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Month: August 2014

  • Violence: The Turning

    disarmament
    It is a law:
    Violence begets nonviolence,
    Like a tulip in winter,
    In all places,
    In all cultures.
    But only those
    With eyes wide open
    Can see it,
    In the middle of
    Winter storms.

    The most important turning point
    for any civilization passing from darkness into light
    is every moment
    that a weapon passes
    from someone who has no self control
    and no compassion
    to someone who does.…

  • Reason and Compassion

     

    compassion

    Reason and compassion are lovers
    That give birth to our humanity,
    but only when they engage
    Daily, with intensity.
    The more one’s mind
    is drawn daily to compassion
    For all sentient life,
    the more it is drawn daily to develop
    universal principles of behavior
    that apply to all beings
    Without exception,
    Even very imperfect beings.
    The more that reason is developed daily
    the more it becomes empirically clear
    that we are all the same,
    in 99% of our being,
    the more it becomes empirically self evident
    That where we are different
    it is an advantage,
    Our diversity is our strength.

    compassion and reason are lovers,
    So that we can be.

     

    (Photo: Cultivating Leadership)…

  • Thoughts on God, Human Leadership, and Mountains, upon Leaving War’s Victims, Unfinished

    Customer or employees care concept

    GOD

    An atheist leader
    who is rational,
    Can be more a messenger,
    of God’s mercy for the powerless,
    than a leader,
    who bows down to God,
    over the dead bodies,
    of his victims.

    ‘Less suffering’
    Is the tortured scream
    of God.

    An authentic smile
    Is the fleeting face of God,
    A single act of kindness,
    The touch of Her finger.

    Only when you accept death,
    Can you become committed
    To the renewal of life.
    Only when you see democracy die,
    Can you plan its rebirth.…

  • URGENT ON SYRIA

     

    America, ISIS , and Al nusra , turkey Iran

    From the border of Syria

    Reports indicate that the United States has come to a decision that Isis in Syria cannot be separated from Isis in Iraq in terms of stabilizing the region and national interests. It becomes essential at this point that whatever the United States does it makes a distinction between the two groups, Isis and al nusra
    It is clear that Isis is mostly foreigners and they split badly with al nusra .
    Al nusra is mostly Syrian. If United States attacks Al nusra it will be interpreted by the Syrian people as an attack on them. In addition, Al nusra Is vital for the defense of many innocent people from the regime.
    This distinction can and must be made. With enough intelligence and Cooperation this will be easily done. The Syrian people on the ground are …

  • Counterterrorism

    The purpose of terrorism is to provoke a response. The purpose of the provocation of response is to create martyrs. The purpose of the creation of martyrs is an army of enthusiastic especially young men in search of glory and sex. The purpose of the creation of an army is the replacement of old political order with a new order.

    The purpose of counterterrorism should be the defense of one’s population, even better, the defense of all life. The actual function of counterterrorism is the strengthening of the police state and weapons sales. The actual function of political counterterrorism by politicians is to create votes. The purpose of the creation of votes is the maintenance of the power structure and strengthening of the state.
    Thus the cycle is complete. For when the counterterrorists respond with appropriate excessive violence to the bait of the terrorists both achieve their purpose. And then …

  • “Peace Practice Online in a Time of War” -from S-CAR Newsletter

    I recently wrote a cover article reflecting on the recent war in Gaza to the newsletter published by School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution.

    Practice is a messy, miserable reality that deserves its own independent study. What do we do in times of war? This has dramatically changed for me and many others in just the last year or two, where every war seems to be bringing individuals together online to a level of intimacy, collaboration, and care unprecedented, and others to a level of hatred unprecedented. Then there are shades of gray, where how you frame your disagreements, your texts, your cries, your screams, your pleas, your ruminations in the dead of night, all of it yields surprising communications across enemy lines, in all of the many and variegated enemy systems that overlap in international conflicts. A string of people from one side of the conflict becoming the only

    …

  • Reflections in August 2014 vol.1

     

    Galilee

    In war in an age of war the act of ultimate defiance is to make another human being feel wonderful.

    Testosterone, gestures of kindness are semen seeds. Men get busy, it will make you inherently happy and bear you many children.

    Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD). A doctrine that was supposed to be about deterrence, not prophecy. #Israel#Hamas#Palestine

    Mimicry, the compulsion of humans to mirror their postures, facial expressions, and enemy war cries. Most posts on FB and Twitter. 

    Better to deny the past in fear and embrace the present with courage than to embrace the past with courage and deny the present in fear.

    …

  • “Sunni and Shiite British Imams Denounce ISIS Together In New Video” -Huffington Post

    Very important Muslim statement on IS.

    Sunni and Shiite Muslim leaders in the United Kingdom have come together to denounce the Islamic militant group ISIS in a video posted by a group called Imams Online, reports the BBC.

    A statement on the Imams Online website says, “Senior British imams have come together to emphasize the importance of unity in the UK and to decree ISIS as an illegitimate, vicious group who do not represent Islam in any way.”

    Click here to read the whole article.

     …

  • Young Warriors / Real Prison

    A candle light vigil is held Tuesday night, Aug. 7, in Oak Creek, Wis., for the victims three days after a mass shooting at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin. The vigil was held during the national night out event at the Oak Creek Civic Center. Tom Lynn/AP

    Every day in every region I meet young warriors who know not what they do, and aging warriors who regret everything they have done. I can do nothing before their folly except bear witness to humanity.

     

    The stoics, the Epicureans, Taoists, the Sufis, the Buddhists, all feel that the real prison is the human mind. I am still thinking.

    (Photo: Tom Lynn/AP)…

  • Shades of Heaven / Birth

    peace-syria

    SHADES OF HEAVEN

    When a theologian of another religion says what you were thinking the moment before it comes out of your mouth #syria, with the Bosnian hero Father Ivo.

    BIRTH

    The warrior is born at 15000 feet,
    With the press of a thumb.
    The anti-warrior is born underneath cement,
    With the press of a shovel,
    Eyeing,
    The first,
    Grey,
    Thumb.

     

    (Photo: Now Media)…

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