TheRightFirstStepI am tired of negativity, discrimination, divisiveness, fear-mongering, hate-talk, racism, misogyny, homophobia, bigotry and classism.  Actually, to be truthful, I am worn down by them.  Theses are tedious, never-ending energies that seem to be hurled around ad nauseam.

I get it, we all have biases.  We have preferences.  We are drawn to some people and things, while we are repelled by others.  But these days, it feels like we are being manipulated by some external force that wants to increase these hurtful and harmful prejudices.  “They” wants us to feel and be isolated from one another.

It is as if we are all part of a large marketing experiment, where if we all get isolated into our assigned group.., a market research group sort of.   Each group is then reinforced to believe that their position, issues, concerns, traits, and perspectives are right and good.  Each group is fed regular doses of information that categorize, reinforce and support their rightness.  We are led to believe that if our segment does not achieve its goal, we will lose, possibly even cease to exist.  

We become so focused on the group that were sorted into, that we begin to lose the perspective of the other groups.  Those groups become ‘them’.  If any of ‘them’..,  are not aligned or don’t share our perspective, they are viewed as the “other-side”.  They become the bad guys. They are the enemy.  We are good, they are bad.  Us against Them.  Justice against Evil.

This means each group has been successfully separated from the whole.  This means they have been reduced in size.  Yet, because members of the group feel fully supported by the group, they are emboldened.  They take up the cause of the group and they prepare for battle… They position themselves to win. To dominate before they are dominated.  Some strike out – prepared to win at any cost.  While others buckle down to defend their position.  Without even thinking about it, we are at war!

But with who?  Why?  How did we get here?

We are so busy fighting with ourselves, that we don’t even see that we are losing the war.  Sure, maybe we win a battle here or expand our group there. Yet, as long as we are destroying our Humanity.  No one wins.  How is it we are in 2015, and we still think war (violence, separation and isolation) is the answer?

As long as we can only relate to the world from our particular groups, we will never experience or share in the benefits of the whole.   The truth is the same now as it has always been; we are one species.  There is no better than or less than.  That is all made up.  There are differences, but they are not significant enough to divide us.

This is something we are doing to ourselves.  We are the ones who are creating this sense of separation.  Every time we tear someone else down for who they are; the color of their skin, their gender, who they love, what they believe, their social situation or status… or any other way we divide and separate.  We hurt ourselves.

I have to believe that we are here to shift and change this commitment to separation.  Maybe not all of us, but enough of us who are committed to evolving the potential of Humanity to the next level.  Where, through honoring and accepting our differences, we experience the true beauty of our Oneness.  We know and live our connection to the Divine and All-That-Is.

And perhaps that is why these energies of separation and isolation are so heightened right-now.  We are at the tipping point for a new way of Being.  Each one of us that wants to be part of the evolution of human consciousness, can begin by taking down the barriers and walls that separate us.  If we pay attention to when our biases become prejudice, or when our discernment becomes judgmental; our discomfort become hate; we can slow down and make a different choice.

I wish I could say this is something I’ve already mastered.  But, that is not true.  I am just aware that this is how I want to be.  And I know that in this moment, it is the right first step.

With Light, Love, and Laughter
Charles