Critical Obsession Requires of Critic a Higher Standard

"Judging a person does not define who they are; it does define who you are."

Quote/paraphrase provided by Sobriety is Sexy.

Not sure who said it originally. The comment below is tangential but inspired by the quote.

I see this quote is part of Sober is Sexy, but sobriety for a critic (as opposed to the alcoholic or chemical abuser) is looking the other way. I would say that the axiom is true enough. Pointing the finger at another means four fingers are pointing back at you the critic.

Objectivity though is required. Why? Because beauty is in the eye of the beholder but then so is evil, especially if we look away. As observers do we look away or do we report the cold hard facts of human failures of ourselves and our fellow citizens of this planet.

I thank those who disclosed wrong doing and did so at great personal expense. I am thinking of Wikileaks and its sources. The critic though is required to have judgment, not just courage and to hold oneself to a higher standard (being of sound mind and good judgment).

Sad thing is that we are so numb from looking in the other direction as we strive to pay our bills and keep afloat, that we all become part of the system. Hope? Yes, but only by looking at the cold hard facts and seeing what is our part in moving past our wrongs and making things right in this country and the world. This works on the micro and macro level.

Those who will prosecute the sources of disclosures of government wrong doing are answerable to we the people. I hope they remember that as they go about the dirty work of protecting government secrets, secrets which are actually cover ups of international crime and malfeasance by those in power in the world.

I know this comment is a tangential one for those who honor their sobriety. As citizens in a democracy though we have no place to hide on being critical of those with wealth and power who abuse the privileges of rank and wealth.

 In closing then a reminder to we of the critical mind:

The end of courage and good judgment is to die with hope that we have left the world a better place than we found it!

Comment originally appeared on my facebook page entitled:

Holding oneself to a higher standard as a critic of the conduct of others.

by Rick Hilber on Friday, December 30, 2011 at 8:51pm

Christmas Came Early This Year and Stayed Late

Recently, I submitted a poem for inclusion in my home church's advent meditation reader.  The reader is entitled Deeper Joy and was published by Fairmount Avenue United Methodist Church and edited by our pastor,  Rev. Michelle M. Hargrave.  Intended to be an advent devotional, I wrote the poem specifically for the group effort by our congregation.  When my poem was selected and published as the devotion for December 1, 2011, I felt deeper joy than maybe I am entitled to feel.  As I reread the poem I realized the persona in the poem was for me my mother who was grandmother to over fifty grandchildren and godmother and patron of many more.  The poem starts out in my voice but by the end of the poem my mom is talking.  Way cool!  I will channel that woman any time.  As my brother Tony commented on facebook:  "That lady knew the pathway to heaven."  Reproduced below is my gift to all my readers this advent season here on my blog.  Merry Christmas.

What Child Is This One I Cradle Tonight

by Rick Hilber

What do you say about God's being?
Is it restricted to existence
An existence such that science can analyze God
Like a fly under the microscope?

If God is in being, is he also not in being?
Does the phrase "Supreme Being"
Denote God's existence only?

What if God is also, not in being,
But Creator of being?
What if God chose and choses to enter into being?

Would he come as an infant?
Would he be born into a loving home?
Would he go hungry?
Would he be put to death for his ethnicity,
Or his gender?

Where would this child find comfort
When he was wet, hungry, or cold,
Or wanted simply to be held?

It is no small wonder,
A human child cradled into this life,
An everyday event,
Which is Christmas.

Angels Make Due With Emissary Role and No Sizable IRA or 401K

To my delight I had a brush with death today.  I'd had a rough night and ended up at 2:30 PM on my knees saying my prayers.  The bad thoughts dispersed and I was able to fall into a deep sleep, only  awakened by my cellphone alarm at 5 AM.

    I was leaving early from rural Osceola, Wisconsin, so as to make it home to St. Paul and Sunday morning services at Fairmount Avenue United Methodist Church with adult education at the 9 o'clock hour.   The topic was going to be angels with angels in art collection to follow.

   But before that class, I had to travel down 35E into St. Paul.  I was about to veer right onto the St. Clair Avenue exit when all of a sudden a police car was bearing down on me at high speed lights flashing and siren wailing.  I hoped it was headed south down the freeway, but I was wrong.  My thought was illogical as the police sedan was right behind me.  I do not remember veering further right on the exit lane but the squad car screamed by on a single lane exit with me nudged right.  It occurred to me that I had not time to steer right to make room for him, but there was room for him to race by my vehicle.

