I’m also going to attempt to participate in ‘the generosity experiment.’

The generosity experiment is about saying “yes” to every genuine call for help – whether it be a TV ad from Muslim Aid, or a text from Oxfam, a sponsored event, a beggar or a cold caller.

I heard about the generosity experiment when listening to Sasha Dichter on TED. I invite you to watch his talk and hear his conclusions and see if you would like to join the generosity experiment.

Truth

Can’st one speak the truth?

Where can one begin?

Is truth something of the world

or something deep within?

Is truth something one inherits -

Passed from father down to son?

Or is itpart of life’s grand prize -

Something to be lost and won?

If truth is part of knowledge,

And knowledge leads to power,

And power to responisbility,

whats the colour of this flower?

Should you not be reposnisble

For what you say is ‘truth’

By backing up your vocabulary

With physical, hard proof?

What we must learn to do,

We learn to do by doing

An Aristotle quote, for kicks,

In this verse I shall fling

But does this quote extrapolate

To truth and all things new

Half the battle is the teaching

But doings important too.

Is it enough to claim

That the truth dwells within you?

Or should you have to prove it

In everything you do?

Shouldn’t truth be part of your beliefs

Away of life, per say

and evident in what you do

Each and everyday?

I think truths not just morality

But in your actions too;

And people who just ‘know’ the truth

Haven’t really got a clue.

A Story

He woke with a terrible headache. Things buzzing around his head. He rolled out of bed with a groan as the scenes from last night played over and over in his mind. What had happened last night? Where did he go? Who was he with? Was he his true self?

Confusion seemed to take over. Nothing was making sense. Something had happened, something had changed. But the memory was playing games. Trapped in his familiar comforts but places he now didn’t want to be. The hangover from last night had him spinning.

He promised himself he’d change. He’d made a commitment to others. He knew he was supposed to do something but the pieces didn’t fit. Things were never so clear last night but now it was all a mess. a new path had been shown but now the old one was easier.

That night he wanted things to change but in the morning he sobered up. A sudden push, he evaluated his life. In the morning it all went blank. Back to reality, back to normality was the way forward as his head stopped spinning and he forgot about the night of his conversion.

A Poem

A long time ago there was a man.

An ordinary man, but with one significant difference.

He was a non-conformist.

He didn’t do things how everyone else did things.

He imagined a new way and he lived that way.

A non-conformist began a revolution, a new way to conform.

Soon many people stopped conforming.

People knew his way was better.

However, soon the peoples imitation sunk back into conformity.

They just didn’t realise it.

I hold the silence.

I remember those who died because of war.

I support non-violence and don’t condone conflict.

I am a pacifist.

The above statements are true for me. They are true for many, and I want to write a post about remembering the sacrifice of others whilst holding a stance that we should beat our swords into plowshares and our spears into pruning hooks like so many have said and done. However the above statements increasingly come with a ‘but’.

I am a supporter of non-violence and I look forward to the days when we no longer need violence to settle our scores. But I am beginning to think that currently, at the stage humanity is at, war might still be a necessity. Necessity might be a strong word and a necessity is only very extreme cases.

I think the Second World War is the greatest example of this. We remember the sacrifice because they fought, not just to win or against ‘the enemy’, but for democracy, freedom of speak, freedom of religion, culture, ethnicity. There may have been opportunities which if taken would have resulted in peaceful solutions to the political situation in Europe in the 30′s but given the situation in 1939 I think the Allies were right to declare war. Whether I myself would pick up a rifle is perhaps another matter but having read a little about the atrocities of the Holocaust I think I would be willing to fight to end that annihilation.

On a much more local level, a wise friend once said to me ‘I’m not a violent man, but if someone came into my home and was harming my family I don’t know what I would do’. Is there a non-violent response in this situation?

I think as humanity we are progressing towards a peaceful world. War has change dramatically over the centuries, each movement a helpful stepping stone. Just war theory, Political negotiations and sanctions, diplomatic collaboration, treaties, Geneva Convention and modern laws of war. These things are by no means perfect but they are a step forward from the days of the Persians and Romans. I think as a pacifist I should seek peaceful alternatives and always be questioning a decision to go to war. I think as a realist I should understand that sometimes engaging in violence might be a necessary solution to a much greater evil.

I am not saying that all wars can be justified. I would march against some from recent years and I am severely against the you-bomb-us-so-we’ll-kill-your-leader ‘justice’ but I feel some conflicts can be justified.

And even if we can’t justify some wars we must pay respect to those who gave everything so we could have our freedoms.

That myth is more potent than history.

I believe that dreams are more powerful than facts.

That hope always triumphs over experience.

That laughter is the only cure for grief

and I believe that love is stronger than death.

Robert Fulghum

Because we can never fully know, it leads me to think that knowing isn’t as important as we make out.

I was brought up with a Christian world view, it is my tradition, culture and context and I am grateful for it; but if I am to remain a Christian then I need to redefine the word. Christianity to many, most but not all, is about believing that Jesus is God. If this is Christianity then I am not a Christian.

I would like to redefine Christianity as exploring God through, although not exclusively, Jesus. Or, if you like, following the way of Jesus into exploring God as Jesus knew.

Many people will not be happy with this definition and that’s ok.

I believe in God as some ‘thing’ beyond visibility, beyond us. Divinity if you will. What is important is that by God I’m not talking about a guy resembling Father Christmas in the sky who is either withdrawn or exercising divine intervention. ‘God’ is the great, cross-cultural, asexual, indescribable, unknowable, ever-present, ‘I am that I am’, beyond, divine, spirit, force, mystic, truth, wisdom, love, justice, peace, thing – or whatever name you wish to prescribe…all we have is metaphor, right?…

I don’t think that Jesus was wholly divine. But he was in touch with the this divinity, as we can.

For me Jesus was the ‘Son of God’ only in a purely metaphorical sense. He was the ultimate, but not the only, human revelation and embodiment of God and therefore his character and the stories about him are central, not exclusive. Other people, traditions and cultures have something to say about God too, including me and you.

Exploring God is about becoming fully human, in touch with all aspects of humanity. It is about restoring what’s broken, resurrecting things that were dead and evolving together towards our collective potential. This I believe is the journey that Jesus is inviting us on…

I stumbled across this article and thought it was really fascinating, so thought I’d share it…the closing sentence “God doesn’t care whether you believe in him or not. All that he cares is that you do the right thing.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/on-faith/judaism-without-god-yes-say-american-atheists/2011/09/23/gIQAemL9qK_story.html