If there were Christians there would be no Terrorists

"If Christians lived according to their faith, there would be no more Hindus left in India." Gandhi

If Militant PeaceMAKERS abounded there would be no more terrorists in the world.

Until Militant PeaceMAKERS abound,

Terrorsts will abound.

WE BETTER GET BUSY.

BECOMING A SOLDIER IS TO BECOME A DIFFERENT HUMAN TYPE

Of fundamental importance to personal Joy / Heaven in this life is to realize that we have available to us the option of not one, as our culture would have us believe, but two profoundly OPPOSITE states of mind:

1. Selfishness
2. Brotherliness / Otherishness

It has just struck me that there is an institution that consistantly and relyably CONVERTS individuals during the course of one's enlistment from Selfishness to Brotherliness (Brotherliness of an important sort). THE U.S. MILITARY does this.

The points here are that:

1. The choice of Otherishness is one that anyone can make as we see in the choice made by millions in the military;
2. Otherishness (the READINESS to give one's life for others) is profoundly opposite to Selfisnness as we can clearly see in this mass military "conversion" that ;
3. WAR, such intensity of commitment, trumps any alternative through its overwhelming Joyfulness / Purpose / Meaning. From movies, imagination and personal knowledge we can see that there was no price that could get Ryan to leave the war (Saving Private Ryan.)

A ONE-SIDED PLANETARY WAR / SLAUGHTER RAGES

The forces of Greed / Selfishness / Mammon / Indifference / Disconnection / Neglect are assaulting the world on every conceivable front with a war-like seriousness of intention and approach of infecting every human heart.

Nowhere in serious opposition is to be found the forces of Love / Life / Truth. Nowhere are there those that:

1. Face the fact of this global war by the forces of cancer.
2. See, envision that the forces of Love / Life / Truth can and must fight to win.
3. Envision that winning is possible.
4. Begin fighting despite apparently insurmountable odds.

Start, is nothing being done? Oh yes:

1. Liberal lip service.
2. Token actions.
3. Symbolic actions.
4. Band-Aids

ATTN MERCHANTS! "UNTO THE LEAST OF THESE..."

In the face of emergency where do you expect to find the good Dr., minister, nurse, soldier? At the emergency helping!

"Unto This Last (1868)," is one of two books to galvanize Gandhi in his early 20's. The thrust of these 3 essays is that nothing less should be expected of merchants. Their goods are the life's blood of society and they should be every bit as morally responsible to "the least of these my family," as are the best of Dr.s, soldiers, nurses....

THE WORLD IS ONE BIG EMERGENCY AND MERCHANTS SHOULD FOCUS ENTIRELY ON "THE LEAST OF THESE" AS BROTHERS AND SISTERS. NOTHING LESS. NOTHING MORE. NOTHING ELSE.

ULTIMATE ADVENTURE; THE REASON TO "BE" "GOOD"

People give their lives for adventure:
* Sky dive
* Scuba dive
* Hang glide
* Fly
* Ski
* Mountain climb....

Why "be" "good" like Jesus calls us to do?

"BEING" "GOOD" IS THE ULTIMATE ADVENTURE ; GIVE IT YOUR LIVES! Start Loving

OUR FEELING FOR HYPOCRISY MAY BE LIFE ITSELF

I highly recommend that as I am trying to do, that you connect with your experience of Hypocrisy as a youth; your youth being a time when your Hypocrisy detector was alive and well - full of feeling.

Hypocrisy: The practice of professing beliefs, feelings, or virtues that one does not hold or possess; falseness. An act or instance of such falseness.

In our youth there is a very strong emotion within us when we detect Hypocrisy. No? As young people we have a strong FEELING about Hypocrisy!

Our feeling for Hypocrisy gets amputated as we become socialized as we move through life from our mid teens to mid twenties. Our Feeling for Hypocrisy may be our conscience and morality; Life / Love / Truth are integrated with our feeling for hypocrisy. When we lose one we lose the other.

If our-feeling-for-hypocrisy IS integrated with feeling and morality, with Life and Truth, then this explains why Jesus was so singularly riled by displays of Hypocrisy, as these arise from a loss of Feeling fro Hypocrisy.

"FOLLOW JESUS WORD." Teresa of Calcutta

To the best of my knowledge, when asked how she became who she became, and how she did what she did in her life Teresa said that all she did was "follow Jesus word."

I know of no evidence that at any juncture in her life did she offer any further explanation either in word or action:

• To my knowledge she never focused on what the evangelicals totally focus on - Teresa focused not at all on PAUL'S WORD: Romans 10 Verse 9: "if you confess 5 with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." Bosh.
• To my knowledge Teresa never focused in her thoughts, words or deeds on the Old Testament, NOT AT ALL!

