tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24149685171829783622024-03-05T17:16:33.263-05:00What Have We Become?An analysis of Western society as we relate to ourselves and the rest of the world. Incorporates personal discoveries, political and justice issues, cultural/literary/artistic viewpoints/analysis, and the realm of the psyche/spiritualtimradioboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04782098380905182539noreply@blogger.comBlogger71125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2414968517182978362.post-19917656961903845152014-01-20T07:24:00.002-05:002014-01-20T07:26:07.745-05:00The Perennial Philosophy (Sophia Perennis)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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When I came to Islam, I had come out of a period of searching that caused me to recognize a certain universal pattern to reality. This was particularly true after a near-fatal car accident in 2009, when I found that my consciousness had changed. I began to realize that for all of my life my vision had been narrowed. I had become insular in faith and life. Yet, how was I to proceed down a deeper spiritual path, and what road was I to take? I wanted something bigger, and at first that seemed to involve picking and choosing from different ideologies/faiths/philosophies. I didn't immediately understand that I was skimming an exoteric surface. This was not taking me any deeper, but was simply showing me the outward appearance of different manifestations of the ONE or the Absolute. After much searching, my commitment was to Islam, and as I often tell people when I'm asked about my conversion process, there are many factors which led to the decision, and had my life path been different, I might have easily adopted a different faith without falling out of step with the universal or ultimate "being". I realize this at my deepest level while being no less committed to the Islamic path. Yet I also know that to go deeper I needed to be on a specific path - one that had its roots in a universal reality that transcends all of the patterns and "progress" we see in human societies and existence. <br />
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My goal when committing to a particular faith path was/is awareness, knowledge, love and unity with the underlying divinity, the reality, the ONE, Allah, God, Being, whatever name we choose to call it. I believe that all of us are at base concerned with some sort of ultimate reality, whether we claim spirituality or not, and that ultimately we are searching for the same essence, whatever symbols, linguistic terminology or philosophies we use to describe it. For in the end, we all want authenticity, we want to know the true nature of things.<br />
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This also resonates with what has become known as the "Sophia Perennis" or Perennial Philosophy. There is nothing new about this "Philosophy" and I hesitate to even give it a label, but for purposes of commenting on the ideas contained, it is necessary to do so. This Philosophy, is not concerned so much with what humanity can accomplish, but what it is meant or created to accomplish. It is described as: "both absolute Truth and <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Frithjof Schuon</td></tr>
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infinite Presence. As absolute Truth it is the perennial wisdom (sophia perennis) that stands as the transcendent source of all the intrinsically orthodox religions of humankind." It is concerned with underlying truth - a truth that has been obscured by modernity in an overwhelming emphasis on the exoteric, down to the way that religion itself is manifested. Yet the perennial philosophy does not discard religion (or as it describes it "tradition"). In fact, the need for this new articulation of something that has never left us is - as Frithjof Schuon describes it - because of the "totalitarian rationalism" of modernity, post-modernity. <br />
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It is not a reactive philosophy, in the sense that the reactivity of the various fundamentalist strains - particularly as seen in certain quarters of the Abrahamic faiths - are reactive to modernity by becoming more insular and violently protective of exoteric notions of faith. This protection is lacking of the esoteric. The Perennial idea seeks to expand our vision by allowing us to realize that there is a universal truth expressed by one Creator. This Creator manifests itself in different exoteric ways throughout history in this lower world, the world of forms. Diversity is a part of the universal plan. Diversity in fact points to the true idea of unity, which is a unity of foundation if you will, or better a unity of a higher foundation. As we progress through levels of consciousness we realize how illusory are the forms through which we perceive our world. These forms though, serve as symbols pointing to the ultimate and can also serve as a delineation between those things that lead to the ultimate and what can pull us away from that ultimate into the illusory world of forms or the world of the ego. More simply expressed, these symbols serve as a guide to right and wrong, good and bad in this lower form of consciousness where forms assume a dualistic manifestation. So, precisely for that reason, there is truth in traditional forms, and the traditional forms in faith - Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc., cannot be discarded. These faiths have survived throughout the centuries because they are of the nature of divine revelation. They are self-contained systems of living that share a universal truth. <br />
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The Sophia Perennis expresses the idea that a focus on forms in the modern world is to the detriment of the underlying symbolic truth of these revealed faiths. Yet there is a yearning in the modern world for this truth. We all look for purpose in life, and we all want to achieve a higher state of being, despite the language we might use to describe what "higher" means. From the equality of humanity expressed through the ideas of Socialism, to the attainment of success of the individual in Capitalism, we can see it in the world of economics and politics. There is equally a desire to return to a "purer" form of life, before "agrarian civilization" that we can find expressed in the ideas of Jared Diamond and others. What is lacking in this modern world is the esoteric. We are back to the totalitarian rationalism that Frithjof Schuon speaks of. The exoteric dominates our lives, and it is precisely this fact that is at the base of the argument which the Sophia Perennis makes against the idea of evolution as the nature of the universe. While it is true that humanity is making progression in the exoteric world through outward "innovation" in technology, it is at the expense of the esoteric, and in this sense there is a DE-evolution in humanity. We have lost the sense of who we are - of our humanity. This is exemplified in the way religions practice and clash in our world just as much as it is in the lack of the idea of the transcendent altogether. <br />
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The reason that there is conflict in our world is because form by nature will delimit parts of the universal archetype. Yet we live in this world, so we cannot escape form. Traditional faiths allow us to get past the form to the higher reality, and we cannot break these revealed forms. They are the sole route to truth in this world. Therefore, it cannot be stated enough how important it is to respect the revealed forms. As a Muslim who believes in an underlying unity, I must still practice my Islam. This is the key to Perennialism. It is not a new idea in that it proposes a new faith. Again, Sophia Perennis is not some system which brings a new faith, religion or tradition. It is more of an articulation of reality. It is pointing out more than ever why it is important to follow a revealed path. Yet it also equally emphasizes that there is a deeper understanding to a particular revealed path, and with this understanding comes a tension due - again - to the world of forms. <br />
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The tension can be seen here in that while practicing my Islam, I also acknowledge that this might not be the path for everyone, and that there is truth in other paths. I respect my Christian heritage and family knowing that it also comes from the same truth as Islam. The Qur'an itself teaches this, telling Muslims that the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) has come as the Seal of the Prophets and Islam has come as the culmination of all rightly guided faiths. Realizing and being able to hold this tension is key to the reduction of conflict through religion, and is key to the very fundamentals of the religion itself - virtue, love, humility, respect, etc...<br />
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There are three metaphysical truths which the Sophia Perennis expresses as doctrine, way and method. It describes doctrine as discernment of the truth from illusion. The way is a life "addressed to the soul" for conforming itself to the nature of the Real. The method is the technique that one uses to concentrate and focus on the real as one's ultimate life goal. When dealing with an Absolute that is bigger than any of us can conceive, there will be different manifestations of the Real in our world. We cannot follow all of these manifestations. Yet we can attain to the true reality while still realizing and respecting that there are other equally valid ways of attaining to that reality.<br />
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Reference</div>
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Lings, M. (2007). The underlying religion: an introduction to the perennial philosophy. Bloomington: World Wisdom.<br />
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<br />timradioboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04782098380905182539noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2414968517182978362.post-16360566435879770392012-12-09T09:38:00.000-05:002012-12-11T05:43:44.038-05:00Awakening: A Reflection On Restorative Justice, Religion and Racism<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>Introduction To An Awakening </b></div>
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The path of my spiritual progression over the past few years has coincided quite closely with my overall awareness in what we in the West would normally consider more "intellectual" and "sociopolitical" areas. It is notable that we so often take special care to delineate the differences between the categories. The truth is that increased awareness corresponds quite closely with a clarity that illuminates the true interconnectedness of all facets of the universe. This is not a new idea, yet many are coming to the realization for the first time, and in that sense it seems particularly progressive. Rupert Ross (2006) is just one of many who have looked at ancient religious traditions - in his case among the aboriginal First Nations peoples of North America - and determined that the interconnectedness of the universe is not only expressed in their beliefs, but in their language, and in the way they experience community. With a language void of nouns, it is impossible to apply labels to people such as "criminal" or "black" that have had historical traumatic meanings for human beings in the United States. Rather, a noun-less language allows for descriptions of bad or "criminal" actions as a sign of being out of balance with the universe - and further allows for greater equality in viewing "other" human beings. <br />
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My own spiritual path has progressed along a study of Islam that has actually been going on for many years<br />
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now. I have been slowly studying the Qur'an and reading scholarly interpretations of the religion for quite some time. But recently I have become more vocal about these studies as I've become particularly inspired by Sufi mysticism and its meaning for making sense of events that have occurred in my own life - such as a </div>
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definite experience of something bigger than myself when I first awoke after a near-fatal car accident in 2009. I have no doubt that there was divinity in that experience, as it has changed me in drastic ways regarding my purpose and worldview - which is now people focused versus career advancement - as well as my ability to live a disciplined, clean and sober life. What this means for me personally as far as religious commitment (to any faith) is another question. I don't feel advanced enough in my awareness, and further, the level of clarity that I believe has been granted by divinity has given me the sense that I need to use the resources at my disposal to take in more of where my heart is in relation to the religion of Islam - and specifically Sufi mysticism. Yet what draws me to Sufi mysticism - perhaps even the primary attraction for me - is its ability to focus on equality, justice, the true condition of the heart, and the pluralism it recognizes and honors in all who seek towards ultimate truth. This is a much more accurate vision of the heart (metaphorically and literally) of Islam that is sorely needed in light of the blatant Islamophobia that is present in modern day American society. Mysticism is a form of metaphysical awareness that seeks to unite rather than divide, that looks for common ground with other forms of spiritual higher awareness, and that discards any conception of a human vision of what the term "God" or "divinity" even means. That last point has been key for me, as I know there is something bigger than myself - even if now I only view it as the simple but profound energy of love - that I can see everyone relating to in some respect, and this includes atheists.<br />
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<b>Restorative Justice As A Universal Principle </b></div>
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I present this backdrop for a reason as I intend to show how the concept of Restorative Justice - which is one that seeks to restore or unify broken relationships out of past wrongs - so closely connects to an overall vision of love as well as any religion/ideology/basic belief that expresses love as the ultimate awareness. This semester - my final in the classroom for my MA studies in Conflict Transformation at Eastern Mennonite University - I've had the privilege of studying under the man who many refer to as "The Grandfather of Restorative Justice", Howard Zehr. </div>
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Zehr's focus has been on the criminal justice system, which is very much broken in the United States and the world writ large, and how a concept of restoration of broken relationships rather than punishment is much more in tune with the universal love that we can all sense in our lives if we allow ourselves. This restoration is not an easy process, and it must be grounded in an advanced awareness to be facilitated properly as well as implemented in the larger society. This is where my studies of Islam and Sufism have brought greater clarity to the concept of Restorative Justice, in that Islam promotes awareness of right relation to divinity. </div>
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<b>Restorative Justice and Racism in America</b> </div>
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I am especially interested in Restorative Justice as it relates to racial divisions that are still very much alive in the United States. Zehr's focus on criminal justice is perhaps appropriate as a point of departure when discussing the historical treatment of Black Americans. Zehr himself has attempted to reach across the divide by enrolling in Morehouse College and becoming the first white graduate in 1965. He did so (as I understand it) for a couple of reasons, one of which was to support the Civil Rights Movement . Secondly, I believe he intended to show solidarity and a desire to right the broken societal relations in America that have existed for hundreds of years in the dehumanization of an entire segment of our population. The Civil Rights movement was certainly a part of this attempt at restoration, but it was only one step in the process, and this is very important to understand, and is also something that I believe is lost on most Americans today. <br />
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The attempts at breaking and replacing oppressive racist structures in American society did not end with the passage of the Civil Rights legislation, nor did it end with the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Yet, for all practical purposes, it would appear that way to any observer of our country over the past five decades. After those two figures were murdered, we suddenly seemed to have advanced to a "colorblind" society in our discourse, and any attempts at further restoration of broken national relations between groups and classes of people - particularly whites and blacks - was pushed aside and deemed irrelevant in a "post-racial" Western world. <br />
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Of course nothing could be further from the truth, and one only needs to look at the prison system demographics, the War on Drugs, and the continued existence of gentrification, denial of equal opportunities in jobs and education and inner-city ghettoes to see that our systemic structures are still very much in place. They may in fact be stronger than before the Civil Rights legislation as they are now taboo to discuss, yet more complex and subtle in their manifestations. Attempting to zero in on one part of the structure of modern-day racism makes it difficult to describe the factors surrounding that particular structure as purely racist. For example, while it is true that black people are prosecuted at a much higher rate for drug offenses than whites (despite equal if not more use of drugs by whites), it is hard to pin down where the specific fault lies (Alexander, 2012). Is it with the judge's sentence? The police officer who used racial profiling to arrest the black drug offender? Or the increased patrolling of black neighborhoods by policemen? All are certainly contributing factors, but are very difficult to prove in isolated observation. It is only the view of the whole that gives us a sense of clarity as to what's going on. <br />
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<b>Malcolm, Martin, Islam, Christianity, Justice, Love and Revolution </b></div>
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Malcolm X was a man who recognized all this, even before the War on Drugs, and called this American racism exactly what it was - the product of a nation built on lies (X, 1965). Malcolm - along with black society as a whole - recognized that a nation that claimed to be based on freedom of not only peoples but markets, yet had a foundation of slave labor as the reason for its vast wealth, was one that was living with a dissonance or tension in the national consciousness. Many had seen this of course - particularly blacks - but Malcolm was the first to articulate it in not only an eloquent fashion, but one that was to the point and easily understandable by the masses. In fact, it was all too understandable for whites, and Malcolm derived much of his passion for justice and equality from his religion, which of course was Islam (X, 1965).</div>
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Islam not only represented the moral integrity in Malcolm's life, but it also provided a framework from which to formulate and articulate the necessary steps that would need to happen for America to restore itself in right relationship to the black community (Cone, 1990). He called for the destruction of the white way of life, and in this sense has echoed Black Liberation Theologians such as James Cone (1970). This destruction was not meant to kill whites existentially, but to kill <i>whiteness</i> as an oppressive condition in our society. Granted, Malcolm believed that solidarity and unity must first happen within the black community, but this was only so the oppressed could be as one in their understanding. This understanding was an awareness of what needed to take place to restore their full dignity as human beings in a racist society (X, 1965). After the unity of the black community, as reflected in Malcolm's later years, then anyone with a vision of a unified, equal, restored society could participate in the struggle. For the revolutionary struggle against racism and oppression is a world-wide battle, not one that is limited to one race. By virtue of the revolutionary ideal of restoring right relations between divided or hierarchical classifications of human beings, the true revolutionary resonates with the universal ideals of love, equality, justice, and in this case, restorative justice.<br />
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Malcolm understood this, and further understood that his religion of Islam emphasized this same vision of justice and equality. The true spirit of revolution against oppression recognizes this as well. This is one of the main reasons that Islam was so attractive to Malcolm, as the Western Christianity that he knew (and that I know as well) had been co-opted by white power structures for increased subjugation and even justification of oppressing an entire race of people. Further, this racist view of Christianity has expanded to foreign dominance of nations deemed inferior to our own in our vast grasp for resources - a fact recognized by both Malcolm X and notably MLK at the end of his life (King, 1992).</div>
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In this sense, that religion must be destroyed (Cone, 1970). This is not saying that Christianity as a whole needs to be destroyed, as so many misinterpret this statement, but only that the version of Christianity that has developed out of a racist society built on a foundation of lies, enslavement, murder, imperialist expansion and illegal wars, and their often religious justifications, and the continued idea of a "chosen people" needs to be destroyed for racism to be destroyed as well. <br />
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Jesus, Mohammed, and all the great prophets, figures of divinity and teachers of ancient love traditions, religions and philosophies recognized this. A society built on lies will be corrupt throughout its entire structure. Certainly there is much good in America, but that good will always be tainted with the dissonance of racism, until these past wrongs are restored to proper relationship. What this means empirically might involve a movement of a revolutionary nature, but at the very least it must begin with America being honest with itself once and for all. The principles of the universal truth of love demand this. The great religious traditions demand this. Restorative Justice in its philosophical and existential reality demands this. Our own Constitution demands this. <br />
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Further, it is important to understand that this revolutionary re-structuring of American society will have to run quite deep. I'm not calling for violence, lest anyone misinterpret me. I consider myself a practitioner of nonviolence, but at the same time am not an absolutist in that respect. World conditions in the present day have shown me that nonviolence does not work in all situations. What I am calling for is a total restructuring of our society to rid this scourge of racism that has never gone away, but has only become stronger and more entrenched the longer we refuse to deal with the lies and the longer we refuse to own our past. This re-structuring will involve American Christianity writ large, as well as a re-structuring of our political and economic system. The latter is perhaps irrevocably corrupted and in need of a complete overhaul or overthrow and/or collapse. As for American Christianity, there are elements of the church that are already leading the revolutionary struggle, and it is possible to look at this sector of society from more of a reformist position as the religion itself is built on a foundation of universal truth. <br />
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But Capitalism by nature dehumanizes certain elements of society (by naming winners and losers), and it is arguably out of Capitalism that slavery and racism came to be in the first place (Shawki, 2006). Cheap labor was needed, and it was easier to make indentured servitude a part of our Capitalist society if those who were/are indentured are viewed as not quite human. Therefore, political structures - particularly in America - that were built on this foundation of racism cannot stand. This is not only true from a revolutionary perspective, but also from a perspective of true metaphysical justice and love. What is built on lies will eventually fall. What this looks like in reality, I cannot say. America is a powerfully established nation and world presence. Yet, the cracks are forming in our economic base. It might involve an economic collapse and the prior organization of positive change agents ready to step in and restore justice and equality in the wake of this collapse for racism to be eliminated, and imperial expansion and murder to stop. <br />
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<b>Concluding Comments </b></div>
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All of this shows us that Restorative Justice on the national level is incredibly complex, and will involve a great deal of pain in the proper implementation and steps required to restore relationships between races and classes. Nevertheless, it is something that I believe is inevitably necessary for our very survival as a nation and as human beings. The religious faith of both Malcolm X and MLK gave them a point of departure for their own struggles for justice both personally and as leaders of their people, and it is starting to do the same for me. Spirituality is something that should be constantly evolving in a person if it is legitimate and true. My own evolution in this respect is ongoing, as is the corresponding truth and reality of Restorative Justice in my own life. Yet both have given me a better understanding and clarity of the world around me, as well as my relation and responsibility to that world, and for that, I am eternally grateful. <br />
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<b>References</b></div>
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style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>BIBLIOGRAPHY<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'>
</span>\l 1033 <span style='mso-element:field-separator'></span></b><![endif]-->Alexander, M. (2012). <i>The new jim crow: mass
incarceration in the age of colorblindness.</i> New York: The New Press.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Cone, J. (1990). <i>A black theology of
liberation: twentieth anniversary edition.</i> Maryknoll: Orbis Books.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Cone, J. (1990). <i>Martin, malcolm and
america: a dream or a nightmare.</i> Maryknoll: Orbis Books.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Jr., M. L. (1992). <i>I have a dream:
writings & speeches that changed the world.</i> New York: HarperCollins.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Ross, R. (2006). <i>Returning to the
teachings: exploring aboriginal justice.</i> Toronto: Penguin Canada.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Shawki, A. (2006). <i>Black liberation
and socialism.</i> Chicago: Haymarket Books.<o:p></o:p></div>
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X, M. (1965). <i>Malcolm x speaks.</i>
New York: Grove Press.<o:p></o:p></div>
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timradioboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04782098380905182539noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2414968517182978362.post-60637130338016711852012-07-25T12:28:00.000-04:002012-07-25T12:55:47.654-04:00Nonviolent Foreign Revolution and the American Role: Self-Identity and Awareness<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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When I was reading through the book <i>Relentless Persistence: Nonviolent Action in Latin America, </i>I found myself wondering what my role was as a Northern/Western peacebuilder in relation to the oppressed areas of the Southern Hemisphere and Third World nations in general. I believe we often tend to think of our purpose for nonviolent social movements to be in helping those oppressed - and perhaps rightfully so. But for me, this often leads to thinking about those "less developed" countries and peoples such as the ones I read about in the book, the extraordinary movements that they helped initiate, and what I can do to "help" - and this can easily lead to a somewhat patronizing mentality. As soon as I began to critically think about what kind of action I would take, I immediately became conscious of the limits of my identity. I had to question what that identity has done to shape the way I think, and I knew I must challenge the inherent assumptions that come with that identity. <br />
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For as much as I've desired over the past number of years - both in thought and action - to escape the restrictions of "society" (and by that I mean Western society with all its faults in the materialistic/consumerist/Capitalist sense), the fact remains that the nature of my identity has been shaped by being an American. The way I speak, the way I think, the things with which I'm familiar, and most importantly, the way I am viewed by others throughout the world, cannot help but be permeated with a Western influence and the exceptionalist way of thought that is inherent to American society. This fact carries with it a great responsibility, but it is a very particular kind of responsibility. I believe this is extremely important for all of us in the West to understand: <i>we cannot rush into situations of oppression in Third World countries and practice the most nonviolent methods of battle alongside the oppressed while ignoring the position our identity places us in relation to local indigenous/native populations</i>. <br />
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We must remember that our position as Americans is a part of our identity. It has placed us in a peculiar place. On the one hand, we have the ability to sit and reflectively think through strategies, methods and our level of conscientization - such as I am doing right now by putting these words to paper - in an environment that has filled us with knowledge, information and the mental tools for advancing and bettering ourselves and others. On the other hand, that ability to become educated has not come without a price. From the easily accessible food we eat to keep at our peak mental ability, to the funds we are able to receive for education, to the resources for basic subsistence that we are able to obtain with relatively little effort in relation to those our nation exploits, it is on the backs of others that we have arrived at these luxuries. These two sides have given us what I term as responsibility with limitations. <br />
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What I mean by this is that we have the responsibility to make things better for those in the world around us, but we must be extremely cognizant of the techniques we incorporate in doing so and incorporate the values of empathy and equanimity. As with any situation of conflict, we must first start with an analysis, and in nonviolent situations, this analysis has the critical element of self. There must be an analysis both of the external situation, but most importantly, we must have a deep self-knowledge and respect combined with a deep understanding of how we are viewed by others who will be participating in the struggle. <br />
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Lisa Schirch (2004) has identified the first stage of analysis in peacebuilding as understanding the local context. Local can also include national depending on how foreign one is to a particular environment. I am thinking of the example given by Gerald Schlabach (1991) when he discussed a trip to the Philippines and his encounter with a group of guerilla revolutionaries that turned confrontational. Schlabach's mistake was to not have done the proper work of self-identity analysis before discussing the issue of nonviolence with these violent guerillas. If there was any doubt about his identity as it was perceived by the Filipino revolutionaries, that was settled after they put him in his place as one of those Americans "...who come and ask us why we are violent..." when those Americans have "...barged in and stole our country from us..." (1991, p. 254). In this situation, Schlabach's lack of self-identity awareness and analysis of the local context caused him to be blind to the fact that he carried the entire foreign policy of the United States as a part of his identity.<div>
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There is an arrogance that we carry - conscious or not - simply from virtue of our being American. It is something that cannot be escaped other than through time and the process of "becoming one with...". The very title of the book <i>Relentless Persistence</i> bears witness to this fact. Nonviolence is a long, arduous demanding process that requires great prior preparation. If we as outsiders want to become a part of a particular foreign struggle with which we feel called to participate, then we'd better understand that it will require time for us to be in a position to identify with that struggle. We must first become one with the people before we can become one with the struggle. Father Domingo Barbe (1991) would likely agree with the idea that this form of identification was first accomplished by God through Christ who became one with His creation by appearing in human form, and paying the ultimate sacrifice and price of the oppressed by giving up His life in the cause for justice and redemption. Although I do not claim Christianity, I agree with this conception of justice, as it runs with the grain of love and truth. </div>
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The true nonviolent revolutionary spirit is no different. There may not be a place for us in certain nonviolent struggles other than for us to do what we can at home in order to change the kinds of conditions that have led to the struggle in the first place. Some foreign struggles are so spontaneous, and have arisen out of such a place of desperation, that we do not have time to properly identify with the local population in order to become immediately involved and present in the form of truly understanding and being able to become one with the people. <br />
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If we want to be nonviolent revolutionaries in a foreign context, my personal belief is that we must first have a deep understanding and participation in the struggle as it exists in our own country. We are all interconnected, and the decisions we make affect not only our neighbors, but ultimately the world at large. This is true for every member of the human race. The Third World revolutionary also elevates the general condition of humanity by continuing and uniting with the love force that is a part of all true and just revolutions - and this is not something that American hubris is even remotely equipped to fulfill "for" somebody else. Once we have done all we can to understand the role the United States has played in foreign policy as it relates to a particular country and/or people, and we have made clear through conscientization (theory and praxis) our responsibility for this policy, then we can look to foreign contexts and identification. <br />
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It is only then that we can begin foreign nonviolent action by becoming one with the people. This can only happen with time, and it is not glamorous work. It is likely the impatience of modern civilization that is partly responsible for bringing about the "quick solution" of violent intervention in the first place. <i>There are no quick solutions for long-term nonviolence</i>. It must be a lifestyle, and in a foreign context, this means living among the people. We must love the people and become one with their way of life in order to stand alongside them in struggle. This will likely mean that we enter their context when no immediate struggle is occurring. The struggle cannot be our focus, it must be love of the people. For without this kind of love, nonviolence loses its deep truth, and the coming struggle will be empty of the foundation required for its sustainability.<br />
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<b>References</b></div>
Barbe, D. (1991). The spiritual basis of nonviolence. In P. McManus; G. Schlabach, Relentless persistence: nonviolent action in latin america (pp. 268-281). Eugene: Wipf and Stock Publishers. <br />
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McManus, P., & Schlabach, G. (1991). Relentless persistence: nonviolent action in latin america. Eugene: Wipf and Stock Publishers. <br />
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Schirch, L. (2004). The little book of strategic peacebuilding: a vision and framework for peace with justice. Intercourse: Good Books. <br />
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Schlabach, G. (1991). Epilogue: more than one task - north american nonviolence and latin american liberations struggle. In P. McManus; G. Schlabach, Relentless persistence: nonviolent action in latin america (pp. 252-265). Eugene: Wipf and Stock Publishers. </div>
</div>timradioboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04782098380905182539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2414968517182978362.post-45739331844804548362012-07-23T20:53:00.002-04:002012-07-23T21:06:07.461-04:00Conscientization<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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To be white in America means that I don't know what it's truly like to have thoughts like the one I saw posted by my Cape Verdean-American friend Mery concerning the Colorado shootings this past Friday: "I was just praying that the suspect wasn't black." On a slightly more macro scale, to be an American of any color means that we don't have to experience in the existential present of our daily lives the virtual slave labor that goes into creating the cheap and abundant products that we feel we couldn't live without. Both situations are indicative of existential conditions that are deficient of conscientization.<br />
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Paulo Freire's idea of conscientization is roughly the awareness of our condition in life as that condition is informed by social myth. To eliminate the myth and arrive at the true nature of our being requires the processes of critical reflection and action in non-dualistic application (Freire, 1970). In the case of the Colorado shooting, it was Mery's post that spoke to the ever-present violence of racism that permeates the social fabric of American life. She went on to protest the unequal media coverage of events such as this, in that the suspect - being white - was looked at as an example of potential mental illness, or possible prior victimization, but not as fundamentally flawed due to race, religion or ideology. In other words, there was no racism or bigotry in the media's examination of his psyche. He wasn't Muslim, he wasn't black and he wasn't a communist or otherwise overtly "anti-American", so he didn't play into any of the dominant societal identity myths of who the enemy "is". </div>
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For me, the attempt at greater conscientization of this particular incident requires stepping back even further and taking in as much of the absurdity of a violence driven society as possible. The irrationality of the nation that continues to insist on war despite all evidence of its inefficiency, wastefulness and disregard for the sanctity of life is seen in how we treat those who kill. The suspect in Colorado is labeled a criminal (and perhaps rightfully so), but what about the President who authorizes the drone strike that kills innocent villagers in Afghanistan? Is it absurd to live in a society that claims to be free - to respect the dignity of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness - yet justifies the killing of wars? </div>
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Thich Nhat Hanh says that we must "perceive our political and economic systems correctly in order to see what is going wrong" (2012, p.245). In the comparison above, this means that I must evaluate why life is considered sacred in one situation, and disposable in another. Where did the error occur in the narrative of civilization that taught us that killing to solve international or intra-national disputes is acceptable while the killing of an isolated madman is not? Why aren't both unacceptable? Some of course would respond that it is in the base nature of humanity to react violently in order to maintain self-preservation. William James (2012) might even agree with that and say that we must find other outlets for the traits we carry. Hanh would say that what we are dealing with is a powerful energy that can be used for either good or bad. In either case, it is implicit that we as humans carry the potential to make a choice and redefine our lives, our social myths, our civilization and achieve greater conscientization as rational, thinking, intelligent evolving beings. <br />
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Jessie Wallace Hughan (2012) has shown us that - theoretically - a nation committed to complete disarmament and pacifism is possible, and not only possible but could and would win a war against a violent enemy. Yet the degree of commitment required makes her vision seem utopian in anything resembling modern day society. Complete ideological adherence makes many "isms" seem possible, including Communism, but the real world and real life get in the way of these ideologies. So how do we change the narrative of civilization and work at eliminating or re-directing the energy that is used in violent action? Is it even possible? What does "success" in this area look like? Is it necessary to change the entire planet, or do the actions of individuals matter? <br />
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These questions have been at the very foundation of my search for meaning over the past number of years. They are also closely connected with my search for the existence of the divine. I have come to the conclusion that there is an inescapable energy of love or a particular force, a direction in the universe. In this sense, my thought parallels Hanh. I believe that every human is capable of aligning themselves with this force - which is ultimately the natural direction or way of things - and that it takes conscientization to be able to see this force or way. Hanh would give conscientization the name of non-dualism, and conscientization is very much a form of becoming - of uniting - with one's very nature, which is shared by all others. To unite with the particular direction of nonviolence, exemplified, enacted and consistent with the practices of love is to identify ourselves with our true nature, or the highest form of mental, physical and spiritual evolution - conscientization - that we can achieve. Once internalized, this belief is at the center of my own mental and physical self-preservation, for without knowledge of my true nature, life is meaningless. <br />
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It wasn't easy for me to arrive at this level of my own conscientization. It took a near-death experience in the form of a car accident to shake me awake and to truly begin the process. Previously, I had accepted much of the terms of my life from external sources, and had not done my own reflection nor had I lived my life consistent with the principles corresponding to a knowledge of the universal energy of nonviolence and love. Like Gary L. Francione (2012), I have extended the respect for life to animals as well. If we are to practice nonviolence, we must be universal in its application, and any being that can suffer pain must be treated with the utmost dignity. Yet I'm still at a philosophical block with thinkers like Francione in where the biological line of "animal" as distinct from "plant" or non-feeling life should be placed. <br />
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This brings us back to my friend Mery and her struggle combating racism in a society that still has a long way to go to achieve conscientization in that area. She and I had a discussion about the topic, and she mentioned how she has been an advocate her entire life - through teaching and leading community workshops - against issues of race. I broached the issue of large scale social change with her as in: what will it take to achieve large scale differences in the way we view race, or the way we view guns, violence, war and defense budgets? Of course we were at an impasse, we weren't going to save the world in a Facebook discussion. But I believe her point of advocacy is key in how we live nonviolent lives. Freire would also seem to agree as would VeneKlassen and Miller (2010). Advocacy is one way in which we can directly apply the principles of nonviolence to the world around us. We can choose to keep the energy of love alive in our own lives through extending it as much as possible to the world as it exists in our immediate reach.</div>
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I agree with Mery that our lives are all interdependent, and advocating for those who suffer, and against suffering in general is advocating for that human dignity that we all deserve. It shows respect for others, but it just as much shows respect for our own being in recognizing that being in others. This is what has given me hope and meaning in my own life. I know that there is a purpose for my being here, yet at the same time I know that I can shape that purpose and make it what I want it to be. Therefore I choose nonviolence, and I choose to do what I alone can do, and by choosing to do so, I aim for the understanding that Hanh refers to and the conscientization of Freire. </div>
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References</div>
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Francione, G. L. (2012). Nonviolence and animal rights. In R. L. Holmes, & B. L. Gan, Nonviolence in theory and practice third edition (pp. 326-331). Long Grove: Waveland Press. </div>
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Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Herder and Herder. <br />
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Hanh, T. N. (2012). Feelings and perceptions. In R. L. Holmes, & B. L. Gan, Nonviolence in theory and practice third edition (pp. 243-246). Long Grove: Waveland Press. <br />
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Hughan, J. W. (2012). Pacifism and invasion. In R. L. Holmes, & B. L. Gan, Nonviolence in theory and practice third edition (pp. 219-232). Long Grove: Waveland Press. <br />
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James, W. (2012). The moral equivalent of war. In R. L. Holmes, & B. L. Gan, Nonviolence in theory and practice third edition (pp. 176-185). 2012: Waveland Press. <br />
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VeneKlasen, L., & Miller, V. (2010). New weave power people politics: the action guide for advocacy and citizen participation. Sterling: Stylus Publishing.</div>
</div>timradioboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04782098380905182539noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2414968517182978362.post-19921778275298830592012-04-25T19:22:00.000-04:002013-04-23T05:47:13.980-04:00Black Liberation Theology and Holistic Human Development<br />
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There is a universal thread of
love which runs through the world's most respected religious, philosophical and
ideological traditions - a thread which serves as a call to action - and though
it might look slightly different in practice, the focus of this particular love
element is very similar in attending to the needs of the poor and oppressed in
a given society. In the Christian tradition,
Jesus was not only poor but according to the New Testament chose to identify
and surround Himself with those who were the poorest and most oppressed of his
time. The life of Christ serves as a
call to Christians to not only address issues of oppression, but to make the
concerns of poverty, social marginalization and therefore positive human development
a direct part of their lives if they are serious about following Jesus'
example. Further, it is argued here that
it is incumbent upon those who carry a love ethic of any kind - religious or otherwise
- to stand up, identify and fight with the oppressed against the structures
that control their lives and threaten existential destruction. To not do so, or
to do otherwise is a denial of humanity and indicates a lack of love. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This
analysis will focus on the modern radical black theology of the Christian
tradition, as first articulated by James Cone in the form of Black Liberation
Theology (Cone, 1990). Cone is arguably
the first African-American theologian to present an entirely American black
philosophy of religion based upon the idea of oppression, and the
inseparability of theology from the here and now of social conditions
inhibiting the full development of humanity in general and the oppressed in
particular. What this means
pragmatically is that history, consciousness and praxis inform each other in a confrontation
with oppressive structural conditions in the social, political and economic
arenas of our present day society. It
means that liberation (and salvation) can only come through confronting these structures
- directly and forcefully - in a deliberate attempt at their destruction. Cone (1990) directs his confrontation towards
the "white" structures of power as related to the African-American
condition in modern times. His theology
- first articulated in 1969 in his book <i>Black
Theology & Black Power</i> - has created a modern theology which very much
concerns the present, and is centered on an existential concept of the
application of spirituality, not some future glory in the form of an afterlife.</div>
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As
Cone's theology was first formulated a number of decades ago, I will
incorporate his principle of bringing things current by applying his idea of
liberation to the 21st century. To do
this, I will utilize corollary philosophies in the tradition of Liberationist Theology
and secular theory, as well as looking at the present day example of the
prison-industrial crisis in America as it relates to full humanity or full
development. This will provide a
context for present day issues of racial oppression, which of course are still
very much alive albeit in much more politically correct forms of articulation. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b>History Informs The Present: Oppression and Liberation<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Amartya
Sen (2000) argues that development "can be seen as a process of expanding
freedoms" (p. 3). Sen's view of
freedom is wide-ranging and all inclusive, focused on political, social and
economic opportunities, as well as transparency in structures of power, and the
freedom for protective security from violence/oppression. This wide-ranging micro and macro view of
freedom leaves no room for oppression, racism or discrimination of any kind -
as they all serve to negate one's humanity.
