The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know is Possible (2013) is the title of a book by Charles Eisenstein. I listened to him speak today about healing the divisiveness in our world and am inspired to start this topic.
I've described in the past that The More Beautiful World concludes with a story Eisenstein imagined of light workers living on another planet or dimension who volunteered to go to earth to help earthlings who were in trouble.
His story is almost identical to the story spirit told me in 1985 of beings who would come here now to help us rise to a new level. I had visions of streams of light flowing to earth and landing in mothers' wombs. Streams of enlightened souls coming here now to help save this Garden of Eden. I was then told that the people who would be coming to me for readings and classes (and now I would extend that to people who come to this website), were those light beings.
If we are those streams of light who then became human and lived our lives on this earth then we still have work to do to rise. Our DNA and our upbringing contain a 2000 year-old story of separation and divisiveness. Our souls tell us a story of love and interconnection, that we are all one, with each other and with everything in this universe.
A related story that is relevant to our purpose here comes from another teacher, Joanna Macy. The Shambhala Prophecy tells of the times we are in now when the world hangs in the balance and heart warriors arise to save the world. According to the prophecy, they would battle the dark forces, not with weapons of violence, but with weapons of the heart. We would save the world with the radical understanding of the interconnectivity of all things. Eisenstein speaks of ending the myth of separation as the key to saving our world. Both stories are saying the same thing.
When we realize we are all one, then we will stop dehumanizing each other. When we become aware when we are dehumanizing each other, then we have a chance to unite with each other.
I started this topic to dialogue about how we can individually and together heal the divisiveness in our own hearts and therefore begin to heal it in our world.
Perhaps we could tell stories here of how we are healing ourselves and others from divisiveness.
Perhaps we could ask each other questions about how to connect with those who think differently than we do.
One of the students in my recent class of incredibly beautiful people, Christine B., recounted a dream she had in which she was in one of those see-through wrought iron elevators.The elevator was taking her up slowly, very slowly. She could see the walls outside the elevator as it rose. Then it rose more slowly until it stopped altogether between floors. To get to the next floor, she had to put her hands through the bars, press her palms to the wall and with all of her might, pull herself up to the next floor.
That's what I feel is being called upon us here. To rise, to evolve. How can we do that?
Thank you for posting this beautiful message, Jeanne.Â
Christine B.'s dream is instructive. For movement to occur, it took all of her focus and strength. Our community's strength is that we do realize and internalize the interconnectivity of all things.Â
What is happening is bigger than politics or religion; it's bigger than our world. How do we help usher in something that is bigger than anything we can imagine? Â
Our Achilles heel is that we are distracted and even entertained by the failures and foibles of others, and that, as you point out, we haven't dealt with our own angry hearts. Â
It is hard to be mindful and focused when events are moving so quickly. Even knowing it isn't good for me, I want to follow certain stories down the rabbit hole. Â
I am in this community for a reason and want to be of use, but I don't know how. I want to learn.
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Maybe this will help us talk to people, at least about political concerns, in a kind way.
Responses to some common concerns/talking points:
“The Democrats have become too socialist and extreme.”
Democrats overwhelmingly chose a very moderate candidate. There were other choices.
Capitalism is about keeping a balance between businesses, that depend on workers and customers and people, who depend on businesses for work and products. Democrats want to make sure there is a balance. That is not socialism.
In general, the economy thrives when we have Democratic presidents.
“The left is violent, lawless, and against law enforcement.”
We put a lot of trust and burden on law enforcement. But that level of trust must come with accountability. Recently we’ve seen that law enforcement can escalate violence way beyond what is appropriate - at protests and when dealing with people of color.
That’s not being against law enforcement - that’s recognizing a serious problem we need to come together to address.
While there’s a lot of talk about Antifa and violent anarchists, there’s very, very little documentation of any kind that this has happened. Several news outlets scoured arrest records and found zero mentions.
“Trump is better for the economy. He understands business.”
