The other day I was sitting in a coffee shop and overheard a conversation by some high schoolers, probably juniors or seniors. They were talking about how sophomores would look down upon the freshman and say things like, “stupid freshman,” and these kids were taken aback by this statement, pointing out these sophomores were freshman too not too long ago, and now they had turned against what used to be their own kind.

This pattern is pretty common, isn’t it? Although being a freshman is a necessary bridge that leads to being a sophomore, like all stepping stones they are needed until they no longer are. But what good does it do to invalidate that stepping stone just because you are no longer there?

If you like where you are now, why not simply recognize that that stepping stone, that bridge was necessary to get to where you are now. In this recognition, there is a feeling of gratitude and a sense of respect towards others who are walking the path you, too, once walked.

It seems like, for some reason, there is a tendency to burn our bridges, as if it is “bad” to be at a lower level, as if we have to totally obliterate where we once were to fully embrace where we are now. This manifests itself in the form of arrogance and judgmentalism. “Why can’t you see what I see? You idiot, you don’t know what I know. I know better than you. You’re retarded.”

Yet how do we not know that where the person is now is not exactly where they need to be. Perhaps it’s precisely where their soul chose to be even before they were born, and who knows what positive benefits them being where they are will have on others. Who knows what incredible benefits will ripple through the rest of the universe simply because another was willing to “be at a lower level” on the physical plane?

When we drop the notion that one level is better than another, and I mean really drop that, there’s an openness that’s created that allows other to be wherever they are, no matter if we see them as incredibly wise or utterly deluded. There’s a sense of peace in this. There’s a sense of, “ahh, I can stop going to war with others. I can quit arguing with reality. Things really are okay the way they are, even if they don’t look okay.”

If the ego could be defined as “resistance to reality,” this pulls out one of its supporting legs and helps us release yet another trigger that sparks us into conflict and division.

Instead of moving from lower to higher as if we’re moving from better to worse, it becomes simply the understanding that at different levels, we learn different lessons, we have different experiences, we come to clarity on different aspects of the whole, and we become aware of yet another facet of All That Is.

Without the division of right and wrong, good and bad, better or worse, and should’s and shouldn’ts, there’s just different games for people to play, different expressions for consciousness to take form as. There’s just the Divine experiencing itself from every perspective possible. As is sometimes said, without any part of All That Is, All That Is would not be ALL That Is.

And so this part of the journey is about ending the inner war, about stopping the tendency of the right hand slapping the left, of the mouth biting the nose, as if there is benefit in someone beating itself up.

As we let go of the need to give our love and approval only to those we deem acceptable, we let go of even more conditions upon our Love and allow Love to flow that much more.

No battle. No struggle. No judgement. No looking down upon. No patronizing. No condemnation. Just Acceptance. Peace. Love.

and is not that one of the things people crave most? Just to be accepted for who they are without having to put on some false mask in the hope that they will then be accepted? Don’t we all want to just be loved for who we really are?

Let’s create that space. Let’s open up and love people for who they are, love ourselves for who we are, not because of something.. not because we got A’s on our report cards or hit the ball out of the park… not because of something that we have done to deserve this love, but simply because we are who we are. Love that is freely given, always available, and eternally present.

Just Love…

Been rockin’ out some talks on video lately as I travel around.

Here’s one on the nature of awareness, affectionate awareness.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgLAy7LqzMY

So I’ve been living on the road for two months now, mostly sleeping in my car, but occasionally throwing up my tent when I feel like camping somewhere beautiful,  grabbing a hotel room when we get a snowstorm, or staying with friends along the way. It’s been really nice and it’s amazing how valuable I’m finding social interaction and friendship to be. I’m not sure I’ve valued it more my entire life than now after spending so much time flying solo. Have you ever seen the movie Into the Wild? It’s very much been a source of inspiration as me, with a kid my age, living here in Atlanta, with the similar driving forces, taking off and heading out to travel solo across the country. Anyways, at the end of the movie, there’s a quote where the main character, who earlier in the movie had said that God’s place is all around us so the joy of life doesn’t come principally from human relationships, but at the end of the movie, he changes his stance and says that happiness is only real when shared.

There’s been many changes here, many of them amazing and many of them challenging, but they have all contributed to my growth and expansion.

