Dreams Require Action

Yesterday, on the eleventh anniversary of 9/11, a date I, like many people on this planet, remember with sorrow and prayers for the dead, a date that shocked us all awake, I posted my dream for post election America.

Today I want to emphasize that dreams require action. Those of us who have a dream of a cooperative society, not a warring one, must take whatever steps we can to help make it so.  In my dream, each person has his or her own disposition and soul purpose, so no one can dictate what another should do, but we all do something.

I'm dedicated to the spirituality of Love, which is not a person, but a vital Energy, as in essence are we.  Love is something that can seldom truly be described in human paradigms. So for me, the challenge is to come up with something creative, something I can do from my heart, that might help make it so.

Well, speaking out is one thing.  In my post election America, we aren't afraid to talk with one another, but we use respect.  Name calling, bullying let alone shooting people doesn't come into the equation.  We try to figure it out, we ask our dreams for council, we believe there is a way to live together and serve a greater purpose than our puny little physical selves.  The fact is, as human beings, we die.  Jesus came back from the dead, but that's not all that unusual.  We all come back. We all cross over. Maybe Jesus just wants to make us feel safe in that crossing.  This is why I call dreams organic spirituality; anyone can figure this out for themselves if they pay attention to their dreams.

It occurs to me, that sign in town I mentioned yesterday employs a strategy that reduces everything to a false slogan and appeals to fear, trusting it's the most common denominator among the people of this great land right now. These words are really more symbol than sign, meaning, they pack an emotional wallop that goes far beyond words.   It's large and simple, OBAMA = SOCIALISM in red and the catchy one liner, "gateway drug to" in between the two big words.  In my dream, I see a sign right across the street in the same mode: JESUS = SOCIALISM with the thought in between "He loves the poor."  See what I mean? 

I'm not comparing President Obama to Jesus, but neither should anyone compare him to Stalin or Castro.  That is why this gentleman's sign is inflammatory: it uses the biggest hot buttons in the American psyche, or so he thinks.  It's defamatory, because the person this is being said about has done nothing to deserve this incredible disrespect, and not true because caring for the poor is not really communism or any other ism the world has contrived; it's Christian, according to the teachings of Jesus.

I’m very lucky that back in the late 70s and early 80s when I was studying for the Roman Catholic priesthood at  Colgate Rochester Divinity School, http://litadreaming.blogspot.com/2010/03/awesome-correlations.html the theologians I read, the people who taught me and the nuns, priests and bishops I knew, were all very much in favor of ordaining women to the Catholic priesthood. Then Rome managed to reassign a lot of those bishops, to Siberia, I presume, and many theologians were “silenced” (just ask the ever beautifully vocal, Matthew Fox, the theologian not the actor).

Today, RC Headquarters through the Pope is yelling at American nuns for caring about the poor more than protesting against abortion; really?  I’ve always, always found a great deal to admire about  many major sisterhood orders in this country. I’ve lost track of the RC community because my spiritual interests are elsewhere, but I'm always proud of what many American nuns are accomplishing. 

And what I’ve always loved about Jesus is his commitment to the least among us. When we start calling caring and social justice, socialism, we turn into an unsociable contentious culture obsessed with money; when hate is stronger than love, we’re in for tough times ahead.  In my dream of the future, Americans have the heart to live their Christianity and not be fooled by dictates and dogma from the old boys club.  Just because your pastor or priest tells you to jump off a bridge, doesn’t mean you have to do it.  No, we listen to our Mother, she speaks to our Hearts and we vote our conscience.

In my dream, we Americans don’t make a caricature of our Divine; we accept each  person’s way of expressing spirituality, just as we respect each person’s way of finding intimacy and relationship. There are a diversity of roads that all converge in Love, we respect them all. 

Now here’s my huge disclaimer; the visual image I chose for this post is very strong, dreams have taught me the power of image.   I DO NOT BELIEVE THAT JESUS IS A SOCIALIST; I BELIEVE HE LOVES THE POOR.  Also, I DO NOT BELIEVE PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA IS A SOCIALIST;  HE ACTS MORE LIKE A CHRISTIAN THAN THE OTHER PARTY'S NOMINEES.  AND JUST LIKE JESUS, HE STANDS UP FOR THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN.

Back to my communal dream; a communal dream must be communal.  If we each contribute something to making our dream happen, we can do just that.  I’m calling all Jesus loving Christians especially to ask themselves in their heart, would Jesus vote for the rich merchant or would he vote for a man like Barack Obama?  Also, we know what Jesus would say about violence and nasty approaches to our message; he’d say be creative, but come from your heart, not in anger, but in hope,  creatively, as creative as you can get.

