Sunday Musings - February 26, 2023
 
The term criminal is selectively used to describe a limited section of the community; some of those unable to consider or take into account how their behavior affects others in the community or to believe or accept that when one person in the community suffers all, including the offender, suffers.
 
Technically a crime is defined as an unlawful activity and a criminal is one who violates a law. An unlawful activity can include some of those activities which directly affect others, those which offend the moral sensitivity of those in power and those which threaten the power base of leaders.
 
It is unlawful for a person to steal a loaf of bread from a retail store. It is not unlawful for the owner of a company such as Amazon to make billions in profit while opposing the creations of unions.
 
It is good businesses and not criminal to convince customers to pay a large price for a cup of coffee while opposing the creation of unions which protect workers.
It is good business to hire behavior psychologists to design products such as breakfast cereals which appeal to an individual’s childhood associations even if that product is unhealthy.  One could fill a book with examples of activity which harm a segment of society but which are not criminal and another book with examples of activity which harm or offend others and are considered criminal.
 
All of us have broken a law with potential serious consequences and not labeled a criminal. For example I accidentally ran a red light which resulted in my car and another car being totaled.  The occupants of the other car suffered relatively minor injuries. If, however, they had died or had serious injuries I might have been convicted as a criminal of homicide and jailed.  I was, however, issued a ticket and did did not receive a criminal label. Obviously I was seriously negligent.  
 
If an employer mistreats employees and makes a lot of money some of which he or she then returns to the community for art projects such as symphonies, a hospital or  charity he or she is considered a philanthropist and may be honored by the community. 
 
The point is: Who is labeled a criminal is arbitrary. Labeling someone a criminal and treating them as a bad person may and often does result in guaranteeing that one is severely hindered in being allowed access to financial and health resources.
 
         A great many factors can  result in a person being unable to consider or take into account the fact that their behavior adversely affects others members and in the long term, themselves. This includes many biological factors, past trauma, environment and a host of others.
 
I suspect that many who are reading this blog are now thinking of the many in the United States which engage in mass killings.  Many consider these vicious criminals and call for the death penalty. A few label the gun manufacturers who creates and sell weapons intended for rapid fire killings criminals. Others believe gun manufactures are successful capitalists - employers who contribute to the overall economic health of the community. 
 
Many are suggesting that the current incarceration system in the United States is not accomplishing the goal it intends and the system should be reformed.  Most of those reformers would maintain the current system but better prepare incarcerated individuals to re-enter society.  I maintain that the entire system of labeling criminals; of arbitrarily assigning the label of criminal to some who are not able to consider or seemingly care how their behavior affects the others while rewarding others who do not consider or care how their behavior affects others is an unworkable system. 
 
Often, we find that many religious or spiritual leaders recognized the fact of our common imperfect humanness long before more scientific studies identify the factors which affect the thought and behavior process of the brain.  I venture to guess that all of us could, if honest, list examples of hurting others this week; of treating others as less than; of taking out our frustration on some official or clerk; of becoming impatient; of passing by the homeless; of avoiding the labeled criminal; of thinking that some person who committed a mass murder deserves to die.
 
 Most religions have some prescribed rituals which require an admittance of one’s humanness and offer repentance and forgiveness.   In the Christian church, in addition to these practices being prescribed as a daily ritual, Lent - the season leading up to Easter - is set aside as a period of fasting, repentance and forgiveness. There is no listing of sins; no point system for particular sins - ways of hurting self and others; no specific mention of brain dysfunction which limits or prohibits ability to see or understand the need for repentance.  This is simply a recognition that all of us have been hurtful and deserve forgiveness. 
 
If we want to create a true system of justice; if we want to live out the spiritual prescriptions regarding forgiveness we must accept the limitations of particular human brains.  Some of our brains will be unable to heal and consider the needs of others.  Some of our brains will make it unsafe for us to live in the general society. Some of us will need to be in a secure medical facility where we are treated with the same love and respect as someone with a broken bone.  If we are serious about creating a fair, just and loving society we will expand the concept of illness.   We will treat all those who cannot consider that harming others is self harm with the same loving care we treat those with identified brain tumors, dementia, and other brain causes of brain limitations.  Until we do so our judicial system will remain selective and, thus meaningless.
 
Written February 26, 2023
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
 
 
 
 
 
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​Sunday Musings - February 19, 2023
 
The dust
 
I have been dismantling the home of a treasured friend of the thousand particles of memories we all leave in each item.   Food, kitchen ware, clothes, photos, other tokens of love and reminders of peoples, places and things give form to the energy which created a home within the walls, nooks and crannies which now await the arrival of the energy of those who will soon call this place home; the energy which creates the mortar which fills the space between the roof and the cement floor of the basement.
 
