War is an Obsolete Way to Settle Differences ~ by Charley Rogers

The need to settle conflicts between countries without war has never been more pressing. Consider a few insights from earlier thought leaders: President Dwight D. Eisenhower: "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed." -- April 16, 1953. Perhaps the most compelling of all wisdom comes from Albert Einstein: "The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything, save our modes of thinking, and we thus drift toward unparalleled catastrophe." -- 1946. Einstein's prophetic insight was reflected recently by these bi-partisan leaders: Henry A. Kissinger, George P. Schultz, William J. Perry and Sam Nunn. They wrote "Reliance on nuclear weapons for deterrence is becoming increasingly hazardous and decreasingly effective" in a Jan. 4 letter to the Wall Street Journal. In it, they proposed setting the goal of a nuclear-free world and appealed for an end to all nuclear weapons. Citing President Reagan's call to abolish nuclear weapons, these opinion leaders recognized they no longer serve a rational purpose and pose a great threat to world security if they are used or fall into the wrong hands. When Einstein spoke of "drifting toward unparalleled catastrophe," he was referring to a gradual escalation of nuclear proliferation to the point of intentionally or accidentally destroying all life on earth. He spoke these words after the first atomic bomb caused the first now-feared mushroom-shaped cloud. More than 60 years later, our world has more than 25,000 nuclear warheads, a power 5,000 times greater than all of the explosives used in World War II, including the atomic bombs detonated over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The word "drift" in Einstein's quote is particularly apropos. We have, over the course of "civilized" history, been introduced to ever-more lethal weapons employed to escalate lethality during conflict. Consider that prehistoric clubs, spears and arrows led to muskets, cannons, dynamite (invented by Alfred Nobel), the Gatling gun and so-called conventional bombs -- the list goes on. Each weapon was designed to obviate enemy combatants, ever-increasing the kill. Still we grow our nuclear capability to face world threats, rendered useless against a new type of combatant: the terrorist. Einstein's drift continues. What we must understand is that war, although not extinct, is no longer useful. Why? Because all wars now risk escalation into nuclear Armageddon. What is urgently required is a new mode of thinking built on these four assumptions: War is obsolete; we are one on this planet, interconnected, sharing one ecosystem; we are one diverse human family; and the means are the ends in the making (not the ends justify the means). So, what can be done by an individual? "We have to be the change we wish to see in the world," Mohandas Gandhi said. There is a way to incorporate this thinking into our individual and collective lives, and it is available to everyone. It is through material created by a centrist, nonpartisan, nonprofit international organization called "Beyond War" that was formed in the early 1980s during the Cold War. Recently revitalized, its profound messages of moving to a world beyond war are rapidly circulating through CDs and DVDs, and in expert presentations. The introductory orientation DVD details the evolution of this new mode of thinking, and explains these personal ramifications that can and should be incorporated in our lives: I will resolve conflict. I will not use violence. I will not preoccupy myself with an enemy. I will maintain an attitude of good will. I will work with others to build a world beyond war. On a larger scale, alternatives to war include diplomacy and nonviolent conflict resolution, appropriate foreign aid, support and adherence to international law, and cooperation and collaboration with other nations. Beyond War seeks to reach a tipping point in our world when enough people see the critical necessity of achieving this vision. Social scientists conclude that when 5 percent of a constituency adopts an idea it is embedded, and when 20 percent adopts the idea, it becomes unstoppable. Each of us, with the help of communications technology, can help accelerate that adoption rate. The hope is that someday we can look back and see that we changed modes of thinking and moved to a safer place: a world beyond war! For more info about these ideas, or to attend or arrange an introductory presentation, contact me or visit www.beyondwar.org. ~Charley Rogers is a retired mechanical engineer who attends Unity Center. He is Henderson county's Beyond War coordinator and volunteers at Mainstay.

Fifty Natural Highs

Falling in love. Laughing so hard your face hurts. A hot shower. No lines at the supermarket. A special glance. Getting a letter in the mail. Taking a drive on a pretty road. Hearing your favorite song on the radio. Lying in bed listening to the rain. Hot towels fresh out of the dryer. A chocolate milkshake (or vanilla or strawberry). A bubble bath by candlelight. Giggling. A vibrant conversation. The beach. Finding a 20-dollar bill in your coat from last winter. Laughing at yourself. Looking into their eyes and knowing they Love you Phone calls that last for hours. Running through a sprinkler. Laughing for no reason at all. Being told that you're beautiful. Laughing at an inside joke with friends. Overhearing someone say something nice about you. Waking up & finding you have another hour left to sleep. Your first kiss (the very first). Making new friends & spending time with old ones. Playing with a new puppy or kitten. Having someone play with your hair. Sweet dreams. Hot chocolate. Road trip with friends. Swinging on swings. Making eye contact with a stranger. Making cookies. Getting homemade cookies in the mail. Holding hands with someone you care about. Running into an old friend and realizing that some things never change. Watching someone's face as they open your present. Watching the sunrise. The first robin & the first daffodil of spring. Knowing somebody misses you. Getting a hug. Blowing the seeds of a dandelion puffball. The stars on a crisp, clear night. Knowing you've done the right thing, no matter what other people think. A kiss from a toddler. The first summer day you jump into the lake (or pool). Fireflies rising on the lawn. Getting out of bed each morning and being grateful for another beautiful day. ~author unknown (from email)

