Notes from the Road» Politics

Music and Ego

tim — Mon, 12 May 2008 21:27:20 +0000

Music connects us.

We celebrate the richness of life through creativity—expression of beauty, pain, our reality.

Our task is to create better thoughts and feelings so people can be united. Unity is the result of letting go of the walls we build in our minds. Learning to say “yes!”—first to ourselves; then to each other.

I’m looking up at the trees, wondering why we love nature. Perhaps because it has no ego, no agenda. It doesn’t want to change us, and it doesn’t judge us. Yet nature is an elemental force of unimaginable power that can overtake us in a moment, through storm, or fire, or earthquake.

It seems that we find ourselves in difficulties when our egos clash. My ego and my view of yours. Because you are human, I can imagine you are as agenda-driven, as false, as critical as I can be. So I must fear and control you, as I try to protect my fragile identity, that slips in and out of focus.

Music is a good way to create communication and empathy, because it can operate without words, without external logic, and without judgement.

Technology will let us live forever

tim — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 16:27:35 +0000

Ray Kurtzweil is not only a respected technologist and innovator, he is also known as something of a futurist. His latest book, The Singularity is Near, argues that technology will radically change our experience of living, and will fix a lot of the things that eventually kill us. There’s a summary of some of the main points here.

It occurs to me that there’s a connection to something the Jesuit theologian Teilhard de Chardin said many years ago – that there’s educational evolution as well as physical evolution. When we learn new things, we are irrevocably changed. The connection is that Kurtzweil is reminding us that technology, which is the result of knowledge, and therefore inextricably linked to education, evolves faster than we do biologically. Our bodies will be overtaken developmentally by machines. This is unavoidable.

The challenge for all of us is to make the absolute best of this that we can. To be responsible, forward-looking, and to express our care for the future of our world in the way we harness the potential of our technology-rich future.

Was the Presidential election rigged?

tim — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 10:16:45 +0000

It’s frustrating that the public don’t seem to have enough information to make a good judgement. I’ve heard about statistically improbable differences between exit polls and the returned vote count, but here is the most detailed and damning discussion of the topic I’ve ever seen – reported in Rolling Stone in June.

The article by Robert F Kennedy Jr. presents data indicating that a variety of mechanisms were used to disenfranchise voters in Ohio – and it indicates that the errors almost exclusively favoured the Republicans at the expense of the Democrats.

I wish I really knew. It’s not much of a democracy if we tolerate this kind of thing.

Rhetoric vs. logic

tim — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 14:52:05 +0000

President Bush is at it again. Not surprising, of course, he needs to defend his choices even if they were wrong ones. The latest example of faith leaping headlong over logic was from his 9/11 speeches reported here.

“We will not leave [Iraq] until this work is done. Whatever mistakes have been made in Iraq, the worst mistake would be to think that if we pulled out, the terrorists would leave us alone,” Mr. Bush said. “They will not leave us alone. They will follow us. The safety of America depends on the outcome of the battle in the streets of Baghdad.”

The illogic is the idea that war in Iraq brings peace to the US. This is such patent nonsense it’s hard to credit it even being said. Not only is the war in Iraq hardening Islamic hearts towards America (and Britain, among others), it’s also failing to create peace in that country, let alone ours. And Iraq is not in fact the only, or the main place where Al Quaeda is active. The focus on Iraq smacks of a personal vendetta. If peace and safety for Americans is really the goal, let’s see a much more balanced approach:

defend against terror wherever it’s found
build alliances to increase communication and understanding
use aid as a compassionate tool to reduce inequality across the globe
don’t use the terror word as a label for people we don’t like – keep it for those who truly fit the bill.

Saint Osama?

tim — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 14:33:38 +0000

This controversial piece was written to try to counteract the black-and-white, good and evil, freedom versus terrorist rhetoric that abounded following the 9/11 attacks. Now several years on, I think it still has merit. We see the US and other governments spending enormous resources on war, creating enormous pain and division, while there are many humanitarian causes that would not only have benefited directly from those funds, but that would go some way to building bridges between East and West, Christian and Moslem. It is deeply disappointing that fear and anger continue to prevail, where in truth compassion – and compassionate action – seems much more likely to create sustainable progress.

Attending Aurora Theater’s marvelous “Saint Joan” last week in Berkeley, I was struck by the parallels between the life of this fifteenth century warrior and our current nemesis in Afghanistan. Joan of Arc was a religious extremist who believed that God gave her precise instructions, independent of the advice of the established church or civil government. She also spoke of “France” and “England” in a day when both land masses were ruled in haphazard fashion by feudal lords.

