01-31-2011 3P Post #8: Careful What You Wish For…

“In Egypt today, most people are concerned with getting bread to eat.

Only some of the educated understand how democracy works.

If You want to move people, You look for a point of sensitivity,

and — in Egypt — nothing moves people as much as religion…”.
(Naguib Mahfouz)

“In Egypt, the Living were subordinate to the dead…”.
(Stephen Gardiner)

“Some dog i got, too. We call him “Egypt,” because in every room he leaves a pyramid…”.
(Rodney Dangerfield)

Well, today is Philosophical / Political Covday (Monday), and there is so much to discuss.  However, i am going to address only three topics today, although i will spend most of my time on one issue.

First, in my post two weeks ago (entitled “01-17-2011 3P Post #6: The Cost Of War” from January 17^th, 2011), i mentioned Sun Tzu’s classic strategic instruction manual called “The Art Of War.”  i have a friend named Brace Barber.  Brace is one of the best people i know.  Besides being a fabulous person, he is a West Point grad and a very strategic thinker.  He has just written a new book entitled Sun Tzu's Pattern Of Power: The Art Of War Organized For Decision, and i wanted to let You all know that i will be buying it and reading it as soon as i am able — not just because Brace is my friend (in fact, not even really at all for that reason) — but because i believe Sun Tzu’s writing is a masterpiece that deserves to be on the best 10 books ever written list of classics and because it takes someone of Brace’s unique skill set to be able to unpack, explain, and employ Sun Tzu’s brilliance for everyday applications.  i am very much looking forward to the experience, and i have no doubt that i will benefit greatly from it.  Philosophy is only valuable to the extent that it reflects Truth and enables us to Live more beneficially for others as we glorify YHWH (Blessed be His Holy Name).  i have no doubt that Brace’s insights will greatly aid me in that pursuit….

Secondly, this past Tuesday was the 2011 State of the Union (SotU) Address by President Obama, although it seems like that was several weeks ago with all that is happening in the world right now (more on that in a bit).  The crux of what i want to say about the SotU is threefold.  Here are my personal observations…

i Love SotUs.  Outside of inaugural speeches, they are my favorite presidential speeches.  Of course, this isn’t because they are such awesome speeches (since they are usually boring and quite often just plain awful from a speechwriting perspective), but it is because they date a president.  They put him on record at a given point in the graph of his presidency as reflected by the 3D coordinates of his assessment of the cultural pulse of the nation, his vision for what he wants to accomplish, and his political capital & standing to influence the country’s direction.  SotUs are like EKGs…they tell You how aLive the president is politically at that moment, and that’s why i like them so much.  Plus, i like the pageantry and the spectacle of it all.  It’s like SuperBowl Sunday or the Grammys for me, which — regrettably — all happen in late January & early February.  i get a big bowl of popcorn or ice cream and dig in to my couch to enjoy a night of expectations, rhetoric, & punditry….

my first observation about the 2011 SotU is that Obama was in a difficult position with regard to the delivery of the speech given its proximity chronologically to his Tucson speech after the shootings.  Any president does better in an atmosphere of banding together in response to a tragedy versus pulling apart in response to political differences, but — even given that — i thought the speech was pretty skillful.  Obama managed to put the Repugnicans behind the eight ball and really lay down the gauntlet on his policy objectives.  Of course, the Repugnicans can respond either poorly and continue to waste the momentum from their trouncing of the president in the recent elections or they can step up and lead in order to regain that momentum, but i would guess they'll do neither.  They'll probably do what they normally do, which is not a whole lot of anything.

Now, i also thought Paul Ryan and Michelle Bachman did well, too, in terms of laying out their positions and appealing to their constituents & supporters.  However, for me it was a good night, because all three speakers put out their plans in pretty straightforward terms: Obama wants more spending despite the fact that we’re broke, Ryan wants less spending, and Bachman wants no spending.  How can You ask for more than that?

The second observation i will make is that Obama talked passionately about education, and i am glad about that.  With the documovie that came out this year (“Waiting For Superman”), education is beginning to become a more vernacular issue and more germane to the 2012 campaign cycle.  Education gets a lot of lip service as a topic in American politics, but it rarely matters in any meaningful way.  i personally don’t know anyone who voted for or against either Obama or McCain based primarily on the issue of education.

However, education is beginning to sneak up on us as a more affluent political issue, and the reasons probably aren’t what You’d suspect.  It isn’t because of people suddenly becoming passionate about the idea of public (or other types) of education or due to some civil rights issue or any of the other more sexy motivations of the past.  No, this time it really comes down to a mix of competitiveness (the supposed theme of Obama’s SotU) in the global economy, fairness (to give kids an equal shot at succeeding), competency (Americans don’t like to feel like they are just absolute failures at anything, especially if they spend lots of money to fail — and, trust me, we are completely failing at education in this country by any metric), and the influence of unions on everyday American Life in a vein that we don’t usually discuss.  During a week that saw the largest FBI set of arrests on organized crime in American history, the discussion of teacher’s unions seems almost ironic to me, but it also fits with the financial crisis (which i shall mention briefly momentarily) and all the state-payroll employees across the country….

The final SotU issue i will mention is that — in the same week as Japan saw its credit rating dropped, mind You (something that should serve as yet another reminder to us that we need immediate action in our country or we, too, are not immune to such consequences) and in the context of the global financial (World Economic Forum) meetings in Davos, Switzerland — the president showed his True colors: red & yellow, as in a tendency toward redistributive, collectivist ideals (red) and cowardice (yellow).  He could have advocated for strong policies that would benefit poor Americans and ask more of rich Americans…he could have put himself in the political position which would have been the envy of every president before him and probably every one to come after him…he could have showed incredible leadership and exhibited great political courage…he could have set up his legacy to be one of the True greats and to fundamentally change the way the Demoncrats are perceived as a party and as presidents…and he decided to do none of that.  Instead, he advocated increased spending (coded as “investment,” which it is), asked for almost no sacrifice, and tried to appear optimistic to invoke Reagan’s ghost.

