Six-year old Sam learns about character
 
Since I had been away for four days and, of course, my six-year-old neighbor is in school, I had not seen her for over a week.  Thus, I was especially happy to see her coming over this morning to visit before she had to leave for school.
 
Me: Good morning Sam.  I sure am glad to see you. I have missed you.
 
Sam:  Hi, Uncle Jim. I missed you too. Did you see snow in Colorado?
 
Me:  Yes, there was some on the ground in Denver when I arrived and a lot on top of the mountains.   The day after I left they got a lot more snow. 
 
Sam: I miss snow, but I do not like the cold Uncle Jim.
 
Me:  Me either Sam. It felt really cold in Colorado.  Brrrr…
 
Sam:  Who were you visiting Uncle Jim?  I forget.
 
Me: I was visiting  my brother’s oldest son, Wendell, his wife Toni, and their two children, Austin and Samantha.
 
Sam:  Oh yeah.  I am named after Samantha aren’t I Uncle Jim.
 
Me: Yes you are.  You remind me a lot of Samantha when she was your age.
 
Sam:  How old is she now Uncle Jim?
 
Me:  Samantha is 16 and Austin is 17.  Both are now driving and are in high school.
 
Sam;  Do you like them better than me Uncle Jim?  Is Sam prettier than me?
 
Me: She is beautiful, but so are you and no, I do not like them better. I love all three of you.
 
Sam: But you talk more to me, right Uncle Jim?
 
Me:  Yes, because you live next door and they live far away.
 
Sam: Austin is her brother?  Does he pick on her as much as my brother Paul picks on me?
 
Me:  I think you pick on Paul as much as he picks on you!  Yes, they pick on each other but, just like you and Paul, they love each other a lot.
 
Sam:  Why do you like them Uncle Jim?
 
Me: Well, at first I loved them just because I love their parents and they were cute and sweet.   Babies are easy to love.
 
Sam: I did not like Eldon when he was little. He cried and had stinky diapers a lot!
 
Me:  And now?
 
Sam:  He is okay. He does not cry so much and he does not smell bad most of the time!
 
Me:   Yes, he is almost three now.
 
Sam:  Yes, he is more like a person now Uncle Jim.
 
Me: What do you mean by that Sam?
 
Sam:  Well, sometimes he can share, he gives nice hugs, and he is funny.
 
Me: I think you mean that he is already beginning to develop some character.  Do you know what that word means Sam?
 
Sam:  No. Do I have to get the dictionary?
 
Me:  Yes, let’s do.  Here I put it back on a higher shelf.  I will get it. Here it is.
 
Sam:  How do you spell caratrer Uncle Jim?
 
Me:  It sounds like a k but the first two letters are  ch. Ch is often pronounced as “K.”    So it is char ac ter.  
 
Sam:  “Charact ter?
 
Me:  Great.  There is only one “t”.   It is char ac ter.
 
 
Sam:  Here it is.
 
Me:  Okay!  Shall  we read the definition Sam?
 
Sam:  (begins to read from the Oxford dictionary)
·      The men tal and mor al qual  

This is hard Uncle Jim.
 
Me:  Yes. The mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual. That is confusing to you isn’t it Sam?
 
Sam:  I am only six Uncle Jim!  (crosses her arms and sighs)
 
Me:  I know.   It is saying that the first definition of character is how a person behaves.  For example, part of your character is that you tell the truth, you are kind, you do your homework, and you are smart.
 
Sam: They could have said that!
 
Me:  Let’s look at the rest of the definition.
 
·      The distinctive nature of something.

A lot of the things in your house are different than mine. For example, we both have lamps in the living room but they are different from each other. So, each of the lamps has character.
 
Sam:  People are different from each other. Paul is not the same as me! (has  disgusting look on her face)
 
Me: Yes. That is  the third definition. Very good Sam.
·      The quality of being individual, typically in an interesting or unusual way.

·      Strength and originality in a person’s nature.

That last one is sort of confusing isn’t it Sam?
 
Sam:  Yes (sigh!)
 
Me:  Remember when you were friendly to your Egyptian and Syrian friends even when some others kids were not.  You knew that was the right thing to do and you did it. 
 
Sam:  I was glad that I did that Uncle Jim. It was not nice for the other kids to ignore them just because they were different. 
 
Me:  I agree Sam. Being kind is part of your character.  We could  also say that Eldon is beginning to develop some character.
 
Sam:  What about Austin and Samantha. Do they have character?
 
Me:  Yes, they have a lot of character. They both have very active brains.  Samantha is not only beautiful, but she is kind and gets really excited about  plays, art, cooking, and other things like that.   She is very open with her emotions. This is one of the first things that you might notice about her. I think her emotions pull the rest of her along. Kind of like her body was the wagon and something like a horse was pulling the wagon. Samantha is the wagon and her emotions are the horse.   
 
Sam: That is funny Uncle Jim.   What about Austin, Uncle Jim?
 
Me:   Austin is very kind to people, plants, and animals. He notices what is going on  and takes care of people, plants, and animals.  I think Austin is the wagon and his heart and mind together are the horse. He not only notices what is going on, but he also  notices how the pieces of things and groups of people fit together.
 
Austin. What about me, Uncle Jim?
 
Me:  Well, you are six and I think sometimes your emotions are the horse and sometimes your heart is the horse. You are also kind, very smart, and funny.
 
Sam:   But which horse do you like best Uncle Jim.
 
Me:  I love them all Sam.  I love it when our emotions help us stay excited about life and make us sad when someone  or something is hurt.  I also love it when we are kind and make things and people feel better or fix people and things.  We humans needs a lot of different horses.
 
Oh my! Here comes the school bus Sam.  We will talk more about character another time.  I am really glad you came over to visit this morning. I missed you.  How about a hug?
 
Sam gives Uncle Jim  a big hug, grabs her backpack, and runs out the door.
 
Written November 18, 2015

Research at University of Missouri
 
I understand, after reading on line and in a small article in the St. Petersburg’s, November 17, 2015 edition of the Tampa Tribune, that Mr. Bowen Loftin, has resigned as the Chancellor of the University of Missouri. This followed the resignation of the President Timothy Wolfe whose leadership in confronting racism on campus had been questioned.  Friends who have a daughter attending the school tell me Mr. Loftin was “well loved by the student body and resigned only out of a sense of responsibility even though his office was not the one being challenged.”  Mr. Loftin is now going to head up the school’s research program which will involve a pay reduction:  $344,000 versus the $459,000.00 he was receiving as chancellor.  From what my friends are telling me, the fact that he is going to continue to be a vital part of the University community is good.   This being the case, I applaud both him and the school for the decision.  I would, however, like to question the amount of money being spent on some of the salaries: the salary disparities at colleges and universities at the very institutions which are educating the future leaders of our nation.  If we cannot create a more just and equitable community at these institutions what hope is there that the graduates are going to assume their roles in creating a more just and inclusive society. I suspect that if we want to make a society more inclusive we must look at many issues, including issues such as income disparities.  Colleges and universities could be an incubator for exploring how we can create a viable economy and a more just one.  The trend towards rising tuition resulting in acutely burdensome student debt, and extremely high salaries for many of the top officials (salaries of heads of sports teams could easily be a separate blog) of colleges and universities is not consistent with being such an incubator.
 
