US Popular Vote
[cnn.com]
Oregon Democratic Gov. Kate Brown signed a bill Wednesday that would grant the state's electoral college votes to the winner of the national popular vote, her office confirmed.
Brandon WilliamsCraig
January 15 at 3:25 PM ·
Texas next!
Fred Dews: Hope we abolish it someday. A relic that never worked as intended.
Allen Lambright: Fred Dews why do you say that?
Fred Dews: Allen Lambright Because it hasn't. It was designed in an era when the wise men who created it didn't anticipate party faction would divide them, which after Washington's presidency faction immediately did, rendering the elite filtering theory of the EC already antiquated.
Two elections, 1800 and 1824, were thrown to the House because of EC failings.
In 5 elections, the popular vote winner lost b/c of the EC (1824, 1876, 1888, 2000, 2016).
The "but it protects the interests of small states" argument is largely just an ex post facto justification of why the founders created it in the first place. Hamilton had that somewhat in mind, but the real divide in 1787 was slave and non-slave states, not big vs small.
The EC actually does NOTHING to promote the electoral interests of small states anyway. How many times do the presidential candidates visit Delaware, or Montana? There are more Republican voters in California than in Montana, and more Democratic voters in Texas than in Delaware. So, abolishing the EC and opening the presidential election back up to a direct election would mean candidates would go everywhere they thought they could get votes--including the small states they rarely, if ever, visit.
It is, in my view, useless, archaic, and undemocratic.
Allen Lambright: Fred Dews great explanation
Brandon WilliamsCraig: Fred Dews Beautifully and briefly put. Facebook is a private graveyard for discussions of real ideas. May I move this to my public website?
Fred Dews: Brandon WilliamsCraig Thanks. Yes.
Allen Lambright: Doesn’t the winner of the state’s popular vote get to decide who is represented at the electoral college? Or is this agreement (not law) changing that? I’m trying to grasp how a candidate would spend more time in Oregon? I would spend more time in the most populated states.
Caleb Grayson: don’t need the college where they can choose to not go with the votes of their constituents, but do need the electoral vote system.
it’d be interesting to see something like a midwest coalition where if you win the majority of popular votes from say NE KS ND SD then you get electoral all 4 states even if you lost in one of them.
but it’s stupid if a small state gives their electoral votes proportional to their popular votes. it just guts their political power.
John Abbe Last June. Just a few more states to go, but they will be tough. https://www.nationalpopularvote.com/state-status
Status of National Popular Vote Bill in Each State
nationalpopularvote.com
Integrity Porn
Pornography is generated cynically and consumed obsessively because it gratifies a compelling urge to see reflected in the outside world the extreme intensity of inner fantasy. For many it is addictive, self perpetuating because it cannot still the urge by fulfilling the need it pretends to address. This is not to say that it does not please, only that it never deeply satisfies. As in other addictions, one wants more of that which acts as a substitute until the use of the substitute becomes evidence that real satisfaction is in fact impossible, and settling seems like the best possible result.
While persons moved by the often exploitive depiction of sexual acts, for example, often make and watch sexual pornography, even that kind of porn is not in the end only about sex. It is consciously and unconsciously about power: power over another, submission, and the danger that loss of control, obsession, compulsion, and addiction represent. It may have helpful consequences as well. I am merely pointing out what it does. I will moralize down below.
In the culture in general, the term "porn" has come to refer as well to any obsessively consumed media product designed for consumption by a special interest group. Gardening Porn, for instance, might refer to planting videos, seeding shot from many angles and with endless commentary rendered with manic enthusiasm.
(1)I would like to propose a new category which I will call Integrity Porn. By no means beginning with, but definitely moved front and center by The West Wing television series, #IntegrityPorn is that genre of media product which targets those desperate to participate vicariously in the reassuring sense that, even under exaggerated and unrelenting pressure, leadership can be altruistic and mighty at the same time. The Madam Secretary franchise is an even better example of integrity porn, as it reproduces the formula with fewer variations, provides tidy TV-length resolutions to extremely complex issues, proposing to the civic imagination that being smart, principled, and warm-hearted is not only possible, but that it is the key to instant success in politically fraught situations.
#TrueConfession time. I am a consumer of Integrity porn. I watch these shows, the opposite of but not antidote to emotional and physical violence porn like House of Cards and Game of Thrones. I return to them, in part, because of the voluble sigh of relief uttered deep within my psyche, hammered by an unremitting real world frenzy of cruelty and the violence of realpolitik unfettered by good sense of any kind. Porn can provides a necessary respite from inner tension wrought of frustration that can rise to the level of suffering. I wish to draw to my own attention, however, and that of my fellow consumers the cost of the consumption transaction.
(2)The cost of and problem with any kind of porn is at least two-fold: porn opens the door through which exploitation enters and is normalized, as it provides a simplistic, comforting anesthetic. As I consume integrity porn, the fantasy of leaders goverened by the Golden Rule depresses the essential search for the complex understanding based on direct experience which leads to authentic individual action, a force which can actually change the real world for the better. I vent my frustration vicariously, but I do not act to change the circumstances which cause it. What if, instead of compensatory fantasy, I insist on little pauses to remind myself of this dynamic--not a Thou Shalt Not but a "hang on a second" that allows for enough stillness that reflection becomes possible?
