I Love You...Now Change!

Given at GNUUC 8/18/19

“The most exemplary nature is that of the topsoil. It is very Christ-like in its passivity and beneficence, and in the penetrating energy that issues out of its peaceableness. It increases by experience, by the passage of seasons over it, growth rising out of it and returning to it, not by ambition or aggressiveness. It is enriched by all things that die and enter into it. It keeps the past, not as history or as memory, but as richness, new possibility. Its fertility is always building up out of death into promise. Death is the bridge or the tunnel by which its past enters its future.”

― Wendell Berry, The Long-Legged House

Has anyone ever tried to evangelize you?

When I was in seminary, long, long ago, there was a young, earnest man named Stacy who wore a very large cross and carried a BIG Bible. He was as out of place in the progressive, UCC seminary as we UUs were in the Bible and Theology classes. Matter of fact, he seemed to derive an inordinate amount of joy from praying for UUs, especially, it would seem, me.

I just recall a few of our interchanges, but what I do remember is that the more he assumed Unitarian women were fallen Jezebels, the more annoyingly outrageous I was tempted to act (which, in seminary, isn’t very). I probably wore shorter skirts, laughed louder, and made more off-color comments.  And once, when he was telling me he’d pray for me, I said, Stacy by all means pray for me. But enlighten me: Why do you have to TELL me you are praying for me?

If he changed me, it was just to make me dig in even harder. I think those of us who are liberal/progressive in religion or politics can be a thick-headed as the people we like to complain about.

Have you ever tried to change the mind of a Trump fan?

My dentist, Dr. Flowers, which first of all, poor guy… right? His name is DON FLOWERS…. Is a raging conservative. Actually, he’s not much different than the majority of folks in Washington County. The big difference is that he starts talking about it while my mouth is full and I can’t reply. (If he only knew how many times I was tempted to bite his fingers!) I’ve reminded him numerous times that I’m a liberal. I did once ask him not to disparage President Obama. If he said anything racist or homophobic, I’d gently correct him again.

Last week, he was replacing a crown  a few days after the mass shootings. Ignoring the evidence that the Walmart shooter was clearly racist and clearly indoctrinated by Trumpish rhetoric, he started talking about the Dayton incident by announcing that he’d been in the very same shopping center earlier that day with his son who is living in Dayton. At least they can’t blame that on Trump, he proffered. The guy was a Warren/Sanders supporter and involved in Antifa. But you won’t hear THAT in the mainstream media.

You may wonder why I don’t find another dentist. Well, first of all, he’s a very good dentist, he’s extraordinarily kind and considerate, very gentle, asks me if I’m ok so many times that I get tired of it, and second, he’s one of two dentists in our small community, and the other wasn’t taking new patients.

Last time I was there, he mentioned that he, like Seth, had been in marching band, and all of the geeks and less-popular kids were there too, and how much it had meant to him. He was very concerned about how Seth was doing. I won’t say he changed any of my beliefs, or my politics, but he helped me see that he was a complex and unique human.

I’d like to make a few suggestions about change.

I do not agree with the old saw, The only thing you can change is yourself.

I understand its purpose. Trying to willfully and forcefully change others is pretty fruitless. It is sometimes our way of avoiding the truth that what we detest in the other is very present in us. It may be only a smidgen present. But it’s there, and we don’t like it. We want to get rid of it. For example, there’s a part of me that is self-righteous, indignant, and obnoxious when it comes to injustice. Very similar to Dr. Flowers and his right wing rants. That, I learned by studying Jung, is my shadow.

Second, trying to change others forcefully does not work. My husband’s brother is an ardent Trump fan, gun person, pro-lifer, born again Christian who has goaded and taunted my husband for years (thankfully this happens less than once a year since he’s in CA). But last time Eric went out there, when his dad was dying last fall, he stayed with this brother and things got very heated. It ended with Eric leaving and staying at a hotel, and with his brother calling him a snowflake. I realize this is happening in families, churches and workplaces all over this land.

It's as if we are all reading from scripts and making the same useless arguments! Are they or we changed? Rarely. What seems to happen is that we dig in our heels., becoming even more polarized.

We, as Unitarian Universalists, we represent this faith tradition. We can all do better. I know I can.

At General Assembly this summer in Spokane, a ruckus broke out over something called The Gadfly Papers. It’s self-published broadside by the Spokane minister, Dr. Todd Ekloff. Subtitled Three Inconvenient essays by one pesky minister, it’s described as a critique of the “emerging culture of political correctness, Safetyism, and Identitarianism” and their negative effect on “America’s most liberal religion.”

