June 24, 2013

Contents:

Reader’s Comments
Wade’s Journal – June 23, 2013
Quotes from The Bankers' New Clothes
Camus, Algeria, and Terrorism

Reader’s Comments

NOTE: Unless the author asks to be identified, I post reader’s comments anonymously and edit them to delete content that may be too personal.

Re: Wade's Journal – 5/25/13 

I cannot think of us as failures as we have inspired others to think, feel and respond to the "failings" of the government, institutions and corporations who truly do not care and be positively responsive to our vulnerable populations.

By touching one person to be aware of how we are duped, by touching one person to be kinder, to touch one person to help their community in any small way; we are successful.

We as a whole are stifled in fear, they succeeded by erasing hope. As I watch this City I see the Bike Riders as the organizers of today. And in their self-righteous attitude they forget about the common good without full awareness. They have the Sean Parker attitude.

Trust that you are a success - you have touched plenty of folks and sparked ideas and hopes. We can't do it all.

Enjoy your life - you will always be kind.
With love,

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Good luck inventing the solvent version of yourself.

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Did not reply sooner because we are on a 6 week road trip. Now that you have money, how about a trip east. I know some people who would enjoy meeting you. We won't return home until around July 14, but I should have access to a computer between now and then.

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Re: Transform America: A Declaration for Action (v1.0) 

Outstanding!

I look forward to discussing it with you.

If money is involved, you may want to mention creating, staffing, and running a non-profit.

Unmentioned is that power is the enemy. We face no greater challenge than giving individuals and institutions enough power to be effective, but not enough to be corrupted.

But congrats on a superlative effort. I hope it gets the visibility and response it deserves.

…See you soon, I hope.

Did I mention it's also an idea for a (e)book?

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Re: Holistic Community

Excellent idea. Hope you find the nine you need and that I'll see you soon.

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Hi, Wade~~

Your work is always wonderful, and I'm responding because I have been one of the 'silent ones.'

The reason for my silence: Though I am technically retired from the LAUSD after 36 years, I am still teaching….

I like teaching, so I am doing this. In addition, both of my daughters and two of my grandchildren have lost residences during the bank fiasco. I am refinancing my properties, now that there is an Affordable Loan program, and using my extra income from teaching to help my kids and grandkids. I do not have extra time….

I am active on the computer politically, but I have no money to donate to causes….

I WANT to be in your holistic community, and I am, IN SPIRIT! Just don't know what I can do to get my flesh to participate, since cloning has not been perfected.

I have an idea there are many others like me who just have too much on their plates. Since we are making less money and working less time, we make up for it with more jobs! I'm not even attending a church, preferring to stay off the crowded roads and to spend time meditating, such a grounding and renewing of Spirit.

Please keep me on your list and send me whatever you send out. May you find the holistic individuals you desire! Are you familiar with Barbara Marx Hubbard and THE SHIFT? I have participated in the past. Michael Beckwith was once my Minister. But I don't have time right now. I continue to stay in touch with Dr. Deepak Chopra.

Love,

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I agree with your aspirations yet disagree with your section below.

I'm in Ecuador for June and we can discuss another time.

Peace,

On Jun 16, 2013, at 7:31 PM, Wade Lee Hudson <wade@wadehudson.net> wrote:
> By “political” I mean realistic efforts to improve public policy. If one talks about politics without focusing on achievable goals, one is engaged in cultural work, not political action. That’s fine for those who are so inclined. But my interest also concerns making a positive difference with short-term reforms.

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You are a dedicated, rare one of a kind...and i applaud your efforts to being a part of an active community of which you seek!

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Wade; i've been invited to get involved with this community, which seems somewhere in the ballpark of what you're talking about… i've never been able to look into given my life situation but you might want to have a peek… tom ferguson

http://www.mariposagroup.org

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Good morning, Wade--I was so glad to read what I thought was an expansion of your vision for community......It was enriching to see that you have continued in that important pursuit.  I was then saddened, though, to read towards the end that it seems you will not continuing that search.  If I am understanding correctly, I am very sorry to hear that.

In my own life, I have always found that community grows organically and that like minded people find each other through shared work, faith practice, etc.......If the common shared values exist, and a deep appreciation for one another develops, then we have taken it to the next levels of on-going community...But that approach is only what works for me personally.

I truly hope you continue to share your vision....There are many ways to build community--not just the one I've described which has worked for me.....and your integrity and purpose are important.

