On Barnabas

I've been reading out of The Epistle of Barnabas lately. It provides a stark image for those seeking to promote social justice in manners so dramatic, I was surprised. It calls for people to act towards one another in the most dramatic and revealing ways. It demands we tear up unjust contracts and untie the knots of forced agreements, set free the oppressed. In other words, who in our society is oppressed? The poor, the disenfranchised. If the church were to take this seriously, it's call into action would be dramatic. Tearing up contracts. Mortgage corruption is one area I can see impacted. I read that bank robbers during the depression would destroy mortgage agreements which would prevent banks from repossessing poor people's homes. This excerpt would seem to make this a just action, just as MLK's spiritual voice challenging an unjust nation would markedly represent the forces of our community. I see great similarity between Matin Luther King Jr.'s prophetic fire (along with his spiritual success for today, Cornel Wes, Christopher Hedges, Lawrence Lessig, the late Aaron Swartz, Glen Greenwald, Noam Chomsky, and others fighting injustice in our communities) and this Epistle's emphatic message of opposing resolutely those unjust bonds that bind us in this life. We are compelled to not merely pray passively for their revocation, but to actively seek their remission or outright annihilation. They bind us and prohibit us from fully experiencing and participating in our Lord's plan for humanity, therefore, we must act fearlessly in opposition to these dark forces and challenge ourselves to act outwardly in full opposition of any and all unjust laws within our community, no matter the personal costs.

It compels each of us to become militant, nonviolent protestors and resisters of the unjust, and to clearly articulate it to one another and the world.

It also compels us not merely to passively feed and cloth the poor, but to directly take action in a way I think most of us would find unacceptable or extremely uncomfortable in the 21st century. We are compelled to "bring the homeless into your house, and if you see someone of lowly status, do not dispose him, nor shall the members of your house or family do so." Imagine the implications: when you pass a homeless person on the side of the road, you are compelled to accept them into your home. That's scary. That's extremely radical, but it also demonstrates the faith of a true believer, something I fear I am in short supply most of the time. People in my church are always talking about protecting oneself, but this would make it seem that it is G-d whom protects and that we must act fearlessly in opposition to the injustice of the world no matter the personal threat to life or limb. Whether it risks ourselves or our families, we are compelled to act for G-d promises to protect us and act tirelessly in this way as G-d does for us.

It would seem that Nietzsche was correct in his observations of the German people, "G-d is dead." At least, in our hearts and minds, for we do not believe. We do not act as though G-d were alive and dwelling among us. We act as though we were atheists. We lack conviction.

I remember watching a television story about a woman who was held up in her home and who had such faith in G-d that she cared for, blessed,and eventually eased the suffering of the man who had broken into her home, for he was greatly suffering, as do many, and took drastic actions. She had no fears, for she believed. Can we say as much of ourselves as this woman or the ancients?

Taken from chapter 3.

3 But to us he says: " 'Behold, this is the fast I have chosen,' says the Lord: 'Break every unjust bond, untie the knots of forced agreements, set free those who are oppressed, and tear up every unjust contract. Share your bread with the hungry, and if you see someone naked, clothe him; bring the homeless into your house, and if you see someone of lowly status, do not despise him, nor shall the members of your house or family do so.

4 " 'Then your light will break forth early in the morning, and your healing will rise quickly, and righteousness we will go before you, and the glory of God will surround you.

5 " 'Then you will cry out, and God will hear you; while you are still speaking he will say, "Here I am"--if you rid yourself of oppression and scornful gestures and words of complaint, and give your bread to the hungry from the heart, and have mercy on a downtrodden soul.' "[Is a 58:6-10]

6 So for this reason, brothers, he who is very patient, when he foresaw how the people whom he had prepared in his Beloved would believe in all purity, revealed everything to use in advance, in order that we might not shipwreck ourselves by becoming , as it were, "proselytes" to their law.
.       .         .
I am compelled by memory the fleeing of neighbors seeking aid from Mexico and the common homeless poor of Portland who are treated as less than human. Those who are still standing look to their suffering brethren as though they were less than human, less than living, breathing creatures of G-d's great mystery, less than even the rocks they with great care, placed so neatly in their vaults within complexes within deep holes in the ground. We are compelled to resist these injustices in whole and part.

The church has failed greatly to speak with prophetic fire on the matters of the suffering and our need to act justly. The level of fire contained in this short excerpt is far more compelling than anything I've seen written within my local community in some time? It is radical. It commands and compels us to resist injustice and inequity, but to also take an active hand in its revocation. The author continues in chapter 4:

We must, therefore, investigate the present circumstances very carefully and seek out the things that are able to save us. Let us, therefore, avoid absolutely all the works of lawlessness lest the works of lawlessness overpower us,  and let us hate the deception of the present age, so that we may be loved in the age to come.

