Puget Sound Liberals Weekly Newsletter #191
Enhancing Freedom, Opportunity and Cooperation in
Through informing and networking Liberals and Liberal Organizations.
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Our Website Our Editor To Unsubscribe Table of
Contents * Featured Articles Calendars of Events Communication with Our Members Opportunities Petitions Commentaries from Our Members Allison
Mardini: Protest Bellevue School for Not Showing Obama’s Speech* Randy
Winn: Republican Message to Schoolchildren* Tracy
Newman: Support Qualified Dow Constantine* Joe Szwaja:
KC Needs Instant Runoff Elections* Liberals and Democrats Links to the Beef President Obama’s Low Risk Strategy Supreme Court May Reverse Campaign Donation Precedents State and Local Links
to the Beef Lawsuit against BIAW Alleges Violation of Trust* Featured Advocacy Group: Faithful Health Care Reform Bellevue Adopts High Density
Development Nation and World Links to the Beef Businesses Typically Violate Labor Laws* What Do Foreigners Think of Americans Now? U.S. Supplies 2/3rds of World’s Weapon Sales Our Liberal Spirit John Cock: Self Transcendence* Our
Political Priorities ·
Fair Clean
Elections and Open Government ·
Fair Taxes and
Competent Spending ·
Investment for
Productivity ·
Quality
Health, Education, Jobs, Income ·
Environmental
Protection and Energy Independence ·
Security and
Equal Rights ·
Justice and
Peace Everywhere ·
International
Cooperation and Leadership Conservatives oppose all of these Let’s
End Our National Nightmare
Let’s
Restore Our American Dream More on Conservative opposition to our
American Dream Washington State’s 5 Major Needs · Federal Funding for Health and Education · Substituting
a Progressive Income Tax · Replacing
Conservative Legislators [A
Simple Summary of Why We Need Health Care Reform and What it should include] [There
Are Lots of Ways to Pay for Health Care Reform] Quote of the Week O would some power the gift to give
us to see ourselves as others see us.
Robert Burns,
Poem "To a Louse" - verse 8
Calendar of Events
Tuesday, September 22 at 6:30 at Eastshore Unitarian
Church (12700 SE 32nd Street, Bellevue) - Bellevue Health Care Town Hall: Dispelling Myths, Understand Choices,
sponsored by 41st LD Democrats and Physicians for a National Health
Program of Western Washington.
Communication
with Our Members
I expect that during the rest of
September we will see much progress toward health care reform. The major question will be the extent to
which the reform that is adopted will reduce waste and costs. Dave Thomas
Opportunities
Useful
Websites: contacts, maps, community organizing tools, and more.
Access
to jillions of political cartoons.
Download
Sightline Institute’s climate policy primer ‘Cap and Trade 101’. About
Sightline.
Conduct your own home energy audit.
See all of President Obama’s
weekly (Saturday) addresses.
Petitions
Tell
President Obama to demand a strong public health insurance option.
Tell
your congress members that health care reform must include reproductive health
care.
Tell
the Obama Administration to stop trophy hunting of grizzly bears.
Commentaries
From Our Members
Allison Mardini: Protest Bellevue School not
Showing Obama’s Speech
I have three children in
Bellevue Schools: Tillicum Middle School and Interlake High School. Our President was to give a speech to the
school children, like Reagan and Bush Sr. also did. A speech about personal responsibility and
staying in school and working hard. Even
Newt Gingrich said it was a great speech.
None of my kids were given any option to see the president’s speech today. What
kind of a racist school district are we sending our kids to? King County voted overwhelmingly for Obama. Are a few wacko's who probably home school
their kids any way, dictating school policy? I propose keeping our kids out of school for
one day as a protest; using a religious exemption (my religion does not believe
in racism!). Let’s decide on a day, I am open to any. Please publish this message. Allison Mardini
Randy Winn: Republican Message to Schoolchildren
Published by Seattle Times on 9/8/2009
This message is offered by the Republican National
Committee to provide balance to the president's message to America's children.
"Kids, studying is hard
work. Don't do it. Don't study, and do not stay in school! If you picked your
parents well, your daddy will get you into college and set you up in business
with your buddies. If you were born poor or middle class, well it sucks to be
you!
