My subjective experience has been telling me that there has been some extraordinary energy moving through the collective these last few days.  What I’m hearing as I report in from my corner of reality is that many are feeling this larger wave of energy, but some experience it as very difficult and others very lovely.

Thursday is when I started to feel that rise begin…it feels to me like being in the ocean, out beyond where the waves break.  You can feel that a wave is coming because you get lifted off the bottom of the sea, and your body bobs up to the top of the lump that begins a wave, then you are dropped down and toes make contact again with sand.  The wave continues onward towards the shore, where it crests and crashes down, becoming one with the larger body of the ocean again.

Thursday some extraordinary things happened in my life.  My beloved husband confronted an oooolllllddddd habit passed down to him by his ancestry and brought it into consciousness, breaking the pattern and freeing himself (and us, his family).  When it happened, there was a palpable feeling of something having changed.  Our whole family felt it.  A few hours later, a professional opportunity came his way, literally dropped in his lap, which has invited more good feelings in our family. 

Then, Friday some folks looked at our house in Colorado, the one that’s been on the market for 1.5 years, and promptly feel it love with it and made an offer.  We signed the contract yesterday, the day identified by astrologers in the know as a profoundly lucky day of 2010 due to Jupiter and the sun being in alignment.

The current energy wave is intense, don’t get me wrong.  It’s not all sunshine and daisies; the recent earthquakes would indicate that there are folks who are in great distress as a result of the energy movement.  And I have been hearing that some folks are having difficulty navigating the current energy.  They feel anxious, pregnant, full, like they are ready to explode.  Sometimes it feels just plain bad, and we want to hide under a rock until it’s over.

I do believe that what is within is also without, and vice versa, so to me it makes sense that we would see manifestations in the physical as well as emotional worlds of the internal or invisible universal energy waves that wash through us.  I don’t think this is going to change; my sources tell me that these kinds of experiences are going to continue, and that the intensity will lessen a bit as we cycle through, until we get to the next wave. 

Are we being cleansed?  Are we being shown where we are putting energy that doesn’t serve us?  Are we getting the opportunity to trim out the deadwood and let go into a life that we are truly meant to live?  And why is it easy for some and not for others?  Is the difference that sometimes we cooperate with the flow of the energy and other times we cling to the rocks, refusing to let go into that larger life?  What keeps us attached to those habits and beliefs that threaten to take us under, even those that we love? 

My sweet husband has had direct information for 3 years (via myself and my invisible helpers) that his unconsciousness was causing a major energy drain on himself and our family, creating havoc and despair, putting him crossways to his own soul.  But he wasn’t ready to hear it until Thursday, and when he let it go, the energy wave that was building already bobbed him (and our family) up to the top of the wave, instead of holding us down at the bottom.  The relief and feeling of rightness is unmistakable.

So now we are coming through this wave…the full moon today feels like an apex to me, and perhaps things will smooth out a bit for awhile to allow the next wave to build. This will allow us time to integrate the changes that have been made during this last part of the cycle; the deadwood having been trimmed (don’t go trying to pick it up and stick it back on the trees!), we will hopefully find our ground and center in a new way.

Wingapo Cheskchamay (“Welcome, All Friends” in Powhatan language)

I share this excerpt from my book with you now because I have lately struck a chord in some of my posts….there are others besides me who do not feel that they fit in, and are looking for their tribe.

Being “lost” is a kind of dramatic tale to weave…..it appeals to many. There are certainly lots of stories in history of “lost tribes” and their tragic search to come home.

I am a prime example of this in a genealogical sense….I see no separation between what lives in my blood, what lives in my mind, and what lives in my heart…..the greatness of my spirit holds all aspects of myself within its hands.

However, I choose that my having been “lost” has brought me many gifts and learnings, and that in the end, I have not been “lost” at all.

An excerpt from “The Blue Eyed Indian”
By Licia Berry www.liciaberry.com
Copyright 2008

Outer Banks of North Carolina

“My European ancestors were among the first to arrive at the remote barrier islands of what is now called North Carolina’s Outer Banks. In the 1500’s, the islands were alive with the Croatoan Indian hunters and fisherman who scoured the maritime forests and the rich waters for bountiful fish and game. When the fair-skinned people with the blue eyes arrived from the giant crafts on the water, my Indian ancestors were intrigued, and being polite, welcomed the visitors to their island. They feasted together, they showed the guests their lovely island (like we would for any tourist to our home town), and eventually, some of them fell in love.

