All We Need

"All you need is Love . . ." ~ The Beatles

 

What more needs to be said?

Honesty and Fear

 "I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality." ~ Martin Luther King, Jr. 

  

Listen live to The Frontier Beyond Fear Blog Talk Radio program Saturday at 1 PM PDT/4 PM EDT:  Honesty and Fear  (The program will be available at the same link afterwards, too).

How is being fearful related to honesty?  How can fear not only impact what people share with us, but how we accept the information, and how we share things ourselves?  How can we be more discerning by becoming more aware of our own relationship with fear? 

What is the distinction between discretion and dishonest omission?  We can still be discreet and authentic, in appropriate circumstances.  How can we honor this in others and in ourselves? 

How can we come to understand that all paths to authenticity are essentially a lifelong journey?  We can realize we are imperfect, even while increasing our conscious intent to be authentic and empathic. 

Greater awareness can help us, in every way, as well as respect for ourselves and one another.  This also leads to more courage, which can help us immensely. 

When we are intimidated or disabled by fear, we are unable to see things with clarity.  This can often lead to harmful or hasty choices, for ourselves and our societies. 

What is a better path forward?  How can we discover it?  Host Susan Larison Danz reflects on these important topics.  It is very likely she will also introduce another passage from history or literature as a part of the exploration.

The Frontier Beyond Fear is in its 11th year, with over 400 episodes.

 

Forest Path photo by Susan Larison Danz.

What it Means to Build Bridges

 "People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don't know each other; they don't know each other because they have not communicated with each other." ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

If anything is plaguing our society today, it is our inability to truly understand these beautifully wise and heartfelt words.

It takes courage to communicate.

It takes commitment to communicate.

It takes maturity to communicate.

It takes wisdom to communicate.

And communication is not a "one way" endeavor.  It requires that very rare skill: actually listening.

When we listen, we may discover some things that surprise us.  We don't need to completely agree, and there will always be those things we just can't quite comprehend.  Even so, we'll come closer to truth instead of illusion.

We are in a world of hurt right now.  Some of us seem to be celebrating the conflict - instead of genuinely doing the difficult work of understanding how it is happening.  Derision runs rampant, instead of love and humility.  And in places one might not expect.  This is very dangerous because that's what leads to cruelty.  We cannot allow our society to go down this perilous path.  Sometimes, there's no return for a society when that happens.  Who will assist us if we falter?

A long time ago, I did a lot of writing under the pseudonym BridgeBuilder.  In those days, discussion forums were common, and we were even encouraged not to use our real names.  One might think this would lead to some really horrible things, that relative anonymity.  Sometimes, I suppose it could, but more "mature" forums were moderated.   What it actually led to was true discussion.  Hearts would shift.  We came to care about one another.  We didn't need to agree.  We lost something, all of us, when this remarkable experience a number of us participated in fell away.  

At the time, I wrote something, and I may be stating it imperfectly now.  It used to be a part of my "description" as a writer, as a person who shared sincerely from the heart.

To build a bridge...(I just tried to search for it, but it isn't on my current computer)....To build a bridge, one must not only have an understanding of both sides of the river, though that is a challenge indeed.  Only with the guidance of Love can one master the chasm in between.

This is what we need: more bridge building.

Martin Luther King, Jr. said something very powerful about this notion.  This is what he said.  It's being quoted all over creation today, but are we actually listening?

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that.  Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that." ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

Here's another one, not quoted quite as often:

"Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend." ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

Perhaps he was in his own way translating "Love your enemies..." (Matthew 5:44)

I would tend to put the word "enemy" in quotes, as there can be no actual enemies within the space of Omnipresent Love.  That is an Earthly illusion.

We can't afford the immaturity of anything less.  We really can't.  The "grown-ups in the room" (and those like Martin Luther King, Jr., who sadly, prematurely left it) will guide us when we listen.  There is a reason why we call such people wayshowers.  It's really very simple:  They show us the way.  (And a true wayshower never actually leaves us, thankfully.  Do we have the courage to follow what they say?)

 

 

Bridge rails photo by Susan Larison Danz.