I’ve got to say that the time I’ve spent with people has been some of the best time I’ve had thus far, even if it’s something as simple as sitting together on a couch without saying anything. Quality time together is very valuable to me, and from the bottom of my heart I am grateful beyond words to everyone I have had a chance to spend time with thus far.

As I started writing this last night, I was actually feeling a bit heartbroken. It feels like my lifelong dreams, my current way of life, and my familiar sense of self are all being crushed right before my eyes. Those things I had been clinging to for years, it’s like I’m being swept right off my feet and there’s nothing left to grab onto. Just a falling into an abyss. Death. Resisting this is incredibly painful and so there’s just a letting go of trying to do anything and allowing what is to be.

Seeking through Traveling

It’s funny.. most every time I tell people about what I’m doing, just taking off to go wherever I want whenever I want and traveling across the country by following my intuition, the typical response is something along the lines of “That’s so cool! You’re living the dream! I wish I could do the same thing!” and yeah it is amazing, but actually going through this process really takes the rose colored glasses off your head. A lot of naiveté about “living a free life” is all smashing down in the face of reality. I had a chance to talk with a friend tonight who’s gone through a similar experience when he spent several months hiking 2,000 miles up the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine and it was nice to be able to relate to someone as they went through the process of watching their romantic notions about taking off on an epic adventure all get swept away too. I suppose you could say it’s part of the maturation process. People always think that this whole experience is amazing and that this is some sort of dream-life, but my experience of it after two months is that it can be fucking HARD at times. It’s truly not what I was expecting. It’s a lot of growth and much of it has been painful. When people suggest that traveling the world must be some sort of ideal dream life, I used to agree. For a while it would make me wince. I used to think so too… For years I did actually. It’s NOT the key to happiness!!!

See, I’ve always loved traveling and I’ve been blessed to have many opportunities to do so over the years. Admittedly, much of my fun travel has stemmed from the idea that “out there” there’s something that I want, whether it’s fun new experiences or whatever. One of my favorite questions to ask people for years has been, “If you had all the time and money in the world, what would you do?” Invariably more than 90% of the responses would include “travel.” There’s a saying (I think it was Yogi Berra) that no matter where you go, there you are, and that’s so true! You take yourself with you, your happiness and your pain. You can’t run from your pain or towards your happiness. Try as we may, it just doesn’t work this way.

This desire to “grab happiness” manifests in many ways, whether it’s trying to gain the approval or love of another, control another, be a good person, be successful, make a lot of money, be a good manifester, live the life of your dreams, or whatever it is… how much of our activities come from the idea of trying to “get more happiness,” really, as if it was an emotional thing to be obtained? Intellectually we may know better, but how often do we feel and act that way regardless?

I don’t know what the answer is for you, you have to look for yourself. What I’m finding happening here is that I’m watching lots of the old familiar dreams (the ones based in seeking something outside myself, primarily) be torn away while simultaneously finding that I’m losing the drive to try and resurrect that familiar sense of grasping. (Thank God…)

I thought I was gonna be moving to Boulder, CO, but now it seems that the intuitive push was simply to get me to go out into the world, to make the move, to grow comfortable with not having a home, to make a home in the unknown, to be at home in the here and now, quite literally and even physically. Where I am in any moment, this is my home. Here I am.

There has been much avoidance of simply being in the here and now. The thought of “what’s next” or “how can I make this moment better” can be very tantalizing and a great way to avoid noticing and being present with what is, in this moment.

Going Anywhere from Here

Just had an ‘aha’ while writing this. I can go anywhere from HERE. Everything is HERE.

When my traveling is seeking based, it always ends in a let down. The experience of actually being “out there” is never the same as my dream of out there.

Being HERE, there is the ability to go anywhere without ever leaving HERE. By this I mean the locationless Here, the spaceless and timeless Here. It’s totally okay to travel, but if we fail to recognize the present moment, the world can never be a satisfactory replacement.

We can experience this over and over and keep trying, thinking that the next adventure will be different, but it doesn’t work that way. When there’s a grounding in being Here, there’s a freedom to enjoy wherever you are, whether you’re traveling or not. It seems like when you give up your focus on being in any particular physical location, you find that you’re both always traveling and never traveling. This sounds kinda paradoxical, but it’s kinda like realizing that you’re always in the present moment and the deeper part of you within (not sure how else to word it), which is not based in space and time, never goes anywhere. Simultaneously, there is the recognition that every experience here on planet earth is a trip through space and time. Even if you’re sitting at home in your room, you are traveling.

