married Catholic priests away from their children. At that time, celibacy was certainly the norm for monastic life but it was not for diocesan priests. Once celibate, the priests took a stand against the life force present in each and every one of us, and the number one threat then for the celibate was not hypocrisy, was not injustice, but was the fear of sex. Thus, sex became the number one sin in Christianity and displaced hypocrisy, judgmentalism, and injustice as well as the lack of compassion and the lack of peacemaking which Jesus stated as the number one sins. Jesus mentioned sex twice. The first time was with regard to divorce law and the second was to comfort the woman caught in adultery. (Where was the man? Last time I looked, it took two!) In doing so, he tells her clearly that he does not condemn her. We are non-Christian when we do what was done to Clinton and Woods who are in fact textbook sex addicts suffering from a disorder. We are non-Christian when we overlook hypocrisy, judgmentalism, injustice, inequality, condemnation, racism and the like. And Buddhism? Gautama Buddha, like all great teachers, had a number of favorite sayings among which was this one: “Pursue your salvation with diligence.” If, as is held by the Gospel of John, Jesus was the Incarnation of the Light which emerged in the Big Bang, then the whole cosmos, Earth, life and culture, all cultures and Scriptural traditions are expressions of that One Light. Whether or not Jesus of Nazareth ever went to India is irrelevant. Buddha was an expression of the Light, the same Light identified by Christians as the ChristLogos. The Third Millennium Christian will follow Christ, whether they do so as Buddhists or Christians or whatever else.
Keith Olbermann has demeaned himself and his listeners with regard to his childish gloating over the personal failings of Tiger Woods. While he’d never use this word, Olbermann is a prophet when he does his commentaries. Real prophecy is the willingness to speak truth to power and Keith certainly does that -and- with the eloquence associated with great orators such as Obama, Kennedy, Churchill, Lincoln and others. However, he demeans himself and deeply discourages me when he ridicules people like Tiger for the weaknesses we all have in common. He makes himself no better than the Religious Right when he does so. Truly, for Christ’s sake, stay on the high road, Keith! We need you.
-----
A couple of weeks ago on Fox News, Brit Hume commented that Tiger Woods would be forgiven his sexual recklessness if only he would abandon his Buddhist practice and become Christian. What? God doesn’t forgive Buddhists now? You can get a better deal with Christianity? What is this Christianity which isn’t really Christianity? This thing that began with Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson and others really isn’t Christianity at all but in fact, stands Christianity right on its head. And where are the Catholics? The Orthodox and the Episcopalians and the Protestants? Are you too lazy to speak out? Too lacking in faith to stand up?
This whole obsession with the sexuality of Bill Clinton, Tiger Woods and others, conservatives and progressives alike, is precisely what Jesus of Nazareth said NOT to do. Don’t judge he tell us because the judgment comes back upon you. There’s a reason why the silly tattle-tale Christianity has come about. In the 10th century, the Roman Catholic Rite, largest of twenty or so Catholic rites, became celibate in order to swindle the inheritance of married Catholic priests away from their children. At that time, celibacy was certainly the norm for monastic life but it was not for diocesan priests. Once celibate, the priests took a stand against the life force present in each and every one of us, and the number one threat then for the celibate was not hypocrisy, was not injustice, but was the fear of sex. Thus, sex became the number one sin in Christianity and displaced hypocrisy, judgmentalism, and injustice as well as the lack of compassion and the lack of peacemaking which Jesus stated as the number one sins. Jesus mentioned sex twice. The first time was with regard to divorce law and the second was to comfort the woman caught in adultery. (Where was the man? Last time I looked, it took two!) In doing so, he tells her clearly that he does not condemn her. We are non-Christian when we do what was done to Clinton and Woods who are in fact textbook sex addicts suffering from a disorder. We are non-Christian when we overlook hypocrisy, judgmentalism, injustice, inequality, condemnation, racism and the like. And Buddhism? Gautama Buddha, like all great teachers, had a number of favorite sayings among which was this one: “Pursue your salvation with diligence.” If, as is held by the Gospel of John, Jesus was the Incarnation of the Light which emerged in the Big Bang, then the whole cosmos, Earth, life and culture, all cultures and Scriptural traditions are expressions of that One Light. Whether or not Jesus of Nazareth ever went to India is irrelevant. Buddha was an expression of the Light, the same Light identified by Christians as the ChristLogos. The Third Millennium Christian will follow Christ, whether they do so as Buddhists or Christians or whatever else.
A Cultural Therapist
I’ve asked people over and over again and I ask you listeners to do me a favor- when you call in, please do not call me a liberal. I am neither a liberal nor a conservative- the whole left/right, Liberal/Conservative thing is a burnt out absurdity which ultimately describes nothing at least with respect to me. What it does is to offer sanctuaries of vitriol to both “conservatives” and to “liberals”, safe houses of hatred to hurl insults at each other. So what am I? I am a citizen of the United States of America and as such it is my right and my responsibility to listen to all the voices in the political cacophony and try to make good choices with my vote. Again, I am a native born citizen of the United States of America and I pledge my allegiance to Truth.
