Amazing Grays

Directions to New Blog

2011-05-06T20:07:00.000-04:00

This is the last of Amazing Grays.

You can now follow my new blog entitled, "Through My Spectacles."

Here is the address: www.ThruMySpectacles.blogspot.com

When you get there, put your email address in the box on the right.
Or sign up for a feed on the right.

I dreamed last night that everyone who has been reading "Amazing Grays" will sign up for the new blog and forward this email to people they know who have nothing else to do but read blogs. There will soon be a place on the new blog to click and email it or send it to Facebook or Twitter.

Writing these web logs is fun for me. I hope reading them is somehow helpful for you.

##

Coming soon!

2011-05-04T17:43:00.000-04:00

Very soon:

You will be informed of a new blog very soon.

New title.

Some of the same old stuff.

But some new stuff too.

You will be able to enter your email address and be notified

when a new post comes out.

Or you can click on the Feed button (if you do that sort of thing

or want to start.)

Yes, some of you voted for the new title

which will be revealed soon.

We're closer now than we've ever been before!

##

Tornadoes

2011-04-28T18:41:00.000-04:00

April 27, 2011 (4:45 p.m. CST): I’m sitting and watching the TV as meteorologists are showing us tornadoes just missing us here in Birmingham. In fact, they are showing video of actual tornadoes in counties all around us. Not many basements in this area. Our apartment does have a small laundry room that is under the building, which is where we will head if any of these storms heading our way heads directly toward us. I have great respect for tornadic winds. When we lived in Dillsboro, Indiana I was home when 70 mile an hour winds came through and uprooted large trees and literally screwed the bell tower off our church—spun it around and set it down in the church yard—a tower weighing several tons. I went to the parsonage basement (the house was owned by the Lutheran Church I was serving) and covered my head as a roaring sound moved through. The house had minor damage, but the community had serious damage.

I also remember the 1974 tornadoes. We were living in North Vernon, IN. I went with a church group to help clean up after a church in Madison, IN was partly damaged. We toured Hanover which was directly hit; and later we went to Louisville and saw the large beech trees on the Southern Seminary campus that were thrown around like toothpicks. It was horrendous.

I am now watching a live feed of a huge tornado going through Tuscaloosa! It’s headed northeast, just north of us…

[later…April 28] Wow! What an evening we had last night. Pat and I began grabbing essentials and putting them in bags so we could head down to the laundry room of our apartment (the only underground place around here). But as we watched the TV reports we saw that the tornadoes (and there were several) would be either north or south of us. We were fortunate. At one point they said the big one was headed straight for downtown Birmingham—which is where Glory works. We immediately called Glory and found out that she had left work early and was home.

It was a tense night. The University of Alabama has cancelled final exams and commencement!

One of the tragic things is that the ‘route’ of the biggest tornado went through the part of Tuscaloosa and other towns and communities where poorer people live. Other tornadoes have taken the same route.

Our new Governor said in a statement that he was thankful that the Lord had protected him, along with many others. Doesn’t that imply that the Lord decided not to protect those who were killed or lost homes? Does he literally believe that? How insulting! This is where simplistic theism leads.

I am happy to have been fortunate in this situation. But I don’t believe God chose me over someone else to be safe. God had nothing to do with it. It’s nature. Mother Nature. And I have to say at this point, Mother Nature is a bitch.

Holy Meals

2011-04-25T18:52:00.000-04:00

Last Thursday we attended the Seder Meal at our church, complete with the Four Glasses of Wine drunk at various places in the liturgy. We just poured a little in the glass each time, which was a good idea since the Maundy Thursday service followed the Meal and we were singing in the choir and had choir practice after that. If I drank four glasses of wine I wouldn’t be able to stand up. One full glass is my limit. Debbie gave a great homily on the Last Supper and Jesus’ complete acceptance of all disciples, including Judas. She spoke of a bumper sticker we see down here (I don’t know if it is a national sticker) that has a red square with a blue circle in the middle—meaning: I am a Democrat surrounded by Republicans. Debbie pointed out that the liturgical color for Lent is purple, the combination of red and blue. She went on to speak of Jesus bringing all people together in his inclusive love and how we shouldn’t see people as ‘red’ or ‘blue’ or black or white, but as brothers and sisters in God’s love. Gospel. Even Judas was at the table—not excluded.

(I heard someone call Judas, "Judas Asparagus.")

