Helping helps
I missed a couple of posts Sunday and Monday because my car broke down on my way back to Mass. from Maine, and I ended up in a motel for the night with my son Taylor and his girlfriend Emily. Besides the chance to spend the time with them, the other good part of the whole fiasco was the helpfulness of people throughout. One example: the manager of the truck stop where we had broken down sent baking soda and a scrubber from his kitchen to the nearby motel to which we were towed, because he had heard we needed these things for cleaning the battery contacts. I was reminded of a similar situation I had been in eight years earlier, and of the help I'd received then. That time I was so impressed I wrote a letter to the editor of the local paper. I think when we help, it sends a wave out into the world that radiates as surely as ripples on a pond.
Saturday, July 26, 2003
Friday, July 25, 2003
Technology encourages disclosure, at least while holes are open...
Here's some great research that shows how Word document info revealed British truth-tweaking -- Microsoft Word bytes Tony Blair in the butt: "Microsoft Word documents are notorious for containing private information in file headers which people would sometimes rather not share. The British government of Tony Blair just learned this lesson the hard way." The link came to me courtesy of Woody's Office Watch.
Here's some great research that shows how Word document info revealed British truth-tweaking -- Microsoft Word bytes Tony Blair in the butt: "Microsoft Word documents are notorious for containing private information in file headers which people would sometimes rather not share. The British government of Tony Blair just learned this lesson the hard way." The link came to me courtesy of Woody's Office Watch.
Blogs shake the political discourse
An article in yesterday's Boston Globe entitled 'Blogs' shake the political discourse is worth the read. It says in part: "Blogs, they predict, are harbingers of a new, interactive culture that will change the way democracy works, turning voters into active participants rather than passive consumers, limiting the traditional media's role as gatekeeper, and giving the rank-and-file voter unparalleled influence." You already knew that, but isn't it nice to see it in mainstream print?
An article in yesterday's Boston Globe entitled 'Blogs' shake the political discourse is worth the read. It says in part: "Blogs, they predict, are harbingers of a new, interactive culture that will change the way democracy works, turning voters into active participants rather than passive consumers, limiting the traditional media's role as gatekeeper, and giving the rank-and-file voter unparalleled influence." You already knew that, but isn't it nice to see it in mainstream print?
Monday, July 21, 2003
My friend Tawnya Kelley Tiskus sent a thoughtful response to my previous post, reproduced here with my reply following:
"Hi, Lee! -- ....I just got back from a weekend with Mike & 2 friends camping in Vermont. The Dali Lama's comments were tuned into human matters (which of course is what usually concerns us) but when I stretched out next to the campfire, the stars visible above me, the fire warming my legs and the ground cool and bumpy beneath me I felt connected to the earth in a more spiritual way than I have in a long time. I thought that this is part of what's important in the world, just being. So the human matters are vital, but I think it's also true that we have to first find our self and then we can work find our personal relevance and work in the world. For me, my self is rooted in nature, and I have to spend time outside, walking, hiking, looking, exploring to remember who I am once again. Because I spend so much time doing other stuff (which warrants some examination too) I forget that I need this kind of regular retreat to recalibrate. :) -- Tawnya"
"Tawnya -- .... I agree with you completely. I would say we are spiritual beings by nature, directly connected to all other experiences in the universe, born of the earth. If we don't get in the way, or if we don't let our "other stuff" (as you call it) get in the way, we naturally experience the depths of our connectedness to each other and all nature/all the universe. I think probably all "true" faiths start with an experience of wholeness and then lose it as followers attempt to codify the experience, or own it, or in some way grasp it too tightly. It becomes splintered. What results is dogma and, worst, fundamentalism (like the religious right of my previous post). But I think the core connectedness remains, just as it remains in each of us, if we want to look for it, and I think there are traditions/practices alive today which can accelerate the search. As it does for you, connectedness sometimes comes for me when I can let go into the wonder of nature, and I experience myself as one with it. These are moments to be treasured. Thank you. -- Lee"
"Hi, Lee! -- ....I just got back from a weekend with Mike & 2 friends camping in Vermont. The Dali Lama's comments were tuned into human matters (which of course is what usually concerns us) but when I stretched out next to the campfire, the stars visible above me, the fire warming my legs and the ground cool and bumpy beneath me I felt connected to the earth in a more spiritual way than I have in a long time. I thought that this is part of what's important in the world, just being. So the human matters are vital, but I think it's also true that we have to first find our self and then we can work find our personal relevance and work in the world. For me, my self is rooted in nature, and I have to spend time outside, walking, hiking, looking, exploring to remember who I am once again. Because I spend so much time doing other stuff (which warrants some examination too) I forget that I need this kind of regular retreat to recalibrate. :) -- Tawnya"
"Tawnya -- .... I agree with you completely. I would say we are spiritual beings by nature, directly connected to all other experiences in the universe, born of the earth. If we don't get in the way, or if we don't let our "other stuff" (as you call it) get in the way, we naturally experience the depths of our connectedness to each other and all nature/all the universe. I think probably all "true" faiths start with an experience of wholeness and then lose it as followers attempt to codify the experience, or own it, or in some way grasp it too tightly. It becomes splintered. What results is dogma and, worst, fundamentalism (like the religious right of my previous post). But I think the core connectedness remains, just as it remains in each of us, if we want to look for it, and I think there are traditions/practices alive today which can accelerate the search. As it does for you, connectedness sometimes comes for me when I can let go into the wonder of nature, and I experience myself as one with it. These are moments to be treasured. Thank you. -- Lee"
Sunday, July 20, 2003
I heard the following story about the Dalai Lama a number of years ago. I have never seen it corroborated, but as an indigenous storyteller might say: I don't know if this is how it happened, but the story is true.
