Ten Commandments

Political

Agenda

Containing The Consideration of Root Causes

Warnings as to Possible Future Consequences

Cora E. Cypser

published by

Kim Pathways

A Political Agenda contains poems that advocate the use of restorative justice in our internal communities and in international relationships.

Contents

Ten Commandments------------------------------------1

Guns and Neighbors------------------------------------2

Feeling Superior-----------------------------------------3

The Mountain of Hatred-------------------------------3

All The Earth Is Holy ----------------------------------4

Symbols as Salvific -------------------------------------5

Who Are You? Who Are We? -------------------------6

Jesus, Both Symbol and Son --------------------------6

Those Anointed by God---------------------------------7

The Problem with Priesthood--------------------------8

Categorizing ----------------------------------------------9

Attacking Another ---------------------------------------9

Doing Unto Others -------------------------------------10

The Silence of Birds -----------------------------------10

Restoring Soul and Body ------------------------------11

Worshiping The Unknowable-------------------------12

Symbols---------------------------------------------------13

Our Relationship with The Divine ------------------14

Sharing Divinity ----------------------------------------14

Who Is Your God? -------------------------------------15

Beyond Creeds ------------------------------------------16

Original Sin----------------------------------------------17

Don’t Blame God ---------------------------------------18

God at Home in The Galaxies------------------------19

Resurrection --------------------------------------------20

Sacraments ----------------------------------------------21

Order Out of Chaos ------------------------------------22

Holiness Out of Multiplicity --------------------------22

One True Church --------------------------------------23

Woman-Speak ------------------------------------------23

Abuses in Churches -----------------------------------24

On Abortion: Who Is The Perpetrator? ------------25

The Seamless Garment of Life ----------------------25

Theologians---------------------------------------------26

Teach Peace --------------------------------------------26

The United States Constitution----------------------27

Philosophy of Love------------------------------------27

Theories on Violence----------------------------------28

Speaking Good Tidings-------------------------------29

Tribal Warfare and Homosexuality----------------29

What Has Forgiveness To Do with Power? ------30

A Gift for You------------------------------------------30

Steps to Forgiveness ----------------------------------31

Forgiving and Excusing------------------------------32

Prisons---------------------------------------------------32

Write Down The Vision-------------------------------33

Worship Is for All--------------------------------------34

Representing Others-----------------------------------35

Resenting Others---------------------------------------35

The Purpose of Government-------------------------36

Police at St. Peter’s Square---------------------------37

The Death Penalty for Murderers-------------------37

Duties and Mandates ----------------------------------38

A Clear Message----------------------------------------39

Political Considerations-------------------------------40

Those Addicted to Power and Control --------------41

Where Are We Going? --------------------------------42

Excuses for Inaction - --------------------------------43

A Wake-up Call ----------------------------------------44

What Makes A State -----------------------------------45

War and Terrorism ------------------------------------46

Who Should We Fight? -------------------------------47

Palestinians and Others ------------------------------48

Light of The World ------------------------------------49

The Age of NGOs---------------------------------------49

Health Care for All-------------------------------------50

Remembering The War Resistors*-------------------51

Thoughts on Democracy-------------------------------52

Repairing The Quilt of Existence--------------------53

Root Causes and Future Consequences ------------54

Law and Order ------------------------------------------55

What Are Laws For? -----------------------------------56

Pot-Latch and Politics----------------------------------56

Congress, Are You Listening? ------------------------57

Not Jubilee Justice--------------------------------------58

Connections ---------------------------------------------59

Odious Debt ---------------------------------------------60

Vibrations-------------------------------------------------61

Wings to Fly----------------------------------------------62

Pleading for The Children-----------------------------63

Speak Gently to The Children-------------------------64

Importance of Resources-------------------------------65

Healing----------------------------------------------------66

Fourth Generation --------------------------------------67

Banners in Washington --------------------------------68

The Ballad of Tim McVey------------------------------69

The Ethics of War ---------------------------------------70

Artists ------------------------------------------------------71

Forgiveness Litany --------------------------------------72

Goals for Humankind-----------------------------------74

Ten Commandments

Early people reflected long and hard

and came up with ten rules to live by.

Jesus shortened these rules to:–

Love God and love your neighbor.

Another set of ten

could include the following:

We are to reflect on God

and to reflect this God.

We are to respect God’s creatures.

We are to respect the earth

and share its resources.

We are to ensure that all people

have food, clothing, and shelter.

We are to ensure that all people

have meaningful education and work.

We are to ensure that all people

have time for rest and reflection.

We are to give considerate treatment

to the mentally and physically ill.

There is to be no abuse or slavery

of men, women, or children

or cruelty to animals.

We are to seek out root causes

before passing judgment.

We are to speak the truth.

Guns and Neighbors

What are guns for?

Do we need guns to kill our neighbors?

Who do we intend to kill?

Give a bully a stick and he will use it.

Why?

Because he is afraid.

We all have fears

and we have a desire to defend ourselves.

One of the reasons a bully is a bully

is because he is afraid.

Give a gun to a policeman

and he will use it.

Why?

He believes it is his friend

and that the gun will keep him safe.

Guns are not necessary

for an orderly society.

Note that not all countries have armed police.

Those in the police and the military

have the same rights and responsibilities

as everyone else

to treat their neighbor

as they would like to be treated themselves.

They are to respect the people

they are called to serve.

The same goes for prison personnel.

They are not to damage those in their charge

but to encourage them to fulfilled living.

Feeling Superior

Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those

who curse you, pray for those who treat you badly.–Luke 6:27

We tell ourselves

that we are better than animals

that we have souls

thus placing a great divide

between our motherhood

and that of the protective deer shielding her fawn.

We tell ourselves (for some unconscious reasons)

that we are better than some other people

because we are a different color

think different thoughts

or live in deserts rather than on hills.

The Mountain of Hatred

Jesus said, "If two make peace with each other in this one house,

they will say to the mountain, 'Move away,' and it will move away."

–Gospel of Thomas (48), Nag Hammadi Library.

Have you seen how we are surrounded by good people!

The world is a great temple

filled from the east to the west

with those who mediate peace and pursue truth .

The dreary ones who do not understand

acts of kindness and consideration

those who believe in retaliation

holding a burning hatred in their hearts

these folk will come but slowly to the idea of restoration.

If forgiveness abides in the heart

the mountain of hatred melts away.

All The Earth Is Holy

Come to the Holy Place with me.

We will go there singing, praising.

The people there have hearts like yours and mine

and dreams like ours

and plans of good things they will do.

Like you and me, they hurry on.

They’ve schedules to meet.

They’ve loved ones waiting.

They are worrying and praying

as they hurry.

So many goodly people

with good minds and kindly hearts!

How God must love to watch them scurrying

from train to platform

from door to subway

from street to home.

All holy places!

