4 Observations (from Others)

Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.

-- Carl Jung

The more I think about it, the more I feel that there’s nothing more genuinely artistic than to love people.

-- Vincent van Gogh

The person who loves their dream of community will destroy community, but the person who loves those around them will create community.

-- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Shalom is communal, holistic, and tangible. There is no private or partial shalom. The whole community must have shalom or no one has shalom…. Shalom is not for the many, while a few suffer; nor is it for the few while many suffer. It must be available for everyone. In this way, shalom is everyone’s concern…. Shalom produces change for the good of all…. 

-- Randy Woodley

Prior 4 Observations (from Others).

How Things Work

A Brief History That Keeps Needing To Be Told

On a day of memorial for Rev. Jesse Jackson, a brief history that Keeps Needing To Be Told

Balance

Balance.  

That's what we need right now, right?

Unless our head is in the sand of all our TV shows, we are collectively struggling with how to balance our sense of being right now against the backdrop of what is happening around us.

The headlines are overwhelming us, because of their implications:

Exclusive: The Trump-Netanyahu call that changed the Middle East

A Dire Warning From the Tech World

Trump’s war exposed the truth

Alex Karp: The Insane Billionaire, Mass-Surveilling, Bullied Young Nerd Now Proudly Killing Humans to Get Revenge on the World

Not to mention Epstein, immigration, the coming elections...it just never stops.  And, it won't because too much money is being made off this machinery of chaos and fear (but we still love our capitalism, don't we?).

The question then is, is balance going to cut it for us?  

Balance is often a means to mitigate certain realities by trying to keep other realities in play (work, life balance, etc.).  When we have anxiety, we try to do things to off-set it (prayer, meditation, mindfulness, etc. — not saying things like this aren't good).  But, the concern here feels more significant than tweaking our dials by adding 10 minutes of...something that might help, doesn't it?

What if balance isn't what we most need right now?

If not, then, what?  What do we really need?

Most kind of know we need something closer to a complete reset.  And, that is half the problem anyway; we're trying to keep things going (as much as we can), without tipping over into something far worse.  

So, maybe it's the question that should be real our catalyst.  

Seriously.  If we don't know very much about what we really need, we're not going to be able to do much about it.

In theory, at least, a balanced approach should open us up to consider more than we usually do.  So, what should WE really be considering then?

How did we GET here? 
Who did we let INFLUENCE us?
How are we COMPLICIT (it's lazy to just blame whoever we think the bad guys are)? 
What do we want to DO about it?  

Just asking ‘balancing’ questions isn’t enough, though — doing the hard work of answering them is.

All to say, we need way more than just balance.

It Just Seems So

The blizzard doesn't last forever; it just seems so.

-- Ray Bradbury

When Leaders Lack Character

Picking up from yesterday....

Character informs values.  Values inform character.  In combination, they manifest behaviors resulting from decisions.  Not unlike other critical moments in history — and again now more than ever — we need leaders of strong character and the values that drive it to make critical decisions (especially those that transcend the simple interests of money).

As is too often the case, we have to turn back to the people for the character (and values) that is needed when leaders lack it.

Character and Values

I'm wondering...about the role of character in our lives.  

Because how, as a society, will we survive without it?

For good or bad, people create and sustain values.  What character-traits, then, most influence the more significant decisions in front of us?  

Given the small-minded agenda (get DEI out of the military — is that really the biggest problem our military needs to address?) we have seen from him so far, I'm not thinking this guy knows (or represents) what we want, not to mention need, especially on this front:

...of course, he wants us to.  But, as with many of these folks, you really have to know why (in other words, what he really wants...surveillance).  Keep in mind that in our revenge and retribution economy, ANYONE who protests is now no longer referred to as an American with a different point of view, but a...domestic terrorist.  Terminology has shifted and is way more significant than we think it is because the fundamental landscape was changed when we elected it...again.

Oh, that's a bit dramatic isn't it?

Well, you tell me (these guys certainly look like they are working from a fairly common script):

Citizens will be on their best behavior because we are constantly recording and reporting everything that’s going on.

