Tuesday, September 28, 2021

Let's Put Our Heads Together

 

Problem Solving

“No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.”

Albert Einstein

          Many people I know, and myself included, are feeling rather despondent lately. We are watching the news (though less and less) and feeling as though we live in a shadow world, or that the world we live in has a shadow that operates independently. I keep trying to wrap my head around the anti-vaccine ideology while the US is sitting at almost 700,000 people dead from the virus. The statistics show that every 43 seconds an American dies from Covid, and yet there are still otherwise intelligent people who refuse not only vaccination, but masking. It is mystifying.

          I remember Dr. Wayne Dyer’s words, “If you believe it will work out, you’ll see opportunities. If you believe it won’t, you will see obstacles.” I want to believe it will work out, but I’m discouraged.

          And, as the racial divide is thrown into stark reality, I wonder whether the Civil Rights era accomplished very much. Black people are still being killed in the streets, and are given, at least in Alabama, an education that is deficient in almost every way. Yes, we had a black president, but that seems to have amplified the divide between those who fear losing a white majority, and those who don’t. If we hadn’t had a black president, would the Charlottesville demonstration of blatant racism have occurred? Was that backlash?

          I want to believe in the spoken ideals of the “American dream,” but more and more, I see that the dream comes true for only a few. Perhaps the American dream is the wrong part—maybe that has been a mirage all along. And then I look outside my window and see a beautiful pink sunrise, and I am swept away by gratitude to be alive with eyes to see it. It’s disorienting to feel both doubt and gratitude in equal measure.

          I fully agree with Einstein—if we want a solution to our problems, we need a new consciousness. We must understand that the divisions we have created will not generate solutions. If we want our lives back, we must all pull together—in the same direction. And we must create a new version of the American dream—as people who are fully awake.

                                                            In the Spirit,

                                                            Jane

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