Climate Chronos

Tuesday, April 30, 2024

The Possibility of Peace between Factions--a practice that nurtures Hope

 Fortunate are the peacemakers, for they, pupils of God, shall be named.*

Creating Peace requires right effort, time, courage to let go—to give oneself to silence, breath; and then under simple conditions and often with support of a non-anxious person(s), receive mediation process where parties within a simple practice can hear oneself and the other, share their suffering, needs, mutually understand the other and carve out a path to peaceful resolution. 

Thich Nhat Hanh in this excerpt offers an example of how this simple, profound process can work with any faction experiencing the challenge of letting go of their suffering, who like collective America and Israel, out of a fear of the unknown, prefer suffering that is familiar.

From The Conversation: Making Sense of These Times: What do we make of ourselves after September 11, 2001,

         This summer, a group of Palestinians came to Plum Village and practiced together with a group of Israelis, a few dozen of them. We sponsored their coming and practicing together. In two weeks, they learned to sit together, walk mindfully together, enjoy silent meals together, and sit quietly in order to listen to each other. The practice taken up was very successful. At the end of the two weeks practice, they gave us a wonderful, wonderful report. One lady said, "That, this is the first time in my life that I see that peace in the Middle East is possible." Another young person said, "That when I first arrived in Plum Village, I did not believe that Plum Village was something real because in the situation of my country, you live in constant fear and anger. When your children get onto the bus, you are not sure that they will be coming home. When you go to the market, you are not sure that you will survive to go home to your family. When you come to Plum Village, you see people looking at each other with loving kindness, talking with other kindly, walking peacefully, and doing everything mindfully. We did not believe that it was possible. It did not look real to me."

       But in the peaceful setting of Plum Village, they were able to be together, to live together, and to listen to each other, and finally understanding came. They promised that when they returned to the Middle East, they would continue the practice. They will organize a day of practice every week at the local level and a day of mindfulness at the national level. And they plan to come to Plum Village as a bigger group to continue the practice.

       I think that if nations like America [Israel] can organize that kind of setting where people can come together and spend their time practicing peace, then they will be able to calm down their feelings, their fears, and peaceful negotiation will be much easier.

 

2006

 

https://practiceofzen.com/2020/09/16/peace-is-possible/

 

The Gospel According to St Matthew 5.9 [personal translation] 

http://www.theconversation.org/archive/essence.html

https://plumvillage.org/articles/peace-between-palestinians-and-israelis


 


Tuesday, January 2, 2024

Roots in the family: Cut-off and it's detriment to the whole.

 Regressive levels of anxiety hover over the global field; and whatever happens this year in the realm of nation-state politics, there's a basic yet often unconscious aspect of an existing large-scale, multi-lateral conflict that has its roots in family functioning and projection. That is, you can often find hints of a person's family functioning by way of the kind and quality of leadership one provides. Add to this,  one premise of Family Systems posits that the level of maturity in leaders reflects the overall level of differentiation in society.

Most would agree that the US is entangled in a sever conflict of huge human groups having been drawn into uncooperative functioning, while  issues and competing interests have multiplied and unresolved. As current issues activate memories of old grievances, people who have lived together as neighbors in a democracy may turn against one another.  Just as in families,

“People do not have trouble getting along because of issues. These issues tend to bring out the emotional immaturity of people, and it is that immaturity, not the issues, that creates the conflict.”  (M. E. Kerr, and M. Bowen. Family Evaluation.  New York:  W. W. Norton, 1988, 188)

Large-scale conflict is often multi generational. Children, now adults, have been born into divided emotional fields and have been educated on a deep, visceral level to a way of life that perpetuates these divisions. Societal regression grows in intensity as conflict escalates in intensity. The process of emotion dominates thinking so that the intellectual system is more geared to winning [fight] than to finding an accord with the opponent. Polarization is intense and people find it hard to find a middle ground. Middle way,  alternative and third way values and resolutions almost always require emotional regulation of its leaders.  If not, then there is a sense of stalemate and discouragement, as well as increasing danger that the conflict will spread.  

Hence, the level of maturity in leaders reflects the overall level of differentiation in society. 

