Carbon Tax
by Ray Rivers
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By Ray Rivers
April 4th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
Canadian taxpayers have been doling out billions every year through their income taxes and GST/HST to subsidize the oil and gas sector. One estimate puts that figure at over $6 billion a year – over $200 per taxpayer. And of course there is no corresponding rebate for this. Federal prime ministers, including both Harper and Trudeau, had been promising to eliminate these subsidies for decades.
In 1973 the federal government bought a 15% share in Syncrude which gave them a closer look at how the oil industry worked.
In 1973 Pierre Trudeau bought a 15% share in Syncrude after US partner Atlantic Richfield pulled out of the oil sands. Federal subsidies have continued pretty much ever since. Trudeau senior even contemplated nationalizing the western oil sands at one point. In the end he created the National Energy Program to bring lower cost western oil to the rest of Canada in response to the international oil embargoes of the 1970’s.
Subsidies include income tax breaks; direct financial investment; carbon capture; and even the Trans Mountain pipeline. In addition to the feds, the three westerly provinces offer reduced royalties as well as tax exemptions. The other provinces have various programs offering some combination of direct subsidies and tax breaks for aviation and agricultural fuels.
Subsidies are the reverse side of taxation. Subsidies lower commodity prices which in turn increases the demand for fossil fuels. That defeats the purpose of carbon taxes, which aim to reduce demand through higher prices. Yet, despite commitments by the last two federal governments to stop giving your money to big oil and gas, these subsidies continue.
It’s little wonder that the effectiveness of carbon pricing so far has been somewhat disappointing. Between 2019 and 2021 emissions did fall by over 50 million tonnes but it is uncertain how much of that can also be attributed to the economic decline during the pandemic.
The electric vehicle is positioned to become what people will eventually use.
Rational people will react to higher prices by changing their behaviour, e.g.,taking public transportation instead of driving. But typically they’ll look for alternative modes of transportation, e.g. electric vehicles (EV). Developing alternate technologies like EV’s takes time which is why the carbon tax gradually increases – to accommodate the adoption of new low carbon technologies as they arrive on the market.
Few policies have been as well studied as carbon pricing. And 72 nations around the world have adopted some form of carbon pricing. Recently over 200 leading economic professionals challenged Canada’s opposition leader over his wrong headed attack on carbon pricing and all the misinformation he has been generating. These experts tell us that the only practical option for an orderly phase-out of greenhouse gas polluting hydrocarbons is a carbon tax.
Poilievre has rejected the advice of professionals, insulting and belittling them and insisting that his ‘common sense’ is superior to their decades of academic research.
Mr. Poilievre has rejected the advice of these professionals, insulting and belittling them and insisting that his ‘common sense’ is superior to their decades of academic research, including a Nobel prize in economics on the topic. And, of course, Mr. Poilievre offers no alternative. His policies to deal with climate change are non-existent. But then he a leads an antediluvian political entity steeped in the denial of global warming.
The linkage between the gas pump and climate change events, like the massive forest fires last year, is indirect, perhaps even subtle. But even ostriches with their heads buried in sand should be able to feel the heat as it increases year after year. Most concerning is that the opinion polls foretell the Mr. Poilievre will be Canada’s next PM.
Floods, drought and forest fires tell us climate change is already at out door. Carbon pricing is the least disruptive and most cost effective way of trying to meet Canada’s international climate change commitments. But even carbon pricing won’t work unless we are prepared to change our life styles. There is no free lunch if we really care.
Ray Rivers, a Gazette Contributing Editor, writes regularly applying his more than 25 years as a federal bureaucrat to his thinking. Rivers was once a candidate for provincial office in Burlington. He was the founder of the Burlington citizen committee on sustainability at a time when climate warming was a hotly debated subject. Ray has a post graduate degree in economics that he earned at the University of Ottawa. Tweet @rayzrivers
Lessons from Holy Week
by Br. Mark Dohle
Mark Dohle is a Cistercian (Trappist) monk living in a monastery near Atlanta, Georgia. All comments are welcome and will receive a reply. Readers are encouraged to forward this post as they choose. All previous posts are open for comment.
Holy Week has some powerful truths to tell us if one can ponder them. This also means contemplating one’s life. If a Christian, this can lead to a deeper understanding of one of life’s mysteries. That is of course, why there is so much injustice in the world, so much random suffering. No one escapes suffering, not even the richest and most powerful. In fact, in their way, they may suffer more than others. Being rich and powerful brings pitfalls that those of us who are more ordinary do not have to face.
No one likes to suffer. When there is no meaning to one’s suffering, I believe it makes it twice as bad, and harder to bear. To think of suffering means looking at life in a broader context. Is it something we simply endure until death? For many that answer is yes. For the Christian believer, there are other ways to tackle this problem.
Like any path of any depth, the path to deeper faith, understanding, and trust can be a slow one. Growth in the spiritual life takes at least some discipline and focus. We can parrot pious sayings, the living them out is another reality altogether.
If people want to know what you believe and hold to, they can see it in how you live out your beliefs. Faith is a leaven that over time fills our souls. It is not some black-and-white, quote bible verse kind of thing. If we speak from the heart, if we seek to follow Christ, and do so through deep suffering, as well as joy, we will become a conduit for the Spirit to speak through us. If not, we can become just an empty barrel speaking words that are not believed or followed by the speaker. People see this, we all see it when the dichotomy is so great that we know that we may want to listen, but not follow the example of the one preaching, or speaking.
Jesus lived out who he was. What he was caused great hatred and fear. When Jesus looked at someone, he saw the truth about that person. He saw, loved, and sought to heal and bring salvation. The only people he was rough with were people like me, professional and religious. We can be the worst. He had to use rough tactics to get our attention. Yes, tough love.
Jesus endured every kind of indignity that can be endured by any human. Yet, he never stopped loving. On the cross he forgave all, that is something to ponder.
We are called to that. Our response to suffering will test our faith, and in that, we grow because we choose. Peter fell, yet he got back up again, and he responded with grace. Judas did not. We all must be tested by fire. So, reading, and praying over the Gospels can help us to be open to the Holy Spirit. The more we seek the wisdom in the Scriptures, the more we will love and respond to the Word of God.
If we are not on the way slowly growing into the person that Jesus is calling us to be, it is a waste of time to seek to change others. If we do not love others, our preaching is rooted in the type of judgment that Jesus strongly forbids.
So, this Holy Week, ponder how Jesus suffered, how he responded to his dark night of profound suffering, and where it led him. May we all follow in his footsteps.-Br.MD
A Reply from Marco M. Pardi:
Thank you, Mark, for a very well developed post. You have clearly expressed concepts appropriate to all of us, whatever religion, philosophy, or code of ethics we may follow.
