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bridges not walls, buddha, gandhi, inspiration, isaac newton, love, martin luther king, peace, spiritual evolution, trump, walls; bridges, Zen
“We build too many walls and not enough bridges.”
Sir Isaac Newton
Stand for what you are for not what you are against. Build bridges not walls. Mother Teresa once said she would never go to an anti-war rally, but to invite her if you were to hold a peace rally. This statement may seem trivial but the depth of this statement is profound. We are our thoughts, what we think we become. Our thoughts become actions, in this we create our world. What we seek is seeking us. The focus, the fight needs to shift to what we want to create versus what we oppose.
Human beings take action based on fear. We fight against things that we oppose. Our mind ignites this opposition against that which is different than our self, be it religion, or race, or culture, or sex. This mindset is an inflated version of our EGO standing only with others that have similar ideologies or physical make up. Our minds fight for this thought that our path is the right path, and we are different but justified in our exclusion. This way of thinking misses the universal connection of all living beings. It misses love as the source of our being and that all living beings are on the same journey. Fighting that which we oppose by building walls and using violence and bombs is the easy and ordinary path. It is the path that feeds anger and greed. It feeds vengeance and power. It feeds the voice you were unjust to me therefore I will be unjust to you. This path is a reaction to thoughts, feelings and emotions abstract from our source which is unity and love. This path of US vs THEM is not a spiritually evolved or connected path.
History is littered with examples of oppression and exclusion. Our minds create an US vs. THEM mentality, an illusion that is at the root of war, of castes, and oppression. There is no US vs. THEM, we are all brothers and sisters. There are no borders, or races or sexes. We are vibrating energy that is all connected. When we remove this illusion WALLS are pointless. In fact, walls and bombs are more than pointless they instigate, they inspire an equal opposing force as Sir Isaac Newton spelled out in his Law of Motion – for every action there is an opposite and equal reaction. We speak in good faith that we want peace and harmony yet our actions are not consistent with this path. Our intentions and actions are that of violence and control, yet we are still surprised when violence comes back to us. Walls are built out of fear in an attempt to hold onto this illusion that we must protect the GOOD vs. EVIL. Those that are opposed become objects, dehumanized and easy to destroy. Bombs are dropped with the message of freedom yet the only remains are destruction and death.We become an eye for an eye society and as Mahatma Gandhi so eloquently stated “we all go blind.” The violence in the world today is simply the opposite and equal reactions of our existing actions in the world. Yet we continue on our path of using violence and to control. To control through fear and violence is a limited path that does not empower or inspire people. The oppressed eventually rise up in equal fashion to those that control. The path of opposition is an endless path of destruction and death. There is no end, only more control and violence. Fear is used to ignite this flame and money is poured into the stockpile of weapons and exclusion and again we are confounded when others do the same in opposition. Darkness does not eliminate darkness, only light as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. told us. It took extreme courage for Dr. King to follow a path of peace in the face of violent opposition. This was the light.
It is time to revisit this path of light and non violence. This path takes courage in the face all of the greatest fears in our minds. Yet, what greater fight is there than one of peace and love. Love is the greatest power on this earth, far greater than any bomb or wall. The seeds of love empower, and inspire the world forever changing the footprint that was left before they arrived. The power of love triumphs over fear, over control. The growth may be slow but it is permanent, far more permanent than some ideological wall that represents oppression and fear. Love is the honey that attracts, all living beings crave and want it. Mahatma Gandhi stood for a path of peace and love in the face of violence and control. Martin Luther King Jr. rallied for civil rights under the umbrella of love and peace. The path is of Mother Teresa in fighting for what we are FOR not against. This is spiritual evolution. This path will test our diligence to peace and love. It will push us to our limit, it will strive to take the love out of our hearts, to prod and anger us to join in the realm of chaos and destruction, the realm of anger and violence and death. We must stand for love in the face of the greatest tragedies, like the mother who forgave the man who killed her daughter, or like Gandhi willing to die for his faith in peace and of love. Let no one take away our choice for peace and love, this cannot be taken only given away by us. This is the courage we must have, we must build bridges of love in the midst of the storm. Yet, the more we build, the more we create the more that we inspire and the more that will join in our creation of love far distancing the control in the path of destruction on the alternate path.
We are defined by how we react in our darkest hour.
It is exactly in these moments that we must choose to build bridges and not walls. Every moment, every footprint is our choice. Always remove the barriers to fear and oppression and choose creation and love.
This is leadership. This is spiritual evolution.
Thomas D. Craig
love. inspire. unite