JOYFUL PIECE #154
Connectedness
As the image shows, we are no more than six degrees of separation from each other. From what I have read, human beings are inclined to aggregate into families, bands, tribes, nations, etc. They have realized over millennia that the group provides safety for the individual.
It is unfortunate that the governing regime in the US is so focused on division— it weakens the fabric of the nation. Its attempt at dividing us uses lies, misinformation, vague threats, fear.
Totalitarian regimes maintain a raucous state of disinformation to drive citizens to despair. The citizens, groping to preserve a sense of calm security, often then trust the totalitarians to deliver them from fear and the false notions of “evil and doom” that these regimes use to manipulate the masses.
Today, the pressure on all is relentless as the regime finds itself on the losing end of foreign wars, scandals such as the Epstein affair, judicial decisions, and disunity within the GOP.
The actions from the POTUS regime have hurt everyone. Now even the ranks of the MAGA movement and those who supported the POTUS, secular and religious, are recognizing how badly they have been intentionally misled, confused, betrayed. Those disenchanted fellow citizens are the ones to whom we need to connect/reconnect to augment the ranks of those working for a better, civil, compassionate tomorrow.
Speaking for myself, I have found a serious degree of distancing from those who have fallen into the disinformation traps laid by the POTUS regime. That includes family and friends. Fear has ensnared them to the point that they aggregated around the lies coming from the regime. For many, no amount of reasoning is sufficient to break the cult-like hold from the POTUS regime. Anyone can fall into the same trap.
This continuing state of fear and alienation perpetuates a joyless, continued state of agitation for all citizens. We need each other for emotional, spiritual, mental and physical health and safety, and for the survival of civilization in the very small planet that we share.
We need to listen to others with understanding and compassion. Some folks are strongly predisposed to fall into the aforementioned snares. It takes patience to listen to them and to gently and compassionately bring them out of the spell.
In recent meditations, Richard Rohr has been exposing the need for connection. We need to steer away from the debauched environment in which we find ourselves, and seek to find common ground with all humans.
Regardless of political party affiliation, we all need food, clothing, shelter, clean air and water to thrive. That is what the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is all about.
“Peacemaking, forgiveness, and reconciliation are not some kind of ticket to heaven later. They are the price of peoplehood—the signature of heaven—now.” RICHARD ROHR
There is Joy in being connected, and you can feel it in genuine good will exchanges in social reunions.
Resist joyfully— with love and compassion.
We need each other…
we wake/help each other up.
Division, downfall.
Staying connected is such a vital part of life no matter what your age. Have a joyful day.