The Theme for Me is Love

The theme for me lately has been love. It is the theme of the season, too. Whether you are a Christian celebrating the birth of The Messiah, a Jew celebrating the sacrifice of the Maccabees and the miracle in the temple, or a Pagan celebrating the return of the sun and the renewal of life, the underlying theme is love. (I can't speak to all the other festivals celebrated this time of the year, but I suspect that love under lies most celebrations.)
For me Christmas is exemplified by love-the love of God-and no, I cannot explain God except to say that God is a Great Mystery-for humanity. And the teaching of Jesus that we should all love each other as He has loved us. And whether Muslim, Buddhist, Jewish, Hindu, Pagan or Atheist that principle-love for one another-is hard to argue against.
But what exactly is love? For me, I must agree with all the wise people who have said that the essence of love is seeing the Thou in the Other. Another way of saying this is to see that everyone around you is connected to you in some inexplicable and mysterious way and to behave accordingly. That is the lesson that Scrooge learned in Charles Dicken's story. It is what all the great teachers have taught.
While the song writers and poets have said, perhaps simplistically, that love is the answer that simply stated idea is true at its core. It is impossible to hate or be indifferent when you see from the depths of your own self that the rest of humanity is indeed deeply connected to you and what happens to them is happening to you. You know that to hate someone is to hate your own self. That to be indifferent to their plight is to be indifferent to you.
That revelation is what creates the real miracle of love. Because the old saying that love requires sacrifice is true, too. The sacrifice required is the ego-the idea we have of ourselves as separate and discrete beings trapped in a skin whose consciousness exists somewhere behind our eyes.
This sacrifice comes in many forms as it manifests in our lives. But it always involves giving of ourselves-and the reward is connection. Through the sacrifice of the ego we come into communion with others and become part of a greater whole. We become truly a part of humanity and truly in communion with God. Because when we put away separateness we are finally getting the point-and to 'sin' literally means to miss the point. And the point is this-all true religion and philosophy teaches that it is through love that we transcend ourselves. That in communion with God and Man all our personal and social and political problems are resolved. We cannot do harm where we truly love and act out of that purity of love.
The hard part is getting there and staying there. We all need to work at that-even the sages and saints must work at it. But as the song said, "That's the story of, that's the glory of love."
A person could say a lot more on this topic and perhaps on another day this person will. But for today this is enough out of me.
Feel free to share your perceptions of love below and keep on being the loving blessings you are in this crazy, mixed up world we all share. You are doing more good than you know.
Aloha and mahalo from Colorado.

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 Are They getting the Message? (or Now is the Summer of Our Discontent.)

 A few friends of mine have remarked recently that this is the most interesting election cycle in their lives.  I tend to agree.  Putting aside scandals, which have had their own impact on the election cycle, what seems to be happening is that outsiders have hijacked the primaries.  On the left we have grumpy grandpa Senator Bernie Sanders drawing huge crowds and being responsive to activists, refusing to take money from the super rich and on the other we have billionaire Donald Trump and his brash, no holds barred approach to speaking his mind.

Both Mr. Trump and Senator Sanders have tapped into a deep discontent in the electorate.  A very different discontent on each side but a deep well in either case.  This is very interesting for at least three reasons.  First, it's stripping the veneer off the two party process.  We can at last see without obfuscation the baseline of both sides of the electorate.

 Second, it shows that the American Electorate can retake the process by backing non-mainstream candidates.  Heck, Senator Sanders isn't a Democrat!  He's an independent!  And a democratic socialist! But the grass roots section of the liberal aspect of America is thrilled by him in a way that no mainstream candidate is going to be able to recreate.  Trump is sort of the positron to the Sanders electron.  The polarity is different but the charge is still strong.  Trump is tapping into a section that has had it with being told what to do, what to say, what to think and being shamed by the left wing's version of the right wing's so-called hate machine.  (Sorry, Extreme Democrats, but you're haters too.  You just feel justified by hating and shaming the the 'bad' people to make them do 'good'.)

 Thirdly, it shows that Americans are tired of cookie cutter politics stamped out and presented as the only valid talking points in an election.  By backing Trump or Sanders the populace is organically redefining the public debate and raising issues based on what the people want to talk about.

  A fourth point of interest is that 42% of registered voters are independents, not tethered to any one party line.  This is a record high and means that the Independent Party ( de facto movement) is the party with the greatest plurality.  It means both Republicans and Democrats aren't representing America anymore.  They are being tolerated as a means to an end, for now.

   So, my question to the RNC and the DNC is this, "Are you getting the message?"  And if so, how are you going to change?  America isn't buying the usual line of half truths and poll driven policy this time around.  Being unresponsive to this new momentum isn't going to play well with the 42%.

  As to Senator Sanders and to Mr. Trump, like 'em or hate 'em, they are striking a nerve.

  Thanks for reading!  Feel free to comment.

Knowing Who We Are

Knowing Who We Are.

 Who Am I?

That's a question we all face during our lives.  We have a lot of things that help us define who we are.  We have families, friends, neighborhoods, hometowns, society and culture, religions (or lack thereof), schools, clubs of various sorts, class, countries, political parties, continents, a planet, and the list goes on.  It is easy for us to fall into a definition  of ourselves that is relative to SOMETHING.  Just as it is natural, and sometimes useful, to compare ourselves with those people and things around us so it is with finding out who we are.  We naturally look to our environment and see who we are in relationship to it.  Conversely, we also see the environment as being defined by it's relationship to us.  These are the obverse and reverse of our coin of our perception of the world around us.

For example we might say, "I am an American.  This is my country."  Two sentences that clearly show how identity and belonging work.  The words, I am an American, carry with them the idea that being an American, belonging to America, is an essential part of our identity.  The words, This is my country, imply a sense of ownership.  It's the same with everything on the list above and more.  We humans are trained from birth, and perhaps even genetically coded, to perceive what is around us in this manner.

For myself, the list might go something like this: I am an Anglican, a scion of the Long family, a Coloradan, an American, an amateur philosopher and historian, the husband of my darling wife, and an independent voter. I consider myself a part of, and therefor part owner of, in the same sense that membership implies a share in an organization, these things.

But that still leaves one aspect of who I am open.  Who am I without all of these things?  Who am I alone?  Without family?  Without country?  Without a religion?  Without friends?  Without all those things that make up the life that I lead day in and day out?

Well, it is not my place to presume that your answers will be the same as mine.  But perhaps the process of asking ourselves the question, Who am I without____________. (Fill in the blank.), can help us discover who we actually are sans all these things.  Help us find a deeper understanding of our own life.  Perhaps we will find that for us, there is no meaningful answer to the who am I dilemma outside of an environmental one.  Perhaps we will find that there is SOMETHING that is only a part of our interior environment that is hidden deep within us that is what we really are.  Perhaps we will find something entirely unimagined.

For those of us who try this exercise, it's sort of like taking the first steps on what Joseph Campbell called The Hero's Journey.  It may seem odd, silly, and pointless among other obstacles.  It may prove difficult to even imagine being without some of these things on our lists.  But there also might be gold hidden at the end that we can share with the world.

For me, I have to agree with Socrates, the unexamined life is not worth living.  This is one interesting exercise in examination of our lives.   We may already know who we are.  We may discover that we are more than we ever imagined.  The possibilities are endless.

Trusting the American Process

     America is a complex concept.  Even the origins of such icons as Uncle Sam and Lady Liberty and their impact on the self conception of the American Public is a complex topic.  The concept of America we'll be talking about today is pared down to America: the political system as a self correcting organism.

     Many of the folks I run into in my daily rounds about town, just living my life, are still lamenting or celebrating the GOP victory in November.  It reminds me strongly of how folks were crying or dancing over the 2012 elections.  Both sides of our Aisle like to claim temporary victories as 'mandates of the people' .  But to someone with no investment in either of our major parties it looks like the electorate as a whole using the ballot box to correct the course of the ship of state.

