Amy Cunningham: June 2007 Archives

Well, I'm sure your July 4th plans have shaped up by now. You're going to wave the flag, praise our president, and feel proud as hell.

Not. Or not exactly. I know you are a complete patriot though, marinated in the gratitude that comes from being free. You're someone wanting to make meaning out of this upcoming holiday, right? Of course you are.

As much as I love a good John Philip Sousa march (here are downloads of him conducting some!), and as much as I instinctively groove to the big ego of nationalism, I see that it is past time to focus on ways to meld the boundaries between nations and see the world globally.

Here are some quotes on nationalism that will really get you thinking as you prepare your July 4th festivities.

"The love of one's country is a splendid thing. But why should love stop at the border?" - Pablo Casals

”Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism - how passionately I hate them!” - Albert Einstein

"To him in whom love dwells, the whole world is but one family." - Buddha

The Network of Spiritual Progressives is encouraging its chapters to celebrate July 4th as "Inter-Dependence Day." Group leaders write:

Our point is to take a traditional ultra-nationalist holiday with its theme of "bombs bursting in air," and American triumphalism, and reshape it in two ways:

A. to affirm all the good in America, particularly the struggles of ordinary citizens that led to the expansion of democratic rights and civil liberties throughout the past two hundred and thirty one years.

B. to affirm that in the 21st century there is no such thing as "independence" without affirming and thinking in terms of our inter-dependence with all other people on the planet, and with the planet itself--so our celebration seeks to transcend chauvinist nationalism and affirm a democratic and human-rights and generosity-oriented internationalism.

Read more about the effort here. Here's a Beliefnet article by spiritual teacher Raphael Cushnir that raised the same points a few years ago.

Start talking to your family members about ways you might commemorate how our wellbeing, as a people, is linked to the wellbeing of everyone on the planet. It's a great topic of conversation around the picnic table. Click here to join the Network of Spiritual Progressives so you can be exposed to more of their provocative ideas.

This comes from a site of Catholic prayers, but you can adapt it to suit your religious system.

O Glorious Guardian Angel of the United States, to whom God has entrusted the care of our beloved country, we honor you and thank you for the care and protection you have given to this great nation from the first moment of its inception.

O Powerful Angel Guardian, whose watchful glance encompasses this vast land from shore to shore, we know that our sins have grieved you and marred the beauty of our heritage. Pray for us.

O Holy Angel, before the throne of God. Obtain for us, from the Queen of Heaven, the graces we need to overcome the forces of evil so rampant in our beloved land.

Help us, our God-given protector and friend, to respond wholeheartedly to the urgent pleas of the Mother of God...Assist us to offer the prayer and sacrifice necessary to bring peace and goodness to our nation.

We want to make you known and loved throughout our land, so that with your help we may become once more "a Nation under God"!

I failed to watch Larry King interview the new-sprung Paris Hilton last night, but here's what the New York Times said. Sounds like Paris's resolve to reform will wear off with time. But I'm still rooting for her.

After she said she read the Bible in her cell every day, [King] asked her to name her favorite passage. Ms. Hilton hesitated, looked down at her notes as if hoping to find an answer, then conceded that she didn’t have a favorite...

Mr. King did look surprised when the star of the reality show, “The Simple Life,” denied, with a straight face, ever abusing alcohol or taking drugs or living a hedonistic lifestyle. “I just like to go out and have fun with my friends, “ she said. “ I’m an Aquarius. We’re social people.”

Ms. Hilton wasn’t particularly penitent about her traffic infractions, claiming she was not aware that her license was suspended either time she was stopped by police. She did, however, vow never again to drink and drive. She also said she has tired of her party-girl image, and promised to raise money and awareness for worthy causes.

At this point, what Paris Hilton really needs is a thoughtful, spiritually-activated PR agent (like Arielle Ford, Debbie Ford's sister), and an ongoing, therapeutic relationship with someone sincerely religious but a tad show-biz-y, someone like Deepak Chopra. Deepak, can you call her?

Here's an excellent paper written by Gisela Webb, a comparative religion scholar, on the spiritual dimensions and lessons of Alzheimer's--for sufferer and caretaker.

I have learned from the Alzheimer's ward the value of realizing that we all are going to die -- that, indeed, we are dying -- and so long as we are conscious, we are creating our heaven and/or hell, our peace and/or our suffering. The time to get rid of our own baggage (grudges, ego, and emotional wounds), get things in order, and strive toward a state of peace, forgiveness, and "self-forgiveness" is now -- before one cannot will to change oneself any further. That stage of Alzheimer's disease prior to death can be a timeless hell or, perhaps, a place where surrender and a kind of peace can prevail. I have come to believe that there is a kind of threshold crossed in the Alzheimer's process, where the experience of the Alzheimer's patient is the crystallization of life's actions, motivation, intentions, habits of thought, and memories. However, because there seems to be perception/awareness beyond the mind level, of a deeper self -- quite perceptible -- despite the limitations and distortions of mind and brain caused by the disease, there is the potential, the space, for therapeutic healing...

One thing I love about living in my in-law's country house every summer is that I'm separated from much of my stuff--my shoes, clothes, books, photos, mail, and all those magazines piling up.

Possessions and clutter inhibit us all from feeling free, and distract us from our essence. As Marley's ghost said to Ebenezer Scrooge, "Do you feel the weight of the chains you bear in life?"

Yeah, I certainly do. Not that I hate my things. I just hold on to too many of them.

But rejoice! I've found new resources for those who, like me, need hand-holding as we clean, and sound, sympathetic advice...though one of them is a new magazine that might land in the bedside pile (thankfully, it only comes out six times a year).

"Organize" magazine is the brainchild of a can-do woman profiled here. Here's her website. Her slogan is terrific. It's "You Are Not Your Stuff." How true.

Tangible, daily help and wit are also available here, at the blog Unclutterer.com. Whether it's medicine chest-clearing advice you need, or where to find attractive but inexpensive storage boxes, writers Jerry Brito, Erin Doland, and Matt Niemi will be there to help you develop your own de-cluttering missions. And you can laugh at your mess! One recent post contains this radical suggestion: "Go on, shave your head!" Hair maintenance, they say, causes us to accumulate all manner of objects--from sprays to blow dryers--that take up our valuable space!