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 Volume 24 No. 3
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September 2011
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IF Board of Directors
Judy Barry Phillip Carr Doris DeVilliers
Alice Godfrey
Karen Lambert
Pamela Law
Peggy Law
Bill Leininger
Lucia Lopez
Clay Madden
Phil McManus IF Executive Director Anita Seth Integrities Bill Cane, EditorJanet Martinez, MMPublishing
Betty & Peter Michelozzi
Karen Cane |
Click here for both online and printed Integrities
Click here for online notices and printed Integrities
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2011 EVENTS
October 22
Elders' Day
Saturday, Oct 22
9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Inner Light Ministries
5630 Soquel Dr., Soquel, CA
November 14 John Perkins, author of Confessions of an Economic Hitman and Hoodwinked to speak at event for IF in conjunction with Resource Center for Nonviolence in Santa Cruz, CA. More info to follow.
December 11 IF Winter Solstice - Light and Darkness. More info to follow.
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Overcoming the Heaviness of This World
by Bill Cane
Nicolas Berdayev, the brilliant Russian philosopher and theologian, believed that the world has a built-in "heaviness" which pulls everything down and down and can easily lead to destruction.
Institutions are especially affected by this heaviness and downward pull. The history of empires, nations, religions, military establishments and corporations-Gregory Bateson called them all "self-maximizing entities"-shows us that they have one thing in common: they keep trying to make themselves greater at the expense of others-even at the expense of the entire planet.
The United States is no exception. It has over 80 military bases in foreign countries. And it has continually intervened in Latin American countries over the past 100 years with one purpose: to keep them subservient to us and to make US foreign business interests prosper.
Hitmen
The US government has even tried to destabilize other countries economically. One of the former "destabilizers," John Perkins, will be giving a talk sponsored by IF on November 14, 7:30 p.m. at Cabrillo College Crocker Theater.
Perkins is author of "Confessions of an Economic Hitman," which testifies to the insidious work of destabilizing other countries and making them beholden to us. And he claims that when hitmen and economic destabilization didn't work, then the jackals (the assassins) were sent in.
Even the Rain
W
e don't have to document how corporations are infected by the downward pull of this world.
The movie Even the Rain describes the rebellion against the US Bechtel Corporation, which had taken over the water supplies of Bolivia. Bechtel and the former Bolivian regime made collecting rainwater illegal, so that people would have to buy all their water from the Company! Such an extreme attack on people's rights led to a massive popular uprising. Bechtel was eventually forced to leave the country, and Evo Morales, a leader in the opposition to Bechtel, became president of Bolivia.
It is hard to understand how Bechtel could take such inhuman measures in Bolivia, but we have parallel situations here. Many US politicians want to weaken or eliminate Medicare and Social Security, but have no problem with the trillions of dollars the US spends for war and weaponry. Eisenhower's "military-industrial complex" has multiplied itself many times since the 1950's and turned itself into a voracious monster weighing us down!
There is no question that the US needs to cut back on spending -but cutting back on that which gives life to people and refusing to reduce deadly expenditures is criminal.
Berdayev believed that human institutions can easily become criminal enterprises. Dogs and cats, he once remarked, have more "human" qualities than most institutions!
The Heaviness of This World
Berdayev was convinced that human beings can counteract the heaviness of this world. Our call as human beings is to break through the dullness and heaviness by creative actions and acts of love. Such actions (at least momentarily) bring a "new world" into being. That is our real power-not to remake the entire world (that's hard!)-but to create glimpses of a new world! That is the creative and loving power of spirit in the world - to overcome the heaviness and dullness of the world by our actions within it.
Cooperation versus Competition
Survival of the fittest (which Gregory Bateson caricatured as "Those who survive survive longer than those who do not survive!") would seem to indicate that the top dog wins. Self-aggrandizement works! But it flies in the face of how evolution has relied on cooperation (and how we have to rely on cooperation) for survival.
Loving our neighbor as ourselves takes on new significance if we have a sense of ourselves as parts of the Whole, and the other parts as connected to us.
