Bretton Woods IV

05/10/2025

10/13/2024

It’s Atay o’clock somewhere 😍

08/02/2023

Shopify president Harley Finkelstein, who is moving to Montreal, thinks this is one of the most entrepreneurial cities in the world.

02/04/2023

A Vintage era…

08/29/2020

http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20200825-the-remote-hideout-of-the-world-bank?referer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.com%2F

A secret World War Two meeting in New Hampshire’s remote White Mountains created one of the 20th Century’s most important institutions.

11/15/2016

Dear Friends, if the words “love your enemy” do not speak to you, or you can envision no way to make the best out of a sorry situation, I can appreciate that fact and invite you to simply put aside this open letter.

Otherwise, I invite you to consider submitting it as an Op Ed piece to your paper. The letter will be published in Concord and other communities across our land.

As the spirit moves you.

With my best wishes, as ever.

Stuart

“America is great, because America is GOOD.
And if America ever ceases to be GOOD,
she will cease to be great.”

Alexis de Tocqueville

Dear President-Elect Trump,

I write as a native son of Concord, Massachusetts, our country’s first non-native, inland community — the first step into the wilderness of our ever “New World . . . ” and, subsequently, the crucible of our American Revolution, where the “shot was fired heard ‘round the world.”

I write as the off-spring of one of the oldest military-business-political families in our country.

I write, above all, on behalf of We the People — with respect to what has been considered throughout the ages to be a man’s work. We men have not done so well. More and more women find themselves called to step into these embattled arenas. A saving grace, no less . . . ?

Perhaps you recall, Donald, our last exchange at the outset of your campaign, New Hampshire's “First-in-the-Nation Primary."

For over an hour I watched you speaking energetically about your campaign with those gathered, before stepping forward with the question that, in that moment, came to heart and mind: “What would be hardest for you, were you elected President?”

Our gazes met, as you took a breath . . . , slowed down . . . , paused . . . , considered . . . : “Letting people go, cutting the bureaucracy.”

Can it be that in that moment I glimpsed something in your eyes, which inspired me to place my hand on your heart: “You have a GOOD heart, Donald.”

“Yes,” you nodded, “I have a good heart.”

I did not, at that moment, speak the words that resounded within me. I speak them now for a reason:

A good heart you have, Donald, at your best. For, like your presumed “opponents” — those public servants who have not forgotten their roots in The People, We — you were given a good heart. Can one say?

That is, the good heart you have, you were given by that Power, which, I trust you can imagine, is greater than — and yet no less a part of — your very Self. In old Ben (Franklin’s) words, “God governs in the affairs of men.”

The point is: If you, if we, if any of us, forget this overarching fact of life — the “Top Line” — we are setting ourselves up for a fall.

Take care.

Take care, for should your/our focus be fixated on the proclaimed “greatness” of our nation — greater, needs be, than ever other nation on earth?

Or, as noted in DeTocqueville's opening words, should our/your focus be on the aspiring goodness of our land; that is, crowning America’s “good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea”?

Truth be told . . . ?

I ask for a reason.

If one pauses and reflects, is the distinction between that which is great and that which is good an insignificant one, a matter of mere words?

Or, might this distinction between the great and the good address the central problem-challenge-opportunity of our day and age: Our cooperation as a human race, as opposed to the "dog-eat-dog” competition — divide and conquer — that is leading to the ravaging of our earth?

Indeed, is it not clear that as long as our earth is able to remain/sustain life, as long as it is what one refers to as a “living organism,” any such distinctions (i.e. one nation/organ aspiring to be the “greatest,” to compete against the others) is a death wish, is inimical to life — a future worth envisioning for ourselves, our children and for the generations to come: All Our Relations?

Common Sense . . . .

If these words are clear, may whatever truth that is to be found in them — offered to you, Donald, still flushed with victory — serve, indeed constitute, a reminder of your/our roots in and with this earth.

That said, a heartfelt invitation is forthcoming to join us, We the People — before you assume office — here in Concord, Massachusetts, the first community, no less, to call for a Constitutional Convention in order to establish a government of, by, for the People.

The invitation is to listen in as We the People deliberate together on the ISSUE, which — distracted by “the issues” — the candidates continued to ignore throughout the campaign season.

Might you have been the exception?

That ISSUE is: “In an age in which money makes the world go ‘round,” is not even fiscal/spending issue in truth a money/monetary issue? In fact, is not every issue that has a price-tag attached to it a monetary/money issue? In, to repeat, an age in which "money makes the world go ‘round."

This ISSUE of the control of our money/common-wealth, “life-blood,” has been honed over the last 20 years in the "Concord Resolution,” which will be presented anew for your review and consideration — as well as for the review of any and all other committed public servants.

With the race over, I trust you and your fellow candidates — of all parties, local-state-national — will be able to slow down enough to gather your wits . . . , for your/our best thoughts to catch up to us . . . .

If we are able to thus to our senses, common sense, a revelation will, I trust, arise — one that provides the cornerstone for the realization/real-ization/the making-real of the oft forgotten/forsaken verse of our national song:

“America, America, may God thy gold refine,
Till all success be nobleness and every gain divine.”

That said, Donald, I leave you with words by the representative of another memorable period in Concord’s history, “The Sage of Concord,” Ralph Waldo Emerson, words — can one say? — that resonate with all GOOD hearts. I commend them to you:

“If you have a nation of men who have risen to that
height of moral cultivation that they will not declare war
or carry arms . . . , you have a nation of lovers, of
benefactors, of true, great and able men. Let me know
more of that nation; I shall not find them defenseless,
with idle hands swinging at their sides. I shall find them men of love, honor and truth; men of an immense
industry; men whose influence is felt to the end of the
earth; men whose very look and voice carry the sentence of honor and shame; and all forces yield to their energy and persuasion.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson, War, 1838

May it be.

My Respects and Best Wishes on Behalf of We the People: The Citizens’ Movement to Revive the Spirit of Public Service.*

Stuart-Sinclair Weeks, Founder
The Center for American Studies,
Concord, Massachusetts

P.S. Tying up this golden thread, I include a response to a kindred question posed by your predecessor, President Obama. As our Concord neighbor and friends, Richard Goodwin, John F. Kennedy’s legal counsel and speech writer, and his wife, Doris Kearns Goodwin, know better than most, the response addresses the heart of the ISSUE and, as such, provides the center-piece for The Citizens’ Movement to Revive the Spirit of Public Service: We the People : www.concordium.us/we-the-people/

“If ‘We the People’ should indeed prove an entity, a corporate being, [imagine] what power that incorporation might one day represent.”

11/05/2016

Written by Stuart Weeks:

Dear Friends,

We write on behalf of celebrated singers of all our races: Joanne Shenandoah, Motown’s Martha Reeves, Charmaine Clamor, Judy Collins, Victoria Gonzalez, Barbara Morrison — and Pete Seeger, himself, striking up the chorus on high.