Some of the fair skinned people feathered into life with the Indians; others went north to create the English settlement of Roanoke Island. This settlement later became “The Lost Colony”, when, fearing they had been abandoned by the English and needing help to survive, they returned south to live with the friendly Croatoan Indians in what is now Buxton, NC. These are the people I come from.

When the next larger waves of Europeans would arrive to the New World a generation or two later, they wrote with their quill pens in their journals of the peculiar “Blue Eyed Indians” they encountered along the North Carolina coast.

As more Europeans arrived, the goodness of the land on the Outer Banks was coveted for its rich resources and its location as a close ally to the ports in Virginia. The Indians began to feel the conflict that these fair skinned people brought into their midst. Skirmishes broke out, and eventually, the fair skinned people overtook the islands that had been occupied by Indians for 10,000 years.

Outer Banks Indians fishing on Pamlico Sound

The blue-eyeds among the Indians had a choice to make; were they white, or Indian? They would lose their lands on the island if they sided with their red-skinned kin….Would they survive if they sided with their European blood? For some, the call to explore the blood of their parents or grandparents, those who had come from far across the waters, brought a certain sense of longing, and they stayed with the whites. A few elected to go with the tribes, who retreated inland to nurse their wounds and to make plans about how to carry on. Some went north to now Virginia to be absorbed into the great Powhatan nation; others remained in the woods and wetlands of inland coast and eventually disappeared into the trees with their culture. The Croatoan had lost their best fishing grounds, lost many of their children and suffered humiliation after opening their arms and hearts to these fair-skinned people. But those who were part Indian, those who elected to stay with the Europeans, lost the precious knowledge and support of their Indian culture.

Generations of Europeans came to the Outer Banks and settled on this wild coast, making their living fishing those waters once enjoyed by the Powhatan, and scavenging off of the hundreds of ships that floundered on the Diamond Shoals, earning the nickname “The Graveyard of the Atlantic”. My father’s side of the family still remains on this remote outpost, miles off the mainland of our country. They speak in a soft brogue that reminds of me of Scotland, England and a faint tongue that is lost, the language extinct except for a few words. They are stoic and stubborn, refusing to leave the island when hurricanes bear down on the fragile sands. They also don’t like to admit that they are part Indian.

In fact, I didn’t know that we had any Indian blood until I was in my thirties, when a rebellious aunt whispered to me of our history. I have observed a bigotry and arrogance in some of these noble Hatteras people, as if they are better than every one else, perhaps because of what they have survived as they eke out their livings in this harsh place. I have never understood this stubborn need to protect our “heritage” as all-European (or, all white as they would say). Perhaps when they were forced to make the decision to be “white” in order to keep their homes and land on Hatteras Island, a psychic door closed on any other possibility.

But I was different.

All of my life the spirits of the wind, the water, the rocks and trees and earth have spoken to me. As a child, I was a wild nature girl; tangled hair and dirty face were my costume….I fought taking baths and showers, preferring to remain sister to the dirt. In frustration and in answer to my defiant nature, my mother chopped all my hair off at age 6. I tried to get lost in the woods and never could, because I knew the way home. The animals were my guides and messengers. The forest whispered of its love for me. The universe supported me, and Nature was my friend.

Yet, I was so different than the family who surrounded me. I didn’t fit; when I spoke of the subtle energy that I tapped into, I was ignored or strongly corrected. I wasn’t hearing and sensing and seeing those things; I was making things up. I got quieter about my feelings, but they never went away. Under the protection of the dense brush and out of sight of my elders, I performed ceremonies to honor dead birds or lizards that I found, to listen to and guide the ghosts that needed help to find their way home, to dance with all of creation as my cohort in life. No one had taught me these things; I just knew how to do them. And then came my initiation into the shamanic world….”

To be continued….

A Blue Eyed Indian

"Under the Wing", photo collage by Dascha Friedlova, 2009

(Author’s note: It is interesting to me to see how my thoughts and writing style have evolved over years of time.  I see that there is still some use to the writings below, so offer them for your perusal.  Perhaps an updated version will follow!)