Take care...all the best

Wade’s Journal – June 23, 2013

These responses and the others I’ve received recently are very heartening. I very much appreciate all of them. In particular, I found helpful the first comment, which includes: “I cannot think of us as failures…. By touching one person …  we are successful. … Trust that you are a success - you have touched plenty of folks and sparked ideas and hopes. We can't do it all. Enjoy your life - you will always be kind.”

Those words nudged me further along on my current path: learning how to be happier. That was my New Year’s resolution two-and-a-half years ago. I suppose I’ve made progress off and on, but now I may be over a hump, learning how to be more present and responsive.
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Not only is this beneficial for me. Hopefully it will also benefit future community-based projects, for “contagious happiness” is a valuable organizing tactic.

So I’m getting serious about traveling at least four months a year. To do that, I figure I need to drive a bit more taxi than I have been, probably five four-hour nights a week. I’ll still write some in the morning, follow banking news, and post a bit to Reform-Wall-Street.org in the afternoon. And on weekends I’ll play, relax, and commune with Mother Nature. But no community organizing, at least for a while. (Unless someone extends me an offer I can’t refuse!).

My first trip will be to Seattle to visit with Brandon, Kristen, Azure and Theo, go with them to the Vancouver Folk Festival, hang out in the Vancouver area, north to Alaska on the Alaska Marine Highway ferry from Bellingham, WA, and then back to Seattle for several more days.

Partly so I can share images with you guys, I'm looking for a camera that I can use to shoot video with an external mike and take photos. I figure I can spend $1,000. A passenger who's a professional photographer recommended a mirrorless camera (which uses new, more compact technology). Here's the wikipedia overview. If you have any advice, please share it with me.

Since I’ve recently learned I can easily copy and paste highlights from Kindle books (but alas not the magazines I read on Kindle), following are some quotes from the latest Kindle book I read.

Quotes from The Bankers' New Clothes, by Anat Admati, Martin Hellwig

The jargon of bankers and banking experts is deliberately impenetrable. This impenetrability helps them confuse policymakers and the public, and it muddles the debate.

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Banking is not difficult to understand. Most of the issues are quite straightforward. Simply learning the precise meanings of some of the terms that are used, such as the word capital, can help uncover some of the nonsense. You do not need any background in economics, finance, or quantitative fields to read and understand this book.

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Unborrowed money is the money that a bank has obtained from its owners if it is a private bank or from its shareholders if it is a corporation, along with any profits it has retained. Elsewhere in the economy, this type of funding is referred to as equity. In banking, it is called capital. Capital regulation requires that a sufficient fraction of a bank’s investments or assets be funded with unborrowed money.

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In fact, capital regulation does not tell banks what to do with their funds or what they should hold. It tells banks only what portion of the funds they use must be unborrowed.

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...there is a fundamental conflict between what is good for bankers privately and what is good for the broader economy.

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The deeper reason for the breakdowns, however, was that banks were highly indebted. When banks suffered losses, investors, including other financial institutions, lost confidence and cut off funding, fearing that the banks might become unable to repay their debts.

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The debts of the five largest banks in the United States totaled around $8 trillion. These figures would have been even larger under the accounting rules used in Europe.

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Much of the debt of banks is short-term debt, due within months or even days. Some borrowing even takes the form of overnight debt. Many of banks’ assets, however, are loans and other investments that extend over longer....

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Appropriate banking regulation is available that would reduce the potential for harm to the financial system without imposing any costs on banks other than the loss of subsidies from taxpayers.

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The incentives for banks to become large through mergers can be partly attributed to cost advantages from implicit subsidies they obtain by becoming too big to fail.

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...the problem has been one of too many to fail rather than too big to fail,...

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Even if the largest banks become smaller, the interconnectedness of the financial system and the danger of contagion will still be likely to create excessive fragility unless more is done to control this fragility.

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...if the bank is safer, it will be in a better position to make good loans and provide other services.

Camus, Algeria, and Terrorism

Having long believed that Albert Camus’s position on the Algerian struggle for independence has not received the appreciation it deserves, I was intrigued when I saw Algerian Chronicles (Harvard University Press, 2013) prominently displayed at City Lights Bookstore, scanned the book, and bought it.

The front flap reads:

More than fifty years after Algerian independence, Albert Camus’s Algerian Chronicles appears here in English for the first time. Published in France in 1958, the same year the Algerian War brought about the collapse of the Fourth French Republic, it is one of Camus’s most political works – an exploration of his commitment to Algeria. Dismissed or disdained at publication, today Algerian Chronicles, with its prescient analysis of the dead end of terrorism, enjoys a new life in Arthur Goldhammer’s elegant translation.

