Can Zombies Be Saved?

Can Zombies by Saved?

A Worship Service by Mike Mallory

Presented May 18, 2014

Evergreen Unitarian Universalist Fellowship

Presenters (left to right)

            Historian -                              Dr. Thomas Gaskin

Mike    -                                   Mike Mallory

            Worship Associate -            Marilyn Mallory

Reader -                                 Dave Speights

           

           

 (Begin “Night of the Living Dead” as a muted video on screen.  The video should run the entire time, except that the display should be shut down during the Offertory Testimonial, Joys and Sorrows and the following prayer.)

Individual Candle Lighting

Gathering Music:    “Let’s Do the Time Warp Again” - Netta Beryerlein

Reader: (holding a bible) The text for this morning's service is Genesis, Chapter 7, Verse 17 – Verse 24.

For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. ¹⁸ The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. ¹⁹ They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered. ²⁰ The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than fifteen cubits. ²¹ Every living thing that moved on land perished—birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind. ²² Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. ²³ Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; people and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark. ²⁴ The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days.

We are only seven chapters into the Old Testament and already we are presented with an apocalypse.

Worship Associate / Introit: My name is Marilyn Mallory and I am the worship associate this morning. We will begin with a congregational introit. Please turn to Hymn No. 188i n the Grey Hymnal “Come, Come, Whoever You Are.” I don't want to startle you the way people are startled when they open a door to find a Zombie standing there, but when we get into a round there will be voices joining in with the chorus from R.E.M.'s "It's the End of the Word As We Know It.”  We will sing it once in unison then once as a round with this side (point) singing first and this side (point) coming in later.    

Welcome and Announcements - Board Member-Laurel Nisler

Worship Associate / Declaration: Please join me in a unison reading of the Declaration printed in your order of service.

Delight is our source,
Delight is our course    
And    
Delight is the all-illumining,    
All-fulfilling force    
In us,    
With us    
And    
For us.

            Sri Chinmoy

Mike: I am Mike Mallory.  The views presented this morning are not necessarily those of the people helping me.  

This service is about my mission.  When I have shared my mission in the past, I seem to get a lot of questions so I thought I would spend this morning explaining it once in front of everybody and just get it all over with in one go. Now, I believe that when a person shares his or her mission statement in a public setting, the public echoes back the mission statement.  So, if I say, “My Mission is “da, da, da,” then you say, “Your mission is “da, da, da.”  The same goes with the shadow statement.  My mission and shadow are printed in the order of service for your convenience.

My mission is to enliven the world by responding to life with insight and delight in order to resurrect the living dead. 

Congregational Response

Mike: My shadow is a vulnerability to the zombie infection.

Congregational Response

Worship Associate – Call to Worship & Chalice Lighting - I invite Linda Hart to light the chalice.

Flame of fire, spark of the Universe that warmed our ancestral hearth –

Agent of life and death

Symbol of truth and freedom

We strive to understand ourselves and our earthly home.

Leslie Pohl-Kosbau

Chalice Response

            Rise up, O flame, by thy light glowing

            Show to us beauty, vision and joy.

Worship Associate - Story for All Ages – “Rise and Shine”

Verse 1

The Lord said to Noah there’s gonna be a floody floody

Lord said to Noah there’s gonna be a floody floodly

Get those children out of the muddy muddy

Children of the the Lord.

 

CHORUS

So, rise and shine and give God your glory glory

Rise and shine and give God your glory glory

Rise and Shine and give God your glory glory

Children of the Lord.

 

Verse 2

So Noah he built him he built him an arky arky

Noah he built him he built him an arky arky

Built it out of hickory barky barky

Children of the Lord

 

Chorus

 

Verse 3

The animals they came on they came on by twoseys twoseys

Animals they came on they came on by twoseys twoseys

Elephants and kangaroosees rooses

Children of the Lord

 

Chorus

 

Verse 4

It rained and rained for forty daysies daysies

Rained and rained for forty daysies daysies

Almost drove those animals crazies crazies

Children of the Lord

 

Chorus

 

Verse 5

The sun came out and dried up the landy landy

Sun came out and dried up the landy landy

Everything was fine and dandy dandy

Children of the Lord

 

Final Chorus

 

The middle school & high school youth will be working in the new Side Garden today as part of their spring service projects. When released, meet Dean Smith in the garden off the parking lot instead of going to your classrooms.

 

Children in Pre-K through 4th grade go to their classrooms as usual.

 

Form an arch for the children as they go to their classes.

                        Sing and Rejoice. Sing and Rejoice.

                        Let all things living now sing and rejoice.

Reader:  In 2013 “Noah” became the most popular name for American male newborns.

Historian: A full history of Zombies would require an extended symposium rather than the cameo appearance I have been allotted in this worship service.   I will, however, present a condensed version. 

Zombies have evolved out of film.  The first sightings of re-animated corpses can be found in films such as White Zombie and Revenge of the Zombies in which Afro-Caribbean Voodoo Priests raise and control the recently dead. 

The Modern Zombie ambled into the American Pop Culture on October 1, 1968, with the premier of George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (Now Showing).  This was a low-budget independent film and the first in a series of six Zombie flicks created by Romero.  Others in the series include, Dawn of the Dead and Land of the Dead.  Night of the Living Dead was chosen by the Library of Congress to be preserved in the National Film Registry as a film deemed, “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.”