-- Larry Ellison, from Citizens will be on their best behavior amid constant recording

False Narrative

One of the greatest deceptions of our time is the false narrative that tells us we should be more concerned about a poor person misusing the welfare system or an immigrant being here illegally than we are about the ultra wealthy abusing the system and cruel people have unchecked power over us all.

-- Benjamin Cremer

And, this, coming from a pastor (even though that shouldn't matter).

Here's another one, revived again today with Operation Epic Fury (also called by some, Operation Epstein Fury), from the George Orwell seminal novel, Nineteen Eight-Four:

War is Peace

Trump himself conflated the two....

Trump’s Real Reason for War

...worth considering, if nothing else, especially thru the lens of the observation above.

3 Observations & A Question

What really you care about is more evident than you think.

One of your greatest opportunities for joy, is to join someone in what they love.

At some point, we can only pay attention to so much — which is why making conscious choices (like this) about that is important.

Are there very many things you don’t have to work at, at least a little, to enjoy?

Prior 3 Observations & A Question…

Humanitarian Response -- "No Strong Nexus"

You have to know more than just what the FOX News echo-chamber is saying (I force myself to watch it, just so I know).  At the very least, just consider another perspective:

State of the Union was a national embarrassment

And, to add insult to injury (which is even the larger point):

The State Department will let lifesaving projects expire because there is no strong nexus between the humanitarian response and U.S. national interests.

-- Trump Administration

 C'mon man — does this really sound (or look) right to you?

Our Humanity

We better get our collective humanity back before it’s too late.

Sometimes it takes a crisis to re-find it.  I'd say we're in one, despite the many claims to the contrary.

Here's one example of how it happens...What Neighbors Do, by Barbara Brown Taylor.  There, of course, are many others, like this one on Resistence, Wendell Berry Style.

But, the overall lack of it has been siphoned off for years under the banner of technology and 401Ks.  We've already lost more than we know.  But, we can start getting it back any time we want to — some are already trying...hard.

Now is the time to ask more conscious and serious questions about what it means to look out for each other, our relationship with power, and how to govern accordingly (as U2 reminds us, what we've been seeing isn't the humanity we need).

Before it's too late....

If You're Alive...

Here is a test to find whether your mission on earth is finished:  If you're alive, it isn't.

-- Richard Bach

Persistence

Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.

-- Calvin Coolidge

Sense of Bearings

I’ve noticed…I can quickly lose my sense of bearings when I'm not around other people.

40

40 years ago today, we started doing this marriage thing. To celebrate that, we recently took a little trip....

Some pics from it that tell part of the story of the life we enjoy together…here.

I love her more than ever.

3 Observations & A Question

Watching someone riding on a chairlift and being on one is not the same thing.

Even though a lot of what you can do is just a little, a lot of little is a lot.

Respect, in the end, really isn’t predicated only what you get out of it — it’s based on we all get out of it.

More people seem impatient with a long story (which might be among the best ones) — a function of declining attention span?

Prior 3 Observations & A Question…

On The Lighter Side: You Came From Dust

 On the Lighter Side:

Voter ID Push

The goal of this administration’s voter ID push is to make sure the “right people” are voting to elect the “right leaders.”

-- Kristi Noem

Stay Close

Stay close to any sounds that make you glad you are alive.

-- Hafez

Goodness Leads Us To Repentence

It is God’s goodness that leads to repentance. I have plenty of repenting to do this year. More than usual, I’m sorry to say.  But this Lent is already reminding me that the goal is not ultimately about attacking my sins, but about reawakening my glad identity.  Repentance clears away the space for our true selves to breathe again.  This might be what it means to be born again….again and again.

-- Aaron Niequist

Focus On The Inputs

Focus on the inputs you control and the outputs will follow.

-- Shane Parrish

Someone Else

Ever noticed...that many of us want someone else to go first?

Presidents Day

 Some important history on Presidents Day.

Your Little Grain of Salt

Your one little grain of salt can help with something someone else’s grain can’t. And when all the grains get mixed and sprinkled together, preserving and flavoring and helping others flourish occurs everywhere. 

-- Margaret Feinberg

3 Observations & A Question

Embrace where you are, in sunshine or rain.

What you see is impacted by what you experience; what you do is impacted by what you see.