To kill "the other" or to drag the other down is to kill something of ourselves.
"God is not mocked. What human beings sow, the same also shall they reap!"
Wholly, Wholly, Wholly
If our allegiance is only to the part, we can then wage wars against other parts and kill other inhabitants of the earth under the banner of patriotism. If our allegiance is to the part, we can consume what we want - water, forests, pure air, natural resources, other creatures. We can wreak havoc on the Whole in the name of making the part "great."
But self-aggrandizement eventually leads to destruction.
When I was growing up, we had a sense of being able to pray for the whole world, and of God being able to intervene everywhere. There was a sense of unity, and a feeling that we had a part to play in the Whole.
But we had no sense of how our use of coal or gasoline or plastic bags impacted the entire world. How our daily actions affect the rest of the world has become much more tangible in this ecological age. Ecologically, loving our neighbor (and the entire planet) as ourselves has become necessary for survival.
read the rest of Bill's editorial below . . .
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The Surprising Power of Humility
by Anita Seth
Humility has a special kind of long-lasting, far-reaching power. This is something I realized after noticing some interesting connections that give new meaning to the idea that "the meek shall inherit the earth."
Revolutions are everywhere. There was the Arab spring, and then this summer, large spontaneous uprisings broke out in another unexpected place-India. There, along with the rising economy, the people have had to tolerate ever-increasing greed and corruption at all levels of government, seeing decade after decade of shameless "public servants" in the pockets of big corporations. When New Delhi police barred revered anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare from entering a public park where he planned to stay and fast in protest of rampant corruption, hundreds of thousands of fed-up people came out to the street demonstrations all over the country.
The protests in India caught my attention-India is my family's place of origin; it all happened so suddenly, the passionate outpouring of ordinary people. And then there is Anna Hazare himself, a fascinating leader we should all get to know. As the story goes, Kisan Baburao Hazare ("Anna" means "older brother") was a decorated war hero, sole survivor of an attack on his platoon during the India-Pakistan border wars in 1965. Returning home from the war, he changed his life to serve and empower the people by spreading nonviolent ideals, self-suffiency and anti-corruption.
Anna Hazare learned about nonviolence from the work of a great Gandhian social change activist named Vinobha Bhave. I paid attention to this fact, because I had just met another nonviolent leader, Pietro Ameglio of Mexico (whom IF is helping to support), who also counted Vinobha Bhave as an important influence in his work.
Vinobha Bhave's gentle revolution-the Bhoodan Movement (the Land Donation Movement)-was a simple, breath-taking journey of humility that brought about social justice and dignity. In the 1950s Vinobha walked hundreds of miles, knowing that in the Indian culture, a son was entitled ask for a portion of the family's land. As he walked, he visited property owners, asked them to consider him as a son and give him some land. That land was then transferred to a needy family. For years, he trekked on joined by others from around India and abroad, providing 5 million acres to landless families and bringing out compassion among the privileged landowners.
In recent issues of Integrities, we talked about Pietro Ameglio's efforts to help create a widespread nonviolence movement in Mexico to end the suffering caused by drug wars. While he was in the Bay Area, Pietro told me about his deep admiration for Vinobha Bhave, the Bhoodan movement and how they influenced his own ideas and life's work. In a series of local presentations, Pietro described the reality of the drug wars in Mexico, not as the crime-fighting scenarios we are led to believe, but actually a confounding web of corruption connecting drug cartels to government officials, police and business leaders. In Mexico, Pietro says, the people are truly fed up, and they are ready to make change happen. (See www.integrities.org for videos on the nonviolence movement in Mexico.)
Our tendency is to associate leadership and great movements with power and assertiveness. What we are witnessing now is that a conscious act of humility and service can ultimately inspire many thousands of people to fight corrupt powers a generation later and on both sides of the globe.
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Become an "Elder" to your family or community-not just "Older"
Join us for a day-long gathering in Santa Cruz, CA, to explore the many facets of elderhood. The program will be different from senior health fairs, focusing instead on holistic living, joyful relationships and the legacy we wish to create for the future. See 2011 Events, October 22 for time and location.
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IN MEMORIAM
Mary Donatelli, Faye Butler,Rosemary Lynch - all friends of IF and Integrities for many many years. gone now, but still with us in spirit.
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Elders Day
 The keynote speaker, John Robbins, author of Healthy at 100 and The New Good Life, will share his thoughts on healthy life choices, simplifying our lives and valuing what really matters. He addresses life's many challenges, and how we can relate and grow through them in a presentation with a profound spiritual tone and much food for the soul. The event features a wide variety of exhibits and workshops, including caregiving alternatives, natural remedies, sustainable medical choices and end of life planning, yoga, tai chi, art activities ad much more. Local elder-activists, speakers and entertainers will be on hand. Healthy, inexpensive lunches, snacks and beverages will be available for purchase. Entry by donation (Suggested $10 to $20) at the door. No one turned away for lack of funds. Proceeds benefit IF local and global humanitarian programs. Elders Day is scheduled for October 22, 2011 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Inner Light Center 5630 Soquel Drive Soquel,CA. Below we've started a schedule of events, which is subject to change. Make your reservation to attend by emailing if.integrities@gmail.com or call 831-724-4108. - Saving Your Aging Back: Dr. Julie Esterly
- Writing Your Life Story: Mary Carr
- Traditional Chinese Medicine and Aging: Tracy Cone
- The Inner Artist as Healer: Barbara Thomas
- Advance Care Planning/Advance Directives: Kathy Fahl, Make Your Wishes Known
- Conscious Dying: Dr. Julie Esterly
- Brain Health: Alzheimer's Association
- Family Communications: Forgiveness and Reconciliations: Aviva and Rick Longinotti NVC
- Ayurveda: Cynthia Copple
- Walking the Inner Realms of Afterlife: Andrea Boone
- and more . . .
Energy Breaks throughout the day:
- Tai Chi: Helena Fox
- Qi Gong: Katherine Conley
- Yoga: Michelle Hayward
- Reiki: Micah Keeley
- and more . . .
Below is an excerpt from one of John Robbin's publications: Human Nature: What Kind of Creature Are We? by John Robbins June 28, 2010 These days, many of us tend to think that human nature is inherently competitive and destructive. We hear about "selfish genes," as if our genetic makeup predetermines that we will be egotistic people and that we will fight with one another. We're told that our species contains a built-in "killer instinct," that we are descended from apes who needed to be brutal and ferociously aggressive to survive the hostile conditions of prehistoric times. According to such notions, the natural world is an unrelenting battle for survival, and it is mere wishful thinking to believe that people can live in peace with one another and with their environment for any significant length of time. "War," said Dick Cheney, seeking to justify the invasion of Iraq, "is the natural state of man." Cheney and others who think like him believe that the human condition is inherently and inexorably competitive, and that all of human experience is an expression of the Darwinian principle of "survival of the fittest." If they are correct, then given the existence of nuclear weapons, our species is almost certainly doomed. But Charles Darwin himself would not agree. In fact, in The Descent of Man, Darwin mentioned the survival of the fittest only twice, and one of those times was to apologize for using what he had come to feel was an unfortunate and misleading phrase. By contrast, he wrote 95 times about love. In his later writings, Darwin repeatedly stressed that the "survival of the ?fittest" model of natural selection dropped away in importance at the level of human evolution and was replaced by moral sensitivity, education and cooperation. It's true that chimpanzees, whose genetics are very similar to our own, have quite a propensity for deceit, violence, theft, infanticide and even cannibalism. But it's equally true that among chimps, the toughest rivals will reconcile after a fight, stretching out their hands to each other, smiling, kissing and hugging. And besides, there is another primate who is as genetically similar to us as the chimpanzee-the bonobo, an ape species native to the Congo. If, instead of studying chimps for clues to the origins of human behavior, we had been studying bonobos, we would have come to very different conclusions. Instead of the killer-ape model, we would have had the lover-ape model, for these primates show a phenomenal sensitivity to the well-being of others. "Primatologists," writes author Marc Barasch in his book, Field Notes on the Compassionate Life, "are finding in the bonobos evidence that it is not tooth-and-nail competition, but conciliation, cuddling, and cooperation that may be the central organizing principle of human evolution." One of the world's leading experts on primate behavior, Frans de Waal, calls it "survival of the kindest." What kind of creature, then, are we? There are those who believe human beings are fundamentally selfish, and there are those who believe we are essentially kindly creatures who need only love to ?flourish; but I stand in neither camp, or maybe I should say I stand in both camps. It appears to me that we have nearly infinite potential in both directions. Part ego and part divinely inspired, we have both the potential to compete and the potential to cooperate. There are in each of us forces that can produce a Bernard Madoff, and also those that can produce a Martin Luther King. Depending on what we choose to affirm and cultivate within ourselves and our children, we can collectively turn this planet into a hell or a heaven. Whether we like it or not, and whether we accept it or not, our choices make an enormous difference. |
IF at the Watsonville Strawberry Festival
Anita Seth's mother used to say that those who love to feed people will always be blessed. And so over the years the folks at IF have received many blessings of friendship and support for IF projects by dishing out tasty gourmet dinners.
