According to the World Programme of Action for Youth, health may be defined as a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.
Programs and campaigns have existed. However, health of young people deteriorates and concerns more and more, and aspects as depression; stress; unwanted pregnancies; gaps in exercising reproductive and sexual rights; narcotic and psychotropic drug abuse; misuse of alcohol and tobacco and malnutrition, are worrying.
What is still missing in the Americas in order that young people embody a healthy youth?
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Thursday, August 16, 2007
UNESCO Q3
Which are the challenges, fields of action and priorities leading to the development of productive youth-inclusive projects in both the rural and the urban communities of the Americas ’ region? Could you mention an example where such a project has flourished in your country and indicate the ingredients of its success?
I think some of the priorities to a successful project are:
That the project be youth initiated. In this aspect youth are the most invested if they identified and initiated the response.
That the project be youth led with assistance from experienced mentors in the community. I use the word mentor because too many times I see youth ask for adult assistance and then are pushed aside by the adults. This is also a challenge since the ability to affect change in the community around the issue of choice relies on the knowledge that is available. Without knowledge about how to address the issue anyone(not just youth) would simply be too stunned and unable to react positively. This knowledge can either be sought through traditional routes, through school and books, or through mentor-ship and partnership with other organizations.
Both a challenge and priority would be the inclusivity of the project. And not only the inclusion of people of various outlooks on the project but also people of various age, gender, race and culture. It seems like we often forget the differences that exist within our own communities even when we all look alike. There are some many people with so many different experiences that if we only ask we shall find that beneath our uniform greetings there is a world of beauty within each of us. in rural areas as well as the urban people who speak different languages should also be included. A strong project is a diverse project just as a strong community is a diverse one.
I think some of the priorities to a successful project are:
That the project be youth initiated. In this aspect youth are the most invested if they identified and initiated the response.
That the project be youth led with assistance from experienced mentors in the community. I use the word mentor because too many times I see youth ask for adult assistance and then are pushed aside by the adults. This is also a challenge since the ability to affect change in the community around the issue of choice relies on the knowledge that is available. Without knowledge about how to address the issue anyone(not just youth) would simply be too stunned and unable to react positively. This knowledge can either be sought through traditional routes, through school and books, or through mentor-ship and partnership with other organizations.
Both a challenge and priority would be the inclusivity of the project. And not only the inclusion of people of various outlooks on the project but also people of various age, gender, race and culture. It seems like we often forget the differences that exist within our own communities even when we all look alike. There are some many people with so many different experiences that if we only ask we shall find that beneath our uniform greetings there is a world of beauty within each of us. in rural areas as well as the urban people who speak different languages should also be included. A strong project is a diverse project just as a strong community is a diverse one.
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Americorps NCCC Denver Summer of Service Slide Show 2007
So I finished the Summer of Service, which was three weeks of just remembering to sleep. It was great fun in retrospect but it was so exhausting. I am enjoying the first few days of vacation with multiple therapeutic massages and lots of good food and exercise. Hopefully I can jump start myself into a better lifestyle we shall see. Especially considering I am still living in the Americorps Budget of 4.50 a day. Oh yeah no organic food on that budget, but we are making it through.
So here is the slide show that I created for the Summer of Service Graduation ceremony. I am pretty proud of it considering I had never made a slide show before let alone in just 7 hours. It was pretty easy in the end. I am so glad the music worked out it really made the show work. Thank you Michelle and heather for helping with the choice in music.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6433254553223333360
So here is the slide show that I created for the Summer of Service Graduation ceremony. I am pretty proud of it considering I had never made a slide show before let alone in just 7 hours. It was pretty easy in the end. I am so glad the music worked out it really made the show work. Thank you Michelle and heather for helping with the choice in music.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6433254553223333360
UNESCO Youth Forum of the Americas~intro
My friend Alyson, here in NCCC, was accepted to be one of two U.S. Representatives to the first ever UNESCO youth forum in the America's. As part of her preparation she is engaging in weekly discussions with the other countries' representatives about a broad range of topics. Since I am both really excited for her to go and am fascinated with the questions being asked I thought I would post them here in on my blog. Already two weeks of questions have passed so I am going to start with the third week question but here are the questions from the previous weeks.
1st week question:
This Forum has been called the 1st Americas Youth Forum. What does The Americas mean to you? Which elements of identity characterise this region? Is it possible to talk about a common future?
2nd week question:
Education provides a window to the individual and social development. What is the validity of this statement in the context of the Americas ? Which tools, strategies and actors do you think could be crucial for the construction of a Knowledge Society in the region? Which role could education play in this process?
1st week question:
This Forum has been called the 1st Americas Youth Forum. What does The Americas mean to you? Which elements of identity characterise this region? Is it possible to talk about a common future?
2nd week question:
Education provides a window to the individual and social development. What is the validity of this statement in the context of the Americas ? Which tools, strategies and actors do you think could be crucial for the construction of a Knowledge Society in the region? Which role could education play in this process?
Thursday, July 5, 2007
July 4th
When everyone began talking about where they were last July 4th I had to think harder then I think I should have. then it came flooding back to me. I was back in Belfast chilling in the Botanic Gardens, playing frisbee with Karlo and Stevo. Laurence and Megan were reading. Evan was playing guitar. I think Margaret was out and about somewhere. We had a great bbq back at #11 Mt charles, one of many. I loved that smokey allie of a back yard, if that's what we want to call it. Yup Ramana and Petr were about too causing trouble as usual. We had soo much food. I think kedrick made brownies, Megan her crumble, me a red, white and blue trifle. Oh Potato Salad. Yum. Oh I remember Karlo and Steve brought burgers with the bun all frozen in a box to the park. That was great. Ahh I love you guys.
This year I tailgated my first concert. It was the Violent Femmes and Blues Traveler at Redrocks and amazing natural outdoor red rock amphitheatre that over looks Denver. At 9pm we saw about 25 fireworks shows happening down in the city, then as the fireworks burned out Mother nature lite up her show of force with a great lightening show. THAT was beautiful as the sky lite up I thought what a message mother nature was sending. "Silly people yup your fireworks are colorful, but Mine I can liteup the earth and the sky. I can do without running out of steam and will always out power you." What a great message.
Hope you all had a great 4th.
This year I tailgated my first concert. It was the Violent Femmes and Blues Traveler at Redrocks and amazing natural outdoor red rock amphitheatre that over looks Denver. At 9pm we saw about 25 fireworks shows happening down in the city, then as the fireworks burned out Mother nature lite up her show of force with a great lightening show. THAT was beautiful as the sky lite up I thought what a message mother nature was sending. "Silly people yup your fireworks are colorful, but Mine I can liteup the earth and the sky. I can do without running out of steam and will always out power you." What a great message.
Hope you all had a great 4th.
Monday, July 2, 2007
Sarcasm
Sarcasm seems to be finding me in many places recently, but since my life right now is Americorps NCCC it's my most recent medium for exposure. I would be inclined to believe that perhaps I am just too sensitive to the sharp come backs, the stinging remarks, the laughter disguising angry remarks, but my deep respect for love and the community inform me otherwise. I often interpret sarcasm as teasing in disguise, or anger without confrontation. One friend described sarcasm as "cheap humour at an others expense. Humour for people who don't know how to be funny."