Sunday: Second year I’ve been retired during Holy Week and Easter. Ministers have to plan and execute so many extra services during this time that they are exhausted on Easter Sunday evening.. Being retired, I finally get to ‘receive’ the celebrations in a more relaxed fashion. Pat and I sang in the choir this morning (Easter), including the Hallelujah Chorus for the Choral Benediction. My voice was almost gone after so much singing. In the afternoon we were invited over to Glory and Jim’s friends' house for a meal. It was luscious: leg of lamb, vegetable gratin (which included purple carrots), asparagus with hazelnut topping, roasted potatoes (with three varieties), challah bread, some frambroise before the meal and wine with the meal, and orange chiffon cake. These two friends are doctors. First time I’d ever been served food by an oncologist and a neurologist.

Thanks for your suggestions about my forthcoming blog. I'm still collecting responses. Sorry if I confused anyone about Nietzsche and coupons. They were not meant to be connected in any way.

I find myself at peace. Some things are becoming clear for me. Wilderness bewilderment is giving way to faith, hope, and clarity.

construction

2011-04-25T17:50:00.000-04:00

Our little house under construction...This photo made on Satuday...foundations being laid...that's Glory and Jim's house...their deck has been taken down.

Nietzsche and Shopping

2011-04-23T21:27:00.001-04:00

I have just finished reading two books on the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche who I always thought was a weird guy, and from his pictures he looks scary, but now I have a different (mental) picture of him and his thought. He has influenced the 20th century as much as anything, perhaps along with Darwin, Marx and Freud. My earlier feelings about Nietzsche was from my Evangelical days when we were taught that he was an insane, immoral atheist who announced the Death of God. Well, he did declare God dead, but what he meant is open to much interpretation. He mostly meant that all unhealthy, negative, guilt-inducing concepts of God has to go. His legacy includes an existential approach to understanding life; the ideal of a strong, self-assertive individualism; a kind of relativism based on the fact that nobody knows everything; a new appreciation of our bodily, earthly existence; and an understanding of the arts (especially music) as a source of spirituality. I think a correct understanding of Nietzsche includes his affirmation of Life with all of its messiness and pain. He continually said YES to life, in spite of the fact that he suffered from health problems constantly. And yes, he did have syphilis which later led to mental problems and paralysis. Nietzsche has helped us look at the world with sharper insight about motives, hidden forces, and biases. Despite some saying so, he wasn't anti-Semitic, he didn't lead directly to the Nazi philosophy, he wasn't an immoral person; quite the opposite: he was polite, courteous, sympathetic, and merciful. Now I've moved on to an interest in coupons. There are many websites now where coupons can be printed, or even downloaded to your iPhone. I've read a fascinating book: How to Shop for Free (by Kathy Spencer). She is an amazingly assertive shopper (Nietzsche would be proud); and she shows how to keep a lot of groceries and other items for free. It's a matter of learning about where to get coupons, how to combine them in a timely fashion, and how to take advantage of occasional deals. She does buy a lot in bulk and stores items, which I can't do because we live in a small space. Nevertheless, there is much more to her methods. She literally goes into a grocery store and buys over $300 worth of stuff and ends up paying about $4.00. (and sometimes she pays nothing, or gets money back!). So, I am now studying the science of couponing. I don't have her chutzpah though; I'm kind of shy when it comes to asserting my shopping muscles. But I can learn and become more courageous as time goes on. Now, I need your help (if anyone actually reads this): I'm going to end this blog (Amazing Grays) and establish a new one soon. I've come up with some possible names. Perhaps you could tell me which one you like best....

Deep South Wonderings

Mr. Wayne’s Journal

At Home in Homewood

Alabama Ramblings

Shallow Thoughts in the Deep South

Fried Green Pensees

Fried Green Tomorrows

Fried Green Potatoes

Thru My Spectacles

Alabama Liberal

(Through My Window... and Wayne's Journal are already taken)

Birmingham Bastard

Observations from Oxmoor Road

Fragments and Quotidiana

Igniting Cognition

Cogito Ergo I Stick

I await your wisdom.

My email: glorysdad@gmail.com

Rabbi Meir

2011-03-07T17:34:00.000-05:00

When Rabbi Isaac Meir was still a boy, his mother took him with her to Kozienice. There someone turned to him and said, "Isaac Meir, I'll give you a guilder if you tell me where God is." Isaac answered, "I'll give you two if you tell me where He is not."

