Wedding Vows/Last Man Out/Night

(P1) Philosophical


Scientology's "Traditional" Wedding Vows

I understand that Scientology offers 4 sets of wedding vows written before his death by founder and science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard.

The following represents a portion of the "traditional" vows.

"Now (Groom's Name), girls need clothes and food and tender happiness and frills. A pan, a comb, perhaps a cat."

"Hear well, sweet (Bride's Name). … For promise binds. Young men are free and may forget. Remind him then that you may have necessities and follies, too."

Bob Adams, a representative of the church told ABC News, that in it (the ceremony), the minister holds up the couple's rings and asks that they imagine a triangle inside them.

"They're asked to imagine affinity, reality and communication as the points of those triangles," Adams said. "Affinity, reality, communication equal understanding. … To represent the long-lasting relationship that they will have."

The New York Times further reported, "in the traditional Scientology ceremony, when the bridegroom promises to 'keep her, well or ill,' he is also asked, 'And when she’s older, do you then keep her still?'" and also,

"The Scientology minister tells the bride, 'Know that life is stark and often somewhat grim, and tiredness and fret and pain and sickness do beget a state of mind where spring romance is far away and dead.'

"She is then asked if she is willing to 'create still his health, his purpose and repose.'

"Similarly the bridegroom is told, 'The tides of fortune and of life are sometimes fair or grim./ He should not leave his wife in search of solutions, and the minister says, 'Take thy own even though they sleep beneath foul straw and eat thin bread and walk on pavement less than kind.'"

Comment Here on any of the above or below and read the comments of others too. Log in as "Other" if you like, but please be sure to sign some facsimile of your name. Or email me at edcoletti@sbcglobal.net.

(P2) Political

Last Ones

Comment Here on any of the above or below and read the comments of others too. Log in as "Other" if you like, but please be sure to sign some facsimile of your name. Or email me at edcoletti@sbcglobal.net.

(P3) Poetical

Night

During day before first day was,
   She was.
Dark She was,
   black shiny forethought,


deep black as bottom of shaft hole
       ages deep
                    twisting  eel
                  onyx
             shine, flicker, spark.

Faith Restored/Byrd:Before the War/Pushes

(P1) Philosophical, Political, Poetical (whatever)

Flash - 12:15 AM Wednesday November 8, 2006

Faith in American Voters, Democracy, Freedom, Intelligence and Sanity Restored!

No text necessary here except perhaps from Sen. Robert Byrd awhile back

"Eventually, the truth will emerge. And when it does, this house of cards, built of deceit, will fall." — Robert C. Byrd

Comment Here on any of the above or below and read the comments of others too. Log in as "Other" if you like, but please be sure to sign some facsimile of your name. Or email me at edcoletti@sbcglobal.net.


(P2) Political

Seems Like Only Yesterday

I'll let Sen. Robert Byrd's prophetic words before the war speak for themselves:

2-12-2003 - We are truly "sleepwalking through history." In my heart of hearts I pray that this great nation and its good and trusting citizens are not in for a rudest of awakenings.

To engage in war is always to pick a wild card. And war must always be a last resort, not a first choice. I truly must question the judgment of any President who can say that a massive unprovoked military attack on a nation which is over 50% children is "in the highest moral traditions of our country".

This war is not necessary at this time. Pressure appears to be having a good result in Iraq. Our mistake was to put ourselves in a corner so quickly. Our challenge is to now find a graceful way out of a box of our own making. Perhaps there is still a way if we allow more time.

3-19-2003 - ...today I weep for my country. I have watched the events of recent months with a heavy, heavy heart... We flaunt our superpower status with arrogance. We treat UN Security Council members like ingrates who offend our princely dignity by lifting their heads from the carpet. Valuable alliances are split.

After war has ended, the United States will have to rebuild much more than the country of Iraq. We will have to rebuild America's image around the globe.

The case this Administration tries to make to justify its fixation with war is tainted by charges of falsified documents and circumstantial evidence. We cannot convince the world of the necessity of this war for one simple reason. This is a war of choice.... A pall has fallen over the Senate Chamber. We avoid our solemn duty to debate the one topic on the minds of all Americans, even while scores of thousands of our sons and daughters faithfully do their duty in Iraq...

...May God continue to bless the United States of America in the troubled days ahead, and may we somehow recapture the vision which for the present eludes us.

