Community

Usually, I don’t have any problem finding a subject about which to blog. However, for the past couple of weeks nothing has come to mind. I decided to trust God/dess and draw an Oracle card. The first card I drew, I didn’t like. I reshuffled and drew again. God/dess must be laughing because I drew the same card on the second draw – Community.

It seems that now, more than ever, we all need to feel that we are part of a community. I like the definition of community as “a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals.’ However, there seems to be very few common interests or goals in this fractured world.

I see so much hate and division spewing out into the world. I will admit that I find myself pointing fingers at the folks who are on the opposite side of my own values. I label them as other and find fault in everything they say. I see them as the enemy and the problem. If only they would change their ways, then the world would be a better place.

I struggle with the concept of including those who aren’t like me, those whose values are radically different from my values. Although I am supposed to love everyone, how am I supposed to love the murderer, the child abuser, the rapist, the one who clearly doesn’t act out of love? Am I projecting my own shadow self onto that person, or are they truly evil?

No doubt, many of us are struggling with that question, and I certainly don’t have the answer. However, part of the issue is that I make my community too small. I only want to include those in my community who think exactly like I think, who share exactly the same values and the same outlook. I exclude those that I label other. I keep a tight little circle around me where I feel safe and comfortable, where I won’t have to look at my own shortcomings.

What if I could see those who don’t think like I do through the eyes of love? What if I could listen with an open heart to what they think and believe? What if I could love them as an extension of myself. What if I could dialogue with them to find common ground, to discover our shared humanity? What if I could understand the underlying fears that make them act as they do?

We as humans have more commonalities than differences. Instead of being pitted against each other in unassailable silos, is it possible to find common goals and interests. Can we come together to solve problems together as the world community?

I do believe that there is evil and there are evil people in the world. Those are not necessarily the people I am concerned with.  I can’t change their hearts or minds. What I can do is to open my heart, to listen, to learn, and to try to find common ground with an ever-wider circle of people who aren’t exactly like me. I can channel as much love as possible to anyone I label as other and allow my heart to be softened in understanding, empathy, and compassion.