Once a hippo, usually a hippo



(Photo by Georgio)

Tragedies can often be averted by not expecting lions to lie down with lambs just yet.  A certain amount of worldly realism is a healthy balance to a life lived in good faith.  Theodore Roosevelt, whose politics may have evolved from his love of the wild, put it this way:  Speak softly, but carry a big stick.

Unfortunately, South African farmer Marius Els thought he could beat Nature at her own game.  Although he had been repeatedly warned that hippos can be exceedingly aggressive toward humans, he chose to flaunt this advice rather than heed it.  He was known to have exclaimed: … I have a relationship with the most dangerous animal in Africa.  This was said in reference to his “pet” hippo, Humphrey, whom he described as “like a son to me, he’s just like a human.”

Even when Humphrey recently chased down “a 52-year-old man and his seven-year-old grandson” (both of whom wound up spending two hours up a tree until Els lured Humphrey away with an apple), Els went on

believing that Humphrey was merely a “gentle giant.”  Even after Humphrey terrorized local golfers and killed local calves, Els was convinced that voice commands alone would be enough to lull “loveable” Humphrey into submission.

As The Guardian recently reported, this wishful thinking wound up costing Els his life.  Despite their girth, hippos can run up to 30 miles an hour – and “are said to kill more people each year than lions, elephants,

leopards, buffalo and rhinos combined.”  The Zulus knew and respected this.  In fact, a Zulu warrior’s

wish was to be “as brave as a hippopotamus” (rather than merely “as brave as a lion”).

Back when hippopotamuses freely roamed the Nile, Egyptians were also well aware of their mighty

capabilities.  Since female hippos are especially vigilant about defending their young, “the hippopotamus-headed Tawaret was a goddess of protection in pregnancy and childbirth” in the Ancient Egyptian Religion.

Resources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippopotamus

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/14/pet-hippo-humphrey-kills-owner

Copyright November 17, 2011 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved

Mohawk Thanksgiving: A year-round event



(Photo by Asbestos)

While some cultures officially celebrate Thanksgiving once a year, the Kanienkehaka (“People of the Flint” or Mohawk) Community in Central New York State celebrates it on an ongoing basis.

The Mohawks, who are members of the Haudenosaunee

(“Longhouse” or “Iroquois Confedacy of Nations”), have lived in New York’s Mohawk Valley since approximately the 12^th century.  When conflicts involving European settlers occurred in the 1700s, many Mohawks were forced to flee from their traditional homeland.  According to mohawkcommunity.com, a “prophesy was foretold many times throughout the decades, which turned into centuries” that they would one day return to the place where their “ancestors lay to rest.” 

This return incredibly occurred during the 1990s (“while in the midst of troubled times” during which “many people were suffering the devastating effects of alcohol and all the problems that come with it”). Kanatsiohareke, the name of this newfound community (on the banks of the Mohawk River - approximately 50 miles west of Albany, New York) continues to gather strength.  Its current mission

statement includes the “development of a community based on the traditions, philosophy and governance of the Haudenosaunee,” as well as “programs in the culture and traditions of the people.”  Instruction is offered in the “spoken Mohawk language,” and programs include “oral traditions, stories, songs and dances in the unique spirit of the Mohawk path.”

Thanksgiving rituals are an essential part of many ceremonial gatherings at Kanatsiohareke.  They help

“to perpetuate the continuation of life,” and include thanks “to each other, all living things in the natural and spiritual world, and to the Creator.”  The Mid-Winter Ceremony includes Giving Thanks to the Maple (“the leader of all the trees in the natural world”) – the Thunder Ceremony, Seed Ceremony and Strawberry Ceremony later give thanks for the cleansing of the air, replenishing of the waters, food for the people, and healing medicines of the people – the String Bean, Green Corn, and Harvest Ceremonies complete the annual cycle by giving thanks for the Three Sisters (Beans, Corn and Squash) which sustain human life.

