3.08.2007
STOP THINKING. STOP TALKING. START LOVING.
It has taken an enormous amount of "Thinking" to get us into this mess - econimic genocide, middle class decimation, 13 children starving to death per minute, unopposed genocide in Darfur, 8 million slaughtered in Congo for cheap electronics, 40 year Palestinian concentration camps, nuclear weapons proliferation, US child well-being 19th out of 20....
It has taken an enormous amount of "Talking" to keep us in this mess.
It has taken an enormous amount of "Talking" to keep us in this mess.
"Loving" is the only way out of this mess. If we still have time.
3.06.2007
Jesus STANDS not for Justice or for Charity. ONLY OTHERISHNESS / BROTHERHOOD.
Charity and justice reigning can only come as a system of OTHERISHNESS / BROTHERHOOD as a way of life.
THE ULTIMATE SELFISHNESS IS THE ULTIMATE OTHERISHNESS
Otherishness IS Heaven on Earth:
* For the dooer
* For the receiver
* For the dooer
* For the receiver
Dear [Inner] Family, What if you don't see the grenades?
Hi. The following was quite helpful when it came to me last night as I was speaking to college students from Wisconsin in front of the White House. One of them quite appropriately but wrongheaddedly asked me if vigiling there "does any good?" What she had in mind I am sure was the time-killing/Darfur-killing emails, phone calls, lobying congress. Finally, with the following I found something that might help others understand the inappropriateness of such actions today. Into Thanksgiving Dinner rolls a live Hand Grenade...
Well, of course you are my Inner Family and I see grenades raining down all around you: Darfur, Palestine, Lebanon, Impending Police State, Congo, Guatemala, Haiti, Chester, Camden....
You don't see them.
I'll keep diving on them. That is going to keep me pretty busy. I probably will not be able to come to see you for a long, long time.
Well, of course you are my Inner Family and I see grenades raining down all around you: Darfur, Palestine, Lebanon, Impending Police State, Congo, Guatemala, Haiti, Chester, Camden....
You don't see them.
I'll keep diving on them. That is going to keep me pretty busy. I probably will not be able to come to see you for a long, long time.
"Be HEROES," Jesus said. No?
"Heaven on Earth = REIGNING OTHERISHNESS Elimanting Selfishness," Jesus said. (Do you disagree?)
Truly, to articulate and promote this may be why I was born. I think it embodies everything that Jesus told us, and everything of value that I've learned from countless authors, HEROES and decades of striving:
"Be Heaven on Earth. REIGN OTHERISHNESS to Elimante Selfishness," Jesus said. (Do you disagree?)
"LIVE Heaven on Earth. Reign Otherishness to Elimante Selfishness," Jesus said. (Do you disagree?)
[Site not yet begun BeHEROES. My hope is to create and maintain a site broader than DARFUR Dying For Heroes to encourage and insprire heroes in every applicable realm: Human Rights, Religion, Environment, Anti-War, Anti-Nuc....]
Otherishness, Heroism - the antidote to Selfishness (the root of all evil) - is the object of this site. The insight that led to its creation includes prominently this quote from David Dellinger:
"Very few people chose war. They chose selfishness and the result was war. Each of us, individually and nationally, must choose: total love [Otherishness] or total war. "
There are many permutations of this - many forms of selfishness, many forms of evil that result. Check out:
DELLINGER'S WORDS THAT COULD SAVE THE WORLD
Truly, to articulate and promote this may be why I was born. I think it embodies everything that Jesus told us, and everything of value that I've learned from countless authors, HEROES and decades of striving:
"Be Heaven on Earth. REIGN OTHERISHNESS to Elimante Selfishness," Jesus said. (Do you disagree?)
"LIVE Heaven on Earth. Reign Otherishness to Elimante Selfishness," Jesus said. (Do you disagree?)
[Site not yet begun BeHEROES. My hope is to create and maintain a site broader than DARFUR Dying For Heroes to encourage and insprire heroes in every applicable realm: Human Rights, Religion, Environment, Anti-War, Anti-Nuc....]
Otherishness, Heroism - the antidote to Selfishness (the root of all evil) - is the object of this site. The insight that led to its creation includes prominently this quote from David Dellinger:
"Very few people chose war. They chose selfishness and the result was war. Each of us, individually and nationally, must choose: total love [Otherishness] or total war. "
There are many permutations of this - many forms of selfishness, many forms of evil that result. Check out:
DELLINGER'S WORDS THAT COULD SAVE THE WORLD
3.05.2007
Into Thanksgiving Dinner rolls a live Hand Grenade...