“Believe me when I tell you that Algeria is where I hurt at this moment, as others feel pain in their lungs,” writes Camus, who was the most visible symbol of France’s troubled relationship with Algeria. Gathered here are Camus’s strongest statement on Algeria from the 1930s through the 1950s, revised and supplemented by the author for publication in book form.

In her introduction, Alice Kaplan illuminates the dilemma faced by Camus: he was committed to the defense of those who suffered colonial injustice, yet was unable to support Algerian national sovereignty apart from France. An appendix of lesser-known texts that did not appear in the French edition complements the picture of a moralist who posed questions about violence and counter-violence, national identity, terrorism, and justice that continue to illuminate our contemporary world.

The back flap reads:

Albert Camus (1913-1960), Algerian-French novelist, essayist, and playwright, won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957. Alice Kaplan is John. M. Mussey Professor of French at Yale University. Arthur Goldhammer received the French-American Translation Prize for his translation of A Critical Dictionary of the French Revolution.

The back cover reads:

“Giving speech to anger and helplessness and injustice is the task Camus set for himself in publishing the Algerian Chronicles. His sense of impending loss, his horror of terror, even his vacillations, endow the book with many moments of literary beauty, and with an uncanny relevance.”
--Alice Kaplan, from the Introduction

So I look forward to reading this book.

Holistic Community

I seek a community of like-minded individuals who clearly support each other in the pursuit of open-ended personal, social, and political growth.

This holistic community of ten or so like-minded individuals might merely gather once a month to check-in with each other and bolster spirits. By sharing meals, having fun together, developing close friendships, reporting on their efforts, listening to each other, acknowledging mistakes and resolving to avoid them in the future, and exploring how to improve the world politically, socially, and culturally, members of a holistic community could attract new members with contagious happiness, while becoming more fully human.

Ideally, such a community would be connected to other similar communities, with members convening occasionally to compare notes and reach out to potential new members.

Being clear, explicit, and intentional enhances effectiveness. Articulating and agreeing on written goals deepens commitment. When I circulated an online survey about community, the only respondents who said they did not seek a deeper sense of community were those who already belonged to a community with a written statement of purpose.

Given the frantic pace of modern life, setting aside special time for providing mutual support is important. This support might simply consist of each member reporting on their efforts with regard to personal, social, and political development.

A monthly ritual could help remind members of their commitments. Articulating one’s thoughts and feelings can be valuable. Being heard by close friends enriches the experience.  Following these formal meetings, members of a holistic community would naturally enhance their friendships informally.

Simple structures, or formats, can enable all participants to better draw on their spontaneous intelligence and innate compassion, without relying on facilitators who’ve been through extensive training.

“Open-ended” growth is key. The more we have a set destination, the less we are open to unexpected opportunities. Trying to know or control the future is counterproductive, whether it concerns personal, social, or political growth.

Each individual needs to define her or his own personal development objectives. Each community needs to be open to the community’s unpredictable collective wisdom. Political projects need to be open to surprising allies and unforeseen compromises.

By “political” I mean realistic efforts to improve public policy. If one talks about politics without focusing on achievable goals, one is engaged in cultural work, not political action. That’s fine for those who are so inclined. But my interest also concerns making a positive difference with short-term reforms.

The personal has political ramifications. And the personal involves power dynamics in relationships. But the personal is not political, because politics concerns public policy.

Political action is distinct. So I seek a community whose members regularly engage in political action, whether collectively or individually, and support each other in this work.

A commitment to growing a holistic community implies a desire to foster holistic community throughout society.  Each of us can live as we would like others to live, while accepting that others do the same by making their own decisions.

We can aim to transform American into a compassionate community dedicated to the common good of all humanity. A series of incremental reforms can lead to fundamental transformation.

Transforming America is probably not achievable in the short term. But we can move in that direction. And who knows? Almost anything is possible. These days, sudden changes frequently surprise us.

When I articulate these thoughts to others, in person or in writing, I rarely receive critical feedback. When people respond, their comments are generally positive. For example, feedback on “Transform America: A Declaration for Action,” as reflected in the Comments section, has been supportive.

But silence has been the primary response. And even among those of us who seem to agree, we don’t practice what we preach. An undercurrent of fear seems to prevail. I have yet to find a holistic community of the sort described here that I can join and my efforts to initiate one have not borne fruit.

In our hyper-specialized world, few people seem inclined toward this holistic approach. Most political activists aren’t interested in providing mutual support for personal development or growing communities that meet unmet personal needs. And most people who focus on personal or spiritual growth, including those who foster alternative communities, aren’t interested in political action.

