Pope Pops the Fundamentalists!

 Religious fundamentalism, even before it eliminates human beings by perpetrating horrendous killings, eliminates God himself, turning him into a mere ideological pretext to perpetuate mass killings.
.                                                          Pope Francis 

Pope Francis today [1/12/15] denounced religious fundamentalism. He stated it was this that inspired the Paris massacres and the ongoing Mideast conflicts. Pope Francis said the attackers "were enslaved by deviant forms of religion that used God as a mere ideological pretext to perpetuate mass killings". He then called for an end to "fundamentalist terrorism" in the Mideast and for Muslim leaders in particular to condemn "extremist interpretations" of their faith that seek to justify such violence.

The leader of the 1.2-billion strong Catholic Church has stepped up his call for Muslim political, religious and intellectual leaders to vocally insist that Islam doesn't condone such violence.

I so welcome this news and the admonition from Pope Francis. How refreshing it is to have a Pope who is a humanitarian. He understands the meaning of the word religion in its best sense. To aide in my understanding I read the definition of the word 'religion' over three times in my dictionary. Not once does it mention anything about hatred or killing for God. It seems to me that most religions have as their base the ideas of a power greater than humans and, far as I can discern, this includes the power of love and goodwill toward all humans. So why is religion being used to perpetuate mass killings? 

Throughout history someone who is power hungry and has a self-aggrandizement complex encourages/commands his men/minions to murder 'others'. 'Others' are defined as all who do not agree with whatever the megalomaniac is declaring as right. He must be followed as though he is the supreme being. "In the name of God, I will slay, starve, impoverish, convert, exploit you." This is currently going on and Francis rightly "denounced the "abominable" kidnapping and enslavement of young girls by Boko Haram militants in Nigeria and the slaughter of "unspeakable brutality" of more than 100 children by the Taliban in Pakistan". 

Time for active non-violence. Time to stand up and call out, time to protest. Time to call it what it is: a perversion of religion; it is murder and the most egregious violation of human rights. When power is perverted it always comes out as hate and creates fear.

We also need to call out [and stop propping up] the nations who are supporting these terrorists, supplying them with funds and arms to carry out their atrocities. I shudder to think that it is possibly from our own arms manufacturing that some of these weapons are coming. 

A sincere appreciation must go out to the world's leaders who are brave enough to stand up to the terrorist and say, 'no more'. We need a massive amount of brave, caring leaders as well as brave, ordinary citizens to come forth at this important hour and pledge their allegiance to goodness and love. This a call to non-violent action.

Remember:

Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate is not driven out by hate, only love can do that.                   Martin Luther King

susansmagicfeather copyright 2015 Susan R. Grout all rights reserved

On the Difference between Protest and Hatred

That's the first step---you demonize people and pretty soon they're not people anymore, they're meant to be despised. It's exactly what happened in Nazi Germany.                Peter Mathiessen

The Romans had to work up hatred to kill Jesus

Blood. Blood spilled by crazed individuals, then by obsessed people in power. Wars always start this way. Whether it's the Nazis against the Jews or the Bosnian against the Muslims or the Hutus against the Tootsies it always starts with a campaign of hatred and fear. It goes like this: first demonize the human beings and urge others to treat them as less than a human beings, then call them names and bully them. The next step follows: it's OK to kill them because you feel no respect or any empathy for them, they are less than animals and certainly not "our" kind. This insane rationalization is how people justify their inhumanity to their fellow man.

Yesterday three extremists took the lives of twelve people in an office of a satirical magazine in France. Earlier in January an Australian Muslim man held an entire cafe hostage for hours, killing two. In our country a misguided and suicidal man recently killed two patrol officers in Brooklyn. The commonality here is that these people are operating on the delusion that their hatred is justified and their suicidal behavior is righteous and holy. In the case of the religious fundamentalist they believe their hatred and the right to murder are sanctioned by God. Weird. 

