Everyman's WEEKLY Journal #60
© 2014 Rev. David Seacord
January 26, 2014
The Brightnesses of our Humanity
Last Monday (following a subtle thought-prompt) I turned on the radio of the UHaul truck I was using to move my mother to an assisted living home near San Jose, CA… and I was rewarded (as I drove through LA) by the opportunity of listening to a couple of hours of back to back archived recordings of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King speaking in several various venues…from being introduced by Marlin Brando in a private Hollywood home full of movie stars, to a stunning speech given only days before his assassination. My heart could not help but recognize the profound maturity and courage of this man, who so eloquently and powerfully spoke of the need to follow the callings of our conscience and to participate in civil disobedience against injustice, even when it meant being misunderstood by many people, or when it might mean imprisonment, or even worse.
Such courage is a great brightness, for, beyond being an inspiration, it is also a profound challenge. The challenge is: Can we/I follow? Can we/I (with our lives) benefit the quality of the experience of being human by doing likewise? And how? It is certainly not the easy road, to take a stand FOR a cherished value, and to be willing to continue that stand in the face of the persecution of those threatened by one's stand. Yet when we look to the history of our species are not these our great ones?
As I look at this great example, in comparison I see I am full of fear that I do not have the courage. I wish, I desire, to have it, but the truth is I can feel 'the weakness in my knees and backbone' when I contemplate facing my own Goliaths. For my current example of this I need look no further than my upcoming trial. At the time of pleading guilty I was of the opinion that 'the worst that could happen' would be I would be found guilty and be required to pay the fine. Now I am also confronted with the exposure of my own ignorance.
One of the things that is synchronistic about moving Mom into a facility near San Jose is the 'unrelated' fact that my trial is located nearby there too. So when I realized I would be traveling there as part of moving mother, I also dovetailed into that trip my next legal move of the legal chess game: I attempted to file a 'Motion for Declaratory Judgment' to overturn the law that was being used to cite me. I had spent many days writing it, eloquently writing in its ten pages the points of my argument in support of overturning the law. Several people had read it and were enrolled by it's clarity. There was not a single grammatical error in it. I approached the courthouse with a sense of readiness to 'lay the truth upon the table'.
What happened was that I discovered I was viewed as a fool who knew nothing about how to play the game, and my filing was refused for not meeting 'proper legal form'. I discovered (excepting if it was entirely handwritten or handprinted) it did not matter how true my argument was if I did not present it as per 'the rules', i.e., printed on recycled paper with each line numbered and in the correct font size and with two punched holes in the top of the centered page at a specified width and then also following the highly specified cover page format wherein is described all the particulars of the case-- the names of the involved, the case numbers etc etc etc. So, I was bitten by my total ignorance of legal protocol. I was compassionately directed (like directing an errant child) up to the law library to get my act together. And once in the library and after explaining my situation, the books I was led to to study only deepened my awareness that I did not really know what I was doing. I knew WHY I was doing it, but I was and am very confronted by the HOW.
And, I am also feeling my fear that the (possibly belligerent?) actions I have already taken (via the mail) may have been received hostilely… which means that when I show up in court I may get anything but 'a fair trial'. And if that happens, I fear I will be too unskilled to be able to do anything about it. This is all a pretty huge confront to my idealized courage, wherein I simply told the truth and my truth would win the day. Yes?
So what would a Martin Luther King do? What would he council? Would he say 'sidestep', 'fold', or 'continue'? I suspect he would say 'nothing ventured, nothing gained', and he would also probably point out the no one masters any subject without practice. He would certainly note that knowing the unlikelihood of success is valuable information, and is good motivation to use the time remaining to become as prepared FOR THE REALITY as possible. So, game back on, quivering knees and backbone included. And, on the bright side, all the effort of writing my ten pages of that as-yet unfiled motion have at least made me very clear about WHY. Perhaps I will yet have the opportunity to have my say…. perhaps in some way everything happening is actually 'a miracle'. As Papaji often said, 'Wait and see…" :-)
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Moving mother into her new apartment was a beautiful several day effort of family cooperation. From throughout the west coast, at one point there were four of us (of her eight children) on site contributing to it. So in effect it was a reunion full of heartfelt slumber-party type conversations with each other about our hopes for Mom and also catching up in person about each other's lives. I am hopeful that she will like her new community. It is much larger, has much better activities, and I know she will enjoy the cuisine. It even has a large reservable dining room for private family gatherings… like Christmas/Thanksgiving etc. The sad side is that nobody of the family will be able to visit her daily (in person). That is a tough one for I know she will at times 'feel abandoned'. So, regarding my trial being located nearby, at the least it means I will have another opportunity to visit her pretty soon again. I suspect all of us will be adjusting our lives to do likewise as much as possible.
