Tread lightly on the things of earth

That’s the most gracious thing I can say about yesterday’s inauguration. Lots of pomp and circumstance surrounding a spiritual black hole. I never dreamed we could fall so far, so fast.

The ember of hope left to me is that we’ll soon hit bottom — not that I want us to hit bottom, I just acknowledge that may be what’s required to wrench us from our delusions.

I heard even a supporter express disgust at the lavish waste of money yesterday. Observing this inbreaking awareness about our monstrously out-of-whack priorities, I’m willing to extrapolate hope that one day, maybe soon, we’ll reach a (figurative) hundred of us monkeys who’ve been knocked sensible, who turn away from this consuming greed, violence, and deception that masquerades as an angel of light.

In commenting on the Hundredth Monkey story, Elaine points out that whether or not the story accurately demonstrates the spontaneous transmission of ideas, it definitely demonstrates that

The truly innovative points of view tend to come from those on the edge between youth and adulthood. The older generation continues to cling to the world view they grew up with. The new idea does not become universal until the older generation withdraws from power, and a younger generation matures within the new point of view.

While some of the youth I know are caught up in the Christian Right’s fall from grace — its sinful embrace of present U.S. policies — I know still more who are seeing with clearer eyes and hearts. I think the clear-seeing perspective that rejects present U.S. policy will eventually win out; after all, it’s the one that actually bears some demonstrable resemblance to the gospel.

Meanwhile, here in at the edge of Mordor, there’s lots of work to be done.

later …
I just watched Iron Jawed Angels, an extraordinary movie about Alice Paul and her fellow suffragists in 1912–1920 as they struggled and suffered, through imprisonment and torture at the hands of the U.S. government, for the right, the justice, the privilege to vote — they pressed us as a people to align what we do with what we say.

The parallels to now are striking: now as then the Powers that grip us will go to almost any length to prevent us seeing ourselves clearly, to silence those who call us to look in a mirror. But we opened our eyes to justice then: we passed the Nineteenth Amendment that ensures women the right to vote. We must open our eyes now: we are waging war unjustly; we are killing men, women, and children who have done us no wrong. We are slandering the Prince of Peace as Prince of War, and we must stop.

The intersection of my life with Quakers makes this movie especially meaningful to me — Alice Paul was a Quaker. I’d choose that all of us have clear-eyed strength like hers that discerns carefully, refuses deception, sees as best one can what’s right, and does it.

We are not now bearing fruit worthy of who we are, of him who made us. It’s in us to do better than this.