CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE. THE POWER OF LOVE

Written by: Rick Staggenborg, MD on Sep 4, 2009 8:50 AM PDT

This essay is dedicated to Mary Sue Evers, pastor of the UCC church of Cedar Hills in Beaverton, Oregon.

Jesus was the greatest rabbi ever, in the minds of millions of believers all over the planet. In two years of ministry, he changed human collective consciousness forever. In the centuries since his passing, the collective power of those who believe that people of good will can change the course of human destiny has grown into a potent force for good. Those who believe in the power of universal love that comes from the recognition of our interdependence keep alive the hope that we may yet be our own saviors.

The popularity of Jesus and his message is such that it has become common for cynical and selfish individuals to pervert his words into those of anger, war and the cult of greed. It is a measure of the power of love that true believers in its redemptive power can forgive these self-deluded individuals, who know not what they do. Seeing the signs that freedom may be lost forever without our collective efforts to salvage it, it is clear that Judgment Day is at hand. We must not judge those who abuse us nor those who unwittingly support their own abuse lest we be judged and found guilty of hypocrisy ourselves. It is only our faith in the essential goodness in each of us that allows us to love everyone unconditionally. This faith is what makes democracy possible. Taming our tendency toward judgment and our own selfish impulses are the only things that will save us from self-destruction. That will be the fate we ensure if we allow the dream of democracy and freedom to die.

Imagine what Jesus or Buddha could have accomplished had they come today and had the power of the Internet. They could have brought their message to all people of the planet at once. The question is, would anyone have listened? In the Babel of voices crying out to be heard in this day and age, how would they be recognized as ones who had found the simple answer to the riddle of how we can recreate the Garden and experience Heaven on Earth?

To love one another as we ought to love others as we would want to be loved ourselves seems so simple today that the message would be ignored among the senseless ramblings of narcissists who have no sense of the profound. It seems that it was necessary that each deliver his message personally, so that others could witness the miraculous transformation that occurred in those with whom they shared the awakening each experienced wandering alone in the wilderness.

Soldiers For Peace is the Medical Corps of doctors who would heal the world. We must draw on this reservoir of hope and strength to accomplish our mission. There is a worldwide Army of believers in our collective power to change the world that is already in place. Together we can successfully wage asymmetric warfare against the corporate forces aligned against us. When we win the war to Take Back America for democracy, Soldiers For Peace around the world can join forces in the fight to save humanity from the ravages of the radical individualists who seek to subjugate us even as they destroy the planet. As surely as every person yearns to be free, we will prevent them from realizing their nightmare vision of enslaving us all in a fascist New World Order. We need only follow our hearts to find how to direct our collective will toward action to accomplish our mutual objective.

We should not reject followers of religion merely because the blind faith of some has been misused by the self-interested for their own personal gain. Those whose faith are abused are sincere in their desire to live according to the principles of justice and equality based on the teachings of all the great prophets. In this they are no different from atheists who consider themselves secular humanists. There are those among them who have no faith in our essential goodness in the face of all the evidence to the contrary, while others are true to this belief. These are those who recognize that the selfish behavior of some is the product of societies driven mad by the delusion that each of us is the master of our own fate rather than subject to the selfish whims of those who we are taught to revere.

The acceptance as truth of that which is unknowable has the danger of leading to delusionality, whether one believes that he knows the mind of God, or whether he accepts as fact that God does not exist. I can have no more respect for the atheist than the religious fundamentalist of any faith. It is in doubting ourselves that leads us ever closer to true knowledge. The role of faith is that of providing a lens through which we may choose to focus on the negative or the positive in Man and the world.

In a democracy, we must not accept as fact the opinions of others. We must be careful that we do not accept our own prejudice as truth, which can lead us into dangerous error. If we do not choose to believe in God or Man, we should blind ourselves to the possibility that there is some source of ultimate good. Only by keeping our minds open can we see all possibilities for a better future. We can only make that possible future a reality if we believe that we are good enough to rule ourselves. That requires independence of thought but a healthy respect for the opinions of others.

With faith in our ability to forge a world in which universal love is seen as a virtue rather than an idealistic notion, we can confidently work to make democracy a reality. Universal love cannot be found by those who assume that it does not exist. Those of us who have experienced it ourselves know the meaning of true equality, which is the basis for democracy. When we accept that some individuals are worthy of ruling others, we tolerate injustice. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Democracy cannot exist where injustice is allowed to persist. Universal love is the source of compassion that compels is to seek liberty and justice for all.

In the immortal words of Huey Lewis:




The power of love is a curious thing,
make a one man weep, make another man sing.
Change a hawk to a little white dove.
More than a feeling, that's the power of love


Tougher than diamonds, rich like cream.
Stronger and harder than a bad girl's dream.
Make a bad one good, make a wrong one right.
Power of love that keeps you home at night.


You don't need money, don't take fame.
Don't need no credit card to ride this train.
It's strong and it's sudden and it's cruel sometimes.
But it might just save your life.


That's the power of love.
That's the power of love.


First time you feel it, it might make you sad.
Next time you feel it, it might make you mad.
But you'll be glad baby when you've found.
That's the power makes the world go 'round.


