Jamie McHugh’s Post

Sad news - and yet, such great work accomplished in a short life. May his legacy live on in all of those he touched, directly or indirectly! "At Ralph J. Bunche High School in West Oakland, where Mr. Butler was a full-time restorative justice counselor, suspensions dropped by 51 percent in the 2011-12 academic year. As The Monitor reported, three teenage girls were on the verge of a fight when Mr. Butler drew them into a circle of chairs to face one another as he facilitated the encounter. One girl admitted that she had stolen shoes from one of the others so that she could sell them to pay for a drug test for her mother. The perpetrator began to cry. The two other girls hugged her. The victim of the theft said there was no need to replace the shoes, and the perpetrator promised that she would not steal again."

Terry Tempest Williams poignantly and beautifully continues to sound the alarm. "Earth is speaking loud and clear through the forces of water, wind, and erosion. Are we listening and do we love the world enough to change? If our answer is no, then we are standing in the ruins of our own making where what is coming is already here: suffering and more suffering. Our lives and the lives of all we cherish depend on us saying yes."

Such a compelling read! It befuddles many of us why people "vote against their own interests". Yet what seems obvious is often hidden by circumstances and social codes. Jess Piper provides such great insight and opens the door to understanding and empathy through her own story of struggling to make ends meet and being estranged from politics until she "woke up". She is a fierce advocate for progressive politics in a red state, and a force to be reckoned with! "We have to remember to give people grace and then give them knowledge. It’s not that they don’t care, they are likely just too busy trying to make it to look up."

Beauty

Free Introductory Online Session, Monday, August 26: 7-8pm ET/4-5pm PT This somatic practice creates a restorative break from the demands of the outer world by exploring various somatic breath streams in a self-directed rhythm of movement and stillness. We lie down, get comfortable and relax into ourselves to experience “sensate presence” – a non-conceptual form of thinking with sensation. This session begins with a 10” introduction for context, followed by a 40” guided experiential practice, and completes with a 10” debrief. Click the image to register.

Theologian Thomas Berry & Cosmologist Brian Swimme gave voice to this in a slightly different fashion the 90's, but the principle remains the same: the biodiversity of the planet parallels the richness of our consciousness. Despoiling the planet degrades the fabric of our being. "There is a special need in this transitional phase to awaken a consciousness of the sacred dimensions of the Earth. For what is at stake is not simply an economic resource, it is the meaning of existence itself. Ultimately it is the survival of the world of the sacred. Once this is gone the world of meaning truly dissolves into ashes. We will be living in a lunar situation. For in the desolate expanse of the moon our only conception of the divine would reflect the lunar landscape, our imagination would be as bleak as the moon, our sensitivities as dull, our intelligence as blank. We cannot change the outer world without also changing our inner world. A desolate Earth will be reflected in the depths of the human." - Berry and Swimme

Michele lays it out - time to champion our higher aspirations and restore true decency to politics. Well worth the 20" to witness her unstinting brilliance and passion.

Phenomenal series - the bottlenose dolphins spiraling upside down with their noses in the sand to capture their food is grace in motion. Sir David Attenborough is a gentle, knowledgeable guide into these mysteries...