Quakers, social justice and revolution

Ringing Japanese Peace Bell 2018

Posted on August 7, 2018 by Jeff Kisling

August 6, 2018 is the 73rd anniversary of the use of an atomic weapon for the first time, when Hiroshima was bombed. Last night I attended a remembrance of that tragic day at the site of the Japanese Bell of Peace and Friendship, on the grounds of the Iowa State Capitol. I was glad to see a number of F/friends there.

Des Moines mayor Frank Cownie spoke about the city’s sister city, Kofu, Japan.

I was moved that the event included a tribute to Sherry Hutchison for her relentless and inspiring work for peace. Sherry was co-clerk of the Peace and Social Concerns Committee of Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative), helping me learn how to clerk.

Here is a link to all of the photos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!Avb9bFhezZpPiapFJsXey-2iHLgjYA

The co-sponsors were Catholic Peace Ministry; Church Women United, DM Area Unit; Des Moines Area Religious Council; Des Moines Area Sisters of Humility; Des Moines Catholic Worker; Des Moines Ecumenical Committee for Peace; Des Moines Intentional Eucharistic Community; Roman Catholic Diocese of Des Moines Sister Council; First Unitarian Church of Des Moines; Iowa Peace Network; Iowa Poor People’s Campaign; Mary Ann Koch; Methodist Federation for Social Action; Plymouth U.C.C. Peace Committee; STAR*PAC; Veterans for Peace, Chapter 163; Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Des Moines Branch.

Posted in peace, Uncategorized | Tagged Hiroshima, nuclear weapons | 1 Comment

Remember Hiroshima

Posted on August 6, 2018 by Jeff Kisling

It is sad to see how little attention is being paid to today’s anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima by the United States 73 years ago. And it is tragic to know that the United States today is being called out as a country “blatantly proclaiming self-centered nationalism and modernizing their nuclear arsenals.”

Today “Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui opened his speech by describing the hellish scene of the blast that morning 73 years ago and the agony of the victims, telling the audience to listen ‘as if you and your loved ones were there.’ Then he raised concerns about the global rise of egocentrism and tensions, and urged Japan’s government to take more leadership toward achieving a truly nuclear-free world.”

‘Certain countries are blatantly proclaiming self-centered nationalism and modernizing their nuclear arsenals, rekindling tensions that had eased with the end of the Cold War,’ Matsui said, without identifying the nations. Nuclear deterrence and nuclear umbrellas are ‘inherently unstable and extremely dangerous’ approaches that seek to maintain international order by only generating fear in rival countries, he said, urging world leaders to negotiate in good faith to eliminate nuclear arsenals instead. https://www.yahoo.com/news/hiroshima-marks-73rd-anniversary-atomic-bombing-wwii-003403570.html

Over a period of two years a group of Japanese high school students have created a virtual reality experience that recreates the moments before, during and after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. http://time.com/5358430/japan-virtual-reality-hiroshima/

//players.brightcove.net/293884104/SJa0Thl7_default/index.html?videoId=5818489108001

In May 2016, Barack Obama became the first sitting U.S. President to visit Hiroshima, including visiting with survivors of that attack. On that day he said:

“Among the nations that, like my own, hold nuclear stockpiles, we must have the courage to escape the logic of fear and pursue a world without them.

We must change our mindset about war itself, to prevent conflict through diplomacy and strive to end conflicts after they have begun.”

The Catholic Peace Ministry is having an event today at 7:00 pm at the Japanese Peace and Freedom Bell on the grounds of the state capitol. “Commemoration of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and call for an end to the use of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction. Please bring your own chairs and if you want flowers to lay at the bell. Rain site is Wesley UMC, 800 E. 12th St., Des Moines.”

FCNL: Scattergood Peace Marches

Scattergood Peace Walk 1969

Korean War Memorial

FCNL

Korean War Memorial

Vietnam War Memorial

Korean War Memorial

Vietnam War Memorial

Posted in peace, Uncategorized | Tagged nuclear weapons, war | Leave a comment

Vision

Posted on August 5, 2018 by Jeff Kisling

Bopp, Judie. Sacred Tree: Reflections on Native American Spirituality

We gain a vision of what our potential is from our elders and from the Teachings of the Sacred Tree. By trying to live up to that vision and by trying to live like the people we admire, we grow and develop. Our vision of what we can become is like a strong magnet pulling us toward it. Bopp, Judie. Sacred Tree: Reflections on Native American Spirituality (Kindle Locations 150-151). National Book Network – A. Kindle Edition.

My experience is having a vision is important to my spiritual life. Too often it seems we are in the middle of chaos. There are so many urgent needs. Too many people seem overwhelmed and simply give up. So many struggle simply to live day to day, and thus miss the beauty all around them.