Compassion for the Struggling on April 1, 2020

“Extreme poverty anywhere is a threat to human security everywhere.” 
~ Kofi Annan

Anyone who has experienced or witnessed a jarring total loss of resources, whether over time or suddenly, no matter how it has occurred, knows just how challenging this is for the human spirit.  It impacts everything, including a person's health, particularly if it persists.  It impacts families.  It impacts neighborhoods.   It impacts civilizations.  It impacts the entire world.

My heart is with those today who find themselves suddenly without the ability to pay their basic bills, including those who have managed to do so all of their lives, and jarringly find themselves in a truly horrendous situation. Even with a little help, once people are placed in this situation, it can be astonishingly difficult to catch up.  It does not diminish our compassion for those who are ill or whose health is vulnerable to be expanding our consideration to everyone whose health and well-being are in jeopardy.  This is what it means to be balanced, thoughtful and wise.  And nobody is saying the entirety of the situation we face is easy to address.

 

Migrant Mother, 1936 (Public Domain)

If you haven't lived it, if you think your bank or credit card accounts have more than enough to cover your needs, if you feel you securely have a roof over your heads and are staying in place in relative comfort, perhaps it is difficult to conceive just how jarring this feels to your neighbors.  I have repeated that word "jarring" three times so far, and there's a reason.  It can shake a person down to one's foundations, like an earthquake.  A spiritual path is helpful, for sure, in these times, but please let's not forget the people who are genuinely and very suddenly struggling, or those who have struggled for a long time, and now things are far worse.

And as to our path forward, sociologists and historians know just how important it is to be balanced in what comes next.  Unfortunately, they haven't apparently been consulted already in the decisions being made.  It is not lacking compassion to be seriously thinking about all of the devastating impacts of what is happening, both short and long term. 

Where will expansive compassion, far-seeing wisdom and true courage lead?  We have much to be reflecting upon, and the answers aren't simple.  Fear can push and it can prod, but it rarely holds the answers we really need to see.  Strictly "clinical" or isolated quantitative observation may tell us a few things, but tunnel vision is blind.  We need balance and deeply thoughtful direction and we need it soon.

Tearing Up

"People will oppress each other—
    man against man, neighbor against neighbor.
The young will rise up against the old, the nobody against the honored." 
~ Isaiah 3:5, New International Version

I didn't realize I could see it.  I noticed this morning.  The sign.  

We all noticed it of course, or at least those of us who noticed - though there really wasn't an opportunity for any of us to manage to talk about it.  Right here, in what (they say) is one of the top ten "best places to live" towns of our size (smallish, mostly) in America, here in semi-rural, attempting-to-be-suburban Oregon.  

One day, the neighbor down the street put up a sign.  Block letters.  Across the garage.  Two cars worth of width, double spaced (if one could double space a sign on a garage, perhaps one might call it single).  "WE MUST RESIST THIS PRESIDENT.", it said, I think in all capital letters.  I would need to look at the picture to check.  Yes, all capital letters.

I saw it when I got the mail - it's very close to our community mailbox.  I think perhaps I noticed something was up when an oversized, souped up red (was it red?) pickup truck drove by and deliberately slowed, like we sometimes slow down in our neighborhood to look at a house strung with lights.  

The guy in the truck didn't look particularly happy.

"I wonder how long it will be up."  I thought.  I had a feeling it wouldn't be.  

Sure enough.  I don't know when or how it happened.  But I sense that it did.  It doesn't look like the rain or the wind.  Had I known I could see it from my house, I would have captured both the "before" and the "after".

Torn.

I always forget I can now see houses out that window.  Or a couple of flags. 

That particular neighbor cut down a beautiful tree, a very healthy, wonderful tree I would have said was worth attempting to save (but often opportunistic tree cutters earning a profit on trees here in Oregon might tend to say otherwise - and they always have plenty of "reasons", not all of them good ones or actually true).  

I was so astonished that day, as if frozen, horrified actually, watching those vibrantly abundant limbs efficiently and methodically sliced, this rough cut sort of a man (kind of like an older version of the guy in the truck) so very casually shimmying up.  Jolting awake, I ran to get my phone with the camera because I wanted to remember the tree as it once was - but I mostly managed to capture how it wasn't.  Mostly too late.  People tend to think trees aren't actually "Alive".  Some of us tend to Know otherwise.  We honor their space and the gifts that they bring to us.
 

