I have watched the TV coverage of the destruction of Ferguson . . . I almost couldn't watch, so I walked away, only to be drawn back over the days. My first reaction was anger; then anger turned to sadness, then sorrow. How can so many people support violence as a solution to the problem of injustice? What happened in Ferguson was not a cry for justice, it was an excuse for unleashing a primitive howl for vengeance--yet to whom was the vengeance directed? --to the very town in which the people live!
The violence that reaped such harm against small businesses and homeowners so far exceeds the perceived injustice it can't be calculated. And for what and why was vengeance sought? There are so many complicated threads to this complex problem, but all real issues are lost in the melee. We are all flawed humans needing to find the way to live together--it is a work in progress. Is there police injustice? Do they profile young black males? It is a possibility, but why are young blacks profiled? Are the police inherently prejudice/bad? Or are there problems in the black community that feed the polarization? Is it not a fact that there is a strong current of disrespect for police and disdain for the law--just listen to the years of rap music and look at the prevalence of the drug culture. The legal system, imperfect though it be, is there not to oppress but to bring order to society and it works only when there is public support.
With the extreme violence of November 2014, you perpetrators have desecrated the memory of Martin Luther King, a true black hero honored by all people regardless of race. He emerged from a society much more deeply steeped in prejudice, yet he brought non-violent pressure to right the injustice of segregation. He, along with Gandhi and Nelson Mandela demonstrated the effectiveness of non-violent protest and changed whole nations . . . the violence of Ferguson accomplished only the destruction of a city.
Thursday, November 27, 2014
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Fundmental Change
Life is a gift outside and beyond anything of man's own making; because of that, humanity has always felt a need for allegiance to the unknown source. (we call that Religion). Many names have been given to that source, in Western Judo-Christian cultures we commonly use 'God'. Our sacred book is the Bible, considered to be inspired by God . . . inspired by God, but delivered through the thought processes of man.
In the Bible there are stories, and there are directives (as well as history and poetry). The stories tell essential truths cloaked in narratives appropriate to the time and culture of its origin. In these stories--or myths--complex concepts are introduced in ways that can reach the understanding level of those addressed--as in the creation story.
The directives are unvarnished statements believed to be the direct word of God such as Deuteronomy 30, 'I set before you life and death . . . choose life'; or the Ten Commandments--what is said is meant. The directives are not negotiable whereas the stories are interpreted and undergo changes in meaning as knowledge and understanding evolves. Literalists fail to differentiate and assign the same value to everything insisting upon a yes or no answer to the Bible's overall veracity.
Just as mankind has a need to honor life's source, so too mankind has a need to seek knowledge to understand the world (we call it Science). Slowly we accumulate knowledge and periodically new discoveries call upon us to readjust our thinking. Our earliest understanding of our world was of a flat earth surrounded by oceans--mariners feared sailing too far and falling over the edge. Above were the heavens in which the sun, moon, and stars revolved around us--our earth--and God from his heavenly vantage point watched man's every move--yes we were that important! When Coperinicus' calculations indicated our most basic premise about earth and celestial bodies was incorrect and Galileo with his telescope confirmed that the earth was not the center of the universe but rather one of the many planets that moved in orbits around the sun, many found that fact intolerable and Galileo almost lost his life for making the claim--yet with time, thinking was readjusted to accommodate the truth.
All philosophy, metaphysics and science up to the mid-nineteenth and twentieth centuries were ignorant of humanity being the product of evolution. Until Darwin's discovery it was taken for granted by Religion that man was 'created apart', an instantaneous spontaneous creation of God. As science grew in prominence, doubt of God's reality crept in, then increased. God couldn't be seen, touched nor measured! Science and Religion parted ways. The theory of evolution seemed to complete the sundering between Science and Religion that had begun with the Enlightenment. Darwin's theory appears to turn the human being into 'just one more' random creature among the multitude of beings populating the earth . . . thus we seem to have moved from all-important (via Religion) to of-no- importance (via Science). Something is amiss there! The human alone thinks, reasons, and reflects upon being--it is of another order.
Today there is a need once again to readjust our thinking. A fundamental change is called for to reunite Science and Religion. What is humanity's place in all that is? Evolution is the central governing principle of all that is--and if we study it carefully we can see in it a pattern and direction toward ever greater complexity, finally yielding a being with reflective awareness who knows and knows he knows, who can shape the future. There is room for God.
In the Bible there are stories, and there are directives (as well as history and poetry). The stories tell essential truths cloaked in narratives appropriate to the time and culture of its origin. In these stories--or myths--complex concepts are introduced in ways that can reach the understanding level of those addressed--as in the creation story.
