Two of my spiritual mentors, Frederick Franck and Bob Alexander focused upon the "human" as a factor in spiritual development and work. Frederick edited a book on the subject, Bob talked about it and was recently quoted in an article written about The Temple of Man after his death. Why is it that this critical factor is most often forgotten in religious/spiritual writings and life?
One of the outstanding vegetable growers and human beings in our region was recently quoted as saying (and this is my paraphrasing): Be good to people, almost everyone is in some kind of trouble now-a-days .... As a "feeder" (there will be a blog on this subject soon) she knows humanness from a deep and pervasive place. Part of her life has been dedicated to what is known as a "transition alternative", to enable folks to get ready for a time when our food will not be trucked thousands of miles in 18 wheelers, our energy provided by distant, unreliable grids, our children bused to distant schools. STOP Petrochemical Dependency!
In an article about Alexander in the "east of borneo," March 14, 2012, Kate Wolf describes his work and life and quotes from a "Bulletin to Temple of Man Ministry 1: "In all this, persons come first. None of the above is to be construed as a rule or regulation. Humanness always comes first!" see:
http//www.eastofborneo.org/articles/humanness-always-comes-f... The title of Frederick Franck's book is: "What Does It Mean to Be Human," he was editor on this one. And "To Be Human Against All Odds: On the Reptile Still Active in Our Brain (Nanzan Studies in Religion and Culture).
See the description of Frederick Franck's life and work in the World Wisdom website. Also, there is a Bullfrog video aptly titled "The Art of Being Human; A Portrait of Frederick Franck," written and directed by Emily Squires, ISBN: 1-59459-669-1
Enjoy your humanness, more and more referred to by those who are trying to save us on our dear Planet, especially from corporate power and bureaucracy, but especially from the many forces of impersonalization ... eg. self deceit, personal groveling, digitalization via electronic devices.
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Pilgrimage
Few of us get a chance to go on a pilgrimage; my Sister, Kathy, and her Husband, Mark, made it possible to go to Pacem in Terris and went with me. Not only that, but my Niece, Sophie went too, and we went one step further and visited an outstanding farm only 10 miles away from Warwick in Pine Island. That too was a pilgrimage of sorts.
Pacem in Terris is a spiritual center which does not wave its' flag as such. The principles of it, Frederick and Claske Franck fashioned this place out of an old ruined mill, and today it serves as a place not only to hear deeply inspiring music, but as a sculpture garden for Frederick's sculptures along the Wawayanda River, and for meditations and personal visits. As we listened to the concert, marveled at the building and then walked the garden it was if I could hear Frederick's distant voice suggesting that there were still sacred places on this bewildered planet. His book, "Fingers Pointing Toward the Sacred; a Twentieth Century Pilgrimage on the Eastern and Western Way" came to mind, the wisdom of its pilgrimages became something to review.
To sit with Claske after the concert and marvel at the place and the music was a deep pleasure, and we agreed that the dearly departed Frederick was there with us, as he was during the tumultuous rendition of Vidaldi's summer season concerto ... as a storm rocked the building, thunder and lightning gave other dimensions to the virtuoso performance.
The inspiring 100 acre W. Rogowski Farm was a marvel in itself, and we were lucky enough to have a brief tour with the principle of it, Cheryl Rogowski (a MacArthur Genius Award winner). Her/their "Grassroots Alternative to Organic" is an operation of many facets, a farm which is designed in its third generation family farm version is something to last, to survive and thrive in good times and adversity. Check it out at www.RogowskiFarm.com.
Soon the picture of Claske and I will be joined by some pictures taken in both places. In the meantime, I invite you to look up Pacem in Terris at www.frederick frank.org. They are on Facebook too. The address is 96 Covered Bridge Road, Warwick, N.Y. 10990. By the way, don't miss a chance to go on a pilgrimage or two yourself ... nothing quite like it ....