If pornography is generated cynically and consumed obsessively because it gratifies a compelling urge to see reflected in the outside world the extreme intensity of inner fantasy, what does that suggest about the fountain of #Trumporn we see ejaculated from and upon Twitter every day? What does the fact that we click to consume it every day, perhaps many times a day, say about us and about "journalism outlets" (3) who have struggled endlessly with tabloidism that not only "favours stories of a sensational or even fictitious nature over serious news" but offers this "news" as though it were a "compressed portion of drugs, chemicals...compressed into a tablet." (4) To what end am I injesting and regurgitating this professionally processed, regurgitation provoking (whether re-Tweeting in agreement of disagreement), attention dominating drug?
I pause. I rememeber that I choose much of what I put in my mind and mouth. It is my life being spent each moment. Choices have an inescapable moral dimension. Will I choose to spend time in an activity with modest expectations which, nevertheless, incrementaly advances the kind of daily world that is, in fact, more soul satisfying? I might even promise myself and others to do this as an exercise which sharpens my attention and willpower, leads to habits of taking responsibility for my choices, and acts as a commitment to integrity and coherence. I choose a commitment to action that is nonviolent because it is based on direct knowledge of how harm is caused and prevented, and effective because it is learned through practice. This feels a bit like learning a martial art, which is very different from vicarious participation in a media ritual that comforts and gives the relaxing sense that there is somebody out there taking care of business with integrity.
Gardening porn seldom gets your hands dirty. Sexual pornography might get me off, so to speak, but it doesn't get me off the hook of my hunger for real relationships. It cannot bring the feeling of sustainable personal power and reassurance that being chosen by an equal partner can bring. Integrity porn, whether obvious fictional or packaged as a candidate "debate", might release the pressure valve of panic at the degradation of civil society but it sure doesn't get the homeless housed, honest commerce encouraged, the sick cared for, justice done, or guarantee a sane foreign policy. Only you and I together can do that when our vision is clear and our purpose and power are shared--only when we make sure the system works, especially for those whose lifelong cries for honest representation and authentic public service are silenced by the blare of #egojaculations.
(5)2. Image Credit https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ron_Jeremy,_Stormy_Daniels_at_Ron_Jeremy%27s_Birthday_Party_3.jpg
3. Are "journalism outlets" where you buy the cheapest, often damaged, remainders of journalism?
4. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tabloid
5. Original @BDWC modification of https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Casa_Rosso_Sex_Show_Amsterdam_Daniel_D._Teoli_Jr..jpg and https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/President_Trump_is_joined_by_Vice_President_Pence_for_an_Executive_Order_signing_%2833803971533%29_%282%29.jpg
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Related to Inspiration Porn
Conflict Done Well Aikido Training at SSUMC
Conflict Done Well begins with martial arts and yoga-based exercises, then aikido movement and concepts, which are then used to learn nonviolent self-defense. To the movements and principles we add language and practice improvisation in order to apply techniques in daily conflicts of all kinds so that restorative justice leadership results. We will be forming a volunteer social justice action team in which you may want to participate. All adult persons of any description, ability, and misgivings are most welcome to join. Teens are warmly invited to ask for parental permission and to join as well.
Please wear clothes in which you can comfortably stretch to your full range of movement and learn at your own pace to keep your balance under stress and rise easily from the floor. If you are able, a sustainability donation is requested after beginning regular attendance, but none is required to begin or continue training. A portion of the donation will go to the St. Stephen community.
Conflict Done Well includes Martial Nonviolence (MNv) training with Brandon WilliamsCraig Ph.D. - 5th dan Aikikai. When the MNv curriculum is adapted for and adopted by a particular community, that is called Peace Practices (PxPx). Here is a video with more information.
Conflict Done Well Aikido Training at SSUMC Poll
Conflict Done Well Aikido Training
at St. Stephen UMC Mesquite, TX
Conflict Done Well begins with martial arts and yoga-based exercises, then aikido movement and concepts, which are then used to learn nonviolent self-defense. To the movements and principles we add language and practice improvisation in order to apply techniques in daily conflicts of all kinds so that restorative justice leadership results. We will be forming a volunteer social justice action team in which you may want to participate. All adult persons of any description, ability, and misgivings are most welcome to join. Teens are warmly invited to ask for parental permission and to join as well.Please wear clothes in which you can comfortably stretch to your full range of movement and learn at your own pace to keep your balance under stress and rise easily from the floor. If you are able, a sustainability donation is requested after beginning regular attendance, but none is required to begin or continue training. A portion of the donation will go to the St. Stephen community.
Conflict Done Well includes Martial Nonviolence (MNv) training with Brandon WilliamsCraig Ph.D. - 5th dan Aikikai. When the MNv curriculum is adapted for and adopted by a particular community, that is called Peace Practices (PxPx). Here is a video with more information.
Belief about the rightness of Insert System Here establishes an axis
See https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/12/meritocracy/418074/
"American beliefs about the rightness of meritocratic ideals often leads to the belief that those ideals are what guides society. But research shows that a real commitment to meritocracy requires understanding that America hasn’t gotten there—at least not yet."
To read the full article and work with these ideas on this site, please sign in and visit Marianne Cooper - The False Promise of Meritocracy.
Not Really Republicans
A Facebook Exchange Between Grant and Brandon
Grant Weber
It's really terrible what democrats have done to black people and other minorities throughout history. Great reminder of all the injustice and intimidation they have faced.