In America, it may be true
that even a man who was born into a family that broke up and was given a funny
name can stay in school, study hard, work hard and run for president! And even
get more votes than the other guy! But
it can't happen to you. We're working hard to ensure that, so don't bother
trying, OK?
Remember, kids, whether you're in the classroom or just walking around wearing
a suit if something really bad happens, you should freeze for six or seven
minutes. Sooner or later, another man in a suit will come along to tell you
what to do. You already know school is
hard work. And I'm here to tell you it does not matter. Don't study! Don't stay
in school! Hope sucks. Give up!"
Randy Winn
Tracy Newman:
Support Qualified Dow Constantine for King County Executive
Friends, can
you imagine an unqualified right-wing Republican running King County - one of
the most progressive counties in the nation?
If your answer is no - then we need your help
today!
On Friday a new poll was released showing Susan Hutchison with a slight lead
over Dow in the King County Executive Race: 47%-43%. There is no
doubt her widespread name recognition as a former TV personality is
responsible. Surprised? Well don't
be: we faced the same challenge in primary polling - too many Democrats and
progressive voters indicated support for Hutchison because of her celebrity
status. We won over these voters in the primary because we educated them
on Hutchison's true beliefs and lack of substance. We can do so once
again--but we need your help today. Please make a donation
now.
Hutchison wants
us to elect her to the second most powerful office in the state, with
responsibility for nearly two million residents, a $5 billion budget and more
than 13,000 employees. King County runs Metro transit, the criminal
justice system, the health department, waste disposal, and elections. Yet she has no experience to prepare her. No
experience in making major policy decisions or managing a large, complex
organization. Despite months of
campaigning, she has no plan for balancing King County's budget, no plan for
improving our region's transportation system, no plan for protecting our
vanishing green spaces, or dealing with the challenges posed by climate change. When asked what she will do as Executive she
offers empty sound bites and can go no further.
With the endorsements of all of our major primary rivals, and the support of
leaders across the county, we are in a great position to win. But we need to raise
another $400,000 to make sure the voters understand the dramatic choice before
them - about values, about ability, about our future. Please support
Dow today with a donation of $25, $50 or $100. Sincerely, Tracy Newman, Fundraising Director, Friends of Dow Constantine
Joe Szwaja: King County Needs Instant Runoff Elections
Published by Seattle Times
on 9/9/2009
Mix
together eight candidates, a low-turnout summer primary, and rules that send
the top two candidates to the general, no matter what. Result?
· A million-dollar-plus bill for holding two elections
to achieve what we could accomplish with one.
· Voters had to awkwardly balance the desire to vote for
their favorite candidate with a guess as to whether he or she could advance to
the general or whether the vote would be split among similar candidates and
actually help the wrong side.
· And the system amplifies big-donor influence, since
two elections also increase the time candidates must spend raising money for
two elections.
This is our election recipe here in King County and in
the city of Seattle as well.
Fortunately,
there's a cheap, inclusive and democratic alternative used internationally and
now in Pierce County. It's ranked choice voting (RCV), also known as instant
runoff voting This simple system allows
voters to rank candidates on the ballot in their order of preference — first,
second, third, etc. Voters can rank as many or as few candidates as they wish
and can vote without fear that voting their true preference will help elect
their least-favorite choice.
If
one candidate gets the majority of first choices, that candidate is elected. If
no one receives a majority, the bottom candidate is eliminated; their ballots
then transfer to their next choice, just as if there were a series of runoff
elections. RCV is used around the world
from Australia to London and around the United States from Burlington to San
Francisco. The system earns higher voter ratings than the more traditional ways
we pick our elected leaders.
Its
advantages are numerous.
· First, RCV saves crucial tax dollars by accomplishing
the twin goals of our primary and general elections — narrowing down the field
and electing a winner — in one election. Based on 2007 data, our county would
save $1.25 million each cycle by folding our two elections into one. And as
Yogi Berra said, "a million here a million there, pretty soon we're
talking real money."
