[Dialogue] {Disarmed} Re: Secondary Ethics
KroegerD at aol.com
KroegerD at aol.com
Wed Aug 22 18:23:34 EDT 2007
Here is a link to the subject not from the spirit movement.
_http://ezinearticles.com/?A-Model-of-Ethics-for-Womens-Development&id=654252_
(http://ezinearticles.com/?A-Model-of-Ethics-for-Womens-Development&id=654252)
On golden pathways a google search delivered only a speech by Mathews in
Korea. ( below )
good luck with that!!
In my words, secondary integrity means doing whatever is necessary, telling
story ( even if it is totally untrue) in order to ger 'er done. In my
opinion, it was our movement's most serious perversion, and ultimately did in the
spirit movement as an organization.
Dick Kroeger
Global Priors Council
Chicago
7/27/77
PROFOUND HUMANNESS: INTEGRITY
A fine 1ine has been drawn in our time. In some ways it has been drawn in
the last two years. That line has lifted a haze that has been across our eyes
so we can now see exactly where we have to stick our lives. That is a global
experience of man. The integrity of profound humanness can be talked about
because this whole year it has been coming to you. All you have to do to get at
that is to remember the reports that have been made in these last several
days and the kind of work we did here. It has also become secondhand knowledge
to people that integrity is not what we used to say it is not, i.e. rules,
some kind of quality or merit you might have, or values or principles. People
know that. They know that no one has integrity. I suspect that all you have to
do is look around the room to see that that is true as well. Watergate was a
global phenomena. It had to do with integrity. Nobody has integrity.
There is only one kind of integrity, and we have banged our heads on that
for a long time. We called it secondary integrity at one point. It's the
integrity that is not you, but you are of it. This integrity that is profound
humanness is a tent. You go and live in that tent and you feel like a human
being. You are a human being. If you go outside that tent, you are a man­dog
or a woman­cow. I think this year most of us have met strangers that lived
in the tent. You worked with them like you knew them all your life and you
did miracles with them. There were other people that you woke up in a Town
Meeting or a Social Demonstration, and they came over to you. They wanted to
know what this was. They didn't hum and haw around it. They came right out and
said, "What is your secret? How do you keep going? How do you live like this?"
They wanted to know. In the past when people came to us with a question, we
used to give them a long context. It covered the whole of history. You hoped
that somewhere in the whole thing, they would pick something up. You don't
have that kind of time anymore. You really have to give sort of an
answer-unanswer. I believe this is really what we have been starting to work on here. Some
time along the way we will come out with the "Sayings of Profound Humanness"
that you just say and people understand.
There was a fellow named St. Augustine who tried that out. He once said,
"You love God and do what you please." That's an answer­ unanswer that
allows you to take in a whole lot at once. We know enough about theology and
temporality to know that we have got to do that job ourselves and say for our own
time what that is. That leaves us with the question: "How do I be a human
being? How do I be a person of integrity?" We all have to find a way to get our
insides out. That is, to get inside profound humanness and know that you are
also issuing a call for people to step across this line in our time. This
line that has been drawn is a line that represents the cry for economic justice
-- the line of 15% and 85%. It's the seven revolutions that are stumbling
along.
Integrity as profound humanness is keeping your own conscience. You really
can't say much more than that. That's about all there is to say. Behind that,
there's a whole lot. There is an awakenment when you found out that you are
going to die and you are headed for death. You only have one life to live and
you have decided to straighten up and live it right. You find out that there
is criticism in life and some think this and some that. You began to shape
your life that way, and it became a ping-pong game and you were the ball. You
close that game down. Then, you decided what you wanted to do. You created a
private conscience. What you found is that you'd turned your life over to your
appetites or some abstract goal or principles. Then came along a moment in
your life. We have been through this one over and over again. Sometimes it is
not the moment; it is remembering the moment. I've been struck this year at
how many people in the course of a conversation would say that this human
occurrence I know when I was four, five, six, seven years old; it wasn't something
that came, necessarily, late in life. It comes over and over again.
