Taxes

Taxes pay for roads, sewers, schools, hospitals, etc.. Government is required to administer tax funds. I know this sounds simplistic, but I hear less than simplistic protests against government and taxes every day in the media. If you walk around your closest city, as I do daily, you will see rusted bridges, potholes, cracked sidewalks, weedy parks. If you ride a mass transit system, as I do several times a week, you will see vandalized cars, torn seats and filthy floors. I am sure the interior of many public schools are plagued with similar issues.

Life in a civilized society requires citizen participation. Too few citizens vote. Even fewer actually contribute time to their local city or town government. Crimes are observed and unreported daily. People treat the public space like a trash can. I speculate that many of the people who scream against taxation of any kind exhibit the least responsible behavior in the public sphere.

President Obama is being targeted by Republicans and some Democrats, newly won over to the Right, for trying to return some fairness to the tax system. Imagine. A President of the United States is standing up for a vast majority of Americans who are not wealthy by requiring those who hold an inordinate amount of the wealth to pay their fair share of taxes. The media, largely in the hands of corporate control, pretend to present the situation as a matter of opinion and debate.

Lack of government funds to maintain infrastructure is not debatable. It is disaster in the making. Poor schools propagate crime, proverty and violence. Poor roads endanger lives and inhibit commerce. Low city treasuries threaten public safety by gutting police and fire department budgets.

It will never be a "good time" for the wealthy to pay more taxes. People don't get wealthy by giving their money away. Wealthy people give money away to avoid paying taxes.

I wait to hear the voices of the wealthy who claim to be in favor of a civilized and humane society here in the U.S.. I do not hear them yet. I do not hear Bill Gates stomping the country with speeches in support to increased taxes for the wealthy. I do not hear Mayor Bloomberg shouting for increased taxes on Wall Street executives. I do not hear the voices of all those corporate donors who supported President Obama's election.

I'm listening, but I have little confidence that those who have will come forward for those who have not.

Labor

The sharp distinction between volunteer labor and labor for wages in our society is symptomatic of the baseline injustice in many workplaces. I believe this is a vestige of sexism in part. Women's domestic work, historically unpaid, was seen as unskilled, despite the great skills it required. This was part of the subjugation of women by men, who elevated their role as wage earners in order to rule society and have their own privileges in and out of the home.

We are moving away from patriarchy in the U.S.. With this, the sharp lines between labor for wages and other forms of valuable social labor are blurring somewhat. Unfortunately, capitalist exploiters are using this process to extract free labor from intelligent and talented people who are forced to compete with each other in a job-poor economy. Educated young people from privileged backgrounds are able to pay for internships in lucrative fields of endeavor, while equally talented and less affluent candidates are forced to apply for jobs unworthy of their abilities.

Corporations, motivated by profits, not social good, are downsizing by using technology to eliminate the need for human labor. They have left the job of retraining redundant employees to government, while knee-capping government by buying political action in Washington to gut corporate tax policy and increase corporate welfare. The response of the corporatist to the laid-off workers is "Become entrepreneurs!" This has the hollow, cynical ring of Marie Antoinette's quip about cake in lieu of bread. It can be translated as : Go exploit others as we've exploited you.

The difference between a materialist and a humanist in the work place is simple. The materialist works at whatever it takes to finance his pleasure or greed. The humanist works to earn an ethical living and to contribute to human society with the fruits of his/her labor. In a materialist society, where much of what is produced is not socially valuable or ethically based, many humanists turn to volunteer labor to satisfy their desire to improve society with their labor.

The current collapse of oil's domination and perversion of the world economy may well be a breakthrough in this paradigm. There is an opportunity for humanists to explore many more options for their talents. The green economy may well become a largely humanist labor and entrepreneurial movement. However, the powers of materialistic capitalism with fight for the greater part of the green economy or will try to sabotage its development altogether.

Organized labor in America has been lacking in the promotion green development. It has aligned itself with the oil economy. It has aligned itself with Wall Street and corrupted government. It has generally betrayed its mission to bring justice and human values to the work place.

Embracing the daily work of humanist idealism and practice in any field is always challenging, often isolating but very rewarding. By focusing on the quality of his/her labor and its value to society, the humanist inevitably shines as a valued member of any work force. While the path of the humanist may not lead to exorbitant profits, it does lead to a great wealth of personal growth and happiness.

Entitlement

An entitlement is a just claim or right, usually granted by some authority to an individual. Entitlement may also refer to a personal attitude. This usage is common in therapeutic circles.

The attitude of entitlement is seen as an unconscious, narcissistic sense of being owed a certain deference without any rational basis for that belief. It is often a defense against self-loathing, but it can be the result of poor socialization or poor parenting. Part of healthy human development is the achievement of an understanding of the basic worth and commonality of all human beings. Added to that understanding, a rational, socialized human being realizes that respect and consideration are earned by respectful behavior and responsible action. The entitled person, in the psychotherapeutic sense, enters human interactions and social situations with a demanding or emotionally needy attitude which has no real or socially accepted basis in objective reality.