Pacem in Terris is a spiritual center which does not wave its' flag as such. The principles of it, Frederick and Claske Franck fashioned this place out of an old ruined mill, and today it serves as a place not only to hear deeply inspiring music, but as a sculpture garden for Frederick's sculptures along the Wawayanda River, and for meditations and personal visits. As we listened to the concert, marveled at the building and then walked the garden it was if I could hear Frederick's distant voice suggesting that there were still sacred places on this bewildered planet. His book, "Fingers Pointing Toward the Sacred; a Twentieth Century Pilgrimage on the Eastern and Western Way" came to mind, the wisdom of its pilgrimages became something to review.
To sit with Claske after the concert and marvel at the place and the music was a deep pleasure, and we agreed that the dearly departed Frederick was there with us, as he was during the tumultuous rendition of Vidaldi's summer season concerto ... as a storm rocked the building, thunder and lightning gave other dimensions to the virtuoso performance.
The inspiring 100 acre W. Rogowski Farm was a marvel in itself, and we were lucky enough to have a brief tour with the principle of it, Cheryl Rogowski (a MacArthur Genius Award winner). Her/their "Grassroots Alternative to Organic" is an operation of many facets, a farm which is designed in its third generation family farm version is something to last, to survive and thrive in good times and adversity. Check it out at www.RogowskiFarm.com.
Soon the picture of Claske and I will be joined by some pictures taken in both places. In the meantime, I invite you to look up Pacem in Terris at www.frederick frank.org. They are on Facebook too. The address is 96 Covered Bridge Road, Warwick, N.Y. 10990. By the way, don't miss a chance to go on a pilgrimage or two yourself ... nothing quite like it ....
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Poverty in America
I highly recommend a book by Tavis Smiley and Cornell West, "The Rich and the Rest of Us; a Poverty Manifesto" published by Hay House, Inc./Smiley Books, c2012. The book is the result of a national tour by Smiley and West, plus appearances on PBS and other venues. This is no academic exercise, but the down-to-earth continuation of the work of Martin Luther King. Here I would like to quote the description on the back page of the book:
"There are nearly 150 million poor and near poor people in America who are not responsible for the damage done by the Great Recession. Yet they pay the price. The poor did not create the deindustrialization of America, unmatched corporate profiteering and greed, more than a decade of foreign wars, and unregulated tax benefits to the wealthy When the largest economic institutions in the world were brought to their collective knees, they went crawling to the government's doorstep in search of salvation. The government obliged, allowing Wall Street to socialize its failure on the backs of Main Street Americans. The housing and jobs crisis they created fostered a poverty unseen in generations -- not just in inner-city ghettos and barrios, but also in suburbs and rural areas crossing racial, age and gender lines. Nearly one-third of the American middle class -- mostly families with children -- have fallen into poverty."
Where is the political discourse on this? How does it play out in our collective social consciences? We have got to "git real" about this one, folks.
"There are nearly 150 million poor and near poor people in America who are not responsible for the damage done by the Great Recession. Yet they pay the price. The poor did not create the deindustrialization of America, unmatched corporate profiteering and greed, more than a decade of foreign wars, and unregulated tax benefits to the wealthy When the largest economic institutions in the world were brought to their collective knees, they went crawling to the government's doorstep in search of salvation. The government obliged, allowing Wall Street to socialize its failure on the backs of Main Street Americans. The housing and jobs crisis they created fostered a poverty unseen in generations -- not just in inner-city ghettos and barrios, but also in suburbs and rural areas crossing racial, age and gender lines. Nearly one-third of the American middle class -- mostly families with children -- have fallen into poverty."
Where is the political discourse on this? How does it play out in our collective social consciences? We have got to "git real" about this one, folks.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Ball Caps
A recent trip to New York brought up an old focus on ball caps. It seems that they may have been designed originally for baseball players, I'm not sure about that. I suspect that checking in with the Port Authority company (100% cotton, "Made in Hong Kong") might shed some light; they seem to make this type of cap for many markets ... the last two I've been given were made by them, and thus they well may have some "authority" about the wearing of them (?).
