Lenten reflection #6
The Resurrection of Jesus is a miracle. The virgin birth is a miracle. Water to wine is a miracle. Walking on water is a miracle. The raising of Lazarus from the dead is a miracle. For me, to see these as literal is problematic and even unnecessary. It puts such miracles beyond me. If I see them as metaphorical, then love is the message and the miracle—one I am capable of.
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6. How to buy a vacation home with Mitt Romney.
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10. Strategizing with Ted Cruz.
There are almost 8 billion people on the planet, many of them living longer. All of them have needs that must be met, especially because of longevity. We are saddled with problems of climate change, violence, inequality, war, hunger and more. We spend a great deal of our resources trying to solve the problems we ourselves create.
We spend much less time and effort trying to build and educate human beings that won’t create those problems. In truth, none of these large problems will be solved unless all of us are willing to be generous, intentional, educated and persistent.
And loving. Love is generous. Love is active. Love doesn’t give up. Love has courage when it’s needed. Love is always aware of the needs of the other.
Why are we afraid to be honest and direct about sex? Evolution has embedded it in us, and it’s not going to go away. For good or bad, sex will sometimes be about need or pleasure or comfort or power. For good or bad, entertainment and pornography have their own particular things to say about sex. Sex between non-heterosexual couples sometimes disturbs us, even if it’s anchored in love. But shouldn’t we support love anywhere we can find it?
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We hope that our lives will be easy and pain free. Instinctively, we know that no life is easy and pain free. We want leaders who will persuade us that we can have whatever we want, simply because we are who we are.
In truth, we need leaders who will tell us the truth, tell us that problems are complicated and take work to solve, and that the work is ours to share. After all, the work is how we grow and learn as humans.
Yesterday I attended a panel discussion on transgender in which panelists spoke about their journeys, their life difficulties, their experiences coming out and their rejections. Their experiences paralleled mine in dealing with bipolar illness. This made me realize that all of us are “other” in the eyes of some. All of us are broken. If we truly understand that, then all of us should have empathy for the struggles of all of us.
Starting a band. Here are some suggestions.
The Peter Pansies
White Cotton Undies
Strategic Playbooks
Chastity Belts
Flamingo Pinks
The Positive Agendas
Last Mammal on Earth
Drug Induced Commas
Polyester Platitudes
Genital Warts
Why Not?
Twice spliced
DNA at Pla
Chiseled Deltoids
Pelted with Diamonds
Sexy Prosthetics
The Erotic Missionaries
Plates of Pasta
Online Malarky
The Well-lubed Pistons
The Single Testicles
Punk Tarts
Lenten Reflection #4
Jesus knew that pagan belief systems, even in his own time, included practices of human sacrifice. The Eucharist grew out of that, and he was the sacrificial lamb. In the Catholic faith, it is believed that the Eucharist is, in fact, the true body and blood of Christ. A human sacrifice. I ask myself how such an act of brutality can also be such an act of love. But then the study of mythology affirms that the greatest gift to god and from god is one of his highest creations.
Let corporate America provide you with everything you need to look young, vibrant and appealing, radiant skin and sparkling teeth. Let corporate America dress you in the latest fashionable attire from head to toe. Let corporate America offer you an exquisitely appointed automobile or a truck that can haul a barge. Let corporate America present you with celebrity spokespersons who know just what you need to be happy and fulfilled. Let corporate America deliver everything you need to your doorstep. Let corporate America provide you with the sports and entertainment that will fill your empty time.
Then, when all is done, you will be so fucking comfortable that you won’t have to work on being human.
March Madness sports update:
North Carolina has collected and analyzed the DNA of selected 5-year-olds. Based on that, they have offered a group of them annual stipends through age 18 for first option college recruiting.
Duke has purchased one of the confiscated Russian oligarch’s yachts to use as a basketball recruiting tool.
Kansas has recruited a group of area high school prom queens as escorts for prospective basketball players.
New courses added to the college curricula and approved by the NCAA for basketball players at these colleges include: “Marketing Yourself in Social Media,” “The History of Sportswear” and “Sports Poetry.”
Of course, my David against the Goliaths is St. Peter’s. It’s always a bit of glory when the little guy can win against the schools who have the big money pots to recruit the best players and coaches and build the best facilities.