They say character doesn’t matter — that the ends justify the means….

Isn’t one of the secrets of life to enjoy whatever you have been given (as opposed to what you haven’t)?

Prior 3 Observations & A Question…

Visual: Nā Pali Coast

Visual - “Nā Pali Coast”

Nā Pali Coast,  Kauai

In The Other

 

The Phone Call

When you receive the phone call….

You know, the one that changes something significant about your life.

What do you notice happens inside yourself?  What kicks in?

I received one of those today (actually, it was a TXT). My first reaction was anger, followed by blame (I told you this would happen, if…).

Even though it may feel hard, the easy part is to react.  Reacting can be ugly, but it may also be necessary in order to get to what is driving the reaction.  Often that is deep senses of disappointment, hurt, or loss.

Sitting with your reaction is often quite challenging, but it can disarm the locus of your feeling and enable an awareness that your perspective may not the only legitimate one.  This can open us up to what otherwise feels like something that wants to shut down. And, an openness to ourselves allows for an openness to others.

We are, after all, not the only ones receiving ’bad’ news in life.  We can hold each other because of our unique, but also common, suffering.  And, when we do this, we discover we have more capacity to offer grace, than anything else, to both ourselves and others.

…but, this still takes commitment and more work than we often prefer.  I’m still trudging my way through it internally, because I know things will not be returning to the way they have been.

The phone call changed that.

If It Is Not Right

If is is not right, do not do it; if it is not true, do not say it.

-- Marcus Aurelius

Success

What is success depends on how you define it.  Otherwise you are left with how others (society) define it for you, which is often quite inadequate (if not wrong).

Money

I'm wondering...about our relationship with money, as a society and as individuals.  

When does it liberate us? 

When does it keep us in bondage?

We can’t just be privately happy that the stock market is at record highs and ignore the predatorial oppression it has created through the unprecedented wealth of a select few.

Sundays

-- Joseph Vogel, Timpanogos Hiking Co.

4 Observations (from Others)

Whenever you have a choice between being right or being kind, be kind.  No exceptions.

-- Kevin Kelly

 

We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.

-- Joseph Campbell 

 

 

Sometimes the bravest and most important thing you can do is just show up. 

-- Brené Brown

 

 

There is no greater exhaustion than a charade of spirituality.

-- Cole Arthur Riley

Prior 4 Observations (from Others).

In These Dark Days

'Poem for the week' -- "In These Dark Days":

From what darkness in its center

does the amaryllis call forth

the tall green stalk, the muscular bud,

the voluptuous petals pealing back

from the center like radiant red bells?

What impossible sun shines

inside the rough-skinned bulb

to generate such lushness,

such extravagant beauty?

I want to know it, to trust it,

this bright immensity that pulses through

what is darkest in me, this life force

that cannot fit inside, that thrusts

through the desiccated skins

of my exhausted hopes to reveal itself

vulnerable and soft, vital, astonishing,

belonging to no one, alive within us all.

-- Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

Crisis

What is on my mind today?

Well, what isn't? 

In many directions right now, I feel a foreboding sense of existential crisis. 

And, when I stare at it (rather than just feel it), I remember things that I know.

In our humanity, feelings and knowing go together, in spite of when they feel like they don't. They inform each other.

And, so, I know that such feelings are what they want you to feel.  Wait, who is they?

The system; the world.  The powers of it.  They don't want you to feel peace.  That keeps you dependent on them.  I know this.

But, I still feel it....

Breathing helps.  But, it doesn't suppress it fully.

Crisis has a way of putting you face to face with other questions — like what you ultimately are depending on.  Crisis reminds you that you are not enough on your own.  Crisis puts you in touch with a larger reality, that is needed for survival (if not well-being).

How does having to trust in something bigger than myself put me in touch with something I tend to otherwise dismiss? 

Does that change the crisis (probably not much)?  Does that change something else and how I relate to it?

Yes. 

For one thing, it opens me up to thing like...this.

Participation In A Society

Participation in a society is not an artistic choice, it's a human need.

-- Ai Weiwei

Need To Be Flexible

To get on a path to success, we need a plan. To achieve success, we need to be flexible when the path is blocked.