Ekloff starts by discussing this culture in public life outside of religion, for example on college campuses, which has been well-documented. Then he moves to detailing some events and issues that have come to pass in our denomination. I won’t go into the book in detail, because you can either read it or read about it online. There are parts I agree with, and parts I do not. What I struggle with almost 2 months later is that about 500 of my colleagues signed a letter of condemnation and disavowal of The Gadfly Papers. Many acknowledged they hadn’t read it when they signed. But that didn’t matter, they said, because POC and other marginalized people had said it was harmful.

The challenge for me is that I know Todd Ekloff. He was serving a congregation in Louisville during the 14 years I served in Lexington. Among other things, he lost a good job with a state agency because he took a public stand on same sex marriages. He refused to perform any marriages until same sex marriage was legal. He and his family suffered economically for years. I know he’s not racist, homophobic, transphobic, or any of the other labels that have been hurled at him. Or, no more so than I or you.

Here’s the point: not only are the people from the left or right not succeeding in changing others for the better, they (in this case) actually provided a real life example of what he was talking about in his essays, and, they made things way, way worse.

Scott Alexander: You don’t change anyone by “should” ing all over them.

Rev. Dr. Eklof will be fine. But I sincerely wonder whether Unitarian Universalism will be. We are shrinking, albeit more slowly, in our numbers and in our influence in the public square. “This is how the left is eating its own,” is a phrase I read in one article, and something I see happening in our institutions and our politics far beyond this denomination.

As Wendell wrote in our meditation about topsoil,

 It increases by experience, by the passage of seasons over it, growth rising out of it and returning to it, not by ambition or aggressiveness.

We are changed by life and by living with open, questing hearts and minds. We do change one another, the same way we garden, fertilize, plow and tend the soil. Gently, thoughtfully, aware of all that makes us human and that connects us. We change and are changed by Love.

And that is why we return to community, again and again, with curiosity, humility, and receptiveness. So may it be.

Why You Should Read The Gadfly Papers

I can't call myself a Christian, even though it is the religion of my youth, and in spite of the fact that I resonate with the Christian story, its scriptures, and many of its followers. I'm comfortable in most Christian churches. But I differ from the orthodox faith in a few important ways. I don't believe we are meant to worship Christ. I don't believe that the Resurrection and all that has been attached to it (Heaven, Hell, sin, etc) is meant to be taken literally. But most of all, having studied World Religions, visited Catholic, Buddhist, Muslim and Jewish countries and places of worship, I don't believe that God as I understand God would select only people who say the right words into God's chosen people, and into Heaven. Unitarian Universalism, even with its many flaws and foibles, is my chosen faith tradition.

"UUs", as we call ourselves, are famous for three things (at least): our social justice work and witness; our radical acceptance and affirmation of all people; and our Humanist leanings, which "counsel us to heed the guidance of reason and the results of Science..." (UU Sources). We're also colloquially known as the church for atheists, the "No Hell" people, and, most recently, the Side With Love people, or just the Love People. Each of these monikers is partly true and partly an over-simplification. Historically, we are the far left wing of the Reformation, but we are not unlike Reform Jews and liberal Protestants, we have lots of members and ministers who are theistic and Christian, in addition to atheists, agnostics, and Buddhists. And more. I love that we are unafraid to critique ourselves and unflinching about our devotion to service and justice. So many UUs are fearless crusaders for the disenfranchised and the marginalized that we sometimes think of ourselves, when asked what we stand for, as the 19th Century Universalists claimed, people who  "don't stand; we move".

So for these reasons, and many others, I have experienced my fellow UUs to be unflinching in our examination of facts before we make statements or jump on any bandwagon. It can make congregational life very contentious at times. And, denominational life, too.

I expect the people who call themselves UUs to employ both hearts and minds when responding to events, whether local or international. I am continually amazed and inspired by the courage and conviction of my fellow UUs and especially my colleagues. As I write this, I know Unitarian Universalists are taking direct action against the migrant "camps" on our Southerm border, and even getting arrested for helping and offering food and water to undocumented immigrants. As Roe v. Wade gets eroded by state legislatures and is clearly under threat nationally, UUs have stepped up in droves to be clinic escorts and to march and petition for laws that protect women and freedom of choice.

