I begin with deep, visceral hatred, and blinding rage, and anger. I am aware that we always can only begin where we are….of this there can be no negotiation. We are indeed living through a remarkable time. I feel overwhelmed and don’t know where to begin or even where/what to address first. This particular entry begins with an inspiration given by Brother Michael Moore in an interview on the online show The Hill. He was speaking about the most recent Documentary he had ‘produced’ entitled Planet of the Humans. It has caused some controversy, I have watched the documentary and have read some critiques of it. I struggle with where I stand. As I was pondering these issues, I realized that there were many ‘layers’ to what was going on. I hope to untangle not only my response but also the various layers to this issue (or these issues, since there are obviously more than just one!) I am aware also that this topic may be too large to address in this format?

I was struck by many comments made in the interview but I have to quote some at length (if only for the integrity of this entry ). Michael Moore says about the current Pandemic “Growth is really the death of us…We are not going to save the plane or ourselves by allowing Wall Street , Hedge Funds, Corporate America to be anywhere near us as we try to fix this. We are in desperate shape… Our Mother Nature is sending us a huge, huge warning. Mother Nature has sent us to our time out rooms right now…When we don’t accomplish what we need to accomplish in our lives, aren’t we suppose to be somewhat self-reflective, somewhat self-critical and say ‘okay, this doesn’t seem to be working’…There’s no working with the devil here and we the people hold the power. We need to exercise that power.”

I tried looking for a quote (thank God this is not an academic setting! LOL) but I remember Michael Moore stating how Covid-19 has done more for the Planet in terms of its healing (albeit it may be only temporary?) than what the Environmental Movement work has failed to do in the previous 50 yars. We are aware that to some degree this is true. We are seeing reports of how the Planet is going through a rather remarkable ‘healing process’ as we humans are just ‘doing less’. It is patently obvious that as we speak of how our ‘economy’ is being destroyed our Mother is being healed! I think that we have to take away some very powerful, unsettling, and damn disturbing lessons from this moment. I want to spend the remainder of the piece exploring some of these lessons.

1. We really can no longer speak in any legitimate way about how we are ‘all one’ without sincerely and forthrightly speaking of the evil forces and people that benefit tremendously from both dividing us and MORE IMPORTANTLY ‘uniting us’ in what is essentially a full of crap, charade of superficial ‘unity’ that they (we will identify more who they are later on!) use to distract us as they do their evil and destroy life in all its authentic forms. Let me be very clear! There is an US and a THEM. I had heard that one of the basic discrepancies between traditional Catholic Social Teachings and Liberation Theology was that Catholic Social Teaching begins with this sense of our existence being found by inhabiting an organic ‘whole’ (think Body of Christ language etc.) while Liberation Theology begins with a much more Marxist influenced outlook which posits the beginning of any journey as understood within the context of a ‘Class Struggle’. Not unity but division, and more specifically conflict.
2. We have to completely abandon working with ‘incremental’ change and ‘reformist’ movements. I think this is most painful because while not all people in this ‘camp’ are just apologist for a vile and moribund system (there are many like that) there are also many who are truly interested in genuine movement towards a more life-affirming reality. Part of what this means is that the time line that we have set for ourselves as Homo Sapiens to ‘figure this out’ was never based on reality. It is as though the bizarre assumption made by the Modern, Cartesian Philosophical World View which allowed us to see ourselves as a part from the life system was a colossal illusion/delusion. The Planet is not really interested in our ‘time line’ at all! In fact it doesn’t give a damn about us. All our ‘self-importance’ was in fact just a stupid ass, self-destructive masturbatory exercise in narcissistic delusion! In many ways, part of what Donald Trump represents is merely an embodiment of this very perspective writ large!
3. We must be willing to move into previously uncharted territories. This will mean that the superficial paradigm embodied by such activities as “We are the World”, or the more recent “One World: Together at Home” concert has to be completely abandoned and we must begin to truly inhabit a world of aching, terrifying, violence (not the violence we usually think of) and maybe, eventually (no guarantees…sorry) astounding solidarity, and resurrection. The reality is that to become ONE we must actually enact this reality, it is not something that can be ‘dreamed into existence’. The reason that the early Christians were the Body of Christ (Mystical…YES and NO?!) was because they really were ONE BODY:

The Fellowship of the Believers

⁴² They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. ⁴³ Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. ⁴⁴ All the believers were together and had everything in common. ⁴⁵ They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. ⁴⁶ Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, ⁴⁷ praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. (Acts of the Apostles)

It is obvious that the reason that they could speak so poignantly and poetically of their being One Body is because in fact they LIVED THEIR DAILY EXISTENCE to a great degree trying to do just that. I am constantly amazed at how the powerful seem to tell us when we are ‘one’ or when we are a ‘community’. After 9/11 I remember hearing that America had been attacked. I was, at the time, reading Jonathan Kozol’s work. I was reading how we fund our educational system. Let me just say that we do not fund it at all as though we are ALL AMERICANS! I had frequently heard why should ‘MY TAX DOLLARS GO TO…’ but somehow I in California was suppose to care for people in New York or else I wasn’t being a ‘Good American’? This is to say, that the powerful elites (and all their representatives!!) don’t get to tell us when we are ‘all one’ and when you are on your own.

4. We have to be willing to seperate certain people from the community for the betterment of the Body. I am deeply aware that this must be done with a humble heart, and constant prayerful practice. It can not be done with any sense of malice or revenge but I want to give an example that seems to work for me. It may not for you? In the Catholic Tradition we have a long history of Sin impacting elements of our lives. This includes but is not limited to the understanding of ‘disorder desires’. I am deeply aware of how this language has been hijacked to speak about sexual ‘sin’ however I think that is a poor application. Not accurate (or helpful) in many situations.

I want to speak of a specific situation and draw parallels to the wealthy in the world. I am very aware that this is a very volatile subject so please be aware that I approach this with hesitation and trepidation. We are aware that there were a remarkable number of priests who were involved in molesting young boys. It was such a profound tragedy and evil that still haunts us to this day. However, the evil was in the cover up that ensued. No one in their right mind (or heart) would think that any version of a ‘solution’ to this problem would entail allowing the ‘distorted’ desires of the pathological priest’s to continue. No matter how much they pleaded with us, it would just not be part of any sane discussion. I also would caution here on the place of punishing them in a way that doesn’t seek to sincerely and forthrightly rehabilitate these unhealthy Brothers in our community. The question is that we as a community as a Single Body would tell these people (I mean here specifically, the priests who were involved in the molestation) “We can not accept your desires and work towards having them fulfilled. The cost for the well-being of the larger community and the common good is too great. We can not under any circumstance allow this to continue. We also firmly believe that this as a malady that is very deeply rooted and needs serious treatment and help. We will seek help for you, and yet we will not ‘negotiate’ with your desire. IT IS NOT UP FOR DISCUSSION.”

