We are all dying for something, every minute, every day.
Most of us, just like me most of my life (death) was dying for a bigger house, better car, better college for the biolocal kids, dinner out, more sex, more safety, more security....
Now I'm dying to save Darfur, and to save the world, and to save you.
We cannot escape dying for something. It is an inescapable fact of human existance.
We are free to choose what we are dying for. Everything - Heaven and Hell - depend on the choice you make.
4.04.2007
Jesus was dying to save the world. Me too. You?
At various points in my life I have "died" for everything imaginable. I am the greediest person you will ever meet. Seriously.
Dying to save Darfur? Dying to Save the world? These are so superior, so overwhelmingly exciting and worth dying for, if you ever surrender to your Heart / God / Love you will simply, out of greed, you will simply not be able to resist the temptation.
I swear to God.
Dying to save Darfur? Dying to Save the world? These are so superior, so overwhelmingly exciting and worth dying for, if you ever surrender to your Heart / God / Love you will simply, out of greed, you will simply not be able to resist the temptation.
I swear to God.
Activism today is a COMPLETE MORAL FAILURE
A better formatted version of this important post is at: Darfur: US activism a COMPLETE MORAL FAILURE. Although this post is Darfur specific, the ideas hold exactly for the activists working on Iraq, Palestine, Guatemala, Haiti, Congo, World Hunger, saving the "Church"....
Darfur Hunger Strike to the Death or Complete Resolution by June 30; Day 34 water only.
What is wrong with this nasty, angry man! Some of my brothers and sisters in the activist community must be wondering. The rest have simply written me off.
Imagine the three people in the world you love the very most. Remember how much you love them. Do it. Ok. Now imagine that 4 years ago an all powerful entity, God, came and disguised these loved ones as Darfuries beyond any hope of recognition and placed them in Darfur; and further told you that if you told anyone that your loved ones would die immediately. You are told that the only way you can save them is to stop the genocide and restore Darfuries to their lives. WOULD YOU BE ACTING ANY DIFFERENTLY THAN YOU ARE NOW?!??!?!?!?!!?!?!?!??!? You sure as hell would.
Here is the other way that I look at it. Another one of tests of accountability I hold myself to in my personal actions is to imagine myself in Heaven after I die in front of my Darfur brothers and sisters explaining what I did or did not do. I think I'll do all right in these conversations. In similar conversations with my Cambodian, Rwandan, Balkan... brothers and sisters the behaviors of mine I describe will leave me shamed and without a shred of humanity.
I apply the same test when considering the behavior of my brothers and sisters in the "Save Darfur Movement (SDM)." I envision the conversation going something like this:
SDM: "Yes, we knew it was 4 years. Yes we knew 450,000 exterminated. Yes we knew 2.5 million in concentration camps of forced starvation, rape, mutilation, murder and disease. We in the US agonized for you our Darfur brothers and sisters. We had meetings, and more meetings. We fasted from luxuries for one whole day per year. ONE ENTIRE DAY - WE ABSTAINED FROM ONE OF OUR LUXURIES! On another day we formed a human chain. On another day we sent postcards. POSTCARDS! In all there were one million! We divested our Colleges and States. Sure the real money came from China but it helped a little and it gave us great connections and enhanced our resumes too! Two different sunny afternoons we went to parks for demonstrations, and we even listened to some of the speakers! Wow, we really pulled out all the stops! I mean, what else would you have wanted??!?!?!
DARFUR: "We wanted you to treat us as you would your immediate family, which before God, we are. "Do unto others, ALL that you would have done unto you." We were raped every day. Our children were starved every day. Our men were shot every day. Our women were mutilated every day. YOU DID NOTHING."
The lesson of the holocaust was entirely: IN THE FACE OF GENOCIDE THE CITIZENS OF THE WORLD IMMEDIATELY LAY DOWN THEIR VERY LIVES UNTIL IT STOPS. Eric Reeves, Brian Steidle and who else has laid down their lives for Darfur?
The great desecration of the Holocaust didn't happen last month in Iran; it has been happening in the most Holocaust educated in the world, the US, for the last 4 years as we have risked nothing, suffered nothing, sacrificed nothing. We have done nothing.
Now we repent and vote immediately with our lives, WITH OUR LIVES giving Bush an iron clad, unmistakable mandate to end this, or we are Damned, and Darfur is dead.
Original, bad thinking? Strikingly parallel to what Rabbi Abraham J. Heschel had to say in 1938, possibly the most relevant prophetic, moral writing I've ever seen. (PLEASE READ THE MEANING OF THIS HOUR, ABRAHAM J. HESCHEL) For example:
* "We have trifled with the name of God. We have taken the ideals in vain. We have called for the Lord. He came. And was ignored. We have preached but eluded Him. We have praised but defied Him. Now we reap the fruits of our failure. Through centuries His voice cried in the wilderness. How skillfully it was trapped and imprisoned in the temples! How often it was drowned or distorted! Now we behold how it gradually withdraws, abandoning one people after another, departing from their souls, despising their wisdom. The taste for the good has all but gone from the earth. Men heap spite upon cruelty, malice upon atrocity."
* "Soldiers in the horror of battle offer solemn testimony that life is not a hunt for pleasure, but an engagement for service; that there are things more valuable than life; that the world is not a vacuum. Either we make it an altar for God or it is invaded by demons. "
* "The Almighty has not created the universe that we may have opportunities to satisfy our greed, envy and ambition. We have not survived that we may waste our years in vulgar vanities. The martyrdom of millions demands that we consecrate ourselves to the fulfillment of God’s dream of salvation. Israel did not accept the Torah of their own free will. When Israel approached Sinai, God lifted up the mountain and held it over their heads, saying: “Either you accept the Torah or be crushed beneath the mountain.
