You are the light of the world!

 You are the light of the world!

https://poply.com/r/cimoz4

Let Our #Lovelution Begin!

#Lovelution!

Life with Liberty! Death with Dignity!

No Exceptions!

No human being has the right to take the life of another!

“Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides, and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.”

- Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Love NEVER Murders!

"The truth is, indeed, that love is the threshold of another universe. Beyond the vibrations with which we are familiar, the rainbow-like range of its colours is still in full growth. But, for all the fascination that the lower shades have for us, it is only towards the "ultra" that the creation of light advances. It is in these invisible and, we might almost say, immaterial zones that we can look for true initiation into unity. The depths we attribute to matter are no more than the reflection of the peaks of spirit."

-  "The Evolution of Chastity" (1934), as translated by René Hague in Toward the Future (1975))

Again, I'm guessing that at this point, someone begs to differ:

Wikipedia>American Revolution 2.0?

Wikipedia>American Civil War 2.0?

YouTube Music> 1966 For What It's Worth< Buffalo Springfield

Goodbye Fear, Hello Love

YouTube Music>1967 All You Need Is Love< The Beatles

Wikipedia>1967 Summer of Love <YouTube Music The Summer of Love playlist

(contains human sexuality content)

YouTube Music>1968 Revolution< The Beatles

You say you want a revolution*

Well, you know

We all want to change the world

You tell me that it's evolution

Well, you know

We all want to change the world

But when you talk about destruction

Don't you know that you can count me out

Don't you know it's gonna be

All right, all right, all right

You say you got a real solution

Well, you know

We'd all love to see the plan

You ask me for a contribution

Well, you know

We're doing what we can

But if you want money for people with minds that hate

All I can tell is brother you have to wait

Don't you know it's gonna be

All right, all right, all right

You say you'll change the constitution

Well, you know

We all want to change your head

You tell me it's…

                                               *lovelution

--John Lennon/Paul McCartney

Here we go! Love one another. It's the best way to help our world heal and move together into a better future: 

YouTube Music>1980 Celebration!

Can we turn our world upside down by loving one another? To quote our greatest president, “Yes, we can!” The first loving thing we did was VOTE and elect Joe Biden as POTUS. Please join me in our Lovelution!

click here>The Great Commandment

Again, I'm guessing that at this point, someone begs to differ:

YouTube Music>Help!

God knows I need help! I want Love to go viral, but obviously don't have what it takes. Help make this site yours by contributing your thoughts, prayers, and your love in action!

#AloneTogether

Join #Lovelution! here:

click here>Amnesty International

click here>Habitat for Humanity

click here>Sandy Hook Promise

click here>The Venus Project 

click here>UNICEFusa

click here>Win Without War

click here>World Beyond War

click here>World War Zero

Again, I'm guessing that at this point, someone begs to differ:

Insanity!

Now that it is clear we’re insane, I need your help. I have refrained from subjecting those I know to social media requests, and that is why I now turn to email to ask, “What are we going to do?” I confess that I am on the verge of losing hope. I seek dialogue with all who wish to respond. A “reply to all” will create a community of concern that I desperately need. I ask forgiveness for intruding into your life in this way, but I do need your help to maintain any semblance of faith I have left. I love you…

Mark, we wish we knew an answer, or any answer.  If the Senate would act on the weapons ban it could possibly help some, but as long as Mitch is where he is that probably won't happen.  We indeed have reached the point of insanity. We also believe as long as Trump holds the high office we won't be able to accomplish much. Our great hope is that the Dems will be able to change the trajectory.  The candidates need to concentrate on the major reason for the continued racism.  Trust some of you will have better ideas. Earl & Rhonda

I think looking for solace in virtual communities is part of the problem - it just further insulates all of us. If there’s anything to be learned from the Trump era, it may be that our society is not at its best as millions of angry individuals behind screens. It severs the connections between us, and at its worst, it creates echo chambers of hate that translate to shocking displays of violence. If we want to keep our hope alive, it probably means finding real-life communities where we can connect, listen, and learn to work together. I’m not anti-technology, but I firmly believe that digital connection is a poor substitute for real human interaction. 