Freedom is referred to in human-scale (i.e. the individual, micro level)
development as the very essence of <i>being</i>
a fully developed human, or unfolding to our full potential according to Johan Galtung (2010).</div>
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It
is the understanding of freedom as inseparable from one's humanity that Cone
utilizes in his historical narrative of the African-American (Cone, 1990). Tying this to the Christian theology of the
crucified Christ, the historical becomes the existential current in that freedom
means <i>becoming free in the present</i>
through shaking off the structures applied externally, from the oppressor's
interpretation of a historical narrative concerning who one is. It is through the reclamation of freedom and
dignity that the African-American casts off the dehumanized objectification
applied to them by a racist society and thus helps the society itself to be
re-born. The oppressed person disavows
the society that has sought to strip their humanity, and through doing so
acknowledges that their own physical being could cease-to-be in the process of
revolutionizing a society that does not allow their full humanity, and
considers their claims to humanity to be a threat (Cone, 1990). </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The
historical narrative of the African-American slave as the present target of
racism is the modern-day representation of the historical oppressed
Christ. It is through <i>who Christ was </i>that Cone (1990)
identifies <i>who He is</i> in the present,
and who the professing Christian <i>must now
be </i>if they are to be a follower of the Christian faith. </div>
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Given
this understanding of the historical Christ-as-one with oppressed humanity we
recognize that the present day structures of American society dictate Christ
assume the condition of the African-American and become the black Christ. The personification of American oppression in
Cone's time of 1969-1970 as well as today possesses a face of color. Thus, it is only through identification with this
face of oppression that the Christian can hope to exemplify and follow Christ's
teachings (Cone, 1990). The co-optation
of the Christ figure as the oppressor god
traced back to the time of Constantine accounts for His portrayal in
modern America as the white Christ - someone who is un-relatable to the black
condition (Cone, 1990). From the Constantinian
perspective, Christ is viewed as the god who gives justification to the actions
of the nation-state. </div>
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In
the face of Constantianism or the religion of the oppressor class, Cone (1990)
uses language similar to Malcolm X in that a religion of oppression is not a
true religion nor one that he will acknowledge.
Cone uses powerful imagery to convey this point, stating that the white
Christ - the god of the racists - must be killed, destroyed, eliminated as a
false god - along with all who follow that god (Cone, 1990). </div>
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There
is no room for existential non-dualism or neutral ground in the position of
black theology. Modern versions -
sometimes referred to as prophetic Christianity (West, 2010) - reiterate Cone's
emphasis of <i>choosing</i> sides in situations
of injustice. Everyone from Cornel West
to South African leader Desmond Tutu have made remarks to indicate that
neutrality in unjust contexts means assuming the side of the oppressor (West,
2000). West in particular has followed
in the tradition of Cone by comparing the modern empire of imperialist America
directly to the Roman Empire of Jesus day and its identification as the power
that executed Him (Morrison & West, 2006).
West along with Cone stands against these nation-state empires which signify
oppressive power. This is not to say
that Cone or other black theologians are looking to exclude through dualistic
perceptions of the nature of race relations, but that a challenge is issued to <i>all </i>who are looking to manifest justice
in the face of racial oppression to <i>become
one with the oppressed. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
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This
unity of the spiritual with the existential is where space can be found to
insert the non-dualism of love into a theology that demands identifying with a
particular side. It is also the place
where I can claim Black Liberation Theology as part of the universal nature of
my own spiritual thinking. For it is <i>through </i>love that we become fully human,
and the ultimate example of love in Black Theology is the Christ example of
becoming one with oppression in order to transcend it in the achievement of a
non-dualistic humanity for all. At the
moment of claiming liberation for the black person in America - not merely
approving of it, but becoming the liberating aspect - we are fully realized
spiritual and existential beings. Cone
(1990) quotes Marx in this respect in that "freedom is the essence of
man...it is not something outside one who freely is, it is the specific mode or
structure of being" (p. 89). </div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b>The Responsibility of Consciousness<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
By
truly recognizing freedom as an intrinsic part of our human nature, we have no
choice but to side with the oppressed, and this is true whether we consider
ourselves Christians or not. It is at
this point that the historical narrative of African-American oppression through
slavery, Jim Crow and the modern prison system touches consciousness as an <i>awareness </i>of these structural conditions
demands a response. Once we can clearly
see the racism in our society, we must seek to destroy it, or risk our own
humanity by continuing to participate in this racist society, thus giving
validation to its existence as an oppressive entity that inhibits development. Later, we will explore how this consciousness
is being challenged in the modern day through the denial of continuing racist
structural conditions. </div>
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Much
of what I've been saying is not only central to an understanding of Cone, but
applies equally to the more secular liberation theory of people such as Paulo
Freire (2007). While Freire would not
use language involving Christ, I would argue that the difference between his
philosophy and Cone's is semantic. In
books such as <i>Pedagogy of the Oppressed, </i>Freire
(2007) discusses love and universal humanization in parallel to Cone's Christ
and the assumption of blackness.
Freire's philosophy is the more general description of the contextual
Black Liberation Theology in modern day America. Philosophies such as Freire's and Cone's mix
so well because they all point to the same universal truth and unity that I
express as the ultimate divinity or love.
Cone (1990) would seem to make allusions to people such as Freire as effectively
being <i>Christian in action</i> through scriptures
such as Matthew 25:31 which shows the surprise on the part of those welcomed
into heaven by a Christ who commends them for identifying with "the least
of these". In other places, Cone continues
this thread of theology by confronting the modern Western conception of
Christianity and its focus on codes of morality and theological intricacies at
the expense of engaging and living the life of Christ through loving action
(Cone, 1990). </div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b>Praxis Through Identification<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
From
a development standpoint, the full unfolding of humanity as described by
Galtung cannot exist in a dualistic setting of dehumanization. Freire (2007) emphasizes that humanity is not
something that one can determine for another, or something that can be assigned
or taken away from a person as it is the essence of being. It is the oppressed themselves that must be
conscientious of the structures they are under, even though this awareness can
produce fear in the responsibility it carries.
But it is this responsibility, I believe, that provides the full opportunity
for self-actualization and agency. Both
Cone and Freire describe this awareness which by nature leads to the praxis of
revolution as an expression of love towards the humanity that has not only been
denied to the oppressed revolutionary, but to the oppressor as well through
their warped worldview. </div>
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The
possession of the humanity of the oppressed is not something that the oppressor
can own and yet remain human <i>themselves. </i>Humanity is only available to the
individual as self-humanity. It is not
something that one can "own" from another and still retain their own
humanity. The two do not mix, for the
process of owning creates a commodity and takes away the spiritual element of
our human condition. The oppressor may
possess and even kill the physical body, but the humanity itself is something
that they have no control over. Cone
(1990) would say that this is where God is evident in Black Liberation Theology,
and particularly in the Godly concept of freedom. We are each the possessor and along with God,
the only possessor of our humanity. The
key is awareness of this fact, and what it requires of us. </div>
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We
are now beginning to see how history, consciousness and praxis are so
intertwined that it is very difficult to talk about one without including
all. The historical condition of "being
black" in America gives the black person alone the ability to obtain
freedom from racism for all of us through the conscious awareness and praxis of
liberating revolution. However, it is
not enough for those of us whose historical narrative is not identical to the
African American to simply show support without active involvement. The black American is the only one able to
obtain a society liberated from racism through revolution - Black Liberation
Theology states this as a fact tied directly to the meaning of liberation in
the life (and death) of Christ (Cone, 1990).
What this means for the rest of us is that we must assume this same
"black identity" or be on the side of the oppressor. In this sense, blackness is freedom,
blackness is a calling to be "Christ-like" in modern America. Blackness in America equals liberation <i>precisely because </i>of its oppressed
nature (Cone, 1990). If we are going to
be serious about the development of all on a global scale, then we must start
at home, and we must do so by being aware that our identity as humans is
inextricably tied into all of us "becoming black". This then will restore humanity to all so
that domestic development can truly begin in a unified liberated communal
structure of freedom rather than oppression.
</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b>Modern Racial Dialogue<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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One
of the biggest threats to consciousness that I have observed in personal
experience is the masterful re-articulation of post-racial colorblindness
combined with racial fatigue in many people, both white and black. I have black friends who recognize and
acknowledge racism, but I have just as many who are ready to move past the
rhetoric in the age of Obama and are honest in saying that they are tired of
the debate. This makes it very difficult
for me as a white man to engage in dialogue concerning issues of race with my
black friends. It is a bit unnerving as
well in that this can create issues of uncertainty as to the proper role for those
of us who are white and concerned about total human development in America. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For
me, this has become especially true over the past few years as my awareness has
increased in that individual freedom is contingent upon universal freedom. It is an all or nothing approach to freedom
as expressed in full human development that has been brought to me through the
knowledge that my own human development has come out of personal trauma and the
concomitant responsibility that I have seen placed on me as a result. This awareness showed me how de-humanized I
had allowed myself to become by too closely identifying with and being a part
of a system of excess which obtains its benefits through oppressing others, and
particularly African Americans in the United States. The structure of racism in the existential
sense is current, but the current condition is only possible through the
historical narrative, which continues to point to the fact that this country
was built on the shoulders of black slave labor. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Racism
has become incredibly well integrated into the complex structures of modern
American society and rhetoric, and it is often difficult to recognize since an
open expression of racial bias is taboo in the present day. Many who think like me want to believe that
this scourge is gone from our present day structures, but the statistics -
particularly in rates of African American incarceration - show otherwise
(Alexander, 2010). The elimination of
widespread openly racist language <i>would </i>be
welcome in a different context, but considering that the racism itself has not
disappeared with the rhetoric, this lack of overt racism is dangerous in that
it evades the issues and allows ignorance to the fact of continued racism. Better to have racism out in the open - even
if it is openly offensive - so that we can know what challenges need to be met,
rather than having to deal with a structural oppression that works quite
effectively because the exact structures are so intelligently disguised. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
American
society has gained a consciousness of denial through justifying its declaration
of post-racial conditions by pointing to the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.
(honored by a holiday/national monument) and the election of a half-black
President. It is a phenomenon that is
similar, and in fact very closely tied to the spirit of dissatisfaction with the
oppressive structures of Capitalism that became a global revolutionary movement
in the 1960's, and then faded into obscurity as it came close to overturning
but ultimately succumbing to the power of global Capital and its continued
exploitation of the poor. From my
vantage point, it would appear that Capitalism gained a societal currency and
justification in its defeat of communism.
As communism was the portrayed great evil and enemy, the sins of
Capitalism were much easier to ignore and bury.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In
the case of racism, Capitalism simply assimilated and introduced small tokens
to justify its new "recognition" of past injustices by providing
programs such as affirmative action and outlawing segregation and overt
legalized discrimination of African Americans (Alexander, 2010). Yet Michelle Alexander (2010) has illustrated
just how much of a smokescreen this illegality of discrimination has become by
pointing to several legal precedents, such as the Supreme Court case <i>Alexander v. Sandoval </i>in 2001 that effectively
eliminated the opportunity to challenge criminal convictions on the basis of
racial bias. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b>Modern Racism as Incarceration<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Alexander's
book <i>The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration
In The Age Of Colorblindness </i>(2010) is a concrete useful analysis of racism
in the midst of a complex modern America.
In the present day, structural components of racism are perhaps stronger
than ever, but their strength lies in their interconnection, not as individual
elements. It is because of the
interconnectedness of modern structural racism that it so difficult to isolate
components of the larger system in an attempt to eliminate or even identify
them (Alexander, 2010). This makes constructive dialogue surrounding
racist issues frustrating in our time as we are often hard pressed to define
specific examples of what racism looks like.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Racism
has been so integral to the existence and origin of America (e.g. elimination
of the Amerindians as a threat and a people combined with black slave labor in
the colonies), that the historical narrative of the nation is impossible to
discuss without reference to the Indian or the black person. One of the factors in covering up the
atrocities in the national consciousness - I believe - is that the narrative
has presented itself in the past tense, dealing with racism as a topic which
time itself has eliminated. The skillful
manipulation of rhetoric and presentation of the glorious American narrative
has allowed it a mythical status comparable to the Bible in the minds of many nationalists
(and as such, it is a topic that is not to be challenged). Therefore, since racism is woven into the
Indra's Net construction of all that we call "American", it is
inextricably a part of everything that involves tangible national
dialogue. It is no longer necessary to
discuss race precisely <i>because </i>it is
so ubiquitous. The lack of dealing with
racism is not a matter of apathy, it is a subconscious matter of survival to
the nation as we know it. To properly
deal with racism would require the unraveling of a national narrative and the
reconstruction of a new honest one. In
fact, from the <i>very beginning of our
nation, </i>The United States has been living a lie. Martin Luther King has famously called
America to account for not living up the creed of its founders (King, 1992),
which of course states that all are created equal. </div>
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Michelle
Alexander (2010) has used this underlying component of racism in our national
narrative to help explain why the new Jim Crow is the disproportionate
incarceration and resulting demonization of African Americans. In her book, she walks us through the various
stages of the penal and justice systems, showing how money, legal precedents,
national rhetoric and most importantly, the war on drugs all add their own
layers to the system of containment that surround the African-American both
figuratively and literally (Alexander, 2010).
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As
Alexander (2010) herself states, it is impossible to examine all the ways that
racism is tied into the structures of American society in an abbreviated
fashion, but the war on drugs is a particularly illustrative example. In major American cities, up to 80% of young
African American males have criminal records directly tied to their use or
possession of drugs (Alexander, 2010).
This is despite the fact that the rate of drug use among African
Americans is no higher and sometimes less than that of whites. Yet 80-90% of people incarcerated for drug
use are African American (Alexander, 2010).
If this alone doesn't cause suspicion at the injustice and racism of the
system, it's hard to imagine what it will take to convince the willfully
blind. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But
the incarceration of African Americans is not the worst part of what we call
the "criminal justice system" in America. Once a person has been labeled a felon (and
in some states - including Nevada, my home for ten years - even marijuana
possession is a felony), they are stuck with that label for life. So one joint, one smoke in the presence of a
police officer has the potential to effectively ostracize a person from being
able to function as a self-sufficient individual for the rest of their
lives. The label of "felon"
bars people from employment, college loans, voting, housing and numerous other
areas that are essential to day to day existence and long-term human
development (Alexander, 2010). It
doesn't take a great deal of critical thinking to realize that when a person is
left with little or no choice to feed themselves or obtain money, then they are
much more likely to return to crime, particularly if they have already
committed similar crimes in the past. Given
these facts, issues surrounding the prison system as it relates to African
Americans is far from being irrelevant to development questions. It is at the very heart of what it means to
develop modern American society into its full potential. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This
is also the case when considering - as Tim Wise does in his book <i>Colorblind</i> (2010) - the continued
discrimination against minorities in the workplace. Using multiple studies, Wise points to the
fact that 600,000 African Americans annually experience blatant discrimination
that directly affects their ability to find gainful employment (Wise,
2010). These studies do not even take
into consideration the challenges faced by former felons (the study only
tracked applicants with non-criminal records), nor do they identify the
indeterminate amount of informal application processes where it is impossible
to gauge the factor that racism plays.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b>The Cross Of The Modern Black Christ<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Having
spent my younger years growing up in the Christian church, the depth of the
sacrifice that Jesus made was constantly emphasized to us by the fact that
crucifixion was reserved for only the worst of criminals in the Roman Empire. In other words, it was the most degrading
punishment and form of death that one can imagine. Jesus chose to become the lowest and most
ostracized of human beings - even in death - in order to assume a liberation
that would give freedom to all. </div>
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Understanding
this nature of the death of Christ, what do we find when we combine it with a
foundational theology rooted in the black experience, and articulated by James
Cone, Cornel West, Martin Luther King Jr, and even Paul Freire and Malcolm X
among others? Keeping in mind that Black
Liberation Theology places a great emphasis on the here and now tangible, flesh
and blood application of Christianity, I
put forth the argument that <b><i>the cross of the black Christ in modern day
America is the prison.</i></b><i> </i>No other structure has such power in
stripping away the life and humanity of an entire community of people. No other structure creates such disdain for
its inhabitants and effectively marginalizes them and makes it socially
acceptable to hate and avoid them. Jesus
was despised at the time of His death by the powers and society that He was a
part of, yet it was through this that He transcended all and obtained a
liberation for those who identified and continue to identify with Him. </div>
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Alexander
(2010) has stated that the most damaging aspect of the justice system is the
permanent stigma placed on the convicted felon.
It is not hard to understand why, for not only does it bare the person
from employment in the face of an already discriminatory system as stated
above, but it increases the chances that the felon will become a repeat
offender simply to survive. In addition,
the chances of the person turning to drugs and/or alcohol as a means of
escapism from an existential nightmare is substantially increased. Thus, the former felon once again risks
arrest for possession and use of illicit substances in the senseless and
cyclical "War on Drugs". Of
course their poverty continues as well in that they find it harder and harder
to make money through legal employment. </div>
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<b>Setting The Captives Free<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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In
looking for answers in dealing with modern issues of race, we have come full
circle in our discussion of history, consciousness and praxis. Racism has been deeply embedded in America by
way of European culture, colonialism and institutionalism over a process of
centuries. It will not be dismantled
simply from a couple of decades of intense activism and legislation in the mid
20th century. In the post-counterculture era of carefully chosen rhetoric and
politically correct public personas, the lack of discussion has created a cover
for perhaps the most dangerous manifestation of racism to date as it
intertwines itself through structures culminating in the prison system. Each individual component is visible from
afar, but is very difficult to identify as we try to look closely at it. This is true - as both Tim Wise (2010) and
Michelle Alexander (2010) inform us - in the way that the police (legally)
place undue emphasis upon monitoring "poor urban" (read: "black")
communities looking for drug offenders as it is in judges imposing
disproportionate sentencing guidelines based on race. </div>
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For
those of us in modern day America, the road is a long and difficult one, but it
is attainable through a continued emphasis on history, consciousness and praxis
in all areas of human development. This
means that we must be aware that racism is a part of our national fabric, that
it is this racism and the human objects of it that hold the very keys to
liberation, and that any praxis of development which doesn't identify directly
with the oppressed - the African American and other minorities - will be a
futile spiritual and existential exercise.
</div>
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<b>Concluding Thoughts: How Will We Answer The Call?</b></div>
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For
the Christian and those of other love traditions, the challenge articulated by
Cone cannot be ignored. What will we do
when made conscious of the oppressed African American? Our consciousness is an awesome
responsibility. In my own life, my
political and social awakening created a restlessness in me that culminated in
the ending of a career for a life of activism and peacebuilding. The more conscious I became, the more I was
unable to ignore the spiritual nature of the call upon my life. While I would not identify it as coming
strictly from Christ, I wouldn't disavow the Christ-like nature of the
call. Cone is another of those authors
who has effectively articulated what I have long sensed in my own being - that
is to say that there <i>is </i>unity in the
natural order of all that exists, and that the free nature of existence is only
as strong as its weakest member, which is why we find liberation to achieve
full human development and the key to obtaining it for all at the very place
where oppression exists and in the actions of those who are subject to it. We can then begin by fully identifying with
the oppressed as possessing the same humanity we find in ourselves (by not
doing so we in fact become oppressed ourselves) and re-igniting the national
consciousness and dialogue surrounding issues of race. We have to not only re-start the racial
dialogue, but re-frame it for those who are racially fatigued. Fatigue could be looked at as another
component in the perpetuation of racist cultural dynamics, and is an effective
tool in the oppressor's hands in the fight against racial equity. </div>
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How
we overcome racism will require some creative revolutionary thinking in
addressing centuries old problems. The
system as it now stands will need to be reconstructed or at the very least
re-storied. We must develop a new
national narrative and dialogue that properly accords issues of race its place
in history. As we trace racial dynamics
back to the founding of the country, and follow their path through our history,
perhaps then we can recognize how the historical has informed the present and
created the structures that we have today.
