Johnny Cash- Sunday Morning Comin' Down- video clip
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Saturday, September 30, 2006
How A Collective Mind Is Manipulated
This is an example of American political meddling in its early form. Guatemala the "Banana Republic" was maipulated in the early 1950's. This clip explains the CIA and American gov't involvment in toppling the elected gov't and the subsequent "installation" of a leader sympathetic to American business interests ie/ United Fruit.
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Chomsky Video Clip- On Responsibility
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CNN: Geronimo's Heir Wants Bush to Return 'Skull and Bones'
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John Kerry is a "bonesman" from Yale too. GRRRRRRRR.
Better Way- Written by: Ben Harper
Click on the arrow to hear the song at his official website. It is track 2 in the player at the top of the page.
Better Way
Written by: Ben Harper
i'm a living sunset
lightning in my bones
push me to the edge
but my will is stone
fools will be fools
and wise will be wise
but i will look this world
straight in the eyes
what good is a man
who won't take a stand
what good is a cynic
with no better plan
(hope these words feel pleasant
as they rest upon your ears)
reality is sharp
it cuts at me like a knife
everyone i know
is in the fight of their life
take your face out of your hands
and clear your eyes
you have a right to your dreams
and don't be denied
i believe in a better way
Indigenous Philosophy on Sustainable Living
Winona Laduke speaks.
Click the arrow to listen
source:
http://www.mediamouse.org/audio/121205winon.php
Christians would do well to realize that the Native/Indigenous philosophy can and should be reconciled to proper biblical exegesis about the Kingdom of God which exists here and now and not just in some world down the road.
The Meaning of Genesis
I believe modern man is missing one of the major pieces to the puzzle by misunderstanding his role with regards to his relationship to Earth. Our society has become more and more individualistic, less family and community based, more materialistic and less spiritual. In fact most people don't even understand what spirituality really is. It has been confused with religiosity or religious legalism. There is a huge and ever widening gulf between man and his environment. People generally wander around not knowing where they came from, what how they got here or what role they are supposed to play in man's unfolding future. This makes for some very restless and unsatisfied people. Contemporary Christian "religion" seems to be failing to pick up this slack as it ought to be able to. People do not seem to have clear lateralization between a religion they can believe in- and one they can EXPERIENCE each and every day. How much more powerful would the churches be...how much more centered and or grounded would mankind be if this were not the case?
It's funny, most of the kids I grew up with that were regular church goers don't attend any longer...On the other hand some people that were not church goers or religious thinkers are now attending church and wrestling with life's bigger questions. It makes me wonder if another two decades will show people swapping places like this again. It makes me wonder what it was that people did not find in church that caused them to stray or likewise what people were missing in the world that has led them to church.
I personally testify that it is people's search for religious truth, or general lack of it in their everyday lives at least, that drives them to do most of what they do. Establishing a belief system or comprehensive worldview that they can EXPERIENCE instead of only believe or have faith in could make a great difference in the lives of individuals, communities even nations or the world itself.
I believe also that having a greater understanding and sense of purpose begins first with the fear (respect) of God and then respect for his creations. Creation has order, it is structured by God who structures all life. By understanding that the physical world is ordered perfectly by the maker, we may understand that human experience has the same sort of underlying order to it. The existence of the world then means; not chaos, but order, and if humans wish to exist within that order, they should integrate into the creational order. This is what wisdom and/or spirituality is all about.
It is simple really, God is the source of life, therefore, Creation has a relationship with God in which it responds to him as it's Maker, acknowledging his power and grace. This is a far cry from the ideas being passed along by our churches today and I believe this misunderstanding to be the root cause of mostly all of the shortcomings of the Church throughout history. Generally speaking, the idea that this Earth is only a disposable backdrop for the moral play of mankind is being proliferated much to the detriment of mankind itself. I acknowledge that the Bible tells us that the Earth will pass away someday. However, I fail to see how this eventuality relieves us as humans from taking care of the gift of Creation while we still have it in our care. In fact, I would venture to say that if our priorities concerning this were more in proper alignment, we would not have some of the other problems we have like the population explosion, lack of food and medical care for the masses and materialism over spirituality which leads to disharmony of every sort.
I do not necessarily think it is wrong that we have shopping centers and motorcars and golf courses and cable tv and luxury hotels with casinos. I do see that the priorities of humans are waaaay out of whack. It is possible I believe to have bounty, good times and good things in life and still be taking careof business. I respect the idea that we should care for people before worrying about a paricular problem in nature, but I don't see how the two become completely different issues, they are symbiotic.
The Bible itself demonstrates that God's mood regarding the behaviour of man is usually clearly demonstrated by the state of the Earth we live upon. When he is pleased, it is fruitful and yielding- when he is not happy it becomes unfruitful and covered with stubble and desolation. Creation was meant to bear two kinds of witness, glory to god who made it and his ongoing nuturing care for what he has made. Understanding this enables us to comprehend what it means to bear his image on Earth by representing him, we see that it is our mandate as human beings to enhance creation's witness to the glory and nurture of God.
