"Running on empty"

. Fascinating phrase that..."running on empty." Albeit with a finite time left, it means that one is still running. The metaphor is often used to imply that one is fatigued in some way. Given the restorative powers naturally available to the human body, mind and soul, there is an implication that one can eventually do something about it, and that the fatigue is temporary.

. A long time ago I decided that the world consists entirely of two kinds of people: the doers and the watchers. There is a certain amount of risk involved in taking any action. The most timid elect to take no action, lest they fail, or get injured, etc. They prefer to watch others. When they witness another's failure do they say "I told you so?" The German expression schadenfreude has suddenly become popular for this. It means taking disagreeable pleasure in others' suffering. Nasty little snits aren't they!

. When one gets to a certain age the empty signal seems to come more often than formerly. But the restorative process is always there. Besides, who said there is only one gauge to look at? What if one is totally exhausted after doing a very good and noble thing that was personally and morally satisfying? What about the goodness gauge? The nobility gauge? The satisfaction gauge? Aha, let us not be sucked into the limitations of the narrow-minded. Life has breadth. Watch all the gauges!

30,000 B.C. -- Two More Like Us?

. It is about time to update my acquaintance with paleoanthropology, the study of the origins of humans. Thus it was a happy circumstance when my son gave me The Jesuit and the Skull by Amir D. Aczel. A great plus is that the book contains much biographical detail about the life of Teilhard de Chardin (the Jesuit priest and scientist mentioned in the last posting for the worthiness of his spiritual writing for seekers of any faith). There was an especially interesting passage about evolution in general and about hominids particularly:

"Many scientists believe that it would not be unusual for several hominid species to have coexisted; the oddity is rather that we are now the only human species alive today. Coexistence of related species seems to be the rule in nature, not the exception."

. But I was not prepared for this astounding statement which immediately followed:

"And if research findings about a fossil discovery made in Java in 1996 are correct, then not two, but three different human species have inhabited our planet at the same time as late as 30,000 years ago. These were Homo sapiens, Homo neanderthalensis, and Homo erectus -- the remnants of a hardy species of human ancestor that had wiedely inhabited our planet for well over a million yearas."

. Boy did this complicate my thinking about the relation of humans to God and spirit! This realization is not quite like hearing that life was discovered on Mars, but the feeling is very close to that, for me.
. Below is an adaptation of the human family tree provided on the Smithsonian Institution's web site. (Sorry about the reduced clarity. It looked ok on my screen but Blogspot does funny things with image resolution.) The whole point of it is to show that, based on current research by C. C. Swisher et al., the timeline for Homo erectus, also know as Java Man, might be extended enough to overlap with Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon (us).

Physical age; Emotional age; Mental age; Spiritual age

Four facets of human maturing
- This is probably no new insight to most readers, but we apparently do not grow at the same rate physically as we do mentally and emotionally. There are any number of examples of child geniuses, 40-year old adolescents, and of 18 year-olds calm and wise beyond their years. My thought here concerns an often neglected aspect of ourselves: growing up spiritually.
- For many people faith is a set-it-and-forget-it kind of thing. If they still have belief at all, it may be frozen in time back with their childhood religious education. It is no wonder that many scorn the creeds expressed by others. Those people are still functioning spiritually as youngsters. So of course their convictions do not sound worthy of an adult and predictably one rejects them.
- Why do we allow ourselves to neglect spiritual growth? I guess one answer is: because we don't know any better and nobody tells us!

Precarious place of religion in personal spiritual maturing
- This is my understanding of religion. The founders of the world's sects preached full-fledged systems of belief, matured over many years of contemplation, meditation, and inspiration. But they realized that a start must be made with easy-to-understand representations of their faith for the new adherents. There are methodologies for making abstract concepts more real to new believers including analogy, metaphor and allegory. One famous example is St. Patrick's use of the three-leaf shamrock to represent the Holy Trinity. Another is Jesus's parable of the mustard seed as a stand-in for faith, both its vulnerability and its potential to grow and flourish. (I am not neglecting or denying the possible place of supernatural or psychic interventions for the purpose of initiation. But I have limited personal experience with that and must stick with what I know as of now.)
- However in no case that I know of was it their intention to leave the faithful stuck in the moment when they first received the teachings. Some religions accomplish growth by initiating devotees in a succession of increasingly esoteric "circles." Others accomplish this through a life-long series of rites or sacraments, usually as outward symbols of inner spiritual development. A few have well-developed progressions of lessons and duties leading to greater spiritual maturity, but those that I know of are involved with monasticism or close discipleship with an adept or spiritual director.
- An example of a medium with great potential for help, but where this has failed to operate well is popular American choice in reading material. If the reading public mentions spiritual writings at all it is usually in the same breath with sectarianism. It is unfortunate that religion, or at least the organizational kind, is the only approach to spirituality that seems commonly known. But the really worthy writers are not covering "religion" at all but studying the spiritual aspect of what it means to be human. They share their insights through their writing, just as authors in other fields might do.
- In this essay I am of course addressing myself to the needs of the laity, not clerics and othre religious leadership.

