ODE TO THE HUMBLE-KING

Martin Luther King nominating Thich Nhat Hanh for the
Nobel Peace Prize.In the public domain.

By Stefan Schindler

Note from Kathie MM: Today, tragically, is the 50th anniversary   of the assassination of Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., whose courageous leadership on behalf of peace and social justice has been receiving renewed attention this year on this blog and elsewhere. Today, please immerse yourself in this new ode to the  King from Stefan Schindler.

                    ODE TO THE HUMBLE-KING

“Wealth, poverty, racism, and war. These four

always go together,” said Martin Luther King.

His words ring with urgency and truth,

as we applaud the awakening of youth

from the nightmare of parents in the voting booth

choosing more of the same: carnival of greed,

devoid of shame; goes by the name “land of the free,

home of the brave,” but is in fact Plato’s cave.

“He not busy being born is busy dying,” said Dylan.

And yet, “toy guns that spark” will never kill

the “flesh-colored Christ that glows in the dark”

who still teaches compassion. “There are no passengers

on spaceship earth,” said Buckminster Fuller.

“We are all members of the crew.” This is something

John and Robert Kennedy knew. John Lennon too.

Meanwhile, the dream … is not over. We continue to …

Imagine: a Peaceable Kingdom on earth, free of strife;

where music … is the medicine of life.

These are, indeed, “times that try men’s souls,”

Thomas Paine declared, not really all that long ago,

when the country was young, and sought to be free

from the oppressive grip of tyranny. And now it falls

upon you and me to keep the faith, shine the light;

keep the fires of peace and justice shining bright

for all to see; as Buddha did on Eagle’s Peak.

Yes, we seek: the triumph and the glory of The Good:

planetary peace at last, in a spirit of … universal …

brother-sisterhood. I believe we can; I believe we will;

inspired by the life of Martin Luther King, whose words

still sing, and legacy still … shines like the sun.

You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.

Spreading, now, the Golden Fleece upon the beach

that is the shore to the dream come true, we know who

carried the torch and lit The Way. Each day,

what a sight! Precious, with beauty and delight.

In the sacred hoop of the Peace Abbey School

of Life Experience, gathered in Unitarian ring,

we celebrate Gaia, Gandhi, Romero,

and remain inspired by … the spirit of

Martin Luther King.

 

Stefan Schindler; Peace Abbey Cottage Celebration of the Life and Legacy of  Martin Luther King; The Life Experience School; Millis, Massachusetts; April 4, 2018.

Stefan is co-founder of The National Registry for Conscientious Objection, a Woodrow Wilson Fellow, a recipient of The Boston Baha’i Peace Award, and a Trustee of The Life Experience School and Peace Abbey Foundation, Dr. Stefan Schindler received his Ph.D. in Philosophy from Boston College, worked one summer in a nature preserve, lived in a Zen temple for a year, did the pilot’s voice in a claymation video of St. Exupery’s The Little Prince, acted in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf,” and performed as a musical poet in Philadelphia, Boston, and New York City.  He also wrote The Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Awards for Howard Zinn and John Lennon.  He is now semi-retired and living in Salem, Massachusetts. His books include The Tao of Socrates, America’s Indochina Holocaust, Discoursing with the Gods, and Space is Grace; his forthcoming book is Buddha’s Political Philosophy.

 

 

A POETICS OF PEACE

Autumn comes. Photo by Kathleen Malley-Morrison.

by  Stefan Schindler

Autumn comes; the leaf falls from the tree.

Does the leaf release itself?

Or does the tree release the leaf?

The answer, my friend,

is blowin’ in the wind.

…………………………………………

 

 

Beauty before me; beauty behind me;

beauty above; beauty below.

Beauty all around.  I walk in beauty.

………………………………………………..

A quantum chorus of birdsong bright,

a golden, glowing, holy grail overflowing

with holy, healing, divine white light;

ecstasy of rainbows blanketing space,

empowered by love’s unconditional grace;

communing with creatures great and small,

happy to serve them one and all.

