tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40580416868203276922024-03-05T10:28:16.523-06:00To Be DeterminedRich Seeleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16122412165793881161noreply@blogger.comBlogger26125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058041686820327692.post-2675626717749451142013-01-13T10:36:00.001-06:002013-01-14T07:39:35.460-06:00My resignation<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">... the war was always there, but we did
not go to it any more. - Ernest Hemingway, In Another Country, The Short
Stories of Ernest Hemingway (Scribner Classics) (Kindle Location 4604). Simon
& Schuster, Inc.. Kindle Edition.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I
don’t remember many of the lectures from college but I recall a rather stuffy
English professor, who I did not like very much, saying that Ernest Hemingway resigned from politics the way Frederic Henry resigned from the war
(World War I) in <em>A Farewell to Arms</em>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Today,
I feel like resigning from all organized and socially accepted forms of human endeavor
– wars, which are always about money; corporations, which institutionalize
greed and aggression; politics, which promotes illusory solutions to unsolvable
human problems; sports, which are marketed to sell beer and automobiles;
churches, which are more important than religion. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">And
here from John D. MacDonald is a list of “dislikes” that since Peggy and I read
this back in the mid-1970s probably did as much as anything else to build what
I might laughingly call my philosophy of life: “... plastic credit cards, payroll deductions,
insurance programs, retirement benefits, savings accounts, Green Stamps, time
clocks, newspapers, mortgages, sermons, miracle fabrics, deodorants, check
lists, time payments, political parties, lending libraries, television,
actresses, junior chambers of commerce, pageants, progress, and manifest
destiny.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<o:p></o:p></span><br /></div>
Rich Seeleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16122412165793881161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058041686820327692.post-91099274227880392932012-12-12T14:09:00.000-06:002012-12-12T16:07:48.677-06:00Why I Don't Celebrate Christmas<em>"Christmas" is not the December shopping season in advance of Christmas Day ... During most of December, Christians observe Advent, a four-week season of reflection, preparation and waiting that precedes the yearly celebration of Jesus' birth ... If you wander into a local Lutheran, Episcopal or Roman Catholic parish ... There are no poinsettias, no Christmas pageants, no trees or holly, and no red and green altar linens ... There are no twinkling lights or over-the-top Christmas displays. Just four candles in a simple wreath, two partially burned, two yet to be lit. The mood is somber ... It is Advent. During these weeks, churches are not merry ... The ministers preach from stark biblical texts about the poor and oppressed being lifted up while the rich and powerful are cast down, about society being leveled and oppression ceasing ... -- from </em><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/diana-butler-bass/fox-news-war-on-advent_b_2279277.html"><em>Fox News' War on Advent </em></a><em>by Diana Butler Bass. Author, "Christianity After Religion: The End of Church and the Birth of a New Spiritual Awakening"</em> <br />
<br />
Reading this article about Advent, I realize how my Vedanta, Lutheran and Quaker religious education leaves me appalled at the way the 2012 edition of “Christmas” is being celebrated as basically a product marketing holiday. <br />
<br />
The conspicuous consumption starts on the oddly named Black Friday, one day after the American Bacchanalia euphemistically known as Thanksgiving. Rampant consumerism continues through Dec. 24 with people frantically buying everything from Mortal Combat video games to Mercedes Benz motor cars as “Christmas gifts” to celebrate the birth of "The Prince of Peace." <br />
<br />
So I think from now on instead of saying I’m being a Scrooge or Grinch about Christmas, I’ll just say I’m making a conscious choice not to participate in the December marketing holiday and I don’t care if they call it Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays or Saturnalia. Rich Seeleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16122412165793881161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058041686820327692.post-23628896833447869492012-11-28T11:43:00.002-06:002012-11-28T11:43:48.792-06:00My 100% Score on Pew Religious Knowledge Survey<h1>
You answered <strong> 15 </strong> out of 15 questions correctly<br /> for a score of <strong>100%</strong>.</h1>
<div class="hide" id="answers">
<table><thead>
<tr><th class="question">Question</th><th class="response">Your Response</th><th class="answer">Correct Answer</th><th class="percent-correct">% of survey respondents answering correctly</th></tr>
</thead><tbody>
<tr><td class="question"><strong>1.</strong> Which Bible figure is most closely associated with leading the exodus from Egypt?</td><td class="response correct"><img alt="correct Answer" src="http://features.pewforum.org/quiz/us-religious-knowledge/img/correct.gif" /> Moses</td><td class="answer"> Moses</td><td class="percent-correct">72%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="question"><strong>2.</strong> What was Mother Teresa's religion?</td><td class="response correct"><img alt="correct Answer" src="http://features.pewforum.org/quiz/us-religious-knowledge/img/correct.gif" /> Catholic</td><td class="answer">Catholic</td><td class="percent-correct">82</td></tr>
<tr><td class="question"><strong>3.</strong> Which of the following is NOT one of the Ten Commandments?</td><td class="response correct"><img alt="correct Answer" src="http://features.pewforum.org/quiz/us-religious-knowledge/img/correct.gif" /> Do unto others as you would have them do unto you</td><td class="answer"> Do unto others as you would have them do unto you</td><td class="percent-correct">55</td></tr>
<tr><td class="question"><strong>4.</strong> When does the Jewish Sabbath begin?</td><td class="response correct"><img alt="correct Answer" src="http://features.pewforum.org/quiz/us-religious-knowledge/img/correct.gif" /> Friday</td><td class="answer">Friday</td><td class="percent-correct">45</td></tr>
<tr><td class="question"><strong>5.</strong> Is Ramadan…?</td><td class="response correct"><img alt="correct Answer" src="http://features.pewforum.org/quiz/us-religious-knowledge/img/correct.gif" />The Islamic holy month</td><td class="answer"> The Islamic holy month</td><td class="percent-correct">52</td></tr>
<tr><td class="question"><strong>6.</strong> Which of the following best describes the Catholic teaching about the bread and wine used for Communion?</td><td class="response correct"><img alt="correct Answer" src="http://features.pewforum.org/quiz/us-religious-knowledge/img/correct.gif" /> The bread and wine actually <em>become</em> the body and blood of Jesus Christ.</td><td class="answer">The bread and wine actually <em>become</em> the body and blood of Jesus Christ.</td><td class="percent-correct">40</td></tr>
<tr><td class="question"><strong>7.</strong> In which religion are Vishnu and Shiva central figures?</td><td class="response correct"><img alt="correct Answer" src="http://features.pewforum.org/quiz/us-religious-knowledge/img/correct.gif" /> Hinduism</td><td class="answer"> Hinduism</td><td class="percent-correct">38</td></tr>
<tr><td class="question"><strong>8.</strong> Which Bible figure is most closely associated with remaining obedient to God despite suffering?</td><td class="response correct"><img alt="correct Answer" src="http://features.pewforum.org/quiz/us-religious-knowledge/img/correct.gif" /> Job</td><td class="answer">Job</td><td class="percent-correct">39</td></tr>
<tr><td class="question"><strong>9.</strong> What was Joseph Smith's religion?</td><td class="response correct"><img alt="correct Answer" src="http://features.pewforum.org/quiz/us-religious-knowledge/img/correct.gif" /> Mormon</td><td class="answer"> Mormon</td><td class="percent-correct">51</td></tr>
<tr><td class="question"><strong>10.</strong> According to rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court, is a public school teacher permitted to lead a class in prayer, or not? </td><td class="response correct"><img alt="correct Answer" src="http://features.pewforum.org/quiz/us-religious-knowledge/img/correct.gif" /> No, not permitted</td><td class="answer"> No, not permitted</td><td class="percent-correct">89</td></tr>
