Reflections

Then Peter said, "Ananias, how is it that Satan  filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and withhold some of the proceeds from the land?" ( Acts 5:3) Set in the midst of a male-dominated financial district in London, Expansion  ( right ) was intended by the sculptor to portray the internal power of "feminine energy".  The streaming light, she says, is like the soul pouring out from the cracks of human vulnerability. I recognize the kundalini aspect in the electrical currents. But, quite frankly, they look to me like self-deception short-circuiting clear thinking. If that sounds harsh, bear with me.  I have been attracted to energy practices as a way to transcend my own brokenness and human condition. I'd hoped they were a way to heal and better myself. But they did not deliver. Sitting cross-legged, baring my soul (though not my breasts) and deep breathing, all I got was more energy. And this should not have surprised me because energy does not conver...

I can't breathe ~ George Floyd Resistance means " to take a stand against, oppose ".  In physics, it is a drag force (air resistance) or opposition to the current flow (electrical resitance). Effective resistance requires power. It doesn't just protest what is happening. The person pictured to the right, for example, is protesting but, standing in front of tanks, he is at the mercy of the guys driving them. Brave perhaps, but futile if they decide to run him over. Protest and resistance are both forms of opposition. But only resistance wins wars. Now it could be argued that protest is powerful in that it exerts moral pressure.  This may be so, but it has to come from within the ranks. There is no way, if men don't take a stand against the denigration of women, that women will get very far by protesting it themselves. There is no way, if bystanders don't confront bullies, that victims will be able to stop harassment. There is no way, if white fol...

Below is my response to Brad Warner who posed the above question in a recent blog post he published on his website, Hardcore Zen : Brad, Thank you for clarifying your position in response to Adam Fisher.    Of course the onus for abuse lies on the teacher and not on the student.    You say, “I don’t blame the victim” while you claim that “blind obedience” is the culprit.   But who obeys?   It still sounds like you are pointing to the student.   Moreover, in all these cases of abuse, even when itcomes to Sasaki or Shimano, nobody ever issued an “order” to which anybody ever “obeyed”.    Brad, are you sure that the student’s (pathological) obedience to the teacher is the issue, as opposed to the teacher’s abuse of the student’s (healthy) trust?   Even your well-meaning piece of advice “Be careful out there,” while probably intended to empower students, makes it look like you think that the abuse of authority is due to s...