Where in the world has America been?

A few days ago, I received a book in the mail – a rather common event around here. This one came from a book shop in Ireland – still not too unusual. What was unusual was that, when I opened the package, I had an arresting experience just by holding the book in my hands. For a moment, I simply held and regarded it, and then had to ask the question, “Where in the world has America been?”

The book was written (and signed) by Mary Robinson who was the first female president of Ireland elected in 1990 – more than a quarter of a century ago. (She was followed by another woman president.)

The suppression of female leadership in this country becomes all the more glaring as we now (rightfully) celebrate the small number of women elected to office this year. How many other countries have forged ahead of this America that pretends to be the most advanced at everything?

The other arresting factor of the book in my hands was that it was about the humanitarian impact of climate change across the globe. While we still have (mostly male) leadership that refuses to admit to the established science of climate change, she and most of the world have gone on to recognize the realities of a changing world and their implications for cultures, migration, equality and simple human dignity. Meanwhile, we languish in the medieval ideologies of isolationism, willful ignorance and authoritarianism created by the propaganda of self-serving corporations, Republicans and “conservatives.” Contrast that with a woman president who understands the human cost of climate change.

Mary Robinson’s perspective is refreshing, faces reality and looks for a sustainable future. Perhaps when more women and men without ideological blinders take a baby in their arms and think about the future that awaits them, we will have still more sane, responsible citizens demanding better representation for the sake of the world and for the sake of our children.

Her book is titled Climate Justice: Hope, Resilience and the Fight for a Sustainable Future.

This post wasn’t intended as a book promotion, but it would be a worthy one. (Plus, Kenny’s price was lower than Amazon’s.) My point here is that I wondered: where in the world has American been? Most of the rest of the civilized world is passing us by in attending to the realities of climate change while we deal with rampant corruption, ignorance and greed. The sooner we correct course, the better things will be, and books like this one will help restore our vision and our hope.

Voting Matters

For the sake of our people, our children and our land, please vote. It matters who is on our school boards, who makes zoning decisions, who decides on the health of our people and land. There are many reasons to vote and I began this morning to list them off the top of my head and they became too numerous to include here (so I put them at the bottom as a kind of appendix).

For some people, one or two issues will determine their vote. Some will focus on a few. Many will simply go with their “team.”

It’s easy to get lost in one or two emotionally-charged issues, or to get overwhelmed with the sheer number of things to address. (Perhaps it is a political tactic to present so many issues and false controversies that people like us give up and let others make the decisions.) As I’ve written before, returning to core values helps to put things in perspective.

I offer here, for what it’s worth, my major categories of concerns, in no particular order, based on some of my deep values.

Truth and transparency – without them, our votes mean little and our representatives fall prey to wealthy secret donors
Respect and equality for all human beings – with none made second-class citizens because of race, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, wealth, or the composition of their families
The value of diversity in nature, ideas and humanity
Health of our environment and protection of our land, water and air from all forms of degradation, which includes respect for climate science
Protection of public resources from private speculation, whether natural resources, general welfare or social security.

In short, what primarily motivates me are care for the well-being of all people and care for our environment. I am concerned about the world we are leaving to our grandchildren. More and more, I believe it is true that whatever we do to the land we do to ourselves (and our children). Whatever resources we use, we do not own but borrow them from our children’s children’s children.

Those who do not vote, submit to the values and will of those who do vote. So, whichever side you fall on (or stand up for) in these issues, please vote.

This list is exhausting but may not be exhaustive. Maybe I’ll try to organize it by category some other time. My point is this: there are many many reasons to be involved, such as:

Social justice
Election security
Wealth inequality
Healthcare
Taxation issues and tax fairness
Money in politics
Citizens united
Gender equality
LGBTQ rights
Role of religion in politics
Social security, Medicaid, Medicare
Climate change and global warming
Corporate responsibility and regulation
Political corruption
Corporate subsidies
Expectations of government
Road and bridge repair
Internet access and neutrality
Local zoning
Immigration
Racial justice and equality
Competence and respectability of elected and appointed office-holders
Foreign agreements
Expectations of an objective media
Environmental degradation and protection
Water quality
Air quality
Industrial and agricultural poisons in the environment
Corporate honesty and transparency
Science
Health of our forests
Treaties with native peoples
Voting rights and responsibilities
Gerrymandering
Human and civil rights
Welfare of vulnerable populations
Women’s economic equality
Privilege of males, whites, and wealthy
Gun safety and issues of ownership
Patriarchal systems of government
Consumer protections
Truth and transparency in elected and appointed offices
Super PACs and “dark money”
Relationship between lobbyists and government officials
States’ rights vs. Federal responsibilities
Political violence
Political discourse
Sexual harassment and rape culture
Justice for victims and the accused
Abortion and women’s sovereignty over their bodies
National character and identity
Constitutional disagreements
Use of executive orders to make changes in policy and execution
Endangered species
Use of public lands
Corporate responsibility to local communities
Off-shore tax shelters and evasion
Government’s right to regulate sexual behavior of adults
Role of religious expression in public commercial activity
The number of mindless myths in political decisions carrying misleading labels such as “trickle-down economics,” socialism, family values, unsettled science, unproven, etc.

A New Chapter without a Title

We all go through stages of life in which our identities evolve and the face we present to the world changes – sometimes gradually and sometimes dramatically. Looking back, we might see the first hobby, the first serious relationship, the first marriage, the first professional job, the first child, the first divorce, the first trip abroad, a conversion to a new way of thinking, or retirement, to name a few. Things often run their course and what we found inviting may no longer be so. We grow into them, and out of them. So it is with me.

