Thank you to everyone for all the inspiring stories and lessons. It really is a time to reflect and heal and listen. I, too, have had a difficult time listening to the rhetoric and talking points and hatred from " the other side ". But, sadly, my daughter and son-in-law are staunch Trumpsters, so we cannot discuss one thing that could be twisted into political talking points. I made the mistake of commenting that the federal government has done nothing to help with the pandemic- that got the anger started.... So, I remembered my meditation class and lesson saying people just want you to listen to them. So, I stood there and just listened to hateful, angry, beliefs being yelled at me to make a point. I just listened. I tried not absorb the vile energy, but just listened. To my amazement after awhile they stopped and then thanked me for listening to their side and concerns. Although it was disturbing and emotional,it also served a purpose. At the beginning of this whole pandemic I heard a loud message many times " We are all in this together ".
Mother Nature at her finest
Am struggling this morning with trying to stay even keel under the onslaught of lies from Trump and his campaign.
I hope people don't think that because I've asked for us not to dehumanize the opposition that it means to back off calling them out.
@jeanne-mayell I’m sending you light. I think we all have these moments of overwhelming sadness and anger these days. I know I have them too. I hope it passes quickly and that you regain equilibrium. I keep having to remind myself that this is a marathon, not a sprint and guard/use my energy accordingly. Big hugs to you!
@jeanne-mayell I choose to believe that Spirit is guiding this Great Transformation and that things, both good and bad (from our perspective), are happening to move things forward, but maybe the actual effects are only visible from a much higher perspective. To me, it's no coincidence that the story of Light Workers coming here expressly for the the purpose of transforming the world keeps popping up in different places, both ancient and modern.
This belief is what lets me step back from the day to day drama of the world and trust that its all for the greater and higher good (Perhaps Trump's horribleness is serving the purpose of waking up Light Workers around the world, like all of us here, who are coming to the conclusion that there has to be a better way). Learning to trust Spirit has been one of my life lessons over the past few years and it's still ongoing.
As John Lennon said: "Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end" ❤️
@jeanne-mayell you are a light and keep us all reaching higher. This has been a hard week and many of us are feeling the weight of trying to be positive and think positively. You created this space and for me it’s been a refuge. I’m sending you love, peace and light to fill you. You’re weary, it’s ok. Even the strongest warriors need a moment. All will be well I pray. Until we can truly exhale we have each other to support and lift up. Peace dear one. ❤️☮️
I am so comforted by all of your posts. @jeanne-mayell, thank you for starting this wonderful thread. @coyote, I love that beautiful Eisenstein essay. I've printed it out and will read it in my moments of confusion and despair.
Like many of you, I’m experiencing waves of sadness, anger or anxiety. Last night my husband and I were watching a bit of MSNBC as Chris Hayes was discussing with Senator Cory Booker the current state of our country. I was feeling low and suddenly heard Senator Booker say the following:
We have to stop cursing the darkness. We are here to be lightworkers.
I was so inspired by the interview that I searched for more of what Booker has written and came upon this radio cast with Krista Tippett, where Booker talks about a “Civic Spiritual Evolution.” Booker says that if we can’t even see the humanity in someone else and demonize them, then there’s no hope for us as a country, and there’s no way we can work together to find common ground. He said that he’s often criticized for talking about love in the political space, but what Booker is talking about is a difficult, courageous love, one with daring empathy that gets hurts and gets angry. And it goes beyond tolerance – to Booker, tolerance basically means that if you disappear from the face of this earth, it won’t bother me, because I was just putting up with you. But to Booker, love says, “I see your worth. I see your value.”
For those who are interested, I’ve attached the complete Tippett-Booker interview here:
https://onbeing.org/programs/cory-booker-civic-spiritual-evolution-jul2018/
I posted this in the Random Predictions thread by accident, so I've moved it over here.
For me darkness is simply the unknown; that with which we have no experience and of which we have no knowledge. In my opinion, the origin of darkness as evil or bad is simply rooted in the primal fear of the unknown. We are sighted creatures, and much of our experience of the world comes through what we see. When we can see, we can properly assess danger; when we cannot see, our minds revert to the instinctive programming of protecting ourselves from all of the possible dangers that might be lurking in the areas that we cannot see. Since darkness represents what is unknown - and even with with our past present experiences, unknowable - we steel our minds against the danger that may be in it and imagine all sorts of fearsome things. We are programmed to expect the worst, so using the experiences we already have, we prepare for everything we can imagine - and we can imagine many terrible things.
Those in power prey on our imaginations and give us things to fear. They don't know any more than we do what will or may happen, but they know that they can use our (and their) fears of the unknown against us.
For all of that though, darkness is necessary. As @journeywithme2 said in another thread, seeds do not germinate and grow in the light. They require darkness. They must be surrounded by and feed on the death and dissolution around them to nurture and sustain them through the first stages of birth. New growth feeds on the decomposition of the past, transforming it into something new, necessary, and beautiful. The seed cannot see what it will become or what beauty it will create; it only knows that it is surrounded by waste and decay and must do what is necessary to use whatever resources it has around it - including the corrosion, blight, and ruin in which it is buried- to grow beyond that and escape it, and this, this is where we are now.
We have been buried by the degeneracy and gangrene that has infected our political process, and we cannot see our way to the light. We must use whatever nourishment we can find in the dregs of what they have left us to grow through and beyond it to re-create the new world with the knowledge that others in the future will do the same when we fall. Our mission is to leave the soil as fertile as we can for those future generations.
This is profoundly beautiful. Thank you for sharing. This past week has been a dark one, indeed.