I am aware that this is a very sensitive subject loaded with many subtle issues, and even sub-issues but I want to draw a correlation between this and how the planet is currently organized. Even more specifically how we ‘negotiate’ with our owning/wealthy class. Jeff Bezos is “worth” (as of May 5th, 2020) 138.5 Billion Dollars. He is on his way to becoming the first Trillionaire. On this same planet among the same species as that of Jeff Bezos we have a phenomena of “Every hour of every day, 300 children die because of malnutrition. It’s an underlying cause of more than a third of children’s deaths – 2.6 million every year.” (World Health Organization). Does anyone in their right mind think that anything that Jeff Bezos wants (desires) should be listened too? This is the sad part, there are people that are going to get more angry at my bringing these two issues together than at the larger point I am trying to make! Yes, we should be extremely morally repulsed, and outraged at the horror show that has been part of the long history (and legacy) of the Church but somehow the idea that a goddamn human being should somehow possess 138.5 Billion dollars while millions of innocent children die is sacrosanct! To speak of telling him, you can’t live like this anymore. Sorry, I get it, I know what you want….NO!! IT IS NOT UP FOR DISCUSSION. I am deeply aware that part of why this type of thinking has so gripped much of the world and especially the Western World is that we have shifted our sense of ‘sin’ from an individuals ‘moral failing’ and away from understanding properly the massive, and yet equally subtle and insidious forces where the true human depravity lay. The other factor is not letting an analysis enter the debate the challenges how anyone can amass such wealth. We always begin this discussion with “Why should he have to give up HIS WEALTH” never coming to fully understand much less challenge how that level of wealth is accumulated. How is society organized? Who is in charge? How is Power understood? What is the ‘Currency’ used in this ecological, economic system that we inhabit. I want to elaborate a bit more on this point. A Billion Dollars as understood within the West is A THOUSAND MILLION DOLLARS. So Bezos has 138.5 THOUSAND MILLION DOLLARS!!! Yet he continues to live in a way that will increase his wealth. This is important for many reasons. I will only point out the ones that I think are the most salient at this point. (1) Can you imagine if we truly tried to ‘listen’ and take seriously the ‘real’ desire of a child molesters desire for just ‘one more’?! I am not sure how we have been bamboozled into thinking that anyone that inhabits’ the world of billionaires (and most probably even millionaires) is anything other than a seriously emotionally, and mentally fucked up human being. I don’t mean we have to condemn them, but we sure as hell better stop taking these people’s (the wealthy/owning class) desires seriously. (2) The fact that this Brother (to take but one example) has amassed that level of wealth bespeaks to a remarkable level of brainwashing on the part of virtually all the ‘supporting cast’ that makes his life possible. In the case of the child abuse scandal and cover-up many of these priests got away with heinous behavior because of Clericalism and a system that ‘covered up’ and made horrific excuses for this behavior and conduct and ultimately its effects. In this very same way we have economist, political scientist, and all forms of intellectuals, political, cultural leaders etc. who ‘prop up’ this bullshit of having billionaires as a class. What is staggering is their explanations. I have been at universities where I have heard people with Ph.D.’s say “He (Bezos) works really hard!”, “He (Bezos) is really, really smart!”, one of my absolute favorite bullshit line is this one…”It’s the best we can do”. One of the reasons I find this particularly line of thinking most repugnant is that we have allowed our imagination to be truncated and malformed by the owning class and the system which produced them. In a way, we are all sick, just with different manifestations of the same disease.

I remind my students of a story I read years ago of how we are now taking pictures of Mars. What was staggering was that the camera taking pictures malfunctioned. Even more remarkably WE FIXED THE CAMERA!!! Let me be very clear. If we can fix a fucking camera taking pictures of Mars we have the technology to end world hunger, and if that means (YES IT DOES!!!) not having any Billionaires or Millionaires then no problem. I want to be very clear. I know people (I understand this desire) that wanted to kill the priests accused of molesting the children. I am opposed to this. I would want them to be treated with deep, authentic dignity. Including a life that reflects what it means to be part of our family! (We really are all ONE!) I would also be very damn clear that certain things are ‘off the table’. If (heaven forbid) Bezos’ children happen to ‘become’ one of the 300 hundred children that die day every hour of every day from malnutrition I would find no joy or happiness in that event. In fact, I would fight like hell to make sure it doesn’t happen to any more of their family or loved ones. My guess is that, if this should occur, all of a sudden Bezos might begin to see the absolute stupidity, criminality, and evil in a statement like “It’s the best we can do” …especially if that person could add “Oh, by the way, I am really excited about the new pictures coming from our camera taking pictures of Mars”.

I will end with a quick reflection on some words by my favorite teacher…Jesus Christ. I have struggled with what he meant when he ‘said’ “I am the Way”. I obviously will never fully understand what this means, but as I have gotten older I begin to realize that what he seems to be hinting at is not a ‘doctrine’ or ‘dogma’ but a praxis. I have found in my 58 years of life that in fact the way of loving action at the service of the victims and more importantly the praxis that reduces the pain suffered by the victims is really the ‘Way’. This includes at times fighting for justice and at other times accompanying the victims and bearing witness to their pain (Our pain as well!). If we are one Body, we must live and walk this WAY.