As of October 31^st, I will have terminated my psychology license, which I’ve had since 1991. I’ve already let my school psychology license expire after my retirement from Intermediate School District 916. That license I first obtained in MD around 1973.

Now, I want more sovereignty about where I put my attention. In giving up this license, I will no longer need to think about continuing education units as defined by someone else or biennial filings and fees. Instead, I can explore deeper yearnings without regard to a board’s expectations – an introvert’s dream.

It’s not that I find the profession of psychology unworthy. It’s simply no longer adequate for me. Originally meaning “study of soul,” psychology in general doesn’t seem much interested the psyche, (let alone soul) with its modern emphases on behaviorism, neurology and managed care. Not that they lack value but, again, they are not adequate, being but a small slice of human experience.

My interest in psychology came out of a fascination with people and their interactions, and an awareness of suffering and irrationality. What’s more, from a young age, I was aware of paranormal experiences that many people have that do not fit our religious beliefs, our modern scientific biases or our psychological formulations of mundane “reality.” Religions talk about it, fight against it, try to control it. Scientists tend to deny it. Social expectations put a taboo on it. But many people, if they feel safe, can tell you of any number of paranormal, uncanny, or Otherworldly experiences – the kinds of things that indigenous peoples and shamans take for granted.

In my ruminations of late, it became evident that my deeper interest has always been in soul and its relationship to the psyche, to community and to the larger world; and my best psychological work served to help people establish a better relationship between the conscious self and the deeper self or soul.

I will continue to teach about 1) past-life influences and karma, 2) shamanic practices, 3) Druidism and 4) stress-management. I’ll consult on the modern application of these topics and may work with past-life memories as a matter of exploration rather than psychotherapy and, for sure, I’ll continue to write and play music.

No longer an official psychologist, what can I call myself after the 31^st? After all, we label everything and everyone, if only on IRS forms or bank applications. I hesitate to say “shaman” because we don’t live in a shamanic culture. I hesitate to say “Druid priest” because we don’t live in a Celtic culture where it had a meaning it no longer carries. I probably shouldn’t say “past-life therapist” because it could be construed as continuing to practice psychology. “Shamanist” might do.

In a way, it doesn’t matter so much what I call myself now, except I want the rest of my life to be an expression of what’s deepest in my heart. “Teacher,” “author” and “consultant” are simple enough but lack the content that means the most to me. Perhaps that’s the best we can do. Perhaps some other label will suggest itself over time.

Then, you might ask, why October 31? What we know as “Halloween” is the traditional Celtic New Year – the eve of the month of Samhain. It was the time when animals were brought in from pasture with some selected for overwintering and some for slaughter. Survival, mortality and our relationship with the Otherworld come to the fore then. What will feed a hungry people in a time of scarcity is what will be carried into the winter. And people hunger now for soul food in a world of distraction, distress and vacuous media. Thus, it seems appropriate to let die that whose season is spent.

On a lighter note, masks and disguises are a part of this season, too, and my evolution out of the world of mainstream psychology may be seen as allowing a new mask to face the world – or, perhaps, the removal of a mask that no longer quite fits.

Happy Halloween and a Blessed Samhain.

Taking back her voice

You may have seen this as Facebook posts. I am also preparing a post that is addressed to men as well. Feel free to share as you see fit.

To the women of America:
For thousands of years you have been under the control of men who have, under the guise of protection, abused, bought, and sold you, held you up as a trophy, degraded you as a human being, and used you to sell everything from cars to alcohol to toothpaste. You body has been regulated by men, and denigrated by religious tradition. We have just watched on the national stage what a large portion of our “leaders” believe about your rights under the law, about your rights for safety in your own skin and for your own autonomy. Your status (economic and social) has been a political football kicked around by both major parties. They have both been remiss in being genuinely present to your concerns, your grievances, and your hopes and value as a human being. Worse, one party has been actively hostile every step of the way not only to your rights but to every citizen that does not look like them – white old male property owners.

The struggle for the recognition of your humanity has played out before us over the last few weeks. Whether this is the last spasm of a corrupt and dying patriarchy, or it ushers in a new dark era of oppression rests on your voice and your vote. I and other men will stand with you and lend our voices in support of your full humanity and citizenship, but I cannot cast your vote for you.

In some circles, your voice may mean little, but your vote will mean everything.

Response to the responses:

I have been taken aback by the positive esteem my post engendered. I was speechless for a while. Thank you all for such regard. It’s sad that this should be remarkable. Why should it merit praise that I’d want half of humanity treated as well as the other half?

I have three reasons for saying what I did. First, it is the right and honorable thing. There were times in history when women were regarded with great value. Often, they were held above men and so it was little better in that regard. To raise one person or gender at the expense of another is a false value. We, each of us, have our gifts and can contribute to the well-being of each other and to all of us.

The second reason is that I love my daughters and granddaughters, wife and female friends. It hurts and angers me to see them treated badly. I see beauty, skill and strengths in them from which we would all benefit if freed from predation, manipulation and constriction. I want them all to be powerful, respected and autonomous, as they deserve. I don’t want them to have to be concerned about their safety because of who they are. Their discomfort reveals our failure, especially men’s failure.

The third reason is purely selfish. What is more beautiful than any person who can be fully present to themselves and to the world, and who can feel comfortable and safe in their own skin with no need for comparison, concerned first with the expression of their own vision, and the living of their own lives in a world that honors them?

There’s artistry in the way every conscious human being moves in the world. I want more of that – for the sake of all that I love.

