Letter to a friend:

As you have rightly intuited, the inflammatory politics is merely symptomatic of a larger crisis — the end of the time we know and the beginning of another — as presaged by war, famine, fire, flood and reality TV.

This just in:

NATIONAL (NBC ) – Does the financial crisis have you feeling stressed out? Well, you’re not alone.

A newly released survey by the American Psychological Association shows the declining economy is causing stress levels to skyrocket.

The annual report takes a look at the stress level of Americans, and this year, stress is on the rise.

As things get worse on Wall Street, it seems Americans are hitting the wall. They’re stressed out and letting it show.

Dr. Katherine Nordal, the Executive Director for Professional Practice, says they have “irritability, depression, sleeplessness, problems concentrating…”

A new survey by the American Psychological Association finds eight out of ten Americans say the economy is now a significant source of stress.

Almost half say their stress has increased in the past year and they are now increasingly worried about their ability to provide even their families basic needs.

Dr. Nordal says, “What we’re seeing is more and more people coming in because they are more stressed about financial situations, having homes foreclosed on.”

According to the survey, women are being hit the hardest, feeling more stress than men about money, the economy, job stability, housing costs and health problems.

Since I’m the canary in the coal mine when it comes to stress, I can tell you with an uncertain amount of authority that exercise, rest, vitamins, meditation, prayer, soothing music and talking things over with trusted friends are all terrific for smoothing you out. Humor, where appropriate, can also work wonders.

That said, the sheer numbers of wobbling blobs of bobbling blubber among us — I speak, of course, of our fellow Americans — tell us that not everyone “gets” this. We therefore have a lot on our plate. Not as much as them, but you see my point.

The foregoing does not cover all those who resort to drugs and alcohol, of course, who can be counted upon to spiral out into all sorts of lunacy, not all of them comical.

You can, again, mightily empower yourself, being such a good ear and wise counsel, by helping others at this time of crisis, always bearing in mind the final temptation.

Now is my way clear, now is the meaning plain:
Temptation shall not come in this kind again.
The last temptation is the greatest treason
To do the right deed for the wrong reason.

My love to you and the gang!

Our transcendent splendor,

Brian J. Flanagan

To all our men and women in uniform …

The Gratitude Campaign

Sometimes compassion rises to heroic heights.

War & Peace

 John Gebhardt’s wife, Mindy, said that this little girl’s entire family was executed.  The insurgents intended to execute the little girl also, and shot her in the head… but they failed to kill her.  She was cared for in John’s hospital and is healing up, but continues to cry and moan. The nurses said John is the only one who seems to calm her down, so John has spent the last four nights holding her while they both slept in that chair. The girl is coming along with her healing.

- James Gates, U. S. Navy

The situation these people face is utterly deplorable. No wonder the militants are up in arms.

Who among us has known such misery? (Aside from Katrina victims, I mean.)

Palestinians Begin Returning To Devastated Lebanon Camp – washingtonpost.com

I am no fan of Ahmadinejad. I regard him as dangerously unbalanced, a little Hitler and a looming threat to civilization.

So saying, I’m uneasy as to the wisdom of humiliating him in front of a world audience.

Ahmadinejad’s Day One in New York: A Hostile Reception, a Rambling Talk – washingtonpost.com

I admire George Soros. He passes as a philosopher among businessmen and his Open Society Institute has done great good in the world.

In college, I avidly read Karl Popper’s masterful work on The Open Society and Its Enemies. In brief, an open society sustains a free market for ideas and their unfettered expression. A closed society tries to stifle same for reasons religious, political and/or ideological.

We are an open society on good days. China is not. The USSR was not. And neither, apparently, is the Huffington Post, where the following item appeared the other day:

Dept. of Misdirection: With Iraq a Disaster, GOP Goes Crazy Over a Newspaper Ad

I attempted to reply in their house blog that Soros had seen fascism up close in his youth — and that perhaps this early scarring had something to do with the ad targeting Petraeus, which was remarkably tone deaf and tellingly juvenile.

I argued, quietly and calmly, that to call the Iraq war a disaster does not make it so. That, to fill a bubble with the refrain does not make it so, though it may deafen us to what we might otherwise hear.

I stated that the left had acted to balance the right, that our soldiers were coming home, that we can all take a measure of comfort in the implications.