Even in groups where all participate in equally bashing, each equally pointing out every mistake of the others, there seems to be a serious lack of respect for the possibilities of a loving dialogue. Recently team members of mine said they would prefer people laugh and make fun of them when they trip and fall then ask if they are alright.
I know that this is true for many people but I am still appalled when I hear it. When living in Northern Ireland I learned that people like Oprah would never fly in Northern Ireland because their genuineness would be in question. I have heard similar and said similar things of people like Bono. Why is it so hard to accept a genuine loving response? Perhaps because far to often it is used to coerce a gift, favour or fame. Or is it the lack of community depth and relationships which rest on more than the mutual use of the sidewalk?
Recognizing that Northern Ireland and similar places have been shaped by an incredibly deep wound, are we to believe that our community has been equally shaped by a different but equally harming wound? If we are to believe that this wound exists, does our use of sarcasm to mask the wound truly help in the work toward reconciliation. Does the short term relief through sarcasm hurt our long term recovery? Now Northern Ireland is known to have some of the darkest humour, much like ambulance and ER workers, the connections between the two are not hard to make. However the use of humour to collectively gain relief from a serious and difficult time is a wise use of time coupled with other works.
I am digressing. What I am looking at is the replacement of sarcasm with caring dialogue that focuses on the loving/positive aspects of the relationships. Of course without ignoring the hurt. This view of a wounded community is here put into perspective because of my constant search for the good. I know, I KNOW that this search is not my singular quest, but a quest shared by more people than can be counted. I believe that far fewer people actually experience the use of love for coercion than those touched by its effects. Often like in blighted neighborhoods where even if you have had no personal experience with the police you are hardened to their position by the experiences shared in the community. It is that mistrust that breeds the further occurrence of police/community conflict. The work of the police to gain the trust of the community seems that much harder because of the built mistrust. The same definitely goes for those who use sarcasm to hide and release anger without coming to terms with its effects on the self and the other.
Perhaps I have gone to far without truly defining sarcasm and deciding whether there can be constructive and useful sarcasm. I use sarcasm to take jabs at our political figures as has been done for centuries though I personally like to call this wit. Consulting my favorite source for word debates Merriam Webster should help,
Sarcasm: 1:a sharp and often satirical or ironic utterance designed to cut or give pain 2:a mode of satirical wit depending for its effect on bitter, caustic, and often ironic language that is usually directed against an individual.
Wit: suggests the power to evoke laughter by remarks showing verbal felicity or ingenuity and swift perception especially of the incongruous.
While perhaps with these definitions the differences are unclear the truth still remains that Sarcasm which is used to jab or tease others, however playfully, causes wounds that may be imperceptible to the participants but ripples through the community. I don't know if this is making sense any more but if nothing else sarcasm like teasing and bullying are while sometimes great momentary reliefs of anger they are not constructive ways to actually build a cohesive and strong community.
If we truly believe that love does conquer all, would that mean starting with the conquering of sarcasm that cuts love open like a festering wound in our daily language?
Even in groups where all participate in equally bashing, each equally pointing out every mistake of the others, there seems to be a serious lack of respect for the possibilities of a loving dialogue. Recently team members of mine said they would prefer people laugh and make fun of them when they trip and fall then ask if they are alright.
I know that this is true for many people but I am still appalled when I hear it. When living in Northern Ireland I learned that people like Oprah would never fly in Northern Ireland because their genuineness would be in question. I have heard similar and said similar things of people like Bono. Why is it so hard to accept a genuine loving response? Perhaps because far to often it is used to coerce a gift, favour or fame. Or is it the lack of community depth and relationships which rest on more than the mutual use of the sidewalk?
Recognizing that Northern Ireland and similar places have been shaped by an incredibly deep wound, are we to believe that our community has been equally shaped by a different but equally harming wound? If we are to believe that this wound exists, does our use of sarcasm to mask the wound truly help in the work toward reconciliation. Does the short term relief through sarcasm hurt our long term recovery? Now Northern Ireland is known to have some of the darkest humour, much like ambulance and ER workers, the connections between the two are not hard to make. However the use of humour to collectively gain relief from a serious and difficult time is a wise use of time coupled with other works.
I am digressing. What I am looking at is the replacement of sarcasm with caring dialogue that focuses on the loving/positive aspects of the relationships. Of course without ignoring the hurt. This view of a wounded community is here put into perspective because of my constant search for the good. I know, I KNOW that this search is not my singular quest, but a quest shared by more people than can be counted. I believe that far fewer people actually experience the use of love for coercion than those touched by its effects. Often like in blighted neighborhoods where even if you have had no personal experience with the police you are hardened to their position by the experiences shared in the community. It is that mistrust that breeds the further occurrence of police/community conflict. The work of the police to gain the trust of the community seems that much harder because of the built mistrust. The same definitely goes for those who use sarcasm to hide and release anger without coming to terms with its effects on the self and the other.
Perhaps I have gone to far without truly defining sarcasm and deciding whether there can be constructive and useful sarcasm. I use sarcasm to take jabs at our political figures as has been done for centuries though I personally like to call this wit. Consulting my favorite source for word debates Merriam Webster should help,
Sarcasm: 1:a sharp and often satirical or ironic utterance designed to cut or give pain 2:a mode of satirical wit depending for its effect on bitter, caustic, and often ironic language that is usually directed against an individual.
Wit: suggests the power to evoke laughter by remarks showing verbal felicity or ingenuity and swift perception especially of the incongruous.
While perhaps with these definitions the differences are unclear the truth still remains that Sarcasm which is used to jab or tease others, however playfully, causes wounds that may be imperceptible to the participants but ripples through the community. I don't know if this is making sense any more but if nothing else sarcasm like teasing and bullying are while sometimes great momentary reliefs of anger they are not constructive ways to actually build a cohesive and strong community.
If we truly believe that love does conquer all, would that mean starting with the conquering of sarcasm that cuts love open like a festering wound in our daily language?
Sunday, July 1, 2007
how can we stand by and not try to help, no matter how imperfect our efforts may be?
28 June 2007
Commiting Personally, Acting Globally
By Kenneth Cloke
Mediation is an imperfect process, that employs an imperfect third person, to help imperfect people, come to an imperfect agreement in an imperfect world. Leonard Marlow
Why did you originally decide to become a lawyer, mediator, or arbitrator? Perhaps you will answer, “in order to help people,” or “to make a difference,” or “as an expression of my values” or “to demonstrate my commitment to peacemaking.”
Each of us is searching -- not just for ways to eke out a living, but for work that has meaning and integrity, that allows us to serve others, and that brings us a sense of fulfillment far greater than we could get by simply processing the same sorts of disputes over and over again for years.
