We must not become desensitized. I know some of you don’t listen to the news, but you are being affected by it if you live on this planet. Look at the pain in the face of Diamond, the girlfriend of Philandro Castille, who was brutally shot by a police officer. Her courage and level-headedness under the most horrific circumstances, is not unlike the courage of the policemen who threw themselves in front of bullets to protect citizens in the massacre in Dallas that happened 12 hours ago. Most people don’t want policemen killed as a form of justice. They want fairness, they want to feel at home in their own country.
There are many different conversations going on right now—about justice, race, about guns and violence, about police as victim and black men and women as victims and on it goes, the wheel of karma, at once victim, then perpetrator, then back to victim again. Maybe you rescue, and then become victim. We all play all the roles some of the time.
It’s time to get off the Wheel, and choose an more elevated way of living based on the common ground of all people. One of the CNN newscasters this morning was speaking about getting beyond race and guns and staying far away from politics at this time—and just focusing on the fact that we all want to go home every night after we’ve been in the world. Even the homeless find their spot—that spot where you can be fully yourself and rest. He said we need to think about the people who didn’t get home last night—who were prevented from getting home. That is common ground.
I know that when I allow myself to feel the pain of all the people, my belly aches, and my breathing gets shallow. I have to remind myself to breathe deeply and stretch, and reach into life, rather than recoil the way my instincts instruct. Sometimes it doesn’t feel natural , but when I choose to stop and allow such pain to teach me something, I become more clear about my own values and I feel more connected with all the different players. I feel more compassion, more love. I feel better.
I ask myself what I could do to help this situation, where we are fighting hatred with hatred. I am choking back tears as I write this. That must be what I can do—-I can cry, pray, join a protest, help an organization that focuses on unity– anything elevating that will contribute to the world leaning in the direction of love. Maybe you do it on facebook, or you write a blog. You just speak up because you want your voice added to the chorus of love that is in almost everyone’s hearts, wanting to come out. Almost everyone’s hearts. We need to be concerned for those who don’t have love in their hearts, for the role they are playing is filled with pain.
Just breathe and allow yourself to realize where the world is right now, in its pangs of birthing of a new consciousness and new way of living. We all know it is changing, and yes, now there is chaos, lots of chaos, that has been predicted by many. Now is the time to step back and breathe and find that spot in the center of your chest where you can rest for a moment. It is true what Nietzsche said, that unless you have chaos, you cannot give birth to a dancing star.
There needs to be justice, there needs to be love. Both. Breathe in the pain, and breathe out justice and love. That helps.
With love,