2 Let us give no rest to our soul that results in being able to associate with sinners and evil persons, lest we become like them.

It is at this point that I feel that I must stop and emphasize that we are not to despise those who commit evil acts, but to not allow our souls to rest, lest we become like or are capable in some way of knowing the minds of sinners. We are to be so good by our actions as previously stated that we are ignorant of their minds or dispositions in anything from a foeign construct.

3 The last stumbling block is at hand, concerning which the Scriptures speak, as Enoch says. For the Master has cut short times and the days for this reason, that his Beloved might make haste and come into his inheritance.

4 And so also speaks the Prophet: "Ten kingdoms will reign over the earth, and after them a little king will arise, who will subdue three of the kings with a single blow." [Daniel 7:24]

5 Similarly Daniel says, concerning the same one: "And I saw the fourth beast, wicked and powerful and more dangerous than all the beasts of the earth, and how to ten horns sprang up from it, and from these a little offshoot of a horn, and how it subdued three of the large horns with a single blow." [Daniel 7:7-8]

6 You ought, therefore, to understand. Moreover, I also ask you this, as one of you and who in a special way loves all of you more than my own souls: be on your guard now, and do not be like certain people; that is, do not continue to pile up your sins while claiming that your covenant is irrevocably yours, because in fact those people lost it completely in the following way, when Moses had just received it.

7 For the Scripture says: "And Moses was on the mountain fasting for forty days and forty nights, and he received the Covenant from the Lord, stone tablets inscribed by the fingers of the hands of the Lord."

8 But by turning to idols they lost it. For thus says the Lord: "Moses, go down quickly, because your peoplhim whom you let out of Egypt, have broken the Law." [Exod 34:28; 31:18] And Moses understood and hurled the two tablets from his hands, and the content was broken in pieces, in order to the covenant of the love of the beloved Jesus might be sealed in our heart, in hope inspired by faith in him.

.     .     .

I fail in my own way at this. We are all self-righteous. Yet, in America our self obsessed self-righteousness is contemptible. As suffering builds up by the day, as the homeless continue to file around doorways and dry places, as the bellies of our people go unfilled and the minds of our youth go empty and without challenge, interest, or guidance and understanding, many to be flung into corporate prisions for profit whereby they will be worked for a gentlemen's pocket money, we stand on the parapits of our self-obsessed glory, heaped up by luck and war, and profess to the world about our merits. As our children lay suffering in the streets before us in masses of blood, spilled in wars both at home and abroad, with what arrogance we speak. The gangs of our cibattlbattle for purpose, meaning, and a fighting chbatt. How similar they are to the young men and women who sign those seven deadly pages to fight wars abroad for the "protection of American freedom", freedom that amounts in the minds of the many who have fought to "the protection of the wealthy's right to plunder the Earth unresisted for their personal benefit.  Interests opposed to the sacred order of people chosen in their stories to exemplify the highest charactet imaginable. In the process, our young sacrifice blood, sweat, and tears as their fallen brethren succumb to their wounds, not for lack of fearlessness or weakness, but by the ultimate betrayal of those sworn to uphold justice and Nature's Law in our world.

We are called by G-d to oppose these ultimately destructive forces in our waking lives. We are called out to deeply examine our world and to see it for the glory that G-d envisioned, not merely for our personal delusions. There is so much more to it than we could ever possibly imagine, so much more than the metaphors of science or religion can contain. Let us not succumb to the weaknesses of our age and instead transcend the material suffering of this life for the life that is to come by fulfilling a glimpse of that ultimate splendor here today? For, "All men are, by nature, equal and free: no one has a right to any authority over another without his consent: all lawful government is founded on the consent of those who are subject to it: such consent was given with a view to ensure and to increase the happiness of the governed, above what they could enjoy in an independent and unconnected state of nature. The consequence is, that the happiness of the society is the first law of every government." (“Considerations,” August 17, 1774, James Wilson.)

Academic ratings bullock

Utter bullocks! Study after study demonstrates these "ratings" are skewed and in many cases outright flawed or corrupted in favor or high budget institutions. Little ratings actually go into things of merit such as pedagogy, capacity of instruction, competency of student body, etc.

If we ranked Universities by actual meaningful substance I wonder where our university students would actually rank. Some of these "prestigious" institutions might end up mid rank.