<tr><td class="question"><strong>11.</strong> According to rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court, is a public school teacher permitted to read from the Bible as an example of literature, or not?</td><td class="response correct"><img alt="correct Answer" src="http://features.pewforum.org/quiz/us-religious-knowledge/img/correct.gif" /> Yes, permitted</td><td class="answer">Yes, permitted</td><td class="percent-correct">23</td></tr>
<tr><td class="question"><strong>12.</strong> What religion do most people in Pakistan consider themselves?</td><td class="response correct"><img alt="correct Answer" src="http://features.pewforum.org/quiz/us-religious-knowledge/img/correct.gif" /> Muslim</td><td class="answer"> Muslim</td><td class="percent-correct">68</td></tr>
<tr><td class="question"><strong>13.</strong> What was the name of the person whose writings and actions inspired the Protestant Reformation?</td><td class="response correct"><img alt="correct Answer" src="http://features.pewforum.org/quiz/us-religious-knowledge/img/correct.gif" /> Martin Luther</td><td class="answer">Martin Luther</td><td class="percent-correct">46</td></tr>
<tr><td class="question"><strong>14.</strong> Which of these religions aims at nirvana, the state of being free from suffering?</td><td class="response correct"><img alt="correct Answer" src="http://features.pewforum.org/quiz/us-religious-knowledge/img/correct.gif" /> Buddhism</td><td class="answer"> Buddhism</td><td class="percent-correct">36</td></tr>
<tr><td class="question"><strong>15.</strong> Which one of these preachers participated in the period of religious activity known as the First Great Awakening?</td><td class="response correct"><img alt="correct Answer" src="http://features.pewforum.org/quiz/us-religious-knowledge/img/correct.gif" /> Jonathan Edwards</td><td class="answer">Jonathan Edwards</td><td class="percent-correct">11</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="footnote">
This online quiz includes 15 of the 32 religious knowledge questions that made up the telephone survey. The order and context of the questions are not exactly the same in the online quiz and telephone survey. To ease the administration of the online quiz, the wording of some questions is slightly different from the wording used in the telephone survey. For the questions used in the telephone survey, see the <a href="http://pewforum.org/uploadedFiles/Topics/Belief_and_Practices/religious-knowledge-questionnaire.pdf">survey questionnaire</a>.</div>
<div class="footnote">
Your responses on the quiz do NOT affect the U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey's results.</div>
<div class="next-graf">
<a class="next active" href="http://features.pewforum.org/quiz/us-religious-knowledge/index.php?q=16#general-public" style="border-top-color: currentColor; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 0px;">Compare your score: Overall Population </a></div>
<!--<a href="#general-public" class="next"><img src="img/next_promptline.gif"></a>--></div>
<div class="hide" id="general-public">
Here's how you did on these 15 questions (excerpted from the larger U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey) compared with a nationally representative sample of 3,412 adults. <a href="http://pewforum.org/U-S-Religious-Knowledge-Survey.aspx?src=rkq-top-a">Read the Full Report</a><br />
Your responses on the quiz do NOT affect the U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey's results.<br />
<img src="http://features.pewforum.org/quiz/us-religious-knowledge/img/histogram-15.gif" /><a class="next active" href="http://features.pewforum.org/quiz/us-religious-knowledge/index.php?q=16#religous-groups">Compare your score: Religious Affiliation </a><br />
<!--<a href="#religous-groups" class="next"><img src="img/next_promptline.gif"></a>--></div>
<div id="religous-groups">
<img class="yourscore" src="http://features.pewforum.org/quiz/us-religious-knowledge/img/yourscore-15.gif" /> <img alt="Religious groups" src="http://features.pewforum.org/quiz/us-religious-knowledge/img/quizchart-affiliation.gif" /><div class="aside">
For an analysis of the link between religious affiliation and religious knowledge, see the <a href="http://pewforum.org/U-S-Religious-Knowledge-Survey.aspx?src=rkq-religous-groups-a">full report</a>.</div>
<div class="footnote">
The graph above shows how you did on these 15 questions (excerpted from the larger U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey) compared with a nationally representative sample of 3,412 adults.</div>
<div class="footnote">
Your responses on the quiz do NOT affect the U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey's results.</div>
</div>
Rich Seeleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16122412165793881161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058041686820327692.post-70870489191309204462012-11-19T09:01:00.001-06:002012-11-19T10:16:36.481-06:00Trample Thy Neighbor<em><span style="font-size: x-small;">This is a Black Friday Sale not to be missed! -- ad on Twitter</span></em><br />
<br />
Yes, pilgrims, it's time to line up outside your favorite Big Box store while still burping your Thanksgiving turkey.<br />
<br />
When the doors open, stampede over your co-religionists. If a few of thy neighbors get crushed to death so what? <br />
<br />
Trample on!<br />
<br />
No one gets in your way as you madly rush into your own Happy Holidays.<br />
<br />
The important thing is to get a sale price for that special person in your life, so they can play a video game featuring mass murder as they celebrate the birth of The Prince of Peace.<br />
<br />Rich Seeleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16122412165793881161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058041686820327692.post-41925116577867517202012-11-19T03:00:00.000-06:002012-11-19T03:00:09.196-06:00Missing TexasA few years ago, while conducting research for a novel I was writing about Lone Star politics, I discovered a short clause in the state's 1845 annexation agreement that's well known to any serious state historian, though far less well known to the average Texan. Buried beneath some highly boring details about how the republic's resources were to be transferred to the federal government in Washington is language stipulating that "[n]ew States, of convenient size, not exceeding four in number, in addition to said State of Texas, and having sufficient population, may hereafter, by the consent of said State, be formed out of the territory thereof, which shall be entitled to admission under the provisions of the federal constitution."<br />
<br />
<br />
Put plainly, Texas agreed to join the union in 1845 on the condition that it be allowed to split itself into as many as five separate states whenever it wanted to, and contingent only on the approval of its own state legislature. For more than 150 years, this right to divide—unilaterally, which is to say without the approval of the U.S. Congress—has been packed away in the state's legislative attic, like a forgotten family heirloom that only gets dusted off every now and then by some politician who has mistaken it for a beautiful beacon of hope.<br />
<br />
Naturally, it took the Machiavellian political mind of Texan Tom DeLay—the former House majority leader, currently out on bail while appealing a 2011 money-laundering conviction—to put the pieces of a tenable scheme together ... DeLay intimated that the threat of sending eight newly minted, and almost certainly Republican, senators to Washington might be the key to getting this whole secession ball rolling. Referring directly to the language of the joint resolution, he said, "If we invoke it, the United States Senate would kick us out ... because they're not going to allow 10 (sic) new Texas senators into the Senate. That's how you secede."<br />
<br />
-- from -- <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/history/2012/11/texas_secession_how_the_lone_star_state_could_mess_with_the_rest_of_us.2.html" target="_blank">How Texas Could Mess With Us</a>: Lone Star secessionists could (theoretically) get their wish.<br />
By Jeff Turrentine<br />
<br />
<br /><br />