What happened to the God of love, to the "do unto others as you would have done unto you", to the "love thy neighbor as thyself"? All religions [or I guess I will have to qualify that with 'most', I only a have a minor in theology] have as one of their tenants the power of love. There is a disturbing trend to pervert that tenant into the "ours is the only way" philosophy, which is prejudicial, intolerant and certainly not loving.  This is certainly true of some of the more Orthodox of the Catholics, Jews and Muslims of the world just to name a few. 

The history of the world, like the history of its hills, is written in blood, the blood of barbaric warriors and bold partisans, of old women and beardless boys, of the guilty and the innocent.   Thomas Cahill

In the secular world humans have suffered at the hands of those who believe that "might makes right". Sadly, this goes back to the dawn of human interaction, from before the barbarians. Isn't the latest of the human suicides/murders a form of devolution? These poor deluded young men all believe that they are saintly for their murders. At best this is a form of mental illness, at worst these men are mere pawns at the hands of tyrants who only are looking out to justify their meglomania. This is a good definition of evil in my book.

The people who are trying to make this world worse are not taking a day off. How can I?                                            Bob Marley 

In a couple of my posts: http://susansmagicfeather.blogspot.com/2014/12/theyve-got-poochy-and-theyre-gonna-hurt.html and http://susansmagicfeather.blogspot.com/2014/10/please-no-more-dick-cheneys.html
I challenged the notion that torture and screaming at immigrant children is not Christian or loving. One of my readers took great exception to that statement and said I was propagating lies. 

In response to another post a woman I know sent around a message by the Tea Party suggesting we drug test all people on welfare. Honestly, I thought, let's start with the poorest of the poor. And then what? Surely these suggestors would want to help them and then deign to give them a job or send them to treatment? I doubt that. I propose that we start at the top! How about we start by testing people on the upper end of the feeding troth--- those on corporate welfare? Test those corporate farmers driving around in fancy cars collecting money not to grow crops. The bankers taking egregious salaries after being bailed out by the Federal government.Then why stop there? How about testing all of the people on Wall Street? Sounds like a fine idea to me. You probably have your own favorite idea about the people on corporate welfare. Insert here______________________, should be drug tested.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate is not driven out by hate, only love can do that.      Martin Luther King

 I am going to state unequivocally that hatred is not protest it is violence. Violent protests always backfire. Effective protests are strong, emphatic, clear, insistent but never violent. Violence is back to the might makes right and has no effectiveness in protest. Hatred costs humanity everything and only adds to devolution, not enhancing mankind.

If you smell a rat, call it out and protest, that is why 'Je suis Charlie'. If  you hear a racial slur, protest the hatred. The only way we are going to make this world a better place is with firmness against oppressors and protecting the innocent. Another way of saying that is love in the bravest truest sense of the world. Don't bow to hatred, stand up to it and spread love.

susansmagicfeather copyright 2015 Susan R. Grout all rights reserved

Who's the Bully that Puts You Down?

Around and around it goes, where it stops is right here

Knowledge of what is possible is the beginning of happiness.                                                     George Santayana

In my career as a psychotherapist I spent lots of time with clients who were incredibly self critical. I attempted the optimistic, wrestling with them, two falls out of three!, to at least lessen their critical opinions of themselves. Some of them were very stubborn and believed something terrible would happen if they dropped the habit of being highly critical of themselves.  I'd try to convince them just how silly this was. I'd point out that their method of repetitive mental put downs failed to accomplish what they state they wanted: to be happier.  Ah, but in some cases they were afraid to let go of that old dark companion: the crabby critic in their head. I realize this seems irrational, but sadly people stick like glue to what they know, after all it's familiar even if it sucks. This is, my friends, the hallmark of abuse.

Life is short but can feel very long indeed if each day you find a way to relentlessly beat yourself up. If you do this you're the bully! I realize as I write this some of you might find it hard to admit that your inner child is a bully. You might even think you need to listen to the repetitive yammering inside your head.  Granted it could sound important or like your nastiest relative who chastises you for not being productive enough, good enough, interesting enough, pretty or handsome enough, clever enough, talented enough, thin enough...enough is enough. In fact on the topic of self bullying--- enough is too much. Time to stop that awful habit.