I'm especially skeptical given the recent trends in STEM subjects. If they gave meaningful inquiries, then I'd be unsurprised if colleges like St. Johns College in Annapolis or Santa Fe, or Reed College here in Portland Oregon, or the Finish universities came out far higher in rankings. These are ivy or leet educated people who are ranking based upon broken standards. Is it any wonder our school students continue to call behind internationally on standards?

Since the early 1990s academic rigor has flatlined. There are means to both teach well and teach with substance. The American formal schooling system has failed in these measures for the past two decades. I would be unsurprised if in a number of years American students began leaving America for other countries. The only advantage these institutions have is capital investitures. With time, this will change. When it does, these institutions will become second rate.

I don't say this to be cruel, but to kick people in the butt. Even if I had the opportunity, I'd much rather study at a school that emphasizes learning and rigor over the size of the instructor's paycheck or research budget.

It's really quite a joke.

: http://onforb.es/1anG1zJ

When cartoonists do politics

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0R_Lv_5tqI&feature=youtube_gdata_player

I give it an epic win! Most epic indeed.

On a purely technical animation level, this is a very very well done advertisement! It tells you precisely what you need to know, and precisely how you can go about assisting. The rhetoric is brilliant, and the story gives you something meaningful to start about and do. If this project were presented to me as a professor of rhetoric, it would guess a standing ovation. I suggest all of you watch it, for it is both occasional and entertaining. In addition, they are quite accurate in the estimation that the founders would have "raised hell!", although I'm sure these rich billionaires would not like to see what are founders would have done. Let's just say that they would be dead, very dead! Muahahahahaha!

I figured I'd post this here, since our little writing group is constantly discussing how to present information in new and more interesting way.

MARKET OF CHOICE ASSAULT AND DISCRIMINATION Please Watch this and Share this

Human Paradox

Reading this reminds me of the fundamental flaw in Imperialist reasoning.

If the only reason you do something is for your own immediate self-interest, you defeat the whole purpose behind that--caring for yourself--the survival and perpetuation of your species. As has been reported elsewhere (see S.I. Hayakawa's introduction to his book "Thought Into Action"), "humanity's greatest adaptation is cooperation."

Amongst all the species existing on Earth, humans maintain the potential to work together--cooperate--in ways unheard of in any other species. As biology has taught us, intraspecies fighting is a self-defeating action that tends to eventually lead to extinction.

Humans have developed means to work together in such a way that we can most often resolve them peacefully and amicably.

How else could humans work so effectively together in many instances?

However, without an external threat i.e. without interspecies competition (and let's face it, unless an alien invasion occurs or we start defining "Nature" as a species, there is practically zero competition worth our time besides bacteria, viruses, and other such parasitic organisms), humans dedicate practically all of our resources fighting with ourselves.

The irony here is too palpable not to laugh--the one meaningful competitor we have--microbes and maybe a few other colony based organisms and those "plants" and "insects" who wreak havoc with our symbiotic relationship with much of the plant, animal, and fungal world--dedicate little overall attention. What really gets our attention is "power" and "How can I get that other guy's resources?"

Does it take six years of depression, abandoning all of your wealth and power, and living under a tree for weeks on end, or living in a desert without food or drink for two months (provided that happens) to make this concept clear?!

I'd like to think not.

But, given the mentalities herein discussed, it comes at no surprise why America and the global human population is slowly collapsing.

BTW, if Asia follows suit, they won't last much longer--things will go up and then crash. Happened in Greece, Rome, Europe, Asia, America, and throughout all of human history.

When people work cooperatively, they survive and often thrive--when they act otherwise--in the long-run, everyone suffers.

The worst part of studying economics is watching its best observations malapplied. It shouldn't take observing the power gained by collusion between firms in oligopolies for people to see the power held in working together--game theory teaches, when all parties work together e.g. the cereal manufacturers General Mills, Kellogg, and Post, they each over the long run reap the greatest net reward.

The problem comes down to self-interest over global-interest. In the long-run, we can see these are the same, but in the short-term, they are different. If I underprice everyone, then I make a ton of resources now. I will get to live in luxury (even if it is at other's expense).

The Vulcans actually make a great example of holding back things for their own ends I.e. so they can maintain their interests over that of others--imperialism. (See the series "Enterprise" for further details.)

In the end, I see now how I got duped by these types back in the early 2000's. I actually believed that sharing the ideas of democracy "great cooperative ideas" and republic are the ideal foreign policy--provided the people want it. Helping a people stop a group of exploitationists who gained power through coercion is productive--provided those people really want it--e.g. helping to overthrow Nazi Germany or Imperialist Japan. Same would have been the case with Great Britain.