On election eve we invite you to join us in slowing down, gathering our wits, kindling a candle/flame . . . and lifting, together, our spirits in Song-Circles of Healing & Renewal not only in our nation’s capitol, but across our land and overseas: www.electionevesongcircles.us

May the Song-Circles provide us all the opportunity to work, together, toward a future worth envisioning for our children, grandchildren and for the generations to come: All Our Relations.

* * * * *

Election Eve Song-Circles of Healing & Renewal: www.electionevesongcircles.us

6 pm, Monday, November 7, 2016, Election Eve

"May there always be sunshine; may there always be blue skies; may there always be Mama; may there always be me.
Young Kostya, a young 11 year old Russian child

The Election Eve Song-Circles to promote national healing and renewal will be launched Monday, Nov. 7 at 4 pm outside on the grounds of the National Museum of the American Indian (4th St. & Independence Ave., SW): www.electionevesongcircles.us

In our divisive and decisive times, Grammy recipient Joanne Shenandoah, Martha Reeves, mother of Motown, and Barbara Morrison of the Supremes, among other recording artists, will be joining singers across the country and beyond our shores in offering up together their voices in HARMONY.

Song Circles will be held on election eve, Nov. 7, in over 150 communities across the nation, as well as overseas. During his Russian tour, Dr. Patch Adams has invited President Putin and his fellow citizens to come together at the Kremlin to lift up their voices in songs of healing and renewal. During the Song-Circle Patch will offer Putin and all peace-loving Russians an olive branch. A “brother" branch will be extended to President Obama by a young (middle-school) Russian Citizen Diplomat, in the spirit of young Kostya’s opening words.

The purpose of the Song-Circles is to sing in the new dawn, at the conclusion of the embattled campaign season —
to usher in a time of healing and renewal on behalf of our children, grandchildren, and the generations to come.

The first songs will be offered up outside the National Museum of the American Indian on Monday, Nov. 7th at 4 pm. The Song-Circle will then cross over onto the mall and continue — singing — to the United States Capitol, crowned with a Seneca woman atop. Words will be shared at the Capitol about the significance of the Seneca woman, and songs will encircle the Capitol. From the United States Capitol, we will proceed together — singing — toward the White House.

The Election Eve Song-Circles will reach their crescendo at 6 pm on the mall before the White House, where Martha Reeves and Barbara Morrison will invite President Obama and the First Lady to join the circle and offer up their voices in the spirit of healing and renewal. Special guests to be announced.

On Inauguration Eve, Thursday, January 19, 2017 at 6 pm the Song-Circles will lift up their voices anew across the country and over-seas.

For further information contact:

Stuart Weeks at 978-505-2676

E-Mail: [email protected]

www.electionevesongcircles.us

November 7, 2016: Election Eve Circles of Great-Grandmothers, Grandmothers, Mothers, Daughters, Granddaughters, and Great-Granddaughters

10/31/2016

Written by: Stuart Weeks

A COMMON SENSE APPROACH TO “THE COMMONS”
OUR HUMANITY’S INHERITANCE & FUTURE

“In all your deliberations in the Confederate Council, in your efforts at law making, in all your official acts, self-interest shall be cast into oblivion.... Look and listen for the welfare of the whole people and have always in view not only the present but also the coming generations – the unborn of the future Nation.”
Skennenrahowi, The Iroquois Peacemaker ~~~

Dear Virgina and John, Ellis and Erla, Zwelo and Khaya,
刘亦正 (Dorian) & 刘亦庄 (Damian), Dear Grandchildren of Blood and Spirit,

~ Dear Family, one and all ~

In the months, Virgina and John, leading up to your father’s birth in the autumn of 1981, I was uncertain, apprehensive, at times fearful. Did I really want to bring your father, an innocent, newborn child into this world with the nuclear cloud, a frightful “halo” hanging o’er him.

The time came on a September morn, September 10th (not Sept. 11th) and your father was born. When the nurse handed my son to me, wrapped in a gentle blanket, I took him in my arms. Glancing down into his heavenly countenance, I realized, grandchildren, that Christian, your father, and uncle of blood and spirit, was invincible, invincible.

Do you have a sense for what I mean? I speak not just of the reality, but the truth of the human spirit, yours and all of ours — if we had but the eyes to see.

The same was the case, dear Zwelo and Khaya, when your father, my second son, Daniel, was born. Invincible.
I trust Ellis, Erla, Dorian and Damian that your fathers, and your mothers know of what I speak. Such, little ones, is the “inheritance” that you bring with you from those realms from whence you hail.

*****

Problems-Challenges-OPPORTUNITIES Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done,

On Earth as it is in heaven.

And how, grandchildren, is it with these times — the best and the worst of times — into which you have been born? Lines from a Lord’s Prayer, which your parents may have shared with you, come to heart and mind. To repeat, on earth as it is in heaven . . . .
While the nuclear cloud has not disappeared, it is not as omnipresent in the hearts and minds of your greater human Family. Rather, something else holds sway, something that, in fact, is not a thing — not, that is, material, inanimate, dead, deadened a-thing. And thus, in seeking to speak of it, we, many find ourselves at a loss for words . . . ? I speak of somespirit that has to do with our Earth, as alive, a living organism, a Being, as, Zwelo and Khaya, Ellis and Erla, your mothers’ African families would say.
Today a large and growing number of people — millions upon millions — are concerned with what we are doing to our “Mother Earth” and her off-spring: the soil, air, fire, as well as the four-legged, the winged, finned, not to mention us two-legged human beings and those kindred spirits invisible to the outer eye: All Our Relations.

Michael Jackson, a legend in your parents’ day, gave voice to the concern of your larger Family, gave voice to the Spirit of our Age, in his “Earth Song.” <
www.dailymotion.com/video/x1s2rn_michael-jackson-earth-song_music >. I have been asked to write a book, a testament, heart-to-heart about Michael, the “King of Pop,” by one of his teachers, closest friends, and a brother in spirit. The title of the book is:
Michael Jackson: The Untold Story “Suffer the Little Children to Come Unto Me”
The opening “refrain” of the “testament” are words that Michael made famous, and more. They speak, grandchildren, of your, our, of humanity’s “calling.”
“You and I must make a pact. We must bring salvation back.
So, how fares this earth, our “Mother” into whose womb you, grandchildren — vital and aspiring “seeds” — have been planted? Wherein lies the concern that fills the hearts and minds of your greater human Family? What “pact” is the “King of Pop” calling upon us to make? The song goes on:
Where there is love, I’ll be there.”

*****

The Problem

"Our common home is being pillaged, laid waste and harmed with impunity. Cowardice in defending it is a grave sin. We see with growing disappointment how one international summit after another takes place without any significant result.”
Pope Francis, Bolivia, July 9, 2015

Virgina and John, Ellis and Erla, Zwelo and Khaya, 刘亦正 (Dorian) & 刘亦庄 (Damian), grandchildren of blood and spirit, I had lunch today with a “brother,” upon whom the hand of destiny has settled, with respect to this very question: the fate of the earth, our “Mother” who nourishes and sustains us with our every breath.
This brother has been asked at the highest levels to both envision and outline a way that We the People can address the fact that our earth, water, air, fire and, thereby, All Our Relations are ailing, and more. A large and growing number of fellow citizens speak of the “rape” and “pillaging” of the earth, our “Mother.”