The Dalai Lama was scheduled to speak at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. When the ceremonies began, there was standing room only -- he is exotic and legendary, after all, and people were craning to get a glimpse of him. A number of speakers preceded him, and they went on a little long, so by the time it was time for His Holiness to speak, people were anxious to hear what he might say. He stood up, a small Tibetan monk in a maroon robe, walked up to the microphone, and said, "We're here to help each other." And then he turned around as if to return to his seat. People gasped. "Could that possibly be all he is going to say, after all the time we've waited? " And then the Dalai Lama hesitated, returned to the microphone, and said, "And if we can't do that, then we should try not to hurt each other." And then he sat down.
The Dalai Lama was scheduled to speak at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. When the ceremonies began, there was standing room only -- he is exotic and legendary, after all, and people were craning to get a glimpse of him. A number of speakers preceded him, and they went on a little long, so by the time it was time for His Holiness to speak, people were anxious to hear what he might say. He stood up, a small Tibetan monk in a maroon robe, walked up to the microphone, and said, "We're here to help each other." And then he turned around as if to return to his seat. People gasped. "Could that possibly be all he is going to say, after all the time we've waited? " And then the Dalai Lama hesitated, returned to the microphone, and said, "And if we can't do that, then we should try not to hurt each other." And then he sat down.
Saturday, July 19, 2003
Frightening fundamentalism: destroy the environment to save it(!!!)
During the Vietnam War, I found one slogan particularly meaningful: "Fighting for peace is like fucking for virginity." Now an article I just read posits that some of the Republican leadership/Religious Right believe they can save the world by destroying it. Their idea is that environmental science is bunk, and that God's real plan is to destroy the earth through environmental degradation in order to wipe out all the non-righteous, followed by renewal. Others believe that there will always be enough to go around -- land, food, water, fossil fuels, etc. -- no matter how large the population, so why worry? These beliefs are detailed and attributed in the frightening Religious Wrong: A Higher Power Informs the Republican Assault on the Environment by Glenn Scherer, which was reprinted in Earth Action Network's emagazine.com after being published by salon.com. Here are some of the scarier passages:
"Republican Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma... new chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee...is a Big Oil backer who once characterized the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as 'the Gestapo bureaucracy'...
"Bush and Inhofe will likely move to modify or overturn the National Environmental Policy Act. This Magna Carta of environmental law demands study, disclosure and public comment on the environmental impacts of federal projects. Bush has already demanded 'excessive red tape' be hacked from the law, fast-tracking road and airport construction and cutting the public out of the democratic process....
"The U.S. District Court of Appeals for Washington, D.C. holds almost exclusive jurisdiction over environmental law, hearing cases concerning federal authority, involving the powers of the EPA, for example. Senate Republicans blocked two Clinton appointments to the court, setting the stage for a bench packed with conservative judges who, appointed now, could shape environmental law for decades....
"In his book The Carbon Wars, Greenpeace activist Jeremy Leggett tells how he stumbled upon this otherworldly agenda. During the Kyoto climate change negotiations, Leggett candidly asked Ford Motor Company executive John Schiller how opponents of the pact could believe there is no problem with 'a world of a billion cars intent on burning all the oil and gas available on the planet?' The executive asserted first that scientists get it wrong when they say fossil fuels have been sequestered underground for eons. The Earth, he said, is just 10,000, not 4.5 billion years old, the age widely accepted by scientists.
"Then Schiller confidently declared, 'You know, the more I look, the more it is just as it says in the Bible.' The Book of Daniel, he told Leggett, predicts that increased earthly devastation will mark the 'End Time' and return of Christ. Paradoxically, Leggett notes, many fundamentalists see dying coral reefs, melting ice caps and other environmental destruction not as an urgent call to action, but as God's will. Within the religious right worldview, the wreck of the Earth can be seen as Good News!
"Some true believers, interpreting biblical prophecy, are sure they will be saved from the horrific destruction brought by ecosystem collapse. They'll be raptured: rescued from Earth by God, who will then rain down seven ghastly years of misery on unbelieving humanity. Jesus' return will mark the Millennium, when the Lord restores the Earth to its green pristine condition, and the faithful enjoy a thousand years of peace and prosperity....
