Meditations on Institutional Dilemmas

Religion is all about promoting ethical action. Government is all about promoting justice.

Or are they?

Senior clerics in Iran criticized President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for consoling Hugo Chavez’s mother with a light embrace at the state funeral for the deceased leader; physical contact between unrelated men and women considered sinful according to current Islamic codes of behavior.

Prominent Cardinals are now in Vatican City participating in the conclave that will select a new Pope. Several of these Cardinals have been implicated in covering up child abuse scandals, or financial or other improprieties—yet they do not recuse themselves from participation in the conclave that will select the new leader of the Roman Catholic Church.

Westboro Baptist Church, of Topeka, Kansas, has actively protested against homosexuality, abortion, Judaisim and Islam, and Roman Catholicism, and hosts of other things. Protest is one thing; hate-filled vitriol being poured out as free speech is another.

Here’s the thing: Religion is intended to guide people toward ethical interaction. Government is supposed to insure justice. What is all too apparent is that the humans who lead these institutions are not always following the intent that has been laid out in the scriptures or laws they are supposed to be stewarding.

This leads the average person to confront a huge moral dilemma: Follow institutional interdiction just because someone at the head office says so, or do what is right and just despite the interdiction.

The real-world results of this dilemma create a huge psychological mess, not to mention a whole lot of civil litigation. We are all riding two horses, at various times. It is a world-class case of cognitive dissonance of crowds!

Hillel the Elder is quoted in the Talmud as having said “What is hateful to you, do not do to another”, and likewise, the second century Rabbi Akiva cites Leviticus 19:18 as the greatest commandment in Jewish doctrine: "'Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.”  The Christian Gospel message of Jesus is “Love thy Neighbor as thyself.” The Quran clearly defines moral standards in Chapter 17:22-37, and Islamic jurists of the Middle Ages introduced many modern seeming civil rights concepts and freedoms, even for women, that have appeared in constitutional law during the past two hundred years.

That rights and freedoms are restricted, that “neighbors” are infringed upon and excluded, that civil rights are not being upheld for all individuals, such are amoral and unethical actions, and yet is so transparently visible among those who have been assigned moral authority.

When the institutions have been hollowed out by immoral and unethical authoritarians, who act contrary to the standards they are meant to uphold, what is the “believer” to do?

The case of the Pussy Riot punk rock group and its public political protest against the cult of Vladimir Putin and his governmental repression on Russia, particularly from the standpoint of women’s issues, from within the sanctuary of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow is very interesting. The Putin regime has been befriended and supported by the Russian Orthodox Church. In support of the Russian Orthodox Church, the Putin regime has suppressed and restricted Protestants, despite the fact that the post-Communist Russian constitution allows freedom of religion. Protestant churches have been closed, with charges of spying or money laundering or other impropriety; Protestant denominations have been labeled “cults” and have been spoken against by church leaders in media. Democracy is not being demonstrated in such actions, and neither is Christian charity. Good old-fashioned authoritarianism is apparently alive and well in Russia, but not only in Russia.

What is an ethical person to do when the authorities are corrupt? Does corruption irreparably taint the institution? What happens when good people follow bad leaders and false precepts?

I do not have an answer for you. If I had an answer for you, I would not want you to follow it.

You must follow what your own heart and mind tell you, what your connection to the Divine speaks in you or your sense of what is right tells you.

I can tell you that I long ago answered that question for myself, and the answer is illustrated by the following story from the Buddhist tradition.

Once there were two monks traveling when they arrived at a river. At the river they discovered a woman struggling to get across. Without a second thought, the older of the two monks asked the woman if she needed help, then swiftly picked her up and carried her across to the other bank.

For Buddhist monks, especially in ancient times, any contact with the opposite sex would be strongly frowned upon, if not forbidden. The actions of the older monk greatly troubled the younger monk, who allowed his feelings to fester for several miles, as they continued their journey.

Finally, the younger monk confronted the older monk, "How could you have done such a thing? We are not even supposed to be in a woman's presence, but you touched her, carried her even!"

The older monk calmly replied, "I put that woman down miles ago, back at the river. But you are still carrying her."

The younger monk realized the older monk was indeed correct and they continued on their journey.

Unity

When silence,

core and center,
encourages
light and shadow,
motion and color
to speak,
heavenly murmurs arise.

Soon,
music flows,
softly, subtly,
from this stream of vibrations,
radiating omni-directionally,
braiding forward and backward,
weaving up and down,
spinning and creating
more.

Woven,
as we are,
in patterns sonic
and bright,
it is difficult
to know, to see, to feel
how it all came to be,
or to apprehend
that where we
all come from
is one place.

