This blog was a tool for capturing and developing my evolving perspective on life, the universe, and everything... (2006-2015)
thanks for reading,
eric hepburn
Any illusion that the United States of America is still a functioning democracy (representative or otherwise) was shattered today by the Supreme Court's unprecedented extension of the legal fiction of corporate personhood. The legal fiction of corporate personhood began in order to enable people to sue corporations (early corporations were used to avoid or limit owner liability - among other things). The extension of this fiction to entitlement to first amendment rights only shows how disconnected American jurisprudence has become from concern with anything resembling popular justice. The Supreme Court's decision has essentially rendered all previous campaign finance reform completely obsolete. Furthermore, it has made it nearly impossible to design meaningful future campaign finance reform (i.e. it would now likely require a Constitutional Amendment). At this point, even across-the-board single term limits would not be effective enough to staunch the huge power that has been...
by way of recommending this book, here are my answers to some of the author's questions... if you want to read answers from the Dalai Lama, Mother Theresa, Steven Levine and others... get the book! On what main beliefs do you base your life? The unity of truth, a progressivist understanding of life, and the value of compassion, humor, and joy. Do you believe in a God or Ultimate Reality? What is it like? I have had many diverse relationships with the word and concept of God. I am at a point now where I am quite comfortable with much God language, however, I am still quite skeptical of any God language that seems to be a projection of human qualities onto God. I think our biggest mistake in thinking about God is that we forget the unknowability and begin to imagine God as one of us, as a person, or a being, or finite, or conceptualizable. Our second most powerful error when dealing with divinity is our confusion between metaphorical and literal truth. Before science...
Did a little internet research today I thought I'd share. I searched for the full text string of each of the seven UU principles and recorded the number of hits. I think it is an interesting rough estimate of what priority each principle has at this point in history (although a better study would break down the evaluation by posting date, so that the time element contributes to the analysis instead of weakening it). At any rate, here's what I found: [# of Hits - UU Principle] 34.2k -The inherent worth and dignity of every person 22k - A free and responsible search for truth and meaning 21.9k - Justice, equity and compassion in human relations 18k - Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part 17k - The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all 11.6k - Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations 10.7k - The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congrega...
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