Brandon WilliamsCraig
Need to ask a favor, Grant. In many ways, this kind of post is more problematic than the frantic diarrhea profanity or other bomb dropping that is so common but easier to just remove. I've been avoiding direct engagement with you, often deleting my own replies on other posts because they sound condescending to me, and because I am super-swamped at the moment. I also, however, would really like to contribute to the movement on social media, in general, toward respectful, brief (if possible) exchanges which get at important information. For us to have an honest disagreement about something, I'd really appreciate it if you would begin with a clear statement that acts as an invitation to disagree, preferably relevant to the post and accompanied by a link to something reputable which supports your position, avoiding sweeping and stereotypical generalizations. For instance, (clear statement >) [I find Beto admirable precisely because he speaks eloquently in a way that is largely a departure from the racism and classism practiced for generations by all manner of politicians and parties.] Since the video is evidence that I would like others to see what I see in that regard, how would you feel about briefly addressing either the video or my position as though it were informed by hours of study and carefully reasoned, and then provide evidence that tempts me to change my position?
Grant Weber
Hi Brandon, I will do my best to convey my position on this point although I am not as highly educated as you or eloquent a writer. As you mentioned Beto is an eloquent speaker - as was Obama. I find the democrat platform of "social justice warrior" problematic since throughout history democrats have been on the opposing side of social justice. The GOP being the original "progressive" party" hence the name "Grand Old Party" or the party of Lincoln (R) that moved to emancipate the slaves among other issues while the democrats fought to keep blacks as property. The democrat created KKK to intimidate newly freed slaves and white republicans alike (much like today's ANTIFA). The founder of the modern democratic party (Andrew Jackson) was responsible for the Indian wars and Trail of Tears. You have the Republican majority House of Representatives that passed the 15th amendment in 1869 with a majority 144 yeah's to 44 democrat nah's. The 19th amendment, women's suffrage was passed by the Republican party and greatly opposed by the democrats. Democratic President FDR and founder of the modern progressive movement was responsible for the Japanese internment camps and unlawful seizure of Japanese American's private property. Civil rights was pushed forward by the Republican party and once again opposed by the Democrats. Which leads me to the lie about the "Great Party Switch" Less than 1% of democrat politicians switched to the republican party. The same "Dixie-crats" that pushed racists agendas and fought to maintain segregation remained with the Democratic party. Even Hillary Clinton proudly proclaimed her affiliation with Gold Water. Robert Carlyle Byrd was a United States Senator from West Virginia for over 51 years and a Grand Wizard of the the KKK. From 1959 until his death in 2010, a member of the Democratic Party, Byrd previously served as a U.S. Representative from 1953 until 1959. Obama Praised Byrd as a role model and cornerstone of the modern Democratic party. There are 2 facts that mislead one into believing the "great switch" theory and that is the majority of the "Dixie-crat" south now does vote republican and the black vote switched from 15% Democrat in the 1930's to now 80% after the 1930's. This actually had nothing to do with politicians switching sides and more to do with FDR's new deal and the black population voting for the party that promised to give them more benefits and also the party with the least resistance since they were often physically threatened for voting Republican in the South. Wrapping up my point, I find it incredibly hypocritical that Democrat politicians use their own party's history of violence and racism to confuse voters. The numbers do not lie. Under Bill Clinton's Presidency Highest number of blacks imprisoned. Under Obama's Presidency highest black unemployment. Sure Beto is an eloquent speaker, but his words like every other democrat leader's words are empty. It is a distraction to mislead a well intended voter base while they continue their agenda of enslaving and segregating minorities, keeping them ever dependent on the government tit in exchange for giving up their freedom.
Brandon WilliamsCraig
I hope that this discussion will not devolve into a competition hinging on seeming more eloquent, and I truly appreciate your measured and thoughtful response. For the better part of a century, the Republican Party had reason to be proud of contributing to gains in the area of human rights, while Democrats compounded their shame. See https://www.thenation.com/.../when-republicans-really.../ for answers to most of your points. Both (all) parties continued to participate in the status quo loving cultural warfare, however, that enslaved persons of color in all but name. Then the Democrats passed the Republicans, if a racing metaphor is appropriate, in the tumble toward helping us become a more representative democracy. This continues to be pushed by the growth of voting blocks of working people struggling against voting restrictions and gerrymandering to secure even a percentage of the opportunities their white peers enjoy--both to be heard and make a living/future for their children. But, where racism is a more deeply rooted illness, the width of systemic injustice is more visible at the level of class. Working people of every description will eventually drive human rights together as we make common cause with people who do not look or sound like us but share the intentionally perpetuated suffering that supports the ultra-wealth of the very few. Also see https://www.washingtonpost.com/.../no-longer.../2015/04/08 What was at one point a party interested in a free republic is now the primary source of enslaving and segregating those now no longer in the minority, keeping them ever distracted from the unregulated corporate catheterization that government Of The People was established to resist. You are right that freedom is the cost, because "the poor" (now including what is left of what once were middle income earners) must contend with more polluted air and water, de-funded schools, imprisonment and less-than-minimum wage jobs, continually shrinking access to healthcare, and are left swinging on the front line every time there is a disaster, even when it is not obviously associated with wealth-industry-driven climate collapse and multiplied by profit-driven planning. Everyone in a seat of power (including me, and Beto O'Rourke) is responsible when the life of any being is sacrificed to increase the power of another. I believe he knows this, and will speak to the changes we need to survive as a species, which the political parties of short term gains are paid to ignore or in the habit of minimizing.thenation.comWhen the Republicans Really Were the Party…
Brandon WilliamsCraig
If you don't accept my evidence, or my obvious biases are too distracting based on what you've been told and come to believe, you might look to any of the thousands of rather loud ex-Republicans (like Tobin E Threadgill, for instance) who are not liberal softies and will be happy to return to the GOP when it is no longer tossing children on the altar of astronomical short term gains for the very few..
