Visioning a Just Society

At a resent Quaker meeting I attended, someone mentioned that a set of principles for a just society, called “Foundations of a True Social Order” was adopted by the Quakers in Britain in 1918.  The speaker hoped that Quakers would come up with a new set of principles next year when the political parties are issuing their platforms.  Today I meditated on this and came up with a set of problems that any principles of a just society must address.  These include:

1. Lack of integrity in those responsible for governing
2. Differences in race, religion, social stats, sexual preferences and all other areas that divide mankind – and the exploitation of these differences for selfish ends
3. Climate change and its far-reaching effects
4. Diminishing supplies of fossil fuel
5. Our response to those who would use violence to gain political, social or economic ends
6. An economic system which concentrates wealth and power in the hands of a few people
7. How to produce that change of consciousness that will make a just society a reality

Right now I am working with other Quakers to come up with programs in which people of all faiths and no faith can come together to envision a just society and work on the principles that such a society would have.  Watch this blog for further information.

Dispair and Hope

I’ve recently received two emails. One brought me despair, the other hope. The first was a review of “American Sniper,” a move that made a record-breaking $105.3 million over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday long weekend. The reviewer, Chris Hedges, describes it as a movie that “lionizes the most despicable aspects of U.S. society—the gun culture, the blind adoration of the military, the belief that we have an innate right as a “Christian” nation to exterminate the “lesser breeds” of the earth, a grotesque hypermasculinity that banishes compassion and pity, a denial of inconvenient facts and historical truth, and a belittling of critical thinking and artistic expression.”

The second email was from the team organizing the 2015 Parliament of the World’s Religions. Like Hedges, they also noted that “hate, anger and fear is rising in our country,” but their response is that “people of love must rise with stronger relationships.” The organizers are calling for “a joint declaration on this critical issue before we all make commitments to what we will be doing to counter it.”

My own feeling is that the Dalai Lama (scheduled to speak at the Parliament) alone cannot convince the world to give up hatred. Pope Francis alone cannot do it. No single religious leader can. But perhaps the collective voice of all the religious leaders of the world can.

That’s why I’m one of the 3500 already registered for the Parliament. That’s why I encourage you to check out the Parliament and then go within and look at how God may be leading you. If it’s to Salt Lake City for the Parliament in October, I look forward to seeing you there.

A Global Heart Circle?

Radical Faeries have something called a “heart circle.” They use it as a way of connecting and as a way of focusing on problems. They sit in a circle and a talisman is passed around. Only the person with the talisman speaks. In many faerie groups, the talisman is passed until it goes once around wiht no one speaking.

Quakers have a similar way of focusing on problems. They call this way a “meeting for discernment.” The organizers format one or more questions for consideration. Participants sit in silence. One by one, they speak their thoughts about the questions asked. This differs from Quaker worship in that it is not necessary to be convinced that your words come from “that of God within you.”

I have had an idea that current social media may, at times, be a global heart circle – a global meeting for discernment. Am I being too idealistic? Maybe, but I think of this as a way of looking at all the comments of all the women and men who are deeply concerned about the issues of our times. I thought of setting up a group on Facebook for a world wide heart circle on climate change, but there are already so many pages on Facebook and on many other sites that accept comments.

Tomorrow, I’ll be leading a meeting of Quakers from my area. We will focus on three questions:

1. What am I called to do in order to protect and restore the earth?
2. What is our Meeting called to do?
3. How can our Meeting reach out to other faith communities to protect and restore the earth?

I’m making it possible for those attending to videotape statements, and will be putting these statements into the global heart circle that is the internet.

November 4 and November 17—Two Days That I Hope Will Change the World—at Least a Little Bit

In less than one week we will have elections. I don’t expect the gubernatorial candidate I vote for on November 4 will win, because I can’t bring myself to vote for either the Republican Party’s candidate or the Democratic Party’s candidate. I will vote for the Green Party candidate, Howie Hawkins, and my hope is that he will get enough votes that it will show the major parties that environment and climate change is the issue of the twenty-first century. If we don’t have a planet to live on, nothing else matters.

But no matter who is in power, if we as individual citizens do not curb our appetites for fossil fuel, even what the most environmentally friendly government can do will not be enough – but if we can find a way to move to renewable energy, nothing that the most environmentally unfriendly government can do will stop us from building an economy that’s not dependent of fossil fuel – an economy that works for everyone.

