Violence is the main obstacle to human development. There is an intrinsic link between violence and religion, patriarchal gender violence being the most pervasive expression of religious violence. Mitigating violence therefore requires overcoming the patriarchal mindset, especially in religious institutions. The mission of this independent newsletter is to provide a commented digest on current research and emerging issues related to human solidarity, ecological sustainability, and both religious and secular non-violence. The U.N. "Millennium Development Goals" (MDGs) are used as a point of reference.
Theme of the August 2008 Issue
Nuptial Dimension of Sustainable Development Part 4
Part 4 is an extended elaboration of the nuptial analogy. Section 1 shows the extent to which the nuptial analogy provides a good model for the symbiosis between humanity and the human habitat. Section 2 is a reflection on how the nuptial gift of love expands in time and space to become a nuptial web of love that interconnects all humans and all elements of the human habitat. Section 3 is a similar reflection on how the nuptial gift of life expands in time and space to become a nuptial web of life.
Sections 4 to 8 are like brief postscripts of Sections 2 and 3. These sections are "repetitions" of the same two basic reflections from the angles of solidarity, sustainability, nonviolence, the UN MDGs, and the emerging dynamics of the LGBT community. Section 9 is the customary conclusion, structured in terms of prayer, study, and action. This section is longer than usual, and attempts to inform the reader about the best resources available to grow in the nuptial gifts of love and life. These include an examination of conscience, a recommendation of two great books on nonviolence by Charles K. Bellinger, and the need to outgrow hypocrisy in ourselves so that we can help others do the same. Following Bellinger, hypocrisy is seen as the most ubiquitous obstacle to the nuptial gifts of love and life.
At the moment, the SSNV knowledge taxonomy and links database provides links to 2000+ web sites that contain evidentiary data and knowledge content that is relevant to global issues of human solidarity and nonviolence, environmental sustainability, and sustainable human development. The links database is sorted by mega-disciplines, disciplines, and specialties. The sub-specialties field is temporarily being used for knowledge source (often using institutional or facility acronyms). Many resources are applicable to two or more of the MDGs. This is work in progress, and both the taxonomies and the links will continue to evolve, but the reader may find something useful by clicking HERE.
"Wine is sunlight held together by water."
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
At the moment, there are approximately 6.5 billion human beings living on planet Earth, with projections for total world population reaching 9 billion by 2050. This population if 50% male and 50% female. Human diversity is further enriched by group attributes such as race and ethnicity, as well as social factors of culture and religion. The current process of
globalization is changing the geographic boundaries of human residence at all levels of diversity, to the point of rendering the
concept of nation-state increasingly meaningless. Sexual differentiation is the most fundamental dimension of human
diversity, and yet it is now recognized that nobody is either 100% male or 100% female. There is a female element in men,
and there is a male element in women. Most people are heterosexual, but some are homosexual and some are bisexual. In this magnificent tapestry of human diversity, the perfect unity of humanity is rooted in the deepest substratum we all share: human nature. Some recommended resources for further study in human nature and the human condition
are the following:
Genesis 1:27; 1 Corinthians 2:14-16, 15:42-47; James 1:23
The human habitat is the cylindrical ring around the surface of the Earth where food, water, air, climate, and other environmental conditions make life possible. This includes all forms of life, including human life and other forms of life required to support human life. The diameter of a cross-section of this ring is approximately 10,000 meters (2000 meters above sea level + 8000 meters below sea level). Another name for this ring is the Biosphere. The biosphere is composed of number Biomes and many different kinds of Ecosystems:
The interaction between humanity and the human habitat is one of mutual symbiosis. This is not unlike a nuptial
covenant between humanity and the biosphere, except that humanity is always in control (see, for example, a list of symbiotic relationships). There are limits for the extraction and consumption of material resources from the biosphere. In the case of renewable resources, taking more than the biosphere can replenish eventually leads to unsustainable consumption. In the case of non-renewable resources such as fossil fuels,
which the biosphere cannot replenish, continued overuse can lead to a grim outlook for humanity unless alternative energy
technologies emerge that can be commercialized in time. The "window of opportunity" can be reduced considerably by the
concentration of pollutants emitted in conjunction with using the fossil fuels. This means that the current patterns of exponential population growth, and exponential consumption growth of material resources, must be reversed; and sooner rather than later.
