GWDF D11a Ominous? 2 City Psychologists came and interviewed me today. UPDATED here - http://jesusgodgoodetcnjay.blogspot.com/2012/08/update-gwdf-d11a-2-ominous-city.html
One I've been acquainted with for 3-4 years, the other not till today. They are nice folks. I think their interest is human, but I also think their interest is 'professional,' well, that's their 'job,' but do they understand their job as did Alfred Adler, or Nurse Ratched; as does every medical and psychological association's charter, or the APA' charter and core (they're the ones that at the highest level approved and developed the Bush/Cheney Torture Protocols); as did Morpheus, or Smith; as did Alice Paul, or the bulk of the women''s suffragists; as did Diane Nash/Core/Freedom Riders or MLK Jr and the rest of the civil rights movement of 1961 - entirely opposite?
I suspect they were sent by my beloved doc Cardile, which makes me a little sad, tho maybe by protocol she has little professional choice.
In our long conversation in which I was completely open, as I hope they were, one appropriately mentioned that some could view what I'm doing as crazy, and have me committed (she wasn't quite that blunt) to which I replied - 'I see the most likely end to what I'm doing as being lifelong committed to a torturous institutionalization, a hideous living death in St. Elizabeth's Mental Hospital, tho I'd infinitely rather be dead.' (Hmmm. That's how the USSR handled (handles?) things, thinking themselves right, and righteous, and 'sane.')
Interesting.
Not my business what others do. Just my business what I do.
I wonder who, if anyone, would come to the defense of my sanity? Uh, besides me, I mean, and Adler and Frankl, Biko, Jagerstadder, King, Gandhi, Paul, Nash, Corrie, Jesus...? Doubtful.
"We need to stop Talking, stop Thinking, and Start Loving." Within days of this occurring to me one cold, February morning in 2007 or so, as I deeply pondered how we could do NOTHING of promise to stop the Darfur Genocide, within days the first cross was on my forehead - 'Start Loving.' The Heart, Loving, Uses EVERY NEURON! But the Head and the Flesh in charge, the alternative, uses Talking and "Thinking" to defuse, to displace, the Creative Tension within ourselves that Dr. King saw as the sum and substance of all sufficient Motivation, quite rightly.
I expect from this moment forward to increase many fold my resolve to discuss, to talk about, to dialog about what I am doing no further, as was my stated resolve since the beginning of this Death Fast. For those today, or in the future, that wish to understand what I am doing and why, tho it is obvous to anyone and everyone's never visited Soul, I have done, and will continue to leave adequate logs. But for everyone else, that wants to 'talk' and 'think' about what I am doing, rather than 'Seeing it' for what it obviously is, I intend to quadruple my resolve to stop depriving you of that opportunity. I'm a Bangladeshi, a Maldivian... one of the last canaries in the Coal mine called earth in which you all live - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sxc2-Do7BU
NOTICE:
From any post click the photo across the page top to see the entire blog.
JAMES' PERSONAL WRITINGS: SLOVINGJAMES' MOST STRATEGIC POSTS: *****
MUCH OF MY POSTING WAS ON FACEBOOK: STARTLOVING1
JAMES' PHOTO ALBUM, REGULAR UPDATES:
. . . And Photos 2007 - 6/16
JAMES' PAGE: CHRISTLIKENESS
ALL POSTS HERE
8.29.2012
***** The secret reason for Netanyahu's timing on Iran Haaretz
Haaretz - 5 hours ago |
In private conversations, Netanyahu has said there is nothing after Election Day, which falls on November 6. If Obama wins, Netanyahu says, he will take revenge for the overt efforts to defeat him and will prevent Netanyahu from attacking Iran. For ...
NYT: GOP Conventioner Throws Peanuts at Black Carmera Woman
USA TODAY - 1 hour ago By David Jackson, USA TODAY The GOP ejected two people from last night's session for allegedly throwing nuts at a black CNN camerawoman, and saying, "This is how we feed animals.Republican Attendee Threw Peanuts At Black CNN ...