The same goes for Gandhi, and I think also for Dr. King and Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

Teresa, Gandhi, King, Bonhoeffer... found it sufficient to -

"FOLLOW JESUS WORD."

Duh.

"Flesh" / Selfishness is INFERIOR, NOT "BAD"

SELFISHNESS IS NOT BAD -

My interest here and elsewhere is not academic accuracy or consistency although I believe my work would score quite high on this dimension.

My interest IS how to live a life of extraordinary Joy; how to find that Path and how to avoid the pitfalls and traps.

Although counter intuitive, A MAJOR TRAP is the notion that "Flesh" / Selfishness are "bad." It cannot be true that they are "bad," REALLY, as evidenced by:

• An entire globe that is Hell bent :-) on embracing the Religion fanatically practiced by the West - "Flesh" / Selfishness.
• Two hundred years of U.S. pleasure beyond measure without APPARENT hell to pay (let's continue to overlook the American Indians, Coal Miners, Mill Workers, Slaves....) isn't bad; not "bad" in a generally useful sense of the word. In Truth, Selfishness seems awesome!

HERE IS WHAT WE MUST RECOGNIZE: SELFISHNESS IS INFERIOR TO MILITANT PEACEMAKING -

Selfishness is INFERIOR to Militant PeaceMAKING, Otherishness / Love / Life / Truth / Global Connectedness. The proof? Although in our movies we pull the punch in the end as the "guy gets the girl," OUR HERO DOESN'T REALLY GO THROUGH HELL AND BACK FOR THE GIRL. DOES HE!?!?!?! He does it, pay an enormous price in order to SAVE the world, FOR THE INTRINSIC JOY OF IT!!! And

THE JOY OF MILITANT PEACEMAKING
IS SUPERIOR TO
THE PLEASURE OF SELFISHNESS.

Disconnectedness - the Conservative / Republican Sin

I wonder if Conservatives / Republicans / Hawks realize that it is their -

• Disconnectedness from "the least of these"

- that infuriates Democrats / Liberals; and rightly so.

Democrats may somewhat recognize this.

Lip service - the Liberal / Democrat Sin.

I wonder if Liberals / Democrats / Peacenicks realize that it is their -

• Lip Service
• Lack of personal sacrifice
• Lack of commitment
• Lack of hard work
• Lack of willingness to die for their cause

- that infuriates Republicans / Conservatives; and rightly so.

Republicans do not recognize this.

ATTN! "How did you use the time I gave you," Our Father asks.

Ye seekers of Truth / Life / Love be ware!

The gift of Our Father, the "talent" S/He gave us is TIME!

• Do not burry it in the ground!
• Don't spend His/Her time worrying.
• Don't spend His/Her time planning.

Take your best shot! Learn from it. Take your best shot again. Learn from it. REPEAT.

"Ready, Fire, Aim." Tom Peters, consultant. This is a wonderful concept he writes about. Did you ever go to, or see the arcade game where you shoot a streem of water into an opening, and if you can get in enough water in time you win a prize? One could pull the trigger on shot at a time, BUT NO ONE DOES. They use the stream continuously to aim!

Teresa of Calcutta said. "God does not expect us to be successful--only faithful."

BE FAITHFUL!!!! ENJOY!!!!

Inconceivable

"CONNECTION," "WORLD FAMILY" IS THE "GATE"

Selfishness / Sin / Error is the

SYMPTOM.

Disconnectedness / Indifference / Ignorance (of "the least of these") is the DISEASE.

Love / Life / Truth / World Family / Connection / Empathy / Compassion is

HEALTH / CURE

Organized Religion is beyond recovery

No? Ok:

• Caucasian is what anyone that sees me would label me, DESPITE THE FACT that I have dark brown moles and other marks on my body.
• Healthy despite some aches and pains...
• Bald is what I'd be called despite the few hairs left.
• Non-athlete...
• Non-brain-surgeon....

Aside from being trite, the above illustrates a crucial point. The Truth is not to be confused with Purity or Absolutism.

Organized Religion, taken as the "bodies" that comprise it CAN NOT NOW, NOR OVER THE CENTURIES, BE DESCRIBED AS:

• Healers
• World-wide brothers
• Powerful forces of global healing
• Courageous
• Army of God

If one were in desperate need of any of the following I, Start Loving, would NOT be the best place to begin:

• Black Man.
• Brain Surgeon.
• Athlete....

We are in desperate need of:

• Healers
• World-wide brothers
• Powerful forces of global healing
• Courageous Army of God for ALL humankind

Is there a body promising of becoming these (above)?

• Catholics?
• Protestants?
• Evangelical?
• Jews?
• Muslims?

NO. We must begin outside any of these bodies. These bodies are beyond redemption.

ULTIMATE FREEDOM? FREEDOM FROM DISCONNECTION

Like the ultimate goal - FREEDOM FROM DISEASE.