Let’s dream on it and let’s act on it.  Let’s make the future we want, not just for ourselves, but for our children, their children and everyone’s children, for many generations to come.

Dreaming the Future - Si Se Puede

In my town,  a gentleman of means, very active in the Republican party, who happens to own a billboard on a very main drag in town, posted a political message that I consider  inflamatory, defamatory and untrue.  I’m told he owns the signage under personal property license so, he can post what he wants there.  Well, I’m all for freedom of speech. 

I can get mad, but that's a lot of energy I'm giving to the dark side. Searching for peace, I realize that Now, more than ever, it’s important to dream, not just a personal dream, but a dream for the community.  When I let my heart feel the deep divide in our collective consciousness at this moment, I feel anxiety, dismay, bewilderment and anger. When I exercise my imagination to dream a better future outcome,  I feel hopeful and I'm encouraged to act to make that dream a reality.

The dream I have for America in this election  is that the person who cares most for all of the people of our nation be elected President .  In my dream,  I also see a Congress filled with intelligent, committed public servants who care deeply and compassionately for all the people of our country, regardless of wealth,  and who will make decisions that respect and empower  every person.  I also see leaders who will take responsibility  for safeguarding our planet Earth for the benefit of at least seven future generations, as our Native American ancestors taught.   I dream a future where we respect Nature as Gaia, living Consciousness,  who not only depends on us, but more profoundly, on Whom we depend completely.

I see citizens of this country making the effort to be truly informed.  We base our opinions on the public record of those who serve us, not on slogans thrown out by political marketers with no basis in fact. In addition, we consider much more than the economy when we weigh the qualifications of our leaders.  As they say, you can’t take it with you.

In my dream, we know that there are key human rights protected by the Constitution  that are deeply  at stake in this election.  While the right to free speech is one of them, so is the right to freedom of religion (and from religion).

In my dream, women of all religious affiliations realize that Father doesn't know best.  Who says that god is male and woman must obey Him? The Book of Mormom? The Bible? The Koran?  The Vatican?  (I’ll give you one big HINT; they don’t call these patriarchal religions for nothing).  In my America - the one just down the road in a couple of months - woman is still free to choose her conscience in all matters related to her own body.  We know that abortion is a RELIGIOUS issue, not a political one.  To allow one religious group to legislate morality is to demolish the most basic freedom a human being can hope for, the right to choose and pursue their own spiritual truth according to their own conscience.   Only patriarchal religions seek incessantly to control women and restrict their voice and power in the body politic; in my dream we know that an American Taliban like government is one to avoid and we will not vote for patriarchal religious fanaticism in any stripe.

 

In my dream of America,  post the 2012 elections,  I see that many,  many people  have come together to solve our problems in a heartfelt way.  We don’t dismiss each other with empty labels, as if life is one big football game.  We value our amazing diversity of race, culture, gender and beliefs, so we create social structures that work for everybody.  We are a spiritual and conscious culture,  excited by the revelations of this new age where science and spirituality meet, where dreams prove their power to each one of us and we each connect in our own way with our Consciousness of Divinity.   We have access to other worlds, other dimensions of reality through our dreams, we don’t fear the unknown, we explore it.  

Even if we still struggle to feed, clothe and educate  ourselves and our communities, we don’t fear destruction or lack. We want less and create our own plenty with cooperation and imagination. Will there still be greedy, selfish people?  Perhaps, but we don’t call them smart business people and uphold their realities for them; we help them to lay down that heavy burden and walk into a consciousness that is spiritual as well as material. 

In my future America, voters, the majority of us, have embraced a path with heart, not just on the coasts, but all through the land.     There is a new Consciousness about life and death and we're not afraid. Teachers like Eckhart Tolle. Caroline Casey and Robert Moss are gaining ever growing popularity among us.  We are investing in much more than our economy, we are growing our spirit.

For the next two months, I’ll be busy expanding this dream because I need to believe in what I value most, the power of Love, and not allow myself to be prematurely dismayed.  So I invite all  you wonderful citizens of this great land to dream a piece of this dream and do what you can to make it a reality.

May all the Goodness that guides the great universe lend us teachers, guardians  and companions in this soul quest to dream a communal dream we can wake up to post elections.

“You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.”  (I do hope John Lennon is one of our guides, doing what he can to fuel this dream from his side of existence now - maybe that’s why he’s been back in my night dreams lately.)