RADICAL FREEDOM

“When “Christians” say that the Lord is the lord of their lives, but in fact are the lord of their own lives. That attitude has resulted in the domination, competition and unbelievable agenda of much of Western (mostly U.S.) civilization: “Christians” have sought to lord it over one another while saying they were submitted to the lordship of Jesus Christ….It’s obvious we’re (U.S.) preoccupied with our own individual or nationalistic kingdoms. Are you in love with the Kingdom of God or, as most “Christian” Americans, with their own turf? While “Christians” say, “Come, Lord Jesus,” the golden calf they are bowed down before, more often than not, is their own agenda and the agenda of their nation-state. You can’t say, (if you’re “Christian”), “Come, Lord Jesus,” and live that way! God doesn’t care about national boundaries!”

This above excerpt came from the book entitled, “Radical Grace,” by REV. RICHARD ROHR, O.F.M., a Franciscan of Our Lady of Guadalupe in New Mexico, USA. He is also a popular retreat master, speaker and writer. He has also founded the Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA.

Sitting here on the sandy banks of the Flint Creek at Starr’s Cave Nature Preserve, one of the few remaining glorious gems of DesMoines County, Iowa, USA, I find myself communicating and connecting to everything around me. As a dragonfly sits upon my big toe, as the birds sing up in the life-giving deciduous trees, and as the frogs and locusts are busy with their own, yet very distinct languages, I ponder why mankind must be so very cruel to me, the planet, the universe, and to our God (for the lack of a better name). Why so much anger, fear, dominance, ignorance and hatred towards all of us living, and beautiful creatures? Why, especially here in the U.S., where democracy and freedom should reign supreme, must I follow an immoral President, such as George Bush or automatically be labeled a traitor or unpatriotic? I truly love this land, but I love every land without crazy, man-made, self-imposed political boundaries and nation-states. For instance, I absolutely adore the land they call Canada. It is full of gorgeous humans, animals, plants, water, air, boreal forests and sandy beaches, such as Point Pelee National Park on Lake Erie, which also borders on the shores of another great land where I was born in LaSalle, Illinois, USA. Due to dominance and ignorant fear, by our U.S. government, these political borders, which were once free to travel back and forth are now closed permanently, for the rest of my entire lifetime! Thanks to “King” George Bush for pressuring the wonderful Canadians, I can never again see a land I love, a land full with the richness of God. I can never again visit my good friends, the Anishinabe indigenous people in Ontario, Canada. Oh Canada, how I yearn for the freedom and democracy I once enjoyed and cherished.

It is obvious that most “Christian” Americans hoard selfishly all the world’s resources, and lord it over all other nations, and oppress the poor in places like Iraq, Colombia, the entire continents of Africa and Asia, and even here in small town, rural Burlington, Iowa, USA. It is obvious who is dictating to the world today. Congratulations George W. Bush, not only were you not legally elected here in the U.S., but you have evolved over only three years as the Emperor of the world. When Bush tells Canada to jump, they say how high Master, just as the African-American slaves once said in the cotton fields of Mississippi, USA. President Bush does not believe in a forgiving, peaceful, compassionate and loving God. He (Bush) must believe in a militant Commander, white-bearded, old guy in the sky, who tells everyone what to do, when to do it and to whom to do it to. How extremely sad for him, for other so-called “Christians”, and for the rest of us poor slobs living in his (Bush’s) kingdom – the entire planet earth!

As the HUMANIST SOCIETY of Western New York has summarized on the internet, we as people must do and be more than the sums of our political leaders and their irrational boundaries and borders. We can be better than wrapping the U.S. flag around ourselves so blindly tight that we don’t allow any room for diversity, what our (U.S.) country was founded on! “Humanists believe that we owe it to ourselves and others to make it the best life possible for ourselves and all with whom we share this fragile planet. A belief that when people are free to think for themselves, using reason and knowledge as their tools, they are best able to solve this world’s problems. We must have more of an appreciation towards art, literature, music and crafts that are our heritage from the past and of the creativity that, if nourished, can continuously enrich our lives. It is a philosophy of those in love with life… and take responsibility for their own lives and relish the adventure of being part of new discoveries, seeking new knowledge, exploring new options. Instead of finding solace in prefabricated (“Christian”) answers to the great questions of life… enjoy the open-endedness of a quest and the freedom of discovery that this entails”.

