GANDHI’S INSIGHT AND WARNING
By Bernie Meyer
May 13, 2008
Gandhi discovered many insights by his experiments with truth. Some of them, perhaps most, even all, apply indefinitely. After all, he claimed that he had nothing new; his learning was as “old as the hills.” Gandhi sought the true nature of reality. The truth founded on “what is” was his goal. Gandhi believed that it was his duty to be not only responsive to that reality but to live by that reality.
Now, 2008, I hold up a warning from Gandhi, which applies immediately. Gandhi did not see the application of the warning as I see it. Gandhi noted the principle and the reality which underlies the application. If Gandhi had been aware of the facts, he would note the application with warning as he did with the atom bomb. In fact, in his critique of technology and civilization I think he had an instinctive sense of the application which I am holding up as Gandhi’s insight and warning.
I am searching for people who want to face reality. I want people who are open to truth and who will not be turned back by it. I want people who will overcome their narrow self interests and vision. Somehow, we must unite and apply the insight and warning.
Gandhi’s insight warning: “Mankind is notoriously too dense to read the signs that God sends from time to time. We require drums to be beaters into our ears, before we should wake from our trance and hear the warning and see that to lose oneself in all is the only way to find oneself.”
The warning God sends today is the very health of planet earth. The health has disappeared. Our Mother is very ill. The illness is caused by human deeds. The earth as viable for human life (and most living creatures, our fellow species) is threatened. Very little time is left for reversing course. If course is reversed, millennia will be required to heal Mother Earth.
Three general conditions cause the illness: global climate change, weapons of mass destruction, and industrial society.
The earth has already surpassed the critical point for global climate change: 350 PPMs, 350 particles per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The earth now experiences 385 PPMs. We, humans, must take immediate steps to reverse this ascent to mass extermination. From another angle, the earth’s temperature has risen by one degree centigrade which translates into 10 degrees at the poles. Forecasts are for two to five degrees during the 21st century if the trend is not reversed.
Humans are beginning the creation of the next generation of weapons of mass destruction with nuclear weapons in the lead due to the United States “superpower syndrome.” The US nuclear posture is based upon “full spectrum dominance” with nuclear weapons as the ultimate spectrum threat. The space around Mother Earth is being utilized for surveillance, communications, and targeting for war anywhere on earth. Preparations for war through research and experimentation, war itself through use of these weapons, and the consequences of war through toxic effects, are what is causing the illness of Mother Earth. Nuclear power is a twin to these causes and effects.
Industrial society began the ascent to global climate change and to nuclear weapons and modern war. Industrial society is fueled by liquid fuels, oil and natural gas. Humanity has developed the fossil fuel energy to the full extend of capability. Reversing course will require massive energies from consciousness, intelligence, physical labor yet unheard from, “a management problem humans have not experienced.”
These three categories of Mother Earth’s illness dominate. All other injustices damaging peaceful living can be traced to these physical roots. The human mind and will determined these causes, continues to follow the courses of actions chosen, and can decide to reverse them. But, the action must be now and must be total for all humans. As the West has led the way, the West has first responsibility to lead the way out.
This is Gandhi’s insight and warning applied. Human density is being penetrated by God’s drums. As Gandhi began his experiments with truth with a few, I am joining those who are making the same path.
For me, this is the choice noted by Martin Luther King Jr., “between chaos and community.” For me, this is the way of Jesus, who is “the way, the truth, and the light.” Simply, we are humans living on Mother Earth, our destiny and our gift.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Unusual action: boycott peace meeting
Last Saturday I took the unusual step to boycott the Western Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) Washington Spring Assembly. The Spring Assembly is held every spring to review and coordinate the FOR's peace making efforts among the chapters. I facilitated the planning process which led to the initiation of the Spring Assembly several years ago. I respect FOR and all the folks who attend these activities. The agenda for Saturday's meeting was good, but lacking. Also, I believe that anyone and everyone trying to help people and society live peacefully and justly today should be respected and honored. It's a growing uphill struggle due to the issues of the day and the continuing shifting of the United State's budget from people needs, indeed the very US infrastructure, to military weaponry and war making. But, the agenda ignored the dominating events affecting the whole works.