[from the Notebooks of poet, Anna Kamienska]

##

$$100

2011-03-07T17:30:00.000-05:00

I was at a discount book store recently.

I pulled about seven books off the shelves

and found myself a real soft chair to sit down in

and peruse my selections

to see if any were worth buying.

I chose a couple to actually buy.

When I got home I noticed that something

was missing from my front left pocket.

My money was gone!

About $100 in a big green clip was missing!

After a few minutes of anxious thought,

I called the book store and asked if anyone

had turned in some cash in a green clip.

Yes, they said, someone had.

I'll be right there, I said.

Would you believe that some honest person

had found $100 in cash

and had turned it in?

And would you believe that the store clerks

had not taken any out of the total

and were totally honest with me?

I got my $100 back.

Yes, there is evil in this world.

But there is also goodness.

History of White People

2011-02-18T21:48:00.000-05:00

I got a book for Christmas called The History of White People. The author, Nell Irvin Painter, is Emerita Professor of History at Princeton University. She sets out to show in this book that the concept of ‘one white race’ is a recent historical invention.

Powerful people and institutions wrote history, anthropology, and science in such a way as to uphold their power based on the myth of a pure Anglo-Saxon race. Even my heroes Thomas Jefferson and Ralph Waldo Emerson had a hand in this devious scheme. Emerson looms large as an influence in this mythic white race movement.

Professor Painter starts her history of white people by looking at ancient Greek and Roman history when the concept of ‘race’ did not exist. Not until the 18^th century did an obsession with ‘whiteness’ become important. The German invention of the idea of Caucasian beauty came out of the business of buying and selling ‘white’ slaves from the Caucasus region (the land separating the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea). Johann Friedrich Blumenbach’s doctoral dissertation (On the Natural variety of Mankind, 1775) and his subsequent studies introduced in scientific language the notion of a beautiful, white Caucasian race.

Intellectuals like Madame de Stael and Thomas Carlyle spread a theory of the superiority of the ‘white race.’ Left out of this Anglo-Saxon ‘race’ were the Irish and Native Americans, and later the Italians, Jews, Slavs, and Chinese. Immigrants in America were categorized according to their lack of racial purity.

The measurement of skulls, the eugenics movement, and biased intelligence tests were used to differentiate Anglo-Saxons from other ‘races.’

This is a history of how the powerful not only write history, but establish scientific theories and invent cultural stereotypes. There is no such thing as a Caucasian race; nor is there a ‘white race.’ Skin color is a by-product of two kinds of melanin: red to yellow (pheomelanin) and dark brown to black (eumelanin). How much of which sort of melanin people have in their skin—and to what degree it is expressed—depends entirely over time on exposure to the sun’s ultraviolet radiation. Painter writes:

Our species originated in Africa some 1.2 million years ago, evolving from primates like chimpanzees. Chimpanzees, like most other animals, have light skin under dark hair. Shedding that thick coat of hair, humans quickly developed dark skin, and they stayed dark until leaving Africa for cloudier territory about 100,000 years ago, when residence in dark, wintry regions like northern Europe and northern Asia required another color change, this time from dark to light. Light-skinned Europeans and light-skinned Asians lost pigmentation through different genetic processes in Europe and Asia. (p. 395)

The History of White People covers a vast amount of history and science. And it deals with controversial matters. My own bias tends to accept the conclusions of this study. It certainly educated me concerning historical figures and movements that have influenced how we think and how we relate to other people.

It’s interesting that St. Paul tells the people of Athens that “we all come from one blood” (Acts 17). Now we know that our first parents were dark-skinned Africans. (When have you seen the mythical Adam and Eve portrayed as black Africans?) Would it be correct to say that we all started out black, and that some of us have lost our blackness and had to settle for whiteness?

SO WHAT?

So much of the injustice in the world is caused by racism and fear of the Other—that is, those who are different than us. The solution to these causal factors has to do with being more educated about scientific facts surrounding questions of ‘race’; working toward more equality in terms of economics and social position; and simply getting to know people who are different from us on a personal basis. The ‘mixing’ of the ‘races’ is an important element in finding out that we are all essentially the same.

Whoever does the defining does the confining.

The Radical Enlightenment

2011-02-14T15:23:00.002-05:00

I just finished reading Jonathan Israel’s book A Revolution of the Mind: Radical Enlightenment and the Intellectual Origins of Modern Democracy (Princeton University Press, 2010).

