Bird Droppings August 19, 2011
Searching for ideals

So often in life we are faced with choices which determine how we can face the day and or how we interact with the events surrounding us. On the news a phone cam videoed a man being shot by police. The video was grainy and what was explained to be a gun was a weapon. Officers interviewed on camera alleged they were aware the man was mentally disabled but they used all caution at their discretion. I am not sure what that meant and they did shoot the man and kill him. In schools we can be trained to subdue the physical developments of disturbed children without killing them. Interesting it seems officers with weapons seem to forget to use non-killing means first. But who can say that at a moment when seemingly a possibility of death an assailant with a supposed gun is coming at you what we would do.

“I keep my ideals, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart.” Anne Frank

This morning the moon has dwindled away and is gone. The clear sky is still a sight to see and experience early in the morning as I walked out taking our oldest dog out. One aspect of my own personality that has helped me in life has been trusting people. I will trust till literally until forced not to. I faced a dilemma several years ago and most every year it seems with students who I work with that are trying to get kicked out of school. Various discipline issues are tried, talking back to teachers, leaving classes, leaving the building, skipping classes and one of my favorites as I think of a particular students smoking on campus. I still liked him and still will try to help him even though he was deliberately forcing the issue. Perhaps getting caught in the same bathroom at the same time four times is a bit much however and by the same administrator.

“I see the world being slowly transformed into a wilderness, I hear the approaching thunder that, one day, will destroy us too, and I feel the suffering of millions. And yet, when I look up at the sky, I somehow feel that everything will change for the better that this cruelty too shall end, that peace and tranquility will return once more. In the meantime, I must hold on to my ideals. Perhaps the day will come when I’ll be able to realize them!” Anne Frank

It has been a number of years since I first saw the movie about Anne Frank and read her book. When I get frustrated with simple things of life I recall such individuals as this marvelous teenager who courageously kept her idealism midst the tumult of Nazi Germany. I have friends who in various discussions are comparing the radical Muslim ideology of today to Nazi Germany. One point is Germany was constantly albeit primarily focused on warfare still researching and improving technology. Most of the radical segments of Islam want to revert to a more primitive state.

“Ideals are like the stars: we never reach them, but like the mariners of the sea, we chart our course by them.” Carl Schurz

“A map of the world that does not include Utopia is not worth even glancing at, for it leaves out the one country at which Humanity is always landing.” Oscar Wilde

Is it because we want Utopia or is it a fear of that same utopia that drives us away from it. As I thought it dawned on me that establishing ideals requires a considerable amount of trust, a belief in something that is often called faith in many circles. Over the years I have read many aspects and variations of what faith is and how it is developed.

“Stage 6 is exceedingly rare. The persons best described by it have generated faith compositions in which their felt sense of an ultimate environment is inclusive of all being. They have become incarnators and actualizers of the spirit of an inclusive and fulfilled human community. They are “contagious” in the sense that they create zones of liberation from the social, political, economic and ideological shackles we place and endure on human futurity.” Dr. James Fowler, The Stages of Faith

Several years ago I became interested in the concept of how faith develops and its parallel word trust interestingly enough they within the definitions of each other. Reading this section of Fowler’s stage six in the last line, when we trust or have faith to that ultimate level we are “contagious” and the parameters of society and politics are insignificant. Fowler goes on to say in all of history very few have ever reached that stage most remain fixated on the lower levels of the humanity faith scale.

“Today we see symptoms of our blindness to limits in cancer and AIDS, which are still beyond our reach. We also see them in modern terrorism, in which there is no human compassion to set limits on killing. The anonymity in modern warfare-smart bombs and high-flying war machines-is another example of hubris and the absence of humane limits.” Thomas Moore, Care of the Soul

I am wandering a bit but so much of we are revolves around the concept and ability of trust building and setting ideals to grow from. “No limits to human killing” this is a parameter of world terrorism and sometimes I wonder if we and our own government do not adhere to a similar policy as we seem to have a difficulty with peace. I wonder what Anne Frank would think of our crazy world now in our government head quarters we will argue or debate depending on from which perception and view you take and one side will lose and one will win. It has been an interesting week with my broad band service up and down due to the thunder storms and some new construction. I would think cutting an inch thick fiber optic cable would cause some concern. As I ask every day and do again today please keep all in harm’s way on your minds and in your hearts.
namaste
bird