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Revolutions and Resolutions
I love how my dear and inspiring friend and teacher, Rev. Maxine Kaye, speaks of New Year's "Revolutions"—"turning every negative belief on its head, each limiting idea into one of expansion, and all undesirable feelings into healthy, constructive ideals to focus on in the coming year."
That's the essence of this image I've made for this New Year's reflection. It was originally an icicle hanging upside down, and it looked to me like a dragon, so that's what it became.
And that's what I'd like this new year to be about: new perspectives, new possibilities for what is good for me, for others and the planet. I want to be aware, to stay as much as possible in the present moment, and be fully conscious of my thoughts, knowing they create my reality. I love how Byron Katie, creator of The Work, says, "When you argue with Reality, you lose, but only 100% of the time."
We can also have resolutions. Mine would be to continue my quest to accept everything just as it is, saying Yes to whatever comes to me, as gracefully and willingly as I can.
Here is a six minute New Year's Greeting from Dr. Vandana Shiva in which she likens us to seeds of hope. I would add that we are also seeds of change. As seeds we need to sprout and grow, nourishing ourselves, our families and friends, our communities, and our planet.
Happy, Healthy and Blessed New Year!
A New Year's message
That's the essence of this image I've made for this New Year's reflection. It was originally an icicle hanging upside down, and it looked to me like a dragon, so that's what it became.
And that's what I'd like this new year to be about: new perspectives, new possibilities for what is good for me, for others and the planet. I want to be aware, to stay as much as possible in the present moment, and be fully conscious of my thoughts, knowing they create my reality. I love how Byron Katie, creator of The Work, says, "When you argue with Reality, you lose, but only 100% of the time."
We can also have resolutions. Mine would be to continue my quest to accept everything just as it is, saying Yes to whatever comes to me, as gracefully and willingly as I can.
Here is a six minute New Year's Greeting from Dr. Vandana Shiva in which she likens us to seeds of hope. I would add that we are also seeds of change. As seeds we need to sprout and grow, nourishing ourselves, our families and friends, our communities, and our planet.
Happy, Healthy and Blessed New Year!
A New Year's message
Letting Go!
Lent (which began February 18—this photograph of one of our oaks was taken in the fall; now it is leafless and loaded with snow!) is for many people a time of self-reflection, abstinence of some kind, and change. The theme of this period is letting go. It seems pretty easy to me to give up chocolate for six weeks compared to letting go of false thoughts and beliefs, harmful behaviors, delusions, fears, and old stories about myself or others.
On the first day of Lent, Dr. Maxine Kaye posed these questions to readers of her Daily Meditations: What might you be ready to release? Which false ideas are you prepared to let go, and how soon would you care to begin? There’s a challenge for you! But why, I ask myself, should I take on this challenge? What’s the benefit of this difficult process of purification? I don’t like change! Or it’s probably more accurate to say that my ego—what some call the “false self”—doesn’t want to change. It’s hard. It hurts sometimes. It’s like chipping away calcium deposits from my inner pipes. Thankfully I know from experience that the more I clear out these old, hard burdens the greater the flow of life and love into and out of me.
Okay. So what’s up for me this Lent? (This is the short list, and it’s a work in progress!) To the best of my ability I let go of:
• Being critical, judgmental, and unkind…and let flow lovingkindness to all, including myself.
• Trying to be, or thinking I am, “perfect.” (That’s another topic for this blog!)
• Negative thinking like; “I don’t have anything important or new to say, and besides that, since I’m a wrinkled, white-haired Old Person (and a woman at that!) no one will listen to me anyway.” And how about stopping what I often hear myself saying, “I can’t,” or any number of limiting thoughts about my God-given, God-driven talents, gifts, capabilities, and personhood. I can do this!
• Complaining! I would like to fast permanently from complaining! I complain about things not being the way I want them to be. I pray every single day to accept everything just as it is, to say “Yes” to everything. I may have to pray for that acceptance everyday until I die! As Byron Katie says, “When you argue with Reality, you lose, but only 100% of the time.” If you’re unfamiliar with her powerful practice called The Work, check out this brief description of "How The Work Works".
Lent will end April 2nd, but our journey to inner freedom will go on. I leave you with this wonderful little poem by Lucille Clifton, and send you love, courage, and blessings on your continued journey.
the lesson of the falling leaves
the leaves believe
such letting go is love
such love is faith
such faith is grace
such grace is god
i agree with the leaves”
On the first day of Lent, Dr. Maxine Kaye posed these questions to readers of her Daily Meditations: What might you be ready to release? Which false ideas are you prepared to let go, and how soon would you care to begin? There’s a challenge for you! But why, I ask myself, should I take on this challenge? What’s the benefit of this difficult process of purification? I don’t like change! Or it’s probably more accurate to say that my ego—what some call the “false self”—doesn’t want to change. It’s hard. It hurts sometimes. It’s like chipping away calcium deposits from my inner pipes. Thankfully I know from experience that the more I clear out these old, hard burdens the greater the flow of life and love into and out of me.
Okay. So what’s up for me this Lent? (This is the short list, and it’s a work in progress!) To the best of my ability I let go of:
• Being critical, judgmental, and unkind…and let flow lovingkindness to all, including myself.
• Trying to be, or thinking I am, “perfect.” (That’s another topic for this blog!)
• Negative thinking like; “I don’t have anything important or new to say, and besides that, since I’m a wrinkled, white-haired Old Person (and a woman at that!) no one will listen to me anyway.” And how about stopping what I often hear myself saying, “I can’t,” or any number of limiting thoughts about my God-given, God-driven talents, gifts, capabilities, and personhood. I can do this!
• Complaining! I would like to fast permanently from complaining! I complain about things not being the way I want them to be. I pray every single day to accept everything just as it is, to say “Yes” to everything. I may have to pray for that acceptance everyday until I die! As Byron Katie says, “When you argue with Reality, you lose, but only 100% of the time.” If you’re unfamiliar with her powerful practice called The Work, check out this brief description of "How The Work Works".
Lent will end April 2nd, but our journey to inner freedom will go on. I leave you with this wonderful little poem by Lucille Clifton, and send you love, courage, and blessings on your continued journey.
the lesson of the falling leaves
the leaves believe
such letting go is love
such love is faith
such faith is grace
such grace is god
i agree with the leaves”
Why radical? The origin of the word radical relates to going to the root, or the essential. So radical acceptance implies a deep sense of acceptance, an acceptance that goes deeper than the mind, a feeling that goes to the essence, to our hearts.
I first came across this idea from the title of a CD by Buddhist teacher Tara Brach. Her teaching focuses primarily on the need for and practice of self-acceptance. She talks about how we pass our infant state of divine openness and love to discover others don’t see us as we truly are, and have their own agenda for how we should be. We may grow up with feelings of unworthiness, shame, or not-enoughness. Our self-aversion, self-criticism and judgment may last for years. Brach encourages us to be especially gentle with ourselves as we acknowledge our painful memories and feelings. {GENTLE is the magic touch here!} Another Buddhist teacher, Pema Chodron, urges us to “tenderhearted bravery” as we uncover and explore the shadow side of ourselves. She suggests we place the shame or guilt or sense of unworthiness into a “cradle of lovingkindness and caring” as we let go of these negative beliefs about ourselves. It is this “tenderhearted bravery” that frees us, and allows us to move forward with confidence and courage to be who we truly are.
I was raised to not be afraid, to not feel vulnerable, to not feel needy. My own radical, deep acceptance then is to acknowledge those feelings and allow them to be, and keep learning to accept and express all the colors and shades of what it means to be fully human.
There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun. (Thomas Merton) Fully accepting ourselves also means owning, embracing, celebrating and expressing our Buddha Nature, our Divine Indwelling Spirit of Love, the “Cosmic Christ” within. This aspect of self-acceptance can be at least as difficult, and is, I think, the essence of the spiritual journey.
Besides personal self-acceptance there is acceptance of others. Mother Teresa, when speaking to her sisters in Calcutta about the homeless, sick and the needy, says, “Can you receive them?” When others are difficult, irritating, or frustrating, I don’t always receive them just the way they are. And I don’t always receive me just the way I am, especially the me who is having difficulty receiving another.
Moving beyond the personal, can we accept whatever Life brings to us. Can we accept everything just as it is without trying to fight, change, oppose, resist, fix, reverse, deny, hide from, run away from or complain about What Is. As Byron Katie says, “When you argue with Reality, you lose, but only 100% of the time.” Can we accept the struggle, the sorrow, the joy, the love and the suffering, the pain and delight, sickness and health?
This is an essay I like a lot that appeared in a newsletter by Lee Klinger Lesser, teacher of Sensory Awareness workshops, about seeing life as the ocean.
Imagine trying to control the ocean with our preferences…
I love swimming in the ocean. I love going to meet the waves...the adventure of finding where to go to be carried by them rather than smashed by them.
And I have often recognized how ludicrous it would be to be in the midst of the ocean and complain to the waves:
"Wait, I don't want you to be so strong!" Or "Wait, you are breaking too soon, I am not in the right place!"
The ocean is an exacting teacher. We have no choice but to meet what is there, and to move and respond as fully and completely as we can to each wave just as it is - discovering what it demands of us in each new moment.
There is no luxury of turning away and trying to pick and choose our way through what we like and don't like. It is as it is, and it will be clobbering us or lifting us or carrying us moment by moment depending on how we respond and how the conditions arise.
We can wake up to meet each wave or we can try to hide and get away...and the reality is there is nowhere to go...not when we are in the midst of this ocean of our lives.”
May we take the waves as they come, surf the breakers with joy and ease, and ride out the Big Ones without swallowing too much water.
I first came across this idea from the title of a CD by Buddhist teacher Tara Brach. Her teaching focuses primarily on the need for and practice of self-acceptance. She talks about how we pass our infant state of divine openness and love to discover others don’t see us as we truly are, and have their own agenda for how we should be. We may grow up with feelings of unworthiness, shame, or not-enoughness. Our self-aversion, self-criticism and judgment may last for years. Brach encourages us to be especially gentle with ourselves as we acknowledge our painful memories and feelings. {GENTLE is the magic touch here!} Another Buddhist teacher, Pema Chodron, urges us to “tenderhearted bravery” as we uncover and explore the shadow side of ourselves. She suggests we place the shame or guilt or sense of unworthiness into a “cradle of lovingkindness and caring” as we let go of these negative beliefs about ourselves. It is this “tenderhearted bravery” that frees us, and allows us to move forward with confidence and courage to be who we truly are.
I was raised to not be afraid, to not feel vulnerable, to not feel needy. My own radical, deep acceptance then is to acknowledge those feelings and allow them to be, and keep learning to accept and express all the colors and shades of what it means to be fully human.
