Bruce Springsteen says "There's no art in this White House"

— to make this world worthy of its children.

 

You must cherish one another. You must work — we all must work — to make this world worthy of its children.

PABLO CASALS

If you want to have a full and happy life...

 

If you want to have a full and happy life, in good times and in bad, you have to get used to the idea that facing misfortune squarely is better than trying to escape from it.

NORMAN FISCHER I SAILED AWAY WHEN NIXON WAS SCREWING UP, NOT ENDING THE WAR, BUT EXTENDING IT INTO LAOS AND CAMBODIA. THIS TIME i STAYED AROUND TO FACE TRUMP AnD HIS SCREW UPS...

"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends."

  You are the first white man to ever say or at least I have heard Ron to say such a thing statement (this writing below is from Dr. Tomas Pinkson) you are in a class all by yourself you really need to be sharing this understanding with your folks they don't get it. When you live in my skin you walk 365 days on a tight rope it's so much in our consciousness until it's like our arm or leg. When I am in the Caribbean or when I was in Africa I sincerely felt free, it was like a lick came off of my brain, for everybody looked like me, although I didn't know the language but what I did know I wasn't be judged by my skin color, I would be judged as MLK said by the content of my character, we as Blacks in this country are in a mental prison, some don't even know it, or recognize it. Than we raise our children in a bubble to protect them until they are old enough for the Talk.

 I believe that any of us seeking to walk a spiritual path also need to be spiritual activists taking action steps to address the impact of centuries of slavery and its aftermath inequities of institutional racist policies that still oppress black people today. To not do so  means we are passively supporting its continuation which benefits those of us wearing white skins and keeps a boot of oppression on all people of color. George Floyd’s death just caught a visual of its overt manifestation through police violence. 

 

Suggested Action Steps: 

 

number one, learn the true history of our country which has never been taught in our public schools. 

number two, educate ourselves about the true workings of racist policies that oppress people of color  while benefitting caucasian people without our having to lift a hand to make it be so. 

number three, get educated about white privilege and how to use it to facilitate meaningful change. 

number four, do your part  to repair, transform and heal what has been done,  

number five,  take first steps towards making reparations to those who have suffered, and who suffer still under the yoke of daily acts of prejudice and discrimination while we white race people can go on with our lives privileged in ways most of us are not even aware of.  Making reparations is not about guilt or shame.  It is about  justice. It is about doing the right thing. It is about doing the honorable thing healing our own souls in the process.   There is a Hebrew expression, Tikun Olam, which means repairing the wounds of the world which each of us has a moral and spiritual responsibility to do. May we honor this calling.

 

                                                                      Dr. Tomas Pinkson

hola relatives - i just watched the Netflix film The Trial of the Chicago Seven. I encourage you to do so as well.  See what it brings up for you, history that many of us lived through.  John Mitchell, Nixon’s attorney general at the time, through his Contempro program, had Fred Hampton murdered in his bed, murdered people i knew in the Black Panthers, and with his fellow hack, Mayor Daily of Chicago, waged violent attack on demonstrators protesting the carnage in Vietnam, then falsely prosecuted seven people who were all innocent of the charges and who were later acquitted of all of them when given a fair hearing which did not take place in the court proceedings shown accurately in this movie.    Watching this movie I felt anger, sad, furious, inspired and vindicated in the truth coming out about fascism  in this country then and fascism in this county now. It made me think about the words of Martin Niemoller, a prominent Lutheran pastor in Germany who was an outspoken public foe of Hitler and spent the last seven years of Nazi rule in concentration camps.    "First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me."   Now it is our time to speak  out, for freedom and justice for all people, for all life on our planet and for the Earth itself. If not, I fear that at some time in the not-too-far distant future  there will be no one left to speak at all. It doesn’t have to be the way it is now, it can be changed if enough people stand up and work to make meaningful change. May it be so.    love, tomás

 

 

The Spark that leads to PEACE AND JOY....