All holy people!

Where is the heaven that can hold

their prayers, their dreams, their hopes?

The Spirit runs along beside them

holds them up, fills them with kindness.

Surely, Grand Central is a Holy Place

from tunneled roadways for the trains

to painted constellations on the ceiling.

The Spirit surely dwells content

with those who roam these halls

and rush within these walls.

Symbols as Salvific

No man drinks old wine and immediately desires to drink new wine.

And new wine is not put into old wineskins, lest they burst; nor is

old wine put into a new wineskin, lest it spoil it. An old patch

is not sewn onto a new garment, because a tear would result.

–Gospel of Thomas (47), Nag Hammadi Library

All of us have a set of symbols

that represent our religious beliefs.

As we cannot see God

we need other ways to interact with the invisible.

We are all different

and come from different households

from different cultures

from different belief systems.

Thus our symbols will be different

and how they affect us

will be different.

This does not mean that my symbols are wrong

and that your symbols are right.

Mine are right for me

and your symbols and interpretations

are right for you

and we each must respect

the symbols and values of each other.

A new generation

must not be afraid

of new paths to the holy.

Who Are You?

Who Are We?

His disciples said to him, "Who are You, that You should say these

things to us?" Jesus said to them, "You do not realize who I am from

what I say to you, but you have become like those who either love

the tree and hate its fruit or love the fruit and hate the tree."

–Gospel of Thomas (43), Nag Hammadi Library

Some worship the Creator to excess

and disdain Creation and the human creature.

Some glorify the human being and the material world

and ignore the Creator Spirit.

The way to go is moderation.

Visualize the God-Spirit in everyone.

At the same moment recognize the marvel

of the created and the creation.

Jesus, Both Symbol and Son

The pharaoh called his citizens and servants

his dear sons, and so it was.

He was a father to them.

Jesus was servant to the Most High God

and thus was named God’s model son

entitled to call God his Father.

As son he was ordained to holy service

offered divine appointment

a life of meaning and fulfillment.

Paul, too, was offered ordination

by the Father, Mother, Friend of all of us

who continues to offer this ability to serve

to all the men and women of the world!

Those Anointed by God

“I will deliver your enemy into your power, do what you like with him.”

I will not raise my hand against him for he is the anointed of Yahweh.

– I Samuel 24:5-8

Like David hiding in the cave

and having King Saul walk in

helpless and open to David’s whims

we have an obligation

not to harm the Lord’s Anointed.

But we are all anointed of the Lord.

Thus we are not to harm each other

in our disagreements and blindnesses.

We must respect others as holy

and also equally respect ourselves

as ordained and anointed.

The prophets’ dream is that

there is to be no hurt or harm

in all the holy mountain

which is the earth.

The Problem with Priesthood

“You must not call anyone here on earth ‘Father,’

because you have only the one Father in heaven.”

Matthew 23:9

Putting one person in charge

and calling him ‘Holy,’ or ‘My Lord,’ or ‘Father’

gives both him and you an incorrect impression.

A better solution for leadership

is a parish council guided by a parish coordinator

with rotating facilitation to keep the process orderly.

There could be several possibilities of homilist

or all parishioners could give homilies

or spoken confirmation of their faith.

Quakers should not abandon their stand

on unpaid servers at their services.

Catholics could save their “priests” as financial advisors

for that is what many of them turn out to be

builders of schools and churches

rather than builders of loving community.

Protestants, Jews, and Muslims

would also profit from unpaid rotating facilitators.

This would allow the spirit to work

through all in the congregation

and allow peace and justice to be the true leaders.

Categorizing

If we call people ‘nice people’

that means we have some control over them.

When we can't control people

we put them down by saying they have strange ideas.

If we call our God a ‘nice God,’ a ‘loving God’

we are controlling God by giving God

such pleasant characteristics.

If we make our God authoritative

one who tells us to kill our enemies

or to destroy those who do not worship God

as we believe God should be worshipped

then we can enslave or kill whomever we please.

Having an authoritative God allows us

to be authoritative to others.

Attacking Another

Don’t assume people are evil because of their behavior.

They are doing the best they can under the circumstances.

- Bernard Lafayette

Before you attack a person

it is necessary to call him a name

to make him less than human.

The person is not the problem–

the problem is often an inhumane society.

Changing the social circumstances

can help solve the problem.

Doing Unto Others

Treat others as you would like them to treat you.–Luke 6:30b

What you do to the citizen in prison

when you swear at him, when you push him around

when you think of him as unequal

that is reflected to the heavens.

Who am I to judge another?

Do I understand what thwarted his soul’s music?

What you do to the non-citizen in prison

the stranger from a foreign land

the one who does not speak your language

the one who has fled his native country

your treatment of him is reflected to the heavens.

Who am I to judge another?

Have I lived in his land, spoken his language

experienced his trauma, slept in his skin?

The Silence of Birds

Tell the bird watchers

that the birds are quite quiet

unless there is a need for them to sing

in order to warn against danger

to announce territorial rights

to invite to courtship.

How quiet they are

when it is necessary

to protect their young

by silence.

How quiet are the foreigners dwelling in the land

when governments rise up to denounce

and stereotype and invite hatred.

Restoring Soul and Body

“When you make the two one and when you make the inside like the outside

and the outside like the inside, and the above like the below, ... and when

you fashion eyes in the place of an eye, and a hand in place of a hand, and

a foot in place of a foot, and a likeness in place of a likeness ...; then you

will enter the Kingdom.” –Gospel of Thomas (37:25), Nag Hammadi Library

Nonviolence requires

that you bring the best out in another.

When you treat everyone with equality

and treat the other as yourself

and can replace what has been destroyed

then heaven will arrive.

When we care for one another

as nursing mothers care for little children

then we shall enter the kingdom.

When we can regain the life and limbs

that have been taken

we will be known as the restorative community.

When we give all persons

political and educational rights

the local and the world community will prosper.

When we dismantle weaponry and teach peace

it will be proclaimed

that God truly dwells within us.

Worshiping The Unknowable

You must worship the Lord your God and serve him alone.

– Luke 4:8

There is a God of life and death

and our relationship with this Divine

can be like meeting clashing comets

rushing waters, crashing thunder

or yet again, we can encounter this same God

in moments full of steady trust or joyous wonder.

Something that gave us breath

is stronger than our hate or our despair.

Sometimes it can be reached within the soul

in quiet moments of reflective prayer.

But how are we to worship or to serve

an Infinite Force so strong and yet so tender

when we seem made determined to control

and our wills are so unwilling to surrender?

We do not worship by our ridicule of others

depriving them of rights, enslaving, killing.

Surely the folk who cause such great alarm

tread down the path of death, both for their souls

and for the souls they harm.

To serve the unknown, we must serve the known.

