When we take in the destructiveness that’s evident all around us - from active attacks on the rule of law, to the brutality of ICE ,to naive complacency before efforts both political and religious to demolish what is best in us - it’s easy to despair. And despair is not a dysfunctional response to the moment we’re living in. None of us are alone to feel it. We need to feel it to understand it.
We created all this, and only we can uncreate it. Our situation today is a terrible shock, but it should come as no surprise. For years conditions festered that, if looked at clearly, could only have been seen as possible precursors to what we’re going through now. The first step in solving almost any problem is to ask ourselves, “What aspect of my own consciousness and behavior contributed to this?” And it’s not so mysterious an answer, really. Only an irreverent, ungrateful, materialistic, complacent, and irresponsible people could have brought this upon ourselves. The ultimate solution is to become their opposite.
No one person is going to save us now. It’s we ourselves, in a collective wave of rising consciousness, that alone can transform our current circumstances. We will do this through efforts both large and small. You might look at the character traits I mentioned above and ask yourself “Where is that me?” One of the most powerful statements we can ever make is “I will no longer be as I was.” We can atone and begin again.
And in the midst of the ruins there still good to be seen. While the darkest face of the American character is wreaking havoc among us, the best of who we are is rising up in response. The darkness is overwhelming, it might even get darker. But the darkness will not prevail. Every action any of us take on any given day, to be mature, and wise, and compassionate . . . to not go along, to refuse to be silent, to tell truth when we hear lies, to spread good and true information despite the barrage of disinformation, to support the truth-tellers, to be the truth-tellers . . . we are contributing to a tsunami of light that’s going to hit the shores and purify this country. A time of profound disorder can still yet lead to a higher one. It will not be quick and it will not be easy, but in time the Spirit of justice, and love, and liberty will prevail.
The tortured question, of course, is how much time? And how much darkness must precede it? It depends how quickly we self-actualize. In that sense it is up to each of us, how we choose to show up in the world. Do not be small. Do not be lured. Do not be shallow. Do not withhold either love or forgiveness.
Let’s encourage each other to rise.
Lady Liberty holds a torch. She lives in our hearts and that Light is real. Be humble before it and hold it high. For this moment we were born.
Statue impressive. Prefer your picture
There are layers of what is it to be human in this article. Goes further than system's activists vs corruptors, or playing chess.