BUDDHA'S PILLOW

Change

2010-09-23T21:10:00.004-04:00

This is my last post on Buddha's Pillow.

My new blog is The Practical Humanist.

The title says it all. I have been working with remarkable people at the Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard since last year. Greg Epstein, the Humanist Chaplain, has managed to open the first Humanist Student Center on a university campus in the United States this year. Seeing the development of a humanist community at Harvard is the actualization of a dream I have shared with many: The coming together of people for the promoting the greater good without the trappings and divisiveness of religion.

In the spirit of this new Humanism, I have decided to write under a more direct title, one which better describes me and the way I view humanism in my life.

Consumers

2010-09-23T08:33:00.006-04:00

I hear we live in a consumer economy. The term is used in media constantly. It is a given. By defining human beings as consumers, some human beings exploit human greed and materialism for great profit. This is not new.

Stepping away from the addictive process of consuming every new thing is part of an awakening. The brainwashers of advertising use peer pressure and fear of isolation to peddle electronic devices, cars, clothing, alcohol and soft drinks. They used to peddle cigarettes in the same way, before the product was revealed to be more toxic than being the odd man out.

Watching television with commercials has always felt like manipulation to me. I could not enjoy the content of a drama or comedy without the nagging feeling that my brain was being programmed to do things against my better interests. I stopped watching commercial TV about twenty-five years ago.

I come back to the Japanese Buddhist mantra , "Person environment one." If you are submerged visually in commercial advertising all day, your mind and your environment are no longer your own. You are inhaling messages, overt and covert, which shape your ideals and your interests. The goal of the originators of these messages is simple. They wish to own you.

You are what you eat. In a similar way, you are what you watch and consume. Taking time away from the messages of media and the process of consuming or planning to consume is essential to finding your center. Meditation is a useful tool for this. Yoga is another. Other forms of focused activity, geared to releasing the mind from cluttered thought, are useful tools to break the pattern of wanting and buying and wanting more.

As I have said before, wanting more when you are full is a symptom of disease. The lords of the consumer economy never want you to stop wanting. This is a struggle for your health and mental well being in a world driven by money and profit. The choices are difficult and require great balance and persistence.

Autumn

2010-09-22T09:10:00.004-04:00

In the Northern Hemisphere, we move into Autumn. The arc of the sun shrinks on the horizon. Days shorten. The light becomes sharper on clear, dry days.

It is easy to ignore the turning of the seasons in an urban environment. Our lives, tied to illuminated panels, large and small, are less impacted by the shrinking hours of natural light. The projected world, a transmitted construct of bytes and code, fuses with the natural world in our distracted minds.

Get out. Look around. Breathe deeply. Leave the iPhone at home. Walk (not ride) in the world and look at the houses, the trees, the gardens. Meet the eyes of your neighbors. Stop and talk with someone who is working or sitting in a yard or on a porch.

The time is coming when this activity will be more difficult, less attractive. Take advantage of the season. Be present in your natural environment, whatever and wherever it may be.

Vision

2010-09-21T08:17:00.004-04:00

I have been told by the astrologically enthusiastic that my Aquarius predisposition accounts for my idealism. However, I believe having vision is more a matter of exercise and practice than predisposition from distant constellations. Vision comes with keeping your chin up and your eyes open.

I have found that maintaining my personal awareness in the moment makes it much easier to look ahead with confidence. There is the Great Vision: Peace and justice for everyone on a planet which is cherished and respected for the life it gives. Within that Great Vision is the immediate vision of the scope of my own life as I age and eventually die.

These visions of a future which is never promised sustain me in my daily practice, my practice in the moment. My practice of mindfulness, study and compassion in the moment sustains my hopeful vision of the future. This is the dance of consciousness within the boundaries of space and time. Meditation and reflection allow me to project myself outside the boundaries of space and time by strengthening my imagination and reducing my physical stress.

Life without vision beyond plain sight is self-limiting. The blind man with vision walks bravely through life. The sighted man without vision is materialistic and self-centered.

Cruelty

2010-09-20T09:23:00.006-04:00

The minor cruelties of life are the most socially erosive. I see examples of these minor cruelties every day in my crowded urban environment. The adolescent thug lounges across three subway seats as people stand around him in the aisles. Groups of young pedestrians push past a tenuously balanced elder on a crowded sidewalk. The entitled customer holds up a cashier line for no reason with little regard for those behind him. Drivers routinely risk the well being of others by running red lights.

When I walked into my 90-year-old mother's hospital room last evening on a relatively quiet hospital floor in a renowned urban hospital, I found that the meal server had placed her food tray just out of her reach and had not helped her raise her bed to an eating position. My mother, having had a hip replacement two days earlier, had been struggling to reach her meal prior to my arrival. I later saw the meal server when she collected the tray officiously. It was obvious that she was oblivious to how cruel and alienating her attitude was.

The minor cruelties add up to the major atrocities in society. This is a well known process. It can be reversed only by education and example. I consider it part of my practice as a humanist in society to foster attitudes of cooperation and consideration of all human beings in life situations. As a citizen, I believe I can do this best by modeling considerate and cooperative civil behavior in public situations. In work situations, modeling cooperative and considerate behavior with peers is a way of working against a culture of cruelty. As a supervisor, intervening against cruel or antisocial behavior is an ethical responsibility in my opinion.

The politics of fear in America have many side effects. One unfortunate side effect is the obvious hesitancy of people in public situations to engage with strangers. This generalized social isolation is destructive to the fiber of social cooperation and consideration. It makes open expression of compassion a rare commodity. And, it makes each of us more vulnerable to the cruelty of others.

Crises

2010-09-19T10:10:00.005-04:00

The best way to avoid constant crises in life is to avoid constant crises in life. By increasing your awareness and general state of mindfulness, many of life's so-called crises can be avoided entirely by proper planning and responsible action.

Yes, shit happens. To a certain degree, accidents are unavoidable. However, many accidents are the results of lack of care and attention in potentially dangerous situations. Improper home or car maintenance are common precursors to accidents, for example. There is no need to invite shit to happen.

It is important to know yourself and to take full, proactive responsibility for yourself and your personal environment, which includes all spaces you occupy in life. Practice, as I use the word frequently in my writing, includes vigilant and persistent maintenance of body and environment. The practice of meditation assists the brain in taking a relaxed and clear view of your life and your environment. Exercise, proper nutrition and adequate sleep maintain the brain and body in a state of efficiency and adequacy to the task of averting or dealing with disaster.

Multiple personal crises are symptomatic of disease and/or personal dysfunction in your environment. Where there is constant and dedicated practice, crises are minimal, because practice places you in a functional and efficient state wherever you find yourself in life. Instead of being a barreling, reactive train, headed for a wreck, the person with a well established practice of health and mindfulness is like a gyroscope, always maintaining balance and simply bouncing away when it hits obstacles.

Suffering

2010-09-18T08:08:00.005-04:00

Suffering is not composed of the difficulties and tragedies of life. Suffering is in the perception of life by the individual mind. This is the reason for practice. By practicing meditation and other forms of strengthening the mind and body, it is possible to endure life's inevitable challenges without suffering. This is true liberation.

Politics

2010-09-17T08:15:00.004-04:00

The media obsession with details of politics in America breeds an apathy, born of overkill. Politics have overshadowed government. The manipulations for power have become a spectator sport on the level of professional wrestling. Meanwhile, the quality of American government on all levels deteriorates. Look at your roads, your buses, your subway trains for an illustration.

The yowling Tea Party contingent bring more dysfunction to this environment. Playing with covert racism and homophobia, these closet Republican Rightists seek to immobilize any progressive legislation in a time of national crisis. Their motivation, shrilly misrepresented as patriotism, is obviously manufactured by corporate financing.

Progressives of all types are disillusioned by the Obama administration's sadomasochistic love affair with Wall Street. Summers, Frank and Geithner serenade Obama with sonnets of Wall Street's inherent love of democracy and freedom, as the money men continue to pick the pockets of the American people.

There comes a time in any organization's life when it begins to exist for itself, not for those who have formed it or pay for it in money or labor. This seems glaringly true of the U.S. administration, Congress and Supreme Court. Our government is foundering in a sea of political self-interest. And the people are suffering for it.

Perhaps it is good for the citizens to disengage from this government, as it now operates. Perhaps this is a time for a Jeffersonian revolution. This Fall's election will definitely be a harbinger of what form such a revolution will take in America.

Liberation

2010-09-16T08:45:00.005-04:00

One way of achieving enlightenment in ancient prescriptions is striving for emptiness. Emptiness implies letting go of ego and a cluttered mind. Meditation is a traditional method for practicing emptiness of mind and liberation from suffering.

While I understand these concepts, I feel the ancient concepts of enlightenment and liberation are relevant in a very different way in modern society. As we become liberated from religion through science, our minds can open to many other ways to achieve liberation from suffering. For example, some would see pharmaceutical technology as a substitute for meditation or psychoanalysis in the pursuit of personal insight and evolution.

The problem with technological substitutes or alternatives for meditation and reflection is simple. Most of us cannot develop our own technological substitutes for these activities. In other words, liberation in a full sense is impossible, since we depend on a factory to make the pills which may take the place of practice. Capitalism fosters this dependence on product as a substitute for practice.

The beauty of practice as an approach to liberation from personal suffering is its empowerment. It requires no dependence on pills, gurus or mentors. By emptying a life of dependence and taking full responsibility for its suffering, a seeker who develops a daily practice of meditation and mindful investigation of being achieves one first step toward liberation.

Anger

2010-09-15T09:31:00.005-04:00

The politics of anger are rising from the relatively wealthy in the form of the Tea Party in America. Funny. I am reminded of the advent of the French revolution, when the relatively affluent Bourgeoisie manipulated the destitute and truly poor to dislodge the aristocracy for them. The result was a Reign of Terror, in which many of those leaders of the Bourgeoisie were cannibalized by their own monster.

The politics of common sense are seldom popular, because common sense is an antidote for personal greed in society. Greed wins the attention of the middle class. Trashing the concepts of progressive taxes, public health care and business regulation gets the bourgeois mob inflamed. They are motivated by greed, not by social justice.

This year's elections in America will be a test of the true center of the American conscience. Will the people choose the politics of anger and materialism? Or, will the people realize that patience and the correction of the materialistic and militaristic policies of the past decade will eventually promote greater economic equality in the country?

Awakened

2010-09-14T08:37:00.006-04:00

The sleepwalker passes through life with eyes fixed firmly on his past and, walking backwards through his present into his future, he allows his path to be directed by the life situations which he bumps into. The awakened looks ahead to the future with a firm footing in the moment, each moment, a slippery stone in the stream of ever changing life.

Ego

2010-09-13T08:46:00.006-04:00

Ego can be a touchstone and a prison. While finding one's center involves a certain amount of devotion to self-discovery and understanding, finding one's most peaceful and compassionate place in human society involves turning from one's own needs in favor of awareness of the needs of others. I believe the person with the most developed, secure ego is also the person whose ego is least apparent in productive social interactions.

The current bee-hive mentality which is popular in some segments of society can be a retardant to healthy ego development. Conformity and the distractions of the mass-think which develops in social media rob time away from reflection, solitude and reading those sources which would lead to self-discovery and understanding. Facebook-think is a salad of shallow observations, one-liners and thumbs-up "likes".

Distraction from suffering does not address or modify its source. It fuels denial through bolstering an attitude that everyone is the same in every way. This equivocation deepens dysfunction when it is used to seal over deep scars of developmental trauma, individual genetic problems or chronic relational problems. While the sense of belonging is soothing, it does not heal or modify individual challenges, which can worsen when ignored over time.

So, there is a great challenge in this Twitter age. While constantly being and writing about "me", man do not take the time and effort to analyze and understand the "me" being communicated to the world. What is it's purpose? Where is it channeling its energies? What is its place in society?

I see my own humanist practice as working on my self-understanding in order to better contribute to the human experience through communication and action in each moment. I seek to be a process, as opposed to a fait accompli. An important part of that process is the constant interaction and influence of others in various settings and relationships as my days progress.

Disease

2010-09-12T09:43:00.004-04:00

Wanting for more, when you are already full, is a symptom of disease.

Engagement

2010-09-11T08:19:00.005-04:00

The death of manners in American society has been rather precipitous and jarring for me. In the last two decades, the general public behavior on American urban streets has deteriorated. This has accelerated with the public use of PDAs, iPods, iPhones, netbooks and mobiles. The advent of hip hop culture prior to onslaught of these devices laid a perfect groundwork for isolationism and marginal aggression in the public space.

I understand the seductiveness of earplugs in modern urban America. I travel subways and walk frequently through urban neighborhoods, which are jammed with cars, bicycles and baby strollers. I can see a day when pedestrians may be wearing hi-tech glasses, equipped with GPS and a virtual reality, projected on the inside of the lenses. These, combined with earplugs, would provide the perfect mobile womb.

I happen to believe that staying engaged, despite the annoyances, is an important part of being a practitioner of humanism. So, I venture out unplugged daily. I hold doors open for others. I say thank you to store clerks. I make eye contact and smile at people on the subway and sidewalk. This is an essential part of my humanist practice as I see it. This is my own way of taking responsibility for improving my environment. Retreating into technology, in my opinion, is an irresponsible and antisocial approach to the stresses of urban life. Regular, peaceful engagement in the public space, I believe, is a way of promoting greater peace in society.

Cleanliness

2010-09-10T09:18:00.005-04:00

The old Puritan ethic said, "Cleanliness is next to Godliness." This is one of the very rare instances where I agree with Puritanism. Cleanliness also lies at the core of Zen Buddhist practice, a traditional practice with which I more readily identify.

American culture has become slovenly. I feel it is an outward symptom of America's post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD), a result of the narcissistic injury of September 11th, 2001. Hair styles, clothing styles and public spaces all display a greasy sloppiness that is indicative of low self esteem, lack of civic pride and depression. The parallel obesity, alcoholism and drug dependency come as no surprise.

The routine of maintaining the body and one's environment is part of any serious practice of personal responsibility and development. Making this routine a source of meditation and joy is a goal for the experienced practitioner. The inherent benefits of developing this aspect of personal practice are wonderful: Increased health, regular exercise, a sense of accomplishment, attractive appearance and more efficient use of personal space.

I have developed daily and weekly routines of cleanliness in my practice. For example, I have reduced the objects in my environment to make it easier to keep surfaces free of accumulated dust. Each object in my home has its place. After I use an object, I return it to its place. This applies to books, flatware, dishes, clothing, etc.. This is a daily practice.

Once a week, I do an afternoon cleaning meditation. I live in a small apartment. I thoroughly dust and wipe down all the wood floors. I vacuum the carpets. I wash down and disinfect all the surfaces in my kitchen and bathroom. Since I have to conserve my energy, I do this in stages which may take more time than it would for someone with more vigor. But, the meditative aspect is my concentration on the objects I am cleaning. An appreciation of the texture of wood. The structure and shine of tile and porcelain. The awareness of my body as I make the cleaning motions.

The process of routinely maintaining an orderly and clean environment mirrors the maintenance of an orderly and uncluttered mind. Japanese Buddhists have a key saying, "Person environment one." In my experience, this holds basic truth.

Betrayal

2010-09-09T07:30:00.005-04:00

I like Trader Joe's markets. Their attitude toward customer service is very humanistic, in my opinion. They strive to produce a positive shopping environment and offer affordable food. Good things. So, you might understand my current sense of being betrayed.

I have to read package labels in markets. I have several food allergies and sensitivities, developed after taking multiple chemotherapies for a variety of problems. This complicates my daily life in a fundamental way.

I drink cocoa in the evening. It is one pleasure that has not become toxic...yet. However, I cannot tolerate high fructose corn syrup or additives made from corn. So, I always attempt to buy pure cocoa powder, a simple, whole food.

This week, I wanted to replenish my cocoa supply at Trader Joe's, where I have bought an ethically traded cocoa powder from Colombia in the past. A very good cocoa, actually. The T.J.'s where I shop regularly did not have the familiar brown container. So, I settled for a blue can which says, "Conacado Organic Fair Trade Cocoa". 'No biggie,' I thought, until I got home and remembered to read the label before putting this new product in my cupboard:

"Ingredients: Organic evaporated sugar cane juice (natural milled cane sugar), organic nonfat dry milk powder, organic cocoa powder, organic guar gum, sea salt, organic carob bean gum, organic vanilla bean powder (organic vanilla extract, organic maltodextrin [corn], organic gum arabic)."

