waagnfnp

One of the post-Firesign Theater “rock and roll comedy” groups was The Conception Corporation. They put out two albums, A Pause in the Disaster, and Conceptionland. Both were good for Progessive Radio play in the 60s, which is to say the early 70s. (As I understand it, there is a third, live album now available as well).

One of the cuts on Conceptionland was “Rock and Roll Classroom,” another “What if Freaks Ran Things?” idea (see also “Returned for Re-Grooving,” by Firesign Theater). In this case, what if high school were really hip, or at least trying to be?
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I read the story some years ago, in The Wall St. Journal, I think, in the first page center column where they put their “strange but true” features. It concerned an occurrence at a semiconductor plant in Indonesia.

The work was semi-skilled labor, of the sort that required close eye/hand coordination, for which the local native women were well suited. Much of it was done under the microscope. The overall situation was stressful: clean room standards, long hours of intense concentration. After some months the women began seeing things under the microscope. They called these things ghosts, and told the supervisors that the place had become haunted with the spirits of the dead.
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I guess I have to again crank up the stupid emotional attachment to the band of young, rich, mercenary, spoiled boys** that comprise the Cleveland Indians  and become overinvested in the outcomes of their games against a similar gang from Boston.  So like, Go Tribe and all of that, I hope your performance -enhancing drugs work better than the other guys - just like Marion Jones’s did.  Sorry, long week, overtired man. If you want to relive some good in-game Yankee-bashing and Indians-anxiety, go read the comments at this post at Lawyers, Guns and Money.

**Please not to interpret as judgement relative to any of the other gangs of boys doing the same in other cities.

Demagogue: one who will preach doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots. - Mencken 

This post is going to be short and to the point. I’m pissed off and depressed about enough different things right now - political and not -  that I am not really in the mood to spend too much time delving into the cesspool of Limbaugh, Coulter, Malkin, Gibson et al.  Y’all can play one round of match the wingnut blowhard to their words though:

a. No, we just want Jews to be perfected, as they say. … That’s what Christianity is.

b. The use of Graeme Frost was part of a larger left-wing strategy to hide behind children and use them as cannon fodder in their losing bid to get S-CHIP passed into law.

c. I know the shooter was white. I knew it as soon as he shot himself. Hip-hoppers don’t do that. They shoot and move on to shoot again.

d. You know, this is such a blatant use of a valiant combat veteran, lying to him about what I said, then strapping those lies to his belt, sending him out via the media in a TV ad to walk into as many people as he can walk into.

But we ain’t even stopping there.
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At Eastshore Aikikai, where I practice Aikido, we’re pushing the geriatric envelope pretty hard. I’m in my mid-fifties and I’m in no way the oldest person in the dojo; there are also several students who are only a few years younger than I am. Get off my lawn, you whippersnappers or I’ll throw you off.

My mother is in her 80s, though, and she still belongs to a bowling league. Granted, bowling is a lot lower impact than Aikido. It’s also the only one of two sports I know of where people regularly die during participation, the other being golf. Of course the reason for that is that both are sports that have participants of any age, including the very old.

Or the very young. Tiger Woods famously appeared on The Mike Douglas Show at the age of 2.
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In the past I have critiqued what I call institutional or “doctrinal” Christianity, that which seeks to control the movement of spirit and the forms of worship associated with the examples, teachings, deeds, and spiritual presence of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. I have shown how this oppresses the very people it is meant to redeem, and I have shown how it violates other religions and belief systems which may not assume any God whatsoever. I have shown how world-driven efforts to control the power of spiritual example leads inevitably to self-idolatry, the opposite of spiritual goodness and truth. Now it is incumbent upon me to appeal to inspiration to offer an affirmative alternative to the bigotry, abuse, violence, self-righteousness, hypocrisy, and spiritual sickness that comes from self-idolizing attempts to enslave and control the image of the spirit.

I am not seeking to establish merely an individual belief system, but rather offer a possible communal spiritual practice. Therefore, I must clarify the difference between a worship community and “doctrinal” religious institutions. Worship communities (Christian and others), in the way I describe them, strive to democratically, spontaneously, creatively, and persistently express and support the movements of the spirit through worldly, social actions. Doctrinal religious institutions, on the other hand, appear to be dedicated to despotically stamping their particular notions of the spirit on the world.

As evidence, institutional Christianity, with its “church” and its doctrine, has developed politically-driven systems that assert themselves as “God’s plan.” Rather than the will of God, however, they are (in my belief) the historical articulation of laudable human desires to be near God, bent into twisted and idolatrous efforts to “be” God - replacing spiritual inspiration and uncertainty with worldly proclamations, conditions, and fundamentalisms. In many ways, looking at its philosophical and practical operation, this kind of Christian religiosity often proves itself profoundly anti-spiritual.