For those who choose fulfillment for all people

those who choose energy and life

these will live both in themselves

and in those whom they encourage.

Worship that serves forgiveness and truth

excludes the doing of deeds that harm

excludes thinking thoughts of retaliation.

Symbols

The Holy Spirit is not a bird

but can be represented by a white dove

swooping down and alighting.

God is not a person

but can be represented

by a man or a woman

filled with goodness and wisdom

who is able to soothe souls

caught up in turbulence

or wounded by rash fighting.

The Holy Spirit is not a wind

yet like the wind blowing

are the unseen vibrations

that come bidden or unbidden

into the human psyche

originating from before forever

and swirling across the unfolding universe.

God is not a human being

or an animal

or a statue

or a stained glass window

but God can be realized

by human beings

in all these pieces

of God’s creation.

Our Relationship with The Divine

It is only right

that something created by God

should have a relationship with its creator.

In the case of a person

there is liable to be a personal relationship

because that is the kind of relationship

that a person can have.

We do not know

if God can have personal relationships

but we believe that God

can have a God relationship with people

though we perhaps can never know

the full impact of such an event.

Sharing Divinity

To worship the Divine

some visualized a Goddess and marked her bounty

with a celebration of blood and raisin cakes.

David saw the Divine as a support to needy troops.

David’s God was happy to share

the sacred altar bread with human kind.

Life blood is poured and holy bread is given

to give new life to others.

Whose blood? Whose bread? Whose life?

A victim who may be prophet, priest, or king?

The tales of wine as blood and bread as flesh

are used to energize successors.

Jesus is glad to share his being with the world.

Who Is Your God?

We may have missed

the blessing of the host

and its partaking

so never mind!

Too late; too busy;

full of many things.

God loves us yet.

Besides––

the very air breathes God.

The particles of love

flow through the universe.

We can take in and give out love.

We only need to be

willing receivers and compassionate believers.

All peoples can be holy when their hands

reach in compassion

to all others in this holy land

that is the earth.

We may have missed the Mass

and reading of the Word

but we’re still holy!

But what of them

who are so misinformed

that they believe

that killing pleases God?

Or is it we who have no understanding?

We thought God loved us best.

We thought God gave the earth to us

and not to them.

Who is our God?

Who is their God?

Beyond Creeds

We use prayers and creeds

to control the mighty God.

We call God HE or SHE

according to our will

and limit God

by making spirit into gender.

But how else can finite clay

respond to wonder

that enshrines the universe?

That slice of God

the lotus flower

the blazing bird with wings

that dwells in every heart

is so encaged with flesh

so bound by feelings and emotions

so overcome by finitude

that it cannot escape

to revel in the endless spirit

but by becoming

weightless and unresisting

like a feather floating on the wind.

Original Sin

Societies perpetuate some kind of sin.

We’re born with natural tendencies and needs.

We follow our desires and seek for power.

We eat and drink, forgetting we should share.

Groups can be run on greed with power as god.

The powerful are glorified; the poor, disdained.

Evil is praised in slanted documentaries.

Grave misconceptions pass from fathers to their sons

and are handed down from mothers to their daughters.

Our beliefs are colored by our fears

and driven by a need for self protection.

Our little ones, in innocence, repeat our stories

play god with plastic soldiers

and handle monsters and machines with wild abandon.

Can we grow up from such raw dealings?

As we mature, we change our coverings

from that of love of self

to our belonging to a tribe or nation

that we work for, fight for, die for

so that the ones we come to love may live.

This love can further then evolve to a belief

in the community of all the earth

where all respect each other

and where original sin

dissolves into the good of all.

Don’t Blame God

We shudder at the earthquake damage in Iran

and say, “Loving God, how could you let it happen!”

Could bombing in Iraq cause an earthquake in Iran?

Could bombing cause quakes around the world?

Could removal of oil in Texas or Saudi Arabia

make hollows that would invite the earth to shake?

Perhaps the question we should ask is

“How could we, the people of the earth

let such a tragedy happen?”

If we weren’t so busy building war supplies

making political maneuvers, terrorizing each other

we might have noticed that the city of Bam

was in an earthquake zone

and was ill-prepared for such a chance happening.

If we, the people of the earth had noticed

we could have made earthquake-safe houses, warning systems

up-to-date technology for that unfortunate city

and thus lessened its vulnerability.

We might have investigated the causes of earthquakes;

continental drift, churnings of the earth’s core

planetary magnetism, havoc from oil depletion cavities

bombing of nearby countries, all cause the land to move.

One political response is to make super bombs

which could further deteriorate the situation.

We, the people, could have done something

to prevent the horror of Bam’s earthquake.

There is no need to blame God for such calamities.

There are actions humankind could take

to help the earth’s good process along.

God At Home in The Galaxies

Loving Creator-Force, where are you?

I looked for you out past Pluto where there was no wind

only the music of dancing galaxies.

I thought I saw you in a cluster named Sombrero.

I’m sure you were there in its radiance

but its breadth and width confused me.

I am too small to overcome the vastness.

Even on tip-toe I could never see

across the wall of fire-thrown space

that separates the human race from all eternity.

Help us to comprehend the wideness of infinity.

Can a galaxy 50,000 light-years across

brighter than 400 billion suns

bring earthly problems down to size?

What powerful rulers rise and fall

on planets circling suns in such a place?

Or is this galaxy much older than our own

so they have long been guided by wise words

(as put forth here by Buddha or by Christ)

and kindness reigns supreme in that vast space?

Can it be that there are no weapons turned on Sombrerons

by thoughtless reckless fellow Sombrerons

and that their burdens are all shared with joy?

Can it be their galaxy shines forth enlightenment?

Better yet, do folks in that far galaxy

emulate the constructive power of the Creator Force?

Can it be that we could be like we suppose they are–

sharing and caring, daring to be humble and forgiving

in our living?

Resurrection

Why are you looking among the dead for one who is alive?

–Luke 24:5b

I will resurrect like the bull frog in the pond.

As he buries himself in the silt, and prepares to freeze

does he say to himself in his own bullfrog way

“I may have another spring to wake in, or I may not.

Maybe I'll awake in the Great Pond in universal space.”

Then there's the butterfly.

When the caterpillar weaves his cocoon

does he imagine how happy he will be

flitting from flower to flower

or does he just trust, and then there he is soaring?

Likewise if I hibernate under ground

will my soul rise to enjoy another season

another spring, another world, another shape

my energies plunged into being fawn or tiger?

How will we resurrect? With what form will we come?

Our descendents may be gifted with new knowledge

on how to bring dead bodies back to life

on how to take the DNA from dried up bones

and make a person live again.

Descendents may not want to have us back

but we will trust that they will be compassionate

believing worms transform to butterflies.

They will give rapists and murderers another chance

understanding where their pain was formed.

