What Ye Reap...

TODAY’S READING:
433.2-435.1

Judgment. How does that word feel? What comes up for you when you speak the word out loud. Do you find there is a hit in your chest as if your body is responding with distaste? I have felt that way… mostly when I believe I am being judged.

Our response to feeling judged is a great teacher. If we do not like it, then why would we subject others to our judgment? We can stop the cycle of judgment when we decide to stop it.

I have been observing with interest the events of the past two weeks which were initiated by the latest school shooting in Parkland, Florida. I have a fascination with the unfolding of information both fact and fiction. What is interesting to me in this unfolding are the examples of judgment being hurled around. There is a prevailing tone of judgment in the rhetoric of this discussion on the nature of guns, gun violence, and access to guns. The culture of the United States is one of strongly held conviction to the belief that gun ownership is a right. This post is not about that debate. I have an opinion on the matter, but my opinion belongs to me and I don’t need to share it. If I do share it, perhaps it is not wise to do so in a way that makes people wrong for holding a differing opinion.

It’s all in perception. If I perceive that I am right then I am. The same goes for those who have an opposing view. What if we come to more deeply understand that there is no good, bad, right, or wrong? There is only creation. Our minds create.

To step out of judgment (which I call opinion fueled by heated emotion) the onus is on me to let the heat dissipate. Once I do that I can set a tone of civility all around me; my energetic presence can change a whole room (that’s true for ALL OF US). In civility, we can have a conversation and find consensus.

That is my prayer, that civility prevails.

So did I change anything about the gun debate? No. That wasn’t something I set out to do.

My encouragement today is for each of us to step up our approach to the debate so that we can find solutions. That is how we begin to live in peace… by being the embodiment of peace to begin with.