· Holding one deciding election — in November — also
would lead to greater voter participation. Our summer primary happens when many
are on vacation or not following politics. A large number of voters don't
participate in the crucial narrowing function of the primary. Historically, about twice as many voters
participate in the November general election as in the primary. So half of our
voters, more than 200,000 people, don't participate in the primary, and thus
see only limited choices at the general election.
· RCV provides incentives for more positive campaigning
and fewer personal attacks. With RCV, if a candidate knows they need the second
or third rankings of those outside their base to prevail, they are unlikely to
go negative toward those voters' favorite candidates. This factor was noted
favorably by former Gov. Mike Lowry during the public hearings of the King
County Charter Review last year.
During
these hearings — designed to get public feedback on changes in our county
charter — a majority of those who spoke testified about these and other
advantages of RCV. The American Political Science Association agrees with our
grass roots voices that RCV is a fairer, more precise way of measuring voter preferences;
so much so that they even use it in their own elections. So take it both from the grass roots and from
those who study elections for a living. We can save money, increase turnout and
encourage positive campaigns by allowing our county's voters to consider
adopting RCV.
Tell
your county councilperson to make our county elections cheaper, fairer and more
positive by allowing us to vote on whether to adopt RCV. Joe Szwaja, President
of Ranked Choice Voting of Washington.
Liberals
and Democrats
Government Watch
Also go to Whitehouse.gov.
Health Care Reform
In his
Wednesday evening address
to both houses of congress, President Obama described his proposed health
care reform in greater detail than before, beginning with the defects of our
present system which make it both immoral and unsustainable. More than before, he noted that even people
who now have private health care insurance paid for in large part by their
employers are now vulnerable to losing their coverage or having it denied and
to increasing costs. Notice how similar
his criticisms of our private health care insurers are to our
criticisms.
President Obama
then addressed three audiences. Under
his proposal, those who have employer offered private health insurance could
keep their present insurance, with assurance that their coverage could not be
denied. Those who don’t have health
insurance would be able to obtain subsidized coverage while an exchange is
being created in which they would have a choice of plans. Those who have public health insurance
(Medicare and Medicaid) would continue to have the benefits they now have with
additional coverage for their medicines.
President Obama
said that health care reform must be paid for by reducing wasteful spending and
by taxing expensive private health care insurance plans. He indicated a preference for inclusion of a
public insurance option among private insurance options available on the exchange,
but said alternative ways to reduce the cost of private insurance options might
be acceptable. However, no such
alternatives have been proposed.
President Obama
refuted three outrageous attacks by Conservatives. He indicated that he remains open to serious
suggestions from Republicans, but would not waste time with those who simply
want to stop health care reform. For
more. For more. For more.
So what can we
expect? President Obama will now work
closely with Democrats to pass bills in both houses and then to reconcile
them. House Democrats will quickly
reconcile their three committee bills and pass the result. Max Baucus has promised to produce a bill
next week, with or without support from Democrats. President Obama is going to meet with
Democratic senators who are hesitant to support a public health care insurance
option. If enough votes to stop a
filibuster can’t be obtained, reconciliation will be used to pass a bill with
more than 50 votes. I believe that it
may be good to allow the Republicans to attempt to filibuster, so that they are
clearly on record as opposing health care reform.
I believe
health care reform will pass.
Unfortunately, it may not reign in the high costs of private insurers
and much of the wastes of our present fee for service system. If it doesn’t, then another struggle will
necessary. Dave Thomas
President
Obama’s AFL-CIO Labor Day Picnic speech
Economic Recovery
Vice President
Joe Biden reports some
results of economic stimulus-recovery package.
Children’s Responsibility to Learn
President Obama
informs school students of their responsibility For more.
Labor Union Priorities
Obama
Administration continues to ignore labor union priorities.
Savings for Retirement
In his Saturday
address, President
Obama presented 4 proposals to assist workers to save for their retirement.
Ethics Reform
Obama
Administration continues strict
implementation of restrictions upon appointing people with conflicting private
interest activities.
