When the High Court saves us from ourselves…

 

 

There’s a very good reason for the separation of powers – particularly law and governance:

High Court puts Malaysia deal on hold | News.com.au.

There will be many who gnash their teeth and wail that a High Court intervention interferes with the so-called “will of the people.” It depends, however, on what the issue is. Many of the same have high hopes that the High Court will intervene and prevent the continuance of federal funding for the School Chaplaincy program – which is fine – we’re human beings and that doesn’t mean we are perfectly consistent.

But a High Court with its limited function filtered through constitutional interpretation is a safeguard against our inconsistencies – in this instance – our government’s blind spot where basic human rights are concerned. Today’s decision indicates that, even without a Human Rights charter, there is sufficient punch within the Australian Constitution to question the unconscionable action of the so called Malaysia deal. Let’s hope, in two weeks’ time, the full bench squashes this policy forever.

Peter picked a permanent positive pistuous posture

Christ and Simon-Peter walking on water. Wall ...
Image via Wikipedia

A variant on Peter picked a pepper?

No – just some leftovers from this morning’s ruminations on the Gospel of Matthew’s account of Peter walking on the water and sinking.

I would never dare use such a pretentious alliterative phrase anywhere else but here. I reiterate the view, however, that Peter was not being typically stupid and impetuous in acting as he did. This story did the rounds of the early Christian communities for a reason – and it had nothing to do with tripping the light fantastic across the waves.

It is about ultimate trust. You can stay in the safety of the boat or clamber out and walk on the midnight terror that buffets your worst fears and anxieties. Peter tried the latter and found himself beginning to be overwhelmed. The fact that he refocused on the  “I am” in the person of Jesus vindicated his initial impulse, however.

The failure of Peter was not that he tried the impossible and sank. His failure was in reaching out to express a movement towards higher consciousness and discovering it requires even greater effort in trusting that which pulls one forward.

Maybe not a failure at all when you consider the alternative of remaining and cowering paralysed with fear in the boat!

One of many considerations to winkle out of this very evocative passage.

Trying a Triantiwontigongolope

It was my usual charge in and grope my way in the dark. I needed some things from the office, so I felt for the right shaped key, found the lock – turned the knob and entered the dark cave I call my study. I reached out my hands and felt around the desk. Bother – I’ll have to put the light on. Click goes the switch and – 6 inches from my nose dangling on an invisible thread is this:

Well, we just stared at each other for about 30 seconds. I think I won because the huntsman aka triantelope abseiled up his rope and disappeared behind a rafter. Nothing to be afraid of – they are quite harmless and will even eat meat morsels proffered by hand.

It reminded me of this piece of doggerel by C J Dennis:

There’s a very funny insect that you do not often spy,
And it isn’t quite a spider, and it isn’t quite a fly;
It is something like a beetle, and a little like a bee,
But nothing like a wooly grub that climbs upon a tree.
Its name is quite a hard one, but you’ll learn it soon, I hope.
So try:
Tri-
Tri-anti-wonti-
Triantiwontigongolope.

It lives on weeds and wattle-gum, and has a funny face;
Its appetite is hearty, and its manners a disgrace.
When first you come upon it, it will give you quite a scare,
But when you look for it again, you find it isn’t there.
And unless you call it softly it will stay away and mope.
So try:
Tri-
Tri-anti-wonti-
Triantiwontigongolope.

It trembles if you tickle it or tread upon its toes;
It is not an early riser, but it has a snubbish nose.
If you snear at it, or scold it, it will scuttle off in shame,
But it purrs and purrs quite proudly if you call it by its name,
And offer it some sandwiches of sealing-wax and soap.
So try:
Tri-
Tri-anti-wonti-
Triantiwontigongolope .

But of course you haven’t seen it; and I truthfully confess
That I haven’t seen it either, and I don’t know its address.
For there isn’t such an insect, though there really might have been
If the trees and grass were purple, and the sky was bottle green.
It’s just a little joke of mine, which you’ll forgive, I hope.
Oh, try!
Tri-
Tri-anti-wonti-
Triantiwontigongolope.

 

Paying the tax collector

Paying the Tax (The Tax Collector) oil on pane...
Image via Wikipedia

Having just labored over and electronically lodged my tax return (how tremulously the finger hovers on the “send” button!), I now sit back and ponder.

The question of taxes is not a light one. A conflicted standoff over how much and under what circumstances and “what for?” recently brought our inhabited cosmos to the brink of financial collapse. At what point does individual freedom and enterprise trump the common good and vice versa? And is the question as pure as this? How do prejudices, hidden agendas, old wounds and ancient fears influence what I’m content to give and what I seek to withhold from the tax collector?

But these are philosophical questions – my preoccupation has been with getting a necessary task out of the way. And no matter how simple and dumbed down the questions are in the “electronic interview”, why do I feel that I may have misunderstood something and not answered it correctly? Which is worse, a human wagging finger with a frown behind it or a faceless, electronic warning to make sure you have it all absolutely correct before hitting the lodgement button?

I think I prefer the censorious accountant, but the latter is quicker and easier .