Torn.

On a day when I wasn't expecting it.

I'm moving soon.

Let's talk about this notion of "resist".  I totally "get" what people are talking about, but let's talk about why that's completely the wrong kind of an energy.  Let's talk about how "resistance" only energetically empowers that which you are pushing against, so that it pushes back.  In fact, it even creates it.  Is that what we all want?

Torn.

And it is utterly and completely the opposite direction of where we need to Be.  We need to Flow like a river and not "push up against" anything, really.  It is Flow that carries Real power.

I hear it all the time now.  Friends and family are no longer speaking.  Neighbor no longer talking to neighbor.  Rampant Facebook unfriends.

Torn never really solves anything.  Torn just makes matters worse.  And sometimes those things become buried, unresolved, so they can do more tearing later.  Torn unfolds exactly what it is. 

It just leads to more tearing.

Instead of tearing one another to bits, we need to be talking.  Talking does not imply agreeing.  It doesn't imply either being any less firm about the things one chooses to be firm about.  Talking does, however, have a tendency to reveal that the "sides" don't quite exist.  And those on the fence become apparent.

We need to be teaching - when there are opportunities to teach.  And we need to be learning - and there are always ways to learn. 
 

We need to be listening.  Listening does not always imply actually understanding, but it does tend to help.

Add forgiveness to the mix, and the tears begin to flow.  And suddenly you have Empathy.  There's another way to treat a neighbor, and it's in the Bible, too.

Oh no, I didn't claim it is going to be easy.  This sort of work rarely is.  Ask people like Immaculee Ilibagiza .  Or Archbishop Tutu.  But the alternative is worse.  (Ask people like Immaculee Ilibagiza.  Or Archbishop Tutu.)

"Persistence" instead of "resistance", that's the general idea.  Persistence leads to Peace.

Because there are Miracles.  Immaculee knows...so does the Archbishop.  So can We.

(Just in time...remembered as Whole.)

Rules of Engagement

"An open heart is an open mind." ~ Dalai Lama XIV  
Lately I have been noticing how the way we all tend to interact and perceive has everything to do with our own relationship with Love.  If what we see is drama or fear or some form of division, then perhaps we need to spend some time working in the space of our own hearts.   

I claim no particular state of perfection.  I am reminded continually of my own heart work to do.  But little by little, by leap and by step, I seem to make progress.  To avoid the divisions of judgment that inevitably create suffering, my primary rule of engagement needs to be Love.  It starts with the healing of divisions within.
 
And that is the Miracle.  The more Love we consciously let into ourselves, the more Love we will perceive in the hearts of one another - and the more Love we can meaningfully and openly share.  

The divisions we were so very convinced were so very real mysteriously fade.  What remains at the Center is Love.  It is Infinite, you know...

All the Angry People....

"...but angry people are not always wise..." 

~ Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

Lately, I cannot help but notice...the "world situation" is making any number of people angry, and in very personal ways.  Because world situations are always very personal - they have to do with human life.

It is indiscriminate, the outrage.  If you are angry about something, and the more openly you express that anger, I can just about guarantee there is someone across "the divide" who will match it willingly, or even without thinking.

Sure, I have felt it, I have at times expressed it.  Openly.  And not so openly.  But I'm thankful I have gradually learned throughout my life to find a way to deal with it (even if imperfectly).  I'm dealing with it now.  Right here.  Right now.  Because something made me angry earlier today, and I consciously chose a different approach.

I claim no particular expertise, except to know what I have observed:  When we are angry, we are generally judging more than we are observing, and we are very rarely breathing, or at least not particularly well.

What if we could do our best to put our anger on a shelf and decide to understand instead? 

What if we could actually make an attempt to glimpse the other side? 

Wouldn't that be astonishing!?! 

(OK, fine, that last remark was just a little bit angry, because you see, I'm just a little bit angry about the anger itself and what it's doing to our lives and to our society.  I choose to see mine too, when it arises.) 

What if you could try on someone else's shoes by trying on their hearts?

You might begin to hear.

And some of "them" might very well begin to hear you too.