Rich Seeleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16122412165793881161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058041686820327692.post-6433869476399775222012-11-12T03:00:00.000-06:002012-11-12T06:46:03.344-06:00Rain Coming in the Life of MuldoonRain coming and going. Hours and seconds passing. Sun rising and setting. Muldoon sees all these things and records them meticulously using his computational machine. But the gadget relies on electricity, so when current fails thus goes Muldoon's avocation. His acolytes, if acolytes there be, miss out on one opus after another. Never will they know of Muldoon's epics: <em>My Incomplete Haircut</em>, <em>Memorializing My Middle School Experience, Names of People I No Longer Remember, How I Lost My Parents at Disneyland and Why I Never Went Back to Look for Them, Is This the Best I Can Do with Cleaning Products?</em> Bereft of computation, Muldoon scrawls these titles in pink chalk on the sidewalk in front of the orphanage where his original parents left the one-month old in a cardboard liquor box lined with shredded copies of <em>The National Review</em>. Affixed to the stolen Holiday Inn towel, in which the baby boy was wrapped, was a handwritten note: "Muldoon must now fend for himself." And so he does.Rich Seeleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16122412165793881161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058041686820327692.post-22420012350816877942012-11-07T17:11:00.000-06:002012-11-10T08:47:10.416-06:00The Great White Hope Goes Down<em><span style="font-size: x-small;">"There's nothing worse than when you think you're going to win, and you don't," said another adviser. "It was like a sucker punch." quote in CBS news item</span></em><br />
<br />
<br />
The Black Professor beat up the White Bishop in last night's club fight. <br />
<br />
The Bishop represented the patrons who yearn to decriminalize rape, which parishioners celebrate as a deus ex machina for procreation. <br />
<br />
This is a popular concept among the true believers who populate the King James Version of the late Confederate States of America. <br />
<br />
Unfortunately for the Bishop, the club fight was held in the current United States of America where the godless socialists reside. Taking a break from smoking dope and engaging in unauthorized sex, the unwashed masses cheered on the permissive Black Professor. <br />
<br />
The Great White Hope, as the Bishop was unofficially known, wore his trademark pressed white trunks.<br />
<br />
He won an early round on points.<br />
<br />
In the later rounds, however, the Bishop suffered a series of body blows as the Black Professor, a middle weight in blue trunks, landed devastating left hooks. <br />
<br />
As the fight wore on, the Bishop kept his chin up, making a tempting target of his glass jaw. <br />
<br />
When the Professor smashed it, the moral uplifter went down for the count.<br />
<br />
The aged referee, his white shirt flecked with the Bishop's blood, finished counting.<br />
<br />
Straightening his black bow tie, the ref walked over to the Professor's corner. <br />
<br />
"I hate these Great White Hope pugs," the referee told the Professor's manager. "Their people always over match them."<br />
<br />
"He wasn't much of a fighter," the manager replied. "He was fighting out of his weight class."<br />
<br />
The referee considered this for a moment. "These Great White Hopes," he finally said, "They never got no class."<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Rich Seeleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16122412165793881161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058041686820327692.post-21424882232145136972012-11-05T06:00:00.000-06:002012-11-05T08:38:21.489-06:00Mencken on elections<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Politics,
under a democracy, reduces itself to a mere struggle for office by flatterers
of the proletariat; even when a superior man prevails at that disgusting game
he must prevail at the cost of his self-respect. -- H.L. Mencken</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
Rich Seeleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16122412165793881161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058041686820327692.post-46327951532458425742012-10-29T06:00:00.000-05:002012-10-29T08:59:43.157-05:00blood on the napkins<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4tgJYjVz_GT3lvHo5SkKlZoaa3Bmwek19NAmSYFJA-e6aGMN380Vwz3RGZQJscoRECpecSjcUkqsojrsgIhAVDiWuqCZrkOvVm8x0bj-PaHwgm4NC19GNujvehYYrxvq9NGv8oXuYSa0N/s1600/rockwell_shattered_rect-460x307.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4tgJYjVz_GT3lvHo5SkKlZoaa3Bmwek19NAmSYFJA-e6aGMN380Vwz3RGZQJscoRECpecSjcUkqsojrsgIhAVDiWuqCZrkOvVm8x0bj-PaHwgm4NC19GNujvehYYrxvq9NGv8oXuYSa0N/s320/rockwell_shattered_rect-460x307.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="photoCredit"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">(Credit: Shutterstock/Salon)</span></span></div>
<br />
<em>see So Much For Family Values at</em><br />
<a href="http://www.salon.com/2012/10/28/so_much_for_family_values/" target="_blank">http://www.salon.com/2012/10/28/so_much_for_family_values/</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<strong><span style="font-size: large;">blood on the napkins</span></strong><br />
<br />
family sittin' down to dinner<br />
time's come to pick a winner<br />
there'll be blood on the napkins tonight<br />
<br />
papa loves an obvious sinner<br />
mama says he's just a spinner<br />
now they circle for their fight<br />
<br />
family prospects lookin' dimer<br />
water overcomes a swimmer<br />
nothin's goin' right<br />
<br />
now the gold starts to shimmer<br />
in the blade you see a glimmer<br />
there'll be blood on the napkins tonight<br />
<br />Rich Seeleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16122412165793881161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058041686820327692.post-36243542590783187082012-10-22T06:00:00.000-05:002012-10-23T09:32:18.503-05:00Suicide Church<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii8JdBTnR7IAcaBgjabpOG5ky_jVeXOEq9OnRYI8XFyfjHDvkHb0gZAetkNMnryRJ2gM_YpaAWRrXy0zK8nPA9p3dRtFjkljjmWakb-ftDEe1Cr9Rm7v7CwBZd1fW5cYjMeC7loI7tZZ_0/s1600/imagesCA4BTSMQ.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii8JdBTnR7IAcaBgjabpOG5ky_jVeXOEq9OnRYI8XFyfjHDvkHb0gZAetkNMnryRJ2gM_YpaAWRrXy0zK8nPA9p3dRtFjkljjmWakb-ftDEe1Cr9Rm7v7CwBZd1fW5cYjMeC7loI7tZZ_0/s1600/imagesCA4BTSMQ.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><em>The number of Americans who do not identify with any religion continues to grow at a rapid pace according to the Pew Research Center. -- news item</em></span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<em>1</em></div>
<br />
Suicide Church<br />
people lurch<br />
mostly to the right<br />
<br />
Suicide Church<br />
worships John Birch<br />
Jesus out of sight<br />
<br />
Suicide Church<br />
does research<br />
on how to start a fight<br />
<br />
Suicide Church<br />
they gotta search<br />
funding's gettin' tight<br />
<br />
<em>2</em><br />
<br />
Who would go<br />
when they know<br />
no one can be free<br />
<br />
Put on a show<br />
ends in a row<br />
sorry sight to see<br />
<br />
They strike a blow<br />
for to and fro'<br />
folks getin' sleepy<br />
<br />
They worry so<br />
in the under-flow<br />
church runn' on emptyRich Seeleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16122412165793881161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058041686820327692.post-9560912514239012572012-10-15T02:30:00.000-05:002012-10-15T02:30:06.685-05:00Life Just Got Very Difficult for SomeoneThis just in ... Life just got very difficult for someone. But we have not been able to find out who that someone is. Nor are we able to ascertain the exact nature of the difficulty or how difficult the difficulty may be. It is entirely possible that the difficulty is horrendous. Or it might just be a note on a windshield saying: "Don't park here any more or we will put a bumper sticker on your car labelling you personally as a not nice person." This bumper sticker reads: "This driver is not a nice person. Honk if you want this driver to go to hell." That may be too many words for a bumper sticker but what it loses in readability it clearly makes up for in the general nastiness of its tone. So if no other driver can read it, so what? Do you understand how difficult it is a write a good bumper sticker? The last great bumper sticker was penned in 1961. It read: "I miss Ike. Hell, I even miss Harry." It was expressing dissatisfaction with Camelot before Camelot even got off the ground. Some people are never happy even if they have the original cast album, which is what people had in 1961. How many people saw the Broadway musical or even the movie and then counted the hairs on Lyndon Johnson's head. Not many because there is no record -- historical record not