Huffington Post-13 hours agoAn attendee at the Republican National Convention was allegedly thrown out of the convention center in Tampa on Tuesday after throwing ...RNC attendee allegedly taunts, throws peanuts at CNN camerawoman DigitalJournal.comRNC: Black CNN camera operator allegedly pelted with peanuts ...
The Grio-2 hours agoThe Republican National Convention was marred by a disturbing incident ... “CNN can confirm there was an incident directed at our employee ...Republican Racism: Black Camerawoman Called an Animal at RNC
Gather.com-10 hours agoA black camerawoman, who works for CNN, was in attendance, but one of the other attendees went on the attack, hurling peanuts at her while ...Hobbs' Hump Day Hot Topics: Black Republicans Artur Davis and ...
Tallahassee.com (blog)-2 hours agoLast night saw the first set of Republican heavy hitters step up to the plate ... reporting that a Black CNN Anchor was pelted with peanuts by one ...Racism and the Modern GOP: They Built It
Plunderbund-1 hour agoTwo people were forcibly removed from the Republican National Convention last night for throwing peanuts at an African American CNN ...
Condi Rice Can't Name A Specific Obama Foreign Policy Failure ThinkProgress
ThinkProgress - 7 minutes ago |
Today
on CBS's morning show, former Bush administration Secretary of State
and top Mitt Romney surrogate Condoleezza Rice could not offer any
specific foreign policy failures made by President Obama. Romney's allies, led by Rice and Sen. John McCain ...
GWDF2 D12a Docs agree to keep me pain free 8 more weeks
Saw my beloved doc Cardile this morning. Amazing. Wants me to get the colonoscopy and down the throat exam, but accepts that I won't. Understands I just want to be kept functional for the next 4-8 weeks. Is tripling down on the acid reducers - going to 2 doses of prilosec per day vs 1 and adding 2 daily doses of zantec. Wants me back in immediately if things flare badly again, or to see me in a week of they stabilize.
Slept WELL last night, and only mild pain today.
Slept WELL last night, and only mild pain today.
8.28.2012
GWDF2 D11A ER Doc guesses ulcers. Meds proscribed.
Basically, they poked, prodded, IV'd and did more tests. Very impressive operation. If 'activists,' the so called 'progressives,' demonstrated .0001% the professionalism, commitment, seriousness of purpose, discipline as the young folks in the ER, everyone would have a future worth living.
The blood tests, and other tests, were inconclusive.
ER doc guesses ulcer, with pain referred to rest of abdomen. Wants me to get a colonoscopy and the other one, thru the mouth to see the stomach. Gave me ulcer meds 4 times per day.
I see my home doc, Cardile, tomorrow at 8:30.
I expect to decline the tests.
What I want is the least expensive way to manage pain for the next 4-6 weeks.
Finishing out the writing I'm doing and then the rest of the death fast is 99.99999% mental, and I just don't want to lose all this time, energy, and effectiveness to the hours per day of pain. Like, uh, NOW. DAMN!
The blood tests, and other tests, were inconclusive.
ER doc guesses ulcer, with pain referred to rest of abdomen. Wants me to get a colonoscopy and the other one, thru the mouth to see the stomach. Gave me ulcer meds 4 times per day.
I see my home doc, Cardile, tomorrow at 8:30.
I expect to decline the tests.
What I want is the least expensive way to manage pain for the next 4-6 weeks.
Finishing out the writing I'm doing and then the rest of the death fast is 99.99999% mental, and I just don't want to lose all this time, energy, and effectiveness to the hours per day of pain. Like, uh, NOW. DAMN!
Rachel Corrie, Steve Biko's Deaths - 'Accidents'
Jewish Telegraphic Agency - 48 minutes ago |
By
Ben Sales · August 28, 2012 HAIFA, Israel (JTA) -- The verdict by a
court Tuesday in the case of Rachel Corrie, an American activist killed
in Gaza by an Israeli bulldozer in 2003, may have captured international
attention and touched on a range of ...
GWDF2 D11B On the way to Emergency Room. Stomach took extreme turn for worse
Since 4am the emergency room was
much on my mind - the worst flareup yet of my stomach issues of the last
10 months. Instead I went to CCNV Unity Heath Care where my beloved doc
Cardile is and she said, 'We're sending you to emergency. I'll be at
GW hospital within minutes.