I must include a warning.  It takes a lot of courage to "try on" someone's heart, to allow yourself to understand.  Because the absolutes begin to fade, and that can feel uncomfortable - if you decide to tell your friends, some of them might choose to judge you, and you need to let that go. 

The starkly outlined blacks and whites begin to shift.

Some say they blur to shades of gray.  And you may see the gray at first, the mind sees gray, you may only see the gray, the mind sees ambiguity.  Keep going through the gray, keep going, keep on going (this is a very important step, it's still in process for me too).  Because when you keep on going, when you consciously choose to understand, you begin to see the colors, at first they come in softly.

There is a knowing that is impossible, yet real.  It embraces every contradiction of the mind.  It is a knowing that can only arise from Love, from heart to heart to heart to heart.

And the anger falls away.

You can look into "their" eyes, completely, without flinching...you can look into their eyes and See.

And the tears begin to flow.

The New Earth doesn't exist on one side of the bridge or on the other.  The New Earth is the Bridge.

The Bridge

To build a bridge, it is not enough just to have an understanding of both sides of the river, although that is a challenge indeed.  Only with the guidance of Love can one master the chasm in between.

For years, the above statement was my "tagline" on various online forums as an anonymous "bridge builder".  

I have decided there is no better way to launch a new series of blog entries for the New Year than to be reminded of what it is that truly matters. 

It's not complicated, yet we tend to make it so. 

Love really is the answer.  

Once we begin to understand, even bridges become obsolete...

Photo by Susan Larison Danz

"I'm OK, You're OK"

"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." ~ Henry David Thoreau

When I was a young child, this book tended to be laying around the house.  A popular bestseller by a psychiatrist in the early 70's, I remember staring at the cover several times, pondering the title, my young mind not able to get a handle on it, yet wondering what it meant. 

The title came to mind this morning as I was reflecting on what we often tell each other in this very loose spiritual community where I tend to hang out.  "I'm OK, You're OK."  Repeat after me.  It begins to feel familiar.

Here we go again.  I felt much the same way hanging around Fundamentalists, where the mantra was actually "I'm Not OK, You're Not OK" (well, that is, until you obtain the secret formula to flip the magic switch to "OK").  Hmmmm, then again, they aren't only ones who claim to have a switch.

We feel there must be a rule, some kind of rule, there just HAS to be a rule, like a rigid "Law of Attraction" (explained and understood in a myriad of disparate ways) - because if there isn't some magic formula, some magic switch to "OK", then that's really very terrifying, isn't it, almost as terrifying (though really not nearly) as Fundamentalist heaven and hell.

During my forum days, one of my most popular (and controversial) posts was essentially based on the question "How can you be happy in heaven while others are suffering in hell?"  It was directed towards evangelicals because it was my contention that there was no way anyone could truly be happy in heaven, not if they loved anyone in hell.  I rephrased it much more strongly the first time I posted it:  "If hell exists, everyone is going there," triggering quite the evangelical firestorm in response.  I'm wasn't afraid of a firestorm, not if I spoke my truth.

I have observed an unhealthy trend in some circles I travel.  People are far too often feeling restrained from saying when things are not going so OK.  Because if you say it too strongly, that might make it worse, your words and thoughts betraying you in the process.

Or in the worst of mental mind traps, maybe if you DO say you aren't fully experiencing "OK" at the moment, people will determine you are not walking the walk in some way, not thinking the right thoughts, as you supposedly are required to be OK if you are following the rules.  And before we know it, as much as we might resist, we are quietly judging others and ourselves, litmus tests in hand, just like the Fundamentalists, with ideals impossibly out of reach.  The thought police on overdrive, that's basically what happens.  So let's all watch our language, get out the brooms and the rugs, sweep in unison together, repeat, repeat, repeat and repeat again...and just say we're ALL OK.

And sadly, any chance of actually being real with one another (or with ourselves) is swept away in the process.  To be human is to experience both OK and Not OK and everything in between.  That's why we are here.

In my mental house, I'm putting away the rugs and the brooms.  I invite you to do the same, if you dare, or at least attempt to leave them at the door if you come to visit.

Do I believe in co-creation?  Actually, yes, as it makes sense if we are aspects of an omnipresent God.  Does it always make sense?  Is there some magic switch?  If I say "I do believe, I do believe, I do believe" enough, will fairies magically appear?  Perhaps.  Sometimes.  I'm really not sure when.