As citizens of the USA, and above all else, citizens of this superb world, we can and must start doing a better job than those in the White House and equally in Congress by leading us around by our noses astray from the real truth, freedom, democracy and spirituality of our hearts and minds. WE MUST SET OURSELVES FREE! We are all capable, intelligent, and loving people, but we must begin thinking for ourselves, and most assuredly, STOP listening to our “fundamentalist-leaning,” corporately-owned, greed-motivated, immoral liars – the MEDIA! Don’t be a lamb, being led to the slaughter by our corrupt government and media. Stand up progressively, and affirm your ability and responsibility to lead meaningful, ethical, moral lives capable of adding to the greater good of all creation. STOP saying God bless the USA or pray for America – that is self-absorbed and lording over others that you are superior, rather than equals. Instead, all of us should be saying, GOD BLESS THE WORLD (www.godblesstheworld.us), and praying for the whole universe. We have drastically hurt our very same God that many of us “Christians” say we love. The blood and tears of God have been flowing for years, but we “Christians”, as well as, non-Christians have not been listening. As I said earlier, I am sitting on the sandy banks of the Flint Creek, but what I didn’t say was the severe, poor water quality of it. As the park sign reads, it (Flint Creek) is not advised to swim or wade due to high counts of bacteria or for a better word – POLLUTION! Not only do we destroy relations with each other around the globe, but we too are responsible for wreaking havoc and destruction of the very creative and sensitive environment we as well as God are all interconnected and part of the same whole.

I want to be set FREE from my bondage! I want to be able to travel to Canada, or for that matter anywhere in the world. No entity should have power over where I go on this planet, because I am an important and integral part to the whole planet. I should be able to travel without restrictions even to our brothers and sisters 90 miles south of Key West, Florida, USA, to the delightful island of Cuba. Hello, my friend, Castro! Will you sir allow me to visit and/or stay? Or, am I an island, a man enslaved, imprisoned, isolated and confined to a life of poverty without the possibility of parole? This is due in part to some of my past human and utterly-stupid mistakes with man-made laws, that I have dearly paid a huge lifelong cost. But, in a much larger context, President Bush demanding the Canadian’s immigration to combat the terrorists, such as myself; the convicted alcoholic, naked, armed with a sex-crazed swinging penis, and angry at the world drunk that I was in my twenties – now, I can never again for the rest of my life enter upon Canadian soil, which is a part of my very being. Oh, Canada how I yearn to be free!

My case may be unique in nature. In February of 2003, I illegally, according to U.S. law traveled to Iraq on a peace-loving mission to help the thousands of innocent Iraqi’s, who have since been murdered by President Bush, not by our soldiers! Upon returning to Vermont, USA, my temporary residence, I attempted to enter Quebec, Canada with an Iraqi flag attached to my car and a picture of Bush calling him immoral for his actions in Iraq. I was immediately pulled over, interrogated and searched for over an hour. Canadian immigration officials asked me if I was ever arrested. I said, yes, but for minor offences, as well as for protesting against the highly immoral School of America’s at Fort Benning, Georgia, USA, which trains foreign military personnel to murder thousands of innocent people in Central and South America for over 30 years now. I was handcuffed alongside actor Martin Sheen – our good “President” of the USA! The Canadian immigration officials said I could not enter Canada, and proceeded to hand me papers saying I have a permanent ban from entering Canada. I’ve entered Canada at least a 100 times in my 40 years of life! What’s Up?

Oh, I must pause for a moment, because an egret is walking slowly near me wading in the Flint Creek. The egret must be searching for food, but isn’t having much luck at the moment. Yet, I feel graced and in awe of it’s presence near me. To me, this is the wonders and joys of life, witnessing this momentous and precious moment in nature, which we are all a part of its wholeness, whether the egret is in Canada or the USA. As the egret now flies away after giving me ten minutes of pure glory with God, I can rejoice and sing that I am truly part and parcel within all creation. That it is my right as is the beautiful egret’s right to travel without borders, boundaries, and restrictions. Now, more than ever before, especially after watching the egret fly away in true and radical freedom, that I too, as well as millions of others around the world and even in the U.S. will fight vigilantly and non-violently for our natural rights for radical freedom, like the egret. We will do it, and we must all be set free!

