I sit meditation on our back deck, but the neighbor’s dogs bark all day when nobody is home. The contrast between focusing on inner calmness and their exterior noise is emblematic of my larger dilemma; how to deal with people across the partisan divide.
This isn’t just a conceptual problem as I have a nephew who is a committed Trumper. I imagine everyone has someone. For years I have tried to have conversations, sharing information, resources, and facts. But the feedback from him quickly devolves into anger and personal attacks: never a real discussion of the issues. He is as convinced of the rightness of his view as I am of mine. As this felt pointless, I withdrew further communication attempts. But that also felt depressing, even as a short-term solution. We are related by family relationships, in addition to living on the same planet.
Many cultures have resorted to violence to eliminate this problem, killing or exiling anyone who disagrees with the party line, expunging the rot. Republican “leaders” claim Democrats are Satan’s spawn, and a threat to our nation. Their solution is to “lock them up”, and purge the voting roles. We are now seeing the rise of Christian Nationalism within the far right. These CHRINO’s (CHRistians In Name Only) are far from Christ’s teachings of love, but rigidly self-righteous. They believe only white Christians should have power in America, a simple-minded solution to a complex issue. Despite being popular, racist, religious genocide is not an enduring solution.
This is a very old problem; how to reach out to people holding different perspectives. Societies have tried just outnumbering them, which creates disgruntled minorities. Societies have tried ignoring them, leaving dissatisfaction to breed unabated. Societies have tried killing them, which burns the hatred even deeper. These times are demanding a new approach.
The perspective that impels me to meditate every day is the understanding of a unity reality. My restless mind is like my neighbor’s barking dogs, a distraction from the fundamental reality of life which I desire to experience. Starting with this concept, I sit to quiet my mind and experience that unity, that my actions in life may be guided from such awareness. When I am successful, the time passes without being irritated by the dogs. I believe this can be applied to the rest of the world as well.
The following comes from the Arcturian Group, a channeled source, talking about the impact we have in a unity reality.
“Everything that you do, and think, and say, not only affects your reality and the timeline you are currently on, but affects the multiverse with everything that you are offering vibrationally, energetically, and with your actions. That is how powerful you are. When you tap in and you see what is needed, then you know exactly what you need to do. You know exactly where the love is most needed; you know exactly where to send the healing. You don’t need to know what to fight against to do the good that you are here to do. If you are made aware of a reality where something is going on, some sort of conflict, some war between various factions, then you send love to everyone involved instead of picking up your sword and joining the fight. This is how you raise the level of consciousness on Earth, and this is how you ascend.”
It is my belief that the fundamental connection of the world will prevail over the illusion of separation that now dominates our culture. As the disfunctions of our social forms becomes more manifest, more people will choose to change from opposition to cooperation. There are indications this is already happening, as the extremes of the authoritarian Republican party are impacting more people every week. Women are outraged at the assault on their bodies; parents are outraged as more children die of gun violence; people of color are outraged as voting rights are curtailed; veterans are outraged as their health care is sacrificed for political theater; evangelicals are outraged as the CHRINO’s become more offensive; everyone is outraged as the climate crisis hits NOW, not in some distant future.
We are challenged to live from our inner truth, without distraction from the barking dogs.
(Correction to last week’s article: there are 40 million hydrogen atoms to an inch.)
Crispin B. Hollinshead lives in Ukiah. This and previous articles can be found at cbhollinshead.blogspot.com.