Biden helped oversee one of the greatest economic recoveries in history. The decisions and investments they made lead to a decade of growth. Trump has supported the stock market - but that’s a bad indicator of the economy overall - especially during the pandemic.
The economy is better when we have Democratic presidents.
“Trump is a strong leader. Biden is weak.”
Biden unites people. He forcefully fights to get things done. He brings in expert, capable people. Trump complains. He sends experts away. He has broken with our allies, and accomplished nothing with our foes. In what way is he strong?
“Biden sufferers from dementia.”
Biden is healthy, active and sharp. If you want to compare word gaffes between Trump and Biden, you may not like the score.
“Kamala Harris is too ambitious and slept her way to the top.”
What does it mean to be too ambitious? Kamala did get support from an ex-boyfriend. She won her first election eight years after that relationship ended. In what way is that sleeping your way to the top?
“The Democrats just hate Trump. They have been hellbent on destroying him from day one.”
Trump is really good at offending people. He’s embraced racism and conspiracy theories. He’s also worked to avoid every law designed to maintain the difference between a President and a Dictator. Most Democrats - and a lot of Republicans - are offended by that.
“Trump got unlucky because of the pandemic. It’s not his fault.”
Every other developed country had the pandemic under control before summer. They did it with masks, testing, tracing and masking. They kept their economies and schools from collapse. Trump banned some travel - with lots of exceptions. Other than that he’s abandoned any effort to ensure PPE, testing, contact tracing and undermined mask-wearing. He’s promoted bizarre and unproven miracle cures. 180,000 people have died. It is his fault.
“Democrats are just too obsessed with identity politics and race.”
Democrats think all Americans should have equal rights and opportunities. Sometimes we realize that some people have been treated very, very unfairly. That can be hard to deal with and feel frightening, but in the end, it is the business of a democracy to fix it.
“Democrats are baby killers. It’s hard for me to get past that.”
Abortions tend to go down during Democratic administrations. That’s because abortion isn’t stopped by making it a crime. It’s stopped by making sure there’s more education and healthcare, and less poverty and unemployment. That’s actually a faster, safer way to end abortion.
Do you want Republican rhetoric or Democratic results?
“Democrats are trying to cheat.”
No. The Republicans have not been able to produce a single piece of evidence to support this claim. None. Meanwhile, the president is in court and on twitter working to make it harder for people to vote. Who’s cheating?
“Obama was Deporter-in-Chief.”
Obama did deport people. His administration prioritized criminals, not families and small business owners. We need immigration reform. Badly.
“Biden doesn’t have any ideas to bring to the table. He is the Not-Trump candidate.”
You may not see enough of it in the media, but Biden has a strong platform of very detailed plans and ideas. Take some time to look for them. He’s talking about education, clean energy jobs, a public option for Medicare, and a clear foreign policy.
“I’m sick of hearing about how the Russians interfered with the election. I don’t care.”
You really should care. It is a long, tedious issue. But the Russians are interfering with your government, and they are not your friends.
“The impeachment was a waste of time and it only showed that Trump did nothing wrong.”
The impeachment showed exactly the opposite. The proof against Trump was overwhelming. Republican Senators chose to just let it go.
“Democrats are mean, hateful, and condescending.”
Sometimes. I don’t like that either. But we need to start talking to each other about real things. Without the lies and the anger. Then we can understand each other and make some progress.
“Democrats will try to take away my gun.”
The Second Amendment would be nearly impossible to change. The court has strengthened it with every ruling. Basic gun control laws are extremely popular in the US - even among gun owners.
“My taxes will go up with Biden. The Democratic Party is still the tax and spend party.”
The Republicans cut taxes for the very wealthy, and raised them on the middle class. Some of the biggest companies in the US now pay zero taxes. The deficit went through the roof. And we have nothing to show for it - no infrastructure, no great education improvements, less healthcare, less jobs. Biden will reverse that. He will tax the very wealthy and corporations, and put the money into long term investments in America's future.
