Issues in our Actions, Corporate Consumerism, Our Goldfish Bowl

TO It’s likely that nothing can or will change for someone who doesn’t see an issue in their actions. So “You can’t fix what you don’t first acknowledge” Richard Rohr (quote from Breathing Under Water) As long as you find reasons to blame someone else, be angry with another, point a finger at them, you’re not taking responsibility for your life. And “though a situation may not be entirely your fault” little to nothing will change by projecting blame outwards. “No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible.” Voltaire, catch my drift? A big part of getting a second chance on the physical plane is taking responsibility for one’s own wrongs, a great question one may ask is “what should you have done instead?” But “When you complain, you make yourself a victim. Leave the situation, change the situation, or accept it. All else is madness.” Eckhart Tolle We should “live in the world not off the world” Jesus, that is to say that on one level none of this matters yet on the physical plane some things certainly do matter. We can’t avoid those lessons the Universe continually sends our way, and besides “Anytime you push something away it’s still there.” Ram Dass. “What you resist not only persist but will grow in size.” What you might perceive to be a problem is really an opportunity for growth if used intentionally and consciously. “Without responsibility, there is no freedom. To respond to every challenge out of freedom is responsibility. It is the inadequate response that is irresponsibility.” Jiddu Krishnamurti

Jef Lap Sorry I can't remember where this occurred. I read an article about a community that became aware of the water running out. They had figured out the math and setup a sign in their community a sign that counted down to day zero. As the days counted down, people began to become more and more conservative. Not very long before the counter was to reach zero, they discovered that the water table had indeed begun to rise again. Perhaps science could do for us all what the science of knowing the countdown did for this community. One can hope, but a community united can achieve amazing things. Much love

Mark Rego Monteiro Jeff Laporte It´s an interesting scenario. Elinor Ostrom studied communities and won a Riksbank "Nobel" for it as an ecologial economist. First thing that I note is that "science" wasn´t actually the solution. "Science," ie scientific philosophy, was a tool, producing some key data. Watching a milk jug get empty in the refrigerator and the like, and making family decision-makers aware is an analogous scenario that identifies the central human element. Not "science." "Scientific philosophy" is a form of philosophical scholarship and empiricism, an awareness which helps offset the monomania and idealization of "science" that its tangible contexts have fed in people. In terms of ecosystemic information to warn people, for example, the 1972 UN Stockholm environmental UNCHE conference was held. Their efforts have been consistent, but the publicizing of their message has been strongly interfered with by the US Big Business corporate executive community with its disproportionate forms of influence. In 1971, the Powell Memo was published in the Washington Post that targeted Ralph Nader as their number one enemy. Fast forward to Ronald Reagan cracking that Jimmy Carter had turned the White House into a bird´s nest, not least of all for putting solar panels on the roof. Reagan shut down US windpower development that percolated up as Danish citizens did grassroots reinventing and organizing up to green power co-ops. German citizens began organizing after Chernobyl blew, no less. By 2010, France and Spain had a green power co-op or two. By 2013, there were some 2,000 EU green power co-ops. Meanwhile, in the 1970s, a number of Americans tried founding food co-op stores, and dozens upon dozens survived. Thus, for me, after starting out knocking on doors for the PIRG not for profits started by Nader, learning about Sierra Club and Greenpeace, I eventually learned about the meaning of food co-op stores, Fair Trade, and green power co-ops. Yet, American corporate consumerism, with Black Friday between commercialized Thanksgiving "Turkey-day" and Christmas with "Santa Claus" now already famous, and Superbowl Sunday an ad fest, is itself a powerful phenomenon. Michael Moore´s films provide an amazing cultural phenomenon, while Occupy Wall St. gave a good signal flash. As the meme says, change requires an issue for action that is meaningful to people. As you suggest, community level awareness can lead to action. In the case of America as a nation, I see a range of contexts that constitute distractions. Yet, that´s why I love the examples of George Fox et al´s Quaker Friends, Gandhi´s account as an ex-lawyer cloth-wearing, threadspinning interfaith Christian Hindu, and Fannie Lou Hamer who overcame incredible Jim Crow violence to become a Bible-whispering leader who started a Farm Co-op. The meaning of modern corporate indoctrination control then has a number of satisfying outlets as Greenpeace´s Greener Electronics and Detox My Fashion campaign can be linked to Sierra Club campaigns that ended new coal plant construction, and plain old hiking trips, and food co-op stores that offer discounts on organic and Fair Trade foods. There´s a way to save a few lives from Black Friday stampedes, or Superbowl Sunday mass murders.

Viktor Frankl on Self-Projection Empathy

Mark Rego Monteiro Well, Frankl´s thought is a good start to stopping a judgment. Still, that´s not really a full adequate assessment with spiritual integrity in mind, and Jesus´ living legacy of loving, just, and authentic integrity. Gandhi didn´t look at Jesus and the British Empire and say, "Hey, I´d murder people in maintaining my control just like that". He actually got spiritual and learned apparently even fairly superficially that I´ve seen, from the Judeo-Christian prophetic social justice tradition that Huston Smith pointed out. Thoreau, Ruskin, and Tolstoy were all more modern than George Fox and the Quaker-Friends, and the whole chronology since at least the prophet Elijah in the OT. Even more so, Frankl was a trained therapeutic psychologist, part of the University-based philosophical scholarly community, in which we can understand many alternatives with healthier boundaries the more extensive our insight and research. Best practices led me not just to Gandhi, but people like Milton Erickson MD, Buddha, and so much more with so many internal and creative expression skill sets.