 

In each of us there is a spark that can reverse the trends of violence and depression spiraling within us and in the world around us. By setting in motion the spiral of gratefulness we begin the journey toward peace and joy.

BR. DAVID STEINDL-RAST

Animal Medicine by Rev. Ed at Charleston Unity

 Some consider Animal Medicine to be "woowoo". I don't as whenever I see a deer, it is a reminder to me to be gentle on my self or another. Very practical that the universe would put certain animals into our lives to remind and teach us. As quantum theory and Unity teach, we are all connected. Thus, Nancy Baker took the picture below of a Hawk on our roof during church service this past Sunday. Erin's aunt Val wrote to us, upon seeing the pic: "Hawk medicine is about the wisdom of seeing situations from a higher perspective." What were we talking about on Sunday but seeing the current political situation from a higher perspective! I love how it all comes together.

Veterans for Peace Action as ELECTION DEFENDERS

 

Become an Election Defender

Veterans For Peace is part of a united front effort with hundreds of other mass-member organizations to ensure free and fair elections. Protecting the rights of people to vote in-person on November 3rd means thousands of people signing up for different roles. Signing up today means you’ll have access to weekly training and a slack channel where our efforts can be coordinated around the nation. 

Sundays, Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays7:30pm EDT

Location

Virtual event

Join from anywhere

---

About this event

Read all the way to know what the agendas are for each meeting!

With the stakes being as high as they are, voter suppression already more rampant than ever, and the nationalist right emboldened by conspiracy theorists, we can’t depend on anyone else ensuring people are able to vote freely and safely.

Read all the way to know what the agendas are for each meeting!

With the stakes being as high as they are, voter suppression already more rampant than ever, and the nationalist right emboldened by conspiracy theorists, we can’t depend on anyone else ensuring people are able to vote freely and safely.

Election Defenders will be working to provide safe supports for voting (such as PPE and water), and election and voter defense, de-escalating white supremacist intimidation tactics and signaling to a network of groups and lawyers if and where trouble breaks out.

Can't make this proposed times? Sign up anyway so we can send you a recording of the trainings.

These trainings will cover different areas so pay attention to the following agendas and sign up for as many as it makes sense:

10/20: Alysia Reiner from the Orange Is The New Black will be on to do a dive on media in addition to our training on poll monitoring, bystander escort, and de-escalation!

10/21: De-Escalation 201: PRACTICE! To do de-escalation well, you're going to need to practice. Come to this call to get what you need to practice on and how to keep things cool and calm at the polls when people are trying to be antagonizing.

Fri, Oct 23, 7:30pm–9:00pm EDT

Sun, Oct 25, 7:30pm–9:00pm EDT

Thu, Oct 29, 7:30pm–9:00pm EDT

Mon, Nov 2, 7:30pm–9:00pm EST

10/23: De-Escalation 201: PART TWO! Come to both, or catch the recording for both as this will build on the 10/21 training.

10/25: Election Defender Training - another general training, if you've taken the trainings or watch the videos from 9/29-10/20, only come to the last 30 minutes of the call (8:30 ET) because that's when we'll do the NEW STUFF YOU NEED TO KNOW!

10/29: Same as 10/25 -- For newer folks and come to the last 30 minutes for new information (8:30 ET)

11/2: MASS RALLY!!! Everyone get on to get pumped up to get out to the polls!!

Understanding the many ways voters are disenfranchised and the impact this has on our federal and state elections is critical.

 This month the Racial Justice Project Study Group will be examining the continuing disenfranchisement of the Black Voter in America. Our voting history in the US is rife with suppression and unfairness to persons of color and persons of lower socioeconomic status.  The articles selected present a timeline of suppression beginning with the Civil War to 2020. An explanation of the electoral college is included and why the founders believed it necessary to elect a president. The Voting Rights Act passed in 1965 promoting changes in the government to get more persons registered to vote.  In 2013 the US Supreme Court changed the way the Voting Rights Act was implemented nationwide at the expense of many US citizens.  Understanding the many ways voters are disenfranchised and the impact this has on our federal and state elections is critical.  All eligible voters need to participate and have their voices heard!  