In other words, I had been duped. I had not bought just organic fair trade cocoa. I had bought a hot chocolate mix, similar to all the junky ones I could have found on any major grocery chain's shelf. And, it cost me about twice as much as it would have if it had been Swiss Miss. This was a true miss for me. I forgot to read the label...the entire label in Trader Joe's.

I feel betrayed by Trader Joe. I also feel that this product's label is a misrepresentation, a lie, a fraud. It is just one more example of the loss of ethics in business. Had I consumed this product, I would have been ill, probably for days. I doubt Trader Joe or any of his ilk would care.

Libertarians scream about free markets and abolishing all government regulation of business. Well, for their sakes, I hope they fail on their mission. If they should encounter life changes like those I live with every day, they might well be done in by a mislabeled can of cocoa mix. I would not wish this on anyone.

Taxes

2010-09-08T08:16:00.004-04:00

Taxes pay for roads, sewers, schools, hospitals, etc.. Government is required to administer tax funds. I know this sounds simplistic, but I hear less than simplistic protests against government and taxes every day in the media. If you walk around your closest city, as I do daily, you will see rusted bridges, potholes, cracked sidewalks, weedy parks. If you ride a mass transit system, as I do several times a week, you will see vandalized cars, torn seats and filthy floors. I am sure the interior of many public schools are plagued with similar issues.

Life in a civilized society requires citizen participation. Too few citizens vote. Even fewer actually contribute time to their local city or town government. Crimes are observed and unreported daily. People treat the public space like a trash can. I speculate that many of the people who scream against taxation of any kind exhibit the least responsible behavior in the public sphere.

President Obama is being targeted by Republicans and some Democrats, newly won over to the Right, for trying to return some fairness to the tax system. Imagine. A President of the United States is standing up for a vast majority of Americans who are not wealthy by requiring those who hold an inordinate amount of the wealth to pay their fair share of taxes. The media, largely in the hands of corporate control, pretend to present the situation as a matter of opinion and debate.

Lack of government funds to maintain infrastructure is not debatable. It is disaster in the making. Poor schools propagate crime, proverty and violence. Poor roads endanger lives and inhibit commerce. Low city treasuries threaten public safety by gutting police and fire department budgets.

It will never be a "good time" for the wealthy to pay more taxes. People don't get wealthy by giving their money away. Wealthy people give money away to avoid paying taxes.

I wait to hear the voices of the wealthy who claim to be in favor of a civilized and humane society here in the U.S.. I do not hear them yet. I do not hear Bill Gates stomping the country with speeches in support to increased taxes for the wealthy. I do not hear Mayor Bloomberg shouting for increased taxes on Wall Street executives. I do not hear the voices of all those corporate donors who supported President Obama's election.

I'm listening, but I have little confidence that those who have will come forward for those who have not.

Value

2010-09-07T08:26:00.005-04:00

The rapper/gangster subculture of the last twenty years has based song after song on the theme of respect. That culture seems incapable of realizing that respect is gained where respect is given. Brutality does not earn respect. It earns fear and violence.

Rather than approaching one another with macho intimidation, I suggest we take each other in with an eye to value those things which make each of us unique and valuable in some way. Valuing one another and ourselves for what we can contribute is a way to avoid focusing on our deficits and weaknesses.

The current pop-culture abhorrence of "judging" is often a defense against looking at selfish and/or dysfunctional behavior in ourselves. Judgment is absolutely necessary to survival and productivity in life. Anyone who stops judging human behaviors and situations will have a bumpy road ahead. However, judging behaviors can be balanced by valuing those aspects of behaviors, people and situations, which enhance our lives. In other words, it helps to learn to tolerate the bad, within limits, while appreciating the good in any relationship or situation.

As we become more adept at recognizing and validating value in our relationships and life situations, our lives gain depth and quality. This process helps us to define our own personal values, which then become sign posts along our paths in life.

Labor

2010-09-06T08:49:00.005-04:00

The sharp distinction between volunteer labor and labor for wages in our society is symptomatic of the baseline injustice in many workplaces. I believe this is a vestige of sexism in part. Women's domestic work, historically unpaid, was seen as unskilled, despite the great skills it required. This was part of the subjugation of women by men, who elevated their role as wage earners in order to rule society and have their own privileges in and out of the home.

We are moving away from patriarchy in the U.S.. With this, the sharp lines between labor for wages and other forms of valuable social labor are blurring somewhat. Unfortunately, capitalist exploiters are using this process to extract free labor from intelligent and talented people who are forced to compete with each other in a job-poor economy. Educated young people from privileged backgrounds are able to pay for internships in lucrative fields of endeavor, while equally talented and less affluent candidates are forced to apply for jobs unworthy of their abilities.

Corporations, motivated by profits, not social good, are downsizing by using technology to eliminate the need for human labor. They have left the job of retraining redundant employees to government, while knee-capping government by buying political action in Washington to gut corporate tax policy and increase corporate welfare. The response of the corporatist to the laid-off workers is "Become entrepreneurs!" This has the hollow, cynical ring of Marie Antoinette's quip about cake in lieu of bread. It can be translated as : Go exploit others as we've exploited you.

The difference between a materialist and a humanist in the work place is simple. The materialist works at whatever it takes to finance his pleasure or greed. The humanist works to earn an ethical living and to contribute to human society with the fruits of his/her labor. In a materialist society, where much of what is produced is not socially valuable or ethically based, many humanists turn to volunteer labor to satisfy their desire to improve society with their labor.

The current collapse of oil's domination and perversion of the world economy may well be a breakthrough in this paradigm. There is an opportunity for humanists to explore many more options for their talents. The green economy may well become a largely humanist labor and entrepreneurial movement. However, the powers of materialistic capitalism with fight for the greater part of the green economy or will try to sabotage its development altogether.

Organized labor in America has been lacking in the promotion green development. It has aligned itself with the oil economy. It has aligned itself with Wall Street and corrupted government. It has generally betrayed its mission to bring justice and human values to the work place.

Embracing the daily work of humanist idealism and practice in any field is always challenging, often isolating but very rewarding. By focusing on the quality of his/her labor and its value to society, the humanist inevitably shines as a valued member of any work force. While the path of the humanist may not lead to exorbitant profits, it does lead to a great wealth of personal growth and happiness.

Companionship

2010-09-05T07:53:00.007-04:00

Who knows your truth? With whom do you share your life experiences openly and honestly? Where do you turn for honest criticism?

As we emerge from the dark age of the Bush administration in America, it seems interpersonal relationships have regressed in quality on some levels and progressed in others. The advent of Facebook and Linkedin have perhaps diminished isolation for the more socio-phobic. However, the level of intimacy in these virtual communities is inhibited by the constraints of the new hypocrisies about sexuality and gender roles. Leftovers from the born-again days.

This is also a post-psychological era in many ways. Drug companies have subverted psychotherapy as a method of personal growth and understanding. Alcohol abuse and alcoholism are once again epidemic on college campuses and in the lives of young working adults in urban areas. Drug abuse is also commonplace on all levels of society.

The stretch to intimacy in relationships is inhibited by the sense in many circles that "getting along" in groups is crucial. This breeds stagnation and conformity in such groups. Creative relationships wither in this atmosphere, where gossip and peer pressure are governed by mediocrity, political correctness (hypocrisy) and jealousy.

Trusting, committed companionship between two or more people is a precious asset in life, which can transform and sustain lives of creativity and expansion. Honesty in such relationships is key. Respect of personal differences and individual autonomy is also essential.

The current obsession in American society is finding The One. It seems absurd to see this stated by someone on Facebook who lists over 1,000 people as their friends. If I were to have 1,000 friends and had yet to find The One, I would logically assume I am not looking very hard, or that The One is not really whom I'm after. In fact, I would begin to think I was perhaps content with The None.

This brings me back to my original questions. The answers to these questions may vary. For some, the person most intimately involved in his/her day-to-day may be someone on a computer thousands of miles away. While relationships of this kind can be remarkably sustaining on an intellectual level, they do not provide the touch and hugs of affection which most human beings relish and need to feel loved.

At another extreme, the person most intimately involved with a person's life may be a sexual partner who is not even part of that person's day-to-day. The mistress or the sex buddy may know more about his companion than anyone else in his companion's life. This is not as uncommon as conventional morality would lead us to believe.

Integrating intimacy and companionship is the skill of a mentally healthy adults. It entails commitment on some level, occasional failure and creativity. The result is greatly nourishing. The rewards eventually outweigh the effort. True companionship with intimacy makes our lonely path from birth to death less arduous and more joyful.

Path

2010-09-04T09:39:00.005-04:00

We are born as single, distinct individuals, despite any familial nurturing or support. All things pass away. With age, those of us who survive longest live the loneliest lives. This is nature. Eventually we die our separate deaths. Our bodies simply give out from one cause or another.

Our conscious lives are linear, despite any meditative or holistic practice we adopt along the way. This is an inevitable human condition. We can flee into denial, drug addiction or insanity in attempts to avoid it. But, the heart beats and the lungs bellow their inevitably finite number of mechanical times before they cease, like all engines in a material world.

Should we spend our time unnecessarily preoccupied with living longer and looking perpetually young? What is the use? How does that help the human condition or promote peace for all? When the door closes on each life, it closes as relentlessly as the door of a subway train. Death comes. There's no holding it back indefinitely.

So, given the limits of our human journey, what path should we follow? Should we wallow in hedonistic pleasure? Should we see life as an endless bag of potato chips to be devoured and craved indefinitely? Should we become self-centered and get everything we can for our own pleasure in the short time we have? She would focus on fleeting fame or popularity?

Perhaps we should shed every pleasure in favor of mind expansion and understanding of the human condition. The cloister, the cave, the mountaintop. Austerity in the name of inner peace and liberation.

I believe in the Middle Path. I live immersed in the world, yet not attached to it. I care for my body and mind, but I heed the needs of those around me and respond as best I can. I savor the basic pleasures of home, mobility and social intercourse, but I am prepared at any time to move from my place or my life in the inevitable loneliness of the human condition. I try to take what I need from life. I understand that wanting, when I am full, is a disease. I work to heal that disease in my own life. I try to help others to escape from needless wanting.

This Middle Path is often hard to see in the forest of modern urban life. Deep breathing and patience afford me the time to seek it when I am enveloped in the fog of my own anxiety or the demands of others. Time in meditation and times of being touched by love form the serene pool of happiness and reserve which sustains me when a crisis has passed. All falls into perspective. I know the journey ahead. It is uniquely mine, and I must travel it alone. This is what it is. I am at peace with it and with myself.

Responsibility

2010-09-03T08:44:00.005-04:00

The keystone of any self-improvement is the relentless acceptance of personal responsibility for creating positive change in your life and your environment.

Entitlement

2010-09-02T08:15:00.005-04:00

An entitlement is a just claim or right, usually granted by some authority to an individual. Entitlement may also refer to a personal attitude. This usage is common in therapeutic circles.

The attitude of entitlement is seen as an unconscious, narcissistic sense of being owed a certain deference without any rational basis for that belief. It is often a defense against self-loathing, but it can be the result of poor socialization or poor parenting. Part of healthy human development is the achievement of an understanding of the basic worth and commonality of all human beings. Added to that understanding, a rational, socialized human being realizes that respect and consideration are earned by respectful behavior and responsible action. The entitled person, in the psychotherapeutic sense, enters human interactions and social situations with a demanding or emotionally needy attitude which has no real or socially accepted basis in objective reality.

In the current American political landscape, legal entitlements, such as social security and unemployment benefits, are decried by The Right as frivolous waste of public funds. Their adamant railing against these social benefits imply that the recipients are milking the public treasury unnecessarily and unjustly. Ironically, this reflects an attitudinal entitlement in the holders of these views, who are often fortunate to be wealthy enough, while holding these opinions, to not need the benefits themselves. They feel entitled to live in a safe and comfortable society without paying for the social infrastructure that creates the conditions they obviously take for granted.

The iPhone and Blackberry seem to enforce this sense of general impatience and entitlement. Mesmerized by the power of a portable, compliant slave, which offers up demanded information with the flick of a thumb or finger, people could tend to be less patient with human servers and coworkers, whose clocking times tend to be less immediate and require a certain amount of social prompting to get the best result. Having slaves of any kind, historically, has bred the worst form of entitlement in their masters.

The culture of "we are all special" has contributed to entitlement in many who are not special and who are perhaps are not even average. This is the entitlement of the bling-encrusted felon, now a rapper, whose knowledge or understanding of the human condition is minimal. However, this individual strides from talk show to talk show and dispenses the wisdom of the ignorant with great hubris. The echo effect of this media barrage breeds entitlement in similar listeners, who feel themselves ordained by their rough-shod role model.

The pathological attitude of entitlement, in my opinion, is a reflection of the inequality and lack of education in society. I believe the most basic human entitlement, in a legal or ethical sense, is the birthright to a safe, well-nourished, properly housed, maximally educated and justly employed life span from cradle to grave. Who would be responsible for granting this birthright or entitlement? The state? No. I believe it is the responsibility of every person who brings a child into this world to provide this basic birthright to each and every child.

"It takes a village to raise a child!" I hear the frequent refrain. Yes, I agree. Just as no one of us has the ability to build a television set, a car or an iPhone, no one person has all the tools to provide that basic birthright to a child from cradle to grave. However, this does not excuse propagating the mindless reproduction by those who have absolutely none of the tools to provide that basic human birthright. Nor does it justify Tea Party or Libertarian rantings about denying any social benefits paid for by tax money.

The best treatment for pathological entitlement is the provision of the basic legal entitlement of universal rights to a quality lifespan to each and every human being who is born. This cannot be attended to exclusively with legislation or religious doctrine. Experiments in enforcing these ideals from the top down have failed miserably. This must come from educated and properly socialized individuals who decide to procreate and participate in a just society. The way to that ideal is not every-man-for-himself, the populist battle cry in America, covertly funded by corporate dollars.

The current humanist movement for universal human rights worldwide is an important first step to providing the most basic human justice for all human beings on the planet. Until all human beings are entitled to a quality life from cradle to grave, the plagues of war, greed and injustice will flourish.

Humility

2010-09-01T08:13:00.005-04:00

This is not an age of humility. It is an age of celebrity and self-promotion. Youtube has enabled the ad man in everyone with a digital camera or mobile phone. "Look at me." is the underlying mantra of videos of cute cat tricks and gurgling babies. There are, of course, exceptions, but Google Ads belie a certain egocentric materialism generally.

As a humanist and atheist who admits ignorance of what I cannot see or understand in The Universe, I do experience a natural humility every day. My tenuous grip on life and consciousness allows me to appreciate the vastness of The Universe. I do not live comparatively in relation to other human beings. I understand that we are all smaller than bacteria in the great Universe around us. The famous will sicken and die no more elegantly than the man sleeping under a bridge.

Admission of the smallness of my life in the great sea of life and non-life around me is liberating. My greatest possession, perhaps my only possession, is this moment. Though it is precious to me, it is fleeting and so easy to miss. I choose to share my moments with you because I feel our greatest quality as human beings is our ability to share our internal experiences of The Universe with each other. Bringing our shared awareness to life's successive moments breeds compassion and mindfulness. Each tiny light of shared consciousness, like my own, joined with millions like itself, may eventually illuminate a world darkened by selfishness, poverty and violence. This is my idea of a great vision of a better world.

Inertia

2010-08-31T07:57:00.005-04:00

The human brain has its own form of inertia. This inertia seems to increase with material comfort and affluence. It leads to conservatism in most who follow that path.

Hunger combats human inertia. The hunger for knowledge, the hunger for food, the hunger for human affection. These are motivators for human change, human progress. Intentional use of hunger is a powerful tool, used for centuries by those who have sought enlightenment and freedom from desire. Hermits isolated themselves from human companionship to produce a hunger for human interaction. The silence of cloisters produced a hunger for human speech and conversation. Yogis fast to liberate themselves from the distractions of metabolism.

How do you overcome your inertia? Do you even try? The seduction of routine consumption of food, alcohol, and entertainment is ever present in American life. Those who have grown rich by glutting America with consumables now try to steer its government to allow for even more exploitation of the consumers' addiction and greed. Cheaper fast food. More drugs. Less need for mobility. More bad television and distracting gadgets.

Overcoming mental and physical inertia is part of my personal practice. As I age, this requires more and more effort and mindfulness. A rigorous exercise regime is necessary. A strict adherence to a healthy diet is necessary. Daily morning commitment to make each day a day of progress, not stasis. Inertia is easy. Practicing the art of being the most growthful person I can be is difficult.

