Distilled wisdom

Today’s Daily Meditation from the Center for Action and Contemplation, “Moving Beyond What We Already Know,” is about Jesus foreshadowing modern psychology’s exercise of seeing our biases.

It stirred memories of my too vague encounters with the Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama (563-483 BCE), Aristotle (384-322 BCE), and Maharishi Ved Vyasa’s Bhagavad Gita (c. 400-200 BCE).

Then, my mind then shifted to a November 3, 2025 Tom Nichols article in The Atlantic, “A Confederacy of Toddlers,‘ subtitled “The Trump administration is a regime of troubled children.” Nichols wrote:

“The collapse of a superpower into a regime of bullies and mean girls and comic-book guys explains much about why American democracy is on the ropes, reeling from the attacks of people who in a better time would never have been allowed near the government of the United States.”

The administration’s gaudy displays of what they don’t know is sobering because so much is at stake. But, it’s also personally sobering for me because it is a window into what I don’t know and have yet to learn, drawing me back to Jesus and earlier teachers of what Richard Rohr calls “Perennial Wisdom.”

From “Perennial Wisdom and the Goal of All Existence,” January 15, 2017. The image is The Way of the Prophet (detail), silhouette image art work by Mike Van, concept by Vivienne Close.

So, who’s the establishment now?

Gilad Edelman wrote a story in The Atlantic about the cancellation and abrupt reinstatement of late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel. Edelman presents FCC Chair Brandon Carr as a mild-mannered bureaucrat who became an ideological activist. Apart from Edelman’s assessment of Carr, the article’s last two paragraphs offer a timely reflection about the relationship between culture and politics:

Developments such as these, along with Silicon Valley’s rightward shift and the ideological concessions in higher education, bring the MAGA movement closer to realizing a long-held dream: using state power to achieve cultural power. Many Republicans believe that media bias has given Democrats an unfair political advantage, and that once they correct that imbalance, they will reap electoral rewards.

They might be right about that. If you can shape what people see and hear, you can influence their beliefs. But the relationship between culture and politics is not always so straightforward. Liberal hegemony within media, education, and entertainment might very well be the reason the Democratic Party finds itself so out of touch with, and disliked by, broad segments of the American public. Carr and his allies might someday discover that being the establishment is not all it’s cracked up to be.

From The Atlantic, November 17, 2025

Waking

At 4:30 PM, Friar’s body clock knows it’s dinner time. If we forget, he presents a toy and with sad eyes gives us “the look.” Likewise, at kennel time, he announces it’s 8:30 PM. As I age, my body clock generally wakes me around 4 AM. I’m awake, but not yet alert.

The sound of the percolator, a cup of coffee, and Wordle ease me into alertness. Generally, my first read is the Daily Meditation emailed after midnight from the Center for Action and Contemplation, followed by Letters from an American by Heather Cox Richardson.

Yesterday, drawn by the headline, my first read was Robert Hubbell’s Today’s Edition Newsletter: “Trump surrenders, calls for release of Epstein files!” Then, I read the CAC’s Daily Meditation, by CAC faculty member Brian McLaren: “Not as Rational as We Think.”

Those readings were a perfect pair. McLaren captured America’s recent political tilt-a-whirl: “We may live in the same country, the same city, or even under the same roof, but we live in different realities.”

Over the last decade, I have felt increasingly alarmed about the vitriol, distrust, and destructive miscommunication that are tearing people apart everywhere I turn … in nations, in religious communities, in businesses, in non-profit organizations, in friendships, even in families. 

By then, I was awake, alert and ready for another cup of coffee.

This week’s CAC Daily Meditations theme is “Recognizing Our Biases.” The theme image is a 2021 photo by Bud Helisson, with this commentary: The lenses symbolize how our inherent biases—like favoring what confirms what we already believe or seeing only those like ourselves—can cloud our vision, reminding us that true clarity comes from looking again and being willing to see differently. 

A potpourri and a postscript

Paul Harvey (1918-2000) introduced one of his radio program’s segments with: “And now, a potpourri of today’s news from page four.” Consider this “page four” of a series of posts about news sources, concluding with writers I read occasionally if the topic catches my attention:

Jennifer Rubin at The Contrarian, “Lawless Enforcement.”

Preet Bharara at Stay Tuned, “Tariffs and Presidential Power.”

Joe Perticone at Press Pass (Bulwark), “Nuking the Filibuster Is Still on the Menu.”

Will Sommer at False Flag (Bulwark), “The Blaze’s Pipe-Bomb Bombshell Appears to Bomb.”

