Brian’s Reflection: Friday, July 20, 2007
I do often turn backward when I pass
By with this body that in pain I bear,
And then I receive comfort from your air
Which causes it to move, and say: "Alas!"
Then thinking of the sweet treasure I leave,
Of the long journey, of my life's short round,
I stop my walk, and pale, dismayed, I grieve
And bend my eyes in tears toward the ground.
Sometimes a doubt assails my deep distress:
How can these limbs go on living at all,
So far away from their soul's happiness?
But then Love answers me: "Don't you recall
That lovers have the privilege to be
Rid of each human trait and quality?"
- A sonnet of Petrarch, Italian poet
and scholar, born on this day, 1304
How I would have loved to be Francesco Petrarca! He abandoned law after his father died, and became a scholar and poet. After reading Cicero, he became a passionate lover of all the classics. He undertook the collection of ancient manuscripts, scouring cathedral and monastic libraries all over Europe - that appeals to me! His private library was the first of its kind. He is lauded as the founder of Renaissance Christian humanism, “harmonizing classical genius with divine revelation”. Would that we had a lot more of his type in the world today!
His sonnet might be a little challenging – I doubt that many young people read sonnets these days, let alone Petrarch. But, hell, everyone would surely benefit from pondering a 700 year old sonnet upon rising from bed!!
Most of us are no doubt assailed every now and then with thoughts about “the long journey”, and about our own life’s “short round”. Dismayed by it all perhaps. But, reminds Petrarch, Love lifts us beyond the purely material nature of “these limbs”, reminds us that we are not so far away from our “soul’s happiness”, reminds us that we are spirit beings destined for the enjoyment of the eternal Journey, unconstrained by “each human trait and quality”.
Now: that should get you out of bed with a Petrarchan enthusiasm for the day!!
Brian+
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Brian’s Reflection: Thursday, July 19, 2007
And a festival shall be kept for King PTOLEMY, THE EVER-LIVING,
THE BELOVED OF PTAH, THE GOD EPIPHANES EUCHARISTOS,
yearly in the temples throughout the land from the 1st of Thoth for five days,
in which they shall wear garlands and perform sacrifices and libations and the
other usual honours, and the priests in each temple shall be called priests of the
GOD EPIPHANES EUCHARISTOS.
- From the Rosetta Stone, found on this day by Napoleon’s soldiers,
knocking down a wall near Alexandria, Egypt, 1799
Babel. The implication in the Bible is that languages were multiplied by a jealous God who didn’t want people to “get too big for their britches”. How like ego-centric humans!
Balderdash. The meaning I take is this. This is an etiological story, attempting to explain the multitude of languages. The underlying implication? God wants people to recognize that it takes effort to understand each other and to learn to respect each other. That this effort is worth it – otherwise the result is alienation and brokenness.
The Rosetta Stone placed together two languages, Egyptian and Greek, with three scripts, demotic, hieroglyphic, and Greek. It permitted the understanding of Egyptian culture.
We need many new Rosetta Stones. In two languages. Each human tongue and the language of Divine Love and Compassion. Perhaps then we would discover how to understand and respect each other.
In fact, better still, we each could become one.
Brian+
And a festival shall be kept for King PTOLEMY, THE EVER-LIVING,
THE BELOVED OF PTAH, THE GOD EPIPHANES EUCHARISTOS,
yearly in the temples throughout the land from the 1st of Thoth for five days,
in which they shall wear garlands and perform sacrifices and libations and the
other usual honours, and the priests in each temple shall be called priests of the
GOD EPIPHANES EUCHARISTOS.
- From the Rosetta Stone, found on this day by Napoleon’s soldiers,
knocking down a wall near Alexandria, Egypt, 1799
Babel. The implication in the Bible is that languages were multiplied by a jealous God who didn’t want people to “get too big for their britches”. How like ego-centric humans!
Balderdash. The meaning I take is this. This is an etiological story, attempting to explain the multitude of languages. The underlying implication? God wants people to recognize that it takes effort to understand each other and to learn to respect each other. That this effort is worth it – otherwise the result is alienation and brokenness.