The Kind of Corruption That Matters - Making Americanism Great Again
Not just true of "Trump Supporters", who are not a monolithic group, but also true of those who allegedly object to but do not remove him. That widespread often subconscious agreement is why he is still operating, and may survive the felonies of which he has obviously been a part. For "traditional order" substitute "mythology" and you have a more evocative felt sense of the Belief, the #mythopsychology that leads not to "ignoring corruption so much as [being moved by] the kind that really matters" to you. That is why he has Reganesque teflon. He shrugs off rational objections because he is an avatar of the god in the pantheon of #Americanism that demand use of the word "traditional" when referring to the power over specific others that is granted by racist and sexist norms.
From the article at https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/08/what-trumps-supporters-think-of-corruption/568147/
"The answer may lie in how Trump and his supporters define corruption. In a forthcoming book entitled How Fascism Works, the Yale philosophy professor Jason Stanley makes an intriguing claim. 'Corruption, to the fascist politician,' he suggests, 'is really about the corruption of purity rather than of the law. Officially, the fascist politician’s denunciations of corruption sound like a denunciation of political corruption. But such talk is intended to evoke corruption in the sense of the usurpation of the traditional order.'
Fox’s decision to focus on the Iowa murder rather than Cohen’s guilty plea illustrates Stanley’s point. For many Fox viewers, I suspect, the network isn’t ignoring corruption so much as highlighting the kind that really matters. When Trump instructed Cohen to pay off women with whom he had affairs, he may have been violating the law. But he was upholding traditional gender and class hierarchies. Since time immemorial, powerful men have been cheating on their wives and using their power to evade the consequences.
The Iowa murder, by contrast, signifies the inversion—the corruption—of that 'traditional order.' Throughout American history, few notions have been as sacrosanct as the belief that white women must be protected from nonwhite men. By allegedly murdering Tibbetts, Rivera did not merely violate the law. He did something more subversive: He violated America’s traditional racial and sexual norms."
#SumpDefenestration
Williamscraig Update July 2018
Greetings (soon to be "Howdy")!
For the mythopsychology geeks in the crowd
- I write at Culturesmith.com, with the more detailed and personal material protected by signing-in. Please request an account via http://culturesmith.com/account/signup or sign in, if you already have an account. I will approve and welcome you, after which you will also have access to all kinds of fascinating materials for cultural study, should that interest you.
- I will use this newsletter format for communicating the ways that this transition connects our inner lives with the wider world. As recommended by TinyLetter, I'll be clearing out email addresses and must ask that you opt-in again. If you haven't yet, please re-subscribe to my newsletter to continue receiving messages from me.
TSYR Yamakage Dojo Seminar w Kaicho Threadgill Fall 2018
Takamura ha Shindo Yoshin ryu (TSYR) seminar at Aikido of Berkeley with Toby Threadgill, Kaicho
Aikido of Berkeley hosts the Takamura ha Shindo Yoshin Kai dojo under the direction of Ash Morgan Sensei. The history of seminars we have hosted is below. Kaicho Threadgill's seminars are usually open to the public (and free to AiBerk, Free Aiki, and Golden Bears Aikido students) on Friday night, a morning and afternoon session on Saturday, and Sunday morning. Sunday afternoon is usually a Kai-only class to cover specific areas of interest.
Most often the public seminars include the practice of jujutsu body dynamics and movement, principles of timing, connection and initiative, internal strength building (how and why), and application of Nairiki (internal structure power generation) as part of overall technique.
Upcoming 2018 Seminar - August 24-26
Full Seminar $175.00 or $60.00 per session as long as limited spaces (30 per session) remain. Register by completing the online form at https://goo.gl/forms/FqZQlFi7zOjlc7UJ2. An overnight stay in the dojo can be arranged. Your registration is guaranteed when you register, fill out our waiver at https://goo.gl/forms/yHQlWnyHmswrIH2F2, and we confirm receipt (by email) of the full amount received.
For information contact Brandon sensei@freeaiki.com
History:
November 10-12, 2017 at Aikido of Berkeley - Downtown
August 12-14, 2016 at Aikido of Berkeley - Downtown
May 17-19, 2013 at Aikido of Berkeley - Downtown
March 23-25, 2012 at Aikido of Berkeley - Downtown
September 16-18, 2010 at Aikido of Berkeley - Bay View Dojo
This website is owned by Brandon WilliamsCraig, aikido 5th dan founder and Dojo Cho of Free Aiki Dojo and Golden Bears Aikido at UC Berkeley, who became a provisional TSYR student under Eric Winters in 2014, Ash Morgan in 2015, and joined the Kai by keppan on August 15th, 2016.
Rachel Aviv - The Trauma of Facing Deportation+discussion
Thanks to Rachel Aviv - The Trauma of Facing Deportation for this essential framing of the true cost of Othering. - ed.
"In Sweden, hundreds of refugee children have fallen unconscious after being informed that their families will be expelled from the country."
Not just in Sweden. There is somatic clarity here, tremendous psychological evidence, and a colossal lack of political will on the part of adults with power around the world to do what is clearly best for children and, thus, for humanity. The Golden Rule is called that for a reason. If you were the child, the refugee, the Other in the story, fleeing a life of fear, how would you want be treated?