All DISCONNECTION IS -

• DISEASE / DIMINISHMENT OF THE SPIRIT, THAT IS,
• SEPARATION FROM THE ALMIGHTY, SEPARATION FROM LOVE / LIFE / TRUTH.

ALL CONNECTION IS -

• HEALTH OF THE SPIRIT, THAT IS,
• UNITY WITH THE ALMIGHTY, UNITY WITH LOVE / LIFE / TRUTH.

"Healing." "Leaving disease behind." I testify that these describe what connection feels like to me.

CONNECTION IS FREEDOM FROM DISEASE. HEALTH.

Readiness for Responsibility, Health, comes from Connection

"Action comes not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility." Dietrich Bonhoeffer

"Love ... [is] not... able to avoid making sacrifices." Teresa of Calcutta.

Action, Life, comes from Connection, Love. Start Loving

YOU CHOOSE YOUR KINGDOM / STATE OF MIND / WORLD

I can only report that it is true. You almost certainly have had experiences that you have given little thought or credence to that are evidence of what I say if you take some time to think about it.

My point in this post is to report that without question our nervous system has at least two distinctly different "states:" "me & mine" (selfishness, flesh) OR "we & thine" (otherishness, brotherliness, PeaceMAKING).

Imagine your mind is a Personal Computer that can run Microsoft Word OR Microsoft Excel. Two pretty PROFOUNDLY different worlds, no? Different code, procedures, MEMORY, LOGIC.... MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE - if one is running THE OTHER IS NOT!

So it is with "me" and "we;" totally different "states of mind," "worlds apart." Most of this site is about these two different worlds so I'll have to point you to the other posts on this site for now.

Each "world" looks CRAZY from the other. But "we" is the one with "wisdom" and any individual that spends much time in "we" rarely will go back to "me." The reverse is not true. This is what "Saved" or "Converted" is about although this Truth has been totally lost in the "church."

Now, these "worlds" are separated by a crevasse! It is just as scary as a crevasse in a glacier - scary as hell to contemplate jumping over - ESPECIALLY FROM THE FLESH SIDE. It is NOT a linear path. 99.9999999% of us glimpse the other side, the other world, the Kingdom, but spend ourselves deluding ourselves (with all the help that the "church" can muster) that standing on the edge occasionally (doing "good" occasionally) is the same as leaping the crevasse into the Kingdom. 'Some of you will say Lord, Lord... but I do not know you."

"[THE] CROSS [IS] THE VIOLENCE [OF LOVE] THAT WE MUST EACH DO TO OURSELVES" Romero

"[The] cross [is] the violence [of Love] that we must each do to ourselves, to overcome ... such cruel inequalities among us. The violence we preach is not the violence of the sword, the violence of hatred. It is the violence of love, of brotherhood, the violence that wills to beat weapons into sickles for work." Oscar Romero

The "Cross" is the most perverted of concepts by "A Christian." One who is "Christian," one who has the eyes of Family, of Love sees this in the cross - JOY / LIFE / LOVE / PEACE:

• "Since you get more joy out of giving joy to others, you should put a good deal of thought into the happiness that you are able to give." Eleanor Roosevelt;
• "The joy in life is to be used for a purpose. I want to be used up when I die." George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)

I NEVER WANTED ANYTHING FOR "ME" FROM MY 2 SONS

All I ever wanted, ALL I EVER WANTED regarding my biological sons was that they be filled with Joy in their lives. In my experience this is extraordinary, unusual, odd.... Parents want loyalty, tradition, association, respect, relationship.... All I ever wanted was for them to have Joy in their lives. And Joy only comes from doing good for our brothers and sisters.

I think they do for their brothers and sisters. I think they have Joy.

:-)

PS: I pray this grows.

"Life" exists only OUTSIDE of our gated communities / lives

You suspect this don't you? I did all of my "gated community" life [no, there was never a physical "gate" in my case - just miles of wealth and safety separating me from where Life / Need / Purpose lay for me.]

You are right! I was right! Life is found only, ONLY in the face of our "family's" need, EMERGENCY.

I pray that you find the courage of your convictions long before I did, unless you already have.

"Addicted to [our] own place and privilege." Bill Moyers

You'll be really glad if you read this:

Moyers challenges UCC: 'Drive out the money changers'

We don't do what our Heart / Conscience / Still Small Voice tells us to; we don't LIVE what it tells us to do we? WHY? Addiction. Clinical Addiction to:

• Stuff,
• Superiority (ability to get what we want from others), and
• Systems / Institutions (church, family, work, country....)

WHAT IS "NORMAL," "BALANCED" IN THE FACE OF GLOBAL ATROCITY?

My life recently provokes me and others to ask, "is what Start is doing "balanced," "normal."

And of course the answer is no, UNLESS WE SHIFT PERSPECTIVE.

