State of the Union with God

Every year about the time the President -- whoever it is -- delivers the state of the union, I pause to think about what it means. He spouts goals, lofty ideals and sometimes pointed ideological statements, directed at other nations and the world. There is rarely a spiritual challenge, but I think this year should have had one.

In the past, the wars were the emphasis, evil empires and triads of evil, as well as directives that seemed to be an attempt to create an image, rather than to address actual problems. Much was glossed over that was important. Instead of real solutions, ideas of what could be done were brought up one year and dropped the next.

Now that the country's deep economic flaws and divides are highlighted, one party has turned to stone and the other is working hard to bridge these problems. There must be a healing medium. God is it -- in spite of what people from the ACLU will say. And I'm not just talking about lip service and pandering, I mean a real spiritual transformation, one that we probably won't see until 2012. I'm hoping President Obama will become a part of that.

I am reminded constantly in my own life that living without purpose is not life, it's just going through the motions. When a job is lost or a house is taken or health issues arise, it becomes clear that those aspects of life will only take you so far. The rest is reliant on the spirit. The Bible is chock-full of wisdom on this subject, but I will not quote it here. Instead, I will note an obituary in The New York Times.

Along with the stories on the State of the Union speech, the pullback of Toyota from car production, the Apple iPad introduction, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner defending AIG's bailout, and an Afghan tribe vowing to fight the Taliban to get U.S. aid, buried inside was an obituary of Andrew Lange, one of the foremost astrophysicists of our times, who killed himself at age 52. Lange's experiments helped prove the Big Bang caused an expanding universe that is accelerating in its expansion. The only explanation given of his suicide was that he suffered from depression. What is almost always left unsaid is that a dearth of spiritual knowledge and practice leads to depression, as much as any physical cause. A bright mind was extinguished by a poor spirit.

Dan Brown, who I wouldn't call a great author (some flat characters, an excess of unbelievable action) but definitely occasionally an entertaining one, writes in his new book "The Lost Symbol" about the convergence of science and faith, and the central role of the Masons and Christianity in the founding, and presumably, the success of this nation because of the founders' deep beliefs in God. While separation of church and state is necessary in executing the law, it is not a prerequisite for governing the country, nor has it ever been. Examination of our moral precepts in our own lives and in government are a necessary aspect of setting the agenda of the nation. If our representatives are believers (and most claim to be), then it should be clear to them that they have an obligation to follow their conscience and the teachings of their religion, and not to blindly follow party directives.

When President Obama called for "responsibility to govern," he touched on this concept. If the GOP becomes the Grand Opposing Party, then its members are acting only in their own interests, and not those of the country.

Several years ago, I never would have come to this conclusion, but sometimes God is the only answer. In the times we live in, all I can say is God bless America.

'Avatar' Wins Globe; Some Critics Scoff

Get ready for the "Avatar" backlash.

The film won a Golden Globe for best movie of 2009, which officially makes it open season for attack, along with the fact that it has earned over a billion dollars since its release. Critics are sharpening their knives.

Ironically, one of the first to come forward was the Vatican, which declared it emotionally unengaging and an attempt to replace God with nature, according to a New York Times story, which goes on to say: "The A.P. Vatican Radio said the movie 'cleverly winks at all those pseudo-doctrines that turn ecology into the religion of the millennium,' adding: 'Nature is no longer a creation to defend, but a divinity to worship.' "

Also, Times columnist David Brooks had a field day bashing the movie as a standard example of the "White Messiah" fable in which a man from somewhere else comes and saves the natives in a Godlike manner. He cited "A Man Called Horse," "At Play in the Fields of the Lords," "Dances with Wolves," and "The Last Samurai" as other examples. The kiddie version is "Pocahontas," he writes.

Another Times writer quotes his daughter's name for the film as "The Blue Kitty Movie."

There's no arguing that "Avatar" is a visually arresting film, and it does bring you into a fantasy world. As long as viewers don't confuse fantasy with reality, I don't see the harm. In fact, I think its plot far surpassed James Cameron's other mega hit, "Titanic," which I think the Vatican could have objected to on moral grounds.

As long as the viewer doesn't sink into the fantasy world and ignore the real one as people in Haiti and other parts of the world suffer for lack of attention, then no harm done by the blue kitties.

Mr. Bojangles Was Not Alone

The song "Mr. Bojangles" tells the story of a man who lives on the street and dances for tips, and how he and his dog traveled around for years to earn their keep, until one day the dog "up and died." The line about how "after 20 years he still grieves" always gets me. There are lots of people who connect more with dogs than other people, and in that case the dog really was the man's best friend.