Speaking Truth to Power

For context, I’d like to refer to my previous post of January when I wrote that many people who had been abused, sexually assaulted or bullied were triggered by the election of Donald Trump with his history of admitted-but-denied sexual assault and the way in which his cohorts enabled him to engage in his relentless attacks on his accusers.

Here we are once more: Clarence Thomas, Donald Trump, Brett Kavanaugh – the same pattern of accusations, denials, dismissal, attempts to discredit the accusers, outrage at victims who speak up, refusal of full investigation, abusers coming to the defense of abusers. Of course, anyone can make an accusation, but it’s the subsequent response that shows what we are made of – or which agenda will take precedence over our basic human decency. We all make mistakes, of course, but our integrity is dependent on our ability to take responsibility, our ability to move forward on honest admission and restitution. And there is evidence of previous misconduct by his own hand and in the memories of those who shared in his drinking days.

Rather than taking the accusations seriously, letting a proper investigation lead where it may, we find counter accusations and even allegations of conspiracy. The refusal to investigate will be the nail in the coffin of those without integrity.

We see stress growing in the women who have been subjected to abuse and felt the soul-killing sting of being dismissed as they’ve seen happen to other women over and over. This man’s nomination, the accusations, the attempt to ignore them has triggered the collective consciousness of womankind, having had their dignity subjugated to others’ (mostly male) agendas.

We’ve seen again the violation of trust, the betrayal of ethical responsibilities of authority and abuse of power, the denials, and blaming the victim. It looks as if women were some kind of repository to receive the evils of men so that we men can maintain some conceit of pious innocence while blaming women for our inadequacies. This is not new. The institutional church has been blaming women for the ills of the world since the establishment of its male authority.

I find heartening the courage we see in the women who, in spite of all that’s raged against them, speak truth to power. These are the warriors we should lionize, the ones we need as role models for girls and boys, as well as us adults. The courage and sacrifice of these women just might save us from our neurotic patriarchy and restore integrity to a corrupt political system built on undeserved power of male dominance.

The stakes are high and we will all be judged accordingly. It reflects on the expectations of people in power (men and women), the integrity of due process, the value and dignity this country is willing to recognize in every woman, the messages passed along to boys and men about what is permitted and to girls what is expected.

Who sits on the Supreme Court is important, but not nearly as important as the need to recognize our societal illness in its denigration of women and to respond with integrity to an ancient wound inflicted on half of humanity by the patriarchal neurosis enabled by religious institutions.

The stakes are high today and in the coming days.

Back to School

Sometimes it feels like I grew up and began my career in the schools in a golden age of education. That was in 1973. Our foremost concern was how to educate children of all abilities and to help them prepare for the world. Attention was turning to students with special needs. New programs were being developed. Laws and regulations were put in place to attempt to assure an appropriate education for all students. Schools were continuing to be integrated. There was respect for and an understanding of science and its methods.

It was far from perfect, of course. Then (as now) those in positions of power were not always competent or qualified to manage better-educated staff. Ways could be found to work around regulations for expedience. Much was yet to be discovered about autism and other neurobiological differences. The county in which I worked in Maryland had two parent organizations that were against having counselors in the schools, afraid they would undermine the family. But education was still our primary concern. (Perhaps I was more naïve then, too.)

We did not have to worry so much about security, the proliferation of weapons of death, adverse impacts of social media, the politicization of education to promote archaic ideologies, the machinations of wealthy special interests trying to create hordes of ignorant citizens through pseudo-science and denying the realities of genuine science. Now, however, nothing seems too extreme in attempts by special interests to undo expectations of equality, realities of science, and needs for emotional intelligence. We see outright schemes for privatization and for-profit institutions. The unthinkable and unreasonable have been put into platforms of major political parties where everything is to be made a tool of the moneyed class and 18^th century ideologies.

I’m glad to not be returning to the new environment of education, but I have the utmost respect and admiration for the educators who now wrestle with larger and more socially-complex issues than I had to face in those earlier years.

To the teachers and support staff, I salute you. Never forget the spark that made you want to make a positive difference in the lives of children. Your work is important.

Identity, Soul Loss, and Remembering Who We Are in Troubling Times

On Sunday, August 12, I delivered the following talk during services at Unity North Spiritual Center. Like one of my previous posts, it deals with not becoming like that which troubles us.

The Times in Which We Live

It’ll be no surprise if I say we live in strange and stressful times with fractious politics, unsolved societal problems and hostile tribalism. Still, most of us have most of what we need, and we have much for which we are grateful. And we have each other. But still, we are faced with the unpleasantness that comes to us in the news, in social media and sometimes in the complaining rants of some of our family and friends. It reminds me of part of a poem that goes this way:

Turning and turning in the widening gyre

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere

The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

The best lack all conviction, while the worst

Are full of passionate intensity.

It sounds like today, but this was written nearly a hundred years ago by William Butler Yeats – and we seem to have survived what was going on then.

These stresses have become almost a way of life for us, as well as tools for political manipulation, and manufactured outrage to stir up fear and anger against some real or imagined threat. It’s easy to be distracted, angry, upset, disillusioned, confused, defeated, helpless – so easy, at least for me, to sometimes become absorbed into that which I find objectionable. It absorbs my attention and takes over what’s in my head.

Most of us have some way to get out of such states, whether that is meditation, prayer, HeartMath, entertainment, physical activities, engaging in something we love, going into the woods, coming here for inspiration – and it usually works, for a while.