Comment Here on any of the above or below and read the comments of others too. Log in as "Other" if you like, but please be sure to sign some facsimile of your name. Or email me at edcoletti@sbcglobal.net.


(P3) Poetical

Gentle Little Pushes

Lying still
in the garden

warfare—
the notion
absurd.

Give everyone
a garden
breeze and swing

especially
executive
owners

of gardens and swings.
Lead them outside,
give them gentle

little pushes
start them all
moving—

forgetting all else,
being alone.

(Edward Coletti 2006)

If you are in the area Friday, please come see and hear Ed read
Coletti Reading - 7PM Friday - November 10th - at Copperfield's Books
hosted by the Word Temple Series
2316 Montgomery Drive
Santa Rosa, CA 95405
(707) 578-8938

Comment Here on any of the above or below and read the comments of others too. Log in as "Other" if you like, but please be sure to sign some facsimile of your name. Or email me at edcoletti@sbcglobal.net.

Hope For Iraq/God?/Coletti at Copperfield's

(P1) Poetical


Coletti Reading - 7PM Friday - November 10th - Copperfield's Books
2316 Montgomery Drive
Santa Rosa, CA 95405
(707) 578-8938

Here's a new poem by Edward Coletti ("the Bay Area's oldest 'emerging' poet") who will be reading on the Word Temple Series bill with Jane Mead and Brian Teare. Please come to the reading!

Now help me find a title for this poem

Bluest sky moment,
I paint you as words
spring maple yellow.

Photinia bush
redden my flesh, be my sun,
rain memory has fled.

Mirror of sea,
sky unblemished blue,
sing your song.

Copper fields slip
green to cyan,
oxygen’s funny magic.

Black dog come to me.
Tell me what you fathom
beneath this our common ground.

Comment Here on any of the above or below and read the comments of others too. Log in as "Other" if you like, but please be sure to sign some facsimile of your name. Or email me at edcoletti@sbcglobal.net.



(P2) Political

Playing Chess With My Friend In Baghdad

I recently heard a radio interview with Rory Smith, OBE, a British diplomat, author, and former interim governor of two provinces in Iraq. Mr. Smith eloquently described the true situation there. What stood out stongest, for me at least, was his firm belief that the current insurgency is not so much Sunnis attacking Shiites as it is insurgents rallying a nationalistic fervor against non-Islamic foreign occupiers. Were the U.S. to withdraw, according to Rory Smith, the insurgents would become impotent, and the canny Iraqi potiticians and clergy would settle their differences in the manner they have for centuries.

This immediately reminded me of the day several years ago when I found myself playing internet chess with an Iraqi engineer in Baghdad. Between moves, I typed questions and received illuminating answers. When I asked about the difficulties between Shiites and Sunnis, this man (who was without work due to the war) responded that the problems have nothing to do with the troubles between Sunnis and Shiites which have existed for well over a millenium. Rather, pleaded this Baghdad professional, "Please try to convince your government to leave, and we Iraqis will solve our own problems quickly. It is your army which is causing the tragedy."

I'll never forget that dialogue, and Rory Smith has reminded me of it, and the wisdom in those words.

*********

Regarding the Kerry Tempest In a Teapot

Kerry also said:

“If anyone thinks a veteran would criticize the more than 140,000 heroes serving in Iraq and not the president who got us stuck there, they’re crazy,” Mr. Kerry said in a statement. “I’m sick and tired of these despicable Republican attacks that always seem to come from those who never can be found to serve in war, but love to attack those who did…

“Had George Bush and Dick Cheney been in combat one minute of their comfortable lives, they would never have sent American troops to war without body armor or without a plan to win the peace, and they wouldn’t be exploiting our troops today.”

If I had a single criticism to offer Senator Kerry in this regard, it might be that he could strengthen the latter remark by dropping the words following war and inserting a few others, ergo, “Had George Bush and Dick Cheney been in combat one minute of their comfortable lives, they would never have sent American troops to (this stupid) war (they created from whole cloth).”

Comment Here on any of the above or below and read the comments of others too. Log in as "Other" if you like, but please be sure to sign some facsimile of your name. Or email me at edcoletti@sbcglobal.net.