Hammarskjold has a tremendous piece of writing in his book, Markings, about this. He
says this:
You told yourself you would accept the decision of fate, but you lost your
nerve when you discovered what this world required of you. Then you realized
how attached you still were to the world which has made you what you were,
which you would now have to leave behind. It felt like an amputation; a little
death. And you even listened to those voices which insinuated that you were
deceiving yourself out of ambition. You'll have to give up everything. Why,
then, weep at this little death? Take it to you quickly; with a smile die this
death and become free to go further - and with your task, whole in your duty
of the moment.
Whatever this is that stirs that moment in you is what you keep, what you
watch over and take care of and be careful about. This is what leads you to
being a human being. You start keeping it just a little and you know what
happens. Everything inside you gets torn up and you fall into a perpetual state of
self-criticism. While outside, the haze of life gets lifted and you begin to
see things with particular specificity. This "keeping your own conscience"
belongs you to humanness. It's your ticket to the task. It's the only way,
finally that you have of seeing what you are doing is real. There is a story
about an old man who had two sons and he told them something to do. You remember
one of them said, "No, he wouldn't do it," and then he went off and did it.
The other son said he would do it and then he didn't go do it. Now, the man
who said no had this happen to him in the middle of his life and he took care
of his conscience. When that jarring came, he knew what he had to do and he
went and did it.
There is more to this. Integrity as profound humanness is hitting the moral
issue of our time. This line is drawn across our moment. On one side is the
big haze. The big haze is everything I ever wanted. Everything I ever wanted
is so much that it is a big haze that I can't figure out. On the other side is
this 15%­85%. And the way I have begun to write it is the poor. It's the
poor of spirit, the poor of body, the poor of mind. It's the humankind that
suffers. When you see that, you see that the issue of which side you are
going to be on or which is better or which is more loved than the other is not a
question any more. It's not a question anymore. That has already been dealt
with. The only question that you've got is, "Where are you going to put both
feet?"
We've tried it all. We've tried putting one foot on one side and one foot on
the other and both in both. By doing that, you found out certain things. You
found out that whenever you keep your conscience just a little, and you care
about it, somewhere, somehow there's a power that comes. You've seen
yourselves and you've seen others do miracles. Do one hundred Town Meetings in a
single bound. Raise up seven buildings with the speed of a bullet. It's hard to
get a hold of it, hard to understand it. After that, people have come up and
said to you that the course of the community is changed, that this place will
never be the same again. When that's occurred, you've sensed (That's not a
strong enough word.) the load of history has come to you as your life. You've
also known that as soon as you put aside this taking care of your conscience,
you pour cold water on it. You forget it. You don't tend it. You don't care
for it. It starts off something like this: you say to yourself, "Now the
reason I did this . . . or the reason I'm going to do something else." You learn
fast that the failure mentality, the despair, negativism, cynicism, fillyism
or whatever else you want to add to that list is rooted in a refusal to keep
your own conscience. When you get both feet on the other side of that line
(You keep your conscience just a little.) things start getting clear. You see
the human suffering of the world. It's not just seeing. It penetrates your
being. You are profoundly addressed by how much there is to do. You go out into
a village and you know that all around this village, the same thing exists.
And beyond those villages, there's more and more. And you enter into the
suffering of the world. The issue you face isn't how little or how much you can
get done, how effective or ineffective in one sense, that you are. It's
"There's a lot of work to do; let's get to doing it." I think you step across and
call your shot and carry it through, or you join the reactionary un-society
that's passing away at that point.
You've all been given answers to how we got sustained this year, or what
sustained us as a body. I think mine would go something like this: We got
sustained as a body because we lived out of and we lived off of the suffering of
humankind. We saw through a village or Town Meeting that there was another and
another and another. The preoccupation that came over us was, "Let's get this
one done so we can get to the next one, so we can get to the next one." You
don't notice at that time, but I believe that that's the point where
integrity begins to raise its tent over your head and you don't know it. I believe
where you wake up to integrity, you wake up to integrity shadowing you. It's at
the point of this business of constituting a new image of humanness. That
would be another way I'd say, "Integrity as profound humanness is constituting
the new image of humanness." That's sort of like this training thing we've
been saying to ourselves. Somebody comes to a project and says they want to get
trained. They bug you, and all you can think to say is, "Would you get that
chain over there? Put it in the car. We've got to get the truck out of the
ditch." And they show up again wanting to get trained and you have them going
after other chains. A few weeks later they come up and you notice that they
are trained. They're leading a group. They're doing things. They're building
models. All this time you've been worrying about how in the world you'd get
them off to an ITI and things like that. I think integrity is a little bit like
that.