What we refer to as our “raw resources,” those basic substances and sustenances that are necessary to our very survival here on earth, are becomes ever more scarce and/or bought up by private interests whose intention is clearly not to serve the greater, public good. For a reason that we will elaborate upon in the following.
That is, with our American genius (so to speak) for turning everything that we can get our hands onto into a “commodity,” to be bought and sold in our “markets” — commodity and otherwise — in order to make a buck, we have been undermining our very foundation. If nothing else, common sense would remind us that this can not go on. For non-sense it is.

The point is that We the People have not only lost our way, (as we have lost our breath as the pace/melee of modern life quickens), but we won’t be able to “catch” our breath, find our way anew, unless we have a momentous change of heart — one so great that it will renew our very minds . . . . and, reminding us who we are, lead us, at long last, back Home.

You can not solve a problem with the same thinking that created it in the first place, one of the great spirits of our age, Einstein, noted, and went on to add that to try to do so is “insanity”!
Indeed, the more we insist on repeating our mis-understandings, the more insane our actions reveal themselves to be. Such is life. Lessons that remain unlearned bear in themselves dire consequences. The beds we make, we sleep in. If we do not gather our wits, come to our senses on our own, stir from our deepening slumber, our awakening will be a rude one, indeed!

That said, my point, Virginia and John, Zwelo and Khaya, Ellis and Erla, 刘亦正 (Dorian) & 刘亦庄 (Damian) is not to focus/fixate on the problems — which is all too
easy to do — but, as expressed, on the challenges and opportunities. For, it is not only, as noted, the worst of times, but it is the very best of times, if we are up to them.
The issue is, indeed, one of time, timing — borne out of eternity. As old Ben (Franklin) noted, “God governs in the affairs of men” — however your larger Family cares to imagine Him/Her/It: a Power greater than, and yet no less a part of, our very Self?

*****
The Challenge

“If We the People should ever become an entity, a corporate being, [imagine] what power that incorporation may one day represent.”
Catherine Drinker Bowen, The Miracle of Philadelphia
So, what can we do, We the People, recognizing, can one say, that there are certain issues that are so fundamental, so existential, so universal that — with few and notable exceptions — we can’t expect the “experts,” “officials,” “politicians" (God bless them) to address, never mind solve, such issues?
For, simply expressed, those issues are not theirs — not yet, at least. For these good folks imagine themselves to be benefitting from how things are, the crumbling status-quo.
And their thinking, divorced, often, from not only their hearts but from their hands, that is the devotion of their will, tends to be short-term, bottom-line, overshadowed. As a result, their tendency is to put off problems (i.e. access to clean water, air, a living earth) and pass them on to your generation to solve. Out of sight (heads buried in the sand?), out of mind.
If this is, I trust, clear, the foregoing question: What can we do? can be summed up, for those with ears to hear, in the expression:
When the People, We the People lead, the leaders will follow.
So it has been, at critical times, time and again throughout our history. Such vital, grassroots leadership by the People was what lifted the Civil Rights Movement that bore Dr. King on its rising tide . . . . into world-wide prominence, a movement that unites you, grandchildren, of southern and African heritage — a movement of civility that would unite us all.

*****

The Opportunity

“New ideas of where we ought to be headed . . . . will emerge from individuals. The material out of which we [the People] shall build a new world is in us, in our minds, in our character, in our memory of things past, in our hopes for the future. We are the source. We shall conceive it; we shall design it; and we shall put it into operation.”

John W. Gardner, Founder, Common Cause Where might such leading by the People begin?

The insight that was given to me over lunch, with this brother of whom I’ve spoken, was that what our times are calling for — if, that is, we are to have a future worth envisioning for our children and grandchildren, Virginia and John, Zwelo and Khaya, Ellis and Erla, 刘亦正 (Dorian) & 刘亦庄 (Damian), a future for the generations to come — what our times are calling for is a practical, common sense understanding of what is increasingly referred to as “the Commons.”

That is a common sense understanding of ALL that is COMMON to us ALL, to the People We: to repeat our earth, water, air, fire, and all things/spirits thereto that are essential not only to our own well being but to our having the possibility of sharing our well-being, i.e. the very best we have to offer, with others within our community and communities of life.

Different cultures and different ages have had different expressions for what is referred to today as “the Commons.” Leafing through the unfolding “testament” I referred to on the life of Michael Jackson, a kindred expression caught Michael’s “spirit brother’s” eye. Indeed, that expression had been picked up (from the People) by Dr. King, himself: The Beloved Community. That common community was spoken of as “The City of Brotherly Love” by our Quaker brothers and sisters. And it is encompassed and dwells within the Iroquois world conception of their “Longhouse”.

Other terms can be found, as this promise of “the Commons” has been, and continues to be, shared by ALL Peoples of ALL races of ALL lands of ALL times. For a reason. The good will that stands behind each term is the cornerstone for peace on earth. Without it, we can expect nothing less than ongoing war and devastation. Otherwise expressed, Virginia and John, Zwelo and Khaya, Ellis and Erla, 刘亦正 (Dorian) & 刘亦庄 (Damian), the Commons is your inheritance. Which means we parents, grandparents, great grandparents are — in truth — its and your guardians.
What stands behind the expression is a realization, “promise,” that We the People are a Family; we are related; we are one human race. That is, we are not only here on this earth together. But, in order to survive, so as to be able to take up our task as guardians, stewards, whose “calling” is to truly humanize the earth, we have to share these gifts of our “Mother” with ALL her children. For, as expressed, they — our earth, water, air, and fire — are essential to the survival not only of our human race, but, as expressed, to the survival of ALL OUR RELATIONS.

If this is clear, we will either share these life-sustaining elements and substances freely, out of the recognition that we are related. Or, we will bring further crises upon us, the great suffering that is sometimes necessary in order to learn such fundamental lessons, renew our minds, so as to remember who We the People are.

*****
We The People

“Why should there not be a patient confidence in the ultimate justice of the people? Is there any better, or equal, hope in the world?”
Abraham Lincoln

What stands behind this renewed recognition is a new economic paradigm — rooted,
above all, in our humanity — which bespeaks that common sense of which I spoke.

That paradigm has taken on the name “Concordian Economics.” The word Con-cord(e) means: covenant (concord); peace (concorde); with-the-heart (con-cord); and, as a native daughter of Concord, Massachusetts further suggested: follow nature. This paradigm we commend to you, grandchildren and to you members of our larger Family. For it is your “inheritance” and that of the generations to come.

