All Lives Matter?

Of Course All Lives Matter. But that’s NOT the point!

Actually, it belittles and nullifies the point of Black Lives Matter.

When you say, “All Lives Matter” then you are protesting against those that are protesting for “Black Lives Matter.” What you are saying to them is, “No, Black Lives Don’t Matter” because they all matter. Put your sign away and go home!

Of course, all lives matter. 

That’s a given and has been a given all of my life.

There is no need to protest or contest that. There is no need for a movement for that.

But there is a huge need to support BLM as human beings, and especially as Christians.

Of course, being the white guy that I am, so often blinded by white privilege, I forget that when BLM first began, my first response as a good Christian was, “Well Jesus died for all lives so why doesn’t your sign say that?” But I was fortunate to be living in a home with three of us old farts where the other two were black guys that have advocated and fought for human rights all of their lives. It didn’t take long for me to see the light, believe me. But it also didn’t take long for me to forget. Because one of the main privileges of white privilege is that I can forget. I can not talk about it for years, especially if I isolate myself in a bubble of sameness like so many Christians and Americans do. I am so grateful that I kept pushing myself to cross boundaries everyday. I refused to live, work, raise my kids, send them to schools, or worship in segregated settings. Of that, I am so grateful. And I am so grateful to my kids for reviving this critical conversation with me again, as they recognize the richness they have gained being immersed in diverse settings. And as they are finding ways to become better allies and to become active in advocating for oppressed groups, which many of their friends are members. And as they too are struggling to understand their own privilege and oppression, being mixed race.

https://dbaronirvine.wordpress.com/2014/06/29/boundary-spanning/

The issue is this: can we be allies and support those that have been hurt in so many ways? Or is our privilege and need for dominance going to get in the way? Being allies means we must follow their lead. Part of the privilege that I couldn't see for a long time is that I always felt that if I'm really going to be "all in" then I have to take charge. My ideas and strategies have to dominate because that's how I have always made my best contribution. But NO. That's the last thing that is needed. To sustain change it must be authentic which means it has to be grass roots and led by the people that are the focus of the advocacy. It is them that are breaking the chains of oppression, not me. It is not about me!

One BLM leader in a large city said that their biggest barrier has been well-meaning while liberals. That sort of speaks for itself. In Detroit, I read an article where they were considering asking whites to not not be involved unless invited for a specific event. I'm glad they didn't have to go that far because there is a lot more power with more people, especially when we learn how to use our privilege for something bigger than ourselves. As allies, the main thing we must learn is to get out of the way. And that starts by listening to those that matter and be a resource, but stay out of the way and let them lead. There was a local startup movement in my city, Poor People's Movement, something that has been around in different forms from the time of Martin Luther King Jr. I was asked to be on the planning committee. I saw up close and personal what happens when someone tried to get involved without understanding what it means to be an ally. We never did get it started because that person would not get out of the way and kept trying to take charge. It was very sad to watch. What a waste.  

For more, see Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack of White Privilege

And Becoming Trustworthy White Allies by Melanie Morrison, both of which are so basic that they are profound and transformative for me at least.

House on fire analogy: breaking it down in very understandable terms and pictures.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/kristatorres/burning-house-black-lives-matter?fbclid=IwAR03JC0PfkyT6XN0UloUQW8MNGD8D_hG5m2zOyd9W0lvfVfuIVfXW4NqJUo

Video: https://www.tiktok.com/@giv.sharp/video/6832735871846993158

It is like walking up to someone that believes that abortion is wrong while they are picketing and saying, "All Live Matter." "There is no need to stand up against abortion. Go home!"

It is like going by a table that is raising money for breast cancer and saying, “but all cancers matter.” “You can’t just raise money for breast cancer, what about all of the other types?”

From my experience, it is mostly Christians that I know that are contesting BLM with ALM. What they seem to miss is that they are undermining one of the central messages of Jesus and the bible. How can we be a defender of the oppressed if we are Christians?

Does this matter? What would Jesus do? What did Jesus say? How did Jesus live? What does your God say? What does the bible say?

In Jesus' parable, people were classified as sheep or goats, separated according to whether they fed the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, visited the prisoner, etc. Those that did not align themselves with the least of these and provide them with what they need were cast into hell. (Matt 25:32-46)

 

BLM is the same thing except that it is not just a matter of hunger, thirst, and prisoners, it is a matter of life and death for people because of their skin color.

I am sure that if Jesus were here, he would align himself at least with the least of these, and probably do a lot more.

All lives can’t matter unless Black Lives Matter.

Fragmentation or Wholeness

A Dearth of Authenticity

“If spirituality is to be authentic, it is not going to be disconnected from the realities of all of our lives—from your day-to-day life and from our collective life. Even our realization, our awakening experiences, our revelatory moments—they all, in their own way, seek to be grounded in the embodied soil of our own humanity.” ~ Adyashanti

 

“I’m discovering that the reasons I tell myself that I do things are not the real reasons.” (Charles Eisenstein)

 

Each of us have an inner life and an outer life. Visible and invisible. To what extent do they match? To what extent are they both seen in me? Seen by others… and by myself???