This could cause some envy...

How does this start? With some people I worked with there was a history of verbal and physical abuse. Then the child internalized it and became their own worst enemy. Sometimes it was  as simple as people feeling inadequate and so constantly chastizing themselves to be better. Many people torture themselves with envy and comparisons. They fret and believe that others are happier than they are. They scan what the neighbors have or go on face book gnashing their teeth. I call this the "face book syndrome", when people imagine that these imaginary "somebodies" have more money, a better car, frequenter vacations, a sexier mate, suffice it to say, the envy list is longer than this post can handle. They obsess about what they don't have instead of being grateful for what they do have.

When ones expectations are reduced to zero, one really does appreciate what one has.
Stephen Hawkins

One person who epitomizes working with what you've been given is Stephen Hawkins. Mr. Hawkins was diagnosed with ALS at the age of thirty, and has been wheel chair bound for over thirty five years. He can only talk with the aid of a machine. From this great scientist comes the quote above and though he expects nothing, he works like hell with what he has. What he has is a brilliant mind which he has used to acclaim, discovering the secrets of the universe from that wheel chair.  The obvious lesson here is that you can improve your life with what you have, but, you must work like hell. If it means digging yourself out of colossal debt by becoming austere and self sacrificing, you do it one day at a time and then find pleasure in the simpler things in life.  If it means reevaluating your relationships and changing who you associate with, take the measured and kinder steps and let go of the abrasive and embrace only the people who bring you joy. If you are incapacitated by an illness or injury, see what you can study or learn to expand your world from your chair. A good friend of mine has a lung disease which forces her to be sedentary. In her past she was an outstanding athlete and a vigorous person. With delight she reported she's taken up bird watching. I admire her spunk and urge you to revel in what you can do and enjoy.

Having joy and bringing joy to others

One thing is absolutely true, if you are in a situation that is continually difficult and you can't find a way to make it better, then yes, you will be miserable. My job was to help people living in misery see options, despite their difficult circumstances. Clients would come to counseling usually after they had consulted with their family and friends and their friends and family didn't come up with any satisfying ideas. Counseling is all about solving the puzzle of their lives, finding numerous alternatives and solutions that are just waiting to be discovered to make things better.

Stopping the nagging critical voice

1. Become hyper aware of the negativity of your inner dialogue.
2. Be a firm but kind person to the internal childish bully.
3. Study exactly what you are saying to yourself.
4. Does the criticism make sense to you? If so, write down what the critical voice says.
5. Does this sound like something you believe about yourself? Would you talk like this to a beloved child?
6. If the criticism is valid, feel it for a good thirty seconds and then write an action list.
7. Action list must be carried out that day with no over analysis involved.
8. Pat yourself on the back for quick follow through and wallow in the sense of accomplishment.
9. When the critical voice in your head starts up the next day [and it probably will] sing, "I've got plenty of nothin'" and make fun of the voice. 
10. Get on with revelling in your new life of being an action figure.

In the past I once read a statement from an eminent psychologist who said "anyone who states that they just want to be happy is immature." Sounds like a critical voice to me, doesn't it?  I respectfully disagree. It is not always attainable for those going through horrible suffering, but it is an excellent goal for the majority of us. And why not shoot for happiness or even moments of joy? The rewards are vast. Show up to fight the internal bully and you will be happier. Besides, action heroes are adorable.

susansmagicfeather copyright 2015 Susan R. Grout all rights reserved

Good bye, fondly to 2014 and Hello to 2015!

Hooray for us, riding our bikes in the 28 degree heat wave today...

Time to ring in the new year and I know of no better way than ride with a bunch of equally crazy friends in 28 degree weather over seven miles to a delicious brunch.

Here is a pictoral walk around my year. The idea came from FB trying to do my year for me. No thanks, so here is my own view of the year in Washington state, San Francisco, Los Angeles,  Chicago and New York city. Much love to all.