Gazing in the Mirror

November 24 - Radical Possibilities

The human spirit glows
from that small inner
light of doubt whether
we are right, while those
who believe with certainty
that they possess the
right are dark inside and
darken the world outside
with cruelty, pain and
injustice.
~ Saul Alinsky,
Rules for Radicals

We should not despise
apparent failures — the
temporary chagrins of
life – for they are salutary,
leading the soul to the
inner Christ, the Way,
the Truth, and the Life.
~ Ernest Holmes

On my drive to St Louis yesterday I listened to a conservative radio commentator who made me aware of the 1971 book by Saul D Alinsky titled "Rules for Radicals". Why is it that changing the entrenched status quo is seen as a radical action ? The quickest answer that comes to my own mind is that there are vested interests sustaining enduring situations. Ernest Holmes noted "When the experience is complete, the lesson will be learned and we shall enter the paradise of contentment".

An alternative journalist wrote "new" rules for radicals "post-Occupy" which popped up on an internet search for the Alinksy book (which I have ordered for my Kindle). There is a hippy 60s heart that beats in many humans still – not the drug addled, sexually liberated, drop out, make due scene – but the Spirit that believed that humans should be provided with their basic survival needs and cooperate with one another. A perspective which seeks satisfaction in qualities of life that are not profit motivated as well as an end to the dangerous harm of war-mongering. Sara Robinson at AlterNet described the vision nicely –

"Still, we can close our eyes and linger over every shimmering detail. The optimistic comfort of a middle-class life in which most Americans have dignified work, happy families, and enough wealth plus some to share. The relief of knowing that our basic needs for adequate shelter, healthy food and water, safe work, inspired education, useable transportation, essential healthcare, world-class recreation, and a good retirement are met through strong, trustworthy community commitments we can count on. The peace of mind that comes from knowing that we're providing all of this in ways that won't deprive our grandchildren of options crucial to their own survival. We want justice, equity, opportunity, and a government and an economy that are finely tuned to the spritely and practical rhythms of the common good. We want to be rich in the things that genuinely matter, rather than slaves to predatory institutions that produce things that don't. That's our vision, and we're sticking to it."

My own heart's mind sticks with that too. I understand Holmes advice – "We do not look at the things which are seen as being eternal. Behind the visible and changeable is the changeless Reality, the Eternal One, working in time and space for the expression of Itself. The Divine Ideas stand back of all human thought, seeking admittance through the doorway of the mind." Who could doubt that the vision expressed above is the work of our Creator's will and desire for humanity ?

Holmes continues – "If we look at love long enough, we shall become lovely, for this is the way of love. God is Love. If we gaze longingly at joy, it will make its home with us, and we shall enter its portals and be happy. If we seek the Divine in men, we shall find it, and be entertaining angels unawares. God's ideas and attributes are eternal and cannot change. In change, is the Changeless. In time, is the Eternal and Timeless. In things, the Creator manifests. His power and glory forevermore." Divine Discontent. God setting right the world, through the only means that God has – the yearnings of man for a better state of Life.

Echoing Sara Robinson – "Trust the dream. Trust it enough to not only talk about it, but defend it proudly to any and all bullies. Trust the deep wisdom and sanity of it. Trust your own craziness in believing in it. Trust the other people who share it. Trust the change that you create while you pursue it. Trust that much of that imagined world has existed before; and trust also that it will – in a new and better form – rise again." I trust in such visions of radical possibilities I know now what I can't forget and I will not shut up.

~ perspective

There is a "good" way that I
feel deep in my inner core and
I am committed to assisting it's
birth and unfolding for I am
committed to living my "dream"
of a better world.
I am happy that the world changes
and that the rules of how the world
"works" are changing along with it.
I will not waste my time in despair
if an effort appears to fail for I
know that simmering below the
surface appearance the best of
that effort is reassembling itself.
I am not afraid to support new
and novel ideas or to commit to
something different.
When I recognize an innovator I
go into encouraging and support
modes – if someone seems good
at thinking about such aspects of
politics, media or economics in a
new way – I'm there to appreciate
them and stand beside them.

#change #discontent #education #experience #metaphysics #sanity #trust #values #war #wisdom