In matters of conscience (“Should we align ourselves with the persecuted Jews or tacitly support the Nazis?”), institutional Christian churches, for instance, have almost always chosen the worldly over the spiritual, siding with political power and expedience, as such churches did in Germany during WWII. There is an unfortunate but clear indicator of their character. The ostensible function of earthly religious authority is to serve the spirit in all matters and instances, and yet, when given the choice, that authority seems to always find some rationale to defer its immediate and urgent moral responsibility in order to “live to fight another day” by accommodating oppressive forces. It is no surprise, with these habits and taste for power, that churches themselves often become those oppressive forces.

I don’t have a sweeping solution to this conflict, except to say that a more universal, more humane, and more spiritually powerful form of Christianity (and other religions and schools of spiritual thought) must speak up. I do feel that the historical time may be right for such speech to be heard and translated into a powerful worldly force and creed. What might that look like? Well I’ve gathered some ideas and listed them intentionally as “commitments” not “commandments.” Both “commitments” and “commandments” are imperatives. They both rest on “shall”. However, commitments say, both “I shall” and “we shall” (think of marriage vows) while commandments say “you shall”.

In commandments the authority comes from an external demander. In commitments the authority comes from an internal voice. I think it is time we take spiritual responsibility and give to that “still small voice” inside us and that larger present connection between us their proper authority. It is time to decide that “I shall” and “we shall” choose for ourselves democratically what we might honor from the smallest and frailest to the biggest and most (seemingly) invulnerable.

I will attempt to state these commitments in a fashion that might be universally accessible, at times drawing out examples in the Christian tradition which is my home. This is meant to be embracing, an offering to my brothers and sisters of the world and a call to the larger religious institutions to open their arms and their hearts, reform their abuses, ask forgiveness, and rejoice.

Ten Spiritual Commitments

I and We shall be guided by the presence of spirit in all things. In so doing I and we shall channel and express the ineffable as familiar, as humble, as stillness, as interdependent being.

I and We shall love all unconditionally. In word, thought, and deed, I and we shall uphold equality and justice by loving neighbor, stranger, and enemy alike. I and we shall do so without judgment, but with discernment, that we may evoke life purpose, responsibility for suffering, and opportunity for joy.

I and We shall recognize the inherent goodness of God’s creation in essence and form. Diversity is therefore both the beautiful and necessary elaboration of spirit. Pluralism, embrace of diversity, is the law and the glad response to reality.

I and We shall not set the world against itself, nor heaven against earth. I and we shall renounce depravity (and its handmaidens authoritarianism and control) as the basis of human existence. I and we shall commit to healing all animosities between creatures of the world and between heaven and earth. Intolerance, vindictive or punitive conduct, and condemnation are blasphemies and forms of spiritual self-hatred, as we are connected to each other.

I and We shall not attempt to solely possess or claim God’s name, for I and we share that name with others. I and we serve God, not the other way around. God’s wisdom is available and accessible to all, and cannot be captured or held hostage to any ideology or doctrine.

I and We shall continually witness and confess our partiality, impermanence, limitation, and imperfection. Therefore no interpretation of sacred experience can be absolute. All human experience has context, historical and otherwise. Though we may strive to know the eternal, we ourselves are not eternal. I and we must accept with equanimity and gladness our mortality, our change, our growth, our learning, our transformation.

I and We shall not force our own image of God on others. Coercion is a serious and grievous spiritual sin. There is no faith without free choice, nor can authentic faith come from fear. Coercion prevents faith by replacing it with ideological “belief”. Persuaded belief serves not God but false prophets and human detractors.

I and We shall not seek salvation, nor any reward for belief, but rather turn ourselves toward grace and spiritual openness within which awareness, contemplation, and experience of God are properly rooted. Failing to recognize the presence of a loving God as its own good is to turn God into an instrument instead of an end, is to use God for our own desires.

I and We shall not worship our own individual or collective image of God or, in the Christian tradition, Jesus Christ. Understanding “What would Jesus do?” (or other respected divine teachers) is gained from studying in context and emulating in spirit and practice the movements of God and the presence, examples, teachings, and actions of that divine teacher. For instance, one cannot be a warmongering, money-loving bigot and claim to be a legitimate follower of Christ who was and is the Prince of Peace, the rebuker of the wealthy, and the champion of the marginalized and downtrodden.

I and We shall not pronounce another’s damnation before God. To do so is an acute insult to God and a blasphemous presumption of spiritual authority.

Nothing fancy today. I just hope everyone has their flag lapel pin  in place and some time set aside for some good old escapism from the fucked up state of the world all-American baseball watching. (By the way, are they even on TV? I cannot find them  … oops, found them, TNT …  nevermind.)  Trust me,  I’m not trying to harsh anyone’s buzz (speaking of which did any video of spyder in action during this incident ever emerge?) , I’m just a bit weary of living in a country ruled by insane psycopathic liars this week -  usually I’m just fine with it.

So far I’ve not really been pulled into the playoff action - Cleveland gratifyingly taking care of business in Game 1 and a nice pitcher’s duel so far in Game 2 even though they are down 1-0.  But who knows what evil this way comes? To prepare I found a nice article via Lawyers, Guns and Money which chronicles the many “levels of losing” from Level XVI “The Princeton Principle” to Level II “The Goose/Maverick Tailspin“.  (He is from Boston and reserves Level I for “The Game” - I personally think the Cubs effort a few years back rises to that level as well.)

