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.