Lenten Reflection #3
An empathetic person is deeply affected by the brutality, inequity, hatred and suffering in the world. Jesus was just that kind of person. All of those dark elements of humanity were present in Jesus’ world. He carried this on his shoulders in his role of Redeemer, and the pain of this was greater than any physical pain of the Crucifixion.
Lenten Reflection #2
To me, the most troubling element of the last days of Jesus is the story of Judas. Was Judas a villain, a friend who did what Jesus needed done, a conflicted, jealous man? I can never resolve this dilemma for myself. It’s hard to believe that the Romans couldn’t find Jesus on their own after he had been so public. Betrayal and suicide are so brutal. Perhaps it’s a reminder that we are all capable of betraying even our strongest beliefs.
Manhood: Two Perspectives
What does it mean to be a man? Whatever it means, it’s beyond DNA, hormones and chest hair. Women athletes show us it’s more than the size of biceps. It’s more than the military and the football field. It’s not about who you choose to love and how you choose to love? Even the penis is sometimes questionable. So what does it mean?
All I can answer at this point is that we need to first figure out what it means to be human and then do it in a man’s body.
Men. Help! I’m all in favor of equality for women. But I see the signs of my manhood rapidly disappearing. Women say “fuck” more than I do. They want to hear my dirty jokes. When I was a boy, I could assert my manhood by flexing my biceps. Now they have bigger biceps than me. They want to be on men’s sport teams. And worst of all, they are getting chest hair transplants.
What should I do, men?
This is National Talk Back to Your TV Day
If you don’t agree with the news commentators, assertively tell them.
If celebrities are raking in money trying to sell you crap with their faux sincerity, tell them to fuck off.
If local news anchors are busy with silly chit-chat, yell at them to stick to the news.
If commercials are feeding you dumb little dramas, call them on it.
If professional athletes are talking in cliches, tell them to grow up.
Whatever annoys you about the TV, say it loud and clear. You’ll feel better.
Lenten Reflection #1
Whenever I would be pathetic and miserable over life situations, my wife would tell me to climb down off the cross. She was right. Jesus did significant, courageous and life-changing things. He earned the right to be on the cross. So if you want to be there, you have to earn it, too.
Conformity is the antithesis of being human. From the very start, each of us has a DNA profile that makes us like no other. Our life experience is built from that in a uniquely personal way. Why deny this individuality in the way we choose to live?
If you spend 15 minutes paying careful attention to a dandelion, you will learn more about the world than a lifetime spent playing video games.
Don’t talk about sports scores. Talk about love.
Don’t talk about Netflix. Talk about love.
Don’t talk about your new rug. Talk about love.
Don’t talk about your toenail fungus. Talk about love.
Don’t talk about celebrity lives. Talk about love.
Don’t talk about your neighbor’s life choices. Talk about love.
Don’t talk about how bad life is. Talk about love.
If you find yourself talking about sports,
Stop and talk about love
If you find yourself talking about shopping,
Stop and talk about love
If you find yourself gossiping,
Stop and talk about love
If you find yourself falling into chit chat,
Stop and talk about love
Some mythologies predict the extinction of humans replaced by a new set of beings who may work out better. Some mythologies tell of a judge who will decide our eternal fates. Some mythologies have a creator god who then departs for good. Some mythologies have rules and procedures for who will make it to the good afterlife.
Still, no mythology has been able to keep humans from being humans. From dancing between good and evil. From dancing between wisdom and stupidity. From dancing between love and neglect.
It’s how we’ve done it for centuries. We were given the opportunity for transcendence, but we chose to opt out. No regrets. We’re just humans being humans.
NB: We have mastered the ability to kill one another—in fact, we can now destroy all humanity. At the same time, we have not become close to mastering the ability to love one another.
What do we make of a society that has little room for the sacred? A society which finds few things worth reverence?
Hi, my name is Jesus Christ. I’m going door to door in your neighborhood, trying to introduce myself and my platform. My hope is that if you get to know me, you would help me accumulate more social media hits than Kim Kardashian (292,000,000). Could I leave a pamphlet with you? Thanks.
We instinctively seek out excellence, though we generally don’t know how to measure it. Excellence usually has its own criteria since it pushes beyond typical expectations. We see this in the arts and in sports, but also in any important human endeavor.
Excellence is not arrogant because it comes only with the support of others—spouses, muses, teachers, mentors and coaches. Also, excellence comes out of the ordinary pushed to its limits.
