Sit Down Comedy … April 26th, 2019

Jonathots Daily Blog

(4027)

It is completely unlikely that anyone over the age of seventy in the United States of America has not heard, spoken or nervously laughed at a joke containing the “N word.” As painful as this may be, we were a country that was comfortable with bigotry.

Likewise, is there any chance that there’s a human being over the age of fifty who hasn’t stated, repeated or stood silent when the word “fag” was offered in an adult conversation? For years, this was the way we described anyone we deemed incapable of the tenacity, strength and energy to succeed.

And dare I say, there is probably no one over the age of twenty-five who has not referred or heard a reference to the female of our species as “bitch.”

It’s just the nature of our journey. We are born without the ability to walk, talk or use a spoon. We graduate from high school and enter grown-up land unable to solve problems, and therefore often opt for selfishness, in order to protect the little we have. As the old song says:

I wish I knew then what I know now.

But do you?

Do you really want to be the first white person in Montgomery, Alabama, who comes to the conclusion that Jim Crow laws are evil and must be overturned?

Do you desire to be the straight person, who during the AIDS pandemic of the mid-1980’s, decides to defend the gay community instead of insisting they brought a plague down on mankind?

And even more recently, do you want to believe the stories of women who were subjugated by domineering men, when it seems more popular, or at least politically acceptable, to come to the side of the accused, dominant, masculine figure?

There are no rewards for those who think ahead of their time.

Society has a history of putting to death those who finally clarify their message, especially when that proclamation is contrary to cultural standards and mores.

You can be popular—or you can be right.

You can’t be both.

It wasn’t even popular in 1863 to free the slaves, even though supposedly we were fighting a war to do so.

It wasn’t popular to take those same slaves—after the war was already over—and give them human and states’ rights.

It took us until 1919 to allow women a chance to vote—and even after that “lightbulb decision” was enacted, there were many places in our country where females were not allowed to serve on juries.

Being spiritually insightful, emotionally empathetic, mentally progressive and physically fit never places you in the forefront of anything.

BEING A LEADER MEANS…

If you decide to be a leader instead of a follower, you will lead alone—since the followers have already pledged their allegiance. Yet we, as a people, count on certain souls to walk a lonely path, pursue through resistance and overcome public opinion to bring us the solutions which lead us into a spirited life instead of rendering us dispirited.

As we judge candidates, senators, congressmen, President and judges, let us keep in mind that they gain their positions by either being voted in or approved. In order to get a vote or be approved, you have to get the blessing of those who walk in the present—not those who have the presence of mind to know where history is walking.

If I knew then what I know now, I would either have to forget it so I could still be fairly popular, or else decide to take the path untraveled—alone.

The producers of jonathots would humbly request a yearly subscription donation of $10 for this inspirational opportunity

---

Subscribe to Jonathan’s Weekly Podcast

 

Coupling … February 27, 2014

Jonathots Daily Blog

(2163)

Over the Christmas holidays a friend asked me to go to a movie. I joked with him that two guys in a theater together might be perceived as “gay.”

In the midst of what we consider to be a great transformation of cultural awareness in the United States of America, we are also simultaneously becoming more cautious, provincial and suspicious. At times I wonder if I could take my fifteen-year-old granddaughter out to dinner without people musing whether it’s an episode of Law and Order: SVU.

And then there’s the issue that for eighteen years I have been traveling with a vibrant woman who is talented, plays music and is a great business partner, but I still have people asking if we’re married. How many married people do you know who make music together? There’s a difference between two turtle doves in a nest and a pair of eagles, soaring high.

This led me to think about the dilemma faced by Jesus in the Good Book, when he decided to send his friends and disciples out two by two. How controversial that must have been.

• Could he send two guys together without everybody thinking they were Greek homosexuals?
• How about a man and woman, without everybody speculating on their copulating?
• Check this one out–could two women go out in that male-dominated society and make an impact for his Kingdom Movement?
• One black, one white?
• How about  Jew and  Gentile?
• And what would happen if you mixed a Samaritan in there, whom, it seemed, everybody hated?

Yes, the decision to send people out two by two–coupling them–was probably one of the more radical propositions Jesus ever initiated.

Because even though we proclaim that our world needs more good news, human beings are actually drawn to bad news, even as they insist how ugly it is, and then whisper the gossip to every living soul they meet.