President Obama’s Low Risk Strategy
Conservatives
and commercial media pundits have accused President Obama of addressing too
many issues. They suggest he focus upon
economic recovery, without addressing health care reform or reducing our
consumption of carbon-based energy. By
adopting a variety of strategies to reform our economy, President Obama is
being more cautious than if he risked the success of only one or a few
strategies.
President Obama
is also being cautious in delaying the fulfillment of various campaign promises
until after he has succeeded with economic recovery, health care and energy
reform. He is not eliminating much
wasted military and other spending which would cause job losses, even though
the saved money could create more jobs if spent on needed infrastructure and
safety net.
To avoid
alienating businesses such that they may strongly oppose health care reform,
President Obama has delayed any promotion of the Employee Free Choice Act. So far he has succeeded in minimizing
business opposition to health care reform.
President
Obama’s cautious strategy is alienating
his long time Labor and other allies.
For
more. For
more. But once our economy recovers
and health care and energy reform occurs, he can quickly address their
issues.
Supreme Court May Reverse Campaign Donation
Precedents
Conservatives
have accused Liberal Judges of being activists who go beyond our constitution
to make Liberal decisions. But Conservatives
have been the ones to repeatedly overturn long established precedents in favor
of Conservative decisions.
Now, Chief
Justice John Roberts, who professed his respect for precedents during his
confirmation hearings, is poised
to overturn a long series of precedents to allow corporations to make
campaign contributions. Should this
occur, we can expect corporations to reap enormous benefits at the expense of workers,
consumers, taxpayers and our environment.
For
more. For
more.
Here’s the Beef
Why
we can’t afford to wait for health care reform (video).
Conservatives
who hate President Obama protest his speech to inspire students. Read his
speech.
Conservatives who hate
President Obama are now protesting his special advisors, often called czars.
State
and Local
Lawsuit against BIAW Alleges
Violation of Trust
I have just become aware
that a lawsuit has been brought against BIAW for violation of Trust. After several attempts to file the lawsuit
beginning in June 2008, an
amended lawsuit was initiated in February 2009
I am not an attorney, but
the following statements in the amended lawsuit appear to accuse BIAW of
violating its trust by misappropriating trust funds that should have been
returned to its members.
_______
1. This Petition and Class Action Complaint is filed by employers who
have participated in the "Return on Industrial Insurance" program
("ROII") operated by the Building Industry Association of Washington
("BIAW"). Under this sponsored "retrospective rating"
("retro") program, employers earn refunds of the
taxes they pay to the Washington State Department of Labor and
Industries ("DLI"; for workers' compensation insurance.
2. Over the past six years alone, approximately 7,000 mostly small and medium
sized employers have participated in ROII ("ROII Beneficiaries"). Collectively over this period, they earned
over $190 million in "retro" refunds. DLI paid this entire $190
million directly to the BIAW. BIAW agreed to hold these tax refunds "in trust"
for the program members.
3. As beneficiaries of an express trust, these employers
should have been to
able to rely on the trustees to return to them ail the
money they are owed, including their share of the tax refund and any interest
earned on it. Instead, the Defendants in this lawsuit have never acted like
trustees and have colluded to take every advantage of this trust, at the
expense of the ROII Beneficiaries.
4. In the preceding federal lawsuit; Defendants have admitted that the rustees
skimmed a full 20% of these trust funds, hiding half of the proceeds in an affiliated
for-profit corporation and distributing the other half to their local
affiliates. Over the past six years
alone, the trustees made improper payments to their affiliates "affiliate
payments") exceeding $38 million. Nothing in the uniform trust instrument
signed by the ROII Beneficiaries authorizes this self dealing. The trust
instrument allows trustees to "transfer" trust funds to their
affiliates only "for marketing a promotion of the plan." Defendants
admit that they instead comingle these trust funds and consider them profit.
5. This misappropriation of trust funds is just one
example of the egregious self dealing engaged in by Defendants. In addition,
Defendants have mishandled trust funds by funneling them through the bank
accounts of their affiliates, thereby depriving the beneficiaries of valuable
interest.
