Here in the Chicago area we are being flooded with people begging; Venezuelans and Colombians with families and cardboard signs pleading for help. I asked friends about their views on giving to beggars and was not surprised to hear the standard line about seeing some example of begging fraud many years in the past and deciding on that single incident to sweep away all beggars as likely frauds.
How easily we rationalize doing what we want to do - in this case walking right by those at the bottom convinced in our own minds that our conscience is rightfully clear.
The golden rule always needs help as it is so easily put aside. Putting oneself in the other's place is a must if one is to even approach a moral way of living. The complete absence of this is evident in Gaza as the lives and property of a native people are taken without hesitation, so convinced are the destroyers of their righteousness. Atop it all is Joe Biden, with no hesitation enabling slaughter immediately after Oct 7 and unrelentingly staying with it for the following months. I send his campaign appeals back with WAR CRIMINAL written on them and a request to be dropped from the mailing list. Even if only one lowly mail handler sees the message, it serves a purpose.
I remember that years ago the Dalai Lama was quoted as saying that what today's world most needed more of was compassion; I don't remember anything else he said and I'm not a follower, but that stuck with me.
Then after reading Arthur Schopenhauer's vast magnum opus, the World as Will and Representation, over the past two years, I was struck by his insistence on the importance of compassion and loving-kindness.
Halfway through his work, I had jokingly summarized it to myself by saying "The shortcut to understanding all of Schopenhauer's philosophy is to be reborn a Hindu." Months later, when I came to the conclusion of his Gesamtwerk (complete works), I was struck by his quasi endorsement of ascetic Buddhism, which (in its purest form) is the closest thing to "true, original" Christianity (Jesus's message, not the institutional behemoth).
It's impossible to summarize Schopenhauer's doctrine succinctly, but he emphatically makes an appeal to have compassion and loving-kindness; that's the best that the best among us can do after being born into the cruel world.
Although I'm not at all religious, as you know, Bill, I do believe in the type of social contract outlined by the existentialists. That is, essentially, if one wants to live in society, one is bound to abide by its rules and treat others fairly. In other words, I don't think religion is needed for morality.
That said, I agree that we've lost much of the "humanity" that's supposed to define us as humans. In many ways, we're much worse than non-human animals.
I think if the Human Race, and we "All"every inhabitant of planet Earth just abided as the "Dude" "Dudeism" The Big Lebowski.., or lived "simply" (of course living simply isn't always simple.) , and also take care of the Ghettos, Barrio's, Shanty Towns, the Hood-- all the disenfranchised who to most are so invisible unless you worked the Cities like I , and others often did and lived in their Neighborhoods as we did in our Firehouses.
By Living the "Golden Rule" no Religion is necessary period exclamation pt! I'm honestly not looking for any more religious debates here...
I am also the product of a very devout Christian upbringing. I was born into a family whose small church had been banned by the NAZI regime in 1936. The simple fact is that institutionalized Christianity has never exhibited compassion. There were the occasional exceptions like this young nun. My parents were constantly threatened by the Nazi regime from 1933 to 1945. They were members of a religious organization that was declared illegal in 1936 and my father was known as a Social Democrat (SPD). We (my mother) learned in 1969 that our father who had recently passed away that he had been saved from incarceration in a concentration camp by two former schoolmates (brother) who were members of the SS. My mother was told of this action by one of these former SS brothers. They had removed his name from a list of deportees. I doubt they did it out of compassion (or Christian charity), though I have no way to proof it. I say this because I do not accept that religion is a major basis for humane behavior; it maybe a contributing factor in some individual cases.
Jeffrey Sachs concludes his 21 March piece “The Urgency of Diplomacy” as follows:
It has been the US and its allies that have broken agreements and refused diplomacy. THE US VIOLATED ITS SOLEMN PLEDGES to Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and to Russian President Boris Yeltsin that NATO would not move one inch eastward. THE US CHEATED by supporting the violent coup in Kiev that toppled Ukraine’s President Viktor Yanukovych. THE US, GERMANY, FRANCE, AND THE UK, DUPLICITOUSLY REFUSED to back the Minsk II agreement. THE US UNILATERALLY WITHDREW from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2002 and from the Intermediate Force Agreement in 2019. THE US REFUSED to negotiate when Putin proposed a draft Russia-US Treaty on Security Guarantees on December 15, 2021.