"One powerful fringe group, the Reconstructionists, doesn't speak of the 'End Time' at all, Bokaer notes. They put the onus for the Lord's return on their own political activism. Reconstructionists say Christ will only return when a righteous nation acts to purge unrepentant sinners and applies biblical law to its populace. They want to spread the Gospel in a political context, making the Bible the foundation of U.S. jurisprudence. That includes an end to environmental regulation.
"Reconstructionists believe the Lord will provide, and their view is laid out in America's Providential History, a religious right high school history textbook: 'The secular or socialist has a limited resource mentality and views the world as a pie... that needs to be cut up so everyone can get a piece,' write authors Mark Beliles and Stephen McDowell. 'In contrast, the Christian knows that the potential in God is unlimited and that there is no shortage of resources in God's Earth. The resources are waiting to be tapped.'...
"The administration has repeatedly turned a blind eye toward good science. When the National Academy of Sciences came to Bush in 2001 with a report saying that global warming was real, serious and human-caused, he ignored it. When the EPA sent a 2002 report to the United Nations saying that global warming will result in 'rising seas, melting ice caps and glaciers, ecological system disruption, floods, heat waves and more dangerous storms,' Bush rejected it as a document 'put out by the bureaucracy.'
"Marty Jezer, writing for the online Common Dreams News Center, notes that 'One has to go back to the Stalinist Era of the Soviet Union to find such a display of political arrogance and ignorance of science.' That's when Trofim Lysenko told Josef Stalin that Charles Darwin's theory of evolution and Gregor Mendel's theory of heredity were wrongheaded 'bourgeois science' not suited to a communist state.
"Lysenko's theories were practiced on collective farms on a massive scale, displacing traditional agricultural knowledge, and killing millions in the Russian famine of 1931 to 1933. His beliefs were exported to China, says Joseph Becker, author of Hungry Ghosts: Mao's Secret Famine. Farmers were told that seeds of the same species act like 'comrades,' and wouldn't compete with each other. Chinese farmers were ordered to plant up to 15 million seedlings per 2.5 acres, rather than the scientifically proven 1.5 million, helping bring on the 20th century's worst famine. An estimated 30 million people starved to death between 1958 and 1961."
I could go on, but I'm too spooked.
During the Vietnam War, I found one slogan particularly meaningful: "Fighting for peace is like fucking for virginity." Now an article I just read posits that some of the Republican leadership/Religious Right believe they can save the world by destroying it. Their idea is that environmental science is bunk, and that God's real plan is to destroy the earth through environmental degradation in order to wipe out all the non-righteous, followed by renewal. Others believe that there will always be enough to go around -- land, food, water, fossil fuels, etc. -- no matter how large the population, so why worry? These beliefs are detailed and attributed in the frightening Religious Wrong: A Higher Power Informs the Republican Assault on the Environment by Glenn Scherer, which was reprinted in Earth Action Network's emagazine.com after being published by salon.com. Here are some of the scarier passages:
"Republican Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma... new chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee...is a Big Oil backer who once characterized the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as 'the Gestapo bureaucracy'...
"Bush and Inhofe will likely move to modify or overturn the National Environmental Policy Act. This Magna Carta of environmental law demands study, disclosure and public comment on the environmental impacts of federal projects. Bush has already demanded 'excessive red tape' be hacked from the law, fast-tracking road and airport construction and cutting the public out of the democratic process....
"The U.S. District Court of Appeals for Washington, D.C. holds almost exclusive jurisdiction over environmental law, hearing cases concerning federal authority, involving the powers of the EPA, for example. Senate Republicans blocked two Clinton appointments to the court, setting the stage for a bench packed with conservative judges who, appointed now, could shape environmental law for decades....
"In his book The Carbon Wars, Greenpeace activist Jeremy Leggett tells how he stumbled upon this otherworldly agenda. During the Kyoto climate change negotiations, Leggett candidly asked Ford Motor Company executive John Schiller how opponents of the pact could believe there is no problem with 'a world of a billion cars intent on burning all the oil and gas available on the planet?' The executive asserted first that scientists get it wrong when they say fossil fuels have been sequestered underground for eons. The Earth, he said, is just 10,000, not 4.5 billion years old, the age widely accepted by scientists.
"Then Schiller confidently declared, 'You know, the more I look, the more it is just as it says in the Bible.' The Book of Daniel, he told Leggett, predicts that increased earthly devastation will mark the 'End Time' and return of Christ. Paradoxically, Leggett notes, many fundamentalists see dying coral reefs, melting ice caps and other environmental destruction not as an urgent call to action, but as God's will. Within the religious right worldview, the wreck of the Earth can be seen as Good News!
"Some true believers, interpreting biblical prophecy, are sure they will be saved from the horrific destruction brought by ecosystem collapse. They'll be raptured: rescued from Earth by God, who will then rain down seven ghastly years of misery on unbelieving humanity. Jesus' return will mark the Millennium, when the Lord restores the Earth to its green pristine condition, and the faithful enjoy a thousand years of peace and prosperity....