Romero, considered to be the “Godfather of the American Zombie, ” gave Zombies characteristics known as Romero’s Rules.  A Romero Zombie has once died and become reanimated, wanders the earth driven by an insatiable hunger for human flesh, especially brains, has no memory, is physically slow and awkward and is dumb to the point where tool use is out of reach.

As adversaries go, Zombies do not present much of a threat, even if they can only be killed (again) with a head-shot.  The question Romero finds most interesting is whether humans defeat themselves through greed, fear, selfishness, hesitancy, cowardice, hubris and the like.

Danny Boyle, another director in the “Living Dead” genre wanted to make Zombies into a more challenging foe and bent Romero’s Rules.  In his 28 Days Later he increased both their mental capability and agility.  Boyle-Zombies shift the film’s emphasis away from an exploration of human failure to a more traditional adventure format.

“World War Z,” the high-budget 2013 film starring Brad Pitt and directed by Marc Forster uses Boyle-Zombies.  However, the book by the same title, written by Max Brooks, the son of Anne Bancroft and Mel Brooks, upon which the movie is based uses Romero-Zombies. 

There have also been many zombie parodies: films such as Zombieland and even the music video from Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.”

The award winning broadcast series, The Walking Dead, now in its fifth season on the American Movie Channel, based on the graphic novels of Robert Kirkman has taken more time to explore the effects of an apocalyptic event on the human survivors.  The Walking Dead and this worship service both refer to Romero Zombies.

Worship Associate:  Please rise in body or spirit and join me in singing Hymn #1, “May Nothing Evil Cross this Door.”

Worship Associate  / Sharing Joys and Sorrows.  Now is a time for those of you with Joy that cannot be contained or Sorrows that needs to be heard to come forward and be heard.  I will light a candle for you.  Please form lines on each side of the sanctuary.  When you come forward, please state your name.

I will now light a candle for all those joys and sorrows that remain unexpressed.

Please create a reflective space as I recite a Buddhist “Metta Prayer”

May all being be filled with Loving Kindness

May all beings be well.

May all beings be peaceful and at ease.

May all beings be happy.

 

Spit Plate Offering - Testimonial            Teresa Rugg

One-half of the offering will be donated to TB-Photo Voice. Please join me in the Unison Response printed in your order of service:

            This is a Fellowship of ourselves.

            Its energy and resources are our energy and resources.

            It’s wealth is what we share.

            When we contribute to the life of this community.

            We affirm our lives within it.

                        __________________

            May the Greeters please come forward to gratefully accept the offering.

Offering Muisc                     Netta Beyerlein    “There’s a Light”

Reader:         The undead rub religion the wrong way.  They are a perversion of religious ritual and understanding.   Firstly, the undead, and I refer to both zombies and vampires have died, lost their souls and yet remain active in the world. Immortality is supposed to be reserved for Gods and humans graced with salvation.  The zombie story interferes with the church’s monopoly on the meaning of death.

            Secondly, there is that consumption of human flesh and thirst for blood, which is presented as a twisted mockery of Holy Communion.  Communion for the true believer is not merely a metaphorical exercise, but through the process of transubstantiation the devout ingest a piece of God and become one with the Body of Christ.  As they say, “We are what we eat.” 

            Zombies, eating human flesh and Vampires, drinking human blood, both attempt to drag us into the dark world of the undead

Historian:  One of the most Frequently Asked Questions by UUs once they discover that there is an historical Unitarian presence in Transylvania is, “What is the Unitarian-Vampire connection?”  Vlad III, (1431–1477, or so they say), known by his patronymic name: Dracula and identified by Bram Stoker as a vampire, was born in Transylvania.  He was posthumously given the name Vlad the Impaler based upon his excessive cruelty to invading forces and political opponents. It should be noted that in his homeland Vlad was renowned as a hero for driving out the invading Ottoman Turks.  Of course one person’s sadist is another’s savior.  Dracula was not Unitarian, he was Catholic.  His father, Vlad II, in line with something out of Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code, was a member of the Order of the Dragon, which was founded to protect Roman Catholicism in Eastern Europe. 

Frances David, the founder of Transylvanian Unitarianism was born forty-years after Dracula’s reported death.  In a debate with a Trinitarian scholar, David was able to convince the Prince of Transylvania, of the correctness of the Unitarian belief and the Prince converted.  Transylvanian Unitarianism reached a pinnacle when it was granted legal recognition.  The Prince died two months later and was replaced with a Catholic.

There is no real evidence of a connection between Vampirism and Unitarianism.  If there were, one would expect a rather large Unitarian cathedral in Forks.

Reader:  The Apostle Paul, writes in Romans, Chapter 7, Verses 15 – 25, I am a slave to sin.  I really don’t understand myself.  I have the desire to do what is good, but I don’t do it.  What I end up doing is not the good I want to do, but what I hate to do.  What a wretched man I am.         

Mike: I've been told that it is best to include a personal story and a joke in every sermon.  There is a lot going on this morning, so I'm going for a short Two-fer, Okay>  Here we go...... I quit drinking booze......about 1500 times.  Check and double check.

 

Historian:  Zombies are found in one of two different states.  They are either benign or biting.  As benign they just mill around or amble aimlessly.  Biters are driven to a feeding frenzy by the proximity to human flesh.  Addiction is an apt comparison to zombie hunger.  The addict, unable to fully attain a sense of peace absent a fix, is driven to manic hunger by the proximity to the source of the addiction.  The fact that zombies do not require human flesh for their continued existence is another ironic link between zombieism and addiction.

