Educating Ourselves Out of Hell

My Faith teaches that Heaven and Hell are more than "places" one can go depending on some amount of ethical behavior--they're very Real states of heart and mind we all experience while still in our bodies here on Earth!

{{ This image is the photo-logo of a group I helped get off the ground recently, Mountaintop Conversations.

We're using some novel methods of communication in small groups to reach within and find ways to realize the "Dream" of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Reach within" is the important part of the process because if we want to educate ourselves out of the "hell" of poverty, racism, and violence we must go within and release the qualities we all have that Dr. King so eloquently portrayed.

Even the word "Education" comes from roots that mean to Draw Out !

I've mentioned before my parallel immersion in a simulation of non-violent methods and I've recently found a virtual world, Second Life, that looks to be a marvelous tool for training people to educate themselves out of their personal hells.

I believe even the most sceptical would find a space of interest in Second life (I personally, along with my work of Waging Peace in this virtual world, find it extremely calming to hang out at a huge castle...)

For any of you who want a glimpse behind the magic of Second Life and a more technical view of it's educational potential, Google has a neat video about all that [N.B.: The vid says there are 150,000 people using 2ndLife... That was when they made the vid; it's now over 5 million \\+// you can actually make money in this simulation !!!]

Wrapping up this post about my virtual educational experiences are two pictures--one of me in the Real World and one I created in Second Life. I'm still learning how to use the controls so my avatar doesn't look as much like me as it could; but, I'm Learning!

Women Walking In Wisdom’s Footsteps™

We've had a few posts here devoted to women:

There was Mass Murder of Women,
Abused and Tortured Women - Mass Murder #2, and Women: From Bad to Better . . .

So, today, I'm going to direct your attention to a woman's blog that's "For women who are humble enough to seek wisdom yet sensible enough to impart it."

It's called: Women Walking In Wisdom’s Footsteps™ and, since it offers to share wisdom from women, I want to, especially, invite men to take a look!

Men? Hell yes!!! I'm a man and I grew up being told that the best philosophers were men. Then, I attained an age to begin to know better. Wisdom is the name of the Goddess Sophia and if you Love her (philo) you are into Philosophy (the Love of Wisdom).

Women Walking In Wisdom's Footsteps™ is ripe and replete with Sophia's Love...

Here's that blogger's profile:

About KWiz

Dec 6th, 2006 by KWiz

What’s with this eye?

I am the wife of a wonderfully caring man, the mother of a fabulous 2-year old “big girl”, and a teacher of Biblical Studies at a private, college prep high school in Georgia who is seeking to live out her calling as a Woman Walking In Wisdom’s Footsteps.

I’ve been married since April 14, 2001 to a great writer, photographer, speaker, poet, and all-around fix-it man. He also happens to be a great father. I’ve experienced alot of growth as a result of this relationship, but it hasn’t been easy. You’ll read about some of the growing pains I’ve experienced and the many resources God has sent my way to help me grow.

I’ve been a mother since May 20, 2004. My pregnancy was divinely-ordered, and out of it came the most beautiful baby girl you’d ever want to see (of course, every mother says this about their new babies!). I struggled during most of my pregnancy, and almost lost her. I’ll tell you a bit more about these struggles and what I learned from them, hopefully providing some encouragement for those “older” women (35+) who are discouraged because of their age.

I am also a teacher of biblical studies at a Christian college-prep high school in Georgia. God orchestrated this as well, as I was blessed with this position right after I completed my Master of Divinity degree at Emory University. I enjoy studying and teaching both Old Testament and New Testament from an academic point of view; it doesn’t negate faith at all, but it does open up the scriptures in a way that adds so much richness to one’s faith, if they allow it. I’ve been teaching on an academic level for seven years now - it is my calling, and I’m so thankful that I was open to receiving what God had for me. I’ll be speaking a bit about calling and how you can go about discovering yours.

These are a few of my many experiences that I hope will enlighten and encourage you as we seek to gain and share wisdom together.

