Working on NSB has been one of the great experiences of my life. It has also been a sacrifice.

It’s been a great experience in a way that corresponds with the way, as I understand it, Ezekiel (in “The Sweetness of Prophetic Speech: From the Striking Image in Ezekiel,” at www.nonesoblind.org/blog/?p=1487) speaks of the sweetness even of the bitter words he was called upon to speak: the work to which one is genuinely CALLED brings a sweet kind of fulfillment. And it has also been enriching to join forces with so many of you who contribute to the vitality and substance of our work here.

But it has also been a sacrifice in that this mission has been, for almost four years, a full time job that has paid me less than nothing.

I’ve felt entirely willing to make such sacrifices for reasons that include something I expressed in an earlier piece. In “Greatest Generation? Here’s Our Chance to Rise to the Occasion” (at www.nonesoblind.org/blog/?p=76), I wrote:

For Americans more than sixty years ago, it was the rise of fascistic forces in Berlin and Tokyo that demanded such sacrifice. For us today, it is the rise of such forces in our own capital.

As the generation that fought World War II was required to sacrifice to preserve decent values, so now for us in our time.

Reminding myself how history does not promise us a rose garden helped me to overcome that sense of entitlement, that sense of resistance to sacrifice, that my good fortune of being born into an unusually strong and prosperous America had instilled in me and many others of my generation. As an older generation had been compelled to sacrifice for the sake of some of our civilization’s finest values, so also I felt have we in our times been called to give up our ease, our comfort, our security.

At this moment, however, an increased pinch of discomfort and insecurity leads me to request your aid. The increase in the pinch is due to the circumstances –the deterioration of my “empire”– described in “Seeking Peace of Mind Amidst Insecurity: Reflections on a Spiritual Challenge” (at www.nonesoblind.org/blog/?p=1461).

I know: in that piece I also wrote of my aspiration to achieve the faith and peace of mind of the mendicant monk with his empty rice bowl. But aspiration is not the same as achievement. As one about to undertake an arduous move of my family and household across the country, and as one with a son still in college, I would like some help with that enduring human task of making ends meet.

I intend for the work here on NSB to continue on as far as my eye can see. Our challenges continue: while it looks like we’ll survive the immediate crisis of this Bushite darkness, nonetheless the battle for the soul of America will hardly be won anytime soon.

Most of the analysis I provided in “The Lament of a True Patriot” and “The Muddle Through Scenario” still seems valid: in the face of this dark power, America has failed, for the most part, to rise to the challenge as our Founders had in mind when they designed our constitutional democracy; and for that reason the work of defeating the evil forces behind this regime will continue for years beyond when their public faces have vacated the White House.

So regardless of who takes the oath of office next January, we Americans who care about how righteous or how ruthless is the spirit that rules America will continue to be called to join in a spiritual, moral, and political battle. And that battle is likely to remain a major part of the mission on NSB.

In addition, as NSB has evolved, our explorations here go beyond these immediate national challenges. As the project on SEEING THINGS WHOLE illustrates, there are many rich and worthwhile avenues for us to explore. This is a forum in which the work of “seeing things whole,” and of trying to make things (including ourselves) more whole, need have no end point.

For both those reasons –the continuing political challenge, and the many intriguing paths there are for us to explore– I forsee that my calling will express itself through NSB for a long time to come.

So this is not one of those “throw me a lifeline or I’ll drown” fundraising messages. I’m determined to find a way regardless. Rather, I simply invite you to consider the value of what you get here, and what you feel moved to do to help out.

But let me add, please don’t consider sending any help unless you feel able to do so without injury to yourself.

Ideally, I’d love to find one or more people who are in a position to regard the world with a philanthropic eye, who have enough material resources at their command that they can ask themselves, “Where can I deploy some of these resources to help the world move forward?” and for whom the work here on NSB seems worthy of such philanthropic support.

(The publication of my book THE PARABLE OF THE TRIBES led two such people to approach me during the second half of the 1980s, and led to my getting a modest but indispensable amount of support that enabled me to continue my writing through that decade. My work here on this time of moral crisis in America, however, somewhat to my surprise, has not yet prompted any such philanthropic individuals to come forward to help me continue this work.)

And then there are those who are between those two points on the spectrum, those able to help this mission without hurting themselves but not able to simply make a grant to underwrite its continuation. To those people I say, please consider whether making a contribution to me in this time of increased financial difficulty would feel right to you.

And if the answer is yes, here’s where to send whatever you choose to contribute:

1855 Tramway Terrace Loop NE //
Albuquerque, NM 87122.

Thanks to those who choose to help.

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In the days to come, as a reminder of what NSB has contributed to the effort to address this national crisis, I will be posting some of the major statements from me that have appeared here over these several years.

For starters, let me post here the link for the video presentation –from a talk delivered to the Ethical Society of Washington, D.C. in the spring of 2006– of my “The Concept of Evil: Why It’s Intellectually Valid and Spiritually and Politically Important.” These “Concept of Evil” ideas, as I’ve repeatedly said, I regard to express the deepest insight I’ve had from my four years of struggling to understand this dark and dangerous era of our nation’s history.