Begin with that first word: Super-vision. The promise of the 121st Psalm comes to mind: “He watching over Israel slumbers not nor sleeps.” That is divine supervision, the Lord sustaining her own covenant. Super-vision—to see the entire picture, the whole scene, to keep it in front of us. To seek to know all that is happening or not happening, to grasp what must be addressed. And don’t be limited by the literal term “vision.” Total comprehension is what is seen, what is heard, what is sensed, what is touched. And in our common theologies, the Super-vision of the Lord God is manifested through human eyes which are no longer blind; it is expressed from human lips, the prophetic words of those who are inspired; it is incarnate in mortal souls like our own, and finds expression in our music and poetry, our celebration and anguish, our compassion and anger.

“He/She watching over Israel slumbers not nor sleeps.” And yet we much prefer to slumber or sleep, because if we take a focused “super” view of this culture we are want to despair. Things are that bad. For these are critical times, critical hours of our culture, and we must find the courage to claim our Super-vision, to name it for what it is.

At this juncture I am not so foolish as to preach to the choir. I am telling you nothing you do not already know. I ask only that we bring our vision together. If we had the modern “power point” screen, we would put these bullets up there, and you would nod, knowing them well.

These, then, are the bullets:

First, this terrible war, this growing agony of our nation, this moral abyss into which we have sunk, this many-headed monster whose chaotic strategy is to disarm or kill the insurgents, hunt down al-Queda (if it even exists in Iraq), rebuild that country, restore civilian order, and all the time try to keep from getting killed by a people who are coming to despise us. Granted, there once was popular support (including from some of us) in the first days when a pre-emptive move against Afghanistan seemed justified in retaliation against al-Queda’s attack on our nation. But then it degenerated, flowing into Iraq in the tragic misguided policies of our leaders who arrogantly pronounced that the near-East eagerly awaited the visit of the messianic democracy of America. Manifest Destiny, again. The consequence has been a war of longer duration than World War II. It has cost “only” 3500 American lives compared to 50,000 in Viet Nam, but as a Navy Surgeon at COMISS told us “Don’t be deceived by those statistics. We have better forward advance medical care in Iraq than we did in Viet Nam, and we keep many more from dying. But the public does not see the horror of the cascading numbers with grievous injuries: head and spinal trauma, loss of limbs, gross disfigurement, post-traumatic stress.” “Only” 3500 dead. An estimated 50,000-100,000 deaths to Iraqi civilians. A cost of $500 billion with an ultimate cost of up to $1 trillion. And a morally stricken, discouraged and confused nation. A disaster!

I am reminded right now of a moment when Harry Emerson Fosdick stood in the pulpit at Riverside Church. This elegant, classical Christian scholar and preacher crafted every word he spoke. I have read most all of his sermons. On this day, during World War II, from that magnificent pulpit he looked out on a congregation which included a large section of Naval cadets, in their dress uniforms, just before shipping out. Whether he had crafted these words, or whether he was led to speak from his heart, this is what Fosdick said: “God damn this war! And that is a prayer, and not an oath.”

The second bullet point: the American economy. Oh, the Dow Jones looks pretty good these days, and I am glad, because it manages my pension. But this average reflects the status of the rich who are becoming very rich, of corporations who are doing quite well, and to a lesser extent the status of a disappearing middle class. One brokerage house is now quietly discouraging giving any attention to any family whose investment is less than $750,000. America’s powerful economic engine is productive, but not for a vast number of Americans. 16 million now are counted as in living in poverty with family incomes of less than $10,000 per year. Over the last five years this country has experienced a 25% increase in the number of severely poor—persons living hand to mouth, barely able to subsist even with food stamps and food pantries. This comes at a time of actual economic expansion with a dramatic increase in worker productivity; yet the profits have gone to corporations while wages and job growth have actually slipped badly. African Americans and Latinos make up a disproportionate share of the impoverished with the highest rates of poverty being near the Mexican border and in parts of the South. But increasing numbers of the poor are also appearing in our affluent looking suburbs where persons reside who are on fixed retirement, unable to keep up with inflation or with the soaring medical expenses, or persons able to maintain their old lifestyle only by home equity loans and increasing credit card debts.