On November 17, I will be at the 15th Street Quaker Meeting House in Manhattan, for a workshop on how neighborhoods and small communities, through a series of small group meetings, can learn to reduce their use of fossil fuel and become more resilient. I have more faith in what citizens can do than what the government can do, so for me I expect that November 17 will be the more important day in the process of preserving and renewing economic, social and environmental justice on this planet.

The People’s Climate March

I’ve posted several times in this blog about the Transition movement – a grassroots effort to reduce the use of fossil fuel and create thriving local economies. This movement has generally ignored politics and focussed on individual initiative to bring about change. This made sense to me. However, there are times when it may be appropriate to attempt to change the minds of politicians. I’ve reprinted several of my letters to the President and other government officials in this blog.

I’ve not usually favored demonstrations and direct action, but I’m making an exception. New York City – on Sunday, September 21 – may see a demonstration equal in significance to the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom orchestrated by Martin Luther King and Bayard Rustin. During the week of September 21, the world’s heads of state are going to New York City for a historic summit on climate change. The People’s Climate March will be a demand that these leaders take the action necessary to create a world with an economy that works for all people and for the planet. If you will be anywhere near New York City on September 21, I urge you to be a part of this demonstration.

I was recently at the 319th New York Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). There I learned that at least one New York City Meeting, probably more, will be offering space in its meetinghouse for Quakers from outside the city who are coming to march.

Next week I’m heading up to Wheelock Mountain Farm in Greensboro Bend, VT, for the Northeast Regional Climate Justice Gathering – three days of workshops and planning for the March. On September 21, I might be marching inside a twelve-foot tall puppet or maybe playing cymbals in a marching band.

Thoughts on “Uncle Harry”

Poor Uncle Harry, having become a missionary,
Found the natives’ morals rather crude.
He and dear Aunt Mary swiftly imposed an                arbitrary
Ban upon them shopping in the nude.

Now they all considered this silly
And didn’t take it well.
They burnt his boots and several suits
And wrecked the mission hotel.
They also burnt his mackintosh,
Which made a disgusting smell.

These lines are from “Uncle Harry,” by Noel Coward. While the treatment is humorous, the story, about a family that “loved to go off on missions to rather peculiar climes and lead the wretched heathen to the light,” illustrates something serious about conflict. Both sides believed they were right. Uncle Harry and Aunt Mary knew how the natives should live. And the natives resisted their correction.

In the story of Adam and Eve, after eating the forbidden fruit, Adam hides because he is ashamed to be seen by God naked. But God is his father. Who would be ashamed to be see naked by his father? Possibly this story is a myth attempting to show that the evil in this world comes from people being taught or convincing themselves of false standards of morality. The “knowledge of good and evil” that Adam and Eve supposedly gained by eating the forbidden fruit, was in reality a false knowledge. Did the writer of Genesis intend this meaning? I have no way of knowing.

But it is apparent that when the Nazis murdered four million Jews, they thought the were doing something good. Does this excuse their acts? Certainly not. But when Jesus hung on the cross he prayed, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do,” and I, as his follower, must say this same prayer for all those I perceive as doing evil in the world.

Two Questions Every American Should Ask President Obama

The Administration maintains a website where questions may be asked and comments made to the President and his staff:

whitehouse.gov/contact/submit-questions-and-comments

I have used this website to ask two questions:

1. In an address to Congress you stated “We have a supply of natural gas that can last America one hundred years, and my administration will take every possible action to safely develop this energy.”  If this energy can be developed “safely”, as you have stated, why is hydrofracking – the process current used on most natural gas wells – exempt from all clean-air and clean-water regulations?
2. In your oath of office, you promised to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”.  Why then are you supporting the Trans-Pacific Partnership Free Trade Agreement, which would allow foreign corporations to sue governments directly–for unlimited cash compensation in foreign tribunals—over almost any domestic environmental or other law that the corporation believes is hurting its ability to profit; a pact that thus takes away the local and state governments’ Constitutional right and even your own Constitutional right to protect our environment with appropriate legislation and regulations?

I closed my letter to the President by adding, “The technology for safe, renewable energy is available.  Why are we threatening the health of every citizen in the country with hydrofracking?”