Concordian Economics

~ An Economics of Common Sense ~

“Every man is a consumer, and ought to be a producer. He fails to make his place good in the world, unless he not only pays his debts, but also adds something to the common wealth.”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Wealth” Four Cornerstones
1) Every human being, each and every one of us, is different, unique — not only outwardly, with respect to our countenance or finger-prints, but inwardly. That is, each of us has our own unique gift, talent, ability, our own “calling”. Such genius is our inalienable birthright. It is what has brought us into the world, why we are alive, what we live for: the unfolding of our potential.
If this first cornerstone is clear . . . it leads to the second.

2) As such, We the People have not only the right — which, if left at that, “my right”, we can choose to disclaim. But, more to the point, we have the responsibility to give expression to our unique “calling”, our gifts, talents, and abilities, our “genius”, in service to the greater community: our common wealth. We have the responsibility to give our best to those around us — even if our beginnings are as “rude” as the log cabins from which Abraham Lincoln and Booker T. Washington took their first steps. For, if we withhold our unique piece of the puzzle (be it within our family or community, small or larger), then that piece is missing. The puzzle is incomplete. This responsibility, we suggest, gives our rights their ultimate right and meaning.

If clear, this second cornerstone leads to the third. That is, having established the broader human framework, human measure, human element, the broader human context for what, as noted, has come to be referred to as the “dismal science” of economics, we have a foundation for addressing the practice of economics itself — in the spirit of the common sense spoken of.

3) In order to assume responsibility, give our best — in a modern economy that has moved beyond self-sufficiency and barter — in order, that is, to be true to our individual “calling”, We the People require access, reasonable access to money, credit, our “life- blood.”

That said, this can only occur when the creation, issuance, and circulation of money, our “life-blood”, is overseen (as opposed to managed) by our public servants, as our Constitution directs, Article 1, Section 8, Paragraph 5: “Congress shall have the power to coin money; [and] regulate the value thereof.” Congress, friends, as opposed to private interests controlling our monetary system. Otherwise, without reasonable access to our national credit, our “life-blood,” We the People end up merely “going through the motions”, “punching the time clock”, “getting a job” — “good” or otherwise. Our lives and labors are relegated to working to fulfill our “boss’ ” dream, while all too often our, the People’s dream, becomes a nightmare.

If both this third and the foregoing two cornerstones make sense, common sense, what more needs to be said about our financial affairs, our fortunes, humanity’s fate and future?

In human terms, it’s as simple as that. If money is, as expressed, our common wealth, the “life-blood” of our nation, it must flow, unimpeded, throughout the entire body- social, enriching every cell in the organism — as opposed to being pooled in privileged and selective organs where it becomes, in effect, a blood-clot that undermines the health of society.

And yet a question, a cornerstone remains.

4) What keeps us, We the People, from recognizing this truth and, thereby, assuming responsibility, as noted, for our “life-blood”, common wealth, national credit — alongside our national debt for which we’re obliged to pay our taxes?

Is the question clear?

Why don’t We the People stand up on behalf of our “genius,” follow our calling, give more fully of our gifts, talents, abilities in service to our communities and nation?

“In God We Trust” is inscribed atop the backside of our $1 dollar: the “god” in each other . . . , dear grandchildren who bear still such heavenly countenances?

“The [true] cost of something is the amount of life that you exchange for it.” ~ Henry David Thoreau, “Walden”
Are We the People alive, truly alive? Or, as Henry David’s neighbor, Emerson, noted, are we “Gods in ruins,” shadows of ourselves, our true selves.

If the foregoing cornerstones are clear, grounded in our fundamental rights and responsibilities, our humanity, Concordian Economics provides We the People with an opportunity, long-awaited. That opportunity, as expressed, is, while we still can, to lead humanity into a future worth envisioning for the generations to come.

That said, directing our vision to the future, what are the avenues, passages before us? They are simple, we suggest: 1 of 2:

1) We can continue to treat the earth, its elements and essences the way we are, that is reduce them to mere commodities to be bought and sold, speculated with in our commodities markets, and profited from at, clearly, an incomprehensible expense. And, doing so, we will continue to get what we are getting: growing ecological damage, drastic climate change, and ever dwindling access to the essential life-giving substances of our earth. “Insanity,” to return to Einstein’s words — the same thinking that created the problem in the first place.

Or:

2) We can take a new tact, make a new pact. This new tact/pact is, in fact, as old as our earth, this land, and part and parcel of its undying “Dream” — one, friends, that We the People are called now to awaken.

The time is at hand.

*****
Labors of Love

Humanity will have no say in matters if it cannot arrange its social organism in a threefold way. This is what will have to be regarded as the only healing, the true salvation of humanity."
Rudolf Steiner, GA 296

The central lesson that life has taught me, Virgina and Erla, Ellis and John, Zwelo and 刘亦正 (Dorian) Khaya & 刘亦庄 (Damian), grandchildren of blood and spirit, with
respect to these matters, our inheritance, is that every social problem-challenge- opportunity can be traced back to an imposition or entanglement of one sphere or sector of society — the political, cultural, or economic — upon the other.

Thus the call by our Founders for the division of Church and State. Thus the growing concern for campaign finance reform, which reminds businessmen that business is business, not politics — that is business has a specific task, inspired, if you will, by a guiding principle, which is different, fundamentally different, from the task of politics.

And the growing concern with respect to campaign finance reform offers politicians a reminder as well: Politics is politics, something/spirit different from business, guided by its own guiding principle. “Equality under the law?”

If these consideration make sense, common sense, might this guiding principle of the political sphere — “equality under the law” — shed light on the guiding principle of the dominant economic sphere?

“The business of America is business,” So we are told. And the business of business . . . ? We will come to this fundamental consideration, this “calling.” For that, grandchildren, the “bottom-line” is where the “rub” is, where the “rubber hits the road.”
The greater point is that the spheres noted — political, economic, cultural — can not do their work, abide by their guiding principles, and thus contribute to the Greater Good (as opposed to serving more than the diminishing 1%), unless those involved in business, politics, and the cultural sphere or sectors remember who they are.

Not just politicians, that is, with respect to the political or “rights” sphere, but public servants and, if tried and true, statesman.
Not just teachers, clergy, artists, researchers, representatives of the cultural sphere, but preeminently free spirits.

Not just businessmen and -women driven (into the ground?) by the “bottom-line”, but first and foremost steward of not simply the raw “materials,” “resources,” “commodities” of our earth, but stewards of the very substances of LIFE, itself — not just as “chemists,” whose vision is overshadowed by matter alone, but as AL-chemists, if you will — those who work with ALL the chemicals, ALL elements, with life itself, a LIFE that is not solely embodied but enlivened, ensouled, and enspirited. If, friends, you can imagine?
With this vital “promise” in mind, I offer you the words of a kindred spirit, one whose story is truer than life itself. The words are spoken by a near kin of Legolas and Gimli of “The Lord of the Rings,” whose service to the “Fellowship”, the “Pact”, was and — if we can imagine — remains indispensable to our worldly labors. My children, your fathers grew up hearing: There is the “real world.” And then there is the real real world, which has done all it can to sustain us. For those with ears to hear:

“There is a great invisible war going on against us. We have received nothing from your world. For us, it is like starvation – no warm human thoughts, no prayers, as in earlier times outside in nature, no love or gratitude. You human beings only take; you do not give what we require. If human beings could but sensitize themselves so that their deeds were in harmony with our labors. It is not so now. Your pursuits are not in harmony with that which occurs in the other kingdoms of nature. There is a mounting dissonance... The earth can still hold on a bit longer, if you could but act reasonably with her.”

