Love Mind and #Charlottesville
Were you as disturbed by the recent Charlottesville violence as I was? Here's a 3 minute sermon as response.----We are one body with all other bodies and the earth and the sky and the Milky Way and all that stunning shit visible through the Hubble, and with all the creatures that are inside of us, and all that is invisible, too. We are made of the same atomic stuff and come from the same unifying ground, from which we are never separate.We have been tricked (by biology or culture maybe) into thinking we are fundamentally little independent bots in skin suits- but we are all arising in the same field and deeply intertwined.In right alignment, the perception of being separate is called individuation, and is a joyful expression of the infinite ways of creation- so many flavors of being human, how exciting! Yet healthy individuation comes accompanied by a deeper knowing that the differences are just superficial.When it is wrong alignment, separation becomes false identity. The identity allows us to "other"- alien, outside of us- to label- which is the first tool of oppression or harm. And violence to another is the ultimate form of this separation.Whether it leads to violence or not, hatred is a mental illness. A possession perhaps. Or a virus spread from one mind and hand to another, a virus that attacks our natural mental health state, which is love. The hate virus builds scaffolding in families and social institutions to crawl across and spread beyond the individual, to lock itself in place. Those who are infected with hate are sick, and when they cross to threat and attack, they are criminally ill, and need to be treated as such.My first wave of responses to the latest wave of separation based #terrorism, in this case #White, were dismayed, disgusted, sad, angry, fearful, analytical, checked out, and full on Valkyrie warrior. I couldn't sleep. It's an ever present force, this separation impulse, it's not new... but it's hot right now in the culture. People are experiencing so many threats to their falsely constructed identity in the boundary-less new world!The essence of love mind is to see all people as the miracles walking, the 'natural beauty and intelligence of the cosmos arising', to be in wonder at the infinite unique combinations that manifest as 'human'...This morning, I remember who I am and what I'm made of. I'm not my body only, you're not your body only. I'm not the identity my body confers on me to others, neither are you.To those who've forgotten and become the hate, I'm sorry for your pain. Your incapacity to see the connections. I'm more sorry for your victims. You may have gone to the point of no return, but maybe not, maybe not. You too were innocent once. Taught to hate. And miracles happen. Spontaneous grace happens. Jivamuktis happen.Don't knowingly harm others. Not with unkind words nor with physical injury, nor with exploitation or advantage seeking. If you're hating, you're just being exploited by the virus of hate ... don't be its tool. Person to person OR group to group.Love across all the lines. Live and act from the direct experience of our shared field of creation. Double down on justice, kindness, union. Invest in your own capacity to live as peace, to show up with supple strength. To show up for those in harm's way. To face down the criminally ill with a firm NO. To dismantle the infrastructure of hate. That takes psycho-spiritual skills, integral skills- and community that will help you hold it. Pull people together or join with others that are committed to living this way.To a Just Peace.#one #nonviolence #disarm #charlottesville #vedanta #lovearmy