Do I believe dwelling on the negative can do us harm?  Of course it can, if it becomes an obsession, but masking what we feel can harm us just as much.

If I can't say if things are going not so OK to a dear friend, if all that comes out next on both our parts are the brooms, the rugs and the mantras, then something is very NOT OK with that.  And I'm left to walk the path alone, the page my only friend.  

Most of all, I believe in Unconditional Love, which generally transcends all the "rules".  Aspects of God, I sense we willingly come here to create certain lessons for ourselves, that's the closest I can come, because every time I have a challenge (like this time now), I come away with a lesson, forever changed - the more powerful the challenge, the more powerful the lesson.  And especially the compassion and empathy for others (and for myself too). 

Might I ask a favor?  (And by the way, I'm listening to my own advice too...)  The next time a friend tries to tell you things really aren't so OK, allow that person to BE REAL (and if you are the person doing the telling, if in a space of trust, allow YOURSELF to be real and say what is upon your heart).  Listen, dear friends.  Reflect.  Empathize.  And of course, offer encouragement and advice if you can.  See both the "OK" and "Not OK" (and everything in between) - and within yourself too while you're at it.  Share yourself openly in response if you dare.  And maybe, just maybe, you will both manage to be real, a gift well beyond the words.

Compassion.  Empathy.  Love.  Yes, it has much to do with that.  Those are the words I choose to focus upon as I begin a New Day.

Swordplay

"The pen is mightier than the sword." 

~ Richelieu; Or the Conspiracy

"And I felt His voice take the sword out of my hand." 

~ Ben Hur

"Love your neighbor as yourself." 

~ Jesus, Mark 12:31 

When you let go of your fears, you are free to embrace Heaven.

As April draws to a close, I have to say it has been one of the most significant months of Shift I can recall in a very long while.  I wonder why I'm surprised.  It was after all precisely 10 years ago in April when I experienced my first big Shift, by far the greatest - it took A LOT to jolt me wide awake.

You would think the Love I experienced during that time and in the years since would have helped me to see the sword I held, keeping my wounds and fears at bay, crusading to right a "wrong." I thought I may have dropped it at times, but I always picked it up.

Painting by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1882

The battles at first were fierce indeed.  For hours and hours and hours, pages and pages and pages, I would engage in literal hand-to-hand combat with Christian apologists online, trying to help them see the contradictions they embraced, fighting every step of the way to reveal the "true" Love of God.  The battle waged even more visibly in the Oprah online forum, then on to the ABC Nightline Debate on the Existence of Satan. 

The forums came and went, hundreds of pages of writing erased.  I somehow didn't mind.  I had begun to see the sword.  And I didn't like it.

Or so I thought...then the swordplay started up again on local (eventually national) talk radio, anonymously as usual.  I even found myself engaging in the conspiracy talk at times, so many "wrongs" to right, always for the good of Love and All.  I realized I had a voice beyond the written page, yet the sword was in it too.  An edge.  A poison.  Tainting the Love I shared.  Because I felt I had to right a "wrong." 

And then the Shift.  When we battle others with our words, we are actually battling ourselves.  And although debate may seem to have its place, true Shift happens with no fighting words at all.

The sword echoed a bit as it fell to the ground.  What remained to grasp was Love.

[UPDATE 5/1: See how my perspective shifted in "The Hear in Heart" . . .]

The Mirror of Intolerance, The Mirror of Understanding

Although the focus on Chick-Fil-A appears to be waning somewhat today, it is not so much this particular controversy that is significant, but what it has to say about not only a significant rift in our society, but a rift within our hearts.

Whether we characterize what surrounds the Chick-Fil-A controvery as a freedom to speak, freedom to act and/or freedom to marry issue, we can choose to view it as an opportunity for battle or as an opportunity for understanding.

I grew up and spent parts of my adulthood immersed in the evangelical mindset, though my anguished doubts prevented that mindset from fully taking hold, even as a child (I believe many people have such doubts, yet are afraid to express them). 