If necessary, and if we have the will, those structures may have to be
completely destroyed and rebuilt again in order for the country to survive. The future of America depends upon full human
development which cannot be attained until we achieve full racial liberation
through identifying and realizing what it means to be the least of these in our
society. </div>
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</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoBibliography" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoBibliography" style="text-align: center;">
<b>References</b></div>
<div class="MsoBibliography" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;">
Alexander, M. (2010). <i>The new jim crow: mass
incarceration in the age of colorblindness.</i> New York: The New Press.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoBibliography" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;">
Cone, J. (1990). <i>A black theology of
liberation: twentieth anniversary edition.</i> Maryknoll: Orbis Books.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoBibliography" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;">
Cone, J. (1997). <i>Black theology and
black power.</i> Maryknoll: Orbis Books.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoBibliography" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;">
Freire, P. (2007). <i>Pedagogy of the
oppressed.</i> New York: Continuum.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoBibliography" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;">
Galtung, J. (2010). <i>A theory of
development: overcoming structural violence.</i> Oslo: Transcend University
Press.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoBibliography" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;">
Jr., M. L. (1992). <i>I have a dream:
writings & speeches that changed the world.</i> New York: HarperCollins.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoBibliography" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;">
Sen, A. (2000). <i>Freedom as
development.</i> New York: Random House.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoBibliography" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;">
West, C. (2010). <i>Brother west: living
and loving out loud, a memoir.</i> New York: Smiley Books.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoBibliography" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;">
West, C. (1999). <i>The cornel west
reader.</i> New York: Basic Civitas Books.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoBibliography" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;">
West, C., & Morrison, T. (2006,
August 26). <i>Toni morrison & cornel west in conversation</i>. Retrieved
April 2012, from You tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjifj_PZONo<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoBibliography" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;">
Wise, T. (2010). <i>Colorblind: the rise
of post-racial politics and the retreat from equity.</i> San Francisco: City
Lights Books.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoBibliography" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;">
X, M. (1965). <i>Malcolm x speaks.</i>
New York: Grove Press.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />timradioboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04782098380905182539noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2414968517182978362.post-66971213404163960502012-04-11T04:55:00.000-04:002012-04-11T06:23:12.068-04:00Ozzie Guillen and Cuba<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The actions and public position taken by the Miami Marlins against manager Ozzie Guillen have a lot more to say about politics and the elite of this country than it does baseball. Guillen was suspended for five games for stating that he loved Fidel Castro and respected the fact that he stayed in power for so long without being killed. What Guillen said must be understood in context, and here are some important dynamics to consider: <br />
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1. Latin America has been brutalized over the decades from the U.S. Our support of Rios Montt in Guatemala (responsible for 100,000+ Mayan deaths - all with material support from the Reagan administration) being just one example. Others include CIA orchestrated coups in Chile, Nicaragua (Contras), El Salvador, Guatemala, Argentina. Support for atrocities in all of those countries, and multi-national corporation seizure of resources are just the beginnings of what we've done. People like Castro, Chavez in Venezuela (Guillen's home country) and Morales in Bolivia have nationalized North American business interests upon assuming power, which has sealed their demonization in American discourse. You won't hear the same negativity applied to past regimes such as Rios Montt from Guatemala, Augusto Pinochet in Chile, or the Somoza dictatorship in Nicaragua - all extremely oppressive. The national narrative around those individuals is simply non-existent or filled with misinformation as they were supporters of the United States. <br />
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2. Given this context, support for Castro's revolution was and is common if not widespread. He is a leader who has stood against all that the brutal U.S. tied Latin American regimes of the past half century have represented. He has trained more doctors in Latin America than anyone in the world, and has also spread his literacy programs across the Southern Hemisphere. U.S. foreign policy has not been so friendly nor even remotely interested in true development or resolving conflicts/promoting education throughout Latin America's history. Every country we've touched, the situation has become worse - not better for the poor and disenfranchised. <br />
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3. Human rights violations? Yes, freedoms have been curtailed, Cuba is far from perfect, but mass killings and torture? Hardly. If anyone has done mass human rights violations and murders in Latin America over the past century, it has almost all been done either directly or with the support of U.S. foreign policy. Look up United Fruit Company from sites outside the U.S. and see what you find in the history of Central America, look at the ruthless human rights violators who have been trained at the School of the Americas in Georgia. Research the coups in Central and South America, or read books by Latin American authors - even American authors who are willing to step outside the mainstream. <br />
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4. The Cuban-American community in Miami (especially its voice and lobby influence) has grown largely out of the elites who were sent into exile as Batista's supporters, beneficiaries and cronies. This community is still heavily influenced by the same imperialist ideology that Batista supported - all aligned with international business interests. They have a reason to hate Castro - he nationalized their businesses, which were stripping the country's finances and resources - and took their exploitation of the poor and turned it around. Cuban literacy is nearly 100%, life span and overall health is dramatically improved since before the revolution, and the peasant classes saw their first opportunities for self-sustainability (all this despite a stifling U.S. embargo that has greatly hampered access to resources and further development). As I said, Cuba also has many faults, the lack of a free press being one of them as well as the lack of opposing political parties or national elections. <br />
<br />
I do not claim Socialism as my ideology nor do I support Castro, but I too have respect for him. I do not claim any political ideology exclusively. But I think it is a suppression of free speech to punish a man from Venezuela, a man who has seen the OTHER side of our foreign policy in Latin America for expressing a political opinion that has been overblown and ultimately irrelevant to his performance as a manager. Our media truly does control our thinking if we fail to see this situation and possible support of Castro from another perspective - that of the Southern Hemisphere, even if that support is not unconditional or universal (which it certainly isn't). Context is crucial, and our media does a very poor job of describing the dynamics surrounding Cuba from the viewpoint of those in Latin America and other places quite adversely affected by U.S. foreign policy, and does an even worse job of attempting to understand those who come from such places. <br />
<br />timradioboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04782098380905182539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2414968517182978362.post-89715310612090128332011-12-12T17:55:00.000-05:002011-12-14T11:07:33.921-05:00Linguistic Conceptions of Love and Idenity<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b><i>This essay is the culmination of a semester's study of identity in my MA program on Conflict Transformation. I realized that it became a bit of a personal manifesto of belief as </i></b><b><i>well. Identity does reach to the core of who we are, so that would seem to be a natural route for a r</i></b><b><i>eflection on the topic. </i></b><br />
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<b><i> </i></b>Whenever I'm asked about my religious beliefs, I say that love is the ultimate. I respond that love is God, which is one example of where my beliefs coincide with The Bible. We can see the thread of love in the makeup of all the world's great traditions, but is it enough to say that "I believe in love" and leave it at that? I say no, as not only will there be different ways of applying and defining love, but the universal nature of that small word opens up an entire new language that we can use; and much like language in the broader sense, love creates its own concepts by the very fact of its existence. It gives shape and clarity to everything that is. Its universal nature requires it to, and because of all that it envelops, "love" can seem impossible to harness into something neat and compact that we can categorize in our minds. There is a need to contextualize and explain what we mean when referring to love as related to identity. <br />
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Perhaps then it is best to see how love looks in various situations. One of my favorite quotations comes from Cornel West (2010) when he says that "justice is what love looks like in public". There is so much in that statement, including something unsaid: that love takes on a different "look" depending on context. So how then does love manifest itself in issues of identity? Better, what are some of the words and/or statements that we use in this love language of identity? Looking back on a semester, I can see where my worldview of love as the ultimate has found itself enhanced by new additions to my vocabulary. These new words/concepts have sparked corresponding new ideas and potential ways to enact love in our world. It has created new entry points to tap into the energy described so well by Pierre Tielhard De Chardin - who portrays my metaphysical conceptions best - when he sees love as an energy of attraction or coming together of consciousness, humanity, knowledge and biology in a process of evolution that will ultimately culminate in "God" (Chardin, 1976). So, let's look at love as it appears in some of the words we associate with identity. </div>
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<b>Love and identity as dignity </b><br />
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In my reading of Donna Hicks, I have not seen her name it as such, but her message is consistent with the idea that dignity is the essence of ourselves that is at base inseparable from and a part of universal love. It is where love resides in the individual, and tapping into that essence comes about through a process of self-reflection and discovery. Once we are able to see it in ourselves, then we can see it in others. This ability to see that internal space where love resides in humanity allows us to see true identity. I appreciate how she teaches us that dignity is not part of basic human needs, it is part of basic human essence. To deny someone's dignity is to deny their humanity (Hicks, 2011). <br />
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From my own experience, I have found that it's when I'm most violent to myself that I'm violent to others (that is not to say physically violent, but violent in words/thoughts). It's when I'm least capable of overlooking personal faults that I'm also incapable of overlooking faults in others, and I tend to make sure the other knows about whatever "wrong" they've done in my eyes. My vision has been blocked in those moments. I fail to focus on the truly human and instead pick out external conditions and tie them to the person's identity. I have not placed dignity at the forefront in these situations, and because of this I identify myself and others in relation to the external or a particular context, instead of seeing a human in the midst of and irrespective of a context. Yes, we exist in relation to the world, but in and of ourselves we are still autonomous humans defined by the very dignity that is often denied by others. We learn from those others, and denying their humanity is to deny our own. <br />
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<b>Love and identity as mimetic desire </b><br />
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Vern Redekop (2002) gives shape to a concept we all use called mimetic desire. We learn to relate to the world by sent and received messages and signals in relation to others and through imitating positive responses that meet our needs, including the needs around identity. Mimetic desire or the desire to imitate can be positive or negative, but at base it is a desire for connection to something we see in the other. Redekop argues that what we are looking to connect with is at the very essence of what it means to be human, and it is here that I would agree. Notice the consistency with the other aspects of love which we've already addressed, such as Chardin's love energy working through evolution to bring us into tighter relation and consciousness as inter-connected humanity. Also, the desire to reach the essence of the human is the desire for dignity which is inseparable from essence. <br />
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Redekop himself refers often to dignity, and it's concomitant element of autonomy. Both Redekop and Hicks are consistent in their descriptions of the seeming tension between the dual needs of individuation and integration. This tension is not so difficult to resolve when love as the mimetic as brought in. What we desire in imitating the other is that which defines us all as humans. It can be as simple as learning the appropriate way to dress or as complex as connections at the deepest emotional level. Thus, once we attain those desires/needs, we are then fully realized in our individuated humanity while at the same time we have achieved connection with the humanity around us. The two cannot be separated, as seemingly disparate as individuation/integration look at first glance. <br />
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This makes sense when we continue to keep in mind that love is universal. Therefore ultimate love would by nature be fully capable of realization in the whole or part of the whole. However, the part only retains identity in relation to the whole. Identity cannot happen in a vacuum. There must be a relation in order for the individual to stand out or identify to humanity. If humanity or larger societies were universally homogenous, there would be no individual identity as there would be nothing to relate to. Love as mimetic desire fulfills the need for relation and autonomy in its healthiest manifestation by allowing us to be truly present witnesses through an awareness of others and how we identify in a continuous give and take. Thus the individual continues to combine and work towards higher levels of consciousness, unity and love by having their needs fulfilled while at the same time offering back to others those parts of one's self which we are able to give. In this way, mimetic desire works in all areas of the human experience and makes clear why healthy self-care and knowledge is inseparable from the love of others. <br />
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<b>Love and identity as biology </b></div>
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<b> </b> I have already referred to Chardin's metaphysical paradigm of evolution as love, but I want to expand on that idea a bit and bring in thoughts of biologist Mary Clark as well. The idea of evolution as love and what that means for our identity is a profound departure from the normal discourse of evolution as natural selection. Both Chardin and Clark argue that we have evolved into beings that are by nature social and not competitive. </div>
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Clark (2002) takes this somewhat novel idea of evolution as a point of departure and argues that our minds are essentially "meaning-making" organs (p. 62). She illustrates this by showing us how language itself has evolved out of relationship in that it is a shared system of making sense of the world. It is through coming together that we come to a greater knowledge simply by the mere fact that we have a common basis for understanding in linguistic terms. This is a refreshing departure from survival of the fittest as a paradigm for increased intelligence. How often have we seen the power of ideas in a group of thinkers being superior to the individual, even if that individual has a higher singular intelligence than any one member of the group? </div>
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This is but one example of what I take from Clark in that biological evolution is a relation of love, and that the coming together of cells mimics the coming together of humanity. At this point, we enter into the metaphysical, as we cannot see the end of our evolutionary road. Chardin posits that the ebbs and flows of power structures, the errors and violence, the love and hatred are but the normal process of humanity's evolution towards the highest or ultimate realized for him in Christ and for me in love. <br />
<br />
Chardin died before the invention of the internet, but the advancement of technology is another example of evolution at work, and a form of evolution that unites us rather than separates us. Further, It is from imperfections in learning to deal with new and unfamiliar others - and their corresponding identities - that violence can occur. As technology makes the world smaller, we are facing new challenges of how to continue to come together. But Clark argues that it is in our nature to be social beings, and in this I find agreement with her. It is natural to unite, and the violent reactions we see in our world when diverse identities first engage in the trial and error process of unity are a result of earlier evolutionary processes that form the makeup of our individual cells. To continue to evolve, the human as organism will "learn" that going with the grain of the universe means learning to unite, not divide. Their evolution is centered around the ultimate goodness at the heart humanity, which I call love/divinity. <br />
<br />
So as Redekop (2002) and Clark (2002) both point out, we have evolved towards self-preservation, but when we bring that idea together with Chardin's ultimate metaphysic of combined humanity-as-one, we see that the self-preservation will eventually reach to a much greater macro level than anything previously envisioned. For in the end we individual humans, now seen as a whole in and of ourselves, will become - and in many ways already have become - the makeup of a higher form of life, much like the individual cells which make up our bodies. <br />
<br />
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<div>
This evolutionary energy of love that drives life at all levels is what we must learn to tap into as we become ever more physically closer on this planet. This is my conception of becoming closer to divinity - working towards the divinity in ourselves as united with others - and this is where I see and understand the Christian concept of God in man as Christ. This vision of Christ as the ultimate evolution - which is the true view of Chardin and all Christians - is really a vision of the highest stage of humanity and consciousness. Our identity and purpose as humans is to be part of the greater whole that is driven by love. So, to me, love and Christ are inseparable, and to say that I believe in love would also carry a form of belief in Christ, but additionally would include other energies of love that can be seen in Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc. All are attempts to identify humans as tied to this energy of love, and that's why I cling to love as the ultimate force and God of the universe. <br />
<br />
Additionally, since all humanity contains the grain of divinity within their very biological essence, then is it too far of a stretch - given all that we've discussed thus far - to envision different autonomous expressions of God in the diversity that is the makeup of humanity? To take it further, isn't it this diversity contained within an even larger whole that will culminate in God? Cannot this God then be diverse as a part of its makeup? Does this not mean then that the energy of love is great enough to be all-inclusive and uniting and even has a destiny to unite? I say yes, and these questions are the kinds that I've grappled with in my own mind in attempts to make sense of the metaphysical. Furthermore, they are all directly related to the very core of who we are as humans, and how we identify with the universe and particularly the "others" around us. <br />
<br />
<b>Love and identity as politics </b><br />
<br />
At first glance, you the reader might think this statement oxymoronic. Politics is traditionally thought of in terms of governments, deal-making and power struggles. Yes, this is a part of politics, but Kenneth Hoover (1997) reminds us that there are power dynamics in any human relationship. If we are alive, we have power, and therefore power is a part of our identity. It cannot be ignored and it cannot be avoided, so awareness of the critical importance that power carries in human identity is crucial to our further evolution and survival. <br />
<br />
Interactions of power-containing individuals and societies, in Hoover's conception, are meant to draw off of the same energy of love that we've been discussing. Proper use of power as political relations is pragmatic application of the energy of love. Politics also encompasses far more than the macro government level. Politics is human relations. Therefore for these relations to remain healthy rather than self-destructive to our species, we need to focus on providing the kind of environments that will contribute to mimetic exchanges that allow diversity, tolerance and equanimity. Stifling mimetic desire as described by Redekop (2002) is to try to counter-act the process of evolution. Eventually this is doomed to failure if we accept everything posited thus far, yet this is what many governmental power structures attempt to do in our world today. <br />
<br />
<b>Love and identity as revolution </b><br />
<br />
Further, it is the stifling of these rich mimetic exchanges, in their ideal form, that becomes a threat to identity and is a direct contributor to violence. This is easily perceived when we remember that mimetic desires help define and shape our identity, and to be aware of our identity is to be aware of our dignity. When governments or power structures establish environments that try to homogenize or restrict this identity formation, they are also engaging in an indirect or direct denial of human dignity. Those subjected to this denial will often rebel and become violent, and these environments are the atmospheres from which revolutions are born. <br />
<br />
Granted, revolutions are not necessarily a bad thing, and much like the evolution of humanity, they can be seen as an evolution of the conditions that contribute to the positive evolvement of human structures of power. The problem is in the violence. Revolution by nature does not equal violence, but it of course often includes it. Revolution at base is about change, and the kind of change that revolutions work towards is to bring conditions that not only provide room for human dignity to shine, but to enhance and grow the dignity of humans; ultimately, it's about increasing awareness in the lives of the oppressor that the oppressed are claiming back their identity. This may sound like some grand statement, but isn't any revolution a progression, which is born out of a desire that a certain group has to elevate their worth as humans? <br />
<br />
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<div>
While I cannot endorse the methods of a Che Guevara, he did capture the essence of revolution in his statement "at the risk of sounding absurd, a true revolutionary is motivated by love for the people" (Franklin, Hsu & Kosanke, 2000, p. 20). What I find admirable about Che's writings is that he was seemingly driven by the lack of dignity that he recognized in his fellow Latin Americans. He had seen how the machinations of power and imperialism had de-humanized the people with which he identified, and he felt this de-humanization in his deepest core essence. Ultimately, he identified himself as one of those people which the power structures of the Northern Hemisphere, particularly the United States, were oppressing. <br />
<br />
I am convinced that Che's revolutionary motivations were as much an effort to restore his own dignity as they were to elevate the dignity of others. His methods became extreme, and he acted violently to keep the revolutionary movement progressing forward. This I can no longer agree with, although there was a time when I did. However, I have come to a greater empathy of the reasons for the actions of a Che Guevara, or at least the actions of the Che that I've read about and that has been presented to me through Cuban and other leftist literature. <br />
<br />
Che's actions as presented were an effort to restore equality and dignity in all people. Theoretically, this is the message of Marxists everywhere. However, the dark side of power inserts itself into dialectic materialism by not acknowledging the fact that one power class ends up replacing another. A purely Marxist message is not one of equanimity and dignity for all humanity, it's only for those who were formerly oppressed. If the Marxist revolution succeeds - at least in the real world outside of Marxist literature - the oppressed becomes the oppressor. <br />
<br />
<b>Love and identity as divine revolution </b><br />
<br />
We can see from the preceding statement how identity can instantly take on a different form when conditions are not created for the proper dignity of all, including the former oppressors. When this happens then we as the greater body of humanity have arrived at the position we held before the revolution. The death and violence involved in the cleansing of the old guard has done nothing to advance the evolution of the new guard. The new guard has separated itself from the greater body by attempting to elevate itself above the previous oppressor. This separation from the larger body of humanity is a form of identity loss, and is akin to a branch being separated from a tree. By refusing to recognize the dignity of the whole, the dignity of the part is lost as well. As previously mentioned, the part can only maintain its identity in relation to the whole. <br />
<br />
However, divine revolution, the revolution that goes with the energy of love recognizes the dignity of all and must by that fact alone be a revolution of non-violence. For how else can we respect our common human dignity but to remain non-violent? Any form of violence is at base a de-humanization. It is a judgment placed on a particular human life, stating that in this situation that human no longer has a place in the greater body of humanity. It is a denial of dignity - of identity at its very foundation - which is the identity of being human. <br />
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<div>
Revolutionaries such as Jesus, Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Dorothy Day, Cornel West and many others, like Che Guevara have also fought for the oppressed. But they have done so in a way that keeps the dignity of the oppressor intact. For the revolution means nothing if it is not universal, and for it to be universal it is absolutely necessary to stop the cycle of violence not later, but now. Forgiveness is necessary to restore the dignity of the oppressor, and it is necessary for the restoration of the dignity of the oppressed. The bond comprising the greater human identity has been ruptured in situations of oppression, and to restore it both parties must be reconciled. Forgiveness by the oppressed is at the base of this process as well as the acknowledgment of the rupture committed on the part of the oppressor. <br />
<br />
<b>Concluding remarks </b><br />
<br />
In addition to the methods above, I'd like to close this reflection on the love language of identity by stating that love and identity are also knowledge and awareness. Love grows out of knowledge and awareness. Anything we as individual autonomous members can do to increase our awareness extends itself to the whole through the mimetic exchanges with which we are constantly engaged. We have no choice but to intervene in our world, as the very essence of being human is to interact. Even an inaction is still an action. <br />
<br />
Therefore, when we increase our own awareness, we work towards increasing the awareness of others. At the same time, we cannot increase our awareness separated from others. Awareness, like human existence itself, is individuated yet integrated. Without a cultural base, a frame of reference, linguistic terms to make sense of what's around us, and interactions with others, whether it be in print or in person, our awareness is nothing; it is a vacuum. Even the contemplatives, monks, Buddhists and other ascetics are ultimately trying to tap into the same divine universal energy of love that we all seek and find in ourselves and through our relations with others. Their seemingly isolated search is actually a very intense process of reaching towards the whole. Those who are able to achieve the feeling of ultimate connection of being at one with the universe have tapped into divinity. They have found love, and they are now speaking its language. May we all work towards finding this connection in our lives, for there is no truer way to define our identity than through love. <br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>References</b></div>
<br />
Chardin, P. T. (1976). Activation of energy: enlightening reflections on spiritual energy. New York: Harcourt, Inc. <br />
Clark, M. E. (2002). In search of human nature. New York: Routledge. <br />
Franklin, C., Hsu, R., & Kosanke, S. (2000). Literary studies east and west: navigating islands and continents: conversations and contestations in and around the pacific. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. <br />
Guevara, C., & Deutschmann, D. (2003). Che guevara reader. Melbourne, Australia: Ocean Press. <br />
Hicks, D. (2011). Dignity: the essential role it plays in resolving conflict. New Haven: Yale University Press. <br />
Hoover, K., Marcia, J., & Parris, K. (1997). The power of identity: politics in a new key. Chatham, NJ: Chatham House Publishers, Inc. <br />
Redekop, V. N. (2002). From violence to blessing: how an understanding of deep-rooted conflict can open paths to reconciliation. Ottawa, Canada: Novalis. <br />
West, C. (2010). Brother west: living and loving out loud, a memoir. New York: Smiley Books. </div>timradioboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04782098380905182539noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2414968517182978362.post-8795739877400767222011-12-07T14:35:00.001-05:002011-12-07T15:02:28.713-05:00Intervention<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyFAoHUsc8ETrI6_GKrkdE35KI9UIp1HFPa2O0MEvHb_5YMogA5T0pM7Ybqgg2zbRIB8N41YLw2d3UBVtuXhpoE1XbanvlNYJBlbRH9KvPSAGFlIF1wFAnCrbhTig9Yue1tQFBAFWSXks/s1600/Kish-Art-in-front-of-tank.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyFAoHUsc8ETrI6_GKrkdE35KI9UIp1HFPa2O0MEvHb_5YMogA5T0pM7Ybqgg2zbRIB8N41YLw2d3UBVtuXhpoE1XbanvlNYJBlbRH9KvPSAGFlIF1wFAnCrbhTig9Yue1tQFBAFWSXks/s320/Kish-Art-in-front-of-tank.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The late activist Arthur Gish in Palestine</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i>When asked to reflect on the idea of "intervention" as applied to my peace work grad studies, I realized how foundational this is to every human interaction. We cannot escape intervention, we engage in it constantly, whether or not we are conscious of it...</i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
...and as with any
concept, I like to dig deep, find out all I can, think about it from every
angle, and maybe jump in and immerse myself to the point that I am <i>living the idea - </i>at least in my
mind. Is a word or can a word be an
idea? I say yes in the sense that
"love" as a word is also an idea, "justice" as a word is an
idea, and "intervention" can be as well. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Intervention
by nature implies an action, which includes stepping into a situation,
environment and/or someone's life or lives.
Therefore we have underlying factors such as motive and purpose working
in the idea of intervention. Going
deeper still, I seem to hit a bedrock of two dynamics: 1.responsibility and 2. a <i>philosophy or way of life </i>as being at
the abstract foundation of intervention.
I think we must begin with the latter.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For
me and probably for many others, the decision to work <i>for others </i>in such an obvious way as peacebuilding came about
through an intense and sometimes torturous mental journey. Why are we so driven to make changes in our
world? Why or how can one person possibly
make a difference? Is there some
underlying need that is at work in our own lives? When we've seen some of the world and realize
the transient nature of things, the questioning ultimately will turn to the
existential: Is there a reason for
living <i>other than </i>relationships and
the impact we make on other lives through our own life? I've come to the decision that there is
not. People are life and
life-giving. But why do we even need a
reason to live? Is our reason for living
for others driven by selfishness? These
are all questions I've spent an enormous amount of time thinking about. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At
this point we can bring in the issue of responsibility to our philosophy of
life. If we are considering stepping
into a situation that has a direct impact on the life of another, then we'd
better be aware of the magnitude of what we're doing, and how we're doing
it. But the dialogue can become quite
existential here as well. Is it possible
<i>not </i>to have an impact on others? Isn't our very presence in the world an
impact just from the fact that we're alive and live <i>in relation to </i>others, even if that relation is seemingly benign or
irrelevant? Is the lack of the good that
we could have done for someone an action of its own accord - an action out of
inaction? The conclusions I've come to
in this regard tells me that the energy of the universe, the energy that many
refer to as God, and I refer to as love, is the same energy that has caused me
to live and that draws me inextricably towards others in positive mutuality. Yes, I have a need that I am fulfilling - the
need of purpose - by choosing to intervene in the world as a peacebuilder. However, I am fulfilling that need with the
full knowledge that what I see inside of myself is <i>interdependent on others. </i>Humanity
by nature is meant to function as a union, and as peacebuilders, we are working
towards repairing ruptures in inter-relational dynamics and striving towards a
consistent healthy functioning of that union.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The
needs I recognize in myself are common to all of humanity. We are all drawn towards each other, so in
this sense I cannot reduce the actions of peacebuilders to simply selfish
motives - as everyone has the need for connection and purpose. If it is selfish, then it's a shared
selfishness with all humanity. So we need to be connected
yes, but there is a coinciding need for autonomy that goes along with
connection. We are independent and
autonomous yet connected through the same energy that gives us all life. I appreciated the reminders that Anderson
& Olson (2003) - among others - have given us that peacebuilding in its
ideal form is meant to give space to others to establish their own autonomy and
independence. Those two concepts involve
the further concepts of dignity, freedom, sustainability and control of
self. Peacebuilding is not meant to <i>impose</i> peace on others, as if it were
something that I or anyone was able to give to them. No, the best that I can hope to do is to open
up more spaces for others to realize opportunities that they never were able to
see before, and to further allow them to see that they can build upon these
opportunities and continue to spread the divine energy of the universe in their
own lives and environments. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But
here again, caution is needed. The same
motive of opening "opportunities" is also claimed by those who enter
parts of our world to proselytize. We
have a very real danger of falling into the mentality of the benefactor who
believing themselves superior, has something to give to those less
fortunate. I have observed that this
benefactor mentality is often combined with a misconception of the categorical
imperative to "show the light" to others. This is where the idea of duty or the
establishment of morality by some code can become dangerous, and where I
disagree with the wording of Anderson & Olson. Yes, we should live our lives by a
standard. However, to term that standard
"morality" can imply things to others that we don't mean it to. The same could even be true for the term
"love", but I do not know any other way to refer to the ultimate life
force we all live by. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The
main point to be taken from this is that we must constantly <i>be aware </i>of the environment and
worldview from which we come. We must
further be aware that everyone has a worldview, and none is benign or lacking
of impact upon others in some way. As
mentioned previously, I strongly believe that inaction is still action. We cannot escape worldviews or our impact
upon others. But we <i>can</i> control how that impact is made upon others. Entering situations and foreign environments
requires us to live and operate with the utmost humility. Our morality may not be the morality of others,
but I fully believe that love is universal.
There is a certain level of dignity and respect for human life and
rights that is also universal. I believe
that we cannot go wrong if we always strive to hold our every action up against
the energy of love which is inclusive of equanimity, justice, peace, respect,
humility, compassion and dignity. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But
you as the reader may be thinking that all of these are abstractions and not
very pragmatic in application. I would
argue otherwise. When considering our
conceptions of humanity - that is how we view human life in all of its facets,
right down to the very value of the life itself - we must realize how
subconscious these conceptions become and how influential they are on every
life decision we make. There is no
choice to intervene, and there is certainly no choice whether or not to
intervene for the peace practitioner. We
intervene no matter what we do. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Since
we have no choice in the matter, we need to approach our
"interventions" in life with an open attitude; one that realizes that
the need to learn more from others is greater than the need to teach others or
assume some sort of "high road" when it comes to morality. I believe this applies as well to someone who
is adopting the "do-gooder" mentality out of a feeling of guilt
rather than love. I cannot see how we can
effectively practice peace in our world unless we learn how to truly <i>connect </i>with others on a deep
level. To do that, we must learn how to
love - and love in the broadest sense, which starts with the love of self. If we cannot recognize and love the humanity
that resides within us, we will never be able to recognize it in the world
around us, and we will be going through life blind to the interventions that we
engage in constantly. I appreciate the
insights that the academic world has given me in this respect, but the vast
majority of this knowledge cannot be learned through strict academics void of
coinciding internal work. For some, it
requires a great deal of adversity, for others it may not. But no matter how the process manifests
itself in life, those who are able to achieve the smallest insight into the
complexities of intervention are among the fortunate ones in our world. </div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Reference</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div class="MsoBibliography" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Anderson, M., & Olson, L. (2003). <i>Confronting
war: critical lessons for peace practitioners.</i> Cambridge, MA: The
Collaborative for Development Action, Inc.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />timradioboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04782098380905182539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2414968517182978362.post-38174167986007116632011-12-06T12:35:00.001-05:002011-12-06T19:06:06.159-05:00Kenneth Hoover on Identity, Power and Politics<b><i>The focus of several recent posts on this blog have involved the concept of identity as related to Conflict Transformation (which is also a course I'm currently taking). This has been one of my most enjoyable classes in my grad program this semester. The book reviews and topics discussed here have been posted because these topics have been integral and parallel to my own thoughts and development this past year. </i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsglResH5BWhytZ8kTf4zi719e5mSybjycjz3miGLNMutwc2KFPbVPnKAm_YhjWimc7p7ALCJT9f8wNyjYTLiSzwyBwH-SF6QlvNuWrJKu-wTlF0tEwdYEwsrHessr-aSZmT82u-KNtys/s1600/The-Power-of-Identity-9781566430517.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsglResH5BWhytZ8kTf4zi719e5mSybjycjz3miGLNMutwc2KFPbVPnKAm_YhjWimc7p7ALCJT9f8wNyjYTLiSzwyBwH-SF6QlvNuWrJKu-wTlF0tEwdYEwsrHessr-aSZmT82u-KNtys/s320/The-Power-of-Identity-9781566430517.jpg" width="213" /></a><b>Introduction<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There
are foundational tensions at the heart of Kenneth Hoover's book <i>The Power of Identity: Politics in a New Key,
</i>and they go to the very core of what it means <i>to be</i> in the world and further <i>to
be in relation with</i>; i.e. the full range of what it means to exist as a
human. These tensions take various forms,
a couple of which are the us vs. them duality we hear in numerous contexts and
the positive vs. negative benefits as applied to the individual when referring
to identification with a particular group. Therefore the tensions are multi-dimensional,
multi-layered and complex when we begin to break down the internal and external
elements of human identifications and relations. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b>Politics And Power As Related To Identity<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Politics
as defined by Hoover is also multi-dimensional and multi-layered. Here Hoover is partly referring to politics in the
"traditional" sense, that is to say in the state or governmental
spheres. But politics according to
Hoover is much more; it is essentially any interaction involving situations of
power, influence and knowledge (among other factors) which affect relations
between - and the concomitant identities of - individuals at the micro level
and communities/societies at the macro level.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Therefore,
the scope of this relatively short book is incredibly large as it attempts to
look at identity from the vantage point of many different perspectives and
group dynamics. However, Hoover's great
achievement is to instigate appropriate lines of questioning when it comes to
the <i>meaning</i> of identity. This type of questioning is not much
different from that which goes into the process of healthy identity formation
itself.</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b>Stages of Identity Development<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Integral
to Hoover's tensions within the various elements and types of identity is the
gradations in identity development, both within societies and communities, and
within the individual in relation to those larger groups. Hoover's statements resonate when he mentions
the stages of identity development within the individual, particularly the time
in late adolescence which he refers to as "moratorium". The
critical importance of this period is emphasized by Hoover, and with the
advantage of hindsight, anyone with a bit of life experience and a healthy
sense of identity should be able to recognize the decisions made - conscious or
not - during this time. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What
Hoover means by moratorium is that there is enough development in the
individual's mind and just enough life experience (in late adolescence) to
begin the process of questioning.
