Monday, May 21, 2018

I Hold These Truths

                                                                                                3 January, 2018
                                                                                                pub 14Jan18

I Hold These Truths

            Recently we went to Healdsburg to see "Darkest Hour", a movie portraying the first weeks after Winston Churchill's appointment as Prime Minister of England.  Fascist forces engulfed Europe, and the entire English army faced imminent destruction at Dunkirk.  Everything he held dear was at risk.  I felt parallels to the conditions today in the United States.
            We have political, economic, and spiritual leaders who enrich themselves at the expense of life on the planet, and decades of effort to insure clean air, food, and water are being dismantled in a blitzkrieg of deregulation.  The health and welfare of the country are being degraded for the benefit of the billionaire class.  Everything I hold dear is at risk.  How can I move forward with wisdom and compassion?
            Churchill's options were to capitulate or resist.  His choice to fight, to never surrender, was based on principle, and rallied the UK to defeat fascism in Europe.  Christ tells us not to resist evil, as that only strengthens the lie behind evil, which is that the world is separate.  I choose to affirm what I hold to be true, to live my life accordingly, and meet my fate whatever comes.
            I hold these truths. 
            Reality is an interconnected conscious unity.  All perception of separation is, at best, relative, of limited accuracy.  Anyone preaching hate is in opposition to this unity, and "misses the mark" (the original meaning of sin in Aramaic).  Each of us has the opportunity to awaken to this unity, to live the Golden Rule, to treat the other as our self.  We have more in common than any apparent differences.
            The real meaning of America is a nation where all people are equal before the law, without special consideration for the rich, white, straight, or male.  Clean air, food, water, and health care are civil rights in a mature and healthy civilization, not to be sacrificed for the profit of a few.
            All citizens must have freedom to vote; one person, one vote.  As in England, private political funding should be illegal.  Money is not speech; corporations are not people, they are zombies.  Our government should not be for sale to the highest bidder, domestic or foreign.  Money is a symbol of value, with no value of its own, and should not have priority over real values, which can be difficult to quantify. 
            True virtue is keeping selfish interests in harmony with social interests.  Greed is corrosive to civilization.  The mythical "free market" fails in the real world, incapable of balancing the devastation caused by rampant greed.  Trickle-down economics doesn't work, and accelerates the concentration of wealth and the destruction of a society.
            Man made climate change is real and already happening, not a Chinese hoax.  The rise of anti-science thinking is an ominous sign of a collapsing civilization.  Our fate is tied to the billions of species that share this planet with us.  Even our own bodies are collectives of trillions of life forms, which are necessary for good health.  Like waves on the ocean, the individual is always in context with the larger environment, and shares the same fate.

            The New Year is a time of resolutions and affirmations.  I resolve to release my fears, and judgments, and live with compassion for everyone.  May all beings be happy, free of suffering, at peace and thriving.  May all beings awaken to experience the unity of life.  May we evolve from humans to humanity.  So Be It.