The problem is this (and all of this, by the way, is my personal analysis — not any regurgitated analysis borrowed from any pundit…i don’t do that, just so You know): people don’t usually want to subject themselves to a general or a sergeant when they’re outside the military environment, but they do usually want a singular voice to obey in the middle of war.  Obama punted, and that doesn’t really cut it when You’re the quarterback.  It’s OK to punt — if You’re a punter.  If You’re the quarterback and You punt, people begin to see You more in terms of Your posture as weak or visionless or scared or whatever instead of seeing You in terms of the role You occupy (such as quarterback).  It was sad to watch someone who i know Loves America do so poorly in regard to adequately fulfilling the role he occupies.

The bottom line is this: America is in debt, and that debt grows increasingly unmanageable every day.  If You think that what happened in Greece or Portugal can’t happen here…or that Ireland was somehow different with their peculiarities (in terms of their banking sector issues)…or that those are just extremes and we’re in more of a Britain kind of situation…or that we are not subject to the same economic principles as Japan…or that China is too close to us to allow us to fall…or that Turkey and other nations are too dependent upon us and that makes us “too big to fail” in a global sense…if You think any of that, then You’re just either kidding Yourself, plain stupid, flat-out ignorant, or downright incompetent.  Sorry, just the facts, ma’am.  Ask Chris Christie or Andrew Cuomo or John Kasich or Jerry Brown what they think about running budget deficits, and You'll know what You need to know very quickly: it is ruinous....

Obama could have used the SotU to show himself to be an insightful leader; instead, he used it to reveal himself as a pathetic follower.  O, well — high hopes aside, there’s always 2012, i guess….

So, now to the main event: Egypt.

If You haven’t been paying attention, You should.  Egypt, along with Persia (modern-day Iran), China, India, and the Jewish people are the five great remaining civilizations that all date back over 5,000 years (depending on how You view it).  As a person descended from Abraham, i can’t say i really feel sorry for the Egyptians whenever they go through any kind of mess, but i do realize the stakes involved.  With Egypt, the stakes are always high.

This matters to You greatly, unless $20 a gallon for gas isn’t important to You.  It matters for other reasons, too.  The face of the world is changing, and maybe in ways that don’t seem intuitive or predictable at first.  If You understand that the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union (along with the subsequent factual proof that Communism and socialism are bankrupt (literally) and untenable philosophies), that the religious theocracy movement in Iran in the late 1970s (and the subsequent boon that was to the burgeoning Islamic terrorist movement that had begun in the prisons of the aforementioned Egypt and took center stage with the hijacking of airplanes and the bombings that started most ostensibly with the Beirut Marines fiasco in 1983), or that the development of what i call “supernational” economic interests that began, at least in large part in my mind, with the establishment and despicable actions of OPEC (and the subsequent emergence of everything from the drug cartels in South America to the corporate bullies such as Microsoft and its founders that have become now the individual tyrants of the world) were major world moments, then You ought to understand that Egypt is a big deal — to You….

Why?  Well, mainly because no country exerts as much influence over the Arab world as Egypt (as just one reason among many, though).  See, the Iranians are ancient Persia, and they aren’t really the main deal.  Arab is a term, strictly speaking, that means someone from a Semitic background (i.e., a descendant of Abraham via either Ishmael or Isaac, although descendants of Isaac are more normally called "Jews" by lineage rather than "Arabs" by geography) that hailed from the ancient geographical area known as “Arabia” (as in Saudi Arabia today in the modern world).  Persians aren’t really Arabs, and there is much of the Sunni/Shiite wrapped up in all of those kinds of distinctions.  Suffice it to say that Egypt has much more influence in places like Syria, Lebanon, Sudan, and elsewhere than the Iranians could ever hope to have….

Knowing that, the Carter-era Mideast Peace Accords that established peace between Egypt and Israel are a fundamental building block to any future “peace” agreements in the Middle East.  Throw in the fact that Egypt has been a key U.S. ally in the war against Al Qaeda and Islamic terrorists, and the plight of Egypt becomes even more important.  But those are just the beginning.  There are multiple issues in play: the Suez Canal, the impact on the African continent from the Sudan to Somalia to Libya or surrounding regions (like Yemen), the impact on a nuclear arms proliferation the likes of which have only been seen in nightmares, etc., etc.

It is clear that Egypt is going through birth pains right now and will soon birth something.  What Lives out of her disgusting belly in the future days will affect us all….

The Chinese have a term called “the mandate of heaven,” and it refers to the soft legitimacy or the consent of the governed that is so essential to every functional and embraced government.  It’s not quite “divine right,” but it does recognize and acknowledge the role of divinity in any government’s authentic rights to rule.  Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s “president” and dictator, has now lost that legitimacy completely (as opposed to mostly which happened a long time ago).  His reign will soon end in all likelihood or survive out of an even worse reality.  It is yet another example for America to examine what i call its “strange bedfellows” approach to U.S. foreign policy.

The U.S. leaders ought to give serious consideration (in the long-term analysis) to whether or not they want to take us down the continued road of the “stability vs. democracy” debate.  Democracy is not a good or bad thing — it is neutral and can be used for either bad purposes or evil purposes.  It’s kind of like a gun, it can either kill in self-defense or kill in murder.  While the U.S. has a history of propping up people like Saddam Hussein and then later wishing they hadn’t, someone should be thinking about how to not end up on the side of people like Mubarak or Hussein or Hamid Karzai or any of the many others that have turned out to be so disastrous to us.

i suppose the most frightening thing to most Americans — other than how little control and minor influence we actually have on all this, since we're a nation of control freaks when it comes to the behavior of others (just ask any liberal whether or not You should be allowed to eat at McDonald's and You'll know exactly what i mean) — is what form of government will emerge in Egypt: will it be Islamist theocracy like that of Iran, a more secular form of Islamicism like that of Turkey, or a more terrorist-oriented form like that of Hamas?  These are the recent choices from history, but i think many people are worried that it will be an even more strident form unlike anything we have seen so far.

