Why I am Still Single

There are many reasons why I am still single.  The fact that I can come up with many reasons may be the biggest reason.  But tonight I want to focus on one.  The short answer is that my Venus is in Virgo.  (I share that with JLo).  The slightly longer answer is that I am very picky.  My criteria for a wife has changed over the years.  When I was a Baptist I wanted my wife to be very submissive.  I was going to be the controller and she the controllee.  Barefoot and pregnant would have been okay- she could wear flip-flops for cutting the grass.  But I have evolved.  When I decided that I wanted to be a minister my model for a wife became Corretta Scott King.  Someone strong and beautiful.  Someone who could have a career in her own right and yet also take my mantle should something happen to me.  Someone like Mrs. King would be perfect.  If anyone guaranteed Dr. King's legacy it was her.  While the SCLC was discussing what to do she did something.  She started the King Center and basically got the King Holiday created. Could there be a better partner?  That is my word partner, not puppet.  True partnerships are hard to maintain. Lots of face time.  There would have to be alot of understanding.  (Who needs that in a marriage?) We wouldn't talk about every decision.  What difference does it make if we have Italian on Friday and Chinese on Saturday?  On questions concerning her areas of expertise I would defer  to her. I hope she would defer to me where I had more knowledge. There is one class of decisions I would retain for myself.  I would not allow my wife to make any decisions where she would feel guilty if she made them.  For example, our dog Spunky got hit by a car. The surgeon says that he can save Spunky, but that his life will be a living hell. I would be the one to decide Spunky's fate. Either way it is tough decision.  But otherwise we talk alot.  There are more and more women like Coretta Scott, so maybe I will find mine.  Now that my career choice is Public Speaking I would love to have a wife that could introduce me and also speak with me.  ( I have an idea for an introduction that would give my wife the laugh line.) JLo has found her life partner so mine must be out there somewhere.

In Peace, Love, and Light,
Enoch

MLK Pictures of Hope

There's alot of crap going on isn't there?  Dr. King would be the first to address it. Wars, terrorism, poverty, discrimination.  He would bring it to our attention.  Yet he would also call us toward hope and optimism.  He who had helped so many to overcome so much would urge us to do the same one more time- or as many times as it takes.  There are two images stuck in my mind from today.  His granddaughter standing in the front of the tomb of her noble grandparents.  Grandparents she will never know on the Earthplane. It is cold and yet she is beaming.  Hope, optimism.  The next image is of two daughters serenading their mother on her birthday.  The mother just happens to be the First Lady of the USA.  Again they are beaming.  Hope and optimism.  Could those be two of the ingredients to solving our problems?  We need those spiritual bifocals that Pastor Peter Marshall talked about so long ago.  We need to see things as they are and we need to see them as they could be.  Through the eyes of three little girls. Through the eyes of hope and optimism.  Dr. King would expect no less.

In Peace, Love, and Light,
Enoch

The Pentad of Archangels

I had a dream one time.  In my dream I was taken up to heaven.  I was directed to an office.  In this office were the five archangels. Micheal, Raphael, Gabriel, Uriel, and Metatron each had a bank of electronic stuff.  Faxes, computers, teletypes etc.  Each of the angels were frantically answering prayer requests.  They were incredibly busy.  "I want to see God" I demanded.  They ignored me.  I walked up to Metatron and grabbed his arm.  "I need to see God, now!" He replied "Look partner, there is a three month backlog.  File a request like everyone else." I could see I was going nowhere.  I turned and saw a door marked "God'.  I thought to myself "Ah, God hides in his office while the Angels do all the heavy lifting."  I started to grab the door knob when Michael yelled "No- don't open that door!"  Too late Buddy.  I opened the door.  I had discovered the ... broom closet.