(P2) Philosophical

If, by 'God', you mean love

Richard Dawkins is the Charles Simonyi Professor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society, and the author of nine books, including The Selfish Gene, The Blind Watchmaker and The Ancestor's Tale. His new book, The God Delusion, published last week by Houghton Mifflin, is already a NEW YORK TIMES bestseller, and his Foundation for Reason and Science launched at the same time (see RichardDawkins.net).

I highly recommend the entire Dawkins piece, but this excerpt is good. I especially like what I've highlighted in bold.

"...Humanity's best estimate of the probability of divine creation dropped steeply in 1859 when The Origin of Species was published, and it has declined steadily during the subsequent decades, as evolution consolidated itself from plausible theory in the nineteenth century to established fact today.

"The...tactic of snuggling up to 'sensible' religion, in order to present a united front against ('intelligent design') creationists, is fine if your central concern is the battle for evolution. That is a valid central concern, and I salute those who press it, such as Eugenie Scott in Evolution versus Creationism. But if you are concerned with the stupendous scientific question of whether the universe was created by a supernatural intelligence or not, the lines are drawn completely differently. On this larger issue, fundamentalists are united with 'moderate' religion on one side, and I find myself on the other.

"Of course, this all presupposes that the God we are talking about is a personal intelligence such as Yahweh, Allah, Baal, Wotan, Zeus or Lord Krishna. If, by 'God', you mean love, nature, goodness, the universe, the laws of physics, the spirit of humanity, or Planck's constant, none of the above applies. An American student asked her professor whether he had a view about me. 'Sure,' he replied. 'He's positive science is incompatible with religion, but he waxes ecstatic about nature and the universe. To me, that is ¬religion!' Well, if that's what you choose to mean by religion, fine, that makes me a religious man. But if your God is a being who designs universes, listens to prayers, forgives sins, wreaks miracles, reads your thoughts, cares about your welfare and raises you from the dead, you are unlikely to be satisfied. As the distinguished American physicist Steven Weinberg said, "If you want to say that 'God is energy,' then you can find God in a lump of coal." But don't expect congregations to flock to your church.

When Einstein said 'Did God have a choice in creating the Universe?' he meant 'Could the universe have begun in more than one way?' 'God does not play dice' was Einstein's poetic way of doubting Heisenberg's indeterminacy principle. Einstein was famously irritated when theists misunderstood him to mean a personal God. But what did he expect? The hunger to misunderstand should have been palpable to him. 'Religious' physicists usually turn out to be so only in the Einsteinian sense: they are atheists of a poetic disposition. So am I. But, given the widespread yearning for that great misunderstanding, deliberately to confuse Einsteinian pantheism with supernatural religion is an act of intellectual high treason.

Comment Here on any of the above or below and read the comments of others too. Log in as "Other" if you like, but please be sure to sign some facsimile of your name. Or email me at edcoletti@sbcglobal.net.

Tillman's Brother/Great Trick/Damn Winter

(P1) Political

After Pat’s Birthday
By Kevin Tillman

Editor’s note: Kevin Tillman (right) joined the Army with his brother Pat (left) in 2002, and they served together in Iraq and Afghanistan. Pat was killed in Afghanistan on April 22, 2004. Kevin, who was discharged in 2005, has written a powerful, must-read document.

From truthdig.com.
A link to the entire Tillman essay follows excerpts.

Here are a few excerpts from this brilliant piece by the brother who was there:



Somehow the more soldiers that die, the more legitimate the illegal invasion becomes.

Somehow American leadership, whose only credit is lying to its people and illegally invading a nation, has been allowed to steal the courage, virtue and honor of its soldiers on the ground.

Somehow those afraid to fight an illegal invasion decades ago are allowed to send soldiers to die for an illegal invasion they started.

Somehow faking character, virtue and strength is tolerated.

Somehow profiting from tragedy and horror is tolerated.

Somehow the death of tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people is tolerated.

Somehow subversion of the Bill of Rights and The Constitution is tolerated.

Somehow suspension of Habeas Corpus is supposed to keep this country safe.

Somehow torture is tolerated.

Press here for the entire Tillman essay.

Comment Here on any of the above or below and read the comments of others too. Log in as "Other" if you like, but please be sure to sign some facsimile of your name. Or email me at edcoletti@sbcglobal.net.

(P2) Philosophical

Hey, great trick!!!



Go figure. Which category would you put it in?

I already have an Ezra Pound poem below, so the photo cannot be classified "Poetical" here.

Although I might be tempted to vote for a city council candidate who could do this, I would be stretching (pun intended) the point to call this "Political."

