July 26, 2008 archive

Sometimes, it behooves us to take a moment unto ourselves for quiet reflection and contemplation, where we can behold once again the beauty and wonder of a world teeming with brilliant life in the cold, empty void of space.  Individually and collectively, it is easy to lose oneself in the day-to-day chaos that envelops us as social beings: the demands of one’s life, complicated by the demands of living and participating in a community of social beings who each have their own individual desires and who, together, form organizational structures that run the gamut from basic family, friends and neighborhoods to cities, states and nations — all competing for a varied, yet limited set of resources.

We develop patterns and follow them; if they were set to music, the beat and harmony would shift and change to reflect the ups and downs, ins and outs of life, and we would be the dancers — our lives set to the music, trying to move in sync with it. Sometimes, those harmonies skip and stutter. Other times, they become harsh and repetitive, playing the tune over and over and faster and faster until the dancer, exhausted, can do nothing more than run in place or die, unable to break free.

Below are some sayings compiled for no good reason, which is a pretty good reason.  Especially on a Friday.  A little night reading, I mean light reading–good because you don’t have to follow along.  These sentences only sporadically have anything to do with the ones next to them.  Or do they…?

I was disgusted and disheartened to hear the IOC had banned the Iraq Olympic team for irregularities. It seems back in May the Iraqi government dissolved their 11 member committee, charging they did not have a legal quorum to conduct business and perhaps concern over the fact several of the members were hold overs from Saddam. Never mind the IOC allowing Udai’s teams compete even tho torture was part of his training regimen. In 2008, dozens of Iraqi athletes were expected to compete, their spots have now been given to other countries.  Follow me below the fold for a glimpse the gut wrenching ramifications of the heartless hypocritcal decision by the IOC.  

This essay speaks of the political scientist and philosopher Hannah Arendt.

All quotes are from Elisabeth Young-Bruel’s wonderful biography of Arendt, For Love of the World.

And my method in writing on this difficult (at least to me!) subject are taken from Arendt’s own hard won sensibility about philosophy — that after two World Wars, so much of the theories and philosophies that were given such respect showed their own inability to reach the people, to prevent war, and so the question arose, what use were they?

For a Jew who was brought up in Germany and studied philosophy at the finest universities in Marburg and Heidelburg, and who after Hitler’s rise to power in 1933 spent years as a stateless person in Paris and the United States, her “ivory tower” learning left her with a far different view of the value of the learning of the past.

She stopped looking for either categories of thinkers or historical influences, thought genealogies, and she developed a method as informal as the title she gave it, “Perlenfischerei,” pearl fishing.  The pearls that were full fathom five beneath the historical surface were the sea-changed, rich and strange jewels she sought.

I think we are at a similar time in history now, and I find Arendt’s words resonate with me.

Today it was revealed that EPA administrator Stephen Johnson told Bush last December that there is “compelling and robust” evidence that our recent temperature increases are caused by man-made greenhouse gas emissions which endanger the American people.  Bush did not open the email with this dire warning contained in a 38-page document because the US Supreme Court ruled that if the EPA finds that greenhouse gases endanger the public, then the government must regulate them.

Undaunted by Bush’s cover-up, last week, the EPA issued a refreshingly honest, detailed 283-page report which details how global warming endangers Americans.

Two days ago, the EPA Inspector General issued another report that Bush’s voluntary programs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from industries is a flop.

How many warnings must Bush’s own EPA issue before Americans stop ranking global warming on the bottom of the list of important issues?

The WeaveMothers, one and several, saw the thread snap.  It whipsawed through the firmament as the tapestry of reality sagged and fragmented.  Like so many other wherewhens, the place of weakness involved the worldtime of the brighter spot.  As much as they could experience Fear, they feared another stillbirth should the loose cable strike the brightness.

And, one and several, they wondered if it didn’t seem dimmer.

The Engineer seized the braking lever suddenly and pulled with all hir might.  The giant wheels locked and a plaintive squeal proclaimed the rending of the fabric.

The Storyteller ceased singing the song.  The Listener’s head turned to watch the Passenger fall from the seat and awaken suddenly.  On the Passenger’s head there was what could have been blood…near where there could have been other scars.  Some of the Passenger’s face came away in its forelimb.