Making Progress in Tough Times

"In October, I had a moment with my eldest son that really brought home to me the angst that many progressive people were feeling throughout 2018.

It was the day after the release of the incredibly worrisome Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report. You probably saw the press coverage. One of the report’s key findings is that we only have a dozen years in which to avert catastrophic global warming damage. My 14-year-old had seen some articles about it on-line and took me aside just before heading to bed."

Read the article here:

Rick Smith, Broadbent Institute - Making Progress in Tough Times, Lessons from 2018

Noam Chomsky - Political Betrayal, Mobilizing Action

This video is from ScientistsWarning.org at COP24,

I know I should write more about this but Chomsky is so clear in his view of our dilemma and whenever I read or listen to people on science/political topics who are good speakers I just feel my explanations or introductions are redundant. Please listen and enjoy, or weep ... then think about the gifts you bring to the world and what it is you can do to change the politics of denial.

The Begat of Gratitude

To those who gave birth to my ancestors

who told me stories of the world

who showed me how to love it.

To all those who by accident and brief encounter

brought me to some truth I did not want to know.

To those who, not knowing my name

helped when I needed help

and who received mine when they needed it.

To those who by commitment of their will

have learned to write, sing, dance or paint

the message we most need to learn.

To all those who have the courage to put their skill

on the public stage to serve

as doctor, lawyer, minister, teacher, publisher,

scientist or social worker.

To those whose names I may never learn

who clean the office, drive the bus, do the laundry

pick the fruit and stack the shelves.

To those who have listened to another 

when they needed to be heard.

To all who embrace their vulnerability

and who enter into compassion.

For you are the names and the faces

of my gratitude.

(from Infinite Power, Ekstasis 2016)

Hate Never Makes Us Great

When men and women support movements of hate, such as white supremacists, anti-immigrant groups, the Nazi's of the 1930's, the Spanish Inquisition of the 15th Century, and witch-hunts all over the world - is that because we are desperately trying to shake off the feeling that we are redundant?

Is the absolute focus on the economy a sign that humanity has been replaced by a mathematical construct?

Is the invention of endless enemies really about culling a species that has over-populated the earth and the reason we can't deal with our own part in climate change because we cannot face the notion we are culpable for the problems we created?

What I'm talking about here is that mass of  a privileged humanity who have not had to prove themselves in any public way but who understand that "we" are included in the narrative.   The ones who spend a lot of time thinking about right and wrong but whose survival is not dependant on making the moral choice. The ones who are outraged at abortion but who will never get pregnant. The ones who watch endless hours of TV dramas happily as long as the victims are not in any way like them. The ones who believe its hypocritical to protest pipelines when we all need power, but who don't live near the proposed sites. The ones for whom history has no personal meaning in the immediate present because we do not identify with a demographic other than tax payer or consumer.

Why do we protest the symptoms of our system without looking at the whole picture? What are we afraid of seeing? What is the horror behind all the violence and cruelty listed in news headlines? What is the purpose of such contempt for life?

Underneath our rage and violence, is it ourselves that we hate and fear? We who are unable to live in peace creatively. We who invented guns, bombs, and tanks because our bows and arrows didn't bring us the success we planned.

When we are willing to believe that greed is good and climate change is a hoax surely we are creating the conditions for our demise. When we dismiss anything life-affirming as naive then aren't we announcing that WE ARE REDUNDANT?

Well we are NOT redundant even though the operating system (propaganda, ideology) keeps telling  us we are. So who or what is holding up that structure if not humanity?

Our task is to be human.  Money, the economy, the nation, security, or power is not greater than life. They are all things invented to support the community where we live.

Yes nihilism has purchased our institutions, and people who are employed are often asked to do that which is repugnant to the conscience of sane minds, but how far are we willing to cooperate with that in order to never ask ourselves what it really means? How long will we rally behind the structures that celebrate death because we are too frightened to question the meaning of it?

How The Light Gets In

The story of civilization on this planet is held in Leonard Cohen’s “Anthem”. 

How can I contribute to my society so it sustains and avoids the entropy of corruption, pollution, death and despair?

Cohen's song inspires me. I see our history on this planet as a cautionary tale of cycles, problem solving, good intentions and unintended consequences.