Yet, while I have heard and/or read similar expressions of these concepts over the years I have never felt I gained satisfactory answers to the questions they raise. For example, you know I was born into Fascist Italy. And you know my English grandmother, my mother (American only by birth in New York City to an Italian father and English mother but raised entirely in Europe), my older brother (American by birth to an American citizen before the declaration of war), and me (the only family member with full Italian citizenship and no legal connection to America or England) had to go into hiding for ten months to evade the OVRA, the Organizzazione per la Vigilanza e la Repressione dell’Antifascismo – Organization for Vigilance and Repression of AntiFascism, Mussolini’s Secret Police. My grandmother, stranded in the country by the declaration of war while visiting, could not speak a word of Italian. My mother, although with native fluency in several languages, had only American papers, and my brother, though born in Rome like me but before the declaration of war, had only American papers. My father, an Italian Colonel and covert operative in the Resistance, was somewhere out of the country.
OVRA offered significant rewards to anyone who discovered and informed on “enemies of the State”. My family would have been arrested and deported to a concentration camp and likely soon killed. I would have been handed to a Fascist family until they could place me with the Figli Della Lupa (Sons of the Wolf), the organization Hitler modeled his Jugend Korps upon.
So, where should I have directed my love? To the people who would gladly have sold us out for an extra ration book? Or for just another 33 pages of ration coupons? To the OVRA men who would have gang raped my mother before killing her? Perhaps I could have put true meaning into the phrase, Love them to death.
When the Allies reached Rome my mother came forward and became an OSS officer, working under James Jesus Angleton, the eventual Deputy Director for Counter-Intelligence CIA. There was no love lost as she applied her language skills to captured documents and intercepts to ferret out hidden SS and OVRA officials.
In the 1960’s I voluntarily spent six years in military service, going on to other government positions. I will not recount the lovable people I encountered but I can assure you they would have offered no love to you.
Now, should I love the people, particularly of one political party, who would choose to make the United States a Fascist dictatorship, condemning my daughter and grandchildren to a life I know too well? In the four years we endured under the recently previous administration we have seen this group emerge from the shadows they entered in 1941 and infiltrate the mechanisms of our society from local school and library boards to the “Supreme Court”, spreading hate and violence throughout the land. We have seen them declare the free press “Enemies of the State”. We have heard them promise reprisals and revenge upon any and all who have not converted to the cult, threatening librarians and medical workers with prison sentences, branding immigrants as “poisoning the blood of our country”, emptying the Civil Service and refilling it with those sworn only to the Leader (Fuhrer in German). And yet they have elevated their dictator-in-waiting to once again be our President. How do we neuter them lovingly?
Most of us have heard the saying, Hate the sin, love the sinner. Well, there are sinners who won’t stop until they are stopped. And stopped can take any of several forms. I have no doubts that there are those who would say I am “burned out” from too many years of encountering and considering some of the worst of humanity. My answer is always the same: As long as there is someone to shine the light there will be no place to hide.
Carbon Tax
by Ray Rivers
All comments are welcome and will receive a reply. All previous posts are open for comment. Readers are encouraged to forward this column.
Rivers: Let’s have an Election on the Carbon Tax
By Ray Rivers
March 22nd, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
Despite all the noise from the official opposition on Parliament Hill, the truth is that carbon pricing contributes only a tiny fraction to the cost of inflation. Analysis shows that even when inflation peaked above eight per cent last year, carbon pricing might have accounted for a tiny one-54th of it.
Carbon pricing does raise the cost of fossil fuels – that part is true. But even the latest round of scheduled progressive increases will have little impact on Canada’s declining inflation rate. And the carbon tax rebates are the great equalizer for Canadians facing higher food and other costs.
80% of Canadians are better off with the tax and the rebate than if the tax were axed, as Canada’s Conservatives would do were they to win the next election. In fact axing the tax would do almost nothing to lower inflation but everything to make the average Canadian worse off.
Alberta premier Smith and Saskatchewan premier Moe also support ‘axing the tax’ despite the fact that residents of those provinces receive the greatest annual carbon rebates ($1800 and $1500) while still paying some of the lowest energy prices in the country. Clearly partisanship and ideology trump economics in those prairie provinces.
Mr. Poilievre believes he’s riding a winner with his ‘axe the tax’ campaign, a catchy though well-worn and somewhat dated slogan. His misrepresentations have started the Liberals calling him out as the liar he becomes when he speaks to the issue. But then again, his political party does not even recognize the reality of climate change, so he may just be carrying their water.
Affordability is the watch word these days. Initially Poilievre hung his hat on the mostly false claim that the federal deficit was the major cause of inflation But now he has resorted to another falsehood and set his gun sights on carbon pricing. He introduced a non-confidence motion in Parliament this past week, which could have forced an early election. But every other political party stood with the Trudeau crowd to defend carbon pricing.
Yet it is unfortunate that we are not having an election over how to mitigate Canada’s embarrassingly high carbon footprint. The politicians from every party except the one leading in the public opinion polls understand that this is the most cost-effective way to deal with one of the greatest existential threats to our planet. They get it.
As we remember Brian Mulroney this week, we should also consider how he tried to resolve fractious public policy issues. The Charlestown referendum ultimately settled the matter of constitutional change once and for all, despite Mulroney losing. Canadians were informed on the issue and they told the PM that they preferred the status quo and a stronger federal government.
The 1988 election was largely about free trade with the US and Mulroney won that debate. There would be winners and losers but, despite the pain of adjusting to change, an informed Canadian public elected the party which supported freer trade with the Americans.
Trudeau may claim that he won the last two elections over the issue of his carbon tax – it was his signature policy after all. But not everyone agrees, including Mr. Poilievre and a significant number of provincial leaders. The sentiment among pundits is that Trudeau has failed to fully inform, sell and convince the public on the merits of carbon pricing. Even the Globe and Mail, long a strong supporter of carbon pricing, is getting ready to write off this entire experience as a failure.
So, what better way to bring the public up to speed than to put the choice directly in their hands. Mr. Trudeau should make the next election about climate change, or conduct a referendum to shut up the critics. Trudeau’s is currently light years behind in the polls. If that trend continues and the Tories win the next election climate policy including carbon pricing will all be history.
Does the PM’s miserable poll numbers mean that Canadians also disapprove of carbon pricing? Or does the Tory party’s staggering lead in public opinion polls say more about a fickle and bored public wanting to change the channel, as they did a few years ago in Ontario? That was a move which ended Ontario’s role as one of three provinces leading the fight against climate change.
Successful politicians are often those who aren’t afraid to show courage – Mulroney was one of those. Unfortunately the new leader of the provincial Liberals is playing footsie on this issue, afraid to take a stand in case she says the wrong thing before the dust has settled. She is currently the leader of a third party and sitting on the fence will rightly ensure that she stays exactly where she is.
To end this on-going axe the tax partisan campaign Trudeau needs to answer the challenge and call the bluff. He needs to borrow a page from Mr. Mulroney’s book and make the next election a ‘climate change election’, if not now, certainly in 2025.
Following your own convictions and doing what you believe to be the right thing is not enough in a democracy. You need to have the public behind you. Trudeau needs to call Poilievre’s bluff and let an informed public finally decide on whether we need to continue with carbon pricing and the ultimate phase-out of fossil fuels in this country.
Trudeau needs to put an end to the prattling half-truths and outright lies pouring from the mouths of the opposition leader and his cabal of climate denying premiers once and for all. He needs to put the decision to fight for our future directly into the hands of an informed voting public.