"For nearly two decades, a political question—What should we do about migration?—has played out through the bodies of hundreds of children. The number of new cases of apathy declined in 2006, after the Migration Board took a more lenient approach, but the illness is still being diagnosed in dozens of children. Last year, some sixty children lost the ability to move and to speak. There is now universal consensus that the children are not faking, but no one knows why the illness is particular to Sweden. I spoke with more than twenty Swedish doctors who had either treated apathetic patients or written about them, and none of them had an explanation; most were hesitant to even propose a hypothesis. Björn Axel Johansson, a child psychiatrist at Skåne University Hospital, in southern Sweden, who has treated twelve apathetic children, told me, “I’m not convinced that this is only happening in Sweden. Maybe it’s only being documented and discussed and published in Sweden?”
How Experience Works
Imagine that you are having an experience, for instance, the reading of these words. It is not possible to separate how you have the experience from the experience itself, because "experience" denotes, at least, what happened plus the way that it happened, as you remember it. It is not only possible but compelling, however, to imagine the elements of an experience as though they were separate, especially since they are variable. If you read this sitting down, for instance, it will always have been read seated, but you can imagine different ways of reading it, for instance, while standing.
If you imagine, in addition to reading while standing, that you are on an urban light rail car with a bunch of people around you, jostled by the car's movement, occasionally looking out the window, thinking alternatingly about what has just happened and what might happen next, you can see the tip of the proverbial iceberg of the myriad variables that are packed into "experience". All factors have an impact on the other variables, a few of which are recorded by your memory, which is far from comprehensive or exact. You will only ever be able to recall a few of the factors that you noticed and embodied as experience.
You are imagining every time you encounter anything, creating a fiction of inseparable thought, feeling, sense that becomes part of your "soma"--the biological and intangible complex that is You, and which cannot be recalled in a way that is identical with what happened, despite having been profoundly shaped by it. Precise representation is not possible, at least because comprehensive re-presentation of all relevant factors is not possible in a system as complex and dynamic as experience. Memory is notoriously unreliable and creatively dynamic, and assertions are always experimental proposals, no matter the authoritative terms in which they are couched. Just being conscious of something guarantees a selective frame through which experience will be filtered, in which meaning will be assigned and beliefs created, and on which behavior will then be based. Consciousness itself then, at least fundamentally, is a process of fictionalizing and embodying reality. Overlapping sub-categories of fictional consciousness emerge somatically, psychologically: fantasy, reasoning, narrative, and other ways of ordering experience becoming styles of selective imagining, meaning-making, and behavior.
Since experience becomes understood in particular styles, it may be difficult to parse when considered by being filtered through an unsympathetic narrative. It may cause confusion and dismay, for instance, when a group of people share an understanding that is very different from one's own, based on their imagination of shared narratives, and then believe what they imagine, perhaps even literally, and then behave and create a particular culture which presupposes that their narratives are authoritative. This dynamic is not only problematic in the religious and political realms. It colors all interactions shared by all participants in any system, because individuals are by definition both similar to and different from each other, and must make choices to navigate the pulls and pushes of resonance and dissonance.
The Scientific Method, for instance, emerges from a rational narrative in which theories (informed guesses) about reality are reduced by experimental elimination until only facts remain in the form of processes that others can verify. But no way of configuring experience can escape the system in which it operates and by which it is delimited. No matter how exhaustive, even the entire, tremendously powerful catalogue of facts derived and categorized by rational thought cannot approach the scope that consciousness as a whole encompasses: imagination turning experience into meaning by working through fictions to discern and creatively apply what is literally and metaphorically true to life.
It is helpful to think of the process of consciousness outlined above in terms of "mythology", and of "myth" as a narrative which configures consciousness as though a particular way of thinking were operational in the world to which the mythology applies. One of the essential benefits of mythological study is that it both questions and supports belief by explicitly promoting consciousness of fundamental fictionality, or mythicity. In this context, the phrase "The Myth Of Science", for instance, does not suggest that science is false, which is demonstrably not the case, but suggests that Science operates within fictions, an example of which might be the idea of its own supremacy in defining Truth. Working with Science mythically allows consciousness of a fundamental ambivalence in knowing anything, an epistemological humility which then makes the true mission of research, for instance, more likely to succeed. If one is aware just how powerfully framing a process as scientific makes all outcomes sound authoritative, then it becomes more straightforward to avoid plunging into the mire of scientism and thereby conduct scientific work authentically, dividing experience into helpful but non-ultimate categories, such as placing in opposition the reproducibly factual and the unreproducible and falsifiable, minimizing the chance of making what is unproven sound like fact.
When I began by suggesting that you imagine having an experience, I merely proposed that you become conscious of the way that you have always experienced everything. I make the proposal because the process has proved helpful to me, at least when I have been willing and able to uncover my beliefs and the ways in which they are extruded as behavior as I co-create the world of my daily life. Sometimes the narrative-belief-behavior vector is easy to uncover and influence. Most often some part of the process is more deeply complex than I can fully imagine, and requiring a more extensive frame, in this case the use of the idea "soul" or "psyche" on which "psychology" is based. Psyche-logic implies that making meaning of complexes requires the acknowledgment that "deepest" imagining is unconscious--cannot be uncovered, operates with autonomy--is a "realm" governed by its own powers, and exerts highly variable but universally extensive influence throughout humanity. This reasoning, and the behavior of writing and publishing it, reflects my belief in the mythology of depth psychology.