.... What do you do? A. Email your congressman; B. Blog; C. Lobby your congressman; D. Send $ to a charitable organization / nonprofit ...; E. See a sad movie about a similar situation; F. Hold a seminar at your church; G. Dive on the handgrenade so it does not kill your family.
Darfur is a live hand grenade thrown into your house. Throw yourself on it or it will destroy you and those you love.
Next rolls in Palestine, then Congo... Haiti...Jamaica...Iraq...New Orleans....
The Grenades are rolling. The only choice is how to act. The choice determins the outcome.
Darfur is a live hand grenade thrown into your house. Throw yourself on it or it will destroy you and those you love.
Next rolls in Palestine, then Congo... Haiti...Jamaica...Iraq...New Orleans....
The Grenades are rolling. The only choice is how to act. The choice determins the outcome.
JESUS DECLARED WAR AGAIN. This time through Dave Dellinger
Is this the most important essay ever written? You decide:
Revolutionary Nonviolence essay: QUOTATIONS FROM "DECLARATION OF WAR" 1945
Revolutionary Nonviolence essay: QUOTATIONS FROM "DECLARATION OF WAR" 1945
3.04.2007
"The...State [and its law]...is Rejection of God," Phil Berrigan
From: FOREWORD by Philip Berrigan #14850-056Federal Correctional Institution at Petersburg 1996-1997Federal Correctional Institution at Elkton 2001
"The genesis of the State then, ancient or modern, is rejection of God, rebellion against God. "They have not rejected you [Samuel], they have rejected me as their King." (1 Sam. 8:7) And God instructs Samuel to tell the elders what a human King, Leader, Premier, Fuhrer, Prime Minister, President would cost the people -- sons for the military, daughters as domestics, crushing taxes, fields, vineyards and flocks confiscated, servants seized, slavery the final, tragic culmination. As the ruling hierarchy told Pilate: "We have no King but Caesar. (John 19:15) ... As the ruling hierarchy told Pilate: "We have no King but Caesar." (John 19:15)"
" Paul equates the law with sin and death -- sin because law has nothing to say to sins of omission, and death because most will draw their morality from the law. The morality of most Americans is legalized. To become "law abiding" is to fear the penalties of the law, to become house-broken, domesticated. Morality limited by the boundaries of the law is spiritual death."
"The genesis of the State then, ancient or modern, is rejection of God, rebellion against God. "They have not rejected you [Samuel], they have rejected me as their King." (1 Sam. 8:7) And God instructs Samuel to tell the elders what a human King, Leader, Premier, Fuhrer, Prime Minister, President would cost the people -- sons for the military, daughters as domestics, crushing taxes, fields, vineyards and flocks confiscated, servants seized, slavery the final, tragic culmination. As the ruling hierarchy told Pilate: "We have no King but Caesar. (John 19:15) ... As the ruling hierarchy told Pilate: "We have no King but Caesar." (John 19:15)"
" Paul equates the law with sin and death -- sin because law has nothing to say to sins of omission, and death because most will draw their morality from the law. The morality of most Americans is legalized. To become "law abiding" is to fear the penalties of the law, to become house-broken, domesticated. Morality limited by the boundaries of the law is spiritual death."
What prayer changes: the person that prays
Correctly done prayer changes the mind/brain/nervous system the way exercize and disciplined physical practice changes the tissue of muscles and the nervous system.
“When you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret.” --Matthew 6:16.
“I’ve been reading an excellent book on Gandhi, compiled by John Dear, S.J. Gandhi himself prayed two hours every day, and he concluded that prayer was nourishment for the soul, even as food was for the body, that prayer engendered the essentials of faith and humility, and that prayer, sincerely done, was more valuable than any action. " Phillip Berrigan
What is the correct objective and function of prayer:
* Development of vision/understanding. See Christian? Visionary.
* Development by right use of the imagination of the capacities for Love / Brotherhood / Understanding / Compassion / Empathy / OTHERISHNESS / SOUL / SOLIDARITY / SERVICE (Love of God) [see JESUS TAUGHT US: SPIRIT IS EVERYTHING.]
* As fininte beings, the degree to which we spend time exercising, training, and developing this capacity just mentioned, we are allowing to attrophy the capacity for Hate / Anger / SELFISHNESS / Hostility / Violence / Hard Heartedness; and we are imagining and preparing alternative ways of being to these.
