Once again on the road
Vision Quest or a trip to Mesa Verde?
Epilog – the Vision Quest thing
I felt I must change within. I must become a person without grudge, with no long held resentments to slight. This is how President Lincoln interacted with other political figures; many had given him slights. He still focused on building a working relationship to accomplish the goals of the nation with men who had disrespected him.
I drove in thought, I reflected as I hiked, and I resolved my ideas, as I rested in the evenings. Two principles came to mind of how I must change myself. How, I must change my interactions if I am ever to change others and the world around me. The first from Jesus’s words of the bible “Turn the other cheek“ Here is the Matthew 5:38 plus verses from the Message, maybe a new phrasing for a new hearing. “Here’s another old saying that deserves a second look: ‘Eye for eye, tooth for tooth.’ Is that going to get us anywhere? Here’s what I propose: ‘Don’t hit back at all.’ If someone strikes you, stand there and take it. If someone drags you into court and sues for the shirt off your back, giftwrap your best coat and make a present of it. And if someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant life. No more tit-for-tat stuff. Live generously.”
A great drive for a camping trip if you do it solo
My second guideline is from experience in my own life. If you want not to be bullied, then do not react. A quiet smile, silence, or the water off your back attitude is the fastest way to stop the ridicule. Do not reward negative behavior ignore it. It will quench their flames. Jesus had a statement usually forgotten, “Do not feed the trolls, they are likely Russian bots, anyway.” In my travel musings of how I could change I returned to the thrust of many of my prayers these last few months. My thoughts of how to change politics fused and mixed with those of my prayers. I pray not to claim to love Jesus or be loved by Jesus, but to be Jesus in my interactions. I believe this is the way to seek God. Seek so sincerely I am as Jesus was in life’s interactions. If I am a presence, it should change people’s lives. If I personally am not changed, then meeting me is the same as encountering anyone else. I am simply of the world not being Jesus in the world. I do not want to drive away those of no religion or different religions. This is not my context here. There are many examples Lincoln, Gandhi, Mandela, or MLK; it was their approach not their religion that made their impact. I am not here to evangelize for this or that belief. In fact the self-named Evangelicals have moved far away from offering the loving Spirit of Jesus. Their interactions are more of fear, reproach, and outrage. If when meeting me, anyone is not able to see something they might choose to seek in their own fashion, then I have nothing to proclaim. I try not to be a hollow vessel or simply a clanging noisemaker. My specific prescription for change is for me, but my recommendation to all of us is a new approach. A new resolve and attitude is needed to affect real change in the world.
Canon at Wilson's Creek Battlefield -- hedge ball not ordinance
Currently in our world of political events too many of our fellow citizens have gone off as lost youth might. Running from a stable and loving home with a rebellious and reckless pursuit. They behave as if abducted into some cult. Their perceptions exist within its own artificial environment a cult created unreal reality. They are pursuing a course hell-bent for disaster. We must be the mature people allowing their crash to occur, because we have no power to stop it. We can however not accelerate or give it more fuel. We can simply build more harmony and peace within ourselves. We must still uphold our values; fill our lives with unity of purpose. We must love and nurture the American ideal. When the fever dream breaks we must be the shelter that welcomes them back. It will happen slowly, individually. A significant minority will never again be aligned with a new American Dream; they will resist being a part of American ideals and a better American future. We the majority must prepare ourselves to offer love for those who return. We can offer restoration, but we must act in unity to regain control from the power brokers who have exploited our fellow citizens. The partisan elite has poured acid into the cracks of the body politic. The division and breaking apart have served their shortsighted agenda. It will still crash into the wall of reality. We must be there to reclaim the victims of this looming tragedy.
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