To better understand why so many people refuse to tolerate that which they have been emphatically told is forbidden, one must look within their hearts.  Are the majority of these people truly hateful?  No, I would say they are not.  But they are indeed fearful, fearful most of all not of what resides in the hearts and inclinations of strangers, but what resides within their own hearts and those of their loved ones.

And it is through this secret that the true key to healing can be found.  Healing society begins with healing a single heart, one person at a time.  And as Consciousness expands, many hearts miraculously will be healed, not through confrontation, but through Transformation.

I could choose to focus on why Fundamentalists feel they must follow the rules in the ways they have been told they must be followed, based on many years of my own experience and reflections on such things.  The rules they choose to emphasize shift with the times, the teacher and often selective amnesia unfortunately, as there are countless rules to choose from in the Book they have literally elevated so high that this Book has been thrust above even their Creator.  And though they feel they are saved from the rules by Grace, that doesn't mean they can elude them, as their lives must reflect the rules, lest they appear they were never saved at all.

It is a subtle irony that the rule against idolatry is the very rule being broken to deify the Book - idolatry elevates an object over the direct Guidance of God, the direct Guidance to be found in every heart, the very hearts they are told not to trust, instead placing blind trust in a Book (because the Book tells them so), with penalties for getting it wrong severe beyond imagining.  I say this not to judge, but because I love them enough to speak.

And that's when compassion and understanding must come into play, as we disarm our inclinations to fight and discover a way to understand, a way to truly heal that which ails so many in our society, their denial, doubts and hidden anguish masked from view.

The real reason many cannot tolerate that which is seemingly different from themselves is that it's actually not all that different after all, the secrets hidden in their hearts rebelling not against God, but against a Book, not against what is unnatural, but against what is natural, including just about ALL forms of sexuality.  It is a rebellion against their very selves, which they are told are evil to the core, when in truth at the core is God omnipresent.

And next, all they must do is look to a loved one - a child, a sister, a brother, a dear friend, a neighbor breaking "the rules", yet exhibiting selflessness, compassion and love for their fellow mankind - and the agonizing discrepancies they perceive are almost more than they can bear, because Love is in their hearts resisting fear, resisting judgment, resisting words on a page that do not resonate.

So when they can't resolve this inner conflict within, they externalize it to "the other", to that stranger they are told to disavow, even when it's really none of their business what vows or choices others choose to make.  When they infringe upon the choices of others in a free society, the choices others make regarding their own lives, their own marriages, their own bodies, they enslave society itself to their hidden anguish and dysfunction.

If we address and heal the rifts within each heart, it is then that we will truly heal the rifts in society.  The real battle is within, yet as Consciousness expands, victory is within our grasp, for ALL of us, triggered by the omnipresent Love of God within.

This Tuesday I will be talking to inspiring author Mark David Gerson on my radio program The Frontier Beyond Fear.  Mark David writes poignantly about his own coming out as a gay man in his newly released memoir Acts of Surrender.  Mark David has also written from the heart in his blog regarding what he sees in the Chick-Fil-A controversy.  I know it is going to be quite a conversation.

[Note: Waffle Fries and Holding Hands photos originated from Wikipedia Commons and are used under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.]

The Grinch: A True Story of The Shift

The Grinch classic cartoon was on network television tonight. I found it ironic that a cross-generational story which on one level has something to say about transcending materialistic impulses was so poorly chopped and truncated to fit the commercial breaks. Classics like The Grinch should be shown unaltered.

But with that aside, I chose to keep watching because as we experience the eve of 2012, The Grinch has been on my mind for days, a story many of us have loved since childhood. The Grinch is the perfect personification of The Shift, the kind of Shift I choose to believe in, the kind that leaves no one behind.

There is a reason why we love The Grinch...and it's the very same reason why we love all stories of darkness transformed into Light, whether it be the Grinch, Darth Vader or the Prodigal Son. It is the story of Planet Earth, and its contrasts and ultimate lessons are symbolic in every possible way, far transcending the message of Christmas or any particular spiritual or religious path.

In every society on Earth today, even a repentant Grinch would be scorned and jailed for years, maybe even executed.

Let's ponder the crimes of the Grinch. He is not only a vandal and thief of toys, Christmas trees and candy (not to mention an abuser of little dogs), perhaps the parts that enthralled us as children.

