The Voice From The Back Row

Being late seems to be becoming a greater concern nowadays.   Being late for a meeting, a deadline, to work, to sleep, even for an occasional meetup with a friend, all seem to be under an ever more stentorian control by a clock.  Rushing from one thing to the next seems to be the accepted state of things; time to wind down and simply chill, when available, has often the sense of being stealthily snatched from the greater state of busy.   I know this is not the best way to be.  I also know I share this state of being with many others – at least if they are talking and writing about it accurately.

From where comes this excessive concern with time and with achievement?  It is as if every minute counted towards production, and the faster the production the better.  However, the question, “To what end?” is not always obvious, and when the question is answered, it is usually a matter of money.  By money, I don’t mean money for a cruise or a vacation abroad, although that would be nice.  I mean money to pay the bills and continue to live independently.   Yes, cooperative living would ameliorate that, but there are problems achieving that goal, too, and it is a different topic.

Why are we allowing this robot-like existence to be imposed upon us??  Perhaps we accept victimization, believing that there is nothing we can do about it anyway.  Perhaps we assume that if we work hard enough (which never seems to quite materialize), we can change things to a better way of being.  Perhaps we are proud of being the ones who can run the fastest, endure the longest, and (hopefully) make the biggest mark.   Perhaps we are struggling to hold a position of material affluence so as to not slide down into what is perceived as a wholly undesirable way of living.  Perhaps we feel bound to boosting the lives of others through our seemingly unending activity.  Perhaps our intent is elemental survival.  Those are all reasons I have heard.

There are certainly outer parameters that influence this state of constant busyness.  Economists have much to say, depending on their individual perspectives, about wealth leaving the ranks of the lower classes on an upward journey towards the “one percent”. Those left working two or three jobs to pay the bills cite survival as the reason for a continuous focus on work. There are warnings about economic collapse, or about natural disasters that encourage working hard to create a practical cushion for such things.  Activists and politicians, from different viewpoints, demonstrate energetic operations and strategies to repel a variety of upcoming dooms.  (Some of these issues are quite real, but the process is often similar.)  Those who embrace more metaphysical viewpoints explain that the earth itself is increasing its vibrational speed, hence the impetus for us to move faster.  Most of us perceive that time is moving faster than it once did.    However, these outer parameters cannot be the only reasons we continue to submit to endless running.

There must be inner reasons, perhaps collective inner reasons, as well.   An attentive look at the outer reasons given for accepting the status quo reveals a basic underlying theme.   That theme is fear.  We embrace the concept of continual activity, minimizing the need for quiet time, beauty, pensiveness, looking inward, “chilling”, because we are afraid of losing what we have, being unable to increase the quality of life (usually measured in money), or perhaps losing life itself if we don’t keep rushing to preserve it.  We are afraid of downsizing our incomes, and the changes that would precipitate.  And, underneath, we are often secretly afraid that after all, we are not quite worthy of what we can envision.  We become unwilling to risk the changes that could propel us forward, not necessarily into more material wealth, but into ways of living that might well prove to be far more satisfying than the status quo.  We are afraid – we might lose too much, we are not quite good enough to make it work.  And so we continue to submit.

It is time, I think, for each of us to examine the elemental fear within ourselves, including the fear that we may not be quite good enough, quite worthy.   It is a common assumption, often deeply ingrained from childhood, that whatever we have done is not quite sufficient, that more needs be done, or, that who/whatever we are, someone else is better.  It is a fear based on competition and the resulting aggression or capitulation, and it is guaranteed to bring unrest and pain.   At asserts that if there are winners, there must also be losers, that we are all separate from each other, that the other is an assumed rival or enemy, that we must be on the alert to protect ourselves, and that cooperation never got anyone anywhere, except temporarily as allies against someone else.

The truth is, we are all worthy, all derived from the same Energy of creation.  There is none more worthy than another.  Even those who have rejected their worthiness and pursue roads of competition and/or destruction, or who focus on taking advantage of others – even those participate in the essential worthiness created within us.

Let us, then, risk taking  the time to look within until we find our essential, worthy selves.  From that connection, let us find ways to be which, while acknowledging achievement, also promote the inner time we need with ourselves and others, with beauty and joy.  From that stance, let us create a world which sustains and nurtures, rather than consumes the energy of its inhabitants.

Peace,   Diane

Oh, how beautiful is sleep!!!  The thought occurred to me this morning, as I was attempting to rouse myself to what was a most beautiful spring day, the kind of day that has not recently been too prevalent.  I am not sure what that means, except, perhaps, that when one is tired and things do not seem so beautiful, then sleep is certainly so, and that is worth noticing.