Aa Fa-FB Mark Rego Monteiro sounds like your in an eastern is the best. Phase. I see that their is mind and heart to be mastered for sure. Known and known to dance with. But why compare good teachers. Most humans have something amazing to teach. Religion is stupid. We all want to be special. It's our greatest destiny. We are amazing creatures. We can understand that we must be a unique contributor. This + Harmony = Love for yourself and others.

Mark Rego Monteiro Aa Fa It sounds like your in a "de-emphasize the East" phase, if anything. You simply failed to pay attention to the content of my comment. In fact, you would have had to ignore all that I said, and only reacted to Gandhi´s name, and perhaps the Buddha´s, if you got that far. Thus, I´ve pretty much always operated without ignoring my own University-based educational values, and here, that means no less pointing out that you are confusing partial content mentioned in a text with total meaning of a passage of text. That´s basic reading comprehension, to recall the fun of school categories in adult philosophical communication. You then enter into your appreciation of all individuals, which reminds me of Sheldon Kopp´s book titled "Even a Stone Can Be a Teacher." The Beastie Boys Jewish rappers had a Buddhist themed song in which they "thank they enemies despite their intent" because of learning processes. Kopp also appreciated Zen Buddhism, having other titles like "If YOu Meet the Buddha on the Road, Kill Him!" Saying all that helps also create the context, with the Buddhist associations showing why Eastern religion actually is important for Westerners to study. As I mentioned, my balance was always strongly grounded in my Western educational values. My personal growth efforts included the 12 step groups for relationships CoDA and Al-Anon, also since very early on. Yet, Eastern religions, Buddhism especially and Gandhi´s activist ex-lawyer interfaith Christian Hindu example, reflect a break from Western psychological and cultural pretenses that have accompanied the real strengths of the process of globalization. Transforming the hubris is much more colorful with Eastern spiritual imagination. Yet, valuing the individual is part of Jesus´ legacy of loving integrity in the message of his loving Commandments for Moses and God, with no 2, "love thy neighbor as thyself." Buddha´s very biography was getting buried in time and cultural distance, but Western archeology and historical study in University-based culture in Jesus´ legacy has enriched it. We face a challenge, in fact. Jesus´ legacy has not been used only for good. The business profiteers led by the Anglo- US corporate model have been put under the umbrella of FD Roosevelt´s vision and legacy of UN human rights and sustainability in structured pluralism. Yet, those profiteering businesspeople have mounted the most intense indoctrination and propagandistic ideology campaign of all time, having mixed it with Cold War militaristic anti-communist propaganda. And so, the resources behind their rather evil materialistic fixations are the ones they have drawn from, University-based understanding, all in Jesus´ legacy. The profiteers have responded to FD Roosevelt´s pro-social US legacy by scheming, starting with a pro-rich minister Rev Fifield in the Oral Roberts mold.

The Social Gospel started by W Gladden and W Rauschenbusch, including Jane Addams, that influenced FDR and Eleanor has been vilified, no less. It is thus Gandhi´s own image of interfaith Christian Hinduism until his own dressing in the simplest of clothing, represents the very most common person and even below in status, the beggar and street person. American fantasies of life are overall at 5x the sustainability levels calculated by scientists. Yet, that is itself a number weighted with inequality, both in the US, and in international comparison. All told, Bangladesh was where a US-educated Mohammed Yunus started the pro-poor, pro-woman Grameen Bank that overcame psychological socio-religious obstacles there to blanket the country by some point, influence others, and spread until it arrived no less than in the US in 2008. It has spread to 19 branches so far already there, here. And so, that´s why I value my longstanding Unitarian Universalist religious association interests. They were two Christian denominations that decided to keep Jesus´ no 2 Commandment, but leave "God" as "the Source" primarily, and Jesus without any special role or mention. That is where your final phrase comes from, and finding ways to expand references to not mistake the meaning and origin itself a goal. The 1970s short-lived rock band "Nazareth" is an example. Myself, my engagement with Christianity was always implicitly embedded in the "invisible" legacy of Jesus in secular University-based, constitutional US society. Yet, I only began directly with a denomination that began with a woman who found a powerful way to appreciate the healing power of God through Jesus, and God´s providence. There´s more, but the history of Christianity is rich with accounts of the new society that Christians created, with many people showing spiritual-religious practice and integrity. From Anthony of the Desert, the Father of Christian monks to Hildegaard of Bingen to George Fox, Marg Fell, and the rest of the Quaker-Friends and many more, people can appreciate their own value normally in a context. By understanding economic needs, the value of the pioneering social movement against slavery, labor organizing, and the workingpeople inspired by Robert Owen to found the first modern co-op, co-owned store in the UK in the 1840s. The modern world has had some intimidating messages circulating against people who don´t agree with the US Military Industrial Complex and US Big Biz profiteeering. It is important to understand the various levels involved that people have been indoctrinated by so far on the whole. Eastern Religion is a powerful resource to understand Jesus not as an imperial figure used by a pro-rich "gospel," but nothing less than the Savior in the Judeo-Christian tradition of prophetic social justice. Ralph Nader was a recent figure worthy of credit for starting to expose corporate business executive profiteers, and empower citizens. Rev MLK was an Afro-Am religious figure, and Fannie Lou Hamer with little education went so far as to start a Farm Co-op in 1969. Yet, it is Gandhi who said, "Be the change you want to see in the world" and "No matter how small the good you do, it is vital that you do it." People like George Fox and Lucretia Mott had come before Gandhi as Quaker Christians, and all deserve remembering and treasuring with sacred honor in Jesus´ legacy for Moses and God. Yet, there was also the 1893 Chicago Parliament of World Religions that marked a new level of public awareness of University-based learning and society, on a path to FDR´s UN human rights vision and legacy and modern Comparative Religious scholars like Huston Smith, Robert Bellah, and Ninian Smart.