No, the Grinch takes every last bit of food, every last log from the fireplaces, tantamount to a genocidal act in that cold, wintry place at the base of Mt. Crumpit. He does it just because he can, for the sheer delight of it, to relish the suffering of others, especially children. Joy is painful to the Grinch, so he chooses to extinguish it entirely. We all know the story well.

But how well DO we know the story??? And how much have we truly allowed the story to expand our own hearts? Yes, there's the part about how Christmas happens even without the toys, that's the lesson about materialism we were supposed to focus upon as kids. As a kid, besides missing out on a Christmas feast, I'm sure I didn't really comprehend the dire severity of the Whos down in Whoville having no food or firewood at the coldest time of year.

So what makes this A True Story of The Shift? First, there is the Light, the Light that rises up the mountain, a Light generated miraculously, solely through the Conscious harmony of an entire people, young and old, singing in Joy hand in hand in a circle. By transcending the illusion of hardship, the Whos have shifted, and they are ready to share. The Light of The Shift is contagious, critical mass attained.

It's far easier to believe in a version of The Shift in which only those who "qualify" make the cut, a version of The Shift which is at its worst, yet another fear-based, non-inclusive version of "left behind" that we've heard so many times before. "You better watch out...The Shift is coming to town..." sums it up quite nicely.

But a REAL Shift, a REAL quantum leap, is not just about shifting the choir - it's about shifting The Grinch, including whatever remnants of The Grinch remain in each of us. It's about dramatic change, not incremental progress. It's about darkness transformed into Light.

No doubt we all remember The Grinch's heart growing three sizes that day, his smile radiating with that same Light which encompasses his heart. But how many of us have really pondered what comes next?

When the Grinch comes barreling triumphantly into town, what does he find there? Does he find fear? Does he find judgment? Does he find scorn? Does he find punishment? No, he finds Forgiveness. A Quantum Forgiveness so very vast that just like the Prodigal Son returned, The Grinch is the guest of honor at the feast, trusted and accepted so very completely, he is placed next to the sweetest, most precious child in town, a guest so very honored that he gets the highest privilege of carving the Roast Beast.

Could you give your worst enemy (no matter how transformed) the keys to your city? Would you honor him or her with a parade? Would you trust him or her with your children?

A lower consciousness society would cling to the past. A lower consciousness society would indeed jail The Grinch. A lower consciousness society wouldn't believe he has shifted and wouldn't really care (or those few who might notice wouldn't care enough to do anything substantial about it). They wouldn't trust. They wouldn't love. They wouldn't accept.

A lower consciousness society bases "justice" on punishment for the past, not on healing and rehabilitation in the moment. A lower consciousness society is focused on vengeance and fear, not on Unconditional Love. What would we do to The Grinch in OUR society now? What would YOU choose to do?

Until we can all understand what it truly means to completely accept, forgive and honor a "Grinch", we don't really understand the Higher Consciousness of the Shift at all. And that includes unconditionally accepting the transformation of the darkest possible soul you can imagine on Earth. And that includes unconditionally accepting the transformation of the darkest part you can find within yourself.

We already know how. Our stories have shown us the way. We don't jeer The Grinch or Darth Vader. We cheer. And the Prodigal Son story has been with us a very long time. Many Christians claim to believe in spontaneous transformation, yet they have made little effort to create a society to match - much like the bitter brother in the Prodigal Son, they still feel the need to punish even repentant wrongdoers and call that "justice". And many of them speak of a "narrow path", the most rigid form of exclusivity, with the other paths leading straight to hell.

At its most profound, challenging level, the in-progress Story of the Shift even includes forgiveness BEFORE apparent Transformation...because it is forgiveness itself which creates Transformation. Did the Whos know the Grinch had shifted when they began to sing?

Some day all of us will understand. The Shift will be so radically transformational, it will transcend our every expectation. I firmly believe The Shift is NOT about "qualifying" for the ascension in any possible way, no matter how many teachers I have admired insist that this is so. When the Light begins to radiate irresistibly on this planet, when it encompasses and shifts each and every heart, nobody will need to tell you to shift - you will simply Know - nobody will need to tell you to forgive - you will simply Know. And that's when the REAL celebration begins...



