Spirit Scholars

Readers Strongly Disagree with Our Suggestion that Spiritual Cinema is Fading

We hit a nerve with Item No. 3 in our "Seven Things to Watch in 2007" article on Tuesday. That was the item with a sub-headline that read: "Movies aren't helping much, at the moment." (If you haven't read it already, click here to jump to the "Seven Things" article.)

In that item, we argued that, a year ago, everyone seemed to be celebrating the success of the spiritually stirring film, "Crash." But, now? As we leave 2006 behind? It seemed to us that Hollywood is turning its corporate back on edgy themes that make us ponder enduring values. Instead, Hollywood seems to be celebrating the year-end financial success of movies like "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" as well as animated hits and comic-book movies.

A number of readers sent along notes, mostly via email, objecting to this simplistic conclusion. An instructor at Henry Ford Community College posted a Comment at the end of the article, arguing -- correctly, we think upon reflection -- that it's possible and helpful to examine the spiritual roots of whatever compelling stories cross our cultural landscape in a meaningful way. We think he's right, especially since other readers of Spirit Scholars zeroed in on that item about Movies and began sending along, via email, their own nominees for Best Spiritual Movie of 2006 -- and a few suggestions for Best Spiritual TV Series of 2006.

This seems to be a fruitful discussion that's engaging a wide array of our readers, so let's extend the conversation, shall we? Take a look at the nominees we've received -- in no particular order here -- and either add a Comment to the end of this article. Or Click here to drop us an Email.

For Most Spiritually Reflective Movie of 2006, nominees mentioned in readers' lists are:

"Superman Returns" for themes of sacrifice, service and commitment to humanity.

"The Good Shepherd" for troubling reflections on a whole array of Big Themes from the limits of patriotism to the limits of our vision, from selflessness to selfishness.

"Casino Royale" as a high-octane examination of some of the same issues explored in "Good Shepherd" and "Superman Returns."

"The Pursuit of Happyness" for its portrayal of a family's agonizing yet noble struggle to stay together and carve out a life against tough economic odds.

"Dreamgirls" for a celebration of creative spirit. Who says spiritual reflection has to be gloomy?

"Little Miss Sunshine" for ruthlessly deconstructing family life and rebuilding it again around core values that truly matter.

"An Inconvenient Truth" for exploring a serious moral (as well as environmental) question and bringing it to the attention of more Americans.

"Babel," similar to "Crash," for underlining ways that the moral choices we make each day can potentially echo around the world.

"Borat" for confronting lingering bigotry, especially anti-semitism.

"The Queen" for exploring new forms of spiritual reflection by examining how the Queen's response to Diana's death varied so dramatically from the public outpouring of grief.

And, finally, Clint Eastwood's remarkable two-part movie, "Flags of Our Fathers" coupled with "Letters from Iwo Jima." He shot the two films as a single project -- the second film retelling the experience of Iwo Jima from the vantage point of Japanese soldiers left to die by their commanders on this rocky outpost in the Pacific. Taken together, the two films are an amazing piece of cross-cultural reflection. Possible points of reflection range from the nature of human memory to the collision between notions of honor and of self preservation -- to the eternal search for forgiveness and compassion in an often unforgiving and cold-hearted world.

Some folks added TV nominations, so we'll include the four shows mentioned:

"Battlestar Galactica" for continuing to weave potent theological themes into its unfolding drama in the remote reaches of the universe.

"The Wire" for its multifaceted portrayal of urban conflict and hope.

"West Wing" for its deep reflections on the moral issues behind American politics.

And, "Heroes" for its off-beat suggestion about creative and even spiritual potential that is often ignored in ordinary lives.

SO -- again -- Please tell us what you think about all this! You've been thinking a lot about this idea -- we know that. So, don't be shy. Add a comment. Or drop us an email, if you prefer.

Stumbling into another New Year with ... Seven Things to Watch in 2007

Did we all notice how quickly our Email "inboxes" began to fill this morning as people returned to more normal schedules? We suggest that January 2, each year, should be designated as the True New Year's Day. (Yes, we know that many retailers jumped into heavy-duty work schedules on January 1 and that many professionals in education, and their students, won't jump back into harness for a while yet.) Our point is this: It's easy to feel relaxed and reflective when we're still lingering in the glow of New Year's Eve. The real test of our spiritual mettle isn't January 1 -- it's January 2.

So, here at Spirit Scholars, we're going to kick off 2007 by extending a theme we began in last week's four-part series we called VISION-Starters, an effort to move through this transitional period in a spiritually mindful way.