We try to hold to our beliefs to help keep us on track, yet there’s always the seduction into unpleasantness – and we want to fight.

I often want to withdraw and find a retreat on a mountain, to get away from it all. Of course, we don’t have mountains here in Minnesota like those where I used to live in Maryland. I went there so often, my children called it “Daddy’s Mountain.”

As tempting as it is to stay out of such struggles, we cannot escape the consequences of them for they affect how we live, what is in our consciousness, what our children inherit, what populations get made into second-class citizens, and which vulnerable citizens we are willing to sacrifice for some ideology.

In that attempt to escape, what is it that we really want? Well, I want to re-attune to the depth of the spirit in me, indulge in the brightness of the teachings of our great thinkers, and to immerse myself in nature’s embrace.

But I’m left with the question: what is the impact on us to have to even struggle with such things – and by such things I mean the troubles of the world, as well as our own reactions and consciousness?

The Impact of Stress

I’ve spoken in seminars and written elsewhere about the physiological and cognitive effects of stress. (As the bumper sticker says, “Fearful People Do Stupid Things” because it disrupts our thinking process.) We can be momentarily absorbed by that which we find objectionable and want to resist – but then we lose touch with our own deep values. The greater danger that I see is that, in the discord and attention-grabbing news items, we forget who we are. We forget we have our own connection to the divine. We forget who we are as a community, and as a nation.

This I see as a form of soul loss. I believe we lose our identity (and our happiness) when our values, our beliefs and our actions are not in alignment. I’m postulating here three facets of human-beingness: values that come from our hearts; beliefs (that are really just thoughts to which we are attached); and our actions.

Put another way, when our mind, heart and muscles are not working together for the realization of the soul on earth, we experience soul loss.

In the stress of these times, we know what we are against, but can forget what we fight for.

Re-Membering

So, one way to get through such times and restore our identity, I suggest, is to look to our deep values – what is underneath all those thoughts and beliefs and rules and commandments to do certain things.

We must also remember that it is not just the other person who is the source of our outrage. Something in us has been offended, violated, or threatened. Something in us is having a response. To not lose our identity in response to that offending thing or person, we must re-establish what we are for, and this should be determined by our values – both group values and individual values. In this self-reflection, we don’t need to withdraw from the world, but we can bring to the world what we value.

Let’s look at some historical values, values that went beyond simplistic obedience to authority or following external rules. Again, you often must look beneath the words.

Biblical

In the Old Testament, we find the story of Lot and his wife who, having fed two strangers, discovered they were angels. Again and again, the old testament admonishes us to take care of the travelers and exiles. And we find in the book of Hebrews (13:2) “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.” This has been a common cultural value in the Middle East and elsewhere.

We find an interesting parallel in a Greek story.

Greek

Philemon and Baucus were an old couple in Phrygia. Two strangers dressed as peasants had been going through the town asking for a place to sleep but they found no kindness there until they came to the home of Philemon and Baucus. They were welcomed by the old couple, and served food and wine. The strangers eventually revealed themselves to be Zeus and Hermes (so even the gods seek hospitality). They then destroyed the town for its unkindness but made the cottage of Philemon and Baucus into a Temple in which they lived as guardians until they died together.

Gospels

When we consider what the actions and teachings of Jesus reveal about his values, we find the heart of them to be love and forgiveness. We see in the parable of the Good Samaritan how his values violated cultural standards of his culture’s social divisions and, instead, taught that all are our neighbors and deserve love.

Clearly he taught a different set of values than what was held by the society at large, and these values became a threat to the religious and political establishment of his time. It seems that advocating care for the poor and the sick, and calling leaders to task regarding the inequities of their society was as radical in those days as it appears to be today.

Celtic

When Rhonda asked me if I would do this talk, I happened to be reading about old Celtic society and their values of education (where the educated elite were held in high regard because they were the healers, scientists, priests and poets). They also placed a high value on hospitality. They had a high regard for truth and the keeping of one’s word; and the expectation that their leaders should be without blemish for, if they were defective, the land would not prosper.

In one of the old stories, a Faerie King looked favorably on an Irish King and gave him a Cup of Truth. This Cup of Truth had a quality that if three lies were said near it, it would shatter. And if three truths were said, it would come back together, restored. Imagine if we had that today.

Of course, the early Irish were humans like us and had many faults by our modern standards, but we can see some of what they valued – and what we have yet to achieve.

America

Our own country has an expressed a set of values defined by constitutional agreement – things like justice and equality (at least for white males until the 14^th amendment, not to mention women getting the vote only a hundred years ago) We’ve come a long way, perhaps, but we are still struggling to fully realize these values for everyone.

My point here is not to get lost in history but to remind us all seek out our deeper values – those that are of the depths, those that our teachers remind us are so important. These are the values that can hold us together – as individuals and as a people – in the face of whatever chaos we encounter.

To do that, we need to put more attention onto what we stand for, than what we stand against. What we stand against can shape us, but what we stand for defines who we are. Over and again throughout history, I hear the values of Hospitality, Truth, Kindness, Courage, Love, Justice, Compassion, and Learning, to name a few. These are important values and transcend momentary laws and expedient traditions.

From the Heart

Let’s bring this home and do an experiment many of us have done before.

Forget for the moment what I’ve said. Focus your attention on your heart; imagine your breath entering and leaving your heart as you breathe deeply and slowly; call to mind some beautiful place or something for which you are grateful and hold that feeling for a moment in your heart as you continue to breathe there. . . . Ask your heart the answers to these questions:

What is it that means the most to you?

What is it that gives life meaning for you?

