Sabbath Messages > Sabbath Message: June 25, 2005
Good Sabbath
June 25, 2005
Almost July! Time doesn't pass; it accelerates into the supersonic; time-travel would get humankind to the farthest reaches of space and possibilities.
All our children are in town, rediscovering their relationships. Thursday, we went to the zoo and visited exotic animals, people-watched, and did our share of eating. Yesterday, we walked the embarcadero, funning our way in the unusual June sun; then we went on a cruise exploring the wind and waves while listening to a guzzled mariner narrate his version of what we were seeing: Navy ships, seals, airbase, nuclear submarine and other sights. I wondered what we would see if we didn't have a narrator? I thought that we'd get more information, have more fun, and learn more if we were our own narrators; imagination is a terrible possibility to waste!
Today, my family will sit in a large audience as I receive my honorary degree in architecture from the New School of Architecture. My dear friend, Mike Stepner, got me involved in teaching ethics and leadership there, as I have been doing in regular universities. It was a blessing for me to learn from the college kids . Now I have to address the graduates and their families. What do I tell them? I thought about this as I walked my morning stroll.
I shall speak of ethics as how we behave rather than a philosophic principle, that the way we act is the way we are, rather than any perfection we may imagine or wish for. Ethical behavior finds its ways into fulfillment; fulfillment is the art of happiness which is equilibrium between hopelessness and feeling good about one's self.
And what of soul? It is the meta-physical connection between spirit, meaning and experience. I shall tell the architects that they create their own souls; in other words, they design themselves; it is the highest level of creativity and maturity. As you know, I believe that this is true of all humankind, that God is our guide, but we design our own souls; it is the process of living each day as mortal humans, wishing to leave the world a better place.
I should also share my feelings about the world of politics that will make them victims or more powerful, for politics is about power and getting re-elected. It is party over nation, party enlisting God as its religion where it has no place; it is demi-gods acting as all-powerful spinners of truth. It is the guaranteed march of passion into tyranny over the average soul. History has taught us how all-consuming politics becomes when the young mind is nurtured in partisan divisiveness.
Politics is in the business of manufacturing uncertainty. As a tobacco giant once said:" doubt is our product since it is the best means of competing with facts that exist in the minds of the public." Wall Street hates uncertainty, yet partisan politicians manufacture it. It is like people in high places in government, who come from an industry that they are supposed to regulate-then retire to an even higher place in that industry. Ethics has no place in politics; opportunism is the god and the goal. It has no soul except expediency.
Then there are the heroes of our time, like Dr. Mitch Besser, who prove that one person can indeed make a real difference, whether it is in fighting for HIV-positive mothers or in finding a cure for polio. This is especially meaningful today, as I receive my honor at the Salk Institute.
Love and passion are two different things: passion can be manufactured into partisan politics or religious fanaticism quite easily. Love is a mocked condition that can heal the deepest wound, whether real or imagined. Love speaks kindly to children and to lovers. As my love, Frances, and I quietly celebrated our 55 years of togetherness-in-marriage, with our children and wonderful son and daughter-in-laws, plus two of our four grandkids, I wondered whether they knew how deep the love can be even when imperfect mortals practice it. But innocence and youth combine to create the condition called love, which finds durability and sweetness over the years multiplied into many.
"Faith, like light, should always be simple and unbending, while love, like warmth, should beam forth on every side and bend to every necessity of our brothers and sisters."
"Love is to moral nature what the sun is to the earth." (Balzac)
I'm still not sure of what I'll say, for a million thoughts cannot be compiled or compressed into a very few minutes.
Think of what you'd like to say to graduating students and share them this Sabbath with those who need your love.
sandy