Whether or not this process is actually embarked upon at that time is
another matter. There is a danger in this stage of accepting
everything that has been presented to the developing mind without the
appropriate critical thinking that is so crucial to self-esteem, self-respect
and true identity formation.
"Identity foreclosure" is how Hoover describes the process of
closing further development at this point in one's life. One example of this could be the
fundamentalist - of any stripe - who simply accepts what has been presented to
them<i> externally</i> their entire
life. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
However,
identity foreclosure is not necessarily a bad thing once proper identity development
has occurred. If one has given
themselves the opportunity and courage to question the world around them during
the moratorium period, and has come to certain conclusions <i>on their own</i> then identity foreclosure could be seen as a natural
progression. Hoover could be interpreted
as saying that having solid beliefs, with the caveat of flexibility and
openness to learning new experiences, is a healthy form of
"foreclosure". This flexibility
prevents the creeping in of dogmatic lines of action and thought. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b>Identity, Tolerance and Culture<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Once
the individual has established and is <i>aware</i>
of their own identity progression, they are then able to confidently and openly
tolerate differences of opinion in others.
With the solid grounding of their own identity, they perceive no threats
from the outside. This review argues
that this is one of the most critical elements at any stage of identity in our
world today, whether it be at the individual level, or at the societal and
community levels. Additionally, it is argued
that intolerance results from a lack of appropriate questioning in one's life,
and this results in insecurity, which could be - and perhaps often is -
subconscious. There is an element of
fear that one's beliefs and worldview (a large part of identity) might not be
the final "truth", and the perception of threat from those with
different identities comes into play.
That is, the individual feels the instability of their own identity in
the face of "the other", and it is not inaccurate to say that they
almost believe that this "other" wants to change them in some way, or
that they might be changed themselves with continued exposure. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A
very close concept to identity foreclosure before a proper moratorium would be
labeled by Hoover as "diffusion".
This is the other direction in which the individual could head in the
moratorium period. Diffusion is where no
identity at all is claimed, whether external or internal. Where it can be interpreted by the reader as
similar to early identity foreclosure is in the sense that both elements
(identity foreclosure without proper moratorium <i>and </i>diffusion) lack internal stability. The process of questioning allows the
individual to "feel out" the world around them and establish identity
in relation to the world or culture.
This, we can argue, is what Hoover means when he talks about culture
being inseparable from identity. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This
statement about the individual process can also be applied to communities of
any size and the larger societies around them.
To expand even further on the concept of culture being inseparable from
identity formation is that culture provides a starting point. There is a grounded reference found in
culture than can be accepted or rejected by the party (individual, group,
society) given all the elements at their disposal. Even if this culture is rejected by the
identity-seeking party, there is still an identity <i>in relation to </i>that particular culture. The environment around the individual cannot
be ignored, because a non-reaction to culture is still a reaction. The inter-connectedness of all that <i>is </i>comes through very strong in this
important idea. </div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b>Identity, Government and Diversity<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A
further tension in Hoover's work is seen in the concepts of politics and power
in the commonly perceived sense, which is the government or larger
community/society. For a society to
exist, and for it to have an internal cohesion, there is a requirement for
balance in identity. This statement
seems to match well with Hoover when he illustrates the drawbacks of the two
commonly perceived "sides" of politics. The right <i>can</i>
become intolerant in its sometimes closed conservative ideals that refuses to
bend to allow others into the circle.
Further, a different sort of conservatism - involving the market mentality
- is individualistic to a fault in that the idea of competition has clearly
established (and isolated) winners and losers.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On
the left side of the political spectrum, we can see the demand for tolerance of
any and all types of diversity, ideas, personalities, etc. In theory this is a very laudable and desired
concept. Yet much like the right's <i>insular </i>community this can be taken to
an extreme, as Hoover illustrates, by the very stringent demand for diversity
being itself an inflexible idea. There is
little room in both mindsets - the closed community of the right and the
stringent demand for diversity on the left - for compromise in coming
together. Both end up being
self-defeating and intolerant in the end by refusing to allow <i>true </i>diversity which is grounded on a
stable identity that is not just unthreatened but <i>enriched </i>through the flexibility to consider outside ideas, however
they might arrive. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hoover's
idea of the proper concept of power in government or polities/politics at any
level is something with which this review can agree. He believes that power in its most ideal form
is something which creates a space for the freedom to engage in proper identity
development. To do this, there must be
freedom of expression and ideas. It is
argued here that nothing should be off the table - which would mean a minimum
of any type of censorship by power structures - and further that an environment
conducive to tolerance is necessary.
This would mean not just laws that technically allow freedom of expression,
worship, information, etc.. but an <i>environment </i>that is conducive to
equanimity in application of these laws and structures. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Further,
diversity should be embraced and accepted as a desirable part of
community. Proper identity formation
allows this, and the institutions of power and politics can help create a
culture and atmosphere conducive to this, but Hoover makes explicitly clear
that mutuality is not something that can be mandated at a macro level. He illustrates this point quite effectively
by referring to China at the end of the book and how - particularly under Mao -
the Chinese identity was so homogenized that the identity of the individual was
lost in the collective. This is
counter-productive to the concept of community.
A healthy community (and Hoover would likely agree) is one where
identity is properly established at all levels, from the individual to the
community and ultimately the larger society.
The very nature of healthy identity formation will produce its own
diversity. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As
Hoover mentions, this is not something that can be mandated by the state. Proper identity formation involves relations
between individuals and the world around them, and decisions resulting from
those relations. This is an
interpretation of a context where Hoover's concept of "mutuality" can occur. Mutuality is dependent on individual
relationships grounded upon healthy "interiors" or identities, and
cannot be state prescribed. Cults of
personality and the resulting identifications as tied to those personalities in
authoritarian regimes are <i>external not
internal </i>forms of identity. The same
can be said for blanket acceptance without question of any ideology, including
religion. Accepting any identity without
the proper internal work goes back to Hoover's description of identity
foreclosure. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b>Concluding Statement<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It
is the interpretation of this review that Hoover's book is yet another example
of the attempt to balance the conflict of opposites inherent to the human
condition; in this case "opposites" as referring to the opposing tensions
in identity development and the necessity to balance those opposites for proper
development. Hoover's illustrations in
the structures of politics and the dynamics of power that coincide with them
rest on a solid foundation of properly developed identity with the ability of
the human consciousness (at any level, micro or macro) to <i>rise above</i> this foundation and immerse itself in diverse ideas,
cultures, opinions, peoples, etc. It is
through this paradigm of identity that we as a species can work towards the
reduction of fear and the acceptance of "the other" as an integral,
yet uniquely diverse expression of our common humanity. </div>timradioboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04782098380905182539noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2414968517182978362.post-30322038976794715382011-11-25T08:12:00.001-05:002011-11-27T08:16:10.838-05:00Les Misérables<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_Z_IW-d9luZ_7R_NgGOfUzXoWmxceRG17IHVqRYmSJ7Opb-s9cecV_4i5JG61vuXvu3cBKH90Wf5HLwaIKX6ltWUSiwXtLibnW9tIB9-la8_VXuicHx2ZapW0pgrPIFADz7GzCT-xJlI/s1600/Les+miserables.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_Z_IW-d9luZ_7R_NgGOfUzXoWmxceRG17IHVqRYmSJ7Opb-s9cecV_4i5JG61vuXvu3cBKH90Wf5HLwaIKX6ltWUSiwXtLibnW9tIB9-la8_VXuicHx2ZapW0pgrPIFADz7GzCT-xJlI/s320/Les+miserables.jpg" width="285" /></a></div>
I finally read Hugo. To attempt some sort of original review would be superfluous. All I can say is a few thoughts that it stirred in me, which are related to the current context of my life. The same would be true, but different, for anyone else.<br />
<br />
1. Everyone has a need out of which they act. To judge actions of people in society at first glance is to not UNDERSTAND, to not EMPATHIZE. <br />
<br />
2. The conditions and absurdities of society separate us from others. Sometimes this is by chance, sometimes from misunderstandings. Often these separations cannot be repaired in the context of relationship, but just as often they can. Regardless, redemption is an internal process, and it is the interior work that is where we touch what others refer to as divinity (and what I refer to as the energy of love). <br />
<br />
<div>
3. I have no use for the categorical imperative or "duty". Morality is not a universal concept, love is. In society, morality or duty trumps love. Therefore I reject that society as morality and duty are defined arbitrarily. Love is the ultimate, and Javert's attempt at being irreproachable is quite often how society approaches religion. We destroy lives in the name of duty or morality. The actions of love, peace and social justice seek understanding, which is far more important and goes far deeper towards the depths of the soul than any attempt at having the most "morally upstanding society".<br />
<br /></div>timradioboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04782098380905182539noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2414968517182978362.post-10226819463910636502011-11-07T18:48:00.005-05:002011-11-07T18:57:38.687-05:00Amartya Sen's Controversial look at "Identity and Violence"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKzW59OEOufZ6sFEZLsOoeI0KRJ7W8gLeggOTNPG1YY1dJdJYaYkOE0NR09bn4-zLbT7vllDt_FCQBCSKqL2q6Q2MRcUovZr6ujBa_51Wd9wxvsNgxwj6o-q6TcKpaHn92XHC9wx8hwsw/s1600/identity+and+violence.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKzW59OEOufZ6sFEZLsOoeI0KRJ7W8gLeggOTNPG1YY1dJdJYaYkOE0NR09bn4-zLbT7vllDt_FCQBCSKqL2q6Q2MRcUovZr6ujBa_51Wd9wxvsNgxwj6o-q6TcKpaHn92XHC9wx8hwsw/s320/identity+and+violence.jpg" width="211" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><b><i>With the pressures of a demanding grad school program, my personal writing as been minimal, and I've missed that but still have an outlet in classes with personal reflections on literature, contexts, case studies, etc... that I can and want to share. One of the classes I'm taking is a fascinating dive into identity with all its philosophical, biological, scientific, sociological and political implications in the field of peacebuilding/conflict transformation. My approach to Sen's book was at times one of "devil's advocate" in this review, hoping to raise questions as much as give my opinion. </i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b>Introduction</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"> In an issue as subjective and wide-ranging as identity and identity as a factor in violent conflict, there is necessarily a wide variety of possible opinions and insights. Amartya Sen's book <i>Identity and Violence </i>takes an overarching view of identity as related to many areas including culture, religion, economics and politics. This overarching viewpoint was necessary in that one of the areas where Sen excelled was in constantly illustrating that the <i>singularity</i> of identity, an idea which will be expanded upon below, is one of - if not <i>the</i> - main causes of violence. There was an emphasis on <i>questioning</i> in order to eliminate what Kenneth Hoover would refer to as "identity foreclosure" both in ourselves and in how we see or recognize the concept of <i>the other </i>(Hoover, Marcia, & Parris, 1997).<i> </i>In this, Sen was able to use easy-to-read language to prompt further investigation into his ideas. </div><div class="MsoNormal"> Sen does not leave the reader with a multitude of answers, but perhaps that is as it should be. By acknowledging the reductionist approach to identity, Sen by nature of his thesis cannot give pre-determined solutions. Instead, Sen serves as a guide in a process of continued questioning. This review will focus on a couple of the main problems that Sen emphasizes in how we view the world and the people around us, some potential problems in Sen's argument itself, and the patterns of thought we can adopt to work at further understanding of identity's connection to violence. Like identity, Conflict Transformation is in a state of flux, and we must maintain the mental resources of critical thinking to evolve along with an ever-changing world. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b>Singularity in Identity</b></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><br />
</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b> </b>In peacebuilding, we are constantly looking for ways to reduce "otherness" in viewing people in favor of seeing and emphasizing our similarities and where we can find a place to begin dialogue. Sen's argument is that the very <i>idea </i>of <i>the other</i> is only possible by focusing our attention on one or at most very few traits in an individual. This concept could also extend to societies and nations. There is a hesitation to say it could include <i>culture, </i>because the idea of culture is one area that Sen claims is hard to define. Culture upon closer examination seems to break down in various ways. An example would be trying to pinpoint the cultural location of the origin of a particular mathematical concept. If we go back far enough in history, and break the concept into small enough pieces, we would see that various people in different times, places and situations contributed insights that continued to expand in an evolutionary way. </div><div class="MsoNormal"> In this particular volume, Sen uses the contemporary modality of West/Anti-West interaction for his illustrations. Specifically, he focuses on "the West as related to Islam", thus immediately assuming the common identity framework used in current U.S. and British foreign policy dialogue. As Sen illustrates, that dialogue is limited and divisive. Both sides have chosen one label to place on the other, excluding the endless options that exist for identifying ourselves in a complex and pluralistic world. All of the influences that have flowed East to West, West to East and back again are pushed aside in looking at this one way of seeing people. And worse, this limitation is done <i>by choice. </i>Environment always plays a factor in our decisions, but using religion as (in this case) a divisive element is not by nature deterministic nor is it necessary for it to be geographically oriented. It is a decision that is consciously made and therefore it is a decision that can be consciously changed. </div><div class="MsoNormal"> Sen makes great use of Samuel Huntington's idea of <i>The Clash of Civilizations, </i>which was also the title of a Huntington essay, to show how easy it is to compartmentalize people which then leads to conflict as we differentiate ourselves. Huntington assumes a division from the beginning in order to make his argument. By dividing the world into separate "civilizations", something very hard to do in and of itself, Huntington has created the conditions for conflict rather than devising a paradigm incorporating solutions to conflict. <i>Civilization </i>is another term that is not easily definable upon close examination. Where the influence of one idea ends and another begins is - at best - a vague or even non-existent boundary. </div><div class="MsoNormal"> On the other hand, the problem with criticizing arguments like Huntington's is that the criticism can fall back on itself. Sen's point is that Huntington has focused on one aspect of human identity, and by doing so has created a way for people to differentiate themselves. Rather than illustrate where we need to focus our efforts, Sen would argue, Huntington has instead created the very <i>need</i> for a conflict transformation rather than its solution by inventing divisions through singularity in identity. But isn't Sen doing the same thing by pointing to Huntington's thesis as a divisive element? An interesting question arises which has been partly responsible for the controversy surrounding Huntington, and could be stated as follows: "Is it possible to analyze a potential conflict without<i> </i>in some way creating a division between peoples in the very nature of the explanation?". By pointing to what is perceived as the problem, we have brought attention to something that - if not already the problem - could become the problem<i>. </i>This could apply to Sen, or anyone, just as much as it could to Huntington. </div><div class="MsoNormal"> Here is one example of some of the traps that those discussing identity could fall into. It seems that there is a very fine line between viewing the traits we claim contribute to healthy diversity and/or viewing those same traits as something contributing to conflict. As Conflict Transformation practitioners, it is necessary to emphasize the <i>positivity </i>in the way we view the various backgrounds, religions, ethnicities, politics, etc... of people vs. the <i>negativity</i>. </div><div class="MsoNormal"> It could be argued that this statement is the key to understanding what Sen is trying to say. His entire book seems to emphasize the <i>attitude </i>with which we approach the pluralistic nature of the world around us as much as it does the <i>singularity </i>in focusing on one or a only a few significant factors in identity. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b>Defining "Culture"<o:p></o:p></b></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><br />
</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"> As an economist, Sen spends a good deal of time discussing the effects of globalization on culture, and what he means by culture. It will be noticed that Sen makes a special point of attempting to name possible ways of looking at "cultural diversity" and what is it that we are truly trying to attain by having a culturally diverse society and world. There are many ways that he goes about this, including the very definition - if there is one - of <i>culture.</i> </div><div class="MsoNormal"> Beginning with <i>culture, </i>one of the ways Sen attempts to shape the debate is around the ideas of <i>cultural liberty </i>vs. <i>valuing cultural conservation</i> (Sen, 2006, p. 113). Here, he leaves us with two choices. First, we can promote a society that encourages freedom of thought and allows the individual to make their own choices about what elements of their family, religious environment, nation, or any other ideology/thought pattern they wish to retain for themselves. This is what is meant by <i>cultural liberty</i>, and it can be argued, is an important process for everyone to go through. Nothing should ever be accepted externally, and one can only come to a realization of identity through the internal process of questioning. </div><div class="MsoNormal"> This too is what many mean when they refer to self-discovery, and is where this reviewer disagrees with Sen's comment that there is no "self" to discover, that the self is simply a matter of choices we make. It is true that the self is determined by choices, and Sen's point is noted that we have freedom of choice in shaping our lives. However, the choices that any one individual will make will never exactly match another person's. There is always the issue of context, and an individual context, by nature, is incapable of being repeated. Where a particular person is in time, place, location, genetic/family heritage, gender, etc... is never exactly matched. There <i>is </i>an individual there that is unlike anyone else, so in that sense, there is a <i>self</i> to be discovered. Further, this concept of self does not even begin to delve into the realm of the spiritual, where individuals have unique metaphysical connections and identities. </div><div class="MsoNormal"> Where the reviewer would agree with Sen is when he makes the reference in the preface to the remark that "most people are other people" (credited to Oscar Wilde) (Sen, 2006, p. xv). This is one concern raised by those who promote <i>valuing cultural conservation.</i> Paradoxically, it is also a concern of some promoting <i>cultural liberty. </i>What is meant by this? Well, when people assume an identity fed to them externally, whether that be in the dominant messages received from the media, an admired person and/or leader, or any other source outside of themselves, they are not really questioning what it is that they themselves truly believe. To take this argument even further, depending on how strong and how forceful those external messages become, it can be debated whether or not there is true cultural liberty and freedom of choice at all. An extreme example could come from some of the Communistic totalitarian structures under Mao or Stalin. A less forceful illustration would be the manipulative messages put forth by the media that influence every decision we make. </div><div class="MsoNormal"> The other side to this argument, is that even in a society that proclaims and for the most part promotes what would generally be referred to as freedom of choice, those choices about "self" are still being made in a context of an ever-changing cultural environment, and further, an environment that is becoming ever more familiar with other parts of the world in our era of globalization. So a particular culture is becoming ever more infused by influences from other "cultures". As can be seen, the dividing lines between one culture and another very quickly begin to merge (and it is argued here that they have been vague throughout human history). This is a concern for those who value cultural conservation, and therefore can become reactionary in attempting to preserve a <i>perceived</i> past that may no longer have the necessary conditions to preserve its existence, however it may be defined. <br />
<br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b>Concluding Remarks</b></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><br />
</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"> It is the position of this reviewer that the intellectual aspects of globalization are indeed beneficial to all of humanity if we take the time to properly learn from the rich history of our world. The economic effects can be debated as economics delves into the profit motive and all the implications - most of all greed and exploitation - that that paradigm implies. The key in that respect is to figure out better ways of including the have-nots in the area of basic human needs. That needs to be<i> the primary concern </i>in the humanitarian work and global economics of our time, and we are badly missing the mark.<i> </i>But having access to the rich cultural heritage of places never before accessible (through technology such as the internet) can only mean increased choices for humanity, and the ability to tap into greater collaboration and larger ideas through the integration of so many individual identities. The possibilities of mutual respect and by extension the reduction of violence through familiarity with diverse identities is greatly increased. However, all must have access and that, again, must be the first priority.</div><div class="MsoNormal"> New forms of mobilization and democracy are also possible, and mutuality can further be increased by the expansion of dialogue through processes such as social networking and access to literature and the dominant ideas in different parts of the world. All of this furthers understanding, and reduces violence by allowing our focus to expand in a pluralistic manner regarding identity as we learn more and more about those around us. We can begin to see that those who share our planet do not have to be <i>the other</i>, but can be viewed as a different, yet beautiful expression of the common humanity that we all share. </div><div class="MsoNormal"> <br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><b>References</b></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="text-align: center;"><br />
</b></div><div class="MsoBibliography">Hoover, K., Marcia, J., & Parris, K. (1997). <i>The power of identity: politics in a new key.</i> Chatham, nj: Chatham House Publishers, Inc.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoBibliography">Sen, A. (2006). <i>Identity and violence: the illusion of destiny.</i> New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.<o:p></o:p></div>timradioboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04782098380905182539noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2414968517182978362.post-8253611641872215012011-09-20T14:46:00.002-04:002011-11-07T18:30:22.544-05:00Human Identity: How Emotions and Feelings Are The Very Basis of Our Nature<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;"></span><br />
<div style="line-height: 16px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijdhcdBXHQTGJOLxU4qmvQNaenO6m19sj9aJ7zMTtNlPeuCgVZNSJlFD0evtSisEkQVugvkNe0LR02j7QExOBCfsj-MKfdGx8PN1Zg5w2MGeE_iQ89ZQXoLeiHxReRZV2zSMQKi8FbAlI/s1600/041528659X.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijdhcdBXHQTGJOLxU4qmvQNaenO6m19sj9aJ7zMTtNlPeuCgVZNSJlFD0evtSisEkQVugvkNe0LR02j7QExOBCfsj-MKfdGx8PN1Zg5w2MGeE_iQ89ZQXoLeiHxReRZV2zSMQKi8FbAlI/s320/041528659X.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg" width="206" /></a></div><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">In the peacebuilding/conflict transformation program at Eastern Mennonite University, there is a great emphasis on interconnectedness, both in the many diverse academic discplines, as well as humanity as a whole. This interconnectedness naturally extends into the areas of practice incorporated in the field, and most recently has included the ideas of Attachment Theory. Mary E. Clark was the one time chair of Conflict Transformation studies at a leading university in the field, George Mason University near Washington D.C. Here is a brief introductory review I wrote of her book "In Search of Human Nature"</span></i></b><br />
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<strong style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Introduction</span></strong></div><div style="line-height: 16px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></strong></div><div style="line-height: 16px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> From the very beginning of Mary E. Clark's <em style="line-height: 16px;">In Search of Human Nature</em>, she acknowledges the inherent difficulties of attempting a study as broad as the title suggests. This is a book that comprises (according to the author) nearly four decades of accumulated knowledge and academic as well as life experience. Immediately, questions arise; both for Clark and for the reader. It was these kinds of questions that prompted her to write this book, such as: What are the basic components of what makes us who we are? How do we find objectivity or does objectivity even exist in analyzing who we are? She found the explanations of science to be adequate early in her career, but those explanations slowly became more and more illusory and unsatisfactory as time went on. Her own sense and need for meaning drove her to draw on and combine diverse disciplines in creating a cohesive analysis of humanity. This review will center on the first part of Clark's book, up through the third chapter, which starts at the very origins of life itself, and specifically focuses on how we came to be what we are today: the species known as <em style="line-height: 16px;">homo sapiens</em>. </span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Summary and analysis</span></strong></div><div style="line-height: 16px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></strong></div><div style="line-height: 16px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> Battling the claims of Western science to hold the way to absolute truth, and challenging those already established "truths" of science is at the heart of Clark's first three chapters. The indisputable subjectivity of any human viewpoint is repeatedly discussed, and particularly emphasized through the role that culture plays in the way we see our world. She argues that scientific methods of breaking down the relationships of everything that <em style="line-height: 16px;">is </em>in our universe misses the point. To counter-act this way of understanding, Clark begins with the very language she uses ; the term "gestalt" is one that proposes the whole to be greater than the sum of its parts, and is, Clark feels, a more accurate way of looking at the nature of humanity.</span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> Life is too complex to be reduced to individual deterministic patterns of interacting objects/events; rather, Clark would have us switch from this way of thought, which is described as the "Billiard Ball" gestalt (with the individual objects representing the billiard balls) of Western science to the more Eastern approach of the "Indra's Net" gestalt, which changes the paradigm to an interlocking web of nature. The Indra's Net describes everything that <em style="line-height: 16px;">is</em> as a part of and therefore dependent upon this interconnectedness for its very existence. </span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> The first area of concern for Clark is the way that evolution has been presented in the West. The subjectivity of the Western Capitalistic, Hobbesian mindset, she argues, is seen in the way that competition, even violence has been presented as central to evolutionary natural selection. This is shown to be overly simplistic and misguiding, and sometimes flat out wrong. To Clark, it leaves out too much of what makes us human. It is true that adaptation is necessary for survival, and has its place in evolutionary theory. However, Clark specifically says that adaptation could mean a number of things. What if, for example, we were to look at the ability to adapt to changing conditions as a necessary prerequisite for survival? This would then lead to the fact that adaptation requires the ability to <em style="line-height: 16px;">respond</em> to changes. </span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> Clark goes on to say that through responding, we see the beginnings of emotions and feelings. Responses start out as repulsions and attractions, which are precisely what characterizes feelings and emotions. These feelings are what science overlooks, by its constant emphasis on rationality and logic. Rationality and logic do not fill in the gaps of individual human behavior or existence, because they are too limiting and reductionist. They leave out feelings, which are very real, although, she concedes, hard to understand. </span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> Thus, Clark states that the behavior of the individual can only be explained <em style="line-height: 16px;">in the context of the whole</em>, as the repulsions and attractions experienced by the individual objects are <em style="line-height: 16px;">in relation to</em> the rest of the "net". By the very fact of stating that these objects (which include humans) are attracted to various elements of being, Clark makes a strong point about the fundamental existence of the energy of love. Further, this attraction and repulsion or determining the proper "place" of an object in the Indra's Net gestalt leads to Clark's explanation of the three basic human propensities: Bonding, autonomy and meaning. </span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> Seen through the theory of attraction/repulsion, Clark shows that it is only through healthy bonding that an object can function. However, this kind of bonding also requires autonomy in that the individual object must develop the ability to adapt with a universe in flux through its own "decision making" or repulsion from some objects in favor of attraction to others. This is not deterministic in the sense that there is only one path. On the contrary, in an ever changing universe, Clark shows the importance of adaptability and therefore autonomy in the object's response to changing conditions. </span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> We can now see the beginnings of intelligence in Clark's description, not just a purely rational or logical intelligence, but one that includes many different feelings and emotions as well. In fact, Clark says that logic and reason are only attempts at explanation for why things are the way they are. Feelings and emotions, in the form of attractions and repulsions, would have been the primary or first form of intelligence. </span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> It would seem that the need to bond is very closely tied to Clark's third stated human propensity, which is the need for meaning. It is presented to us that meaning is the overarching need that subsumes the other two. This would make sense, and is agreeable if we take bonding and autonomy separately, and view how each one is a "search" of sorts. </span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> One Interpretation of the text would say that through properly evolved autonomy, we have the freedom and the capability to evaluate our feelings and emotions and become in touch with our individuality. Context then comes into play as the genetic situation in which we find ourselves <em style="line-height: 16px;">vis-à-vis</em> our parents is the first unique factor with environment (people, places, things, etc...) being the second. The argument from Clark backs up her claim that adaptability, and not competition, is the crucial evolutionary factor. We could say from this reading that as each human is encountering a unique situation, the species could not possibly evolve in a deterministic fashion which is identical for all. Rather, not only is the homo sapiens species unique, but <em style="line-height: 16px;">each individual within the species is in a unique context with unique genetic information.</em> </span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> The individual context then contains its own patterns, and it is only through learning to bond with these patterns that the individual survives. Hence, the second propensity comes into play, that of the propensity to bond. Clark makes a statement at one point that the propensities to bond, yet also be autonomous are in opposition to one another. This argument could be contested by saying that it is through autonomy that the individual determines the proper way to bond. Further, the very process of bonding and autonomy itself leads directly to purpose and meaning. The decision making and adaptation required in proper bonding <em style="line-height: 16px;">is, </em>when looked at from another viewpoint, a <em style="line-height: 16px;">search; </em>a search for the proper way to fit into the whole. The very nature of existence, far from being value or meaning free as scientists would claim, would be countered by these arguments and would explain the very deep need that humans have to make sense of their environments simply in order to function within that environment; environment then becomes a basis of our identity.</span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> It is then through this desire for meaning combined with bonding and autonomy that leads to culture, or shared meaning through the group, which culminates in societies. Clark shows that the process becomes reciprocal as societies and individuals become more evolutionarily complex. Once the individual finds a form of meaning through bonding with the group, then that individual's intelligence evolves to incorporate the patterns of the group. The group then takes on a life of its own as the more the individuals within it interact, the more we can see that some sort of shared ideas and opinions must evolve in order for continued bonding (i.e. universal love) to maintain the group. This search for group meaning becomes the foundation of what Clark refers to as the "sacred myths" of humanity, which of course include religion and even science. It can be argued that these sacred myths are the natural evolution of societal thinking or what we know today as groupthink. As the individual becomes bonded to the social group, thus identifying with that group, then we can see how Clark's idea of "self" is directly tied to the cultural patterns within the group. </span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> This attraction towards the social group is required for the very survival of the group which Clark partly exemplifies in reproduction. However, Clark presents the sexual drive as not simply utilitarian, but as one of the ways in which primates and hominids have shown affection and reduced stress and aggression over evolutionary history. She seems to allude to the idea that repression of sexuality can lead to increased stress in modern societies, something that many might agree with. Clark discusses how this has been shown to be the case in careful observation of primates, and that signs of affection increase feelings of security, strengthen the ties of bonding, and reduce the feelings of fear that can inhibit healthy functioning of individual autonomy. </span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Conclusion</span></strong></div><div style="line-height: 16px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></strong></div><div style="line-height: 16px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><strong style="line-height: 16px;"> </strong>A central theme of Clark's throughout <em style="line-height: 16px;">In Search of Human Nature </em>is the inherent subjectivity in every area of life, even science. Dogmatic thinking takes many forms, and Clark does an effective job at illustrating - through examples drawn from diverse areas of knowledge - how much culture influences the way scientists interpret the information they receive. Ultimately, everything that we perceive is filtered through the lens of various minds, from that of the group mind of society down to the individual interpretation, all of which are drawn from many experiences in just as many individual contexts. </span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> One of the ways in which we see a painful example of our thinking when it comes to evolution, is the fact that the male has played a prominent role in the narrative. The role of females and children is just now starting to receive the recognition it deserves. Further, the competitive Western Capitalistic world view has downplayed the significance of the group as a survival mechanism. Group life not only increases intelligence by drawing off of the experiences of others, but it also serves as a protection mechanism during times of great stress, such as threats to survival by outside organisms and climates. Living within groups enables group members to carry on various functions such as hunting, gathering and helping to care for the children, not to mention meeting the emotional needs of bonding and meaning that are crucial for survival. </span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> Clark's belief is that for the individual to survive, there first must be the capacity for the group to survive, and that both the individual and the group must contain features of adaptability that go beyond pure genetic determinism. It is for this reason that she believes the propensities of bonding, autonomy and meaning to be foremost in the history of human evolution, and <em style="line-height: 16px;">not</em> the more commonly heard explanation of cold, often violent competition as the basis of human nature. She has put forth a compelling argument that this kind of cold competition would lead to eventual destruction, and that situations of violence have only arisen throughout history when the group did not function properly, thus creating stressful situations that challenged the interconnectedness of the group. This could be as a result of lack of resources for basic survival, or over-crowding that limits autonomy and places a strain on the bonding of the group. </span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> Ultimately, Clark points us, through academic insight, in the direction a universal energy of love at the base of human relations. Her theory is an optimistic view of human nature, and one that shows ways we can improve the environment in which we find ourselves by realizing how dependent we are on everything and everyone around us. </span></div><div><br />