This summer IF tried something new; at the Watsonville Strawberry Festival August 6 and 7, by setting up a booth and peddling strawberry cream pies and strawberry empanadas. The amazing strawberry pie team (Phil Carr, Doris DeVilliers, Alice Godfrey, Judy Barry, Karen Lambert, and Clay Madden) devoted hours of time, talent and creativity perfecting a luscious strawberry cream pie recipe, making dozens of pies and then selling them over the weekend at the festival booth. Pam Law came through with a supply of biodegradable disposable plates, napkins and forks.
It was a whirlwind week of hard work and wonderful camaraderie. Everyone particularly enjoyed the incredible teamwork and energy of the booth volunteers, including the Watsonville Brown Berets youth activists and their adult mentors, IF member Alan Hicks, Pam and Curt Sexton (from IF's Timor Leste projects) and Janet Martinez.
IF is also very, very grateful for the generous donation of fresh strawberries from Driscoll Berry Farms and 100 pounds of frozen strawberries from Gizdich Ranch. Berkeley Farms gave IF a great discount on strawberry yogurt and Mana Bakery in Watsonville provided inexpensive, delicious strawberry empanadas.
The total sales of $3 empanadas and $4 slices of pie came to about $2,200 over the weekend-not too bad for IF's first attempt! And there were so many other blessings: connecting more with our local community, seeing the customers' appreciation for the treats we served, getting to know wonderful youth activists personally, and trying on our "hawkers calls"!
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continued from Bill's editorial above
Ten Just Human Beings
 There is a story in the Hebrew Scriptures about God being willing to save an entire city if only ten just human beings could be found in that city! It is a story which shows the importance of just a handful of people being able to reverse the heaviness of this world.
The saints of old have in our day been pretty much replaced by "celebrities." But the celebrity era makes one hanker to have the saints back again! One of the things which cheers me up in life is the memory of the "just" human beings (the "saints") I have known.
I remember Jack Ahern saying years ago: "I've spent a good part of my life lying for corporations, and I don't want to do that any more!" Jack went on to live an extraordinary life of creativity and love.
I remember Bob Aldrich leaving Lockheed once he realized that the Trident submarine (of which he was lead engineer) was a first-strike weapon.
I remember Joan Murphy sailing out on a little boat to try to stop the warships heading out for Vietnam!
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Rosemary Lynch
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I remember Sister Rosemary Lynch (who died recently) talking to the general who was in charge of the Nevada Test Site, trying to convince him that nuclear weapons should be abolished!
Just last week I was getting physical therapy from a young man, and I asked him how he had gotten interested in massage and healing. "I have wanted to do healing massage since I was seven years old," he told me. "My mother was a single mom and a waitress, and someone taught me as a young child how to do foot reflexology. So whenever my mom came home from waitressing, I would give her a foot massage."
