Appreciation nurtures health and peace

Create the world you want to live in, by appreciating what there is to appreciate. Here is a watercolor sketch I painted yesterday of Sein Creek where it flows into Hagg Lake in Oregon.

George Floyd and History's inspiring lessons / Lecciones de la historia

(El español sigue el inglés)

Bread and Roses

As we go marching marching
in the beauty of the day . . .

Blacks suffering extreme racist abuse, women treated like property, immigrants blamed for everything--yet we united 30,000 strong, demanded better wages, and though they tried to kill us, we won! 

The New York Sun reported: 

Never before has a strike of such magnitude succeeded in uniting in one unflinching, unyielding, determined and united army so large and diverse a number of human beings.

Reporter Mary Heaton Vorse explained why The Lawrence Strike of 1912 made such an impact:

It was the spirit of the workers that seemed dangerous. They were confident, gay, released, and they sang. They were always marching and singing. The gray tired crowds ebbing and flowing perpetually into the mills had waked and opened their mouths to sing, the different nationalities all speaking one language when they sang together.

Give us Bread and give us Roses

 The lesson here? More singing! Chants are good. Singing is better. Write songs. Sing songs.

The Velvet Revolution

The power of the powerless, writes Vaclav Havel, is to live in truth. When enough people live in truth, a society built on lies crumbles of its own accord. Faced with about 500,000 peaceful people in the streets of Prague protesting police violence (sound familiar?) in November 1989, the Soviet Government resigned. From night to day Prague went from authoritarian dictators to electing a playwright former political prisoner as President. Freedom and creativity flourished.

George Floyd memorial marches today

History teaches us--stay focused and peaceful. Stay united. Be specific in our demands. Give specific action steps to politicians that they can enact immediately. In a thoughtful hour-long press conference, New York Governor Cuomo spells out specific demands and articulates action steps--a primer for seizing this moment for making massive positive reform. 

And sing!

As we go marching marching . . . 

Paris Attacks: Give Peace a Chance

It’s terrible what happened in Paris. I mourn in deepest sympathy.

Yet I do not hate and saber-rattle, calling for war. Why? As Buddhist leader Daisaku Ikeda wrote, “Nothing is more barbarous than war. Nothing is more cruel…Nothing is more pitiful than a nation being swept along by fools.”

Tokyo after Allied bombing raid (March 1945) 

Photo: daisakuikeda.org

Ikeda, who grew up in war-torn Japan, has dedicated his life to ending war and spreading peace through a process called ‘human revolution.’ In the first volume of his series of novels The New Human Revolution, Ikeda cites the great pacifist, Mahatma Gandhi.

Gandhi led India to independence 

through the nonviolent methods of 

civil disobedience. Photo: Wikimedia

Gandhi proclaimed that the ‘power of the spirit’ is stronger than any…bomb. To transform this century of war into a century of peace, we must cultivate the limitless inherent power of human life. This is the ‘human revolution’…

Ikeda bases the concept of ‘human revolution’ on the writings of 13th-century Japanese Buddhist reformer Nichiren Daishonin. Based on deep study of the teachings (sutras) of the Buddha, Nichiren criticized the people in power in his country for their beliefs and assumptions, for they were causing harm to the people.

These erroneous beliefs and assumptions, he argued, were the causes of the civil unrest, attacks from foreign countries, extreme weather, and epidemics that left bodies piled up like cordwood in his island home of Japan.

What were these erroneous beliefs and assumptions? Are they still around, causing misery in today’s world? And what correct beliefs and assumptions did Nichiren advocate would cause peace and happiness?

The erroneous beliefs and assumptions in general were that humanity was a hierarchy where those at the top had the right to manipulate everyone else in order to maintain their own privileged position of power, no matter how much suffering they caused.

Are these beliefs and assumptions still around today, causing misery? The answer is obvious: Yes.

What beliefs and assumptions did Nichiren say were correct, for causing peace and happiness? He cited the Lotus Sutra, claiming that all humans are equal. We are all interconnected with everything, down to the minutest particle of dust, in the great and sacred mystery called ‘Life.’

Interestingly, these beliefs and assumptions are shared by all the indigenous cultures I am aware of, especially hunter-gatherer cultures who have lived sustainably on this planet for thousands of years.

Some people distil these correct beliefs and assumptions into the phrase “We are One.”

Awake to this reality of our interconnection, of our oneness, our equality, we are called Buddhas – awakened ones. If we are awake to our Buddha attributes of limitless courage, compassion and wisdom, Nichiren claimed we can transform our lives, countries and world into a place of ‘eternally tranquil light.’

Violence only begets violence. The cycle must stop.

World Peace. Art: LynetteYetter.com

The killings in Paris are part of a cycle based on erroneous beliefs and assumptions. Now is a time when we can pause and start a new cycle – a cycle of waking up to our oneness with each other, with our Mother Earth and indeed the entire universe.

Ancestral teachings of many cultures advocate this.

Nichiren taught that we can speed up our awakening, our human revolution, with the practice of chanting the mantra “nam-myoho-renge-kyo” to stir up our Buddha-wisdom. Based on that wisdom we take action to make positive change for our own happiness and the happiness of all our relations.

May the poison of the killings in Paris be transformed into the medicine of world peace.

As we say in Bolivia, Jallalla. It’s an Aymara term imbued with hope and determination to work intensely to make our dreams become reality.

And as my Lakota teacher, Peji, taught me — Ho. “Come on! Let’s do it now!”



First published as "Paris Attacks: Give Peace a Chance" on BlogCritics.org

Tiquipaya II, People’s World Conference on Climate Change 2015

When was the last time you got to attend a brainstorming session with the president of a country?

Opening ceremony of the People’s World Conference on Climate Change, in the colesium of the Universidad del Valle, Tiquipaya, Bolivia, October 10, 2015. Photo: Freddy Zarco

That’s what I did October 10-12 in Tiquipaya, Bolivia at the People’s World Conference on Climate Change.

Evo Morales, the President of Bolivia, demonstrated his commitment to having people’s voices be heard by inviting anyone who wanted to participate to come, free of charge. All I did was fill out my registration form online and show up.

