 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
Dee's Blog
www.takecourage.org Thu 01/10/2008
Enlarging our Understanding about Sins of Power Abuse
Topic: Power Power, in itself, is not evil. It is the misuse of power that is. Individuals and institutions alike have power failure when that power is either abused or ignored. The former is a sin of commission. The latter a sin of omission. When we run ourselves down or too easily accept that there is nothing we can do, that is as much power failure as the abuse of power.
Posted by Dee Ann Miller
at 12:01 AM CST
Wed 01/09/2008
Some Subtle Realities of Powerlessness
Topic: Power Wisse says that there is a danger in accepting one’s state of powerlessness, as much as in resisting an oppressive power. I would add that this is especially true if we see the powerlessness as permanent or inevitable when it is not. All of these are forms of denial, just as much as denying trauma. While resisting or protesting can have dire consequences that are obvious, withdrawing from the struggle and simply accepting “fate,” believing that there are no choices and underestimating one’s individual power, can also be self-destructive. Adaptation, in itself, is a means of survival. Yet, ideally, it should not be a permanent way of life.
Posted by Dee Ann Miller
at 12:01 AM CST
Tue 01/08/2008
Romanticizing the Past May Lead to Power Outages
Topic: Power Survivors often blend in and adapt, on the surface appearing not to be phased by the past. Nor to be phased by the present stigmatization. Like Jews, it’s possible to even romanticize the state of powerlessness. While it’s okay to realize that life has been impacted and changed, sometimes even for the better, because of having faced the past, it is not okay to ignore the difficulty one has faced in getting there. To ignore or minimize the challenges is to put oneself at danger of not recognizing present threats to living life to its fullest. The result can be a lot of new power outages because we fail to see the "faulty wiring" in our daily lives.
Posted by Dee Ann Miller
at 12:01 AM CST
Mon 01/07/2008
The Challenges of Living as "God's Chosen"
Topic: Power Jews have, through the centuries, been forced to adapt in places where they were rendered powerless. They did it by striking bargains with powerful leaders in order to maintain their way of life. Sort of a state of hibernation. Laying low and finding ways to keep their culture alive. This strategy made them often appear to be doing great, even as they lived under the thumb of oppression. On the other hand, at times Jews have become the oppressors. Zionists certainly would not see it that way; but the news bears out the many times when blatant aggression, especially in recent decades, has occurred. Jews and Arabs aren’t different from the rest of humanity. All of us have a tendency to be very egocentric. We selectively focus on what’s in our best interest and are prone to ignore others’ needs. Rationalizing how we’ve been ignored by others or neglected. What’s powerfully obvious, however, as we examine the history in the Middle East, is that both groups evoke their perception of being uniquely blessed by God and abused by their enemies. How does one argue with people who are so sure that they are selected as God’s most highly chosen? The power is one that is self-proclaimed, and the belief systems of both are amazingly contagious and intergenerational. As well as dangerous. You may be asking what this has to do with survivors of sexual and domestic violence, especially in regard to collusion within the faith community. A lot! Please join me in thinking on these things.