From the perspective of western comfort and affluence, western day to day values what Start is doing is crazy.

From the perspective of our Global Family's Emergency (GFE) Start IS BALANCED, NORMAL, NO?!?!?!?!

100 adults witness the roof of the Elementary School across the street cave in trapping the children. One adult races into the dangerous situation to help. WHO IS UNBALANCED? WHO IS NOT "NORMAL?

THE ALMIGHTY LIES IN THE DIRECTION OF "OVERWHELMING"

This mornings epiphany as I awoke from a long night's sleep:

THE ALMIGHTY (Life, Love, Truth) LIES IN THE DIRECTION OF "OVERWHELMING."

Duh!!!!!!!!! How else would it feel in the face of the Almighty besides Overwhelming??!?!?

In so many ways we feel, 'I can't face Darfur, Palestine, Iraq war, corrupt US Gov, Congo... It is too overwhelming!'

This is to say, "I won't face the Almighty. I'll not go where the Almighty calls me."

0% of humanity's Greats didn't swim up stream.

If you are not alone, not swimming up-stream, not swimming against the tide... you are probably not going to help us; you are almost certainly not going to change the direction of things.

Can you think of any exceptions? I cannot.

WE LIVE IN FEAR OF THE WRONG THINGS

Well, this just hit me as I was marching the other day.

I've been pretty influenced by fears most of my life. I now know for certain that I've been lived by the WRONG FEARS:

• Love & acceptance of my spouse
• Being married / in a "relationship"
• Safety
• Security
• Respectability
• Resources
• Mobility
• Health care
• Disappointing our parents, inlaws, families
• Being "normal"
• Acceptance by society

I now have experienced, and now I know that: The only fear we should have is not Living the Will of the Almighty (Truth, Love, Life), the Will of Our Father. Why? Why should you not worry about eating at 100 different McDonald's before you die? Start Loving

The fact of death should not sadden us. The only thing that should sadden us is to know that we are not saints. Teresa of Calcutta

"LOVE AND JOY ARE IN SHARING THE EMERGENCY." Start Loving

Love and Joy are in sharing the emergency. No? Start Loving

Love the stranger. Jesus
Love your enemy. Jesus
Love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus
Love as I have loved. Jesus

I've long suspected the following but this morning as I marched for Darfur in front of the Chinese Embassy it came clear:

• WE BELONG IN EMERGENCY: Who needs our help, the sister that is doing fine, or the sister in emergency?
• OUT OF LOVE WE SHARE THE EMERGENCY OF FAMILY: Who is my neighbor? Jesus answer was the story of the Good Samaritan. Everybody!
• JOY IS THE RESULT OF SHARING THE EMERGENCY. No?
• THE MORE NEEDY BROTHERS & SISTERS WE CONNECT TO (WITH is too conditional) THE MORE EMERGENCY WE SHARE IN AND THE MORE JOY IN OUR LIVES!!!!!!!!!!!! BINGO! This is what Jesus was dying to pull us into!

OUR "IMPACT" EQUALS HOW WE SPEND OUR TIME

If I spend my time selling stuff [adictions] to the materially rich [which is how I spent most of my life], that is what my impact is. Despite how much money I make a give to the "poor" in the process what $ I spend has NOTHING to do with what my impact is.

How can that be?

• The world is dying for Models of sustanable living, militant loving that results in Peace.
• The world is clinically sick.
• The world needs mass Therapy, not more Stuff, Superiority or Systems / Institutions.

"It is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the doing." Teresa of Calcutta

"Aspire not to have more but to be more." Oscar Romero

"The less we have, the more we give. Seems absurd, but it's the logic of love." Teresa of Calcutta

"God does not demand that I be successful. God demands that I be faithful." Teresa of Calcutta

WE EQUAL HOW WE SPEND OUR TIME

"Aspire not to have more but to be more." Oscar Romero

We know that scientists can take our tissue and tell for example whether we are vegitarians or not. We are what we eat. We are, we equal how we spend our time. This is an absolute law. Our nervous system, and our soul is made up of how we spend our time.

"LOVE AND JOY MEAN SHARING THE SAME FATE." Start Loving

"Love... [is] not ... able to avoid making sacrifices." Teresa of Calcutta

"Those committed to the poor must share the same fate as the poor." Oscar Romero

Transforming "they should" into "I'M GOING TO TRY..."

All I can tell you that I have the most wonderful "Path" finder. When I find myself thinking "they [or s/he] should" I realize that what the Almighty is telling me is that "I'm going to try to do it [fix it, create it...]," OR "I'm going to forget it for now [because it is not important enough.]"

There is no third option given the world's emergency. The Almighty (Love, Life, Truth) are not going to ask me what anyone else did. The Almighty only asks what I did.

Same for you.