In the 11 days since Lucky died, I've been hugged by at least half a dozen dog lovers who had offered their sympathy when they heard the news. In a place like Prescott, where a dog or cat lives in nearly every home, almost everyone has a story about a special pet they had loved and lost, and how they have coped since. The sad fact that we'd like to forget is that we expect to outlive our pets, and have to be prepared for the resulting pain. Fortunately, the memories of their roles in our lives comfort us.

I've learned, too, that some ministers do believe that our pets join us in heaven, and my current church even has a memorial program of prayers for pets that have passed on. As Father Mark explained, "they are part of the family, and this helps meet the family's needs."

People who don't much care for pets might find this strange and over the top, but I find it touching and indicative of a society with great compassion. Just as people who abuse pets are more apt to be abusive to other people, those who possess a genuine love for pets are capable of great love for their fellow humans.

When we first took Lucky to a vet here, we were surprised at how affectionate everyone in the veterinary center was toward him, and at how his veterinarian kissed him on the muzzle after she got to know him. We mentioned how we'd never seen a vet do that before, and she laughed and said that it just seemed natural to her. In fact, Lucky was so thoroughly charmed by his vet that he actually liked visits to the office.

In the Bible there are very few mentions of pets, other than the dogs that licked the homeless man's wounds and a parable about how the wealthy man who owned the dogs let them watch over the ill man -- the Mr. Bojangles of Jesus's era. However, the one parable that shows great love for animals is how the shepherd lays down his life for the sheep to protect them. This obviously is symbolic of what Jesus did for us all, but it also shows the deep connection between animals and people and our dependence on each other for food and protection.

This past week the Today Show had a segment on how a golden retriever named Angel saved the life of an 11-year-old boy when a cougar was poised to attack him. In spite of being clawed and bitten and nearly suffocated by the big cat, who had clamped down on her muzzle, the dog was rescued by a Canadian Mountie who shot the cougar. Angel survived her wounds, and her young owner knows that she has lived up to her name in more ways than one.

Workplace Shooting Signals Growing Anger

In the film "Up in the Air," the protagonist played by George Clooney flies around the country firing people for corporations conducting mass lay-offs. In one scene, Clooney goes to St. Louis to wield the axe for a company. Sitting across from his victims at a borrowed desk, he calmly watches as they cry, rail and melt down at the loss of the jobs that had defined their lives often for decades.

Director Jason Reitman had hired non-actors who had experienced a recent firing to play the laid-off workers, delivering lines as they relived their personal dramas, and bringing a level of genuine anguish to the scenes that's uncomfortable to watch.

While the film is fiction, in the real world the anger that's bubbling over from the loss of jobs, fraud and corruption in corporate management, and the pressure of foreclosures and bankruptcies on unemployed families is taking its toll. Today, a St. Louis man who was involved in a class action lawsuit against his company's pension review committee for losses and excessive fees, went on a rampage at the ABB, Inc. factory, shooting eight co-workers and killing three. Then he killed himself.

One of the most ironic lines that Clooney spouts to his victims in his role as the corporate downsizer is that firing them is "not personal." Anyone who has ever been on the receiving end of getting laid off knows exactly how personal it is to lose a livelihood, be plunged into economic uncertainty and to have to start over again in a career. The lack of compassion by corporations looking to appease shareholders and uphold a bottom-line goal despite the human costs demonstrates a truly soulless approach to management that I think will cause Karmic repercussions when the economy improves.

This ongoing economic Armageddon is cutting deeply into the American psyche and will have an impact for many years to come -- workplace violence being just one example of the backlash from a citizenry that is simmering with rage and looking for targets to blame.

Songs Can Tell The Story

Songs are running through my head, especially after hearing the Alice Cooper radio show. He plays some of the best old tunes, like this one from the Allman Brothers Band, which is straightforward, simple, yet moving.

"People can you feel it? Love is everywhere.
People can you hear it? Love is in the air.
We're in a revolution. Don't you know we're right.
Everyone is singing. Yeah! There'll be no one to fight.
People can you feel it? Love is everywhere."
--Dickey Betts, 1970

Cooper then proceeds to make fun of Dickie Betts' name, ironic considering his own.