Image notes:

Grinch drawing obtained from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ted_Geisel_NYWTS.jpg and is part of a collection donated to the U.S. Library of Congress as a gift, with no known restrictions on the usage of this photograph (see Wikimedia entry for more information).

Radiating star image obtained from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PGC_39058.jpg and can be shared under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.

Holding hands image obtained from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hold_my_hand.jpg and can be shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license

September 11: Choosing to Forgive

A year ago today, I wrote a spontaneous, heartfelt essay on my personal recollections and reflections on the impact of September 11. The expression of my journey guided me to the following words, worth repeating today. You can read the entire essay here.

"In retrospect, I now realize the tremendous gifts fear gave to me. It was fear that led to my heartfelt prayer to the Creator of the Universe, tearfully begging to be shown "the way", whatever it might be.

And the way was indeed shown, though it took years for me to begin to understand, a journey of progressive understanding that continues on this September 11 too, nine years later.

The way had to do with unconditional Love. The way had to do with unconditional Forgiveness. The way had to do with lasting Peace.

I have not forgotten what happened on September 11, 2001. I have not forgotten on a personal, national or global level. I have not forgotten the many people who died that day. I have not forgotten the many people who died in the days and years that followed, on all sides of the resulting wars, including many innocent children and civilians, in addition to soldiers. But there is a difference between forgetting and letting go.

I am finally finding a way of letting go the fear of those days. And it's been quite some time since I have felt any need for vengeance. Instead I have discovered understanding. Instead I am really beginning to see what true faith, forgiveness and unconditional Love actually ask of all of us.

When you begin to look through eyes of understanding, you realize that the entire event on September 11 (even if you believe in alternative theories on the subject) resulted from centuries of fear and vengeance, something that drove a few misguided people to commit an act they felt was justified by their own convictions.

We can question those convictions of course, but can we even dare to try to understand what might have made them feel this way? Can we even dare to end the silence of tolerance (which need not be silent at all)? Just as we expect the tolerant in other countries to take the lead in educating those in their midst, can we dare to take on the responsibility of educating and enlightening those in our own country plagued by eerily similar fears?

Wars breed more wars. Any student of history can see that this is true. Fear breeds more fear. Vengeance breeds more vengeance. Blame breeds more blame. Anger breeds more anger. Death breeds more death. This is true on both sides of any conflict. And sometimes the cascading domino effects of war go on for centuries. This is what happens when we choose not to forget, when we choose not to let go, when we choose not to understand, when we choose not to forgive, when we choose not to Love.

We have a choice. We can indeed choose to Love. We can indeed choose to Trust. We can indeed choose to Understand. We can indeed choose to Forgive. We can indeed choose to place our Faith in the Love that binds us all together on this Earth.

That is where I place my Faith tonight. I have released the angst of September 11, and I no longer believe reacting in fear has anything to do with Faith or Love. I have not watched a single news report today. I honor those who died, just as I honor those who died on every horrendous day, days that continue in some parts of the world, impacting people of many nations, not just ours.

I'm going to dinner in a while. I choose to visit a small family-owned restaurant run by a Moslem married to a Christian (not sure if she converted, either way is fine with me). I happen to know that these people have personally felt an impact from the fear and unreasonable bias that still have a strangle-hold on some who claim to be all about forgiveness, but are actually more interested in judgment, vengeance and a a skewed nationalistic furor instead (something that has led to more wars and death than can be fathomed). I look forward to a nice meal of spicy lamb tajine, a favorite of mine.

I invite you all to dine with us at the table of Universal brotherhood, sisterhood and Unconditional Love.

Understanding breeds more Understanding. Tolerance breeds more Tolerance. Forgiveness breeds more Forgiveness. Love breeds more Love. Joy breeds more Joy. Peace breeds more Peace. Faith breeds more Faith.

I have unwaivering Faith that true Peace on Earth will soon be in our midst."

My son and I dined at that wonderful Moroccan restaurant on Friday, now a favorite of his too. As a parent, I choose to teach tolerance and understanding, not vengeance and fear.

May all of our children learn these lessons well. And yes, I do believe they will one day know Peace, as miraculous as that may seem.

That day is coming soon...for all of us.

~ Susan Larison Danz