Out of curiosity I goggled the admission office of the University of Missouri to get figures on the cost of attending school there.  I was informed that for in-state students the costs are roughly as follows:
         Tuition:               $10,586.00
         Room and board:  $10,062.00
         Books and supplies $ 1,124.00
         Personal expenses: $ 3,742.00
         Total:                            $25,514.00 
For out-of-state tuition,  add approximately $15,000.00.
 
I also looked at salary figures at the University of Missouri.  There are 17,311 employees, 188 of which make a low of $7.50 an hour and 215 who make over $200,000.00 an hour.  Those 215 are paid a total of $43,000,000.00. The highest paid person is paid $637,000.00 per annum.  Many of the teaching staff is being paid, in my mind, a reasonable amount.   A cursory glance through the figures led me to think that the average teaching salary ranges from $50,000.00 to $100,000.00 per annum (this is only a guess from scrolling through the salary figures of 17,311 employees.  I did not attempt to determine what other benefits are paid to various staff members.
 
It occurs to me that there are a number of issues which Mr. Loftin and his staff could research.  Might I respectfully suggest that he and his staff elicit the assistance of staff from other departments including the low paid graduate assistants?  The topics might include:
·      The basic nature of systems.

·      The work of Dr. Gary Slutkin on using the disease epidemic to understand patterns of violence.

·      The relationship between equitable income and staff morale overall.

·      The relationship between staff morale and student morale.

·      The relationship between academic achievement the role of representatives from various cultural and racial groups.

·      The relationship between psychological health of the campus and the role of representatives from various cultural and racial groups.

·      The relationship between the emotional/psychological health of students of color and the employee roles of people of color.

·      The relationship between the decrease and elimination of the bully  (physical, verbal and cyber bulling) and the equitable treatment of the staff.

·      The relationship between the distribution of staff incomes and incidences of campus violence.

 
At the core there needs to be a more astute appreciation or respect for the functioning of systems.   An article by Robin Grille highlights the systems approach to reducing and/or eliminating the role of bully within a system.  It seems that it is our habit to pick out the person who has bullied and name them as the problem. Whether it is an academic environment or on the world stage with groups such as the Islamic State, it is clear to me that we need look historically and currently at the system if we want to reduce or eliminate the bully role.   Is it possible that the profile of the terrorist is similar to that of the bully? Is it possible that we could take a step back and analyze the attraction and power of the bully terrorist?  Is it possible that the bully is not born and does not thrive as an isolated person or small group of people but as a part of a larger system?  Is it possible that a  more accurate diagnosis of the problem is necessary to affect a cure or even to initiate treatment?
 
A quote from the article by Ms. Grille might be helpful:
 
Natural Born Bullies by Robin Grille (Naturalchild.org)
 
“A holistic and therefore more effective approach to "treating" school bullies would be to compassionately examine the environment in which the violent responses were learned, and then to work co-operatively with family members to alter the dynamics of this environment. If violence is an adaptive behavior learned within a family system, it makes no sense to teach a bully not to be violent, only to send him or her back to the original system that they are powerless to change. It must be understood that bullying behavior is a reaction to powerlessness. To consider bullies as offenders is superficial, when in fact, they are victims. The fundamental way in which the family operates must change, through exposure to alternative means to authoritarian, punitive or "power-over" methods of child-control.
Systems-theory based family therapy models are non-blaming, they recognize and affirm that each family member is doing their best given the resources available to them. New options for more enhancing ways to interact can be taught, without finding fault in any individual. Why not have a policy that makes it standard procedure to invite parents or careers of school bullies to the school? The purpose would be to identify any areas where parents might need support through stressful situations, to train parents in assertive and non-authoritarian parenting methods, and to empower parents by including them co-operatively in programs to assist their children.”
 
At the University of Missouri, the problem was identified to be the unhappy students due to racism.  The students then blamed the president Mr. Wolfe.  Mr. Loftin, as chancellor, also voluntarily accepted responsibility.  I strongly suspect that if those assigned responsibility for studying such issues as racism in the university community look just at that surface instances of possible racism, nothing substantive will change.  It appears that one of the basic tenets or core beliefs of the those responsible for overall policies of the university is that all people are not equally worthy of respect.  For example, some employee are not deserving of a living wage while other earn an extremely high salary.  Those who can afford the total cost of attending the University are different than those who cannot. (To be fair I do not know how many scholarships they offer or how it is determined whom, other than athletes (assumption), get scholarships or grants.
 
Perhaps we could allow the work of Ms. Grille and others to tickle our thinking about the relationship between bulling, racism, salary inequalities, high tuition, and related expenses, and the overall health of the university system.  It seems to me that colleges and universities could be the perfect incubators for exploring such relationships.
 
Written November 17, 2015  Revised November 19, 2015
 

Has Jim wised up yet?
 
It seems as if  all of my life many people have been waiting for me to “wise up”.  What one can infer from when they are implying that Jim’s view or understanding of certain local, national and international political situations is lacking in any semblance of intelligence.   It is often the opinion that Jim “does not think” and thus does not appreciate what is necessary in the real world.  “Of course, everyone hates the  “necessity” of using violence, but really, Jim do you not realize there are really bad dictators, terrorists and others who must be shown that their behavior will not be tolerated.  If you would just think instead of reacting you would know your Pollyanna response is not realistic.”   Although there are many versions of this admonition or attempt to educate me, the basic message is always the same. 
 
The very sad and tragic events in France this weekend provided another opportunity for friends to have some hope that I would finally see the light.  The pronouncement by the French government that “this is war” was heard throughout the world and surely by the “terrorists”.   The fact that France and other countries are already engaged in going after and killing those they have identified as the enemy is somehow not an act of war because it is the response to the behavior of the terrorists. The problem is, of course, that the so called terrorists are claiming to be responding to a long history of violence and an attempt to force them to behave in a way which is consistent with what civilized people know is the right way to act.  
 
Neither “side” seems to have any concept that the other side will respond to violence with violence which will result in more violence which  . . . Of course, one side has martyrs eager to die so that they can join the God of their understanding and the other side has those who  are more than willing to  risk their lives for the good of their cause and country.  The difference somehow eludes me, but then I have not “wised up”.
 
On Monday, November 16 I was reading the Saint Petersburg’s edition of the Tampa Tribune.  Howard Altman had a column or an article on page 1 of the Metro section entitled “Drones ready for leap into a new age”.  His article was about an upcoming conference in Berlin “geared toward the unmanned aerial systems of the future.  He quoted Skip Parish, as saying, “They’ll be smaller, fly in swarms and will soon be firing lasers, says Parish, a Sarasota inventor and drone technology innovator. Parish will lead a panel at NATO’s Concept Development and Experimentation Conference, which kicks off today at the Swissotel in Berlin. ..The theme of the seminar Parish will attend is “Unmanned Autonomous Systems Counter-measures.”  Fortunately the participants are to discuss the “operational, legal, ethical, trust aspects associated with the development, implementation and use of such capabilities in support of today’s and tomorrow’s conduct of warfare…”
 
“There are three issues that must be resolved as we expand our use of robotic and autonomous systems (RAS) in military operations … “ (For the purpose of this discussion discussing the three issues Parish will address is not important since none of them concern  whether or not new forms of violence will lead to long term peace.
 