”The mountain of history is over our heads again. Shall we renew the covenant with God?"
Darfur Hunger Strike to the Death or Complete Resolution by June 30; Day 34 water only.
What is wrong with this nasty, angry man! Some of my brothers and sisters in the activist community must be wondering. The rest have simply written me off.
Imagine the three people in the world you love the very most. Remember how much you love them. Do it. Ok. Now imagine that 4 years ago an all powerful entity, God, came and disguised these loved ones as Darfuries beyond any hope of recognition and placed them in Darfur; and further told you that if you told anyone that your loved ones would die immediately. You are told that the only way you can save them is to stop the genocide and restore Darfuries to their lives. WOULD YOU BE ACTING ANY DIFFERENTLY THAN YOU ARE NOW?!??!?!?!?!!?!?!?!??!? You sure as hell would.
Here is the other way that I look at it. Another one of tests of accountability I hold myself to in my personal actions is to imagine myself in Heaven after I die in front of my Darfur brothers and sisters explaining what I did or did not do. I think I'll do all right in these conversations. In similar conversations with my Cambodian, Rwandan, Balkan... brothers and sisters the behaviors of mine I describe will leave me shamed and without a shred of humanity.
I apply the same test when considering the behavior of my brothers and sisters in the "Save Darfur Movement (SDM)." I envision the conversation going something like this:
SDM: "Yes, we knew it was 4 years. Yes we knew 450,000 exterminated. Yes we knew 2.5 million in concentration camps of forced starvation, rape, mutilation, murder and disease. We in the US agonized for you our Darfur brothers and sisters. We had meetings, and more meetings. We fasted from luxuries for one whole day per year. ONE ENTIRE DAY - WE ABSTAINED FROM ONE OF OUR LUXURIES! On another day we formed a human chain. On another day we sent postcards. POSTCARDS! In all there were one million! We divested our Colleges and States. Sure the real money came from China but it helped a little and it gave us great connections and enhanced our resumes too! Two different sunny afternoons we went to parks for demonstrations, and we even listened to some of the speakers! Wow, we really pulled out all the stops! I mean, what else would you have wanted??!?!?!
DARFUR: "We wanted you to treat us as you would your immediate family, which before God, we are. "Do unto others, ALL that you would have done unto you." We were raped every day. Our children were starved every day. Our men were shot every day. Our women were mutilated every day. YOU DID NOTHING."
The lesson of the holocaust was entirely: IN THE FACE OF GENOCIDE THE CITIZENS OF THE WORLD IMMEDIATELY LAY DOWN THEIR VERY LIVES UNTIL IT STOPS. Eric Reeves, Brian Steidle and who else has laid down their lives for Darfur?
The great desecration of the Holocaust didn't happen last month in Iran; it has been happening in the most Holocaust educated in the world, the US, for the last 4 years as we have risked nothing, suffered nothing, sacrificed nothing. We have done nothing.
Now we repent and vote immediately with our lives, WITH OUR LIVES giving Bush an iron clad, unmistakable mandate to end this, or we are Damned, and Darfur is dead.
Original, bad thinking? Strikingly parallel to what Rabbi Abraham J. Heschel had to say in 1938, possibly the most relevant prophetic, moral writing I've ever seen. (PLEASE READ THE MEANING OF THIS HOUR, ABRAHAM J. HESCHEL) For example:
* "We have trifled with the name of God. We have taken the ideals in vain. We have called for the Lord. He came. And was ignored. We have preached but eluded Him. We have praised but defied Him. Now we reap the fruits of our failure. Through centuries His voice cried in the wilderness. How skillfully it was trapped and imprisoned in the temples! How often it was drowned or distorted! Now we behold how it gradually withdraws, abandoning one people after another, departing from their souls, despising their wisdom. The taste for the good has all but gone from the earth. Men heap spite upon cruelty, malice upon atrocity."
* "Soldiers in the horror of battle offer solemn testimony that life is not a hunt for pleasure, but an engagement for service; that there are things more valuable than life; that the world is not a vacuum. Either we make it an altar for God or it is invaded by demons. "
* "The Almighty has not created the universe that we may have opportunities to satisfy our greed, envy and ambition. We have not survived that we may waste our years in vulgar vanities. The martyrdom of millions demands that we consecrate ourselves to the fulfillment of God’s dream of salvation. Israel did not accept the Torah of their own free will. When Israel approached Sinai, God lifted up the mountain and held it over their heads, saying: “Either you accept the Torah or be crushed beneath the mountain.
”The mountain of history is over our heads again. Shall we renew the covenant with God?"
Dying for loving ends how? Miracles are hard to predict.
When was Gandhi going to die? How?
When was Dr. King going to die? How?
When was Dianne Wilson going to die? How?
When is any soldier going to die? How?
When was Dr. King going to die? How?
When was Dianne Wilson going to die? How?
When is any soldier going to die? How?
Stop a soldier of Revolutionary Brotherhood? Killed him.
"Do not be afraid of that which can kill your body. Be afraid of that which can kill your body and your soul," Jesus.
Final Star Wars Movie: Luke was dying to save Darth. Remember?
I never realized it till last week as I was in prayer.
This is a fabulous Salvation, Redemption example. I'm talking about the scene at the end when Luke, instead of killing his father, LAYS DOWN HIS LIFE FOR HIS FATHER. Luke throws down his light sabre in effect saying to his father, "your life is more valuable to me than mine. Kill me if you will but I will not kill you."
At this point the emperor steps in to kill Luke.
Darth's selfishness has been destroyed by Luke's unconditional, brotherly, self-sacrificial love. Darth's heart has at last been awakened. Darth has been saved.