I'm troubled, though, by recent trends in our faith tradition. I will start by saying that I may be wrong, I certainly have been wrong in the past, and I will readily admit that my words were misguided if that proves to be true. Here are my main concerns:

* UUs everywhere, but particularly clergy and particularly on social media, are afraid to speak their truth. Their fear is due to their perception that not only will they be shamed, shouted down, and piled upon metaphorically, but that they may actually lose their standing with our association and consequently their livelihoods. This I know for certain.

* When our UUA President Peter Morales was forced/encouraged to resign two years ago, along with at least four other ministers in leadership positions, a narrative was begun that because a woman who identifies as a POC (Person of Color) was not selected for a position, and for many other reasons, including that People of Color felt unwelcome and marginalized in our churches and fellowships and that it was time for White UUs (but especially white, cis-gendered and male UUs) to be quiet and listen. I know this happened, although some may quibble over my phrase forced to resign, I heard and saw enough to believe this. I also believe that UUs who are persons of color do feel both marginalized and tokenized in our culture. I've seen it first hand in my 25 years of ministry.

* Likewise, UU transpeople, UUs with disabilities, and UUs with other historically disempowered identities became emboldened to speak out and were heard. The UUA Board even pledged to raise (and fulfilled that pledge at our recent General Assembly) five million dollars for the BLUU (Black Lives of UU) organization. This would not only give BLUU access to resources they could use for attracting more POC and also for outreach to the POC in our congregations, it appeared to me (admittedly a distant observer) to help the UUA and many in leadership feel somewhat less guilty about what has come to be called the Black Empowerment Controversy of the 1960s. I believe this to be factual.

So, why am I troubled, and what does all of this have to do with The Gadfly Papers, distributed at "G.A./GA" (General Assembly)?

These new ways of understanding ourselves as part of white supremacy culture and of re-aligning our assets and resources to help ameliorate that, have led to push back and resistance on the part of (some) clergy, and many people in congregations. That is as it should be! We are, after all, UUs, and we question everything. We are also human, and with that comes resistance to change, fear of the unknown, and typical human foibles, like needing time to learn, and being dense, and trying to "look" adequate. Of course we are. I have said to congregations I've served that they should expect struggle and dissent, and that the Church is less a place to get your ego assuaged and your pre-existing beliefs affirmed than a laboratory for learning to be more human. I've had to re-adjust my thinking and my attitude numerous times. There is no shame in being wrong.

What troubles me is not the fact that UUism is changing and as ever, is somewhat ahead of the curve of society in general. (Who was it that said UUs are the people who are always reading the next page? I love that) . What bothers me is that so many of us have either left the Chat groups we used to love on Facebook, have withdrawn from groups and associations we once took part in, and have, in some cases, left UUism altogether, not because we don't agree with the ultimate goal of these changes in our culture, but because we are so intimidated and feel so unable to engage in the conversation, at all. We are afraid to say one wrong word.

The Gadfly Papers is one person's well-researched (although his sources and methods have been questioned) and carefully constructed argument (some question that, too) about what he perceives as a culture of shaming, shunning, and alienating anyone who does not go along with the words and the narrative that has been given. The reason I started by explaining why I'm not Christian is that, to me, UUs are the people who live in THIS world, doing good and fighting injustice as best as they can, NOT people who have said some magic words of a creed, and are therefore among the "elect". Most of us have been shamed and shunned  for practicing and sharing this faith. We look to our fellow UUs to help us evolve with good humor, acceptance, and respect.

I've now read The Gadfly Papers twice, the second time trying to see the essays from the perspective of those who feel harmed by their publication and by their distribution. I will likely read them a few more times. But I'm UU. Just reading them wasn't enough. I saw a comment claiming that one of Todd's sources, "The Coddling of the American Mind..." had been discredited and debunked. I looked it up and found it had been a bestseller, had been given 5 stars on the website, and had been nominated by the New York Times as one of the best non-fiction books of that year. I followed through by looking up other resources he used. I've read all of the responses that I have seen, and I list them below.

 I saw a reference to someone I had known years ago, in my early ministry. He (Mel Pine, a UU from VA who has now left the denomination) wrote a column after the resignation of Peter Morales, UUA President, and questioned the means by which it occurred. I then saw a 17-minute video made by a leader of BLUU, calling this (now seventy-something) man a "fuck-shit" and his whole column "shit", and then equating him with acts of racism that had occurred in his county, as if he were guilty of them just be being there. Video links here    (since yesterday, when I saw the full 17-minute video, and had to listen on earphones because it was full of the F-word and other language, and my 14 year old was nearby..I've been blocked, and can not see it.) She also physically threatened him in a Facebook post. I know how he felt, because the same person wrote very nasty comments on my homepage (I've since de-friended her). More on this here.