Apparently, as near as this poor limited mind of mine can figure out, autonomous in reference to drones refers to drones which will not have a pilot sitting in some remote setting far away “piloting” it.  It or they would be pre-programed.    Some are asking “what happens when a machine goes rogue” …Or if there is a glitch in the software.”  Obviously these are important questions.   It seems to me that other questions must be raised and perhaps could be raised at this and other conferences on issues related to we humans destroying each other. These questions should, in my opinion, include:
·      Has or is violence likely to lead to long-term peace?
·      What happens when some person or organization figures out how to hack into the drone system so that it turns on the one(s) who sent it?  Do we really not think that is not going to happen?  What is the lead-time between use of a new secure system and the ability to hack into it?
·      What is the long-term price for long distance warfare?  Long distance warfare has, of course, been in use since the first capability to shoot or bomb from an airplane or to use any other weapons which prevented one from having to deal with the fact that one is killing others just like them.  There is a very good reason that soldiers do not like to find family photos in the pockets of someone they just killed. That is the same reason why we invent labels for Tom and Bob and Joan and Irwin and Jack.  It is much easier to kill a Jap, a Kraut, the Viet Kong, Charlie, an insurgent, a terrorist or a gook. 
·      What is to prevent the interference of various radio waves when there are an incalculable number being used for all manner of devises including drones for transporting goods and equipment?
·      Do we kill off  all boy and girl babies whom “we” determine are a potential enemy?  One is reminded of past times, to wit,” Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: "Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live." (Exodus 2:22)?
·      Given that the new neighbor is developed via the internet, how is it possible to kill off everyone in that neighbor?
 
I am also again reminded of the admonition contained in the New Testament (Luke 6:22), “How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,' when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.”   Of course this in turn reminds me that I had best be more attuned to the ways in which I deceive myself or the ways I critique others so that I do not have to look at the ways in which I continue to judge, punish, or blame others.  Mercy!  It seems so much easier to focus on those stupid people who think more violence is the best way respond to violence or those who are waiting for Jim to wise up.
 
So, once again, it turns out that “those people” who think I am a Pollyanna, emotional reactor are just mirrors for how I judge or dismiss those who disagree with me. Hamm,,,  Indeed, perhaps Jim does need to wise up!
 
Written November 16, 2015
 
 
 
 

 
Grow, grow, grow
 
I am on a flight from Dulles International Airport to Denver, Colorado.  I started out this morning at the Tampa, Florida International Airport.  
 
I know that travel is no longer pleasant for many people. I am very appreciative of how exhausted traveling can be for people who must travel a lot for business and who are constantly attempting to meet deadlines  and/or quotas.  Fortunately, although I frequently have a fairly fixed scheduled when I travel which does not allow me to often take advantage of the overbook offers of free flights or  a dollar allowance for future flights plus rebooking on another flight, I seldom have the pressure of deadlines and never that of quotas.
 
Still, I find all travel, whether bus, car, train, plane, or even bicycles expansive of my energy, my mind, and my heart.   Of these,  traveling by car, particularly if I am traveling alone, is the least expansive although even there I am more likely to attend to some story, interview, or new music than I might not “hear” at home where I multitask more than I do when I am in the car.   I like to convince myself that I can attend to  whatever is on NPR and stay very focused on driving although some of the more recent research about using hands free devices to talk on the phone while driving may prove my assumption to be incorrect. 
 
I have always been a person who seems to need external stimulation to get the synapses in my brain to be playful and, thus, creative.   Certainly there is that random, creative thought the stimulation of which might be due to the changing greens as the light changes on the trees and other foliage, (just the other day my mind was off and running as I noticed the many shades of greens which then all turned to different shades as the light patterns changed), an animal in motion, or even the “sound” of the silence which one can notice following a fresh snowfall.  My synapses seem the most playful when set in motion by some person, via a book, a talk, an action,  or the many stimulants in places such as a crowded airport. There may or may not be a verbal exchange with anyone in the airport or on the plane although there frequently is. The mere sight of people painted every hue of color, the sound of language which is not English or has an accent which is different than the vanilla accents to which I am exposed in my very white, middle class, suburban villa complex is enough to charge my synapses.   I love it when the grounds care takers are at my villa complex because they bring more diversity of color, culture, and language.  (One might and often do ask why I somehow thought this complex would be different than suburban community which I have briefly lived in previously.  I can only say that I obviously focused on other attractive features of the villa complex including the fact that some very dear friends live there.)
 
Sameness and lack of synapse action is not comfortable for me unless I am intentionally putting myself or attempting to put myself into a meditative state. Even then, as one of my spiritual heroes, Pema Chodron, states, “I seem to have a very busy mind.  I am always thinking.” Thank goodness she and other teachers share this. Otherwise I might think that I am hopeless and unable to  quiet my mind long enough to listen. Yet, in our very busy minds there is always something going on. Now, don’t get me wrong. It might be nothing more than internal whining about some shared or perceived discomfort, fanciful thinking about how I could become a wealthy socialist with a clear conscience, or some other non-creative, non-playful behavior of the synapses of my brain.  No, it is almost always some external sight, sound, or action which forces my brain to turn on the more creative play of the electrical circuits.    Airports, busy train stations, bus station, festivals,  some libraries (although they frown on conversations), some public parks, and some coffee shops are likely to get my mind working overtime.  It is very interesting because once I begin writing, I might not be consciously aware of my surrounding.   I have  often written in coffee shops or other public places in Amsterdam, Seattle, London, Tallin, Helsinki, San Francisco, Evansville, Indiana, Louisville, Pittsburgh, and Wheeling to name just a few.   Probably airports remain near the top of my favorite places.    Sadly, since the events of 9/11 and the subsequent heightened security at airports, one cannot just go to the airport to hang out. One has to be a ticketed passenger if one is to get beyond the ticket counters and the  security check-in stations. I am fortunate enough to travel several times a year.  When not traveling, I am mobile enough to travel to various locations in the Tampa, Florida area where I am living.  Since I have been writing a daily blog which is a little different than journal writing, I have taken to going to either the public library or Panera’s.  It  would be presumptions of me to say that I have been adopted as a member of the apparent long standing morning Panera coffee clutch and the  other individuals who use Panera’s as their home office.   Still they know my name and I know most of their first names.  At least two or three times a week someone whom I have only had a nodding acquaintance with approaches me or I them and an actual conversation ensues.   Just the other day  a priest came over to talk. I had assumed he was a Roman Catholic Priest but, as it turned out, he is a Priest in an Independent Catholic Church (who knew there were such animals) which wants to retain the core beliefs of the Catholic church (beliefs and not dogma), but also wants to be more inclusive than the Roman Catholic Church.   This morning on the plane from Tampa to Dulles, I was chatting with a young man who, as it turns out, has a degree in electrical engineering. The company for which he works installs large  viewing screens  such as the type at mega churches or concerts.    Now the part of this young man which was exposed – neck, arms, hands and even fingers sports a great many tattoos which, if not careful, I might think told me something about him.   He confessed that some were gotten when he was a foolish young man. I know, of course, that many people, including myself have many different periods of their lives. Perhaps one might even describes them as different life journeys in the same lifetime. Yet, if not careful, I can  still think in terms of dualities and miss the opportunity to think outside the box – to keep my creativity active. 
 
Most of us know that the only way that we are going to achieve any semblance of peace and justice is to sit down with each other without any labels. In Israel, Palestine, in parts of Afghanistan, Iraq, Egypt, Russia and, yes, even in the United States  and London, there are diverse groups of people setting aside the labels each has learned or been assigned and meeting as people.  Without fail, when any of us anywhere in the world allow ourselves to be with each other without the labels we know we are the same – that there is no essential difference between us although, of course, we have different talents to share.  The differences are all  learned  or taught as  sacred truths – as God’s truths.  Poor God.  He/she/it has so many contradicting truths ascribed to him/her/it that there must be a holy computer system to just to keep track of all of them.  I am sure that there is a position of chief computer nerd for the God of one’s understanding. Mercy!
 
