The LADY in the GARDEN

On a picture-post-card date near the swirling
Serpentine sway of the wide Schuylkill River
Meandering through Central Philly's park garden,

Towered over by leaning elms, while 3 long canoes
Swift by to the paddling of Ivy League rowers.
Gazing at my dear partner in this verdant garden;

My Friendly girl, Karen--ebony caped-round
In waist-length hair like a swaying black cloak--
She's an aspiring concert violinist and rights activist;

Vivid in her red chambray shirt and Levis, she
Converses intensely of King's D.C. March in 3 weeks,
Me listening intently to my companion in the garden.

I, the drafted conscientious objector, work for Uncle Sam
With forsaken kids confined to sterile mental wards,
Disturbed by parents' wrong living; but still am

So youthfully focused on my comely girlfriend’s
Figured shape more than humanity’s ship of state.
A warm date with my dear companion in the garden.

We sit cross-legged on a wide lush parkway green,
Getting ready to munch our carefully bagged meal
Of 2 peanut butter and grape sandwiches,

Yet we discuss war’s ravages in far-off Nam
And Bob Dylan's 'hard rained' croons.
Loving my dear concerned friend in the garden

But then I inhale a fuming putrid odor;
Twist my neck and see this bagged lady in a filthy rag
Of a dress lunging slowly forward, hanging

Onto her trashy mesh of a shopping bag, her rancid
Stench to high heaven wafts, and I pinch my nose;
Turn back to Karen, not this intruder in the garden.

But lo and hold--my violinist, instead, rises
And welcomes the old hag, “Hi Lady, will you join us
For our little Sunday snack here in the warm sun?”

The homeless stranger sprawls haggardly on our grass,
Her grimy shift wrinkling on her scraggly legs.
Karen gazes warmly at this unknown one in the garden

I'm all upside-down in my face as this invader,
Reaches out her grubby hand to our blanket,
Grabs one of our 2 sandwiches, and half crams

It in her narrow jaws, chews open-mouthed and teethed,
While I fume, separated from my date
By this chomping vagrant in our parked garden.

But then I awake, remembering almost too late,
The very deep story about the least of these; I turn,
And finally join my dear musician's caring psalm,

We now communing 3 of human kind,
Under these verdant swaying trees of warmth.
Sharing friends,--in this present park garden.


--Dan Wilcox

First pub. in The Oak Bend Review
in different form;
in Selah River, a collection of Daniel's
published poetry,
And before, in Dark Energy, a book of poems by Daniel
published by Diminuendo Press


In the LIGHT,

Dan Wilcox

My Lifestance--in brief-: a Transcendence Seeker

A TRANSCENDENCE SEEKER, living for Moral Realism--
the True, the Just, the Caring.
Living for Jesus' moral truths in the Sermon on the Mount, 1 Corinthians 13, Galatians 5:22...

Living in the worldview of Liberal Quakerism (within the movement, not so much the organization),
especially communing with others in expectant openness and hope and peacemaking;
oppose violence of speech and action.

In philosophical speculation, probably Process Deism;

In method of living, the primacy of reason and the scientific method;
and a focus on individual creativity in literature, the arts, and technology

in politics, leftist with libertarian leanings;
in economics, free enterprise, though with very strong social caring and practical help for impoverished,
dysfunctional, troubled, lost, etc.;

In government, voting democracy, (not electoral college).
Require meticulous honesty, moral leaders who while standing strong for the good and just,
also seek to work across political divides with opposing leaders of opposite parties;

In society, equality (not equity), consensus; generosity; creativity;
Avid support for human rights, "I Have a Dream" integration and reconciliation;
Very strong support for Monogamous marriage, the Nuclear family
including support for same sexual marriage for gay and lesbian couples;

Opposition to ideological falsehoods and social contagions including Trans and Nonbinary delusions--and their denial of the biological reality of the binary nature of human sexuality. Over 98% of humans are born either boy or girl.
Help those tiny percentage of humans who are born with physical errors such as intersex or who have illusionary feelings contrary to actual facts.