Today, here are SEVEN things to watch in 2007 -- and, please, if you've got comments or further Trends to Watch that you think belong on a list like this -- add a Comment at the end of this article or drop us a direct Email with your thoughts. We'd really like to hear from you on this one.

Number ONE: Soul searching in the global Islamic community. It's clear that the Iraqi Civil War gets uglier with each passing month. News about Saddam Hussein's execution (both the hurried execution itself and the later news that broke about the ugly sectarian scene that unfolded at the site of the hanging) suggests that we're going to witness even more extreme violence in 2007. News this week is that up-scale Iraqi refugees continue to pour out of the country much faster than the U.S. is willing to accept them. Anyone with a bright professional future seems to be hitting the Exit doors -- and that's an even darker cloud over the country's future. Now, the U.S. death toll has passed the 3,000 mark. Setting our own American political power struggles aside, the clear, cold light of January is revealing that there is simply no way to ignore the vast scope of this terrifying, tragic conflict. Here at Spirit Scholars, we don't presume to have any great wisdom about resolving the conflict in Iraq -- but it is clear that the 1-billion-plus Muslim community around the world is facing some deep soul searching in 2007 as this sectarian Civil War unfolds.

Number TWO: Newspapers won't be much help in sorting out global solutions. Let's all pray that the emerging forms of New Media grow a Global Conscience in 2007, because the signs are everywhere that newspapers (once our most wide-ranging global watchdogs) fear that they're caught up in an industry-wide Death Spiral. Anyone who opened up the New York Times January 1 Business Day section, for instance, found 4 huge stories about the expansion of new media -- and a single column about the tragic dwindling of newspapers. Here at Spirit Scholars, we think this eventually will shape up as more of a moment of panic across the newspaper industry, rather than a true crash. We think that, once new business models emerge, newspapers will continue to plop on customers' doorsteps for many years to come. But, at the moment, newspapers are scrambling to figure out the Internet and are shrinking their newsprint and their overall investments in larger news coverage. In effect, news executives are Circling the Wagons into highly localized news reports, betting that's the best way to hold onto local markets. This is true in U.S. cities Coast to Coast, at the moment. In the meantime, news coverage of the Larger World is shrinking dramatically in newspapers across the U.S. So, if you care about the Larger World, start Bookmarking Web sites like Spirit Scholars that can supplement what you find in the shrinking morning newspaper.

Number THREE: Movies aren't helping much, at the moment. Remember a year ago, when we all were celebrating deep dramas like "Crash" and we were amazed at the growing popularity of thought-provoking documentaries as well? It is true that "An Inconvenient Truth" had a remarkable impact in 2006 -- virtually all observers of American media seem to agree on that point. But the Bottom Line reports out of Hollywood, widely discussed at this time of year, are not encouraging a fresh wave of edgy, reflective films, at least not from the major studios. In case you missed it, the Top Grossing film of 2006 was "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," which has cleared the $1 Billion mark in earnings! Two of the Top 10 earners in 2006 were comic book movies, the latest X-Men and Superman films. And cute animated adventures were Red Hot, too, with "Cars," the latest "Ice Age" film and "Over the Hedge" earning huge returns. The one Bright Spot for spiritually minded cinema is that independent film continues to grow nationwide in a host of forms from direct-mail DVD subscriptions and cable-channel offerings to films marketed directly to groups and congregations.

Number FOUR: And, speaking of "An Inconvenient Truth," it seems we're going to be talking a whole lot more about the environment in 2007, especially about oceans and global warming. Among other trends in 2007, this will be the First International Polar Year in 50 years, a worldwide convergence of scientific efforts focused on the world's poles -- and, of course, that relates to concern both about oceans and global warming. There are a host of other related events and trends planned this year, including a sort of odd-sounding campaign out of Australia this year to focus on life-saving practices related to surfing.

Number FIVE: Science Fiction is on the rise again. Perhaps this is somehow related to our anxiety about the world's environment, or perhaps its an outgrowth of New Media and more affordable Hollywood special effects. But there's a major global Science Fiction convention coming to Japan this year -- one of the world's most significant spiritual homes of this genre. (If you didn't catch it, by the way, the original Japanese version of "Gojira" was released late in 2006 in a fully restored DVD version. For Science Fiction fans, that's almost a "must buy" DVD. Most Americans have only seen the cheesy, American, re-edited version of "Godzilla," not the Japanese original.) You may be asking: Is this a spiritual trend? We think so, most definitely, especially with the strong spiritual themes that are surfacing in many of these adventures. Television's "Battlestar Galactica," for example, gets more and more theological as each new season unfolds.