These are really good talking points for making your case. Perhaps people can use them.Â
Even when I have my talking points, I find that I can't have conversations with people who hold tight to their talking points. We are each not listening to the other because our minds are so filled with the views we've been fed. Â But what if we decided not to judge the other and instead listen to each other? Â Underneath the canned arguments fed by the news are our individual human experiences. Â
My high school friend Pam voted for Trump because of one thing -- she is anti abortion.  It matters to her that I should understand that.  Before I start ranting at her that her choice doesn't make sense because Trump's actions have harmed children, she needs for me to hear her story. She needs me to see her, not judge her as stupid.  Everyone has a story.  I happen to know hers, and I understand why abortion is huge issue for her.  She doesn't care if Trump himself paid girlfriends  to get abortions. It matters that only the GOP is against abortion, so she votes Republican.Â
I notice that when I have had dialogues with people, that if I can just keep my mouth shut and listen to them, they eventually want to know my views too.  We all want to be understood. We can agree to disagree but I'm working on not dehumanizing them. When I'm angry about Trump, it is hard not to push someone who voted for him away.  But I suspect that we need to start listening to each other if we are to heal our country. I know that I feel softer and more relaxed inside just thinking this way.
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But I suspect that we need to start listening to each other if we are to heal our country. I know that I feel softer and more relaxed inside just thinking this way.
Yes. Â
It isn't simple to do.
It takes purposeful intention to active listening. Â
However, with practice, it does become more of a way of life. Â
I need to go back and make this a part of how I interact with others when possible. Â Harder to do in covid times but making the effort is where we start right?Â
@lowtide I didn’t tell you how helpful your list of points is. It can help a person stay centered to to have access to logical reasons. Â
@lovendures thank you for saying that it takes focus to listen to others.  That is why Christine B’s dream showed her using all of her might to pull herself Up, along with that iron elevator she was riding in.  I love that she was using the palms of her hands pressed against the wall to pull herself up. We use our palms to send healing.
I Want to listen to an opponent’s arguments but find it painful to hear people’s opposing arguments. I feel that some, if not most, of these arguments were devised by high paid psychologists and political operatives to get voters to vote Republican. I am reminded of the history of the Koch Brothers who paid people to set up tables outside the US post office in my town with handouts showing Obama with Hitler mustaches drawn in.  These painful memories feed into my reaction when someone begins telling me their side. Â
But instead of allowing those triggers to control me, I want change my focus onto the humanity of the person who is speaking to me. I want to remember that the person speaking to me is an ordinary person with fears and hopes who is telling me why those pro GOP arguments matter to her.Â
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Very well explained and written! Oh how I wish I had friends and extended family members open to discussion much less facts!
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Never-the-less I am keeping a copy of these talking points handy! Thank you so very much for all of them!Â
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Bless you bless you bless you for bringing this back into the forum for reading your awesome post and opening hearts and minds to truly open our hearts to our purpose not only here on earth but absolutely everywhere!
I've told my children i was from another dimension. They've told me more like another planet. But deep inside they all who who we all are at this time as light workers. Even when we appear to focus on the shadows it's only to acknowledge that presence and seek to bring the shadows all out into an illuminated, fully conscious, and always mindful life!
None of us has anything to regret or be sorry in any past just focus on the light within and allow it to grow and expand. We are all works of love and light in progress on the outside but our true nature is of the sun's pure brilliance and the moon's reflecting glow and the dancing and twinkling of all of our most beautiful stars and one day the most beautiful earth/spiritual beings we all yearn to have and to be!
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I thought of this thread this morning and realize that many of our community who read it might think I’m going back on what we’ve all said we wanted for our country and what we don’t want that’s been happening for the last 3 1/2 years and decades before that. Well nothing could be further from the truth! I stand by view that Donald Trump's behavior is that of an anti-Christ. In this thread I am not talking about the rhetoric and tweets of Donald Trump or Mike Pompeo or any of the enabler’s.
I am talking about the people, the human beings inside the partisan divide.
