Founder Reflections: Vote 2020
I recently read the below from one of the faith leaders that I turn to for spiritual refreshment and a realigning of my center when it is off. It has been off quite a bit recently?! I greatly valued what he had to share as we enter into the climactic day of political tension these long few months here in the United States.
"In our ugly and injurious present political climate, it has become all too easy to justify fear-filled and hateful thoughts, words, and actions in defense against the “other” side. We project our anxiety elsewhere and misdiagnose the real problem (the real evil), forever exchanging it for smaller and seemingly more manageable problems. The over-defended ego always sees, hates, and attacks in other people its own faults—the parts of ourselves that we struggle to acknowledge. We do not want to give way on important moral issues, but this often means we don’t want to give way on our need to be right, superior, and in control. It is our deep attachment to this false or manufactured self that leads us into our greatest illusions. Most of us do not see things as they are; we see things as we are."
These words from Fr Richard Rohr can be jarring if we do not take the time to slow down and reflect. We are a nation, a world, a people so easy to anger, cast judgment, and draw lines of right and wrong. And there seems to be no better time to draw those lines than now during this Presidential election in the US. As the Ubuntu Life community that is ever-growing, I want to encourage all of us to take time to find our center, and to make sure we are not placing our hearts into the illusions of right and wrong by how our fellow Americans vote. Let us open our hearts in love, receiving our neighbors wherever they may be and trusting that God, or whoever or whatever spiritual practice that you may follow, has a greater plan for us no matter the outcome of this election. We are one body. We are one family. Who we vote for does not change that. Let us support one another and stand together united.
Big LOVE,
Z