8.27.2012
nd GWDF2 D11A Stomach pain much better today. Tomorrow?
nd GWDF D11A Stomach pain much better today. Tomorrow?
Rachel Corrie verdict due tomorrow GlobalPost
GlobalPost - 5 hours ago |
A
member of the International Solidarity Movement waves a picture of
Rachel Corrie in front of an Israeli tank during a demonstration where
Corrie was killed on March 18, 2003.
Togo women call sex strike to force president's resignation USA TODAY
USA TODAY - 48 minutes ago |
By
Douglas Stanglin, USA TODAY The ban is supported by an opposition
coalition of political parties, civic groups and movements in the west
African nation.
8.26.2012
GWDF D10B Stomach pain may force a temporary hold
It's borderline. The pain is pretty much always there, but not always debilitating. Yesterday was one of the days I've lost hours of work, just trying to manage the pain. Today, so far, I can pretty well work. I can't tell if the meds I'm taking are helping or causing. Next day of incapacitation I expect to go back in for a consultation. If tests could reveal some low cost treatment (that it is free to me is immaterial), or if there are low cost pain meds I could take, I'd like to know.
Over half way through Jim Hansen's "Storms of my Grandchildren," culling for the key "in their own words" quotes for the next book. He's the only one of Romm, McKibben, Brown... in whom I find moral integrity - putting their bodies where their mouths are, to I think I'll still find useful words from the others, particularly before their mass surrender at Copenhagen. Except for Hansen, they don't STAND for anything. Auth-whores, nothing more? Just reporting a blow by blow of the rape from a comfortable distance? If there's more, I can't find it. Not anymore. Just pandering to the gawkers and bureaucrats.
Over half way through Jim Hansen's "Storms of my Grandchildren," culling for the key "in their own words" quotes for the next book. He's the only one of Romm, McKibben, Brown... in whom I find moral integrity - putting their bodies where their mouths are, to I think I'll still find useful words from the others, particularly before their mass surrender at Copenhagen. Except for Hansen, they don't STAND for anything. Auth-whores, nothing more? Just reporting a blow by blow of the rape from a comfortable distance? If there's more, I can't find it. Not anymore. Just pandering to the gawkers and bureaucrats.
Israeli rabbi calls for prayers for Iran's destruction Reuters
Reuters - 8 minutes ago |
The
sermon by Rabbi Ovadia Yosef added to a flurry of recent rhetoric from
Israeli officials that has raised international concern that Israel,
widely believed to be the Middle East's only atomic power, might attack Iran's nuclear facilities. "(When ...
8.25.2012
Loving, here. Have you ever been taunted at one of your coffee shops? Sworn at? Viciously and cruelly discriminated against, repeatedly?
August 25, 2012
My dear friends at xxxx coffee shop, (their Identity protected, so far)
Have you ever been taunted at one of your stores? Sworn at? Viciously and cruelly discriminated
against, repeatedly? I have. Not by your
staff, who are genuinely nice and professional folks, but still, at your
store. Is that what you are about? It was clear discrimination. That’s illegal I suspect. It certainly is not what xxxx, or the
building owner wants to be associated with here in DC just blocks from
Judiciary Square. Is it?
The most recent cursing and discrimination against me at your store was
today. I arrived about 8:30, purchased a
large cup of decaf, and your store being quite empty that early, sat discretely
at a table back in a corner for an hour.
You see, I have facial tattoos, and as a courtesy to you, I sat in a
rear corner out of the way of folks.
Your staff is very nice. I try to
show my appreciation. Last evening for
example, at about 7:30pm, I spent at least 10 minutes, probably 15, cleaning up
and straightening up your patio. Your
staff would have done it but you must
have had a busy day, chairs were all over, and trash was all on the ground, all
around. By the time I was done, all the
chairs were in their place and the trash picked up.
Today, after drinking some of my coffee, not wanting to take
space in your store, customers were accumulating, I went to a remote part of
your patio to continue working for a while.
Within 10 minutes, as has happened to me at least twice before, the
power was cut to the outlet I was using for my laptop. Within 5 minutes after that, the man that did
it the first time, a dark skinned man, early 40’s I’ll guess, when I saw him I
said, ‘I purchased coffee here this morning.’