 Mike:  At its root, I believe, addiction is a focusing disorder.  The mind of the addicted person does two things which perpetuate the addictive behavior.  Firstly, there is a linkage between the object of addition and the image of satisfaction or happiness.  Secondly, images of the object of addiction appear with increasing frequency.  In short, if you are an alcoholic, all you can think about is getting your next drink.  And, even though you are trying not to drink, if all you can think about is your next drink, sooner or later that thirst will find you in a vulnerable condition.

 The key to successful recovery from addiction requires the addict to open up to the full bounty that life has to offer.  Recovery, in my opinion requires not only saying "no" to some pattern of addiction, it  is also dependent upon the affirmation of the broad spectrum of life experiences.

Reader:  Similarly, Zombies are focused only on human flesh.  Nothing else seems to register.  Zombies have a single urgent need.  Like a broken camera lens, they have "zoomed-in" and can't seem to find a wider view.   

Mike:  Zombie hunger for human flesh creates apocalyptic possibilities.

Historian:  Apocalyptic stories generally approach their subject from one of two perspectives.  Either they look back to see where things went wrong, that is they turn the present into a fictional history so that we can learn from it as we move forward into the future, or they end up becoming a tale of rebuilding when everything has fallen to pieces casting doubt on the reliability of the customs, values and assumptions we take for granted.  History helps to inform our understanding of the present as we recognize current patterns with roots in the past.  Apocalyptic stories inform our understanding of the present by questioning cultural features we take for granted and examining destructive trends.

 Reader: There have been stories of an apocalypse in many, if not most, prehistorical peoples.  Flood stories are common.  A community may experience an apocalypse in a number of ways.  Wholesale destruction can come about through human agency such as invasion or persecution.  And natural causes such as disease, draught or fire may extinguish a people or their culture.

Worship Associate:  An apocalypse may also be personal.  Divorce, death of a loved-one and even the termination of long-term employment can all result in emotional devastation.  When a person is stripped of his or her primary relationships in the world he or she can end up wandering in a psychological desert.  In a wasteland there is nothing to eat or drink.

Anthem:  Hourglass an apocalyptically themed song written by Kevin Mallory and presented by Dennis Griffiths, Marilyn Mallory and Mike Mallory.  (Kevin’s Version) 

Historian: The Rev. Dr. Arvid Straube, minister of the First UU Church of San Diego in his sermon, “How Not to be a Zombie” claims that the zombie should be viewed as a carrier of repressed anxiety and rage.  He suggests that a zombie cure is found in the work Rene Brown by overcoming the fear of being vulnerable.

Mike:  I believe this reading of zombieism misses the mark.  Zombies aren’t angry, they’re hungry.

Zombies have been said to represent racial oppression, mindless consumerism and class struggle.  Yet, underlying this dialectical approach to zombieism is the personal meaning offered by the undead.  Zombies have died, yet continue to function with a kind of self-destructive momentum. 

 My missional efforts are primarily directed at humans infected with zombieism.  I will attempt to explain my approach using metaphors around food. 

The benign zombie, whether the condition is caused by a personal apocalypse or some gradual loss of meaning finds the world barren and tasteless.  They are not interested in feeding because their hunger is dormant and they cannot conceive of eating.

Reader:   The Jotter, a UU blogger went through a period of life she refers to as being a “Grief Zombie.”   She writes, “It is hard to write accurately what it feels like to be a grief zombie because the core of my zombie life is not having feelings. I say I try not to think about it, but what I mean is that when thoughts of sadness start floating in, an emotionless voice says, "Not yet." It is not conscious so much as zombie survival instinct kicking in. I can no more will myself to feel, to not feel, or to concentrate than I can will myself to cry.”

Mike:  On the other hand, Zombies in the biting stage are feeding, but only on a single irrational and self-destructive substance.  When a person looks out on the wondrous, rich spectrum of life and can only identify a single offering as important, whether it is praise, money, status, drugs, sex or attention, that person is infected with zombieism.

It is important to remember that zombies are relentless and infectious, yet they have their apologists.

Historian:  In his article, “What’s So Bad About Being A Zombie?” philosophy professor Dien Ho, points out that zombie life may not be that bad.  “They are largely indifferent to pain and suffering. Short of severe head injuries, zombies enjoy a type of immortality. Zombies do not care about most of the pesky concerns that fill our daily lives: they do not care about the weather, their appearance, their social status, their retirement plan, their morning commute, and petty office politics. They are not concerned about the threat of terrorism, floods, earthquakes, and hurricanes. . Indeed, if we focus on just these qualities, the life of a zombie resembles the ideal state of a disciplined Zen Buddhist monk who has managed to let go of his earthly concerns.” 

Reader:  The Rev. Dr. Cynthia L. Landrum presents a well-annotated hermeneutical overview of zombies in her sermon, “Sunday of the Living Dead.”  In the same vein as Ho’s article she quotes Scott Kenemore’s, The Zen of Zombie: Better Living Through the Undead,   “Zombies don’t worry. Not about themselves. Not about others. Not about climate change. Nothing. Zombies have “enough” of what they need in life (with the exception of living brains). Yet are, at the same time, ‘driven’ with a passion and intensity that any CEO or motivational speaker would envy. Zombies don’t stop. Zombies don’t rest. And yet, zombies are at peace with this ceaselessness. You can be too.”