The first stanza of Anthem announces the birds sing at the break of day.  This tells me that I need not look to our human history alone. I can find wisdom and inspiration in all living things. If the birds start the day by singing then I can do something every day. Music is like a prayer urging me to go on, not give up.

Those "little things with feathers” that Emily Dickenson called hope, were taken for granted by us, until Rachel Carson warned of a silent spring. DNT was killing so much of the natural world many of us didn’t notice until Carson pointed it out. It inspired the environmental movement to pressure the monolith of “the economy” to find a way without DNT. It did and “hope" returned in many places.

I am advised not to dwell on the past or “what is yet to be”. Just because an avarice in our human nature is driving our planet to crisis while the innocent "holy dove" is sold and caught and sold again, it doesn't blot out all hope for the future.  Who is the holy dove and who is catching, buying and selling again? What is it that traps her? Is it our need to believe we can own peace and freedom forever? Is it spite? Or is it the will to power?

Humanity invented the market and those who prospered are now enslaved by it. How can I rise above it, change it, make it sustainable?

And what if it isn’t just an economic system? What if its a self interest so deep it only shows when the opportunity arises? What if I am so effectively conditioned to feel powerless that I cannot move forward or know what to do?

The song itself doesn’t get too stuck in the preaching: “Ring the bells that still can ring / forget your perfect offering”. After all I am not the conductor or composer but I am in the orchestra. My agency and problem solving skills are all I have but they come when something cracks and a sliver of light gets in.

It’s easy to fear the light I don’t possess, easy to let conspiracy theories discourage me. This is one of my tragic flaws. To feel incapable of reading the world and responding to it is natural, but only corruption benefits by my fear of being engaged.

If my society descends into fascism and hate, is my birth as a person with imagination and creative problem solving skills betrayed? If a social contract is harnessed beneath rules instead of love is that a “marriage spent” ? And is “the widowhood of every government” a reference to the lack of leadership, the abdication of responsible husbandry when profit is the only motivator?

Who can have faith in a lawless crowd? Injustice, racism, misogyny and greed does not offer a future. Violence has “summoned up a thunder cloud” and the killers need to hear from Leonard and the rest of us. What perfect offering could I ever possess that is more urgent than ringing the bell when the planet we depend on cracks under the weight of our wars and greed?

It is the deepest most difficult questions that let the light in even if my ego does not come out looking pretty.

(You can find the lyrics to Anthem here Leonard Cohen Anthem lyrics)

Pro-Life

It's so easy to say abortions are not nice if you have enough money to feed your children, pay the rent and sleep at night. If you have the support of an extended family and friends it's easy to imagine that an unplanned pregnancy will be loved and healthy and fed.


Denise Balkissoon's article in the Globe and Mail reports a 2017 study which found that "socioeconomic stress was the primary reason women in 14 different countries cited for seeking abortion". Millions of people in the world live in extreme poverty. Millions of women have no political voice to demand that men abstain from sex.


"If the concern is only what happens inside wombs, being anti-abortion also means being anti-women’s ability to raise healthy children and to lead their own lives with dignity."


The less power women have over their own bodies, the less reverence there is for life. While men argue over who will be bombed, who will be shot and who will starve to death, women grieve over the well-being of their children.


I'm not saying that women are pro-life and men pro-death but our hierarchical, colonial, neo-liberal, society -- has not succeeded in proving we are pr0-life in our values and habits.


Our habits tend to punish those at the bottom rather than re-direct resources to elevate life.

Political Cleverness

Be careful of political cleverness.  The big trick with high stakes. The "gotcha" that's irreversible. I'm talking about political expediency. Creating division between peoples who have become friends. About shaming someone for the sake of maneuver. 

Ultimately what it creates is the disruption of a whole society because the operating principles have changed while the minority of the people are still using the culture they were born and raised in.

Now I know that empires have risen and crumbled on political cleverness and the losers are the ones who often have the most integrity. Political progress has, for the most part been corruption, disruption and violence.

It is no wonder that young people believe they have to give up integrity in order to win in politics and business. Cleverness has become underhanded, fraudulent, sophistry. The most vulnerable are thrown under the bus while psychopaths are rewarded with high positions.

This is not simple naivete. It is the underground train that logs old forests, pollutes the air and the ocean, turns populations into criminals, parents into agents and children into pawns. It turns all relationships into corporations, and leaves a void where the village used to be.