"Nuptial love makes mankind, friendly love perfects it;
but wanton love corrupts and debases it."
Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
Thank God, once the basic necessities of life are met (so that neither children nor adults suffer from malnutrition and poor health induced by contaminated water to drink, food to eat, and air to breath), most of the resources needed for continued life-long human development are not constrained by the law of conservation of matter. There are no limits to knowledge. There are no limits to wisdom. There are no limits to psychological and spiritual development. It follows, that the required transition is one from extravagant overuse of material resources to moderate use of material resources so as to satisfy the basic physical needs of the human body and, in the case of renewable resources, allow time for their replenishment.
In the context of the nuptial covenant, let us reflect on how the gift of love and the
gift of life spread from each married couple to society and the entire biosphere, eventually forming a web of love and a web of life. These webs of love and live are themselves gifts that have been bestowed by God to the entire creation via married couples. Let us consider first the formation and growth of the web-gift of love. The formation and growth of the web-gift of life will be considered in the next section.
The gift of love spreads horizontally from married couples to society to form web-gift of love as the sons and daughters of married couples exercise the gift of love, and bestow the gift of life, from generation to generation. Thus the web-gift of love grows in the time dimension, the
web of love becoming richer in diversity. But healthy growth in the horizontal and vertical dimensions is contingent on similarly healthy growth in the vertical dimension, i.e., the inner journey that each and every human being must undertake to grow in a personal relationship with God, who never fails to meet each person at the appointed time while on this journey. Unless people grow in this vertical dimension, human development withers and regresses to treating the human body as a sex object and seeking, in the overconsumption of material goods and services, a futile compensation for the lack of solidarity, sustainability, and nonviolence.
As we all know, a picture is worth a thousand words. Consider Figure 1.
The love between the two birds does not flourish in isolation from their social and ecological environment. On the contrary, the love between the two birds is nourished by their social and ecological and in turn flourishes by propagation to the social and ecological environment. Both the nourishing and the propagation happen via sharing unconditional love. There are no transactions involved, economic or otherwise. This brings up the question as to whether some form wealth accumulation is required to sustain love. Consider Figure 2.
This graph is based on global data recently collected by Gallup World Poll and analyzed for the influence of GDP on human feelings (including love) (see Economic Growth and Subjective Well-Being: Reassessing the Easterlin Paradox,, Betsey Stevenson Justin Wolfers, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, 2008; in particular, see Table 6 and Figure 22). The scatter plot supports the authors' net assessment: "It would seem that material wealth reinforces love when it is required to meet basic human needs. Beyond this point, additional increases in material wealth have little or no influence on feelings love and other indicators of human well-being."
This confirms that the results of other similar studies, including the classical
Genuine Progress Indicator, also apply at the global level. In brief, the gift of love is non-negotiable, and the web-gift of love even less so. In brief, love is not negotiable because "love is repaid by love alone."
The following are some supplementary references about the web-gift of love:
The Song of Songs 1:1-2.17; Matthew 1; Luke 2; John 1:14, 3:16
"The winds of grace are blowing, but it is you who must raise your sails."
Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941)
The gift of life derives, and is nurtured by, the gift of love. That the gift of love and the gift of life are tightly coupled is beautifully expressed by, Tagore's poem,
The Gift
O my love, what gift of mine
Shall I give you this dawn?
A morning song?
But morning does not last long -
The heat of the sun wilts like a flower
And songs that tire are done.
O friend, when you come to my gate
At dusk, what is it you ask?
What shall I bring you? A light?
A lamp from a secret corner
of my silent house?
But will you want to take it with you
Down the crowded street?
Alas, the wind will blow it out.