Mike:  I approach a cure to zombieism as though it were an eating disorder using the disease model rather than a monster model.  Of course zombies are not necessarily eager to be cured.

Historian:  Aristotle said that we are wise to prefer things in measure to things in excess.  In other words, he advocated moderation in all things.

Reader:  Nutritionists advocate a balanced diet, which is a diet consisting of adequate amounts of all the necessary nutrients required for healthy growth and activity.  Avoid the kind of processed reality offered by the worst of the mass media.

Mike:  The cure for zombieism requires that we take in adequate nutrition from life, but avoid binging.  Cultivating varied interests is helpful in assessing whether any particular hunger is out of balance.

Historian:  The dense-as-lead Process Theologian, Alfred North Whitehead, wrote that “God” is the appetite for good. 

Reader:   Cartoons depicting a character in the midst of discernment with an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other each whispering in an ear create a similar image.

 Mike:  I have experiencial resonance with Whitehead’s view.  I have, I believe we all have, an inner voice urging us toward a path of wisdom.  Yet, like the cartoon character, that voice is often just a whisper.

 

In the case of the benign zombie, the voice is inaudible.  In the case of the biting zombie, the voice is drown-out by an overpowering single-focused urge. 

When we honor our interests with attention they grow; when neglected they atrophy and die.  In my own life I have developed a practice of varied interests.  I intentionally devote attention to the arts, music reading and writing.  On average I read over an hour each day, alternating between fiction and non-fiction.  I pay attention to my relationships in my household, my family and my community.  I literally and figuratively enjoy the tastes of a well-designed meal.  Life is a participatory activity. 

In service to the life of others, I rely on the strategies of delight and insight.  Delight is the appreciation and gratitude for the world.  Insight is the appreciation and acceptance of  the way we fit into the world.

 Sharing delight is a way to proclaim the joyful nourishment of life.  I remain hopeful that  by sharing insights I will amplify the call to balance and moderation, which wisdom is already whispering in your ear.

 The Universalist side of our faith makes a claim that everyone is saved.  I am “this-worldly” and understand Universalism to say that we have the power here-and-now to save each other, even from a Zombie infection.

 My Universalism is a reminder of our interdependence.  I remain vulnerable.  There are times when I can help to save and times when I need saving.

 Reader:  In last year’s Easter sermon, “The Zombie Apocalypse & Resurrection,” the Rev. Martin Lavanhar of the All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma claimed a linkage between the presence of zombies in pop culture and the rise of “senseless consumerism” and “relentless technology”.

 

Mike:   In that sermon, the Rev. Lavanhar presents an excellent account of personal resurrection.  “Resurrection” occurs, he says, “When new life emerges from what once was dead.”  Examples from his congregation, and from ours, include a widow, resigned to a life without romance, finding a partner and an alcoholic celebrating the anniversary of his sobriety.

 

We all know what it is like to be brought back into life.  Our senses awaken in fresh delight.  We are again receptive to the creative force of all existence.

 

Please rise joyfully in body or spirit and sing Hymn No. 298 “Wake Now My Senses”

During this song I would invite anyone who feels infected with Zombieism to come forward for an altar call and I will join you in prayer.

Benediction

Life is a banquet.  Come, have a seat at the Welcome Table.

Closing Song.

            Carry the Flame of Peace and Love (3x) Until we meet again.

 

5/15/14

Mike Mallory

Are Genetically Engineered Foods Safe?

More personally, do I, as a non-scientist, intend to eat genetically engineered foods?  I would like to make this decision based upon current scientific thinking.  Unfortunately, as is the case with Climate Change, there are websites claiming scientific credentials with contradictory claims.  Given the confusion over the scientific rigor of the claims, it is easy, falling into conformational bias, to simply believe those claims that are most aligned with preexisting beliefs or values.   I am resisting the urge to do just that and have been trying to sort out this politicized scientific debate.  I have tried to avoid sites uploaded by either agricultural concerns with a stake in potential profits or anti-GMA sites that appeared to be presenting an argument rather than the science of it all.

 

A preliminary question might inquire into identifying genetically engineered foods already on the shelves.  There are claims that 80% of the packaged food on grocery shelves is genetically engineered.  These claims are misleading.  Most processed food contains some sugar and most sugar beets and field corn from which high fructose corn syrup are derived from genetically engineered sugar beets and corn.  Source and Source.  The “80%” claim may be misleading because the sources I have cited report that in the case of sugar, the sequence with the artificially engineered nucleotides is broken down or eliminated in the refinement process (or perhaps the digestive process, which is more problematic for me).  The actual components of natural and genetically engineered DNA are the same.  If the sequences are broken down into their component parts, nothing novel is ingested.

 

There are some genetically engineered whole foods, including varieties of papaya, sweet corn and some squashes.  Furthermore, I presume that as the agriculture industry becomes more experienced with genetic engineering, the selection of genetically engineered foods will increase accordingly.

 

Preparing for the new agriscape, I try to not to let my Liberal Aversion to New Technology control my choices.   On the other hand I am skeptical of “progress” promoted by industry.  Industry has historically disregarded the public commons.  Capitalism has no mechanism to prevent pollution, exploitation of resources or otherwise consider  long-term negative consequences of industrial action.  And even if we imagine a fully responsible industrial decision there is the problem of unintended consequences.

