Sunday Musings – March 7, 2021
The beauty and the beast
I am living in Tulsa, Oklahoma where there are many examples of amazing structures, some designed and used as houses of worship. The Boston Avenue Methodist Church, The Tulsa Fire Alarm Building, The Tulsa Club, Philcade- an office building -and a host of others give evidence to the ability of us humans to create beauty, sadly often made possible by the wealth created at the expense of expendable workers. In Tulsa much of the wealth was created with revenue from oil on land often stolen from Native Americans. For example, generations ago, the American Indian Osage tribe was compelled to move. Not for the first time, white settlers pushed them off their land in the 1800s. They made their new home in a rocky, infertile area in northeast Oklahoma in hopes that settlers would finally leave them alone. (NPR.org - April 17, 2017
In New York city railroad tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt created one of the most beautiful railroad terminals in the United States. In Pittsburgh and across the country Andrew Carnegie is best known for the libraries named in his honor as well as the famed Carnegie Museum. Henry Phipps’ money established the first mental health center in Baltimore and the beautiful Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh which is a leader in exploring environmentally friendly buildings and operations. Henry Ford to whom we are, in many respects indebted, sponsored an anti-Jewish newspaper and is alleged to have earned the right to have his photo adorn the office of Hitler.
From the stories of the lives lost to build pyramids to early Romans and other rulers who lavish lives were supported by so called loyal subjects to those who instituted and make manifest the caste systems in many countries, including in the United States, as detailed in Isabel Wilkinson’s book Caste, we humans create beauty; often to hide the ugliness hidden in the secret passages; secret passages housing the lies covering the justifications for the current and historic one percent; the same justifications used today to keep the masses in their place. These practices are responsible for the success of many including the Jeff Bezos’s who are fighting the unionization of Amazon workers as well as the pharmaceutical companies who hire the beautiful young people to peddle their wares using a host of lies and near lies paying the “reps” just enough more than the average to temporarily seduce them.
Recently I was reading a novel by Sawyer Bennett (Discoveries of Secrets and Fate) in which the chief character can see beneath the costume of humanness to the underlying creature from another place - some kind and some dark and evil. I was reminded of the joy I take in the beauty of amazing Architectural creations while, at the same time, feeling an internal sense of dread and grief because I know in the basement one can hear the cries of the workers who were expendable.
I love Frank Lloyd Wright’s Falling Water house created by wealth as a vacation house for the Kaufman’s of Pittsburgh.
There is, of course, uncomplicated beauty with which Mother Nature surrounds us. There is the beauty of love when two or more people practice equality and equity. There is the beauty of the operation of the human body when we attend to what it needs and not what the latest profit induced advertisement suggests.
There is beauty in the carvings of the fish hooks, the canes, and the totem poles, or the beaded creations of many so called primitive people or Natives. Whether for ceremonies or for everyday use these creations were designed to be enjoyed as well as used. No one was expected to sacrifice their well-being for the benefit of beauty; not even Mother Nature.
I have many pieces of art adorning my walls, none of which was created at the expense of another.
Us humans are creatures of insecurities and contradictions. We do all we can to earn what we already possess; to be more than we are so that we can be acceptable as we are. Yet all wise teachers know that all we have to do is to care for each other; to consider the lilies of the field; to consider the art which is created just because we can and which is not at the expense of anyone’s health or happiness.
Always I am reminded of the first rule of growth; to accept the reality of my contradictions while re-examining whether I have the courage to look into my basement.
Written March 7, 2021
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
The beauty and the beast
I am living in Tulsa, Oklahoma where there are many examples of amazing structures, some designed and used as houses of worship. The Boston Avenue Methodist Church, The Tulsa Fire Alarm Building, The Tulsa Club, Philcade- an office building -and a host of others give evidence to the ability of us humans to create beauty, sadly often made possible by the wealth created at the expense of expendable workers. In Tulsa much of the wealth was created with revenue from oil on land often stolen from Native Americans. For example, generations ago, the American Indian Osage tribe was compelled to move. Not for the first time, white settlers pushed them off their land in the 1800s. They made their new home in a rocky, infertile area in northeast Oklahoma in hopes that settlers would finally leave them alone. (NPR.org - April 17, 2017
In New York city railroad tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt created one of the most beautiful railroad terminals in the United States. In Pittsburgh and across the country Andrew Carnegie is best known for the libraries named in his honor as well as the famed Carnegie Museum. Henry Phipps’ money established the first mental health center in Baltimore and the beautiful Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh which is a leader in exploring environmentally friendly buildings and operations. Henry Ford to whom we are, in many respects indebted, sponsored an anti-Jewish newspaper and is alleged to have earned the right to have his photo adorn the office of Hitler.
From the stories of the lives lost to build pyramids to early Romans and other rulers who lavish lives were supported by so called loyal subjects to those who instituted and make manifest the caste systems in many countries, including in the United States, as detailed in Isabel Wilkinson’s book Caste, we humans create beauty; often to hide the ugliness hidden in the secret passages; secret passages housing the lies covering the justifications for the current and historic one percent; the same justifications used today to keep the masses in their place. These practices are responsible for the success of many including the Jeff Bezos’s who are fighting the unionization of Amazon workers as well as the pharmaceutical companies who hire the beautiful young people to peddle their wares using a host of lies and near lies paying the “reps” just enough more than the average to temporarily seduce them.
Recently I was reading a novel by Sawyer Bennett (Discoveries of Secrets and Fate) in which the chief character can see beneath the costume of humanness to the underlying creature from another place - some kind and some dark and evil. I was reminded of the joy I take in the beauty of amazing Architectural creations while, at the same time, feeling an internal sense of dread and grief because I know in the basement one can hear the cries of the workers who were expendable.
I love Frank Lloyd Wright’s Falling Water house created by wealth as a vacation house for the Kaufman’s of Pittsburgh.
There is, of course, uncomplicated beauty with which Mother Nature surrounds us. There is the beauty of love when two or more people practice equality and equity. There is the beauty of the operation of the human body when we attend to what it needs and not what the latest profit induced advertisement suggests.
There is beauty in the carvings of the fish hooks, the canes, and the totem poles, or the beaded creations of many so called primitive people or Natives. Whether for ceremonies or for everyday use these creations were designed to be enjoyed as well as used. No one was expected to sacrifice their well-being for the benefit of beauty; not even Mother Nature.
I have many pieces of art adorning my walls, none of which was created at the expense of another.
Us humans are creatures of insecurities and contradictions. We do all we can to earn what we already possess; to be more than we are so that we can be acceptable as we are. Yet all wise teachers know that all we have to do is to care for each other; to consider the lilies of the field; to consider the art which is created just because we can and which is not at the expense of anyone’s health or happiness.
Always I am reminded of the first rule of growth; to accept the reality of my contradictions while re-examining whether I have the courage to look into my basement.
Written March 7, 2021
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
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