Number SIX: Watch the Orthodox. Cultural markers were popping up everywhere in late 2006 that Christian Orthodox churches finally are shaking off decades of slumber, much of it forced upon the eastern churches by the long dominance of Communism across eastern Europe and much of Asia. Evangelical Americans seem especially curious about the Orthodox  and at least two major stories on this subject have appeared in Christianity Today, the Newsweek magazine of evangelical America. Orthodox leaders seem ready to welcome the renewed interest, too, and are slowly but surely building up some cooperative organizations to help newcomers sort out their often-confusing array of denominations and traditions.

Number SEVEN: Look outside the boundaries of traditional religious organizations. Newsweek Magazine's New Year's issue described a series of emerging American leaders in a series they dubbed "Who's Next 2007" and the Rev. John Foley, a Jesuit priest from the Chicago area, made the cut for his work in developing an innovative system of urban Catholic schools. The Cristo Rey Network partners with corporate executives to channel students into work-study programs that wind up helping to fund the school systems themselves. Newsweek said, "The best ideas are often bred in desperation," and described how Foley's new model is a daring strategy to reverse the erosion of Catholic schools in impoverished urban areas. The Good News here is that Foley is not alone and religious innovation isn't aimed exclusively at schools. Some of the most exciting religious developments in 2007 almost certainly will come from groups working outside the boundaries of existing religious groups and programs.

But, please, Tell us what you think. You may have other ideas about Spiritual Trends to Watch in 2007. Add a Comment by clicking below -- or Click right Here to drop us an Email.

VISION 04: In which we consider a Timeless Spiritual Lesson about Time Itself from Charles Dickens, Pope Benedict and some old photos

“Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.”
(from Psalm 90)

“Ghost of the Future!” Scrooge exclaimed to the Final Spirit, “I fear you more than any spectre I have seen. But, as I know your purpose is to do me good, and as I hope to live to be another man from what I was, I am prepared to bear you company, and do it with a thankful heart. Will you not speak to me?”
(from Charles Dickens, “A Christmas Carol”)

We’ll close this series of VISION-starters in the rapidly dwindling days of 2006 with the spiritual secret that Charles Dickens reveals only in the final chapter of his “Carol,” called “Chapter 5: The End of It.”

The secret? The peak of spiritual mindfulness involves not only trying to clearly discern the misty Future – but in mindfully sifting through Past, Present and Future as we pass through each moment.

This concept came back to us this week, like a thunderclap, in the convergence of several year-end projects involving Your Humble Editor here at Spirit Scholars. Mainly, this spiritual reminder involved the assembly of a historical photo album, reflecting a maternal branch of our family.

It’s an especially sturdy branch of our tree, in fact, and  seems to represent a substantial portion of the strong spiritual pull of our particular clan. The thirst for meaning in life, in our clan, remains as strong and fresh throughout our lives as – as – Well, as strong a thirst as we spotted from the late 1920s of a beloved uncle, now far into retirement, as the ringleader of three boys in the family garden outside Howe, Indiana.

In the Moment captured on film, it is late summer and these boys couldn’t wait to taste the succulent melons growing on the family's vines, so they hunkered down in the melon patch and my uncle was captured in a snapshot using his knee to break open one of the small, sweet melons – juice drizzling all around.

As we sifted through these long-ago images, some of them more than 100 years old and most of them 60 to 70 years old, we became fascinated with subtle details in these people’s lives: the cut of their clothes, the sturdy and roomy architecture of their homes and barns, the objects they held in photos – from boat oars to immense brass horns from a high-school band, to the melon bursting with juice.

Was this a spiritual pursuit? It felt like one -- but we wondered.

Then came Pope Benedict XVI’s message to an international congress in Rome on the future of museums around the world, held to mark the fifth centenary of the Vatican Museums. The pontiff said, in part, that museums are “a place for artistic meditation, links between the past, the present and the future, a crossroads for men and women from different continents, and research laboratories and centers for cultural and spiritual enrichment.”

At their best, the pope said, pondering artifacts of the past can provide “an eloquent testimony of the close and constant bond between the divine and the human in the life and history of peoples.”

