USA, Mass Shootings and Reaching Higher

By Dr. Stewart Bitkoff

The last few days have been filled with NEWS about the Mass Shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio. Watching TV coverage I over heard the Mayor of Dayton indicate that this shooting was the 250th Mass Shooting in the USA; while it is difficult to determine how accurate this number and there is discussion about what constitutes a mass shooting, clearly, we have an ongoing problem that has not been effectively addressed by any segment of our society. Again, sadly many are dead/injured and many others suffering at the hands of 2 very misguided individuals.

This problem does not have a simple, one or 2 step solution: it will take years and people working on different levels of our society to turn this around; limiting sale of fire arms and back ground checks on gun purchases is a beginning.  These two changes will not get the whole job done but are a long sought starting place. Comprehensive action is very late, must be put forward quickly and relatively free of selfish interest. Finally- we must work together. (more…)

Wake Up America

by Gabriel of Urantia

Dear America,

The Irish philosopher and statesmen Edmund Burke, around the time of our own Constitution, said “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”  This very well may have been a truth that George Washington and other writers of our Constitution read, before they wrote our Constitution in 1776.

It does indeed take good men and women to speak out against tyranny and racism in order to curb it and hopefully stop it in its tracks. How did we get to this place where possibly half our country is crying out “send them back to where they belong”? — echoing the cries of the President of the United States, which at one time was the office and mandate that had the respect of all the peoples of our planet, and our country has the writing on the Statue of Liberty which says:

"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore, Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" (more…)

Trumped-up wars

By William T. Hathaway

"Obey me or die!"
the orange-haired man threatens the world.
"My drones know you're home,
and my missiles don't miss.
I'm Commander in Chief, CinC for short.
I'll sink you into the sea, fry you crisp,
burn you to dust with the push of a button.
I'll overthrow your governments,
strangle your economies,
jail your refugees.
I'm the trumpet of doom,
I'll turn your land into a tomb!"

CinC, this may shock you,
but there are higher commanders than you,
and to Them we appeal for peace
and deliverance from you:

"Jaya Jaya, Vinayaka
Hara Kailash
Durga Rakshakari
Rudra Shanti
Vidjayante Taram

Protect us from the orange fire
of the orange demon
and all his NATO agents of orange.
Disembody these demons, vanish them,
banish them into the dungeon of perdition
their deeds have built for them.

Om namah Shivaya"

***

William T. Hathaway's first novel, A World of Hurt, won a Rinehart Foundation Award, and his new one, Wellsprings: A Fable of Consciousness, deals with the environmental crisis as an old woman and a young man battle the corporations controlling our shrinking water supplies: https://www.johnhuntpublishing.com/cosmicegg-books/our-books/wellsprings. He and his wife, Daniela, direct the Transcendental Meditation Center in Oldenburg, Germany.

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Abortion: Islamic and Jewish views on when a human soul enters a human fetus

by Rabbi Allen S. Maller

I am a Rabbi who frequently writes articles about the close connections between Judaism and Islam for Islamic web sites as well as for Jewish web sites; and 31 articles previously published by Islamic web sites are in my book ‘Judaism and Islam as Synergistic Monotheisms: A Reform Rabbi's Reflections on the Profound Connectedness of Islam and Judaism’.

The following article appeared this week on the Islamicity web site; and on The Times of Israel:

All the continuing political disputes over abortion in the USA and other countries ignore the fundamental religious issue: when does the fetus in the womb of a woman’s body become a human fetus? At conception it is a living physical body, but when does this soul become a spiritual human being? (more…)

BE AWARE for Goodness Sake!

By Niann Emerson Chase

I am aware of how messed up our world is in many ways and have written numerous articles about the complex problems of our planet. In those same articles I have included hope for opportunities to solve problems and change things for the better because I am at heart an optimist—a realistic optimist who appreciates the practical application of scientific, philosophical, and spiritual facts and ideals in day-to-day life.

Why am I such an optimist when I am so aware of evil (yes, I dare to use the e word)? Because I am also aware of the presence and power of goodness—goodness residing deep within individual persons and goodness in various groups aimed at improving some aspect of civilization. In fact, I believe that there is a pattern of goodness present on our planet, a reservoir of potential goodness for us humans to pull from.

I think that a divine pattern is present in the particles of space as well as in the particles on this world, a pattern that can partially be seen through telescopes and microscopes. And this divine pattern—cosmic and earthly, huge and humble—is always good and beautiful. (Yeah, yeah, this is getting to sound a little too metaphysical. But hang in there. I think this is important to explore a bit.) (more…)

Mitakuye Oyasin

The Wisdom of the Ancient Ancestors Moving Into the Twenty-first Century

by Gabriel of Urantia

Throughout history, the wisdom of the ancestors of many indigenous peoples has been passed on, generation after generation, family after family.  As we look at the crises happening across our strife-torn world today, we find ourselves searching like never before for solutions to seemingly insurmountable problems.  Yet I believe the ancient ones had a key:  in Lakota it is said, “Mi Ta Ku Ye   O Ya Sin,” — “we are all related.” (more…)

Solution to Complex Problems

By Dr. Stewart Bitkoff

In solving problems, people look for one step solutions. We regularly search for and propose singular approaches to often very complex problems. Now this technique works sometimes, where one adjustment or change results in a useful outcome. We must recognize this is the way our mind works: looking for the most expedient, uncomplicated remedy.

Yet, many problems, particularly social problems can only be ‘fixed’ with multiple and varied approaches that depend upon changing circumstance and require adjustment over a period of years. Yet, people continue to propose one solution and often debate that their way is the correct way to make things happen. Hence, there are arguments, particularly, when the solution requires a ‘political remedy.’  People have opposing agendas and often cannot agree on which approach to use; they fear they will lose and have to give something up. (more…)

Then There's Only One Choice

By Wolfgang Borchert

This month marks the 70th anniversary of the death of Wolfgang Borchert, a young German writer who was seriously wounded in World War II then imprisoned for resistance activities. Physically destroyed, he lived only two years after the war. During that time he wrote antiwar literature that is widely read in Germany but little known in the USA, where it is currently most needed. His play about a traumatized veteran, DRAUSSEN VOR DER TÃœR (THE MAN OUTSIDE), brought him literary fame after his death. "Dann gibt es nur eins!" ("Then There's Only One Choice") is the last poem he wrote before his death in 1947 at the age of 26. It shows a perceptive foresight of the inevitability of global destruction unless the people of the world refuse to serve the military.
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An Optimistic View of Pre-Messianic Developments

By Rabbi Allen S. Maller

Human society changed more rapidly, violently and fundamentally in the last century of the second millennium than ever before in history.  Doctors saved the lives of millions.  Dictators sacrificed the lives of millions. Populations exploded and birthrates declined.  Technology produced both worldwide prosperity and pollution at the same time.

Knowing all this, should we look upon the first century of the third millennium with optimistic hope or with fatalistic trepidation?  Are the world and our society heading towards a wonder-filled new age, or toward a doomsday; or are both occurring concurrently because breakdown is always a prelude to breakthrough?  (more…)

Solving the World/America’s Problems

By Dr. Stewart Bitkoff

Initially I wrote this piece in 2013 (after a mass shooting in Arizona) and offer it again as a beginning solution to the world’s problems. Gun control and gun violence is one aspect of the larger problem. The larger problem: Is how to make better people?

Better people make a better world and collectively, we must work on this together. Solutions are possible and may take a long, long time; but it is time for more action and movement forward. I hope you enjoy this piece and share it with others. Perhaps, then, we can continue our conversation about how to accomplish this goal. (more…)