Since you may not be able to see the video (removed after being up for two years) here's a bit of humor at the expense of its creator. Daily Show clip

I do wonder why the 300 ministers who want to see Todd Eklof face consequences are OK with this blog post written by a UU minister, in which she admits she does not know him, but calls him a white supremacist, abhorrent, and his writings 'fuckery'. Read it here 

(added 8/20): The link I posted to the Fuckery post somehow disappeared. Here's a new one.Here is the blog post I will also add that the minister who wrote it is now the Organizing Strategy Director for the UUA. 

According to the UUA, her 'fuckery' rant doesn't matter, because: 

“Ashley brings a depth of experience and relationships both within and beyond Unitarian Universalism. Her experience working with congregations and in movement spaces is a tremendous asset in this role. Additionally, her experience in organizing bold actions, taking risks for justice and weaving spiritual depth, growth and reflection for groups engaged in justice making mirrors the understanding that the work of justice is inseparable from our religious and theological foundations,” writes UUA president, the Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray.

Or maybe it is part of her "taking risks for justice."

Let's just assume, for argument, that Mel Pine's post was less-than-enlightened. His writing about his need to feel "safe" certainly would trigger POC and others who have felt so unsafe for years and decades, not just in UU congregations, but everywhere. If we look deeper, we can see that Mel has a Jewish heritage, so in spite of his white male identity, he carries a legacy of danger and fear. I don't see where that blog post about his 'fuckery' OR Leslie Mac's calling him fuckshit numerous times starts a Beloved Conversation. (Ashley Horan was or maybe still is the "Beloved Conversations" creator/moderator).

Although it's far from true that everyone who is against The Gadfly Papers is being nasty and shaming both the author and anyone who is seen as aligned with him, many, many are. And that appears to be okay with my colleagues.. I am actually the cheese who stands alone here, because I think he had the right to write them and to distribute them. I can't even begin to count the number of pamphlets, broadsides and even books I've been handed at GA. He says he had hoped to start a dialogue, and instead he's having hellfire rained upon him. A minister who commented on my post of the newspaper article about him said his acts were evil. Others called it ego-driven, manipulative, a stunt, and dishonest. He dropped a bomb and ran  was one comment. As I wrote this, another minister called him hurtful, clueless, and appalling. (this after I explicitly asked people NOT to leave personal attacks, but to go directly to him).


Letters have been written and signed calling for his resignation. One person said they hoped he didn't get away without facing consequences; another said Oh, no, he won't. Presently Todd, whom I've called a friend/colleague, although we've been out of touch since he left KY, is deeply chagrined and in pain. Yes, he knew what he was saying was controversial and he'd be attacked, but he had no idea it would be so swift and so merciless(only a few people claim to have read the whole thing; many refuse to buy it and help promote the book, even though it's 2.99 on Kindle,  and believe me, I'm a writer... he'd be lucky to recoup the costs of printing it). What he's not doing is gloating, which a reliable source told me they saw too much of among his adversaries. I also saw comments saying it would take years to unravel the harm he and the book had caused.



So, I'm left with more questions than answers: if his thesis and his supporting documents, anecdotes, and arguments are so wrong, what's the big deal? Why not ignore him and the book, and let it fizzle out?  UUs are smart and savvy; they can think for themselves.

Why are ministers signing a letter condemning the book in the strongest terms when they have read none, or 5 lines, or 20 pages, or as a few people said, "I don't need to read it; the titles were enough". Or, "I won't read it"? (I'm not mad at my colleagues; I choose to believe, as I always have, that they are overwhelmingly loving, honest, and exceptionally dedicated humans).Indeed, I acknowledge that new evidence or facts may cause me to change my mind entirely about the book.

Update! I based the above statement on social media posts and interactions. I still have heard only a handful of ministers say they've read it in entirety. As far as I can see, no open dialogue or debate about the content of the book itself  has been held among ministers, unless there was one that I wasn't informed of, in which case...not "open". There is a private but open to anyone group that is discussing the actual book. Only 3-4 ministers have spoken in Todd's defense, or at least in protest of the book being censured. On that group, I was called a "liar" by a colleague (publicly, in a forum open to anyone) along with another colleague for the statement, "most ministers who signed the letter had not read the book." In my opinion her comments to us are a breach of the UUMA covenant.