Ray Rivers, a Gazette Contributing Editor, writes regularly applying his more than 25 years as a federal bureaucrat to his thinking. Rivers was once a candidate for provincial office in Burlington. He was the founder of the Burlington citizen committee on sustainability at a time when climate warming was a hotly debated subject. Ray has a post graduate degree in economics that he earned at the University of Ottawa. Tweet @rayzrivers
Writing
by Marco M. Pardi
“I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it short.” Blaise Pascal
All comments are welcome and will receive a reply. All previous posts are open for comment. Readers are encouraged to forward these materials to others.
I enjoy writing. But I suppose that if you have visited the archives on this site you have reached that conclusion. As a kid I did dabble with drawing and with musical instruments. Didn’t work out. However I did carve a very functional bow and several straight arrows from trees on our property. A useful skill, but not an art. File that for future reference. Besides, I didn’t want to kill anything. Not yet.
Anyway, writing was required in my classes and for my homework, much as I may have wanted to put an arrow through some of my instructors. But I was drawn to the written word. I didn’t know what other kids brought with them to the toilet, but I brought the dictionary. The kind which gave spelling, pronunciation, meaning, and etymology. Even with the most mundane of words, brushing aside those veils ushered me into dimensions beyond, or hidden within, the mere ink on the paper, or the memory of when I had last heard or read that word.
I read constantly, a veritable Bodleian Library spanning from esoteric “Classic Comic Books” to an old set of Encyclopedia Britannica with volumes so large and heavy I used them for bicep curls while thinking of what I had read. During this time I did not give much if any thought to the connection between what I had read and how I would speak, speaking opportunities being severely limited. Oh, in prep school Brother Ivo required each of us to stand before the class (10 to 12 boys also in coat and tie) and deliver a lengthy Declamation on a topic of our choice. The good news was the A; the bad news was the demand that I stand for the school Debate Team. I didn’t hold the spoken word in the same respectful domain as the written word. I had realized that people do not hear a word you say; they hear what they tell themselves you said. Spoken words are noisy, fleeting air. Yes, Brother Alphonso’s science class informed us that sounds reverberate forever, even leaving the confines of Earth as detectable chaff clouding the illusory emptiness of space. In years to come I would wonder if my hours of radio and television appearances dissuaded any invasions of Earth.
So, writing became an outlet, but mainly an inlet. An inlet into another world wherein I could be myself, and explore myself in ways inaccessible to me in everyday outer life. Grammar was never my strong point and when, in a university literature class I asked how it was that some famous authors, such as Faulkner with his marathon long sentences, could get a pass I was told it was “style”. So, I had style. In a Senior level philosophy class I overcame my mental bloc in handling mathematics. I realized that the fundamentals of both math and philosophy are relative powers, represented by one as numbers and by the other as words.
While in college I learned of “automatic writing”, a technique by which one sits with a pad of paper and a pencil in hand resting on the paper. The idea is that, in a quasi-meditative state one will begin to express deep thoughts onto the paper without the guidance of “conscious” thought. Well, I’m so glad there are ways of recycling paper. They lessen the guilt.
But for now I will yield the floor to Br. Mark Dohle, a Cistercian (Trappist) monk I have known for many years. I have found that one cannot read his writings without feeling the upwelling of something to say in return. In this piece he writes about Stream of Consciousness. Those of you who have read James Joyce’s Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man are familiar with this form. And so, I reach out to all those many readers in various countries to express yourselves on these pages. Commenting is free, easy, and risk free.
The Simple Apple. By Br. Mark Dohle
The more I write, the more a mystery, writing becomes for me. I often think that writing is like being a weaver with many different colored threads that are woven together to make the essay, or story, into a sort of multilayered work of art. Then when people read, they take the writing and make it their own, and what they find is not always what I intended. So, putting what one writes out there is a form of letting go of ownership. I am sometimes amazed at what people can make out of my writings. It is like the inner worlds of the reader and the writer coming together, or perhaps the word collide can also be used.
I am not a scholar or an intellectual at all. I write. I come up with a subject, sit down, and start typing. It is then that the essay or story will weave itself, or that is how it feels. Of course, it is all the years of experience and reading, that allow me to put things together, to give me the words to share. It can be a healing experience for me.
I am a stream-of-conscious writer. When people ask me how they can do that, I will often say: “Start writing about an apple, let yourself go, and allow the deep mind or the unconscious to bring ideas to the conscious mind. Don’t judge, just write, and keep on writing.”
I will do a stream-of-conscious piece now with you to show how it works. Of course, many of you already know the experience of writing in this way. Now, I sort of know how it works, but the finer points are lost to me. I just know that opening up your inner eye and allowing the images to speak to you can bring out aspects of your life, and also insights into life that you may not be able to think about without this kind of self-expression.
So I will write about, what I recommend to those who ask me about how I write. That is, I will write about an apple and see where it leads me.
The Simple Apple
When looking at this apple, I am reminded of one of my first memories. I am in a crib, and my mother is trying to get me to drink some apple juice out of a baby bottle. It is a glass bottle, with grooves that have the amount of liquid in the bottle. It is not an in-depth image, but I can remember my frustration about the apple juice. I hated it! So, she would put the bottle in, and I would push it out. This went on for a bit, and she finally took the bottle away. The memory itself is not important, so I do not know why I remember it.
Well, I am told I can be stubborn, which is not always something bad but can help seek to find oneself in the world. So, from the beginning I found myself trying to stand up for myself. Perhaps the flash of anger that I felt was what made the memory stick. Like a flashbulb taking a picture.
When I was in the 1st grade, the family lived near a town called Desoto, in the state of Missouri. It seemed like a large place to me, but of course, if I went back, I would be amazed at how different it is from my perceptions of a little one. I was small for my age up to my junior year in high school.
My mother loved to garden, and I guess it helped her to relax. It also put some food on the table. At the end of the field that my mom cultivated was a crab apple tree. I think it was this tree that helped me to develop a taste for apples. The apples on this tree were a combination of both sweet and sour, with that wild taste that apples can have. My mother tried to get us not to eat so many apples because we would go home and not be able to eat supper. She told us that our stomachs would explode if we kept eating them. Well, that did not work, and we kept eating. She knew that we knew that she was not speaking truly, so we just smiled and went off and ate some more apples.
So, crab apples were forbidden fruit, and I guess that made them even more desirable. I guess if Mom gave us a basket to load up and bring them home could have dampened our passion for the fruit. She lost her chance at reverse psychology.
The color of apples was also something that I did not like. Red is not my favorite color. Now when young until I was in my 60’s, burgundy, or perhaps wine, were liked by me. So, both my favorite and most hated colors were in the range of red. I wonder what Freud would think of that!
Now I seem to like a range of colors. Dark green, grey, and yes, yellow. Not sure it means anything. Red, though, I do like in cars, and when women wear some red clothing. Other than that, it is still not endearing to me. I think it reminds me of my struggle with strong emotions, and angry emotions. If there is an element that I feel attuned to, it is fire, and it wearies me. So green and grey are calmer for sure.