We are rightfully disturbed when we witness our democracy crumbling under authoritarian rule, when the news is a list of violent events, and the town hall becomes a supermarket.

The trickle down currency of inequality is exploitation but even that word is too polite. Citizens become consumers then the consumed (cell phones, social media, then data).

In this environment we lose our leaders to gamesmanship, we ignore facts, dismiss science and swallow fake news because it resembles the familiar soap opera.

Now I'm not saying we all take the easy way out. I'm saying the playing field is full of snakes and pot holes so even competing in the game can leave us with permanent injuries. I'm saying that our earthly home has become a site of domestic violence as the corruption penetrates the spirit and the heart and our kin become prison guards.

I'm saying that good mental and physical health includes a healthy community. Yup that's social conscience  I guess.

Please advise: How did civil society become so dispensable?

Canadian climate change opinion is polarized, and research shows the divide is widening. The greatest predictor of people's outlook is political affiliation. This means people's climate change perceptions are being increasingly driven by divisive political agendas rather than science and concern for our collective welfare -  writes David Suzuki in Rabble.ca.

We are addicted to the mirror myths of our selves, and our addictions are sending our planet to hell. Addictions to fossil fuel, alcohol, drugs and power.

I saw a post somewhere that said it looks like our planet is a giant mental health ward where the staff are silenced or have left.

There are about 200,000 nurses registered, almost 5,000 psychiatrists, just under 15,000 veterinarians and thousands of teachers, in Canada. Add to this the people who have invested their time in healing arts and sciences.

How many people are trained to fix our cars, drive our buses, clean our schools and hospitals, fight fires, police the streets, plan our cities, and volunteer at community services.

Think of all the labour that goes into the care and nurture of this country. How many people work for the common good? How much energy and effort does it take to keep our country running even without the special skills of our top leaders?

Why is the news exclusively about the rich and famous or the bleeding and damned? It's evident in these narratives that celebrity breeds sociopathic behaviours. Why are we so impressed with their power no matter how harmful and stupid it is?

Why is analysis about the state of our world so dismissive of integral intelligence? What does power actually create in our society? Is it protection, comfort, food and warmth? Or violence and fear? Why is community activity portrayed as dependant upon the market?

Who is it that insists the sum of human activity is not worth paying attention to unless it creates money or rises to the top?

To answer this we must look at the ways we have been played, who has benefitted and who pays for it.

BC Pro Rep - Easy Entertaining Breakdown of the 3 PR Options

Human Rights Under Attack

CBC Ideas program have a full hour of Gareth Peirce On The New Dark Age.  It is worthwhile listening to entirely.

We are getting reports from the US, Canada, the UK and Europe about violence breaking out.

In the thirties Jews were targeted in Europe. African Americans were targeted in the US. Forced starvations were organized in Russia. First Nations and Japanese were targeted in Canada.

With each decade a demographic was denied dignity, imprisoned, murdered while mainstream voices who spoke out against the violence were ostracized and punished.

Now the White supremacists have organized hate marches.

The conversation about how we can heal the conflict, comfort the afflicted and move forward doesn't seem to make the headlines. So what is wrong with this picture? What is the nature and the name of the elephant in the room?

Hate has been whipped up throughout the centuries and after the slaughter, the fear, the bloodshed and displacement, there is work to rebuild, with the mantra "never again" will we fall for the hate-mongers, Then discontent creeps in, social systems break down and the hate boils over again.

This sounds like it's an organic thing. Individuals no matter how enlightened can't reach the thugs or the fascist supporters.  But is it natural. Or is it stirred, organized and presented as a grass roots eruption which we must accept as human nature.

I think that is a cop out. I think we know about how tensions, fear and hate is whipped, where it comes from and who benefits.

What is it that I must do?

 We, the sentient creatures, are in this time and place where we are informed on many levels, that there is danger and it is urgent that we do something about it, even though we don't have the power to fix all that needs to be fixed.

Not even the President of the United States can fix it. The trauma and the structural violence of many centuries have put the human heart and mind in the centre of a large maze and whichever turn we make will not lead us out of danger.