College Musings, "From Inside the Classroom" "The Game," the Journey from A to B ~by Carolyn Ellison

At first, yes the game seemed simple. Cross the abyss from point “A” to point “B”. However as you cross through “the gate” (or what you prefer to call it) your path and rhythm must differ from every single person who has gone before. This game provoked many natural human feelings. I will include examples: Someone already spun across the room. I was going to do that! I felt frustrated. I know. I will walk around the other side of the desk. I felt satisfied with my strategy - happy if you will. What am I going to do next? I felt scared. Technically, if I just walk across in my normal fashion, it would be valid, for no one walks exactly the same as any one else. I felt flummoxed and unsure of my reasoning. This was traditionally a children’s game. Yet, it held quiet lessons to life. You just have to listen. Sometimes you have to listen very carefully. When I say listen, I am referring to the ideas you get in your head as the game progresses. After all, are our ideas not the make up of what lies within us? This includes intuition and critical thinking skills. Ideas and thoughts swim through our minds all day and all night. Ideas make things happen, especially when accompanied with passion and the true conviction of your values. Maybe, instead of sweating so much about what formula of commuting I would perform next, I just did whatever the “heck” I felt like doing. I could have burst into song: “Take a shower, shine your shoes - you’ve got nothing to lose, you are young, you must be living”. I do not think that anyone snapped his or her fingers. The bottom line is that, “it is what you make of it.” There is no wrong way to cross the bridge or to get to point “B”. However if you are going to make this journey, it needs to be for you. Why live a reality you don’t honor or find beauty in? As a human you have the right to question things. Think it over for yourself, make a decision with your own brain, or perhaps settle that there is no black and white answer for you and leave it at that. As long as your actions and things you want to do in life bloom from the roots of your very soul. Not trying to get too serious, but this game is complex! Yet it is utterly simple, simple in the sense that if you live your truth you will be happy with your journey to point “B”. Complex in the sense that finding the truth can take time, experience and lessons learned. I am on my way though. My time on the bridge headed to point “B” so far has been full of ups and downs. However, it is all necessary. A lesson that I have learned recently is to not feed my fears with negative energy, for then I am simply manifesting it. I can feel something ahead and I look forward to it all. Let us see what is to come, and I will cross in a way all my own. ~ Carolyn Grace Ellison, age 20, grew up in Unity and our Y.O.U. She now attends Western Carolina University.

My Life is About... ~by Rev. Pat Jobe

About six months ago, I wrote myself a note which read, “My life is not about my life,” and taped it where I could see it often, every day, several times a day. It only took a few days for me to begin asking, “What the heck does that mean?” The other day I remembered. It’s not about making a life, not about making people say nice things about me at my funeral, not about setting myself apart in some clever and brilliant way so that my children, my wife, my friends will smile and laugh and tell good stories about me. Rather my life is about connection, the ground I walk, the ways in which I mean something to my wife, my children, my friends, the ways in which I am useful. I am not an end, but a means. I am not myself, but rather a relationship: a member, a cousin, a brother, an uncle, a Democrat for goodness sake. I believe it’s important that I interact well with my work, play, environment, land, sky, water, fire, and quit trying to understand who I am to myself. The relating path is full of give and take. The self-absorbed path is full of ego and looking at myself in the mirror. Many of you may be thinking, “What the heck does this mean?” The more I think about it and work with it, the more complex and interesting it becomes, but not necessarily clear. In the midst of my struggle, I heard poet and philosopher John O’Donohue interviewed about his new book, Beauty, The Invisible Embrace. He talked about Meister Eckhardt and the notion that our lives are not the sum of what happens to us, but rather something deep and eternal and untouchable, something utterly beyond the sum of events, something in the middle of our souls. So what I am figuring out, the way a five-year-old figures out kindergarten, is that my life is about something far beyond my days, dreams, thoughts, words and deeds. As I look at the sky, I am as much the sky as I am my eyes looking. "Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.” ~ John Wesley ------------------------------------------------------------------- ~Rev. Pat Jobe is the author of 3 books (365 Ways to Criticize the Preacher, Best of Radio Free Bubba, and In Morgan's Shadow), a radio personality on WNCW's Radio Free Bubba, a singer-songwriter, and a Methodist preacher in Forest City SC. A native Carolinian, he's a committed family man (8 children) and social activist.

