Finding UNITY in a time of CRISIS
WARNING: this blog post does not contain the messages that you’ve been hearing over and over again from your FB wall and the corporate media or most other sources caught up in the emotion of this tumultuous time in the USA. For the life of me, I cannot ever be a commentator solely on current events, because I’m always observing from a much larger perspective. It’s a double-edged sword, trust me.
Rites of passage
In certain ancient civilizations, your community might have prepared you for transformation via certain rites of passage. These rites were important to the psychological development of the individual and vital to the survival of the greater community culture.
Rites of passage often require that one sees the world as completely different or seemingly backwards, or they were a sort of near-death experience. The idea was that the stress of the rite of passage would inspire the individual to open up to new ways of seeing the world via imagination, visioning, and healing.
Why were these rites so important? Because they taught you that the world is not what it appears to be. These wisdom holders were preparing their people for REALITY.
Modern people might call these rites of passage a type of spiritual practice, with little relevance to daily life. But what about your experience isn’t spiritual?
Transformation is reality, the proof is your lived experience right now. Call that a real experience or call that a spiritual experience, the point is that you’re either prepared for it now or you’re not.
Live Free
While it’s not my nature to be out in large crowds making a show of protesting loudly, I do take actions everyday to support the kind of world that I want to live in: one that is peaceful, joyful, equitable, expressive, connected and free. I do support everyone out there peacefully standing up for the rights of ALL people to live free in our country, unencumbered by racist actions and systems of oppression that need to be dismantled so our society can move forward in a way that gives everyone the same chances to live, love, and thrive.
One of my core values is freedom, and at one time I thought that meant I needed to be able to stand on my own, dependent on no one. The wisdom of years and many mistakes has taught me that true freedom is being able to trust others to have your back so you can create together the kind of world we all want to live in. True freedom will only come from working together, one nation, under God, indivisible.
They knew that every moment was an opportunity to claim your freedom, and thus, every moment required awareness, discernment, and clarity. Life lived this way is transformative, as every action you take has power.
That’s why you need to meditate more, so less stuff happens that you have to deal with everyday. Otherwise, it’s exhausting!
Pay Attention
But seriously, if you are comfortable, you are not paying enough attention…and I don’t mean right now, I mean, always and at all times. What you are resisting by sliding into comfort and inertia is the inevitable flow of human progress and evolution unfolding right before your very eyes. If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem, as they say.
In this world of transformation, the world in which you are living, your greatest service is attending to your own evolution and healing. Your DNA contains the light code to your spiritual gifts which unlock this healing potential. So get a life activation ASAP! activate.spiritintransition.com
The greatest gift you can give is re-uniting with your own wholeness. Wholeness is the state of being that results when you apply the principle of unity to your life.
Until you act on that commitment for yourself, experiencing it within, you will not see that wholeness reflected outside of you. How can you see unity without if you don’t have the lived experience of it within? That’s why wisdom traditions from time immemorial have stated that you must go within. The Kingdom of God is within, says Jesus. Enlightenment is within, says the Buddha. The “Dao” or the Way is contained within all things.
“God is a unity unlike any other possible unity,” says a Jewish philosopher Maimonides.
Find UNITY and you will find PEACE.
So what can you do right now?
Well, I don’t think a man who has enjoyed the privilege being a white male in society is your go-to for that kind of advice, so I’m paraphrasing Kali Ladd: a Portland Business Journal Forty Under 40 and Women of Influence honoree: who recently spoke publicaly in Portland, and this is a summary of her remarks:
Neuroscience and psychology and child development all tell us that we can create a new narrative. But we need to be careful to do this intentionally rather reactively. Our brains are incredible, miraculous things that can be wired and rewired by our words and our actions. They call it neuroplasticity.
The science tells us that children are not born hating other children or rendering certain people invisible. This happens over time. You see every circumstance is a data point that forms an idea. Watching that black boy in pre-school get kicked out of class repeatedly is a data point, pretending as though the founding of this country did not come at the hands of genocide is a data point, silence in the aftermath of a killing is a data point.
And these data points form ideas. And these ideas begin to cluster and form schema. And this schema dictates behavior.
We are developing racist schema and reinforcing racist ideas in [our minds] when we fail to talk about racism. When we fail to tell the truth about history. When we fail to point out injustice whether it’s overt or covert.
You see, when we put [truth] at the center of our lives, our comfort or discomfort become less and less important. [paraphrasing Kali Ladd]
It’s time to take a look at your narrative. Your narrative is the story you tell about your lived experience. It colors your worldview, your thoughts, and your actions. The question I would ask you is: are you creating Unity and connection with others, or are you creating distance and separation? Is dismantling racism the way that you are actually creating more separation or union? It’s just a question. Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. When you argue with people, or get angry at current events, is your intention to build understanding and bridge ideologies to restore unity, or are you furthering separation through violence? I don’t know, only you can answer that question for yourself.
Your answer is the kind of world you want to live in, because it’s the kind of world that you’re creating.
So start telling yourself the truth. Start telling others the truth. Be compassionate and forgiving, and trust others to do the same, even if you know they won’t. It’s all part of the transformation.
Above all, heal yourself to a state of wholeness, and the world will follow.
I’ll leave you with some words from the Dhammapada:
Look within.
Be still.
Free from fear and attachment,
Know the sweet joy of the way.
Be well, Stay Healthy, and make a heartfelt prayer for what you want to bring in. Go in peace to love and serve.