Postmodern dialogue?! While there are many definitions for the word or category ‘postmodern,’ the way I’m employing the term here is in the broad generic sense that ultimate knowledge (truth) escapes us, whether that is because it cannot be known or is helplessly situational; i.e., it’s up to individual perspective(s).

Like other levels of development on the spiral of consciousness (such as warrior, traditional, modern) the postmodern level of consciousness carries its own set of dignities and disasters. What I will attempt to do in this post is mention some ideas I have centered around one of its plusses, even though this simultaneously means the possibility that some will no doubt miss the point and reply with an entire litany of minuses (oh the joy of blogging!). Continue reading…

Though I live in and love the mountains, I try each year to make at least one trip for a getaway to the ocean. This, for me, is the best of both worlds. The Colorado Rockies give me my hiking, deep wooded forests, refreshingly clean and thin mountain air and then – at their pinnacle – the feeling of standing on the top of the world. Theirs is the place of wildlife and plant life – of magnificent sunrises and sunsets. For me, the mountains are the true birthplace of serenity.

But then there’s the ocean. That mighty and massive body of water, never failing to communicate to me just how small I am and how large the Presence that is ‘in’ and yet ‘beyond’ me (and all things!) is. And to think that I can know such a Presence and even be a part of this One’s nature – there’s such power in owning this thought. Continue reading…

No doubt there are some who would read this series of posts and protest that I’m little more than a naïve U.S. citizen who was duped into becoming a mouth-piece for the Palestinian cause. People might claim that I only saw one side of the story, etc. But let me assure you that this was not the case.

This was no site-seeing tour. It was ten days of meetings with both Jewish and Palestinian citizens and government officials. One such group is simply known as ‘the Refuseniks’ – Israeli citizens who refused to serve in the military because of an unwillingness to contribute to the grievances and abuses occurring with regularity within the occupied territories. Their only agenda was peace and justice for all. Continue reading…

In this series on the conflict in the Middle East, specifically in the land known as Israel by some and Palestine by others, one point I have unequivocally stressed is this: The Jewish and Palestinian people are very good people. I don’t, however, feel that way about their respective governments as a whole or certain political officials within them. And honestly, who in the U.S. would not be critical of some of our government’s policies, its penchant for greed, looking out for #1, abuse of power, pork-spending, etc.?!

One of the challenges of writing about the conflict is how to defend the innocent (on both sides) without appearing to be defending everything Jewish or Palestinian. I think everybody gets that, but I notice how some responding to these posts still tend to say things like, “Yes, but there’s guilt on both sides,” etc. Of course there is. But statements like that only serve to cause static in attempts to honestly appraise the situation on behalf of so many good and well-intentioned folks trying to coexist.

And so with that in mind, I would like to share a bit about one of our host families while in the Land, a wonderful Christian Palestinian family who was kind enough to put us up for the night. I’ll simply refer to them as ‘the Smiths.’ Continue reading…

For the ten days I travelled throughout what many refer to as the ‘Holy Land’ (Israel/Palestine) – what I witnessed was anything but holy. It was clear that a full-scale strategy of claiming the occupied and contested territories previously home to the Palestinians was dependent upon the ongoing construction of settlements by the Israeli government.

Everywhere I went I saw large tracts of land that had been or were being developed for the future occupation of Israeli citizens, many of whom are not even presently living within the country to even occupy such properties. These settlements do not consist of a house here or there, a building or supermarket spread throughout, but rather a dense population of tall – think condominiums – buildings, mostly sitting empty, dominating the landscape on which they were built. Continue reading…