On the airplane and in the airport, the wearers of ball caps never took them off, they seemed to be part of their heads (and I've noticed this at other times and places as well); the caps seemingly become unnoticed by the wearer, a built-in part of the person. And then I remembered my Grandmother Roberts letting a visitor know (in no uncertain terms) that it was important to take hats off inside the house. Her sense of "civility" went back to the early part of the past century, when caps were thought about as an item of clothing which had to do with others and how they were seen by others.
Is this not the case now, what had arbiters of manners said about this in the past (Emily Post and Amy Vanderbuilt for example), and what about now? I was surprised to hear one of the talk show hosts on NPR/WRP say that his subject for tomorrow is going to be civility ... how quaint! I think I may listen if I get a chance, perhaps even get in a call to the expert on the show about hats, specifically ball caps. My feeling is that Grandmother would have felt that the constant wearing of the ball cap as some kind of impertinence, and I'm not sure I don't share that feeling.
On the airplane and in the airport, the wearers of ball caps never took them off, they seemed to be part of their heads (and I've noticed this at other times and places as well); the caps seemingly become unnoticed by the wearer, a built-in part of the person. And then I remembered my Grandmother Roberts letting a visitor know (in no uncertain terms) that it was important to take hats off inside the house. Her sense of "civility" went back to the early part of the past century, when caps were thought about as an item of clothing which had to do with others and how they were seen by others.
Is this not the case now, what had arbiters of manners said about this in the past (Emily Post and Amy Vanderbuilt for example), and what about now? I was surprised to hear one of the talk show hosts on NPR/WRP say that his subject for tomorrow is going to be civility ... how quaint! I think I may listen if I get a chance, perhaps even get in a call to the expert on the show about hats, specifically ball caps. My feeling is that Grandmother would have felt that the constant wearing of the ball cap as some kind of impertinence, and I'm not sure I don't share that feeling.
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Summer Writing Time
This bog is dedicated to the creative writing classes in the Menomonie Middle School, or better said the former students of those classes, now in vacation for the Summer. It was my pleasure to be with you in class this Spring and invite you to read and critique my Blog. A couple of changes have occurred, more will follow as I can get them done. My hope is that some of you will have enough interest to follow what I am doing if you can.
In the meantime, I encourage you to keep writing, keep your minds as active as possible during a season that is often thought to be "out to lunch." Why?; because as your teacher, Jay Collins puts it, there is power in writing... and in the thinking and in the words themselves. It was the writer Dorothy Parker who said something to the effect to be bored is to have a serious curiosity problem. One way to avoid that is to engage your mind, curiosity and artistry in writing.
As I shared with you in your class, I seriously envy your chance to have creative writing as a class in middle school. It took me so many, many years to learn how to write, and it would have been better for all concerned (for example, my teachers, professors) if I had learned earlier. When I went into the Raw Deal a few weeks ago and found Jay talking with a group of students in there I was very pleased to know that these were high school students who continue to get together with him about their writing. Voila, continuity, and I suggest that to you this Summer, without Jay Collins. Enjoy yourselves, you will be better prepared for classes and thinking to come if you continue to write.
In the meantime, I encourage you to keep writing, keep your minds as active as possible during a season that is often thought to be "out to lunch." Why?; because as your teacher, Jay Collins puts it, there is power in writing... and in the thinking and in the words themselves. It was the writer Dorothy Parker who said something to the effect to be bored is to have a serious curiosity problem. One way to avoid that is to engage your mind, curiosity and artistry in writing.
As I shared with you in your class, I seriously envy your chance to have creative writing as a class in middle school. It took me so many, many years to learn how to write, and it would have been better for all concerned (for example, my teachers, professors) if I had learned earlier. When I went into the Raw Deal a few weeks ago and found Jay talking with a group of students in there I was very pleased to know that these were high school students who continue to get together with him about their writing. Voila, continuity, and I suggest that to you this Summer, without Jay Collins. Enjoy yourselves, you will be better prepared for classes and thinking to come if you continue to write.
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Muckrakers
When you study American history and literature the muckrakers show up first at the turn of the last century, for example: Upton Sinclair ("The Jungle" 1906) and Ida Turbell ("The History of the Standard Oil Company" 1904). Typically muckraking happens during times of great turmoil and change, and we have re-entered a time of heavy duty muckraking in our present historical period.