Demythologising the wedge

Nine-Dragon Screen-1
Image via Wikipedia

The wedge has been used to good effect in Australian public life over the last decade. Politically, the strategy has effectively divided the community on such issues as immigration, Aborigine & Torres Strait Islanders affairs, the environment, sexual equality and, yes, public funding of school chaplaincy. The strategy is effective. Divide and conquer keeps the dominant party in the driver’s seat. Neither side of politics is coy about using it.

The best weapon against the wedge is awareness. A basic quest in the process of logic is the search for synthesis – the middle ground.  This can be tenuous, tentative and temporary, because the synthesis itself then becomes a proposition that invites a new antithesis and synthesis, and so the cycle continues. Rather than frustrate the possibility of holding a position on anything, it simply debunks the integrity of wedge strategies to be other than they are –  a means of demagogic control.

Neither does attending to the business of synthesis in public affairs necessarily trap one in an endless cycle of vacillation and fence sitting. Attention and awareness leads to greater clarity and precision in opinion forming, decision making, implementation and tweaking as the cycle progresses.

This is heavy going in public affairs where a focus on the 6pm news cycle and the opportunity to offer a doorstop “sound byte” is factored into political processes. It also appeals to a public angst that seeks immediate and simple solutions to complex problems.

Where am I heading with this? Nowhere in particular – just thinking out loud in an attempt to identify what seems to to be a growing preoccupation in many of my conversations. Naming the dragon weakens its power!

Clarifying the School Chaplaincy case before the High Court

The important debate re school chaplaincy (and Special Religious Education) in Australian schools is being waged on many fronts. Confusing the issues are political expediency and opportunism, unclear definitions, and a range of alleged apparent motivations across the religious sector. State specific situations, such as the “Ethics alternative” showdown in NSW and the administrative issues that pertain to Victoria’s arrangements add further confusion. An updated perspective on all this can be seen here.

However, it is important to know what can and cannot be achieved by the current High Court challenge relating to the National School Chaplaincy Program, a bilaterally supported Government funding initiative. And it is in one of the comments on the article by one Chrys Stevenson that clarification is to be found:

It is important that the public knows what will, and will not, be canvassed in Williams’ High Court Challenge. It is not about separation of church and state, it is not about funding for church schools, and it is not about the merits (or otherwise) of placing religious chaplains in secular state schools.

At issue is:

a) Whether expenditure on the National School Chaplaincy Program was ever properly approved by parliament.
b) Whether the contract between Scripture Union Queensland and the Commonwealth is valid.
c) Whether chaplaincy can be defined as a ‘benefit to students’ in the context of S.51 of the constitution.
d) Whether the NSCP guidelines impose a religious test for the employment of chaplains.
e) Whether chaplains can be defined as ‘officers under the Commonwealth’ in the context of S.116.

Which ever way this case is resolved, the community is going to have to come to terms somehow with a continuing interface between school and faith communities – government funded or otherwise. Is there enough maturity on either side to resolve the challenges that the debate has raised?

When the USA sneezes…

 

… the rest of the world catches a cold. This is probably why it’s difficult to find a dispassionate news report on the US debt crisis. The most objective one on my newsfeed is from the UK –  US debt crisis: markets rally as Barack Obama announces deal – Telegraph.

I had a spirited midnight discussion with my son who couldn’t understand why the richest country in the world can’t pay its debts. Not being an economics alumnus, I was hard pressed – all I could say was that nations don’t operate budgets in the same way as households. Anyhow, it seems we have steered away from the brink for the time being – even though congress is yet to take its formal vote.

The next 24 hours will tell the story.

What does it mean to cede control to the Divine Other?

Jacob Wrestling with the Angel; illustration b...
Image via Wikipedia

This is the question I didn’t address in this morning’s harangue based partly on Jacob’s nocturnal struggle with a mysterious strong man.

I would have said that Jacob didn’t cede control to the divine being with whom he wrestled all night. He managed to extort a deal – only then did he release the mysterious entity before the break of day. He demanded to know the angel’s name – but that was not forthcoming. What he earned from the encounter was a wound resulting in a chronic limp, a blessing, and a new name meaning “one who has striven with God.”

The surrounding saga yields context and meaning to this particular encounter in Jacob’s journey, but it gives pause to consider what is meant by “letting go and letting God.” Is this oft heard injunction the most helpful to grow by?

Jacob needed release from the tentacles of deception of self and others if he was to thrive. He needed to confront his wound, acknowledge and accommodate it in order for it to become an internal resource by which he would understand a new way of perceiving himself and others. This kind of release can only come with pain and struggle – and it was a long one that lasted all through the night. What if Jacob had “let go and let God” or otherwise ceded control? I wager the result might have been quite different – he could have remained as wimpy and as deceitful as before.

Just asking!

AFK

I love these mysterious acronyms. They initiate us cyber-literati into a secret language known only amongst ourselves. We get to chortle at somebody’s mother who mistook LOL for “Lots of Love” instead of “Laughing out Loud”. All this is to say that today’s post is almost not a post because I have been AFK – Away From Keyboard! See you tomorrow. 🙂

Oh – and here’s a handy glossary for cyber-newbies and veterans alike.