(And coming from me, you know advocating for in-person interaction means a lot. If there was another way, you know I’d choose it.)

Rachel

Words are gone from all of this that has taken place in America.  We need leaders in government, that aren't afraid of the NRA and losing their seat in whichever house they are in. Take a stand for people not your ego or money.  That might happen in a dream, I've heard. Neal

There's always hope. The people who are concerned like you are the quiet ones going about their lives trying to make things making this country and world a better place. They don't use guns to kill people, they don't cheer "Lock her up" or "Send them back". They were the people that showed up last Nov. and started the process of changing the government. They will also,hopefully ' be the ones showing up in 2020 to remove Trump and more of the regnicans in the House and Senate. And between now and then they will be the ones quietly helping people and getting involved. It is always darkest before the dawn they say so......look towards the hopeful future. The other side wins if we lose hope and/or faith. Keep both alive we can only beat ourselves if we lose hope/faith. Take care and feel to write any time you want. Remember you had an R Senator up for reelection....send him packing. Bob

Hi, Mark...I am on my way to surgery in a little while. I will respond as soon as I am able; meanwhile, I love Bob's response and echo those thoughts. In friendship, Lonnie

I like what Bob said.  He makes me feel hopeful.  I really try to stay informed, yet practice some censorship. (Like avoiding canned speeches from Trump so I don’t become sick). I have called my congressmen and women, written letters, voted, marched against Deb Fischer, campaigned for my candidates, and attended town hall meetings.  It’s even more discouraging to live in Nebraska! Love, Jan

Hi Mark, just checking e-mail from the past few days and saw your e-mail.  If you’re referring to the insanity our county is regularly going through with mass shootings, it is sickening.  I don’t know what is wrong with these individuals, but clearly it is an epidemic. It seems there are more concerned about where it will happen next, rather than “what we can do to stop it.”  I’m not sure what I can do;Let me know if I’m completely off track. Hope you are doing well, Mark. Janice

Hi Mark,I, too, am very interested in doing something about gun control to prevent future incidents like this. I read about how other countries are straight-up outlawing guns -- like Australia -- and that think that's probably the solution here too.I didn't Reply All because I find that I just don't have any time between little ones and work and everything. But maybe we can write to our senators? Dennis

This poem came in right after I read your email.Nancy

Questionnaire by Wendell Berry

How much poison are you willing

to eat for the success of the free

market and global trade? Please

name your preferred poisons.

For the sake of goodness, how much

evil are you willing to do?

Fill in the following blanks

with the names of your favorite

evils and acts of hatred.

What sacrifices are you prepared

to make for culture and civilization?

Please list the monuments, shrines,

and works of art you would

most willingly destroy

In the name of patriotism and

the flag, how much of our beloved

land are you willing to desecrate?

List in the following spaces

the mountains, rivers, towns, farms

you could most readily do without.

State briefly the ideas, ideals, or hopes,

the energy sources, the kinds of security;

for which you would kill a child.

Name, please, the children whom

you would be willing to kill.

 "Questionnaire" by Wendell Berry from Leavings. © Counterpoint, 2010. Reprinted with permission. (buy now)

Mark,

I believe the key to all of this is in your last statement "I love you..."

Please take 45 minutes to view the following video.  This is the sermon from our church service yesterday.  I know it's a Facebook link, but it's the best available right now.  This video should be available directly from the church website in the next couple days.

https://www.facebook.com/PekinFirstNazarene/videos/369176500675255/

Pastor Brock is an amazing pastor.  His viewpoints seem to hit the nail on the head every time for me and I think this sermon gets directly to the root of the issue we have in our society right now.

Why does everything have to be Republican vs. Democrat, White vs. Black, Male vs. Female, etc, etc?  Creating an us vs them mentality is only perpetuating the problem!