If that weren’t enough inspiration, we also found ourselves paying a first-ever visit to the marvelous Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, touring the fascinating exhibits there with an old friend, Eide Alawan, a Lebanese-American Muslim from a family whose roots go back nearly as long as my own in this country. Eide has emerged as one of the most influential faces and voices of Islam in Michigan, a man who devotes himself tirelessly to bridge building between religious communities.

While touring the exhibits, we turned a corner into a hall honoring Arab-American veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces – and standing there almost as tall as in real life was a black-and-white photo of Eide’s brother, Chuck Alawan, a long-time bridge builder in metro Detroit especially throughout the 1980s. There was Chuck in the photo with dark hair as a young man, looking proud, capable and ready for a bright future in his U.S. Army uniform.

In that moment, it became clear, once again, that true spiritual mindfulness isn’t focused in a single direction. It’s a 360-degree reflection on our lives, using all our senses and spiritual powers to examine This Moment in light of All That Has Brought Us Here – and, in that light, The Next Step We Will Take.

As I completed my own family photo album this week, I wound up writing an essay for my large extended clan – and our family and friends – about what this particular branch of my own family tree has meant for so many.
Here’s an excerpt of that essay:

“The family of John and Mabel Yunker lived in northern Indiana near the small town of Howe. They blended a Swiss-American immigrant family with a strong work ethic and commitment to education (the Yunker clan) with a well-to-do farming family that had lived in the Midwest for many more years (the Kelly clan).
“Both families shared a deep Protestant faith. John and Mabel were well educated and passed a passion for education along to their children, who wound up moving in many directions: Bob became a Methodist pastor, Gwen a teacher, Marge a musician and the busy wife of a local Howe merchant, Helen moved to Texas and even Japan with her husband Warner Gillis, Jean wound up as president of the local bank and little Barbara became a Methodist pastor's wife and moved from the East Coast to various towns across southeast Michigan.
“These brothers and sisters passed along their family's core belief that each life has a purpose -- and discovering that purpose is what gives life its meaning. That legacy proved both a nagging curse and an enormous blessing. What are we meant to do? How are we meant to live? The pursuit of those questions produced further waves of pastors, farmers, teachers, health-care professionals, executives, writers, scholars and, in many cases, people of strong faith.
“Looking back at the early images of this remarkable clan, that sense of purpose and even the creative playfulness that accompanies innovation can be spotted in details large and small from the cut of their clothes to the things these people chose to carry with them.
“No one can choose their predecessors and sometimes our ancestors in this family conveyed pressures that were tough to face. But, all in all, this is an amazing family tree -- and, in this collection of photos, we explore just a couple of branches within its vast crown of leaves!”

Actually, we'll sum this up as Charles Dickens did himself, placing the words in the mouth of Ebenezer Scrooge as old Scrooge scrambles eagerly out of his bed in Chapter 5 of the tale on that bright and glorious Christmas morning. The man is simply thrilled to be alive and he’s joyous over his chance at a whole new direction in life.

He’s poised happily in the midst of his first 360-degree moment of mindfulness – and it’s so glorious to behold that this tale survives in lively, creative forms 163 years after Dickens originally published it.

And so, in "The End of It," Scrooge proclaims: “I will live in the Past, the Present and the Future! The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. Oh, Heaven and the Christmas Time be praised for this! I say it on my knees! On my knees!”

From Spirit Scholars, we can only add: Have a Happy and a MINDFUL New Year!

VISION 03: A Path to Happiness Lit by the Glow of Compassion

It's time to quit whining here at Spirit Scholars! Half-way through our 4-part, End-of-the-Year series of VISION-Starters, it's time for us to make like Ebenezer Scrooge, halfway through "A Christmas Carol," and stop grumbling about the confusing Spirits hovering around us. Just like Scrooge, somewhere around the scene in which he glimpses his old boss Fezziwig's generosity at the holidays, it's time for us to make a sharp turn in our thinking. It's time to zero in on strategies for setting things right in our world.

Today's VISION-Starter No. 3 may seem like a truism, not even worth mentioning, to many or our readers. But remember that Boston University's Stephen Prothero -- in his upcoming book about religious literacy -- reports that more than half of his incoming Religious Studies students each year can't identify "The Golden Rule" in his opening quiz. (Click here to read more about Prothero's work.)

Comassion is spiritual bedrock in most of our traditions. In Christianity, it's so basic that most of our readers can recite such teachings by heart. But it's far broader than any one faith. In Buddhism, for instance, it's the cohesive principle that connects a disciple's ever-growing Clarity of Vision to the fabric of life in the Real World. The venerable Eightfold Path is all about recognizing that the abandonment of human desire is directly related to the blossoming of compassion.

