Being sharp, keen, and penetrating is the essence of being incisive. Most people think they do not have time to consider issues carefully. They are sloppy thinkers. We value the cultivation of incisiveness, which is the art of considering details. Details matter. In Constitutional law, for example, seemingly innocuous breaches of individual rights can lead to the destruction of the…
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Value for Monday of Week 30 in the season of Ripening
Transcending Tribalism
Throughout history, humans have been tribal, as are many other species, favoring members of their own tribe over outsiders. Universal Love demands a different approach.
- Spirituality is meant to take us beyond our tribal identity into a domain of awareness that is more universal. [attributed to Deepak Chopra]
- Under no stretch of imagination can war be regarded as an ethical process; yet war, force, terror, and propaganda were the evolutionary means employed to weld the German people into a tribal whole. [Arthur Keith]
- It isn’t till now, in the American Century, as we have recklessly dubbed it, that tribal pressures toward conformity have been brought to bear so ruthlessly upon men and women seeking to work creatively. [attributed to Nelson Algren]
Compassion is being at one with another’s suffering.
Real
True Narratives
Book narratives:
- Davide Enia, Notes On a Shipwreck: A Story of Refugees, Borders, and Hope (Other Press, 2019): “Antony Shugaar’s sensitive translation is marked by restraint, as if Enia is whispering at a wake and might well have preferred silence, in the tradition of the Sicilian male for whom ‘the best word is the word you never said.’”
- Leroy Vail, ed., The Creation of Tribalism in Southern Africa (University of California Press, 1989).
- Graham D. Taylor, The New Deal and American Indian Tribalism: The Administration of the Indian Reorganization Act, 1934-45 (University of Nebraska Press, 1980).
- Thomas Kochman & Jean Mavrelis, Corporate Tribalism: White Men/White Women and Cultural Diversity at Work (University of California, 2009).
- D'Arcy McNickle, Native American Tribalism. Indian Survivals and Renewals (Oxford University Press, 1973).
- Michael Hughey, ed., New Tribalisms: The Resurgence of Race and Ethnicity (MacMillan Press, 1998).
Technical and Analytical Readings
Photographs
Documentary and Educational Films
Imaginary
Fictional Narratives
Poetry
Oh the sisters of mercy, they are not departed or gone.
They were waiting for me when I thought that I just can't go on.
And they brought me their comfort and later they brought me this song.
Oh I hope you run into them, you who've been travelling so long.
[Leonard Cohen, “Sisters of Mercy”]
Harry Wilmans! You who fell in a swamp
Near Manila, following the flag,
You were not wounded by the greatness of a dream,
Or destroyed by ineffectual work,
Or driven to madness by Satanic snags;
You were not torn by aching nerves,
Nor did you carry great wounds to your old age.
You did not starve, for the government fed you.
You did not suffer yet cry "forward"
To an army which you led
Against a foe with mocking smiles,
Sharper than bayonets. You were not smitten down
By invisible bombs. You were not rejected
By those for whom you were defeated.
You did not eat the savorless bread
Which a poor alchemy had made from ideals.
You went to Manila, Harry Wilmans,
While I enlisted in the bedraggled army
Of bright-eyed, divine youths,
Who surged forward, who were driven back and fell,
Sick, broken, crying, shorn of faith,
Following the flag of the Kingdom of Heaven.
You and I, Harry Wilmans, have fallen
In our several ways, not knowing
Good from bad, defeat from victory,
Nor what face it is that smiles
Behind the demoniac mask.
[Edgar Lee Masters, “Godwin James”]
From the dark side:
- Edgar Lee Masters, “Butch Weldy”
Music: Composers, artists, and major works
Klezmer music is from Jewish culture and tradition. Several global fusion groups incorporate Klezmer with music from other cultures. They include:
- Klezmer Conservatory Band, with its playlists: this group incorporates Klezmer music with influences from around the world, including jazz, Middle Eastern and Balkan music;
- The Klezmatics, with its playlists: this group incorporates Eastern European, American folk, and Middle Eastern influences;
- Frank London’s Klezmer Brass Allstars, with its playlists: this group incorporates Balkan and Eastern European styles;
- Balkan Beat Box, with its releases: this group incorporates Balkan, Middle Eastern, and electronic music;
- Golem, with its playlists: this group incorporates punk and rock influences; and
- Daniel Kahn & The Painted Bird, with its playlists: this group incorporates punk, cabaret and other global influences.
Other global fusion groups also blend the music of cultures that may be at odds with each other. These include:
- Silk Road Ensemble, which brings together musicians and composers from along the Silk Road, blending traditions from the Middle East, Asia, and the West – here is a link to its releases;
- A-wa is an Israeli band, which infuses traditional Yemeni music with modern beats – here is a link to its playlists;
- The Spy from Cairo fuses Arabic, Middle Eastern, and North African music – here is a link to its playlists; and
- Bargou 08, from Tunisia, merges North African Berber music with modern influences – here is a link to its playlists.
England and Ireland have a long history of conflict. These groups combine the two cultures musically:
- Oysterband, with its playlists;
- The Unthanks, with its playlists;
- Steeleye Span, with its playlists; and
- Flook, with its playlists.
China and Japan have a long history of conflict. Yoshida Kyodai fuses the two cultures in music. Here is a link to its playlists.
India and Pakistan have a long history of conflict. Groups that fuse the nations musically include:
- Shafqat Amanat Ali, with his releases;
- Midival Punditz, with its releases;
- Zeb and Haniya, with their playlists; and
- Sona Mohapatra, with her releases.
Often at odds, Greece and Turkey are fused in music by the following artists:
- Zülfü Livaneli, with his releases; and
- Dimitris Mystakidis, with his releases.
Albums:
- Tereza Catarov, “Koren” (2025) (44’): “Koren masterfully intertwines Romanian and Bulgarian heritage with contemporary jazz, honouring women’s intergenerational struggles through intricate arrangements which envelope Catarov’s intensely powerful vocals, often sung in Palkensiki (a Bulgarian dialect).”
Music: songs and other short pieces
- Michael Jackson, “Black or White” (lyrics)
- Peter Gabriel, "Biko" (lyrics)
- Tracy Chapman, "New Beginning" (lyrics)
From the dark side:
- Pink Floyd, "Us and Them" (lyrics)
- Iron Maiden, “Run to the Hills” (lyrics)
- Anthrax, "Indians" (lyrics)
Visual Arts
- William Blake, The Compassion of Pharoah's Daughter or The Finding of Moses
Film and Stage
- Wings of Desire, in which angels “are mild-mannered, all-seeing individuals poised to assist those in need”; this film explores what it means to be human
- Wit: an unsympathetic English professor learns compassion the hard way.
- Beauty and the Beast (Cocteau, 1947) and
- Beauty and the Beast (Disney, 1991): the young woman’s compassion frees a man’s soul
- Murmur of the Heart (Le Souffle au Coeur): a young woman, incest and her sons, who are the victims?
- Distant Voices, Still Lives: “a compassionate look at a radically dysfunctional family” with a “possibly psychotic dad who is loving one minute and physically abusive the next”
- The Secret Life of Words: a badly wounded oil rigger and a victim of brutality during the Balkan atrocities heal each other through compassion