Our Most Important Moment
There is an order to the universe. I see no better evidence for this than our current situation. I feel it in my “gut.” Intuition, cosmic connection or whatever you want to call it. It’s like we’re being watched by the infinite and she’s wondering what we will do?
America has always been an exercise in what we CAN be. Her character isn’t static. She strives to grow, to improve and to become that reality the founding fathers wrote about. An amazing idea they had, but of course, they were flawed men and as ignorant and hypocritical as they were brilliant. God bless them.
One cannot exclaim freedom from tyranny while holding slaves. And the mistreatment of an entire culture isn’t resolved by the signing of paper and passing of laws. The heinous sins committed against them has continued to affect us. To paraphrase Malcolm X, “the chickens will come home to roost.” We passed laws but didn’t address the wound. Of course the survivor of abuse needs the physical wounds to be addressed. But there are deeper wounds that also need to be attended to. PTSD and psychological trauma is real. As stated previously, America passed laws and signed papers, but didn’t completely address the cultural and psychological issues. One cannot rape a culture without there being lasting repercussions.
The west has manifested incredible technological advances. We have generated great material prosperity. Unfortunately this focus has extended into forms of our worship. Much of formal Christianity have adapted to a business model. Through time, the business of church has forgotten its spiritual roots. It has lost itself to ritual, politics and the material. Success and a connection to God is proven to them through the acquisition of the material. I once saw Pat Robertson of the 700 Club write out proof of God on a chalkboard. It was as if he was attempting to prove the existence of the infinite (God) through mathematics and logic. That’s most likely not possible. For something “finite” (The brain) to encompass something “infinite” is folly. It’s like trying to teach a dog algebra (Or teaching ME algebra). It can’t be done…its cup runneth over.
Many of the great spiritual masters of the world’s religions spoke of our inability to understand God. They have often said that we cannot fathom all of the “whys” of life. It was said that we needed to understand or have “faith” through the heart and not just the brain. So much of the surface of religion has become disconnected with its infinite core. In America, many Evangelicals even believe Donald Trump has been anointed by God. Unfortunately however, he is a man who only sees value from concrete or the material. If something is good, it’s “highly rated.” When something is bad, it is “unsuccessful, failing” or “poorly rated.” Everything in his sphere of vision and reality is material. Wealth, greed, surface beauty and material substance is good. In this mindset and belief, Van Gogh was an utter failure. In this belief even Christ would be a failure as he didn’t succeed in his lifetime. And he was definitely “poorly rated” during his lifetime. The seed planted by Christ, Buddha and others is non visible. Some Christians fool themselves by believing that God is so powerful he can work through a man like Trump. They consider his unlikely election to be proof he was anointed.
Therefore they believe we should look past his almost infinite amount of bad human qualities (Greed, lust, bullying, blaming others, always having the last word, an inability to accept responsibility etc). They believe God can even work through one as spiritually and personally bankrupt as Trump.
Life is complicated and yet not so complicated. We justify and ignore his behavior. One cannot always judge a book by its cover. BUT, quite often, if it walks like a duck, looks like a duck, quacks and lays eggs, it is probably a duck.
I do believe God or nature is working through Trump, but in a much simpler way. He is pointing out how we have gotten a bit lost. Daily we are seeing from him human behavior NOT to emulate. He is showing us all of our weak areas that need addressing. He’s reminding us to deepen our inner life and to reduce the worship of the material. He’s begging us to see the folly of our ways….. to not be addicted to the Kardashians, Super models, (Supposed) reality TV and wealth.
Art and soul are often lost to the surface world. In the last year of my mom’s life she gave me a book entitled ON BULLSHIT. She was wise. Bullshit is a powerful thing. Politicians know it. Advertising agencies know it. Record executives know it. And yes, some ministers, clerics, Imams, and Rabbis know it. They have become experts at guiding the sheep for their own ends. And all of us fall prey to it to some measure.
In the span of two months (In March Trump told us the virus would magically go away, and earlier his current press secretary said he would not allow it to enter our country) we have surpassed over 67 thousand deaths from Covid-19. And yet men with guns are protesting that to isolate takes away their freedom. This emphasis on the material discourages one to think of the other. To care about the other. Spiritually, there is no other. We are all connected. We are our brother’s keeper.
We have an opportunity right now. We can help our neighbor and show compassion for the suffering. We can help those in need and teach them, so in turn they can teach others how to survive these difficult days. We can come to discover that good and bad are not always defined by popularity, monetary gain or being number one on the chart. We can deepen our relationship with our nature or our God though insight, meditation, prayer and ACTION. This may be the most important time in our life. We will not change everyone’s mind. There will be ignorance and insensitivity on an ongoing basis. This is a big classroom down here with different grades. But each of us CAN change. We CAN grow. It takes courage. We can do this.