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My Night in the Las Vegas Jail
On Holy Thursday, at 3 p.m. in the afternoon, fourteen of us walked on to the Creech Air Force Base near Indian Springs, Nevada (about an hour northwest of Las Vegas) to pray and speak out against the U.S. unmanned drones which take off every two minutes in practice runs for bombing raids in Central Asia. After three hours, we were arrested, put in handcuffs and chains, then jailed for the night in Las Vegas. When we were released on Good Friday morning, we did what any normal Christian would do: we went back to the scene of the crime and continued to pray and speak out for an end to U.S. warmaking.
The Nevada desert is stunning in its stark beauty. The drive out to Indian Springs is a meditation in itself, into the world of yucca plants, Joshua trees, and barren sandy landscapes, with towering snow-capped mountains in the distance.
Our nonviolent action was beautiful, but dangerous. Praying and singing, our little group carried white roses in honor of the White Rose movement of Germany, the small band of students who were executed for leafleting and speaking out against the Nazis. We also carried signs calling for an end to the drones and U.S. bombings, an appeal to the base commander and bread and water as gifts to the soldiers. Behind the little brown buildings ahead, a drone took off on the runway and circled out over the distant mountains, practicing for the kill.
It's possible our action was the first protest ever at Creech, certainly its first civil disobedience action. They might have been expecting us to cross the line on Good Friday, so our surprise Holy Thursday presence may have caught them off guard. In any case, they were absolutely unprepared for the blessing of our peaceful presence.
At the first notice of our presence, a young airman approached, fear in his eyes, and he began yelling, ordering us to turn around. He had an M-16 slung over his shoulder and he swung it toward us. His order notwithstanding, we continued to walk and started to sing.
The poor airman was undone and started shoving, first a friend, then me. He was growing furious, so we knelt down. Soon three other soldiers approached, all of them toting machine guns. Together they shouted, as if that would make any difference. We assured them we were unarmed, and we offered them our roses. The poor airmen, they stood befuddled. Should they shout louder? Should they open fire? Whatever their script, it failed them in the face of nonviolence. Meantime another drone flew overhead.
And so we arrived at something of an impasse. Our group knelt and sat and sang for several hours, the befuddled airmen keeping watch, grimacing, pacing. Finally the Nevada State highway patrol and the Las Vegas Metro Police Department arrived at the scene and placed us under arrest. First came the plastic handcuffs; then actual metal chains were tied around our wastes with metal handcuffs attached to our sides.
The police sergeant casually informed us: had we gone a few feet further, the airmen would have opened fire. "Do you think that would have been a crime?" our friend Kathy Kelly of Voices for Creative Nonviolence asked, offering him a rose. "No, they would have been authorized to do so," he said with a smile. "Would it have been a shame?" she continued. "Yes, it would have been a shame," he admitted, rather glumly.
Most were placed in police cars and driven the hour to Las Vegas. The last to go, my friends Fr. Jerry Zawada, OFM, Brian Terrell and I had to wait an additional hour for a police van. We waited on the ground in our chains, police officers flanking us on all sides, as the sky turned pink and orange and the desert sun slowly set in the distance.
The van arrived finally, a filthy white vehicle with metal benches and down the middle of the aisle a metal wall. The three of us were squeezed along one side, chained, buckled in, and off to Vegas we went.
Jerry, Brian and I prayed out loud for a good while--for our friends, supporters and the soldiers; for an end to the drones and U.S. wars; for the people of Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan; for the church's conversion to Holy Thursday nonviolence. We noted the words of the risen Jesus to the disciple Peter: "When you were younger you went about and did what you wanted to, but as you grow older, someone will place a belt around you and take you where you'd rather not go. Follow me." We looked at each other.
Night by now had fallen and we drove toward the towering lights of the casinos, the shows, the strip clubs, and the restaurants. The streets were mobbed, the scene was dazzling. But mesh on the windows kept us from getting a clear view, an appropriate perspective for the Christian in such a culture. We arrived eventually at the Clark County Detention Facility--the Las Vegas Jail--in the belly of Sin City.
For the next five hours, we sat in a large room with everyone else arrested in Las Vegas that night. We were moved to think that most were likely heading to prison. One by one we were fingerprinted, photographed, and booked. Our property was taken and documented. A nurse examined us and took our blood pressure. (Mine was very high, but "You're under a lot of stress," she said. She had no idea.) Around midnight, we were split up. The men got shuttled off to a concrete cell, and the women to a cell down the hall. There we remained until 7:30 a.m. on Good Friday, when we escorted to the streets, now barren and empty.