As it says above, we gain a vision of our potential from our elders and the Teachings of the Sacred Tree (that is, from the Spirit speaking to us). It may seem contradictory to have a vision to work toward while at the same time being open to what the Inner Light is telling us at a given moment. Even though we sometimes don’t understand what the Spirit is asking us to do, I believe the Inner Light is helping us along the path of the vision we have been given. Those steps reveal more of our vision to us and others.

Having a vision guides us through the chaos. It teaches us what we are being called to do. No one person can work on all of the problems. We can have hope when we know what we are supposed to do. We learn we have to be very attentive to the Spirit all the time, so we don’t miss messages being given to us. Our work is effective.

We learn from our elders when they have been faithfully following the path of their vision. Their example teaches us how to live a spirit-led life and we have a glimpse of their vision. It is likely that our vision will build on the work they did on theirs.

As a teenager I studied the lives of those around me who had a vision of peace. An important part of that was learning about fear. Learning that we don’t know what the consequences of following our vision will be. But we do learn about the spiritual harm that will be done by not following our vision. I saw the joy that came from those who took the risks necessary to be true to their vision, even though many were imprisoned. And how that joy illuminated those around them. That example made it possible to be a draft resister, despite the fear of imprisonment.

As it says above, “Our vision of what we can become is like a strong magnet pulling us toward it.”

One of the strongest visions of my life involved the literal vision of the natural beauty I saw in the Rocky Mountains. My spiritual vision was a clear picture in my mind of that majestic beauty becoming hidden in clouds of smog. That vision led me on a path the rest of my life of living in a way to avoid the mountains being obscured. There was fear when that vision showed me I could not own a car. How could I do that in a society based on the assumption that most people had cars? Taking that chance led to so many positive things in my life. I’ve written elsewhere about how my running and photography improved, and many occasions where that story helped speak the truth about environmental damage.

The latest leadings related to that vision are about building beloved communities for the climate refugees that will be coming to the Midwest.

https://atomic-temporary-82209146.wpcomstaging.com/2018/02/22/design-and-build-beloved-community-models/

That vision led me to ride in a van full of people I didn’t know to Minneapolis to protect the water. When I learned of the opportunity, the Inner Light said, “do this.”

That vision led me to sign up to participate in the First Nation-Farmer Climate Unity March (below).

Bear Creek Friends Meeting

climate march poster

Posted in Arts, climate change, climate refugees, Uncategorized | Tagged Inner Light, vision | Leave a comment

Climate Change on NBC

Posted on August 4, 2018 by Jeff Kisling

I’ve been frustrated that the mainstream news media has continued to remain silent on climate change, even in the face of record temperatures, massive wildfires, flooding, and changing precipitation patterns.

Finally yesterday NBC’s weatherman Al Roker delivered a lecture on climate change on the Today Show, citing the Meteorological Society’s annual State of the Climate report:

AL ROKER: Hey, good morning, guys. And we’ve seen a lot of climate change going on, and of course, the American Meteorological Society issues a State of the Climate report every year. 2017, we’ve had record-high amounts of carbon dioxide concentration, highest levels in the ice core samples that they take that date back 800,000 years. Carbon dioxide growth at 400% since the 1960s.

Sea level rise, it’s the highest on record for global sea level rise, rising at 1.2 inches per decade, which, of course, causes flooding along the coast.

A warming planet. It’s the warmest non-El Nino year on record, the third warmest year overall. In fact, the last four years have been the warmest on record.

And of course, that leads to melting sea ice. Arctic sea ice is at a maximum record low and the lowest daily value on record. All told, it just shows that we’re seeing more climate change continuing at a rapid pace. https://www.mrctv.org/videos/al-roker-delivers-climate-change-lecture-nbcs-today

Summaries from the State of the Climate Report:

Climate report 2018 events 1

https://www.ametsoc.net/sotc2017/SoC2017_ExecSumm.pdf

Record high temperatures are occurring all over the globe, but are especially being felt in places like North Korea, that has very little air conditioning.

“This week, the North Korean government called record-high temperatures in the country ‘an unprecedented natural disaster’. The official Korea Central News Agency reported Friday that the temperature had reached 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) and that the entire country was now working in a campaign to prevent damage to crops.”

“Since the end of July, many countries in East Asia have been racked by persistently high temperatures. The Japanese city of Kumagaya, 40 miles from Tokyo, on July 23 recorded that nation’s highest-ever temperature, 106 degrees Fahrenheit. South Korea set its own record this week in the southern city of Daegu, which reached 105.7 degrees.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/08/03/with-sweltering-heat-but-little-ac-north-korea-proclaims-an-unprecedented-natural-disaster

Our own power grid infrastructure is fragile. Spikes in demand from air conditioners on hot days have produced brown- and black-outs in the past. There are also reports of the potential for cyber attacks aimed at our power systems. Imagine the consequences of no air conditioning on days with triple digit temperatures.