No matter what You think will emerge, Americans need to be careful about wanting to spread democracy.  Democracy reflects — more than any other form of government — the nature of the people it governs, because they elect people to do their bidding and represent their views both domestically and also to the rest of the world.  Democracy is indeed a "government of, by, & for the people," but it reflects both the best & worst of them.  Hamas got elected; they didn't seize power.  So, now, we have to deal with an elected enemy.  That is a reality in Iraq, too, albeit much less so.  Democracy is not the answer, and it never has been.  The answer is a much more difficult discussion of how to export our values — not the form of government by which we choose to employ those values....

The most interesting debates broached by Egypt to me are things like the legitimacy of “self-rule,” the U.S. penchant to mock our own “isolationists” like Ron Paul or Pat Buchanan in the face of their being proven right over many years, the problems of modern-world nation-building, preemptive strikes, & global interdependence, cultural intelligence (or the lack of it, especially by Americans), the nature and proper valuing of order vs. chaos in government, the validity of a goal of exporting democracy as a form of government instead of a goal of modeling and then supporting the export of values that promote healthy human interactions between citizens & government, and a host of other issues.  i think that i have written enough for today, but i’m sure we will get into some of these issues in the coming days.  (Maybe some of You could suggest areas You would like me to address)….

Here’s hoping that, by next Covday, the world isn’t a much, much worse place….

01-28-2011 F3A Post #7: Qn Tribe Evening Blessing

“Thus says YWHW (Blessed be His Holy Name),

‘Stand at the crossroads, and

See & ask for the ancient paths — where the good way is — and walk in it;

And You will find rest for Your souls.’  But they said, ‘We will not walk in it...’.”

(Jeremiah 6:16)

Lots of people have asked me for the various rituals i have employed in my family over the years.  So, i'm going to use Fridays (for a while and also while reserving the right to comment about something else anytime i want) to post some of the things i have created to Bless, instruct, remind, or otherwise impact my family.  For today's post, i am going to post the Blessing i give to Rebekkah as her father each evening i am with her….

Princess Rebekkah of the Tribe of Qn,

May YHWH (Blessed be His Holy Name) Bless You & Keep You

May the LORD Most High Make His Face to Radiate with Joy because of You

And may LORD Y’shua — Who is Himself our Shalom — Give You His perfect peace

May Abba Bless in Your sleep and give You sweet dreams & peaceful rest

May the only wise God teach You His Thoughts & His Ways

May the Father of Lights Bless You to grow in favor with God and all the people,

and May the Almighty let You walk with Them all the days of Your Life

Selah & Amen....

Evening Blessing (mshane kuhn)  © 2005-2011 mshane kuhn

All Rights Reserved.  Used by permission.

01-27-2011 Personal Post #7: my Value Is Not In What i Do

“Price is what You pay. Value is what You get...”.

(Warren Buffett)

When i was married and trying desperately to salvage that relationship, i agreed to go to counseling with my wife.  We went through about three or four therapists before she found one she respected, and that therapist became her private counselor.  Occasionally, i was asked to attend a session, so that the therapist could address both of us.  During one of the joint sessions, the therapist defined the value of a man in this way: “a man is typically valued in how they perform in three areas: as an earner, as a Lover, and as a father.”  Immediately, i knew that the counsel my wife was receiving was not going to be good for our relationship or with regard to me.  Indeed, it wasn’t favorable at all, and now i know that all kinds of things that weren’t OK with me were not only being suggested to but also advocated to my wife.  It is now apparent to me that we never stood a chance while these kinds of thought implants were being cultivated.

The sting of the therapist raising those three criteria was devastating to me.  It is something from which i still have not fully recovered.  As an “earner,” i have never made more in a year than i made doing upper-level restaurant management in my early 20s (about $30K annually).  As a “Lover,” i barely know my way around a bedroom to find my clothes or work the remote, much less Love someone.  And as a father, i fear that the Lives of my children will be irreparably damaged and infected by their sentence of being my child….

Now, it’s not that i don’t think i have anything to offer.  i do think i have things to offer in each of those ways.  In fact, i think i have much to offer in each of those ways.  However, i know a Truth that most people don’t know and that Warren Buffet accurately articulates above: Value is not easily appraised.

This week, i presented my bosses with a way to substantially increase their profits every year and adjust my job description in a way that more accurately reflected what they said they wanted when they hired me, too.  Their reaction was that they perceive me to be of substantial value but don’t really like me personally and aren’t really happy with my performance (mostly because i’m too good at what i do and get bored and don’t manage my boredom either in the exact same way that they do or how they would prefer me to manage it).  i left that conversation frustrated, angry, resentful, & unmotivated.  Rarely have i felt so belittled, misunderstood, or at a loss for how to move forward.  i presented something positive for them professionally, and they responded with negatives about me personally.  Amazing….

i know in my head that my value as a person is not in what work i perform, but it still hurts in my heart to have people who ought to be grateful that i even choose to grace their presence treat me as if i’m a blood-sucking, pesky mosquito.  Knowledge-wise, i get that my value is not in my abilities to “wow” a woman in bed or be Ward Cleaver as a father, but it still devastates me in my heart to have a woman perceive me as useless (in any regard, but especially sexually) or a child perceive me as irrelevant as a father.  i don’t feel like i have to make as much money as Bill Gates, be as sexually adept as Warren Beatty, or function as well in a fathering role as the best father You know, but i still long to be good at all three.  i hope to make the people around me proud of me in those roles.

One of my goals in Life is to appreciate people for who they are and recognize the proficiencies and functionalities in their Life despite the obstacles they have had to overcome to be thus.  It is always nice to find people who appreciate me and take those realities into account when estimating me, so i want to be that way toward others in order to encourage, inspire, and support them.  i want to encourage You today to appreciate people for the value they contain and not for the skill they possess…to appraise them based on the benefit they provide and not the function they perform…to recognize them based on the reality of who they are and not for the perception of what they do.