He said nothing. ‘I’m going to
speak to the manager about this,’ meaning your store manager, to which he
replied, “I’m the manager you son of a bitch.”
HUH? HUH??? Cursing at me?
The prior time I saw him directly was about 2 months
ago. Again, I had purchased a drink, and
was sitting in a remote part of your patio.
After about 10 minutes the power was cut. 5 minutes later, the man who today said he
was the manager, came out and taunted me.
WHAT? ‘Oh, did something happen
with the breaker? Oh, I don’t know
anything about it, but I guess it did.’ Lying
to me. What?!?!?!?
Is it because I have facial tattoos, that obviously don’t
have a lot of money, from my appearance, probably don’t have a home, or is it because
of those three things on top of which I am a highly educated, multiple degrees,
white guy? It is absolutely rank
discrimination, which as I’ve said, to
my knowledge, is against the law in America, in DC.
I expect that like every other of your customers, from here
on in the future, I will be treated exactly as are all of your other customers,
including, the power outside will be on, and left on when I use it. Period.
I know you will do with this letter what best serves this
end, so that I need not do so. It can be
used by you with your corporate management, DC Homeless Advocacy Law Center,
the building manager, other DC Legal advocacy… or whomever you need to
terminate this discriminatory, illegal, unprofessional behavior. I wish this nasty man nothing ill. I wish the discrimination to stop, by your
action, not mine.
NOW. I’ll know your response by how I’m treated in the
future. I know your staff will all vouch
for my civility as will dozens of Secret Service, and Park Police officers in
town who have watched my respectful advocacy for human rights these last 9
years or so.
Your brother, no matter what,
James E. McGinley
GWDF2 D10A Debilitated with Pain again today. Bk 3 -
Sleep, thank goodness, so far is relatively painless.
When I awake I have 2-300 of my daily 800 calories, partly, so I can take the Prilosec and Iron without too much pain. Uh, not today. For the last 3 hours it is all I can do to try and doze and deal with the stomach pain. :-( So much work time being lost.
If this continues, Monday I'll seek an appointment with the doctor for pain management.
Those hours that I can work I'm compiling, "Your next 200 billion kids are on planet Hell unless now.... The Words of James Hansen, Lester Brown, Joe Romm, Michael Mann, IEA, IPCC...."
When I awake I have 2-300 of my daily 800 calories, partly, so I can take the Prilosec and Iron without too much pain. Uh, not today. For the last 3 hours it is all I can do to try and doze and deal with the stomach pain. :-( So much work time being lost.
If this continues, Monday I'll seek an appointment with the doctor for pain management.
Those hours that I can work I'm compiling, "Your next 200 billion kids are on planet Hell unless now.... The Words of James Hansen, Lester Brown, Joe Romm, Michael Mann, IEA, IPCC...."
8.24.2012
nd GWDF2 D9B Pr. #1: Compiling the Essential Hansen, Brown, Romm, McKibben. Daily Headline Posting on HOLD.
nd GWDF D9B Pr. #1: Compiling the Essential Hansen, Brown, Romm, McKibben. Daily Headline Posting on HOLD.
Mass. Commuters Save Woman, Son From Train... ABC News
ABC News - 54 minutes ago |
Quick-thinking
Boston-area commuters are being praised for rescuing a woman who
tumbled off a subway platform and onto the tracks with her 4-year-old
son in her arms.
8.23.2012
nd 'If you know, but you do not do, you do not know.' Anonymous
'If you know, but you do not do, you do not know.' Anonymous
nd GWDF2 D9A Stomach Pain Much Less today. Work proceeding
nd GWDF D9A Stomach Pain Much Less today. Work proceeding
8.22.2012
nd GWDF2 D8B Stomach Pain Largely gone last 4 hours
nd GWDF D8B Stomach Pain Largely gone last 4 hours
nd 'I'd just let it go if today's adults were the one's to be crushed, C, L, R. But the kids?' Loving
nd 'I'd just let it go if today's adults were the one's to be crushed, C, L, R. But the kids?' Loving
GWDF2 D8B Severe stomach pain 2nd day
My concern is the distraction from work. Today, I'm managing to keep working, pretty well.