………………………………

 

Jesus, Buddha, Gandhi and King,

all said the same thing; their words fraught

with provocative jewels, hanging, or not,

from the head of the mule.  We, brought up

on Dylan and the Dead, heard the music and said,

Give peace a chance.

…………………………………………

Do you have faith in space?

Can you catch a moonbeam in a seashell?

Actually, the dream was never over,

because John never ceased to Imagine.

……………………………………………..

Let us go, make a start,

to the place where buffalo thunder

runs like a river through your heart;

sun rises, while the moon still sparkles on the dew;

song of the Tao calls to you, from the butterfly’s dream

of Chuang Tzu.

………………………………………………

Note from Kathie MM: Through countless generations, poetry has proved to have the power to stir the emotions, mobilize behavior, push towards peace and social justice.  Please comment on Stefan’s poetic post by sending us your own poems regarding peace and/or social justice.

 

  

A CALL to WOMEN

A World-Wide Unity Campaign

To create World Peace

By Andre Sheldon

THE ACTION PLAN IS

a Gandhi / King-like people movement,

a GLOBAL MOVEMENT of NONVIOLENCE,

For the Children

Via a CALL to WOMEN.

This is an EMERGENCY PLAN!

 The Immediate Objective is to:

 ENLIST WOMEN LEADERS

Enlist women to rise up as the PEACEMAKERS, and

Set a Precedent for the Future of the Planet.

The long term goal is to STOP WAR!

The world is becoming more and more divided and violent.

The time has come to unite the people of the world and grassroots organizations everywhere. It is time for a PEOPLE MOVEMENT!

The PLANS and STRATEGY ARE READY NOW !!!

 Please Contact

Andre Sheldon

Director, Global Strategy of Nonviolence, For the Children

Facilitator, CALL to WOMEN, a World-Wide Unity Campaign

Cell number: +1-617-413-9064, Home number: +1-617- 964-5267

Email:  Andre@GlobalStrategyofNonviolence.org

Website: www.GlobalStrategyofNonviolence.org

Facebook: Global Movement of Nonviolence

 

 

 

The Conditions for Human Health and Well-Being Reside in the Psycho-Social Contexts of Life

by Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D.

“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation. . . . A stereotyped but unconscious despair is concealed even under what are called games of amusement and amusements of mankind. But it is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.”  

— Henry David Thoreau
Jul 12, 1817-May 6, 1862
Walden (Aug 9, 1854)

Introduction

12 Jul 2017 – I call upon the timeless words of Henry David Thoreau, a 19th Century student of Ralph Waldo Emerson (1889-1888), to open this article on the critical consequences of the socio-cultural context for human health and well-being. It is, perhaps, coincidental today is Thoreau’s birthday; his 200th year anniversary, a reminder of the enduring power of great thoughts and words.  Guide me, Sir!

I offer only a few lines of Thoreau’s words as an epigram, insufficient to honor the timelessness of his thoughts, but perhaps sufficient to acknowledge his special sensitivities to the human condition of his age and our age. Thoreau’s entire works deserve reading. The unfolding industrial age in which he lived, was the source of problems paralleling the problems of our unfolding socio-technical age.

I can think of no better guide to justify the thoughts and words of this article. In so many ways, we have forgotten the tragic consequences of the psycho-social contexts of life for the human condition; we have become infatuated with “reductionism,” a wondrous gift of technological progress, but a distraction from the realities of human nature.

No one can deny the sheer wonder and glory of our growing knowledge of the CNS, brain, organs, and genetics. Yet, the magnificence of our knowledge must not detract from our understanding the socio-environmental determinants of our life milieu.  Political powers, controlling funding have called for various national initiatives: “Decade of the Brain.” Similar initiatives for increasing awareness of psychosocial topics have too hidden agendas (see documentary: America’s War on Drugs) directed toward arms deals, racial oppression, and disguised foreign relations policies.

Psychosocial Contexts

Kurt Lewin (1890-1947), one of psychology’s great thinkers, contended behavior is a function of the interaction of organism and environment (B = O x E). It is the interaction of an organism and its milieu which generates behavior, and the problems of disease and disorder. Nothing exists apart from its inner and outer singular milieu. Although physicists may disagree, nothing exists in a vacuum! Life is connections.