The problems we face now cannot be fixed by authoritarian agendas or weapons of mass destruction. Yet there is a churning inside and an anxiety that is difficult to endure.

There are things I can do about the economy, politics, climate, the level of fear but it won't fix the world. So I ask myself - who do I think I am that I should worry about the big picture. And yet if I don't what will inform me on what is important and what isn't.

This quandary is not about my ego. It is a message like the rustling of leaves in the wind. It is the silence, the radio, the books and the television programs that circle my consciousness.

It is like a moment's awakening. The words that come just when I am about to fall asleep. This epiphany, vague as it is, will be lost come morning.

I am assured in a quiet way that I am here for a reason and for as long as I live, there is something I must do, something I am here to do. Not something fantastically huge but something that is needed. Something like an energy wafting out of an open window.  Something that whispers across the garden and the pond. Something that comes through me but not of me - to paraphrase Kahlil Gibran. Something that I can do because of my particular history and my particular circumstances. Something that is authentic, without fanfare or crashing cymbals or a gun. Something that will not harm anyone.

I don't yet know what it is but when the time comes I must do it. And this thing that I must do which I will know when the time comes, is a comfort to me now, and when the time comes I will trust it.

This goes for you too. There is something that you can do, before you leave this place. Something that will help to heal this battered planet.

This is not a call for war, or the use of force, not an authoritarian dictate - although we might feel tempted because of  high levels of anxiety. We can offer what might ease the fears of other beings, not tell them what to do.

Polluter Pays

The Leap group has a petition you can sign here. 

Along with answers to questions such as what does it mean, 
what's the problem, 
how is it currently enforced in Canada, 
how should it work, 
why can't we leave the well there, 
how much does it cost to clean up, 
how many jobs could it create?

So if you think we shouldn't bother with this or any other social activism here is what Chris Hedges writes about the social realities of today.

"The dark pathologies of the uber-rich, lionized by mass culture and mass media, have become our own. We have ingested their poison. We have been taught by the uber-rich to celebrate the bad freedoms and denigrate the good ones. Look at any Trump rally. Watch any reality television show. Examine the state of our planet."

The Truth As the Body Knows It by Lynda Archer

I know the news moves on quickly, but I am still back, as I expect some of you are also, with what occurred in the US Supreme Court a few days ago. I am sharing with you all an essay that I couldn't not write after Dr. Blasey Ford's testimony. Trigger warning for some of what I write. Feel free to share with whomever you wish. And thanks to those who have read earlier versions. You know who you are. 

Continuing from Dr. Blasey Ford’s Testimony, the Truths I Know 

I watched closely the Supreme Court events in the US and found myself becoming increasingly sad, angry and churned up with the process and the ultimate outcome. Spoiler alert. Yes, I clearly side with Dr. Ford and I will over the course of this essay endeavour to show you why. 

I am not myself a survivor of sexual assault or abuse. But at this historic moment I am reminded of all the brave women who I was honoured to treat in my capacity as a clinical psychologist and Assistant Clinical Professor within the Dept. of Psychiatry at McMaster University. As a clinician I bore witness to the words of women who were 30, 40, 70 years of age when they spoke to me, often for the first time, of their childhood sexual abuse or their sexual assaults as adults. Assaults by uncles, fathers, brothers, friends. 

This is what I want to say. This is the truth as I know it. This is what I’d like to shout to certain individuals. Twenty, thirty, fifty years later. Those women in my office remembered. Those women who were mothers, daughters, sisters, aunts, wives, lawyers, doctors, artists, plumbers, Asian, African American, indigenous... women.

Those women remembered. They remembered very well.

In great detail. Every one of those women remembered ALL that was done to their bodies. They remembered the words he said to them. They remembered how he whispered and taunted, told her that she liked what he was doing. Told her how he’d kill her cat if she spoke out. She remembered that he told her no one would believe her. Those women remembered. They remembered his body odour, his cologne. They remembered where he put his fingers. They remembered the weight of his body on their own bodies. 

But what I also know to be true. All those women longed to forget. They craved that their memories of those moments would evaporate.

Those women, every one of them, all those women, wished and hoped that the memory would depart from their brains and their bodies. 

Those kind, intelligent, caring, compassionate and courageous women.

Each in their own way had worked so hard to forget. Drinking too much. Working long hours. Chastising themselves. Pretending it didn’t happen. Telling themselves it wasn’t that bad.