You can pay a lot, or You can pay a little.  Price, though, has very little to do with what value You receive in return.  That depends on You, and not the seller.  Value is the purvey of the possessor.  We all know people who have some trinket or quilt or baseball card or whatever that is of very little monetary value but holds great sentimental worth to that person.  Well, the opposite is True, too: You can possess something of great monetary value that is not worth much to You.  As far as i am concerned, i am glad to be of immense value to my Father, whether or not anyone else would spend a penny on me or pay a dime for me.  He doesn’t value me based on what i do or how successfully i perform.  He isn’t interested in selling me, so price is of no consequence to Him.  However, my value to Him is Truly priceless, so He treats me very well.

Would that all of us should have such a healthy view of others and such an accurate appraisal of their worth.  Value is based on what You think of something, and i know what He thinks of me….

01-26-2011 Theological Post #7: The Paradox of Humility

“Let the brother in humble circumstances boast about his high position, but let the rich brother boast about his being humbled since, like a wildflower, he will pass away...”.

(James 1:9-10, Complete Jewish Bible)

Humility is a precious thing.  It can be so flexible and function in so many ways: trait, posture, description, deficit, etc.  It is very hard to assail, although very easy to mock.  It is impossible to fake, but fairly easy to imitate.  It can be false or True.  It is only available — in it’s genuine form — via one relationship: human to Divine.  It is one of the rarest commodities.  It is very difficult to acquire and cannot be gained by any selfish means.

Book of James Acappella CD

James amazes me.  As probably the most Jewish author in the New Testament other than Rabbi Paul or maybe the Apostle John or the LORD’s brother, Jude, i find him consistently keeping with the culture of Abraham & Sarah.  This makes him very valuable to me, since that is my culture, too.

In the Scriptural quote above, it may seem tilted in favor of one or the other to You.  However, it is equally relevant to both sides in this regard: the intervention of Abba.  If someone is from humble circumstances, then their reference point with regard to “humility” comes from their experiences.  Yet, the important thing is that God has granted to them an advancement in the sense that they occupy a higher position than their circumstances reflect.  To Him, they are important, despite whatever testimony their worldly circumstances might say.

 

To the person rich in terms of this world, their interaction with humility comes from loss and not from gain.  Their experience comes from what they lose.  This is not their fault.  Often, Christians seem to me to be the most class-warfare minded people i know, and this should not be thus.  God isn’t punishing rich people and rewarding poor people here or anywhere else.  A person is rich or poor because God chooses them to be rich or poor and not because of any other reason.  We misunderstand that.  Especially in America, we think that we control whether or not we are rich or poor and that we are the masters of our own individual destinies.  We couldn’t be more wrong about that….

James’ point here is that God knows whether or not we are rich or poor, because He put us in that position.  He decided that the best course for us would be to either be rich & lose stuff or to be poor & gain stuff.  Either predicament is no guarantee of godliness.  i know poor people who became rich and also became ungodly in that process, but i also know poor people who became rich and gained godliness in that process.  Similarly, i know formerly rich people who lost their wealth and also lost their faith & turned their backs on God, but i also know formerly rich people who lost their wealth & found God in that struggle.  Of course, then there are the people who watch any of these scenarios and judge the people undergoing the experience, but they are a whole other matter altogether.  The experience is something God set up for each of us in order to bring us closer to Him.  Some people need to lose stuff to learn, while some need to gain stuff to learn….

The rich person should boast about losing stuff, because it shows that God cares about him and also that God cares about him at the same time that He doesn’t care about the man’s wealth.  God doesn’t need us, and He doesn’t need anything we have or can contribute.  However, He wants us and He wants us to be fulfilled by our contributions.  This is the point of James’ assertion: that God is intervening in either case of deprivation by the poor or loss by the wealthy.  In either scenario, God is actively at work to bring about maturity.  Therefore, either case is an occasion for boasting…about God and His rescuing of us.  Although the rich man will pass away just like everyone else, he doesn’t have to pass away without God rescuing him.  Though poor people may suffer indignity and deprivation on the earth, they need not suffer anything hopelessly since God will rescue them.  Regardless of the circumstances in which He placed us originally, God intervenes on our behalf to draw us close to Him as our Lives progress.

Today, remember that Your circumstances of wealth or poverty, of affluence or deficit, of popularity or obscurity, of influence or commonality…these are not circumstances of Your own making.  No one is a “self-made” man or woman.  You are not in control of Your circumstances, and any idea to the contrary is a lie to make You prideful about something regarding which You have no business having pride in the first place.  That’s too easy.  Don’t allow Your enemy to make You prideful when there’s not even a good reason for it.  If You’re going to be prideful, at least do it over something over which You have some actual reason to be prideful….

Instead, remember that God ordains Your circumstances…not just for fun or by chance, but based on a plan He set in motion eons ago regarding You, specifically.  And whatever Your circumstances, He ordained them to give You every chance to draw near to Him and come close to Him and to foster intimacy with Him.  And nothing will beget True humility more than being in the presence of God….

01-25-2011 Cultural Post #7: Caught Between A Utopian Truth & A Hopeless Lie

Today is a cultural post, but — due to tonight being the State Of The Union and the fact that culture & politics bleed into one another — this post will have a political flavor.  i want to address today the idea of cultural priorities.

Part of defining a culture is identifying both the values and also the beliefs that lie behind it.  Culture doesn’t just happen; it occurs in response to values of being that give birth to beliefs of action (and not the other way around as so many suppose).  Culture doesn’t just randomly develop; there is an trajectoral arc that testifies both to the direction from which it came and also to the horizon towards where it heads.  Culture doesn’t just emerge; it interacts, grows & matures, and responds to the input it receives from those who are inside pushing on it (giving), pulling on it (taking), and participating by observing it (acting more neutrally).