The body of my friend is now ashes resting in an urn until its arrival in New Jersey and Estonia.  It too returns to dust as does all the other items which held the energy she collected from Estonia, Germany, Finland, England, Wales, Alaska, China, the Nile, other places in Africa, Iceland, the Amazon and many other places.
 
This dust soon becomes the energy which forms the bones of the homes around the world.  In a very real way my friend - her courage, curiosity, passion, willingness to love, keen mind, laughter and joy - will now help form the mortar of many other homes,
 
I think of the dust of the homes which are no more in Turkey, Syria, Ukraine and all over the world.  That dust will be collected by planes, ships, birds and the very wind of Mother Earth to join other dust which become the new homes which eventually returns to dust.
 
My home is also created out of the dust of all whose moments have passed. This dust resides in photos, paintings, dishes, book, furniture, clothes and many other icons of love which collectively create that intangible I call home.
 
The dust of many who are no longer sharing this human life journey tickle my memory.  Just within the last few months I have said goodbye to the Illusion of permanence in this life journey to Vilja, Denis, Beverly, Catherine, Greg, Dave, and a host of others.
 
We weep, wail, cry, curse and laugh as if we are surprised that there is no more than this moment.  How quickly we forget, ignore or just wander off as if there are other moments to love, laugh, or build a memory.  How often we forget that all we must do is to show up in this moment with love while we incidentally smooth out the mortar holding the bricks of this journey.
 
We find a million excuses to not show up to this moment.  We get busy with life and, thus, ironically miss life; forgetting to stay still long enough to leave the dust which provides the mortar which holds the home where the moment waits to embrace love.
 
Written February 19, 2023
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org.

Sunday Musings - February 5, 203
When God quits learning


The average age of those attending Christian churches in the United States keeps rising.  If this trend continues, in the not too distant future, the Christian Church in the United States will wither and eventually die.   At the same time the average age of those attending Muslim services and regularly practicing that religion are in their twenties. (Pew research center).


With both the Muslims and the Christian Churches there is a concerted effort by some to hold on to “traditional/conservative beliefs without regard to what advancing knowledge of science is teaching us about the spiritual world.  For a variety of historical and cultural reasons Muslims, as a group, are apparently being more successful in this effort although there are certainly plenty of Muslims who, in their very private lives, question the Muslim beliefs on such subjects as the role of women in society and sexuality.


There are also a variety of theological positions about the role of violence in creating a more just society.  This is true for those wanting to remain within the general framework of the Christian, Muslim and religious frameworks.


Historically, we humans have posited many different concepts or ideas of the purpose of this life journey. Often, in viewing the seemingly absurdity of this brief life journey, many have posited a god or gods who are using this life journey as a test or to have fun at the expense of we humans.  If we now look back over the past 6000 or so years there are many names for god or the gods with varying degrees of acceptance of our human nature and various requirements for how we humans obtain and retain their favor.  Sometimes it is envisioned that one’s reward is in this life journey and other times it is envisioned that one’s reward for living life which is pleasing to god or the gods is eternal rewards.  To fail to please god or the gods may, some believe, result in enteral damnation or living in limbo between “heaven and hell”.


Sadly, those who limit knowledge of God and his or her demands to a few wise people (frequently men) cannot envision these wise people attending classes on history, science, physics, biology or anthropology.   Once intoned as sacred beliefs no new knowledge or understanding seems to be allowed.  While other plants, animals or even larger ecological systems adjust and are perfectly content with how they affect and are affected by changing knowledge or conditions, we humans often hold steadfastly to a concept of a god or gods and what he, she or it demands.   It is as if we humans are determined to not allow our god or gods to attend graduate school where new visions and understandings are possible.  That God or gods, must not open to the possibility of the equality of women; to the fact that sexual attraction for all animals, including humans, has great potential for fun as well as procreation; that gender is fluid; that energy which is neither created nor destroyed takes many forms; that quantum physics provide a different way of understanding the universe; that there may be many possible universes; that love is always a more effective servant than hate; that sharing/socialism benefits all; that art in its many forms births the soul; that religious frameworks are but temporary constructs; that all institutions must follow the same trajectory as other life forms - being born, living and dying to make room for the rebirth; that math is merely a fun language to talk about relationships; that one cannot accurately envision a person, organization, institution, object, or even mineral without honoring the system as a whole; that possibly god or the gods are also a system of unfathomable number of parts playing with each other in a passionate symphony of notes, some of which may seem dissonant.


The real question is what it will take for us humans to honor the need for god or the gods to apply and be accepted into graduate school; be that in a formal institution or the school which encompasses the act of being.  I am not suggesting that all wise people we may label as prophets should be ignored or discarded.  I am suggesting they are not god or the gods; that my homeless neighbor, my three year old friend, the most violent of gang member, the one who is labeled as mentally ill may be the “professor”, the scientist who is teaching the class god or the gods most need to attend.


Written February 5,2023
Jimmy F Pickett
Coachpickett.org