Delegates pass through the gates for the People’s World Conference on Climate Change, October 10-12, 2015. Photo: www.conclusion.com.ar

 I was one of about 7000 delegates participating in the People’s World Conference on Climate Change.

The resulting documents that our dozen working groups developed through consensus brainstorming are going with Evo to the UN climate summit, COP21, in Paris, November 30th.

Singing the Bolivian national anthem at the opening ceremonies of the People’s World Conference on Climate Change. President Evo Morales (center) with Nobel Peace Prize laureates Rajendra Pachauri and Adolfo Pérez Esquivel (left). Photo: Fernando Cartagena

I was in Working Group #1, globalization. Here is a report of some of my experiences at Tiquipaya II, held on the campus of Universidad del Valle in the Andean valley of Cochabamba, over 8,000 feet above the rising sea.

First Nations chief Deer from Canada shared a Native technology to avoid selfishness. They open every meeting with a ceremonial bowl of food and a single spoon. The goal is to eat from the bowl, yet leave enough so everyone present gets some, too.

Evo Morales, President of Bolivia. The first indigenous president in the Americas in 500 years.

President Evo Morales spoke in an open, friendly, and frank way.

 “What are the causes of so much damage to Mother Earth? . . .
The dominator system of capitalism is the number one cause of climate change.

Capitalism is a cancer on Mother Earth. . . .

We must eradicate this cancer in order to save Mother Earth and humanity. . . .

In capitalist countries, business and the banks govern. . . . .

Wars add to global warming. . . .

Our task is to unite the social movements of the North and South.”

Evo tasked the delegates with the responsibility to dialog and come up with conclusions to send to COP21 in Paris.

Nobel Peace Prize laureates, human rights activist Adolfo Pérez Esquivel and climate specialist Rajendra Pachauri, presented evidence that emphasized the need to quickly change the structure of society and lifestyles, before it is too late.

Curtis Doebbler, an international human rights lawyer, proposed the creation of a World Court on Climate Change, whose decisions would be binding and enforced.

The Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, praised Evo and Bolivia for creating positive examples for the world. Ban mentioned that even if Bolivia were to go to zero emissions of greenhouse gases the very next day, it would make no difference to climate change because Bolivia is so small; large rich countries are the ones who need to change without delay.

Pope Francis sent his greetings to the People’s World Conference on Climate Change in Tiquipaya, Bolivia, October 10, 2015

Pope Francis sent his greetings, and former president of Uruguay José Mujica shared his support via video.

I felt a shared purpose and vision unite us all who care about our Mother Earth. There was much talk of the need for structural changes of economic systems to become more partnership–egalitarian, and for changes in lifestyles–for the rich to consume less and live more gently on the planet.

For the past two decades governments have gathered yearly to discuss reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but the biggest contributors to climate change have refused to sign binding agreements to change their ways. Glaciers are melting, ocean levels rising and turning acid, weather is more extreme and unpredictable, all because of skyrocketing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere from human industrial activity.

The speakers urged us to take action–to pressure our elected representatives to have the political will to make binding agreements at COP21 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The next five years are crucial for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and switching to low- or no-carbon technologies, before it is too late.

Inspired by this, I created an online petition, which I will present to the White House and U.S. Congress and Senate.

Sunday the working groups met all day. Here are snapshots from my day in Working Group #1. In the morning we elected a man and a woman (one Bolivian and the other a different nationality) to facilitate our conversations.

Our globalization group started with a three-page list of proposed solutions developed by group-member-email contributions before the conference. One by one we each had the opportunity to speak for five minutes, to add proposals to the list. The facilitators wrote constantly, documenting each person’s input.

During our lunch break the facilitators edited our commentaries into a tidy document. It took much longer than they expected. We waited, but not like sheep awaiting our shepherd.

Spontaneously, one by one people stood up and took the floor to address the group about their concerns. A man from Chile talked about how their seas are being over-fished by transnational corporations, destroying the ability for local fishermen to make a living and feed their families and communities.

An alternative radio producer from Bolivia warned about television and radio as brainwashing tools of transnational corporation globalization. He called for more control of the media by the people.

A woman from Cuba shared that they have local community television stations, with all the shows created by people in each community. She said she was proud that Cuban television portrays stories with actors who look like real people, instead of surgically-altered skinny blondes.

And we talked among ourselves. The woman next to me gave me a pamphlet in Spanish from an international conference on Gender and Climate Change she’d attended in May 2015 in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. It concluded that we must design and implement alternative economic models to capitalism.

When the facilitators returned, they projected our collective document on a screen for us to proofread as a group. Unfortunately, at one point, the consensus process got hijacked by one man. He yelled down all other people until his own point of view was adopted.

I did not yell when my own proposal disappeared in the editing process (another Working Group told our facilitators it would be included in their category). In case you are curious, my proposal is for news broadcasts to include the daily Keeling Curve number (the current level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere) along with the weather report and the Dow Jones average.

Our consensus process was not perfect–it is an art we are learning. I am proud to be part of a movement towards what Riane Eisler calls partnership structure–of power with,  instead of our existing domination structures–of power over.

As I left the bird-song-filled campus, a young man handed me a pamphlet with a picture of Jesus from a group called Alfa y Omega. Alfa y Omega calls for people to live as Jesus did, in solidarity with the humble, meek, and poor. Among their fifty-one proposals, they call for equality and justice for all people, living our daily lives in more simple natural ways and avoiding consumerism. They encourage governments to take inspiration from the egalitarian laws of Nature.

Monday morning we delegates met again in the University’s coliseum. The facilitators of the dozen working groups read the collective statements.

The new coliseum in Quillacollo, the largest in Bolivia, seats 12,000 people. Photo: gobernaciondecochabamba.bo

After lunching at local open-air restaurants, we traveled by chartered buses to a coliseum in Quillacollo for the closing ceremonies.

The doors were open for free, to anyone who walked through them. The stands were decorated with banners brought by members of the audience. Some banners were painted by hand. One was from an association of street vendors. Another from the women’s group Bartolina Sisa, named after a martyred indigenous woman who led a resistance against the Spanish occupation.

