JOYFUL WANDERING -- 62

+ Updated at 11:05am on Monday, May 16, 2016.

+ This post includes entries from Tuesday, March 15, 2016 until Monday, May 16, 2016. Latest entries are at the top. If you would like to contribute, write JW in your subject line and send it to John@abundancetrek.com or put a comment on my Facebook page.

+ Check out an impressive Munson Williams Proctor Art Institute special exhibit of Terry Slade's unique art now happening. The artist is very much focused on the damage we are doing to our environment. However, he offers art as tools for meditation and contemplation making it possible to change our ways.

+ Inner Frontier offers "Sustaining Presence" by Joseph Naft. Excerpt: "If we want to be present, not just momentarily, but to stay present a little longer, the key is to relax into being here. We relax our body, sense it, and relax into the sensation. We notice our thoughts and relax into the cognizant space behind them. We relax into the equanimity behind our more superficial and fleeting emotions."

+ The Guardian offers "Let Donald Trump Be Our Unifier" by Eve Ensler.  Excerpt: "He is the outcome of an insidious exceptionalism – the bedrock belief that American lives are more precious and valuable than any Others, those that we stigmatize, bomb, torture, murder, control, invade and whose economies we trash, whose resources we devour, whose futures we steal."

I do believe that we can be transformed by our better angels as we deal creatively and energetically with this long shadow over the planet. This is a powerful, far-reaching and all too revealing article about what the problem is.

+ Inner Frontier offers Modes of Presence by Joseph Naft.  Excerpt: "In the coming weeks, we will experiment with each of these twelve modes of presence. For this week, please look at your own work of presence and its various flavors and aspects. How do you come into presence? Does it descend on you unbidden? Do you rise into presence? Do you choose to be present? Do you choose to stay present? Who is the you that is present?"

+ Common Dreams offers "The New Truth About Free Trade" by Robert Reich. It begins: "I used to believe in trade agreements. That was before the wages of most Americans stagnated and a relative few at the top captured just about all the economic gains."

+ Joyful Wandering posts 1 to 58 are found on The Abundancetrek Blog. You can find them all here.

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+ This may be my last Coffee Break post.  I don't know. Obviously I am not offering these posts very frequently anymore.  I offer my wisdom or foolishness often on Facebook and Twitter and sometimes in e-mails and at the Abundancetrek blog and a few forums. But I do like to blog so I may simply begin a new series of posts here with a new name.

+ Robert Reich does it again > “Patrolling the Boundaries Inside America” 

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+ updated at 5:17pm ESDT on Tuesday, October 7, 2014. 

+ “In everything, whether it is a thing sensed or a thing known, God Himself is hidden within.”  -- St Bonaventure

+ Spirituality and Practice offers an excerpt on an excerpt on practicing Unconditional Love from the book, It's Up to You: A Practice to Change Your Life by Changing Your Mind by Karen Casey. Read the S&P review.

+ Religion for Life offers John Shuck's recent  interview with Bill McKibben

+ 2 important articles by Robert Reich:

•  “Why We Allow Big Pharma to Rip Us Off”
• “Why the Economy is Still Failing Most Americans”

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+ Robert Reich offers “Antitrust in the New Gilded Age”. Excerpt: “In 1890, when Republican Senator John Sherman of Ohio urged his congressional colleagues to act against the centralized industrial powers that threatened America, he did not distinguish between economic and political power because they were one and the same. The field of economics was then called ‘political economy,’ and inordinate power could undermine both. ‘If we will not endure a king as a political power,’ Sherman thundered, ‘we should not endure a king over the production, transportation, and sale of any of the necessaries of life.’” 

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+ updated at 5:34 EST on Thursday, January 9, 2014

+ The Washington Post offers "Church shouldn't be this hard" by Tom Ehrick. Excerpt: "An assembly that should relax into the serenity of God’s unconditional love shouldn’t be so filled with hatred and fear." | Read it all

+ Love IS the answer. Sing Along!

+ Robert Reich offers "Why The Republican’sOld Divide-and-Conquer Strategy — Setting Working Class Against the Poor  — Is Backfiring." Excerpt: "Republicans told the working class that its hard-earned tax dollars were being siphoned off to pay for “welfare queens” (as Ronald Reagan decorously dubbed a black single woman on welfare) and other nefarious loafers. The poor were “them” — lazy, dependent on government handouts, and overwhelmingly black — in sharp contrast to “us,” who were working ever harder, proudly independent (even sending wives and mothers to work, in order to prop up family incomes dragged down by shrinking male paychecks), and white." | Read it all 

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+ updated at 11:53am EST on Wednesday, January 8, 2014

+ On FB, Robert Reich posted the following:
"I'm freezing in Chicago. Meanwhile, in Washington, Republicans say they won't extend emergency unemployment benefits unless their cost is offset by cuts elsewhere in the budget. But they won't even consider offsetting the cost by closing tax loopholes for the rich -- such as the "carried interest" loophole that gives hedge-fund and private-equity partners an annual $11 billion tax subsidy, almost twice the cost of extending unemployment benefits. Put this in a larger context and see the pattern: (1) Not only do they oppose extending unemployment benefits, but (2) they oppose any jobs program to put the long-term unemployed to work, (3) they want to cut food stamps, (4) they refuse to raise the minimum wage, and (5) they're determined to kill off unions. Connect the dots and you have a calculated strategy to keep wages as low as possible -- forcing large numbers of Americans to choose between working for peanuts or having nothing at all. Republicans are pushing this strategy because lower wages give their big-business patrons fatter profits (at least in the short term; longer term, they reduce overall demand for goods and services). The strategy is already succeeding: Real median household incomes are now 4.4 percent below what they were at the start of the so-called recovery, and corporate profits are up. Democrats, including Obama, should be calling them out on this strategy. Why aren't they?"