Against PRIDE Parades that glorify sleazy and immoral sexual behavior,
Drag Queens that demean actual women, harm the innocence of children, etc.
LGBTQ+ Propaganda and flags, promiscuity, kink sexuality, polyamory;

Opposed to the twisting of language such as the claim that a human can decide whether or not to be a man or a woman,
and that sex is "assigned at birth."
Of course that is an Orwellian falsehood. Infants aren't "assigned at birth." Baby humans come out of our mother's womb either boy or girl. And that actual fact is written down.

Against Trumpism, Augustinian-Reformed Christianity, Marxism, CRT (that distorts actual history), BLM (that is against the nuclear family and falsely blames whole groups of humans,and makes false claims of "systemic racism" in contemporary society). Of course, there have been cases of systemic racism such as segregation, "Jim Crow," Sun-down Towns, Apartheid, etc. And BLM attacks all police officers as racists, even though most officers are fair, just, and against racism.


To be continued...

In the LIGHT,

Dan Wilcox

WHY WE HUMANS NEED to RETURN to BIOLOGICAL FACTS about HUMAN SEXUALITY and DISMISS "social constructs" such as Gender

DISMISS the ideological, fallacious term, “GENDER”—when it conflicts with the actual biology of infants born either girl or boy.
Most, if not all, "social constructs" are immoral, contrary to facts, and often very harmful to humans.
Note that “gender” isn’t an actual fact of human biology, but a “social construct” of various societies.
"the male sex or the female sex, especially when considered with reference to social and cultural differences rather than biological ones, or one of a range of other identities that do not correspond to established ideas of male and female.
"the singer has opted to keep the names and genders of her twins private"
https://www.google.com/search?q=gender%20definition...
-
"Gender refers to the characteristics of women, men, girls and boys that are socially constructed. This includes norms, behaviours and roles associated with being a woman, man, girl or boy, as well as relationships with each other.
World Heath Organization
https://www.google.com/search?q=gender%20definition...

Trans--Drag Queen--Daytona [2nd part obscene]

-
"Gender can be broadly defined as a multidimensional construct that encompasses gender identity and expression, as well as social and cultural expectations about status, characteristics, and behavior as they are associated with certain sex traits.
National Institute of Health
-
"All humans are born with biological characteristics of sex, either male, female, or intersex. Gender, however, is a social construct and generally based on the norms, behaviors, and societal roles expected of individuals based primarily on their sex.
Psychology Today
-
"Who was the first to define gender?
Sexologist John Money
The term gender had been associated with grammar for most of history and only started to move towards it being a malleable cultural construct in the 1950s and 1960s. Sexologist John Money introduced the terminological distinction between biological sex and gender as a role in 1955.
Enyclopedia.pub
-
"Since the 1990s, Money's work and research has been subject to significant academic and public scrutiny.[7] A 1997 academic study criticized Money's work in many respects, particularly in regard to the involuntary sex-reassignment of the child David Reimer, and Money's sexual abuse of Reimer and his twin brother when they were children.[8][9] Some of Money's sessions involved Money forcing the two children to perform sexual activities with each other, which Money then photographed. David Reimer lived a troubled life, eventually committing suicide at 38; his brother died of an overdose at age 36.[10][11]
Wikipedia


ln the LIGHT of the TRUE, GOOD, AND JUST,

Dan Wilcox

In honor of the 60th Anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech--but caution

The FALSEHOODS of some Extremist Blacks’ Ideological Claims that All Whites are Guilty of Whiteness and White Supremacy
---Heck, some of these famous ANTI-RACIST ideologues criticize Martin Luther King and other Civil Rights leaders of the 1950-60’s as being guilty of some racism!!

For example, "anti-racist" Ibram X. Kendi's book, Stamped from the Beginning contains many historical falsehoods and is driven by immoral ideology.
Instead, Kendi actually claims that the only anti-racist leader was a pro-Soviet communist! Even worse, she refused to condemn the horrific evils of the Soviet Union!
MLK Book Image--Amazon

And ANTI-RACIST ideologues claim that NO Blacks can be racist--None, and that even criminals if they are Black have been imprisoned because of--not their crimes--but police racism and America's systemic racism!