I found the time difficult but bearable because of the prayer, our intent and the sustaining friendships. I felt blessed to be with many close friends and heroes, like Jerry and Brian, but also Fr. Steve Kelly, SJ, Fr. Louie Vitale, OFM, and the great Kathy Kelly. We took the time to catch up with our lives and lament the suffering of the world. We kept an eye on each other, and tried to lift each other's spirit. The others arrested were: Dennis DuVall, Renee Espeland, Judy Homanich, Mariah Klusmire, Brad Lyttle, Elizabeth Pappalardo, Megan Rice, and Eve Tetaz. Fr. Louie, 77, was featured that morning on the front page of the "L.A. Times" in a glowing profile. We celebrated his life witness.
The ordeal, while grim, also carried a spirit of playfulness, included summer camp antics. The women had wisely fallen right to sleep on the concrete floor of their cell--after, of course, Kathy Kelly, entertained them with a rousing song and dance routine that cheered them up. But they accused us, the men, of carrying on a party all night long. They could hear us talking and laughing the entire night, they said.
Alas, it was true. Steve, Louie, and most of our group never slept. Around 3 a.m., when our nerves were shot and exhaustion had set in, Steve told a silly joke that left us in stitches. We all cried we laughed so hard. We shared many stories about our life's work for peace, and found our spirits buoyed by the good company. The women and the guards did not know what came over us.
More solemnly, though, I regard our modest gesture as an act of prayer. As I marched into the teeth of the beast, I was mindful of the millions of people across the country attending Holy Thursday Mass, and the contrast of sitting in metal chains in the county jail. Some of us spoke of trying to be with the nonviolent Jesus who was arrested on that holy night. We reflected on his last words, "Put down the sword! Stop, no more of this!"--a message we had brought to Creech AFB.
We felt the loneliness of Jesus' arrest, jailing and trial, yet we felt grateful that we could taste his experience. Our nonviolent action, in the end, was a poor, but noble effort to follow Jesus and carry on his campaign of nonviolent resistance to empire.
Upon our release, we were ordered to appear in court on June 9th. Then, we went right back to Creech AF Base in time for the Nevada Desert Experience's annual Stations of the Cross. With sixty folks, we read and prayed through each modern-day station, learning how Jesus is condemned and crucified all over again in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan because of our weapons and wars. We prayed, sang and reflected along the towering chain fence of the military base--and were interrupted repeatedly by the drones flying overhead.
We saw with our own eyes that these drones are real, that our country is dead set on killing, mechanically, soullessly. We tried to take action, to say as Jesus said in the Garden of Gethsemane, "Put down the sword, no more of this!" We felt blessed in the effort.
On Easter Sunday morning, we gathered for Mass at the Nevada Nuclear Test site, walked on to that military base to offer the risen Jesus' gift of resurrection peace and were arrested all over again. We were cited and released. It's getting to be a habit. Perhaps I have a problem with recidivism. In any case, we are blessed with peace, so we will continue to speak out and act.
49 Comments so far
Show AllMay I, for one, congratulate you for your integrity, honor, spirit and bravery. With 15,000,000 more like you, we could change this country. Thank you with all my heart!
Sioux Rose
STEPHEN J. RILEY: If you read CD today and come upon this article, know that this is my idea/ideal of a TRUE Christian. He has infinite grace. It would be great if each time he returned to that prayer vigil more and more persons joined him until the ranks (to be arrested) would go into the thousands.
The depiction of the scene of peace activists arrested by the war state as they pass through a city known for prostitution and gambling, wow, it puts America's twisted values into perspective. Everything is OK if it's about Mammon and Mars, but peace (Venus/love) is the thing to be punished for promoting!
Years ago I got to view the depiction of "Venus and Mars" by the Italian Renaissance painter Boticelli. In this gigantic painting Mars is a tiny little warrior who cowers in the presence of the mighty Venus. Notice how uneasy those gun-wielding warriors became when confronted with peace, the higher love? Often I think a great many men would rather prove themselves on the battlefield, so conformed to the rites of Mars rules are they, then learn to be still in prayer, and open to the true meaning of love and its vulnerabilities.
SIOUX ROSE: your post has startled me !
Yes, I have appreciated from your prior posts on CD that you are a great admirer of such Christian activists.
Upon reading Fr. John Dear's article, I was deeply moved and wish I had joined them. I have personally fed off the energies of some of these beautiful activists in the past, having walked 5 days from Gethsemane to Louisville Ky with Fr. John Dear and Fr. Jerry, and was a support vehicle for the first two weeks with Kathy Kelly and the Voices of Non-Violence, last fall from Chicago to the Republican convention in St. Paul. Also I look forward to a Pax Christi meeting later this month in SF with Franciscan Father Louie Vitalie (one of the activists) as keynote speaker.
My love goes out to all of them. It is activists like them that maintain my faith.
Sioux Rose
Hopefully good "startled." If there were more like you YOUR faith would be transformed for the good of this world.
Greetings Sioux....I've been away, but now back and who should i find here?
I am preparing for bashing for my comments here. But i am tired of the priests who, yes act against war. But not a word when their own brother, Fr. Bourgois is excommunicated for being witness to a woman's ordination.