"One powerful fringe group, the Reconstructionists, doesn't speak of the 'End Time' at all, Bokaer notes. They put the onus for the Lord's return on their own political activism. Reconstructionists say Christ will only return when a righteous nation acts to purge unrepentant sinners and applies biblical law to its populace. They want to spread the Gospel in a political context, making the Bible the foundation of U.S. jurisprudence. That includes an end to environmental regulation.
"Reconstructionists believe the Lord will provide, and their view is laid out in America's Providential History, a religious right high school history textbook: 'The secular or socialist has a limited resource mentality and views the world as a pie... that needs to be cut up so everyone can get a piece,' write authors Mark Beliles and Stephen McDowell. 'In contrast, the Christian knows that the potential in God is unlimited and that there is no shortage of resources in God's Earth. The resources are waiting to be tapped.'...
"The administration has repeatedly turned a blind eye toward good science. When the National Academy of Sciences came to Bush in 2001 with a report saying that global warming was real, serious and human-caused, he ignored it. When the EPA sent a 2002 report to the United Nations saying that global warming will result in 'rising seas, melting ice caps and glaciers, ecological system disruption, floods, heat waves and more dangerous storms,' Bush rejected it as a document 'put out by the bureaucracy.'
"Marty Jezer, writing for the online Common Dreams News Center, notes that 'One has to go back to the Stalinist Era of the Soviet Union to find such a display of political arrogance and ignorance of science.' That's when Trofim Lysenko told Josef Stalin that Charles Darwin's theory of evolution and Gregor Mendel's theory of heredity were wrongheaded 'bourgeois science' not suited to a communist state.
"Lysenko's theories were practiced on collective farms on a massive scale, displacing traditional agricultural knowledge, and killing millions in the Russian famine of 1931 to 1933. His beliefs were exported to China, says Joseph Becker, author of Hungry Ghosts: Mao's Secret Famine. Farmers were told that seeds of the same species act like 'comrades,' and wouldn't compete with each other. Chinese farmers were ordered to plant up to 15 million seedlings per 2.5 acres, rather than the scientifically proven 1.5 million, helping bring on the 20th century's worst famine. An estimated 30 million people starved to death between 1958 and 1961."
I could go on, but I'm too spooked.
Friday, July 18, 2003
Ghandi's 20-20 vision
"The things that will destroy us are: Politics without principle; Pleasure without conscience; Wealth without work; Knowledge without character; Business without morality; Science without humanity, And worship without sacrifice." -- Mahatma Gandhi
This quote courtesy of Care2.com, the environmental site that brings us Race for the Rainforest and other pages which provide click-throughs to secure real money for eco-needs.
"The things that will destroy us are: Politics without principle; Pleasure without conscience; Wealth without work; Knowledge without character; Business without morality; Science without humanity, And worship without sacrifice." -- Mahatma Gandhi
This quote courtesy of Care2.com, the environmental site that brings us Race for the Rainforest and other pages which provide click-throughs to secure real money for eco-needs.
Amnesty International's 2003 report
Amnesty International recently released its 2003 Report, which "documents human rights abuses in 151 countries and territories during 2002" and "is a contribution to the work of human rights defenders struggling to achieve a safer world, a world where human rights take priority over political, military or economic interests." Those interested will find summaries of human rights situations around the world and Amnesty International's specific concerns in each. Although the full report must be ordered for a small charge, the Web site contains a significant amount of information including a message from the Secretary General, a 2002 "in focus" a
description of Amnesty's activities, news stories, multimedia products, regional summaries, and information on each nation's specific activities.
Weekly "blog"
The post above actually came from a blog-like e-mail that's been sent weekly since before Blogs were a gleam in David Winer's eye from The Scout Report listserv, part of the Internet Scout Project at the University of Wisconsin. I've been getting it for years and always find at least one link I want to pursue.
Amnesty International recently released its 2003 Report, which "documents human rights abuses in 151 countries and territories during 2002" and "is a contribution to the work of human rights defenders struggling to achieve a safer world, a world where human rights take priority over political, military or economic interests." Those interested will find summaries of human rights situations around the world and Amnesty International's specific concerns in each. Although the full report must be ordered for a small charge, the Web site contains a significant amount of information including a message from the Secretary General, a 2002 "in focus" a
description of Amnesty's activities, news stories, multimedia products, regional summaries, and information on each nation's specific activities.
Weekly "blog"
The post above actually came from a blog-like e-mail that's been sent weekly since before Blogs were a gleam in David Winer's eye from The Scout Report listserv, part of the Internet Scout Project at the University of Wisconsin. I've been getting it for years and always find at least one link I want to pursue.
Because the kids will lead us
A post by Henry Copeland yesterday led me to David Weinberger's wonderful web book for kids -- What the Web Is For, which was written by Weinberger for his 11-year old as a kid's version of his Small Pieces Loosely Joined: a Unified Theory of the Web. I wonder where the web will be when my Emily (10) and Willy (8) are my age (none of your biz).