-- Simon Sinek

Suspicious

Every third Monday, I ask myself, what have I noticed lately...about myself. 

This week, for example, I’ve noticed…that I've become more suspicious lately.

Over time, I've recognized that when this happens, something has shifted within me. 

Something feels (more) at risk. I've been having dreams about it.

This should be OK; after all, there's always risk. So, its really about the relationship I have with that risk that seems to shifts sometimes. I've observed, more than once, this is related to how secure I feel internally as a person, at any given moment. And, my sense of security is often based on what I feel threatened by...and why. 

In the end, it is often my awareness of the basis, of my true sense of security, that moves. 

This is the kind of thing that a lot of mental health strategies are actually working with. Our sense of security is also a fundamental base-line of basic spirituality. 

Do I really need to be suspicious, when I notice that I am? Probably not. Perhaps, noticing my suspicions can be an indicator that something has shifted within me...and that I need to pay attention to it and do something about it. 

Almost Everyone Prays

Almost everyone prays...when they feel desperate enough. 

Perhaps the question then is, when (and why) do we stop praying?

"Why do it, if it doesn’t do any good?" — one of our not uncommon thoughts.

An assumption is embedded in this not uncommon working conclusion. Do we think this because when we pray we are, in essence, trying to change God's mind? Truth be told, we often pray because of the leverage we feel in need of. If we feel a lack of power to secure what we need (or want), especially when we feel desperate. So, we appeal to a higher one (until we don’t need it anymore). It would follow then that if it feels like we can’t get God to do it, then why bother?

What if, however, prayer is not really as much about getting something from God as it is a way to get ourselves in the right state of being (in relation to everything…God). And, what if we need to pray because we acknowledge we need God’s help to do that? 

What if, then, prayer is really as much about changing something in ourselves, as it is about changing God's disposition?

3 Observations & A Question

Outrage is not a public policy, by the way.

In a democracy, paying attention is a duty.

...so is not being silent for your fellow-man.

When's the last time you actually had to fight for something good?

 

Prior 3 Observations & A Question…

Share of U.S. consumer spending, by income

AXIOS

AXIOS

New York Times

Something To Hold On To

Aren’t we all pretty desperate to find something to hold on to?

So much so, in fact, we often hold on to the wrong things.  At least in the sense that we think they will give us something they cannot give us.

The most obvious example may be the past.  It is easy to think that something in the past will give us something we need, if we just hold on to it long enough.

Or, sometimes we think a certain behavior will do the trick (it worked before, so...).  Often, it is certain belief or system of belief that will do it.

But, whatever it is, in most cases, it doesn’t…primarily because it can’t.

This is true because most of what we actually need is something dynamic in the present. If we follow the metaphor of ‘holding on’, perhaps one that would serve us more would be ‘reaching for’.  What will we extend our ourselves to reach for in our time of need? Whatever it is, it is more something that we need to continue to discover than something that we need to try again. In other words, our need is time sensitive, and it is something that we need now, not necessarily something that we needed in the past.

This is often somewhere between unsettling and frightening to us, largely because we don’t know exactly where that leaves us.  And because of that uncertainty, we are tentative. Discovering (or rediscovering) what we need is an on-going process much more than it is the thing we had at one particular point. 

The past is often an infatuation with outcomes, even if those have been largely imagined. Outcomes don’t play as well with the future because the future is unknown. So, it’s really what we do in the present moment that makes the difference.

What is it that I need to reach for, out my actual need, right now? That is an open posture, one capable of receiving something slightly (or completely) unknown. Holding on to the past is a closed posture towards our receptivity to the future.

But, we want something...so bad.

And, we actually have it, if we are willing to stop holding on to something else.

A Self

A self that goes on changing is a self that goes on living.

-- Virgina Woolf

Ability to Work Without It

The most valuable skill isn't inspiration, but the ability to work without it.

-- Shane Parrish

Deny Reality

Ever noticed…when people deny reality?

I don't know (sic), what does that look like to you?  Why do you think Greg Bovino is wearing what he's wearing?

And you would like us to just take Donald Trump's word for it (and trust him)?