</div>timradioboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04782098380905182539noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2414968517182978362.post-86909763649669392132011-08-05T12:03:00.006-04:002011-08-05T13:33:05.823-04:00Ramadan<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.65pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiViXHrKwPF2FZfD57fY_vyhSorkA2AQ9h9hmMMn7pldm26zi-LCtnT1FL5kCP4WhaxDwlvo0aTHze5FWJJyZwRLIml2MIMZQMyETzOgNOjD8dzACzd7lbrBRopsCRv1S6Ibg3NAKYuKaY/s1600/ramadan1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiViXHrKwPF2FZfD57fY_vyhSorkA2AQ9h9hmMMn7pldm26zi-LCtnT1FL5kCP4WhaxDwlvo0aTHze5FWJJyZwRLIml2MIMZQMyETzOgNOjD8dzACzd7lbrBRopsCRv1S6Ibg3NAKYuKaY/s320/ramadan1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Today I was involved in a friendly Facebook discussion on the meaning of divinity. Now, my idea of God is not like most. To me, “God” is an energy; a universal love. Love is something that is central to all of the world’s major traditions. That’s why I feel a special connection to my many Muslim sisters and brothers during this month of Ramadan. I take my relationship to those who share in this universal love beyond friendship. If you believe in love, and believe in practicing it in your life, you are a sibling of mine; a spiritual sibling. My religion is love, and love is inclusive not exclusive. <br />
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<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.65pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">Love IS divinity. If one focuses their vision, one can see love in all facets of the universe. Chardin has mentioned that even evolution shows the principles of love. It is a Capitalistic society that sees Darwin’s ideas as “survival of the fittest” and counter to love. No, if we view it as the coming together of ever increasing complexity and consciousness, then that is unity, and unity is a form of love. Evolution is perfectly compatible, in my humble opinion, with religion, and science and religion do not have to be at odds. They can be united in the truths that both aspects of humanity have found in the universe.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.65pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.65pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">I had asked a few of my Muslim friends for responses on what they thought about Ramadan; both in general, and if they had any particular thoughts about a Ramadan memory from a certain year. I received a response from a dear sister, whose name I’ll keep anonymous, and I enjoyed this statement in particular as it contained a universal truth: “You have to train yourself to do good and not just run behind your desires. I feel peace in this month.” Ramadan, due to my Christian background (I no longer consider myself a Christian or belonging to any one religion) has been shut out of the education I received growing up. I believe that to be true of many in the West, and I don’t need to go on in this context about the misunderstandings we have of Islam here in the United States and many parts of Europe. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.65pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.65pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">Many know that Ramadan is first and foremost a recognition of Allah’s delivered message to The Prophet in the form of the Qur’an. The Qur’an states that Allah <span class="apple-style-span">“sent down the Criterion to His servant, that it might be an admonition to all worlds”.</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> This is the month for Muslims to recognize and give praise to Allah for sending the divine message. It is a time for self-discipline, for peaceful relationships, for communal gatherings after sunset, for a commitment and a goal in the ritual of fasting, and for prayer. Everything in Ramadan represents love, and that is where I find common ground with my Muslim sisters and brothers, even though I am not Muslim. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.65pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.65pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="apple-converted-space">It is especially bittersweet, and therefore significant, that Ramadan is occurring this year during a great time of social upheaval in the Arab world. I stand strongly against the structures of power that kill, maim, torture, kidnap and beat their fellow Muslims for wanting a more peaceful existence; a more conducive environment to experience the divine, and the freedom (physically, socially, psychologically and spiritually) to practice the love that is expressed through Ramadan. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.65pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.65pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="apple-converted-space">At the same time, all this social upheaval gives hope. People are realizing the power that they have; good power in the form of taking control of their own lives, and working with their fellow citizens. So, to all in the Arab world, and to all Muslims as you celebrate Ramadan this season, may you be blessed now and always. May the universal love that finds us all touch you and those around you. May these expressions of solidarity of the people create a truly free environment and not lead to further repression. I stand beside you as you fight for justice, love, peace, non-violence and commitment to the discipline that is exemplified through your faith. Further, I invite and welcome your comments about anything I may have said about Ramadan that you might not agree with. Please, be open and let’s discuss. Let us all continue the ongoing dialogue and let us keep talking. That is the only way peace and understanding can be maintained in our increasingly complex world. Salaam. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.65pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.65pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="apple-converted-space">Tim ~ First Friday of Ramadan 2011</span><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>timradioboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04782098380905182539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2414968517182978362.post-56156765814122255372011-07-13T11:14:00.012-04:002011-07-13T19:13:29.175-04:00The Ethiopian Torture Survivor and life at TASSC (Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition) in Washington, D.C.<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: left;"><i><b>This paper originally started off as a class project, but I'm taking this opportunity, with the permission of the people whose stories I've used (some names have been changed), to help spread more information as to what it is that immigrants in general, and torture survivors in particular, encounter as they enter the U.S. to seek political asylum or an escape from a life that has become oppressive. It has been my firm belief, and even more so since I've worked at TASSC this summer, that we hold a special responsibility in the United States due to our power, and more importantly, due to the role that we have played in directly contributing to the conditions that have led to torture throughout the world. The majority of our survivors come from Africa or Latin America, and our foreign policy record in both regions of the world has been shameful at best. No longer is this a mere academic opinion derived from an abstract intellectualism of the classroom and/or literature, but from hearing it first-hand from those whose lives have been affected by the policies of The United States and other Western powers in collaboration with the home governments of these survivors. </b> </i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: left;"><i><br />
</i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">INTRODUCTION AND PERSONAL CONTEXT</b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><br />
</b></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"> I was standing beside Tenna at the asylum office waiting right there at the sign that told us to do exactly that. There was only one other woman in front of us, who also appeared to be Ethiopian. After a couple of short minutes (but what Tenna later assured me felt like hours), the woman in front of us stepped away, and he was called to the window and asked for identification. When he presented his Ethiopian passport, he was asked if he spoke English. He answered yes, and the window attendant stamped a couple of forms. Then she announced very stoically that he had been granted asylum, and would receive his work permit within three weeks. Tenna’s response was a perfect example of the subjectivity involved in all areas of life, and in this case the ethnographical analysis: He was jubilant. He immediately turned to me and gave me a hug. I was smiling and very happy as well, and we both ignored the woman behind the counter. She said nothing more, and I doubt that she had anything other than an abstract academic idea of what her words must have meant to Tenna. In this case, those basic words had different meanings for all of the parties involved. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTUecagxN7nAQ0L8FXeTLsYwyU4uk5NgnBdj-IMR70lNqTaaig1HL4zg03iLORjID0BE9QphP3bC2blLSqcAhbDwvXTMnyZbzBB-4-UG9Ly5sHlxvn61YBPS7yIpz8ZWq_JDkYGaTN5AY/s1600/tassc-banner.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="113" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTUecagxN7nAQ0L8FXeTLsYwyU4uk5NgnBdj-IMR70lNqTaaig1HL4zg03iLORjID0BE9QphP3bC2blLSqcAhbDwvXTMnyZbzBB-4-UG9Ly5sHlxvn61YBPS7yIpz8ZWq_JDkYGaTN5AY/s640/tassc-banner.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"> For me, this was one of the primary reasons I decided to work with TASSC (Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition) at Eastern Mennonite University’s Washington Community Scholars Center Program: I wanted to stand beside people and to the best of my abilities, empathize with them as they sought justice in the various areas of their lives. The previous three years had brought about changes in me that made it possible for me to be with Tenna in that extraordinary moment in his life. With my divorce in 2008, up through my near-fatal car accident in July of 2009, and the death of my ex-wife Sarah in early 2011, I experienced a complete re-orientation of what it was that was important to me. I no longer wanted to work to entertain, or even simply to make money. From those harsh awakenings, I realized that nothing else in life is more important than people, and the seemingly little things we can do that change lives. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"> That particular day involved a relatively easy assignment: I escorted an Ethiopian torture survivor to the immigration office in order to obtain a decision on his initial asylum interview that had been held two weeks prior to that date. My only requirement was to be there for Tenna, whatever the outcome of the decision might have been. In his case, it was positive, and that was a cause for celebration; my being there allowed him to have someone with whom to share his joy. Had the decision been negative, my role would have been different, but just as important, if not more so. The potential range of emotions and feelings that could have resulted had to be thought through before I accompanied him to the office. That day ended up being one of the highlights of my life, despite what may appear simple about it to many others. However, this is the kind of work that I envision for myself during the time I have left on this earth: work that involves direct interaction at the grassroots, direct contact with the people whose lives I hope to see change for the better. No longer do I want to sit behind a computer or a microphone, unless it is for work that allows the kind of interaction that I had with Tenna on that day. This is the mindset and path that led to my decision to work with TASSC (I wouldn’t have been there without these life changes), and that ultimately enabled me to receive a small idea of what it is like for the Ethiopian torture survivor community that is greatly represented at TASSC and in the greater Washington, DC metro area. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL-5uvfyfE4UHuT_43_f6-eiYVfLkFj1h4ihEJ4N0F8-5Z-AWKFGEIel0FXYxosp8RTyl7LpzPHtbNLxkrudU05kJAapoyBdw2n8r9yZpRzFL5TcZtSHlLvoS5eJtdVCA3tXCBI-tDKkA/s1600/stop_torture_banner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL-5uvfyfE4UHuT_43_f6-eiYVfLkFj1h4ihEJ4N0F8-5Z-AWKFGEIel0FXYxosp8RTyl7LpzPHtbNLxkrudU05kJAapoyBdw2n8r9yZpRzFL5TcZtSHlLvoS5eJtdVCA3tXCBI-tDKkA/s400/stop_torture_banner.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"> Therefore, I am approaching this ethnographic analysis of Ethiopian survivors with a viewpoint that is unapologetically subjective from the framework of how I view the people I work with. Since I want to help them, since I believe that they are encountering many obstacles in their lives from exposure to a strange country/culture to leaving family members behind in Ethiopia or their last place of residence, to the fears and anxieties they encounter on a daily basis as they prepare for their cases as well as searching for the most basic of human needs, I am aware that my desire to help may unconsciously overlook personality traits, actions, and faults of the subjects and instances with which I address, and that furthermore, I may overlook faults of TASSC itself, not to mention some of my own biases. I am aware of these factors going into this analysis, and I wanted to make you the reader aware as well. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">THE SETTING<o:p></o:p></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><br />
</b></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"> The TASSC office, where the majority of my observations take place, can be difficult for newcomers to find as it is virtually in the basement of a Franciscan college close to The Catholic University of America at the T corner of Harewood Rd. and Taylor St. NE in Washington, DC. There is a large sign with the letters TASSC close to the road on the Harewood side of the building, but no directions from the small parking lot next to the sign. Upon examination of one’s surroundings, a sidewalk winding back and forth down a small hill gives a clue as to where the office entrance might be located. On my first day, I happened to encounter a volunteer who was exiting his car at the same time I was arriving. He paused at first, but then asked me if it was TASSC that I was looking for. I answered yes, and he told me to follow him. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
Upon entering the basement of the Franciscan college that serves as the DC TASSC office, one may be struck by the simplicity of the design. There is no reception area per se, and the receptionist’s desk is immediately off to the right inside the first room which serves as a rather large office which she shares with the Advocacy Director. The threadbare carpet and simple wood desks illustrate the low-budget environment (grassroots human rights efforts often have the distinction of being "controversial", and funding can be hard to come by. Plus, TASSC has refused to accept any government money; which would mean a certain acceptance of a government agenda and federal monitoring of TASSC's actions). On the opposite side of the receptionist’s office are several computer stations with full internet access that survivors are free to use at their leisure.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"> Continuing to walk down the hall, several more doors are passed: an office turned storage area is the first door on the left, the office of Demissie Abebe, the Director of TASSC is on the right, and caddy corner on the left is the Helping Hands office that houses social worker Kayla, working to provide services to the survivors. The final two doors on the left and right respectively are the copy area and large restroom/dish washing facility. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQq5KkLUZ2JjcrglUao8gvyvjN88fwGOrWlYLdg05e_4PBHupU_hCB483ja4f8r1d_qVzBa2U6rk79iaPMsRj6hKSnwsQ49BsTxShsWdq5NGXBjF3UcG6qcG0jo64RqfzXTgnlRc2ES5s/s1600/joanied40_381122_1%255B670181%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQq5KkLUZ2JjcrglUao8gvyvjN88fwGOrWlYLdg05e_4PBHupU_hCB483ja4f8r1d_qVzBa2U6rk79iaPMsRj6hKSnwsQ49BsTxShsWdq5NGXBjF3UcG6qcG0jo64RqfzXTgnlRc2ES5s/s400/joanied40_381122_1%255B670181%255D.jpg" width="300" /></a></div> After those final doors, a set of doors (always open) is directly in front, which leads into the very large main room that is an all purpose area: There is a corner to the immediate left that has been outfitted with bookshelves, carpet, chairs, and a fish aquarium that serves as the local TASSC library. To the right of the library is the interns’ desk area with around six high speed internet connections and computers. The rest of the main room is filled with various items: A refrigerator, coffee station, and water cooler are on the left, and there are tables, chairs, a couple of couches, and several large handmade wood partitions on wheels that feature painted maps, posters, messages of solidarity and encouraging phrases such as “Abolish Torture” that have become some of the themes of TASSC. These partitions can be used to divide the large main room (I would estimate it to be around 3,000 sq ft) into smaller areas or private counseling/conversation locations. Folding tables and metal chairs complete the furniture in the room, and these are used quite regularly for general conversation as well as at meal times. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"> In addition to the furniture, there are posters from international solidarity groups such as non-governmental organizations and other activist causes, and several handmade objects from both survivors and former employees/interns of TASSC that express messages of hope, and pictures of survivors of torture from around the world. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"> I spent such a great deal of time describing the physical setting at TASSC as I and the survivors I spoke with both feel that it creates a sense of openness, relaxation, a complete lack of pressure, informality, comfort, and freedom of expression that is crucial to this part of the Ethiopian torture survivor’s American cultural experience. Speaking with the TASSC director Demissie Abebe, himself an Ethiopian survivor of torture, this was precisely the idea. For many who come to TASSC for help, there is no area of their life that is lacking in need. This includes the need for a place to which they can come and feel as if they are at home; relaxed, comfortable and free to express themselves either openly with TASSC employees/interns and other survivors or one on one if privacy is needed. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">ETHIOPIAN TORTURE SURVIVOR CULTURE AT THE TASSC OFFICE<o:p></o:p></b></div></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><br />
</b></div><div style="text-align: right;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>“Selam” became a ritualistic Amharic morning greeting around the TASSC office when one Ethiopian encountered another. This word, as anyone familiar with Arabic will recognize, is very close to the Arabic “Salaam” which means “peace to you”, as both are Semitic languages. I recognized this greeting more than any other around TASSC as I’ve met only a couple of torture survivors who’ve not been Ethiopian. Almost 70% of the survivors who come through the doors at TASSC are from Ethiopia, and this, according to Demissie, is due to a number of reasons, some of which include the fact that Washington, DC has the largest Ethiopian immigrant population of any major American city, with around 200,000 Ethiopians, and that many government offices and services are based in DC, which makes the city an attractive choice for Ethiopians. Dianna Ortiz, the founder of TASSC had all of these numbers in mind, according to our director, when she chose him (an Ethiopian) as the TASSC director. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">THE ETHIOPIAN TORTURE SURVIVOR</b></div></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><br />
</b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"> In order to receive someone at TASSC, it is necessary for them to be the victim of torture of a foreign government. That is the way that the organization’s legal status is set, and it is for this reason that all of the survivors I’ve observed for this ethnography are quite politically astute, if for no other reason than they have a great deal of knowledge of the political situation in their own country. Tenna, for example, was involved with an opposition political organization that led to his torture and ultimate flight from Ethiopia. I will take this time to state that for purposes of safety and privacy, I will not expand on the details of the torture regarding the individuals whom I mention. Even though at times it might be easier to understand their perspectives had the reader been aware of the circumstances around their torture, this is not only the request and policy of TASSC, but it is one that I would have chosen regardless of any other factor as it seems to me to be disrespectful to publicly discuss something so personally traumatic to an individual. Also, the names of the survivors (excluding Demissie Abebe) have been changed.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Amare</b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"> Amare was an entrepreneur and businessman in both Ethiopia and South Africa before moving to America. He originally fled Ethiopia for political/ethnic reasons that led to difficulties with his business, and moved to South Africa. However, he soon found a new kind of problem in South Africa, what he refers to as “xenophobia”. The blacks indigenous to South Africa have a great disdain for foreigners who come from other parts of the continent, particularly foreigners who set up businesses and become successful. Amare mentioned that he interprets this xenophobia as resulting from the native South African’s desire to keep the social services flowing freely. In other words, Amare believes that the natives view outsiders as a threat to their comfortable way of life; a life which does not require much work as the new system after apartheid has provided many services to the black majority free of charge. Therefore, Amare was persecuted greatly as a businessman, and South Africa is where some of his greatest traumatic experiences occurred. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"> I remember asking Amare how he felt as an Ethiopian, a black man, in America, a country that I believe is quite racist in many ways. I asked him if he felt a sort of “double-racism”; meaning that he’s black first, and second, that he’s a foreigner. These very questions served, in hindsight, to illustrate what I thought was important when interviewing and talking with the survivors for this project. Later, I will put forward my modality of survival as a cultural explanation for the interactions of the Ethiopians with the environment and amongst themselves. That hindsight and modality showed me some of my errors in field method, but those errors in turn served to illustrate more clearly a model of explanation. Amare responded that there may be some racism in America, but it didn’t seem to bother him to the extent that the xenophobia did in South Africa. In fact, his tone of voice appeared slightly frustrated as he attempted to explain to me that life was livable in America. That was not the case in the other places he’d been. Sure, he had some fear at times of people in the neighborhood where he stays here in Washington, (the TASSC home for survivors), but it is not at the same level as the fear he had in Ethiopia or South Africa. Racism simply wasn’t a primary concern for him. I will expand on this below. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Demissie<o:p></o:p></b></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1bKndkPXgOKRGap3E5McyPjckPM3dHGe78De6v19x-0bozQ6G0QfNy5qwXPPK93t_NObvFdZNPdK4kotixPKJu5Ncmtixj9Q7n-B5-xmQURWc4D3zOZjkhO4RtWwpZbJZxHyWk7rIRc4/s1600/26.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1bKndkPXgOKRGap3E5McyPjckPM3dHGe78De6v19x-0bozQ6G0QfNy5qwXPPK93t_NObvFdZNPdK4kotixPKJu5Ncmtixj9Q7n-B5-xmQURWc4D3zOZjkhO4RtWwpZbJZxHyWk7rIRc4/s400/26.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">TASSC Director Demissie Abebe </td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>Demissie Abebe, the director of TASSC, first came to America in 2004. His vocation in Ethiopia was as an accountant, and he received a degree from The London School of Economics. It was in his capacity as an accountant that he ran into trouble with the Ethiopian government, and was eventually forced to come to America. Demissie came from a successful family in Ethiopia, and he mentioned to me that he always admired his mother for the way she would take in people in need. He described a home scenario that offered an open door to those without a home, and he was exposed to many different people with many viewpoints and backgrounds from a young age. Perhaps it is this upbringing that is responsible in part for the dedication and genuine concern I have observed him showing to every survivor who comes through the door at TASSC. Demissie is an authentic person, and is very committed to every part of his job. It is my observation, and his statement as well, that one has to be dedicated. The work of the TASSC director involves long hours, and a great deal of emotional energy. The pay is not high compared to the average American salary, and the love of people must be there if the director is to effectively fulfill his duties. Demissie refers to his position as a calling, and that the experience of trauma that he’s gone through has helped mold his own life as to what truly matters.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Tenna<o:p></o:p></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"> Tenna is the most recent Washington and U.S. resident of the survivors I’ve profiled in this report, having arrived in The United States in March of 2011. When I was first introduced to Tenna, I didn’t know how to understand him. He appeared to not want to talk, and seemed guarded, slow to speak about topics other than courteous greetings. I later realized that it wasn’t just Tenna, but it was the others as well. The difference was that Tenna was still relatively early in his process of both asylum and of adjusting to life in America. All of the survivors must be guarded in many ways, but the longer they’ve been in this country, the more open I’ve found them to be. This may appear obvious to many, but the modality that I’ve chosen will help explain more specifically why I say this. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"> Tenna was politically active in his home country, and has witnessed trauma not only to himself, but to his family as well, having lost several family members to political violence. He is a very intelligent man, but has always struggled for work in the ethnically divided country of Ethiopia, where the location and ethnicity of one’s birth often has more to do with the work one is able to find than the actual skills one has to offer. Tenna is concerned first and foremost for his wife and children, who are still back in Ethiopia. It was only on the insistence of his wife that he reluctantly left the country. They both knew that if he stayed, his life was in great danger, but as any good family man, the thought of leaving his family behind still devastates him. Tenna communicated to me shortly after receiving his asylum that not only was he a “new man”, but that he could now focus on what is most important to him: the safety of his family, and their arrival by his side in America. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">SURVIVAL AS AN EXPLANATORY CULTURAL MODALITY<o:p></o:p></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><br />
</b></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"> Very early on in my observations of the people who come through TASSC, and particularly the people who I’ve mentioned in this report, day to day survival is or has been their primary concern. This has been mentioned to me on more than one occasion. When one is concerned for their very life, not to mention the next meal or a place to sleep for the night, they tell me, priorities are quickly re-aligned. Local American political issues, racism, and cultural concerns are not as important to them at this time. They know for now that they’re in a country that will not cause them immediate state-sanctioned physical harm, and that is enough. These survivors have all mentioned that concern for family members, and other loved ones becomes primary, right alongside or even superseding their concern for self-preservation. For many, in fact, (Tenna being an example), they have left Ethiopia <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">for</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the sake and at the request of </i>their immediate family members. Tenna may still be in Ethiopia today if he had no immediate family, still fighting for the rights and freedoms he would like to see enacted there. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"> I have observed at TASSC that day to day survival as a modality for the actions and thoughts of the Ethiopian survivors helps gives a context that furthers understanding of their lives. Many, if not most of the Ethiopian survivors come by TASSC on a daily basis simply because it has become a familiar place. They know that they will encounter other Amharic speakers there, and that it is a place where someone who is from and familiar with their home country can be found. The more familiar they become with others, the more open they are to conversing and sharing their experiences. They are longing for someone to talk to, as Tenna and others have communicated to me, but it is difficult, due to their trauma, for them to talk. Demissie has often mentioned to me that ethnic tensions, which are still high in Ethiopia, are a concern when looking for jobs among Ethiopians in the Diaspora community here in Washington DC. However, from my observations, ethnic concerns are not as important inside the office at TASSC. Demissie has confirmed this. In the day to day survival mode with which these survivors find themselves, the ethnicity of their fellow Ethiopians does not have priority in their interactions. This seems to confirm my observations (both in my own life and the lives of others) that people gravitate towards the familiar when in day to day survival mode. This is one of the reasons I placed my personal context at the beginning of this ethnography. My own periods of time where day to day survival has been of primary concern (if none other than for mental sanity and psychological survival), has shown me that the familiar, and most importantly people, have become my top priority. That this is perhaps to an extent true of all humanity is further supported by my observations at TASSC.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Daily life at TASSC<o:p></o:p></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5ISRp5PcpIAUHgI21E4sziLrECRMufihiZQfn364RIKyWHb62D3R_VUycnoWTalBQgWEUDCFB7kuvLFd8MslBslJL0E100LOeqCg7UAuj0cxX3XgY1gvGatKJHSGhKRsQjYREIWJes4M/s1600/20050224-02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5ISRp5PcpIAUHgI21E4sziLrECRMufihiZQfn364RIKyWHb62D3R_VUycnoWTalBQgWEUDCFB7kuvLFd8MslBslJL0E100LOeqCg7UAuj0cxX3XgY1gvGatKJHSGhKRsQjYREIWJes4M/s320/20050224-02.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">TASSC founder and torture survivor Sister Dianna Ortiz</td></tr>
</tbody></table> Everyone needs someone to talk to, to hear them, and to trust. Kayla, TASSC’s Helping Hands director, and the holder of an MA in social work, has confirmed this in our discussions. This last element, trust, is an element that is lacking in many of the survivors I’ve encountered. All of the people I’ve mentioned above have opened up to my questions the longer that time has gone on. Due to the trauma they’ve been through, they aren’t sure who to trust. This is combined with the fact that they are in a strange country. This does not, however, diminish their need for trust, or their need for someone to talk to. As one anonymous survivor told me, it is hard for them to find ways to communicate for two main reasons: 1. They have been through intense trauma that has had deep psychological impacts and 2. They don’t know the all of the customary niceties and ways of communication in this new foreign country where they’ve found themselves. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"> With this knowledge, it is easy to understand why TASSC has attempted, to the best of their abilities and resources, to set up a welcoming environment, and to communicate to the survivors that they are welcome. In turn, the survivors, who are continuing the struggle for survival, although without the most harmful impediment, the trauma and torture, come to TASSC to associate and be around others. Demissie communicated to me from the start that it is most important for me as a worker at TASSC to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">be there</i> for the survivors when there is anything they need; even something as simple as a cup of coffee or a glass of water. If someone wants or needs to talk, then that is the top priority. The little acts of caring make the biggest differences in all of life, but particularly at TASSC. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"> Tenna, Amare and the other Ethiopian survivors will often come to TASSC on a daily basis, and can usually be found sitting around the folding table and chairs in the kitchen area. No doubt one of the main reasons they come to TASSC is for the free basic food staples supplied to them, and obviously food is necessary for someone to live. However, the survivors in this report have also mentioned to me that it is just as important to “not feel alone”. They spend their days conversing with one another, in between surfing the internet for news, e-mails and information from their home countries and preparing whatever legal matters they need to attend to. This small “community” of fellow survivors at TASSC is truly a support group and strength for them. They have all expressed that not only their fellow survivors, but the care and openness of all the employees, volunteers and interns at TASSC has given them mental strength and has helped give them hope. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"> Sometimes, I will notice one of the survivors simply relaxing, and seemingly not doing anything. But I have been through enough myself to know that humans in crisis are quite often doing “something” when it seems that they’re doing nothing. The ability to relax is a luxury to victims of torture, as many have expressed and described when referring to the events that prompted them to embark on the journey to America, as well as the traumatic events of the journey itself (often involving many countries and the necessity of trusting on complete strangers to get them where they’re going). It has been so long since many of them have been able to relax, and simply allowing them to have time alone is often one of the best things we can do. It is possible to do too much in the work at TASSC, and survivors do not need to be kept busy at all times. They have communicated to my early frequent requests if there was anything they needed or that I could do for them that “no, there was not”. That can be a challenge for the staff at TASSC, but through many experiences of communication with survivors, Demissie and others have assured me that simply knowing that someone who cares is close by is enough for them. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"> When I casually question these Ethiopian survivors, their concern for food and shelter is an almost daily event. They do not have the ability and/or luxury to look too far into the future. I do not know what it is like for them before and after they leave the building, and due to the inability to get inside someone’s head, I do not truly know what it is like for them while they’re at TASSC. I do not know what it feels like to know that the office door closes at five pm, and that then they are on their own until nine the following morning, or until the weekend ends. They are on their own for the majority of the time in their days for both food and shelter. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"> I can guess at the fear and anxiety that they must feel, and they have communicated that in fact there is a great deal of both, but I do not truly know what it is like. I remember one day in particular that Tenna came to the office with all of his belongings in a bag, prepared to go to a new residence that evening, only to find out that his position was meant for another. This is excruciatingly mentally painful to the survivor. As a staffer, I want to do all I can to help, but the resources at TASSC are limited, and this makes it tough on all involved. Fortunately, Tenna found a location to stay that night, but not all are that lucky. Sometimes a homeless shelter, or even in extreme cases, the street are the only options for a bed. Never once though, have I heard one of these survivors complain about TASSC. This illustrates another hypothesis I have that gratitude towards anyone who has shown any level of help, no matter how little, only increases when people are in day to day survival mode. Although I do not know what they say about TASSC when they are alone with only the other survivors, it is my guess from their actions that they are grateful for anything given to them. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">CONCLUDING THOUGHTS<o:p></o:p></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><br />