But I imagine some are mad at me, for signing the "Clergy Letter" , for asking people to at least read Todd's book before condemning it (and him) and may even call me racist or worse. I'm not going to talk about the 25 years ministry I've devoted to anti-racism, because the reply of some will be (as it was to Mel Pine) that it's just evidence that I'm a white savior, or a hypocrite. I will say that I have a disability (chronic daily migraines) and I'm raising a child, family member who is autistic. Hence, I resonate with a sensitivity to how people say things and what they do. Seth's 14 years have been a long story of micro-aggressions, exclusion, and stereotyping, much of it from UUs. So, yes, I can relate, if only marginally, to the urge to be angry, demand justice, and look for someone or something to blame. But there is no "one" to blame. Can we try to work together, believing that people will come around?

Maybe Todd made a gross miscalculation by using GA, a GA in which the new direction for our faith was being held up, a GA held on the 50th anniversary of the Black Empowerment Controversy , to publicize his treatise. Maybe he was wrong to employ terms like PC Culture, Call-out Culture, Virtue signaling and  safetyism, terms that are often used to disavow and defuse legitimate movements and arguments. If he is wrong, can he be forgiven?

The current narrative is that Todd was asked to meet with Right Relations team members to discuss his book, and would not. He says he refused to do so, upon advice, without a Good Officer, and was asked to leave GA. Since the Assembly was held in Spokane, where he is the UU minister, this was swift and harsh punishment. But I've also heard that other ministers, some of whom signed a clergy letter (link above) responding to the proposed guidelines changes for our Ministerial Association, were asked not to lead workshops at GA or Ministry Days because of their association with the letter. Whence comes this ethic of punishment and scolding?

Are UUs expected to be automatically "woke", aware of anything they might say, anxious and self-censoring, and fearful of making a misstep? What kind of faith is that?

And what kind of justice is it if all you've done is make people afraid to speak up?


I became a UU in Cherry Hill, NJ, not long after our initial Welcoming Congregation workshops were launched, and I attended a training with Rev. Scott Alexander, who authored the workbook. He said that day, "You never change people by should-ing all over them." What can we glean from that?

As a child from a family where alcoholism was rampant and charity rare, I am somewhat conflict-averse. But mostly, I recoil from situations and people who use shaming, bullying, and metaphorical finger-shaking to force their ways upon me. UUism needs to evolve, and it will. Perhaps we should try again, with love, acceptance and good faith, treating others as we would want to be treated?

BUY THE BOOK

"The Gadfly Papers" 3 part series by Rev. Scott Wells
here. Todd Eklof also writes a reply.

https://www.revscottwells.com/category/unitarian-universalist-association/


Statement by DRUUM www.facebook.com/DRUUMM/photos/a.165860406803228/2215621331827115/?type=1&theate


Statement by POCI(Persons of Color and Indigenous Persons)


UU Ministers' Response Statement

ARE letter (Allies for Racial Equality)


SOME REDDIT THREADS
https://www.reddit.com/r/UUreddit/comments/c4lp4f/what_is_going_on/
https://www.reddit.com/r/UUreddit/comments/c4g4pj/the_gadfly_papers/



Chris Rothbauer Column

Some extensive rebuttal of the GP by UU Minister DennisMcCarty

FAULT LINES

8/5/2012

POEM, “Fault Line”

California is so many things, but it’s hard to think about California without thinking of earthquakes. The San Andreas Fault and its handiwork is plainly visible. Research has shown that the Southern segment, which stretches from Monterey  all the way down to the Salton Sea, is capable of a Richter scale 8.1 earthquake. An earthquake of that size on the Southern segment (which, at its closest, is 40 miles away from Los Angeles) would kill thousands of people in Los Angeles, San Bernandino, Riverside, and other areas, and cause hundreds of billions of dollars in property and economic damage.

Isn’t is great to live in such a safe part of the country?

Maybe..……in November 2008, The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency warned that a serious earthquake in the New Madrid Seismic Zone could result in "the highest economic losses due to a natural disaster in the United States," further predicting "widespread and catastrophic" damage across Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, and particularly Tennessee, where a 7.7 magnitude quake or greater would cause damage to tens of thousands of structures affecting water distribution, transportation systems, and other vital infrastructure.[22] The earthquake is expected to also result in many thousands of fatalities.

Maybe, we all live on the edge, but Californians just can’t deny it.