Traveling without seeking feels very different from traveling with seeking. It’s not the traveling itself that is the issue, but the seeking energy behind it. Traveling with seeking feels like chasing that elusive carrot and thinking you’re enjoying that carrot now when you’re out there. Traveling without seeking, there is no carrot, and it’s realized there need not be one. Being HERE is already sufficient and there need not be a something else to be viewed as a source of happiness.

This seems to be reflected in many areas of my life. Seeking love/joy/happiness/approval/whatever in relationship repeatedly ends poorly. Experiencing relationships without seeking something from people I have less experience with, so that’d be something else to discover. What are human relationships like when you give up that grasping movement that manifests as neediness, clinginess, control, attachment, aversion, conflict, and so on? What’s it like to completely and totally give up needing something from another and yet still fully being present with them and enjoying the experience? Again, let’s find out, without desperately trying to find out.

Moving Right Along

So yeah, where do I go next? What’s next in store for my life? I don’t know. I really don’t. That question doesn’t seem to be the most important thing right now, as it feels good to just BE, and not because I’m making it feel good, but because the seeking energy has dropped. At the same time, I am open to this sense of at-home’ness that is already here now manifesting in physical form as well and finding somewhere dry to live and with rugged landscapes and wonderful people to enjoy. Right now I’m enjoying being at home within, and this is enough. It feels heavenly and divine.

The idea that “traveling must be a dream life” doesn’t even make much sense anymore. Just doesn’t even register. In the dream world, it very well may be. To the soul, or whatever this is, that is very secondary. To dream about that is to miss this. I have no idea what this is, but here it is. Spacious and empty.

Validating All That Is

So today I had the opportunity to experience what it’s like to be cast as the role of villain and to have a bunch of people get angry at me, something I haven’t experienced in quite some time now. Although it certainly wasn’t a pleasant experience, I learned a lot from it and would like to use it as a springboard to talk about how to respond when you are on the receiving end of attack, insult, and abuse.

Whether we’re talking about something big like a terrorist threatening to blow your head off or something small like someone casting you a disapproving look, let’s explore what we can do as conscious beings when we find ourselves in a situation where we are being attacked.

First let’s hear what Osho has to say:

Whenever someone comes to fight you, absorb him;
When someone insults you, absorb him and see — his insult becomes a flower.
He is releasing energy. When someone insults you, he is giving away energy.
He is foolish, stupid, so you absorb his energy, thank him, and go back and see what happens. When someone is ready to fight, simply allow him.
Be as if you are not there and he is fighting an emptiness.
Allow him, don’t resist, and you will come to know.
There is no other way; just listening to me will not do.
This is an art, it is not a science. Science can be explained, art has to be experienced.

-OSHO

Next let’s look to the Bible and hear what Jesus’ take on the matter is:

You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

-Matthew 5:38-42

One thing that we can see that all of these beings have in common is that they don’t fight back. They don’t judge the other person. It’s almost like they are standing open in a state of transparency, where nothing can truly hit them. They may certainly be struck physically, yes, but even that doesn’t get to them in their heart.

From Non-resistance to Non-violent Resistance

Now people often use statements like these to justify pacifism, saying that war is never the answer and that if you sit back loving people all day, all abuse will stop some day.

One good point that’s brought up in the book series Conversations with God is that allowing an abuser to continue to abuse another is beneficial for neither the abuser nor the one who is abused, for that teaches the abuser that such behavior is acceptable. What’s suggested instead is to do what’s best for yourself for in so doing, you will automatically be doing what is in the best interest of the all, for you actually ARE the all.

This is discussed in Book 1, page 132, for those of you who own a copy of the book.

Treating others with love does not necessarily mean allowing others do what they wish.

Parents learn this early with children. Adults are not so quick to learn it with other adults, nor nation with nation.

Yet despots cannot be allowed to flourish, but must be stopped in their despotism. Love of Self, and love of the despot, demands it.

-Conversations with God

When we hear about the idea of non-resistance, that may conjure up the idea of being a punching bag and getting your head kicked in.

Nonviolence is an intensely active force when properly understood and used.

-Gandhi

Here’s a clip from the film Gandhi where he speaks in front of a crowd and discusses this in more detail:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3tjIiWIkAQ

What’s advocated here is not some submissive acceptance of what happens, but what MLK Jr. termed non-violent resistance.