This is why you will hear those who have reached excellence say that their achievements are not their own, but belong to all of humanity.
We are taught that civilization begins in the valleys of the Middle East. We count art, architecture, writing, music, dance, engineering, law and science as constituting civilization, dismissing the culture of indigenous peoples. We count civilization as our human glory.Still, we can’t escape ownership of the brutal aspects of civilization—war, slavery, repression, sex slavery—because they are intricately tied into those glorious creations. If we look at the world as we see it now, we have to work hard to believe in the direction of MKL’s “arc of the moral universe.” The most resolute morality we can muster has not defeated human bondage, degraded behavior and deranged power.
The people of Ukraine are reminding us of the best in our nature, of the qualities that make us human. If what is happening in Ukraine generates feelings from deep within us with an intensity that surprises, then those are the feelings that affirm our shared humanity. If those feelings impel us to act, then those are the feelings that can make the world right.
We are embedded in a culture that numbs us with slick marketing, celebrity, pretty lies, spectacle and screens incessantly blasting out visual noise. Consume, be entertained, die. It will take great effort and sacrifice to extricate ourselves from this culture and commit to making the world right.
How do we bend the arc the right way?
NB: Right after a CNN report on the horrors happening in Ukraine, one commercial on a product to relieve the stress of your cat and another from Angela and how she lost 37 pounds.
It’s a stereotype in our culture to see artists as quirky and weird. This is because artists are creative people opening up the world with new perceptions, which challenge comfortable notions.
To counter this stereotype, I offer the many Art Academy graduates I know who are productive professionals and solid, loving parents or partners, creatively alive.
Think of artists this way.
Our humanity is being tested in critical ways. Ukraine. The climate. Hunger and poverty across the world. Violence all over the planet. Americans are realizing that they are no longer insulated from any of these things.
Will we have the compassion needed to drive our choices. Will we have courage and persistence to tackle the problems that endanger us? Will we come to see ourselves as belonging to all of humanity? Will we be able to make the sacrifices we need to save ourselves?
These are the questions that test our resolve to be truly and fully human.
Talent is not enough. If you want to be a serious artist, be a human being first, and let your art help you get there. Let your art open up the world to others. Let your art make you.
Now in America, we are seeing the emergence of a toxic and distorted idea of freedom. This “freedom” comes with no consequences and no responsibilities. It is freedom of the individual acting out of the self for the self.
The Ukrainians fought for freedom from Russia. They voted for leaders to keep them free. When one Ukrainian now says s/he is fighting for freedom, they mean freedom that binds them together, the kind of freedom that built America.
America has been the light of freedom for so many countries. Maybe the time has come for us to relearn from the Ukrainians what freedom truly means.
Haikus for the Climate Apocalypse
Dandelions survive
Not the voices of children
And, yes, cockroaches
Air, earth, fire, water
All the ancient elements
Will watch us vanish
Did you want to star
In a disaster movie
You are, this moment
We’re waving goodbye
To ourselves, dancing a dance
Of human folly
A dim memory
Of trees, carp and polar bears
Are clouds immune
Will the poor go first
Glass and marble fortresses
In the end are tombs
Slowly on its way
It’s doing what we bid it
We selfish humans
Each of us has a radius of authentic love. It begins where we are and extends outward to the limit of this love, generating a circle inside of which we practice this love.
The radius might first include family and friends. It might go beyond to neighbors, colleagues or church members. Perhaps it extends to community. Its measure can be as small NIMBY types or large as Mother Teresa’s.
What is your radius of authentic love?
Teachers
Some thoughts on teaching:
--Recognize the human being behind the student.
--Every subject matter has beauty. Teach it.
--Explain the value and use of what is taught.
--Ask of students what you ask of yourself and visa versa.
--Teach with integrity.
You can retire from the job of teaching but not from the calling of teaching.
Actors get awards and recognition for being actors. But teachers are actors, educators, counselors, friends, mentors, cheerleaders and more. Where are their awards and recognition?
Teachers get criticized for marching for higher pay and smaller classes. No such criticism for the overpaid athletes who go on strike.
All of us live every day with little evils. Sometimes we commit them. Vladimir Putin has given us a clear and unambiguous distinction between good and evil. The big evil of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine confronts us with a test of the mettle and extent of our own morality. This current tragedy must be a lesson that we never forget about the necessity of living as morally anchored human beings.