 

Genes are composed of DNA strands. DNA informs the production of proteins. When DNA is genetically engineered, the DNA of an organism will make new or different proteins and/or suspend production of other proteins previously manufactured by the non-engineered organism. Proteins, in turn, play critical roles in biologic function. Proteins have required roles in the creating and maintaining structures and regulating the function of tissues and organs. When you change the DNA, the proteins are changed and the organism is modified.



The promise of genetically engineered agriculture is that crops can be modified so that plants are more disease resistant, more pest resistant, more drought resistant, more resistant to rot after harvest and can produce a higher crop yield. The benefits might include a more abundant and more stable more food supply. These benefits could be more apparent in less developed areas which tend to have more marginal nutrition.

The concerns about genetically engineered organisms include the introduction of toxicity or allergens in the food supply, vertical contamination of the artificial DNA into the naturally occurring populations of the same species and horizontal contamination of the artificial DNA into the other species.



It is beyond the province of science to confirm that genetically engineered foods are safe. Scientific testing is limited to looking for problems, but the absence of an identified problem is not a conclusive finding of safety. It is always possible that the problems have just not been identified. The limits of the scientific method suggest two conclusions. First, it is unreasonable to demand that science prove GMOs are safe. Secondly, the fact that problems have not been identified does not mean they do not exist.



A complicating factor in this discussion is the fact that genes do not necessarily have a one-to-one correspondence with a specific biologic feature.  A single gene may affect more than one characteristic of an organism and often genes work in combination with each other.  This means that even when a gene is isolated as affecting pest resistance, there may be other functions of that gene acting alone or in concert with other genes that remain unknown.

 

Every genetic manipulation creates a novel set of biologic questions.  This means that every genetic change must be studied independently.  The fact that a genetic manipulation may have unintended consequences beyond the specific objective and that some of these unintended consequences may only surface as a result of long-term studies means that even those Genetically Modified Foods deemed safe after short-term studies need to be followed looking for clues as to more subtle and long-term differences.

 

In Washington State there is an initiative on the ballot that would require labeling.  If the people of Washington vote to include genetic information on some food packaging because the information is material to their consuming decisions because of a host of factors including safety, nutrition and market centralization, then the food industry will have to adapt and make those disclosures.  I am concerned, however, about the inconsistencies in the global market.  I believe it would be in the best interest of Washington, as a stakeholder in international trade, to push for labeling uniformity in global trade.  It seems onerous for our agri-business, if they must adjust the labeling based on every destination market.  I would be a louder voice for labeling, if the genetic engineering was taking place in Uzbekistan rather than Creve Coeur, Missouri.

 

There are environmental concerns independent of human consumption.  Vertical Contamination has already occurred in Oregon wheat and caused severe economic problems. The consequences of Horizontal Contamination are difficult to assess.  However, birds, rodents, insects and bacteria are all regularly interacting with genetically modified organisms.  It may be that the chances of horizontal contamination with animals or even insects are miniscule.  However, the risk seems higher with regard to bacteria or even a virus.  In the non-food sector genetically modified bacteria could help with Climate Change.  It doesn’t stretch the facts much to imagine that a bacteria with some artificial protein could worsen Climate Change.  I believe that it is difficult to assess the risks.  Some have blamed the Bee Colony Collapse on genetically modified organisms, although the cause of that problem may be a different unintended consequence of agri-business pesticide development. 

 

In a situation such as this I believe the Precautionary Principle is an appropriate standard for setting policy.  Unfortunately, given the difficulty of risk assessment, application of the principle leads to widely divergent results.  A reasonable policy response would require  that environmental as well as human consumption studies are required for each and every genetically modified organism taken outside the laboratory.

 

A requirement that all genetically modified organisms are sterile and cannot replicate is sensible, but leads to a concern about market control.  Sterile crops require farmers to purchase new seeds every year from the patent holder.  The ultimate result of the requirement of sterility is that the food supply of the consuming nations becomes dependent upon a limited number of agri-businesses, such as Monsanto, holding patents on genetically engineered crops.  A balancing policy would be to require patent-holders to pay for the pre-release studies and the necessary follow-up studies as well as any remedial action in the event of a problem in the same way that industries are responsible for chemical pollution in the event of a spill.  This policy may result in higher prices for genetically modified foods, but the higher price may be closer to the public cost of the technology.

 

One argument used by some is that genetic engineering is the same as selective breeding which is publically accepted.  First, selective breeding has led to toxic crops, so the argument cannot reassure us of the safety of genetic engineering.  Secondly, selective breeding can only enhance the inherent capability of the organism in question, while genetic engineering is capable of creating entirely new characteristics.  There is a difference in kind between selective breeding and genetic engineering.

 

To conclude, I believe that there is no scientific reason to assume that currently available genetically modified food products are not safe.  I have been and will continue to consume foods that are genetically engineered.  That being said, I also believe that long-term studies should be carried out to screen for more subtle or delayed problems.  Each new instance of genetic engineering must be independently studied.  Costs and responsibility for precautions should be borne by patent holders.  Studies should monitor environmental contamination as well as human health concerns.  The issue of labeling is best addressed with a global standard.