Famous musical groups including Llajtaymanta gave a free concert. We danced in the aisles.

Representatives of social movements present Bolivian President Evo Morales and Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa with handwoven ponchos and garlands of coca leaves. Photo: eju.tv

Speeches punctuated the music. The presidents of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, and of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, and the chancellor of Cuba, Bruno Rodríguez, each spoke.

They criticized the dominator capitalist structure that has caused climate change. They called for a new economic structure, a partnership structure, which is egalitarian and honors our Mother Earth.

The final speech was by President Evo Morales. He noted that this day, October 12, 2015, was the 523rd anniversary of Columbus invading the Americas, taking away our natural resources to enrich others.

He said, “The U.S. is still doing the same thing. . . The U.S. takes Bolivia’s brightest, trains them, then returns them to Bolivia to implement U.S. imperialist policies . . . like the parasites in the lion’s bowels that kill it.”

Evo affirmed he is taking the documents we created to COP21 in Paris, to present and defend the voice of the people.

The ceremonies closed with a tinku song, to which we and Evo danced along.

First published as Editor's Pick "Tiquipaya II, People's World Conference on Climate Change 2015" on BlogCritics.org.

What if? Thoughts on the Newtown, CT massacre and peace

(El castellano sigue el inglés)
I mourn the deaths of the children and adults in Newtown, CT, killed in a Rambo-style massacre by an American. I mourn the deaths of children and adults everywhere who have been killed by weapons made in the United States, sold by the United States. I mourn the loss of dignity of people trying to make a living, and US culture offers them jobs as accessories to mass-murder -- working for defense contractors, the military, as a politician supporting war, or as an artist developing movies, video games, even novels, which teach and glorify mass-murder. I mourn being part of a culture which lives on the American continent only because our fore-fathers mass-murdered millions of indigenous people (including some of my native Algonquian relatives) and stole the land.

To end the cycle of violence that is systemic in US society, what would happen if the government sets an example by withdrawing the military from everywhere except military bases in the 50 states and stops making and selling weapons for export? What if US tax dollars, instead of paying for mass-murder, were used for humanitarian projects such as housing, education, health, community gardens, parks, arts and music?

As Gandhi and other pacifists have demonstrated throughout history, we can resolve conflicts in other ways, without violence. I mourn. And I have hope -- for any problem created by humans, can be solved by humans.

There are myriads of paths of learning how to live without violence. One path is improving communication skills and the art of dialog. Compassionate communication, also known as "nonviolent communication," is a skill we can learn through books and classes and practice. Lots of practice. It involves expressing our observations, feelings, needs and requests in respectful ways, and to learn how to better listen with empathy.

US former president Jimmy Carter is an expert mediator of international conflicts. In a talk he gave at Royce Hall at the University of California, Los Angeles, he said that all international conflicts are based on the same issues as any disagreement in a family. The scale is the only difference. What if the family is filled with domestic abuse, as our entire society seems to be?
Global domestic abuse? There are excellent books and programs for victims of abuse (everyone in the world), as well as programs for the abusers to learn how to change.

The key is to self-reflect, with the help of a skilled guide, on ones own beliefs, and to embrace other beliefs that are more respectful of life. Like Nichiren Daishonin wrote many centuries ago, "You must quickly reform the tenets you hold in your heart."

Nothing is impossible.

Article first published as What if? Thoughts on the Newton, CT Massacre and Peace on Blogcritics.

***

Yo duelo la muerte de los niños y adultos en Newtown, CT, muerto en una masacre al estilo Rambo por un estadounidense. Yo duelo la muerte de niños y adultos de todo el mundo que han sido asesinados por armas fabricadas en Estados Unidos, que se vende por los Estados Unidos. Yo duelo la pérdida de la dignidad de las personas que tratan de ganarse la vida y cultura de los EE.UU. les ofrece puestos de trabajo como cómplices de asesinato masivo - que trabajan para los contratistas de defensa, las fuerzas armadas, como una guerra político de apoyo, o como un artista en desarrollo películas, video juegos, incluso novelas, que enseñan y glorificar el asesinato masivo. Yo duelo ser parte de una cultura que se vive en el continente americano sólo porque nuestros antepasados asesinaron en masa millones de personas indígenas (entre ellos algunos de mis parientes nativos algonquinos) y robaron la tierra.

Para poner fin al ciclo de violencia que es sistémica en la sociedad estadounidense, ¿qué pasaría si el gobierno pone el ejemplo al retirar a los militares de todas partes, excepto las bases militares en los 50 estados, y deja de producir y vender y exportar armas ? ¿Qué pasaría si los impuestos, en lugar de pagar por el asesinato masivo de guerra, se utilizaron para proyectos humanitarios, como la vivienda, la educación, la salud, jardines comunitarios, parques, artes y música?

Como Gandhi y otros pacifistas han demostrado a lo largo de la historia, podemos resolver los conflictos de otra manera, sin violencia. Yo duelo. Y yo tengo la esperanza - que cualquier problema creado por los seres humanos, puede ser resuelto por los humanos.

Hay una infinidad de rutas de aprender a vivir sin violencia. Un camino es mejorar las habilidades de comunicación y el arte del diálogo. Comunicación compasiva, también conocido como "comunicación no violenta", es una habilidad que se puede aprender a través de libros y las clases y la práctica. Un montón de práctica. Se trata de expresar nuestras observaciones, sentimientos, necesidades y demandas de manera respetuosa, y aprender a escuchar mejor con empatía.

El ex presidente estadounidense Jimmy Carter es un mediador experto de los conflictos internacionales. En una charla que el dio en el Royce Hall de la Universidad de California, Los Angeles, dijo que todos los conflictos internacionales se basan en los mismos problemas que cualquier desacuerdo en la familia. La escala es la única diferencia. ¿Y si la familia está llena de violencia doméstica, como toda de nuestra sociedad también parece ser? ¿Es abuso doméstico Global?

Hay excelentes libros y programas para las víctimas de abuso (todo el mundo), así como programas para los abusadores para aprender a cambiar.