Posted in climate change, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

A little daring

Posted on August 3, 2018 by Jeff Kisling

I’ve written a little about my disappointment and frustration from the annual sessions of my Yearly Meeting.

Sometimes the Warrior feels as if he were living two lives at once. In one of them he is obliged to do all the things he does not want to do and to fight for ideas in which he does not believe. But there is another life, and he discovers it in his dreams, in his reading, and in his encounters with people who share his ideas. The Warrior allows his two lives to draw near. “There is a bridge that links what I do with what I would like to do,” he thinks. Slowly, his dreams take over his everyday life, and then he realizes that he is ready for the thing he always wanted. Then all that is needed is a little daring, and his two lives become one. Coelho, Paulo. Warrior of the Light: A Manual (p. 90). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.

My initial reaction was trying to decide whether to leave what I do not want to do, to give up on trying to get people to stop using fossil fuel, to get out into diverse communities, to find how we can refuse to accept privilege based upon skin color, to work for peace. Forty years of failure to get a single person to give up their car.

The theme of our Yearly Meeting last year was “Building Bridges.” As a result of connections with two Native women at that time, there were numerous occasions where I was able to build bridges with Native Americans over the past year.

As a Warrior of the Light can I find a bridge for these other disconnects in my life now? Maybe it doesn’t have to be a binary choice of stay or go.

Do I have a little (more) daring?

Posted in Ethical Transportation, peace, Quaker Meetings, race, Uncategorized | 4 Comments

Remember Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Posted on August 2, 2018 by Jeff Kisling

August 6 is the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945. The justification was to bring a swift end to the war in the Pacific, to save lives of soldiers. But it was an atrocity to use the death and destruction of cities filled with men, women, and children to do so.

On August 6, 1945, during World War II (1939-45), an American B-29 bomber dropped the world’s first deployed atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The explosion wiped out 90 percent of the city and immediately killed 80,000 people; tens of thousands more would later die of radiation exposure. Three days later, a second B-29 dropped another A-bomb on Nagasaki, killing an estimated 40,000 people. Japan’s Emperor Hirohito announced his country’s unconditional surrender in World War II in a radio address on August 15, citing the devastating power of “a new and most cruel bomb.” https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/bombing-of-hiroshima-and-Nagasaki

It is disheartening that the current U.S. Republican administration has indicated a willingness to use nuclear weapons, has taunted North Korea, and plans to back out of the agreement with Iran which has inspections in place to monitor their nuclear program.

Peace vigils and remembrances of these tragedies have been held since then in hopes that the attention and prayers may keep this from ever happening again. This Monday, August 6, at 7:00 p.m. the Catholic Peace Ministry is holding such a remembrance at the Japanese Peace and Friendship Bell on the state capitol grounds in Des Moines.

Posted in peace, Uncategorized | Tagged Hiroshima, nuclear weapons | Leave a comment

Hot Air Balloons

Posted on August 2, 2018 by Jeff Kisling

The annual hot air balloon festival is going on now here in Indianola. My Dad used to volunteer at the National Hot Air Balloon Museum.

Sometimes I send photos to the local NBC station. Last night the following two photos were used on the broadcast.

“The hot air balloon is the first successful human-carrying flight technology. The first untethered manned hot air balloon flight was performed by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d’Arlandes on November 21, 1783, in Paris, France,^[1] in a balloon created by the Montgolfier brothers.^[2]” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_air_balloon

The balloons look so graceful as they float through the air.

I was thinking it would be great if there was a way for them to fly without using fossil fuel (hot air balloons use propane burners to created the heat for buoyancy). Then I found there actually are solar balloons.

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Doing vs Talking

Posted on August 1, 2018 by Jeff Kisling

Brad Ogilvie, who I know from my connections to William Penn House, wrote:

“A few years ago, I cut short a trip to Pine Ridge, S.D., so that I could lead a workshop at Baltimore Yearly Meeting annual sessions. The Pine Ridge trip was for William Penn House’s Quaker Workcamp Program that takes place every July: two-weeks of activities related to building for the future and honoring sacred traditions, including preparing for and participating in a Sun Dance ceremony. The workshop that I came back east to lead was about connecting what many of us consider to be our core truth in Quakerism—that there is that of God or the Divine or goodness in all—with our actions. I had come to appreciate that to form a strong link between our beliefs and actions, we sometimes have to step away from our often-partisan advocacy or divisive stances on issues and take time to intentionally practice celebrating the goodness and truth of others.

