@barry Wow. Thank you. So much in your post that keeps adding to why we must forgive. I want to tag @allyn who just posted how pessimistic she is feeling about the future. I tried to tell her why I am optimistic but you have said it all in a better way. Hey, @allyn, come back and take in @barry's post further above yours.
"Until justice and equality are the right of every single person on this planet unconditionally, it doesn't exist for any of us. That is where we are going, every step forward thus far has been hard fought and hard won. This time is no different."
"In the grand scheme of justice and forgiveness, in the end, we cannot be defeated until we surrender. As long as there remains one person who seeks the light and a better world, we are not defeated...
"I think it's ok and healthy to acknowledge the immense struggle we face. It's a constant battle to not give in to it. Certainly I don't often win. It's more important to keep getting back up."
@allyn When I'm feeling low, I think of Brother John, and how he never lost hope.
Do what you can today, even if that means resting a weary soul. The fact that you care enough to want this world to be a better place means you are a light within it. That light shines on others, even if you don't think it does.
“Take a long, hard look down the road you will have to travel once you have made a commitment to work for change. Know that this transformation will not happen right away. Change often takes time. It rarely happens all at once. In the movement, we didn't know how history would play itself out. When we were getting arrested and waiting in jail or standing in unmovable lines on the courthouse steps, we didn’t know what would happen, but we knew it had to happen.
Use the words of the movement to pace yourself. We used to say that ours is not the struggle of one day, one week, or one year. Ours is not the struggle of one judicial appointment or presidential term. Ours is the struggle of a lifetime, or maybe even many lifetimes, and each one of us in every generation must do our part. And if we believe in the change we seek, then it is easy to commit to doing all we can, because the responsibility is ours alone to build a better society and a more peaceful world.” -- John Lewis
@blackandwhite I looked up Joe Manchin, and he just got reelected so he is good for five more years. Maybe if we get more democrat senators, it won't matter. I keep trying not to get mad, because it's bad for the heath, but it's hard.
Well then hopefully at some point soon there's enough blue senators to where he loses his relevancy.
But hey in regards to anything about manchin, I'm right there with you. I strongly dislike him and his disregard for the American people. It's because of senators like. Him that citizens united need to be overturned and why we need term limits.
Here is some interesting news on Manchin that I did not see coming.
https://apple.news/AP8YRE_ClTAOMsq8WOja7Rw
Manchin received more money from the fossil fuel industry than any other senator. Speaking to constituents from his $250,000 yacht, he is the epitome of Joseph Conrad’s pasty red-eyed devil that defines the decay of our times.
Environmentalist Bill McKibben wrote a good article about what Manchin has done: https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/joe-manchin-has-wrecked-the-biden-presidency-perhaps-hell-also-liberate-it?
excerpt:
“I’ve tried everything humanly possible. I can’t get there,” Joe Manchin said. “This is a no on this legislation. I have tried everything I know to do.” And with that pathetic brushoff—he sounded like a feckless TV bachelor explaining why he couldn’t hand his rose to a hopeful contestant—the West Virginia senator put the kibosh on the Build Back Better bill, and with it pretty much all the legislative priorities of the White House.”
Please also note:
Manchin's daughter is the CEO of a pharmaceutical company... a very particular one:
https://theintercept.com/2021/09/07/joe-manchin-epipen-price-heather-bresch/
She was at the center of the epipen scandal.
West Virginia has a population that desperately needs assistance, yet the Maserati-driving, yatch-owning Senator Manchin could care less.
Like many, I was irritated and angry about the news about BBB being toast courtesy of Manchin. I then saw that YouTube video about retired generals warning about further insurrection attempts in 2024. It was easy the last few days to feel lost and while I'm still sort of there, last night as I crawled into bed feeling more than a little conflicted, lost, and uncertain of the future, I closed my eyes and saw a brilliant white ball of energy combatting shadows. It was warmth and light (and winning!) and I threw some additional light its way. I'm feeling a lot better today.
Not certain what exactly it was, though I have a hunch this bright white sun like anomaly I saw is very much connected to the circle of lights many here in this forum have been participating in. (I'd love to but they meet right during my daughter's bedtime story time) - glad to have been able to add to it even after the fact.
Don't lose hope folks. There's a lot of "fight for good" out there!
I would like to add another thought. I'm really, really recognizing my Doomscrolling tendencies again - this is what initially got me to leave Facebook back in July of 2020. Now I'm doing it on Twitter (but Twitter isn't doing to me what Facebook did to me - I'm not about to leave it)
We aren't meant for this much stress - between the news, our social media feeds, and everything else.