At the same time, the problems we face and are increasingly required to solve demand the collective attention of everyone. The emergent crises of global warming, exhaustion of the oceans, air and water pollution, species extinction, drug resistant diseases, global pandemics, overuse of fertilizers, deforestation, loss of arable land, AIDS, decreasing bio-diversity, resort to warfare, nuclear proliferation, narcotics smuggling, organized crime, terrorism, torture, ethnic cleansing, and religious intolerance – none of these can be solved except collaboratively across political, religious, and cultural borders.
In the face of such difficulties, it is easy to think: we are so few, so imperfect, and so poorly prepared, while the problems we face are so vast, multifaceted, and ingrained -- how could we possibly make a difference?
The real question, however, is: how can we stand by and not try to help, no matter how imperfect our efforts may be?
In fact, we know – not just intellectually, but in our hearts, as professionals and experienced conflict resolvers – that there are tangible things we can do, as imperfect as they are. We know a number of techniques for communicating across cultural divides and resolving disputes without warfare.
We have developed skills in communication, facilitation, problem solving, public dialogue, collaborative negotiation, prejudice reduction, mediation, and conflict resolution system design. And it is precisely these skills that the world now needs to solve its problems.
More subtly, all conflicts transpire between people, that is, at the boundaries or borders that separate individuals, cultures, organizations, and nations. Conflict is therefore simply the sound made by the cracks in a system, a boundary condition that can best be resolved by communicating across the many internal and external borders we have erected to keep ourselves safe, or exclude others.
In short, it no longer matters whose end of the boat is sinking. We realize that we are all in this together and need to learn how to communicate with each other and address problems that can no longer be solved individually, even by powerful nation states.
More importantly, aren’t these the very reasons conflict resolution initially inspired us and drew us in? Wouldn’t we all love to see the “promise of mediation” fulfilled, and people living together without endless wars and needless cruelty?
Finding practical, meaningful ways to overcome these difficulties and fulfill the deeper call of our spirits and our profession will not be quick or easy. Yet we become powerful in the face of our fears and are able to recognize the deeper meaning of our lives when we commit to making a difference in the world.
To make a real difference, we need to build local capacity to prevent, resolve and recover from conflicts. We need to recruit volunteers from the dispute resolution community to train mediators in other countries in a wide range of skills: to resolve community, environmental, and public policy disputes; to initiate restorative justice and victim-offender programs; to facilitate public dialogue and problem solving; to expand skills in group facilitation, informal problem solving, team building, and consensus decision making; to design multi-door courthouses; to promote prejudice reduction, bias awareness and community building; to encourage forgiveness and reconciliation; and to apply conflict resolution systems design principles to a broad range of social, economic, political, and environmental disputes.
As imperfect as we are, there are many opportunities for dispute resolution practitioners to experience a deep sense of personal fulfillment and make a genuine contribution to a more peaceful planet by assisting people and societies around the world that have been wounded by violence.
Doing so will not only allow us to reconnect with our original intentions, it will make tangible the wisdom of our profession and contribute measurably to world improvement.
To learn more about Mediators without Borders, contact mediatorswithoutborders@gmail.com, visit the website at http://www.mediatorswithoutborders.org/, or post your questions and concerns here.
Commiting Personally, Acting Globally
By Kenneth Cloke
Mediation is an imperfect process, that employs an imperfect third person, to help imperfect people, come to an imperfect agreement in an imperfect world. Leonard Marlow
Why did you originally decide to become a lawyer, mediator, or arbitrator? Perhaps you will answer, “in order to help people,” or “to make a difference,” or “as an expression of my values” or “to demonstrate my commitment to peacemaking.”
Each of us is searching -- not just for ways to eke out a living, but for work that has meaning and integrity, that allows us to serve others, and that brings us a sense of fulfillment far greater than we could get by simply processing the same sorts of disputes over and over again for years.
At the same time, the problems we face and are increasingly required to solve demand the collective attention of everyone. The emergent crises of global warming, exhaustion of the oceans, air and water pollution, species extinction, drug resistant diseases, global pandemics, overuse of fertilizers, deforestation, loss of arable land, AIDS, decreasing bio-diversity, resort to warfare, nuclear proliferation, narcotics smuggling, organized crime, terrorism, torture, ethnic cleansing, and religious intolerance – none of these can be solved except collaboratively across political, religious, and cultural borders.
In the face of such difficulties, it is easy to think: we are so few, so imperfect, and so poorly prepared, while the problems we face are so vast, multifaceted, and ingrained -- how could we possibly make a difference?
The real question, however, is: how can we stand by and not try to help, no matter how imperfect our efforts may be?
In fact, we know – not just intellectually, but in our hearts, as professionals and experienced conflict resolvers – that there are tangible things we can do, as imperfect as they are. We know a number of techniques for communicating across cultural divides and resolving disputes without warfare.
We have developed skills in communication, facilitation, problem solving, public dialogue, collaborative negotiation, prejudice reduction, mediation, and conflict resolution system design. And it is precisely these skills that the world now needs to solve its problems.
More subtly, all conflicts transpire between people, that is, at the boundaries or borders that separate individuals, cultures, organizations, and nations. Conflict is therefore simply the sound made by the cracks in a system, a boundary condition that can best be resolved by communicating across the many internal and external borders we have erected to keep ourselves safe, or exclude others.
In short, it no longer matters whose end of the boat is sinking. We realize that we are all in this together and need to learn how to communicate with each other and address problems that can no longer be solved individually, even by powerful nation states.
More importantly, aren’t these the very reasons conflict resolution initially inspired us and drew us in? Wouldn’t we all love to see the “promise of mediation” fulfilled, and people living together without endless wars and needless cruelty?
Finding practical, meaningful ways to overcome these difficulties and fulfill the deeper call of our spirits and our profession will not be quick or easy. Yet we become powerful in the face of our fears and are able to recognize the deeper meaning of our lives when we commit to making a difference in the world.
To make a real difference, we need to build local capacity to prevent, resolve and recover from conflicts. We need to recruit volunteers from the dispute resolution community to train mediators in other countries in a wide range of skills: to resolve community, environmental, and public policy disputes; to initiate restorative justice and victim-offender programs; to facilitate public dialogue and problem solving; to expand skills in group facilitation, informal problem solving, team building, and consensus decision making; to design multi-door courthouses; to promote prejudice reduction, bias awareness and community building; to encourage forgiveness and reconciliation; and to apply conflict resolution systems design principles to a broad range of social, economic, political, and environmental disputes.
As imperfect as we are, there are many opportunities for dispute resolution practitioners to experience a deep sense of personal fulfillment and make a genuine contribution to a more peaceful planet by assisting people and societies around the world that have been wounded by violence.
Doing so will not only allow us to reconnect with our original intentions, it will make tangible the wisdom of our profession and contribute measurably to world improvement.
To learn more about Mediators without Borders, contact mediatorswithoutborders@gmail.com, visit the website at http://www.mediatorswithoutborders.org/, or post your questions and concerns here.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
a New Apoproach...not so well planned
Limited access is preventing this new Approach from really being implemented. Oh well. I will try harder when I am back in Denver. Thanks for keeping up.
