sent 6/2&3/13 "Get Apocalyptic: Why Radical is the New Normal: Feeling anxious about life in a broken economy on a strained planet? Turn despair into action."

Subject: Get Apocalyptic: Why Radical is the New Normal
Feeling anxious about life in a broken economy on a strained planet? Turn despair into action.

This piece by Professor Robert Jensen has one insight/pithy thought after another throughout, ending:

As Baldwin put it so poignantly in that same 1962 essay, “Not everything that is faced can be changed; but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”

It’s time to get apocalyptic, or get out of the way.

He explains that his using the word "apocalyptic" is not about the end of the world nor any other Biblical sense.

http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/love-and-the-apocalypse/radical-is-the-new-normal
easier to read reprint:
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/05/26-2?print

for some, it may be easier to imagine the end of the world than to imagine the end of air conditioning.
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When people believe injustice is necessary to maintain their material comfort, some accept those conditions without complaint.

I have to admit, I have been thinking about that last thought there.  I do manage without air conditioning, but that's because doing so is fairly easy where I happen to reside.  But air conditioning aside, I am very attached to having both the Internet and warmth in the winter.  I still think feeling guilty is both a waste of time and bad for one's health.  It takes energy away from doing things that are productive.

Please don't miss this piece.

love,
Larry

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added 6/3/13:

Anon4 just copied me with his/her letter of today to Professor Robert Jensen concerning Prof. Jensen's article at
http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/love-and-the-apocalypse/radical-is-the-new-normal
easier to read reprint:
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/05/26-2?print

You will find Anon4's great letter below.  I am afraid I have to disagree slightly with one thing, the objection to Prof. Jensen's use of the word "apocalyptic.": I am quite sure that some of the "simple" things Anon4 is asking would seem apocalyptic to many.  For one thing, Anon4 lives in a neighborhood that is more spread out than than the neighborhoods in which the majority of people live these days.

After that slight comment, I am very proud to know Anon4, and I am proud to share Anon4's words to Prof. Jensen. Larry

Dear Professor Jensen,

thoughtful ideas- i agree with most but you did overuse that word apocalypse too much and its too shrill and strong and loud. Instead:

-- we are really simply asking people to live more simply and to share our space and tools with others  and be inventive and don't forget to find your inspiration in nature that is many times more miraculous than any engine anybody builds-- read the Great Ones who described nature and went to bat for nature such as :
Rachel Carlson
John Muir
Henry Thoreau
Aldo Leopold
and get those concepts and ideas back into our schools-- don't lose the young people.

less materialistic-- more understanding that real values are beyond material goods.
More compassion with the plants and animals that we share the planet with-- it is not all out there just for humans.
lets plan some family planning-- humans are the most destructive living things on earth -- lets not overrun the planet with us But welcome a child or two and leave enough room to educate it as much as is possible with concepts not just a job.
We could have real inspiration if we all cooperated-- diet of more vegetables less meat is not only environmentally sound but more healthy

And by all means join one or more of the dignified environmental movements- the Sierra Club, The Earth Justice, Defenders of Wildlife and on and on--

Form a neighborhood club and be a treehugger and defend them instead of making fun of them.

Get rid of the lawnmower or share one with everybody on the block and push it - dont ride on it and do something to honor the miracle of nature around you by drawing doing music singing, just walking , do things for others that is not required --but fun and laugh and practice humor....

lots of things to do ---

I got inspired by a new book out  *( only 55 pages) at Amazon and written by a friend of mine, a retired university professor and president of several universities John O Hunter.  Here is the book

http://www.amazon.com/Chasing-Crazy-Horse-II-Betrayal/dp/1483922820

Yes, lets be active activists as much as we can do and still enjoy LIFE -- is a miracle-- not because we have a job or because we have a lot of
money but because of our relationships with others.  Here is a poem:

               Finding a Better Way
What about the main things in life? All its riddles? I'll spell it out for you right now,
Do not pursue what is illusory- property and position , all that is gained at the expense of
Your nerves decade after decade, and is confiscated in one fell night .
Live with a steady superiority over life- don't be afraid of misfortune, and do not yearn after happiness,
It is , after all, all the same.  The bitter doesn't last forever , and the sweet never fills the cup to overflowing.
It is enough if you don't freeze in the cold and if thirst and hunger
do not claw at your insides.  Rub your eyes and purify your heart-
and prize above all else in the world those who love you and wish you well
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksandr_Solzhenitsyn.

I tell you what I do:  I am running for office this fall-- legislator for my area-- I have to collect many signatures to get on the ballot - I will ask others to go with me to collect them and we will just talk to the neighbors about life and how we care and be active-- knock on doors......

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added further 6/3/13:

More from Anon4, with my reply:

I had some [further] thoughts on using the word apocalypse in order to urge people to change their lifestyle.

Apocalypse is a scaring word and can invite fearmongering and we all know that this makes for bad results to stimulate fear-- fight or flight and not thinking clearly but not the feelings we want to encourage: clear thinking, being calm  and confident and compassionate instead of intolerant and angry which persuades nobody.

I recall a certain person who was paralyzed but he is well known for saying " we have nothing to fear but fear itself"

and lets keep that for and center and never mind apocalypse-- use it in small quantities if ever....

I agree with you about the counterproductive effects of fear, Anon4.  I hope it's clear after all this time that I advocate trying to see facts about reality for decision-making and action together with maintaining spiritual strength.  Larry