We cannot command (or legislate) people to love one another.  We can go out and show others that we love them for who they are.  The hope is that this is contagious and returns our society to some semblance of normalcy.

I came across another article that has a similar message to what I sent you yesterday.  It's almost like someone is sending these to me! Wonder who that could be?

https://www.villagevoice.com/2014/08/06/ask-andrew-w-k-my-dad-is-a-right-wing-asshole/

Mike

Hello Mark!

I’ve not yet sat with your email long enough to have a clear response. For so long, I’ve thought things would be worked out on a platform other than the political one which certainly has its dysfunction and limits. Since  the Trump presidency, I’ve felt as much despair as any time. I didn’t know how much division and damage he could do…did not want to know…but am appalled. I find I want to be part of a solution but sure do not know what form that needs to take. I want to believe there is so much Light pouring onto the earth at this time that the darkness has to surface and transform. I also think it is up for each of us to become more Light and Love filled and not just reactive and angry. And that takes work! Know that your email is received with tenderness and love and I look forward to what may unfold in the way of a dialogue group! Loyie/Lois Weber

Be amazed with all that is/All That Is!

Lois Weber, Coaching for Calm

Hello Mark!

I hope you don’t mind that Loyie forwarded this to me.  However, as such I will respond only to you rather than ‘all’.

I’m far from being qualified to provide a meaningful answer to your questions; however, I am certainly willing to help in way I can.

The only certain way of losing anything is to quit.  Perseverance is a must along with thoughtful reviewing and changing the tactics / strategies. 

A related thought is about results.  My simple formula for results:

             Capability x Action = Results

(Anthony Robbins says success in anything is dependent on Massive Determined Action)

Your question however is ‘what are we going to do’?  Of course there is not a simple answer to that. Your idea of a group dialogue is a good approach to that.  

Some framework to consider:

-          Define the problem clearly

-          Consider common interests rather than divisive positions

-          Analyze the resistance to a solution – is it rational, emotional or relational?

-          Consider approaches to the solutions that are individual, socially, and politically

That is all of now.  I will appreciate your thoughts.

Dan Weber

In 10 days I get to welcome fifteen 3 and 4-year-olds into my preschool classroom for a new school year.  Four of these children speak Kurdish at home, one speaks Spanish and one speaks Russian. One has Down Syndrome and one is hearing impaired.  Over the next 10 months I will watch them all become part of our classroom community. They will learn to recognize their similarities and navigate through their differences.  They will learn to share, take turns, negotiate with each other for the things they want, and they will become friends. It happens every year! Last year I had two students who couldn't understand a word each other said, but they played together every day.  Ridha spoke Arabic and Baywarr answered in English, and they made it work. As part of our preschool curriculum my students will also learn how to manage strong feelings, especially anger, and how to constructively solve their problems once they are calm. And they won't stop practicing these skills once they leave my classroom.  There are kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade teachers (and on up) ready to pick up where I leave off.  

My goal for the next year is to try to balance staying informed without getting sucked too deep into the cess pool of negativity that is cable news and social media. This will be hard for me, but I know I probably won't find any hope there.  I think the answer for me is focusing on what's good in the world, like the long lines of people waiting to give blood in El Paso, and the kids in my class who don't care if they don't speak the same language as long as they can build robots together.

Thanks for your email, Mark.  It forced me to try and process what happened this weekend and figure out for myself what I'm going to focus on going forward. Jennie

Mark—I have pondered your request for several days now wishing there was a relatively quick way to turn things around and end the madness.  I thought surely that Sandy Hook would bring about some much needed gun regulation; and then Las Vegas, and then on and on ad nauseam. Even under the best of circumstances our Congress moves glacially, and thinkin that this bunch will surprise us by doing the right thing…  don’t hold your breath. There is hope though, in the form of young voters and getting them to turn out in significant numbers in 2020.  There is much at stake for this newest generation, particularly in regard to climate change. Their participation is the best hope we have for changing course. Ted