The Gift of Gratitude

How Giving Thanks Raises Our Vibration

By Licia Berry, 2004, originally published on www.liciaberry.com

The woman feels herself sinking into the familiar deep well of despair as she watches the nightly news.  She knows where this will go; she will be hit in the gut with absolute hopelessness, and in response she will find something to eat to fill the gnawing in her belly or she will pour herself a glass of alcohol to numb the pain.  Or, she will go upstairs to her bedroom and cry, wringing her hands over the state of the world, and fall asleep in tears.  This road is all too familiar to her; it goes nowhere good.  Then, something quietly dawns on her.  She hears a subtle voice; something tells her that she doesn’t have to choose this road, that there are others.  She makes a small move that begins to break the pattern she has lived over and over.  She goes into the room where her dusty sewing machine sits in the dark.  She pulls out a pattern she abandoned a long time ago and begins to sew, with devout attention and precious care, as if her very emotional well being depended on it.  She feels a bit better, a little at a time, then notices when two hours have flown by that she has been completely absorbed in her creative work.  She hasn’t thought about the horrific state of things for even a moment.  By making a leap out of the familiar, she has cut a new pathway.  She has made a new choice.  And the more often she takes the small step to do something different each time she goes into reaction about something, the easier it will be to have power over her response.

What happened when this woman made the choice to do something positive in the face of her despair?  Her body and mind were accustomed to going down a particular road…in fact; our bodies begin to expect us to go down certain path in the face of certain stimuli.  It is as if we train ourselves from an early age how to respond to emotional stimuli, mental challenges, physical difficulties, and even trauma.  But we always have the choice in how we respond, no matter how automatic our responses may feel.

“Both abundance and lack exist simultaneously in our lives, as parallel realities. It is always our conscious choice which secret garden we will tend… when we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives but are grateful for the abundance that’s present — love, health, family, friends, work, the joys of nature and personal pursuits that bring us pleasure — the wasteland of illusion falls away and we experience Heaven on earth.”
Author: Sarah Ban Breathnach

We all experience moments in our day when something unexpected arises, or we don’t achieve a desired outcome.  We can perceive these situations as negative, positive or neutral.  Our attitude towards the event is not pre-ordained or automatic, although it may feel that way due to its being conditioned in our bodies for our entire lives.  In actuality, how we respond is our choice.  When faced with a potential shift in our attitude, there arises a single moment of decision about how we will handle it, what I call a “choice-point”.  We can choose whether we will tumble down the rocky hillside of victimization, ending up bruised and battered at the bottom, or we can choose to look at the situation as a learning opportunity, asking ourselves questions like, “What is the gift in this situation?  What message has the universe brought to me?”  By examining the situation from a larger perspective, we realize that we do indeed have a choice about how we respond.  And if we do go down the victim road, we can always stop and focus on what we are grateful for to bring us back up.

Scientific studies have confirmed what the sages and mystics of earth’s history have been telling us all along.  Gratitude, prayer and love carry a high vibration, whereas despair, anger and fear carry a low vibration.  Our bodies carry vibrations that change with our thoughts and with the vibrations we encounter as we move through the world.  A person whose body is wracked with disease is suddenly cancer-free after several hundred people prayed for him. A partygoer may show up grumpy and feeling anti-social, but winds up giving up the grumps because everyone else at the party is having a good time.  I may intersect with a rude person in a store, whose vibration is quite low due to their anger.  My body’s vibration may fall into a lower state if I allow myself to be triggered by this person.  Or, I can consciously choose to respond to the situation with love and maintain a high vibration in the face of the rudeness.  If I am around this person long enough and I focus on maintaining my high vibrational state, the other person’s body will be affected by MY vibration.  By the end of our interaction, whether we have said anything to each other or not, his vibration may have risen to the point that he is not angry anymore. This is the principle of resonance.  In layman’s language, the principle of resonance says that when there are two differing vibrations, one will rate of vibration will soon resonate like the other or they will move towards each other and meet in the middle.  This can mean that a lower vibration cannot remain constant in a sustained field of higher vibration.

This principle of resonance is played out beautifully in our physical bodies in the phenomenon of kidney stones.  We know that kidney stones are hard little calcifications that have to be passed through the body or surgically removed.  However, a recent technology now uses very localized doses of high vibration, aimed at the kidney, to actually dissolve the kidney stones.  The kidney stones are reduced to their smallest particles and passed easily through the body.  We can think of this as an example of how a low vibration, no matter how solid it appears, can be changed by focusing high vibration onto it.