So, we're only left with the third P3 category. Therefore, this great feat will be classed "Philosophical." And why not? "I gross, therefore, I probably am."

Comment Here on any of the above or below and read the comments of others too. Log in as "Other" if you like, but please be sure to sign some facsimile of your name. Or email me at edcoletti@sbcglobal.net.

(P2) Poetical

Ancient Music

Winter is icumen in,
Lhude sing Goddamm,
Raineth drop and staineth slop,
And how the wind doth ramm!
Sing: Goddamm.
Skiddeth bus and sloppeth us,
An ague hath my ham.
Damm you; Sing: Goddamm.
Goddamm, Goddamm, 'tis why I am, Goddamm,
So 'gainst the winter's balm.
Sing goddamm, damm, sing goddamm,
Sing goddamm, sing goddamm, DAMM.

from Lustra (1913-1915) Ezra Pound

Here's a bit of the original 13th century round (why Pound and I prefer the light to damn Winter):

Svmer is icumen in
Lhude sing cuccu!
Groweþ sed and bloweþ med
and springþ þe wde nu.
Sing cuccu!

Summer is a-coming in
Loudly sing cuckoo
Groweth seed and bloweth mead
and springs the wood anew
Sing cuckoo!

Comment Here on any of the above or below and read the comments of others too. Log in as "Other" if you like, but please be sure to sign some facsimile of your name. Or email me at edcoletti@sbcglobal.net.

Allegiance/3 Ivins Gems/Cry With Bly

(P1) Philosophical

Truer Allegiance

What I would say in one sentence is that, for Americans, the real work is becoming native to North America. The real work is becoming native in your heart, coming to understand we really live here, that this is really the continent we're on and that our loyalties are here, to these mountains and rivers, to these plant zones, to these creatures. The real work involves developing a loyalty that goes back before the formation of any nation state, back billions of years and thousands of years into the future. The real work is accepting citizenship in the continent itself.

- Gary Snyder
Born May 8, 1930, in San Francisco, Gary Snyder grew up near Puget Sound in Washington State. He first climbed Mount St. Helens at 15, following with most of the other peaks in the area within the next few years. He graduated from Reed College in Portland with degrees in literature and anthropology. From there he went on to study Asian languages at Berkeley. Eventually he traveled to Asia, where he spent a number of years studying Buddhism, translating Zen texts, and visiting numerous parts of the continent. Early in his life he worked alongside Kenneth Rexroth, Allen Ginsberg, and Jack Kerouac. In the late 1960s he was one of the founders of the Deep Ecology philosophy, a way of thinking granting value to all life. Snyder has been awarded several prizes for his work, including the 1974 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his collection Turtle Island. He has also received awards for his nature writing and his spiritual work with Zen Buddhism. His thought-provoking collections of poetry and prose will continue to move us in the decades to come.

Comment Here on any of the above or below and read the comments of others too. Log in as "Other" if you like, but please be sure to sign some facsimile of your name. Or email me at edcoletti@sbcglobal.net.

(P2) Political

Three October 9th Molly Ivins Gems

No one needs to tell Molly to speak her mind:

1. The Old War Criminal is back. I try not to hold grudges, but I must admit I have never lost one ounce of rancor toward Henry Kissinger, that cynical, slithery, self-absorbed pathological liar. He has all the loyalty and principle of Charles Talleyrand, whom Napoleon described as "[dung] in a silk stocking."

Come to think of it, Talleyrand looks pretty good compared to Kissinger, who always aspired to be Metternich, a 19th century Austrian diplomat. Just count the number of Americans and Vietnamese who died between 1969 and 1973, and see if you can find any indication Kissinger ever gave a damn.

As for Kissinger's getting the Nobel Peace Prize, it is a thing so wrong it has come to define wrongness -- as in, "As weird as the time Henry Kissinger got the Nobel Peace Prize."

Tom Lehrer, who was a lovely political satirist, gave up satire after that blow.

2. What's wrong with the Washington press corps? Speaking of people who have trouble with the truth, here's a recent George W. line from two weeks ago I particularly prize: "There's kind of an urban myth here in Washington about how this administration hasn't stayed focused on Osama bin Laden. Forget it. It's convenient throwaway lines when people say that."
How do these urban myths get started? Perhaps with GWB on March 13, 2002: "I don't know where [bin Laden] is. ... You know ... I just don't spend that much time on him. ... I'll repeat what I said: I truly am not that concerned about him."
Or as Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on April 6, 2002: "The goal has never been to get bin Laden."