Hi Mark, I have wrestled with your invitation to have a dialogue about “America in  Crisis”. I don’t feel like I would be able to adequately express my feelings. However, I do want to say to you personally that I am equally concerned with the happenings. I don’t in any way want to simplify the issue but I believe “forgiveness” and  “listening”to people with different opinions is a start. Our friends are extremely opinionated. We have friends that are “far” right and friends that are “far” left. It is unbearable to listen to their arguments, but I feel “listening” is a starting point. The trend is to be extremely divisive and totally self righteous. We all should have a big helping of justice, forgiveness, and tolerance. Wow. I said way more than I intended. Hope you and your family are all okay. I love you, Carol

Mark, I know.  I’m struggling too.  I tell myself that the previous generation fought through dark times (WWII) and prevailed.  The unrest of the 60s which I barely remember must have seemed sometimes insurmountable. The vast majority of people in this country just want to live in peace, take care of their families, and live a good life. Those of us who never needed to speak out must now do so.  We will prevail too!  I’m encouraged by some of the strong Dem candidates running — have you met Amy McGrath?  Watch this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1d3skEMCIgU

I’m very hopeful we’ll have a full blown impeachment enquiry soon.  I’ve said a silent prayer every night for some time now — it goes something like this:

I pray:

That truth will see the light

That justice will be served

That tyranny SHALL NOT stand

And our Democracy will prevail.  AMEN

Love you,
Marti and Tim


I wrote a response to your e mail last week, but I fear that it might have gone to Bob, or someone else who posted.  It is so discouraging—shameful. As I wrote to you, I call Washington, write letters, demonstrate against Deb Fischer (puppet), attend town hall meetings with Jeff Fortenberry (aka Fartenberry) and volunteer for candidates.  The sign on my front door says, “Make America kind again.” I’m sending love to all of the Hanna’s, Jan

Hey Mark,
Good to hear from you. Man, are we in the same place!! Our government (both parties) are failing

Americans miserably. As I search into every corner of life on earth, it all keeps coming back to me that,
as the Bible says, "the love of money is the root of ALL evil". Over the last few years since retiring, I've
been reading many books and watching many documentaries on government and how corrupt political
influence has metastasized itself into every aspect of our government and our lives. As history has
shown, civilizations without love, compassion and unbiased structure/order ultimately implode and destroy
themselves. 

Jan's grandsons will turn 13 years old tomorrow and it keeps me up at night wondering what theirs and
Jack and Wesley's life will be like if somebody doesn't do something soon. I know that your ability to travel
is limited, so I'm sure that I could get away for a few days in the next few weeks. Jan's daughter Jody
changed jobs last year and is able to work from home now, so I'm sure she could help me out for a few
days. I miss the days when I could drive 20 minutes and be able to see all of you while we would try to
solve the world's problems. I would love to hear some of your ideas as well, so shoot me back an email
and I'll try and arrange a trip. Hope all is well and tell everyone hello. Gary

Hi Mr. Hanna. :)
I'm sorry I am bad at keeping in touch. The world does seem to be on a decline with
regard to humanity. And I am not a church goer, but I do believe there is a higher power and I want to
believe that, that higher power is more powerful than anything negative. I want to believe that God will not
forsaken us and will have mercy on our souls. You are part of the positive that still exists. 

Keep smiling for the sake of all of us. :) xoxo Aracely

A Revolutionary Moment

Can we elect Hillary Clinton our nation’s first woman president?  Yes, we can!  Because we already elected our greatest president, Barack Obama.  Because a morally courageous Independent, Bernie Sanders, challenged the Democrats to become the revolutionary voice of ‘We the People’.  Will we continue to govern ourselves in the spirit of our Constitution?  Yes, we will!

You're what?

I really appreciate Jim Gaffigan's show about his "calling".  It provides a much better explanation of what a calling might be like than I have ever been able to express.  On August 29, 1971 the zeitgeist opened for me an opportunity to explain my calling through "The Frustrated Jesus: A Call for Christian Revolution".  Since that day I have tried to be true to my calling, even though such a statement may puzzle those who know me best. The truth is that I have never been more in love, more confident in love's power to make people happy, than I was that day.