La clave es la auto-reflexión, con la ayuda de un guía experto, en las propias creencias, y abrazar otras creencias que son más respetuosos de la vida. Al igual que Nichiren Daishonin escribió hace muchos siglos, "Usted debe reformar rápidamente los principios que tienen en su corazón."

Nada es imposible.

Book Review: Lucy Plays Panpipes for Peace

Book review by guest blogger, Tantra Bensko
Lynette Yetter’s novel draws from her own life when she went to the Andes, pulled by the sound of the panpipes as a tool for transformation. Yet it is fiction, in the way called for in David Shields’ Reality Hunger. It means more knowing she really did something truly audacious and death defying. Here, we get a glimpse of how close to reality it is, and how the fiction made it into the powerful book it is.

“Hurtling through space and time, the blue orb was rapidly self-destructing. Vital fluids pumped out of its innards burned in orgies of greed. The vapors ate away its luminous ozone skin.

Indigenous Elders, you might call them brain cells of wisdom, were ignored.

New synapses of fiber optic cable and satellite rays rationalized the destruction as ‘progress.’

Chaos surged like a flooding river.”

Thus begins the story in which Lucy goes to participate in the ancient culture of the Andes.

Her words continue to swell when she extends her viewpoint outward, such as “Each person, a black-clad spark of soul, pulled by the inexorable gravity of survival. Together the seething mass of humanity ran. In their black mourning clothes, they were like primordial darkness churning. The light of humanity in their hearts bound each to the other as if to birth a new galaxy of life, in Warrior Town.”

It’s obvious Lynette knows how to write powerfully. I also appreciate how real and down-to-earth the language is, how honest and wholesome this book. It’s hip in a DIY kind of way, with Lynette doing a tour on bike for this book as activism inspiring others to follow their dreams and stand up for peace, and play. It also is a great example of what David Shields call for in his manifesto Reality Hunger, which is taking the world by storm now. Lynette Yetter’s Lucy feels real, and the events occurred in the way that anything occurs in our memories—as fiction–stories we’ve told ourselves repeatedly and bundled into plot packages.

One of the things I like best is that she includes the vantage point of manifesting and finding our future—and doesn’t just include the times her intentions worked. Her idealism, naïve ideas of the simplicity of finding her heart’s desire are sweet, and ironic when faced with reality. She manages to keep her humor about the ups and downs that causes, though she feels such things very passionately, and they can shake her. Her naïve idealistic determination makes her follow the sound of pan pipes to Peru, where she plays in various venues, joining in with indigenous musicians, as she believes the sound can help create visions of harmony for others as it did for her. She believes she can make a difference to bring more peace to this world through them. But it’s just that quality, and her passionate empathy and love, that create the inspiring events of this book.

Lucy takes on oppression and segregation, pointing out the false flag of 911, the cultural imperialism of missionaries, the modern tendency to block people out of simply going out and camping under the stars, and she wonders at anomalies of government/military connections. In South America, she plays indigenous peasant music only recently made legal, and has no trouble associating with citizens  in the Andes who disrespect unfair political authority, and encourages harmony in dangerous situations. Even in competitive traditions she fosters a sense of oneness.

She acknowledges how magical the world is through synchroncities such as running into the man who wrote a song she was playing. Yet, this isn’t a treatise on creative visualization. The irony that can undercut such magic becomes obvious when she gets to know the song’s author. I love that combination. She’s not living out some formula, pretending it always works. So, when her intentions do manifest, her visions do come true, they are far more believable and powerful.

We learn about Andean folklore, such as the respectful relationship of miners to the Tios, earth spirits who live underground. We also learn that kusillos are androgynous entities who bridge the known and unknown.  And we follow closely: shocking international business practices, the role of civil disobedience in social progress, and the involvement of the U.S. in civil war. This book made me cry for a long time, tremble, and even shout out loud.

David Shields would like her book. In his, Reality Hunger, which also came out in 2010, he claims “Most, perhaps even all, good work (or, okay, work that excited me) eludes easy generic classification: once we know it’s coloring entirely within the lines called 'novel' or 'memoir' or 'Hollywood movie,' I honestly don’t see how anything emotionally or intellectually interesting can happen for the reader. . . . Just as out-and-out fiction no longer compels my attention, neither does straight-ahead memoir.”

I asked Lynette about the fiction/memoir interface: “My book and reality. It is heavily based on my own personal experience in Peru and Bolivia.

In order to better tell the Truth, to express Reality, I chose to fictionalize my experiences. As an old hiking buddy and PhD in English once told me — fiction is where we express the deeper truths of life. In short, she said, ‘Fiction rocks!’ Lucy Plays Panpipes for Peace started out as pure memoir — emails sent to friends and first person stories I told at performance spaces in Los Angeles.

But, it was too limiting to stick to chronological events and specific people.

By fictionalizing reality I can lump many people into a single character who then becomes an archetype. And in that process, new characters – 100% fictitious – are sometimes born. My favorite is Aunt Bert.

Aunt Bert came to me in a vision, you might say. I was riding in a bus along the shores of Lake Titicaca, when suddenly Aunt Bert appeared in my mind. She told me her life story. As I looked out the bus window at the scenery passing by, I was so moved by her life that I even cried at the sad parts. And when I got to where I was going, I wrote down what she had told me. That is how Aunt Bert came to be in the book.

Speaking of reality – to me, Aunt Bert is one of the most real characters in the novel – yet she is 100% fictitious.

Reality is so multi-dimensional. On one hand, it is the material world we can document with calendars and cameras and weights and measures. Yet it is also the invisible realm of the mysterious that animates all of life – is life. By fictionalizing the material world, I strive to reveal the deeper truths of what is invisible yet is the most powerful truth of all – our own lives.”

David Shields asks “A character is either ‘real’ or 'imaginary’?. . . . To be alive is to travel ceaselessly between the real and the imaginary, and mongrel form is about as exact an emblem as I can conceive for the unresolvable mystery at the center of identity.”