Culture

2010-08-30T08:36:00.005-04:00

The current infatuation with multiple cultures in America seems enlightened on the surface. However, it is important to bear in mind that cultures often stand in the way of greater human progress. Idolizing a culture without a critical and analytical eye is childishly naive.

I was aghast yesterday as I listened to an NPR quiz show. The guest celebrity was a rap singer who was overtly and unabashedly bragging about his American subculture of violence, robbery and drug abuse. The audience seemed to find this quite humorous. I found it disturbing and symptomatic of a sick society.

Similarly, the recent fascination in America with Islamic cultures seems a natural reaction to being aggressively attacked on September 11th, 2001 by a wealthy Saudi madman and his minions. However, the equivocation of cultures which behead women for adultery and hang young men for being gay to American culture is just plain stupid. Many Americans seem unable to take the critical step to investigate a culture's full spectrum of positive and negative traits. I speculate that this is based in intellectual laziness or a delusion that smiling at everything about a culture will keep people from that culture from creating mayhem.

Human cultural development follows patterns which can be readily discerned by studying history critically and analytically. This implies the use of science, a foreign culture indeed for many contemporary Americans, it seems. Science isn't about being blissfully ignorant. It isn't about denying the unpleasant in hopes that it will go away.

Multiculturalism in America can serve a wonderful purpose to enrich the greater American culture. However, the present approach media and politicians are taking toward multiculturalism is shallow and inane, generally. Blanket acceptance of any culture as "great" or "cool" is counterproductive. Fostering the elements of any culture which advance universal human rights and world peace is common sense. Learning the difference takes time, study and openness to truth.

Doubt

2010-08-29T09:24:00.005-04:00

When in doubt, go to where the love is.

Routine

2010-08-28T08:50:00.005-04:00

Addressing problems or self-improvement in life is often seen as a matter of self discipline. Most people bristle at the thought of discipline. It implies control by another or punishment.

I see two main ingredients for self improvement of any kind: Commitment and routine. First, I know I must commit to a goal before making any headway at all. I will do this. It is very important to first look truthfully and realistically at any personal goal. Can I do this? Do I have to step back a bit and approach this in increments? Should I start with humbler goals first and work up to the greater goal?

Once committed to a realistic goal, routine is key. Studies in treating addiction and other disease have proven conclusively that basic daily routines can make to difference between treatment success and treatment failure. Routines can be changed as needed, but consistency in approaching any goal is helpful and effective.

The most crucial part of any daily routine is setting a consistent wake-up time and regimen. How you re-enter consciousness from sleep can determine the attitude you take into your day. For example, if you do not wake naturally in the morning, setting a quiet alarm or music for the same time every morning allows you to slowly re-enter consciousness. Stretching, while still on the bed, is helpful to relax and align your body before standing up. A period of stretching, yoga or other exercise before eating or drinking anything is helpful to activate your metabolism. It also eliminates cravings for too much caffeine to alert the body into action. Getting an inexpensive yoga mat makes this process comfortable and doable anywhere.

Once fully awake, I recommend allotting some time to organize the day. I use running lists, lists which I edit each day as I accomplish items on it. There is no activity too mundane for my list. This keeps the nagging minutia of life from falling through the cracks of daily demands and contingencies. My list helps me to get the most basic and important things done efficiently. This allows time for spontaneous activity with the relaxation that comes from knowing that necessities are being attended to.

At the end of each day, I recommend taking a short time to do an inventory of the day's successes and failures. The list is updated. The priorities for tomorrow are set. Some form of relaxation before going to bed is extremely helpful. Gentle stretching and simple deep breathing while clearing the mind are very conducive to falling asleep in a relaxed state. This facilitates going into a deeper and sounder sleep.

These routines are forms of self-loving and self-nurturing. If you take the time to display kindness and gentleness to yourself, you build habits which positively effect your behaviors towards others. Spoiling yourself with hedonist compensation while routinely abusing yourself is not the way to self-development. It is addictive behavior. Beginning a healthy routine tomorrow can be the beginning of a beautiful relationship...with your own body and mind.

Violence

2010-08-27T08:47:00.003-04:00

Violence begets violence. To indulge in violence for entertainment or aggression brings violence in return. The true tragedy of September 11, 2001 is the failure of most Americans to see their hands in creating the atmosphere for that horrific act. America's history of aggression and support of violence, since World War II especially, in the name of capitalist ideology is at the root of the hatred against it around the world.

American culture is violent. High murder rates, gang violence, domestic violence, violent media. These plague American culture. Yet many continue to iconize violence for profit. The film industry, the computer gaming industry and professional sports are vendors of violence for profit.

Violence porpogates more violence. A personal practice of peace eliminates violence from the seeker's life. Violent speech and fascination with violence are as corrupting as violent behavior. Striving for personal growth and peace for many begins with channeling impulses to be violent into conscious intentions to promote peace in all situations, moment by moment.

Love

2010-08-26T09:01:00.004-04:00

It is tempting to equate love with sentiment. Who doesn't enjoy infatuation and sexual titillation, once these drugs are discovered during adolescent hormonal rushes? But, I have grown to see love as behavior, as a process, as a growing entity with its own life.

I believe sustaining love is planted and tended like a tree by those who love. The seed of love can be sex, sentiment, blood relationship. The sapling of love is the early discovery that comes with time and shared experience. The tree of love is the pruned and shaped understanding and dialogue which can withstand drought and storm. The fruit of love is the sense of belonging with another who knows and accepts your deepest truth.

Love is supported by commitment. It can be accelerated by sex. It is fed by communication. It is strengthened by ongoing affection. Learning to love one person deeply and completely opens the heart and mind to loving the world. Never experiencing deep love leads to mental illness and alienation from the world.

The greatest challenge of love for some is letting it into their lives. Money, role, material success and possessions are common barriers against loving and being loved. Loving requires vulnerability and sacrifice of some boundaries and barriers. It also requires the personal confidence and self-understanding to remain a whole individual while loving another completely.

Like a healthy forest, a full life contains loves of many varieties and levels of maturity. Love can be contained within a simple interaction on the street, a sprouted seed which does not grow but has life and value. Certain relationships may remain contained by business or other boundaries. The love in these relationships can grow like an elegant dwarfed bonsai, shaped by more formal manners and behaviors. Love in other relationships takes root and grows wildly from sexual passion into an ever-changing canopy of shared experience and understanding. These tall trees of long relationships lend shade and protection to new loves, planted in our lives.

The art of loving is practiced with the mind as well as with emotion. Loving is intentional behavior. Communication os essential to developing mindful love between human beings. The communication of words and the communication of physical affection have equal power. I believe any practice for human growth entails practicing the art of loving.

Rain

2010-08-25T09:03:00.004-04:00

The rain is pelting down here in Boston today. Torrential rain. This is a new type of rain for New England. We are suddenly subject to downpours more typical of climates south of us. Flooding and emergent home repairs result.

Ignoring the deterioration of the atmosphere, due to fossil fuel usage by too many human beings in this enclosed ecosystem of Earth, this bubble of air, water and life in a dry, cold universe, is doing nothing to reverse this trend. The damage that is already done will plague the inhabitants of Earth of decades ahead, even if we begin drastic measures today to halt the environmental changes.

The apparent flaw in human evolution is the frontal lobe's ability to work against the best interests of the human organism. The destractibility and abstraction of the human brain diverts the focus of existence from the essential to the idealized, the imagined. So, the organ in the human body responsible for the advancement of human age and quality of life in the short term may undermine human prosperity in the long run.

This makes me appreciate the tidal nature of existence. There is balance in a closed system. One positive balanced by one negative. Yin and yang. Light and dark. Every gain brings its corresponding loss.

Generosity

2010-08-24T09:10:00.004-04:00

The celebrity culture in America has fostered an unrealistic concept of what it means to be a generous, compassionate person in society. Warren Buffett and Bill Gates are lauded as models of humanitarian philanthropy. Howard Hughes designed the model that billionaires follow. The medical Howard Hughes Foundation, appropriately founded by the psychosomatic, germ-phobic eccentric, was Howard's solution to avoiding paying personal income taxes. By placing his millions in a tax-exempt non-profit, Howard paid negligible personal taxes while he was alive.

If every citizen paid his/her taxes fairly and equitably, government could be transformed into a prospering organ for improving the quality of life for all citizens. If tax breaks for corporations and businesses were eliminated universally, the people would benefit. Corporate lawyers have developed slick machinery to rip off the public treasury over and over again with very little given back to the public and profits given to wealthy shareholders, who have lawyers to help them to avoid paying taxes.

Bringing generosity into the individual life is a matter of scale and common sense. Generosity isn't money or gifts. Generosity is a process of openness, fairness and spontaneous cooperation. Look around you right now. There is someone in your life who can benefit from your time or effort in some small way today. If you do this survey of your own life every day, you will find plenty to do to improve the quality of life in your own sphere of influence. You can change someone's life right now with a phone call or some generous action.

Our society is troubled. The economic times are difficult in part due to the selfishness and carelessness of people in the world of finance who thought of nobody but themselves. Our media has indulged the worst of us by focusing on violence and dysfunction in order to satisfy our curiosity and voyeurism. Negativity and alienation have blossomed. Staring at iPhones in public is the norm.

I try to acknowledge what I can do every day to improve the quality of my own life and the lives which touch mine. My capabilities require a small scale of generosity. I am not wealthy. I have some physical limitations. I accept these limits and move on with what I can do, without getting hung up on what I would ideally like to do or should do from a comparative perspective.

By planning carefully and using my time responsibly and efficiently, I am able to do something proactive and constructive most days. It doesn't leave much time for watching TV or staring at the computer monitor's buffet of distractions. I don't own an iPhone. It would take time away from my reading books, observing real life around me or helping a friend. My scale of generosity is humble indeed, but I take comfort in knowing that there are millions of people trying to do good in a similar way. My guess is that we are keeping the planet moving along in a positive direction just as effectively as Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.

Attitude

2010-08-23T08:12:00.006-04:00

Attitude, the outward demeanor with which we face the world, shapes our world. In Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism, a Medieval Japanese Buddhism based on the teachings of the Lotus Sutra, two precepts apply. First, the law of cause and effect. Second, man and his environment are one.

The way I approach the world is the cause. The effect is the result of that approach. In Biblical terms, I reap what I sow. My approach to the world creates a personal environment of peace, antipathy, harmony, etc.. Therefore, a person lives in an environment which he is part of and shapes with his attitude. Likewise, a person and his attitude are shaped by the environment which he creates. This is a basic concept of behavioral science.

In American gay culture, "attitude" is a commonly used word. It sometimes implies an edge, a defensiveness on the verge of reactive hostility. It can also describe the dignified pride of a gay person who has affirmed and accepted his sexuality without shame or diffidence. Different attitudes, different human experiences.

Practicing an awareness of human suffering and a commitment to alleviate human suffering when it is encountered in human interactions leads to an attitude adjustment. Acceptance of human commonality in suffering and death leads to an open attitude in social situations. Aggression gives way to humility. Selfishness gives way to generosity. Attitude reveals humanist mindfulness where it exists.

Worship

2010-08-22T08:26:00.004-04:00

The day when worship of idols is seen as wishful thinking is at hand. It has come perhaps too late. By waiting for imaginary friends or salvaging aliens to save us from ourselves, the human species has run through the wealth of the planet by overpopulating it and exploiting one another for profit. Now the mighty minority of the wealthy sit in their self-made corners, gated golf courses and high-rise palaces. They fantasize about space colonization and eternal life. They go abroad for plastic surgery in countries where people eat garbage off the streets.

I rejoice in, not worship, my own generous human spirit, shared by my awakened brothers and sisters, who see past the greed, corruption and laziness of personal wealth to a common good. By joining in our right actions and right thoughts, we may start a process of human healing, which in turn could heal the planet. By appealing to the peaceful and good in everyone we meet, we can perhaps overcome the violent and selfish.

Police

2010-08-21T08:29:00.005-04:00

This post-911 world has taken us back to a time before the lessons learned during the Viet Nam War era. Now, for example, every soldier is a hero in the media. The Viet Nam War era taught us, however, that front line soldiers are actually socioeconomic pawns. In fact, in an all volunteer army, soldiers are most often the desperately poor who sign away their freedom and ethics for a college education or a meager living as a career soldier.

Another lesson of the Viet Nam War era informed us that police also work for politicians and business interests over the interests of the common citizen. When average citizens protested against racism during the Civil Rights struggle of the 1960s and against war in the late Viet Nam War era and against homophobia in the Gay Liberation struggle of that time, they were brutalized, sprayed with fire hoses and shot by police and/or national guardsmen, called in to back up police. There was absolutely no stated ambivalence on the part of police in their roles at that time. They freely backed injustice and violence over peace and reconciliation.

Today, the general attitude of police in many communities and especially on the state level here in Massachusetts is often entitled, rude and callous. It rivals the notorious behavior of Boston transit employees. This is a reversion to the old days, when police operated like other mafias with secrets kept and injustices performed with impunity. To the average citizen, this confirms popular, perhaps unfounded, suspicions of corruption and low intelligence in police work.

Several members of my family were police officers from the 1940s to the 1990s. Half a century. My own father, a policeman for nearly 40 years, while prone to Right Wing politics himself, was skeptical about the general quality of his fellow policemen. He often observed that the system did not reward the peaceful and the just. It rewarded the aggressive, corrupt and political (manipulative).

As I walk around Boston, I see idle police in police cars. When they see that I am noticing them, they usually shoot me a dirty look. I see police cars idling in front of convenience stores and donut shops, where no apparent criminal activity is afoot. I see people running red lights as I am in a cross walk. I see cars parked illegally on sidewalks and in public park areas. I see mouthy gangs of young people causing public disturbances with skateboards, as they overtly harass pedestrians and drivers.

When I do drive, I have trouble finding a handicap parking space when helping a friend who has a medallion, because cars without handicap medallions from out of state are often parked in handicap spaces. My own neighborhood has permit parking due to limited spaces for residents on the street, and no police enforcement ever occurs, unless the tow companies want to make money on street cleaning days. I see state police tapping away at computers in their air conditioned cars, luxury by any standard, as traffic violators blithely run lights and ignore pedestrians. I also see state troopers standing around construction sites, while no visible work is being done and traffic is being bottled up for no apparent reason.

I see all these things daily, weekly. I also see the outcry in the media when a state trooper falls victim to a work-related injury. Yet, I seldom hear anything about cases of police corruption other than an initial blip. These cases are seldom highlighted or followed up in the press. Who is policing the police? Apparently nobody is.

I also hear the excuse that police budgets have been cut, that there are not enough police. Well, if there are not enough police, why do I see local police and state police taking so many extra details at construction sites? These details take their energy and availability away from the actual work of policing. I may add that police at construction sites do no policing. As an avid pedestrian, I have risked life and limb in construction areas where I have been forced to walk in a busy street without the least care or concern of a policeman staring at me from yards away. In fact, in some instances, I have been yelled at by a detail policeman for practicing my right of way as a pedestrian.

If police want public will for better funding, I suggest they simply start doing a better job. Clean up gang crime. Crack down on drug-dealing taggers and hoodlums in the streets. Enforce traffic and parking laws. Make life safe for pedestrians on city streets. If police present themselves in public as hard-working, engaged citizens in an official capacity, rather than paramilitaries in the employment of politicians and business, they would gain greater respect and participation in law and order from their fellow citizens and taxpayers.

Moralism

2010-08-20T08:03:00.008-04:00

Martha Coakley, failed Senatorial candidate and Attorney General of Massachusetts, darling of pseudo-Liberals, has once again shown her true colors as a moralist. Her response to the overly hyped suicide of a psychopathic medical student in jail, pending trial for murdering a prostitute, whom he contacted on Craig's List, is to shut down the adult services on Craig's List, a largely free Web site for consumer-consumer and consumer-provider transactions.

Why attack Craig's List? Well, Ms. Coakley may just be simplistically moralistic. A Carry Nation figure, railing against sex for sale. Or, Ms. Coakley may also be responding to pressure from wealthy commercial interests who resent the power of Craig's List and other on-line vendors, now significantly cutting into their sales in a depressed consumer economy. Pure speculation on my part.

Ms. Coakley, while ostensibly supporting LGBT marriage rights, has been clear in representing herself as a conservative moralist in the case of Craig's List. Under her supervision, Craig's List has been pressured to compromise user confidentiality in order to cooperate with the (morality) police on their site. This may have been part of her poor showing in her battle with Scott Brown, a former nude pin-up himself, in the contest for Ted Kennedy's seat. One assumes she thinks gay sex is alright after marriage...only after marriage...just like the other kind.