record album -- of anyone doing it. That's because it would have been difficult. You could see the Broadway show, you could easily do that. But how could you count the number of hairs on Lyndon Johnson's head? You could rip his full-color photo out of Life magazine at the public library and then try. But photo reproduction in that era was not what it is today when it is basically non-existent in terms of what you could photograph with a Speed Graphic, the camera newspaper photographers still used in 1961. The ideal way to do it would have been to find Lyndon Johnson in person sound asleep and then get real close to him and start counting. But the chances of doing that were next to zero. You'd have to be his wife or mistress to get passed the Secret Service. And how many mistresses did Lyndon Johnson have? You start with Helen Gahagan Douglas and then you count forward but it is no easy job. It is a difficulty. Perhaps the someone finding life getting very difficult is facing a similar dilemma. That would make sense as much as anything makes sense anymore. It is very difficult to make sense out of anything. That's what youth leaders are for but where have the youth leaders of tomorrow gone today? No telling until tomorrow when they start making sense. Youth leaders are not here today because they are waiting in the wings at the Youth Leaders of Tomorrow Conference and Expo in Modesto, California. Right now they are mowing lawns because there isn't a lot to do in Modesto. Go there some day and try to have a good time and you will find out just how difficult it can be once you mow a few lawns and rake up all the leaves. Then what are you going to do? Offer to clean the gutters? That is a strategy that worked in the past but may not be viable today and is certainly not as much fun as going to a Broadway show in New York City. Modesto simply cannot match New York, New York in arts and entertainment. So here you are with nowhere to go on Saturday night after you mowed some lawns and raked some leaves and cleaned out some gutters. Sure you've got money in your pocket but it's difficult to make a good choice. There might be a museum where you can guess the hairs on a California Golden Bear. But that's got to be very difficult because bears, let's face it, are very hairy. And bears will not usually stand still while you count all the hairs on their body. One strategy might be to drive down to Disneyland and count the hairs of the Bear Country bears. That's because they are made out of some plastic or cloth deal that the Disney Imagineers dreamed up and there's no real hair there. So you write zero down on your score card. Then you've won but what have you won? You don't know. Who made up this contest anyway and was there ever even going to be a prize or money or anything? So now you're in Disneyland with zero on your scorecard and you realize that you are the someone for whom life just got very difficult.Rich Seeleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16122412165793881161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058041686820327692.post-54461731434708052462012-10-08T03:00:00.000-05:002012-10-08T03:00:10.434-05:00How Much Fun Can I Have Before I Go To Hell?Maybe it’s Omaha. You get to a place where you can’t go
there any more. Like Hemingway said about the war. It was there but he could
not go to it any more. And you can’t go into that darkened bar and play the fool
for the patrons of the arts. You can’t believe that America is a great country
so it deserves great art. What the hell could that mean? McDonald’s is a
hamburger so it deserves great art. Jesus is God so he deserves great art. And
what is great art anyway. Some dimwitted college professor with tenure and a
bad case of herpes decides what’s great art and when he writes about it in <em>The
New York Times</em> it becomes the Word of God. Please. But this is Omaha and you
can’t go any further. You get out of the car, off the bus, deplane and un-board
the train. You lay your motorcycle down in the road and just hope nobody hits
it. You are stopped dead in your tracks and a man comes up to you and says when
this war’s over we’ll kill everybody we meet. And you move on alone. You move on
because you’ve got nobody to go see and you don’t want to hear about the
Supreme Court going deaf. That’s their problem. Your problem is moving and
staying put. All together now. All together now. What is your problem? It’s the
trouble with going nowhere fast. Where is nowhere and how fast can you get
there. You heard about a kid in New Orleans wearing a t-shirt that said: “How
much fun can I have before I go to hell?” That seems like a legitimate
question. Why don’t the big brains work on that one? Why don’t the preachers
talk about that one? No way, Jose. We don’t get into philosophical and
theological issues such as resolve: how much fun can this boy have before he
goes to hell? We can’t debate that. We’d have to take the whole country apart and
start over. And first we’d have to define what fun is. And the whole thing
depends on what hell is. And you’re just in Omaha overnight thinking you can’t
go on. You can’t go on even if there is hell out there that you could go to if
you could just figure out how to have fun. You don’t know. Tomorrow, they’ll
bring you your bike and say ride white boy ride. What will you do then? Try to
explain Omaha? It could be beyond the scope of the discussion. So you rent a
room and wait. And you never know how much fun you could have had before you go
to hell.Rich Seeleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16122412165793881161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058041686820327692.post-18825094633626297542012-10-07T03:00:00.000-05:002012-10-07T03:00:04.829-05:00The Lost Temptations of ChristThe Devil wore a digital watch. <br />
<br />
<br />
This is a little known fact.<br />
<br />
<br />
Jesus was in the wilderness<br />
<br />
for 40 days and didn't know<br />
<br />
what day or time it was.<br />
<br />
<br />
Then the Devil showed up<br />
<br />
and said: "It's the Sabbath."<br />
<br />
<br />
And Jesus said: "How do you know?"<br />
<br />
<br />
Then the Devil showed him his <br />
<br />
digital watch and said: <br />
<br />
"See you should be in temple."<br />
<br />
But Jesus said: "The Sabbath<br />
<br />
was made for man, not man<br />
<br />
for the Sabbath."<br />
<br />
<br />
And generations of football fans<br />
<br />
yet unborn and un-named gave<br />
<br />
thanks for this teaching.<br />
<br />
<br />
However, the Devil would not <br />
<br />
give up that easily.<br />
<br />
He whipped out his iPhone.<br />
<br />
<br />
"Look at this! It's a combination<br />
<br />
telephone, digital time keeper, <br />
<br />
personal calendar, and you can<br />
<br />
check out your favorite Websites, <br />
<br />
and send email, update your<br />
<br />
Facebook and Twitter."<br />
<br />
<br />
But Jesus said: "I don't Twitter.<br />
<br />
I don't email. I don't have <br />
<br />
a Facebook page and I keep my <br />
<br />
personal calendar in my head." <br />
<br />
<br />
At this point the Devil saw<br />
<br />
a potential sale slipping away, so<br />
<br />
he produced a 3D flat screen TV.<br />
<br />
"Look you can watch all your favorite<br />
<br />
shows in three dimensions."<br />
<br />
<br />
But Jesus said: "I don't have any<br />
<br />
favorite shows and I already see<br />
<br />
the whole world in three dimensions."<br />
<br />
<br />
In desperation the Devil took Jesus<br />
<br />
to a big box electronics store,<br />
<br />
which was a wholly-owned subsidiary<br />
<br />
of Hinges of Hell Enterprises, Inc.<br />
<br />
<br />
There were rows of personal computers,<br />
<br />
and all manner of hi def televisions,<br />
<br />
and tons of portable mobile accessories.<br />
<br />
Everything sparkled like new wine.<br />
<br />
<br />
"All this plus iPhones yet to be<br />
<br />
invented can be yours if you will <br />
<br />
just follow me," the Devil said.<br />
<br />
<br />
"You can't fool me," Jesus said. <br />
<br />
"All this will turn to rust and dust,<br />
<br />
except for the plastic parts that <br />
<br />
will pollute landfills for millions<br />
<br />
and millions of years."<br />
<br />
<br />
"Oh, come now," the Devil replied.<br />
<br />
"Surely you could use an iPod<br />
<br />
to play you some tunes during those<br />
<br />
lonely nights in the desert. It's <br />
<br />
a great little device. It brings you<br />
<br />
full surround sound stereo through<br />
<br />
these little ear buds. Try it out.<br />
<br />
You can hear all the instruments."<br />