I have spent the last few hours picking upon a message about the importance of understanding that we are all connected. I get that "thought" of human connection often. But this is a bit different.
A few centuries ago, my ancestors were walking through the same general area of land at the same time but on very different journeys. Most traveled to this country on wooden ships from Europe, England and even Africa. It must have been terrifying, traveling to an unknown world via a wooden ship on the unforgiving sea.
Some did not actually "travel" here at all for their ancestors had always lived here.
I am descended from people with diverse backgrounds leading very different lives but on pathways which would all one day connect together centuries into the future when I was eventually born.
Slave owners, indentured servants and slaves. Merchants, surveyors and farmers. Those fleeing countries from religious and political percecution. All winding up in a place called Virginia.
Over the centuries, their descendants moved their own families westward, in search of land and a better way of life. Often with a pioneering spirit, braving the unknown discovering new immigrant families. Amongst these more recent ancestors there were still many farmers but also ministers, sheriffs, explorers, jewelers, homesteaders, bankers, doctors, teachers and yes, even cowboys.
These are just some of things I know about the people I am connected to from my past. My ancestors.
Who knows from what varied backgrounds my future descendants (God willing) might find their own connections.
The odds are good that their ancestors will not only be comprised of Biden supporters, but those whom also supported Trump, just as my ancestors fought on both sides during the Civil War and American Revolution. Their DNA will likely be made up of people fleeing countries on ships traveling over land, sea and air, due to climate change and economic hardships.
It is my belief that all of our descendants, every human being on earth, will one day recognize that everyone is connected. Their DNA will even prove it. Hopefully this awareness will bring forth an age of Agape. Agape is the most universal and altruistic form of love which exists.
But while I hope an age of Agape may be commonplace in the future, I believe the message I am getting is that we need to start practicing this altruistic form of love now. If we want there to be an age of Agape, WE need to lay the foundation now. WE need to recognize these human connections that bind us all together and act in universal love towards all of humanity.
This is not easy to do in the Age of Trump. Trump however has provided us a beautiful opportunity to recognize our connectivity, to shine light in a dark world and share love when fear is palatable.
When you believe there is nothing you can do, when you find yourself overcome by fear, take a moment to pause. Reset.
Allow love to enter your being and begin again in forward motion to plant a seed of love. The seeds you plant now may be the foundation for a garden of AGAPE in the future. A future garden your descendants will be able to cultivate into fields of love.
On Saturday several of you sent me messages of hope in response to my discouragement. I bounced back to center after reading your messages. Every time I wrote a thank-you message, I was so filled with gratitude that I couldn't say all I wanted to say, so my reply never posted. So I want to thank you @frank @baba, @FEBbby23, @deetoo for your beautiful visions and messages of hope.
@frank, you wrote: I choose to believe that Spirit is guiding this Great Transformation and that things, both good and bad (from our perspective), are happening to move things forward, but maybe the actual effects are only visible from a much higher perspective."
Your beautiful words reminded me of how spirit has shown me over the last thirty-five years that higher perspective -- that I've seen key moments of transformation so that I would not give up. Then right before I read your post I got a sign:
A close millennial friend who lives in NYC was lamenting about how all of her young friends are moving out of the city. She said they initially fled Covid in April to go live with their parents, but so far none has returned.
Then I saw the sign -- that one of the most prominent visions of the coming transformation that spirit showed me way back in 1985 when I first began giving readings, was a highway filled with young urban professionals (now called Millennials) walking like refugees out of the city and upstate. Up ahead of them was a cliff that was the new higher plane of existence we'd all have climb.
It is beautiful the way we get visions of that higher perspective, and then when we lose faith, someone pops in and reminds us. Thank you, community.
I just saw a clip of an amazing lady helping stray cats. She doesn't have a car as far as I can see and works full-time. This person started helping, because she wanted too. I have posted animal videos before, but I think this one belongs in this thread for one simple reason.
Watching this lady doing what she is doing shows just how much goodness there is in the US (and world). There is nothing more hopeful than people like this. She *is* that beautiful world our hearts yearn for. From the people who help disabled animals on great farms to just one person like this, doing it on their own just because it is the right thing to do. To me, that is the most beautiful thing a human-being can do.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLGg1k8JLfE
@moonbeam I loved the video of that woman. It gives me such faith for our world to see people like her devoting her life to saving animals, and all without a car.
I grew up with a woman like that. Like the woman in the video, MaryJane didn't drive-- she did it all on foot. She lived with us when I was a child, helped my mother a bit in exchange for room and board, and worked in town as a bookkeeper. She became part of our family.
She was always living hand to mouth because she spent all of her money on spaying stray cats. People brought animals to her from miles around and she took them to the vets and paid to have them spayed and fostered. She also paid for their lodging at the vet until they could be fostered. This was in the 1960's when there was no free alternative. After we grew up and my parents moved away, she left that job, and everyone scattered.
I was driving past her old job location one day and the building had been torn down and in its place was a four story animal hospital! I told her about it and we both just filled up with wonder.
She was an unsung hero to thousands of animals, but she silently created an energy that manifested that animal hospital.
Are you liberal? Are you sure? This study gives hope that we can actually become united as a country -- that we may not be as divided as we think we are and we are actually more politically flexible than we have been led to believe.
In a clever psych study, experimenters tricked the subjects into defending political views they disagreed with. “They told us, ‘Thank God I’m not a left-winger,’” says Philip Parnamets, a psychologist who helped design the crafty experiment that would trick its subjects into defending a political view they disagreed with. “They were like, I didn’t know I could think this way.” Which made Parnamets realize something: “You could see this as a tool for self-discovery. It seemed to open up the possibility of change.”