*****

Gathering the Thread

“Three is everything!”

Pythagorus Summing up the foregoing, dear grandchildren, friends:

1) Each of the 3 spheres/sectors of society, the “Body-Social” — political-cultural- economic — needs to carry out their labors independently of one another. If, that is, our social order is to be ordered, as opposed to chaotic, if it is to operate in a healthy and balanced manner.

Which of us, for example, would appreciate politicians determining our manner of worship, or businessmen and -women determining (more than they already do?) the education that we provide for our children, as opposed for instance to educators, i.e. those who are educated to make precisely such educational decisions?

For such order, health, balance to arise, those of us working in a specific sector/sphere must allows ourselves to be inspired by the guiding principle of that particular sphere/ sector: be it Liberty, Equality, Fraternity — if we can imagine? — that promise of sister- and brotherhood from sea to shining sea.” Otherwise expressed, Life and Liberty have little, if any, meaning if “the Pursuit of Happiness” is never-ending, ever out of our reach.

2) And each sphere of society, the “Body-Social” needs to carry out their labors interdependently — if, that is, they/We the People are to work together. If, indeed, we are to be whole. Otherwise expressed, the challenge is to find balance, a balance that promotes health as opposed to dis-ease.

For those who may find themselves at a loss for words with respect to these two pillars of what we propose to be a truly healthy “Body-Social”, Social Order, we commend to you a review of our most “All-American” of institutions, which embody these threefold principles:

^ 4-H clubs: Head, heart, hands — balanced/working together — equals health;
^ Boy Scouts’ & Girl Scouts’ threefold guiding principles are Body, Mind, and Spirit;
^ 12-Step Programs have universalized these threefold guiding principles, beginning with AA's healing of obsessions in the mind, cravings in the feelings, and compulsions in the will.
^ Institute for Cultural Affairs ground-breaking cultural work is guided by these same threefold principles;
^ As was Eisenhower’s “Middle Way” program;
This legacy goes all the way back through the 3 Twin Principles of the Iroquois Confederation — which inspired old Ben and our most enlightened Founding Fathers — to the Gold, Silver, and Bronze casts of ancient Greece and on back to the Trinity itself.
The threefold nature of all that is alive, balanced, and healthy constitutes the manifest secret of our age, the secret, yet largely un-recognized, behind ALL living processes — all, that is, that is vital and alive, all that has not succumbed to dis-order, to the dis- integrated forces of death.

I say that because in my three score years plus, I have yet to discover, or hear of, a single “social problem” that is not traced back to the entanglement or imposition of one of the spheres/sectors of society — political-cultural-economic — upon the other by not just politicians, businessmen and -women, the clergy and all, but by you and me, friends, in our thinking, to begin with. If you know of a single social problem where this is not the case, pray tell.

When that entanglement or imposition of one sphere/sector upon the other does not occur, can you imagine that it is because those within the sectors/spheres have an understanding — instinctive or otherwise — about what is required inwardly if the balance spoken of is to be maintained outwardly?

The Iroquois Chiefs who counseled Franklin, Jefferson, Madison, and Citizen Tom Paine, in particular, spoke about how justice does not arise within the political sector/ sphere, until those of us within in it and guiding it become righteous.

The Iroquois Chiefs spoke of how peace does not arise in the economic sphere/sector until those within it and guiding it become healthy.

The chiefs spoke of how authority does not arise in the cultural sector/sphere — clergy, teachers, artists, researchers — until those within it and guiding it forge within themselves, spiritual power.

It may be as simple, and human/humane as that, dear grandchildren, friends.

*****
Common Sense = A Healthy Human Understanding
(gesunder Menschenverstand in German)

“Common sense is the ‘dialect’ of We the People. When we learn to unite with and speak out of this Genius, then the People, We, will awaken from, and to, our dream — our true dream.”

Stuart-Sinclair Weeks

If the foregoing is clear, grandchildren, friends, let us turn to the question: How does not only one, but how do we, We the People order practically, properly and with a common sense understanding these three sectors/spheres: economic-cultural-political. So that, as expressed, balance, health, a future worth envisioning for our children, grandchildren, and the generations to come can become the reality.

Shall we turn to such a labor of love, beginning with a question as fundamental as it appears to be unrecognized:
What is the nature of each of the spheres/sectors referred to? What, that is, is the difference between business (economics), politics, and culture — the essential difference?

Once this question is clear, so, we suggest, will be the answer, and so, friends, will be the applications of these insights, the practice, that is the way we are called to order each of the sectors/spheres on behalf of ALL OUR RELATIONS.

Before taking up this question, that is proceeding with a more detailed glimpse of our aspiring social future, it is (we believe) important to understand that when a new angle of vision, indeed, a new vision is offered . . . . it is seldom embraced, never mind recognized. The philosopher, Schopenhauer speaks, aptly, to this seemingly resolute fact of life, our lives:
“All truth passes through 3 stages: First, it is ridiculed.
Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident”.

May the following common sense approach to our Commons — that is to all that We the People share in common, which is essential not only to our survival but to our true prosperity as a race — nudge this seeming inexorable process on its way toward the self- evidence, the revelation of which Schopenhauer speaks.
The footnote addresses the understandable question: How do we change the “tire”, so to speak, “while the show is on the road?” How, that is, do we introduce a new and balanced threefold social order into the existing order, which is proving — with each passing day — to be more and more disordered?

Once again, our answer is the enduring refrain of COMMON SENSE. Translated aptly in German as “gesunder Menschenverstand”, common sense bespeaks a “healthy human understanding.” Just what the doctor ordered?

At long last!

*****

Creating a New Global Culture

“Let us accept the fact that states [constituted by collectives of human beings] have life cycles similar to those of human beings who created them. Hardly any Member State of the United Nations has existed within its present borders for longer than five generations. The attempt to freeze human evolution has in the past been a futile undertaking and has probably brought about more violence than if such a process had been controlled peacefully. Restrictions on self-determination threaten not only democracy itself but the state which seeks its legitimation in democracy."

Hans-Adam II, Prince of Liechtenstein, 2001
Toward this promise, we offer a word with respect to the new geographic jurisdictions that must inevitably arise in such a fundamental re-ordering of our worldly affairs.
Geographically, the aim of the Threefold Republic impulse is to trisect each of the 193 nation-states, with each national government unfolding into three sovereign sectoral ‘republics’: economic, political/rights, and cultural.

Threefolding favors neither separatism nor federalism—both are viewed as a distraction.

The goal is not horizontal; it’s vertical.

Lumping or splitting existing nation-states results in but smaller nation-states or continental supra-nation-states — a zero-sum game.