Being filled with fire though has helped me in my journey towards growing into a loving human being. Jesus calls us all to that. The kind of love that transcends family, religion, country, and yes whatever tribe we identify with. So, fire can be cleansing, or it can just burn everything to the ground. Even then, out of the ashes new life can grow. So, in the end, perhaps red is a color that is very positive even though I still do not like it all that much.
So ends my simple stream-of-consciousness about the apple. See how it works. It moves here and there, then comes back, and the longer you write, the more threads you can see coming out to shine. So, if you feel that you would like to see how you feel or believe about ‘something’. Just open your mind, and start writing, no matter how silly it seems, or how scary, just keep writing. It is a form of digging, and the keyboard, or pen, is the shovel. -Br.MD
by Br. Mark Dohle, Monastery of the Holy Spirit
I have known Br. Mark, a Cistercian (Trappist) monk, for over 25 years. Of the many monks and nuns I have known in my lifetime Br. Mark stands out as one of the few who fully engage in candid and respectful dialogue with people of all perspectives. I hope readers will avail themselves of this opportunity to do so. All comments are welcome and will receive a reply. All previous posts are open for comment. (Marco M. Pardi)
“If you only knew what compassion really is—the compassion you must strive to imitate! Overlooking everything to stoop to a heart’s needs, paying no attention to any disappointments or ingratitude, being even kinder to those who have hurt you. Just be your Christ for them. Bossis, Gabrielle. He and I (p. 173). Pauline Books and Media. Kindle Edition.
Compassion involves feeling another person’s pain and wanting to take steps to help relieve their suffering. The word compassion itself derives from Latin and means “to suffer together.” (https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-compassion-5207366)
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From my personal experience, I have found that compassion can be a source of suffering. When feeling compassion for another it is easy to try to save the one suffering. Or to find a way to fix the problem. More often than not that is impossible since most of our problems can be dealt with only by taking responsibility for one’s position. The word ‘responsible’ does not mean taking control of the situation, but having a willingness to do what is needed to extricate oneself from it. Making oneself a victim, to live from that position is not the way to go.
The people who have helped me most in my life, when I need help with a serious situation are those who listen, but do not step in to save me. We become compassionate because we understand suffering, and perhaps have learned from our past how to walk through it without becoming bitter, cynical, or callous.
When one’s center is rooted in the Infinite, when faith only becomes stronger when life seems dark, chaotic, and makes no sense, it is then that we learn about God’s grace, and on some level what God’s love is all about.
Today, it would appear compassion seems to be missing. I am not saying it is, but when everyone’s emotions come to the surface it is near impossible to be present to the pain of another. Especially when they feel discounted.
Br. Elias used to say: If you want to make someone fall into a rage, just discount them”. A lack of compassion makes the other person invisible behind a stereotype of some sort. People are not stereotypes, all one need do is to seek to calmly listen, and to gently say what one wants to say. Yelling, quoting, and glaring are not helpful tools to get someone to listen to you. Compassion can free us from the need to do that. However, to see the person before you, understanding their depth and complexity can bring up in yourself deep feelings, and emotions that are quite painful.
The human situation brings with it many joys, as well as suffering. We all carry something. To lack compassion, to run from seeking to understand another’s life, can only make life darker than it needs to be.
Christians are called to show Christ compassion. It is not an easy journey, but each human being is made in the image and likeness of God. We will either cause that image to grow, or we can make the inner wounds of those around us, which are invisible, more all-encompassing.
Compassion is a human trait, quite common, but can be overcome by burnout, or can lead to cynicism because we can all be difficult, stubborn, and manipulative when not at our best.
People can take advantage; I know I can be taken advantage of. This usually happens not because of bad will, but because of the compulsive side of compassion which will be unable to say no. Self-compassion will lead us to be truthful if we can’t help and allow us to change how others see us. Communication does that, we change for others, as we show who we are and are not ashamed to share that.
When compassion is lacking, we simply reduce others to stereotypes. It is easy to do to others, though I do not know of anyone who enjoys that happening to them.
The practice of living the Golden Rule takes a lot of self-knowledge and reflection, along with, I believe with prayer.-Br.MD
Br. Mark Dohle
Mulroney
By Ray Rivers
March 2nd, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
“Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful”. Samuel Johnson
All comments are welcome and will receive a reply. All previous posts are open for comment. Readers are invited to forward these posts.
“I came to office as Prime Minister determined to place the environment at the top of our national priorities,”( Brian Mulroney 2019)
It must have broken his heart when his daughter, the first Attorney General in Doug Ford’s Ontario government, led the provincial legal case against Canada’s new carbon tax. Brian Mulroney was too good a politician and father to criticize her but his praise of former federal environment minister McKenna said a lot about his views on climate change.
Brian Mulroney was a fish out of water in today’s conservative camps. Unlike his federal Conservative Party compatriots today, who can’t even agree that climate change is real, he understood that one of the most important responsibilities of any government is stewarding the environment. With that possibly in mind he argued that “In the final analysis, successful leaders do not impose unpopular ideas on the public, successful leaders make unpopular ideas acceptable to the nation.”
Former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney leads the chorus in singing an Irish song on stage with his wife (Mila) and U.S. President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan at the conclusion of a gala performance in Quebec City March 17, 1985.
His record of achievement on the environment was impressive. He initiated ongoing bi-national efforts to clean-up the Great Lakes. He negotiated the 1991 Acid Rain Accord with a reluctant American president. He hosted and facilitated the 1987 Montreal Protocol to protect the ozone layer, a landmark and successful global environmental treaty. And he implemented the federal Green Plan in which every member of his Cabinet was charged with environmental responsibilities. In 2006 he was recognized as Canada’s ‘greenest’ prime minister.
Some might say he was a leader before his time when it came to the environment. But that would be in contrast to his fellow conservative provincial leaders, particularly those today in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario. Alberta is the dirtiest province in Canada when it comes to generating climate warming pollution. And yet its upcoming budget bans the production of new clean energy and places a whopping tax on electric vehicles. And the province is slashing spending on forest fires management in the mistaken belief that all the pollution they pour into the air will not come back to haunt them as it has in previous years.
Mulroney speaking to students at St. Francis Xavier University
Brain Mulroney began his career as a labour lawyer and became a skilled negotiator and the master of the compromise. However he failed twice to convince Canadians to allow changes to our constitution in order to obtain Quebec’s signature. The Meech Lake accord and, even more so, the Charlottetown referendum, involved just too many compromises for too many Canadians.
The inadvertent upshot of those initiatives and their failures was the creation of the BLOC Québécois separatist party and the enhanced popularity of the Reform Party, both of which contributed to the ultimate demise and disappearance of the political party of Canada’s first prime minister. This was a sad ending to a party which less than a decade earlier had claimed the largest electoral victory in Canadian history, winning over 50% of both seats and the popular vote. Mulroney had notably won a virtual sweep of seats in Quebec, something unheard of since the Sir John A. MacDonald government had hanged Louis Riel, nearly causing a civil war.
Mulroney came into office promising to better handle government financial management than Mr. Trudeau who had apparently lost his way among inflation, stagnation and stagflation. But Mr. Mulroney’s government never came close to balancing the budget either. In fact the deficit in the last budgets of both leaders were almost identical in real terms. And Mulroney’s GST coupled with continued high interest rates precipitated one of Canada’s worst recessions since the 1930’s.