I advocated that an opening analysis of the global situation be presented at the Spring Assembly so that workshop deliberations would be able to reflect their concerns in this context. This includes the reality that the earth is in rapid climate change. I take the cue from experts who say we cannot continue "business as usual." This includes the apparently "out of control" food crisis due to the increase costs. 100 million people have been recently brought to starvation risk, and more added daily. Food riots in over a dozen countires. This includes peak oil realities, actions the US is taking which contribute to the food crisis, and social/political crisis. This includes the US military budget of over one trillion for 2008 (when you add in all the hidden costs in the budget) supporting the "full spectrum" military options including nuclear weapons, and more. And, there is a growing sense that the US will attack Iran between May and August.
A year ago I began this blog with a walk from Faslane Scotland to London. The message was the same. I am only updating it. I could not not take this stand last Saturday. In fact, I have been evolving my analysis and message for the last several years and acting upon it. I will not stop the death and destruction. Nor will FOR. I could not stay alive by ignoring these realities and doing what I can, which is still not all that I can, puny as the efforts are.
The reason I share this is to keep walking the talk, to encourage you to join in your own way.
I advocated that an opening analysis of the global situation be presented at the Spring Assembly so that workshop deliberations would be able to reflect their concerns in this context. This includes the reality that the earth is in rapid climate change. I take the cue from experts who say we cannot continue "business as usual." This includes the apparently "out of control" food crisis due to the increase costs. 100 million people have been recently brought to starvation risk, and more added daily. Food riots in over a dozen countires. This includes peak oil realities, actions the US is taking which contribute to the food crisis, and social/political crisis. This includes the US military budget of over one trillion for 2008 (when you add in all the hidden costs in the budget) supporting the "full spectrum" military options including nuclear weapons, and more. And, there is a growing sense that the US will attack Iran between May and August.
A year ago I began this blog with a walk from Faslane Scotland to London. The message was the same. I am only updating it. I could not not take this stand last Saturday. In fact, I have been evolving my analysis and message for the last several years and acting upon it. I will not stop the death and destruction. Nor will FOR. I could not stay alive by ignoring these realities and doing what I can, which is still not all that I can, puny as the efforts are.
The reason I share this is to keep walking the talk, to encourage you to join in your own way.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
An UNWANTED REALITY, US imperial madness
How far and how long can this war destructive power go? War destructive power is the weaponry with its driving engines created by human scientists and engineers. Nukes, missiles, submarines, jet airplanes, etc are commonly known weaponry and delivery means. Now, much more is in the works. I just returned from Omaha Nebraska where the Strategic Command at the Offutt Air Base is located. Stratcom for short. The long of it takes pages just to name. Americans and the world have little idea of what is concentrated there.
President Bush fled to Offutt on 9/11. Offutt has been transformed since then, a secret needing revelation.
Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space (www.space4peace.org) put on a conference: "Stratcom: The Most Dangerous Place on the Face of the Earth." It was hosted by Nebraskans for Peace (www.nebraskansforpeace.org.) I strongly urge you to go to these websites to acquire basic information and resources about this concentration of military power and intelligence.
We began the Conference with a vigil at the gates of Offutt Air Force Base in blustery wind and rain. People from around the world were present, including leaders I met while walking from Faslane to London last summer and while attending conferences in India last January. In that bitting Midwest cold we joined arms to take note of the horrors for death concentrated there and to commit to resisting them. That evening a moving presentation by Native Americans simply asked for what it takes to "live." The Conference then proceeded to present in detail the many components present at Stratcom. All the intelligence operations, the worldwide networks of military bases, the air, sea, land, and space weaponry, and so-called Missile Defense commands were laid out in graphic presentations. In US policy terms this is the command post for "full spectrum dominance." From what is considered conventional to nuclear weapons the US is establishing an intentional system to be able to attack any threat to "US Security" on earth within an hour's notice.
Perhaps, the most cynical and depressing situation I observed was the workshop about plans for the moon and planets. A physicist said that her acquaintances in science for space had given up on the viability of planet earth. They are laying plans to establish a base on mars with further conquests expected. And, these are bright people? Who will pay? US taxpayers from Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, social programs.
My first mail upon returning home included an appeal to defend Social Security and Medicare from George Bush's proposed 2009 Budget. $556 billion cut in Medicare over the next 16 years. $150 billion in insurance industry profits over the next ten years. Privatizing Social Security with $30 billion in fiscal 2009. This could be a "healthy" beginning to pay for weaponry and space colony development!
The backdrop of this conference for me is the soaring food prices, energy costs, and global climate change effects already happening. These could be ameliorated by a "crash program" to save planet earth along with the poor people and the species being vanished.
A proximate addenda, a young man I met and roomed with from St. Louis handed out an appeal for people of renown to move to Estafan Iran until the danger of US attack on Iran has passed! St. Louis Boeing has developed a 30,000 pound Massive Ordinance Penatrator for Iran. B-2 Stealth Bombers at Whitman Air Force Base in Missouri have been prepared by widening bomb bays to deliver them to Estafan, home of Iran's largest nuclear reactor. (www.ironpeaceshield.org)
I felt I was in a fantasy land at this conference as I watched the videos and photos of cyber space. Yet, the 2003 war on Iraq was directed here in Midwest USA. This is real, delusional as it is.
President Bush fled to Offutt on 9/11. Offutt has been transformed since then, a secret needing revelation.
Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space (www.space4peace.org) put on a conference: "Stratcom: The Most Dangerous Place on the Face of the Earth." It was hosted by Nebraskans for Peace (www.nebraskansforpeace.org.) I strongly urge you to go to these websites to acquire basic information and resources about this concentration of military power and intelligence.
We began the Conference with a vigil at the gates of Offutt Air Force Base in blustery wind and rain. People from around the world were present, including leaders I met while walking from Faslane to London last summer and while attending conferences in India last January. In that bitting Midwest cold we joined arms to take note of the horrors for death concentrated there and to commit to resisting them. That evening a moving presentation by Native Americans simply asked for what it takes to "live." The Conference then proceeded to present in detail the many components present at Stratcom. All the intelligence operations, the worldwide networks of military bases, the air, sea, land, and space weaponry, and so-called Missile Defense commands were laid out in graphic presentations. In US policy terms this is the command post for "full spectrum dominance." From what is considered conventional to nuclear weapons the US is establishing an intentional system to be able to attack any threat to "US Security" on earth within an hour's notice.
Perhaps, the most cynical and depressing situation I observed was the workshop about plans for the moon and planets. A physicist said that her acquaintances in science for space had given up on the viability of planet earth. They are laying plans to establish a base on mars with further conquests expected. And, these are bright people? Who will pay? US taxpayers from Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, social programs.
My first mail upon returning home included an appeal to defend Social Security and Medicare from George Bush's proposed 2009 Budget. $556 billion cut in Medicare over the next 16 years. $150 billion in insurance industry profits over the next ten years. Privatizing Social Security with $30 billion in fiscal 2009. This could be a "healthy" beginning to pay for weaponry and space colony development!
The backdrop of this conference for me is the soaring food prices, energy costs, and global climate change effects already happening. These could be ameliorated by a "crash program" to save planet earth along with the poor people and the species being vanished.
A proximate addenda, a young man I met and roomed with from St. Louis handed out an appeal for people of renown to move to Estafan Iran until the danger of US attack on Iran has passed! St. Louis Boeing has developed a 30,000 pound Massive Ordinance Penatrator for Iran. B-2 Stealth Bombers at Whitman Air Force Base in Missouri have been prepared by widening bomb bays to deliver them to Estafan, home of Iran's largest nuclear reactor. (www.ironpeaceshield.org)
I felt I was in a fantasy land at this conference as I watched the videos and photos of cyber space. Yet, the 2003 war on Iraq was directed here in Midwest USA. This is real, delusional as it is.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
VISIONING FROM THE HEART
VISIONING FROM THE HEART
Called by the heart to find a way
Find a way, find a way, a way, a way
The violent human way must go away
We are wasting away the life sources
Wasting away, away, away
Life sources, sources for living,
The species are going, going away
200 a day, 200 a day, a day, a day,
200 a day, species going away.
The human species will fade away, fade away
Killing the species which feed the human,
Killing the species which feed the human.
Killing the species for living.
New visioning
New visioning to save the day, save the day
We need new visioning to save the day.
Village celebration, every day, every day
Village celebration to save the day
Working, walking, talking, taking, taking time
Time spent in the village to save the day
Natural food, back working food, hand to mouth food
To save the day.
New visioning, new living, new ways
To save the day.
By Bernie Meyer
March 31, 2008
Called by the heart to find a way
Find a way, find a way, a way, a way
The violent human way must go away
We are wasting away the life sources
Wasting away, away, away
Life sources, sources for living,
The species are going, going away
200 a day, 200 a day, a day, a day,
200 a day, species going away.
The human species will fade away, fade away
Killing the species which feed the human,
Killing the species which feed the human.
Killing the species for living.
New visioning
New visioning to save the day, save the day
We need new visioning to save the day.
Village celebration, every day, every day
Village celebration to save the day
Working, walking, talking, taking, taking time
Time spent in the village to save the day
Natural food, back working food, hand to mouth food
To save the day.
New visioning, new living, new ways
To save the day.
By Bernie Meyer
March 31, 2008
Thursday, March 20, 2008
NO MORE BUSINESS AS USUAL
It is approaching one year since I began this blog, as I was leaving for the walk from Faslane to London. My purpose for the walk was to send the message that we must act now. The we is every person and organization, every nation and all nations, the world bodies. The reason is not only the destructive force of nuclear weapons, but the destruction due to climate change and due to human exhaustion of resources, especially water and fossil fuels. We are already seeing catastrophe in the works: war, genicide, hunger, violence of all types.
But, WE CAN TURN THIS AROUND, KNOW HOW AND RESOURCES ARE STILL THERE. WHAT WE NEED IS THE WILL.
My reminders about our precarious position:
While the gifted minds of nuclear scientists and administrators are being wasted on suicidal means for "security", the urgency to apply all knowledge and skill to the transition is being ignored by them.
Lester Brown continually sends out the message: The Arctic ice is melting at astounding rates, the Himalayan glaciers are quickly receding, the aquifers are depleting. Result will be inadequate food for the billions of people. This reality is intensified by the policy decision to use corn crops for ethanol in the United States. Food prices are and will soar as food is used for fuel, thus making food subservient to $100.00/barrel plus oil. And, the United States taxpayer is subsidizing ethanol!
BROWN: NO TIME FOR BUSINESS AS USUAL. We have until 2020 to reduce the CO2 by 80%, not 2050 as politicians and their prompters stipulate.
These statements are simply the headlines of the issues. A quick review of the sources will uncover the analysis of the daunting facts.
I feel that my actions by the walk and so many other efforts are feeble. Who is paying attention? Who is doing anything? I know a few are, especially those waving the flag of warning. Not enough.
But, WE CAN TURN THIS AROUND, KNOW HOW AND RESOURCES ARE STILL THERE. WHAT WE NEED IS THE WILL.
My reminders about our precarious position:
- Jonathan Schell's THE SEVENTH DECADE, The New Shape of Nuclear Danger, 2007.
- Lester Brown's Plan B 3, 2007.
- And many others.
While the gifted minds of nuclear scientists and administrators are being wasted on suicidal means for "security", the urgency to apply all knowledge and skill to the transition is being ignored by them.
Lester Brown continually sends out the message: The Arctic ice is melting at astounding rates, the Himalayan glaciers are quickly receding, the aquifers are depleting. Result will be inadequate food for the billions of people. This reality is intensified by the policy decision to use corn crops for ethanol in the United States. Food prices are and will soar as food is used for fuel, thus making food subservient to $100.00/barrel plus oil. And, the United States taxpayer is subsidizing ethanol!
BROWN: NO TIME FOR BUSINESS AS USUAL. We have until 2020 to reduce the CO2 by 80%, not 2050 as politicians and their prompters stipulate.
These statements are simply the headlines of the issues. A quick review of the sources will uncover the analysis of the daunting facts.
I feel that my actions by the walk and so many other efforts are feeble. Who is paying attention? Who is doing anything? I know a few are, especially those waving the flag of warning. Not enough.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Spreading Gandhi's way
January 30th, 2008 was the 60th anniversary of Gandhi's assassination. I attended the Congress 2008 in Wardha, India at the Institute for Gandhi Studies. Wardha is near the Sevagram Ashram, Gandhi's last ashram initiated in 1936. Wardha has Gandhi sites: other ashrams, research institutes to support village life, Kadhi (homespun cloth) production workplaces. For four days I visited them with Congress attendees. Here, a way of life is in progress consistent with Gandhi values and principles. Gandhi's vision built on the lifestyle developed over the centuries in India's 700,000 villages. It was a way of life centered on dignified living for everyone--and a sustainable way of life. Now, the principles of appropriate technology are being fostered incorporating the work of E.F. Shoemacher. In Wardha a person can discover the compliment to corporate and global economy.
I knew Dr. R.B. Chavan from my last trip to India. Now retired from his university position instructing in Khadi, he works for Jamnalal Bajaj Central Research Institute, (MGIRI), Khadi and Village Industries Commission, Ministry of Micro And Medium Enterprises (Gov. of India.) I took a day to be with him to visit his workplace. Here I had a personal tour led by Dr. Chavan and the Director, Keshav Kamble, to see each step in the production of Khadi, including the experimenting in colors and fabric methods. The production methods are then made available to the villages for villagers to produce and sell for their own sustenance. Individual vendors are common in India providing a rich variety of services and products. This research center also develops herb products, medicines, and pottery for villagers use. The pottery was beautiful. I came home with the possibility of initiating a similar development and training center here in the United States. Anyone interested in spearheading such an endeavor? Training is available in Wardha.
The Congress itself was organized by parties in France and from the Institute. The event was truly international with representatives from every continent except Australia. I shared a room with a young man from Cameron, an Austrian, and a Frenchman. Our conversations were rich because we could share stories and customs from each country. Claude, the Cameron member, wants to bring nonviolence to his homeland. He has had training in dispute resolution and is passionate in his concern about the violence there. He has asked me and others for support, especially money. I gave him a large picture of Martin Luther King Jr. standing with arms folded in a room with a photo of Gandhi on the wall. This moved him. (I received the picture among several other significant items from Dr. Savita Singh, Director of Gandhi Samriti, Darshan Samiti, the site of Gandhi's assassination in New Delhi.)
I will cover the next phase of the Congress visit, the Congress itself, at the next post.
I knew Dr. R.B. Chavan from my last trip to India. Now retired from his university position instructing in Khadi, he works for Jamnalal Bajaj Central Research Institute, (MGIRI), Khadi and Village Industries Commission, Ministry of Micro And Medium Enterprises (Gov. of India.) I took a day to be with him to visit his workplace. Here I had a personal tour led by Dr. Chavan and the Director, Keshav Kamble, to see each step in the production of Khadi, including the experimenting in colors and fabric methods. The production methods are then made available to the villages for villagers to produce and sell for their own sustenance. Individual vendors are common in India providing a rich variety of services and products. This research center also develops herb products, medicines, and pottery for villagers use. The pottery was beautiful. I came home with the possibility of initiating a similar development and training center here in the United States. Anyone interested in spearheading such an endeavor? Training is available in Wardha.
The Congress itself was organized by parties in France and from the Institute. The event was truly international with representatives from every continent except Australia. I shared a room with a young man from Cameron, an Austrian, and a Frenchman. Our conversations were rich because we could share stories and customs from each country. Claude, the Cameron member, wants to bring nonviolence to his homeland. He has had training in dispute resolution and is passionate in his concern about the violence there. He has asked me and others for support, especially money. I gave him a large picture of Martin Luther King Jr. standing with arms folded in a room with a photo of Gandhi on the wall. This moved him. (I received the picture among several other significant items from Dr. Savita Singh, Director of Gandhi Samriti, Darshan Samiti, the site of Gandhi's assassination in New Delhi.)
I will cover the next phase of the Congress visit, the Congress itself, at the next post.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Fifty Days in India
I am back in the United States after 50 days in India. First, I regret not being able to make more posts on this blog because there were many experiences worth sharing. Due to traveling in many rural areas and to the intensity of the schedule, internet use was very limited. Often when the internet was available, the electricity was off. This is common in India. To distribute electricity each location has the supply turned off for several hours a day. Second, I will use the next set of blog entrys to recap certain experiences or insights.
During the trip I attended four conferences and made one meditation retreat, plus visiting several locations of interest and portraying Gandhi in the conferences and/or locations. No wonder I am slow to recover from return jet lag! An earlier blog describes something of the 6th International Confernece on Peace and Nonviolent Action. Now, I am communicating with organizers from ANUVBHA to share insights about follow through. The second conference was the 2008 Gandhi Congress in Wardha on January 25th to 31st. I received the addresses of the 125 attendees from all the continents except Australia today. This was a very rich experience due to local resources and the Congress itself. More later.
The Third event was the World 2008 Youth Peace Congress in Pune where I brought The American Gandhi presence to address the assembly. A previous blog presents my written address. I stand by its contents. The urgent message is a huge frustration for me because people nod "yes", but nothing seems to happen. This Congress was most unusual for me because of its well healed religious content and setting. More later.
Finally, I attended the Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace Convention in Nagpur. Here, I was down home with the academic activists. Well researched papers and presentations about nuclear issues and about peace issues, especially the Middle East, were presented. Here, the setting was very grassroots. More later.
I needed to buy another suitcase to bring home all the books, literature, and gifts for portraying. I will never be able to read everything. Most are good additions to the library for reference.
Perhaps most important are the new contacts and relationships in peace making. I am very edified by so many people who are committed to justice and peace, to Gandhi nonviolence, to truth. I think they are having the effect upon me, raising to the next level. I am not sure what form that will take, but it may be some kind of organizing presence in India.
During the trip I attended four conferences and made one meditation retreat, plus visiting several locations of interest and portraying Gandhi in the conferences and/or locations. No wonder I am slow to recover from return jet lag! An earlier blog describes something of the 6th International Confernece on Peace and Nonviolent Action. Now, I am communicating with organizers from ANUVBHA to share insights about follow through. The second conference was the 2008 Gandhi Congress in Wardha on January 25th to 31st. I received the addresses of the 125 attendees from all the continents except Australia today. This was a very rich experience due to local resources and the Congress itself. More later.
The Third event was the World 2008 Youth Peace Congress in Pune where I brought The American Gandhi presence to address the assembly. A previous blog presents my written address. I stand by its contents. The urgent message is a huge frustration for me because people nod "yes", but nothing seems to happen. This Congress was most unusual for me because of its well healed religious content and setting. More later.
Finally, I attended the Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace Convention in Nagpur. Here, I was down home with the academic activists. Well researched papers and presentations about nuclear issues and about peace issues, especially the Middle East, were presented. Here, the setting was very grassroots. More later.
I needed to buy another suitcase to bring home all the books, literature, and gifts for portraying. I will never be able to read everything. Most are good additions to the library for reference.
Perhaps most important are the new contacts and relationships in peace making. I am very edified by so many people who are committed to justice and peace, to Gandhi nonviolence, to truth. I think they are having the effect upon me, raising to the next level. I am not sure what form that will take, but it may be some kind of organizing presence in India.
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