The third bullet: the health care crisis. This is, of course, closely related to the economic assessment just mentioned. But if that previous bullet is only a theoretical report to you, not this one. You see this crisis every day. Only one in five persons in that emergency room will be able to pay for the service, thus distributing the burden to the one who has insurance and can manage the co-pay. Or a hospital will restrict care to the poor. Or people walk around not able to afford the medicines prescribed for them by their doctors, or postponing procedures for themselves until some later time. Very soon over 50% of the population will have no health insurance. And in the interim the costs of health care rise 5% each year, now amounting to $1 of every $5 spent by anyone in America. This is outpacing the overall economy. It means that many smaller churches can no longer afford a minister because the health care costs push the total support package over the limit. And that, of course, is assuming that you can even get health insurance. We could compose a long list of medical conditions which would disqualify any applicant from benefits unless he or she could join some larger group plan. This third bullet: a health care system which is completely disintegrating.

The fourth bullet: the ecological crisis, the global warming caused by the burning of fossil fuels around the world, and notably in the United States which is responsible for one-fourth of the greenhouse gases. Some say this should be the first bullet, the most urgent crisis of world history. At the U.N. The Intergovernment Panel on Climate Change predicts “catastrophic consequences” if we fail to reduce these emissions. Yet this comes at a time when such gas emissions are actually increasing, and we predict a 20% rise by the year 2020. The outlook is dire; some say we have about 40 years to revolutionize the basic ways the world produces and consumes fuel. 40 years! Our very children and grandchildren will inherit this disaster. But it is a low level priority in Washington.

There are other bullets we could add: continuing discrimination against minorities; the impasses in our educational system; our crass popular values reflected in our consumer and entertainment habits; overpopulation; our flawed system of justice which services the wealthy white person in one way, and the poor or the minority of those will less education in a completely different manner; the attempt by the far right to create an American theocracy; the plight of women and children around the world; our national disdain for immigrants and refugees; other abuses of human rights; and of course the international concerns with nuclear proliferation and terrorism. We could go on; our power point board does not have enough room. But, stitched together, they form what Joseph Sprague calls “seamless garment of oppression and sin.”

This is basic Super-vision. This is what is going on. But who speaks up and identifies this? Sadly, very few. Not most of our political leaders, for Realpolitic is a world of partisan rivalries, of complex expediency where any leader “can only go so far” lest he/she empower the opposition. And, to our sorrow, such Super-vision does not come from religious leadership for, of course, organized religion is so very political. One example is Ohio. I have given personal leadership to the creation of the Interfaith Coalition to Stop Executions. When, in 1998, Ohio, under then Governor Robert Taft, decided to re-institute the killing of convicted prisoners, the first two who were executed were, it was commonly agreed, mentally ill and mentally retarded. But the silence that followed was unbearable, reminiscent of Germany in the 1930’s. And so we created the Interface Coalition. At our inauguration in 2001, I had the honor of giving the inaugural speech while I was flanked by over 60 religious leaders and leading pastors and rabbis who stood together, holding before us the strong statements of commitment of 54 major religious groups who opposed capital punishment on moral, social and judicial grounds. We met again the following year and all the bishops and church executives stood shoulder to shoulder with the families of murder victims saying that the killings for retaliation must end. But the executions continued, and nothing happened. I could not get this same group to march on the state house and nail our demands to the door of the Governor and the conscience of Ohio. Then one day I looked in the mirror and saw, looking back at me, Don Quixote. I was foolishly blind to the fact that reality prevented the bishops and religious leaders from going any further. This was, after all, the time of national elections, and because the majority of “persons in the pew” still endorsed capital punishment, to try and educate them to alternatives to execution would empower the far right, and risk further polarizing congregations already divided over issues of homosexuality, abortion and stem cell research.

Who is watching over Israel? Not, in most cases, the sleeping religious leadership.

And it is disheartening that such Super-vision does not come from our established professional organizations. But they, too, have their own vested, political interests. The American Medical Association nor the American Psychological Association do not stop their presses and make this broad Super-visory assessment. They do not do so because, first, doctors are also divided, and they must coalesce around the single components. They can fight for health care concerns if they do not “go too far” and criticize the war.