Resources

http://www.mohawkcommunity.com/

http://www.mohawkcommunity.com/home/missionstatement.html

http://www.mohawkcommunity.com/home/ourhistory.html

http://www.mohawkcommunity.com/home/ourbeliefs.html

Copyright November 16, 2011 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved 

Yoga: More gain, less pain



(Students doing Yoga)

Although many equate yoga with spiritual disciplines, the original meaning of the Sanskrit term was “yoke” (from the root yuj, meaning “to join, to unite, or to attach”).  This could either literally refer to the yoking or harnessing of animals, or could more figuratively refer to the harnessing of resources in order to accomplish something.  Wikipedia gives the figurative example of the term cakra-yoga - which means “applying a splint or similar instrument by means of pulleys (in case of dislocation of the thigh).”

These days, yoga is referred to as a “natural medicinal” that also happens to be “the fastest growing sport in America.  ”Shine.yahoo.com reports on some National Institutes for Health (NIH) research concerning the “effects of both yoga and stretching on easing chronic lower back pain.”  The good news:  Both techniques were found to be quite effective for easing this type of pain.  (The sidebar:  Both techniques were found to be equally effective for easing this particular type of pain, which then led to some questions regarding the need for yoga’s additional “mindfulness” component.  However, Shine also reports on a “study on yoga this past year published in the Journal of Pain Research.”  This study indicated that the mindfulness aspect of yoga might be instrumental in assisting practitioners to “detach from their psychological experience of pain.”)

In the introduction to her book Yoga for Pain Relief: Simple Practices to Calm Your Mind and Heal Your Chronic Pain, Dr. Kelly McGonigal explains that chronic pain responses can be transformed into chronic healing responses through a yogic retraining of the mind and body.  She claims that you will then no longer have to feel “at the mercy of an unpredictable body.”  Christopher Ken Baxter points out the importance of balancing steadiness (sthira) with comfort (sukha) when working with yoga and chronic pain.  He tells of one student who had long suffered from a bodily injury.  Through correct yogic practice, this student learned to “heighten awareness of himself in order to develop internal guidance, inner strength, and softness in his body.”  

Not in particular physical pain right now?  Healthandyoga.com advises that this would be the best time to begin a yoga regimen.  That way - if and when it is most needed - it will already be right there within you.

Resources

http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/health/study-casts-doubts-on-yogas-mental-health-benefits-2597495/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga

http://yogaforpainrelief.com/

http://www.yogasite.com/chronicpain.htm

http://www.healthandyoga.com/html/news/psychological/coping_pain.asp

Copyright November 15, 2011 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved

Chhouk the elephant: A wounded healer



(Photo by Alexander Klink)

Inspiration is sometimes thought to be nine-tenths of healing.  If so, then Chhouk of Cambodia is certainly a healer. 

NBC News Correspondent Ian Williams reports that Chhouk was found “alone and close to death” in the Cambodian jungle in 2007.  Chhouk’s left front foot was “mangled by a poacher’s trap.”  Although poaching is illegal, the “wildlife trade is thought to be the biggest illicit global business after drugs” with an estimated

worth “between $5 billion and $20 billion annually.”  According to Williams, “China is the biggest market for endangered and protected species,” and the United States “is reckoned to be the second largest market.”

Nick Marks, a director at the conservation group Wildlife Alliance, nursed Chhouk in the jungle for a week.  Chhouk was then moved to the Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Center in order to continue recovering from the “six to eight inches of his leg” that he lost.  Experts at the Cambodian School of Prosthetics and Orthotics (who had honed such skills during the proliferation of landmines in that part of the world) developed a series (as the young bull elephant grew rapidly larger) of artificial feet for Chhouk.  Although Chhouk “will never be able to return to the wild,” he will be able to lead a “reasonably full” and inspiring life at the rescue center.  Since there are thought to be  only “300 to 500 elephants left in the wild in Cambodia,” such inspiration becomes crucial to the preservation of the species.

Williams states that young elephants like Chhouk are “prized by entertainment venues which often keep them in appalling conditions.”  Wikipedia reports that elephants have brains “larger than those of any other land animal” - and are known to exhibit behaviors indicative of grief… altruism… compassion and self-awareness.”

Therefore, elephants may also have greater ethics than any other land animal – and certainly greater than those being exhibited by their ruthless human persecutors.