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Vote Out Poverty
I am here in D.C. attending a Pentecost Conference whose theme is to Vote out Poverty. Our country has so degraded the idea that poverty is a real issue, that whenever someone speaks aobut eliminating poverty they are considered a bleeding heart liberal or simply out of touch with reality. This week I discovered, or at least heard the inspiring words of faith leaders fromaround the country, that no matter what they call it we will march on towards the elmination of poverty. The US Catholic Bishops have declared that their agenda will be guided by a vision to cut those living in poverty in half over the next ten years.
The agenda of this conference was to begin to put poverty back on the national agenda of our politicians. Not only were their speakers about the work being done around the country, there was a nationally televised forum on Faith, politics and poverty and we marched to capitol hill before we lobbied our representatives. The three bills the Vote out Poverty campaign is pushing are: SCHIP(comprehensive Childrens health care for the nearly 15 million children living in poverty 9 million without healthcare), the farm bill(a bill the size of a phone book containing iniatives from food stamps and WIC to commodity subsidies. The campaign is promoting the move that money should be taken from the subsidies(which hurt farmers here and abroad) into the food stamp program which currently only provides families with a $1 a meal, as well as increasing the minimum required income to include the elderly who earn too much to qualify but after paying for perscriptions are left with little to nothing for food.) Third a comprehensive and just Immigration bill. The debate over wether letting immigrants into the country is more harmful than good focuses simply on a zero-sum view of the issue. There is a just way to negotiate laws which will protect workers, their families and "american" interrests.
To learn more about these issues and the Vote Out Poverty Campaign please visit the Sojourners website www.sojo.net
Jesus said as you do unto the lest of these you do unto me I think he meant that in a country where the lest of these are imprisioned in a racist, unjust system of beauraucracy that ensures chronicly underbudgeted schools, healthcare programs, food programs and programs that keep families together Jesus meant that we should not only provide what we can as individual people of faith but that justice must roll down like an ever flowing stream. We must change the tide of justice in this country to include the left behind and the kept out.
May God annoint us all to come into relationship with our brothers and sisters around us so that we may all rise up together.
The agenda of this conference was to begin to put poverty back on the national agenda of our politicians. Not only were their speakers about the work being done around the country, there was a nationally televised forum on Faith, politics and poverty and we marched to capitol hill before we lobbied our representatives. The three bills the Vote out Poverty campaign is pushing are: SCHIP(comprehensive Childrens health care for the nearly 15 million children living in poverty 9 million without healthcare), the farm bill(a bill the size of a phone book containing iniatives from food stamps and WIC to commodity subsidies. The campaign is promoting the move that money should be taken from the subsidies(which hurt farmers here and abroad) into the food stamp program which currently only provides families with a $1 a meal, as well as increasing the minimum required income to include the elderly who earn too much to qualify but after paying for perscriptions are left with little to nothing for food.) Third a comprehensive and just Immigration bill. The debate over wether letting immigrants into the country is more harmful than good focuses simply on a zero-sum view of the issue. There is a just way to negotiate laws which will protect workers, their families and "american" interrests.
To learn more about these issues and the Vote Out Poverty Campaign please visit the Sojourners website www.sojo.net
Jesus said as you do unto the lest of these you do unto me I think he meant that in a country where the lest of these are imprisioned in a racist, unjust system of beauraucracy that ensures chronicly underbudgeted schools, healthcare programs, food programs and programs that keep families together Jesus meant that we should not only provide what we can as individual people of faith but that justice must roll down like an ever flowing stream. We must change the tide of justice in this country to include the left behind and the kept out.
May God annoint us all to come into relationship with our brothers and sisters around us so that we may all rise up together.
A New approach
I am going to try a new approach to this Blog thing. After speaking with some people last night we commiserated about the fact that we spend so much time trying to make each post amazing that there are huge gaps of time between each post. So I am going to follow the method I forced myself into in 10th grade when success in algebra seemed so elusive. Keep it simple( stupid) KISS. I am definitly going to try it this way. From now on some blogs may be the masterpieces I so love but many will simply be the daily observations of the world around me.
So here we go...
So here we go...
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Sell your Cleverness and buy bewilderment. ~Rumi
This is in response to Rose Marie Berger's Article in the most recent Sojourners issue. I would invite everyone to read it. The article is about the bewilderment that we so often associate with a negative state of displacement. However her contention is that this state of displacement "is not momentary confusion or uncertainty. It is to become fundamentally displaced. Trauma may bring it on—illness or the death of a parent, companion, or child. Prolonged spiritual practice may bring it on. Accumulated, unattended sorrow may bring it on."
Reading her entire article, which I linked at right, continues on to reflect on how various spiritual teachers have meditated on bewilderment as a moment when all of your possibilities are revealed to you and while it can be terrifying it is one step closer to being completely at ease with the will of God.
Rose Marie Berger explained the sensation like this, "Every once in a while, one becomes profoundly and spiritually bewildered. In the midst of shaping the sandcastle of your life—adding little rooms and windows with a variety of views—you suddenly scoop a little too deep, and brittle-cold sea water rushes in. It covers everything. It dulls all of your neat shovel-cut edges. Glancing up from the quotidian architecture of your life, you confront the awful expanse of the sea: its green water, its endless horizon."
She goes on to quote writers from Merton to Rumi in all their explanations of the unexplainable. Azima Melina Kolin responded to the question of what bewilderment is with this, "In my experience, it is a state I have glimpsed in retreats when the senses are shut (if you are lucky to succeed in doing so) and the mind is redundant, lost."
With Kolin's response I was reminded of several moments but one moment in particular occurred one evening on a mountain top during my employment with Sierra Service Project. We had been going to this same spot every Thursday for the each weeks spiritual meditation moment with the week's set of teenagers. I had of course participated each week and taken the moment to take in the view of the valley below as well as to savor the moments of quiet alone. It was probably the fifth week when suddenly, almost as suddenly as the sea water invades sand castles, I found my mind empty of everything. Not a single voice was present in my mind. In fact it was, well the best way to describe it is with bewilderment. I remember being astonished that their were no voices at all. None that I could even conjour. In that moment I couldn't even remember what they sounded like.
I thought perhaps it was a God moment, but I also contemplated that perhaps I had not had enough sleep all summer and the weeks were almost past. I thought Of Teresa of Avila who would say to her students when they would come to her with a revelation, or God moment, that they should go eat and sleep and see if the moment was still present before making any claims.
This moment on the mountain was gone just as quickly as it arrived. But it was a profound moment which I long to return to. I know now from meditating on similar moments that they are not sustainable. In Berger's article she quotes Azima,"'"It is very difficult for us to experience such bewilderment in our normal consciousness, but the experience is of wonder and immense joy, freedom from self. It is wonderful, and not sustainable. It is a state of grace that I suppose anyone can taste at any time if ... graced."