Darth gives his life to save him from the Emperor.
Finally, "Father, I must save you." "My son, you already have." Darth leaves his body.
This is exactly how it is done. This is the only way it is done.
"A man has no greater love than to lay down his life for his fellow man," Jesus.
One can imagine that until his dying day this moment of redeeming his father's life will be that moment that Luke remembers as that which was most ALive, Divine, Heavenly, Joyful, Perfect.
This is a fabulous Salvation, Redemption example. I'm talking about the scene at the end when Luke, instead of killing his father, LAYS DOWN HIS LIFE FOR HIS FATHER. Luke throws down his light sabre in effect saying to his father, "your life is more valuable to me than mine. Kill me if you will but I will not kill you."
At this point the emperor steps in to kill Luke.
Darth's selfishness has been destroyed by Luke's unconditional, brotherly, self-sacrificial love. Darth's heart has at last been awakened. Darth has been saved.
Darth gives his life to save him from the Emperor.
Finally, "Father, I must save you." "My son, you already have." Darth leaves his body.
This is exactly how it is done. This is the only way it is done.
"A man has no greater love than to lay down his life for his fellow man," Jesus.
One can imagine that until his dying day this moment of redeeming his father's life will be that moment that Luke remembers as that which was most ALive, Divine, Heavenly, Joyful, Perfect.
The final Lord of the Rings movie? We are Denathor.
These movie writers and directors are our prophets, poets and oracles. It is their calling and their job to show us the Truth. We ignore them at our peril.
Denethor, the father that out of selfishness twice sent his son to his death, feasted while his subjects suffered, abandoned his subjects out of self pitty, cared nothing for others.... Look in the mirror and you will see what I see. Denethor is us.
David Dellinger regarding WWII: "Few people chose war. They chose selfishness and the result was war (sons coming home in body bags)."
It is "game over" unless we die en masse for brotherly love
Jesus led us all exactly and precisely to the cross - to lay down our lives for the "least of these our brothers."
THE MEANING OF THIS HOUR, ABRAHAM J. HESCHEL (PLEASE READ THIS ESSAY): " Soldiers in the horror of battle offer solemn testimony that life is not a hunt for pleasure, but an engagement for service; that there are things more valuable than life; that the world is not a vacuum. Either we make it an altar for God or it is invaded by demons. There can be no neutrality. Either we are ministers of the sacred or slaves of evil."
THE MEANING OF THIS HOUR, ABRAHAM J. HESCHEL (PLEASE READ THIS ESSAY): " Soldiers in the horror of battle offer solemn testimony that life is not a hunt for pleasure, but an engagement for service; that there are things more valuable than life; that the world is not a vacuum. Either we make it an altar for God or it is invaded by demons. There can be no neutrality. Either we are ministers of the sacred or slaves of evil."
HUNGER STRIKE. THE WEAPON OF MASS CONSTRUCTION OF HEAVEN
I am now unshakably convinced that for Darfur, Palestine, Iraq, Congo, Haiti... Hunger Strike by brothers for brothers is the Weapon of Mass Construction for Heaven on earth.
Millions of us. Few of us will have to die. All of us will Live. We will save human kind. There is much I would like to write on this but Thich Nhat Hanh has written enough for now. PLEASE READ these excerpts:
LOVE IN ACTION, Thich Nhat Hanh
Millions of us. Few of us will have to die. All of us will Live. We will save human kind. There is much I would like to write on this but Thich Nhat Hanh has written enough for now. PLEASE READ these excerpts:
LOVE IN ACTION, Thich Nhat Hanh
I am but one of 50 billion cells in my body.
Now it would simply be a lie if I said anything else. When I feel my body I feel the cell called Start and you, and Darfuries, and the walking dead of the military industrial complex, and the suffering in Congo, my family in Palestine, my Hitleresque Israelis....
This is how it is for Jesus. This is how it is for your Heart. You will know if you start dwelling in your Heart. It is simply all that the Heart knows. The "Head" finds this notion absurd and will never experience it.
The body of Christ.
"We are all cells in the same body," Peace Pilgrim.
This is how it is for Jesus. This is how it is for your Heart. You will know if you start dwelling in your Heart. It is simply all that the Heart knows. The "Head" finds this notion absurd and will never experience it.
The body of Christ.
"We are all cells in the same body," Peace Pilgrim.
Redeeming the world's heart: our movies are full of it
Polyanna
Captain's Courageous
Les Mis: Jean Val Jean twice gives his life for Javer. Javer's selfishness is murdered.
Les Mis: The Bishop of Dis (?) lays down his life (gives his entire wealth out of love) to the thief Jean. Jean selfishness is murdered and a Divine Heart rules Jean for all his days - leading the Salvation and Redemption of many.
The Green Mile
Cry Freedom
Dry White Season
Sunday in the Park with George
Don Quixote
John Q
etc
etc
etc
Captain's Courageous
Les Mis: Jean Val Jean twice gives his life for Javer. Javer's selfishness is murdered.
Les Mis: The Bishop of Dis (?) lays down his life (gives his entire wealth out of love) to the thief Jean. Jean selfishness is murdered and a Divine Heart rules Jean for all his days - leading the Salvation and Redemption of many.
The Green Mile
Cry Freedom
Dry White Season
Sunday in the Park with George
Don Quixote
John Q
etc
etc
etc
The only hope? Dying for brotherly love to prevail on earth
If you saw as I do, as Jesus did that Heaven on Earth absolutely was within our grasp, do you think you or anyone could resist giving your life for it, dying for it? Of course not.
Purity not Duration is the objective measure of Life
Who had more life, more of a life, and better life, a more desirable life:
Adolf Hitler? Dietrich Bonhoeffer?