As writer Alice Gregory notes upon moving East:

In California, you know when you’re burning. The brightness hurts, and when you close your eyes, you see red. The cliffs are high and jagged, the ocean smashes the shoreline, and landslides really can bring you down. There you are dwarfed and powerless. There are earthquakes; and mudslides; and for about three months of the year, entire regions of the state threaten to spontaneously combust. You wouldn’t dare sleep naked in California—you might need to run outside in the middle of the night, awakened to a rattling house and a mile-deep fissure in your front lawn.

We love to watch the Olympics for many reasons, not the least of which is that moment of suspense and the drama of the competitors’ expressions of joy or defeat. Vicariously, we relive our own near-triumphs and empathize, or imagine the glorious moment of victory and feel envy or admiration.  I love the synchronized diving and the moment the divers poise on the edge of the board. Every muscle of their bodies must be perfectly attuned, and to my way of thinking there must be a spiritual as well as a visual/mechanical connection in order for these dives to be so perfectly harmonized, almost poetic.

But there, as they pause on the edge, everything is potential: victory, defeat, even danger, and yet they voluntarily do this over and over again! So, of course, do we. (CIM)

Each day we arise is a journey to the edge.

We have only to acknowledge our own vulnerability to understand how close we really come.

And I am not just referring to our physical risk, although that is greater than we acknowledge, given the way we hurtle down the freeways at enormous speeds, live, eat, and move in ways that are contraindicated for longevity and comfort; and all of the many toxic and violent threats of modern life. I am also referring to what I am just going to call our own theological fault lines. Those potential rifts and separations that we pretend not to observe, that we neglect at our own expense. You can only live deceptively and selfishly for so long before it begins to consume you. You can see these upheavals in peoples bodies and faces.

When our USA men’s diving team was waiting to see whether they would win a Bronze medal or no medal at all, their reactions were so different. The younger man (age 17) was fraught with anxiety. The older of the two, who was actually more on the edge in this case, since he is 34 and would not have another chance to ever win a medal, was smiling. He looked okay to me. He stayed with the younger guy even though he preferred to not watch the other results.  I actually have no idea but I would like to think he was at peace because he had done his best. If you watched TV at all this week, you probably know, they did win the bronze medal.

Here is my point.

Whether we acknowledge it, live in denial, glimpse it from time to time, we are all living on the edge. There is really so little separating us from huge loss and disaster. (mention Colo, 4^th anniversary of Knoxville, etc…) When we know this, we have a choice. We can  figuratively grasp and compete and consume one another, acting as if nothing but our own survival, winning, getting through,  surviving , the  “bottom line,” how things come out, and fixing everything that is wrong is really what it’s all about. You may have guessed by now that this is not what I would recommend theologically.

However, I see people acting this way every day, as if the product were more important than the person. Yes, even Unitarian Universalists. Sometimes, even myself.

But when I meditate upon the edge, the fault line of my own existence, spend some time in that land where we all live theologically, where no one finally survives, then I know the answer is love, respect and decency for every human I encounter, and I can return to other humans, regardless of how hungrily they may be licking their chops, with kindness and regard.

C.S. Lewis talks with one of his college students about

why we love if losing hurts so much, Lewis who lost his mother as a

child and his wife as an adult, responds, “I have no answers anymore,

only the life I have lived. Twice in that life...  I've been given

the choice: As a boy... and as a man. The boy chose safety. The man

chooses suffering. The pain now is part of the happiness then. That's

the deal.”

Taking this to a universal level we can look to Joanna Macy, Buddhist teacher and eco-feminist. Macy states that feeling that one

must always be hopeful can wear a person out, but if we just show

up, and be present, do not pull down the blinds, the possibilities

exist that the world will heal. She believes there is a new paradigm

occurring that is known as “The Great Turning.” The Great Turning

is a concept she helped coin and define. Macy calls The Great

Turning “the essential adventure of our time: the shift from the

industrial growth society to a life-sustaining civilization.” She

says it is a time of transition from a bankrupt political society,

which measures success by growth and profit and is being replaced

by moral strength, courage and creativity. The generations alive

today may not see a drastic change in their lives or environment

but the choices we make for profit today will effect the beings in

the next hundreds and thousands of years and determine whether

they will be born of sound mind and body.

So when we feel ourselves in those places of fear and anxiety, let us turn toward one another with love as the first principle, and we will find our way.

The shifting plates, the restive earth, your room, your precious life, they all proceed from love, the ground on which we walk, together.