The Rosetta Stone placed together two languages, Egyptian and Greek, with three scripts, demotic, hieroglyphic, and Greek. It permitted the understanding of Egyptian culture.
We need many new Rosetta Stones. In two languages. Each human tongue and the language of Divine Love and Compassion. Perhaps then we would discover how to understand and respect each other.
In fact, better still, we each could become one.
Brian+
Brian’s Reflection: Wednesday, July 18, 2007
For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains,
but to live in a way that respects and enhances the
freedom of others.
- Nelson Mandela, free man, born on this day, 1918
Our world, then, is in a period of enslavement. I look around. I see a lot of people(s) seeking to cast off their perceived chains - with little awareness that they have wrapped the chains around them with their own hands. But equally, people(s) who have been enslaved by others against their will, whose masters still, after untold time, are determined to remain masters. This is something that I simply cannot understand. If people feel enslaved, oppressed, would it not eliminate an enormous amount of pain and suffering and guilt to “let my people go”? Can it really be that the lust for power and control, regardless of the misery it causes both slave and master, indeed has such power? Why can’t the Tamils be free? The Chechens? The Quebecois if they wish? The Kurds? Women, for that matter - why are men so determined to subjugate women in various subtle and not so subtle ways? Why does the Roman Catholic Church feel the need to reassert its absurd claim to “true church”, condemning the rest of Christendom to the status of outcast and slave?
Mandela is absolutely right. No one is free unless everyone is free. No person is free who cannot allow another freedom. Jesus taught this. All the great souls teach this. Which is why I know that those Islamists who seek to force others to live their way are insulting the spirit of the Prophet. The same for any religion. To be faithful, one must respect and enhance the freedom of others. Otherwise, all are doomed to misery and fear.
Jesus is reported to have said, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free”. The truth is that, by nature, all persons are free. Mandela said, “There is no passion to be found playing small - in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living”.
Unless we choose to enhance and respect the freedom of others, we have chosen the way of the slave. It leads only to despair.
Brian+
For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains,
but to live in a way that respects and enhances the
freedom of others.
- Nelson Mandela, free man, born on this day, 1918
Our world, then, is in a period of enslavement. I look around. I see a lot of people(s) seeking to cast off their perceived chains - with little awareness that they have wrapped the chains around them with their own hands. But equally, people(s) who have been enslaved by others against their will, whose masters still, after untold time, are determined to remain masters. This is something that I simply cannot understand. If people feel enslaved, oppressed, would it not eliminate an enormous amount of pain and suffering and guilt to “let my people go”? Can it really be that the lust for power and control, regardless of the misery it causes both slave and master, indeed has such power? Why can’t the Tamils be free? The Chechens? The Quebecois if they wish? The Kurds? Women, for that matter - why are men so determined to subjugate women in various subtle and not so subtle ways? Why does the Roman Catholic Church feel the need to reassert its absurd claim to “true church”, condemning the rest of Christendom to the status of outcast and slave?
Mandela is absolutely right. No one is free unless everyone is free. No person is free who cannot allow another freedom. Jesus taught this. All the great souls teach this. Which is why I know that those Islamists who seek to force others to live their way are insulting the spirit of the Prophet. The same for any religion. To be faithful, one must respect and enhance the freedom of others. Otherwise, all are doomed to misery and fear.
Jesus is reported to have said, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free”. The truth is that, by nature, all persons are free. Mandela said, “There is no passion to be found playing small - in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living”.
Unless we choose to enhance and respect the freedom of others, we have chosen the way of the slave. It leads only to despair.
Brian+
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Brian’s Reflection: Tuesday, July 17, 2007
I have a love interest in every one of my films - a gun.
If it bleeds, we can kill it.
When you grow up you have to drink beer.
The best activities for your health are pumping and humping.
- Arnold Schwarzenegger, bodybuilder, who, in 2004
on this day, used the term “girlie-men” to denigrate
his opponents
Is this authentic “Christian” America??? Can you picture what Jesus’ face would look like listening in on these comments? Do you think that he would be pleased to be represented by someone like Arnie?? Would Jesus have been a member of the NRA? Of a skin-head or Aryan Nation group? Of a congregation in Jerry Falwell’s church?
