Presbyterian Themes (part 2)

Dear Colleagues,

Consider:

The TWO ENVIRONMENTALISMS
( IN ONE )

Eros on the one hand; on the other Psyche.

A clear case of chemical contamination? Not so,
say Chinese health officials who contend that the
episode is a communal outbreak of psychogenic
illness, also called mass hysteria.

The blurry vision, muscle spasms and pounding
headaches, according to a government report
issued in May,were simply psychological reactions
to a feared chemical exposure.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/30/world/asia/30jilin.html?th&emc=th

Sin

What’s the big deal with sin for crying out
loud? Original and ongoing: of course.

“Essential being” originally what "sin" means,
to be sin full:

Look it up:
origin of original “sin” = es, esse:
“essence,” “being.” Where did we betray
with that descriptive word? Hurts like sin.
Of course it does.

& "evil," too: “upo”: up from below which
naturally describes me & all things upward
& onward—progressing Alaska, say:
Incentive-izing Congress. Making
the whirl a better pace.

Evil-doer doing hell yes I am: who’s going to
deny it? Raise your hand. Throw the first pone.
Off with the wistful bumper stickers: Don't
Postpone Joy, comfortable in my own sin.. .

Why do you twist words backwards like
you do, Sam, my students expostulate
accusingly (satanic). Common use/abuse
is what counts, not your depravity of
depravities: twisting, warping, bending
back to origins crying out loud. The cure
hurts worse than the curse— causing so
much confusion.

Of course it does, naturally: hurts like sin.

Suffer

Buddhists claim suffering is universal. I beg to
differ. Need we argue? Pain is universal.
A given.

Suffering (“to stand up from beneath, below”)
is a liberal art —Gold’s Gym achievement.
Don’t you wish you could? I do & bet
I’m not the only one.

“Give us your children,”
I’ve urged Richard to
proclaim, he & our staff
of college counselors:
“We’ll teach them to suffer.”

No other college would make our claim.
Renewing our niche & Presbyterian
origins: mission impossible.

See: not morbid, after all
—suffering— .
Consummation devoutly to be
desired.

OBEDIENCE

Oyez! Oyez! Obey! Obey!

”Pay attention” is what “obedience” means:
attention efficiency.

“Listen”
“Hark”
“Hear?”

Can you hear me now? Good!
That’s “obedience.” Put your ears on
if you gotem; some convoy conveyed here.

Where did IT become
Do This! Or Else!
”Obedience”: the word?

Who wouldn’t want to obey? I’ve told you this before:
Barbara McClintock, asked to say l her Nobel Prize
secretin genetic research,whispered “I lean in and
listen to the corn shoots.”

Yeah, Yeah.

xxxooo, Presbyter