In the story of Genesis a profound moment of creation is found when we read the following passage; “Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” (NIV translation). I am haunted today by the image, and echo of Eric Garner last words; “I can’t breathe”. I wonder if the life that was being choked out of him was the Ruach (Breath) found in Scripture? To take seriously the Incarnation of God is to speak of how our corporeality reflects the Divine. It also requires us to take seriously the egregious and brutal nature of what violence does to the materiality of our existence. We know that the breathing apparatus is connected to all systems found in the body. But for a moment let us think about the immediate effect of what the lungs of Eric Garner felt and, in particular, the enfolding of the experience of lack of breath on his body. Did he sense not merely his life ‘leaving’ his body but his existence being extinguished. I wonder if the police officer, Daniel Pantaleo realized he was doing (undoing) the work of God’s Creation. I have suffered from anxiety, and have had my share of panic attacks. I also have family and friends that suffer from severe asthma. In all cases when you experience the inability to draw breath (Life) we sense the immediacy of death. In these moments we are dying and we know it. It feels like a great gift is being taken away from us. I am now understanding how the ‘militarization’ of our milieu is ultimately profoundly un-Godly! This militarization ethos is much larger than merely having the largest military in the history of the world. It goes to creating, maintaining, and recreating a culture that feeds on violence. This is especially reflected on how entire culture of policing in the United States has taken on an incredible appearance of ‘military’ presence. I was recently at a coffee shop (ordering coffee since you couldn’t stay to drink it there). At about the same moment, two police officers came into the coffee shop. These two men were very, very muscular and clearly had on protective gear (military vests, weapons etc.). This wouldn’t have been so odd to me except that they had parked their cars right next to mine. When I left the coffee shop to get into my car, I noticed on their doors were the words “To Protect and To Serve”. I remember feeling that the last thing I felt when I saw these men were protected and that they were there to ‘serve’ my concerns. I don’t think this is only because of the color of my skin (although that is no doubt part of it). It has also to do with my previous interactions with this community. So are these men their to ‘protect and serve’? If so, who/what do they protect and in point in fact who/what do they serve? The fact that these embodiment’s of violence (or if you wish protection and service) seem frequently to work for the benefit of the owning class and wealth accumulation makes these situations and this job, doubly the evil. I am conscious that I will immediately hear cries of ‘not all police’ are ??? But my point is not on the level of particularity, but rather metaphor, symbolic and social representation. I know I would have felt different (so to do I think many people in this place) had a homeless person, or a priest walked in to the restaurant. We would have a sense of the ‘feel’ of the place being changed based on their presence, without even knowing the particulars of the individual. We have to come to terms with is the ubiquitous quality of not only the military ‘feel’ of social reality, but also the omnipresence of an aura of violence as part of our social reality. It has become part of the ‘air that we breath’. It is also important to realize that this ‘air’ is profoundly toxic to the creation of the God who ‘breathed’ life into his Creation. It is onto-logically very dehumanizing. We are creatures who need to breathe. In order to do this we need a healthy humanity, and even more precisely, we need a healthy universe in which we can ‘Breathe’.

