Traveling is always such a great stimulus for a new perspective, great insights and expansive inspiration, when I'm open to it. As I sit in an airport waiting for my flight I read this quote today:
A Vision for Truth
"We envision a society in which we accept our self and one another completely. A society in which we support one another in being the way we each uniquely are and in expressing ourselves fully and freely in an atmosphere of acceptance, allowance and appreciation for the unique manifestations of the universe that we each are, a society of individuals who tell the truth and a society in which the truth can be told, without blame or judgment.
By the same token, we envision a world where mankind has risen up and out of our need to be in opposition to others because we have seen, ever-so-clearly, that when we oppose another, we become just like them. With these two thought patterns having gone by the wayside, we now see a world where we no longer support anyone or any institution that advocates aggression, destruction, or harming others in any way. Now, we envision a world where people walk the sidewalks and roads of all lands freely and openly, where we smile at one another easily, work together in cooperation, and want only for the well-being and goodwill of everyone else; where all weapons are gone and we solve our challenges by negotiating, by compromising, and by helping one another to realize our dreams in an atmosphere of peace and unbridled creativity.
It is in this environment - an environment where everyone feels completely and utterly safe - that the peace in our hearts and minds has worked its way outward into our world as well; where all people enjoy their lives because peace - true peace - is both inside and outside of us at the same time."
--The Intenders of the Highest Good; Vision Alignment Project
As I look around and watch people of all types, races, sizes, and styles, I am aware that right before me, there is a version of this vision of the future in bloom. Of course so much depends on what eyes I am seeing with, but being determined to see the beauty in all people and remember our oneness, that we all are really just doing the best we can from whatever consciousness we are carrying around between our ears, I easily see that this vision is right here in front of me. It's not some vision of a distant future, a "maybe someday" future. It's happening, even with it's less-than-perfect faces at times. And it is happening in many places in the world. Right now I am sitting in an airport where people are passing me by who have black skin, brown skin, white skin, of Asian descent, African descent, Indian descent and European descent. Most smile at me if I catch their eye, they seem relaxed, safe, and mostly kind. This is part of what I see as our evolutionary process. As an evolutionary thinker I see that there is a much bigger unfolding happening on the planet, and that certain pockets of people on the globe are actually experimenting with this vision of "a world where people walk the sidewalks and roads of all lands freely and openly, where we smile at one another easily, work together in cooperation, and want only for the well-being and goodwill of everyone else." I'm so grateful that I am living in this world, and believing it into being.
I also know that the beauty, wealth and opportunity that abound here in the U.S. have come to us on the backs of our brothers, and from the resources, of so many other parts of the world. For many years this made me cynical about my homeland, criticizing our government for its hypocritical propaganda about the need to spread democracy all over the world while supporting oppressive regimes, because to do so has been in America's, or the extremely rich's, best interest. And on and on, I have seen our greed, walked across this beautiful homeland to protest nuclear armaments, and taken political action to help change our government and point out our blind spots. I have jugged our actions as a nation harshly and continue to feel the inner conflict that comes from being one of the privileged on this planet at this time, while knowing about and feeling the suffering going on in so many other places on this common spaceship we share. But as an evolutionary, I see the ignorance that we are still manifesting as equal to the ignorance of a teenager who is so taken with driving fast that he/she wrecks the car, or so interested in the thrill of a high that he/she ruins their body for a period of years. We too are working through the growing pains of 1) having so much, 2) being able to use so many of the world's best resources, and 3) not feeling the immediate consequences of our greed, actions or choices. We will have to mature as a human species before we find the same balance that comes with growing into an adult, who will temper their actions not because of some outside force but because time has taught the lessons that go with wreck less living.
In the face of all of this the path of Evolutionary Spirituality invites me to refuse to feed the fear, the suffering and the negativity going on by not putting my energy into bad-mouthing "the enemy", by not corroborating with others when they want to complain about how horrible certain things are, and by not demonizing my own government or the ignorance of my own culture. It even reminds me to not get depressed or immobilized about all of the pain that others are experiencing across the planet, because there really is something much, much bigger unfolding that I don't even have a clue about. So I choose to offer gratitude to the refugees, those in war-torn areas, and victims of oppression in all of its forms, for what they are going through, for what they are enduring, for their strength and their courage. I tell them, through the great non-physical Web that connects us all, that I am sending them love, energy, support, and that they humble me as they continue to even live through such hell. If tears come to my eyes they are tears of great appreciation, humility and love. And I let them know that I am so rooting for their survival, courage and an end to their suffering. But it is important that I do this from a place of heart-prayer that has the vibrations of love and gratitude, not those of pity and sadness. It is this subtle but significant shift in my own consciousness that I offer to the greater evolutionary journey of my fellow humanity. For in order for us to fully experience the Vision of Truth that I started this article with it is my understanding that we need to start broadcasting much more love and gratitude for all of it, for all that we are all going through. I am still required to speak up and to be a catalyst of change when and where I can, but I must do it from a different place than I did in my younger years.
My attention goes back to the passers-by in the airport, wondering about the life experiences of a woman who just walked by, appreciating the amazing unique journey that each one has signed up for on some level, and appreciating this moment. I not only believe in the Vision shared by the Intenders for the Highest Good, I am experiencing a part of the manifestation of at least some of it, and I am reminded that there is just a whole lot more going on than I know, and that's both expansive and hopeful!
Sharon Gonzalez-Alei