</b></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"> As can be seen from the above descriptions and explanations from survivors, some of the most important concerns for them are first, basic human needs such as food, shelter, clothing, and the opportunity to find work (TASSC helps to provide them with resources for employment), second, people with which to interact and to whom they can communicate with out of a sense of shared experiences and finally, concern for reunification of their family members if they have any, and/or concerns for their future existence in America once they obtain their asylum. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"> I have further shown that with these concerns in mind, the structure of the “society” at TASSC is one that is quite informal and relaxed. This is intentional and is something that the staff consistently keeps in mind. We are even encouraged to dress casually and to talk with the survivors when and if they need it, setting all other work aside while we do so. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"> The feeling of support is very important to the survivors. Nothing has made this clearer to me than my experience and developing friendship with Tenna. It has been my privilege to accompany Tenna throughout his entire asylum process, which in his case was extremely short. I accompanied him to his initial interview with (what I perceived to be) a rather rude asylum officer. It was my interpretation that this particular officer was not sensitive to the emotional trauma of torture, and was being quite aggressive during Tenna’s emotional testimony of the events of his torture. To illustrate the difference between the mind of the ethnographer and the subject, Tenna did not notice this. He expressed after the interview that his primary concern at the time was simply to relay the information in a manner that was consistent, and that the officer would accept as truth. I assured him that I felt he did a great job answering the questions, although that was my first experience attending such an interview. The feeling of relief once Tenna exited that initial interview was palpable in his very demeanor and posture. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"> It was only later that I heard from Demissie how happy Tenna was to have me alongside him during his interview process. When I’d first told Tenna that I would accompany him to the interview a couple of weeks prior to that date, he appeared pleasantly surprised in a way that it is hard for me now to objectively describe. The emotion and surprise that he showed was visible in his face, and was a testimony to how much his trust in people had been harmed from the trauma he’d gone through, and how grateful he was to have someone who truly cared. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2OtfD-KGkZ3v5iAcWmjG90SZwjyl7mmj2zbj3A_PiP1EpYQptGF9XVf0l2N43kf8x9n-M40gKZeXl_Qf8c2SavMF4l4MIV6sffFy9Ju_EzmTvubFaanKSZowLgoqczDSOvnQ6M4IhP_s/s1600/Vigil-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2OtfD-KGkZ3v5iAcWmjG90SZwjyl7mmj2zbj3A_PiP1EpYQptGF9XVf0l2N43kf8x9n-M40gKZeXl_Qf8c2SavMF4l4MIV6sffFy9Ju_EzmTvubFaanKSZowLgoqczDSOvnQ6M4IhP_s/s400/Vigil-2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"> Demissie further told me that Tenna’s receipt of asylum after his initial interview was not what happens in the majority of cases; most asylum seekers are referred on to the U.S. immigration court system, which often is a two-year process. Again, the feeling of being blessed to witness this and to emotionally share in the joy that Tenna experienced is a personal privilege to me. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"> The sharing of joy and sorrow, of feeling the emotions along with the survivors is very much a part of this ethnographic examination and analysis. The day to day survival mode of the survivor requires that I not take a position of authority, or that anyone at TASSC appears to want to have authority over the survivors. We are to treat them with respect, empathy and equanimity. A hierarchical structure would not have been adequate to explain the environment of Ethiopian survivors at TASSC or to understand the lives that I’ve examined in this report. Day to day survival seemed to me to be the best explanation of why things are set up the way they are at TASSC, and why the survivors behave in the way they do. It is hard to say what their actions may look like down the road as they become more financially and physically secure and are possibly reunited with their families. My guess from personal experience would be that the major life events they’ve gone through will change them forever, and will cultivate feelings of love and compassion for others around them. Tenna in particular has been quite open in confirming this in his own life. I hope for the sake of all survivors that they too will derive similar priorities from their various experiences. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"> </div>timradioboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04782098380905182539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2414968517182978362.post-53534558638238471382011-07-04T11:23:00.021-04:002011-07-09T17:11:51.950-04:00The Military, Nationalism, Pacifism, Equality and The American Way<div class="MsoNormal"><div style="text-align: right;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>“Everything can be explained in context” is one of the common axioms of Attachment Theory; A new scientific/philosophical/psychological/theological/anthropological explanation of how we are innately tied together in a form of universal collectivity (or what I simply refer to as the “universal”). We depend upon each other down to what many call the soul or spirit level more than we ever knew, and it is being proven in the various fields mentioned above. <br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I point this out, because it can be so easy to discredit others if they don't conform to our ideals, and thus discard any attempt at empathy, and by doing so, to de-humanize. This can be seen just as much with tyrants as with pacifists. In the sometimes insular world of academia, I have seen it as well, even with people who claim to be all-inclusive. One need look no further than a pacifist’s view of those in the military, and the common assumptions that are derived from the outside view.<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi56WNRy79i4KODTn_T318zUTHGZvdPDepnbUxW50zbToIADLyW4bwxORMFbmjgeubopS2dZV4Ld26cnudjBN9yhVSA0e_udMzBXYyG_tq-FtUpAimXew-D5baz03-PDC1XkjmzTAaf8jg/s1600/Stan_Goff.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi56WNRy79i4KODTn_T318zUTHGZvdPDepnbUxW50zbToIADLyW4bwxORMFbmjgeubopS2dZV4Ld26cnudjBN9yhVSA0e_udMzBXYyG_tq-FtUpAimXew-D5baz03-PDC1XkjmzTAaf8jg/s1600/Stan_Goff.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Master Sergeant Stan Goff, U.S. Army, Retired</td></tr>
</tbody></table>I credit Eastern Mennonite University, a school widely known to hold a pacifistic stance, with attempting to bring military viewpoints to campus over this past year. I remember one coffeehouse panel in particular that opened my eyes to my own strong biases, and how much I tended to lump the entire military together; almost as if it had one collective opinion; a de-humanization that seemed to assume the most unrealistic possible definition of “collective consciousness”. In many ways, I had failed in looking at the military as comprised of individual humans. Those individual humans represented on this particular panel described their individual lives and brought an entirely new perspective to their own humanity, which I have often subconsciously and consciously stereotyped as perpetrators of injustice.<br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Stan Goff, a retired U.S. Army Master Sergeant, has further opened my eyes to the reality of the individual in the military. An individual that is often tired, that can see no further than the foreign climate or daily task (often mundane) in front of him/her; that is faced with a thousand tedious mind-numbing daily orders and that is simply looking to go home most of the time; home to the familiar. His description of the U.S. invasion of Haiti in 1994 was spectacular in detail, and proved to be a significant element in his own intellectual evolution, which, in his case, meant that the Haiti mission was to be his last. <br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Goff described the military as a “system”; very much a microcosm of the macro society in which we all live. The petty political games, the individual moves for power, the struggle to be one-up over the next person, and the frustration with mindless actions and decisions by others in an imperfect world are humorously described at times:<br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Master Sergeant Goff, the Sergeant Major says you need to move your tent over one space”. “Just who in the fuck engineered this goat fuck anyhow? Maybe the fuckin’ sergeant major would like to set the motherfuckin’ tent up his motherfuckin’ self. Maybe we’ll just sleep under the motherfuckin’ stars. It don’t look like fuckin’ rain, now, does it? What the fuck has been going on here for the last two days? Sunbathin’? Shell collectin’? Sippin’ cocktails on the fuckin’ veranda and watching the fuckin’ sky change?”<o:p></o:p></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br />
</i></div><div class="MsoNormal">When we are faced with reality, as illustrated so eloquently above, most of simply want to get through the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">fuckin’</i> day. We find ourselves enmeshed in a system not of our own making. Get up, go to work, pay for things: food, clothes, water, a place to live and the right to legally stay there, taxes so we don’t go to jail, and even to pay for the fact that we were born, breath and occupy space. Yes, it’s absurd, but we’re caught up in it, and if anyone gets in our way, or doesn’t see things like we do, we very quickly forget that they also have their own absurdities in their own lives that they’re trying to deal with, and we fail to take those into account through our limited vision. <br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Now, none of this is to excuse the inexcusable. Goff, though it took many years, and the courage to go against his deeply ingrained military training, eventually began to ask the tough questions, and to bring himself to an awareness; the kind of awareness that truly can connect with the universal. When he wrote his book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hideous Dream </i>(in 2000)<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">, </i>about the 1994 U.S. invasion of Haiti, Goff’s evolution wasn’t yet advanced to the pacifist stage (where he now is), but he was heading closer in that direction, making a stop at Socialism, in somewhat of a parallel to how my own worldview has developed; although I never was a member of the military. <br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Goff finally began to put all the pieces together from his years of service beginning in Vietnam, and realized that what he had been seeing in U.S. military action, despite all the pretenses passed down through the chain of command, were naked power grabs for money and resources. None of this is a surprise to many, but for a man who came out of the very system he was beginning to recognize, it was a major step, and made me question: Why is it that some have the ability to step back and realize what is going on, while others either refuse to see or are incapable? I believe the answer has nothing to do with intelligence, as there are many people much smarter than any of us who continue to be caught up in the absurd. I think Attachment Theory is right in that it can only be explained through context. Societal context is a construction of countless tiny actions, decisions, conceptions, perceptions, conditioning, etc... Depending on how these happen to be ordered in any individual's life, and the timing with which they encounter them, combined with the uniqueness of their own humanity, can make all the difference in the questions which are brought to the surface.<br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Goff claims as much in that the system’s very construction is the answer. We live in a world (at least in the developed world), where everyone is looking out for their own individuality, and of those around them; resembling the new appreciation I have for buddies who only look out for each other on the battlefield, with not much concern for the bigger picture. Again, we can see Attachment Theory at play. The question is, how do we use Attachment Theory for good in this world rather than, as some do, exploitation of others?<br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRFVJ9_R9lDObDQ1Ti1Mk4TwnGQ2cNvY8_H7KlLyBIffvou7j7wfIfqFynVuG_ekXFOw2c6DuO6VFUxCZUsv99jjvgEPce7m-w1c0jaX5kIB3lfTqCwYEF8BfWS2t8CotGxSuHcj79l0w/s1600/Equality16X16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRFVJ9_R9lDObDQ1Ti1Mk4TwnGQ2cNvY8_H7KlLyBIffvou7j7wfIfqFynVuG_ekXFOw2c6DuO6VFUxCZUsv99jjvgEPce7m-w1c0jaX5kIB3lfTqCwYEF8BfWS2t8CotGxSuHcj79l0w/s400/Equality16X16.jpg" width="398" /></a></div>The upper echelons of power, as well as the “average citizen”, look to their own interests, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">but</i></b>, and this is the key point, those interests are <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">all tied to each other.</i></b> So, even in the context of power, we see that we cannot survive without the other. Wouldn’t then, it make more sense to work <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">with </i></b>the other, in a spirit of community, rather than competition; in a recognition that we are all the same? This is the conclusion I believe that Goff came to, and why he ultimately became disillusioned with the American way; a way that on this Fourth of July is well-articulated in many of our country’s documents, but, in practice, has missed the point of what equality means. No, we should not look at equality as having an equal chance to succeed just as much as the next person, but that each human life is valuable in and of itself. With that adjusted outlook, only then can we start to break down this Western system of individualistic absurdity and greed that we all live under, and only then can we change those individual daily relationships that, as a whole, construct both the society and culture that we live in. For what is success by the American definition? We can choose to take our “equal” opportunity at success to succeed materially and ultimately exploit others as would need to be done in modern American society, or we can look at success as bringing us closer together and form a more cohesive advancement towards the universal. A mindset change, a paradigm change is required of all involved if the system is going to change; a system that manifests itself through the minutiae of countless everyday actions and decisions based, ultimately, on particular societal protocols. <br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I am inspired by people like Goff, who after a 20 year military career was still willing to question, and continue to question, ultimately becoming a pacifist at what is now a late stage in his life. As he said, what does loving your country mean? His answer was solidarity expressed to those left out of the system in an effort to be inclusive, but ultimately changing the injustices by changing the system itself. My answer is similar in that loving your country is no different than loving those in it, and for that reason, I believe we should discard the nationalistic question, because nationalism is no longer relevant when love is brought in. Love fully expressed IS revolutionary, and is not easy. Love is also more inclusive than we can ever imagine and is not limited by anything human, such as the arbitrary borders (of all kinds) that separate people. For after all, how does one put limits on love, which is the true "higher power", no matter what the context?<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Note: All quotations were taken from Stan Goff's book <i style="font-weight: bold;">Hideous Dream: A Soldier's Memoir of the US Invasion of Haiti</i> published by Soft Skull Press, Inc. in 2000</span></div>timradioboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04782098380905182539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2414968517182978362.post-3826782098348399712011-06-30T10:06:00.013-04:002011-06-30T16:16:13.668-04:00The "Divinely Ordained" Work of the U.S. in Latin America<div class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigBqOqoMHQW6lDBSJfaoQ6NlH8g4UCwnM7geKog6a3HNvcfoQib28OZotjqjxWbUswBRfZTH4lfDGyjuobO8c1Jg9jdoNoW-gPbOsRbXkD0hlzBaAVRTelt6CxQ4LhXCtudgtmjlRsCjQ/s1600/IMG_1855.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigBqOqoMHQW6lDBSJfaoQ6NlH8g4UCwnM7geKog6a3HNvcfoQib28OZotjqjxWbUswBRfZTH4lfDGyjuobO8c1Jg9jdoNoW-gPbOsRbXkD0hlzBaAVRTelt6CxQ4LhXCtudgtmjlRsCjQ/s320/IMG_1855.JPG" width="240" /></a>“Don’t they teach imperial history in American schools? Why do we Spaniards seem to know more about U.S. history than most Americans?” Father Ron Hennesey, of the Maryknoll Order, was listening to one of </div><div style="text-align: right;"></div><div class="MsoNormal">the nuns in his Guatemalan countryside parish react to his analysis of international politics in the wake of several murders in his jurisdiction. This was early in Hennessey’s pastoral career in Guatemala, which would span a total of 34 years, during which he would see the most vicious acts humanity could ever dream of carried out on his parishioners. Those decades (from the 60’s through the 90’s) would also erase any illusions he had about the reality of America’s role in the Western Hemisphere. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Hennesey’s awakening from ignorance reminded me of my own. As a child of the 80’s growing up in a fundamentalist Protestant environment I remember that Pat Robertson’s 700 Club was always on in our home. If it wasn’t me alongside my parents viewing the show, I would often be content to watch it alone; I was fascinated by Robertson’s “Words of Knowledge”, and that a man should be so blessed of God as to receive them on a regular basis. I get nauseous and angry as I think about this now, especially given the fact that I used to send this man some of my childhood “tithe” money. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT50G0pcDOf-3vFiPB6Ls7gE13EfsOJfD_KK7-vjsNtoRLDdIB0F6aBIhwzBL3Ea6hhbYFIj358n9ghVjIGlA5jPTOr9aNHJtuHd5O_T9yhjSJ_M-KpcqYad7GFSXAiw7e4in3qEK1fGY/s1600/rios_montt_asassino.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT50G0pcDOf-3vFiPB6Ls7gE13EfsOJfD_KK7-vjsNtoRLDdIB0F6aBIhwzBL3Ea6hhbYFIj358n9ghVjIGlA5jPTOr9aNHJtuHd5O_T9yhjSJ_M-KpcqYad7GFSXAiw7e4in3qEK1fGY/s1600/rios_montt_asassino.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">General Rios Montt</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal">Robertson was an open supporter of Guatemala’s President in the early 80’s, General Rios Montt. Montt had attracted his support, and the support of President Reagan, by assuming the status of born-again Christian. Further, he was a vocal opponent of “Communism”, Liberation Theology, and was committed to keeping foreign investment and the ties between American and Guatemalan elites intact. That was all Reagan and Robertson needed to recognize God’s calling on Montt. My childhood money was given during the time that Robertson was instituting “love lifts” of food and financial aid to the government of Montt. What a fucked up version of the love of “god”. There was no love in the actions of Montt or the U.S. government in Guatemala. I do not care what ideological excuses they had for the murders that were carried out with the full support of Robertson, Montt and Reagan, there was absolutely <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">no </i>justification for what I’m about to describe. </div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">THE HORRIFIC END OF FRANCISCO PAIZ GARCIA</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Francisco Paiz Garcia was perhaps the most respected man of the San Francisco village in Northwest Guatemala. He was also one of the oldest. Garcia’s manner would remind one of a kindly grandfather, who had plenty of time for others, and was always available when wise advice or important community decisions were called for. On this particular afternoon in 1982, he was the last known living man of his village (outside of the witnesses who recounted the events) and he was having difficulty walking as a stake was driven up his anus and out through his abdomen. A soldier on either side kept his journey of torture moving along until he finally collapsed, dead, on a trail not far from his home. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The other members of Garcia’s family and village, and many other villages around him in the previous weeks had all been massacred, with no regard for age, gender or even the courtesy of a kangaroo court to give a false accusation of guilt. The men had been painfully beheaded with dull machetes, disemboweled, dismembered, forced to smash in the heads of their neighbors and relatives, hung, or thrown off cliffs. The women and children had been raped, burned alive, disfigured through breast mutilation or hand/genital removal by machete, and in many cases, forced to watch the brutal, remorseless killings of their men by laughing soldiers before they joined them in the mass graves. The majority of the military orders for these murders can be directly traced to Guatemalan officers trained at the School of the Americas in Ft. Benning, GA and/or from those who had the direct support of the CIA. It was the same tactics that had been incorporated in Operation Phoenix during Vietnam. All of this is documented, and can be verified by reliable eyewitness reports, from Hennesey, Thomas R. Melville and other members of the Catholic clergy and respected Mayan leaders, or even from de-classified U.S. documents from the time period. Apologies from the U.S. government, specifically from Bill Clinton, have since been issued for “mistakes” that were made in Guatemala. That was all that Clinton committed to the decimated population. No reparations or an attempt at righting past wrongs have even been hinted at. This seems to be a common pattern in America: apologies after the fact for “mistakes” and that it won’t happen again. What precisely “won’t” happen again? The exact same scenario? Yes, he’s probably right about that. The names, tactics and enemies will change, but the policy of advancing American interests at all costs, with no hesitation regarding brutal murders, will always be an option and will always be utilized as long as America is an empire. It’s a common symptom that empires seem to have. It’s also a convenient alibi to have others do the dirty work, but more and more torture is becoming overt in American policy, not covert. Murder? Well, that’s long been policy in completely unjustifiable warfare. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">GUATEMALA AS AN EXAMPLE OF U.S. POLICY</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">It has been estimated that over 200,000 Guatemalans, mostly Mayans, had suffered the above mentioned fate during Ron Hennessey’s time witnessing that horrendous U.S. backed genocide. Their only crime had been their threat to the status quo of international elitism in their desire to escape from poverty. They had demanded the right to stay on their land, and for it not to be confiscated by international corporations or landowners. They were denied any opportunity to gain title, in a racist move reminiscent of what blacks in America experienced in our shameful past. For centuries, the Mayans have worked the lands of the elite with little to show for it. Whenever they began to make a stand for themselves, not in the face of some ideology, but through the simple demand for basic living essentials, they were repressed in the brutal manner described above. These were simple people, almost all of whom were illiterate. They knew nothing of Communism, they just wanted to live. Even if they were Communists, should this be the actions of a “Christian” President supported by another “Christian” President, a “Christian” televangelist and “Christians” in America? The support of successive U.S. administrations never wavered for this Guatemalan repression in the over 40 years that killings have been accounted for, starting in 1954 with the policies of John Foster and Allen Dulles (who now have the distinction of a DC airport named after them for their efforts). Numbers are numbing unless we start to put some details to the picture. That was my intention by describing the atrocities above. It is stories like these that I hear in my work at TASSC (Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition). This is what it means when people are killed in mass numbers. This is the reality of the “American way” for so many millions in our world today. Sadly, for many of them, their only hope of refuge is in the country or region that was the financial and sometimes actual participant in the conditions causing them to leave their homes; if, that is, they’re one of the lucky ones who are able to escape alive. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">These same kinds of atrocities are described by foreigners in our war zones today. They are described by the victims of torture who come through TASSC. They have been described by people whom I’ve talked with directly, and sometimes directly experienced themselves. Dianna Ortiz, the founder of TASSC, has published a book detailing aspects of her torture in Guatemala (her only crime being teaching literacy to Mayans). Her torture included forced oral sex on her captors, rape, being pissed on (literally) by her attackers, being hung in an open pit of mutilated human flesh, some dead, some alive, for hours at a time, and the forced murder (with her hands being forcibly wrapped around a machete and her aggressor wrapping his hands around hers) of a woman prisoner who had maggots crawling out of the cuts underneath her breasts. This was all directed by a North American; even though Ortiz was blindfolded, she clearly recognized the accent of the North American, whom she has called Alejandro, and it has since been revealed (these events occurred in 1989), that there was consistent CIA activity in the country at this time. Ortiz has been discredited, and her perpetrators have never been brought to justice. Her response has been to form TASSC and help other victims pursue justice much like she has. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Ortiz has not given up; she has been discouraged at times in a process for justice that has taken years, but she has not given up; she has only learned to re-channel her actions and energies. She is a huge inspiration to me, as I sometimes wonder if writing about these events really does anything to the American mind. We are flooded with so much information, and become so complacent, that no matter how horrible things sound, many either do not have the ability to accept that the U.S. could do this, or simply do not care. It may be a combination of the two. Just remember that our tax dollars go to pay for all of this. Even worse, the money you or I send or have sent in the past to religious organizations could have possibly gone to pay for these events. Where is the sense of responsibility? Where is the outrage demanding change from our government? These activities continue to happen, that much can be assured. We may not know where or how, but undoubtedly we will hear about it someday, when it seems too far in the past, and time to “move on” and some pointless apology will be issued by the powers that be. We can’t just keep saying “sorry, that was a mistake” if we claim to value and respect human rights in this country. Human rights in American foreign policy is a joke. It is our responsibility to change this. Other countries are starting to rise up and protest for their rights and the rights of all people. Will we do the same? How long must we keep asking? I commit my life to working on these issues as long as I have breath, and I won’t stop talking about it; even if at times it seems like I’m not speaking to anyone who cares.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 8pt; line-height: 115%;">Note: All references to events in Guatemala have been taken from first or second-hand accounts of Thomas R. Melville and Ron Hennessey in Melville’s book, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Through A Glass Darkly: The U.S. Holocaust in Central America</i> and from Dianna Ortiz’s autobiography <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Blindfold’s Eyes. </i><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div>timradioboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04782098380905182539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2414968517182978362.post-59876690079240095692011-06-18T12:30:00.006-04:002011-06-19T09:00:32.520-04:00Pierre Teilhard De Chardin: Love, Evolution, Higher Consciounsess, and Convergence<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZV7q1u7MQQSTprz9CVDbTJQY4NxGipUigQ0IxYxLvelrAbWwtEvq7m24aD0nc3_VHbHNkfpromTcKRDkO9C6xtgMw0SjUYC54Fp95WpSvrpr2dfOiuoBSCybvnXQOmAeSlC-yEiwj_1U/s1600/chardin2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZV7q1u7MQQSTprz9CVDbTJQY4NxGipUigQ0IxYxLvelrAbWwtEvq7m24aD0nc3_VHbHNkfpromTcKRDkO9C6xtgMw0SjUYC54Fp95WpSvrpr2dfOiuoBSCybvnXQOmAeSlC-yEiwj_1U/s320/chardin2.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal">Pierre Teilhard De Chardin is a great example of the ultimate seeker. Not content to let science or religion stop at their various dogmatic sticking points, he takes things further, much further. He constantly questions how we can expand not only our minds, but the mind of humanity as a whole. That collective consciousness we can see reflections of in other intellectuals such as Carl Jung. But Chardin’s “consciousness” is different than Jung’s. Whereas Jung sees archetypes in the subconscious that are inherent to everyone, Chardin sees a CONVERGENCE towards a higher human consciousness, ultimately to the point where we can find the totality of love, or in other words, divinity/God. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I have always hesitated to use the word God in describing my own conceptual construction of a Higher Power, but I don’t believe that we need to subscribe to Chardin’s Christian philosophy to see the logic behind what he presents. Chardin’s thought, despite all the high rhetoric, is relatively simple to understand. He takes evolution, which he fully believes in, and broadens it. No longer do religion and science have to be separate. Chardin things big, he questions, he seeks, and it is there that I find common ground with his philosophy. The idea of the soul is portrayed as energy, and physicists are starting to come to the same conclusion. Consciousness IS energy. So far, it is the ultimate energy as exemplified in humanity; the being that has the ability to KNOW that it KNOWS. Reflection. Evolution has achieved consciousness through complexity. The being reflecting back on itself through a "crossing over" or one of those points in evolutionary history where a sudden breakthrough has occurred. Sartre and the existentialists would refer to it as the “pre-reflective cognito”. However, the existentialists fall short by stopping at the human which at base has nothing as a ground. NO. We, as humans, are simply a stage in the progression of evolution; a higher stage to be sure, and a revolutionary stage, but still one level in the process; a process that continues to complexify, unify, and center in on itself.<br />
<br />