Salutation of the Dawn

Look to this Day! For it is Life, the very Life of Life. In its brief course lie all the Verities and Realities of your Existence: The Bliss of Growth, The Glory of Action, The Splendor of Beauty. For Yesterday is but a Dream, And Tomorrow is only a Vision; But Today well-lived makes every Yesterday a Dream of Happiness, And every Tomorrow a Vision of Hope. Look well therefore to this Day! -from the Sanskrit

Sacred Delight ~from The Applause of Heaven by Max Lucado

What type of joy is this? What is this cheerfulness that dares to wink at adversity? What is this bird that sings while it is still dark? What is the source of this peace that defies pain? It is called Sacred Delight ! It is sacred because it is not of the earth. What is sacred is God's. And this joy is God's. It is delight because delight can both satisfy and surprise. Delight is the Bethlehem shepherds dancing a jig outside a cave. Delight is Mary watching God sleep in a feed trough. Delight is white-haired Simeon, who is about to be circumcised, praising God. Delight is Joseph teaching his son and His son how to hold a hammer. Sacred delight is good news coming through the back door of your heart. It's what you'd always dreamed but never expected. It's the too-good-to-be-true coming true. It's having God as your pinch-hitter, your lawyer, your dad, your biggest fan, and your best friend. God on your side, in your heart, out in front, and protecting your back. It's hope where you least expected it: a flower in life's sidewalk. It is sacred because only God can grant it. It is a delight because it thrills. Since it is sacred, it can't be stolen, and since it is delightful, it can't be predicted. It was this gladness that danced through the Red Sea. It was this joy that blew the trumpet at Jericho. It was this secret that made Mary sing. It was this surprise that put the springtime into Easter morning. It is God's gladness. It's sacred delight. It's no casual shift of attitude. It is a demolition of the old structure and a creation of the new. The more radical the change, the greater the joy. And it's worth every effort, for this is the joy of God. Think about God's joy. What can cloud it? What can quench it? What can kill it? Is God ever in a bad mood because of bad weather? Does God get ruffled over long lines or traffic jams? Does God ever refuse to rotate the earth because His feelings got hurt? NO!!!!!... His is a joy which consequences cannot quench. His is a peace which circumstances cannot steal. There is a delicious gladness that comes from God. A holy joy. A sacred delight. And it is within your reach. You are one decision away from Joy.

The Old Barn

A stranger came by the other day with an offer that set me to thinking. He wanted to buy my old barn that sits out by the highway. I told him right off he was crazy. He was a city type, you could tell by his clothes, his car, his hands, and the way he talked. He said he was driving by and saw that beautiful barn sitting out in the tall grass and wanted to know if it was for sale. I told him he had a funny idea of beauty. Sure, it was a handsome building in its day. But then, there's been a lot of winters pass with their snow and ice and howling wind. The summer sun's beat down on that old barn till all the paint's gone, and the wood has turned silver gray. Now the old building leans a good deal, looking kind of tired. Yet, that fellow called it beautiful! That set me to thinking. I walked out to the field and just stood there, gazing at that old barn. The stranger said he planned to use the lumber to line the walls of his den in a new country home he's building down the road. He said you couldn't get paint that beautiful. Only years of standing in the weather, bearing the storms and scorching sun, only that can produce beautiful barn wood. It come to me then. We're a lot like that, you and I. Only it's on the inside that the beauty grows with us. Sure we turn silver gray too...and lean a bit more than we did when we were young and full of sap. But the Good Lord knows what He's doing. And as the years pass He's busy using the hard weather of our lives, the dry spells and the stormy seasons, to do a job of beautifying in our souls that nothing else can produce. And to think how often folks holler because they want life easy! They took the old barn down today and hauled it away to beautify a rich man's house. And I reckon someday you and I'll be hauled off to Heaven to take on whatever chores the Good Lord has for us on the Great Sky Farm. And I suspect we'll be more beautiful then for the seasons we've been through here...and maybe even add a bit of beauty to our Father's house. "The storms of our lives prove the strength of our anchors." ~ author unknown (received in email)

To Be Happy

To be happy...  Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight and height. Let the doctor worry about them. That is why you pay him/her.  Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down. If you really need a grouch, there are probably a few dozen of your relatives to do the job.  Keep learning. Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever. Just never let the brain idle.  Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath. Laugh so much that you can be tracked in the store by your distinctive laughter.  Do not worry about situations beyond your control. God is still on His/Her throne!  The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person who is with us our entire lives, is ourselves.  Surround yourself with what you love, whether it is family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge.  Cherish your health. If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.  Don't take guilt trips. Shoulder only your own responsibilities. Then go to the mall, the next county, a foreign country, but not guilt.  Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity. Remember, Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. ~author unknown (from email)

Back to the Index of Articles

Talk to us or be notified by e-mail when new articles are posted!

Donate Online at: Helping.org  We appreciate every donation! Thanks for your support!

	Unity Center 2041 Old Fanning Bridge Road Fletcher, NC 28732 (828) 684-3798 or 891-8700
~ Thanks for the gift of your attention! ~

Last modified: 2007-06-14
Fight Spam! Click Here!