Another song, in the same vein and amount of repetition, is "Jesus is Just Alright," by the Doobie Brothers:

"Jesus is just alright with me, Jesus is just alright, oh yeah
Jesus is just alright with me, Jesus is just alright

I don't care what they may say
I don't care what they may do
I don't care what they may say
Jesus is just alright, oh yeah
Jesus is just alright"

Why were pop rockers from the '70s not afraid to be open about God and love for the world? I don't know, but I hear very little of it now, unless it is labeled Christian rock. It's a shame that all aspects of the human condition are not considered worth singing about anymore.

The Wisdom of C.S. Lewis

Today's church service was one of Bible passages intermixed with hymns -- no sermon. It was a strangely moving, artistic service, despite some weak songs. At least "O Little Town of Bethlehem" was on the list.

So in the same spirit, I read some quotes from C.S. Lewis, one of my favorite modern writers on matters related to God. Here are a few of the best:

"A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, 'darkness' on the walls of his cell."

"A man who is eating or lying with his wife or preparing to go to sleep in humility, thankfulness and temperance, is, by Christian standards, in an infinitely higher state than one who is listening to Bach or reading Plato in a state of pride."

"Can a mortal ask questions which God finds unanswerable? Quite easily, I should think. All nonsense questions are unanswerable."

"Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important."

"Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it."

"Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art... It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival."

"God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing."

Spirit of Mammon Threatens Future

It may be a sign of the End of Days, or it may just be a harbinger of the hard times to come, but the ongoing financial scandals, corruption and culture of greed in this country threaten to bring down the way of life we've enjoyed for many years.

Bernie Madoff is just a poster guy for what's endemic in the financial system of this country. Not only have brokers, traders, bankers and other capitalists taken advantage of loose laws, but they've kept their attitude of making a profit at all costs to such a degree that people continue to lose homes, businesses keep going under because they can't get credit and the jobs market is still poor -- and could worsen before improving. The usurious bank fees and credit card rates remain more oppressive than ever. The banks' actions make Enron's escapades seem like child's play.

I'm reminded of all of this, once again, after reading a New York Times article on Goldman Sachs, one of the worst in-your-face examples of an institution that sneers at the public as it rakes it the cash. Their brokers are among the richest in the world, and their devil-may-care attitude is part and parcel of the lack of compassion and selfish motivations that will be their ultimate undoing as well.

Meanwhile, the government program meant to help people keep their homes is a complete failure, according to a story in The New York Times today. This means the waves of foreclosures will continue and the construction industry will remain dead in the water.

The truth is that unless the $700 trillion in derivatives -- the biggest financial pyramid scheme ever -- is wiped away and the slate is made clean, there will be no economic stability in this country. The cascading collapses will continue, in between period of false profits. The amount of unbacked securities adds up to $2.8 million per person in the United States or $116,000 for every man, woman and child in the world.

The Bible tells us that the love of money is the root of all evil, and so the financial world confirms this, to the nth degree, ad nausem.

Resolving to Be Resolute

I heard a discussion of resolutions for the New Year on the radio recently, focusing on ones that people could keep. One was to start smoking, another was to gain 15 pounds, and yet another was to keep drinking.

Obviously, that's negative thinking, but it was funny in the moment. Somehow I think it would be extremely easy to achieve such poor goals, but it should be just as easy to achieve the good ones.

Last night I woke up in the middle of the night and listened to a meditation tape. It was the first time I had heard the entire tape, since I usually fall asleep or go into a meditational state part of the way through. At the end of the tape, in which the female speaker leads the listener through a series of images to imagine, the last one was in a field of golden light. In the light I imagined my year as a series of triumphs. Health, happiness and success were constant. I imagined it in the light of the spirit, which naturally brings a blessed year.

My goals are simple, actually. They include reading a passage from the Bible once a day, working out three times a week, getting a specific children's book I've written published, reading a book a week and finishing the novel I started.

Most of all, though, I plan to believe that I can do them -- and I hope that will lead to achieving many, if not all, of those resolutions.

Also, I could strive to follow the words of wisdom I read recently on a Celestial Seasonings tea box, some of which I can say I already have:

1. Watch a sunrise at least once a year.
2. Plant flowers every spring.
3. Look people in the eye.
4. Compliment three people every day.
5. Live beneath your means.
6. Choose your life's mate carefully. From this one decision will come ninety percent of all your happiness or misery.
7. Live so that when your children think of fairness, caring and integrity, they think of you.
8. Don't postpone joy.
--H. Jackson Brown, Jr., Life's Little Instruction Book