Everywhere around us, we can see this progression of evolution, and Chardin emphasizes that the more humanity increases, the more we will be pressed in on one another, both physically AND psychically. Eventually we will converge into an as yet inconceivable higher consciousness, and perhaps millions of years away, we will reach the apex of that consciousness. To think of it another way: We as humans are individual (albeit more advanced) molecules combining to create an even more complex and unified convergence past the simply human. We are but one stage in the process. Your life as a “molecule” is meant for something higher. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The patterns of the universe are there for us to see. Starting with the most basic components of everything that is, the atom, we see the expansion and complexity, through trial and error, that creates greater convergence and intelligence. There is a unity in this complexity, as more and more individual parts unite to create something greater. It is the same pattern of unity that we see in all the elements of love. Connection. Unity with other human beings. Acceptance of differences as contributing to the whole. All of these elements play a key part in the direction of the universe, and where we as humanity are headed. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The existentialists have failed, as far as Chardin (and I) are concerned in that they present no higher purpose; they present nothing at all. Literally. If we have no higher purpose, what is the drive to keep going? There is not mass suicide among existentialists, so they must see a reason to go on, yes? Chardin refers to it as the “Activation of Energy” inside of us that shows clearly the divinity/love at play. It is what we can call the zest of life. The existential anguish is not a realization of meaninglessness or nothingness, but a level of awareness which presents something unfamiliar, something not yet finalized in its formation. There is still more trial and error, and most importantly THE UNKOWN to deal with. However, believing in this higher force, the energy that moves all that is, the energy that is love, is what gives us hope, keeps us moving, knowing that we are contributing to a greater expansion of consciousness and unity. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I have begun to accept that love IS my idea of “God”. But I had never heard it articulated in this manner. Evolution is love in the material world. It is a unity that progresses into something higher. As reflective beings, however, we carry a greater ability (and Chardin argues, responsibility) to carry this evolution higher and higher. It IS up to us, as free-thinking beings to make the most of it. What will we do with this unique station we’ve been given in the evolutionary process? Destroy ourselves, or continue the progression to the ultimate convergence that is waiting for humanity? </div>timradioboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04782098380905182539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2414968517182978362.post-4225083050259043132011-06-11T07:30:00.005-04:002011-06-12T06:07:25.474-04:00Consistency in American Foreign Policy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr8rNPIErAWxsNxKMfx0jc13Yzx_hAguIl7X5ObYktxWn1w4g8-Pnk6NmbuGK8SBcr_pm5p7ehFO-3oNRPN-p-tfhurDTh1PmFbMeMzDHHf02BltV4aU_wNuIJ3pIpxqrY6BwL-bK26tw/s1600/1292904.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr8rNPIErAWxsNxKMfx0jc13Yzx_hAguIl7X5ObYktxWn1w4g8-Pnk6NmbuGK8SBcr_pm5p7ehFO-3oNRPN-p-tfhurDTh1PmFbMeMzDHHf02BltV4aU_wNuIJ3pIpxqrY6BwL-bK26tw/s320/1292904.jpg" width="204" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal">The fact that Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer’s book is now 14 years old only serves to illustrate how accurate he was/is about US foreign policy in Latin America and elsewhere. His details about long-standing US support for torture/terrorism were not surprising, but his information presents a couple of important perspectives that I haven’t heard in the discourse around our foreign policy concerning Latin America in particular, and the world at large generally.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The first is a bit of history on the origins of Liberation Theology, which has a negative connotation for many. Nelson-Pallmeyer shows that Liberation Theology did not grow directly out of Marxism, but rather out of a concern on the part of the Catholic Church to get back to perhaps the most basic message of the New Testament Jesus: Concern and love for the poor and dispossessed. This kind of concern, in practice, always finds itself naturally opposed to oligarchs and the wealthy. Reducing disparities in wealth is not good for business, and therefore not conducive to keeping a hold on power. The School of the Americas served as a tool to make sure that this power of the elite was not lost to the "evil" Catholic priests and nuns who sought a better life for the poverty stricken in Latin America. The fact that the beginnings of Liberation Theology coincided with increased interest in its secular counterpart, Marxism (seen exemplified in the Cuban Revolution) is no accident. There was vast unrest throughout Latin America, much like we’re seeing today in the Arab world. Liberation Theology and Capitalism don’t mix well, and the useful/timely association with Soviet influenced Communism created a convenient narrative, and a target for Latin America death squads, helped by the rhetoric of the establishment in the US (both political and religious as well as economic). For US citizens who have paid attention, this should serve as a call to look at the ways the Western World will attempt to manipulate the economic/political outcomes of a restless Islamic Arab world freshly rejuvenated to take back control of their lives. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The second perspective is that Western mind control often incorporates admitting to past atrocities or errors in foreign policy once the old practices are no longer useful. In the case of The School of the Americas, Nelson-Pallmeyer showed several examples of major media outlet criticism of the horrific track record of its graduates. His argument is that since America’s foreign policy uses for the School were becoming less important by the mid 1990’s, it fit into the American myth for the media to condemn past mistakes and illustrate the “changes” that were being made to ensure that these actions (i.e. the same foreign policy) didn’t occur again. Never was it necessary to perhaps right those wrongs, but if it made Americans sleep better at night knowing that their government was correcting any wayward elements, then it was not only ok to print, but encouraged. After all, our government couldn’t have a population too concerned about human rights. Things could get out of hand. Meanwhile, our foreign policy continues (with a slight face-lift) just as before. Different look, maybe a different location, but the same old atrocities, and eventual "apologies" for those atrocities that "obviously came from a few misinterpretations". </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Throughout the book, Nelson-Pallmeyer calls the US to acknowledge its past in Latin America, and to not merely criticize events after the fact, but to work towards reparations and the reduction of blowback. This sounds great, but is futile in our current system; one that is not transparent enough or even capable of being honest. To tell the truth and attempt to make things right concerning American foreign policy would create more cognitive dissonance than what our national consciousness is capable of handling. </div>timradioboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04782098380905182539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2414968517182978362.post-51118808211518307372011-06-05T11:35:00.004-04:002011-06-05T11:49:49.157-04:00The Story of TASSC Founder Dianna Ortiz<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeOX39cDDW1TYqWJJDA5q5AAnm0Fn36wfEI3_x-lu-7rMnAKBLBe_S0bzmYmiGn8QqxHB3GEeA6LPhf9ZdEKK9Rd40bccHHW-PfsLEkUbUud7662xXmko0kLr89vpkWhakULXOE1CvvZ8/s1600/blindfolds-eyes-my-journey-from-torture-truth-dianna-ortiz-paperback-cover-art.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeOX39cDDW1TYqWJJDA5q5AAnm0Fn36wfEI3_x-lu-7rMnAKBLBe_S0bzmYmiGn8QqxHB3GEeA6LPhf9ZdEKK9Rd40bccHHW-PfsLEkUbUud7662xXmko0kLr89vpkWhakULXOE1CvvZ8/s1600/blindfolds-eyes-my-journey-from-torture-truth-dianna-ortiz-paperback-cover-art.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal">I remember, on the ride back from the panel discussion, mentioning to our local DC director of TASSC that it seemed so pointless for Katherine Gallagher of the Center for Constitutional Rights to continue to pursue indictments against American officials in foreign courts. Gallagher and the CCR have been attempting to prosecute members of the Bush and Obama administrations for their involvement in torture carried out during the 10 year “War on Terror”. There is a legal opening pertaining to torture that allows international jurisdiction. But does it really matter? What is the point of attempting to take down members of the most powerful empire on earth? Who would enforce it? The panel discussion was held on June 1 in Washington, and featured the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Juan Mendez, himself a survivor of torture from Argentina. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The pointlessness that I felt, and heard in Gallagher’s tired voice, was the same feeling I had while reading of Sister Dianna Ortiz’s attempts at obtaining justice for her torture in Guatemala in 1989. She had, unfortunately, been in the wrong place at the wrong time, and had fallen under the dark umbrella of “CIA assets”. She takes us through an account that undoubtedly has been repeated thousands of times: the reality of walking through the dog and pony show that victims receive when coming up against a government bent on protecting its controversial “interests”, regardless of who the victims are. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The US government commits torture today. We know that now, and official documents state this fact. I doubt that there has ever been a time when the US has not supported torture in some way. Any amount of reading and critical thinking will raise questions about our domestic and foreign policy and will uncover nightmares if one digs far enough. Ortiz own investigation and interviews of Guatemalan and American officials, along with the work of her lawyers and the review of declassified documents was enough to tell her that there was some serious American support of torture and murder going on in Guatemala, and that was continuing to go on when the book was published in 2002. That is without seeing the many additional classified documents about her case that remain closed to the public. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Ortiz was subjected to abduction, burns, gang-rape and the forced torture/murder of another woman during her ordeal in 1989. Her story is only one of thousands quite similar that have come out of Latin America and all over the world. The question in my mind when reading accounts like this is what can we do about it? It was the same question that Ortiz struggled with, and the “doing something about it” was for a long time her only motivation to continue living. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">As I was talking about the panel discussion with our director, it seemed to me that the most effective action we could take begins from the ground up, not from the other direction as Gallagher was attempting. Maybe Katherine Gallagher and others like her are doing some good by continuing to be active on the international level. However, reading a book written by someone like Dianna Ortiz, and listening to similar tearful accounts in my daily work at TASSC, puts a human face on all of the madness that our government practices in the world today. It is hard to be involved in this work. It drains a person emotionally and physically, and will drive one insane with anger if they allow it. However, the victims more than anything need someone to be there to listen; to validate; to point out the way to healing and purpose. To simply stand beside them as they try to piece their lives back together. This is where the real difference can be made: at the grassroots. We practice the principles of love in our world through the individual contacts we make. As power grows, it moves further and further from humanity. To return to that humanity, we focus on the micro, on the person, the individual. Then we see our own humanity reflected in the other, and realize, like Ortiz, that power doesn’t have to be all pervasive. Faith in humanity can be restored in others by the way we choose to live our own lives. </div>timradioboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04782098380905182539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2414968517182978362.post-8100050215024138952011-05-05T15:47:00.009-04:002011-07-01T15:45:01.057-04:00Thought Control or Free Speech?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLFpDYLYkIh9pniw86CBe0Ncbb3U2tNZ4KuHGGogCBfJIGNDG3DEZVlxRqk2BlxgPh6fnSSV8RNoOIS972n3KWAKvDYAjWi5j1K7sgqiiPi6FGR7FDAg9mo-HYXDwEgzMrOoJkBIJ4z3I/s1600/rashard-mendenhall-.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLFpDYLYkIh9pniw86CBe0Ncbb3U2tNZ4KuHGGogCBfJIGNDG3DEZVlxRqk2BlxgPh6fnSSV8RNoOIS972n3KWAKvDYAjWi5j1K7sgqiiPi6FGR7FDAg9mo-HYXDwEgzMrOoJkBIJ4z3I/s320/rashard-mendenhall-.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal">Throughout my courses at Eastern Mennonite University this year, one principle has been drilled into me in every class I took. This ranged from philosophy to history to conflict analysis. The message was to always look for multiple ways to read any academic literature when analyzing a situation/conflict/issue/historical account. This is the logical/rational method, and it’s the same method used in the scientific approach; that is: coming up with different hypotheses. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">This academic approach has endured a head-on collision with journalism and government reports ever since 9/11, and has been re-kindled this week with the reported killing of Osama Bin Laden. The reporting of the events have been consistent for the most part on the macro level, and this included the Arabic outlet Al Jazeera, and none of them have varied from the report of the Obama administration. By now, I’m sure most of you are aware of the main facts, although the details continue to change daily about how Osama actually died, who was present and whether or not he was armed. That is, if you accept the fact that Bin Laden was actually killed in the first place, or who the man even was, where he was, and if he was even alive to be killed (not to even mention the lingering questions around 9/11 itself). </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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o:title="rashard-mendenhall-"/> </v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><span style="mso-ignore: vglayout;"></span><!--[endif]--></span></div><div class="MsoNormal">But despite the simple presentation of the facts (whatever they may be), there is a great deal of virulent discourse happening towards certain free-thinkers, and undoubtedly it’s because we are no longer in shock, and people have had 10 years to think things over and develop some legitimate questions about parts of our one-sided national story that don’t make sense. This is exemplified over the past couple of days with the tweets of Pittsburgh Steelers running back Rashard Mendenhall, who is being castrated in the media for mainly two tweets:</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">1. "We'll never know what really happened. I just have a hard time believing a plane could take a skyscraper down demolition style."</div><div class="MsoNormal">2. “What kind of person celebrates death? It's amazing how people can HATE a man they have never even heard speak."</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">To me, it sounds like Mendenhall has not only had a certain level of healthy questioning about the actual events of 9/11, but has a genuine compassion for human life, even the life of a portrayed “enemy”. Jesus, Muhammad, Gandhi, Buddha, Krishna, and all the great love traditions teach this same great truth. But to feel so pressured to conform to a command to celebrate the death of a labeled enemy, comes dangerously close to feeling like we’re living in Orwell’s Oceania. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Whenever a major announcement concerning the “safety of America” happens in this country, we are expected to cease all thought and profess total allegiance to the flag and the President. It apparently never occurs to most that power structures could be hiding some facts, because at the moment a major news network makes an announcement, permission is given to have thinking outsourced to outlets whose sole purpose is to make money or control public perception in any possible way, and the more sensationalism, the more fear, the better. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Mendenhall now faces the possibility of endorsement losses, the certainty of receiving threats (he’s already had some), and continued incitement of hatred towards him from the media. Mike and Mike on ESPN were doing a stellar job at this these past two mornings as I was watching at the gym [Let me take this time to say that normally I don’t follow sports, but this isn’t a purely “sports” issue]. “Unpatriotic”, “Insensitive”, “Ignorant”, and “Uninformed” were just a few of the words being used. However, they always backed it up with his right to “free speech”, but that he would “have to suffer the consequences for that speech.” But then how is that free speech? If Mendenhall has been black-listed in the media because of his right to free speech, stands to lose his endorsements and reputation, and even the possibility of being released from the team, it doesn’t sound so free after all. In fact, it sounds like the purges involving the stripping of power or social standing that I heard so much about in my recent reading of Mao’s China. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">This should be deeply disturbing to all of us, as it appears more and more that we are not truly free to publicly announce our opinions on 9/11 and Bin Laden in this current climate. I’m thinking myself about what my deep questioning and refusal to conform would cost me if I aired my viewpoints in certain quarters. Would it cost me a job? Access to a certain academic program? Or simply violent threats from people if I was still on the radio professing these opinions? Now I pose the question to you: Is this the mark of a country with truly protected free speech, or is it the mark of a society that has developed thought control and an atmosphere of fear because, as Mike and Mike say “you’ll have to suffer the consequences”?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div>timradioboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04782098380905182539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2414968517182978362.post-8430376220345299292011-02-18T16:45:00.000-05:002011-02-18T16:45:04.309-05:00A Current Code for Living<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw0X7c-0Jq8JkqtvQh6UiYpuN77bWkhCKZobZR2Op9GpNKoLf85gbARBUrVWBIFq6sXJpdxNmyFj7AAPZc-9VYHijLSRIhjCOtJ_Zo7NxHvcPinfGGVTFx_M3P_T12fgWuS8qJBpxgZjc/s1600/opposites.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw0X7c-0Jq8JkqtvQh6UiYpuN77bWkhCKZobZR2Op9GpNKoLf85gbARBUrVWBIFq6sXJpdxNmyFj7AAPZc-9VYHijLSRIhjCOtJ_Zo7NxHvcPinfGGVTFx_M3P_T12fgWuS8qJBpxgZjc/s320/opposites.jpg" width="232" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><b><i>Many of you have been asking how I've been coping with the recent tragedy of Sarah's death, and one thing I've loved about being at Eastern Mennonite University is the way that we can use the classes for personal reflection. We were asked to write a "manifesto of life", and that was the perfect opportunity to take stock of where I'm at with everything and it forced me to look at what exactly were my sources of strength; the things that have kept me sane. Well, here's a partial glimpse. </i></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">This is a perpetually evolving manifesto of life as this specific context of writing will be different tomorrow, and might not even be remotely similar within the next few minutes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At any time something climatic could happen; something which has once been described as a “rift in time”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These are the periods of life where everything seems to stand still; where massive changes in direction occur.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These changes can be positive, negative, or a unity of the two.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Much of this depends on perspective, and therefore definitions; the terms with which we use to describe our world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, much of what we consider to be climatic or consequential is dependent upon definitions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All of these definitions, upon closer examination of our perspective, incorporate some form of the conflict of opposites, the conflict that is basic to the universe and the meaning we ascribe to it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are choices to be made because of this conflict.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The idea that some choice is good and another bad is apparent, but why is that the case?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By whose standards do we govern our lives and by what view do we see the conflict?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Through the conflict of opposites, is there a universal thread that can be found?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">These are the kinds of questions that occur when life is stripped down to the basic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For most, it comes at a time of crisis, even if that crisis is simply an existential anguish as to the meaning of it all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This kind of crisis is basic to human existence and will occur to you, or at the very least must be acknowledged in every human being if happiness is to be found.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This crisis <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is </i>the conflict of opposites.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You must face it, unless you want it to make itself known at a time not of your choosing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The crisis itself is comprised of opposites; an example being the fear yet potential for liberation of the unknown.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is the point where one may feel like all that is left is their breath, and even that may be slipping away. But there is still something, even if it’s ugly, even if it has no map, even if no one cares. What happens next is a choice. You can choose to take the basics of life that are left and build around them. What you make becomes something on your terms. Why else does adversity create some of the best art? Adversity sheds that which has arrived from the outside; from the structural aspects of society, family, culture, religion, nation, ethnicity and any unquestioned belief system.</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">It is only when all externals are devalued completely that freedom can be found.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is the freedom to seek, to discover truth, to recognize the universal; the love that pervades the universal; the love that most refer to as God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is the love that we recognize in each other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is the same love that prohibits us from valuing ourselves no more but no less than the other; the love that finds the non-dualistic balance in the conflict of opposites that is so crucial to a meaningful existence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But this is also the love that demands risks; that has its opposite in loss or even hate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">When we love, we are on the path to knowledge of the divine, because we begin to discover ourselves, and through ourselves we see the other and validate the other’s voice and purpose as inseparable from our own.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We learn that truth is inside, not outside, that society is a set of assumptions; of agreements that we have made between our various individual egos.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We learn that much of life is absurd; that the meaning which we ascribe to externals is utterly senseless at base.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ultimately, we learn that we really don’t know that much at all, because most of what we do know has been handed to us by a non-rational environment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">We have choices, real choices; choices which incorporate the questioning of everything, absolutely everything in life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Outside of basic subsistence, question why you work, who you’re hoping to please, and why you’re hoping to please them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Question whether it is more important to work towards an external or internal goal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Question what working towards the external or the internal involves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Make the choice that breathes life into you, not the choice that drains you of life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Question all that you hold dear, but do that questioning using the light of love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Question with the love that is justice; with the love that is compassion; with the love that is selflessness; with that love that practices the Christian Anarchism of Tolstoy; the nonviolent resistance of Gandhi and MLK, and with the love that would choose death rather than see harm come to the other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Choose to disobey in love, rather than conform to hatred.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Question why you pay taxes when your government uses it to kill and destroy others with a force greater than the world has ever known.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ask yourself what is the absolute minimum you need to do to survive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then spend the rest of your time in discovery, both of yourself and the other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Choose to share that ultimate human love with a life partner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Through that love, give of yourself fully and completely, and you’ll find that you’re ultimately giving to yourself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To give that completely, you must know what you’re giving, so know yourself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Find the greatest joy in the realization that the giving of yourself to the other is a sharing of the universal that comprises the both of you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Realize that though death or temporal events may separate you, there will always be an element of your individual souls in the other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Realize further that this intimate partnership is a micro example of the macro universal love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is but one element of the universal that comprises the very essence of who you are.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">As you move through life, the questioning and the choices you make determine your story, your individuality, your narrative, your approach to the conflict of opposites.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Living the kind of life that takes on the challenge of tough questioning is a process, not a static event, so may this manifesto and your life be forever evolving and moving forward, and may you constantly realize the rewards of an ever increasing awareness of self, others, ultimate reality, and the unity that brings it all together.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div>timradioboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04782098380905182539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2414968517182978362.post-55308574656713145982011-01-23T13:20:00.002-05:002011-01-23T15:13:56.466-05:00Purpose and Voice<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk-khQVGVZZLKKFiYlP5vLXBQxyz5RnkYq17LyepbbKZ2A75Em_cs8_5Dyszts7-vqEpDUqUrMAmAbeycXOQTl8HWp6BZQEhcttpu9drS-lOzTL-uwyj0do6B2OXpVZPhIcOy3wwR8EFU/s1600/Hands.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk-khQVGVZZLKKFiYlP5vLXBQxyz5RnkYq17LyepbbKZ2A75Em_cs8_5Dyszts7-vqEpDUqUrMAmAbeycXOQTl8HWp6BZQEhcttpu9drS-lOzTL-uwyj0do6B2OXpVZPhIcOy3wwR8EFU/s320/Hands.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><b><i>This essay, written on January 1, 2011 serves as a marking of significance in my life as it was part of my application package for the renowned Conflict Transformation and Peacebuilding MA at Eastern Mennonite University. I received my notice of acceptance to this graduate program on January 19, 2011 at a difficult moment as my first and only wife, Sarah Elizabeth Morton Hartman (we'd been divorced since 2008) had passed away on January 15, 2011. I sense that this will mark a turning point in my life's progression.</i></b><br />
<b><i><br />
</i></b><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.25in;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.25in;">One of the most courageous things we can do is question the very foundations upon which our lives our built. Some sociologists and existentialist philosophers have cautioned us that through this kind of questioning, we might find our entire world unraveling, with nothing but pure consciousness to show for it; meaning that consciousness is the ending point. However, I take their thinking (which I’ve found to contain elements of truth) and go further with it, believing that the consciousness/soul/Atman is where we touch the divine; I extend the consciousness towards the universal or God. The inclusion of the divine leads to other questions. If I am to acknowledge the divine as the ultimate foundation of my being, what does that mean practically? What have I been searching for in this process of discovery? The easy answer would be that I’m looking for self-identity. But I think that through self-identity, human nature inevitably looks to find purpose and voice. <br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.25in;">Purpose and voice brings in a host of other elements. There must be someone to recognize this purpose and voice, whether that someone or something is transcendent or in the here and now. I believe it should be both, but one cannot exist without the other. In order to have voice, there must be a validation of that voice. In order to have purpose, one’s validated voice must be combined with a community that recognizes the unique gifts of the individual. This community must be filled with a spirit of mutuality and equanimity that can only come from the self-recognition of the universal in one’s self and the other on the part of each member of that community. <br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.25in;"> I fully believe that the lack of voice is one way to describe the hopelessness of the human condition. Validation is a gift to others that cannot be obtained unless the givers know themselves. When self-discovery happens, we see ourselves reflected in the other, and can eliminate the threat that comes from the unknowns of the external differences between us. Conflict happens when we do not recognize the other as one of our own. Therefore, when there is no validation, it can be observed that there are various methods with which people use to discover their voice. From my viewpoint, it seems that much of this is a useless groping for externals in the various ways with which we try to “shout” through forms of power. That power can be expressed in such areas as materialism, status, career, politics, war and violence. <br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.25in;">For me, I hoped to find my purpose and voice through the gifts that I’d been given in broadcasting. I discovered at the young age of 15 that I was a natural behind the radio microphone, and I turned that gift into a career that spanned nearly 20 years. However, there was an ever present restlessness at the heart of my being that never left me satisfied. I was playing a role; I was an actor for the sake of a career and entertainment. Playing that part for nearly 20 years turned life into an illusion. Eventually the illusion started to chip away at my soul, and eventually led to the question of: “Is this all there is?”<br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.25in;">The older I’ve become, the more I’m convinced that everyone goes through a crisis of some form. This can be a trying period of external adversity in life that causes a forced re-direction, or it can be internal in the form of an existential anguish as to the meaning of it all. For me, it was both. <br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.25in;">I’d begun to question my path in life during my time living amongst the excesses of Las Vegas. I spent 10 years there as a radio personality, but all the while I was looking around me and couldn’t help but see the pain and despair of the lifestyle with which I’d immersed myself. At first I recognized it in others, but more and more I began to recognize it in myself. Everywhere I looked, there were people hurting and in need of purpose and fulfillment. This was not to be found in such a superficial environment where there was a total void of empathy, compassion and love. I quit full-time radio, quickly went back, and then quit again. I knew that I hadn’t discovered myself, but I had no idea from where to begin to look. The fast-paced life which I was forced to live through my career allowed no time for reflection, and the questioning that the reflection would have required could have led to answers that would have cost me my livelihood. This was my reality, and it quite possibly is the reality of many in our world, although I’m not narrow-minded enough to think that “livelihood” is universally equivalent to the Western career model. Everyone has their own externalities which give them false identities. However, I believe the problem is in fact universal. We have no proper structure for people to reflect and discover their true purpose without the terrifying prospect of giving up everything that they’ve come to value, and that allows them to subsist. We need validation through supportive communities, we need more peacemakers, and we need people who know themselves enough to practice the principles of empathy and justice. <br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.25in;">On July 21st of 2009, I experienced the final event in my personal external crisis. In the year prior to that date, I had suffered a morbid financial collapse from the declining real estate market, a loss of opportunities in the increasingly homogenized radio industry, and a divorce. That July day brought me closer to eternity than at any previous point in my life. I inexplicably blacked out while driving at around 8 am that morning, and awoke 45 minutes later to the sound of paramedics and firefighters working as I was suspended upside down in excruciating pain from a shattered knee, right foot, and massive blood loss. <br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.25in;">That accident led to a 6 month recovery period that stripped away the attachments keeping me from discovery of myself. Prior to that time, I had always known that I had a passion for human rights, but I never fully realized how to apply that to my life and broadcasting career. I did some volunteer work at a mission in Las Vegas, and joined a non-violent Socialist organization after leaving Vegas, but none of those contexts provided the answers or meaning that I was looking for because I wasn’t starting at the beginning or immersing myself deeply enough in the mode of discovery. The near-death experience changed all that. <br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.25in;">Now there was a degree of clarity that I’d never had before, because I had nothing to lose by asking the tough questions. Certainty in the form of knowledge began to take shape in my mind as I read and reflected to the degree that I had subconsciously always wanted to. I read challenging books about philosophy, nonviolence, equality, politics, social justice, comparative religion, the great scriptures of the world, and novels that gave insight into the human condition. I reflected on my heritage; on the great work that my uncle Dr. Vernon Jantzi has done and is doing at Eastern Mennonite University; on the work of my cousin Dr. Terry Jantzi at EMU; on the work of my mother, Virginia Hartman, in clinical pastoral care and nursing and on the work of her sister Sharon Kraybill and my uncle Herb Kraybill through two decades of peacebuilding in Ethiopia. I thought about my Anabaptist past and what that might mean for me in the form of a newly redeemed life developing out of a knowledge of where I’d come from. <br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.25in;">Through all of this, I have discovered that there is a common thread that unites. We often hear that kind of terminology when discussing hermeneutics or canonical interpretation, but I have come to see that no religion has a corner on the truth. Love is universal, and a love ethic cannot be truly practiced except through a life narrative that is congruent with that ethic in all dimensions. Whether my role is a student, son, friend, peacebuilder, worker, mentor, intellectual, writer, broadcaster or activist for social justice, I must hold that role up against the universal standard of love, and must be consistent in practicing that standard in all areas of my life. <br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.25in;">This revelation has brought me to the place where I am now. I have discovered a passion that I can only interpret as a calling to serve others. I am grateful to the mentorship of Vernon in helping to guide me through this process. He is just one of many who have been there for me over the past couple of years, but it is partly through his insight and encouragement that I’ve found myself at Eastern Mennonite University. EMU has been a perfect place to continue my intellectual and personal development as it is consistent with the principles I’ve discovered through my own trial by adversity. The more I learn, the more I see how everything ties together, and the more I believe that a life of helping to establish peace on this earth is one of the most noble and honorable professions that one can have. <br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.25in;">As I think about my future direction, I am drawn towards the reconciliation amongst believers of various faiths. I see our world as one which is discovering new forms of identity and new ways of clinging to the familiar. We have been in the midst of an unprecedented cultural and global reorganization, and many ways people are now relating (in my view) is through religion versus the brief historical sidetracking of nationalistic identity. What saddens me is that I see these religious identities as being one, if not the main source of conflict. This has perhaps been the case to some extent all throughout history (at the very least religion is just the latest version of tribalism), and it completely goes against the grain of what these various religions stand for. There is a commonality amongst the believers of the world’s great traditions, and those commonalities are the highest principles of love, justice and peace. <br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.25in;">So, it is obvious to me that the foundation is there for us to build upon to establish greater unity in our world. Through places like The Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University, there are effective practical methods being taught as to how to engage in giving people appropriate avenues to find their voice and purpose in order to avoid the conflicts that plague our time. <br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.25in;">I am particularly interested in the area of Western-Islamic relations as one of my initial introductions to human rights issues was the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Furthermore, I have watched with great despair the development of Islamophobia in the Western world since 9/11. I have worked at developing friendships with Muslims from around the world, and I have acquired a deep empathetic desire to facilitate dialogue in the process of allowing their voices, and all voices to be heard. It remains to be seen what pragmatic application this desire and calling might have for my future, but I know that the next step is to obtain my MA Degree through the Conflict Transformation Program at CJP. <br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.25in;">Everything that has happened in my life has pointed me in this direction. I am grateful for the adversity and for all that I’ve experienced as it’s not only given me incredible clarity, but it has brought me back from agnosticism and given me a degree of happiness that I’ve never had before. I want to use the time I have left on this earth in the service of others, as that is the best way I know to honor the divine unity that I’ve found in myself and that is reflected in everyone I see in the world around me. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
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</div>timradioboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04782098380905182539noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2414968517182978362.post-5752922048311062802010-12-23T19:07:00.000-05:002010-12-23T19:13:54.267-05:00An Encounter With Tolstoy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzKVmhqpg0cAAkFkk59TXC6cDJHyI1KcutsmrwwdtqXs4lOzZQfRlo9ZT6FSjPyOMzHs-TcX5DeuIbFhmdRGqFjGcK0KhW4A4hJY5sMQlBTQPII0Y5YvuBuXnu9QqkHsZsr5r4AK_SR7Y/s1600/tolstoy_foto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzKVmhqpg0cAAkFkk59TXC6cDJHyI1KcutsmrwwdtqXs4lOzZQfRlo9ZT6FSjPyOMzHs-TcX5DeuIbFhmdRGqFjGcK0KhW4A4hJY5sMQlBTQPII0Y5YvuBuXnu9QqkHsZsr5r4AK_SR7Y/s320/tolstoy_foto.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>I took the past few days to read Leo Tolstoy’s classic <i>Anna Karenina, </i>my first full-length encounter with his work, and am ever more convinced that what makes a great artist is a great degree of self-knowledge. The 19<sup>th</sup> century English poet Matthew Arnold said on the back of my edition that the book was not to be taken as a work of art, but as a piece of life. I think he misses the point of the kind of awareness that authors like Tolstoy possess. Art and life overlap and are intertwined…how do we define one without the other? How can we say we understand life without resolving conflicts, without understanding that those conflicts do exist, and without having the ability to “separate” from the absurdity of it all to recognize what reality is really comprised of? <br />