In the current American political landscape, legal entitlements, such as social security and unemployment benefits, are decried by The Right as frivolous waste of public funds. Their adamant railing against these social benefits imply that the recipients are milking the public treasury unnecessarily and unjustly. Ironically, this reflects an attitudinal entitlement in the holders of these views, who are often fortunate to be wealthy enough, while holding these opinions, to not need the benefits themselves. They feel entitled to live in a safe and comfortable society without paying for the social infrastructure that creates the conditions they obviously take for granted.

The iPhone and Blackberry seem to enforce this sense of general impatience and entitlement. Mesmerized by the power of a portable, compliant slave, which offers up demanded information with the flick of a thumb or finger, people could tend to be less patient with human servers and coworkers, whose clocking times tend to be less immediate and require a certain amount of social prompting to get the best result. Having slaves of any kind, historically, has bred the worst form of entitlement in their masters.

The culture of "we are all special" has contributed to entitlement in many who are not special and who are perhaps are not even average. This is the entitlement of the bling-encrusted felon, now a rapper, whose knowledge or understanding of the human condition is minimal. However, this individual strides from talk show to talk show and dispenses the wisdom of the ignorant with great hubris. The echo effect of this media barrage breeds entitlement in similar listeners, who feel themselves ordained by their rough-shod role model.

The pathological attitude of entitlement, in my opinion, is a reflection of the inequality and lack of education in society. I believe the most basic human entitlement, in a legal or ethical sense, is the birthright to a safe, well-nourished, properly housed, maximally educated and justly employed life span from cradle to grave. Who would be responsible for granting this birthright or entitlement? The state? No. I believe it is the responsibility of every person who brings a child into this world to provide this basic birthright to each and every child.

"It takes a village to raise a child!" I hear the frequent refrain. Yes, I agree. Just as no one of us has the ability to build a television set, a car or an iPhone, no one person has all the tools to provide that basic birthright to a child from cradle to grave. However, this does not excuse propagating the mindless reproduction by those who have absolutely none of the tools to provide that basic human birthright. Nor does it justify Tea Party or Libertarian rantings about denying any social benefits paid for by tax money.

The best treatment for pathological entitlement is the provision of the basic legal entitlement of universal rights to a quality lifespan to each and every human being who is born. This cannot be attended to exclusively with legislation or religious doctrine. Experiments in enforcing these ideals from the top down have failed miserably. This must come from educated and properly socialized individuals who decide to procreate and participate in a just society. The way to that ideal is not every-man-for-himself, the populist battle cry in America, covertly funded by corporate dollars.

The current humanist movement for universal human rights worldwide is an important first step to providing the most basic human justice for all human beings on the planet. Until all human beings are entitled to a quality life from cradle to grave, the plagues of war, greed and injustice will flourish.

Nonsense

So much of what keeps us from being in the moment and being happy is simply nonsense. From childhood, we are conditioned to adopt our cultural and familial norms. Layer upon layer of nonsense from the past of our families and the past of our environment gets wrapped around our brains. And, our brains operate through the filter of those layers of nonsense, unless we liberate ourselves.

Liberation, or awakening, doesn't just happen. Facing the nonsense in your mind requires work.

The work for some entails therapy. Others find liberation through sports or yoga. Some find it through meditation and study. The path to liberation is not a dead end. There is no Eden waiting for the liberated, no cozy cul-de-sac. Liberation, or awakening, is the beginning of a new open life. Liberation itself becomes a never ending process of self-challenge and renewal.

Like growing older, liberation isn't for the weak-hearted. To be in the moment requires strength and courage. To embrace the impermanence of all things requires the acknowledgment of one's own impermanence. I believe this can become part of a daily consciousness, which promotes ongoing liberation and personal evolution. Simply put, this consciousness entails challenging everything that comes to the mind against a standard of justice, truth and compassion.

Moving

Those who awaken

Never rest in one place.

Like swans, they rise
And leave the lake.

On the air they rise
And fly an invisible course,

Gathering nothing, storing nothing.

Their food is knowledge.

They live upon emptiness.

They have seen how to break free.

---The Dhammapada, Canto VII, The Master,

Shambhala Pocket Classics Edition, 1976

My propensity for moving house frequently is a matter of endless amusement among my friends and family. I have moved about 30 times in the past 40 years. As a single man in an urban setting with a job which paid a moderate salary for most of my career, I often moved out of economic necessity. Rent increases motivated me to look for more affordable digs. Sometimes I moved for environmental reasons: Noise, rough neighbors, homophobia, bad plumbing, sparking electrical systems. These various factors threatened my serenity and/or my person. Since I value both, I moved.

After certain events prompted my early retirement from nursing, I utilized my moving skills and my real estate skills to secure better housing and some financial security simultaneously. Not an avid capitalist, I was not a flipper for the thrill. I turned over property in which I lived to achieve peace with myself as well as some financial independence.

I am now moving again. Having placed my house under agreement, I have taken an apartment in a location that suits my current aspirations and relationships. I have been fortunate that my pursuits have placed me in the hands of a responsible and personable property owner. And, I feel this move has advanced my inner journey to be at one with myself so I may continue to try to become the human being I would like to be through my humanist practice.