Now back to my story, since we had a commercial break with the lovely egret. But, in actuality, the egret is truly what this issue is all about in a nutshell. We are all a part of creation, created equally and intermeshed with all of creation, which was meant to be free. We, along with all of creation are valued participants within this vast living universe. I am reminded of an outstanding book, which I just finished reading by a good friend of mine in Burlington, Vermont, USA. The book is entitled, “Science and the Search for God,” written by a true scholar, the REV. GARY KOWALSKI, a minister of the First Unitarian Universalist Society in wonderful Burlington, Vermont, USA. Thanks in big part to his congregation, and himself, I was financially free to travel on that peace delegation to the “Cradle of Civilization”, Iraq, before Bush destroyed it all. I am eternally grateful! Anyways in Gary’s book he states, “Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”

Our governments lack the compassion, and are unable to embrace us in our inner beauty, to accept us with our faults and regrets. Instead, they use our past mistakes to bring us down to our knees, “to cast the first stone”, and relinquish our natural right to radical freedom, just like our friend the graceful and radically free egret.

I had decided in June 2003 to go on another accompaniment delegation with Christian Peacemaker Teams to Grassy Narrows, the indigenous people in Ontario, Canada. But, this time I flew into Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, rather than driving my car. I was stopped by the Canadian Customs to go to Canadian Immigration. She pulled up my FBI file within minutes. The very same file, that I, fifteen years ago through the Freedom of Information Act filed many forms and waited for over a year for a response by the “Almighty” FBI, only to receive a letter from them telling me I had no such file. But, here I stand on Canadian soil, and it took them only a few minutes to access a print-out of my “non-existed” file, which the immoral FBI lied to me about. So much for honesty by our government, who receives our hard-earned tax money. The FBI is a joke, almost as funny as the clown running the White House, who reminds me of STEPHEN KING’S book and movie, “IT”.

I sat in the immigration office for almost three hours, while my host family and friends waited in the lobby for me. The immigration officer said, “You are illegally in our country, and I can’t allow you to stay.” We talked some more, and she went out to talk to my host family, who lived less than five minutes from the airport. Finally, the Canadian official said I could stay just the night with my good friends, but had to return early the next morning for an official hearing on my status.

The next morning came fast. My good friend, ELIZABETH REDEKOPP, whose house I stayed suggested we call CPT’s Canadian Coordinator, and one of my savior’s, DOUG PRITCHARD. He faxed us an official letter of invitation from Christian Peacemaker Teams and the Mennonite Church of Canada. Well, I handed this letter over to the new immigration officer, who was an absolute angel towards me. She said, personally she had no problem with my past record, but that Canada was being forced by the U.S. to stop all people with any police record. We talked and became friends immediately on the spot – she was filled with God! She gave me a two week permit to stay in Canada. I am probably only one of very few U.S. citizens to officially be a legal resident of Canada – temporarily for two weeks at least. But, there was a catch, as always, this Temporary Canadian Resident permit cost me $154.00 U.S., which only left me $4.00 in my wallet. By the sheer grace of God, I was saved, just barely by the skin of my hide.

Upon returning back home in Iowa, I filled out a lengthy 8-pages of Canadian forms to be what they call Rehabilitation or forms to allow me legal entry into Canada in the future. The Canadian Consulate General sent all my forms back stating they needed another expensive fee, and a laundry list of documents they needed to process my claim. But, as a poor person, I can not get access to any of those U.S. documents without hiring a lawyer for hundreds, possibly thousands of dollars. I am screwed royally by Canada and the U.S. I’ve lost my freedom, mainly for being a poor person in a capitalistic society, rather than a society of compassion, love, justice and caring to embrace humanity, God, and all the world morally and ethically. Unlike my friend the radically free egret, mankind struggles daily for freedom without nationalistic boundaries and borders. Our world, due to governments being disjointed, and unfortunately disconnected to the natural rhythms of nature, which all of us belongs. Our God is a part of us all, so when governments deny our freedoms and natural rights they are in fact denying God as well. Governments, like the U.S. and even Canada are destroying creation, even God through one person at a time, or one animal as a time and one tree at a time. REV. GARY KOWALSKI says, “Our universe is not an assortment of lifeless particles but an ensemble of interrelated and dynamic happenings. And, each of these events – from the energy that maintains a simple chemical bond to the complex flow of information through a termite mound or coral reef – is in constant change and interaction with all the other.”

All of us belong to something much larger than all of us combined, and the simple egret was one sign-post of it – our natural rights of true radical freedom, as even the great prophets spoke. So, America – put away those U.S. flags and put up an EARTH or UNIVERSAL flag(s). At least, honor your only true allegiance – your God, as your first priority and from that, help others grasp financial and physical radical freedom, love, peace, justice and compassion. God and we are those changing and interacting particles of good energy, along with all of nature and the cosmos. So, it is up to us to make good with all around us – set all of those enslaved – FREE! Thank God almighty – FREE at last! Let radical freedom be for all in the universe, not just the rich.

God Bless The World!