It could be said that nature itself bears a five fold witness to God. In the Bible you find glory, nuture, also penalty , precariousness and finally reclamation of a cosmos polluted by sin. Many have remarked about a solution of ridding the planet of many people to return "Mother Earth" to its natural state. The "religious" world has used statements like this to disavow themselves from the environmental movement because they see it as elitist (wishing to rid the planet of "unworthy" men) and nearly equal to goddess worship because of the mother image. These are common traps that people fall into because the religious world has had almost nothing to say on these issues and the secular world has sought to pick up the slack. The term "Mother Earth"- as I understand it did not actually originate from any ethnic belief but from an American newspaper writer who was trying to convey something an Indian had told him..."The Earth is LIKE our Mother", in an effort to explain their reverence, not worship, of creation. This has been a popular mistranslation and misconception.
As for ridding the Earth of sinful and unworthy men, that is God's business and it has been done according to the book of Genesis. God has promised not to destroy EVERYTHING again, but does that mean that societies or civilizations themselves are safe from wrath? I doubt it. God operates among men via covenants. There has been the Old Covenant of Law, The New Covenant of Christ, and the constant covenant of man's role as steward of his creation. God keeps his end of the bargains, are we? I have experienced the power and healing that can come with the type of understanding I am talking about first hand. I don't think that mankind or contemporary Christianity will see the kind of revelation and revival it sorely needs until people in general rediscover the meaning of the Genesis.
Everyday- Dave Matthews
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You've Got To hide Your Love Away- The Beatles
A grand old tune...yeaaaaahhh.
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KNOWING GOD THROUGH CREATION
KNOWING GOD THROUGH CREATION: The Belgic Confession
Guido de Bres
First published 1560 and revised 1566 and 1619, this "Confession" was used during and since the Reformation as a major teaching document in Protestant churches. A small part of it follows in the translation used in the "Psalter Hymnal" of the Christian Reformed Church.
ARTICLE 1: The Only God
We all believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths that there is a single and simple spiritual being, whom we call God -- eternal, incomprehensible, invisible unchangeable, infinite, almighty, completely wise, just and good, and the overflowing source of all good.
ARTICLE 2: The Means By Which We Know God
We know him by two means: First, by the creation, preservation, and government of the universe, since that universe is before our eyes like a beautiful book in which all creatures, great and small, are as letters to make us ponder the invisible things of God: his eternal power and his divinity.
As the apostle Paul says in Romans 1:20, `All these things are enough to convict men and to leave them without excuse.'
Second, he makes himself known to us more openly by his holy and divine Word, as much as we need in this life, for his glory and the salvation of his own.
Knowledge, Power and Morality- A Native American Perspective
These quotes are attributed to: Vine DeLoria, Jr. - Standing Rock Sioux
"Western civilization, unfortunately, does not link knowledge and morality but rather, it connects knowledge and power and makes them equivalent. Today with an information `superhighway' now looming on the horizon, we are told that a lack of access to information will doom people to a life of meaninglessness -- and poverty. As we look around and observe modern industrial society, however, there is no question that information, in and of itself, is useless and that as more data is generated, ethical and moral decisions are taking on a fantasy dimension in which a `lack of evidence to indict' is the moral equivalent of the good deed."
"In recent years we have come to understand what "progress" is. It is the total replacement of nature by an artificial technology. "Progress" is the absolute destruction of the real world in favor of a technology that creates a comfortable way of life for a few fortunately situated people. Within our lifetime the differences between the Indian use of the land and the white use of the land will become crystal clear."
native american
Native American Spirituality
NATIVE AMERICAN SPIRITUALITY
Robert Staffanson Executive Director, American Indian Institute
Note a dictionary's definition of spirituality: "devotion to spiritual (i.e. metaphysical) things instead of worldly things." This definition does not apply to Native Americans because they do not recognize a dichotomy between "spiritual" and material things.
A simplistic definition of Native American spirituality would be that it is the opposite of pragmatism (i.e. short-term concern with "practical" results). While Native American spirituality is not easily defined, it has several defining characteristics:
a) Recognition of the interconnectedness of all Creation, and the responsibility of human beings to use their intelligence in protecting that inter- connectedness. That applies particularly to the lifegiving elements: water, air and soil.
b) A belief that all life is equal, and that the presence of the life spark implies a degree of spirituality whether in humans, animals or plants. In their view the species of animals and birds, as well as forests and other plant life, have as much "right" to existence as human beings, and should not be damaged or destroyed. That does not mean that they cannot be used but that use has limitations.
c) Their primary concern is with the long-term welfare of life rather than with short-term expediency or comfort. They consider all issues and actions in relationship to their long-term effect on all life, not just human life.
d) Their spirituality is undergirded by thankfulness to the Creator. Prayer, ceremonies, meditation and fasting are an important part of their lives. But they ask for nothing. They give thanks: for all forms of life and for all the elements that make life possible, and they are concerned with the continuation of that life and the ingredients upon which it depends.
Traditional Native Americans believe that any of their people who lack spirituality are no longer Indian. Traditional Native Americans do not see any spirituality in our "western" world. They believe that we have a kind of mindless materialism that is destroying both us and the world we live in.
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