Believe the narrative and agenda being Trumpeted with each twit
Give up shock, "surely not", and "it's just politics." Believe the narrative and agenda being #Trumpeted with each twit. This administration is the opposite of American, uses tactics which are illegal and immoral, does not represent conservatives, and this phase in our civic life must end. Now. We must not build this darkest world, culture, and future.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/global-opinions/wp/2018/06/04/trumps-ambassador-to-germany-is-making-a-fool-out-of-himself-and-the-u-s/ - Anne Applebaum of the Washington Post
Richard Grenell, the U.S. ambassador to Germany, just told Breitbart News. “There are a lot of conservatives throughout Europe who have contacted me to say they are feeling there is a resurgence going on,” he said. “I absolutely want to empower other conservatives throughout Europe, other leaders. I think there is a groundswell of conservative policies that are taking hold because of the failed policies of the left.” Note the context: Grenell was speaking to Breitbart, the website whose comment section was the original breeding ground for alt-right white nationalism. Grenell was very clear that the kinds of “conservatives” he admires are not the ones in Angela Merkel’s centrist Christian Democratic party, which is currently ruling Germany in a coalition with centrist social democrats (authors, presumably, of the “failed policies of the left,” the same policies that have made Germany the strongest economy in Europe). On the contrary, the one politician he named — “I’m a big fan” — is Sebastian Kurz, a center-right politician who has criticized Merkel, borrowed language from the radical right and currently rules Austria in coalition with the Freedom Party, a nativist, pro-Russian and anti-pluralist party.
* Photo: Bernd von Jutrczenka/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images
Goodbye California
The Short Version
I will be ending my work as an instructor of graduate students at Pacifica Graduate Institute and Communications Director at Ragged Wing Ensemble, so that we may move back to Texas. We will be moving back to Dallas at the first of August to be with my mother, who turns 80 this year. Lisa is very happy to begin teaching for White Rock Montessori School, and we are in the midst of grieving, packing, spending time with friends, and feeling overwhelmed by logistics, endings, and the tremendous potential associated with this move. I am going back to the land of my birth, and plan to provide executive leadership, speak publicly, teach all ages of students, and write, as I devote more time to loving my family and taking in the beauty of being alive in the world.
Please contact me right away to schedule anything that needs to happen in June or July, including time together, so that I may attempt to follow up and make arrangements. There are many things with which we could use some help, given capacity and availability. If we don't make contact before August, I will also look forward to seeing you when next we meet, wherever that may be. If you’d like updates about Peace Practices, Conflict Done Well, and my other adventures in teamwork and social justice, please be sure to subscribe at http://abcglobal.net/Find_Us and follow https://www.facebook.com/brandonwilliamscraig/.
There is more to all of this, obviously. If you want to connect with me, move the work I do forward, or read more and deeply into what is happening now, I cannot ask sincerely enough that you stay within my circle of friends:
- I'll be writing more at Culturesmith.com, with the more detailed and personal material protected by signing-in. Please request an account via http://culturesmith.com/account/signup or sign in, if you already have an account. I will approve and welcome you, after which you will also have access to all kinds of fascinating materials for cultural study, should that interest you.
- I will use the newsletter here (Subscribe to my newsletter) for communicating the ways that this transition connects our inner lives with the wider world. There will be various gatherings to say goodbye, and I'll use that list to let you know about them.
Please re/subscribe now, during this time of profound transition, so we may stay connected, even if at a distance.
Love,
B
Given time and interest, for the full version of this post please click here.
This probably won't surprise anybody...
http://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/46-of-people-living-in-bay-area-plan-to-leave-in-next-few-years/1217518902
SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) - "Forty-six percent of people living in the Bay Area say they plan to leave it in the next few years,...according to a survey from the Bay Area Council. Last year, that number was 40 percent. People say housing costs and traffic are the reasons they want to leave...24 percent said they would move within California, and 61 percent said they would leave the state altogether."
Fauxs - The Rise of Fake People
This is the door to the dystopian sci-fi soon-to-be reality (available on every screen around you) in which actual humans are reduced to irrelevance, the juice of life is electric and for sale at an increasing price, and attention is drawn only by habit to what is fake and flashing. Why would anyone want a shift that dramatically increases the influence of faux people, perhaps until they are the model of what everyone tries to be like? Those are the very traits that [are] so attractive to companies: “They’re much easier to control...It’s a more efficient way of controlling the message" and, I would argue, "their target audiences."
"[Those] of sense often learn from their enemies. It is from their [fauxs], not their friends, that cities learn the lesson of building high walls and ships." - Aristophanes
For more, sign in to check out FAUXS - Fake Human Influencers - Artificial Yes - Intelligence No.
Thomas Berry - Renewing Earth--From Anthropocentrism to Ecocentrism
Renewing Earth: From Anthropocentrism to Ecocentrism
The task of renewing Earth belongs to Earth, as the renewal of any organism [even the church] takes place from within. Yet we humans have our own special role, a leading role in the renewal, just as we had the dominant role in the devastation. We can fulfill this role, however, only if we move our basic life orientation from a dominant anthropocentrism to a dominant ecocentrism. In effecting this change, we need to listen to the voices of Earth and its multitude of living and non-living modes of expression.
We should be listening to the stars in the heavens and the sun and the moon, to the mountains and the plains, to the forests and rivers and seas that surround us, to the meadows and the flowering grasses, to the songbirds and the insects and to their music especially in the evening and the early hours of the night. We need to experience, to feel, and to see these myriad creatures all caught up in the celebration of life.