Whatever gifts are in my power to give you,
Be they flowers,
Be they gems for your neck
How can they please you
If in time they must surely with,
Crack, lose luster?
All that my hands can place in yours
Will slip through your fingers
And fall forgotten to the dust
To turn into dust.
Rather, when you have leisure,
Wander idly through my garden in spring
And let an unknown, hidden flower's scent
Startle you into sudden wondering-
Let that displaced moment be my gift.
Or if, as you peer your way down
A shady avenue
And suddenly, spilled
From the thick gathered tresses of evening
A single shivering fleck
of sunset-light stops you,
Turns your daydreams to gold,
Let that light be an innocent Gift.
Truest treasure is fleeting;
It sparkles for a moment, then goes.
It does not tell its name; its tune
Stops us in our tracks, its dance disappears
At the toss of an anklet
I know no way to it-
No hand, nor word can reach it.
Friend, whatever you take of it,
On your own, without asking,
Without knowing, let that be yours.
Anything I can give you is trifling -
Be it a flower, or a song.
The nuptial act is the legitimate sharing of the most intimate love between husband and wife, who thereby become "one flesh." But the nuptial act as such is an experience that "do not last long," and gradually "loses luster" and becomes "fleeting" with age like any other gift, "be it a flower, or a son," or any other human mediated gift. The nuptial "unity of hearts" can remain and even increase as the bodily functions weaken and eventually die. But the perpetuation of the gift of love over time requires gift of life. Thus, whenever circumstances permit, it is natural for the nuptial act to be open to the conception of new life, and this is the way for human beings to be "fruitful and multiply."
This process of multiplication and population growth in turn requires the support of the "web of life" that fills the biosphere. The web of life is itself a gift -- the web-gift of life -- which is continually renewed by the gift of love. But the web-gift of life must have a healthy propagation of its own in order to support the human population. This propagation materializes via food chains, or food webs, that continually recycle nutrients among all species of
living organisms, including humans. The dynamics of nutrient recycling has been studied in terms of "trophic levels which describe the position that an organism occupies in a food chain - what it eats, and what eats it." An example of a food web is shown in Figure 3:
At the highest level of the biosphere, the web-gift of life, stands humanity, entrusted with taking "good care" of it and, at the same time, utterly dependent on it for human survival. Consider Figure 4:
There are, in addition, cycling of materials -- such as the nitrogen
cycle and the carbon cycle -- that must work over time with a certain degree of stability if natural disasters such as global warming are to be avoided. Figures 5 and 6 show schematics of the cycles of nitrogen and carbon, respectively.
These food webs and mineral cycles form a gift of life, and support a web of love of incredible complexity and diversity, and include both humanity and the human habitat standing yet in perfect unity within the biosphere. The complexity and diversity of these systems endow them with enormous resilience to perturbations, and they may or may not return to their original state via a process known as "ecosystem succession". But there are limits to this ability of ecosystems to bounce back from external perturbations. Those who for political and/or economic reasons allow, let alone promote, the destruction of this web-gift of love and life are doing a great disservice to God and humanity. Likewise, those who for religious reasons (remember Copernicus,
Galileo,
Darwin,
Freud,
Jung!)
remain blind to the growing objective evidence about the biosphere deterioration to avoid letting go of ancient (and utterly false)
doctrines and practices are doing a great disservice to God and humanity.
Since love cannot happen in a vacuum, the gift of life is as nonnegotiable as the gift of love. But it should be pointed out that working for the gift of life or defending the gift of life entails more than just working against abortion and euthanasia. To be really pro-life means more than to be "pro-birth." It means to work for the full development of the human person at every point in time from conception to natural death. In particular, it means to work for each and every human person to answer, to follow, and to share the gift of the vocation to which God is calling the person. The "signs of a vocation" may include physical abilities, intelligence, and other factors; but a person should never be excluded from any vocation on the basis of gender, race, ethnicity, or any other human attribute that is not required to serve responsibly in any given vocation.