There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun. (Thomas Merton) Fully accepting ourselves also means owning, embracing, celebrating and expressing our Buddha Nature, our Divine Indwelling Spirit of Love, the “Cosmic Christ” within. This aspect of self-acceptance can be at least as difficult, and is, I think, the essence of the spiritual journey.
Besides personal self-acceptance there is acceptance of others. Mother Teresa, when speaking to her sisters in Calcutta about the homeless, sick and the needy, says, “Can you receive them?” When others are difficult, irritating, or frustrating, I don’t always receive them just the way they are. And I don’t always receive me just the way I am, especially the me who is having difficulty receiving another.
Moving beyond the personal, can we accept whatever Life brings to us. Can we accept everything just as it is without trying to fight, change, oppose, resist, fix, reverse, deny, hide from, run away from or complain about What Is. As Byron Katie says, “When you argue with Reality, you lose, but only 100% of the time.” Can we accept the struggle, the sorrow, the joy, the love and the suffering, the pain and delight, sickness and health?
This is an essay I like a lot that appeared in a newsletter by Lee Klinger Lesser, teacher of Sensory Awareness workshops, about seeing life as the ocean.
Imagine trying to control the ocean with our preferences…
I love swimming in the ocean. I love going to meet the waves...the adventure of finding where to go to be carried by them rather than smashed by them.
And I have often recognized how ludicrous it would be to be in the midst of the ocean and complain to the waves:
"Wait, I don't want you to be so strong!" Or "Wait, you are breaking too soon, I am not in the right place!"
The ocean is an exacting teacher. We have no choice but to meet what is there, and to move and respond as fully and completely as we can to each wave just as it is - discovering what it demands of us in each new moment.
There is no luxury of turning away and trying to pick and choose our way through what we like and don't like. It is as it is, and it will be clobbering us or lifting us or carrying us moment by moment depending on how we respond and how the conditions arise.
We can wake up to meet each wave or we can try to hide and get away...and the reality is there is nowhere to go...not when we are in the midst of this ocean of our lives.”
May we take the waves as they come, surf the breakers with joy and ease, and ride out the Big Ones without swallowing too much water.
I’ve taken this title from a CD by Matthew Fox (Radical Prayer, Love in Action) because it suggests to me the idea of deepening and expanding our idea of prayer. Probably the most common way we think about prayer—at least I did for a long time—is that portrayed in the photograph (courtesy of a friend, the Internet, and a little Photoshop). Hopefully we’re lucky enough to have a dog to pray with us! My own understanding and practice of prayer has been enhanced and enriched by the wisdom and perspectives expressed below that I have gathered in my explorations of prayer.
Fr. Carl Arico, Contemplative Outreach:
"As you know prayer is a relationship with our God. Like any relationship there are different aspects, so in prayer, there are prayers expressing sorrow, prayers expressing thanksgiving, adoration and prayers expressing petitions (asking for something). Depending on the circumstances of life these different prayers are used at different times, but they are directed to the same God.
"So what is the bottom line of our prayer? I believe it is this: 'Lord, send down upon me all the graces and blessings you want for me in this situation. Give me the grace to be able to deal with this as you wish. Amen.' Then step back and see what happens; it is a leap of trust that all will be well."
Fr. Laurence Freeman, OSB, says giving your attention to what is before you is praying. Attending to the present moment is a prayer. He also says that prayer reduces the inflammation of the ego.
Mary Oliver, poet:
"I don't know what a prayer is,
but I do know how to pay attention."
Tessa Bielecki, The Desert Foundation:
Prayer is “ . . . raising the heart and mind to God."
Carolyn Baker, author of Navigating the Coming Chaos:
She says there are lots of ways to pray: performing a ritual, giving thanks, surrendering to a challenge, crying out for help, service. For the artist, writer, musician, actor, dancer, her / his craft may be a prayer.
Fr. Richard Rohr, Center for Action and Contemplation:
"When Paul says to 'pray always' (1 Thessalonians 5:17), he can’t mean to walk around saying the 'Our Father' and 'Hail Mary' all day. Prayer is basically a total life stance. It is a way of being present in the world in which we are present to the Presence and present to the Presence in all things. In a certain sense, you either pray always (or almost always) or you do not pray at all.
"Once you recognize that it’s all right here, right now, then you’ll carry that awareness everywhere. How you do anything is how you do everything."
Fr. Richard says that prayer, more than anything, seeks, creates, and preserves relationship with God and with others, and that prayer is "merging, dancing, participation."
Simone Weil, French religious philosopher:
"Prayer is paying attention."
Thomas Merton said that for him to pray was "to breathe and look around."
Matthew Fox, spiritual theologian, founder of the University of Creation Spirituality, author of Original Blessing:
Matthew Fox passionately speaks to us about prayer being our openness to, and celebration of the Universe all around and within us. He calls us to feel, to experience, and to express our awe and wonderment and amazement at this Universe, to revel in the immensity, the intensity, and the intimacy of it all. It is this reconnection with our cosmology that will lead us to create a just and sustainable world for all
Kathleen Norris, poet, essayist, author of Amazing Grace, A Vocabulary of Faith:
"I learned that prayer is not asking for what you think you want but asking to be changed in ways you can’t imagine."
"The best ‘how to’ I know is from Psalm 46: Be still and know that I am God."
"Prayer is not doing, but being."
"Prayer is not a grocery list we hand to God. It is ordinary experience lived with gratitude and wonder, the wonder that makes us know the smallness of oneself in an enormous and various universe."
"And sometimes ordinary conversation reveal themselves as prayer."
(This is exactly what happened when my friend, Lisa, said to me “We see each other into being,” and I wrote this poem from that first line.)
The Dream
We see each other into being
with visions of a greater dream.
We dare each other to awake
with challenges our souls to make.
I see you now, but brighter still,
the lofty dream as yet to fill.
Now do not turn away, my friend,
And dare not heed the call within.
It’s yours to see the choice to make,
and yours to pick which road to take.
Still I cry, for our Earth’s sake,
and pray you dance the dream awake.
Amen.
References
Contemplative Outreach and Centering Prayer
The Desert Foundation / Sand & Sky Desert Voices
Center for Action and Contemplation
The Dream poem was made into a card and is listed under Cards
on the Desert Rose Press website.
Fr. Carl Arico, Contemplative Outreach:
"As you know prayer is a relationship with our God. Like any relationship there are different aspects, so in prayer, there are prayers expressing sorrow, prayers expressing thanksgiving, adoration and prayers expressing petitions (asking for something). Depending on the circumstances of life these different prayers are used at different times, but they are directed to the same God.
"So what is the bottom line of our prayer? I believe it is this: 'Lord, send down upon me all the graces and blessings you want for me in this situation. Give me the grace to be able to deal with this as you wish. Amen.' Then step back and see what happens; it is a leap of trust that all will be well."
Fr. Laurence Freeman, OSB, says giving your attention to what is before you is praying. Attending to the present moment is a prayer. He also says that prayer reduces the inflammation of the ego.
Mary Oliver, poet:
"I don't know what a prayer is,
but I do know how to pay attention."
Tessa Bielecki, The Desert Foundation:
Prayer is “ . . . raising the heart and mind to God."
Carolyn Baker, author of Navigating the Coming Chaos:
She says there are lots of ways to pray: performing a ritual, giving thanks, surrendering to a challenge, crying out for help, service. For the artist, writer, musician, actor, dancer, her / his craft may be a prayer.
Fr. Richard Rohr, Center for Action and Contemplation:
"When Paul says to 'pray always' (1 Thessalonians 5:17), he can’t mean to walk around saying the 'Our Father' and 'Hail Mary' all day. Prayer is basically a total life stance. It is a way of being present in the world in which we are present to the Presence and present to the Presence in all things. In a certain sense, you either pray always (or almost always) or you do not pray at all.
"Once you recognize that it’s all right here, right now, then you’ll carry that awareness everywhere. How you do anything is how you do everything."
Fr. Richard says that prayer, more than anything, seeks, creates, and preserves relationship with God and with others, and that prayer is "merging, dancing, participation."
Simone Weil, French religious philosopher:
"Prayer is paying attention."
Thomas Merton said that for him to pray was "to breathe and look around."
Matthew Fox, spiritual theologian, founder of the University of Creation Spirituality, author of Original Blessing:
Matthew Fox passionately speaks to us about prayer being our openness to, and celebration of the Universe all around and within us. He calls us to feel, to experience, and to express our awe and wonderment and amazement at this Universe, to revel in the immensity, the intensity, and the intimacy of it all. It is this reconnection with our cosmology that will lead us to create a just and sustainable world for all
Kathleen Norris, poet, essayist, author of Amazing Grace, A Vocabulary of Faith:
"I learned that prayer is not asking for what you think you want but asking to be changed in ways you can’t imagine."
"The best ‘how to’ I know is from Psalm 46: Be still and know that I am God."
"Prayer is not doing, but being."
"Prayer is not a grocery list we hand to God. It is ordinary experience lived with gratitude and wonder, the wonder that makes us know the smallness of oneself in an enormous and various universe."
"And sometimes ordinary conversation reveal themselves as prayer."
(This is exactly what happened when my friend, Lisa, said to me “We see each other into being,” and I wrote this poem from that first line.)
The Dream
We see each other into being
with visions of a greater dream.
We dare each other to awake
with challenges our souls to make.
I see you now, but brighter still,
the lofty dream as yet to fill.
Now do not turn away, my friend,
And dare not heed the call within.
It’s yours to see the choice to make,
and yours to pick which road to take.
Still I cry, for our Earth’s sake,
and pray you dance the dream awake.
Amen.
References
Contemplative Outreach and Centering Prayer
The Desert Foundation / Sand & Sky Desert Voices
Center for Action and Contemplation
The Dream poem was made into a card and is listed under Cards
on the Desert Rose Press website.
I came across the idea of “Radical Love” in an interview on Engaged Buddhism as part of a conference on “The Politics of Love and Justice,” sponsored by the Network of Spiritual Progressives. (See references below.) As with acceptance and prayer I wanted to look more deeply into this aspect of our lives. I wanted to explore radical love particularly in how it relates to the commandment Love Thy Neighbor, and to social change.
We typically think of love as a feeling pertaining mainly to our personal lives; our immediate family, friends, intimate others. It’s warm and sentimental, the love that creates Hallmark cards. It’s a beautiful, deep love that comes effortlessly. and it’s easy to love those who love us. But to paraphrase what Jesus says in Matthew 5:46-47: What’s the big deal about loving people who love you?