Have you ever experienced a moment where everything is possible and nothing is possible, where you are so completely blank that everything paints you? I think that when you are in this state of bewilderment you are so completely a part of God and since God is everything at once and nothing at the same once, you are able to be completely at ease with the bewilderment. However, I think that since I didn't have the knowledge of these moments that I let them pass without truly knowing their power to change my life towards God.
Please share your moments of bewilderment. I would love to read and hear about them, then perhaps when we all experience them in the brief moments perhaps we can be better prepared to step into the nothingness of God's presence.
Reading her entire article, which I linked at right, continues on to reflect on how various spiritual teachers have meditated on bewilderment as a moment when all of your possibilities are revealed to you and while it can be terrifying it is one step closer to being completely at ease with the will of God.
Rose Marie Berger explained the sensation like this, "Every once in a while, one becomes profoundly and spiritually bewildered. In the midst of shaping the sandcastle of your life—adding little rooms and windows with a variety of views—you suddenly scoop a little too deep, and brittle-cold sea water rushes in. It covers everything. It dulls all of your neat shovel-cut edges. Glancing up from the quotidian architecture of your life, you confront the awful expanse of the sea: its green water, its endless horizon."
She goes on to quote writers from Merton to Rumi in all their explanations of the unexplainable. Azima Melina Kolin responded to the question of what bewilderment is with this, "In my experience, it is a state I have glimpsed in retreats when the senses are shut (if you are lucky to succeed in doing so) and the mind is redundant, lost."
With Kolin's response I was reminded of several moments but one moment in particular occurred one evening on a mountain top during my employment with Sierra Service Project. We had been going to this same spot every Thursday for the each weeks spiritual meditation moment with the week's set of teenagers. I had of course participated each week and taken the moment to take in the view of the valley below as well as to savor the moments of quiet alone. It was probably the fifth week when suddenly, almost as suddenly as the sea water invades sand castles, I found my mind empty of everything. Not a single voice was present in my mind. In fact it was, well the best way to describe it is with bewilderment. I remember being astonished that their were no voices at all. None that I could even conjour. In that moment I couldn't even remember what they sounded like.
I thought perhaps it was a God moment, but I also contemplated that perhaps I had not had enough sleep all summer and the weeks were almost past. I thought Of Teresa of Avila who would say to her students when they would come to her with a revelation, or God moment, that they should go eat and sleep and see if the moment was still present before making any claims.
This moment on the mountain was gone just as quickly as it arrived. But it was a profound moment which I long to return to. I know now from meditating on similar moments that they are not sustainable. In Berger's article she quotes Azima,"'"It is very difficult for us to experience such bewilderment in our normal consciousness, but the experience is of wonder and immense joy, freedom from self. It is wonderful, and not sustainable. It is a state of grace that I suppose anyone can taste at any time if ... graced."
Have you ever experienced a moment where everything is possible and nothing is possible, where you are so completely blank that everything paints you? I think that when you are in this state of bewilderment you are so completely a part of God and since God is everything at once and nothing at the same once, you are able to be completely at ease with the bewilderment. However, I think that since I didn't have the knowledge of these moments that I let them pass without truly knowing their power to change my life towards God.
Please share your moments of bewilderment. I would love to read and hear about them, then perhaps when we all experience them in the brief moments perhaps we can be better prepared to step into the nothingness of God's presence.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Lake Charles, LA history
Well it looks like I have been quite remiss in updating my blog. Well here is a short history of the town and area I will be living in here for the next month or so. I hope I can update you more soon.
The first settlers were a number of Native American Tribes. The area’s first white settlers were Mr. and Mrs. LeBleu a French couple who settle Le Bleu’s Settlement. When their daughter married Charles Sallier, settling along the Lake the area soon took on the name of Charleston or Charles town. It wasn’t until 1867 that Lake Charles became the official name of the town, and Charleston was incorporated into the new town name. The term Calcasieu is derived from the Indian term Quelqueshue meaning crying eagle. The people do not identify themselves as Creole but as Cajun.
The area was hit by hurricane Audrey in September 1957, killing around 520 people. Between 90 and 95% of the buildings in Cameron Parish and lower Vermillion Parish were beyond repair. The waves atop the storm surge were nearly 20 feet tall. Locals say that the re-growth of plant life to its pre-Audrey norm took nearly 30 years. An interesting note of fact on the National Weather Service page was the exodus of wildlife the evening before the hurricane struck. Crawfish were observed fleeing the marshes en mass. Some local residents took advantage and captured some to boil the next day. Unfortunately they never got the chance.
Hurricane Rita hit on September 25, 2005. It was the third most intense hurricane ever recorded in the gulf. Over 2 million residents evacuated the area prior to landfall. When Rita finally reached Cameron Parish she was down graded from a category 5 to a 3. The state of Louisiana reported the cost of damage at nearly 11 billion dollars. The total loss of life was close to 120 people.
While many people remained away from the area for as much as three months many people returned, bringing with them many residents from the Katrina devastated New Orleans. The rebuild and clean-up of Cameron and Calcasieu Parish is well underway but so much is left to be done. One woman we interviewed recalled surviving hurricane Audrey only losing a few shingles on the roof. She did however have to throw away nearly all of her belongings in the house because of flood damage. She reported that this was mainly due to the fact that their was no such insurance and the government was yet to be in the business of assisting people recover. People are rebuilding and are very resilient.
The first settlers were a number of Native American Tribes. The area’s first white settlers were Mr. and Mrs. LeBleu a French couple who settle Le Bleu’s Settlement. When their daughter married Charles Sallier, settling along the Lake the area soon took on the name of Charleston or Charles town. It wasn’t until 1867 that Lake Charles became the official name of the town, and Charleston was incorporated into the new town name. The term Calcasieu is derived from the Indian term Quelqueshue meaning crying eagle. The people do not identify themselves as Creole but as Cajun.
The area was hit by hurricane Audrey in September 1957, killing around 520 people. Between 90 and 95% of the buildings in Cameron Parish and lower Vermillion Parish were beyond repair. The waves atop the storm surge were nearly 20 feet tall. Locals say that the re-growth of plant life to its pre-Audrey norm took nearly 30 years. An interesting note of fact on the National Weather Service page was the exodus of wildlife the evening before the hurricane struck. Crawfish were observed fleeing the marshes en mass. Some local residents took advantage and captured some to boil the next day. Unfortunately they never got the chance.
Hurricane Rita hit on September 25, 2005. It was the third most intense hurricane ever recorded in the gulf. Over 2 million residents evacuated the area prior to landfall. When Rita finally reached Cameron Parish she was down graded from a category 5 to a 3. The state of Louisiana reported the cost of damage at nearly 11 billion dollars. The total loss of life was close to 120 people.