So this I know:

1. Do what works.
2. Don’t expect it to be accepted.
3. Get the chip off your shoulder and refuse to be defensive.
4. Keep doing it … and bear fruit.

America will be a much better country when we get out of our national funk of abiding arrogance …  and crippling fear.

The producers of jonathots would humbly request a yearly subscription donation of $10 for this wonderful, inspirational opportunity

Click for details on the SpirTed 2014 presentation

Please contact Jonathan’s agent, Jackie Barnett, at (615) 481-1474, for information about scheduling SpiriTed in 2014.

click to hear music from Spirited 2014

Mediocre … July 11, 2013

Jonathots Daily Blog

(1940)

I must be candid–the main problem in our society is not that we are continually embroiled in disagreements, but rather, that the things we have chosen to agree upon are the breeding ground for mediocrity.

I suppose that’s why we selected to compromise in the first place–it’s easy to find human weakness and identify it as normal, and then glorify it as individual. In other words, the more we promote that each one of us is an individual with particular tastes, styles, emotions and beliefs, the simpler it is to tolerate inadequacy.

For example, I may become frustrated with your lack of productivity, but all you have to do is claim that you are a TYPE of person who works “at a different speed” and has varying goals from mine. Once you remove a common standard for humanity which each one of us has to consider in evaluating ourselves, you silently produce anarchy, making us too self-sufficient and overly tolerant of incompleteness.

• Once we’re convinced that we’re “fine the way we are,” what is the need for excellence?
• What is the need for introspection?
• Why should we require ourselves to consider our previous attempts with regret, and determine to repent and do better?

This is the only place where Republicans and Democrats, atheists and believers, and conservatives and liberals agree. It’s the statement: “We are not the same, but rather, individual islands of “special” creation, who must be viewed as independent of general human behavior.”

If this philosophy had wings, we should let it fly. But since the only fruit of this ideology is the generation of loud-mouth critics rationalizing their own inconsistencies, we might want to reconsider what has gotten us to a place where we’re stuck in the mud with no desire to go forward.

Case in point–what you have in Washington, D. C. is not gridlock–it is the application of a selfish society which has finally elected leadership reflecting its own ridiculous formula for life. Our President, Senators and Congressmen are all convinced there are MANY ways to solve problems, and they must fight for their own personal utopia. Since we contend there are a multitude of salvation available for the human race, we therefore believe that each person should “work it out” in his or her own way.

Not only does this eliminate cooperation, but it also institutes an airport with many landing strips and no air traffic controller. It welcomes disaster. It is a certainty that the planes will collide.

So what can we do?  Well, the best way to alleviate pain is to trace it back to its source. Would you allow me to do that? Over the next week or so, I will share where we have derailed our train of thought. Yes–where we have allowed ourselves to extol the mediocre, so as not to impinge on the rights of others to be less than they could be.

It should be very interesting.

You may agree with some of my thoughts and disagree with others. I welcome your disagreement as long as it’s not grounded in the silliness of declaring it “unfair” or “out of the flow of present thinking.”

The first thing I will contend is that life did not begin with the founding of the United States of America. Life didn’t commence at YOUR birth, either. And it was not instituted in the latest revelation of favored Google searches.

Life had a beginning and life has taught us much about ourselves.

On the morrow we shall go to class.

The producers of jonathots would humbly request a yearly subscription donation of $10 for this wonderful, inspirational opportunity

Please contact Jonathan’s agent, Jackie Barnett, at (615) 481-1474, for information about personal appearances or scheduling an event

telePATHy … June 3, 2012

(1,534)

“A Christian nation.”

That phrase is often thrown around–especially in political seasons–as evidence of the good intentions and mission of the United States of America. Actually, it would be valuable to the world if there were a country which followed the principles and heart’s desire of Jesus of Nazareth. It would help to create a better world view and with the dialogue between nations. But in the history of the USA are Puritans, slavery and settlers. It infiltrates our thinking with concepts of judgmentalism, feeling superior to others and settling for less than our very best.

I’m not trying to connote that these three blemishes on our record comprise the spirit that inhabits our country. But they linger. In our historical photo album there are snapshots of these notorious cousins and illegitimate children.

