AWAKE to SEEK

Awake to Seek


Wake
Up and suit yourself,

Into the floundering pattern-mudded
Consciousness of this our finite skin---

Into a being 'berthed' bemused, beseemed morning
So like the proverbial hog, boar or sow of the round ring

Who as life's suitors get caught by our snouted 'knows;'
Beshrewed, besotted, bemired so we instinctively grunt,

Tempted by our sensual, careening awareness
Or our dutiful grindstoned routine,

We press our life's suit 'til evening
Or wallow down

To our suited Wake.


1st pub. in Moria Poetry



--

in the time of Darkness

to commune with the Transcendently Real
in the midst of our utter loss

in the darkened night of alone
to contemplate despite a soon demise,

to live in the Infinite's silence
deafens our wayward heart and leaves

our confused mind bereft;
the Divine answers no pleas

our anguished request left--
Selah

to hope against midnight's despair
to trust in all that is blessedly Fair,

so Beautiful, Right, Good and Just
despite our world history of horror

for naught, and absurd;
we seek

a slight glimmer
of the billion-lighted

meaning shimmering briefly
in our finite reason and creative awareness,

before the cosmos spun into place,
eternally ever always

Ultimate
Becoming.

Selah



In the Light,

Dan Wilcox

Thankfulness in the Midst of So Much Torrential Darkness

Of late, with so many destructive, intolerant, oppressive movements, leaders, events--and the lying nature of it all--humans are reacting (understandably, but wrongly).

We as humans need to stand up in the torrential storm of now--and ACT, not react.

BEGIN WITH THANKFULNESS

1. Begin this new journey through hell, in the midst of torrential hurricanes, by starting with choosing despite all that is horrific.

Choose to find the little positives even in the midst of so much bad.

Choose thankfulness, not negativity.

Various others ways of rising up, include:

2. Act in nonviolence in thought and speech, as well as behavior.

3. Care by active, compassionate listening to others, especially our enemies, trying to see and understand their views and feelings.

4. Be meticulously honest in all that we say and do.

5. Give to those who suffer, who are oppressed, who feel hopeless.

6.

BUT HOW IN THE WORLD CAN ONE BECOME THANKFUL WHEN SUFFERING SO?!

By remembering what the famous psychologist Victor Frankyl (neurologist and psychiatrist, a Holocaust survivor) said:

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
― Viktor E. Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning

Focus on CHOOSING in the midst of trauma.

And by seeking to help others who are suffering even worse.

To paraphrase the famous poet, Maya Angelou:
Act as a caring rainbow--a guiding light--in the midst of others' torrential storms.

Create through hope. Start by sharing thankfulness.

In the Light,

Daniel Wilcox

a News Story of Caring and Medical Wonder, Conjoined Twins

In the midst of all of the political and religious darkness, here's a news story of the WONDER of human caring and medical expertise!

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-41607653

Go and do thou likewise:-) at your own ability and career level.
Help those in need, care for the dying, rescue the perishing...

In the LIGHT of caring,

Daniel Wilcox

"NO FLAG LARGE ENOUGH...

Historian Howard Zinn down-dated to the 6 wars the U.S. is now waging, bombing, especially Syria:

"We live in a world in which we are asked to make a moral choice
between one kind of terrorism and another.

The government, the press, the politicians, are trying to convince
us that [the U.S. support and funding
of Muslim killers in Syria, etc.], our "terrorism is morally
superior to [President Assad's] terrorism."

"Of course, we don't call our actions that, but...congratulating
[our]selves that the world's most heavily-armed nation [the U.S.]
can bomb with impunity..."

"Modern technology has outdistanced the Bible. "An eye for an eye" has become
a hundred eyes for an eye, [by the U.S. government, with over 400,000 slaugtered
by our side and Assad's side]
which tried to wrap their moral nakedness in the American flag."

"There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing..."

"...terrorism...is a very old weapon of fanatics, whether they operate
from secret underground headquarters,
or from ornate offices in the capitols of the superpowers."
Howard Zinn
from http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Zinn/Tripoli_ZR.html






How great is the darkness of the U.S., Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iran, Syria, Turkey, etc.



Please, for Aleppo's civilians, turn to the Light,

Daniel Wilcox

Lift the people of Baghdad, Dhaka... in the Light.

Please lift the people of Baghdad, Dhaka, Istanbul, Orlando, and so many others suffering in religious darkness.

Baghdad Massacre, 215 precious individuals lost to religious hatred, Sunni Muslims against Shia Muslims.

Faraaz Hossain, a 20-hear-old Muslim student killed by Quranic jihadists
in Dhaka attack

Nibras Islam, one of the killers. Only months previously,
he was studying at Norhtsouth University in Dhaka,
driving around, hanging out with friends at restaurants, and watching movies.

Nibras and the other 4 attackers are all Bangladeshis from rich families and with good educations, according to Bangladeshi's home minister Asaduzzaman Khan. Islam's father is a successful businessman, one uncle a police officer, another a scientist, and another a government official.

The Bangladesh government said that the attackers belonged to a banned group, Jumatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh (JMB)

What is it about the Islamic religion that it leads bright, educated, wealthy men to murder large groups of people for Allah?

