Are we getting the results we intend?
Is there incongruence between our thoughts and actions?
It seems to me that we, as Americans, are getting the results we never intended.
We are on a path of the destruction of democracy. No one intended that.
We are more divided than we ever have been. No one intended that.
We feel hatred and animosity from fellow Americans everyday. No one intended that.
Our enemies are increasing around the world and also within our borders. Fellow Americans are creating enemies and monsters right next door even though it may not be true.
If we keep on doing what we have been doing, we will never get a different result but we will continue to get the result we have been getting. That’s the way life works.
Who are we as human beings? Who are we as Americans?
Why are we so divided? Why do we have so much fear and hate?
What are we afraid of? Who and why do we hate?
This is not who we are. We have forgotten who we are.
But what can we do? It always begins with me.
In a world of such complexity and confusion, there is a defining principle, a clarifying question that may help us cut through all of the ideas and beliefs that we choose to follow.
We choose to follow certain principles because they are taking us where we want to go, to accomplish what we want to accomplish. We choose to follow, we follow, then we lose our way.
One way of sorting this out this is to remember that as human beings, we are defined by our actions, by our love, by our visible ‘fruits”, by the impact of the lives we live on others, in the same way that a tree is identified by its fruit. If we see an apple on a tree, we do not call it a peach tree. We know by what is seen that it is definitely an apple tree.
If a banana is seen on a tree, then we can rest assured that it is a banana tree.
If compassion is what is seen in my life, then we can rest assured that I am a compassionate person.
If hate is what is seen in my life, then we can rest assured that I am a hateful person.
If love is what is seen in my life, then we can rest assured that I am a loving person.
If fear is what is seen in my life, then we can rest assured that I am a fearful person.
If wisdom is what is seen in my life, then we can rest assured that I am a wise person.
If ignorance is what is seen in my life, then we can rest assured that I am an ignorant person.
There is no “one answer” that fits all.
Each one of us must examine ourselves and ask,
What are my most fundamental needs and wishes?
Are my actions, values, beliefs, and politics
Aligned with my most fundamental needs and wishes
So that it moves me in that direction
Every moment of every day.
If we do not align ourselves with with what works to keep us moving
toward our fundamental needs (in order to survive) and
toward our most fundamental wishes (in order to thrive),
then we will remain stuck, getting results that we do not want.
If I want no more division or hatred or enmity or fear or division,
Then everything I do and say must align with that fundamental wish.
What I am very concerned with is that we have whole groups of people that say they are one thing but are showing the fruit of another.
Case in point, in Christianity it is taught that the thing that shows the world who Christians are is love. In another place Paul writes, “by their fruits you will know them.” And later clarified what fruits will be seen in a person’s life; love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, kindness, and self-control.
But when they join their religion with a toxic politics that is driven by fear and hate, anger and lies, then they are obligated to follow these new superficial political principles and propaganda. What does the person’s words and actions reflect?
What happened, we ask ourselves as we witness this codependent alliance of religion and politics crash and burn before our eyes.
In America, we see it demonstrated daily in people’s lives, conversations, media, and social media with harsh and hateful words, and actions that bully, dominate, and are seething with fear, hate, and anger. The whole world sees it as the heart of what once was a religion of love but now has been usurped by what looks to be more of a cult. The teaching is that the greatest law is love and that love overcomes fear. BUT! But not unless that is what we are truly following as number one priority. Propaganda is powerful, potent, emotional, and makes itself priority, thus overcoming the good that has been forgotten. This nation has never been so divisive and hateful, mean and cruel. And this is on both sides, right and left. WE HAVE FORGOTTEN WHO WE ARE AND WHAT IT IS THAT WE ARE LIVING FOR.
Loving people live in a loving world, because we create the world around us by our fruits.
Hostile people live in a hostile world, because we create the world around us by our fruits.
Even though it is all the same world.
We have forgotten.
We have been deceived.
We have been too gullible.
We have been bullied.
We have been lied to.
We have propaganda machines
cranking out misinformation
for this very purpose and
we read it everyday in social media
and see it on TV news.
Then we choose to follow or not to follow.
To listen or not to listen.
To reflect it in our fruits or not.
Is this America, or not?
Are you an American or not?
Better question:
Are you human?
What kind of person are you?
If we forget, do a fruit check,
a reality check, a quality check.
And then ask the question everyday,
What works???
What do I need to do to end the
Fear, hate, and anger?
So that I no longer join in with hate groups
attacking fellow human beings.
ONE EVENING, AN ELDERLY
CHEROKEE BRAVE TOLD HIS
GRANDSON ABOUT A BATTLE THAT
GOES ON INSIDE PEOPLE.
HE SAID "MY SON, THE BATTLE IS
BETWEEN TWO 'WOLVES' INSIDE US ALL.
ONE IS EVIL.
IT IS ANGER,
ENVY, JEALOUSY, SORROW,
REGRET, GREED, ARROGANCE,
SELF-PITY, GUILT, RESENTMENT,
INFERIORITY, LIES, FALSE PRIDE,
SUPERIORITY, AND EGO.
THE OTHER IS GOOD.
IT IS JOY, PEACE LOVE, HOPE SERENITY,
HUMILITY, KINDNESS, BENEVOLENCE,
EMPATHY, GENEROSITY,
TRUTH, COMPASSION AND FAITH."
THE GRANDSON THOUGHT ABOUT
IT FOR A MINUTE AND THEN ASKED
HIS GRANDFATHER:
"WHICH WOLF WINS?..."
THE OLD CHEROKEE SIMPLY REPLIED,
"THE ONE THAT YOU FEED"
“What works?” What works to free the mind from suffering? What works to engender the heart of compassion? What works to help us awaken from ignorance?
“Rather than take religious views and teachings to be ultimate statements of absolute truth, they might be better understood as skillful means to liberate the mind. Instead of pitting one view against another, we might let go of rigid attachment to any view, and ask the very pragmatic question, 'Is this teaching leading my heart and mind to greater wisdom and peace, to greater kindness and compassion? Or does it lead to more divisiveness, to more selfishness, to more violence?'” (“Mindfulness, Compassion & Wisdom: Three Means To Peace” by Joseph Goldstein)
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