That ball of light I saw when closing my eyes last night - it was the least effort I've ever put into anything - I simply closed my eyes and it was there. It was also effortless for me to throw some good energy at it.
Those of you in despair right now - close your eyes and seek that brilliant orb of sun out and add anything you can give to it as it continues to drive back the darkness. And then turn your feeds off if you need to and spend the next few days remembering that brilliant orb of light if you find it. Think of it every time you need to. Add to it. If the news gets you down, close your eyes and add to it again.
Whether it's part of what Jeanne and the rest of the group is sending on the circle of light nights or not - if we get the energy we put into this world back that's the energy I want to put out right now and it could do us all some good to try and build that further.
Light and love friends! We'll get there!
If there was ever any doubt about where Manchin's loyalty lied:
I am just catching up to the US news in the UK, I see Trump got a bit of a backlash from his supporters for saying he had the booster. I think that is really going to divide his base even more and probably weaken him further.
It looks like the Republicans will be looking for an even more crazy person than Trump to lead them moving forward.
It is crazy how the QAnon movement has grown and morphed into a pure anti-vax movement that encompasses all different people, rather than just Trump supporters. I say this since both movements have an overlap in believing the same core conspiracy about the evil elite cabal trying to control the world, but I never thought the QAnon conspiracies would gain further traction elsewhere, especially after their claims about Trump saving the world and the election results being cancelled all fell apart.
I get a very weird feeling that a lot of the conspiracies regarding the anti-vax movement are being fuelled online by Russia and China, and it is not just happening exclusively in the US but the whole Western world.
I apologize in advance for another long post. I don't receive these things very often but when I do they come in these bursts. This burst came in two parts, the first being my previous post. Spirit was being kind, the last one wore me out. I needed to find more time to sit quietly, listen, and get past my own personal gloomy thoughts. Yeah I read the news too. This second part gave me a much needed deeper understanding.
Love, hope, and courage are aspects of the same vibration. They come from the heart. They have to be unconditional to be true expressions of the realm of the heart. You can't say in truth, and from the heart, I will love you if these conditions are met, I will have hope if these conditions are met, I will be courageous if these conditions are met. Please also understand that unconditional love should never be misunderstood as accepting any form of abuse. A sacred bond is broken by abuse and no form of healthy love can exist in that vibration.
Courage begins with the dare to hope.
The heart is the seat of our true self and our interface with the unseen realm of creation and the creator. The heart is a formless knowing of all possibilities. The heart feels and imagines, it dreams. No one dreams in their mind, they dream in their heart. No one feels in their mind, they feel in their heart. We love in our heart. If we attempt love in our mind it's an expression of selfish love, an imposter.
The mind will tell us stories of who we think we are, the heart knows who we truly are. The mind creates labels, and pretends they are knowledge and thus reality. It is the source of judgements, good-bad, and the source of fear. No one has a courageous mind, they have a courageous heart. The mind will tell you nothing is possible because it’s never been done before. In your heart you can feel the endless possibilities.
When it's in balance with the heart, the mind serves to protect. It interfaces with and organizes the input we receive from the physical. When it's given free rein it will rule the heart. It will become selfish and self centered. It will create unwarranted fear and despair of what it doesn't understand. At its worst, it will act on those fears and despair in a selfish, heartless, negative way.
It feels very much to me that the great unravelling is related to our present mind centered existence. Western and industrial civilization has created a way of life dependent solely on the intellect, the mind. Our lifestyle is a construct solely of our mind. Wealth and power are imaginary. Power can be taken and given but where is there a stream to be found that you can fill your bucket with personal power? Power creates nothing on its own, it must enslave others to act on it. It is a distortion of cooperation. One person cannot create power alone, they must coerce other to act in their interest. In cooperation the power created is share equitably. Money is purely manufactured of nothing more than paper, metal, or now even more imaginary - digital 0's and 1's in the ether. If we were to again base it on something rare and precious like gold and silver, we could just as easily base it on something far more valuable such as air. After all, it's what we create it out of now.
The immense challenges we face are a result of what we created using our minds. The mind has enslaved the heart. This is why everything is so highly charged right now. Our mind based fantasies we substituted for a meaningful life are unravelling. We don't understand why but everything seems to be collapsing all around us. Or is it? The intellect is easily fooled and manipulated. Facts are the limits of what our minds can understand at this present moment. Facts of the mind can be distorted. So called "alternative" facts can be created and chosen. Creation is truth, we can argue over its various aspects but it remains what it is regardless of us and our thoughts. The infinite, universal truth is what our heart speaks to, unburdened of the mind. The smarter (the more powerful our intellectual mind) we are, the more difficult this can be to consider. The more our intellect will protest.