A post by Henry Copeland yesterday led me to David Weinberger's wonderful web book for kids -- What the Web Is For, which was written by Weinberger for his 11-year old as a kid's version of his Small Pieces Loosely Joined: a Unified Theory of the Web. I wonder where the web will be when my Emily (10) and Willy (8) are my age (none of your biz).
Will the real Pat Roberston please stand up?
For a good blog search engine that reviews listings, check Blog Search Engine. It led me to a new favorite -- Meditatio, whose delightful truth-telling includes a post that advocates Operation Pat Robertson -- a 21-day prayer offensive "to change Pat Robertson and make him a compassionate human being." This in response to Robertson's 21-day prayer offensive against the Supreme Court
For a good blog search engine that reviews listings, check Blog Search Engine. It led me to a new favorite -- Meditatio, whose delightful truth-telling includes a post that advocates Operation Pat Robertson -- a 21-day prayer offensive "to change Pat Robertson and make him a compassionate human being." This in response to Robertson's 21-day prayer offensive against the Supreme Court
Thursday, July 17, 2003
Sojourners
An excellent site offering progressive social action interactively is Sojourners: Christians for Justice and Peace
An excellent site offering progressive social action interactively is Sojourners: Christians for Justice and Peace
Wednesday, July 16, 2003
Blogging through the presidential race
Presidential contender Howard Dean is mining the internet's campaign potential in a big way. His Blog for America offers many ways to connect to Dean's platform and effort. An early benefit is to his warchest, which a July 16 post says is fatter than other Democrats' for the April through June quarter. Close to half of it came from the Internet and most of it from gifts under $200. "This reverses a decades-long trend and could represent a major positive change in presidential campaign financing, which has been monopolized by wealthy donors...."
Presidential contender Howard Dean is mining the internet's campaign potential in a big way. His Blog for America offers many ways to connect to Dean's platform and effort. An early benefit is to his warchest, which a July 16 post says is fatter than other Democrats' for the April through June quarter. Close to half of it came from the Internet and most of it from gifts under $200. "This reverses a decades-long trend and could represent a major positive change in presidential campaign financing, which has been monopolized by wealthy donors...."
More evangelism for blogging-as-change-agent
Christopher Lydon (image-laden/slow) is a progressive journalist who preaches the power of blogging. Chris interviewed Dave Winer, a founding father of the new republic of Blog, because "I want to know what kind of democratic experiment this blog idea really amounts to." He raises more questions than answers, but isn't that the point? Transcripts and sound files are both available.
Christopher Lydon (image-laden/slow) is a progressive journalist who preaches the power of blogging. Chris interviewed Dave Winer, a founding father of the new republic of Blog, because "I want to know what kind of democratic experiment this blog idea really amounts to." He raises more questions than answers, but isn't that the point? Transcripts and sound files are both available.
Blogging is a radically democratic conversation
My friend Henry Copeland, who introduced me to blogging, draws an analogy to the elite salons of the early 20th century. Apparently, for each session every participant was asked to begin by recording salient details of their gestalt, and then minutes were taken during the day's conversation. This material was sometimes published so others could benefit. The internet, via blogs, allows a "salon" to be visited by any of the 600 million people online! This is due in large part to their simplicity and ease of use. What excites me is the ideal of radical democracy inherent in this phenomenon -- if enough people engage with each other about the issues that matter to them, the truth will out. I believe this could have a powerful effect for good, which God knows we need these days.
My friend Henry Copeland, who introduced me to blogging, draws an analogy to the elite salons of the early 20th century. Apparently, for each session every participant was asked to begin by recording salient details of their gestalt, and then minutes were taken during the day's conversation. This material was sometimes published so others could benefit. The internet, via blogs, allows a "salon" to be visited by any of the 600 million people online! This is due in large part to their simplicity and ease of use. What excites me is the ideal of radical democracy inherent in this phenomenon -- if enough people engage with each other about the issues that matter to them, the truth will out. I believe this could have a powerful effect for good, which God knows we need these days.
Tuesday, July 15, 2003
One Person Can Make All the Difference
My friend Mark Cherrington recently pointed me to his Discover magazine article describing how one man has managed to create a viable habitat for migratory birds in Israel that has actually saved a large portion of European birds and the ecosystems that depend on them on three continents(!). I responded to Mark with my concern that if so much depends on the work of one person, how can we muster much hope for the myriad of crises we face? His reply strikes me as persuasive recognition of the mystery behind redemption and a welcome apology for faith:
"I agree that the individuals on the front lines are sparse, and there's no question that the forces arrayed against them are formidable, but what I find really remarkable is how extraordinarily effective these few individuals can be. Reuven has saved billions of birds and the ecosystems that depend on them on three continents. And he's just one man. I know another scientist who is working with leatherback sea turtles (the world's largest reptile and severely endangered) in Costa Rica, and he started with a nesting beach where not a single baby turtle was making it to the ocean because poachers were taking all the eggs the turtles laid. This year, because of his work, 125,000 baby turtles made it to the ocean, the beach has been turned into a national park, and the poachers are now park guides. Again, the work of essentially one man. I know another person, an 80-year-old former nurse who started a project in the back country of Cameroon, where intestinal parasites are rampant and thousands of people die as a result. The area is so remote that regular aid agencies can't work there, and this woman walked in with her project to find the causes of the parasite problem and present solutions. She collected stool samples from dozens of villages, educated the people about the importance of clean water, built latrines and wells, and recruited villagers to work with her to spread the word. Four years later, the incidence of these parasites in central Cameroon had been cut by 40 percent and thousands of lives had been saved (and she has been officially declared a Princess).