Posted by Dee Ann Miller
at 8:56 AM CST
Updated: Mon 01/07/2008 9:29 AM CST
Fri 01/04/2008
Powerlessness and Accomodation
Topic: Power According to Ruth Wiise, author of Jews and Power, people who are powerless often are forced to accomodate in order to survive. Accomodation is not necessarily a bad thing. It is a means of mere survival. If this goes on for many years, the powerless may rise up through unified efforts. Rise up to do great things. Or.... The down side is the potential for corruption. The powerless can follow in the footsteps of the corrupted people in power who have rendered the oppressed powerless. That's when "an eye for an eye" becomes the rule, setting up endless aggression and counter-aggression. This is what appalled Jesus. This is exactly what has occurred as a result of colonialism throughout our world. It's also what happens with religious oppression, such as we are seeing in the Middle East with Islamic extremists and Israeli counter-attacks. Powerless people have choices, but not as many choices as the powerful. Making the right choices or the ethical choices that can result in widespread good for all is much more challenging for the powerless. For resources are much more scarce, and the powerless have so little to lose. On the one hand, they may cling in desperation to what little is there. Or decide it is so little that they are willing to risk their lives for the cause. If they see the cause as something truly "of God," then even life can become of little value. Choices can become a burden. Making good choices seems almost impossible in some cases. Such has been the case with the Jews on frequent occasion. The problem is that many staunch Christians, as well as Jews, see the "Jewish nation" as "God's chosen people." Just as Islamic fundamentalists see themselves. As long as someone claims to be one of "God's chosen" while others are infidels, there is no hope for peace. Nor is there any hope to really find God sanctioning either side. Both sides are using this perceived blessing of "God" in a narcissistic game that has been around for centuries. That's what horrified Jesus, but few people got the message then and few get it today. Having just attended a series of lectures on the Middle East conflicts, I have become especially interested in this subject of power and powerlessness as it applies to victims of terrorism and oppressive regimes. Or victims of abuse and collusion from people who use abusive theology to inflict emotional and spiritual terrorism on victims of sexual and domestic violence. Or, strange as it may seem, victims who sometimes do the same. I see it as all connected and want to share much more about this, starting next week.
Posted by Dee Ann Miller
at 10:07 PM CST
Updated: Mon 01/07/2008 8:54 AM CST
Thu 01/03/2008
Straight from the Iowa Caucus
Topic: Making Changes I don't intend to talk too much politics in this blog, but today is an exception. Just returned a few hours ago, from a wonderful holiday, just in time to attend the Iowa Caucuses. Oh, what an experience! You've heard a lot about us lately, here in all of this. What I will never forget is being a part of a group crowded together in a school gymnasium that was filled with twice as many caucus-goers as we had four years ago in this same community. Despite differences in candidate preferences, I've never seen so much unity! Young and old alike, all insisting that we have to have change and to unite for change. I'll leave it there. You can fill in the blanks that I've purposely left in my thinking process. Just suffice it to say that I was very happy with the outcome, as well as the process. It reminded me of a comment made to me by a stranger, in regard to denominational choices. He stated, halfway as a question and half as a statement, that it was really about politics. I chose to respond with less than 100% agreement. "Some, yes," I said. "It's also about theology, to me more about theology." To which the speaker's wife said, with great respect and a bit of wonder in her voice: "I think it must be wonderful to know enough about theology to be able to see that it DOES make a difference." So, let me assure you, issues in politics and theology, despite politics, DO matter--both of them. As world cititzens, we need to know that theology is very much related to theology--when it comes to terrorism, abuse, and many other issues. People actually formulate their understanding of all issues of oppression within the context of theology, whether this is acknowledged or not. If we are going to take a stand on either national or international issues, it is imperative that we integrate our opinions with our theology. Not our religion, but our theology. Only then, can we have a far-reaching influence and a solid character, personally and collectively. Never forget that what you believe does make a difference. It's a myth to believe otherwise.
Posted by Dee Ann Miller
at 10:02 PM CST
Thu 12/27/2007
Music for the New Year
Topic: music Thanks to my precious virtual assistant Renae and my good friends Dave and Bette Rod, music--lots of music--is now available in several places on my site. Including at the top of www.takecourage.org/AboutSite.htm In addition to the Rally Song, you’ll find much more on Bette’s CD if you check out the links from the Rally Song. You may want to purchase Bette’s CD. It has been a huge blessing to me in my work and personal life, as well as to many I know. For the next few days, as I take a break, may I suggest that you take one of Bette's songs each day as you prepare for a new year. I'll catch you again on January 3. May you continue to have meaningful holidays.
Posted by Dee Ann Miller
at 12:01 AM CST
Updated: Thu 12/13/2007 2:39 PM CST
Wed 12/26/2007
No Santa!
