Beliefs don’t bring unity. They bring conflict. This is especially true of beliefs based on values or morality. Our human history is littered with examples. One group comes to a belief (or system of beliefs) and imposes it on another group. Pick any religious, cultural, or power-driven conflict – they almost always boil down to a conflict of beliefs. On a personal level, ask yourself honestly, how many times has someone changed one of your personal beliefs? How many times have you changed someone else’s? A disagreement of entrenched beliefs creates a standstill and violence becomes the easiest option to move things forward.
Beliefs are typically not open-ended. They are fences placed into the ground, differentiating one person from another, one group from another. They are claims within an invisible territory, a way to offset the immensity of the inward and outward expanse in which we all live. They organize our experience so we can function.
There is insight here for our country in this post-2016 election reality. How deeply we are willing to learn from this election will define the future of this country and perhaps even for other parts of the world as well. This is now the time to be as truthful and honest and open as humanly possible. We owe each other that. There is a great schism within our country and we need to get serious about it. We are injured, limping; and most of all, mistrustful.
So how do I move forward? Do I plant a fencepost and vocalize my particular beliefs? For example, I cannot believe that so many people seemingly do not appreciate the importance of the earth, our environment, and our climate. We are destroying the very hand that feeds us…and we keep doing it in unnecessary ways. So do I speak louder so my beliefs are heard better? Do I organize and rally against the ‘happenings’ that I do not agree with? I think not.
I wrote in my last blog that, when the strongest people stand, they do not stand in opposition. Instead, they stand for larger, more fundamental truths. In our current context, what are those truths? Connection is one. We have to find ways to connect with each other in a manner that precedes our particular beliefs and values. We need to remember what we all share. Remember that sharing is very different than agreement. We may be very far from agreement about a number of issues, but we all share fear and uncertainty about the future. We share the need to love and be loved. We all share a level of humanity that connects us. How do we foster these fundamental connections when so much divides us?
I have to admit that I find our choice of President to be incomprehensible. I literally cannot make sense of what so many of my fellow citizens were thinking. Going forward, this is an important fact about me, not necessarily about my peers. I have been lost in the level of beliefs and values. I forgot to see the faces and the hearts of the people who do not agree with me. They all have stories. They all have wants and needs and this is what led them to make the choice they did. I will do better if I open to their stories and not just disagree with their choice. I have work to do.
I am a teacher of mind-body truths and how they connect us. I work to show people how to access the level of their mind-body relationship that precedes physical disability and pain, that precedes trauma and loss, and that precedes an impossibly busy workplace. I show people how to feel more connected both to themselves, to other people, and to the world around them. I do this because we are better when we are more connected, when the humanity between us fosters caring, not judgment.
I was teaching last weekend in Kansas City. I had the students sitting on the floor, back-to-back, supporting each other without making eye contact. I wanted them to feel the sensation of being supported while supporting another person at the same time…giving and receiving simultaneously….from body to mind. I said out loud, “Imagine if opposing party members in Congress had to sit quietly back-to-back each day before they started politicking with our future. Imagine if direct human connection preceded policy debate.”
Of course, everyone laughed at what seemed a ridiculous image. But we all ached as we laughed. We have work to do.