Heavy on my Heart

I had planned to attend a Unity service today, but felt a strong need to share my thoughts, my concerns and what is in my heart. I heard this term, ‘Heavy on my heart,’ not too long ago; a phrase perhaps indicative of my current geographical location in the southeast portion of the U.S.

What is heavy on my heart this morning is what is happening in this country; particularly what has been happening at airports around the U.S. as immigrants and even Green Card holders are being turned away, or at the least, held in some sort of detainment space.

I am a legal immigrant, brought to this country from England as an infant—a naturalized citizen because my father was a U.S. citizen fighting for our freedoms in England, Paris, and eventually Korea. I am shocked, disappointed and dismayed that one man, with the stroke of a pen, has the power to undo everything this country has stood for for so long.

I am shocked, disappointed, and yes, embarrassed that this man has become the leader of the so-called ‘free world’; a world that no longer seems free to so many of us. People I know, people I love, are afraid. Afraid because the most powerful person on this planet has laid down a judgment on them because of their skin color, their gender, who they choose to love and even their physical disabilities.

What has gone so wrong that this is even happening? We shake our heads in disbelief that this could happen here—in the land of the free and the home of the brave.

A breaking news item: the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has solicited a federal judge who has put a HOLD on the Executive Order banning non-Christian Muslims from entering the U.S.

While I am heartened by this judge’s actions, and I am certain it has a certain President fuming, I think it’s time for us to truly look at how and why we have come to this point in our beloved country. Certainly there are bigots among us and even those of us who see difference in our neighbors and strangers. Differences are there, but do they need to divide us?

Although there appear to be differences based on skin color and gender, can we stop long enough to recognize that behind those seeming differences we all want the same thing? Don’t we all simply want to be happy? To be free to make our own decisions, our own choices?

What if those distinctions based on physical form are merely appearances? What if, beyond our physical forms, beyond even our thoughts, we discover that we are not limited by any of them? What if what we’ve taken ourselves to be, i.e., these limited, fragile bodies and the minds that go with them, is the lie that is behind the seeming problems we face.

What if all of our problems stem from the notion that we are separate from everyone and everything? What if, as is now acknowledged by scientists and physicists the world over, philosophers throughout the ages were right? What if the consciousness—the indivisible Beingness, Presence or Awareness that we share is the truth?

In this world of apparent duality, where everything seems so ‘real’ this is a challenging concept. If we look a little deeper, however; if we look in our hearts, beyond the body and the mind (where these thoughts of separation dwell), we might discover that there is an Awareness, a sense of Beingness that is in fact, the only reality; the truth that ‘we all’ share.

Languaging this is challenging. How does one communicate a concept that may be foreign to so many, but holds out the promise that we might see beyond our limitations, beyond our notions of separation and other?

Fortunately, there are many teachers and teachings to help us recognize the truth of our Beingness. Perhaps if we seek to know this truth, we can heal this world.