Extinction Is Forever
We especially need to hear the creatures of Earth before it is too late, before their voices are stilled forever through extinction occurring at such a rapid rate. Once gone they will never be heard again. Extinction is forever. The divine experience they communicate will never again be available to humans. A dimension of the human soul will never be activated as it might have been. None of the wonders of the human can replace what we are losing. . . . We have lost sight of the fact that these myriad creatures are revelations of the divine and inspirations to our spiritual life.
Wonder, Beauty, Intimacy
Our inner spiritual world cannot be activated without experience of the outer world of wonder for the mind, beauty for the imagination, and intimacy for the emotions.
Thomas Berry: Selected Writings on the Earth Community, ed. Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim (Orbis Books: 2014), 77-78.
Take a knee
There is always a struggle for control of shared identity. This is normal and entirely appropriate. A part of a whole body which feels insifficiently represented certainly has a right, and may have an obligation to demonstrate the change they require, resist practices and structures they believe to be ill-advised, and protest in a way that refrains from harming fellow-creatures.
Most change movements either do or do not receive suport from a group perceived to be "mainstream", after which significant culture-shift does or does not actually occur. As one of the markers of mainstream shift has frequently been the support of more "conservative" people who are both religious and comitted to democracy and the freedom of religion, I would like to ask that you propose to your congregation a move toward solidarity with those who explicitly and publicly object to racism in the cultural insitutions of the United States. Furthermore, I ask that you spcifically tie your faith to the demand to end racism, especially if you are Christian, as is required by the deeply understood and unwavering compassion that is the undisputed central tenant of our faith.
Finally, as our Republic shines only insofar as it remains the land of the free, I ask that you place your hand over your heart and join me in upholding patriotism itself as an unwavering commitment, not to a party or leader, but to a Dream in which every person is lifted up by the restorative justice and determined compassion of their fellows so that no parent need fear for their child, officers of the peace may once again be celebrated for their daily heroism, immigrants may once again feel our shores to be sanctuary, and all those in leadership maybe judged solely on their selfless commitment to public service above their personal interests.
N.O.
Hi Brandon,
Thank you for planting the seed for having the church participate in taking a knee during the national anthem. M.O. and I have discussed this and have some thoughts to share. Neither of us like the idea of doing this inside the church. Both of us are uncomfortable, er, anti having anything to do with flags/nationalism/patriotism inside the sanctuary. For both of us that's a big no-no. We do think it is important for religious people to take a stand by taking a knee. Proposal: let's have an interfaith game. Soccer, flag football, softball, whatever. We open with the national anthem sung by a combined choir where everyone takes the knee. We get to play, sing, and take a stand/knee together in an appropriate context. Let me know what you think.
B.W.
Totally legit response. These concerns are a big reason I asked for prayerful consideration. What you are proposing sounds awesome, and I'm all for it, and would take a while to organize, and mostly loses the power of the statement being made by significantly pink mainstream Christians. We might miss the moment when the larger culture-shift could use some religious people buy-in to expand the #takeaknee symbol from Sports to the nation. What if our video statement were shot on the stairs in front of the church, people coming out after worship and creating a choir all taking a knee and placing a hand over their hearts, or linking arms (if they prefer) to reclaim principled patriotism all the while obviously keeping it out of the sanctuary and on the street?
J.C.
As often is the case for me, your eloquent way of expressing ideas requires my own "translation" before I can digest what you said. The way you spoke before church was much simpler, concrete and easy for me to follow. That said, I'd like to echo what someone else said on FB re keeping patriotism and flags out of sanctuary. I support doing an action on the steps. And, I don't like putting my hand on my heart when nationalism/patriotism is the issue. So that image is difficult for me. Just thoughts for the discussion.
A.R.
With all this talk of #TakeTheKnee, I could not help and think about being in grade school.
I grew up in a rather conservative area for California, in eastern Kern County. I remember in school that the Jehovah's Witness classmates would not stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. Some of them would get crap for it but I admired them for being committed to their faith *and* practicing their Constitutional right to remain seated. In this country, they have the right to practice their conviction.
This protest within the NFL, and now in other professional sports leagues, is not about the flag. It never has been about the flag. It is about police brutality and racial inequality in this country. Some are offended because of the sacrifice the troops make, and you're right -- this is about the fact that our men and women in the service go out to protect the freedoms we claim to have while in reality they are compromised and undermined by the system to put POC in a disadvantage. These athletes, like the Jehovah's Witnesses, have the right to practice their conviction, remain seated, and bring awareness to the ugly reality.
And you know what? The Early Christians would be rolling in their graves to see Christians today exploding over this. Followers of the Way have no business in Nationalism through swearing allegiance to the empire or by displaying the flag in our houses of worship. And as we sung this morning at St. John's Cathedral, "In Christ there is no east or west, in him no south or north; but one great fellowship of Love throughout the whole wide world." Rant over.
https://www.attn.com/stories/11050/military-veteran-stands-colin-kaepernick
N.O.
- The anthem itself. Celebrating war, drenched in racism... I don't feel that I can in good conscious sing The Song of Peace (This is my song, O God of all the nations) in church, and then walk outside and sing the national anthem.
- I don't think the National Anthem should be played before games anyway. It's mostly empty, habitualized patriotism. So in regards to my previous email, and with more consideration, I'm a much bigger fan of taking a silent knee.