And it don't take money, don't take fame.
Don't need no credit card to ride this train.
It's strong and it's sudden, it can be cruel sometimes.
But it might just save your life.


They say that all in love is fair.
Yeah, but you don't care.
But you know what to do
when it gets hold of you.


And with a little help from above
you feel the power of love.
You feel the power of love.
Can you feel it?
Hmmm…


It don't take money and it don't take fame.
Don't need no credit card to ride this train.
Tougher than diamonds and stronger than steel,
you won't feel nothin' till you feel...
you feel the power, just the power of love.


That's the power, that's the power of love.
You feel the power of love.
You feel the power of love,
feel the power of love.






Rick Staggenborg, MD


Coos Bay, OR

CHAPTER SEVENTY THREE. THE STUPOR BOWL

Written by: Rick Staggenborg, MD on Feb 14, 2010 11:01 AM PST

This chapter is dedicated to Ralph Nader, champion of the oppressed who ran for President in 2004. He is known to the general public as the tireless watchdog who wrote Unsafe at Any Speed to warn America of the dangers to the consumer of reckless pursuit of corporate profit as exemplified by the rollout to much fanfare of the Edsel, which proved as dangerous as a Toyota in its day. With Bush Junior driving America straight toward a cliff, he responded with characteristic energy by mounting a Presidential campaign to get a platform to warn America about the folly of blind patriotism and jingoism in an era where greed is worshiped and the hands of the government had been handed over to soulless corporate interests.

Nader is unfairly maligned to this day for “over-reaching” and costing Gore the election. The truth is that a detailed analysis of the results of the election demonstrated that he did not cost Gore a single electoral vote. We all know that the Presidency was handed to him by an activist Supreme Court that ignored the white collar riot in Florida engineered by the same corporate powers who put them in their life tenured positions of power. It is time to let go of the grudges of the past and work together to Take Back America for the People.

Last Sunday brought us the spectacle of the Super Bowl. Millions of Americans put aside their fears for the future for one afternoon, gathering with family and friends to pay homage to men who risk life and limb in the pursuit of glory and gold. Although most of these men have no allegiance to the adoring fans who pay their salaries, they are worshipped and envied for their good fortune and hard work by fans throughout the nation, most of whom do not know or care how many of them end up penniless and often demented by the blows to the head they incur in pursuit of a paycheck.

The brain injuries these Gods of the gridiron suffer from as a result of their blind pursuit of success mirrors the effects on the average American who struggles to gain ground on an increasingly unlevel playing field. Battered by the blows of a merciless opponent who has all the advantages of wealth that enable them to field the best Senate money can buy, they have little chance of success in a globalized economy, yet struggle valiantly on, the underdog in the game of survival of the middle class. Eventually, their dogged determination is typically rewarded by crushing defeat at the hands of a gloating enemy, the corporate Puppetmasters who hired the Senators who serve as their surrogates in the game. 

The occasional hero who emerges to represent these hard working Americans is unable to turn the tide to victory, being surrounded by fools and incompetents who do not understand how to win a rigged game. Only by assembling a team of rugged outlaws will common men and women gain the Longest Yard and find a clear field to the goal line and victory for democracy.

The greatest irony is that in seeking refuge for an afternoon in the meaningless pursuit of vicarious glory, the sports fan is pouring millions of dollars into the pockets of the very corporate CEOs and greedy, shortsighted investors who brought us to the point where we feel we have to drown our sorrows in beer and tears instead of getting up and cheering for the real heroes who struggle in the Senate in vain to convince their teammates to do the job they were hired for. The corporate media and their sponsors laugh their way to the bank on Monday while we trudge wearily back to our jobs, leaving no one at home to clean up the popcorn and beer cans left on the floors of our living rooms, because every family member has to work for the family to survive.

Maybe if so-called Christians spent their Sundays in real churches instead of the church of Sunday football, we would be reminded that there is a larger community who cares about us and is willing to spend its free time working for the benefit of the least fortunate among us, who will soon be us if we do not join them.  Perhaps then they would earn the salvation that they think they have earned just by believing that Jesus is going to save them from their sloth and willful ignorance.

Who knows, maybe the Saints will come marching in. They looked pretty strong this year.

Monday Monday, so good to me,
Monday Monday, it was all I hoped it would be
Oh Monday morning, Monday morning couldn't guarantee
That Monday evening you would still be here with me.


Monday Monday, can't trust that day,
Monday Monday, sometimes it just turns out that way
Oh Monday morning, you gave me no warning of what was to be.
Oh Monday Monday, how could you leave and not take me.


Every other day, every other day,
Every other day of the week is fine, yeah
But whenever Monday comes, but whenever Monday comes
you can find me cryin' all of the time.


Monday Monday, so good to me.
Monday Monday, it was all I hoped it would be.
Oh Monday morning, Monday morning couldn't guarantee
that Monday evening you would still be here with me.


Every other day, every other day,
Every other day of the week is fine, yeah.
But whenever Monday comes, but whenever Monday comes
You can find me cryin' all of the time


Monday Monday, ...






Rick Staggenborg, MD


Founder, Soldiers For Peace International


Coos Bay, OR