love or violence…
“Darwin’s “survival of the fittest” has done more than explain evolution, it explains the human psyche… win at all costs, or perish.”
One of my favorite papers I wrote in college was regarding the “pyramid of power”, with capitalism at the base, and the three walls being our media, politics, and corporations. Within that pyramid is our society, and we have been domesticated to follow their design for what is appropriate and how to attain it.
Since I was a very young girl, I knew this system that we lived in lacked a soul and a heart to guide it. Living for the sole purpose of making money creates nothing but competition, and humans cannot survive long-term if our goal is to consume the very planet we live on.
Darwin’s “survival of the fittest” has done more than explain evolution, it explains the human psyche… win at all costs, or perish. The problem with using this model in our human society is that we are not simple animals, our brains have developed beyond fight or flight. Our hands manipulate our surroundings, and we can emote verbally, sharing our knowledge for generations to come. We also cover our naked bodies, and by doing so, have forever separated ourselves from the animal kingdom. But we are not separate, and it is time to repair the damage caused by our abuse and naivete inherent in our evolution… and time to remember our connection and reliance on mother nature.
Reuniting with mother nature is the crucial first step to our continued survival here on this planet.
We thought we could control mother nature,
but she doesn’t like bullies.
One has to coexist to play in her ground.
This is where AHIMSA (the Buddhist practice of non-violence) connects. It seems impossible for non-violence to exist in an inherently violent (capitalistic) society; the same social platform we are all accustomed to living, and one that feels secure if we are lucky enough to land in a good spot.
The opposite story of this evolutionary violence, one of NON-VIOLENCE AND UNCONDITIONAL LOVE (ahimsa), represents a release of our ego and its’ expectations. Only by surrendering to our heart can we choose to live outside the capitalistic society; this means living by an entirely different code of conduct, and requires a completely different pyramid. One that I designed in college to be based on the soul, and the three walls to be built by truth, passion and love. This is a structure I could unconditionally coexist in love.
Each of us unknowingly accepted a “life plan” for our existence on earth; regardless the continent, culture or tribe, we have all been trained by our predecessors. We can rewrite this story, and as I see it, we have to rewrite this story, both personally and globally; and this nation is seeing it in the “Me Too” movement, there is a better story to be told.
For me… until my heart is cleared of the muck, I cannot (sustainably) love unconditionally. It reminds me of the book, Ishmael, by Daniel Quinn, and “how the sixties offered an ingenious and disorganized effort to escape from captivity. Failure came due to failure to find the bars of the cage. If you cannot find what is keeping you in, you get confused and ineffectual.”
Can we love if held captive within bars? Unconditional love is born of freedom, peace and honesty… within oneself and with the world sustaining us. In pure form, the two (captivity and love) cannot coexist… something else is created in loves’ name.
Our world needs help, but where do we start?
We need love and understanding, but it has been so long.
How do we change the anger that has been building from the start?
We need to care, not count our money.
How do we show that love will mend our hurt?
We need to start with ourselves… it will begin from within.