Personally I am praying now hours per day. It is changing me.
"We must pray every waking second of every day, every second, and ocassionally use words to do so; our life must be the prayer," brother j
“When you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret.” --Matthew 6:16.
“I’ve been reading an excellent book on Gandhi, compiled by John Dear, S.J. Gandhi himself prayed two hours every day, and he concluded that prayer was nourishment for the soul, even as food was for the body, that prayer engendered the essentials of faith and humility, and that prayer, sincerely done, was more valuable than any action. " Phillip Berrigan
What is the correct objective and function of prayer:
* Development of vision/understanding. See Christian? Visionary.
* Development by right use of the imagination of the capacities for Love / Brotherhood / Understanding / Compassion / Empathy / OTHERISHNESS / SOUL / SOLIDARITY / SERVICE (Love of God) [see JESUS TAUGHT US: SPIRIT IS EVERYTHING.]
* As fininte beings, the degree to which we spend time exercising, training, and developing this capacity just mentioned, we are allowing to attrophy the capacity for Hate / Anger / SELFISHNESS / Hostility / Violence / Hard Heartedness; and we are imagining and preparing alternative ways of being to these.
Personally I am praying now hours per day. It is changing me.
"We must pray every waking second of every day, every second, and ocassionally use words to do so; our life must be the prayer," brother j
Waging Brotherhood: Spiritual JuJitsu
I feel quite excited that this is a very fruitful way to conceive of the approach that is cripplingly called nonviolence.
The task of this Waging Brotherhood, this Spiritual Jujitsu is to:
A. disarm/pacify/confuse / anesthetize / disengage / de-energize Selfishness; and to
B. energize / wake up / ignite / alert / fascinate / awaken / excite / inspire Otherishness / Brotherhood.
Oh boy, I know almost nothing about how to do this. For the first time I feel some insight into Patch Adams' fascination with clowning, although I do not think clowning is the answer.
Hunger Strike, Lengthy Prison, Standing in front of an Israeli bulldozer - these are examples of ways of Spiritual Jujitsu.
"Be the change [Brotherhood] you want to see." Gandhi. Certainly this is at the center.
The task of this Waging Brotherhood, this Spiritual Jujitsu is to:
A. disarm/pacify/confuse / anesthetize / disengage / de-energize Selfishness; and to
B. energize / wake up / ignite / alert / fascinate / awaken / excite / inspire Otherishness / Brotherhood.
Oh boy, I know almost nothing about how to do this. For the first time I feel some insight into Patch Adams' fascination with clowning, although I do not think clowning is the answer.
Hunger Strike, Lengthy Prison, Standing in front of an Israeli bulldozer - these are examples of ways of Spiritual Jujitsu.
"Be the change [Brotherhood] you want to see." Gandhi. Certainly this is at the center.
Letter from Prison
:-) I can think of several reasons that I do not feel too much dread at the thought of my first extended stay in prison. No, nothing has been ordered yet, but I'm sure it is a matter of time. Court March 21st, April 18th, as many as 5 more arrests by April 6th do I anticipate. My purpose is not to be arrested. My purpose is to stand with all that I possess (hmmm, that would be my body) for brotherhood, and that places me in the way of the Beast of Mammon we call the American "way of life."
The reasons that I don't feel terrible dread?
1. To some degree I don't know, can't face the reality. But I do have pretty good imagination and I expect the worst - solitude, confinement with the most dangerous prisoners as punishment, brutality....
but also, and this is my point,
2. I'm already there! I'm already confined from the "pleasures" of life (death): casual association with folks, luxuries, safety, free time; resources, communication, mobility....
No, this post is not clear to me either, but that makes in no less true.
By the way, I regret the years I did not spend in this Prison, because it is full of Soul / Solidarity / Service / Life / Love / Purpose / Significance / Brotherhood / Truth....
The reasons that I don't feel terrible dread?
1. To some degree I don't know, can't face the reality. But I do have pretty good imagination and I expect the worst - solitude, confinement with the most dangerous prisoners as punishment, brutality....
but also, and this is my point,
2. I'm already there! I'm already confined from the "pleasures" of life (death): casual association with folks, luxuries, safety, free time; resources, communication, mobility....
No, this post is not clear to me either, but that makes in no less true.
By the way, I regret the years I did not spend in this Prison, because it is full of Soul / Solidarity / Service / Life / Love / Purpose / Significance / Brotherhood / Truth....
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