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I've been inspired for many years for the example of a woman named Peace Pilgrim. She walked without possessions and in faith upon the American roadways from 1953 to 1981, teaching all she met that 'peace is the way'. This week also gave me the gift of personally meeting and hosting another such walker… a orange robed senior in good health named Swami Sankarananda. By a friend, I was informed about his transcontinental peace walk while in the Bay Area, got into communication with him when he was several days out of Yuma and invited him to rest and visit when passing through even if I was not personally yet returned. It turned out that I was able to return, arriving after dark a short time after he had arrived and had been welcomed by Ambrose. Ambrose and I thoroughly enjoyed his company and our several hours of wide-ranging conversations about life in this world and about his life as a renunciant walker. As he had walked (and slept along the roadside without incident) upon the same coastline route that I was ticketed on, we also compared notes on the changing landscape of law enforcement in our times, and the challenges it is to variant and uniquely expressing people, like himself and myself.
After Swamiji had departed, a very interesting conversation arose between father and son about the still viable option to expatriate (something I have long thought about but never 'seriously', because of 'family' and 'economics'). But being aware that life within the US is becoming incrementally less free, one has to at least explore the question. Would it be better elsewhere? Is it the time to do something like that? I am wondering that much more seriously now. Perhaps a good approach is to take a journey soon… all the moves of my universe seem to be saying it would be allowable, and Ambrose is certainly 'in'. Perhaps it is only a passing escapist temptation….but I will, of course, keep you all informed. As there is nothing that we cannot grow from, it is, after all, also a part of the journey.
That's it for now, except that I will include as a PS an excerpt of my Motion to Overturn, just in case you are curious. And of course, your comments are always welcome.
Namaste, and Sat Nam,
David
Quoting from my 'Motion for a Declaratory Judgement To Overturn Monterey County Ordinance 14.18'.
Before Mankind for ages of inconceivable time the Earth simply was, and all that was was under its Natural and Creative Law, which is Intelligent but without Mind (i.e., the discriminating mind). This included Mankind, in the beginning. When the separately self-aware intelligent mind arose in man, so also did the dualities… and the disparities… that which became adjudged better/worse, desirable/undesirable, superior/inferior, higher/lower, the preferable/the unwelcome. Thus began human conflict, and within human society, the imperitive necessity for Certainty of Right, and for Law. In the Judeo/Christian cultural patriarchy which historically sources the beginnings of modern Western Law, the first socially civilized Law was 'of God through His Prophets', as in the widely known case of The Ten Commandments. In time the Prophets delegated conflict resolution, in the original 'separation of church and state', to men of noble stature held in honor and known for their fairness and deep surrender to 'the God of Israel'. These men, known as Judges, were the first historically rational Judiciary, which our current Judiciary is sourced from and modeled after, and whose inspirations continue on in attempting to uphold in the modern Judiciary the original high standards of ethics and morality and impartiality from special interest and favoritism, as such is self-evidently necessary, that it, the modern Judiciary, continue to be accepted by the People as legitimate.
Also, in the beginning the earth was large and open and the people were few and nomadic, and conflict over land use was primarily about hunting and gathering grounds. With agriculture and the necessary labor investment of tillage in a fertile field, the concept of tribal or individual ownership of the land arouse. In time, this idea spread and gained acceptance among the settled peoples, albeit more than among the nomadic peoples. As population and trade grew, and as settled peoples out-reproduced nomadic peoples--- leading to the cultural domination of civilizations of owned lands over the free and wild lands--- so also did the routes of trade and travel, and their importance to civilization. Thus evolved from their use the concept of the right of way which all were allowed to use for passage through and across the land.
Throughout all of this development of concept and social agreement the land remained the land. And today it continues to exist as the land, not noticing if it is being conceived of as public or private because it remains obedient to the non-fictional natural law of it's existence, of its Being. Originally, before the arising of the separately self-aware intelligent mind (hereinafter referred to simply as 'Mind'), indigenous Mankind traditionally knew the land and all the life upon it as Itself/Themself, or as a Relation. After the arising of Mind, Mankind to a large degree lost consciousness of this knowing, and in this loss became capable of inflicting incredible harm to the land, the life upon it, each other, and self, for it (the Mind) no longer knew ‘the other’ as Itself.
Important to this argument then, is the normally unnoticed understanding that the historical original arising into existence of land being held for usage as a private property (a legal-fiction of the fact, as the land in fact is neither private nor public but is correctly Itself) was, and continues to be, inextricably tied and concurrently connected to the counterbalancing common and free usage of the public rights of way (passage lands who ownership belongs to all--hence, to The People). This significant insight is self-evident in our society and without need of citation, in that all modern rights of liberty or commerce beyond the boundaries of one's private property without trespass is self-obviously dependent upon having public rights of way in existence alongside and between private properties, that anyone of the public might freely travel away from or return to their said private properties at will and thus beneficially interact with society at large. Thus, legal clarity in regards to the publics rights TO BE while upon its publicly held-in-common rights of ways is highly relevant to the harmony of society.