What makes life worthwhile?

If you had to choose, what do you value above all else?

When do you feel most whole?

And how do you feel right now as you contemplate these things?

I’ve done this many times with diverse groups of people. It’s amazing to me still the similar values that come to the surface, the things important to all of us. We share much more than we are divided. These are the values that have the power to restore identity, courage and peace.

Perhaps this is what the prophet Jeremiah meant when he said:

The days are coming,
when I will make a new covenant. . .
I will put my law/teaching in their minds
and write it on their hearts.

Let’s recognize that we will often fall short of this ideal of an alignment among our values, beliefs and action, but that’s OK. We are human and we, at times, misperceive, misjudge, make mistakes, lose touch with the heart, forget who we are but, even in those errors, if we pay attention, we may discover something of value.

In summary:

It’s natural to be upset by troubling things. It shows we are alive and conscious, but we don’t have to stay there.

It also shows that something of our values has been violated; but that awareness of violation can motivate us to deepen our consciousness and then to advocate for what we hold dear, so that our actions and beliefs can be aligned with the truth in our hearts. That, I believe, is what will save us.

Corruption in Political Parties, the People Empowering Them, and Deconstruction of American Constitutional Government

Introduction

“Are not both major political parties corrupt?” is an important question. The easy answers are 1) they are both corrupt, or 2) one is worse than the other. It’s not that simple, I’m afraid. There are layers to this issue and, I believe, a new destructive element that’s emerged.

Part of this question’s significance was shown in the 2016 election where many people judged both parties to be corrupt and either did not vote or impotently put their vote toward third-party candidates who could not win, thus assuring that voters for one of the two “corrupt” parties would decide our next president and other officials. Some of the claims of corruption were, of course, based on propaganda machines rather than evidence and fed by manufactured outrage. Let’s look at some of the layers of nuance beginning with the insidious corruption of the population at large.

Generally-Shared Corruption

First, regardless of all the other influences on government, the fact that we live in a democratic republic means that the entire population of this country shares in the responsibility of whatever our government does to the degree we do not effectively act to oppose it.

We have also allowed ourselves to become numb to morally outrageous actions not only in our national history, but by being distracted by a relentless barrage of reprehensible behaviors that have to some degree normalized the unacceptable, and bought into the authoritarian tactic of accepting abusive, immoral, unethical and illegal behavior in the name of “national security.”

We all also bear responsibility in benefiting from a system that has relied first on slavery and then on a race-based economic system that is a new form of slavery fed by a discriminatory, class- and race-based justice system.

The press (speaking generally) has its share of responsibility as well but, again, it’s important to discern outlets that are purposely misleading and lying to their readers from those who are succumbing to the distracting antics of the president’s shell game, leaving us in the dark about what’s happening legislatively in the Republican-controlled house and senate.

So, we must first recognize the people empowering the parties – and that includes us.

Shared Corruption of Parties – a faulty system going to the highest bidder

First, let’s recognize that wherever public or private power exists, we are likely to find some degree of corruption. Fallible human beings will use that power to advance their own status, personal agenda or colleagues – or to simply hold on to that power. From this standpoint, indeed, both parties can be judged corrupt – as can some of the third-party leaders as well.

We can then question the degree to which that use of power is in service to the common good or to special interests (thus, disenfranchising the rest of the citizenry). This is where the parties begin to show differences, especially in such issues as civil rights, separation of church and state, funding of education, recognition of scientific realities, censorship of press and government science employees, protection of the environment as a public resource, prevention of toxic pollution, protection of vulnerable populations, voter facilitation, marriage equality, wealth inequality, and which segments of the population tax policies favor. Even a cursory consideration of these issues shows a striking difference, suggesting that one party tends to serve a wider and more inclusive slice of the population than the other.

There was probably a time when a rough equivalence of corruption could be claimed for both parties, but that time has long-since passed. We saw evidence of that coming up the 2016 election. To claim equivalence at this point seems rather naïve: the usual parameters of corruption with shame as a response to its discovery have given way to boasting about violating women, morals, contracts, previous promises and criminal behavior. Until now, neither party has threatened the structure and viability of the government and our society of free, equal and educated citizens.

Differences in Values and Constituencies

Of course, the parties have differing values and orientation. The Republican party has been more regimented, authoritarian, centralized and cultish, with a more unified message carefully crafted toward emotional triggers and the mobilization of anger and fear which they then direct disingenuously toward their enemies. Their propaganda machine has created an alternative false reality that serves their needs, regardless of the deleterious outcomes on people and the environment. Democrats have been more amorphous, diverse and inclusive with the result of a blunting of clarity and focus. They may have lost ground in trying to have too-large an umbrella and thereby lost the heart of progressive, humanistic ideals – and a willingness to let things slide and avoid overt social struggle.

The Democratic party has been complacent and passive in the face of militant extremist factions of the radical right. It has also prejudged candidates, deciding who might be most likely to win, rather than represent Democratic ideals. It has failed the propaganda war, neglecting to educate the electorate on the issues – how social security is funded and works, what immigrants pay into vs. what they receive from the economy, the value of separation of church and state and various constitutional assertions, and the costs of a society with second-class populations, for example.

In terms of constituencies, the Republican Party has come to represent a faction of the population for whom information is irrelevant to their cult-like devotion to a strong, authoritarian leader. On the other hand, it appears at times that Democratic “human rights” principles have been more strategic than genuine.

It’s tempting, and falsely comforting, to think that it’s just the man at the top who is out of the pale, but the Republican establishment is fully supportive of this malignant narcissist because he serves other purposes for them.