The move toward individuality [individual progression in emotional maturity and regulation] is initiated by a single strong leader with the courage of his conviction who can assemble a team, and who has clearly defined principles on which she can base her decisions when the emotional opposition becomes intense.” (M. Bowen,  Family Therapy in Clinical Practice.  New York:  279)

Graham Franciose, 2020 Morning Coffee Paintings


Friday, November 24, 2023

Build a Strong Middle Class: Aristotle's Advice for the Vulnerabilty of Nations [the US]

Thus it is manifest that the best political community is formed by citizens of the middle class, and that those states are likely to be well-administered in which the middle class is large, and stronger if possible than both the other classes, or at any rate than either singly; for the addition of the middle class turns the scale, and prevents either of the extremes from being dominant

Thus it is manifest that the best political community is formed by citizens of the middle class, and that those states are likely to be well-administered in which the middle class is large, and stronger if possible than both the other classes . . . the


middle class turns the scale, and prevents either of the extremes from being dominant. . . Great then is the good fortune of a state in which the citizens have a moderate and sufficient property; for where some possess much, and the others nothing, there may arise an extreme democracy, or a pure oligarchy; or a tyranny may grow out of either extreme- either out of the most rampant democracy, or out of an oligarchy; but it is not so likely to arise out of the middle constitutions and those akin to them.

 [When] the middle class is seldom numerous in them [government], and whichever party, whether the rich or the common people, transgresses the mean and predominates, draws the constitution its own way, “the middle class is seldom numerous … and whichever party, whether the rich or the common people, transgresses the mean and predominates, draws the constitution its own way” and thus arises either oligarchy or democracy.  

[Additionally] the poor and the rich quarrel with one another, and whichever side gets the better, instead of establishing a just or popular government, regards political supremacy as the prize of victory, and the one party sets up a democracy and the other an oligarchy. 


 [Hence] For that which is nearest to the best must of necessity be better, and that which is furthest from it worse, if we are judging absolutely and not relatively to given conditions: I say ‘relatively to given conditions,’ since a particular government may be preferable, but another form may be better for some people.  [2.2 Aristotle, Politics]

 

*

Since all societies aim at some good and the polis is the most encompassing form of society, Aristotle argues, the polis aims at the highest good of all: eudaimonia (flourishing, happiness, the term referred to in the US Constitution’s preamble, “the pursuit of happiness”) (Pol. I.1.1252a1-7). In order to attain eudaimonia for the polis and all of its citizens, the specifically political good must be aimed at: "[T]he political good is justice, and justice is the common benefit" (Pol. III.12.1282b16-17). It is no small matter, then, what form the polis takes, for it will be crucial in allowing individuals to live a good life.  

 

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created [creativity is the core of any system] equal, that they are endowed by their Creator [however recognized—separation of religious organizations and state power] with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among [persons], deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety [need further regulations of weapons, due to the current demise of American society] and Happiness [this is much more than ‘men

Thursday, November 16, 2023

American icon: Washington Post - A rare look at the devastation caused by AR-15 shootings


 

 Link to article: 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/interactive/2023/ar-15-force-mass-shootings/?itid=hp_most-read_p009_f001_1

                                         *

“A large segment of the public willingly resigns itself to political passivity in a world in which it cannot expect to make well-founded judgments.”  

 “[T]hey found it easier to reject what they could not have than to admit the lack of it as a deficiency in themselves.”          Richard Hofstadter, Anti-Intellectualism in American Life

*One must ask, Where is this behavior and neglect in American leading to in terms of the health and welfare of the electorate? Will they vote as they have shown in the recent election when states stood up and took a divergent position in response to the Supreme Court's ruling (Roe).        - SGC


Sunday, October 11, 2020

2020 Reflections from Allegiance to Voting

 

The whole race of man has overgreedy ears. 

Lucretius–De Natura Rerum, IV.598

 **

Below I share some responses to current issues in the political chaos of American society.

 Allegiance

If what philosophers say of the kinship of God and Man be true, what remains for men to do but as Socrates did:—never, when asked one's country, to answer, "I am an Athenian or a Corinthian," but "I am a citizen of the world."

 

Harrisonburg, VA, 2020
Harrisonburg, VA 2020
Activism

We lament, complain, redress, adjure and ensure 'our' voice is heard.

“Blessed are those who mourn.” Am I willing to acknowledge and lament the ways I have participated in or benefitted from systems and structures of oppression? Does my vote help repair the damage caused by native genocide, slavery, structural racism and past international aggressions?  