"You see what I mean? Even though these are just individuals, they dramatically change the course of ecosystems, nations, and species. Politicians should wish for so much power. As long as those are the kind of folks who are out there fighting the good fight, I don't worry too much. And what a thrill it is to write about them." Here's Mark's article about the bird sanctuary.
My friend Mark Cherrington recently pointed me to his Discover magazine article describing how one man has managed to create a viable habitat for migratory birds in Israel that has actually saved a large portion of European birds and the ecosystems that depend on them on three continents(!). I responded to Mark with my concern that if so much depends on the work of one person, how can we muster much hope for the myriad of crises we face? His reply strikes me as persuasive recognition of the mystery behind redemption and a welcome apology for faith:
"I agree that the individuals on the front lines are sparse, and there's no question that the forces arrayed against them are formidable, but what I find really remarkable is how extraordinarily effective these few individuals can be. Reuven has saved billions of birds and the ecosystems that depend on them on three continents. And he's just one man. I know another scientist who is working with leatherback sea turtles (the world's largest reptile and severely endangered) in Costa Rica, and he started with a nesting beach where not a single baby turtle was making it to the ocean because poachers were taking all the eggs the turtles laid. This year, because of his work, 125,000 baby turtles made it to the ocean, the beach has been turned into a national park, and the poachers are now park guides. Again, the work of essentially one man. I know another person, an 80-year-old former nurse who started a project in the back country of Cameroon, where intestinal parasites are rampant and thousands of people die as a result. The area is so remote that regular aid agencies can't work there, and this woman walked in with her project to find the causes of the parasite problem and present solutions. She collected stool samples from dozens of villages, educated the people about the importance of clean water, built latrines and wells, and recruited villagers to work with her to spread the word. Four years later, the incidence of these parasites in central Cameroon had been cut by 40 percent and thousands of lives had been saved (and she has been officially declared a Princess).
"You see what I mean? Even though these are just individuals, they dramatically change the course of ecosystems, nations, and species. Politicians should wish for so much power. As long as those are the kind of folks who are out there fighting the good fight, I don't worry too much. And what a thrill it is to write about them." Here's Mark's article about the bird sanctuary.
Building Bridges One Photo at a Time
A couple of months ago, we went to New York to learn about immigration with our eight- and ten-year-old kids. Just before the ferry left the dock for the Statue of Liberty, I dislocated my artificial hip for the fourth time in two years. I spent the next 12 hours with first responders and medical personnel on the scene on 9/11. All of them wanted to talk...lots. Toward the end of the day, as I waited to be taken to the operating room for the two-minute anesthesized yank that would fix my leg, I thought to start surveying these people who'd been on the front lines of the horror. I asked, "If you could point to one thing you learned that day, what would it be?" I got two answers: (1) "Be grateful for what you have today, because you don't know what might happen tomorrow" and (2) "We need to do a better job of understanding other cultures."
Here's a contribution to the second cause: photos by gifted photographer & cultural ambassador Frank Ward.
A couple of months ago, we went to New York to learn about immigration with our eight- and ten-year-old kids. Just before the ferry left the dock for the Statue of Liberty, I dislocated my artificial hip for the fourth time in two years. I spent the next 12 hours with first responders and medical personnel on the scene on 9/11. All of them wanted to talk...lots. Toward the end of the day, as I waited to be taken to the operating room for the two-minute anesthesized yank that would fix my leg, I thought to start surveying these people who'd been on the front lines of the horror. I asked, "If you could point to one thing you learned that day, what would it be?" I got two answers: (1) "Be grateful for what you have today, because you don't know what might happen tomorrow" and (2) "We need to do a better job of understanding other cultures."
Here's a contribution to the second cause: photos by gifted photographer & cultural ambassador Frank Ward.
Brian Weatherson's Philosophy Blog
I found Brian's terrific philosophy blog through Crooked Timber (where Brian is part of the solid team) thanks again to (is this getting embarassing?) Henry. They have joined my nascent list of admired bloggers.
I found Brian's terrific philosophy blog through Crooked Timber (where Brian is part of the solid team) thanks again to (is this getting embarassing?) Henry. They have joined my nascent list of admired bloggers.