So again, others have asked… What is this thing you’re doing, your books and talks and radio show and the like? I thought about it deeply and concluded that I’m a CULTURAL THERAPIST. A What? A Cultural Therapist, one who contemplates his or her culture and tries to sponsor the ideals of that culture while trying to heal the denied and repressed issues that distort the truth and destiny of that culture.
So again, others have asked… What is this thing you’re doing, your books and talks and radio show and the like? I thought about it deeply and concluded that I’m a CULTURAL THERAPIST. A What? A Cultural Therapist, one who contemplates his or her culture and tries to sponsor the ideals of that culture while trying to heal the denied and repressed issues that distort the truth and destiny of that culture.
Republican Neti Neti
Republican Neti Neti
There is a profound practice associated with Hinduism called Neti Neti. Roughly translated it means, “not that, not that.” The idea behind it is to reject every definition of oneself until one realizes the state of kenosis or sunyata: being emptied of partial definitions of oneself. Examples in my life would be: I’m a father… neti neti… I’m an author… not that, not that… I’m a radio talk show host… neti neti. The definitions can go on into the hundreds or even thousands of defined roles until, all of them being exhausted, I realize- PING! I’m a dimension of the Divine Mind, a child of God. Without further definitions, the Hindu would just say, “THAT Thou art!” It’s not that the rejected roles were not true… I am a father, an author and a radio talk show host. The point is that the definitions limit my realization of being-ness, divine-ness.
So, every day the Democrats present ideas for this nation. Literally, with one voice, the Republicans scream, “Neti Neti! Not that, not that!” Okay… When do they come to, “that we are”? Does that day ever come -or- do they continue to cling to the collective Republican ego at the expense of the truth of the Constitution of this great nation? Laura Ingraham makes a lucrative career of being not-Obama. Neti Neti… not that. Okay- then who is Laura Ingraham? Who art thou Laura?
There is a profound practice associated with Hinduism called Neti Neti. Roughly translated it means, “not that, not that.” The idea behind it is to reject every definition of oneself until one realizes the state of kenosis or sunyata: being emptied of partial definitions of oneself. Examples in my life would be: I’m a father… neti neti… I’m an author… not that, not that… I’m a radio talk show host… neti neti. The definitions can go on into the hundreds or even thousands of defined roles until, all of them being exhausted, I realize- PING! I’m a dimension of the Divine Mind, a child of God. Without further definitions, the Hindu would just say, “THAT Thou art!” It’s not that the rejected roles were not true… I am a father, an author and a radio talk show host. The point is that the definitions limit my realization of being-ness, divine-ness.
So, every day the Democrats present ideas for this nation. Literally, with one voice, the Republicans scream, “Neti Neti! Not that, not that!” Okay… When do they come to, “that we are”? Does that day ever come -or- do they continue to cling to the collective Republican ego at the expense of the truth of the Constitution of this great nation? Laura Ingraham makes a lucrative career of being not-Obama. Neti Neti… not that. Okay- then who is Laura Ingraham? Who art thou Laura?
Saturday, January 30, 2010
On the Recent Supreme Court Ruling
Like many Americans, I was deeply concerned and alarmed by the recent Supreme Court Ruling on corporate contributions to political campaigns. Please check out this video to hear my feedback on what this means for our country.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaSxwqgYmYc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaSxwqgYmYc
A Unitive Look at Same-Sex Marriage
My teacher Thomas Berry used to tell me over and over again, “In the present context, humans as a species must learn to think with their genes rather than with their brains.” Another way he put it was, “We’ve got to learn to think at the species level.” What might he have meant?
The brain has three major sections or cortices. The newest on the scale of evolution is the neo-cortex, responsible for, or rather the locus of the cognitive processes. Thought is the most obvious “voice” of that cortex; the most obvious function is cognition. Beneath the neocortex and enclosed within it is the paleo-cortex or old mammal brain. It is the locus of feeling functions and within it is the brain stem or Reptilian cortex, which is the locus of instinctual functions. Thomas Berry’s advice is to bypass all three functions and to think in categories which are common to our own species, the other species, and ultimately the whole community of life called the biosphere. It is in my opinion our inability to follow his advice which plagues our attempts to understand why same-sex marriage just doesn’t “feel right” to heterosexuals, including the one who writes this.
Constitutional thought is one of those products of the cognitive cortex as is all legal thought. The same can be said of sociological, psychological, theological or any other thought. It must be stated that if marriage is a legally guaranteed right of the Constitution, then same-sex marriage must be made legal. US citizens must share equally in the protections of the US Constitution whether or not same-sex marriage feels the same as both-sex marriage does in the gut.
---but---
In the gut, where species level thinking finds a voice, another sort or category of knowing presents itself. We have called this category “Thinking at the species level.” So, what about same-sex marriage at the species level? The historical, archeological and anthropological facts seem to indicate that marriage is the way in which humans come together in a relationship of committed love to have and to raise human young. All species have mating rituals and all human cultures do as well. Marriage is the cultural/religious expression of a species level fact called propagation. We have done a pathetic job of our mating ritual in these past few decades, but, it is still what it is at the species level. Whatever else same-sex marriage has in common with both-sex marriage, this one thing is clearly different; two men and two women cannot propagate.