"First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me."

 

hola relatives - i just watched the Netflix film The Trial of the Chicago Seven. I encourage you to do so as well.  See what it brings up for you, history that many of us lived through.  John Mitchell, Nixon’s attorney general at the time, through his Contempro program, had Fred Hampton murdered in his bed, murdered people i knew in the Black Panthers, and with his fellow hack, Mayor Daily of Chicago, waged violent attack on demonstrators protesting the carnage in Vietnam, then falsely prosecuted seven people who were all innocent of the charges and who were later acquitted of all of them when given a fair hearing which did not take place in the court proceedings shown accurately in this movie.    Watching this movie I felt anger, sad, furious, inspired and vindicated in the truth coming out about fascism  in this country then and fascism in this county now. It made me think about the words of Martin Niemoller, a prominent Lutheran pastor in Germany who was an outspoken public foe of Hitler and spent the last seven years of Nazi rule in concentration camps.    "First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me."   Now it is our time to speak  out, for freedom and justice for all people, for all life on our planet and for the Earth itself. If not, I fear that at some time in the not-too-far distant future  there will be no one left to speak at all. It doesn’t have to be the way it is now, it can be changed if enough people stand up and work to make meaningful change. May it be so.    love, tomás You are the first white man to ever say or at least I have heard Ron to say such a thing statement you are in a class all by yourself you really need to be sharing this understanding with your folks they don't get it. When you live in my skin you walk 365 days on a tight rope it's so much in our consciousness until it's like our arm or leg. When I am in the Caribbean or when I was in Africa I sincerely felt free, it was like a lick came off of my brain, for everybody looked like me, although I didn't know the language but what I did know I wasn't be judged by my skin color, I would be judged as MLK said by the content of my character, we as Blacks in this country are in a mental prison, some don't even know it, or recognize it. Than we raise our children in a bubble to protect them until they are old enough for the Talk.

LIVE LOVE NOW with Tomas...

 

I look forward to seeing you tomorrow, Wednesday, October 21, at 5:00 pm for our weekly Live Love Now webinar and community gathering.   TEACHING This week's teaching will focus on exploring these three questions:   What do you need to say "no" to that keeps you stuck in unhealthy/unskillful patterns What do you need to say "yes" to that grows you in the ways you want to grow? What steps can you take to make the changes?

MAKE THEIR DAY WITH YOUR INCREDIBLE POWER

 

What an incredible power we have, to walk through the world, making somebody’s day.

KRISTA TIPPETT

PEACE IS ALWAYS HERE, THERE, SOMEWHERE!

 

Whatever may be the tensions and the stresses of a particular day, there is always lurking close at hand the trailing beauty of forgotten joy or unremembered peace.

HOWARD THURMAN

How we treat one another is the only thing that matters.

 

How we treat one another is the only thing that matters.

SAMITE MULONDO

Starting with yourself. Do you give yourself the love you give someone else:  "Love your neighbor as YOURSELF."

Soaking in the waters of gladness…assures us''''

 

Soaking in the waters of gladness…assures us that we live in a world not only filled with violence and hate, but also stubbornly infused with divine surprise, delicious moments, and a flow of freshness that can sustain us through the worst of times.

PATRICIA ADAMS FARMER

A Key to Happiness...

 SELF-COMPASSION!

Heartbreak and hope are not mutually exclusive

 

Heartbreak and hope are not mutually exclusive. We can be angry and sad and filled with longing for something we cannot have, and simultaneously we can be grateful for what we’ve got — aware, for reasons we’d never choose, of what really matters and what doesn’t.