Resources

http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/04/8633536-wounded-elephant-walks-again-thanks-to-jumbo-sized-false-foot

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant

http://socyberty.com/folklore/elephant-in-myths-mythology-and-folklore/3/

Copyright November 14, 2011 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved 

Creation Spirituality: Wise like a Fox

(Blessed Mary in Prayer)

Just because most people sin (can’t pin it all on Adam and Eve) doesn’t necessarily mean that they are sinners through and through.  It might just mean that they have fallen out of sync with their original natures, which God had deemed to be “very good.”

Thus speaketh Matthew Fox, an Episcopalian priest and

world-renowned theologian. 

Fox wasn’t always an Episcopalian; in fact, he spent more than two decades as a Roman Catholic priest.  In 1993, Cardinal Ratzinger (now the Pope) ordered the expulsion of Matthew Fox from the Dominican order for “disobedience.”  One of the keynotes of this “disobedience” was Fox’s belief in Original Blessing rather than in Original Sin.  According to Wikipedia, other “disobedient” keynotes included Fox’s recognition of the feminine aspects of spirituality, Fox’s inclusion of Native American teachings, Fox’s four paths (Via Positiva, Via Negativa, Via Creativa, and Via Transformativa) as opposed to the church’s classical three paths (purgation, illumination, and union), and Fox’s refusal to condemn homosexuality.

Fox went on to famously develop a theological system called Creation Spirituality.  In addition to the concept

of Original Blessing, Creation Spirituality embraces “green” theology (“emphasizing a holy relationship between Man and nature”) and “deep ecumenism” (“connections across many spiritual practices”). According to wholeheartedretreat.com, these are some of Creation Spirituality’s main principles:  The Universe, and all within it, is fundamentally a blessing; God is as much Mother as Father, as much Child as Parent... beyond all words and images; In our lives, it is through the work of spiritual practice that we find our deep and true selves; There are many wells of faith and knowledge drawing from one underground river of Divine wisdom; Ecological justice is essential for the sustainability of life on earth; The basic work of God is compassion and we, who are all original blessings and sons and daughters of the Divine, are called to compassion.

Resources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Fox_(priest)

http://www.wholeheartedretreat.com/

http://theoblogical.org/dlature/itseminary/creaspir/whatis1.html

Copyright November 13, 2011 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved

Capitalism and Christianity: Friends or foes?



(Mexican Stock Exchange)



Rather than launching into an immediate knee-jerk response to this question, Brent Baccala refreshingly points out that the answer would depend upon how these terms are defined.

Baccala defines “Christianity” as “the religious and philosophical system taught by Jesus of Nazareth, and recorded primarily in the Bible’s four Gospels.”  His definition of “capitalism” is somewhat more complex.  He divides it these three components:  capitalism 1 denotes “a laissez-faire economic system, characterized by the separation of economy and state…” –  capitalism 2 is “an industrial model of production, well illustrated by Henry Ford’s assembly line” – capitalism 3 involves “a pseudo-religion of greed, characterized by pursuit of self-interest, often associated with the claim that each individual, by advancing his own self-interest, ultimately advances the good of society.”  Baccala’s ultimate conclusion is that it is capitalism 3, and 3 alone, that clashes with the essence of Christianity.

R. M. Bowman defines “capitalism” as “making money with money” – and goes on to say that everything called “unearned income” would fall into a “lifeblood of capitalism” category.  Using this definition, he then asserts:  For most of its 2,000 year history, Christianity not only frowned on capitalism, but banned it outright.  He backs this up with the following quote from Exodus 22:24-25 (and says there are 22 more like it in the Old Testament alone):  If you lend money to one of your poor neighbors among my people, you shall not act like an extortioner toward him by demanding interest from him.  He then offers New Testament quotes such as this one from Matthew 19:  If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. 

Bowman concludes his “Brief History of Christianity and Capitalism” with this heavy line of questioning:  Why is it that conservative Roman Catholics who hang on every word the Pope says when condemning homosexuality or prohibiting women priests pay not the slightest attention when he condemns the gulf between rich and poor under capitalism…  Bowman then turns his steely gaze towards Protestants:  “For that matter, why is it that Protestants who take the Bible very literally when it comes to sexual practices someone else engages in, are able to explain away the clear Biblical prohibitions on economic activities they

engage in?”       

