Archive for August, 2006

Interview!

Thursday, August 24th, 2006

I have an interview!  This is probably the most action-packed few hours I’ve lived in a while.  I got the tip from Jesse, sent my resume, did a preliminary phone interview, and scheduled a full interview all in about five hours.  Unfortunately, I accidentally sent my last email confirming the interview date from my personal address instead of my professional address.  (Hello, Kevin.  Sorry about that!)  But they seem like a great organization and I especially like that a lot of the work would be consulting and setting up new projects for other nonprofits.  That keeps things interesting, and the creative analysis and setting up part of technology has always been my favorite.  Again, it’s far removed from spirituality, but it puts me where I want to be and around some resources that could lead to more spiritual things at some point in the future.  And I really do like the work that they’re doing, which is absolutely essential for me.  So, I’ll be back in Burlington on the 5th.  Here we go!

Application 5

Thursday, August 24th, 2006

My friend Jessie in Burlington just let me know about a computer position with Chittenden Community Television, a progressive media service. It is entirely unrelated to spirituality, but it is near Burlington and working for things I feel good about. Sadly, I just missed the deadline for applications, so they may toss mine. Once again, we’ll see what happens.

Application 4

Tuesday, August 22nd, 2006

I just sent off my fourth resume. The Friends Committee on National Legislation, the Quaker peace lobby in DC, needs a computer person. I didn’t really see myself going into politics, or living in DC for that matter, but it’s faith-based peacemaking, if indirectly, and it’s a paycheck. So we’ll see what happens.

Five Ideas to Change the World

Sunday, August 20th, 2006

1. Every last human being deserves access to essential resources.

Every single human being is of equal value, regardless of any criteria. Every person should have food, clothing, shelter, health care, etc., quite simply because they are a human being. Yes, this means even if they sit on their ass their entire life and never do anything “productive” or “responsible”. Human is human; there are no gradations. No one should have to “earn” their right to exist in reasonable comfort.

2. All levels of education should be free and voluntary.

No person of any age should ever be forced into “education”. The very concept is an oxymoron, because you cannot force anyone to learn anything. On the flip side, anyone who chooses to learn should have full access to every level of education free of charge. The savings from lack of compulsory education alone would easily cover the costs of fully educating those who wish to be educated.

3. All military and police will be disbanded and replaced with a “Service Corps”.

With all people having equal access to quality of life through items 1 & 2, crime will be virtually non-existent and as such military and police will no longer be needed. Instead there will be a Service Corps to call upon in the event of emergencies, to fill in gaps in critical civil service projects, to provide conflict resolution services, and other such functions.

4. Government should be divided into topical areas and participation rights granted only to those who demonstrate competency in those areas.

For example, to vote on laws or leadership concerning the environment, you must have completed a certain level of education on environmental issues (which is freely available to all under item 2) and practice in environmental issues through the Service Corps (which is freely available to all under item 3). All people are equally valuable, but they are not all equally knowledgable. If you don’t know anything about the environment, then you have no business voting on environmental issues. The same goes for trade, taxation, or any other aspect of government. If you want to vote on higher-order issues, such as where environmental and trade concerns are at odds, then you must be qualified in every relevant topic to vote. The same would go for anyone running for any government office: you must be qualified in every relevant topic, but to an even higher level. This means to run for president or other high-level office you would have to be a scholar and practitioner of rare quality. This is as it should be.

5. These ideas are entirely plausible.

There are no logistical or technical reasons that these ideas could not be implemented. There are more than enough resources on the planet to provide for all these things. The only barriers are human limitations. We are the only thing standing between ourselves and a world of plenty.

Peace?

Saturday, August 12th, 2006

I have found a slight glitch in my current (previous?) world view. I have been maintaining for years that peace is the awareness of the sacred. However, I have recently realized that that line of thinking kind of skipped the whole “mystery” thing. God is, in the largest sense, eternally unknown and unknowable. While we can have some kind of awareness of the sacred, that awareness by definition must always be limited, flawed, and transient.

This realization in combination with my definition of peace amounts to a rather unsettling conclusion: there is no peace. At least not any whole, perfect, and enduring peace. There must always be, to some degree or another, ignorance. And ignorance of the sacred, by my recent thought, equates to suffering and violence. Yuck.

So, this leads me to a few different questions. First, is peace actually the awareness of the sacred? Second, if so, is there an awareness beyond relative, conditional knowledge of forms? Third, if peace is not the awareness of the sacred, is there some form of radical acceptance of what is, complete with ignorance and suffering, that would be a better definition of peace?

My first instinct that the answer to all three questions is “yes”. That peace is not a relative knowledge of God, but rather an attitude and perspective of radical willingness for all that is, which is the “awareness” that is beyond the scope of conditioned forms.

I think I just defined faith.

So, we arrive at a “peace” that is inclusive of mystery, ignorance, pain, suffering, limitation, and helplessness. It all fits, but I have to say that it’s not a peace I had really ever imagined working towards.

Hrm.