On the other hand, the Threefold Republic with its three sovereign sectors is no longer a nation-state. Let this be clear. When understood, it not only transcends the nation-state box but frees the nations of the world from such outdated confines.
Yet in the further future, the untangling of the three sectors will (where desired) enable threefold convergences at large scales, both continental and global, for example: from a European Union to a European Trine, and from a United Nations System to a Trinited Societies Organism.

While at the same time, generations of deep peace will enable a civil re-arrangement of political service areas via what can be referred to as velvet plebiscites — which provide humanity a clear and peaceable means for shifting (and where desired dissolving) the boundaries of the 193 rights-states.

From a purely democratic perspective, the 193 political boxes would best be dissolved into a million human-scaled city-states, town-states, and village-states. Ultimately, the social-political future of humanity lies in the vision of the shining “City on the Hill.”
Be that as it is, economic and cultural services will flow across the political borders, for political such borders are. In regards to the question of the Commons, some of the Commons Trusts would steward assets which span political borders; for example, an aquifer or river. Dividends from economically tapping that resource would be issued to each individual citizen who is a stakeholder in that Trust, regardless of their political jurisdiction.
Truly global-scale Commons Trusts, such as an Antarctica Trust, High Seas Trust, or Moon Trust (for mining of lunar minerals), might even issue dividends to all human beings on the globe, providing a livable basic income for everyone. Common sense?

Let there be bread. But not bread alone.

*****
Dotting the I’s, Crossing the T’s
The Nature of the 3 Spheres: Economic-Political-Cultural
The Devil is in the details — God bless him and keep him . . . .
With an appreciation for both the stages through which a new idea, borne of truth, must pass — along with the jurisdictional reordering necessary to realize, make-real such truths — let us, We the People, gather our wits and consult our common sense with respect to the nature of the three spheres or sectors: economic-political-cultural.
Let us begin with the bottom line. What is the nature of the economic sphere? And raise our gazes from there.
~~~
I. The Economic Sphere
The word “economic” comes from the Greek word, oikonomia, meaning household management. The nature of the economic sphere is to provide food, clothing, shelter, and transportation to all who need it in order to not only survive, but, let us hope, prosper — to ALL of humanity.
Plus services which maintain and repair these life necessities.
It is the nature of a commonsense economy for all things to be produced with care and quality, as oppose to the reigning ethic of “planned obsolescence,” which — as suggested in the term — plans into the manufacturing process obsolescence, i.e. the breaking down of the products: goods that, simply expressed, are not good.
It is the nature of a commonsense economy for all production to result in a regeneration and magnification of the beauty of the land.
And it is the nature of a commonsense economy for all human workers—wherever we may dwell on this green globe—to receive a generous livelihood (income), while producing these life necessities without exhausting ourselves in the process.
Along with life and liberty, it is time, as noted, that our “pursuit of happiness” ceases to be an endless toil. For goodness’ sake, what else is the economy for, our blood, sweat and tears, our eternal labors? In the words of Mahatma Gandhi’s 1908 paraphrased translation of Englishman John Ruskin’s Unto This Last, written nearly a half century earlier:
“Perhaps it may even appear after some consideration that the persons themselves are the wealth; not gold and silver. The true veins of wealth are purple—and not in Rock but in Flesh. The final consummation of all wealth is in the producing as many as possible full-breathed, bright-eyed and happy-hearted human beings.”

~~~
II. The Political Sphere
If the independent nature of this first economic sphere/sector is clear, let us turn to its interdependence, beginning with an understanding of the nature of the
second political sector/sphere.

The nature of the political sphere is for all citizens to have truly equal standing before the law. Not merely in a theoretical, legalistic sense, but truly equal access to whatever rights and benefits are necessary for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. In a genuine political state, all adult citizens have an egalitarian role in crafting and protecting this legal fabric, but such an enlightened political sphere counsels that economic and cultural lobbies will have no determining voice what-so-ever in its fashioning. For such an imposition/entanglement would be not common sense. Rather, we suggest, non-sense.

Would a reminder of Schopenhauer’s words be timely, help to reinforce this point?

First, truth is ridiculed.
Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.
In The Social Future, Rudolf Steiner wrote in 1919:
"If laws are allowed to arise out of the interests of economic life itself,
the laws are turned into a caricature of justice.”

~~~
III. The Cultural Sphere
If the independent nature of this second political sectors/sphere is clear, let us turn to its interdependence, beginning with an understanding of the nature of the third cultural sphere/sector. What is that nature?
Human beings do not live by bread alone. Neither is everything in life to be rendered to Caesar — God bless him and keep him. The nature of the cultural sector is unfettered development of our individual talents and potentials, “genius” — the gifts we have been given, in order to give them, in turn, away — without undue influence from either commercial or governmental powers.

In regard to spirituality-religion-world views, education, and the arts... the cultural sphere is about self-rule, individual sovereignty. In a truly free culture, FREE means FREE. And this sector ultimately includes science and medicine, sports, the media and journalism, eldercare, parks and recreation, libraries, fraternal and civic organizations, along with the vast and growing non-profit sector of cultural creatives.
The point is that none of these realms of activity will brings forth their proper fruits unless they are freely cultivated, freed from dictates of any sort. In the words of Ai Weiwei, the spirited Chinese artist:
“I think in any society, culture should have its own rights: not to be touched by the government, not to be promoted by the government, also not to be destroyed by the government.”

~~~
IV. The Interdependence of the 3 Spheres
If the nature of the 3 respective sectors/spheres is clear, what do they, the very natures of these realms of human endeavor say with respect to how they are called to act inter- dependently in the world. If, that is, our focus is on a practical, common sense understanding of life and all that it bears on our behalf, all that it would bestow upon us.
1) The economic sphere/sector must be set up as an independent Living Economy with the understanding that all corporations and unions are transparent service organs of a sovereign and conscious (but non-governmental) economic body, founded on goodwill, sister/brotherhood from sea to shining sea — if, that is, our very words are to bear meaning, our cherished ideals are not to be debased and made a mockery of.
To this end, and as is increasingly recognized, a total reformation of business law must completely end the publicly-traded (in other words, absentee) stock corporate model, so that all businesses are common-sensibly transformed into worker-owned corporations. Persons who don’t actually work at, or manage, that particular company will be limited to the role of lender. This practice will ensure that each enterprise is deeply invested in the long-term wellbeing of its workforce and surrounding community.
The chambers of commerce, industry associations, and labor unions take on the “governance” of the economy as a whole, along with greatly expanded and empowered consumer federations, which take over much of the ‘watchdog’ role which is presently exercised inappropriately and, thus, inefficiently by the State.
2) The political sector/sphere must be set up as an independent Human Rights- State with the understanding that its primary role is not to develop the economy or to please business leaders — or even to operate schools and universities — but rather to articulate and ensure egalitarian human rights.
Only individual citizens have any voice in this sector. All outside funding of elections is banned as what it — in fact? — is: bribery. Lincoln’s term “the respectable scoundrels” comes to heart and mind.