But, the problem inevitably comes down to people helping out of self-interest i.e. stopping the loss of human-life to protect the species or to stop it so I can take over or put the person in power who serves my interests irrespective of those interests.

Iran and Vietnam are wonderful examples of this--instead of supporting the people fighting for just rule by their people and then us acting like civilized types, even if we risked oil spikes or threats of Soviet Conquest, we looked only at the short-run prospects and got screwed over the long-run--they did too. Actually, we all did.

Iran has a religious dictatorship--in a very great deal the responsibility of the US--the Iranian people still hold final responsibility, but given the religious establishment was the only thing left after the democracy got crushed--killing that movement with it--can we really blame them? Viet Nam is really no different.

It's amusing to see the logic in Patten so many years after his death.

The man, flaws aside, was a soldier and not a bullshit artist. He knew 100% why we fought the Germans--for our own interests. He wanted to train the German, reorganize them and plow into Russia and end Stalin too. While making sure both didn't groups didn't take over their people.

It was for ultimately self-interest.

Eisenhower supported denatzification, but Patton cared more about the next threat he saw coming. It's the soldier vs politician mindset.

I use the phrase "bullshit", because even if Eisenhower was doing things for ideologically valuable reasons, the end results were the same--many countries continued to exert power over their neighbors (including the US) while individuals were slowly taking over--i.e. those who were in positions to benefit e.g. "the elite".

It's not to say killing one group to protect another is the best plan--frankly, Gandhi and MLK had it right (swiping from Jesus and Buddha), militant-nonviolence is the best course, because it motivates the one group who can maintain momemtum--the polis I.e. "those who are to benefit most from self-governance by the People--the People, all of them as an equal whole."

Problem comes in when you apply technology. It allows for a small amount of power to become a whole bunch-how humanity beat the other species-we used gray and white matter, and some bronze to overcome our obstacles. Technology can make one group tremendously more powerful than another, and when that group is using said power to hurt the other, then you have a whole convoluted mess.

Back to the Vulcan argument--what tweaked Archer so much wasn't that the Vulcans kept back tech to prevent others from using it to do harm or misuse it--logic: better to let them die, than allow them to misuse technology so even more suffer. It was they used that as a cover so to speak. In the end, they had their own agenda.

It all comes down to playing god--you either help or don't. If you do, then you play god, and if you knowingly and consciously let them die, you play god. The end is the same result--you are still playing god.

What seems to make sense, at least to me, is how all of our heroes in fiction--at least, Star Trek, is how they all use the power they have been given to help save others, for it is better to save a "monster" in innocence, than to kill it, because one injustice does not justify another--except in that episode--the Hitler timeline change morality question.

Really, it's a lot more complex, and we all wish it wasn't, but in the end, if you get to the point of running back and forth bashing your head against the wall with this horrendous mind mess of a quandary, at least you are thinking about the consequences of your actions and trying to do what is ultimately best I.e. cheat! ;) Winning the unwinnable game called life! (Well, it seems that way sometimes, at least.)

Imperialism is the manifestation of an extreme limited mindset focused only in the short-run that threatens the prosperity of all of humanity in the long-run. Having questions about military action for the purposes of aiding free another group of people is one thing, but just make sure you aren't really playing into some dicks hands! Yes, ladies--the human trait of working solely for personal gratification at the expense of others!

In the end, it's a message about motives and metaphors. Just know who's doing the talking and make sure it isn't really self-interested. In the end, life is a gift, and when we respect that gift, we are more apt to keep it. But, we also get to choose what our life IAS worth. If mine comes at the expense of others, then it doesn't seem to be worth much-even if that sounds ironic! Hahaha! Only those willing to give it up for good are worth living! Talk about the human paradox called life!

The Daily Beast: Stop Saying ‘Neocon’ http://goo.gl/mag/r6w9tmR

Suffering

Losing family is hard enough, like a grandparent, sibling, or parent, but to watch them slowly die before your eyes with nothing you can do to help kills you inside. Worse still is for them to remain alive physically as a statue of themselves--as though dead, but somehow still moving and talking. Dementia or other catastrophic neurological trauma or physical disability that leave the person a shadow of themselves haunt their victims' families and loved ones.

I know now the pain of seeing family pass away, but still remain to haunt us as phantoms of themselves--you spend your every waking desire to catch that last glimmer of the phantasm, but it escapes your reach.

I clutch, verily, to what remains of my sanity tonight.

Today is my father's birthday. He turned 63.