What is art?  How do children learn? How do we know what is moral?  What does it mean to be moral?  What is our purpose in this life journey?  Is rap music really music?  Can country music be more inclusive?  What counts as classical music?  Is there “a way” to dance?
 
Goodness.  When I am interacting  with, sitting with, being in the same space with others who whose skin hue and tone, age, gender, religion, cultural background, music education, profession, or ableness is different than mine, I have the opportunity to grow, grow, grow!
 
Written November 12, 2015

Responding to the victim
 
Oh dear. Silly me.  I drank coffee last night just because my friends ordered it and it sounded good.  I thought that perhaps it would not keep me awake even though I already knew my body was out of sync because of the time difference between Florida where I currently live and Denver where I am visiting friends and my nephew and his family.
Sure enough. I did not sleep well, and I am extra tried today.  Of course, the fact that I got up at 4:00 a.m. on Thursday so that I could do some emails prior to leaving for the airport is another factor.   
Obviously I am not a victim. I made the flight reservation for an early morning flight. I made a decision to drink coffee and to eat different food for dinner than I would normally have at that time of the day.  I made a decision to drink a caffeinated drink late in the evening. I am blessed to have a brain, which seems to connect A with B with C and so forth.  I am acutely aware that the thinking of many other people is different.   Many people I know seem to connect A to D meaning that their thinking process is not logical in the same way that mine is.  Their experience is that life happens to them regardless of the choices that they make.  Often those who experience the world as victims of life are angry, resentful, and bitter.  For some reason, they are not able to think and believe, “Oh, I made decision A which resulted in action B which, in turn, resulted in action C and so on and so forth.”  Instead their minds say, “Oh, X happened to me because of that terrible person G or whomever.”  Or they might deduce, “Oh X happened. That is because I am such an idiot.  I should never have been born.” The implication in this later way of thinking is that their DNA, a higher power, their mother who ate the wrong food or did not sing the right songs to them, is responsible for them being an idiot.”  It still comes back to a way of thinking which allows for the fact that the best we humans can do is to make decisions based on how our mind is working today and the information we have available which one can use to make a decision.
·      Life is a series of experiments, which began from the day that we are born.   Very little children experiment with how various behaviors affects others or how objects affect them or the environment.  Of course they do not yet have a vocabulary with words such as gravity but, in essence, they are experimenting with such concepts.

Certainly it is true that some people have significant challenges very early in life.   I was just talking to a friend this morning who discovered when he was a teenager he had a sister born to a woman who had enormous struggles beginning with being severely sexually abused at a very early age.   She was also raped as an adult – not by my friends’ father. Another person to whom I was talking was born in a country actively at war and very early had many dangerous challenges and responsibilities.  Yet she eventually got through college, medical school, and became a licensed doctor.  Another friend of mine spent a significant part of her childhood in a refugee camp.  She also eventually became a doctor and has enjoyed a very blessed life.  I could give many more examples of folks who began life with few emotional and financial supports and, yet, have been able to make a good life for themselves and are very grateful.  I also know those that, on the surface, have every reason to be grateful and happy and, yet, are still miserable people who are waiting for something or someone to change their experience of life.
How can we explain the differences in outcomes?  We could engage in the old nature vs. nurture argument.  We might identify some dysfunction in their brain, which keeps them from experiencing life differently.   We might identify some other factors which affect how their brain functions.  Any “educated” person knows that we see, hear, and feel with our brain.  Yet, there is that other mysterious part of our biological system which we sometimes call the soul or the heart or the essence or the internal divine or …  Whatever we call that part of we humans it is the part which allows us to experience a positive connection with self, others, and the universe. Some use the term God, Allah, the Divine, Elohim, and  I am to both describe the sensation of being connected and that which explains the connection.  Some, such as Thomas Moore, talk about the “via negative” that which is unnamable that is everywhere and nowhere (see books by Thomas Moore including A Religion of One’s Own or Care of the Soul:…, A Life at Work.
Artists refer to negative space – the space that is not the object. Musicians refer to the space between the notes almost as if the notes are describing each space using  timbre, loudness, and pitch.  Dancers use the space created by the movement of the body to touch that part of us which is everything and nothing. 
It is this negative space; this all-encompassing nothingness, which becomes the entire universe, which the sad, miserable, victim person to whom only bad things happens, is not able to experience.   If not careful when engaging or being engaged by this person or when we recognize it in ourselves, we are tempted to respond to what they say with words, notes, or movement.  Perhaps we need to respond to that which is not communicated – that which is missing in what they communicate   - that which some would call the God factor.   Most of us have known a child or even an adult who is able to do this - seemingly without effort. They just smile and send beams of loving energy to the person. This is not done in a mocking or critical way.  We have all known such a person or persons.   Sometimes we attribute this response to a lack of intelligence, a failure to pick up on the unpleasant energy, or even a mental illness.   I do not think that is the case.  Certainly there are people who are missing something because of one of the factors I have mentioned.  These are those rare people who seemingly always experience  “view” the negative space and thus experience the whole no matter how negative the other person.  Many of us do not have this gift and we must guard against spending too much time with someone whose victim energy is likely to suck us up into that space of forms and apparent substance.  Others are able to nurture that part of themselves who can be present with such love that, for a moment, the disconnected person is able to connect – to be with.  For some meditation, quiet time, something which some call prayer can strengthen that part of us.  For others that will not be the case.
 
I do not think that any of us choose to come into this life journey to be miserable for however long we are here in this form.   Some may be able to seemingly choose to be that loving presence to that which is not – to that negative space which is all embracing.
 
Written November 13, 2015

Introduction  to another world
 
It is Thursday, the 12 of November, 2015.  I am soon off to airport where I will  get on flight for Denver where I will visit my nephew and his family as well as a couple of friends.   There was a time when I often traveled to Denver to visit my good friend, Jim ,as well as some other friends.   Jim has now been deceased for some years.  For many years Jim, a retired professor, and I wrote long letters to each other every week. Jim saved both his letters and my replies in a three ring binders.  When he died there were several volumes of these letters. I declined an offer to receive and keep them.   The letters, although interesting to us, were not that remarkable and would  have made pretty boring reading for anyone else and one more box of “stuff” for my son to do something with.  In our letters and during our personal visits, we talked about mutual friends, our thoughts about music, books, political events, and the  behavior of we humans.  We also talked about family, especially about Jim’s sister although Jim did not like to talk about family issues which evoked strong emotions.  It was obvious that he adored his concert pianist sister. He did his best to look after other remaining family members although some struggled. His family of choice included friends such as Bill with whom I will visit over breakfast on Sunday.   
 
