Andrew Furst's Blog, page 73
February 26, 2016
Deer In The Headlights on Race – Dialectic Two Step
Estimated reading time: 7 minute(s)
Liberal Friends, as part of the National Democratic Party’s dialog on race, both Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton are being called out on their votes for the 1990’s crime bills. The bills are viewed as having unfairly targeted the black community.
A little history on crime rates in the 1990’s. In what is called the great crime decline, there was a 40 percent drop in all major crime categories from homicides to auto thefts across the country. It produced the longest and deepest crime decline in the United States since World War II.
the longest and deepest crime decline in the United States since World War II.
Click To Tweet
While scholars can’t pin down any one cause, there are number of factors most feel contributed
Increased number of police
Increased incarceration rates (yes disproportionately high impact on black people)
Receding crack epidemic (yes disproportionately high impact on black people)
If we think its desirable to decrease crime, especially violent crime, then we would have to agree that the bills Clinton and Sanders voted for were effective and beneficial. Lives were saved, and it is also probably true that more black lives were saved.
Lives were saved, and it is also probably true that more black lives were saved.
Click To Tweet
But, there are some facts here that are uncomfortable to some folks and I want to explore why. Because it is driving some irrational behavior in the liberal world. When we set the crime decline alongside the fact that the black population was disproportionately affected, amnesia sets in. Incarceration of black people is being called racist. That’s lazy and sloppy thinking.
Yes, the black population is disproportionately affected by crime. That is a problem that deserves the attention of the nation. Yes, Black Lives Matter. Effectively targeting violent crime is a major component of solving that problem. The symbols of justice are the blindfold, the scales, and the sword. The sword isn’t just for decoration.
Rejecting policies and candidates because the price of thousands of lives being saved was that criminals, yes a lot of them black, were punished, is a big leap into la la land. Crime is crime.
Coloring the problem with race is problematic. Especially here in the US, where several hundreds of years of unthinkable atrocities have been brought down upon the black people of our nation. It stirs strong emotions; draws us into “us against them” tribal behavior. It fuels anxiety and irrationality on all sides.
If liberals are to make good on vanquishing the plague of racism, we’d better stick to the facts and not go deer in the headlights on the issue. It creates a blind spot that makes us look dumb.
Dialectic Two-Step is an ongoing series of my thoughts on questions that come my way.
Wisdom lies neither in fixity nor in change, but in the dialectic between the two. - Octavio
Get Each Week's Dialectic Two Step In Your Email Box
If you enjoyed this post, please like and share.
The post Deer In The Headlights on Race – Dialectic Two Step appeared on Andrew Furst.
The Oxherd Series – Traces of the Ox – Modern Koans
The Oxherd Series is a collection of 10 images and commentary on the quest for enlightenment. Its source is the Zen tradition. What you're reading here is a satirical, but not all together purposeless, treatment of these so called stages. Using excerpts from one of my favorite cartoons, Bob's Burgers, I hope to bring this old story into the present.
The Oxherd Series – Number Two – Traces of the Ox
In the second Oxherd image, there is a clue discovered. We intuit that our urge to take on a spiritual search is worth the effort. This is an optimistic but vulnerable stage in the process.
In the religious and self-help worlds, this urge is well understood. Even in the time of the Buddha, there were a plethora of wanderers and philosophers offering this and that method to achieve liberation. I grew up in the age of televangelists, when the charismatic preachers of the revival movement took their appeals directly to the living rooms of America. Attracting even more people seeking salvation and willing to part with some cash.
There are entire industries that cater to people feel the need to loose weight, create success, or become leaders. They come in a variety of flavors to suit everyone’s personal tastes. There’s formal, business casual, no-frills, and new age to name a few. In the image above from Bob’s Burgers Tina, a naive teen with lots of urges, finds “traces” of Moolissa in the form of manure in the shapes of emoticons. The seeking urge for salvation is great, and it often creates a blindspot in which reason can’t operate.We’ll read things into reality that are absurd. A lot of these snake oil salesmen take advantage of this urge and offer solutions that deliver a net result of transferring money from your bank account to theirs. So for those of you on the spiritual hunt, caveat emptor.
So is there a difference between different religions ? Do any of them work? Of course, being Buddhist, I have a strong bias against other options. But I think that you can apply some rigor to the problem and find something that is right for you. If it turns out to be something other than Buddhism, so be it.
In my view it’s an experimental question. I don’t mean that there is a scientific study showing that this or that method guarantees enlightenment, there is no such thing, It’s about efficacy.
When you want to determine efficacy, you need to clearly identify your goal. Consider Wile E. Coyote’s stark discovery when he thought he reached his:
Here’s another example. Consider a nutrition plan. Your doctor has told you that the extra weight you’re carrying is probably the reason you don’t feel very well. First you read about some plans, or maybe a friend tells you about on. They make a compelling case; maybe they lost some weight. So you commit to trying it.
What is success on a nutrition plan? In my opinion it’s two fold. First you are able to lose weight. But second, and probably more important, you can keep it off. So when it comes to a spiritual path, what is success? We’ll talk about that in the next installment.
Next: Perceiving the Ox
I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
Modern Koans is an ongoing series that recognizes that good questions are often more important then their answers.
The riddles of God are more satisfying than the solutions of man. ― G.K. Chesterton
Get Each Week's Modern Koans In Your Email Box
If you enjoyed this post, please like and share.
The post The Oxherd Series – Traces of the Ox – Modern Koans appeared on Andrew Furst.
February 25, 2016
Our Loyalties Must Become Ecumenical – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr
Quotes -The path to right view is an arduous walk through fields of manure.