Our privilege and obligation to attend to our spiritual growth
- A while ago I was shocked to hear this verse in a song on one of those popular religious stations: "Oh Jesus, my maker..." Somebody did not do their homework! No Christian denomination preaches that Jesus was the Creator. Christ himself always referred to the Father as the origin of all things and all rules of conduct. Those Christians who believe in the Trinity divide it exactly that way: Father, Son (whom they believe is personified or incarnated as Jesus), and the Holy Spirit.
- In a way I have less of a problem with creationists who claim that dinosaurs were contemporaneous with early humans. At least they have been searching for evidence to bolster their beliefs (though I have yet to see the fossil verification they lay claim to.) But that songwriter is frozen in a baby state of belief. Further, if he is going to write religious songs for the edification of others he has a moral obligation to get it right, rather than to spread his ignorance through bad music.

A case study: "Who is Thomas Merton?"
- It was my turn to suggest the next choice for our book group. My first proposal was a lead balloon, as nobody had heard of Thomas Merton, one of the most important American writers on the spiritual life and the search for God. One group member actually said this "I don't read anything with that little cross and 'Imprimatur' in the front."
- I think they would have found him interesting. But such an author suffers a priori from two things: 1) how persons feel about the religious background of the author (in this case, a Catholic Cistercian monk.) 2) The plethora of miserable stuff pouring out of well-funded religious publishing houses, along with the pamphleteering of annoying ignorant proselytes.
- So writers covering spiritual topics, like Merton, Teilhard de Chardin, Henri Nouwen, Kyriakos Markides and others, never get in the front door, so to speak (a weak pun on the door-to-door religious canvassers!)
- In some Evangelical and Pentacostal denominations there is encouragement that congregants should take steps to grow spiritually. But it is unfortunate that the otherwise promising slogan "born again" has become identified as some kind of final step, rather than a breakthrough to a lifelong maturation of spirit.

Confession (classical sense) of personal belief

- I've spent a lifetime reading, studying, attending lectures and even participating in other religions and in Eastern and New Age sects. Their contradictions and shortcomings have not succeeded in discouraging me. I have gotten past the resulting state of confusion and doubt. At my age, when people might say I am entitled to be cynical, instead I believe that there is something substantial in them all, a common thread. I have found that all spiritual seekers are striving toward the same goal, known by hundreds of names that make them seem disimilar, but they are the same: unity with God.
- I have found that logical discourse and debate about God, divinity, and religion are in the end of no use in the spiritual search. In complete sympathy with the scientific viewpoint I agree that these are matters that are not, cannot, or should not be tackled in the same way as the search for physical truths. I've come around to trusting intuition, inspiration and epiphany as the proper way to proceed for seeking spiritual truth. With eyes open to the fact that these are subject to the same propensity for error as all other human endeavors, I try to find that which has heart, rings true, and resonates with the findings of trusted others who are more advanced.

Further on the obligation to grow spiritually
- Advancing toward unity with God, just for me, so I can enjoy some kind of spiritual ecstasy, in the final analysis is an empty endeavor propelled by a hollow motivation. Gautama Buddha expressed the opposite as the true path to inner peace:

"In the Hinayana teachings Buddha explains how to attain liberation from suffering for oneself alone, and in the Mahayana teaching he explains how to attain full enlightenment, or Buddhahood, for the sake of others."

- But a misunderstanding I had about these teachings is that they preach world-denial or renunciation. That may be characteristic of some sects in Hinduism, but the Buddhist view is apparently more synergistic:

"As long as one clings only to the affairs of one's daily existence in this world one cannot grasp that reality. For this reason, the Buddha taught people to transcend their daily lives, which are uncertain and fleeting, in order to overcome these sufferings. However, to realize the essential life which continues eternally, transcending both birth and death, means to establish the solid foundation of human existence within the harsh realities of this world."