Perhaps we will be given opportunities to redo

to rethink actions, to reform our minds

patterning them on universal mind.

Sacraments

“If you have an eye for it, the world itself is a sacrament.”

–Saint Augustine

The whole world is full of sacraments

with people, places, things to make us holy

with gifts to offer on the altars of our souls.

And we ourselves are sacraments.

We are holy and we bring wholeness to others.

We are a holy priesthood

recognizing divinity in each other

and in the heavens

and on the earth.

We are symbols of divinity!

We represent the living force behind the universe.

Because we live and breathe

we can believe God lives.

We each have a soul

which can be like an altar

a special place for placing sacred symbols

and transforming thoughts.

What sacramentals would you place

upon the special altar of your soul?

What saint’s bones? What wise sayings?

What soul-moving experiences?

What treasures would you keep there?

What commitments would you hallow?

The gifts we offer up on such an altar

lead us to greater holiness.

Order Out of Chaos

Why does a Good Creator allow politicians

to oppress a subsection of people on their own land?

Why does a Good Creator allow politicians to use bombs

to slaughter innocent people in distant countries?

Will the Good Creator

who made order out of chaos in the universe

likewise make order out of the chaos

inspired by powerful politicians?

Holiness Out of Multiplicity

We all should treat each other as holy, for we all are holy.

We all should respect each other’s religion

for every religion is an expression of the One Creative Force.

In the attempt to articulate that which permeates all matter

religions promulgate creeds, manifestos, rules, and laws.

Some of these laws reflect basic goodness

but others divide

as they emphasize aspects of the Most Holy

as seen from a special interest viewpoint.

Rules can lead adherents to treat some persons

as more holy than other persons.

Rules can imply that the stranger should be shunned

or that men are more worthy of respect than women.

Rules can deny women or married people the right

to become priests in some faith communities.

If we consider that we are all holy people

we should give all people the respect due to them.

One True Church

How could any religious group assume

that theirs was the final and ultimate revelation

when God is revealing divinity

in every new day and in each person.

When creation is going on to infinity

the ultimate is never achieved.

It is morally wrong for any person or group

to make the statement–

“We are the one true church.”

It is untrue. One Force made us all

and all our insights come from this One Source.

Thus all insights must be relevant.

Woman-Speak

Heresy was a term coined by those in power

who wanted to keep the power.

God is universal

and the Holy Spirit is willing to dwell with

and speak through each of us.

It is odd that the word heresy is similar to her say

(what the female speaks).

I’d feel a lot better calling a church leader Holy Father

if there was a women around that I could call Holy Mother.

After all, it takes both a father and a mother

to bring up a child.

That is what is wrong with our children, church, and world–

the feminine influence has been suppressed.

It would be a more peaceful world

if we all thought of each other

as some mother’s child.

Abuses in Churches

The first instance of gender discrimination

in some church communities

is the abusive treatment of women

by denying their equality with men

and forbidding them to exercise priestly tasks.

Another offense is the abuse of children

by some who should be protecting children from abuse.

A third offense is assuming evil in homosexuality

which is a natural development in the evolutionary process.

Power corrupts

when men see themselves as next to God

and tend to think they are wiser

than those others in their care

including men, women, children

the developmentally different

saints, sinners

all human beings.

We do not want to perpetuate

“man’s inhumanity to man”

by having priests believe

that they are closer to the heart of God

than those to whom they preach.

The first requirement of a priest should be humility.

All priests, all human beings

must recognize that they are capable of sin

and are not infallible.

On Abortion: Who Is The Perpetrator?

Shall we place blame on women or speak in their defense?

Some religious groups are heavy handed on women

whose circumstances lead them to abortion

while ignoring the male part in this action.

There could be no abortion without a male assisting.

Patriarchal authoritarians enjoying positions of power

accuse the powerless for resisting their pronouncements

while ignoring the associated deeds of killers

such as King David, executioners, and gun manufacturers.

In present society the killing in war and rape

are accepted as the norm

and deserting the embryonic child that one has fathered

is considered standard male behavior.

The Seamless Garment of Life

There has been discussion about abortion.

featuring the related question

“Is the fetus a full human being?”

Presumably, if the fetus is fully human

many would be convinced you should not take its life.

On the other hand

we know there are many full human beings

who have undergone the death penalty

or who languish in prison awaiting their death.

Where are their defenders?

Why do we blindly acquiesce to their destruction

while forcefully pronouncing against the death of a fetus?

When contemplating the death of a human being

some folks choke on a gnat and swallow a camel.

Theologians

The trouble with theologians is that they try to state

what is optimum theology for themselves

and those less educated often believe

that theologians have emitted absolute truth.

Different people have different belief systems

and parts of these systems work.

Society can get hung up on a system

and believe it to be optimum for all time

whereas theology is evolutionary, and God ,a process

so beliefs about God, keep unfolding.

Those willing to be critical of new belief

might challenge the presenters with:-

“If I find one flaw, I will reject your system.”

In doing this they could discard a gift from God.

All human systems have their flaws.

Teach Peace

God has sent me to bring the good news to the poor, to

proclaim liberty to captives. –Luke 4:18

The cry goes out across the sky! Teach peace, not war!

Peace is what we were created for

peace, order, and tranquility.

Teach peace, not war!

Let the God in you speak out with glorifying shout.

The captive poor want news their children will be fed

will have health care, education, safe havens

while other captives wait behind the gates

to hear the word that sets them free.

Terrorism breeds where people live in dread.

The United States Constitution

For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory.

–Appendage to The Lord’s Prayer

Do kingdom, power, and glory belong to politicians

or to the spirit of wisdom and truth

that can be found in deep discussions

among gentle people

such as those who wrote our Constitution

or those who devised

the Human Rights Document of the United Nations?

I am ready to support the United States Constitution.

I will not support

those who ignore the United States Constitution

and the United Nations

making their own regulations

preferring their own opinions

and seeking their own power and glory.

Philosophy of Love

“Just as a mother would protect her only child at the risk of her

own life, even so, cultivate a boundless heart towards all beings.

Let your thoughts of boundless love pervade the whole world.”

–Buddhism Sutta Nipata 149-150

Love without bounds for all!

Willingness to serve and heal

those who might be strangers

but who, in our reality, are our brothers and sisters

cut of the same miraculous cloth of being

apples from the same astounding tree of life.

Theories on Violence

What can we learn from the experience of nations?

China had three thousand years of dynasties

overthrown by varying degrees of violence!

When the ruling hand became too heavy

there was always a person to lead a revolt.

There is a theory that violence creates stability

that uprisings and wars unite us

and help to free us from oppressors.

Unfortunately, those who are freed

often become the new oppressors

and the cycle is repeated.

There is a theory that war is OK for self-defense

that the good it does outweighs the evil.

Sadly, the children who live through war and holocaust

relive these evils deep within their minds.

