Tag Archives: Equality

A Partner in Divinity

Jesus asked his disciples “Who do you say I am?”  I need to look in the mirror and ask the same question.

For decades, the underlying tone of my apparent high self-esteem has been “I’m not good enough” and “I’m less than you.”  Only recently have I glimpsed what’s true about this … it’s nonsense!

I’ve spent time with some powerful leaders.  Long ago in San Francisco, I was in the same room as Werner Erhard for three days.  He’d wear a white open-necked shirt and dress pants and sit there being impossibly handsome.  Words poured like honey from his lips.  I was terrified.

Twenty years later, I was on a three-month silent meditation retreat in Massachusetts.  For six weeks of that time, I was in the same room as Joseph Goldstein, one of the pioneers who brought Buddhism to North America in the 1960’s.  He was impossibly tall and spoke with the quietness of a master.  I’d tremble when he was near me in the lunch line.

Patricia Albere is the founder of the Evolutionary Collective and has brought the transformational Mutual Awakening Practice into the world.  I’d see her in live online group sessions and have heart palpitations in the comfort of my living room.  My 1-1 interactions with her were marked by a distinct shortness of breath on my part.  She was the founder, she was famous, she was smart.  And I was not any of those things.

So there’s a rich history here of being “less than”.  Smallness seemed to suit me.  Except it didn’t!  In my better moments of mirror gazing, I’m seeing not a cowardly lion but a fierce spiritual being, not Caspar Milquetoast but a rejuvenated Clark Kent out on an evening adventure.  Enough of being itsy bitsy.  I’m a partner with you (and you and you …) in making this world work.

Who do I see looking back at me in that mirror?  Here are some quotations that move me … to action.  May they vibrate in your chest.

***

Never bend your head.  Always hold it high.  Look the world straight in the face.

Helen Keller

You could say that Helen didn’t have the eyes to see.  But within her beat a visionary heart.

Sometimes I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry.  It merely astonishes me.  How can any deny themselves the pleasure of my company?  It’s beyond me.

Zora Neale Hurston

Oh, Zora, you soar above the pettiness of the narrow!

You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.

The Buddha

That’s right, Mister Buddha.  I’m totally deserving of the goodness that comes my way, just like each of you is.

A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.

Mark Twain

Out there, a healthy mixture of smiles and frowns comes a’calling.  In here, I get to choose.

You were born an original.  Don’t die a copy.

Unknown

In 2002 or so, a lovely teacher wrote this on the board as her “Thought for the Day”.  It hasn’t left my side since.  The words come in handy when my small voice chimes in with “You should be flamboyant like Lara” or “You should be a computer wizard like Peter.”

A healthy self-love means we have no compulsion to justify to ourselves or others why we take vacations, why we sleep late, why we buy new shoes, why we spoil ourselves from time to time.  We feel comfortable doing things which add quality and beauty to life.

Andrew Matthews

I love watching The Masters golf tournament on TV.  I love venturing into spiritual discussions with some folks who don’t seem interested.  I love singing “O Canada” in rooms where few do.  The reactions of others are simply … there, and are not a danger to me.

Don’t ask yourself what the world needs, ask yourself what makes you come alive.  And then go and do that.  Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.

Howard Washington Thurma

I love discussions with kids about life in all its immensity.  Perhaps the shine in my eyes touches the warmth in their heart.

Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong.  There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right.  To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

I want to be a teacher in the Evolutionary Collective.  I will create what I need in order for this to happen.  And the stars will align.

***

Deficiency
Sufficiency
Abundance

Seems like a logical progression

Prejudice Against Women

Beatrice Bruteau is my favourite author. Before she died, Beatrice talked about unity consciousness, how we can awaken together rather than meditating alone for years. She called society’s current context a “domination paradigm”, where I try to get one up on you while you do the same to me. Plus my group is better than your group. As an alternative, Beatrice pointed to a “communion paradigm” – no ranking. We’re brothers and sisters.

I was reading The Holy Thursday Revolution this afternoon when Beatrice mentioned the Bible, specifically First Timothy 2: 11-12, verses in which “it is explicitly forbidden to regard women as equal to men.” Ouch. Now there’s domination.

Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet.

How intensely sad that women throughout much of history have been considered less than. And the diminishment lingers.

Why, oh why, has the Catholic Church prevented women from becoming priests, from expressing in leadership their full spiritual being?

Pope Francis and the male priests at the Vatican have said repeatedly that the teaching against female priests comes from God and cannot be changed.

(Sigh)

And then there’s the issue of women being denied the vote for so many years. Here, from approximately 1915, are some reasons why male Canadians said no:

Religious leaders stressed that “natural law” — as stated in the Christian Bible — was clear about women being subordinate to men.

Women did not have the physical strength of men, and therefore could not hold their own in the rough and tumble of politics.

If a married woman had taken a vow to obey her husband, then she would vote as he directed. In effect, this would give her husband two votes.

Voting would drag women away from their domestic duties and their children. It was argued that voting would distract women from their roles as mothers and wives.

If women won the vote and other rights, they would be equals and no longer under men’s protection. Too weak to defend themselves, they would be depressed.

Women would be overexcited by politics and would have nervous breakdowns.

Women were — or should have been — far too busy with their home and community duties to take part in politics.

Women knew nothing of trade, commerce, science, finance, the military or the law, and therefore had nothing to contribute to politics.

Women would be hardened and sullied by politics and would become manly and unfeminine.

(A very big sigh)

The past was intensely damaging for women. The present, in some realms, isn’t so hot either:

The Cannes Film Festival has been accused of “tyrannical fashion policing” after reports emerged that a group of women were turned away from a red-carpet premiere for not wearing high heels. The women, some of whom had medical conditions and were in their 50’s, were wearing rhinestone flats to the opening of Cate Blanchett’s new film Carol when they were told they would not be allowed to enter, reports The Guardian.

(Yuck)

Right now, the United States is one of only three countries in the world that don’t make companies provide paid maternity leave. The other two are Papua New Guinea and Oman.

(Double yuck)

American women currently don’t have a legal basis to argue for upholding the rights they currently have or gaining the ones they lack because the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution, first proposed almost a century ago in 1923, has yet to pass. Currently, the government is not allowed to pass laws or make rulings that treat citizens differently by race or religion, but they’re still allowed to do so with gender.

(Triple yuck)

I’m a white male. Translation: privileged. There are several powerful women in my life who no doubt have had to fight battles that are invisible to me. I’m sad for you, dear friends. I’m also happy to see your courage and your humanity on full display. The world needs all of us.