Another example of this phenomenon of changing the vibration of something that seems unchangeable is the study done in 1993 by the Institute of Science, Technology and Public Policy in Washington DC.  This National Demonstration Project to Reduce Violent Crime and Improve Governmental Effectiveness brought approximately 4,000 participants in the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi programs to the United States national capital from June 7 to July 30, 1993. A 27-member independent Project Review Board consisting of sociologists and criminologists from leading universities, representatives from the police department and government of the District of Columbia, and civic leaders approved in advance the research protocol for the project and monitored its progress. The study, led by John Hagelin, PhD., showed a 25%-48% decrease in violent crime during the time period of the study.  The conclusion that can be drawn was that the high vibration of the 4000 meditators infiltrated the DC area, and that the low vibration of the aggression causing violent crime could not be sustained in the high vibrational filed created by the meditators.  (For more information on this study, go to http://www.istpp.org/crime_prevention/ )

A beautiful example of how our thoughts change vibration is evidenced in Dr. Masaru Emoto’s work.  He has documented, through remarkable photographic techniques, water’s response to positive and negative thoughts.  (Remember that positive feelings such as love, gratitude and prayer carry a high vibration, where as anger, sadness and fear carry a low vibration.)  In the case of a highly polluted river in Japan, the water photographs show a diffused, disorganized water molecule group.  When the very same water was blessed with prayer, the water formed exquisite, organized crystal shapes.  His research went further when he placed written phrases on bottles of distilled water and left them overnight.  Water responded to these phrases similarly; the water which sported the label “Thank You” formed beautiful symmetrical crystals, where as the water that carried the “You Make Me Sick” label responded with a discomforting display of pockmarked blobs.  As is evidenced in Dr. Emoto’s work, our attitudes and thoughts are reflected perfectly in the structural integrity of the water.  The really interesting implications of Dr. Emoto’s work lie in considering that human beings are more than 70% water.  If these thoughts affect a bottle of water so powerfully, how do our thoughts affect us and each other?  (See the website www.hado.net )

Even when some things may not be going the way we want, we can find other things in our lives that ARE supportive and be thankful for those.  And this will raise our vibration.

I was in a situation recently where I was reminded of this truth.    My family and I have been traveling now for almost a year in a motor home.  We recently encountered issues that have necessitated taking our home in to a dealership for repairs.  What was supposed to have been a simple overnight repair became a two-week ordeal.  Because we are living in the RV, we have been unable to access the things that we normally need to live our daily lives.  After a week of “not having a home”, I became triggered into feeling “homeless” and victimized.  While this would seem a reasonable response to the situation, I was miserable.  Life looked a whole lot less wonderful because of the state I was in.  I was in a low vibrational field of hopelessness, anger and depression.  After a few days of hanging out in this state, I remembered that I had other choices. I looked around me and was reminded that home is where the heart is; I have my beautiful family, we are together, and we are healthy and well.  AND, I was reminded that my Spirit is my true home, and that nothing can ever take that away from me.  Choosing not to identify with the low vibrational state, I slowly felt my perspective shift as I focused on how grateful I am.  It literally took me 10 minutes for my perspective to shift radically into feeling like I was basking in a ray of warm love.  I could not wipe the smile off of my face (nor did I want to!)  I see now that if I want to be happy in my life, there is great wisdom in choosing to be grateful and look on the bright side!

In addition to feeling better, being in a high vibrational state brings a clarity and focus that is not present in low vibrational states…we can think of acting out in anger and regretting later what we have said, or how people who are depressed feel fuzzy headed, as if they cannot think clearly.  This clarity that comes with high vibration suddenly brings everything into focus.  What is important becomes very pointed and clear!  And from this place we can make better decisions in our lives – decisions that make a positive contribution to our own well-being as well as the well-being of others and the planet.

And, if you don’t have enough reasons to consider feeling gratitude on a regular basis, consider this additional benefit, noted by Christiane Northrup: “Feeling grateful or appreciative of someone or something in your life actually attracts more of the things that you appreciate and value into your life.”  Here we see the principle of resonance yet again, as well as the law of attraction.  If we hold a high vibration, not only do we shift the rate of vibration around us, we attract similar vibration.  If you want more true love in your life, radiate true love.  If you want more kindness shown to you, overflow with kindness towards others.  If you seek more abundance in your life, look for the abundance that you already have and shower gratitude upon it.  (And remember that abundance is not only measured in money!  It is also love, health, freedom, creativity, wisdom, experiences, inner satisfaction, caring, giving, receiving teachings, giving teachings, blue sky, rain, good food, friends, time, togetherness, good books, options, loyalty, growth, family, manifestation, spiritual help, wide open vistas, sunrises, sunsets, trees, birds, animals and plants, air, water, fire, space, the stars and planets, and this beautiful earth which holds and sustains us!)