What about us?? Is this the kind of thought and word and intellect that we want to symbolize America?? Does this sound caring? Understanding? Compassionate? Rational? Respectful? Humane? “Created equal”?? Is America, and the so-called basic Judeo-Christian foundation of America, well served and reflected by comments like this from the present governor of the largest state in the union? It may be a cynical comment, but I believe that the governor has cleaned up his act somewhat, but underneath …..
“Girlie-men”? Is it a Christ-like thing to demean and to encourage violence against the perhaps 20-30 million Gay and Lesbian folk who are Americans? Folk who are constantly misrepresented as “choosers of sin” by people who have made a pact with the devil to reject the truth of homosexual orientation because of their own either twisted theology or their irrational fear? Do in fact most Americans think it’s ok to “hump” as long as it’s heterosexual humping??
Is it not time to reclaim some semblance of sense? Of kindness? Of commitment and openness to the truth?
Until we do, America buries its birthright under a withering fire of troglodyte ignorance and venality.
Brian+
I have a love interest in every one of my films - a gun.
If it bleeds, we can kill it.
When you grow up you have to drink beer.
The best activities for your health are pumping and humping.
- Arnold Schwarzenegger, bodybuilder, who, in 2004
on this day, used the term “girlie-men” to denigrate
his opponents
Is this authentic “Christian” America??? Can you picture what Jesus’ face would look like listening in on these comments? Do you think that he would be pleased to be represented by someone like Arnie?? Would Jesus have been a member of the NRA? Of a skin-head or Aryan Nation group? Of a congregation in Jerry Falwell’s church?
What about us?? Is this the kind of thought and word and intellect that we want to symbolize America?? Does this sound caring? Understanding? Compassionate? Rational? Respectful? Humane? “Created equal”?? Is America, and the so-called basic Judeo-Christian foundation of America, well served and reflected by comments like this from the present governor of the largest state in the union? It may be a cynical comment, but I believe that the governor has cleaned up his act somewhat, but underneath …..
“Girlie-men”? Is it a Christ-like thing to demean and to encourage violence against the perhaps 20-30 million Gay and Lesbian folk who are Americans? Folk who are constantly misrepresented as “choosers of sin” by people who have made a pact with the devil to reject the truth of homosexual orientation because of their own either twisted theology or their irrational fear? Do in fact most Americans think it’s ok to “hump” as long as it’s heterosexual humping??
Is it not time to reclaim some semblance of sense? Of kindness? Of commitment and openness to the truth?
Until we do, America buries its birthright under a withering fire of troglodyte ignorance and venality.
Brian+
Monday, July 16, 2007
Brian’s Reflection: Monday, July 16, 2007
But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him,
he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds,
having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal,
brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took
out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him;
and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.’
Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell
into the hands of the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.”
Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
- the Lucan version of the Good News, chap 10
Jesus is reported to have said that it was nothing if you only loved those who loved you – even the worst of people could do that. And he famously said, “Love your enemies”. This parable of the “Good Samaritan” was the reading for this past Sunday - and it really engaged me all week.
I talk and preach about Love all the time. “Where am I with this”, I asked myself all week. I don’t (I hope) actively “hate” anyone - but when it comes to controlling people, or homophobes, or religious “terrorists”, I despise and reject them - that’s coming close to hate. Here is this Samaritan. Different ethnic background and “tribe” of the assaulted man. And while two of the man’s fellow Jews wouldn’t even give him the time of day, the Samaritan superbly had compassion.
I said to my congregations that this is “Ratchet Up” Sunday if you are in any way a serious follower of the Christ - of the Message that each of us is a manifestation of Divine Compassion. Loving the “loveable” is easy. Nice people; people who love us; people who are supportive; people who think like us. Not a problem. But that only sustains the local tribe - and sets up one tribe against another. Look around the World - tribalism is destroying us. It’s Us against the Other.
The parable got to me. Selective love isn’t going to bring peace, understanding, cooperation, generosity, safety. Yet, for all the talk I hear from the present crop of American politicians who talk their “religious” talk, I have never heard one say that they woke up each day and asked God to help them love their “enemies” or how they would turn that core principle into action.