“In the final analysis, successful leaders do not impose unpopular ideas on the public, successful leaders make unpopular ideas acceptable to the nation.”
There was this darker chapter to Mr. Mulroney’s career, where his ill-advised dealings with a corrupt German lobbyist led to betrayal of the very ethics which he had once employed to discipline members of his own cabinet. But we are all human and we all make mistakes, even prime ministers. As Mr. Mulroney said in a 2011 TVO interview, nobody is perfect. Still Brian Mulroney continued to be regarded with respect and called upon for his counsel, including by newly minted PM Justin Trudeau over renewal of the North American trade deal.
Brian Mulroney with Nelson Mandela
Perhaps his greatest international accomplishment was leading the fight to end Apartheid in South Africa and freeing Nelson Mandela, the man who would lead that country out of its miserable past. Mulroney played hard ball by imposing sanctions on South Africa, then softer ball convincing Mrs.Thatcher and Ronald Reagan to join with him in securing a better future for the people of that country. To this date, he is regarded as a hero by South Africans.
Mulroney was fond of saying that history judges people primarily by what they accomplished. And he accomplished much over his two terms in office, particularly with regard to the environment. One’s legacy is about what is left behind for future generations after their time. And what could be more important to our children and grandchildren than the state of the planet we leave for them. And in that regard Brian Mulroney left a legacy for which we should all be thankful.
Ray Rivers, a Gazette Contributing Editor, writes regularly applying his more than 25 years as a federal bureaucrat to his thinking. Rivers was once a candidate for provincial office in Burlington. He was the founder of the Burlington citizen committee on sustainability at a time when climate warming was a hotly debated subject. Ray has a post graduate degree in economics that he earned at the University of Ottawa. Tweet @rayzrivers
Beyond Wind
“A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices”. William James
by Marco M. Pardi
“In this world, if a man sits down to think, he is immediately asked if he has a headache.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
All comments are welcome and will receive a reply. Readers are encouraged to forward this site, especially to someone they dislike, as they see fit. All previous posts are open for comment.
As the coed left Tonio’s faculty office she turned and said, “Thanks, Dr. Jones”. Tonio smiled, acknowledging the nickname the college students had attached to him following the release of Raiders of the Lost Ark”. By now he was sure no one knew of his “other” persona. On hearing that light hearted tribute he sometimes thought of the name he used, Noman, a derivative of the “No Man” Odysseus used to deceive Polyphemus in the Odyssey. But for official documents pertaining to travel he usually used his actual name.
Years earlier he had faced a choice: Become an analyst, or become a case officer. Not wanting to sit in a cubicle reading documents day and night, then frequently facing the equivalent of Thesis Defense, he rejected analyst. Knowing how case officers function by seducing people to become agents, and the acronym for their willingness MICE – Money, Ideology, Compromise, Ego, he also rejected that. His deciding objection was based on the policy that the potential agent (“Joe”) must accept remuneration and sign a receipt for that remuneration, thus certifying he or she was a traitor to their country. If they attempt to refuse a task or to withdraw from further agent work, the receipts could be sent to the agent’s Counter-Intelligence Service. There, an uncertain fate awaited them. Tonio found that morally unacceptable.
So, with friends in high places he accepted a college teaching position, talent scouting and being on call for “problem resolution”. He had quietly laughed when he realized another term for the latter was “trouble shooter”. Several colleges and universities were possibly good fits; each had senior administrators who were retired high ranking military officers or IC officers. They would quickly grant sudden leave of absence, even sabbaticals, for an early middle age instructor gathering research for publication. And the GS-11 pay, combined with the Instructor salary, the unlimited expense account in the field, and the negotiable percentage of the bounty money on the targets was enough. For now. His array of non-human companions was well cared for. Human companions, if any, could pay their own freight.
With no more scheduled student consultations he opened his desk drawer and withdrew a pamphlet which included a piece by a Trappist monk. Students were constantly slipping literature under his door, some of it clearly intended to “save” him. He found most if it amusing and some of it disgusting but, given his upbringing in monastic schools, this monk interested him. He did not believe in a god of any kind, but the monastic life, as a secular Buddhist, called to him. He did not then know that in fifteen years he would meet this monk and consider him his best friend. He opened the pamphlet and read:
Living the inner life is an art. It takes time to develop, and the deepening of our inner journey is always at the beginning. That is one aspect of eternity, always at the beginning, always fresh and filled with hope.
How do we live our faith? We cannot make much progress if we do not encourage the habit of self-reflection. The ability to face the truth about ourselves without becoming overcome with self-hatred and despair. This may seem dramatic, but it is rare to meet people who can take corrections well. It is always a shock to our egos when we are faced with our ability to do evil or act out of simple ignorance.
The seed of our problems does begin with our past, but the real culprit is how we decode it. Even if we understand what happens to us, we may not be able to see how it controls us in the present. Marriages, friendships, and our relationships with authority often feed from this deep abyss of pain from our long-forgotten past. Even if we do get deep insight, how do we grow in the freedom to be able to move towards growth, without simply being a victim?
We live what we believe, even if it is unconscious. That is why we can see others in ways that may be impossible for them to comprehend. We all know angry friends, but who are not aware of it, but is obvious by how they treat others. Of course, that goes for me as well. I do not doubt that my friends see aspects of my personality that I am not cognizant of, but it comes out on an unconscious level.
So if we consciously live out our faith, it can slowly lead us deeper into truth. Once we begin the journey, dive into our faith tradition and get to the heart of it there will be a deep realignment in our minds and souls. From this comes inner conflict as we grow towards the freedom that we are called to have. We become children of God (speaking as a Christian), and because of that we over time grow in the love of self. Jesus commanded that we love ourselves, others, and of course God. To allow the love of God into our hearts, and our being open to the process of self-knowledge, will over time, lead to the coming forth of compassion and empathy at a depth never before understood.
Why is that? Well, we know what we are capable of, we can understand why Jesus said, “Only God is good”, and most important of all, our need for mercy, which can bring healing. We then learn why we must forgive others because they are no different than us. The more people seem to reject the reality of sin, which is fed by our self-hatred, the more easily they are shocked by the downfall of others.
Prayer brings us face to face or draws us into the very heart of the Father that was shown to us by Jesus. In the parable of the Prodigal Son, we are shown a love that is way beyond the love of the most loving human being. That love is for each of us, hence, our need to forgive all who hurt us in our past, present, and yes one day in our future.
We seem to love the burden of hatred, anger, and the desire for revenge and do not know its weight until it is taken from us by the healing power of God’s love. Not forgiving takes away our inner freedom and we remain stuck in the past, and we allow that past to draw us, both as individuals and as a culture, into the meaningless cycle of suffering and pain.
We are used by the Infinite Mind, by Christ Jesus for healing and mercy if we seek to deepen our trust in the reality of God’s presence. Prayer is not a luxury but an absolute necessity. It can save us from taking on judgments that we are commanded not to make.