His thesis is that during the 18^th century, the philosophical movement we call the Enlightenment was divided by two schools of thought. The Moderate Enlightenment thinkers like Voltaire did not want to go as far as to say that monarchies should not remain in place. The Radical Enlightenment thinkers like Diderot, d’Holbach, and Helvetius advocated that Reason mandated the dissolution of all authoritative institutions that stand in the way of total inequality of all people.

The 17^th century thinker Baruch Spinoza gave impetus to the Radical side of the new, radical way of viewing reality, with implications for education, religion and politics. Spinoza said that reality is not material and spiritual; rather, everything is material. God is the world, and the world is God; there is nothing else. This is pantheism—a Natural theology. Ethics for Spinoza is all about what is beneficial for the common good. It all boils down to justice.

Jonathan Israel sums up the two schools of Enlightenment thought as Spinoza versus Voltaire; the Radical versus the Moderate. The Moderate thinkers were willing to leave powerful institutions in place and not shake up the status quo. The Radical philosophers wanted to go further.

SO WHAT?

The more I understand the forces that have shaped our world, the more I can understand the forces at work today. Ideas matter. Debate is good. The status quo is hard to budge. I saw this in church after church. To get people and institutions to change is almost impossible. But when peoples’ intellectual assumptions are shaken, change is possible. I wonder how much Enlightenment ideas drove the French Revolution and how much the people’s desperation and hunger influenced it. I suspect that the idea and belief that they had a ‘right’ to revolt gave the needed impetus to act on their hunger.

The belief in universal human rights is a powerful idea. It’s clearly stated in the Charter of the United Nations. That’s one reason the UN is a good institution to have around.

The basic belief in the equality of all people was driven by the Radical Enlightenment, not by the Church. There are times when atheists serve God better than Christians.

House...Crown

2011-02-09T17:30:00.000-05:00

Our architects are finishing up the contract for our house. It should be signed very soon and construction will begin. We had six contractors bid for the job. It still came out much higher than we expected. Oh well.

**

Norah celebrated her third birthday last Saturday. That evening she brought some framed photos to Glory and asked, "Was I in your tummy in this picture?" "Why, yes," said Glory, "you were." Norah pointed to another picture. "Was I in your tummy in this picture?" Glory said, "No, not in that one." "Where was I?" asked Norah. Glory paused then said, "Well, you weren't anywhere." Norah said, "But where was I?" Glory said, "You were not anywhere; you didn't exist then." Norah persisted. "But where was I?" Glory repeats: "Before you were in my tummy you were not you...You didn't exist. That's all I can say." Norah, without missing a beat, said, "I guess it's a mystery."

**

I read a short piece in The Christian Science Monitor recently about the effect of prayer on international politics. Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science, gave an interpretation of Psalm 23 in which she identified the Shepherd (in 'the Lord is my shepherd') as Divine Love. She said that Divine Love erases fear, criticism, jealousy, and judgmentalism. Prayer, according to Eddy, can break down the barriers that these characteristics cause in political life. Whether or theory of prayer is correct or not, I was helped by thinking of the Shepherd as Divine Love. I just have trouble relating to the God-image of shepherd. I don't know any shepherd; never have. But being shepherded by Divine Love has meaning for me. Many metaphors or images of God don't register with me anymore. But Divine Love and Divine Intelligence resonates.

**

My book of family stories is about finished. I'm reading the proof copy and making corrections.

**

I joined the gym at our local Community Center. I've not yet used the weight room or any of the zillion exercise machine (though I intend to acquaint myself with some of them). I'm using the indoor track for walking. One day I was going around the track in the usual counter clockwise direction when a man met me coming the other way. "Hey," he said, "didn't you read the sign? This is Tuesday; you're supposed to be going clockwise." "Oh," thanks," I said. Sure enough there is a sign that says we run or walk counter clockwise on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday -- and the opposite direction on the other days. Boy, life is complicated, isn't it?

**

I'm still going to the Dental School at UAB for dental work. Yesterday I got my new crown. Gold! I guess if I get mugged I should keep my mouth shut lest the mugger yank out my shiny crown. It took three hours as usual. The students are thorough and slow. The student didn't numb me before he started. But when I jumped a couple of times he realized I needed an injection. This was the first crown he had put on someone who had not already had a root canal. Thus, my pain helped him learn to numb those who have not been rooted. I try to do my little part in educating the next generation of dentists. I started singing the hymn "Crown Him with Many Crowns," but he didn't get it--he hadn't grown up in a Protestant church.