LENNON FLOWERS

Thanks, Ron. Lots of wisdom here. I’m so grateful to be part of our sangha’s Racial Justice Project. I’m learning & have more to learn.

 Thanks, Debra, for responding, I hope this writing becomes part of our stated purpose, or at least read on Oct.21 Racial Justice Project Study Group meeting  . Dr. Tomas is my favorite teacher ever. He was the clinical director of Dr. Jerry Jampolsky's Center for Attitudinal which had the first spiritual support group ever for life-threatened children. I came along a few years after it started, and asked for an internship while studying for my Masters. That Center was the main reason I went to California for graduate school. Dr. Jampolsky told me that several of the children had grown into teenagers, and he asked me to get a grant and and start a Young Adult Group. It was easy to get a grant for this pioneering work, and it was the best job I ever had. To me besides the group every week, we had in home, and hospital visits to those who could not come to the Center. In addition, we had many many free tickets to many wonderful events, like the Cirque de Soliel, zoo, aquamarine, river rafting, sailing on the TALL ship CALIFORNIA. However, my favorite was a cabin in Yosemite, where we went a couple of times a year. What I found out that the time they had left here on Earth, they wanted to LIVE. This experiential field trips was my favorite part of two of my jobs. Based on the spiritual teaching of A COURSE IN MIRACLES by Dr. Jampolsky, the metaphysical studies in psychology and Native American Shamanism by Dr. Tomas PInkson. He brought over the Home Hospice Program from England, the passing were truly "continuations" for most of us. This awesome work led me to working with Veterans who were in the Hospice in the VA. Truly believing in an eternal life in Reality, has made this work much easier. To sum it all up, I am very pleased besides Indigo Sangha, Unity Charleston, I now am in a weekly zoom group with Dr. Pinkson.                     Peace in Action, Ron Alexander aka Zac Vappa on FaceBook. 

Thanks, Ron.  Lots of wisdom here.  I’m so grateful to be part of our sangha’s Racial Justice Project.  I’m learning & have more to learn.

Debra

MARK YOUR CALENDAR. This month the Racial Justice Project Study Group will be examining the continuing disenfranchisement of the Black Voter in America through readings and sharing on October 21st at 3 pm. October's articles on the topic "the Black Voter" can be found by clicking  this link. The zoom link for the 21st Dharma Sharing is here

 You are the first white man to ever say or at least I have heard Ron to say such a thing statement you are in a class all by yourself you really need to be sharing this understanding with your folks they don't get it. When you live in my skin you walk 365 days on a tight rope it's so much in our consciousness until it's like our arm or leg. When I am in the Caribbean or when I was in Africa I sincerely felt free, it was like a lick came off of my brain, for everybody looked like me, although I didn't know the language but what I did know I wasn't be judged by my skin color, I would be judged as MLK said by the content of my character, we as Blacks in this country are in a mental prison, some don't even know it, or recognize it. Than we raise our children in a bubble to protect them until they are old enough for the Talk.

 I believe that any of us seeking to walk a spiritual path also need to be spiritual activists taking action steps to address the impact of centuries of slavery and its aftermath inequities of institutional racist policies that still oppress black people today. To not do so  means we are passively supporting its continuation which benefits those of us wearing white skins and keeps a boot of oppression on all people of color. George Floyd’s death just caught a visual of its overt manifestation through police violence. 

 

Suggested Action Steps: 

 

number one, learn the true history of our country which has never been taught in our public schools. 

number two, educate ourselves about the true workings of racist policies that oppress people of color  while benefitting caucasian people without our having to lift a hand to make it be so. 

number three, get educated about white privilege and how to use it to facilitate meaningful change. 

number four, do your part  to repair, transform and heal what has been done,  

number five,  take first steps towards making reparations to those who have suffered, and who suffer still under the yoke of daily acts of prejudice and discrimination while we white race people can go on with our lives privileged in ways most of us are not even aware of.  Making reparations is not about guilt or shame.  It is about  justice. It is about doing the right thing. It is about doing the honorable thing healing our own souls in the process.   There is a Hebrew expression, Tikun Olam, which means repairing the wounds of the world which each of us has a moral and spiritual responsibility to do. May we honor this calling.

