Category: Jesus - Bryan William Brickner

We the People and Others: What Would Jesus Do… Deport the Catholics?

3/1/2018

Romans 12:17-21, The Book of the Is (page 40)

Reductio ad absurdum

Sure, the Jesus reference in the title is absurd, but there are defining similarities between Jesus and the Dreamers: because of their parents, both were born somewhere and then live somewhere else.

A Roman Immigration Officer might have asked Jesus some interesting questions, like:
“Who is your father?”
“Immaculate conception?”
“Where is your papyrus showing a Bethlehem birth?"
“You say ‘Three Wise Men’ were witnesses?”
“And what kind of work are you doing in Nazareth these days?”

Or one could read Romans for a Jesus-inspired Christ-like teaching that a constitutional We the People might try to enact; others, Martin Luther for example, have found inspiration and reverence in Paul’s counsel.

There is also the parable Jesus told about The Good Samaritan: this parable supports The Great Commandment (how one should live).

So what would Jesus do?

The teachings of Jesus are a political goal not represented by usurpation. Something like “The Good ‘Merican,” given the Great Commandment, seems the logical goal of a Christian United States of America. By representing We the People in Congress according to numbers, that is, by the law, we would find out what Jesus-inspired ‘Mericans would do … good and/or otherwise.

*Next Up: 9 April and Usurpation Day 2018, Ex Falso Quodlibet / From a Falsehood, Anything (Follows).

Posted by Bryan W. Brickner

2020 Update: Movement

2/1/2018

Movement 2020

Movement is a noun.

1. An act of changing physical location or position or of having this changed.

2. A group of people working together to advance their shared political, social and artistic values.

*Next Up: A commentary on 1 March, We the People and Others: What Would Jesus Do… Deport the Catholics?

Posted by Bryan W. Brickner

Thereat: Gus Kotka and Johnny Reb, On Our Way Johnny Rebs

12/3/2017

Gus Kotka and Johnny Reb Thereat Camped

X of XIII

“Nice landing Gus.”
“Quite a trip.”
“Quite.”
“Was that Gettysburg we flew over?”
“Right.”
“You said something, but I couldn’t hear you over the noise.”
“Music.”
“If you say so.”
“You showed some footwork.”
“All that marching Reb.”
“The music varies Gus.”
“Well there’s something to look forward to.”
“I was pointing to the Gettysburg ‘fish hook.’”
“Saw that: formidable.”
“And then Washington DC.”
“Inspiring.”
“Up the Potomac …”
“We passed Harper’s Ferry.”
“… And to Shepherdstown.”
“The Johnnies? – Where are they Reb?”
“Camped a hundred yards over the tree-line.”
“Heard that before.”
“You ready Yank?”
“Sure … just jesting to calm down.”
“Say when.”
“When.”
“This way …”

Gus Kotka and Johnny Reb Thereat Unknowns

“… Here Gus.”
“Camped?”
“Permanently.”
“Reb?”
“Sorry.”
“An Unknown.”
“Many actually.”
“There are people over there.”
“This is a memorial service.”
“Can they see us?”
“They’re not looking.”
“What if they did?”
“If they look, it’s not likely they’ll see.”
“Some see?”
“Some.”
“Oh.”
“How about you: did you see spirits Gus?”
“What kind of question is that?”
“What kind of answer is that?”
“Not a very good one.”
“Sounds a little like maybe.”
“Maybe … Shepherdstown is near Sharpsburg.”
“Across the Potomac, about two miles.”
“Soldiers buried here from Antietam?”
“There are.”
“Lots of Rebs Reb.”
“Parts of us.”
“Us?”
“What’s a Reb without a Yank?”
“Alive.”
“Interesting.”

Gus Kotka and Johnny Reb Thereat In-Formation

“You look to be in-formation.”
“Especially up left.”
“Men at parade rest.”
“Right.”
“Are these flags always up?”
“No, just for the memorial.”
“Feels nice, the remembrance.”
“Not everyone would agree.”
“Why?”
“Contentious.”
“Why?”
“You tell me.”
“I don’t know.”
“What do you see?”
“‘Mericans.”
“Most just see flags.”
“Christians.”
“What else?”
“Looks like an American and Confederate flag at the base of that monument.”
“I see them.”
“Let’s go there.”
“After you Yank.”

*Next Up: Sunday 10 December and Thereat part XI, Gus Kotka and Johnny Reb On Our Way Memories.

Posted by Bryan W. Brickner

Jesus of Nazareth, Miracles and Faith in Arendt Footnotes #9

11/21/2017

Arendt Footnotes #9

The power of faith was the crux of the argument between Martin Luther and Rome. In this passage and footnotes from Arendt’s The Human Condition, the teacher (didaskalos) Jesus of Nazareth is honored; Arendt compares the insights of Jesus to that of Socrates: Socrates for teaching “the possibilities of thought” and Jesus for teaching that “action is, in fact, the one miracle-working faculty of man.” Arendt highlights scripture, as Luther did, to show that Jesus taught a human power (faculty) “to perform miracles in faith.”

