Violence and History

A little bit of military history, to start us off:

Much of today's military continue to follow principles that ancient armies developed and then the Roman Army perfected.  For example, the phalanx and shield-wall, which required extraordinary discipline to maintain the soldiers in tight formation.

Now, this shield-wall is mostly stationary, and only holds together for a short time, but it gives an idea how shields can interlock and be used:

At Disney World's Epcot Center, we took the ride, Spaceship Earth as it described a history of communications. Spaceship Earth, like most Western Civilization courses, traces back from Egypt to Greece, and then Rome. Bypassing most of the Fertile Crescent cities (clay tablets are more portable than cave walls!) and the Eastern Civilizations in India and China altogether.

It's... cognitive dissonance, to think about how Rome is held up as this pillar of civilization (granted, there was literacy, philosophy, mathematics), when we also know that it was cruel and brutal.

Light and Darkness

My primary school library had a set of books, perhaps a trilogy, in the fantasy genre, which I very naturally read. I've looked for the books in adulthood, but have not found them yet.

The story is about a family that inherits this amulet, passed down from generation to generation. The amulet has an image of a black dog on it, and of course it is magical.  If I remember correctly, under certain conditions the black dog will jump out of the amulet to protect the children.

But there's also a way that the child(ren) in the stories can travel to another world... a world in which the bad guys are a priesthood, dressed up in white robes, and actually rather frightening.

The stories fascinated me, the way they reversed the imagery I was accustomed to. For a time, I contemplated working on another reversal, a world where left-handedness was considered normal. I still haven't written that story... it seems too hard to do well, without wielding it like a blunt hammer.

Of course, the stories got me to thinking.

Awareness

One of my favorite authors is Anthony de Mello, a Jesuit Priest who wrote books about mysticism and awareness.

When I first encountered his writings in books like One Minute Wisdom, he was synthesizing Christianity with the other mystic traditions, and it fascinated me. He adapts the stories about Buddha, Nasrullah, and Baal Shem Tov to fit his theology. In a world where we discuss culture appropriation, I'm beginning to question whether his syncretic approach is okay. Okay or not, it is part of my spiritual journey.

In Awareness, he writes about letting go of expectations of ourselves, expectations of others, and seeing reality. A month or more ago, I tweeted about a comment from this book. He writes about "I'm Okay, You're Okay," and says that if he were to write a book, he'd write "I'm an Ass, You're an Ass," because it disarms us. Chapters include (but are not limited to):

• Listen and Unlearn
• Good, Bad, or Lucky
• Our Illusion About Others
• Negative Feelings Toward Others
• Fear--The Root of Violence
• Change as Greed
• Cultural Conditioning
• Listening to Life.

Heart of the Enlightened has an entire chapter of story-meditations about Service. Here's one:

A commuter hopped on to a train at New York and told the conductor he was going to Fordham. "We don't stop at Fordham on Saturdays," said the conductor, "but I'll tell you what I'll do. As we slow down at Fordham station, I shall open the door and you jump off. Make sure you're running along with the train when you hit the ground or you'll fall flat on your face."

At Fordham the door opened and the commuter hit the ground running forward. Another conductor, seeing him, opened the door and pulled him in as the train resumed speed. "You're mighty lucky, buddy," said the conductor. "This train doesn't stop at Fordham on Saturdays!"

de Mello comments on this story:

In your own small way you can be of service to people--by getting out of their way. [p. 135]

Susan Silk and Barry Goldman have written an article, "How not to say the wrong thing," which discusses the Ring Theory of Kvetching: Comfort in, dump out.

I think this also can be applied to social justice efforts. Too often, our toxic culture teaches us to dump in, which is where bullying and harassment usually occur.

A related concept is applied to comedy, that jokes should "punch up" rather than "punch down". But instead of discussing punching, or dumping, I think we need to discuss support.

The idea of focusing ones support on the weakest and most vulnerable is not my own. It is stated by the Activist women of color who are working in that space. Similar thoughts can be traced back to Christian teachings, "Whatsoever you do to the least of my people, that you do unto me," and also to Jewish traditions that have often favored the underdog.

What I propose, just combines these two ideas, is the Ring Theory of Social Justice. Support goes in. Kvetching goes out.

Now, we sometimes need to be careful about where the center is, which direction is "in" for anti-oppression. It's very similar to Joseph Campbell's concept of a circle or sphere, whose center is everywhere and circumference nowhere.

We don't want to get into the Oppression Olympics. Different spaces may focus on different aspects of oppressions, like race, gender and gender identity, orientation, class, ability, and in that space it may be derailing to change the conversation to a different type of oppression.

Which circles back around to Anthony de Mello. His chapter on Service frequently reiterates the ways that when we try to help, we may inadvertently make things worse. Excuse me while I go re-read for a while.

Cross-cultural Communication, Books that Changed my Life

I saw discussion about a book that changed your life. There's a series of books that changed my life, relevant to this week's discussion on culture, history, and decolonizing STEM:

• StarBridge (StarBridge #1) (Starbridge Series)
• Silent Dances (StarBridge #2)
• Shadow World (StarBridge #3) (StarBridge Series)
• Serpent's Gift (StarBridge #4) (StarBridge Series)
• Silent Songs (StarBridge #5) (StarBridge Series)

There are two more in the series, that I haven't read:

• Ancestor's World (StarBridge #6)
• Voices of Chaos (StarBridge #7)

The stories are about interstellar space travel, contact between and among alien races. There's a school, called "StarBridge," with three learning tracks: Translator/Interpreter, Telepath, and Interrelator. From "Silent Dances":