SO, HERE is a whole collection of mini-VISION-Starters -- all examples of compassion either blossoming -- or going tragically awry -- to spur our meditation on where we hope to find ourselves in 2007:

FIRST, Speaking of Scrooge, let's not deceive ourselves into thinking that, hey, everybody's naturally compassionate. No, the truth is that there are a LOTof un-reconstructed Scrooges out there. Did you catch the Christmas Eve edition of the New York Times Business section? Check out the piece by Gretchen Morgenson, headlined "A Lump of Coal Might Suffice." She reported on the stunning severance package that ousted Pfizer CEO Hank McKinnell hauled away with him -- one fifth of a Billion dollars ($200 million in all, Morgenson reported)! She wrote that his immense settlement "is even more disturbing when put next to the roughly $137 billion in market value that vaporized on his watch. That Mr. McKinnell forced his shareholders to pay $305,644 for his unused days off after draining them of $137 billion is downright stupefying." We ask: Where are those Ghosts when a real-life Scrooge needs to be scared out of his wits?

THEN: How about a movie this weekend? Check out "The Good Shepherd," a deeply thought-provoking experience at nearly 3 hours filled with haunting scenes orchestrated by director Robert DeNiro. It's the tale of Edward Wilson (played by Matt Damon), an idealistic Yale graduate who wants to help the world (or at least the American portion of it). He joins the World War II OSS, seeking out Nazi agents in the midst of the Blitz of Britain, and continues into the post-war agency that eventually  becomes the CIA. Really, the movie is a cautionary tale of America's best aspirations going sadly awry, at times. The young man starts out nobly proud of his country and burning with compassion for the Americans he claims to want to safeguard. And by the end of the film? Well, the prices Mr. Wilson pays by the closing credits are heartbreaking. The key question raised in the film is this: Where do our boundaries lie when we seek to help the people around us?

WELL, speaking of boundaries, let's switch to a truly prophetic Boundary Crosser: Evangelical writer and teacher Tony Campolo. In case you missed it in the holiday crush, Campolo released a brand-new book this month, called simply: "Letters to a Young Evangelical." Trust us on this one: For Protestant clergy and teachers, this is a Must Buy book that we all should savor and, then, keep on our office shelves to pass along to someone else. Campolo continues along the trajectory that many people have called "prophetic" (and some have called "outspoken" and some have called "heretical," to be honest). He's a unique voice, at the moment, using his accumulated authority to call for -- yes, you guessed it: Compassion. What makes his book so unusual is that he addresses topics, such as sexual orientation, that other compassionate evangelicals still fear to address.

BUT, Wait a Minute! We've focused on the Famous so far -- and the whole idea of compassion is that we ALL need to express this in our ordinary, everyday lives. That's why it is so COOL to read that the giant Beliefnet online magazine awarded its "Most Inpsiring Person of the Year" prize to the Amish of Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania. This community showed amazing spiritual resources -- and compassion -- in the face of heartbreaking tragedy this year. (Click here to read Spirit Scholars' earlier Amish story, which explains part of their remarkable religious response.)  (OR: Click here to jump to Beliefnet and read their more in-depth coverage of the Amish -- and about other nominees for Beliefnet's Most Inspiring prize, too.)

Compassion is woven into the fabric of many religious communities. This weekend, Muslims are celebrating the Hajj (the pilgrimage season) with the Eid Al-Adha holiday, known in English as the Feast of the Sacrifice. The ancient story that's recalled on this occasion is Abraham's willingness to obey God and sacrifice his son -- his son Ishmael in the Muslim version of the story. That was the crucial moment in our shared tradition when Abraham learned a major lesson about God's compassion and, of course, his son was spared from any evil that day. To this day, Muslim families in many parts of the world still mark the holiday by symbolically sacrificing a sheep, then distributing meat to family, friends and needy neighbors. The idea is to remember the ancient story with an eye to compassionately meeting the needs of the entire community. In the United States, Muslim families also plan holiday meals for themselves, while making some charitable provision to help hungry families, as well.

Finally, here's a high-tech idea that's fresh from Washington D.C. The Holocaust Memorial Museum is launching a creative effort to weave compassionate concerns into a bi-weekly Podcast on the dangers of hatred and specifically anti-semitism. This is a most timely offering in an era when a world leader as prominent as Iran's president thinks its a savvy political move to stage a global conference of Holocaust deniers. The new Washington-based Podcast series debuted with Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg discussing her own experiences with anti-semitism as well as her thoughts on free speech and Holocaust denial. (Click here to jump to the Holocaust Museum's site and check out the Podcasts.) (Or, Click here to read some of our Spirit Scholars coverage of the Iranian conference.)