If we want to gain true spirituality and a world view which will place us in a position of true power, granted because of wisdom, we must counteract the Puritan part of our history by initiating good apathy. “Don’t judge or you will be judged–and the measure you put on other people will be put back on you.” That’s good apathy.

And if we want to overcome the stain of slavery, it would be of great benefit to pursue empathy. “NoOne is better than anyone else.” Feeling superior is the best way to start a fight and feeling inferior is the best way to lose one.

If we want to sidestep a tendency to be merely settlers, it will be necessary for us to have sympathy. “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” It is just an understanding that before we snatch something away from another person or force our will into any given situation, we must have a burst of conscience which projects our own feelings into the dilemma so that we understand how the other person will surely respond.

Can I tell you this? If you don’t judge other people, remaining apathetic to their choices, and you refuse to believe you’re better than the folks around you and you show mercy, knowing that it’s the only way to obtain it for yourself, you could live successfully in any country of the world. There are no laws against such choices. On the other hand, if you’re a Puritan who has an opinion on everything, with a history of owning slaves in your own family (which you deny) and you tend to settle for things without considering other people’s feelings, you will quickly become an enemy in any culture.

Now, there is a final gift imparted to those souls who actually develop the apathy to stop judging, the empathy to never feel superior and the sympathy to show mercy to others. Once you allow those three things into your life you are bestowed telepathy. The definition? “Communication from one mind to another.” We usually tie it to extra-sensory perception, but it really isn’t. Once you free your mind of the time-absorbing activities of judging others, establishing your superiority and figuring out how you’re going to settle in and take someone else’s portion, your brain has the capacity to feel and sense what’s needed next.

Jesus referred to it as “going the second mile.” There are some people who not only do what is required of them but have the sensibility to know that a little extra added on for excellence will guarantee that the work doesn’t have to be done again and again. When you’re not judging other people it’s so much easier to notice what they really need or want. When you’re not thinking you’re better than another race or group of human beings, you can pause to consider what next lies on their path and how you can help. And when you’ve decided not to settle for what is available but instead, produce your own, your talents are heightened and you are prepared to do more without grumbling and complaining.

Yes, it is possible to communicate from one mind to another if those minds are not clouded by Puritan ideas, notions of slavery and settling for taking what isn’t yours.

This is the PATH:

• Apathy: “I will not judge anyone else because I don’t want to be judged. I will not participate in gossip and criticism.”
• Empathy: “NoOne is better than anyone else.” To believe any other philosophy is an edict of war against the people we contend are our lessers.
• Sympathy: “Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy.” Before I assume I have the right to take something, I should try those emotions on myself like a suit of clothing and see how they fit. And finally:
• The gift of telepathy: Since our thinking is freed from the constriction of being an enemy of others, we can therefore be granted insight into their minds, which allows us to go the second mile and do more than expected instead of less.

The greatest gift you can give to your country as a patriot is to take on the true spirituality of Jesus and in the process, acquire a world view. If not, you will find yourself at the mercy of the ghosts of our past, which made us believe that women were witches, black men were monkeys and Native Americans were savages.

Find the PATH. Adhere to the PATH. Walk the PATH. Trust the PATH to take you to a sense of true spirituality and the great gift of emulating your Heavenly Father, who loved the whole world so much that He gave us the PATH.

 

The producers of jonathots would humbly request a yearly subscription donation of $10 for this wonderful, inspirational opportunity

aPATHy … May 31, 2012

(1,531)

Puritans.

They were some of the first souls to settle on the shores of the new America. As the story goes, they climbed into a ship and crossed waters to escape religious persecution in their homeland. I’m sure there is truth to this. But here is what I know about persecution–there is real persecution, brought on by people who are mean-spirited and want to make sure everybody is just like them. And then there is a perceived persecution of those who have their own intolerance and are eventually ostracized by others for being cranky and belligerent.

We may never know the whole story—but somewhere between those two definitions for “persecution” lies the truth about the Puritans. Because they didn’t get their name because they spent their time keeping nasty things out of their churning butter. They got their name because they deemed spirituality to be best expressed by attributes of the flesh instead of attitudes of the heart. Otherwise they would never have put people in stocks for committing small indiscretions, or, for that matter, have burned women as witches because they were somewhat different from the other lasses in town.

