What Energy Are You Creating?

For a while, I had a blog I called "Leaving Walmart". The premise behind it was meant to be something of a protest against the practices that big corporations represent--low wages, big profits, slave labor produced products, etc. In the blog, I talked about some of my experiences shopping in local businesses in order to get away from the Walmart sort of business mentality.

Then one day, I had a powerful insight. I was never going to break Walmart by pointing out what was wrong with them. The energy I was putting into the fight only served to perpetuate the fight. As I did not want to be a source for fight energy, I gave up my blog and unplugged myself from that particular matrix.

We cannot fix the world by bringing more fight and opposition to it. We fix the world by bringing in energies of love and peace. We fix the world by showing others how it can be!

Martin Luther King, Jr. understood this when he said the following:

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

It takes an opposite but equal action in order to balance out inequalities. It is not about fighting. It is about BEing the energy/frequency you want to see in the world.

The world needs examples to understand what is possible. Do you have what it takes to BE the change you wish to see in the world?

~CSE

 

Letting Go Of The Symbols Of Our Hate

In the face of an act of racial violence in Charleston, the people of South Carolina have shown it is possible to overcome racism through coming together in love. That was not the end result the powers that be hoped to see by setting up the circumstances for this act to take place. They wanted (and expected) chaos, violence and destruction to be the end result. When that did not occur, they had the media bring out the ever present symbol of hatred and slavery in the South--the Confederate flag.

I'm not here to tell you the Confederate flag has no meaning and is not associated with slavery and racial conflict. I do believe it still holds those connotations for African Americans as well as white people all over the country. I will say this. After over 20 years of living in the South and being associated with South Carolina for 35 years, white people in the South see it a little bit differently. It represents a part of their heritage and history. For most people in the South, it is not something that takes an overwhelming precedent in their lives. The vast majority of Southerners don't wave it around, fly it from their homes or even think about it on a daily basis. It is just something that identifies them with their ancestry. Still, the Confederate flag raises some lingering issues that people all over the country can't seem to get over.

I have a message for the people of the South. It is not meant with disrespect, nor is it meant to dismiss your collective heritage. It is designed as something to ponder and consider the ramifications of.

My Southern friends and neighbors of my adopted home,
Whether you like it or not, the Confederate flag has become a symbol for racism and hatred all over the United States and even the world. People not in the South see that image and assume that all of us in the South are racist and hate people who are not like us!!! They see that flag and believe that we are still of the same mentality we were in before Civil Rights or even the Civil War! You live here! You know that is not the case!!! The only way the rest of the people of the world will begin to understand the change is if we are publicly willing to give up our egos and let go of the symbols of our hate!!! That includes letting go of the symbolism of the Confederate flag. When we no longer cling to all those things that associate us with the negativity, they have one less way to fault our way of life. Be bold, rise up and take away their power to use this symbol to define who and what we are!!! Allow the Confederate flag to be relegated to the history books and find new ways to show the world exactly who you are!!! The actions in Charleston are one positive way we can forge ahead and become examples to the world of who we are and what the world can become in the face of hatred!!!  
When we no longer cling to those symbols that represent our collective hatred, our rulers lose the ability to hold those symbols against us. In effect, we free ourselves from one more level of control. Isn't it time we begin to take back our power and create a life where love and freedom reign supreme?

~CSE

Hate, Bigotry And The Bigger Picture

I have been watching posts on Facebook lately about states beginning to legislate that it is okay for businesses to discriminate against homosexuals. Normally I would go off on that fact that We the People are being pitted against each other as a means to steal our personal power. While this is still true, what hits me more strongly today is the fact that, as a human race, we are still stuck as such low levels of energy this is even an issue. Hatred and bigotry are extremely low-level frequencies. They are energies of separation and division. Personally, they make me so uncomfortable I avoid them whenever I can.

A number of months ago, I remember reading an article about a lesbian couple planning a wedding. They sought the services of a local bakery to bake up the wedding cake. Problem was, the bakers were Christians who believe homosexuality is a sin so they refused to make the cake. The lesbian couple then proceeded to sue the bakers for discrimination.

I'm not going to try to assign blame or attribute "rightness" or "wrongness" to this situation. Fact of the matter is, all these people have made the choice to wallow in low level energies. The lesbian couple is choosing to force a fight because they feel slighted. They are justifying it saying they are fighting for the rights of homosexuals everywhere. While this may be true, I find myself asking why they are choosing to fight instead of trying to bring love into the situation. As for the Christian bakers, I wonder why they would choose a god who picks favorites?

When I moved to my current small Georgia town a number of years ago, I was hesitant. I had heard stories about racial tensions from people who lived there, and that was not the sort of environment I wanted to raise my children in. I have friends who represent many races, religions, cultures and sexual orientations. I choose my friends based on who they are as people and the energies they carry. No matter our differences, I always find good things about them with which to base mutual understanding and goodwill. Fortunately, I found these same attitudes in my new town and have been very happy here.

The question becomes, are there still racial tensions here? Probably. These attitudes and energies still exist in people everywhere. The thing is, I don't identify with them, resonate with them, or attract them. Those places I occasionally come across that do give me negative vibes are those places I typically avoid.

Eradicating hatred and bigotry will not be a matter of bringing the fight, although I also believe ignoring problems does not make them go away. Rather, it is up to us to bring balance to those situations that have reeled seriously out of control.

I believe Martin Luther King, Jr. had the right idea when he said the following:

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

Overcoming hatred and bigotry will not happen in the fight. It will happen because we have grown to a place where we understand our differences are not a means to separate us but a means to draw our varied talents and resources together in order to create the world of our dreams.

~CSE