SURELY, these are enough images of Compassion to get us thinking, right? If you've got thoughts to share, leave a Comment here -- or drop us an email, if you prefer, by clicking here.

And STAY TUNED -- There's one more Spirit in this tale, a fourth VISION-starter looming on Friday.

VISION 02 Meets CROWDSOURCING VI: IF "I am he as you are he as you are ME," then Where Are We?

"I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together. See how they run like pigs from a gun, see how they fly. I'm crying."
-- The Beatles

"The Best lack all conviction, while the Worst / Are full of passionate intensity. / Surely some revelation is at hand"
-- W.B. Yeats

"God has shown strength with his arm, has scattered the Proud in the imaginations of their hearts. God has brought down the Powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the Lowly; he has filled the Hungry with good things -- and sent the Rich away empty."
-- Mary

Two thousand years later, Mary is right -- again.

Here at Spirit Scholars, we've been charting this cultural tsunami through the autumn, but the cacophony of year-end voices is demonstrating conclusively that what many of us (including Wired Magazine) call Crowdsourcing is emerging as The Most Important Cultural Trend of the year. Truth be told, if you read through our coverage of this trend, it's obvious that this shift in Cultural Authority -- from Professionals to All of Us -- has been unfolding for a long time.

(For instance, Click here to jump to our first Crowdsourcing article -- or Click here to read our coverage of YouTube, which turned out to be the technological harbinger of Crowdsourcing for many, especially when it became obvious just how much money that little online video venture was worth: Billions!)

THIS WEEK, though, anyone can see the Handwriting on these Walls. One only has to glance around the landscape this week to see that Crowdsourcing -- or whatever else people are calling it -- is truly triumphant.

So, HERE is our VISION-Starter question for today: Are we witnessing a wonderful Lifting Up of the Lowly, full of grace and creative compassion, OR are all of us are becoming Proud and Lost in our self-centered Imaginations -- OR as Yeats warned, are we seeing the ominous rise of the "Worst," using all their "Passionate Intensity" to reshape the world in their own image?

Not sure what Signs we're seeing? Well, in recent days, the New York Times and Time Magazine seem to have jointly fired the starter's pistol on the rising consensus -- and they've even occasionally fired pistols back and forth at each other over the trend. Click here to read our earlier story on the NYTimes' opening shot.

In retrospect, that early-December piece in the Times Arts section seems downright tentative compared with Time Magazine's controversial decision to award its now-legendary Person of the Year award to: YOU.

If you missed it, here's a brief snippet of Lev Grossman's Time Magazine cover story, explaining the concept. (And Time Magazine back issues now are easily available online, if you care to read the rest of the cover story.) But, here's just a brief quote from Grossman's piece: "The 'Great Man' theory of history ... took a serious beating this year. To be sure, there are individuals we could blame for the many painful and disturbing things that happened in 2006. ... But look at 2006 through a different lens and you'll see another story, one that isn't about conflict or great men. It's a story about community and collaboration on a scale never seen before. It's about the cosmic compendium of knowledge Wikipedia and the million-channel people's network YouTube and the online metropolis MySpace. It's about the many wresting power from the few and helping one another for nothing and how that will not only change the world, but also change the way the world changes."

HOWEVER, the team at the New York Times fired back a mighty salvo this past Sunday. Frank Rich, a former Time Magazine staffer himself, took aim squarely at that Person of the Year cover story and fired both barrels. First, he called it "a bountiful gift of mirth" and spent the entire first column of his Sunday piece scoffing at the Times editors.

Beyond the acidic opening, Rich had a serious point in this skewering. In the middle of his piece, he finally got to the heart of his argument: "As our country sinks deeper into a quagmire -- and even a conclusive Election Day repudiation of the war proves powerless to stop it -- we the people, and that includes, yes, you, will seek out any escape hatch we can find. In the Iraq era, the dropout nostrums of choice are not the drugs and drug culture of Vietnam but the equally self-gratifying and narcissistic pastimes of the Internet. Why not spend hour upon hour passionately venting in the blogosphere, as Time suggests, about our 'state of mind or the state of the nation or the steak-frites at the new bistro down the street'? Or an afternoon surfing from video to video on YouTube, where short-attention-span fluff is infinite? It's more fun than the nightly news, which, as Laura Bush reminded us this month, has been criminally lax in unearthing all those 'good things that are happening' in Baghdad."