Jesus? The Scribes and Pharisees?
The Zionists? Rachel Corrie?
Jay McGinley drinking beer and watching women? The students at Kent State fighting to end the genocide waged by the US on Vietnam?
Adolf Hitler? Dietrich Bonhoeffer?
Jesus? The Scribes and Pharisees?
The Zionists? Rachel Corrie?
Jay McGinley drinking beer and watching women? The students at Kent State fighting to end the genocide waged by the US on Vietnam?
Did we deify Jesus just to avoid following Him?
Oh there is so much I want to write about this but the following will have to suffice:
What do you get when you take the "God" out of Jesus? Gandhi is the answer.
Jesus died to be followed. He would die again if he knew he instead was being worshiped.
In fact, by belief is that what has happended is by plan, one well intended but deathly wrong, the other evil:
1. The Appostles didn't get it, or rather they didn't really get it. They thought success was in numbers of bodies rather than number of people going to the Cross. So they made up all the crap about miracles, resurection, ties to prophacy in the Old Testament to be able to better "sell" new converts. In the pricess they fatally diluted the saving psychology and social engineering that was Jesus saving gift of Life to us.
2. At Nicea the "Church" (today's anti-Christ) explicitly promised Constantine that in return for not being exterminated but instead bankrolled they would extinguish the actual "practice" of what Jesus taught. That they would turn the "way" into ritual and dogma that enslaved people as loyal subjects of not the Kingdom but the state.
There has not been a "Church" for 1800 years.
If we had done the same to Eistein there would be no bomb; Lister, there would be regular death from infection after operations....
What do you get when you take the "God" out of Jesus? Gandhi is the answer.
Jesus died to be followed. He would die again if he knew he instead was being worshiped.
In fact, by belief is that what has happended is by plan, one well intended but deathly wrong, the other evil:
1. The Appostles didn't get it, or rather they didn't really get it. They thought success was in numbers of bodies rather than number of people going to the Cross. So they made up all the crap about miracles, resurection, ties to prophacy in the Old Testament to be able to better "sell" new converts. In the pricess they fatally diluted the saving psychology and social engineering that was Jesus saving gift of Life to us.
2. At Nicea the "Church" (today's anti-Christ) explicitly promised Constantine that in return for not being exterminated but instead bankrolled they would extinguish the actual "practice" of what Jesus taught. That they would turn the "way" into ritual and dogma that enslaved people as loyal subjects of not the Kingdom but the state.
There has not been a "Church" for 1800 years.
If we had done the same to Eistein there would be no bomb; Lister, there would be regular death from infection after operations....
3.23.2007
Who asks, "Are you saved?" is not. Beware.
A full elementary school just suffered a roof collapse crushing the children inside. A "Christian" outside is asking you, "Are you saved?" Jesus of course would be hauling boulders off of "His" children. Well the world today is one big caved-in-Elementary School. In the time it took you to read this short post more than 10 children starved to death. Anyone with the time to ask such hideous questions as "Are you Saved?" is divorced from Jesus family, and that is the state of Sin; and that is Hell. You don't want to go there. Beware.
THE PEACE IS INEXPRESSIBLE
The Peace is so complete it is almost impossible to breathe. Ecstasy. Oh my beloved, I have done my best for you all. I believe I will continue to do so until my last breath. I hope some day, if not already, you feel the peace that I do. Do you remember in the movie "Contact" when Jody Foster becomes the AWE of the Cosmos toward the end? That is exactly what I am experiencing.
Oh my God.
Oh my God.
Define: Atom. Gravity. God.
The point?
We can all define Atom.
Only psychotics, snake oil salesmen, sharks, and wolves can define Gravity or God. They are both forces, we know that. We couldn't live without those forces. But no one in their right mind yet knows what either of them is.
As to God, we probably never will know for sure. I'm satisfied that God is essentially Love / Heart - the royal road to both our inate neorological goodness AND th 90% of our brain that we can't consciously access OR CONTROL!
Our only choice is to ignore God, or to be controled by him / her.
We can all define Atom.
Only psychotics, snake oil salesmen, sharks, and wolves can define Gravity or God. They are both forces, we know that. We couldn't live without those forces. But no one in their right mind yet knows what either of them is.
As to God, we probably never will know for sure. I'm satisfied that God is essentially Love / Heart - the royal road to both our inate neorological goodness AND th 90% of our brain that we can't consciously access OR CONTROL!
Our only choice is to ignore God, or to be controled by him / her.
Amusing: My dying on the cross may spare the next Start Loving
:-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)
Truly I find it amusing. Finally, when enough Steven Beko's had died, the next one was not allowed to by his/her friends, associates, society... even the "enemy" (sick brother).
But a lot of Steve Beko's had to die before those remaining woke up.
Ah, the luck of the draw!
:-) :-) :-) :-)
Aside from amused I am extremely excited that our Father chose me to help us come Alive; and I can see beyond all question that I am doing a lot of good. I am humbled, honored and deeply rejoicing for the opportunity. Oh, thank you Father. Some others will have to die on the Cross after me. I'll not be enough.
But I am praying that we wake up soon after I'm gone. Why? Because we are way out of time. A few seconds of overtime is all the human race has to turn this game around. I hope we have a few seconds left.
Truly I find it amusing. Finally, when enough Steven Beko's had died, the next one was not allowed to by his/her friends, associates, society... even the "enemy" (sick brother).
But a lot of Steve Beko's had to die before those remaining woke up.
Ah, the luck of the draw!
:-) :-) :-) :-)
Aside from amused I am extremely excited that our Father chose me to help us come Alive; and I can see beyond all question that I am doing a lot of good. I am humbled, honored and deeply rejoicing for the opportunity. Oh, thank you Father. Some others will have to die on the Cross after me. I'll not be enough.