I was to go and visit him again in Salem today, but I cannot bear to bring myself to go. I don't have the strength anymore to do it alone.

I'm tired of all the suffering. How people older than me can keep their sanity is a miracle. I cannot fathom their devices or means. I am overwhelmed by grief--grief I cannot express, but which hides behind false smiles and hints that all will be well so long as I bear onwards. I must endure! I must survive! Why? I know not...

Maybe, this is all we "survivers" have to keep our course steady?

While this may sound absurd for someone my age, twenty-six, but I feel in these moments as if I need the caretaker--not just my parents.

My mind trickles away from me--slowly fading into sunset as the daylight of my life escapes my fingers, merging into shadow.

"Where am I headed now?", a voice calls, "Where am I to go, and what am I to do? What purposes am I to set my course? What am I to navigate by? Where is my light? Where is my tinder box?"

[Nothing.] An emptiness.

I turn, "Oh, fate! Oh, cursed plight of heaven! You cast me aside so easily, and yet, you demand everything! You leave me here, alone, abandoned, forsaken on this cursed Earth to tend my days! For what?! For what am I to do? God, you have foresook me! Am I alone? Am I no longer worthy of your graces?! Am I a husk of flesh, meat, and bone--broken sinew to be cast aside when no longer a need you can find through me? Am I contemptible to thee? In your eyes am I broken an not worthy of repair?"

I stumble. Crashing down hillsides I cry, "My God, why hath you forsaken me?! Why have the promises been undone in me? Why am I to suffer so without reproach, without relief, without reward, without peace until my final breath does leave me?"

"If I die before I wake, I pray my Lord my Soul will take. But, if E takes to cast aside, better to fade away and cry for better days spilt here, for trials evermore will curse me till I'm gone."

"As my ship sets sail, today, I cast aside my mooring. I am to die, begone, away! Lest ye fade away with me!"

Castles, sunsets, and memories of childhood

Twenty years ago, I found myself in a new world--an ancient world of wonder, filled with gargoyles, great monoliths of stone and masonry--where castles were not just found in story books, but instead were as common as a grocery store. Our town had its own ruins--barren and gray, decaying from years of neglect and misuse. The towers crumbled, and if you climbed the precarious spiral stairs, you would find yourself upon the tower--the ancient ruins of Guilford Castle.

Rich tapestries of childhood blanketed my waking dreams. Pictures of battles, wizards, and worlds afar. As one looked out towards a setting sun, you could witness the mothers filing out of centuries worn shops like little merchant fairies attending a yule ball. The smell of baked goods wafting effortlessly through a chilly Surrean gust.

Near my small and racing form stood the still, pensive figure. It was tall, yet not too much so. Short, bobby-like brown hair fell down upon a graceful smile, articulated by that fierce, yet loving, gaze. The figure was my mother, holding aloft her graceful form, casting a warm glow on the misty sunset from days long past by conscious memory and into history and legend.

Were Lady Hildebrand or Lady Guinevere to have stood aloft, I imagine they would be impressed with my own queen's vigilant prowess.

Like a cloudy visage peering through Louis Carol's looking glass did the eyes gaze upwards and over the timbers of brick forests, chimnies awaiting the good luck's a sweep, and his lady friend too.

In a pause the kindly figure turns, "It's time to go, Christopher."

"But, mom..." the little boy chides, "can't we stay for just a few more minutes? I'm having ever so much fun."

Smiling with the grace and poise of Gretta Garbo or a Hepburn, she turns, "Five more minutes. We have to get home or your father will begin to worry."

"Awe... Alright. Thanks mom! I love y'a."

Kissing the figure on the cheek, the young boy in his red jacket and blue wool uniform he hated, but beared as a talisman against angry headmasters who disapproved of hyperactive little American boys who lacked British modesty and discipline.

As the minutes enrolled onward, the boy, sensing the appointed hour, wandered slowly from his cryptic perch and slowly descended the spiral encasement towards the figure in white. Mine own Galadriel.

Slowly, I crept into the misty depths of my tower, freshly abandoned yet again for another season as the young returned to school after the holidays.

My own journey, however, was not to school, at least not where itchy wool and long socks were the required dress code or bad food the daily menu. Instead, I was to travel many leagues to my first home, Seattle. Back to a world now unfamiliar. Fear crept over my waking thoughts. Will they like me? Will I fit in? What about Jack or Victoria? Will I ever see them again?

My fears were quelled in a wash of warmth as the familiar arms grasped about my chest and held me still. My mind turned to the last sparkling shimmers fading out across the distant horizon as dusk enveloped its patrons.