© 2013 Elisabeth T. Eliassen

Thoughts on International Women’s Day

Today is International Woman’s Day. This is not a day I celebrate; it is a reminder to me that, while “Baby” (Wow! Remember that patronizing Virginia Slims ad slogan?) has come a long way, there is still a huge distance that needs to be crossed before there is anything remotely like equality among genders, let along among races. This kind of recognition day seems a hollow sort of political lip service, not a day of genuine respect and honor.

Here is brief rundown of a few of recent international news items that prove the dream of gender equality and mutual respect is still a dream:

•  Todd Aikin, former republican member of the House of Representative, serving Missouri’s second district declares that women who are “legitimately raped” do not get pregnant.
• A female medical student in South Delhi is gang raped, her male companion beaten. This woman died of her injuries. In Delhi, incidents of rape are reported to authorities every two hours.
• Rainer Bruderle, a pro-business Free Democrat in Germany reportedly commented how well one female journalist could “fill out a dirndl.”
• An Indonesian high-court judge, interviewing for a position on the Indonesian Supreme Court, suggested that women might "enjoy" being raped. (He did not get the appointment he sought.)
• A Vatican assessment found that The Leadership Conference of Women Religious, whose members represent 80% of Catholic nuns in the United States, have fallen under the sway of radical feminism and needed to hand control of their group over to a trio of bishops.
• Malala, twelve-years-old student and education activist from Pakistan is shot in the head.
• Ireland has only just acknowledged and officially apologized for governmental complicity in consigning women who had been labeled as “fallen women” to prison-style laundries run by Catholic nuns, where they labored for no pay. More than 10,000 women worked in 10 laundries from 1922 to 1996.
• Medical research tends to focus on male research subjects.

I could report more, but I think that is unnecessary. Women of today, if they are allowed to work, earn between 20% and 30% less than men for the same work. Women are frequently denied reproductive, as well as other, health choices and resources. There are governments and religions that do not allow women to work outside the home, to receive education, to show their faces in public, to be seen in the company of men other than male relatives. The women are told that these policies are made out of respect for them, that men were made to serve women; however, if disputes occur where there is a woman involved, it is always alleged to be the fault and responsibility of the woman, and the woman is made to suffer abuse and punishment at the hands of spouse or other male family members that is either condoned or ignored by officials. Millions of women and their children, worldwide are endangered by domestic abuse, war, trafficking, slavery, pollution, political and financial inequity.

The celebration of the beauty, strength and bravery of women should happen everyday. Likewise, men need to be celebrated, too. I am grateful for the many women in my life, starting with my own mother, who have shaped me as a person by being strong role models, pioneers and trail blazers. And I am grateful for men who have been role models, pioneers and trail blazers.

I would rather see all such recognition days fade away into the kind of world community that offers mutual respect as a primary motivating force within a Commonwealth of Humanity.

On a Wooded Path

                     for Emily and Ian on their 13^th Birthday

Witnessing
gentle rain
on a wooded path.

Two drops
sought safe harbor
on a mossy leaf.

They gleamed like gems
reflecting light upward,
from whence they came.

The clouds saw,
they smiled,
and they sang.

The leaf trembled,
the gems shimmered,
all joined in dance.

No better music
can ever be
than this.

© 2013 by Elisabeth T. Eliassen

This Tell-Tale Heart

So soft,
the distinctions
between here and there,
the inspired moment
and its expired shadow.

Breath,
given this dilemma,
is not enough to ground
here, there and now
with lively vigor and vibrance.

||: Thunder me, thunder!
            In thickets of rhythms;
                        thunder me, thunder me,
                                    and move my feet! :||

They find me in a hurry,
            they find me in a flurry,
                        then all bright and early,

                                    to sing my song!

||: The beating drum is in me,
            I gotta know,

                        gotta feel,

L 1. gotta see :|| L 2. gotta be ! ||
                                   

||: They find me in a hurry,
            they find me bright and early,
                        they thunder me, thunder me,
                                    L 1. and move my feet :|| L 2. and sing my beat ! ||

© 2013 by Elisabeth T. Eliassen

Mardi Gras may be over, but not the dance...

Colds and Flu, Just Chase Them Away With Elder Berries and Flowers

Hard to avoid this fact: the cold and flu season is indeed hard upon us. I have been hearing from many colleagues and friends who have been suffering from a seemingly endless stream of illness. One bug can be replaced by another, which might be slightly different, but equally as annoying as the previous one. Busy lives are caught in a maelstrom of sneezing, coughing and energy lack.

I have a simple refrain: Elder Berries, Elder Flowers; TEA, GLORIOUS TEA!

If all you have in your herbal pharmacopeia is Elder (sambucus nigra), I tell you, you cannot go far wrong with regard to treating your colds, flus and catarrhal inflammations of the respiratory tract. Add white willow for analgesic and yarrow to help with fevers, and you are well on your way to a return of good health. We, in my family, have all fought against colds in recent weeks, and have been able to avoid serious down-time because of drinking elderberry tea.

