A Simple Prayer
My heart goes out to you if you are in pain. I shed my fair share of tears yesterday and I am sure there are more to come.
My prayer is that all of the people who are suffering experience some ease in their pain. I am not referring to just the victims of violence, but to all people who are suffering. I am praying for everyone, including the people who are doing acts of violence because in order for our society to move in a positive direction, these people need forgiveness and they need recognition of their own pain. We cannot banish them to Mars, hurt them, or lock them all up, so there needs to be another way.
The ones who are acting through violence and hate only see the world through eyes of fear. They are living trapped in a their own delusions, believing that the world is against them and perceiving their security and freedom as being threatened (because it is). The violence and fighting is a reaction to a growing society of love, acceptance, and unification and these things do not go well with hate and fear. This is a matter of living in pain as a lifestyle and culture. I do not believe these are bad people. I believe these are people trapped in delusion and suffering. They are stuck in a mindfuck of extremely old ways of being. They are living in full fear. They are living in survival mode, protecting what they think they must. This is a matter of an inability to see the world through eyes of peace and love and compassion.
Yes, this fucking sucks. It sucks that there are still people who want to hurt other people. It sucks that there are people who do not believe in equality. It sucks that the world can be such a dark and violent place. It’s sick and painful and gut wrenching to think that in 2017, people are still losing their lives over human equality. That is what is happening. What happened in Charlottesville is a result of a culture of people who are currently existing only in survival mode, the world around them is a constant threat to the destruction of their belief system and they are “fighting back” to protect the downfall of what is to eventually come. I am in no way saying this is fine and well. What I am saying is to step back and see that hating and “othering” bring us full circle into hate. Combatting anger and violence with more anger and violence will get us nowhere and will bring us more pain.
We are being called to rise as one people, to think, and to act with love and compassion. I am not saying don’t be angry. BE ANGRY. But also, step back and understand that all human thought and action at its deepest root comes from either love or fear. WE are capable of rising into love and “fighting back” with even more love, compassion, and prayer. You cannot take down a society of people who are unified. We are being called to continue to unify. The world is changing very quickly and some people cannot keep up. They are revolting and they will not succeed. We are becoming more unified with every act of hate. Hate is a toxin and it’s coming up to be cleansed away. We are growing stronger everyday. This is a prayer for everyone who is suffering. May you be able to someday love.