Rather than proposing a law to legalize prostitution and afford protections to sex workers, which would make them less likely objects of violence and criminal exploitation, Ms. Coakley prefers to assault the freedom of on-line communication, which is, coincidentally, how non-prostitutes often hook up for sex these days. It appears to me that Ms. Coakley is more anti-sex than anti-adult-services. If she succeeds at shutting down the adult services on Craig's List, she may well go after the sexual hook up sections of Craig's List as well, since they do not promote sex in the confines of a marriage, sanctified by God and Government.

The schizoid nature of sexuality in the current American culture is obvious. Alcoholism, meth addiction and HIV/STD transmissions flourish as young people get inebriated to have promiscuous sex behind the scenes, while acting out the public lives of born-again Christians or Shariah Muslims for conformist approval. As someone who believes in the fundamental worth of healthy living to achieve personal peace and mindfulness, I support those laws and social programs which promote a healthy, responsible and active sexuality for adults of any sexual proclivity.

A New Puritanism is not the way. Open discussion of sexuality in schools, combined with thorough sex education, is the way. Perhaps Ms. Coakley could get to work with Governor Patrick and the Massachusetts State Legislature on compulsory sex education in all the Massachusetts schools, public and private, including Catholic schools. Decriminalizing prostitution would eliminate the power of pimps and organized criminals over poor, vulnerable men and women. Cutting off their access to Craig's List will not help these men and women. It punishes them for the crime a privileged male predator committed against one of their own.

Breathing

2010-08-19T09:01:00.006-04:00

I have had to learn how to breathe. Breathing deeply and slowly has become a conscious practice for me. I spent the greater part of my life unconsciously focusing tension in my chest, gut and neck muscles. Tightened chest, tightened gut, poor posture, poor breathing. Poor breathing, poor oxygenation to brain and muscle, which leads to more tension and even worse breathing. The result is disease and dysfunction.

Learning to sense tension in your body is a very good health-promoting skill. Taking an inventory occasionally through the day is the key. While sitting in a task chair or walking to work or sitting on the subway, consider your own body's posture and attitude. Straighten the spine with chin up and shoulders back. Inhale deeply. Exhale deeply. Repeat. Feel the change in your body. It will relax. You may even feel a burst of alertness and increased energy, as your brain is oxygenated.

Whenever you can, follow this procedure throughout the day. Stretch your arms and legs. Remember to keep your chin elevated as you look at monitor screens, listen to lectures or carry on conversations. This helps to keep the posture erect with shoulders back.

This activity is a form of meditation. It brings you back within your consciousness of your own life, your own body, which is ultimately all you truly and temporarily possess in life. Mindfulness of your own state of well being or dysfunction is the first step to greater mindfulness. By staying well, you will have energy to practice compassion and generosity to others.

Process

2010-08-18T08:15:00.005-04:00

Last evening I was speaking with some people about group process. Basically, process is the journey to any result. It is my belief that the process, if nurtured and utilized for its own value, can exceed the value of the result for its participants.

My personal genetic and environmentally produced, intellectual wiring tends toward the pragmatic, organized and concrete. Goals, destinations, finished products....these are a few of my favorite things. However, my work in psychiatric wards with acutely dysfunctional and impaired patients in crisis several decades ago taught me an important lesson about process and its power.

Here's a simple example. Let's say a small town loses its flagpole on its town square during a wind storm. Its ornate granite foundation was damaged and needs to be rebuilt or replaced. The goal may be to replace it, but let's say the town budget is a mess, and the mayor leaves it to the residents to resurrect the flagpole. Suddenly, the townspeople are entrusted with a community goal without any recent experience at funding and constructing a town monument as a group.

The mayor calls a special town meeting. The turn out is poor, but a committee of volunteers is assembled to address the issue. They agree to meet weekly. It takes several meetings for them all to get to know each other's strengths and specific interests in addressing the issue. One is related to the owner of the hardware store. Another is a contractor, who cannot afford to do the project for free. Another is a pastor of a large congregation in the town. Others have no demonstrable material skills or resources, but they have energy and commitment to help out in whatever way they can.

Eventually, these townspeople get to know each other better by attending weekly flagpole meetings. Most of them look forward to meeting night. It enhances their sense of belonging in the community where they have lived less connected lives for many years. The committee itself becomes a small community in itself.

Soon the townspeople hear about the flagpole committee's plans to actually improve on the old town square through articles about their ideas, written by a committee member in the local paper. The newspaper donates ads for fundraising with ideas about how individual citizens can help out. Some volunteer hands-on services. Others run bake sales. Others set up a town flea market to raise funds for the project. Soon, a larger community of townspeople develops around the flagpole committee.

The flagpole committee publishes three proposed designs for the new town square project in the newspaper, after soliciting ideas from the town in the paper. Townspeople are given a phone number to call with their votes. One design wins by a mile. The buzz about the design selection process has pulled the entire town into the project. The flagpole committee proceeds after funds are secured. It contracts the work. Work on the town square begins and causes some major inconvenience for businesses, pedestrians and drivers, but there is no uproar, because everyone knows what it is about and is interested in seeing the project's completion.

The new town square is rebuilt with its new flagpole at its center. And so is the town, through the process of doing the work. The greatest gain for the town is not the new improved square with its flagpole. The greatest gain is the process of being engaged and involved as a town for a common good.

Injustice

2010-08-17T08:56:00.003-04:00

The media in Boston are buzzing about the apparent jail-cell suicide of a suspected psychopath who robbed and murdered a prostitute. This reveals the class prejudice of the media. It also reveals the public obsession with the dysfunctional and destructive elements in society.

The Craig's List Killer, a middle class young man, horrifies and fascinates because our society cannot accept its own class prejudice and discrimination. To accept this would necessitate doing something about it in a true democracy. How could this young, white man, who did everything to follow the conservative path to wealth and success be a monster? The fact is that the current financial crisis was caused by similar conservative, white men who have done everything to achieve wealth and success. They too, in my opinion, are monsters.

The moral provenance of social-economic class is a myth fostered by the minority who rule and pillage society at the expense of the vast majority of people in it. The Craig's List Killer horrifies the privileged because his crime exposes them to the light of critical scrutiny by the masses. Yes, they are just like everyone else. They are not superior beings. They too can produce a sadistic murderer.

Despite this, the wealthy still demand special treatment, even in shameful death. How many deaths in state prisons get the attention of this suicide? The media revels in this fascination with class and dysfunction, but sheds no light on the underlying prejudices and inequalities.

The human condition will not improve until human rights and justice are afforded to all people on a very basic level in society. The provenance of social class, based in material wealth, stands in the way of universal rights and justice. America cannot address this impediment to universal justice as long as it denies its own shallow materialism and class prejudice.

Vulnerability

2010-08-16T08:14:00.006-04:00

I recently had a renewed contact with a man, whom I will call Ted. I had an unusual relationship with Ted nearly twenty years ago. I had met his partner in a social situation. His partner and I became intimate friends for a couple of years. Then the partner died of AIDS.

I met Ted when he came to the hospice where I was working. His partner, my friend, came there to die, as one of my patients. Ted visited nearly daily for short periods. I was told he was incapable of caring for our dying friend, even though they had lived together for about ten years. This struck me as odd at the time, because Ted, who was perhaps in his late thirties, seemed healthy and was still working at a high-paying job, which entailed travel. In fact, Ted was a weight-lifter and sported a very muscular physique. He seemed to be socially popular and had many friends.

As a hospice nurse, I had learned that institutional care is better than home care in some circumstances. I simply accepted that this was one such situation. Our dying friend was blind and demented from his disease. He was gentle and childlike. He died in a matter of weeks. I last saw him just hours before his death.

I contacted Ted recently when I saw his ad on line for volunteer help to read to him. Ted too is now blind and lives alone. When I responded to the ad, I revealed who I am and how we had previously known one another. I suggested that I could read for him, if he needed help, as his ad indicated.

Ted's reply stunned me. He said he had no memory of who I had been in his past. His partner, our friend whose memory is still very present to me, had died so long ago, Ted said, that he really doesn't remember much about it. Ted explained that his life had been so busy and active since then. In fact, he had a regular group of readers who read for him. Finally, he said he had several other respondents to his recent ad, but he was willing to consider me as a helper. He recommended that I call him another day. I suppose I may be interviewed and rejected.

This interaction is not unusual to me, as someone who has worked for many years with people in distress and their family systems. Yet, each time it happens I am astounded at the willingness of people to remain invulnerable to intimacy or human connection, even when they themselves are in great distress and need. Their need to be in control trumps their need for mindful intimacy and compassion.

As a male in a society which is violent and alienating much of the time, I have had to struggle with my own resistance to vulnerability. Letting people in is very difficult when you have been conditioned to value self-control over intimacy. Learning to walk the middle path between co-dependency and invulnerability in relationships has been part of my practice in life. It requires mindfulness, compassion and a measure of meditative detachment. The result, I believe, is the development of healthier relationships with other human beings and a healthier relationship with myself.

Incomes

2010-08-15T07:59:00.002-04:00

The chart of per capita incomes in the United States by state holds a glaring indicator of the corruption in the Federal government of the U.S. by money. Can you see what I mean?

Slater

2010-08-14T08:10:00.005-04:00

"Grab two beers and take the chute," went the lyrics of a humorous song on public radio this morning. Yet another blurb on Stephen Slater, pop-idol-of-the-moment.

What kind of culture looks to burned-out, angry service employees as heroes? The answer is simple: A culture which has allowed its rich to exploit its poor as cheap labor in unsatisfying service jobs with poor support and conditions. Wall Street profits are made off the backs of the Stephen Slaters of the U.S.. And, the American people have yet to connect the dots, since the American media have been bought and dominated by the likes of Ruppert Murdoch.

Sadly, most Americans don't seem to zoom out from the view on their TVs or iPhones. They are caught up in the trends of a fickle news machine which avoids the big issues. Dissent gets framed in terms of harmlessly quirky Tea Party rallies, where racism and guns are often mainstays, the vacant rantings of Sarah Palin and the equally bizarre Rand Paul. Thus the true Left is ignored and devalued entirely. Why? The answer again is simple: The corporations have decided to rule by manipulating existing elements of American society and government. They are playing Devil to the materialistic American Fausts on all levels of society.

As for Stephen Slater, is his behavior itself admirable and laudable? Of course not. It is the infantile, reactive tantrum of someone ill-suited for a particular career. As a retired nurse, I empathize with his frustration and anger at the rudeness of his passengers, but I think his reaction was worthy of arrest and repercussions. He was being paid. His passengers were paying a fee for his services. Tantrums will not change the conditions which caused his meltdown. Admiring tantrums in others is an indication of social illness and an avoidance of the hard work to address the bigger issues, which are very challenging.

Prop 8

2010-08-13T08:12:00.005-04:00

I say this to those who continue to fight against the human and civil rights of homosexual people under any rationalization or righteous religious banner. You are bigots and liars.

I am tired of hearing the public pronouncements by homophobic ministers, priests, judges and legislators that they are not anti-gay. Anyone...yes, anyone...who supports depriving gay people of marriage and/or any other civil rights is an anti-gay bigot. And, if he/she then states that he/she does not dislike gay people he/she is a liar. Are we all clear on this now?

Funerals

2010-08-11T21:07:00.010-04:00

I attended the Catholic funeral mass for a dear relation yesterday. In the midst of his address to the assembled mourners in the deteriorating, ornate church, the officiating priest put in an obvious plug for the Catholic ritualization of burial. To paraphrase, he said, "We need the incense. We need the altar. We need the flowers. We need the music. We need the prayers.....We come here to be fed."

While I respect and understand the decision of the survivors in this case to have this ritual, I personally could not relate to this advertisement. In fact, I would have felt better if we had all convened and talked... honestly talked...about our lives, the life of the deceased, and what we feel about our own inevitable deaths. I feel that this is what we need as mortal human beings, anticipators and survivors of The Great Common Loss, Death. I believe this process would be healing medicine for the alienation and anxiety many of us feel in today's world.

The Catholic service speaks repeatedly of an afterlife, superior to the life lived. What does this say about the Catholic perspective on the life lived, the only life we have as conscious human beings? Is this a message of support? Is this a message of love? Is this a message of understanding and valuing of a life lived peacefully and lovingly? I say it is not. I also say it belies a basic deficit in Catholic charity, imprisoned in tarnished, antique dogma.

I do not mean this as an attack on Catholicism, despite Catholicism's unrelenting attacks on my integrity and moral equality as a sexually active gay man. Catholicism is not the only religion which has capitalized on unenlightened death rituals to propagate its existence. I simply wish to suggest to anyone who reads this entry that you do not have to grieve through rituals which do not support the wonder of life as it is. You can choose to mourn your losses differently. You can plan your own funeral or memorial service while you are alive to suit how you would like to honor the life you are creating in each moment now. I recommend doing this.

Embracing mortality often entails letting go of delusions of immortality, which are fostered by religions for their own purposes. I say, "Come and be fed by our commonality and mutual love as mortal brothers and sisters who will all die and can choose to live in peace in this moment. Let's work together as long as we are alive to build a wonderful world for those who come after us. Let's take joy in recognizing that better world as our memorial."

Discovery

2010-08-11T08:36:00.007-04:00

When you move through life, do you feel whole? Does your sense of self move with you? Does your perception of yourself and your life change with each circumstance you encounter?

Discovering who you really are is perhaps the most valuable and satisfying activity of any life. It is not easy. The mind can be a trickster.

The current prejudice in American society is anti-judgment and anti-analysis. This makes serious investigation of who you really are more difficult. Peer pressure may encourage you to pretend to be whoever you wish to be in any moment. Peer pressure may encourage you to accept your unhealthy obesity or drinking problem. Peer pressure may dissuade you from asserting what you know to be true or just. In some ways, the Facebook society is an extension of high school, not a mature environment, which promotes serious self-discovery.

Knowing yourself requires the dedicated practice of truth-telling. And it starts in front of your mirror. This requires time, patience and courage. Along the way, you may learn self-forgiveness, self-acceptance and the joy of rebuilding yourself in each moment into the person you wish to become.

Brains

2010-08-10T08:02:00.005-04:00

Developing mindfulness and compassion requires playing with your brain.

Conscious, intentional lives are the constant interplay of consciousness with brain (thought) and behavior (action). We all awake in adulthood to find we are working with a brain which is used to and preconditioned by our genetics and experience. In every moment, we are faced with the situations of life on a planet, crowded with humankind and complicated by the products of other brains. Our brains are more like racing speed boats without navigation systems than hi-tech ocean liners. The trick is to stay behind the wheel and keep on course.

Many people go through life impulsively, compulsively and reactively. Like players of a video game, they frantically push buttons in their brains to react to situations and people. Most are disappointed in the end by the choices they make. Few face their deaths with a sigh of satisfaction and completion. I know. I have been at hundreds of death beds.

Mastery of your own brain's triggers and patterns is a lifelong process, a practice.

Sobriety, honesty and reflection are necessary tools. Controlling and changing behavior is the first step to mastering the brain. This is the path to proactive living. Indulging impulses and compulsions is the road to disaster. Mindfulness and compassion emerge with understanding and acceptance of one's own mortal humanity.

Death

2010-08-09T08:45:00.004-04:00

Death is our great commonality. The more a society flees from death and dying, the less it invests in the common good. The wealthy indulge themselves in delusions of immortality, aided by plastic surgeons and medical gurus. The poor slave away their lives for the rich under the delusion that they will live forever in their children, whose lives might be better.

We are born alone. We die alone. There is no reason to believe in any personal, conscious immortality.

Accepting mortality as the human condition can lead to an awakening. The awakened focuses on the quality of human experience in the moment and the means to improving that quality. The compassionate person, once awakened, strives to bring that quality of his/her experience to others by trying to awaken them.

Stunning surprises, terrible accidents or life-threatening diseases bring this awareness to most. The elderly often awaken a short time before they die. How sad it is to waste a life asleep only to awaken just before death. The wise person accepts his/her mortality and incorporates that acceptance in his/her relationship to the world.

Control

2010-08-06T08:10:00.004-04:00

Being balanced, being healthy, being mindful ... all entail control of behavior by applying awareness. Control is a sharp and double-edged sword. It also must be moderated by the mindful brain. Letting go of control is sometimes more beneficial than attempting it. Learning to use control or release it mindfully and intentionally is a first step to liberation, which is a step to enlightenment.