Existing in this world means navigating the systems of the world, and interfacing with those systems is an exercise in polarity.  This fact (albeit non-exclusive) is because the enemy is a specific type of adversary to us.  He is not a random kind of adversary – he is a certain kind of adversary.  See, even as our adversary, he has to function within the confines defined for him both by the nature of his creation (for even he must be True to his created destiny as a creature and, indeed, cannot help but be) and also by the restraints, confines, & parameters placed on him by the Almighty.  In short, he is a legal kind of adversary, and legality begets a very tight kind of dichotomy: black & white, right & wrong, good & evil, etc.  He was not appointed to just any role – he was appointed to a legal role as the accuser of God’s children, as the prosecuting attorney tasked in this cosmic drama with bringing charges that showcase the “just” result so that mercy may be issued instead and simultaneously recognized as such.

As a result of Living – even with a ChristLife – in such a polarizing set of conditions spawned by two-dimensional systems where we are assaulted by such a barrage of systemic stimuli and barriers, we often perceive our circumstances to restrict our values of being and our beliefs of action to a linear spectrum running between two diametrically opposite points.  However, if You imagine our systemic linear spectrum as either side of a high trapeze, You would readily see that there is a great deal of space all around that trapeze wire.  Now, normal people would have to walk the trapeze wire to cross from one side to the other, but only because they cannot fly.  Those who can fly find a whole 3-D plethora of routes to cross and also without the requisite fear of falling required by the nature of not being able to fly.

In terms of priorities, we generally reduce our options down to the ones defined by our two political parties or the two pundits representing alternate viewpoints.  But there is what Rabbi Paul called “a more excellent way”: Love.  The burden of capitalism is that it is a human invention.  As such, it is limited to human motives, practices, & results.  This is the same burden of communism or any other form of government other than a kingdom, although the salient difference between capitalism and communism, as one paired example, is that capitalism is birthed in freedom and communism in godlessness and humanism.

We need not box ourselves in the way we do.  Far from being necessary, it is futile.  The way away from the trapeze wire is not to lay down a perpendicular trapeze wire and proclaim a new mode of travel.  The way away from the trapeze wire is to learn to fly…

As You listen to the President and responders tonight, keep in mind that they are really good trapeze artists but not capable of flight.  They don’t have the mind of Christ; they know not the way ahead in the darkness, because they have no Light to show the way.  They are political party representatives espousing tired, old, worldly, system-oriented perspectives.  There will not be anything new in their rhetoric or cunning.  There will not be anything fresh in their approaches.  There will not be anything worthwhile in their pitches.  There will only be the past repackaged as new.

Choosing either side of the linear spectrum we are shown to see by the professional pundits is like being caught between a Utopian Truth and a hopeless lie.  You may have to Live in America and this world in practical terms, but You can see beyond both of them in spiritual terms and let that affect Your personal culture.  For example, whereas kindness is a trait exhibited generally by people who have either a self-serving motive to it or by those with an internal reservoir of it based on either their personality or as a cultivated response to some event in their Life, a person who adopts the posture of the LORD Most High possesses kindness as a birthright, an heirloom, a family treasure to be distributed to anyone to whom You decide.  The power of this is that it’s not coming from You, per se, but from Your family.  In that extended backdrop, there is credibility, there is release from pressure to do it in expectation of anything in return or as a duty or because of social mores or due to a way to gain or get ahead.  Instead of those things, You can be kind because kindness has been extended to You in abundance.  You can be kind out of kindness itself.  That is an entirely different scenario than in which most people ever experience kindness.

Don’t settle for the either/or of the world and its systems.  Look for what is beyond the systems of our enemy who is in charge of this world at this present time.  Close Your eyes and either remember the culture of heaven from where we came and to where we shall return or imagine it based on Abba, but don’t get caught in the lies of either extreme or the lie-ground in between them.  Neither a Utopian Truth or a hopeless lie are Your birthright; Your heritage would never be so cheap….

01-24-2011 3P Post #7: The Coming Storm: To What Exactly Are We Entitled…

“They proclaim that every man is entitled to exist without labor and — the laws of reality to the contrary notwithstanding — is entitled to receive his “minimum sustenance”: his food, his clothes, his shelter, with no effort on his part, as his due and his birthright.  To receive it from whom?”

(Ayn Rand)

“If a man who cannot count finds a four-leaf clover, is he entitled to happiness?”

(Stanislaw Jerzy Lec)

“Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but

they are not entitled to their own facts…”. 

(Daniel Patrick Moynihan (at least as early as i ever heard it), U.S. Senator)

“Son, we Live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Who’s gonna do it? You, Kaffee? You, Lt. Weinburg?  i have a greater responsibility here than You can possibly fathom.  You weep for Santiago, and You curse the Marines — You have that luxury.  You have the luxury of not knowing what i know: that Santiago's death, while tragic, probably saved Lives — and my existence, while grotesque & incomprehensible to You, saves Lives.  You don’t want the Truth, because deep down in places You don’t talk about at parties, You want me on that wall — You need me on that wall.  We use words like “honor,” “code,” “loyalty.”  We use these words as the backbone of a Life spent defending something — You use them as a punch line.  i have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises & sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that i provide and then questions the manner in which i provide it.  i would rather You just said “Thank You” and went on Your way.  Otherwise, i suggest You pick up a weapon and stand a post.  Either way, i don't give a damn what You think You are entitled to!”

(Jack Nicholson, as the character “Colonel Nathan R. Jessep” in A Few Good Men)

“Once in his life, every man is entitled 

to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead…”.

(Lucille Ball)

There’s a storm coming.  It’s worse than any tsunami or earthquake or flood that You’ve ever seen.  It’s worse than the perfect storm.  There’s a storm coming, and it is — unavoidable….

It’s a storm born of fiscal laziness untempered by discipline, spiritual anchorlessness adrift without any moorings to any secure land, emotional manipulation of either the most sinister intent by those with motives of pure evil disguised as patronage or of the most incompetent of best-intended consequences by those with motives of pure fantasy disguised as caring, and — worst of all — moral ineptitude bred from corruption run amuck.  It is the storm of having to explain to a spoiled group of American citizenry children that daddy just doesn’t make enough money to keep them Living in the style to which they have become accustomed….

