The Heart of the Matter

In naming a blog, I wanted to find an image that did not commit itself to a political ideology.  So for now I share reflections on 'the heart of the matter.'  A method for civil discourse developed by "The Public Conversations Project" has a basic question of inquiry that asks, "What is the heart of the matter?"  That question, more than any other, invites us to think more deeply about the why of our experience.  It is not the why of justification (why did you do this or think this?) but the why of inquiry (what is at stake for you?).  I was also looking for an image that finally gives no final or correct answer.  A discussion about the heart can only end in the unknown.  We can probe and seek more and more in depth, and that can serve us well.  But at some point we see that there is no bottom.  The inquiry into the depth, into the heart comes up empty every time in the end.  That does not make the quest pointless or a waste of time.  What we discover and recover along the way can be of great value. It is the wonder of our existence.   Human beings have always wanted to go to the heart of the matter.  As discoveries about life are made,  stories are told, songs are sung, symbols are created, all of which can only point to the ever deepening mystery that life is.  Religions spring up out of attempts to put all of these discoveries into a system, something that will give us answers or at least security.  It is not to be. This natural human exercise often reduces our multiple experiences into rituals we can repeat or art we can gaze at.   Much of this creation is beautiful and meaningful as well as seductive. The quest for the heart of the matter often is  reduced to something we can understand or hold on to.  True believers may seek to convince others that the truth has been found but 'the heart of the matter' cannot be captured in a book or a group.  My commitment to sharing in this context is to be guided by both my limited experience and my limited truth.  My life is filled with important stories, songs, drama, ritual and community-building vehicles.  Through them my life has been affirmed and I have received tools that have made the journey of my life significant.  At the same time these very life-giving tools tempt me to narrow life down to something I can handle. I want to proclaim more profound truth than humans are given.  To discover together the significance of each life and our life together is a grand invitation.  It is an ambiguous task. It is the stuff of humility, gratitude and compassion.  That is the heart of the matter.

A Marshall Plan for Dysfunctional Neighborhoods

"The Interrupters" is a documentary from Frontline.  It chronicles the lives of residents living in dysfunctional families, institutions and neighborhoods in Chicago.  Some will say 'you really need to see this.'  I guess so.  It is 'good.'  But I am reacting to it not as more fuel for 'we should be doing something' argument.  I've heard and told this story for the last 50 years beginning in the same Chicago neighborhoods.  And this story is not only about Chicago or cities.  Try our Native communities, too.  The story is about young, middle-aged, and older people, mostly African-American who live their lives in poverty.  But as William Julius Wilson, the sociologist observes, this is a different kind of poverty.  And I find myself frustrated and paralyzed regarding 'solutions.'  This kind of poverty begs the question of simplistic solutions(throwing money at the problem) or targeting blame( pull yourself up by your own bootstraps.)  The polarized camps of those who subscribe to 'self-help' only on the one hand or those who advocate for social programs on the other, does not lead to fruitful dialogue. The resources of these communities have been reduced to money, drugs, guns, and survival tribes.  Safety and security are rare.  Desperation oozes from every encounter.  The mildest of commentary, neighbor to neighbor,  is seen as an attack on self-hood. "Your talking about my cousin." Such a remark produces at best a fist fight, at worst a retaliation ending in severe injury or death.   Is this a judgement?  Yes. In  the sense that every attempt to describe carries within it judgement. Any comment carries with it a note of judgement.  No, it is a description.  This 'wrap-around kind of poverty' has so far eluded all attempts at help.  This poverty reigns even as noble efforts are made to recapture and ignite the human dignity which has been tromped on or gone quiet.   We're talking about decades of isolation.  The dominant (not only) myth of the neighborhood is survival.  These surroundings do not suggest that other opportunities exist.   There are attempts at providing alternatives.  Community does exist through street gangs, churches, families, schools and other programs. But a steady comprehensive community building strategy is lacking.   Individuals are on their own, left to prey on others.  An August 2012 article in the New York Times  about President Obama and the Rosedale community in Chicago describes the President's history in proposing some policies to address these settings.  Now, however, no mention of 'poverty' or the 'poor' shows up in the campaign speeches of either party.  We need a new 'war on poverty' but it needs a name and description that actually describes the reality and does not get lost in superficial solutions from the left or right.   We did the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe.  We keep having successes in outer space.  Every one of us has a stake in finding better alternatives for our citizens caught up in dysfunctional neighborhoods.  Does any party deserve our vote if they are not envisioning some kind of national commitment to framing the situation of the least among us as a priority?  That is the Heart of the Matter.