“When we reconnect who we are with what we do, we approach our lives and our work with renewed passion, commitment, and integrity.” (Center for Courage and Renewal)

Being me is a blessing and a curse. 

I am so introspective that it is exhausting.

But if I am not questioning myself like this,

Then who am I???

If I don’t do the right thing.

Then I am no one.

 

“As above, so below, 

as within, so without, 

as the universe, so the soul…”

― Hermes Trismegistus

"An unexamined life is not worth living."

(Socrates)

”Appear As You Are,

Be As You Appear”

-JaLaL-UD-Din Rumi-

 

Why are we so polarized collectively?

It begins with us being so fragmented individually.

Does our spirituality define our political decisions?

How do we treat people that think differently?

What is our response to racial upheaval?

What is our response to the pandemic?

 

Why do we do what we do?

Why do we follow the politics we follow? Because my friends or neighbors do? Because my church does? Because that’s what I feel I must do? Because I’m told to?

 

Why do we follow at all? What is our source of authority? Is it our culture? Our teachers? The televangelist or preacher?

Why do we not follow our heart? Our inner teacher. Our inner Light. Our inner Spirit?

Why do we not follow that which we know down deep is the right thing to do?

Into the Abyss

Aging in Place

More deeply, broadly, and honestly

Into the Abyss

The longer I am here on this earth

The less I am content to exist on the surface

The more I need to descend into the abyss*

The more I must see and live beyond and below the surface

As I grow older, I see more deeply, broadly, and honestly

I see less clearly, less distinctly, less further away

I see less down the road and more here and now

I see less possibilities and more limitations

I see less answers, and yet more questions and mystery

I see less righteousness and yet more sacredness

I see less certainty and yet more hope, more wonder and awe

I see a smaller world that I more fully inhabit

Letting go and living the questions, loving the mystery

Letting go and living the wonder, embracing the uncertainty

Letting go and living the sacred where nothing is ordinary

Letting go and living here and now, in place, without worry.

Seeing all things with new eyes...

Settling into My Abyss

I feel like I have lived 3 very distinct lives and am beginning my 4th. I have been through some form of my own abyss each time. So what I’m expressing here is more of a matter of “settling into my abyss.” I’ve learned over the past 14 years while entering and emerging from the Dark Night of the Soul (My Abyss) into the light, Joseph Campbell’s Power of Myth speaks to me everyday. Life is quite a journey. I still struggle to see myself as the hero he depicts in all of us, but I guess we are all the heroes of our own lives. Whether a triumphant hero, a hero that barely survived, or a hero stuck in the muck of addiction or depression or self deprecation, either way, we are the main character of our lives. No one else is going to endure your journey. And no one else is going to discover and recover your treasure buried in your abyss. And no one else can tell your story. But it is in the telling that we find meaning and come alive.

WOKE!

CALL OUT CULTURE

BEWARE: we are all deceived AND unaware of the extent of our own conditioning. That is the nature of conditioning.* 

There seems to be a desire among young people to prove how “woke” they are by judging others online.

There is a balance that we must strike between self-examination and self-esteem. Just because we feel good about ourselves, does not mean that our minds are not playing tricks on us. Just because we think we are right doesn't mean we are.

 

Don't believe everything you think.

Don't believe everything you say.

Don't believe everything you hear.

Don't believe everything you read.

 

Like it or not, believe it or not, we have all been brainwashed since childhood by cultural conditioning through constant automatic downloading what we are told to think;

what to think,

how to think,

why to think.

This is sustained by its own invisibility and familiarity.

"As long as I don't see my own thinking errors, then 'I'm right.'" (invisibility)

"As long as those around me think like me, then 'I'm right.'" (familiarity)

This is an integral part of the lies we have been fed since childhood. A critical part of growing up and growing old is to learn to pay attention to the things we have been told that are not true. If we neglect the cognitive / spiritual discipline of discernment, eventually an alternative reality takes over and we never really become more wise as we grow old.

And now there are even more powerful lies being spread like a virus of the mind through social media and propaganda.

Does anyone know what "WOKE" means?

https://twitter.com/InsideWithPsaki/status/1637500132085182466?t=_U25nWzE5_zV9thhfaAeYg&s=19

BEWARE OF CONSTANT DECEPTION

“The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either -- but right through every human heart." (Alexander Solzhenitsyn)

"Two facts stand out as about contemporary electoral politics. The first is that almost nobody thinks they can be tricked or manipulated. The second is that almost everyone thinks lying politicians are manipulating the other side. These two facts ought to cause some pause for thought and introspection.

"Yet it is quite uncommon to think that this capability [of being tricked and/or misled] extends to our own side, let alone ourselves. This is our shared exceptionalism: the commonly held belief that everyone can be manipulated but ourselves.

"[An honest, needed response is] to admit that we are all capable of holding false beliefs, giving credence to bad arguments and having motivations other than we are aware of and tell ourselves we have."

The point is that they both presuppose that people are capable of being psychologically manipulated and being drawn to bad arguments.

 http://armchairideology.blogspot.com/2019/

""I have what I call an 'iron prescription' that helps me keep sane when I drift toward preferring one intense ideology over another. I feel that I'm not entitled to have an opinion unless I can state the arguments against my position better than the people who are in opposition. I think that I'm qualified to speak only when I've reached that state…

"That is probably too tough for most people, although I hope it won't ever become too tough for me… This business of not drifting into extreme ideology is very, very important in life. If you want to end up wise, heavy ideology is very likely to prevent that outcome.” {Charlie Munger]

CALL OUT CULTURE

 There seems to be a desire among young people to prove how “woke” they are by judging others online. “This idea of purity and that you’re never compromised and you’re always politically woke — you should get over that quickly,” he said, to laughs. “The world is messy. There are ambiguities. People who do really good stuff have flaws. People who you are fighting may love their kids, and share certain things with you.”

 

The speaker continued to tie the issue to activism:

“I do get a sense sometimes now among certain young people, and this is accelerated by social media — there is this sense sometimes of the way of me making change is to be as judgmental as possible about other people, and that’s enough. If I tweet or hashtag about how you didn’t do something right or used the wrong verb, then I can sit back and feel pretty good about myself. Did you see how woke I was, I called you out. Then I’m going to get on my TV and watch my show … That’s not activism. That’s not bringing about change. If all you’re doing is casting stones, you’re probably not going to get that far.”

 

(Obama speaking at an Obama Foundation event in Chicago)

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/obama-calls-out-call-out-culture-not-activism-905600/?fbclid=IwAR2x1k7pWiGQGziSIOT3s67o7gyYu0XhhfQlv4U2y79OmWZLKvMH-SLcE5o

* Conditioning according to Krishnamurti: Let us take the first question first. We are conditioned - physically, nervously, mentally - by the climate we live in and the food we eat, by the culture in which we live, by the whole of our social, religious and economic environment, by our experience, by education and by family pressures and influences. All these are the factors which condition us. Our conscious and unconscious responses to all the challenges of our environment - intellectual, emotional, outward and inward - all these are the action of conditioning. Language is conditioning; all thought is the action, the response of conditioning.

Knowing that we are conditioned we invent a divine agency which we piously hope will get us out of this mechanical state. We either postulate its existence outside or inside ourselves - as the atman, the soul, the Kingdom of Heaven which is within, and who knows what else! To these beliefs we cling desperately, not seeing that they themselves are part of the conditioning factor which they are supposed to destroy or redeem. So not being able to uncondition ourselves in this world, and not even seeing that conditioning is the problem, we think that freedom is in Heaven, in Moksha, in Nirvana. In the Christian myth of original sin and in the whole eastern doctrine of Samsara, one sees that the factor of conditioning has been felt, though rather obscurely. If it had been clearly seen, naturally these doctrines and myths would not have arisen. Nowadays the psychologists also try to get to grips with this problem, and in doing so condition us still further. Thus the religious specialists have conditioned us, the social order has conditioned us, the family which is part of it has conditioned us. All this is the past which makes up the open as well as the hidden layers of the mind. En passant it is interesting to note that the so-called individual doesn't exist at all, for his mind draws on the common reservoir of conditioning which he shares with everybody else, so the division between the community and the individual is false: there is only conditioning. This conditioning is action in all relationships - to things, people and ideas.

https://jkrishnamurti.org/content/conditioning 

Silence at the Center

Why do we flee?

What are we afraid of?

Death? Life?

"What is your life about, anyway?

Nothing but a struggle to be someone.

Nothing but a running from your own silence."

(Rumi)

It is in silence that we come face to face with ourselves and with the world through reflection and contemplation.

It is in silence that we learn to listen and hear that still small voice letting us know what our life is all about.

Silence is the stillness of a pond reflecting back to us ourselves and what we need to know.

And yet...

It is interesting that at birth we emerge from silence and darkness and at death we recede into silence and darkness. But in between, we are drawn to the glitz and glamor, din and clamour, and neverending busyness; fleeing as if afraid of the silence and what it might have to say to us or require of us.

Silence as a Spiritual Discipline

How can we hear . . . if we don’t listen?

How can we listen . . . when there is so much noise

. . . in our heads?

. . . in our hearts?

. . . in our lives?

How can we hear . . . through the din and the clamor

. . . the inner teacher?

. . . the still small voice?

How can we see . . . if we don’t look?

How can we look . . . with such allure and wanting

. . . in our heads?

. . . in our hearts?

. . . in our lives?

How can I see . . . through all of the glitz and the glamour.

. . . my inner light?

Give me peace

Give me silence

. . . in my head

. . . in my heart

. . . in my life.

Every moment of every day

Everywhere that I go

And in everything that I do.