Sometimes I worried that Jim drank more than I thought healthy, and I selfishly fussed because he did not ever have anything other than instant coffee at this house.   Mostly I just enjoyed his company and his amazing knowledge and appreciation for good music, art, and literature.  Some weeks he would write and suggest that we read or reread all of Shakespeare or he might suggest that we listen of all the music of a particular composer so that we could discuss the work of the author or composer.   All his albums and later his CDs were organized by composer and type of music. His books were just as well organized.  Jim was often in the professor role with me as we recognized that my education in music and the classics was very limited compared to his.  He once, after drinking more than usual, confessed that we could never have a fully equal relationship as lovers or partners because we were just not in the same class. He later denied having said this or  not meaning it (it was just the alcohol). The truth is that class in that sense was very important to him. Indeed, we were not in the same class in the sense that he meant.   Still, we continued to enjoy time together although it was up to me to travel to Denver. He refused to travel to Pittsburgh. In fact, other than an annual trip to the San Francisco area for many years  to visit dear friends, by the time I met him he no longer traveled. I did not mind traveling and Jim would take care of most of the expenses while I was visiting to compensate for the fact that I had paid for the plane ticket.
 
It is true that I am one of those people who has a relatively limited knowledge of art and music although I learned to have an intense passion for both. Often in my later adult life, I have enjoyed season tickets to whatever symphony was closest.   I recently moved from Wheeling, WV which has its own very talented symphony orchestra with this marvelous conductor and very talented musicians.   Wheeling is also close to Pittsburgh which, as most people know, has a world famous symphony orchestra.   Having limited season tickets to the Pittsburgh Symphony was a treat that I allowed myself.  Actually, that is a lie.  My dear friend, Vilja, would buy both of us  partial season symphony tickets.  For many years that was her birthday gift to me.   I envied the fact she also had season tickets to the Pittsburgh Opera and occasionally, I would join her in attending a performance.  For years we also had season tickets to the Pittsburgh ballet, another world famous company, and later enjoyed season tickets to the dance series sponsored by the Pittsburgh Dance Council.  They bring in dance troupes from around the world.
 
It was my son’s mother, Beverly, who, when we were dating and later married, first introduced me to this wonderful world of classical music and art.   I was like a boy in a  candy store .  We met in Washington, DC where I had settled following the completion of my time with the U. S. Navy.  We both attended this historic old stone church, The National Presbyterian Church, which occupied a corner near Dupont Circle.  It was close to where I was living on the third flood of an old Brownstone row house which had been converted into apartments.  Later, under what would come to be called gentrification,  these would be reconverted to very prestigious and expensive one family homes, but at the time I was living there, the area had fallen into enough disrepair to make apartments in that area affordable.  The apartment I had on the 3rd flood was connected by a shared bathroom  to another small apartment.  Because the heat in DC can become oppressive and there was not air conditioning in this then low-cost apartment, if my neighbor and I left both of the doors to the bathroom open we could sometimes feel or imagine that we felt a slight zephyr.   My neighbor was a Japanese woman who wore a traditional Japanese Kimono. When she wanted to use the bathroom and if I was home she would come into my apartment, bow to me, and close the door. This performance was repeated when she was finished. 
 
Dear me,  my mind has once again meandered off on various tangents. It has a habit of taking off on its own seemingly opening internal memory files at random.  What was the original subject?  Ahh…   I know.  Thoughts of my friend Jim reminded me of the various gifts that friends have given me over the years. Since his primary gift was an even greater knowledge of and appreciation for music and the arts, I was reminded of the many other people in my life who have shared music, dance, paints, and other art forms with me.  I am been very fortunate to live in such cities as Washington, D.C. and Pittsburgh and to have access when living in New Jersey to all the wonderful forms of art available there – music, plays, dance painters, sculptures, pottery, architecture, and so much more.  I would discover  that each cultural tradition had its own art and was in itself an art form.  Although I had early on been introduced to the Native American heritage which I may share, I had not thought of it in terms of an art form.  Neither had I appreciated the artistry of my enormously creative father who would design wonderful patterns in tile floors, intricate pictures in wood, and marvelous dance in metal, among other art forms. My mother, if not artistic, was certainly magical in taking the raw materials of poverty and creating meals, clothes, and a living space
 
What is art? What makes something a work of art?  I suspect that art emerges when we shut off the filters and allow the essence of the world, which is contained within each of us, to emerge  on a canvas, within clay, in language, in drama, music, architectural creations, and in our dance; in the lovely and often exciting marriage of flavors which come from the kitchen or the camp fire.   Art is the soul kept or made alive. Art says I was here – we are here.  When I listen to the music created in the holocaust camps, I am enveloped in the richness of the hope and life which rises above or within the despair.
 
I still would often flunk music appreciation or art appreciation class. I cannot always  or even usually identify a piece of classical music after a couple of notes, although I can  instantly recognize Dolly Parton singing, the beat of a rumba, or the dance of the sugarplum fairy.  I cannot quote or even recognize the words of Shakespeare and even get confused about the difference between the words of various philosophers.  I am still most at home in the music of the brook which I enjoy from my first class seat on the rock in the middle of the brook, in the lovely symphony of the breeze as it pulls notes from the field of corn stalks, or the majestic redwoods. 
 
My Dutch friend, or I should say ex-friend, Peter was  right. I would never have the encyclopedic knowledge of the masters when we tour the Van Gogh or other museums in Amsterdam or were embraced by the permanent collection or a special exhibit in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.  If, in fact, class and the essence of a friendship is  that sort of knowledge, he was right to decide that our friendship no longer served any purpose.
 
Yet, I owe an enormous debt of gratitude for the patience of all those – my son’s mother, Jim in Denver, Peter in Amsterdam, and so many more who have introduced me to so many facets of myself – so many mirrors – and such a variety of dances done with musical instruments, paint, clay, dance, and words.  Some friendships have continued. Some of long gone because of death or just a natural ending to dance.  Each is exactly as it should have been.
 
Written November 12, 2015

The reason for the dress
 
It occurred to me this morning that many of the spiritual leaders we say that we admire wear a dress like garment - the Dali Lamia, Jesus, the Buddha, and the Pope.  Obviously, not all spiritual leaders are visible and the dress of some is more clearly more traditionally dress-like. It does seem as if, in many respects, it is appropriate for those wanting to get in closer touch with the nurturing part of themselves to don a type of garment which is in traditionally associated with the gender which, overall, is the more nurturing one.   Of course, I am not sure that any of we males will ever be able to duplicate the intimate relationship, which develop during pregnancy and childbirth.  Yes, I know that there are women who are not able to establish this sort of intimate relationship with their child during pregnancy and childbirth, but the overwhelming majority of mothers to whom I talk describe something I cannot begin to approach. Even females who are not biological parents often seem to be able to be very nurturing.  It is alo true that some of we males, including folks such as the teacher and philosopher, Adam Gopnik, are able to experience a strong sense of the mystery and wonder of the birth and subsequent parenting of a child.   Still, in most households, that ability to nurture is not considered the prime characteristic of we males.  Daily, it seems, that we ascribe and encourage certain characteristics in we males that often does not include the characteristic of being a nurturer.  It is interesting that although women do the majority of the child rearing (with some wonderful exceptions) they are more likely to reinforce those characteristics in male children, which, in a heterosexual relationship, are those they find the least helpful or attractive
 
Those men who do want to seem to have or be more comfortable with the nurturing part of themselves frequently become doctors, social workers, teachers, or spiritual leaders.  Of course, generalities are dangerous and there are those doctors, teachers, social workers and spiritual leaders who seem to be very disdainful of the emotional part of we humans. Some of them may wear a costume similar to a dress but they are “all male” in the traditional sense.   On the other hand, spiritual leaders such as Pope Francis seem to have missed the chromosomal instructions and take the dance associated with this costume very seriously.  Pope Francis seems to lead with his heart and to take those teaching of Jesus about not judging, becoming as the least of these, living and working among the poor very seriously.  Although he masquerades as a pope in his traditional pope costume he seems to have missed the chromosomal call to worship power, position and all the other trapping of the exalted position in which he finds himself.   There are many examples, not the least of which is exemplified in his many visits to the homeless, those in prison, and others who exist on the lower rung of the power and monetary ladder.  Just recently, on November 10, he was again eating the simple bean soup with the homeless in Florence and graciously removing his zucchetto skullcap so he could put on the chullo hat traditionally worn in the Andes which one of the people at the kitchen gave him.
 