Veterans For Non-Violence

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As a past post indicated, I'm deep into a study of the means and principles of non-violence. I've found a wonderful Serious video game called A Force More Powerful and the Director of the Dayton International Peace Museum and I are planning to take it to local high schools and help the kids learn that non-violence is much more powerful than violence (no matter what the media would have us believe...).

That man on the left is General Douglas MacArthur. I've heard rumors that he was a warmonger and a completely horrible man. In a second, I'll give you some of his words that surely seem to falsify that rumor but first I want to show the path that led to this post.

Not everyone who visits here knows how stories happen and there are, in reality, many ways and means. The particular one for this post was one of the more circuitous: I have an alert with Google to find any news, or blog posts, or other web pages that have the words "spiritual" or "spirituality" in them. Today, as I began to ready myself for blogging, I hadn't had any of the more synchronistic methods occur so I went to my storage for those alerts. I entered the word "war" and the first e-mail that popped up was:

WAR AND SPIRITUAL PROGRESS
By chenquestion
Wow! Just found a terrific quotation from warrior of legendary stature, over at the InsideAwake blog: http://insideawake.blogspot.com/ . Among other goodies.
Chen.quest.ion - http://chenquestion.wordpress.com

That led me to War and Spiritual Progress on another blog called, insideawake (which is pretty cool since "inside" and "awake" together make "idea" pop out!). This blog had a quote from a speech made by MacArthur and the link-out led me to The American Experience section of the PBS site where I found the whole speech and this quote (the emphasised words are my doing...):

"Men since the beginning of time have sought peace. Various methods through the ages have been attempted to devise an international process to prevent or settle disputes between nations. From the very start workable methods were found in so far as individual citizens were concerned, but the mechanics of an instrumentality of larger international scope have never been successful. Military alliances, balances of power, Leagues of Nations, all in turn failed, leaving the only path to be 'by way of the crucible of war. The utter destructiveness of war now blocks out, this alternative. We have had our last chance. If we will not devise some greater and more equitable system, Armageddon will be at our door. The problem basically is theological and involves a spiritual recrudescence and improvement of human character that will synchronize with our almost matchless advances in science, art, literature and all the material and cultural developments of the past 2000 years. It must be of the spirit if we are to save the flesh."

Sound like a warmonger to you.........?

Spirituality Survey

Take the ExploreFaith Quiz and Find Your Place on the Spiritual Spectrum:

This little survey (I don't think "quiz" is quite the right word...) gave me an extremely worthwhile picture of where I'm at on my Spiritual Path. Ten questions and quite a bit of insight gained!

I'm reproducing the introductory explanation and the ten questions below.

The intro. because, even if you read it again when you go to the site, it can't hurt to be clear about the parameters of the experience...

The questions because I think it's a good idea to briefly ponder the issues before you actually take the survey:

"Think of the questions below as the first marks on a canvas. Like many quizzes pertaining to faith, this one traces the edges of your spiritual life and how you relate to the sacred. Yet this quiz also reminds us that we are all works in progress, that portraits begun in black and white come alive when we add color. We need space to change and grow, and ways to help us fill out our lives and move ever closer to the Holy.

"Thus, your responses are not simply conclusions, they are beginning points for new discoveries, brilliant adventures and fruitful growth. In answering these 10 questions, you can both discern more clearly who you are, and discover new avenues for God's creative spirit to work within you. "

* I try to feel close to God through _________.

* When I have an extraordinary experience of God's presence, I _________.

* When I am questioned about my faith, I _________.

* If someone threatened to harm me unless I renounced my faith, I would _________.

* If I felt that God was calling me to perform an extraordinary feat, I would _________.

* When I feel disconnected to the Holy One and wonder about God’s presence, I _________.

* When others around me are trying to find God, I _________.

* If I were going through a period of doubt in my life, I would _________.

* If a story were written about my spiritual life, I’d want it to say that I _________.

* When I think of being a person of faith in my everyday life, I want to _________.

Go here >>> explorefaith.org and do the survey!