In the NDE, at the life review, this is brought out. Everyone we meet is important, how we treat them, judge them, or not judge them has repercussions that we cannot at this time understand. Much of the suffering of the world now has its roots in the deep past, kept alive by hatred, fear, and the inability to forgive.
It is God’s grace that touches the human heart at a deep level allows us to see deeply and refrain from going after others, and gives us the desire to see, listen, and seek to understand. This can be done in truth. Speak the truth in love, not in anger nor judgment.
So, dive in, leap forward, and lift your hearts in faith no matter what the storms of life bring you.-BrMd
As with earlier writings by this monk Tonio wondered who BrMD was. He also wondered if this monk knew that, by dropping references to a god or a supreme being and prayer this piece could have come directly from Buddhist literature. Indeed, the famous Sermon on the Mount sounds borrowed from Buddhists among the multitude of Eastern traders, merchants, craftsmen, and immigrants who had been traveling through and settling in the Middle East for many years. But true Buddhism does not intend to displace religion; it is simply a guide to self discovery. The ultimate Self.
And Tonio did sometimes wonder how much of and which parts of his past may have influenced his willingness to embrace the life choices he had made. He knew that hangers-on from the ’60’s and early ’70’s would take a dim view of him, or even surround him in a “love circle to release him from the chains of his past”. Bullshit. There were truly and profoundly evil men and women in the world, despite the folk songs and flower power, and Tonio was deeply satisfied with terminating them. And those who would criticize him the loudest would never know their freedom to do so had largely come from people like him.
A series of Presidential Executive Orders, begun by Gerald Ford, prohibited U.S. assassination of foreign leaders. But subsequent Administrations found ways around these, such as Presidential Findings, applied to individual terrorists and groups. The general public had yet to hear of and understand the new battlefield of “asymmetric warfare” and “extra-judicial killing”, but that would soon come.
He felt Br.MD, whoever he was, would really understand. Probably not approve, but understand. And he knew that was more than he could expect from most people.
Tonio did identify Br. MD. Mark Dohle, a Trappist monk. One day he would pay him a visit.
Artificial Intelligence
by Marco M. Pardi and Br. Mark Dohle
“Just think of how stupid the average person is, and then realize that half of them are even stupider.” George Carlin
“Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.” Ernest Hemingway
“Many people would sooner die than think. In fact, they do.” Bertrand Russell
In recent months there has been increasing concern over the potentials of artificial intelligence – A.I. Actually, I have long been concerned over the use of the word Intelligence. This is because I strictly distinguish intelligent from smart. To me, smart is the ability to receive, retain, and repeat given information. Intelligence is the ability to do all the aforementioned but also and mainly to recombine that information into a new and unforeseen revelation, causing listeners to form some version of, “Oh, I never thought of that.” Smart is static; intelligence is kinetic. Smart is for Librarians*; they know where everything is. Intelligence is for Scientists; they know how to take existing information and form new questions, taking us where we have not yet been.
* I in no way intend to demean librarians. I have great respect for them.
Having said that, many questions arise. For example, what do we do when the answer to a question arrives through a computer process so complex it is beyond our ability to fully understand how we received it? I remember primary school math classes in which I happened to guess the right answer, and got a sound beating from the nun when I could not explain how I had gotten it. Do we just accept the answer “on faith”? This, and similar questions arise when we increasingly develop powerful super-computers which quickly deliver answers we would need as much as a lifetime to verify. I was thinking of this while at a dinner party at a cousin’s home. He looked up toward the end of the meal and said, “Alexa, play Chopin’s Nocturne Op. 9, No. 2 in E Flat Major.” Within seconds the assembled guests were treated to a digestive aide like no other. I was suddenly inspired that when this had finished I would ask Alexa, “What is the meaning of Life?” But I didn’t want to impose. Nor did I want to chance crashing his system. To this day I wonder what she would have said. But I suspect Alexa was smart, not intelligent; she was able to understand my cousin’s request, quickly access information she had stored, and play it for him. She didn’t say, “Oh, that’s nice, but wouldn’t you rather hear Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain, or Capriccio Italien, Op. 45 by Tchaikovsky? Those would go better with the conversation all of you have been having.” She was a librarian, not a scientist.
To bring the issue into more personal perspective, we are again entering an election cycle. The current concern is the ease with which “Deep Fakes” can be generated both in audio and in visual. In fact, the audio iterations have already been deployed via telephone, providing misinformation through the well known voice of the current President. Years ago I was asked by a trainer- interrogator if the voice recording she had just played was my voice. (Spoiler alert: It was) I answered, “It does sound like me, but I would have to see an oscilloscope voice print comparison to give you a definite answer. I presume you’ve done one.” (Right answer) She had not done a comparison. I would have trapped myself.
I don’t know how well matched to a person the audio Deep Fakes actually are now, but I understand that simply capturing a public speech, or parts of speech such as answering a phone, would be sufficient to generate a foolproof copy. And, in any case, most households don’t have an oscilloscope paired to their phones or computers. So, once again, we are about to enter an atmosphere alive with campaign ads, claims, snippets of “hot mike” utterances, and other phenomena broadcast 24/7 to influence our votes. Apparently, we will also see visual representations of influential figures convincingly saying things which are believable by the predisposed or the naive, but not true. But the idea of such a development is not new. In his 1970 book Future Shock Alvin Toffler described this eventuality in such detail as to cause shock in a large percentage of readers. The question we might ask is: Do we think the meaningful majority of American voters will recognize the deceptions for what they are?
I think it has already been established that America is firmly divided into two opposing camps with a growing middle ground of “Independents”. Thus, each camp will accept confirmatory information while the Independents continue to think for themselves. And it will be that group that is the target for the disinformation.
A far more disturbing application of Artificial Intelligence is that of weapons development and deployment. Do we want our weapons systems to decide it is time to launch a world wide nuclear war? News at 11. (We will examine this in a later post)
I assume the readership of this ongoing column spans a wide age spectrum. So, there will be readers who see themselves in the following. I was 41 years old when I first laid hands on an actual computer. And I will admit that some of the work I did years ago, such as disengaging and then configuring and re-entering the lock combinations on multi-million dollar nuclear missile blast doors – even in -30 degree temperature – was not as anxiety producing as entering a simple sign-in on an office computer. So it is with that thought in mind that I yield “the floor” to Br. Mark Dohle, a lifelong Cistercian (Trappist) monk, to tell us of his development in the mysterious world of the internet.
My experience of the internet as a monk, by Br. Mark Dohle
I started using the Internet in 1999. I was fifty years old and was a little hesitant to start. However, it did not take long for me to understand that the computer was quite easy to navigate.
Being curious about other belief systems I started joining some discussion forums that had beliefs that were very different from mine. So, I got a Yahoo address and started joining some of the ‘groups’. I joined two groups using a different name. I was shy about saying I was a monk because of the stereotypes, both good and bad about my life’s choice. It was an eye-opening experience for me.
I joined two so-called “free thinkers” forums and dived in. The first benefit I got from joining was that those who were involved, seeing how I was struggling to be coherent in my writing, gave me good instruction on how to just write about one topic. So, over the course of a year, my ability to express myself improved. Those who helped me the most were the ones who reacted to my opinion in very strong terms. It took a while to get used to that. It helped me to still state my point of view, without worrying about changing anyone’s mind, which is impossible anyway.