While many people remained away from the area for as much as three months many people returned, bringing with them many residents from the Katrina devastated New Orleans. The rebuild and clean-up of Cameron and Calcasieu Parish is well underway but so much is left to be done. One woman we interviewed recalled surviving hurricane Audrey only losing a few shingles on the roof. She did however have to throw away nearly all of her belongings in the house because of flood damage. She reported that this was mainly due to the fact that their was no such insurance and the government was yet to be in the business of assisting people recover. People are rebuilding and are very resilient.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Hebron Resistance: Living is resisting
This is a reflection written by one of the current Christian Peace Makers Team members stationed in Hebron, Palestine. It talks about one of the most basic forms of nonviolent resistance which is living and flourishing. This connects with the Valentines reflection, in that choosing to love in the face of so much indifference and at times tangible hatred, is a powerful form of nonviolent resistance. This article reflects on the simple act of building and rebuilding as a form of nonviolent resistance in the face of forces which would rather they didn't exist. Also the simple act of celebration, celebration of every new home built after the subsequent homes were demolished for the building of illegal settlements, walls and roads. Celebration for every child born and every marriage begun, for every life ended in old age. You may not agree with all the tactics of some of the Palestinians and you should know I don't agree with everything but I can be empathetic. Anyways enjoy this glimpse.
REFLECTION
Hebron: Living Resistance
By Janet Benvie
20 February 2007
For Palestinians the simple act of every day living often becomes an act of non-violent resistance against the cruel, illegal Israeli occupation and confiscation of their land. These are but a few of the daily acts of resistance I have witnessed. A few weeks ago CPT was invited to the wedding of a young couple from the southern Bethlehem village of Umm Salamuna. The couple chose to hold their wedding on land confiscated by the Israeli authorities. The land has been bulldozed in preparation for building a section of the Israeli separation wall (for further information about the effects of the wall see http://www.btselem.org/english/Separation_Barrier/Statistics.asp ).
As well as the usual wedding guests - family, friends and neighbors - this wedding was attended by Bethlehem District officials and Palestinian, Israeli and international peace activists. Last week I visited a Palestinian family in the Beqa'a valley, a fertile area north east of Hebron, where approximately 60 Palestinians live. Under the Oslo agreements 70% of Israeli occupied Palestinian territories remained under full Israeli control. Beqa'a is part of this 70%. Palestinians must go through an expensive and lengthy process to try to obtain permits from the Israeli Civil Administration. Very rarely are permits given. Much of this family's farmland has been confiscated by the Israeli authorities and used to build the illegal Israeli settlement of Ha Harsina. Further land was taken to build a road that links this settlement and the illegal settlement Kiryat Arba with Jerusalem. The grandparents proudly showed me the new, small extension to their home. It was built, they explained, to allow one of their sons and his family a little privacy in their crowded home. Israeli bulldozers demolished a previous extension. Another son showed me his home, and the ruins of his two previous homes demolished by the Israeli authorities, despite support from Israeli and international peace activists. Here in the Old City of Hebron we have only a few neighbors. Most families have left because of harassment by the Israeli military and settlers. The Israeli military has welded closed the front doors of many houses. A few families can use a back entrance to their home, but one family has to enter through a neighbors back gate, climb up to the roof, then walk down another set of stairs into her house. The Umm Salamuna wedding, people's commitment to remain on their land in Beqa'a and in their homes here the Old City are all acts of non-violent resistance. I see signs of hope in this quiet, dogged resistance and when I see Israeli's join with their Palestinian sisters and brothers in these acts of resistance that hope is increased. Christian Peacemaker Teams is an ecumenical initiative to support violence reduction efforts around the world. To learn more about CPT's peacemaking work, visit our website www.cpt.org Photos of our projects are at www.cpt.org/gallery A map of the center of Hebron is at http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/fullMaps_Sa.nsf/0/5618737E38C0B3DE8525708C004BA584/$File/ocha_OTS_hebron_oPt010805.pdf?OpenElement The same map is the last page of this report on closures in Hebron: www.humanitarianinfo.org/opt/docs/UN/OCHA/ochaHU0705_En.pdf
REFLECTION
Hebron: Living Resistance
By Janet Benvie
20 February 2007
For Palestinians the simple act of every day living often becomes an act of non-violent resistance against the cruel, illegal Israeli occupation and confiscation of their land. These are but a few of the daily acts of resistance I have witnessed. A few weeks ago CPT was invited to the wedding of a young couple from the southern Bethlehem village of Umm Salamuna. The couple chose to hold their wedding on land confiscated by the Israeli authorities. The land has been bulldozed in preparation for building a section of the Israeli separation wall (for further information about the effects of the wall see http://www.btselem.org/english/Separation_Barrier/Statistics.asp ).
As well as the usual wedding guests - family, friends and neighbors - this wedding was attended by Bethlehem District officials and Palestinian, Israeli and international peace activists. Last week I visited a Palestinian family in the Beqa'a valley, a fertile area north east of Hebron, where approximately 60 Palestinians live. Under the Oslo agreements 70% of Israeli occupied Palestinian territories remained under full Israeli control. Beqa'a is part of this 70%. Palestinians must go through an expensive and lengthy process to try to obtain permits from the Israeli Civil Administration. Very rarely are permits given. Much of this family's farmland has been confiscated by the Israeli authorities and used to build the illegal Israeli settlement of Ha Harsina. Further land was taken to build a road that links this settlement and the illegal settlement Kiryat Arba with Jerusalem. The grandparents proudly showed me the new, small extension to their home. It was built, they explained, to allow one of their sons and his family a little privacy in their crowded home. Israeli bulldozers demolished a previous extension. Another son showed me his home, and the ruins of his two previous homes demolished by the Israeli authorities, despite support from Israeli and international peace activists. Here in the Old City of Hebron we have only a few neighbors. Most families have left because of harassment by the Israeli military and settlers. The Israeli military has welded closed the front doors of many houses. A few families can use a back entrance to their home, but one family has to enter through a neighbors back gate, climb up to the roof, then walk down another set of stairs into her house. The Umm Salamuna wedding, people's commitment to remain on their land in Beqa'a and in their homes here the Old City are all acts of non-violent resistance. I see signs of hope in this quiet, dogged resistance and when I see Israeli's join with their Palestinian sisters and brothers in these acts of resistance that hope is increased. Christian Peacemaker Teams is an ecumenical initiative to support violence reduction efforts around the world. To learn more about CPT's peacemaking work, visit our website www.cpt.org Photos of our projects are at www.cpt.org/gallery A map of the center of Hebron is at http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/fullMaps_Sa.nsf/0/5618737E38C0B3DE8525708C004BA584/$File/ocha_OTS_hebron_oPt010805.pdf?OpenElement The same map is the last page of this report on closures in Hebron: www.humanitarianinfo.org/opt/docs/UN/OCHA/ochaHU0705_En.pdf
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Valentines musings
Well its the big Valentines Day, love it or leave it it is a nice day of people showing love and here in Denver the snow has been falling all day as the candy hearts find their way into my hands. No great snow flakes but that light drizzle snow that makes you feel like perhaps the snow will continue forever. For my love to everyone I handed out, or more precisely had a bag of valentine "fortunes." a collection of quotes on different hearts. Some fun ones were,
"There are more love songs than anything else. If songs can make you do something we'd all love one another." ~Frank Zappa.
" When you fish for love, bait with your heart not your brain." ~Mark Twain
"Anyone can be passionate but it takes real lovers to be silly." ~Rose Franken
And some more serious ones were...