  … damn, Indians strand leadoff triple   …. must stay positive and detached, must stay positive and detached.

[Update: Found some other strange game on another channel - people skating around on ice running into each other. For real! Doubt that it will last though.]

The war in Iaq drags on, though opposed by the majority of Americans. Bush is asking for another $200 billion for it and the smaller operation in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, Cheney and his allies in- and outside the administration are desperately trying to engineer another war, this time against Iran.

This fall, a number of actions are planned, or have already been implemented. There was a fairly large march and rally, and direct action in Washington, DC on September 15th. Lawmakers offices are being picketed to pressure them into voting “no” on the upcoming supplemental. And on October 27, United for Peace and Justice and other organizations are calling for eleven regional demonstrations against this war, and those being planned. Among the locations are Boston, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle and Chicago.

The organizers managed to involve an impressive spectrum of groups. I don’t need to rehash here the deep divisions inside the peace and justice movement; but the way it looks, maybe reality has shaken us up a little. The Chicago organizers and endorsers range from progressive segments of the Chicago Democratic Party organization to the radical left, from the Progressive Democrats of America to ANSWER. Labor, church-based groups, anti-racist and immigrant activists and community organizers from all over the Midwest are part of this. The official program concentrates on the war and those who run it, so everyone opposed to the war can attend; but participating groups may of course emphasize broader struggles.

In Chicago, Senators Durbin and Obama have been invited to speak. I don’t know if they will, but I hope so. Not because I can’t wait to hear what they have to tell us; but because it gives us an opportunity to show them where the vast majority of their constituents stand. If they truly oppose war, it may serve to strengthen their resolve; if not, it may show them that they will be held to account.

Let’s turn out, ourselves and our friends, wherever we live and make those Washington elites listen!

Past responses to my earlier blog essays on faith (http://www.waagnfnp.com/category/religion/progressive-faith-movement/) have made a secular case against institutional religion. Salman Rushdie in a recent Bill Moyers interview made an artistic and literary case against religious fundamentalism. My Jewish yoga teacher, Sandra, brings up the religious pluralist argument (in response to institutional Christianity in particular, which has seen fit to aggressively assert itself as the religion). Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens have made the atheist argument with their respective books, The God Delusion and God Is Not Great (which are apparently the number one and two Amazon UK’s bestselling titles under “Religion and Spirituality” according to Harper’s Magazine, October 2007). Perhaps it is time to make a spiritual case against institutional Christianity from a non-institutional Christian mystic perspective.

First I must do so observing that Christianity as a form of faith is thoroughly conflicted, within its own widespread spiritual and religious body. The development of a fractured Christianity has emerged from powerful and fateful choices among various traditions within Christianity. One of the most powerful divergences was (and is) the cleaving between a “mystic” Christianity and a (let’s call it) “doctrinal” institutional Christianity.

Mystic Christianity emphasizes emulation of an historical Jesus, following of a sublime, eternal Christ, metaphorical understanding of Gospels, and the cultivated experience of spiritual truth embracing the totality of existence.
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Last Thursday I happened to hear Randi Rhodes on a serious “Draft Al Gore” bender. Now, I like Randi Rhodes a lot. I agree with her probably 90% of the time, and think overall she does a heck of a service providing a passionate, informative alternative to the screaming loony Right.

I also like Al Gore, and think he’s providing a heck of a service as well. But as a possible Presidential contender, I can’t say that he is so head and shoulders above the current slate of Democratic candidates (or, conversely that the current slate is so bad) that we need to turn all our attention to getting Gore into the race at this late stage.

For the record, Al Gore has not ruled out running for office again (specifically, for the Presidency). In interviews, he makes it a point to never say “never”. This, I feel, serves no one… except possibly Al Gore?

The Presidency is not something to be approached passively - waiting in the wings for the cries of the populace to be so overwhelming that in a heroic act of self-sacrifice you finally acquiesce. No. As much as many of us would like it to be otherwise, you really have to want it, and want it openly. (Note: as in every other goal-oriented matter, if you’re a woman, this makes you a “bitch”). You have to want it openly because you’re going to have to fight to win. How can you effectively fight for something you either don’t want, or are pretending not to want? Remember, Gore was viciously attacked by a corporate media cowed to its knees trying to prove it didn’t have a “liberal bias”. The next Democratic candidate can expect similar treatment, if not more so:

The pundits, however, invariably come around to the same question: “But if he ran, would he revert to the ‘old Gore’?” Another question—in light of countless recent stories about John Edwards’s haircut—might be: Would the media revert to the old media?
-Evgenia Peretz in Vanity Fair**

Without a doubt, Al Gore, and more importantly, the American people, were robbed in 2000. Be that as it may, Gore had his opportunity. Let’s give someone else a chance to prove that they, too, can run a campaign founded on the principle of being a spineless tool of corporate “advisors”.

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**Good but long article. Worth reading even if you think you know it all already. Skip the intro and go right to the parts with sub-headings if you are short on time.