Wednesday, June 02, 2004
Namaste Mark,
I enjoyed our little chat the other day when you were in the store.
I can feel and identify with your sincere and ardent desire for justice in the "Mideast".
Pondering the roots of justice and injustice, this is what comes to me:
Seeking justice in the interest of ego creates injustice.
Seeking justice in the interest of the enemy creates justice.
Hating the enemy, one hates oneself.
Loving the enemy, one loves oneself.
Love, peace, and blessings to you and all.
John
I enjoyed our little chat the other day when you were in the store.
I can feel and identify with your sincere and ardent desire for justice in the "Mideast".
Pondering the roots of justice and injustice, this is what comes to me:
Seeking justice in the interest of ego creates injustice.
Seeking justice in the interest of the enemy creates justice.
Hating the enemy, one hates oneself.
Loving the enemy, one loves oneself.
Love, peace, and blessings to you and all.
John
Tuesday, June 01, 2004
Namaste,
In my perpetual study of the yamas and niyamas, today begins a month of focus on asteya.
The Anusara Yoga website offers this definition:
Asteya (Non-stealing): Not taking what is not yours?money, goods, or credit. Not robbing people of their own experiences and freedom. Non-desire for another?s possessions, qualities, or status. Non-stealing.
Some Memorial Day reflections:
From the perspective of 36 years later, a decision I made when I was only 17 years old
still looms as perhaps the most important and most correct choice I ever made. I chose at that age to request from my draft board the forms to register as a conscientious objector.
I have never regretted that decision, and I encourage all young people around the world
to consider whether they should reject participation in the madness and evil of the war machines. I was not granted conscientious objector status by the draft board. The identity I chose to give myself, in alignment with my heroes Gandhi and Martin Luther King, was and is much more important than the labels issued by the draft board as representatives of the war machine.
Most wars are class warfare. War is the rich elite sending the less powerful to kill other less powerful persons, including men, women and children, in the interest of
ruling commercial interests. Most war is killing for worldly wealth and power.
On this memorial time occasion here are some human sacrifices the rulers in the
City of Darkness on the Potomac would like you to forget:
1. The returning dead service people.
2. The 10,000 plus civilian men, women, and children killed in Iraq by the lust of our rulers for more worldly wealth and power.
In my perpetual study of the yamas and niyamas, today begins a month of focus on asteya.
The Anusara Yoga website offers this definition:
Asteya (Non-stealing): Not taking what is not yours?money, goods, or credit. Not robbing people of their own experiences and freedom. Non-desire for another?s possessions, qualities, or status. Non-stealing.
Some Memorial Day reflections:
From the perspective of 36 years later, a decision I made when I was only 17 years old
still looms as perhaps the most important and most correct choice I ever made. I chose at that age to request from my draft board the forms to register as a conscientious objector.
I have never regretted that decision, and I encourage all young people around the world
to consider whether they should reject participation in the madness and evil of the war machines. I was not granted conscientious objector status by the draft board. The identity I chose to give myself, in alignment with my heroes Gandhi and Martin Luther King, was and is much more important than the labels issued by the draft board as representatives of the war machine.
Most wars are class warfare. War is the rich elite sending the less powerful to kill other less powerful persons, including men, women and children, in the interest of
ruling commercial interests. Most war is killing for worldly wealth and power.
On this memorial time occasion here are some human sacrifices the rulers in the
City of Darkness on the Potomac would like you to forget:
1. The returning dead service people.
2. The 10,000 plus civilian men, women, and children killed in Iraq by the lust of our rulers for more worldly wealth and power.
