Would you agree that we, as citizens of the United States of America, are going through a significant transition at this time in our history? If so, what is the light that’s shining on this transition? Where’s the light coming from and what is it enlightening up for you? Are you in fear, anticipation, love, anger, hope, acceptance, denial, or serenity? Wherever you are emotionally, why are your here? Why are you reacting to the transitions the way you are and how is this reaction helping and or hindering your process of transition to a more peaceful disposition?

The reality of our lives together on planet earth is that we are all in constant transition. It’s a matter of degree as to whether we are aware and attentive to the transitions ever present in our midst. These transitions are both individual and collective, and as we give attention to them, we find solace and strength, pardon and renewal as well as discord and weakness, enslavement and stagnation. Whether we know it or not, the choice is ours and we need to be aware of this rather than projecting it onto someone or something else. We are responsible for our own attitudes!

Unfortunately, many of us don’t take responsibility for our awareness or lack of it. We want to point to someone or something else to blame for our own judgements and decisions. We want to find someone or something else to project our insecurities, fears, hostilities and judgements on while we claim righteousness and innocence. Do you know what I’m saying here? Have you ever found yourself following this projection pattern that seeks to protect you through deflection?  Do you recognize how you justify your attitudes and opinions without looking within?

Over the years, I’ve been giving attention to how I  justify my selfish ego self to my  True Self and the world. My ego self always wants to be on the ‘right’ side of a decision, which means the ‘winning’ side. There’s always a kind of  ‘self-righteousness’ that comes with this attitude and with that, a condemnation of the other who is on the opposite side of the divide. In seeing this in my personality, my little self, I’ve been able to see it in others and have come to realize that most of us do this most of the time which causes alienation, disconnection, conflict, and division.

It happens all the time and continues to cause wars of every size and shape all over the globe. The transition comes when we wake up to how we, ourselves, are contributing to this ongoing conflict and begin making the transition from projecting our rights and wrongs to neutralizing and owning our many shoulds, musts, oughts’, and have toos we’ve learned from others. The light then, is our own awareness of how we do to others what we don’t want to be done to us. We project our disconnections onto others rather than transforming them in ourselves.

I’m remembering the story of Nelson Mandela who spent over twenty years of hard labor in a prison camp for rebelling against his repressive white South African government. When he was finally released, he is reported to have said that it occurred to him when he was freed, that if he didn’t let go of his fear, anger, judgement and hatred when he walked out the door of the prison, he’d never really get out of prison. . . He went on to transform himself and the whole country in a process of reconciliation that forever changed the South African government and culture.  

‘We the people’ are responsible for what happens to us. We, together and apart, are the fabric of the flag we wrap around ourselves for better and for worse. We go together or we don’t go at all. Our experiment is one made in the heavens to bring people of all sizes, shapes, colors, creeds, backgrounds, languages, cultures, and conditions together to recognize the sacred unity in our diversity. This amazing experiment is still in process and we are all apart of it. Whether we see the light at the end of the tunnel, in an awakening in the eyes of a child, in a crack in the floor, or a knock on the door of our hearts; it’s time to awaken to the new beginnings that are always here, always now. Together, let us keep learning how, to be here now, in a sacred unity. . . .

• As you walk through your days, begin to awaken to your prejudices and ask yourself why and what you can do to reconcile them with a deeper ‘knowing’ in your ‘not knowing’.
• When you find yourself in an either/or situation or thought, stand in between both positions and bring them together so as to create a both/and position. Notice how this can happen and what it takes to reconcile the so called opposites.
• Awaken to the outer and inner conflicts and Relax. Breathe in the difficulty and breathe out the reconciliation, the love, the acceptance. Recognize that you can change your thoughts and heal your divisions. Drop your shoulders. Release the tightness in your muscles. Slow down, close your eyes, be still for a while. Feel the love that’s here for you!