<br />
<br />
But Jesus looked around the store<br />
<br />
and said: "These are instruments<br />
<br />
of the Devil. These are the Devil's<br />
<br />
own devices of distraction." <br />
<br />
<br />
Then Jesus walked out of the store,<br />
<br />
passing the counter where he might<br />
<br />
have applied for easy credit with no<br />
<br />
payments until January 2013.<br />
<br />
<br />
And the Devil stood there screaming:<br />
<br />
"Socialist! Luddite! Environmental <br />
<br />
extremist! Anti-American! Killjoy!<br />
<br />
I hope I'm not leaving anything out!"<br />
<br />
<br />
Jesus just kept on walking, and never looked back.<br />
<br />
Rich Seeleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16122412165793881161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058041686820327692.post-75463978977216546612012-10-06T15:00:00.000-05:002012-10-06T15:20:26.812-05:00Alan Watts: The Zen of Getting Over Yourself<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjor9HBNdUoI6opWI5A-li4whj9oMNPhE9-_F9Kb1JgivFvZ18d0SsfLPTdHFfFl4HbdzDOe0u1jifibWSjiWtDmiBzZDZJ2e6cVj7y_leUovHlLLYgOC9cBuazMhKhGTsidHcn7DpINGqr/s1600/alanwatts1970.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjor9HBNdUoI6opWI5A-li4whj9oMNPhE9-_F9Kb1JgivFvZ18d0SsfLPTdHFfFl4HbdzDOe0u1jifibWSjiWtDmiBzZDZJ2e6cVj7y_leUovHlLLYgOC9cBuazMhKhGTsidHcn7DpINGqr/s320/alanwatts1970.jpg" width="250" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">The paradox leading to Zen awakening begins, Alan Watts once said, "at the level of spirituality where the highest ideal is to be unselfish, to let go of one's self.*" </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">But what happens when you realize that trying to be unselfish is a selfish act?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">You want to be unselfish so that others will see you for the spiritual giant you want to be. But </span><span style="font-size: large;">you cannot make yourself unselfish by force of will.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">As Watts said: "You can't be unselfish by a decision of the will any more than you can decide not to think of a green elephant."</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG-qSaCNHOM6lWs2b3aK708YBs89xPprYP0OodRLW3J6zPQB4KxU8YNT9nsFBUthI0owtc84N4lebcaEGYhZdXFoaYOiF52godpKc-qxyhx6u8mw6A9z9e4ZXigq_Q1H-68hhHP1vnCb44/s1600/greenelephant.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG-qSaCNHOM6lWs2b3aK708YBs89xPprYP0OodRLW3J6zPQB4KxU8YNT9nsFBUthI0owtc84N4lebcaEGYhZdXFoaYOiF52godpKc-qxyhx6u8mw6A9z9e4ZXigq_Q1H-68hhHP1vnCb44/s200/greenelephant.gif" width="200" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">He goes on to explain that this is the common dilemma faced by students when the Zen master asks: "Show me your true self?"</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Students are faced with the impossibility of doing what they came to the Zen master hoping to learn to do. The students came seeking their true unselfish self. And now in the midst of Zen training, that true self fails to show up for class.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">As Watts explained "...the student finds that there is absolutely no way of being his true self ... "</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">This is the moment when the impossibility of an answer becomes the answer.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Watts asks: "What does that mean if I can't do the right thing by doing and if I can't do the right thing by not doing?"</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Then Watts answers his own question.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">"There is no independent self to be produced. There's no way at all of showing it because it isn't there."</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">And this is Zen-style good news.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">"You recover from the illusion," Watts said. </span><span style="font-size: large;">"You discover that what you are is no longer this isolated center of action and experience locked up in your skin. The teacher has asked you to produce that thing [the self you call your own] and show it to him genuine and naked. And you couldn't find it. So it isn't there. </span><span style="font-size: large;">And when you see clearly that it isn't there you have a new sense of identity. You realize that what you are is ... the whole world of nature."</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">* Alan Watts quotes are based on notes I made from a Podcast titled "Intro to Zen 4 of 4" at the </span><a href="http://www.alanwattspodcast.com/" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Alan Watts Podcast Website</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;">.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>Rich Seeleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16122412165793881161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058041686820327692.post-34445120811420289302012-10-06T06:54:00.001-05:002012-10-06T13:12:22.336-05:00Facebook: The True-Self Free ZoneThere's a concept among old fashioned Christians like the late Thomas Merton that there is "a true and a false self." The false self is the irritable little sinner and the true self turns out to be a sweet and Christlike being yearning to unite with God.<br />
<br />
And as Ernest Hemingway might say: "It's pretty to think so."<br />
<br />
This nice conceptualization of your own true self is nicer than what mostly passes for Christianity these days when the followers of The Prince of Peace have morphed into a right-wing morality enforcement squad preaching hatred for anything that is fun or different or French.<br />
<br />
Since the good Christians are on a moral us-versus-them crusade, we are left with the secular religion of Facebook, which encourages the projection of a false self that is sweet and Christlike. Even if you are a non-believer, which is the politically correct term for today's heathens, you can only succeed on Facebook by pretending to be a social media version of Mary's Little Lamb.<br />
<br />
You put up cute photos of puppies and kittens and all your so-called "Friends" will hit the like button quicker than Pavlov's dog. <br />
<br />
But don't put up a photo of Pavlov or his dog as that will disturb the denial of reality that is the hallmark of the Facebook-approved persona.<br />
<br />
And if you like bears, only post photos of cute little bear cubs. A full-size bear, even in a benign pose, will not get a single like because adult bears are scary and your Facebook friends do not want to see anything that might frighten them or knock them out of their complacent denial of reality.<br />
<br />
The harsh realities of life are off-topic among Facebook friends, even those who claim to be Bob Dylan fans. (Do they ever listen to the words or just mindlessly hum the tunes?) So you end up with a social media viewpoint that is a Disney version of the Magic Kingdom ("Happiest Place in All the World") without even a Big Bad Wolf to mar the sense that we are all wonderful people having a wonderful time in a wonderful world where nothing can go wrong, go wrong, go wrong ...Rich Seeleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16122412165793881161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058041686820327692.post-63101616173218511972012-10-05T13:59:00.003-05:002012-10-06T13:31:45.469-05:00Why I Left Facebook<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Yesterday
evening, I deactivated my Facebook page.</span><br />
<br />
To complete deactivation you have to tell Facebook why you are telling them goodbye.<br />
<br />
I selected one of the simple canned answers that the ever-helpful marketers at Facebook provide. It was something to the effect that I didn't find Facebook worthwhile.<br />
<br />
So that was the short answer. <br />
<br />
This is the long answer.<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Facebook "Friends" turn out to
be very much socialized into the basic American Dream myth and are trying
against interpretation to live every cliché associated with it.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
This explains why they are all
so positive that your birthday marks the beginning of the best year you've ever
had. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
“This is the greatest summer of
your life,” as the old L.A. rock station promotion used to tell us. But I
thought we all knew that was just a marketing slogan.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Apparently not.<br />