Corruption and Deconstruction of the Government Itself

Having looked at equivalent and general corruption of power, some of the differences of values of the two parties, and whom each party tends to serve, I’d like to address the emergence of a new element to which citizens and system do not yet know how to respond – a betrayal of rule of law, citizens’ rights and adherence to reality and truth.

We now see a level and quality of corruption that are destructively corrosive, allowing foreign interference in our elections, hell-bent on destroying the alliances that have given us stability among nations and, instead, allying with and doing the bidding of brutal dictators, and implementing economic policies likely to destroy the social fabric of the county. We have a president and his party who are shamelessly violating standards of law and ethics for self-aggrandizement and wealth-building. Worse, they are relentlessly attempting to discredit the other branches of government whose responsibilities include serving as a check on executive power. They have also attempted to destroy the independent press, which is our only chance to know what is going on beyond the propaganda machines. Still worse, this president has appointed people into positions with the admitted intention that they destroy the effectiveness of those agencies for the benefit of a wealthy few.

It is also clear that the separation of powers – intended to keep corruption at a minimum – has been eroded under this regime with unfounded attacks on anyone who is critical of or in opposition to the regime’s corruption. Overt attempts are being made at disrupting investigations and discrediting the investigators, rather than letting them run their course, clearly suggesting there is something to be hidden.

As a result of all this, the current Republican Party has been judged by some to be a greater threat to American democracy than overt attacks from other countries, for the fruits of its actions are centralizing power in the executive branch, despoiling the environment, undercutting faith in our institutions and electional process, privatizing everything possible (reducing accountability to the public), protecting the aristocracy of the wealthy few – all on the backs of middle and poor America who are being distracted by the relentless lies and demands of a con man.

Thus, this level of corruption goes beyond the individuals in either party or the parties themselves; and is a bare-faced attempt at corrupting and deconstructing the constitutional government designed to prevent (or at least reduce) such things.

Summary

To summarize, while both can be said to be corrupt, only one has been willing to deconstruct the government, suppress voting, punish dissent, reduce accountability, redistribute wealth and power into the hands of an oligarchy, put us all at the mercy of climate change, and allow obvious foreign influence on US elections – in addition to threats to humanity itself by departures from the realities of science in favor of ideological fantasies.

Child Abuse as Government Policy and Adverse Outcomes of Moral Failures – Is this a war crime?

The purposeful separation of children from their families is child abuse, and it violates international norms, universal morality and law. There are eight things I think should be considered here. (I should note that this is not intended as some partisan political rant but, first of all an articulation of moral outrage shared by an increasingly bi-partisan coalition, second, as a professional psychologist who has seen the long-term effects of childhood traumatization and, third, as a father.)

First is the shear heartless cruelty of purposely traumatizing vulnerable children in the name of “national security,” economics, legality or any other attempt at justification. Justifying it does not change its nature as criminal child abuse.

Second is the bizarre use of Biblical passages to not only support antisocial behavior, but also to claim that governments are established by their god and, therefore, we should be obedient. We do not live in a theocracy but a constitutional democratic republic. This scriptural claim is an affront not only to the scriptures, but also to the constitution, rule of law, due process and the dignity of individual sovereignty to judge whether the government is behaving poorly or not. Furthermore, I’m left wondering if these people actually ever read the Bible with its admonitions “Whatsoever you do unto the least of these, my brethren, you have done it unto me,” or “do no harm to your neighbor,” or “do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” or “by your love for one another, others will know you are my disciples,” or “love is the fulfillment of the law,” as well as those calling for care of the exiles and immigrants, etc. In short, I’m appalled that these Republicans (or any one else) would use scriptures to justify sociopathic, immoral and unlawful actions. They (and their followers) have lost all moral credibility and should be removed from whatever civil positions they might hold.

Third, as the world gains perspective, I wonder if this manner of separation of children from their parents and the destruction of families might come to be considered a war crime. Just think what the reaction would be if this were done by an Islamic country. They are using (and willfully harming) children to serve their ends – as tools to manipulate foreign and domestic populations.

Fourth, let me return to America’s loss of moral credibility and magnanimity. We have suddenly become small, dark, defensive, paranoid, and cruel. In our name, under our watch, our government has turned from a country hospitable to human dignity and aspiration to one willing to sacrifice the well-being of children and other vulnerable populations for political purposes.

Fifth, I must ask the question, who is profiting from this? Who have been willing to give up any sense of conscience, moral responsibility or religious authenticity to earn money by supplying cages, fencing, foods, clothes, militarized support, personnel to run the camps, rent, etc.?

Sixth, let’s look at the impact on the children and their families. Although the president’s supporters try to portray the administration – and even themselves – as victims of a tide of immigrants, they are the people in power. It is the families and their children who are being victimized – not the powerful.

Purposefully traumatizing children through child abuse and destruction of families will certainly have adverse consequences not only in the development of these children, but also in terms of what we are setting up for the future. People who were coming to this country (I speak here of the sincere asylum seekers) inspired by America’s ideals are being turned to enemies; and their children into people who will grow up soured by a system that has not only abused them but also blames them for that abuse. We do have a choice here. We could be fostering productive citizens who will contribute to our country by honestly using the system already in place to sort out the true asylum seekers from the opportunists, and then helping them integrate. When any of those damaged children – their development disrupted by adverse experience – act as angry criminals, it will be we, the American people and our administration, who have shaped them. There is no way to avoid this responsibility. (We can only hope at this point that others will be resilient enough to move through this, but that doesn’t alleviate us of responsibility for willfully imposing the trauma.)