As we become increasingly, and deservedly, awed by reductionist discoveries and revelations, and as we seek insights, answers, and solutions to major human problems within reductionist levels, we are failing to address and resolve the challenges of the psychosocial context of our lives. The psychosocial context is the life context in the behavior equation. The psychosocial context has critical implications and consequences for health and well being. It is a formative cause of problems, a precipitating cause, an exacerbating cause, and a maintaining cause. The psychosocial context requires careful attention and understanding in all of the causal relations.

We may be excessively concerned and pre-occupied with the physical aspects of our being, even to the extent of dividing solutions into medical specialties, sub-specialties, and sub-sub specialties. We journey across limb, organ, cell, gene, atom, and molecular space; this journey has proven miraculous for many diseases and disorders. However, this journey alone cannot address nor resolve the tolls exacted on human health and well being forged and sustained within the psychosocial contexts of our lives.

There are many empirical and theoretical reasons concluding many diseases, disorders, dysfunctions, deviancies, and distress arise from the psychosocial contexts of our life than from our body alone. Indeed, the experiences forged and sustained in the psychosocial contexts shape and generate many of these tragic “D” words as the body and mind become war zones for survival struggles – lives of “quiet desperation.”

Today, humans seek respite and relief from “desperation” in prescription pills, illegal drugs and substances, and/or both. Pills and substances are often temporary palliatives, unable to treat and heal the broader destructive contexts of human life, located in the “isms,” poverty, violence, war, and oppression.

There can be no doubt pills and substances alter behavior via neurochemistry and anatomical structure. However, seeking solutions to the determinants of problems requires solutions appropriate to the level generating them and their consequences. Tragically, psychosocial contexts, though obvious, are too often ignored. These are big problems!   Too often local, national, and international leaders yield to the preferences to the wealthy, powerful, and positioned. The result is the medicalization of society and human existence; the abuse of power is history’s story!

Many noble minds and hearts sought to awaken humanity to the psychosocial sources of their problems (e.g., Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Cesar Chavez, Nelson Mandela, President John Fitzgerald Kennedy), but those in power, continue to dominate, “tossing bones of solace” to reaching hands. Today the world is gifted by many new heroic stalwarts, who are advancing peace and social justice (e.g., Mairead McGuire, Michael Knox, Antonio de Rosa, Glenn Paige, and numerous others). The struggle, however, is endless, and requires a person become a social and political activist. As has been suggested by many, today’s situation requires us to merge personal, occupational, and civic lives; there must be a fusion or a gathering of “self.”

In a previous publication, ( See Anthony J. Marsella (September 17, 2012). Transcend Media Service (TMS): www.http://transcend.org/…/the-conditions-for-human-health-and-well-being-reside in the psychosocial contexts of life/  .  I suggested a number of psycho-social contexts determining health and well being.  These and others are now displayed in Figure 1, along with suggestions of the human responses and conditions they breed.

FIGURE 1: PSYCHO-SOCIAL CONTEXTS FOR HEALTH AND WELL-BEING

figure 1

There are so many more items that should be included, as the “interaction” of the contexts foster yet new contexts and complexity.  Amidst this challenging “matrix,” it is easy to become pessimistic, to give up on solutions, and to accept forces and fates as destiny. Do not!

As the struggles appear overwhelming, find inspiration and hope from those about you, especially at local levels, making contributions to peace,  justice, and dignity. They are the new heroes our times.

________________________________________

Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D., a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace, Development and Environment, is a past president of Psychologists for Social Responsibility, Emeritus Professor of psychology at the University of Hawaii’s Manoa Campus in Honolulu, Hawaii, and past director of the World Health Organization Psychiatric Research Center in Honolulu.  He is known internationally as a pioneer figure in the study of culture and psychopathology who challenged the ethnocentrism and racial biases of many assumptions, theories, and practices in psychology and psychiatry. In more recent years, he has been writing and lecturing on peace and social justice. He has published 21 books and more than 300 articles, tech reports, and popular commentaries. He can be reached at marsella@hawaii.edu.

 

This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 17 July 2017.