No comment about the Pope telling African nations that condoms spread AIDs. No comment about right wing bishops being reinstated. No comments about the pedophile priests, and on and on.
Without going to the source. The anti-feminine/ sacred/sexual piece of it all, it really doesn't change much in essence. In my humble opinion. He is a nice man. I've heard him and spoken with him. And this is what he does. But i don't think you can be part of one evil empire, and cast stones at another....
Now all may have at it!
Peace.
Sioux Rose
READY: The church, as a patriarchal institution, has a legacy of sexism that is so unconscious now because it's embedded so deeply into the sacraments persons take for "sacred tradition." Nonetheless, there ARE inspired, alive, enlightened people born to EVERY religion and sometimes they can awaken their flocks.
When a person tackles one of the great evils of this world, and in my view, war tops the list, then my heart and soul go out to support them. Like Stephen, part of me feels the need to also BE THERE in these "put your body on the line" protests. I always believed the pen was mightier than the sword, so committed to being a teacher/writer; but the airwaves and publishing venues (apart from Internet) are so closed off to most novel unorthodox voices that these efforts are extremely difficult to further.
There are many paths up the proverbial mountain. I can see the Light in Father Dear while also recognizing where his beloved church needs MUCH consciousness-raising. Jesus was a feminist and ecologist, a mystic and a healer. Little of that applies to the institutions named after him who have often perverted His teachings.
Notice that the Catholic Church and other heads of churches were not there, and did not speak out in support of these peaceful Christians trying to follow Christ's path.
These churches teach about love thy neighbor, share your wealth, help those in trouble, and yet do not follow their own Rules.
Notice, too, that when Brothers and Nuns help people in poor countries to overcome their repressive governments so they may lead better lives, the Catholic Church mostly ignores them or leaves them to be martyred by dictators.
If the churches of the world lived up to their own preachings, there would have been thousands at the gates of the killing machines. If you're a churchj-going person, demand that your church follow the words they say you should live by.
I share your disgust at the relative silence of our churches in the face of immoral American military predations around the globe. I still harbor a fantasy that mainline churches could become an engine for opposition to the MIC.
Any practical advice DoSomething? I am about to start a committee in my North Louisiana Presbyterian Church called "Christian Doing" or something similar. We will probably begin with an examination of MLK's Riverside Church speech renounicng silence vis-a-vis the militarization of our society. Few people in our own church even knew that the Presbyterian Church (USA) General Assembly had voted to condemn the Invasion of Iraq...spooky.
I don't mind people criticizing my church (Roman Catholic), but let's try to not divert too much of our energy from doing something positive to complaining.
Do something, even if it's simple. Our parish here in Camden, New Jersey is planning on declaring a year of "Learning to Love Our Enemy," and we are hoping Fr. Louie will kick it off by preaching at our Masses that Sunday.
In January we plan to replace the Martin Luther King Day of Service with a Martin Luther King Day of Community Organizing.
We've started a monthly Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Movie Night, and so far we've seen "Bowling for Columbine" and "Romero."
Be creative!
Great ideas Jud. I'm gonna steal the movie night idea. We'll start with "Why We Fight." Thanks.
Great ideas Jud. I'm gonna steal the movie night idea. We'll start with "Why We Fight." Thanks.
Good luck at your Presbyterian Church, monroematt. I gave up on it several years ago for many reasons but the last straw was the support by all the local Presby. churches for the invasion of Iraq. I found my way to a Unitarian Universalist Fellowship where at least people realized that preemptive war was not a good thing!
Thanks Peggy. Were the local Presby. congregations even aware that the General Assembly had condemned the invasion? Glad you found a more suiting church home.
Our largest local church (Southern Baptist) has a large sign proclaiming: "We Support Our Troops!" I'm proposing that my church have a sign: "We Support Our Troops More...Bring All of Them Home Now!" Maybe a bit much...but I can dream....
Wow! A priest who isn't screeching about abortion and who cares about the already born. I thought they were like Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny....just a myth.
Sioux Rose
SHADOW, my friend... allow me to set the record straight here. You said, "The religious leaders of the temple thought they were doing God a favor by killing Jesus." Now I realize that either Karl Rove has reincarnated enough time to gain experience blurring the record, or there are others a lot like him who have risen to relative fame by altering the fabric of history to suit their own ends. The Jewish leaders had influence over their followers but it was the ROMAN leaders who set up the crucifiction.
Just as the Bible purports there was a Garden of Evil (hmm.. my Freudian slip, mea culpa) where EVE elected to offer an apple to Adam... it's always amused me that SHE was blamed for his taking that apple. It's the same way women who dress a bit evocatively have long been blamed for getting attacked or raped. The Jews are blamed for the death of Jesus and while many probably WANTED him dead, let's not forget where the seat of power was in that time. And besides, the crux of Jesus' teaching in rising from the cross was to show that the SOUL/spirit is immortal. THAT aspect cannot BE killed, and inasmuch as each of us (with possible exceptions like Bush/Cheney) came to this earth endowed with a soul, we possess a spark of the Immortal, an aspect of what we call "God" for want of a better term and related understanding.
The ants that scurry about building their tiny colonies probably cannot conceptualize OUR civilization, these giants that walk among them, that can kill so many with a boot or poison. By analogy we are in NO position to speculate on the attributes of the great Infinite, who I prefer to call "Great Spirit." My favorite way to try to explain this enormity is through the prism of the 12 disciples Jesus spoke of, only I see them as 12 cosmic models, or specific pathways that human beings taken on for the purpose of evolving their souls.
Sioux Rose -
There's some great double meaning in your name, very fitting to accompany the spirit of Good Friday and Easter weekend behind this particular CD commentary about nonviolent civil resistance. I'd never thought about that in reading your many previous posts.
You make an important point about who did what to who, why, and how in the trial and crucifixion of Jesus, a point that needs to be reemphasized from time to time, particularly in the context of the anti-Semites' timeless accusation that it was Jews who murdered the son of God.
The Roman empire (according to both secular historical texts and the Bible) erected its power base through warfare, conquest, and slavery. Imperial control was maintained through police state tactics that included systematic torture and ritual public crucifixion of the empire's critics (as well as rebellious slaves and members of the criminal underclass from among the local peoples that Rome colonized). Pontius Pilate and the high priest Ciaphus had a long standing, mutually beneficial working relationship - commissar and collaborator, puppet master and puppet. The ultimate power of life or death still was held exclusively by the Roman governor.
Pilate initially saw Jesus of Nazareth as a convicted criminal who did not merit capital punishment - a flogging, public humiliation, and censure would suffice. But the tradition was that for out of respect for Passover, one prisoner condemned to death would be pardoned as a matter of executive grace.
So the mob was allowed to choose between Jesus or a notorious murderous bandit. The masses (some of whom may have been bribed) shouted out give us Barrabas. Decision made. Case closed. Hands washed. After a gory scourging, Christ writhes on a cross for several hours between two thieves on Golgotha, before finally calling out, in his next-to-last few words, that God has foresaken him.
The system worked. Exactly as intended, or so it seemed at the time.
There were some symbolic embellishments (the robe, the crown of thorns, etc.) in the execution by torture of Jesus, but the basics were all done pretty much according to standard operating procedures for crucifixion (the Roman legions' army field manual, so to speak). The captors and the crowd got in their hoots and hollers and improvised licks. The legs were broken, the nails pounded in, and the victim planted upright to die in agony very slowly and painfully, eventually by suffocation. The ultimate stress position.
For the next two thousand years, the debate (and immense further bloodshed) has centered around whether those next-to-last words of a dying Jesus were, or were not, a false confession.
I wonder what Dick Cheney's views on that core question would be today, in the context of his widely disseminated, wider world views about how torture yields valuable information, and keeps good people safe from the evil doers.
Bill from Saginaw
B i l l _ f r o m _ S a g i n a w
I feel impelled to comment that "RENDER ONTO CAESAR, that which is Caesar's " is similarly applicable as you mention for Cheney/Rove and torturous confessions' merit.
Extreme RENDITIONS are being implicitly requested in biblical context, such that Dick, Geo, and Carl might find their "place" in Caesar's machine.
So much like the knife that cut's both ways, and the truth that rends injustice -- I imagine that there would be quite a sell-out crowd for such theater.
Namaste
P . S . I hope the news of your local river's cleanup is progressing and well being is emergent
Sioux Rose
Hi, Bill. About a week ago I planned to post--as prediction I knew would come to pass--that there would be wild weather around April 14-17. Mars is (using the astrological parlance) exactly conjunct Uranus. Mars = fire and Uranus = electricity and the combo is so favorable for storms. I wasn't sure WHERE they would manifest, but my area got them last night.
The prior night my companion and I sort of snuck into the state park since it was after dark, but what a display of fireflies. They meet every year in mid-April. They lit the sky, and then the following night, the sky was lit with more lightning than I've seen in some time. I relate this as I had to unplug my computer last night and was unable to response to this post until now.
I appreciate your adding nuance to the historical context. And I find you a calm, deliberate thinker who really puts time and effort into balancing your own observations against factual analyses.
Just two of several equally distressing newsletter headlines for articles from clg_news@legitgov.org:
"Drone hits kill 14 al-Qaeda men, 687 civilians 10 Apr 2009: Of the 60 cross-border predator strikes carried out by the Afghanistan-based American drones in Pakistan between January 14, 2006 and April 8, 2009, only 10 were able to hit their actual targets, killing 14 wanted al-Qaeda [al-CIAduh] leaders, besides perishing 687 innocent Pakistani civilians. The 'success' percentage of the US predator strikes is thus not more than six per cent."
"Israel killed 437 kids in blockaded Gaza 11 Apr 2009: Israel's three-week war on the Gaza Strip left 437 children dead and 1872 more wounded, the Ministry of Social Affairs in Gaza has said. Ahmad Al Kurd, Minister of Social Affairs, said on Friday that the Israeli army targeted women and children, and that its shelling targeted homes, hospitals, educational facilities and even mosques, International Middle East Media Center reported."
++++++++++++
Moral depravity and a relentlessly descending process of moral degeneracy have become such a commonplace "standard" for Pentagon/military personnel and for our leadership, who must be aware of the statistics, that, to me, it is the death knell of the heart and soul of our country.
The TV-watching sheople, of course, do not hear about or see the images of blown-up or wounded people nor do they read much about this.
From birth on, for too many years now, the sheople have been trained as consumers of all manner of goods, including goodies in pill form to eliminate depression, tamp down anger, and obliterate normal responses of concern for others not directly involved in their small worlds. Sleep well with a pill; be happy and calm with a pill, and shovel food in your mouth as fast as you can from any number of sources, fast or slow munchies, and don't think too much about unpleasant things. Have a great day.
John Dear and Kathy Kelly and their cohorts and others like them are the example and active demonstrations of truly healthy souls, minds and hearts.
"angryoldman" in the first posted comment says, "With 15,000,000 more like you [Fr. John Dear], we could change this country."
But we don't have that many willing to put themselves on the line, except soldiers in our military. It's one thing to write or speak about our reactions. It's another thing to go out there and put our bodies on the spiritual/soulful front lines. And those who do, in the thousands ... and even in the decades-ago Million-Man March with a great soul passionately telling them about his Dreams , ... respectively, either are ignored by the media or become symbols to remember on a holiday, just as the figure of Jesus hanging on a cross mostly means an hour-long church service or not, colored eggs, family and company buffets and get-togethers, and a Spring break for students at Easter ... or symbolizes decorated fir trees and Wal-Mart-bought presents at Christmas.
Yes, progress has come with a bi-racial president, and he has served about 26 l/2 days short of an hundred days. But unless at some point, he gets it, really feels it and then expresses moral outrage at what has transpired and is transpiring in the way we are conducting our foreign and economic affairs and uses the "bully" [don't like that word] pulpit to wake up the populus and shift our course to one with moral traction, it seems to me there is no way left but further down to the bottom.
And just like alcoholics or other addicts who hit bottom, and if they are fortunate, do not die, but reach out in their desperation for help spiritually and practically, check themselves into rehab and end up at A.A. or N.A. to begin a life-long program and way of living, perhaps our hitting bottom as a nation of very diverse souls is what eventually will save us from ourselves, wake us up, and begin a new journey toward a healthy, soulful nation that happens to be part of a family of nations. And as one human family, even if we are partial to particular relatives, we best learn to help and understand each other and, short of that, learn to get along without reaching for our weapons.
Seeing enemies under every rock and "taking them out" or being concerned with being #1 is becoming passe in terms of how much time we have before the whole ball of wax melts and slides into the sea.
Am I depressed? You bet I am. I can no longer identify with the leaders of my nation who seem to have left their hearts and their moral fiber in the vestibules of the halls and counting houses of power.
And I am appalled ... grief-stricken often ... knowing that the national attitude or lack of attitude is that the killing of children and their mothers and fathers ... civilians ... has become one of almost casual acceptance and part of the day's ordinary events that one does not bother to think about much or even respectfully acknowledge.
"One less raghead" or "Too bad, but that's war" or "Well, we need their oil."
++++++
"Any man's [woman's/child's] death diminishes me, because I am involved in [Hu]Mankind. And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee [and me]." John Donne
/cm
Sioux Rose
CEE MIRACLES: Your post is a 100% reflection of all that I, too, see, hear, and feel. It just seems that the momentum of a dark force has seized the nation and until it runs its course, the awakened souls must use their energy to keep their own fires burning, and where possible, bring the light of understanding to others. Evil, like a brushfire, will consume much in its path; but eventually it consumes itself, or tires out until it's summoned once again. You are especially right-on speaking of the casual disregard with which politicians and too many citizens pass over the "collateral" damage of OTHERS' precious and prematurely sacrificed lives. This is what I mean about Mars, the god of hellfire and the sacrifice of endless first borns into his hostile flames.
Too many advocate these war practices and yet call themselves religious, and this is the chief disconnect I try to expose. In any case, I don't know where you live but nature can heal us... for there IS a battle between the consciousness of life/love and that of death/darkness raging... right now where I live millions of fireflies are gathered. Each April for a week or so these magnificent creatures, endowed with their own source of bioluminescence gather in the woods like some kind of reunion among an alien life form. I ride my bicycle to be with them, and can only imagine what psychic processes are enhanced by BEING in the realm of their liquid light pulsations. Do you have such an outlet?
"... I don't know where you live but nature can heal us. ... Do you have such an outlet?"
Out of NYC, Sioux Rose, and then much in between, but for 39 years I have lived on a 90-acre spread, high up [fully believe this was Seneca Nation sacred ground], and just up the hill a view of the glistening expanse and far shore of Lake Erie, which is Canada.
The land and the life of the land and all its secrets and wisdoms have kept me grounded, sane [except for a few exceptional times ;-)], and constantly enriched me with its obvious and not-so-obvious teachings. Much, much story: family-time to hermit times of years and back and forth with that. Soon a single mom and young children will be living here, and that will be a transition again, and my feelings are somewhat mixed on this.
Challenging, sometimes very, very difficult life here, but I have been blessed with the privilege of being here as I have lived out an incredibly unexpected, demanding and turbulent life, but within a natural setting that literally and figuratively feeds/nourishes me in order to handle a crucial, transitional incarnation, ... with still much to work on and do. Likely, my understandings/knowings would not be where they are if I had stayed in NYC, and I might not have survived there.
As you well know, the separation from and lack of access to The Land/The Mother is part of the cause of our current, nasty insanities. Concrete and metal structures, chain-link fences, a paved-over earth, ticky-tacky houses to McMansions and three-car garages with a pistol in the bedroom nightstand, and Mammon as the major Idol to worship ... Mars, Incorporated, all systems go. Splat.
But since nothing is really an accident, we all are exactly where we are supposed to be, and we'll find out where this unfolding/evolving/devolving/evolving leads to in the not-too-distant future. At this point, it's a cliff-hanger for all of us ... all life on this gorgeous, but battered planet.
peace, cm
Sioux Rose
If there wasn't a crack in the ground, the mineral-bearing water might never seap in and over time build the gems so often found buried.
The coin with the flaw is often seen as the more precious one.
Wherever you feel this world has broken you is where the unexpected "gets in" to form the jewel. Your beauty comes from being able to feel as you so obviously do in a time and place and world where so many have shut down and lost their capacity for any sentience departing from anger or raw passion. As a sensitive I know what it is to live with that gift. Sometimes it feels like a double-bladed sword... but who would we be without it?
"Sometimes it feels like a double-bladed sword... but who would we be without it?"
Yes. And, oh, yes, although sometimes, at the time that it's cutting ... %-[
A sense of humor, connecting with the Cosmic Jokesters, helps. Sometimes they just outdo themselves with their little tricks. "Okay, kid. You think you got it now, huh? Well, try this!" %-(
Also knowing how to crouch and let the howl from your belly rise and grab your heart before it roars out of your throat brings you to your feet and to your re-empowerment everytime. Sometimes it takes more than one howl. Woman Who Runs With The Wolves, here
Anyhow, Sioux Rose, thanks for your hearing/seeing comments ...
peace,cee m.
P.S. Check out my comment today on Ray McGovern's essay, and my answer to his question. Hope you read E.P. Heidner material I suggested. If not, do, when you have time, and then read again later. It's all sort of mind-boggling.
Don't all of you know that if Jesus visited America today that He would be arrested, tried and executed? If one follows the teachings of Jesus, the first and loudest to complain are the almighty Christians, maybe so-called Christians. Though I believe in Jesus and the Sermon on the Mount, I will know longer say that I am a Christian, and so far all I have received is condemnation from those who claim to be Christians, though none of them will ever discuss my beliefs and frustrations with those who claim to be Christians yet believe in war, capital punishment, torture and patriotism over doing what is right. If there is a heaven and hell, old Satan must be dancing in the streets while he awaits the vast majority of our politicians and church-goers. May God bless the Third World and the innocents, America is blessed enough.
On Good Friday in Jerusalem, Billy Briggs reported that the Whistle Blower of Israel's WMD Program, Mordechai Vanunu informed him:
"I was walking here this morning and a car drew slowly up alongside me. There were four men in the car wearing sunglasses. One of them shouted at me…the car followed me…the man call out again in Hebrew. 'You are garbage,' he said. But I kept on walking and ignoring him."
When Vanunu entered the foyer of his rundown backpacker's hotel the men "leapt from the vehicle, flashed ID cards and ushered him into the back seat. Residents and traders, many of whom know the famous Israeli, stood and watched his public humiliation.
"They took me to the local station and warned me not to go to Bethlehem this year to celebrate Christmas. They said they'd be watching me and that I should also not speak to journalists or foreigners."
The Shin Bet has developed a ritual of publicly harassing Vanunu at Christmas and Easter time because he is a Christian convert; an unpardonable sin for particular people.