But I am praying that we wake up soon after I'm gone. Why? Because we are way out of time. A few seconds of overtime is all the human race has to turn this game around. I hope we have a few seconds left.
Please articulate to our Father who is NOT your "immediate family."
For God's sake, for your "immediate family's" sake, do it. Now.
Denomination or religion crucial to you? Not Christian.
They will know you by how you love one another[, how you show your love to everyone.]
Anyone focused with any significance on any other issue be it religion, denomination, sexual orientation - IS NOT FOLLOWING JESUS.
IS THAT CLEAR? Can you imagine any of the folks that Jesus will certainly recognize - King, Gandhi, Mandella, Teresa... being concerned significantly except for the suffering of her/his brothers and sisters worldwide?
Anyone focused with any significance on any other issue be it religion, denomination, sexual orientation - IS NOT FOLLOWING JESUS.
IS THAT CLEAR? Can you imagine any of the folks that Jesus will certainly recognize - King, Gandhi, Mandella, Teresa... being concerned significantly except for the suffering of her/his brothers and sisters worldwide?
3.22.2007
OH MY BELOVED - FEAST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What would you do on what you thought probably was the last day you could normally lay down and sleep, or do anything else normal for that matter? If you had had the exposure I have had to Guinan's "Peace and Nonvolence," a colletion of world-saving essays you too would have worked all day and night to place major excerpts on the internet.
FEAST AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! [on the links below].
With love and prayers for you to be heroes, Start Loving.
NEW BLOG: Peace and Nonviolence (Quotations from) .........
* THE MOST SACRED VESSEL OF GOD I HAVE ENCOUNTERED
* Introduction, Napoleon
* Christian Nonresisstance, Adin Ballou
* Paul IV, from Intro
* Reflections on War, Simone Weil
* Leo Tolstoy
* An Indian Prayer: A Proposal to Man. Ron Skenand...
* POPES, BISHOPS, COUNCILS
* THE WORKABILITY OF NONVIOLENCE, A.J. MUSTE
* I Believe, Perry Muckerheidi
* PEACE AND REVOLUTION, THOMAS MERTON
* DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
* THINGS NEW AND OLD, CLARENCE JORDAN
* Is There Anything the Individual Can Still Do? Fr...
* Address to the Congres de la Paix, Victor Hugo
* Letter to a Minister of State, Hermann Hesse
* THE MEANING OF THIS HOUR, ABRAHAM J. HESCHEL
* LOVE IN ACTION, Thich Nhat Hanh
* Active Nonviolence, Hildegaard Goss-Mayr
* DECLARATION OF SENTIMENTS 1938, WILLIAM LLOYD GARR...
* Religious Satyagraha, M.K. Gandhi
* The Time of My Commitment, George Fox
* Our Father, Desiderius Erasmus
* Nonviolence VS the Mafia, Danilo Dolci
* Dorothy Day
* Not the Smallest Grain of Incense, Tom Cornell
* Militant Non-Violence, William Sloane Coffin
* Cesar Chavez
* Fetters of Injustice, Dom Helder Camara
* Stations on the Road to Freedom, Dietrich Bonhoeff...
* Christ's Teachings, Vinoba Bhave
* An Open Letter to a Bishop, Philip Berrigan
* A Meditation from Catonsville, Dan Berrigan
* If we Listen Well, Ed Guinan
FEAST AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! [on the links below].
With love and prayers for you to be heroes, Start Loving.
NEW BLOG: Peace and Nonviolence (Quotations from) .........
* THE MOST SACRED VESSEL OF GOD I HAVE ENCOUNTERED
* Introduction, Napoleon
* Christian Nonresisstance, Adin Ballou
* Paul IV, from Intro
* Reflections on War, Simone Weil
* Leo Tolstoy
* An Indian Prayer: A Proposal to Man. Ron Skenand...
* POPES, BISHOPS, COUNCILS
* THE WORKABILITY OF NONVIOLENCE, A.J. MUSTE
* I Believe, Perry Muckerheidi
* PEACE AND REVOLUTION, THOMAS MERTON
* DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
* THINGS NEW AND OLD, CLARENCE JORDAN
* Is There Anything the Individual Can Still Do? Fr...
* Address to the Congres de la Paix, Victor Hugo
* Letter to a Minister of State, Hermann Hesse
* THE MEANING OF THIS HOUR, ABRAHAM J. HESCHEL
* LOVE IN ACTION, Thich Nhat Hanh
* Active Nonviolence, Hildegaard Goss-Mayr
* DECLARATION OF SENTIMENTS 1938, WILLIAM LLOYD GARR...
* Religious Satyagraha, M.K. Gandhi
* The Time of My Commitment, George Fox
* Our Father, Desiderius Erasmus
* Nonviolence VS the Mafia, Danilo Dolci
* Dorothy Day
* Not the Smallest Grain of Incense, Tom Cornell
* Militant Non-Violence, William Sloane Coffin
* Cesar Chavez
* Fetters of Injustice, Dom Helder Camara
* Stations on the Road to Freedom, Dietrich Bonhoeff...
* Christ's Teachings, Vinoba Bhave
* An Open Letter to a Bishop, Philip Berrigan
* A Meditation from Catonsville, Dan Berrigan
* If we Listen Well, Ed Guinan
I MAY BE THE ONLY ONE WITH HOPE, THAT CAN SEE VICTORY
Pete, manager of the Washington Peace Center kindly shared with me an email about a Darfur activity in VA to raise awereness, a concert or something. "Too little too late," was my gently delivered response.
"Gosh Start, you seem really pessamistic about Darfur," Pete commented out of concern.