Denial. Repression. Dissociation. All the psychological defences were employed.
Employed for months. Years. Decades. Wonderful defenses they are. Except they only work in the short term. They don’t eradicate memory.

Those defences don’t work in the long term because those kind of memories have a life of their own. They are not to be obliterated.

They will not be erased. That’s not how traumatic memory works. The body remembers what the mind forgets. The body does not lie or deny. The body may create disguises and diversions. Depression. Anxiety. Panic disorder. Headaches. Stomach aches. Nausea. Suicide attempts. Nightmares. Sleep disturbances. PTSD. But still the memories of the abuse remain. 

The memories of the abuse remain alongside SHAME. Shame rushes in with haste the moment the abuser leaves the room. Shame fills every cell of one’s body. Shame freezes the voice. Shame tells you that you are bad, unworthy, no one will believe you.

Shame is always there after abuse. Shame is the great silencer. “Shame holds secrets like a banker’s vault. Only death does a better job.” (Tears in the Grass, Lynda Archer)

I honour all the women who have courageously spoken out. I honour all the women who might never speak out. And in the words of Maya Angelou: 

“You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.”

Lynda A. Archer, Ph.D., MFA
Clinical Psychologist (Retired),
Assistant Clinical Professor, Dept. of Psychiatry, McMaster University (Retired)
Author: Tears in the Grass, Dundurn Press
October 16, 2018

Silicon Billionaires Prepping for the Apocalypse?

Billionaires anticipating the collapse of democracy and the nation state?  Mark O'Connell writes in a Guardian article (Why Silicon Billionaires are Prepping for the Apocalypse in New Zealand).

O'Connell quotes from a book called The Sovereign Individual: Mastering the Transition to the Information Age.  The title looks harmless enough, but inside it contains the recipe for what feels to me, a kind of nihilism. It preaches:

"1) The democratic nation-state basically operates like a criminal cartel, forcing honest citizens to surrender large portions of their wealth to pay for stuff like roads and hospitals and schools.

2) The rise of the internet, and the advent of cryptocurrencies, will make it impossible for governments to intervene in private transactions and to tax incomes, thereby liberating individuals from the political protection racket of democracy.

3) The state will consequently become obsolete as a political entity. 

4) Out of this wreckage will emerge a new global dispensation, in which a “cognitive elite” will rise to power and influence, as a class of sovereign individuals “commanding vastly greater resources” who will no longer be subject to the power of nation-states and will redesign governments to suit their ends."

I don't know just how much influence these billionaires have, but this book reveals contempt for life as well as a hatred for democracy.   They are claiming that their money and power will help nation states collapse.  

Civil society is threatened by far right hate groups funded by dark money.

Are spills from oil pipelines accidents or intended outcomes from trans national corporations, to further the goal of weakening democracy and centralizing power? Was the postwar push to pave towns and villages with highways created to further our addiction to fossil fuels?

What will save us from this absolute destruction of all things fair and civil? What will keep fascism from destroying Canada in the way Germany was destroyed by Nazi's in the thirties. What will keep Canadians from becoming slaves to megalomaniacs? 

Well there are books like Orwell's 1984, Huxley's Brave New World, Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, and Klein's No Is Not Enough, imagining the many dangers of a world without morality, empathy and social responsibility. 

Are all the world's nations being destroyed to clear the way for global fascism? 

We need to be curious enough to ask the most disturbing questions when threatened by highly organized evil minds, and to re-invest in the creative community power we are capable of. 

Strategic Plan

Love everyone

Hate no-one

Move to the edge

Happy Thanksgiving

The Main Problem With My World

We are being formed and re-formed by who? The personality of cult seems to be so effective at confusing and misdirecting our beliefs and energies, that it seems intentional, planned by cunning architects.  The issue that drives all other issues is well described by George Monbiot in his recent blog - Personality Cult which you will find here https://www.monbiot.com/2018/10/05/personality-cult/ 

The Empire of Empires

In reading Common Dreams article on Arundhati Roy's take on the free market, I have imagined the following poem.

The Market

Reading the common dreams of any day

I see an image of a man, naked

starved, his skin almost transparent

his bones protruding through

and then the chair of the committee

who, needing to justify his salary

wonders what use a starving man can be?

