Thanks Bill - things have been tough enough for me to really appreciate the other 'odd balls' in here as a beacon of hope. As a young boy I felt much the same about the USA (really), confusing it as the beacon city on the hill. I thought you guys were so democratic you wouldn't even get patriotic about sport! One lives and learns! Possibly the only thing I can claim to have been really good at is 'bad singing'. There has been a similar figure in my life - Howard, an old-style socialist who did sing-song nights at a pub I used to use. Our grandson has just started secondary school and was so impressed with his first day he wanted to go back! His Catholic primary school was about as good as we can manage. In the UK (with some reservations about prep schools), we seem to manage 'equality' quite well to this point and keep things personal and neighbourly enough. Things go sour after this point and I do conclude that the suppression of spirituality and communality after this stage is the key. I'm not sure I ever coped with this and the discovery of the way of the world. I've been unrooted all my adult life and even now miss the comradeship of disciplined service that replaced this, even though I know the experience was traumatic - the trauma being very much post the experience time itself. There is much we could be building on - my sense of this is almost marxist in terms of access to and control of the means of production - but I am only materialist in believing in this as a means to spiritual being. Fromm put this as 'to have or to be' - there are plenty of arguments, but it often seems little to do other than as a missionary or martyr - I'll stop before terms like 'strategic spirituality' start to come out of my management speak learning!
On 8 Sep, 01:27, ornamentalmind <[email protected]> wrote: > I couldn’t stop thinking of Neil (and a few others here) while > listening to this wonderful story teller/man. No matter ones political > views, my guess is that we all would love to have had him as a > neighbor and a friend. > > (It is a fairly long show…watch it when you have the time.) > > http://www.democracynow.org/2009/9/7/the_golden_voice_of_the_great --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""Minds Eye"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/minds-eye?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