<br />
The happy persona Facebook
encourages explains why "Friends" react to little bits of political
cleverness as long as the post matches their canned concepts about politics,
which is little more than received wisdom from the usual sources.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Most "friends" do not
want to read about anything that challenges their POV, which they mostly get
from network TV and online media. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
The media mavens are clever
enough not to challenge the general denial of reality that their followers cling to the way rednecks cling to guns and God. The media tells
their audience that if they vote the right way and keep hoping things will
change for the better then things will change for the better.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
The better you hope the better things get.<br />
<br />
And who wants to argue with circular logic?<br />
<br />
Facebook "Friends" do
not want to bother looking outside the leftwing versus rightwing debate
paradigm they’ve been given as a place to park their brains. So they think
inside that reserved parking space. There are two white lines, one on the left
and one on the right and you stay within that space. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
It is all safe and grounded.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
And boring.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Or as Bob Dylan once wrote: "Inside the museums, Infinity goes up on
trial. Voices echo this is what salvation must be like after awhile ..."<br />
<o:p> </o:p><br />
But then who actually listens to Dylan lyrics anymore?<br />
<br />
Not even, as I discovered, the Bob Dylan fans on Facebook.<br />
<br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
</span><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
Rich Seeleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16122412165793881161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058041686820327692.post-73333962428841439992010-06-20T13:58:00.000-05:002010-06-20T23:08:03.014-05:00'I no longer wish that individual things were better' - St. AugustineThe American idea of progress is that we are getting better at understanding everything.<br /><br />However, reading the classics, I wonder if when trying to comprehend nature, we are actually getting worse.<br /><br />Since at least the beginning of the Industrial Age people have been "improving" nature, which often means exploiting it -- clear cutting forests and strip mining come to mind.<br /><br />Water is taken from Colorado to turn the desert around Los Angeles into suburbs with green lawns that try to make the Mojave look like New England.<br /><br />Viewing almost everything as an us-versus-them struggle for dominance, we have also been at war with nature. Creatures that got in our way, most notably the buffalo, are virtually eradicated.<br /><br />We fight floods and resist hurricanes that inconveniently interrupt our pursuit of the good life.<br /><br />However, reading St. Augustine's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Penguin-Classics-Augustine/dp/0143105701/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1277061839&sr=8-1">Confessions in a new translation by Garry Wills </a>the reader finds a classic viewpoint that is in sharp contrast with our modern perspective.<br /><br />If St. Augustine were today "alive as you or me," it seems likely that both our political institutions and media would shun if not condemn his point of view. He accepts what we condemn and praises what we often disdain.<br /><br />As Augustine tells the classic story of his progress from pagan to Catholic bishop, one of the things he gains is an acceptance and reverence for what he quaintly sees as God's creation. And the old bishop isn't just praising the Lord for a sunny day at the beach, he also accepts all the yucky nature that we are working so hard to fix up, change and correct.<br /><br />"I am far from saying that anything that exists should not do so," Augustine writes, although he acknowledges this is a new and hard won point of view that comes as he moves away from materialism toward God.<br /><br />In his ongoing conversation with God, Augustine writes: "'There is no soundness' in the person who disapproves of anything you made -- as I once disapproved of many of them."<br /><br />Then Augustine goes off the charts: "Taken individually, I might prefer something different about them. But in the present argument I acknowledge the duty to praise each item individually. On earth everything shows that you should be praised -- even 'monsters and abysses, as well as fire, hail, snow, sleet, hurricane. All act on your command, as do mountains and every hill, trees with their fruit, every cedar, wild animals, and all cattle, serpents, and flying things.'"<br /><br />He praises everything, even hurricanes and monsters?<br /><br />You can almost hear the TV talking head: "This religious nut, this so-called St. Augustine, is praising monsters. How crazy is that?"<br /><br />Augustine might get some support from one of those shaved head Zen monks who might support his "radical acceptance" of the world as it is rather than as he wants it to be.<br /><br />But how many Zen monks get on TV?<br /><br />So what would happen to the hapless Augustine when he tells a cable interviewer: "When I look on all things taken together, I no longer wish that individual things were better."<br /><br />First, they would cut to a commercial where a coal mining company would extol the virtues of strip mining America's biggest source of clean energy. That would be followed with ads for cosmetics to help you be a better younger-looking you. And if that doesn't work, there's always beer, wine, whiskey and a new truck with a Hemi engine that sucks gas the way Dracula sucksblood.<br /><br />This being the era of reality TV, when we get back from the commercial break, we would see security guards leading the old bishop off the set where a team of psychiatrists wait to take him in hand.<br /><br />Electroshock will eventually get him to see things right.<br /><br />If that doesn't work there's always pills and injections.<br /><br />One way or another they'll teach him to wish that things were better.Rich Seeleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16122412165793881161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058041686820327692.post-46465381665723000742010-06-17T17:44:00.000-05:002010-06-18T09:18:32.469-05:00Original Sin and Its Discontents<em>What might have been is an abstraction<br />Remaining a perpetual possibility<br />Only in a world of speculation ...<br />-- <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._S._Eliot"><strong>T.S. Eliot</strong></a><strong><br /></strong></em><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G._K._Chesterton"><strong>G.K. Chesterton</strong></a> used to say that he found it odd that people deny original sin because it is the one Christian doctrine that is verifiable just by looking around at what is happening on the streets.<br /><br />But the very thought that we live not only in an imperfect world but in an imperfectable world seems too dreadful for most people, whether they are religious or not.<br /><br />The media constantly reports on the obvious failures of humankind to live up to anything like a vision of a perfect world, and yet immediately commentators demand solutions.<br /><br />So we are constantly looking for a politician who will rid government of its tendencies toward inefficiency and corruption, even though we have no evidence that any government ever came close to this ideal.<br /><br />This leaves the media, barflies, and most of the general public asking a series of questions that the history of the human race indicates are just plain silly.<br /><br />Why are business executives so greedy? Why do politicians lie so much? Why are entertainers so prone to bad behavior? Why do people who drink get drunk? Why do 17-year-olds want to have sex?<br /><br />When will all this end?<br /><br />Who is going to fix these people and rid us of these problems?<br /><br />Generations raised on TV sitcoms where all family problems could be solved in 30 minutes seem not to grasp that this only works in popular fiction.<br /><br />Generations numbed by commercials believe the classic sales pitch: "You've got a problem and we have the solution." (And by the time the problem reasserts itself, the seller will have another solution.)