Get Each Week's Quotes In Your Email Box
If you enjoyed this post, please like and share.
The post Our Loyalties Must Become Ecumenical – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr appeared on Andrew Furst.
Look West – A Two Minute Meditation
Gazing west
my heart set
to the Pure Land
Amitabha’s grace is
a troubling conundrum
Kalpas of skepticism
ruminate
To my eyes
no Western Pure Land
appears
To my ears,
the jay’s urgency
remains unchanged
The only jewels
in the pines and oaks
are yesterdays
cones and acorns
The wind on my skin
is just as cold
as autumns past
The tastes and smells
of November decay
spawn memories of leaf jumping
and bonfires
Sukhavati, Sukhavati,
right here, right here.
These Meditation Videos Are Best Viewed In Full Screen
One Minute Meditations is an ongoing series of short videos, poems, and commentary intended as a meditation. Offered as an opportunity to step back from your cyber routine and settle into a more natural rhythm, if only for a minute.
Get Each Week's Minute Meditations In Your Email Box
These videos are produced for those of us who spend an inordinately large amount of time in the cyber-world. They are not a substitute for unplugging from your devices and taking a stroll near trees, water, or a patch of unkempt grass. Getting out into the world - touching, smelling, hearing, and seeing nature is the best way to reconnect with our prime purpose.
What is our prime purpose? We are feeling and sensing machines. We are the universe looking back on itself. We are witness to the wonders and dangers of living in this corner of the cosmos. We are the seekers looking for connection a little further beyond yesterday's borders and boundaries.
But sitting and staring at the screen robs us of the sustenance that we rely upon for wonder and sanity. These videos are an opportunity to bring the sensations of nature to you, while you're in the cyber-world. Its an opportunity to relax your gaze, resettle your posture, and regain some depth in your breath. Listen and watch the video and allow your self to open up and recharge.
If you enjoyed this post, please like and share.
The post Look West – A Two Minute Meditation appeared on Andrew Furst.
February 24, 2016
Cave – A Video Poem – Verse Us (Poems by Me)
cave
Morning.
Mostly lumbering mind
sorts through the day.
Channel chosen, program loaded.
Sky
swinging forms meeting, passing,
talk-less
invention-less
on some
days the egg cracks open;
albumen and yoke.
others,
magic.
Those days we wear hats.
Verse Us - Poems I write: haiku, senryu, mesostics, free verse, random word constructions, I might even use rhyme or meter once and a while.
Get Each Week's Poems In Your Email Box
If you enjoyed this post, please like and share.
The post Cave – A Video Poem – Verse Us (Poems by Me) appeared on Andrew Furst.
Post Card Art Project – Delicate Lines
Here’s the next installment of the Post Card Art Project. Delicate lines in this one.
The artist (and let me know if there are mistakes) are shown below in the same position as their card:
The Post Card Art Series
This is the one of several posts I will be offering titled the Post Card Art Series. Its a collaborative art project done on post cards.
Using an image divided into four sections, I created four post cards. I printed 200, pre-stamped them, and mailed them out to patreon supporters, friends, and blog readers who expressed an interest. They applied the art, mailed the cards back. Now I'm assembling them.
The results are fun and unique.
The post Post Card Art Project – Delicate Lines appeared on Andrew Furst.
February 23, 2016
How Will I Know I’m Free? – Say What?
How do I know when I'm free?
Click To Tweet
Say What? is an ongoing series of laconic exchanges on Buddhism in the format of a comic strip.
Get Each Week's "Say What?" Comic In Your Email Box
If you enjoyed this post, please like and share.
The post How Will I Know I’m Free? – Say What? appeared on Andrew Furst.
Sequels to an Uncollected Winter (1) – Compass Songs
by G. E. Murray
1. Morning of Crystal
This is the deathless body, and this
the land’s blood … and here the wine-laced sky
over Iowa resembles a heavenly parfait.
In one more day Des Moines
will be diapered by first snow. A young girl,
barely real, glazes the sidewalk
with a stupid look. Iowa in winter always
dumbfounds the love in us.
Before long, nothing opposes the weight and resolution
of this sky, this wilderness of earth
hardening. When heaviness strikes like a clock
glowing incandescently, the season
opens to itself, as if a familiar stunt
in a traveling show, a fabulation only
a touched young girl can devise for any new world.
Des Moines. November 1973
Compass Songs is an ongoing series of works by poets that I enjoy. Poetry, as the Zen Masters have said, is like a finger pointing to the moon. It speaks the unspeakable.
Get Each Week's Compass Song In Your Email Box
If you enjoyed this post, please like and share.
The post Sequels to an Uncollected Winter (1) – Compass Songs appeared on Andrew Furst.
February 22, 2016
Make A Career of Humanity – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr
Quotes -The path to right view is an arduous walk through fields of manure.
Get Each Week's Quotes In Your Email Box
If you enjoyed this post, please like and share.
The post Make A Career of Humanity – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr appeared on Andrew Furst.
Should It Make Sense To You To Be True? – Dialectic Two Step
Estimated reading time: 1 minute(s)
Question: Is it true that Buddhism doesn’t require you to believe anything that doesn’t make sense to you?
Response: No. Here’s why…
Does Buddhism mean I get to choose what's right?
Click To Tweet
Dialectic Two-Step is an ongoing series of my thoughts on questions that come my way.
Wisdom lies neither in fixity nor in change, but in the dialectic between the two. - Octavio
Get Each Week's Dialectic Two Step In Your Email Box
If you enjoyed this post, please like and share.
The post Should It Make Sense To You To Be True? – Dialectic Two Step appeared on Andrew Furst.