Seventh, we must remember that this is facilitated by a president who readily admits to being uninvolved in the rearing of his own children. What does this tell us about his psychology, sense of responsibility and ability to grasp the importance of parental bonding with children? Deeper analysis of the president’s psychological conditions is left to books already published, the www.adutytowarn.org website, and more writings planned by mental health professionals who see the obvious pathology in his behavior.

Finally, there are those who support this sociopathic narcissist and his policies no matter what he does because he has touched on (and facilitated) long-buried fears and has given them permission to act out their disorders rather than resolving them. They are being played for the benefit of profiteers. Furthermore, these are people who do not share our common human values about the sanctity and/or value of family and family bonds, about the preciousness of children. Nor do they show usual moral imperatives to protect children from abuse. Even if one supports a strong border policy, one could still object to this particular means of attempting to deter and punish those seeking to partake of a “great” country.

The Coming Storm

At this point, the rest of the world and most Americans are turning against the regime’s policy of breaking up families and traumatizing children (ironically supported by the party of “family values”). This cruel and abusive faction of our government will not give up without a fight. These are not people who share our values of respect, due process and human dignity.

A still worse storm may be coming as thousands of children will have experienced their victimization as public policy and will have little investment in “the American way.” Such is the natural consequence, but those in power will do anything possible to avoid looking into the eye of the children they abused or to recognize their part in the adverse behaviors that may come from adverse experiences.

I would again call attention to the absurdity of blaming asylum seekers for the behavior of the powerful. This is the “you made me hurt you” rationale we hear from nearly all abusers in dysfunctional relationships. And there are the bizarre arguments over semantics such as whether the children are confined in cells, cages, pens, fences or warehouses: they are still confined, broken from families and traumatized.

Religious organizations, normally highly reactive to any threat to their vision of family bonds, have been strangely slow to stand up to abusive behaviors because of having invested themselves in political factions rather than their own morality. This deal, it turns out, was with the Devil.

We also see the hardening of the obedient followers of the “cult 45,” as their hatred, fear and anger are turned away from the real threat to our civility and directed onto the most vulnerable of peoples. This hardly a testament to their bravery or patriotism.

America’s conceit of Judeo-Christian tradition has obviously been a thin veneer hiding a festering hatred. It has miserably failed us. Perhaps I should say we have failed the ideals of this tradition, but the result is the same. In the end, we have failed not only ourselves, and our traditions, but our children, our neighbors’ children, the poor, the vulnerable, the suffering and all those who have looked to us for guidance and support as an example of a better life for families and children.

Mother’s Day, Mothering and Lost Goddesses

It has often been the custom at Unity North Spiritual Center that men lead Sunday services on Mother’s Day. This year, I was asked to deliver the lesson, and what follows is the written adaptation of that talk.

Good morning, and Happy Mother’s Day to all.

Some of us are biological mothers, some of us have mothered other things – projects, ideas, children, other people’s children, puppies. All of us come from mothers, so all of us have a stake in this celebration of mothering.

At this time, it seems to be the thing (according to Hallmark) to extol our mothers’ virtues – and we should – but there seems to be pressure to make them something more than human. This is one of the questions I’ll explore here. But first, some revelations – not the book that Carol and Rhonda might talk about, but three times that life revealed something to me. The first one was about hair.

Revelation 1: Hair

When I went away to college, I came back with a goatee and hair not much longer than it is now. This was the 1960s, and I found that some people were appalled at my beard and hair – despite the appearance of the unruly-looking, long-haired, bearded man whose picture was at front of church. This revealed a disconnect to me between what some people seemed to worship but would reject anything similar in the real world.

Revelation 2: Hair again

Through the 1960s and 1970s we often heard preachers bemoaning the long hair of the hippies (if you are old enough to remember that). They quoted the Bible, saying that long hair was a woman’s crowning glory, and not so good on men. Now, it happened that I came across a copy of the New Testament in direct translation from the Greek, and thought I’d read it on general principles. Among my surprises was that the preachers were only using half of the Biblical passage. In I Corinthians (11:14-16), amongst admonitions that a man is the head of a woman and whether one’s head should be covered or bare, I found this passage:

Does not Nature herself teach you that while flowing locks disgrace a man, they are a woman’s glory? For her locks were given for covering.

And that’s what we heard from the preachers. But then I read the next verse that says:

However, if you insist on arguing, let me tell you there is no such custom among us, or in any of the congregations of God’s people.

I had to wonder then, what else isn’t true that we’ve been told by word of mouth? And it became evident we had three layers of Biblical messages: the scriptures as written, whatever they originally meant at that time in that culture, and the verbal tradition. So, the Bible was being used to promote a cultural value that the biblical writer had repudiated, a repudiation of an idea that was still being used into the 20th century to vilify a group of people and tell all how their hair should be. So, I set about to read the Bible cover to cover and found my third revelation.

Revelation 3: The Bible(s)

In addition to the issues of various translations, I felt like I not only faced Old and New Testaments, but a hodge-podge of writings falling into at least four very different books. First were mythological teaching stories (that many have mistakenly taken literally). Next was attempts at history that seemed to mostly justify the Hebrews’ specialness and conquest and slaughter of indigenous peoples. Then came the Gospels – a shining jewel of beauty and wisdom. This was followed by administrative details and the vagaries of building a socio-political establishment taken over by Paul – which includes how our hair is to be done, misogynist passages, and how women are supposed to serve men – many of them complications when ideals get mixed up with customs, organizations and conceits of authority.

