In his final "Sermon by the Sea" in 1959, Dr. Ernest Holmes spoke about the next step in human evolution as the development of someone who "is FOR something and AGAINST nothing."
This statement recognizes a deeper way of being, a more spiritual approach to life than ordinary human existence. How much of your energy is spent in opposition to something? Much of the peace movement is energized by those against war, or against a certain philosophy, or political party, or politician.
Ghandi saw this in starting the largest non-violent peace movement the world has ever known. His quote, "Be the peace you want to see," is a statement of deep spiritual conviction. Martin Luther King saw this as well, and today, the Season For Non-Violence covers the 64 days between the anniversaries of the deaths of these two giants.
In a recent conversation, a man saw a button I was wearing that says "May Peace Prevail on Earth," a button that I got at the Parliament of World Religions in Barcelona in 2004. The man saw the button and said, "So you are against Bush?"
"No," I said, "I am for peace."
"That means that you are against Bush and against America," he replied. "You can't have it both ways."
"Can't I just be for peace and have nothing to say about a particular leader or a particular policy?"
"No," he said, "If you are for peace, you are against our president."
I found the conversation frustrating, in part at least because I could not say that I had perfected the consciousness of being for something and against nothing. I was, at least part of me was and is, against war.
While I believe that I can be for peace and not against anyone or anything, I also recognize that this is an idea that is both alien to many and difficult to achieve. Our nature seems to be to resist what we do not want, not to take another, positive pathway to change.
Spiritualization is the overcoming of instinctual drives (at least in part). Arriving at the place of being FOR something and AGAINST nothing is, in my mind, a worthwhile goal. If and when I fully get there, I'll let you know.
Love and Light,
RevLockard
1 comment:
Shortly after I moved to this country, when the whole NRA thing was in the news, the comment that continually came up was about the first amendment and the right to bear arms. Coming from a country that does not allow people to bear arms, I found it disconcerting, to say the least, and my thought was, "What about the right NOT to bear arms?" What about the right to just live in peace and not worry that someone else who may decide to hurt me, for whatever unknown reason, may be walking around with a gun.
I think that this is probably close to what you mean when you say - being FOR something and against nothing. For me it means not having to live in fear - not having to watch my back, or worry that if something out of the ordinary should happen, my life would never be the same, i.e. being attacked, or falling ill without health coverage. What kind of country could boast itself as the greatest country on earth yet have a health system that makes money more important than the very basic fact that we share the same vulnerability when it comes to residing in a human body. And what kind of country could boast itself as the greatest country on earth, yet continually fail to take violence against women seriously. Oprah continues to say that if you are a woman born in the U.S. you're the one of the luckiest women on earth. I disagree. I believe this country has a quite a ways to go, but what I do recognize is that how ever much darkness there may be, in our own lives, or in the world around us, there is ALWAYS enough light to see us through. "It's always darkest before the dawn," and it's easy for someone to say if they aren't going through it - and if they are, it's nice to say it to someone, so thank you for your comments, and the opportunity to respond.
It doesn't seem like our politics have evolved to where they should be in this day and age, but I think if we look at it from a positive perspective, maybe we've been given this dark opportunity to recognize, once and for all, who we really are, what we really stand for and what we really want for our future, and for the future of our beloved planet.
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