Thank you so much for your compelling reflections, questions, prayers and practices. We in Germany are particularly horrified by the Musk/Vance backing of the AfD. And, as you note in your reply to Charles, almost 80% of the German vote was against the fascist AfD. US is nowhere near that, but your percentages can rise, too. Thank you.
Agreed. We in Canada have many Ukrainian citizens running from the war. Thanks for the explanation because we too are baffled. By the way, some here have wondered when President Trump will be Premier of our 11th province. That is said very much tongue in cheek because we have many friends and relatives in the US. Hopefully a smile for your day amidst much deep concern on both sides of the 49th. Rev. Scott Brown
Thank you for helping me keep hope and courage alive at this demoralizing moment in our country’s history. It provides me a structured meditative focus for facing the day.
Thank you Cameron for your honesty. However, Donald Trump and his crew are the instruments of this vote. It is the American people who have condoned it. Yes, there or can be arguments here but, this administration was elected by the people and they chose this and will severely suffer for that decision. It is the result of generations of decay that was allowed to exist unchecked and the silent majority actively remained silent and for all practical reasons, is still silent.
Thanks for your note, Charles. I might add one important caveat: we have to remember that more people voted for someone other than Donald Trump than voted for him. The majority of Americans in this country do not support this administration and that number increases by the day. It is true, as you say, that he was elected by a percentage of the American population. It is also true that we will all suffer the consequences of that election. But, there is a growing opposition to the actions of this regime. At the end of the day, I have faith in the resilience of the human spirit and the decency of most people. That’s what I want to highlight in my writing and I am so grateful to you for reading and responding. 🙏
My own sense is that what we see in the USA is only the bitter first-fruits of the long, slow violence that are obvious to those who are lost responsible for that long, slow violence. 500 years of ecocide and genocide have already brought “the end of the world” to countless species and to so many poor people and people of color around the world.
I think it was the late, great Chalmers Johnson, in his “Sorrows of Empire” books, who noted that the brutal methods of empires are always brought to bear in the “imperial homeland” when the empire seriously crumbles.
We live in a world of crumbling empires.
Jesus taught about this in Matthew 23, 24, and 25. Corruption, collapse, cosmic collapse, and cosmic kinship. In Matthew, the last teachings of Jesus before the passion week take us through the repeated pattern of ecocidal or “Wetiko” civilization. We learn that we enter into the Kin-dom of Heaven only in each moment by living here-and-now with the absolute vulnerability and humility of empathy. Empires crumble away and are barely a blip in Deep Time. Loving kindness is eternal. Love makes a way for life through the seemingly omnipotent empires as they crumble away. Octavia E. Butler alludes to this in her prescient (and Biblically literate) “Parable of the Sower” and “Parable of the Talents”. Her main character says at one point that civilizations “keep falling into the same ditches, you know?” She knew the sayings of Jesus well. When the blind lead the blind, all fall into the same ditch. So here we are. We are in the ditch possessed by the cannibalistic Wetiko Spirit. Again. What ever the outcomes are, our only liberation is in entering into beloved community - with all the vulnerability and humility that implies. The American church has lost all credibility and all spiritual integrity. “When they said ‘Repent!’ I wonder what they meant….” - L. Cohen
Gary, I need to thank you for this comment. I had not heard of “Wetiko.” Your writing prompted me to look more deeply. What a helpful way to describe the times in which we’re living. 🙏
Thank you so much for your compelling reflections, questions, prayers and practices. We in Germany are particularly horrified by the Musk/Vance backing of the AfD. And, as you note in your reply to Charles, almost 80% of the German vote was against the fascist AfD. US is nowhere near that, but your percentages can rise, too. Thank you.
Agreed. We in Canada have many Ukrainian citizens running from the war. Thanks for the explanation because we too are baffled. By the way, some here have wondered when President Trump will be Premier of our 11th province. That is said very much tongue in cheek because we have many friends and relatives in the US. Hopefully a smile for your day amidst much deep concern on both sides of the 49th. Rev. Scott Brown
Thank you for helping me keep hope and courage alive at this demoralizing moment in our country’s history. It provides me a structured meditative focus for facing the day.
Thank you Cameron for your honesty. However, Donald Trump and his crew are the instruments of this vote. It is the American people who have condoned it. Yes, there or can be arguments here but, this administration was elected by the people and they chose this and will severely suffer for that decision. It is the result of generations of decay that was allowed to exist unchecked and the silent majority actively remained silent and for all practical reasons, is still silent.
Thanks for your note, Charles. I might add one important caveat: we have to remember that more people voted for someone other than Donald Trump than voted for him. The majority of Americans in this country do not support this administration and that number increases by the day. It is true, as you say, that he was elected by a percentage of the American population. It is also true that we will all suffer the consequences of that election. But, there is a growing opposition to the actions of this regime. At the end of the day, I have faith in the resilience of the human spirit and the decency of most people. That’s what I want to highlight in my writing and I am so grateful to you for reading and responding. 🙏
My own sense is that what we see in the USA is only the bitter first-fruits of the long, slow violence that are obvious to those who are lost responsible for that long, slow violence. 500 years of ecocide and genocide have already brought “the end of the world” to countless species and to so many poor people and people of color around the world.
I think it was the late, great Chalmers Johnson, in his “Sorrows of Empire” books, who noted that the brutal methods of empires are always brought to bear in the “imperial homeland” when the empire seriously crumbles.
We live in a world of crumbling empires.
Jesus taught about this in Matthew 23, 24, and 25. Corruption, collapse, cosmic collapse, and cosmic kinship. In Matthew, the last teachings of Jesus before the passion week take us through the repeated pattern of ecocidal or “Wetiko” civilization. We learn that we enter into the Kin-dom of Heaven only in each moment by living here-and-now with the absolute vulnerability and humility of empathy. Empires crumble away and are barely a blip in Deep Time. Loving kindness is eternal. Love makes a way for life through the seemingly omnipotent empires as they crumble away. Octavia E. Butler alludes to this in her prescient (and Biblically literate) “Parable of the Sower” and “Parable of the Talents”. Her main character says at one point that civilizations “keep falling into the same ditches, you know?” She knew the sayings of Jesus well. When the blind lead the blind, all fall into the same ditch. So here we are. We are in the ditch possessed by the cannibalistic Wetiko Spirit. Again. What ever the outcomes are, our only liberation is in entering into beloved community - with all the vulnerability and humility that implies. The American church has lost all credibility and all spiritual integrity. “When they said ‘Repent!’ I wonder what they meant….” - L. Cohen
Gary, I need to thank you for this comment. I had not heard of “Wetiko.” Your writing prompted me to look more deeply. What a helpful way to describe the times in which we’re living. 🙏