Through the Prism: A Belief in Oneness

"Mom, Dad, come quick! We found a hurt baby bird! [Older] has it."

I followed him out of the kitchen and headed outside, expecting to find [Older] sitting on the ground next to it. Instead we ran into him on the porch, on his way inside with the bird in his hands. After doing my best to get a look at it while limiting the amount of fighting over who would get to hold it and how, I got them to put it back where they found it and start a conversation about not interfering next time.

We watched and worried over it for a bit, then left it to its own devices. When we checked back later it was gone. We're hoping it's back where it belongs.

Projects in the time of coronavirus

Other recent anecdotes with my kids, ages 5 & 6 . . .

"My testicles are annoying."

- [Older], out of the blue during our conversation on the drive home from camp today. He thankfully followed with a bit of context: "I have bug bites on them and can't scratch them with this seatbelt on." Well, 'thankfully' is debatable.

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Have you ever had a carpenter ant bite you? It really hurts. And have you ever had one try to bite you so you pulled its body off its head and the head kept biting you even without its body when it should have been dead? Freaky!

(Something [Older] said a while back after a day at camp.)

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Just heard [Younger] trying to make his own video with [Older]'s camera. "Hello, folks! I'm back again! Time for a very big show!"

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[Younger]: Mom, I just want you to know that I love you--even though you're kid-sized.

And some pictures from my library in the time of coronavirus interspersed with this week's reading. We are open for patrons to grab things from the collection to check out, but not to stay to work or otherwise linger. Access with minimal contact.

What Would Happen If Everyone Truly Believed Everything Is One?

New research suggests a belief in oneness has broad implications for psychological functioning and compassion for those are outside of our immediate circle

The belief that everything in the universe is part of the same fundamental whole exists throughout many cultures and philosophical, religious, spiritual, and scientific traditions. . . .

The researchers looked at values and self-views that might be related to the belief in oneness. They found that a belief in oneness was related to values indicating a universal concern for the welfare of other people, as well as greater compassion for other people. A belief in oneness was also associated with feeling connected to others through a recognition of our common humanity, common problems, and common imperfections. . . .

People who believe that everything is fundamentally one differ in crucial ways from those who do not. In general, those who hold a belief in oneness have a more inclusive identity that reflects their sense of connection with other people, nonhuman animals, and aspects of nature that are all thought to be part of the same "one thing." This has some rather broad implications.

To Protect the Environment, Buddhist Monks Are Ordaining Trees

Beginning in the late 1980s, venerable Thai monks began to ordain trees as they would induct a new monk to the faith. Often choosing the oldest and largest trees, which hold domain over the forest, the monks would recite the appropriate scripture, often from the Pali Canon, garb the tree in traditional monk’s robes, and read from sections of Buddhist scripture that coalesce faith, ecology, and conservation. Though the practice varied, it was understood across the board as an effort to alleviate suffering, a core commandment of Buddhist faith.

The ordained tree, garbed in orange for a monk or white for a maechi (one of several titles given to women who have dedicated their lives to the Buddhist faith), serves various conservation roles. Most immediately, the human trace left in the forest dissuades illegal loggers. To harm an ordained monk is a religious taboo and legal offense. An ordination extends this sacred status to the tree. Communities that ordain trees often patrol the forest, taking photos of illegal activity and reporting wrongdoers.

Video Chats Short Circuit a Brain Function Essential for Trust — and That's Bad for Business

In-person encounters are crucial for establishing trust and building successful teams, according to research

The latest research shows human-to-human bonding is like a kind of intuitive magic.

"Say you are seeing a person for the first time," explained Roghanizad. "After two to five minutes of interaction, you will have a better chance of a more accurate prediction about their cooperativeness or generosity. This is how our brain evolved."

The crucial point is that merely "seeing" the person is not enough.

"This ability goes away when the same interaction happens in video-to-video communication as is happening today through Zoom or Google Meet or Skype," explained Roghanizad, who started his career as an electrical engineer and has since used the tools of hard science to investigate the failures of computerized communication. . . .

Cultural Differences - Monochronic versus Polychronic

Monochronic cultures like to do just one thing at a time. They value a certain orderliness and sense of there being an appropriate time and place for everything. They do not value interruptions. They like to concentrate on the job at hand and take time commitments very seriously.

In addition monochronic people tend to show a great deal of respect for private property and are reluctant to be either a lender or a borrower. This is part of a general tendency to follow rules of privacy and consideration as well as adhere religiously to plans.

Polychronic cultures like to do multiple things at the same time. A manager's office in a polychronic culture typically has an open door, a ringing phone and a meeting all going on at the same time. Though they can be easily distracted they also tend to manage interruptions well with a willingness to change plans often and easily. People are their main concern (particularly those closely related to them or their function) and they have a tendency to build lifetime relationships. Issues such as promptness are firmly based on the relationship rather than the task and objectives are more like desirable outcomes than must do's.

If you live in the United States, Canada, or Northern Europe, you live in a monochronic culture. If you live in Latin America, the Arab part of the Middle East, or sub-Sahara Africa, you live in a polychronic culture.

Interactions between the two types can be problematic. Monochronic businessmen cannot understand why the person they are meeting is always interrupted by phone calls and people stopping by. Is it meant to be insulting? When do they get down to business?

Polychronic businessmen cannot understand why tasks are isolated from the organisation as a whole and measured by output in time instead of part of the overall organisational goal. How can you separate work time and personal time? Why would you let something as silly as a schedule negatively impact on the quality of your relationships?

A Cheap, Race-Neutral Way to Close the Racial Wealth Gap

Today’s racial wealth inequality is a product of many decades of government policy, not the differing actions and choices of black and white individuals. The Social Security Act, for instance, initially excluded agricultural and domestic workers, who were disproportionately black. The GI Bill offered college tuition, home loans, and unemployment benefits to white veterans, while excluding black veterans. The Federal Housing Administration instituted redlining and fomented racial housing segregation. “It’s not about savings,” Thomas Shapiro, the director of the Institute on Assets and Social Policy at Brandeis University, told me. “It’s about institutional practices.”

Contemporary institutional practices sustain the gap created in past centuries. Consider how the tax code not just perpetuates, but actively generates, racial wealth inequality. A refusal to levy significant taxes on inheritances encourages dynastic wealth, meaning white wealth. (Ahem.) The country taxes paid labor more heavily than passive income, predominantly accumulated by white families. The home-mortgage interest deduction, the 529 college-savings program: These kinds of regressive elements Swiss-cheese the code. And in myriad other ways, government policies extract money from black families and black communities. Fines-and-fees policing, for instance, functions as a covert tax on black Americans. . . .

Baby bonds are simple. The government would create investment accounts for infants, giving babies born to poor families large seed grants and babies born to rich families small ones. The money would grow, and kids would gain access to it when they reached adulthood, to use for school, a down payment, or a start-up.

That’s it. Black families need wealth. The government could just give it to them. “At the root of the racial wealth gap, and wealth inequality in general, is capital itself,” Hamilton told me. “Baby bonds are specifically aimed at giving people that seed capital, that asset that passively appreciates over their lifetime.”

The best response white people can offer to racism is not guilt but responsibility. We didn't make it, but we can do something about it.

The Responsibility/Fault Fallacy

Fault is past tense.

Responsibility is present tense.

Fault results from choices that

have already been made.

Responsibility is the choice

that we get to make today.

Laura Resau, Tree of Dreams

Pearls Before Swine

"If every life is sacred, why do we kill each other in wars?

"Because some life is sacreder than others."

"Whose life is sacreder?"

"People who agree with you."

"I don't get it."

"I suggest you agree."

"Okay doke."

Laura Resau, Tree of Dreams

A secret to happiness: Being part of the flow of wisdom.

And understanding that all things in nature have their own form of consciousness.

Laura Resau, Tree of Dreams

What a strange idea, to own a piece of earth. Or what's above the earth, like a tree. Or what's inside the earth, like oil or rock. It's strange, even, to think of owning one's body, with so many other wee creatures living on it and inside it. It's like trying to own the air, to own a dream.

We are worlds unto ourselves, we trees, you humans. We are webs of living things, and no matter how wise we are, we can never grasp the countless ways we all depend on each other.

We can never truly own anything, can we?