- Is a photo of people taking a knee just as powerful as a video with a song?
- I don't know what "pink mainstream Christians" means? Churches have been leaders in the NFL boycott already (see 'Blackout') link below.
- Kap first took a knee over a year ago. I'm slightly confused by what feels like sudden urgency. I'm also happy that people care and want to support/participate in taking a knee and fighting oppression.
- Messaging: clarity is needed on what the action/s are and why. What does it mean, and what are you/we trying to say or achieve?
- I strongly encourage you, if you haven't already, to visit Kap's website. The knee and off-field actions go hand and hand. Taking a knee and doing nothing else is an empty gesture.
- Another idea: use this moment as an opportunity to join together to take a silent knee as a kick-off to a call for some kind of action/s inspired by the blackout or Kap's mission statement.
Tracking the Kaepernick Effect:
https://thinkprogress.org/national-anthem-sports-protest-tracker-kaepernick-284ff1d1ab3e/
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/oped-colin-kaepernick-racist-history-our-national-anthem-n642636
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/history-behind-kaepernick-protest-sports-dissent-star-spangled-banner-n640256
- Boycott the NFL (no games, no fantasy football, no jerseys, no nothing).
- Commit one to two hours during the NFL season that you would have spent watching games to mentoring young black boys and girls.
- Spread the word to others.
- “Take a knee” in prayer at 6 a.m. each day.
Stated mission: "The mission of the Colin Kaepernick Foundation is to fight oppression of all kinds globally, through education and social activism."
Berkeley City Ballet FREE Boys Program - starring Huston
Huston is now a star. This Berkeley City Ballet ad is truly compelling, and did you know that they are inviting boys to take their very high quality classes for free?
https://www.facebook.com/BerkeleyCityBallet/posts/1809201249097910
Henry s Gallery Cafe
It is time for some everyday heroism! Perhaps you are a decision-maker who wants Oakland to be a place where small businesses can actually survive, and knows of a place they can and should move to have a shot at thriving again. Do you speak Korean and English and find yourself able to help with getting the facts straight in order to tell their story to English-only speakers? Are you a journalist , or do you know a journalist who would want to fit this story in the super-important larger narrative? Are you involved in property, law, or both, and able to help them pro bono to explore their options thoroughly? Do you know anybody who might fit the descriptions above or have some other gift to offer these good folks in crisis?
Thanks for acting now! Please do any/all of the following:
- Add your name to the many at https://www.gofundme.com/henrysgallerycafe (with or without a donation) to let Jung know he is not isolated, then share with your networks asking that they act now.
- Like/share/RT/etc https://twitter.com/bdwc/status/888109817625157632 and https://www.facebook.com/lynettemcelhaney/posts/1364593910321149
- Go eat there, take friends, and tell them about the support they are getting but can't see/feel.
- Keep asking in public the questions (above) that will help them find the help they need.
San Francisco Chronicle columnist Otis R. Taylor Jr. appears Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Email: otaylor@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @otisrtaylorjr
Emailed via http://www.sfchronicle.com/author/otis-taylor/
Otis,
I truly appreciate your decision to report on Luan's bookstore. The story is most helpful in that it provides evidence that Oakland decision-makers' support for "revitalization" is lackluster at best. In reading it, I wished that you had noted that their efforts are devoted mostly to big-dollar interests (like the new monster high-rise going up at 17th and Broadway), rather than increasing the traffic and financial infrastructure support that small businesses actually require to flourish. May I ask that you do a follow-up in that direction, and report about the perfect storm of crises that are about to kill another pillar of the community in Oakland? https://www.gofundme.com/henrysgallerycafe
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Henrys-Gallery-Cafe/111445505554614
Ripe Ensemble With Juice
Ripe: Ensemble With Juice
I am newly planted and just peeking through my own leaves. Though I have been following Ragged Wing Ensemble for years, I've always kept a distance, cultivating my own concerns. Now I am on the inside. As the new Communications Director, I am amazed at what I find, inundated with the juciest creative fruit possible, and not just the fruit but the secret making of that bounty, a creative community process that is ready to be shared with multitudes but is, for the time being, savored by only a local few. I go to sleep and wake up with the taste of it on my lips, knowing that a secret like this cannot keep, nor should it.
There are times when a group of people is ripe. When circumstances consipre to yield a bumper crop, a tipping point when conditions are perfect for growth, anticipating a harvest of creativity that is culture-changing, leaning like a fruitful branch bends toward a deeper grounding and more humane understanding of what living can be. Ragged Wing Ensemble in Downtown Oakland is beautifully ripe, and needs your hand to reach out and pluck and share the available bounty. It needs patrons in seats and small donations, but it is profoundly ready, in a way that even most insiders cannot know yet, for the deepest and most sutainable kind of support--big giving from the heart--the expressions of hope and appreciation that make institutional growth possible.
It almost doesn't matter how you reach out. Just bump the branch with a casual donation in the final days of the current campaign, or seed the fertile soil with a significant amount or money and time. Share with your friends and the world the power and generosity of passionate creativity in a world growing more mean and grasping. Whatever you decide: act now. Don't wait. The birds and bugs of Bills will be buzzing and binging. Don't assume that somebody else will put up what is so sweet. It cannot be preserved because it is Alive and must be shared now. The company is preparing the Fall season...seeds need water that only you can provide...to harvest even more original work that brings out the best by working creatively through the thorniest of issues. That is what our era seems to be starving for, and it is in your hands to support runaway creative integrity today and through the upcoming season.