Fundamentalism

2010-08-05T09:05:00.006-04:00

I am a fundamentalist.

I believe in the fundamental physicality of the human condition.

I believe we are mammals, animals.

I believe we have basic physical needs for and rights to nutrition, safe housing, cleanliness, sex, love, acceptance, community.

I believe it is right to love one another, to promote peace and to share what we have with each other.

I believe it is wrong to intentionally harm, to kill, to rape, to steal and to promote disharmony by selfishly ignoring the needs of one another in a shared society.

I am a fundamentalist. What are you?

Moore

2010-08-04T08:39:00.003-04:00

I consider Michael Moore my soul brother. Last evening, I watched his film, "Capitalism: A Love Story". If you haven't seen the film, I recommend it. If you don't agree with the politics of the film, you will still get a few laughs.

The laughs endear Michael Moore to me. He is the daring fool, the courageous bumbler, on the surface. Inside his down-home, just-another-guy exterior, Michael is truly awake to the truths of the human condition. He is wise, as well as being a wise guy.

For me, Michael's greatest service to humanity in this film is his exposure of the Ronald Reagan presidency as a coup d'etat by Wall Street. Everything political since Reagan's ascendancy in 1980 has been guided by the financiers in New York. This casts a clear light on the motivation behind the attack of September 11, 2001 and the subsequent bristling of the American government into war and internal-spying mode for the last 7 years. The paranoic response of a shadow government to the light of exposure.

The major Hollywood backing for Michael Moore's "Capitalism" confirmed my suspicion that the corruption and control of the government by Wall Street has offended even the most calloused sensibilities in America. Yet, the majority of citizens seem dulled, narcotized. Is it the high obesity rate? Is it the high substance abuse rate? Is it a societal depression? Perhaps it is all of them.

Engagement

2010-08-03T08:37:00.002-04:00

So much of being human is being engaged in human community. Human dysfunction often accompanies isolation and withdrawal from the human community. For example, when minorities are marginalized, they become dysfunctional in the greater society. Crime and addiction flourish.

The process of engagement with the society is a two-way process. The society which does not promote public engagement fosters fear and isolation. The aftermath of the 911 attacks is still evident in the urban American environment. People on subways and streets are obviously shy of one another. Here in a tourist city, out-of-towners prowl around in large packs and do not readily interact with strangers.

The cure for isolation is not complicated. A smile, eye contact and a nod on a street or subway usually gains an automatic, human response of recognition. Offering help to someone looking at a map on a street corner doesn't require much time or trouble. Holding a door open for someone behind you is a message of engagement. Each small behavior like these builds a sense of belonging to the world outside your personal environment much more effectively than looking at your Facebook homepage.

Commitment

2010-08-02T08:09:00.004-04:00

The virtual acquaintanceship which abounds in a Facebook world is an extension of the real community which once existed on every block or in every neighborhood of cities and towns. That actual community is rare in modern America. As Americans have done with fast food over real food, they now settle for this virtual community over real community.

Why? I think the answer is simple. It's easier. Real relationships require work. Being in touch with an elderly neighbor down the street may entail cutting her lawn or getting her groceries. Knowing a quadriplegic next door may entail washing him and helping him out of bed in the morning when his caregiver is unable to do it.

Community, like all relationships of any substance, requires some commitment. Americans are averse to social commitment. This aversion is obvious in America's refusal to address global warming, urban poverty and other social inequalities in society. This aversion is obvious in the popularity of Tea Party rantings about not paying taxes and its attempts to stoke fires of racism in America. This aversion is obvious in America's persistent willingness to toy with the human rights of LGBTQ people and others.

A healthy community is peaceful and inclusive. This requires a strong commitment by all community members to participate in socially responsible speech and behavior at all times. Are responsible speech and behavior the predominant features of current American society? To its credit, the culture of Facebook is generally cordial and inclusive. Perhaps the Facebook experience, combined with a renewed commitment of neighbors and friends to build and maintain real community, will help us repair our society in time. I certainly hope so.

Distractions

2010-07-30T08:21:00.005-04:00

The current obsession with failed immigration policy is just another distraction from the real issues that are corroding the quality of life in American society. The focus should be on the unethical people who are making money off the backs of illegal labor. The focus should be on the 10% of the American population which control 90% of American wealth at the time of a crippling economic depression. These wealthy Americans are funding the politicians who are making policy. These Americans have decided they do not want to pay taxes to keep democracy alive in America.

Television and radio have become co-opted by that upper crust. They depend on them for their livelihood and are owned by them. Even "public" broadcasting has become the lap dog of the wealthy. More and more hidden endorsements and commercials are evident to regular listeners like me. More and more interviews that are really infomercials.

It is obvious that the wealthy of the U.S. are planning to walk the well worn path to Fascism and/or plutocracy. Merging of government and corporations is evident. The Reaganite poison is in the water. We are fighting wars for oil and natural resources. The poor have been duped into hollow patriotism. The wealthy have managed to turn the poor against government by propaganda on TV and AM radio.

Meanwhile, the money men have managed to take control of the government by managing to buy a Democratic presidency with a faux-Left, multiracial figurehead to soothe the few intelligent, truly Left-leaning Americans. Middle-class Tea-Party folks and Libertarians have been fooled into raging against their own interests in health care and good government.

It is difficult to rally support for opposition movements in a country devastated by a depression. The lucky are on unemployment benefits, which are used by politicians to sway their sentiments in favor of the status quo. The unlucky are scrambling for shrinking private and government resources to stay off the street. The unaffected are staying quiet and simply hoping they are not next in line for financial ruin.

The truth is clear. Too few have too much. Too many have too little. Hard work has nothing to do with the disparity. Class has become more and more entrenched and defined in America. It is class disparity which will continue to destroy American democracy.

Corporations

2010-07-29T08:46:00.007-04:00

I communicate on this blog via a broadband cable connection, purchased from a national cable provider, which also provides me with telephone and television services. I recently discovered that my "on demand" television feature was inoperative. I got an error message, similar to the error messages we all dread on computer monitors.

I had gotten the same error message when the cable system was activated by two separate technicians about a month ago. The second technician, who came to replace faulty equipment left by the first, had assured me it was all fine. When I pointed out that the external cables on the outside of the building were hanging out of a broken plastic box like black spaghetti, he shrugged and said, "I don't have a ladder."

This time, I called the 800 number. A rather brusque woman, identifying herself as Dawn in a New Jersey accent, humored me, told me to recycle the box by unplugging the cable from it and then wait 25 minutes. I found, of course, I would have done just as well to spread a circle of garlic on the living room floor and do a rain dance in it. Next, a thickly Spanish-accented man, who insisted on calling me "Mr. Paul" over and over again, said he was going to electronically send me a very special (magic?) signal which only he possessed. He guaranteed his signal would get through. Perhaps this line works for him in his local singles bar. It did nothing for my cable box.

The third call put me in touch with Joe, an average-sounding young man with a warm personality. He took me through yet another rebooting experience which did not leave my cable box glowing any more effectively. But, he did set me up with a real service technician, who is due later today. Hopefully, this technician will remember to bring a ladder to look at the knotted spaghetti cables on the side of the building.

Welcome to the Corporate Soviet of America. If you have seen and understood the film "Brazil", you will understand my point. As bureaucracy grows, it begins to exist for its own benefit. Its original function or purpose becomes secondary to its own survival and prosperity. This is disastrous for the consumers of service industries. Ask anyone who goes to a huge medical center with a serious illness. The insertion of layer after layer of barriers between the consumer and someone who provides an actual, on-site service is an attempt to decrease the payrolls of higher-paid technicians in favor of lower-paid hand-holders, whose job it is to keep the consumer at arm's length.

Meanwhile, at the top, the executives and shareholders are pulling out the resulting profits at the expense of poor customer service, lower wages for customer-service tele-workers and higher workloads for fewer on-ground technical personnel. Deregulation under Reaganite politicians has made this situation worse.

It is common knowledge that increasing the access of a population to internet bandwidth increases education, productivity and participation in the workings of a society. But, is this what corporations by their very nature want? Why would corporations, which sell mediocre services at a premium, unhealthy food cheaper than healthy food and cheaply made consumer goods based on an oil economy, want to provide the consuming public with the tools of their enlightenment and liberation from the very junk they are peddling?

When you next hear Libertarians and Tea-Party devotees screaming against Government, you will be hearing the shrill voice of corporate-funded or corporate-inspired stupidity. Think about whether you really want to spend your future calling 800 numbers while the quality of your life slowly slips away.

Courage

2010-07-28T08:11:00.005-04:00

In the materialist and hedonist American culture, we are bombarded by stories in various media about people facing adversity by continuing to live "active" lives which often entail trips to exotic places, bicycle tournaments, cross-country treks. The media, owned by corporations who sell things, like trips, bicycles and motel rooms, have a vested interest in portraying the "brave" survivors of adversity as determined consumers.

Some who survive adversity become businesses, like the segments of the breast-cancer-fundraising industry, which has been exposed as a cash cow for some indiscriminate entrepreneurs while yielding limited net funds to cancer research. Parents of afflicted children, with the help of media promotion, have started non-profits which have become their full-time job, yielding much higher annual salaries than they ever expected in their original occupations, while yielding relatively little money to help others.

I am sorry to say that many of these trends are modeled on the example of the so-called, non-profit AIDS industry. By diligently pursuing Federal grants, running trendy fundraisers and setting up highly specific non-profits, some in the AIDS industry have made huge salaries, bought second homes and retired early on large pensions. They have traveled the globe on tax-deductible money under the pretext of attending conferences. AIDS transmission has not been impacted commensurate to the cost of funding these agencies.

What about the courage of those who live with adversity humbly and responsibly without participating in corruption, tax-evasion or manipulation of public sentiment? Millions of people live these lives day by day without resentment or selfishness. Yet, they are not held up as role models for those who may some day be confronted with a life crisis. Their wisdom is considered weakness by many. By the materialist and selfish, they are seen as losers.

What a sad state our culture is in! Despite the recent failure of greedy capitalism, our government struggles to prop it back up. People who come here illegally and reap the benefits of the hard work of native-born and legally immigrated Americans are seen as victims. Our Congress argues over billions of dollars to keep rich war contractors happy. Millions of people are losing their homes in foreclosure, while real estate experts joyfully tout increased sales and higher prices of property, as the banks resell the properties they have taken back.

It takes courage to live a simple and responsible life. To fulfill daily commitments to those we love requires consistency and routine. Flying off to a beach in Thailand at will is not on the menu of someone who loves and cares for others with a limited income. But we seldom hear the story of those who do the washing, the dressing and the feeding of those who cannot function by themselves.

I applaud and admire the courage of those who care responsibly and humbly for their fellow human beings throughout their lives. They are the unseen fabric which holds a society together. They often enable others in family systems to live more colorful and recreational lives without ever getting acknowledged for their contribution.

Time

2010-07-27T08:27:00.004-04:00

You cannot place your foot in the same river twice. Like a river, our lives change with each moment. You can choose in each moment whether to paddle with the current of your life or against it. Either choice is yours to make. Neither choice is the right one.

War

2010-07-26T07:30:00.005-04:00

The insanity of supporting war by the greater public is obvious. Centuries of wars have done relatively little to improve the human condition. Today's ludicrous indignation of the U.S. government over leaked Pentagon documents about the corruption in Pakistan and the failed strategy in Afghanistan underlines my point. The nonsense about a war for "freedom" in that part of the world has been shown to be a cynical public relations stunt to cover more devious machinations by our military, our industry and the allies of our politicians.

The U.S. government has turned a deaf ear to scores of human-rights and human-aid workers who are intimately familiar with Afghanistan. These peace-oriented advisers have repeatedly cautioned against stoking the Afghan tendency to belligerence and tribalism. Instead, they have suggested supporting the Afghan talent for small industry and perseverance. The Pentagon has ignored these calls. They are interested in more money for more weapons and more medal-encrusted grandeur for the war executives (officers).

Congress, still cowering behind post-911 flag waving, have caved in to the military over and over again. They are all too eager to forget the lessons of Viet Nam. Defense contractors have sunken their talons into the purses of political campaigns. Even the peace-talking, Nobel-holding Obama has become hawkish and easily cowed by the bluster of his own generals.

Insanity is doing the same ineffective thing over and over again while expecting a new result. This is the history of the military back through the ages. Armies represent and protect those who do not have the greater good in mind. Armies enforce the power of one elite over another. In doing this, they grind the bones of the common people.

Chant

2010-07-25T08:21:00.005-04:00

I was once a ritualistic chanter of Buddhist sutra. Like meditating, chanting a familiar sutra repeatedly has an hypnotic effect. Under the influence of this hypnotic effect, I believe, it is possible to engage various parts of the brain for the concerted behavioral changes which can better your life. This is not an outrageously novel or new idea.

This morning I am listening to Gregorian chant on my favorite Amsterdam radio station, Conzertzender. It occurs to me that this chanting is not very different from the Buddhist sutra-chanting with which I am familiar. In my youth, I sang Gregorian chant in a boys' choir. I recall the rush of excitement when our choir got it just right and the echoes of our voices rebounded back to us off the stark stone walls of our church.

The Gregorian chant of Roman Catholic ritual is constructed to lull and mystify, in my opinion. It is a sound meant to echo off cloister walls. A sound to awe and entrance impressionable, illiterate peasants perhaps. The great monasteries of Tibet, perched on mountaintops, echoed similarly with the sutras, often accompanied by fierce horn blasts and choking incense.

While listening to Gregorian chant charms me and makes me nostalgic for my own blissful ignorance of youth, I also hear in it the theatrical manipulation of millions for centuries. Perhaps this will be the role of religious rituals in some enlightened future. Reminders of the blissful ignorance of humanity, before it woke up to its real place in the Universe.

Boundaries

2010-07-24T09:20:00.005-04:00

The bee-hive mentality which has arisen due to social networking sites has its benefits and drawbacks. For the socially adept, the Facebook phenomenon can enhance an already vibrant social fabric: An actual social life, in other words. However, for the socially and geographically isolated, the social network sites can deepen isolation in three-dimensional terms. The illusion of a social life is not an actual social life.

There is no touch on Facebook; there is only "in touch". There is no kiss, no held hand, no reassuring shoulder rub. Facebook is a construction of pixels on a screen, wired to keyboards and mice. Nothing more.

I recently had several very unpleasant encounters in branches of a major banking institution. I found I was dealing with highly educated and abysmally inept customer service personnel. They were treating me like one of their Facebook friends, I assume. Unable to make the distinction between their roles as employees of a bank and Facebook friends or friend-of-friends, they addressed me in an insulting and personally intrusive manner.

One bank manager, a woman of obviously unhappy disposition, held a bank check containing my funds tightly to her pregnant abdomen as she interrogated me as to how I planned to spend my own money. She was stunned when I told her it was none of her business and advised her to hand me my funds immediately. She did so reluctantly with a look of consternation, like some short-circuited zombie.

Working in the virtual and working in the actual are different. In the virtual, electronic switches allow you to play god with your virtual reality. In the actual, the virtual attitude is called narcissism. It is high time that those of us who are able to discern these less-than-subtle distinctions practice active education of those who are unable to do so. Apparently, their parents did not do a very good job of it.

Elements

2010-07-23T06:59:00.004-04:00

I sometimes like to look at my own life's development in terms of the elements. When I was growing in the womb, I was like the amniotic fluid in which I resided. I was unconscious, flexible, fluid, malleable. After being born, my body gradually hardened and stiffened. From rubbery newborn, I became a dynamic and aggressive toddler.

Growing from baby to child to adolescent is a hardening process, a process of individuation and forming of more rigid boundaries. More like stone plow than water, as a young adult, I learned to fend off rejections and other assaults on my self image. I plowed a path into a work life. I honed the blade of my plow against the rocks of prejudice, materialism, class and ignorance.

It was familiar and easy to continue to harden as I approached middle age. A certain amount of financial stability made me less dependent on social supports and networks. I had a fixed idea of where my life would go as a plow in the secure, walled field of my life.

The AIDS epidemic represented a boulder far stronger than my plow. It shattered that hardened me. The resulting congregate person, pieced together initially from the old hardened me, fumbled along for a short while. No straight furrows through the intense, changing morass of the epidemic could be plowed. So, I dissolved into it, became part of the soil of the epidemic itself.

By working within the devouring beast, which was decimating my community and my own life, I gradually learned that being more like water than stone worked better for me. Working my way back to the fluidity of my pre-conscious, amniotic self has been a form of liberation. Rebirthing, perhaps.