How much more do we need to see, before we (America) stop denying that the fascism train is already well down the track and may not be able to be stopped now.  Germany sees it quite plainly (and can't believe that we can't). ...so does anyone in America who is already bearing the impact directly — not just in the 'detention' camps, but right out in the open for everyone to see.  

And the administration's take (the one he wants us to take...because Trump decides what is true):

“...the opponent of the state deserved it.”

-- Trump Administration Officials

They aren't even denying it (not to mention apologizing; in fact there is video of ICE agents clapping in approval over Pretti's death...).  In other words, now you don't even have to have colored skin; if you simply oppose us, we can kill you...because you deserve it.

Using intimidation and fear, this is the America they are gunning for (literally).

“​​What we just saw this morning on the streets of Minneapolis is another outright murder by federal officials. And let me just be clear, those federal ICE officers are absolute cowards. I am a Marine veteran standing here telling you to your face they are unprofessional, pathetic cowards. Because if a Marine, an 18 year old Marine, did that in Iraq in the middle of a war zone, he would be court martialed because it is murder. And you pathetic little cowards who have to wear face masks because you’re so damn scared, couldn’t even effectively wrestle a guy [to] the ground, so you needed to shoot him? This is why ICE needs to be prosecuted. Yeah, I voted to defund it, but ICE, you need to be prosecuted, and Director [Todd] Lyons, who’s running ICE right now, I hope you’re hearing this from this Marine to you. You guys are criminal thugs. You need to be held accountable to law if you think you can enforce it, and you need to be prosecuted right now.

-- Seth Moulton, Representative (D-MA)

Unfortunately, Trump has other things working in his favor (and he knows it):

Mr. Trump has found that putting out a story line early and repeating it often can, with the help of an ideological media and online surround-sound machine, convince a sizable share of the public that does not credit contrary evidence. Even after investigations, recounts and his own advisers and attorney general refuted Mr. Trump’s claim that he won the 2020 election, polls show that most Republicans still believe the election was stolen.

-- Peter Baker, chief White House correspondent, is covering his sixth presidency

We wish we could just elect officials who would take care of things for us.  That is, at the very least, lazy on our part.  It does not form a healthy and vibrant electorate or democracy that countermands what Paine (and many others) was worried about even way back then...and, what we should be much more worried about now.  

Charlatans will take advantage of this very bad habit of ours.  They don't think we have the time or fortitude to stop them.  Hopefully, they're wrong — are they or will we just continue to deny reality?

Awe & Wonder

The world presents itself in two ways to me. The world as a thing I own, the world as a mystery I face. What I own is a trifle, what I face is sublime....

We manipulate what is available on the surface of the world; we must also stand in awe before the mystery of the world. We objectify Being but we also are present at Being in wonder, in radical amazement.

All we have is a sense of awe and radical amazement in the face of a mystery that staggers our ability to sense it….

Awe is more than an emotion; it is a way of understanding, insight into a meaning greater than ourselves. The beginning of awe is wonder, and the beginning of wisdom is awe.

Awe is an intuition for the dignity of all things, a realization that things not only are what they are but also stand, however remotely, for something supreme. Awe is a sense for the … mystery beyond all things. It enables us … to sense in small things the beginning of infinite significance, to sense the ultimate in the common and the simple; to feel in the rush of the passing the stillness of the eternal. What we cannot comprehend by analysis, we become aware of in awe. 

Faith is not belief, an assent to a proposition; faith is attachment to transcendence, to the meaning beyond the mystery. 

Knowledge is fostered by curiosity; wisdom is fostered by awe. Awe precedes faith; it is the root of faith. We must be guided by awe to be worthy of faith. 

Forfeit your sense of awe, let your conceit diminish your ability to revere, and the universe becomes a market place for you. The loss of awe is the avoidance of insight. A return to reverence is the first prerequisite for a revival of wisdom, for the discovery of the world as an allusion to God.

-- Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel

Moments of awe and wonder are the only solid foundation for the entire religious instinct and journey.

-- Richard Rohr

3 Observations & A Question

Some people pursue their commitments with intentionality; others with spontaneity — and yet others with both.

Conscience is still a thing and the implications are just so many right now.

