September 30, 2020

02

Safety, security, stability are 
the three foundational necessities
for life as we would like to live it.

They are as much an internal orientation
as they are an external reality.

Someone who has been physically/sexually/emotionally abused,
and place them in a safe/secure/stable environment,
and it will take them forever to feel safe/secure/stable.

Take someone who has been betrayed,
and how long will it be
before they can trust themselves to anyone?

This is where establishing,
deepening
and maintaining
a vitally alive relationship with our inner self 
becomes essential.

What keeps us going
if not knowing who/what we can count on?
Who/what is the most reliable source
of helpful presence in our life
than the two million year old person within
who comes packed in the DNA
of each of us
to comfort and console,
guide and direct,
us on our way through 
the contexts and circumstances 
of our daily walk?

Why don't we devote ourselves
to the care and tending of our relationship
with the Other within?

What do you think Marianne Moore meant
when she said,
"The cure for loneliness is solitude"?
Who do we find waiting for us
in our solitude but The One Who Is With Us Always?

Our "Two Million Year Old Self" (Anthony Stevens,
Carl Jung) is an aspect of our Unconscious Mind
(So-called because we are not conscious of it),
and is "The One Who Knows" within
who we experience as "A Very Present Help In Time Of Trouble,"
and is the origin of our "holy nudges,"
and "sudden inspirations,"
and "providential realizations,"
and "propitious interventions" 
in the form of things that occur to us "out of the blue,"
and change our course to "save the day"
and more than that.

Where would any of us be
without our "invisible means of support"
(Bill Moyers)?

Each of us is born with all we need
to find what we need
to make our way through our life.
Why do we ignore that,
or despise it,
in favor of "blind guides"
and bad bets?

–0–

01

Britain felt worse during the endless days of World War II.
And Rome during the forever-long collapse of the Caesars.
The people who have felt worse--
and faced worse--
through the bitter winds of time
from the beginning until now
would not fit within the confines of this country
or all countries on this planet.

So stop your whining. 
Nothing is free.

We walked into the voting booths in 2016--
or didn't vote at all--
thinking it didn't matter what we did.
Has anybody ever been more wrong over the full sweep of time?

Our assumptions,
expectations
and the things we took for granted
have us here, now.
We did not know what we were doing.
We did not care what we did.
And we are looking for someone to fix it for us.
To make it go away.

"We did it to our ownselves."
And it will be a long time gone.

So put your walking shoes on,
and step into doing what needs to be done,
one day at a time
for as long as it takes
to be at a better place,
individually and collectively.

Start by voting for Joe Biden.
And by being right about what's important.
And being willing to go to hell for what is,
because we will certainly go to hell for what isn't.

And knowing when your assumptions are invalid
and your expectations are groundless,
and when you are failing to tend your responsibilities
to democracy and all the values worth living for--
and being who we all need each other to be
for as long as life shall last.