Thus future generations repeat the turmoil.

Another theory goes that there are genes

both for compassion and for violence.

If we can properly manipulate genetic structures

then we will have a peaceful world.

Can we improve on the Creator's work

or processes leading to fulfillment?

With such conflicting genes we see free will at play.

We have a choice, each one of us.

We can choose justice and forgiveness.

We do not have to make the same mistake

again and yet again of killing those who disagree

or those who advocate opposing ways to live.

The crowds don’t have to crucify the Christs.

We can teach children peace instead of war.

Speaking Good Tidings

Wouldn’t it be nice if

politicians spoke out in the following manner–

“I am glad I am a citizen of my country

and I want what is best for my people.

I also am a human being

and I want what is best for the whole world.

I can see that my desiring good things for my nation

often is interpreted as bad things for others.

I want human rights for all people.

No one is to be kept in servitude.

All are to be treated fairly and recognized

as equal in the plan of the Creator.

All religions are to be given respect

and no beliefs are to be proclaimed

as the special word of God to a favorite people.

All people are to be respected

and given their share of the goods of the earth.”

Tribal Warfare and Homosexuality

The author of Genesis may have thought–

“If I remind them that they are all from one beginning

they will shape up and stop killing each other.”

The author didn’t know that young males

had their genetic make-up to overcome.

In many monkey tribes a group of males

are assigned to the task of keeping off predators.

These young males were not allowed to interfere

with the harem rights of the “big daddy” monkey

and had to work out their sexual urges among themselves.

We have programmed into our genes behavior that fosters

both homosexuality and antagonism towards outsiders.

We are the servants of evolutionary structures.

What Has Forgiveness To Do with Power?

Why should someone with power

be moved to forgive?

They have no need to clarify the rules

abide by treaties

understand the law

look for root causes.

Those holding power

don’t choose to lose that power.

They run with it.

Buildings go toppling.

Bombs explode the earth.

The man with power

feels no need to forgive

no need to reconcile

has no need for God’s approval.

A Gift for You

Wishing you the gift of forgiveness

that all your times could be

a gift-giving, gift-wishing time

where contentment could abound.

Wishing that you could have the joy

of forgiving someone a wrong

they have done to you or to others.

Wishing that you could feel the relief

for someone forgiving you

when you have hurt them or others.

Steps to Forgiveness

It is hard to forgive your kinsman.

It is hard to forgive someone you don’t know

who sneaks up from behind and mugs you

and you don’t know what hit you or why.

It’s easy to classify such an attacker

as a different sort of animal

not a child of the Creator like yourself

but name him ugly, dog, shark, devil.

Steps to forgiveness require

that you bring him back to join humanity

that you recognize in him

the child of some warm, loving mother

that you give respect to those

deep inner needs of his

that caused him to attack you.

The steps to forgiveness when nations dispute

often depend on national leaders.

Those who lead their countries in a crisis

may not represent the majority of the people.

If they resort to name calling

and refuse to listen to other leaders

they will surely bring disaster.

Those who lead must listen

must be open to mediation

must gather information

must give respect in order to gain respect

must forgive in order to gain forgiveness.

Forgiving and Excusing

Forgiving and excusing are opposites.

Forgiveness supports and restores the community.

Excusing gives the harm room to continue.

Those in prison are not monsters

as politicians and prosecutors might lead us to believe.

They are human beings like ourselves.

We must search out root causes of their malfunctions

and use our resources to heal them.

The cause of addiction often is prefaced

with a lack of self-esteem.

Addictions have something to do

with fear of intimacy or poor personal relationships.

Allowing for root causes

does not excuse the poor behavior

but gives us clues as to how to deal with situations.

Prisons

We can make prisons for ourselves or for others.

Prisons aren’t necessarily bars or barbed wire.

Prisons are unjust laws, unkind deeds, cruel thoughts.

How do we burst these bands that imprison our hearts?

Thank God for a wonderful world and wonderful people

who have the capacity to dream.

They can raise their deeds to heaven

or drop them to hell.

They can train their minds to climb up

out of the prisons that encage them.

Write Down The Vision

In the dream of world future, we all are one.

We are sisters and brothers to each other.

Compassion flows between us.

Hatred can cut down this enervating flow.

It is hard to identify with people

with whom we are angry.

Hatred and anger choke the flow of love.

We recognize a universal energy

surging invisibly through all time and space.

We feel the higher transmissions of the universe

as they penetrate the earth and our bodies.

What can I learn from you?

What exchange of wisdom and love

encourages the flow of energy?

Joining our voices to the divine story

exchanging words of wisdom and healing

breathing deeply, meditating together

draws us into community

helps us to work together

to become the vision.

We find ourselves immersed in a sea of Spirit.

What comes from the Spirit returns to Spirit.*

*What comes from the water returns to the sea.

Ecclesiasticus 40: 10,11

Worship Is for All

We thank the wisdom from on high

that gave us minds and hearts

to build the world

and to support each other.

We thank the wisdom from on high

for the spiritual bread

to feed the world

coming from Bethlehem

the House of Bread.

Are not all people

children of the same Creator?

All the people together

we all broke bread together

lifting our hands in unison

blessing the bread

being ourselves the bread

promising to be bread for each other.

When one or two men officiate

at giving thankfulness for gifts from heaven

the notion of community can disintegrate

under a general obeisance to authority.

When the whole community gives thanks together

when they rejoice together

hearts can unite in service.

Representing Others

The government is not my enemy.

The government is in need of wisdom.

Those with power to rule should try to understand root causes.

They need to work their way past fear and encourage empathy.

Legislators should sacrifice for those they serve.

They should not have health insurance

until all the people they represent have it.

In order to understand the masses

legislators must live in harmony with constituents.

It is only through their own transformation

that they gain the ability to truly represent others.

Resenting Others

Is it necessary to have a war

because two political leaders resent each other?

It is unseemly for a government to overtax the poor

and give tax breaks to the rich.

It is unseemly for a government

through borrowing and inflation

to turn money into war machines that wreck and kill

and to take those machines to another country

where they kill 9,000 to 50,000 people*

all because two political leaders

resent each other.

*Physicians for Prevention of Nuclear War: www.ippnw.org

Estimates of death toll between 3/20/03 and 10/20/03–

21,700 to 55,000 people died: (7,800 to 9,600 Iraqi civilians)

(13,500 to 45,000 Iraqi military)

The Purposes of Government

If you believed in greater powers than the human

and wanted to recognize this greater power properly

what kind of government would you create?

We are made to support each other

across the vicissitudes of life.

Politicians protest

that governments were not made to love

but to keep order

and the best way to keep order

is to kill or imprison

all members of the opposition.

Killing and imprisonment

have nothing to do with love

or with the seeming purposes of creation.

When someone suffers

anywhere in the world

there should be groups

willing to support and heal that sufferer.