+ Richard Rohr offers "The Contemplative Alternative." Excerpt: “What we are enjoying now is a renaissance of the contemplative mind, the one truly unique alternative mind and heart that religion has to offer the world. Without this new mind, most doctrines, moralities, dogmas, and church structures will almost certainly be misunderstood, misused, and mishandled. Small people make everything small.” | Read it all

+ Robert Reich is very wise, intelligent, informed and compassionate. Recently he offered "The Year of the Great Distribution." It begins: “One of the worst epithets that can be leveled at a politician these days is to call him a 'redistributionist.' Yet 2013 marked one of the biggest redistributions in recent American history. It was a redistribution upward, from average working people to the owners of America.” | Read it all

+ “Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul.” -- Mahatma Gandhi

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+ updated at 12:39pm EST on Saturday, January 4, 2014

+ On Facebook, Robert Reich shared: "Several of you thought yesterday's post arguing that Congess's first priority when it convenes next week should be to restore unemployment benefits for the record number of long-term unemployed was a weak palliative for what's really needed. "We don't need unemployment benefits," wrote Burr Hubbell, for example, "We need real jobs." Mr. Hubbell and others raise an important issue. In fighting for measures that alleviate symptoms of a failing system -- whether chronic joblessness, increasing poverty, widening inequality, or ever greater economic insecurity -- are we staving off more fundamental reform? Or are we taking the only humane approach available until such time as fundamental reform is politically feasible?"

+ On Facebook, J. Barrett Lee shared: (DISCLAIMER: This is in response to an anonymous commenter on my blog, not anyone I know in real-life or Facebook)
 
I think I'm going to start responding to the phrase
"Don't be so open-minded that your brains fall out."
 
with:
 
"Don't be so close-minded that you blow other peoples' brains out."
History has many more concrete examples of the latter, I'm afraid.

+ Eleventh Day of Christmas
A verse from the Daily Lectionary:

May God grant your heart’s desire
and fulfill all your plans.”

Psalm 20:4 < http://www.presbyterianmission.org/devotion/daily/2014/1/4/

At http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve_Days_of_Christmas we are informed that today is the feast day of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first American saint according to the Roman Catholic Church. In medieval times this was The feast of Saint Simon Stylites.

Here is the Spirituality and Practice Christmas quote for today by the great Sufi poet, Hafiz:

A Suspended Blue Ocean

There is only one rule
On this Wild Playground,

For every sign Hafiz has ever seen
Reads the same.

They all say,

"Have fun, my dear; my dear, have fun,
In the Beloved's Divine
Game,

"O, in the Beloved's
Wonderful
Game."

Hafiz in The Subject Tonight Is Love by Daniel Ladinsky

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+ Advent: Day 19 > During Advent we are called to remind ourselves that the values of heaven and the values of the world are in conflict.  Soon, on the upcoming Fourth Sunday of Advent, the people in many churches will hear The Magnificat (Luke 1: 46-55) which includes these words:

He has shown strength with his arm;

   he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.

He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,

  and lifted up the lowly;

he has filled the hungry with good things,

   and sent the rich away empty.

 

A modern day prophet advocating for economic justice is Robert Reich who points out that much of the tax-deductible charitable gifts the rich give are not necessarily so charitable. Read:  http://robertreich.org/post/69833627613

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+ updated at 2:30pm EST on Monday, February 4, 2013

+ If only politicians would learn from people who know what they are talking about, people like Robert Reich. TruthOut offers "The Jobs Report, and Why the Recovery Has Stalled" which begins: "We are in the most anemic recovery in modern history, yet our political leaders in Washington aren’t doing squat about it. In fact, apart from the Fed – which continues to hold interest rates down in the quixotic hope that banks will begin lending again to average people – the government is heading in exactly the wrong direction: raising taxes on the middle class, and cutting spending."

+ Here is one of my favorites: New Soul by Yael Naim: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgEfYGzojcA

+ Here is a great song, an all time favorite of mine, The Logical Song by Supertramp, accompanied by some great images: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5k3JVfxluFU

+ How about some Coldplay: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlQc9sZJt4M 

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+ updated at 1:22pm EST on Friday, December 14, 2012

+ Robert Reich offers "Why is Washington Obsessing About the Deficit and Not Jobs and Wages?" Excerpt: "The job situation is still horrendous. Twenty-three million Americans can’t find full-time work. Less than 59 percent of the working-age population of the nation is employed, almost the lowest percent in three decades. 4.8 million Americans have been out of work for more than six months. The 40-week average spell of joblessness is almost three times the post-1948 average."

