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April 22, 2020

Looking Back at 2020.

We discovered that fighting was unnecessary. We discovered that we could share with one another in the sandbox. Raj shared his toys with Kiyoko. Miguel and Fatimah made a sandcastle together. The frivolous differences (“She was born in Kyoto and I was born in New Delhi”) no longer distracted us from seeing the beauty of the soul.

We learned that life is more fun we we trust in Life’s benevolence. Thanking Source for the beauty and nobility within each soul opened the way for being present to one another heart to heart.

We started seeing ourselves and one another through the eyes of our hearts. We started listening with curiosity and wonder.  No longer did this-is-my-opinion-and-if-you-see-things-different-then-I’m-not- interested-in-you rule the day. Instead we honored the one before us as a human being equal to ourselves.

We decided the world would be boring if we all agreed on everything. We were glad to live in a world that has billions of perspectives born of billions of unique experiences and unique souls.

We took joy in our sensual nature, our capacity to be gentle and tender. We released the habit of numbing out the world.

We discovered the river of caring in our hearts, this river that has always been there but not always noticed.

It was a time of new priorities. New values were sprouting from the soil of our hearts—from the knowing that we are one human family. Vladimir looked in Toni’s eyes and saw a candle lit by God. We knew that we came here to love each kindred soul.

When we looked back at the history of humans over the centuries, we were like an eagle up above looking at our ancestors below. We saw peasants in rice fields and we had compassion. We saw moments of happiness and glee and knew the human journey had been bittersweet, a mixture of all things. We saw battlefields and we were pained. We knew they didn’t know the power of the human. They hadn’t yet discovered the possibility of self-transcendence, nor did they sense the heart’s eagerness to love the human race.

When we looked back at our lives in 2019 and before, some of us had blinding clarity about the aspects of our lives that had been unessential. Joanne decided to no longer made a habit of beginning every day with a double espresso, but to save espresso for special occasions. Thomas traded in his Mercedes for a hybrid; Abdul turned his wine bar into a pay-what-you-can soup kitchen; Omar gave his beach house to a lady who had lost her house to an earthquake.

In coastal towns each Friday night was spent around campfires. About a dozen townspeople would gather round each fire pit and share their needs with one another. Each one would have a chance to say, “This is what I need”; usually someone was able to assist; when no one could help, the group trusted it was for the highest good.

When we looked back at 2020, we were struck by the shadows of greed and indifference that had played out in the years before, not only in our personal lives but also on the world stage. The shadow of greed had led to much corruption. The shadow of indifference had kept us from tapping into the subtle river of caring that is always flowing through our hearts.

We saw the past with a new clarity. This helped us forge a new path, for now we knew what course corrections needed to be made.

The gift of clarity about our values, our needs, and our desires was one of the gifts of the virus, some believed. The virus had called our attention to what really matters. It had deepened our valuing of our friendships; it had reminded us that we are all one human family. We heard the angels inviting us to live in harmony and we said “Yes.”

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