go where the pain is

We live in a time of great hostility, and the temptation from which we must defend ourselves is to pull back from others, deny our shadow, and retreat into our own defended camps or isolated positions. This temptation is not detachment, but the giving over of ourselves to the illusion of separation. True spiritual action (as opposed to reaction) demands our own ongoing transformation, often changing sides to be where the pain is…

                               Richard Rohr, CAC note, 11/2/2020

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this is a time of great hostility

it is also a time of great fear

a time of great anger

 

it is a time when every is entrenching

doubling down

 

a time when both sides claim righteousness

and both sides claim

that if the other wins the world will come to an end

 

it will be the “end of the world as we know it!”

 

and so we have two parties

two ideologies

two agendas

 

and hostility dominates

hate saturates the air

and saturates our souls

 

and we are naturally defensive

steeled against defeat

but also alienated

separated from one another

 

that farmer I have fished with

is he really deplorable because he loves Trump?

am I really someone he abhors, because I am for Biden?

 

can I remember

can he remember

the time we spent together

after his son killed himself?

 

can I go to him

and feel his pain, and feel his fear

that the country he loves will become something

he no longer recognizes?

 

Can I open my heart enough

can I tear down the walls?

can I build a bridge of love

across the ideological abyss?

 

On this election day

No one wins

If we end up in armed camps

If we end up separated from one another.

 

I admit

I am frightened by the specter

of white supremacy winning

of armed thugs prevailing

 

I am in pain

Because of children separated from their children

LGBTQI friends being diminished and threatened

Colored people marginalized

Poor people abandoned

 

But I know that everyone is in pain

And I know

That if I can enter into the pain of other

Then “win” or “lose” on this election day

 

Something will emerge

That will be more than I can ask or imagine

 

Healing

Reconciliation

Restoration

Equity

 

It may seem illogical

But it is the way God works

When we open up, let go

When we die to our own dominance

 

Good things happen

Healing happens

Love happens

 

And God knows we need

Need love

This day