So what can you do to raise your vibration?  There are many resources you can draw on.  Some examples are mediation, reading holy texts, creating, dancing, singing, moving your body, celebrating, laughing, praying, making a list of the things in your life you are grateful for and thanking each of them, and of course setting the intention to raise your vibration.  Almost anything that takes you out of your usual pattern of heading down “Victim Road” will point you in the high-vibe direction.  And you and the world will be a better place for it.

Notes as we are changing….

Peter comments this morning that he feels himself remembering what he has always known…that he is a part of the All That Is.  I see him feeling and looking similar to when I first met him…soft, open, and connected.  It is thrilling to see this!

We are talking about how we have chosen to do the awakening process; we are reading the Dan Millman books (Way of the Peaceful Warrior) and I am turned off by the completely upside down-ness of his life as he learns to be different.  It is like the years spent running off to find oneself and people being left hurt in its wake.  We elected to do it differently.

Many folks do the inner work after they have had their children…we are doing it before and DURING raising our children.  We have elected to live a fully 3-D life while doing our spiritual work.  This makes us somewhat different than a lot of people.

The fact that we are mixed up mashed up with our kids and that there are so many demands in our 3-D life is part of the sacred juggling act that all of us face.  If we are here in 3-d, it is because we are meant to be here….and to bring all parts of ourselves into the grounding of physical life.  I am not suggesting that everyone tackle inner spiritual work while having babies and jobs and PTO presidencies and such as we did; but I do think it is important to share this model so others can examine whether it is something they are waiting for permission to do in their own lives. 

This might be the reason to write the book about our family journey.

I recently had the joy of reading an unedited 2004 interview with Barack Obama, just after he had won the democratic nomination for senator of Illinois.  In the interview, he was asked very specific questions about his religious beliefs; I found it refreshing and affirming about our choice of him as our country’s next leader.  You can read that article here: http://blog.beliefnet.com/stevenwaldman/2008/11/obamas-interview-with-cathleen.html

Obama’s graceful words and willingness to expose himself at a deep level inspired me to reflect on my own beliefs and experience in my life.

As a person who has experienced being oppressed, whether due to the fact that I am female, have indigenous ancestry within my blood, or due to my beliefs not matching someone else’s, I know the pain that is caused when someone else sees you and tries to fit you in their box, and when you don’t you are belittled or discarded.  It is tempting from that place of pain to polarize, aligning yourself with a box, too, one that is comprised of your own beliefs and that negates the beliefs of others.  It is tempting to act out from that pain in the name of the box being right.  But this is just as out of balance as someone else acting out in pain from their box.  Fanaticism is fanaticism, not matter what the belief system may be.

One of the most basic and innate tenets that I have been aware of holding dear in my life is that of tolerance of others.  I remember being judged for my body type when I was as young as four years of age…Being called “chubby” or “fat” (I look back at pictures now and I was no such thing.).  I also attended a Christian preschool, where I listened to my teacher condemn those who did not believe as she and the church did to a fiery hell.  This never made sense to my young mind…I knew better.  I had regular direct experiences with what might be called God, and the ugliness I saw in humans was nothing like the love I experienced in those divine moments of direct communication.   It was at this young age I learned to be afraid of people and their rabid or hateful beliefs, and also learned to keep my mouth shut.

I am now 43 years old.  I am just learning now that keeping my mouth shut in the face of intolerance is not a good thing for me to do, primarily because it hurts me inside, but also because it gives silent permission for the person who is ranting and raving about their beliefs no opportunity to bounce against a wall, no opportunity to see the reflection of their rigidity.  It may imply that I am trying to change someone by speaking of the importance of that reflection….and perhaps that is my agenda…I would like for my children to live in a world of tolerance rather than bigotry.

Fanaticism comes in many forms…..certainly in the religious circles it is easy to see as the condemnation flies back and forth between the camps.  But we see it in matters of race, gender, profession, environmentalism, politics, body types….it seems virtually anything can be turned into a platform for rigid beliefs to set in, and therefore condemnation of others who may not agree.

Just the other night I sat at dinner with relatives who spat the word “conservative” like they had a horrid taste in their mouth.  I recoiled as I felt the venom with which this word was spoken, and later reflected silently on what the word conservative means.  I looked it up (from dictionary.com):

con⋅serv⋅a⋅tive

–adjective

2.	cautiously moderate or purposefully low: a conservative estimate.