6. To conceal the misappropriation of trust funds, the BIAW Defendants never
provided the ROII Beneficiaries with the statutorily required accounting of the
trust accounts or any disclosures on how trust funds are invested and
distributed. Moreover, Defendants'
marketing materials and routine correspondence carefully concealed the
mismanagement and embezzlement of trust funds. They falsely
promised that the only costs to participate in ROII are membership dues
and an up front enrollment fee. By concealing the largest cost of ROII
participation - that taken on the back end -- Defendants violated their duties of
honesty owed to ROII Beneficiaries and the Washington State Consumer Protection
Act, RCW Chapter 19.86.
7. In the past months, Defendants have increased the pace of their self-dealing
in the trust assets at issue in this case. Immediate injunctive relief
from this
Court is necessary to protect these trust assets pending the outcome of
this case.
Since the filing,
dispositions have been taken and numerous legal actions have been
filed.
This lawsuit will apparently take some time to resolve. Instead of waiting and hoping that it will
succeed to deprive BIAW’s Conservative leaders of the funds that they have been
using to weaken our state government, we should also undertake other strategies
to replace these leaders with ones more accountable to BIAW members and to
limit the uses to which they can use BIAW funds. Dave Thomas
Featured Advocacy Group ---
Faithful Reform in Health Care
--------------------
As people of faith, we envision a society where
each person is afforded health, wholeness, and human dignity. That vision
embraces a system of health care that is inclusive, accessible, affordable, and
accountable.
·
Inclusive: Health care is a shared
responsibility that is grounded in our common humanity. In the bonds of our human family, we are created to be equal. We
are guided by a divine will to treat each person with dignity and to live
together as an inclusive community. Affirming our commitment to the
common good, we acknowledge our enduring responsibility to care for one
another. As we recognize that society is whole only when we care for the
most vulnerable among us, we are led to discern the human right to health care
and wholeness. Therefore, we are called to act with compassion by sharing
our abundant health care resources with everyone.
·
Affordable: Health care must
contribute to the common good by being affordable for individuals, families and
society as a whole. We believe that in the sacred act of
creation we are endowed with the talents, wisdom and abundant resources
necessary to meet the needs of one another, including the health care needs of
all. Therefore, in our calling to be faithful stewards, we understand our
responsibility to use our health care resources effectively, to administer them
efficiently, and to distribute them with equity.
·
Accessible: All persons should
have access to health services that provide necessary care and contribute to
wellness. We believe humanity is sacred and
that all persons should benefit from those actions which contribute to our
health and wholeness. Therefore, we are called to act with justice and love, to
ensure that all of us have access to the health care we need in order to live
out the fullness of our potential both as individuals and as contributing
members of our society. We must work together to identify and overcome all
barriers to and disparities in such care.
·
Accountable: Our health care
system must be accountable, offering a quality, equitable and sustainable means
of keeping us healthy as individuals and as a community. We believe that as spiritual and sacred vessels, we are responsible for
the care of our bodies to the best of our ability and for the care of one
another regardless of individual circumstances. Therefore, individuals,
families, governments, businesses, and the faith community are called to work
in partnership for a system that ensures fully-informed, timely, quality and
safe care that treats body, mind and spirit.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bellevue Adopts High Density Development to Reduce
Urban Sprawl
In cooperation with King County, Bellevue
is planning light rail and high density development in the 900 acre Bel-Red
Corridor, with developers required to purchase development rights in rural
areas.
Here’s the Beef
Seattle
Times ignores large health care reform rally.
Group
Health Cooperative provides integrated care, but is not easily replicated.
Dow
Constantine is rapidly gaining on Susan Hutchison in race for King County
Executive.
Nation
and World
Businesses Typically Violate Labor Laws
Many
employers are ignoring workplace laws altogether. The most
comprehensive investigation of
labor-law violations in years, released Wednesday by the Center for
Urban Economic Development, the National Employment Law Project and the
U.C.L.A. Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, surveyed 4,387 workers
in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York. Its researchers sought out people often
missed by standard surveys and found abuses everywhere: in factories, grocery
stores, retail shops, construction sites, offices, warehouses and private
homes.
The word sweatshop clearly is not big enough anymore
to capture the extent and severity of the rot in the low-wage workplace. Workers told of employers who ignored the
minimum wage, denied overtime, took illegal deductions to pay for tools or
transportation, or forced them to work unpaid before or after their shifts.