My dear doc Cardile had proscribed prilosec several weeks ago. I took it for about 4 days and stopped because it seemed to bring on the ache. It is supposed to de-inflame the stomach lining. Starting this morning I'm trying it again. It can take up to 4 days if it is going to work.
Late this week or early next I expect to see the doc again if this continues.
My dear doc Cardile had proscribed prilosec several weeks ago. I took it for about 4 days and stopped because it seemed to bring on the ache. It is supposed to de-inflame the stomach lining. Starting this morning I'm trying it again. It can take up to 4 days if it is going to work.
Late this week or early next I expect to see the doc again if this continues.
8.21.2012
nd 'Jesus, King, Gandhi... made the word, Flesh. We're to do the same.' Loving
nd 'Jesus, King, Gandhi... made the word, Flesh. We're to do the same.' Loving
GWDF2 D8A Back on post. Debilitated by stomach pain. :-(
GWDF D8A Back on post. Debilitated by stomach pain. :-(
Uneventful return trip, except my stomach hurt so bad I couldn't work, only try to rest, and that has continued the several hours I've been back. Was it the rocking of the bus? Progression of whatever I've got? Too much exertion? I'll watch it tonight, tomorrow... if this continues I may reconsider the tests, cuz I can't work, I can't concentrate with this pain. Wimp!
Mercifully, all of the stuff I left under a bench was there undisturbed, except for some work by rats, the four legged kind.
That's all for now. Got to go back to resting and trying to deal with this stomach pain.
Uneventful return trip, except my stomach hurt so bad I couldn't work, only try to rest, and that has continued the several hours I've been back. Was it the rocking of the bus? Progression of whatever I've got? Too much exertion? I'll watch it tonight, tomorrow... if this continues I may reconsider the tests, cuz I can't work, I can't concentrate with this pain. Wimp!
Mercifully, all of the stuff I left under a bench was there undisturbed, except for some work by rats, the four legged kind.
That's all for now. Got to go back to resting and trying to deal with this stomach pain.
8.20.2012
GWDF2 D7B Slept 17 hours today. Silence? Privacy? I'd forgotton. Seems my Body hadn't forgotten.
I had no idea my body was so exhausted - between living in a fishbowl on the streets for 1/3 of a year now, the internal bleeding, anemia, years for to-death's door hunger strikes, half rations now, not an hour's break in so many years I can't remember (how I Love it)...
Slept 12 hours yesterday, and 17 hours deep rest last night. Little other work completed these two days besides telling some folks that have been rocks, angels in my life that I Love them, and repacking, shedding a bunch of stuff for beloved friends to store and eventually disperse.
My bus back to the Canadian Embassy leaves at 9:50am. I can hardly wait to get back in the fight.
800 calorie per day slow-death-fast continued. Losing about 1/4 to 1/2 pound per day from 164 lbs on 8/8, the day before Nagasaki.
It remains to be seen how many of my belongings are left. Megabus has a 50lb weight limit that I exceeded mightily but had to leave 2/3 of my belonging's under a bench. If I were black, and a con, they'd be fine. But I'm not. We'll see. May have to re-create the signs, do without sleeping bags, etc.
Slept 12 hours yesterday, and 17 hours deep rest last night. Little other work completed these two days besides telling some folks that have been rocks, angels in my life that I Love them, and repacking, shedding a bunch of stuff for beloved friends to store and eventually disperse.
My bus back to the Canadian Embassy leaves at 9:50am. I can hardly wait to get back in the fight.
800 calorie per day slow-death-fast continued. Losing about 1/4 to 1/2 pound per day from 164 lbs on 8/8, the day before Nagasaki.
It remains to be seen how many of my belongings are left. Megabus has a 50lb weight limit that I exceeded mightily but had to leave 2/3 of my belonging's under a bench. If I were black, and a con, they'd be fine. But I'm not. We'll see. May have to re-create the signs, do without sleeping bags, etc.
