Monday, November 24, 2008

Setting a day to celebrate equality

The 52% victory of California's soon-to-be-determined-unconstitutional Proposition 8 shows the need for more understanding! The entrance of religious organizations into previously secular politics is a disturbing trend that needs to be examined. But there is no reason to engender further hatred and misunderstanding by excoriating those who think differently.

There are many documents outlining humanity's march toward establishment of universal human rights. Perhaps it is time to avail oneself of the opportunities provided through Internet search and either reacquaint oneself with, or engage in first study of the Magna Carta, the Age of Enlightenment and The Age of Reason by Thomas Paine, and the United States Declaration of Independence and Constitution.

Perhaps if people of goodwill work to establish March 21st as a day to celebrate the equality of all humans, our species will eventually reach the point where any activity designed to remove or denigrate inalienable rights will be seen as so obviously mean-spirited that it would never find a place on a ballot or other legislative agenda.

Please embrace the idea of "Equalnox" and celebrate March 21st as a worldwide day of equality!

Wednesday, June 6, 2007

Jesus was not a Christian, Buddha was not a Buddhist...

Scriptures come from God, but alas, they are written by humans. Thus the Divine Word is sullied by cultural and intellectual bias, but the Spirit Beyond is nonetheless pure. And so, the messenger becomes the message. This is well, for any one of us engaged in the process of purifying mind, body and spirit becomes eligible to be as One with the Holy Spirit. Satori, Nirvana, transcendence - the shaman lives in all of us - when we choose to exercise our multi-dimensional capabilities.

Spiritual seekers, psychedelic voyagers, original people on their vision quest, prophets, buddhas, saints and meditators (to name a few), are all exercising the same facility. There is a spark of Divinity in every one of us. But humanity has yet to know its own infinite mind. The more we study, the more wonders we find. The finer we slice things, the more we find they are the same. We must treasure our commonality, and excoriate all thought that would seek to divide us.

We need no "isms," we need no enforced modes of thought, it is ours to Be. Still, we should know the histories of our institutions, remain wary and vigilant of potential excess. Witness how the baser elements of the human condition corrupt any organization in due time, regardless of the nobility of their charter. It is time to insure the irrelevance of dogma, as we overcome the failures and errors of the past. And stay respectful of our elders as they see their structures vanishing. Those of us engaged in Becoming will see the disappearance of ancient musty regimes as a melding of our best qualities while removing the dross of hatred and intellectual restraint.

Our need for Love and Sacredness is only fulfilled through right action. Anyone who claims their way as the only way is thinking narrowly and indeed courting the hubris of Lucifer. We are all equal in the Eye of God, we are all Divine. Know your own heart and you will know the Heart of God.

-- Don Baraka