Division cannot rule the day..

It's both fascinating and disheartening listening to conservatives these days. Some seem to believe that anyone receiving any benefits at all are greedy moochers. Tim Armstrong, the CEO of AOL, decided to blame two sick babies for reducing 401K benefits. It was a smokescreen for bashing the Affordable Care Act, but of course he went there. Outrage ensued, and the contribution structure was reinstated. But this typifies the lies told throughout by conservatives to keep the vitriol going. It's easy to blame the uninformed. After all, if they actually read a newspaper, or watched TV, they'd know something, right? But how is anyone supposed to know anything when there is so much confusion about it? Well, if conservative media outlets, pundits, and legislators would start telling the truth, and let everyone make decisions based upon facts, then we might actually get somewhere.

Take for example the most recent information from the CBO on the ACA reducing jobs in the future. The fact is that some people work only to pay for their health insurance. With the Affordable Care Act, these folks may be able to reduce their hours further, start a new business, go to college, retire sooner, or stay home and raise their kids. Of course if we had single payer which didn't tie health insurance to our employers, then this would be a non-issue. We would be born, receive a health care card, pay in to the system on a sliding scale if we made enough money to do so, probably in the form of taxes, and then go to the doctor when we need to. Simple. Until conservative heads explode and scream socialism. They need to get over that. If you're healthy, you can work and contribute to society. If you're not, then you shouldn't have to choose between getting the care you need and, you know, living. 

I know what that's like. When I attended college, my parents refused to let me work summers. I had to keep attending college, because in my mother's view, if I took a summer off to earn money for tuition and expenses, I'd never go back to finish my degree. She was ridiculous. Finishing my degree was a given. Eventually, I lived on my own, had a part time work study job, and after much compromise, I received additional money each month from my mother which she told me I couldn't spend. I know. My entire childhood was one impossible situation after another. I lived on approximately $350 per month. I had to pay for my apartment, phone, utilities, and my bus pass. And I had to have enough for food. I didn't. I became so ill that a co-worker left a bottle of multi-vitamins in my inbox at work. I spent a year and a half alternating between bronchitis and a staph infection, finally resulting in a kidney infection. The medicine was so expensive ($25) that I couldn't afford it. I had to beg my mother to come down to the university clinic to take me to a pharmacy and pay for them. She finally relented after a huge argument. The clinic staff stood there, dumbfounded as they listened to my side of the conversation and just stared at her when she arrived to pick me up. She bitched the whole way to the pharmacy and I was so upset that I couldn't speak. She made a fool of herself while at the pharmacy as she denigrated me for being sick, complaining she had to drive "all the way into downtown Portland" after work to do this for me. She lived seven miles from the university.

It's this "catch-22" position in which many people now find themselves. No one asked for the financial crisis and it's clear that it was created by conservative policies. Trickle down never trickled down for the rest of us like our one percent overlords promised. We do what is asked of us and we get nothing but nonsense. We're treated like we're moochers for wanting unemployment insurance to take us through difficult times that politicians created. We're treated like takers when we want affordable health insurance and like socialists if we want that to be a single payer system.

However, we're not the people who should be ashamed. The unabashedly unashamed in our country are dividing us at an alarming rate. And it feels like they do it for sport. Racism, sexism, and any other ism are ruining this country. The conservatives have created such division by lying about almost everything, couching it in racism and sexism. And if they don't get their way, they simply obstruct. They lost the presidency the last two times, so they nearly bring the country to its knees by shutting down the government. It wasn't enough to bring about the sequester which harms struggling Americans, they had to risk our country's credit rating in the process. They confuse everyone about the reality of the debt ceiling, which should confuse no one because most people have a credit card. We all understand finance charges and interest. If I don't pay off my credit card, I incur finance charges. Simple concept. It doesn't give the President a blank check to fill out with that pen he's now threatening to use. And while we're on the subject of credit, how much do we still owe for both wars? The Bush Administration lies us into two wars, doesn't pay for it because of the whole "we'll be greeted with flowers" idea, telling us that we'll be in and out in no time and oil profits will fund the war. Right. Things never turn out the way they say..

