Tikkun (https://www.tikkun.org/category/archive/2010/page/3/)
The human race — not for the first time in our history — has lost the sacred sense of self-restraint. We don’t restrain ourselves. And what’s the result? The earth will give forth thorns and thistles, not abundance, and you will have to work with the sweat pouring down your faces to get just barely enough to eat.
When I moved to the University of Missouri after having worked in Boston, I found that approaches to racial and gender equality that worked in New England were counterproductive in our work in the lower Midwest. We asked students to share what they valued in their culture, what nurtured and sustained them. We experienced the joy of expanding circles of deliberation and engagement with those we had formerly seen as prejudiced, closed-minded, and uninterested in learning
I think that if you’re looking at the world today and you’re not heartbroken and you’re not grieving, you’re not conscious. The question is, if we know that things can be done, what are we called upon to do?
This is an extremely interesting and terrible time for the issue that I work on, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I’d like to think together about some reactions to the flotilla incident and about where we go from here—what are the policy options, the implications for our politics, and, from my perspective, the implications for the American Jewish community.
If we look at early civilizations that declined and collapsed, more often than not it was a shortage of food that brought them down. Until recently I had rejected the idea that food could be the weak link in our modern civilization; I now think it probably is.
As much as I love the Network of Spiritual Progressives, I am not sure how much of a progressive I am. Seems to me that I spend almost all my time trying to keep things from changing, that in some deep sense I am a conservative—conserving the earth!
Our country badly needs your vision and your spiritual and moral energy to help us chart a path based on generosity, inclusion, and love. The two things I want to talk to you about are where I think we are in our country and where I think we should go.
1. Give up. 2. Devote a large portion of your life to avoiding the subject. 3. Respond to a mid-life crisis by seeking comfort in tradition while at the same time avoiding the constraints of religious practice…
“Awakening Joy: Ten Steps that Will Put You on the Road to Real Happiness” by James Baraz and Shoshana Alexander: Review by Margie Jacobs
“The Undiscovered Paul Robeson” by Paul Robeson Jr.: Review by Paul Von Blum
We have been discussing how we can get members of Congress involved in an Environmental and Social Responsibility Amendment to the Constitution (ESRA). And so what I did over the past few months was to look at the principles and to draft a resolution. The idea is this: we take the principles in the ESRA, and we put them in a congressional resolution asking members of Congress to support the principles, and from there we can work to draft specific legislation for a constitutional amendment.