I have written quite a bit about following our hearts, coming to know core Self, and living with purpose and vision. Yesterday, Memorial Day, made me think about the relationship of Self to something like war. This aspect of individual lives and our responses in relation to societal and governmental issues presents some real challenges for me.
I deeply respect those men and women who make the decision to enlist in the armed forces, who choose to work to defend the United States and preserve our republican democracy, which in and of itself is a messy form of government in terms of administration but the only form I know that ensures the greatest degree of freedom to the individual, including minorities, who theoretically are protected under such governance. Our military vows to protect our government and freedom, and those who step in to do that work are worthy of respect. I don’t question that. I do, however, question what they are not allowed to question: How necessary is war? What sort of conniving duplicity goes on that creates things like war policy or decisions to engage in conflict? This presents a conflict for me, personally, because I am indebted to and proud of those who serve, but I do not trust those making the decisions. Trusting ego-driven, power-mongering bureaucracies has been a long been a problem for me, and one of my former students reminded me of that this morning in a FaceBook comment to me. He mentioned how passionate I was about students developing into the amazing human beings they are, but he also said he remembered those times when he could see the frustration because of the organization of education, which takes on its own persona, trying to rob students of individuality. So, how do I respond to bureaucracies that take on a persona that is engineered by a relatively select few? Whenever destruction results from such power groups — government representatives (national, state, or local), departments of education (same levels), administrators of such groups — as I said, whenever destruction results whether of human life as a direct course of action or human spirit, then I know that those power players are working through ego. Sometimes, as with the armed forces, a government response must be mounted against ego-driven and -initiated aggression destroying human life — like a Hitler, for example. But those times, to me, would be rare. Unfortunately, it is also rare that government response is heart-driven and sincere and not some nationalistic, ego-response bullshit that exponentially multiplies destruction rather than mitigates it. My former student encouraged me because he recognizes that my response to idiotic education policy was commitment to my students. And maybe that is what I’m looking for in terms of resolving conflicts of individual hearts versus government and society in general: a commitment to love others enough to allow my heart to function and to live Self in relationship to others, to express my life purpose as fully as possible to create love and unity. This doesn’t seem to work at a governmental level, otherwise no wars, no strict national boundaries, no massive crime waves. Once again, I have come to a point at which I planned on going into fiction dialog in pre-novel form (kind of funny that no one has questioned what that means), but I am too far into this to begin that tonight. Tomorrow, though, I will, and maybe some fictional dialog will help produce deeper thoughts about this. Until then, what is your heart saying to you? What is your life purpose in expressing core Self as you listen to your heart? Are you fulfilled? Significant? Happy? If most of us were, we would experience much less death and destruction in our nation, in our world, because there would be a lot less ego-driven bureaucrats.
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Questions to consider:How many times have you asked yourself or simply thought about the following questions?
Who am I, really? What is my truth? How do my actions reveal what I really feel and believe? What would I do with my life if I could do anything? What is my passion? Why am I here? How can I discover answers to any of these questions? If you have considered any of these questions, I hope that my experiences and writing will give you some guidance. Please read my blog and comment and share your thoughts. I would love to hear from you! Archives
December 2019
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