There has in fact been no direct diplomacy between Biden and Putin since the beginning of 2022. And when Russia and Ukraine negotiated directly in March 2022, the UK and US stepped in to block an agreement based on Ukrainian neutrality. Putin reiterated Russia’s openness to negotiations in his interview with Tucker Carlson last month and did so again more recently.
The war rages on, with hundreds of thousands dead and with hundreds of billions of dollars of destruction. We are coming closer to the nuclear abyss. It’s time to talk.
In the immortal words and wisdom of JFK in his Inaugural Address, “Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.”
Option 1: GOD FORMALLY CHARGED WITH CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY: “If all else fails,” His lawyers assert, "We’ll plead insanity”
GOD has been formally charged with Crimes Against Humanity.
In an action that took the entire Universe and Beyond by complete and total surprise [with the possible exception of a few scattered Gnostics, a Dudeist or two, and a theoretical cosmologist/physicist, evolutionary biologist, and cognitive scientist or three, here and there], the United Nations today issued a Warrant for GOD’s arrest to defend HIMSelf against Charges of “Crimes Against Humanity,” and numerous and assorted other “War and/or Other Crimes.”
These Charges were listed in the indictment as including, “… but not limited to [and starting with]: criminal deceit and entrapment in the Garden of Eden; global and local geo-, geno-, ethno-, gyno-, infanti-, eco-, and biosphereo-cide; the mass slaughters of non-combatants [human and otherwise]; and, most particularly, failure to effectively oversee the actions of HIS designated and representative subordinates. Or the actions of those who have designated, represented, and presented [and present] themselves As HIS designated subordinates. Even as we speak.”
GOD is also charged with direct complicity in the murder of HIS Son.
The Warrant mandates that GOD [aka “YHWY/‘Elohim/Adonai,” “God, The Father,” “Allah,” and “Etc”], HIS designated representative[s], and each, every, and all of HIS and their attorneys appear before The United Nations’ and World Peoples’ Tribunal For Truth, Justice, and Reconciliation Concerning GOD’s Crimes Against Humanity ~ to be convened at the UN Headquarters in New York on September 11, 2024 ~ to answer these Charges.
A World Peoples’ attorney, identified only as “Q,” briefly outlined the charges against The Supreme Being [“starting in the ‘Garden’”], and their bases, sources, and justification. She also explained the purpose, goal, and intention of the Tribunal. Details at 11.
[Extracted from Documents From the Proceedings of The United Nations’ and World Peoples’ Tribunal For Truth, Justice, and Reconciliation Concerning GOD’s Crimes Against Humanity.]
Reject the culture and try compassion and forgiveness towards your neighbor.
And if you don't care about compassion and you don't want to forgive, realize that the ruling elite are banking on your spite and hard feelings towards your neighbor.
Literally. Banking on it.
Let's not let them make bank on that anymore.
Your neighbor is your ally. Thank you, Bill, for the reminder.
I posed this to ChatGPT, "my best friend turns 62. With his kindness and consideration with all people, including total strangers, he is that proverbial one in a million kind of person. What brief birthday greeting 2 or 3 sentences would reflect my characterization of him."
This is what it came back with in seconds,
"Happy 62nd birthday to the epitome of kindness and consideration! You're the rare gem who illuminates the lives of everyone you meet, spreading warmth and compassion like no other. Here's to celebrating your remarkable presence in this world!"
MEXICO BEGINS CONSTRUCTING WALL TO KEEP ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS FROM COMING BACK
Piedras Negras — As the debate in the United States continued to rage over the ongoing migrant crisis along the southern border, Mexico announced plans to begin construction on a wall to keep illegal immigrants from coming back.
The idea to build a wall along its northern border, which Mexican leaders said they came up with all by themselves, will prevent unvetted and unidentified migrants from entering the country, thereby making Mexico a safer, more secure nation.
"It's going to be a big, beautiful wall," said Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. "We're going to build a wall and we're going to make the United States pay for it. If the U.S. thinks they can just send endless waves of Mexican gang members, criminals, rapists, and murderers into Mexico, they've got another thing coming. A nation without borders is not a nation. We've got to build a wall and make Mexico great again!"
Though U.S. officials had asked Mexico to take back deported migrants in hopes of easing the burden of border towns and other cities that have become overrun after months of overwhelming immigrant surges, Obrador took a hardline stance. "We don't know who they're sending here," he said. "We can't afford to let huge mobs of Mexicans flow into Mexico unchecked. It's too dangerous. Build the wall!"
At publishing time, construction on the border wall had already commenced, with President Obrador being hailed as a genius and praised for his dedication to protecting Mexico from foreign invasion.
Another brief video, 17 minutes, made by the Grayzone showing busloads of Israeli settlers from Jerusalem and the illegally OCCUPIED West Bank blocking Humanitarian Aid at an entry point into Gaza with the attitude, "KILL THEM ALL" and Jews will settle in Gaza.
For all the Israeli propaganda Palestinians teach their children to hate Israelis, with all the Jewish children, they're being taught to hate Palestinians.
It's obvious with the Israeli decimation, they're making it uninhabitable for the Palestinians of Gaza to drive them out.
As I age, my body has aches and pains I never felt when I was younger. Instead of moping and complaining, I offer those pains up in my Faith to share in the torture and pain Christ Jesus experienced on the CROSS in his human flesh at Jerusalem and then my pains are not that great at all and the load is lifted.
I do have to point to a qualification in your sentence, All this, of course, is a matter of faith, but faith can figuratively move mountains from 1 Corinthians 13: 2
And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not LOVE, I am nothing.
1 Corinthians 13 in it's totality defines Christian heavenly Love compared to Earthly love as in, 'For if you love them which love you, what thank have you? for sinners also love those that love them.'
Luke 6: 32
That's increasingly difficult for any Individual to do in this World being consumed by hate!
Here in the Chicago area we are being flooded with people begging; Venezuelans and Colombians with families and cardboard signs pleading for help. I asked friends about their views on giving to beggars and was not surprised to hear the standard line about seeing some example of begging fraud many years in the past and deciding on that single incident to sweep away all beggars as likely frauds.
How easily we rationalize doing what we want to do - in this case walking right by those at the bottom convinced in our own minds that our conscience is rightfully clear.
The golden rule always needs help as it is so easily put aside. Putting oneself in the other's place is a must if one is to even approach a moral way of living. The complete absence of this is evident in Gaza as the lives and property of a native people are taken without hesitation, so convinced are the destroyers of their righteousness. Atop it all is Joe Biden, with no hesitation enabling slaughter immediately after Oct 7 and unrelentingly staying with it for the following months. I send his campaign appeals back with WAR CRIMINAL written on them and a request to be dropped from the mailing list. Even if only one lowly mail handler sees the message, it serves a purpose.
I remember that years ago the Dalai Lama was quoted as saying that what today's world most needed more of was compassion; I don't remember anything else he said and I'm not a follower, but that stuck with me.
Then after reading Arthur Schopenhauer's vast magnum opus, the World as Will and Representation, over the past two years, I was struck by his insistence on the importance of compassion and loving-kindness.
Halfway through his work, I had jokingly summarized it to myself by saying "The shortcut to understanding all of Schopenhauer's philosophy is to be reborn a Hindu." Months later, when I came to the conclusion of his Gesamtwerk (complete works), I was struck by his quasi endorsement of ascetic Buddhism, which (in its purest form) is the closest thing to "true, original" Christianity (Jesus's message, not the institutional behemoth).
It's impossible to summarize Schopenhauer's doctrine succinctly, but he emphatically makes an appeal to have compassion and loving-kindness; that's the best that the best among us can do after being born into the cruel world.
"The Gospel According to Peanuts". One of my favorite (short) books. By Robert Short.
Although I'm not at all religious, as you know, Bill, I do believe in the type of social contract outlined by the existentialists. That is, essentially, if one wants to live in society, one is bound to abide by its rules and treat others fairly. In other words, I don't think religion is needed for morality.
That said, I agree that we've lost much of the "humanity" that's supposed to define us as humans. In many ways, we're much worse than non-human animals.
I think if the Human Race, and we "All"every inhabitant of planet Earth just abided as the "Dude" "Dudeism" The Big Lebowski.., or lived "simply" (of course living simply isn't always simple.) , and also take care of the Ghettos, Barrio's, Shanty Towns, the Hood-- all the disenfranchised who to most are so invisible unless you worked the Cities like I , and others often did and lived in their Neighborhoods as we did in our Firehouses.