 

                                                                      Dr. Tomas Pinkson

 

 

I believe that any of us seeking to walk a spiritual path also need to be spiritual activists taking action steps to address the impact of centuries of slavery and its aftermath inequities of institutional racist policies that still oppress black people today.

   I believe that any of us seeking to walk a spiritual path also need to be spiritual activists taking action steps to address the impact of centuries of slavery and its aftermath inequities of institutional racist policies that still oppress black people today. To not do so  means we are passively supporting its continuation which benefits those of us wearing white skins and keeps a boot of oppression on all people of color. George Floyd’s death just caught a visual of its overt manifestation through police violence. 

 

Suggested Action Steps: 

 

number one, learn the true history of our country which has never been taught in our public schools. 

number two, educate ourselves about the true workings of racist policies that oppress people of color  while benefitting caucasian people without our having to lift a hand to make it be so. 

number three, get educated about white privilege and how to use it to facilitate meaningful change. 

number four, do your part  to repair, transform and heal what has been done,  

number five,  take first steps towards making reparations to those who have suffered, and who suffer still under the yoke of daily acts of prejudice and discrimination while we white race people can go on with our lives privileged in ways most of us are not even aware of.  Making reparations is not about guilt or shame.  It is about  justice. It is about doing the right thing. It is about doing the honorable thing healing our own souls in the process.   There is a Hebrew expression, Tikun Olam, which means repairing the wounds of the world which each of us has a moral and spiritual responsibility to do. May we honor this calling.

 

                                                                      Dr. Tomas Pinkson

 

Ron's Continuation, Birthday Song...ONE LOVE "Everybody loves me, some just don't know it yet."Byron Katie

One love, One heart Let's get together and feel all right Hear the children crying (One Love) Hear the children crying (One Heart) Sayin' give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will feel all right Sayin' let's get together and feel all right Let them all pass all their dirty remarks (One Love) There is one question I'd really love to ask (One Heart) Is there a place for the hopeless sinner Who has hurt all mankind just to save his own? Believe me One Love, One Heart Let's get together and feel all right As it was in the beginning (One Love) So shall it be in the end (One Heart) Give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will feel all right One more thing Let's get together to fight this Holy Armageddon (One Love) So when the Man comes there will be no no doom (One Song) Have pity on those whose chances grove thinner There ain't no hiding place from the Father of Creation Sayin' One Love, One Heart Let's get together and feel all right I'm pleading to mankind (One Love) Oh Lord (One Heart) Give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will feel all right Let's get together and feel all right

It is my Continuance Day, and here are my 2 fav. quotes

 THE OLDER I GET THE MORE BEAUTIFUL LIFE BECOMES. Frank Lloyd Wright

EVERYBODY LOVES ME, SOME JUST DON'T KNOW IT YET. Byron Katie

Extend the circle of “us”

 

Extend the circle of “us” to include as much of the world as you possibly can.

RICK HANSON

 

It’s so much easier, to learn to love what you have instead of yearning always for what you’re missing, or what you imagine you’re missing. It’s so much more peaceful.

ANNA QUINDLEN

Righteous Anger And a Fascist Religion

 Janene Meiske Wayne: Indeed. For those of us who truly believe & don't hide behind it to support a political agenda: Matthew 21:12-13 - Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer, You are making it ‘a den of robbers."

