Bob Oberg I believe that our group is seeking deep understanding before turning our focus towards actions. A longtime source of wisdom for me has been the Indian spiritual philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti, and I was drawn to look into what he said over the years on the theme of “partial action”. The following was compiled by doing … Read more
I found the recent presentation “Bonhoeffer and Resistance to Tyranny and Organized Stupidity” with Larry Rasmussen hosted by Fr. John Dear of The Beatitudes Center to be very informative. In the ensuing discussion after the presentation I learned of the connection from Bonhoeffer to William Stringfellow to Walter Wink and the theme of Principalities and … Read more
From video series Journey to American Democracy by Helen Cox Richardson. Episode 1: British Subjects
This week was the birthday of Thomas Kelly (June 4, 1893 – January 17, 1941). Thomas Kelly was an American Quaker who wrote about his mystical experiences and his direct experience with authoritarianism. When Hitler rose to power, he traveled to Germany to encourage Friends who were living under Hitler’s regime. His book, A Testament … Read more
Daniel Hunter is the speaker at the June 1, 2025 Quaker Call to Action national Zoom call. He is co-founder of of ChooseDemocracy.us. A Quaker and colleague of George Lakey, Daniel Hunter is one of the foremost thinkers and trainers in the field of nonviolent direct action campaigns, particularly in resisting and preventing autocratic takeovers. … Read more
On Sunday I felt a nudge to attend Quaker meeting, During the silent worship my mind was drawn to the issue of climate change. In particular the action by the Trump administration to shut down the project by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to track billion dollar weather disasters. I was attending the meeting … Read more
Substack was down for a while today. It was worth the wait to read Heather Cox Richardson’s April 28 column devoted to a rousing speech! There has been a change afoot in the Democratic Party for a while now as its leaders shift from trying to find common ground with Republicans to standing firmly against … Read more
Civilization is in a race between education and catastrophe. Let us learn the truth and spread it as far and wide as our circumstances allow. For the truth is the greatest weapon we have. — H.G. Wells I heard the Wells quote from my father many years ago. Both he and my mother had been … Read more
A Friend in Charlotte Friends Meeting, recently shared this message in the Meeting’s e-circle along with a link to the article. I saw this article referenced in The New Yorker over the weekend and was able to review it today. I have found this type of writing practice to be helpful and thought provoking in … Read more
“Honest to god, I’ve never seen anything like it . . . We look at these comparative cases in the 21st century, like Hungary and Poland and Turkey. And in a lot of respects, this is worse . . . These first two months have been much more aggressively authoritarian than almost any other comparable … Read more