Blog

By Zach Van Houten

We need HEALING from the political, social and spiritual division we are experiencing, as well as the corresponding apathy that is a natural byproduct of a lack of collective vision. It is time to recognize that among those leaders we have historically looked up to, only a small minority have transcended the polarized states of mind that foster and feed on a fractured society. We need NEW leaders who are psychologically mature (both within and apart from institutions) but before we can get that, we need a more self-actualized population. It is clear that the way we have been doing things is not working, and that is reflected in the bipartisan dissatisfaction with the political and social reality we face (even if we point the finger in different directions).

The main underlying current among pretty much all of us (myself included a lot of the time) is a sense that “I know what is right for the country and the world, and therefore I have the right to be angry that the world does not conform to my preferences”. Life never asks what we prefer. Life shows up as it does, and requires us to adapt or suffer. Those are always the two choices.

Now how do we adapt to this sort of situation?

We adapt by opening ourselves to different perspectives, by learning and getting outside of our comfort zones, engaging with people of diverse backgrounds, because this is an era of DIVERSITY and integration of people who hold incredibly disparate worldviews and perspectives, shaped by their unique life experiences.

We adapt by learning to refrain from framing issues in terms of absolute right or wrong, and absolute certainty about matters that we know are too complex for even the greatest theorists to completely provide a account of. The world’s problems can’t be solved by lines in campaign speeches. The world’s problems are not simple. Cross-disciplinary study is crucial to developing a proper framing. Most of the negative and harsh political comments suffer from lack of nuance, isolating a particular irrationality of the system as if it exists in isolation. Whereas the truth of the matter is that the postmodern world is infinitely complex. Down to the very fabric of our reality, physicists can’t even pin down the fundamental material that constructs our world. From a mathematical and physical enigma, can certainty be found? I think we have certainty in the WRONG THINGS.

We should have certainty in what we know to be absolutely good: love, peace, harmony, honesty, integrity, patience, etc.

If we do not commit to and base our lives around heart-based values and attitudes, we will perpetuate suffering. No matter how intelligent we are, the world will one-up us with another layer of undiscovered complexity. Causality and ontology and epistemology are not simple matters that the casual observer can discern the details of, at least not without a deep dive into oneself.

We will heal when we end our addiction to blaming anything outside of ourselves for the situation we find in the world. All that matters is what you and I individually choose to embody and enact in ourselves. That is all we can control in the end.

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Photo credit: https://www.pickpik.com/photography-person-two-trees-disc-shot-assassination-attempt-44055

By Chris Jordan

Whatever we are seeking we already have.

We spend our energy to replicate a sense of well being we remember. Sometimes it’s from childhood. Sometimes it’s from a period of time where things went our way and we felt unstoppable.

We work hard to set up the conditions so that the feeling might come back and stay.

What we don’t realize is that the work is unnecessary.

Whether it was a person, or an object, or something we loved doing and were passionate about, the object in question only solicited that inside of us.

Which means it was already there. We already had it. We always have, and we still do.

Whatever God has granted to us, our soul or consciousness, whatever the label may be, it is pure.

It does not want. It doesn’t have need. It just is. It is given continually without request, without work, without struggle.

We observe the thoughts of want and need and experience it. We grasp for what we believe we lack.

If we think we lack something we are afraid and will resist life, causing ourselves more pain.

If we know we lack nothing and stop resisting we free ourselves from the pain and can experience what we’ve been seeking.

This is not abstract. It is just so mind numbingly simple that it’s hard to believe.

I believe it is because we think that for something to be profound that it needs to be complicated. However we all can remember moving times in our lives that brought us to tears, and it usually was because of simple gestures of love.

We believe that good things must be worked for. Did you work for your parents love? Perhaps you did, but it didn’t need to be that way.

More than that, what you are, how you are made, the essence of your being gifted to you is pure divine love.

Stop struggling. Stop worrying. Simply be and know that you have everything already, and give and receive with generosity and gratitude.

I believe in the essential unity of all existence. No separation! No one should ever look on another with disdain or hate; this is the sin we all suffer from inwardly, and it is the poison we drink. In moments of weakness I believe the myth of ego, that I am either a special someone, greater than others, or that I am worthless and useless.

Chuang Tzu, the great Taoist sage once wrote of the value of the useless, ugly tree. He wrote that because the tree lacked beauty and symmetry, it was spared the ax of a woodsman looking for useable wood. The useless tree, for Chuang Tzu represented our limited view of what is good and bad, which limits our capacity to understand true value.

As my friend Chris recently talked about in his video, essence is the core of who we are, and the source of our true value. We can touch this spaciousness of pure Being in moments of solitude, meditation, prayer, gratitude, worship, art, etc. And these experiences remind us of the truth; that all is inseparably one; and therefore undeniably redeemable.

Haste the day when our differences no longer matter in the light of the pure awareness of love. That is the vision I have for the world. And yes, I dream still.

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Artwork courtesy of Cassandra Miller, used under the Creative Commons Share Alike license. https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dream_on.jpg

Love is the one great force that binds us all.

Yet love is misunderstood, and misused. This elixir of life has become nothing more than a poisonous cocktail of codependencies and fear-based attachments.

Even then, the power of love is so strong that one sip will intoxicate all who dare drink.

Once tasted, it is never forgotten.

Forms come and go. Each year a new set of faces, projects, games we play; all attempts to rekindle a fire that either went out, or is slowly dying; choked out by the damp cloth of postmodern life. Some lucky among us have held on to our childlike wonder; we are blessed by your presence, friends.

The people we love and cherish will pass on eventually. The games we play come to an end. The stories we tell ourselves will vanish like a mist, and leaves us questioning if we ever knew anything for certain.

This is not meant to be a mere melancholic exercise in morbidity. Death is what gives life it’s grip on us. The fears we have in the face of uncertainty remind us that our time is limited, and our goals, somewhat arbirtrary. So we must always ask ourselves: what is eternal? What outlasts all these impermanent things we place hope in?

We are quick to insert an answer here. Some Hallmark-card spiritual sentiment, or a intellectualized theory. We may close the app or scroll past in order to avoid the feelings this line of thought generates. That is okay. Trust yourself.

But if you have stayed with me this far, I want to see how much farther we can push this.

What is it that moves us deeply? Not just what stimulates or excites, but what COMPELS us forward in spite of all the challenges. Day after day, we endure difficulty like champions of a cosmic competition. Here we are. We have survived so far. What now?

Did we get here overnight? In the billions of years this solar system has existed, what were we waiting for? Why did we wait for now to be here?

Or were we always here? When you are moved by nature, or by that sense of deep joy and wonder we sometimes taste, do you feel like you are a limited being of 70ish years life expectancy? Do you feel imprisoned in a intergalactic meat survival suit? Or do you feel free? Boundless even?

Unlimited. Unstoppable. The human spirit is not confined. It may incubate, and it may undergo vast changes. But what turns seeds and soil into fragrant, magnificent flowers also turns us into… well, what are you?

You are like a flower. Thank you for showing up. Why do you distrust yourself and others? Why do you fear the Unknown? We do we cling so tightly to our ways of explaining things?

Simple, fragrant and beautiful. Also, resilient, and uncompromisingly unique. The seed died and the flower bloomed. Death of the seed is life for the flower.

Are you the seed or the flower?

Are you both?

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Photo used under public domain license, courtesy of Sheila Brown: https://www.publicdomainpictures.net/en/view-image.php?image=263409&picture=white-lotus-flower-bud