The poet Keats, in his Ode on a Grecian Urn, exhorts his readers, “Beauty is truth, truth beauty,” and urges them to focus on this inspiration.  Although there are some who disagree with him, for two, the poet/philosopher T.S. Eliot and the mathematician Ian Stewart, the adage is a part of our culture.  It is taught in schools, is recommended by many spiritual counselors, and has been supported by other academics, such as Dr. Mae-Won Ho in a 2011 lecture at the University of Huddersfield, UK.

Beauty is an elusive term.  Attributed sometimes to Plato, and paraphrased often by others, the observation  that “Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder” renders beauty as quite subjective.  Why, then, are we drawn to the beautiful, and when all seems hopeless, encouraged to seek beauty??   Is beauty really a gateway to truth?  Is what is beautiful also malleable, ephemeral, or does a common agreement that some things are beautiful give it substance?  Or, are the two quotations addressing different topics?

I think it will take those wiser than I to answer those questions.  For myself, I find that I am experiencing a need to create or find beauty, and that there seems to be little time or few resources to focus on it.  Perhaps I am sensing a wish to alleviate some of the suffering and ugliness, both of man’s destruction of Nature and his destruction of our own species, and this is revealing itself in a wish for beauty.  Perhaps, at the moment, I am limited to observing beauty, but it seems that this is something important to do.  The blooms on the spring trees and the call of the birds in the morning are beautiful and free.  The kindness I can see in people around me is beautiful.  The neighbor who has created a beautiful garden is an inspiration.  Perhaps beauty is simply a matter of perceiving it, and therein lies its truth.

Yes, there are things that are beautiful, yet still destructive to the extent that they could be labeled evil.  The view of molten magma from the rim of a volcano is awesome in its beauty, yet it is totally dangerous.  There is a certain beauty in the balanced pattern and force of the whirling winds of a tornado or hurricane, yet none wish themselves or their homes to be in its path.  Perhaps the raging fire does clear the way for new growth, yet one must trust that the new growth will be one of nurture.  For those fleeing the horrors of war or genocide, the accepting kindness of others can be their beauty.  For those consumed by anger, any light of love that pierces through is a beacon of beauty.

There are silver linings to clouds of horror, depression, loneliness and loss, all those things that dishearten us and take from us the joy and the energy of life.  Does the ability to perceive those silver linings equal beauty?  Is that what the exhortation to seek beauty means?

I do believe that hand in hand with beauty goes gratitude, and that the finding of one often leads to the finding of the other.  That does not mean that either is easy, and yet I can find no external barrier to finding beauty or gratitude.  The barriers are inside, a kind of closing or refusing to perceive that which uplifts.  Perhaps that is why we are exhorted to seek beauty.

Those who seek with me are my brothers and sisters.  Let us not give in to hopelessness, nor stop in our endeavors to move ever closer to the sustaining and creating Energy we call Truth, Beauty, Love, God, the Force or by other names.  To all of us, I wish us well.

Peace,  Diane

One recurring pattern from the kaleidoscope of protests our fast paced current series of events seems to generate highlights the truth that black lives matter, or, as seems in the moment, should matter or ought to matter.  It is as if the protests are a first step in actuating a truth.

Why is it, then, that the more people march, the more things seem to stay the same?  The spark that ignited the protests continues to smolder, flaring up as if on schedule.  Unarmed black people – mostly men and boys – are killed by predominantly white police officers, protests ensue, investigations are mounted, and then nothing happens.  Apparently, these killings are OK with society, as no deterrent action is taken against either the officers or the police force, nor are there any admissions of guilt or responsibility, or offers of restitution.  It is as if these men are being harvested in the name of nothing spoken, and the principle of justice, to which we give lip service, is not invoked.  Yes, Black Lives Matter.

We live in an age of separation – separation from each other, from the Earth, and from the Energy that envelops and sustains us.  How often do we regard each other as simply people, instead of as blacks, Asians, Hispanics, Natives, whites, East Indians, Arabs, immigrants, gays, transsexuals, Mormons, Muslims,  Catholics, Jehovah’s Witnesses, or any other label which is “other” than ourselves?  Perhaps it is because the Black Lives Matter movement is also imbued with the separation structures of our age that it seems to have stalled, at least in the area of bringing real change.

The response I hear most often given to those who assert that all lives matter is that if “all lives matter” is recognized, then black lives will be ignored and not matter.   The response avers that it is necessary to single out black lives so that they will be seen to matter.  The position is understandable, given that for so long black lives have been treated as if they were inferior, but the position does not in fact provide long term support for its mission that black lives matter.

When any one group (color, race, nationality, religion or other) is singled out from the whole as one that matters, the connotative meaning is that the others matter less.  Those in the position of mattering less are not as likely to support their brothers in mattering more.  Admittedly, whites have for a long time held the position of mattering more.  I don’t see many non-whites eager to help them sustain that position.  It is only when we drop the categories and perceive our human brothers and sisters being harmed by events and systems unfair to human beings that we can act to remedy the status quo.

That is a first step.  If we can come to this kind of heartfelt unity, we are then freed to tackle even deeper issues which underlie division and hatefulness between people.  Two in particular stand out,  although the  topic of how to rectify them is a discussion for another time.

There is a certain insanity in continuing to support a belief that in this world, it is only natural that some should be secure in access to immense resources and privileged positions, while many others cannot access even that which is necessary to survive.  The truth is that our Earth has not only supported us in the past, but continues to sustain us – all of us – provided that the bounty is not skewed.  Maintaining this spurious belief  is one issue that underlies our current divisions.

Another issue, stemming from the same root, incorporates the destructive belief that the Earth and the Energy that sustain us no longer provide.  It asserts that if our species as a whole is going to survive, we need ever-increasing technology to force the Earth to release its nourishment to some of us.  We force the Earth even at the expense of others who live in the toxic waste of technology, at the expense of fellow species, which are going extinct at an alarming rate, and at the expense of the life of our planet itself.

The assumption that ever-increasing technology will save us from a natural world that no longer provides, and that technology will lift us to heights above that nature, heights which we cannot as yet even imagine, is an illusion.  When we have finished tearing down the Original natural order, perhaps we will realize what we have done.  By then, it may well be too late.

Let us join with our brothers and sisters who are labeled “minority” and with those who are not yet so labeled, but who may soon be, to create a human unity.  May this healing of hearts expand to transform the deeper, unspoken assumptions in which our current systems are rooted.  Let us see through the illusion, understanding at last that these assumptions grow increasingly toxic to ourselves, to the plant and animal life with which we share our existence, and to the Earth itself.  Let us grow from loving hearts the world we would like to inhabit.

 

A couple of years ago, I wrote the following for a group in which I was then participating.  I wrote it as an answer to the question, “What is courage?”   Last week, I was looking through my computer files, and found it.  It seems appropriate to add it here.

Courage is a heart song.  As such, it is quite recognizable, but difficult for the mind to grasp.  Courage can be alogical; it does not fit well into boxes or definitions.  Courage responds to the moment rather than to the plan.

Courage embraces what the mind fears.  It ventures into the unknown in pursuit of discovery, or it simply acts on what it perceives needs doing in the moment.

Courage is compassionate.  It does not seek harm to self, yet willingly endures discomfort or pain in order to help another or achieve an altruistic goal.  Courage is not combative, yet can stand and oppose if needed. 

Courage is persistent.  Acknowledging difficulty, it continues its momentum until the difficulties are transformed or overcome.  Courage also knows how to yield, and more importantly, when to yield. Courage is flexible. 

Courage is eclectic.  It inhabits hearts across clas, gender, age, size, health – even species.  Courage is a soldier’s running under fire to save a buddy; it is also a child learning to walk. Courage is championing a novel theory which is as yet unacknowledged by science; it is also speaking one’s truth to friends or choosing to sit in the lunchroom beside the student who is different and rejected. Courage is daring to be quietly different oneself.  Courage is standing with someone in danger of being mugged; it is also the refugee mother who endures and continues onward in hopes of her child’s future.  Courage has many faces.

Courage is a heart song, sung in love.  It embodies and expresses love.  The forms of love are interactive.  Patience is a form of love.  Respect is a form of love.  Compassion is a form of love.  The forms of love are myriad.  Courage is one of those forms.

To this I would now add hope; courage and hope are born of the same energy.  It takes courage to hope; it takes hope to stimulate courage when the temptation is to sink into despair.   Hope inspires us to continue living, even when the going is very rough indeed.  Hope, too, is a form of love.

Most of us, especially now, can find that over which to despair, to sink into passivity and the pain of depression.  It is not that hope is not there, it is that we are in those times disconnected from it.  We can again rise in hope; united in the hopes for good that we all have, we can bring our hopes to manifestation, if only we continue to believe in the power of our courage and our hope.

As Spring returns and rituals of renewal are expressed worldwide, may we each have the courage to re-embrace our hope.

Peace,  Diane