3. A half-hour documentary about Granny D (Doris Haddock) will be playing throughout October on various PBS channels. Granny D, the crusader for campaign finance reform who hiked across the country at age 90, is now 96, and the documentary of her work is inspiring.
She's such an adorably "sweet old lady" that one forgets how tough she has been and how consistent she has been. You want to know where to get the strength, courage and optimism to keep fighting for change? Listen to Granny D at www.grannyd.com .

Comment Here on any of the above or below and read the comments of others too. Log in as "Other" if you like, but please be sure to sign some facsimile of your name. Or email me at edcoletti@sbcglobal.net.

(P3) Poetical

Call and Answer

Tell me why it is we don't lift our voices these days
And cry over what is happening. Have you noticed
The plans are made for Iraq and the ice cap is melting?

I say to myself: "Go on, cry. What¹s the sense
Of being an adult and having no voice? Cry out!
See who will answer! This is Call and Answer!"

We will have to call especially loud to reach
Our angels, who are hard of hearing; they are hiding
In the jugs of silence filled during our wars.

Have we agreed to so many wars that we can¹t
Escape from silence? If we don¹t lift our voices, we allow
Others (who are ourselves) to rob the house.

How come we¹ve listened to the great criers -- Neruda,
Akhmatova, Thoreau, Frederick Douglass -- and now
We¹re silent as sparrows in the little bushes?

Some masters say our life lasts only seven days.
Where are we in the week? Is it Thursday yet?
Hurry, cry now! Soon Sunday night will come.

-- Robert Bly

Comment Here on any of the above or below and read the comments of others too. Log in as "Other" if you like, but please be sure to sign some facsimile of your name. Or email me at edcoletti@sbcglobal.net.

Ed's Reading/Goodness/Female Philosophers

(P1) Poetical

Ed Coletti's Next Reading

Why not stop by and hear me, among others, read some of my poetry at So Ho in Petaluma at 6:30 PM Tuesday, October 17th. Lamentably, this will be one of the last poetry readings at So Ho which will be closing its doors forever on October 25th. Let's give this wonderful little jazz, art, and poetry venue a rousing send off! Synchronistically, the theme on the 17th will be "Give 'em Hell!"

Music Venue · Wine Bar · Art Gallery
21 Fourth Street · Petaluma, California 94952 · (707) 769-7948
Open 5:00 everyday til at least midnight.

Also, here's a link to Edward Coletti's Poetry Blog.

Comment Here on any of the above or below and read the comments of others too. Log in as "Other" if you like, but please be sure to sign some facsimile of your name. Or email me at edcoletti@sbcglobal.net.

P2 Political


"America is great because she is good. If

America ever ceases to be good, America

will cease to be great."

- Alexis de Tocqueville

Comment Here on any of the above or below and read the comments of others too. Log in as "Other" if you like, but please be sure to sign some facsimile of your name. Or email me at edcoletti@sbcglobal.net.

(P3) Philosophical

Women Are Philosophers Too

I noticed that the "Philosophical" section of the P3 has been a bit top-heavy with male philosophers, so check this out,

Simone de Beauvoir

Angela Y. Davis in the '70s

bell hooks	Donna Haraway	Julia Kristeva	Luce Irigaray

Mary Daly (above) photo: Chronicle of Higher Education, 2000 Mary Daly at NWSA, 2000 (right) photo: Joy F. Morrison

Rosi Braidotti	Adrian Piper	Ruth Barcan Marcus	Susanne Langer	Simone Vei

Hannah Arendt	Ayn Rand	Teresa Benedicta (Edith Stein)	Mary Wollstonecraft

Harriet Martineau	Margaret Fuller	Elisabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony	Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Gabrielle-Emilie du Châtelet	Belle van Zuylen	Germaine de Staël	de Genlis age70	Sor Juana

Margaret Beaufort
Christine de Pisan	Hildegard of Bingen	Hrotsvit of Gaandersheim

	Olympe de Gouges	Aspasia
Hypatia

Comment Here on any of the above or below and read the comments of others too. Log in as "Other" if you like, but please be sure to sign some facsimile of your name. Or email me at edcoletti@sbcglobal.net.