By Living the "Golden Rule" no Religion is necessary period exclamation pt! I'm honestly not looking for any more religious debates here...
I am also the product of a very devout Christian upbringing. I was born into a family whose small church had been banned by the NAZI regime in 1936. The simple fact is that institutionalized Christianity has never exhibited compassion. There were the occasional exceptions like this young nun. My parents were constantly threatened by the Nazi regime from 1933 to 1945. They were members of a religious organization that was declared illegal in 1936 and my father was known as a Social Democrat (SPD). We (my mother) learned in 1969 that our father who had recently passed away that he had been saved from incarceration in a concentration camp by two former schoolmates (brother) who were members of the SS. My mother was told of this action by one of these former SS brothers. They had removed his name from a list of deportees. I doubt they did it out of compassion (or Christian charity), though I have no way to proof it. I say this because I do not accept that religion is a major basis for humane behavior; it maybe a contributing factor in some individual cases.
Jeffrey Sachs concludes his 21 March piece “The Urgency of Diplomacy” as follows:
It has been the US and its allies that have broken agreements and refused diplomacy. THE US VIOLATED ITS SOLEMN PLEDGES to Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and to Russian President Boris Yeltsin that NATO would not move one inch eastward. THE US CHEATED by supporting the violent coup in Kiev that toppled Ukraine’s President Viktor Yanukovych. THE US, GERMANY, FRANCE, AND THE UK, DUPLICITOUSLY REFUSED to back the Minsk II agreement. THE US UNILATERALLY WITHDREW from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2002 and from the Intermediate Force Agreement in 2019. THE US REFUSED to negotiate when Putin proposed a draft Russia-US Treaty on Security Guarantees on December 15, 2021.
There has in fact been no direct diplomacy between Biden and Putin since the beginning of 2022. And when Russia and Ukraine negotiated directly in March 2022, the UK and US stepped in to block an agreement based on Ukrainian neutrality. Putin reiterated Russia’s openness to negotiations in his interview with Tucker Carlson last month and did so again more recently.
The war rages on, with hundreds of thousands dead and with hundreds of billions of dollars of destruction. We are coming closer to the nuclear abyss. It’s time to talk.
In the immortal words and wisdom of JFK in his Inaugural Address, “Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.”
Source: https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/ukraine-war-diplomacy ; EMPHASES added.
OPTION 1 and OPTION 3
Option 1: GOD FORMALLY CHARGED WITH CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY: “If all else fails,” His lawyers assert, "We’ll plead insanity”
GOD has been formally charged with Crimes Against Humanity.
In an action that took the entire Universe and Beyond by complete and total surprise [with the possible exception of a few scattered Gnostics, a Dudeist or two, and a theoretical cosmologist/physicist, evolutionary biologist, and cognitive scientist or three, here and there], the United Nations today issued a Warrant for GOD’s arrest to defend HIMSelf against Charges of “Crimes Against Humanity,” and numerous and assorted other “War and/or Other Crimes.”
These Charges were listed in the indictment as including, “… but not limited to [and starting with]: criminal deceit and entrapment in the Garden of Eden; global and local geo-, geno-, ethno-, gyno-, infanti-, eco-, and biosphereo-cide; the mass slaughters of non-combatants [human and otherwise]; and, most particularly, failure to effectively oversee the actions of HIS designated and representative subordinates. Or the actions of those who have designated, represented, and presented [and present] themselves As HIS designated subordinates. Even as we speak.”
GOD is also charged with direct complicity in the murder of HIS Son.
The Warrant mandates that GOD [aka “YHWY/‘Elohim/Adonai,” “God, The Father,” “Allah,” and “Etc”], HIS designated representative[s], and each, every, and all of HIS and their attorneys appear before The United Nations’ and World Peoples’ Tribunal For Truth, Justice, and Reconciliation Concerning GOD’s Crimes Against Humanity ~ to be convened at the UN Headquarters in New York on September 11, 2024 ~ to answer these Charges.
A World Peoples’ attorney, identified only as “Q,” briefly outlined the charges against The Supreme Being [“starting in the ‘Garden’”], and their bases, sources, and justification. She also explained the purpose, goal, and intention of the Tribunal. Details at 11.