+ Huffingpost offers "Fox News War on Advent" by Diana Butler-Bass. She makes it quite clear that the so-called Fox News and its so-called "war on Christmas" is rather misguided since the first 24 days of December are not Christmas at all but Advent. And Advent for Christians is not about shopping madly and conspicuous consumption.  In many churches Christmas Carols wait until Chritmas Eve and the twelve days of Christmas which follow. So, its not "Mery Christmas" but "Come quickly, Lord Jesus." Tell Fox News. 

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+ updated at 4:32pm EST on Wednesday 12/12/12

+ Back to Economic Justice: 2 of the latest posts by the brilliant Paul Krugman:

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/12/the-yes-minister-theory-of-the-medicare-age/
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/11/delusions-of-wisdom/

If only the Democrats would be advocates for Economic Justice the way Krugman and Reich are, among others like Bernie Sanders and Michael Moore.  Oh I could name so many more.  Like Ed Schultz.  Like Amy Goodman. 

+ Economic Justice is really important so don't miss the important links below.  Just as important is the need to deal with climate change.  Here is a pie chart explaining clearly why the climate deniers need to be revealed as the uninformed and misinformed non-experts they are. Thank You Bill McKibben for sharing this and for all you do to protect and preserve our home, our planet.

+ I have found a very informative article on the Federal Budget:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/07/17/156918878/dissecting-federal-spending-with-an-eye-on-cuts

So much of the conversation is missing the point when it comes to what cuts can really be made.  WE NEED MORE REVENUE and I believe this article and the 2 Reich posts below will help you see why.

+ The latest 2 posts by Robert Reich get to the heart of the problem, the growing injustice which seems to be quite alright for the plutocrats: 

http://robertreich.org/post/37752857908 
http://robertreich.org/post/37674429285

Correct me if I am wrong but it seems to me that most of the people with great power and privilege simply don't care about the suffering of the poor who will be hard hit if we go the route of austerity. The plutocrats will not suffer. 

The Democrats need to fight as hard as ever for tax increases for the wealthy and no cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Unemployment benefits and all other programs which help the poor and struggling middle class.  Thank You Robert Reich for being such a tremendous advocate for economic justice.  I hope the Democrats listen to you. 

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+ updated at 2:29pm EST on Friday, December 7, 2012

+ We are on an amazing journey.  I invite you to join me and explore some of the wonderful, fantastic places which we can and even must encounter sooner or later. I invite you to write about your journey. Go to my Let's Go series of posts. 

+ OK, since I'm thinking about some of my favorite places on the web, I must suggest that you think about including Theological Wanderings of a Street Pastor, that is if you like blogs with spiritual and theological and political and cultural depth.  Barrett's posts are simply fascinating most of the time. I'm a fan. And he's also a great friend.

+ And I am a big fan of Bill McKibben, a fantastic environmental writer and activist.  The New York Times recently offered "To Fight Climate Change, College Students Take Aim at the Endowment Portfolio" which features a campaign promoted by McKibben to divest from fossil fuel industries unless they change their policies.

+ Of course, I remain a big fan of Paul Krugman and his great blog. Here is "The Fiscal Ignoramus Factor." Oh how I wish our political leaders would heed the advice of the likes of Krugman and Reich.  Keynes was right.  Keynesian Economics is an important policy for us to choose as we move our planet toward more compassion, peace, justice and sustainable abundance.

+ I am becoming a big Robert Reich fan.  What a great blog.  Here is his latest: "Cliff Notes on the Three Real Perils Ahead." The real cliffs we face are: Growing Poverty, Rapidly Increasing Healthcare Costs and Global Warming.

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+ updated at 5:36pm EST on Wednesday, December 5, 2012 

+ A new poll reveals that most Americans would blame GOP if we go over the fiscal cliff.

+++++++

Change.org|Start an Online Petition
 

+++++++
 

+ Faithful America is asking us to sign a petition asking Rick Warren to  Speak out against Uganda's anti-gay law.  Rick Warren has been instrumental in leading Uganda to become as homophobic as any place on earth.  He can make a difference but has been silent on this critical concern in recent days.  Here's what the petition says: "Rick Warren, it's time for you to again speak out against the Ugandan legislation that would make homosexuality punishable by life in prison or even the death penalty. Your history of associating with anti-gay extremists in Uganda means you have a moral obligation to work tirelessly to prevent this bill from becoming law."

+ Spirituality and Practice offers important reviews of some great new films and books.

+ The trouble with the rat race, says Lily Tomlin, is that even if we win we are still rats.

+ Robert Reich offers UNDERSTANDING THE FISCAL CLIFF (IN 2 MINUTES 30 SECONDS).  He believes the Democrats have a strong negotiating position at this time and must hold firm now and in the coming months.  If all goes well, the rich will pay something closer to their fair share of taxes, the safety net will be protected, middle class tax cuts will be preserved, jobs will be a priority and not deficit reduction for the time being, investments in our future productivity will be maintained, military and corporate welfare spending will be cut.