Governments should send people

to comfort the disabled and discomfited.

Non-governmental organizations

are filling this need

more promptly than politicians.

Police at St. Peter’s Square

Community leadership is shown

in faceless helmets with full covering shields.

The Good Book recommends weapons of love–

our sword, that of the spirit.

our breastplate, righteousness.

So who are these

that have come

dressed violently

for slaughter

with breastplates

and weapons

not allied

with loving spirit?

The Death Penalty for Murderers

Saul has killed thousands, but David tens of thousands.

–I Samuel 18:7b

We have no trouble accepting murderers as kings of Israel

and we still praise David’s nobility and trust in God!

Yet when a impoverished black man uses a weapon

(that gun dealers profit on

and sell to black and white populations

so that they can kill each other)

we condemn the frustrated black

but we have no angry words for gun manufacturers

or for politicians elected by gun lobby money

or for those with production line jobs in the weapons industry.

We seem to feel that they are only making a living

and not being a party to a killing.

But it is their living, at the expense of somebody else’s dying.

Duties and Mandates

Under our Constitution,

there are three branches of government

the Legislative, the Executive, and the Judicial.

The Legislature is to make the laws.

The Judicial is to interpret the laws.

The Executive is to enforce the laws

that the Legislature has made

and that the Judiciary has interpreted.

Presidents, Governors, Mayors

and other Executives

in their enforcement of the law

are given mandates to defend the people.

They are not to use the armed forces

to commit mayhem against any people

or against those who may be protesting oppression.

Mandates are not given for presidents

to bomb civilian populations

at home or abroad.

There is nothing but further violence

that comes out of the oppressing of populations

or the laying of landmines

or the dropping of bombs

or from the violent restraint or imprisonment

of human beings.

A Clear Message

Presidents, Prime Ministers and Politicians

produce agendas proudly and loudly.

Our ears and hearts listen and react.

Yes, Mr. Politician, we hear you.

The oversize military budget

sends a clear message.

The message it sends to the people is

that you place no importance on forgiveness

that your “trust is in chariots and horses.”

The message that goes to the impoverished is

there is no tax money for their social needs

that housing and education

are available for those in power

that adequate health care

is only for legislators

that jobs can be shipped overseas

and welfare funds will be cut.

The police have been trained

to pepper spray

or shoot with rubber bullets

or to kill

when they feel sufficiently threatened.

Police are encouraged to keep

troubled masses under control.

Yes, politicians, you send a clear message–

Your agenda has to do with subduing the vulnerable

and with changing democracies into police states.

Political Considerations

The dead are not alive, and the living will not die.

–Gospel of Thomas (II,2) 34:9

Those who seek death and punishment for others

those who enslave others

and deprive them of their human rights

surely these folk tread the path of death

both for others and for their own souls.

But those who choose restoration and fulfillment for others

those who choose the spirit of energy and life

these will live both in themselves

and in those others they have encouraged.

Who sends out the masked men armed with clubs

soldiers with battering rams

destroying houses, homes, and hearts?

It seems unwise to mention leaders’ names

or show the faces of those ordering such abuse.

Soldiers with guns and tanks

go grinding through towns and cities

neighborhoods, yours and mine

rough shod across whatever’s in the way

a nightmare of dark, huge machines

wreaking havoc on our world.

Who sends these soldiers

places hatred in their hearts?

Who marks the innocent to be destroyed?

The leader in his comfortable estate

cannot rescind his orders.

He has no power to stop a tank

thousands of miles away

from running down a woman

holding up her arms begging for mercy.

Those Addicted to Power and Control

Peace emanates from the one who sows love

and transforms this love into actions.

–Mother Teresa of Calcutta

We must have true sorrow and forgiveness

for those addicted to power and control.

Whether their beliefs are right or wrong

whether their deeds are good or bad

if they believe in themselves

and in their agenda

they are bound to come into conflict

with those who are angered

by being under their control.

Frequently, those addicted to power

are those who have been threatened

and who fear losing control.

They are the ones who rise in anger

to crush the opposition.

Those who have been brought up in families

where they are trained to hate another group

those who have heard stories of warfare glory

those who are given military men to emulate

and toy soldiers and cap guns to play with

such children often grow up to dispatch others

to fight battles in foreign lands

and bomb innocent populations

while staying home and directing such mutilation

from a secure and superior distance.

Where Are We Going?

Where did we come from and where do we go?

Will we blow up our world together

or will we learn to speak peace?

Where are we going together?

Wither the Israelis? Wither the Palestinians?

Where did they come from?

All from the loins of Abraham; all from the One Creator.

All people walking on the earth

move from trauma to power

and back to trauma

move from holocaust to homecoming

and back to holocaust.

We do not have a right to destroy others.

War and hatred are wrong

when they are directed against you

and it is also wrong

when you direct your hatred against others.

Can you call the other unholy with impunity

bulldoze his home and livelihood

because he is not you?

Can you decry another’s religion

and then refuse to understand

when the other ridicules your beliefs?

Are not all our fundamental beliefs the same?

Do we not all believe

in the efficacy of courtesy and kindness?

Are we not all human beings

with the same kind of heart?

Excuses for Inaction

Why did the peace people of the United States

let Iraq II happen?

We were not alert.

We did not believe

a President and a Congress

could act so irresponsibly

in such a serious matter.

We thought the attitude

of Europe and the United Nations

would quell the irrationality

of a misguided government.

Why did the people believe the media

when what it told was only one side of the story

and not a straight story at that?

We are trapped by materialism

by dependence on motor vehicles and oil

by imperial power exercised by an unelected official.

What do we need

to come to an understanding of the truth?

We need an interfaith dialogue

an inter-country dialogue

mediation between excited partisans

and forgiveness* instead of retaliation.

*“Forgiveness is not a feeling; it is a decision.”

“The other name for peace is development.”

–Michel Sabbah, Patriarch of Jerusalem

A Wake-up Call

Come now, Great Politicians, wake up!

These are people your legislation is killing.

Have a little empathy.

These are your brothers and sisters of the human race

children of the same beneficent Creator

who made us to share the Earth.

How many brothers, sisters, little ones have died in Iraq?

21,700 to 55,000 between March 20and October 20, 2003!*

Politicians, you have a mandate

to defend the people of America, both rich and poor.

You may have money from wealthy lobbyists

to make laws that enhance corporate wealth

but such laws cause deprivation of the poor.

Leaders must recognize the ethical implications

of the laws they promulgate.

When ethical treatises advise, “Thou shalt not kill!”

and laws legislate murder

there is a grave inconsistency.

Euripides, a playwright of the Greeks

discoursed on leaders, self-centered with deaf ears

who ignored moral imperatives and godly advice.

He found such rulers were disowned by subjects

and even by their own mothers.