For those of You who think things were bad in 1930 or 2009, You have not yet seen “bad.”  The U.S. economy is not sick with a cold from which it will recover — it is dying of a non-functioning liver that requires a transplant if there is any hope of keeping the patient aLive.  And every single day that passes is a day closer to a death being speeded by the problem as opposed to a day closer to a death that would otherwise occur normally in a natural progression.  Yes, it is True that we are all dying every day, but we all know that needing a transplant makes that death much more impending.  So, let’s not play games here, unless we’re going to play Spades and everyone agrees to actually call a spade a spade….

You cannot dispute facts.  It’s a problem many people can’t fathom in this postmodern world, since they are used to Truth being more like Play-Doh than like a rock.  Still, the facts are the facts, and they are not in dispute — at least not on this subject. When You see governors from both sides of the aisle doing the same thing, You know the facts have been stipulated.

That’s why You see Jerry Brown (D – California) and other Demoncrats doing the same things as Chris Christie (R – New Jersey).  Repugnicans may have decided to take action first and lead the way, but they aren’t alone.  Everyone sees the storm coming, and there’s only one answer: a hard conversation with Grandma and an even harder one with Junior…

Here’s the conversation: “Grandma…Junior…we have something we have to tell You.  i know we told You that we were going to have those cataracts removed, but we don’t have the money.  And i know we said we were going to go vacation at Disneyland this summer, but we don’t have the money.  And not only are we not going to get to do those things, but we are going to have to sell both of You into slavery.  Please don’t be mad at how selfish we have been in the past, because we feel really bad about it now…”.

It’s amazing.  If You’ve ever Lived in the Midwest and seen a tornado coming, You’ll know what i mean.  First, there’s the eerie calm, the strange heat, the pensive feeling in the barometric pressure.  Then, there’s the radio warning of a sighting.  Then, the frantic neighbor who has come over to report first-hand the impending doom and to see, if perhaps, they can stay with You in Your cellar during the storm.  Then, the terror of seeing it six miles away Yourself, the paralysis brought on by that strange human-only phenomenon of staring at the awful beauty of devastation, the last survey of the way things have always been before they no more bear any resemblance to the way they were before.  The yanking of Your arm by a more clear-headed family member as they drag You underground…

You sit in the dimly lit cellar where a kerosene lantern flickers and strains in the oxygen-challenged room to provide Light to the huddled criers.  You hear the roar overhead.  You pray.  You are thankful for the lock on the cellar from within and hope it will be enough.  You cuddle with someone older or sit alone but not in isolation.  Eventually, You resign…

Slowly, You emerge.  Again, it is eerily quiet.  No birds sings.  No crickets chirp.  Nothing.

You notice a house on top of the grove of trees — or at least what’s left of the house.  The three cars that were in the driveway are gone.  No sign of them…they just aren’t where they were and You don’t see them anywhere.  You feel like You are standing in a freshly plowed field, except that this was the homestead where there used to be a windmill that pumped water for the animals and fences that corralled Livestock and a swing set and landscaping.  No more….

That is what the American economy is about to look like in about three years, except that i have done a very poor job of describing how horrendous it will be.  The only thing that will mitigate that result is the conversation i detailed above.

So, who wants to go get Grandma?  Any volunteers to go round up the young ‘uns and get them in here for the family meeting?  Yes, even the four-year old.  Especially the four-year old.  We really need to apologize to her.  Slavery is a terrible thing for a child, and we won’t ever see her again, after all.

The essential problem is entitlement.  Americans think they deserve stuff, literally.  They think health care is a right.  It’s not.  They think liberty is a right.  It’s not.  They think happiness is a right.  It’s not….

Along the way, our ancestors got greedy and (to make themselves feel better about becoming political gluttons in a pathetic attempt to justify themselves mentally and numb themselves spiritually) they decided on how the world should be.  They decided they would be rich, beautiful, and popular.  They decided they would have everything without reference to cost or sacrifice or labor.  Old people not faring well?  No problem, we’ll fix that.  We’ll just invent money for them when they retire and everything will be fine.  Never mind that most old people now are much worse off than before Social Security was invented.  Never mind that most old people were never taught that Social Security was supposed to be just one leg of a three-legged stool (first explicitly espoused by, albeit in a different form, Reinhard A. Hohaus in 1949 in a speech to the Ohio Chamber Of Commerce but clearly coming from the intent and formulation of the Roosevelt initiatives of the 1930s) comprised of 1) private savings & investments and 2) private pensions (like an IRA) or company pensions (like a retirement from a company) alongside 3) the Social Security program (mandatory, government-stewarded investment).  Never mind that old people have never benefited less and been more abused by bad calculations.  Who knew that an inept calculator operator could ruin so many Lives?

Entitlement.  It’s just a myth.  There is no such thing.  We are not entitled to anything.  Even royalty is only granted its privileges based on the Power from Whom it derives its prominence and not because of its own supposed-and-not-real or demanded-but-not-innate superiority.  Entitlement is not real — it is fabricated.  Beware fabrications — they lead to ruin…

i would like to be entitled.  Don’t get me wrong, it would be nice.  Are You kidding?  For people to owe me just because i’m a human or i’m 5’10” tall or i have brown eyes or i’m nice?  Yea, that would be great.  But the facts — and remember that they are not in dispute — are that no one owes me anything.  Social Security?  Well, yea, they owe me that, because they stole it from me to begin.  But a guarantee of a good Life?  A promise of health?  An iron-clad covenant of happiness?  No….