I can feel this book in my heart. I know Lynette bravely accomplished the amazing feats in this story, yet it isn’t a heavy handed recitation of her travels, or an SGI tract, but a call to go into our deepest selves, to cry, because there is a reality there that the fictionalization allows to live in a moving way, inside of us. There is no boundary between story and life, Lucy and Lynette, or our hands, wet with tears, and the pages they turn, which catch the light of the sun, that is not separable from the light of consciousness.

Is Obama's Call for Peace an Impossible Dream? (How global domestic abuse affects you, and what you can do about it)

How can we explain the stunned silence of the crowds when President Obama mentioned the word "peace" in his acceptance speech? Like an abused wife, have we become so accustomed to the control tactics of global domestic abusers that we now see abuse as normal and peace as an impossible dream?

Domestic abuse gone global. It's not just an intimate couple trapped in a cycle of abuse based on power and control, it's all of us in the world. Global domestic abuse. Domestic abuse tactics include:

• Isolation

o Controlling what we do, who we see, who we talk to, what we read, where we go (The Patriot Act and Homeland Security, and their counterparts around the world)
o Limiting our outside involvement (Creating a climate of fear of traveling to unapproved countries such as Cuba, and restrictions of movement for travel and immigration across the US border)

• Male Privilege

o Treating us like a servant (Wage slaves)
o Making all the big decisions (WTO, World Bank, IMF, etc)
o Acting like the King of the Castle (All those experts we are expected to believe)
o Being the one to define men's and women's roles (Women still do not legally have equal rights, and what rights women do have are being challenged every day)

• Economic Abuse

o Preventing us from getting or keeping a job (We've all seen this)
o Making us ask for money (Mortgage applications, car loan applications, Health Insurance applications, Social Aid applications, Student loan applications, Grant applications, etc, etc, etc)
o Not letting us know about or have access to the (global) family income (Rich getting richer and poor getting poorer)

• Emotional Abuse (Turn on the TV and you'll find all of these; hence the epidemic of mood-altering medications and suicides)

o Putting us down (If we're not an expert, our ideas don't count)
o Calling us names (Advertisements that imply "You're ugly, fat, unlovable!" etc, if we don't look like a model)
o Making us think we're crazy (Prozac, Paxil, Ritalin, etc.)
o Making us feel bad about ourselves ("You're a social reject if you don't have the latest iPhone!" or whatever)
o Playing mind games (Too many to list)
o Humiliating us (Airport security)
o Making us feel guilty (Mortgage foreclosures, IMF loans with harsh conditions)

• Coercion and Threats

o Making us do illegal things (Invading countries is not legal)
o Making us drop charges (US ignores the World Court)
o Making and/or carrying out threats to do something to hurt us (People jailed under the Patriot Act for just reading, talking, or not talking like Leah-Lynne Plante)
o Threatening to commit suicide (Suggesting that the world will end unless the economy keeps making the rich richer and the poor poorer)

• Intimidation

o Making us afraid by using looks, actions, gestures (Turn on the TV and almost everywhere we see something trying to make us feel fear, such as a news show about terrorists)
o Smashing things (Atomic bombs blowing up cities, etc)
o Destroying our property (Our home, the Earth, is being destroyed by transnational corporations)
o Abusing pets (Species going extinct due to industrial pollution)
o Displaying weapons (Selling and using weapons seems to be the number one industry: the military-industrial complex)

There's a lot more, but you get the idea. As you can see, the abusers are the super rich people who create transnational corporations that make the rich richer and the poor poorer, while buying up radio and TV stations and major newspapers to spread propaganda justifying the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer, and paying politicians to do their bidding. The victims of this global domestic abuse are all the rest of us: almost 7 billion people living on this globe.

When the abuser is an individual trying to control another individual, any domestic abuse hotline you may call will probably advise you to leave the situation and sever all ties, physical, financial, verbal, emotional, etc., with the abuser.

But when you're a victim of global domestic abuse, you can't leave the globe and go to another planet, as in Eric Frank Russell's 1951 science fiction classic tale of a Gandhian utopian planet, ...And Then There Were None. Like the Democrats, Republicans and other parties in Washington, and everyone on the planet, we all have to find a way to come together, dialog, and work things out. How can we, as President Obama said, "Do the painstaking work of building consensus and making the difficult compromises needed to move . . . forward?"

A huge first step would be for abusers to take a lesson from one of their own: the late transnational CEO, Ray C. Anderson. In his autobiography, Confessions of a Radical Industrialist: Profits, People, Purpose--Doing Business by Respecting the Earth, he shows how he woke up from being an abuser and developed empathy and compassion.

In the United Kingdom there is a program for abusers to learn how to accept responsibility for their actions and reform their ways. Perhaps they can take their program to corporate headquarters around the world, Wall Street brokerage firms, and government offices of obstructionist politicians.

In the meanwhile, we can each develop our own state of life. I feel inspired by these words of Daisuku Ikeda, president of the lay Buddhist organization Soka Gakkai International, which I jotted down during his 1990 live-simulcast speech from Los Angeles, California:
"When you feel entrapped by the chains of society, stand up with courage (compassion and wisdom) and your life will be as huge as the universe."



Article first published as Is Obama's Call for Peace an Impossible Dream? on Blogcritics.

How to be a Buddha; The Real Aspect of the Gohonzon

SGI study chief Mr. Morinaka for the first time lectured in Seattle, Washington. On August 20th, to a packed auditorium, he talked about "The Real Aspect of the Gohonzon" by Nichiren Daishonin. His lecture drew heavily from commentary written by SGI President Daisaku Ikeda.

As background, Mr. Morinaka discussed some of the history of Buddhism and observed that Buddhism branched into two main practices:

1. Meditative
2. Praying to statues

Meditation nowadays, he said, is often thought of as achieving tranquility, peace of mind. Some schools even advocate trying to sever attachments. However, in the past, Tien Tai of China practiced a different type of meditation whose intent was to observe ones innate limitless Buddhahood and to manifest it.

Praying to statues, on the other hand, Mr. Morinaka observed was separating ourselves from Buddhahood. A statue externalizes the Buddha. The greater we imagine the external Buddha to be, the lesser we ourselves feel. We feel tinier and more insignificant.