 



Capitalism [gone-a-muck]

‘To regard dollars as the be-all-and-in-all of life.’  Ubiquitous commodification, a fetishizing of commodities; ascribing magical powers to commodities as if commodities can provide meaning for one’s life.

Political Economy regards the proletarian . . . like a horse, he must receive enough to enable him to work. It does not consider him, during the time when he is not working, as a human being. It leaves this to criminal law, doctors, religion, statistical tables, politics, and the beadle. -  K. Marx, Wages of Labour (1844)

 

Care of the Planet and Concern for Climate Change

There is growing, clear and substantial science that warns us that human activity has been and is a major antecedent to climate change resulting in current and looming disasters.  Reminded of Wendell Berry’s indictment of the “the culpability of Christianity in the destruction of the natural world and the uselessness of Christianity in any effort to correct that destruction”1 I offer a creaturely contemplation, of a descending dominion.

To “have dominion”2 (Genesis 1:26) derives from the same root as “to descend.” This meaning helps to orient the human steward in its rightful place: a representative of God faithfully upholding divine principles of law and justice, and promoting peace and prosperity for the nature (ecology) put under their care.3 It may well be that this command compares with the new testament model of servant-leadership, which appears upside down in relation to the domineering or “ascending” management behaviors we experience and find so often in history. We could say that servant-leadership is to the church what proper stewardship is to ecology, or to our “economics” as defined by Berry (connecting religion with the way we live). Berry is right about the destruction of nature through our lording over it. “It is flinging God’s gifts into His face, as if they were of no worth beyond that assigned to them by our destruction of them.”4

To “descend” is to affirm our place in Creation, rising above the Platonic dichotomy that pulls us apart and in competition with the material gifts and blessings of God’s abundant creation while seeing ourselves as “members of the holy community of creation.”5 On one hand, I am made in the image of God; on the other hand, like the animal, plants, and environment, “I face something that is like myself.”6

Moreover, to “descend” is to respond appropriately in deep-awe “rising from the immeasurable gap that separates Creator and creature.” Thus, our sense of “creatureliness” lays any conceived crown of dominion before the One who sits on the throne depicted in Revelation 4, as a rightful response to the “all embracing rule of God.”7 Instead of acting as independent agents on a crusade to master a turbulent world, we find ourselves radically dependent on God, who “is one who contains all things, works richly in them, gives them their individual places within the whole, and thus bestows harmony on all things. The human creature likewise is at home in the creation, not a stranger and pilgrim in an alien world.”8

Sources:

1 Wendell Berry, “Christianity and the Survival of Creation” in Sex, Economy, Freedom and Community (New York: Pantheon Books, 1992), 93-94.

2 The Hebrew word is a strong word, and Ellen Davis renders it “exercise skilled mastery amongst the creatures”, because notion of skilled mastery suggests something like a craft, an art, of being human without taking away the fact that humans do, from the perspective of almost all the biblical writers — not every single one but almost all—humans occupy a very special place of power and privilege and responsibility in the world. But the condition for our exercise of skilled mastery is set by the prior blessing of the creatures of sea and sky that they are to be fruitful and multiply. So whatever it means for us to exercise skilled mastery, it cannot undo that prior blessing.  This is pretty convicting for us in the sixth great age of species extinction. [Ellen Davis, author of Scripture, Culture, and Agriculture: An Agrarian Reading of the Bible, in an interview with Krista Tippett, On Being, June 2010. https://onbeing.org/programs/wendell-berry-ellen-davis-the-art-of-being-creatures/ ]

3 Gordon J. Wenham, Word Biblical Commentary:  Volume I, Genesis 1-15 (Waco, TX: Word Books, 1987), 33

4 Berry, 98

5 Ibid, 106.

6 Francis Schaeffer, Pollution and the Death of Man: The Christian View of Ecology (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale, 1970), 51.

7 James Wm. McClendon, “Creation and Suffering” in Systematic Theology: Doctrine, Vol II (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1994) 148.