If Congress people and presidents had less salary

little health insurance, and were cut off from corporate wealth

they might get closer to the heart of America

and develop a moral agenda.

*Physicians for Prevention of Nuclear War: www.ippnw.org

Estimates of Iraq deaths between 3/20/03 and 10/20/03––

21,700 to 55,000 people died: (7,800 to 9,600 Iraqi civilians) (13,500 to 45,000 Iraqi military)

What Makes A State

Peace means respecting the rights of others. –Oliver Reed

A state is made of people.

People band together to form a governing unit.

The legal basis for a Jewish state

also mandates a Palestinian state.

The world must support this equality.

Great nations have their Nemesis.

When people do not form community

the state disintegrates.

Rome fell before the Vandals.

Those who oppress minorities

or do not listen to their people

can expect to be displaced from office.

States and rulers, neither last forever.

If people unite with the purpose

of helping one another to survive

they have the requirements of a state.

If nations all unite with one agenda

to serve all people across the world–

they could have a community of love

that would satisfy the needs

of generation after generation.

Such a community could have a long life.

War and Terrorism

Terrorism is an act of violence against innocent bystanders.

War is terrorism when innocent bystanders are harmed.

Some world leaders get confused about this in their fear

and infect others with their irrational beliefs.

They think they are making war against an enemy

when in fact they are creating further terrorism.

They rely on weapons like bombs and land mines

that target and destroy civilians (who are not the enemy).

God must shudder at such blind leaders of the blind.

Terrorism is not war. It can start off by being a small group

reacting to oppression by a more powerful group.

It is not a war between states, but reactions by factions.

Terrorists do not readily claim to belong to any state.

War is interstate or intrastate violence

and can be fought by soldiers or resolved by mediators

yet war can turn into terrorism

when powerful machines terrorize innocent bystanders.

You cannot make war on terrorism because there is no enemy

and no state to fight against, unless you imagine one.

When you oppose terrorism, you must figure out root causes.

You must see dissatisfied others as your sisters and brothers.

You must find out why they are angry.

If Palestinian children throw rocks

there is a root cause for their antagonism.

They have been made homeless by bulldozers.

Their water supplies and wells have been destroyed.

Their schools have been made inaccessible.

They have reasons to hurl rocks.

Such children throwing rocks should be investigated.

Using tanks to retaliate against children throwing rocks

is not war. It is terrorism.

Who Should We Fight?

Fight malaria and AIDS, not terrorism.

World poverty and disease are the enemies

that trigger the unrest that leads to

addiction, frustration, and terrorism.

Give people meaningful work

so they can feed their family.

Supply relevant education, a place to live,

and a safe environment.

Ensure the right to participate in one’s government

by voting or service.

Giving these rights increases self-respect

and decreases the probability of terrorism.

We who claim to be compassionate and understanding

have the responsibility to forgive those politicians

who lead their people into violent actions

even if, as leaders, they see no need for repentance

but claim their actions serve their people.

Likewise those persecuted

and others harmed by holocausts and tribal disputes

have the obligation to forgive the perpetrators

who are humans like ourselves

with the same psychological drives and hang-ups.

They are not to perpetuate grudges

or hold anger from generation to generation.

Palestinians and Others

Violence done in times past

causes violence to future generations.

Palestinians are paying today

for the Roman Empire's persecutions

of Jews and other religious faiths

which caused in turn

Europe's sins against the Jews

of a half century ago.

Violence breeds violence.

So it is with children.

The child who is abused

often grows up to be an abuser.

The slave or servant who is mistreated

uses similar mistreatment to underlings

when promoted to the job of managing others

because that is the social method

that he has been trained to use.

Similarly, the tribe who is oppressed

often becomes the oppressor nation

when it rises to power in the land.

The children who watch vandalization and terrorism

become the soldiers who torture the powerless.

Is the human race condemned to continue on

in this profitless manner

or can we end this vicious cycle by using mercy?

Given the opportunity to experience

understanding of their trauma

and to discuss their pain

a tribe or individual can learn empathy for others

and expand their soul to show concern.

Light of The World

Love your brother like your soul, guard him like the pupil of

your eye. –Gospel of Thomas, 38:11, Nag Hammadi Library

Let us light up the world

with our compassion and understanding

rather than bomb the world

into darkness and deprivation.

Have compassion on presidents and rulers.

Have empathy for opposing politicians.

Love the children of the world.

Avoid bringing on the darkness.

The Age of NGOs

There is light possible within a human being and it can light up

the whole world. If this light does not shine, there is darkness.

–Gospel of Thomas, 38:10, Nag Hammadi Library

The will of the people is being discovered

in the actions of non-governmental organizations.

They gather in spirit-filled groups

and formulate policy and ethics

frequently in opposition to ideas held by politicians.

These grass roots folk will carry us forward

with an inspired agenda.

They are becoming a guiding light for the people

and politicians should listen to their wisdom.

Health Care for All

True community leadership is shown

by those who organize groups

which challenge the boredom of everyday.

When there are no jobs

no money

no food

no daily entertainment

and only the prison

of a seemingly heartless land

and the disgrace

of being ignored by people

who have so many of their own troubles

that they can’t take on yours–

then when someone stops to talk

and to listen to your troubles

and to share a bit of food

and suggests a song

or a way to ease your pain

or invites you

to do some setting up exercises

then all the world is brighter.

Health care

song

exercise classes

listening

a warm shower

a cup of tea

are ways to build the beloved community.

Remembering The War Resistors*

War is a bloody business

so why not pour blood

on the doors of the Pentagon!

Empire is built

on the blood of the poor and innocent.

On March 19, 2003 and for 26 days thereafter

the United States and Britain

flew 30,000 sorties

and used 800 cruise missiles

and 14,000 precision-guided bombs

to kill thousands in Iraq.

Why not pour blood

on the doors of the Pentagon

in memory of

the blood of all the human beings

Iraqis and otherwise

killed in Iraq in 2003!

*Quote from Phil Berrigan, war resistor, died December 6,

2002: “In this new order, racism and sexism will disappear ...

the vision, and this reality, will embrace community as the

only human grouping not subject to domination, power and

violence... Our choice is clear. We act to recreate the political

order, or we solidify the old order of violence and death.”

Thoughts on Democracy

People under a democratic form of government

prefer food, jobs, and education for all

rather than excessive military expenditures.

A country that flaunts its weaponry

is not doing the will of the people.

Is Israel a democracy? Israel is the greatest owner

of Weapons of Mass Destruction in the Middle East.

The United States owns the most weapons in the world!

Does a true democracy need weapons to threaten others?

The United States supports Israel like a fifty-first state.

If we are a democracy, we cannot welcome Israel

to statehood, because it is not a democracy.

It is not a democracy because half the population

who are Palestinians are excluded from government process.

The United States itself is becoming less of a democracy.