His story touched me deeply. Simple actions of love can overcome the heaviness of this world and help bring a glimpse of a new world into being!
I always remember my friend Bill Hamlet, who was a police inspector in San Francisco and who gave lie detector tests for many years. He had given lie detector tests to government officials, judges, corporate CEO's and religious officials.
"When I was young," Bill told me, " and I met somebody important, I used to feel honored to meet them. Now, after so many lie detector tests, when I meet somebody important, I reach out and wonder if I'm about to shake the hand of some sort of crook!"
Bill told me that when he drove around San Francisco, there was hardly a block he could pass that didn't remind him or some sort of terrible thing that happened there. But Bill never got jaded or disillusioned. He would stop lie detector tests at times and tell the person that it wasn't coming out good for them. Perhaps they'd like to reconsider and change their story and he'd get the best deal he could for them.
Bill told a great story of creative policing. A woman had had valuable jewels stolen, and Bill tracked down the employee of a cleaning operation that had been in her home. The employee had a record of thefts. Bill brought the employee in for questioning, and while he was being questioned, Bill and a companion broke into his apartment, stole the jewels back and restored them to their owner!
Bill helped people out, got many jobs for deaf people, fought for civil rights and was a champion for justice. His creativity and his love brightened the world.
Elders
As I get older, I realize more and more the importance of passing on whatever wisdom we who are
 | | photo by Karen Cane |
elders have acquired to the young. We have seen many wars waged, and have seen the games that governments, corporations and religious institutions have played. We have seen their dark side, as well as the good they have done.
As elders, we cannot lose heart or let the heaviness of this world drag us down-for we have also witnessed the extraordinary efforts of human beings, and yes, even nations and corporations and religions-to serve the Whole and nourish Life on earth.
I am always amazed when I realize that young people have not experienced many things I take for granted. They have not witnessed Vietnam or our invasions of Central American countries or our overthrow of democratic governments. So they could innocently support an outrageous war in Iraq, or project "terrorism" elsewhere, but never originating here. (I recently saw a bumper sticker which read: "War is Terrorism," as indeed it is.)
I feel it is the responsibility of Elders to witness to their experience and to speak out strongly when they see the mistakes of the past being committed again. I remember old Pop Philipps saying that when he opposed something unjust, he at first received ridicule. When other people gathered with him, he received threats and opposition. "But when you get as old as I am," he smiled, "you can say what you want, and nobody bothers you any more!"
"You Gotta Help Each Other Out"
When, almost forty years ago, we were trying to build a house and a home for IF, we received a lot of help. Quin Hill cut down some of our trees and some of his trees and milled the lumber for the
 | | photo by Karen Cane |
house. Frank Knornschild did a lot of the carpentry work and pushed until the job was done. Friends came and helped with the building. The house stands as a memorial to creativity and love.
After the earthquake of 1989, Ken Johnson appeared, started clearing rubble and making the kitchen functional again. "You gotta help people out," Ken was fond of saying. He was a wonderful carpenter; he kept repairing the house and kept us going for many years.
We are just now finishing re-roofing our house after two winters of leaks. Again, it was an enterprise of creativity and love. Nita studied the metacrylic process, and she and Hector redid the roof, which is finally completed. I sometimes want to hang little signs out on parts of the house and on art pieces - testimonials to the acts of creativity and love which sustain us!
When we have trouble with our computers now, Karen's brother and son are at hand for advice and help. Life is tolerable because people help other people out!
We All Still Have Possibilities
As we sink more deeply into difficult economic times, it is the daily concern for each other, the simple helping out which makes our own little worlds tolerable and happy.
- We live off our shared acts of kindness toward each other.
- IF was founded and named for the possibilities that always lay open before us.
- Becoming personally Green is open to us.
- Using our resources to serve the health and well-being of others is open to us.
- Helping those who are less fortunate is open to us.
- Meditating and moving toward a greater awareness is open to us.
- Loving and seeking the good for those around us is open to us.
- Every day, amid the darkness and heaviness of this world, we can open up glimpses of a new world by our acts of creativity and love.
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