Beliefs – Page 3 – let kindness win

Only If You Let It

The fall colors have been exceptional this year. It’s as if Nature is trying every trick to make us pay attention to what is important, to why we are alive.

I live in a sea of color. I also live in a sea of Trump signs. Where I live the predominant thinking is that covid is at best a hoax or at worst a political tool. The state mandate to wear masks is routinely ignored as we watch the number of infected rise.

The majority of people here speak loudly about their religion, but seldom of their humanity. They are quick to point out their fear of Sharia law, but ignore the fact that they are ushering in their own brand of control.

Yet the colors of autumn are extraordinary, breathtakingly so.

With very little effort you can understand the cycles of life, the withering of age and the preciousness of each moment. Ironically, most of the leaves will be gone by November 3^rdalong with much of the political hype. Then winter will set in and the echo chambers of beliefs will continue to be passed in churches, at gas stations, in bars and on and on.

Winter holds it’s own unique embrace. The silence can caress your weariness and the beauty of the snow can wash away your pain. But only if you let it, and only if you notice.

There’s so much we have forgotten to notice. We have forgotten the power of love and our interconnectedness with it and with all life. We have forgotten how to honor relationship; we have forgotten how to dream.

We live in the time of the dying. But death is nothing more than the beginning of rebirth. And now the leaves are teaching us. Pay attention.

Inequitable Justice

When a president cannot condemn white supremacy we have arrived at a pivotal moment. When he attempts to whitewash our history by sidestepping the Doctrine of Discovery and governmental acts of racism, we must demand truth.

When his Supreme Court pick proclaims to be a strict constructionist and pledges allegiance to Constitutional Law, many will find patriotism in her words. But the founding fathers were fallible. Their constructs were laced with racism and misogyny inevitably creating an inequitable system of justice.

When Trump uses the rallying cry of “law and order” we must recognize that the judicial system in this country has always favored property over humanity. It’s not a broken system. It’s a system working as it was designed to work. It protects wealth and maintains control over individuals of lessor means through unjust sentences, impossible fees and physical might.

Change will come when the majority of us understand that we cannot fix this system. It’s stacked against us. Instead we must continue to create new ways of restoring justice. We need to develop better means towards rehabilitation and reconciliation. We need to take the leap towards what has been called “beloved community”. We need to seek out and conspire with others in this human effort. And we must be willing to let the old system die.

This is why activists proclaim, “Defund the police”. Defunding the police is only one piece of dismantling a corrupt system, which must undergo transformation, if we are to survive as a people.

The farce of an election will play out. Lobbyists and other power brokers wait in the wings to have their say. But it’s not too late; it will never be too late, for we the people to co-create a better day.

It is time to end the division cultivated by racism. We are and have always been one people.

The poster of the movie, “Birth of a Nation” is public domain. The Birth of a Nation is a silent film from 1915. It is three hours of racist propaganda.

Something’s Happening

There’s something much greater happening right now than an election, and no, it is not the selection of a Supreme Court Justice, and no, it is not the ongoing crisis of a pandemic that never had to be this out of control…

There is something much greater, and much more immediate that’s happening. The intense polarizations are leaving us with a choice. Will we continue to participate in the downward spiral of separation and hatred or will we reclaim our connectedness and our humanity?

The choice is always there.

I found a young rooster who had been beaten up by the others of his flock. His jaw is broken and it appears that his spine is broken as well, but still he stood and wobbled as he walked. I gave him some water and put food into his broken beak. He responded in a positive way and we have worked out systems that keep him safe and well fed. I bathe him with dust and he grooms himself with it. I am amazed at how much I love him and how my love has grown. His desire to live is a great teacher to me. And I will assist him as long as he needs.

Our hearts have the capacity to love deeply and without restriction. And love itself is the reward.

That is the choice before us. We can maintain foolish divides or we can allow ourselves to love and to heal.

The status quo is full of contradictions and hypocrisy. The beliefs that we have inherited have made us very sick. But the remedy has always been at hand. Love. Love foolishly, love graciously. And appreciate the fact that you can love. It is a gift.

Love is our greatest ally and our greatest weapon.

Love lavishly.

Take a Breath

The unrest continues in response to the police brutality used in the attempted homicide of Jacob Blake. White vigilantes fan the flames of racism on the streets of Kenosha. Too many on social media are applauding the seventeen year old who killed two protestors and far too many are defending the police who held a man by the shirt and shot seven bullets directly into his back.

And then there are the white commentaries bashing protestors for destroying property while omitting to comment on systemic and brutal racism.

Take a breath people. Jacob Blake’s mother asked that of us and I think it is a good starting point. And once you catch your breath, I think we should defect. To defect: to leave, without consent or permission, allegiances that we have espoused or participated in.

In this moment when insanity is breaking loose; we need to defect from our allegiance to inhumanity. We need to defect from the thinking that tells us there are many races and we need to embrace the single race of being human. We need to defect from the position that might is right and restorative justice is impossible. And most of all we need to stop judging one another and listen.

Over the years I have taken time to be with people different than myself. I have an Indigenous Grandmother, a Black Daughter, Sovereign Sisters and a Muslim Brother, not by blood or marraige, but by choice. And I choose to listen.

Our stories are different. Our hearts are the same.

So I’m defecting from ignorance and hate and I suggest you do the same. Peace is possible. Love is real and as we move towards that understanding, the world will change.

It’s up to us. It’s always been.

photo: wikimedia

Through the Eye of a Needle

There is a lovely canopy of green that blankets my world this time of year. From May through October my cabin sits in the midst of it. My closest neighbors are deer, coyote and a variety of birds, small animals and insects. Through these months as I sit in the silence of an Internet and television free environment, I have the opportunity to think and to feel.

During the days, I catch glimpses of the news, and from social media I learn what many are thinking. For the most part we think about and are driven by what we believe. We have an allegiance to what we believe and so we seek the company of people and of the ideas that uphold those beliefs. This is the beginning of the isolation and the division we are witnessing today. We have become more invested in our beliefs than in our humanity.

Today I took a moment to recite the Pledge of Allegiance and was a bit surprised that I remembered it. When I got to “with liberty and justice for all” I was jolted by the memory of why I stopped saying it. For me, it simply wasn’t true.

The sentiment is lovely, the ideal is honorable but I couldn’t pledge allegiance to something that did not exist. It brought me to that incredible moment when belief and knowing collide and you must choose which you will follow.

To leave beliefs behind is not easy. It’s like passing a camel through the eye of a needle. But I have found a simple solution. I follow my knowing. And I am honing my knowing to some very basic things: our humanity is what we share and kindness is our greatest strength. “Liberty and justice for all” will be born of this.

Photo is a Czech movie poster to Czech film Velbloud uchem jehly (1936). A comedy film with an allusion to the “eye of a needle” aphorism.

Do Not Be Deceived

Do not be deceived. Masks, no masks; rioters versus protestors; defund, no reform the police; pandemic or flu; economic crisis for many, capital gains for a few. Confusion is easy in this moment. Intentional confusion brings hopelessness and inaction. And that is what some are working towards, that we will become hopeless and impotent.

But there is a way I have found that cuts through confusion and provides the courage for action, and it simple. Listen to your heart.

I cannot remove the image of a knee on the neck of a man from my mind. That image is enough to keep my heart on track. There is no rationale; there is no excuse, which could make me falter. I may have been taught racism, but I have come to a cherished understanding: we are one people. And there is no amount of fear or hatred that can alter the conviction of my heart to see human dignity restored.

When people defend the systems of racism, which are crushing all of us, I realize they have traded their humanity for some vague notion of law and order. They are human beings who have left dignity behind.

When I listen to my heart, I am uplifted beyond doubt. I am freed from confusion. Anger is transformed.

When I hear people talk of the virus “culling the herd”, I know they have suffered the loss of their heart. They have forgotten the preciousness of each life and that is something our leaders have yet to understand.

We don’t have to debate ignorance. We don’t need to give power to the greedy. Transformation doesn’t need to take time. It can come in a breath and it is born on the wings of understanding. Don’t be deceived. We all hold the key.

Listen to your heart.

It Can Be Done

I came upon our ducks in frenzy. I stopped to watch as one bolted from the crowd carrying something in her mouth. It was a full-grown frog and not one that she was willing to share. I watched as she continued to elude the others while attempting to consume the now dead frog. The other ducks gave up the chase as I watched in disbelief. It was all so unexpected. Never had I thought of a duck killing and eating a full-grown frog.

Nature has surprises. Although by now there shouldn’t be. I couldn’t judge her; she was following deep seeded instincts of survival. I could feel for the frog, but the reality is the frog has its own instincts to follow.

And then I began to consider the instincts that drive us. There are many who equate the ruthlessness they observe in Nature with the ruthlessness of human beings. It is used to justify the worst of our behaviors and it is also used to justify the corporal punishments we dole as retribution. It is used to justify war, genocide and all forms of inequality. We have become adept at declaring and resigning ourselves to humanity at its worst. It is the excuse we allow.

I have come to resent that excuse. I no longer believe we must accept and follow the base instincts of life. But it does mean we must consciously choose which instincts we will follow. We must survey the terrain of our being and choose which seeds must be cared for and which seeds should be left alone.

Choosing understanding over hatred, compassion over anger, and kindness over greed can be done.

It takes practice. It takes determination. It takes courage, but it can be done.

Yes, violence begets violence, but love certainly creates love

“Hate begets hate; violence begets violence; toughness begets a greater toughness. We must meet the forces of hate with the power of love. ” Martin Luther King (1958)

Step Out of the Cage

I remember a poem I wrote when I was young; it was about a cage made of human hands. It was a response to the suffocation I felt when asked to conform. From that moment of clarity, I made it my business not to get caught in the cage.

Yet through the years I have unwittingly slipped into the cage needing to find my way out again and again. There is comfort in conformity even when we know it is against our better interest. And it is not easy to stand peaceful and resolute in the face of fear and hatred.

One of the bars of the cage is the belief that we are different from one another and gives way to inequality. One bar tells us that winners have the most toys – omitting the reality that we come and go from this world empty handed. One bar is adamant that human beings are vile and corrupt and need to be controlled.

The bars are our beliefs. When we accept them as truth they trap us.

Today our beliefs are tearing at the fabric of our humanity. We give our power to the powerful and anguish as they abuse it. We wring our hands and speak with contempt, but very few take the time to examine the cage. We have built it and we accept it. And no one can save us from this cage but us.

Our heroes are dying. The emperor is exposed. The worldwide collapse caused by the virus could have been stopped before it began. Power and money grabs carry on just as we have allowed. They are empowered by the belief that the destruction of the earth and of her people is unavoidable.

Yet none of this is ordained. Humanity is calling. It’s still our choice.

Step out of the cage.

Right on Time

Here come the first hints of spring right on time. I heard a robin sing yesterday and today the call of the sand hill crane caught my attention. The snow is melting and the mud and the ice are treacherous if you take a wrong step, but the brilliant sun makes the cold wind cower and you know it is only a matter of time before you will walk barefoot again.

And there is hope, right on time.

The news in any given day is bleak and I am inclined to believe it is intentionally so. It is easier to control a population when it is kept on edge. It is easier to drive an agenda if you do not give people a chance to find their own way. But at the end of the day, it will always be our choice to fall for fear mongering and hate baiting or to strive to create sustainable peace.

Winter in the Driftless is not for those afraid of a good challenge. But it is the beauty of the season and the brilliance of the night skies that soothes the soul and holds the promise of spring.

I couldn’t live in a hopeless world. And the return of the sand hill crane reminds me of that. I muse over the latest news on the coronavirus, or the hatred that has reared its head against Muslims in Delhi. Yet I rejoice to hear the Korean woman tell how she survived the disease and how the Hindu man saved many Muslim neighbors making trips by motorcycle.

You see, spring returns. And with it hope. Not blind hope, but hope born of reason, conviction and action laced with integrity. We are born for this. We are born to be victors over fear, hatred and ignorance, because we are born for love.

sandhill crane in flight courtesy of wikipedia commons

Category: Beliefs