The directives are unvarnished statements believed to be the direct word of God such as Deuteronomy 30, 'I set before you life and death . . . choose life'; or the Ten Commandments--what is said is meant. The directives are not negotiable whereas the stories are interpreted and undergo changes in meaning as knowledge and understanding evolves. Literalists fail to differentiate and assign the same value to everything insisting upon a yes or no answer to the Bible's overall veracity.
Just as mankind has a need to honor life's source, so too mankind has a need to seek knowledge to understand the world (we call it Science). Slowly we accumulate knowledge and periodically new discoveries call upon us to readjust our thinking. Our earliest understanding of our world was of a flat earth surrounded by oceans--mariners feared sailing too far and falling over the edge. Above were the heavens in which the sun, moon, and stars revolved around us--our earth--and God from his heavenly vantage point watched man's every move--yes we were that important! When Coperinicus' calculations indicated our most basic premise about earth and celestial bodies was incorrect and Galileo with his telescope confirmed that the earth was not the center of the universe but rather one of the many planets that moved in orbits around the sun, many found that fact intolerable and Galileo almost lost his life for making the claim--yet with time, thinking was readjusted to accommodate the truth.
All philosophy, metaphysics and science up to the mid-nineteenth and twentieth centuries were ignorant of humanity being the product of evolution. Until Darwin's discovery it was taken for granted by Religion that man was 'created apart', an instantaneous spontaneous creation of God. As science grew in prominence, doubt of God's reality crept in, then increased. God couldn't be seen, touched nor measured! Science and Religion parted ways. The theory of evolution seemed to complete the sundering between Science and Religion that had begun with the Enlightenment. Darwin's theory appears to turn the human being into 'just one more' random creature among the multitude of beings populating the earth . . . thus we seem to have moved from all-important (via Religion) to of-no- importance (via Science). Something is amiss there! The human alone thinks, reasons, and reflects upon being--it is of another order.
Today there is a need once again to readjust our thinking. A fundamental change is called for to reunite Science and Religion. What is humanity's place in all that is? Evolution is the central governing principle of all that is--and if we study it carefully we can see in it a pattern and direction toward ever greater complexity, finally yielding a being with reflective awareness who knows and knows he knows, who can shape the future. There is room for God.
Saturday, November 1, 2014
Evolution Embraced
It has been in the news that the Pope endorsed evolution saying "evolution is not inconsistent with the notion of creation." Some people are surprised by that because they assumed the Catholic Church also opposed the idea of evolution as do many of the Evangelical Protestants--not so--as far back as 1950 Pope Pius XII said there was no opposition between evolution and Catholic doctrine.
The evidence of Science is irrefutable, evolution is regarded as fact rather than a theory; any threat to religion arises from the popular interpretation that Darwin's theory denies God a place in creation. It is possible to see evolution as God's plan.
As we search to discover our origins we ask, "Are we of earth or of God?" There seems to be a conflict: Scripture says clay and God's breath brought us into being while Science argues that our being is merely a happenstance result of random blind choice. A narrowness of vision closes the possibilities: 1) either in literal interpretation of Genesis, God fashioned man out of clay, breathed upon him and, poof! magically there was man fully formed and perfect; 2) or out of primeval ooze over eons of time elements, then cells, happened to combine simply because of proximity thus forming different species until finally, by randomness, man emerged. Both possibilities in this simplistic view seem equally absurd! Eliminate the absurdity (implausibility) in each choice: 1) many of the Old Testament's stories are symbolic. Symbolic, not untrue, not a lie, but pointing to a truth beyond that age's ability to comprehend; and 2) evolution is more than random happenstance, the long view shows pattern and direction; that of complexification and the rise of consciousness.
A brilliant Jesuit Paleontologist, Teilhard de Chardin, while studying ancient fossils in the deserts of China was able to realize that regarding evolution, besides either/or choices, there is also 'AND', thus opening a new portal of understanding. Science and religion are not in conflict. Evolution is God's plan for Creation.
- - -
THE BEGINNING OF AND
We are born as either/or people.
Jesus, the Christ,
is the beginning of 'and' . . .
Of clay and sky we were fashioned.
We've chosen to follow the nature of our birth
earth's clay we can touch--
God's breath is not palpable--
The finite and material
we can manipulate, can measure.
The infinite and eternal
we cannot grasp, cannot contain.
So we elect to negate--
choose one or the other:
either/or, either/or . . .