Also, the internet allowed me to navigate to sites that allowed me to study subjects that would have been difficult without the internet.
The problem that I encountered over the years is the discovery that many people just stuck with their own ‘tribe’, and that made it more difficult to have any kind of a discussion, apart from them stating the party line without anything personal added. That went for all groups. Free thinkers do it, believers do it. This is true over the political spectrum as well. So, the paradox is that we have all this information out there, which could allow us to grow in understanding of those different from us. However, more often than not, the only knowledge that was let in was that they agreed with beforehand. It is called ‘confirmation bias’. Yes, I am guilty of it as well, it is very difficult to break out of the intellectual prison.
In our monasteries worldwide the issue of internet use is a strong focal point. Overall, we do well, but we understand that we are at the beginning of this information revolution and will only get more intrusive. We know that we have to use the internet for its many benefits, but because of our human nature, it could be used as an escape from living out our vocation.
Enclosure used to be straightforward, now on the web I can travel the world, have friends in many different countries, and find many sites, good in themselves, that could slow down the monastic journey. The proper monastic use of the web takes discipline.
I do think that the rising technology has taken on a life of its own, and it has us, we do not have it. I believe that we are still an immature species, and knowledge while good, and needed, can be used in ways that are based on either the will-to-power, or greed. Both are shortsighted and dangerous.
AI over time could dumb us down, because it will do all the work for us. It is here to stay, and it worries me, but still there is hope. The way things are going it looks dim, but hope springs eternal as the saying goes.-Br.MD
Benevolent Dictatorship?
by Marco M. Pardi
“Most men, after a little freedom, have preferred authority with the consoling assurances and economy of effort which it brings.” Walter Lippmann. 1929
“The technique of acquiring dictatorship over what had been a democracy…always involves the same mixture of bribery, propaganda, and violence.” Bertrand Russell. 1938
All comments are welcome and will receive a reply. All previous posts are open for comment; check the archives. Readers are encouraged to forward these posts as they please.
Anywhere but here! Sound familiar? Ever said it? Of course, if you are reading this you are likely in a place from which you can draw some pretty unpleasant alternatives you would want to exclude. I can’t imagine anywhere in the world where a reader would allow North Korea to be included in “Anywhere”. And that is only the start of the exclusion list.
That feeling, the desire to be someplace else, develops at very young ages. Anyone who has read a bedtime story to a child and has seen their eyes become focused on a private location they imagine can attest to that. Some of us even remember those events, if not those places. I didn’t get bedtime stories, but I remember raptly listening to Leonard Bernstein’s rendition of Peter and the Wolf. Of course, I was cheering for the wolf.
A big part of the takeaway from that program was imagining myself in the deep forest among all the non-human animals. It probably inspired my youthful vocation to be a hermit.And, it helped me understand how music evokes imagery.
Over the years I’ve read countless historical fiction, futuristic fiction, and non-fiction books often describing in detail various societal and governmental structures which differed widely. (Words of advice: If you are potentially suicidal, do not read Albert Camus’ L’Etranger. Nor should you read Arthur Koestler’s Darkness at Noon. Perhaps Voltaire’s Candide would be comforting).
But none of the many books and papers adequately prepared me for the chaos and dystopia of the reappearance of the American Nazi (Fascist) Party personified by Donald J. Trump atop a mountain of supporters, visible and hidden. As many readers know, I have a deeply personal history with the origins and development of modern Fascism. Yes, many of the policies, positions, and developments of the “Republican” Party since U. S. Grant left the presidency were – and are – foreshadows and, later, outright emulations of the practices enacted by Mussolini and later Hitler.
For me, perhaps the most stunning practice was the tricked and/or forced separation of children, even infants, from their families at the immigration intake centers along the U.S. – Mexico border. The families were told the children were being taken for baths. Several thousand were taken, many of which have not been seen since and are deemed “lost”. I was speechless as I saw this covered on news reports. All that was missing was coverage of the boxcars, guarded by armed soldiers, waiting to take them to the death camps. Of course, we were given vague comments that they were fostered, or outright adopted, by American families. The Trump administration was unable to find and return hundreds of these children because no records were kept. The families were forcibly deported to their points of origin, without their children.
But where was the outrage? Were Americans simply ignorant of what the Nazis had done in Europe, or were Americans unconcerned at what happens to a “different” ethnic group?
Throughout those years we witnessed many examples of the past becoming the present. We saw nighttime Tiki Torch parades of the Pubescent Boys marching and chanting, “Jews will not replace us”. As if anyone would want to. And we watched the Oaf Keepers gather about their leader, megaphone in hand and loudly blathering out, sounding as comprehensible as two skeletons having sex on a tin roof. Then, during the insurrection on January 6th, we saw a line of them, in their Army surplus store costumes, assaulting the Capital with tactics they probably learned from streaming “war movies”. When, after several hours of bloodshed, their “Commander-in-Chief” told them they were loved and should go home I assume they returned to the clubhouse to gush over their valor in combat with those people in different uniforms – the police. If ever there was a better example of children playing out their fantasies, I haven’t seen it.
But, as many readers know, I have blathered about all this several times. I think we now must face a question which has briefly surfaced before, but which now carries the compounding factors of technology we have not seen before. Should we admit that there is a substantial body of Americans too gullible, too naive, too ignorant (in the strict sense of not knowing), too easily influenced by outright lies and fabrications, and/or just too stupid to be empowered with the vote? The Trump cabal won the White House even though they lost the popular vote by several million; they simply concentrated on those States which would award them a majority of Electoral College votes.
Nonetheless, that cabal did garner many millions of votes across the country. And, according to recent polls and surveys, many, if not most of those who voted for Trump are anxious to do so again, even despite his impending convictions on multiple felony charges, his personal and familial grift of millions of taxpayer dollars, his violations of the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution, and his daily blizzard of proven lies. A survey out today indicates that over 60% of Republicans in New Hampshire think a President should be granted Immunity from all criminal prosecutions for actions taken while in office. If this is not a symptom of a potentially fatal systemic problem I do not know what is.
There is a phenomenon known in cellular biology as Apoptosis. Found especially in aging cells, it is a process in which the internal structures of the cell spontaneously begin to break down, resulting in what is commonly called “cellular suicide”. The outcome is invariably fatal.
As an Anthropologist I have wondered if the principle of apoptosis can be applied to societies. Specifically, when a society gets too big and/or too complex it breaks down from within. I am certainly not the only one to conceive of this; it has been voiced by significant politicians and political scientists. And, it is well to remember that the American Civil War did not erupt spontaneously; as early as the 1820’s slave owning Southern white elitists, self describing as “good Christians”, attempted to hamstring the federal government into a body which had authority only to protect the property of Americans. Their core value was States’ Rights, not federalism. And although they represented only about 4% of the American population, they succeeded in birthing a monstrous and bloody internal war.