My practice is leading me gradually to that end point at which I will concretely become like water, like air...simply water vapor, dust and dissipated electromagnetic energy. I believe that approaching that end point, awake and alive, without struggling with the elemental realities of being is perhaps the height of what is means to be human. I also believe that any person who does this will inevitably become a mindful and compassionate creature.

Identity

2010-07-22T08:15:00.004-04:00

A constant battle in my daily practice is one between my identity and my humanity. I see this same battle play out in the human family. The signs are everywhere.

A prime and relatively benign example is the Muslim head scarf, an outward statement of religious and cultural identity. Yes, it is just a piece of fabric. Just as red AIDS ribbons were initially. However, in countries where rabid Muslim extremists have killed innocent thousands through terrorism, this statement of identity is a barrier to harmony and trust. And, in countries where women have fought for decades for liberation from male oppression, this piece of fabric is a statement of identity with forces which would oppress women again if allowed.

I recall the early days of the rainbow flag, now a symbol associated GLBT liberation and identity. The flag's multicolors are not a reference to Dorothy's song in "The Wizard of Oz", "Over the Rainbow", as I have heard the uninformed state on several occasions. The rainbow flag was meant to symbolize a minority movement which united people of all colors and ethnic backgrounds. It was a symbol of merged identity, of shared humanity.

Getting past identity responses is difficult. As human beings, we have many tribal and familial habits of identifying with people like us which have served for centuries to provide us with a sense of safety and social stability. The reality is that groups do differ in cultural and biological ways. However, getting past that identity factor is essential to reaching a state of compassionate peace with all living beings.

Being politically correct in a conformist sense does not abolish identity issues, though it does provide a more peaceful public environment in which to do the individual work of reaching down to basic humanity to create peace and cooperation in each human situation. Getting past identity requires mindful practice. It is an important step to achieve the individual peace that promotes world peace.

Creativity

2010-07-21T09:05:00.005-04:00

I recently moved from a house to a small apartment in the city. I had to prioritize my routines. Routines necessary for my health maintenance were first in line: Up at an early hour, yoga, medications, breakfast, going to the gym. These essentials were modified minimally while I was packing, unpacking and organizing on both ends of the move.

The process had an impact on my writing. The basic variable was one of time. I have come to understand that I need a lot of time to produce writing which I consider worthy of being shared with others. That time isn't always spent in front of a monitor at my desk, by any means. The time that was missing while I was moving was my time for walking in the woods or on the beach. It was the time I spend writing long emails to friends with whom I regularly correspond. And, it was the time I routinely spend reading on the Web and in print.

As I grow older, I am very impatient about and careful with my time. This comes with the daily mindfulness that my window of existence is closing and could slam shut at any moment. My creativity flows from the conscious use of my time to stimulate a creative response in my brain. I call it "playing with my brain".

The impatience about wasting my time becomes a problem in some relationships. I used to suffer fools gladly. My work for many years entailed spending time trying to decode the garbled thinking and impaired communication of mentally ill and impaired people. This builds personal habits, which I have been trying to unlearn for over a decade. Those habits were a major impedance to my creative process for many years, despite the fact the work which developed them provides me still with grist for my stories and poetry.

Entering relationships for me now requires quickly assessing the worth of each relationship in terms of my creative process and my need to maintain my vitality in order to be creative. This is a challenge to my precept of generosity of spirit: I have tried for decades to be open to everyone I meet and their needs, as part of my humanist practice, born out of my Buddhist studies. The by-product of this struggle has been an increased skill and creativity in developing the relationships in my life which enhance my creativity. Those people who obstruct my creativity by wasting my time get less of it.

So, my creative process does not exclusively entail externalizing ideas and emotions into art. It also entails sculpting my own daily human experience into an artful being. The synthesis of these two processes is very powerful. To live creativity, as a mindful person, brings a value and spontaneity to writing, drawing and movement which surpasses intellectual art. Every fiber of the day becomes a piece of the work.

This recent move has brought a realization that I have made progress in this process. While I found that my routines were disrupted and impacted my output of written work. I also found that my new and old routines easily melded into functional and creative days, in which I accomplished quite a lot without being overwhelmed or hypercritical of myself for not doing more.

The result is an appreciation of what is and who I am. This is a creative, living place in each moment from which to move through space and time. What is simply is. I am there in the moment to use whatever it is in a creative and positive way to the best of my ability. I believe this is the core of being creative and of simply being, in a mindful and compassionate way.

Silence

2010-07-20T20:41:00.002-04:00

Sometimes silence is the most audible response.

Food

2010-07-19T08:24:00.004-04:00

The most elemental part of any spiritual or growthful personal process/practice is choosing a healthy diet. How you eat and what you eat will have the greatest influence on your progression as a human being. From brain to feet, diet controls the quality of your life and your experience of life.

The modern food supply in the U.S. is a chemical minefield. The corn and soy agri-magnates have sacrificed genetic diversity and nutrients in food production to extend shelf life (profits) and diminish costs of production and shipping. The result is obvious. A plague of obesity, a population routinely taking anti-depressants and/or tranquilizers, and a booming laxative/antacid industry.

Even the leading organic food chain, "Whole Foods", has betrayed its own name for profit. Read the packages of products on its shelves and you will routinely find extenders, synthetic soy additives, synthetic corn additives. In other words, junk food. Their staff has been brainwashed and will argue that these synthetic, superfluous additives are "natural" or "organic". This is absurd.

It is essential to take control of your diet to get free from the additives and extenders which have no nutritional value. You will experience clearer thinking and more energy within weeks of eliminating this garbage from your diet. Eat food from the ground. Minimize food from boxes. Eat dairy products that are unadulterated with additives or preservatives. Seek live-cultured yogurt. Eat cage-free, vegetarian-fed chicken eggs. Stay away generally from processed corn-containing or soy-containing products. Do not eat raw legumes. And, if you must eat meat, find meat that comes from animals which were humanely raised with organic, non-animal feeds.

Eating properly is a self-perpetuating process. Your body, once stabilized on a good diet, will punish you if you stray. Listen to its discipline and you will live a longer, healthier life.

Climate

2010-07-17T08:16:00.007-04:00

the great lie pelted my roof

ruptured clouds of dark soot

banging to get my attention

i cringe beneath the attack

sweating from the humidity

knowing the planet's dying

innocent humans weeping

petro-moguls still grinning

polluting coal stacks smoking

no burly angry god coming

to right the wrongs of money

to sweep the climate clean

doom comes in flood water

the end is pain and misery

millions die, more sadly born

we bowed to the oil barons

we let them stop paying taxes

we made our own bad ending

Money

2010-07-16T08:57:00.006-04:00

Greed is the social motivator in current human societies. This is simply a reaction to the obvious deterioration of the planet's resources and human overpopulation. Animal, mindless responses, translated into complicated derivatives and securities.

There is little rational basis for hoping that this trend will let up, since the destruction of the planet's health is well under way at the hands of those who hold financial and political power. The only possible hope lies in the heart of each individual who sees the value of human life beyond consumer comforts and the accumulation of things. If this hope is allowed to grow and spread to others, there may be some hope for humankind.

The salvation of the human species does not lie behind a teller's window or on the trading floor of a stock exchange. The salvation of the human species lies within your single individual heart and mind. By adopting a mindful, compassionate and loving daily practice, which turns its focus from getting things to doing good, you may well be turning the tide of greed and destruction.

Vision

2010-07-15T06:59:00.006-04:00

Maintaining a personal practice of truth, compassion and mindfulness is aided by a vision of life as it could be without suffering, greed and violence. Formulating this vision is helped by focusing on alleviating your own suffering, monitoring your own greed and purging violence from your own thoughts and actions.

My own life is my best laboratory. By showing myself that I can effect change in my own actions and perceptions in the moment, I can instill hope into my life for the eventual liberation of all life from suffering. This requires an ongoing commitment in moment after moment.

The mind slides to its animal or habitual nature all too easily. Being fully awake entails guiding the mnd along a path to wellness against the resistance of habit and history in each moment of awareness. This takes practice. This is practice.

Nonsense

2010-07-14T08:03:00.005-04:00

So much of what keeps us from being in the moment and being happy is simply nonsense. From childhood, we are conditioned to adopt our cultural and familial norms. Layer upon layer of nonsense from the past of our families and the past of our environment gets wrapped around our brains. And, our brains operate through the filter of those layers of nonsense, unless we liberate ourselves.

Liberation, or awakening, doesn't just happen. Facing the nonsense in your mind requires work.

The work for some entails therapy. Others find liberation through sports or yoga. Some find it through meditation and study. The path to liberation is not a dead end. There is no Eden waiting for the liberated, no cozy cul-de-sac. Liberation, or awakening, is the beginning of a new open life. Liberation itself becomes a never ending process of self-challenge and renewal.

Like growing older, liberation isn't for the weak-hearted. To be in the moment requires strength and courage. To embrace the impermanence of all things requires the acknowledgment of one's own impermanence. I believe this can become part of a daily consciousness, which promotes ongoing liberation and personal evolution. Simply put, this consciousness entails challenging everything that comes to the mind against a standard of justice, truth and compassion.

Stress

2010-07-13T08:08:00.007-04:00

So much of becoming well in our bodies is adaptation to unavoidable stress. Stress is actually a negatively nuanced word for our natural reaction to inevitable realities, such as time, gravity and physical limitations. Our brains have the ability to visualize goals that exceed our physical and psychological limitations. Stress is often the conflict between the goals or desires and the reality of performance or ability.

Modern medicine has turned to drugs to medicate stress reactions. Tranquilizers and antidepressants are often used to combat stress reactions by alleviating anxiety, depression and insomnia. Often this approach enables individuals to cope with existing stress and to actually increase their stress levels under the influence of the drugs. Then other, more serious, symptoms of stress reactions arise. Drugs become less effective. The quest for the perfect enabling drug becomes a new stressor. A vicious circular process.

A more practical way to address stress is to diminish the stimulus of the stress. This entails mastering the mind (brain) and bringing it into a realistic accord with the rest of the body. This approach is simple and difficult. It is simple because it requires regular maintenance of the body which anyone can do. It is difficult because modern life distracts us from healthy choices.

The simplest way to begin is with your own body. A daily periods of exercise are essential. If you are overweight, that extra weight is a stressor which applies its pressure on your life 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It should be addressed as a top priority by adjusting your diet, increasing your activity and scheduling regular exercise. Yoga, walking, weight-training, bicycling, aerobics, tai chi....all forms of exercise are helpful when done regularly in moderation.

As the body becomes less stressed, the mind can be placed in better sync with the body through regular sleep, regular meditation and regular socialization. For some, this translates into less late-night TV, less self-centered obsessing and less isolation. For others, this entails sticking to a structured schedule, joining a mediation group/class and watching less TV. It's all about balancing your natural capabilities and tastes with healthy activities which are enjoyable for you.

Without the recognition of stress, we would not function well. Stress can often be a helpful motivator. It is our reaction to stress which causes us gain or loss in the quality of our lives. Mindful and intentional coping with stress can be a tremendous way to learn about yourself and life in general.

Generosity

2010-07-12T07:51:00.007-04:00

Generosity of spirit is a great power for peace. Modern urban environments are sadly lacking in it. However, it can be replanted on barren ground with good results.

Materialism and hedonism have clouded the mass perception of what constitutes generosity. Grand gestures for tax breaks by Bill Gates and Warren Buffet have been advertised by mainstream media of all kinds as examples of generosity. This is not generosity of spirit. This is a capitalist business plan for more gain and less taxation.

Generosity of spirit has its root in the person who intentionally acts to promote peace in his/her immediate environment. By surrendering competition and contest, by deferring to another person's comfort, by automatically offering respectful consideration to strangers, the truly generous person plants the seeds for peace in his/her own life.

It is as simple as opening a door for the person next or behind you. Stepping aside for people exiting a subway train. Picking up a dropped object and returning it to its owner. Shoveling the snow off a neighbor's doorstep. The opportunities are endless in a crowded urban environment. Yet, the crowded urban environment is sorely lacking in a culture of generosity.

The raging SUV bully rolls his electric window down in traffic and shoves a crumpled dollar bill at a begging derelict, who will most likely spend it on further dissipation. This is not generosity of spirit. This is enabling a symptom of a selfish, bullying culture. It is a statement of condescension and superiority by the bully. It is of no sustaining help to the beggar.

I like to approach each day with the consciousness that I will have many opportunities to be generous in spirit on the subway, at the gym, in the street. I look for those opportunities. I have been doing this long enough as a practice, that opportunities present themselves to me constantly. My automatic responses often surprise me. There is nothing glamorous or grand about it. It is a rhythm in my life's melody.

Try to practice generosity of spirit today. The beginning is simple. Make eye contact and smile. The rest will follow quite naturally.

Awakening

2010-07-11T09:30:00.007-04:00

Awakening entails letting go of the mind's path to discover your own.

Interrupted

2010-07-09T08:09:00.004-04:00

At the risk of implying prescience, displayed in my last posting, "Heat" on July 6th, I share that I was a heat refugee for 36 hours after posting that blog entry. Yes, I had my own small energy Armageddon here outside my building, where an electric transformer on a pole near my window exploded on Tuesday evening. Yes, exploded, with Hollywood-style pyrotechnics, also suited to July 4th fireworks.

The temperature here in Boston had reached a record-breaking 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The transformer exploded, and the wires attached to it caught fire. No power for many units here in this densely populated neighborhood. No air conditioning. No fans. No refrigerators. No lights.

My upper floor apartment in an antique building heated up instantly when the air conditioner went out. It was unbearable within an hour. Luckily, I had a nearby refuge. The next two days were enjoyable where I was staying. The up side of the disaster is a better and more regular electric current in my building. Apparently, that old transformer was surging anyway. I had noticed irregular current my PC's voltage meter after moving here.

The down side, of course, was dealing with a major utility company. I reported the outage to an electronic voice, who haltingly promised to call me with updates which never came. There was no on line method for reporting the outage or following the progress of repair. They do have on line billing, of course.

I did find that I am a blogger of ritual. Without my shower, yoga and green tea in my own digs, I did not routinely post here for the two days I was away from my apartment. I'll have to work on that. Nothing will make a good thing go stale like ritual. Just ask any lapsed Catholic.

Heat

2010-07-06T08:44:00.006-04:00

As the temperature hovers in the high 90's Fahrenheit (30's Celsius), the unsustainability of the modern urban environment becomes glaringly obvious. A culture which relies on oil and coal to power air conditioners, cars and water purification plants is not prone to support a radical change to sustainable energy sources in any big hurry.

Black pavement, dark roofs and an absence of shade trees make the modern urban environment a solar heat collector. This requires greater artificial cooling to maintain human health in buildings poorly designed for hot weather. Not using air conditioning is a choice to sacrifice personal health for no measurable social or environment effect. Frankly, it is masochistic, since the price of an air conditioning unit is equivalent to what most families pay for one month's cable TV bill.

The problem is a big one and beyond the power of single individuals to solve. Industry obviously has no interest in solving it. Government, if constrained by corruption, will not fix it. This is not a hopeful scenario, but it is an accurate assessment of the status quo.

As global warming radically changes the environment with exponential effects of petrochemical addiction, great human suffering is predictable. This suffering will cut across socioeconomic lines. When the technological breaking point comes, there will be no refuge from heat or drought or famine. Only then will those who live in denial of science and history be forced to face the truth. Meanwhile, those us us who see the coming catastrophe must turn to some form of daily practice to maintain our sanity and personal optimism.

Fireworks

2010-07-05T09:54:00.005-04:00

strolling tired in summer heat
long day of july independence
moving against a human tide
madly rushing to water's edge

avoiding addled drugged stares
pairs and triads of angry men
seeking source or target of pain
along steaming paved streets

near empty subway rumble ride
loud asian syllables in the air
yearning for quiet in my rooms
interrupted by more angry eyes

ambling along to my own street
suddenly peopled with strangers
climbing the low hill with relief
old wooden door unlocked yields

flashing and booming fireworks
there outside my own window
now shrugging with wide yawn
happily drifting to sweet sleep

Independence

2010-07-04T08:41:00.007-04:00

Americans celebrate the colonial declaration of independence from England on July 4th. In a rapidly de-nationalizing world, this holiday seems somewhat arcane. Here in Boston, the holiday has become a commercialized tourist event, which attracts wealthy travelers from around the world.