Finite man locked in 'choosing limits'
rendering choices that create our reality
either/or, either/or . . .
These decisions skew the balance,
there is weaving together to be done
--open to 'and'.
- - -
We are finitely mortal,
God--infinitely expansive;
through Immanuel those poles are joined.
Son of God; Son of Man
Being itself unfolds gradually to consciousness
First, survival and discovery--individuality and freedom
Then, a New Law--love and unity.
Because we are limited
we have limited what can be--
a shell of narcissism
locks out the greater reality.
Finite man choosing between
either/or, either/or . . .
Come, O Come, Immanuel!
Because time cannot contain eternity,
Eternity enters time--
And asks us to see what cannot be perceived
hear what cannot be understood
know what cannot be comprehended
to burst out of those limits into which we are born
to become the people of 'And'.
The evidence of Science is irrefutable, evolution is regarded as fact rather than a theory; any threat to religion arises from the popular interpretation that Darwin's theory denies God a place in creation. It is possible to see evolution as God's plan.
As we search to discover our origins we ask, "Are we of earth or of God?" There seems to be a conflict: Scripture says clay and God's breath brought us into being while Science argues that our being is merely a happenstance result of random blind choice. A narrowness of vision closes the possibilities: 1) either in literal interpretation of Genesis, God fashioned man out of clay, breathed upon him and, poof! magically there was man fully formed and perfect; 2) or out of primeval ooze over eons of time elements, then cells, happened to combine simply because of proximity thus forming different species until finally, by randomness, man emerged. Both possibilities in this simplistic view seem equally absurd! Eliminate the absurdity (implausibility) in each choice: 1) many of the Old Testament's stories are symbolic. Symbolic, not untrue, not a lie, but pointing to a truth beyond that age's ability to comprehend; and 2) evolution is more than random happenstance, the long view shows pattern and direction; that of complexification and the rise of consciousness.
A brilliant Jesuit Paleontologist, Teilhard de Chardin, while studying ancient fossils in the deserts of China was able to realize that regarding evolution, besides either/or choices, there is also 'AND', thus opening a new portal of understanding. Science and religion are not in conflict. Evolution is God's plan for Creation.
- - -
THE BEGINNING OF AND
We are born as either/or people.
Jesus, the Christ,
is the beginning of 'and' . . .
Of clay and sky we were fashioned.
We've chosen to follow the nature of our birth
earth's clay we can touch--
God's breath is not palpable--
The finite and material
we can manipulate, can measure.
The infinite and eternal
we cannot grasp, cannot contain.
So we elect to negate--
choose one or the other:
either/or, either/or . . .
Finite man locked in 'choosing limits'
rendering choices that create our reality
either/or, either/or . . .
These decisions skew the balance,
there is weaving together to be done
--open to 'and'.
- - -
We are finitely mortal,
God--infinitely expansive;
through Immanuel those poles are joined.
Son of God; Son of Man
Being itself unfolds gradually to consciousness
First, survival and discovery--individuality and freedom
Then, a New Law--love and unity.
Because we are limited
we have limited what can be--
a shell of narcissism
locks out the greater reality.
Finite man choosing between
either/or, either/or . . .
Come, O Come, Immanuel!
Because time cannot contain eternity,
Eternity enters time--
And asks us to see what cannot be perceived
hear what cannot be understood
know what cannot be comprehended
to burst out of those limits into which we are born
to become the people of 'And'.
Sunday, October 19, 2014
The World We Build
The attitudes we hold, the values we support, our prevailing outlook on life; these constitue the DNA of the world we build. We have come to overvalue the objective and undervalue the subjective dimension of reality--love, justice, hope, faith, meaning, purpose . . . these are the subjectives that shape the living.
This morning as I sat watching the news I was swept with a feeling that can't be put into words. Silent tears rolled down my cheeks--all the news was so crushingly bleak: the ebola plague; Islamic State terrorists advancing and brutally seizing territory; refugees by the thousands having fled their homes without provisions or possessions needing help to survive; weather anomalies ravaging communities confirming the reality of climate change. The suffering 'have-nots' demanding more assistance while the 'haves', wanting to protect themselves from the financial burdens and health risks, calling for border closings and flight bans . . . We want to put on blinders to protect ourselves and hide from the threats--we can't! We have yet to realize we are one world.
There is wide spread loss of faith in all our institutions from government to health care to education to religion. Those institutions which past ages have brought forth to organize living in complex societies are under siege--yet it is the nature of civilization to require institutions to manage an orderly society. When serious problems arise and institutions fail to yield a neat quick-fix we rebel against them and scape-goat whoever happens to occupy the leadership role--sometimes it is the leader who needs replacing but more likely it is the institution that has fallen into disarray and needs restructuring. That monumental task requires support and cooperation on all sides.