"Love is a fruit in season at all times and within reach of every hand." ~Mother Teresa
"I have found that the paradox that if I love till it hurts, then there is no hurt, but only more love." ~Mother Teresa
" When one has once fully entered the realm of love, the world no matter how imperfect becomes rich and beautiful, it consists solely of opportunities for love." ~Kierkegaard
"Hatred darkens life, love illuminates it." ~Martin Luther King Jr.
When I started writing the quotes from Martin Luther King Jr. I thought about how appropriate Valentines day is during Black History Month because Martin Luther King was all about love and about the power that love had here on earth. Today I would like to bring up a discussion point. Specifically it was inspired by a comment regarding my signature line on Hotmail which reads,
"When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall - think of it, always." ~Gandhi
The comment was questioning the validity of this statement. I know that there a quite a few people who have issues with Gandhi for one reason or another but I would like to focus on the statement itself.
I do believe that this statement is true because even, at the lowest cynical level a love of great power, a love of power in general will drive people to overthrow current tyrants in favor of their own rule. But at a greater level, the way of love has won by way of the sometimes great but often small victories.
Look at the histories of every country, every family, even every person. For each there was a moment when darkness, pain, and fear were ruling all the senses. No light could be seen, no peace could be heard, the soft voice of hope deep inside could not speak even a sound, no soft grass could be felt and the sweet taste of peace was replaced by the bitterness of war. However, NO country has been left in that moment for ever. Those moments are far outnumbered by the moments of peace.
I think of those countries in Latin America so plagued by colonialism and dictatorship. Some are edging their ways out of that moment. A victory.
The Balkans and other former USSR countries pocked by mistrust, failed promises. The Balkans is while still unstable is competing again in the World Cup Tournaments. Victory.
Countries in Africa, a tangle of colonial and post-colonial deals and systems. Truth about these systems intent and the love of the other has seen victory in rebuilding Rwanda as a unified country.
There are still so many victories that I have not mentioned. How is it that we are defining these victories which have so often been left uncelebrated. The victory of a child even getting to school through the chaos of war, the victory of a laugh celebrated in the trenches of the foot soldiers during a ceasefire or during the Christmas eve truce on the front lines of WW1, which fully halted the war there. That surely was a victory for love and truth. Time and again peace has prevailed throughout history. Countries, cities, communities are always seeking to regain that equilibrium of peace and security that at times seems so unattainable. Even our own individual bodies are constantly seeking balance our inner ear, such a small organ contributes to that achievement.
How small truth and love seems in the mushroom clouds of war that surround us. How quietly the voice of love speaks to us in the roar of anger and guns.
Love of country, of city, of family, friends, religion, politics convinces people to take some form of action in the face of tyranny. People have fled their countries, people have fought with arms, fought with words and nonviolent confrontation.
I think that we so often hear about the failures about the "slides into chaos" and "spirals into civil wars," that the drums of war have procured the mike feed for so long that the peace that occupies those moments between stories is forgotten. Or worse not even known.
In these cases where "peace" has flourished sometimes truth has been left aside in favor of peace, however truth always has a way of finding its way back. A great example is the Spanish civil war ( and the events with Franco) or the American internment of Japanese Americans during WW2, both were left unmentioned in history for so long, but is now, slowly gaining greater and greater recognition not only in the collective memory of people but in the mainstream of society and politics.
Even where it seems a dictator is replaced by another dictator or war by war. I think that even if, for only a moment, the truth was reached it was reached and something was changed because of it. What the truth consisted of changed as the moments of peace passed and a new truth had to birthed and struggle for freedom. That is the eternal cycle of life. If the world were static then not only would we be unable to learn about a hidden truth, perhaps there would be no hidden truth. Well before I get into 'what if' ramblings, the truth of the world as I see it is, that even as we learn a lesson of peace, the dynamic of that world changes and that lesson of peace must be learned again within that new dynamic. It may be easier, to learn in the subsequent eras however it still must be learned. Those moments of peace and truth running free is what we collectively carry from one struggle to the next hoping again to achieve balance.
A great quote that I just thought of is this, "If you lose God try looking where you last met." So simple yet sometimes the most difficult thing to do.
Well I look forward to discussing this further with you all, but to leave you with another Valentine fortune....
well OK two since I think this first one is great, but the second is really light and funny.
"Love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction." Antoine de Saint Exupery
"Always love your enemies- nothing annoys them more." Oscar Wilde.
"There are more love songs than anything else. If songs can make you do something we'd all love one another." ~Frank Zappa.
" When you fish for love, bait with your heart not your brain." ~Mark Twain
"Anyone can be passionate but it takes real lovers to be silly." ~Rose Franken
And some more serious ones were...
"Love is a fruit in season at all times and within reach of every hand." ~Mother Teresa
"I have found that the paradox that if I love till it hurts, then there is no hurt, but only more love." ~Mother Teresa
" When one has once fully entered the realm of love, the world no matter how imperfect becomes rich and beautiful, it consists solely of opportunities for love." ~Kierkegaard
"Hatred darkens life, love illuminates it." ~Martin Luther King Jr.
When I started writing the quotes from Martin Luther King Jr. I thought about how appropriate Valentines day is during Black History Month because Martin Luther King was all about love and about the power that love had here on earth. Today I would like to bring up a discussion point. Specifically it was inspired by a comment regarding my signature line on Hotmail which reads,
"When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall - think of it, always." ~Gandhi
The comment was questioning the validity of this statement. I know that there a quite a few people who have issues with Gandhi for one reason or another but I would like to focus on the statement itself.
I do believe that this statement is true because even, at the lowest cynical level a love of great power, a love of power in general will drive people to overthrow current tyrants in favor of their own rule. But at a greater level, the way of love has won by way of the sometimes great but often small victories.
Look at the histories of every country, every family, even every person. For each there was a moment when darkness, pain, and fear were ruling all the senses. No light could be seen, no peace could be heard, the soft voice of hope deep inside could not speak even a sound, no soft grass could be felt and the sweet taste of peace was replaced by the bitterness of war. However, NO country has been left in that moment for ever. Those moments are far outnumbered by the moments of peace.
I think of those countries in Latin America so plagued by colonialism and dictatorship. Some are edging their ways out of that moment. A victory.
The Balkans and other former USSR countries pocked by mistrust, failed promises. The Balkans is while still unstable is competing again in the World Cup Tournaments. Victory.
Countries in Africa, a tangle of colonial and post-colonial deals and systems. Truth about these systems intent and the love of the other has seen victory in rebuilding Rwanda as a unified country.
There are still so many victories that I have not mentioned. How is it that we are defining these victories which have so often been left uncelebrated. The victory of a child even getting to school through the chaos of war, the victory of a laugh celebrated in the trenches of the foot soldiers during a ceasefire or during the Christmas eve truce on the front lines of WW1, which fully halted the war there. That surely was a victory for love and truth. Time and again peace has prevailed throughout history. Countries, cities, communities are always seeking to regain that equilibrium of peace and security that at times seems so unattainable. Even our own individual bodies are constantly seeking balance our inner ear, such a small organ contributes to that achievement.