 

The scientific voice I find most compelling in this politicized debate is the Union of Concerned Scientists. (Another UCS page).  The UCS has been accused of being unscientifically cautious, but given the uncertain risk-assessment I find their voice responsible rather than reactionary.

Mike Mallory
10/14/13

 

Further reading:

Sites claiming GMOs are safe enough-

 

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2012/09/are_gmo_foods_safe_opponents_are_skewing_the_science_to_scare_people_.html

 

http://arstechnica.com/science/2013/10/what-science-tells-us-about-the-safety-of-genetically-modified-foods/

 

http://www.who.int/foodsafety/publications/biotech/20questions/en/

 

http://www.nepadbiosafety.net/subjects/food-safety/safety-issues

 

Sites claiming GMOs are not safe enough –

 

http://chriskresser.com/are-gmos-safe

 

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/05/28/gmo-dangers.aspx

 

http://www.aaemonline.org/gmopost.html

 

http://www.i-sis.org.uk/Why_GMOs_Can_Never_be_Safe.php

 

Activating Language

a review of Fingerprints of Fire....Footprints of Peace: a Spiritual Manifesto from a Jesus Perspective by Noel Moules (Circle Books, 2012), by Mike Mallory

Noel Moules, a founding member of the Anabaptist Network UK, writes from a liberal Christian perspective.  He is inclusive in his theology, conveys a reassuring sense of knowledge about the subject and is a gentle yet persistent story-teller.  The text is well footnoted and the author concludes with a glossary that includes Hebrew, Greek and Sanskrit terms.  The glossary is helpful because Moules pressures his language to submit to his views that scripture is social gospel.

The book focuses on the teachings of Jesus rather than Christology or the worship of His divinity.  The readership likely to gain the most out of this work is activists looking for a deeper religious or spiritual grounding for their work.  This book conveys both a passion for taking up the call of social justice and a reading of the New Testament that becomes a manifesto for peace.

"Hope" and "Shalom" are two of the central notions of this book.  Like other terms examined by Moules, he rejects a sentimental reading in favour of a description of behaviors constituting an active quest for peace.  "Shalom," he claims is a verb masquerading as a noun.  While usually translated as "peace," this book asks us to understand the term as though it is a call from Jesus, the Justice-Maker, to join Him in the struggle for a world built on the harmonious wholeness implied by values such as compassion, respect and even love.  Similarly he gives depth to the word "hope."  "Hope" becomes more than wishful thinking, it is the unshakable vision in the ultimate triumph of the salvation of Shalom and our role in creating the City upon the Hill.  With his persistent language shifting, Moules' New Testament becomes not just a manifesto for peace, but for peace-making.

This book is more than one Christian writing for another.  The book is replete with quotations from most religious traditions.  I am not a Christian, not even a theist in any conventional sense.  But I am concerned about social and economic justice and I found the book both inspiring and informative about the message of Jesus as it relates to these important issues.  While I do not share a religious theology I am a member of a Unitarian Universalist congregation and felt a included by his addition of the Unitarian Universalist symbol, the Flaming Chalice in his diagram on page 186.

And while the features of the book discussed above are worthy and justify publication, there is more.  What I liked most about this book was the patient retelling of the parables and sayings of Jesus.  To be honest, I have never felt the Bible was all that interesting, but the New Testament in Moules' telling is fresh, exciting and relevant.  I have never heard his interpretation of turning the other cheek before.  Moules turns the parable from stoic pacifism into a lesson on the psychological subversion of power. 

At the end of the book I was left wishing for more.  What I wanted was a complete Noel Moules compendium of the Bible.  A book that would rest the Bible from those who would use it as an excuse for an oppressive status quo and allow it be become a testament of speaking truth to power.

5/29/13

Mike Mallory

The Colonial Self

A.  The Subjective.

The official line holds that I am an individual, a one, a singularity, that which is incapable of division.  The official line is so ingrained and taken for granted that any other perspective is marginalized.  The promise of the official line is that no matter how fractured or self-contradictory I am, there is path or therapeutic response leading toward wholeness, integrity, a unity that synthesizes all inconsistencies into a coherent wholeness.

I have at long last come to doubt the official line.  I have abandoned hope that some "true self" will arise within me, as though I should suddenly be endowed with a skill like juggling, tight-rope walking or solving for f(x) I did not heretofore possess.  Without the promise of resolution, I am resigned to accept a condition of multiplicity, of tension unresolved, of simultaneously saving and losing my cake.  At one and the same time I feel obliged to work late and “catch-up" and also to leave early and relax at home, to find a buck or two to give the panhandler at the freeway exit and also to selfishly horde and preserve every dollar for my own use, to answer truthfully as questions arise and also to hide behind polite prevarication.

And it is not as though I was of two minds; it is as though I am cluster-minded, as though I am crowd-sourced, poll-driven, building an inner consensus, forming parliamentary coalitions, an insecurity council sometimes as random as a sample of YouTube comments.

B. The Objective.

The two prevailing theories that seek to explain the development of multi-celled organisms uses the symbiosis model or colony model ¹.  In symbiosis two or more different organisms each helping and feeding off the other in some way develop an ever closer relationship until at some point they are treated as one organism.   Under the colony theory, clusters of identical cells combine into a single mass for some benefit such as protection or grazing.  Given enough time the different cells within the cluster develop or evolve specialization, differentiation and division of labor so that some cells become feet and some become hands and one day the cluster of cells can climb a tree.