An easy way to experience this divide between heart and mind is to spend a week watching television and write down what you have learned and what you know. Then spend a week alone in the forest and sing of what you have learned and what you know. In both cases include what you love and what is truly important to you. Which one manipulates your sense of reality, and which one speaks truth? Spoiler alert - The trees will speak directly to you heart. The TV will speak directly to your mind. This was suggested to me not by a higher source where I normally receive understanding, but by a tree. Certainly not by a tv! Without pausing to reflect, what does your mind think of learning from a tree? What does your heart feel? Maybe you thought it was silly and felt nothing, maybe you intuitively longed to sit under a tree on a warm summer day.
The great turning feels like a turning towards the heart and seeking a re-balance where the mind serves the heart. In our present state, we cannot imagine - in our minds - what that will look like. But if we trust our hearts and act with hope, courage, and love we will continue to learn what is being whispered to us by higher source (and the trees). That it is an unravelling and a turning and not a destruction gives me hope. It will require all our courage to imagine and a build a better world for future generations. We have to start to build the foundations for them to build on.
With all that in mind, for a glimpse of courage, if you have a few minutes and would like to spend it well, watch the video of the testimony of Amy Jo Hutchison before the House Oversight Committee in 2019 at rattlethewindows dot com. Who speaks to your heart, her or her disgraced state senator? One only has the illusion of power. I'm humbled by her courage and the plain simple truth of the words of a mother from the deep red state of West Virginia who chose to speak truth to power. She and @Allyn inspired me to ask if things like hope and justice really were possible.
I know that I've been dishing out alot of manchin hate in this platform lately( there is certainly alot of subject matter lol) but I believe @dannyboy is correct. From time to time, It is important to disconnect from the social media platforms that are to gain the most from our hate. We need to realize that we are not their cattle to be processed in their data factories.
During this time I year I see a spike in erratic drivers rushing to present their loved ones with lavish gifts at the expense of themselves and others on the road. While it's acceptable to show your love to your family in a material way it's also important to slow down and to hold our loved ones close. If I've learned anything in these last two years is that life is fleeting and can be snuffed out at a moments notice, so enjoy the time you have.
My point is this, it's crucial that we step back from the societal norms that strive to shape us into a machination to be monetized. We are not money or again cattle. Do not let yourself be used.
I am also thankful and extremely grateful that I bumped into this community early last year when I needed it most. Y'all shone a bright light at a time when I was sunk deeply in darkness. I strive that at some point in my life I can shine the same light to those who need it.
Bless you all this Christmas with meaningful company and may next year be better for you than this one and the last.
it sounds like Madison Cawthorn's earthen vessel has had enough.
8 months seems short even by politi-celebrity status but I wouldn't want to be married to a guy like that either.
I strive that at some point in my life I can shine the same light to those who need it.
You should start now. Even if you feel your light is too small, for those in darkness, the smallest candle can provide comfort, hope, and direction.
Well I failed to mention that I just passed my content exam and I am a few videos short of being able to apply for a teaching position. I've always hated the phrase "those who can't, teach" because while many see the occupation as a trivial endeavor, I believe it takes quite a bit of skill to do the profession properly. I think my "light" to shine is particularly tied in that direction.
I don't think this is the best place to put this but I just don't know where to post. Boric, a 35 year old "socialist" has won the election of Chile. This is yet another democratic elected individual that won an election on a left leaning platform in south america. I've always believed that south america has been left leaning continent but impeded by the US neoliberal policies. It's great to see that my continent is finally stretching to it's more natural potential.
@blackandwhite Before Zoron left in 2018, he said that AMLC's win in Mexico is proof that democracy will triumph. Jeanne has said that the democracy will take a beating, which Biden winning is proof that democracy will be salvageable.
@blackandwhite I am a retired teacher/librarian who was certified in four areas. I always felt that teachers are special people who have a special ability to convey information so others can understand or learn a concept or ability (My husband who is quite mechanical can’t teach for beans). The only level I haven’t taught on is the elementary level and exceptional educational and to me those teaches have so many talents and abilities that I Just can’t even come close to realizing. And always remember without teachers there wouldn’t be doctors, lawyers, psychologists, etc. I wish you the very best in your chosen career and the world needs more people like you who see the importance of teaching. PS, I always loved my job.