When the whistle blower of Israel's WMD Program emerged into the light of day after 18 years in a windowless tomb sized cell on April 21, 2004 he announced:
"I am not harming Israel. I am not interested in Israel. I want to tell you something very important. I suffered here 18 years because I am a Christian, because I was baptized into Christianity. If I was a Jew I wouldn't have all this suffering here in isolation for 18 years. Only because I was a Christian man."
On December 19, 2004 over 40 journalists, seven T.V. cameras and a SRO crowd gathered for a press conference in East Jerusalem to listen to Mordechai Vanunu, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Mairead Maguire and Issam Makhoul, a Member of the Knesset, who said:
"Only those who struggle for total disarmament of the Middle East, including Israel, of all weapons of mass destruction - nuclear, biological and chemical - has the moral right to condemn Iran for its nuclear project. The countries that equip Israel with the means to launch nuclear warheads, that supply it with submarines and enable it to develop its missiles, do not have the moral right to condemn the Iranian nuclear project. Anyone who opposes the Iranian project must also oppose the Israeli nuclear arsenal.
"Along with Mordechai Vanunu, I and other Israeli activists refuse to be silenced. We continue to demand, that our government reveal the truth about its WMDs, enable a full international inspection of all WMD sites and dismantle its arsenal. To this end, we are currently involved in organizing an international conference on a nuclear-free Mediterranean area, to be held in April 2005. This date marks the first anniversary of Vanunu's release from prison. This date will hopefully mark the beginning of an anti-nuclear movement in Israel.
"Mordechai Vanunu is not a traitor, he is an Israeli hero. The nuclear bomb does not protect Israel, it endangers Israel."
When I saw Vanunu in July 2007, we crossed paths directly in front of Saint Stephen's Church.
Vanunu had learned a few weeks prior that he was sentenced to six months in jail for speaking to media in 2004.
Vanunu smiled when he told me that the site was "the very spot where they stoned to death the first Christian martyr for freedom of speech."
Vanunu's Supreme Court appeal is imminent and the 5th year of restrictions that deny Vanunu the right to leave the state and the right to speak to non-Israeli's expire April 21, 2009.
On April 5, 2009, President Obama stood on the world stage amongst thousands of flag-waving Czechs and spoke of good humor, home town Chicago, the will of the people over tanks and guns, old conflicts, revolution, moral leadership as the most powerful weapon, iron curtains that fell and the state of 21st century nuclear weapons.
He said:
"Words must mean something…There is violence and injustice in our world that must be confronted. We must confront it by standing together as free nations, as free people. I know that a call to arms can stir the souls of men and women more than a call to lay them down. But that is why the voices for peace and progress must be raised together…
"Human destiny will be what we make of it...Let us honor our past by reaching for a better future. Let us bridge our divisions, build upon our hopes, and accept our responsibility to leave this world more prosperous and more peaceful than we found it. Together we can do it."
Israel's statehood was contingent upon upholding the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.-Article 19
Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.-Article 13:2
Political stability in the Middle East begins when states that claim to be democracies-are indeed one.
You can email Vanunu a message of support through his website:
http://vanunu.com/
Eileen Fleming, Author, Founder WAWA:
http://www.wearewideawake.org/
Producer "30 Minutes With Vanunu" and "13 Minutes with Vanunu"
Hey there Eileen. I just got your phone message. There, now you know that i am good old "Readytotransform"!
R.C.
Sioux Rose
EILEEN: You are tireless in your passionate pursuit of justice, and I share with you the ideal of a world without war, or "teams that carry out god's will." Blessings to you for your committed efforts.
Sioux Rose
SHADOW DANCER: There is a belief in India perhaps stemming from Hindu mysticism that some advanced souls can bi-locate. That means they would be seen in two places at once. Jesus rising from the cross proved he had the spiritual power to resurrect the cloak of his body, and I believe he did so to show followers that death is NOT the end. Spirit is the Truth of what we are, and we take on bodies for the purposes of learning.
I think it's probable that Jesus, as a highly advanced Master spent time among the tribes. It's also believed he spent time in the East. We will never know the entire historical record; but the important thing is not to worship the being, but to follow the teachings. This has been a problem, nor is the short sightedness only evident in Christianity and its many sects.
All Masters teach compassion and forgiveness, and I like that you always sign your posts with that message. It is a strange world, and there are so many marvels in spite of the enormous pain and injustice of our times. Those of us who feel for others have no choice but to make some contribution, however slight, in the direction of boosting "The spirit of mankind."