3.	traditional in style or manner; avoiding novelty or showiness: conservative suit.

4.	(often initial capital letter ) of or pertaining to the Conservative party.

5.	(initial capital letter ) of, pertaining to, or characteristic of Conservative Jews or Conservative Judaism.

6.	having the power or tendency to conserve; preservative.

7.	Mathematics. (of a vector or vector function) having curl equal to zero; irrotational; lamellar.

–noun

9.	a supporter of conservative political policies.

10.	(initial capital letter ) a member of a conservative political party, esp. the Conservative party in Great Britain.

11.	a preservative.

Origin:
1350–1400; < LL conservātīvus, equiv. to L conservāt(us) (see conservation ) + -īvus -ive; r. ME conservatif < MF < L, as above

Okay, then what does liberal mean?

lib⋅er⋅al

   /ˈlɪb ər əl, ˈlɪb rəl/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [lib-er-uh l, lib-ruh l] Show IPA Pronunciation

–adjective

2.	(often initial capital letter ) noting or pertaining to a political party advocating measures of progressive political reform.

3.	of, pertaining to, based on, or advocating liberalism.

4.	favorable to or in accord with concepts of maximum individual freedom possible, esp. as guaranteed by law and secured by governmental protection of civil liberties.

5.	favoring or permitting freedom of action, esp. with respect to matters of personal belief or expression: a liberal policy toward dissident artists and writers.

6.	of or pertaining to representational forms of government rather than aristocracies and monarchies.

7.	free from prejudice or bigotry; tolerant: a liberal attitude toward foreigners.

8.	open-minded or tolerant, esp. free of or not bound by traditional or conventional ideas, values, etc.

9.	characterized by generosity and willingness to give in large amounts: a liberal donor.

10.	given freely or abundantly; generous: a liberal donation.

11.	not strict or rigorous; free; not literal: a liberal interpretation of a rule.

12.	of, pertaining to, or based on the liberal arts.

13.	of, pertaining to, or befitting a freeman.

–noun

15.	(often initial capital letter ) a member of a liberal party in politics, esp. of the Liberal party in Great Britain.

Origin:
1325–75; ME < L līberālis of freedom, befitting the free, equiv. to līber free + -ālis -al ¹

Well, I see myself in both of these…I could be construed as quite traditional in the way that I am fiercely loyal to my family of four as the backbone of my life, and my devotion to balance as what the Buddhists call the “middle road” to guide my steps.  But I am also a liberal in that I value freedom and change and have observed that being open to rather than resisting change is the way of nature…and so I am a mix of these two concepts (a hybrid as usual…sigh). 

It is interesting to me that people who tout themselves as liberals and defending the liberal agenda can be so rigid in their beliefs as to appear conservative!  If tolerance and preservation of individual liberties is the goal of a liberal, then does that mean that resistance to such is implied in being a conservative?  If a lack of an open mind is conservative, does that mean that a “liberal” person who spews hatred about conservatives is actually a conservative?  The circle never ends.

My experience teaches me that in each of us is the blueprint for All of Creation, in each of us we are connected with the Whole, and once you get to certain awareness, you are the Whole.  Condemning any aspect of Creation and shutting oneself off from that by rejecting and judging it is akin to cutting our nose off to spite our face.  It is a way to continue the separation game that has gotten us into the mess of fighting and intolerance on this earth that so many of us are praying to mend.

With the recent election of an African American man to our nation’s highest office, I am hopeful that his gleaming light will give those who are in pain an opportunity to expose how they are using their pain to fuel hatred towards others.  This man is one who has experienced oppression, and who has beliefs that align with Christianity, but who is interested in accepting and hearing others’ viewpoints…he has not allowed his wounds to harden him and make him rigid….he has allowed the wounds to stay open, even touching them on occasion to remind him of what it feels like to be hurt by others intolerance.     

The founders of this country drew up a famous doctrine by which to guide the emergence of this amazing experiment called the United States of America. I keep a copy of it in my purse, believe it or not.  I identified with this document very early in my life when I wrote an essay on being an American…I found my innate yearning for acceptance and freedom to be reflected in its pages, the powerful words stirring my heart each time I read them.

In the end, the question arises…by the way we believe (which informs the way we behave), are we uniting or dividing?   Are you looking for the ways in which we are common in order to enjoy one another, or using the ways we are different as a case for your beliefs?  Are you furthering separation and pain, or are you reaching out with the intention to connect, accept, affirm and love others?

Are you a uniter or a divider?