The doctrine of ANTI-RACISM is one of the worst FALSE claims ever! It opposes reconciliation, integration, and condemns whole classes of people just like the Germans and the Soviets did in the 20th century. This unjust doctrine is Orwellian:_(
1. CAUTION! It is horrifically true that for several hundred years Europeans invaded, settled, dominated, and enslaved People of Color in the Americas (multi-millions of Native Americans, Black Africans, Asians, Mulattos,) etc.

Though keep in mind, that many of the Blacks sold into slavery were sold to White Slave Ships by Other Black Africans! That in America, many Native Americans, freed Blacks, etc. also owned slaves!!
And it is very immoral and bad that President Woodrow Wilson and other former presidents were guilty of Segregation, prejudice, and discrimination, etc.

And it is true that into the 20th century cities in the North of the U.S. had racist Sundown Towns, that Segregation lasted in the South until about 1970’s, etc.
And that SOME Americans of European descent are still racist even in the 21th century:_( I've met a few. HOWEVER
The general claim that all Whites in America, all police officers are guilty of racism and America is white supremacist is completely wrong.

IF in doubt of what I state, read objective histories of the Americas, check out millions of actual real Whites, MLK's emphasis upon reconciliation (not the color of people's skin!), Langston Hughes' Daybreak in Alabama, etc.

Heck, I know a family who has been condemned as racist! YET THEY ARE ACTUALLY A UNITED NATIONS--of various racial, ethnic groups including Black!
Or watch Black country singer Coffee Anderson's satire against these ANTI-RACIST IDEOLOGUES.

Also, this wondrous poem, "Daybreak in Alabama", by Langston Hughes, which carries the same Light-centered truths as MLK's speech.

Daybreak in Alabama

When I get to be a colored composer
I'm gonna write me some music about
Daybreak in Alabama

And I'm gonna put the purtiest songs in it
Rising out of the ground like a swamp mist
And falling out of heaven like soft dew

I'm gonna put some tall tall trees in it
And the scent of pine needles
And the smell of red clay after rain
And long red necks
And poppy colored faces
And big brown arms
And the field daisy eyes
Of black and white black white black people
And I'm gonna put white hands
And black hands and brown and yellow hands
And red clay earth hands in it

Touching everybody with kind fingers
Touching each other natural as dew
In that dawn of music when I
Get to be a colored composer
And write about daybreak
In Alabama.

Langston Hughes, "Daybreak in Alabama" from The Collected Works of Langston Hughes. Copyright © 2002 by Langston Hughes. Reprinted by permission of Harold Ober Associates, Inc.

-- Haiku Deck image


In the LIGHT,

Dan Wilcox

8/21/23

On improving Criminal Justice System

1. The U.S. has a broken criminal justice system, one with a high rate of repeat offenders and which often fails to protect law-abiding citizens.

2. There are no easy answers, certainly not the quick-fix claims of politicians of the right and left.

3. Start by putting into practice nation-wide the heroic elderly woman's strict-altruistic response to a teen crook who steals her purse in "Thank you, Ma'am" by Langston Hughes.

4. Stop treating law breakers as victims, blaming others or the 'system', etc. for their crimes; stop letting law breakers off with light sentences or no sentences!

The latter has happened a lot; for example many law-breakers in Portland, Oregon 3 years ago were let off by the Multnomah County District Attorney, given no penalties, given no required restitutions because their violations weren't as severe as others.

"Protesters march through the streets after rallying at the Mark O. Hatfield United States Courthouse on August 2. Part of this photo has been blurred because of profanity.) Photo by NOAH BERGER/AP
Yet the law-breakers were part of a mob of protestors, who night after night, attacked the Mark O. Hatfield Federal Courthouse causing over a million dollars in damages, the Portland police, other government and privately owned businesses and set arson fires, etc.)

It's very sad also to see that the Mennonite Church in Portland defended the law breakers, and instead blamed the police who were trying to protect and to stop the law-breaking protesters.

5. On the other hand, we do need to be careful not to dehumanize those who commit crimes and are arrested. But they need to be held accountable, and focus needs to be on finding new ways to help such law-breakers overcome their criminal patterns.