As long as their 401Ks keep growing, it is just damningly easy for many to just not pay too close attention.

If what we're seeing in America right now is not the implementation of fascism, then what would you call it (besides murder)?

Prior 3 Observations & A Question…

All The Attention, Again

Somehow, our President managed to grab the whole world's attention (again) this week:

Dear Jonas: 

Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America. Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China, and why do they have a ‘right of ownership’ anyway? There are no written documents, it’s only that a boat landed there hundreds of years ago, but we had boats landing there, also. I have done more for NATO than any other person since its founding, and now, NATO should do something for the United States. The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland. Thank you! 

-- President DJT

...meanwhile, other things actually needed attention.  From DAVOS:

Morning Brew

But, no, it all has to be about Donald Trump:

Trump Assails Europe and Demands Control of Greenland

Canada Flexes on Global Stage With an Eye to Its Own Survival

The great Davos divorce: America's allies draw red line with Trump

The level of self-absorption in 'President DJT' is off the charts.  Why that is not more apparent to 1/3 of our population defies my understanding...or my willingness to accept that this IS, in fact, what they want.  

How different all of this is from the post that we started with this week.  

Give That Person

If you need something from somebody, always give that person a way to hand it to you.

-- Sue Monk Kidd

Status Quo

We are inclined to things like…status quo.

Perhaps, we are because we believe there is more to be gained (or less to be lost) if we just keep going and don’t shake things up too much.

But, what if that commitment is what is killing us?  When put that harshly, we may be more open to reconsidering what the status quo is really getting us.

What does it mean to step out?  Does that mean step away?  Does it mean step towards something…else?

Most of us like things to stay more the same.  But, the reality is they don’t.  So, holding out for status quo really doesn’t work that well anyway.  Which might lead us more directly to why we try to maintain it and to the perils of doing so.

Status quo is often about power, at both high and low levels.  Those in power don’t want to lose it.  They work very hard to prevent that from happening, often by simply trying to achieve more power (for example, do you know how many military bases the US has relative to the rest of the world?  And, that still isn't enough...now we need own Greenland), including by any means necessary.

Individually, we also want power; at the very least, a sense that we have some control in our lives.  Too often, though, that too becomes about power.  We want certainty in our lives and don't realize what all we are willing to do to get it, even in our personal relationships.

Change and ambiguity are often uncomfortable.  In one way, they require something of us, that we'd rather not do.  This is where things like true faith are highly in play, rather than the often-false comforts of our belief systems.  Because without a true sense of ultimate faith, we seem far too inclined to things like...the status quo.

When The Chips Are Down

Whether you are a leader or a follower, it matters what kind of a person you have become — because when the chips are down, that is what you will operate from.

MLK Day: Leaders Not In Love With Money

We need leaders not in love with money, but in love with justice.  Not in love with publicity, but in love with humanity.

-- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Stand and I Will Be With You

Momentous Revelation

We have made the Bible into a bunch of ideas—about which we can be right or wrong—rather than an invitation to a new set of eyes.

Even worse, many of those ideas are the same old, tired ones, mirroring the reward-and-punishment system of the dominant culture, so that most people don’t even expect anything good or new from the momentous revelation that we call the Bible.

-- Richard Rohr

3 Observations & A Question

Good is not simply a personal thing.

Personal and collective responsibility meet somewhere — ‘minding my own business’ is not enough.

There’s always a political game going on — but when it’s no longer a game, everybody (just about) hates it.

What does solidarity mean to you — when does it warrant protest?

Prior 3 Observations & A Question…

National Elk Refuge

I want to leave it right there so badly....

But, the contrasts, especially with regard to money, are unavoidable (without just sticking-our-head-in-the-sand):

Billionaire Rams owner Stan Kroenke becomes America’s biggest private landowner

The U.S. is securing about 30% higher prices for Venezuelan crude

...even worse:

US is keeping the money in Qatar rather than in U.S. banks

And, just to top it off:

President Donald Trump is keeping Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado’s Nobel Peace Prize after she presented it to him during their meeting

...if only we could have just enjoyed the implications of Wyoming's National Elk Refuge for just one more minute.

This is helpful:

The question is how to stay engaged without losing ourselves in the process