Michael Novak, on the other hand, seeks to dispel images of an historical enmity between Christianity and capitalism.  In fact, the very title of his article is “How Christianity Created Capitalism.”  He goes on to quote historian Randall Collins, who said:  "It was the church more than any other agency that put in place what Weber called the preconditions of capitalism."  These preconditions include “the rule of law and a bureaucracy for resolving disputes rationally; a specialized and mobile labor force; the institutional permanence that allows for transgenerational investment and sustained intellectual and physical efforts, together with the accumulation of long-term capital; and a zest for discovery, enterprise, wealth creation, and new undertakings.” 

Novak claims that the “industrial revolution” of the high Middle Ages (1100-1300) was made possible by the “freedom for enterprise, markets, and competition” that was provided by the Catholic Church.  Novak even points out how clerical celibacy “played an important capitalist role” by “breaking the traditional tie between family and property that had been fostered by feudalism and its carefully plotted marriages.”  He also mentions the entrepreneurial talents of the Cistercians, “who eschewed the aristocratic and sedentary ways of the Benedictines and, consequently, broke farther away from feudalism.”  Finally, Novak emphasizes the role of the Catholic Church in fostering an unprecedented development of “human capital.”  He then credits Thomas Aquinas with writing “one of the first defenses of “the inherent right of people to form corporations.”

However, one can argue (and many have) that the Church (whether Catholic or Protestant) is not necessarily the same thing as Christianity itself.  Therefore, the ways of the Church might not be the best measure of whether Christianity and capitalism are truly compatible.

Resources

http://www.freesoft.org/Essays/capitalism/

http://www.rmbowman.com/catholic/econom2.htm

http://www.acton.org/pub/religion-liberty/volume-10-number-3/how-christianity-created-capitalism

Copyright November 12, 2011 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved

Occupy Jerusalem: Did Jesus condone capitalism?



Parable of Talents (1712 Woodcut)



These days, the word “talent” conjures up images of innate (some would say God-given) human gifts that can be used to make life easier and brighter.  In ancient times, the word “talent” denoted a huge amount of material wealth – equal in value to approximately 20 years’ worth of average wages.

Within Jesus’ Parable of the Talents, a “master” tells three of his “servants” that he must leave for a long while, and will meanwhile be entrusting his property (altogether worth eight talents) to them.  One servant was given five talents, the second was given two talents, and the third was given one talent.  The first two doubled their talents while the master was gone.  The third retained his original one by

burying it in the ground.

When the master returned, he praised and rewarded the first two servants for the fruitful use of their talents.  The third servant explained that he had buried his own talent out of fear of a master who reaped what he did not sow.  The master did not deny this allegation, yet exiled the third servant to a place where “weeping and the gnashing of teeth” regularly occurred.

Now some might say that Jesus was merely advising people to use their “gifts of the spirit” to the fullest, lest they foster ingratitude and their own versions of internal hell.  The “master” in this scenario would be God, and the “servants” God’s people.  Others have interpreted it more literally - and have concluded that Jesus was condoning capitalistic-type investments.  After all, how else would it be possible to double the harvest without first doubling the planting?

Still others (more of the “Occupy Jerusalem” ilk) are heralding the third servant for his honesty and moral fortitude.  In their liberation-theology type perspective, this third servant not only had the guts to openly assess his master, but also had the spiritual backbone to resist engaging in practices that alarmed his sense of

fair play.

Parables can be mirrors of the psyche.  Capitalists will read capitalism between the verses - socialists, socialism - and so on… 

Such interpretations generally reveal more about the interpreters than they ever do about Jesus.

Resources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_Talents

http://www.theologicalstew.com/two-sides-to-every-story.html

http://www.lectionarystudies.com/studyg/sunday33ag.html

http://www.freesoft.org/Essays/capitalism/

http://www.rmbowman.com/catholic/econom2.htm

http://www.acton.org/pub/religion-liberty/volume-10-number-3/how-christianity-created-capitalism

Copyright November 11, 2011 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved