MORGAN'S MOMENT...
An alleged Shakespeare speech is doing the rounds...
    from the lips of Caesar (I couldn’t find it)...
        “Beware the leader who bangs
        the drums of war
        in order to whip the citizenry
        into a patriotic sword...”
I’m trying to think of a President
    in my lifetime who hasn’t beaten war drums
    and worked it to advantage.
How else do you think
    a citizenry that hardly votes
    could be aroused for anything?
Patriotism In Shakespeare’s format...
        “emboldens the blood -
        just as it narrows the mind.”
It goes on to remind us how
        “the blood boils with hate
        and the mind is closed.”
My suspicion is that this is raised up today.
    for the insightful line that goes:
        “The citizenry infused with fear
        and blinded by patriotism
        will offer up their rights
        unto the leader, and gladly so."
Imagine a world full of nations
    blood boiling with hate, minds closed
    infused with fear, blinded by patriotism
    each certain of God’s special blessing! 
— Art Morgan 
BOOK CORNER
It would be a strategic mistake not to mention the birthday gift book from Jean. We rarely buy books anymore, so this one had to be special. And it is. It’s written by the couple that writes the wine
column in the Friday Wall Street Journal. Jean has bought the Journal every Friday for a long time, just for that column. The authors are interesting people, both writers, who fell in love despite differences of race and religion, it’s as much a love story as it is a wine story. The book takes the readers into many interesting places and situations. How could anyone not enjoy such a book? “Love by the Glass — Tasting.Notes from a Marriage” by Dorothy Gaither and John Brecher.
MOMENT MINISTRIES
Oct. 3, 2002
home address:  25921 SW Airport Ave.
Corvallis, OR 97333   541-753-3942
email at  a-morgan@peak.org
WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE?
This question appeared on my e-mail this summer from an unknown source. I assume someone found us on the Internet and was curious.
After surprise, I e-mailed back an invitation to check out “Who We Are" on our www page. I added that “We” don’t have a belief system, but encourage people to work on their own systems. While I may have personal “beliefs”, I agree with my long time guru that “belief is highly over-rated.” 
The mystics of all religions are not hung up on beliefs. My friend (Hayden Stewart) thought that “Trust” was more important than belief. 
He wrote: 
“If I had to live the rest of my life with a logical, reasonable person, or with an intuitive, feeling sensitive person, I’d go for the latter every time.”
He went on to say:
“I would say that TRUST is a better word than FAITH or BELIEF. It doesn’t take sides. It doesn’t build fences. It doesn’t divide.
My experience with people who ask what I believe is that they only want ammunition for cutting me off from whichever “truth” they embrace.
I do think that beliefs matter. And I think that the people who are most certain about their beliefs are the most difficult to enjoy. I can’t help but remember that the most sincere and certain people religiously were those I met in the mental hospital.
Those with whom I have felt most in communion are those who consider themselves seekers, suspicious or rejecting of most beliefs, yet living with a trust that life is a precious, special, amazing wonder.
Like my friend, Hayden, and the mystics of all times, authentic spiritual connection with life doesn’t open by way of belief. In fact, beliefs may be the barrier. What do you believe?

(back page)

 
ADAM AND EVE AND DEREGULATION
         My Congressman sent out a report on Corporate Corruption. His lead line is: “Corporate Corruption: What Happened?” Farther along he states: “Contrary to the claims of so-called experts, the rash of corporate scandals was entirely predictable. It was the inevitable result of a failed experiment with radical deregulation plans...”
         I could have told him that.
         Adam and Eve came to the same conclusion ages ago.
         The whole Regulation versus Deregulation battle has been fought for ages. From day one we have chaffed at having to answer to anyone but ourselves. It is a political mantra of individuals, corporations, businesses and others to “get big brother off our backs.” Get a few of almost any working persons together and they will all agree that regulation is a problem and a pain.
         We all hate to be regulated. The question is, are we trustworthy enough to be turned loose without regulation? On the freeway, for instance?
         The old religious answer came down on the “depravity of man.” At the root we can’t be trusted. The core myth that has carried the weight of this is the Adam and Eve saga in the Garden of Eden. They had only minimal regulation. Just don’t eat the fruit of one tree. How good can it get? They didn’t even have to wear clothes.
         But Adam and Eve didn’t want to be regulated. They defied regulation. They de-regulated the Garden of Eden. The way the story works is that this “original sin” was pinned on every one of us born since. We are “born in sin.” This, of course, sets the stage for the later “salvation” drama.
         I never really liked the idea of original sin or human depravity. I didn’t like the theological notion that God held Adam and Eve’s failings against every newborn baby. I thought the need to baptize infants to immunize them against God’s wrath should they die was crazy. And I couldn’t ever figure out how being “saved” disconnected people from their base nature. In fact, studies show that those “born again” are about as likely to go wrong as those who are riot.
         As years go by, and I read the news of my fellow human beings, it is more and more difficult to say that those ancient theologians were wrong about the nature of the human species. Five of the top corporate giants who rode the rainbow of de-regulation have both crashed their companies and run off with over a billion dollars personal gain. They are only a few of those who lived in the Garden of Eden without regulation. They came out looking like Adam and Eve. We are stuck with their betrayal of trust.
         Some people seem to have a super-conscience derived from the idea of an active, Divine Regulator. I think they called it “Got-fearing.” If folks are afraid enough, maybe they’ll do what they should do. Some call for religious renewal as a basis for regulation.
         Well, think about it. Do you trust those who most loudly proclaim religious faith and righteousness? Do you trust the hierarchy of clerics who claim spiritual high ground? Do you trust that people of faith are less likeIy to abuse power, or less likely to seek financial advantage over those beneath them?
         The ancient spiritual thinkers decided that human beings could not survive as individuals, families and society without regulation. They invented, appointed, created, or discovered a Regulator. The Regulator was a Judge whose judgment was meted out from time to time.
         So, this is the way it works. Human beings want a Garden of Eden without any rules or. regulations to keep them from doing whatever they want. So our electric rates are up 40%, phone service has increased 50%, cable TV has risen 36%. Banks have been bailed out at a cost of $160 billion by taxpayers. Many kinds of services, including food, have. become less dependable. We want to mine, drill, fish, clear-cut and even go to war without the restraint of regulation. That's what we want. Everyone wants freedom from regulation. Adam arid Eve and you and me and even our President.
         But un-Regulated behaviOr inevitably turns to mischief. Mischief does not go undetected or unpunished, even though it may cause great hurt and suffering before it is halted. Because human beings cannot be trusted, all are subject to regulation. No exceptions. No one is too big or too small to escape this need. They called the Regulator, God. It doesn’t matter what you call it. Our species, at least for the next I 00,000 years or so, needs regulation. Ask Adam and Eve.
— Art Morgan, Oct. 2002