Non-violent resistance is not for cowards. It is not a quiet, passive acceptance of evil. One is passive and non-violent physically, but very active spiritually, always seeking ways to persuade the opponent of advantages to the way of love, cooperation, and peace.

The non-violent resister accepts suffering without retaliating; accepts violence, but never commits it.

In non-violent resistance, one learns to avoid physical violence toward others and also learns to love the opponents with “agape” or unconditional love–which is love given not for what one will receive in return, but for the sake of love alone. It is God flowing through the human heart.

-Martin Luther King, Jr.

Love is not weak. Love is POWERFUL!

Now I know that advocating resistance in any way may make some spiritual ears recoil, and that’s okay. In many minds there may be a belief system set up that says “resistance = BAD!”

Think of this form of resistance as a way of cultivating one’s inner power in the name of what one believes. Love isn’t just the stereotypical new agey smiley happy gooey Love. That is one expression of it, sure, but Love can also be expressed with extreme intensity, such as a mother diving into traffic to pull her child back into safety. Love is NOT always some passive thing saying, “Oh, that doesn’t sound like such a good idea. Let’s talk about this and see if we can come up with an agreement here without arguing or raising our voices.”

Many spiritual people shut down their inner power in the name of ego transcendence. I’ve been there and done that.

The ego looooves the solar plexus chakra and to be a powerful force in the world, but that inner spirit can also be used by the heart to powerfully express Love in the world.

Speaking of standing up for what one believes, let’s take a look at this from a Law of Attraction standpoint by listening to what Abraham has to say on the topic of terrorism in the world:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqzk4riWo6U

The key is recognizing the intense contrast that is born from these experiences and focusing our attention upon the desires for peace, well-being, and understanding that are born out of these events.

What’s Your Take on the Issue?

What does the wisdom within you guys have to say?

When people have attacked you in some way, how have you responded and how effective was your response in creating the desired outcome?

This spiritual pathway can be very much like a roller coaster. There are highs and lows that happen against the backdrop of being, and they can be pretty intense. I often share some of my dark experiences here on this site. The past few days have been like that again. Big emotional upheaval, anger, rage, confusion, ego, and the fear of backsliding into unconsciousness. Y’know… that whole bit…

Funny to see the latest WINGS post be in alignment with what’s being experienced here. People talk about the mercury retrograde and whatnot. I have no idea what that stuff means, but it seems like a lot of that fits. Neat-o.

Anyways, regarding the dark stuff, one interesting to see is that it’s like a part of you burns up within. It’s like a mini-death, a release of old energy that is no longer you nor in harmony with your new vibration. We can think of it as an emotional storm, or a fire burning within. It feels like a part of you (quite literally) burns up in the process.

But what’s left after any big forest fire? Fresh, live, nutrient-rich soil. (The past few times I’ve written that line, I’ve “accidentally” typed the word “soul” instead of “soil.” hehe.) It’s a perfect place to start anew.

In this way, it’s like a sort of rebirth. Part of you literally dies and the part of you which can neither die nor be (re)born shines that much more clearly.

After the fire there’s a feeling of increased freedom, but cling not to this experience for it, like every other experience we can have, will pass. Enjoy it, but don’t get attached. There’ll probably be more storms to come. More darkness to face later. More inner nooks and crannies of fear to heal and transmute back into light.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0v3a-Z4QhY

The quotes from that video come from the book Oneness.

Also, this Adyashanti article helped me return back to the direct experience of who I truly am. Perhaps some of you will find them helpful as well.

In any event, hi.

It’s pretty nice to no longer feel like I have the IQ and clarity of a slug in the mud. It’s quite wonderful to feel open, relaxed, and free. Yes it is… It’s so.. natural.

What have you guys found to be helpful when you’re caught in the midst of the fire within? How do you relate to it? What do you find afterwards when the fire subsides?

So part of this spiritual path involves moving from fear towards love, becoming more and more loving.

The past few days I’ve allowed myself to be in my ego. To be angry. To feel my deep sadness. To experience this energy that for so long I’ve been trying to run away from, transcend, transform, heal, or in any way shape or form change. This egoic presence something I haven’t experienced in quite a long time, much less embraced.

I’ve decided to stop running from anything that is within me. Whether this fear is me or not me is not of primary importance right now. It is here, and I’m not going to run from it.

