The single greatest responsibility of the parent is to live a life of radical Universal Love - radical service to the LEAST of these. Failure in this is to entirely fail the child.

The single greatest responsibility of the parent is to live a life of radical Universal Love - radical service to the LEAST of these.  Failure in this is to entirely fail the child - mutilating / amputating / crippling herhis Humanity, probably beyond recovery.

The single greatest responsibility of the NEIGHBOR is to live a life of radical Universal Love - radical service to the LEAST of these.  Failure in this is to entirely fail the neighbor, and the world- mutilating / amputating / crippling herhis Humanity.

Happy Mothers Day

You can't drop your selfishness. But you CAN take on the needs of the-least-of-these, and then your selfishness will fall away. Start Loving.

"Is it ever unpatriotic to not be irritating?" Start asks the students as he describes the dire need for Climate Legislation. They smile. They get it.

US man swims to Aung San Suu Kyi

A United States citizen, John William Yeattaw, has been arrested in Myanmar after swimming across a lake to see Aung San Suu Kyi. 5/8

"Did it [tattoos] hurt?" the students always ask. "That hurts [Start points to the Hiroshima, Nagasaki photos.] The thought of that happening to you hurts. The tattoos are nothing."

"Did it [tattoos] hurt?" the students always ask.  "That hurts [Start points to the Hiroshima, Nagasaki photos.]  The thought of that happening to you hurts.  The tattoos are nothing."

The kids get it.


This is the Truth.

StartL here. Please look at this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SObuXFv-qAw

 

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GANDHI:   "BE THE [COURAGEOUS LEADERSHIP] YOU WISH TO SEE."
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Blessed are the poor [IN SOCIAL STATUS/SKILLS/ADVANTAGES]...

Blessed are the poor [IN SOCIAL STATUS/SKILLS/ADVANTAGES]....

My estimate is that Jesus meant the "poor" in SOCIAL STATUS/SKILLS/ADVANTAGES; that in this case material wealth was NOT what was on Jesus mind, although usually these go hand in hand.

What brings this to my mind is the student groups of this morning.  It is rainy, rainy, rainy today.  This subdues the student groups, decreasing the likelihood they will stop by the Vigil to talk, and dampening their Spirits if they do.  The 4 groups or so that stopped by were subdued, distracted; almost not worth my spending time with.

The kids as a whole today were pretty brain dead.  But as each group left there was one, or three, or four kids that made it a point to straggle behind.  They were among the shy of the group, pretty clearly not part of the in-crowd; sometimes with piercings; not that well dressed, not pretty or handsome, physically.  But they were moved.  They were touched.  Their Humanity was EnCouraged by the Vigil. And they wanted to show Kindness, support and Thanks. It was pretty clear to me that these kids that lingered behind were economically challenged as well.  But they would place a dollar in the collection dish we have (the same amount as the well healed wealthy adults that on occasion donate), or press a dollar into my hand and say, "What you do really makes a difference.  Thanks." or something along those lines.  Each time it surprised me; and touched my heart.  Maybe I'm here just to touch one, just one of them - casting a lifeline to their Starving Humanity; feeding Living Waters to their Parched Souls.  That would be worth my life.

"Blessed are the poor [IN SOCIAL STATUS/SKILLS/ADVANTAGES], for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven."

Townsfolk to The Little Dutch Boy, "What can I do to help?"

Townsfolk to The Little Dutch Boy, "What can I do to help?"

Eureka!!!! "Let your yes be your yes, and your no, your no." I GET IT!

This is one of the last bits of Jesus' scripture that just wasn't clicking for me clearly.  Then...

Last night on my shift at the White House an "action" unfolded in front of me - "Christian Peace Witness," or something.  According to their papers they were there to end the war on Iraq.  200 of them.  Candles.  Singing.