8.18.2012
nd 'The Entire Gospel - Give everything you are to our Global Neediest. It's Heaven. There's none other..' Loving
nd 'The Entire Gospel - Give everything you are to our Global Neediest. It's Heaven. There's none other..' Loving
GWDF D7A - FACT: Joe Romm surrendered to defeat years ago in his "Hell..." book: I didn't realize. Unlike Brown,
Unless he did a total about face in the final chapter? Oh, and yes, per the subject line, Brown hasn't yet conceded, in words, but in deeds he's always conceded. Fact.
Traveling to Phila for 2-4 days to
say goodbye to dearest friends. While waiting in the cattle chute for
Megabus I began re-listening to an audio version of Hell and High Water
in the Library.
The following isn't personal. My
next 200 billion children are currently doomed by Plan Armageddon. Only
THAT is personal to me. The rest is figuring out how to save them and
who might help, and who is hindering.
I'm going to have to listen again.
But it is 92% clear. He is 99.9% clear. 'Politically, things just
aren't going to change. The best we can hope for is for 40' sea level
rise next century.' WTF!?!!?!? Maybe he saves his courage for the last chapter?
Four major features to his background:
1. Fact - MIT science;
2. Fact - Gov and non-profits - never had responsibility or experience leading people to high stakes change, nor doing it himself.
3. Fact - He has been at this for decades
with total failure, objectively, in bringing change. It is the rare
person that can take the blame for that on themselves;
4. Fact - His audience goes to zero, like
mine, if he steps up to the impossible, because more than maybe
anything we've made the bargain in this society to avoid facing the
needs of society so we can devote all to ourselves;
5. Fact - His funding goes away, from is
books, his job blogging, the American Progress Think Tank - an arm of
the Democratic Machine - they'd not have Joe playing with the platforms
of the party.
Hmmmm.
No wonder he and I are on different planets. My bad. So much to learn, so little time.
Conceding defeat is almost impossible for me, and for Joe, it is all he's ever known. Fact.
ps: McKibben has so embraced defeat he isn't even worth mentioning, my brother tho he is.
pps: Hansen is the one that hasn't caved yet, and probably won't, but he hasn't the background or character to be able to stand and even begin to fill the leadership background.
ps: McKibben has so embraced defeat he isn't even worth mentioning, my brother tho he is.
pps: Hansen is the one that hasn't caved yet, and probably won't, but he hasn't the background or character to be able to stand and even begin to fill the leadership background.
8.17.2012
nd GWDF2 D6B Going to Phila to Say Goodby to Dearest Friends - 4 days - back Tuesday.
nd GWDF D6A Going to Phila to Say Goodby to Dearest Friends - 4 days - back Tuesday.
nd "Over my dead body does Earth's temperature rises over 1.5 degrees C." Loving
nd "Over my dead body does Earth's temperature rises over 1.5 degrees C." Loving
8.16.2012
Dietrich Bonhoeffer Path-blazes for us: "Who Stands his Ground?"
"The responsible man seeks to make his whole
life a response to the question and call of God."
The great masquerade of evil has wrought havoc with all our ethical preconceptions. This appearance of evil in the guise of light, beneficence and historical necessity is utterly bewildering to anyone nurtured in our traditional ethical systems. But for the Christian who frames his life on the Bible it simply confirms the radical evilness of evil.
The failure of rationalism is evident. With the best of intentions, but with a naïve lack of realism, the rationalist imagines that a small dose of reason will be enough to put the world right. In his short-sightedness he wants to do justice to all sides, but in the mêlée of conflicting forces he gets trampled upon without having achieved the slightest effect. Disappointed by the irrationality of the world, he realizes at last his futility, retires from the fray, and weakly surrenders to the winning side.
Worse still is the total collapse of moral fanaticism. The fanatic imagines that his moral purity will prove a match for the power of evil, but like a bull he goes for the red rag instead of the man who carries it, grows weary and succumbs. He becomes entangled with non-essentials and falls into the trap set by the superior ingenuity of his adversary.
Then there is the man with a conscience. He fights singlehanded against overwhelming odds in situations which demand a decision. But there are so many conflicts going on, all of which demand some vital choice--with no advice or support save that of his own conscience--that he is torn to pieces.