Our first President, George Washington, spoke to the heart of the matter in his “Farewell Address:”
“Let me now take a more comprehensive view, and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the Spirit of Party.”

All political party organizations are barred from having any implicit or explicit relationship with the actual State, since parties are non-governmental (cultural) organizations through which monied power flows. This recognition leads, in turn, to a shift from election to sortition—the random selection of legislators, as was practiced in ancient Athens, and as still practiced in our jury system. From a purely common sense perspective, sortition is the ultimate campaign reform.

Certain fundamental citizen’s rights, which the commercial mindset has hitherto diverted, then become self-evident, common sense:

^ The citizen’s right to school choice;
^ The citizen’s right to a freehold sanctum (a home);
^ And the citizen’s right to a homeland (a plot of land).

Police and prison services are, as a result, drastically humanized and clarified. A foreign policy which untangles economics from politics and culture will end the perpetual and increasingly polarized conflict between Left and Right, East and West.
The ultimate, and inevitable, triumph of common sense will reign when the military units are transformed into organic/biodynamic farmer brigades. Literally: swords into plowshares. The revelation, at long last, of the real “real world.”

3) The cultural sphere/sector must be set up as an independent Third Sector with the understanding that all cultural powers and assets must be released from the State, and from commercialism (such as the growing barrage of advertising that seeks, unabashedly, to control our minds). Most notably, all government (public) schools and state universities are totally divested to become independent, non-commercial Community Schools — thereby becoming one of the primary pillars of this Free Cultural Sector.

E-duca-tion thus becomes what it is meant to be — if, that is, it to serve more than the political and economic “powers that be”: a leading-out of the gifts, talents, abilities, the “genius” in-dwelling, in-herent in every human being — even if our beginnings are as rude as the log cabins from whence Abraham Lincoln and Booker T. Washington stepped forth.

Certain ‘cultural rights’ (such as the universal right to education) are supported through individual subsidies which are issued to each and every citizen (rich or poor). But these subsidies (issued as a sort of ‘coupon’) are always cleared through the individual’s will, free choice, rather than funneled through state bureaucracies. The various rights subsidies (benefit coupons) may be spent at any service provider that the citizen chooses.

Unlike in socialism, the rights-state itself does not own or operate the service providers, in a similar way that the State does not own and operate the grocery stores that currently process state-run food stamp programs.

And though the Rights-State articulates their amount and scope, the subsidies are issued directly by the Economic Body, without the State interfering with — ideally, the best of intentions — such subsidies. In this way, the legitimate social goals of the Left are achieved, while honoring the legitimate concerns of the Right in regard to governmentalization and bureaucratization.

“When the Pharisee admitted the coin was made in the image of Caesar, Jesus told him to render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and unto God what is God's. I ask my fellow Christians, ‘Are your children made in the image of Caesar? If not, why do you render these innocents [school children] to Caesar for six hours per day, 180 days per year, for 13 years?’”

Marshall Fritz, founder,

The Alliance for the Separation of School and State

*****
First It [Truth] is Ridiculed
Gathering the threads, only within such a ‘three-fold republic’ or ‘Trinited States’ can the Commons question be common-sensibly resolved.
Otherwise, the fight for the Commons will predictably fall to a left-versus-right battle between governmentalization and privatization. In most everyone’s minds, there is an assumption that State ownership is synonymous with the Commons. Whereas in the Threefold Republic, the Commons will be held by various ‘trusts’ which are embodied as cultural organizations—not State agencies.
This distinction is as central as it has been overlooked. The State will only provide an egalitarian legal framework for the operation of these Commons Trusts—the State will not actually own any of the Commons. Rather, the existing ‘land trust’ form is greatly expanded in breadth and scope.

Not only would all land which is presently owned by the Government be transferred to Land Trusts (such as the vast Bureau of Land Management lands in the Western U.S.), but also other fields could enter the Commons through this form, such as ‘Aquifer Trusts’, ‘Electromagnetic Spectrum Trusts’, ‘Highways Trusts’ (and other infrastructure, such as bridges and tunnels), ‘Factory Trusts’, and even ‘Business Charter Trusts’ (where the ownership of business charters is stewarded as part of the Commons).

The stewardship of the Commons then becomes a matter of expert administration within the Third Sector, but with a strong ‘rights’ component: for example, mandating that most of the monies received from sustainable mineral extraction on Trust Lands must be issued as a dividend to all the citizens who are a party to that trust. Common sense.

This way is neither privatist, nor governmentalist, nor is it a bland and diluted ‘third way.’ The Threefold Republic is an entirely new, practical and systemic approach to the Commons. It is accordingly, we propose, nothing more, and nothing less, than common sense. It may be the only thing that is able to inspire us, We the People, to come to our senses — work together toward a future worth envisioning for our children and the generations to come.

*****
Second, It [Truth] is Violently Opposed

This practical, common sense understanding of our society, in its underlying and inherent constitution, was what old Ben Franklin, the god-father of common sense, focused his attentive eye upon, twinkles and all.
For Ben knew that the colonies were called to bring forth a New World, not just to carry over (the seas) the imbalances and dis-eases of the Old World.

A universal soul, who worked in all 3 sectors/spheres, Ben understood as well as anyone on our shores, better than most (with the exception of the Native Peoples of this land) that only those who are able to integrate these three spheres of activity, human endeavor in themselves — righteousness, health, spiritual power — only such balanced souls could blaze a trail for others, their fellow country-women and -men. That Ben did, as noted in his following memorandum, addressed to us all: We the People.
I am now about to write at home, August, 1788, but can not have the help expected from my papers, many of them being lost in the war. I have, however, found the following. [marginal memorandum]
Having mentioned a great and extensive project which I had conceiv'd, it seems proper that some account should be here given of that project and its object. Its first rise in my mind appears in the following little paper, accidentally preserv'd, viz.:

Observations on my reading history, in Library, May 19th, 1731.
That the great affairs of the world, the wars, revolutions, etc., are carried on and affected by parties.
That the view of these parties is their present general interest, or what they take to be such.
That the different views of these different parties occasion all confusion.
That while a party is carrying on a general design, each man has his particular private interest in view.
That as soon as a party has gain'd its general point, each member becomes intent upon his particular interest; which, thwarting others, breaks that party into divisions, and occasions more confusion.
That few in public affairs act from a mere view of the good of their country, whatever they may pretend; and, tho' their actings bring real good to their country, yet men primarily considered that their own and their country's interest was united, and did not act from a principle of benevolence.
That fewer still, in public affairs, act with a view to the good of mankind.
There [thus] seems to me at present to be great occasion for raising a United Party for Virtue, by forming the virtuous and good men of all nations into a regular body, to be govern'd by suitable good and wise rules, which good and wise men [all of us at our best] may probably be more unanimous in their obedience to, than common people [all of us at our less than best] are to common laws.
I at present think that whoever attempts this aright, and is well qualified, can not fail of pleasing God, and of meeting with success. B. F."
What stood behind Ben’s “project” was his firm conviction – acted upon throughout his life – that the purpose of our “New World” was not to break up into parties, factions, special interests: the same old story: Divide and Conquer. God bless those parties/ factions/special interests, and keep them, and let His light shine down upon them.
Rather, We the People are called to come together to create that ever “more perfect union” envisioned by our Founders and embodied by the Peace Maker, the Iroquois Confederation he established, and other Native Peoples of this land.
“Third, it [truth] is accepted as being self-evident”. *****
THROUGH THE SPIRIT
(If You Will?)
We the People are Resurrected
“Mother, your wound, your womb heals!”