Tonight, when You tuck Your child in bed, rehearse Your speech on how You will tell them that slavery can be fun — an adventure, if You will.  Consider how You will justify the marks on their back from the whips of ruthless people who not only don’t Love them, but will use their suffering for amusement.  Formulate how You will put them at ease about being without instruction, without comfort, and without protection as they Live out their youth in constant fear and ceaseless agony during the period when You were supposed to be their caretaker.  And then go eat Your bowl of ice cream that You bought with Your food stamp while You watch Your big screen that You put on a credit card and listen to the President’s State of the Union where he will defend borrowing money from the country which owns us to poorly educate our children who we do keep into inferiority.  O, and don’t worry, i hear Chinese labor camps aren’t really all that bad.  After all, we’re all entitled to something, right?  And we’re Americans, so we must be entitled to serve the Chinese….

01-21-2011 F3A Post #6: The Model Prayer

Lots of people have asked me for the various rituals i have employed in my family over the years.  So, i'm going to use Fridays (for a while and also while reserving the right to comment about something else anytime i want) to post some of the things i have created to Bless, instruct, remind, or otherwise impact my family.  For today's post, i am going to post The Model Prayer.

Many years ago, Abba taught me how to spend time with Him in the mornings as LORD Y’shua did.  The Model Prayer was a part of that training.  It is how we begin our time together.  Abba had me translate it myself, and i worked on it for days learning to understand each part in its linguistic, cultural, spiritual, historical, and other various contexts.  Maybe no study has ever enriched my Life as much.  Now, it is not rote to me – it is ever fresh each time i pray it, because i need each thing every second of my ChristLife.  It leads us into the back-and-forth, conversational dialogue that Abba desires to have with His sons.  For me, it has been an indispensable Blessing and an essential part of my dependence.  i hope it Blesses You….

A Daily Prayer From LORD Y'shua the Messiah:

Holy Father YHWH (Blessed Be Your Holy Name)...
Please be merciful to us…

Our Father Who art in Heaven – Holy & Sacred be Your Name

Your Kingdom come – Your Will be done

On earth as it is in Heaven, and

in each of us – Your many sons – as in Your son, Y'shua

Abba, please continue to give all of us & each of us

Today & every day

The daily bread You ordain us to have...

LORD Most High, please continue to forgive us of
our trespasses against You, as
we continue to forgive others of their trespasses against us, and

Please cancel our debts – forgiving what we owe to You, as
we cancel the debts of others – forgiving what they owe to us...

And, Father of Lights, please don’t lead us into

temptation or attacks or times of severe trials, but
Deliver us from all evil – and from the

authority, power, vision, or influence of any evil one...

For the Kingdom & the Power & the Glory...

Holy Father God, those things are Yours & Yours alone, and

They belong to You – and only to You – Forever & Ever

Selah & Amen

Blessings to each and all of You from the LORD Most High today....

01-20-2011 Personal Post #6: Laughing Again

“Even if there is nothing to laugh about, laugh on credit…”.

(Unknown)

The most wasted of all days is one without laughter…”.

(e.e. cummings)

Laughter is the shortest distance between two people…”.

(Victor Borge)

What soap is to the body, laughter is to the soul…”.

(Yiddish Proverb)

Laughter gives us distance.

It allows us to step back from an event, deal with it, and then move on…”.

(Bob Newhart)

Remember, men need laughter sometimes more than food…”.

(Anna Fellows Johnston)

With the fearful strain that is on me night & day,

if i did not laugh, i should die…”.

(Abraham Lincoln)

Man, when You lose Your laugh,

You lose Your footing…”.

(Ken Kesey)

Seven days without laughter makes one weak…”.

(Mort Walker)

Laughter is an orgasm triggered by the intercourse of sense and nonsense…”.

(Unknown)

Nothing shows a man's character more than what he laughs at…”.

(Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)

Dad always thought laughter was the best medicine, which

i guess is why several of us died of tuberculosis…”

(Jack Handey in Deep Thoughts)

A weird thing is happening to me: i’m laughing again and causing others to laugh.  For much of my marriage, i neither laughed nor was funny.  Jokingly, my wife used to tell me i was “funny…looking, that is…”.  But, sadly, one of the things that drew her to me initially was my humor and laugh.  As the years went by in our marriage with things that weren’t necessarily the fault of either of us, i began to laugh less and less.  i slipped into a mild depression that deepened and worsened until i was in a terribly dark place…isolated & alone…and profoundly wounded.  Additionally, i became suicidal (which is altogether different and separate from depression).  For much of the last three years of my marriage, suicide seemed to me like the best of a handful of bad options.  There are still several people who wish i had gone through with it….

But, now, as the marriage is officially over and i am divorced, i expected a certain set of responses: judgment, condemnation, ridicule, scorn, & condescension...loneliness, emptiness, & longing…diminished opportunities, a more singular capacity, & recalibrated hopes…and all of those have happened, for sure.  However, i am surprised at one thing: i am laughing again.

It’s amazing to me to read what people say about laughter.  From scripture to the village idiot, laughter is almost universally recognized as a healing balm, and maybe that’s why i’m so aware of it right now.  God knows i need a lot of healing.  Also, however, laughter reveals joy, which i have basically had none of in the last decade.  i can’t remember the last time i was actually happy before my divorce.  i know there was a time when i was married and happy (or at least i think there was), but i can’t remember it or recall any specific memories of being happy or, more substantively, actually having real joy — whether we’re talking about the state of “being married” or just having joy, in general.

For most of my Life, people have told me i was funny.  Some of my friends have tried to convince me to try my hand at stand-up comedy from time to time.  i like being called funny, because i like making people laugh, too, and also because comedy requires intelligence (which makes me feel intelligent — no word on whether or not that actually applies to me).  In high school, i remember lots of people being attracted to me (not sexually, but in a more general manner) and telling me that they liked hanging around me or whatever, because i made them laugh.  More than that, people would comment on what they perceived to be my almost innate sense of joy.  Joy is more abiding than the fleetingness of happiness, but laughter betrays both.  i know that, for much of my Life, i did indeed have real joy.  i’m not sure when it left, but my counselor is helping me identify that.  We are making real progress, and i think we have the time frame nailed down.