I was telling my husband that I don’t want to dehumanize people anymore by grouping them into categories. Categories like GOP, the Republicans, the Right Wing, the Deplorables, the Wealthy, and many more. He quipped, "What will be left to talk about?"
Well, there are policies, there are viewpoints, and then there are human beings who have chosen to espouse those views.
Here's an example of what happens when I stop dehumanizing people: When I think about those who proudly and forcefully espouse views I find heinous, I have tended to give them more power than they actually feel. Many of them are scared. They actually think the liberals have the power. One study Harvard did of ultra wealthy people, i.e., people with over $50 million assets, showed that on average they said they needed at least 25% more money to feel financially secure. You laugh, but that is how they feel.
In my town where a pro-diversity group has been trying to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous People's Day, a group of white well-to-do people who are fighting to keep Columbus Day have openly stated that they feel marginalized by the pro-diversity powers that be. So even though they come the dominant white culture that has ruled these lands for hundreds of years, these people feel overpowered and weak. I'm not saying I'm going to jump to their side of the issue, but it helps me to understand how they feel.
It may help all of us to see how disempowered the opposition feels. Not that we'd give up our hopes and dreams for a light-filled world that honors all people, but that we'd understand that a world that honors all people, finds a way to "see" all people.
@jeanne-mayell
Whenever I come across a person who is doing/saying angry, hurtful, even hateful things, the first thing I do is ask myself "Why are they so afraid?"
I would posit that all of the hate, anger and violence in the world is a direct result of repressed or redirected fear. When we understand that people's baser actions are really due to fear, it's easier to have sympathy and compassion for others. It makes us more likely to want to help them in some way then to want to fight them. I also believe this is key to solving many of the most intractable political fights. If we could find ways to assuage our opponents' fears, and vise versa, we would undoubtedly find solutions to our problems that the whole country (or world) could get behind.
I believe bringing this awareness into our hearts is the first step to finding unity.
A few days ago I posted the following under a different thread, but I think it really belongs here:
Posted by @jeanne-mayell:
There is also something we can do individually, to raise the vibration of our collective. Â Make peace within yourselves. Â Forgive your adversaries and all of the people in your lives. Make of yourselves a light.
Then send light to our country, to the Biden campaign, and the good Congressional candidates. Â
@jeanne-mayell, thank you for sharing those words of wisdom. I've been reading daily meditations based on the writings of Henri Nouwen. Recently I've been struggling to find peace within myself and understanding and compassion for the T supporters. My answer came in the following message:
The power of the darkness around us is strong, and our world finds it easier to manipulate self-rejecting people than self-accepting people. The great spiritual call of the Beloved Children of God is to pull their brokenness away from the shadow of the curse and put it under the light of the Blessing. Physical, mental, or emotional pain lived under the blessing is experienced in ways radically different from physical, mental, or emotional pain lived under the curse.
Nouwen, Henri J.M., You are the Beloved: Daily Meditations for Spiritual Living,compiled and edited by Gabrielle Earnshaw, Convergent Books, (2017), p. 8.
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“Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.”
-Maya Angelou
This thread is filled with hope and filled with ❤️ .
@frank I love what you are saying. You, @lovendures and @lowtide, your posts help support this issue of how we can make a more beautiful world, because you are helping us all to think more complexly about this issue. Â
A few years ago, someone on this forum tried to write about healing the divide. Â At the time, my anger and pain over what was happening was so intense that I did not want to consider the opponents' viewpoints. Â But much has changed. Â For one thing, the Trump news kept on going and the poison I felt towards him and his enablers circulated inside me. Â We make a copy for our selves when we hate because those feelings are inside of us.Â
The words holism and holistic health come from the root word holy. I don't feel holy when I let myself marginalize others' humanity even if it is in the name of something good.
