Opinion

I have been a spiritual seeker over the last several decades.  Along the way, I have studied a variety of teachings from different traditions, spiritual masters and accumulated wisdom. For many years I attended a psychic development class. I trust in things I can’t see or prove except in my own experience, in my gut.

In this program, I will share those influences on my understanding of the nature of reality and the many paths to the goal of “Conscious Creation.

In this inaugural program I am reading one of my favorite sources, channeled wisdom form a group of ascended masters transmitting as Emmanual.

“Whenever the feeling comes over you that you have no choices, I urge you to call a halt to everything. This is a trick you play on yourself to avoid the responsibility and therefore the joy of life.

Envision, instead, what it is you truly want. Test it. Be careful of this, my friends, because if you envision something quite casually, even though you may not be sure you want it, it will manifest.

This is neither magic or false hope. It is the REALITY OF THE POWER OF YOUR CREATIVE IMPULSE.

A new book by Kieran Finnane has the title “Peace Crimes.” It refers to acts of civil disobedience against war, or civil resistance to war. My hope is that the phrase continues to sound as absurd as it does now, and that someday the phrase “war crimes” joins it in sounding outrageously ridiculous. “Peace crimes” should sound ludicrous because acting peacefully for peace is the most anti-criminal action possible. “War crimes” should sound ludicrous because war is the most criminal action possible, not a legitimate enterprise to which small crimes can be attached — a situation that makes “war crimes” as redundant and nonsensical as “slavery crimes” or “rape crimes” or “robbery crimes” would be if such phrases existed.

Spiking temperatures, melting glaciers, rising seas, catastrophic hurricanes and unprecedented wildfires are clear signs of a climate emergency caused by humans. Denying the awful reality makes the situation worse. The same can be said of denial about the current momentum toward fascism under Donald Trump.

Trump’s right-wing base and leading Republicans are in lockstep with both types of denial. They embrace the most absurd claims about climate, such as Trump’s recent comment during a visit to fire-ravaged California that “I don’t think science knows, actually.” And they refuse to recognize or deplore his autocratic moves.

“I’m going to perform a magic trick by reading your mind,” I tell a class of students or an auditorium or video call full of people. I write something down. “Name a war that was justified,” I say. Someone says “World War Two.” I show them what I wrote: “WWII.” Magic![i]

If I insist on additional answers, they’re almost always wars even further in the past than WWII.[ii] If I ask why WWII is the answer, the response is virtually always “Hitler” or “Holocaust” or words to that effect.

This predictable exchange, in which I get to pretend to have magical powers, is part of a lecture or workshop that I typically begin by asking for a show of hands in response to a pair of questions:

“Who thinks war is never justified?”

and

On September 2, the Israeli government approved a proposal that allows the military to indefinitely withhold the bodies of Palestinians who have been killed by the Israeli army. The proposal was made by the country’s Defense Minister, Benny Gantz.  

Kevin Zeese was a major constant reliable presence in the movement for peace and justice. He used writing, editing, online and all other forms of communication. He organized events, protests, occupations. He risked arrest. He ran for office. He was an attorney and used the courts and shared his expertise. He thought independently. He acted collaboratively. He maintained good relations with those he disagreed with — even those he disagreed with over that most disagreeable of topics in a collapsing oligarchy: elections.

Kevin and his partner in recent years Margaret Flowers combined art, civil resistance, music, journalism, radio, and coalition building to cross issue areas and energize. Losing Kevin is a horrible blow, but nobody can say he didn’t put his time to good use. Nobody can say that if thousands followed his lead we wouldn’t have a world transformed. Nobody can say that he didn’t make a major difference, exposing injustice and changing public policy and culture for the better.

BANGKOK, Thailand -- Thailand's democracy activists, angered by Hong Kong's police brutality, joined an international "Mulan" boycott which expanded after Disney thanked China's security forces for help with filming in a desert where one million Uighurs and other Muslims are imprisoned or suffer other rights violations.

"It just keeps getting worse!" Hong Kong's leading activist Joshua Wong tweeted.

"Now when you watch #Mulan, not only are you turning a blind eye to police brutality and racial injustice -- due to what the lead actors stand for -- you're also potentially complicit in the mass incarceration of Muslim ethnic Uighurs. #BoycottMulan," Mr. Wong said.

"We have still not forgotten that Mulan's leading actress supported the police use of violence against Hong Kong protesters who fight for freedom and democracy,” announced prominent Thai student activist Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal.

In response to the impact COVID-19 has taken on local performing artists, the Lincoln Theatre Association will launch the Lincoln Living Room Concert Series. For three consecutive Fridays beginning September 11, this free video series will livestream 30-minute sets from select graduates of the Lincoln’s Expand Your Horizon Incubation Program for emerging artists. The concerts will air on the Lincoln Theatre Facebook page at 7pm each Friday, offering viewers the chance to experience the wealth of local artists honing their craft at the Lincoln.

Designed to provide performers the opportunity to earn an income while venues are closed, the Lincoln Theatre Association will pay each performer a fee, and during each concert, also provide links for viewers to “tip” artists directly.

The Lincoln Living Room Concert Series schedule is as follows:

Saturday, September 19, 12:15pm, Big Room Bar, 1036 S. Front St.
The Coffee House Rebels RETURN to performing, kicking things off for the Pre Doo Dah Parade Party. The band will perform a fast paced, passion filled set of topical and classic music! Live3 seating will be limited to 36 inside The Big Room Bar with all safety protocols in effect. This event will also be live streamed. Come on down and join us for a start of a fun event!

On 16 August 1819, an estimated 60,000 pro-democracy and anti-poverty activists were peacefully protesting the utterly corrupt nature of the Parliament in Westminster and demanding the reform of parliamentary representation (which afforded less than 2% of people the right to vote). The gathering took place in St Peter’s Field, Manchester in England.

The protest was precipitated by the acute economic slump, including chronic unemployment and harvest failure, following the conclusion of the Napoleonic Wars as well as by enforcement of the Corn Laws which kept the price of bread high, by blocking (or imposing tariffs on) the import of cheap grains, at the expense of ordinary people.

After arresting some key figures on the speaker’s cart at the gathering, the cavalry was ordered to disperse the crowd. Charging with sabres drawn, approximately eighteen people were killed and nearly 700 seriously injured, with the event dubbed the ‘Peterloo massacre’ by radical media in a bitterly ironic reference to the bloody Battle of Waterloo some four years earlier. See ‘The Peterloo Memorial Campaign’.