Puritanism is in the cultural genetics of the United States of America. It has been in-bred into our thinking, cross-sects most racial barriers and certainly is absorbed into all the states of the Union. It makes us overly conscious of the actions of others, burning them in a cauldron of gossip, while proclaiming that we’re doing so for righteousness’ sake. We have become a nation of busy-bodies who are fascinated with sin, while simultaneously wanting to publicly crucify it.

I was raised with this. My mother and father were absolutely delightful inhabitants of a small town in Ohio, frightened of any kind of newness, freshness or difference that might  creep into our community and taint our mediocrity. Therefore being a Puritan is inside me. I can never become truly spiritual and gain a world view—which Jesus wanted me to possess—until I acknowledge that my spiritual DNA has been infused with the mutation of Puritan probing, and therefore my opinions are suspect, if not downright rancid.

I can cite to you the day I became a man. I was fifteen years old, sitting in a church service, when some gentleman from the board of elders began to recite what he perceived to be the evils of a person who was not present at the gathering. I became so thoroughly disgusted that I quietly stood to my feet and walked out of the room. I lost a little bit of the gusto of my Puritan ancestors that day—and ever since then I have been working hard to dispel the remnants of the garbage.

I will tell you that the first step on the path of being truly spiritual and having a world view is apathy. I know that apathy is normally considered to be a negative attribute but when used correctly it is one of the more positive steps a human can take.

The definition of apathy is “a lack of interest or concern.” Exactly. If you want to discuss sin, unrighteousness, immorality or the actions of other people—I am apathetic. I have no interest. I have devoid of concern. Even if you believe the decisions on the part of transgressors are evil, Jesus told us to avoid resisting evil. It’s useless. Nothing dies because you kill it. Things die because they lose the energy and nutrition to sustain life. Bad habits, stupid actions and immoral inclinations are best fought with apathy. If you ignore evil, you steal the only true power it possesses—which is intrigue.

“I don’t care.”

Jesus told me not to judge–or I would be judged, and that a measure would be set for ME from that point on how I would be evaluated in the cosmos. Wow. There are three reasons right there to not be caught being a Puritan, eyeballing other people’s activities.

1. Judging is in itself nasty, boring and eventually demands that you stop talking and start being even meaner.
2. I don’t want to be judged. I don’t even like scrutiny. Sometimes I have to take a deep breath to receive critique. So if I can promote myself not being judged by avoiding doing so to others, I am all for it.
3. And finally, the measuring stick. I just make too many mistakes and think too many stupid things to have some judgment perpetually laid on me by my decision to be critical of others.

I love this country, but the Puritans who settled it have ingrained into us an over-zealous inclination to have an opinion on everything and to feel like we’re doing God’s will by shunning others for their choices.

If we’re going to gain spirituality and a world view, like Jesus wanted us to, we need to practice apathy. “I don’t care.”

And the best way to show that I do care is by “letting my light shine before men that they can see my good works and glorify the Father in heaven.”

America is plagued by the ghosts of our Puritan forefathers, who believed they did God’s will by peering into the lives of other people and executing judgment. It’s not true around the rest of the world, and we certainly would not be pleased by being aligned with nations which maintain that kind of strict religious and moral configuration. There are many Muslim nations which hold to legalities of the Koran who would agree with the Puritans on issues of the flesh. Just as we must be careful to love our enemies, we also must be very aware of who we suddenly find ourselves in fellowship with.

There is  a path and the first step on that path is to acknowledge that you and I have come from Puritan roots set deeply within us, causing us to believe that our convictions are more holy than others, and therefore granting us the privilege of evaluating the world around us.

“Don’t judge or you will be judged.” Jesus’ words.

Beautiful, spiritual apathy.

A man walked up to me the other day and said, “Did you hear what those people are doing?”

I interrupted him. “I don’t care,” I replied. I walked away feeling better, not judged myself and with a measuring stick put up against me that has more grace than gravel.

Apathy. The first step on the path to true spirituality and having a world view.

I am not a Puritan, mainly because I could never keep up with my own philosophy. And when I try to measure it out to other people, it swings around and always punches me in the face.

 

The producers of jonathots would humbly request a yearly subscription donation of $10 for this wonderful, inspirational opportunity