Exploration

As a nation, we need to get exited about science and exploration.  When President Kennedy inspired the nation, telling us we would go to the moon, setting that goal did much more than create a space program. It inspired our nation to dream big.  That shared national dream changed our culture.  It created a national pride that wasn't focused on war, or religious battles, or party affiliation.  We would be the first to go to the moon and back.
School curricula developed around the space program. An entire industry that might otherwise have been focused on war, turned to supporting the space program.  We watched as a nation and felt we were all part of each success.  The entire world watched as we actually landed on the moon.  In stature - in our minds and around the world - we grew in measures far greater than the cost of the space program.
I was fascinated by the space program.  While I never wanted to be an astronaut, I believe it inspired me to want to explore the world around me and to ponder those much larger questions.  I'm quite happy when I am imagining and considering larger dreams.  There is more out there - something bigger - and if we search for it, it will change how we see the world.  It's an unending exploration.
I wonder about the impact of the dream to go to the moon. In the 60's and through the 70's, there seems to have been an explosion of free thinkers.  If we could go the moon, why couldn't we overcome segregation?  If we could go to the moon, why couldn't we overcome poverty?  If we could go to the moon, why couldn't we overcome women's equality issues?
People began to act on their bigger dreams.
By the 90's, the nation grew weary of all those dreams.  We no longer watched every space mission together as a nation.  We acted as though segregation, poverty and women's equality issues were old news and no longer important concerns.  We don't dream together about solving greater problems and have no shared mission on which we can agree.
Our national culture has changed dramatically to one that is largely driven by protecting the status quo and even rolling back any progress made in terms of race, poverty and women's equality.  Our motto has become "All for one - and that one is me."
Until we can again get exited about exploring, this trend will continue.  The issues we face need to be examined as a scientist would examine them - fact based and free of emotion.  We need to have a shared vision and end goal.  We need to dream and we need to explore.  We need courage.
Imagine what would happen if President Kennedy was telling our nation today that we would go to the moon and back.  A corner of our mass media machine would immediately attack the idea and constantly talk about how crazy, wasteful and impossible it would be.  Then a large block of Congress would do all in its power to shut it down.  More than likely, the vision would go nowhere.
That's our culture today.  We are a nation going nowhere.

The Hard Heart

If you listen to or read about near death experiences, there is a universal message within.  They talk about a light and a feeling of pure, unconditional love.  They know they experienced the presence of God.
I know of none who said God yelled at them and then sent them back to fix anyone on earth.  Rather, they came back with a new understanding of what love is really about and a deep sense of peace.  Their hearts are open and kind.  Their soul has been touched, experienced the presence of God and they are forever changed.
As we walk our own spiritual path, we need to be mindful of our heart and soul.  There are many who skew religious teachings in a manner that requires developing a hard heart to follow.  Their inspiration is not coming from God.  They have created God in their own image to justify their hard heart.
We see it in how they behave and in the results of what they do.  They create fear, division and destruction.  We see it in the halls of Congress.  We hear it on "Christian" radio.  It's preached from some pulpits.   Fear - division - destruction - punishment - a calling for a hard heart.
We generally don't realize our hearts are being hardened.  It's a long slow process. 
The first step is the belief that you are specially chosen or you have chosen to be specially endowed by God.
Next is to develop the belief that you are obligated and privileged to lead others to follow the same direction.
Once these two steps are well established, you become part of a protected class.  Now it's easy to be convinced that most anything is permitted if the name of God is stamped on it.  There's often a euphoria attached to it.  Winning battles in the name of God. 
There's a constant need to whip up the frenzy and keep the focus on "God's work".  If voices of opposition and reason say you are going too far, stay away from the actual issue and focus on how they are impinging on your religious freedom.  Become a victim and hang onto it with all your might.
Your heart is now hardened.
You have lost sight of God.
It's time to seek the light.  First, realize that God is a part of everything and everyone.  Everyone and everything is special to God.  (Boy, that's a rough one for me sometimes.)  We need to walk humbly in recognition of the "awe" of God which is all encompassing, unconditional love.  Don't be a conduit of fear, division, destruction and punishment.  Battle for understanding.
Walk away from the hard heart.  Protect yours from becoming hard.

There but for the Grace of God...

The first 15 years or so of my adult life were pretty much dependent on programs I'm hearing called government handouts.  My first few years of college were at a State University.  My tuition was paid through state grants and I earned money with work study programs.  After serving in the Air Force, I went back to college using the Montgomery bill where the government matched with $2 every dollar I had paid in.  I went back to a State University and was again eligible for state grants and work study.
My first jobs were funded under Human Service Development grants and Job Training grants.  Along the way I had much help and support from family and sometimes needed food stamps to eat.  Years I went without health insurance and by the grace of God did not need it.
I didn't get the dream job right out of college.  I struggled and clawed my way and sometimes made bad decisions.  By luck, I got the job I have now with good benefits and decent pay.  Many of the people I graduated with and many whom I taught (under the Job Training program) have not been so lucky.
I'm not smug enough to think others did not have my same experience because I was smarter or worked harder.  And I'm not foolish enough to think that what is happening to other professional people in their mid 50's will not happen to me.  I'll be very lucky to retire from the job I now have.
I wonder if I loose my job through no fault of my own and I cannot afford health insurance as I may struggle to find another job, will I be called a slouch - a taker - an under achiever?
For about a decade of my early career, by today's conservative standards, that is what I would be called.  I probably wouldn't even have a job because the programs that employed me then have been slashed.  And if I wanted an education, I would need to take on student loans that would follow me for years.  The same years I was lucky to find jobs paying little more than minimum wage.
I just don't understand the whole "self made" mentality.  And I don't think it's because I've been a big taker all my life.  Maybe I'm just more aware of life's roadblocks and how difficult they can be to overcome.  I tend to think, "there but for the grace of God", instead of "Oh God, there's another one."