If we reach outside the circle of loved ones, we touch our neighbors. In this era of the global village, everyone is our neighbor. But how do we love all 7.2 billion of us? I don’t believe we are being asked to have the same affection for all beings that we have for our loved ones. What we are being asked is to make a commitment to the well-being of every living thing, the earth included. It means to feel a deep sense of connection and belonging with all life, to know we are not separate. We are interdependent, and responsible for fostering thoughts and actions that are in service to life.
If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.
Mother Teresa
But how do we go about loving our enemies as Jesus instructs us?
Longfellow writes:
If we could read the secret history of our enemies,
We would find in each person’s story
Enough suffering and sorrow there
To disarm all hostilities.
There but for the grace of God go I.
That is a wisdom saying that will always soften my heart about someone who feels like an “enemy” to me or to the planet. I can try to imagine and understand where someone is coming from, what her history is, what his motivations might be. In his book, Creating A World That Works For All, Sharif Abdullah speaks to this practice of inclusivity. “Think of that person as just like you, with the same needs, fundamental desire to be happy, to avoid suffering, the same loneliness, fear of the unknown, the same secret areas of sadness, the same half-acknowledged feelings of helplessness. You will find that if you really do this, your heart will open for the person and love will be present between you.”
We have only to think of Gandhi, King, Thich Nhat Hanh, Nelson Mandela, and many others to see how to love our enemies, and still fight successfully against destructive policies, attitudes, and injustice.
Love is the essence of nonviolence.
Thich Nhat Hanh
Fr. Richard Rohr gives us other ways to consider love:
Love is a science.
Love is a discipline.
Love is a decision.
Love is an artform.
Love takes an ability to be present.
When you don’t love it destroys you.
Love is the supreme work of our entire lifetime.
I keep a Post-it on my computer that says, “Work at loving with all your might.” Sometimes it absolutely takes all my might to have much empathy and compassion for certain political figures who advocate for everything but health and justice for people and the planet, but I know it’s the Way, and I will keep on the path as best I can.
Because I always have a choice, I choose love.
Deepak Chopra
REFERENCES
The image for this Reflection is a postcard featuring the Longfellow quote. It can be found at Desert Rose Press in the Card section.
The “Politics of Love and Justice” program is a series of “mentoring sessions” bringing together spirituality and activism. If you register you will get audio downloads for each interview. Otherwise, I’m told if you sign up with your name and email address, you will have access to three interviews at no charge. Alternatively, all interviews are available free to members of the Network of Spiritual Progressives. Here is a pdf of “Engaged Buddhism.” You’ll find other excellent interviews with people like David Korten and Marianne Williamson on such topics as "Resisting Structural Evil: Love as an Ecological-Economic Vocation," "Conscious Politics," and "Nonviolence as an Act of Love."
We typically think of love as a feeling pertaining mainly to our personal lives; our immediate family, friends, intimate others. It’s warm and sentimental, the love that creates Hallmark cards. It’s a beautiful, deep love that comes effortlessly. and it’s easy to love those who love us. But to paraphrase what Jesus says in Matthew 5:46-47: What’s the big deal about loving people who love you?
If we reach outside the circle of loved ones, we touch our neighbors. In this era of the global village, everyone is our neighbor. But how do we love all 7.2 billion of us? I don’t believe we are being asked to have the same affection for all beings that we have for our loved ones. What we are being asked is to make a commitment to the well-being of every living thing, the earth included. It means to feel a deep sense of connection and belonging with all life, to know we are not separate. We are interdependent, and responsible for fostering thoughts and actions that are in service to life.
If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.
Mother Teresa
But how do we go about loving our enemies as Jesus instructs us?
Longfellow writes:
If we could read the secret history of our enemies,
We would find in each person’s story
Enough suffering and sorrow there
To disarm all hostilities.
There but for the grace of God go I.
That is a wisdom saying that will always soften my heart about someone who feels like an “enemy” to me or to the planet. I can try to imagine and understand where someone is coming from, what her history is, what his motivations might be. In his book, Creating A World That Works For All, Sharif Abdullah speaks to this practice of inclusivity. “Think of that person as just like you, with the same needs, fundamental desire to be happy, to avoid suffering, the same loneliness, fear of the unknown, the same secret areas of sadness, the same half-acknowledged feelings of helplessness. You will find that if you really do this, your heart will open for the person and love will be present between you.”
We have only to think of Gandhi, King, Thich Nhat Hanh, Nelson Mandela, and many others to see how to love our enemies, and still fight successfully against destructive policies, attitudes, and injustice.
Love is the essence of nonviolence.
Thich Nhat Hanh
Fr. Richard Rohr gives us other ways to consider love:
Love is a science.
Love is a discipline.
Love is a decision.
Love is an artform.
Love takes an ability to be present.
When you don’t love it destroys you.
Love is the supreme work of our entire lifetime.
I keep a Post-it on my computer that says, “Work at loving with all your might.” Sometimes it absolutely takes all my might to have much empathy and compassion for certain political figures who advocate for everything but health and justice for people and the planet, but I know it’s the Way, and I will keep on the path as best I can.
Because I always have a choice, I choose love.
Deepak Chopra
REFERENCES
The image for this Reflection is a postcard featuring the Longfellow quote. It can be found at Desert Rose Press in the Card section.
The “Politics of Love and Justice” program is a series of “mentoring sessions” bringing together spirituality and activism. If you register you will get audio downloads for each interview. Otherwise, I’m told if you sign up with your name and email address, you will have access to three interviews at no charge. Alternatively, all interviews are available free to members of the Network of Spiritual Progressives. Here is a pdf of “Engaged Buddhism.” You’ll find other excellent interviews with people like David Korten and Marianne Williamson on such topics as "Resisting Structural Evil: Love as an Ecological-Economic Vocation," "Conscious Politics," and "Nonviolence as an Act of Love."
Get a Life . . . And Balance
Do you know the expression “Get a life”? In my early school years one kid would say that to another, meaning “Get it together, Wise up, You’re really out of it, Don’t be such a ______ " (fill in the blank).That expression came back to me as I was reckoning recently with my own low spirits, my sense of burnout and overwhelm around our political situation. I thought to myself, I only get one crack at this earthly life, and I don’t want to miss out on the joy, happiness, fun and beauty that is all around me just because I’ve got my nose to the screen, or whatever it might be that is outer activist work. Get a life! But how do I do that?
It’s a paradox really, that in order to be of service to another person, or animal or cause, we have to take care of ourselves first. So I’ve set about to create better balance in my life, to replenish myself on a daily basis. This life—and our activism work—is a marathon, not a sprint. These are some of things I’ve discovered that lift my spirits, give me more energy, and brighten my life. I hope they’ll give you some ideas for balance in your own life.
Ideas for Inner Activism
More self-care; What makes you feel good? Cared for?
Try affirmations; like, I’m doing the best I can. I can only do what I can do.
Exercise, ideally in nature
Self-compassion and kindness in thought and action
Rest . . . Daydream . . .Space Out . . . Do Nothing . . . Meditate
Time for ritual
Mandatory fun time
Laughter and humor
Scheduled and/or limited computer time, even computer-free time
Guard against negative thinking
Go to bed on a good thought; Don’t go to bed with a doom and gloom thought.
Do you ever smile at yourself in the mirror to acknowledge what a wonderful person you are? That you’re doing your level best at everything? Try it. It’s not easy. In this culture we are not encouraged to feel good about ourselves, but we can start now. It’s a revolutionary act.
Check in with yourself at the end of the day and give yourself a grade based on how you’re feeling. In good spirits? Energized or tired? Do you feel grateful or victimized? Answering these questions would tell you about how you did in terms of self-care.
Cultivate extra-curricular activities not directly related to political engagement, like music, art, reading thrillers, knitting—things that replenish your energy.
“Don’t forget to breathe.” Decades ago, when I was owner-manager of a restaurant, and often found myself in a profound state of inner angst and physical deterioration, a wise, calm elder staff person would remind me (and any other stressed-out person), “Don’t forget to breathe!” Oh yeah.
I also think it’s important to honor the feelings that come up in these scary and dark times. Even as we continue to move forward, anger, sadness, grief, and shock are all appropriate feelings that arise. When I look deeply at my suffering these days, a certain childlike innocence comes up and I ask, “Why are people so mean-spirited, so hateful? Why aren’t people kinder?” Part of me simply can’t believe how people can be mean and violent. And yet I see we can be mean-spirited and violent to ourselves. Listen to your self-talk. Are you speaking kindly, compassionate, supportive things to yourself, or are you being judgmental, critical and mean-spirited? It’s important that we honestly critique what we or someone else does or says, but if we dwell on how bad it is, we only bring ourselves down.
I call my political activism work as a member of the Love Army my divine assignment. But I’ve also come to believe that it’s my divine responsibility to be happy. Again the paradox. I see that when I do things that are fun or restful or extra-curricular, I feel more energetic, have higher spirits, enjoy better humor, and can then do better activist work, and even enjoy it. It all seems to be about balance.
Wise guidance from Rev. Maxine Kaye
When you become overwhelmed by all the demands you feel are made on you, the short amount of time available to take care of your responsibilities, and even your ability to perform these tasks, just stop for a moment and breathe. This would be a good time to remember you truly do nothing by yourself, not even take a breath. There is an intelligence within your body that knows how to keep your heart, lungs, and blood flowing harmoniously, and it is good to remember you have neither full comprehension nor responsibility for any of it.
There is one thing you do, and that is you choose, not only your priorities, intentions, thought, and feelings, but also the mindset from which you approach life. An enthusiastic outlook can make your successes multiply and your day move along gracefully, while a solemn or distressed attitude tends to produce more stress and fewer happier results.
And from a master of contemplation and action, Thomas Merton
There is a pervasive form of contemporary violence to which the idealist most easily succumbs: activism and overwork. The rush and pressure of modern life are a form, perhaps the most common form, of its innate violence. To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything, is to succumb to violence. The frenzy of our activism neutralizes our work for peace. It destroys our own inner capacity for peace. It destroys the fruitfulness of our own work, because it kills the root of inner wisdom which makes work fruitful.
It’s a paradox really, that in order to be of service to another person, or animal or cause, we have to take care of ourselves first. So I’ve set about to create better balance in my life, to replenish myself on a daily basis. This life—and our activism work—is a marathon, not a sprint. These are some of things I’ve discovered that lift my spirits, give me more energy, and brighten my life. I hope they’ll give you some ideas for balance in your own life.
Ideas for Inner Activism
More self-care; What makes you feel good? Cared for?
Try affirmations; like, I’m doing the best I can. I can only do what I can do.
Exercise, ideally in nature
Self-compassion and kindness in thought and action
Rest . . . Daydream . . .Space Out . . . Do Nothing . . . Meditate
Time for ritual
Mandatory fun time
Laughter and humor
Scheduled and/or limited computer time, even computer-free time
Guard against negative thinking
Go to bed on a good thought; Don’t go to bed with a doom and gloom thought.
Do you ever smile at yourself in the mirror to acknowledge what a wonderful person you are? That you’re doing your level best at everything? Try it. It’s not easy. In this culture we are not encouraged to feel good about ourselves, but we can start now. It’s a revolutionary act.
Check in with yourself at the end of the day and give yourself a grade based on how you’re feeling. In good spirits? Energized or tired? Do you feel grateful or victimized? Answering these questions would tell you about how you did in terms of self-care.
Cultivate extra-curricular activities not directly related to political engagement, like music, art, reading thrillers, knitting—things that replenish your energy.
“Don’t forget to breathe.” Decades ago, when I was owner-manager of a restaurant, and often found myself in a profound state of inner angst and physical deterioration, a wise, calm elder staff person would remind me (and any other stressed-out person), “Don’t forget to breathe!” Oh yeah.
I also think it’s important to honor the feelings that come up in these scary and dark times. Even as we continue to move forward, anger, sadness, grief, and shock are all appropriate feelings that arise. When I look deeply at my suffering these days, a certain childlike innocence comes up and I ask, “Why are people so mean-spirited, so hateful? Why aren’t people kinder?” Part of me simply can’t believe how people can be mean and violent. And yet I see we can be mean-spirited and violent to ourselves. Listen to your self-talk. Are you speaking kindly, compassionate, supportive things to yourself, or are you being judgmental, critical and mean-spirited? It’s important that we honestly critique what we or someone else does or says, but if we dwell on how bad it is, we only bring ourselves down.
I call my political activism work as a member of the Love Army my divine assignment. But I’ve also come to believe that it’s my divine responsibility to be happy. Again the paradox. I see that when I do things that are fun or restful or extra-curricular, I feel more energetic, have higher spirits, enjoy better humor, and can then do better activist work, and even enjoy it. It all seems to be about balance.
Wise guidance from Rev. Maxine Kaye
When you become overwhelmed by all the demands you feel are made on you, the short amount of time available to take care of your responsibilities, and even your ability to perform these tasks, just stop for a moment and breathe. This would be a good time to remember you truly do nothing by yourself, not even take a breath. There is an intelligence within your body that knows how to keep your heart, lungs, and blood flowing harmoniously, and it is good to remember you have neither full comprehension nor responsibility for any of it.
There is one thing you do, and that is you choose, not only your priorities, intentions, thought, and feelings, but also the mindset from which you approach life. An enthusiastic outlook can make your successes multiply and your day move along gracefully, while a solemn or distressed attitude tends to produce more stress and fewer happier results.
And from a master of contemplation and action, Thomas Merton
There is a pervasive form of contemporary violence to which the idealist most easily succumbs: activism and overwork. The rush and pressure of modern life are a form, perhaps the most common form, of its innate violence. To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything, is to succumb to violence. The frenzy of our activism neutralizes our work for peace. It destroys our own inner capacity for peace. It destroys the fruitfulness of our own work, because it kills the root of inner wisdom which makes work fruitful.
What inspires us to love the Earth? What moves us to see and feel Earth as our source, or as some say, our Mother Earth? I don’t know the answer to that—it’s such a personal question—but I can see things that keep us from that kind of close, loving relationship which we need to have if the planet is to be healthy, and, consequently, if we are to be healthy.
What keeps us from loving Earth?
Aversion to looking deeply, facing reality and feeling pain: When asked what people could do to heal the Earth, Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh replied, “Hear the cry of the Earth.” That is painfully difficult because we are not encouraged or well-trained to look within. We don’t want to look at pain, our own or others' pain, or the pain of the Earth. We avoid grieving, or don’t know how to grieve without staying stuck in depression or despair. Yet if we looked at and felt the pain of the world, allowing our hearts to “break open,” as Joanna Macy says, we would release an enormous amount of energy that could be transformed into action on Earth’s behalf.
Our aversion is fueled by distractions: For many people computers, tablets and cell phones have an appropriate, useful and beneficial place in our lives. For many, however, our devices, and our focus on them, keeps us unaware and ignorant of all that isn’t healthy and just in our societies and environment. Thus we don’t get to the work that needs to be done to heal our world. If we are not practiced or helped in the work of looking squarely and deeply at our reality, it is understandable to seek refuge in our devices. No one wants to look at or feel pain. It is inconvenient and it hurts like hell. But unless we do we have little chance of creating a world that works for all, let alone a habitable planet.
A misguided pursuit of happiness: our spiritual crisis:
Advertisers tells us that stuff will bring us happiness, dignity, self-respect, acceptance, status, power, good looks, sexual gratification, relationships and connections. All advertising for stuff implies gratification and fulfillment of some kind. We all have human needs which advertisers take full advantage of, but they mislead us into thinking material stuff will fill spiritual needs. For a very extensive list of those needs—some you might not have even thought about—check out this "Needs Inventory" from the Center of Nonviolent Communications. The needs fall into categories such as Connection, Physical Well-Being, Honesty, Peace, Play. I also appreciate what Frances Moore Lappe´ calls our three essential needs: agency, meaning and connection. She says, “In societies fulfilling these needs, fear subsides and trust expands, enabling continuing growth for individuals and communities.” Trying to fill these needs with material stuff gratifies the senses but only for a short time. We need to find spiritual fulfillment to create “sustainable happiness” and a healthy Earth. (See this article by Sarah van Gelder, “A Brief History of Happiness, How America Lost Track of the Good Life—and Where to Find It Now.
Not only will the acquisition of the kind of material stuff advertisers tempt us with not be deeply satisfying, but it’s also ruining the planet. We’ve already passed Earth Overshoot Day on August 2, which designates what the Earth can produce for us in one year.
For those of us who are in comfortable material situations, I believe our task is to assess what it is that we want or need and make wise choices. Can we “use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without”? as Eleanor Roosevelt said. Another choice could be buying something and simultaneously giving away something. Everything we buy costs the Earth something in terms of resources, energy, people power. We often don’t know the source of those products, and who has made them and whether those companies are environmentally and socially conscious. Every choice needs to be informed by love of Earth and all life.
Seeing the Earth as a lifeless commodity that we have “dominion” over, and ourselves as separate from Earth and everything else.
Perhaps the most unfortunate language in the Bible is Genesis 1:26 where we are “to have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” We have come to interpret this has dominating and commodifying every living thing, including the planet. We have given ourselves permission to do whatever suits our fancy, and our bottom line, no matter what the consequences are to living systems and other living beings. Bad Bible! Ellen Davis, Professor at Duke Divinity School offers us another translation of dominion: “to exercise skilled mastery among, or with respect to.” We could also substitute the word stewardship or partnership for dominion and it would change everything.
How can we rekindle our connection to and relationship with Earth?
Here is a beautiful poem written by Clifford Burke (yes, the very same Clifford I am blessed to partner with in this lifetime!) that for me embodies our connection to and relationship with the Earth. It goes to the heart and soul of how we need to be in relation to all life.
Song for Salmon-babies
We never see them going out,
To sea,
Nor swim the tiny rivulets, wetlands—
Irrigation ditches! Field drains!
Doing what our own kids do,
Explore, eat constantly, & grow.
If we could pat their scaley butts
as they hit the mighty Skagit
for the first time,
how gently would we take them
to our hands & mouths & bodies
on their one trip home.
The Great Turning, the Sixth Extinction, a crossroads, a tipping point: These are ways that spiritual leaders, scientists, economists, systems thinkers and visionary leaders have described this evolutionary time in our history marked by radical changes of heart, perception, values and priorities. We are now aware of our wasteful, destructive and unjust policies and ways of living. We need to admit we’ve done many things wrong and be able to adjust and change. Millions of people all over the world are engaging in a variety of forms of activism to create a peaceful, thriving, sustainable world that works for all of us, and the planet. Millions more need to join the party. (See my columns in July 2016 and May 2017 to inspire your unique contribution to this new world.) So for the love of all life let us love Earth. Let us regain our sense of awe, wonder, delight, respect and gratitude, for the love of Earth.
Love for the world is what will save us.
—Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee
[See our monoprint letterpress broadside of "Song for Salmon-babies" at Desert Rose Press.)
What keeps us from loving Earth?
Aversion to looking deeply, facing reality and feeling pain: When asked what people could do to heal the Earth, Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh replied, “Hear the cry of the Earth.” That is painfully difficult because we are not encouraged or well-trained to look within. We don’t want to look at pain, our own or others' pain, or the pain of the Earth. We avoid grieving, or don’t know how to grieve without staying stuck in depression or despair. Yet if we looked at and felt the pain of the world, allowing our hearts to “break open,” as Joanna Macy says, we would release an enormous amount of energy that could be transformed into action on Earth’s behalf.
Our aversion is fueled by distractions: For many people computers, tablets and cell phones have an appropriate, useful and beneficial place in our lives. For many, however, our devices, and our focus on them, keeps us unaware and ignorant of all that isn’t healthy and just in our societies and environment. Thus we don’t get to the work that needs to be done to heal our world. If we are not practiced or helped in the work of looking squarely and deeply at our reality, it is understandable to seek refuge in our devices. No one wants to look at or feel pain. It is inconvenient and it hurts like hell. But unless we do we have little chance of creating a world that works for all, let alone a habitable planet.
A misguided pursuit of happiness: our spiritual crisis:
Advertisers tells us that stuff will bring us happiness, dignity, self-respect, acceptance, status, power, good looks, sexual gratification, relationships and connections. All advertising for stuff implies gratification and fulfillment of some kind. We all have human needs which advertisers take full advantage of, but they mislead us into thinking material stuff will fill spiritual needs. For a very extensive list of those needs—some you might not have even thought about—check out this "Needs Inventory" from the Center of Nonviolent Communications. The needs fall into categories such as Connection, Physical Well-Being, Honesty, Peace, Play. I also appreciate what Frances Moore Lappe´ calls our three essential needs: agency, meaning and connection. She says, “In societies fulfilling these needs, fear subsides and trust expands, enabling continuing growth for individuals and communities.” Trying to fill these needs with material stuff gratifies the senses but only for a short time. We need to find spiritual fulfillment to create “sustainable happiness” and a healthy Earth. (See this article by Sarah van Gelder, “A Brief History of Happiness, How America Lost Track of the Good Life—and Where to Find It Now.
Not only will the acquisition of the kind of material stuff advertisers tempt us with not be deeply satisfying, but it’s also ruining the planet. We’ve already passed Earth Overshoot Day on August 2, which designates what the Earth can produce for us in one year.
For those of us who are in comfortable material situations, I believe our task is to assess what it is that we want or need and make wise choices. Can we “use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without”? as Eleanor Roosevelt said. Another choice could be buying something and simultaneously giving away something. Everything we buy costs the Earth something in terms of resources, energy, people power. We often don’t know the source of those products, and who has made them and whether those companies are environmentally and socially conscious. Every choice needs to be informed by love of Earth and all life.
Seeing the Earth as a lifeless commodity that we have “dominion” over, and ourselves as separate from Earth and everything else.
Perhaps the most unfortunate language in the Bible is Genesis 1:26 where we are “to have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” We have come to interpret this has dominating and commodifying every living thing, including the planet. We have given ourselves permission to do whatever suits our fancy, and our bottom line, no matter what the consequences are to living systems and other living beings. Bad Bible! Ellen Davis, Professor at Duke Divinity School offers us another translation of dominion: “to exercise skilled mastery among, or with respect to.” We could also substitute the word stewardship or partnership for dominion and it would change everything.
How can we rekindle our connection to and relationship with Earth?
Here is a beautiful poem written by Clifford Burke (yes, the very same Clifford I am blessed to partner with in this lifetime!) that for me embodies our connection to and relationship with the Earth. It goes to the heart and soul of how we need to be in relation to all life.
Song for Salmon-babies
We never see them going out,
To sea,
Nor swim the tiny rivulets, wetlands—
Irrigation ditches! Field drains!
Doing what our own kids do,
Explore, eat constantly, & grow.
If we could pat their scaley butts
as they hit the mighty Skagit
for the first time,
how gently would we take them
to our hands & mouths & bodies
on their one trip home.
The Great Turning, the Sixth Extinction, a crossroads, a tipping point: These are ways that spiritual leaders, scientists, economists, systems thinkers and visionary leaders have described this evolutionary time in our history marked by radical changes of heart, perception, values and priorities. We are now aware of our wasteful, destructive and unjust policies and ways of living. We need to admit we’ve done many things wrong and be able to adjust and change. Millions of people all over the world are engaging in a variety of forms of activism to create a peaceful, thriving, sustainable world that works for all of us, and the planet. Millions more need to join the party. (See my columns in July 2016 and May 2017 to inspire your unique contribution to this new world.) So for the love of all life let us love Earth. Let us regain our sense of awe, wonder, delight, respect and gratitude, for the love of Earth.
Love for the world is what will save us.
—Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee
[See our monoprint letterpress broadside of "Song for Salmon-babies" at Desert Rose Press.)
New Year's Resolutions & Dedications
It's that time again when we reflect on the year past and on what things and ways of being we would like to bring into our lives in the new year. We make earnest resolutions—I'll get up a half hour earlier to meditate, I'll be better about calling family members on the phone, I'll stop eating so much chocolate. That sort of thing. Often this feels like self-finger wagging, a version of "Thou Shalt, or Shalt Not." So I also like to think of these resolutions as dedications. What do we dedicate our lives to and how will we go about fulfilling these?
I'm still in the process of making my own manifesto of resolutions and dedications, but here are a few. Some are taken from this excellent article by Amanda Willemyne, "How to be a beacon of calm amidst stress—ten strategies to build your resilience and calm against stress and pervasive angst."
Slow down: That's pretty straightforward. When I move too quickly I am telling myself I don't have enough time, I'll never get it all done, etc. Slowing down, telling yourself you have plenty of time, eases inner pressure and stress. Can we ever "get it all done" anyway? I don't think so.
Make a transition: Instead of going nonstop from one project or activity to the next, pause. We are not mules who are made to go from one task to another. Pause after one project: take a few breaths; look out the window; sit down for a minute before jumping—or moving slowly—into the next activity. Put yourself into neutral for a moment or twenty before shifting into drive again.
Respond rather than react: Our ego tends to react to something a person says or does that we don't like. Our defenses go up and we might say or do something we'll wish we hadn't. If we pause we might choose to respond in a more constructive way to a stressful situation.
Avoid or minimize multi-tasking: Who said we had to do more and more at one time? It's a form of tyranny. We don't have to do it. We can resist.
*****
I also remind myself of these insights I've gotten from visionary author and astrologer Caroline Casey:
Change "got to" to "get to." Instead of saying "I've got to go to the dentist," you say, "I get to go to the dentist." Got to> Get to. It changes everything!
When faced with a burdensome challenge try saying to yourself, "Let us conduct ourselves like kings and queens with all eternity before us." [Substitute "me" or "myself" if you like. It's especially useful to say to yourself when you're racing to get it all done.]
Entertain possibility and let us not be snookered into polarity. That is, let's not be drawn into antagonistic attitudes and behaviors that pit one against the other. We need to listen to each other and find common ground.
These are a few highlights that I want to keep in mind and practice as I go forward into 2018. The bottom line is that I want to contribute what I can to create a better world for people and the Earth. I like the question from Fr. Richard Rohr: "Will you engage this moment with kindness or with cruelty, with love or with fear, with generosity or scarcity, with a joyous heart or an embittered one?"
THE NEW YEAR
Angels, as this year now nears its end
Fold their wings, as gently down they bend.
Rent and broken hopes on earth to mend.
May they find us ready to rise!
Angels, at the dawn of a New Year
Spread bright wings and rise, and rise from here
Raising us to heights we crave, yet fear.
May they find us daring! —David Steindl-Rast, O.S.B.
[With thanks to Tessa Bielecki for sharing this]
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!
I wish you a year of good health,
good spirits and inspired action for positive change.
I'm still in the process of making my own manifesto of resolutions and dedications, but here are a few. Some are taken from this excellent article by Amanda Willemyne, "How to be a beacon of calm amidst stress—ten strategies to build your resilience and calm against stress and pervasive angst."
Slow down: That's pretty straightforward. When I move too quickly I am telling myself I don't have enough time, I'll never get it all done, etc. Slowing down, telling yourself you have plenty of time, eases inner pressure and stress. Can we ever "get it all done" anyway? I don't think so.
Make a transition: Instead of going nonstop from one project or activity to the next, pause. We are not mules who are made to go from one task to another. Pause after one project: take a few breaths; look out the window; sit down for a minute before jumping—or moving slowly—into the next activity. Put yourself into neutral for a moment or twenty before shifting into drive again.
Respond rather than react: Our ego tends to react to something a person says or does that we don't like. Our defenses go up and we might say or do something we'll wish we hadn't. If we pause we might choose to respond in a more constructive way to a stressful situation.
Avoid or minimize multi-tasking: Who said we had to do more and more at one time? It's a form of tyranny. We don't have to do it. We can resist.
I also remind myself of these insights I've gotten from visionary author and astrologer Caroline Casey:
Change "got to" to "get to." Instead of saying "I've got to go to the dentist," you say, "I get to go to the dentist." Got to> Get to. It changes everything!
When faced with a burdensome challenge try saying to yourself, "Let us conduct ourselves like kings and queens with all eternity before us." [Substitute "me" or "myself" if you like. It's especially useful to say to yourself when you're racing to get it all done.]
Entertain possibility and let us not be snookered into polarity. That is, let's not be drawn into antagonistic attitudes and behaviors that pit one against the other. We need to listen to each other and find common ground.
These are a few highlights that I want to keep in mind and practice as I go forward into 2018. The bottom line is that I want to contribute what I can to create a better world for people and the Earth. I like the question from Fr. Richard Rohr: "Will you engage this moment with kindness or with cruelty, with love or with fear, with generosity or scarcity, with a joyous heart or an embittered one?"
THE NEW YEAR
Angels, as this year now nears its end
Fold their wings, as gently down they bend.
Rent and broken hopes on earth to mend.
May they find us ready to rise!
Angels, at the dawn of a New Year
Spread bright wings and rise, and rise from here
Raising us to heights we crave, yet fear.
May they find us daring! —David Steindl-Rast, O.S.B.
[With thanks to Tessa Bielecki for sharing this]
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!
I wish you a year of good health,
good spirits and inspired action for positive change.
What is the Butterfly Effect? And why do we care? How does it relate to our making a difference? Here’s a brief description of the Butterfly Effect from an article entitled “Everything You Do Matters.”
"Scientists scoffed at meteorologist Edwin Lorenz’s Butterfly Effect theory. His doctoral thesis stated that a butterfly flapping its wings on one end of the world would move molecular air that would then move other molecules of air and so on. This effect could then eventually cause a hurricane on the other side of the planet. Crazy as it sounds, this theory holds true as physics professors in the mid-90’s proved it was accurate and viable."
This short video by Rabbi Brian (Religion Outside the Box) will give you a very personal connection to the Butterfly Effect. It has had a great positive effect on my life. If I think of myself as a butterfly and that my inner thoughts or spoken words are like waves created by the flapping of my mental wings, then I am really careful and thoughtful about what goes on in my mind and what comes out of my mouth. Rabbi Brian gave me a good wake-up call to complain less, be more patient, and to love more. See if it doesn’t affect you in a positive way.
Everything we do matters. Everything we do makes a difference. Think about this idea. Do you believe it? Many of us feel we are just one small person. We’re not a Martin Luther King, Jr. or a Gandhi, and can’t possibly make a difference to solve the great problems we face. But consider that it’s likely that one person has said something to you or given you something that has changed your life. One person might have written a book that turned your life around. You've probably changed somebody’s life and you don’t even know it. You helped someone across the street; you smiled at someone who was having a bad day; you let a car into your lane. Little stuff, little kindnesses that made a difference especially when you consider the Butterfly Effect.
Martin Rutte, founder of Project Heaven on Earth, puts it this way:
“Many times when I speak to people about creating Heaven on Earth they say, But what can I do? I can’t impact the HUGE problems in the world. I’m just one person.
“At the heart of what they’re asking is the belief I can’t make a difference.
“If the vast majority of humanity (about 7.7 billion people) believe I can’t make a difference” then I can’t make a difference becomes a dominant thought form in our world. “
Rutte calls this a mis-belief. A mis-perception.
If we flip that thought, that belief, to I can make a difference, and imagine millions of us butterflies acting on that belief, theres no telling how quickly good change would happen to create Heaven on Earth (meaning ending poverty. injustice of all kinds, environmental degradation, for example).
What do you believe?
Our beliefs, our thoughts, are critical to how our personal and our community lives unfold. So let me ask you some questions about what you believe, questions I ask of myself as well.
Do you believe that we can have a world that is sustainable that works for all living beings including the Earth?
Do you believe in the core goodness, kindness and generosity of human nature or do you believe that we are intrinsically selfish, greedy and mean-spirited?
Do you believe we can have a world based on mutual respect and caring?
Do you believe you can and do make a difference?
Do you believe in possibilities?
Speaking for myself I answer Yes to all the above questions. How about you?
Do I often feel sad, heartsick, scared, anxious, disgusted, shocked, outraged, worried? Yes.
Do I believe just causes will always succeed? No. (But a lot of them do.) Do I believe it will be easy? No. Do I want to give up on or shut out people who are hateful, mean, unkind, uncivil, uncooperative, unmindful, unaware, violent, untruthful, and in denial? No. (At least I try not to.) Do I want to give up the fight for what is good and beautiful and true and just and right? No. How about you?
Calling all butterflies.
FlapFlapFlapFlapFlap
Related Reading
My November Newsletter
"Scientists scoffed at meteorologist Edwin Lorenz’s Butterfly Effect theory. His doctoral thesis stated that a butterfly flapping its wings on one end of the world would move molecular air that would then move other molecules of air and so on. This effect could then eventually cause a hurricane on the other side of the planet. Crazy as it sounds, this theory holds true as physics professors in the mid-90’s proved it was accurate and viable."
This short video by Rabbi Brian (Religion Outside the Box) will give you a very personal connection to the Butterfly Effect. It has had a great positive effect on my life. If I think of myself as a butterfly and that my inner thoughts or spoken words are like waves created by the flapping of my mental wings, then I am really careful and thoughtful about what goes on in my mind and what comes out of my mouth. Rabbi Brian gave me a good wake-up call to complain less, be more patient, and to love more. See if it doesn’t affect you in a positive way.
Everything we do matters. Everything we do makes a difference. Think about this idea. Do you believe it? Many of us feel we are just one small person. We’re not a Martin Luther King, Jr. or a Gandhi, and can’t possibly make a difference to solve the great problems we face. But consider that it’s likely that one person has said something to you or given you something that has changed your life. One person might have written a book that turned your life around. You've probably changed somebody’s life and you don’t even know it. You helped someone across the street; you smiled at someone who was having a bad day; you let a car into your lane. Little stuff, little kindnesses that made a difference especially when you consider the Butterfly Effect.
Martin Rutte, founder of Project Heaven on Earth, puts it this way:
“Many times when I speak to people about creating Heaven on Earth they say, But what can I do? I can’t impact the HUGE problems in the world. I’m just one person.
“At the heart of what they’re asking is the belief I can’t make a difference.
“If the vast majority of humanity (about 7.7 billion people) believe I can’t make a difference” then I can’t make a difference becomes a dominant thought form in our world. “
Rutte calls this a mis-belief. A mis-perception.
If we flip that thought, that belief, to I can make a difference, and imagine millions of us butterflies acting on that belief, theres no telling how quickly good change would happen to create Heaven on Earth (meaning ending poverty. injustice of all kinds, environmental degradation, for example).
What do you believe?
Our beliefs, our thoughts, are critical to how our personal and our community lives unfold. So let me ask you some questions about what you believe, questions I ask of myself as well.
Do you believe that we can have a world that is sustainable that works for all living beings including the Earth?
Do you believe in the core goodness, kindness and generosity of human nature or do you believe that we are intrinsically selfish, greedy and mean-spirited?
Do you believe we can have a world based on mutual respect and caring?
Do you believe you can and do make a difference?
Do you believe in possibilities?
Speaking for myself I answer Yes to all the above questions. How about you?
Do I often feel sad, heartsick, scared, anxious, disgusted, shocked, outraged, worried? Yes.
Do I believe just causes will always succeed? No. (But a lot of them do.) Do I believe it will be easy? No. Do I want to give up on or shut out people who are hateful, mean, unkind, uncivil, uncooperative, unmindful, unaware, violent, untruthful, and in denial? No. (At least I try not to.) Do I want to give up the fight for what is good and beautiful and true and just and right? No. How about you?
Calling all butterflies.
FlapFlapFlapFlapFlap
Related Reading
My November Newsletter
Do you need reasons to stay hopeful right now?
Then please read “Here’s Why You Should Stay Hopeful Right Now,” by John Pavlovitz. I’ve reprinted his essay below because it is one of the most powerful, poetic and compelling writings on hope I’ve ever read.
"HERE'S WHY YOU SHOULD STAY HOPEFUL RIGHT NOW," by John Pavlovitz
Every day in my travels around this country (both in person and online) people ask one question:
“How do you stay hopeful right now; how do you keep going when there is so much to grieve over, so much cruelty in front of you, when there is such daily violence to contend with?”
I often tell them I stay hopeful for Anne Frank.
The Jewish teenager wrote these words in the early 1940s, while confined within the cramped upper rooms above an Amsterdam business, that became the entire world for three years of her far too brief life while her family hid from the Nazis:
It’s really a wonder that I haven’t dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.
Every time I read or I think of those words, I remember why I stay hopeful right now.
I stay hopeful because she stayed hopeful. Despite every reason to abandon the will to continue or the optimism to sustain her, she refused to. The beautiful defiance of her young heart revealed in those words is reason enough to keep going.
I stay hopeful because hopeless is not an option. Hopelessness is defeat and resignation; it is a willing surrender to darkness that insults the memory of so many who have courageously made this planet their home long before we ever showed up here.
I stay hopeful because people of every nationality, religious affiliation, and life circumstance who have preceded us, have experienced all manner of hell during their lifetimes: unspeakable suffering and unthinkable fear—and would not relent. They faced genocide and slavery and war; endured murderous regimes and malignant dictators and corrupt governments and yet chose to persevere. They made the daily, sometimes hourly decision to speak and live and create and work and resist and love when it proved difficult. We need to do that now.
We who inhabit this planet in these days have inherited it from them: the children, activists, caregivers, soldiers, helpers, and parents—the ordinary people who would not allow themselves to become so despondent or so weary in their present circumstance that they stopped giving a damn or making a life or bending the arc of the moral universe toward justice in any way they were able.
Now it’s our turn. This is our moment to spend our fragile and fleeting sliver of space and time here, and for the sake of our predecessors in humanity and for our descendants who will be here after we’re gone—we can’t blow it.
We can’t allow our present troubles to overcome us.
We cannot be overwhelmed by the pain in our path, to the point where we are no longer willing to feel it or respond to it.
We can’t wilt in the face of hateful, fearful people who would make the world less diverse and less equitable.
We can’t become apathetic or stay silent or sidestep the turbulence of engaging the ugliness outside our doors or on our social media feeds—because the multitudes whose feet traversed this place previously, refused to.
So stay hopeful:
for Anne Frank,
for Rosa Parks,
or Mahatma Gandhi,
?for the Suffragettes,
for the Little Rock Nine,
For Harvey Milk,
For Malala Yousafzai,
for Syrian refugees,
for the Parkland Students,
for Greta Thunberg.
For them, for the other recorded heroes of our shared story, and for the billions of human beings whose names and faces and stories you’ll never know, who refused to lose hope even as all hell broke loose around them, and allowed you to inherit a world worth saving.
Anne Frank believed that people are really good at heart. Nearly 70 years later, you get to prove her right. You get to be the good people. You get to hold on to your ideals and you get to carry them out even in days when it feels and seems impossible.
Stay hopeful because you have breath in your lungs and a working heart planted firmly in your chest, and you have this day in which you can speak and live and create and work and resist and love.
You’re here and alive.
Don’t waste your chance.
I intend to return to this often to stay hopeful,
and to remember all the reasons there are to be hopeful.
My May Newsletter, "Solutions Multiplier"
John Pavlovitz
Then please read “Here’s Why You Should Stay Hopeful Right Now,” by John Pavlovitz. I’ve reprinted his essay below because it is one of the most powerful, poetic and compelling writings on hope I’ve ever read.
"HERE'S WHY YOU SHOULD STAY HOPEFUL RIGHT NOW," by John Pavlovitz
Every day in my travels around this country (both in person and online) people ask one question:
“How do you stay hopeful right now; how do you keep going when there is so much to grieve over, so much cruelty in front of you, when there is such daily violence to contend with?”
I often tell them I stay hopeful for Anne Frank.
The Jewish teenager wrote these words in the early 1940s, while confined within the cramped upper rooms above an Amsterdam business, that became the entire world for three years of her far too brief life while her family hid from the Nazis:
It’s really a wonder that I haven’t dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.
Every time I read or I think of those words, I remember why I stay hopeful right now.
I stay hopeful because she stayed hopeful. Despite every reason to abandon the will to continue or the optimism to sustain her, she refused to. The beautiful defiance of her young heart revealed in those words is reason enough to keep going.
I stay hopeful because hopeless is not an option. Hopelessness is defeat and resignation; it is a willing surrender to darkness that insults the memory of so many who have courageously made this planet their home long before we ever showed up here.
I stay hopeful because people of every nationality, religious affiliation, and life circumstance who have preceded us, have experienced all manner of hell during their lifetimes: unspeakable suffering and unthinkable fear—and would not relent. They faced genocide and slavery and war; endured murderous regimes and malignant dictators and corrupt governments and yet chose to persevere. They made the daily, sometimes hourly decision to speak and live and create and work and resist and love when it proved difficult. We need to do that now.
We who inhabit this planet in these days have inherited it from them: the children, activists, caregivers, soldiers, helpers, and parents—the ordinary people who would not allow themselves to become so despondent or so weary in their present circumstance that they stopped giving a damn or making a life or bending the arc of the moral universe toward justice in any way they were able.
Now it’s our turn. This is our moment to spend our fragile and fleeting sliver of space and time here, and for the sake of our predecessors in humanity and for our descendants who will be here after we’re gone—we can’t blow it.
We can’t allow our present troubles to overcome us.
We cannot be overwhelmed by the pain in our path, to the point where we are no longer willing to feel it or respond to it.
We can’t wilt in the face of hateful, fearful people who would make the world less diverse and less equitable.
We can’t become apathetic or stay silent or sidestep the turbulence of engaging the ugliness outside our doors or on our social media feeds—because the multitudes whose feet traversed this place previously, refused to.
So stay hopeful:
for Anne Frank,
for Rosa Parks,
or Mahatma Gandhi,
?for the Suffragettes,
for the Little Rock Nine,
For Harvey Milk,
For Malala Yousafzai,
for Syrian refugees,
for the Parkland Students,
for Greta Thunberg.
For them, for the other recorded heroes of our shared story, and for the billions of human beings whose names and faces and stories you’ll never know, who refused to lose hope even as all hell broke loose around them, and allowed you to inherit a world worth saving.
Anne Frank believed that people are really good at heart. Nearly 70 years later, you get to prove her right. You get to be the good people. You get to hold on to your ideals and you get to carry them out even in days when it feels and seems impossible.
Stay hopeful because you have breath in your lungs and a working heart planted firmly in your chest, and you have this day in which you can speak and live and create and work and resist and love.
You’re here and alive.
Don’t waste your chance.
I intend to return to this often to stay hopeful,
and to remember all the reasons there are to be hopeful.
My May Newsletter, "Solutions Multiplier"
John Pavlovitz
A Gift for the Earth
It’s a poignant time of year to be writing about how we need to be changing our consumption habits and buying less stuff. We’re thinking about what we will buy for our friends, family and co-workers to show our appreciation and love for them. It’s just that we can no longer ignore the evidence that we are, and have been for almost 50 years, consuming more of our Earth’s resources that can be regenerated in that year. It’s called “Earth Overshoot.” In 2019 Earth Overshoot Day was July 29.
Since the 50’s we’ve been programmed to buy stuff not only to provide basic necessities, but also o fulfill our emotional and spiritual needs as well. Here’s what economist and retail analyst Victor Lebow said at that time of emerging abundance:
Our enormously productive economy demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction and our ego satisfaction in consumption. We need things consumed, burned up, worn out, replaced and discarded at an ever-increasing rate.
You may be asking how consumerism relates to our current social, political and environmental crises? Everything we produce and buy has an environmental cost because all products require energy to make. So whatever we buy has emitted CO2 into the atmosphere. It is likely to have been shipped great distances which adds to greenhouse gas emissions. Whatever we buy has used Earth resources that may or may not be renewable.
Everything we create and buy has a social cost as well. It’s likely that the thing we buy, especially if it is “cheap,” has been made in a country where wages are minimal and working conditions are unhealthy. The quality of the product is consequently low and will end up in the landfill in a very short time, further polluting our planet. Then we have to go buy another similar product. The only benefit is to the bottom line of the company who makes this stuff.
Simply put: Every bit of avoided consumption is a positive for the planet. We have to break the spell that the consumer culture has wafted over us, driving us to “shop till we drop.” What’s going to drop is the Earth, and we along with her.
So as we think of gifts for folks this Christmas let us think of gifts that express our affection and have minimal impact on the Earth. Let us give gifts to the Earth by buying less stuff!
Here’s what I wrote two years ago which further elaborates on this all-consuming topic:
Do you know the Story of Stuff? It begins with the Earth. The short version is that we exploit and extract all kinds of natural resources that we then turn into all kinds of stuff often with the use of toxic chemicals and cheap, hard labor. The result is stuff that is “designed for the dump.” We are glad our stuff is so cheap, but usually that is because the invisible costs to our health, the well being of workers and the vitality of the Earth are not counted when our stuff is rung up at the cash register.
The saddest part of this story is that we are led to believe, and told over and over by advertising, that it is this very stuff that will make us happy, that will satisfy our need for acceptance, self-esteem, connection, power and meaning in our lives. We’re led to believe that our primary value in society is to drive the growth economy forward by being active consumers. Unquestionably we have to consume to live, to provide essentials for ourselves and our family. But to think of ourselves just as consumers is a) demeaning, and b) destructive. It completely disregards our personal talents, gifts, creativity and true human needs for the sake of economic growth that favors only a few of us at the expense of people and the Earth.
How do we write a new story? Once we recognize the fallacy and the con job of this story we can choose to change how we live personally and change the policies that drive this wasteful and destructive system. We can change our values and priorities from worshipping money and economic growth at any price to caring for all life. In the words of the Network of Spiritual Progressives we can adopt a New Bottom Line.
A New Bottom Line is one that judges the success of every sector, system and institution of our society (economy, government, schools, health care, the legal system) based not on the old bottom line of whether they maximize money, profit and power, but instead by the extent to which they maximize love and caring, kindness and generosity, empathy and compassion, social, economic and environmental justice, peace and nonviolence, and protection of the life support system of our planet, as well as encourage us to transcend a narrow utilitarian approach to nature and other human beings and enhance our capacity to respond with awe and wonder to the universe and to see the sacred in others and in all sentient beings.
This New Bottom Line prioritizes the well-being of the planet and all its inhabitants, as well as justice and peace, over money, profit and power. We call this a New Bottom Line – Caring for Each Other and Caring for the Planet. See the Network of Spiritual Progressives for more about "A New Bottom Line."
The bottom line is that where we can consume less we should. Every thing we buy has a history of resources, labor, manufacturing methods and greenhouse gas emissions. We can learn that history and make wise choices when we shop. We also need to see the bigger picture: many people can only afford to buy cheap stuff because the system is not designed to support our collective well being. As citizens of the world we can become aware of the policies and practices that support an untenable story, work to change those that do not support Life, and advocate for those that do.
People wrote this story. People can write a new story. We are already doing just that and everyone is invited and needed to create the story the works for all.
RESOURCES ABOUT STUFF
"The Story of Stuff," by Annie Leonard. An essential film.
"Conscious Consumerism is a Lie—Here's a Better Way to Save the World."
For the Love of Earth
The Next System Project
Doughnut Economics
Local Futures—The Economics of Happiness
A New Bottom Line—The Network of Spiritual Progressive
Since the 50’s we’ve been programmed to buy stuff not only to provide basic necessities, but also o fulfill our emotional and spiritual needs as well. Here’s what economist and retail analyst Victor Lebow said at that time of emerging abundance:
Our enormously productive economy demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction and our ego satisfaction in consumption. We need things consumed, burned up, worn out, replaced and discarded at an ever-increasing rate.
You may be asking how consumerism relates to our current social, political and environmental crises? Everything we produce and buy has an environmental cost because all products require energy to make. So whatever we buy has emitted CO2 into the atmosphere. It is likely to have been shipped great distances which adds to greenhouse gas emissions. Whatever we buy has used Earth resources that may or may not be renewable.
Everything we create and buy has a social cost as well. It’s likely that the thing we buy, especially if it is “cheap,” has been made in a country where wages are minimal and working conditions are unhealthy. The quality of the product is consequently low and will end up in the landfill in a very short time, further polluting our planet. Then we have to go buy another similar product. The only benefit is to the bottom line of the company who makes this stuff.
Simply put: Every bit of avoided consumption is a positive for the planet. We have to break the spell that the consumer culture has wafted over us, driving us to “shop till we drop.” What’s going to drop is the Earth, and we along with her.
So as we think of gifts for folks this Christmas let us think of gifts that express our affection and have minimal impact on the Earth. Let us give gifts to the Earth by buying less stuff!
Here’s what I wrote two years ago which further elaborates on this all-consuming topic:
Do you know the Story of Stuff? It begins with the Earth. The short version is that we exploit and extract all kinds of natural resources that we then turn into all kinds of stuff often with the use of toxic chemicals and cheap, hard labor. The result is stuff that is “designed for the dump.” We are glad our stuff is so cheap, but usually that is because the invisible costs to our health, the well being of workers and the vitality of the Earth are not counted when our stuff is rung up at the cash register.
The saddest part of this story is that we are led to believe, and told over and over by advertising, that it is this very stuff that will make us happy, that will satisfy our need for acceptance, self-esteem, connection, power and meaning in our lives. We’re led to believe that our primary value in society is to drive the growth economy forward by being active consumers. Unquestionably we have to consume to live, to provide essentials for ourselves and our family. But to think of ourselves just as consumers is a) demeaning, and b) destructive. It completely disregards our personal talents, gifts, creativity and true human needs for the sake of economic growth that favors only a few of us at the expense of people and the Earth.
How do we write a new story? Once we recognize the fallacy and the con job of this story we can choose to change how we live personally and change the policies that drive this wasteful and destructive system. We can change our values and priorities from worshipping money and economic growth at any price to caring for all life. In the words of the Network of Spiritual Progressives we can adopt a New Bottom Line.
A New Bottom Line is one that judges the success of every sector, system and institution of our society (economy, government, schools, health care, the legal system) based not on the old bottom line of whether they maximize money, profit and power, but instead by the extent to which they maximize love and caring, kindness and generosity, empathy and compassion, social, economic and environmental justice, peace and nonviolence, and protection of the life support system of our planet, as well as encourage us to transcend a narrow utilitarian approach to nature and other human beings and enhance our capacity to respond with awe and wonder to the universe and to see the sacred in others and in all sentient beings.
This New Bottom Line prioritizes the well-being of the planet and all its inhabitants, as well as justice and peace, over money, profit and power. We call this a New Bottom Line – Caring for Each Other and Caring for the Planet. See the Network of Spiritual Progressives for more about "A New Bottom Line."
The bottom line is that where we can consume less we should. Every thing we buy has a history of resources, labor, manufacturing methods and greenhouse gas emissions. We can learn that history and make wise choices when we shop. We also need to see the bigger picture: many people can only afford to buy cheap stuff because the system is not designed to support our collective well being. As citizens of the world we can become aware of the policies and practices that support an untenable story, work to change those that do not support Life, and advocate for those that do.
People wrote this story. People can write a new story. We are already doing just that and everyone is invited and needed to create the story the works for all.
RESOURCES ABOUT STUFF
"The Story of Stuff," by Annie Leonard. An essential film.
"Conscious Consumerism is a Lie—Here's a Better Way to Save the World."
For the Love of Earth
The Next System Project
Doughnut Economics
Local Futures—The Economics of Happiness
A New Bottom Line—The Network of Spiritual Progressive
Martin Luther King’s famous quote, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice,” is right for this moment and something we can carry with us every day because we always need to be working for love and justice.
Our Election Day is November 3. As this video beautifully points out, “Character is on the ballot. Compassion is on the ballot. Decency is on the ballot. Democracy is on the ballot. Justice is on the ballot. Who we want to be is on the ballot.” These things are not just on the ballot November 3. They are on the ballot of our lives every day.
It is pointed out by many that this is a long-term struggle to regain the health of our democracy . . . and our planet. Corruption, corporate power, greed and control, white supremacy, racism, wealth inequality, environmental destruction and injustice all around will not end no matter who our next president is.
I believe we are all coming to grips with the reality that every one of us is a citizen of this country and our planet, and citizenship requires involvement in some way—for the health of our community, our local region, city and state, our nation, our Earth. We must choose what we can do that fits our temperament, our time, our interests and our skills. We must choose to be active citizens.
I want to return to what Rebecca Solnit teaches about hope and action.
“Listen, I know most of you are heartsore and weary, and the past four years have been a long rough road, and those of us in the west can find dismay just by looking out the window today, [during the California fires] but don’t stop now. The election matters, what we do matters, including for climate change, and we can do some things to address the many layers of suffering around us, and if we can we must. . . . We have more to do, and doing it is itself a way to assuage despair, misery, fear. Hope is a discipline, Marianne Kaba said, and it matters most when it’s hardest. Right now it doesn’t mean envisioning rosy futures. It means knowing that the worst case scenarios are not inevitable, and every day we are choosing together what direction we head in.