A substantial part of the beauty for me of this move lies in the realization that the people who are purchasing my house are experiencing an advancement in their life journeys as well, from what I have been told. To achieve a sense of harmony between commerce and humanism in my life is important to me. While I have always held to a personal code of ethics in business, I have not always felt harmonious in the process of buying and selling. So many who buy and sell are obsessed with winning. And, where there is a winner, there is a loser. I have been in both roles, and I have not found much sustainable happiness in either.

I find now that I am able to see the role of consumer and the role of vendor as potentially cooperative, as opposed to competitive. This is rather antithetic to modern capitalism in the U.S.. I don't care. I relish being an odd ball in most things.

So, I intend to keep moving. My grandfather often said, "Stay where you are; keep moving." I believe he meant internal movement was more important than changing the external or circumstantial. He lived in the same apartment for decades. I am learning to cherish moving in itself, internally and circumstantially. It just seems to agree with me.

Coal

The recent mining disasters in China and the U.S. reveal the underbelly of the petro-chemical economy, which drives the prosperity of the few at the expense of the many. Coal itself has no conscience. Nor is it necessarily a toxic material. It is a precious natural resource.

Coal mining, still carried on by poor, undereducated men and women from the underclasses at great personal health and safety risk, is currently an industry of profiteering and raping of the planet for financial gain by the owners of the industry. Mine disasters are caused primarily by faulty techniques and poor safety measures, even by the current low-technology standards of the industry. Mine operators try to ignore anything that interrupts profitable production. The miners pay the price with their bodies and their lives.

Coal could be extracted and burned for energy with minimal risk to human life and ecological damage. However, the vast number of consumers, who are just getting by in the uneven economy of most countries, would not bear the price without political protest. And, this political protest may just bring about more justice in elections, justice in the work place and justice in the tax codes. Profits for the exploiters would evaporate. Politicians would no longer get their cut.

West Virginia was one of the locales of the most ardent protests against health care reform. One might say the population deserves what it gets by bowing to the interests and propaganda of the mine owners. However, that population has been deprived of proper education and financial resources for nearly two centuries under the bully rule of the coal industry, aided and abetted by Washington, D.C..

Coal is indeed a fossil fuel, as its production is a fossil of a harsh and unequal age of human exploitation of mankind and the planet.

Lifestyle

The word "choice" has become imbued with connotations of individualism by its constant use in reference to reproductive rights of women. However, I see choice as the key element of humanist practice, or humanist lifestyle.

"Paper or plastic?" This question, slowly becoming obsolete with the advent of pay-per-bag policies in food stores, is a good example of choice in a materialistic, consumer-driven society. It is a trick question for the humanist, in my opinion. The mindful humanist answer would be "Neither, I have my canvas bag, thank you." This mindful, practical humanist would have made the choice to bring his reusable bag, in other words. And, if he forgets to make that choice, he could choose either option as long as he recycles whichever bag he chooses. In other words, all choices aren't necessarily polar, dichotomous or rigid.

These minor daily lifestyle choices comprise what I call my humanist practice. I have been inspired to make the connection between lifestyle and practice after being accused recently on several occasions of incorrectly using the term "humanist" in reference to these lifestyle choices. The accusers were quite obviously offended by my use of the word "practice". Inferences were made that I might well be a closeted Catholic or Buddhist. In other words, choosing an ethical lifestyle and associating it with my sense of humanism apparently offended them as self-identified Humanists, with the capital H.

Living in any closet or behind any banner is alien to me. At first, these challenges confused me. After all, I hadn't prescribed my particular humanist lifestyle for these Humanists. I did choose to tell them what my humanist lifestyle entails. I did sit and hoped to hear what their Humanist lifestyles entail. I am still listening, but, frankly, I haven't heard much from these particular Humanists about their Humanist choices in daily life.

So, I wonder, is the new Humanism just another coffee-social opportunity for those who wish to gingerly approach humanist action for the betterment of the species and the planet, as long as it is not inconvenient or costly? After all, that is also a choice of lifestyle. Any movement ultimately reflects those who shape it and maintain it. Humanism, as a growing social, ethical movement, will reflect the choices and lifestyles/practices of those who support it.

For my part, as someone who has consciously tried to live a personal humanism in work and relationships throughout my adult life, participation in the activities of the current Humanist movement is simply an extension of my humanist lifestyle. However, I am beginning to question whether many in the new Humanist movement are simply joining another club for networking or social gratification without making a personal, daily commitment to advocating for and working for the ideals of universal human rights, universal human education, universal human health care, universal human economic justice.

Yes, my ideals are lofty. If ideals aren't lofty, then what's the point of having them? I am an older man with a lot of mileage and wear. But, I cannot see the worth of any ethical movement in the current world we humans have made which does not actively address the growing problems and inequities which will develop with ecological deterioration and overpopulation, caused by the human species.

This activism begins with individual, moment-by-moment commitment to mindful, just and compassionate choice. I call this my humanist practice, or my humanist lifestyle, if you wish. What do you call the process of your daily choices?