Culture

Stepping Out of Your Comfort Zone – Sharing a New Post by George Lakey about Class War

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During one of George Lakey’s train-the-trainer for social activist workshops, people kept mentioning that some tactic or other was a “high-wire” concept for them. After around the third time I heard that, I finally asked “What does she mean by high-wire?” George reached behind him, pulled out a soap box, and explained “What if I told you that I wanted you to take this soap box and walk over to 16th and Mission, stand up on the box, and just start talking to everyone who passes by?” “That would make me very uncomfortable.” I responded.

Politics & Society

Science Meets Spirituality — The Case Against Divorce Courts

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Introducing spiritual concepts into policy discussions is not easy, but fortunately science is on our side. The latest developments in physics, biology, neuroscience, and psychology all confirm the fundamental connection of all humans and the centrality of consciousness to existence. Now we can talk hard science as well as soft-hearted spirituality in advocating for change.

Healing Israel/Palestine

An Open Call for the Elections and Uri Avnery's "Ayn Rand and Paul Ryan"

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In the coming two months we welcome submissions (to me at RabbiLerner.tikkun@gmail.com) about what and who spiritual progressives should be backing in the coming elections. Below we print the article sent to us by Uri Avnery on Paul Ryan and Ayn Rand. Like every such article, we do not claim this to be an official Tikkun perspective, but rather an interesting take, in this case from the leader of the most intellectually coherent Israeli peace movement–Gush Shalom.

Buddhism

Leavening and The Oneness of God: Spiritual + Cultural Paradigm Shifts

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In my last article I discussed The Wild Goose Festival as a paradigm shift. Now I want to explore the shift in a greater, and lengthier context as I lead into describing (in coming articles) the way it is informing and being informed by a larger global culture, a larger spiritual and religious culture, and shifts within all which also lead to increased conversations within and outside of all current contexts of identity. We are restructuring the world, in tiny steps so small that it is often hard to see at the micro-level.

General News

Women's Rights and Duties

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August 18 is the 92nd birthday of the 19th amendment to the Constitution that gave voting rights to women. American women worked for at least 72 years – from 1848 to 1920–to expand the franchise to include women. And as late at the 1960s, men and women such as Fannie Lou Hamer took beatings for the right to vote. Many religious traditions teach the importance of memory and the importance of ancestor respect. In traditional African cosmology, the ancestors remain a part of the living community.