Shaw suggests she was cast out of the church and burned at the stake because she threatened and undermined the institutions of the day. The Catholic Church was unwilling to embrace a theology of individual relationship with God, and the feudal lords were unwilling to relinquish power to a national leadership. With the benefit of hindsight, we can see that nationalism and Protestantism have both taken hold across the world.

As we look at the events of September 11th, we may see them very much in the way the English viewed Saint Joan. An individual, with a personal vision that is independent of the mainstream dictates of Islam and independent of the national interests of nations, launches crippling attacks on an enemy who bin Laden believes to be interfering unjustly and illegally with the rights of Arabs and Moslems. The damage caused by his attacks is unprecedented on this continent. Ultimately, however, like Saint Joan, bin Laden stands outside the perceived interests of his own constituency. His extremism threatens Arab self-determination, and it does not implement mainstream Islamic theology and ethics. Equally, his aggression threatens and outrages the West, where we have enjoyed, perhaps unrealistically, an illusion of security.

Early Christian doctrine, as well as some elements within Islam, take the view that those who die in the service of their God have a special place in heaven. Political and religious extremists emerge when there is a deep feeling of injustice in the world. A leader needs followers, and a sizeable organization like Al Qaeda is staffed by men and women who share the sense of anger and outrage bin Laden embodies. I do not say this to dignify or excuse their actions. Once a person or a group has crossed the line from anger to terrorism, they must be brought to justice. Yet it would be so much better to undermine the anger and injustice by feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and using our foreign policy as a tool for balance and respect, rather than short-term self-interest.

It has become clear that we are engaged in two wars: the (supposedly) short war in Afghanistan addressed to the disabling of Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda, and the longer global war against terrorism. While the short war may be won with bombs and bullets, an even-handed, generous and ultimately forgiving approach to non-military aid is our most powerful weapon in the larger war against terrorism. It took more than five hundred years for Joan to be declared a saint – she was the enemy in the short war, but the hero of a longer campaign for peace and principle. If Osama bin Laden prompts us to create a world in which there is no need for terror, might he not have earned his own canonization?

A Sailor’s View

tim — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 14:29:48 +0000

This was written for a US publication called “Spinsheet” that serves the yachting community. Following the attacks on New York and Washington, the paper asked readers to contribute their thoughts. With September 11th approaching again, I thought it was worth reprinting. Here’s what I wrote.

Sailing connects me with the planet, and with all the peoples of the world. It is easy to forget in these difficult times that the US is not the center of the universe, and that we are not the only people to have suffered a terrorist attack or to have lost innocent citizens in recent years. Yet every time we climb into a boat, and head away from the dock, we are physically connected, through the seas that surround the globe, to our fellow-travelers across the world.

The sea does not play favorites, or reward one ideology or religion or political system over another. We are humbled by its power, and rewarded by its beauty every time we sail. On the sea we have learned a code of behavior that is very much like the Bedouin tradition of hospitality. On the seas, as in the desert, we understand our frailty and interdependence – our need for each other. Help is granted immediately, generously, and often at some personal risk, when the need arises.

In our anger and pain, let us remember the lessons of the sea: care, tolerance, and a healthy dose of insignificance.

An unsettling similarity

tim — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 12:45:00 +0000

This quotation seems eerily consistent with the current British and US approach to communicaton with the electorate:

“Of course the people don’t want war… That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it’s always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it’s a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.”

The quotation is from Hermann Goering.

A Foundation for Peace

tim — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 12:39:00 +0000

I was in Brittany last week at a wedding (a wonderful experience in itself!), and I met a person who leads a foundation focussing on teaching and promoting peace with children. The website is http://www.graines-de-paix.org, and it’s a multi-lingual site.
If you’re interested in working with children to promote peace, this is a good place to start. It’s mostly in French, but there’s some interesting material and it’s worth a look. They are interested in setting up contacts with persons and groups in Britain. For more info, contact Delia Mamon at delia.mamon@graines-de-paix.org.

Safely home again

tim — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 15:21:00 +0000

We came in from San Francisco without event. The security here was a little tougher than we’d seen at Heathrow – our carry on bags were briefly searched at the gate right before we climbed on the plane.

Travel restrictions not as severe as the media portrays

tim — Tue, 22 Aug 2006 19:36:00 +0000

We travelled to the US a few days after the height of the crisis – they had just allowed one small carry-on bag.In fact to my surprise the security process was no more onerous than usual – we were never searched, and the only change was the additional question (and restriction) related to liquids.We made it to the airport with 3 hours to spare and ended up with a lot of time to waste in the departure lounge.

It’s hard to judge if there were additional checks that we didn’t see, but my experience of the trip was no material difference from normal international travel.

We’ll see how it is on the way back…