Politics & Society

Because There IS Enough for Everyone

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Yesterday I went to the monthly East Bay Really Really Free Market (a.k.a. Hella Free Day), which is on the north side of Lake Merritt. It’s a non-commercial, mutually supportive event. People bring things to share to which anyone is welcome — objects they don’t want anymore, skills, their presence and company. The idea is that through convening non-commercial and mutually supportive events, our social fabric can be transformed — oh yeah, and it’s fun, too. The Really Really Free website lists some platitudes that express what Really Really Free Markets are reacting to, and what they aim to create.

Christianity

Radical Catholicism

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Perhaps it is a common struggle among spiritual progressive types to find themselves at odds with certain teachings of the faith tradition they call their own. When this happens, it can seem that the only tenable option is to leave the Church. But it is true that certain traditions get woven into the fabric of the soul in no small way, and simply leaving a Church is not always a viable option at all when it comes to holistically addressing one’s emotional and spiritual history, needs, and gifts for expression as they develop throughout one’s life. People’s relationships to churches and Churches are intensely creative, personal, and not always what they seem. With devotion to some honest searching it may be possible to stay within a tradition that speaks your language even if you disagree with some of the pronouncements it makes.

Culture

Shmah: a Hope for Harmony

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Montreal-based artist Erik Slutsky is not a religious man, but viewers of his paintings might be tempted to jump to a different conclusion. Many of his paintings prominently feature Jewish imagery: a colorful menorah, a figure clad in Jewish regalia crying a prayer to the heavens, a woman wearing a star of David necklace. Look more closely, and you will also see Christian crosses and Muslim crescents accompanying the Jewish symbols in his paintings. Born to a secular Jewish family, Slutsky grew up attending Protestant schools, where he was just one student out of many “singing nice little hymns every morning, and prayers and stuff like that.” “I come from a totally non-religious background,” he says.