Why do millions of Muslims support attacks of other Muslims, ex-Muslims, other religions, and atheists?

Another father said of his son, "My son used used to pray 5 times a day from a young age."

Then there are the older leaders such as Ramadan Shalah, Secretary-General of Islamic Jihad who inspire the young men. Again, like the young jihadists, these Islamic leaders are highly educated--economists, engineers, doctors, etc.

Shalah earned a PhdD in banking and economics at the University of Durham in Britain. Later he was a professor at the University of South Florida.


He has been indicted in the past with a 53 count indictment in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida for activities related to Islamic Jihad and been added to the FBI Most Wanted Terrorists list.

Shalah was involved in the March 2014 launch of over 100 rockets toward civilians in Israel. He said the rocket attack was coordinated with HAMAS.


Why do many millions of Muslims support attacks of other Muslims, ex-Muslims, other religions, and atheists?


May this ocean of darkness which has, again, swamped across the world, engulfing, deluding, destroying be wept against by all.

May all Muslims reject the horrific commands of the Quran and the false witness of Muhammad
and come to experience what is true, what is good, and what is compassionate.


May the Light of peace, hope, justice, and human rights shine.






In the Light,

Daniel Wilcox

Strike Matches of Light Against War

"War is Hell!" said General Sherman, but he instituted one of the first intentional total-war attacks in modern history, where his invading army ravaged the American South. And he never regretted or admitted his war crimes.

They killed, burned, destroyed and stole food, animals, and treasures from impoverished civilians. A few of his Union soldiers even stole shoes from poor slaves! What an irony.

And in every generation since, millions of Americans, too, have strongly condemned war as wrong, but yet
contradictorily avidly defended
all their country's many war-attacks,
including the intentional slaughter
of hundreds of thousands of civilians,
as necessary,
even good.

What an absurdity so vividly captured in this dialog from MASH:

Just war is just injustice,
just slaughter,
just torture,
just cruelty,
just suffering,
just inequality,
just theft,
just lying,
just poverty,
just intolerance,
just harm,
just destruction,
just negation
just wrong...*



Let us fight against this Darkness

And strike matches of Light,

Daniel Wilcox


*from MCC poster

Oh Unholy Night versus the Truth

When one observes the tragic events dominating the news and the way humans constantly argue, distort, violate...it does seem one long unholy night...an ocean of darkness.

But there is another way--

Three Sons Fight

Disking the rock strewn
Objected earth near Bet Shean,
Underneath the Middle Eastern sky
Rows of mean earth riven by the blades,
We cut away our anger, hate, and pride,
Stopping to drink, not from the liquor
Of fanatic corruption but from
The precious water welling up,
Our oasis of Jacob'd sharing,
In this Hanukkah season
Of Christ's mass after
Ramadan.

Allah

We three sons of Abraham,
Muslim, Jew, and Christian,
Fight the true battle
Not each other but
To be found worthy
In compassion
Giving,
And purity--
The true
Submission
To God
Over
All.

Selah



First published in
outwardlink.net,
Knot Middle Eastern Magazine,
and the poetry collection of
selah river


In the Light,

Daniel Wilcox

The “Fingers of God,” the Jesus of the “Twisted" Winds

"Jesus rules the wind. The tornadoes were his."
John Piper

News from a famous, highly praised, Christian leader
after the tragic tornadoes this past month:
“Why would God reach down his hand and drag his fierce fingers
across rural America killing
at least 38 people with 90 tornadoes in 12 states, and leaving some small towns
with scarcely a building standing, including churches?"

"..God alone has the last say in where and how the wind blows.
If a tornado twists at 175 miles an hour and stays on the ground
like a massive lawnmower for 50 miles,
God gave the command..."

"Jesus rules the wind. The tornadoes were his.”
John Piper

Whew! No wonder there are more and more outspoken atheists.

Piper does go on to say that “before Jesus took any life in rural American, he gave how own on the rugged cross.” Of course, as Piper has made starkly clear in the past, Jesus gave his life only for a limited number of humans. All other humans throughout history were foreordained to eternal torture.

As one blogger, pointed out, such Christianity is “twisted.” (http://loveradically.com/2012/03/05/john-piper-twisted-theology-on-twisters/

No wonder that many people are saying that Christianity’s god is a moral monster.

Though this "twisted" theology isn’t near as evil as other horrific claims by current Christian leaders which include the assertions that the Holocaust, and every rape and murder and molestation, happen for "God’s glory" and "good pleasure"!

"God not merely carries all of the universe’s objects and events to their appointed ends, but he actually brings about all things in accordance with his will."

"In other words, it isn’t just that God manages to turn the evil aspects of our world to good for those who love him;
it is rather
that he himself brings about these evil aspects for his glory..."

"This includes—as incredible and as unacceptable as it may
currently seem—God’s having even brought about the Nazis’ brutality at Birkenau."
John Piper, Suffering and the Sovereignty of God


The theologian William Barclay’s response
to such Christian views was “Your God is my devil."

"Your God is the God I don’t believe in.”

Oh Father, please help us to persevere in this hellish time of complete theological darkness!

Daniel Wilcox