Tacky junk-food stands line the Esplanade, once treated with reverent anti-commercial respect by Boston Brahmins who walked its paths under parasoles. Then considered tailored nature in the city, a promenade for reflection and cooling river breezes, the Esplanade now serves as a stage for fireworks and sing-alongs, broadcast on TV.

Yesterday's walk along the Esplanade, bustling with preparations for tonight's event, told an interesting story about the real America, which is no longer the home of the free and the brave. The Esplanade becomes an armed camp for the event. SWAT-team vans, barricades and surly, uniformed police everwywhere. A Baghdad Green Zone right here in Boston.

Perhaps most disturbing is the complacency and comfort with which civilians encounter this martial atmosphere. Young women flirt and giggle at state troopers who are informing them that they may not proceed onto the oval in front of the Hatch Shell, a vast empty lawn going unused for no apparent reason on a hot, sunny summer day. Others seem indifferent to men wearing polo shirts bearing insignia which indicate that they belong to a military sniper corps.

So, what is this independence we celebrate on July 4th? Independence from what, from whom? Certainly, the U.S. is no longer independent from China, for example, since that nation holds our national I.O.U. for supplying our consumer goods. The U.S. is no longer independent fom the E.U., to which it must look for help to deal with terrorism. The U.S. is no longer independent from Mexico or Central America or Brazil, upon whom it depends for its cheap labor and natural resources. The U.S. is no longer independent from multinational corporations, which dictate policy through a corrupted political system.

How hollow the patriotism of flag wavers on the Esplanade! And, this is probably for the good. While globalism is now driven by corporate profits and cheap, mobile labor pools, it may eventually evolve into globalism for human survival as the deteriorating atmosphere and overpopulation necessitate global action. Perhaps future human beings will celebrate a declaration of global co-dependence, which will be seen as the turning point in saving the planet and providing peace for all.

Christians

2010-07-02T08:04:00.004-04:00

"What would Jesus do?" That was the central mantra of the Christianity in which I was raised. In fact, the utter failure of the representatives and officials of that Christianity to live by that standard drove me from that Christianity and the other mainstream Christian sects.

Similarly, I say to Buddhist practitioners, "What would Gotama do?" I tire of those who identify themselves as Buddhists or Buddhist-friendlies and live as materialistic hedonists with little or no regard for those in need around them. I bristle at those who turn Buddhism into a lucrative career path by selling it to the wealthy as a balm for their already lapsed social consciences.

Practicing mindfulness and compassion in the moment every day is not easy. The world is immersed in suffering all around us. The awakened sees the suffering and is compelled to action, right action , to ease it in whatever incremental way possible in each life situation. Jesus and Gotama, as best as I can tell, were awakened human beings. They did not set out to be demigods, used by scoundrels for political and materialistic purposes. They tried to promote a daily practice of peace and justice for all human beings.

Healing

2010-07-01T08:49:00.005-04:00

The body is much more than the mind. The mind can interfere significantly with bodily wisdom. The body's mindless urges can also trouble the mind. These are challenges of the human condition.

Healing often entails telling the mind to yield to the dictates of the body. A common obstacle to healing, in my opinion, is the refusal of a tired and malnourished person to rest and eat properly. One result of this mind-dominated behavior is reliance upon drugs and alcohol for the facilitation of relaxation. Another result can be obesity, caused by reliance upon fast-food, sugar-caffeine drinks and carbohydrate snacks for energy.

The body's wisdom is simple. It will tell you when to breathe deeply, sit, sleep, eat or fast. However, to hear the body's wisdom, one must learn to shut off the mind's voice to hear the body's voice. This is where meditation can be helpful. By lying or sitting still for ten or fifteen minutes at some point during the day, you can tune into your body's voice and reap the benefits.

The choice to live entirely in the mind is promoted by technologically driven capitalist society. i-Phones, iPads, netbooks...all these devices promote mind-centered living. The eye becomes a portal for overwhelming amounts of mind-centered information. A mental form of bulimia can result. Gorging and purging. Cramming information and then blowing things/people up in computer games.

For the young and healthy, this is all a great ride. However, the ride itself, over time, can erode the health and well being of youth as it advances inevitably to middle age. By then, entrenched habits of being mind-centered, fatigued and malnourished start taking their toll. Healing balance must be initiated to avoid disastrous consequences.

Beginning a daily practice of some form of quiet relaxation or meditation for fifteen minutes in the middle of your day will bring tremendous benefit for very little cost. This can be done in a cubicle or on a park bench. Pay attention to how your body feels after these periods. Thoughts that seem particularly hard to escape while trying to clear your mind are the clues to what requires your healing attention.

Use the information access of technology to read up on good nutrition, the benefits of sleep and meditation. Health entails the ongoing healing of the inevitable toll time and gravity take on our bodies. While the mind may tell you that you are immortal or invulnerable, the body, which includes your brain, knows the truth of being. Living fully and well entails paying attention to that truth.

Commonality

2010-06-30T08:21:00.005-04:00

In a recent group discussion about forgiveness, the consensus seemed to be that reaching some sense of commonality with the person who offends helps when trying to forgive that person. One member of the discussion spoke of trying to summon forgiveness for a person who had committed atrocities against many human beings. This was a hard case.

The ultimate commonality which we all share with all other beings is our mortality. I have begun to incorporate a more present consciousness of this reality in my daily practice of being. For example, when confronted with an insect in my kitchen, I struggle with the impulse to kill it. I think of the parallel between its life and my own. I question whether my ability to kill it easily is a justification for killing it. I consider that the minor violence of killing the insect brings me closer to committing future violence. If the insect poses a real threat to my own immediate well being, I may kill it. Otherwise, I will attempt to remove it without fatally harming it.

I am not a Jain, but I understand the Janist approach to defeating the impulse to violence in our animal brains. The building of patterns of behavior in daily life leads to the growth of the human condition, individually or societally. By remembering the precious brevity of all life, I find that the impulse to anger and violence is much more easily managed. Getting to the awareness and acceptance that we al die all too soon is a challenge in a world of electronic avatars and fundamentalist religions, which promote an illusion of immortality.

Addiction

2010-06-29T08:02:00.004-04:00

I am impressed by the current trend in U.S. society to accept binge drinking and public intoxication. In the urban environment, it is matter of course to see inebriated people in public in the middle of the day. On weekends, drunk young people are commonplace during the afternoons on city streets.

Thirty years ago, this would have been unacceptable public behavior, associated with sociopaths and derelicts. Not so today. What has happened?

Well, the U.S. was led for eight years by an alcoholic, who, despite claims of longterm sobriety, managed the government like an unruly drunkard. President Obama chose to resolve a serious racial incident, involving a cop and a Harvard professor, by having a beer with them. When did drinking alcohol become a panacea?

While I believe it is useless to try to control human behavior, like drinking alcohol, by stern prescriptions of sobriety, I am concerned that all the ills associated with addiction will once again blossom with the inevitable social repercussions. Domestic and random violence are among the worst of these.

Personal and social peace is dependent on the mindfulness of individuals. Alcohol/drug use is antagonistic to mindfulness. Mindfulness requires a useful, alert brain. Managing brain function cognitively is difficult enough in itself without adding external intoxicants.

The occasional medicinal use of alcohol, cannabis or other intoxicants may have some beneficial effects for some people. However, the routine, habitual use of intoxicants has no beneficial effect for any individual or society. Learning this lesson is a necessary first step for many on their path to personal growth.

Equilibrium

2010-06-28T08:42:00.005-04:00

I'm rebooting, clocking slowly, monitor blinking. The harsh adrenaline edge of unpacking and repositioning has softened with the gradual return of deep, healing sleep. Another Monday, more like the good old Mondays past, begins with a list of to-do's.

Moving is like running. You have to persist until your pace kicks in sync with your breath. Then it's automatic, less painful. But, when you stop, you must stretch before you can walk comfortably into the rest of your day. So, today I am stretching, reminding myself to breath deeply and proceed with mindful caution.

There is so much to be learned from daily life, if you simply pay attention.

Moved.

2010-06-24T00:37:00.003-04:00

The eagle has landed.
Boxes in neat piles.
Muscles sore but mending.

Packing

2010-06-22T09:26:00.005-04:00

There is an art to moving. If there were a degree for moving, I'd have a doctorate. In the past forty years I have moved about thirty times, usually by myself, since I have lived alone for most of that time.

My house is now packed neatly into one large room here on the first floor. Fifteen medium boxes of moderate weight/density. Twelve plastic crates, smaller with more compact weight of wrapped dishes, glassware or books. Boxes are stacked for easy access, since they usually go into the truck first. Larger furniture is next. Small items are last. They are tucked securely into holes left by larger items.

More often than not, I hire movers. I have great admiration and empathy for the men and women who lug the weight of the materialism of others for relatively low pay. They represent a vanishing segment of the population of developed countries: Those who labor against gravity and friction for their living. They provide a truly valuable service.

I have known people who enjoy brutalizing paid laborers. These selfish bullies feel that they are entitled to insult the dignity of a person who has to work hard for their money. What could be more cowardly? There may come a day when those who labor at basic services, like moving, will be considered worthy of more respect. I hope that day comes soon.

All in all, while I struggle with my muscles and joints, exerting myself against the weight of my own possessions, I find moving tremendously invigorating. My heart races at the prospect of new habits, new walks, new acquaintances. Many people seek this exhilaration in travel. I learned many years ago that travel does not satisfy my need for shaking out the cobwebs as well as moving to a new neighborhood, where I will live for a year or more.

In The Dhammapada, the translated sayings of Gautama, there are repeated references to moving or movement as a method to diminish attachment and to spread the word of liberation. I must concur. My moving is motivated as much by economics as by philosophy, but the net effect is the same. Weeding out, packing up and lifting your life, box by box, requires having your feet firmly planted on the ground. Breathing deeply with the mind wide open helps a lot.

Courage

2010-06-21T17:04:00.005-04:00

if you're always strong

you can do no wrong

if you're always rich

you can feel no hunger

if you're always safe

you can see no threat

life wrongs the many
life starves the poor

life frightens the unsafe

the powerful can defer

the wealthy can provide

the secure can protect

if you're always mindful

you can see true need

if you're always willing

you can find compassion

if you're willing to suffer

you can find true courage

Post-Gay

2010-06-19T08:59:00.004-04:00

A recent Boston public radio program hosted a discussion about Boston as a "post-gay" city. As a native of the Boston area, who has lived here most of my life, I found the discussion revealing and somewhat confirming of suspicions I have had about the political views of those who are currently steering the LGBTQ politics here through media and lobbying.

I do not cling to the past by any means. I do feel that the current political leaders of our local LGBTQ community represent the new (downtown) Boston population of marriage-oriented, conservative and high-income professionals. This is a matter of simple economics. The Menino administration's development policies have purged the city of single, low-to-mid-income, young gay men and lesbians, who once made Boston's gay community one of the most vibrant in the U.S..

Many have moved to Providence, where there is a gay street life and night life, similar to the Boston of the past. Others have moved to Dorchester and have developed a new, active gay community there, which is out of sync with the less-unified downtown community. Boston Proper has become the Gay Marriage Capital, a bastion of more conservative LGBTQ values.

While I take a certain pride in my own small contribution to the development of gay rights in the U.S. through my participation in our liberation during the past four decades, I do not acknowledge the current post-gay LGBTQ's as my successors or heirs. I accept their choice to pursue bourgeois, Reaganite bliss. However, our rights were not secured, nor will they necessarily be maintained, by pushing baby carriages and acting just like heterosexuals.

I am not post-gay. I will die as an openly gay man with self-respect for my intrinsic, natural difference from heterosexuals or bisexuals or transsexuals. I have worked hard for that self-respect and for the rights of all homosexual people to live in peace with equal rights. I feel a certain implicit disrespect towards me and others like me coming from those who have the money and propensity to act straight in a socioeconomically privileged Boston. While they may relegate me to "pre-post-gay" history, I assure them that I and many others like me will be absolutely necessary to maintaining their rights into the future.

Corruption

2010-06-18T07:57:00.004-04:00

For those who wonder why the immigration system and government in general are broken, I highly recommend this story. Ultimately, a society is only as civilized and lawful as the individuals in it. When those in authority feel immune to the laws they are hired to enforce, then corruption and chaos spill past the boundaries of civilization, comprised by the rule of law. This erodes the safety and equality of every individual in a society.

Schill

2010-06-17T19:19:00.003-04:00

What kind of Congressman apologizes to British Petroleum after it has caused massive environmental, economic and psychological damage to a vast area of the U.S.? A corrupt and possibly insane Texan. You remember what one of those is like, right?

Taxes

2010-06-16T07:59:00.004-04:00

It has been clearly demonstrated that a substantial state and national fuel taxes could turn our economy around and basically save the planet by waking gas-dependent Americans up in the same way that tobacco taxes weaned the majority of U.S. citizens off smoking. The actual impact on individuals would be negligible. Drivers would be able to compensate by prioritizing their use of vehicles. Those with incomes large enough to travel could afford the increases. Income taxes could be stabilized and perhaps reduced eventually.

There is no free ride back to a viable planet. Supporting politicians who rail against these measures is self-defeating. Those who refuse to pay their share now will pay more dearly later.

Solstice

2010-06-15T07:46:00.003-04:00

The Summer Solstice comes this weekend. The longest day of the year. Here in New England, this day of most sunlight has always held significance for me. Our winters are fairly long. January and February are dismal months. So, I often think of this solstice time in those dark days. While revelers are celebrating Christmas and New Year, I am mourning the loss of light. Perhaps I have never lost the genetic memories of my Druid roots.

As I have grown older, I have become more and more sensitive to the seasons and their light. I have developed empathy for the plants in my small front garden. Every morning, I check in with them, as we respond to the weather and light of the day. This has healed my relationship with the planet, I believe. That relationship was horribly narcissistic on my part for many decades. Raised as a selfish human, I had lived as though the planet existed only for me, my comfort, my pleasure.

I know better now. It has taken quite a lot of reality-testing to get my attention. I understand the nearly universal human denial of global climate destruction. However, I also know that this will bring horrors yet unimagined to the human species in the not-too-distant future. I shake my head at those human beings who have procreated and are not rabid environmentalists. This seems to me the height of human ignorance and folly.

I will try to enjoy the long, lavender twilight of another year. The cycle goes on, as it will after I am gone. I am learning to find comfort within my small place on the planet and in The Universe. This deepens my human experience. It does not lessen it.

Parade

2010-06-13T14:54:00.002-04:00

(DOUBLE CLICK ON SCREEN ARROW)

Parade

2010-06-12T08:01:00.004-04:00

Today Peter and I will be filming the 40th anniversary Gay Pride Parade here in Boston. As one of the few surviving native Bostonians who will be there, I feel somewhat sentimental about it.

The first parade, in which I marched, was such a humble and courageous statement of gay men and lesbians, who risked life and limb to walk self-consciously down the streets of an American city as openly homosexual people. The second and third parades, more widely publicized, were marked by homophobic hecklers and thugs who threw bottles, bricks and trash at us. The Boston Police on duty smirked and looked the other way.

But, we kept coming back, year after year, thanks to the many volunteers who put the march together each June. The city's Irish-Catholic politicians finally understood that GLBTQ people in Boston would not go away. This is truly an American story, one in which I can take some pride. Massachusetts is now the beacon for gay marriage rights in the country.

I will carry the memories of so many of my peers who are not able to attend the Pride Parade today. This is another parade, a parade of those who suffered through disease and isolation with dignity, despite being seen as lepers by straight society and by many whom they had helped to liberate. I carry their banner by standing erect and carrying my aging frame with dignity. While my presence at 60 is seldom acknowledged or appreciated in my community, I know that it is important for the young men and women around me to see that self-respecting GLBTQ life does not end at forty.

My life has been flavored with marches for justice. I marched for peace. I marched for gay rights and other civil rights. It was good practice for the more difficult personal marches for my own survival that came over the years. So much of life is holding your head up high and placing one courageous foot in front of the other.

Downsizing

2010-06-11T08:22:00.006-04:00

In this day of hoarding awareness, my natural propensity to live sparsely has flourished. As I pack for my new home, I am tossing and giving things away enthusiastically.

Pots and pans, associated with so many evenings of conversation and good eating, have outlived their purpose in my current life. They are trash now. There are fewer flat walls in my new garret. Paintings and prints are being reviewed and deemed essential or redundant. Later this morning, men from a charity will be toting away two sofas I have had for the last 16 years. I never liked their color, chosen by a former artsy housemate. This is a truly joyful evacuation.