A case in point is the continued (and theologically baseless) refusal of some Christian churches to ordain women as deacons, priests, and bishops. This is a case of vocational abortion; for a person who is not allowed to follow the gift of his or her vocation is significantly diminished in his or her own human development, let alone the ability to share with others the gifts of love and life. In addition, the "message" of patriarchal male superiority implicit in such exclusions is an obstacle to the healthy growth of the web-gift of love and life and has nefarious consequences for cultural and social development.
The following are some supplementary references about the web-gift of life:
For an enriching explanation of Andrei Rublev's Holy Trinity icon, see Transfiguration: Introduction to the Contemplation of Icons, Maria Giovanna Muzj, St. Paul Books & Media, 1987, chapter 32 (pages 161-166)
"Sweet flowers are slow and weeds make haste."
William Shakespeare, ca. 1600
Spiritual directors (e.g., St. Ignatius Loyola in the Spiritual Exercises) often recommend "repetitions" for prayer, study, and meditation of texts that pertain to "matters of conscience." In this issue we are dealing with some natural processes such as food chains, mineral cycles, ecosystem succession, etc. But we are also dealing with the "inner journey" pursuant to growth in the spiritual life, especially as it relates to the nuptial gifts of love and life. We want to be thankful for these gifts, and use them well. Thus we are dealing with "matters of conscience," i.e., the matters that really matter.
Please go back and take time to study sections 2 and 3 again, and think of this and the following sections as postscripts to
sections 2 & 3. This is postscript 1:
The gifts of love and life are jointly the cornerstone for building a mindset of human
solidarity, which is the basis for social justice. It follows that the family in which the nuptial gifts are truly shared is the first and most important school of solidarity and social justice. For solidarity is not an abstract concept to be debated by philosophers and other scholars, but a mindset that determines the modus vivendi of the human person. Therefore, it should be learned well and it should be learned early, even before the child goes to elementary school. Psychologists might say that a solidarity "conscience" is formed during the first two years of life. Then it may or may not grow during youth and adulthood, bur the cornerstone must be there before maturity and resilience in solidarity can grow. This growth can be visualized as a positive (reinforcing) feedback process:
Nuptial Gifts and Solidarity
Phases of the feedback process:
1. NUPTIAL GIFTS OF LOVE & LIFE
2. SOLIDARITY "CONSCIENCE"
3. SOLIDARITY BEHAVIOR
4. SOCIAL JUSTICE
5. HUMAN RIGHTS & WELL-BEING
The following are a few additional supporting references:
Spend 20 minutes on sections 2 & 3. This is postscript number 2.
Likewise, the gifts of love and life are jointly the cornerstone for building a mindset of human solidarity, which is the basis for environmental justice. It follows that the family in which the nuptial gifts are truly shared is the first and most important school of sustainability and environmental justice. For sustainability, like solidarity, is not an abstract concept to be debated by scholars, but a mindset that determines the ecological modus vivendi of the human person. Therefore, it should be learned well and it should be learned early, even before the child goes to elementary school. Psychologists might say that a "sustainability conscience" is formed during the first two
years of life. Then it may or may not grow during youth and adulthood, bur the cornerstone must be there before sustainable behavior can grow. This growth can be visualized as a positive (reinforcing) feedback process:
Nuptial Gifts and Sustainability
Phases of the feedback process:
1. NUPTIAL GIFTS OF LOVE & LIFE
2. SOLIDARITY "CONSCIENCE"
3. SOLIDARITY & SUSTAINABILITY BEHAVIOR
4. SOCIAL & ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
5. HUMAN & SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
The following are a few additional supporting references:
"The nonviolent resister does not seek to humiliate or defeat
the opponent but to win his friendship and understanding."
Martin Luther King Jr., The Power of Nonviolence, 1957
Spend 15 minutes on sections 2 & 3. This is postscript number 3.
