Written by: Rick Staggenborg, MD on Oct 14, 2009 8:23 AM PDT
This chapter is dedicated to Jesus Christ, who according to the oral history eventually recorded in the Bible showed selfless bravery and in the end made the ultimate sacrifice in challenging the authority of Rome. His words and actions changed the collective consciousness in an enduring manner. In rejecting the concept that slavery is normal and acceptable, he enabled the eventual rise of democracy in America and the world.
His message produced the crucial change in thinking that will ultimately save humanity from itself, if only the Earth’s people are good enough to forgive the actions of the misguided terrorists who gave rise to the opportunity for the Machine to temporarily seize control of the course of world events.
Understanding and applying the basic teachings of Jesus does not require accepting any of the interpretations of the Bible religious leaders try to tell us are facts. If Jesus taught us nothing by the example of his life, it was that only by challenging conventional wisdom can you hope to change the world.
The ridiculous assertion that the story of Jesus in the Bible is no more than a retelling of old myths is easily dispelled by considering the amazing change that took place in the collective consciousness after the Bible states that he lived and carried out his ministry for only three years. If he had not lived, how are we to explain how the acceptance of slavery as natural came to be rejected and Rome defeated after centuries of dominance?
It is true that violent resistance by Germanic tribes played a critical role in overcoming Roman dominance, but the cycle of violence would have continued forever had not Jesus introduced the notion that refusal to accept injustice does not imply that violent resistance will result in freedom. This is especially true when the forces being resisted are overwhelmingly better prepared to carry out that violence. Such is the case with the US and Muslim terrorists.
Faced with overwhelming superiority of conventional US forces and misled by CIA-inspired anti-democratic Imams who teach that Allah has created a world where violence is the only means of seeking justice, the actions of Mulsim fanatics do not make them free but further trap them in a cycle of violence. With each act of murdering innocents, Muslim terrorists give the international corporate terrorists who run the US government more fuel to build the fire of fear that will consume us all if we do not rise together to stop the slaughter for which both are responsible.
Faced with overwhelming superiority of conventional US forces and misled by CIA-inspired anti-democratic Imams who teach that Allah has created a world where violence is the only means of seeking justice, the actions of Mulsim fanatics do not make them free but further trap them in a cycle of violence. With each act of murdering innocents, Muslim terrorists give the international corporate terrorists who run the US government more fuel to build the fire of fear that will consume us all if we do not rise together to stop the slaughter for which both are responsible.
The eye-for an-eye mentality remains an unquestioned tenet of belief in the minds of many Jews and Christians as well. As Mohammed taught that Jesus was a prophet and that the teachings of all of the true prophets must be accorded equal respect, then it follows that the message of Jesus applies to all faithful Christians and Muslims. Again, one does not have to be religious to accept the wisdom in the words of Christ as recorded in the Christian Bible. It is simple logic to deduce the truth in the proposition that forgiveness is necessary in order to advance the intertwined causes of liberty and justice for all, the ultimate goal of any democratic society.
In order to move beyond war, we must accept that even the most evil deed does not destroy the soul of the misguided perpetrator. Forgiveness is a cardinal virtue, as it is the one thing that will save us from self-annihilation. Only when we accept that we all have fallen short of what God wants of us and that achieving the humility to forgive others as we would want to be forgiven ourselves can any of us be free.
Liberals and conservatives in the United States and Israel have been at war for decades with each other. If we stop pointing fingers at each other and accept our own culpability in the perpetuation of war and other injustices, we can move forward together in confidence to a much brighter future. When that perfect day comes, we will truly have Heaven on Earth.
Liberals and conservatives in the United States and Israel have been at war for decades with each other. If we stop pointing fingers at each other and accept our own culpability in the perpetuation of war and other injustices, we can move forward together in confidence to a much brighter future. When that perfect day comes, we will truly have Heaven on Earth.
In the immortal words of King Solomon the wise:
To everything there is a season, and
a time to every purpose under heaven:
A time to be born, and
a time to die;
a time to plant, and
a time to pluck up
that which is planted;
A time to kill, and
a time to heal;
a time to break down, and
a time to build up;
A time to weep, and
a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and
a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and
a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and
a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and
a time to lose;
a time to keep, and
a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and
a time to sow;
a time to keep silence, and
a time to speak;
A time to love, and
a time to hate;
a time of war; and
a time of peace.