At our biologic foundation we are not a single cell that grew up to be a complex humanoid.  We are formed from a mob, a collection, a committee, a conglomeration of identical and symbiotic cells.

There are nine times as many microbial organisms in and on the human body as there are human cells.²   Bacteria and fungus are much smaller than human cells and our human microbiome amounts to only 1-3% of a human body by weight.  The vast majority of the alien organisms inhabiting the human body are beneficial. Some are needed for digestion; they perform functions such as breaking down carbohydrates that would be otherwise indigestible.  Farts are not of our making.  They are the gaseous by-product of bacterial metabolism.

The human body has evolved to be inhabited, always was inhabited, infested, populated and colonized by the non-human.  Encapsulated within almost every human cell are one or more mitochondria: bladder shaped entities suspended in perfect symbiosis.³  From the human perspective mitochondria serve us by creating adenosine triphosphate (ATP), molecular chemical energy,  usable by the cell.  Humans depend upon mitochondria.  From the mitochondrion point-of-view, they are served by humans who provide the oxygen and glucose upon which the mitochondria feed.  Humans have developed lungs, guts, hunger and a bacterial environment just so that the mitochondria can be supplied with nutrients.

That mitochondria, though co-dependent, are in the end different from humans seems clear when we consider:

1)         Mitochondria act as cells within cells dividing in self-replication;
2)         Mitochondria have their own genome;
3)         Mitochondria DNA resembles bacterial DNA, not human DNA; and
4)         Mitochondria are evolving independently from humans;

We are not infected with mitochondria as infants playing on a dirty floor.  Mitochondria are there at the beginning, providing the female egg with the energy necessary for reproduction.

C.  The Emergent.

Molecules are formed by combining atoms in a new relationship.  Molecular relationships are a level of complexity that emerge out of the lower level atomic complexity.  Just so, life emerges, arises, animates from the lower level molecular complexity.

Where does consciousness come from?  It emerges out of biologic complexity, but what biology.  Descartes put the seat of consciousness in the pineal gland, a small trans-hemispheric, endocrine gland in the vertebrate brain.  Some traditions seat consciousness in the gut or bowels.

Today most assume that consciousness is a transcendent pattern emerging out the neural activity in the brain.  Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging maps or correlates certain kinds of cognition with specific areas of the brain.   But beware the Post Hoc Egro Propter Hoc; correlation does not imply causation.

Does consciousness cause the brain to fire as it does, or does the brain cause experience as it is?  Some experiments suggest that brain is as much as seven seconds ahead of consciousness, ⁴ that consciousness is just awareness of activity, that consciousness records but is not the creative force we imagine.  According to these experiments we are simply along for the ride.

D.        The Communal.

I approach the synthesis of this reverie with reluctance, both because I find it to be a shock to my own self-importance and because I know the weight of my conclusion will alight as a feather on balance with the ponderous assumptions about our own existence.  The explanation for a reality that includes:

1.    A biological foundation rooted in a colony of members working with dissimilar life forms in a symbiotic relationship,

2.    A mental experience which presents more as a plurality than a unity, and

3.    A correlation between nerve cell activity and consciousness,

is, I am forced to conclude, that I do not experience human consciousness, I experience mitochondrial consciousness.  I am agnostic about whether humans are conscious or not. 

I suggest that -

1.    The multi-perspectival nature of consciousness is explained by the fact that there are trillions of mitochondria participating in the collective consciousness.⁵

2.    The source of the energy mapped by Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging is the activity of the neuronal mitochondria.

3.    Mitochondria are captive passengers in the human organism and it would make sense than their consciousness would lag seven seconds behind host-made decision making.

4.    While we cannot help but to identify with the human host, we are essentially witnesses to the primary action and lack the agency to express much more than the Existential Response made central in the work of Viktor Frankl.⁶

The world we inhabit is a secondary world of the passive witnesses to the unfolding history of humanity.  The identification with the bi-pedal humanoid is an illusion.  We may scream and shout about absurdities and misdirection of human existence, but there is little evidence that our human hosts are listening.

5/23/13

Mike Mallory

1.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multicellular_organism

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_microbiome

3.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitochondrion

4.http://exploringthemind.com/the-mind/brain-scans-can-reveal-your-decisions-7-seconds-before-you-decide

5.  http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2002/AniciaNdabahaliye2.shtml (There are about 100,000,000 neurons in the brain.) http://www.jci.org/articles/view/17741 (Neurons may contain thousands of mitochondria.)

6.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Frankl

Grandpa Moments

Visiting my son and his family I have had a few "Grandpa Moments."  At one point I was watching Louisville beat Duke.  My daughter-in-law's mother is a professor at Duke so we had some loyalty there.  During the game my eight year old granddaughter came into the living room with a stuffed animal and a baby bottle.  She said the little dog needed to be fed.  I dutifully cradled the toy dog and put the bottle to his mouth as I watched the game.  A few trips back and forth across the court passed and I realized I was only one in the living room and I still had this stuffed animal in my arms and was holding a baby bottle to it's mouth.......

Despite my best efforts I ended up with my two and a half year old grandson when he had a messy diaper.  I took responsibility for changing him.  Sometimes fortune smiles on the oblivious and, much to the amusement of everyone else,  when I put another diaper on him, I apparently put it on inside out.  This simple, but unintentional act, should excuse me from diaper duty the rest of the trip.

