Jeff Rasley

My own experiences in the wild rank in value just behind the birth of my children, my wedding, and the memorial services and graduations I__e attended. I am permanently affected by those solitary encounters with land, sky, and water, and all that__ contained within. I don__ really know if I am a better person because of them, but I am happier for them." Letters, The American Scholar, Autumn 2016

My commitment is to urge us all toward moderation and good will toward fellow citizens. If we can set aside unworthy emotions that deepen our political divide, concentrate on finding solutions to the problems our country and communities face, we can then work toward a brighter future with less rancor but firm in our purpose. Or, we can feed our primitive fight or flight impulse by lashing out in social media and then duck into our silos. If we do that, the unhealthy polarization of the time of Trump will get even worse.

Shamans enter the dream world of sub-consciousness to wrestle with demons and rally angels. They return with tales of their encounters which become the myths and legends of their communities.

The story of John Ritter illustrates what it means to be a hero and how we treat our heroes. When we idealize real people they lose their humanity. They are turned into idols that we worship and may later want to destroy. Heroes are transformed from conscious-feeling fellow homo sapiens into characters in our stories. The greatest hero-characters will become legends or even mythic characters. We might think we know them, but when they are idolized they become more like treasured memories, existing in our minds as archetypal characters, rather than living-breathing human beings with thoughts and feelings of their own.

Do you prefer to be with people who glow with love and compassion or those who burn with anger fueled by religious doctrine or political ideology?