To illustrate Rich's column, a large Barry Blitt sketch atop the page showed a comfortable, middle-aged American blissfully reading a magazine in his easy chair -- as his poor little dog looks anxiously out the window at flames rising and explosions rocking the world.

GULP! That's definitely 1 Vote for BOTH "Lost in our Imagination" AND  Yeats' "Worst" theories about what's unfolding.

As 2006 dwindles, more votes are falling like snowflakes in a Denver blizzard.

U.S. News & World Report's Year-End cover story suggests -- thankfully -- that people should use their newfound Authority wisely. The U.S. News editors actually suggest that people start reading more books about the larger world, learn more about Islam and think about organizing grassroots book-discussion groups to increase our awareness of the larger world. Bravo to U.S. News for that strong word of advice!

But, there also are enough silly snowflakes to obscure such wisdom. Sometimes these little notes are so silly that we suspect they're really votes for the Beatles' absurdist hymn in which meanings tumble over each other until we lose all perspective.

A Low Point in New York Times coverage, for instance, appeared in this morning's special "Year in Food" section, which declared: "Professional chefs took a back seat to home cooks and home cooking in 2006." To be fair to Times writer Julia Moskin, there was a business-related point buried in her article -- that TV producers and publishers seem more interested, at the moment, in highlighting unknown cooks rather than already-famous ones. But much of Moskin's story was padded with New York snobbery and observations  too obvious to be called news (for instance, that circulation is growing for cooking magazines aimed at ordinary people). And the overall thrust of the story -- saluting the culinary skills of millions of Americans -- is virtually another voice in the choir of Time Magazine's own Hymn to Commoners, which the New York Times already had ridiculed on Sunday. Or, as the Beatles put it "I am he as you are he as ..."

If we sound inappropriately amused by all of this, then you've missed our purpose here at Spirit Scholars. We are provocative here, because our whole purpose at Spirit Scholars -- and the Ann Arbor-based Center for Spirituality in American Life -- is to scan the horizon for signs of changes in spirituality, culture, media and values. Our whole purpose is to slice through mists, throw open windows, hang up mirrors, encourage fresh strategies for enlarging and focusing our vision. And, then, we want to open up a safe forum for people to pause, reflect and, if they wish, comment by dropping us a line. (Feel free -- Click here to email your thoughts to us.)

So, we'll close VISION 02 / Crowdsourcing VI with one last Mirror: The Mirror of Galadriel from J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings." If you're a Rings fan, you know what we're talking about already. If not, this particular mirror is a basin of water that summons visions from the horizon. THE KEY to this mirror's power, however, is its mystery. Galadriel cannot predict what viewers will see in this mirror -- or whether what they see will actually unfold.

We like that image. It describes the little pool of reflective water that we're tending here -- just for You.

VISION 01: Through the Looking Glass; Troubling Glimpses of Iraqi Justice and Britney Spears' Poor Judgment

If we didn't think the world was Upside Down already, all it took was today's Top-of-the-Front-Page headline, shown at right (you can always click on images in Our Spirit to enlarge them, if you wish). As stunning as it may sound, Times Baghdad correspondent Marc Santora reported that, on Christmas Day, our Coalition forces in Iraq attacked an Iraqi police station and destroyed it -- as the only reliable strategy to prevent kidnapping and torture of innocent Iraqis by the police themselves.

We know -- It's Through the Looking Glass, but apparently it's true: This particular unit within the Iraqi police, supposedly trained and supported by the Coalition (at least in theory), was called the Serious Crimes Unit. However, instead of solving Serious Crimes, these so-called police were committing them. The troops liberated about 100 severely tortured and abused prisoners from the facility. They were so concerned that these so-called police might return to their nefarious deeds that they leveled the facility.

And, as we move through the holiday season, the training and equipping of Iraqi police and soldiers is emerging as our country's major strategy in the war-torn country in 2007. Let's hope we're not training more of these Serious Crimes Units, which we'll likely have to blow up a year from now.

The Spirit Scholars theme here?
VISION
It's so difficult to see the world, not only because of the haze of war and war-time propaganda, but because of what Mary describes in her great hymn of praise in the Nativity story:  We are "lost in the imaginations of our hearts."

And, what does that often-overlooked gem in the midst of Mary's song really mean? Well, as lifelong media junkies, we LOVE the final days of each year when one magazine after another offers its year-end assessment of what 2006 really MEANT -- and what we SHOULD DO in 2007, as US News & World Report's current cover story puts it "to Improve Your Life."

