All We Need

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

 

What more needs to be said?

What if?

"What the world needs now is love, sweet love..." ~ Jackie DeShannon

 

What if Unconditional Love was at the Center?  

Everything would change. 

 

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.

Authenticity and Spirituality

"Authenticity brings invisible people to life!" ~ Susan Larison Danz

Authenticity and Spirituality.  You really can't separate the two.  An authentically spiritual path is a path that is freely explored.  

How many times can I say it?  We are not here to be clones, robots, or to echo one another in echo chambers.

We are here to be uniquely expressed aspects of the Divine.   We wouldn't bother to be here at all if the idea was to be the same, or to always agree.  

It is of very great concern to me that uniformity of opinion seems to be elevated above all things, these days.  Not only is that an unattainable goal, it is not an attractive one.  It has nothing to do with an authentically spiritual life.  I'm already in "disagreement" with such an impossible and undesirable notion.  It is fundamentalism, that's what it is, the most rigid form of thought - such notions lead to the very OPPOSITE of a spiritual path.  And you can see it, very visibly, in the stress and discord that results.

We are here to celebrate our choices.  Only the most oppressive forms of non-spiritual thought demand absolute conformity, and that is not a characteristic of the open-hearted Divine.

Why we have strayed so very far from such basic spiritual concepts, even in parts of the "spiritual community" which never would have advocated for this in the past, is indeed troubling to me.  

Honesty.  Authenticity.  Non-judgment.  Empathy.  Forgiveness.  We all do it imperfectly.   These are fundamental aspects of Unconditional Love, the very Center.  "Fundamentalism" for its own sake, absent of Divine Unconditional Love, is just that: fundamentalism.  Those who cling to it can insist all they like and even demand or oppress - it doesn't make any of it Real or True.

 

 

Shadow photo by Susan Larison Danz.

 

Before VHS

 "Time is like a river." ~ Marcus Aurelius

I'd like to take a moment and revisit why logistically the Roots mini-series experience in early 1977 was unlike anything that could occur today.  To understand that time, for those who didn't live it, one needs to understand that we lived in a much different way.  There was no widespread way to "tape something on TV" (yet) - I remember when I first heard about Betamax, and I suppose it was kind of around that time, but I really don't remember the notion of regularly being able to tape something until around 1980 or so.  Nobody had these devices yet, not most people, anyway.

Certainly in early 1977, if you wanted to watch something on television, the vast majority of us watched it live.  That's why Roots, when it first aired, was even more powerful, entirely a shared experience, night after night after night - and most of those were school nights.  I didn't miss an episode, but at that particular age, I usually didn't have something scheduled at night - if I had a piano lesson, for example, or a spelling bee (which I was involved in at that time), it would usually be in the afternoon.  No, we didn't miss a night, and no way would we miss it.  It was an unprecedented phenomenon at the time, and the first mini-series I recall that went night to night like that.  

We were having this shared experience, together.  And it was powerful.  I also feel it's important to note that we FELT every bit of it, everyone I knew who was having this experience.  We felt it very deeply.  We would talk about it at school the next day.  It was not something anyone who truly experienced it would ever forget.

 

 

Stream photo by Susan Larison Danz.

Seeing Through the Eyes of Another

 "Empathy is seeing with the eyes of another..." ~ Alfred Adler

Imagine what it would be like if you could truly see through the eyes of another?  What would we notice?  What would we feel?  Our Consciousness is truthfully inseparable.  There are no boundaries, of space or of time.  A truly evolved species would be able to connect to anyone, really.  This is Omnipresence.

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.

Love is the Only Answer, Never Hate

 "Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule." ~ Buddha

While reflecting deeply upon how we need to truly move forward in the way we consciously choose to treat one another, this particular segment from West Side Story, which is highly poignant and direct, kept coming to mind.  This movie (and play, but mostly the movie) had a significant impact on me when I was young.  

 

Next, I'd like to share another powerful film clip that is masterful, from Romeo and Juliet, on which West Side Story was based.   

Stories such as these carry impact over time because the lessons they share are ever relevant.  Yet so often, we don't listen.  We need to listen.  Every one of us will suffer if we don't.