[Extracted from Documents From the Proceedings of The United Nations’ and World Peoples’ Tribunal For Truth, Justice, and Reconciliation Concerning GOD’s Crimes Against Humanity.]
Hear, hear!
Reject the culture and try compassion and forgiveness towards your neighbor.
And if you don't care about compassion and you don't want to forgive, realize that the ruling elite are banking on your spite and hard feelings towards your neighbor.
Literally. Banking on it.
Let's not let them make bank on that anymore.
Your neighbor is your ally. Thank you, Bill, for the reminder.
Perhaps the Pope should listen to Mother Natalia for some ideas to practice.
Off topic and on topic!
I posed this to ChatGPT, "my best friend turns 62. With his kindness and consideration with all people, including total strangers, he is that proverbial one in a million kind of person. What brief birthday greeting 2 or 3 sentences would reflect my characterization of him."
This is what it came back with in seconds,
"Happy 62nd birthday to the epitome of kindness and consideration! You're the rare gem who illuminates the lives of everyone you meet, spreading warmth and compassion like no other. Here's to celebrating your remarkable presence in this world!"
I'm so pleased it included the word Compassion!
Meanwhile, in Other News… :
MEXICO BEGINS CONSTRUCTING WALL TO KEEP ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS FROM COMING BACK
Piedras Negras — As the debate in the United States continued to rage over the ongoing migrant crisis along the southern border, Mexico announced plans to begin construction on a wall to keep illegal immigrants from coming back.
The idea to build a wall along its northern border, which Mexican leaders said they came up with all by themselves, will prevent unvetted and unidentified migrants from entering the country, thereby making Mexico a safer, more secure nation.
"It's going to be a big, beautiful wall," said Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. "We're going to build a wall and we're going to make the United States pay for it. If the U.S. thinks they can just send endless waves of Mexican gang members, criminals, rapists, and murderers into Mexico, they've got another thing coming. A nation without borders is not a nation. We've got to build a wall and make Mexico great again!"
Though U.S. officials had asked Mexico to take back deported migrants in hopes of easing the burden of border towns and other cities that have become overrun after months of overwhelming immigrant surges, Obrador took a hardline stance. "We don't know who they're sending here," he said. "We can't afford to let huge mobs of Mexicans flow into Mexico unchecked. It's too dangerous. Build the wall!"
At publishing time, construction on the border wall had already commenced, with President Obrador being hailed as a genius and praised for his dedication to protecting Mexico from foreign invasion.
Source: https://babylonbee.com/news/mexico-begins-constructing-wall-to-keep-illegal-immigrants-from-coming-back .
Another brief video, 17 minutes, made by the Grayzone showing busloads of Israeli settlers from Jerusalem and the illegally OCCUPIED West Bank blocking Humanitarian Aid at an entry point into Gaza with the attitude, "KILL THEM ALL" and Jews will settle in Gaza.
For all the Israeli propaganda Palestinians teach their children to hate Israelis, with all the Jewish children, they're being taught to hate Palestinians.
It's obvious with the Israeli decimation, they're making it uninhabitable for the Palestinians of Gaza to drive them out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqRzfb2oMaM
This horrific hour long Al Jazeera Investigative report on what happened October 7 has both Israeli and Hamas footage.
The more horrific WAR is, the more the enemy has to be demonized by Propaganda if government Officials wants the Public to support it.
TRUTH is still the 1st casualty of WAR.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfHAs9cdTqg
The video reminds me of "God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him." 1 John 4:16
As I age, my body has aches and pains I never felt when I was younger. Instead of moping and complaining, I offer those pains up in my Faith to share in the torture and pain Christ Jesus experienced on the CROSS in his human flesh at Jerusalem and then my pains are not that great at all and the load is lifted.
I do have to point to a qualification in your sentence, All this, of course, is a matter of faith, but faith can figuratively move mountains from 1 Corinthians 13: 2
And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not LOVE, I am nothing.
1 Corinthians 13 in it's totality defines Christian heavenly Love compared to Earthly love as in, 'For if you love them which love you, what thank have you? for sinners also love those that love them.'
Luke 6: 32
That's increasingly difficult for any Individual to do in this World being consumed by hate!