<br /><br />So, voters continually vote for candidates who promise to fix up all their troubles, and then are surprised when things get worse instead of better. Next election, they cast their vote for another politician, who promises to do better than the last one, to say nothing of the one before that.<br /><br />Self-help addicts are sure the next book or tape or weekend seminar will change their lives for the better. This week's prosperity gospel may not work but there's always another Sunday and another sermon.<br /><br />Shoppers are sure that if they buy a new gadget it will make them cool. And when they lose their cool, there will be another gadget on sale.<br /><br />Sufferers from restless leg syndrome are only a pill away from a cure. And when the first pill makes them larger, they'll get a script for another pill to make them small. Until they catch the sickness unto death for which there isn't any pill at all.<br /><br />These things are obvious cons believed by people who don't believe in original sin even though confirmation of St. Augustine's teaching is available 24-hours-a-day on the cable news channels.<br /><br />Chesterton, up in Heaven now, may find this amusing although not surprising.<br /><br />For as Eliot observed:<br /><br /><em>... human kind<br />Cannot bear very much reality.<br /></em>Rich Seeleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16122412165793881161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058041686820327692.post-75493205368196797732010-06-06T15:19:00.000-05:002010-06-17T18:11:28.213-05:00American ReligionAs Harold Bloom pointed out in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/American-Religion-Harold-Bloom/dp/0978721004/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1275855631&sr=8-2">The American Religion</a>, our fellow Americans make up a theologically inventive group.<br /><br />What other country has created so many new religions ranging from the not successful Shakers to the very robust Mormons and Pentecostals? Plus Unitarians and Seventh Day Adventists, Christian Scientists, Unitarians and others.<br /><br />Bloom, who is a non-observant Jew, says Marx was wrong because in America, religion is not the opiate of the masses, it is the poetry of the people.<br /><br />And it appears that people are writing their own poetry in the individualistic way that Americans approach almost everything.<br /><br />This has a bearing on "churchless Christians" that many standard brand denominations are trying without much success to lure back.<br /><br />There are two reasons for polling data indicating that a majority of Americans believe in God but fewer and fewer are attending churches.<br /><br />First, there is the hodge-podge lodge of pick and choose beliefs, most notably found among the so-called cafeteria Catholics. But there may be a lot of cafeteria Protestants as well. There is also cross-cultural mix and match going on among different religions, such as Zen Catholics. It may drive purists nuts but welcome to the American religion.<br /><br />Second, those of folks in congregations may be underestimating how difficult it is for an outsider to visit their church. A standard-brand Protestant church I visited earlier this year has a form visitors need to fill out during the service: name, phone, address, email etc., which in my humble opinion is a lot of data to collect on someone who is just visiting. There was also a microphone passed around where visitors were pressed to stand up and introduce themselves. I found this very over-the-top intimidating. To say the least I never went back. I don't know if this is common practice in standard brand denominations but it felt like a marriage proposal on a first date: "While we wait for our entree would you like to marry me?'<br /><br />So while churches may believe they are inviting us "churchless Christians" back into their homes, they may not be making us feel all that comfortable. Beyond that, some churchless Christians may never fit into an existing church structure because they are inventing their own unique American religion, and that is just a fact of life in these United States.Rich Seeleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16122412165793881161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058041686820327692.post-28125852477852864412010-05-31T03:49:00.000-05:002010-05-31T03:49:00.633-05:00TestamentThoughts on reading <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Testament-Novel-Nino-Ricci/dp/B001NXDTJ2/">TESTAMENT</a> by Nino Ricci, which is a re-working of the Jesus story that restores his humanity and separates his true teaching from the pious and church-serving official Gospels.<br /><br />Here is a human Jesus with moods and foibles and sorrows along with the wisdom of his teaching. Here is a Jesus who is not perfect and does not try to put on a pious perfectionist persona. In other words, this is a Jesus who is not a phony Christian. He is not caught in the trap <a href="http://www.eckharttolle.com/home/">Eckhart Tolle</a> talks about of trying not to have angers or other feelings that might be considered non-Christian. This is what leads so many pious Christians into denial of their humanity and eventually denial of the humanity of others by holding themselves and everybody else up to a standard of perfection that no human can achieve, not even Jesus.<br /><br />It also supports my belief that God is not a perfectionist. Perfectionism is a disease of the egoic mind. God does not make his forests into perfectly pruned English gardens and yet there is great beauty there.<br /><br />The importance of discovering the humanity and fallibility of Jesus is that it allows me to be human and fallible, too. The true teaching of Jesus is acceptance and forgiveness, not human perfection and not hellfire and damnation, which was added later by small-minded clerics and preachers seeking to frighten people into joining their church so they could be “saved” from an imaginary hell.<br /><br />But this isn’t a fault only found in Christianity. Both Hinduism and Buddhism are based on the concept of human perfectibility and it is basically impossible, as <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Huston-Smith/e/B000APX9CG/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1275245787&sr=1-2-ent">Huston Smith</a> points out, to achieve that kind of perfectibility in this human body.<br /><br />The ultimate strength of Christianity when it is practiced in the spirit of Jesus is that it does not demand perfection. Jesus simply asks for acceptance and forgiveness and allows people to be human beings.Rich Seeleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16122412165793881161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058041686820327692.post-74599041131689795192010-05-27T09:15:00.000-05:002010-05-27T16:17:48.692-05:00Luther's lost teachings: 'Christ Present in Faith'Has anyone read "Christ Present in Faith: Luther's View of Justification" by Tuomo Mannermass and Kirsi Irmeli Stierna?<br /><br />They are Lutheran theologians from Finland who are working to get back to Luther's original -- and it would appear mystical view -- that Christ enters the believer through faith.<br /><br />Here are a couple quotes from the book that capsulize the theology:<br /><br />"...according to the Reformer [Luther], the union between the believer and Christ is so complete that these two become 'one person.'<br /><br />"'Christ,' he [Luther] says, 'is fixed and cemented to me and abides in me. The life that I now live, He lives in me. Indeed, Christ Himself is the life that I now live. In this way, therefore, Christ and I are one.'<br /><br />"Christ is freedom, righteousness, and life, and by his presence he drives sin, death, and curse away from the believer, making these 'disappear.'"<br /><br />"God is seen in this view as an incessant movement toward transcendence -- that is, toward God, who nevertheless remains in 'heaven.' According to Luther, however, the true faith unites the Christian with God who in God's agape-love has 'descended' to us and who is present in the sinner by being present in faith in all God's fullness. Faith is 'heaven.'"