I think I can best capture the sPIRIT of the whole thing with this - after their solemn walking and singing "cHRISTIAN" songs, out of the entire group of 200, maybe 20, only 20 as per pre-agreement moved to the sidewalk in front of the White House knowing that by being stationary they would be arrested (and held for an hour or so, then released without a record.  But hey, it is SOMETHING).  ONLY 20, in the, what, 7th year of a war that they "say" horrifies them?!?!!??!  But this is not the telling part!!!!!  It IS scary to be arrested (even if it is not your first time!)  Well, when it comes time for arrest, the 180 are SAFELY placed behind a police tape about 20 yards away - clear view of those 20 starting to suffer.  What do the do-nothings do?  Well, for a while these onlookers (not really, pretty self-amused and self absorbed) in a real self-absorbed way sing - TO THEMSELVES!   Having a real good time!!!!!  Zero empathy and solidarity, zero encouragement and service of the 20 actually DOING something, RISKING SOMETHING - SUFFERING!!!!!  AND HERE'S THE GOOD PART!!!!  With 3 left to be arrested and put in the van - these 180 ABANDON THE 3 LONELY "CHRISTS" RIGHT THERE ON THE CROSS!!!!  WHY?  THEY CAN'T WAIT TO MOVE TO ANOTHER PART OF THE PARK TO CONTINUE THEIR CIRCLE JERK, I MEAN, TO SING SOME MORE "cHRISTIAN" SONGS TO THEMSELVES.

Well, at least they didn't chant, "CRUCIFY THEM!"

If I'm being other than entirely fair, accurate and Truthful may God strike me dead.

These poor, blind, hideous creatures!!!!  "Let your yes be YOUR YES," let your LOVE be YOUR LOVE, NOT some crippled, perverted, tortured RITUAL ENACTMENT OF "LOVE!!!!!!!"  STOP THE DOING OF "CHURCH" IN STEAD OF THE DOING OF "LOVE!!!!!!"  OH MY GOD.

[Yes, I am upset.  I am horrified, disgusted and revolted.  This is so typical.]

"You must BE the [courageous action] you wish to see... to restore the weakest to control of their life." Gandhi mashup. Key to it ALL.

"You must BE  the [courageous action] you wish to see...
to restore the weakest to control of their life."
Gandhi mashup.

Perfect key to it ALL.

As the Arm and Fingers Draw Back the Bow, So the Activist Draws Out Conscience. And it Hurts.

Committed Bodies Comprise the Stairway to Human Progress

Life depends entirely upon Conscience / Humanity / Heart: Most powerful vision, motivation, and intelligence.

"Are you a Christian?" the lady asked. "Why would you say such a nasty thing to me?" Start smiled.

My forehead and crucifix prompt this question regularly.  Today the question came from a middle aged African American woman traveling with her friend. 

"Are you a Christian?" the lady asked. "Why would you say such a nasty thing to me?" Start smiled.  My answer is pretty much always this, unless I have some reason to think that the questioner couldn't handle the truth. 

Today, she was not put off, but inquisitive, as I had hoped.  I explained, "I love Jesus way to much to be a Christian.  Christians TALK about Jesus but they sure don't FOLLOW him...I totally want to walk along side him, with all of my being."  And I offered a few more very respectfully delivered words along these lines.

She began to cry.  She was so relieved to hear the Truth - that Jesus was not talking in riddles, and he was not trying to trick us.  Of course like so many "Christians," she and they suspect the truth, and THIRST to HEAR and SEE the truth.  I finished with - He died to Save us by Telling us and Showing us how to live.  "Do unto the LEAST of these ALL that you would have them do unto you."  Repeat.  Repeat.  Repeat....

She demanded a big, warm, long hug, and then off they went.

Living Waters.

We are born NOT to work for money. We are born to work for Life. Working for Life IS what Life does.

Tragically I lost the citation, but recently on NPR probably I heard that many decades ago the "American Dream" was to have meaningful work.  Today, the "American Dream" is to have - STUFF.  One IS in fact the right DREAM, the other is Humanity's worst nightmare.

The Water of Life - I get it. I see it.

The Water of Life - I get it.  I see it.

I see it often when I speak to folks in front of the White House, when the conversation comes around to what I believe about Jesus, prompted by the Crosses on my forehead.

• When they hear that Jesus is my #1 hero, that I Love him, Adore him..
• When they hear that it is Jesus the Man that I care about, that I am entirely disinterested in whether he is some diety or not.
• That it is his teachings and example on how we are to Live - One Father, we are ALL One Family - GET ON WITH IT, NO DOUBLE STANDARDS.
• That whether or not there is Heaven in some life after this, there IS Heaven in THIS LIFE, cuz I LIVE THERE NOW.
• That the entire Path of Life / Love / Peace / Joy is "Do unto the least of these ALL that you would have then do unto you."  Repeat.  Repeat.  Repeat....
• That picking up my Cross HAS cost me EVERYTHING that our sick society values, and has given me  EVERYTHING that Jesus promised in abundance - JOY, LIFE, LOVE, PEACE... AND PERSECUTIONS! 
  