Some political organizations conduct “leadership development” programs to help members develop specific skills. Others conduct training to address specific issues, such as fear when faced with violence. But these methods (which can be valuable) tend to be top-down. The organization predetermines the agenda and experts provide the training. I’m more interested in peer support.

So I’ve decided to stop initiating new efforts, Instead, I’ll support specific actions from time to time, discuss my concerns when opportunities emerge, be available to respond to any invitations that I receive, read, write, travel, and keep my eyes and ears open for a holistic project to join.

Regardless, I trust the universe will take care of herself.

Reader's Comments

If no one responded to my writing, I might write anyway. But when I receive heartwarming responses like the following replies to the last Wade’s Weekly, “Wade’s Journal – 5/25/13,”  I am greatly encouraged to persevere.

After deleting some personal information, I post these comments without identifying the author. If you would like me to identify you and/or include the entire comment when you send me a reply, please let me know and I will.

I very much appreciate everyone’s interest and support.

Wade

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I have read, and always do, each of your emails. Your efforts are effective...more than you know. Please know that many of your points have found there way throughout conversations in many places. I know more about you and your life than I know about many of my friends I have spent time with. Yes, many paradigms must change. Yes, compassion and love are not central concerns as much as they should be the only concerns. Survival is truly overrated as we all travel our journey so quickly. I am amazed that there is so little emphasis on harmony and beauty in culture these days. I applaud your efforts to celebrate what you can.

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What exciting adventures you share and my happiness for you in your decision is bountiful.

You have an enormous heart, brain, energy and curiosity with the wish for social and economic justice laced throughout all you endeavor.

You were never alone in your hope; and, if I had an 1/8 of who you are........

Wishing you the safest and greatest adventures. Perhaps, a book some day!

Always in appreciation of you.

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This current correspondence of yours has a more positive vibe than most of your posts. Not sure why.

Congratulations on your new financial situation. I would suggest that you make a real effort to be a good steward of your finances. No matter how much money you have, be aware that you can lose it faster than you aquired it. Because of my "sixties" mindset, and as an artist, I have always felt guilty when I got close to being affluent. I never wanted to be "The Man." But, I have been without money and I've had money, and for me, in our society, having it has proved to be much better than not.

And as much as you might feel inclined, do not loan money to friends. I know this sounds conservative and insensitive, but it always leads to trouble. If you feel inclined to help someone financially, make it a gift, and not a loan, to avoid the strain it can put on a friendship. And if it comes back to you, well, consider it good karma.

Neither a borrower nor a lender be;  
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,  
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.  
This above all: to thine own self be true,  
And it must follow, as the night the day,  
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
Polonius in Act I, Scene 3 of William Shakespeare's Hamlet.

Don't lose focus on all the things you want to do with your new status. JUST DO IT.

Stay healthy, be engaged with life, keep writing...and be frugal.

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Thank you for the update, Wade!  "Stranger in a strange land..." is very appropriate for these transition times.  There are many of us - mostly isolated, I suspect - that are finding our way slowly to others, at least for linking.  The fact that you are a writer, will allow you to always "go public," "participate" and "initiate" dialogue...  The fact, too, that you are a self-actualizing person who continues to grow means that you are doing about "the most" that you can do at this particular time.

Am glad for your financial "underwriting" and it will allow you to "take yourself, your ideas, and your inspiration" to others, as well as receive a great expansion of your understanding of others and the world-at-large.  Glad I am still on your 100 list for I, too, would like to keep in touch...  I suspect that 2013 and 2014 will see more of what we are seeing now and our occupying ourselves with worthwhile isolated tasks (and linking where that is possible) will keep us "on the move AND in place for future action" where we will be ready to link up and create "new" forms when the time is right. Thank you for the work on the banks issue - you put into motion what many had only thought about doing.

Glad our paths have crossed.  Will enjoy whatever you share in the future...
Namaste!

p.s. You stand out to me as one who is both working on himself and opening to the kind of integrative approach which will be necessary in transforming each and every part of our future work....  You are one of "the few" people who acknowledges that as a priority!  I AGREE!

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Congratulations...didn't take long to sell the Mexican property...things must be looking up down there.

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Thanks for the personal news, Wade.  Best of luck on your adventures and finding the work that suits your Soul.

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Congratulations on your leap into your new adventure...what a life-changing decision...sounds great!  Onward...

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nice weekly Wade!
would love to see yer 5 foot TV
Glad to have you relaxed
you deserve it