At present we are in a global crisis and there is fear, anger and condemnation loose in the world with demonstrations and demands for answers--as if such were possible--like answers pre-exist and the right person could pluck one out! But the problems arise from a multitude of subjective choices made over time--the solutions must be arduously created by our collective choices. Only when our politicians move away from polarization and name-calling to engage in working cooperatively will there be an attitude shift throughout society that enables us to shape our world for betterment with conscious choices.
I quote two great minds of the 20th Century who could foresee danger on the horizon:
Einstein is credited with saying: "We must learn to think in a new way"
Teilhard de Cardin has written: "The Age of Nations is past. The task before us now, if we would not parish, is to build the earth.
This morning as I sat watching the news I was swept with a feeling that can't be put into words. Silent tears rolled down my cheeks--all the news was so crushingly bleak: the ebola plague; Islamic State terrorists advancing and brutally seizing territory; refugees by the thousands having fled their homes without provisions or possessions needing help to survive; weather anomalies ravaging communities confirming the reality of climate change. The suffering 'have-nots' demanding more assistance while the 'haves', wanting to protect themselves from the financial burdens and health risks, calling for border closings and flight bans . . . We want to put on blinders to protect ourselves and hide from the threats--we can't! We have yet to realize we are one world.
There is wide spread loss of faith in all our institutions from government to health care to education to religion. Those institutions which past ages have brought forth to organize living in complex societies are under siege--yet it is the nature of civilization to require institutions to manage an orderly society. When serious problems arise and institutions fail to yield a neat quick-fix we rebel against them and scape-goat whoever happens to occupy the leadership role--sometimes it is the leader who needs replacing but more likely it is the institution that has fallen into disarray and needs restructuring. That monumental task requires support and cooperation on all sides.
At present we are in a global crisis and there is fear, anger and condemnation loose in the world with demonstrations and demands for answers--as if such were possible--like answers pre-exist and the right person could pluck one out! But the problems arise from a multitude of subjective choices made over time--the solutions must be arduously created by our collective choices. Only when our politicians move away from polarization and name-calling to engage in working cooperatively will there be an attitude shift throughout society that enables us to shape our world for betterment with conscious choices.
I quote two great minds of the 20th Century who could foresee danger on the horizon:
Einstein is credited with saying: "We must learn to think in a new way"
Teilhard de Cardin has written: "The Age of Nations is past. The task before us now, if we would not parish, is to build the earth.
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Awakening Consciousness
"If I have seen further it is by standing
on the shoulders of giants"
Isaac Newton
Slowly, over eons, we evolve.
Darwin was the first to recognize the process of evolution--simple life structures progress to more complex forms. His discovery was monumental, it opened a whole new way of understanding the mystery of life. As a naturalist his focus was on the mechanisms that gave rise to the variety of physical forms. It was not his task to ask ontological questions. It is tragic that the magnitude of his brilliant insight has been overshadowed by an either/or clash about whether or not we humans evolved from apes.
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, a scientist, theologian and mystic, was one of the greatest thinkers of the 20th Century. He did ask ontological questions and saw wonder, beauty and truth in evolution and through it the wonder of God offering to share His being with humankind. Teilhard authored more than 20 books. (Google him)
Evolution is more than a theory about how new species appeared on the planet--it is the central governing principle of the universe . . . beginning with energy coalescing to matter, matter to simple life forms, life forms increasing in complexity and consciousness until thought was born--therein evolution took a turn inward. Into the hands of the human came the means to shape the world. All else in the universe is acted upon--by forces of nature, circumstances of time and place, random happenstance--but with consciousness the human gained the power to create, still effected by forces of nature and unchosen circumstances, yet possessing the ability to change what is given into what can be imagined.
A long look at history shows a changing reality, a barbaric world slowly advancing toward civilizing itself, over eons we can discern consciousness gradually awakening as choices shape social order: rather than club one's neighbor and take his possessions by force, establish laws to live by; . . . stop invading and plundering those 'not us' and define national boundaries; . . . work to acquire knowledge and skill with which to educate people because education is a 'good' of life; . . . recognize that owning people - slavery - is wrong and should not be supported by a nation even though it presents economic advantages; . . . awaken to the plight of suffering people who lack life's necessities and reach out with help; . . . realize the corrupting effect of discrimination and oppression and seek peaceful means to bring justice.