I draw this offering toward its end, grandchildren, children, friends and Family with the concluding scene from a play, a “Compassion Play” that I was “given” to give voice to during the Passion Time following the commencement of the Gulf War: “Shock and Awe” and all. An Iraqi mother is speaking. She holds her dead son in her arms. He died not as a combatant, but as a medic; seeking to bring light, healing into the depths of the darkness of the Great Gulf.
The passage, I trust, speaks for itself.
~~~
The mother pauses. “No, Christianity will not become aware of the depths of its mysteries through faith and belief alone. You son, are one of now millions of human sacrifices, going back through the Crusades to your forefather, Ishmael, that speaks to the effects of a one-sided religion. When such a religion loses its earthly inheritance, it blinds itself over time. For, it has not taken up the challenge of healing and transforming the intellect, so that it can illumine our consciousness and, thereby, pe*****te to the heart of its mysteries.” Her reflections deepen.
"That truth, son, begins slowly, delicately, to dawn in humankind." She lowers her gaze. "The sun no longer shines from without alone; it shines from within.” The melody arises.
“That awakening was what led you to break the ranks late at night, as it had led the Allied and Axis forces to do the same, during the First World War. Though far away, I
Dear Virgina and John, Ellis and Erla, Zwelo and Khaya, 刘亦正 (Dorian) & 刘亦庄 (Damian), dear grandchildren of blood and spirit,
Dear Family, one and all,
saw you – a fourth king, guided by your star – set out across the sands toward your enemy/your brothers.”
The mother lifts her gaze above the audience. “That glimmer, the light in the darkness, is what led you, my son, and will lead others to a search for a fuller life, beginning in our own Islamic tradition, helping it to fulfill itself, so that it can then bring its precious gift to the larger world. That will be the fulfillment of Ishmael's mission: 'Whoever knows himself, knows his Lord; that is, he knows his Imam’ ” She pauses. “But our sacrifice has first to be recognized, redeemed, and returned from the West.”
“That recognition, the recognition that America and the West were seeking to awaken, even as they entwined themselves in another war, even as they sacrificed their own lives and took countless others, that faith is becoming renewed, reasoned, conscious."
She pauses, "There is a great lesson that we are learning through these wars that wrack us. The time is at hand to remove the veils, the fear that blinds us. We are called to awaken to the deeper truths that, we, humanity share in common – that promise which is part of our ancient wed-lock.”
Her eyes rest on her son and then lift beyond him. “That promise, the seed of redemption, lies deep within the womb of our and all the world’s religions. That promise gathered on our breath throughout the legions of debates, discussions, addresses, press conferences, votes, and military briefings that led up to this war, until. . . . ‘The main lesson that we have to learn today’, your Congressman, Solarez, passionately announced in support of your act of war, ‘is the presence of evil in the world!’ ”
She is silent. "No. That lesson the world already knows, that lesson we have learned a hundredfold throughout the ages. It is not news, new; it is the old story that is painfully dying away. Today, today the main lesson we have to learn is the presence of GOOD in the world."
Her gaze searches the spaces. "Through the darkness of these desert nights, through the hatred and violence and war that has been propagated, that promise has not died away with the lives that have been taken.” She glances out over the audience. “No, the seed stirs, awakens. The power flows from the heights back into the depths, into the souls of the people.” The melody arises.
“America, the 500th anniversary of the discovery of your land approaches. You are growing up, pains, pains! Will you awaken? Will you understand that you can no longer sing your anthems, raise your monuments, proudly cite your allegiances and declarations – without realizing what you are doing, without dedicating yourselves, truly dedicating yourselves to those principles that would stand behind your country: ‘liberty and justice for all’ ” She pauses. “If you don't awaken, the dream will become a nightmare; the ideals will turn into demons, demons that will devour you, will devour us all.”
“America, you have heard the proclamation of your first great general, Washington. Can you hear the words of your last, Eisenhower: ‘Every gun that is made, every war ship launched, every rocket fired, signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who are hungry and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children... This is not a way of life at all. It is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.’ There will be no peace until the people of the world stand up and demand it.” The mother pauses. “Passion/compassion. . . , redemption.”
Her eyes lower to her son. “Son, you awaken, arise!” She lifts her head to the audience. “It is time that the ancient wound is healed, the sacrifice is honored. It is time that the victors accept their victory, not the spoils alone but the promise that we have handed over to your brother in our defeat – our eternal quest for the Son, the 'Hidden Imam'. 'The Light of the Imam in the believer's heart is brighter than the light of the sun.’ ”
She lifts sand from the desert floor and holds it in her hand. "The light is brighter, Mother, than the black fires that rage in your breast, the soot that darkens your air, the blood that stains your earth . . . . It is brighter even than the depleted uranium from the waves of shells that fills our sands." Her gaze rests on the sand. "That light, that recognition grows.”
She lifts her head above the audience. "Mother, the cross rises up again in the Middle East, the Holy Land. It is being carried on the backs of every one of your sons: Arab, Christian, Jew alike. ‘Come carry my yoke, it is light.’ ” The mother pauses, then speaks slowly and with emphasis. “Mother, your wound, your womb heals.”
The melody awakens.
An historical note, dear grandchildren, Family — truer than life itself — offered the last refrain:
At the conclusion of the first enactment of "The Compassion Play", with Carrie Reilly ensouling the Iraqi mother and the former George Rodania, the deceased son . . . , performed on Penetcost eve (1990) before the replica of the Pieta Statue in Monument Square in Concord Center . . . , at the very moment when the final melody, noted just above, faded away, offered itself up, the Pieta Statue itself was suddenly lit up, lifting our gazes from Carrie and George, who lay in the gathering shadows, to Mary and Jesus.
Afterward, a friend came up to me, deeply moved, and asked: "How did you do it?" I shook my head: "I didn't do anything”..., and pointed to the flood light off to the right at the base of the statue. Apparently it went on on time.
*****
AMEN
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens
can change the world for the good. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.”
Margaret Meade
So it is, Virginia and John, Zwelo and Khaya, as I told your fathers, Chris and Dan; so it is Ellis and Erla, 刘亦正 (Dorian) & 刘亦庄 (Damian), as your fathers no doubt understand, the light shines brightest in the darkness, that very darkness which is called to high-light the light and, thereby — when all is said and done — to set our humanity in ever fuller relief. Words of Abraham Lincoln, “Father Abraham,” sum up this
offering . . . . quietly resound:
“That this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom. And that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
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