And not the academic community. I asked a professor recently who is a world class scientist at Ohio State why academics, noted for their history of intellectual freedom, are not gathered to protest the inept response in Washington to our national crises. Her response: “Jim, you are naïve. You know where I stand on most of these issues. But if I did as you said my funding from federal sources would be cut and a short time my lab would disappear.”

Who is “watching over Israel?” Here I must add in great sadness from personal experience: such Super-vision is not even forthcoming from most of the pastoral care and counseling organizations, those who are supposedly most committed to an objective and soulful assessment of the whole picture, who are supposed to be ones through whom the Word of the Lord comes. Accept this shameful fact: two of the largest pastoral organizations are devoting most all of their energy to their internal concerns, to position themselves for their greatest political advantage over other organizations. They spread false information to accomplish their goal. One seeks to have an absolute monopoly on clinical pastoral education, the other seeks to have an absolute monopoly on the certification of chaplains. They are even moving to a kind of merger, better able to fiddle while Rome burns.

And so, if not these, our political and religious leaders, our professional organizations-- if not these who, then, will provide Super-vision?

It is not surprising that the models which inspire us are theologians. For that is the task of theology: to engage and interpret the total human experience. Pastoral Supervision, no less. There is Karl Barth in 1934, telling Germany that Christianity and patriotism are not synonymous. In these exact words he sounded the alarm

“against every form of groupthink, especially when those who claim an affiliation with God begin to rally hearts and minds under a nationalistic banner. When this occurs, it is the prophetic consciousness that brings a redemptive skepticism to our mythical realities. The confessing community can speak candidly and demand candor when career politicians and celebrity pundits feel trapped by a public that seems to only want promises of absolute victory in the war on evil, further proclamations of America’s moral superiority, and assurance concerning the innate goodness of the American people.”

Or Paul Tillich, preaching on Jeremiah and Isaiah about the shaking of the foundations of the earth, how the triumph of science has become the power for annihilation of the world. Or Walter Brueggemann who describes our current state of alienation in these words:

“The fabric of human care, human dignity, and human possibility is destroyed in the powerful name of greed, as though the American dream has run its course and nobody knows what to do, or even when to notice. . . We scarcely have any poets left whose lips tremble enough to speak our truth for us.”

The one person in our time who most clearly had a comprehensive Super-vision of this nation was, of course, Martin Luther King. This is what he said: “A time comes when silence is betrayal. . . We must speak with all the humility that is appropriate to our limited vision, but we must speak. . . . We must speak for the weak, for the voiceless, for victims of our nation and for those it calls enemy. . .” King’s deep wisdom came in seeing the whole picture, the complete Gestalt, namely that racism, war and poverty are triplets, joined at the hip, crippling the soul of our culture. He said this: “When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism and militarism are incapable of being conquered.”

Super-vision takes it all into account, defining as clearly as possible and in integrated fashion what is happening.

And then Super-vision asks the question why? Why has it come to this? Why the dysfunctionality, or the pathology?

Why? How would you answer that? Some would answer that it is because we are blind and stupid. Jesus stalked constantly of our blindness. Others attribute it to our narcissism and arrogance. Others to our deep fear. Still others to our fallen estate and need of salvation.

But can we get a little more specific than this? I think so. For some time now I have instructed by a new edition of an older text by Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno called Dialectic of Enlightment. These two philosophers tackle the problem of how Germany, the very cradle of the Enlightenment, could have disintegrated into the barbaric Third Reich, and in the decades to follow with most of humanity following in its way. They analyze in depth the Enlightenment, the profound intersection of history where two basic elements were introduced into the renaissance of history. Those elements were truth and freedom.

First truth. It was Francis Bacon whose “experimental philosophy” led him to anticipate the coming of the scientific method where truth would replace medieval mythology. He went all the way back to Plato: God is truth, and thus truth is divine. And such divine understanding must be pursued at all costs. Some of it is exciting, such as the discovery of the human cell and its functions. But some of it is daunting, that the world was not created in seven days as the old myths insisted. But no matter, we have to come to terms with it. The pursuit of truth is the sine qua non of integrity. Likewise the lie, especially the deliberate distortion of the truth or the claiming that a myth is literally true, is not of God, and is demonic. There follows Emmanuel Kant and his critique of pure reason, and Descartes and Leibnitz and Hegel and Nietzsche, persons who would not be deterred in search of the truth that liberates. Old myths and Homeric tales are prized for their symbolism which point to truths sensed but not yet defined.