Diving into my own anger, I’m noticing one fear arising in particular: If I allow myself to experience my darkness, I’ll somehow slide back into my ego and become totally unconscious again, like some sort of crazed psycho killer or something. (Gotta love how the mind works…) A high degree of unconsciousness basically the complete failure for what one would call a spiritual person.

Looking at this more closely, we see that this fear is actually afraid of itself. It’s fear afraid of fear. The ego afraid of itself. It is a self-sustaining and self-reinforcing mechanism.

If you’re afraid of experiencing you’re own fear, noticing your existing fear will bring up more fear, which will create more, which will create more, and so on.

Acceptance of All of Yourself

Recognizing that I am All That Is, I want to be comfortable embracing the totality of my being. I want to be comfortable with both comfort and discomfort, at peace with both peace and stress. No matter what aspect of myself that is arising, I want to be okay with it.

I’m talking complete, full, and deep acceptance of all that I Am, the good and the bad.

Amazingly, (this amazes me every time it happens) the more I’m willing to sit with my own darkness, whether it takes the form of fear, anger, sadness, frustration, depression, anxiety, or whatever else, the more I can sit with it and notice it as presence, the more it seemingly just evaporates and dissolves right before my eyes.

Nothing needs to be done to fix, change, or rise above darkness. It just kinda takes care of itself.

Again, the following quote is proving itself to be the case:

Your task in life is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and remove all the barriers that you have built against love.

–Rumi

Awareness itself is transformative. The presence of conscious awareness is itself healing.

Unconsciousness is nothing more than not being aware. When you’re aware of whatever processes or fears you were previously unconscious to, those patterns no longer run on unconscious autopilot. Awareness disengages those processes.

The great thing about anger is that you don’t have to go digging deep to find the root of your crud. It’s like it comes to the surface for you and becomes incredibly obvious. What a gift, this anger!

It’s almost like resistance itself is what sustains our inner darkness and demons. As counter-intuitive as it may seem at first, if we allow our darkness to be an integral part of us and give it just as much importance and permission to be here as our light, the darkness just blows away like dust in the wind and transforms into light. The two become one.

This integration process allows for equal value to ALL aspects of the infinite, yet still provides a space for you to choose what aspect of yourself you wish to experience out of your own free will.

In a similar way, all men are created equal, yet you can still choose with whom you wish to interact.

In the Sedona Method, one of the end goals, if you wanna think of it that way, is imperturbability, which is basically not being uprooted by anything that happens in the world. It’s deeply being centered in who you are so that you’re okay no matter what happens. This is what I’m talking about.

It’s about being okay with everything in this world, everyone in this world, and everything inside of you.

Deep acceptance of All That Is.

I recently found out (this time through facebook status updates since I don’t watch the news) that California voted to uphold Proposition 8, banning gay marriages.

It’s a pretty hot topic, with lots of polarized debate, and it’s not something that I normally talk about since politics just flat out doesn’t interest me.

That said, this whole situation is like a thermometer. It’s simply showing us the level of consciousness of the collective at the time of the vote, as well as allowing people to see who they’re choosing to be in relationship to it, just like everything else in life.

The collective hasn’t shifted totally to unconditional allowance in one fell swoop, but it is shifting, piece by piece.

It used to be that a decision such as allowing gay marriage was completely unthinkable. The fact that it’s even up for discussion is already a wonderful step in the direction of equality. No we’re not there yet, but the momentum is still flowing in that direction, as it has been for quite some time...

It’s like the civil rights movement with black people. Racial equality didn’t happen all at once overnight, but as a process of evolution, step by step.

Recognizing and appreciating the shift in the direction of equality, and standing for equality and unconditional acceptance ourselves, we can choose to accept those who don’t accept full equality yet, seeing them as equal in value to us.

Those with another perspective are simply unique facets of life expressing another aspect of itself. Everything is the One in expression. Other people may certainly have different beliefs, different programming, and a different upbringing, but that in no way invalidates them as beings worthy of love and acceptance.

This situation gives us the opportunity to be the change we wish to see in the world.

No matter what decisions people make, how they vote, or who they choose to be, we can accept them fully as they are.

Oregon Autumn by Marc Adamus

Most of us have qualities about ourselves that society would judge as less than “ideal”… whatever that is. Maybe we’re not really really ridiculously good looking, maybe we’re overweight, maybe we’re gay, maybe we’ve got ADD, maybe we’re not the smartest cookie in the batch… whatever. Everyone’s got something..