- Although I admire and respect the wisdom of the East, I remain uncomfortable with their

rites and scriptures. Yes, the relationship to me, a Western seeker, feels unnatural.

So I, like many others, appreciate interpreters in our own culture who have achieved this synthesis and shared it in their writings. Here are some authors, and selected works of theirs that I have found helpful:

. Kyriakos C. Markides: Gifts of the desert: the forgotten path of Christian spirituality, and The Mountain Of Silence: A Search For Orthodox Spirituality

. Franklin Merrell-Wolff: Philosophy of consciousness without an object, and Pathways through to space

. Thomas Merton: Mystics and Zen masters, and The Asian journal of Thomas Merton and other works

. Bernadette Roberts: What is self? a study of the spiritual journey in terms of consciousness and The experience of no-self; a contemplative journey

. Alan Watts: Cloud-hidden, whereabouts unknown; a mountain journal and The wisdom of insecurity; The way of Zen; Tao: the watercourse way and other works

Why did God make brains, if we aren't going to use them?

Finally I discovered why seemingly conscious, literate and school-educated people cannot (or feel they cannot) do the simplest things. When it came time to learn something, anything – that would help in a situation they simply said “I don’t give a hoot” and turned off their brains.
Let’s suppose that brain power output can be measured in units. I don’t mean how many units of brain power a person has, just how much they should apply in a given situation, or to solve a problem. Here are some typical measurements, in a new Metric unit to be called “intellihoot”. In all the situations below the people refrained from applying intelligence, many deliberately so, to the degree indicated by the number of intellihoots.

What quantity of withheld intelligence does it really take in order to…

. You are at bus ticket window. They ask your name (in which the third and fourth letters are “ih”) You spell it slowly and make sure they’ve written “…i” before you tell them the next letter. As soon as you utter “h” they go back and erase the “i” and write “…hi”. (10 intellihoots)

. Person sneezes openly on a borrowed pencil and then hands it back to you. (20 intellihoots)

.A work-study employee has not shown up for work since last Friday. On Wednesday I call him to ask what's up. He says "You know last Friday when I came into work?" "Yes?" I respond, wondering what is coming next. Then he says "Well that was my last day." I then say "So I am getting minus 5 days notice, a negative number? That breaks all records for the least possible notice of resignation!!" I burst into scornful laughter, and there was embarrassed silence on the other end of the line. (25 intellihoots)

. I walk into a fast food restaurant to order a large coffee to go. I ask the attendant for "half decaf and half regular" She questioned me at least twice what that meant. I could see she was trying to think of a company rule or reason not to accommodate the customer. Finally I said: "Get a large cup, fill it halfway with decaf." She did this. "Now grab the regular pot and fill it the rest of the way. " Finally it was done as I asked but the expression on her face told me she felt she had made some great custom service and that she had done me a great favor. I had never had anyone freak out about that request like that before or since. (30 intellihoots)

. Parking lot is nearly empty. After you park, you open your door, get out and reach in to get your things. At that very moment someone has chosen the spot next to yours (why?), and insists on pulling into it. If you try to continue with your chore they actually glare at you and fume until you close the door and get out of their way. (35 intellihoots)

. A person leaves a fan on in the staff lounge to “cool the room.” Before they depart I say “Fans don’t cool the air. They cool people by evaporating sweat. So it just wastes electricity if no one is in a room." “Uh-uh,” they say. "When I put a fan in my bedroom window at night, it cools the room.” (40 intellihoots)

. You are tooling along in your car on a road with a 50 mph speed limit. Visibility is excellent, as the day is clear and bright. There is no one else on the road for a mile in each direction. You approach a junction with a side street and notice a car stopped there, supposedly waiting for a safe opportunity to pull out. You have now driven much closer and just when it is barely possible to brake and avoid hitting them, they pull out in front of you and go 25 mph and no faster. (45 intellihoots)

. This story from the front page of the Bangor Daily News for July 21, 2008 about a black bear that wandered into a Bangor, Maine neighborhood struck me as illustrating the warning in my August 29 blog about assuming there are simple solutions to complex social problems, as well as connecting to the theme of this posting.