The sheer weight of it all reminds my vintage body that it's best to keep things simple in future. Yesterday, I took apart the guest bedroom. The new place has no guest room. So, I stood and calculated what has to go and stay from that pile of things. As I stripped the guest bed, I realized I could easily count the number of nights it had been used in the past five years. I had to laugh at my own ritual curatorship of a relatively unused room over those years.

Discarding things which once held significance in my life is a reminder of its transitory nature. Perhaps moving many times in my life has aided my practice as a humanist, focused on people instead of possessions. I have been guided for years through my life's changes by a saying given to me by an elderly patient many years ago. "Hey, kid," he said, after he overheard me telling a fellow worker about some minor trauma in my young life, "don't sweat the small stuff!"

The more I understand that life's daily quality is the "big stuff", the less anything else matters. The alchemy of turning treasures into trash, or another's treasure, is a skill which will serve me well as age brings its changes and inevitable economies of scale. Letting go and moving constitute the shared destiny of us all.

Onward

2010-06-10T08:48:00.006-04:00

look up to the horizon's promise.
weighted dragging feet will follow.

heart will race and lungs expand.

shadowed mind will be lightened.

look up to the horizon's promise.

nagging history can be shaken off.

centered mind will be awakened.

now is the threshold to tomorrow.

Pride

2010-06-09T08:22:00.007-04:00

June is the annual month of Gay Pride celebrations around the world. The concept of Gay Pride grew from the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Black Pride as a movement preceded Gay Pride. Black Pride was associated in media with Malcolm X and Stokely Carmichael, leaders of Black Muslims and Black Panthers, respectively. Ironically, the African-American community in the U.S. is still slow in its acceptance of its GLBTQ brothers and sisters.

Gay Pride began as a movement of defiance in the face of widespread homophobia in American society. Coming out as gay was a political act with serious repercussions in the U.S. during the late 1960s and 1970s. It continues to be an act of courage today for many people who do not live in accepting communities. And, in parts of the world, coming out publicly places gay people in peril of their lives at the hands of repressive governments or Sharia Law.

The annual celebrations of Gay Pride in cities around the world now attract millions of GLBTQ people and their supporters. This annual coming out onto the streets in the light of day can be seen as the root of all current political progress on GLBTQ civil rights and universal human rights around the world.

The advent and decimation of the AIDS epidemic seriously threatened the evolution of gay political life in the U.S. and other nations. However, Gay Pride can be considered a major element in the sense of community which fostered profound grassroots support for victims of the AIDS epidemic, when governments were slow to respond. The mobilization of ACT UP in the U.S. was inspired by gay men, like Larry Kramer in New York, who were involved in the early Gay Pride movement. The NAMES Project, which developed the AIDS Memorial Quilt, was cofounded by Cleve Jones, protege of assassinated gay activist Harvey Milk.

The survival and further development of gay communities through the AIDS epidemic has given current Gay Pride celebrations an aspect of gravitas along with traditional partying, which is emblematic of urban gay life. It's not just a festival. It is a way of making sure GLBTQ people are still alive and participating as an visible segment of the world community.

Things

2010-06-08T08:55:00.005-04:00

The tyranny of things. I am packing and trying to decide what to take with me into the next phase of my life. The process annoys me.

I stood in my basement yesterday and stared long and hard at old lamp parts, pieces of wire and odd screws. My pragmatic mind could come up with many uses for each object I found. My better self screamed, "Chuck it and let's move on already!"

My better self is winning. There are four huge plastic trash bags at the curb. I feel lighter. There are more trash bags in my future.

When I worked in hospice care, I was impressed by the similarity between the black body bags used by undertakers and the black trash bags used for household waste. They differ in the thickness of the plastic. The body bag has a zipper. Otherwise, they are similar.

So, I ultimately come to the realization that I am a thing in the end. I am an animated thing, but someday, when the electromagnetic and chemical processes that animate me cease, I too will be redundant. There is liberation in this. The odd piece of wire or mismatched screw, while potentially useful, are not worth the price of my wasted time and effort. That time, while I am still alive, is more precious than any thing I can possess.

Goals

2010-06-07T08:14:00.007-04:00

My natural orientation is forward. Some have voiced their opinion that this is very Aquarian. I simply have seldom had a past or present that could compare with my imagination of the potential for the future. Call me an optimist.

Maintaining ongoing concrete goals, some mundane and some more life-encompassing, is a habit I developed in my nursing practice. Assisting patients from total disability to gradual independence is a profound activity. My work over the years has taught me the value of step-wise, persistent goal setting and achievement.

Many people set goals for themselves based on external expectations of parents, bosses or superego. Some become quite successful. Others lead lives stifled by their own sense of frustration and failure.

Knowing and accepting who I am has helped me greatly to set goals which bring me an increasing sense of freedom and competence. I am not always satisfied with my own talents or lack of talent, but I have learned to accept my limitations. Working within my limitations while honing my skills and talents, I am able to make progress with core goals in my life.

All this takes time, reflection and personal honesty. Time is horribly wasted in too many human lives. It is the most precious element of existence. Spending time in reflection or meditation pays off. It is a good investment. Personal honesty comes with routine meditation or reflection. How can you know yourself if you never spend quality time with yourself? Once you get acquainted with yourself, you can use precious time to get on with being and becoming the person you would like to be.

Another crucial element of goal setting and achievement in my life is organization of time. Current computer apps are very helpful for some. However, I wonder if they present too much information and too many options. I still write things down. Lists and a monthly calendar are mainstays on my desk. I have been using running to-do lists since I was in high school. Each morning, I revise and rewrite my list with priorities running top to bottom. Each evening, I review my list and cross out what I've done.

Keeping life simple helps. Many of my daily goals are very mundane. Taking care of the widgets and rubber bands of daily life, like a stocked refrigerator and an an organized, clean house, leads to greater efficiency in the more abstract areas of existence. As Japanese Buddhists maintain: Person and environment are one.

Well, another goal achieved. I have posted this entry in my blog. Now to my list and the other goals of the day and beyond.

Blockades

2010-06-05T08:36:00.005-04:00

"So, is she Jewish?" The standard sit-com formula line, which always get a nodding laugh from Jews themselves, speaks volumes about how entrenched struggles remain entrenched. The current violence off the coast of Gaza is another symptom of outmoded mindsets in Israeli and Palestinian politics.

Israel has practiced religious apartheid within its borders. It has done so with the knowledge and permission of its allies in the name of reparations for past atrocities. However, as this past becomes relegated to the stinking trash heap of history, the world must look to the future and to positive change to solve problems that inhibit the assurance of universal human rights globally. That means universal and absolutely equal human rights for Israelis and Palestinians in Israel.

There are factions in Israel and abroad who are not committed to equal human rights for all in Israel. They are committed to an ancient paradigm in which the Jews are the Chosen People. They believe in the genetic superiority of Jews, as transmitted through maternal blood line. When confronted with this outrageous assertion, they resort to stories of The Holocaust and centuries of Jewish oppression. However, they are not willing to consider the chicken-egg nature of historic Jewish separatism and xenophobia. They bristle at the very mention of the concept.

Palestinians, still fighting ancient ethnic rivalries and The Crusades, have refused to accept their Semetic cousins into a shared homeland which was a humane, well-intentioned construct, badly executed by the international community, after the atrocities of The Holocaust. Had the Palestinians been able to summon the political will after World War II, they could have asserted themselves in support of the construction of Israel in exchange for a mutually supported Palestinian state. Israel and Palestine today could have been a dynamic, prosperous alliance in a more stable Middle East. But traditional politicians with little foresight and religious zealotry prevented that from materializing.

This is not a unique story by any means. Ethnic cleansing is not new. Madness over acreage is not new. In fact, the minutia of norms of ethnic separation in many countries baffle the objective observer. Bosnia was a clear example. Kosovo, another. The old American South and West are shameful and bloody examples. The list is quite long. The dynamics of ethnic cleansing require at least two dancers to do the dance of violence and conflict.

It seems to me that the blockade of Gaza represents the Israeli government's and Hamas's blockade of peace at the expense of their own people. It is an international cock fight with other nations observing and cheering the opponents. It is, perhaps, the greatest example of the total ineffectiveness, corruption and obsolescence of The United Nations.

Until the people of the region can be reached, educated and supported by international partners who are willing to call an end to the cock fight, the Middle East will be a boil on the butt of the planet. Eventually, as with all boils on butts, it will have to be lanced. And, I am afraid Jews and Palestinians will suffer horribly for it.

Universal

2010-06-04T18:15:00.006-04:00

Universal human rights would be the same civil rights for every human being, no matter how they look or what they believe or whom they love or where they were born. Everyone, everywhere.

This requires a change in human perception. Rather than granting people respect based on their looks or how they sound, it requires granting all people the same respect on first look. This challenges an instinctual human tendency to classify. It is a survival instinct. Is this object safe or dangerous? Life experience shapes the form this instinct takes as people age. Education, ignorance, love or trauma can shape this instinct, for functional good or dysfunction.

For people old enough to have been shaped by life, learning to disregard the tendency to classify people as safe (good) or unsafe (bad), based on very superficial criteria, is nearly impossible. It requires tremendous practice and mindfulness. And, even then, the mind reverts to old habits easily.

Meditation in Buddhism is a tool to overcome the dysfunctional mind, the cluttered mind. As a humanist, I find meditation helpful. However, I find that I have been able to develop my own little instant-replay system. As I go through my day, I evaluate my responses to people and my interactions with them. I try to keep that more objective consciousness running, like a surveillance camera, which I can replay after an interaction or an experience.

I have learned a great deal from this practice. I have been able to use some of what I have learned for the better in my life. I have also learned how deeply judgmental and prejudiced I tend to be towards people. Decades of dyed-in-the-wool habits, which are exhaustively relentless, just under my conscious mind.

Prejudice is simply stupid. Judgment is not in itself a bad thing. As a nurse in an acute psychiatric ward, I was paid for my preformed understanding of certain dysfunctional behaviors. I was also paid to make professional judgments about dealing with these behaviors to avoid violence or unnecessary pain. I want an experience cop around if I am in a dangerous situation. His informed classification of a behavior, based on training and experience, could lead to a judgment which could save my life.

Universal judgments about racial, ethnic or sexual groups are counterproductive and unsafe. They lead to violence, war and social regression. Perhaps the current political correctness of certain social classes and arenas is a good form of behavioral therapy for nonconstructive prejudices and judgments. However, the tendency of the politically correct to condemn all judgment, even when based on experience and knowledge, as bad or wrong is simply stupid, in my opinion.

My practice as a humanist is to promote universal human rights in any way I can. I see this as a process that occurs with one situation or relationship at a time. I think the political advocacy of specific special-interest groups in the American political system is currently an anachronistic method to achieve universal human rights. I feel the process is in itself divisive. I would prefer to see all groups who feel disenfranchised joined in a universal human rights coalition, which could approach government and demand comprehensive legislation on human rights for everyone in society.

Moving

2010-06-03T20:26:00.006-04:00

Those who awaken

Never rest in one place.

Like swans, they rise
And leave the lake.

On the air they rise
And fly an invisible course,

Gathering nothing, storing nothing.

Their food is knowledge.

They live upon emptiness.

They have seen how to break free.

---The Dhammapada, Canto VII, The Master,

Shambhala Pocket Classics Edition, 1976

My propensity for moving house frequently is a matter of endless amusement among my friends and family. I have moved about 30 times in the past 40 years. As a single man in an urban setting with a job which paid a moderate salary for most of my career, I often moved out of economic necessity. Rent increases motivated me to look for more affordable digs. Sometimes I moved for environmental reasons: Noise, rough neighbors, homophobia, bad plumbing, sparking electrical systems. These various factors threatened my serenity and/or my person. Since I value both, I moved.

After certain events prompted my early retirement from nursing, I utilized my moving skills and my real estate skills to secure better housing and some financial security simultaneously. Not an avid capitalist, I was not a flipper for the thrill. I turned over property in which I lived to achieve peace with myself as well as some financial independence.

I am now moving again. Having placed my house under agreement, I have taken an apartment in a location that suits my current aspirations and relationships. I have been fortunate that my pursuits have placed me in the hands of a responsible and personable property owner. And, I feel this move has advanced my inner journey to be at one with myself so I may continue to try to become the human being I would like to be through my humanist practice.

A substantial part of the beauty for me of this move lies in the realization that the people who are purchasing my house are experiencing an advancement in their life journeys as well, from what I have been told. To achieve a sense of harmony between commerce and humanism in my life is important to me. While I have always held to a personal code of ethics in business, I have not always felt harmonious in the process of buying and selling. So many who buy and sell are obsessed with winning. And, where there is a winner, there is a loser. I have been in both roles, and I have not found much sustainable happiness in either.

I find now that I am able to see the role of consumer and the role of vendor as potentially cooperative, as opposed to competitive. This is rather antithetic to modern capitalism in the U.S.. I don't care. I relish being an odd ball in most things.

So, I intend to keep moving. My grandfather often said, "Stay where you are; keep moving." I believe he meant internal movement was more important than changing the external or circumstantial. He lived in the same apartment for decades. I am learning to cherish moving in itself, internally and circumstantially. It just seems to agree with me.

Ignorance

2010-06-01T08:23:00.007-04:00

The greatest obstacle to human progress is simple human ignorance. Ignorant human beings are more prone to have children for whom they do not provide adequate education. Breaking the cycle of ignorance is extremely difficult, because it inevitably necessitates addressing family planning and reproductive rights in society. The sacred cow of universally encouraged and unquestioned human reproduction, as seen everywhere in media, is counterproductive to alleviating poverty and ignorance in society.

This thought came to me recently on the subway, as I watched an adolescent mother being cruel and abrupt with a toddler, whom she was loudly encouraging to eat an ungodly meal in a box from Burger King. The smell of the box's contents caused me to gag, yet the teen mom was threatening the child with repercussions if he did not immediately gag down a portion of toxic french fries which would have sated a truck driver. When I looked over to the mother to suggest the child may be full, she shot me the kind of violent look I associate with gun-toting gangsters. I decided to be quiet, since the child would most likely bear her anger for anything I might have said. Instead, I focused my benign energy on the child, who smiled and waved at me. That innocent wave shot a pain through my heart. If this had been a rare experience on my subway line, I would not have been as deeply affected.

The issue of family planning is seen as a "women's issue". This is understandable, since the presence of men in the lives of their offspring seems to be dwindling, rather than growing. Single motherhood is a growing trend among the educated. It is vehemently defended by educated and more privileged women. What are the repercussions of these trends for the undereducated, when media promotes these behaviors in the educated? Is it really exclusively a women's issue?

The recent reactionary outrage over expanding health care in the U.S. is stunning in the face of increased fertility services and more enabling of adolescent girls who do become pregnant. And, the fall in public education quality in the face of large immigrant populations with large families does not bode well for the future. The recession of the U.S. economy will only worsen these situations.

As long as it is politically incorrect to frankly discuss the role of reproduction in the cycle of ignorance and poverty, the undermining effects of a growing undereducated population will erode the quality of American life for every citizen of America. The truth is often unpopular. I would strongly encourage women to open the conversation with media, government agencies and other women about these issues. It is as important an environmental issue as the failing oil economy.

Memorials

2010-05-31T09:00:00.004-04:00

There is an old retort, used between intimates when they are annoyed with one another: You remind me of an old song, "How Can I Miss You If You Won't Go Away?"

Many a truth is said in jest. I am reminded of this on Memorial Day. This holiday was intended to honor military dead. However, in my working class youth, it was the time to go to cemeteries with flowers and plants for graves of dead relatives. Grave sites were tidied. Dead plants removed. New plants planted. Prayers said and teary eyes dabbed with handkerchiefs.

The most baffling of these pilgrimages was the trip to my maternal grandfather's grave with his widow and my parents. The man had been ejected from the family for violent, abusive behavior. He had died a homeless derelict, totally incapacitated by his alcoholism. Yet we tended his grave annually. His widow, my grandmother, wept profusely. The rest of us wandered about until she was done. I struggled to reconcile the vitriol heaped on his memory all year long with these uncomfortable moments of bereft grief at his grave. Did not compute.

As I have grown older, I have realized that memorials are for the living, not the dead. The dead have no consciousness of memorials. This is fortunate for them. Who would want to be conscious of being buried under tons of marble?

If human beings could harness the energy of grieving over the past and apply it to doing good in the present, the world would be a much better place. If we could stop to realize that we will all be separated by death inevitability, perhaps we would deal with being together more mindfully and compassionately. If all the money and resources devoted to memorials for the dead were reallocated for helping to improve the lives of the living, the greater good would be served.