A parable of relief vs. advocacy
“Relief” refers to providing for needy people’s immediate survival needs — food, shelter and clothing, direct material gifts. “Advocacy” refers to political activism, meant to change policies and laws. People and organizations who presume to serve the poor, face choices as to which one to emphasize.
The parable of the babies in the river addresses that choice. Activists love it. Desmond Tutu and others have endorsed it.
THE WAY OF PEACE
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The serotonin levels of the members of a community profoundly affect the degree of harmony and prosperity (shalom) in that community. Continue reading 5. Serotonin and society
Cornel West channels Martin Luther King Jr. to criticize Obama
Friday 2014-12-26
Learning happiness can take you out of your comfort zone.
So, there can be a learning curve as one comes to tolerate and manage greater degrees of happiness and prosperity than one has been accustomed to.
Some time ago, this short, very thin Korean immigrant with shoulder-length gray hair began coming to the shelter. When he first came here, he was in bad shape; he appeared to have no resources at all.
… is an attribute of blackness.
That is to say, in any given setting, if perhaps 20% of white people would display willful defiance, perhaps 30% of blacks would. The actual differences in proportion are probably much greater.
We will examine first the evidence that this is so, and then consider the ramifications for black prosperity.
I do intend the evidence to be exhausting.
Continue reading Willful defiance
Sunday, May 26, I arrived at church after the sermon. We had a guest preacher; she’s been here before, but I missed that sermon, too. Her bio, printed in the bulletin, says, “Her work focuses on dismantling white supremacy.” Those words trigger me. But in fact I don’t know what they mean — TO HER. I know what they mean to certain other people, but I don’t know what they mean TO HER. I have never heard her speak on the subject. I am in no position to judge — or prejudge.
Related: Deal with exactly what the person says.
Related: Don’t presume to be a mind reader.
What to do with my triggeredness? At BK after church, I prayed for her health, happiness and prosperity; that she would succeed at every task to which she puts her hand. I did not pray that she change her mind — about anything. In my view, such prayers have no positive effect, and would only perpetuate the darkness I want to change to light.
Monday morning, May 27, I was in Starbucks. The table where I sit faces the door. In came a man pushing a woman in a wheelchair. I know this man; he’s thoroughly demented, but you’d never know that without talking with him. He makes money selling these toy balloons that he twists into animal shapes. He’s really good at it. As to the woman, I perceived that she strove diligently for many years to get into that wheelchair. She’s dedicated her life to becoming helpless.
In seeking my own upward mobility, I am again at the stage where I’m tempted to look down on people whose lives are headed in the opposite direction. It’s as if the vibes they emanate are dissonant to my own. In the end, I need to accept them as they are; to live and let live. I’m not at that point yet.
Related: Coming abstractions
I had to find some way to sublimate my anger. At this writing, I don’t recall exactly what I did. It may have been as simple as to visualize them surrounded by a brilliant cloud of light, feeding my energies into that cloud, loving them as they are.
| <– 5) Pray for the public schools. | Home |
Hostility and turmoil pervade the places you don’t want to go. The spiritual darkness is palpable at noon, and the folk are too lacking in self-love to organize their lives.
The area around my church is nowhere near that bad, but still significantly distressed.
Prayer for my congregation is inseparable from prayer for that ‘hood, and I engage in such prayer every day. Continue reading 6) Emanate love.
Edgar Cayce’s dream tells me more about the material world than the spiritual world.
Cornel West channels Martin Luther King Jr. to criticize Obama
Friday 2014-12-26
Learning happiness can take you out of your comfort zone.
So, there can be a learning curve as one comes to tolerate and manage greater degrees of happiness and prosperity than one has been accustomed to.
Some time ago, this short, very thin Korean immigrant with shoulder-length gray hair began coming to the shelter. When he first came here, he was in bad shape; he appeared to have no resources at all.
The Homeless Blogger 