Topic: Christmas So did you find Santa somewhere yesterday? I remember well when I first discovered that this jolly soul was really a figment of my imagination, created skillfully by the adults who needed for me to believe. Perhaps even to make up for their own lack of magical sense from their days of growing up in the Great Depression. Guess it was window into my personality, showing that I expect people to speak the truth literally. Even when it came to the "white lies"--whether dressed in red, along with the white, or not. I was just furious when I found out my parents had lied to me. I confronted them with a vengeance. At age six! I told them I would never believe another thing they said. Oh, how I ranted and raved! "You tell me that it's a sin to lie!" I said, with as much fury as I have often felt because of much more serious lies that the institutional church has told to cover up evil. They tried to tell me that it was all so I could just have fun. It was all just play, they insisted. I didn't see it that way. Truth is that it probably WAS years before I forgave them. I didn't care if parents everywhere in the country told their kids the same myth. They should tell their kids that it wasn't true, I insisted. They were all at fault! As an adult, I go along with what other people teach their kids about Santa. I don't think it's a moral issue to talk about this mythical man as if he was real. I just never had the heart to do it with my own children. I was way too traumatized. One set of my grandchildren believe in Santa still. The other does not. It will be funny (I hope) when someday those two approaches collide so that the truth is revealed. At least, interesting. Sometimes, it seems to me, that much of what we teach our children about God is closely aligned to the Santa myth, too. Maybe because we as adults "need' to believe even more than the kids.
Posted by Dee Ann Miller
at 12:01 AM CST
Tue 12/25/2007
A Meaningful, Magical Christmas
Topic: Christmas Whether this day turns out to be "merry" or happy, I certainly hope it is a meaningful day for you. The external power of capitalism is very closely kin to the imperialistic power of the Old Testament, the power that Jesus’ teachings tried to refute. In Old Testament days, the kings and warriors believed that God was on their side. They evoked God’s power and even wrote about how they believed God had spoken and caused miraculous things to happen in order to destroy their enemies. Ironically, the people who claimed to be on God’s side didn’t always show that in reality. How convenient it was, though, to declare that God was on their side and to sculpt the story of the Jewish people to mount the evidence that would show this. Jesus came along and debunked all of that. He focused not on what we think of as power at all. Certainly not the Zorro kind of power that protects some people and not others. Jesus message was that the power of God is within people who recognize this to be the case. It’s the kind of power that can do all things possible WITHIN us and sometimes changes within us can result in changes outside of us. Yet real power doesn’t come from external sources. It starts deep within us, in our souls. The sad thing is that we often have covered over that power so much, focusing on the external things or magical events, just as people have done throughout the centuries, crediting God and blaming God and arranging so many “miraculous” things that we can see with our own eyes, that we cannot even imagine the Power that Jesus was trying to help us find, the Power that is already within us through God’s grace. It is this realization coming to earth, helping us to discover that we already have all that we need-- that is the True Magic of Christmas!
Posted by Dee Ann Miller
at 12:01 AM CST
Mon 12/24/2007
"Christianity" Gets a Challenge
Topic: Christmas An early December episode of “Aliens in America,” Raja asked the Tolchuk family to help him understand more about their spiritual life. Especially at Christmas, a season he was having difficulty fully comprehending as a Muslim. As always, the show was a delightful mix of hilarious irony and wisdom that comes because of Raja’s gentle spirit that comes across along with his incredibly mature philosophy that stands in such charm contrast to his host family, the Tolchuk’s, who are filled with so much hostility and are extremely skilled at selfish manipulation as they struggle with issues raised because of Raja’s humble presence in their lives. Raja has a servant attitude, always seeking to learn and grow. He seems to understand, especially in this episode, a lot about what Jesus came to teach us when it comes to power. The Tolchuk’s scramble to find their old church, only to discover that it’s been turned into a fast-food restaurant! In the process, they discover painful realities about how much they had preserved within themselves a belief system that worships external power. In the process, it becomes clear how much we all need to change if we are to align ourselves with a power that is important.
Posted by Dee Ann Miller
at 12:01 AM CST
|
You are not logged in.
Log in
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
