The Path to Peace on Earth

Why do we, as humans, fear that which we can't understand,

And attempt to explain all Sacred within the limitations of man?

As a mother, I am awed by what came to life within my being,

Outside of the area of what I was, then, capable of seeing.

I am saddened by human science's belief that we are in control;

It seems to diminish the cycle that makes each generation whole.

Humanity used to know that there was a natural cycle, from birth,

That continued to feed the universal Sacred cycles of our universe.

We now feel that, in allowing our earthly natures to progress,

We are somehow allowing our best of humanity to regress.

If we really believed in an Omnipotent Power of the Universe,

We'd believe that, at times, our earthly gains have to reverse.

This is not to say that previous humans have summarily failed;

It is simply that universal peace takes time, in order to prevail.

The glory of universal peace among people, and our harmony,

I will probably not be blessed enough, in my life, to see.

This does not preclude my responsibility to add my voice

In belief that peace among the nations of humanity is a choice. 

I live my life with an open mind, and an open heart and spirit,

Hoping where there is The Sacred Spirit's voice, we'll hear it.

Wherever I believe I hear instructions on the path to peace,

I commit to a process, that in my singing it out, I will increase.

I know that, in my mother's and father's faith, women don't speak;

I am weary that, in this way, only their voice of God, we seek.

Their path to peace continues to defer to their ancestral past;

I believe this was not meant to be Divine manifestation's last.

When will humankind have the faith in their own families to proceed;

Joining the path of all humanity, where peace on earth will succeed?

Peace, like in our own families, doesn't mean we all agree.
It means that we respect each others' core humanity.
We teach, by our own example, how we wish to be treated,
Allowing, within each community, their own justice to be meted.

Centuries of religious ritual can only be changed from within,
But the telling of our own stories is a place for others to begin.
I believe that this is the true purpose of the scriptures;
To give stories of how others grew from historical strictures.

The Sacred Spirit is in all humans; this we must project,
Especially toward the innocent children we're to protect.
Fear and jealousy are not parts of The Sacred Spirit;
If our lives say this loud enough, the universe will hear it.

Crusades vs. Compassion

Why do we expect secular institutions to provide the resources for administering Judeo-Christian charity?
Is it because we people of the Judeo-Christian God fail miserably at caring for our own, we have set up governmental institutions to take up our slack. If Judeo-Christians were people who believed in practicing what we preach, we would accept no more tax breaks for religious contributions. We would, "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesars." We would take care of even those who slow down our progress, accepting this as part of the anointed progression of our people.

We would commit personally to obeying the laws in our own lives and homes, rather than simply posting them on our walls to guide others. If we practiced what we preach, we would have less need for juries or judges because we would follow the prescriptions for making peace with others, as outlined in the scriptural stories of Solomon and Jewish Jesus's saying in Matthew 18. We would respectfully confront each other, rather rushing to the courts.

Women would stop hiding their strengths behind fathers, husbands, and children. Men would stop hiding their fears behind aggressive action. Men and women would think before they speak, and speak clearly of their personal beliefs and desires. We would also accept women as equal partners to men, honored in their abilities to be homemakers, prophets, preachers, and agents of change, as were the mothers of the Old Testament and Jesus' apostles. We would accept men as emotionally equal to women, and encourage their gentle strengths, as are evidenced in the Psalms, as well as their more animal strengths.

Crusades don't happen where their is responsible compassion. Until we accept women as equal interpreters of the laws laid out by all the men of human history, we will forever be plagued by competition in the supremacy of the genders and classes of society. When will we stop the human stupidity? Will we wait until we, and our progeny, and their progeny, are all dead?

Education as Anti-War

Why do we humans believe that we have to bond against others in order to bond to each other? Isn't it enough that we have others who are comfortable with the ways we and our household behaves, without the need to turn against anyone who acts or believes otherwise? Are we so weak in our own beliefs that we are afraid of being infected by the beliefs of others if we are in close proximity to them?

Must we treat all others as weeds that are endangering the perfect symmetry of our own gardens? Do we really have our own gardens in such perfect order that a beautiful wild flower (weed) or two may not be a welcome addition to the plot? Life is not symmetric in its natural state. The left side of a human body does differ from the right side; identical twins do have some definable differences.

It is true that, in unfamiliar surroundings, we must watch our children more closely, in order to observe that to which they are being exposed. If we are strong in our own values, we can observe dispassionately and explain to our children why we don't, in our homes and communities, do things that others may do. If we cannot keep our passions under control while observing, we are free in the United States of America, to simply walk away or avert our eyes, and those of our children.

If we treat our lives with our own children as PG experiences, we will protect them. We do this, not by condemning others, but by offering them Parental Guidance in the form of our own actions and our ability to explain why we act in specific ways in our own homes. Human animals want boundaries; it is up to parents to offer and explain those of their family in a way that respects their children and others. Respect doesn't mean acceptance, so it also may mean estrangement when our boundaries are not respected by others.

If we strengthen our own family bonds, and study the ways of other in order to stop the fear of infection, will we still need war?

How Do You Define The Soul?

I was taught, as a Judeo-Christian, that humans were the only animals with souls, and that all homo-sapiens, in fact, have souls. My experiences in life tell me otherwise. I have met too many people who, when I look into their eyes, exhibit no feeling at all that would lead me to believe that they are any more soulful than robots. Sadly, I have seen even infants in whom I see no sense of soulfulness, that aspect having been replaced by the dehumanizing affects of deprivation and terror.

I have also seen such joy, pain, fear, and compassion in the eyes of "lesser" animals, that I have come to believe that the only thing that actually separates homo-sapiens from other animals is the ability to make informed choices. Terror destroys our ability to think and make choices; thus destroying our humanity, what some refer to as the soul. Inflicting terror and arrogant authority as forms of control is why I walked away from my parents' religion.

I had never deeply bonded to an animal, other than homo-sapiens, until I met my very first dog, at the age of 59. She looked in my eyes at the shelter and our souls simply connected. I took her home. It was in watching her rub her body all over the grass and snow, like she would a parent, sibling, or a lover, that I saw her "humanity." It was in watching her absolute joy in being tormented by our cat and doing likewise to him that I saw "sibling" bonding in its simplest form.

I have, in fact, see a cat absorbing The Sacred Spirit of the perfect patch of sunshine and a dog absorbing The Sacred Spirit of the physical earth through the pores of her skin. I have come to believe that there are many manifestations of life other than homo-sapiens with what we refer to as souls, and that there are many homo-sapiens that have none of this spirit of The Sacred.

Wanton Woman

It is true that I am distrusted and scorned by many women because of the ways in which I relate to their men. I will not be intimidated by a man's misbehavior. I defuse their anger with listening and attempting to help them overcome their helplessness in the face of any soft emotion. As a rule, a woman doesn't like another woman to share any emotion with her man. What a pity it is that jealousy kills so many relationships and so many people.

It is such foolishness that people turn every show of affection between members of the opposite sex into sexual attraction. Brothers and sisters pinch, punch, kiss, and cuddle with their "litter mates." I view most adults as my brother or sister. Perhaps this is seen as taking liberties, but I don't know how else to follow the imperative to "Love your neighbor as you love yourself." For this, I'm tired of apologizing.

How Do You Define Humanity?

The fact is that no matter how we try to deny it; humans are animals. We like to believe that we are a higher breed of animal than those that don't speak in our own words, but we don't all speak in each others words, either.

We have historically bonded on the basis of common language and rituals. In the revealing of the sights and sounds of the universe to all corners and communities on earth, we are seeing similarities in ourselves and others that we were taught to believe did not exist. Perhaps it is time that we stop preening ourselves as so intrinsically special, simply because we walk upright and have less body hair than apes.

Whether or not one believes in evolution of our species on a scientific level, we must start believing in our ability to evolve individually, and as communities. It is imperative that we stop looking at the universe as ourselves and "others," and start believing that we are endowed with the ability to seek The Sacred Spirit it all around us. Instead we continue to act as packs of wolves with only our territorial instincts to guide us.

Humanity is a choice that we can breed into or out of future generations. My definition for humanity is responsible compassion. How do you define humanity?

