SPRING !

Spring is about to spring!

The beginning of Daylight Savings Time is this Sunday,
Mar. 14th. An extra hour of sunlight when you get home.
(Condolences to those who have to get up an hour early.)

The Equinox is Mar. 20th. After this the days start get-
ting longer than the nights.

A PHILOSOPHER

A philosopher is one who asks the questions that no one
can answer.

The Criteria of Emotional Maturity

Please don't use this list as an occasion for self-criticism.

It's an ideal whose truths are more relative than absolute.

But if you are on the path of psychological growth, this is
a good list to think on now and again.

The word 'maturity' in this case does not relate to Crit-
ical Parent 'shoulds', but to the process of 'ripening', i.e.
becoming more of what one fundamentally is.


THE CRITERIA OF EMOTIONAL MATURITY

* The ability to deal constructively with reality

* The capacity to adapt to change

* A relative freedom from symptoms that are produced
by tensions and anxieties

* The capacity to find more satisfaction in giving than
receiving

* The capacity to relate to other people in a consistent
manner with mutual satisfaction and helpfulness

* The capacity to sublimate, to direct one's instinctive
hostile energy into creative and constructive outlets

* The capacity to love

--William C. Menninger, MD 1899-1966

William Menninger, along with his brother Karl,
founded the internationally known and respected
Menninger (psychiatric) Clinic of Topeka, Kansas.
In their time they had a great influence on psychia-
try and the treatment of mentally ill people.

MILLIONAIRE GIVES AWAY FORTUNE

Will wonders never cease? An Austrian millionaire is
giving away his fortune because it's not making him
feel happy or fulfilled. Karl Rabeder will soon be mov-
ing out of his luxury home for a simple hut in the moun-
tains. His proceeds will go to a number of non-profit
organizations he started in Central and Latin America.

He says: "More and more I heard the words 'Stop what
you are doing now...and start your real life.' I had the
feeling I was working as a slave for things that i did not
wish for or need."

Since selling all his belongings, he says he feels "free".
He felt guilty about his wealth while on a luxury trip
that seemed nothing but phony to him.

" [I]n all that time we felt that we hadn't met a single
real person--that we were all just actors."

All the money will go into microcredit charity, which
loan small sums of money and strategies to poor people
who want to start up a business.

POETRY

Poetry has been an important ingredient in my life and i write it
as well as read it. There aren't many rhymesters around these
days, maybe because it's hard to rhyme and sound natural at the
same time. On the other hand, have you tried memorizing some
non-rhyming poetry? It just doesn't come as easily. Perhaps
the days of memorizing poetry are over.

Here is one of my favorite poems, short and eloquent:


AH! SUN-FLOWER
William Blake

Ah, Sun-flower! weary of time,
Who countest the steps of the Sun;
Seeking after that sweet golden clime
Where the traveller's journey is done;

Where the youth pined away with desire,
And the pale Virgin shrouded in snow,
Arise from their graves, and aspire
Where my Sun-flower wishes to go.


Isn't that beautiful? Uncomplex in rhyme or meter yet still
full of mystery, with archetypal images abounding.

LITTLE KNOWN FACTS ABOUT WELL KNOWN PEOPLE

Donald Rumsfeld......Liberal?

Who'd a thunk it? Donald Rumsfeld was elected to Congress in
1962 at age 30 and immediately became a reformer. He fought
for civil rights legislation and sponsored the Freedom of Infor-
mation Act. He was so anti-Vietnam that Henry Kissinger used
to sarcastically flash him the peace sign. While he was chief of
the Pentagon he refused to meet with defense-industry exec-
utives on ethical grounds. His biographer says he was 'deeply
moral'.
--From a book review of Bradley Graham's biography of
Rumsfeld called By His Own Rules.

So what happened? How did a hero become such a villain? We
would prefer our heroes to be pure and our villains to be, well,
villainish, without any mitigating factors. But human beings con-
tinue to be human beings is spite of our wishes, and within every
human psyche is the potentiality for everything a human being
can do, the worst evil as well as the greatest good. Not so? Wit-
ness our present example. It would be fascinating to know about
the moment(s) Rumsfeld wandered from one side of the line to
the other.

Hope and Reason

So, a Black man is president, the Democrats have a maj-
ority in both the House and the Senate, and many pro-
gressive groups are redoubling their efforts to direct
attention to US American injustices. Full speed ahead
then? Unfortunately, no. The violently ignorant are
still being both violent and ignorant, as they have been
for the last three decades. The Culture Wars are not
over yet.

How much clearer could it be that the (for-profit) insur-
ance companies are delighted that so many of the
ignorati are backing them rather than a liberalizing gov-
ernment seeking to reduce these same companies' prices
for the benefit of all?

When i was young, political analysts used to say that
people voted their pocketbooks. No longer, and not for
a very long time---at least for the 51 or 52 percent of the
electorate who vote conservative. For the last three dec-
ades all a guileful politician has had to do to gain rabid
adherents is to praise Jesus and salute the flag. And now
they no longer need do even that much. Today all they
have to do is say "big government" and mobs with torch-
es and pitchforks are ready to do their bidding.

There is no reason involved here at all, only the torren-
tial hew and cry of the logically challenged (and the
terribly frightened).

Back in the '70s a woman wrote a book on how to be sub-
missive to your husband (The Sensuous Woman?) It was
a nation-wide best seller! Scary, but it turned out to be
the beginning of the end, thank heavens. Nowadays
young women don't have to call themselves feminists;
rights are taken for granted (altho of course the battle
isn't over yet).

Hopefully the same will prove true of present-day con-
servativism. Even tho that philosophy has proven itself
to be morally bankrupt, people still cling to it as to a
sinking ship. Perhaps it's their last hurrah; i certainly
hope so. Their mean-spiritedness has dragged our
country down in ways that we may never fully recover
from.