Rick Staggenborg, MD
From Albuquerque, New Mexico-The Land of Enchantment
peace is the way, waging peace is pro-active, Mending Wall as Robert Frost poem is too often mis-quoted, good fences are MADE BY GOOD NEIGHBORS TOGETHER.... we need to employ a new CCC with young people and the unemployed to patrol the Mexico and Canada borders to welcome people seeking their families and jobs and have security agents search the few for drugs or weapons or those who are criminals joining gangs, peace begins at our borders, peace includes seizing the assets of BP so that we can immediately use all BP tankers to suck up all the oil rising to the top, some how burn off the benzene and other toxic gases and keep all BP workers from top down on the job cleaning up their won mess at living wages, not corporate millions of dollars in the polluters pockets, and peace is ending the opium trade in Afghanistan and the genocide against Iraqui's, restore all Palestinian lands stolen by Israeli's or pay the survivors full market value for the lands stolen by zionists
ReplyDeleteThanks, Larry and thanks for the offer to help organize my campaign. I am looking forward to meeting you. I hope that you will be at the media event in LA we are organizing to promote third Party candidates. I think we will have to push it back to early August, though. We need a little time to network if we are going to get the attention of Hollywood and the people who can help us win in November.
ReplyDeleteI am initiating a campaign asking friends to post to the Facebook pages of Progressive Democrats of America, its state affiliates and its leaders: Tim Carpenter, Laura Bonham and Conor Boylan. We need to encourage them to prepare to abandon their organizing charter and throw in with the Progressive, Working Families, Independent and Green Parties to form a viable national unity Party that can take on the Demican and the Republicrat "leadership" who have sold their souls to the corporatocracy.
I am sorry to report that the LA event did not come off as I had hoped. It was another lesson in not underestimating the ability of people to fail to see the importance of following through on promises.
ReplyDeleteI had hoped that if the people who promised their help on this project came through it would be easy to make the connections that might make my race viable. I cannot say that I am bitter, because I have come to beleive that everything happens for a reason. It is not for me to say when enough people will wake up to the reality that when we are living in a nation that has a fascist government.
I am not disappointed personally that most people fail to understand this when I tell them. On the other hand, I am deeply disappointed when people who profess to understand this cannot see that we must come together in a democratic Revolution at the ballot or we will soon see a violent Revolution on the streets.
The violence could easily be triggered by the corporatocracy on virtually any pretense. The angry, ignorant mobs who have been stockpiling weapons since Obama was elected are waiting for a sign that it is time to revolt against whatever demon they beleive is before them, such as our supposedly "socialist" government.
If it is to their perceived advantage or perhaps just as a result of their infinite ignorance, the Puppetmasters might just provide the signal these deluded citizens may take as a sign from God that it is time to fight for what they believe in their FOX-soaked brains is right.
In re-reading this brief essay, I wonder if its simple meaning is clear. Sometimes the simplest messages are not understood because they require accepting ideas that run counter to our deepest beliefs. The notion that we can end war is such a belief for many.
ReplyDeleteIt seems obvious to me that we cannot win the war against fascism if we continue to inist that in every conflict we must punish the "guilty." If I understand what Jesus was trying to tell us, he was saying that we must look to a future when we will see ourselves as a family of Man. That cannot happen until we realize that no one is by nature evil and that we cannot settle old scores while trying to create such a future.
Forgiveness is as critical to the survival of the human race as forgiving our children is to raising psychologically healthy adults. Just as a healthy family will put aside differences in times of crisis, we must realize that even the most heinous acts are the natural result of a family of Man that we have allowed to become very sick indeed. Whether by comission or by omission, we are responsible for the evils that are coming back to threaten us now.
If God is our judge, we had better look to our own salvation by working to change the world so that the inequities that lead to war no longer exist.
You nailed something really critical - "It seems obvious to me that we cannot win the war against fascism if we continue to inist that in every conflict we must punish the "guilty."" That goes for every conflict even within the US - as an example, the Americans who insist that the unemployed should be punished for being unemployed so long...
ReplyDeleteYou have it exactly right, Impy. People tend to think in terms of either-or and as if life is a zero-sum game where no one gets ahead except at the expense of others. That is the nature of today's society and one that is reinforced by corporate media and their Puppets in Congress.
ReplyDeleteIf we had real leaders who did not simply accept that they must serve corporations in order to stay in office so that they could salvage scraps for those who voted them in, this never would have happened. No man can serve two masters but We the People have forgotten that we are the true masters of our own national destiny and that of the world.
We must take some blame for allowing the situation to develop. Even before the assault on education, the typical American had become intellectually lazy and complacent. They have become black-and-white thinkers on both the Left and Right. Punishing politicians because we disagree on some things they believe in or do but who are trying to do their best to represent We the People is foolish and self-defeating. It is the main reason that politicians become habitual liars.
There are few on the Left or the Right who are not ready to eat their own for saying what they believe when it is contrary to popular opinion. While the Left may be more likely to have reality-based opinions, their conclusions are not necessarily more valid or useful than those of thinking conservatives or of liberals who think outside the box.
The point is that as long as we continue to fight each other, disrespect each other and ignore other points of view, the simple strategy of divide and conquer will continue to be effective. If those of us with strong views are so smart, then why can't we have an open, respectful debate between those who disagree and are willing to talk to each other?