Monday, July 14, 2003
Attraction vs Alienation
Another blog that Henry led me to is Akma's Random Thoughts, with which, as a seminarian, I feel a kinship. One of Akma's posts speaks to an issue that has been on my mind since I started blogging, all 48 hours or so. I am drawn to blogging in part for its power to educate, to inspire, and ultimately to raise the consciousness of readers. I think humanity will jump (to a new level of awarness) or die, and I see blogging as an important support for jumping. Call it, for me, an electronic ministry. In his post, Akma answers a reader's concern "about the risks of clerical blogging, not in terms of stalkers and children, but in terms of misunderstanding. I did bring this up, and used as a case in point a screenshot from a former student’s blog (with permission). He didn’t [do] anything specifically wrong; someone just misunderstood something he wrote, big time, and all kinds of mayhem evidently ensued."
Ideally a minister is part prophet, which perhaps answers the question, since prophets are not known for beating around the bush (except, perhaps Elijah). But a minister is also a shepherd who hates to lose no sheep. Dialectic? Maybe. So what's the third way? Perhaps to recognize the power of the truth to attract and commit to expressing it as attractively as possible. Perhaps this approach can meet both goals I see for blogging: (1) sort out the truth by sifting through facts and ideas with as many of the 600 million folks online as possible (thx for the #, Henry) and (2) give a new set of glasses to those mesmerized by the status quo.
Maybe it simply comes down to taming that pesky pride thing we've suffered from so long. We are fishing for readers. Let the bait be irresistable.
Another blog that Henry led me to is Akma's Random Thoughts, with which, as a seminarian, I feel a kinship. One of Akma's posts speaks to an issue that has been on my mind since I started blogging, all 48 hours or so. I am drawn to blogging in part for its power to educate, to inspire, and ultimately to raise the consciousness of readers. I think humanity will jump (to a new level of awarness) or die, and I see blogging as an important support for jumping. Call it, for me, an electronic ministry. In his post, Akma answers a reader's concern "about the risks of clerical blogging, not in terms of stalkers and children, but in terms of misunderstanding. I did bring this up, and used as a case in point a screenshot from a former student’s blog (with permission). He didn’t [do] anything specifically wrong; someone just misunderstood something he wrote, big time, and all kinds of mayhem evidently ensued."
Ideally a minister is part prophet, which perhaps answers the question, since prophets are not known for beating around the bush (except, perhaps Elijah). But a minister is also a shepherd who hates to lose no sheep. Dialectic? Maybe. So what's the third way? Perhaps to recognize the power of the truth to attract and commit to expressing it as attractively as possible. Perhaps this approach can meet both goals I see for blogging: (1) sort out the truth by sifting through facts and ideas with as many of the 600 million folks online as possible (thx for the #, Henry) and (2) give a new set of glasses to those mesmerized by the status quo.
Maybe it simply comes down to taming that pesky pride thing we've suffered from so long. We are fishing for readers. Let the bait be irresistable.
Yet more from Henry
Henry gave me a plug last night and then he came for lunch today (no quid pro quo). As my generous blogging consultant, he turned me on to Eschaton (by Atrios), through which I discovered the massive/incisive info portal moose and squirrel information one-stop and the action-oriented Failure Is Impossible and even Progressive Majority. All these are now on my sidebar. This isn't plagiarism as long as I've made this post, right?
Henry gave me a plug last night and then he came for lunch today (no quid pro quo). As my generous blogging consultant, he turned me on to Eschaton (by Atrios), through which I discovered the massive/incisive info portal moose and squirrel information one-stop and the action-oriented Failure Is Impossible and even Progressive Majority. All these are now on my sidebar. This isn't plagiarism as long as I've made this post, right?
Blogger Ben
Ben Franklin was a blogger at heart. Check out his essay "Apology for Printers" linked on this PBS feature page. Of all the focus on Ben lately, I'm most attracted to Walter Isaacson's, who focuses on Ben's vision and radical democratic idealism. We could use such a hero today. But wait! Given that imagination is beyond time, we can turn to Ben!
Ben Franklin was a blogger at heart. Check out his essay "Apology for Printers" linked on this PBS feature page. Of all the focus on Ben lately, I'm most attracted to Walter Isaacson's, who focuses on Ben's vision and radical democratic idealism. We could use such a hero today. But wait! Given that imagination is beyond time, we can turn to Ben!
Sunday, July 13, 2003
Longing & Mumchance
"In a universe of so-called oneness, what is not the same? We want it to be us. And we do not want it. The Chilean poet Cecelia Vicunos writes: 'In Nahuatl, one of the names for God is nearness and togetherness.' We wish to be unique and together at once. It is a kind of sadness, this longing.
. . .
"There is a word that comes to us from the Middle Low German that means to be tongue-tied. Not so much that one cannot think what to say, but that the experience is so beyond words and the conditions defined by words and their reasoned order that the tongue is tied by expressing silence. It is mumchance. It is the experience one has confronting something beyond meaning.
. . .
"Mumchance
"It is not for understanding
nor clarity of meaning
I listen carefully to you,
late thrush
across the meadows."
-- St. Nadie in Winter: Zen Encounters with Loneliness Terrance Keenan (Journey Editions, 2001), 9-11.