Perhaps it’s a personal quirk but I react to the misuse of terms. One such misuse is calling the United States a Nation. A nation is a group of people sharing strongly held core values. There is a Navajo Nation, a Cherokee Nation, and numerous others within the United States, several of them characterized and identified by their geographical location. But among these groups there is clearly a geographically dispersed nation whose core values directly contradict the Constitution of the United States. And here is where we are in deep trouble. The plethora of devices and avenues by which we can instantly communicate renders geography irrelevant. Yet, like the 4% who incited a war, the people who feel solidarity through their shared communication are able to exert immense power. Such as electing a president. Our airwaves, in various formats, are alive 24 hours a day with messages and “information” which some take as baseless vitriol and others as revealed wisdom. And there is little or no control. This, to use a well worn phrase, constitutes a “Clear and present danger”.
But what mechanisms does our society, our aging cell, have to control the conflicts and dissensions arising within? Should we invest power in the President such that he or she can dictate what can be said? Shall we require voters to submit to tests illuminating their Civics competence, their intelligence, their trusted sources from which they form their judgments? The United State has often relied upon the belief that though there may be ill qualified voters, they will be outweighed by competent voters in the final tally. Well, it took a war to sort that out in the 1860’s, and a precipitous flirtation with economic, racial, and ethnic disparity and Constitutional collapse in 2016 to bring us to where we are today. And some, manifestly, want a replay.
In his recent campaign speeches current President Joe Biden advises us to ask ourselves, “Who are we?”. To that I answer, We are obviously not a nation. What then, if anything, holds us together? What will stave off the process of societal apoptosis? Is it more top down control? If so, in whom do we invest that authority?
This site is well read in several countries around the globe. I am personally convinced that these readers are well aware that political dissolution befalling the United States would present probably insurmountable problems throughout the world. I suggest that interested readers should visit their public libraries (if they still exist and the librarians have not been imprisoned as it being pushed in the United States) and check out two books: Liz Cheney’s book, Oath & Honor: A memoir and a warning; and Heather Cox Richardson’s book, Democracy Awakening.
Liz Cheney is a former Republican congressperson, not reelected as punishment for investigating the January 6th insurrection. Heather Cox Richardson is Professor of History at Boston College.
I think apathy is a primary fuse igniting what could become our apoptosis. I hope you are still interested, and will take a moment to comment. And, feel free to forward this site as you wish.
Note: Consistent readers have noted, and welcomed, various contributors to the content of this site. The welcome addition of these contributors is by design. This site was conceived and erected as a forum for the free and open exchange of ideas among a variety of people, wherever in the world they may reside. It was not so conceived as a pulpit for one author. It should be understood, therefore, that the appearance of a contributing author and/or topic is not a prima facie endorsement of that author or topic, but rather a recognition of the value of free speech and exchange in a culture rapidly sinking toward authoritarian restrictions of the freedoms this country was founded upon.
So too, it was conceived for the readers to submit and exchange their thoughts in the form of comments on the topics presented. The software providing and supporting this site does not, and cannot, locate and identify any contributor of content or comment. Nor can it refer an identity to outside resources. However, the site is monitored 24/7 and offensive or threatening material, either content or comment, will be purged and the provider barred from the site.
With the above statements in mind it is hoped that readers will feel more comfortable and secure in actively participating in what this site provides. The site is not free of charge to the administrator, yet no cost will accrue to any reader, contributor, or provider of comment. MMP
Inner Chaos and the Life of Prayer
by Mark Dohle, a Cistercian (“Trappist”) monk
“By yourself you are chaos. Do you fully realize this? Do you try to keep it in mind? Have you humbled yourself today in thought or deed? Not to cause you distress nor diminish your strength, but to tighten your hold on the power of your God, who is only waiting for your call.
Bossis, Gabrielle. He and I (p. 182). Pauline Books and Media. Kindle Edition.
People often think of prayer, the inner journey, and seeking to live a deep spiritual life as a hobby of sorts, which is not all that important. Or if pursued, is something done to get some sort of result. Inner peace, healing, etc. The seeking after God can bring all the above, but often not in ways that people seek, or want.
From my experience, and I am truly only speaking for myself here, it is the practice of prayer that allows one to deal with inner chaos in such a way that leads to the fulfillment of one’s purpose.
One of the biggest obstacles to prayer is society in general. Cultures want their citizens to lock step in a tight formation, meanwhile using the term liberation as its catchword. As society becomes more dependent on technology this process is accelerated and harder to overcome.
This can be seen on an innocent level by the popularity of tattoos. Everyone has them, they mean nothing but simple ornaments. Yet they can be shortsighted because of the aging process. The in thing is to be oneself, by being like everyone else. This is not always bad if it allows us to deepen our relationship with the Infinite. But Fashion is another example of mindlessly following the dictates of someone else telling us what is in, and what we need.
How do prayer and a deep inner life free us from being herded along following the orders of the prevailing culture?
Well, one thing to remember is that we all need some sort of community to live in. We need feedback, as well as the struggle, that allows us to grow in our knowledge of self. A good Spiritual path will bring us in direct opposition to all that is in us that wants to just go along. To sink into the collective and not struggle, at least on the level of morality.
Now spirituality has its pitfalls as well. All one needs to do is investigate some of the fanatical forms of religion. That is to be expected given the nature of our species as well. It can be seen in political movements. Even in sports, people go nuts over their home team, and when they lose, well it can be truly tragic for them.
As a species, we are trapped in acting out in ways that seem to be programmed. We can’t seem to break out of cycles of war. Hatred for those who are different comes naturally to us. Yet it would seem we go along with it no matter how absurd we know the outcome will be. It is always the same outcome.
The problem is that to break out of these ways of acting calls for a deep inner struggle that fights our need for revenge, often called justice, and other forms of collective destruction. The wheel turns and for the most part, it is easy to be caught on the outside of this ever-turning wheel.
When we pray from the heart, there is a slow turning towards seeking solutions to the above. The answer seems simple, but it is one of the most difficult chores we are all called to do. It can take a lot of inner struggles, and sweating blood to allow it to happen. It also takes ‘grace’.
It is forgiveness of our enemies, to love those who hate us. These words flow easily but are hard to accomplish. It does take death to self to be able to let go of the need for some sort of blood debt. If we could begin with that, then other aspects of our inner lives could be looked at and find answers from living out of our deep center. I guess we can only do this one person at a time, and then as we learn to forgive, love, and let go of other tendencies that lead to chaos in our lives, perhaps change will come.
In the United States, the year 2024 is going to be a wild ride. We are backed into some tight corners with no way out. All that seems to be happening is that pretty much two sides are hating each other, throwing the same insults at one another, and thinking that they are taking the high road. I have no idea what is going on. I do know that unless the soul is dealt with, and healing sought, we will take our inner wars outside to those around us. Leading to all of us carrying the pain, anger, and yes, the deep rage at one another.
So, pray, give it a try. If you do not know who you pray to, just address your heart, desires, hopes, and yes dreams, to the ‘Great Mystery’. Christians know with whom they seek union I believe that those who pray from the heart, will in the end find Infinite Love waiting for them. It is grace, we can’t earn it, but we are called to seek, knock, and open up our hearts.-Br.MD
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