Nonviolence enhances the positive (reinforcing) feedback process:
Nuptial Gifts and Nonviolence
Phases of the feedback process:
1. NUPTIAL GIFTS OF LOVE & LIFE
2. NONVIOLENT SOLIDARITY "CONSCIENCE"
3. SOLIDARITY & SUSTAINABILITY BEHAVIOR
4. SOCIAL & ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
5. HUMAN & SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
The following are a few additional supporting references:
"We must see everything, and everyone,
as interconnected and intended by God
to live in relationship.... this is a critical
time for the climate and the MDGs."
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori,
Episcopal Church USA
Reflections on Poverty and Climate Change, August 2007
Spend 10 minutes on sections 2 & 3. This is postscript number 4.
The nuptial gifts support the positive (reinforcing) feedback process pursuant to the MDGs:
The following are a few additional supporting references:
"I call on politicians around the world to speak out against discrimination and protect the rights of people living with and affected by HIV, for schools to teach respect, for religious leaders to preach tolerance, and for the media to condemn prejudice in all its forms." United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in address to International AIDS Conference, Mexico City, 3 August 2008
Our Common Future, Report of the Brundtland Commission, United Nations, 1987
"It is the vocation of the prophet
to keep alive the ministry of the imagination,
to keep on conjuring and proposing futures
alternative to the single one the king wants
to urge as the only thinkable one."
Walter Brueggeman, The Prophetic Imagination, 1978
Spend a few more minutes on sections 2 & 3. This is postscript number 5.
Let us remember the negative attitude of religious institutions toward Copernicus,
Galileo,
Darwin,
Freud,
Jung.
The same kind of negativity is emerging toward our LGBT brothers and sisters. Let us be slow to condemn and diligent to seek the truth, with freedom of conscience and a caring attitude. As the Archbishop of Canterbury has pointed out, "it is possible to see the love of God reflected in homosexual couples." Isn't this what really matters?
Nuptial Gifts and LGBT
Phases of the feedback process:
1. NUPTIAL GIFTS OF LOVE & LIFE
2. NUPTIAL GIFT OF LIFE BETWEEN MAN & WOMAN
3. NUPTIAL GIFT OF LIFE NOT LIMITED TO MALE-FEMALE SEX
4. THERE IS ADOPTION AND MANY OTHER WAYS TO ENHANCE LIFE
5. RECOGNIZE NUPTIAL GIFTS OF LOVE & LIFE FOR LGBT COUPLES
Perhaps we need a marriage encounter movement for LGBTs? Basically, a good marriage entails growing together in mutual love and understanding. Nuptial dialogue requires mutual openness of heart and mind between husband and wife. Isn't this also possible between same-sex couples?
The following are a few additional supporting references:
The following three sets of questions of conscience are offered for your consideration. Readers may want to write and reflect on alternative sets of questions that may be more applicable to their personal situation.
Questions of conscience:
What have I done to foster the nuptial gifts of love and life?
What am I doing to foster the nuptial gifts of love and life?
What shall I do to foster the nuptial gifts of love and life?
Questions of conscience:
What have I done to promote solidarity, sustainability, and nonviolence?
What am I doing to promote solidarity, sustainability, and nonviolence?
What shall I do to promote solidarity, sustainability, and nonviolence?
Questions of conscience:
What have I done to support the United Nations' MDGs?
What am I doing to support the United Nations' MDGs?
What shall I do to support the United Nations' MDGs?
Questions of conscience:
What have I done to reach out to my LGBT brothers and sisters?
What am I doing to reach out to my LGBT brothers and sisters?
What shall I do to reach out to my LGBT brothers and sisters?
Questions of conscience:
What have I done to remove obstacles that block growth in my personal relationship with God?
What am I doing to remove obstacles that block growth in my personal relationship with God?
What shall I do to remove obstacles that block growth in my personal relationship with God?
PRAYER
A New Heart For a New World
Create a new heart, Holy Lord,
beckon our lives through your word,
Open our eyes to your call,
united as one for your world.