How small truth and love seems in the mushroom clouds of war that surround us. How quietly the voice of love speaks to us in the roar of anger and guns.
Love of country, of city, of family, friends, religion, politics convinces people to take some form of action in the face of tyranny. People have fled their countries, people have fought with arms, fought with words and nonviolent confrontation.
I think that we so often hear about the failures about the "slides into chaos" and "spirals into civil wars," that the drums of war have procured the mike feed for so long that the peace that occupies those moments between stories is forgotten. Or worse not even known.
In these cases where "peace" has flourished sometimes truth has been left aside in favor of peace, however truth always has a way of finding its way back. A great example is the Spanish civil war ( and the events with Franco) or the American internment of Japanese Americans during WW2, both were left unmentioned in history for so long, but is now, slowly gaining greater and greater recognition not only in the collective memory of people but in the mainstream of society and politics.
Even where it seems a dictator is replaced by another dictator or war by war. I think that even if, for only a moment, the truth was reached it was reached and something was changed because of it. What the truth consisted of changed as the moments of peace passed and a new truth had to birthed and struggle for freedom. That is the eternal cycle of life. If the world were static then not only would we be unable to learn about a hidden truth, perhaps there would be no hidden truth. Well before I get into 'what if' ramblings, the truth of the world as I see it is, that even as we learn a lesson of peace, the dynamic of that world changes and that lesson of peace must be learned again within that new dynamic. It may be easier, to learn in the subsequent eras however it still must be learned. Those moments of peace and truth running free is what we collectively carry from one struggle to the next hoping again to achieve balance.
A great quote that I just thought of is this, "If you lose God try looking where you last met." So simple yet sometimes the most difficult thing to do.
Well I look forward to discussing this further with you all, but to leave you with another Valentine fortune....
well OK two since I think this first one is great, but the second is really light and funny.
"Love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction." Antoine de Saint Exupery
"Always love your enemies- nothing annoys them more." Oscar Wilde.
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Denver melting
New patches of grass and pathways I never new existed are appearing. Birds are again singing loudly here in Denver and the sound of water pouring down the gutters and past me on the streets as the snow melts, occupies my senses. It has been more then two weeks since any decent size snow storm but tomorrow a new snow storm is set to arrive.
Yesterday a mile stone in my nearly six weeks as an Americorps NCCC Team Leader, we picked our projects. Well picked may be a strong word. There was a lottery for numbers, then you chose your project as it became your turn. I would tell you what project I picked but as this is a public space and that information needs to remain confidential I cannot. I can tell you it was hard to rank the projects because they were all so alike. Most of them were habitat or habitat like projects. They were all in ideal locations and all seemed to have great support. None were bad projects.
Next week the next mile stone is picking our permanent teams. Its both exciting and terrifying. How I am I supposed to pick who to live and work with for the next ten months based on a few weeks interaction and very limited interaction at best. Also, its not only about who I can work and live with but who in the team can work and live with. I guess its about as easy or hard as I choose to make it. What I know is guiding me is God of course, and the subtle reminders of the vision of a loving sustained community. Here's a quote,
"Community is the coming together of individuals who have learned how to communicate honestly with each other, whose relationships go deeper than their masks of composure, and who have developed some significant commitment to 'rejoice together, mourn together' and to delight in each other, and make other's conditions our own." (M. Scott Peck in bell hooks 'All about love').
With love to you all.
Yesterday a mile stone in my nearly six weeks as an Americorps NCCC Team Leader, we picked our projects. Well picked may be a strong word. There was a lottery for numbers, then you chose your project as it became your turn. I would tell you what project I picked but as this is a public space and that information needs to remain confidential I cannot. I can tell you it was hard to rank the projects because they were all so alike. Most of them were habitat or habitat like projects. They were all in ideal locations and all seemed to have great support. None were bad projects.
Next week the next mile stone is picking our permanent teams. Its both exciting and terrifying. How I am I supposed to pick who to live and work with for the next ten months based on a few weeks interaction and very limited interaction at best. Also, its not only about who I can work and live with but who in the team can work and live with. I guess its about as easy or hard as I choose to make it. What I know is guiding me is God of course, and the subtle reminders of the vision of a loving sustained community. Here's a quote,
"Community is the coming together of individuals who have learned how to communicate honestly with each other, whose relationships go deeper than their masks of composure, and who have developed some significant commitment to 'rejoice together, mourn together' and to delight in each other, and make other's conditions our own." (M. Scott Peck in bell hooks 'All about love').
With love to you all.
Monday, February 5, 2007
My vision
This is a record of my thoughts, inspirations, sources and joys. It is always intended as a discussion even if with only myself. This means that even this vision will change, but as it should with life's lessons and wisdom teachings heard.
The goals of my life is to directly confront both the forces within me and around me which contribute to the injustices and inadequacies, that flood our streets with blood. I refuse to accept the glasses which our culture chooses to wear that makes the blood disappear. My hands are red with the blood from my own wounds and the wounds of those around me. I now am choosing to no longer have my hands red simply from living in an unjust world, but by directly applying pressure to the wounds of humanity, even if only in my small ways.
I refuse to accept that one person can't change the world, but I do not believe that I can do anything alone. I live in a community, a global village where if 33 people live without sanitary water supplies the 67 can and must change that. (This is drawn from the village of a 100, which is meant to emphasis the vast inequalities in the world, when I recently read it I was simply struck as to why, when we think of it in such minute scales change seems possible, but when the picture is enlarged change becomes impossible. )
I believe that peace with justice at every level begins with steps towards peace at any level. I can start this by involving by involving my mind, spirit and body in my world through presence, love, follow through, humility, grace and serenity. I must engage in issues which I am passionate about no matter if it is signing a petition or organizing an action. Through loving relationships with myself and others. By being unafraid to act on my vision.
The goals of my life is to directly confront both the forces within me and around me which contribute to the injustices and inadequacies, that flood our streets with blood. I refuse to accept the glasses which our culture chooses to wear that makes the blood disappear. My hands are red with the blood from my own wounds and the wounds of those around me. I now am choosing to no longer have my hands red simply from living in an unjust world, but by directly applying pressure to the wounds of humanity, even if only in my small ways.
I refuse to accept that one person can't change the world, but I do not believe that I can do anything alone. I live in a community, a global village where if 33 people live without sanitary water supplies the 67 can and must change that. (This is drawn from the village of a 100, which is meant to emphasis the vast inequalities in the world, when I recently read it I was simply struck as to why, when we think of it in such minute scales change seems possible, but when the picture is enlarged change becomes impossible. )
I believe that peace with justice at every level begins with steps towards peace at any level. I can start this by involving by involving my mind, spirit and body in my world through presence, love, follow through, humility, grace and serenity. I must engage in issues which I am passionate about no matter if it is signing a petition or organizing an action. Through loving relationships with myself and others. By being unafraid to act on my vision.
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