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Yesterday we welcomed a new President here in the United States. I don’t envy him as the hopes of millions of Americans have been trumped up with the idea that he will “fix” everything. I hope he does. But as I watched some of the inauguration, I saw what seems to be a continuation of the the deliberate attempt to cause a divide between us - humans, the “races”.
No doubt there are a lot of bigoted people in the world especially with regard to race and religion. Bigots come in all flavors - Black, White, Asian, Latino -each of our communities has it’s share of bigots. And it’s displayed in various ways. Some are more outspoken than others like white supremacists such as Aryan Brotherhood, Ku Klux Klan and Church of Jesus Christ–Christian and black supremacists like Nation of Islam, New Black Panther Party and United Nuwaubian Nation of Moors. Some are more subtle like the feeling some whites might get when they see a black man with a white woman, or the persistent thought of some blacks that everything white people do and think is designed to keep the black man down. This particular form of bigotry is, in my opinion, the more dangerous than the more obvious forms. For the most part, we can identify gross acts of bigotry and racism, and most people find such acts unacceptable. But how many of us have had the more subtle type of thoughts and feelings? I’d bet a lot of us have, on both sides of the argument.
My earlier posts talk a lot about energy, love and spiritual battle. Creating positive love energy is our primary responsibility. That is my belief, my philosophy and one of the main reasons for this blog. But not everyone agrees.
Some people have taken a contradictory stand on the subject. They have aligned with negative energy and have committed themselves to a vision of dominance, power, ego and material wealth. Some intentionally. But most people don’t fall into the “intentionally” category. Most have just been manipulated into thinking there’s something in it for them. But there isn’t.
The very few at the top of this hierarchy have a very different plan in mind. It’s an old plan. It’s well thought out. And it seems to be working. Really, the designer of the plan is a genius, infiltrating our schools and churches, governments, libraries, entertainment and by consequence our thoughts. The good news is that once you’re aware that the plan exists, it becomes painfully obvious. You start to see how the thoughts and feelings of our nation, our communities, families and friends are influenced, however subtly, to cause conflict. To create negativity. To slowly raise the temperature until things start to boil.
During yesterday’s inauguration, we heard Rev. Joseph Lowery say something like ‘Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to give back, when brown can stick around, when yellow will be mellow when the red man can get ahead, man and when white will embrace what is right.’ Immediately there was reaction. From one perspective we were told that the words were insulting to whites, they were bigoted, racist and whites elected Mr. Obama. From another perspective we were told that we need to understand that these words came from an old man who stood shoulder to shoulder with Dr. Martin Luther King then watched as he was murdered.
From my perspective, we have a different choice to make. We can let the words fill us with negativity, or not. That is the point of this post. As President Obama progresses through his presidency, we will see more and more situations which require us to make a decision about how to react. These will not be created by President Obama, but by subtle bigots expecting him to “do” something to them or for them. This will create an opportunity for other subtle bigots to focus on the comments of a few and create large scale negativity from it. We will see more and more opportunities to deepen and widen the racial divide which has no acceptable reason to exist in the first place. We will see more and more events, speeches, articles and opinions which will allow us to succumb to the subtle invasion of our existence known as evil, or not. It’s really up to YOU.
We are seen as pawns. We are being positioned. Maneuvered. Used. Distracted. Angered, subtly, for the purpose of engaging this spiritual battle. We can’t fight our way out of it. If we try, we lose - that’s the genius of it. But there is hope. There is an answer. There is an effective solution to the problem of the “battle” that is even more genius than the genius who caused all this friction. It’s called love.
Now you may be sick of hearing that. But love, together with knowledge, is the only solution. It is the only defense. And while it was so very clever to make us perceive that we must stand up and fight back, which paradoxically strengthens and builds the level of negative energy - and causes us lose this battle - the solution is even more clever because we don’t have to do anything. The most powerful weapon ever devised in rendered useless by doing nothing!
By “nothing” I mean refusing to react negatively, refusing to fight, refusing to get angered or to hate or to lash out. If there is no fight, there can be no war. Instead, if we spend our energy creating hope and good will, helping solve problems, helping each other… we will see the slow retreat of negativity and the emergence of a new day, complete with a bright sun, chirping birds and happy people.
That goes for you, me and everyone else including Rev. Lowery. The time has come for all of us to rearrange our thoughts, our perceptions and the energy of the entire world. There’s never been a better time!