Politics Screw With Love

Almost everything that pokes at me and sends me out of my comfort zone these days originates from Facebook.  I think this window we’ve created for ourselves into the lives of people we know, but don’t really know forces us pull our heads out of the sand and admit that there are all kinds of other viewpoints out there.  If we can’t embrace each others’ differences, we at least have to learn to accept them because they exist and denying the existence doesn’t change that fact.

For me the button that is most often pressed is the one in charge of my politics.  I know that I am not the only one that could admit this.  Today a friend posted something that was so very true, yet left me feeling a mixture of angry, sad, and fearful.  I’ll try to paraphrase what she said:

Do you ever notice how when you find out someone’s political beliefs your opinion of them instantly changes and you no longer feel the same about them? It’s interesting that that happens.

Reading that made me sad because, after two years of being her Facebook friend, I know her political views and they are not the same as mine.  It was a reminder that the instant I am open about being liberal there are people who will think less of me and perhaps even write me off.  The comment made me angry because it means that all the respect and love that brings us to a relationship in the first place can be torn apart in one moment of categorizing ourselves.  Finally it made me fearful because, like I said before, it was a very true (for probably most people) statement.

I’ve been in both situations before.  I’ve been in the place where you’re hanging out with a new friend, you like them and see the potential for a great relationship and then the subject of politics come up.  They say something that lets you know their on your team and suddenly you feel those warm fuzzies.  In your mind you’re running through a field of daisies with some sweet song playing.  In one instant an alliance has been made, and yes, you like this person more than you did the moment before.  I’ve also been in the moment where the new friend expresses a political opinion opposite yours and the sound of a record scratch resonates in your head.  How could this be?  She/He can’t possibly be one of them!  And just like that, you’re not so sure you could ever find common ground with this right-wing/left-wing crazy (gotta love how our ego exaggerates)!

If there is something I want to transform about myself it is this reaction.  I want to see myself have these snap judgments and be able to take a time-out to pray for God to heal my thoughts and help me see what’s real.  In reality we all just want the same basic things.  We want to feel safe and loved.  It doesn’t matter what your political party affiliation is.  The negative reactions about our differences come from fear and that fear is used so well in politics to divide us, even from those we respect and love.

More and more these days I am finding friends on the other side of the fence whom I have so much in common with.  I am better for having them in my life and hope that in the future my political allegiances never keep me from connecting with people like these smart and loving ones I already know!

*A note to my FB friend if she is reading*

I hope I didn’t offend you by paraphrasing you here.  Thank you for inspiring me to look within at my own reactions.

Oneness 2

I am still reading the book Oneness.  Here is another quote from it.  I think it is appropriate this week before Christmas when even the “true meaning” of the holiday may be hard for some to accept.

“Your obligation is not to the so-called “truth,” that may have been handed down through generations of misguided seekers.  Your obligation is to the truth that has been unearthed within the depths of your own heart-and to that alone.

For each of you, there is only one truth: your truth.  It is contradictory to the very concept of spiritual devotion to subscribe to a school of thought forced upon you by the might of the masses, when such concepts violate what you know to be your own inner truth.”

Oneness

I’m re-reading this book called Oneness.  It is a channeled book through Rasha.  The following is something I highlighted as I read.

By consciously choosing, in one’s darkest hour, to reject the vision of hopelessness that appears inevitable, and to choose instead the knowingness that the outcome will reflect your highest possible good, you open the doorway within to the place of loving trust that will lead you home. (pg. 77  Oneness)

Avatar

As I said in Monday’s post, I went to see this movie over the weekend.  I would give it 5 stars for sure.  To me any movie that I feel I am better for having seen is a 5 star movie.  It is an added bonus if I am thinking about it days later.  So here I am, days later, with Avatar and it’s messages still swirling through my head.

Everyone has said that you must see it.  A lot of people say that if nothing else you should see it for it’s beauty and effects.  I’m not much for effects, I personally like a good story.  I was so enthralled by the characters and the story that I barely noticed the effects.  At times I even forgot the movie was in 3D.

The movie touched on a lot of my favorite topics.  Some themes that were obvious to me, but maybe not to a lot of people included: oneness, energy, spiritual healing, consciousness and the ability to connect to everything (including spirit).  But it was the basic story (one we’ve heard before) that stirred my soul the most and made me ask “is there anything I can do to change this?”