Pete's view was really helpful to me. It helped me to realize that I may be the only one that has seen all along that we can stop this Genocide. Every one else I see with maybe no exceptions is going through the motions as though it is ludicrous to go all out, but shameful to not do something.
Yes, in fact, my radical behavior is born of clarity of vision that this has always been a Genocide we can stop, immediately that we make up our hearts to do so.
Truly I am the most optimistic of the Darfur Activists.
Similarly, I am the only person professing to follow Jesus that I know of that believes he showed us how to create Heaven on Earth, and that He expected us to make it happen - full victory.
"Gosh Start, you seem really pessamistic about Darfur," Pete commented out of concern.
Pete's view was really helpful to me. It helped me to realize that I may be the only one that has seen all along that we can stop this Genocide. Every one else I see with maybe no exceptions is going through the motions as though it is ludicrous to go all out, but shameful to not do something.
Yes, in fact, my radical behavior is born of clarity of vision that this has always been a Genocide we can stop, immediately that we make up our hearts to do so.
Truly I am the most optimistic of the Darfur Activists.
Similarly, I am the only person professing to follow Jesus that I know of that believes he showed us how to create Heaven on Earth, and that He expected us to make it happen - full victory.
Kill myself!?!? What?????? I'm trying to save myself!!!!!!!!!!
No sh--!
Darfur is part of my body, a larger part than what you see when you look at me. NO I AM NOT TALKING METAPHORICALLY!!!! LOOK IN YOUR HEART!!!! YOU KNOW ME!!!! :-) FINALLY I KNOW ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU KNOW THIS IS TRUE!!!!!
You and my other global brothers and sisters also are part of my body. the biggest part. I see us, with too few exceptions to speak of, as more dead than alive, and suffering, gasping for lack of Joy, Life, Peace, Love.
And everyone yet unborn is my body. I say this as absolute Truth before God. YOU KNOW ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!
All of Humanity is my body, I swear to God. By my Hunger Strike I am trying to save the larger part of my body. And I will help in what I am doing more than anything else I could do. It is Emergency Room Procedures and Triage. More gang rapes tonight. More breasts cut off. More eyes gouged out. More children burned alive in fires in front of their families today. WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!!??!?!!??!!??! And maybe my life will be one of the sparks that some time down the line supports the chain reaction that will save your planet. God, I hope so.
"Live as though the entire fate of the universe depended upon what you do; and realize that what you do will probably make no difference at all," say some of the Buddhists.
"Never think that one person cannot change the world. In fact, it is the only thing that ever has," Start Loving.
And Dr. King imagined that "the Priest and the Levite said to themselves, 'If I stop what will happen to me?' But of the wounded man lying by the side of the road the Good Samaritan said, 'If I don't stop what will happen to him?' "
Darfur is part of my body, a larger part than what you see when you look at me. NO I AM NOT TALKING METAPHORICALLY!!!! LOOK IN YOUR HEART!!!! YOU KNOW ME!!!! :-) FINALLY I KNOW ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU KNOW THIS IS TRUE!!!!!
You and my other global brothers and sisters also are part of my body. the biggest part. I see us, with too few exceptions to speak of, as more dead than alive, and suffering, gasping for lack of Joy, Life, Peace, Love.
And everyone yet unborn is my body. I say this as absolute Truth before God. YOU KNOW ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!
All of Humanity is my body, I swear to God. By my Hunger Strike I am trying to save the larger part of my body. And I will help in what I am doing more than anything else I could do. It is Emergency Room Procedures and Triage. More gang rapes tonight. More breasts cut off. More eyes gouged out. More children burned alive in fires in front of their families today. WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!!??!?!!??!!??! And maybe my life will be one of the sparks that some time down the line supports the chain reaction that will save your planet. God, I hope so.
"Live as though the entire fate of the universe depended upon what you do; and realize that what you do will probably make no difference at all," say some of the Buddhists.
"Never think that one person cannot change the world. In fact, it is the only thing that ever has," Start Loving.
And Dr. King imagined that "the Priest and the Levite said to themselves, 'If I stop what will happen to me?' But of the wounded man lying by the side of the road the Good Samaritan said, 'If I don't stop what will happen to him?' "
Share in my Joy!
Dearly Beloved,
This entire site will help you through the next weeks. This post in addition should help. It is taken from one of the essays in the 1972 - Peace and Nonviolence, by Ed Guinan (a Divine collection - a must read):
LOVE IN ACTION, by Thich Nhat Hanh. Some quotations:
"The nature of the struggle is not a doctrine to be materialized by a program of action; it is communication and love. Thus, its leaders must create and inspire love for the masses in the hearts of their people. They touch the people by altruistic acts born from their own love. When Nhat Chi Mai burned herself because she wanted to be a "torch in the dark night," she moved millions of Vietnamese. The force she engendered was the force of love for non-violent action." [Side note from Start Loving: I always felt more horror than anything at the self immolation of Buddhist monks in Vietnam. Last month in reading Dellinger, and close advisor of King, I learned that such an immolation by a Buddhist Monk was largely responsible for Dr. King coming out against the Vietnam war. It touched Dr. King's heart as nothing else had.]
"We have witnessed tragic and heroic scenes of love: a monk seated calmly before advancing tanks; women and children raising bare hands against clubs and grenades; hunger strikes held in patience and silence. Only love and sacrifice can engender love and sacrifice. This chain reaction is essential to the non-violent struggle. Thich Tri Quang did not make strategy; he fasted 100 days. And everyone who passed by the Duy Tan clinic at that time had to hold his breath.
"The usual way to generate force is to create anger, desire,and fear. But these are dangerous sources of energy because they are blind, whereas the force of love springs from awareness, and does not destroy its own aims. Out of love and the willingness to act, strategies and tactics will be created naturally from the circumstances of the struggle. Thus, the problems of strategy and tactics are of secondary importance. They should be posed, but not at the beginning."
"...Our struggle's purpose... the destruction of fanaticism and inhumanity, which are the real enemies of man."
"At a joint press conference with a Buddhist monk, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King declared, "both the colored people struggling for civil rights in the US and the Buddhist struggling for peace in Vietnam are bound to the cause of peace and social justice, and are determined to sacrifice themselves to achieve their goal."
"Westerners often misunderstand and see self-immolation as and act of violence. To the Vietnamese it is quite the opposite. By accepting extreme suffering, one lights the fires of compassion and awakens the hearts of the people, as Christ did. Among a number of Vietnamese who immolated themselves for peace were Thich Quand Duc, a monk, and Nhat Chi Mai, a yound girl student."
"Another means - the one most often used by Gandhi to communicate with the people - has been fasting. Thousends of Vietnamese, both as individuals and in groups, have fasted to try to end the war. One fasts to pray, to purify one's heart and strengthen the will - or to arouse the silent awareness and compassion of the population. In 1966, Venerable Thich Tri Quang fasted for 100 days, deeply affecting the people of Vietnam.
"There have been other painful sacrifice. In 1963, a girl student named mai Tuuyet An cut off her hand as a warning to the Diem regime, unleashing tremendous emotion among young people. In 1966, ten university students, Nhat Chi Mai among them, pleedged to kill themselves to try to end the war, but the church forbade them. A year later, Nhat Chi Mai burned herself.
"There have been strikes, business licenses returned, resignations of university presidents, deans and professors (40 professors at Hue University), boycotts of classes and refusals to participate in the war. One typically Vietnamese act mentioned earlier has been the carrying of family altars into the streets to oppose tanks, a demonstration of the people's determination to pit the most precious symbols of their traditional values against the instruments of inhumanity and violence.
"Humanist efforts in Vietnam are suppressed by secret police, tear gas, suffocating gas, TNT, grenades, prisons and torture. False nuns and monks infiltrate the Buddhist movement, damaging its prestige and sowing seeds of fear. Extremists are thus encouraged to pervert and destroy the leaders and cadres of non-violent moments. Uncounted numbers of Buddhists and non-Buddhist leaders from all walks of life have been liquidated or sent to prison. In the School of Youth for Social Service, whose only aim is to help the peasants, eight young people have been kidnapped, six killed, eleven seriously wounded. Why? Because they refused to accept American aid or to participate in the war."
"The non-violent struggle in Vietnam goes on - amid vast pain and hardship. The world is just beginning to understand that peace everywhere, as well as the future of Vietnam, is linked to this movement. Its success and its contribution to the humanist revolution throughout the world depends upon your understanding and your help."
This entire site will help you through the next weeks. This post in addition should help. It is taken from one of the essays in the 1972 - Peace and Nonviolence, by Ed Guinan (a Divine collection - a must read):
LOVE IN ACTION, by Thich Nhat Hanh. Some quotations:
"The nature of the struggle is not a doctrine to be materialized by a program of action; it is communication and love. Thus, its leaders must create and inspire love for the masses in the hearts of their people. They touch the people by altruistic acts born from their own love. When Nhat Chi Mai burned herself because she wanted to be a "torch in the dark night," she moved millions of Vietnamese. The force she engendered was the force of love for non-violent action." [Side note from Start Loving: I always felt more horror than anything at the self immolation of Buddhist monks in Vietnam. Last month in reading Dellinger, and close advisor of King, I learned that such an immolation by a Buddhist Monk was largely responsible for Dr. King coming out against the Vietnam war. It touched Dr. King's heart as nothing else had.]
"We have witnessed tragic and heroic scenes of love: a monk seated calmly before advancing tanks; women and children raising bare hands against clubs and grenades; hunger strikes held in patience and silence. Only love and sacrifice can engender love and sacrifice. This chain reaction is essential to the non-violent struggle. Thich Tri Quang did not make strategy; he fasted 100 days. And everyone who passed by the Duy Tan clinic at that time had to hold his breath.
"The usual way to generate force is to create anger, desire,and fear. But these are dangerous sources of energy because they are blind, whereas the force of love springs from awareness, and does not destroy its own aims. Out of love and the willingness to act, strategies and tactics will be created naturally from the circumstances of the struggle. Thus, the problems of strategy and tactics are of secondary importance. They should be posed, but not at the beginning."
"...Our struggle's purpose... the destruction of fanaticism and inhumanity, which are the real enemies of man."
"At a joint press conference with a Buddhist monk, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King declared, "both the colored people struggling for civil rights in the US and the Buddhist struggling for peace in Vietnam are bound to the cause of peace and social justice, and are determined to sacrifice themselves to achieve their goal."
"Westerners often misunderstand and see self-immolation as and act of violence. To the Vietnamese it is quite the opposite. By accepting extreme suffering, one lights the fires of compassion and awakens the hearts of the people, as Christ did. Among a number of Vietnamese who immolated themselves for peace were Thich Quand Duc, a monk, and Nhat Chi Mai, a yound girl student."
"Another means - the one most often used by Gandhi to communicate with the people - has been fasting. Thousends of Vietnamese, both as individuals and in groups, have fasted to try to end the war. One fasts to pray, to purify one's heart and strengthen the will - or to arouse the silent awareness and compassion of the population. In 1966, Venerable Thich Tri Quang fasted for 100 days, deeply affecting the people of Vietnam.