Hannah Arendt
The Human Condition
Section 34: Unpredictability And The Power Of Promise
(246-7)

“In the language of natural science, it is the ‘infinite improbability which occurs regularly.’ Action is, in fact, the one miracle-working faculty of man, as Jesus of Nazareth, whose insights into this faculty can be compared in their originality and unprecedentedness with Socrates’ insights into the possibilities of thought, must have known very well when he likened the power to forgive to the more general power of performing miracles, putting both on the same level and within the reach of man. (footnote #84)”

Footnote 84
“Cf. the quotations given in n. 77. Jesus himself saw the human root of this power to perform miracles in faith – which we leave out of our considerations. In our context, the only point that matters is that the power to perform miracles is not considered to be divine – faith will move mountains and faith will forgive, the one is no less a miracle than the other, and the reply of the apostles when Jesus demanded of them to forgive seven times in a day was: ‘Lord, increase our faith.’”

Footnote 77
“Matt. 18:35; cf. Mark 11:25; ‘And when ye stand praying, forgive, … that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.’ Or: ‘If ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses’ (Matt. 6:14-15). In all these instances, the power to forgive is primarily a human power: God forgives ‘us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.’”

*Next Up: Sunday 26 November and Thereat part IX, Gus Kotka and Johnny Reb On Our Way Now.

Posted by Bryan W. Brickner

2020: The Four Orders of Reality in a Baudrillardian Nativity

7/12/2017

The Immaculate Preconception

Simulations, Jean Baudrillard (1983)
Translated by Paul Foss, Paul Patton and Philip Beitchman
“The Precession of Simulacra,” pages 11-12

This would be the successive phases of the image:
            -it is the reflection of a basic reality
            -it masks and perverts a basic reality
            -it masks the absence of a basic reality
            -it bears no relation to any reality whatever: it is its own pure simulacrum.

In the first case, the image is a good appearance – the representation is of the order of sacrament. In the second, it is an evil appearance – of the order of malefice [evil enchantment]. In the third, it plays at being an appearance – it is of the order of sorcery. In the fourth, it is no longer in the order of appearance at all, but of simulation.

Baudrillard was harder to explain before our current political situation: now the first through fourth orders of the image (this is the “I m age” / ego) can be clearly discerned.

Imagine “We the People” as an image.

Is “We the People” a first order reality, one based on the constitutional representation ratio found in Article 1? Or is “We the People” a simulation of the usurpation and therefore a fake representation?

Perhaps the nativity scene is a useful image for understanding Baudrillard’s four orders. To begin with, to understand there is a baby Jesus missing, one has to know of the first order, of a complete Jesus nativity. Take Aspasia or Socrates, for example, individuals living 400 years before Jesus; they would have difficulty imagining the setting; even more difficult, meaning for the bottomless manger, absent baby Jesus and the third wise man represented as an ass. A Socrates might also see the angel more as a guiding spirit, a daemon, more than we allow ourselves to see directing signs and spirits.

Baudrillard also noted, to quote in paraphrase, that nostalgia assumes its full meaning when the real is no longer what it used to be.

We the People: to be or not to be first or fourth order? – To be constitutionally real or constitutionally fake?

The answer is on the horizon we call now.

*Next Up: Wednesday 19 July and a 2020: In High Spirits, a Seven-Twenty Preamble.

Posted by Bryan W. Brickner

2020: Jesus was poor and said a few things about being rich

7/5/2017

Beijing 1879

Jesus, son of Mary, was a poor man overflowing with riches.

The Gospels, in Matthew, Mark and Luke, report Jesus being asked by a rich man what actions lead to eternal life.

Follow the commandments Jesus said.

The rich man said he did: what else?

Sell all your possessions and follow me Jesus said.

The rich man was distraught, the disciples confused.

Jesus continued: How hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God / Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God.

The disciples asked: Who can be saved?

What is impossible with man is possible with God said Jesus.

Possible.

Jews, Catholics, Muslims and Protestants agree; Jesus was a teacher of being rich in things other than worldly riches: someone poor in materialism, yet rich in material.

Citizens gathered in a US House according to numbers would represent our beliefs ~ the beliefs of We the People, poor and otherwise.

*Next Up: Wednesday 12 July and a 2020: The Four Orders of Reality in a Baudrillardian Nativity.

Posted by Bryan W. Brickner

Republican Values: Gus Kotka and Johnny Reb On Our Way Er

2/19/2017

Johnny Reb and Gus Kotka OOW Resurrection

Part 9 of 13

“It’s a story Gus.”
“Great!”
“Shall we walk and talk?”
“On our way time ‘eh?”
“Time.”
“Okay – but what’s Er?”
“A soldier.”
“So what did Er do?”
“Lots.”
“Like what?”
“Resurrection.”
“Rise again?”
“So sayeth Plato.”
“Plato ends The Republic with a resurrection story?”
“Plato does.”
“What happened?”
“There was a battle and Er fell on the field.”
“Okay.”
“Ten days later they find the battlefield.”
“Yikes.”
“Right, ’cept Er’s body is not decayed.”
“Irrational.”
“Plato then says that two days later, while on the funeral pyre, Er comes back to life.”
“Jesus.”