What if there is no God? What if there is just a hierarchy of beings who are trying to fill in the gap.  Angels trying to make sense out of confusion?  There is a school of Buddhhist thought that says that the existence of God is not an important question.  That doing the spiritual practices are important. When we do the practices our answers will arrive.  I think there is a common ground (if not higher ground) that atheists, agnostics, theists, and deists can agree on without arguing about God's existence.  We who are concerned about Earth and our Earthmates have a job to do.  It doesn't matter if our orders come from God or from inside ourselves.  Let us serve one another, let us be compassionate toward each other.  And as we fix the problems our answers will come.  I believe in God, yet I can not prove his existence. So I will not argue for it.  I will continue to do the spiritual practices.  We can all agree to that, can't we?

In Peace, Love, and Light,
Enoch

Puzzled by Palin

In 1913 Leo Frank was lynched in Atlanta Georgia.  To my knowledge he is the only Jew to be lynched in America.  In 1955 the Jewish temple was bombed in Atlanta Georgia.  I would like to thank Sarah Palin for removing the Anti-Jewish stigma from my home state of Georgia.  Her comments today were insensitive and self-serving.  Instead of talking about the merits of her argument, Palin resorted to an appeal to raw emotion and fear.  Maybe that's because her aguments have no merit.  She redirected us from considering her old mistakes by creating new mistakes for us to ponder.  Isn't it funny that she believes that her words do not impact mentally instable people, they impact the sane.  Maybe, Governor, it is in fact the opposite.  You need a new speech writer and a new attitude.  You hate socialism.  Do you realize that the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag was written by an avowed socialist?  Tonight's ceremony was begun by the playing of "Fanfare for the Common Man" be Aaron Copeland- a gay composer.  Sarah do you hate gays?  On a Sabath morning when she could have been at Temple, Congresswoman Giffords was doing the people's business.  A Catholic Judge coming from mass was shot dead.  A  Catholic child also lost her life.  Sarah, we are not a nation of WASP's, but a nation of diversity. E Pluribus Unum the Latino said.  The president and the nation applauded.  Atlanta has become the city too busy to hate.  Maybe Sarah you are just too busy.  You had a chance to be noble today.  You blew it. You are just another thing we have to overcome in our stride toward peace, justice, and human rights. May Gabby Gifford's principles prevail and not yours.

Enoch

My Spiritual Pledge

"I Pledge Allegiance to: One God, having many expressions. Two wills-mine operating under the authority of God's. Three faiths; faith in my God, myself, and our relationship. Four loves; God, myself, humanity, and the universe.  Five spiritual practices; prayer, meditation, study, service, and giving. And the Celtic Cross representing all of the above: one emblem comprised of two symbols, made by three strokes, having four quadrants and five intersections."
The long version continues "Six sources of Spiritual Knowledge; scripture, tradition, reason, experience, intuition, and inspiration. The seven classic heavenly bodies and the rays they represent. The eightfold path of Buddha. The nine fruits of the spirit, namely -love, joy, peace, kindness, patience, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  And the ten commandmants."

 I am indebted to John Wesley, Sandra Kynes, and others for inspiring me to adapt their ideas.