Now, at least for this current season, the focus has not been on recovering joy, but laughter — potentially as a harbinger, i am hoping — has already returned.  i am enjoying Life again for the first time in years, and i am enjoying people again for the first time in years.  Some people are bipolar and have to take medication.  Some people are depressed or have high blood pressure or have suffered a stroke or whatever and have to have medication to prevent devastating events or keep them even or help them cope with the effects of something awful.  Apparently, i have to be on laughter to keep me sane….

01-19-2011 Theological Post #6: Finders Keepers

“Whoever finds his own Life will lose it, but

the person who loses his Life for my sake will find it…”.

(The Gospel Of Saint Matthew 10:39)

“Whoever wants to save his own Life will destroy it, but

Whoever destroys his Life for my sake will find it…”.

(The Gospel Of Saint Matthew 16:25)

Do You remember the exhilaration of finding something when You were a kid?  Especially if it was pleasing to the sight of Your eyes or the smell of Your nose or the touch of Your hands or face or the taste of Your mouth or the sound of Your ears, it was awesome.  Especially if, usually later, You found it to be of some great worth that, heretofore, had been unbenounced to You, it was so fun.  Especially if it was rare, it was exquisite.

How about the losses?  How about when You lost Your retainer and had to search through the school trash heap or lost Your uniform on the day of the game or lost Your recall at the moment the test fell from the teacher’s hand to Your desk?  Or, usually later, when You lost Your best friend to suicide or Your hope to abuse or neglect or Your joy to depression?

In any of those memories, do the words “Finders Keepers” surface?  For me, they come up on the screen often.  Sometimes spoken in covetous power by me, sometimes in mocking greed by others.  Interesting, this business of finding and this obsession with keeping.  Neither seem to be particularly attractive to me nowadays, but both are still eerily appealing.

i had dinner with a friend Monday night.  Two years ago, she was lost.  She couldn’t find her way.  She wondered if anyone wanted her — even for a moment.  The thought of someone keeping her seemed a distant wish with no fairy godmother to grant access.

Good thing she knows Y’shua….

She was graduating with her Master’s degree in theology.  She is one of the most encouraging, humble, and authentic people i know.  She beams with joy and glows with Light when she talks about her friends, and she radiates warmth and Love when she speaks of God.

Good thing i know her….

In these last two years, i have needed her friendship.  It has been a long, hard road for me over these last few years.  Friends like her have helped to ease the pain, to Light the way, and to move the mountains.  She is not the only one, by far, but she is an important one.

Y’shua taught us, on at least two different occasions, about finding & keeping.  For me, it seems like He’s been teaching me for all of my Life.

Good thing Y’shua knows me….

One time, He said, “Whoever finds his own Life will lose it, but the person who loses his Life for my sake will find it…”.  i had a Life before i knew Him, but — and Thank God — i never had a Life before He knew me.  The Life i had on my own wasn’t a very good one.  O, don’t get me wrong — it wasn’t bad enough to long for another one or to want to extinguish in disgust or resignation, but it wasn’t utopian or spoiled or overtly extravagant.  It was the Life of my parents heritage and my own making.  In other words, it was fine…it was comfortable…it was “normal” to me.  But it was mine and not His....

And, True to His prophecy, i lost it.  i lost all of it.  i lost the purity, the reputation, the confidence, the favor, the plan, the hope, and the joy.  i lost my way, and i almost lost my mind.  i lost myself.

Today, i’m in the process of losing my newest Life, one that i had most recently built.  i’ve lost all the stuff i lost the first time, but — additionally — this time i’ve lost friends and people who supported me (whether or not they were friends), my credit rating, my relational credibility, my chance to get it right the first time around, and my opportunities.  i’ve lost my way, and i almost lost my soul….

The only hope is that He knows me.  He gets me.  He Loves me.  He wants me.  Finders Keepers?  Apparently, i’m not so good at it, but He seems to excel at it.  i think the only question right now in my Life is this: am i losing my Life for His sake, or because for some other reason?

Good thing i know Y’shua….

i know what i want the answer to be to that question.  It would make me happy…it would make me glad for Him…it would give me peace…if i could answer that i am losing my most recent manufactured (as opposed to His created) existence for His sake, and that He is returning to me — in the place of my manufactured existence — His ChristLife.  i’m not yet convinced one way or the other, but i do know about my friend….

“Whoever wants to save his own Life will destroy it, but whoever destroys his Life for my sake will find it…”.  A whole different can of worms, this teaching.  Not nearly the same as the other one mentioned above.  A second question i currently have is: Can i muster up the courage to destroy what i’ve manufactured for myself (since, if He’s right — and You know He always is, that i’m going to destroy what i’ve manufactured for myself the harder i try to preserve it) and trust that He will let me find something better?

Again, i know what i want the answer to be to that question.  The first dilemma was about losing something i had found on my own versus losing something for His sake.  This second quandary is about destroying something i possess, either way, with no option of continuing the possession.  The only choice in this second crossroads is whether or not the destruction will culminate in ruin (if i choose to foolishly try to preserve what i cannot maintain and that is outside of the human purview) or finding something better (if i choose to proactively destroy what i currently possess in hope of the promise of something else that is currently unknown to me).

When i was younger, i wondered why it took Abraham 15 years to progress or Israel so long in the wandering to arrive.  i never wonder about that anymore, because now i know.  We get in our own way.  Our journeys are prolonged, or at least mine often is, by my trying to see if circumvention of the Truth is possible or by invalid supposings that the LORD Most High might relent in His righteousness or by stubborn beliefs that my will counts for more than His….

Eventually, my friend moved to China.  People who wouldn’t hire her here support her there.  People want her there.  She has become a kept woman, so to speak: kept by Y’shua.  He uses her to teach people about Him, and she Loves it.  It seems to have solved things for her…to have filled in deficits…to have moved her beyond what used to be sticking points…to have equipped her to contribute more profoundly…to have fulfilled the desires of her heart.  i don’t know how well she fares with Finders Keepers, but i do know He seems to excel at it….