As I ponder these observations, it brings to mind some oft quoted words of Nichiren Daishonin.

"Never seek this Gohonzon outside yourself. The Gohonzon exists only within the mortal flesh of us ordinary people who embrace the Lotus Sutra and chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo." ("The Real Aspect of the Gohonzon," Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 832)

and

"Even though you chant and believe in Myoho-renge-kyo, if you think the Law is outside yourself, you are embracing not the Mystic Law but an inferior teaching." ("On Attaining Buddhahood in This Lifetime," WND page 3)

So, we can see that even if we are chanting daimoku, Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, to the gohonzon, if we think the gohonzon is outside ourself, instead of observing our own innate limitless Buddhahood and manifesting it, we actually can feel tinier and more insignificant -- as if we are praying to a statue of an external Buddha.

This reminds me of a point made by Christopher Small in his book Music, Society, Education. Small observed that Western Industrialized Society has created a type of priesthood called "experts." The more we idolize "experts" and unquestioningly believe what they say, the tinier and more insignificant we feel. "I'm not an expert," is a phrase we often hear and maybe have said ourselves. When we put anyone on a pedestal, be it an Olympic athlete, a rock star, a politician, an economist, a scientist or even an SGI leader, the more we idolize them as "others" outside of ourselves, the tinier and more insignificant we feel.

Of course we admire greatness, beauty and wisdom. We feel deep appreciation for what our mentors and role models teach us. But, if we forget that we are all one, that each of us is a microcosm of the entirety of humanity, all of life and indeed the whole universe, then we are externalizing that person whom we admire, seeing them as outside of ourself. And when we externalize them, the more we worship their greatness, then the tinier and more insignificant we feel. Rather than feeling inspired to achieve greatness ourselves, we can actually lose hope and even succumb to despair.

Despair is rampant because Western Industrialized Society teaches us the false belief that we are all separate from other people, the natural world and the cosmos. It is a new habit we are developing, learning to strengthen our awareness of our innate limitless Buddhahood and to manifest it.

Mr. Morinaka, in his lecture, repeatedly emphasized the importance of faith; it is up to ones faith to elicit the power of the gohonzon. With faith as the foundation of our practice and study we do our human revolution and strengthen our conviction that we each are as limitlessly powerful and indomitable as the entire universe spanning past, present and future and that nothing is impossible.

Bicycle Camping in Mexico, Colombia, and Beyond: An Interview with Andreas Hubl and Anita Burgholzer

While fear of violence keeps most US tourists out of Mexico and Colombia, the young Austrian couple Andreas Huble and Anita Burgholzer bicycled and tent-camped all the way through these countries (and many others), armed only with friendly smiles. They are happily pedaling still.
I met them as they rested in Copacabana, Bolivia. We chatted about their almost two-year journey-in-progress.

What were your experiences in Mexico and Colombia?

As a rule of thumb we can say that 99% of the people ALL over the world are good! With a little bit of preparation and common sense you will be able to travel in most of the countries which are "oh so dangerous." We always try to carry our smiles, and even more important to keep our hearts open. Most of the encounters we have are positive. The people in Mexico (and especially in Colombia) were always very helpful, enthusiastic and hospitable. We did not have any problems regarding safety. In those countries, most of the criminal activity happens internally, between rival cartels, the police and para-militaries. If you avoid traveling in high-risk areas (locals will tell you where those are), you will most likely be safe. Even in the States, or in Europe, there's a chance of being robbed at night in the wrong 'hood. In Colombia and El Salvador we felt extremely welcome. Very few tourists go there, and locals treated us like family members. In Colombia, we received many invitations into people's homes, and had a wonderful time. It was just great, far better than we expected.

How did you decide to do this journey?

Traveling and cycling have always been essential parts of our lives. We started saving money – just in case our dream would someday turn into reality. I (Andreas) read a lot of books from other adventure cyclists and was fascinated by the way they see the world. Traveling by bicycle they are part of the environment, and get a much deeper understanding of a country and its day-to-day culture. These stories, written in a sensible and critical way in the natural voice of the author, created a lot of pictures in my mind. They fed my yearning for someday breaking out of the routine.

How did you prepare for this trip?

In 2008 we made our first "test-trip." We spent three weeks bicycle camping on the small island of Socotra (Jemen). It was such a wonderful experience that we decided to set off when the time was right. At the end of 2009 we were no longer happy with our jobs (although now, after seeing how most people live, we have learned not to complain). We knew that we could not wait much longer as we dream of having a family one day. So we set a date (May 5, 2010), and communicated our decision to our families and friends – which was the most important step of the whole journey.

Why was that?

First, we figured out the logistics of what to do with our jobs, flat, etc. before we told anyone. That way when they raised objections, we could explain in detail how we would take care of those situations. Then, the reactions were stunningly good! It was the most important step because once other people are involved in your plans, it gets more difficult to say, "No, it all has just been a joke." The acceptance motivated us a lot. We knew that we were doing the right thing, and that our family and friends support us.

What were your jobs/careers?

I (Anita) worked as a Graphic Designer in a small advertising company. I (Andreas) worked as a purchaser for a company which produces solar panels.

Why do you prefer bicycling, instead of flying or driving?

It is the slowness of our travel that makes it so intense. You are urged to stop in small, remote villages – talk to people with different social backgrounds. Some are bitterly poor, and would give you their last piece of bread. But also many rich people showed us respect and were very hospitable.

What does "slowness" mean to you?

There's a saying which describes "slowness" perfectly: "The snail can tell you more about the way than the rabbit."

On your travels, what have you learned about human beings?

The most important thing for ALL human beings is being happy. For most people this means having good relations with their families and/or friends, a harmonic social environment. No matter if we are rich or poor, educated or "simple," settled down or nomadic – we all have to eat, sleep, love, cry, laugh. We all want to live in peace and harmony.

What countries have you bicycled through?