Jim Hightower and his "Hightower's Lowdown" is perhaps the best known of the left leaning commentators, because of his media savvy, radio shows and such. Amy Goodman ("Democracy Now") is on the border line of muckraking with her sharp focus on things in the news which are usually either forgotten or minimized by the main stream press and media. For the "right side" of the ledger, the numbers of people operating on television (CNN, cable) and "talk radio" are virtually too numerous to mention. Newt Gingrich is a well known political figure (presidential candidate up to a point) who indulges in muckraking without even giving what he says the degree of caution usually thought of by public figures.
Whistleblowers might considered handmaidens to muckrakers, but are more serious critics inasmuch as what they divulge has more serious societal implication and they can go to jail, be tried, lose their livelihoods, marriages and worse. The most famous of these at present would be Bradley Manning and Julian Assange of the wikileaks movement. It is said the present administration in Washington has pursued more whistleblowers than any proceeding administration, perhaps because of political sensitivities, terrorism and other such concerns.
It seems we need both of these categories of activities more than ever before. In a society (or better said societies) in which there is heavy "information overload"/"media inundation," severe personal preoccupation and little or no critical sorting out of facts and data, we will need all the Jim Hightowers and Amy Goodmans we can get. Living in Wisconsin at this time of political upheaval and manipulation it is heartening to know that the media and information outlets in this state are doing their best to sort out all the politicizing of information going on; and that we may be able to look forward to the closest thing to a "fair election" in the month ahead.
Jim Hightower and his "Hightower's Lowdown" is perhaps the best known of the left leaning commentators, because of his media savvy, radio shows and such. Amy Goodman ("Democracy Now") is on the border line of muckraking with her sharp focus on things in the news which are usually either forgotten or minimized by the main stream press and media. For the "right side" of the ledger, the numbers of people operating on television (CNN, cable) and "talk radio" are virtually too numerous to mention. Newt Gingrich is a well known political figure (presidential candidate up to a point) who indulges in muckraking without even giving what he says the degree of caution usually thought of by public figures.
Whistleblowers might considered handmaidens to muckrakers, but are more serious critics inasmuch as what they divulge has more serious societal implication and they can go to jail, be tried, lose their livelihoods, marriages and worse. The most famous of these at present would be Bradley Manning and Julian Assange of the wikileaks movement. It is said the present administration in Washington has pursued more whistleblowers than any proceeding administration, perhaps because of political sensitivities, terrorism and other such concerns.
It seems we need both of these categories of activities more than ever before. In a society (or better said societies) in which there is heavy "information overload"/"media inundation," severe personal preoccupation and little or no critical sorting out of facts and data, we will need all the Jim Hightowers and Amy Goodmans we can get. Living in Wisconsin at this time of political upheaval and manipulation it is heartening to know that the media and information outlets in this state are doing their best to sort out all the politicizing of information going on; and that we may be able to look forward to the closest thing to a "fair election" in the month ahead.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Common Sense
It is generally agreed that so-called common sense is a rare commodity today. When faced with some seemingly obvious choices the results are often mind boggling, how can that "lateral arabesque" be taken for a way to proceed? Obfuscation is such a common way to go that it is assumed as logical (?), how can problems be solved with this modus operandi?
When the need for high technology savvy is mixed with the need for common sense things become even more difficult. I'm not saying that there isn't a marriage of the two, but my sense is that just as common sense is not taught, that an added problem is that it certainly is not taught combined with high technology problem solving.
This is even the case living in the country where farm machinery has become "high tech" and demands off-the-farm solutions and interventions. One supposes the marriages of technologies are a fact of life, but their solutions are not. It used to be that even the less than inclined could work on a car or pickup; today it is next to impossible. It seems that "higher education" (eg. vocational colleges) are in for some challenges. We can't be dragging our equipment off fifty or sixty miles, or pay for house calls, and we are not all going to be state of the art mechanics. Where are the compromises going to be?
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