If one studies the teachings of the Dali Lama, the Buddha or other spiritual leaders such as Mohammed one finds a sensibility to the spirit of who we are as humans – beings,  I believe, who are designed to love and be loved; to accept that all of us are enough and, thus, worthy of love.  From a cultural standpoint they are very “female”.  Perhaps the costume helps them stay in touch with that part of them which is nothing like the costume, which we males as a group wear. Traditionally we males in many parts of the world wear costumes, which are reminiscent of our perceived role as the unemotional, serious, gatekeepers of emotional, spiritual, and physical borders or fences.
 
Any female reading this blog will, of course, will be asking the obvious question, “if it takes an appreciation and respect for the female sensibility and psyche to be able to access the more spiritual part of ourselves why are some many spiritual teachers of the male gender and so many of the worker bees in the various religions the “worker bees”?   Sadly, the answer would involve a sociological, cultural, political, anthropological study of the history of we humans.
 
It would seem that people who live closer to the earth – the so-called more primitive tribal people found in various parts of the world  - traditionally have worn more free flowing, colorful costumes.    It is no wonder that certain costumes lend themselves to various life dances.  Certainly, the dance of the banker, the Wall Street broker, and the person whose mission it is to build weapons or a bigger bank account or build some other power base is very different than that of tribal member or the Maya Angelo’s of the world.      It is no different from the priest or the minister who has co-opted the free flowing dress.    Certainly, one can see how easy it would be for a Pope to take the trappings of his office very seriously and to, thus, allow the costume to morph into a power suit.
 
Interestingly, as I was sitting typing this blog,  a man who I have seen on numerous occasions in the Panera’s where I often type, stopped to talk.  Some days this man is wearing a very traditional costume and some days he is wearing a clerical collar. I had “assumed (very dangerous of course) that this man was a Roman Catholic Priest. As it turns out he is a priest in an independent Catholic church, which has no ties to Rome but follows a similar liturgy.   He and his congregants have not yet been convinced that Pope Francis will be able to bring the church started by that Jesus fellow back to the humbleness and sensibility which inspired and ordained its beginning.  He was telling me some of the background of the man who is in charge of the public relations for Pope Francis.  It certainly is possible that the Pope who I so admire is the creation of a PR person.  On the other hand, the Pope Francis who I am writing about is a very humble and courageous leader.  I am not sure if it matters if there are two or more Popes or even more.  All of us have many dances and many costumes.  We are everything we seem to be and we nothing that we seem to be. In other words we are each more complex that any one of the “Is” who dance is witnessed by others. 
 
I am suggesting that even if I have to fake it, it would serve me – and thus others – well to wear a costume and dance a dance which feeds that part of me which truly knows that it is enough to show up and love and to allow myself to be loved.   I recall when I first was working with a dance/movement therapist, he would tell me to dance various emotions.  Often I would tell him that I was just faking it.  I was not connecting with my emotions.  He would tell me that was great and insisted that if I keep faking it I would eventually connect the my brain and heart. That is exactly what happened. This, of course, does not mean that I do not unconsciously, as if in a fugue state, slip back into that emotionally detached, very serious, non- nurturing, male costume.  I do, but I would like to think that when I do I recognize it more quickly, go to the closet (internal) and slip on my flowing, moving, dress.
 
Written November 11, 2015 – Veterans Day in the United States
 
 
 
 

The catastrophe of a livable wage
 
It seems that daily I read articles in the newspapers or on the internet citing many examples of why many United States businesses cannot afford to pay a minimum wage on which individuals and families can live.   In fact, on Tuesday, November 10, 2015 in the St. Petersburg edition of the Tampa Tribune, Michael Saltsman the research director at the Employment Policies Institute, stated: “The survey of 166 mostly labor economists, conducted for my organization by the University of New Hampshire survey Center, finds that 72 of U.S. –based economists oppose a $15.00 federal minimum wage. That includes a majority of economists who identify as Democrats.”   If one goggles faceof15.com, one will find numerous testimonials of why businesses, especially small businesses, cannot afford to pay a minimum wage of $15.00 an hour.  In fact, some document that some, such as high- end restaurants quit allowing folks to tip wait persons, but essentially added a twenty percent fee to cover the cost of paying other workers the minimum wage of $15.00 an hour.  Many wait persons in high end restaurants make much more than $15.00 an hour. 
 
Many people who claim that a minimum wage of $15.00 an hour cannot work are in favor of the earned income tax credit.   Currently this credit is based on adjusted gross income and number of dependents.  In 2014  a single person making an adjusted gross income of less than $14,880 could quality for an earned income credit of $502.00.  For a single head of household with three dependent children the adjusted gross income qualifying amount goes up to $47,955.  That person might quality for $6269.00 earned credit bringing the total to 54,221.00 which is considerable more than the $31,200.00 gross annual pay if making $1500.00   
 
(In the United States income tax system, adjusted gross income (AGI) is an individual's total gross income minus specific deductions. Taxable income is adjusted gross income minus allowances for personal exemptions and itemized deductions.) Wikipedia
 
To put all this in perspective, let’s take a brief look at McDonalds which is one of the companies which is currently being pressured to pay a minimum wage of $15.00 an hour. 
 
Google the base salary of new McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook and one will find that his base salary was to be $1,100.000.00 and his annual incentive opportunity rose to 160% of his base salaried.  160% of 1.1 million is $1,760,000.00 bringing a possible total to $2,860,000.00 per annum.    Comparing that to an employee making $15.00 an hour working 40 hours a week for 52 weeks for a total of $31,200.00 gross pay per annum, Mr. Easterbrook would still be making 91.66 times the amount of the $15.00 an hour full time employee.
 
Is we goggle the top executives of McDonalds. we find that the top four executives are paid a total of $11,200,000.00 gross pay per annum.  This would pay 358.974 employees a base pay of $15.00 an hour. (Goggleamericamarkets.usatoday.com)  Interestingly, top paid McDonald’s workers make on the average of $1,397.00 an hour.
 
Macroaxix.com reports that McDonalds has a total number of part-time and full time employees in the United States of 420,000.00 which means that it would cost them somewhere around 8 billion dollars to pay all employees a year. (As near as I could determine that is $8,000,000,000 extra which is certainly more than the total that they are paying the top four executives.
 
If we look at some small businesses there is no question that raising the minimum wage to $15.00 an hour would strain a budget.  
 
Some objections to the $15.00 an hour minimum wage include:
·      School kids still living at home and not having any expenses for rent, utilities, and other often food would have to be paid the same amount as those adults supporting a family.

·      Organizations such as Salvation Army who does not pay their top executive as much as other charities (top in salaries and other benefits may be as much as $98,000.00 which is still considerably less than other charitable organizations pay their top executives) could not afford to function.

·      Small business, including start up business, would have to shut down.

·      Entrepreneurs go into business to make money.  If they are not making money they will not start new businesses.