I have always understood that the viewpoints of people on the other side are not really their viewpoints. Â They are the canned viewpoints fed to them, viewpoints that fit something deeper within each one's personal story. Â But I just know too many good people, people who are kind and generous, but who choose the GOP viewpoint. It's time to start seeing the person beneath the viewpoints, the true human's point of view.Â
My friend who voted for Trump because of her anti-abortion stance, has a lifetime of hardship that created her viewpoint. Never mind the difficult childhood she had, where her mother was institutionalized after she was born. Â But she got accidentally pregnant at 19 in a relationship that would not support the pregnancy. She had to raise her daughter alone. Â She later married and had another daughter and now there are grandchildren and a beautiful extended family. Clearly she just sees her own life choices regarding her pregnancy, not much else.
I don't agree with her view that women should be prevented from making their own choice, but I have compassion for her view. Â She doesn't want to force women, but she can't see beyond the preciousness of her children and grandchildren's lives.Â
My hope is that by sharing our stories of the humanity of those we disagree with, we might begin to increase the light.Â
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@deetoo Interesting that Nouwen lived and wrote with such compassion, yet was depressed. Â I don't know why he was depressed, but I've read that he was, and I remember as being very serious and yet oh so kind.
My hope is that by sharing our stories of the humanity of those we disagree with, we might begin to increase the light.Â
Beautifully said my friend.Â
We have spent enough effort dehumanizing ourselves and others
We need to spend time re-humanizing ourselves and others.
Adding to my last post:
For me understanding and compassion does not mean compliance or capitulation. There is a place and space for my anger, and I will not go quietly into that good night. Not while we are witnessing the injustices and cruelty being perpetrated around us on a daily basis. But I can express and act on that anger without dehumanizing another. And if I sometimes struggle with that, I will try drawing on the strength and remarkable life of the light-filled, peaceful warrior, John Lewis. If he could do it, so can I.
Adding to my last post:
For me love and compassion does not mean compliance or capitulation. There is a place and space for my anger, and I will not go quietly into that good night. Not while we are witnessing the injustices and cruelty being perpetrated around us on a daily basis. But I can express and act on that anger without dehumanizing another. And if I sometimes have problems doing that, I will try drawing on the strength and remarkable life of the light-filled, peaceful warrior, John Lewis. If he could do it, so can I.
Yes Deetoo!
Everything you just wrote my friend. Â
(This girl is still on fire).
Looking Ahead
By Joseph J. Mazzella • August 26, 2020
When I was a young boy our whole family lived in my Nana’s old house right beside a set of railroad tracks. I can remember the whole house would shake when the trains rolled by. These trains hauling coal cars were few and far between, however, so I often spent my Summer afternoons walking down the tracks. I can remember the first time I tried to balance myself and walk on a single rail. The steel rails were very narrow and quite slippery so I didn’t have much success. First I tried holding my arms out and watching my feet as I walked. This only led to me wobbling and falling off after a few steps. I decided to walk backwards once but quickly slipped off and skinned my ankle on the rail. It was only when I started looking ahead, down the length of the tracks that I was able to walk the rails. Keeping my eyes forward I put one foot in front of the other and was soon walking with ease.
Looking back on this time I now realize that it also gave me a wonderful lesson about living. You can’t go through life watching and fretting about every step you take or choice you make. This only leads to second guessing yourself and you soon go off the rails. Looking behind you is even worse. With your eyes on the past you can’t see the way ahead. You can only stand still and stay stuck in your regrets. It is only when you look ahead that you can really move forward. It his only when you look ahead that you can see the life you want to lead, the love you want to share, and the light you want to shine. Then each step you take and choice you make is filled with love and you will walk on with a light heart.
We all need to keep our eyes forward. We all need to look ahead with love. We all need to see with our hearts the life we want to live. We all need to take each other’s hands and walk the path of love together, knowing that God is by our side with each step we take.
I don't think Eisentstein imagined that story. I think he crossed paths with a shaman or a psychic who shared that image with him. Or perhaps he heard directly from spirit, like you did. I've come across enough similar stories of light workers volunteering to come to this world to recognize a pattern.
Eisenstein's concluding story in The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know is Possible is also a standalone essay on his website: