Yes. It is indeed all connected, all intertwined with the many faces of violence — racism, white supremacy, toxic masculinity, patriarchy, misogyny, settler colonialism, environmental terrorism, man destroying nature, individual over community, capitalism. And of course we can add on imperialism, fascism, militarism, and the corporatism that is woven through so much of the American political, educational, and media systems. And the list goes on.
Connecting these dots and gradually lifting the veils of my ignorance and emerging from the deep fog I did not know that I was in has changed me. Deeply. Including how it is that being politically knowledgeable, aware, and active is one integral part of my spiritual path.
This certainly was not always true. It took 9-11 to shake me up so badly that I was compelled to find out why we were attacked on that horrifying, devastating day. I had no idea. I just knew in my bones that George Bush's words stating that "we were attacked because they hate our freedoms" was simply not true. I knew it was a lie. But I also knew that I did not have the answer. And I had to find out.
* * * * *
The past 19 years have been an incredible odyssey. New information would arise and I would follow threads, which then led me to other threads, and then sometimes into dead-ends or on to opening vast new territories of awareness that I could not have imagined when I first began.
Along the way, I gained and lost teachers — spiritual teachers, journalists and other media personalities, politicians and my political party, guides and visionaries, authors and activists, poets and artists, and more.
When I began, and although I'd had many years of sobriety and being grounded in my spiritual path, that did not guarantee that I was not still vulnerable to being misled. I'd had a lifetime of injured instincts, of exposure to propaganda and indoctrination, of being impaired in the cultivation of discernment, of disassociation and being separated from the wisdom of my heart and soul. There was no snapping of my fingers and just poof, I'm enlightened now. No. Not at all.
Moving toward and through, again and again, the messy middle of disillusionment has been the path that I have discovered which has been empowering me to shed my illusions, one by one by one. Every day is an opportunity to emerge with greater clarity, humility, compassion, and love while also remembering that beyond what I can see today is another vista up ahead that will reveal more — that is, if I keep seeking, don't turn back, and stay true to my intentions.
Award winning independent investigative journalist, author, professor, and visionary activist Chris Hedges' words of what is needed continue to ring so true for me, and always will, and that is the courageous and vital need to embody a "profound commitment to truth." My years in 12 Step programs also taught me again and again to "put principles before personalities" and to continue daily with my "searching and fearless moral inventory." I can't be increasingly accountable and authentic if I'm trying to bypass the self-reflection, openness, and grief that arises as essential parts of growing in greater conscious awareness. The bonus, of course, is that it is the experience of beauty, connection, compassion, courage, and love — in essence, the experience of the Sacred — that also increases.
None of this is easy, this journey of recognizing, learning from, shedding, and transforming our human wounds and illusions and gradually becoming more and more of who we most wholly are. And nothing could be more worthwhile than opening and strengthening our hearts and contributing to the healing of ourselves and our world rather than, unknowingly, its harm and heartbreaks.
* * * * *
Letting go is such an important part of the journey of awakening from our human slumber. And it's painful. Sometimes it can be like a death. Like when I realized that the Democratic Party was also a major contributor to the crises which have been building and causing so much suffering in our nation and across the planet for decades and beyond. It wasn't just the Republicans. Or like when I realized that Rachel Maddow and MSNBC and NPR/PBS and other corporate funded resources of information left out huge pieces of essential truths that were vital for us to know. It wasn't just FOX. Or when I began to learn about neoliberalism and the Clintons and Obama — and this after I'd worked so hard to get him elected and put so many hopes in dreams into Obama. The problem wasn't just George Bush and Trump and their enablers. Heartbreaking. And illuminating.
Gratefully, and time and again, I did not give up in despair and disillusionment and succumb to shutting down and joining the cult of powerlessness. Something pushed me to be relentless in my quest for deeper truth and greater love. I knew it to be a spiritual force — the God/Goddess of my understanding, my Ancestors, the power of Grace and Love and all those whose courageous journeys inspired me so deeply. If they could keep going, and amidst much greater challenges than the ones I faced, so could I.
I'd travel on dark rainy nights to Powell's Books and other venues in and outside of Portland to hear countless different authors speak. Their books line my shelves, many signed "To Molly and Sons," or "To Molly and Family" — which my three sons and grandchildren will inherit someday. Or I'd make the three hour drive to Seattle to attend Green Festivals and be privileged to hear and talk with amazing authors and visionaries. And as my discernment grew, I gradually shifted more and more to listening and watching independent resources of information that were not beholden in any way to Wall Street, the fossil fuel industry, the insurance and pharmaceutical industries, the political and education industrial complexes, the animal agricultural industries, the prison and criminal injustice systems, and other corporate interests.
Are these resources who I have been increasingly turning to unbiased? No. Award winning independent journalist and author Jeremy Scahill set me straight on that one. Jeremy confirms that everyone has their biases. But what are they? And, very important, are we consciously aware of the biases we and others hold? Those I am drawn to, like Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! and so many others, embody the bias of holding the powerful accountable rather than acting as their mouthpieces. And they consistently embody a profound commitment to truth, no matter where it may lead.
Do I still listen to NPR and watch PBS and other mainstream media? Yes. There is some excellent and vital information that they regularly produce. What's different for me today is that I am conscious of their limitations. And I know that it is essential for me to balance these resources with those that are truly independent of any strings attached to corporate interests. Without doing so, there are vital voices which I have come to treasure that I never, or only rarely, would hear or see within corporate funded resources of information.
Mostly what I look for is heart. Are those I turn to again and again connected with their hearts? Do they care, and care deeply about the oppressed, the marginalized, the impoverished, the impact of our warming climate, the victims of racism and misogyny and war and all forms of violence and injustice? Does what they speak to reflect a depth of caring for the suffering of humans, other beings, and the Earth? Do they dive deep and expose the roots of this suffering? Do they go there — into the deep shadow work that our nation has avoided from its very beginning?
* * * * *
This is the shadow work rooted in racism, white supremacy, toxic masculinity, patriarchy, misogyny, settler colonialism, environmental terrorism, man destroying nature, individual over community, capitalism, imperialism, fascism, militarism, and the corporatism that has long been the shadow side of American political, educational, and media systems. Our avoidance over decades and centuries and millennia has brought us to the brink.
This is where, again and again, I am reminded that the political is deeply connected with the spiritual. Truth is essential to growing spiritually and evolving as human beings and holding life as Sacred. Yet, how can we increasingly grow into our full potential for love, generosity, and kindness if we don't see the whole of the elephant in our collective living room and are instead mistaking the tail for the whole truth? We can't. This is why Noam Chomsky is telling the truth when he states that "Americans are a massively propagandized people." Too many of us believe that the problem is just Trump/Obama, republicans/democrats, liberals/conservatives, MSNBC or FOX, and other limiting polarities. This is what we hear again and again. Tragically, what we are too often exposed to as the facts that we most need to know and understand is also, again and again, leaving out a much, much larger picture.
We wouldn't be faced with epidemics and crises which threaten us all — the out of control coronavirus, the climate crisis which is threatening us with extinction, the crises of racism and poverty and addiction and endless wars and the sixth major extinction and on and on if this weren't true. And, very importantly, all of this did not begin with Trump.
The political is intimately connected with the spiritual. We ignore this at our peril. We need to reclaim the truth. And love. And we need to do this with greater fierce commitment than humankind has yet experienced.
Other countries also wonder why we Americans haven't long been out in the streets by the millions demanding the changes needed to save the life support systems of Earth and protect rather than destroy life. Why? Why don't we have a massive Loving Revolution happening in every way possible, with millions of us engaged and doing our part and demanding radical change in every way possible each and every day? Why? Why instead do we argue over whether our warming planet is happening, whether the pandemic is a hoax and masks need to be optional, whether or not there is systemic racism, or why capitalism is great and democratic socialism will destroy our country? Why?
What can we do about it?
* * * * *
Over these past many years before and after 9-11, I've added a diverse range of many teachers, guides, wisdom-holders, truth-tellers, authors and activists, artists and poets, and visionaries and more who in some way have fed and nourished my heart, mind, and soul. Over these decades of my journey of awakening, I've also shed those who I came to realize were not the embodiment of what was helpful rather than harmful. So many teachings day after day, year after year. Recognizing that no two people will be drawn to all the same people, this simply is a personal list that I have now, which is also not meant to be comprehensive:
Pema Chödrön, Riane Eisler, Joanna Macy, Jane Goodall, Naomi Klein, Amy Goodman, Arundhati Roy, Vandana Shiva, Alice Walker, Maya Angelou, Angela Davis, Roxane Dunbar-Ortiz, Angeles Arrien, the 13 Indigenous Grandmothers, Rachel Carson, Dorothy Day, Rosa Parks, Harriet Tubman, Michelle Alexander, Jane Mayer, Frances Moore Lappé, Terry Tempest Williams, Margaret Mead, Sir David Attenborough, Howard Zinn, Martin Luther King, Jr., James Baldwin, Malcolm X, Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela, Cornel West, Bernie Sanders, Rabbi Michael Lerner, Noam Chomsky, Chris Hedges, Henry Giroux, Jeremy Scahill, David Sirota, Daniel Ellsberg, Michael Parenti, Chalmers Johnson, Timothy Snyder, Bill Moyers, Bill McKibben, Dahr Jamail, David Korten, Bryan Stevenson, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Ibram X. Kendi, Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Michael Meade, Carl Jung, Frank Ostaseski, Francis Weller, Thích Nhất Hạnh, the Dalai Lama, Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Judith Duerk, Rachel Naomi Remen, Brené Brown, Charlotte Kasl, Mary Oliver, John O'Donohue, Rumi, Wendell Berry, Joy Harjo, Jack Kornfield, Matthew Fox, Robert Beatty, Doug Pullin, my three sons, my loving husband Ron Matela, many beloved and wise friends, the Earth, and the list goes on and on...
There is no way that any two people will be drawn to all the same people. I am very aware that as we each seek to grow, our teachers will appear. And while there may be overlaps, there will also always be differences. Deep bow of respect and reverence for the unique journey of our souls.
What's important, I believe, is simply that we clearly identify and set our intentions — and that we hold these intentions with courage, commitment, mindfulness, honesty, and perseverance. For me personally, my intentions are grounded in: (1) Seek Truth, (2) Keep My Heart Open, (3) Do No Harm, (4) Live My Life as a Prayer & In Alignment with My Deepest Spiritual Values, and (5) Alleviate the Suffering within Myself and Our World. These intentions have brought to me many teachers, the shedding of illusions for truth, greater and greater healing and wholeness, the strengthening of my heart, and the capacity to grow in humility, purpose, compassion, kindness, joy, and fierce love.
Choosing our teachers wisely is simply a vital part of our human evolution. At least this has certainly been my experience.
* * * * *
The political cannot be separated out from the spiritual. I cannot embody my spiritual values and live an authentically loving life if I refuse to see, understand, and acknowledge that which is causing so much harm. To the extent that any of us simply turn our backs and leave the deep truth-seeking and the activism — whatever that looks like for each of us — up to somebody else, then we are inevitably limiting ourselves in our active shared participation in the solution. At least this has certainly been my experience. If we have no depth of understanding of where we're at or how we got here, then how are we able to be empowered to increasingly participate in the healing of our families, our communities, our nation, and the world?
Humankind did not come to this place overnight of where we find ourselves at today. Trump is not just the problem. He is but a terrifying symptom of late stage avoidance of the deep work that we have needed to do for a very, very long time — both as individuals and collectively. This work includes recognizing, acknowledging, and being accountable for the harm that we have done, that our ancestors have done, that has been done in our name, and that we've been unconsciously complicit with through our blindness and biases.
And please know that for all of us who are awakening to recognize places of ignorance that we had not been aware of before, you are not alone. If we are alive and breathing, there are more layers to peel back, more veils to lift, more love and kindness to embody. This is the Hero's Journey, the path of the Love Warrior or Bodhisattva, the way of Living with Love, Compassion, Wisdom, and Grace.
* * * * *
Perhaps this sounds like it should be easy, but it is not. Not when we're immersed in distractions and dehumanization, half-truths and brazen lies, projections and polarization, addictions and sickness and death, isolation and injustice and violence, species die offs and the warming of our planet, pervasive greed alongside the collapse of the American Empire, and the chronic numbing of grief.
This goes way, way back — this normalization and indoctrination into systems which harm by separating us from our own hearts and a deep connection with life. This psychic numbing goes back to when systems of domination overtook those grounded in partnership, when the value of individualism replaced the vital interrelatedness of community, when the Earth became something to plunder and ravish rather than honor and protect, when greed and the consumption and accumulation of wealth overtook the value caring for ourselves and our planetary sisters and brothers, when factory farms and extreme cruelty towards animals replaced the family farm and respect for life, when funding wars and fossil fuels and Wall Street and insurance industries became more important than ensuring housing, healthcare, employment, food, shelter, safety, and protection of our fellow human beings, other beings, and the Earth herself.
We have indeed long lost our way. So many have been the canaries in the mine-shaft throughout time. Indigenous Peoples in particular have tried to warn us for hundreds of years of the extreme cost to us all when we neglect to hold life with reverence and protection. And too often we have failed to listen. Instead we have demonized the exact ones who bring us the truths and the consciousness of the larger pictures that we most need to know. Greta Thunberg, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and Black Lives Matter Activists are among countless others who receive death threats. We need to know this. And we need to act to stop this madness and the death spiral humanity and all life on Earth is in.
Recognizing the deep layers of our peril is a courageous first step. Nothing can be healed and transformed until it is seen. This is why there is this imperative to connect the dots of larger and larger pictures and seek out those resources that help us to do so. Those with a depth of integrity and love are there to support us in diving ever deeper in our quest for awakening, truth, fierce love, and acting out of alignment with our purpose and why we are here on Earth at this time in our human history.
We are all needed. Humankind is trying to heal and evolve and move into our greater potential for love, generosity, truth, and wisdom. A paradigm shift is underway. May we be part of this Great Awakening.
Everything, absolutely everything that we love and cherish is at stake.
Bless us all, no exception...
Molly
* * * * *
May we be at peace.
May our hearts remain open.
May we know the beauty of our true nature.
May we be safe and protected.
May courage be contagious.
May we be healed.
* * * * *
No comments:
Post a Comment