Conflict – Page 2

If You’re Paying Attention, You’re Not Outraged

Posted by Steve Roberts on
 August 21, 2017
  ·  3 Comments

 

To what extent are some members of the opposing sides in the Charlottesville, Virginia confrontation the same in their hatred?  How much are each virulent in their disdain for what they feel the other represents?  How are the lives of each compromised by these feelings?  How is our society’s health diminished?

I’m sure that some members of the resistance to white supremacy, of which I am one, live the non-violent principles of the civil rights workers of the 1960’s, which I do, not well, but aspire to.  These principles include that to truly act in a non-violent way, one must remove violence from one’s heart.

My sense is that most people with that capacity have the benefit of some serious training, whether in this life or a previous one.  The rest of us, less skilled at returning love for hate, are more susceptible to being outraged by that which we consider vile.  In the case of Charlottesville, we may find ourselves hating the haters.  And hey, we can easily justify this reaction because, after all, we’re on the side of the angels and those assholes are not.

The self-destructiveness of that response is what some of us may have in common with those whose beliefs and actions we abhor.  I’ve never heard of anyone hating their way to happiness, except by learning how limiting hate is. Read More

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Opening the Door of Healing

Posted by Steve Roberts on
 June 25, 2017
  ·  3 Comments

I’ve just read “Killers of the Flower Moon” by David Grann, about the systematic murder of probably hundreds of people and the disenfranchisement and terrorizing of many more as greed and prejudice fueled an ugly response to the phenomenal riches of Osage Indians in Oklahoma a century ago.

The Osage happened to find themselves the beneficiaries of an enormous oil discovery on their reservation.  Tribal members soon became some of the wealthiest people on earth.  Naturally, this stimulated all sorts of schemes to defraud the Osage of their affluence by those, including members of Congress, whose personal values were not equal to resisting the tremendous temptation.

The lesson I find most noteworthy about that brutal chapter of American history is that it is virtually unknown in our culture.  And by “unknown” I mean, most devastatingly, “unlearned from.”  This is not surprising, since virtually all the chapters of untold viciousness we Americans have visited upon ourselves and others are significantly “unlearned from”—perhaps most notably, or egregiously, the lives of black people, native people, and women.  Oh, there are many others, to be sure, but those are undoubtedly among the more conspicuous.

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What’s Worth a Big Smooch?

Posted by Steve Roberts on
 June 4, 2017
  ·  1 Comment

Adverse conditions are our spiritual teacher, sages say.  That’s why we might consider kissing Trump’s ring.  You know, metaphorically speaking.  Few people have made our nation so dangerous and our government so mean-spirited.  Few people, therefore, have obliged us so strongly to engage in one of life’s most important activities––sharpening our sense of:

    • What’s essential, what we cannot live without.
    • The values we hold sacred.
    • Who we aspire to be or die trying, no matter what.
    • And, given our answers (for ourselves individually, and for the world), the healthiest action we can take now.

Trump may be over the moon nuts, a crackpot extraordinaire with no ethical center, as trustworthy as a brain surgeon with hiccups, but anybody who prompts us to pay attention to considerations that help define the well-being of every person on earth is useful, if not enjoyable.

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Why The Gods Are Smiling

Posted by Steve Roberts on
 January 22, 2017
  ·  5 Comments

Even with tears in their eyes, the gods have been smiling for weeks at the Great Mess triggered by our choice of president.  That’s what gods do when they recognize that we, in our sleep, have created for ourselves an opportunity bordering on demand to address the question: Who will I be or die trying?

Yes, we’re in for some gruesome times.  Military occupation of Manhattan if that’s what it takes to get Saturday Night Live off the air?  Who would bet the farm against it?  Our problem isn’t that Trump is malevolent.  He’s far more dangerous than that.  He’s absent.  The way a drug addict is absent.  The way a sociopath is absent.  The way “A stiff prick knows no conscience” is absent.  And that absence, that absence of humility, sincerity, empathy, that absence of even a sense of humor, has become a void of integrity in which some of our culture’s nastiest instincts are flourishing.

Even we who know this may wonder why it might cause the gods to smile.

The Big Picture.  Knowing that a nation lives, not by its material achievements, but in its masterpieces of men and women.  Having witnessed since forever how threats of profound harm are reminders that commitments have virtually no value until they are aligned with action.  Recognizing that Trump is Santa Claus for anyone whose answer to the “Who will I be…?” question is: “Bring my very best self to whatever life presents.”  This is among the big enchiladas of human aspiration.  And the fact that Trump (unbeknownst to him, of course) can help us achieve it––just tickles the gods no end.

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Who Would Have Thought a Food Fight Could Be So Nourishing?

Posted by Steve Roberts on
 November 6, 2016
  ·  3 Comments

It has been shake-your-head crazy at times.  Eight in 10 voters say they feel repulsed rather than excited.  Still, this season’s presidential food fight can enrich our lives for years to come.  Among the things available to learn is how easily we demonize.  And why we do it.  And the steep price we pay for it.  And how, if we choose, we can do less of it––should having a peaceful heart be something we want to cultivate.

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"The push to change the words “nigger” and “injun” in Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, because the so-called offensive nature of those terms might limit today’s readership and appreciation of that literary classic, is a wonderful opportunity to reflect on how we avoid taking responsibility for our feelings––and therefore miss the chance to become more awake, more whole, more useful friends to one another."

The Essay: The Gold in Niggers and Injuns