Or can they?
What if at the genetic or species level it was clear that our shoddy job of parenting, the result of our shoddy job of commitment, whether due to the war-orphaned or divorce-orphaned, neglect-orphaned or abuse-orphaned, or earthquake-orphaned or tsunami-orphaned, or however orphaned, what if the species mind is calling upon the same-sex couples to rescue these children and provide for them where both-sex couples have not? What if the same-sex family is emergent as a species-level rescue mission for both-sex failure or inability to rear human young? That emergence reflects a species-level response to emergency faced by so many human young. Maybe same-sex marriage is a parenting partnership with both-sex couples in response to the plight of all human young.
But again, in any case, if the US Constitution in fact guarantees equal rights regarding marriage, same-sex couples have the right to marry period! It feels different in the gut, but the Constitution is the Constitution for all US citizens.
Want to explore more of my thinking on same-sex marriage? I went into much deeper analysis in Chapter 29 of my book The Modern Christian Mystic.
The brain has three major sections or cortices. The newest on the scale of evolution is the neo-cortex, responsible for, or rather the locus of the cognitive processes. Thought is the most obvious “voice” of that cortex; the most obvious function is cognition. Beneath the neocortex and enclosed within it is the paleo-cortex or old mammal brain. It is the locus of feeling functions and within it is the brain stem or Reptilian cortex, which is the locus of instinctual functions. Thomas Berry’s advice is to bypass all three functions and to think in categories which are common to our own species, the other species, and ultimately the whole community of life called the biosphere. It is in my opinion our inability to follow his advice which plagues our attempts to understand why same-sex marriage just doesn’t “feel right” to heterosexuals, including the one who writes this.
Constitutional thought is one of those products of the cognitive cortex as is all legal thought. The same can be said of sociological, psychological, theological or any other thought. It must be stated that if marriage is a legally guaranteed right of the Constitution, then same-sex marriage must be made legal. US citizens must share equally in the protections of the US Constitution whether or not same-sex marriage feels the same as both-sex marriage does in the gut.
---but---
In the gut, where species level thinking finds a voice, another sort or category of knowing presents itself. We have called this category “Thinking at the species level.” So, what about same-sex marriage at the species level? The historical, archeological and anthropological facts seem to indicate that marriage is the way in which humans come together in a relationship of committed love to have and to raise human young. All species have mating rituals and all human cultures do as well. Marriage is the cultural/religious expression of a species level fact called propagation. We have done a pathetic job of our mating ritual in these past few decades, but, it is still what it is at the species level. Whatever else same-sex marriage has in common with both-sex marriage, this one thing is clearly different; two men and two women cannot propagate.
Or can they?
What if at the genetic or species level it was clear that our shoddy job of parenting, the result of our shoddy job of commitment, whether due to the war-orphaned or divorce-orphaned, neglect-orphaned or abuse-orphaned, or earthquake-orphaned or tsunami-orphaned, or however orphaned, what if the species mind is calling upon the same-sex couples to rescue these children and provide for them where both-sex couples have not? What if the same-sex family is emergent as a species-level rescue mission for both-sex failure or inability to rear human young? That emergence reflects a species-level response to emergency faced by so many human young. Maybe same-sex marriage is a parenting partnership with both-sex couples in response to the plight of all human young.
But again, in any case, if the US Constitution in fact guarantees equal rights regarding marriage, same-sex couples have the right to marry period! It feels different in the gut, but the Constitution is the Constitution for all US citizens.
Want to explore more of my thinking on same-sex marriage? I went into much deeper analysis in Chapter 29 of my book The Modern Christian Mystic.
American "Collective Narcissistic Disorder" (CND)
While there are still serious reporters like Jim Lehrer, Wolf Blitzer and other Walter Cronkite types, most of the cable “news shows” are peopled by multi-million dollar narcissists who, whether on the left at MSNBC or on the right at Fox News are more involved in keeping their fellow CND sufferers in the news. There is nothing newsworthy about Sarah Palin and sadly there never was. She’s way off to the right but who keeps her in the news, Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann and other so-called lefties. They keep Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity and Beck, Limbaugh, Coulter, Bachmann in the front page of the MSNBC engines. And their willing counterparts? The above mentioned Foxies do the same for them. I’m not saying they agree to this as though contracted to each other, I’m saying that consciously or subconsciously, they keep each other in their multi-million dollar seats. What do they sell us? ANGER! They sell us anger from their multi-million dollar perches while we feel greater and greater antipathy toward each other and widen the chasm that threatens to swallow our country, Constitution, and all. The anger is addictive and like all addictive substances, even while we know it is destroying us, we somehow arrive in our seats every night, remote in hand waiting for a fix.
I’ve begun an experiment. Each night I go from MSNBC to Fox to hear the double-sided narcissism and then I watch the News Hour with Jim Lehrer and compare the tone. Try it!
I’ve begun an experiment. Each night I go from MSNBC to Fox to hear the double-sided narcissism and then I watch the News Hour with Jim Lehrer and compare the tone. Try it!
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