The parable is clear: every person who touches our lives directly or indirectly is our neighbour. All require mercy. However that is to be worked out in each of our lives, each of us, like the Good Samaritan, must “go and do likewise”.
Or we shall continue to reap the misery we sew.
Brian+
But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him,
he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds,
having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal,
brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took
out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him;
and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.’
Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell
into the hands of the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.”
Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
- the Lucan version of the Good News, chap 10
Jesus is reported to have said that it was nothing if you only loved those who loved you – even the worst of people could do that. And he famously said, “Love your enemies”. This parable of the “Good Samaritan” was the reading for this past Sunday - and it really engaged me all week.
I talk and preach about Love all the time. “Where am I with this”, I asked myself all week. I don’t (I hope) actively “hate” anyone - but when it comes to controlling people, or homophobes, or religious “terrorists”, I despise and reject them - that’s coming close to hate. Here is this Samaritan. Different ethnic background and “tribe” of the assaulted man. And while two of the man’s fellow Jews wouldn’t even give him the time of day, the Samaritan superbly had compassion.
I said to my congregations that this is “Ratchet Up” Sunday if you are in any way a serious follower of the Christ - of the Message that each of us is a manifestation of Divine Compassion. Loving the “loveable” is easy. Nice people; people who love us; people who are supportive; people who think like us. Not a problem. But that only sustains the local tribe - and sets up one tribe against another. Look around the World - tribalism is destroying us. It’s Us against the Other.
The parable got to me. Selective love isn’t going to bring peace, understanding, cooperation, generosity, safety. Yet, for all the talk I hear from the present crop of American politicians who talk their “religious” talk, I have never heard one say that they woke up each day and asked God to help them love their “enemies” or how they would turn that core principle into action.
The parable is clear: every person who touches our lives directly or indirectly is our neighbour. All require mercy. However that is to be worked out in each of our lives, each of us, like the Good Samaritan, must “go and do likewise”.
Or we shall continue to reap the misery we sew.
Brian+
Brian’s Reflection: Saturday, July 14, 2007
Life has got a habit of not standing hitched. You got to ride it
like you find it. You got to change with it. If a day goes by that
don't change some of your old notions for new ones, that is just
about like trying to milk a dead cow.
- Woody Guthrie, born on this day, 1912
I heard on the radio a couple of days ago a fascinating thing about the Blue Moon (was that the name?) butterfly. I think it is endemic to New Zealand. A bacteria was killing most of the male butterflies. They were in immanent danger of dying out as a species. But, in only five years, they changed! They evolved genetically in order to make themselves immune to the bacteria. Talk about a fast change - five years to evolve is pretty fast in the evolution department.
The Blue Moon butterfly - a great symbol for what Woody is talking about. How interesting that the butterfly is also, in Christian imagery, the symbol of Resurrection, of new life, of the blossoming into the full beauty of Life. The caterpillar has to “die”, and in death is rebirth in a more glorious form.
All faiths are about transformation, about “transfiguration”. Change is a constant. Life doesn’t “stand hitched”. Every day, our choice is “dead cow” or “new notions”. Consider the institutions, the religion, the places you learn from, the people you spend time with. If they aren’t helping you to “ride it like you find it”, ditch ‘em!
Brian+
Life has got a habit of not standing hitched. You got to ride it
like you find it. You got to change with it. If a day goes by that
don't change some of your old notions for new ones, that is just
about like trying to milk a dead cow.
- Woody Guthrie, born on this day, 1912
I heard on the radio a couple of days ago a fascinating thing about the Blue Moon (was that the name?) butterfly. I think it is endemic to New Zealand. A bacteria was killing most of the male butterflies. They were in immanent danger of dying out as a species. But, in only five years, they changed! They evolved genetically in order to make themselves immune to the bacteria. Talk about a fast change - five years to evolve is pretty fast in the evolution department.
The Blue Moon butterfly - a great symbol for what Woody is talking about. How interesting that the butterfly is also, in Christian imagery, the symbol of Resurrection, of new life, of the blossoming into the full beauty of Life. The caterpillar has to “die”, and in death is rebirth in a more glorious form.