I am currently reading a book by noted author Henry A. Giroux entitled America at War with Itself. It is a wonderful read. In the book he asserts that the United States is particularly enamored with violence as one of the fundamental ways to engage reality. He does a great job of showing how our worshiping of violence in general and guns in particular are so much a part of our cultural milieu. As I was reading this part of the book I was sitting outside after purchasing some coffee. I was sitting on a bench just outside of where I purchased my coffee when the owner of the shop reminded me that I could no longer just be ‘outside’ given our current pandemic alert. I did leave but couldn’t help but notice to what lengths we have pulled together and followed the new rules in order to save lives, and express concern for the common good. Many of us have been ‘forced’ to restrict our freedoms because we are deeply aware of how our actions, behaviors, conduct etc. impacts our neighbors. We understand that life is precious and yes, at times, we have to sacrifice certain degrees of freedom and desires for something larger than ourselves. I couldn’t help but draw the comparison to how little we do this in relation to our ‘freedom’ in our ‘Right to Bear Arms’. When you compare the degree of the death caused by this pandemic to the numbers lost every year to gun violence. Yet we are absolutely unwilling to change our conduct, actions, behaviors etc. about guns. My point is that we are aware, under certain conditions, we find it acceptable to understand our freedom as being not absolute or abstractly asserted but always in relation to something larger than our individual proclivities, desires, and choices. Because of our awareness of the potential for the ‘danger’ posed by the Covid-19 virus we now have to adjust our individual desires. I still really, really, really want to go to a coffee shop and read! I know that, for now, this is not the right, moral or legal thing to do! The circumstances have changed! It would be absolutely asinine for me to not take into account the changing reality in which I live. Yet the minute we bring up gun control we immediately speak of it being a threat to the Second Amendment! It’s as though we are completely unaware of how the entire social reality under which that part of a document was constructed no longer exists. Are there some similarities to that time and now? Of course there are! For the time being I was still able to buy coffee at a coffee shop. We as human beings are able to see that some elements of social reality can continue with a reasonable level of assurance that things do not need to change. I am not, for the moment jeopardizing my neighbors by ordering coffee at a coffee house. However, I am also aware that things have to change because we are under a new situation. As I was writing this entry I was wondering whether I should cite statistics but I chose not to do this for 2 reasons. (1) This format (blogging) is not an exercise in academic writing so it does not need to have the same level of evident-based rigor (2) I feel like you can obviously look all of the numbers up. I feel like we have become numb to the ‘numbers game’ in relation to the death tolls by guns. After we re-calibrate what ever ‘normal’ will be after this horrible crisis I want us to reconsider our fetishizing of the concept of ‘freedom’ in general and especially in the area of gun control. Finally, I want to propose that we begin to understand how this entire Covid-19 experience has shown us (in some sense through a tragic level of pain) how in fact we really are connected and ultimately, using a concept from my theological tradition, are found in a Covenant reality. To use a phrase made famous by Dr. Martin Luther King all ‘tied in a single garment of destiny’. On a good day, I believe we will come out of this experience, undoubtedly scarred, but if we can retain some compassion and grow in wisdom as we address the other crises in our midst we might still be able to use this horrific crisis to move humanity a bit closer toward the Beloved Community.

It has been really refreshing to see how many people are immediately making the connection between the anti-human and classist/racist dimension of war at its inception. I believe we can no longer speak of any war, particularly any war waged by the United States of America, as anything like a Just War.  There are too many reasons for my assertion to be fully developed here but I would like to speak to at least some of the reasons for this claim

1. It is now more evident than ever that the fundamental (and foundational) feature of war is its use as a product to create profit and wealth for the ruling class. Many can speak with all kinds of high sounding words and claim allegiance to high principles but the reality is that those that bring us to wars do not believe in any of their words. The issues in not whether what they say is true, but rather do they say it with the intent to seek justice (right relationship) or create peace (Shalom). I am constantly stunned when I hear U.S. officials speak of needing to ‘punish’ a leader of a foreign country for breaking international law when we have actual war criminals (usually guilty of the exact same international law violations!!) on major cable networks or teaching at prestigious universities. Does anyone really believe that these folks care about ‘rule of law’? I cannot help but think of the old saying ‘Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me’. We really must stop this stupidity on our part. I think the brilliantly prophetic and insightful words of Arundhati Roy’s quote is so important to illuminate our contemporary reality. “Once weapons were manufactured to fight wars. Now wars are manufactured to sell weapons.”