8 Ibid. 158; quoting Paul Santmire, The Travail of Nature: The Ambiguous Ecological Promise of Christian Theology.

 

Cult

A system of religious veneration and devotion directed toward a particular figure or object; e.g., ‘the cult of St. Olaf’

A misplaced or excessive admiration for a particular person or thing; e.g., ‘a cult of personality surrounding the leaders’

 

Defunding the Police: Transforming government

This era of government needs a reality adjustment (can't wait for Trump shadow to recede from the scene) to a more we-the-people-friendly, engagement style, diversity in the ranks, and a redistribution or 'defunding' that empowers more civil, less violent--aggressive (primitive) responses/reactions to more liberal, compassionate, rational, emotionally intellectual, trauma-informed services/supports that will transform the face of the US to one where we are more bonded together and compassionate around people and the land and not simply the thin, shallow idea of a nation-state [nationalism] as some kind of absolute.

 

Fake News and Information: How to Spot Misinformation

(from all sources:  news, politicians and social and print media)

Exercise skepticism

Take in all new information, whether it’s news, social media or a friend, with a measure of doubt. Expect any source to prove their work and show how they came to their conclusion. Try to compare information from other different sources, even if you have a favorite.

Understand the misinformation landscape

While misinformation as a concept isn't new, recognize that social media platforms engaging with it are constantly changing and growing in their influence in the media world. And they have less financial obligation to ensure truth telling, for their business models depend on user engagement. Perhaps reducing your dependence on social media will be good for your news judgment, and your sleep and sanity.

Pay extra attention when reading about emotionally-charged and divisive topics

Misinformation is most influential with controversial, contestable issues, and for many, what’s in the immediate, ‘breaking’ news. Ask, “Is this a complicated subject, something that's hitting an emotional trigger?” Or “Is it a breaking news story where the facts aren't yet able to be assembled?” If the answer is yes, then you need to be ultra-skeptical. Apply pause and listen.

Investigate what you're reading or seeing

What does that skepticism look like in practice? It means asking some questions of what you're reading or seeing: Is the content paid for by a company, politician or another potentially biased source? Is there good evidence? And if there are the numbers (stats), are they presented in context?

Arguments based on this fallacy typically take two forms:

    As a straw man argument, it involves quoting an opponent out of context in order to misrepresent their position (typically to make it seem more simplistic or extreme) in order to make it easier to refute. It is common in politics.

    As an appeal to authority, it involves quoting an authority on the subject out of context, in order to misrepresent that authority as supporting some position.

Yelling probably won't solve misinformation

It's important to value the truth or truth telling, but correcting people is mostly precarious. If someone in your life is spreading objective falsehoods and you want to help, be gentle. Don't always assume bad intentions or stupidity, just meet the other person where they are and be curious— think about opening with common ground and a question. Try to have the conversation in person or at least in a private online setting, like an email.

See divisive issues as having a wide-ranging context for curiosity and exploration. Black and white are  two extremes in the matrix of 256 of shades of grey.


 


“Lying”

Rhetorician in former times said that his trade was to make little things seem big and be accepted as such. . . . In Sparta they woul
d have had him flogged for practicing the art of lying and deception.  - Montaigne, “The Vanity of Words”

“It seems to me that the only faults we should vigorously attack as soon as they arise and start to develop are lying and, just behind that, obstinacy of opinion. Those faults grow with the child; once let the tongue set off on this wrong track and it is astonishing how impossible it is to call it back. That is why some otherwise decent men are abject slaves to it. Montaigne, Essays (paraphrasing 4th Century St. Jerome)

 



Military: an old paradigm




Antiquated even with all the technology and that absence of just wars, the military complex  could easily be argued to be structured murder, [See Just War Theory]. Human affairs with other nations and ‘enemies’ requires a different kind and quality of courage, creativity, more humanity [more fully human], and more advanced human capacities to explore non-violent, peace-making alternatives. While we remember past wars, let's not be collectively dull and sentimental; let's continue to evolve. Take as an example the Freedom Riders.  






Voting

 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice.” Do I agree with God’s holistic agenda of seeing heaven’s dream established on earth? Does my vote support justice for the alien, the poor, the widow, and the oppressed? Does my vote support providing care to “the least of these:” the hungry, thirsty, sick, naked and imprisoned? [Jesus, The Beatitudes]

“Prayer is not enough . . . In this time of great fear, it is important that we think of the long-term challenges—and possibilities—of the entire globe. Photographs of our world from space clearly show that there are no real boundaries on our blue planet. Therefore, all of us must take care of it and work to prevent climate change and other destructive forces. This pandemic serves as a warning that only by coming together with a coordinated, global response will we meet the unprecedented magnitude of the challenges we face.” – The Dalai Lama, Time, 4/14/2020