6. Check back with Quaker Elizabeth Fry and others' methods, who engaged in major prison reform in the past. And study various other nations who allegedly have had better success with helping criminals reform, such as Finland.

7. Isolate only lawbreakers who keep harming others. For nonviolent crimes, use methods of rehabilitation in the midst of regular society.

8. Of course, keep in mind, that very different methods will need to be employed against sociopaths, the minority of crooks
who only see those who try and use redemptive justice (such as displayed by the elderly lady in the Hughes story) as weaklings, easy marks to be conned, attacked, and murdered.

What new ways do you think might help improve our broken system?


In the Light,

Dan Wilcox

Again, that Wondrous Spiritual 'Pick-up' Line of Light-centered Hope

Remember back to our young teen years when many of us were dying to talk to the individual we had a crush on, and kept trying to figure out what we could say that sincerely stated our care and hope?:_)

Religions, too, sincerely, speak words of love, sacred pickup lines, heart-centered--
in Judaism
(Jewish Bible's extended metaphor of God saying 'He' is Israel's lover),
in Christianity, especially in Quakerism and Pietism
(Christians are Christ's bride),
in Sufi Islam,
in Bhakti Hinduism,
in some forms of Mahayana Buddhism,
in Unity/New Thought,
and so forth...

According to Quakerly, Wesleyan, Pietistic movement, God infinitely loves every single human
who has ever existed, and loves every single human
who will ever exist in the future.

"I saw also that there was an ocean of darkness and death, but an infinite ocean of light and love,
which flowed over the ocean of darkness."
--George Fox

Talk about spiritual hyperbole...
up close and personal
but as a young, naive, troubled teen, I loved this hope, this spiritual pickup line
(made famous by spiritual crooners from George Fox
to John Wesley, John Woolman, D. L. Moody, Billy Graham, Thomas Kelly, Henri Nouwen, etc.)...



--

I Love This Line
“For God so loves everyone."
I love this line

That the Light, the Divine, Transcendent Reality, the Good--
the inexplicable TRANSCENDENCE at the center of the whole cosmos
cares for each of one of us
to the utmost!



What a wonder, what a hope, what an Everest height
that ultimate linguistic sign.
Yes, I love this line

Yet born with a constant why in my mouth
always seeking,
always looking beyond every belief, every doctrine,
I struggled far past usual doubt

Got gore-baptized by the horrors of Christian history...
heck, even rich Quakers owned slaves until 1776
though they bespoke that heartfelt spiritual pickup line,
their many brutal actions belied their spiritual romantic claim.
Yet I still love their line.

Despite Fox supporting the slaughters of Cromwell;
despite early Jesus wars in the 4th century
and ever since down to this troubled present;

and endless doctrinal horrors:
Augustine claimed Original Sin
in human sexual love-making, then
abandoned his long-time common lover
for God and, seeking for a high class woman,
he lined this line to eternal death.

And most Christians, including some Friends, while lipping "For God so loved.."
spoke darkly of God's hidden foreordinations to hell for God's glory,
total depravity, limited atonement, forced adoration,
and His constant killings for His own "good pleasure."

So many billions of religious folk lie that Lightful line--
with Biblical infanticide,
the Inquisition, heresy trials, burnings-at-the-stake,
multi-millions slaughtered dutifully for God and country,
Trinity, Jehovah,Allah,Shiva, Shinto, Buddha...

And Black Deaths, influenzas, plagues and famines
tsunamis, floods, and disasters,
and 30,000 children
dying daily--21 each minute;
such glaring harsh facts
bloody and leech all hope
from that lied line.

It does appear that Love’s not an endless YES,
never an the transcendent sphere,
not our Beloved’s ring,

No, not a never ending line of peace and mercy
but only a paltry pickup conning.

Now at 76 years, I hate this false line, the constant
come-on starter by Jews, Christians, Muslims and other con crooners.

How do we ever truly trust again?

Heck, some American and British Quakers even claim
there is NO Light, that only matter and energy exist!

Is there only Mere--as these Friends claim, no Transcendent myrrh?