• That what distinguishes Jesus, King, Gandhi... is that OBVIOUSLY they lived this, that we are ALL one family....

Well, they just seem to be like one that was parched, aching for Water, and so desperately grateful to be receiving it.

I guess that is what has propelled me to this life Path - the conviction that there IS Living Water - not because Jesus Said so, but because I at times thought I tasted it when I was a kid, and I never lost the desperate Thirst for it.

Now I'm oh so greedy for this Living Water - but the supply is Infinite, and I know where to find it now, and I make it my business to ALWAYS stay at the Source.

The Water of Life - I get it.  I see it.  I SHARE IT NOW.  It is Heavenly.

You will work for Money or for Life. This choice will define you, your life, and your impact on others. Every minute. Cancer, or Health.

You will work for Money or for People.  This choice will define you, your life, and your impact on others.  Every minute.  Cancer, or Health.

THE SECRET OF JOY / LOVE / LIFE / PEACE: "Do unto [the LEAST of these] ALL that you would have them do unto you." Repeat. Repeat. Repeat....

THE SECRET OF JOY / LOVE / LIFE / PEACE: 
"Do unto [the LEAST of these] ALL that you would have them do unto you." 
Repeat.  Repeat.  Repeat, Repeat, Repeat, Repeat....

LOVE: Embracing resopnsibility for other(s); LUST: Coveting, "loving" stuff.

[This Easter season I've read through the Gospels. Has me pretty stirred up! I so desperately want to understand what Jesus so desperately yearned for us TO understand.]

Life-giving / Peace Making....

Universal Love - Gandhi, King, Jesus embraced responsibility for the wellbeing of all of humanity.

---

Death-dealing / Peace Destroying....

Conditional Love - Start embraced responsibility for the three in his"family," and NOT the other 6 billion in his Family. Cancer.

Universal Lust - the parasite, the freeloader, the megalomaniac - Bill Clinton, W, Cheney.

Conditional Lust - the lecher, the addict, those that "love" money the way Jesus Loved PEOPLE.

Exactly Cancer's Deadliness is its IRRESPONSIBILITY - the Ultimate Threat to Life

Exactly Cancer's Deadliness is its IRRESPONSIBILITY - the ultimate threat to Life / Peace / Joy / Love.

HYPOCRITE (the word): Death-dealing as "attack;" Life-giving as "diagnosis."

The greatest, most tragic mis-translation in the Gospel - suggesting that Jesus used the word Hypocrite as an "attack?"  I think so.  This mis-translation has cost me many decades of wasted Life.

HYPOCRITE (the word):  Death-dealing as "attack;" Life-giving as "diagnosis." 

The Ultimate Threat - Hypocrisy's (Chronic, Ongoing Dissonance between Word and Behavior) dual, ultimate malignancy / violence / destructiveness of Victim(s) AND Perpetrator.

[I received this portion of my Easter gift this morning. Please let me share.]

What most in all the world horrified Jesus, Gandhi's #1 Hero, was Hypocrisy. Here is why:

• The most toxic, damaging, destructive force on the mind is the "double bind," that is, being subject to an environment where WORDS express one thing and ACTIONS another. Among the only concepts upon which psychologists agree is this concept of double bind, and its preeminent destructive consequence. This, by other words, is the word and its impact - Hypocrisy.
• Sustained and or extreme exposure to Hypocrisy DESTROYS, DESTROYS, DESTROYSthe all important cognitive function of Conscience / Soul / Moral Navigation / Heart / Sociality / Community / PeaceMaking / Love. "My daughter, the reason I am raping you is because I Love you." Hypocrisy thereby amputates Humanity - the ULTIMATE VIOLENCE.
  
• Hypocrisy quite literally burns out these circuits of Life, Love, Compassion, Joy, Humanity, Peace, Conscience, Truth.
  
• The dual, ultimate malignancy of Hypocrisy (Chronic, Sustained Dissonance between Word and Behavior) lies in the fact that Hypocrisy destroys the Conscience / Soul / Moral Navigation / Heart of BOTH the Perpetrator AND the Victim (s) (those in the environment upon which the Hypocrisy is imposed).
• AND THEREBY HYPOCRISY DESTROYS ALL KNOWLEDGE OF MORALITY / MENTAL HEALTH / SOCIETAL HEALTH... BY DESTROYING FOREVER THE PROPER DEFINITIONS OF ALL RELATED CONCEPTS (Orwell's dreaded DoubleSpeak)! "My daughter, the reason I am raping you is because I Love you." The meaning of the word "Love" is forever destroyed, is forever PERVERTED in both the Perpetrator and Victim(s).
  

W, Cheney, the Repugs, the risk-nothing Dems... are among our most recent, global current examples of Hypocrisy.

But far more destructive is Bill Clinton.

1. Why more destructive than even W, Cheney the Repugs...? Because of his extraordinary social skills, "Teflon," "Stealth," that multiply his ability to DEEPLY penetrate and destroy the very capacity for Humanity many, many, many fold beyond what the social cripples W, Cheney or Repugs, or risk-nothing Dems ever could do.
   
2. 'Ohhhhh, I care for people so much,' as he, Clinton, sanctioned the Genocide in East Timor, and sat and did nothing to stop the genocide in Rwanda lying that he knew nothing; deceitfully perpetrated the bombing of East Europe for oil while claiming it was for social reasons, starved 500,000 Iraqi CHILDREN for their oil; destroyed the of Hope and Life Support among Poor / Middle Class Americans and Billions in the Third world with his expansion of NAFTA (Mexico) and Free Trade more broadly; destruction of Social Support for moms on Welfare who themselves are society's victims; destruction of the US economy by de-regulating Wall Street.... There is a specail place in Hell for this man.
   

Extremely destructive also is the vast majority of what calls itself the Peace Movement / Peace Activists that is so impassioned in its/their words about the suffering of and threats to Humanity, Justice, Peace but is/are so SELF SERVING IN (in)ACTION - selfish, self protective, self serving, self centered, self indulgent, self promoting, COWARDLY.... "No one chose war. They chose selfishness and the result was war." David Dellinger.

The Ultimate Perpetrator - The CHURCH. This brings us to the ultimate toxin, the ultimate Perpetrator of Hypocrisy - the Church of Love - whose "Priests" bless aircraft carriers, sanction war, protect pedophiles, HATE queers, HATE "Free Choice" and those that support it, Torture the Poor with Over Population, love the poor while bleeding them to death of their resources for their own big houses, fine robes, elegant buildings, support of the rich....
Remember the story about Gandhi? A mother came to Gandhi with her child, having walked for many, many, many miles. ' Gandhi, will you please tell my child to stop eating sugar?' 'Hmmmm, please bring your child back to me next month.' Frustrated, the mother agreed to do so. She returned with her child that next month, and to her distress received the same answer, and then again the 3rd time the same thing happened a month later still. On the fourth visit Gandhi said to the child, 'You must stop eating sugar.' Well the mother was both delighted and enraged! 'Gandhi, why didn't you say this the first time? This would have saved me all the enormous time we spent traveling?!?!?!' 'I couldn't say this to your child until now, because I was still eating sugar myself.'

The Ultimate Threat - Hypocrisy's (Chronic, Ongoing Dissonance between Word and Behavior) dual, ultimate malignancy / violence / destruction of Victim(s) AND Perpetrator.

Good News!!!!!! Diagnosis is 99% of the way toward cure!

Happy Easter!

Jesus' greatest horror for us - lack of integrity (Hypocrisy), that is, WORDS say one thing, BEHAVIOR another (a chronic dissonance between the two).

This (above) is my big Easter present so far. It arrived as I was immersed in the Gospel of Luke on my morning shift at the White House.

A search at the site Start Loving would show that I've been wrestling over the last year or so to better understand what Hypocrisy, that which most in the world horrified my hero Jesus, means. Recent strides for me have been understanding that Hypocrisy has to do with lying to yourself - first. But that does not capture it fully. And, it is much more insidious than that. And, the pejorative connotation of the word "Hypocrisy" does not ring fully true regarding what Jesus was getting at. Cancer may be evil, but to get mad it, or to cast aspersions at it, to have a pejorative connotation associated with it is a dangerously needless distraction.

Well the leap for me, my Easter gift, was to understand that lack of integrity / inconsistency / impurity / chronic dissonance between word and deed, sentiment and action is more central to what Jesus was horrified by than anything else I have yet understood in association with the concept Hypocrisy. And centrally it is that dreadful, murderous, malignant capacity we have to feel / think / intend / say one thing, but do another. THIS was Jesus greatest horror for us.