“Game Warden Jim Fahey was dispatched to the neighborhood around Fairmount Park sometime after 8 am. Saturday after public safety agencies were flooded with calls about a bear wandering the streets … When Fahey arrived … a large crowd had gathered wondering what the bear might do next…
‘The bear was pretty wound up at that point and it was in a neighborhood where a lot people had gathered…’ said Sgt. Chris Simmons, a supervisor with the Maine Warden Service. ‘The warden in the Bangor neighborhood had to make a decision based predominantly on public safety. With crowds of people watching, the warden assessed the likelihood of the bear making it back to the woods without encountering a dog, without taking a swipe at a child, and without being struck by a car or causing a collision.’ ”

-- Contrary to impressions left by tv wildlife shows, which shrink time for televised events to accommodate impatient viewers with short attention spans, a tranquilizer dart doesn’t always work swiftly to incapacitate a bear. Retaining its full strength almost until it drops from the tranquilizer, the bear's behavior becomes totally unpredictable putting those nearby at risk.
-- Despite what some members of the public might think, most wardens and forest rangers love animals and appreciate unspoiled Nature. The warden assessed the risks to people and decided to shoot the bear, which obviously took presence of mind to do his duty not only because it is such a waste of a beautiful life, but also to have to do so in front of a crowd who think the wild animal is gentle and passive like Yogi Bear.
-- Ironically, after it was all over and people started in on the warden and the Warden Service, not a single person said that by crowding the bear and the warden they were a contributing cause to increasing the danger of the situation. (Everyone who crowded in as if it were a sea mammal show: 80 intellihoots.)

Two Mothers

. Today's news carried a story from Blue Mound, Texas contributed by the Dallas News. Two 20-something male intruders smashed their way into the Hoehn household while the whole family was home. The Hoehns have two children: a 12-year old son, and daughter age 5. Here is a news excerpt:

"As Mr. Hoehn emerged from the bedroom, Ms. Hoehn grabbed hold of the intruder's shotgun and pointed it upward and away from the children's rooms. "I wasn't going to let them get to my babies," the 34-year-old mom said. "No way in hell." While Mr. Hoehn wrestled with the intruders, Ms. Hoehn reached for a candle – the only heavy object within reach – and threw it at the man with the shotgun."

. Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska and now the Vice Presidential candidate for the Republican Party is also a mother. Her 19-year old son Track joined the Army last year. She has one other son Trig a new-born. Her daughters are Bristol (18), Willow (13), and Piper (7). Trig, was diagnosed prenatally as having Down syndrome. Quoting from the Wall Street Journal:

"She has said she would make abortion illegal in all cases, unless the life of the mother was at risk. Sen. McCain would make exceptions for rape or incest as well. Unlike Sen. McCain, she opposes stem-cell research, which involves destruction of human embryos. And she supports abstinence-until-marriage programs, where teens are taught to refrain from sex until marriage and contraception is discussed only to explain its failings."

. I do not know Kellie Hoehn's opinions on abortion. But I am absolutely sure of her love for her children, proven by her emotion under duress that even at 12 and 5 they are still her "babies." Although the stories seem far apart they each illustrate something in Nature, especially among birds and mammals, that I call the Centrality of Motherhood or the Authority of Mother. In choosing to allow her Down Syndrome fetus to be born Palin was exercising her primal authority.
. Birds are known to salvage what they can of their fledglings in times of short food by selecting the strongest and nourishing them to survival, obviously at the expense of their sibs. Primates, especially humans, have more options because they know they can enlist others to assist in raising weaker offspring.
. However the place of men in making these decisions is questionable. There is no demonstration of similar authority in Nature for them. In a few cases among mammals they may even be a threat to their own offspring. Therefore I am not going to state an opinion. But I will note one weakness in logic for female extreme pro-lifers like Palin. By deduction it appears that they grant the right of any male, even the lowest scum, even by force, to sire a child on any woman, even their own mother. That rankles me as I am definitely for the protection of women. Without something to keep a lid on them, the record of men is not universally good in this respect, witness the infamous treatment of females, even little girls, recently exposed at the Yearning for Zion Ranch near Eldorado, Texas.
. Well, enough dark thoughts. This is intended to point out the central role Nature carves out for Mothers and the reinforcement given by the highest standards from the greatest moralists, purportedly even God, as recorded by Moses in the Fifth Commandment, and even from that time of extreme patriarachy:
* * Honor thy Father AND Mother * *