<br /><br />Finally, and this is pretty much the summation and conclusion of the book, the authors argue: "Luther does not hesitate to conclude that in faith the human being becomes 'God,' not in substance but through participation. This notion, which has been forgotten in Protestant theology, is an integral part of Luther's theology of faith, if interpreted correctly.”Rich Seeleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16122412165793881161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058041686820327692.post-70195088894201818812010-05-26T17:15:00.000-05:002010-05-27T09:40:56.720-05:00Listening to Richard RohrI've been listening today to audio lectures Richard Rohr gave on The True and False Self. Here are some of the key points that struck me in his teaching:<br /><br />1. The False Self, which Merton wrote about, is the personal ego and body consciousness so glorified in our popular culture. The True Self is God in us or Christ in us, also known as God Consciousness or Christ consciousness. This is mystical religion that is free of all church rituals and legalisms, which are necessarily aimed at the False Self.<br /><br />2. Speaking of the legalisms of churchianity, Rohr points out that the orthodox Catholic and fundamentalist protestant obsession with birth control, abortion, and gays, which as he points out Jesus never talked about, is that they are aimed at the shame involved in egoic body consciousness. It is a way church law is used to shame people. So this is church law aimed at the False Self, having nothing to do with Jesus but having a lot to do with keeping people in line and creating an us versus them paradigm where "we are the good Christians following the church rules as opposed to all those worthless horrible sinners out there."<br /><br />3. Rohr points out that preaching the Gospel to the False Self is a lose-lose proposition because the personal egoic consciousness will never be able to live up to all the rules and eventually the fundamentalist preacher men are caught with male prostitutes and priests are found to be abusing children. So preaching the Gospel to the False Self rather than encouraging people to get in touch with their True Self amounts to pastoral malpractice.<br /><br />4. From Rohr's Franciscan/universalistic (not sure if he or his superiors would be happy with the latter label) perspective the only goal of religion based on Jesus Christ is to help people find Christ within themselves thus helping to liberate them from the personal egoic mind of the False Self.<br /><br />5. What's wrong with the personal ego so lauded and catered to in popular culture and pop psychology? Rohr used a metaphor borrowed (as much of this is) from Merton. Merton said people driven by ego climb the ladder of success, fame and fortune, only to find at the end of their lives that the ladder was up against the wrong wall. Because of the reality of death and the inability of mortals to take their precious stuff with them, sooner or later the path of the egoic mind leads to Nowhere Land.<br /><br />6. And along the way up the ladder of success evidence gathers that it's not only lonely but empty at the top, which leads to depression, now epidemic in the middle ages of the middle class and often in the upper class, too. This recalls Tolstoy's version of the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus says: "But woe to the rich, for they have already got what they wanted, and will get nothing more. Now they are satisfied, but they too will be hungry. Now they rejoice, but they too will be sad."<br /><br />7. Hope lies in the realization that your False Self is leading you nowhere and that it is time to sit down quietly and let God into your life.Rich Seeleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16122412165793881161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058041686820327692.post-5851762900119266082010-05-25T18:08:00.000-05:002010-05-27T01:00:41.905-05:00Law versus mysticismListening to an excerpt of a Richard Rohr talk on Audible this morning I got a clear sense that I'm on the right track with my Outlaw Christian stance. Rohr, who is a Franiscan priest explains that the church that developed in Rome stressed laws over a mystical union with Christ. So the church focused on rules and rituals and the importance of belonging to the church. Jesus Christ's message of peace, love and forgiveness took a back seat to requiring everybody to attend mass regularly and rigidly control their sex lives.<br /><br />Here endth my quest for church membership.<br /><br />I feel I am a confirmed Outlaw Christian.Rich Seeleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16122412165793881161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058041686820327692.post-39042693310867593392010-05-22T17:39:00.000-05:002010-05-22T18:19:09.618-05:00Tolstoian<em>Chirst cannot be held responsible for the monstorous tradition that has been interwoven with his teaching and presented as Christianity. </em><br /><em></em><br /><em>... while preaching doctrines quite alien to Christ's teaching [church leaders] affirm that their doctrine was taught by Christ. So that according to their teaching Jesus declared that by his blood he had redeemed the human race ruined by Adam's sins; that God is three persons; that the Holy Ghost descended on the apostles and was transmitted to the priesthood by the laying on of hands; that the seven sacraments are necessary for salvation; that communion should be received in two kinds and so on. They would have us believe that all this is the teaching of Jesus whereas there is not a word of any of it in his teaching. Those false teachers should call their teaching and religion the teaching and religion of the Holy Ghost but not of Christ; for only that faith can be called Christian which recognizes the revelation of Christ reaching us in the Gospels as the final revelation. -- Tolstoy</em><br /><br />I get caught up in the beautiy of Catholic Churches and the ideas of Catholic intellectuals like Merton, and I forget what a repressive and backwards hierarachy controls the church.<br /><br />As happened when today I read this on Daily Beast:<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">This week, Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted of Phoenix announced the excommunication of Sister Margaret McBride for the crime of approving an abortion necessary to save a woman’s life. The patient, a 27-year-old who was 11 weeks pregnant, had pulmonary hypertension, which interferes with the functioning of the heart and lungs. Pregnancy exacerbates the condition, and doctors at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center determined that she would die without an abortion. St. Joseph’s is Catholic, so an ethics committee meeting was convened. As part of the committee, Sister McBride opted to save the patient’s life. For that, she’s been rebuked, transferred, and essentially barred from participating in Catholic life.</span><br /><br />The bad crazyness in the Catholic Church over abortion never ceases to amaze and dismay me.<br /><br />Here we have an all male power structure, headed by an 80-year-old elected monarch influencing medical decisions for young women. It's just crazy and I can't see myself being part of that despite whatever other good the church may be doing.<br /><br />So I end up back with Tolstoy, who was a Christian but despised the established churches for the ways they controlled and lied to their people.<br /><br />It does not seem to be possible to have a church without corruption -- paranoia, homophobia, etc. -- so it seems my best course is to be a Christian outlaw avoding any ties with any church.Rich Seeleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16122412165793881161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058041686820327692.post-48423315533948800922010-05-21T17:55:00.000-05:002010-05-21T18:37:26.916-05:00Some Merton QuotesAll quotes are from <em>No Man Is an Island</em><br /><br />In order to find God in ourselves, we must stop looking at ourselves, stop checking and verifying ourselves in the mirror of our own futility, and be content to <em>be</em> in Him and to do whatever He wills, according to our limitations, judging our acts not in the light of our own illusions, but in the light of His reality which is all around us in the things and people we live with. p.120<br /><br />If I do not know who I am, it is because I think I am the sort of person everyone around me wants to be. Perhaps I have never asked myself whether I really wanted to become what everybody else seems to want to become. Perhaps if I only realized that I do not admire what everybody seems to admire, I would really begin to live after all. I would be liberated from the painful duty of saying what I really do not think and of acting in a way that betrays God's truth and the integrity of my own soul.<br /><br />Why do we have to spend our lives striving to be something that we would never want to be, if we only knew what we wanted. pp125-26Rich Seeleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16122412165793881161noreply@blogger.com0