More than two-thirds of them had endured at least one wage violation in the
previous workweek. More than a quarter had been paid less than the minimum
wage, often by more than $1 an hour. Violations typically robbed workers of $51
a week, from an average paycheck of $339.
The report paints an acute picture of powerlessness.
Of workers who had been seriously injured on the job, only 8 percent had filed
for workers’ compensation — a symptom, researchers said, of the power of
employer pressure. Although 86 percent of respondents had worked enough
consecutive hours to be entitled to time off for meals, more than two-thirds
had had their breaks denied, interrupted or shortened. Workers who complained
to bosses or government agencies or tried to form unions suffered illegal
retaliation: firing, suspension, pay cuts or threats to call immigration
authorities. For
more.
Almost 70
percent of the so-called front-line workers surveyed in the study were foreign
born, and more than half of those were undocumented immigrants. Their status
invites exploitation from unprincipled employers, who gain an unfair advantage
over competitors by stiffing their own workforce.
The solutions
for such injustice include updated legal standards and more vigorous government
monitoring of workplaces. But until undocumented employees are granted equal
status through wide-ranging reform in the nation's broken immigration laws,
equal protection under the law will remain a pipe dream for millions of
workers. For
more.
Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis
responded to the report with an e-mail statement, saying, “There is no excuse
for the disregard of federal labor standards — especially those designed to
protect the neediest among us.” Ms. Solis said she was in the process of hiring
250 more wage-and-hour investigators. “Today’s report clearly shows we still
have a major task before us,” she said. For
more.
What Do Foreigners Think of Americans Now?
Foreigners
lost respect for Americans who allowed the 8 year George Bush Presidency. Then they respected us again for electing
Barack Obama. But what do they think now
as they watch a significant minority of Americans show disrespect for President
Obama, even extending to calls for his assassination? Such a reaction to an elected president in
Europe is unimaginable. We truly are an
exceptional nation.
U.S. Supplies 2/3rds
of World’s Weapon Sales
Our world would be safer if we would empower our United Nations to
prevent and stop aggression among nations, instead of leaving it to nations to
protect themselves through increasing their military weaponry. Our government should discourage arms sales
by ourselves and others. Instead we
are contributing to the problem.
Here’s the Beef
Bailed out financial
companies refuse to renegotiate foreclosed mortgages.
Health
care for disabled is necessary to reduce poverty.
Our
Liberal Spirit
Self-Transcendence:
Practice of One’s True Nature
©
John P. Cock
Self-transcendence
makes possible awareness, freedom, and relatedness. Paul Tillich,
Systematic Theology, vol. III, pp. 234-237
One of my
effective spiritual practices is self-transcendence: it allows me to look at
myself from outside, helping me transcend those times when I’m obsessed with
myself, my situation, who I think I am. It helps me to be aware, free, and
related in a new way – to embrace and transcend my situation. John P.
Cock
How wondrous
is our consciousness in response to spirit. Namaste.
My grandson Nolan, at age 9 and a third grader, was having a
really “bad” day at school. He dropped from the A honor roll to the A/B honor
roll. His big sister stayed on the A honor roll, which of course made the pain
worse for him. He told his teacher in a sulk that he didn’t want the medal
given to him at the awards ceremony and gave it back to her. The teacher told
his mother, who that afternoon grounded Nolan for the next 24 hours and sent
him immediately to his room on that beautiful spring day after school.
I heard about all this, walked to his house about a half-mile
away, asked his mother if he could take a walk with me. She said, “Yes.” I
asked him to walk home with me, that we needed him to help us. He was glad to
escape his room.
As we walked, I turned the conversation, not letting him know I
knew what had gone on at school. I asked him if he knew what the word “ego”
meant. He did not. I described it as “pride” and shared with him a couple of
times as a boy when my pride was hurt.
Then I asked him to tell me some emotions we all have when our
pride is hurt. Right off he mentioned “sad” and “mad.” I asked him if he’d ever
felt trapped in one of those emotions.