Dirk Schulze-Makuch at Big Think, “How a scientific mistake from the 1970s derailed Mars exploration.”

Charles Lane at Persuasion, “The Most Important Supreme Court Case of the Year (So Far).”

Brittney Melton at NPR Politics Newsletter, “On Day 43 of the Shutdown….“

Michael Tomasky at The New Republic, “Mike Johnson’s Christian Values.”

From an essay by Lauren Egan at The Opposition (Bulwark), “Meet the Most Hated Democrat in America,” the story of the young President of the Maryland State Senate, who has resisted calls to join the Congressional redistricting scramble in response to Texas republicans.

A Potpourri Postscript

Several of the above resources can be found at Substack, which is an important platform for the ongoing evolution of news media. Part of that evolution is the “tweaking” happening within and among the Substack writers.

A straightforward November 12 Persuasion post by Yascha Mounk and Francis Fukuyama, “We need your help,” described the collaboration between Persuasion and American Purpose.

Joyce Vance’s Civil Discourse for November 15 (perhaps edited by Catherine Roth), entitled “Sunday Morning Wrap-Up.” provided a brief description of Vance’s prior week posts. It was a quick summary–a mini-potpourri–great for busy folks who may not be able to read every day..

Running together

In 2016, candidate Donald Trump defeated sixteen other republicans. In 2019, Attorney General Barr buried the Mueller Report. In 2020 and in 2021, the House gave the Senate opportunities to say, “No.” He was elected twice in three attempts without a majority of the popular vote, receiving 46.1% in 2016, 43.1% in 2020, and 49.8% in 2024.

There’s growing opposition to incompetence, corruption and unconstitutional power grabs. The Epstein story has broken Trump’s spell over Marjorie Taylor Greene and others. We’re in a moment of hope that what’s left of the White House and what’s left of America can be salvaged. But, given the President’s instability, this is a moment of danger. Mike Flynn is considering running for president.

Timothy Snyder published a beautiful story about an advertised 5K run that lured him, his daughter and a large group of Canadian runners to what was a scam. The undaunted group ran anyway, and the story had a happy ending. That’s how I feel about America today. I feel scammed, with many Americans left in the cold, but I believe this nation has the capacity to regroup and run together.

From “Running together,” by Timothy Snyder at Thinking About…, November 15, 2025

“Print” media and “the press”

Clay cylinders

The Bible (Ezra 1:1-4) quotes an edict by Persian King Cyrus protecting and relocating Jews freed from Babylonian captivity. Archaeologists unearthed a clay cylinder with reversed letters that could be inked and rolled over papyrus to make copies of the edict for distribution–an early printing “press.”

One page at a time

Last week, Cathey and some hiking friends saw a printing press in Rugby, Tennessee (below). Letters were arranged for easy reach in varying size compartments (“e” was the largest and centrally located). Capital letters were housed in an (upper) case; small letters were housed in a (lower) case.

No paper needed

While residing in Jackson, Tennessee (2005-2010), The Jackson Sun arrived each pre-dawn morning. One morning, while reading a story, I realized I had read it on the Internet the night before. That moment demonstrated the emerging challenge being faced by newspapers.

From passive to interactive

This blog, begun in late 2019, seeks to enhance communication with family and friends and to leave a “time stamped” record for our children of what the old man was thinking. You’re reading a digital journal. The technology of “print media” is evolving rapidly. Generative AI is a huge interactive leap.

The democratization of “print” media

Today’s “large language model” interactive information sources can generate tailored responses to your questions. Your computer is a resource unimaginable to our ancestors–a personal encyclopedic research department and editorial staff, witch can be coupled with a personal printer (if needed).

This was Cathey’s third visit to historic Rugby. I’ve been twice. It’s “a tiny bit of Earth” that was for me an axis mundi experience (described by Chelsea Steinauer-Scudder in yesterday’s CAC Daily Meditation).

(Photo by Cathey Leach. For more photos and commentary about the Rugby Print Shop, see The Wayfarin’ Stranger, March 12, 2012.)

Wealth management

Last week, my friend George forwarded “A Punch in the Face,” a November 7 post by Steven Beschloss at America, America. George asked, “What do you think of this publication?” My reply:

I have been a subscriber. I like it. Steven is the lesser known (and more direct) brother of presidential historian Michael Beschloss. I dropped my subscription because I was overloaded. I’m working on a series of posts highlighting helpful material, and I’ll add America, America to the list. 