   At the top and on St. Clair I had to pull to the right and let other squad cars speed by to stop just two blocks past the city park and recreation center.  I turned north on Victoria to avoid the blockade I could see ahead of me on St. Clair.

   Later at adult education when the program had finished I had a friend approach me to say she had not really figured out angels yet.  I told her there was nothing to figure out.  You only had to accept the presence of angels and there was no other way of experiencing the angel beings.

   I had told another friend already about the nudge that sent me to the side of the single lane exit to save my life.   I feel like I knew of what I spoke when it came to angels, especially guardian angels.

   I was especially glad of the art show that followed the Bible lesson about angels because it reminded me of the horned moon which shows up in Christian art in three modes: first as the wings of angels, second as the horns of the fallen angel Satan with the horns protruding from his head, and finally with the Mary, Mother of the Messiah, as she stands atop the horned moon with her slippered foot atop the slithering snake.   For example, I think of the image of our Our Lady of Guadaloupe (which is central to the Mexican celebration of the Immaculate Conception).  In the cape of Juan who saw the apparition the image of Our Lady stands atop the horned moon.

   The symbolism of the horned moon can be understood by the position of the horns to being depicted.  With Satan who placed himself equal of God the horns protrude from his head for his thinking so.  The other angels the wings set them apart as immortals and spiritual essences.  No human has wings.  The human can be like the angels through salvation.  The prime example of this is Our Lady who by her humble acceptance of her role is raised higher than the angels as indicated by her standing on the horned moon.

   Angels of course bespeak of the glory of a God who interacts in our lives and in our history through his intermediaries who not being mortal are not to worry but be like the birds of the air who fret not over their lot or next meal, or God forbid 401ks or IRAs.

   I know too that the moon is quite a screen for apparitions.  I recall December 1995 traveling down from Fargo to Pelican Rapids to visit with my typically oppositional father who was dealing yet with the loneliness of life without his now deceased wife (my mother had died that Autumn).  A full moon glistened above the eastern horizon across the snow and the clouds draped over it as it moved in and out of the broken cloudscape.  Ground fog and vapors above the horizon also help distort the moon into an image that to me was Our Lady of Guadaloupe.  It happened to be the feast of Our Lady of Guadaloupe, a fact I would have occasion to dwell on later that evening.  I thereafter dwelt on how my mother and I now shared something that prior to this only she of the two of us had personally experienced.  She had grown wary and weary of my father's oppositional conduct before she had left him the last month of her life to die in peace in Fargo, that after fifty-five years of marriage plus.

   In Pelican Rapids, I went to Saturday evening mass which turned out to be for the Spanish congregants.  The congregants invited me down to the parish hall and an evening supper.  I do not speak Spanish but the children spoke some English so I did okay.  I helped with wiping tables and helped washing dishes.  It was a special evening what with the apparition and all.
    The following day, my father and I had a pleasant Sunday and attended St. Leonard's together.  He told me he was ready to give up his car.  He'd had a scare traveling on the highway and had taken the ditch.  I had expected him to be especially oppositional about giving up his car and his independence, but he really did it on his own.  He had me follow him in my car as he drove over to Vergas, Minnesota, and a used car lot where the owner he knew took the car on consignment.

   Someone was moving my father behind the scenes as he himself was not capable of this grace and lucidity, at least not prospectively, just ask any of my siblings.  I should mention my mother never lived with any doubt of the wherewithall of the angels and Our Lady in doing the will of our Father in heaven.

Same Sex Marriage as a Sacrament

Minnesota should not amend its State Constitution to prohibit marriage of two individuals of the same gender. 

This is not to say it should permit or allow marriage of two persons not of the opposite gender.

The discussion covers some related points in my opinion.

1. Marriage should be banned as a state function and all tax advantage or penalty in favor of the married or for that matter the unmarried ( if the marriage is the determinant of the tax advantage or  disadvantage).  

2. A child deserves a support system and no state gets the power or right to decide what that support system looks like, which is not to be confused with child abuse or neglect which should be a matter of grave state concern. 