Further, the precedential historical usages of these rights of way have for millenniums included the exercise of the individual's rights to livelihood and survival upon these rights of way, to the taking of rest for sleep or food or repairs or activities otherwise needful of life and livelihood when and as needed while in the course of traversing to other destinations along and via these rights of way. Prior to the advent of modern rapid transportation, in both this country and in the Old World, common-law-upheld right of way usage (in both populated and unpopulated regions) included multi-day livestock drives inclusive of needful activities of livestock care, traversal by horse-drawn wagons and carriages of all kinds, and travelers from the general public being about their lawful business on foot or horseback or bicycle, all whom when needful exercised without question the lawful right to taking their rest or food or otherwise upon the public right of way for reason of, among other things, that private property would be thus respected. As the modern automobile acquired common usage after its invention, it too joined and participated in the historical uses of the rights of way as a common sense matter of the common law being applied to automobiles as equally as to it's predecessor conveyances. Historically, none of these activities were considered 'camping' as in being considered 'a recreational activity'. Rather, they were simply the expressions of necessity, and were the needful activities of everyday survival, and their practice was culturally understood and accepted as being a part of the expression of what we now understand to be the individual's rights to life, to liberty, and pursuit of happiness, and more. Therefore, this Petitioner now stands impassioned before the Court exhorting it and requesting it to Create Justice by issuing a Declaratory Judgment granting relief and Remedy of Right on behalf of himself and all known and unknown others who of necessity of life and livelihood and survival continue to needfully use and exercise these centuries-old Rights without the impedance of a recent local Law arguably based upon transparent economic favoritism and social prejudice intolerantly barring the continued exercise of these fundamental historical rights.
In the Petitioners opinion, Monterey County Ordinance 14.18. was unfortunately and ill-advisedly and overzealously written, and goes too far in attempting to deal with certain other tangential issues of societal concern. In so doing it errors and causes actionable damage in prohibiting the continuance of these historical and legitimate usages of the People's rights of ways lying within Monterey County. Thus is created the necessity of correctly overturning this Ordinance in the name of preserving by lawful process and for the common public good a continuity of these historical usages, for they are in no way naturally extinct or voluntarily abandoned, and in fact are being actively and continuously claimed by this Petitioner and many known and unknown others elsewhere in the several States without challenge, but within Monterey County because of Ordinance 14.18 only at the risk of citation and confrontation. For instance, in the case of this Petitioner in particular, this Petitioner as an Artist and Painter has exercised throughout his lifetime his right to use the rights of way to locate views and observe them during day and during night for as long as necessary until inspired and then if so desiring to, to work upon said right of way to create works of art based upon that inspiration. This is this Petitioners lawful livelihood, and all rights to life and liberty necessary to such a culturally contributive livelihood are hereby emphatically claimed, including the right to stop, stay and/or remain at a chosen location not encumbered by other fiduciary reason (i.e., respectful of No Parking zones, etc) and to exercise all rights of life, liberty, happiness and/or religion in socially proper and non-offensive ways for the natural duration of his creative experience. Never in his many years of such activities throughout the western United States has this Petitioner known this to be prohibited upon a right of way in an unincorporated area by any non-usurptive law… never, that is, until this Petitioner was drawn to the beauty of the Big Sur coast with the intention to paint from its inspirations, wherein he encountered confrontation based upon Monterey Co. Ordinance 14.18 and its prohibitions.
However, upon careful scrutiny it rapidly becomes obvious to any astute thinker that not only does Monterey Co. Ordinance 14.18 unlawfully limit this Petitioner in exercising his historical and inalienable rights to historical common law activities as a wandering or nomadic Artist, it also limits many other otherwise and otherwhere lawful activities of right for otherwise innocent individuals. Consider that there is correctly no law existent that requires an individual, when away from their homes, to purchase private or public lodging as a legal requirement during each passage of darkness. Further for instance, consider that California Highway 1 lawfully is not a limited access highway (such as an Interstate highway [wherein the noted fact that rest areas for sleeping, otherwise resting, or eating etc are periodically provided clearly indicates that the State of California and the Federal Government of the United States are fully aware of the traveling individuals legal rights to life and rest]) nor are the other many roadways within Monterey County that Ordinance 14.18 claims jurisdiction over. Therefore, upon these roadway macadams and/or otherwise upon their shoulders and within their rights of ways pedestrian usage is fully allowed by right of liberty, as are bicycles, horses, slow-moving farm implements and the like, as is properly consistent with the historical customs and uses of such liberty. Focusing on the 74 miles of CA Highway 1 directly named by this Ordinance, further consider that given the de jure existence of many homeless long-distance pedestrians among the citizen population, that under it's requirements Monterey Co. Ordinance 14.18 in de facto effect criminalizes their existence without cause and unlawfully deprives them of their fundamental and basic rights to life, liberty, and happiness, for any such transient pedestrian choosing to route themselves northward or southward via Highway 1 is confronted with the illegality of taking any rest or sleep while traversing the entire 74 miles of Highway 1 that Ordinance 14.18 currently controls. Certainly it is common sense that walking 74 miles without sleeping would be a multi-day tortuous travail for most people, yet if they stop for needed rest in a visible manner upon the right of way and are without the funds to pay for public or private lodging, they are subject under Monterey Co. Ordinance 14.18 to being cited for no other reason than exercising their right to life by sleeping, whether it be day or night.