Reflections on the Omnipresent Divine

"Namaste means that my soul acknowledges yours - not just your light, your wisdom, your goodness, but also your darkness, your suffering, your imperfections." ~ L.R. Knost

I intended yesterday to write about the concept of the Omnipresent Divine tonight, and I will not deviate.  There is no better time for this reminder.

Those who have lived through tumultuous, divided times, people such as Immaculee Ilibagiza, who have experienced this in the extreme, know how important this concept is.  I will not deviate from it, not under any circumstances.

The Divine is Omnipresent.  That is what many of us believe in this world.  It is shared by multiple belief systems.

Many of us also happen to believe that the Divine is Unconditional Love.

Others may express this concept as Namaste, recognizing that there is no human being on this planet who is separate from the Divine.

Many expand this concept to include Everyone and Everything in the entire Multiverse.

There is a reason for every dark passage.  This requires a very deep spiritual trust, even when we don't understand - in fact, especially so.

I wanted to write about the Omnipresent Divine after I wrote about the Golden Rule last night.  And it's exactly what is needed.

 

Light & Shadow Apollo photo at museum, where photography was permitted, by Susan Larison Danz.

The Golden Rule

 "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." ~ Luke 6:31

 

The Golden Rule, as often "commonly" stated.  It may seem so "foundational", it is hardly worth mentioning.  Right?  Isn't this one of those basic things we were supposed to learn in kindergarten?  True?  

And yet, there is a reason why it is so fundamental and simple to state.  It is easy to forget, to overlook, and without a doubt, universally, everybody gets it wrong, sometimes.  It is human to fail, but the key is to make the attempt to do better.

That's why foundational values like these are so very important to express.  There's a reason I consider it "foundational".  Remove this "brick" from your foundation, intentionally, and that's when things can topple.

I mentioned the Golden Rule last night, and I've been intending all day to write about it.  It couldn't be more important to understand at this pivotal time in our history (or any time in our history).  It carries every answer, really.  And it would be wise to pay attention.

I was going to list all of the ways The Golden Rule appears throughout the world.  It exists in an astounding number of cultures and spiritual systems.  This Wikipedia page does it far more justice than I can.  Sometimes, it is stated in the negative, advising what not to do.  But one way or another, it is foundational.

Values like these matter, even when we fail, because this is the bridge to a world based on empathy, freedom and mutual respect.  It's a world worth creating.

 

 

Summer flowers photo by Susan Larison Danz

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.)

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.

Mirror, Mirror

Love yourself enough to authentically BE who you truly are.

Somehow my morning posts transitioned to night, but I'm determined to do my best to keep writing even though it's late and I'm tired.  It seems the lesson to which I keep returning lately is simply Let It Be.

Tonight I find myself reflecting upon the topic of mirroring and authenticity.  I have a tendency to mirror people I'm talking with, and it's something that has been with me a very long time.

When in balance, I sense it's a form of empathy and understanding, a way of gravitating towards those things which mutually resonate, surfacing those aspects of yourself that genuinely overlap with another person.  They say when we imitate body language, for example, it can actually be a way of developing rapport.

I used to travel often to the Ozarks in Missouri, and before I knew it, I just couldn't seem to help taking on a bit of a twang in my voice when enjoying a conversation.

Yet how do we know when mirroring is out of balance?  How do we know when we are masking our authentic selves?

As I have been writing, I literally heard them say on the radio "You've got to love yourself."

That says it all.

The Path to Peace

True security resides within.

As I begin to take in what happened today in Boston, where I have more than one dear friend (thankfully ok), I don't need to know the how's or the why's, not tonight anyway.  There will be time later for better understanding how we can begin to heal whatever rift or wound was at its source.

In the old days, I might have allowed the TV or the radio to loop endlessly in search of more details.  But not tonight.

By its very definition, terror only operates in the fear space, not the Love space, except where healing may begin.  My heart goes out to anyone caught in fear, or pain, or despair.

We may feel many things today and in the tomorrows to come, feelings we must allow in order to heal, but how we ultimately choose to respond to fear in the long run is entirely up to us.