I'm sure this breakthru for me was encouraged by some recent quotes I've encountered, and maybe shared with you already:

• "Sentiment without [commensurate] action is the ruin of the soul." Edward Abbey
  
• "We are doing what's right before God. That's what we are called to do, and what happens happens." Louis Vitale
• "You are what you DO, not what you say, think, feel, envision or intend." Start Loving
  

Good news!!!! "Jesus' greatest horror for us - lack of integrity (Hypocrisy), that is, WORDS say one thing, BEHAVIOR another (a chronic dissonance between the two)." The most virulent, malignant, deadly Error (sin).

Happy Easter!

If your life does not require great Courage, at this time, in this world, you are not aLive.

At Easter I often receive a number of gifts.  This year I received the sentence above.  Far and away the greatest psychologist is Alfred Adler. He identified courage as the hallmark of human mental / spiritual health and defined courage as - doing what needs to be done regardless of the likelihood of success.    Hmmmm.  This IS the way of life.  No?  Don't skin cells do this?  Your heart?  Your immune system?  Your eyes...?  Cats?  Dogs?  Birds?  Bees? Amoeba?...  This IS what Life does.

"If your life does not require great Courage, you are not aLive."  Tragically, we humans have the capacity to fall away from Life, to run in fear and cowardice from "what needs to be done," and to merely EXIST, and thereby to become a cancerous malignancy on the body of Humanity.  And the only cost to us personally, and to those we influence is our / their Joy, Life, Peace, and Universal Love.  But hey, the pleasure and safety we receive as compensation more than makes up for this, right?

Happy Easter!

Life is ALWAYS the PURSUING of the Perfection of Humanity; NEVER the ATTAINING of Perfection or Living thereof (which would be Death).

Gandhi's Beloved Brother

Both died to show us how to Live.  Period.  Period.  Period.  Period.  (did I mention - Period?)

Will we finally, these last 3 months of chance we've been given, will we finally follow their lead?  Or are we so willing to have our loved ones suffer and die needlessly?

>>>>>>>>>  The Way of Suffering  <<<<<<<<

Our Beloved Brother

Mary's Tears

Blogging will slow. Our Beloved Hero Brother is Cricified today, for us.

I'll be with Him as best I can these next 3 days, reading his words, and pondering  His imponderable Love for us.  Gandhi's #1 Hero; ML King's, Romero's, Teresa's, Start's....  Oh, He Loved us so.  I want that same Love within me for us all.  Always have.  My dad had it, pretty much.

The purpose of the Ideal is to enable us to Strive TOWARDS it; NOT to Caputre it.

Jesus, King, Gandhi, Romero, Teresa, Eleanor... accepted Start in their Foxhole tonight

My prayer life has been practically nil for months now.  Why?  The final battle for Humanity is so pitched, on so many fronts - Climate Disaster, Democracy, 28 Yr Vigil (dual shifts like Thomas endured all those years), Washington Peace House Integrity, War-De-funding, Connie, Nuclear Arms Reduction, Gaza/Palestine... there has not been time to Pray; just to be a Prayer.  Secondarily, Prayer is NEVER the end, but the means, the means to become the "change we need to be" (Gandhi), to become the "pencil in the hand of God," (Teresa) and my sense is that I've been good enough on these fronts these last months that it was wrong for me to indulge in further Prayer at the expense of using every moment to Wage all out Love at thise most crucial of all years in the History of the world. 

But tonight I couldn't sleep, my body is not yet adjusted to my morning and evening shifts at the 28 Year Vigil, so I had some time for one of my few Prayer techniques - to put myself, to Imagine myself, in the company of Jesus, King, Gandhi, Romero, Teresa, Eleanor, Dellinger, Joan... and to examine their reaction to my being there, for whatever guidance, positive or negative, that this will yield me regarding "how am I doing?"

Well, tonight as I came to them there was no applause, no high-fives, no warm cheers, no warm "Family" embrace... and I want this from them, very much.   But I'm not worthy of this.  Yet.

But they were in the midst of this desperate, to the death, final battle for Humanity.  And they were entirely accepting of me joining them in the fight.   I take this as acceptance enough, for now; affirmation enough, for now.

Remember the final battle of the Lord of the Rings trilogy?  All our (s)heroes are encircled by a totally overwhelming hoard of Evil, remember?  That is the circumstance in which tonight I found Jesus, King, Gandhi, Romero, Teresa, Eleanor....  And their reaction told me that they felt that I belonged along side them in this fight.  I was sufficiently worthy for that. 

This is good.