Art as Non-Violent Response to Violence

This painting is called: Dante and Virgil Contemplate the Inferno and it was created by Sandow Birk.

As a partial explanation of the theme of the painting, I'll quote his biography:

"Most recently, he has completed an enormous project involving the rewriting and illustrating of the entire 'Divine Comedy' [written by Dante] into contemporary American English."

Here's a listing of some of the themes appearing in his work:

* inner city violence
* graffiti
* various political issues
* travel
* prisons
* surfing
* skateboarding

I first became aware of his work because of the appearance of this painting, The Liberation of Baghdad, in the popular blog Boing Boing:

Here's what they had to say:

"...Birk has made a number of paintings, including The Liberation of Baghdad, seen here. The paintings are more satirical and ironic, and many are based on paintings of the glories of war in Napoleon’s time and from Russian socialist images of battlefield glories.

"The Liberation of Baghdad, says Birk, is about 'what we were told would happen -- happy, joyfully liberated Iraqis welcoming American troops as we free them from the shackles of oppression.'"

Along with basing the way he expresses his feelings on historical styles of painting, he adds the Spiritual Commentary of satire and irony.

For instance, rather than just painting The Liberation of Baghdad in an ancient style and letting the serious viewer go away thinking he approves of the "liberation", Birk added the dog fight in the lower left corner.

Every detail of a created work is important to the meaning of the whole. Birk didn't have to put any dogs in the picture and he didn't have to make them fight ferociously. But he did and by putting them there he told the careful viewer, "This situation may just not be what it first appears to be".

And American troops are still dealing with that deadly dog fight...

Love: A Casualty of War...

A while back, we had a post called, True Love, that gave some insight into the fate of a relationship in a war zone.

This post continues the theme with, When Love Is a Casualty of War.

From the Blog:

"'My Lebanese girlfriend does not want to listen to The Cure’s song “Killing an Arab.'

“'Turn it off,' she demands.

"This is odd. Helen is a huge Cure fan; in fact, I never really listened to The Cure until we started dating. I turn around to face her, my mind racing to produce some witty remark that will make her laugh and defuse the sudden tension, but our eyes meet and I am utterly disarmed. I hear her sigh as she walks away.

"It’s not that Helen doesn’t like this particular song, it’s that she doesn’t like songs about killing Arabs, especially when in real life, our peoples are killing each other day after day. We cannot enjoy the song’s catchy rhythm or ironic lyrics when bombs fall and Katyushas fly. What used to be a harmless song has become an unwanted reminder of the gulf that exists between us.

"Together, Helen and I had tried to create a tidy little universe with a population of two. In this universe, it didn’t matter that I was a Jew and Helen was an Arab. We were beyond the politics.

"On our first date, we set a precedent by skipping out on a proposed tour of the Lincoln memorial, preferring to tour each other’s contours rather than those of a lifeless statue. As the months passed, we discovered that Helen’s attempts to teach me French were as doomed as my own throat-clearing lessons in the correct pronunciation of challah, her favorite new food. We could even laugh at the irony when Helen peeled off my sweater to reveal a T-shirt emblazoned with “Don’t Worry America, Israel Is Behind You.”

"Politics slumbered alongside us. Sometimes it spoke in its sleep, sometimes it rolled over, but it did not wake up.

"And then, the war..."

This post is absolutely worth reading to the end; so, here's that link again:

When Love Is a Casualty of War.

Women: From Bad to Better . . .

From Cruelty beyond the call of duty: How must it feel to have lost access to someone you care about? To worry, knowing they are in the hands of vindictive, vicious, unaccountable policemen and women who are hell bent on making sure you can’t find them.

How must you feel when reports finally start to reach you that they are badly injured - bearing injuries they didn’t have before they entered the walls of one of the many police stations dotted around the city - and they are being prevented from receiving medical treatment and legal assistance?