Reflection Thought re. Staying Light in Hard Times -

 

America needs healing. We need to educate ourselves about the true history of our country and take responsibility for actually living the values the nation was based on but only applied to affluent, white, christian heterosexual males.   America needs Reconciliation and Restorative Justice to make amends for how BIPOC have been abused and traumatized from the beginnings of this nation through racist policy, prejudice and discrimination built into all our institutions still operating today benefitting people with white skin and oppressing those of color.  To accept the status quo and do nothing, which those of us with white privilege can do, gives passive support to oppression and as Eldridge Cleaver said long ago, “The price you pay for keeping a person down in the gutter is that you have to get down in the gutter with them”, even if you are not aware of it.    Reflection Thought re. Staying Light in Hard Times - ”Strength is not what is required to stand against the jarring influences of life.  There is no wall of stone or of iron that can always stand against the waves of the ocean, but a small piece of wood, little and light, can always rise and fall with the waves, yet always above them, uninjured and safe.  The lighter and littler a person's ego becomes, the more power it has.”   Hazrat Inayat Khan

DIVERSITY, UNITY AND BEAUTY

 

Appreciation of Diversity of Beauty

 

Add caption

We should appreciate the beauty in the diversity. It would be a boring world, if every flower were the same shape, color, and size.

MUHAMMED ALI

What does it mean to be a Wisdom Warrior Spiritual Activist? Passionate Purpose!

 

I like this definition by Eve the best. Also, the fact that I have already been disinherited for my liberal progressive stance, I have nothing else to lose. Nor, this late in life, do I have anything else to prove. My "internal moral engine" is motivated by seeing the injustice to people of color growing up in the aparthied South. I was brought up learning a revision of history and a subtle prejudice by my parents and other elders. I saw

PASSIONATE PURPOSE?

Two evens in my life I think led to my passion. One, growing up in aparthied South, and observing the outright racism morph into systemic racism all over the country. Number 2 was my Brother being killed in Nam.

APPRECIATE!

 

Appreciation can turn our planet into a sacred home and our communities into extended family.

KRISTI NELSON

ANGER IS NOT PATHOLOGICAL

 No, anger is not pathological. Please let me know what I said to give you that impression so that I may learn to be more skillful. Oh no, it was just the title, PUTTING THE END TO ANGER. To me that sounded like a lot of new age philosophy of putting the end of ego. I have been in several Ashrams with teachers who were supposedly free of ego. I found that, all but one, had bursts of abusive anger to their servants. If you think you have no ego, you will require lots of servants to take care of your bodily needs. Most of us will have to leave our bodies to be egoless and probably angerless?

In my experience, there are big Angers in life and small, daily angers in life. In my experience, when I practice with the small angers each day I develop tools to be with the big Angers--so I don't get stuck. To me it's about allowing feelings to flow-- not in an unattached, disinterested way where we are cut off from our experience but in a way that opens the heart and mind, increases our capacity to live and experience what is. Yes, I like that, and will borrow it, if O.K.?

Healthy expressions, yes. Not suppression, yes.  Self-compassion, yes. Understanding, yes. Resilience, yes. yes yes yes yes, Aware, accept, embrace (as Thay says) and let go?

I believe the 5 Ways of Putting an End to Anger Sutra are one more tool to help us move through denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. If it works for you, keep it, it's yours. If it doesn't work for you, let it go.Yes, please email them to me. I enjoyed listening and reading them out loud. They did bring me a peaceful feeling,

Love, H.

P.S. I am so thankful that Donzell came along as physically I am wearing down, and I realized part of my grief about this was anger, so all of this discourse with you and my research and my memories has helped me come to more peace about this declining body. I have been exercising regularly and timing my mile of walk, run, jog was down to 9 minutes and 40 seconds a few weeks ago. Now, even with this cooler weather, I have a hard time getting it below 12 minutes. Most every other day, I take a long walk to Folly River Inlet, and that has gotten harder. Plus, I have to leave the Battery sooner, so it is not my imagination about my aging body. I just need to be aware, accept embrace and do the best I can in peace. In gratefulness your spiel about the "president" was brilliant, and would like to get the recording of the whole session.                                   much love and appreciation, Ron 

Heather Lyn Mann