Time to Begin

"I don't like that tone of voice, mister!"  Not infrequently do I remember my mom warning me that my next disrespectful comment might well be my last.  I wasn't that difficult a kid, but a lack of civility  could creep into our discourse from time to time.  As we continue to find ways to find the path for civil discourse in our many and varied settings, the tone of the conversation bothers me more than my argument with the content.  It seems that honest disagreement about a political candidate or an issue escalates very quickly into nastiness, name calling, and over emotional reactions.  The so-called public discussion resembles a winner take all contest held in an outdoor arena where death is the desire for the pre-decided enemy.  What shall we do? Part of our common vocabulary are phrases like "take a deep breath" or "take a pill."  You hear these when it is clear that someone is on the verge of breaking a blood vessel.  Now is the time to take a step back and consider our common future.  We will not do that without some commitment to our city, country and world.  It appears that few schools teach civics ie. how society functions and the role of responsible citizenship.  And does anyone teach civil behavior?  Yes, I'm talking about the basics like saying 'please' and 'thank you.'  But I'm also talking about having enough regard for other human beings that we 'take a deep breath' and invite those with whom we disagree to sit a table with us for a 'time to reason together." The Heart of the Matter is  to practice creative, curious (learning from someone else, especially one who views things differently) and listening and responding to each new situation.

Being Caught Off Guard

I'm a long time member of the local YMCA.   A 70 or so year old guy named E. is at the main check-in desk most days.  I've known E. for the ten years he has been at the Y.  We enjoy conversation, mostly small talk, but occasionally we share a movie we've seen or travel we've done. He's not a close friend, but he is a friend and is important to me and to others.    He is the first contact one has at the Y so his calm, laid back and caring demeanor gets your workout going on a positive note.  Today he asked me if I had a Kindle.  He said if I did I could read a book he has just written.  What?  I was taken completely off guard.  Not because I don't have a Kindle, but because I didn't quite connect E. with being a writer, much less a novelist.  Even though book writing seems as common as washing the dishes these days, I'm still impressed by those who get published.  I asked him to give me the name of the book as well as his full name.  I only knew him as E.  When I got home I googled his name and came up with nothing.  I figured he had been April fooling me in the middle of August.  He had given me his two initials and a last name I don't think anyone has.   It's the name of a numeral, like three or eight.  E. J. Seven?  You must be kidding.  Just to be thorough I ran the book's name through Amazon and BINGO.  There was his bio and the summary of a 2012 book, a 275 page tale of adventure of an international intrigue kind of character based in New York  and his cat.   I downloaded the kindle content on my MacBook Pro.  I am really excited about getting into it. How much richer my life is with this new understanding of an old friend.  Even more admirable is his humility--he has written scripts for several Broadway productions and acted as well.  He's not a celebrity, probably never was.  He's better. He's a part-time employee at the Y who politely makes sure everyone has a good day because of his hospitality.   Somehow that strikes me as the 'Heart of the Matter.'  Do you have a Kindle? The book is called, "Aldo's Dream" by E.L. Six.

A Poisonous Situation

A news headline today described the current U.S. election campaign as 'poisonous.'  Do any of us want to live in that kind of toxicity? The film 'Coriolanus' featuring Ralph Fiennes and Vanessa Redgrave stirs the soul with Shakespeare's genius presented in a contemporary setting. The disdain that Coriolanus has for the people resembles  not only the class divisions of society but the cultural wars.  He is a self-made hero dependent on no one, neither their praise or condemnation will defeat him. His oversimplified warrior mentality is only challenged by his devotion to his ambitious mother.  The crowds are fickle and win no sympathy either.  They have no solutions, only a desire to vent their frustration.  Their support depends primarily on emotion and their victimization. When we cannot relate to our situation in any creative way, we poison our lives.  It raises the question of our representative democracy.  Are we in this together or do we all only desire things on our own terms?  Our political races are about far more than electing the candidate who pleases us the most.  Is that the 'Heart of the Matter?'

Motivation

Graham Greene's novel "The Heart of the Matter" looks at the human condition in a primal sort of way.  He has great insight into how we function when we run into our limits.  Do we try to create ways to withstand those difficulties?  Or  do we find excuses and blame the conditions that trap us rather than admitting that we have little control over what happens to us and move forward with a  'nevertheless?'  He thinks some people understandably stop trusting that things will change--that grief, despair, and oppression will always dominate our lives.   Greene writes of a kind of 'happiness' that breaks into life from time to time.  His happiness is a blink in time and quickly passes, passing quickly away, unknown  if not acknowledged immediately. These 'happiness' moments happen too seldom and only last a nano second, so it is important to be aware and looking for it. It may come right now for instance not for hours, days or weeks.   We cannot force this moment to happen, but we can recognize, elevate it and even find sustenance from these brief glimpses that can move us to our next responsibility, to grasp our identity, and to celebrate life when no one else understands what we're up to.  In his novel, "The Power and the Glory", this becomes the pattern for his 'whisky priest', an ongoing redemption that resembles condemnation.  No, it's not rational.  It's trust.  Greene seems to suggest that as the 'Heart of the Matter.'

The name of these musings is "Heart of the Matter." My involvement in concerns of citizenship from the neighborhood to international level will shape these posts.  It will tend to be serendipitous, triggered by events of the day and the experiences I am having.  Moving from the mundane out or perhaps down is the 'Heart of the Matter." (HOTM).