Further, consider that there are innumerable socially valid reasons for existing as a homeless pedestrian, among which are reasons of religious liberty. Take, for example, the life of a woman who was known as Peace Pilgrim, who was an American non-denominational spiritual teacher, mystic, pacifist, vegetarian activist, and peace activist. Peace Pilgrim began walking as a penniless monk with nothing but the clothes upon her body as a demonstration of faith on January 1, 1953 and continued walking and teaching to an audience eventually numbering in the tens of thousands until her death by vehicular accident on July 7, 1981. Although she stopped counting miles walked after she reached 25,000, estimates are that she may have traversed over 100,000 miles walking throughout the United States, typically northward in the summer, and southward in the winter. Excepting those times when charity was offered, Peace Pilgrim lived nomadically upon the right of ways. Many people have been inspired by her example (which still lives on via books) and at times walk for the same or similar reasons. Further, consider that many of the worlds religious faiths historically and currently practice renunciation of the worldly and its comforts, and culturally support some form of the existence of the homeless renunciant wanderer in search of spiritual truth. Consider also that the act of pedestrian walking upon the right of way is often practiced by proponents of particular political causes, and is thus an act of guaranteed political freedom. All these exampled legitimate reasons (and many others) to be a pedestrian face being criminalized by Ordinance 14.18 should they stop when needful to rest or sleep upon the Highway 1 right of way or any other Monterey County roadway as per it's prohibitions. This Petitioner places these examples of lifestyle choice before the Court to re-awaken the awareness that certainly not all long-term pedestrians are by any means to be automatically suspected of socially dishonest motivations, but that rather than that being the case, among them are some of humanities most principled members. Clearly, to be criminalized while so engaged in an act of faith or political freedom or other historically lawful common law customary activity by a law that is as indistinct and arbitrary and neglectful of equal human rights as Monterey Co. Ordinance 14.18. is, is a reality fully contrary to the intent of all the sources of persuasive authority listed in this Motions second paragraph, and makes the Monterey Co. Ordinance 14.18 needful of being immediately and correctly overturned by the granting of this Motion.
Further, a similar dilemma is created for anyone needing to rest while operating a vehicle or other conveyance upon, in particular, CA Highway 1… that this Ordinance, by prohibiting any individual at any time from taking sleep in normally prudent ways, again violates the rights to life and liberty of that individual and endangers the public by keeping tired individuals traveling upon the road for fear of a citation. Drowsiness when driving is becoming well recognized as a condition as dangerous as intoxication, and laws are currently being promulgated to require drowsy drivers to get off the highway and take rest and/or sleep until safe vehicle operation can be restored. Were California to follow the lead of the many States that have enacted such drowsy driving laws, Ordinance 14.18 would automatically need to be re-written to allow for it.
Further, this Petitioner reminds the Court that while the essence of Liberty is normally viewed as the right or ability or freedom to leave or to go, it also includes in its full definition the right to not go, or to stop and to stay. Especially it includes to be able to stop, stay, remain, and sleep as a right to life without their peace being disturbed by law enforcement acting in violation of both rights to life and common courteous and respectful manners. Petitioner reminds the Court that such stopping contains absolutely no elements of criminality towards self, others, or property. It is in fact an entirely innocent activity unworthy of being a probable cause of any action or investigation.
Further, this Petitioner recognizes that what Ordinance 14.18 in part attempts to achieve is control of the unsanitary litter of feces and trash left by a generally immature, adolescent and irresponsible recreating public. As this Petitioner is himself often an unpaid voluntary public servant cleaning up such littered and despoiled sites, this Petitioner is not disputing the existence of the need for effective upgrading of the public awareness about societal maturity, litter, sanitation, and citizenship training. This Petitioner argues however, that complete prohibition of historical usage rights is an absolutely unacceptable method of attempting to achieve the desired environmental pristineness because in the process it violates the individuals rights to life by, in this instance, prohibiting the right of the individual to sleep upon a public right of way in any reasonable manner, and in a complete but legally unsupportable reversal of historical customs and usage.
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Rev. David Seacord
Fine Art Painter / Sufi Cherag
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