·      Some businesses would be forced to replace some positions with machines such as kiosks thus leaving more people unemployed.

What are we going to do? If there are no businesses, there will be no employees and everyone who does not have inherited money or money from non-legal businesses enterprises will be homeless.  If there are no employees or owners paying taxes even the earned income tax will be worthless because they United States will be bankrupt. (Of course, we are already deficit spending, which is another story)
 
Are we just to throw up our hands and ignore the fact that if we continue to pay employees less than a livable wage we are not only being immoral we are deluding ourselves into thinking that we are saving money? In truth, we are not saving money.  The cost of poverty eventually demands that we pay extra for emergency room visits, more for education costs when children are not cared for, and more for social services.
It is, of course, very difficult to come up with exact long term costs of poverty, but no one seems to disagree that we do pay in the long run for every dollar we may think we are saving in the short run.
 
What are the real issues?   They include:
·      All of us want to be able to have enough money for food, clothing, and other necessities, which in the United States often includes a car, and all the expenses associated with owning a car.

·      All of us, if we have children, want to be able to take care of them decently.

·      Most people are as concerned about a sense of fairness as they are about base pay.  If all the employees share in the hardships and the profit of a company then folks are willing to sacrifice  - at least temporarily.

·      We can certainly create laws, which allow for some exceptions, without requiring a forest of trees and a PhD in mathematics for the justifying paperwork.

·      We could explore options such as family income.

·      We may, as a society look at more creative ways to share resources.  Again, if our neighbor is not sharing resources and we are in the habit of evaluating our worth by comparing ourselves to our neighbor then many people will not agree to shared resources

·      A single payer health care plan, paid medical school, and paying doctors the same amount as other professionals would directly and indirectly save money long term.

·      We need to help each other (including CEOs) to redefine success. This is a social and spiritual issue.

·      Providing treatment and education instead of the enormous cost of incarceration would save a lot of money.

In short, I am suggesting that just looking at minimum wage without looking at other issues begs the question of why so many of us in such a “wealthy developed” nation are suffering and feeling like second class citizens.  The days when many seem to accept the concept of the robber baron that later becomes a philanthropist may be long gone.
 
 
Written November 10, 2015

“It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature.”
 
A number of years ago there was a add for a butter substitute, a margarine called Chiffon.  Part of the ad was “It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature.”  It was a very clever add. I have no idea of how well it worked. More recently, apparently there was a television show, Charmed, in which Piper (as Goddess of Earth) says “It is not nice to piss off mother earth” as she flings Chris against the bedroom door.
 
In more recent years there has been a renewed effort to convince we humans that how we are treating the environment is having a permanent and devastating effect on the climate conditions which will, in the not too distant future, make it impossible for we humans to continue to live on this planet.  Although there is increasing agreement on this issue there are still many who maintain that, in fact, no matter what we humans do or do not do the earth will continue to cycle through enormous changes. No matter what, for example, we will eventually have another ice age.  Some scientists have on the basis of studies of such factors as fossils and rock formation created charts speculating about the course of these cycles over a 60 million year time frame.
 
Although I personally suspect that there will be cycle of changes no matter what we do or do not do, I also firmly believe that this solar system and, in fact, multiple universes exist as a very well balanced system. I do not think we can misuse, overuse, or mistreat Mother Nature at any one point without affecting the whole of the earth and eventually the universe. Rather than arguing about the extent of the damage we are causing worldwide, it simply makes sense to me that, if we are to have any quality of life short term or long term, we will have to have a more loving or synchronistic relationship with everything and everyone on this planet and in the universe.   Whether it is the amount of pollutants which are being emitted by gas powered vehicles, the millions of tons of plastic being dumped in the oceans of the earth every year, the number of trees harvested or destroyed by fire because of human damage to the balance in the eco system, it seems obvious to me that we are not doing a very good job of fooling mother nature.  Although the ad for Chiffon might have successfully sold many tons of artificial butter, I cannot believe that Mother Nature was fooled.
 
It would seem to me that we do not need more scientific studies to convince we humans of the basic laws of physics, mainly that all systems must balance if they are to function. If I disturb one thing, i.e. remove gravity, than there will be a corresponding inability of how objects, including humans, to function on this planet. If one wants to refresh one’s mind about the basic laws of physics, I suggested that one goggle “physicsclassroom.com.”   Whether we are talking about a group of humans or the eco system, disturbing one part will affect the entire balance.
 
When talking about the balance of we humans we would do well to remind ourselves of the six degrees of separation which states that there are only six people between any one of us and every other human in the world.  Thus, if I know A there are only five people who stand between A and any other person in the universe.  I have personally experienced this phenomena many times.  The example, which I most like to think about, concerns the number of people I potentially affect if I am pleasant, indifferent, or unpleasant to the store clerk.  Now, if I treat the store clerk badly and the store clerk is in a very strong, spiritually centered, loving position, how I treat the store clerk will not adversely affect them.  They might consciously or unconsciously refuse to accept my unspoken invitation to the negative space.  Instead, I might consciously or unconsciously join the store clerk in a positive space. If one of us stays in a negative space and one stays in a positive space the system is unbalanced.  Something has to change. Most likely it will change by me leaving.  In either case, we will both have been somewhat affected, however minimally, by this interaction.   Then every person with whom both of us come into contact will be slightly or greatly changed or affected by the energy, which has been changed as a result of pervious interaction. Of course, all the people with whom those people each of us touched will have an effect on every person with whom they come into contact. By the end of the day, even if we have a day in which we have contact with very few people, we will have directly and indirectly affected hundreds or thousands of people. It is 10:24 a.m. So far today I have interacted with approximately 50 people in person, via phone, text, and email.  I have been near a number of other people at the gym or at Panera’s where I am writing. I have directly or indirectly affected a lot of people.
 
Similarly how I treat mother earth today will have enormous effect on the entire planet.  Let us just focus on one example.   Figures about how much plastic is polluting the environment vary from 32 billion tons a year to 20 billion tons a day.  There is no disputing the fact that many of the fish that we eat have consumed plastic. (Goggle any number of sites to get information about this issues, i e. ecowatch.com).  It may seems as if my using and disposing of one plastic bag today has little affect but think of billions of people worldwide doing this.
 
This morning, (Monday, November 9,2015) I was listening to an NPR report about the rain forest in Brazil. It is estimated that the rain forests have survived for over 50 million years but today, these forests are dying because of direct human cutting of trees and fires resulting from a disturbance in the a balance of the eco system of which they are a part.   It seems that the trees in the rain forest take in water and then give up water as a vapor, which, in turn, affects the atmospheric pressure, which results in more rain.   The trees need to work together to create movement of moisture in the air. The person reporting on this process on the NPR program compared the process to love.  Love increases love.   More moisture creates more moisture/vapor, which results in more rain.    Most of us will recall the term photosynthesis from our basic science class.  We may or may not remember much about the process.   Wikipedia reminds one:
 
Photosynthesis is a process used by plants and other organisms to convert light energy, normally from the Sun, into chemical energy that can be later released to fuel the organisms' activities. This chemical energy is stored in carbohydrate molecules, such as sugars, which are synthesized from carbon dioxide and water – hence the name photosynthesis, from theGreek
 φῶς, phōs, "light", and σύνθεσις, synthesis, "putting together".[1][2][3] In most cases, oxygen is also released as a waste product. Most plants, most algae, and cyanobacteria perform photosynthesis; such organisms are called photoautotrophs. Photosynthesis maintains atmospheric oxygen levels and supplies all of the organic compounds and most of the energy necessary for life on Earth.
 