The locus of integrity for a moment is in constituting the new image of
humanness. The key that we've all come to know about is this business of
nobodies. A "nobody" is anybody who's going so fast he doesn't have time to be
somebody. There is a global command. It's like the rule of the Order. It is not
written, but you know for sure when you're around it. It's doing this global
command . . . not your project, not your Town Meeting, but this global command,
or not even your business, if you're a businessman. It's doing this global
command that allows a person to be a nobody. Blame and praise don't count much
for motivity at that point. It's getting this global command actuated that
becomes motivating. Or a way someone else said to me, "It's really exciting
now."
Winning is doing it all at once. This gradualism and doing it one at a time
belongs on the other side of that line. Winning is doing it all at once,
doing what you say, delivering, living out beyond the border where no one else
can go. Several of you commented that you go into offices where people are
supposed to be caring for places, and the one remark they make is, "I don't know
how you guys go out there and live in that village and do that kind of
thing." You know that that guy's got an address on his life to deal with, and
things have begun to happen. It's going like a freight train, never slowing down.
Then when the awards are being passed out, you beat the Lone Ranger because
you're not even there to say, "Hi ho Silver." You're off doing the next one.
You really don't feel much like integrity, I must confess. In fact, you don't
feel like you've done very much. You certainly don't feel like you've gotten
through. You feel like there's just more to be done.
You know, sometimes you hear a word that comes to you that the village
drunk, who always hung around the office and caused trouble, got out of his bed
the other day. He had the flu. It began to rain and through his laryngitis he
cussed out the whole village and got them to finish the wall in the rain. You
know something happened out of that.
Or you get one of those invitations to go to dinner from some patron who has
just given you a gift. I always worry whenever somebody does that, or when
I'm the one who has to go. He fattens you up, you know. Then he kills you with
praises about how tremendous you are and all the things you've done. You
know what's coming. Then, things get quiet and the martinis go by for a while.
You see that he's hiding behind a lampshade a little bit. He says in a very
quiet voice, "I've always wanted to do what you're doing." Then he asks you if
you want to have another martini and you're glad to get out of there and go
about your business. (You learn a little bit about development guys. They
either have got to be great priests, or they get burnt up in a hurry.) You hear
later about this guy. He starts sending you things you didn't ask for. And
he's getting you out of trouble you didn't even know you were in. Some people
say he's gone a little nuts. He's gone beyond what a businessman can do and
lost his objectivity. He's getting other people to come and see. Then you hear
that other businessmen are joining him in this. I get a little scared and I
tremble a little bit. What kind of power is getting loose here that would
create that? It's about that time you begin to look up into your colleagues and
see this integrity showing all over their faces. That gets you a little scared,
too.
All of this is really contained in this last one. Integrity as profound
humanness is creating new community. That's really what it's all about. It comes
down to this; hitting the moral issue, keeping your conscience, constituting
the new image of humanness. It's all tied to making a new picture of what a
village looks like, when you picture what an inner city looks like, or what a
town looks like.
A long time ago we said that the center of civilization in our time is the
cities. It's an urban world, and that's bothered us a little bit about going
to the country. Well, you see, Bombay doesn't know how to build an urban city
until the villages of Maharashtra give it a picture of what it looks like to
be a human village. Finally, all of that is Bombay, Chicago, and London don't
know what it is to build a human city until the inner city gives them a
picture of what a human city looks like.