These posts have described my “go to” sources during this time of the rapid evolution of “the free press.” Steven Beschloss is among the excellent writers I read occasionally, as is Jay Kuo, whose The Status Kuo “provides accessible political and legal analysis with a dose of humor.”

Kuo of one of several great legal analysts I read occasionally, along with attorney Marc Elias, who writes at Democracy Docket. But on a daily basis I try to read Joyce Vance and Robert Hubbell.

I subscribe to Timothy Snyder’s Thinking About… His November 9 post “Freedom is Action–Finishing the Job,” describes his work to save Ukrainian lives. Like Snyder, Anne Applebaum is a “go to” source for understanding authoritariansm. She’s one of many reasons I subscribe to The Atlantic, which includes several newsletters, such The Atlantic A.M. See “The Affordability Curse,” by Derek Thompson.

My subscription The Bulwark also includes several newsletters, such as The Breakdown. See “This State Will Determine If Dems Win the Senate–and Give an MRI of Their Soul,” by Jonathan Cohn. The November 10 edition of Morning Shots was entitled “Dems Reward the Hostage-Taker,” with Andrew Egger’s lead article, “So Much For All That,” a good analysis of the “deal” to end the government shutdown. Today, we have a wealth of journalistic sources. Our task is wealth management!

From The Bulwark (cited above)

History in real time

“Journalism is the first draft of history.” This statement was apparently first coined by Alan Barth (1906-1979), and widely associated with Philip L. Graham (1915-1963). When I hear the statement, I think about Heather Cox Richardson, an unlikely journalist who is a history professor at Boston College.

HCR has a passion for 18th and 19th Century American history. Her desire to educate folks about what’s happening today led to “moonlight” posts on Facebook, then Substack, then YouTube. Her late night Letters from an American are an extension of her classroom.

Most of what I know about the Reconstruction Era has come from her Substack “letters.” She “connects the dots” between our history and contemporary events. She is my second read of the morning, following Richard Rohr (the focus of yesterday’s post).

Her November 10, 2025 “letter” was an eloquent and thorough account of a truly historic event–the longest government shutdown in US history. That “letter” led me to devote this post to her and the phrase she embodies so well. She’s writing the first draft of our history.

From “Who Said It First?“, by Jack Shafer, Slate, August 30, 2010.

True North

I believe everyone has a True North, conscious or unconscious. I see life as a journey of gaining clarity about one’s directional compass. Our formation comes from countless insights and mid-course corrections, via nature, relationships, study, and all forms of media.

A whiff of coal smoke always reminds me of my ancestral home: Jellico, Tennessee. Coal’s odor/aroma invokes my memory of winter visits with my grandparents. That place and the extended family there helped shape my first understanding of True North, or Home.

As a college sophomore the day before my first Sunday as pastor of a rural congregation, I drove the 50 miles in my Opal Kadett from campus (to be sure I knew how to get there). Alone in the church cemetery at age 19, a bit teary, I had an inexplicably strong sense of having found my Vocational Home.

That sense of Home was later affirmed in ordination and, after graduation from seminary, at a Maryland retreat led by a mission group of the Church of the Saviour, in Washington, DC. Over several years of intentional engagement with those folks, my understanding of True North grew stronger.

After “retirement,” Richard Rohr became an important faith formation resource, including a 3-day 2011 peer group consultation with Rohr in Albuquerque a few weeks before publication of his book, Falling Upward. These are just a few experiences that have shaped my understanding of True North.

This is why Rohr’s Daily Meditation is my first read each morning. This week’s theme is “Sacramental Reality.” Sunday’s meditation was “The Dignity of Attention.” Monday’s was “Recognizing Grace.”

The visual for this week’s Daily Meditations from the Center for Action and Contemplation is an untitled 2021 photo by Graham Mansfield (cited above), with this commentary: Just as bread, wine, and water reveal grace in sacrament, so too the natural world invites us to be relaxed enough to receive the abundance already present—where even a quiet day without fish becomes its own communion.

Mary Edwards Walker

On this Veterans Day, I’m remembering Civil War hero Mary Edwards Walker (1832-1919), a surgeon who was the first woman to receive the Medal of Honor. Her service to the Union Army went far beyond the call of duty as she risked her life on the battlefield and saved countless soldiers. (This photo and a brief biography is available at the National Women’s History Museum, cited above.)

Robert Hubbell’s November 10 Today’s Edition Newsletter included this photo of a Massachusetts Flags for Vets group respectfully placing flags at gravesites at the National Cemetery on Cape Cod.