The pursuit of truth. . . and the proclamation of freedom: this is the Enlightenment. The truth that we are not born into unequal biological castes, the truth that we most certainly must celebrate our individual differences like the variety of flowers in the field. Conformity to some common characteristic is a violation of the truth of our differences, and it must be resisted.

But, then, Horkheimer and Adorno ask: How could Germany do what it did. It replaced truth with fiction, with a new mythology of Aryan supremacy and Jewish culpability. And the enlightened, intelligent population bought into this, shedding their marvelous and distinct individual differences for a common character of conformity and blind obedience.

Truth replaced by mythology, freedom by conformity. Friends, does that sound familiar as we look at American culture today? Truth? Pilate would be right at home in Washington, muttering cynically “What is truth?” It seems to be missing from the scene. We are talking not only about the infamous fabrication of “weapons of mass destruction” which justified our invasion of Iraq, but much more. Deceit is all around us from Enron to the Florida votes which “elected” this President the first time, from Alberto Gonzoles to Scooter Libby. We just don’t believe what is told to us. A congressional hearing is of dubious value unless witnesses are subpoenaed under oath, for otherwise it is assumed they will not tell “the whole truth.” We have “spin doctors” who are experts at replacing truth with a new social myth. A great example is the WHIG group (White House Iraq Group) headed by Karl Rove and Scooter Libby, exposed by the Washington Post as having a mandate to cook up the sexiest recipe for promoting the war, facts be damned. Tell a lie long enough and people will think of it as truth. We have highly orchestrated “disinformation” experts to change the truth. Exxon, for example, in one quarter last year had the highest earnings for any corporation in all of history. But Exxon directed that 25% of that new fortune be placed in the hands of those who would convince the public that there is no ecological crisis resulting from our production of carbon dioxide, and that it is right that we continue to build engines and furnaces that burn petroleum products. Demonic deception.

Truth replaced by mythology. And personal freedom replaced by conformity. John Kinney’s references to the square watermelons and the “squaring of America” are so timely. Again, no preaching to the choir. You know that we are a trendy people, directed by our advertising and marketing experts to dress and act in a certain way, to accept this entertainment, these values, to adapt to the great collective. The result is uniformity, unending sameness, the prelude to the simple obedience which was the downfall of Germany.

How ironic that the pastoral care and counseling movement is in danger of succumbing to this conformity to the new mythology. The “squaring” of pastoral care. For the pastoral care and counseling movement was, just a generation ago, a dramatic phenomenon. In its pursuit of truth it dared to open theology to psychoanalysis, to a courageous look at any and all of our motivations and presumptions, and to a daring reclamation of its place in the healing professions. And as for challenging conformity, it was a threat to religious leaders who expected ministers to “get in line and stay there.” The principle of individuality characterized the personalities who were their own persons. March a few of them before you, and marvel at their selfhood: Boisen, whose passion for authenticity started it all; Seward Hiltner, Carroll Wise, Helen Flanders Dunbar, Russell Dicks, Ernie Bruder, Tom Klink, Wayne Oates, Armen Jorjorian, John Billinsky, Fred Kuether, Len Cedarleaf, Myron Madden. . . The list could go on and on. Whether or not you agreed with them, you could never say that they were cut from some cloth of sameness. They were fiercely independent.

How ironic, then, that such individuality in the pastoral care movement is now suspect, criticized as rebellious, and not tolerated by the majority who fear it. The modern candidate for certification is sometimes counseled by the “wise” to not be conspicuously different from the norm. And in recent years that has been a strong movement toward sameness in the desire for “universal standards” for pastoral care organizations. This is a dangerous phrase. While we need a language that is understood across disciplines, this phrase can also become a perversion of the meaning of standards. Standards are parameters, attempts to articulate values and criteria for professional functioning. But they are not a mold into which we should all comfortably fit. But this modern quest for sameness is to make standards the “letter of the law” which stifles creativity and poisons personal freedom. My partner in Columbus, Rahe Corlis, once put this best when he was serving as President of the State Board of Psychology. At a public meeting where the legalists were wanting to take over the profession he made this remark: “Look. Show me a psychologist who says he has never moved beyond any of these strict ethical codes, who has never violated any of the standards, and I will show you an incompetent psychologist.” Of course! Such a psychologist will be acting as a machine, without soul, never vulnerable, and who could ever relate to such a person. It would not surprise you that Dr. Corlis was soundly criticized for such an outrageous remark.

