by John Gray

Lately, Vladimir Putin’s military invasion of Ukraine dominates global news coverage—except in Russia, that is. A widespread reaction to this from people in the so-called “Free World,” is outrage. The word “rage,” by the way, derives from a Latin root meaning “madness.” Add the prefix, “out,” which means “beyond,” and we see the resulting word, outrage, means beyond madness. Many millions have empathy for Ukrainians’ suffering. It’s important we also keep in mind that the vast majority of Russians are not Putins; they’re people. Some are mothers and fathers whose sons have been sent to fight. In war, all people lose. 

by John Gray

Two days ago, February 12^th, a new lunar year began, according to the Chinese calendar. A lunar year consists of 12 lunar months, approximately 354 days in all, and it’s linked to the repeating 12-year Chinese Zodiac cycle. This lunar new year marks the transition from a year of the rat to a year of the ox—the latter a sign that symbolizes strength, respect and fairness. Sounds good to me! The world would certainly benefit from strength, respect and fairness. Happy New Year.

by John Gray

I’m thankful for the technology that allows us to gather from distant places with such ease. It’s good to see you all and feel our presence together.

This is the last of our biweekly teleconference gatherings for this year. As calendar years draw to a close it’s usual to look back and assess the year that was. AJ Willingham, a writer for CNN, posted yesterday, “If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that kindness and compassion have never been more important. It’s taught us that difficult times are made easier when we work together, when we take care of each other; when we reach out a hand to those struggling and lift up the heroes that protect us. It’s taught us that the best way through the darkness is to look for the light—and if there is none, to make it ourselves.”

by John Gray

When we turned the page of our Gregorian calendars to 2020 about ten months ago, I expressed in one of these teleconferences my hope that this would be a year of clear twenty-twenty vision.  I can’t say if things have worked out that way, but I think we could all say at this point that we’ve seen a few things this year! We’ve seen examples of real people acting in selfless altruism, in virtuous character, and we’ve seen the absence of these in dark self-centered depravity and distortion.