Heighten our minds to your thoughts,
heal us of pride and of hurt,
May we go forth in your name
Trisha Watts & Monica O’Brien
Sacred Heart Cathedral
Newcastle, Australia
STUDY
Study the excellent books on the roots of violence by Charles Bellinger:
"We must continually press deeper and deeper into self-knowledge in the light of revelation .... The Incarnation is God the Father's action in sending the Son on a medical mission for the healing of humanity. This is where the doctrine of the Atonement needs to begin: with Bethlehem, not only with Golgotha. Christ's work is to recover the lost, to cast out demons, to cause the lame to walk, to give the blind sight, to heal the broken hearted, to forgive sinners. Why is it that this ministry provokes so much anger and rejection? Because the human race does not want to be healed."
"The basic problem with the human race is that we would rather kill than think; if we were to take thinking seriously, we would have to change, and we don't want to change .... Hypocrisy is the human condition. It is the most basic anthropological feature of human beings in their fallen state, to accuse others of doing wrong when they themselves are doing wrong."
ACTION
QUESTIONS:
IS HYPOCRISY INTRINSIC TO THE HUMAN CONDITION?
IN THE NUPTIAL COVENANT? IN FAMILIES? IN ALL FRIENDSHIPS?
IN YOUTH, ADULTHOOD, AND OLD AGE? IN BUSINESS AND IN LEISURE?
IN WEALTH AND IN POVERTY? IN HEALTH AND IN SICKNESS?
IN THE OLYMPIC GAMES AT BEIJING?
EVERYWHERE IN SECULAR LIFE? EVERYWHERE IN RELIGIOUS LIFE?
The following cartoons reflect the ubiquity of hypocrisy:
Someone has to confront hypocrisy when it becomes damaging to people and the biosphere. This is especially the case when there is a long and repetitive pattern of hypocritical and abusive behavior. But how can we confront hypocrisy if we are all hypocrites? Are the cartoonists revealing their own hypocrisy when they ridicule hypocrisy? There is individual hypocrisy and institutional hypocrisy. It is a matter of social justice to resist institutionalized hypocrisy. And it is also a requirement of personal growth to be aware of the hypocrisy that abides in each one of us, and strive to get rid of it.
There is a saying, "change is the name of the game." The most critical action we can undertake is to allow divine grace to change our inner selves. This means inter alia to accept divine healing from hypocrisy, to become less hypocritical, to resist the temptation of using others as scapegoats for our own wrongdoings. Easier said than done? Indeed. But not impossible, for we know that "nothing is impossible with God." (Luke 1:37)
V1 N1 May 2005
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The pelican is a legendary symbol of commitment to the service of others, especially those who are weak and most vulnerable to physical and/or psychological violence.
For more information, see World Religions, which provides global maps and numerical tabulations showing religious distributions (as of 2005) by number of adherents, percentage of the world population, and geographic dispersion by regions and countries.
Global News/Issues
The following are links to recent global news, information sources, and emerging issues, in no particular order:
René Girard (b. 1923, France)
Mimetic Theory of Human Behavior
Professor Emeritus, Stanford University
Sample quote:
"Contrary to what our nihilists and relativists tell us, there is a human nature, and its resiliency is such that it often manages to adjust to the weirdest cultural insanities."
![[lovebirdsweb]](http://www.athenscyclepath.com/Images/LoveBirds_web.jpg)
![[lovegdpgallup]](lovegdpgallup.jpg)
![[foodwebwiki]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9b/EltonFW.jpg/500px-EltonFW.jpg)
![[foodwebmindfully]](http://www.mindfully.org/Food/Food-Web.gif)
![[nitrogencyclewiki]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/de/Nitrogen_Cycle.jpg/320px-)
![[carboncyclewiki]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/82/Carbon_cycle-cute_diagram.svg/400px-Carbon_cycl
e-cute_diagram.svg.png)
![[cartoon-zhoutao200]](cartoon-zhoutao200.jpg)
![[cartoon-kudelka235]](cartoon-kudelka235.jpg)
![[cartoon-schrank210]](cartoon-schrank210.jpg)
![[cartoon-anderson236]](cartoon-anderson236.jpg)
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