Welcome Google+ Lovelution! Community

Welcome Google+#Lovelution! Community
this is what I'm talking about...

INCITE: So You Want A Revolution?

Revolution - The Beatles

Standing on the Edge of Next American Revolution

This Is What Political Political Revolution Really Looks Like

#Lovelution!

Six weeks to the day after Mary and I wed, I delivered my first sermon: The Frustrated Jesus: A Call for Christian Revolution.  I'm sharing it now as a way of explaining why I am passionately committed to Senator Bernie Sanders' political revolution.

Revolution (as almost everything) means many things.  The various meanings are derived from the context of each, and the similarity between Sanders' and mine is what struck the chord capable of reviving me from dormancy.

Among changes I would make to the original text would be not using the term 'Christian'.  First, I no longer identify as a Christian.  Neither did Jesus.  I agree with Jesus that God is Love, and so today I would call instead for a loving revolution: #Lovelution!

Senator Sanders is the only candidate who speaks of the role of morality in democracy, and it is from that perspective that I hope to make my contribution to the cause.  We the People can choose a different way, a better way, a more loving way.

"Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire." --Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Signing Off

As of yesterday, there have been 9,673 visits to Incite since my first post on January 6, 2006. It's been a good run, but recent readers have more than likely already realized that I've run out of anything to say. Try as I might, I've not incited anything. Until I finally succeed in alienating all of my friends and followers, I'll continue to agitate via Twitter and Facebook. But where my inner self is currently headed no longer seems compatible with public (if you consider eleven visits per day on average to be all that public) disclosure. I retain my faith in a Higher Power, my hope for a better tomorrow, and my belief in the power of love. I thank you for having shared this journey with me thus far, and I will keep my eyes open for other, more appropriate ways to share the good news I've been called to proclaim.

Growing in Christ Sermons

5 of the Worst 'Religious' Organizations | | AlterNet

5 of the Worst 'Religious' Organizations | | AlterNet

Who's Up For Month Two?

As we start the second month of twenty-eleven, I'm fascinated by a review of what happened during the first. We had almost heard enough about the attempted assassination of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and the Tucson murders when the news cycle was saved by revolution in the Middle East. The kind of weather associated with climate change that has been predicted for at least a couple of decades now gets sensational media attention which is punctuated by an unabated thirty-four U.S. murders each day. We may be approaching the day (faster than we think) when it will take something on the order of a nuclear attack to qualify as breaking news. In the meantime, it's hard to think of any more pressing global issue than Super Bowl XLV. Pity the idiot who would attempt to interfere with this High Mass of the American people. Perhaps this shortest month of February (has our calendar, along with the Zodiac, lost its synchronicity with the Cosmos?) will accelerate our mad rush toward the extreme and bizarre future that awaits the unfaithfully immoral.

Corporations Ain't People, So Why Do They Have the Power of Citizens? | | AlterNet

Corporations Ain't People, So Why Do They Have the Power of Citizens? | | AlterNet

GOP Presidential Hopefuls Are Alienating the Rest of the World by Fusing Christian Superiority with Blatant Revisionist American History | | AlterNet

GOP Presidential Hopefuls Are Alienating the Rest of the World by Fusing Christian Superiority with Blatant Revisionist American History | | AlterNet

A Word to the Wise

It's early afternoon and I've been reflecting on President Obama's State of the Union address. It makes me cringe each time a pundit remarks that what many heard was jaundiced by the color of the president's skin. For God's sake! Haven't we made any progress at all? The answer provided by current events is that what we label 'progress' is the development of technological prowess aimed at possessing the greatest capacity to kill. The separation of Church and State is no excuse for taking morality out of the equation. Perhaps historians will someday uncover one, but I know of no American president who did not acknowledge a power, an authority, greater than themselves, and to the degree that each man (and, someday, woman) acknowledged that this was so, his intelligence was graced by wisdom. Technology itself is amoral, but the human application of it is moral or immoral. Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he. (Proverbs 29:18, KJV) We are dangerously close to learning the consequences of monumentally unwise--immoral--human choices, paramount among them the premeditation of murder (e.g. war; capital punishment, etc). At this critical point in our evolution, we will choose to either continue on an evil path of immoral arrogance, or to change our course in the moral direction which promises abundant life. I thank God for our president's wisdom in knowing the difference.