That the war is over, that it ended the moment Al Qaeda began to attack the Iraqis. (Would that all our enemies were so stupid.)

I reminded that the Iraqis, their neighbors and the rest of the world are now free of Saddam & Sons. That Iraq has held elections, forged a constitution, and created a fledgling democracy.

It was too much. They didn’t want to hear it. They refused to air it. They declined to give a reason why. (I asked.)

None of which is important. Except insofar as it highlights a larger picture, wherein the left & right continue to shout past one another, neither hearing what the other has to say — and so unwittingly limiting their audiences, preaching to the choir, filling their echo chambers with sound and fury that comes to stand in for original thought and authentic emotion.

We all suffered a major trauma six years ago. The word, ‘trauma,’ is related to the German traum, meaning ‘dream.’ Those who have been traumatized behave as though they continue to relive a nightmare wherefrom they cannot awaken, often thrashing about in an effort to call attention to their plight.

I want to wake both houses and alert them to the dangers within and without. While we squabble among ourselves, the world moves on.

Israel has just now bombed Syria, on suspicion of nuclear activity abetted by N Korea.

France is talking about war with Iran.

The political structure of Pakistan is wobbling.

The polar ice caps are crumbling.

Our economy gives evidence of another meltdown.

Our people are putting on lard like they expect an extended privation.

Our homeless children are showing up on porn sites everywhere.

Millions more have no health insurance and meanwhile a billion dollars no longer qualifies you at Forbes.

Wake up.

Why does Osama now sport a dark beard and tan?

Look a little closer — it’s a mask to disguise the cadaverous husk beneath.

Occupation 101

 Well, what do ya know?

Digg this: I saw it on YouTube.

I believe the tide has turned.

“The concept of the wounded healer is prevalent in ancient and modern teachings alike. In many cultures, a shaman received the call during a Vision Quest or after a life-changing experience. In others instances, the healer’s path began in childhood, as the child’s unique gifts became evident. Even in modern times, the call to heal is often heard after a near-death experience or some other traumatic event.”

Roxianne Moore

How can we help our soldiers heal? How can we help ourselves?

We’ve all been through a lot these last years — our men and women in uniform especially so.

9/11, war, the Challenger explosion, the tsunami, Katrina, school massacres, environmental meltdown… it’s enough to test anyone’s mettle. Most of us have not had to face combat, but all good people suffer with our soldiers, grieve with the families whose kids return home wounded or dead and wonder where there is an end of it.

I used to work as a counselor and still get pressed into service when the need arises. People have felt free to tell me their troubles ever since I was a young lad. Over the years I have come to cherish that trust. Lately, I’ve been wondering what we can all do to speed the healing we all need — our brave boys and girls all the more so.

The basics remain the same: Rest, quiet, exercise, good diet and a support network. For most of us, most of the time, talking things out with a trusted friend has as much therapeutic value as actual time on the couch. For those who are deeply injured, however…

Professional therapy and medication can save lives for the most severely wounded, but I remain troubled by the thought that our men and women who fight are made of tough stuff — and may regard it as a sign of weakness to seek help. To them I would only suggest that it takes a lot of courage to admit it when you really need serious attention. I can say this because I was grievously wounded for a long time and it was only when I died and then returned to this plane that I learned the value of humility. I discovered that it is quite literally true that, without God, we are nothing.

So saying, I encourage everyone, including nonbelievers, to consider that there is a light at the very heart of us, a presence too powerful for flesh to endure, a spark that is one with the Light that fires the stars.

The wounded surgeon plies the steel
That quesions the distempered part;
Beneath the bleeding hands we feel
The sharp compassion of the healer’s art
Resolving the enigma of the fever chart.

Our only health is the disease
If we obey the dying nurse
Whose constant care is not to please
But to remind us of our, and Adam’s curse,
And that, to be restored, our sickness must grow worse.

The whole earth is our hospital
Endowed by the ruined millionaire,
Wherein, if we do well, we shall
Die of the absolute paternal care
That will not leave us, but prevents us everywhere.

The chill ascends from feet to knees,
The fever sings in mental wires.
If to be warmed, then I must freeze
And quake in frigid purgatorial fires
Of which the flame is roses, and the smoke is briars.

________________________

Mind & Body: WebMD

Veteran’s Administration

Dr. Andrew Weil’s Self Healing

Healing Music

The Spiritual Tradition