The thing is though, in this lifetime, you’re not meant to be anything other than who and what you really are. You’re here to BE YOURSELF, the unique expression of the infinite you.

You don’t have to box yourself in to some arbitrary idealized standard in order to be lovable, acceptable, and worthy. Nope!

Looking At Our Bad Side

Whatever energy you find within yourself, whether “good” or “bad,” it’s there for a reason. It was created by your energy. There are no accidents and no mistakes. It’s not random.

Whether that “unacceptable” energy is something to be healed and transformed or it’s meant to be something we experience throughout the whole of our lives, whatever role that energy is here to teach us about ourselves, it is what it is and so it’s up to us to accept that energy and allow it to be, without resistance.

If that energy is a block that’s meant to be dissolved, it will be through non-resistance. If it’s something that’s meant to be expressed and experienced in this lifetime, then we’ll allow ourselves to express it and experience it fully without judgment, guilt, or condemnation.

We can allow the energy to do what it needs to do. It’s got its own intelligence. You are that intelligence. It’s not separate from you. You know what to do.

Accepting Ourselves Now

Right now, we simply are the way we are. We may certainly be different later on, yet ironically it’s through full and total acceptance of who we are now that we find ourselves automatically rising up to the healthiest and most loving and natural state possible.

Paradox!

It is by accepting the here and now that we afford ourselves the highest likelihood of transforming what is here and now into something else.

But I Don’t Want More of It!

There’s this fear that if we accept what’s here, the universe will be like, “Oh, you like this? Okay. We’ll give you more of the same then.” and so things won’t change and we’ll just keep getting more of the same.

It turns out… that’s not the case! What you resist persists and what you look at disappears. In your own experience, has this been the case?

Being Yourself, Regardless of Others’ Judgments

When you’re willing to be yourself regardless of what others think, when you’re willing to be the unique expression of All That Is that you were born to be, whether your talents are absoulutely horrendous, or absoulutely amazing, the willingness and freedom to be yourself is what is really inspirational.

(Fun note: I “accidentally” typed absoulutely instead of absolutely. It’s gonna stay that way for now.)

Tools to Help Accept Yourself Fully As You Are

There are some tools and techniques that we can use to help us accept ourselves to ever-increasing degrees.

Two tools that I’d highly recommend are EFT and The Sedona Method.

There are many more tools, and even things that don’t involve tools or strategies. When it comes to self-acceptance, what have you guys found valuable?

Welcome welcome, America’s new president, Barack Obama!

This afternoon he gave his inauguration speech in front of roughly 3 bazillion people all crowded along the Washington Mall.

Thank goodness there was so much body heat going around, because it was a cold day today, yet the human popsicles came out regardless to watch our new president be sworn into office.

One of the big buzzwords these days is “Change.” So, setting this context, let’s highlight a few of the changes that he mentioned in his inauguration speech today that specifically tie into the idea of spiritual change and Oneness.

Choosing Oneness over Separation

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

Love over fear. Unity trumps separation. Let go of outdated belief systems that no longer serve us.

Unconditional Love is just that: UNCONDITIONAL. That means without condition. Regardless of race, culture, history, or belief systems, you are Loved just the same. You need do nothing to earn it, nor can you lose it. You Are Truly Loved, unconditionally and infinitely Loved. It is Love that is our foundational bedrock, our core of being.

The All Are the One

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus — and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

Our differences may exist on the surface, and we all play unique roles within All That Is, but it is our variety that makes us special, and our diversity that, when fully honored, paradoxically draws us together as One.

You and I all fit into the puzzle of All That Is when we are fully being who we are: unique expressions of the One.

Creation is Power

To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society’s ills on the West — know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

If you have a bunch of blocks lying on the ground, it takes power to creatively put them all together as a building. Yet when you have a building constructed of blocks, it takes virtually no power to destroy the building.

Power lies in Creation. Only the powerful can create. Anyone can destroy because it takes no power.

True Change Starts With You

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter’s courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent’s willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.

You are your society. You are the people. The All are the One and the One is the All. We are one nation.

It is up to you to take responsibility for your life, to create your reality, and to serve yourself through service to others, for you and the other are One.

It’s time for change! Let’s sing it with Here II Here!

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