Gus Kotka and Johnny Reb OOW Afterlife

“Right Yank.”
“But before Jesus.”
“By 350 years.”
“That’s like from Columbus to our time Johnny.”
“True.”
“Does Er just scare ‘em?”
“He tells the people of his soul’s journey.”
“To where?”
“Afterlife.”
“The dead?”
“Yes, and the newly to be born.”
“Both?”
“It’s a long journey Gus.”
“What was Plato up to Johnny?”
“Order again.”
“So Er saw Judgement Day.”
“Others, not his.”
“Okay: so?”
“It was a big deal to Plato.”
“Why?”

Gus Kotka and Johnny Reb OOW Necessity

“Cosmos.”
“Explaining good government wasn’t enough.”
“Plato wanted to explain it all.”
“Plato wanted to replace Athena.”
“Hey there is a goddess.”
“Where?”
“Necessity.”
“The mother of all invention is a goddess?”
“She is and she concludes Plato’s Republic.”
“I knew it.”
“Knew what?”
“Goddesses.”
“They’re resilient.”
“Like fate.”
“Plato would agree Yank.”
“Go figure. Hey there’s a fork ahead Johnny.”
“There sure is.”

*Next Up: 26 February and part 10 of Republican Values: Gus Kotka and Johnny Reb On Our Way Fork.

Posted by Bryan W. Brickner

Just ‘cuz music: Gaga Gotsadze - Late Night Melancholy

2020: Part Two of the 7/20 Bill of Rights Participation Day Preparations, Jesus and Caesar

7/14/2016

Amendment VII

Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s,
And unto God the things that are God’s.

Give Caesar Caesar’s things, Jesus of Nazareth said.

The US Constitution is our modern metaphor for Caesar, temporal power.

When Caesar isn’t rendering (giving) what is the law, and instead diligently reigns via usurpation by ignoring the representation ratio, one Representative for every thirty Thousand people, and the 7th Amendment with its twenty dollar justice clause, then what are Caesar’s things?

Certainly, constitutional law, our Caesar and temporal power, is legitimated when followed (see John Locke); just as certainly, it is delegitimated when ignored (see current polity).

We the People matter.

Next Up: The Union 2016 summer series continues on Sunday 17 July with part 5, Johnny Reb and Gus Kotka Nowhere Feather Birds.

Posted by Bryan W. Brickner

Union 2016: Johnny Reb and Gus Kotka New Year’s Eve 1775

12/31/2015

Johnny Reb and Gus Kotka Nowhere New

Winter series part 2

Hey you, don't tell me there's no hope at all
Together we stand, divided we fall.

“… Daniel Morgan had quite a 1775 Gus.”
“How so Johnny?”
“Morgan was in western Virginia -”
“- Around Berryville?”
“Right, though Berryville wasn’t always called that.”
“What else was it called?”
“Battletown.”
“Some big battle happen there Reb?”
“No, just the local kind.”
“Whatcha mean?”
“It was a place you could find a fight if you were looking for one.”
“Oh,” measured Gus, “a boxing town.”
“Sort of.”
“Thunderbolt might have meant something by that.”
“Agreed.”
“A clue,” Gus offered, “that perhaps our sides were looking for a fight and found one.”
“We got divided.”
“We the People did.”

Johnny Reb and Gus Kotka Nowhere Years

“A house divided against itself cannot stand.”
“You quoting Lincoln there Reb.”
“He got it from the gospel of Mark.”
“Jesus.”
“Right."
“What of Morgan Reb and his 1775?”
“He and many others in Virginia answered George Washington’s call to Boston.”
“So the Teamster headed to where the action was.”
“And from there to Canada.”
“That’s a long ways from Virginia Reb, what’s Morgan doing there?”
“Trying to capture Quebec.”
“To spread rebellion?”

Johnny Reb and Gus Kotka Nowhere Eve

“To spread the rebellion,” confirmed Reb, “and to deny the British a safe landing.”
“For the King’s response to the rebellion.”
“Correct.”
“They didn’t capture Quebec did they Johnny?”
“No Gus,” Reb distinguished, “the opposite happened.”
“Thunderbolt got captured.”
“He did. Morgan and several hundred other rebels surrendered and became prisoners of war on 31 December 1775.”
“Not a happy ending Johnny.”
“Morgan was alive.”
“True, though how’d he get to be Thunderbolt and all?”
“That started later Gus, in 1777 … "

*Next Up: The 240th anniversary of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, Sunday 10 January as part 3 of the Union 2016 winter series.

Posted by Bryan W. Brickner