"It’s important to say what hope is not: it is not a belief that everything was, is, or will be fine. The evidence is all around us of tremendous suffering and tremendous destruction. The hope I’m interested in is about broad perspectives with specific possibilities, ones that invite or demand that we act. . . . Hope locates itself in the premises that we don’t know what will happen and that in the spaciousness of uncertainty, you recognize that you may be able to influence the outcomes—you alone or you in concert with a few dozen or several million others. Hope is an embrace of the unknown and the unknowable, an alternative to the certainty of both optimists and pessimists. Optimists think it will all be fine without our involvement; pessimists take the opposite position; both excuse themselves from acting."
Love Wins!
"Justice is what love looks like in public."
—Cornel West
Our Election Day is November 3. As this video beautifully points out, “Character is on the ballot. Compassion is on the ballot. Decency is on the ballot. Democracy is on the ballot. Justice is on the ballot. Who we want to be is on the ballot.” These things are not just on the ballot November 3. They are on the ballot of our lives every day.
It is pointed out by many that this is a long-term struggle to regain the health of our democracy . . . and our planet. Corruption, corporate power, greed and control, white supremacy, racism, wealth inequality, environmental destruction and injustice all around will not end no matter who our next president is.
I believe we are all coming to grips with the reality that every one of us is a citizen of this country and our planet, and citizenship requires involvement in some way—for the health of our community, our local region, city and state, our nation, our Earth. We must choose what we can do that fits our temperament, our time, our interests and our skills. We must choose to be active citizens.
I want to return to what Rebecca Solnit teaches about hope and action.
“Listen, I know most of you are heartsore and weary, and the past four years have been a long rough road, and those of us in the west can find dismay just by looking out the window today, [during the California fires] but don’t stop now. The election matters, what we do matters, including for climate change, and we can do some things to address the many layers of suffering around us, and if we can we must. . . . We have more to do, and doing it is itself a way to assuage despair, misery, fear. Hope is a discipline, Marianne Kaba said, and it matters most when it’s hardest. Right now it doesn’t mean envisioning rosy futures. It means knowing that the worst case scenarios are not inevitable, and every day we are choosing together what direction we head in.
"It’s important to say what hope is not: it is not a belief that everything was, is, or will be fine. The evidence is all around us of tremendous suffering and tremendous destruction. The hope I’m interested in is about broad perspectives with specific possibilities, ones that invite or demand that we act. . . . Hope locates itself in the premises that we don’t know what will happen and that in the spaciousness of uncertainty, you recognize that you may be able to influence the outcomes—you alone or you in concert with a few dozen or several million others. Hope is an embrace of the unknown and the unknowable, an alternative to the certainty of both optimists and pessimists. Optimists think it will all be fine without our involvement; pessimists take the opposite position; both excuse themselves from acting."
Love Wins!
"Justice is what love looks like in public."
—Cornel West
JUST DO SOMETHING
We may be worried, scared, outraged, sad, disgusted and horrified about what’s happening in our world, but we are not helpless to make change. There are those who put profit and their own aggrandizement over the well-being of people and the planet, but we have individual and collective power to overcome this force. This month I feature the voices of people who inspire, encourage and give good advice for troubled times. They also give us guidance about how we can help create a better world.
The wisdom of Joanna Macy:
"This is a dark time, filled with suffering and uncertainty. Like living cells in a larger body, it is natural that we feel the trauma of our world. So don’t be afraid of the anguish you feel, or the anger or fear, because these responses arise from the depth of your caring and the truth of your interconnectedness with all beings.. . . You don't need to do everything. Do what calls your heart; effective action comes from love. It is unstoppable, and it is enough."
I regularly read "Today's Edition Newsletter by Robert Hubbell," whose presentations are factually informative and always end on a positive note. Here are his Concluding Thoughts on Friday, March 18th.
“Although we should give ourselves regular breaks from the constant stream of news, we cannot afford the luxury of withdrawing from the struggle for long periods of time. Yes, our struggle is challenging, but the alternative—giving up—is simply not an option. Follow when you can, lead if you are able, and rest when necessary. And then rejoin the fight. To the extent possible during these unsettled times, I hope you can find peace and comfort with friends and family this weekend. Talk to you on Monday!” Learn more and subscribe here.
“Today Do This! makes it everybody’s responsibility to change the world for the better.” This post is published every Friday. The authors write: “For too long, we’ve all been led to believe that we, as individuals, can’t do anything about the state of the world. We’re too small, too inexperienced, too ignorant of the situation, too lacking in talent or connections or influence. We don’t buy that. Each and every one of us — through our actions, or inaction — bears some responsibility for making the world how it is. And it’s our small individual actions today that create big collective change tomorrow."Read more here.
Subscribe here.
Jessica Craven publishes "Chop Wood, Carry Water," which gives readers a daily action regarding legislation in the US Congress. She also briefly shares her personal thoughts which are always insightful and encouraging. Here’s some advice she posted in mid-March.
“It’s entirely normal to feel sad and scared right now. The world is in a terribly difficult place, and if one only watches or reads the news it can feel profoundly overwhelming. The way I get through it is, as Mr. Rogers said, to 'look for the helpers.' They are everywhere. Once I find them I try to help them. It immediately takes me out of my crippling sadness and fear. For me this ‘help the helpers’ approach is always the answer. Whether it’s helping those helping Ukrainians, helping good elected officials do their jobs, helping advance great causes, or helping great candidates who want to improve the world, there are so many ways to serve the cause of good.” Subscribe here.
My own concluding thoughts:
Don’t give up or give in to despair, which leads to inaction. Those who want to keep business as usual and control the agenda want just that.
Do something, however small, to contribute to the well-being of people, all life and the planet.
As Jessica Craven says, "Our voices matter. Our pushback matters. Don't forget it."
The wisdom of Joanna Macy:
"This is a dark time, filled with suffering and uncertainty. Like living cells in a larger body, it is natural that we feel the trauma of our world. So don’t be afraid of the anguish you feel, or the anger or fear, because these responses arise from the depth of your caring and the truth of your interconnectedness with all beings.. . . You don't need to do everything. Do what calls your heart; effective action comes from love. It is unstoppable, and it is enough."
I regularly read "Today's Edition Newsletter by Robert Hubbell," whose presentations are factually informative and always end on a positive note. Here are his Concluding Thoughts on Friday, March 18th.
“Although we should give ourselves regular breaks from the constant stream of news, we cannot afford the luxury of withdrawing from the struggle for long periods of time. Yes, our struggle is challenging, but the alternative—giving up—is simply not an option. Follow when you can, lead if you are able, and rest when necessary. And then rejoin the fight. To the extent possible during these unsettled times, I hope you can find peace and comfort with friends and family this weekend. Talk to you on Monday!” Learn more and subscribe here.
“Today Do This! makes it everybody’s responsibility to change the world for the better.” This post is published every Friday. The authors write: “For too long, we’ve all been led to believe that we, as individuals, can’t do anything about the state of the world. We’re too small, too inexperienced, too ignorant of the situation, too lacking in talent or connections or influence. We don’t buy that. Each and every one of us — through our actions, or inaction — bears some responsibility for making the world how it is. And it’s our small individual actions today that create big collective change tomorrow."Read more here.
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Jessica Craven publishes "Chop Wood, Carry Water," which gives readers a daily action regarding legislation in the US Congress. She also briefly shares her personal thoughts which are always insightful and encouraging. Here’s some advice she posted in mid-March.
“It’s entirely normal to feel sad and scared right now. The world is in a terribly difficult place, and if one only watches or reads the news it can feel profoundly overwhelming. The way I get through it is, as Mr. Rogers said, to 'look for the helpers.' They are everywhere. Once I find them I try to help them. It immediately takes me out of my crippling sadness and fear. For me this ‘help the helpers’ approach is always the answer. Whether it’s helping those helping Ukrainians, helping good elected officials do their jobs, helping advance great causes, or helping great candidates who want to improve the world, there are so many ways to serve the cause of good.” Subscribe here.
My own concluding thoughts:
Don’t give up or give in to despair, which leads to inaction. Those who want to keep business as usual and control the agenda want just that.
Do something, however small, to contribute to the well-being of people, all life and the planet.
As Jessica Craven says, "Our voices matter. Our pushback matters. Don't forget it."
EVERYTHING YOU LOVE
"Climate change is not about climate. It's about everything you love." This is the concluding statement by Dr. Dan Dolderman in his TED Talk at the University of Toronto. He opens with a poignant story of how much his son loves certain sea creatures, species which may soon become extinct. If we think about everything we love we can all probably acknowledge that someone, or some thing, or some species, or some place is, has been, or will be adversely affected by climate change.
Instead of thinking about global warming, which can seem like a vague scientific observation, let's think instead in terms of cleaning up our air and water, and seriously addressing the causes of pollution.
Let's think instead about how to protect communities against the threats of oil leaks from pipelines that go under major waterways like the Missouri River, or the communities which are most harmed by environmental degradation.
Let's think instead about cleaning up the toxic waste produced by the practices of big agriculture which put tons of pesticides and chemical fertilizers on crops that poison the soil and pollute the groundwater.
Let's think in terms of cleaning up the tons of plastic in our oceans and landfills by regulating the plastic producers.
Let's think in terms of educational programs about reducing food waste, and waste in general, which are major sources of methane emissions.
Let's think in terms of restoring a true democracy so that corporations and billionaires are not calling the shots.
Let's think in terms of how we can consume less of the Earth's resources so that everyone will still have enough of what we need, and learn to be happy with less stuff. Remember Eleanor Roosevelt's famous motto: "Use it up. Wear it out. Make it do. Do without."
If we think, and act, on these things, the climate will take care of itself, and the Earth will continue to take care of us.
Instead of thinking about global warming, which can seem like a vague scientific observation, let's think instead in terms of cleaning up our air and water, and seriously addressing the causes of pollution.
Let's think instead about how to protect communities against the threats of oil leaks from pipelines that go under major waterways like the Missouri River, or the communities which are most harmed by environmental degradation.
Let's think instead about cleaning up the toxic waste produced by the practices of big agriculture which put tons of pesticides and chemical fertilizers on crops that poison the soil and pollute the groundwater.
Let's think in terms of cleaning up the tons of plastic in our oceans and landfills by regulating the plastic producers.
Let's think in terms of educational programs about reducing food waste, and waste in general, which are major sources of methane emissions.
Let's think in terms of restoring a true democracy so that corporations and billionaires are not calling the shots.
Let's think in terms of how we can consume less of the Earth's resources so that everyone will still have enough of what we need, and learn to be happy with less stuff. Remember Eleanor Roosevelt's famous motto: "Use it up. Wear it out. Make it do. Do without."
If we think, and act, on these things, the climate will take care of itself, and the Earth will continue to take care of us.