He began to tell me the saga of his day. I asked him which
emotions he had experienced. He said “mad.” I asked him who he was mad at. He
said his teacher, who he thought had been unfair in giving him one “B.” I asked
him if he was blaming her. He said, “Yes.” I told him blaming someone was an
ego thing. I asked him what it was like having those emotions today. He said,
“It’s like I am inside my emotions and can’t get out.” I asked him if he wanted
out. He said, “Yes.”
I then explained a neat trick, that he could “transcend” his self
and explained the meaning of the big word. We stopped and I asked him to close
his eyes, step out of himself and look at himself. I asked him what he saw. He
said, “A hurt and sad me.” I asked him if he wanted to stop being hurt and sad.
He said, “Yes.” I asked him if he could see himself. He said he could. Then I
told him if he winked “yes” at the “transcendent self” looking at him, his
prison door would open. He winked, then grinned a big grin and said, “Neat.”
I told him he could transcend and look at his self at any time –
that is, if he wanted to and freely decided to. I think he got it because he whispered
“yes” several more times as we walked.
Nolan seemed transformed through that half-mile walk and our
fifteen-minute conversation. Maybe he experienced what all the sages have
known, his true nature: no problem, blissful, at one, graced, and
peaceful – whatever words one chooses to describe that primal state of being
that everyone has experienced and can experience again and again.
He told me later that he had experimented with the “self-transcendence
trick” and that it really works, sometimes.
I probably got
this self-transcendence practice from Ken Wilber’s No Boundary back in
the late 80’s. It lays out the essence of universal spirituality and how it can
be immediately practiced. I read it then as a profound theory. Later, in the
early 90’s, he and his wife, Treya, grounded this same theory – even quoting
several pages of No Boundary – in Grace and Grit as they wrote
about their struggle as she was dying from cancer. Here are some of the underlinings
I made then:
As a feeling
or sensation arises, we witness it. If hatred of that feeling arises, we
witness that. If hatred of the hatred arises, then we witness that. (Grace and Grit* p. 126)
This reminded me
of Kierkegaard’s “consciousness of consciousness of consciousness,” or the
c<c<c model, as the Ecumenical Institute talked about his quote: “By
relating itself to its own self and by willing to be itself, the self is
grounded transparently in the Power which posited it.” (. . . The Sickness unto
Death, p. 147)
Or my
self-transcendence practice may have come from these two quotes:
Says Chuang Tzu: “The perfect man [sic] employs his mind as a
mirror. It grasps nothing; it refuses nothing; it receives, but does not keep.” (Grace and Grit, p. 126)
To witness these states is to transcend them. They no longer seize
you from behind because you look at them up front. (Ibid., p. 127)
And I was struck
by the ritual-like quote that says who I am not and who I am:
. . . I have a body, but I am not my body. . . .
I have desires but I am not desires. . . .
I have emotions but I am not emotions. . . .
I have thoughts but I am not my thoughts. . . .
I am what remains, a pure center of awareness, an unmoved Witness
of all these thoughts, emotions, feelings, and sensations. (Ibid., p. 125 – adapted by Wilber
from Roberto Assagioli and from Sri Ramana Maharshi)
This suggests to
me that I am what I have been from the beginning, am now, and always will be –
pure, unsullied, unencumbered, unburdened, free, in the right state of being,
at one, at home in my true nature.
All the above
comes to me in a process of spirituality:
·
I
become aware
·
I
experience self-transcendence
·
I
experience absolution and freedom
·
I
experience a new passion to help others to see their true nature
The characters of
this process or journey drama are ever-present spirit, a great cloud of
witnesses, and oneself. Aware of what I am not and what I truly am – one with spirit
and all that is – I am released from the prison of who I thought I was and
constantly tell myself I am. I am released to decide to be my authentic self. I
am left with a compassion for all those imprisoned in the illusion of false
images about themselves. I yearn that they experience their true nature at the
heart of this great spirit journey.
Recommended Books – See our list of books for liberals
David Wessel, 2009, In Fed We Trust. Ben Bernanke’s War on the Great Panic
Another of many books
recently written about our housing-credit bubble and collapse, this one
focusing upon Ben Bernanke’s belated responses.