Remarks of President Barack Obama

as prepared for delivery

A Twentieth-Century Prophet

George Carlin -- The American Dream

Above the Law

exceptionalism: the belief that particular laws do not apply to those who see themselves as, for a variety of reasons, superior.

exceptionalism

I can understand how it may appear that I have lost my way, but I really do think that I am managing to stay on track in my pursuit of humankind's ultimate destiny. Killers are bullies who regard themselves as exceptions to the ancient prohibition against murder. Bullies incorporate the paradigm of fear to manipulate their victims, with bully murderers capitalizing on death as the ultimate threat to those they wish to control. This only works when death is perceived as a fearsome thing to be defended against by any means necessary. It is in this way that the 'I am going to kill you before you can kill me' mentality evolves, even into such sophisticated global strategies as mutually assured destruction. I generally do not adhere to black and white propositions, but the scriptural prohibition of murder is absolute; i.e. no exceptions.

The Killing Field

murder: the killing of a human being by another

murder

Very simply, one human killing another human is murder. As the authoritative definition specifies, law qualifies whether the murder is considered legal, illegal, justified, unjustified, etc. Again, human hubris enables legalism to trump morality with murderous results spanning from the dawn of our species until the present. Since it is, after all, Sunday, I'm going to invite you to read Genesis 4:1-16 and then spend a little while thinking about it. The easiest way out of this assignment is to dismiss scripture as irrelevant and be done with it. But for you who believe that humans are called to something more than murder, it is time for us to begin the conversation about how we go about achieving that. This passage is recognized by all three of the Abrahamic traditions and, taken seriously, should serve as a challenge to any attempt to justify murder for any reason. One of the greatest achievements of the reformation was opening up the Bible to Everyman, empowering each and every one of us to read and understand for ourselves. I seek your comments, especially if you believe that there is any rational argument for murder.

They're Everywhere!

Violence is destructive whether the result of natural or human behavior.

violence

This is kind of fun comparing my made-up definitions to the real deal.

The human being is perhaps unique in its ability to be intentionally violent. One's theology is immediately drawn into play at this point with regard to one's understanding of what causes naturally occurring violence; e.g. God. Another distinction may be that while natural violence can actually transform into creative construction (e.g. a volcano), violent human behavior is seldom if ever constructive. Violent human behavior is intended to destroy.

Bullies threaten physical violence to exert control over the bullied, often following through with execution of the threat just for good measure. Bullies instigate the fight or flight response in their victims and generally generate the latter because of their uninhibitedly violent demeanor. Bullies employ force, up to and including lethal, to have their way, and what I consider to be intelligent human beings are those who choose whatever means necessary to effectively remove themselves from the bully's sphere of influence.

I recollect having the wind punched out of me four or five times before becoming a teenager. Each time it was a violent expression of my attacker's great disdain for me. The threats didn't diminish until, as I said, college provided a less violent environment (there were bullies my freshman year, but liberation from public school made it much easier to avoid them). Not being educated in retaliation, I eventually realized that my most effective defense was not to run (not when you run as slowly as I do) but to think--quickly! Over time I have developed defensive behavior that I suppose could be thought of as a kind of intellectual retaliation. This strategy has been successful to the degree that I haven't been physically assaulted since high school (with the exception of in the line of duty in 1976; that will have to be another post).

The whole issue of bullying becomes more complicated when verbal and emotional assault is included, attacks that in the human context can be as devastating as physical violence. For now, let it suffice to say that there are bullies everywhere, and that our future will be shaped by the ways we choose to deal with them.