Austria, our home country - Czech Republic - Poland - Lithuania - Latvia - Estonia - Sweden - Norway - Denmark - Iceland - USA - Mexico - Belize - Guatemala - Honduras - El Salvador - Nicaragua - Costa Rica - Panama - Colombia - Ecuador - Peru - Bolivia. We will continue our trip to Argentina and Chile. Around February 2012 we want to reach Ushuaia, Patagonia – the southern-most city on the Americas. After that? We'll see if we still feel wanderlust. Maybe we'll continue to India and return to Europe overland.

What have you experienced with people in different countries?

Generally speaking you can say that as soon as you enter a new country, the "energy" changes: the environment, nature, the weather and history, praegt – the people, everything. Eastern Europeans are more reserved. It is not so easy to get in touch with them. But once a conversation is running, it can rapidly turn into deep friendship.

In Iceland we experienced a deep connection with ancient traditions and nature. Young, trendy Reykjavikians wear exactly the same, woolen sweaters as their grandparents wear. Ancestral mythology is still very much a part of everyone's daily life.

The USA was a completely different world for us. Everybody was talking to us, wanting to know more about our trip. We were fascinated by the easy way of making contact with people there.

In Latin American countries it depends on where you travel. In coastal areas people were mostly very emotional and outgoing. In the Andes, especially in areas with a lot of indígenas, it got a bit more difficult to get in touch with people. But nevertheless, our way of traveling helps us to meet and learn from people who often live a simple life in harsh conditions where there is not much time and space for an easy-going lifestyle. But be warned – once a fiesta starts, the indígenas turn into hedonistic, happy party-people!

What thoughts do you hold in your minds and hearts as you encounter new languages, cultures, people?

In Eastern Europe we mainly talked with our hands and feet. In Northern Europe the majority speak decent English. For more than a year we have only needed Spanish, which [we now speak] on an intermediate level. Learning the language makes traveling and talking to people much easier. Regarding cultures and people, with open hearts and no expectations, we have never been disappointed or surprised.

How do you think traveling by bicycle and tent-camping (rather than traveling in an RV) affects the way you perceive and interact with other people?

Our style of traveling lets us understand a little bit better about the conditions in which local people live. Sometimes the homes are very simple adobe huts with straw roofs at altitudes of more than 4.000 meters. In Colombia we saw people living in huts made of trash. When we passed, it was pouring rain and the temperature was below 10 degrees Celsius. The water ran directly through their huts. We personally would feel a bit bad if we traveled in such areas with a luxurious RV. On the other hand, our camping equipment is very good, allowing us to withstand very harsh conditions. Our gear is quite luxurious and unaffordable for most of the people here. And many times we need help from exactly these people! In remote areas it is often necessary to ask locals for water, or for a camping spot. The conversations following our requests help us understand and learn from the people. They are happy to have contact with some crazy folks from a far-away country. These moments make our journey unique for us. We experience and take part in the everyday life that has nothing to do with the "white" picture travel books, and TV shows.

How have your travels affected other people?

Two of our best friends are currently traveling overland from Europe to India. They always mention that if we had not made our dreams come true, they most likely would not have made the decision to travel in this way. Also, our blog is a big success. For many people it has become essential to read our stories, and vicariously travel with us.

You can read Anita and Andreas' blog (in German), and see their photos. Maybe you, too, will become inspired to live your dreams.

Article first published as Bicycle Camping in Mexico, Colombia, and Beyond: An Interview with Andreas Hubl and Anita Burgholzer on Blogcritics.org

Book Review: Island Beneath the Sea, by Isabel Allende

Article first published as Book Review: Island Beneath the Sea by Isabel Allende on Blogcritics.
Isabelle Allende's novel, Island Beneath the Sea, is a timeless tale about the nature of power and how even the most powerless of people - a fictional 18th Century African slave woman named Zarité or even me or you - can become powerful in unexpected ways.

Power is explored in many of its different manifestations. The power of money. The power of violence. The power of social status. The power of popular opinion. The power of appearance. The power of addiction. The power of optimism. And most importantly, the power of love.

Many of the characters I see symbolizing a type of power.

Toulouse Valmorain - Power of money
Prosper Cambray - Power of violence
Hortense Guizot - Power of social status
Violette Boisier - Power of appearance
Maurice - Power of optimism
Zarité - Power of love

Island Beneath the Sea is a historical novel set in the Caribbean and New Orleans against the backdrop of 18th Century world changes such as the US war of Independence, the French Revolution and the massive slave revolt that formed the country of Haiti.

During the first part of the book, I felt a mixture of emotions. The story of slavery and the excesses of the slave owners repulsed me. Yet, at the same time the story drew me in with the complex humanity that Isabel Allende finds in each of her characters. Just like in life, everyone thinks he or she is the good guy.

Isabel has said, "With relatives like mine I don't need to use my imagination, they alone provide all the material I need for my novels . . . . Many of my relatives have been the models for the characters in my books, like my grandparents who became Esteban Trueba and Clara del Valle in The House of the Spirits."

Writing characters inspired by people and experiences in ones own life follows the traditional dictum to "write what you know". For example, let's pause to look at another great writer - Ernest Hemingway. Shrapnel hit Hemingway's knee in World War One. He knew what that feels like. So, when his characters were wounded in war, they were often wounded in the same way as Hemingway. He could truthfully write, “I knew I was hit and leaned over and put my hand on my knee. My knee wasn’t there. My hand went in and my knee was down on my shin”.

Keeping with this tradition, Isabel Allende's grandfather seems to not only have become Esteban Trueba in House of the Spirits, but to have also become the character Toulouse Valmorain in The Island Beneath the Sea. Both Trueba (in Chile) and Valmorain (in Santo Domingo) are large land-owners who inherited their property that was neglected by the generation before them. The land was worked by slaves (indigenous peons in Chiles and African slaves in Santo Domingo). They both considered it acceptable behavior to rape girl slaves when they reached puberty and fathered a number of illegitimate mixed-race children. They both considered themselves to be model plantation or hacienda owners, because they treated their slaves better than their neighboring land barons treated their slaves. Both characters reveal love and tenderness to legitimate child descendents.