As I sat in comfortable, air-conditioned rooms while leading this workshop, my mind frequently wandered back to Pine Ridge where, those very same days, people were gathering on a sacred plot of land with no plumbing or permanent structures for four days of sweating, fasting, dancing, praying, serving and supporting each other, and braving the elements of heat, sun, and storms. I was deeply missing it.”

…

“It was this juxtaposition of experiences—leaving an annual ritual of faith that consisted of discomfort, sacrifice, and grace to attend another annual ritual that consisted of sitting in air-conditioned rooms, often focusing on ourselves and rarely experiencing discomfort other than the occasional boredom—that led me to consider the transformational power of certain rituals. Tangentially, I was also conscious of how William Penn set out to create the Peaceable Kingdom. The Pine Ridge workcamp very much reflects how that work is incomplete and on-going, and I personally prefer to be out in the field prayerfully doing things rather than in meetings prayerfully talking about them.”

I admit I am still unsettled by several experiences at Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative) annual sessions last week. But as Brad writes, I also realized I have often felt more spiritually alive and connected during our meetings at the Kheprw Institute (KI) or Black Live Matter events, or Keystone Resistance/Dakota Access pipeline or Poor Peoples Campaign activities, several of which were prayer circles, than I was at Yearly Meeting. In the past some Quakers have indicated these public demonstrations and gatherings merely make you feel good (as in not being worthwhile). But I know these public gatherings make me feel good in a spiritual sense.

Yesterday I wrote about making the growth equation work for you. The first step is to pick an area of my life. Here the area would be spiritual life.

Next reflect where I am and where I want to be. Where I am is frustrated at the lack of (most) Quaker’s engagement with numerous things, like our evolving environmental chaos, white privilege, connections with communities outside the meeting, and materialism. Where I want to be is continued engagement with people and actions that are working to find and work on solutions for environmental chaos, privilege, and connections with diverse communities.

Should I be in a state of stress (challenging myself) or a state of rest? This past year as I adapted to living in Iowa has been a state of rest and reflection. Where I want to be is engaged with diverse communities and environmental activists as I was in Indianapolis (a state of stress).

To align my behavior accordingly I plan to continue to be involved with the Poor People’s Campaign, participate in the First Nation-Farmer Climate Unity March and Prairie Awakening/Prairie Awoke. I would like to participate in the Pine Ridge workcamp, which unfortunately usually occurs during the same time as the annual sessions for Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative). I am feeling more strongly that I want to join the workcamp where I know I would grow.

This is what the growth equation is looking like for me.

Jeff Kisling PPC

water protectors

Kathy Byrnes

Ronnie,Tommy, Gibby, Tony, Tommy, unrecognized, Randy at VSM house

Alvin Sangsuwangul (KI)

Jeff Kisling Indianapolis North Meadow Friends

Posted in #NDAPL, Black Lives, climate change, Indigenous, Keystone Pledge of Resistance, Kheprw Institute, Poor Peoples Campaign, Quaker Meetings, race, Spiritual Warrior, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Make the Growth Equation Work for You

Posted on July 31, 2018 by Jeff Kisling

I recently wrote about the formula for success. At that time I couldn’t find the article I had read about this idea. Now I have found it, and the section on making the growth equation work for you provides these helpful steps:

Make the Growth Equation Work for You

Pick an area of your life.
Reflect on where you currently are and where you want to be.
Think about whether you ought to be in a state of stress—taking on just-manageable challenges—or in a state of rest, recovery, and reflection.
Align your behavior accordingly.
Check in every few weeks, just like you would for any other training program, and evaluate your progress.

Brad Stulberg (@Bstulberg) writes Outside’s Do It Better column and is the author of the book Peak Performance: Elevate Your Game, Avoid Burnout, and Thrive with the New Science of Success.

Bear Creek Friends Meeting

Prairie Awakening

NAACP Environmental Justice

Neighborhood kids in Second Friends garage

White House

Civil disobedience training

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Wanda Knight

Posted on July 30, 2018 by Jeff Kisling

Wanda Knight’s Celebration of Life will be held at Bear Creek Friends Meeting July 31, 2018, at 10:30 am.

Wanda and my Mom grew up together in the Bear Creek community. I’ve heard quite a few stories of those days.

I’m not very good with genealogy, and Wanda thought it was very funny when she learned I had thought of her as my aunt for most of my life. She is actually my cousin. We continued to share that joke after that when I would call her Aunt Wanda.

When I moved to the Village last summer, she always said something welcoming to me when we saw each other at Quaker meeting on Wednesday evenings.