Here's the thing. You can't blow up the economy and then take it out on the American people by killing any and all jobs programs offered up for vote. Blowing up the economy was bad enough, but to not help Americans find work? What's wrong with you people? (HT: Ann Romney) The answer is to apologize, then get out of the way and let intelligent people try to fix it. And you can't stand by and gripe about how that happens. You caused the mess. If you can't do anything to actually help, then for the love of all that is holy, shut the hell up. The last thing any of us need is your divisive and destructive input to screw things up any further. You clearly do NOT know what you're doing.

Conservatives lost the presidency because of the way they think about, well, everything. They target voters, women, children, veterans, unemployed, healthcare, and apparently bridge traffic to control the narrative. The problem is, we're not listening anymore. The more you denigrate us and try to take our rights away, the more we detest you. And that translates into voting for the other party. Any other party. At this point, newborn infants running the country would be an improvement. Division has never gotten anyone anywhere except alone. Conservatives would do well to understand that concept. As many are Christians, you'd think that unity would be natural.

We have a chance in November, and then again in 2016 to get the country back on track. We can't do that with the current conservative viewpoint. Either they have to become compassionate and sane, or progressive and compassionate Americans have to be the adults in the room and deal with them in the best way possible..by voting blue. 

Working through the Workbook

Now that I've read the entire text of A Course in Miracles, I've finally begun the accompanying workbook for students. It's divided into 365 lessons which I can do daily, or stay longer with some lessons if I need to. The lessons appear at first to be simplistic, but as I continue to work through them, their meaning is profound. The idea is to re-train our minds to see holiness instead of judgment. The Course begins with:

Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God. ACIM Preface p.x

The point is to embody that idea in our daily lives. It's the way to peace. It's the way to remembrance. It's the way to Oneness. The lessons illustrate that the world we see is a projection or illusion and that we give it all the meaning it has. It's really that simple. We can choose to see it through the prism of the ego, or we can choose to see it as either an expression of love or a call for love. We can see it with judgment, or see it as nothing at all. In the Oneness, this world doesn't exist. The workbook teaches us how to live in the world while remembering we're not of the world.

The world of illusion is filled with drama. We don't want to accept our role, much less our active participation, in that drama. But we must accept that responsibility or we'll never accomplish the task at hand. The first twenty-five lessons focus on understanding that not only do I give meaning to whatever I'm seeing, but also my thoughts have power, that they're not neutral. They have effect and keep the drama going. I can focus on thoughts of attack and judgment, believing that I am responding to what I see. But that's the whole point..I'm responding to what I see. Not someone else..me. No one forces me to process things the way I do. I do that. I can choose something else. Choosing to stay above the fray and not judge, frees me to love unconditionally. I'm only at lesson twenty-five. Still having trouble with the unconditional part at times. We can attempt to control the outcome of situations, but as long as we stay in the drama, that will never happen. It's only when we step away from it, and choose extending love over judgment that we choose to remember who we are as part of the Oneness that is God. That's the only thing that's real. The rest is a projection of our collective guilt over our perceived separation from God. It's not true..we're still part of that Oneness, existing here in our collective dream state. That ends when we all remember. The workbook furthers that goal.

Lesson 22 says that when we typically look upon the world, vengeance is what we project. We blame everyone for our so-called problems and feel justified in responding with attack. The drama is circular in nature and, therefore, self-reinforcing. It never ends unless we choose to step away and end it. In lesson 24, it suggests that nothing I do is in my best interest as long as I'm choosing judgment. It's in my best interest to see holiness and Oneness, not judgment and separation. And yet that's exactly what we all do. Our justification fosters more separation. Judgment gets us nowhere and never will.

Today's lesson, twenty-five, tells me that everything I encounter is for my best interest. It doesn't matter if it is an expression of love or a call for love, it gives me everything I need. These are opportunities to join with others in Oneness. They're a blessing. If I devote my time to expressions of ego, then I don't understand what my life is about. Remember that if only God is real, then this world of projection is meaningless. Focusing on or responding to meaningless projections instead of seeing them as love or a call for love, prevents my awakening.  If I extend love in whatever situation I find myself, then my awakening continues.

As the work continues, I'll be posting more.. It's going to be an interesting year..

Note: the above quotation is from A Course in Miracles. Foundation for Inner Peace. 2007