Many interesting posts and the individuals who participated are sure to be on Gods shortlist and St. Pete has their pass already printed.Jesus was convicted by the Romans but he was renditioned over by the Jewish Elders because they claimed that Jesus was claiming to be the King of the Jews and that was a threat to them and by extention the Romans.It was not true but Jesus refused to defend himself,on purpose,and so got hung on the cross.A slow death and I wonder if the spear in the side was with mercy in mind to speed up death.There are mysteries still in this episode.Edgar Cayce said he went to Egypt,Persia,tibet,India and there are accounts of him visiting the Americas.He is the Christ so there would have been no problem in getting to these different locations.My life decisions and actions(mostly)have been grounded in the Bible but and this is a big but with the Edgar Cayce Reading as editor of the Book.If you never read Cayce it would be difficult to explain and yes to forgive is devine but patience is needed also.Tony
If you want to read something absolutely brilliant on these and other subjects, i would respectfully suggest Jane Roberts' "Seth" series.
I am quite familiar with Cayce.
Peace.
Sioux Rose
TONY: Edgar Cayce and as (Ready to Transform) pointed out, The Seth Material, are among my spiritual favorite texts. Have either of you noticed that today's considered spirituality is right-wing republican materialism dressed up with some catchy new age sloganarama, since it's all about GETTING. The thing sought might be a mate, or a soulmate, or a perfect job, or prosperity... but today's so-called spiritual books mostly deal with material goals. Cayce, the Seth Material and most of the writings published by The Theosophical Society (Leadbetter, Besant, Blavatsky, Steiner) all talk about the evolution of the SOUL, the more timeless aspects of who we are and what we're doing in this world "wearing" bodies.
I am grateful to have grown up in the l960's and come of age with THESE higher perspectives, than the excuse for spirituality that most take for "real" today. And I am glad that there are others in this forum who have been similarly moved by these powerful writings, particularly when the voices here that scream their logic in favor of atheism, also narrowly seek to denigrate all other spiritual teachings. Mysticism is only for those with eyes to see, which is not to say it has no evidence through the senses; but just as it is harder for a rich man to get to heaven than to pass a camel through the eye of a needle, it is nearly impossible for the higher reality to speak to one who is impoverished in his or her understanding, and argues vehemently to maintain their limited outlook.
Sioux Rose
The heart rich enough to know/recognize gratitude in the simple MIRACLES Of life is always well-endowed. I try to teach others to honor the gifts that so many take for granted. As a child the thing I liked most (besides ice cream) was laying down on the lawn and just looking at the stars, almost drifting up and away into the vast heavens.
acutenecrotizingfasciitus
For every religionist marching for peace there are a dozen more marching for war.
Relying on ancient mythology or astrology to guide one's contemporary life is an absurdity.
I prefer when the religionists wear their religion on their sleeves; it allows me to adopt a precautionary stance.
Sioux Rose
With your perspective, a name change to acute necrophilia might be more apt. Have fun limiting the universe to what your ego decides is "true." When souls such as yourself cross over, only presuming this non-state they have learned to call death awaits them, they generally prove so unprepared for the ongoing nature of the life of the soul that they literally stay in limbo for what on earth would be generations. As if being earth bound qualifies as a high status!
Yes, this is a remarkable feat -to go out and put yourself on the line in order to show how you feel about the war making machine and it's tactics. I also commend these people.
Nice Thread. But, if I may,
Many posts analyzed the religous orientation of the arrested, (not ShadowDancers)
I humbly submit that the religion, faith, praying, mystical orientations of these individuals is 100% irrelevant. And actually a detrimental distraciton from their Heroic, Courageous, Pro-Active Resistance.
Who cares if they worship Allah? Or Micky Mouse? Or my savior Jesus?
It was their actions that meant everything, and as the first post stated, could precipitate change, the more who join, the more potential-5,000 join these Angels, maybe the Drones get shot down from above.
RadicalPeacefulProtest.
yeah...thank you for what you've done
ShadowDancer, Hello-
That is 6 not 5, loving our enemies being apart from loving our friends, which even lowly Pharisees did.
Thanks for the wisdomthoughts you share with us,
Signed, One who fails in these five-six, tries, but fails,
So I Pray more, maybe fail a bit less and take another step,
I'd say Peace of Heart to you ShadowDancer, but in your case it might be redundant.
From The Hills, Joe.
I don't think that anyone mentioned religion as a basis for the way they act but do believe in a Creator who is called by many names and a historical person who could perform,to us,extraordinary things but he was not the first and probobly will not be the last and a person who does not believe in reincarnation,which is the only thing that makes sense to me,then that is when they are stuck in the old time religions and will believe uncritically what they are told and that is the tragedy of it all."Love God with all your heart and soul and your neighbor as yourself" said by Jesus and the rest of the book is writen around that one saying and we.One rule and we can't.Cayce said also that we,we being the human race,in the context of the Bible are the Jews and if that is so we are in deep shit.Tony
"...we offered them our roses. The poor airmen, they stood befuddled. Should they shout louder? Should they open fire? Whatever their script, it failed them in the face of nonviolence. Meantime another drone flew overhead. And so we arrived at something of an impasse."
In just a few sentences Dear exposes the absurdity and impotence of false authority with a mildness more defiant than mere courage.