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January 12, 2011
WORDS HAVE POWER
According to "A Course in Miracles," all minds are joined. While it appears to the physical eye that I am here and you are over there, on the level of mind there is no place where you stop and I start. We are all affected by everyone else's thoughts, just as a butterfly flapping its wings near the South Pole affects the wind currents at the North Pole. When any wave moves, the entire ocean shifts.
So it's basically irrelevant whether Jared Loughner specifically related to the hate speech around him in some linear, causal way. Thoughts can go viral, as we have seen throughout history when group pathologies overcame the better angels of a people (Hitler's Germany was an example). And as it is written in The Course, "all thought creates form on some level." If enough hate-thought and hate-speech is present, it's almost inevitable that some hate-filled manifestation will emerge somewhere within that field of consciousness. Jared Loughner was swimming in the thought-forms and images of hate, as almost all of us are these days. And to an obviously deranged mind, violent thought forms are like gasoline to an already smoldering fire.
I heard a not-yet-declared 2012 Presidential candidate on television, refusing to condemn the use of gun imagery in political dialogue. "After all," he said, "we have free speech." Darn right, Sir. And something else we should have is a dose of healthy shame. Maybe it shouldn't be illegal to talk about one's political opponents as though they're enemy combatants. But it should be unthinkable.
Hopefully after the events in Tucson, things will quiet down and our political dialogue will become more civilized and respectful. One can only hope. We had two days of a sober, silent and tender collective heartbeat, and even in its sadness it was inspiring. The Tucson memorial had some stunning moments. As it was after 9/11, Americans got quiet for a moment of group sanity....we felt the authenticity of our humanness...we actually remembered we were a nation. But it didn't last then, and we will see whether it lasts now.
In Alcoholics Anonymous, it is often said that "every problem comes bearing its own solution." Tragedy takes us to the very state of consciousness which, were we to hold to it, would go far toward preventing further tragedies. Whether pundits, politicians and media personalities choose to use this tragedy to grow spiritually, to increase their compassion, to commit more deeply to love, is under no one's control but their own. But each of us can decide for ourselves what we will personally do with this latest national tragedy. We can remember that just as hate thought and hate speech do indeed affect the entire world, so do loving thought and loving speech. The only thing greater than a forcefield of hate is a forcefield of love. And each and every one of us -- with the thoughts we think, the words we use and the things we do -- contribute, or fail to contribute, to the field of consciousness that will save us all.
Posted by Marianne at January 12, 2011 7:44 AM
Comments
Marianne, Thank You for who you are and what wonderful words that come forth. We (this country) needs to take sometime each day and say how thankful for what we do have and how do we change the things that need to be changed. Not to hate each other for whatever reasons, stop and listen to each other so we can understand.
Posted by: Carol at January 12, 2011 1:16 PM
Thanks for this Marianne. Several years ago here in Lancaster County PA, a man shot and killed beautiful Amish children in a one room school house. The most amazing thing was the forgiveness that emanated like an extraterrestrial beam of white light from the entire Amish Community.
The community did not express one thought of revenge or retaliation.
I know I learned from that even in the wake of the Unthinkable.
Thank you.
Posted by: Kate Loving Shenk at January 12, 2011 3:07 PM
Thank you for such eloquence and clarity around a subject that brings such confusion and disbelief. The media is telling us not to have an opinion and keep the peace but we need to address the words of hate and leaders who speak them. It must be unacceptable and people have to be accountable. How could we allow them to take the leadership role?
We need a higher standard that can elevate the ideals of a caring society. It takes strength to be tolerant and it's a weak mind that rushes to judgment and hate. We can be kind, caring, respectful, and strong at the same time.
Posted by: Jackie at January 12, 2011 6:49 PM
Contempo Americana
Good America and bad America
fit into a fabricated format
of garbage in, garbage out,
for a perfect life in an imperfect world
of disguised disenchantment,
one part fact, another part fantasy,
extrapolated to extreme forms of idiocy,
seems to soothe the mind and body
into a complacency of obesity
while watching high-definition T.V.,
a woman holding a gun becomes sexy,
and violence is all too handy
for any situation with a looming question
of what the hell to do with an open time-line,
polished point-men
preach the spirit of democracy
tainted with the spilled blood of hypocrisy,
for the sake of fame, and newly-printed money,
still, there is love
playing hide-and-seek,
taunting hearts to be truthful,
to atone past pain to joy,
into the safety of sacred ideals
that remain as moral options.
Gordon Neumann
1/7/2010
Posted by: Igor at January 12, 2011 7:30 PM
God is good.
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Posted by: PLR at May 9, 2011 8:03 PM
I definitely need to think far more in that area and find out what i can do regarding it.
Posted by: Star Lines at May 11, 2011 4:15 PM
My spouse and i certainly must think far more in that direction and find out a few things i can do regarding this.
Posted by: yingbaobao Sauna bath at May 13, 2011 6:25 AM
I seemed to be aware of this already, but nonetheless there have been a few helpful pieces that finished the picture for me, thank you!
Posted by: Tis the season at May 15, 2011 6:33 AM
