tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post5411013487872295195..comments2024-03-24T11:30:08.199-07:00Comments on Can you believe?: Sowing in tears, part two: Red Hens, resistance, and loveJohan Maurerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13771067774042071617noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post-84065928948116242322018-06-30T09:09:00.375-07:002018-06-30T09:09:00.375-07:00The most powerful of civil activism is this: to wa...The most powerful of civil activism is this: to wait upon the ever present inshining impulse and energy of the presence of God and to participate in and identity with that Impulse itself in itself. This appearance in the consciousness and conscience, guiding and informing relationships and interactions with people is social activism of a different sort. It is a different way of life and consciousness. For many of us, through the inshining energy of the spirit itself we are come out of a social activism that is guided, informed, and governed by outward political and religious constructs, institutions, and those leaders who promote them. We are come out of the contention and strife that the process of participation in and identification with outward ideological and institutions nurtures by its very nature. <br /><br />To experience the presence of God in every moment in daily life is the inward witness of awareness or life or identity that is infinite in itself without reference to or regard for outward political and religious contrivances and institutions.<br /><br />Contention and strife is the nature of a process wherein relationships and interactions are guided and informed through participation in and identification with outward political and religious forms and the leaders and teachers who promote and foster the process. To enter into such a process is to nurture contention and strife. Only through the inward appearance and witness of immanent Presence and identify with infinite life itself in itself is the outward process and cycle of contention shattered in the hearts and minds of people and peace manifested. Such inshinmg witness is the different social activism that is come out of the process of contention and strife and into salvation. kfsaylorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14180375154787300539noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post-55149223765985207492018-06-29T12:47:35.426-07:002018-06-29T12:47:35.426-07:00Hello, Patty. I agree that confrontation doesn'...Hello, Patty. I agree that confrontation doesn't need to be uncivil, and I also agree that systemic evil and violence actually needs to be confronted. Simply reacting with rage is not enough; creative, persistent, value-driven confrontation is needed. Furthermore, uncivil responses are a confusing message; our main point may be lost in the static we generate.<br /><br />However, I cannot ask those being attacked to refrain from responding as they feel they must. I am more or less in control of my responses, but not of theirs. I can have my theories of effective response and of the Lamb's War against evil in high places, and I can try to convince others to join the Lamb's War, but that's the limit of my choices.<br /><br />Those who oppose Trump and who care about integrity should <i>not</i> engage in the very tactics they criticize: insults, fake outrage, mocking, false witness, unfair comparisons, and so on. Sadly, in the heat of conflict, our nice "shoulds" tend to get trampled. To me, this is why at least some of us should concentrate on the main confrontation with systemic evil, working to remove the causes of scandal and enlisting as many others as possible in that cause, rather than getting diverted by the need to be sure everyone is as nice as we think we are.Johan Maurerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13771067774042071617noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post-87645120613061379772018-06-29T07:06:04.515-07:002018-06-29T07:06:04.515-07:00IMO there is a difference between being confrontat...IMO there is a difference between being confrontational and being uncivil. I think back often to the Civil Rights Movement. Those protesters were confrontational, but IMO, effective and not uncivil. They did get in people's faces but I don't recall ever seeing the vitriol from them that we're seeing today. We don't have to sink to the levels we've been seeing in some. <br /><br />Patty Quinn<br />Philadelphia PAAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com