Thus has civilization advanced--yet still the primitive selfishness that results in violence taints the world we build--and threatens to destroy it. We have yet to realize all life is interconnected and is shaped by our choices . . . but slowly, over eons, we evolve . . . consciousness is only slowly awakening.
on the shoulders of giants"
Isaac Newton
Slowly, over eons, we evolve.
Darwin was the first to recognize the process of evolution--simple life structures progress to more complex forms. His discovery was monumental, it opened a whole new way of understanding the mystery of life. As a naturalist his focus was on the mechanisms that gave rise to the variety of physical forms. It was not his task to ask ontological questions. It is tragic that the magnitude of his brilliant insight has been overshadowed by an either/or clash about whether or not we humans evolved from apes.
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, a scientist, theologian and mystic, was one of the greatest thinkers of the 20th Century. He did ask ontological questions and saw wonder, beauty and truth in evolution and through it the wonder of God offering to share His being with humankind. Teilhard authored more than 20 books. (Google him)
Evolution is more than a theory about how new species appeared on the planet--it is the central governing principle of the universe . . . beginning with energy coalescing to matter, matter to simple life forms, life forms increasing in complexity and consciousness until thought was born--therein evolution took a turn inward. Into the hands of the human came the means to shape the world. All else in the universe is acted upon--by forces of nature, circumstances of time and place, random happenstance--but with consciousness the human gained the power to create, still effected by forces of nature and unchosen circumstances, yet possessing the ability to change what is given into what can be imagined.
A long look at history shows a changing reality, a barbaric world slowly advancing toward civilizing itself, over eons we can discern consciousness gradually awakening as choices shape social order: rather than club one's neighbor and take his possessions by force, establish laws to live by; . . . stop invading and plundering those 'not us' and define national boundaries; . . . work to acquire knowledge and skill with which to educate people because education is a 'good' of life; . . . recognize that owning people - slavery - is wrong and should not be supported by a nation even though it presents economic advantages; . . . awaken to the plight of suffering people who lack life's necessities and reach out with help; . . . realize the corrupting effect of discrimination and oppression and seek peaceful means to bring justice.
Thus has civilization advanced--yet still the primitive selfishness that results in violence taints the world we build--and threatens to destroy it. We have yet to realize all life is interconnected and is shaped by our choices . . . but slowly, over eons, we evolve . . . consciousness is only slowly awakening.
Friday, September 12, 2014
Malhuman
Wars have been fought for many reasons: religion, politics, territory, resources, riches . . . most of them are not morally justified. St. Augustine originaated the phrase 'just war'; later St. Thomas Aquinas laid out the conditions for which a war is deemed morally justified.
Today politicians argue the pros and cons of our country becoming entangled in yet another military conflict on foreign soil. This nation is war-weary; our involvement in conflicts far away has cost American lives and brought about a finincial debt which future generations will still be paying in years to come.
What we are faced with now is not just 'another war'. With the rise of terrorism we are face to face with evil. Evil that knows no limits or boundaries, evil that will stop at nothing to achieve its objective to control by whatever means and impose its will on all within its sphere. This scourge is the antithesis of love, justice, and compassion -- while defiant of all rule of law and scornful of human rights. We've seen suicide bomber enter crowds of strangers with explosives strapped to their bodies to blow themselves up in order to kill as many unknown people as possible; we've seen them march scores of prisoner stripped naked, beaten, then laid face down in the sand and executed; we've seen them attack children on a school bus while proclaiming it wrong to seek an education then later kidnap scores of girls from their school to emphasize the point; we hear of these men amputating body parts for minor offences and stoning women to death for 'bringing shame' upon their families for their having been raped. We refused to broadcast the video tapes the jihadists arrogantly sent of them beheading American journalists; and as a nation we wept at the hijacked planes crashing into the twin towers filled with thousands of ordinary people just going to work on a lovely sunny day.
When speaking of the terrorists we search for words with which to describe them and their deeds--all of our strongest words seem inadequate; they have transgressed the boundaries of what is considered human behavior, yet to call it beastly or inhuman is inaccurate-- beasts kill, but don't commit these horrors; they can't rightly be called inhuman (lacking human qualities) or unhuman (not resembling or having the qualities of human beings) for these are indeed heinous actions consciously chosen by members of the human species, choices arising out of pure evil--they are malhuman acts (the prefix mal- from French and Latin meaning evil, wrong, bad). This so called Islamic state is malhuman and to fight them constitutes not only a 'just war', but also a necessary one to preserve the dignity of mankind.
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