A Trapper's Journal (Fiction - Historical)

May 15, 1834.   My name is Richard Gaulin,   I come from Burlington, Vermont.   I am  28 years old and on my way to the Great Rocky Mountains where I hope to make a respectable living selling pelts to furriers.   I make this first entry on a train bound for Chicago.  I boarded the train in Syracuse, New York where I bought this journal on a lark.  I grew up on a farm, but my father insisted I attend school and I finished the sixth grade so I figure I can write fair enough to keep a journal.  From Chicago I shall travel by river to the Mississippi and then up the Missouri past Omaha, Nebraska.  Eventually I will be forced to give up the boat for a coach on the last leg of the trip to Butte, Montana.  I hear there are entire mountains teaming with beaver, mink and ermine waiting for someone like me    My baggage includes a Springfield rifle, traps, snares, knives, an axe and other assorted tools. I have enough money saved to buy a horse when I get to Butte.

Oct 18, 1834 - My cabin is near enough finished to protect me from the elements.  It may only have one room and a dirt floor, but I have built a fireplace out of rock from a near-by creek to provide warmth this coming winter. 

June 14, 1835 - Since my arrival on this mountain I have done well in my estimation, bringing many pelts into Butte.  I was able to purchase a Hall Breech loading carbine and a mule.   The winter was more severe than I had contemplated.  I might have starved to death if I had not shot a bear, early out of hibernation, the first week of March.

Sept. 9, 1836 - A band of Blackfoot Indians camped nearby.  We got to trading and I have come away with a wife.  I traded her father my Remington, two knives and several pelts.  Her name to my ears sounds like Con'ney-aghtal; I call her Connie.  She does not understand English and I do not know her language.   She is good with a knife and can skin any animal, but she hasn't really taken to becoming my wife.  I hope she doesn't kill me in my sleep.

April 7, 1837 - Connie is Pregnant.

Sept. 4, 1837 - Connie gave birth in the cabin to a son.  I named him Noble.

Feb. 20, 1839 - Connie is pregnant again.

Aug. 4, 1839 - Connie died in childbirth.  The unborn child died with her.  They are buried behind the cabin.    I have sent Noble to stay with my sister in Vermont.

June 8, 1840 - I am told that the market for beaver pelts has collapsed.  People prefer hats made of silk.  It will be hard to buy enough provisions with the money I earned for the pelts.

Feb. 1841 - Leg broke.  Firewood gone.

Ado's Grief (Flash Fiction - Biblical Series)

Ado‘s husband was a good and righteous man.  She was obedient, not only out of duty, but respect, as well.  She kept his house and bore him children.  They were daughters, not sons, but had brought worthy husbands into the family.  They enjoyed a rewarding life and a comfortable status in the community.

Now, as she walked through the desert by the Dead Sea with all the valuables she could carry, she feared the loss of that happiness.  Yesterday, Lot, sometimes given to religious excess had invited two strangers into their home.  Ado had made them comfortable and provided both food and drink. Curiously, Lot had been deferential to the pair and went so far as to prostrate himself before their feet.

Trouble started in the night when a pack of drunken young men staggered up to the front of the house and begin to taunt the strangers.  Their bawdy shouts demanded that the strangers come out and provide the kind of pleasure that men give to each other.

The strangers were very offended and agitated by the ruckus and went to the front of the house.  A flash of light filled the street.  The brightness was so intense that the crowd stumbled around unable to see.

Ado sensed something frightening about the strangers.  They had eyes as deep as the infinite sky.  The strangers bade Lot join them in a sitting room.  Ado could not make out the words but occasionally heard Lot’s raised and pleading voice. 

Lot finally emerged with the strangers and told Ado to gather up their coin, best fabric and other valuables as they were fleeing Sodom for the nearby town of Bela.  “Fleeing?”  “Why would we leave, husband?” Ado cried.  She wailed and she screamed, but Lot was steadfast in his demand saying only that there was a prophecy of doom.  She went upstairs to pack, while Lot went to find their daughters.

When Lot returned, he was followed his tearful daughters, but not their husbands.  Ado protested that it was wrong for Lot to tear apart the households of their daughters.  Lot listened only to the strangers.  Ado was confused and frustrated, but bent to gather up the family wealth.

The burden was heavy and the ground was already hot when she looked up ahead to see Lot entering the gates to Bela.  The strangers remained outside the town and both turned back toward Sodom raising their arms heavenward and started to pray.  They were speaking in a tongue unfamiliar to Ado and looked to her as foreign as any person could possibly be.  One of them barked at her, “Don’t look back!”

Then she saw the reflected lights of explosions illuminate the city-walls of Bela.  The lights were followed immediately by rolling concussions that caused dust to fly from the earth.  She was afraid.  She was worried about her family and friends left behind.  She turned to face Sodom.  She was bombarded with a vision of fire raining from the sky, explosions in the city, death and destruction.  The valuables fell from her arms which  she raised in a protective stance.  She was horrified, but could not turn away.  Her heart was filled with the pain and misery of the Sodomites she loved.  She thought of the shopkeepers, the children and the women with whom she would gossip beside the well and she started to cry.  Tears streamed down her face and she could taste their salty outrage.  The salty grief sank deeper and deeper into her soul until, in the end, it totally consumed her.

 

Mike Mallory