"There have been other painful sacrifice. In 1963, a girl student named mai Tuuyet An cut off her hand as a warning to the Diem regime, unleashing tremendous emotion among young people. In 1966, ten university students, Nhat Chi Mai among them, pleedged to kill themselves to try to end the war, but the church forbade them. A year later, Nhat Chi Mai burned herself.
"There have been strikes, business licenses returned, resignations of university presidents, deans and professors (40 professors at Hue University), boycotts of classes and refusals to participate in the war. One typically Vietnamese act mentioned earlier has been the carrying of family altars into the streets to oppose tanks, a demonstration of the people's determination to pit the most precious symbols of their traditional values against the instruments of inhumanity and violence.
"Humanist efforts in Vietnam are suppressed by secret police, tear gas, suffocating gas, TNT, grenades, prisons and torture. False nuns and monks infiltrate the Buddhist movement, damaging its prestige and sowing seeds of fear. Extremists are thus encouraged to pervert and destroy the leaders and cadres of non-violent moments. Uncounted numbers of Buddhists and non-Buddhist leaders from all walks of life have been liquidated or sent to prison. In the School of Youth for Social Service, whose only aim is to help the peasants, eight young people have been kidnapped, six killed, eleven seriously wounded. Why? Because they refused to accept American aid or to participate in the war."
"The non-violent struggle in Vietnam goes on - amid vast pain and hardship. The world is just beginning to understand that peace everywhere, as well as the future of Vietnam, is linked to this movement. Its success and its contribution to the humanist revolution throughout the world depends upon your understanding and your help."
THY KINGDOM COME[S] [AS] THY WILL [IS] DONE....
When Hell on earth is complete within the next few years, our Father / Mother will be shaking their head at us -
"We warned you. We did everything possible to warn you. We told you where the Path to Heaven on Earth was. You were determined not to listen. Oh what a waste:
1. "Our Father in Heaven."
2. "Hallowed be your name."
3. "Your Kingdom come[s]." (variation: "Thy Kingom [IS FUNDED] as thy will is done...")
4. "[As] Your will [is] done on earth as it is in Heaven.
5. "Give us [all] this day our daily bread."
6. "Forgive us our [errors]," 7. "As we forgive [the errors of others.]
8. "Lead us [all] not into temptation," 9. "But deliver us [all] from evil.
"You dicided instead that patholocial self-delusion was the way you wanted to live. So you decided to live a culture of "make believe:"
A. Jesus and the Appostles were only speaking in metaphore.
B. The above are not literal and specific instructions EXACTLY like the instruction to a child - "Honny, do not grab that hot skillet by the handle! Do not put your hand on that burner." What we told you so clearly were the natural consequences of Selfishness / Death and Otherishness / Life based on your psychology, your physiology, and the dynamics of the physical universe.
C. Everyone is NOT your brother or sister. The 13 children that starved to death within the last minute were not really, Truly, exactly YOUR IMMEDIATE CHILDREN; YOUR IMMEDIATE FAMILY.
D. Capitalism, not God and "Love your neighbor as yourself" would be the "god" in which you would place your trust.
E. Christianity is a "social club with a thin veneer of religiosity" which you join for a few bucks and that uses Jesus to comfort and amuse you; Not the church of Jesus - a radically, totally universal-family culture to replace all empires like Jesus and the Appostles died to show you.
F. Etc....
YOU BLASPHAMOUSLY SELF-PROCLAIMED "CHRISTIANS" OF THE YEAR 2007 DELIBERATELY AND WILLFULLY REJECTED OUR SON JESUS, YOUR BROTHER WHO SUFFERED AND DIED TO SAVE YOU. We will always love you, but we accept your decision that you are no longer our children. Your Hell is now your responsibility, not ours.
Your loving Father and Mother, God"
"We warned you. We did everything possible to warn you. We told you where the Path to Heaven on Earth was. You were determined not to listen. Oh what a waste:
1. "Our Father in Heaven."
2. "Hallowed be your name."
3. "Your Kingdom come[s]." (variation: "Thy Kingom [IS FUNDED] as thy will is done...")
4. "[As] Your will [is] done on earth as it is in Heaven.
5. "Give us [all] this day our daily bread."
6. "Forgive us our [errors]," 7. "As we forgive [the errors of others.]
8. "Lead us [all] not into temptation," 9. "But deliver us [all] from evil.
"You dicided instead that patholocial self-delusion was the way you wanted to live. So you decided to live a culture of "make believe:"
A. Jesus and the Appostles were only speaking in metaphore.
B. The above are not literal and specific instructions EXACTLY like the instruction to a child - "Honny, do not grab that hot skillet by the handle! Do not put your hand on that burner." What we told you so clearly were the natural consequences of Selfishness / Death and Otherishness / Life based on your psychology, your physiology, and the dynamics of the physical universe.
C. Everyone is NOT your brother or sister. The 13 children that starved to death within the last minute were not really, Truly, exactly YOUR IMMEDIATE CHILDREN; YOUR IMMEDIATE FAMILY.
D. Capitalism, not God and "Love your neighbor as yourself" would be the "god" in which you would place your trust.
E. Christianity is a "social club with a thin veneer of religiosity" which you join for a few bucks and that uses Jesus to comfort and amuse you; Not the church of Jesus - a radically, totally universal-family culture to replace all empires like Jesus and the Appostles died to show you.
F. Etc....
YOU BLASPHAMOUSLY SELF-PROCLAIMED "CHRISTIANS" OF THE YEAR 2007 DELIBERATELY AND WILLFULLY REJECTED OUR SON JESUS, YOUR BROTHER WHO SUFFERED AND DIED TO SAVE YOU. We will always love you, but we accept your decision that you are no longer our children. Your Hell is now your responsibility, not ours.
Your loving Father and Mother, God"
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