8

The Plug

2011-02-03T23:02:00.001-05:00

photo by wayne mclaughlin

I thought this fenced-in fire plug was unique. Make sure it doesn't get away--or run away with some hairy dog.

8

The Path

2011-01-27T17:52:00.001-05:00

(photo by wayne mclaughlin)

We don't all walk the same path. We have different callings; different temperaments; different interests; different orientations.
There are a variety of professional paths; and a variety of social paths.
Some people walk on one path to success; other folk walk down another path to success.
There are different religious paths.
In the (mystical) Gospel of John, Jesus says, I am the Path, the Truth, and the Life.
Since Jesus is the embodiment of the Love of God, we could say that anyone who walks the path of Love
is traveling by the power and direction of Jesus.
Sometimes different paths lead to the same place.
Different people can call the same Path by different names.
In divine geography, Jesus is omnipresent; therefore, all paths of love are the Path of Jesus.
What path are you traveling right now?

A leaf

2011-01-27T16:01:00.001-05:00

Sometimes just meditating on a leaf
can bring calmness.

The green of life...
The order and symmetry...
The surging life force...
The spreading out...
The connections...
The flexibility...

What is the Spirit saying to you
through the leaf?

(photo by wayne mclaughlin)

more cupcakes

2011-01-24T17:27:00.002-05:00

photo by wayne mclaughlin

More cupcakes from N's b-day party last year.

This & That

2011-01-21T16:52:00.000-05:00

I was watching TV the other day with Norah. We were watching The Dinosaur Train. (Grandparents learn about all kinds of TV shows and cartoons they never heard of before.) I was shocked! The whole program was about dinosaur poop! That's right--dinosaur poop. It had a scientific orientation--a didactic cartoon. But poop? Of course pooping is a big part of a toddler's life experience.

May you heard about our new governor in Alabama. He shot off his mouth the other day about his faith, saying that anyone who was a Christian was his brother or sister, but if you weren't a Christian you were not his sister or brother. Well, not a politic thing to say. He was swiftly reprimanded by the media and had to meet the next day with several rabbis and ministers to apologize. In politics you can't alienate a whole group of people. But the dirty little secret of Evangelical Christianity is that 'born again' Christians do not see non-Christians as brothers and sisters in the family of God. Most people in Alabama belief just that. But to say it out in the open like our Governor did was shocking to non-born-again folk. One of my seminary professors told us that in the Bible the Fatherhood of God is proclaimed on two levels: All people are children of God according to creation; but only those who trust in Jesus are children of God according to redemption. Our Governor forgot about (or didn't understand) the relatedness of all people by the fact of creation. The Evangelical Christian stance is logically exclusive--it fences people out who don't believe the same way. It speaks out of both sides of its mouth. Yes, we are equal in the sight of God, they say. But we are more equal than you. That is, we have a closer relationship with God than non-Christians. In the end (the Evangelicals say), we will end up in eternal bliss and you will be water-boarded with fire forever. When the Governor apologized he said he didn't mean to disenfranchise anyone. But Evangelical theology is a theology of disenfranchisement.

Something else on my mind: This guy that shot the Representative. He is a white, heterosexual, citizen, non-alien, non-immigrant. Don't you see the problem? Why hasn't Fox News demanded that we get rid of all those white, heterosexual, legal citizens?

That's all.

cup cakes

2011-01-21T16:32:00.001-05:00

photo by wayne mclaughlin

Yummy cup cakes at N's B-day last year.

glasses

2011-01-20T21:17:00.001-05:00

photo by wayne mclaughlin

It's transparency that God calls us to.

Not too early

2011-01-15T23:28:00.001-05:00

photo by wayne mclaughlin

I was tempted to buy this shirt since it proclaims my philosophy of life, but I didn't purchase it.

I hitched 'em

2011-01-11T17:40:00.001-05:00

I caught this minister going back into the chapel after finishing a wedding and greeting guest. He's saying to himself, "Whew! I'm glad that's over."

Or forever hold your peace

2011-01-11T17:36:00.000-05:00

I caught this couple on their way to their wedding
at the Botanical Park in Birmingham.