Valmorain in Island Beneath the Sea, fascinated me. It was intriguing to be able to peer inside the mind of this sugar plantation slave owner - to see his self-justification. Indeed, a whole society supported his belief system that what he was doing was good, just and even divine. It helps me to understand what might be going on in the minds of people in positions of power in any age, anywhere.

The title, Island Beneath the Sea, refers to an Afro-Caribbean belief in a paradisiacal afterworld. The novel reveals the power-structure's self-serving religious beliefs that equality is to be found only in heaven. But, the protagonist, Zarité, is convinced that equality can be achieved in the here and the now. Even through the most daunting of trials she holds on to this dream, this conviction of her heart.

In an interview, Allende said that she writes to entertain the reader. I find meaning deeper than mere entertainment in Allende's work. Like Buddhist leader Daisaku Ikeda has said - reading great literature makes it possible to learn from the lives of many different people, and not just from our own limited direct experience. I read novels seeking those life lessons. In Allende's work I find not only entertainment, but also great wisdom. I believe that Isabel Allende is a living treasure of humanity.

After finishing reading "The Island Beneath the Sea" I felt grounded, confident and filled with hope for the future.

*****

La novela de Isabel Allende, la isla bajo el mar, es una historia intemporal sobre la naturaleza del poder y cómo incluso los más débiles de las personas - una mujer ficticia del 18o siglo Áfricana esclava llamado Zarité o incluso a mí o usted - puede llegar a ser poderoso en formas inesperadas.
El poder es explorado en muchas de sus diferentes manifestaciones. El poder del dinero. El poder de la violencia. El poder de la condición social. El poder de la opinión popular. El poder de la apariencia. El poder de adicción. El poder del optimismo. Y lo más importante, el poder del amor.
Muchos de los personajes que veo que simboliza un tipo de poder.
Toulouse Valmorain - Poder de dineroPróspero Cambray - Poder de la violenciaHortensia Guizot - Poder de estatus socialViolette Boisier - Poder de la aparienciaMaurice - Poder de optimismoZarité - Poder del amor
Isla bajo el mar es una novela histórica ambientada en el Caribe y Nueva Orleans en el contexto de los cambios del mundo del 18o siglo, como la Revolución de la Independencia de EE.UU., la Revolución Francesa y el rebelde masivo de esclavos que formaron el país de Haití.

Durante la primera parte del libro, sentí una mezcla de emociones. La historia de la esclavitud y los excesos de los dueños de esclavos me rechazó. Sin embargo, al mismo tiempo, la historia me atrajo con la compleja humanidad que Isabel Allende encuentra en cada uno de sus personajes. Al igual que en la vida, todo el mundo piensa que él o ella es el bueno.
Isabel ha dicho: "Con los familiares como la mía no necesito usar mi imaginación, sólo ellos proporcionan todo el material que necesito para mis novelas.... Muchos de mis familiares han sido los modelos de los personajes de mis libros, como mis abuelos, que se convirtieron en Esteban Trueba y Clara del Valle en La casa de los espíritus. "
Escribir personajes inspirados en personas y experiencias en la propia vida sigue la máxima tradicional de "escribir lo que sabes". Por ejemplo, vamos a hacer una pausa para mirar a otro gran escritor - Ernesto Hemingway. Metralla golpeó la rodilla de Hemingway en la Primera Guerra Mundial. Él sabía como lo siente. Así que, cuando sus personajes fueron heridos en la guerra, fueron heridos a menudo en la misma forma que Hemingway. Se podría escribir con sinceridad, "Sabía que me golpeó y me incliné y puse mi mano sobre mi rodilla. Mi rodilla no estaba allí. Mi mano se fue y mi rodilla estaba abajo en mi espinilla."
Siguiendo con esta tradición, el abuelo de Isabel Allende, parece no sólo se han convertido en Esteban Trueba en La casa de los espíritus, sino también convertirse en el personaje Toulouse Valmorain en La isla bajo el mar. Ambos Trueba (en Chile) y Valmorain (en Santo Domingo) son grandes propietarios de tierras que heredó de propiedad que fue descuidado por la generación anterior a ellos. La tierra era trabajada por esclavos (los indígenas en Chiles y esclavos africanos en Santo Domingo). Ambos se consideran un comportamiento aceptable a la violación de niñas esclavas cuando alcanzan la pubertad y fueron padres de varios hijos ilegítimos de razas mixtas. Ambos se consideraban sus haciendos como modelos, porque trataban a sus esclavos mejor que los terratenientes vecinos trataban a sus esclavos. Los dos personajes revelan el amor y ternura a los niños descendientes legítimos.
Valmorain en la isla bajo el mar, me fascinó. Fue interesante poder observar el interior de la mente del propietario de esclavos de las plantaciones de azúcar - para ver a su auto-justificación. En efecto, la sociedad en su alrededor apoya su sistema de creencias que lo que estaba haciendo era bueno, justo e incluso divino. Me ayuda a comprender lo que podría estar pasando en las mentes de las personas en posiciones de poder en cualquier época y en cualquier lugar.
El título, La isla bajo el mar, se refiere a una creencia afrocaribeña en un otro mundo paradisíaco despues de la muerte. La novela revelan las creencias religiosas egoísticas de la estructura de poder, que la igualdad se encuentra sólo en el cielo. Sin embargo, el protagonista, Zarité, está convencido de que la igualdad se puede lograr en este mundo ahora. Que pasa lo que pasa, Zarité guarda a este sueño, esta convicción en su corazón.

En una entrevista, Allende dijo que ella escribe para entretener al lector. Me parece significado más profundo que un mero entretenimiento en el trabajo de Allende. Como líder budista Daisaku Ikeda ha dicho - la lectura de la gran literatura permite aprender de la vida de muchas personas diferentes, y no sólo de nuestra propia experiencia directa limitada. Yo leo las novelas en la búsqueda de las lecciones de la vida. En la obra de Allende no encontrar solamente entretenimiento, sino también una gran sabiduría. Yo creo que Isabel Allende es un tesoro viviente de la humanidad.
Después de terminar la lectura de "La Isla Bajo el Mar" me sentí tranquila, segura y llena de esperanza para el futuro.