What of the "impossible possibility" of a Niebuhr,
of the romantic one-liners of George Fox
and Margaret Fell?
That God never says never?

But only,
(to quote Tillich and St. Paul),

Yes, and Yes, and Yes.

But critical assessment of existence
cleavers God’s promise line--
I love you!

Still, I refuse to bow to that despairing cut
The slash of Never--
by creedalists, nontheists.

Let us hope against the brutal facts of religious history...
as did early Quakers though persecuted, abused, and killed--
that ever Past is
never
always Future.

Despite all negation, somehow,
let's still love this LIGHTFUL line--
Love wins.


In the Transcendent Light,

Dan Wilcox

No comments:

Why Be a Quaker? Transcendent open worship--a powerful example from Pacific Yearly Meeting

Our worldwide Society of Friends has seriously splintered in the last 150 years into very different camps, most of whom have very little in common with the early founders of the spiritual movement. Quite a few of us have often pondered over this severe quandary.* Many books and conferences over the years have struggled...

Instead of dwelling in that past, let us be Present now. Here is an actual Transcendent experience of the Light at a Pacific Yearly Meeting for worship in California.

OPEN WORSHIP TRANSCENDS

Drowned in family tragedy, despairing, distraught--
that morning earlier;
thus, down encumbered,
he came to worship meeting, but not speaking
of his family’s severe circumstance, kept hidden;

But in the midst
of open expectant communion, Transcendent Light
shown forth in a stranger’s sudden
a cappella spiritual chorus--
a deep songing deepening within;
intense meaning lifted us gathered in communion--
vivid encouraging Hope;

That sacred chorus didn’t take away our shattered glass
lives, nor end many distraught
circumstances and tragedies--
but
Oh, what Hope fulled within.


In the LIGHT,

Dan Wilcox


In a later article, I could give my own understanding
of some of the complex series of tragic evidences of how it came that the Society kept breaking into contrary groups...
or of the equally troubling 'quietistic' era before that when there were many rigid religious restrictions on Quakers, including that no Quaker could marry a non-Quaker and remain in good standing.

We are in this sometimes disagreeable patchwork/collage called Friends, Quakerism, and
on why to continue to move toward the Light within this small 380-year-old movement.

1. For me personally, I visited a Friends meeting one Sunday and was drawn to its less-ritual, more open experiential worship.
Side Note: Besides the experiential factor that I came to Quakerism because I was a conscientious objector to the VietNam War serving my drafted time working in a mental hospital.

This was with other pacfists in the Fall of 1967 near Philadelphia, PA. I was helping pay the rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Trevose, PA. 3 Mennonite/Brethren C.O.'s slept in the bedroom on cots, me on a mat behind the couch in the living room:-).

I greatly valued creativity, openness, experiential spirituality, so one can see why the Society of Friends meeting was a wonderful new experience.

Before being drafted, I had been a Creative Writing major at Long Beach State in California. Now in September 1967, I was newly arrived in Pennsylvania near Washington's Crossing, and wanted to find a new church.

I had admired the Quakers in the news 6 years before back in 1961 for protesting against nuclear weapons, so I decided to give their meeting a visit.
After one Sunday going to a nearly empty meeting for worship near Newtown in September, I eventually began regularly attending worship in downtown Philly at Backbench Young Adult Friends gathering. Though as a mental health worker, I worked 10 days on, 4 days off so could only take the L-Train into downtown Philly 2 times a month.

How powerful those times of OPEN WORSHIP were!
I’m not into forms, not sharply, rigidly, traditionally, ritually-structured forms. As all artists and writers know, “form and freedom” are 2 contrary characteristics of any creative endeavor.

One needs both freedom and form. Not either or. Too much freedom, chaos and havoc and destruction rule, too much form, slavery and rigidity and still-death reign.
Quaker meeting for worship seemed the perfect combination of freedom and form!

2. While actual spiritual experiences--vivid stories that happen to us humans don't prove our views are correct, there is GREAT inherent worth in such transcendent experiences,
as shown with the poetic sharing of the Light-filled worship one First Day at Pacific Yearly Meeting in California.