Evil approaches him in so many specious and deceptive guises that his conscience becomes nervous and vacillating. In the end he contents himself with a salved instead of a clear conscience, and starts lying to his conscience as a means of avoiding despair. If a man relies exclusively on his conscience he fails to see how a bad conscience is sometimes more wholesome and strong than a deluded one.
When men are confronted by a bewildering variety of alternatives, the path of duty seems to offer a sure way out. They grasp at the imperative as the one certainty. The responsibility for the imperative rests upon its author, not upon its executor. But when men are confined to the limits of duty, they never risk a daring deed on their own responsibility, which is the only way to score a bull's eye against evil and defeat it. The man of duty will in the end be forced to give the devil his due.
What then of the man of freedom? He is the man who aspires to stand his ground in the world, who values the necessary deed more highly than a clear conscience or the duties of his calling, who is ready to sacrifice a barren principle for a fruitful compromise or a barren mediocrity for a fruitful radicalism. What then of him? He must beware lest his freedom should become his own undoing. For in choosing the lesser of two evils he may fail to see that the greater evil he seeks to avoid may prove the lesser. Here we have the raw material of tragedy.
Some seek refuge from the rough-and-tumble of public life in the sanctuary of their own private virtue. Such men however are compelled to seal their lips and shut their eyes to the injustice around them. Only at the cost of self-deception can they keep themselves pure from the defilements incurred by responsible action. For all that they achieve, that which they leave undone will still torment their peace of mind. They will either go to pieces in face of this disquiet, or develop into the most hypocritical of all Pharisees.
Who stands his ground? Only the man whose ultimate criterion is not in his reason, his principles, his conscience, his freedom or his virtue, but who is ready to sacrifice all these things when he is called to obedient and responsible action in faith and exclusive allegiance to God. The responsible man seeks to make his whole life a response to the question and call of God.
The great masquerade of evil has wrought havoc with all our ethical preconceptions. This appearance of evil in the guise of light, beneficence and historical necessity is utterly bewildering to anyone nurtured in our traditional ethical systems. But for the Christian who frames his life on the Bible it simply confirms the radical evilness of evil.
The failure of rationalism is evident. With the best of intentions, but with a naïve lack of realism, the rationalist imagines that a small dose of reason will be enough to put the world right. In his short-sightedness he wants to do justice to all sides, but in the mêlée of conflicting forces he gets trampled upon without having achieved the slightest effect. Disappointed by the irrationality of the world, he realizes at last his futility, retires from the fray, and weakly surrenders to the winning side.
Worse still is the total collapse of moral fanaticism. The fanatic imagines that his moral purity will prove a match for the power of evil, but like a bull he goes for the red rag instead of the man who carries it, grows weary and succumbs. He becomes entangled with non-essentials and falls into the trap set by the superior ingenuity of his adversary.
Then there is the man with a conscience. He fights singlehanded against overwhelming odds in situations which demand a decision. But there are so many conflicts going on, all of which demand some vital choice--with no advice or support save that of his own conscience--that he is torn to pieces.
Evil approaches him in so many specious and deceptive guises that his conscience becomes nervous and vacillating. In the end he contents himself with a salved instead of a clear conscience, and starts lying to his conscience as a means of avoiding despair. If a man relies exclusively on his conscience he fails to see how a bad conscience is sometimes more wholesome and strong than a deluded one.
When men are confronted by a bewildering variety of alternatives, the path of duty seems to offer a sure way out. They grasp at the imperative as the one certainty. The responsibility for the imperative rests upon its author, not upon its executor. But when men are confined to the limits of duty, they never risk a daring deed on their own responsibility, which is the only way to score a bull's eye against evil and defeat it. The man of duty will in the end be forced to give the devil his due.
What then of the man of freedom? He is the man who aspires to stand his ground in the world, who values the necessary deed more highly than a clear conscience or the duties of his calling, who is ready to sacrifice a barren principle for a fruitful compromise or a barren mediocrity for a fruitful radicalism. What then of him? He must beware lest his freedom should become his own undoing. For in choosing the lesser of two evils he may fail to see that the greater evil he seeks to avoid may prove the lesser. Here we have the raw material of tragedy.
