On this day in 1620 (okay, November 11, Old Style) a raggedy band of Pilgrims sitting in their leaky ship created and signed a compact before debarking and establishing their colony. While it is done in the face of the divine, it is essentially a compact among people. It is generally considered the ancestor of our system of self-government (as well as what would be the spiritual governance of Congregational and later Unitarian churches…) Here’s a computer reading the text,... Read more
I believe Richard Bartholomew’s post on the conviction and sentencing for extreme acts of cyber-bullying is worth noting. Two reasons. And then how this sparks a further thought. One, I think more people should be aware of Bartholomew’s Notes on Religion, an important blog exploring the seamier side of contemporary religion. Two, it holds up an example of a particularly vicious campaign against people waged by someone who defended his various crimes as “satirical hoaxes.” The ability of people to... Read more
On more than one occasion I’ve read or heard people say the question “If a tree falls in the woods, but no one hears it, is there a sound?” is a koan. It is not. A koan is a direct pointing to reality together with an invitation to respond, box and its lid. The tree question is a conundrum. I find in my life I encounter both types of question, koan and conundrum. The one is about our deepest aspirations,... Read more
In the circles within which I move there is a tendency to treat tolerance as if it were a bad word. Tolerance, they say, is just putting up with. We should be embracing not tolerating, goes the argument. Puts me to mind of the rabbinical story where the rich man goes to the rabbi and tells him that he, the rich man, has decided he should live more simply. Instead of rich food he will for now on live on... Read more
On this day in 1864 Sherman’s army burned Atlanta as he began the march to the sea, a campaign that would set the stage for the end of the war. And end the national damnation of slavery. If not the echoes that continue to our day. I searched youtube and most of the few songs that touched on this event celebrated Confederate resilience and nobility. No doubt there were many, many good people who took up arms in defense of... Read more
AND THE FIRE AND THE ROSE ARE ONE A Reflection on T. S. Eliot & the Spiritual Journey 14 November 2010 James Ishmael Ford First Unitarian Church Providence, Rhode Island Text We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time. Through the unknown, unremembered gate When the last of earth left to discoverIs that which was the beginning; At the source... Read more
The Associated Press reports that Burma’s long imprisoned pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has been released from house-arrest. The Voice of America provides some good analysis. This has happened before. Daw Suu’s party won over eighty percent of the 1990 election. As the head of the party she is at least technically the last democratically elected leader of the country. But she never served due to a military coup, and instead has spent fifteen of... Read more
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