A percentage of its people who are prisoners and immigrants

are excluded from their right to vote.

Israel is not a democracy but a theocracy.

Its government is under the authority of a religious group.

The United States itself is losing its democratic attributes.

It is coming under the influence of conservative religionists.

It is being hog-tied by wealthy corporations.

It is a corporacity, rather than a democracy

a government run by the powerful, for the powerful.

The United States, as a corporacity

funds Israel with three billion dollars a year

which they are supposed to use for peaceful purposes.

We pay around 50 billion dollars of interest on their loans

so they can buy weapons to use against Palestinians.

Those politicians who encourage such a scenario

are not listening to the will of the people.

Repairing The Quilt of Existence

The quilt still keeps us warm

but what a mess!

The stuffing is coming through.

The quilt is falling apart.

Our present gun laws, death penalty, militarism

abortion, lack of health care

show that we must make a different kind of law

that will incorporate our country and its standards

into the real world.

We do not want to become a police state

in our mad rush to bomb others

purportedly in order to give them a freedom

we ourselves are losing.

We tell stories of the birth of a savior

who brings hope to the world.

Is this a fairy tale giving permission to world leaders

so that they can bomb innocent people

and say that they are building hope in the world?

Is the birth story a myth about allowing Herods

to kill some babies in order to protect other babies?

Is the savior crucified to justify the death penalty

as a means of protecting other citizens?

Does the savior message give license to a “saved” group

to disrespect people of the land and appropriate territory?

Is this why we proclaim a savior–

so that we can kill others, so that we can own a land

so that we can claim the resources of the earth

as our right to a fulfilled life?

Is this how to repair the quilt of existence?

Root Causes and Future Consequences

In the case of Iraq II, our political leaders

thought of neither causes or consequences.

They were blinded by rage and a lust for power.

In the case of Israel, political leaders put

their individual interpretations on words from the past

and drew their own conclusions about the future.

Root causes can be a dispute over resources

such as oil or water or land.

Earlier prophets recognized the value of water.

Ezekiel gives a prophecy of a water course

which will flow from the temple in Jerusalem.

It was to be seven miles long and three miles wide.*

This dream of abundant water can be realized

if Israelis and Palestinians work together

if they build water courses instead of guns.

All countries need abundant water

both material water, and the flow of spiritual grace.

The root cause of violence is often past violence.

The future consequences of violence is more violence

unless one also plans for a spiritual flow of peace

and a material flow of water.

In Iraq II and Israel/Palestine

there was little consultation with others concerned.

When root causes and future consequences are ignored

and leaders do not listen to each other

it is difficult to find solutions to a problem.

*Ezekiel 47: a cubit = ~1 1/2 feet

25,000 cubits = 37,500 feet long (~7 miles)

15,000 feet wide (~3 miles)

Law and Order

Peace will come to the world only from personal

determination, not from laws. –Carl Sonnenschein

We need rules to live by

but who makes the rules?

We maintain order by enforcing rules.

We follow customs.

We believe that north is up

and south is down

and so we do not look at earth

from all possible perspectives.

What we see as south may be on top

when seen from plains on Mars or distant stars.

Other norms we trust

may please our nature but be wrong.

Laws that punish

and imprison the impoverished

are often topsy-turvy.

We should be seeking healing of their woes

discovering root causes

solving a crisis long before it happens.

There must be input from those ruled

to make the rules legitimate.

All perspectives must be heard

for justice to be merciful.

What Are Laws For?

Give to everyone who asks you, and do not ask for your property

back from the man who robs you.–Luke 6:30a

Laws are the failure of love.

Oppressive laws lead to wars.

Wars are the poor killing the poor.

Wars are slaughter.

Wars are organized confusion.

Laws do not change terrorists.

Only trying to understand root causes

and alleviating problems

will help to change terrorists

into good citizens.

Pot-Latch and Politics

Pot-latch is an American Indian custom

of circulating goods from one tribe to another.

Can a politics of fear, greed, and warmongering

be transformed into pot-latch?

Punishment and control by fear must be replaced

by considerate relationships and penance

which is sacrifice for others.

We are far from penance and forgiveness.

The result of our lack of concern for others

is a stress-ridden, terror-filled world.

A politics of waste and over-consumption

does violence to humanity.

Congress, Are You Listening?

What can we say about the arms trade?

640 million fire arms are in circulation

one weapon for every ten earthlings.

Small arms kill 300,000 in war every year.

An additional 200,000 are killed

by criminal violence or suicide.

What can we do?

What do we ask

of our nation’s political leaders?

Our first request is to disarm police.

Train them in less violent tactics.

Retrain army personnel as engineers

to assist and rebuild when disaster strikes.

Have armies ready

to serve up food and health care.

Collect and destroy guns.

Pass laws increasing safety precautions

and limiting gun ownership.

Publicize the hazards

to health and life

the endangerments

of cheap and available weaponry.

Congress, listen

to the cries of mothers of children.

Refuse to take the bribes

of the National Rifle Association.

The best way to make sure presidents aren’t shot

is to stop producing guns.

Not Jubilee Justice

True peace is not just the absence of conflict but the presence of justice.

–Mahatma Gandhi

Justice assures the people of the world

that they will not be saddled by usury

yet the chains of massive debt

still bind a billion people.

Who owns the earth?

God is the Creditor we owe

and we do not pay the interest that is due

for what we have been loaned.

We demand that what is God’s

should be given to us

for our own selfish purposes.

The Creator of the Earth helps creatures build

freedom, community, and justice

yet one third of the earth's people

still live in grimy poverty.

Many of the poorer countries have been forced

to accept unfair trade deals

and farm practices that require

growing trade items

rather than family food supplies.

Children are deprived of food and education

so that rulers can live opulently

and exercise power over the masses.

Connections

There is a connection

between my warm shower in the morning

and the lack of cleansing water in Palestine.

There is a connection between

the teachings of the School of The Americas*

and the level of violence in the world.

Corporations show

their environmental

and worldwide consciousness

in their pursuit of oil money

and in their lack of concern

for the filthy waters of the Persian Gulf and the oceans.

They pillage the forests and wilderness areas.

Our Earth is turning into desert

with vast macadam and cement parking lots.

The Earth needs purification and water quality control.

The Earth needs trees to be planted.

The School of The Americas

continues to train soldiers in violent techniques.

It needs a peace-training manual

and peace-teaching instructors.

All police should be trained

to use restorative justice practices.

In order to build the earth and cease depleting it

corporations and people of the earth

should make the right connections.

*The SOA or School Of the Americas has been renamed

WHISC or Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation.

“Lock up SOA/WHISC, Not Peacemakers”

–banner by Becky Johnson

Odious Debt

It has been observed that after a war

debt cancellation can promote regional stability.

Some debts are unreasonable. Should the people