All faiths are about transformation, about “transfiguration”. Change is a constant. Life doesn’t “stand hitched”. Every day, our choice is “dead cow” or “new notions”. Consider the institutions, the religion, the places you learn from, the people you spend time with. If they aren’t helping you to “ride it like you find it”, ditch ‘em!
Brian+
Brian’s Reflection: Friday, July 13, 2007
Looking at faces of people, one gets the feeling
there's a lot of work to be done.
- Wole Soyinka (Akinwande Oluwole Soyinka), in Nigeria,
author, Nobel laureate 1986, born on this day, 1934
I have been watching the face of George Bush for a while now. The face of “archbishop” Akinola of Nigeria - the quotes are a sign of my deep sense of mendacity (lying), of betrayal of the truth. The faces of radical Islamic leaders. Of radical Hindu leaders in India. The faces of Tamil leaders, and of their “government” (which means those who have gained power) opponents. The faces of Sudanese government leaders. Ian Paisley’s face. The faces of Americas’s mis-named “Christian” populist leaders. Stephen Harper’s face in Canada. Nicolas Sarkozy of France. The President of Iran. The man proposed by Bush to be the next Surgeon General. Many more.
What do I see? What I see is frightening and deeply disturbing. I see conviction. And a vile veiled duplicity. Not a conviction founded in Justice, Compassion. But conviction founded in fear, and a craving for power, and zenophobia. That makes me think of Adolf Hitler. I have thought about this. Is there a difference among them? No. Worse, many of them look and sound like Delores Jane Umbridge, made headmaster of Hogwarts School by the Ministry of Magic, in the latest Harry Potter movie. Cool, “reasonable”, law-abiding - with evil and cruelty exuding from every charming pore.
I don’t know if even doing a “lot of work” will make any difference these days. We are on the edge - no, we have tipped over the edge - of warfare. Everyone who does not think as “we” do is the “enemy”. More, they are “wrong”, “ungodly”.
I have one consolation. “A house divided against itself cannot stand”. It may take awhile. But God, I hope. And it will all come crashing down.
But oh, I fear for those whose minds and hearts and spirits will be withered by this stage. And for those who will become their victims.
I am a believer in the “Remnant”. When the next stage of human depravity has run its course, there will remain those who love. Who have not consented to evil. They will rebuild the Kingdom of Peace.
Brian+
Looking at faces of people, one gets the feeling
there's a lot of work to be done.
- Wole Soyinka (Akinwande Oluwole Soyinka), in Nigeria,
author, Nobel laureate 1986, born on this day, 1934
I have been watching the face of George Bush for a while now. The face of “archbishop” Akinola of Nigeria - the quotes are a sign of my deep sense of mendacity (lying), of betrayal of the truth. The faces of radical Islamic leaders. Of radical Hindu leaders in India. The faces of Tamil leaders, and of their “government” (which means those who have gained power) opponents. The faces of Sudanese government leaders. Ian Paisley’s face. The faces of Americas’s mis-named “Christian” populist leaders. Stephen Harper’s face in Canada. Nicolas Sarkozy of France. The President of Iran. The man proposed by Bush to be the next Surgeon General. Many more.
What do I see? What I see is frightening and deeply disturbing. I see conviction. And a vile veiled duplicity. Not a conviction founded in Justice, Compassion. But conviction founded in fear, and a craving for power, and zenophobia. That makes me think of Adolf Hitler. I have thought about this. Is there a difference among them? No. Worse, many of them look and sound like Delores Jane Umbridge, made headmaster of Hogwarts School by the Ministry of Magic, in the latest Harry Potter movie. Cool, “reasonable”, law-abiding - with evil and cruelty exuding from every charming pore.
I don’t know if even doing a “lot of work” will make any difference these days. We are on the edge - no, we have tipped over the edge - of warfare. Everyone who does not think as “we” do is the “enemy”. More, they are “wrong”, “ungodly”.
I have one consolation. “A house divided against itself cannot stand”. It may take awhile. But God, I hope. And it will all come crashing down.
But oh, I fear for those whose minds and hearts and spirits will be withered by this stage. And for those who will become their victims.
I am a believer in the “Remnant”. When the next stage of human depravity has run its course, there will remain those who love. Who have not consented to evil. They will rebuild the Kingdom of Peace.
Brian+
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