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From Iraqi Women - four years later:
Every-day survival is a priority in a context where lack of security goes side by side with incredibly difficult living conditions. The Iraqi infrastructure which was already severely debilitated as a result of economic sanctions and a series of wars has deteriorated even further since 2003. Electricity shortages, lack of access to potable water, malfunctioning sanitation systems and a deteriorating health system are part of every-day lives in post-2003 Iraq. Intisar K., who works as a doctor in a teaching hospital in Baghdad, summed up what has also been documented in several UN-related documents: “We only have electricity for three to a maximum of five hours a day. There is not enough clean drinking water. Lack of sanitation is a big problem and continues to be one of the main causes of malnutrition, dysentery and death amongst young children.”



From the Bahá'í International Community:

UNITED NATIONS, 18 March 2007 (BWNS) -- Last autumn, Anisa Fadaei started a discussion group on women's issues at her high school. Meeting every two weeks at lunch, about a dozen girls discuss issues like domestic violence, unequal pay rates, and trafficking in girls.

The topics were unfamiliar to most of the participants, which is the point.

"Before we started, most of the others didn't have a clue about gender equality issues or violence against women," said Anisa, who is 17 and lives in the town of Stroud, in Gloucestershire, United Kingdom. "We live in quite a nice area and so most of my friends didn't realize that such problems with inequality were going on around the world."

Though young, Anisa is committed to raising awareness about gender issues. She is involved in the youth caucus of the UK National Alliance of Women's Organizations, and she has been the featured speaker at several school-wide assemblies on women's topics. She was recently profiled in a UNICEF newsletter that focuses on how young people can get involved with global issues.

Our Second E-mail Reporter Talks About Depression

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Depression can be a killer at worst and a bummer at the very least. It's also rampant in the world.

We recently had a post concerning that called, World-Wide Depression.

A woman named Dar left a comment to that post then said it could be used as its own post. I'm glad she decided to share it because she relates valuable information about depression; and, we need all the information we can get because depression is a most potent Spiritual Killer. Even if you don't suffer from it, I can bet someone you know does...

Dar not only decided to share about depression, she also agreed to be our Second E-Mail Reporter !

Just before her first report I want to give you two links:

* A Depression Screening Site

* A Depression Forum Site

Now, here's Dar:

"Below is an e-mail that I wrote to my family and friends back in November.

"My story is basically an attempt to relate to you the 'awakening' that has happened to me very recently. It's my way, I guess, of trying to share the incredible journey that I have just taken, and continue to take.
I have always considered myself to be a self-confident, competent woman. But for as long as I can remember I have harbored a feeling of emptiness, like something was missing somehow...I assumed that something was the 'right' relationship, more money etc...I have come to believe that this is the predominant human condition. Time went on, I set various goals and excelled at things that I set my sights on. I was constantly being told that I would make an excellent nurse. I even enrolled in school in Denver, but didn't see it through. I was dragging my feet because, I thought, that I wasn't supposed to be a nurse and if not that, then what?? I knew I had other passions but my whole work experience was nursing-my technical skills were top notch, so what was my problem???

"In 2003 I began to feel a pull to Maine. No idea why-never been to Maine, actually never been east of Ohio, but there has always been a 'fondness' for New England..it seemed like 'home' to me somehow....So after a 10 day vacation to Maine in the summer of 2003, I started planing. June of 2004 found me on a plane with my cat, headed for a new life.

"After arriving here my fall was immediate and complete. Everything that I had defined myself by was gone. I couldn't start IV's, drop NG tubes, hell I couldn't even put on oxygen here, people actually doubted I had the skills! All the nursing skills that I was so highly valued for in Denver meant nothing out here. Somehow that translated to 'I am nothing'. I sank into a dark , deep pit of depression, mentally flogging myself for every past error, every misstep in judgement, my intellect 'knew' things, but my soul was a void. I don't believe in taking meds for depression. It took me almost 2 years to pull myself out of that pit, but what I learned about myself were lessons that made it worthwhile.