A book as layered as <i>Anna Karenina </i>is hardly explained through any particular theme or genre. Tolstoy believed in the novel as a treatise on life, and to reduce this work to a story of romances interlaced with episodes of “realism” would be to miss the point. My first thought after finishing the last page was that the romances were used by Tolstoy to point us towards the larger love that IS. The tragic element of the love myth is emblematic in the main character’s fate, and the base desires of the libido are interspersed at various points throughout the book. The search for the higher love of the universal is best portrayed in the philosophical yearnings of the character Levin, Tolstoy’s alter ego in the novel, and the character that I most identify with as well. <br />
The great artists must have a deep understanding of life, first of themselves, and then of others. Understanding of self leads to understanding of others through those embodied interconnections that are what makes us human. Through being able to clearly identify those incoming and outgoing signals in relation to our own humanity means that we can also understand the other. When Tolstoy addresses death in the book, he uses this embodied understanding in the character of Kitty dealing with Levin’s brother. Levin had all the intellectual knowledge in the world about death, but it took the understanding of the <i>reality </i>of death, apart from the abstract, for death to be dealt with. Kitty had the ability of empathy, that element of love, which was essential in the context of the situation. Levin was only to develop that ability later, and through a different path…which was illustrative of one of the many subtleties that Tolstoy incorporates into his writing. <br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7EjvnVya0_MUs7T_Ub7K_F9hx_lFJzBUn3QO9d2U6zrNu-max576d4P1BmtNBbIGOCslVp3Mkyr1TW6Vu2ojZetkV3lsj2UyrZYYN2raAJv4OYeajf8dZWrXv216GiJmZIkuDcsGuwYE/s1600/anna+karenina2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7EjvnVya0_MUs7T_Ub7K_F9hx_lFJzBUn3QO9d2U6zrNu-max576d4P1BmtNBbIGOCslVp3Mkyr1TW6Vu2ojZetkV3lsj2UyrZYYN2raAJv4OYeajf8dZWrXv216GiJmZIkuDcsGuwYE/s320/anna+karenina2.jpg" width="210" /></a><br />
Anna was searching; she was going through the normality of life. However, Tolstoy made the book real in the sense that Anna, as the main character, was the one person who we thought had a handle on “who she was”. Anyone would have been attracted to Anna, and everyone was. However, as much as Anna seemed to transcend the absurdities of society, and to be able to see right through it, she was still looking at it from a vantage point that left nothing to be seen <i>past </i>it. We saw this with a lot of the characters, and this was one of the fascinating elements that Tolstoy incorporated. “Realism” as the style of this type of writing was apt as the book took us down many paths where I thought I knew the character, only to be confronted with some element of their personality that blindsided me. Tolstoy gave us the <i>idea </i>of the character, and let the <i>reality </i>develop on its own and in its time. <br />
This was a book that was written over a period of four years. We can see Tolstoy’s view on life developing, especially at the end of the book, with the existential and spiritual crisis that we find Levin articulating. Levin eventually discovers his peace, as did Tolstoy in his own life. From that point on in Tolstoy’s life and writings, he further incorporated his convictions of nonviolent Christian anarchism…or resistance to power structures through a life lived with the highest principle of love. Love as power, and not power as power was what Tolstoy believed in and exemplified. <br />
I became fascinated with Tolstoy from a course on nonviolence that I took at Eastern Mennonite University this past semester. Hearing that Tolstoy had a huge influence on Gandhi and MLK made me resolve to dive into his works the minute I had the chance. Through further research, I can see that Tolstoy went through the same restlessness that I’ve gone through in my own life, and that many of us go through. Ultimate meaning for him meant seeing himself in the other, and seeing the divine or the universal in all of us and through all of us. This continues to be the common thread that is always presenting itself to me, and that I find in scriptures, philosophy, metaphysics, art, literature and music. Perhaps it’s the paradigm I’m incorporating to view life, but it’s the only paradigm I’ve discovered that makes sense. <br />
There is a line that runs through the philosophy of Tolstoy as portrayed in <i>Anna Karenina. </i>It is a line that Levin discovers at the end of the book, and is grounded in Levin’s heritage. Levin acknowledges the narrative structure of the individual life, and starts to make sense of his own story just as the book ends. This is what can be said to be the discovery of voice. Tolstoy certainly found his, and recognizing what he discovered as the foundation of his voice is the key to understanding <i>Anna Karenina, </i>and is the key to understanding life.timradioboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04782098380905182539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2414968517182978362.post-54242025537552823112010-12-21T15:15:00.000-05:002010-12-21T15:36:59.522-05:00An Anabaptist Heritage<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV85e2ltTe5TkFYhXQ0b0p-ZzAwfNDvUgYK0ZFQvvQn77FOOgsk5i5mNMCYI7zlmJTQuCMlzaX4bZbRIF11C4o8vFG3OiqCvEWAbky0R47fAGa7zLf7qFt_vi31XZuYN6Pa4n_rkHEOEA/s1600/4910_108771487518_545952518_2887873_5951724_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV85e2ltTe5TkFYhXQ0b0p-ZzAwfNDvUgYK0ZFQvvQn77FOOgsk5i5mNMCYI7zlmJTQuCMlzaX4bZbRIF11C4o8vFG3OiqCvEWAbky0R47fAGa7zLf7qFt_vi31XZuYN6Pa4n_rkHEOEA/s320/4910_108771487518_545952518_2887873_5951724_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>When I began my radio career, I was told to imagine that I was talking to a single person, conversationally. The “singular” person would ideally be the stereotype of the target demographic the radio station was hoping to attract. For example, in Las Vegas, the prime audience for our advertisers was females between the ages of 18-34. So my ideal imaginary listener was probably a 25 year old female, single, fun-loving, without children. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"> Over the years, this form of vocal delivery became second nature, and if I was to think of an image of the person to whom I was speaking, it would be vague, indistinguishable, faceless and nameless. The sociologist George Herbert Mead came up with the concept of the “Generalized Other”, which might be an apt description, for even though I was talking to a single person, that person represented the common understanding of all other individuals just like her, so there was a universal element to my delivery. Language obviously was central to this universality; however there was no true individuality, either from me or reciprocated from my audience. Everyone in this exchange engaged in a layer of culture that was superficial and concentric, for although I was talking to one person, I was also talking to society at large, in the language of that society (Collins, 1994) (Connolly, 2002). </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.5in;">Radio and media attempt to turn the concentric around and bring the superficial or surface elements of culture back to the individual, instead of out from the individual. Either way, this paradigm is illusory to authentic identity. I cannot possibly reveal any sort of my true nature through this mode of communication, nor can the listener learn anything about her identity through the reception of this message from the radio. However, if it is the authentic that one is attempting to avoid, then media, entertainment and other forms of escapism are the perfect avenues. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.5in;">The example of my past career is a part of a narrative, a layer of my narrative, therefore a part of me, but only on a surface level. William E. Connolly talks about layers of perception, thinking and culture, while James McClendon refers to narrative ethics as being the only true way to see morality; that is, to see it as a story. I find no dissonance in combining the two concepts in the form of narratives having their own layers. Perhaps the media/career aspect of my life was an outer layer, one that was most susceptible to adjustments from the elements. It was unprotected, constantly changing, having no real substance, completely transparent (Connolly, 2002) (McClendon, 2002). </div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><b>An Anabaptist Heritage</b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.5in;">This essay is an attempt to articulate the process in which I now find myself; the process of returning to the innermost layers of my narrative to define what living a good, ethical life means to me in the context of the part of the universal from which my story is shaped. I am learning to acknowledge my heritage, my Anabaptist heritage, because I have reached a point where that acknowledgement no longer frightens me. It has become painfully obvious to me that the main reason people run from true identity is the perceived sacrifices that they believe they might have to make if they peel back their layers. The outermost protection that they think they have is often the most harmful element of their lives. This is where we start to hear clichés about the difficulty of leaving one’s “comfort zone”. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.5in;">When Christ talked about denying self, he wasn’t referring to the denial of who we are, he was trying to help us remove the construct of society, the caricature, the costume, the distortion, that was covering up our true identity. It was only in that discovery of identity that the divine could be found, and therefore the love that could be extended to others. Some traditions, such as Hinduism, may refer to this in different ways, such as the removal of the ego standing in the way of Atman. Understanding heritage in the context of narrative is to understand a part of the life-giving process.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.5in;">Heritage clearly has a tie to the past, but what is that tie? Isn’t it a coming out of an endless set of contexts, going further and further back, an eternal sense of the ever present now that transforms into the future? Our role in the heritage is to take the past as a starting point, a grounding and a place where we’ve grown out of the universal God /grain of life, and then transform that past into the present where we find the embodied self. </div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><b>Heritage and Ethics</b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.5in;">At Eastern Mennonite University, studying under Dr. Christian Early, I was told that “the better we understand who we are, the more grounded our ethics will be” (Early C., Ethics Lecture, 2010). There is a tension in that statement, a conflict of opposites, because self-discovery through a look at heritage will involve pain as well as pleasure. But pain, adversity, uncertainty, even suffering, are often necessary parts of forward movement, for they create questions, and it is through questioning that we discover. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.5in;">This discovery of self, at any level, can only be navigated by the embodied self. Referencing Antonio Damasio, the feelings and emotions that influence and guide us are received through the body, but I must question from where they originate (Damasio, 2003). Could many of these feelings arrive out of the body itself, out of a past life? I’m not referring to reincarnation, but to the connection that heritage brings into our lives. To state this in a somewhat scientific manner, we embody the genetics of our heritage; we carry the blood of those who came before and their actual DNA. Traced back far enough, we could even say that we are the embodied community of all humanity. The parallels between the universal soul/consciousness/Atman/Brahman/Allah/God and this embodiment are not to be missed. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5vrJAdTfcH0h7UaU2JalylFjoWRAxautiPA_05Y6im88nd5-wxL6e9LCGzBuU6AVuX06nZ4EVhFLLUlzILIohwJOe46LDD_g3fRIIUEmPkYTTpufWjr0odI3LWWZGXEftpl2_YKlhLz0/s1600/carl-jung-1-sized.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5vrJAdTfcH0h7UaU2JalylFjoWRAxautiPA_05Y6im88nd5-wxL6e9LCGzBuU6AVuX06nZ4EVhFLLUlzILIohwJOe46LDD_g3fRIIUEmPkYTTpufWjr0odI3LWWZGXEftpl2_YKlhLz0/s320/carl-jung-1-sized.jpg" width="228" /></a></div>Recently, I’ve been especially interested in my mother’s family, as the mother symbol has fascinated me in the process of personal study and discovery. Carl Jung was the one who opened my eyes to the effect of the anima, the female/mother archetype in the mind, and the role that it plays in a life narrative. I’ve always been aware that my mother’s lineage has provided me with the greatest family mentor figures in my life, even though I do realize that this is not the case for everyone. However, the insights of Jung, and the further ideas of attachment theory as introduced to me by AnneMarie Early, have only increased my focus on the maternal (Jung, 1976) (Early A., 2010). My mother’s maiden name is Jantzi, and her mother’s maiden name is Swartz. Both families came out of the Alsace Lorraine region of Europe/Switzerland. The Swartz were Jewish, and it is only recently that I’ve realized my bloodline connection to the Jewish people. It was in the 1700’s that the Swartz converted to the Amish lifestyle to avoid the rampant Anti-Semitism that has had varying degrees of intensity in Europe for hundreds of years. From the Amish, they gradually evolved their thinking to the identifiably Anabaptist tradition that we know today. Despite hoping to escape persecution for their Jewish beliefs, they encountered it anyway with their pacifistic Anabaptist stance (Swartz). </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.5in;">So, my mother’s parents met and married in the context of a close knit community of Anabaptists that included the Swartz and Jantzi people. These people had traveled to America together, and set up a life and a style of worship together. It is said that they were known to “share earthly possessions, as well as joys and sorrows” (Swartz). They were a people who loved life, and knew how to work hard and intelligently, while desiring to better the world around them. </div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><b>A Narrative of Service</b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.5in;">The restless energy of service is evident in my more recent family history. I remember my grandparents as being full of the kind of life and laughter that can only come out of that knowledge of the self that desires to care for the humanity of the other. This energy was transferred to their children, and is evident in my mother, who has served as a nurse, pastoral counselor, and care-giver to her parents at their life’s end, as well as to my sister and I in our youth, and most recently to me as an adult following my near-fatal car accident. My mother’s work has always poured out of a life filled with the highest of moral standards, love and the desire to work for people rather than the material. This is a common theme throughout my maternal family narrative. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.5in;">The energy of service is evident in my mother’s brother, Vernon Jantzi, who is a familiar name and figure on the Eastern Mennonite University campus and community, as well as the various communities with which he has participated through his years with Mennonite Central Committee. Vernon has taken on the role of a sage figure to me. He embodies all that is good about the Anabaptist tradition, and is a model as to what it means to live out, through the powerful practices of virtue spoken of by McClendon, a morally upright ethical life; one that has to be taken as a narrative to be understood (McClendon, 2002). His direct actions for peace, such as his work to help establish the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding on EMU’s campus, resonates both forward, back and horizontally in his own heritage. By horizontally, I mean that his peaceful actions are congruent. His narrative is consistent, authentic, and reflects his own path to discovery through heritage. His various roles of uncle, husband, father, grandfather, teacher, mentor, scholar, leader, activist, university administrator and advisor are all in line with a universal love ethic. He is a man who knows himself, in the truest sense of knowledge. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.5in;">My mother’s sister Sharon and Sharon’s husband Herb show a similar narrative in their lives. They have a passion for the African continent, and their children were born in Ethiopia during their nearly two decades of service to that country. Their approach to missions, like Vernon’s has never been of the “beneficiary” mentality; meaning they don’t practice a mission characteristic of hubris. They look to learn from others more than they hope to teach others. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgut_N70QcDfQwnFT8HQmzKGATNsPtAs8qV6Y6ucRMoxTjcfEyz67yMxteVMGWbmup0NNucssZiqUvk65aE9X8QhNr25MG8fMpIEqY6Py7VewRdZYg8KOQ9k4_eu9ZjrN8wcA0UUJOcYGo/s1600/mahatma-gandhi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgut_N70QcDfQwnFT8HQmzKGATNsPtAs8qV6Y6ucRMoxTjcfEyz67yMxteVMGWbmup0NNucssZiqUvk65aE9X8QhNr25MG8fMpIEqY6Py7VewRdZYg8KOQ9k4_eu9ZjrN8wcA0UUJOcYGo/s320/mahatma-gandhi.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>This humility in service recognizes what McClendon refers to as “Perspectivism”, which I interpret as a humble pluralistic acceptance and acknowledgment of different shades on what comprises truth. It is a realization that the truth cannot be simply implanted into the narrative of those whom we’re serving, but must be looked for <i>out of </i>that narrative of the other (McClendon, 2002). I believe it was Mohandas Gandhi who once said that we should hold others to the highest standard of their own traditions. I don’t think Gandhi meant for the truth to be relativistic, but that we should recognize and validate the ethical narrative of those we encounter. This recognition of pluralistic narratives can only come out of a security with our own narrative, so when we practice Gandhi’s principle, we practice self-discovery <i>and </i>a discovery of the other. This is an ethic of community, a multi-sided narrative of life. </div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><b>A Love Lesson</b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.5in;">I agree with the idea that the primary narrative of humanity is a love story. I credit Dr. Christian Early with that idea, and its corollary of the tragic element in love. The past couple of years have seen numerous life-shaping rifts in time (spoken of by Connolly) that have revealed tragedy in my own narrative, but through the tragedy has come a greater love and awareness (Connolly, 2002). One rift, which I have mentioned in a previous writing, was a near-fatal car accident in the summer of 2009. Another rift was a unique intellectual awakening that I can clearly see in hindsight as I look back on the spring of 2010. It was a period where I encountered the writings of Richard Rohr, and was introduced to the concept of mystical non-dualism for the first time (Rohr, 2009). That rift was followed by the discarding of labels and beliefs that were blocking my own vision of identity. There was a great deal of clarity immediately following my car accident. There was a great deal more with that second rift this past spring. Both rifts involved a letting go, and I’ve found that the more I can discard attachments, the more I am able to comprehend concepts, ideas, history, knowledge, and the more I am enabled in the examination of heritage. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.5in;">In a way, I may have more questions now than I’ve ever had in my life, but I consider that a sign that I’m able to name what I’m trying to answer. When, for example, I’m able to recognize and therefore question why I’ve always been restless, I can look to the heritage of my family narrative for some of the answers. Perhaps the restlessness, pain, struggle and redemption of the Jewish people is encoded in my DNA. The Jews are a historically restless people both literally and figuratively, but they have also been commanded and called out by God to an ethical narrative that incorporates love, service, and humility. The idea of homeland is very important to them, but it is something that has been evasive and insecure throughout their history. Now, we can see their pain exemplified in a tragic way by their desperate struggle to retain their homeland by the harming of others. This goes against the divine, and will only involve more tragedy in their cultural narrative unless they can learn to recognize that their calling out does not place them on a morally, ethically or physically superior level to the rest of humanity, but requires them to be an example of how to practice validation and recognition of all who live. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjziyb7LMRfUq26SjeC2doUggQD1Sa0CyTT47hRAYfOL0UGUW8INFbiGKtX9acziUW5eIB2tdkvqcB3y1Bs-BliZewwZsX4dQBdG-IlIZT38EzJUir8q8wQfoqnyMQ8_AKQlV2KqFVLaf8/s1600/unitarian+universalism+and+atheism+..jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjziyb7LMRfUq26SjeC2doUggQD1Sa0CyTT47hRAYfOL0UGUW8INFbiGKtX9acziUW5eIB2tdkvqcB3y1Bs-BliZewwZsX4dQBdG-IlIZT38EzJUir8q8wQfoqnyMQ8_AKQlV2KqFVLaf8/s320/unitarian+universalism+and+atheism+..jpg" width="320" /></a></div>No longer do I run from who I am. Now, I embrace my heritage, on all sides of my family. I have given a slight glimpse into my maternal past as it is with me on the path I’m currently walking. I am becoming ever more aware of the pull that service has on me, and I can observe the next part of my story taking shape. It wasn’t and isn’t inevitable that this story would or will turn out positive. I fully place myself and my idea of God in a paradigm with no deep structure. I like the idea that “God” is what holds the intention of the universe, but not the agenda. And yes, I can see that we are fundamentally a result of our connections (Early C., Ethics Lecture, 2010). Heritage is a starting point, not an ending point. Heritage is not a definition. Heritage is a place where we’re grounded in the divine. Heritage is the root planted in Krishna, Brahman, Allah, God, Yahweh. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
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</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><b>References</b></div><div class="MsoBibliography" style="line-height: normal;">Collins, R. (1994). <i>four sociological traditions.</i> New York: Oxford University Press.</div><div class="MsoBibliography" style="line-height: normal;">Connolly, W. E. (2002). <i>Neuropolitics: thinking, culture, speed.</i> Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.</div><div class="MsoBibliography" style="line-height: normal;">Damasio, A. (2003). <i>Lookng for spinoza: joy, sorrow, and the feeling brain.</i> Orlando: Harcourt, Inc.</div><div class="MsoBibliography" style="line-height: normal;">Early, A. (Performer). (2010, December 6). <i>Attachment Theory Lecture.</i> Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg, Virginia, USA.</div><div class="MsoBibliography" style="line-height: normal;">Early, C. (Performer). (2010, December 10). <i>Ethics Lecture.</i> Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg, Virginia, USA.</div><div class="MsoBibliography" style="line-height: normal;">Early, C. (Performer). (2010, December 1). <i>Ethics Lecture.</i> Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg, Virginia, USA.</div><div class="MsoBibliography" style="line-height: normal;">Early, C. (Performer). (2010, September 24). <i>Ethics Lecture.</i> Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg, Virginia, USA.</div><div class="MsoBibliography" style="line-height: normal;">Jung, C. (1976). <i>The portable carl jung.</i> New York: Penguin Group.</div><div class="MsoBibliography" style="line-height: normal;">McClendon, J. (2002). <i>Ethics: systematic theology, volume 1.</i> Nashville: Abingdon Press.</div><div class="MsoBibliography" style="line-height: normal;">Rohr, R. (2009). <i>The naked now: learning to see as the mystics see.</i> New York: The Crossroad Publishing Company.</div><div class="MsoBibliography" style="line-height: normal;">Swartz, M. <i>Swartz History.</i> </div>timradioboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04782098380905182539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2414968517182978362.post-71205513197288567682010-12-21T13:35:00.000-05:002010-12-21T13:35:21.320-05:00Greenpeace and Music<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/> <w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> <w:Word11KerningPairs/> <w:CachedColBalance/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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</style> <![endif]--> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyZbCnhsbLd1r09KhrhtunVyQMIPy1yhFt4glcA7hkk5DXSbgkRZsgrZor4I2Pmq15BHcdTBHw43hKxK-1SF_BKdPIqb977eElD9U_2DTCiFtbr0l__4HjMI63ly0c83S8XYltwpDkEts/s1600/Amchitka-concert-Joni-and-James.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyZbCnhsbLd1r09KhrhtunVyQMIPy1yhFt4glcA7hkk5DXSbgkRZsgrZor4I2Pmq15BHcdTBHw43hKxK-1SF_BKdPIqb977eElD9U_2DTCiFtbr0l__4HjMI63ly0c83S8XYltwpDkEts/s320/Amchitka-concert-Joni-and-James.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.25in;"> By coming here tonight, you are making possible a trip for life and for peace”, said Greenpeace co-founder Irving Stowe to the crowd of 10,000 gathered on the evening of October 16<sup>th</sup>, 1970 in Vancouver, British Columbia (Amchitka, 2009).<span> </span>The event was the Amchitka benefit concert, and not only was it the launching pad for Greenpeace as an environmental organization, but it also marked the beginning of the marriage between Greenpeace and musical activists.<span> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.25in;">Although Greenpeace was founded out of that concert, no one really knew the current name of the organization until almost a year later.<span> </span>The Amchitka concert was an effort by Stowe to raise money intended to fund a protest-by-sea against the U.S. nuclear testing facility on the Amchitka Island of the Aleutian chain, a part of Alaska.<span> </span>The three headliners of the show would have been a music lover’s dream at the time, and they were all in the prime of their careers:<span> </span>Joni Mitchell, her then boyfriend James Taylor and Phil Ochs.<span> </span>They all agreed to perform for free, and Mitchell and Taylor have continued to support Greenpeace to this day (Ochs having passed away in 1974) (Greenpeace, 2010) (Kurutz, 2009).<span> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.25in;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV-iODeVLPc4u62xLz2-lOf1j_I-3LmSWZEKO4cMQrn1m8bFNsPxlaCKtR3_2ywjx_NbApHOPI7AkGzAjYd2Rv1jvlmPhb3w6gYoOYt8MQXPH3Skf_ebnbnpLr0CmDl_ozixzoydrlXZY/s1600/Bohlen.Greenpeace1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV-iODeVLPc4u62xLz2-lOf1j_I-3LmSWZEKO4cMQrn1m8bFNsPxlaCKtR3_2ywjx_NbApHOPI7AkGzAjYd2Rv1jvlmPhb3w6gYoOYt8MQXPH3Skf_ebnbnpLr0CmDl_ozixzoydrlXZY/s320/Bohlen.Greenpeace1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center; text-indent: 0.25in;"><b>The Initial Mission</b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.25in;">The concert ended up being a huge success, raising enough money to fund the initial activity of the boat that had been renamed the <i>Greenpeace </i>for the inaugurating voyage in September of 1971.<span> </span>The group of ragtag activists, hippies and lawyers on board had formed a loosely knit organization called “The Don’t Stop the Wave Committee” before the Amchitka concert, but after the voyage, they believed the only good thing to come out of the trip was that they had finally settled on the name Greenpeace, taken from their sailing vessel (Greenpeace, 2010).<span> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.25in;">The plan for the mission was to park the <i>Greenpeace</i> right in front of the nuclear facility on Amchitka Island, but the boat was lightly rammed and ordered to abort by a U.S. navy boat, albeit manned by sailors who were in fact sympathetic to the cause.<span> </span>This turnaround in the middle of the course was discouraging to the crew of the <i>Greenpeace</i>, and they thought the entire year to be a wasted effort until they arrived back in Vancouver and discovered that they had received unprecedented media attention from around the world.<span> </span>The particular nuclear test that they were protesting did happen, but many future tests did not, as Amchitka was shut down by the U.S. government five months later, and Greenpeace was officially in business (Greenpeace, 2010).<span> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.25in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center; text-indent: 0.25in;"><b>The Perfect Match</b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.25in;">Greenpeace is now one of the most visible environmental organizations in the world.<span> </span>They are involved in a broad spectrum of environmental issues from climate change, ocean and forest preservation, anti-nuclear causes, promotion of a toxic free future, sustainable agriculture and visible protest activism.<span> </span>Greenpeace has long recognized their mission as being a perfect match for the passion and spirit of many artists and musicians, and they have pursued these artists as much as the artists have pursued them (Carothers, 1989).<span> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.25in;">At the beginning, the artists at the Amchitka concert and the founders of the organization would literally have hung out in very similar scenes, with both parties coming directly out of the 60’s counter-culture movement.<span> </span>“When I encountered the people at Greenpeace, and saw the work that they were doing, and they way they engaged this [environmental] problem, I felt a huge sense of relief that people were working on it” said James Taylor in 2009 upon the long-awaited public release of the recording of that landmark show.<span> </span>Both Taylor and Mitchell have agreed to donate all proceeds from the sale of the recording to Greenpeace (Amchitka, 2009).<span> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.25in;">Other artists that have done significant activism over the years for Greenpeace include U2, Annie Lenox, Sting, Michael Stipe of R.E.M., Peter Gabriel, Public Enemy, Chrissie Hynde, Jerry Garcia, Sade, Green Day, Pink, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Bryan Adams, Jack Johnson, and many more who have supported the organization in principle (Greenpeace, 2010) (Carother, 1989).<span> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyT3M3G7HHqSuJryIZ8Izzt6mdohjLq-P9knV3tZHmmZfQeZhJH__SwqqMWORGnEn3HUWcwZeLpUIjcr7R2sgJgQ-Gsk3hHWckTM9SaqFkbLDZQmgrwbYbsI7QznOCbXbhss0aYxuOc4o/s1600/u2-sellafield.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyT3M3G7HHqSuJryIZ8Izzt6mdohjLq-P9knV3tZHmmZfQeZhJH__SwqqMWORGnEn3HUWcwZeLpUIjcr7R2sgJgQ-Gsk3hHWckTM9SaqFkbLDZQmgrwbYbsI7QznOCbXbhss0aYxuOc4o/s1600/u2-sellafield.jpg" /></a></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center; text-indent: 0.25in;"><b>The Personal Factor of U2</b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.25in;">Growing up on the music of U2, Greenpeace was literally the first environmental organization I’d heard of.<span> </span>Since then, I’ve always had respect for Greenpeace, in large part due to that initial visibility provided by U2.<span> </span>There was a period of time in the late 80’s/early 90’s when Greenpeace was the sole organization officially supported by the band (Flanagan, 1996).<span> </span>So, I can personally attest to the benefit Greenpeace sees in uniting with artists (especially those more politically, socially and sustainably inclined) to increase the awareness they’re trying to promote, as Greenpeace was effective in attracting me through this method.<span> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.25in;">U2 was involved in one of the most visible Greenpeace events in history with the Sellafield concert and subsequent protest action in June of 1992.<span> </span>U2 and Public Enemy headlined the concert, which was held near the Sellafield nuclear facility on the coast of England bordering the Irish Sea.<span> </span>Sellafield had been dumping radioactive waste into the Irish Sea for some time, causing increased cancer rates around the site, but the final straw for Greenpeace and the bands was when Sellafield decided to open a second facility to take on the radioactive waste of other countries.<span> </span>This was too much, and the fact that Ireland, Wales and Scotland were seeing some of the worst of the effects only angered the band that much further, especially considering that Sellafield was directly owned by the British Government (Flanagan, 1996).<span> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.25in;">Sellafield had obtained an injunction prohibiting U2 from setting foot anywhere near the actual facility, but no matter.<span> </span>The thought was that if they entered by sea the injunction couldn’t be enforced.<span> </span>So, the members of the band sailed in rubber rafts with three drums of radioactive sand from the beaches of the UK, and deposited them at the front gate of Sellafield (which was basically right on the Irish Sea anyway).<span> </span>Overall, the project was a success in the sense that it brought awareness to a facility that was previously unknown to the masses (Flanagan, 1996).<span> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.25in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center; text-indent: 0.25in;"><b>Why Greenpeace? </b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.25in;">In researching this topic, I initially approached it from the vantage point of why artists were particularly attracted to Greenpeace.<span> </span>It was only through research that I discovered the attraction actually went both ways.<span> </span>Still, I have wondered what is it about environmental organizations or any socially conscious causes that seems to draw artists; at least more so than other types of people.<span> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvZDMICxhlnlfHJ06LX7XtZW-es078an1Om2HeNOzxRvLH-T9H8XIDTNefdbUtnAa7EqlnKMwKt9rz20nSfgj54gkkQzgsIMIw-LiF7ZYiQU4yUyK3e9Wsq0D4tHaF7gFXD9Eun_973co/s1600/annie-lennox.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvZDMICxhlnlfHJ06LX7XtZW-es078an1Om2HeNOzxRvLH-T9H8XIDTNefdbUtnAa7EqlnKMwKt9rz20nSfgj54gkkQzgsIMIw-LiF7ZYiQU4yUyK3e9Wsq0D4tHaF7gFXD9Eun_973co/s320/annie-lennox.jpg" width="233" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.25in;">I discovered a quote from Annie Lenox that I think is illuminating to this question:<span> </span>“Music is the language of the soul articulated,” she says. “The inner world is very potent for me – I don’t ascribe to any God or Jesus or Buddha – I just have a sense of it and revere it along with the natural world and human consciousness” (Drakakis, 2010).<span> </span>I think all artists, like Annie, have a sense of the unity, the one great force that is the universe, even if they don’t acknowledge it.<span> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.25in;">Having been around and interviewed many artists during my radio career, they all seem to recognize something bigger than themselves that gives them their creative inspiration.<span> </span>Most can’t explain where it comes from, but they sense something, and they have that unique passion that drives them to purpose.<span> </span>I feel that same passion, and it is a uniting feeling.<span> </span>It causes one to question the world around them, and when questioning starts, the questions inevitably lead to “how can we do this better; make this world better?”<span> </span>These questions can be equally applied to the artist’s music, or their environmental consciousness, and striving to answer this question has been Greenpeace’s mission as well.<span> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.25in;">I think the efforts that Greenpeace has taken over the years to engage artists is exemplary, is unique, and is to be commended.<span> </span>They have not altered their message to attract these artists, they’ve not had to.<span> </span>The original crew of the Greenpeace sailed with the theme of “bear witness” which they took from the Quaker pacifist tradition (Greenpeace, 2010).<span> </span>Continuing to honor this practice will keep the actions of Greenpeace and our own actions in line with the grain of the universe, and that grain is hope, love and unity.<span> </span>When we practice the genuine good in life, everything else falls into step.<span> </span>May we all continue to question how to make this world a better place to live.<span> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.25in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center; text-indent: 0.25in;"><b>References</b></div><div class="MsoBibliography" style="line-height: normal;"><span>Amchitka. (2010). Retrieved from Amchitka Concert Web site: http://www.amchitka-concert.com/</span></div><div class="MsoBibliography" style="line-height: normal;"><span>Carothers, A. (1989, November 1). <i>Can rock 'n' roll save the world?: music's mission to moscow and beyond</i>. Retrieved from @U2: http://www.atu2.com/news/can-rock-n-roll-save-the-world.html</span></div><div class="MsoBibliography" style="line-height: normal;"><span>Drakakis, H. (2010, November 29). <i>Annie lenox: Music icon and Woman of the Year on drug-taking, adopting children in Africa and redefining feminism</i>. Retrieved from The Big Issue in Soctland Web site: http://www.bigissuescotland.com/features/view/423</span></div><div class="MsoBibliography" style="line-height: normal;"><span>Flanagan, B. (1996). <i>U2: at the end of the world.</i> New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc.</span></div><div class="MsoBibliography" style="line-height: normal;"><span>Greenpeace. (2010). Retrieved from Greenpeace Web site: http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/</span></div><div class="MsoBibliography" style="line-height: normal;"><span>Kurutz, S. (2009, November 22). <i>Speakeasy: Lost 1970 Amchitka Concert Featuring Joni Mitchell and James Taylor Surfaces</i>. Retrieved from Wall Street Journal Blogs Web site: http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2009/11/22/a-long-lost-1970-benefit-concert-featuring-joni-mitchell-and-james-taylor-surfaces/</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
</div>timradioboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04782098380905182539noreply@blogger.com0