We think there's no better illustration of the tragedy Mary describes in that one haunting line than the front cover of the current "US" Magazine, a People Magazine clone that screams at customers from the check-out aisles of Target and grocery stores coast to coast this week with a headline of such global urgency that, here at Spirit Scholars, we are stopping everything to ponder it: "BRAD's JOY, JEN's PAIN: Aniston's heart breaks as Angelina reveals more details of her dream family life with Brad and how they fell in love. 'It's killing her,' says a pal."

NOW, you're probably shaking your head already at this Year-End assessment of the Big News in the World, but, before you scoff at the folks at US, the editors explain the spiritual linkage between that enormous front-pae headline and OUR life on page 32 in another big headline that proclaims: "STARS -- They're Just Like US!" To prove the point, this double-page spread includes a photo of Jane Fonda eating a candied apple, Minnie Driver cruising down a street in her neighborhood on a bicycle and Prince William throwing darts.

But the single biggest exercise of Global Vision -- the Summing Up 2006 Headline that dominates the cover is: "US Year-end Wrap Up: BRITNEY: Worst-Dressed Star of 2006!" Or, actually UN-dressed star is the leering point of the cover story. And lest we're tempted to pour scorn on US Magazine for pointing out this milestone in American cultural history in such a prominent way -- we've noticed this particular story in a host of national publications, including the Times itself. (In case you've been living in a G-rated bubble in recent weeks, the story involves Ms. Spears' apparent disdain for underwear and the fact that she's been photographed on several occasions "flashing" the general public -- and we're not talking about a slip of a neckline here. This is a seriously disturbed young woman, it seems, who has lost all sense of social propriety. (AND -- don't worry -- the photo of Britney at right with this article is strictly PG-rated.)

BOTTOM LINE HERE: In this week of special Spirit Scholars reflections on Vision, we ask: While Ms. Spears' strange behavior apparently is newsworthy -- is that where our Vision should be directed? It seems to us that it truly does become a Spiritual issue when Life & Death, Good & Evil are turning head over heels in corners of the world for which we hold a major responsibility, like Iraq.

So, we invite you to check back this week for daily doses of VISION-starters from Spirit Scholars.

AND HERE's a great place to start: Foreign Policy Magazine. This summer, we had a chance to travel in Asia on a special reporting project through the East-West Center with Foreign Policy's Managing Editor Will Dobson -- and we can affirm from personal observation of Dobson's work in Indonesia and Bangladesh that there's hardly a sharper set of eyes to be found in American journalism.

Rather than serving up one more list of the Year's Top Stories, Dobson and his staff are offering us "The Top 10 Stories You Missed in 2006." And these are humdingers. They're all social and political in nature, which is Foreign Policy's forte. But, here at Spirit Scholars, we suggest that you Click Here to Read Foreign Policy's List. Because, we believe this is one way to Re-Focus our Vision -- by looking for things we may have missed the first time around.

(AND, we'll also insert a plug for the Detroit Free Press here. If you're interested in this kind of issue, make sure you don't miss the final Our Spirit column of the year in the Saturday December 30 issue of the Free Press, which will report a remarkable story from that Asian reporting project.)

From Foreign Policy's year-end perspective, one intriguing example is Overlooked Story No. 7: The Gender Gap is Narrowing Globally. That's not something we expected to read -- but there's evidence to support this claim. Here's a quote from FP's No. 7 item to get you thinking: "It was a good year for women in politics. Female heads of state took office in Chile and Liberia, and Hillary Clinton and Ségolène Royal set tongues wagging in Washington and Paris over their own presidential prospects. But it was also a great year for future female leaders, especially those in poor countries. ... The gender gap in secondary education is closing or has closed in most developing countries. Particularly in Latin America and Asia, girls are attending school at the same rate—or higher—than boys. In 1990 in China, for example, 75 girls attended secondary school for every 100 boys. Today, that figure is 97."

So, please, check in with us here at Spirit Scholars this week. It should be a fun, mind-stretching look at the Spirits of the Year that is Past -- and reflections on the Spirits of the Year Yet to Come. Post a Comment here with your own reflections -- or click here to drop us an Email with your thoughts.

And, if you're new to Spirit Scholars, cruise through our other stories on the site, check out our Categories in the left-hand margin of the site -- or use our Search box in the upper right corner to find subjects that interest you. Read ON!