"Finally I was able to let go--to forgive myself completely for every thing that I had spent so much energy beating myself up for. I learned the power of self-love and I realized that I never actually thought I COULD be a nurse. It was always some far-off dream...I carried with me, every day of my life, crippling self-doubt and damaging internal dialogue that I was never even aware of. All my life, I realized, I searched for something, some place or someone to fill that emptiness in myself. And I always thought that I was honest with myself, and I was, to the best of my knowledge at that time. But our minds are clever jailers, and keep us in self-imposed bondage until we are finally able to rise above it.

"Winston Churchill said 'If you are going through hell, keep going'. As I look back on my former self, I am surprised in a way. My old self would ridicule the waste of so many years being always afraid. Now I am so grateful that I have so much time left! The timing was perfect, it happened when I was ready for it. There are many examples of miraculous things happening as a result of emotional trauma. I would say this has been my miracle.

"I am no longer plagued with self-doubt! The power of that is unbelievable! I don't bemoan the past or live only for some future..'Ill be happy when......'

"I've known these truths always...intellectually. It took this experience for these things to blossom fully and for me to truly see clearly-finally and once and for all. This is not an 'attitude'...it's a knowing....an absolute clarity of what is...and who I am!!

"What I have learned through this experience is simple, yet it isn't something that can be realized intellectually. I identified my self with what I did--all external things. When those external things were gone, so was 'I'....now if I were asked to 'define' myself, I would speak of internal things, things that are the essence of who I am.

"I no longer dwell in the past or worry about the future. I enjoy each step that I take today, and as a result I see things and appreciate things on a much deeper level.

"Our minds are so active, running our lives that we have little room for our spirits to do the guiding. 'Meditation' is one path to that, but those voices are so hard to silence. A simple exercise-Close your eyes and think to yourself 'I wonder what my next thought will be'. While you are waiting for that next thought, it's the absence of thought that is the peace--the quiet that we seek!! Pretty damn cool!!! And practice makes those silences ever longer.

"There have been many spiritual teachers, Buddha, Jesus, various Zen masters who have tried to convey basic truths about conscientiousness. But we 'think' and 'reason' the lessons away, instead of developing our spirits to know what is already inside us.

"Wow, well I'm sure this sounds very 'new age-y', but it is what it is, whatever label is applied. As I have said, these things are not new--none of this is new information. I was just never able to 'depose the dictator' that was my egoic mind.

"Anyway, I also wanted to tell those of you who wrote me letters of recommendation that during my darkest days, those letters were my lifeline to any feelings of self worth, and I am ever grateful. I still cherish them, but for entirely different reasons.

"I hope this isn't too vague, as I read this over I realize that I fall very short of what I wish to express, like a painter who is so moved by the sunset but the final painting does not convey the emotion that he felt while viewing it. But I hope this is adequate, just the same!

Sincerely,
Dar

Abused and Tortured Women - Mass Murder #2

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This post exists because of a response to the post just before it.

Ihoha, who's blog carried the story I covered in the last post, made a brilliant comment on it.

The comment's right there under the post but I felt it deserved being a post in it's own right.

You may want to back up and read that last post first...

~~~~~~~~~

My Dear Alexander,

Thank you for posting this information in your blog. It is horrifying to know that this kind of behavior continues as we move on in this new millenium. However, this may be one evidence that we have not gone far at all in our hearts and minds as a species. As we think we are the only thinking and feeling beings, those that believe that we are made -- in whose image are we so made that we kill those that bring life into the world?

I have often wondered if we truly believe any of our scriptures or are we simply carrying books out of some force of habit?

May the men of the world truly let go of fear and trust in life and love. How can love not be known to and by them? Women give birth to male children and care for them until they are able to care for themselves. That is an example and position of power.

We are okay -- male and female -- and though the power of the female lies in the time even before birth, there is a power that she does not control during the hosting process and that is the structuring of the being into human. This knowledge and power is beyond her reach. A woman is never closer to death than at the point of birth. Men will never know the pain of it nor the shift in consciousness required to accept something separate from yourself growing inside your very body.

As a female and a mother, I offer this: power lies in knowing who and what you are and that no part of you is missing.

Loving Blessings,
Ihoha Sophia