2. In accepting the ‘Cost of War’ as a normal part of our society we have allowed ourselves to be seduced by the demon forces that makes us compartmentalize social reality. I remember being haunted by the comedian Michelle Wolf’s final words at the 2019 White House Correspondent Dinner. “Flint still doesn’t have clean water”. When we do our calculations for the proportionality of the cost of war, do we calculate all of the deaths and misery which are never even addressed because we have had so many human resources sucked into what Dr. Reverend Martin Luther called the ‘demonic, destructive suction tube.’ of militarism. We must also never surrender to the shallow, and very calculated critique (which is also nonsensical, and frankly stupid) that being against war is being ‘against the troops’. Here again is a case of ‘Fool me once…’. Another calculation that must be brought forth in very explicit terms is the ‘environmental’ cost of a society who has allowed the cancer of militarism to disease its body politic.

3. I also believe that war has its very own logic or ‘power’. This power/logic seems to ‘take over’ virtually all people involved in its execution. The adage that “The first casualty of war is truth” applies to virtually every aspect of this reality. People who are capable of rational thought and critical self-examination surrender all of these faculties along with empathy, historical consciousness among many other things. I find that no matter how much we may wish to create social, physical, intellectual, emotional, psychological spaces of insight, compassion, intelligence etc. The cancer that is the logic of war eventually destroys it all.

4. Let me finally address one of the most common argument which is that there are on this planet such evil and fundamentally ‘flawed’ human beings that we must always be prepared to wage war against them. This argument is absurd at so many levels it just reflects the shallowness of thought that can only occur in a society that has allowed its collective intelligence, and affective capacities to be hijacked by the poison of war. The first (and most obvious) thing to state is that it is utterly remarkable that those that are evil are always ‘them’ and never us. In virtually every war all sides believed that the other side occupied the space of being ‘beyond’ redemption, salvation, reason etc.  The other obvious point is that to the degree that in every war there are ‘members’ within the community of the enemy who in fact don’t belong to this ‘lost’ group. In just one example, when the United States invaded Iraq (or many of the other countries in the Middle East) it was, in part, because of how they mistreated their women. What is most interesting is that in virtually every war that we have engaged in we have killed thousands of women, so obviously there is a certain degree of violence against women that we are willing to tolerate, particularly for the supposed good of ‘freeing women’ or improving the role of women in any society. It might be interesting to see if the various dead women (and their families) would agree with our ‘calculations’? The obvious argument is that our killing of these innocent women was not our ‘intention’. I am certain that the Patriarchal leaders of any country also do not see the oppression of their female fellow citizens as an act of ‘oppression’ but merely a ‘necessary’ loss for the greater good. That sounds hauntingly like the logic used by those who invade the country. What is also interesting is how quickly and effectively the other that was formally a ‘friend’ who seemed to possess the intelligence to be on the ‘good’ side of humanity can immediately and with little explanation become the enemy who is beyond redemption. The most obvious example in recent times is Saddam Hussein. When he was on ‘our side’ (the ‘good’ side) he was a fully functioning human being. If he did something wrong, we found offensive we were either able to turn a blind eye or ‘reason’ with him to change his policy. But somehow, as soon as we decided to go to war with him (and his community) they quite magically lost all their reasoning abilities and even their humanity. This also appeared to be the case with the Soviet Union as they were on the ‘good’ side during World War II but somehow in a ‘magical’ moment they lost all capacities to be reasoned with? Not just their leadership but all their people lost this ability. Also, there is a claim made frequently for the need for the availability of the use of force as an option in cases where less powerful communities must resort to violence (and the use of arms) in order to protect from a more powerful aggressor. However, what is rarely understood is that the very need for them to have weapons comes from the inability for the citizens within the most powerful communities to forthrightly condemn their own countries use of weapons. Not to mention that those who ‘profit’ from war rarely care about the ‘victims’ of war. We can no longer assume (in fact it is stupid for us to think this!) that the owners who manufacture machineries of war care anything at all about creating peace. It is the exact opposite. To paraphrase Brother Mao, we must identify the enemy “precisely” to fight most effectively. The real enemy are all who benefit from war at the cost of our collective humanity and all creation.

There is so much more that can be said but this is merely a brief reflection on this topic. Like all of my entries I hope to elicit dialogue, engagement, and action grounded in deep prophetic love.