Whether you are a Republican or a Democrat, whether you voted for Obama in 2008 and 2012, or even if you didn’t vote at all, you need to know that the health and well-being of every American is at stake.  Even if you don’t live in an area where natural gas is being extracted through hydrofracking, the resultant environmental damage can hurt water supplies in your area, especially if you live in a large city.

It is my hope that every reader of this blog – even those who are not American citizens – will ask these questions of President Obama.

The Coming Election

My friend Murray Edelman has created this video.

I am usually a politically private person. When a pollster calls me to ask what my vote will be, I tell them that one of the principles of democracy is the secret ballot, and I intend to keep my ballot a secret. But Murray presents a convincing argument for telling friends how you will vote, and even more importantly why you vote as you do.

I am convinced that the Koch brothers, the other billionaires, and the giant corporations that are pouring money into this campaign are not motivated by a desire to have good government. They are motivated by one force – greed! Therefore, I look at where their money goes; I vote against the candidates they are supporting; and when I can, I give some money to those candidates.

There is another force at work in this country that is a companion to greed. The greed is that of a few rich and therefore powerful men. The other force is far more widespread. We all succumb to it at times. It is the force of apathy. When the election results are in, we will see that from thirty to forty percent of the eligible voters will not have voted. It is apathy that allows the greedy few to seize our government and destroy our planet.

Murray has showed us an effective way to be involved with the political process, and this posting is a small attempt to respond to his message. When you’ve read this, please take a moment to share Murray’s video (and, if you choose, this posting) with friends. Communication via the internet and social media can help assure that the government of the super-rich, by the super-rich, and for the super-rich does indeed perish from this earth.

Moving Society Toward Life

This is only my sixth post this year. In my first post I stated, “I look to my Higher Self for ways that will move our society toward life.”

I had listed four elements as moving us toward life: “The Transition Movement, the Occupy Movement, the faction of the Tea Party that is devoted to the Constitution, and those who call us to listen to our inner God.” This post covers my involvement with these elements.

As co-chair of the Greenwich Citizen’s Committee, I’ve supported The Transition Movement by showing “In Transition 1.0,” and through a display in downtown Greenwich devoted to the problems which the Transition Movement seeks to address.

The display promoted a poorly attended day of discussion, though those who participated said they found it valuable, and I recorded it all on video which I will post as soon as I edit it – so the day wasn’t a total loss.

The Occupy Movement seems to have quieted down. I hope that these activists are concentrating their efforts on the coming election.

I haven’t attended any Tea Party meetings, to determine how devoted to the Constitution they are.

The area of listening “to our inner God,” has been important to me. In January, I was accepted as a member of the local Quaker Meeting, and in February I attended a conference of LGBT Quakers. This Sunday, I’ll drive to Rhode Island for a conference of Quakers from all over the country. Each person attending is part of a morning workshop. The one that called out to me based on the activist work of Joanna Macy. I’ll post more about my experiences either from Rhode Island or shortly after I return to New York.

Queer Fires for Peace

The Flesh and Spirit Community in San Francisco describes itself as “an intentional community of queer men who bring enlightenment, love, liberation, healing, knowledge, power, and wholeness around issues of queer men’s identity, spirituality, and sexuality.” They are calling for “ALL PEOPLE of PEACE” to “to express your commitment to peace through some action on May 12, 2012.” Those supporting them are asked to “create a ceremonial fire, light a candle, post a Facebook image of a flame saying “queer fires for peace” or draw chalk art on sidewalks (by permission) saying “queer fires for peace” starting now culminating ESPECIALLY on May 12.”

Easton Mountain, where I live, has decided to hold a fire ceremony for peace on that evening as part of our annual Easton Mountain Community Weekend. On that weekend many of those in our extended community will gather in counsel to again dream the dream that has manifested itself as Easton Mountain. Hunter Reynolds, our artist in residence who has led many fire ceremonies, will be creating this one.

Here’s a glimpse of a fire ritual that Hunter created with David Esch last January 1

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Fire rituals have probably been around since man first learned to speak, and they are still deeply moving ways of connecting with our inner transformative power. As a preparation for the May 12 ritual, I sat naked in my cabin yesterday afternoon and drew this image of flame.

I wasn’t thinking of any particular type of flame as a drew this but when I was about three-quarters finished, the drawing seemed to take on a native Mexican quality – reminding me of my trips to Red Rock Canyon, where I wrote and first sang “One World.” If you have any ideas for a fire ritual for May 12, I’d welcome hearing from you.