"In a universe of so-called oneness, what is not the same? We want it to be us. And we do not want it. The Chilean poet Cecelia Vicunos writes: 'In Nahuatl, one of the names for God is nearness and togetherness.' We wish to be unique and together at once. It is a kind of sadness, this longing.
. . .
"There is a word that comes to us from the Middle Low German that means to be tongue-tied. Not so much that one cannot think what to say, but that the experience is so beyond words and the conditions defined by words and their reasoned order that the tongue is tied by expressing silence. It is mumchance. It is the experience one has confronting something beyond meaning.
. . .
"Mumchance
"It is not for understanding
nor clarity of meaning
I listen carefully to you,
late thrush
across the meadows."
-- St. Nadie in Winter: Zen Encounters with Loneliness Terrance Keenan (Journey Editions, 2001), 9-11.
What Kathleen Knew
Here's an excerpt of the excerpt from Kathleen Raine, which was linked in my last post:
"This at least we know, that humanity cannot be defined or described
in material terms or in terms of quantity. Measurement cannot
discover the immeasurable. The power that moves the sun and the
other stars lies altogether outside the order of materialistic
science and its child, technology. I quote again from William
Blake:
systems, universal literacy and the rest, unless we know whom
we are educating and for what end? I am reminded of some lines
by T. S. Eliot, from The Waste Land:
been told, can only connect 'nothing with nothing.'
All those international and interdisciplinary exchanges, all that
instantaneous flashing of information on TV screens across the
globe is futile unless there is a reconnection with the lost source."
-- from Transition to a Global Society, pp. 151-56
Here's an excerpt of the excerpt from Kathleen Raine, which was linked in my last post:
"This at least we know, that humanity cannot be defined or described
in material terms or in terms of quantity. Measurement cannot
discover the immeasurable. The power that moves the sun and the
other stars lies altogether outside the order of materialistic
science and its child, technology. I quote again from William
Blake:
Every natural effect has a spiritual cause,And I ask again: What is the use of more and more communication
And not a natural. A natural cause only seems.
systems, universal literacy and the rest, unless we know whom
we are educating and for what end? I am reminded of some lines
by T. S. Eliot, from The Waste Land:
I can connectTechnology, whose 'medium is the message,' so we have
Nothing with nothing.
been told, can only connect 'nothing with nothing.'
All those international and interdisciplinary exchanges, all that
instantaneous flashing of information on TV screens across the
globe is futile unless there is a reconnection with the lost source."
-- from Transition to a Global Society, pp. 151-56
Saturday, July 12, 2003
The ground of reality is spirit
"Art and religion are the same thing," said Yeats, according to a Times obituary that introduced me to Kathleen Raine, who died Sunday at age 95. The Times says she was a "mystically inclined British poet and a scholar of Yeats and Blake" who was a "grande dame of European letters." She founded the Temenos Academy of Integral Studies, a "teaching institution [which] preached a universalist theme, braiding the mystical strains of Buddhism and Hinduism with Judaism, Christianity and Islam." Here's an excerpt from her book Transition to a Global Society. Godspeed, Kathleen.
"Art and religion are the same thing," said Yeats, according to a Times obituary that introduced me to Kathleen Raine, who died Sunday at age 95. The Times says she was a "mystically inclined British poet and a scholar of Yeats and Blake" who was a "grande dame of European letters." She founded the Temenos Academy of Integral Studies, a "teaching institution [which] preached a universalist theme, braiding the mystical strains of Buddhism and Hinduism with Judaism, Christianity and Islam." Here's an excerpt from her book Transition to a Global Society. Godspeed, Kathleen.
Truth is One
:: The truth is the truth.
:: The truth doesn't change, no matter what we say about it.
:: Religion, philosophy, art, etc. are human creations.
:: In Buddhist words, each path is "a finger pointing to the moon."
:: Because we are part of the Truth, we can know it.
:: We will never know it all.
:: We need bridges, not walls.
:: Our success will match our humility.
:: The truth is the truth.
:: The truth doesn't change, no matter what we say about it.
:: Religion, philosophy, art, etc. are human creations.
:: In Buddhist words, each path is "a finger pointing to the moon."
:: Because we are part of the Truth, we can know it.
:: We will never know it all.
:: We need bridges, not walls.
:: Our success will match our humility.
Now I am a blogger
Now I am a blogger, thanks to Henry Copeland. I am excited to have this new facet of identity. I'm also excited to have the forum since, as my family, friends, and acquaintances will tell you, I have more to say than anyone wants to hear. A weblog is just the ticket... those who want to listen can, and the rest can spare themselves. If you're one who comes back for more, I look forward to getting to know you better.
Now I am a blogger, thanks to Henry Copeland. I am excited to have this new facet of identity. I'm also excited to have the forum since, as my family, friends, and acquaintances will tell you, I have more to say than anyone wants to hear. A weblog is just the ticket... those who want to listen can, and the rest can spare themselves. If you're one who comes back for more, I look forward to getting to know you better.
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