Why invent love
If we use it like a seasoning
Only to spice up life
Why invent love
If only pleasure
Is what it means
Why invent love
If its story is only
On the pretty greeting cards
Why invent love
If it’s just disguised
As mushy romance
Why invent love
If it’s expected to behave
In only ways we want
Why invent love
If we expect it to be
An easy exercise
Why invent love
If we didn’t want to
Be infected by it
Why invent love
If we didn’t expect it to be
What measures us as human
The history of civilization is a history of the few conquering, subduing, using and killing the many. In recent centuries, it’s been slavery, colonialism and world wars. Now it’s Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. All of this brutality shows us how easy it is for some to completely give up their humanity while others bravely demonstrate what it means to be truly and fully human.
As the climate crisis becomes relentless, we will face more and more situations in which our humanity will be tested. Will we be a Putin or a Zelenskyy?
The good things all out there—beauty, love, compassion, awe, kindness, honesty, integrity. They’re not hidden. They are right in front of us if we just pay attention. So why don’t they take over the world? Why is this a world that can empower a Vladimir Putin and a Donald Trump?
My climate confession
Bless me, Mother Earth, for I have sinned.
I am complicit in creating the climate apocalypse which has begun and which will continue.
I have too much stuff, take up too much space and use too much energy. I am part of a system that wants more, better, faster at any cost. I am part of the 5% of the population of the world which uses 20% of its resources. For decades, I have practiced reduction and recycling, which eased my conscience, but was not radical enough. My comfort has worsened the lives of others. I have a small vegetable garden which I share with neighbors. In the past I’ve often rode my bike on errands. I wear clothes till they fray. I make many of my own cleaning products.
I want my children and grandchildren to have a good life. Can I extricate myself from a world system that grinds on mercilessly? Can I—can we—make the sacrifices that our choices now require of us?
So what’s my penance?
I’m sick of entertainment industry awards shows, but I would like to see a handsomely-produced, nationally-televised awards show with these categories:
Best Police Chief/Small or Medium Sized City
Best Police Chief/Large City
Best Fire Chief/Small or Medium Sized City
Best Fire Chief/ Large City
Best EMT
Best Swat Team
Best Special Investigation Team
Best Fire Squad
Best Aquatic Team
Best Detective/Small or Medium Sized City
Best Detective/Large City
At the end, there is a beautiful tribute to all who have died in the line of duty.
This is just a start. I’m sure there are other categories.
The unforgivable crime against humanity is not Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. It’s the one we’ve perpetrated on ourselves by abusing the natural world, turning earth’s climate into an enemy that will likely destroy us. Worse, the wealthy are the biggest abusers, but the poor will suffer the worst consequences as the end comes. And we have caused extinction of species as we go.
In some mythologies, god creates beings that fail, and god must try again. Perhaps we are our own god, and we recognize that we have failed to care enough, to love enough, to achieve the fullness of being human.
The children cannot smile
His leg suddenly vanished
Hands were painted with blood
Rubble became the carpet
Shards of glass cut deep
Women pushed strollers briskly
The dilemma of the Russian tanks
Molotov beer bottles everywhere
Courage blocks the convoy
A maternity hospital bombed
Young fathers become soldiers
Trains packed with women and children
Lines of frozen men
The sirens are not singing
Who keeps the list of the dead
Bravery is the face the enemy sees
The apartment is now gone
Heroes are feeding refugees
People are packed in basements
Maps are slowly turning red
Sad history
Some thoughts:
The MLB talks are missing the most important contingent at the table—the fans. As the owners and players bargain for their fair share of the greed, they are counting on the fact that no matter how much the cost of attending a game is, the fans will pay. And they’re probably right.
Under duress, I watched the SAG awards. As expected, it was a self-aggrandizing mini-spectacle with thank-you speeches extolling misunderstood and under-appreciated actors who are the story tellers of the world. Dressed to the nines, many women in gowns that were an inch from a wardrobe malfunction, Fran Dresser talked about the SAG programs against sexual harassment. The heartfelt prayers and concern for Ukraine seemed empty when the cost of the clothes, shoes, jewelry and design and production of this event could probably pay for an air force for Ukraine.
We need a Museum of Human Shame, probably located in The Hague. A carefully chosen set of curators would select inductees. Each inductee would have a display detailing their inhumanity. There would be a means to record and collect visitor comments. Each display would have the inductee hung in effigy. Entry would be free.
