I watched a documentary about people from America travelling thousands of miles by boat to Antactica to prevent Japanese from illegally harvesting whales. So what?  Why go to so much effort? Just another group of liberal do-gooders? A bunch of hippies? Anarchists?

  Or are they caring people? People who can feel compassion not only for other humans, but also other species. People who actually allow themselves to feel.  There's a correlation here to policing (and eventually to war). When a human being  sees the other as just a number, an object, an enemy, they have lost touch with their compassionate part. The part that realizes we are all connected. It then becomes 'their job' to stay in control. It becomes easy to say, "I was told to do this."  It becomes natural to see the other as a threat.  So when Scott Yoos is put in "pain restraints" for throwing paper towels in a dumpster the cops are just doing "their job".  He is a threat. To whom? To what, law & order? Or to the world view of the cops who want to justify their actions?

   Why do so many people show up at a city council meeting to stand up for Scott? To stand against police brutality?  Just hippies?  Those damn protestors?  Trouble makers? Anarchists?  They were not there. They have no dog in this fight. But wait, they do feel a connection to another human being at the level of being human themselves. Being human is not "their job",  it's who they are.

    So when you want to draw a line between people, rather than use the 'right & wrong' ruler, maybe think in terms of those who act from a feeling of compassion and those who are just out to do "their job".

   Now, where do we go from here?

  I am trying to wrap my head around some of the differences between rich and poor people as though it were as easy as saying all rich people are the same.  My first thought was that poor people, meaning generally working class people on down economically, worry these days about whether they will have health care or whether they will even have a job. Rich people on the other hand worry about whether the gardner they hired is really a documented worker in this country legally or what the weather will be like in Majorca for their vacation.

   Now I know that's too simplistic and not fair to rich people who actually have compassion. It's also not fair to the poor or working poor who have no compassion towards anyone other than themselves.  But it's my starting point.

    So what are some of the concerns of people who dress in $1,000 suits and dresses and hang out with ex-presidents, or CEO's of corporations? And how are those so very different from the concerns of people who shop at Wal-mart? And there are those who shop at Wal-mart that don't give a rat's ass what happens to anyone else, including those who hang out with ex-presidents. So this is not a one-sided harangue against any class in particular. More an attempt to gain some insight into this RICH vs. POOR political message we hear so much about these days.

    I'm reminded here of the song God Bless the Child by Blood, Sweat & Tears:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8v96P_AXzto&feature=related

Rational Benevolence Collaboratory, 11th Meeting (De Colores Books after hours)

Join the Rational Benevolence Collaboratory and help end suffering, help create joy.

7:00pm to 8:30pm, or so.

The Rational Benevolence Collaboratory is an intellectual experiment in which researchers collaborate to deeply re-think our solutions to the problems of widespread suffering and scarce joy.

Researchers try to suspend all ideological biases and approach these problems from a position of neutral objectivity. (They put their sacred cows out to pasture and start from scratch.) To achieve this neutral objectivity, researchers use various methods of radical premise-checking (such as the Socratic Method).

Bring your minds & hearts, and maybe a notebook.

Collaborations happen on the FIRST and THIRD Thursdays of each month, 7:00pm to 8:00 or 9:00pm, at the De Colores Book Store downtown Olympia. 507 Washington Street Southeast Olympia, Washington 98501

Please visit http://www.rationalbenevolence.org or http://www.meetup.com/rationalbenevolence for more info.

Rational Benevolence Collaboratory, 10th Meeting (De Colores Books after hours)

Join the Rational Benevolence Collaboratory and help end suffering, help create joy.

7:00pm to 8:30pm, or so.

The Rational Benevolence Collaboratory is an intellectual experiment in which researchers collaborate to deeply re-think our solutions to the problems of widespread suffering and scarce joy.

Researchers try to suspend all ideological biases and approach these problems from a position of neutral objectivity. (They put their sacred cows out to pasture and start from scratch.) To achieve this neutral objectivity, researchers use various methods of radical premise-checking (such as the Socratic Method). Bring your minds & hearts, and maybe a notebook or laptop.

Collaborations happen on the FIRST and THIRD Thursdays of each month, 7:00pm to 8:00 or 9:00pm, at the De Colores Book Store downtown Olympia.

507 Washington Street Southeast Olympia, Washington 98501

Please visit http://www.rationalbenevolence.org or http://www.meetup.com/rationalbenevolence for more info.

Rational Benevolence Collaboratory, 5th meeting.

The Rational Benevolence Collaboratory is an intellectual experiment in which researchers collaborate to deeply re-think our solutions to the problems of widespread suffering and scarce joy.

Researchers try to suspend all ideological biases and approach these problems from a position of neutral objectivity. (They put their sacred cows out to pasture and start from scratch.) To achieve this neutral objectivity, researchers use various methods of radical premise-checking (such as the Socratic Method).

This meeting will be informal discussion of the project and getting acquainted.

Until further notice, meetings are at the West Olympia Starbucks across from the Safeway: 315 Cooper Point Road NW 101; Olympia, Washington 98502; 360-352-5616.

Below is a video ad for the RBC: "Suppose you care deeply about the world."

You would be well served to check out his other work, too...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVYfbKNgy04

Oprah's 21-Day Cleanse Blog.

Recipes from Oprah's Detox. Most ingredients are available at the Olympia Food Coop.

This sagely wisdom is applicable to how governments plan and develop, and how our economy is so quick to assume growth as a panacea - growth, seemingly, at all costs. This has local relevance in so far as local city officials are now considering many different development projects. There are objections to these projects based on the analysis that harm is being done and future generations will largely bear the burden of present day decisions:

Think of Future Generations - The Dalai Lama

The Dalai Lama on the Duty to Earth and the Human Family

Via Harper's Magazine [linked]:


Bsod-nams-rgya-mtsho. The Three-Deity Mandala of Auspicious Beginning.

If humankind continues to approach its problems considering only temporary expediency, future generations will have to face tremendous difficulties. The global population is increasing, and our resources are being rapidly depleted. Look at the trees, for example. No one knows exactly what adverse effects massive deforestation will have on the climate, the soil, and global ecology as a whole. We are facing problems because people are concentrating only on their short-term, selfish interests, not thinking of the entire human family. They are not thinking of the earth and the long-term effects on universal life as a whole. If we of the present generation do not think about these now, future generations may not be able to cope with them.

–H.H. Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, A Human Approach to World Peace (2006)

www.dalailama.com [official site]

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