How could it have happened. this surrender of truth and freedom, yielding to new mythologies and conformity. Why would we do such a thing? Horkheimer and Adorno reflect on how threatening it is for persons to be actually committed to the quest for truth and freedom. They conclude that humans were simply not up to the vision of the Enlightenment, and they ran for safety. The theologian Douglas John Hall observes the flight of many Christians to absolutism and authority because they cannot tolerate ambiguity and “the burden of freedom.” This is reflected, of course, in the proliferation of religious fundamentalism in America, large numbers preferring to accept myth as literal truth and abandoning their freedom.

But that is enough. All of this is what I lift up as at least one perspective, on Super-visory pronouncement of our nation and our time.

And what of the last term in our name: Psychotherapy. It means literally the treatment of the soul. The soul of America. How to bind up the wounds of this nation.

My mind is too small to even imagine all that must be done in this time of crisis. What we can do is to be guided by the principle we apply in our practice: if you are able to make an accurate diagnosis, then the prescription will follow. If our Super-vision is on target, then we will fashion a response accordingly.

Therefore if we implement our paradigm for today, it means that we must, at all cost, require truth and counter mythology designed to deceive; and we must commit ourselves to personal and organizational freedom, and challenge all who would have us conform to the easy way of security.

Fortunately on the horizon there is hope for the recovery of truth and freedom. Polls indicate that a great majority of Americans are no longer buying the myth that the freedom of the world depends upon our military success in Iraq. Most agree: let us admit this disastrous policy and get out. In Washington the “spin doctors” might well be subpoenaed in the coming days, now required to tell the “whole truth” lest they be charged with perjury. Since January of this year, 10 major corporations have announced their full and immediate support of mandatory limits of greenhouse emissions, prepared to completely rebuild their factories if necessary. And whoever you vote for, you must be pleased that “We The People” is a more open process with candidates for President that include a woman, an African American, and an Hispanic, and others —this instead of a cartel representing interests of the petroleum industry.

But the Psychotherapy, the treatment of this broken soul of a nation, is just beginning. It will require much of you individually, and much of us collectively. Above all we must speak up, demand candor and accountability. We must demand it of our political leaders, our religious leaders, the leaders of our professions, and from one another. Ours must become the voice for the voiceless who are poor, who are without medical care, who have been disenfranchised for one reason or another. We simply must support one another in our individual differences, the hallmark of the recovery of our free spirit. We must speak, and we must step out. If this era requires a return to demonstrations in public, even civil disobedience, so be it! Anything but this silence, this deceit, this blind conformity and obedience. Anything but that.

Well, that is our name: The College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy. I want to say how honored I am to be one of you, seeking to proclaim the truth as we can best discern it, and working to sustain our individual freedom. And I am so proud to serve you. And one of the things which inspires me is a letter on file at my desk. . It came at a time when I asked for feedback on our strategies and process. The letter is about our community, our pastoral empowerment, about the big picture, and about our response. I look at this letter whenever I am unclear about CPSP. It brings me back to the essence of our name:

“We are called by God to care for others, to work toward healing our broken world. . . It is time to move forward into a new tomorrow. Forget about the past; no more turf battles with these other organizations. Rather devote your energy to come over and help me design and establish programs that will advance the utilization and resourcing of clinically trained clergy in North Carolina. Because North Carolina has gutted community mental health. Many of the mentally ill have no where and no one to whom they can turn for help. Desperation, fear and hopelessness is suffered and endured.

Let CPSP remain dedicated to the Recovery of Soul—ours and those whom we are called to serve. We must continue to ask the other pastoral organizations to join us in this work. Let us serve the least of these who are broken in spirit and heart. There is too much suffering in the world for us not to do so.

Signed. Perry Miller.