Might the cup of rice, twenty beans 

and litre of water he consumes 

be better spent in a bank account 

somewhere 

in Switzerland or London?

If every man, woman and child

was blown to dust in a global war

except for the employable 10%

who serve their masters

might that put an end to poverty?

And might the chair

take his idea to the board

who would then advise

not to tell anyone 

not a word, a hint or question

for a hundred years

would he do as he is told?

Or would he see that starving man

every night (before he falls asleep)

for the rest of his life?

Henri Giroux on Fascism and Toxic Masculinity

How politics disposes of some people so that others follow feeling numbed if not privileged, Giroux responds to the trial against victims of rape in the Brett Kavanaugh case. 

"I mean, I think that when any group or any element of the population is seen as so disposable, is treated with such almost visceral violence, we begin to get a whiff of something that is at work here that really isn’t being talked about, and that is a kind of fascist politics that absolutely hates democracy, hates the truth, hates public participation and is doing everything it can to hide, would seem to me, any visible element of what it might mean to take this woman’s narrative seriously and to talk, basically, about the crimes that are built into the system in ways that have to be addressed." The Real News Network. Interview with Henri Giroux by DHARNA NOOR

The Other is Killing Us

There is a theory which holds that "the surge in far-right support, in otherwise moderate countries such as Sweden, is a one-time response to current events – especially to the surge in migrants and refugee claimants who entered Europe in 2015 and 2016 amid the Syrian civil war." Doug Saunders writes in The Globe and Mail.

You might see the surge in media articles on racism and the need to be "woke" as blaming white people too easily, or the feminist voices on sexual harassment in the work place as portraying men as scheming predators.

Whichever side you are on, it feels like the "other" is killing us. And the "other" IS killing us. But the "other" is not the one who is usually blamed.

The "other" does not appear in public as a particular race or gender or even a personality type. This "other" is the anthro-hyena.

The anthro-hyena appears to be human, talks, walks and dresses like a human but has developed into a creature who is beyond the sentiment and emotion of the human. Neither is it a wild hyena who mates, hunts and lives on the African plains.

The anthro-hyena has a particular set of skills and an obsession to scheme and control social systems. His/her aim is dark manipulation and this will destroy all life on our planet unless we identify the activity as a singular threat.

Human culture has identified the evil "other" through stories, religious doctrine and psycho-analysis. Labels such as psychopath, the devil, satan, criminal, enemy or killer - have been well used to identify evil activity, but the anthro-hyena is much smarter and less noticeable than those we identify as threats to a functioning society.

The anthro-hyena is not the richest king , CEO, Prime Minister or President because he works behind the scene, advising, scheming and lobbying. Once identified she or he might be classified as psychopathic, rich or successful but the nature that makes her so dangerous is her ability to move around and influence institutions so as to bring about their destruction while appearing to be essential to the institution.

The anthro-hyena comes in all genders, races and classes. They adopt the language and persona of whatever group they choose to work in. They appear to represent us, whoever we are and wherever we might be. They learn the skills and discipline of the profession they adopt. But that is just their platform.

The anthro-hyena will not be the troll stalking the comment section or the killer stalking the street - the anthro-hyena will be organizing, coaching and manipulating others to do that. The devastation of society will be a strategy that links all elements so that (1) the actors believe they are working on their own behalf, and (2) the action will seem human, natural, and caused by the politics that preceded them.

However the architects and designers of the event or string of events, are never recognized or named. They slip into and out of the corners like shadows in a nightmare.

The anthro-hyena doesn't plan a new movement, protest or political group. He/she feeds the conversation by adopting a fake persona and providing the "propaganda", the "ideology" and the "doctrine" to enable the followers to do the work of fronting the movement.

For example, the oil pipelines create division among different groups. The ones who believe we need the oil and the jobs and the ones who live, work, eat and drink the resources where the oil is to be shipped. It's easy to see why each side supports their argument, but the anthro-hyena is not interested in finding common ground or coming to a workable solution. The currency is inflaming the issue, making both sides appear ridiculous, angry and even violent. Hauling out stereotypes alienates us from the basic issue.  Name calling, ridicule, fear and destruction is skillfully massaged.