Avatar takes place over one hundred years in the future on a planet called “Pandora.”  An American (assumed b/c of the language)  corporate entity has hired the military to go on a mission to this planet in order to dig and retrieve a very valuable resource found under the surface.  The only obstacle standing in the way is the natives of the planet.  The people involved in this mission are convinced that the natives are dangerous and ignorant, needing to be either exterminated or rehabilitated.  When the scientist involved in the mission begin to understand the race of beings they discover the beauty in their way of life.  These “people” are truly connected to one another and the “earth” they live on.  They treat their environment with respect, even blessing and thanking the animals whose lives are taken to provide them with food.  Those that become involved with the “Na’ vi” begin to understand that they do not need changing at all and what they represent is far more valuable than the resource on which their homes stand.  But the corporation and the military leaders hired by them can not be convinced and only desire to take the land.  Ultimately it becomes a battle between greed and love and the people that are forced to choose a side.

I won’t say how it ended.  This is one I don’t want to *spoil*, but it really touched my heart at a deep level.  I inwardly wept for every country or people that have had to deal with such a tragedy.  Wars are started in this manner, often times under the guise that a certain group of people need to be “saved.”  I imagined for a moment how it might feel if someone bulldozed my home for no reason apparent to me.  It’s easy to explain away with some “for their own good” excuse so that people will be passive and let it go, but how must it feel to be in the position of having your life (everything you have ever known) turned upside down?

Avatar forces you (or should force you) to ask that question and take a moment to be empathetic.  I’m struggling right now with the desire to take my girls to see this movie.  I know it is rated PG-13 and that they are probably too young, but I can’t help thinking they would benefit from seeing the truth put forth in this movie.  It is an opportunity for them to see the worst and best of humanity and hopefully connect with the best inside themselves because of it.

Edgar D. Mitchell

This is a quote from the movie “In The Shadow of the Moon” and when I heard it, it really moved me.  I put it in a comment the other day in response to Rob’s comment mentioning Oneness.

Edgar D. Mitchell: “The biggest joy was on the way home. In my cockpit window, every two minutes: The Earth, the Moon, the Sun, and the whole 360-degree panorama of the heavens. And that was a powerful, overwhelming experience. And suddenly I realized that the molecules of my body, and the molecules of the spacecraft, the molecules in the body of my partners, were prototyped, manufactured in some ancient generation of stars. And that was an overwhelming sense of oneness, of connectedness; it wasn’t ‘Them and Us’, it was ‘That’s me!’, that’s all of it, it’s… it’s one thing. And it was accompanied by an ecstacy, a sense of ‘Oh my God, wow, yes’, an insight, an epiphany. “

Powerful

Right now I am in a book group that is studying the Joel S. Goldsmith book “Practicing the Presence.”  We had our second meeting on Sunday afternoon and among other things we discussed the idea of creating our lives.  Joel’s teachings include the idea of our consciousness creating our realities but more than anything he encourages putting your thoughts on God, knowing that trusting in that Reality will create a heavenly life.  Since I have also read books like “The Secret” and “The Law of Attraction: The Teachings of Abraham,” I find myself torn between this idea of manifesting stuff in my life and the idea that God has a plan for me…a destiny so to speak.

I am trying to distinguish the difference, if there is one.  I am curious as to whether or not I am creating my path or if my path is being shown to me.  If you study metaphysics you will read a lot about how we are all one and there is no such thing as time.  There’s a great quote from Battlestar Gallactica that goes “This has all happened before and will happen again.”  So the question is, if you are open to the idea, are we creating or remembering?  Either way it makes us pretty powerful, which is exactly what a member of the book group said to me in response to my question.  If we all just knew how powerful we are.  It is amazing if you think of it, what our bodies and minds are capable of doing.  Then if you add spirit to the equation…WOW!

On January 1, 2009, I attended a retreat called “Design a Divine 2009” with Elizabeth Barbour.  She opened the workshop by having everyone say one characteristic they wanted to express in the coming year.  When it was my turn, I said Powerful.  It seems to be a theme this year so far.  Around the time of the workshop I was feeling a bit powerless.   When I expressed this to a friend, their response was “But you have all the power.”  And it’s true, I have all the power over my life.  I don’t need power over anyone else, all I need is to use my power to acknowledge, create, and discover the best in my life.