     One of the harsh realities of the two majors is that they are set up to actually represent the extreme end of their respective viewpoints. Most people aren't willing to lean that far to the left or right.  Given the choices presented in the elections by the two parties the only option open to the American People is to make sure that one party never has too much power for too long.  More often than not no American President has had both Houses of Congress held by his party for very long.  It is how a system of checks and balances works.

     It is also rather telling in other ways.  It implies an inherent lack of trust in the government as it is currently run.  It implies an inherent desire not too see power in the same hands for too long.  These are good things.  It isn't like our government has a good track record when it comes to fair dealing and honesty-just ask the people who were here when the Europeans arrived.  Then just ask the farmers and the ranchers.  Then read the news.  It's all there on paper.  It would seem that in America, at least in the USA, there is a long standing mutually wary relationship between those who administer the government and those who elect them.  And it is an axiom that power corrupts.  It is an axiom now for good reasons: the sheer rarity of those whom it has not corrupted when held for too long or given in too great a measure.  The cartoon character of the corrupt politician is ubiquitous.  It has been around for hundreds of years.  That's a good measure of the depth of credibility gap and it's length and breadth as well.

     So my point is this: there is no 'mandate of the people' for either party-ever.  It's just that your average voter has had enough of one group of extremists running things for a while.  Instead of running around patting yourselves on the back or lamenting the end of the world you might try looking at the underlying message.  It comes down to, "Y'all are nuts.  Can't we get a better driver for this bus?", every two or four years.

   And this is my observation: America is willing to change but like any organism the electorate can only handle so much at a time before it needs to get back to business.  We seem to favor the Democrats when we feel it's time for a little social change or we've just had enough of Republicans.  We favor the Republicans when we feel we need strong leadership internationally and economically, things the Democrats repeatedly fail at.  What We the People seem to want is social change at a pace that doesn't overly disrupt society and jobs.

     This is my prediction for the 2016 elections at almost two years out:  We'll see the GOP get the Oval Office and both Houses of Congress.  Don't be surprised if they lose one House or the other 2 years later.

     But like I said at the beginning of this blog, America is a complex thing.  And there is certainly more to it all than has been discussed here.  As always feel free to comment!

    

Spirituality Is Our Daily Life

Centuries ago a wandering rabbi was asked by someone what he, a lay man, could do to become a more spiritual person. The rabbi replied that he should love God with everything he had and to love his neighbor as he loved himself.  He added that these two principles were the foundation of all true religion, all true spirituality. The questioner then asked, "Who is my neighbor?"  The rabbi rejoined, "Everyone is your neighbor."

The underlying principle here is that we express our love of God by how we treat each person we encounter.  It's how we treat our spouses, our children, our parents, the people next door or down the street, the person behind the counter at the 7-Eleven.  It's how we treat the person who cuts us off in traffic, the person who belittles us at work or at school, the person who hates us because we have different political beliefs.

Admittedly, this is often hard to do with those folks who seem to delight in being mean or hurtful.  Still, no one said that spirituality was easy.  It helps to remember that we have no idea what has happened in the life of any one person we may encounter.  We don't know if they have just had the worst day of their life, we abused as a child or just never learned that good manners are the oil that lubricates the machinery of life.  We don't know.

What we do know is that if we treat everyone we meet with kindness and consideration then we are happier. We are drawing closer to God. We are in the center  of God's intention for this world. And maybe through our example we are helping them to learn to draw closer to God themselves.

Another area that we can think of where we can demonstrate God's love is in returning the love given us by others by thoughtful action.  What little kindness or helpful thing can we do for our wife or husband, our parents or our children?  How can we be completely present with them in love each day? These things may mean more to them than all the jewels of the earth or any toy or material thing we can buy. Try asking those we love and who love us, "What can I do today to show you I love you?"

Love is what we do more than what we feel or say.  Love in action is more powerful than a hydrogen bomb, more penetrating than an x-ray, more healing than any medicine or therapy.

 Love really can change the world.  If every person acted out of love for every other person violence would disappear.  Discrimination would disappear. Hate would be impossible.  For where love is, there is God and where God is there is peace, there is freedom and there is joy.

So today I am going to try to be as loving and kind as I can to everyone I meet.  I will try to see each of them as God's beloved child.  I may fail, as I so often do, but I will try.

That's America to...

Back in the Forties, during World War Two, Frank Sinatra sang a song that moved and startled a nation.  As part of a short film he sang about our people, regardless of race, creed, religious affiliation or color, as part of one great people.

He wasn't the first person to celebrate the United States as a great melting pot, nor was he the last, but it was the first time it was done on film with children of all backgrounds as part of the movie.  It was the first time such a message was brought forth to so many people at once by so popular a person.

The title of the song was, THE HOUSE I LIVE IN.  (You can 'google' it.)

It wasn't popular with everyone and he got a bit of criticism for it.  Some even called him 'unamerican.'

The song's catch phrase, "...that's America to me." invites us to think about what this country means to each of us.  For the people who came here from Europe in the 17th century America was a place to escape religious persecution, to experiment with new forms of government, to serve out a sentence imposed by their rulers back in Europe or to just plain have a chance to carve out a better life for themselves.  These are only four of what are most likely many reasons people came to theses shores. They are reasons that endure to this day.  The United States is still seen a place where people can have greater freedom and opportunity than is common in the world.

Not that we are perfect.  Not that our history is without it's shameful attitudes and actions.  Just that we are a nation where certain ideals are cherished, even if we don't always live up to them.  At least we have set a standard that allows us to change and grow in understanding and through that deeper understanding act with greater justice and acceptance toward our fellows.

THE HOUSE I LIVE IN sends out the same invitation today.  What does America symbolize to each of us?  Is it place where the struggle for greater and greater civil liberties still continues as we evolve a deeper understanding of freedom?  Is it a place where all are welcome to come and pursue happiness?  A place where all opinions are welcome in the public forum? A place that cherishes life and liberty?

And what do each of these ideas mean to us, as individuals?

For me, it's a place where we can ask questions.  A place where we can sleep at night without fear that our opinions will lead to a midnight arrest.  A place where we are free to differ one from another on the most controversial of subjects.  And these freedoms are but the tip of the proverbial iceberg of what America is.

So I'll leave you, dear readers, with a question.  What's America to YOU?

Just askin'.

Helping Hands

One of the most admired people on the planet has said the most important question is, "How can I help?"

It's a beautiful question and opens the doors of the heart in both the person asked and the person asking.  In today's troubled times we all know folks who could use a little help.  Maybe we all could use a little help from those around us. Sometimes it's just an encouraging word that is needed or an acknowledgement of a some one's personal struggle.  Sometimes it goes farther and someone needs help getting to the store to buy food or to the doctor to make an appointment when they're too sick to take themselves.  Sometimes people need help finding work in today's economy.

Maybe we even need to take the question a step farther and ask if we can meet a specific need in some body's life.  Maybe a single parent needs to be asked if they need help with the housework or the yard work.  Maybe our neighbor, and in the highest sense we are all neighbors, is having a struggle we can see and we can ask if we can help with that in particular.  We can, by taking this sort of action, really love our neighbor as we love our self.

One man I know even helped someone he knew disliked him move to a new house.  When the other man asked him, "What are you doing here helping me?  I always give you a hard time!"  He replied, "You asked for help.  So here I am.  Everyone needs an extra set of hands when moving."  It changed the way they related to one another.  My friend said it probably did him more good to help the guy than anything else he could have done.

Helping others does more than just meet a need for another person, it meets a deep need in us.  It connects us to each other in deep ways.  It takes us out of our own reality and lets us step into that other person's world in a way we might never see otherwise.  It can change our relationships with others, our relationship to the world and maybe our relationship with ourselves.

You might even say that it connects us to God in a way we might never otherwise experience.  After all, if we are all God's Kids, we might all be God's hands in this world, too.


 And isn't the answer to the question, "Am I my brother's keeper?"  "Yes!"

Just sayin'.