The anthro-hyena also finds funding to do the work that he does not identify with. His or her name will not be shown with any movement for long. Once the destruction of social spirit has been achieved, he/she will have moved on to the next project.

Fascism and war are the products of the anthro-hyena's machinations. He/she has achieved his goal if a nation or continent dissolves into war, because the anthro-hyena has succeeded in redefining human identity, re-distributing our activity. The goal is not just to torture millions of people but to get humanity to forget who they are, to keep them confused and alienated from their better natures.

Capitalism has managed to do that as it moves from a simple exchange of goods to re-creating the world and all its inhabitants into a singular obsession - the gross domestic product.  Living organisms  flail and become lost when reduced to a singular goal or obsession.

Religion has managed that too after the anthro-hyena has inflamed the worst in human nature, so that the spirit is blinded by the imperative to control the masses.

The rule of law once separated from the care and concern of community becomes an instrument of oppression rather than justice.  The silky tones of the anthro-hyena seduces us to agree to and be subdued by rhetoric and rant.

Medicine becomes poison when the goal is rendered down to the limits of profit. Science becomes a weapon when the only results we are interested in, are those that bring in money.

Money becomes a false god when it is worshipped blindly. Politics loses its essential drive when campaign funding is the arbiter of success.

This planet dies when people struggle under the doctrine of the anthro-hyena's persuasion that we cannot survive without fossil fuels.

Our only defence against the anthro-hyena is to revere life, protect the environment, sustain the oceans, keep the forests, protect the vulnerable and honour the fragile.

When the surge in far-right movements is the result of current events it's because we have been drowned in ideology that the other is killing us. That other might be the anthro-hyena not those driven from their home from starvation and land clearances. That other might be the ego in each of us that we dare not interrogate, dissociated from our family and the organic matter between our ears.

Department of Deviance: Resignation

Department of Deviance: Resignation: I have been a blogger at Feminist Philosophers for about 5 years.   I resigned from the blog over the summer but now want to do so publicly -  Amy Olberding



An excellent post for our time. The more the gap widens between extremes, the more I am leaning towards kindness.

How Can We Find Our Way Home?

This past weekend I had the pleasure of reading some of my poems at the Capital Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Victoria.

Reading from a collection titled "Over There Where I Cry Mother I Am Lost" we then gathered after the service to talk, ask questions, on how we can return to a preferred future. Everyone who spoke was in touch with the politics of our day, the threats to our environment and the challenges of our relationship to one another and our planetary home. We were mostly middle aged and there was one young person there.

We are not short of thoughtful intelligent and sensitive people, but we suffer from the realization that a system drives our which is dissociated from nature and civil society. This means we find it difficult to affect change and protect our home. Out of that conversation I list several things we might consider.

1. ECONOMICS
Send letters to our political representatives, call them, let them know their duty to their constituents and country goes deeper than "jobs" and "the economy". Their reliance on lobbies who have no other interest than making the economy grow - is now destroying our home. Make noise. Get their attention. Offer alternative ways that go deeper into the problems.

2. COMMUNICATION
Do not fall back on scapegoats, threatening those who don't see things as you do, go beyond blaming to workable ideas on how we can work together. Offer hope in ideas rather than leaving it at criticism. Making claims about what "they" do leads us deeper into judgement and leaves us without ideas on how we can move forward.  Bring young minds into the circle. Listen to what they believe rather than telling them what they believe.

3. LOCATE YOUR HOME
What areas of social life do you know, what have you experienced, what skills and knowledge do you possess? What books have you read that have influenced you? Where have you come from? Your family values, your political preferences, your education level and your profession. This is where you begin because you've lived it.

4. INHERITED TRAUMA
Trauma that your parents and ancestors survived are the bedrock of your beginning as you learned how to survive. It is the lens you have inherited like your DNA and your values. How did these elements make you vulnerable and make you strong?

5. SOCIAL STRUGGLE
How did you get through elementary school, high school and university? How did you fit into your profession or work life? How much support did you get from colleagues, friends and bosses?

6. EMOTIONAL AND SPIRITUAL HOME
Where do you find comfort? In nature? In a religious congregation? As an activist? As an artist? Where do you feel effective and where do you contribute? Even warriors need a tent to return to for support and sustenance.

