A few years ago I made friends on a FaceBook group with a woman I did not know.
This was a very improbable friendship, as many things could have separated us.
As time went, our convictions, opinions, political orientation, showed strongly different, at opposite ends of the spectrum, apparently.
But we had connected, and “liked” some of each other’s posts and exchanged comments in places that felt very compatible…
I never met Jane (let’s call her Jane) in person.
She lives far away from me and the over tone of her culture looks quite different from the one here in the San Francisco Bay area.
Some of Jane’s posts and opinions are disturbing to me and sometimes I feel the pull for rejecting and judging what seems so wrong to me.
My ego is usually tempted to argue and condemn.
As ego does.
But then, you see, a few years ago I witnessed the moral misery of a population of neighbors and fellows humans starting to judge, blame and despise each other for differences of inclinations, during the latest US presidential campaign.
It was quite disheartening to see a lot of my “liberal” friends (these open hearted, open minded, gender flexible, ecologically concerned, cutting edge thinkers, yoga practicing, meditating, organic eating people) going verbally at “the other side” with a vengeance, driven by fear, indignation and dread in front of the big surging wave of patriarchal conservatism.
Was i tempted to judge and blame and be fearful at the time?
You bet I was.
But something in me, deeper than the knee-jerk reaction most of us experienced, something profound was pulling at my soul: Togetherness.
I could see how much extreme polarization was engineered by the media, how much politicians and wanna-be leaders were, from their over inflated ego standpoint, pitching all of us folks against each other, using rationales and seductive arguments and poking at each other’s short comings.
Seldom heard about how, despite our differences, we were all together in this and how they would serve all of us if elected. Nope.
Mostly I saw the cultivation of fear, of disdain, of separation, of blame.
The toxic stuff that starts civil wars.
The clearest thing to me was that I did not want to be brought to hate anyone.
I did not want to despise my neighbor for not voting – thinking – believing like me.
Nor to be afraid if democracy brought for a temporary spell, a president that did not represent me in his actions and words… after all most never do.
I did not want to devolve into righteous aversion and hostility.
Anybody’s hatred no matter what label we bear, is all the same, hurtful and toxic.
So I started speaking up about that.
How when we feel righteous about despising a large population because of its political choice, we just take the hurtful road of dis-humanizing every individual in it.
For me, something luminous, powerful, unforgettable, became clearer than ever: we are all in this life together. We have more to share than to battle about.
Our planet is on the brink of an ecological disaster, entirely man-made and we need to reform our ways and stop taking our environment for granted.
We need to put our heads and our hearts together, to shift into a new paradigm…
That’s more important than the three ring circus getting most of our contemporaries’ attention.
Diversity is the name of the game here, the true riches.
Seven billions people now.
All at different stages of Life, education, evolution, freedom, and geographic locations.
All humans. All mortals. All wondrous.
All trying to live a good life though some barely survive and others thrive.
All one.
Humanity.
My tribe.
Not one chunk of it, not one color, not one party, not a nationality. Nope.
The whole beautiful mess of it.
All together, no matter what.
It’s time… can you feel it?
Time to grow up, time to share, time to celebrate, time to evolve… another step up.
We’ve been doing this for thousands of years… to outgrow what we know, and create a new reality for ourselves.
This time it’s about becoming aware that we are all connected, all interdependent, all meant to benefit from this wondrous patchwork that we are.
Our understanding of the Universe has shifted, and shifts again, science is showing us what some ancient sages already lived with, all is energy, with less matter than we ever thought but stronger bonds, no empty space, all interactive, all alive, all intelligent… we are not separate, nothing is.
Togetherness.
The only thing that really makes sense when I realize, confusedly maybe, but still, when I realize that the whole spectrum of human qualities from horrendous to magnificent is seeded in everyone of us…
We are so much alike, though with a zillion nuances, if I hurt you, I’ll be wounded somehow.
Togetherness because there is no gain on the long term, in going at each other’s throat.
Because diversity, not competition, is in Nature exactly what allows thriving.
We belong to Nature, we are breathed by Life. We don’t even beat our own hearts…
Meant to thrive together otherwise we devolve.
Togetherness because we ARE NOT our opinions. We are so much more.
We are so much alike, all bearing the seeds of every human trait…
I decided somewhere along the line that I was gonna love Jane, despite her opinions even when they irked me. And she did the same for me.
She even called on me recently to work out something that was deeply bothering her.
I was her sounding board for a moment. And I enjoyed it. I was happy to help.
She’s a good person.
You see, if a catastrophe struck, and I were to survive side by side with Jane, I’d be working with her.
I would not care whom she voted for or if some of her convictions feel wonky to me.
I would not care at all.
I’m going for togetherness, for you, and me, and Jane, and the whole beautiful mess of it all.
You can join me there, in that open field, there is so much we can share…
To our thriving!
Much love, always…
~Emmeline.