It is not important that we remember the science of all this.  One can goggle NPR, Rain Forest, and November 2015 to listen to the full report. One can also go to many sites to review the basic science of the interaction of all parts of the environment.   It should not be rocket science to accept that all the choices we make today about our relationship with each other, the planet on which we live, and the universe operates or functions as a system.  We cannot abuse or change one piece without affecting the entire system. How we take care of each other also will have a direct effect on how awake we humans stay - how present we are.   If I am not awake I may not remember to take that reusable cloth bag into the store instead of getting a plastic bag, which I then need to reuse or dispose of.   If I want to be intentional about what products I buy in terms of my personal health and in terms of the environment, I need to be very intentional.   Treating each other well can make us more able to be intentional and more open to hearing each other’s concerns. 
 
The fact is that no matter how much we think we can fool ourselves we cannot fool Mother Nature.   It’s not nice (or possible) to fool Mother Nature. If we try, we may piss her off!
 
Written November 9, 2015

Scientific Orderliness of Fundamentalism
 
In this day of instant  news, selfies,  and You Tube videos, we humans seem to still delight in the public engagement of the age old game of the dirty dozen.
 
I say age old game because it seems to me that the game most commonly associated in the United States with the Urban African American practice of exchanging insults – frequently about the sexual activity of the mother of one’s opponent in the game  - has, in fact, been a game we humans have practiced in various forms since the beginning of recorded history.  Despite some wonderful, historical examples of more respectful but very passionate debates among some segments of we humans, for the most part we humans have been intent on proving our “truths”  and justifying our destructive defense of those truths by discrediting the infidel thinking and practice of the other.  As many  academics have pointed out,  war behavior and language often uses the same sexual innuendoes as those of the rival urban groups whose “gotya battles” is the virtual painting of the opponent’s mother engaged in sexual acts which make The Platonic Blow by W. H. Auden practically puritanical by comparison.
 
Of course, the goal is to find and promulgate a universal truth – the truth which will allow us to hold on to the illusion that we understand the rules which govern or should govern the universe in which we live.  Obviously, there is some comfort attached to the possibility that we can know what to expect or that we, like the Gods to whom we ascribe authority, can predict  patterns of behavior.     Whether the truths are those of the string theory or those of a rigid, exclusive religious group the outcome is the same.  The truth limits us. Despite the scientific research rule of the null hypotheses, we human, rational thinkers are prone to succumb to the belief that we can “know” with a great degree of certainly how various factors are related or interrelated and what happens when they meet an intervening factor head on.  We scientific thinkers look down our noses at the emotional, unscientific thinking of the fundamentalist.  We become committed to using our rational thinking to discovering the root cause of why some young person is attracted to such rigid, limited, exclusionary, destructive thinking.   We ask ourselves, “In this age of advanced knowledge and enlightened thinking, how is it that anyone could be so barbaric and self-righteously arrogant to engage in terrorist activity.”
 
We hire the most educated and enlightened psychologists and other social scientists to discover  the etiology of the attraction of young people around the world to the cruel, simplistic, martyr thinking of the terrorist.  How it is possible that otherwise intelligent men and women  could join their ranks?  There seems to be no definitive answers and, thus, no ways to limit this flow of our children to that “empty, evil place.”
 
Yet, it seems to this very limited thinker that the attraction to the clarity and sureness of science and the attraction to a fundamentalist belief system comes from the same source.  Even if our entire life is spent finding what patterns do not hold true and, thus, fail to explain why some people are more prone to certain cancers or why molecules or smaller particles interact as they do, there is a comfort in believing that  there is a logical pattern which we may someday discover. 
 
So, too, is it true for  the fundamentalist or even mainstream religious thinker.  Rules which emanate  from some eternal truth are very attractive.   Although the rules may be very uncomfortable for some and may even limit the inclusion of some, one does not have to wonder if one  is ”one of the chosen;”  is a moral person who will  please God or the Gods.   Some of us may shake our head and weep at the decision of the Elders of the Mormon Church who decide  that children raised by gay/lesbian parents cannot be baptized until they reach the age of 18 and can denounce the “choices” of their gay/lesbian parents.  In the Mormon church a family is a unit which continues on for eternity.  A gay/lesibian couple  and their children cannot constitute a family in the hereafter and, thus, cannot be considered a family in this life journey.   In the Roman Catholic church, certainly a mainstream religion, it is obvious that God does not condone the use of contraceptives since sex is for procreation unless one can be creative (and lucky) enough to avoid pregnancy by practicing the rhythm method.  The fact that millions of members of the Roman Catholic Church use artificial birth control does not change the core truths that God is pissed.    Especially in the Old Testament of the Bible used by some religious groups, there are wonderful, passionate arguments about truths. One hears this angry God interacting with angry humans.   In theological settings of every religion there are often spirited arguments about “truths.”    We want to make sense of the brief sojourn of we humans. 
 
Let us assume for the moment that the  fundamentalist thinker, the mainline religious thinke, and the scientist have much more in common than that they have differences.
 
Let us assume that, as frightening as it may be for some, the infidel and the believer  can perfectly understand each other.  The basic goal of each of them is exactly the same.   We both want to live a life which has some meaning.  Sure, we could each work very hard, get an education, make money, buy stuff, educate children who may or may not get addicted, or choose some other path very different than our own, get rid of stuff (or not), and then get ready to die.   Then we die and then what?  Since energy neither is created or destroyed our energy is either transported to some “heavenly, eternal” place or  joins other energy to form something or someone new or reconnect with other energy of a planet from which we came or ….  The possibilities are endless. Perhaps we do indeed just return to dust and that is it. Still, some part of us seems to want to leave something of import, to feel as if we made a difference.  Is my desire to make a difference so different from that of the martyr terrorist or the pilot of the drone or the pilot of a plane dropping a bomb?   Is  the fact that we are not looking into the eyes of the person we will decapitate what differentiates us from the cruel terrorists?
 
If I am willing to assume that which motivates the terrorist and me  is a very similar spiritual goal, then there is a base for possible discussion. If there is a base for discussion then there is an attempt to “hear” each other with respect. The fact that I am a pacifist is not the main belief which separates us.  As long as I think that I am right and the other person is wrong; that I am the good person and the other is the bad person; as long as I think that my God (some spiritual being or the god of science) has the answers then there is no basis for discussion. If there is no basis for discussion, there is no chance of finding a way to co-exist.
 
I am not convinced that we need more studies to determine why someone joins a terrorist group or some other  “conservative” group.  I do think that I have more in common with the Muslim terrorist, the Roman Catholic, the fundamentalist Christian, and the scientist than I am comfortable admitting. 
 
Much has been written about the apparent “fact” that mob bosses or gang leaders who can discount the worth of other humans outside the “family” can, within the family, be enormously, kind, gentle, good people.   Is this really that surprising?  How many of we humans drop bombs from planes or otherwise kill in the name of our “truths” or  practice cut-throat business tactics to satisfy the laws of business? We humans compartmentalize, judge, decide who is worthy and non-worthy. We pay homage to the laws of science as we know them today while we use those same laws to design ways to destroy each other or enhance the quality of life for each other.
 
We do understand the terrorist.  I am he or she. He or she is me.  That is not a comfortable truth for me, but if I begin with the null  hypotheses,  my scientific inquiry will reveal …..
 
Written November 8, 2015