7. WHERE IS YOUR TRIBE?
Where you do feel a kinship? Where do you belong? Where besides social media, can you say what you feel, reveal the deepest feelings in your heart and your mind. Remember you are not alone. Nothing that thrives is alone, not even oceans and trees, not even clouds.

8. IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT
It is about what is, what was, but mostly what we can do.  Until our species becomes extinct we shall respond to the world as we know it in our hearts and minds to the best of our ability.

Hey Ontario - Unitarians Offer Comprehensive Sex Education Program

The Canadian Unitarian Council (CUC) announces the availability of the sex education program, Our Whole Lives (OWL), to Ontario schools and parents. 

Toronto, Ontario, Canada – August 29, 2018 – The Canadian Unitarian Council (CUC) advocates for fact-based sexuality education, which is provided in many Unitarian congregations through its progressive Our Whole Lives (OWL) program. 

The CUC believes that the Ontario government’s decision to repeal the comprehensive 2015 Health and Sex Education curriculum and reinstate the curriculum from 1998 will leave children at risk and adversely impact schools’ ability to create cultures of inclusion, safety and consent. Neither does it prepare students of all genders and sexual orientations to develop healthy, consensual relationships.

To fill the gap of the important information and content that is missing from the 1998 curriculum the Canadian Unitarian Council supports and promotes Our Whole Lives (OWL). OWL is an extensive  lifespan sexuality education program created almost 20 years ago by the Unitarian Universalist Association and the United Church of Christ in the US. The curricula includes age ranges from kindergarten to adulthood, and has been updated regularly to stay current. The 2018 OWL program provides honest, accurate, and developmentally appropriate information about a range of topics including relationships, gender identity, sexual orientation, sexual health, and cultural influences on sexuality.

OWL supports and encourages family conversations about sexual values and healthy decision making. The curriculum is based on the principles of self-worth, sexual health, responsibility, justice, and inclusivity, and helps people of all ages make informed and responsible decisions about their sexual health and behaviour. The program dismantles stereotypes and assumptions, builds self-acceptance and self-esteem, fosters healthy relationships, improves decision making, and has the potential to save lives.

“Through our experience offering Our Whole Lives, we understand the profound effect that inclusive, respectful, fact-based sex education can have on young people,” says Vyda Ng, Executive Director of the CUC. She adds “Our Whole Lives empowers children, teens and others across age lifespans to understand not only their bodies but also their relationships and the importance of consent and respect in building healthy relationships.”

The Canadian Unitarian Council is deeply concerned that the loss of comprehensive sexuality education in Ontario schools will leave children and youth vulnerable at a time when they most need accurate information and empowerment to make good decisions. Asha Philar, OWL Coordinator for the CUC states, “The Our Whole Lives program gives youth the tools to make healthy and age-appropriate choices and helps LGBTQ youth find self-acceptance and support. Without access to accurate information and learning opportunities, Ontario students are put at risk and we fear that LGBTQ youth will face even more barriers to acceptance.” 

OWL programs are available through many Unitarian congregations from September to May. To find out more about the OWL program and where workshops for ages kindergarten to adult are available, contact owl@cuc.ca.  

More information about the CUC’s Our Whole Lives Sexuality Education program can be found on the CUC website.  https://cuc.ca/congregations-leaders/religious-exploration/our-whole-lives-owl/ or email owl@cuc.ca.

Additional information and calls to action: 

Members of the CUC and its congregations are invited to sign the following petition calling on Premier Ford to keep Ontario’s 2015 sex-ed curriculum: https://you.leadnow.ca/petitions/doug-ford-keep-ontario-s-sex-ed-curriculum

Please phone Education Minister Lisa Thompson to reinstate the 2015 Ontario Health and Sex Education curriculum:  https://www.leadnow.ca/call-to-save-sex-ed/  

About the Canadian Unitarian Council

The Canadian Unitarian Council / Conseil unitarien du Canada (CUC) is the national association of Unitarian Universalist congregations in Canada. We are a diverse faith community bound by a common commitment to equity and justice. We covenant to a set of principles, which calls us to seek peace, liberty and compassion, to search for truth and meaning, to respect the inherent worth and dignity of every person, and to uphold democratic processes.

Media Contact:

Vyda Ng, Executive Director
executivedirector@cuc.ca