Fairness and Family

I knew that my upbringing was not the path I wanted to follow;
I could either seek a new path, or in my history's misery, wallow.
I chose to seek a way that made compassionate sense to me,
So I could bring up my children with personal responsibility.

The hardest thing I've ever done is to stay true to my spirit,
Especially when persecuted when anyone else would hear it.
I am one individual woman, with a determined place on our earth;
Told I must not question the rules under which I'd been given birth..

My parents followed, precisely, the rules in which they were raised.
At least the rules forbade murder; for that they should be praised.
I chose to push for faster progress in the path to full humanity,
Sooner than my siblings, friends, and their society could agree.

I have held fast, alone, to my visions of enlightenment;
This is not a path on which I'd have chosen to be sent.
It is simply the path that I received by my parents' default,
In looking for family that taught by example, not assault.

Will humans ever see that peace is brought on by example?
The stories of this leadership should be, at this time, ample.
The missions of Moses, Jesus, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King
All lead to earthly paradise that non-violent resistance brings.

When will we accept that killing only breeds more of the same?
War isn't a path by which peace on earth will ever be gained.
I have raised my children and helped with theirs; I'm now free
To stand in the way of abusers, so peace can finally come to be.

Do not take my grandson in your quest for supremacy;
I have more experience than the warrior you want him to be.
There is no greater power than a mother protecting her young;
This is the warrior's true song that must be, eternally, sung.

Do not try to convince me that God is a father of fury;
I am, as a mother, a more powerful lawyer, judge, and jury.
I will not banish my children, but I will stand firm;
They can't live in my home without the lessons I insist they learn.

This isn't a way to resist differences of cultures or opinions;
It's to stop us, from excitement of differences, becoming minions.
There are many things that intrigue us in our vast universe,
That we can and should explore in order to intelligently converse.

This is not, and should not, be meant to be an open invitation
To adopting or accepting these new influences in our nation.
These differences should be seen as possible spices in the mix
To a recipe that, from the beginning of our country, has been fixed.

The religion of my children is the Constitution of the United States;
This is the belief system to which I, before their births, could relate.
I will not return to the religion of my parents before me; and theirs.
The United States' freedoms are those to which my children are heirs.

I am very aware that the founders, in their leadership, were flawed,
But I know that they were greatly gifted humans, not completely gods.
We are uniquely, with the blessings bestowed on us by democracy,
From the patterns, of our parents and theirs, allowed to break free.

There are many in my country who, in their fear, want to go back
To the world of their parents in which much freedom they lacked.
I do understand the fear of change with all its uncertainty,
But, from the bonds of our parents' faults, we must break free.

We learn from their example, that killing leads to more of the same.
Do we want for our universal peace, on our human earth, regain?
If we want to live in harmony with our sisters and brothers,
We must listen and follow the cries of our suffering mothers.

We give birth to our children, risking the lives of our own;
Killing of your siblings is not the seed we wish to be sown.
Any father telling you to risk your sacred life for enemies of theirs
Is not promoting the sacred divinity in which you should share.

I am your mother, telling you to stand against oppression;
Not to join others in the vulnerable ones' repression.
I have never stood behind you to shield myself from danger;
It is time that you learn to channel your own outrage and anger.

The quest that you began for fairness when you were young
Is not a song that you should never have freely sung.
It is simply that, until you saw your individual strengths,
You couldn't understand the position for which you're meant.

I am no longer able to guide what you should become;
I know that my input, in fact, makes you from me, run.
I wait with open heart, mind, and spirit to welcome you
As part of me and my partner's values to which we're true.

I simply can't stay silent as you succeed at fitting in
By denying the love we share in the presence of other men.
I have lived my life attempting to break history's mold,
Working for the peace on earth that has been foretold.

This can only be accomplished through redefining men
As, not only protectors, but also as women's friends.
Why are you so ashamed to feel such love for me?
My spirit will live in you and your children for eternity.

I may die without your beautiful face and your family,
But the gift of your Sacred Spirit will, eternally, live in me.
How blessed I have been in life to be the vessel of your birth.
Your love for me has been part of my heaven on this earth.