It doesn't work the other way in our time. It comes from the ground up. It's
the arisement of local man. It's the only place you get clear about what
humanness is. The new neighborliness, the stakes, the new economic functions,
the guilds, this global band -- we don't really know yet what we've got on our
hands there. All these pictures have got to get delivered up to where people
can see them in order for anybody to begin to be human.
You step back a little bit and you look at all these faces. You see all the
faces of the villagers and people in Town Meetings. You see all those picture
books that "Life" and other magazines used to put out -- all those faces.
They're human faces. What you know is that they live like man-dogs and like
woman­cows. In those faces (They're our faces, too.) there is a beckoning to
come and tell. They want to be told. They know it, but they've got to be
told in order to know it, just like us. We've always got to be told what we know
in order for us to know it. And that's not enough. They've got to see it.
Everybody in our time knows that this is what life is about in our day. People
have got to go and somebody has got to go and tell and show in order for any
kind of humanness to happen. Some people say that labor is dehumanizing (or
that some kind of labor is dehumanizing), or that there is something else that
is dehumanizing. I want to venture to say that labor and something is never
dehumanizing to anybody. When you stop to tell them and you stop to show them
that, then everything that is dehumanizes you.
The integrity we've experienced is really these walls. When you look over
here and over there, you know about the presence of integrity, and about this
presence of integrity. I think that's why we feel like human beings. It's
strange because this is really not what we've done. Though you know, we've done
it. Like Oklahoma 100, somebody said that it took half the Order and the whole
state of Oklahoma to do it. If you think that's bad, it's embarrassing to
tell you about Kwangyung I1. It took the Navy. It took two acceleration teams.
It took the guardians. It took the whole village. Finally, it took all of
Korea to do that. I imagine we could share some stories around the room about
what it took. That tells us something.
Integrity as profound humanness is finally a social reality. You don't get
to participate in that save you bring the whole show within the tent. I'm
looking forward to the day -- and maybe before I get to the grave, I'll see it or
hear it -- people are going to say, "Now that is a community of integrity."
They're going to say something like, "Now, there goes a man of integrity. He's
from Maliwada." That's how you know he's a man of integrity. They'll say
that because they know that they can see it. Integrity is like a fast freight
train that's going by them. They know that they, too, can get on it.
Joseph W. Mathews
In a message dated 8/22/2007 3:39:05 P.M. Central Daylight Time,
tjmorrison at earthlink.net writes:
Hi Everybody,
I recall a Movement/Order conversation in the late 1960s or early 1970s
concerning the topic: Primary Ethics and Secondary Ethics.
Looked through my papers, notes and scribbles and came up w/ empty hands.
Information on the topic would be appreciated. TKU.
Tom
-----Original Message-----
From: Janice Ulangca
Sent: Aug 21, 2007 8:10 PM
To: Colleague Dialogue
Subject: Re: [Dialogue] Reports on Ruth Reames medical recovery-August 7
through 18 '07
Thank you, Jim. This is such a complete and caring account. I'll send her
a note - she's meant a lot to me also. I'm very grateful for the support of
all of you there - it's got to give all possible energy to healing.
Janice Ulangca
----- Original Message -----
From: _J & O Slotta_ (mailto:slottaglobalnews at earthlink.net)
To: _Colleague Dialogue_ (mailto:Dialogue at wedgeblade.net) ; _Order
Community_ (mailto:OE at wedgeblade.net)
Sent: Tuesday, August 21, 2007 6:36 PM
Subject: [Dialogue] Reports on Ruth Reames medical recovery-August 7 through
18 '07
=================================================
TUESDAY AUGUST 21 FROM JIM SLOTTA
Dear ICA and Order Ecumenical Colleagues,
We in Denver are rallying around our dear colleague, Ruth Reames, who has
begun a journey of recovery from a stroke she encountered Tuesday, August 7.
How it has gone this long without being included in the listserve conversations
is a reflection, I guess, on the steep "Doing" curve where we in Denver have
placed ourselves. We are placed there in large part by Ruth's own active,
supportive involvement. In fact, an event organized by Ruth was almost
cancelled soon after (we) realized she would be unable to participate; then, after
seeing the error of our ways, the event was held with a record number of
participants.