I also found through research that some of the Bible was copied directly from Egyptian texts, but that’s another story.

Questions

These revelations left me with two big questions (from which a lot of other questions came):

Who were the “other people” on Earth when this god created Adam and Eve and where did the sons of Adam and Eve find their wives? (I suspect some of us are descended from those “other people”). These were the people against which early Hebrews and Christians had to vehemently defend themselves with purity rules and with swords. Who were they really? I mean, Christianity did not arrive fully formed and unrelated to the cultures around it.

The other question is this: how did the beauty and wisdom of the Gospels end up with a church history of war, misogyny, inquisition, genocide and book burning?

About 40 years or so ago, I began to dig into these questions, wrote what I found and ended up with a manuscript of over 300 pages and 700 footnotes.

So, let’s look at my two big questions.

Question 1: How did the beauty and wisdom I found in Gospels turn into a Church history of war, misogyny, genocide, torture, book-burning and inquisition?

We’ve all heard the history of the Roman church – taking over lands, suppressing heresies and heretics, promoting the idea that women should be submissive to their husbands, that women brought sin into the world (thank you), that birth was meant to be a painful labor and, therefore, midwives and herbalists who sought to provide comfort and healthcare to women were to be shunned, if not burned. Many were executed as witches.

Women were not left with many options. Respectable women could be a mother, a dutiful wife or a nun.

And how is it that women are still fighting for respect, authority, value and their sovereignty in this century? The answer, I found, was in the cultures from which came our dominant forms of Christianity – cultures in which women were second class, if they could even be considered citizens or having souls.
Women were not valued in these traditions, and they were kept inferior and subservient. Nevertheless, the feminine still embodied an awesome power, and rules were made to keep women in “their place” and safely contained. Men were afraid of that power – and we still see that fear today in various religions and political movements. (After all, we couldn’t have men coming under their spell, could we?)

As empires grew, they found advantages in centralized government and a centralized religion centered on one god. Thus, monotheism became a political tool, along with some of the “Christian” doctrines we see in churches today. The emperor Constantine did not want another messiah appearing, so his henchmen made sure that Jesus would be the only Son of God.

So, we see history and political needs impose themselves on the beauty and wisdom of the Gospels.

Genuine Christianity – the movement begun by Jesus – hardly had a chance as it was taken over by the state.

And then comes that other question – who were those “other people”, the ones about whom our preachers declined to speak sympathetically, against whom the Hebrews and Christians struggled, those who were invaded and killed? And what was before Genesis?

Question 2: Who were those people around the early Israelites?

There were people already on earth when the stories tell us Adam and Eve were created.

People of earlier times had gods, goddesses and the Great Mother. Mothers were celebrated as the source of life and women were the face of the Divine (as were men).

We saw gender in many things: sun, moon, earth, mountains, caves, trees, rivers and seeds.

(These were not universal gender assignments, I should add, because there could be a moon god or moon goddess, depending on the culture; the sun could be a goddess for the Celts and a god for others. Egyptians had an Earth god named Geb, and a goddess of the sky over him named Nut.)

What’s important here is that both masculine and feminine were divine. Both feminine and masculine had natural representations of their divinity. (I would note that Crete seemed to have the closest thing to a culture of equality.) What’s more, there was divinity in everything.

Conclusions

Where does this leave us – on this Mother’s Day? For one thing, having lost our goddesses, we look to our earthly mothers to be divine and perfect, for we still yearn for the Great Mother Goddess. But the loss of those goddess models lets us forget that every woman (and every man) is of the Divine.

Indeed, behind every person’s face is the story of the universal divine taking unique shape in that one individual; and when we look into the eyes of that one person – male or female – if we pay attention, we might just see the light of the Divine shining through their eyes. (It’s no wonder we can’t gaze into each other’s eyes for very long without something emotional happening.)

This may also mean that when we look to our parents to be better than they’ve been – even if we have legitimate grievances – we should remember they are just human beings with their own struggles and with no more of a clue of what’s going on than the rest of us. They themselves did not have ideal models of parenthood or personhood – and not a goddess in sight. We really need to separate out our childlike need for an ideal Mother Goddess from the real and human flesh-and-blood woman who gave birth to us, as well as those who cared for us. If you are looking to a parent to be a god or goddess, you’d better look elsewhere.

For another thing, I would assert that we live in perpetual relationship with our divine parent that expects us to grow into divine adults in a world where every woman or man might be supported in the realization of her or his divine presence, whether as parent, partner, sibling, lover, child, adversary or friend.

Finally, these religious and spiritual traditions that we’ve inherited may not be perfect, just like our parents, but that in no way absolves us from seeking the Divine in them, where we can find it. We would do well to look beyond the faulty cultural shapes imposed on the essence of the Divine Presence. It’s up to us to follow the trail the Divine Presence leaves for us – a trail that often places us on an individual path; and we must make our own way, sometimes creating the path by living it.

Indeed, we are constantly birthing our own destiny and fate, but we do not do that alone. Many people have nurtured us down through the ages and among the years of our lives. These are all mothers of some part of ourselves.

In closing, I’d like first to offer a quote that I believe comes out of Irish tradition and that is:

The heart of God is a mother’s heart.

And I’d like to offer my gratitude to my own earthly mother, to her mother and foremothers before them, back to the first Mother and the Great Mother, for that is my lineage, and yours as well. And thanks to all of you who have nurtured something in me. You have mothered me and helped to make me who I am. Part of what I am is a function of your mothering and, for that, I thank you.