Some seek refuge from the rough-and-tumble of public life in the sanctuary of their own private virtue. Such men however are compelled to seal their lips and shut their eyes to the injustice around them. Only at the cost of self-deception can they keep themselves pure from the defilements incurred by responsible action. For all that they achieve, that which they leave undone will still torment their peace of mind. They will either go to pieces in face of this disquiet, or develop into the most hypocritical of all Pharisees.
Who stands his ground? Only the man whose ultimate criterion is not in his reason, his principles, his conscience, his freedom or his virtue, but who is ready to sacrifice all these things when he is called to obedient and responsible action in faith and exclusive allegiance to God. The responsible man seeks to make his whole life a response to the question and call of God.
nd 'Objectively Jagerstadder, Corrie, Bonhoeffer... FAILURES.' Loving
nd 'Objectively Jagerstadder, Corrie, Bonhoeffer... FAILURES.' Loving
GWDF2 D6A Characteristic 108. Channeling Creative Tension Every Breath
http://youtu.be/sZRivAuR08U
GWDF D6A
Characteristic 108 Channeling Creative Tension Every Breath
As I've before
written and said, there are two ways to bring radical change - show up with enough
guns and kill or threaten to kill until you get what you want, or show up with
enough loving bodies and die until you so evoke the humanity of onlookers that
pressure comes to bear from them and you get what is rightfully yours. Violence and unviolent action; 1. Destructive
Tension, and 2. Creative Tension.
It is essential to
understand these the two ways of creating tension, and it was with Dr. King
that I first saw that the concept of creative tension (actually I first saw the
concept from MIT's Peter Senge in his book “The Fifth Discipline,” but the
earliest reference I've seen is Dr. King), that all advance for humanity comes
from, not the absence of tension, but the near unbearable creative tension:
seeing on the one hand an impending horror and seeing on the other hand the
slimmest chance of averting that horror, particularly for dearest loved ones;
tho for the INSHE warriors, ALL are their dearest loved ones. This is really at the bottom of what Gandhi
spoke of - truth force – the emotive truth of how things should/could be and
the truth of the horror of how they are now or are about to become; unless
prevented, stopped, averted, replaced….
We are not bricks, we’re
not trees, we’re not cats, we’re not birds.
Our DNA would have us be human beings and as humans we are motivated by,
moved by, tension. We’re driven away
from something by the tension of fear, by threat of force, by actual force. We’re drawn to something by the tension of
passion, sense of solidarity, desire to alleviate someone else's pain, or
threatened pain, and thereby alleviate our own which we feel vicariously,
empathically.
Gandhi on hunger
strike was a tsunami of creative tension for ultimately millions, maybe
billions around the world. It was excruciating,
it was e-motive, that is, moving, was e-motional, motional. Wave after wave of people in India marching
simply to get salt that had been taken from their oceans that was rightfully
theirs, clubbed unrelentingly, kicked in the groin over and over, but did not
raise a hand to protect themselves, channeling creative tension to millions
around the world via vicarious learning, empathy, the royal road to hacking our
defenses and awakening the heart.
Alice Paul and her
sisters in prison 30 miles South of here on hunger strike, being force-fed
simply for demanding what was rightfully theirs, the right to vote as full
human beings. This channeled immense
creative tension.
And that's what I
seek to do, every breath, to bear near unbearable creative tension and thereby
channel it into the world to be available for others to take it on, and if
others do take it on, and too begin channeling it thought every moment of
action, and thereby spread the fire, then, and only then will there be
hope. Unless others succeed where I’ve
failed, which I pray, but don’t see happening, or even tried.
There are only two
ways to bring radical change and only one brings radical change to the world
permanently, that is life. They both can
lead to permanent radical change. Much
more of the violent kind, destructive tension, the violent tension, will
conclude Armageddon, environmental Armageddon and in the Middle East it may
spark global Armageddon, nuclear war.
Creative tension is
the one that adds to the complexity of life, which is to say it expands, it
enriches human life, possibly forever. That's
the direction of evolution. That is loving.
That is the force of loving. That
is the truth force Gandhi spoke of, the soul force. And that is what I seek to be in every cell,
every atom, every molecule of my body, with every breath, because therein lies
all hope.
And you?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)