I decided to take some time to summarize email reports of the recent
hospitalization of dear Ruth. All of us who know Ruth will be pulling for her
recovery, which is well underway.
Her two sons have been here to visit and have returned to their homes for
the time being. For son Seth, that means returning to Japan to join his wife
and Ruth's grandchild. Many of you will recall that Ruth and her husband,
Mark, were Methodist Missionaries in Japan for some 25 years, relating closely to
the ICA work going on there. We in Denver have been fortunate to initially
count Ruth and Mark--and to now count Ruth--as our colleague.
These emails, with some slight editing, are presented chronologically, and
reflect not only the progress she is making, but the great support she is
receiving.
She is currently at:
St. Anthony Hospital
Room 540
4231 W. 16th Ave.
Denver, CO 80204
303-595-6540
The near future plans for Ruth's recovery are well described in an email
circulated earlier today by Kathryn Smith. It says:
"Dear Ones,
I just called and talked to Ruth's sister-in-law, Joyce Nelson. The plan is
for Ruth to be released from St. Anthony rehab on Sept. 4 and moved to a
skilled nursing facility for a month or two (place to be determined). Medically,
these next two-months are key to her best chance of recovery. Meaning that
rehab work and rest is her priority. Ruth is a great one for thinking of others
and wanting to be of service; we may need to help her see that right now she
needs to focus on herself - like she did after her knee surgery. That way
she can be of more service in the long run." -Kathryn Smith
===================================================
TUESDAY AUGUST 7 FROM ANNE NEAL
Sad tidings,
I talked with Eric a few minutes ago who received a call from someone who
was supposed to help Ruth around the house today. When there was no answer but
her bicycle was there, they figured something was wrong and broke in the
house. They found Ruth on the floor and called an ambulance right away. A
stroke is suspected, but it is probably too early to tell for sure.
Eric will let us know which hospital she was taken to - St. Anthony's or
Denver General more than likely. I’ll let you know any news I hear.
When this occurred, I was in the process of discarding the flowers Ruth
brought to the office last week and cleaning up the bowl in the conference room
that she had put little buds in. When I went back to finish, I noticed the
piece Ruth did for our open house. The Rumi poem she included was this one:
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning is a new arrival.
Welcome and attend them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows
Be grateful for whatever comes,
Because each has been sent
As a guide from beyond. Rumi
WEDNESDAY AUGUST 8 FROM ANNE NEAL
I was with Ruth this morning and she is doing remarkably well. She
definitely had a stroke but her speech is good, she is tracking very well, and has
high spirits. Her left side is weak and partially paralyzed, however, there is
hope she will regain full mobility. I was quite relieved to see how well she
is doing.
She’s at St. Anthony’s Hospital (at 16th and Stuart, west of Federal Blvd)
in the NSICU (Intensive Care) section, room 207. The direct number to the
unit is 303-595-6700. I’m not sure what the phone number to her room is. She
may be moved to a regular room later today, once they determine that she’s able
to swallow without any problems. She’s been on an IV since her arrival.
While I was there, she told another friend that she still plans to be at the
party they are giving for her friend's family on Saturday, but it is highly
unlikely. She may be in rehab for a couple of weeks after her release from
the hospital. We will know more in a day or so and I’ll let you know.
She is delighted to have visitors. She can't have flowers in her room yet,
but will be able to receive them when she’s moved to a regular room.
THURSDAY AUGUST 9 FROM KATHRYN SMITH
I stopped in to see Ruth at noon today. She is still in room 207. She has
received many visitors and is very grateful, calling them her "best
medicine." She said she has a lot of pain, especially in her neck. I only stayed
about 10 minutes as it seemed she wanted to rest.
Kathryn
THURSDAY AUGUST 9 FROM SUNNY WALKER
I was in after work for a bit more than 10 mins., but stayed with her while
her sister-in-law went off to do some things – then we both left so she
could rest. She is now out of NSICU and in room 287.
