Our cultures and subcultures may be different, our skin a different color, and our language and religions may be different, but we are not essentially different. We all have ego and heart.
Ego and heart are the least common denominators of humanity; however, all the expansion and overlay of unique, personal characteristics of family, race, ethnicity, gender, physiology, and psychology create a dynamic, complex world. To understand the base of it all helps me to understand others and myself, my superhero me, in relation to other superheroes. We can engage in the fellowship of the heart, a union in which we maintain our unique identities, both individually and culturally, yet work together in love and light, creating and living purpose, facing challenges, simply being happy in our personal truth, and enjoying equality, freedom, and mutual dignity. The issue in all of these matters is choosing to operate with heart as our driving force. Ego has its value, and we need to use it, recognize when it’s operating, and pay attention to it. When it comes to living all we came to experience — love, creativity, peace, happiness, intimacy, fellowship, and many other things — we need to awaken and engage heart. Heart-energy must be employed in the development of policies, courses of action, legislation, and governance, if we want true equality and freedom because heart is the faculty with which we have been equipped to live these. Heart-energy must also guide us individually, if we want personal significance, fulfillment, and happiness. Yes, government must ensure certain ego practices and rules do not destroy others, do not favor one group over another, nor embed racism in a nation. The individuals who propose, debate, compromise, write, and enact legislation need to be operating in heart-energy. Laws borne of ego are unjust laws; they must be disobeyed, protested, and nullified. We inhabitants of Earth are experiencing a major shift in understanding our interconnectedness, and without heart being the driving and designing force in shaping ourselves as individuals and our interactions as human beings with one another, we have little hope for the sort of nation envisioned by leading founders of the United States. Even though imperfect, subject to ego, and flawed in practice, they implemented a government that could continue evolving. We can each choose to love self, live in purpose of that self, and and love others. That’s superhero awesomeness! (Photo by Mark Hayward on Unsplash)Maya Angelou and Martin Luther King lived in this spirit. They did not sit still, bowed under the marginalization, rejection, abuse, and hopelessness into which a white-engineered society cast them. Faced with centuries of oppression in a society under a government rigged to keep things exactly as they were, Maya and Martin worked their magic, produced hope, and instigated change. With full knowledge of the way things were, they chose to express their personal truth and purpose, knowing that whatever others thought, whatever the consequences, whatever their success or rejection, they were doing the only thing they could honestly do: live true Self. Oppression, burdens, and hardships may elicit a variety of responses from us humans: we may succumb, wilt, and be crushed. We may learn to live with bowed backs and downcast eyes, ignoring the enslavement, accepting it as normal. Or we may choose to live in heart energy and radiate light and love and strive to shine, love, and establish a more just society. When people choose the way of the heart, others who have chosen ego don’t always like it, even when they have been and still are the ones who have historically held power. If society and legislation begins to change too rapidly, these egotists will claim things like reverse discrimination, their voice is not being heard, or their rights have been abrogated. They cry that the government must protect them, and the only way to do that, in their estimation, is to control government. Of course, that is what they have always done. In all spiritual reality, such people fear true equality and freedom. They seek to remain in ego control through spurious claims of being marginalized themselves and their voices being unheard. They fear those who do not look like them or live life like them, who do not practice the same religion, who do not hold the same values in the same way. Efforts to rig the laws and society in favor of one group over another is powered by ego. Haters should not get to make the laws, no matter where they fall on the political spectrum; they should not be the ones who dictate the structure and interactions of society or determine that one culture, people, or another has no right to exist in the light of day. All do. A full palette of colors, scarves that could be worn in any way, many possible combinations — all are woven in the same way, though, with warp and weft strands. We all have ego and heart overlaid with and supporting our rich diversity. Choose to honor that in self and others. (Photo by Siora Photographyon Unsplash)Such is the call of Maya when she says, “Do not be wedded forever to fear, yoked eternally to brutishness.” We need not write legislation based on fear, littleness, and a calculating, self-serving spirit. We must begin to divorce ego from our public policy and personal lives. Those who are committed to the light, who have a vision borne of Spirit and heart are the ones who make a positive difference, the ones who can be wedded to love and enjoy the fellowship of the heart at the table of mutual friendship. I want to be there. I accept Martin’s invitation and enter into contract with Maya to begin simply by being a decent human being, by listening to and learning from Nature’s view of our history, and by greeting my sisters and brothers with respect and understanding. Until recently, I didn’t know that Maya Angelou was born on the same date as Martin Luther King, Jr.’s death: April 4. That surprises me and affirms some things to me because I analyze and respond to one expression of each of their works in this short book. The works represent a piece of their souls to me, even though the two choices represent only a small part of all they lived and did, of their stories. Their lives intersected with one another. My life, because I chose it to be so, has joined with them. All of us can do the same. We can be superheroes in league with those who have worked so powerfully.
1 Comment
thomas kunjummen
10/23/2020 11:05:03 am
You said we are not essentially different but you also implied elsewhere that we are yet unique. It reflects depth of perception. Similarly, my perception goes like this: Consciousness is the same in everyone yet we are unique individually, which reflects the variety of characteristics not differences that is possible in consciousness. You remarked we have to awaken and engage heart. In my mind it translates into, we have to discover and align with our consciousness. Where most people do not see anything unusual about ego, you correctly pinpointed its negative impact on quality of life. Oftentimes I have come across the phrase, ‘discovering our true self’ but did not give it thought. Much later I found there is nothing remarkable about self, ego, because it is conceited reactive and emotionally attached – which is something we must escape from. In contrast after reading just a little of your writings I remarked to myself, ‘here is a lighthearted and selfless person. He calls it heart but I call it selflessness’. After we lose the self we become selfless, which is like the heart of consciousness. Our generation is lost, but if the next generation becomes conscious during their childhood and carries into adulthood what we will have is selfless persons in positions of responsibility and authority. Hope it is not too late. There are reports that if the world carries on like this we will tip over into a point of no return in the next 10 years. What a frightening scenario.
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
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
Categories |