3. The same is not true though of this silliness over state sanctioned sexual relations which has nothing to do with the welfare of children and when there is only  that "statism" position that procreation needs to be encouraged or discouraged by state action.

4. Government can stay out of the bedroom as far as I'm concerned unless for non-consentual assault or rape or sexual servitude or slavery. 

5. The real issue for Christians is the sacrament of marriage and fidelity to marriage vows and abstinence of human sexual relations outside of marriage. 

6. The purpose of Christian marriage is to provide Jesus Christ as the third partner in making a married life together.  This is about not making the morality of Christian marriage a matter of imposition, rather about preserving the sacrament of marriage. 

7. As a Christian in favor of the sacrament of marriage, I am in favor of it for everyone who freely chooses it. 

8. I do not see how a covenant made with God can be limited to those capable of procreation. 

9. The sexual consumation of two people married to one another that is not open to procreation has to be offensive to no one but the couple themselves. 

10. It's certainly not the province of organized religion to decree what is and is not sanctioned sexual relations, or is that Church sponsored sexual relations? 

11. The sad reality is that many will not conceive a child.  I just do not want to make that miracle of life a determinant of whether or not God in fact blesses those who enter into covenant with God to sanctify their union. 

12. An adopted child who is loved and cared for by two in a covenanted relation with God has to claim that their union has been blessed (even should their marriage ultimately fail). 

13. The human condition is about brokenness and only in God do we ever experience wholeness of purpose and result.

Who Is Dr. Stephen Miles and Why Should We Care?

Dr. Stephen Miles is author of the 2006 book Oath Betrayed.  He is an expert on medical ethics during wartime.  His book provides a gloss on Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo as centers of the torture conducted on prisoners of war or merely persons termed detainees.  In the news today is that the U.S. sponsored regime in Afghanistan has been torturing its prisoners and detainees as well.

See this link for more on Dr. Miles and his writings and professional work as a medical ethicist:

http://www.ahc.umn.edu/bioethics/facstaff/miles_s/home.html

Anniversary of Essay "Reflections on the Water"

One year ago, October 1, 2010, I wrote for this blog an essay entitled "Reflections on the Water."  In this essay as author of the The Search for Completion, I wanted to assert the primacy of the scientific method which is the basis of knowledge of the physical universe (including negative matter). 

     Again, I applaud those who rigorously apply principles of research, logical thinking, and honesty about what is real as opposed to imagined.  I however know that the truths of the human psyche are also the seeds of what should become of us as a species. 

     If you should read my blog entries, you shall see that our ways of knowing are also in part felt and intuited.  It really matters to me when I say to a student, "But what do you think?"  So oddly enough even my scientist friends, at least the creative ones, leap to a useful hypothesis to explain the derivation or behavior of identifiable singularities (i.e. the set of all fish who have lost gills and can be said to have lungs). 

     Our public policy makers who believe that the Theory of Evolution should not be taught to school children as in conflict with the creation story of the Bible are plainly policy makers, not educators.  They would decree reality is a product of officialdom.  That's just plain stupidity in high places!   How does one reduce a religious explanation of relevance to the human psyche (which is true of the creation story) to a scientific theory.  This shows a profound ignorance of the spiritual domain (which domain is definitely not reducible to science or even successfully to be treated as the object of scientific study). 

Call for Condemnation of Those Who Condoned Water Boarding

     This is a call for comment here on your personal condemnation of waterboarding and other forms of torture used to procure our "safety" from harm that our enemies would do us.  If we condone waterboarding in our name and supposedly to procure our safety, we offend the noblest of principles for which we could ever ask our soldiers to fight and die, the sanctity of an individual human life.  What point is there in pursuing the enemy when the enemy is us, a nation that appears to have condoned waterboarding to procure its national retribution for the terrorism of extremists.  Let it not be said that you condon the use of torture.

     Has the public discourse on enhanced interrogation techniques informed or confused the public? Both. Is the public really only concerned with the safety of law abiding citizens? Seems like it.  (See the previous blog entry for a review of some of the public discourse and the machinations of some who would foster the use of torture as useful, as in useful on the War on Terror.)

     What about when the individual, me or you, is accused of not being loyal or law abiding? Well then, no. Should we be afforded protection from unlawful torture by our own government? Yes.