Truth can be a sword

Truth alone is not the only factor in determining if we should say something or not.  How we say it and the spirit in which we say it are just as important.
Here's an example:  a guy sees his sister and says "You look terrible in that dress".  His wife pokes him in the ribs and he says bewildered, "What? It's the truth".  The wife may totally agree that his sister looks terrible in that dress but that is not why she poked him. She poked him because he was blunt and didn't consider his sister's feelings.  Obviously, his sister saw something else in the mirror.
We get ourselves in trouble a lot that way.  Truth can cut like a sword and most often there are ways to say things - truth - that doesn't need to cut.  Sometimes we might be better to say nothing at all.
In the case above, can you picture the sister reacting with "my brother hates me"?  How did she jump from his opinion about the dress to hating her.  Two reasons:  She did not see his statement as true and he was blunt - critical.
I've done it and probably most of you reading can think of similar situations.  We say something that may be quite true but it's said far too bluntly.  The other person does not see that same truth when they look in the mirror.  Then they believe you hate them, especially if they are very sensitive about what you said.
If you find yourself in a situation where you are saying "What?  It's the truth." - it's not the truth that got you in trouble.  It's that you are seeing something different than they see when they look in the mirror.  You said it too bluntly or should not have said it at all.  Once the person's feelings are hurt, it's very hard to walk back what you said.

The Pope of Hope

I am inspired and full of hope with the words of Pope Francis.  The world has a new spiritual leader that sounds a lot like Jesus.  He talks about love, compassion, and non-judgemental behavior.
"You are not Catholic, why do you care?"  you might ask.
I am Unitarian and believe in the human race as one.  If some are struggling, it affects us all.   I see great importance in all spiritual leaders.  They can lift the world up if they deliver a message that leads to behavior based in true compassion and understanding.
There are hints of this message in what Pope Francis says.  I can learn something from this man.  And larger than that, millions around the world will be listening to this man.  I don't expect him to change the entire way that followers interpret the Bible and don't believe that is what he feels called to do.  But he is calling the church to behave differently and get focused on the core vision, mission and values of the church.  He is calling the spirit of the church into action as compassionate followers and asking us all to recognize that we don't own God.  God is part of us all.
Many may feel compelled to dial back what he is saying - to try to hang on to the more exclusive and divisive views of the past.  That's understandable.  Pope Francis' message is nearly as radical as Jesus, the Rabbi's, message was to the Jews.  Jesus told the Jews that God loved the Gentile too.  Jesus told the Jews that laws would not save them.  I hope the world is better prepared this time.

http://tinyurl.com/mp28wal

The Rest of the Story...

Why do I always question and keep searching for the "rest of the story"?
Why don't I just believe and be settled in it as many can be?
When I was a child, I did.  I loved Sunday school and church.  I loved following my mommy as she lived the Christian teachings I heard sitting beside her on the pew.  I may have written about this before, but I am reminded tonight of the moment everything I believed to be true was challenged.   And I realize that moment has caused me to continually question and seek deeper meaning.  I am always driven to ask what the rest of the story might be.  I always wonder if the words really mean what they seem to mean because once I believed with total conviction that they did.  But they did not.
At 8 I learned there is something more to the story than the words reveal.  I learned that there are things we cannot understand in this lifetime.  At 8 I learned that you can believe something with total conviction because that is what you have been told.  But believing it does not make it true and no source on earth makes it so.  Even calling on God in exactly the manner you have been taught, will not make it so.  Someone missed the rest of the story.  I didn't stop looking and listening at 8.  I kept at it, Sunday after Sunday.  Church camps, working at church camp, youth ministries, Newman Center and on and on.  And so far, no one on earth has provided the answer for me.
I don't question God.  I question man's understanding of God.  I've grown to enjoy the journey and the search for greater understanding.  I also understand I am human.  Once I am beyond being human, I fully expect to hear the real "rest of the story".  Oh my, will I be full of questions.  Then I imagine being full of answers in an instant.

Reaching the Other Side

It's not only language that limits our ability to communicate, but also images we hold in our mind.
Not long ago I was talking with a friend about a book and she said something about the main character that led me to say, "but she was black."  My friend said, "no, she was blond with blue eyes."
So, I went back to the book and sure enough in the early pages there was a description of a blond, blue eyed woman.
I tried to understand why I had pictured the character so different in appearance.  The character was a veteran, worked in law enforcement, lived at the beach....  Why did I not visualize this character close to how the author had described her?  It took me a few days to figure it out.  I once knew a black woman by that name.  To this day when I think of that book, I still picture the main character as a black woman - even though I now know that's not what the author wrote.
I've been in classes where we had to try to describe what we were seeing so that someone else - not seeing it - could draw it.  The results are interesting and it can be a very frustrating experience for both participants.  What would happen if the communicator's instructions were recorded and three very different people were the ones trying to draw the image?
Really understanding one another can be very difficult.  We don't always understand where the break down happens.  If one party hits the communication stop button, all hope of understanding is gone.
We get an image in our our mind that we just cannot get past.  It becomes debilitating.
Recall the last big argument you had with your spouse or someone in your family.  You said or did something - they said or did something - maybe word bombs started flying and probably at some point someone hit the communication stop button.  
Stepping back can be good if we are sorting things out.  But sometimes what happens is that we build a wall.  If communication stops here, the spouse becomes an ex and the family relationship is estranged.
Breaking through that wall is difficult, the larger it's built.  Usually the wall gets a label - something that sounds impossible to overcome.  Reality is that there are few issues that cannot be overcome with a lot of love, understanding and communication.  Recall the last argument with your spouse or family member that you actually worked through.  Didn't it feel great when you reached the other side!