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Primitive religion is not believed, it is danced!

Arthur Darby Nock

Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
And only he who sees takes off his shoes;
The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.

Elizabeth Browning



Sunday, November 25, 2018

A matter of division


“The Destiny of Man is to unite, not to divide. If you keep on dividing you end up as a collection of monkeys throwing nuts at each other out of separate trees.”
 T.H. White, The Once and Future King
_____________________________________

Divide and rule
Try it!
It works

It has been the weapon of choice for narcissists
Since the beginning of time

From Philip of Macedonia (who is said to have coined the phrase)
on through Ceasar, Napolean
and Machiavelli,

it has been used by people who love power
and love to abuse power
to minimize and marginalize people
and control them

foster distrust
create hate
distract from what is really happening

keep people in small groups
aligned around fear or hate, or ideology, or prejudice, or bigotry

and you win

but this is no way to live
like a ‘bunch of monkeys throwing nuts at one another from separate trees”

even if I think “my tree” is best
even if I think my ideas, my knowledge, my way, my values are better

it is no way to live

the cost is simply too great

think of what we see around us
look at what we are becoming

voter suppression
racism
angry people with guns, shooting those they disdain
a loss of civility
greed

saying we are like monkeys throwing nuts at each other is kind
We are more like angry beasts, tearing at each others flesh

Too many of us, at too many levels
Are caught up in this game

I found myself stating the other night
That I wished Karma would catch up with Mitch McConnell, soon
Monkey in a tree

Why would I wish ill on another human being?
Because that being is creating ill?  Yes!
But still

Adding enmity to enmity clearly does not work
The author of the book of Hebrews in the Bible

Suggests that we should provoke one another into love and good works
Provoke!

Wow!.  Not gently encourage, but provoke.
What does it mean to provoke love
Provoke unity?

I am not sure
But I think it is time we figure it out
How can, instead of escalating hate, can we escalate kindness and generosity?
How can we, instead of poking the hornets’ nest, and releasing fury
Can we draw out affection and compassion?

And how can we do it, while all around us
There are people assailing one another with words
And hate
And hostility

It is perhaps the question for our time

Will we go down the path we are going, and, as a world
Act out our anger, allowing extremism from the far right
To draw us into a savagery like that we saw in our great world wars
(the pattern now is much like that before WWI and WWII)

Or will we find a better way
And Provoke one another not into conflict, but into love??

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