She does love the attention, though it can be tiring. Her sons were touching
down in Denver around 7 PM tonight. It seems she enjoys jokes, can move her
left toes with EXTREME concentration, but the rest of the left is not
cooperating much. If, on a visit, she tells you anything about what was going on
just before she fell (we know she was walking erratically and trying to find a
flashlight to be able to see Eric’s number. She knew she had to tell someone
something was wrong. Shortly after, Marlo (Margot? My hearing or hers is
iffy) who helps around the house and yard came over, couldn’t rouse her and
phoned 911. The doctors are trying to learn what happened just BEFORE that and
Ruth is having trouble remembering. Still, sometimes she talking about something
else and a piece of info will slip out. All that is to say, pay attention
when you visit!
She looks good and is in GREAT spirits!
MONDAY AUGUST 13 FROM ANNE NEAL
Ruth is in rehab, room 540, phone number 303-595-6540. (Raul, in case you
didn’t hear, Ruth had a stroke last week. She has the ability to talk and is
in good recovery.) Her sons are still here and she’s been grateful for the
visits, cards, and flowers. She feels very well supported.
WEDNESDAY AUGUST 15 FROM KATHRYN SMITH
I went to see Ruth in her rehab room 540 this morning. Steve and I were out
of town Sun. - Tues. I see that she has had many visitors and has received
many gifts and flowers. According to the white board opposite the nurses'
station she will be there until Sept. 4. I see that she has a neck brace on. We
didn't have time to visit because therapists were working with her - it may be
better to visit in the early evening. However, Ruth asked me to pass along
that if anyone knows how to contact Richard A. re gardening, she would like
him to know that there is no paid gardening work at the moment (volunteers are
taking care of it). If anyone knows any more from talking to Ruth or her
family, please reply to all here with the latest. Thank you.
WEDNESDAY AUGUST 15 FROM ANN EPPS
Thanks for this news, Kathryn,
John and I have been thinking quite a bit about Ruth since we heard of her
stroke. Could you please forward the address of her hospital and room, so we
can send a greeting?
THURSDAY AUGUST 16 FROM CATHERINE WELCH
Thanks for keeping folks in the loop, with a very comprehensive eye to who
needs to be included. I visited with Ruth on Tuesday, while her son Seth was
still in town. I believe he left on Wednesday. I think that the neighbors
who are caring for Ruth's mail and yard may be Sheryl Johnson and her
husband. I am going to add her to the list here. Sheryl works at Grace Apts. where
we did the safety training, and coincidently lives across the alley from
Ruth. They have been great neighbors!
I'm wondering if we might concoct some sort of visiting schedule so that
Ruth gets a visit from one of us in her "care bear" network (to borrow one of
Kay T's terms) most every day, but not everyone on the same day. If the plans
for rehab are anticipated to go on into Sept, we may need to use some kind of
rationale to keep the encouragement coming . . . . If people on this list
are interested in being in a rotation, let me know.
SATURDAY AUGUST 18 FROM KATHRYN SMITH
Hi Ann,
Good to hear from you. Ruth Reames is at:
St. Anthony Hospital
Room 540
4231 W. 16th Ave.
Denver, CO 80204
Kathryn
SATURDAY AUGUST 18 FROM SHERYL JOHNSON
Greetings All,
I spoke with Ruth's sister-in-law, Joyce, for a short time today. Joyce and
Phil wanted to let everyone know that there is a guest book in the room so
everyone can share their thoughts for Ruth in whatever form they wish....
Her room is gorgeous with the view of the mountains and all of the cards,
plants, and flowers. What an amazing support network she has!
Sheryl
____________________________________
_______________________________________________
Dialogue mailing list
Dialogue at wedgeblade.net
http://wedgeblade.net/mailman/listinfo/dialogue_wedgeblade.net
_______________________________________________
Dialogue mailing list
Dialogue at wedgeblade.net
http://wedgeblade.net/mailman/listinfo/dialogue_wedgeblade.net
************************************** Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL at
http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://wedgeblade.net/pipermail/dialogue_wedgeblade.net/attachments/20070822/c5ef6dfb/attachment-0001.html
More information about the Dialogue
mailing list