But let me get back to the basics about Elder.

Parts that can be used are: bark, flowers, berries and leaves. All you need, really, is a sack of dried berries and or flowers. Either or both can be obtained from your local health food store.

The flowers contain flavonoids: rutin, isquercitrine and kamperol, hydrocyanic glycoside sambunigrine, tannins and essential oil. The berries contain invert sugar, fruit acids, tannins, Vitamins C and P, and traces of essential oil.

The actions of the flowers are these: diaphoretic, anticatarrhal, pectoral. The actions of the berries are: diaphoretic, diuretic, laxative.

What that means is your system will get a good flushing. Out with the yucky, in with wellness!

I use the flowers in infusion. A cup of boiling water over 2 teaspoons of flowers. Infuse for 10 minutes. Drink hot three times a day.

The berries make a great tea, also. I take 2 Tablespoons of dried berries, place them in a tied muslin teabag and boil them in a full pan of water for 5 to 7 minutes. The resulting liquid is a lovely purple color.  I let this cool and squeeze the bag of berries to get the most out of them, then fill the pan with water and do it again on the same berries. The liquid can be stored in the fridge, and you can pour a cup to warm in the microwave.

To either tea, you may add honey to taste; but they can both be drunk without sweetener. Children will not be turned off by your medicine tea, especially if it has honey (no honey for infants, though!!!!).

I have made my own Elderberry cough syrup. It is so tasty, it can be poured over ice cream, for a special treat! And kids will not gag; they'll want to have it. Not to mention, it is less expensive than the horrid concoctions you can obtain at the local pharmacy.

Elderberry Cough Syrup

•              2/3 cup dried black elderberries

•              3.5 cups of water

•              2 Tbl fresh or dried ginger root

•              2 Tbl dried licorice root

•              1 tsp cinnamon powder or half a cinnamon stick

•              1/2 tsp cloves or clove powder

•              1 cup honey

•              [1 tsp each optional herbs such as thyme, coltsfoot, sage, peppermint, chamomile, rosemary, yarrow, elderflower, eucalyptus and red clover tops, all good choices to pick from. Hot pepper, garlic and onion juice can also be introduced—but you will want to experiment!]

1. Pour water into saucepan and add elderberries, ginger, cinnamon and cloves. I put the berries into a reusable muslin teabag, tied with a bow.

2. Bring the contents of the pan to a boil. Cover and reduce to a simmer for about 45 minutes to an hour until the liquid has reduced by almost half.

3. [Optional] in the last 5 to 10 minutes, you can add a teaball with additional herbs to infuse into the liquid. Thyme, coltsfoot and sage are good throat soothers; peppermint and chamomile are good calm agents. You can also use garlic and hot peppers to bring warmth to the syrup, which also can soothe the throat. Eucalyptus and red clover tops are natural decongestants. Elderflowers, rosemary and yarrow are good, as well.

4. Remove from heat and let cool enough to be handled. [Leave in the tea ball with additional herbs, if you added them; they can continue infusing the liquid.] I fish out the berry bag and put that into a soup bowl to cool off. Once the berry bag is sufficiently cooled, you need to squeeze the gooey juice out of the plumped up berries into the pan with the rest of the liquid.

5. If you need to, strain liquid into a mixing bowl, to separate out any loose contents like whole cloves and roots. [Pull out the tea ball.]

6. Add the honey and stir or lightly whisk. If the resulting consistency is not quite syrupy, add a bit more honey. (The trick to this is reducing the elderberry liquid enough in step 2.)

7. Funnel the mixture into a large glass jar or a recycled bottle with a lid. (I had saved a lovely green olive oil bottle with a screw cap.)

You can refrigerate this mixture for 2 months or so. It can be used as topping for desserts, a dash in tangy salad dressings, an additive in hot toddies and warm teas, or stirred into fruit juice.

As always, you know I am a country cook and no doctor. This is just a soothing recipe, for your enjoyment and wellbeing!

Meanwhile, if you have been among the many brought down by illness, I hope you will feel better SOON!

Mulling: -- 2. Brewed Coffee

When sun crests the horizon,
revealing trackless desert,
the world rises, cloaked
against the sands of time.

A hot draught against morning cold;
rising wisps of steam dissipate, fly,
the strength of the liquid, they belie.

Surveying a path ahead,
one can sense a rising sirocco
             —is it the heart’s pulse,
                        a force of nature,
            or both, at once?

Contemplating possibilities,
the magic carpet arrives;
one must now rise to the occasion
of exploring the vastness of potential.

© 2013 by Elisabeth T. Eliassen

I like to add cardamom, a grating of nutmeg and the barest hint of cinnamon to my coffee. No milk.

How do you like yours?

To see the first poem of this cycle, see this link:
Tea Way