     In this representative democracy, can the electorate ever trust again the adoption of enhanced interrogation techniques by the military and intelligence agencies of the federal government?  Looks like we are trusting them to do so.  Can we ever again leave certain individuals in office when they condone and justify the use of torture?  Well, some of us can claim we did vote the bums's surrogates out of office by electing other guys and gals.  Must we be prepared to call for impeachment of any official who condones torture or justifies it in a public forum?  Yes.

     To my knowledge, President Barach Obama and Senator John McCain have not endorsed holding any persons responsible for the adoption of policies permitting the use of enhanced interrogation techniques, but rather look to the present and future in which the values of this country pertaining to the dignity and respect afforded the individual are not and shall not be compromised by the use of torture.  See note 1 below for restraint of both our President and an eloquent stance of a former prisoner of war himself, McCain.

     Of late the phrase "American exceptionalism" has been framed as one of high regard for the rights of individuals, even those persons perceived as guilty of heinous offense, to be free from torture inflicted by those agents of our government purportedly acting in our behalf.  See note 2 below for a specific example of true note worthiness.

     Do we Americans embrace moral turpitude? Do we want the historical record to one day say that we as a people looked the other way on torture of prisoners under the control and dominion of our government and its agents (which would include other countries who would conduct torture at our behest and in our behalf to gain intelligence valuable to procuring the national security of our country)?  No, we do not. 

     Our Senate Armed Services Committee, among others, did obtain evidence and testimony of the torture and abuse of prisoners during the War on Terror and did report to the American people its findings of unlawfulness in the conduct of interrogation of prisoners and otherwise as means of subjugation and punishment of captives.

      Do we want this record to say that the practices of our government in the execution of this recent war on terror were, even if immoral, necessary to procure our safety?   No, we do not!

     Let all who are charged with our Nation's security know that we the American people do not endorse torture, especially in its adoption as utiliterarian, a usefulness which argues that enhanced interrogation techniques, however denominated, are to be morally condoned because effective in procuring accurate information.   In this blog see the previous article on the issue of flawed scientific acceptance of enhanced interrogation techniques.   Furthermore, grounds for removal from public office, by impeachment or other legal means, shall always and forever be inclusive of authorizing, condoning, and utilizing torture as in the national interest as a means to procure public safety and the nation's security.

     In those instances in which enhanced interrogation techniques induce learned helplessness the techniques shall not include torture even if the Red Chinese were able to extract confessions from captured American pilots due to the use of torture.  That if speed is of the essence in obtaining information, that short cuts to obtain that information by means of torture can never be permitted nor condoned.  Let all know that we the American people embracing our heritage of individual right, and governmental limitation in the face of that right, shall pay the personal price and embrace the sacrifice inherent in perserving our values and cherished way of life.  We will not be stampeded into forsaking our values enshrining human dignity and decency in the treatment of individuals.

     Former Vice-President Richard Cheney and former Attorney General Michael Mukasey are hereby, by we the American people, censured for misleading, inaccurate, and harmful defense of immoral techniques, specifically water boarding among other methods used for enhance interrogation techniques which are categorically torture.  We condemn these persons and others who deem the utilitarian outcome as moral justification of immoral means to procure our safety.  We shall not permit a denigration of the sacred duty to defend our country by the use of torture, at least not while perserving our way of life and the sanctity of human life.  We can not allow either of these two men to in effect argue that we as a nation had to torture a person held captive in order to save the life or lives of others without our censure of them for doing so.

          Please join others in signing this condemnation of former Vice-President Richard Cheney and former Attorney General Michael Mukasey for endorsing enhanced interrogation techniques which include acts of torture such as waterboarding.  Please forward to all your friends who share this view of our country's respect for individual human life.


Notes.

1.  See Executive Order entitled Ensuring Lawful Interrogations issued by President Obama on January 22, 2009 shortly upon taking his oath of office. Also, see "America should not be a nation of torture," John McCain, Star Tribune, Friday, May 13, 2011, at A ll,
(The Star Tribune reprinted this article from the Washington Post).

2.  See especially McCain's position: "America should not be a nation of torture," John McCain, Star Tribune, Friday, May 13, 2011, at A ll, (The Star Tribune reprinted this article from the Washington Post).