In Peace, Love, and Light,
Enoch

Criteria for a Church

Several years ago I was inspired by Dr. King's sermon "Guidelines for a Constructive Church".  I gave a message at my church called "Criteria for a Church".  I have misplaced that sermon.  It is in my papers somewhere.  As I recall I had either five or seven criteria.  At this point I can only recall four.  Which is my outline for this blog.  1. Does the Church discriminate against people? 2. Does it discriminate against ideas?  3. Does it help people? And 4. Is it there for you?
  Are people welcomed in the church?  Stupid question.  People are always welcomed in church.  But are they?  Who leads? Who preaches?  Who can sit in the pews without being judged? Judgement is a form of discrimination. Churches as private institutions have the legal right to discriminate.  But they don't have the right to my support for doing so. 
   I also don't support the discrimination of ideas.  This comes down to something we could call openess of canon.  What is Scripture?  How many psalms in your Bible?  My Scripture is still being written for I believe that God is still speaking to us.  My Canon is totally open.  And growing.  I honor the Bible and "Illusions" as being Holy.  And alot of other writings.
   The acid test of any religion should be whether or not it helps people.  Most churches do.  Some churches are entertainment centers and social clubs as Dr. King preached.  And I am not against forming friendships in church or having gamenight.  But the primary thing should be helping people.  The third book of John gives us three ways of helping people.  To heal, to prosper, and to grow spiritually.  If the church isn't doing that, then why is it called church?
   And if it isn't there for you, why call it church?  This has to do with accessibility and availiblity.  My mother died in the last days of July.  We buried her in the first days of August.  The church I was considering joining took August off.  They couldn't support me in my time of loss.  I didn't join that church.  Some churches take off the whole summer.  I recall several years ago when Christmas fell on Sunday.  Churches took that day off, including mine.  The anniversary of the Church and the doors are locked.  Holiday number one and the sanctuary is dark.  Some depressed guy showed up and found no one. He went home to  his whiskey, passed out drunk in his bathtub. That's my sick imagination.  Church has to be open for business every Sunday. Or call it a Center.  Don't defame the name Church.
    So those are some of my  critera for a church.  You can see that 99 % of churches don't cut it with me.  I am a friend of churches to the degree that they meet my criteria.  I support most of what they do.  There is only one church that I am a member of, and one organisation that I belong to that meet my criteria. Astara is the organisation and the Church of the Larger Fellowship, Unitarian-Universalist.  There are others.  But those two have earned my trust.  The best church is the church you carry within yourself.  Meditation and study are things you can do most anywhere, most anytime.  I had those before I started going to church and I will have those when church is not there for me. So I invite the reader to develop your own criteria for a church.  Then support the church of your choice. And always build the church within.

In Peace, Love and Light,
Enoch

The Green Hornet Lives!

The Green Party has a chance to move into one of the top two spots for 2012.  In other words be a contender.  Two times in our history a major party has died.  The first one was the Federalist party.  It died because it took the wrong stand on the War of 1812.  They were against it. The result was the so called "Era of Good Feelings", which led to the confusing election of 1824.  That led to the resumption of the two party system and more organized parties.  The second party to die was the Whig party.  They refused to take a unified stand on slavery.  That led to the rise of the Republican party.  The Republican party took out the Whig party.  Sorry for the history lesson, but the point is you can't make the loveseat longer.  You have to push someone out.  The Green Party  (in my analogy the Green Hornet) has to sting either the Republican elephant  or Democratic  donkey and get them out of the loveseat.  Providence has given us two issues that neither party wants to touch. (Remember the war of 1812 and slavery).  Term limits and campaign finance reform.  The two issues have been talked about for twenty years and really nothing has been done.  Okay McCain-Feingold, which the Supreme Court struck down. I believe that the majority of Americans would like to see term limits and some kind of campaign finance reform. Certainly, the  majority of moderates and independents.  No body in office now wants limits on terms or campaign finance.  If the Green Party could find some kamikaze candidates who would be willing to get these reforms enacted and then retire, then they have the chance to take out one of the two current parties.  Can the Green Hornet take out the two headed snake that runs our nation?  I think so.  The two issues work in tandem.  If you had a strong term limits law you could live with a weak campaign finance law. And vice versa.  Okay here is my idea for term limits: 12 years max for Senators and 12 years max for Representatives.  A partial term would count as a full term. Well, I stole this idea from the Contract with America.  You recall 1994? If you can't get the job done in 12 years, then why did we hire you in the first place?  On campaign finance reform, there should be full disclosure if nothing else.  We have the technology to publish contributions almost immediately at a low cost.  It should be done.  I would also like to see a rule such that a candidate for Federal office would have to raise half of the money from living beings in the state the candidate is running in. Pacs, Unions, and Parties would be limited to matching the money raised for a candidate.  Did that make sense? I am running for Senator in Maine.  Citizens of Maine donate 1 million dollars to my campaign.  That means that my campaign could only accept one million dollars in soft money from  Pacs, Parties, or Unions.  I hope that makes sense. This would make every election semi-local and semi-national.  I would like to cut out soft money all together, since by law Pacs, Parties and Unions don't vote, but we are living in the real world.  I hope the Green party will seize these issues and use them as a club to get into the game.  To have a 50-50 chance to govern.  It has happened before.  It needs to happen again.

In Light,
Enoch